November 20, 2025 • 40 mins
We trace a winding path from Little Italy to the Texas Hill Country as Joe Remini shares how mentors, the Air Force, and a leap into jewelry turned into a values-first business. Faith practices like Sabbath and tithing reshape his team’s rhythms and, to his surprise, growth.
• early family anchors amid a rough home life
• choosing the Air Force and finding mentors
• moving to Texas to parent and start over
• opening The Texas Silver Rush on a shoestring
• evolving from beads to full fabrication with a skilled team
• organic connections with musicians and creators
• honesty about near-closures and fear
• integrating faith at work through Sabbath and tithing
• seeing a 45 percent sales jump after those choices
• generosity as practice: veterans, community, scholarships
• maturing, accountability, and dealing with inner voices
• rededicating the store at 25 years with a blessing
Texas Silver Rush is located in Fredericksburg, Texas. Find them at their website or on social media and join the 25th anniversary celebration on February 16. “Whatever we do from year 25 and day one, let it honor Him and be done in love.”
Support for this show comes from the Van Waarde Foundation. You can donate today on Patreon.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Piet Van Waarde (00:00):
Welcome to another Sidewalk Conversations.
My name is Pete Van Ward.
I'm your host today, and I'mvery excited about the guests
that we have to introduce youto.
And the best way for me to dothat is by sharing one of my
favorite words these days, andit is the word serendipity.
Now, uh recently I did a littlework on the background of that
(00:22):
word.
Where did it come from?
And it was actually coined inthe mid-1700s by a man named
Horace Walpole.
And he came up with the wordhimself by uh reading a
particular fairy tale, Persianfairy tale, called The Three
Princes of Serendip.
And if you're familiar with thefairy tale, you know that these
(00:44):
princes seem to come up withall these very interesting and
joy-filled experiences, all byaccident.
And so in a poem, Walpole talksabout that, that fairy tale,
and he says, it's likeserendipity.
And apparently that's where theword comes from, because it
does mean that very same thing,that once once in a while you
(01:05):
find these things in life thatsurprise you with joy.
They're totally unexpected, andthey fill you with a sense of
appreciation and even a sense oflike God is at work in even the
smallest things.
And that's how I feel about myguest today.
We met serendipitously.
But before I introduce him toyou, let me say a word about my
(01:28):
sponsor.
I want to say a thank youspecifically for those who
support this work through theVan Ward Foundation.
So there are a number of peoplewho take an interest in this
(01:52):
work and all the things that wedo, whether it's the newsletters
or the podcast or the pocketprayers, and they say, hey, we
don't necessarily need anypublic attention.
We just want to be the kind ofpeople that support the work
you're doing behind the scenes.
And so I just want to now say apublic thank you to those who
are part of that foundationwork.
So appreciate the work you do,and I hope that you feel blessed
(02:13):
and encouraged by the thingsthat you help produce.
Now, without any further ado,let me introduce you to my
guest, Joe Remini.
Yes, sir.
Hey Peter.
Good to see you.
Good to see you too.
I, you know, in ourintroduction, I was talking
about how um I came to meet you,and it was very
serendipitously.
I think we met through somethings on Facebook.
(02:35):
A friend introduced us, and youbecame familiar with some of
the work that I was doingthrough the pocket prayers, and
uh and you ended up uhpurchasing some for the store
that you run, uh Texas SilverRush.
And uh you were doing aMother's Day thing, I think.
Joe Remini (02:50):
It was a Mother's Day.
We wanted to bless our wewanted to bless all the moms.
Just they didn't have to askfor it.
You know, we were just gonnasend one to every mom,
grandmother, daughter-in-law,whoever.
Piet Van Waarde (03:00):
Yeah, and you just say, like, hey, could you
send me a couple of cases ofyour bucket pears?
I'm like, okay, who's this guy?
And uh and over the time wewe've had a chance to have a
couple of conversations over uhFacebook and messaging, and uh
and then I had the opportunityto do a podcast with you in
Fredericksburg.
And that was incredible.
Joe Remini (03:20):
That was so incredible.
You talk about serendipity forus, and it was like we were
brothers the minute that you andCarol arrived and we got to
visit and everything.
Um wow, it was just it wasamazing.
Piet Van Waarde (03:30):
Yeah, it was just so such a it felt, you
know, there are those peoplethat you meet that it almost
feels like we've known eachother forever.
It just it just so happened wemet yesterday.
Um all right, well, I want to Iwant to tell a little bit of
your story.
Actually, I want to have youtell your story because I just
found it so interesting thatwhen I got a chance to know you,
(03:51):
because you just seem like thisreally well-adjusted guy who's
running a business and doing allthese good things.
And then I found out that yourstory growing up was not
necessarily so nice, neat, andclean.
And so as comfortable as youfeel to uh to share, uh talk
talk a little bit about how yougrew up, where you grew up, kind
of some of the circumstancesaround your growing up yours.
Joe Remini (04:13):
Absolutely.
And again, thanks for thanksfor having me here.
So I really appreciate it.
Um, you know, I was reallyfortunate.
Um, my grandparents, uh mymom's grand uh mother and
father, and mygreat-grandmother, uh, they were
all from Naples, Italy.
And they were just absolutelythe most beautiful people, you
know, in the world.
And um, and my grandparents andmy dad's side also uh were the
most beautiful people in theworld.
(04:34):
And fortunately, they were justa block away from each other in
Little Italy, New York City, onMott Street and Elizabeth
Street, for those familiar withthe city.
Yeah.
And um, so and you know, myhome life, my mom had gone
through a divorce early on, andwith the divorce and then dating
other men and you know, doingstuff like that, it just kind of
created a really vulnerableenvironment.
(04:55):
And, you know, I I've thoughtabout it quite a bit, I prayed
about it quite a bit.
I, you know, I it was just atough time.
It was in everybody'schildhood, you know, people
experience things and all.
But uh I was very thankfulagain, though, for my
grandparents, you know, theyalways provided me a uh a safe
place and a loving place andeverything and all.
So yeah, my uh my dad was um hewas uh kind of a violent guy,
(05:21):
you know.
Uh and I don't necessarily meanthat he was he was a tough guy.
And that's I let me use thatword, he was a tough guy, yeah,
you know, and everything.
But yeah, so and uh that wasthe early part.
And I ended up doing my uh mymom moved to Staten Island, New
York City and lived there.
Unfortunately, my grandparentshad a little summer house, and
so they were around quite a bit.
So wonderful.
Yeah, so there was there was alot of tough times and um a lot
(05:43):
of times on my own.
There were a lot of time on myown uh when I was around my
grandparents and everything.
And um yeah, it was just alittle bit challenging not to go
too deep into the.
Piet Van Waarde (05:52):
No, and and well, and the reason I want to
bring it up, I and I you're youyou every conversation we've
had, you were always a littlehesitant about it because you
don't want to blame parents, youdon't want to like but the
reason I bring it up is becauseI've watched, or as I I've heard
you share, um, and now havewatched, that you have not
allowed the difficulties of yourupbringing to taint your
(06:17):
future.
I mean, like you went from youknow, not an ideal setup, and
then you go into the militaryand you start like excelling in
in the Air Force.
You want to talk a little bitabout your experience there?
Sure.
Joe Remini (06:30):
You know, and then growing up, my Uncle Anthony.
So my mom's sister, my AuntBrenda, and then her husband, my
Uncle Anthony, um, he wasalways a really positive
influence.
I mean, he was the first timethat a man said, I used a cuss
word one time, and he said, Wedon't talk like that.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, and he didn't do it inany way that was mean.
He was the first time that aman talked to me, and it wasn't
like mean or ugly, or he wasjust truthful.
(06:50):
Yeah, called me out on it, helpaccountability.
Yeah.
And my Uncle Anthony, uh,unfortunately, he passed away.
You know, we talked about ourown journey, passed away from
brain cancer, was diagnosed inDecember, fairly young, maybe
late 40s, early 50s, and passedaway just three months later.
And um, just a beautiful man.
And anyway, the reason I kindof think about his name was I
didn't want anybody in my familyto know.
(07:10):
I knew I wanted to join the AirForce, not to necessarily get
away from something, but becauseI was excited about doing
something.
And you know, it was, you know,and so um he was actually
driving the bus.
He was a bus driver, and he wasdriving the bus to the um to
the recruiting center, and Ididn't want anybody to know.
So I stayed on the bus evenlonger because you know, he saw
(07:31):
me and we were talking, and Iwent like way past whether and
then I walked back again andwent and signed up, didn't tell
anybody until about three weeksbefore I was about to leave.
And then, yes, and so it's whatI wanted to do.
Um, and I really didn't haveany idea of what I was getting
myself into.
Um, but I was bright enough.
I graduated in the top of myclass, and um, I really was
given a great opportunity, youknow, with the military.
(07:54):
And and yeah, it was afterthat, it was like just men
mentoring me, uh, the besteducation, the best possible
experiences.
And uh, we were working AirForce intelligence missions in
the Far East out of Hawaii formost of my for the bulk of my
operational career and allbefore I went to the
schoolhouse.
And so yeah, absolutely lovedit.
And it was it was the beginningof that journey stepping out on
(08:16):
my own.
Piet Van Waarde (08:16):
And if I may ask, like um, what what did you
take away from that experience?
Like when you know you hearhear about people going to the
military for all kinds ofreasons, but what was the thing
that you you took away from thatexperience?
Joe Remini (08:30):
Well, the first thing was I knew what I was
missing back at home to havethat consistent core group of
people around you, say yournuclear family, your core
family.
But once I was in thatenvironment, I bloomed, you
know, to have healthy peoplearound you to mentor, not only
uh in our in our workenvironment, but also on the
(08:51):
weekends, they'd have us comeout and you know, the guys that
were all Vietnam era, you know,way before my time, and the
wives would be cooking and they,you know, and we'd have all
this great yeah, out inespecially in Hawaii too, on top
of it, you know, it was justreally great environment.
So that was the first thing.
The second thing was it kind ofbuilt up my confidence a lot
that I had this ability in me,allowed me to start seeing
things other than the pain.
(09:12):
You know, I think when peopleare in pain, you it it can
become your focus.
Oh, for sure.
You know, and it helped me tosee other than that.
And, you know, I I joke aroundlike I was Johnny Hotshot all
the time, but we were all JohnnyHotshot.
They groomed us to beexcellent, and I served with
some amazing men and women, andit was just a great experience.
And so what I took away from itwas that I had more in me and I
(09:34):
could be successful, and thatgave me the uh appetite to go on
and continue and further myeducation, and then that began
the next season of my life.
Piet Van Waarde (09:42):
Which now I uh uh you have to help me with the
timeline, but you uh did it wasthe next trip to Fredericksburg?
Joe Remini (09:49):
Is that when you and so yeah, I want to switch legs
here for just a second, kind offalling asleep on me a little
bit uh after we did our fitcheck before.
And so, yes, and so I Iseparated to be a full-time dad,
had gone through some lifechanges.
Unfortunately, I'd gone througha divorce at that time, and her
parents and uh she were locatedhere, and the schoolhouse was
in West Texas, and so you knowthe Air Force was really good
(10:11):
with me to convert my retirementand to allow me an education
program, uh, to uh go to gradschool and to do all that, and
that was transition to Texas andjust living north of
Fredericksburg.
So that began that transition.
Piet Van Waarde (10:23):
And then you opened up the store.
Yes, the silver rush.
Yes.
So I think you already did likedid you uh anticipate like you
were gonna be a business owner?
Is that like in the cards foryou early on?
Joe Remini (10:36):
You know, I think the influence there was my boy's
granddad.
He was a farmer and a rancher,he served in World War II and in
Japan, as a matter of fact,after in occupied Japan and
everything.
And he was born and raised inthe Texas Hill Country, which is
where our store is located.
And I just always loved thefact that he felt he was steward
of his land, he was loved theLord.
He and um and Nani, as we callher, Pop and Nani loved the
(11:00):
Lord.
They were such a good influenceon me.
And it was really difficulttoo, because going through a
divorce, I kind of felt like Ileft them down, you know, a lot
and everything.
And they just loved me and theyjust loved me and they just
love me.
And again, Pop held meaccountable.
Piet Van Waarde (11:12):
Yeah, okay.
Joe Remini (11:13):
That was beginning in the Air Force.
My Uncle Anthony, the AirForce, there was accountability
from men, and that was helped meto grow, you know, as a man.
And so, and um uh fast forwardjust a little bit, um, one day I
was like, I need to have moreincome coming in, and um I was
doing some things and I thoughtlet's open a little store in
Fredericksburg.
(11:33):
It was literally Pete was on awhim.
And um, so going go one more,just backtrack a little bit.
I love the fact that the factthat Pop he worked hard and
didn't have a traditional job.
Yeah, you know, like tr but hewas a hard worker, you know, and
to run a farming and ranchingoperation like that, everything.
And so I kind of had it in myhead.
The other thing was I knew thatmy career path in the Air Force
(11:56):
based on continued education,both professionally and
personal.
And I didn't have a career pathin the civilian world.
I was like, how do I get to mygoal?
Right, which was more free timeand independence and financial
security, you know, and thingslike that.
And that's when I opened up thestore, literally drove to
Fredericksburg, drove up to anempty storefront, called the
number in the window, paid my$750, and I was in business.
Piet Van Waarde (12:20):
Now it's a very unique store.
Um, we're gonna go ahead andlink uh link it here in the
notes.
But uh you do very uniquestyles of jewelry.
And so did you have somehistory in jewelry making or art
that kind of led you into thatdirection?
Joe Remini (12:37):
You know, early on we were doing a lot of beaded
jewelry and a lot of just basicsilver jewelry.
And then um, yeah, so I reallyhad an eye for design and an eye
for uh kind of creating, butreally the heart of the silver
work didn't come until a littlebit later on.
Piet Van Waarde (12:52):
Okay.
Joe Remini (12:52):
And that's when Trish came on board, who you've
got to meet, my operationsmanager, just beautiful,
beautiful person.
And she came on about nineyears ago, and she can run
circles around me when it comesto actual fabrication and
design.
And then Paul came on board andhad a full shop, and then that
just started like honing myskills from things I did early,
early on, some very rudimentaryand basic things.
(13:15):
And so, yeah, so but I for youknow, I didn't want to just have
a store, you know, per se.
I want to do some things thatwere more original, but that was
also again an evolution and aprocess.
Piet Van Waarde (13:28):
Yeah, and so one of the things about your
store that I absolutely love isthat you have all these
connections with differentpeople.
So you have your artists, yourartisans that do the work, but
then the people who end uppurchasing your work are also
very unique individuals.
So you have connections in themusic industry and uh authors
(13:48):
and explorers and all that.
So how how did they find outabout your work?
How did that connection happen?
Joe Remini (13:54):
Well, you know, it's interesting because I knew that
we wanted to use social mediasomehow.
First of all, this we put thestore in, or I put the store in
Fredericksburg because I knew wewere gonna have built-in.
If y'all are not familiar withFredericksburg, it's the number
two destination in the countryfor wine, home of the old
country music venue, Lukenbach,which was made famous by all the
outlaws like ChrisChristofferson and Whelan
(14:15):
Jennings and such.
And so we had that.
It's an old German communityand it's pretty much a Hallmark
town.
It's it's gorgeous.
So I thought, well, how can wego wrong?
We have that built-in, we havethat built in.
I thought, you know, I invested$10,000 to start it.
And, you know, for the firstthree years, I thought I was
gonna get evicted every month,you know, and everything.
And so um, anyway, I reachedout to uh this wonderful young
(14:36):
lady, a very well-known countrymusic artist.
I'm gonna mention her name,Brie Bagwell.
And I called her one day orsent a message and said, Hey,
I've got this little store,we're making some jewelry.
Would you like to have some?
You know, because I love music,absolutely love music.
And she's like a lot of that.
Oh, yeah.
I wish we could have got a clipand you and I sing You're so
vain by Carly Simon, you know.
(14:56):
And I reached out to her andshe said, Sure, come out to my
show this weekend.
So we went out there and she'sjust a beautiful person.
And I think that was the link.
All of the people that I'vemet, whether they're musicians,
singers, songwriters, you know,whatever it is, it's all that
everybody had a talent and agift and they were creating, and
they did it in a beautiful way,not a haughty way in any way.
All the musicians I met.
And then uh, yeah, so that'skind of how that started.
(15:19):
And I began working with allthese artists, and uh, I think,
you know, uh met this beautifulguy, Greg Raleigh, and he's best
known for you know playing atWoodstock and then um uh
founding Journey and stuff likethat.
And he just came in because ofa friend of a friend kind of
thing and happens to live inTexas now, and just a really
great guy.
And Trish and I have lovedhanging out with him, especially
(15:40):
during COVID and all.
And then that opened the doorto do a little one-time deal for
a Ringo Star.
And um, you know, those werereally, really enjoyable.
And Trish and I really did thehappy dance, you know, when we
got that opportunity.
But, you know, that still wasjust a moment that was then.
You know, what you did thenisn't as important as what
you're doing now.
Yeah, but it was a great placebecause I love music.
(16:00):
I'm heavily dialed into tomusic and the music world.
Piet Van Waarde (16:04):
Yeah, I one of the things I love about your
store is not only do you havegreat, uh, very interesting
jewelry, but you have picturesall over the place of various
people who wear who wear yourstuff.
And uh it's just a very quaint,interesting place.
Um the other thing I wanted totalk to you in terms of your
business is we've had a lot ofconversations since we've gotten
to know each other about whatdoes it mean to be a Christian
(16:28):
businessman?
And you know, one you you kindof had this evolution where
you're like experimenting andexploring various things to
allow your your your practice offaith to influence how you do
business.
And I'm just curious, youyou've said we had a
conversation before we went onthe air about like some things
(16:48):
that have been changing for youand some some very interesting
results that have happened as aresult of some of those changes.
So talk a little bit about kindof your evolution there.
Joe Remini (16:57):
Absolutely.
I'm I'm gonna backtrack forjust one second.
So, just as in first my timeyou know with my beautiful
family and with my extendedfamily in New York City, and
then going into the Air Forceand each season just taught me
something else, and that's truefor all of us if we choose to
see that.
Piet Van Waarde (17:13):
Right.
Joe Remini (17:14):
I um the whole time, like I said earlier, I thought
I was gonna get evicted thefirst you know couple of years
that I was in.
And that that was a challenge.
And then it was a challenge ofwhat makes us different than
every other business and how arewe unique?
And it was just always achallenge.
And then there were so manytimes when I just thought, I
have blown this thing, and Ijust felt so down on myself, you
(17:36):
know, and I would beat myselfup and kind of fall back into
that old kind of you know lineof thinking.
And so it was that spiritualjourney, and I share this quite
a bit in the store that yeah,we're doing some really
incredible things and we havesome great opportunity, but it's
been such a growing experiencein my faith.
So now fast forward, because Iwant to say that because there
have been so many people thatreally supported me when things
(17:59):
were tough, yeah, and when I waslike, I don't know how I'm
gonna make it tomorrow.
Right.
And we show up and we do it.
I mean, there was a timeliterally when the doors were
gonna shut, you know, and howare we gonna do it?
And it just kept going.
And so um fast forward and Iappreciate it.
Piet Van Waarde (18:15):
Sorry to interrupt, but I appreciate you
saying that because sometimesthe the error we can get into,
especially as people who arekind of sharing our story, we
tend to gloss over, you know,the parts that didn't go so
well.
And in and and maybe part of itis just, you know, we're trying
to be efficient with ourlanguage or whatever, but
sometimes it's because we don'twant to make it look as though
(18:38):
like we were trying to befaithful with our faith and then
the business didn't work.
And I think we have to behonest about the fact that
sometimes when you're faithful,it's not gonna go well.
And then other times whenyou're faithful, it's gonna
exceed your expectations.
And that's just part of thejourney.
Joe Remini (18:54):
Well, I think I think for me, God is always
faithful.
We know that.
That's the truth, that's hispromise.
For me, I think it was mebelieving that because I wanted
to I never thought I'd be theperson to say I give up, you
know, or whatever.
But that was like kind ofgiving up when things were
getting tough.
And either a couple peoplepoured into me, spoke some truth
into me, sometimes evenfinancially kind of poured into
(19:17):
me, you know, where they'd comeand say, you know what, we just
need to buy all of our Christmasgifts for our family, boom, you
know, there you go.
And so, but where the challengewas for me is he was always
faithful through it and he keptme going and gave me that
opportunity because evidentlywe're here for a reason because
we're serving in a differentway.
So now fast forward, I wantedto make sure that I didn't gloss
(19:37):
over that like you know, likeyou said to use your word.
So then fast forward, so I'msurrounded by some really great
people, including Trish andCrystalin.
I always say Crystal runs thedigital store, Trish runs the
hard store, and I'm kind offloating in between, and then we
have some great other people,including like Grace and then
Stephanie, you know, that arehelping Pete.
There's I can't give a shoutout to well, I will give a
(19:59):
shout-out to everybody, but soTrish and Grace both bring the
sense of truth, you know.
And Chris Chrislin waswhispering in my ear, you know,
about Sundays, you know, andeverybody goes, Oh, you should
close on Sunday, Chick-fil-A isclose on Sunday, and God bless
them, because they're doing itfor that's their they're
(20:19):
demonstrating their faith, youknow.
So I was like, Well, we havecustomers coming in on Sunday,
you know, because we're in aresort town.
They're coming from all overthe weekends, all over the
state, all over the state andall over the country to come in
on the weekends, you know, andeverything.
And so we were doing everythingwe needed to do, and and it
just built up to a point.
And Trish was like, Yeah, youknow, during COVID, we were
(20:40):
closed on Sundays also.
So there were two reasons to beclosed on Sunday.
One was from a secularstandpoint, a worldly
standpoint, well, you take a dayof rest, you know, and you
know, you just take a break, youneed to recharge your spend
time with your family and do allthat.
Then from the spiritual side,you know, by keeping a Sabbath,
you know, and and make settingaside a day for worship and for
(21:01):
fellowship.
And so we decided to go ahead,I say we, because I've got Trish
Chrysler.
Maybe thumbs up to you two.
Um and so we we closed.
And uh one of my really greatcustomers and friend Ann Ledger,
I spoke to her on the way in.
She's like, You got to take aday of rest.
She goes, I'm gonna stay onyou.
You better stay closed.
(21:22):
And we stay closed.
And then there is a uh a pastorI've been following, and I've
always we talked about this too,I've always tried to be
generous.
Uh it's that was mygrandparents.
Yeah.
And then that's the spirittraining me that this is not
ours.
We have to, we have to let itflow.
We have to let it the moneythat comes in, we need to let it
flow out where it needs to goto, being effective stewards of
(21:44):
that.
And so we did those two things.
You know, I started tithing touh support this one pastor that
I'm really, really learning alot from, and specifically
tithing beyond just loveofferings and you know things
like that.
And so we closed the store,started tithing, and now 90 days
later, our sales are up 45%.
(22:04):
And the numbers are so huge,like I was you and I talking
about that, they're kind ofmind-boggling to me.
That's the only two things thathave changed.
I choose to see itspecifically, like God is
showing me.
Follow this, follow this righthere.
And then what does it do?
It it gives me the chance toreally begin to focus even more
on Him because when we'rerunning the business that we're
(22:27):
running and we're shippinghundreds and hundreds of boxes
every couple of days worldwide,it can get overwhelming.
And yet, and yet I'm surroundedwith people who love the Lord,
yeah, I'm surrounded with peoplewho love me, and I'm surrounded
with accountability.
All the things I learned ineach of those seasons, you know,
and everything, and that hasmade the difference.
And so if somebody goes, Well,yeah, you know, close on Sunday,
(22:50):
that's kind of cliche Christianor something like that.
No, it's powerful, yeah.
It's powerful.
I'm not gonna say it works,it's powerful.
There's two different parts ofthat.
Piet Van Waarde (22:59):
Yeah, and uh one of the things I loved about
our our lunch, because I thinkit was uh so we did the podcast
together, we were overnight inFredericksburg, and you took you
took us to lunch verygraciously, and we had a chance
to talk about some of this.
And you you said to me, uh, andI still remember because I've
heard this so many other timestoo, where people say, Yeah,
I've heard all this stuff, youknow, like honor God with the
(23:22):
tithe or honor God by keepingthis class uh the store closed
or whatever.
And you said, like honestly, Iwas a little skeptical too.
Like I heard the stories and Iwas like, eh.
And then you just like said,All right, but I'm gonna I'm
gonna try it.
I'm gonna honor God in this wayby faith.
And then to hear the storytoday, just before you came in,
(23:43):
about how God has just you knowblossomed this, honored this,
uh, this commitment on yourpart.
And I just I celebrate it withyou.
I think it's just such abeautiful thing.
And I'm I'm hoping that peoplewho are hearing this are willing
to say, you know, well, maybethere's there's something in
this for me, because sometimes,you know, people they categorize
(24:04):
their life.
You know, one of the thingsI've noticed in in uh in my
pastoral ministry is that peoplesay, Well, you know, I have my
church on Sunday and I do mystuff and I sing, but this is
business, right?
And they kind of try and keepthose two separate.
But when when people actuallytake the principles of truths
that they're learning inscripture and from teaching and
(24:25):
worship, and they say, No, Icannot just categorize that over
here.
I need to figure out ways to dothis here.
God blesses it.
And and there are things thathappen in your heart as a result
too.
Joe Remini (24:39):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And you know, it's not youknow, uh it's not so much that I
didn't believe it was gonnawork.
My outs, my look was I'mresponsible for these people
that work for me.
They have to pay rent, theyhave to pay car payments, they
have to do all these things.
We need to keep the cash flowgoing, and we need to do this,
and we have to do this, despitebeing a successful debt-free
(24:59):
company.
And if I stayed in that vein,well, because I because I didn't
stay in that lane, and I openedup my eyes because of the
people I'm surrounding were tospeaking the truth to me, which
I knew what the truth was, andthen it became a practical way
of doing it said, Okay, we'regonna make this decision.
And you know, so yeah, I couldhave easily just said, Well,
(25:20):
I've got all these people,they're all counting on me,
we've got to do this.
That was I don't know if it wasan excuse or it was fear.
It was fear to keep me fromtruth.
And the enemy will just keepwhispering that in your ear, you
know.
Piet Van Waarde (25:32):
And it all sounds so good, right?
Yeah, you're like, I'm justtrying to be responsible.
Joe Remini (25:36):
Yeah, oh yeah.
And then you don't wonder whyyou wonder why you have conflict
with your with youraccountability partners.
Because they're like, you know,because everybody we know what
the truth is, or I'll say, butyou don't have all these
employees, you know, counting onme or whatever, you know, and
everything.
But yeah, no, so it's powerful.
It's just not, it wasn't just achoice, it was a growing
(25:57):
season.
And the growing seasons rightnow are it's like I'm getting
turned on to something orsomething's being whispered at
me, and everything's happeningso fast, like the results are
happening so fast.
And so it's just affirming inme and it's just building me up
and building me up.
And like we talked aboutbefore, you know, as young men,
the things that we'veexperienced and all, if you if
you just keep listening to thosevoices in your head, those
(26:19):
voices are speaking death,failure, yeah, you know, just
all that kind of stuff.
And so these other voices,which are speaking truth, are
speaking life, you know.
And then more importantly, I'mmore able to hear the message
and the truth.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Right.
Joe Remini (26:34):
Because one thing I had really spoke this and
promised myself, I remember mygreat-grandmother on my mom's
side, big grandma as we callher, and um, she was just
joyful.
And I said, if I'm blessed tolive as long as my grandparents
and great-grandparents were, Ihope that I can be full of joy
the way they were, and withoutany doubts in my heart about who
(26:55):
I was.
And then at some point just hitme, why are you gonna wait
until you're 80, like you'rethis great grandparent or
something?
How about today?
What do you have in your heartthat really needs to be dealt
with?
And that means, you know, pastbroken relationships, either
with family members or whoever,um, anything at all.
And so it's just like deal withit today, deal with it today,
(27:16):
but deal with it with with God,deal with it with the spirit,
you know, and be and then reallybegin to grow.
And so this whole thing withtithing, closing on Sundays, and
I'm almost embarrassed to sayabout the tithing part.
I really am, because like Isaid, I've always been very
generous to support ministriesand and not only ministries,
when people are hungry.
You know, I was reading onMatthew, you know, the you know,
(27:37):
did you feed me when I washungry?
Did you did you give mesomething to drink when I was
thirsty?
Did you clothe me?
You know, and everything.
And so, but to specifically beintentional about these things
have opened up more doors forme.
And to be honest with you, Idon't care how much money it's
just that's not the importantthing, but it is a barometer.
It's like, wow, this is reallyhappening.
Piet Van Waarde (27:58):
Yeah, you know, yeah one of the things I've
also appreciated about you, andnew and this is like predates
even our relationship.
I've noticed things on Facebookand others, other places where
you've just been very engaged inthe community as a whole.
Like you care about what'sgoing on in Fredericksburg, but
then also when you heard thatI'm teaching this cancer course,
(28:21):
and there might be some peoplewho can't afford to take the
course, you right away sent somemoney for scholarships, and and
you're just very attuned towhat's happening outside of your
store.
So your world is not just like,hey, I want to be faithful with
this, your your world is largerthan that.
And do you see that as anexpression of your faith?
(28:41):
Like, where did that come fromfor you?
Joe Remini (28:44):
Um it good that comes, yes, it's an expression
of my faith.
And that's why I said beforethe intentionality of tithing
and closing on Sunday wasintentional.
That came out of my heart,which is still a spirit, but I
thought, like, that's the easystuff to do when it's that's
your skill set.
Like my grandmother and mygrandfather were very kind and
loving.
My cousin Vinny, um, he alwayswanted to play music.
(29:05):
He's played music all of hislife, and we always talked about
these stories when you knowhe'd bring all these crazy
rockers to his house, punkrockers too, to this Italian
family, you know, andgrandmother would feed
everybody, you know, macaronifor everybody, you know, and
everything.
And so that was in me already.
But then I thought, well,that's the easy thing for me.
I I hear something come up andI just do it.
But it was a skill that wasbuilding also towards being
(29:27):
intentional about tithing andbeing intentional about clothing
on Sundays.
And so, yeah, I think part ofthat got built up.
I worked with an organizationcalled the Gallant Few.
And uh, my son did multiplecombat tours in Afghanistan as
an army ranger, and um, he wasreally he really had a tough
time coming home from combat.
And the rangers are the best ofthe best in the army, and I'm
(29:49):
so proud of him for doing that.
I'm proud of my oldest son,too.
Uh, he's doing some greatthings with his with his life,
his wife, and his children aswell.
But that situation with Tylerwas I leaned into these other
army rangers and I got to meettwo men who were beautiful
Christian men in Fort Benning,Georgia.
And they had an outreachprogram and they were helping
Army Rangers transition, youknow, out of combat.
And so that's when I firststarted saying, let's let's
(30:12):
support this organization.
Let's kind of do these things.
And so, yes, it was selfish insome ways because I wanted the
best for my son.
But then I got to meet TonyMain, who just got inducted in
the Ranger Hall of Fame, which,if you're a Ranger, you're
already, you're already a rockstar.
If you're in the Ranger Hall ofFame, it's like you're wearing
the Superman cake, you know, andeverything.
And so, yeah, so then that waspractice.
(30:32):
All of this is practice.
You learn it, you practice it.
It's like reading, you know,and taking the word in.
You learn it, you practice it.
You got to do it.
You got to feed yourself andeverything.
And so we started that.
And then we became, we had thisbig community of people.
And I was like, we're going todo Run Ranger Run to help raise
money for these guys who areserving.
You know, like I said, withyour organization and your
ministry, you know, you guys aredoing the hard work.
(30:55):
We write a check.
To me, that's the easy part ofit.
And so then I leaned into thatgroup of people that support the
Texas Silver Rush.
And uh I was like, hey, we'redoing Run Ranger Run.
And they were donating, youknow, as we put a team together
and help us raise funds and todo all that.
And that was the early onset ofthis group of people that are
so wonderful that support theTexas Silver Rush.
And, you know, too.
(31:16):
And so then it became not justus, it was all of us now doing
that.
And then when I became aware ofyou, like, oh my gosh, your
post and a lot of your ministryhas really, really impacted me,
especially when we, you know,started sharing these journeys
uh through healing from cancer,you know, and stuff like that.
And so then it was just anatural part for me then to say,
(31:37):
you know, there were two, Ithink it's the first time there
were two folks that could neededa scholarship.
I was like, Yeah, let's goahead and do this.
Yeah.
Because you were alreadyblessing me and everything you
were sharing every day, youknow, and so it was an easy step
up to do that.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Piet Van Waarde (31:51):
Well, and I'm curious, uh this, and we didn't
talk about this yet, so I'msorry to kind of share a
question we haven't discussed,but I'm curious now that we've
been talking about this.
Like one of the principles Ithink is true is that and I
think it's even a biblicalprinciple where to whom much is
given, much is also required.
But I wonder if it's like theother way too, where when you're
(32:15):
faithful with some things, likeGod puts some things on your
heart that you're faithful todo, whether it's like uh
supporting this uh Army Rangeruh run or whether it's
supporting the cancer course orwhether it's supporting you know
other things in the communitythat you do.
Joe Remini (32:33):
Do you feel like because you're faithful in these
things, God just continues toopen up other doors for you to
do absolutely, absolutely, and Ithink it's building confidence,
you know, because you know it'sit's building that confidence
within me, just within me.
You know, I think sincePhilippians where we have to
work out our salvation with fearand trepidation, you know.
(32:54):
And um it's we we've got toknow, we've got to know, uh-huh,
you know, and and until then weact in faith.
And so, yeah, and it's alsoalmost like the chicken and the
egg thing, you know, in some ofthat.
But no, the more and I've heardit also said before, you know,
when you're and I for I I forgetexactly where in scripture it's
at, but you know, when you'reyounger you drink milk, and then
(33:15):
as you mature, you take onmeat.
Yeah, and so the only thing isI will tell you, I wish this all
happened faster because it's soexciting now at in my early
60s.
It's so dang exciting.
You know, I just wish ithappened sooner, but this is my
journey.
Yeah, you know, this is this isthis is my journey, and I have
(33:36):
this opportunity now to livefully in him, you know, and
again, have that peace in myheart that what I don't like
about myself, oh you know, buthe kind of did this one time.
Yeah, I did.
You want to know what else Idid that you don't know?
You know, that sort of thing.
But but that's it's more, noteven what anybody else says,
it's what's in my head.
Yeah, that's the enemywhispering.
You know, some people go, Well,you did it.
(33:57):
The enemy doesn't have towhisper and all that sort of
thing.
So, no, I firmly believe, yes,as you were saying, that when he
when this happens and thespirit moves, that it builds you
to become stronger.
Piet Van Waarde (34:08):
Yeah, and and then he entrusts you with more.
Yes.
Like Joe's proven to befaithful with this.
I'm gonna give him anotheropportunity, another challenge,
another thing to do.
And uh, and I I guess I justwant to commend you because
sometimes when you're living thelife, you're not as aware of
like how cool it is uh whatyou're doing.
(34:30):
But you know, every time I'mI'm with you, I hear your story
and I hear what you're doing.
I'm just so inspired because itchallenges me.
Like it's like uh as I'mhearing you talk, like it's
like, Pete, are you doing that?
Are you willing to take thoserisks?
Are you willing to kind of stepoutside of your comfort zone?
And so I just want to say thankyou for being an example in
(34:52):
that way.
I feel like you're you're verymuch an inspiration.
Love how you do business, lovehow you trait uh talk about
people and and do your life.
It's just uh it's reallyinspiring.
Joe Remini (35:03):
Well, thank you.
I mean, I I don't I'm evenhesitant to say thank you, but
thank you.
I there's been, like you said,there's been so many amazing
people that have been around methat this is just a reflection.
You know, I just read thismorning that uh in Matthew, I
told you I was reading Matthewlast night this morning, and it
said, you know, we when we getto heaven, you know, we're all
gonna be angels.
You know, it doesn't matterabout marriage and family, and
(35:26):
you know, think we're we are allgonna be angels.
And so in this world, we shouldbe brothers and sisters, you
know, period, across the boardand love each other that way,
you know, and everything.
And so, yeah, everything that'shappening right now is that
reflection of all the peoplethat poured into me.
And they were spirit ledbecause I can tell you where
their walk is, you know, rightnow and everything.
And like I said, I'm mostexcited that it's it's all
(35:48):
happening right now becausethere's been a lot of really
scary as a small business owner,there's a lot of scary times.
A lot, there's a lot of scarytimes.
And there's also this point,too, uh, I want to touch on
earlier.
There's sometimes when youdon't know this, this is the
time to pull the plug.
Because you're being smart,you're being wise, or do you
just kind of run this thing downinto the ground?
And so, but God always, alwaysmade a way.
(36:11):
He always and it was sometimesdemonstrated.
I've heard it say before, youknow, I lost my job and then I
came home and there were checksin my mailbox to pay the rent,
to pay the mortgage, you know,things like that.
God will make a way, and heloves us and he cares about us
and he supports us.
So for me in this journey,which is the Texas Silver Rush,
he's been growing up, he's beengrowing me up, he's been m
(36:33):
maturing me.
Um, excuse me, last February Ihad to go, my uh my Uncle
Terrence had passed away, andhis son, my cousin TJ, he's my
first cousin, he's a man Ihighly respect.
He's got a beautiful family andand everything.
And so I made this trip to NewYork to go to the funeral, and
it was a little awkward comingfrom a challenging family
situation.
(36:53):
But I had been with TJ themonth before myself, my cousin
Vinny and TJ and I were alltogether in the city in
Lowerside, and uh so I knew Ineeded to be there for him, and
that was bigger than myself, andthat was God move me through.
And I learned so much, youknow, from that experience, you
know, and everything as well.
And so each season, there's arethere will be challenging
(37:13):
times, there will be toughtimes, there will be gut checks,
and there are gonna be thingslike that.
But I can literally say that bydoing that, by making that trip
to honor uh Michael Terrenceand honestly, my cousin TJ, you
know, um, because he is a goodman, he's a man I admire.
Yeah, and so I was like, I'vegot to, I'm gonna be at that,
I'm at this level, and I'll bethere.
(37:35):
And you know, when I when hesaw me in the church, first
thing he did came hug and said,come sit with family.
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, that's great.
Piet Van Waarde (37:41):
All right.
I want to close with uh onething that you have coming up in
uh I think it's February.
You're gonna be celebrating abig anniversary.
You want to give us a littlesneak.
Joe Remini (37:50):
Oh, I forgot all about that.
What are you gonna be doing?
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
So uh February 16th will be our25th year anniversary of being
open.
Yeah.
So going back to it, I'm justlike, how'd this all happen?
And so um, so we're gonna haveour 25th anniversary celebration
of the Texas Silver Russian.
I know I didn't talk aboutbusiness too much, but uh, we're
(38:10):
located in Fredericksburg,Texas.
We're all over social media andeverything.
And so um I was just like, youknow, we we've got to celebrate.
And the actual reason for thecelebration is the story in
itself, but I was uh I saw thisguy who was opening a new
business on Kauai when I wasthere this summer, and he had a
blessing ceremony before theyopened the store.
(38:31):
And it was in Hawaiian, it wasa Christian ceremony, and they
had the tea lay tea leaves onand everything, lays and all.
And I was like, that's it wasjust again, I want to bless the
store and rededicate it andrepurpose it because yes, I
opened it with integrity.
I was like, I want to pay forcollege for the kids, I want to
have this career and I wanted todo these things and all.
And but I never did again, itwas intentionality.
(38:54):
And so I want to bless thestore, whatever we do from day
uh year 25 and day one, let ithonor him and serve him and and
be done in love.
And so um decided to have thisuh anniversary celebration.
So we'll bless the store thatafternoon, and then we'll open
doors right behind the stores isone of the oldest halls in
Fredericksburg, beautiful hall.
(39:15):
And uh we're gonna have uh somegreat food and fellowship and
music, and we're gonna have agreat celebration.
And you know, I totally forgotabout it because I'm so focused
on this on the big Christmas runand everything.
And so, yeah, we're reallyexcited, and I hope that y'all
are around so you can actuallycome.
Piet Van Waarde (39:32):
Yeah, I I if I am here, I am totally in it.
Absolutely, absolutely.
Joe Remini (39:36):
I look forward to that.
Piet Van Waarde (39:38):
Well, Joe, thank you so much for uh sharing
your story and your life.
It is inspiring, and I want tosay thank you to all of you for
joining us.
Uh, we appreciate yourparticipation.
I hope that you were inspiredby Joe's story, and I hope you
join us again for anothersidewalk conversation.
Welcome to another Sidewalk Conversations.
My name is Pete Van Ward.
I'm your host today, and I'mvery excited about the guests
that we have to introduce youto.
And the best way for me to dothat is by sharing one of my
favorite words these days, andit is the word serendipity.
Now, uh recently I did a littlework on the background of that
(00:22):
word.
Where did it come from?
And it was actually coined inthe mid-1700s by a man named
Horace Walpole.
And he came up with the wordhimself by uh reading a
particular fairy tale, Persianfairy tale, called The Three
Princes of Serendip.
And if you're familiar with thefairy tale, you know that these
(00:44):
princes seem to come up withall these very interesting and
joy-filled experiences, all byaccident.
And so in a poem, Walpole talksabout that, that fairy tale,
and he says, it's likeserendipity.
And apparently that's where theword comes from, because it
does mean that very same thing,that once once in a while you
(01:05):
find these things in life thatsurprise you with joy.
They're totally unexpected, andthey fill you with a sense of
appreciation and even a sense oflike God is at work in even the
smallest things.
And that's how I feel about myguest today.
We met serendipitously.
But before I introduce him toyou, let me say a word about my
(01:28):
sponsor.
I want to say a thank youspecifically for those who
support this work through theVan Ward Foundation.
So there are a number of peoplewho take an interest in this
(01:52):
work and all the things that wedo, whether it's the newsletters
or the podcast or the pocketprayers, and they say, hey, we
don't necessarily need anypublic attention.
We just want to be the kind ofpeople that support the work
you're doing behind the scenes.
And so I just want to now say apublic thank you to those who
are part of that foundationwork.
So appreciate the work you do,and I hope that you feel blessed
(02:13):
and encouraged by the thingsthat you help produce.
Now, without any further ado,let me introduce you to my
guest, Joe Remini.
Yes, sir.
Hey Peter.
Good to see you.
Good to see you too.
I, you know, in ourintroduction, I was talking
about how um I came to meet you,and it was very
serendipitously.
I think we met through somethings on Facebook.
(02:35):
A friend introduced us, and youbecame familiar with some of
the work that I was doingthrough the pocket prayers, and
uh and you ended up uhpurchasing some for the store
that you run, uh Texas SilverRush.
And uh you were doing aMother's Day thing, I think.
Joe Remini (02:50):
It was a Mother's Day.
We wanted to bless our wewanted to bless all the moms.
Just they didn't have to askfor it.
You know, we were just gonnasend one to every mom,
grandmother, daughter-in-law,whoever.
Piet Van Waarde (03:00):
Yeah, and you just say, like, hey, could you
send me a couple of cases ofyour bucket pears?
I'm like, okay, who's this guy?
And uh and over the time wewe've had a chance to have a
couple of conversations over uhFacebook and messaging, and uh
and then I had the opportunityto do a podcast with you in
Fredericksburg.
And that was incredible.
Joe Remini (03:20):
That was so incredible.
You talk about serendipity forus, and it was like we were
brothers the minute that you andCarol arrived and we got to
visit and everything.
Um wow, it was just it wasamazing.
Piet Van Waarde (03:30):
Yeah, it was just so such a it felt, you
know, there are those peoplethat you meet that it almost
feels like we've known eachother forever.
It just it just so happened wemet yesterday.
Um all right, well, I want to Iwant to tell a little bit of
your story.
Actually, I want to have youtell your story because I just
found it so interesting thatwhen I got a chance to know you,
(03:51):
because you just seem like thisreally well-adjusted guy who's
running a business and doing allthese good things.
And then I found out that yourstory growing up was not
necessarily so nice, neat, andclean.
And so as comfortable as youfeel to uh to share, uh talk
talk a little bit about how yougrew up, where you grew up, kind
of some of the circumstancesaround your growing up yours.
Joe Remini (04:13):
Absolutely.
And again, thanks for thanksfor having me here.
So I really appreciate it.
Um, you know, I was reallyfortunate.
Um, my grandparents, uh mymom's grand uh mother and
father, and mygreat-grandmother, uh, they were
all from Naples, Italy.
And they were just absolutelythe most beautiful people, you
know, in the world.
And um, and my grandparents andmy dad's side also uh were the
most beautiful people in theworld.
(04:34):
And fortunately, they were justa block away from each other in
Little Italy, New York City, onMott Street and Elizabeth
Street, for those familiar withthe city.
Yeah.
And um, so and you know, myhome life, my mom had gone
through a divorce early on, andwith the divorce and then dating
other men and you know, doingstuff like that, it just kind of
created a really vulnerableenvironment.
(04:55):
And, you know, I I've thoughtabout it quite a bit, I prayed
about it quite a bit.
I, you know, I it was just atough time.
It was in everybody'schildhood, you know, people
experience things and all.
But uh I was very thankfulagain, though, for my
grandparents, you know, theyalways provided me a uh a safe
place and a loving place andeverything and all.
So yeah, my uh my dad was um hewas uh kind of a violent guy,
(05:21):
you know.
Uh and I don't necessarily meanthat he was he was a tough guy.
And that's I let me use thatword, he was a tough guy, yeah,
you know, and everything.
But yeah, so and uh that wasthe early part.
And I ended up doing my uh mymom moved to Staten Island, New
York City and lived there.
Unfortunately, my grandparentshad a little summer house, and
so they were around quite a bit.
So wonderful.
Yeah, so there was there was alot of tough times and um a lot
(05:43):
of times on my own.
There were a lot of time on myown uh when I was around my
grandparents and everything.
And um yeah, it was just alittle bit challenging not to go
too deep into the.
Piet Van Waarde (05:52):
No, and and well, and the reason I want to
bring it up, I and I you're youyou every conversation we've
had, you were always a littlehesitant about it because you
don't want to blame parents, youdon't want to like but the
reason I bring it up is becauseI've watched, or as I I've heard
you share, um, and now havewatched, that you have not
allowed the difficulties of yourupbringing to taint your
(06:17):
future.
I mean, like you went from youknow, not an ideal setup, and
then you go into the militaryand you start like excelling in
in the Air Force.
You want to talk a little bitabout your experience there?
Sure.
Joe Remini (06:30):
You know, and then growing up, my Uncle Anthony.
So my mom's sister, my AuntBrenda, and then her husband, my
Uncle Anthony, um, he wasalways a really positive
influence.
I mean, he was the first timethat a man said, I used a cuss
word one time, and he said, Wedon't talk like that.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, and he didn't do it inany way that was mean.
He was the first time that aman talked to me, and it wasn't
like mean or ugly, or he wasjust truthful.
(06:50):
Yeah, called me out on it, helpaccountability.
Yeah.
And my Uncle Anthony, uh,unfortunately, he passed away.
You know, we talked about ourown journey, passed away from
brain cancer, was diagnosed inDecember, fairly young, maybe
late 40s, early 50s, and passedaway just three months later.
And um, just a beautiful man.
And anyway, the reason I kindof think about his name was I
didn't want anybody in my familyto know.
(07:10):
I knew I wanted to join the AirForce, not to necessarily get
away from something, but becauseI was excited about doing
something.
And you know, it was, you know,and so um he was actually
driving the bus.
He was a bus driver, and he wasdriving the bus to the um to
the recruiting center, and Ididn't want anybody to know.
So I stayed on the bus evenlonger because you know, he saw
(07:31):
me and we were talking, and Iwent like way past whether and
then I walked back again andwent and signed up, didn't tell
anybody until about three weeksbefore I was about to leave.
And then, yes, and so it's whatI wanted to do.
Um, and I really didn't haveany idea of what I was getting
myself into.
Um, but I was bright enough.
I graduated in the top of myclass, and um, I really was
given a great opportunity, youknow, with the military.
(07:54):
And and yeah, it was afterthat, it was like just men
mentoring me, uh, the besteducation, the best possible
experiences.
And uh, we were working AirForce intelligence missions in
the Far East out of Hawaii formost of my for the bulk of my
operational career and allbefore I went to the
schoolhouse.
And so yeah, absolutely lovedit.
And it was it was the beginningof that journey stepping out on
(08:16):
my own.
Piet Van Waarde (08:16):
And if I may ask, like um, what what did you
take away from that experience?
Like when you know you hearhear about people going to the
military for all kinds ofreasons, but what was the thing
that you you took away from thatexperience?
Joe Remini (08:30):
Well, the first thing was I knew what I was
missing back at home to havethat consistent core group of
people around you, say yournuclear family, your core
family.
But once I was in thatenvironment, I bloomed, you
know, to have healthy peoplearound you to mentor, not only
uh in our in our workenvironment, but also on the
(08:51):
weekends, they'd have us comeout and you know, the guys that
were all Vietnam era, you know,way before my time, and the
wives would be cooking and they,you know, and we'd have all
this great yeah, out inespecially in Hawaii too, on top
of it, you know, it was justreally great environment.
So that was the first thing.
The second thing was it kind ofbuilt up my confidence a lot
that I had this ability in me,allowed me to start seeing
things other than the pain.
(09:12):
You know, I think when peopleare in pain, you it it can
become your focus.
Oh, for sure.
You know, and it helped me tosee other than that.
And, you know, I I joke aroundlike I was Johnny Hotshot all
the time, but we were all JohnnyHotshot.
They groomed us to beexcellent, and I served with
some amazing men and women, andit was just a great experience.
And so what I took away from itwas that I had more in me and I
(09:34):
could be successful, and thatgave me the uh appetite to go on
and continue and further myeducation, and then that began
the next season of my life.
Piet Van Waarde (09:42):
Which now I uh uh you have to help me with the
timeline, but you uh did it wasthe next trip to Fredericksburg?
Joe Remini (09:49):
Is that when you and so yeah, I want to switch legs
here for just a second, kind offalling asleep on me a little
bit uh after we did our fitcheck before.
And so, yes, and so I Iseparated to be a full-time dad,
had gone through some lifechanges.
Unfortunately, I'd gone througha divorce at that time, and her
parents and uh she were locatedhere, and the schoolhouse was
in West Texas, and so you knowthe Air Force was really good
(10:11):
with me to convert my retirementand to allow me an education
program, uh, to uh go to gradschool and to do all that, and
that was transition to Texas andjust living north of
Fredericksburg.
So that began that transition.
Piet Van Waarde (10:23):
And then you opened up the store.
Yes, the silver rush.
Yes.
So I think you already did likedid you uh anticipate like you
were gonna be a business owner?
Is that like in the cards foryou early on?
Joe Remini (10:36):
You know, I think the influence there was my boy's
granddad.
He was a farmer and a rancher,he served in World War II and in
Japan, as a matter of fact,after in occupied Japan and
everything.
And he was born and raised inthe Texas Hill Country, which is
where our store is located.
And I just always loved thefact that he felt he was steward
of his land, he was loved theLord.
He and um and Nani, as we callher, Pop and Nani loved the
(11:00):
Lord.
They were such a good influenceon me.
And it was really difficulttoo, because going through a
divorce, I kind of felt like Ileft them down, you know, a lot
and everything.
And they just loved me and theyjust loved me and they just
love me.
And again, Pop held meaccountable.
Piet Van Waarde (11:12):
Yeah, okay.
Joe Remini (11:13):
That was beginning in the Air Force.
My Uncle Anthony, the AirForce, there was accountability
from men, and that was helped meto grow, you know, as a man.
And so, and um uh fast forwardjust a little bit, um, one day I
was like, I need to have moreincome coming in, and um I was
doing some things and I thoughtlet's open a little store in
Fredericksburg.
(11:33):
It was literally Pete was on awhim.
And um, so going go one more,just backtrack a little bit.
I love the fact that the factthat Pop he worked hard and
didn't have a traditional job.
Yeah, you know, like tr but hewas a hard worker, you know, and
to run a farming and ranchingoperation like that, everything.
And so I kind of had it in myhead.
The other thing was I knew thatmy career path in the Air Force
(11:56):
based on continued education,both professionally and
personal.
And I didn't have a career pathin the civilian world.
I was like, how do I get to mygoal?
Right, which was more free timeand independence and financial
security, you know, and thingslike that.
And that's when I opened up thestore, literally drove to
Fredericksburg, drove up to anempty storefront, called the
number in the window, paid my$750, and I was in business.
Piet Van Waarde (12:20):
Now it's a very unique store.
Um, we're gonna go ahead andlink uh link it here in the
notes.
But uh you do very uniquestyles of jewelry.
And so did you have somehistory in jewelry making or art
that kind of led you into thatdirection?
Joe Remini (12:37):
You know, early on we were doing a lot of beaded
jewelry and a lot of just basicsilver jewelry.
And then um, yeah, so I reallyhad an eye for design and an eye
for uh kind of creating, butreally the heart of the silver
work didn't come until a littlebit later on.
Piet Van Waarde (12:52):
Okay.
Joe Remini (12:52):
And that's when Trish came on board, who you've
got to meet, my operationsmanager, just beautiful,
beautiful person.
And she came on about nineyears ago, and she can run
circles around me when it comesto actual fabrication and
design.
And then Paul came on board andhad a full shop, and then that
just started like honing myskills from things I did early,
early on, some very rudimentaryand basic things.
(13:15):
And so, yeah, so but I for youknow, I didn't want to just have
a store, you know, per se.
I want to do some things thatwere more original, but that was
also again an evolution and aprocess.
Piet Van Waarde (13:28):
Yeah, and so one of the things about your
store that I absolutely love isthat you have all these
connections with differentpeople.
So you have your artists, yourartisans that do the work, but
then the people who end uppurchasing your work are also
very unique individuals.
So you have connections in themusic industry and uh authors
(13:48):
and explorers and all that.
So how how did they find outabout your work?
How did that connection happen?
Joe Remini (13:54):
Well, you know, it's interesting because I knew that
we wanted to use social mediasomehow.
First of all, this we put thestore in, or I put the store in
Fredericksburg because I knew wewere gonna have built-in.
If y'all are not familiar withFredericksburg, it's the number
two destination in the countryfor wine, home of the old
country music venue, Lukenbach,which was made famous by all the
outlaws like ChrisChristofferson and Whelan
(14:15):
Jennings and such.
And so we had that.
It's an old German communityand it's pretty much a Hallmark
town.
It's it's gorgeous.
So I thought, well, how can wego wrong?
We have that built-in, we havethat built in.
I thought, you know, I invested$10,000 to start it.
And, you know, for the firstthree years, I thought I was
gonna get evicted every month,you know, and everything.
And so um, anyway, I reachedout to uh this wonderful young
(14:36):
lady, a very well-known countrymusic artist.
I'm gonna mention her name,Brie Bagwell.
And I called her one day orsent a message and said, Hey,
I've got this little store,we're making some jewelry.
Would you like to have some?
You know, because I love music,absolutely love music.
And she's like a lot of that.
Oh, yeah.
I wish we could have got a clipand you and I sing You're so
vain by Carly Simon, you know.
(14:56):
And I reached out to her andshe said, Sure, come out to my
show this weekend.
So we went out there and she'sjust a beautiful person.
And I think that was the link.
All of the people that I'vemet, whether they're musicians,
singers, songwriters, you know,whatever it is, it's all that
everybody had a talent and agift and they were creating, and
they did it in a beautiful way,not a haughty way in any way.
All the musicians I met.
And then uh, yeah, so that'skind of how that started.
(15:19):
And I began working with allthese artists, and uh, I think,
you know, uh met this beautifulguy, Greg Raleigh, and he's best
known for you know playing atWoodstock and then um uh
founding Journey and stuff likethat.
And he just came in because ofa friend of a friend kind of
thing and happens to live inTexas now, and just a really
great guy.
And Trish and I have lovedhanging out with him, especially
(15:40):
during COVID and all.
And then that opened the doorto do a little one-time deal for
a Ringo Star.
And um, you know, those werereally, really enjoyable.
And Trish and I really did thehappy dance, you know, when we
got that opportunity.
But, you know, that still wasjust a moment that was then.
You know, what you did thenisn't as important as what
you're doing now.
Yeah, but it was a great placebecause I love music.
(16:00):
I'm heavily dialed into tomusic and the music world.
Piet Van Waarde (16:04):
Yeah, I one of the things I love about your
store is not only do you havegreat, uh, very interesting
jewelry, but you have picturesall over the place of various
people who wear who wear yourstuff.
And uh it's just a very quaint,interesting place.
Um the other thing I wanted totalk to you in terms of your
business is we've had a lot ofconversations since we've gotten
to know each other about whatdoes it mean to be a Christian
(16:28):
businessman?
And you know, one you you kindof had this evolution where
you're like experimenting andexploring various things to
allow your your your practice offaith to influence how you do
business.
And I'm just curious, youyou've said we had a
conversation before we went onthe air about like some things
(16:48):
that have been changing for youand some some very interesting
results that have happened as aresult of some of those changes.
So talk a little bit about kindof your evolution there.
Joe Remini (16:57):
Absolutely.
I'm I'm gonna backtrack forjust one second.
So, just as in first my timeyou know with my beautiful
family and with my extendedfamily in New York City, and
then going into the Air Forceand each season just taught me
something else, and that's truefor all of us if we choose to
see that.
Piet Van Waarde (17:13):
Right.
Joe Remini (17:14):
I um the whole time, like I said earlier, I thought
I was gonna get evicted thefirst you know couple of years
that I was in.
And that that was a challenge.
And then it was a challenge ofwhat makes us different than
every other business and how arewe unique?
And it was just always achallenge.
And then there were so manytimes when I just thought, I
have blown this thing, and Ijust felt so down on myself, you
(17:36):
know, and I would beat myselfup and kind of fall back into
that old kind of you know lineof thinking.
And so it was that spiritualjourney, and I share this quite
a bit in the store that yeah,we're doing some really
incredible things and we havesome great opportunity, but it's
been such a growing experiencein my faith.
So now fast forward, because Iwant to say that because there
have been so many people thatreally supported me when things
(17:59):
were tough, yeah, and when I waslike, I don't know how I'm
gonna make it tomorrow.
Right.
And we show up and we do it.
I mean, there was a timeliterally when the doors were
gonna shut, you know, and howare we gonna do it?
And it just kept going.
And so um fast forward and Iappreciate it.
Piet Van Waarde (18:15):
Sorry to interrupt, but I appreciate you
saying that because sometimesthe the error we can get into,
especially as people who arekind of sharing our story, we
tend to gloss over, you know,the parts that didn't go so
well.
And in and and maybe part of itis just, you know, we're trying
to be efficient with ourlanguage or whatever, but
sometimes it's because we don'twant to make it look as though
(18:38):
like we were trying to befaithful with our faith and then
the business didn't work.
And I think we have to behonest about the fact that
sometimes when you're faithful,it's not gonna go well.
And then other times whenyou're faithful, it's gonna
exceed your expectations.
And that's just part of thejourney.
Joe Remini (18:54):
Well, I think I think for me, God is always
faithful.
We know that.
That's the truth, that's hispromise.
For me, I think it was mebelieving that because I wanted
to I never thought I'd be theperson to say I give up, you
know, or whatever.
But that was like kind ofgiving up when things were
getting tough.
And either a couple peoplepoured into me, spoke some truth
into me, sometimes evenfinancially kind of poured into
(19:17):
me, you know, where they'd comeand say, you know what, we just
need to buy all of our Christmasgifts for our family, boom, you
know, there you go.
And so, but where the challengewas for me is he was always
faithful through it and he keptme going and gave me that
opportunity because evidentlywe're here for a reason because
we're serving in a differentway.
So now fast forward, I wantedto make sure that I didn't gloss
(19:37):
over that like you know, likeyou said to use your word.
So then fast forward, so I'msurrounded by some really great
people, including Trish andCrystalin.
I always say Crystal runs thedigital store, Trish runs the
hard store, and I'm kind offloating in between, and then we
have some great other people,including like Grace and then
Stephanie, you know, that arehelping Pete.
There's I can't give a shoutout to well, I will give a
(19:59):
shout-out to everybody, but soTrish and Grace both bring the
sense of truth, you know.
And Chris Chrislin waswhispering in my ear, you know,
about Sundays, you know, andeverybody goes, Oh, you should
close on Sunday, Chick-fil-A isclose on Sunday, and God bless
them, because they're doing itfor that's their they're
(20:19):
demonstrating their faith, youknow.
So I was like, Well, we havecustomers coming in on Sunday,
you know, because we're in aresort town.
They're coming from all overthe weekends, all over the
state, all over the state andall over the country to come in
on the weekends, you know, andeverything.
And so we were doing everythingwe needed to do, and and it
just built up to a point.
And Trish was like, Yeah, youknow, during COVID, we were
(20:40):
closed on Sundays also.
So there were two reasons to beclosed on Sunday.
One was from a secularstandpoint, a worldly
standpoint, well, you take a dayof rest, you know, and you
know, you just take a break, youneed to recharge your spend
time with your family and do allthat.
Then from the spiritual side,you know, by keeping a Sabbath,
you know, and and make settingaside a day for worship and for
(21:01):
fellowship.
And so we decided to go ahead,I say we, because I've got Trish
Chrysler.
Maybe thumbs up to you two.
Um and so we we closed.
And uh one of my really greatcustomers and friend Ann Ledger,
I spoke to her on the way in.
She's like, You got to take aday of rest.
She goes, I'm gonna stay onyou.
You better stay closed.
(21:22):
And we stay closed.
And then there is a uh a pastorI've been following, and I've
always we talked about this too,I've always tried to be
generous.
Uh it's that was mygrandparents.
Yeah.
And then that's the spirittraining me that this is not
ours.
We have to, we have to let itflow.
We have to let it the moneythat comes in, we need to let it
flow out where it needs to goto, being effective stewards of
(21:44):
that.
And so we did those two things.
You know, I started tithing touh support this one pastor that
I'm really, really learning alot from, and specifically
tithing beyond just loveofferings and you know things
like that.
And so we closed the store,started tithing, and now 90 days
later, our sales are up 45%.
(22:04):
And the numbers are so huge,like I was you and I talking
about that, they're kind ofmind-boggling to me.
That's the only two things thathave changed.
I choose to see itspecifically, like God is
showing me.
Follow this, follow this righthere.
And then what does it do?
It it gives me the chance toreally begin to focus even more
on Him because when we'rerunning the business that we're
(22:27):
running and we're shippinghundreds and hundreds of boxes
every couple of days worldwide,it can get overwhelming.
And yet, and yet I'm surroundedwith people who love the Lord,
yeah, I'm surrounded with peoplewho love me, and I'm surrounded
with accountability.
All the things I learned ineach of those seasons, you know,
and everything, and that hasmade the difference.
And so if somebody goes, Well,yeah, you know, close on Sunday,
(22:50):
that's kind of cliche Christianor something like that.
No, it's powerful, yeah.
It's powerful.
I'm not gonna say it works,it's powerful.
There's two different parts ofthat.
Piet Van Waarde (22:59):
Yeah, and uh one of the things I loved about
our our lunch, because I thinkit was uh so we did the podcast
together, we were overnight inFredericksburg, and you took you
took us to lunch verygraciously, and we had a chance
to talk about some of this.
And you you said to me, uh, andI still remember because I've
heard this so many other timestoo, where people say, Yeah,
I've heard all this stuff, youknow, like honor God with the
(23:22):
tithe or honor God by keepingthis class uh the store closed
or whatever.
And you said, like honestly, Iwas a little skeptical too.
Like I heard the stories and Iwas like, eh.
And then you just like said,All right, but I'm gonna I'm
gonna try it.
I'm gonna honor God in this wayby faith.
And then to hear the storytoday, just before you came in,
(23:43):
about how God has just you knowblossomed this, honored this,
uh, this commitment on yourpart.
And I just I celebrate it withyou.
I think it's just such abeautiful thing.
And I'm I'm hoping that peoplewho are hearing this are willing
to say, you know, well, maybethere's there's something in
this for me, because sometimes,you know, people they categorize
(24:04):
their life.
You know, one of the thingsI've noticed in in uh in my
pastoral ministry is that peoplesay, Well, you know, I have my
church on Sunday and I do mystuff and I sing, but this is
business, right?
And they kind of try and keepthose two separate.
But when when people actuallytake the principles of truths
that they're learning inscripture and from teaching and
(24:25):
worship, and they say, No, Icannot just categorize that over
here.
I need to figure out ways to dothis here.
God blesses it.
And and there are things thathappen in your heart as a result
too.
Joe Remini (24:39):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And you know, it's not youknow, uh it's not so much that I
didn't believe it was gonnawork.
My outs, my look was I'mresponsible for these people
that work for me.
They have to pay rent, theyhave to pay car payments, they
have to do all these things.
We need to keep the cash flowgoing, and we need to do this,
and we have to do this, despitebeing a successful debt-free
(24:59):
company.
And if I stayed in that vein,well, because I because I didn't
stay in that lane, and I openedup my eyes because of the
people I'm surrounding were tospeaking the truth to me, which
I knew what the truth was, andthen it became a practical way
of doing it said, Okay, we'regonna make this decision.
And you know, so yeah, I couldhave easily just said, Well,
(25:20):
I've got all these people,they're all counting on me,
we've got to do this.
That was I don't know if it wasan excuse or it was fear.
It was fear to keep me fromtruth.
And the enemy will just keepwhispering that in your ear, you
know.
Piet Van Waarde (25:32):
And it all sounds so good, right?
Yeah, you're like, I'm justtrying to be responsible.
Joe Remini (25:36):
Yeah, oh yeah.
And then you don't wonder whyyou wonder why you have conflict
with your with youraccountability partners.
Because they're like, you know,because everybody we know what
the truth is, or I'll say, butyou don't have all these
employees, you know, counting onme or whatever, you know, and
everything.
But yeah, no, so it's powerful.
It's just not, it wasn't just achoice, it was a growing
(25:57):
season.
And the growing seasons rightnow are it's like I'm getting
turned on to something orsomething's being whispered at
me, and everything's happeningso fast, like the results are
happening so fast.
And so it's just affirming inme and it's just building me up
and building me up.
And like we talked aboutbefore, you know, as young men,
the things that we'veexperienced and all, if you if
you just keep listening to thosevoices in your head, those
(26:19):
voices are speaking death,failure, yeah, you know, just
all that kind of stuff.
And so these other voices,which are speaking truth, are
speaking life, you know.
And then more importantly, I'mmore able to hear the message
and the truth.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Right.
Joe Remini (26:34):
Because one thing I had really spoke this and
promised myself, I remember mygreat-grandmother on my mom's
side, big grandma as we callher, and um, she was just
joyful.
And I said, if I'm blessed tolive as long as my grandparents
and great-grandparents were, Ihope that I can be full of joy
the way they were, and withoutany doubts in my heart about who
(26:55):
I was.
And then at some point just hitme, why are you gonna wait
until you're 80, like you'rethis great grandparent or
something?
How about today?
What do you have in your heartthat really needs to be dealt
with?
And that means, you know, pastbroken relationships, either
with family members or whoever,um, anything at all.
And so it's just like deal withit today, deal with it today,
(27:16):
but deal with it with with God,deal with it with the spirit,
you know, and be and then reallybegin to grow.
And so this whole thing withtithing, closing on Sundays, and
I'm almost embarrassed to sayabout the tithing part.
I really am, because like Isaid, I've always been very
generous to support ministriesand and not only ministries,
when people are hungry.
You know, I was reading onMatthew, you know, the you know,
(27:37):
did you feed me when I washungry?
Did you did you give mesomething to drink when I was
thirsty?
Did you clothe me?
You know, and everything.
And so, but to specifically beintentional about these things
have opened up more doors forme.
And to be honest with you, Idon't care how much money it's
just that's not the importantthing, but it is a barometer.
It's like, wow, this is reallyhappening.
Piet Van Waarde (27:58):
Yeah, you know, yeah one of the things I've
also appreciated about you, andnew and this is like predates
even our relationship.
I've noticed things on Facebookand others, other places where
you've just been very engaged inthe community as a whole.
Like you care about what'sgoing on in Fredericksburg, but
then also when you heard thatI'm teaching this cancer course,
(28:21):
and there might be some peoplewho can't afford to take the
course, you right away sent somemoney for scholarships, and and
you're just very attuned towhat's happening outside of your
store.
So your world is not just like,hey, I want to be faithful with
this, your your world is largerthan that.
And do you see that as anexpression of your faith?
(28:41):
Like, where did that come fromfor you?
Joe Remini (28:44):
Um it good that comes, yes, it's an expression
of my faith.
And that's why I said beforethe intentionality of tithing
and closing on Sunday wasintentional.
That came out of my heart,which is still a spirit, but I
thought, like, that's the easystuff to do when it's that's
your skill set.
Like my grandmother and mygrandfather were very kind and
loving.
My cousin Vinny, um, he alwayswanted to play music.
(29:05):
He's played music all of hislife, and we always talked about
these stories when you knowhe'd bring all these crazy
rockers to his house, punkrockers too, to this Italian
family, you know, andgrandmother would feed
everybody, you know, macaronifor everybody, you know, and
everything.
And so that was in me already.
But then I thought, well,that's the easy thing for me.
I I hear something come up andI just do it.
But it was a skill that wasbuilding also towards being
(29:27):
intentional about tithing andbeing intentional about clothing
on Sundays.
And so, yeah, I think part ofthat got built up.
I worked with an organizationcalled the Gallant Few.
And uh, my son did multiplecombat tours in Afghanistan as
an army ranger, and um, he wasreally he really had a tough
time coming home from combat.
And the rangers are the best ofthe best in the army, and I'm
(29:49):
so proud of him for doing that.
I'm proud of my oldest son,too.
Uh, he's doing some greatthings with his with his life,
his wife, and his children aswell.
But that situation with Tylerwas I leaned into these other
army rangers and I got to meettwo men who were beautiful
Christian men in Fort Benning,Georgia.
And they had an outreachprogram and they were helping
Army Rangers transition, youknow, out of combat.
And so that's when I firststarted saying, let's let's
(30:12):
support this organization.
Let's kind of do these things.
And so, yes, it was selfish insome ways because I wanted the
best for my son.
But then I got to meet TonyMain, who just got inducted in
the Ranger Hall of Fame, which,if you're a Ranger, you're
already, you're already a rockstar.
If you're in the Ranger Hall ofFame, it's like you're wearing
the Superman cake, you know, andeverything.
And so, yeah, so then that waspractice.
(30:32):
All of this is practice.
You learn it, you practice it.
It's like reading, you know,and taking the word in.
You learn it, you practice it.
You got to do it.
You got to feed yourself andeverything.
And so we started that.
And then we became, we had thisbig community of people.
And I was like, we're going todo Run Ranger Run to help raise
money for these guys who areserving.
You know, like I said, withyour organization and your
ministry, you know, you guys aredoing the hard work.
(30:55):
We write a check.
To me, that's the easy part ofit.
And so then I leaned into thatgroup of people that support the
Texas Silver Rush.
And uh I was like, hey, we'redoing Run Ranger Run.
And they were donating, youknow, as we put a team together
and help us raise funds and todo all that.
And that was the early onset ofthis group of people that are
so wonderful that support theTexas Silver Rush.
And, you know, too.
(31:16):
And so then it became not justus, it was all of us now doing
that.
And then when I became aware ofyou, like, oh my gosh, your
post and a lot of your ministryhas really, really impacted me,
especially when we, you know,started sharing these journeys
uh through healing from cancer,you know, and stuff like that.
And so then it was just anatural part for me then to say,
(31:37):
you know, there were two, Ithink it's the first time there
were two folks that could neededa scholarship.
I was like, Yeah, let's goahead and do this.
Yeah.
Because you were alreadyblessing me and everything you
were sharing every day, youknow, and so it was an easy step
up to do that.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Piet Van Waarde (31:51):
Well, and I'm curious, uh this, and we didn't
talk about this yet, so I'msorry to kind of share a
question we haven't discussed,but I'm curious now that we've
been talking about this.
Like one of the principles Ithink is true is that and I
think it's even a biblicalprinciple where to whom much is
given, much is also required.
But I wonder if it's like theother way too, where when you're
(32:15):
faithful with some things, likeGod puts some things on your
heart that you're faithful todo, whether it's like uh
supporting this uh Army Rangeruh run or whether it's
supporting the cancer course orwhether it's supporting you know
other things in the communitythat you do.
Joe Remini (32:33):
Do you feel like because you're faithful in these
things, God just continues toopen up other doors for you to
do absolutely, absolutely, and Ithink it's building confidence,
you know, because you know it'sit's building that confidence
within me, just within me.
You know, I think sincePhilippians where we have to
work out our salvation with fearand trepidation, you know.
(32:54):
And um it's we we've got toknow, we've got to know, uh-huh,
you know, and and until then weact in faith.
And so, yeah, and it's alsoalmost like the chicken and the
egg thing, you know, in some ofthat.
But no, the more and I've heardit also said before, you know,
when you're and I for I I forgetexactly where in scripture it's
at, but you know, when you'reyounger you drink milk, and then
(33:15):
as you mature, you take onmeat.
Yeah, and so the only thing isI will tell you, I wish this all
happened faster because it's soexciting now at in my early
60s.
It's so dang exciting.
You know, I just wish ithappened sooner, but this is my
journey.
Yeah, you know, this is this isthis is my journey, and I have
(33:36):
this opportunity now to livefully in him, you know, and
again, have that peace in myheart that what I don't like
about myself, oh you know, buthe kind of did this one time.
Yeah, I did.
You want to know what else Idid that you don't know?
You know, that sort of thing.
But but that's it's more, noteven what anybody else says,
it's what's in my head.
Yeah, that's the enemywhispering.
You know, some people go, Well,you did it.
(33:57):
The enemy doesn't have towhisper and all that sort of
thing.
So, no, I firmly believe, yes,as you were saying, that when he
when this happens and thespirit moves, that it builds you
to become stronger.
Piet Van Waarde (34:08):
Yeah, and and then he entrusts you with more.
Yes.
Like Joe's proven to befaithful with this.
I'm gonna give him anotheropportunity, another challenge,
another thing to do.
And uh, and I I guess I justwant to commend you because
sometimes when you're living thelife, you're not as aware of
like how cool it is uh whatyou're doing.
(34:30):
But you know, every time I'mI'm with you, I hear your story
and I hear what you're doing.
I'm just so inspired because itchallenges me.
Like it's like uh as I'mhearing you talk, like it's
like, Pete, are you doing that?
Are you willing to take thoserisks?
Are you willing to kind of stepoutside of your comfort zone?
And so I just want to say thankyou for being an example in
(34:52):
that way.
I feel like you're you're verymuch an inspiration.
Love how you do business, lovehow you trait uh talk about
people and and do your life.
It's just uh it's reallyinspiring.
Joe Remini (35:03):
Well, thank you.
I mean, I I don't I'm evenhesitant to say thank you, but
thank you.
I there's been, like you said,there's been so many amazing
people that have been around methat this is just a reflection.
You know, I just read thismorning that uh in Matthew, I
told you I was reading Matthewlast night this morning, and it
said, you know, we when we getto heaven, you know, we're all
gonna be angels.
You know, it doesn't matterabout marriage and family, and
(35:26):
you know, think we're we are allgonna be angels.
And so in this world, we shouldbe brothers and sisters, you
know, period, across the boardand love each other that way,
you know, and everything.
And so, yeah, everything that'shappening right now is that
reflection of all the peoplethat poured into me.
And they were spirit ledbecause I can tell you where
their walk is, you know, rightnow and everything.
And like I said, I'm mostexcited that it's it's all
(35:48):
happening right now becausethere's been a lot of really
scary as a small business owner,there's a lot of scary times.
A lot, there's a lot of scarytimes.
And there's also this point,too, uh, I want to touch on
earlier.
There's sometimes when youdon't know this, this is the
time to pull the plug.
Because you're being smart,you're being wise, or do you
just kind of run this thing downinto the ground?
And so, but God always, alwaysmade a way.
(36:11):
He always and it was sometimesdemonstrated.
I've heard it say before, youknow, I lost my job and then I
came home and there were checksin my mailbox to pay the rent,
to pay the mortgage, you know,things like that.
God will make a way, and heloves us and he cares about us
and he supports us.
So for me in this journey,which is the Texas Silver Rush,
he's been growing up, he's beengrowing me up, he's been m
(36:33):
maturing me.
Um, excuse me, last February Ihad to go, my uh my Uncle
Terrence had passed away, andhis son, my cousin TJ, he's my
first cousin, he's a man Ihighly respect.
He's got a beautiful family andand everything.
And so I made this trip to NewYork to go to the funeral, and
it was a little awkward comingfrom a challenging family
situation.
(36:53):
But I had been with TJ themonth before myself, my cousin
Vinny and TJ and I were alltogether in the city in
Lowerside, and uh so I knew Ineeded to be there for him, and
that was bigger than myself, andthat was God move me through.
And I learned so much, youknow, from that experience, you
know, and everything as well.
And so each season, there's arethere will be challenging
(37:13):
times, there will be toughtimes, there will be gut checks,
and there are gonna be thingslike that.
But I can literally say that bydoing that, by making that trip
to honor uh Michael Terrenceand honestly, my cousin TJ, you
know, um, because he is a goodman, he's a man I admire.
Yeah, and so I was like, I'vegot to, I'm gonna be at that,
I'm at this level, and I'll bethere.
(37:35):
And you know, when I when hesaw me in the church, first
thing he did came hug and said,come sit with family.
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, that's great.
Piet Van Waarde (37:41):
All right.
I want to close with uh onething that you have coming up in
uh I think it's February.
You're gonna be celebrating abig anniversary.
You want to give us a littlesneak.
Joe Remini (37:50):
Oh, I forgot all about that.
What are you gonna be doing?
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
So uh February 16th will be our25th year anniversary of being
open.
Yeah.
So going back to it, I'm justlike, how'd this all happen?
And so um, so we're gonna haveour 25th anniversary celebration
of the Texas Silver Russian.
I know I didn't talk aboutbusiness too much, but uh, we're
(38:10):
located in Fredericksburg,Texas.
We're all over social media andeverything.
And so um I was just like, youknow, we we've got to celebrate.
And the actual reason for thecelebration is the story in
itself, but I was uh I saw thisguy who was opening a new
business on Kauai when I wasthere this summer, and he had a
blessing ceremony before theyopened the store.
(38:31):
And it was in Hawaiian, it wasa Christian ceremony, and they
had the tea lay tea leaves onand everything, lays and all.
And I was like, that's it wasjust again, I want to bless the
store and rededicate it andrepurpose it because yes, I
opened it with integrity.
I was like, I want to pay forcollege for the kids, I want to
have this career and I wanted todo these things and all.
And but I never did again, itwas intentionality.
(38:54):
And so I want to bless thestore, whatever we do from day
uh year 25 and day one, let ithonor him and serve him and and
be done in love.
And so um decided to have thisuh anniversary celebration.
So we'll bless the store thatafternoon, and then we'll open
doors right behind the stores isone of the oldest halls in
Fredericksburg, beautiful hall.
(39:15):
And uh we're gonna have uh somegreat food and fellowship and
music, and we're gonna have agreat celebration.
And you know, I totally forgotabout it because I'm so focused
on this on the big Christmas runand everything.
And so, yeah, we're reallyexcited, and I hope that y'all
are around so you can actuallycome.
Piet Van Waarde (39:32):
Yeah, I I if I am here, I am totally in it.
Absolutely, absolutely.
Joe Remini (39:36):
I look forward to that.
Piet Van Waarde (39:38):
Well, Joe, thank you so much for uh sharing
your story and your life.
It is inspiring, and I want tosay thank you to all of you for
joining us.
Uh, we appreciate yourparticipation.
I hope that you were inspiredby Joe's story, and I hope you
join us again for anothersidewalk conversation.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.