Bob Smallwood Part 6

Bob Smallwood Today on John Dash and Friends John sits down with one of his closest friends Bob Smallwood. A man whose music has touched lives across the mountains healing broken hearts and bringing hope to those who need it most. Together, they share a passion for reaching the lost and shining light in dark places. This is more than a conversation it’s a moment you won’t forget. We hope you enjoy this episode of *John Dash and Friends*. #JohnDashAndFriends #BobSmallwood #DashTv #DashTvNet #TalkShow #PodcastLife #InterviewSeries

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

They couldn't get nobody to preach his funeral, so they called me. I'm sorry I was at the bottom of the list, but they called me. So he said, he said, I heard you was going to preach his funeral, and I want to just see who you were and how you was going to do that. And I said, Yeah, I remember it, yeah, like it was yesterday. And uh he said, uh because what I done was I told the people, I said, uh, I'll preach his funeral and this is what it cost. I need a pair of his shoes. I put them in a brown bag and I set them up on top of the casket. And I I began to talk to him. Now I may have told this before, because old people, I repeat myself sometimes. But anyway, I never heard that. So I set them shoes up on top of the casket. I said, now here's the deal. He's dead. He's dead. He's gone. It's over. And I never walked in them shoes, neither of you. But this is not about him, it's about you.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

And if you don't forgive him, he's dead. It don't matter what to him whether you forgive him or not. But if you don't forgive him, it's gonna hurt you from now on.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Amen. And I said so well.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

He told me he said that that changed my life. He said, And say, I didn't even know this man. I can see how I didn't have no idea. This guy at the propane store, I didn't know him. I didn't even remember seeing him there. It was no kind of but uh all them years, over 25 years later, our path crossed. Okay? And he began to tell me how that changed his life, talking about forgiveness.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Just that simple.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

So I mean uh I don't know. God give you the word. I think about those things, how you we th we take it for granted sometimes, these little these these interactions that we have with people. When I I believe they're all just as careful, just ordained, and you just move real easy, go real slow, and take your time and do what you're supposed to do. Amen. And don't get excited. And and just I keep on keep on moving forward. I chair with people all the time. I said, I don't move forward real fast, but I'm sure-footed.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 2:11

I used to be.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Uh not now. I gotta shovel a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

You know, uh, I believe you you probably was the first TV station ever here in Southwest Virginia. Yeah, only one I know of, but I tell you, you've done some remarkable things, and and and I love to talk about uh Christ and and uh his people. His people. Yes, sir. I preached yesterday at the Grace Baptist Church, and uh everybody wonders what heaven's gonna be like. I said, Well, I got a little taste of it here at this church, Easter Sunday, sunrise service.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

We had we had breakfast.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

And I tell you, you talk about biscuits and gravy, sausage and bacon, eggs, pancakes. Didn't cost nothing. I sit there with God's people and don't tell me that that wasn't a sample of heaven, because I got a little taste of it right there. Hallelujah. My Lord sang a song, uh, I want to see just to see him smile, I believe. I like the song. But I said, You want to see Jesus smile? Walk into church Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

You want to see him smile.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

You know, I think about heaven, Bob, what it's really gonna be like, okay. And I I've got friends that have got said they've been there and glimpses and things, and I really feel like they in their heart they have and have. But when I think about, when you think about it, now here's what I think about when I think about heaven. I think about there being no envy, no strife, no malice, no hatred, no jealousy. That's what I think about heaven. Okay, I'm not thinking about gold or floating.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Uh, we're not gonna be floating, you got it right.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

I mean, I really believe I believe it, Bob. I think, but there being none of that, those spirits there, that envy and malice and strife and jealousy and greed. That's gone. These are things that are that are in this earth that that battle all the time. And they're actually the fuel that keeps this earth going in so many places is that envy, strife, and greed, and and causes people to be in positions that they're in and do the stuff they do.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

It won't happen now. And and I'm I'm gonna tell you something. You know that. You know it. You ain't saying it to me like you don't know it. You know it, you know, because God told you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

God told you. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

And I feel that, Bob, in my heart. I just I think about those things. Now I'll tell you what I did do. My wife has thrown up to me a few times about heaven. Because she's talking about, well, if someone's married and this spouse dies, and then they remarry, who are they going to be with in heaven? And I said, well, now first thing, there's my first point. I said, the Bible said there'll be no marriage in heaven. That's right. And I said, the second point is you're taking an awful lot on yourself thinking you're gone. I don't know. She always wants us to be buried by each other. And she's now when I get to heaven, she says, I'm gonna grab your hand. I said, now I'm gonna say I don't know who this woman is.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Well now, now I believe that you two will be together forever. And I'm gonna tell you something. Your precious father, I'll never forget when he prayed for me at that horse shop. Yes, sir. I needed prayer. You don't know that.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

You'll never know. And you did too. Right. But Eddie's topic.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

What uh humble listen, I have known some good people in my time. He was uh I have me a a little dog. My wife knows I got a little dog. I call her sugar. She's the kindest thing ever lived. Just a little bitty thing. So kind. And your dad was so kind. Uh no wonder you're kind to people. It's inherited. I believe we inherit some things. Not everything.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

I I agree. But I think there's a heritage that comes back from our grandparents and our parents. There's things that that traits and things that we and you listen, if it works in horses and dogs, you know it works in people. You know what I mean? Right. I think uh we uh probably people ought to have have papers like a horse. You know, where you can look back through their heritage and have a little something wrote about them and say, here's who this one was. You know what I mean? And a lot of mine was like yours, but it's a little few challenges back on my my tree, has a few rough spots in it. Oh, I mean.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

But the good thing I like about it when God um I like that song I sing sometimes. I sometimes I get feeling bad, Lord, I'm so sorry for my sins. He said, What sins are you talking about? And so we got a little rough place here and there on our tree of life, but it's okay. Our name's written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and that's all we care about, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Bob, what did you tell me now? You're pastored, you pastor somewhere in the world.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

The Grace Baptist Church in Lebanon, it's just off Route 71. And uh there's a sign there, you turn toward the old Jesse's Mill, and then there's another big sign, Grace Baptist turns left. It's a beautiful church. It's been there about 80 years, I believe. And and we had an Easter sunrise service. Oh my goodness, I'm telling you, I got a little taste of heaven right now.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

So when I come into Lebanon, where is that at?

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Well, it's on the Leicester exit back, uh going toward if you're going toward Abingdon. Okay. Not the first one or the second one, but the third exit.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Is that where the Burger King is?

SPEAKER_02 7:31

No, and the next one down. The next one down. If you were to get off there and turn back right toward Lebanon, oh, you wouldn't go three or four hundred feet and that's a red light. That's Route 71 and turn left. That takes right out to Jesse's Mill Road a couple of miles. Okay. Turn right on Jesse's Mill Road, bottom of the hill there, and you'll see my church sign there.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Grace Baptist, and just turn left. Come on up. We there, everyone that's what I thought I was going to be with you sometime.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Yeah. Oh, kind of. I like visiting. I like visiting. You know what I mean? I enjoy visiting and and going to the house.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

I'd like to hear you preach a little bit, talk about Jesus, you know.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

I think that that we get together just like family.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Amen. Amen. Well, we are family, and I and that that's what I told them at church. That, you know, I'm with you. Who do you think I eat that good breakfast with? My family. That's right. God's children. They're they're my family. When I see a man troubled or whatever, I see a man struggling to get home, just a Christian on his way home. Exactly. Sometimes it gets hard. Yeah. I I you know, I used to sing with this girl, our daughter, and uh um I went that she told me doctor diagnosed her with cancer. So I said, uh, I sat on the couch, she was getting ready, we were going somewhere. I think the Mike Sage's church down in uh Marion. But any anyway, I sat down right there and wrote that song. When I first became a Christian, when I first became a Christian, I walked so tall. Surely nothing could ever go wrong. But I soon discovered Christians travel on a gravel road. Didn't take me that