I'm hanging out with my buddy Desp in Alabama right now as I record this.

I'm hanging out with my buddy Desp in Alabama right now as I record this. I'm actually using his setup here at his office.

It's fun being in Alabama. I really, really like Northern Alabama.

The first time I visited here, I had probably a lot of the same assumptions that many other people do,

negative stereotypes and stuff of the South and maybe I'm being a jerk for even acknowledging that those negative stereotypes exist.

This place blew me away. Everybody is so dang nice and it's just beautiful

down here and I've really come to enjoy coming down to visit and reconnecting with

people who I've met along the way. Yet when I'm here I find myself more than ever really liking to talk about the West because it's

kind of you know a bit of a curiosity to people here and maybe there's always a

touch of insecurity like whoa what do I really bring to the table is there anything

interesting about me and so talking about home is kind of fun you know I live in the

black hills of South Dakota now I live near Deadwood Spearfish up north in the mountains. It's a really fun

interesting place with fascinating weird quirky history. In a way, you know, where I'm from

it kind of says something about me.

Dress appropriately for it and affects your speech and your mentality and yeah we're tough

because we get lots of snow and I have to plow the snow.

You know I don't know how many times I've told these stories and they're not even good stories, but it's just,

it's something we do when we travel because where we're from says something about us.

Where Jesus is from says something about him.

And we talked a lot about what it says about him and what opportunities

setting up shop on the north shore of the sea of Galilee

in the first century

...