Show Transcript

0:00:01 - (Kevin Lowe): If you were to look at life like a game of poker, you would be safe to say that James Purdue was dealt a bad hand. But like any good gambler knows, you have two choices. You can either fold or you can play the game. Well. James Purdue, he chose to play the game. As you listen to his story today, you're going to be conflicted with your emotions, because quite possibly you're going to feel sorry for what he's been through, for what he's had to endure.

0:00:33 - (Kevin Lowe): But at the same time, when you hear the smile in his voice, when you laugh at his jokes, you're going to feel like, oh, my gosh, I can't feel sorry for this guy because this guy is living life. He's making the most out of the hand he was dealt, my friend. This is episode 254, and this is the story of James Purdue. What's up, my friend? And welcome to grit, grace, and inspiration. I am your host, Kevin Lowe. 20 years ago, I awoke from a life saving surgery, only to find that I was left completely blind. And since that day, I've learned a lot about life, a lot about living, and a lot about myself.

0:01:20 - (Kevin Lowe): And here on this podcast, I want to share those insights with you. Because, friend, if you are still searching for your purpose, still trying to understand why, or still left searching for that next right path to take, will consider this to be your stepping stone to get you from where you are to where you want to be. Do you ever feel like there's got to be more to life than this? Yeah, maybe on the outside your life looks good, but in reality, you are so unfulfilled with life, you keep thinking that there has got to be something more that you're meant to be doing more, but you don't know what that is or how to even make it happen.

0:02:02 - (Kevin Lowe): Well, imagine if it was different. Imagine if you got to wake up on Monday morning full of enthusiasm, so excited for the day, because you are finally living in alignment with your life's purpose. Well, friend, it's possible. And that is why I created discover your purpose. My signature one on one coaching session where we can dive deep into your life purpose. If you are finally ready to make this the year that you start living out your truest potential, well, it's time that you discover your life's purpose.

0:02:40 - (Kevin Lowe): To learn more, text the word discover to 5544. Again, just text the word discover to 55 four. And with that, I hope you enjoy today's episode.

0:03:00 - (James Perdue): Well, my mom, she divorced before my first birthday. I call him just the sperm donor. Since I've never heard from him. He never sent a birthday card, nothing like that, even when he was dying. On his deathbed, my mom sent word that she would bring his boys up air to meet him before he passed away if he wanted to. And he never even sent word on his deathbed. They don't want to see his boy, so I just consider him as my sperm donor. That put me where I'm at today.

0:03:30 - (James Perdue): And my mom remarried, and the stepfather is the guy that I considered my father. He would love me when I desperately needed it and he would bust my butt when I desperately needed it and to keep me in line because I was one of them that kind of got into mischief a little bit. I was one of them that believed that I was invincible. I could do a lot of things and I will overcome it and move forward in life.

0:03:57 - (James Perdue): So he was the one that loved me and disciplined me when I needed it and put me where I'm at. And then he ended up dying when I was 16, about ten or eleven years after marrying my mom. And so my mom, she raised three boys, and I guess she did pretty good at it.

0:04:12 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah, I love it. Now, when he passed away, when you were just 16, how did that impact your life?

0:04:20 - (James Perdue): Tell you what, about a year and a half, two years earlier, he had open heart surgery. And at that time they said, like, one side of his heart was like 90% blockage and other side was like 100% blockage. So they had to go in and do this triple bypass at that time, and he come home, never got to go back to work again. And so for the next year and a half, not that he was sick in bed all the time, he'd get up and go do things, did a little work around the house, but he was told not to over exert because how much blockage was there.

0:04:53 - (James Perdue): But he did the best he could. But finally he went to the hospital, and I remember the doctor calling and told my mom that there was nothing more they can do for him, that he was retaining fluid on his body and lungs and said that he could have a year, he could have a month, he could have a week, said, we just don't know. There's nothing more we can do. So she goes to the hospital to pick him up, to bring him home, and while they're waiting on the paperwork, the lunch lady came in for lunch at the hospital and he told him, said, no, I'm not going to eat lunch here. I'll wait till I get home and eat lunch with my boys.

0:05:30 - (James Perdue): But I'll drink some as tea. And so he reached to grab the tea, and what he did dropped dead right there in front of my mother.

0:05:39 - (Kevin Lowe): Oh, my gosh.

0:05:41 - (James Perdue): Of course. I was 16 years old. Got older brother 17. He's a year older than me, and then younger brother at that time, he'd be about eight or nine, something like that. And we all had to grow up fast. So we can help mom with everything. Tell you what, we get in the story one day we need to get in here, and we can do a second program, but we need to talk about how my mom is like a modern day job with all the stuff she's had to go through.

0:06:08 - (James Perdue): Yeah, she's definitely the strongest. And I hope everybody can say that they have a mother, stepmother, somebody that raised them as a female. I hope they can say that's the strongest woman I've ever met. And I could definitely say they were my mom.

0:06:23 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah, absolutely. I know that is the case with my family as well. My mom and my grandmothers.

0:06:30 - (James Perdue): Yes, mom, grandmother. Yeah, we know.

0:06:33 - (Kevin Lowe): Us men, we would be nowhere without the women in our life.

0:06:36 - (James Perdue): I tell you what, it's a shame. Hey, I just saw some statistics the other night, research and everything, that when men get sick, they truly do get sicker than women. So when it used to be the woman's going, oh, I still got to cook supper and got to go do it wherever. I got a code, and you're doing nothing. And then the men are laying in bed with their code, not doing anything. And some research actually come out and said that men actually do get sicker than women and stuff like that. So now they take that woman.

0:07:09 - (Kevin Lowe): That is so funny. So that point in your life, back to your childhood when you said that your stepdad had passed away and you and your brothers really kind of had to become the men of the house and stuff. At what point, though, did sports enter your life? Because I know baseball is a big part of your story.

0:07:30 - (James Perdue): Big part, yeah. Actually, I was playing sports started at ten years old with baseball, and I actually made a team. My brother, again, was a year older than me, but he wasn't quite athletic. He didn't make a team, but I did. And about a week before the season started, then they cut me. I'm going, what? Ten years old? I didn't know. They can cut you anytime they want to. And so they cut me. So the following year, my brother and me had to try out again, and we both made the team, this time a different team.

0:08:03 - (James Perdue): And so I got to play two years in little league, my eleven and twelve year old league and one of my greatest stories. And let me go back to my father for a second. He always said, I'll be a great storyteller. He said, because you lie so much around here, son, you're going to be a great storyteller one day. He used to call me Jesse James because I got in so much mischief. Yes, okay. But here's one of my better stories, is one day we're getting ready to play the number one team in the league. Number one, they hadn't lost a game, 13, and this is last game of the season.

0:08:39 - (James Perdue): They beat the crap out of us first time we played them, but I got to pitch a couple of innings. And the best player in the league, Tony Goodall. Hey, Tony Goodall, my budy, if you ever get to hear this, talking about you again. And so old Tony, he led with most home runs in the league, the highest batting average in the league. He was the best pitcher in the league, undefeated and everything. But I got to pitch an inning or two because we're getting beat so bad now.

0:09:03 - (James Perdue): Not that at that time I was the hardest thrower, which I wasn't. I probably threw it so slow and that team was so anxious rated head. I probably threw them off a little bit. But I struck old Tony out and I was one of the first person to strike him out. And I'm, yeah, felt good about myself. So the last game of the year, we're playing them. They're 13 and we're six and seven, I think six and seven. So we're playing them.

0:09:29 - (James Perdue): And so they decided I was going to pitch the game and I'm going, yeah, well, it rained half today and so the coach is calling, going, hey, rest up for the arm. But right now they're saying we're still going to play. I said, okay. Then he goes, well, I think they're going to cancel it. Then he calls it, no, they said, it's still on. And so I'm resting, waiting for the game. But come to find out, our league was the only league in that city that played all the softball teams canceled the other cross town little league, they canceled theirs. So everybody in Galatin is there watching me pitch against the number one team in the thing, including the team that cut me two years up again, I didn't throw hard at that age, so I'm sure I threw slow enough. And they're over swinging and everything, but we end up beating them four to nothing.

0:10:22 - (James Perdue): And I pitched a no hitter against the number one team and the team that cut me again was going, we should have kept him. We should have kept him. And I got to strike Tony out again. So I was the only person struck him out twice again. I know it's because I probably threw it so slow, and he's up there thinking, home run, throw, home run. Boom. But I got strike him out twice.

0:10:47 - (Kevin Lowe): Wow, that is one heck of a story. I love it. I love it. Now, did you continue being a pitcher all through your career in baseball?

0:10:58 - (James Perdue): Yeah, this little league team, but I didn't pitch any my first year as eleven year old, but as a twelve year old, they wanted people to try out for pitching, so I tried out and I was left handed. And so when a left hander throws, they got that little natural screwball, so they end up giving me the opportunity. And so from the rest of my career, I pitched or played first base or outfield. Yeah. And so I was one of them growing up, wanted to be a professional athlete, because when my dad died, we weren't what you were called poor, but we were knocking on the door poor.

0:11:35 - (James Perdue): At 16, when he passed away, my mom, if the roof leaked from rain, I'm the one had to get up on the roof and find it and patch it the best we could because she couldn't afford a roofer. And here in Tennessee, weather gets kind of nippy a little bit. So if under our house, the pipes froze, and I'm doing it, 14 degrees is underneath there, trying to find where the pipe is froze to get it thawed out. So we have water for the winter and auto mechanics, everything. She just couldn't afford it, so I had to learn to do all that. Growing up, my older brother, he wasn't mechanically inclined, so I had to do it. And younger brother, he's too young to do all that. And so I wanted to be this professional athlete. That way I can buy mom this new house, not have to worry about all that going on, buy her a new car and get my brother's new cars. And I even told people back when I was growing up, they used to have a magazine that you could order and you can get a mail ordered bride.

0:12:35 - (James Perdue): And so I was going to get a mail order groomed for my mother. Was my plan. That was my plan was to get this professional deal to help the family.

0:12:50 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah, absolutely. Well, let's say real quick, before we continue, how much that said about you at a young age, that that was your dream, not all yourself, to buy yourself a big house and fancy cars only, but literally that you wanted to take care of your family.

0:13:11 - (James Perdue): Oh, yeah. I mean, even give my grandmother something. I've told people so I don't know what I got her because grandparents, they seem to have everything, but I'm sure I would have got her something.

0:13:21 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah. I love it. So we talked about you being like, 1112 playing baseball. I assume that you continued then playing baseball all the way up through high school.

0:13:30 - (James Perdue): High school, I was our most valuable player my junior and senior year. And even today, I'm the only person that's won the MVP two years.

0:13:42 - (Kevin Lowe): Oh, wow.

0:13:42 - (James Perdue): Use it as a one and done and use it to seniors to get it. But again, the funny thing is, when I got in my junior year, the guy before me was a senior, but his junior year, he got the MVP and he came back as a senior, and so I beat him out. And then, of course, I got it my senior year.

0:14:02 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah. Oh, wow. That's pretty darn cool.

0:14:05 - (James Perdue): So, yeah, I'm the only one of that. And of course, I ended getting a scholarship to go to college, and I was one of them that I had a strong 2.0 gpa to go to college. Now when I say strong 2.0, I mean, yeah, I just barely got that 2.0. I was one of them that the teachers always said, james, you're smarter and issue, you ought to be put more into it. And I'm going, no, you don't need to do all this when you're playing baseball.

0:14:32 - (James Perdue): And so, mom and dad, you're smarter than this. You need to do, but you don't need to do all this when you're in baseball. So I never did put forth what I should have, and then I'm one of them nowadays. I wished I would have so I would be better prepared when I got injured and went to play baseball, I mean, to college, because then I had to learn to study all over again because of what I didn't really learned in my high school and middle school years, of course.

0:15:04 - (Kevin Lowe): You know what, man? Something always comes to bite us in the butt later in life.

0:15:10 - (James Perdue): Sometimes it doesn't have to be a big bite, but, yeah, it comes back and let you know that things could have been a little different.

0:15:19 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah, absolutely. So talk to me about leaving town, going away to college. Your college. Was it far away from home?

0:15:30 - (James Perdue): Yeah, it was about 2 hours. Okay, 2 hours, two and a half, something like. It wasn't real far, but it was far enough. I couldn't come home, get mom's home, cooking every night. So I ended up going to what was called back then, martin methodist, it was a two year college, and now they're a four year school. But martin Methodist then. And so I was in college for a whole two weeks before I had my injury.

0:15:57 - (James Perdue): When I went to college, I went for three reasons. One, to get drafted so I can go to pros, so I can do my thing. And number two was to meet all the women I can meet. And number three, to party. And it didn't matter what order it was, it depended on what time of day it was. If it was noon to five, well, then my priority was baseball. But if it was seven to midnight, then it was meeting girls and partying. So depending on time of the day was my priority at that time.

0:16:28 - (James Perdue): And so I was in school for two full weeks, and I got to play one college game. And, I mean, I don't hate telling the story, but I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but again, I was the only freshman starting. He had all his players from the year before coming back, and so I got to play as the one freshman, the only freshman starting, and had a pretty good game. After the game, I remember my mom saying, hey, come on home, because we played in Nashville, so we were 40 minutes from home. Then she says, come on home tonight. I'll cook you a dinner and stuff, spend a night, and I'll drive you back down to college the next day. And I said, mom, there is no way.

0:17:09 - (James Perdue): I said, today was a good day. This is the first step towards our goal to be this professional athlete. And I said, mom, nothing can stop us. And then in looking back, hindsight, when I said, nothing has stopped me, that's kind of like that dude on the Titanic, the captain, the guy. And he says, even God himself can't sink this ship. And I tell people, watch how you say can't stop you and stuff. Then I said, but God didn't need to stop the Titanic. He didn't need to stop the ship. The iceberg did it for him.

0:17:44 - (Kevin Lowe): Yes.

0:17:45 - (James Perdue): So the very next day, a bunch of people on campus, I say a bunch, were playing a football game, pickup game. No pads, no helmets, nothing like that. But we were playing tackle, okay? We'd been out there probably 2 hours, and my team got the ball back. And I said, hey, I'm done playing for today. We've been out for about 2 hours. I said, I need to get my stuff ready for class. And then, hindsight looking back, I'm going get ready for class.

0:18:12 - (James Perdue): You ain't taking anything for class. You were just showing up just so you. But I said, I need to get things ready for class. So I left the huddle. I got maybe 10ft away. And then I heard someone say, we need someone to run the ball. I stop and turn around. Now, Kevin, a little shameless plug here. I said, I'll come back for one more play. Which hint? Shameless plug is the name of my first book. One more play.

0:18:36 - (James Perdue): And it talks about how growing up, like we're talking today, my little memoir. And so they hand the ball off to me. I broke through the line, broke a couple of tackles, scored a touchdown, and I was turning towards everyone, plays over with, right? So scored a touchdown, plays over. So I'm putting the ball down, turning towards everyone and on the right side of me, and something in my peripheral vision, I see something. I have no idea what it is. I just see something.

0:19:03 - (James Perdue): And then I hear. I feel contact up high by shoulder area. And then I hear a loud pop and both of us go to the ground. Now I'm thinking my collarbone broke because he hit me up high on my right side. Again, I was left handed, and the guy's all. I tackled him, attacking him, and said, yeah. After the play was over with, I said, man, I'm going to get up and kick your butt right now. So I didn't use the word butt.

0:19:27 - (James Perdue): I figured, again, because I grew up thinking I was invincible, I'll beat this guy with one hand, my left hand. I'm left handing it. My left side didn't get hurt. It was my collarbone broke on my right side. And so I got up and, well, I tried to get up, and when I lift my head, nothing followed. My shoulders didn't come up, my arms didn't come up, my legs didn't come up. And so I put my head back down, and then the guy that tagged me says, well, does your touchdown count?

0:19:53 - (James Perdue): I said, man, when I really get up now, I said, asking the dumb question, like if it still counts, and tried again to get up again. Nothing followed. And then I did. The old people say three is a charm. So I put my head down, took a deep breath, tried to get up a third time. Nothing followed. And then I knew instantly I was paralyzed.

0:20:13 - (Kevin Lowe): Wow, how fast everything can change.

0:20:19 - (James Perdue): Yeah, you hear people say in the blink of an eye, well, in the blink of an eye, in the break of a neck, because the pop end up hearing was, he broke my neck.

0:20:28 - (Kevin Lowe): Okay.

0:20:29 - (James Perdue): And that made the spinal cord injury. And so, yeah, that's how I got paralyzed.

0:20:35 - (Kevin Lowe): Wow, what happened? Do you remember at that moment I mean, did everybody start coming over and.

0:20:44 - (James Perdue): Kind of chaos pursue, remember staring at the sky and the trees where the wind is blowing the leaves up top? Because I knew they're going to have to get an ambulance. And you always hear, don't move. You'll make things worse if I couldn't move anyway. So we didn't have to worry about that part. But there was one guy there, and I don't know what they called it back in 1983, but he was trying to be a paramedic, EMT, whatever they called him back then.

0:21:14 - (James Perdue): And all of a sudden he's taking control of everything. He told someone, run to his room, get his pen and paper out, bring a blanket, bring the stethoscope, bring his blood pressure cup. And he's out there before the ambulance, even getting there. And then he's telling them my blood pressure and temperature and he's telling me to be calm, don't over. He gave him a bunch of information to give to them before they got there. So I would love to meet him again, but I didn't get his name or anything, but I would love to meet that guy to thank him for that. I'm just laying there. I wasn't knocked unconscious, had pain in my neck, but it wasn't pain.

0:21:52 - (James Perdue): I mean, it wasn't pain that made you cry, but it was pain. And so they ended up taking me to, of course, to the local hospital. Part of my story there is one of my reasons I went to school was to meet these girls. And so I met this one girl a couple of days before all this took place, and she was going to school to be a nurse. And so I'm at the hospital, I'm out in the hallway, they've done x rays and stuff.

0:22:18 - (James Perdue): And this girl, she comes by and she looked at me and says, hey, James, how you doing? I forgot her name now. And I said, oh, yeah, I'm not doing too good. Said, I'm paralyzed. She says what? I said, yeah, my neck's broke. And she huh. And then she looks at the chart and. Yep. So one of the reasons I went to meet the girls and here she was working at the hospital there.

0:22:40 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah.

0:22:40 - (James Perdue): And so she ended know staying to talk with me a little bit because then from the local hospital, they transferred me back at the Nashville to St. Thomas hospital.

0:22:50 - (Kevin Lowe): Okay. Wow. Now, during this mean, are you thinking to yourself that this is temporary or did you know this is serious?

0:23:02 - (James Perdue): Well, I knew it was serious because again, I couldn't get up and move at all. So I knew it was serious. But again, I had this invincibility that when they told me, because I remember asking the doctor in Nashville, I said, how bad is it? And he said, bad enough you'll never walk again, possibly not move anything from your neck down. I said, that's pretty damn bad, isn't it? And he said, yeah. But again, I had this invincibility.

0:23:26 - (James Perdue): I thought, oh, yeah, right. I'll show you all. I'll be walking now. Figure my baseball career was over with, but I thought, I'll be walking. And. Yes. So that invincibility kept kicking in to do more and try more from there.

0:23:41 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah. Wow. So what ended up being your long lasting injury? Did you ever regain movement from the neck down?

0:23:51 - (James Perdue): I had my injury on everybody else's, what they call 911, September 11. So my 911 was in 1983, where the country was 2001. So I own that before they do. All right.

0:24:04 - (Kevin Lowe): Yes.

0:24:05 - (James Perdue): Now, not that I'm bragging that anybody's 911 is worse than anyone else or not as bad. I'm not saying, I'm not comparing, but that was September 11. I heard on Halloween I first moved a muscle on my leg. And so I had a nurse come in and feel, I said, moving this muscle in my leg. I said, I can tell you what I'm doing. I said, here, I'm going to tighten this muscle up, and I'll tighten it up. And I said, now I'm relaxing it. Tighten it up. Relaxing. And she confirmed that I was moving them. Yeah. And so I was in the hospital for St. Thomas for like three months.

0:24:39 - (James Perdue): The same day I was released, they sent me to Birmingham to a rehab that's geared more for spinal cord injuries. And I thought, well, if they're specialties and I'm already moving my legs, because then I was really moving them, but they're so weak, I couldn't stand on them or anything. So I started thinking, oh, shoot, if they're specialists, I'll be walking before I get out of there. And their job. I didn't understand it then because I was young and dumb.

0:25:04 - (James Perdue): We didn't get along as well because I thought we were going to be working on my legs. They were trying to teach me how to dress and in bed and eat and be a quadriplegic and use the chair all the time. And so we didn't quite get along.

0:25:19 - (Kevin Lowe): Yes.

0:25:20 - (James Perdue): Years later, I understand what they're doing is because rarely do a spinal cord injury get up and walk again. They may get these movements and things, but to walk efficiently without struggling, it's easier for the wheelchair and learn to do, but I didn't understand that then. But to get to where I'm at, when I got home from there, this home health physical therapy came and he really did take interest in with my legs and help me get strong. He even brought in his own homemade parallel bars to put in my living room.

0:25:56 - (James Perdue): And we got where I needed help standing. But once I was standing and these parallel bars, like eight or 9ft, I don't think they were quite 10ft. So I was able to, after plenty of practice, able to make a trip down, turn around and come back. And I think I was able to do it two or three times with parallel bars. My mom and brothers would have to help me stand up. So then had a friend down the road, his grandmother, and I said, let's go down and see if I could borrow his grandmother's walker, see if I can do anything.

0:26:29 - (James Perdue): It took me half a day because I've forgotten how to stand up.

0:26:35 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah.

0:26:36 - (James Perdue): When you stand up, you lean forward to get your center of gravity over your knees and to help stand. Here I am trying to stand up straight as a board. And I'd make my older brother sit down. So I'd watch him then say, stand up. Then I'm watching. Sit down. Do it again. All right, stand up. And so I finally figured out how to stand up on my own. And so eventually we got where I was able to stand up on my own walk with a walker about 100ft. And that was it.

0:27:06 - (Kevin Lowe): Wow.

0:27:07 - (James Perdue): About 100ft. So that's when I tell people, say, you know what? A doctor said, I'll never walk again. I made a liar out of him for 10 minutes. It's only 23 hours and 50 minutes. He was correct. But that was good for me to be able to stand and stretch and let blood circulate. And I'm a big boy, so it's easier for me to stand, to transfer than to do the other way, just to sliding and everything. And so it was great that I had developed that, even though it wasn't fully functional walking.

0:27:40 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah. Now, approximately how long was that after your accident?

0:27:46 - (James Perdue): I was doing that. It was about a year.

0:27:49 - (Kevin Lowe): Okay.

0:27:51 - (James Perdue): We would have again. Home health therapist came in, Dr. Udot. I remember him. He was probably 150 then, but he's one that took interest and really helped us. So whenever people come visit, I would make them do exercise with me. That way I can exercise and they could see what we're doing. And we have these arm weights and do these arm exercises. We pretty much started our own therapy program from there.

0:28:23 - (James Perdue): Yeah, it took about a year for me to do that consistently.

0:28:28 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah. Now at some point in time, you would end up getting out of the house and going back to college, correct?

0:28:39 - (James Perdue): Yeah, I figured that it was wheelchair and I was able to stand and do and everything again. Of course, I've never met anybody with spinal cord injury. I remember going to school and there was one kid that was in power chair and he had muscular dystrophy. And I remember talking with him while we were in school some, but I never met any other real spinal cord injury except for JT. Let me go back to JT real quick. When I'm laying on the ground trying to get up after the football hit, after the third time, I started thinking of JT.

0:29:14 - (James Perdue): JT, this fella that, my grandfather, when I was 12, 13, 14 years old, we used to go visit him in a nursing home. And one day I went to go visit my grandfather. And about two rooms before we got to my grandfather's, I heard this one guy go, hey, buddy, come here for a minute. And so I go into the room and I met JT. Well, come to find out, JT, he was in his mid thirty s and he'd had a car accident that broke his neck and he was totally paralyzed from the neck down.

0:29:43 - (James Perdue): He asked me to help if I'd hold a cup with a straw in it, water, so he can get something to drink. So when I'm laying on the thing, I'm thinking, oh, great, I'm going to be in a nurse home the rest of my life. Like JT, at the age of 19 was my first thought coming towards all this, when I realized I was paralyzed. But later on we did our own physical therapy, Dr. Oda and everything like that. And so I decided when things were going good that if I was going to have any life, I need to go back to college and really get my.

0:30:14 - (James Perdue): I'm going. You know, I didn't study that much growing up. And when I first went to college, it was just to get out of the house, get away from mom, get away from my brothers, get away from them, meet new people, talk to new people, different. A, I'd maintain my c average. Okay, maintain the c average. So then I end up quitting a couple of years. And again I'm thinking, if you're going to do anything, you got to get something. So there's a vocational training in Tennessee, and I'm sure all the states have a vocational training, and this here is bookkeeping. So I went and took their bookkeeping course and passed and everything. Got certified as a bookkeeper. But then I was going, I don't want to sit there and do all that.

0:31:00 - (James Perdue): But it was good for me that I was able to. I made all a's but one b, and it was good for me to go, well, if you can do this there, you can go past college. You can do better than you do on a c's. And so when I went back to college, this time was more serious, to really graduate and about, I don't know, a couple of months beforehand, I was actually working at a travel agency, and one of the people came in, was one of the professors at the local college is a two year school.

0:31:33 - (James Perdue): And she came in, and we got to talking, and her name was Dr. Aminette. Now, she was Miss Aminette then. Wasn't a doctor at that time. I said, yeah, I thought about going back to college at Vault State. I said, but I don't want to go do all that paperwork and stuff and try to figure out what's going on. And she says, what? I said, yeah, thought about it, but I just don't want to get caught up with all that paperwork.

0:31:59 - (James Perdue): And then she says, she knew my name and everything. She said, what's your Social Security number? I gave it to her. She comes back the very next day, and she had my schedule made up for the next three semesters from the spring. I never took a summer class, but if I did these in the summer class and then I do these in the fall, she says, you can graduate any year. She went and figured out all that for me, and I was going, man, if she did all that for me, I got to at least try.

0:32:31 - (James Perdue): I can't let her waste her time. And so the greatest advice my older brother gave to me, he said, all the determination, all the hard work, everything you put forward in baseball, now this is your time to do exact same thing with your studies. And so, like that. So I decided on my very first semester, I was going to make it as hard as possible. That would be if I passed all them, that would be a sign to me that I'm serious about doing this.

0:33:01 - (James Perdue): So I took all these hard classes, and one of them was a science class, and his name was Dr. Bamer. And I heard stories about Dr. Bamer, how tough he was. And I thought, that's good, because if I'm serious about this, if I can pass him, then that tells me I can do the other stuff. And so took the very first test I took with Dr. Bamer, and I get it back and I'm going, he puts on the board before he passed out test. See how he did. He puts on the board how many people made a's on the test.

0:33:33 - (James Perdue): And then he put a zero. And I'm going, oh, well, I did study. I would expect him better, but I'm not an a person. I can understand that. Then he put a b up there. Five people. I said, oh, only five? Well, I know I'm not one of the five. Then he put a c and he put, how many people? And I said, that's probably me because I did study. And he said, I'm a c guy. And then he put, how many ds and how many f's going through? So we pass out the test back to everybody. And I look over next to me, there's this one guy over there, and I see he had failed the test.

0:34:07 - (James Perdue): He didn't see me see his paper. So I'm going, oh, man. So I got mine back and looked at it. I'm one of the five that made a b. Woohoo. So now it's telling me, yeah, you're serious about doing this to get this done. And so we go outside of class, and this guy that was sitting that I saw his paper, he didn't know I saw it. He asked me, he said, how'd you do on the test? And now I'm feeling about as proud as a peacock. And I go, I don't want to brag anything, but I'm one of them five. I got a b.

0:34:40 - (James Perdue): Like I make bees all the time. I'm proud of myself knowing this guy got delves. So then I turned to him and said, hey, buddy, how'd you do? Well, he didn't tell me how he did, but he did say, I believe that if you believe in the Lord, he'll provide. And I said, well, I mean, smack me if I'm wrong, man, but I believe the Lord provide these books, so maybe you need to start studying. Oh, boy. He didn't like, yep. So I ended up getting a b out of Dr. Bamer's class.

0:35:16 - (James Perdue): And again, it made me realize that I'm capable of doing better in c. But I had to study, study, study. For another example, had his history teacher for the midterm. It took me four days, and I didn't study. I memorized like 40 pages of information. And that's not studying, it's just memorizing.

0:35:39 - (Kevin Lowe): Yes.

0:35:40 - (James Perdue): Okay, so right before the test, midterm met this girl. And I said, hey, do you get to study. She says, I studied about an hour before I got here. I said, an hour. And I'm going, thinking to myself, good luck to you, because I put four days in memorizing. Of course, she said study, right, study, not memorizing. And so took the test, and we got our midterms back. I got a 94 on mine for memorizing, but it still got me the 94, an eight.

0:36:13 - (James Perdue): And so I saw a girl and said, knowing she studied for 1 hour, I said, how'd you do? She says, I got a 90. I go a 90 for studying for 1 hour. Like het, I started thinking I got four extra points because I memorized for four extra days. That's how I end up going through college first until I really learned how to study is just memorizing everything, and it got me through. So tell people that when I graduated high school, I was a 2.0. When I got done with the two year degree, I was a 2.6.

0:36:54 - (James Perdue): I'm already 0.6 ahead of high school. Then I got my bachelor's degree, and it was a 3.1. So working my way on up, and then I got my master's degree, a 3.9. And I told people, I said, man, the higher the education, the stronger I'm getting. About 15 years later, I finally go back to work on my doctorate degree. A friend of mine was working on his. He said, james, you need to go get it. I don't need to get it. I don't care to get it. And I was coaching girls basketball and teaching, and I didn't have time.

0:37:29 - (James Perdue): But then there was a position open in high school, and I went interview for those two positions, two positions. And I didn't get either one of the positions, but my assistant got both of the positions. She got one and didn't like it. And it was at our hometown where we both grew up, but she didn't like the way the head coach of the varsity, these were her 9th grade coaching jobs that was just interfering to her practice. And after about two months, she quit and got the other job.

0:38:03 - (James Perdue): And I'm going, man, I've been doing this for 1213 years. I've won eight championships and undefeated six times. And I'm going, how'd she get both of them? And I didn't get either one of them. So after that, I said, bruce, what do I need to do to get in that doctor program? Because I'm fed up now. Let's get out of the school system. Let's go do something and teach at college. And forget all. So I went back to my doctorate and remember the grade GPA had gone up and up and up. And so even my doctorate, my master was a 3.9,

0:38:35 - (James Perdue): so I even got a 4.0 with my doctorate. And I said, man, every time I go up a level, man, I get better grades. But that's not because I was any smarter or anything. I learned to play the game. That's it. I would tell anybody going into college, going to a trade school, learn to play the game. All right. You don't have to agree with the professor saying what your teacher is saying, but if this is what they want, you give back to them what they want.

0:39:07 - (James Perdue): Don't argue with them. You just don't intercede what you think is the best answer. If they're looking for this, you give it right back to them. So it just had learned to play the game.

0:39:21 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah. Wise, wise words. So I'm curious, James, what made you get into teaching and coaching? What led you to that career path?

0:39:35 - (James Perdue): One of my big physical therapies for me was my brother. Man, he's just great to get me back on the baseball field as a coach. This way, I can still be involved with baseball. I can coach, help the youth become better, not only athletes, better ball players, but better men out there to teach them to be respectful, teach them to be whatever. And especially I learned when I got into middle school teaching and coaching, and I was coaching girls basketball team, and we'd won a state championship one time.

0:40:11 - (James Perdue): And I had learned, especially then, that these players would do almost anything for their coach, but then they would second guess their own parents. And so the parent would come up to me and say something, and then I said, well, to talk with them. And then I go talk to them about how they need to be more respectful to mom and dad and how you need to be, because I'm only going to be your coach for only a couple of years.

0:40:34 - (James Perdue): You got to deal with mom and dad the rest of your life, and you've got to learn to love them and stuff. And I say, you don't have to be eye to eye, and I'm just giving advice all I did, but because the coach said so, they were more apt to do that. And then I would tell them, say, now, I know you like mother would come say something. I know you have a problem with mom a little bit, but I'm expecting you to go home and tell your mother you love her and give her a big hug.

0:41:00 - (James Perdue): And I will be asking your mom if you did that now, you don't go tell her. Coach Purdue says, I got to do this. No, you don't do that. You do it on your own. Okay, but I will be asking. And sometimes I would ask, sometimes I wouldn't. But, yeah, they found it out to be a positive role model that helped them all become better people again, keeping me in the loop with baseball, and I end up learning basketball.

0:41:30 - (James Perdue): I was doing baseball for a while and just kept realizing it's just too darn hard for wheelchair, especially me being a quadriplegic. I can't push. My brother's having to push me across the field and back and everything. And I was going, man, it's just too hard to be a baseball. And when I got into the middle school, I helped coach the basketball team, because the guy that was head coach, him and I went to high school together, and we were both on the baseball team, so I already knew him.

0:41:59 - (James Perdue): And I said, hey, I don't know anything about basketball other than you put the ball in the goal, you get points, and if you hit too hard, you get a file. Other than that, I don't know anything. But I said, maybe I'd come on and be your conditioning coach, help him condition before the games and stuff. And he was great. Let me come in and help. But the same year, I wanted to be the baseball coach with the high school, and so he was great. He let me come in and help them, but I was going, man, it's just too much work for these people, getting me on and off the field.

0:42:27 - (James Perdue): And I said, I've learned once you get into school building, it's all easy for basketball once you get into building. And so I ended up cutting my ties with baseball and spending more time with the basketball learning. Two years after I started, the guy that was coaching with him went to high school. He says, hey, man, I'm giving up basketball. It's all yours next year. I said, what? I said, I got to learn more than this.

0:42:52 - (James Perdue): And so another guy that I'd met at school, him and I become coaches. No head coach, no assist. We both respect each other and co coached. And so we had a run of winning, like, seven or eight championships, like 1214 years. We were in the championship game and all of them, but three times, we didn't win them all in the county, but we ended up playing them. Like I said, we won one state championship together.

0:43:21 - (James Perdue): So that, again, just. It was more for me at the beginning as therapy that I could still do something with the baseball and being out there helping.

0:43:31 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah, absolutely. I love it. Now, were you teaching at the same time or just coaching?

0:43:38 - (James Perdue): Teaching and coaching.

0:43:39 - (Kevin Lowe): Okay.

0:43:40 - (James Perdue): Well, years later, they passed it where they would let I know other, like California in that area. You don't have to teach at school. You can coach at schools. And here in Tennessee, you had to teach to be the coach. Now they passed it where they can have volunteer coaches or paid coaches that don't have to be in the classroom now. And I wish they'd had that because then I wouldn't have cared about teaching. I just wanted to do the teaching. So for me to be able to coach, I had to teach.

0:44:12 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah, absolutely. So you talked about going back and getting your doctorate degree from there. Did you go teach in college?

0:44:24 - (James Perdue): No. A lot of, like you said, sometimes life comes around and bites us again. And what had happened is about a year and a half before I went back again, remember, I was able to stand and transfer and everything like that. And so we're getting ready for the first day of class to go back. And I had my shoes underneath my dresser drawer. Well, I went to pull the shoes out that morning before I went, and I would go, dad, get under Spider web in there. So I got a rag out and wiped it out, thinking I didn't see no spider come running out or anything.

0:45:00 - (James Perdue): I just figured they did their thing and then left. And apparently there was a baby spider in the shoe, and it bit me. Brown recluse on the bottom of my foot. And they ended up getting a sword about the size of a tennis ball and all that dead tissue on me from where the poison from that bite was in there. So they had to go cut all that dead tissue out. And then now we had to let new skin regrow. And so they told me, don't stand on my foot.

0:45:31 - (James Perdue): It would break the new tissue growing. So after that, four to six months of not standing, I lost the strength to stand. So now I need help getting into bed. I can get out of bed. I just couldn't get into bed to get into the shower and out of the shower to get in the car. Out of the car. Because I was used to standing and doing everything. And now I'm feeling like a burden that here my families have to come do more work for me. And I was living in my own home independently.

0:45:59 - (James Perdue): They're doing their thing, and I'm doing my thing. I'm driving to school, driving to work, driving to stores, and again, doing everything independently. But then after that, I needed help to get dressed because I couldn't stand up to pull my pants up, so they're having to pull up when I'm leaning back and forth and stuff my chair. So I felt like a burden of them. And I got me real depressed during that time, though.

0:46:23 - (James Perdue): My younger brother, now, he was a functional alcoholic. Okay, he drank, but he would do his work. He was an auto mechanic, had his own business, and so he would work all day, then come home and drink, go to work and drink. Well, one day we were noticing that his skin was turning yellow and his eyes yellow, going, jaundice. And so got him to go to the hospital, and they kept him in there for about a week, and they finally end up telling them that if he continued drinking the way he was, they'd give him a 10% chance to live five more years.

0:47:00 - (James Perdue): Okay? So he tried cold turkey, quit drinking, and one of his good buddies couldn't drink alone. Got my brother back to drinking, and so he says I couldn't drink alone. So when he was in the hospital again, my younger brother, I remember seeing this guy. I just visited him, and I was coming back to the parking garage, and this guy got him back to drinking. He said, james, you need any help getting in your car?

0:47:28 - (James Perdue): I said, I don't need any help from you, man. I'm afraid you'll kill me. And he what? I said, you know that Andy was told not to drink because they're going to kill him. And I said, here you are, because you were too insecure, you couldn't do your own thing, you drug him back into it. And he says, well, if I didn't give it to him, someone else is going to. I said, well, then I'd be yelling at them, not you.

0:47:49 - (James Perdue): And I said, and going on. And of course he left and everything. And there's a bunch of people blamed this same guy for killing Andy, basically getting back into. Well, but during the time when he was in a. Again, he's a mechanic vehicles, and he had an ulcer in his stomach and a hernia. And they told him, don't pick up anything heavy, so you don't bust a hernia or your ulcer to make things worse. And so one night I couldn't get into bed, so I called him and mom brought him out here and ain't helped me in bed.

0:48:25 - (James Perdue): And that same night, he died. And so I've already been depressed that I'm a burden for people because I can't do it by myself now. And here he is helping me in bed because they told him not to pick up anything heavy. Help me in bed. He died that same night. So I felt responsible for his death. And I don't know, maybe five months later, I attempted suicide. And at that time, again, I was going to school.

0:48:53 - (James Perdue): I was teaching coaching at that time, going, working on my doctoral degree. So all this and then him feeling death and then me and him dying, and then me feeling a burden, and everything just come crashing down. So I attempted suicide three times in three days. That's how bad I wanted out.

0:49:11 - (Kevin Lowe): Wow. How cruel life can be sometimes.

0:49:19 - (James Perdue): Yeah. I mean, it's not like our family hadn't been through enough.

0:49:23 - (Kevin Lowe): Exactly.

0:49:24 - (James Perdue): And then what? This burden on to us. I tell people it's a serious thing with suicide. Anybody, if you're going through and you think you're suicidal and you think something's going, you think you're going to attempt something, that new number is nine eight eight. I think you just out nine eight eight or text nine eight eight and you can get someone that's suicide hotline that you can talk to and help with.

0:49:49 - (James Perdue): Hey, you don't have to tell them your real name. You can tell them your name is James Purdue. My name. But be honest with your story so they can know how to help you. Okay? Yeah, but I think it's nine eight eight. So anybody you're going through anything, please look for that help. I didn't. Okay. I was so down and out, and I didn't care to look. But please, if you're anybody out there listening, nine eight eight, that you can text it or you can call it and it'll take you straight to them. Helplines.

0:50:20 - (James Perdue): So what had happened is the first two days I took pseudophed and benadryls, thinking it would make me go to sleep, and then that'd just be it. Be done with. Took first day, two packs of pseudopheds. And it says on the package, do not operate heavy machineries. Causes drowsiness. And I thought, well, if you take drowsiness on one pill, hey, it's really going to drowse me after you take 48 pills. And I don't know if God was looking after me, being overweight, whatever.

0:50:52 - (James Perdue): All I did was sleep and wake up with a. The next day. Next day, Super Bowl Sunday. Super Bowl Sunday. And the Giants are playing the undefeated Patriots. The Patriots win. They'll be the second team in history in the NFL to go undefeated. And so I end up calling that Sunday to Walgreens or Walmart, or one of them, of course, lied to them, and I didn't tell them any other thing. Other, hey, I didn't saw me. I had a hard time sleeping. You got anything I'd take?

0:51:23 - (James Perdue): And they said, yeah, get some Benadryl. I said, okay. So Pat and I only had enough money to get one pack of Benadryl and took it. All I did was go to sleep and wake up seeing that the Giants had beat the undefeated Patriots.

0:51:39 - (Kevin Lowe): Wow. So you took the whole box of Benadryl?

0:51:43 - (James Perdue): I took, like I said the night before, took two packs, 48. 24 is in a pack. Two packs, 48 pills of pseudophed. And the next day, all I have is enough to buy one pack. So it took 24 benadryls? Yeah.

0:52:02 - (Kevin Lowe): Wow. So what changed, James?

0:52:06 - (James Perdue): Well, the very next day, of course, now, this is on Monday, because that was Super Bowl Sunday. So Monday over the weekend, I called a bunch of, I say a bunch of five or six teachers I enjoyed working with. So I left messages over the weekend at their work at the school. That way, by the time Monday got here, I'd be dead. Well, I'm still alive, because all impeach didn't work with me. And so now 530 and six in the morning, I'm getting 07:00. I'm getting these phone calls from these teachers, because I thank them for being friends and everything like that, and they're worried about me. The principal calls, so I'm not having a lot of them say, just worrying too much. I'm just taking time off and trying to get my health right, and said, you're just looking at the things wrong way and lying to them and everything.

0:52:56 - (James Perdue): So once I got off the phone with them, I go out in my garage, because now I don't have any money to go buy anything else. So I go in my garage in my van and start the van, and I get out of my wheelchair and lay on the van floor so I can suck carbon monoxide, and I get out of the wheelchair. That way, if I feel bad or sick, I don't leave the van. If I'm laying on the floor, I can't get up and go. And so I'm laying there for 2 hours sucking in carbon monoxide, and then all of a sudden, the engine starts clack and clattering and going on and off because the thing is full of carbon monoxide in the garage.

0:53:37 - (James Perdue): You have to have that regular oxygen to run with these sensors today. And so I'm thinking, oh, great. I said, now I'm not going to die, but I'm going to wind up having brain damage. I'm sucking this stuff in, and now we worse on everybody else. So then I just started just huffing as hard as I can to get as much as I can in. And next thing I know, somebody had come to visit me and they found in the van and they had paramedics there and they revived me and apparently they told them that about ten more minutes I would have been dead. So they take me to the hospital, put me in the hyperbaric chamber, and there they're in there for like 4 hours, where they push into carbon monoxide out of my body and oxygen into the body for 4 hours in the hyperbaric chamber.

0:54:24 - (James Perdue): I'm telling you, Kevin, you live through a suicide. Not only people think you're crazy, they make you see a psychiatrist. So now I got to see a psychiatrist for you for a while. But it ended up being the best thing for me being with him. That here I can open up to someone that I didn't want to put burden on my mom and older brother about what's going on with Andy dying that I feel like I killed him, but I can open up to someone stranger that knowing he wasn't going to judge me, he wasn't going. And so I saw him for a year, and he's the one that finally said, james, for whatever reason, God didn't take you, and so you're here to share your story, to help inspire other people.

0:55:05 - (James Perdue): And he got me into the public speaking, which eventually got me doing a YouTube channel, which eventually got me doing a podcast, so we can help spread messages of other people, providing hope to other people around the world.

0:55:19 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah. Wow. Now, is that what also brought you to write your book?

0:55:23 - (James Perdue): Yeah, he told me, he said, well, one thing, he said, you write your story, this one book, one more play. Of course, I didn't have the title at that time, but he's the one that told me to write that book. That way, if you don't get to talk to people, people can get your book. And I'm going at that time, I'm going, I'm not a writer. I don't know. And here's a miracle in itself here, Kevin. It took me twelve years to write that book.

0:55:49 - (James Perdue): Now, should have took me twelve months, but I'd write a page and a half, then I wouldn't touch it for three months. Then I'd come back and write half a page and wouldn't touch it for six months. And it's a miracle when you upgrade your computer that I didn't lose that manuscript, because if I'd have lost it, I would have never gone back and done it all over again, of course. And so finally I decided, if you're going to. And I had started writing this book beforehand, before all this suicide.

0:56:20 - (James Perdue): So when he told me, I need to get a book out, I was going, I've already started one. Finally I said, well, if you're going to write it, you need to go ahead and do it now or just shut up and don't ever do it. And same thing with going back to school. You're going to take the hardest classes and that's going to be a good test. So same thing on the book. If you're going to do it, do it. If not, shut up and go on and quit talking about it. And so it ended up finally, eventually doing it and getting it together.

0:56:46 - (James Perdue): And several friends helped proofread it for me, and we got it out and from there. Yeah, I tell you, there's times when I don't know how everybody's God, or if you want to call it life or whatever else again, but twice this happened, and it happened, Kevin, a year apart. So you got to remember this take place. I'm not going to tell you the whole thing at the beginning. I'll give you the Paul Harvey the rest of the story here in a minute.

0:57:19 - (James Perdue): About a year apart now, and both of them are like in December, about a year apart. I go, man, my speaking business just ain't getting like I want it to be. I mean, I've had a couple of things and some things out there, but it hadn't got to be a full time business. And I'm going, all right, well, I'm tired of just trying on this, so I'm going to quit. I'm going to give it up. Well, that's when seemed like God comes back in again to give you a little kick in the pants to get going again.

0:57:49 - (James Perdue): And I go to the store, wally world. I take my service dog, Ricardo. Ricardo is the Walmart mascot up there. And so all of a sudden, we're at the checkout, and this other woman had already checked out. She's walking past, she says, hey, there's Ricardo. I said, you met Ricardo? Said, everybody meets him. I said, I can't remember everybody's name. And then she goes, well, ain't he on the front of your book? And I said, well, yeah.

0:58:15 - (James Perdue): She says, well, I've read your book. I said, really? So then I asked the dumb question, if you don't mind, could you tell me how you got the book? Did someone give it to you? Someone recommended you, looked up motivational book. And it popped up, and you looked and said, hey, that looks good. Or you find it laying in a trash can or in a gutter somewhere. And I said, so we stopped there. A year later, same thing. Speaking job just ain't going like we do. I'm going to quit and everything. Da da da. We go to Wally World.

0:58:46 - (James Perdue): Ricardo me there. We went in there, 23 seconds. All of a sudden, I heard this guy going, Mr. Purdue, Mr. Purdue, Mr. Purdue. And I turned around and I'm thinking, Mr. Purdue, one of my former students has found me at Walmart. And turned around. I had no idea who the guy is. He said, I've just come to let you know I've read your book four times. And I'm thinking, my head, crap, you ain't read my book. No, four times.

0:59:12 - (James Perdue): And he says, I've read your book four times. Your book is going to help me in life. And I said, really? Well, I appreciate you saying that. Again. The same day I'm saying, I'm giving up all this stuff because it's not going anywhere. So now here I'm being stopped twice again, a year apart. So I ask him, dumb, quit. Well, then about that time, his girlfriend comes in, and one of the electric carts, she had her foot in a cast.

0:59:38 - (James Perdue): She said, is this him? He said, yeah, this is him. And then she goes, boy, I'm so glad my husband found your book. Dumb me. Here's my chance. I could have gave him a copy of my book, because my book was being sold in Walmart. Just Walmart didn't know. You know, they got know where you can get your haircut, where you can get copies made and printed and signs made. Well, that place there that was making signs and printing papers and stuff, they offered to sell my book right there.

1:00:13 - (James Perdue): And they didn't charge me a commission. They just sold and gave me the money. Dumb me, when he was talking that I should have gone and got him a book and gave it to him. Wasn't thinking. But I asked a question to him, like I did that girl a year earlier. Hey, if you don't mind, could you tell me how you got the book? Someone referred to you. You google it, it popped up. You find it laying in a trash can down in the gutter. Someone threw it out.

1:00:38 - (James Perdue): And then here's where Paul Harvey would say, and now the rest of the story.

1:00:44 - (Kevin Lowe): Okay.

1:00:45 - (James Perdue): Both answers they gave was the exact same answer a year apart. I mean, exact same answer. I was locked up in the county jail, and your book is in the library. In the county jail library.

1:01:03 - (Kevin Lowe): What?

1:01:04 - (James Perdue): Yeah, my book is in the county library.

1:01:07 - (Kevin Lowe): Jail, library.

1:01:08 - (James Perdue): Jail library. And that's how they found it. So after the. Especially the guy when he told me that, I go, I guess he did read it four times. He had nothing else to do. Now I'm saying it to myself, not to him, but yeah, then I'm thinking, man, my books in the jail library. And I said, that's when I come to realize that we are all helping people. We have no clue who we're helping. I was fortunate enough that God sent those to me when I said, I'm quitting everything to let me know that you helped them.

1:01:43 - (James Perdue): Okay. But we help so many people out there with our podcast, Kevin, with your podcast, grace and inspiration that we're helping so many people out there, we'll never hear from them. If they're going to get something out of these podcasts, they're going to use one little nugget that's going to help them get past a hard time. And so that's when I've come to learn we're not done. Even when I think I'm done, I'm not done.

1:02:08 - (James Perdue): That we're going to do another podcast. And I've written like ten books now. Five of them are little children's books about my service dog. And I got about five other book books. And so we're going to be helping people, and we're not going to have a clue on anything, but it's happening.

1:02:29 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah. Wow, James, you are such an awesome guy with such an amazing outlook on life. That's truly just a breath of fresh air.

1:02:43 - (James Perdue): Well, I'm telling you again, being on grit, Grace, and inspiration with Kevin Lowe has been an honor and everything. And I want to grow up and be like you because I want you on my story, on my podcast with your story. And again, you're definitely going to help other people again, whether you're doing this one. So you're like me now. See, when I started my YouTube channel, here I am just trying to give out inspirational information, tell little goofy stories and overcoming it and things like that. But then when I started my podcast, I'm like, you people are tired of hearing my thing.

1:03:20 - (James Perdue): I want to get out other people's messages.

1:03:22 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah.

1:03:23 - (James Perdue): And that way we can help them get out to help other people as well. And so this is my way, your way of giving to society something that other people are not getting. And so, yeah, I definitely want you on my podcast.

1:03:39 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah, well, I would love to do it. I got to ask a question when everybody's wondering, do we have to go to prison to find your book, or can we find it elsewhere?

1:03:50 - (James Perdue): You do not have to go to prison, and I would recommend not being there, but you can go to Amazon to find. The majority of my books are there with the little children's books. I did them self published, and so they're all there. The one more play, though, I had it through a publishing company, and it's actually a Barnes and Noble's website as well. And so from there, so you can go to Amazon and be the big one. And then, hey, if you really want to save some money, because, again, when you write these books, I've learned that when you get your royalties, if you're lucky, you'll get a buck 80 on royalties.

1:04:34 - (James Perdue): At least you sell a million. You're not going to get rich off of it. So I advise people to go to eBay and just look up one more play, and you can find someone that's put it up, and you'll get it for $2 instead of paying $20 at the other places.

1:04:51 - (Kevin Lowe): Okay, wow. Now you got bargain hunting advice. You got it all, man.

1:04:58 - (James Perdue): I tell people, and it's probably only worth $2, so you may want to. I'm serious, that I've actually gone back and bought some of them for two or $3, and they still look as good as new. And if it's not one that I've signed and gave to someone, then I'll turn around, just give that book away to someone else. And it didn't cost me $2 instead of $18 to get it printed.

1:05:24 - (Kevin Lowe): Yeah, absolutely. What is the name of your podcast for somebody interested in that podcast is.

1:05:31 - (James Perdue): Actually named professor of perseverance. Podcast. Professor of perseverance. I got to throw a little shout out to man, John Bentley. John Bentley, retirement. Coming, budy. I'm proud of you. But John Bentley, one day, we were at the speakers workshop one day, and he lives in Alabama, and I'm in Tennessee, and he'd come up for speaking workshops from Alabama. And one day he was. John was behind me, and all of a sudden, I heard behind me, professor of perseverance.

1:06:00 - (James Perdue): I'm just looking in front of me, not thinking nothing about it. He goes, professor of perseverance. I'm still looking forward. I didn't know John was talking to me, and all of a sudden, john goes, james. I said, hey, john, how you doing, budy? He said, you're the professor of perseverance. I said, what? He said, you're the professor of. I said, what are you talking about? He said, you got a doctorate degree, right?

1:06:22 - (James Perdue): Yeah. So you're a professor, okay? And you want to talk about persevering, don't you? So you're the professor of perseverance. And I said, john, I'm stealing that.

1:06:34 - (Kevin Lowe): Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

1:06:36 - (James Perdue): Now, another quick story. I know you got other things you need to get to go into, kevin, but another quick know, popeyes chicken.

1:06:44 - (Kevin Lowe): Okay?

1:06:45 - (James Perdue): Popeyes chicken. One day I was going through where I live, and we got a Popeyes chicken, and it's know dark. And I look on their front of their building where their lights up. Popeyes right there. And the pop for pop was lit up. But the word eyes E-Y-E-S wasn't lit up, just pop. So I pulled over, took a picture, and I said, look, even Popeyes restaurant is advertising for the professor of perseverance.

1:07:19 - (Kevin Lowe): I love it.

1:07:21 - (James Perdue): I really need to take that picture and send it to the headquarters and see if they will sponsor some of my. Right.

1:07:28 - (Kevin Lowe): That's right. I love it, man. James, thank you so much for just lighting up my day. And I can only imagine for everyone listening, lighting up their day as well. You're an amazing man, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being here.

1:07:46 - (James Perdue): Thank you. And I'm going to leave you one more thing that remember, your past doesn't have a future. How many people go, I can't go do this because 40 days ago, or I can't do this because ten years ago at a DUI, I can't go this because I got arrested one time. No, your past doesn't have a future, but you do. All right? Your past doesn't have a future, but you do. So create your future today, get out from living what used to be, what happened, whatever, hindering you, and move forward in life. I don't care if you're going at a snail's pace and then one day you're going to say, oh, I went three steps forward and, man, something happened. Now I feel like I'm two steps behind.

1:08:29 - (James Perdue): That's cool, man. That means you're still one step into good. All right, so just build on that and go. So, yeah, just find people to be around with people, positive people that has their best interest in helping you in life. Okay? And then the great thing about it is you're going to pay it forward. You're going to help somebody else in life, and again, they're going to help somebody else, and you'll never know the sequence and everything, but the good thing about it is we're going to be here to help each other.

1:08:54 - (Kevin Lowe): Amen to that. James, thank you for being here. For you, my listener, thank you for being here. You know, this show is all for you. I hope you've enjoyed it. If you did enjoy it, if you got something out of it and you're thinking to yourself, man, I got to tell somebody about this. We'll do that. Please share today's episode with somebody you love who needs a little encouragement. Who needs some of that? James Purdue. Special energy in their life.

1:09:24 - (Kevin Lowe): My name is Kelly Blow, your host. This is Grace and inspiration. Get out there and take on the day.