
In this episode of the Collage Podcast, host Jeff Steagall engages in a heartfelt conversation with Slim who shares his life experiences from Mississippi to Texas. The discussion covers Slim's values, his perspective on community respect, the impact...
Loading summary
Host
Foreign. Hey, we want to welcome everybody to another edition of the Collage Podcast. Really excited. Today we are, as always, have a special guest. But today, this is one that I have wanted to have a conversation with up here. Slim and I have a lot of conversations, but this is one that I've wanted to have up here. And our schedules just never seem to have worked out just right. But today we got everything lined up and we're up here. So what I am going to do, I'm going to allow Slim to tell his real name. So, Slim, it is good to have you here today. Like, I'm excited. Yeah. Okay. Tell us a little bit about you. Where are you from? Any of that kind of stuff. Your real name, if you want. You don't have to say your whole.
Keith Shelton
Name, but my real name is Keith Shelton.
Host
Okay.
Keith Shelton
I'm from Mississippi. Vinceberg, Mississippi. And it ain't much to me, man. I just man my own business and living. There are other people there, and I feel like that's the way to go, you know? If you can't help nobody, you don't need to hurt him.
Host
Fair enough. So Vicksburg, Mississippi. How long did you live there?
Keith Shelton
Over 20 years.
Host
Okay. And do you have any brothers, sisters? How big a family did you come from?
Keith Shelton
Oh, I came from a pretty big family. My brothers. I got three brothers and one sister.
Host
Okay. Okay. And then how long have you been in temple?
Keith Shelton
About seven years.
Host
About seven years. Can I ask what brought you to Temple?
Keith Shelton
Well, being this girl, we came up here together because she didn't want the baby to grow up in Mississippi. For some reason, you have more job opportunities.
Host
Okay.
Keith Shelton
In Texas and Hills, Mississippi.
Host
So came up here with a lady.
Keith Shelton
Yeah, when we first. When we first came, we went to Georgetown.
Host
Okay.
Keith Shelton
She was actually here before me. She sent for me to come.
Host
Okay. Okay. So came here, came to Georgetown, and then. And Georgetown, like, for those of y'all out there listening, okay, so if you're not familiar, that's just 30 minutes away from Temple. It's just right up I35. It's a bigger town than Temple, and so more opportunities. So you came up from Mississippi, came to Georgetown, and then somehow. How'd you make it back here to Temple?
Keith Shelton
Well, she wanted to move to Temple because Temple were closer to the job where she was working at. And so she came to Temple, and we went from Temple to Kaling and Dallas, but now she back in Georgetown.
Host
Okay.
Keith Shelton
Yeah.
Host
Now let me ask you, okay, so in that. Do you have kids of your own?
Keith Shelton
Yeah, I got kids.
Host
How many kids do you have?
Keith Shelton
I got three kids.
Host
Okay.
Keith Shelton
I got a set of twins.
Host
Do you really?
Keith Shelton
Yeah.
Host
I didn't know that. Okay.
Keith Shelton
Boys or girls or boy and a girl.
Host
Okay. Always forget.
Keith Shelton
And I got another son after them and he named after me. His name is Keith Anthony Shelton Jr. Is he really? Yeah.
Host
Now, how old is he?
Keith Shelton
21.
Host
Dad gum. How old are you?
Keith Shelton
I'm 52.
Host
I'm older than you, dad gum. So slim yet? 20. So. Okay. My son. I've got a son named Joshua. Okay. And he is 28, so a little bit older. So you got a son and then your twins are how old?
Keith Shelton
They should be about 25.
Host
Okay. And are they in this area? Are they in Mississippi?
Keith Shelton
Then they in Minnesota? Bloomington, Minnesota.
Host
Minnesota.
Keith Shelton
In Minnesota.
Host
How in the world. That's cold up there.
Keith Shelton
We all were from Mississippi. And when she had the twins, she decided she wanted to move to Minnesota. And I left with her and went up there. It didn't work out between me and her. So I come back and she stayed.
Host
Okay.
Keith Shelton
She working, doing good. The kids doing good.
Host
Good.
Keith Shelton
They often call us.
Host
Are they really? Well, congratulations on that.
Keith Shelton
Yeah, they in college.
Host
Okay. Wow. Now let me ask you that. I got to ask this. So, Slim, every time I see you, you're always wearing red. Why do we like red?
Keith Shelton
Well, when I was younger, I ended up in an organization called Vice Lords. And just the color of red and white.
Host
Okay.
Keith Shelton
And so that where the red come from? Plus, I just always like the red anyway.
Host
Oh, it looks good on you.
Keith Shelton
But I like blue. I like all colors. Red I ain't got but red. One of my favorite color. Red and blue is one of my favorite colors. That's pretty much the story behind it.
Host
Okay. Okay. So now we're in temple. We've been here seven years. And then I know Slim because he comes up here to where it feed my sheep is where we're at. Okay. Right. And so he and I have known each other now for three or so years and had some really good conversations over. Over this time because I always. And I'll tell you ready. I'm gonna tell you something that nobody else knows. Of all the people here that come through, okay. You're the one that I'm like, man, I hope Slim's in a good mood because he's one of our biggest guys, like, big tall dude. And I'm like, man, I hope Slim is in a good mood today. Because, man, if he's not, we got trouble.
Keith Shelton
I slowed down, man. Cause I don't like to. I don't like to frighten nobody. I don't want nobody to be scared of me, man.
Host
No.
Keith Shelton
You know, to me, for a person to be scared of me, it's just embarrassing to want somebody to be scared of you, you know, and you got to look them in their eyes and you don't see nothing but fear. There ain't no good feeling to me. So I don't. I. I didn't want nobody to be scared of me when I did used to act up and feed my sheep. It just. Man, when they come into this place, they talk about sex and they go off into details about sex and what they doing. They ain't. They ain't a place to bring to a place like this. I mean, this place supposed to be special. You, you, you. You should honor this, this place. You know, they have prayer every morning, and soon when they get through praying, I notice they'll come right back in and go talking about what goes on in the streets. I just don't. I. I can't tell nobody what to do. I won't want to tell nobody what to do. I don't want to be nobody. Balls. But to disrespect. Feed my sheep is disrespecting God.
Host
Yeah, that was it. So Slim, and I'm kind of glad he said that. I was hoping we would go. So years. So Slim has never gotten in a fight here. Okay. So we got to like in it. But I would be working in the cafe area and you would hear, oh, we got problem in the cafe. Well, I would know that it's. Slim is in the there. And he would have gotten upset and he would have called somebody out. And what I always respected and what I liked the most is, well, he never got in a fight, but he'd make you pretty close to thinking that we're fixing to have one. Because he didn't play. Like, he didn't play around. And what he was always upset about is he couldn't understand why. Okay, not in a nonsense. Because Slim is highly intelligent, okay. He wouldn't grasp that somebody would come in to feed my sheep and disrespect it the way they did and not the place. But that the. The things that they were talking about, the sex, the drugs, the things that are on the street.
Keith Shelton
I mean, to me, man, you got to understand everybody on staff, pretty much the volunteer workers. Them people ain't even getting paid for this. And they got to care about you to not get paid and still come up here and feed you and care about your needs and help you with other things and for you to just bring all this disrespect to him, you know, it's sad, man. I don't like it. You know, they still do it. But I just got to the point where I don't say nothing no more because I don't want nobody to think I'm trying to be. Nobody balls or think no more than what they are. But it's a certain way you carry yourself when you're supposed to come to feed my sheep. But you. You can't. You can't make grown people do nothing and stop what they doing. So I don't. I don't say nothing else no more. Khan came too close to fighting in here and I had to stop myself. If you don't want nobody else to correct you, you got to put yourself in place to where you don't get out of line with yourself and get past yourself. Some people get past theyself and they don't even understand what they doing when it's going on. Because right now to these days, I still get past myself a lot, but I go back and I check myself. If you don't want nobody else to do it, you got to do it. You got to be the one saying, well, this wrong. I ain't gonna do this here. And it's all about turning the other cheek. You know, it wasn't nobody like Christ. You couldn't get a better person to sacrifice. You know, in the Bible, you know, the people at one point wanted to crown Jesus as king and he ran from. Yeah, you know, they say a whole lot, man, he really was about his father business and he was in the flesh when he was down here. So I'm quite sure, even though it ain't about. I know he had to fight his flesh to. Like we had to fight our flesh. But anybody, any one of us, if somebody has a chance to be king, they'll take it the flying color. Yeah, Jesus ran from because he knew well if he didn't take. If we want to be a sacrifice for us, we wouldn't have no bad. No way back to God. He. He had. He had to suffer. So he can be the perfect lamb and spotless. He. He can. He couldn't do what what everybody else done. He had to be the one to be sacrificial. And so it's nobody like Christ, man. Christ you got to love. He's a special dude.
Host
No, I agree. And like this, like I was hoping like this your. But your understanding of the Bible I really like like your intensity of it like that. Like we'd go, man, Christ came like this same world, okay. Different time period. But he came into this world and saw it. It's not a good world we live in. Like people are like, they make poor choices.
Keith Shelton
And man, I just wish I was kind. If, if Jesus. Yeah, you know, Jesus really did love his enemy. We to me, man, we really can't do it. We. We say we love our enemies, but you can't Jesus in many reasons Jesus had to die for our sin. I mean, I think in many reasons, you know, we can't love the one who persecute persecuting us each and every day. You trying to love them. The more you try to love them, the more they persecution. He was the only one can do it.
Host
Yeah.
Keith Shelton
And he took. I think every time Jesus healed somebody. I think everything that came out of the person that he healed, it went back to him. Jesus was in severe pain when he went to God. And every time he go back to a guy Jensen man, he was suffering all this stuff that he was putting out everybody else and he and everybody else, it was going straight to him. He look up to the Father and the Father take his off of off off off of him. And he. What I like about him the most when Peter cut the man ear off, Jesus throws it back on. And Jesus say I can call a legion of angels, pretty much handle his business. But he had to be that sacrifice. I think we wouldn't even be here right now if it weren't for him.
Host
Agreed. And so like I like that I. I'm with you like on this. We, we can lose sense. We can go. Jesus was God made flesh. And we kind of think that, oh man, that was really cool that oh he was going to be king. And he came and he said, no, this is not. I didn't come to be king as y'all think I'm supposed to be. And the first shall be last. And he changed all the dynamics there and then. I'm with you.
Keith Shelton
So, you know, if he had to, if Jesus would to the crown and bringing all the Pharisees will accepted him, all the sister seeds will accept him. Everybody will accepting him. And he would got glory for himself. That would have took the glory from God and would have made him look like a liar because he came. He said he came in the name of the Father. But if he would have took the crown, they would have made. They would have told him he came in his own name. He would been stoned. It was Stoned and for sure then he would have died before time.
Host
Okay.
Keith Shelton
So Jesus and God they had set date when he. When he was there.
Host
Yep.
Keith Shelton
He told him, you know, he say what I like about Jesus the most. He say we a lot of the world and the s of the earth. And he told us it was going to be hard. He said he persecuted me. So, you know, if they persecute him.
Host
They'Re going to do it to us even more.
Keith Shelton
So we just got to buckle up man and stay in that word. Get your spiritual food more than I mean you need the food we eat in the world and you need the word too. The word is important, man. I remind every other night you got to have it. It keep you full. You can't fight the fiery dots without it. Why the frustration come to people when. When. Because they're not reading the word right. When you read the word, it help you understand that you're dealing with people that's in the flesh. That's why they say walk in the spirit and not by sight. You know, something we see if I not it seems. It seems like it what we think it is. But we never know what what nobody going through.
Host
Agreed.
Keith Shelton
So I don't judge nobody now.
Host
Agreed. Like that. Like what you just said is our eyes tell us one thing. Like we could look at this person and we want to make judgments. Oh, that person is good or bad or this or that or whatever. But we don't really know what all is going on.
Keith Shelton
It's about. It's about other man.
Host
That's right.
Keith Shelton
It's the drugs. The drugs they own. They've been got away from themselves a long time ago and they don't even know it. They still think they perfectly normal. They still think they same people in high school, but they've been left that person a long time ago. Drugs will eat you up. I'm a smoker of weed. I never smoked no other drug other than marijuana. But even with marijuana, sometimes it'll get you so far gone it kind of messed your whole day up. You see things different. You might enjoy their hair for a little while, but they have their own lesson. Just a little while. And when you come down, you still got everything just like you left.
Host
Yeah. Nothing goes away.
Keith Shelton
Nothing goes away.
Host
It's even worse when you come back. And like in the world like here that we deal with drugs, big problem. Yeah, it's big problem. Like a lot of people turn to they don't want and because life is tough and it's bad. Like the reality of Living is hard. And so sometimes people.
Keith Shelton
Drugs make you a zombie.
Host
That's right.
Keith Shelton
All drugs make you is a walking zombie.
Host
Yeah.
Keith Shelton
You know, if you pay attention to so many people walking around here, they walking and talking, walking and talking to themselves. Walking and talking. I can't get mad with a person like this. That's another reason I stopped cutting up inside Feed my seat. I can't get mad with them when I. When I see what they going through. They. They walking and talking to themselves. Some of them answer themselves. I mean, you. Why would you want to fight a person like that? You ain't gonna gain no strikes off of nobody. But, you know, it's a good job on the police. And, you know, people hate police. I don't hate police. It would be chaos without. Without the law. Nobody above the law. If it weren't for the law. Dead bodies would be all around here. So the law is important too, man. I respect it. I respect the police.
Host
Like that. The. The world that we have. I was just talking to Slim before we started here, and I was just asking because right before we came up here, we had one of our guys decided, hey, he wanted to headbutt a lady. Yeah, Headbutter. And then you're going, what in the world? What man does that? And he didn't even know you didn't even know the lady. He don't even know who it was. And not the. No. So if you're out there, the fact that if you did know who it was, it doesn't make it all right to do it anyway. But he didn't even know this was a stranger.
Keith Shelton
Was that the guy that's sitting on the ground by the police truck?
Host
Yes, man.
Keith Shelton
I see him all over. He on the K2 real bad.
Host
Bad. He's on the bad. And then, like him. So I try to not get upset. Like, you and I are very similar in that I get upset. Like when people. They disrespect what goes on here and they hurt other people and it bothers me like in, you know, they can say whatever they want about me. I don't care. But like that. That you and I are very similar. I guess that's why we kind of get along in that female sheep.
Keith Shelton
Was this ever sat down? It'd be a lot of starving people around here.
Host
Yeah. Yeah.
Keith Shelton
It'd be a lot of starving people. You'll be. It'll be so many starving people if it weren't for female sheep. And these people work hard to get this food together, man.
Host
No. Agreed.
Keith Shelton
So I Get really angry. That's why you'll catch me sometime. I don't. I don't come for. For a good while.
Host
Okay.
Keith Shelton
Because I took all I can take off of hearing what's going on around here. And I got to get away because I don't want to come and act a fool up in here because I get. I get emotional when I see it. Sometimes talking about make me emotional. I don't like it at all because I think about God house. This really is God. Else they ain't looking at the name of a female sheep.
Host
That's right.
Keith Shelton
This place doing what Jesus say do. That's the way I look at it.
Host
Yeah.
Keith Shelton
They doing what the Lord say do. Everybody nice to them. The staff greet with a smile on their face. You can't. They don't have it all in Mississippi. Some places might, maybe, but it's not like this here.
Host
I've never. I've. I've been a little bit to Mississippi because I'm from Louisiana.
Keith Shelton
Yeah.
Host
So we're not. We're supposed to not get along because people from Louisiana don't like people from Mississippi. So. But so out of that. Never been. I don't know. Vicksburg. Big town, isn't it?
Keith Shelton
No, it's kind of small.
Host
Kind of small.
Keith Shelton
You size the temple now.
Host
Have you been back? Do you get to go back to Mississippi?
Keith Shelton
Yeah, I. I'll be going back soon to see my mom.
Host
Yeah.
Keith Shelton
Yeah, I'll be going back soon. Another month or so.
Host
Okay.
Keith Shelton
Yeah. I'm have to go back and see my mom. She's in a nursing home.
Host
Is she.
Keith Shelton
But she doing all right? I talked to her every day.
Host
Do you really?
Keith Shelton
I talk to mom every day.
Host
Don't tell my mom. She'll get mad at me. I don't talk to her every day. I should.
Keith Shelton
Yeah, it's a. It's a good thing to talk to her every day and call and check on. That's something you need to start doing because once they gone. Yeah, man, we. We can't imagine the feeling you ain't able to hear their voice no more and that you got old recordings. So while mom living, you know, even if she a grouse, it's all. That's when you. Man, when my mama used to get upset and cuss, that's when I knew they were feeling well. I didn't get worried until the cussing stopped. Once the cussing stop. Mama, you all right? Just don't have that one. I used to call as long as they being they self.
Host
Yeah.
Keith Shelton
And that this is what keep them going. They don't even. It really don't even mean a lot that they say to you. It just keep them going. It's what they got to do nowadays.
Host
And let me ask you this. In our world. So right now, what we would say, you're living inside. You got a place.
Keith Shelton
Yeah.
Host
That you're staying. Okay. So in your chapter here in temple or around, have you ever had parts of time where you didn't have someplace?
Keith Shelton
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear. I hear times like that.
Host
So then you know what it's like to be.
Keith Shelton
But nobody would have never know it because it just. Man, freedom is freedom. I always go and find work. Each and every day I go. I got to go to work today.
Host
Okay.
Keith Shelton
So like I say, man, I don't understand people that get around here and stand by stores and give me, give me, give me. It goes back to your parents. My dad raised me to work, man. You know, don't stay around and panhandle all day. I don't like to take from people, you know, Take people money that they don't work hard for. It's a different. If somebody want to give you something, you know, but just give me. Oh, give me, give me, give me all day. I. I couldn't do it. It's too embarrassing for them. One is just standing around. Everybody just see each and begging and begging and begging and back. I ain't gonna say, ain't gonna never have to do it because you never know what you're gonna have to do, right? Well, I hope I don't.
Host
Well, I'm go on record, Slim. In all the years that we've known each other, never asked me for anything.
Keith Shelton
No.
Host
Not every now and then. Hey, is there any work I could do? And he will.
Keith Shelton
Yeah, a hard worker.
Host
But never. Hey, give me, give. That would in a second, you know, but never has. Um, generally when you come here, I've noticed you kind of hang by yourself.
Keith Shelton
Yeah.
Host
Pretty quiet by yourself.
Keith Shelton
I mean, man, I leave it up to people that say certain things to me. And if I can meet their needs, they might ask me for a cigarette. And if I can meet their need, I give it to them. But I expect them to go ahead on. Cause sometimes people catch you talking to certain people, they figure if you look anyway, you talking about them some. That's another part of the drug. Drug make people think everybody watching them and everybody got something to say about you. I used to think like that. But it ain't good to just take everybody out to You. It ain't good. There's a whole bunch of negativity. There's some build up, and it's just an old crowd. Your brain and. And now all you can think is everybody know it really get. Because you know what you're doing every day.
Host
Oh, somebody trying to get a hold of you, Slim.
Keith Shelton
Yeah. Dang good.
Host
If that's your mom, you better answer.
Keith Shelton
Hey, I had to call you back. I had to call you back. I'm gonna feed my sheep. All right?
Host
Okay. So do you watch movies any, Slim?
Keith Shelton
I love movies.
Host
Okay. Have you ever seen the movie Green Mile, man?
Keith Shelton
Yeah. John Copper did one of my favorite.
Host
Oh, okay. So then we're gonna go back in your conversation because you kind of talked about, like, Jesus, that when he did these miracles for people, the part of that, like the hurt and the pain that these people would have, he would take upon himself because he's the only one who could handle it.
Keith Shelton
Right. Okay.
Host
And so then the Garden of Gethsemane. I love John Caulfield. Not going to ruin the movie for anybody. But this character. Giant of a guy. Huge guy. Huge guy. And. But he had this ability that he could help people with their problem, but he took it on himself.
Keith Shelton
Yeah.
Host
So I'd like. I was. When you were talking about that, I was thinking, oh, man, I wonder if Slim seen the green mouth. I love that movie.
Keith Shelton
In order John Coffee. To be able to hear you, you had to still be alive. That why you couldn't hear the two girls.
Host
That's right.
Keith Shelton
Too late, he said. I tried to take it back, boss, but it was too late.
Host
That's right, he said. And then for him, let's see. Because this is a movie deal. So him, he would. What I love on that movie because he gets to the end. And so we're not going to ruin the movie for some, but he's going to have to go meet the final judgment. Okay.
Keith Shelton
And Tom Hanks, he asked him, he said, do you want me to let you go?
Host
That's right.
Keith Shelton
And you see how far you can get. He said, boss.
Host
Yeah, that's right.
Keith Shelton
You pretty much say, he already gonna be with God.
Host
That's right. He said. So he says, Tom Hanks said, look, I'm not going to answer God at some point and say I took away one of his greatest creations just because I was doing my job. He said, you tell me, I'll let you go right now.
Keith Shelton
The officers.
Host
Yep.
Keith Shelton
They were crying when he was being investigated.
Host
That's right. And then what I love John Caulfield. Tells Tom Hanks on that. He says, boss, what you just said. He said, I'm so tired.
Keith Shelton
Yeah. He said, oh, yes, the ugliness in the world hurting each other.
Host
Okay. That's right. He said all. And he said, I close my eyes and all the evil. It's like glass in my eyes. That's right. And he says, I can't sleep and I'm so tired because of all the evilness and ugliness in the world. Okay? So I will tell you, not just because of skin color. You remind me of that character. Like here it feed my sheep. Because you. You don't live in that world. But you see, there's so much hurt and so much bad in this world.
Keith Shelton
You know, it's. A woman asked me and she was. I was at female. She. It been years ago now. Yeah. Until today. I don't know what she mean. I really don't know what she mean. But she asked me, do I think anybody more powerful than me? And I. I didn't know what to. I didn't know what to. I didn't know what to think. And to this day, she. She messed my whole understanding up because I don't look at myself as being powerful. And she just walked up to me and just say, do you think anybody more powerful than you? I said, I don't know what you mean. And she said something. A couple more things. She was trying to follow me and talk about it, but it pretty much scared me because I don't look at myself as being powerful. I never have looked at myself as being a powerful person. I mean, nobody powerful than Christ. I don't know if she heard me spoke on the word. She probably hear me minister quite a few times because I do that in the street when I run, call people. They might come to me with a problem and I tell. I tell them about the Lord. But I don't just go out and look for nobody to tell about God. She messed me up with that one.
Host
Interesting. So let me ask you this one. Shalom. Okay. So John Caulfield, he reached a point and he said, I'm just tired. I just want to go rest.
Keith Shelton
He's going to take it no more.
Host
Okay. Couldn't take it no more.
Keith Shelton
He can't take it no more.
Host
So let me ask Slim, do you sleep good or do you have a hard time sleeping?
Keith Shelton
Sometimes I sleep pretty good. Sometime I don't. I slept pretty good last night. Back and forth. Yeah, I'll be alive. I sit down and say, oh, yeah, I sleep good. All the time. I don't sleep good all the time.
Host
And on those days you don't sleep good, what keeps you awake?
Keith Shelton
I. I just keep fighting until I go to sleep.
Host
Yeah.
Keith Shelton
Too much, too much junk. This you like. Sometimes your wants accumulate and you want things to happen right then and there. You're over anxious and when they don't happen, it just become a thaw in your head. And that can keep you up at night?
Host
Yeah, it does.
Keith Shelton
And that's. That's how it pretty much happened for me. You can't wait till the next day come so you can go try it again. But I love free my sheep man. And I hope you my sheep. If I had the money, I volunteered certain things such as cups. I finished out doing that anyway. I made a decision on that for myself. Then I'm gonna start going and buy cups and donate to feed my sheep.
Host
Really?
Keith Shelton
Yeah. I'm finna start doing.
Host
Okay, okay.
Keith Shelton
Cause the guys want bigger coffee cups.
Host
Do they? Oh.
Keith Shelton
I'm gonna give them a bigger coffee cup. I ain't broadcasting it. Yeah, don't nobody know I'm gonna do it right. But they got a point. The cuff be real small. You can't hardly get no coffee.
Host
I'll give you props slim, like on that one. That's a good move because you got the guy who's supposedly running this deal. So then you're nicely telling me hey dude, your cop, your cups, they suck.
Keith Shelton
You know it be enough for me. I don't complain about it. I just get tired of all the rest of them complaining about it. Each and every day they talking about how small the cups is and it getting on my nerves. So I'm just going to help them out. I'm g. Still use the same cups. Okay.
Host
So one last thing, what I find interesting here is we talked about Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane and, and that he was at such a place of turmoil that he said, then he said he cried tears of blood, like blood came out because he was just such. And I love the prayer.
Keith Shelton
See all the, all the sickness, every. That picture you going around and you, you healing all these people. See everything he took out of him was in his body. All that sickness was in his body. The only reason he could handle it at the time was because of the Father.
Host
Okay?
Keith Shelton
The Father made him be able to handle it, but it was hurting him because he's in the flesh. So he would had to go to the God of Gibson or whatever how you pronounce it. But he would have to go there to pray so God can lift up all this stuff off and, and he'll be able to, to, to, to, to go on, on through with what he had to do.
Host
Yeah, and I love the prayer that he says and it kind of goes with what we're talking about. He says, you know, father, take this cup of suffering away from me. Like basically, I don't want to do this, but take it away from me. But then he doesn't stop there.
Keith Shelton
He says, not my will, but yours.
Host
That's right. Okay. And so he said, man, so he acknowledges, if I have my own complete choice, I wouldn't do this. But you know what? Take this cup from me. But ultimately I want your will to be done and not mine.
Keith Shelton
And what I like about at the end, he when your soldier, when the Roman soldiers, the last soldier that stabbed him, some blood got on and he dropped to his knees. He said, truly this was the son of God.
Host
That's right. That's right.
Keith Shelton
We when that blood hitting to it just did some 20 probably purify, man. Christ. Christ. I say it's a dangerous thing to fall in the hands of the Lord, man, the wrong way. So I try to say my prayers and I try to just keep believing no matter what I go through. I think that what he want you to do, no matter what, what you go through, you have to just keep, keep believing and keep walking with him. I mean, we all know it's tough, but Christ, his word sufficient if he said that's what it is.
Host
Okay, let me ask you this final question then. We're going to kind of tie it up. Slim, is the world in your eyes, is it a good place or is it a bad place?
Keith Shelton
It's a good place to be here.
Host
Why?
Keith Shelton
Because God gathers here to enjoy each other. The way God I believe he look at is we all his kids. And it's. And he could. God didn't have to create us. God could just.
Host
That's right.
Keith Shelton
It could have been him and angels all for eternal life. But God wanted children in his image. So it's. The world is good, not the world. It's the people in the world that. And they, they just see it in a different way. It's just like America got plenty of money, but Americans don't know how to mind their own business. And by us living in America, we don't know how to mind our own business. What I mean is they go, they fool with the foreign country. Donald Trump. I love Donald Trump. A lot of people hate him, but he a Strong president. And I feel like before you mess it up, he'll get back together. Donald Trump, just like this, man. Donald Trump say, well, ain't no need me being president if I ain't gonna do what I want to do, Right?
Host
Yep.
Keith Shelton
And he got. He got a strong point. I mean, why be president? I never understood that. Anyway, you're president, but you got people over you.
Host
Yeah.
Keith Shelton
It'll make no sense. So Donald Trump won the first president. That really makes sense to me. I mean, because, hey, he's the president. And if they look at it, they looking at it from their own perspective. Donald Trump is not messing America. Donald Trump is trying to make America better. Try to make lazy people stop being lazy.
Host
And so like that. Okay. Any last words you want to tell anybody out there, Slim?
Keith Shelton
No, man. It's been nice being here. It being nice. I'm glad that you saw fit for me to be able to speak online, and I appreciate it.
Host
Yep. And I will tell you this, Slim. Like, I mean it. And I think you would have. Well, hopefully you would say the same. Number one, I would say that you're one of my friends.
Keith Shelton
Oh, yeah.
Host
Like, we're buddies.
Keith Shelton
Oh, yeah.
Host
And I. I have a ton of respect for you. Always have. And I will tell you like this. You have some of the most determined eyes. Like, you're always very focused, and you're very determined. And I've enjoyed, like, this to get others to get a glimpse of what I get to see sometimes. And then, like, even, like, what's interesting for you and me both, like, sometimes people will look at me and they'll say something about me that I'm like, what in the world are you even talking about? And, like, the late, like, so even, like me on you. I'm kind of similar to what the lady said to you. I'm like, man, Slim is a big old powerful dude.
Keith Shelton
But, you know, I just never sell myself in that kind of way.
Host
No.
Keith Shelton
As being this big, powerful person. I just. I don't know how to do nothing but just be myself.
Host
That's it, you know? And so I do enjoy, and I'm glad that others out in the world are getting a glimpse to meet. To meet Slim and to see what a good guy he is, how deep his thoughts are. Like, and he is really good. Probably better than I am at this. He's often quiet, and Slim is in a room, and he is just seeing all that's going on and taking it in. And then his theological depth is. It's really neat. So, like, Kim it's really neat to see that. So can't wait to hear about you going to Vicksburg and seeing your mom again. Oh, yeah, you got me in trouble on this one, Slim, because I don't call my mom every day.
Keith Shelton
Well, you can always stop.
Host
Yeah, I could, but you can always stop. I could just make a move, just.
Keith Shelton
Pick up the phone, call.
Host
You're right.
Keith Shelton
He'll be glad to hear from you.
Host
No, I know, I know. Golly. Okay, so everybody out there. I hope you get to see that. It's neat to have just another opportunity just to give a glimpse in what our normal everyday world is. I mean, this is what we do every day. We just sit.
Keith Shelton
Well, I hope you let me do it again sometime.
Host
We're going to do it again, like 100% on that one. Like this. I enjoyed this. And so out there, we do everything we do here, like SHM talked about, simply for the truth, that we believe all people matter. And like what he said is that we didn't make people. I don't judge that. They were made by God.
Keith Shelton
No. And the poor people. The poor people got to stop hating the rich, you know, because they got to understand if it went for a lot of rich people. How you. How you think we getting? What we getting Some. A lot of rich people helping out.
Host
Oh, agreed.
Keith Shelton
Well, ever since I've been coming up, I always hear the poll how they a rich man come make it into heaven. Well, that was during Jesus time. But by the time Jesus got through convicting them, they. They saw doing things. A lot of people believe in Christ now there for that time, Frank. But rich people can make it to heaven. All they got to do, ask for forgiveness and repent. And Lord say, you should be saved.
Host
So everybody out there remember this, that every life matters.
Keith Shelton
Yeah.
Host
You know, and we. We have. We're not all the same. And that's good, you know, but like what Slim said, we're all part of the same family. We all come from the same place, and we all deserve the same love, respect and dignity doesn't matter. So, like, if you have nothing and those that have a little bit in earthly standards, they deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and worth. And whether you have something and you're looking at somebody who doesn't have anything, they deserve to be treated the exact same way, with love, dignity and respect, simply because they are creations by God. And he said they're masterpieces. Not me, not anybody else. But we should trust him because he is all knowing and he says these things are wonderful and they're people. And so we celebrate that every day. Here again, just had another opportunity just to have an introduction of another person. So hope everybody has a great day. That was fun, Slim. That wasn't bad, was it?
Keith Shelton
No, not at all.
Host
So hope you'll have a great day and thanks for joining us.
Podcast Information:
In this compelling episode of The Collage Podcast, host Feed My Sheep engages in a profound conversation with Keith Shelton, affectionately known as Slim, a long-standing member of the Temple, TX community. The discussion delves deep into themes of community respect, personal responsibility, faith, and the challenges faced within the community.
Keith Shelton (Slim) shares his personal journey, originating from Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he spent over two decades managing his own business. Approximately seven years ago, Slim relocated to Temple, Texas, alongside a partner who sought better opportunities and a safer environment for their child. Slim comes from a large family, including three brothers and one sister. He is a father of three, including a set of twins now residing in Bloomington, Minnesota, and a 21-year-old son named Keith Anthony Shelton Jr.
Notable Quote:
[01:21] Keith Shelton: "I'm from Vicksburg, Mississippi. And it ain't much to me, man. I just man my own business and living."
Slim discusses his role and experiences at Feed My Sheep, emphasizing the importance of maintaining respect and dignity within the community space. He highlights his commitment to preventing disrespectful behavior, such as conversations about sex and drugs, which he believes are detrimental to the sanctity of the place.
Notable Quote:
[07:10] Keith Shelton: "I don't like it. You know, they still do it. But I just got to the point where I don't say nothing no more because I don't want nobody to think I'm trying to be. Nobody balls or think no more than what they are."
Slim also touches upon the emotional toll of witnessing drug abuse and its effects on individuals, describing those struggling with addiction as "walking zombies." He emphasizes the importance of compassion over confrontation, advocating for understanding rather than anger.
Notable Quote:
[19:56] Keith Shelton: "All drugs make you is a walking zombie."
A significant portion of the conversation revolves around Slim's deep faith and his interpretation of biblical teachings. He draws parallels between the sacrifices of Jesus Christ and personal struggles, underscoring the importance of spiritual sustenance in combating life's challenges.
Notable Quotes:
[12:54] Keith Shelton: "Jesus really did love his enemy. We to me, man, we really can't do it. We say we love our enemies, but you can't Jesus in many reasons Jesus had to die for our sin."
[37:15] Keith Shelton: "He says, 'Father, take this cup of suffering away from me.' But ultimately I want your will to be done and not mine."
Slim reflects on the emotional and spiritual strength required to navigate adversity, advocating for continual faith and reliance on divine guidance.
Slim emphasizes the principle of non-judgment, highlighting the importance of understanding that everyone's struggles are invisible to the outside observer. He advocates for treating every individual with love, dignity, and respect, regardless of their circumstances.
Notable Quote:
[18:09] Host: "Agreed. Like that. Like what you just said is our eyes tell us one thing."
[18:28] Keith Shelton: "It's about other man."
Towards the end of the episode, Slim shares personal anecdotes, such as his upcoming visit to his mother in a nursing home in Mississippi. He reflects on the importance of familial connections and the emotional support they provide.
Additionally, Slim discusses his initiative to improve the community experience by addressing minor issues, such as providing larger coffee cups, demonstrating his commitment to proactive problem-solving.
Notable Quote:
[35:50] Keith Shelton: "I'm finna start doing. Cause the guys want bigger coffee cups."
The episode concludes with heartfelt acknowledgments between the host and Slim. Feed My Sheep expresses deep respect and admiration for Slim's character, highlighting his determination and theological insights. Both host and guest reaffirm their commitment to fostering a respectful and supportive community environment.
Notable Quote:
[43:42] Keith Shelton: "But, you know, I just never sell myself in that kind of way. I just, I don't know how to do nothing but just be myself."
[46:38] Host: "So everybody out there remember this, that every life matters."
This episode of The Collage Podcast offers a thoughtful exploration of the interplay between community respect and personal responsibility. Through Slim's candid reflections and profound insights, listeners gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and triumphs within their community, inspired to cultivate a more respectful and compassionate environment.
Thank you for tuning into this summary of "Community Respect and Personal Responsibility" on The Collage Podcast. For more inspiring stories and discussions, be sure to listen to the full episode.