 There is nothing like the joy of Jesus. When he gets deep down in your soul, brings joy, brings laughter, and it makes you feel super happy. And we're so happy you're joining us on Hope Today. I am here with Tom and Amy. And I'm super excited about our guests that it's coming up today, Tom. I am too. You know, we've been telling people's God stories, our own God stories throughout these couple of weeks. But we're gonna hear another one today. You know, comedians, they're there to make us laugh. We all love comedians, right? We wanna laugh. Today we're gonna talk to a comedian who's success in the clubs didn't translate to success in his personal life. Jeff Allen, who you may have seen on Cornerstone a time or two, joins us today to share his journey from a messed up to a meaningful life. It's gonna be, that's actually the subtitle of his book, My Journey from a Messed Up to a Meaningful Life. It's going to be a great time. All in favor, say aye. I mean, God, it doesn't, that's what God does. He takes up our messed up lives and he makes them meaningful. I love God stories too. We overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. I'm excited to share my God story tomorrow also. But guys, it's so important to take time and to laugh and to dig in deep to that fruit of the spirit joy and to get that oil of gladness for the spirit of heaviness. We gotta switch some things here today, Sydney. You know, one thing I always think about when I'm going through a really rough time, a hard time, there's nothing like I'll call my best friend or I'll be like people that I love and sometimes we'll just have a moment. Sometimes you just have to laugh about the situation because it can be so ridiculous, so at the top. You're like, really, this is happening in my life but we just encourage you today. You know, I know a lot of us are walking through heavy times. A lot of us have these tough burdens but can we just encourage you today is that as you're watching the show, as you're about to listen to Jeff Allen share his story and his testimony just to take heart and just knowing that God is walking with you through it. And sometimes I really feel like God sets up things in our lives or I'm like, all right, Jesus, this is really funny, what you have going on, but I know that you're working all things together for my good. And you know, as always, we have our prayer line that is available at 888-665-4483 because you know, we are always here for you. So at any moment part of the show and you wanna give us a call and you need a little pick me up and encouragement, we are here just for you. You know, I think of two verses real quick. Laughter, do it good like a medicine. And in your presence is fullness of joy. You know, that's like, what did C.S. Lewis say? Joy is the serious business of heaven. That's the thing that we're really supposed to be about when we're talking about the things of God. A couple of Wednesday nights ago, I was teaching at church and I mean, I had this whole agenda about being led by the spirit of God. And I just got tickled. I mean, and I don't think that's happened to me in a long time, but I was just, everything I said was funny. I mean, I was so funny. I was laughing at myself. I was laughing at other people. I was watching a lady sitting there like, be serious. You know, this is serious business, the kingdom of God. And, you know, little did I know that I would be going through something rough the next week and that oil of joy was just so soothing and good. So maybe today you need to tap in to that joy and let God lift that heaviness off of your life. It really does keep your head afloat and your head above water. It's a wonderful thing. You know, one thing I like, one of my spiritual mentors we were talking recently, it just is like, when you were talking, Amy reminded me of this, is you know, we know the story of David and Goliath and he says, oh, who are you? This uncircumcised fellow seed. But she said something that hit me. She's like, I really feel like he was like laughing and making fun and like poking fun. Yeah, mocking the enemy. And I think today that maybe in your situation you need to laugh at it. There's been times literally I will be in the mirror or I'll just be talking. I was like, who do you think you are? And I just start laughing. Like there was recently, I just started laughing at the devil. Like, ah, like who do you think you are? And like, and so maybe you need to do that because I just feel like laughter is a weapon. It's a weapon that we can use when we're going through fierce tribulations and storms. So just, just laugh it away. That's absolutely true. Well, for years one of the funniest men in America, he wasn't laughing. He was crying on the inside. Jeff Allen was a comedian with a lead role in that tragedy. Born in a tough working class Chicago family, Allen fell into substance abuse at an early age. And his problems didn't magically go away when he got married. But in his darkest moment, an unlikely encounter with the gloomiest book of the Bible. Wait till you hear about this. Set him on the path of salvation. Let's hear his story today. Jeff, welcome to Hope Today. Thanks for having me. Hey, we're really glad to have you. Well, let me, let me ask you, the book is called Are We There Yet? You know, we've heard this phrase all our lives. You know, why'd you choose that for the title? And maybe you could just launch into the, you know, your kind of search for, for being there. Well, I, you know, it was interesting. The first title I thought of was an examined life that was off of Aristotle's quote. An unexamined life is not worth living. This is my version of an examined life. But then I started thinking about the recovery journey, which is what it is. You, you start out like a child. You have no idea. I walk into those rooms. I was scared because I, you know, I got to quit drinking and, and drugging. And so you're, you're basically like a child in the back seat of your parents car. And you have no idea where you're going. You don't know what the destination is. You're just at the, basically at the back and call us somebody else. And I likened it to, you know, in, in recovery, it's the equivalent of your parents calling to a rest area and then taking off and leaving you the keys to a car. You don't know how to drive. And, and you have no idea where the destination is. So it was a, I, I was so broken when I got into those rooms. I just did what they told me to do. And the first thing they told me to do was pray. And I said to what I didn't believe in God, certainly. And that was really kind of the hardest thing for me in the, in the entire recovery process was, cause they used to call it a higher power. And I go, look, if I'm making up a deity that makes me delusional, doesn't it? I mean, can you actually make up a God? And then how does that work when life happens? The death of a child, the loss of a job, cancer, you know, and you're on your knees trying to find some calm or peace in the midst of this storm and your brain is chirping to you, who are you talking to? What are you talking to? You made this thing up. It doesn't work. It's a nice conversation thing to have. But again, when life happens, you need to know that there is a higher source of, of to connect to that you'll be all right. You'll be okay in the midst of all of this. So that kind of started me. And because of my behavior, you know, I, I, it was interesting, you know, they gave me two prayers, the serenity prayer, you know, God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I can in wisdom to know the difference. And over time, you learn to realize that it takes courage and wisdom to get through this life. You know, and certainly Proverbs talks about that from Proverbs one all the way through, you know, embrace wisdom and push folly to the side. And then the other prayer was what they call the third step prayer. God, remove me from the bondage of myself so that I may have better do, I will take away my difficulties so that victory over them, others may bear witness to their strength, their power and their way of life. I had no idea what I was praying. I was just told to pray it. And I, every day, multiple times a day, remove me from the bondage of self, you know, and it's interesting when you get into scripture, Paul talks about it constantly, dying to yourself, you know, take off the old nature, bring in the new. And I was not a poster boy for AA. I'm the reason it's an anonymous program. Yeah, less people look at me and think that's the end result. I was an angry bitter jaded foul mouth human being. I couldn't get my head around why anything mattered at all. So imagine you got two beautiful children and a beautiful wife who loves you and then there's this man in the midst of it that just cannot get out of his own head. I was constantly in my head, you know. And everything that happened in my marriage got me deeper into the process of recovery. The one night I tell about this in the book, I stood on a stool in my kitchen and they yelled at my wife until she fell to her knees and sobbed and I put my son to bed that night. He goes, daddy, you win. I go, what do you mean I win? He goes, you yell, mommy cries, you win. And now one of my prouder moments as a husband or a man, and I went downstairs and I told Tammy I'm gonna get some help. There's, this isn't right, the way I behave. And that really kind of set me when I got to the therapist's office. She said, do you read? I go, no, I've never read a book really. And she said, well, here's a book. She handed me road less traveled. And that kind of got me addicted and hooked on self-help. But there were a couple of things I got out of that book. One, life is difficult. It's not an easy thing to live. And then the other thing was that conflict, true love cannot exist until conflict enters a relationship. There's no such thing as a loving conflict-free relationship. And that was resonated with me because conflict resolution in my home growing up was pretty simple. If you back talked or you stood up for yourself, you got pitched against the wall. So you learn pretty quick to flee. I did anyway, to flee. Anytime there was a conflict, my fight or flight instincts are kicked in. So every relationship I had, when conflict entered, I'd left, that was the end of it. And Tammy was my first long-term relationship. And we met in November. I asked her to marry me in April. She got pregnant in May. And all of a sudden, I'm a father of two kids and a wife in less than six months. And about a year later, I could, you know, shockingly, I'm in a therapist's office. And she says, tell me your story. And I told her, she goes, so what do you hear for? I said, I feel, I'm insane. I feel like I'm absolutely insane. And when I told her what my life was, she goes, well, you took on a lot of responsibility. But that's how dead I was as a human being. I didn't realize what I was taking on was a lot of responsibility. I just thought it'd be a neat idea to be married. So even when you kind of went, you went through the recovery program, but you were still, you weren't, you hadn't met Christ. You were angry, bitter, disillusioned. Where did Christ enter into your story? How did Christ enter into your story? Well, as it always works with God, he puts a person in their path of your life. And I met a guy, I heard about a guy that was doing comedy. He was a multimillionaire businessman. He was just out doing comedy clubs as a hobby. I don't know, anyway, it certainly wasn't for the money. And I heard he was an avid golfer. I was an avid golfer and he could get me on golf courses like Augusta National. And as soon as I heard that, he became my new best friend and I'd never even met him. And this is where God is so, so cool because God knows your heart. I wasn't gonna go to a church to hear the gospel. So we were out on the golf course, we're working together and he starts talking about some things. And I'm trying to figure out how to accumulate wealth now. We had divorce papers filled out, we're bankrupt financially, morally. And anyway, he said something and I said, that's great, where'd you read that? I was something like, you know, in order to enjoy the creation, you have to have a relationship with the one who created it. And I go, wow, that's kind of cool, where'd you read that? He goes, it's biblical. The relationship part, having a relationship with God. And I go in, oh, okay. Couple holes went by, said something else. I go, that's great, where'd you read that? He goes to the Bible. And I said, well, stop it with the Bible. And he goes, what do you mean? I go, who actually reads the Bible? I mean, really? It's a little archaic, God, God's word, all of that. You know, come on. And he's backs up. He says, what's in the Bible you don't think is true? And I said, I don't know. I never read it. Then he goes, well, then you're not really an atheist. You're a moron. You know, and so that was the start of our relationship. And he went on to explain it's the most influential book in the history of the world. The entire Western civilization moral foundation is built on the foundation of that book. You can't even crack it open. The most influential book in the history where you can't even open it up and look at it. So that's just lazy and moronic. And it is. So that was the start of our friendship. And before we left that week, he signed me up for some Bible study tapes from his church in Texas, Tom Nelson's church, that in Bible. And I collected those tapes for about a year and a half. And in the meantime, Tammy and I were getting a divorce and we ended up about 10 minutes from filing those papers at the courthouse and she changed her mind. And we went home. And before she left, she took the kids that summer. She goes, you're draining me. Figure out what you want to do with your adult life, Jeff. We're losing the house. We're losing everything. If you don't want to do comedy, you don't do it. But for God's sakes, you got to find something. I can't make the money you make. The bills are set at what income you, I can't even imagine. All she wanted to do was have a husband that was available occasionally. And I mean, her expectations by now were low enough to where I think most men could meet it, but I couldn't even meet that. I just wanted to know why anything mattered. And she gathered up all those tapes and threw them at me and said, you're the list of these things or I'm throwing them out. So anyway, I left them on the living room floor, a big pile of Manila envelopes. And she took off with the kids and I didn't think she was going to come back at the end of the summer. So anyway, I opened one up the one day and the first tape was Ecclesiastes. And when I heard meaningless, meaningless, my heart leapt. I go, yes, yes, yes, yes. It's all meaningless. It's pointless. There's no reason to hear. But you got to finish the book. Solomon's conclusions were pretty simple. Life without God will have no meaning. Without meaning in your life, there's no purpose without purpose to your life's suicide. And I dove into that book. I listened to about a year and a half's worth of Bible study tapes in about three months. And I finally went to Texas and my buddy, Phil, who said, when I met you, God gave, put it on my heart. You were looking for something if you found it. And all I could think to say to him was, if Jesus is not who he claimed to be, then I'm a dead man. Solomon was right. I'm not going anywhere else. And that was basically my prayer to Jesus. If you are who you claim to be, then I'm yours forever and always, and you got to take this, whatever this is, my life, because I can't be, I'm not a lousy husband. I'm a lousy father. At this point, I wasn't even a very good comedian. And anyway, the transformation was immediate. Immediately, Tammy must have seen it. She came home with the kids and I told her, I was a born again Christian. She goes, what does that mean? I go, I really don't know. I just read it somewhere. You know, I don't even know what it means. And I love that. I love people who don't know what happened, but all of a sudden God showed up. So tell me then, where did it go from there? Well, I'm here today talking to you only because of that relationship. Tammy was raised by Christians who were not very kind. They were Christian on Sunday and they were abusive on Monday through Saturday. So her initial reaction was almost a recoil from it. But within a couple of weeks, she was coming to church with us on Sunday. I told her, I said, look, this is my journey. You can hop in anytime you want. I'd love to come to church with us, but you don't have to. And she developed her own relationship with Christ after all of that. And if you want her story, I have to ask her, but she, it's interesting. We moved, I call them in the book, geographical purers. We moved every two years, probably in our marriage early. We moved like three or four times in eight years. They're called geographicals. You know, you're miserable where you're at. You naively think that if we pack up everything and move to another location, it'll get better. And it is for a little while, but so it's no coincidence. We've been in the same house now for 27 years after giving our life to Jesus. And it is, I don't think it's a coincidence, you know? So what was your new relationship with comedy like? Your comedy had sort of been based in a lot of, seemed like a lot of anger and things like that before Christ. What did he do with that? It's just, again, joy. It's a different heart delivering it. I don't know how else to explain it because the material didn't change much. You know, I still, I still got to pick on her. It was interesting when I started working churches, you know, my first Gayther event, I worked for Bill Gayther and he, somebody came to me the second day and said, hey man, did you mention you'll love your wife at some point? And I go, they don't know that. And they go, well, you hit her kind of hard. So the next day I'm doing some breakout show and I'm leaving the stage and they're applauding and I remember, oh, I got to go back and tell everybody I love her. So I go back and the first time I start talking about her and what God's a blessed I am to have such a wonderful woman in my life, she stuck with me through all these hard times. And I start crying. I mean, crying, big crocodile tears. And anyway, I walk off and Tammy looks at me and goes, what the heck was all that? I go, I don't know, baby. But I just, maybe I should not talk about this anymore. But anyway, people started hiring me to tell the story and I kept crying through it. And she would call me, she go, did you go Jimmy Swaggered last night? Did you go full blown cry? You know. But it was an emotional thing to realize what Jesus has brought you through. Hey, that's some good crying. So let's just say somebody's watching right now and they're like something about their story. Maybe they've never read Ecclesiastes. They don't know about that. What would you say to someone who says, hey, somethings that Jeff is saying is something I need? Well, you gotta, I don't know if most people, most people who are in a bad place isolate. That's like the worst thing you can do is be alone. And for me, recovery began when I started servicing others. And that's the one thing about the 12 step program. You get in right away. You pick up chairs, you make coffee for people. You serve others. And somebody gave me a trash bags one day and I said, what are these? He goes, when you find yourself in the need of a drink and you can't, or you're angry and you can't go home, you don't wanna go home. Pick up trash. Just go out and then here's the hard part. Don't let anybody see you. Cause your pride will kick in and you'll start thinking it's about you. It's not. Get out of yourself, get out of your head and find somebody, a community somewhere, somebody to talk to and get out. Isolationism is the disease of the 21st century. They got us convinced that we should stay in our homes and look at our devices, but get out and be part of a community. And I cracked that book open. It's the most influential book in the history of the world. I'll open it up. That's right. Don't let that book just sit there. But Jeff, thank you so much, Jeff Allen. Thank you for sharing your story. The book's called, Are We There Yet? My Journey from a Messed Up to Meaningful Life. I highly recommend it. Jeff, thank you so much for sharing with us today. Thank you guys for having me. God bless you. Well, great story. And we're gonna have a little bit more about God's story for you when we come back during our 21 Days of Prayer. Stay with us. Every now and then life gets the best of us and we need a reminder to keep calm and trust God. Simple but striking, the Keep Calm and Trust God box of blessings provides messages of reassurance to help carry you through tough and challenging times. These small cards fit into the palm of your hand and will turn your focus to the one who is in control of everything. Inside you'll find 51 colorful double-sided cards featuring a combination of inspirational scripture verses and faint-based quotes. Add it to a Get Well basket or use it to encourage a teacher, family member, or friend, or save it for the time you need encouragement. Be sure to ask for the Keep Calm and Trust God box of blessings when you give today. It's our way of saying thanks as you encourage others by providing life-changing Christian television through Cornerstone TV. Call us at 888-665-4483 or give at ctvn.org slash donate. I just loved the interview and really the honesty, how well he communicated where he was at as a man, which I've heard is very unusual for men to be able to clearly communicate, you know, where they were at and what was going on. He will be in Pittsburgh. October the sixth, you can go to word FM for all of the details. I was laughing out loud myself a few times, but you know, we are on day nine of our 21 days of prayer. How cool that we get to come together for 21 days and pray about specific things. So today we are praying for healthy communication and selflessness. Now do not check out on me. We all need to go to the next level in this and our scripture for today and for this moment of prayer is 1 Corinthians 13, four through eight, otherwise known as the love chapter. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres and love never fails. You know, when the rubber meets the road in any relationship, in any communication, love never fails. We can always walk in love. If you really want a life change, like you're having significant relational issues, communicational issues, this is what I have done in the past when I go through those seasons and I honestly should probably do this every day. Amy is patient, Amy is kind. Amy does not envy, Amy does not boast. Amy's not proud. Just take love and put your name in there and just say, I'm a person of love. I have received the love of God in my heart and it is easy for me to walk out that love walk in life. Cause I'm telling you guys, you will come upon a situation where it is like ding, and there is no resolve. And you might think, well, it's not fair. They're winning or whatever. Like he said, I was on a chair and yelling, that's not winning. Winning maybe is saying, you know what? I'm going to die to myself. I'm going to die to the flesh and I'm going to communicate like God does in this matter. Sydney, it's not easy, but we can do it with the help of the Holy Spirit. Yes, you know, I like love this whole topic about talking about healthy communication and love. And actually that scripture is in our bedroom. So when I wake up every morning, I see it and I'll do I read it every day? Absolutely not. I'm telling of myself, but I just think about, we're talking about love. Love is a person and that person is Jesus. And we cannot do love without Jesus. And I think about the Greek word for love agape, agapeo. It is this selfless, sacrificing love. Even if you look in the Hebrew and the Old Testament, it is ahava, it means to give. So love in God's definition, I think in the world, you know, I've watched so many rom-coms and all these things and it's mushy and gushy and it's doing all these things. No, it's about giving yourself away. It means loving that person when they're at their worst. It means loving someone, doing something that is outside of your comfort zone because that's exactly what God did with his son Jesus because God so loved the world. What did he do? He gave his son Jesus. And we are to model the way that we live our lives and love through that. So I know it can be difficult. Love is not easy. I think a lot of people we like say like, oh, no, love is hard, hard, hard, hard, hard. But when we lay our lives down, when we seek the Holy Spirit, when we pursue God, He will give us the strategies. He will give us the ways that we are able to go and love one another. Tom, what are your thoughts on love? Well, I like that you put the positive spin on putting your name in there, Amy, because usually I get to Thomas patient, Thomas kind, Tom does not have a Tom. And about that time, I'm convicted completely of my wretchedness, my wretchedness before the Lord. But God is faithful to us that no matter what we have failed in, no matter what we have blown it in, He is faithful, and He's faithful to you today. He surely is faithful. Tom was talking to me, I was taking a drink, y'all, I'm not even gonna lie, I was lying in my throat. I was giving myself some love. Well, we are so grateful that you joined us for a hope today, and we just really pray that as you've been watching this show that you'd be encouraged that God loves you and goes for that love to someone else because they need it today. God bless you, we love you.