This is an iHeart Podcast. There's nothing like sinking into luxury. At washablesofas.com, you'll find the Anibay sofa, which combines ultimate comfort and design at an affordable price. And get this, it's the only sofa that's fully machine washable from top to bottom, starting at only $699. The stain-resistant performance fabric slip covers and cloud-like frame duvet can go straight into your wash.
Perfect for anyone with kids, pets, or anyone who loves an easy-to-clean, spotless sofa. With a modular design and changeable slip covers, you can customize your sofa to fit any space and style. Whether you need a single chair, love seat, or a luxuriously large sectional, Anibay has you covered. Visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your home. Right now, you can shop up to 60% off store-wide with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Shop now at washablefas.com. Add a little. to your life. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry.
That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn. I host Try This. Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges.
Follow Try This right now wherever you're listening. Seriously, try it. You don't need a thousand dollars to buy Bitcoin. You just need a plan. Kraken lets you set up recurring buys so you can build your position over time.
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You heard it before many times. Water is life. But do you know that almost half of the homes on the Navajo Reservation do not have clean running water? With your support, St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School is ready to give water to Navajo families.
So we invite you to help provide this precious gift of life to those in need. Contrary to many average Americans, Navajo families survive on just 10 gallons of water per day. You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to stbonaventuremission.org. After a long run, I love using Primal Lee Pure's bergamot plus eucalyptus body wash and whipped body butter.
They're fully non-toxic and perfect for refreshing and hydrating your skin. And their charcoal deodorant, it's the only natural deodorant that actually works for me. Use code RUN for 15% off at www.primalypure.com. That's P-R-I-M-A-L-L-Y-P-U-R-E.com. This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people.
Up next, a story out of coal country about a miner who would take on a hefty second job. You to tell the story is the Appalachian storyteller, J.D. Phillips, a YouTuber with a phenomenal channel. Let's get into the story. My name is Harrison Mays.
And I was born just before the turn of the century in 1898. Um Mm. Our cabin was located on a place called Baron Creek. just below the Kentucky-Tennessee state line. Mm-hmm.
Like most folks back then. Ma and Paul spent most days scratching at the flinty soil on a rocky hillside farm, growing just enough food to raise their eight children. Seems everyone had large families back then. Heck, a man needed all the helping hands he could get. How else were the chores gonna get done?
Like milking a cow, collecting the chicken eggs, or the endless toting of water from the creek to the homestead. Not that us kids mind it, though. It seemed like a privilege to help out our paw. He was a hard-working, God-fearing man. And what I remember the most about him is it seemed he always had a lot of worry written across his face and behind his eyes.
Not that he ever said any of it out loud, but we all knew it was there. He spent many a night standing on the porch, studying the position of the moon. or the shapes of the clouds. Mm-hmm. He always seemed to know exactly when it was going to rain, and he could predict a bad winter coming months in advance.
in many ways. Paul was one of the last truly free men, men that were part of the wilderness itself. Just like his father and his grandfather before him, Paul had never worked a day in his life for money. He had never clocked in or out. Instead, he lived as one with both the forest and the wild beasts that inhabited it.
The turn of the century brought many changes to everyone who called these isolated mountains home, including my family. You see, the coal industry was born out of the ashes of the war between the States. And for the first time, jobs found their way into this remote region. Within a few short years. Company towns had sprung up all up and down the hollers, and they needed all sorts of workers.
loggers to clear the land. Hands at the sawmill. carpenters to build the shack houses, more men to build a new railroad, But most of all, They needed men willing to work in total darkness. For 12 hours a day, deep inside a hole, dug for more than a mile deep into the side of a mountain, armed with little more than a pickaxe. What they needed.
was meant to dig the coal. Uh Oh no. One by one. Men moved their families out of their ancestral cabins and away from their hillside farms that they had worked all their lives. and they moved them into these coal camps.
And by the time I was five years old, My paul traded his life as a mountain man for a lifetime of coal dust. Uh Paul moved us all a few miles outside of Hillsboro, Kentucky, where he was hired on at the Fork Mountain Coal Camp. Uh Yeah. For the next several years, I spent most of my days attending the company school and helping ma around the house. Most of my siblings were old enough to work in the mine with Paul.
But me? No. I loved school. Bible study was my favorite part of the day. and our teacher.
Miss Sally. Would even let me take home a few sheets of scratch paper each day for me to practice writing Bible verses. I hoped I would grow up and become a preacher. I spent most nights after supper. Using small pieces of coal that Paul had brought home, drawing pictures with Bible verses underneath them to show Miss Sally the next morning.
One day, on my 14th birthday, Miss Sally made cookies for me at school. And she gave me a big hug. She told me she would miss me. Aw, Miss Sally, I ain't going nowhere, I replied. But Harrison, don't you know?
You're fourteen now. A boy's schooling is done when he turns that age.
Well, what will I do now? I asked. Why, you'll work in the coal mine, of course. You don't need no more sculling to work in the mine. But Miss Sally, All my life, I've been aiming on becoming a preacher.
Not a minor. Wow. The young teacher paused for a moment of reflection. And then she spoke.
Son, you don't have to be a preacher in a church to spread God's message. Just trust in the Lord and He'll show you the way. And just like that, in that moment. My school days were over. And in many ways, So what's my childhood?
And I didn't know it at the time. but I would spend the rest of my life working in the darkness. of a cold damp. Coal mine.
So there I was, just barely a teenager, but somehow a man at the same time. working 12 hours a day for the same coal company as my father. They called me a coupler boy. You see, electricity had come to the coal mine, and no longer did mules carry the coal carts out of the mine. Instead, there was a metal cable pulley system that pulled an endless train of coal carts, each full with over a ton of coal, up to the mouth of the mine.
Each of these cards were coupled together. with a pin that had to be removed at exactly the precise moment. to separate the cart from the cable pulley system. The cart would continue down the tracks, and the pulley would roll up and back into the mine. and start the process over again.
Removing that pan at precisely the right moment was risky business, to say the least. My friend Tommy and I, we saw many boys lose fingers. and even one boy lost an arm. When he got caught between the carts, it seemed it wasn't a matter of if he would get hurt. The only question was when.
I still remember that Friday morning like it was yesterday. My paw and all my brothers and me we set out for the mine in a light mountain rain. As we all entered the mine, My paw looked back at me. As he grabbed his coal tags, and his lunch bucket. Be careful today.
That rain is going to make everything slippery. We can't afford for you to get hurt. Yes, sir, Paul. I replied. And slippery it was.
That entire morning. All us boys were slipping back and forth in the muck and the mud, uncoupling those cars. my buddy Tommy suddenly yelled out Harrison, help me. My overalls are caught in a pinch. When we come back, what happens next in that mine?
Here. on our American stories. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. And all of our history stories are brought to us by our generous sponsors, including Hillsdale College, where students go to learn all the things that are beautiful in life. and all the things that matter in life.
If you can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses. Go to hillsdale.edu. That's hillsdale.edu. Time for a sofa upgrade? Visit washablesofas.com and discover Anibay, where designer style meets budget-friendly prices, with sofas starting at $699.
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Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. you If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn.
I host Try This. Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges. Follow Try This right now wherever you're listening. Seriously, try it. My finance guy is like, you know, we talk every day about stocks.
We should just shut up and bought Bitcoin. Just shut up and bought Bitcoin, forget everything else, and bank. I have all my crypto on Kraken. Dave Portnoy trusts Kraken with his crypto.
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Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to U.S. customers through Payword Interactive Inc. Terms and Conditions Apply. You heard it before many times. Water is life.
But do you know that almost half of the homes on the Navajo Reservation do not have clean running water? With your support, St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School is ready to give water to Navajo families.
So we invite you to help provide this precious gift of life to those in need. Contrary to many average Americans, Navajo families survive on just 10 gallons of water per day. You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to ST. BonaventureMission.org This is Danielle Fischel from Pod Meets World.
Parents, let's talk snacks. If your mornings look anything like mine, one kid's trying to pile drive a pillow and the other is trying to zip themselves into a backpack.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to sign a permission slip with an eyeliner pencil because that's all I could find. That's why Mott's no sugar-added applesauce pouches are perfect to have nearby. These things are clutch and are perfect for moments of stress. Made with real apples, no sugar-added, and the pouch? Genius!
It's mess-free and perfect for the car, the lunchbox, or after-school activities. This is a snack you can feel good about, and a good source of vitamin C too. Just tasty applesauce your kids will actually want to eat. The other day, I handed one to my son mid-meltdown. He took a deep breath, squeezed the pouch, and suddenly he was calm.
He had a tiny apple-powered moment of zen. Trust me, your future self will thank you. Moths. Real apples make real good applesauce. Learn more at motts.com.
And we return to our American stories and the story of Harrison Mays. When we last left off, Harrison, who wanted to become a preacher, Before becoming a minor, found himself in a dangerous situation with his friend Tommy. in the mine they both worked in. Tommy's overalls were stuck in the middle. in a pulley cart system.
Let's get back to the story. I looked up. He was being drugged alongside a fully loaded cart that he had uncovered. Both the cart and Tommy were barreling full speed down the track right at me.
However. Tommy was holding on tight to the side of the cart to keep from getting ran over while screaming the entire time. His weight made the cart unsteady, and it looked as if the cart was going to tip over just enough to make the coal jump the tracks. I stood frozen for a split second. I didn't know whether the run helped Tommy.
or get out of the way. In the blink of an eye, I heard the crashing sound of the cart jumping the track. tearing up the side of the wall as it raced towards me. I took one step in the mud and I slipped and fell. There was no time to escape.
I kicked my legs frantically, trying to move out of the way. By now, Tommy had freed himself and he had jumped off the coal cart and he was yelling, Harrison, get out of there quick! I had nowhere to turn. and the entire cart barreled into my chest. I broke nearly every bone in my body.
and folks who saw it. said my eyes popped right out of their sockets. Desperately. The miners began to dig me out of the rubble as the company doctor arrived on the scene of the accident. I had lost consciousness and I was just laying there a heap of broken bones.
when they pulled my body out of the mine. The doctor shook his head and he told my paw.
Well, I'm sorry. But there ain't nearly a chance that he'll make it through the night. Ain't no sense in trying to get into a hospital in this weather. He'll never make it. Best thing to do.
is to take him home. Call the family in and say your goodbyes. Uh Uh As I laid there lifeless on that bed, I could feel my family all around me, but I couldn't make out what any one of them were saying. I just remember my mama's tear-stricken face. And then I turned my head and I realized I was looking down on my lifeless body from up above.
I was caught somewhere in between this world and the next one. that instant when a soul separates from its body. I didn't feel any pain, but I felt like I wasn't done. My life hadn't even begun yet. God, please, please don't let me die.
I promise if you'll let me live. I'll spend all of my days telling the world about you. I promise I'll tell the entire world, far beyond those mountain ridges. Just let me live. and everyone will know your name.
Now, I need to pause here for just a moment. You see. there was no way Harrison Mays should have ever survived that accident. No man could have lived through it. much less a young boy.
but sometimes when we least expect it, even when there is no other possible explanation. God can do the impossible. That's right. Harrison did survive, and within three days, he climbed off his deathbed, and he dedicated the rest of his life to telling everyone he could. about God.
Once Harrison returned to the coal mines, he was a changed man. In his mind, he had to get busy in a hurry. telling the world about God.
Now back in those days... one of the biggest events to happen in rural Appalachia. Was when a tent revival came to your town. Everyone and their brother would go to these events to see and hear everything from preaching, singing, snake hamming, dancing, and everything in between. Harrison figured the Lord said to make a drewful noise.
So he first tried his hand at singing. The only problem was...
Well, he couldn't sing a lick, and though he was making a joyful noise, Well, it was just noise that most folks could do without. When the next tent revival came to town, He tried his hand at preaching. But his combined fear of public speaking and the blank looks on the faces of the churchgoers told him that preaching wasn't exactly his calling either. One day, the up-and-coming preacher was sitting on the front porch. asking the Lord for a sign on what to do.
when a new idea came to him. Literally. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. There standing right in front of him was his pet hog.
Isaac, just standing there looking at him. Harrison quickly ran to the lean to shed, and within a minute He re-emerged with a bucket of white paint and a paintbrush. He dipped his brush into the paint and began painting. Sin not. down each side of the black pig.
Since pigs roamed freely back then, fattening up on chestnuts. Within a few days, everybody in the mining camp had read those words, sin not. Harrison knew he was onto something, and he began painting his simple message on the sides of mountains, rocks, trees, barns, and even on cold cars bound for faraway places. He soon resorted to making signs out of wood. cardboard, and oilcloth.
carrying messages such as get right with God. Jesus is coming. To fund his ministry, he began working double shifts in the coal mines. one for his family and one for the Lord. All the miners knew of his signs.
And some would laugh while others would shake their heads in disbelief.
However, They admired his effort, and every now and then they would donate a load of coil towards Harrison's ministry. Heck, even the mining company let him use an abandoned building on the property as his workshop. By 1940, Harrison's father had passed away from the dreaded Black Lung. As was a common practice back then. The loving son made his father's tombstone.
out of concrete right in the backyard. It was in that moment that Harrison had another aha moment. He began making concrete crosses and hearts, weighing as much as fifteen hundred pounds, and placing them on the side of highways for all to see. He first began by placing them in nearby states, Kentucky, and Tennessee and Virginia. And within a decade, he had signs in nearly every state on the East Coast.
He'd work in the coal mines all night. and build crosses in his back yard all day. Once he had five or six ready. He would rent a truck and a driver, and together the two would strike out until he found a spot that looked good to him. He would simply pull up and dig a hole, and using a pulley system that he had built on the truck, he would lower the 1500-pound cross into place.
Many times property owners would run out in Yale, What are you doing? You can't leave that here. Get off my property. Harrison would simply load up in the truck and make his getaway. Nearly every week.
He would get a legal notice demanding that he come back and remove a cross, but he never would. He had the most trouble in Virginia. Lawmakers there were fed up with its religious signs, and they passed a law stating that all roadside signs must be licensed and taxed by the State. Once the new law was passed, the Virginia Highway Department dug up thirty-nine of its crosses, drove them to the Tennessee side of the Cumberland Gap. and dumped them right on the side of the road.
For their trouble, they sent Harrison a bill of $39. During the years of 1920 through the 1980s, Harrison planted thousands of crosses in forty four states across America. He created signs on the side of mountains near airports, stating Prepare to meet God. He mailed an estimated fifty eight thousand empty whiskey bottles containing Scripture in fourteen different languages all over the world. His bottles have been found in the Philippines, the Netherlands, and even Africa.
Yeah. It's estimated that Harrison Mays spent $100,000 of his own money funding his ministry during his lifetime. As he would say, Every penny I ever made is God's anyway. I'm just 126 pounds of mud. Harrison Mays never drove during his life, and he walked or rota bike everywhere he went.
He even walked to and from his marriage to his wife Lily. Who supported him his entire life and supported his ministry? Harrison was at home at any church, and he spent his entire life telling anyone he met. about the Lord. Harrison Mays went on to glory and met his maker.
In 1986. Three months later, his wife Lily joined him there.
However, today, if you look hard enough, you can still find many of his roadside crosses and hearts dotted throughout the South. There's even a permanent collection of his work at the Museum of Appalachia in Tennessee. Till next time, my friends, in the words of Harrison Mays, get right with God. Because Jesus is coming. A beautiful piece of storytelling by J.D.
Phillips, known as the Appalachian Storyteller. He has a YouTube channel that's phenomenal. Such respect and regard for this part of the country, not enough stories on this show told. about this part of the country and we're fixing that. The story of Harrison Mays, a classic American story about faith.
and so much more. Here. on Our American Stories. There's nothing like sinking into luxury. At washablesofas.com, you'll find the Anibay sofa, which combines ultimate comfort and design at an affordable price.
And get this, it's the only sofa that's fully machine washable from top to bottom, starting at only $699. The stain-resistant performance fabric slip covers and cloud-like frame duvet can go straight into your wash. Perfect for anyone with kids, pets, or anyone who loves an easy-to-clean, spotless sofa. With a modular design and changeable slip covers, you can customize your sofa to fit any space and style. Whether you need a single chair, love seat, or a luxuriously large sectional, Anibay has you covered.
Visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your home. Right now, you can shop up to 60% off store-wide with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Shop now at washablefas.com. Add a little. to your life.
Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. Hi, it's Danielle Fischl from Pod Meets World. You know that moment when you're getting dressed and it's just total chaos? Your kid can't find a shoe, the dog's barking at his reflection, and all you need is a go-to outfit you can trust. If you're tired of options that miss the mark, let me put you on to JCPenney.
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Yes, JC Penny. This is Danielle Fischel from Pod Meets World. Parents, quick question. When is the last time you won snack time? The other day, I handed my son a perfectly portioned Pinterest-level snack, and he traded it for a Mott's applesauce pouch.
I'm not mad, just impressed. And that's why Mott's no-sugar-added applesauce pouches are perfect to keep on hand. They're made with real apples, packed in a super easy pouch, perfect for tossing in a lunchbox, keeping in the car, or grabbing as you're running out the door. Plus, they're a good source of vitamin C, and kids love them. Win-win!
Make sure your kid wins snack time with Motts. Real apples make real good applesauce. Learn more at Motts.com. If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome.
You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn. I host Try This. Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges. Follow Try This right now wherever you're listening.
Seriously, try it. Every day has a to-do list, but adding enjoy Belveeta to yours can help you knock out the rest of it. Belveda breakfast biscuits are a tasty and convenient breakfast option when paired with low-fat yogurt and fruit that provide steady energy all morning. While Belveda Energy Snack Bites give you the perfect mid-morning refuel, best part, they both taste great.
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