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This is a job for Indeed. indeed sponsor jobs. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. This next story is about a friend of mine. We're close in age.
but have little else in common. Mitchell Rutledge, aka Big Mitch, was born black and poor in Georgia. I was born kind of brown and middle class in New Jersey. He never met his father. I still talk to my 94-year-old father every week.
He dropped out of high school in his early teens and was illiterate into his early 20s. I was surrounded by books growing up and finished graduate school in my early thirties. Big Mitch spent the last 44 years of his life in Alabama prisons for killing a man. But this is not a story about an innocent man sentenced to prison for a crime he didn't commit. Big Mitch never denied the crime.
or made excuses for it. This is the story of my friend's spiritual transformation while serving his life sentence. It's also about a friendship only God could have engineered. a friendship that began with a single Sunday morning call. Through these weekly conversations, I hope you come to know and love him as much as I do.
Here's episode 15, the final episode, our conversation on February 19th. 2026, where Mitch begins by describing the many forms of bondage that hold people back from true freedom. Let's take a listen. This is a free call from Mutual Ruttenage. An incarcerated individual at Alabama Department of Corrections.
To accept this free call press. 1. To refuse this free call press. 2. Thank you for using Securus.
You may start the conversation now. I knew offense. That we create our own circumstances. integration and live. Be calls.
The things that we do and how we live are enemy. how we treat people's how we respond to people's Keep it. Care resolved. But you give her life. That is back to you.
And I'll You have to be real mindful of that and be careful. And I said all that to Sid. situation and circumstances. that come out of weight. And of Create.
problems in our lives. Halting times. you're responsible for.
So when things are going on in our lives, and people find themselves And a steam. of imprisonment. But there's reasons. Uh a pain. simply ask you have a gambling problem.
And this this gambling problem Yeah. Restored your family. truck all of your finances. separated you away from The change is so.
So it's destructive and prayers are made. Um People don't look at it like that. End this. And jealousy. is a form of bondage.
and in prison yet. He calls. You can't even appreciate what you have. Without looking in someone else's hand to see what they have and want what they have. You're in bondage.
and servitude to envy and jealousy. That don't describe you.
So they have so many Aspects or being. and bottom dictionary. not necessarily the physical aspect of it. And from my investigation and just looking around and praying and studying. It comes from It's how we treat people in life.
See, we ain't conscious of that, and God tells us about that. That's me I tell guys and you Be liable what you do, man. Because what you give the life is gonna give back to you. If you can't just seize on your song, In time of harvest, you're going to Take the benefit of your lazy In a hairball. of bondage or crown.
What are you graduating? Babe Sol. And you gonna have And all this time you don't have a crop at all. It's devastating. Just to say we're alike.
So, what you do in life and how you do it and what you do. You're a friend. No seeds. your conduct. your action, your ways, your thoughts.
And as you travel through life, God has said that He will give these things back to you. You can't get nothing back that you can gauge in life. And I just want to express that. Be mindful. or how you treat people.
Freedom. Most people think that imprisonment consists of in physical restraint. If you're incarcerating In a confinement or in a cell or what have you, that you are in prison.
Well, that is an illusion. That is a real that that is a real illusion. Because I had wrote something years ago terminal debt. And I I was in Demo at that time and in in my cell. Speed by five.
And imagine the space that I had. And I must told We even buy a lot of small. I see it. I can be more free in here. than the individual.
could be in a twenty thirty room mansion. He calls. It comes down to Done. Present quote. We're striking.
But What type of People you have. Spiritually. A local treatment. Are you at peace? It's yourself.
Do you like yourself? Can you appreciate What you have. Are you happy? Mm-hmm. Can't put you in a form of a prison then.
So Just because, yeah, physical restraint like what I have been in for. Uh um I came in here when I was twenty one years old.
Now I'm going to 67. Good. Um Happy Nick Mitch. I like that. Mitch.
I'm at pins with me. I'm not angry. A bill.
So Any other I am at peace with myself.
So it's give you more creative. than an individual that is not physical yet. restrain. but it's not at peace with themselves. Be all.
in a worse state of confinement.
So we we we we we have to understand that We have to. Come to Europe. with the only way in my humble opinion That you can Renew those. Of that type of and prisoner. is to establish a relationship.
You got all your money. That's it. And from there, You reap the wars. And he The lion. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Cool. Take all of those restraints and burdens that Satan has put on you, off of you.
Now you could be happy. with who you are.
Some people don't even like how you look.
Some people are In prison, because society said you have to look this way or that way. or you have to have this type of structure. If you don't have this type of structure or if you don't look this well. Being you are not an attractive person. They buy into that.
That's the inner bed. That's that's that's it. That's the enemy. That is not all. God created you.
Oh yeah. Like who you are. Appreciate who you are. Respect who you are. Thank God for who you are.
To share it. like a morning star. And you'll be sweet. And a terrific job in the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler and our own Reagan Habib. And a special thanks to my friend, Mitch Rutledge, for sharing his story, his wisdom.
and some life lessons. Along the way, in his four decade plus time spent In various prisons in the state of Alabama. He said in this last bit of storytelling: we create many of our own bad situations, not all of them. but many are of our own making. And then he talked about the kind of prisons we set up for ourselves, if not literal, figurative.
That gambler, that drug addict, that workaholic. Even in prison, Mitch said. You can be free. In fact, you can be more free, he pointed out, in prison than you can in a 20-room mansion. If you're engulfed in addiction or some other form of bondage to sin, his advice to all of us: love who you are, like who you are, thank God for who you are, and you'll be free.
A beautiful way to wrap up this 15-part series, Sunday Mornings with Big Mitch, here on Our American Stories. This is Julian Edelman from Games with Names. I want to take a second to talk about something that's personal to me. I've had the privilege of working closely with Robert Kraft for a long time. And one thing I've always respected is how seriously he takes up standing up to hate.
As a Jewish athlete my identity is something I am proud of. But I also know what it feels like to be singled out for it. That's why this new commercial for the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate that aired during the big game really hit home. It's about showing up for someone when they're targeted, even if you don't have the perfect words. And sometimes standing next to someone is enough.
And you could show support by sharing the blue square. No one knows what the future holds, but you deserve a weather app that can help. Weatherbug is easy to use and provides forecasts for your every need, from storm warnings to pollen levels, right at your fingertips. Get the fastest local alerts and comprehensive 10-day forecasts wherever you are. It's hyper-local, real-time, customizable alerts.
Make sure the weather never takes you by surprise so you can plan every day with confidence. Download the free weather bug app from the App Store today and start getting accurate weather forecasts 24-7. We've been duped, hoodwinked, conned for 50 years. The lawn care industry sold us toxins in a bag and made our yards more toxic than a bad relationship. Sunday helps you ditch the chemicals and feed your lawn the good stuff: soybean proteins, iron, seaweed, molasses, ingredients that get your soil giggling like an overserved mom at the block party.
Sunday uses clean ingredients in real science for thicker, greener grass. Order today and get your custom Sunday yard plan for the season ahead. Sunday for a smarter, healthier yard. Get Sunday.com. Big adventures, family chaos, untethered exploration.
The Nissan Pathfinder is built for it. Powered by a lauded V6 engine and smooth nine-speed automatic transmission, the new Nissan Pathfinder is Adventure on Wheels. With seating for up to eight, a premium interior, and available second-row captain's chairs, it's adventure in comfort. And with 284 horsepower and 6,000 pounds of towing capacity, Pathfinder is Adventure Unlimited. The new Nissan Pathfinder, power your adventure.
Towing capacity varies by configuration. See Nissan Towing Guide and Owner's Manual for additional information. Always secure cargo. There's saving for retirement and then there's living in it. At Fidelity, we can help you make that transition and plan for whatever comes next.
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