The Weekend Joyride
The Weekend Joyride is a 30-ish minute weekly podcast with Mac and Rhoni—real conversations about faith, life, music, and the everyday moments that make you stop and think.
Each episode blends honest conversation, spiritual insight, Christian music (mostly), local color from around Central Texas, and stories that feel close to home.
It’s not about having all the answers. It’s about noticing God’s goodness, growing through real life, and enjoying the ride along the way.
The Weekend Joyride
One or Two Degrees
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A rough start to the week, a lesson about staying on course, two unexpected friendships, and a pair of chocolate-chip cookies that meant far more than they should have.
A tax bill. A mystery leak under the truck. Not exactly the way you want to start the week. But Forrest Frank’s “OKAY!” gives Mac and Rhoni a place to begin — with gratitude, perspective, and the reminder that one rough morning does not get the last word.
They also talk about the increasingly blurry line between country and contemporary Christian music, including Brandon Lake and Lainey Wilson’s “The Jesus I Know Now,” before the conversation turns toward Rhoni’s week at the Southwest Believers’ Convention in Fort Worth.
The word that stayed with her was access: how willing are we to let God lead, correct, and make the small course adjustments that keep us from drifting one or two degrees off? That idea becomes very personal when Rhoni tells the story of going to the convention alone, meeting Inobe in a bookstore, being invited to lunch by a stranger named Barbara, and receiving two chocolate-chip cookies with a meaning neither woman could have planned.
Then, because a Weekend Joyride cannot stay misty-eyed forever, Mac and Rhoni finish with the Blue Bridge Boys — a very young, very talented bluegrass group that has Rhoni’s Texas roots tapping.
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Email us at hello@weekendjoyride.com
Welcome Back to the Weekend Joyride
RhoniWe've been gone for a week or two.
MacIt's been a while.
RhoniSo welcome to the weekend joyride. We're glad you're here.
MacI'm Mac.
RhoniAnd I'm Rhoni.
MacAnd we've got lots to talk about this week, I think.
RhoniLet's catch up.
MacOkay.
RhoniWe've got some new music we'll introduce.
MacWell, Ronnie had a trip to Fort Worth without me, and we'll talk about that a little bit too.
RhoniAnd a bluegrass discovery.
MacThat just sounds funny to me coming out of your mouth. A bluegrass discovery. We'll talk about that in a minute.
RhoniThat taps my roots a little bit.
MacIt does, yeah. You know it does. You get down to those country roots and bluegrass fits right in, doesn't it? Okay.
Forrest Frank’s “Okay” and a Not-So-Fun Week
RhoniCurrent music that's caught my attention recently is a song by Forrest Frank. And it's called Okay. And what really caught me was the lyrics because we woke up last week to some not so fun stuff.
MacYeah, I mean, you know, a tax bill, a stain in the driveway underneath my truck that shouldn't be there. I don't have stains coming out of the back side of my truck. So that was an issue too.
RhoniYeah, it was just some not-so-fun stuff. So this particular song connected with me. And we've talked about Forrest before. He's a young guy from Fulshire. Mm-hmm.
MacOutside Houston.
RhoniAnd his music is very interesting because he does a lot on a MacBook Pro. And a lot of it is a little younger than I am, but then some of his songs are my favorite songs.
MacThey really they you relate to the lyrics a lot, I believe.
RhoniI do. And this one, okay. Will you play a little bit of that?
Forrest FrankSure. I woke up late and the house is a wreck. Couple bills on the counter, I don't want to check. The car needs casting an oil change. I guess I'll get around to that next. Cause my son's doing front flips on the floor. I'm supposed to be a chilly dinosaur. Some living the mets, I look to you when a new tongue starts to break through. But I'm just grateful that I got to wake up today. You take my worbies and herbies and fade them to the gray. You have good plans with me, that's what you say. That's how I know everything is gonna be. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
MacSo, what is it about the lyrics that get you?
RhoniI think the the lyrics just spoke to our week. And we'll talk about this in a minute. We were one or two degrees off on our tax figuring this past year. Kind of thing. Yeah. And so it was like, oh, yuck. And then your truck at the same time. It's like that's people that know me know that I like to drive a new car. And so I just always budget for the payment.
MacYeah, you've heard funny stories about, oh, I need new tires on my car, so you go get a new one. That's me. That's not quite you, but you're by the time the warranty's out, yeah, you're wanting to you're wanting to look.
RhoniAnd he drives a truck that's a beautiful truck that's paid for.
MacSo that's been great.
RhoniIt's been great. But then when you have to do maintenance, that stinks. And so and now it's just this whole part of the unknown. We don't know what it's gonna cost yet. So the lyrics of this song when I heard it, some of the lyrics he's talking about the car needs gas and an oil change. I woke up late, the houses are wrecked, bills on the counter, I don't want to check.
MacKids are writing on the walls.
RhoniYeah, so it's like, but the chorus is I'm just grateful that I got to wake up today. So it really brings you back to the center of where we are as Christians and where we should be. And that's why, really, that's why that first 15 minutes that we talk about that Pastor Ray promoted and Pastor Trey continues to promote. Exactly. That's why it's so important that before your feet ever hit the floor, before you check your email, before you check what's leaking out underneath the truck, or you open up what the CPA just sent, we need that first 15 in the morning to praise God for waking up, pray a little bit, and read the word.
MacAnd then read. Yeah. Yeah. Five minutes, five minutes, five minutes.
RhoniAnd that's why I love this song.
When Country and Christian Music Cross Paths
MacSome other thinking about music in my regular everyday work. I work at a country radio station. And to watch country music evolve is interesting because I was when I first started in radio, I had never really listened to country music. But my first few jobs were at serious country stations. Like WBAP in Fort Worth and just little small town stations that were serious country stations at the time. So I had to learn to love it. And I actually did learn to love country music, and it ain't nothing today what it was then.
RhoniIt's interesting how Christian and country artists are crossing in. The lines are getting gray, not just country. Forrest Frank is bleeding into popular music. So the lines are graying between the genres of music. So that's what's fun.
MacYeah, there's a song out these days. You know, we've talked about Brandon Lake many times here on the podcast, and we'll continue to talk about him. He could be a rock and roller. Yeah, I know. Sevens is one of my favorite songs of his, and it just gets down and rocks. And then he does soft stuff too. If you've seen him in concert, he lays down on the floor and worships God. And that's I got chills right now just talking about that. But now he's doing a song with with one of the bigger country stars right now. Her name is Lainey Wilson, and she talked like a s but Brandon Lake and Lainey Wilson are now doing a song called The Jesus I Know. And it's it's kind of a sweet song.
RhoniIt's a really good song. I think that your country listeners would love it.
MacOught to listen to it.
RhoniIt's just you if unless you're paying attention to the words and the chorus, the melody and the sound is really a great country song.
MacAnd the production values are just precise and good, yeah.
RhoniTell us how stations pick songs.
MacWell, it I think every station is different. It's kind of funny. Ronnie used to get so aggravated with our song picking process at the Christian station in Austin at Spirit 1059, because she would hear a great song on like Sirius XM or one of the satellite services, Pandora, whatever. She and she would text me, Hey, you gotta play this song. Y'all have to play this song. This is great. This yeah it's gonna be a hit, absolutely. But we have a process, okay? And I was not the program director. Steve Sunshine was the program director there, and he did a great job with Spirit 1059. But the process is wait till it gets on the charts. If you're gonna play it on the radio, you want to play something that a lot of people are gonna like because we're programming for the masses, we're not programming for somebody who might like the like me, like the third cut off the album. Yeah. So I would tell Ronnie, honey, that's not even in the top 80 right now. We gotta wait till it gets into the top 20 before we'll consider it. And she just, oh God, you would you didn't like that at all. You were like y'all.
RhoniNo, it's like you're missing out. People are gonna love this song.
MacBut then a month, three weeks, sometimes two weeks, two, sometimes two months later, it's a hit. And and she she says, see, could have gone with me.
RhoniYou could have been first, you could have been first to play it.
MacBut anyway, so that's how we that's how we choose. These the songs really need to be for mass consumption, unfortunately, to some people. And so we listen for that and we watch the charts and we do that kind of thing.
RhoniSo let's go back to the Jesus I know with Brandon Lake and Laney Wilson. Where is it falling right now on the chart?
MacIt's funny, it's actually doing a lot better on country charts than it is in contemporary Christian charts. It's like number 42 in the Contemporary Christian, as opposed to number eight in the country charts. Number eight, so I'm gonna have to be looking at that song to see if it's an ad for our station. Because it just might be. And it would be really kind of cool to do that to get Brandon Lake on our country station.
RhoniPlay some of that song and let's think about why are listeners responding to this one.
Lainey Wilson/Brandon LakeI got what I wanted. Hear my song on the radio. Let me alone top of the world with an empty heart, and nowhere left to go.
RhoniFor me, of course, I love the words because it's about a very personal Jesus who is not religious, who is full of love and not judgmental. Yeah.
MacSo I love the words. And you, like me, we both love the music part of it too. I love to hear the layers, and so do you. Right. So be looking for that song on a country station near you.
Giving God Access
MacSouthwest Believers Convention in Fort Worth happened a few weeks ago. And Ronnie and I have always gone together, but this year, Ronnie got to go by herself this year.
RhoniYeah, and it was it's something that is a non-negotiable for us. We've been going for 23 years, it just enriches my spirit, kind of sets me up for the year. It's sort of like that first 15 idea. It sets me up for the school year or the year ahead. And it's just been such a non-negotiable because we see the fruit of it, the fruit of that learning that we get there.
MacYeah. And I was not able to go this year. We say non-negotiable, but for me, it was kind of kind of non-negotiable that I wasn't able to go. But your job. Yeah. And when the speakers come together, they're not given a topic. They're they you come in here and you just speak what's on your heart, what's on what God tells you to speak. So it was interesting that a main word in some of the speakers was the word access. Where like a door isn't just an opportunity. It gives a door gives access to something.
RhoniYeah, one of my favorites this year was Jeremy Pearson's, and I really I love him anyway. But he started with Revelation 3.20, which is Jesus stands at the door and knocks. We tend to hear that verse when a pastor is giving an altar call. He's knocking at the door while you open and let him in. Yeah. But actually, that verse was written to believers. That's it. So these were people who already knew the Lord. Yes. It's addressed to believers. But the issue is really allowing him access. And Pastor Trey has taught on that for the last couple of weeks. We've mentioned that point. So that wasn't new. It was something that was just being more expounded upon. And so some of the notes that I took, literally, I took probably 30 pages of notes.
MacReally? Wow.
RhoniWell, because it was a week and several speakers each day. But one of the most eye-opening points that Jeremy made was to think about Paul and what Paul was enduring. He suffered such retribution for his stance on faith. And yet he did not quit. And a line that Jeremy said that I think is profound, he said, the greatest temptation we will ever face is the temptation to stop trusting God. Now, when you think about that, there is a there are degrees to which we could take that. There are people that just have one bad experience or suffer a tragedy and stop trusting God altogether. Paul didn't do that.
MacHe had many reasons.
RhoniHe had a lot of reasons to say, hold on, is this working or is it not working? Right. But he didn't quit. And Jeremy continued to talk about how it's about giving him access. And so when you think about it, he said, God had opened the door to faith. Paul said that, but opening this door to faith is a really big deal. Think about your own life and how much is that door open for the Lord to speak into you and for you to trust him. Yeah. So this whole idea of a door, this door of access, is really not just an opportunity, but it's how much are you going to allow him to come in and lead, guide, and direct.
MacIt's funny you talk about that, and I think back in my own life, I don't believe that my dad was one who went to church often. I think he was one of those dads that sent the family off to church and he didn't go. He went to play golf or whatever. But as he got older, I think it did become more important. I can remember very much remember a conversation he and I had.
RhoniYeah.
MacHow do you do that?
RhoniAgain, this is access. It's how much are you willing to believe that you don't know? And this is something else. This is another note I took that Jeremy said. You will not seek what you think you've already received or learned. So if you imagine, again, Jesus at the door knocking on the door and saying, Hey, let's go a little further with your faith. You think you understand whatever it is.
MacYeah.
What Happens When You’re One or Two Degrees Off?
RhoniBut can I take you a little deeper into it? Now, for our situation, we think about what we thought we understood tithing and giving, and we do that. And yet, why do these big bills come that we were not expecting? So we got kind of blindsided. Well, I guess the answer is we live in a fallen world, and we actually got one or two degrees off, which is another teaching.
MacYeah.
RhoniAnd so this idea has come up at least no less than three times. And when I hear an idea like that that keeps coming into my ear, I know the Lord's trying to get my attention. And it's this idea of a compass. So when I run my GPS, if I don't have the exact address, or I know that we live on Main Street or we live on Jackson Street, I can put in Jackson Street and the the GPS will get me there, but it might get me to the next door neighbor or it might get me to four doors down. But when a pilot puts an address in to the GPS, if a pilot is off one or two degrees, and the pilot's flying 500 miles, see the longer you stay one or two degrees off, the farther away from your destination you get. So one or two degrees off in for an airline pilot can land you in a whole different country. Exactly. And so what I came to understand is we got one or two degrees off on our taxes. We should have been doing one or two other little steps. But the thing of it is that we hadn't we thought we had opened the door, we thought we had let the Lord lead us, but we just weren't listening in one or two areas. And now here's the consequence. We have a bill. All right, we're gonna pay the bill. Yeah, it's not gonna break us, but it's what we didn't want to have to do. Yeah, right. And so back to this teaching is about how much are you willing to work with him and let him in, especially when you feel like it's not working. Instead of being upset about it and blaming God, we don't blame things that happen on the sovereignty of God. And that was another teaching. This is not biblical. When people don't understand something or don't understand the outcome of a thing, the death of a loved one or a missed job opportunity, it's very easy to put it in the bucket of that's the sovereignty of God, everything happens for a reason. Yeah. And I thought that was eye-opening because yes, God is sovereign and yes, he has a plan, but his plan for you is perfect, and he doesn't ever want us not to win.
MacYeah.
RhoniSo we have to be willing, instead of brushing it off as in God being sovereign, what we have to be willing to do is to work on our access with him more and more and more and more. And I believe when we do that, we'll find ourselves winning more.
MacRight on course.
RhoniRight on course.
MacYou've seen the cartoons, I'm sure, that show the way God has your path planned, which is a straight line from here uh up a mountain. Okay. But when you look at the way we do that plan, it's like we start here and the mountain's over there, but we gotta go over here to the left, and then we gotta go to the right, and we gotta go left, and we gotta go all different ways, maybe circle back a couple of times, go around the mountain a couple of times, and finally reach the top. When God's plan was like right up straight, but we have to go two degrees here, four degrees that way, and it tends to take us off course, and we have to work a little harder to get back on course. I do think it's important that if we and ultimately that's this is something that I really want to pay more attention to and live by, is that idea that instead of one huge course correction towards the end of the journey, yes, give me a couple of degrees here, give me a degree there that I need to change to recognize that I need to no, maybe not nudge me a little to the right or nudge me a little to the left, and I end up staying on that straighter path.
RhoniYes. And and just to maybe wrap that up, here's what Jesus said in Matthew 13, 11. He tells us that the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given to us. He wants us to understand.
MacWe already have it.
RhoniIt's not supposed to be a secret, yeah, but what we have to do is give him more and more access. And again, it starts before your feet ever hit the ground, before you ever become knowledgeable about all the stuff of the day. We have to open that door of access and get in his presence and then grow in that relationship because remember, relationships are a two-way street. Are you willing to let him come in and course correct a degree here, a degree there to keep you 100% on track so that you never find yourself off track? Yeah.
Going to Fort Worth Alone
MacSo talking about giving the Lord access and opening up to you, as we mentioned, Ronnie went to the Southwest Believers Convention by herself this year, and that was a big change because we've gone together at least the past 21 years together. And so when you let talk a little bit about what you felt when you were there, maybe even on your way up there, when you got seated at your first speaker event, what what was going through your mind?
RhoniYou weren't able to go last minute because of work. And I think a lot of people would have said, Oh, I don't have anybody to go with, I'm not going.
MacRight.
RhoniBut it's such a big event for us that I was like, it's I'm going to be in the presence of the Lord. I love you with all my heart and soul, but I'm go we're going to be with the Lord. So it was like, okay, I'm going alone.
MacAnd that is one thing that is good about Ronnie's and my relationship is that we both know that the other puts God first. That's just something you have to you say, you should put me first. No, God comes first first. He comes first. That's why it works.
RhoniBut I just feel it in my heart now. Just sitting there felt strange and I got emotional.
MacYou're alone in a room of seven thousand people.
RhoniYeah. I didn't go. This is just to clarify, I didn't go to be with Whole bunch of church people that I knew. It wasn't a social event to me. We know churches that go with a big group of people, and it's as much a social event as it is a spiritual event. So I didn't have any of that. I'm I was by myself. But when I sat down, I just the tears came. And it was like, it feels weird. I don't like being here without him. But quickly the Lord came and just comforted me. It was like, no, you're it's you and me. Oh, that's sweet. And I was like, You're right, Lord. This is what delighting yourself in the Lord is. That's what it is. I'm here for him. And so I calibrated pretty quickly.
MacAnd you realized for the rest of the week you were not alone.
RhoniI wasn't alone.
MacYeah, I was like, that is so great.
RhoniBut then he proved himself to me, which is so precious. I uh first day I went back to the convention bookstore, and I'm in the bookstore, and this beautiful lady was looking at books, and I happened to say, Ooh, I have that one. And we talked about it a little bit and some back and forth. And then she wound up saying, I'm here by myself. And I said, I'm here too by myself. And she said, Let's sit together. So immediately, Enobi, who is a beautiful artist from LA, she and I became friends. And so we sat together on that first day. It was just precious. And we stayed in touch all week long. We were sitting together and touching base all week long. And then the second day, I was going to grab a guacamole and a taco from my our favorite restaurant.
MacMiko Cena.
RhoniMikosina. And anyone who knows us knows if you don't know where we're eating, it's probably Miko Cena at least two or three times before we leave. So I was walking into Mikocina. I wasn't stalling. I wasn't looking around. I did have my badge on, and this lady had her badge on, but I had not stalled. She did not know, but what I was there to meet 10 people. Different lady, right? A different lady, yes. And I opened the door and I was gonna let her walk in. And she looked at me and she goes, Would you like to sit with me? And I just looked at her and I said, Sure. And so we sat down together. She did tell me, she said, I don't do this. She said, I really did hear the Holy Spirit say, ask her to sit with you. Oh and she said, and I just thought I would step out on it. And so she did. And I'm getting emotional talking about it. So we sat there and got to know each other. Her name is Barbara, beautiful lady from the Chicago area. And her husband went to heaven about three years ago. So she was by herself. And so in meeting Barbara, I sat down and began to get to know her a little bit. It was just this unexpected friendship.
Two Chocolate Chip Cookies and a God Story
RhoniBut I had a perspective shift because while I was sitting there missing Mac, he's very much alive and well and healthy. He was just at home. And Barbara was missing her husband who was not with her at all. He's in heaven.
MacYeah.
RhoniSo that immediately moved me into gratitude, not guilt, you know, just gratitude. And we had this beautiful friendship. But on Thursday, I was in the convention ready for praise and worship. And Barbara arrived, and she arrived and she said, Hey, I brought you something. And I said, What? She gives me two chocolate chip cookies. And she said, I want you to take these home and share them with your husband because today is my anniversary. And my husband and I always shared a cookie. And when I realized that, I said, Barbara, today is my brother's heavenly birthday. So we were about to praise and worship. And if you've ever been in an atmosphere where there's real praise and adoration going on with 7,000 people, it is a moment when heaven touches earth. Really, it is. And so we were able to just hug each other and then move right into the presence of God. We had this heaven-touching earth moment. It was beautiful and it was meaningful. And nobody could have orchestrated that except for God Himself. But then there's another layer of the cookie. You want to tell that?
MacI would love to tell that. Kenneth Copeland, he uses the illustration of receiving a cookie. If somebody offers you a cookie, you take it, or you don't. You don't struggle to earn it. They've they've brought you a cookie. Right. You just receive it. The basic idea is God says, have a cookie. And you say, I believe I will. Thank you. I received that and I appreciate it and I thank you. Barbara didn't know anything about that. I don't know how many years she's been going to the convention.
RhoniThis was her first.
MacThis was her first. So she probably hadn't heard Brother Copeland say something about have a cookie. Because that's we've heard it for several years in a row now. Have a cookie. It's being offered to you.
RhoniAnd you relate it to receive what you are learning from God, receive the promises of God, receive the goodness of God, receive the love of God. You don't have to earn it, you don't have to practice it. You don't have to be good for it. And it was the perfect cherry on top that I knew the Lord was telling me. Just receive the new friends I brought you. Receive the great teaching that I'm giving you. Just receive it. It's a gift from me, and you were not alone.
MacYeah.
RhoniAnd these are just moments that no one could have orchestrated except for God Himself.
MacHe clearly wove these little things together.
RhoniHe did.
MacAnd it helped you give God more.
RhoniSo much more glory and so much more access. So sweet. That is precious.
MacSo here's something to think about. Is there somewhere in my life where I'm just one or two degrees off and you know it, that you kind of sense it?
RhoniBut also what would change if I gave God access or more access to that.
MacAnd if you do it in those small increments, it rearranges you without without you even knowing it. It just feels better.
RhoniAnd you may not even ever have to see the result of being a degree or two off. You may just never miss it again. Yeah.
The Blue Bridge Boys, Bluegrass Roots & One Last “Okay”
MacOkay, as my mom used to say, dry up now. We love doing these podcasts because we get emotional during them. I mean, we both have tears.
RhoniMy mother's kind of stoic. She would probably just roll her eyes and go, oh, stop, just get over it.
MacWell, we discovered something that, you know, in in scrolling through the internet, tell us what you you've discovered a little band you like, huh?
RhoniYeah, I did a Facebook post that said if you're not completely entertained by this, middle school is probably not a place for you because it's these four cute, very talented young boys. I think they started this when they were middle school age, maybe upper elementary, middle school.
MacThey're not a whole lot older than that now.
RhoniThey're not. No, there's two or three of them, maybe freshmen in high school, and one of them is maybe a seventh grader or an eighth grader. But they have this wonderful harmony between them.
MacThey do.
RhoniAnd among them. And they play the banjo, they play the accordion. And my grandfather used to play the accordion. And they have guitar and stand-up bass and a guitar, yeah. Yes. And I'm fascinated by them. When I see them, they're just so entertaining. They sound wonderful. And honestly, I'm a little bit drawn to the accordion player, not just because my grandfather's goofy is what he is. Goofy. He he has rubber band man legs, you know, like and he and kind of hee-haws through it. It's h I think it's hilarious. He makes me, he mesmerizes me. But their music is so good. What are they called again? They're called the Blue Bridge Boys. And I think our listeners should look up the Blue Bridge Boys on TikTok and Instagram.
MacShe's had she's had me watch a couple of these videos, and I told her this morning I said, You should watch the Petersons. And the Petersons, she said, You've told me about the Petersons. I've watched them before. The Petersons are a family band from, I don't exactly know where they're from, but they spend a lot of time in Branson and then they tour the world. The Petersons are more, very much more polished and stage presence and all that. But it's again, it's kind of gospel music and it's very cool. So, you know, it's funny, Asher one time we were driving in Illinois, I think we were on a family trip, and Asher was there with us, our youngest son. And he just happened to me, I said, So what kind of music? He grew up like in Led Zeppelin and all the classic rock bands that I grew up, he listened to because I was working in those kind of radio sessions. He said, Dad, I really enjoy bluegrass right now. And he started pulling up these bluegrass artists on the telephone. I was like, Where in the world did that even come from? But it's just interesting because it's everybody has their own thing, and you'll have a little thing for a while and then go to something else. But bluegrass is, like you say, woven into us.
RhoniIt is. It's not, I don't choose bluegrass when I'm flipping through the radio channel, but bluegrass is a part of my DNA. My parents listened to a lot of country music growing up, and I'm a Texas girl, generational Texas girl. And so it's just part of who I am. And Mac knows anytime we're out and about and I hear that bluegrass kind of music, my legs start moving and I start tapping, and half the time I know the song, I start singing it.
MacSo that's the Blue Bridge Boys for you. We wanted you to hear them a bit too. And it's just what what Ronnie's digging on these days a little bit.
RhoniIt is, and we want to thank you for joining us today. We'll be back next week. And remember, everything's gonna be okay. Yeah.
MacThat's where we started with Forrest Frank's song. You know, everything is gonna be okay. Ronnie and Forrest Frank have officially closed the show for us. Thanks for riding along with us this week. We'll see you next time on the weekend joyride.