In this episode of The Good News with Angie Austin, listeners are taken on a journey filled with personal stories and life lessons. Angie and guest Jim Stovall dive into the beauty and chaos of traveling during childhood, touching on the unique character of Oklahoma City. They candidly discuss the importance of setting higher standards for oneself amidst the noise and comparisons often fueled by social media. This segment is a heartfelt reminder of the resilience and determination needed to overcome life’s hurdles.
Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here’s Angie.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, it’s Angie Austin and Jim Stovall with The Good News. Thanks so much for joining us. Hello, Jim Stovall.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, hello, Angie Austin. It is always a high point in my week to visit with you.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, I think that I was, you know, I’ve been to most of the states, right? Because actually, as dysfunctional as my childhood was, we actually did move around and travel a fair amount because my dad was a professor you know a high a drinking professor but we you know moved around anyway and we took some vacations in our car you know six of us in like a Volkswagen hatchback you know shoved in there I remember once I had to like uh kind of sleep across all of my brother’s laps because there was no room you know to who travels like that right who travels like that I was like seven anyway I so I think I went to Oklahoma if if I recall correctly for the first time this weekend
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, great. I think everyone in life should have something to look forward to, and coming to Oklahoma is a good thing.
SPEAKER 04 :
There’s like a brick district or river district there in Oklahoma City where, you know, you can take a boat down the river and then there’s all these shots. It really was beautiful.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, Bricktown is there. Yes, that was it. And you’re lucky you came over the weekend. Were you there today and tomorrow? Oklahoma City is in the NBA championship and the playoffs. And that area turns into, oh, it’s an amazing carnival atmosphere, but it’s a bit of a zoo.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, I don’t appreciate you putting salt in my wound because I was actually there at the end of the Oklahoma Nuggets game when the Nuggets were losing and we were the only Nuggets fans in sight.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, and that was not a pretty game, the one you were there, the previous one, because they lost by 50, but…
SPEAKER 04 :
No, I was there for the one where we just lost by a few yesterday. Not so bad. Not so bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, you’re right. So it wasn’t a home game. It was actually in Denver, and I was, oddly enough, in Oklahoma City. But, yeah, it was a cool experience. I’d like to come back when we’re not just there for a weekend. And my kids, my daughter made, oh, I’ll have to send it to you. She made a Caitlin Clark half-court shot. It was pretty funny. wow yeah send me that yeah yeah it was uh it was it was funny because she just turned around like nothing happened right but then one of her teammates did a dance like that i mean like one of the best dances ever but my daughter acted like she hadn’t even made the shot you know she’s funny she’s like there’s no time for celebration you got to move on to the next shot but it was like the light came on right because i think it was the end of the um it was halftime so like the light went on like a second after she made the shot so it was pretty funny it was kind of Reminded me of Aaron Gordon’s shots that he makes or Jamal Murray. I’m not going to mention any of the Oklahoma guys, but I actually think your guy is probably going to get MVP for the NBA, don’t you? I do, yeah. Yeah, I think so, especially because our poor guy, Jokic, has been having a little bit of a hard time. All right, so let’s forget about basketball for a minute. Let’s go back to your article titled Higher Standard. Tell us about this one.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, you know, I think one of the biggest problems we have in our society today is comparing ourselves to everyone else. We get social media, we get everything else. But then when we’re not performing well or when we criticize, and particularly the political environment has created this, We have a tendency to blame other people, you know, and it’s almost endemic. You catch a politician not telling the truth in D.C. and you confront them with that. They say, well, they lied over there across the aisle. They lied worse than we did. And then you lied before I lied. And, you know. I mean, you can always look good if you compare yourself to somebody. I mean, everybody’s better than Hitler. I mean, and if you’re not careful, it’s a race to the bottom. I mean, you know, okay, I didn’t do good, but I did better than that guy. Well, that’s not the standard we should hold ourselves to. We really need to, you know, have a higher standard. And really, when we come down to it, the only standard that really matters is comparing ourselves against… that which we know we should be, you know, look at our talents and abilities and, and how are we doing compared to, you know, what we’ve been given in this life?
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, I, um, I you and I’ve talked so much about losing your eyesight and maybe I can compare in that I had a really difficult start with my family. We wouldn’t be who we are had we not faced these difficulties. And, you know, you develop the grit, et cetera. And you say your life is even better had you not gone through what you went through, you know, with losing your eyesight and being such a tremendous athlete. And then, you know, you know, then having to really just completely pivot, you know, in your life. And I think with me just having such appreciation for my post 18 years. And in fact, I said to my husband the other day, I said, oh, I think this summer I’m going to get to see my foster sisters and my foster mom. And he goes, you had a foster sister? Because I was saying that one of them, I was really close to, we were the same age. And I’m like, that’s how little, Jim, in the 20-some-plus years I’ve been with my husband, that’s how little I talk about the negative stuff that I went through. Yeah. That at 20-some, our kids are almost grown. And he said, you have a foster sister? You know, like, he was just, like, dumbfounded. And I think I mentioned I was in foster care a couple of times, you know, not through my own doing. It was due to my parents’ doing, per se. Yeah. But anyway, so those difficulties make me so appreciative of my life now that not many days are bad days now.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, and opportunities come disguised as problems. You know, when you find anybody that has succeeded in life, they found a problem and solved it. They found a need and filled it. That’s how we succeed in the marketplace. And, you know, rarely do you see somebody, they had an easy life, a great life, everything was handed to them, and then they built on top of that. Most times people have overcome certain things, right? And those things make you strong. I remember the last time I competed as an Olympic weightlifting champion. And my coach knew I was going blind. And I thanked him for training me. We were done. And he said, look, I don’t know the challenges you’re going to face from here on as a blind guy. But always remember, a guy that can do what you just did can do anything.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes. When I wrote The Ultimate Gift and when we made the movie, that great scene with Brian Dennehy, when this young guy builds this fence that goes off into the distance and out of sight over the horizon. Brian Dennehy said, look, a man that can build a good fence can do anything. Just remember that. And I think sometimes we have to build those up in our little success library in our mind and remember, okay, someday when it gets tough, I’m going to remember this. And a man or a woman that can do this can do whatever I need to do. And so the challenges you went through have made the Angie that we all know and love.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, I think about The Ultimate Gift, and it just popped in my head, and I’m sure someone’s probably told you this a million times when I think about the movie and the success you had with that and how high that book ranks in the all-time Christian booksellers or inspirational books. Yeah. And then, you know, how successful the movie was and that some guy tried to take your movie rights and with your books and you’re like, no, no, let me have the movie rights. And then you laughed later because he didn’t think you’d make a dime off the movie rights. And you made millions with, I think, 20th Century Fox, if I recall correctly. All right, so I was thinking about you as an athlete, and this is just a total sidebar. I’m going to take a complete right turn here, and then we’ll get back to higher standard. But I’m dying to tell you, because I know how bruised you were after your football games, right? Like you look like you were in a car accident, right?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. So my daughter, Faith, a complete right turn here, had so many bruises and cut seven from a really rough game where I really truly believe this girl got angry and was trying to hurt her and was trying to hurt other players. And I can’t believe she didn’t get fouled out, but, um, My daughter took so many spills and so many cuts and they were mocking her saying, like, is that all you know how to do is flop? Because she’s not that big. And so she does go down pretty easily. Anyway, she went to school the next day and the kid said, wow, what did your parents beat you up? And she goes, oh, yeah. And the teacher looked at her and she had seven bruises and cuts and she goes. oh, great, now I have to turn you in, you know, because you have to be investigated by child social services now because you’re so beat up. And I was like, oh, my gosh, I sent all my relatives the picture. I said, I want to go on the record. The social services might be visiting us. And I just want to show you what faith looks like. And this is all due to the game. Like, it was ridiculous, Jim. But, you know, all this this grit that you get through, you’re going blind, which, you know, you can’t compare to a game. Me having that horrible childhood with all the drug use and abuse and the cursing and the dysfunction and the murdered brother and the institutionalized brother and like all of that. Right. And then just the grit of being an athlete and getting through each game, not giving up. Cause I wanted to pull her and take her home. Cause I said, Mark, she’s got to get hurt. And she actually did get hurt on the very last play of the game. Not enough that she was out the next day, but the coach thought that she was going to be out for a because of her knee and ankle. Anyway, these things that you go through, what did you say, adversity is a chance to improve, to get better?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I mean, that which does not destroy us makes us stronger. And that can be anything. It’s you growing up in a dysfunctional family. It’s me being blind. It’s a kid getting beat up in a competition. You know, we’re all only as big as the smallest thing it takes to divert us from who we need to be.
SPEAKER 04 :
Someone I read the other day said, if you ask me who I’m going to hire, if I’m hiring and I ask if you were a student athlete and for how long, like if you made it as a student athlete through high school and then through college, are you kidding me? Like that’s the stuff I want in an employee. That’s somebody who doesn’t give up. That’s someone who can problem solve. That’s someone who can work with a team. Like all of these adversities just help build you and give us those skills to get through life where we don’t give up, where that rock is in the middle of the river and we figure out how to, you know, repel it or, you know, go around it or build a bridge over it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, absolutely. You know, the people who have won in the past and have overcome in the past. are the people that are going to do it in the future. And, you know, success leaves footprints and all you got to do is follow them. And the people who have been successful at little things will be successful at grand things in the future.
SPEAKER 04 :
I can’t believe how you met John Wooden, your great friend and mentor, the late great coach John Wooden, later in life and how you got to be like one of his friends, that you got to talk to him so much. And you talk about him in this article and you often talk about him. So what is it that you bring up in this article about John?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I think the standard we need to look at is his standard, what would I do right now if I was amazing? Was that my best effort? Not adequate, not good. What would I do right now if I was amazing? Before you undertake any task, you do your radio show, you make a phone call, you go to a meeting, you do anything. What would I do right now if I were amazing? What would I do if I decided to make this day the focal point of my life? Something I’m going to do today is going to be transformational. And if you go out with that kind of attitude, and every time you have an opportunity to interact with somebody, you say, what would I do if I was amazing? Now, I’ve had people say, Jim, what if you’re just doing something that doesn’t matter? Then don’t do it at all. I mean, if it doesn’t matter, don’t do it. If it matters enough to do, to take your time, effort, and energy, go be amazing. Just be amazing. You know, right now the bar in our society is so low that, you know, I mean, I referred a guy the other day to a neighbor of mine, and I said, you know, the guy shows up on time, does a good work, and bills you what he said he would. And the guy said, isn’t it sad that that’s now a great recommendation? I mean, just to meet the expectation, just… Because most people don’t show up on time, they don’t do good work, and they try to charge you more than they said they would.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, you talk about your grandpa in this too. Like if I could come back in another life, which of course as a Christian I’m not planning on that, I would want to be your sister and grow up in your family. But what did your grandpa tell you about opinions?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, you know, nobody really wants your opinion, including those people that ask for it. Most people just want you to endorse what they’re doing right now. And, you know, before anybody asks me for my opinion, I always say, do you really want my opinion? Or do you want me to just… congratulate you for doing what you’ve done and leave you alone i i get books uh oh three or four a week from aspiring authors and they want me to review this and i always tell them you know i don’t know any more than anyone else i i look at your book as i would if i were a reader not a writer and you know but uh if somebody sends me a book and cares that much you know we’ll go through a couple of pages and i’ll i’ll tell them you know the writing seems good or um you know or not but uh You know, and I generally tell them you need to find an editor, and, you know, but so did Ernest Hemingway. He had to have an editor. So, I mean, it doesn’t mean you can’t write, but, you know, I am slow to give my opinion on anything unless I’m really asked.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I want people to find you at jimstowball.com. So appreciate you, friend. Thank you. You’re the best.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 04 :
Hey friend, welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. You know we are all animal lovers here at The Good News. I’m sure you’re well aware. And today we are talking about protecting our pets from common diseases, including Lyme disease and heartworm, and talking about locations that might have, you know, more prevalence of these diseases. Joining us is Dr. Brad Ryan, Senior Professional Services Veterinarian with Antec. Welcome, Dr. Ryan.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hi, thank you so much. I’m happy to be here.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, so I’m familiar with this because my favorite childhood dog, Teddy, which, Doc, is so weird. Yesterday, my kids, I was going through this special drawer and I had to move things around. And they’re like, what’s this? And I’m like, oh, it seems weird, but that’s Teddy. You know, and so we just were talking about Teddy and Teddy had Lyme disease. And so I’m very well aware of it. And it’s such a sad thing. So will you give us kind of an overview of these VBDs, these vector borne diseases? Right.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. I had a dog that had Lyme disease as well. So I understand how hard that is. Vector-borne diseases are diseases that are transmitted by biting insects. So primarily we’re concerned with mosquitoes that transmit heartworm disease. Most owners have heard of that one. And then we have ticks that are spreading all across North America, and they’re bringing their diseases with them. So that includes not just Lyme disease but also anaplasmosis, which is transmitted by the same tick that transmits Lyme, by the way, and ehrlichiosis, which we have all over the south of the United States, and it’s moving north every year. So those are the main ones that we’re worried about in North America. And because our winters are warming up and we’re seeing an increase in temperatures around the year, people move around, they travel with their pets on vacation and so forth. So we just never know where the next little hotspot is going to emerge for any of these VBDs.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, why are we seeing an increase in them? Is that due to some of the travel and the movement, climate? Why are we seeing that increase?
SPEAKER 06 :
Climate’s a big one. So we’re seeing that It depends on the disease that we’re talking about, but we have more heartworm, more ehrlichia in the south, but that’s moving north throughout the country every year. We’ve had historically hot spots of Lyme disease and anaplasmosis in New England as well as the upper Midwest, so Minnesota, Wisconsin. And over the last decade, decade and a half, we’ve seen this bridging, right? So Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, these are all emerging hot spots for Lyme as well. California is seeing an increase in anaplasmosis. It’s spreading a lot faster than Lyme is. But really, I think basically wherever you are in the United States or Canada, you should assume that your pet is at risk of exposure to these diseases year-round. And that’s why it’s so important that you have a communication with your veterinarian about the risk.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, this is going to seem like a silly question, but I go outside with my five pets together in the yard and two ragdoll cats and three Pomeranians. Okay, so when we go out together, the cats come in and out when I tell them to come in and out with the dogs. So the five of us are out there in the backyard, and I live in the Rocky Mountain region, so lots of big fir trees and elk come in the yard and deer and coyotes, foxes. So with that said… Are the cats at the same risk, I know this is a silly question, as the dogs?
SPEAKER 06 :
Cats are able to get heartworm disease. Cats can have Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases, but they seem to have a more resilient response to those exposures. So we certainly are not out of the woods, so to speak, with our cats, but we see these diseases far more commonly in our canine companions.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, what do we do to protect them? What can we do to remain vigilant? You said keeping in communication with our vet, but anything we should be doing at home in addition to being in communication with our vets?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, my feeling on this is that always remember that low risk, if you happen to live in a low risk area for disease X, doesn’t mean no risk. So always assume that there’s some level of risk. There are very few places that I can think of in North America where there’s not at least some risk. And it may not be for all four of those diseases I mentioned. We have Hot Pockets for Ehrlichia. We have Hot Pockets for heartworm disease. And then there are places like Virginia where all four diseases are a year-round threat. So I say at the end of the day, the good news about these vector-borne diseases is that we have a lot of agency in terms of making sure that our pets don’t get them. So Year-round, 12 months of heartworm and flea and tick prevention is absolutely recommended for every pet in North America, as well as an annual screening test, not just for heartworm, but for all VBDs. So AcuPlex, TrueRapid4, these are some of the great tests that we offer at Antec that can ensure that your pet hasn’t been exposed. And that’s even more important if your pet wasn’t on prevention for the last 12 months.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, so year-round protection and testing as well. And again, I feel like I’m pretty knowledgeable, but can our pets transmit these diseases to us?
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re not going to have a situation where you pet your dog or you get your dog’s saliva on you or something like that and you end up getting Lyme disease. That’s not how it works. But what oftentimes happens, I’m assuming living where you are, you probably enjoy the great outdoors quite a bit. And when we share the great outdoors with our pets, these ticks are equal opportunity infectors, and they’re just as likely to bite you as they are your dog. And so it’s the fact that we share a lifestyle with our pets that puts us at an equal risk sometimes of being exposed to these vectors. But then we also, you’ve said the cats are coming in and out, the dogs are out playing, and then they come in from a hike or wherever and then into your home. And those ticks that caught a ride on your pet coming into the house, at some point, they decide to get off, and they might crawl over to you. So that’s how you can end up being exposed. It’s not direct transmission.
SPEAKER 04 :
Correct. I see that makes sense okay so then when we go to our vets with you know I’ve got five the five pets what do we ask our my good buddy kept Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald he does TV here that’s how I met him we did animal house segments together that we started 25 years ago and he takes care of all my animals so what what do I say to him when I go in to visit him in terms of testing or this that and the other?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, as it pertains to your pet, you’re going to want to know when was the last time my pet was tested. And that’s going to be all the more important, once again, if your pet wasn’t on prevention for all 12 months of the previous year. And then from there, can I have my pet tested today? Can I have an AcuPlex run on him or her? Can I have a TrueRapid 4 done right now in the hospital so I know if my pet was exposed? And if you’ve had any sort of travel where you’ve moved outside of your community, I worked in Colorado 8,000 feet above sea level, but at some point you come down from the mountain with your pets and then the risk goes up. So travel history is important. Lifestyle is important. And then ask, what’s the story in my neighborhood? What’s here that wasn’t here 10 years ago, 15 years ago? How are things changing?
SPEAKER 04 :
And one more question, Doug. Is this topical treatment or is it something oral or both?
SPEAKER 06 :
So on the flea and tick side, there are oral preventative medications. There are topical medications. That’s going to be an individual preference, sometimes a veterinarian preference. That’s certainly a conversation that I would recommend that you have with your veterinarian to decide what’s best for you. There are some injectable heartworm medications that have six and 12 months of efficacy that So those are options as well for certain clients that are worried about missing that monthly prevention. So there are options. So have that conversation with your veterinarian.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, Doc, you sure have made a right turn from your work working with the one-horned rhinoceros. I mean, you had quite a diverse career.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I started in wildlife. I worked in a rhino barn when I was 15 years old and Here we are all these years later. You know, I’ve spent the last five years with Antec crisscrossing the country, educating veterinarians about vector-borne diseases and other parasites. But next month I’m headed over to South Africa to help with a rhino project. So getting back to that. So life’s funny. You know, you just end up sometimes back where you started and take all kinds of fun detours along the way. And that’s what makes life so joyful.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s so cool, and I also relate to your national park fascination. I, too, haven’t been to them all yet, and I understand that you have pretty much been to them all, right? But they’re so amazing. I mean, what a blessing those national parks are to us, huh?
SPEAKER 06 :
They are. I think they’re the best of America. It’s a great opportunity to just connect with nature and with each other and remember that we’re all human beings sharing this joyful experience of life together. And yeah, we have an amazing country. It took seven and a half years to get to all 63, but it’s never worth pursuing. I did it with my grandmother.
SPEAKER 04 :
That is so cool. My cousins getting all the different stickers and doing that. But I probably am a third of where you are. All right, so I know we’re out of time. I could talk to you for much longer. Where do we go for more information regarding protecting our animals?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, you can never have too much information. So for anyone who wants to learn more about parasites, and especially parasites that can infect our dogs and cats, head to petsandparasites.org. And, of course, if you want to learn more about the diagnostic portfolio that we offer at Antec, the different options that you can ask for when you go into the veterinarian’s office the next time with your pet, head to antecdiagnostics.com. That’s A-N-T-E-C-H diagnostics.com.
SPEAKER 04 :
Excellent.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thanks, Doc. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER 04 :
Always love doing the animal interviews and learning more. I feel like I just got an education on prevention in terms of diseases regarding our pets. Hey, I wanted to share some good news with you as well. I thought this is a really cool story about a 17-year-old girl. She is like an incredible swimmer, and she had – a tumor on her pancreas, and then she had a friend with cancer, and she thought, you know what, I’m going to swim to raise money for pediatric cancer research. And she’s raised over $150,000 for cancer research. And she wanted to swim New Zealand’s Cook Strait, and it’s considered one of the most dangerous stretches of open water in the world. Strong winds can produce violent storms. There’s massive waves, unpredictable currents, and jellyfish. a lot of jellyfish on the surface, and of course the sharks down below. So she’s 17 years old. Her name is Maya Merhage, and she was determined to cross that one. She wants to do the famous seven ocean swims, so I’ll tell you about that. She’s from California, and she’s the youngest person ever to compete the famous ocean seven, and that really is the most daunting open water swims across the world. She did the English Channel last summer and then the Catalina Channel near Los Angeles and then the Molokai Channel in Hawaii. And then she did Cook Straight just last month, which she had to face one of her greatest fears, these jellyfish attacks. And the minute she was getting in the water, she was really scared already. Now, these marathon swimming guidelines allow her to wear a swimsuit, not a wetsuit. Now, the wetsuit would help protect her from the jellyfish and the very cold water, which peaked around 60 degrees. Now, some of her family members follow in a boat. And that Cook Strait, it’s 13.67 miles. But because of the winds and the changing direction, et cetera, et cetera, it turns it into a 27-mile swim. And she did get stung a lot. The welts were just piling up on her body from these jellyfish. And she had to stop every 30 minutes to eat. And she did. I mean, she was able to do this. And she says one of the reasons she wants to do this, obviously, is to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer and all that money that she’s raised. But also, she loves the idea of being able to travel all around the world. You know, she’s been in Hawaii now. She just did Cook Strait. She’s going to do the Strait of Gibraltar, spanning Spain and Morocco now. the North channel between Ireland and Scotland. And then she’s going to do a straight in Northern Japan. And she wants to compete all of them by January of 2028. And she’ll be the youngest person to have ever done it. And she says she just loves the connection with nature, helping kids fight cancer, raising money for research, and also just to experience different parts of the world and meet people in different parts of the world. I thought that was pretty inspirational. What a cool story. Hey, thanks so much for listening to The Good News. I’m Angie Austin.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
