50. "What Had Happened Was" with Chaz Smith

Early on, Chaz Smith knew he wanted to make people laugh. Even in high school, when he was expected to play basketball at a high level, he always knew that wasn’t what the Lord had placed on his heart for his life. 

Around that same time, Chaz began stepping out into the Vine scene and has since found both success and purpose. That journey has led him to many life-changing opportunities, but it certainly hasn’t been easy along the way. 

Join us as we’re reminded that God will continue to lead and show up so we can carry out His greater purpose, even when we question where He is leading us. And yes, sometimes all we need is just a good laugh.

Guest Bio:

Chaz Smith has been making people laugh and sharing stories for years! Starting back in 2013, Chaz committed himself to creating uplifting videos and quality entertainment to bring joy to people around the world, amassing up to 3.2+ million followers across various social media platforms, and has no plans to stop. 

For the past two years, he has been working on a special project called What Had Happened Was. This is a colorfully animated, comedically narrated web series that retells beloved biblical stories in ways that entertain, inspire, and make people of all ages and backgrounds laugh as they make sense of the world and who they are in God’s eyes.

Chaz is also a contributor to The Whole Man Project, a book and video series provided by VOICES from Our Daily Bread Ministries. You can learn more about The Whole Man Project—and preorder the book—here!

Notes & Quotes:

• And after that, I was like, “Okay. It’s not enough to just read the Bible. You need to study it. You need to know Scripture, for the sake of knowing Jesus, of course, but also so that you’re not deceived and led astray by false doctrine.” And that was a really good experience ultimately, because it protected me from a lot of stuff later on.
• Fears started coming up, and these questions started coming up in my mind, because I realized I had never studied Scripture before. So I started asking myself, “Hold on. Why do I really believe what I believe?”
• I had experiences and encounters with the Lord before, very significant ones, but there were still questions in the back of my mind that I just brushed off and never asked… because I was scared to. Because if I asked these questions and I get an answer that doesn't line up with what I believed, the entire foundation that I've built my life on comes crumbling down, and I come crashing down with it. But I couldn't avoid them anymore.
• I think a lot of times when people come at us, I think in our flesh we want to respond with seeing justice or retribution in some way. But there are times to just let it happen and recognize, “You know what, Lord, I’ve done nothing wrong. I’ve walked rightly with you. You handle the situation how you want to see it done.”
• We need to have a relationship with and be reconciled back to the Father. We need Jesus, but sometimes we just need to laugh.
• I just believe there’s a great power that laughter has, especially in storytelling. It disarms people, it lets people’s guards down. You can communicate a deep message to somebody through comedy and laughter, in ways that a serious approach may never do.

Links Mentioned:

• Watch the teaser for Chaz’s What Had Happened Was series coming soon!
• Chaz's website.
• You can find Chaz’s content on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and Tik Tok.
• Visit our website to sign up for emails. Get new episodes sent straight to your email. 
• Tell us how much you love Where Ya From? by rating us five stars and leaving us a review. 
• Check out our VOICES Collection from Our Daily Bread Ministries.
• Follow Where Ya From? on Instagram.
• Follow VOICES on Instagram.

Verses Mentioned:

• Proverbs 17:22
• Matthew 7:1–6
• 1 Samuel 17:32–51 (Story of David & Goliath)

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