Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the past. And you're listening to Live for the Path coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston proper. It's it's just whiz bang beautiful to be with you on this balmy summer evening

here in the year of our lord 2026, or I suppose it could be 2028 because of the dispute of when Jesus was born. Maybe even 2030. What? Hey. Do you find the book of Job to be factual or like a parable?

Here's here's what I would have told you five years ago is I would have said Jesus treats it as a fact. The same way that he treats Jonah as a fact. I actually think that is that's a it it can be true that way, but I don't think it has to be true that way. You can refer you can refer to a story that was not a fact, fact, but a well known parable and give it to somebody as an example on what the implications of your current situation,

and it's just as true. Yeah. I need the prodigal son to be my friend, Steve. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't I I think I generally would defer I defer to things to being factual, like literal truth, not parable, like parable truth

until until I can become I do the convincing is to convince me that it's a parable. Gotcha. First. And so but I actually because I don't care either way, I just don't it doesn't matter as much to me. But, like yeah. I was we we're talking about it in the car for some reason on the drive in here. And there's a couple things that occurred to me that I thought, well, here's why I think it could be a parable truth. One, I don't know who wrote down the heaven scene, right, of the things that were going on in heaven. Yeah. But then I thought if it was literal truth

or if it was parable truth, there's no reason for 30 chapters of three or four dudes arguing with each other. Yeah. There's a lot of dialogue in there. They're like, okay. Alihu's a turd. Bildad is half reasonable for a minute there, and then he comes in as a turd. And then this other guy is just kinda, like, passive aggressive in the corner. And I thought, why would you if you were trying to get a parable to, like, help your mind and heart to do a thing, like, lost me halfway through Job. I'm like, alright, boys. Settle it. Someone needs to settle this because I'm tired of listening to this back and forth. That's true. If you think of parables as like a pithy bit of wisdom, there's nothing there's no pith in the book of Job. No. No. Like Whatever the opposite of pith is, that's what's going on in there. Mhmm. Alright. You're listening to Life From The Path. Here's what hey. Here's what we got going on the program today. The first question is do you trust other Christians?

Now this it feels broad, and we'll dig into it a little bit more. But just just think about, like, of all the things that we want to do as Christians, hey. We wanna go introduce people to Jesus. And then think about the other Christians you know or the Christians that you're aware of that maybe aren't in your close personal contact. Yeah. Let's let's call it other churches. Yeah. Other church down the street. And you're like, do I when someone goes hey. If someone came up to you and said, hey. I really wanna learn more about Jesus. I'm gonna go hit up church X on 2nd Avenue or 18th Street. Do you go, oh.

Oh, no. Oh my. And so it's like, yeah. Does it one yeah. How are we feeling about that? In what ways can this be healthy? One way is this extremely problematic. And

then what do you do about that? And and then, actually, I think we're gonna hit that, and then we're going to do advice on dear life from the path. And that's it. Then we'll cut you loose. Yeah. We got a while it's it's a wild day. Yeah. What? Why is it a wild day? Because it's I don't know. I didn't have anything prepared. Dang. Dawson, why is it why is it a wild day? Because it's the day after the rodeo. Oh, damn. Dude, it is wild. Day after the rodeo.

Old Frank might be calling rodeos at Knoxville. Oh, I love that. I know. I know. Is he a taller fellow? He was there. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He was a goody fellow. Actually, I can't think of the last time I was at a rodeo, but, like, I always remember thinking they they wear a lot more safety gear than they used to. Like, it almost looks like the college baseball where I'm like, what's the matter with you guys? You know what I'm saying? Like, they they wear, like They got the two miffins? Yeah. They've bitten like, oh, I was at a high school baseball game the other day, and I'm like, this guy's got two pairs of gloves on him. And I'm like, weird. Wonder what those are for. And then someone next to me is like, they're they're sliding gloves. I'm like, they're what? They're gloves for sliding bases. I'm like, what do you mean? You need a separate pair of sliding gloves now? I I did not know anything about this until, like, a few weeks ago.

I was same thing. It was at, a softball game or a baseball game or something. And dude gets to first base, and then the first base coach hand him it looked like the of glove. He swaps for this thing. Yep. And then he go I'm like, you look ridiculous. And I yeah. I was this was new to me. This was new to me. It's one of the many reasons why I stopped playing. I mean, other than the reason that I was not very good. Yeah. And then I didn't enjoy it. Was the sliding glove introduced when you were playing, Bo? It was right at the beginning. And then everybody was having it, and then they were looking at me and being like, honey, you got that? Yeah. I'm like, I'm still using the same helmet when I was in Did the you ever have some kind of sandlot operation that brought an oven mitt from home or something? Absolutely not. Alright. Okay. So let's let's talk about this. If if

if someone said, Mike, I'm very interested in learning more about Jesus, and I'm going to go to this x church. Just pick any one of them, really. It doesn't even have to it's not even have to be denomination distinction. It's just like in general, do you look out at the world and go, yeah, I think as a whole, I trust these other Christians are gonna,

like, faithfully introduce people to Jesus, or is there part of you that is just always a bit like, oh, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's the second one. And I don't know if that's great in me. And I don't know if that's a me problem or if that's like a a a cause of the modern age or something that like like, I was thinking very specifically like these group of kids that I know. And like, I so desperately want them to come to youth group because I wanted to talk to them about Jesus. And I thought, well, maybe they'll meet maybe maybe as their life carries on, I just use it just as a salve to me. I'm like, as their life carries on, maybe they'll run into other Christians that wanna speak into their life. And then I started thinking, oh, no.

Well, it depends on where they come from or what they believe exactly. And if they're oh, man. I don't I hope they I I wanna talk to them. Like, I wanna do this. I wanna be the guy that does it. Because I don't know because our like, our our our big c bride of Christ church, like, has so many nuances to it and and, like, additions to the hat that you just like, that they lead with instead of, like, the main thing that I'm like, oh, once

you've get once once you meet Jesus and give your life to him, I don't care what church you go to. I feel like you're now doing business with the holy spirit and the and the lord above. And I'm cool even with the the the complex stuff that has to do with other people Yeah. And how they view Christianity or religion in general. But once you're doing business with the lord, I'm good. But, like, if when you're trying to get introduced to the Lord, when there's so much complexity going around at other churches that want to add,

like, their own spin or flavor on it, I'm like, man, they'll never meet Jesus. They're gonna get so tied up in, like, the thing you decided to hang a flag out on the outside of your building on or the fact that you won't stop preaching about America every week or the, you know, the fact that, like, that this thing is central to the way that your specific group of people, like, want to do, you know, church on a Sunday that you're like, you know, like electric guitars aren't the devil. You know? Like and and, like, it all of it, like, stems gets in my head and goes, all that stuff's gonna get in the way. They'll never meet Jesus. They're just gonna end up being a churchgoer. Yeah. And, like, if there's nothing more offensive to me than someone who's just a churchgoer. Like, you just go. That's it. Like, you're not a follower of Christ. You're just a a church attender. What a waste of your own time. Why would you go be tried to made to be feel likely you should repent of something or do better at something, and then you don't have the source to, like, forgive you of things or help you or, like, guide you in your life? Like, why would you go? Have you have you ever had the experience, Mike, where, like, you directed someone or someone told you, hey. I'm gonna go to this church or whatever. You're like, hey. That's great. And then few months go by or whatever, you have a follow-up conversation,

and then it feels like it got twisted up. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure. Yeah. And Like like what? Like, just give me, like, a high level example. Okay. Hold on. Let me think. I think that let's say that I know something about their past. Right? Mhmm. And it's something that, like even if it's a particular sin or a particular way that they're looking at the world or the way they grew up or something. Yep. And, like, I'm well aware of this. And and and part of me goes, look,

we can either sin shame or we can introduce you to to the redeemer. And then the holy spirit will help you to see those things on your own. And and then you can just you can give them up as God works this out in you. And, like, I've done that before where I knew this about a particular person, and they're like, I'm gonna go to blah blah blah this church or whatever. I'm like, yeah, that should be fine. And it just so happened that, like, they picked that sin and just beat the tar out of it that day. Yeah. Just made it seem like the worst thing ever. You know? And and I'm like, man, I it's not like it wasn't biblical truth. Mhmm. Right? But, like, God loved Jesus just approached people, like the the woman at the well style,

right, with a little bit more humanity and God given worth than you let their sin define their entirety. Mhmm. And and I'm like, I never thought that would be the case. And part of me goes, well, maybe God directed them to that because that was time for that. But, like, the aftermath was not that. The aftermath was that none of that felt like love at all. It just felt like they hate people like me. And I'm like, man, I'm sorry. You know what I'm saying? Like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and that's the and that's normally my concern. It's and and so so that's the the question I was we were talking about on the way in is like, do do I inherently mistrust, like, other churches or like, do I believe that my version is the best one? Is it an arrogance? You know what I'm saying? Mhmm. Do I not trust God to, like,

send people to water if we're the ones spreading seeds? You know? Like, it just seems like because of the the wide variety that we allow the following of Jesus to be and the nuances that we go, it's okay if you're Jesus plus this as well. You know? And so, like, the plus seems to take all of the bandwidth. The Jesus tends to take a backseat, and I'm like, man, I I I don't know if I trust a person that I love to be in the hands of someone else who has a plus. I'm okay in the hands of I know plenty of Christians that they're just Jesus only. And so, like, that's all they care about. And so I'm like, I can name you people I can definitely send you to. Churches on a whole, that that list starts to dwindle down quite a bit. And then, like then after that, I'm like, I don't I don't know where you should go. You well, do you wanna talk to me? You know what I'm saying? Because it feels like it's the only way that we can ensure that, like, someone actually gets to know Jesus.

So maybe my question is, is there an arrogance to that? Is there a should we have a mistrust of other Christ following communities around us? Is this a, like, a misunderstanding of God's providence? Mhmm. And I mean I mean, my first instinct, of course, is because I feel like I get duped and I'm trust I trust I know everyone. Yeah. I'm like, oh, well, if you don't know Jesus at all, then any place to find Jesus is a good place. For sure. But then you start thinking about it a little bit, and then it's like, well, no. Because if they're selling some weird version of Jesus that isn't speaking truth, then I don't wanna send you there. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want you to go there and just learn, you know, and, like, it could be just as serious as as as mischaracterizing, like, god

and the way he feels about humanity, and it could be so small as, like, look. You gotta wear a suit in here. You know what I'm saying? And we're like, I don't know. But but the thing is, like, even that suit thing, like, it sometimes it will breed a thing in people where, like, you misunderstood God. Right? You felt like God had didn't want anything to do with you, and you're broken, and you're mess, and you're dirty because you weren't dressed right, or you didn't comb your hair or you didn't tithe enough. And so you misunderstood God's character because of this other thing. Now granted that, like, there's some personal accountability to that to for you to read your own Bible and know that that's not the thing. But still, like, there are ways that communities, you know, that present and live and work and and, like, do all their things that were like, man, I I don't know if I trust other Christians to keep the main thing the main thing. So I think there's there's two things that strike me within that conversation. So I think the first is is that the

first the the two things to check to check yourself on is if I think about and go, like, I don't trust, if I had a mistrust for other churches around me, or groups of Christians, the first question probably is, is the thing that I'm labeling as mistrust based upon stuff that is like more preferences than anything else. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, could I look around and go, oh, I mean, and this is easy from like a denomination standpoint. It's like, I don't I don't know if I I wouldn't want them to go to

the the Lutheran church down the street because, like, we believe different things. I'm like, okay. But, like, if if they went to a church that wasn't mine and they learned to love Jesus there, but they also only sang the only three songs that they knew for the next fifty years, and they even were okay the the Greek Orthodox is okay with putting, like, icons up in their house in this kind of business. And but but they met Jesus there, then, like, that's not a mistrust problem. That's like a misunderstand problem. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And so the so the first question is is that like it goes back to a conversation we're having on the show a number of weeks ago, which is like, do we know what the main thing is, and do we keep it the main thing? And so like,

what is right to mistrust and not and be cautious about is people who have got Jesus wrong. Outside of that, like, we are not Christianity is not offering

like a booth at the industrial building at the fair. What am I thinking of? What the varied industries building at the fair. It's it's not a situation like like if the thing was if you go to a go to a place and like, oh, that's the week that they talked about this thing.

And just in the very moment they were there, it didn't work out, and now we lost them forever. Like that is actually isn't even Christianity's proposition. Yeah. And so I I I do think like we loo we'll lose a lot of those because of a given sermon on a given Sunday or, a choice of music or, like, you know, whatever or whatever it was. I just don't even treat those as you know, sometimes God will use that kind of stuff, but, like, I don't treat it as, like, a a major thing. Like, that's not a I'm interacting with something that alters and carries my life.

But the second thing becomes, do you know enough to mistrust? Like, it's completely reasonable

just if you think, ignore the Christian context. It's completely reasonable to go, look, I don't trust this person because I don't know them. That's fine. That's healthy. Right? But the way you rectify that

is to go get to know them, right? This is what was an advocation that I've always had. It always had when people would go, Oh, I disagree with this teaching or with this group, it happens at a denominational level. And I was thinking about this even again today,

is it like we were at a, we went to the Greek fair, the Greek festival that they have downtown, or just off of downtown, and it's at this Greek Orthodox church. And I was walking around in this church, like, there's my kids are asking me a bunch of questions, and I can answer some of them, but I can't answer all of them. And, like, it's it's kinda like if you think about, like, a Catholic church, like a Roman Catholic church where, you know, there's there's, like, where people sit, and then there's this, like, big stuff going on back behind there. And immediately, like, this is not this doesn't look at all like some sort of evangelical organic church something You're

like, boy, this is super put on, like what a show. But here's just as an interesting aside, part of the reason this is framed that way is like they've actually used the space. This is true for a lot of Catholic churches too. Catholic architecture is super interesting. And like you don't mistake it just like, Hey, we just want to be grandiose. A lot of these folks who are designing these buildings will tell you stories that point you back to Jesus in the spires, that point you back to Jesus in call, in how many columns there are, right? This kind of thing. They've been thoughtful. I think there's room to disagree on whether it's necessary,

but like, I'd be cautious at drawing the wrong conclusion. And so as an example, in the Greek Orthodox Church, there's like a clear delineation between like where the people sit and where like the pastor priest dude does all his stuff. And it isn't because they're going, Oh, this guy's holy. It's actually you're sitting in the room and it almost functions as a microcosm of like that space is like the heavenly space and the place where people sit is the earthly space. And then what you see at the start of these a lot of the services is like they'll grab they have the big ass Bible too in And this

like they'll bring it from the heavenly space out into the place where everybody is sitting. It's a symbolic thing. It's the thing that Jesus does. Yeah. Right? Like, word becomes with us. Right? And so now if you know that, if someone were to explain that to you, you would go, it's not necessarily my flavor, but I understand it differently than if I just walked in here and go, look at this ornate show going on in here. And so the point is to say, I think that you're gonna have legitimate disagreements and, like, we should always be wrestling

with the word of God and having it refine us and listening to the spirit and asking the spirit to guide groups of people who have apparent disagreements to stop disagreeing where we can. But like sometimes the notion of miss trusting is like you don't actually know these people enough to actually have a

reason to mistrust except for you don't know them enough and that's the only reason. And so I would would strongly advocate the question is is if like you just think about your town or the churches that surround you or something and go, if I would have a hesitance to send somebody to any one of these places, then my the proper thing to probably do is go meet them. Yeah. Let's just go talk to them. And then, I mean, maybe maybe you're gonna come across, you're gonna talk to eight pastors at eight churches, and you're gonna go to one of their Wednesday night events because, like, whatever. There's people who love Jesus, and you're gonna walk away with one of them and go, no. Yeah. No way, Not gonna do it. But the other guys, you're gonna go, yeah, it's not my flavor, but they love Jesus there. And so for sure, my dude. Yeah. Because there is it's a both things. This is where I was, if I was thinking for a while, because I think

it's, it is an arrogance to a certain extent at its harshest. Like, I'm the only guy who says the true thing. You don't actually believe that, but what you do know about yourself is whether you are humbly in pursuit of Jesus. Yeah. I trust humbly in pursuit of Jesus, not perfection, right? So like, wouldn't, if I wanted to, I do often think this is like someone who's talking and they're like, Oh, they're really struggling with Christianity. And I'm like, I would like to talk to them.

And I don't want to talk to them because I'm the smartest guy, or I got nine years in Bible school, or I'm not even a particularly good counselor. But what I do have a trust in in myself is not myself, is the fact that like, I know that I'm humbly pursuing Jesus and I expect that will come through in whatever this conversation is. And so that's actually not an arrogance, it's a familiarity. I know that Mike is humbly pursuing Jesus. And so in all Mike's fallibilities,

if someone said, Hey, I think I'm gonna go talk to Mike. I said, That is great. You will meet Jesus there. And so either way so like you could say arrogant, Hey, I'm the only guy who's saying the right thing. It's not that. I actually think it's a trust and humility that I'm on board with. Because I for sure don't actually think that. Actually have as much as we probably talk about it on the show, I actually don't have a bunch of denominational problems. No. Right? Like, I have zero like, you would think that I would be like, if someone told me that they started going to a Catholic church, I'd be like, no. No. No. I'm like, I don't actually don't care. I really don't. Like, I really want people to meet Jesus. And there's all kinds of people who love Jesus at every church that that people are going to. And mostly because Christ is the head of the church, and so Yep. He will do this. And so the thing that the thing that I think gave me pause is because I it's a thing that I don't know that I like that enters my mind. One for that arrogance thing. Like, I don't I don't like that. I don't like that I and I don't know that I actually think it the way that I presented it. But

I'm I'm like, one, I would love the opportunity to be the guy that gets to talk to you about this. Not for any other reason, but, like, I do know that I am humbly trying to follow Jesus, and I really have zero axe to grind. You talk to me, and after you're done, you're like, I would like to be Methodist. I'm like, great. Follow Jesus when you're there. I don't care. You know what I'm saying? Do what you want. But I think that, like, overall,

it's it's maybe because, like, the the I get concerned. This might just be old old big church in me where I'm like, I don't I don't want to introduce people to going to church. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Like, I I want to introduce people to knowing Jesus. You will attend a community somewhere because the holy spirit wants you to be there. The holy spirit loves community. God created you for it. And if the Holy Spirit's calling balls and strikes in your life, you'll end up somewhere. I don't care where it is. It's just not really a deal to me. And and I think the thing that I get afraid of is like because this happened to me. When we we we before we ever started going to to like, we found a church home back in the day when when my wife and I were first married, we were trying out churches. And almost every single one, like, they were already trying to sell me on their brand.

You know what I'm saying? They were, like, trying to get my wife to be on the the pie baking committee. We ain't been there forty five minutes. We haven't even sat through the sermon yet. And they're like, you could you wanna do you wanna be in our adult group on Tuesday? I'm like, I don't even know you. I don't even know whether you believe in Jesus right now. The sermon hasn't even started. You know, I have no I know nothing about your community. And I think they're at their best, they're trying to invite you in to be part of their community. Right? But I'm like, I happen to already know Jesus when I walked in here. I'm just looking for a community. But, like, that's not the case of other people who are walking into your church. They might not know Jesus at all. And so the main thing is, like, are we pulling are we pushing people? Are we helping people to to understand who God is and who they are in relation to who God is. And then, like, all the community stuff, what church they go to, what small group they're in, like, the stuff that they decide to do to be helpful or part of the body, I feel like God will sort all that stuff out. And so, like, maybe maybe my my overall concern, it's what some of it's doctrine stuff. Right? Especially if they have a if they have certain things in their past or certain things that, like, lies that they're believing about how the world works. Yeah. I get real protective about that because I've seen Christianity do this very well and very, very poorly. You're right. Well, on the poor side, we've either acquiesced and just called it good,

or, like, we've used, like, our our paintbrush to just paint sin this way and go, I don't care whether you met god as god or not. You're just a wrong person. You what I'm saying? And, like, that's gross. I don't want you meeting people like that. I don't want you thinking that's the way that god thinks or the way that god loves. So, like, what church do you say you're going to? Because I know a couple of churches like that. Don't go to that one. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And so and so maybe that's the point is is, though, I can only make that distinction because I do know them. I know 10 churches I could recommend right now. Yeah. You know, within within two miles of wherever that person lives. There's a there's a church somewhere there there's where there's a community of people who love Jesus, and I'll be like, hey. You should go in fact, I I almost never invite anyone to our church. I always invite them to go to a church that's closer to them or that's near their community or someone they already know goes there. Because I'm like, I whatever this is gonna be, it can't be about growing our faction of or or our community that God has set up. It has to be about you meeting Jesus. If that's done in our community, I would love that. But I I'm not leading with that. Like, you will find your way back if that's what God is creating in you. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. You almost have to insist upon it for me to be like, yeah, you should come by. Like, I'm glad and that brings me to a question, like, as a person who's only been into, like, four or five churches I've stepped into, what is things that you should be looking out or not looking out for, but, like, things to maybe almost, like, pay extra attention to when attending a service or stepping into a community even on, like, a random Wednesday night for one of their events? Dude, good question.

Yeah. I well, you know, is the I the key question is, is Jesus the main thing? Like, it should be, well, yeah, it should be clear that this is a group of people whose full identity is in Jesus,

and that's what they're pursuing. I mean, there's a million things you could talk about that become downstream from that, but like, if it is not obvious, you don't spend any place for an hour, and it's not obvious that Jesus is the main thing, you might be in a fun and community gathering, but like, we're here to meet and follow Jesus. And so that would be the key thing, and like if you're new to

the faith, I know that that might not be easy. That might not be easy. The thing I would encourage you in is that try not to judge based upon how you feel. Because like there's gonna be things,

like it's if you're walking into something for a first time, sometimes people are gonna say things that are foreign to you. Okay. Like, who knows? Might be right? Their heart might be right. The facts might be wrong. Facts might be right. Heart might be wrong. Like, this is you're always groups of human beings, right? And so, like, be like I would say, be generous and look for Jesus. I think if you can do those two things, you'll get to a place

where you like, I think you'll start recognizing that stuff pretty quick. The other stuff is peripheral, and like, maybe that's a caution against, you know, sometimes you're like, oh, these people seemed really nice. They could be really nice and not be pointing you to Jesus, and the amenities could be great, and, like, woah, they set up a set up a coffee shop, and the music was cool. I'm on for those things in general as long as we're pointing people to Jesus. And so past that, I think we've got a lot of room for a lot of flavors.

And I think it's okay to like your own flavor, actually. I think it's alright to be like, I really I I was talking to a dude last later last week, and he leads worship at a church, and we were just kinda I had some music on in the kitchen. There was like a shindig at my place for some softball kids. And he's like

was Andrew Peters, and he's like, Hey, is this Andrew Peters? I'm like, yeah. Yeah. You liked that? He's like, nah. He's like, he's a minstrel. He goes, if he were to write some more, he is worthy. I can get on board with that. He loves that stuff. But he's like, otherwise, he's just like a traveling minstrel. I'm like, no. I like that. I see that you don't. But I really like this guy. And then, like, it's fine that he doesn't, and it's fine if his church doesn't, like, gravitate towards that and a different place does. Like, I actually think for all the harassment

that I probably have on consumer ish stuff, like, communities are gonna It's okay that people coalesce. Like, it's okay. But you can't do that

in like in place of Jesus is the first thing. Get Jesus right. Let's follow Jesus fallibly but humbly. And then actually, resettle all the other things, and you can be kind to each other. It's alright to buy donuts for each other on a Sunday morning. It's alright to play tunes people like. That's fine as long as we're following Jesus I'm gonna be honest with you. This is why I like personal discipleship best. This is why I like people getting introduced

and learning who Jesus is from a person to person relationship and not in a church setting. And, like, hear me out before you get mad at me. But, like, the church setting is a gathering of people who love Jesus. And, like Yeah. You're gonna talk to a community of

200 people that you already know have agreed that Jesus is lord. You're just gonna talk to them differently than than you would to a person who doesn't believe Jesus is lord. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Mhmm. But, like, do you know what exact conversation you can have one on one that's not awkward, that's not leaving them guessing or misunderstanding, or like the tone of the conversation is a little different, is if you just sit down with another person and talk to them about who Jesus is. You know what I'm saying? This is why I like that, because by the time you walk into a church setting, you already know who Jesus is. And now you are just trying to settle on, God, is this the community you would have me do work in? You know what I'm saying? That's all you're trying to do. You're not going, I need this guy to hold up all of my theologicalness and teach me everything about the Bible. You need to read your own Bible. And then you come in and be part of a community. Right? So, like, it's less about how do we convert people who randomly came off the street here opposed to how do we provide a community of believers who love and follow Jesus, and we bring people that we've introduced to Jesus outside of this building into the community. Yeah. Totally. And actually, this would be this is like a bomb probably in a group full of if you got a 100 churches, I'd be interested in where they came from. But like, I I pretty firmly believe church is for Christians. Christians are for the world. So like, don't

this is where a lot of churches are in a real tricky spot because they're trying to do both. They're like, This building, this event, this message is both for people who are passionately following Jesus years, and for people who have no idea what's going on. How could you possibly talk to that crowd of people in the same way? Yeah. And how do you how do you address talking to people that way when, like, if you're the main source of information about the about the Bible or the scripture or what God is leading you as a church community to do, and you have to deliver it in both milk and meat.

Yeah. That's really, really hard nasty cereal. It's it's like you and and here's the thing. The truth of it is what you end up doing is blending it. You end up taking milk and meat, put it in a blender and chopping it up so it's consumable by everybody, even though people And were milk don't like it. Then neither one got what they should have got. You know what I'm saying? And so I this is not a critique on your place, so don't hear me saying it that way. I Ben's right. It's a tough spot to be in, but we've kinda set it up this way. But I think what it should do is push us back into going

personal discipleship, personal, like, meeting people, talking to them about Jesus, and not making the event do it. Like, the event is not how people come to know Jesus. It's always other people. Now granted the Pentecost is gonna you're gonna hold this against me, but just hear what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Defend me against a Pentecost accusation.

What wait. What do you mean? Be more specific. Like, people would go, well, Pentecost, they were a giant gathering, and the holy spirit did all the things. And so Those are they were gathering of Christians. That's what I said. Thanks, Ben. Yeah. Good defense. Church is for Christians. Christians are for the world. They do both of the things. Like and and the the here's here's what I'm okay with, interestingly enough, is that, like, if someone who goes, I I'm just interested in what's going on in there, there's no reason they should get a different experience than the rest of the Christians. Like, come in and sit, and, like, you're not gonna understand almost all of it, but you go, wow. Something about that. That's really interesting. I'd like to know more. Yep. Yep. So and so, like, I just I've never I I feel like I'm cheating at some points as we think about church and stuff. It's like, oh, you make it sound so easy. I actually think it is easy. The thing itself is easy. The implications require

additional work, but you just don't have to front load it in all this stuff. Someone goes, I didn't understand that. Just like the Ethiopian eunuch did. God sent a dude. The dude like, Philip doesn't go, you know what we should do? You should go to Phyllis' house church over here. And I think I have a on one class you can attend. Yeah. Dude, it's like actually, I remember, like, one of my kids asked me this recently. She she was reading through and the that story of the guy, you know, the Ethiopian eunuch reading, and she's like, why is he reading a book he doesn't understand? What a weird dude. Like, just picks up and goes, I have no idea what this is about.

And but that's what happened. And so, like, I just I I think may to to to Dawson's point, like, we may be actually less effective. We're not ineffective because here's the thing, whatever fallow people are trying their best, and I think Jesus will do amazing things with it. I just wonder if we spend a lot of sweat going like, trying to make magic happen in places where like we're just not required to have to sort all the things out. I think you can just I think you can just do I'd like frame your when Christians gather,

gather as Christians. If someone who's not a Christian is there, well, then for heaven's sakes, show them everything the Christians are up to, and they're not gonna understand all the things. Like, I'll do that. I'll try to, like, reaccommodate, you know, hey. You don't understand quite what we're talking about. Let me catch you up, but, like and then we proceed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Think about it like like you're you have a family dinner every Sunday night. Right? Like, if someone invites a guest, the family dinner runs exactly the same. Yeah. A family dinner is for the family. It runs like that. You tell jokes and, like, stuff that happened two years ago on vacation, and everyone laughs, and the guest's like, I don't get this story. You know? Like but the family dinner didn't change because the family dinner's designed for the family. Who's been in the family? Yeah. Who's been in the family. Right? And and, like, when sometimes the guest will go in there like, I love your family. I love being around your family. I love the atmosphere. Was there. There's just something cool about your family. And you're like, yes. Yeah. You know? And they didn't get to know the family. Correct. Yeah. And so so, like, maybe that's maybe the right way to think about it that goes look like church is designed for us to get together as people who love and worship Jesus to, like, pray together and worship together and be encouraged by, you know, biblical truth that comes out and sermons that, like, call us to repent and then call us to reexamine where we're at and be reenergized for the work that God has set us up to do. And so, like, is it fine that people who don't love Jesus show up and get get the vibe of it? Absolutely. I think God's completely on board with that, and we love that. But, like, there's such a chasm between that

and being part of the family. And I still think that because what would happen is you'd bring your boyfriend or your girlfriend to the family dinner, they would tell all the stories. You'd like, I love being part of your family. And you're like, let teach you as we continue to be in relationship together how to be in my family. Yeah. Uncle whatever acts this way. Don't bring up Obama. Like, you know I'm saying? Blah blah blah. All that stuff. You know what I'm saying? And so, like, I I I still think it points back to like, it doesn't have to be one, like, super Christian doing all this stuff, but, like, it's just it it feels like there's so much opportunity to surf through the gray and the questions and, like, why does god allow a giant killing of the Canaanites? And, like, these are all questions that you can go through one on one. You know what I'm saying? Like, instead of going, I wish that guy would talk about the Canaanites, but he keeps talking about acts. We're and we're in acts for, like, another three years, and I'm mad at God because he's killing the Canaanites. Actually, I was just thinking about that. I saw,

like, whatever. I'm friends with pastors, and, like, they're all here constantly going, hey. Come to buy the church this Sunday. We're talking about the woman at the well, or, like, we're talking we're digging into Deuteronomy. I'm like, who the heck is attracted to like, hey. Finally, someone's on the dude. Right. Like, only people who would like, wow, I wanna check that out are other Christians. And like, what are we doing? Nobody who I I would never ever hey. We're start we're firing up John. You should come for the firing up of John. Like, I don't know why that's compelling to you. You should come because people of Jesus are gathering, and we probably care about you. And and then, like, we will be teaching the word of Jesus. I just don't expect if you're attracted by the message and you're gonna decide to show up that day, I just don't know. That that feels like a sweat. I just I don't know how to sweat that. And you know what feels awesome is people attracted to wanna know the god that you know because of the holy spirit in you. That's that feels awesome. Yeah. Like, that feels like we because that's what light going into darkness looks like. Like, we're just basically, like

oh, this is gonna sound like condemnation to churches. Don't hear me right. I'm trying to love well. But, like, we're basically advertising a light festival every Sunday. Like, hey. There's gonna be light here. And other lights are like, great. I will join you. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And I'm like, which is good and right for the family gathering. Like, hey. Cousins and family, we're gonna get together on Sunday. Great. I would love to be there. Mhmm. But, like, don't expect it and don't put the onus on it to do the work that you should be doing by being in relationship with dark, like, by pushing light into darkness and having those conversations and those relationships Yeah. Instead of gathering as a as a city on a hill, right, that other people will see, true, but, like, light doesn't push into darkness by staying on the hill. It's gotta go down there and get in and get in some of that stuff and have some relationships and, like, intro like, I don't if you've not had the opportunity in your life to introduce Jesus to somebody who didn't know him before,

you don't understand your faith. Like, it just changes everything about who you think God is. Because the thing that you think God did in your life and you introduce someone else to who God is, and then you get to watch God work in their life, what do you think happens to your faith after that? Your faith deepens. Yeah. Actually, so it's a good reminder. Churches don't make disciples.

Systems don't make disciples. Jesus makes disciples who then make disciples. And so, like, your expectation, like, just don't don't think, like, I'm trying to gather even even in the community itself is not disciple making.

And so, like, you just, we don't have to cram all the stuff, like, at the same time. Like, it's just impossible. And I think it's, we've crossed all the things together as if the liability is that within ninety minutes or sixty minutes, like, you're gonna teach something, you're gonna teach facts that change how people view the world, and they're gonna come out there on fire and following Jesus and discipling other people. And, like, it's not it's always been this combination

of like, we gather together, we walk together, not just and we've put we've put too much it's not like the gathering is bad. It's one of those things actually, maybe we talked about this once, but like, I found myself maybe about a year ago, I was driving down the road, and I saw a church that just, you know, had a cross on it, like most of the churches do. And I looked at that and I thought, I love that, actually. It made me think of like the 1700s, if someone was like walking between two towns and you came over the crest of the hill,

and you see the first thing you're probably gonna see is a cross. I'm like, Wow, people of peace are here. Yeah. And this is fine. This is totally fine. And so like, misunderstand to Mike's point, don't misunderstand what we're saying here. I'm not a strong no one's a strong advocate saying, Hey, know what's holy house churching? That's not what we're saying. But what we are saying is like the orientation of whatever expression you do as a community does not have the ability nor the liability

to make disciples. The church is for Christians. Christians make disciples, which means that, like, the way that you ex that you actually get these connections and, you know where to send is because you're close enough to know people and that people are trying to help make disciples and point people back to Jesus, not just can we get them trapped in the box and running through the program. Yeah. And so but if you think of it that way, it also should change how you wake up in the morning, and not because you have to manufacture a bunch of stuff, but you got your eyes open for it. You're looking

around at the world and saying, God, open my eyes to the things that you've got going on or the opportunities like you told me your Holy Spirit said through Jesus Christ that I am we I get to be part of making disciples. Help me not to miss the opportunity to do that. Or make it too much of your own. Sure. Because I could definitely I've definitely found myself because I've been talking with a buddy of mine that I just recently met, and he's having a hard time, like, just giving it all and put putting it at the foot of Jesus. And for some reason, I keep on want to, like, almost cohort ways to make him do it the same way I did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not Right? But you should be doing that. Yeah. Right.

Yeah. Actually, I you know what? It's funny enough. I was thinking about that this week that, like, there's there's ways that I can look back in my life and see how god did work. And part of me doesn't know what to do in some situations, so I'm like, well, let's recreate this. Maybe god will work again like this way. Mhmm. And, like, if I look through the biblical story, the reason it's so outlandish and amazing is because very rarely does God repeat himself. Like, he does have patterns, and he does have character that doesn't change. Right? But, like,

not two people cross the Red Sea on dry land. You know what saying? He didn't be like, I did it with Moses, now Peter. You know? But, like, he will move water again. You know what I'm saying? Like, he will do that. Like so I like, the the the thing is is, like, be open to the mystery and be open to the wonder of what of how God is going to do something. And, like, funny enough, the that's the exact opposite prescription of what we're expecting out of our 10:30 to 11:30 service, where we're like, we'll do it the same way all the time. God has done it before, and he has. People will walk into a church building, and they will meet Jesus there, and they will be disciples of Christ. It happens. It definitely happens. But more than likely, like, what I guess maybe I can only speak to what I've seen is is what it introduced someone that is how to be a church goer.

Right? Because they never quite got discipled or learned how to do what you do on Monday. The the pastor will sometimes tell you what to do on Monday, very specifically at the end of the sermon. So what do we do tomorrow? And then he'll tell you. And then you're like, oh, okay. I will implement this Monday. Mhmm. Right? But, like okay. Here's here's a question. It's it's it's I don't know if this is a right measurement or not. But if if the only fasting you've ever done is because your church was also doing it, I need you to reconsider, like, how much you're walking in this thing on your own. Right? If you've never sat at your house and

thought, I need to fast and pray on this because this is what a disciple of Christ will do. You know what I'm saying? If it's never even crossed your mind, enough to even bring up a question to someone else and go, hey. For some reason, I'm thinking about fasting. What do you think about this? Right? Completely legitimate question. It's a thing. But, like, if if you're only pursuing, like, that type of relationship with Jesus because the church told you to do it, and you haven't found someone randomly that's like, yeah, I'm currently fasting. Me and the Lord are trying to work something out, or I'm praying on something. Right? Like, these are these are marks of a disciple who follows Jesus whether whether or not they're sitting in that community or not. You know I'm saying? And so, like, that's the life we actually wanna introduce people to is is is following Jesus, like, if it's just them in a cave. You know I'm saying? If it's just them and them only, are they still following Jesus? Do they know how to do it? Do they know how to be in relationship with Jesus? Do they know how to wait on the holy spirit? Do they know how to take the, like, the the things that God have said and let it search their heart and let the holy spirit do work? You know what I'm saying? Like, these are all things that, like, it sounds like it's just intuitive and comes, but it does not. Because you're gonna have questions throughout that's gonna be like, I feel like I've been waiting for, like, five days for the Lord to answer me. And then a seasoned Jesus person will go, five days.

Rough times. I'm fifteen years on this one thing. You know what I'm saying? And so, like and and that's all to be, like, as generous as we can just to reframe what we're expecting out of the system that we believe is set up to catch all the things. Yeah. Well, actually, one of the things that should do is ultimately help relieve people of the expectation of what it actually means to follow Jesus. Like,

you don't have to be smart to follow him. You don't have to be a good greeter to follow him. You don't have to be particularly social to follow him. You don't have to dress all that well. Like, you know, you don't you don't have to know there's all kinds of things where, and I think this does reflect some of what we were talking about a few shows back when it came to, like, are we creating church followers or, like, people church goers, is that, like, becoming becoming a disciple of following Jesus, like when you get to those core things,

it should not only does it focus you on the right things, it reduces what you feel like you're responsible for. Those other things can fall off quite a bit. Like it's because in a cave, there is no other knowledge. There's nothing else to get. You will not be like if I stopped right now and God said, Ben, you don't you never read another book.

You get the you get the scriptures. In fact, I'm gonna take scriptures away from you. You get nothing. Yeah. Like, can you follow me? Yeah. Yeah. I can do that. Do I do I have a desire for the more? Probably. But, like, can I follow Jesus faithfully without a single ounce more of knowledge? Yeah. Yeah. Think I could do that. In fact, I know I can do it. And so I think it's an interesting it's an interesting scenario then,

like, when we think about how communities are formed and what you get exposed to and whatever, that the same thing that feels like, like what does it look like to become a follower of Jesus, it should actually reduce some liability of like, does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? It doesn't actually mean that you know of all the things, and it doesn't mean that you get everything right, and it doesn't mean that like just all kinds of ex like religious esque or pattern expectations that we may have, like, you should do them probably, but they're not it's not how we think about what it means to follow Jesus. You can drop almost all of that and still follow him.

Yeah. So it's it's it's like raising kids. Like, your goal is to raise them to live without you. And, like, your goal as someone who's leading and trying to teach people about God is like, I want you to be able to worship and follow him without me and without a community if you have to. I don't think God hasn't called very many people into following without a community. He loves community that we were created for. But the truth of the matter is is, like, we want you to have your own relationship with Jesus.

And because actually, when you have that, then you can contribute to your community. You know what I'm saying? Instead of just being a person that shows up and, like, takes in the message, right, you're you're a guy that takes in the message and goes, yeah. God's been dealing with me on this. Let me tell you something that God did in my life that that, like, deepens the thing that you just said. Or I feel like God is leading us, like, to to have this heart for this thing. What do you guys think? Will you pray on this with me? Right? You can't actually give to the community unless you're following Jesus independent of it. And so, like, that is a 100 true. If you wanna be, like, part of a community that's following Jesus, that means, individually, you have to be following Jesus, and you have to be introducing other people to Jesus and put and piercing light into darkness because that's how we fill a community. Yeah. Yeah. If you think about even the the biblical description of, like, the community being, you know, somebody's in arm, someone's a leg, like, you expect the arms doing their business, following Jesus, slapping flies off the leg when it shows up, not just going, well, just tell me where we're going, everybody. I'll do the same thing the leg's doing. You look like a real idiot if your arm and leg were doing the same thing all the time. Yeah. And if we're being honest, like, how how god set the church up to be, like, your pastor's probably an arm and a head. Right? And, like, if you're not if you're not following Jesus independently of that, there's just gonna be a bunch of arms and heads. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like, someone needs to be the leg. Someone has to be that gal who just prays all the time and stops, has never talked to the pastor one time. And then at year 12, she walks up and she goes, god says this just needs to stop. And then she goes back to her praying. Mhmm. And the head goes, hot dang. That toe's mad. Yeah. She's right. Yeah. She's probably right. We gotta do this thing. You know what saying? Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, maybe it's because God loves so individually and he uses individually. And I'm not saying he doesn't use communally because he definitely does. But, like, I don't know, man. I just don't wanna be I just don't wanna attend.

I wanna follow Jesus, and I want other people to follow Jesus. And I think that, like, I think a lot of that is done through individual relationships and individual people teaching other individual people what it looks like to follow Jesus even in your own fallibilities. You're like, I've only been doing this for, like, a year. I gotta be honest. I don't understand the difference between a Protestant and whatever that other thing you said. But I can tell you this. I love Jesus. Well, how often do you take communion? I don't know. Whenever someone offers it to me. Mhmm. Sometimes it's today.

Sometimes it's, six months from I I don't know. I I'm sure there's a reason we do it at whatever cadence we do it, but I don't know what that is. So I just take it when people offer it. Yeah. Okay. So if I round all this together, if the first question was around, hey, man, do you have a hesitance to trust other Christians? I think my gut reaction is probably yes.

But at its kindest, it's probably due to unfamiliarity, which is rectifiable. And I probably have a motivation to do that. Like, because you just see well, you can't can't have all the people. All the people probably shouldn't be following you directly all the time. You only have so much time. God has got plenty of people who love Him out into the world, and it behooves you to know them

so that you can otherwise direct people and build them up and have confidence and pray for what they're doing. And so, is it right to have a caution that people are representing Jesus? Yes, I think that's fine. Think the Bible as a matter of fact, most of the New Testament, once you get out of the Gospels,

most of the New Testament is is about discernment. Mhmm. Watching what people are teaching, watching the ideas of which they've taken some base nature of what Jesus has done, and they've start to mold it into the way they want the world to work. Every letter is getting at that.

And so it's it's not all roses out there, boys. Like, you gotta keep an eye on the thing. Discernment is necessary. And it tell you that even in that moment, like thirty years, forty years from when the events occurred, humans do what humans do, which is they see a thing that has an advantage, they like some of it, and then they start to mold it to however they see the world. It's pretty common. And so, yeah, you should be discerning about that, and it's okay to say, Look, I think you should probably stay away from that situation, But there are plenty of humble people who you disagree with on all kinds of things who you do agree with on Jesus. Yeah. And the more you know those people, the more humble you stay,

the more you start to understand that like maybe the things that you miss trusted because maybe you mistrusted them because you didn't understand them, and so rectify that. And maybe you mistrust them because you know enough, and you it's legitimate. That's fine. That's discernment. But the only way to know the difference is actually get close enough and to know people enough to be able to make that. And then as we extended the conversation, I think it's a reinforcement

that like, yes, that level of getting, you know, as we think about different communities and churches and things, that's kind of one bit, but as you think about what it looks like to go, How do I know I'm in a trustworthy community? Well, if it's clear that, like, they're following Jesus,

then there's all kinds of things we can hold open handed and we can be gracious about. But at the end of the day, you know, church we said churches don't make disciples, systems don't make disciples, Christians make disciples, churches for Christians, Christians are for the world. And so, when both of those things are true, our expectations should change about auditioning communities,

and like, really? We're just finding other people who are following Jesus, and you're gonna walk with them, which frankly is Jesus' prescription of discipleship. He says when he looks at the dudes, he goes, Hey, come follow me. I will make you fishers of men. And then Paul goes, Follow me as I follow Christ. Like the prescription

of making disciples is like, I'm going, I'm inviting people to come with me. It's not, I'm set up an operation and I'm gonna run them through it. It's like, you're gonna go about your business and maybe your business is making tents and having dinner with your family and like whatever the Lord's got you set up for in life, and you're gonna invite people to come along to that, and they're gonna see you, and then they're gonna see Jesus through the to your attempt to humbly follow him, and that's how disciples are made. You're listening to Life From The Path. Hey. Maybe you got feedback on that. Let us know. If we got it wrong, we'd love to hear it. If we got it right, you better hold that. We're

confident in here, and so I don't think I need any other affirmations. It's (515) 517-0098 no. No. 008? 0085. (515) 517-0085. Just call or text, It's telling you that you are not calling or texting often enough if I've forgotten the number, given that I've shared that number three fifty times. (515) 517-0085.

Call or text. That's the Life From The Path complaint line. Alright. In in the spirit of arrogance, Mike, we we should give out a little bit of advice. Oh, yeah. Here we go. Dear life from the path, my fiance and I often talked about maybe getting a dog. He really wanted one, but I never fully committed because I knew it would be additional work and responsibility I don't have time for. I work full time, do part time work as well, and manage the household tasks, shopping, cleaning, etcetera.

When I ask him to pitch in, he always does, but I'm at max capacity with work. Not long ago, he asked me to go look at dogs. I agreed, but only to look. When we arrived, I told him and the dog owner that the puppies looked very sweet, but added hang on. That the that the puppies look very sweet, but added that they were just not ready. I reiterated this several times, but my fiance placed the money on the counter despite my objections, and now we have a dog, Butch.

Fast forward, Butch is a sweet loving pup. I adore him, but he's a ton of work. My fiance is back in school and working, so he's not happy stopping multiple times a day to take Butch out for air and exercise as the dog in an active breed. He does it, but some days are stressful for us both. Live from the path, I resent him for this. We're both overloaded and now have another full time responsibility plus extra bills. We love Butch but are overwhelmed. I would be miserable giving him away, which is what my fiance now suggests. We treat Butch well. We love him and give him the best of everything, and he is sensitive and sweet. I don't think another person or family would treat him as well, and I would be sick with worry if he weren't here. We paid for daycare and walks that helped immensely, but we can't afford it anymore. What do I do? Just to be clear,

the fiance asked for the dog and then now doesn't wanna keep him because it was too much work. So I think the fiance wanted the dog. The person writing was against getting the dog. Yep. And they said and the fiance goes, hey. Let's go have a look at these dogs. She's like, no. But I'll go look at them with you, but we're just browsing. Mistake one. Yeah. Mistake one. And then and then fiance

instantly purchases Butch while we're there. Mistake number two. And then the confusion sets in where the writer of the question says, look. I love this dog. We give it everything. He's bright, happy, but he's too much responsibility, and we can't have him. I'd worry to tears if he was gone. I don't really wanna give him away, but I don't wanna have him here either. What do I do? I'm mad at my fiance. The main point of the question is is I'm mad at my fiance for even putting us in this situation and buying the dog. Yeah. I'm I'm just gonna it doesn't say which of one of these two people wrote the message, but I guarantee you right now, the fiance is a dude. Yeah. And the gal riding is the is the gal for sure. Mhmm. And so this moron

basically saddled up this thing that takes a bunch of responsibility and then is taking almost zero responsibility for it. And then but now the woman's torn. She's like, I love the dog. Such a good dog. I couldn't stand to be apart from it, but I also can't stand to have it here. And I'm really mad at my fiance for putting us in this situation. And the question is, what do I do? Okay. So I I actually find what the fiance

has done to be pretty egregious. Like The dog purchase? Yeah. He knew this. This he didn't be like, oh, I'm surprised you're reacting this way. He had every intention of buying that dog. Mhmm. I don't go like, hey, woman. Let's go look in that Godiva chocolate shop. I'm just kinda curious of what they got. Horse duty. I wanted one of them chocolates, and I thought and this and I we had to get one step in. And so what he did

was wrong. That was deceitful and wrong, and it was intentional, and, like, that's that's a sucky thing to do. Now she should have known better than that. Just as my wife should be like, you ain't going to that Godiva shop just to like brew peruse around. You want chocolates. Mhmm. This woman should know that about this man and should have said, no. I'm not going. There's no way that you're gonna see this dog. Never listen to me. Listen. In case you're a person who's ever thought this, oh, like, I'm gonna go down to the pound and just take a look. You walking out with the dog, man. There ain't no way you getting out of there without a dog. That's silly. And so I as a fiance, one, you all shouldn't be buying a dog together. I would recommend getting married first before making any of these types of purchase. You're gonna complicate your life, which you've done.

But I might also suggest that, like, I don't know. This is kind of a key counseling item before I'd walk that aisle is, like, if this dude is willing to commit you to this type of thing and go, whoopsie. It's like Oopsie. Got that. I totally meant to do that. Now this this thing that she's saying though is familiar because my wife has said this very same thing. My whole family wanted a dog. We're like, yeah. We wanted to like, well, it's just set for her because she's not dumb. My wife's a smart person. She goes, you know what's gonna happen is you guys are gonna all enjoy this dog, and then I'm gonna end up like cutting its nails and stuff because no one wants to do that kind of thing. Mhmm. She's totally right. That's exactly what was gonna happen. And it is exactly what did happen as a matter of fact. Now the but my wife willingly like broke down and said, I'm gonna do this.

But the point being is that like, it is very disingenuous to this man to to like he he made the choice. He needs to buck up and and handle the situation. The problem that she's running into here, which is a particularly difficult one, is mister I want a dog is very easily willing to discard the animal when the responsibility falls on him, but the woman has gotten attached to it.

Yeah. And so now she feels a way about him maybe getting rid of this dog. So I think at the sum of it, this man has put her in a very difficult position. He has not cared for this woman well. He's been pretty pretty dominantly selfish,

and the the harmful parties are the lady and the dog both in this situation. Yeah. Dawson, what do you think the ultimate goal was when this man was after this dog? Like, what did he really want? I guess, I love dogs. Yeah. And when I think of me wanting a dog, I want someone to do things with. I wanna have fun with that. I wanna take it on walks. Yep.

Having a friend. Yeah. Sounds like all things that's supposed to be coming from your fiance. Yes. Well, yeah. Actually, yes. Very true. Yep. Here's what I think I think you nailed it. I think this dude was like, I wanna take a dog out and, like, have fun with it and, like, pet it and stuff, and it'll be my best friend. We'll watch football together. Right? And zero thoughts did he have, like, someone's gotta feed this thing. It's gonna cost us money. He's just like, man, it's gonna be so good for me to have this friend. Mhmm. And then, like, the gal's literally over there going, this is gonna cost money. He, like, showed light on all things that he was missing. Yeah. And he's like, yeah. I hear your concerns. How much? Yeah. He's a guy who wants all the benefits without the commitment like a dude who moves in with his lady without being married. Oh, he's classic. I'm just saying. Oh, he's a classic. Two for two this guy.

Now now let's focus what's done is done. Here is the difficulty for this lady right here. Mhmm. Is that like, this is this is actually fairly easy. You just have to let go of the fact that you can't have both. So like, you gotta decide, will you love like, do you love this dog enough that you're willing to put up with the extent of which the man is not gonna care for it?

That's the question. And and I hear what you're saying, oh, I'm gonna worry about it. Oh, but I can't keep going. If you can't keep going, you gotta give up the dog. If you can keep going, it's just gonna be difficult, but then that's what you're gonna do. I just I know it sounds real hard, but it's because you you can often get under the impression, and this does tend to be the ladies who've got this particular men are just simple, dumb to a certain extent, but more straightforward. Women tend to be able to hold on to two things, and they think if they can just wrestle with it long enough that they'll find a good answer. And there isn't one in here.

Your boyfriend's not just gonna magically change. You're not gonna suddenly stop loving the dog, and the difficulty of managing the dog is not gonna all of a sudden go away. You tried you you actually tried. You tried to find the whatever, the dog sitter and They hired a daycare. Yeah. A doggy daycare. I'm just like, there is no other there's not a magic answer in here. Like, you're in a tough spot, and you're just gonna have to figure out what you can live with. But it's but it's I'm telling you, it's not a brain teaser. You there's not a magic answer. You're just gonna have to you gotta weigh it out and just pick one. I I'm only gonna submit that there's a little bit of vagary in here. Right? When it says, life from the path, I resent him for this. Yes. We're both overloaded. I don't know why. He does I don't think he's overloaded. She's being generous. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. We're overloaded and now have another full time responsibility plus extra bills. I assume that's in reference to the dog.

Yeah. We love Butch but are overwhelmed. I would be miserable giving him away, which is what my fiance now suggests. So this dude this is classic dude behavior. Yeah. Like, okay. Get rid of the dog then. If it's gonna cause all Mitch this strife, I want I want it going. Mhmm. I don't wanna be arguing with you about this. I'll solve this problem. Yeah. Out the dog goes. Mister problem solver here. Mister mister he's a gypsy wagon. Problem maker and then problem solver here. That's right. I brought the problem, and I'll fix the problem. Yeah. I can make impact coming and going. Snake snake oil Steve. Yeah. Seriously. So, like yeah. This should be this is why we this is why we I'll be very carefree careful on who we spend our time with, ladies, and very careful who we who we, like, hand over parts of our life to. This man brought the problem, and then he is trying to arbitrarily fix it with no empathy for now what he's caused, which is you've now fallen in love with the dog. His plan kinda succeeded for being as much of a dullard as he is. You know I'm saying? He got you to to love it, and now it's like the dog has to go out and he's like, can you take the dog out? You're like, no. You know? And, like, what what's gonna happen when y'all have kids? You know I'm saying? Like does he really want a family too someday? Because I'd be like, oh, if that's how this is gonna work, yeah, no thanks. You know what I'm saying? So, like, ultimately, the question is what do you do?

I think my advice would be it's like, you gotta figure out how to not be your own protagonist. Right? Like, she's basically arguing both sides

of her point. And so, like, the right answer is to probably get rid of the dog, to be honest with you, or get rid of him, keep the dog, and move to an apartment, and then buy it at kennel. You don't have to put it in day care. They're like, other people might not treat it as well as we do. Well, here's the thing. There's other kids that are treated better than the ones that live at my house, but this is how my house runs. You know what I'm saying? Other people have name brand whatevers. Our kids have this because they live here. And so the truth is is, like, yeah, maybe the dog quotes deserves doggy daycare, but, like, my dog sleeps in a kennel when I'm not home because the dog eats things if I don't put them in the kennel. So the dog earned some of the kennel, and I just brought the opportunity for not to put it in daycare.

So, like, I think there's there's a you you gotta pull your thoughts out of the clouds a little bit here. Right? Like, stop overdramatizing the life of a dog, and, like, he's happy to be in your company. Get some of the the cost down to see if it's actually reasonable and if you actually wanna keep the dog. If you can't afford it and you don't have time for it, then do the loving thing and hand it over to somebody that will. I I think that's the long and short of it. Do you feel like once you've adopted a dog, you've taken responsibility for it lifetime? You can't give it back. No good. I would feel like that. But I I know quite a few people who've like took a dog and then like, and then gave it back. I'd give away both my dogs right now. Yeah. Really? I don't love them. We put them in a kennel. We were in we had a staycation. We stayed home for a week. Did it, like, told everybody, no. We're not doing things. And I'm like, we should put the dogs in a kennel so the dogs aren't even here. And I thought three days in, I'll be missing them. Never happened. I regretted having to go pick them back up. I'm like, man. And then they were here today when I got home from work, and they wanted to go out six times, and they were hungry. And then they were barking at the Amazon guy, and I'm like, how much was that kennel a week? Maybe I can just wait wait them out for their deaths.

And I thought, I just these dogs deserve more love than I'm currently offering. Is it just these two like, have you had dogs in the past where you've been like, I can't wait to see that dog? Yes. Yeah. 100%. Two ruffians. It's the Amish one and that one we picked up from out of state. Yeah. They suck at me. Had, like, a stone cold pet before. Like, we had a bunny as a kid that I really liked, and we've had fish. I love looking at fish. That one's a fun one. But you don't name and walk a fish. You just have Not more than once. It's like, you know, it's like a nice point or a nice painting. Come on, Carl. But Carl.

We're going out for a swim in the pool. But I don't I feel like I would get more attached than that. I have never had like a full time dog or, like, 100 dog. Yeah. There was no nothing like that. Our family's never had them. We've had cats to keep the mice away. Yeah. But we live on a highway, so you know how long those last? Yeah. You get used to that. You get used to the the death part and them walking away without you saying goodbye. Yeah. So having an active choice, I don't know. Yeah. Like, you picked the dog. You went and looked. You picked it. You brought it home. You took, like, all responsibility for it. It basically feels like you made this dog a promise Yeah. When you adopted it that, like, you're with me even if you're terrible. Mhmm. Yeah.

So if we're not gonna be friends, we're gonna be at least enemies, and we're gonna like it. You know? That that's right. But either way, we're in relationship, dog. Yeah. Because I took responsibility for you. Yeah. Okay. So yeah. So what was your advice, Dawson? I'd I'd say keep it. I I was gonna say, yeah, weigh the options. But if you can manage to do it and it just sucks for a little bit, I'd keep it around. Dump the fiance, you're saying? I actually think you should dump the fiance. I like, the resentment part is the hardest part. So, like, you can there's practical you either keep the dog or don't let the dog go or or whatever. I think that's either one is probably fine in this particular situation. Someone else will love the dog.

I think the major problem is like, is this a trustworthy man? Do you like, the dog is a is a is an impactful situation. There's another 50 impactful situations coming up. If he does not have the ability to react to this and recognize what he's done, I don't know that I would feel confident walking into the next fifty years of your life with this dude. Wow. I mean, he made one mistake with the dog. Well, the the question is and this is where it's unfair. At the beginning and then 20 other mistakes after that. Yeah. He's still doing it though. He didn't go, you know what? I bought I gotta send this pickle. I got Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. I'll make sure the dogs take care. Yeah. He just he's like, oh, I know how to solve this. Give the dog away. Oh, yeah. Okay. So he had the option to step up, and he decided to get rid of the dog so he didn't have to do his responsibility. Yeah. And that may be honest

because he's like, I definitely am not gonna do the things that we're saying, and so we don't have any choice but to get rid of the dog. That might be the the situation. The question is, is that a situation that you wanna perpetuate for the next fifty years? I yeah. You don't have to split up with them. I'd I'd stop living together and maybe get this kind of thing worked out before you proceed any further. I don't disagree. Secular says, why do you think another family would not appreciate Butch and treat him as well as you have? If he is sensitive and sweet, is housebroken, and has been taught basic manners during the time he has been with you, he might find a very loving home, hopefully one with children he can play with. Oh, it's all just wine and roses over at Secular's house. Contact pet rescue groups in your area and explain the situation, and you may be pleasantly surprised. And the next time your fiance pulls his money out and puts it on the counter when you have told him you don't want something, tell him to put it back.

Good one. Tell him to put it back. That's it? The one she did that, though. She goes, it's not the right time for us. And this He took it back and he got bought the dollar. He got much. Like, while she's standing there, it's like, I hear what you're saying, babe. We'll take it. Yeah. Here's the thing. This is how you know people. Like, when I tell my wife, hey. Do you you wanna go do you wanna go look at some car lots? She's like, for what? I'm like, don't know. Just to see what's out there. She's like, no. No. We're not buying a car. I'm like, I'm not buying a car. I just wanna see what's out there. Yeah. She's like, yo. Okay. We don't go look at cars. Yeah. Right? You know what saying? Like, we don't go checking out stuff. Here's the problem. If we're ever in agreement or in a point of weakness, like, me and the woman, we spend money. Right? When we get together and, like, we're feeling particularly low or or both in, like, some kind of subversive attitude, that's how we end up with patio furniture we can't afford. Mhmm. You know what I'm saying? We're like, we deserve this. And all of sudden, you know, we're 22 years old with a credit card payment for stupid patio furniture that's worth more than the house we live in. And our cars won't start. But by god, we got the train we got the patio furniture problem solved.

And so, like, yeah, you gotta meet somebody that's gonna that's gonna be your balance here. You know what I'm saying? Yep. Agreed. Okay. Last one. Okay. Dear life from the PATH. Our new neighbors have been out of town for several weeks, and their newspapers keep piling up outside their home. We don't know them well enough to have their contact information to ask if they need help with the newspapers. At what point can we pick them up and place them in our recycling bin? Right now. Fire that up. You don't have their contact information. Alright, mister HOA. I don't know it. Dude, you know what house they live in. What's the problem? They also know that they've been out of town for several weeks. It seems like you know all the facts necessary to take care of this paper situation.

Or being whatever. Like, if you don't even have to put them in your recycle bin if you want to. If you wanna, like, get them in a sack and hold them at your plate. Like, if you're real cautious about it Mhmm. Like, hold on to it for another week or two or whatever, and then that's fine. But, like, either let it go, either ignore it, put it in a sack, or just go dump it in there. Here's the thing. They don't know you either. They're not gonna know it was you. Oh, that ring doorbell will will tell you. Oh, well, then I would go up and put my face in and say, hey, bro. I think I'm helping you out that you're not gonna go back and read all these newspapers. Here's a pre apology in case I'm wrong, but just just know that on record that I think I'm doing the right thing, but I'm gonna dump all these. Thanks, homie. Then I'll be out. Would you like, would this even bother you? No. I don't think if I had this occurrence in my life, I don't think I'd think about it enough to go make a post about it. No. Or ask some people here I mean, how their input on it. Tall is their grass? Do know I'm saying? Like, the place has gotta look like the Panama down there. Right? Like, there's nothing but newspapers and six foot grass. And you're like, something gotta be done about these newspapers.

Like, if they paid someone to take care of the lawn, shouldn't they have been grabbing these pay who's getting their mail? Their their mailbox should be overflowing with letters just vomiting out of out of the box. Like, this is an odd thing to focus on. You know? If you already know they're out of town for several weeks and the papers are just piling up, I'm just I don't I would only use it as an indication that, like, like, maybe you're not okay in there. But if I already know that you're on vacation, I would be like, I don't know. That's a natural progression of someone not being here to grab the paper. The paper remains. It's just kinda regular. Mhmm. Okay. So overall,

the opinion is, Dawson, you'd be like, I'm not even concerned about this. I would let them pile. I'd let them pile. I care about my lawn how it looks. Yeah. Or at least I know I will. Yeah. For the way I know other people's lawns. Yeah. But, like, or even, like, the front of my house. But, like, if it's another person's house, I mean, that just makes my house look temporary problem. You know? Yeah. They're gonna be back. Yeah. And it's not like you're even saving them that much work. Like, if he came home, he was like, oh, crap. I forgot about the paper. It's probably a six minute fix. Yeah. And so, you know, yeah, I'd let that go unless you're real persnicky about it. And then, yeah, just leave a note. I thought I was doing a good thing. Sorry if I didn't. Who possibly comes home from three weeks being gone and goes, I'd like that paper from two and half weeks ago? I'd like to read that. I wanna know what's up. It's already happened, dude. It's already done. Secular says, newspapers piled in front of a house are like an invitation to an open house.

Your neighbors should have called the newspaper before they left and told them they wanted their newspaper held till they returned. It would be kind of you to pick the papers up and save them for your neighbors rather than dispose of them. Yeah. I mean, the Titanic should have stayed in England, but, I mean, the ship has sailed, man. It does seem weird. I didn't think about, like, the prowler angle. But, like, if you have a bunch of papers piled up in front of your house, a burglar knows, hey. There's no one home. Yeah. That's true. Like, they know you're out of town. So, like, it it would probably be the neighborly thing to do to at least just get them off the porch. Yeah. You can pick up your paper. Just go grab theirs. Store it off to the side. If they come home, you're like, hey, man. I know this is weird, but I saved all your papers. I didn't know if you actually cared or whatever. And he's like, no. I appreciate you doing that. It's like, just didn't want people knowing you weren't home so they you know, that you might might even make a friend in the exchange. Yeah. Instead of asking the newspaper people, like, hey. How do I do how do I handle this interaction with a person? Right? Couple thoughts that have got you there. You know? Dang.

Okay. That's it. Right? Done? That's it. Okay. Hey. You're listening to life from the path. Thanks for hanging out with us. Here's what I'm a tell you. I realized that I said the phrase big ass bible earlier, and I apologize for that. No. No. It's stuck with me. Did know I had to hold it as a kid? Did you really?

Server in the Catholic church. And during the service, I would have to hold the bible. How long? A decent amount. Decent amount. Was it a pretty good read? Oh, yeah. He's sitting there praying over the congregation. I'm just standing there. Oh, man. As a kid too, I especially have a hard time. I'm like, wrap it up Remember Twigg Bossa holding up his giant bible. And they have you hold it the most uncomfortable uncomfortable way. So, like, all four my strong fingers are underneath the bible, and my thumbs are holding it up so he can read it. Get my strong fingers

to the lord. Here's okay. I didn't think about this, but the advantage of being in a Catholic church under such a situation because if you were at a certain protestant church and they're like, okay, everyone, we're just gonna pray and whoever feels like praying can go ahead and pray. And then the Bible holds up guys like, oh, no. We're gonna be here for half hour. Can't can't we buy a stand? He's like, God's foundations of his trust. Anyway, two you got two reactions. You could either respond on the Life in the Path of Play line, (515) 517-0085,

or you can start a trend on the old x slash Twitter hashtag big ass bible. Are we on threads? No. What's that? It's it's like the Facebook I know. It's it's the up and comer. Yeah. Nah. I don't think so. I don't think it's catching on. I also don't maintain any of our social media. So Do you do you have any okay. Quick question. Do you have any consistent Jesus related podcasts that you listen to? Yes.

Well, I would say well, the closest thing that comes to it is the bible project. I read there's there's a q and a with N. T. Wright that I'll listen to that one a lot because you can get in and out of things in a relatively quick fashion. There's also if you wanna be a real nerdlinger about it, the Michael Heiser podcast is real good. There he goes. He even sounds like a dude you'd listen to. Yeah. He's he wrote the book, The Unseen Unseen Realm. He's like a Hebrew scholar and super it's it's a lot of old testament stuff. Super interesting. If you're not 50, I'm gonna give my answer and that's the Bryce Crawford podcast.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You like the Bryce Crawford podcast. I do really. Does he have guests on? All the time. And that's my favorite because I love testimonial, like, things, people telling me about their story. That does, like, so much work in my eyes. And so when he has people on, I absolutely love that. Yeah. Those are my favorite episodes, actually. I think he's great on his own, but he does really well flowing off of people. Does Wes Huff do his own podcast? I've only listened to him when he's been on other podcasts. I think Apologetics Canada, which is where he's with, I think they have one, but I think he's he's, like, not always on it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I listen to like, I'll catch I always listen to a back episode of Life in the Path usually. And then I I don't miss with the Perrys, with Jackie Hilberry Oh, yeah. Yeah. And her husband Preston Perry. They in fact, they had a couple really, really good shows here the last couple weeks

that I thought was really worth listening to. Plus, they fight like a married couple sometime, and it's my absolute favorite. It just reminds me that they're real people. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's still good. Oh, that one I was talking about, by the way, is called the naked bible podcast. With Michael Heiser? Yes. Who's he died, like, a few years ago. The funny thing though is in he's got a he's got like a cohost who isn't like a Bible scholar. He's just like a guy to facilitate bringing on the real Bible scholar, except he's super southern, and so he says naked.

He like, you listen to the naked Bible podcast. It's so good. It's so good. Which is interesting because like this Ask N. T. Wright Anything podcast also has a dude who's like from Australia who also doesn't feel like he's a Bible scholar of any means. Like, he's always he's like the common man minus two, but just a super interesting dude. Anyway, I'll leave that to you. Okay. I played through the same tune multiple times, and I'm gonna have to cut you loose. Thanks for hanging out with us today. We really do appreciate it. Hit us up on the complaint line, (515) 517-0085. Call or text. In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to live.