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I am a special love man. Now I'm gonna wear coming to you from the Working with Pathway Studios here on Johnston Proper. Okay. Okay. So, Buba, tell me let's tell me about this limit. So within the last couple of days, something just kind of randomly started creeping up in my heart to where

I feel like in my walk with Jesus over the last, like, year, very much has changed, and then even more so over the last couple of months has just been, I mean, just awesome. Just really amazing what I'm just being able to watch what God's been doing has been so cool. And within the last couple of days, it just started to hit me that I'm, like, stricken with grief

at how lazy I've been, like, at how how much time I've spent focusing on me and, like, what what is wrong with me and what what wrongs have been done to me and and all this different stuff just so so, like, broken down in shame and guilt and sin. And,

like, I understand that I've had to go through the kinds of things that I've gone through to grow, and I recognize that entirely, but there's just this level of pain that I'm feeling that just goes, Man, like I've wasted years. I'm in my thirties now. I wasted the vast majority of my twenties just being so self self centered, so selfish, so, like, focused on me. And

nowadays, the the the stuff that the Lord does in a day is just astonishing to me. Like, it's astonishing to me. Even in little small things that, like, it's not important to talk about because it's all God's work. It's just great. But, like, as in the details aren't important to to to go through right now, but seeing that the Lord can do so much work in just twelve hours of being awake, and it kills me that if I could have spent the last fifteen years Mhmm. Doing that kind of stuff, like,

not because I'm trying to count numbers or not because I'm trying to just see a a big field of people that I've helped or whatever. No no selfish game there. Just sadness and grief, and not shame thankfully because it's not like sending me down this sin cycle of going, Oh, it's all pointless. I just screwed up the last fifteen years. Why would I even try now? Blah blah blah. But just, man, I just my heart hurts. It hurts for for all of that lost time, and I think God's I I I don't know. I and I I don't know if I said the Lord, you know, plucked a a soul cord. I don't know. It just certainly is something that I've been thinking over the last couple days, and it's it's interesting because I wish I could go back in time. I wish I could just go back to me sitting in this room five years ago and just be like, dude, the second that you start to feel or get to a point where you trust God so much that, like, every day doesn't have to be a relentless pursuit of safety,

that, like, you get to a point where it's just walking with him, and then you see him move, and it's beautiful, and it's majestic, and it's mighty, and it's amazing. Oh gosh. It just makes me sad for the time that I've lost. You know what, though? I think what you'll find is, you know, five years from now, you're gonna feel the same way. Oh, absolutely. Because every time you make a new level, you're like, dude, what took you so long? You know, I mean, I've done it my whole life, you You look in the mirror one day and go, oh, man, what a waste. Mhmm. And, you know, that's the beauty of a patient father. He he he just you know? It's true. It's a good point. Along and uses us as he can as we'll let him. Right. And as we let go, he uses us more. And yeah. Yeah. It's just been and that's interesting because that's it's something that I've I've said aloud and I've thought many times before that, like, it's for me, it's never been an anger against my selfishness or anything. I'm starting to understand that. But it's always been like, man, I was dumb back then. Mhmm. And it's like five years later, man, I was dumb back then. And then ten years later, man, I was real stupid back then. And it's just been interesting to kind of watch that unfold, if you will, as as I grow and I mature and I like I learn to trust him more, and I I I learned to just submit my day to him and just be like, lord, this is yours. Like, I am yours. I am your tool to use and not your will in my life. Just I wanna see your will, and then how does my life line up to that? And, like, watching that kind of stuff move has been super awesome, and I I hope that I sit here ten years from now and say the same thing to where I'm like, man, I barely trusted him. Like, I had no idea. I had no idea the kind of things that he was going to do, and he just works in such beautiful ways. Yeah. I I don't know, Dan. Do you remember any time in your life where you distinctly thought or felt that?

Yeah. I I mean, multiple times. I'll look back. I'll I'll have some shift of thought or something, and you think, well, what took me so long to get there? And I've been like the straight and narrow guy, you know, straight laced guy, like I started preaching when I was 20. I mean, I've done all the right things, you know, and and still,

like, shoot, I just turned 60 a couple months ago, and I sit there and think, I'm just figuring it out. And I'm like, why couldn't I have done this forty years ago? You you know? Right. And it's not regret. It's just like, okay. Well, thanks for being patient with me, guys. I hope you give me another twenty years because because I'm really enjoying this. This is so much fun. You know? Oh, that's so true. Yeah. That's so true. Absolutely, man. Like, I don't I I mean, years ago, I would've looked at this with just shame, and nowadays, I'm like, oh my gosh. Lord, what you what you can do in a day. Yeah. Give me twenty years of those days. Yeah. Like, I'm I'm excited to be fifteen years from now sitting here and saying the same thing where I'm like, guess what? I walked obedient. I had no idea what trust and obedience was still, but, like, I started to get a glimpse of it. Right? It started to to kinda get that that that just, like, far off understanding of this, and he's just so good, and it's just oh, man. I'm just I'm dumbstruck by it. I think part of it is the longer

you are in this, in your faith, and you're striving to grow, the better you hear his voice. Sure, yeah. Know? Cause there's so many voices. You're in your twenties, you got all these voices. Voices from the past floating through your head and all the voices.

And you start narrowing those down, okay, that voice, get rid of that one, that one, that I know where that comes from now, I'm not listening to that anymore. Exactly, exactly. Yeah. And it's like, I know if we ever figured out till we get there and open our eyes, oh, there you are, you know, it's like, oh, you know, we're done here but yeah, I think that's the adventure, that's part of the excitement of the journey is figuring out how do I tone out or tune out all those other voices and how do I tune in to the father and and hear him. Yeah. No. And I think that's fair, and that's interesting because the whole hearing the father's voice thing has been such an interesting thing for me recently from the perspective of of and and that's actually a really good way to put it, Dan. There's so many voices. Mhmm. Like, there's so many things for me. If I ever feel like I've heard from the lord, I immediately get this rhetoric of, like, self doubt that goes No. Yeah. That's not that's not what god's doing. You can't be that. How that works. Or, no, that's just your your brain that's trying to make this happen, or you just put John Goodman's voice in your own head. Like, that's not god. Like, what are you talking about? Goodman. I don't know. It's just it's the first thing I thought of. Whatever. But, like, it it's interesting because

I I feel like I'm at that place in in my walk where I'm starting to hear him. Like, I'm really starting to be able to discern his voice, and it's such it's such an awesome thing. Yeah. Like, it's so awesome because I've wanted that. I've longed for that for so long, and I I I never and I know that I don't understand this still, and there's still thirty years of growth ahead of me and fifty after that and then eternity walking with him, right? Like I'm aware of what that what I don't know, right? You know, ignorantly incompetent. I don't know what I don't know sometimes, but as I'm as I'm first starting to kind of understand that, like, I was standing in the way. It wasn't that he wasn't talking. Like, I just I was being so disobedient and, like, I was I was refusing to give him everything. Like, I really was because it was a trust thing. Like, I did not trust him with all of it. I trusted him with with some of the things that I couldn't explain away, and I trusted him with some things that, like, I couldn't handle myself.

And they had to continually reveal to me that, like, I don't just want the things that you don't feel capable of. Like, I want all of it. I want every bit of it to you submitting all of your day every day. Don't be a farmer that plans the next twenty years. Be a day laborer that's just walking in my field and let me pay you your wages for the day, which is a relationship with me. And I'm it it's so beautiful because I can't wait for for another forty years of being able to understand that and being able to hear that even more. I'm just I'm giddy. Like, I'm like a little kid, and I'm so excited about it. Yeah, I was trying to think that I had I think I've had that same thought and it around not any particular thing, but more around where I felt like earlier parts of my life, I was trying to figure out or acclimate what it

not a measure of success necessarily, but like all the things that weren't following Jesus. Sure, yeah. Which I'd like, whatever, have to live a there's a practicality to your life, course. But, like, how much time did that have my mind? Yeah. How much of my money did it have? How much of my worry did it have? Right. And I do look back on those things and go, and maybe miss them a little and go, look, I just I don't know what would have come, but boy, I really wish that I could say no to all the other things that feel like. I can look back with clarity and go, those feels like they're just clogging pipes, man. Like they were things that didn't particularly matter. And you know what's interesting though, here's where the benefit of being a Calvinist is, is

you get the benefit of being able to go, look, All the steps that brought you here were what had to. Like, there just wasn't there weren't any particular options. Like, it's now and even beyond even beyond, like, a reformed theology, there is there there is a thought that, like, you know, you could only be able to look back in wisdom for having gained it. You know what saying? And so for having and it took these things to have done so, to have gained it and come to the realization, to Dan's point is why it keeps happening. Like, you live another increase my faith and my wisdom. Of course, I'll be able to see what I was lacking. Right. You live another five years and you go, ah, I was closer, but still not quite right. And if, like, if if God would give me Noah a number of years, maybe I could actually pull this thing together. Right. That's true. That's invigorating though. Like, that's invigorating to to think that, like, for for the longest time, I've been I've been exhausted from the perspective of how long is this life? But, like, when when when trying to even

walk faithfully with him and like let him lead me and and do this kind of stuff, it is completely flipped out on its head to where it's like, lord, give me more time. Like, give me more time. Obviously recognizing that that it is it is such a a different experience than the Lord originally intended, right, as we're walking with Him now than when He was with us, right, like walking alongside us, Adam and Eve style. Like I long for that now, but I also long for the work of the days, which means that like I want for the first time in my life, I'm invigorated so much to say that, like, I want this for the people that I see that are hurting around me. And, like, I've never had that fire like that before because, like, I've always wanted that for the people around me, and I've always thought, well, yeah, the point of this is to get more people in the kingdom. Like, of course, that's the deal. It's the good news of the gospel, and I love that. But it's been it's been such a

different experience as that has been like lit aflame in my soul and in my heart that goes, oh, no, no. I'm not just I'm not just doing this so that you can be at a church next to me. I'm not just doing this so that, like, I can check you off my box of people that I'm trying to witness to. Like, want, I desire for you to be able to walk in the safety and the surety of faith in Jesus Christ. And like the ability to this, this world changes when heaven is with you, when Christ having come down to bring the kingdom at hand is here. This mortal world changes

when it is identified by your name rather than by the lost and sinful nature that we have. And, like, there's such beauty in that name that says, oh my god. I'm so excited. Like, I can't wait for people to do that a lot. It's me bringing them or me just being able to watch it happen because it's so beautiful in their lives. Yeah. And it's just crazy. It's just so crazy what's opening up for me right now. Yeah. Yeah. Just awesome. Yeah. It's one of the things that that then reminds you, like, you get to a point where you you realize appreciating the older there's a wisdom in older. There's a like, people Right. Because they think of the the knock on the the biggest risk is that you look and go, oh, well, this person is twenty years to thirty years older than me. The the world has moved on without them. Yep. But like I just said, that most of the thing where I got probably tied up or at least thought I spent my time with an imbalance are things that

the things that are changing about the world are the things that are probably not worth all that much keeping up with. Yeah. All the things that I really care about in life, at the end of the life that Jesus cares about, at the at the my bones I care about are things that that were the same thirty years ago and thirty years before that and three hundred years before that. Same God. And so with those things being true, what do I like, I'm not I'm missing out. You can often miss out on wisdom. Was listening to actually, I was listening to some music today, and I was looking a little bit up about a guy who had written the songs, and his first album, I think, didn't come out or wasn't commercially successful till he was, like, 35 or 40. Wow. And it made me think that, like, how

how many times is the culture being led around by a 22 year old dude Mhmm. With with his thoughts on life. Uh-huh. And we're like, yeah. This is how it is. It's not how it is. Yeah. It's not how it freaking is at all. Nothing is 22. Right. Nothing. And, like and and it's not it's perfectly great to be 22. Right. Like, live it. But but is that where our wisdom Right. Comes from? Is it through the bones of a man who's not seen much?

And, like, some some people have totally lived beyond their years. Sure. Yeah. Absolutely. But it just made me think that, know, like, especially for singer songwriter types, I thought, you know what? That's probably about right. I probably wanna listen to this dude when he's 40. Yeah. Not when he's 21. Right. And and, one of the things that came out of it, there was that followed kind of the theology of some of his tunes and stuff, and, it's all it's rock solid. The guy's great. But, like, one of the things that has changed is, like, earlier in his music, there's kind of a looking towards heaven, and then as he gets older, what you start to see is looking towards heaven as a restored earth. Yeah. Right? It's a shift. It's a shift in theology. It's odd because it's just as wild.

Just as wild of a thing to think, but it is much more practical actually. Much more hands and feet way of, and I think accurate. I think biblically accurate way of And thinking about so I thought, Yeah. Yeah. That that's right. And so I mean, not not to dissuade you from, you know, talking with younger folks. It's just don't leave the folks that are twenty years plus, thirty years plus, forty years plus off to the side like they don't look like the culture anymore, but that's probably just fine.

In fact, there's probably a lot of wisdom in that anyway. Yeah, they've kind of transcended it. Honestly, I think part of the key to growth spiritually is getting to that point where you I mean, you can say it out loud, but when you actually grasp more

that I'm in eternity right now. You know, I'm already an eternity. Right, I'm not waiting for it. I mean, it's not like I'm going to die. I mean, my body's gonna do something different, but who I am will never end. And then it just makes you look at life differently, it makes you look at people differently, makes you look at circumstances differently, and it adds a depth to it that you'll and it gives you more mission. I mean, have a kingdom and it's like, just changes everything

rather than, oh, What stock prices today? Who's gonna win this election? Or who's gonna do know, we'll know the price of gas. All that's irrelevant. Oh, yeah. Actually, it's it's super interesting you you said that because I that has been one of the things that's come up oddly came up, at least for me out of first Samuel, with Hannah, but also I think is often an issue with families and relationships is a lot of times tension and struggle

comes from unmet expectations almost always associated with timeframes. Yes. Right? Like, so so an example would be if you're a wife and you want your husband to take out the garbage and you say, hey, will you take out the garbage? And he says, yes. In that man's mind, he probably very much intends to take out the garbage. But he what he didn't say out loud was, okay. I'm gonna wait till this part of the show's over or or I'm waiting for a call from Ted. Once I get off the phone with Ted, I'll do it. Like it it is it's a yes.

But you come back in five minutes later and that garbage is still there and you're pissed. You're like, why are you sitting on your butt? You said you would take now what became one, you're ignoring me and you're dishonest. You told me you would do it and and you didn't. But the only reason that that came to reckon right then is because you had in your mind a timeframe of which something would get resolved. And if you would have waited it out an hour, he probably would have done it. His yes was meant to be a yes, and then it would have happened. So the thing you want to have happened, did it happen? Yes, I think it probably would have. The tension came

because of the expectation that wasn't met, and it had to do with the time pressure. Now relationally, the lesson is you got to talk things out. You got to say things out loud. And frankly, if one hour is just as good as five minutes, then what do you care? Then let them take it out in an hour. But if you need it done in five minutes because you got a bunch of crap that needs to go in there, you're like, hey, can you do this within the next few minutes because I got more stuff that needs to go in there? Okay. Right? But it's super

microcosm. Okay? But like a lot of the times we get frustrated with people on how they're behaving because it's how long is it going to take? Some of our hope for people on whether they meet Jesus or not, like, oh, I've been talking to this guy for months. What's months? That means nothing. Except for you thought of months. I understand why you'd be frustrated. I'd understand that you want what's best for someone, but like sometimes, like, where we end up with the anti James, where you're being tossed around with the waves,

it's because you followed a wave when it came in. You saw the second, and you jumped on it and and rode it as opposed to staying on the shore going, boy, they really go up and down, don't they? You know what I'm saying? It's just a different perspective. Yeah. Yeah. And like, it's and it's not that it's it's wrong to have any sense of time. Right. But but it is, you know, where where I lament where we get huge ups and downs into the world, it's sometimes because we're following the waves about as opposed to to, like, having a more of an eternal perspective and saying, I will not allow my hope to be stolen just because so and so was a doofus today.

Okay. I mean, I was a doofus today or now think about it. This ties into what you started with, Buva. Think you look back ten years ago, it's like, I wish I would handle some of that stuff differently. I and you just didn't have the wherewithal to do it. What if someone gave up on you ten years ago? Exactly right. Or fifteen years ago? Exactly right. Or whatever. Or my wife holy cats. I hope I'm a better husband and father today than I was when I started, but, like, luckily, my wife was also new and did not realize how poor I was. Right? But if she had the wherewithal or had a wise person to go, hey, man, I know what a good husband should look like, and that guy's not there yet. Know what saying? What if someone had given up on me because we pushed the time too tight? And so it's a hard thing because we want good things for people and we want them quickly, but impatience and lack of thinking things on a much broader, grander narrative scale

causes us to give up on people when we shouldn't, causes us to make rash decisions over too short of a timeframe. And you know, like even harsh things like terrible things that happen in relationships or like mistreatment or things like that, like again, if you're in a moment about something, it's very easy to make a decision that may not have been the same decision you made six months from now or a year from now or whatever. So it reminded me first Corinthians 13, right? The thing that everybody says at the wedding.

And I was reading it this week because we had a choose your own church adventure week at the Old House Church. And so we stayed home and I just taught something. And I went to that and one of the things that struck me about that is like we are way underselling this thing. We're we're like stupid weddings. Like, this is everybody all the time. Yes. But, like, the key the key part of it is before he even gets to explaining what love is, Paul's like, look, if I if I have all the knowledge but not love, it's it's nothing. Yep. And so I

was taken through my mind to like, what are the things where I think, yeah, this serves God well? Well, I teach, so I have all the knowledge. I'm like, crap. He even called that one out specifically. Like, this was the specific one he said not to. Right. And it's like or like if I was so you know, you're generous and, oh, Sure. Yeah. I got three quarters of my money, I just give it away, and it looks very righteous and pious. And it may be good and awesome things to do in the world. But if your heart's not right, if you don't love and care for people or kindness, and then he starts talking about things like, well, what does it mean to love somebody then? Being patient, what crap, and being kind and not seeking after your own thing and not being arrogant. And so you think about all those things and then you start chucking through your day and like, what did I consider most important in my day I got all these things to do, and immediately you should hear the voice of Jesus. He's like, you know what I care most about is how you do it. How are you approaching that? I would rather you get none of those things done today if you're gonna be an unkind doing them, if you're gonna be impatient doing them. And and this all ties to what we're talking about because as Paul rounds it up, he's like, because all that stuff will go away. You know what's you know what hit me as as part of talking through that is that like at the restoration of all things,

no one will care. They will not need me. They don't need Dan and I anymore to teach anything. It's unnecessary. You know who they don't need? Prophets. All the things that are edifying and good for the church here will be completely unnecessary in the permanent relationship with Jesus and And so even though they're important here, even though they're righteous things to do,

it still matters how you do them in love because then Paul says, what are the things that are gonna persist? Love is gonna persist. Faith, hope, love. Right? Charity, hope. But it's like above all, love. And so this was very interesting part of the conversation at my place, and I think probably part of the conversation at many places is that if you were being honest with yourself, how often do you default to caring more about what you do and not how it's being done? And are

you willing to say, I would rather not accomplish or make progress on any given thing if I was not going to do it with the right heart, with the permanent, the thing that would last, which is how I approached it and how I thought I treated people. Like, you know, did I look kindly, did I think in love lovingly about the people before I even got into it? Not just on defense going, I'm supposed to be patient today, but like, look at the person like you love them and do love them. And then those things will flow out of it. So just like so many of our relationship things

are just so time pressured and then they're coming out of trying to accomplish something. We need to be a better family. How are we supposed to do that? Well, we're gonna eat dinner together. That seems like a great thing, man. But if you're not doing it with love as your foundation, then, like, that's not really the thing. Yeah. And so anyway, it it hung it hung with me and on and nicely ties into this thing you started with. Wow, man. Oh my gosh. That's that's so cool. Like, that's seriously so cool because it's it's it's interesting to me as as I've I think about my own life and very much like you're saying, like, the kind of situations where if if people would have given up on me when I was my hardest love, like, I was my absolute hardest to love, I would not be in this room right now. Mhmm. Like, I just flat out wouldn't.

And and it's it's it's crazy because this has been so prevalent for me in youth ministry because very rarely do any of those kids remember a single thing I've said. Mhmm. Like, they just don't. They don't remember any lesson I've taught. They rarely remember anything a week later. Like, their life is I mean, they don't they just don't grasp that stuff. Right? But, like, I've had kids that I've taught years ago reach out to me just this last week, and, like, it it meant something to them that I was there,

that, like, they did not remember the proverbs that we talked about. Right? Like, they do not remember the cool thing that I taught them about Elijah. Like, they just they just remember that I was there. And that's so true for me as well. Like, same with you, Dan. Like, you were my childhood pastor. Like, I don't I don't remember a lot of the stuff that you said when I was younger, but you've always been there. And, like, that's stuck with me. Same with you, Ben. Like, and you and Mike as well has been has been the things that I've heard from you guys rarely ever hit the mark on, like, changing my life. But what they allowed for me was when I finally stopped listening to the lies of the world, and the world failed me like it completely failed me. I then had to go even logically go, well, what never did? Like, what never failed me? What never gave up? And the answer is God. But the way that he showed me that was very often through people loving me. Mhmm. Like, people loving me when I was I felt unlovable. And anytime that I would convince myself of that,

logically, I couldn't because I had to go, but why are they still here? Why are they still calling me? Why are they still allowing me in their homes? Like, why do they still show me generosity and charity in moments when I've been disrespectful or or have been fleeting and and just a a fart in the wind? I mean, just flat out truth. Yeah. So, wow. What a what an awesome thing. And as I'm as I'm walking right now into into work with with this particular group of people that that are fleeting, like, just flat out are, and stuff just it nothing sits. Nothing hits hard. Yep. And so all they might remember is the fact that like I kept showing up and it's such a beautiful reminder for me that it's

the timeline. It's the long game of like you guys would have given up if you would have set timelines onto things on me. Mhmm. But but it wasn't about the timeline. It was about the it was about the love that I was shown, and it played out in god's time. And so just wow. Just amazing. Yep. Alright. You're listening to live for the bath. Thanks for hanging out with us so far. You got any reaction on the show? Hit us up on the Live From The Path. Bob Ossier complaint line, (515) 517-0085. Call or text, and and we'd love to hear from you. Okay. I'm gonna tell I won't spend too long on this, but I I just I thought it was interesting, and maybe maybe it's something that'll help connect for for some of you guys. So

part of the reason I got on this conference business, so my old daughter wants to be a writer, and there's just not a lot of I get real itchy around Christian artist types. One, a lot of musicians, it just feels like it becomes Christian music is just a way of which they want to draw glory to themselves. I've seen it so often. It's not true for everybody. There's some great people out there doing the work of Jesus.

But not even just music, you know, a lot of So because my old son wants to be a writer, we think, Oh, how do I be a Christian writer? Well, like, I don't know.

She's like, I don't want to write devotionals and pamphlets. I'm like, I wouldn't either. Sounds like it sucks. You know? It sounds boring. It just sounds boring. And and, like, we're oversaturated with people's thoughts that are just, they believe are uniquely tinged right on top of scripture. And so, like, I totally get that about her. And, frankly, it felt a little disenfranchising to think that like is it's kinda like the thought that, hey, what will forever be like? And if you I think if you take out of context some of the stuff in Revelation that there's just a guy with a with a overhead projector that's got the words holy, holy, holy on it. And they're like, next verse, same language, holy, holy, like doing this. And you're like, I mean, yeah, because God is good, but if we're being honest, does this feel like, wow, I wanna spend my forever? Not really. And so it was kind of like that. And so I thought, and there has to be like, I know there are people who are doing this

well. And so we kind of looked around and stuff. And then, like, I think the other problem is also it's kind of difficult to find just artist communities types within Christianity. Outside of Christianity, there's just a lot of there's a wide variety of folk doing art, art and writing and these types of things.

Came up through as an English major and just a real wide diversity of thought. Not always the thought where I'd like, yeah, I just want to spend a bunch of time being formed, shaped by this type of thinking. And so there just isn't a bunch of that going on either. And so we're kind of looking around and

I remembered having our family had read through the Wingfeather saga that I mentioned earlier, and I just remember really liking them, and it's got it's got some very cool Jesus overtones to it. I I swear, man. I'm I'm easily brought to misty eyes when like from unexpected places, like you you you catch a Christian overtone. We were watching Signs last night. You've never seen Signs? Yeah. I'm not sure. And but, like, oldest

daughter caught it, she's like, like, is Mel Gibson's in it? And she's like, does he only do Jesus movies? Because he directed the Passion of the Christ. And like, Signs is not a Jesus movie, but like the theme's in there. Totally. And so anyway, I'm looking around and I remember Andrew Peterson's stuff. And so I looked around and he had created a publishing company called The Rabbit Room, and they're publishing Christian fiction.

And one of the things I think to take away from it is that it's not overt. A lot of his songs are, but, like, I it comes from the premise that, like, god spoke twice. I get to read it and hold it. He spoke the Bible is him speaking. He also spoke creation. I can look around, and this is the argument Paul was making. Like, even if you didn't have these things in front of you, God spoke and you can see it. Sure. Yeah. And so and I think about that when you're talking like, how did God speak? Well, he brings people to speak to me. Like, he's speaking.

And so I gotta be careful. You can obviously take that wrong and do bad things with it. But in generally, there's there's like, as you think about, can you be a Christian and be an artist and not have a cross in every painting? Well, of course. You're delighting in the things that God has done. Yeah, sure. And so there's a freedom in that and thinking like, well, can I write for Jesus without being a pamphleteer? Yes, yes, of course you can. And can it be children's fiction? The lead speaker at this thing was the lady who wrote, I think it's Catherine Paterson, The Bridge to Terabithia. Do you know Oh, yeah. Was this woman, funny as funny as heck. She's like 90 years old. That's amazing. And she was talking about wonder,

just like the like the how do you cultivate one. She's like, why like this why I write for kids? Kids could still have some wonder in them. Yeah. That's so cool. And there was actually one of these I I've never I don't remember this from the story, but she gave an example from Charlotte's Web. And so Charlotte's Web's, you know, like the spiders writing the words to describe the pig in And there's a scene in the book where, you know, this has happened multiple times and the lady goes up to the is talking to her doctor or something and she goes, that's just wild. It's wondrous. I can't believe all these things that are these words that are showing up the spider's web. The doctor goes, I can't believe the web at all. Like being able to look at a spider's web and go, Wow.

Like, have you stared have you thought about this? Have you stared at this thing? Because that's crazy how strong it is. It can be strung like eight feet and, like, this spider has obviously made some kind of death defying leap to connect this web at your place, and you're like and I just immediately popped in my mind how many times like my wife will go, Hey kids, hey, everybody come out. We should look at this. Like the sun looks really cool, and I'll be like, Meh. And like, look, you don't have to be like a total tree hugger here. But if God spoke these things, am I missing out on being often disconnected

from them? I think I am. I think I am. And I think the loss of wonder and being surprised by things and being just taking it, not being so Jason Bourne about the world. Like, oh, I get it. I get how it works because I do get how it works. But like, what does that have to do with anything? Yeah. So I take this is one of my takeaways from the thing as we got there. These people are hospital

just awesome. Like, you get in there. There's I usually don't like people greeting me at the door or whatever, but they're handing you stuff. Everyone got their own coffee mug with this with their logo on it, and they have, an open coffee bar, like like, great coffees, not just, like, decaf in a pump, but, like, you could order the mochas and all the stuff, and they're just, like, covering it all weekend or whatever. Do people do must do this at weddings? I had no idea. Sounds cool as crap for someone to have an open coffee bar, not just, an open liquor bar. Anyway, like, was just the whole place was cool. We got in there and, like, I'm praying, of course, as the thing is about to start. I'm praying for my oldest daughter. Like, help her to

help her to meet people that feel like like her. And that it would be a place of encouragement and that she would see you through the light of some of these things. So I'm praying for all the things that her dad would pray for. And then I got done praying, I was about to say amen, and I thought, wait a minute, maybe I'm here for a reason. And so I said, Lord, I'm here for her, and you know that, and thank you for that, that we're able to even do this. My work is flexible, we've got the money for the hotels, thank you. But like if there's something here for me, help me not miss it just because I think I'm here for her. Sure. And so that was one of the takeaways for me

was to engage in active wonder, to not Like so much of my life and all its facets are me explaining things.

Oh, I have to know how it works and so that I can help teach it to help people understand, right? And I thought that lends to it a dissection of things in such a way that I often just jump past the wonder of things and the enjoyment of the wonder of things just because I'm likely to turn around and try to explain it to a kid or vice president at something or here or at a Sunday morning. And so that was a great takeaway from everyone.

The conference itself was super cool. They had all these artist types. Know, you got 300 artist types in the room. These people can sing. You know I'm saying? This isn't a random gathering. So, you know, they're doing four part homony on songs they've never heard before. And I mean, I'm not. But but it was just it was so cool. And, like, I had not heard

almost any of the songs that they did that they did. Almost none. And I mean, I don't I wasn't, like, whistling in them later or anything, but it's like hearing I think about, like, some of the some of the hymns and some of the songs that they were singing as I think about poetry. I don't know a lot of poems. Like, I know some. Sure. But if I hear someone, like, do one, like, have written a very cool poem, I'll be like, boy, that was there's something about the moment of that expression Sure. That is often super cool.

But I probably wouldn't, like, say it over to myself five times or put it on a towel or anything. Like, it was you know, but, like, just it's it's a moment of an exchanging of words and ideas in a fresh way that hits you in something that you probably would have agreed to on a test, but it wouldn't have stirred your soul. And, like, I I just it was there was so much of that that was super cool. And, like, I'll tell you this about there's a lot of singer songwriter types at this thing. There's a reason singer songwriter types don't have hits on the radio because they use obscure references that nobody recognizes. They're like, was at the seventy six on East 22nd. I'm like, no one's been there, dude. Like and so there's an earnestness to it. There's also, like, a melody thing where, like, if you listen to all the songs on the radio and then you listen to a song some of these fellows have written, it just fades away at some point or, like, goes to a weird spot where, like, that's not super singable, but that's what makes them singers. They're just very earnest singer songwriter types. And so I was listening to all this stuff, like, there's poetry happening and hymns happening and all this kind of stuff in there. And it made me realize how much I love that stuff.

And I have not like one of things that occurred to me is I have not picked up a fiction book that I've read all the way through for probably fifteen years. And some of it is just practical. It's just practicality. Like, just don't have a lot of time for reading, and if I'm gonna read something, Daniel Hudders is like, we're in first Samuel. I'm probably reading first Samuel, and even my Bible reading doesn't much go beyond that. I'm focusing on the thing that I'm gonna teach. It was like one of the takeaways I had at the third, the final day of this thing, they had brought in a dramatic reading of a conversation between C. S. Lewis

and J. R. R. Tolkien, and it a hypothetical view of their final meeting. I don't know if you know much about those guys, but they were together at Oxford. C. S. Lewis was not a Christian, but he was in this kind of this writing group, and through the influence of Tolkien, he becomes a Christian. He's like wrestling with Jesus, and like something some example that Tolkien gave as they were out walking just like, oh, yeah. Yeah. I get that. And like he had he had walked away from the faith because his mom had died young. His dad was not very good. He had seen, like, some of the horrors of war and, like, seen his best friend, like, that he met kind of in the army or whatever get, like, blown up in front of him. He's like, I just can't there's not a god. There isn't. I can't. It's not believable.

So anyway, he comes to this through these guys, and then they're part of a troop of guys who are writing and helping, encouraging each other and stuff. And, like, you know, Lewis provided feedback on the Lord of the Rings, and Yeah. Tolkien didn't actually much care for Narnia. He thought it was shallow. And specifically, this came up in the reading, was upset that Father Christmas shows up. It's like, it's a whole another world. Why would there be a Santa Claus?

So anyway, they were great friends, and then they drifted apart and actually had pretty hard break because C. S. Lewis marries a woman named Joy. Joy is from, I think, South Africa or something like that and divorces an abusive man and has two boys and ends up in England and

they get married and Tolkien is a Catholic. So he's like, Well, this is wrong. And he wouldn't refer to her using her name. He would not acknowledge her as a spouse. And it caused a great rift between these two men. And so anyway, they had this dramatic rating. It was very cool. I've don't I'm not seeing anything like It's kind of like a play, you know? There's like a bunch of dudes in there. And like they were, you know, using highfalutin, almost British sounding academic accents and like just the words and the repartee.

It was delightful. And I thought I love this. My daughter kind of had a similar reaction. She's like, I don't you know, stories are stories, but like I just like the words. I like the words they're using. I wish I could write a whole book that had just like them people talking that way. So anyway, the whole, I would say as a whole, we take away number two for the weekend was like a continuous expansion of what it what it means to me to serve Jesus, to love him, to delight

in true and good things. And there's been part of me where I didn't intentionally go, it's not technical biblical commentary, it's not of the Lord. I did not believe that at all. Right. But what I did realize though is I did not make any time for,

again, wonder and delight and the humanity that comes through people telling stories. And it's funny because if we didn't look at it so technically, it's exactly what scripture is doing. The vast majority of things are communicated to us through stories of God's creation.

Like, yeah, you can take the back half of Exodus, parts of Leviticus, you know, like you get to some things where it's like they're not stories about people, but even Leviticus, which gets a wrap for being super lame and difficult to get through, the laws show up in between humans. Like the context of those things

are the stories of the humans, and then you're like, oh, now I understand why these new laws had to show up because of human. You know what I'm saying? So like the whole bit this is one of the things that these guys just do such a very good job of is that that I've always found risky. Like, I'm always real cautious at, like, interpretations and, like, retellings of things because I'm like, you can twist it. You can twist it so bad. And I've seen people get so off course. And it's I'm usually I can't go to a conference or people talking

without just like, my radar is up and, like, I can hardly enjoy anything. Sure. It took me about two hours there, and then it was just like, this is a safe spot, man. Like, these people loved they love the scripture. They love them. They delight in them. One of the sessions I went to was a guy talking about the theme of floods throughout scripture.

And like the reason it fit the conference, I would study that, but it fit the conference because like it's a narrative thing. Like it's like you look at how cool scripture is laid out and we do it a disservice at reading it too technically, too wooden. But again, I've always pulled back from some of those things just because someone's gone wild with it. It's the same category as people mistreating

miracles. Just because some doofus is out there going to mistreat it doesn't mean that it's not happening. It was a great encouragement to me, I think, to make sure that I'm not unintentionally walling off wonder.

Because again, if I'm approaching the creator of the universe and there's not a wonder to it, I'm missing out. And I do think one of the things where people have sometimes a hard time with their relationship with Jesus, not like willingness to be obedient or something, is like we lose a little bit of the sparkle, the things that children come like, like Jesus would say. You know what I'm saying? So that was that was the second one. And then I'll I'll wrap it up. This is this is the third one.

Everything I was hoping would be true in our experience was. And, like, her my my my daughter and I are both more introverted folk. Sure. And, like, in fact, a a lot of people are. They know they know who they're talking to here. Like, a lot of these people are gonna be introverted type of of folk, and so they were really intentional about trying to help people, you know, interact with each other and stuff. We met some super cool people, And like, I think everything that I was hoping that she would get out of it, did. And so that was exciting.

And then just one of the things that I personally walked away from in addition to the stuff we already talked about was about creating things or making things. And I thought if God is a creator and

we are made in His image and likeness, then it would be surprising if it wasn't part of our nature to create, to make things. And it doesn't mean you gotta be like a wiggler, a woodworker or something, but it's it's like the of your of your mind, of your hand, of the things that are in you becoming a thing that is external that people can otherwise see and do. And I thought, you know, those things aren't

I was just thinking about the fellows around me, and I'm not sure that we would celebrate those types of things. Like, it would almost be like, Hey, look at the shelf I made. And we're like, Okay, dude. Like I don't think most of the guys my guys like, my friends would show me because they'd be like, Why wouldn't this guy doesn't care that I made a shelf. And I was thinking about, like, few friends of mine. There's a guy who's like a cool he's a good word worker. He makes tables and stuff. And I thought, you know, I'm I'll probably check up. I see him every couple weeks. I'm like, hey. Where's your bible reading going? How's things going on with your family? But, like, I don't know, man. You're making something with your hand? Like, you let me see a table. Let me see that table you pulled together, my man. Or, like, people who take photographs or people who paint pictures or people like, I I was thinking about about my my how I spend most of my day at work. Like, I don't make things. Just

pushing information around and it's not this righteous work, guess, but is my life even set up in such a way that I have a chance to reflect the creator in me as somebody who creates things. And I actually, when I was, I can't land it tangibly, maybe you feel free to ignore, but like, it feels like we might be missing out on some experience of life

if we do not have outlets of creativity and things that you make, and it could be you make dinner. I was gonna say, yeah, that's me. It could right. And okay. But it's not but, like, and it's there's an element to it that's like like, made garbage, and I put it out on the curb. No. Not quite. That's not what I mean. I don't mean, like, what's left over. I mean, an intentional thing. And so maybe not not every dinner is this. Not every photo you take is this. Not every practical like, things you do during the day has to be this. But like, you know, I just I wonder if there's there's something about making sure that there is time

in your life to be able to do something that feels like out of out of the innards came the outards and create like our father does. And I don't know anything else more tangible to it except for it feels like that's the thing that we refer to him as is this. It can't surprise me that we are made for that and that everybody in some way or another is likely made for that in some way. And so what I realized is that like, I don't think I have any avenues of which I am actively encouraging that or even thinking about if I give most of my week to not that, do I need to be more intentional about finding space to do that? Something like that. And again, it goes in with the first thing I was talking about, which is like, oh, I made sure to take some time out to, I don't know, make a bowl or something out of my lathe if I had one. And you were like, well, I mean, aren't there plenty of other righteous, like Jesus things to do in the world? I'm like, I don't

maybe we've drawn a line too firm in places of what is or what is not following or what it looks like to follow in Jesus to delight in your creator. And again, this is coming from the heart of people and of me who's not like, I want involved in everything that Jesus is doing, and so I'm not like, I want to make a bowl. I don't want to serve the poor. It's not it at all.

But like, what life am I calling people to delight in? And like those are like that type of thing. You don't need money for that. There's people And frankly, Dan, it made me think of some Zimbabwe folk, and it made me think of some other folks that we saw in Ethiopia and places like that where you're like, where is this joy coming from? These are people who could who are like, out of nothing

are creating games to play or will draw a picture in the sand or in the dirt and bring other people like, look, look what I created over here. And then much more of their lives ends up being things like that out of poverty than the nothing that I'm doing in my excess. Yeah. And I'm like, I don't okay. Like, something seems right about that. I just don't know how I don't have a finer point to it. But anyway. Anyway, that was that was the hutch mood. I it was very, very cool. And, like, there was a vibe about halfway through last anecdote. About halfway through,

I thought this feels like like like bible project y type of stuff. Like, feels like these type of people. Like, that like, these folks would know each other. And so I looked it up, and, like, they had actually brought Tim Acky had gone in from the Bible project, and during the they had a hunchback over COVID, and, like, he had given one of the talks. I'm, well, that's super cool. It'd be awesome if they were gonna like, they'd have him as, like, the keynote speaker or something like that. Sure. We waited till Sunday to see because they were gonna announce the keynote speaker, they were gonna do that performance or whatever. And they said, we're gonna do, like, two keynote speakers. I'm like, okay. And it's the two dudes from the bible project next year. And I said, well, whiz bang. Now I gotta I don't know. I feel like I gotta go back, but the tickets are hard. I was gonna say you better produce that website the second it'll I know. I'm gonna be there clicking at midnight or whatever. There's people who are like, hey. It's been going on for, like, fifteen years, and they were they said, like, I just got back after, like, five years because we had a hard time getting getting the tickets,

and they fed you every meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and, like, it had good gluten, you know, like, tolerant type of options for people who needed it, and, like, the guy who did the cooking would show up and tell some kind of story from his childhood before every dinner, and then if you listened, you would hear he would talk about his experiences, and then foods from that story was what he was serving. That's so cool. The whole thing was super cool. I was impressed,

and it was something where, like, it just felt like a very hard mix to find is artistic people who revere scripture, who can be trusted to like tell stories the way God, like that feel like God's heart is in it and use what are artistic liberties, but they're created faithfulness,

and define those people who just it was just I I I was it was everything I was hoping that it would be. Was super super glad for you. So, anyway, I'm sorry. I know you guys are listening, and that maybe that feels a little bit like a dude sharing his vacation photos. That wasn't I was hoping not to do that, but, like, it was just it was a powerful thing. And so what the the my other encouragement is that, like, if you're not finding it in your pockets, there are people probably doing art in a way that is faithful to Jesus that may not like, don't give up. Don't give up. Because I actually like, the number of people who performed there,

I thought, I like this music. I just I just flat out do not like most of the Christian music on the radio. I don't like it. I don't like it as music. Yeah. It's noisy to me, and I feel like such an old man. Like, I'm like but it just feels like no. Like, as as I'm guessing my parents might have heard Nirvana or something. Like, you would have heard that and, like, this is just and I'm listening to it. I'm like, yeah. Yeah. Sounds like righteous to me. Is what modern Christian songs sound to me on the radio. They just sound like a wall full of noise. If you find the same tune and the guy performed it, like, acoustically, I'm probably in.

But like listening to people write everyday songs that recognize the goodness of God, but also have to raise their daughter. Those like very again, singer songwriter stuff,

I just felt like I really connected with them in a way that like felt like connected with God through those as opposed to like a prescribed worship number. So, and I'd I'd almost given up on that. I thought like, don't, I just I'll skip it. I'll just read the Psalm myself or something like that. But like I was very I'm very glad to find it and lots of literature and people who write good devotionals and all kinds of fun stuff. So anyway, it's out there. Any questions or whatever, feel free to hit the complaint line, (515) 517-0085.

Call or text. Thank you for sitting through my vacation photographs, but hopefully that's encouraging to you and so much. That's awesome, man. Thank you for sharing that. I really appreciate it all. Yep. Okay. Alright. You wanna do Let's give out some advice. Alright. Dear live from the path. My 98 year old mother has spent the last eight years in a nursing home. My siblings and I placed her there when her health declined to a point where it was no longer safe for her to live alone. Her mind is sharp, but she has a hard time getting around and caring for herself. She has made friends there and is loved by everyone who meets her. I live 65 miles away and visit her every two weeks. My brother lives several hours away and tries to see her every six to eight weeks. My sisters live closer and visit mom often. Mom enjoys these visits.

The problem is the eight grandchildren. Most of them live nearby and are either too busy or say they can't stand to visit grandma in the home. The ones who live farther away hardly ever call. My siblings and I have tried dropping subtle hints by telling them how much a visit would mean to her to no avail. My worry is that someday they'll realize the mistake they made by not visiting her while she can still carry on a meaningful conversation. Mom never complains, but she has said she'd like to see or hear more from relatives. Why is it that people always have time to go to a funeral but don't take the time to visit someone special while they're still alive?

I hope my letter convinces someone out there to find time in their busy schedule to visit a person in the nursing home. Yeah. I mean, you only have to go to the funeral once. So, I mean, that's not quite fair. Sorry. I I thought that one was gonna end in a question of advice. Apparently, that one ends in a in a hope my letter helps out. I don't know, Dan. What do you think? I I think I've ever been to a funeral where the family wasn't standing around at the the cemetery plot saying, man, we really need to find a way to get together more often. They they all everybody says it, and then no one ever does it. Yeah. So some of these are families. I've done like multiple family members and

I'm like, you haven't seen each other since the last funeral, right? Nope. You know, it's it's just people are busy. They have other priorities. Not saying it's right or wrong. I'm just saying that's just what it is. Sure. I can look at my own family and my children love their grandma, but they

don't have the connection that they do to us. You know, it's another generation removed. Yeah, right. You know, And part of that's maybe grandma wasn't as involved and part of it is they're just in different worlds. I I don't know. I it'd it'd be nice, but you can't force them there. Right. It's not it's not gonna be a good visit.

Not going to be enjoyable for either of them. Yeah, I am cautious here, I think, in I'm trying to think of the right way to say this. What is

there's not enough, to be honest. Like, you would it's hard to look at so like let's say you're the daughter. It's hard to look at your mom and go, She's there by herself and I wish

It would help she would not be there by herself often if all the various people came in and saw her. And a way to solve that is to hope that your kids are great or the other grandchildren come to do it. But I think you got to be super careful on prescribing that it is what you want for a relationship from your grandkids to their grandmother is

I'd be cautious about trying to make people feel guilty about that because, again, it's just something that would be you're trying to solve your mom's problems and you're trying to do it with your grandkids. Sure. Yeah. But like, it's I I I hate this because, like, this is our this is my time of life right here. It's like I have very little I have very little peripheral time. I just don't. Sure. You know I'm saying? And like, not because I'm busy at bowling night.

Right. I have very little peripheral time with the four children that I'm trying to raise and ways of which we are paying for them to be risen and the staff the serving the church community. Like, this is not it's not a selfish existence. And so I would not presume upon your grand these grandchildren that they're like, oh, they could just like, they're selfishly not baking it into their schedule to go visit grandma. Now here's the thing though. The reality is, is that like, I mean, I'd like my like, it's good for my kids to see their grandmother. Yeah. Yeah. And so you still should do things like that

or write their grandmother. Like there's not just one way to do this, but like it's probably gonna feel real patchy. Like, the people that you often want to do the thing are the people who are hardest to be able to get to do the thing. It's kind of the nature of, you know, you don't appreciate your family until they're gone or they're moved away or something And like so I think it is I think you should continue to I think you should encourage them. I think that's right. I think I would be very cautious about making it a guilt

thing. It is unfortunate. I think this is difficult societally. We've come into this with friends even.

So were a homeschooling family, so we had met a few other homeschooling families. And the oldest, when everybody started, like your oldest kids were four or something like that. And so they're growing up together, and this is great. Homeschooling families tend to be a little bit bigger, so you're getting four, five, six, seven kids type And of soon as you get two kids in any given family that start hitting the teenage years, like, you've got younger kids that would like to hang out and, like, you don't you're you're cabin people places to, like, all the various things that they're trying to do and teaching them how to be growing adults and and all the things. And so, like, people you used to see twice a week, you're lucky to see twice a month. And then sometimes you get to a place where you're lucky to see them twice a year. And, like, that will change. All these children will make their way past this hump of time and be able to drive all themselves places, and then you know what? These are the same families you end going on vacation with, and you could go spend a week or two, or you could beat every night or every once a once a week for bridge or whatever it is you do. You know what saying? Like, those rhythms can come back,

but, like, there's just a core part of life where it is just very difficult to do consistent things with people that you want to because everybody's lives get And real so I don't think that's a reason not to go visit grandma. I think someone they should visit grandma, but, like,

what is different for you if I'm just I was doing some rough math in my head. We said did it say grandma was, like, 80? 95. Oh, okay. She's 95. So, like, the daughter's probably 65, 75, somewhere in there. Mhmm. Right? And so the kids are probably, you know, at the youngest, you could be 40 to 50 or something for your grandkids. So some of them, it just may be hard to do it, and

it means something to you, but you can't you can't make it mean more or try to guilt it to be more for your Greg, it's just not gonna go I think Dan's right. It's not gonna go very well. I think you could encourage them, but people can also tell when you're laying it on thick. So, like, I I'll give a personal anecdote. Am very, very bad at keeping up with people. If you're not in my sphere, I just don't do a very good job of it. And so I will go months without calling like my grandpa, who's,

90, he's getting there. And it doesn't take me but five minutes to call him and I know it, and I know it. And I have the time. Can like, who doesn't have five minutes? It's a lie. You've got five minutes. But it just bounces. It'll bounce from my mind. If I don't do it, Dan talking about something earlier. Dan here, if you don't write it down, if you don't do it right away, it won't happen.

And so there's things like that where like, I just won't come back to things. And I know that it would be valuable to talk to him more often. In fact, one of my friends calls him more often than I do because he's a turd. It makes me look bad. But it's not so easy. It's just not as easy as that. Know what I'm saying? Yeah. And so I have some sympathy for

time, assuming that they're not just your children. I you know? Right. If they're just your children, then they're your children, and then that sucks. I think it's right to continue to nudge them. It's right to continue to try to remind them. But, like, here's the thing. A lot of things that you're saying, like you're going to regret x, it just never hits anybody. People don't often, like, look at their like, oh, you're right. I if you don't regret it now, you don't know what it feels like to regret it. And so someone telling you you're gonna regret it, it just takes a special kind of person to actually change their behavior based upon that. Yeah. And so I I just don't find it particularly effective. Try other ways. Sure. Okay. Alright.

Secular says, you are a caring daughter. I too hope your letter does provide a timely reminder that the time to befriend people is while they are breathing. I suspect that many avoid nursing homes and care facilities because they consider them to be depressing. However, unless the patient slash resident is so infirm that he or she can't be moved, nothing prevents a son, daughter, or grandchild from taking their relative out for a nice brunch, lunch, or dinner. The next time you visit mom, take one or more of your children along. It would lessen the responsibility of making conversation for them, and if you can take their if you can take your mother out, the change of scenery might be benefit all concerned. Yeah. I did did that does it actually does sound very selfish to me to say I'm not gonna go visit her because I don't like it in there. She lives there. Yeah. Well, if it's that bad, get her out. Yeah. Right? Yeah. I don't I like nursing homes. Creepy.

Is it? Yeah. I like it. Like, my I remember my great grandparents when I was little, we would go with them and they would he would he would preach there, and then my grandma would lead, like, songs and stuff. And, like, you you've been you get three or four people who might be able to put a clap together and then some other folks who are just not particularly responsive. Just but I think it's probably still connecting.

And I think it is a great don't like societally oh, sorry. I was we had mentioned this earlier. Societally, this is difficult because of how far

spread out we're able to be. Yeah. Right. It would be different if your grandparents lived in your house. Right. Exactly. Yes. Or in your village. That's what was thinking. Yes. They're in the upper room. Yeah. And so, like, it is it is I when I was giving that friend example, we're like, Oh man, shouldn't you be able to maintain be able to do a popular Christian thing to say is to do life together. I'm like, Life might be 20 miles away and not with the same groups of people doing the same types of things. And like, it's it's a nature of how we live. And unless you're willing to do the commune,

I like, you got you have to be a little bit gracious with yourself about what it means to do life together. It's probably not the same thing as the first century. They were living much closer together. Right. Right. And so, you know That's all there was. I mean, it wasn't That's right. Yeah. So you gotta do it. You know? I I get just be careful that we don't be like, oh, we're failing Jesus and each other because we're not breaking bread together, all the fellas, every morning before work. That would be awesome, but, like, I live, I don't know, twenty minutes from Mike, thirty five minutes from Dan, about that from BUVA. Yeah. Right. Like, I it's you're we're gonna burn an hour trying to hook it together and do some kind of, you know, break bread in the morning and pray to the Jesus. Like, we'll do it. It maybe sometimes, but we do it here. Yes. Right. So, anyway, just be be careful with it, think, is the is the thing. Alright. We want one more? Are we good? Yeah. Let's do one more. That way, Mike can weigh in. Alright. Dear,

die for the path. My wife continually dirties the floors in our home because she refuses to stop wearing shoes in the house. She'll be out all day at work, running errands, etcetera, and then come home and keep her same shoes on. She's even done yard work and then come inside wearing those same shoes, exclamation point. Where is he? It's a family trait for her. Her mother does the same thing in her house. We recently visited her aunt and uncle, both of whom were wearing outdoor shoes indoors. How do I convince my wife that our house is dirty specifically because of this?

Oh, wow. Has there has these other people you've met have has their life come to ruin as well? Or, like, is it obvious that the whole world is falling apart given this is on that part. This person is just very upset and used exclamation points across the board. I hate going to people's house where you gotta take your shoes off. Yeah. Does it seem pretentious? Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I don't like to put my shoes back run back here? I was like, yeah. I don't I don't like to go in their place. Take off my shoes. I don't I mean, I guess I can respect it or, like, people have nice carpet or something, but, like, it's the worst. Is it because you wear boots and they're hard to get on and off? No. They're slip on boots, but, overall, I just don't like to take my shoes off. What if I I I don't like to put that much thought into my socks. It's a sock problem. Well, kind of. I mean, I'm at at my age, I mostly have socks that match, but sometimes

I don't. And I just wanna roll in. That's crazy. I only I only own one type of sock. I like What? Yeah. That way I don't have to ever match them up. I go by, like, I purge them every six to, I don't know, twelve months or so or twelve yeah. Twelve months or so, and I just rebuy 12 pairs of the same sock. And that way, whatever I pull out, match. I don't think that you are a a person that lies. However, it really felt like you were trying to search for the right amount of months for us to not judge you on your sock refresh. I don't remember. I do it every six I mean, I do it every about twelve twelve months or so. Yeah. Two months. Three months. I am kinda I don't think you're lying. I'm telling you. That was presented felt really like, oh, crap. I It's a half story because I do I sometimes I do have, like, tall tall boys and shorties. Yeah. Those are the same. I said shorties.

Because I I I don't look like a real I have I wear dark black socks, and so I don't wanna wear knee highs on my shorts when I'm out running or something. Oh, boy. I look like a real bowling next year. I've been I've done the same thing in in the last few years. All of sudden, like, I now I do it, like, on Amazon. That way I can see what I ordered last, then just ordered again. Because I used to try to do it, I'd go to the store and I'm like, I don't really don't like, I don't there's a stripe somewhere or something or on a toe. I don't know. And they'd always mismatch, like, I did it wrong. And it's been like yeah. I I What a life hack. Speaking of that lamentation of my previous lives. Yeah. There was a point in my life that I I honestly thought that the pinnacle of luxury was never wearing the same pair of socks twice. Oh. And so I would buy socks. I would wear them once, and then I would donate them and go buy new socks. Oh, wow. And now let me tell you, I did not have the money to be doing that. Yeah. I never heard of such a thing. But I did. Yeah. How dumb is that? I don't know. I bet it felt real good, though. It was great. Fresh pair of socks. Great every single time. Never putting a pair of socks on again? Yeah. Oh, boy. Now I now I try and follow Jesus. Yeah. Okay. I so okay. So where can you sympathize with this man? It seems like he might be the one cleaning,

and so that sucks. Like, if you're, like, constantly seeing dirt on the floor and having to clean it up every time she walks around. Now I'm not saying that's not a him problem that he probably just needs to be like, I mean, I'll do that once a week, and I'll take away most of my pains here. I'm just gonna I'm just gonna here's a quick quick story. I've been a a mechanic, a diesel mechanic, a a construction worker. I worked at a tire factory, and I also did quite a bit of work at some underground mines. The type of level of mess that I bring in a house

is not even paralleled to whatever this woman is doing. Yeah. But if the wearing outdoor shoes inside that she is doing is coming in after doing yard work. Like, you're still walking on top of the grass. It's not like you're filling your shoe with the grass and then dumping it out in there. Like, it's just most of it falls off on your way up to step or on the porch. And, like, there might be a clump or two or some kind of unless you stepped in dog poop, that's the worst that can happen. But overall, whatever out and about mess he's insinuating that this woman is making, I'm having a hard time believing that it is that big of a deal. Like, add like, even even visually noticeable, really. I think he's just like I think he's a clean a clean freak kinda dude, and he's like, you brought in outside mess in here, and that kinda sucks because I got this plate. You could eat off the floor. Well, I mean, you could still eat off the floor, really. It's

just can't imagine. Lower your standards. Yeah. I just feel like she's not bringing in this big of a mess. This sounds like a completely him problem. Now if she was gonna be generous to him, she'd probably take her shoes off. Right? Right. If my wife preferred that no one wore shoes in the house, I would begrudgingly do it. If someone else's house that I go to, you don't wanna wear shoes in the house, then I to their face, I'm happy to do it. But overall, I'm still irritated by it because, like, it just is I don't like taking my shoes off. But, like, I I'm just saying that this dude obviously is bent in a way that I think he's way overreacting when it comes to reasonable Mhmm. You know, attempt about the shoes. Yeah. That's probably fair.

It's not like they ask you to, like here's the thing. It's like I've I've worn my under britches in a house before, and no one has said anything about it. What? What? What? What kind of story is you mean? I would hope You've worn your under bridges in your house. Well, you walk into someone's place wearing only underpants?

Yeah. What? Yeah. And it went completely unnoticed because they were more like shorts. You know I'm saying? They were like shorts under bridges. Yeah. Yeah. I'm pretty sure they just didn't wanna say it out loud. Yeah. Yeah. I think that guy's I think they noticed. Wearing his under bridges. I don't understand who I've surrounded myself by. Sometimes I think this is a good choice that I've done for the past fifteen years coming up here. And then sometimes I hear, yeah, I've exclusively worn under bridges into somebody's house, and they didn't even take notice. You're saying my pants weird. My pants were super dirty, and it was either, like, going their place in my under bridges or try to wear these super dirty pants. So I thought, well, this seems like a better plan. Alright. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So the advice is to okay. Do well, you're gonna have to chill out for one. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Chill out a little bit. Get a Roomba. Yeah. I think getting a Roomba is a great idea. Yeah. Hey. I I I sweep this floor all the time. And this sucks. We should stop. Robot. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. If you if you cannot compromise to not sweep it but once a week, get a freaking Roomba. Now once a week, I I mean, there's no way. I think it's gotta be a mop situation. Like, the dude that I'm just telling you, like, I can walk in my house after a regular days of work, and you can't visually see that I've left anything in my house on the floors. Yeah. So he has to be worried about it on a a microbial level. Yeah. He's a Lysol dude. Okay. They do make a Roomba mop. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. I saw that in the Costco catalog today, and I tried my wife is generally not on board for this type of thing, but I think she might have I know it really. It's got one. Problem is you have to refresh the water. So you either gotta hard pipe some water in there, and then either you gotta dump it out, or you gotta hook it up to some plumbing so it basically, like, flushes itself. Oh, it'll, like, it'll, like, drop it in a drain? Any fellas used a bidet

No. In Japan. That's a yes, Dan. Ben? No. I just mean under the most ridiculous of circumstances. I tried to use it in Japan. I was at the the Nagoya Airport. Yeah. And I tried to give it a squirt fresh, and I it wasn't working, I or don't know how to use it. But you shouldn't ever said those words. Wasn't working. Like, you just waited, and you're like Yeah. Wait. Did you have the one that had, like, 58 buttons on it? Yeah. Yeah. Was a it's complicated. I I I I thought I was hitting it to give me a spritz, and then Right. It did nothing happened. Song? Sorry. Wow. Why do you ask? I don't wanna know. Okay. You think about getting one?

I mean, they make some. I was looking at the prices of just the seat or, getting a whole, you know, whole rig, but I wasn't willing to go in full bore on the rig. Hey. You know what'd be awkward is when you buy a bidet at your place and then suddenly people certain people start coming over more often, and you figure out that they're just there to use your bidet. Gross. Yeah. I would it would you would think about them differently. Also, like, the hot water at my house takes, you know, good Takes a bit. Thirty seconds to get up and rolling. Thirty seconds. Would I think I would end up paying for the electricity to heat the water, and then I would still be getting a cold cold show. Yeah. You gotta gotta do a tankless water if you're gonna do a bidet up the caboose. Yeah. I mean I have a tank. I want cold waters. Yeah. Yeah. It just doesn't sound good. Yeah. I mean, that's not luxury at all. That feels feels like the opposite. It's Poseidon's kiss, baby. Yeah. Is it the same? It's like Abu Ghraib in there. It's like a half enema.

Right. How much can you turn this thing up to? Did we close that? Is Abu Ghraib still open? Pretty sure it's closed. They're gonna tell you if it is. That's true. That's not something they'd be like, what? We just opened it. It's closed. Wink. Thought it was closed, but we got an order for 30 cold bidets. We knew what was happening. Alright.

Segular says, oh gosh. According to the August 2024 issue of consumer reports, half of household dust is tracked or carried into homes from outside. The soles of our shoes can also carry viruses as well. A minute. Hold on a They can't be pests. Why isn't all of it? Like, what doesn't all dirt come from outside? No. It comes from your dead skin follicles. It's not dirt. I mean, it's pretty much the same. Too bad. All dust comes from outside. No. Dust is a dead skin. Dead skin. Yeah. That's true. Dirt is not dead skin. Now when they clean out that by the way, it's a sham. People cleaning out your ductwork.

That's not a real service. Really? Yeah. What do mean? What's coming out? Suck stuff out of there. It's a gypsy wagon. They bring the problem and the solution in the same van, and they oh, you're lying on them to prove that they did their job. Oh, no. I have a I bought a I bought a camera from the TMOO on a on an extendo thing. It was, like, 500 foot of cord in there. I can look at my own ducks. Yeah. You wanna borrow a boo? The soles of our shoes can also carry virus You could use it to see how well the bidet is. Okay, booby. You can't borrow anymore.

Never never mind. It's a personal camera. If they sold it as a bidet inspection camera, I would say no. Thank you. Oh, man. The soles of our shoes can also carry viruses as well as other unhealthy and unpleasant substances. Instituting an indoor slash outdoor policy might help to keep your house cleaner, but the habits of a life excuse me, house cleaner, but the habits of a lifetime are hard to break, and your wife may have trouble changing. A workable compromise might be to have a doormat outside for scraping dust and debris off shoes. Suggest it to her as a possible solution. Oh, yeah. Yes, secular, because we're having all of these marital issues issues, and I haven't once thought, you know, a doormat might work. Gonna ask about that. Like, isn't that the common solution? Right. Freaking mad at the door. Have a door. She blows right past that doormat. That don't mean Right. She's walking in the house with lawn clippings and viruses. I just I think you've been overreacting. Oh, way overreacting. I don't know, man. My my wife sweeps the floor in our house, like, three or four times a day in disgust. In disgust. Never do that.

I wait till it accumulates into the corner, it's visibly noticeable. And then I go, we should do something about this. Yeah. Hey, man. I was shamed recently because I dusted my my ceiling fan our living room. Yeah. And I'm the closest to it. Like, I'm I'm the one who's constantly up there. Yeah. And I've I have not done it once in a year and a half, and it was rough. Well, I don't think anybody does that really. No. But I see it. Like, I'm ignoring it. Oh. You really just have to let it like, if you're gonna clean the ceiling fan, there's like, if you're gonna try to set up some kinda apparatus to catch the dust, I think you're a fool. I think you either go after it with a vacuum attachment at best, but it's still you're still gonna get some on the bed, the floor, where whatever's underneath the fan. Yes. Agreed. What doesn't make any sense to me is this is some professional dust. Right? Because almost all the other dust, if a good breeze come by, it fall off. But the this dust collects. Is living on the breeze machine. Right. It's yeah. Yeah. A reef. Yes. It's some kind of weird coral reef. It's there. Yeah. That's true. Oh my gosh. It's there because it wants to be there. It rides the rails. Yeah. It's real gross if you if you, like, clean off your fan, and then the fan works better. Like, that's how you know that that you had an accumulation. I mean You're disgusting. Agreed. That's that's gross. No. I'm making an argument for this. You don't have to. I'm disgusting. Thank you. I mean, just know that you took out the seal team of dust. Like, all the other dust is just living its regular life. Seal team dust? And this dust is I mean, it survives. That fan be running all night Yeah. Or all day. I mean, it's just sitting there whirring around, just shaking and bopping, and this dust is holding on for dear life. Creating some stalactite of dust. It's great at its job. Professional dust. Yeah. Alright. You're listening to Life From The Path. Thanks for hanging out with us. We very much appreciate it. If got any feedback on the show, hit us on the Life From The Path. Bob Eisenhower complaint line. (515) 517-0085. Call or text. We'd love to hear from you. In the meantime, be faithful. It means god will handle the end. You've been listening to Live From The Path.