Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the Path.

And you're listening to live from the Path coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston Prepper. It is it's good to be with you on this fine Monday post super what is it? What do you remember what the number the Super Bowl was? Know. See. 60? 60? Yeah. That's a good post. Remember. Super Bowl sixty.

Yeah. Anyway, like, I don't know how you're feeling about the about the game, but we were gonna here's what we're gonna do. We're we're gonna let you off easy here. There's just been a wild set of reactions to this halftime show with Bad Bunny and and Bob Ritchie. And so we're gonna talk about that, and

I might prescribe that if the mention of the Super Bowl halftime show got you just a little bit jazzed up, like you're ready to share your opinion, it may be a good indication that your opinion is is not fully baked. No. And you should you should take a breath or two. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because I I I mean, I don't wanna give away the farm here, but if you're not looking at this whole situation

where you've got what what you can weigh is like, well, some pros and some cons and some nuance here and recognize the risk in not recognizing that, then, yeah, you you probably should have kept your mouth shut. And today's also a good day for that. You just hold tight on that, friend. And then we'll do some advice on dear life from the path, and we're gonna cut you loose. That's the that's the plot for the day. You do you feel like people are upset because like like,

just to frame the discussion. Yep. Viewing the Super Bowl and the halftime show is completely optional. It's not no. It's not required of you to do it. But it's like watching a sitcom that you really loved and then in season three, they like kill off the main character and and now the new main character is like the the supporting character that you really hated. And you're like, oh, I really love this. It was so great. And now you've screwed me and now I'm super mad because of the thing that you've done. Yeah. And this seems to be the reaction to the halftime show every year by 50% of the population. Doesn't matter what they do. They could bring Aerosmith in there and they're like, Boo, Aerosmith sucks. Don't we have any good artists? And they're like, Well, we could bring in this guy. They're like, Well, all he does is talk about dirty stuff. And then we bring into the next year, we're like, That guy's too squeaky clean. He's got no hits. You know what I'm saying? They're like, it doesn't matter who they bring in there. It's a

lose lose, no matter what they do. So this year they bring in the bad buddy. Yeah. I'm gonna reveal something that this will be a big surprise to you. I have zero idea who this man is. I have not heard any of his tunes. I don't know what he's about in the I know he wears big Jeffrey Dahmer glasses. That's what of the of the pictures on the net that I kinda saw of him. He's real big on these giant frame glasses that take up his whole face Yeah. Which I find hilarious because when Ben Franklin invented the glasses, which we know he did, they were super small and demure.

And then here we are a couple hundred years later, we're like, what's the biggest amount of glasses I could put on my face that takes up my entire face? Hey, that's true. Like, when we were growing up, if you had giant, like, Coke bottle glasses, like, that was for for garish and poor people. Yeah. And now for some You couldn't afford demure glasses, so you're like, just get rid of plastic ones with the Giganto lenses. Yeah. And for some reason, like, the apartment look is back. Yeah. The most biggest glasses you can fit on your face. If this could run halfway to my forehead down past my cheeks, that is the level of lens I want. Yeah. So, anyway, he's big. I'm I'm not even I don't even know if they're prescription. They could be stylish glasses only. Yeah. But either way, they choose the bad bunny. So the bad bunny apparently runs afoul of conservative politics,

unknown to me. Right? So in response and due to some foreseen or at least perceived rise of right wing, whatever entertainment,

then the turning point decides that they're gonna put on an alternative halftime show. Yeah. To agree with Ben, it's a bold move. No one I don't like, I think what have what have people done in the past that has been like counter to the halftime show? People have tried something similar before Did they? But not a full on show. Right? But they have offered like, I think when it was on CBS, NBC did something. I can't remember what it was, but someone has tried this before. Yeah. To not a ton of success. When did they do the, like, the the the annual president

interview? Is that on a different channel? I always thought that was part of a Super Bowl thing. I think it was wasn't it after? Don't they do after? I've never watched it. I've never I've never watched a halftime. I mean, I honestly like, that's the funny thing about this is, like, I can go back years and years and years and years of all the Super Bowls I've watched. I wouldn't even know what the Super Bowl halftime show was if people weren't talking about, like, oh, did you see that? Her boob was sticking out. I'm like, I

was out getting that's when I got my Doritos. I mean Yeah. Yeah. You know? Because the commercial said you needed Doritos. I said, you're right. Sir, you've nailed me. You got me right Yeah. Heart. Yeah. So it's I have a hard time I have an intelligent conversation about this because I I just don't even

for this this year's, we we, as a as a proper Jesus loving church, we we did the turning point thing. Right? Yeah. And and, like, I watched a couple of minutes of it, and I was like, okay. And then I ran down to my office, I did a bunch of stuff. And then I came back and said, oh, the game's back on. I just didn't care. I don't care. I don't care.

Yeah. Okay. So I think there's a couple narratives in there that I think we gotta be real cautious about. And and this is this is the it's not gonna be a surprise to you because this is a bit of a theme that I think we've hit on

probably pretty consistently over the last four to six years, if not prior to that point, which is like there are some beliefs that you have about your about politics, about your country, about Jesus. And sometimes,

all those things will be sharing the same lane at the same time. And then sometimes, they will not be sharing the same lane at the same time. And it is the and it like, you stick into the Jesus lane. And so to the extent that whatever your political, cultural,

or country beliefs align with the Jesus lane, then you're like, yes. Yes. I'm for this. Out of you're like, this is convenient. Yes. Right? That's the main thing is you're like, if the if the Jesus thing and your political thing or the Jesus thing and the cultural thing happen to be at the same place at the same time, you get to think to yourself, well, this is nice. At least I don't have to fight something today. Yes. So the risk though is, is that like once you start treating those things

at any time, like they are the same lane, you're being played like a fiddle and not by Jesus. Right. Jesus doesn't have to do anything. He's already done all the things. And so, what they're trying to do at times is to borrow the Jesus lane and act like you still in it when you followed something outside of it.

And like, it doesn't mean that I don't get like, I don't really care actually on the cultural or the other things. Like, you can kind of think what you want to think as long as it's not like causing a problem in the Jesus lane. But it's a different issue is if you do not know the difference. And I would say a lot of the reactions I saw to the Super Bowl situation were reflective of not knowing the difference between those three things. Dan, you were saying? Well, I I was just saying most

pop music is not a friend of Jesus anyway. Right. So it doesn't matter who who they bring in. Yeah. I mean, who are they gonna bring in in the secular world and that that the Christian would look at and say, this is fantastic. Right. I mean, if you're really if you're listening to the lyrics Yes. Right. Whether they're showing anything or doing anything, whatever, the lyrics are are are bad enough. Yeah. You know? So and that's probably why I've never really cared about the the the halftime show. I'm like, I got other things I can concern myself with and and do something else. Yeah. Because the truth of the matter is, like, let's say that they had an alternative halftime show that they're like, it's worship music. I was always gonna watch that. Right? Like, just like on a regular Friday night, if there's a if there's a worship worship get together in town versus the strip club, I was always gonna go to the worship thing. Right. Yeah. Know I'm saying? It's never like and so, like, it's it's it's way more of a capitalistic move

in what the programming people are organizing. And it's like, it's not whether I would like stand outside my house and go, I cannot believe there's not a worship thing going on Friday night, just because there wasn't one. I would go, Oh, well, if there was one, I'd attend. But since there's not, I'll do other Jesus stuff. You know what I'm saying? And so like, it's it's just so it seems so weird because it's out of convenience and comfortability that you want all these things packaged together for you. Yeah. And when the world doesn't offer it, then you act offended or even surprised. The surprise part is what gets me. The fact that you thought, I can't believe this is this is what they've done. Really? This is all they do. This is all they do. Yeah. Like, you're like, the like, the mistake here is that you're acting like the difference between Bad Bunny and Bob Richie is the difference between butts and beatitudes.

And, like, that's not what it is. Like, you've you've made you've made the scenario way too simple in this situation. If we don't have a game by the end of the year called butts or beatitudes, I quit this show. I quit.

So so, like, so if we if we think about it, some of the reactions and they're like, hey, man. Well, first of all, think about if you're the NFL, this man, I I grant no one in the in the room listens to him. I also did not hear any songs by him. There were a couple songs, like I watched the the the bad bunny halftime show or listened to it, I guess. And there were a couple songs that happened. I'm like, hey. I actually recognize it. It turns out it wasn't his song either. And so I apparently know zero of this man's material, which I think it's generally not it's not sanctifying. And so I stay away from it, and that's perfectly fine. It did have some sweet beats though. Oh, yeah. Like the music was catchy. So Okay. So this is this is, I guess, where I like one of the places I wanted to hone in on. Like, if you're you can have a preference that goes, look, man, I prefer to listen to music where I understand the lyrics. Yeah. I get that.

Now we have increasing populations within The United States and frankly, globally, the NFL is not only an American institution. They've been posturing as you've noticed, there's been games on Saturdays because they're doing games in London and they're doing games in Brazil. Right? And so like, this is a business

move. They picked a dude who's got songs that have like, are running the top of the Spotify charts internationally on multiple occasions. It totally makes sense from a business perspective. We have potential people who will listen to us. Now I want you to think about it as you as a person. You as a person who wants to share the gospel with people and says, care whether they meet Jesus. The NFL sees that, hey, man. The world is like the the Spanish speaking world is listening. I also will add the man's Puerto Rican. It's American territory. I guess it's not he's not anti American. Now he doesn't agree with your politics. I don't think he agrees with mine. But, like, it it doesn't mean he's not he's not an American. Right. And that there aren't Americans who speak Spanish. And so I get it if you're like, they should speak English. That is really focused on you. I actually thought whatever the NFL is seeing, are we seeing it?

Do we have some places? I know Dan and I talked about this and I know there's churches that do it, but like how many church buildings are sitting with some space and some time available where like are there some Hispanic churches or like Hmong churches or like other nationalities or language churches who need a place to meet? Well, we've just got space sitting here just because the whities had money.

It's just like Butts are beatitudes. I guess the point is that like I thought, hey man, if this is where

they think that the thing is going, I don't know, are there gospel opportunities here? And will those same folks who go, Oh good, someone who speaks my language. To Mike's point, they should have just put some subtitles on but probably didn't because the language is probably a vulgar. Yeah, was probably filth. Yeah, Whatever. But like, I offended because they did something that wasn't English? No. I'm not offended by that. I might think, I mean, that doesn't appeal to me. And so if I'm your consumer NFL, you missed the mark, but I prob I wasn't. And to the to Mike's earlier point, like,

how are you possibly gonna find someone that everyone agrees on? Like, at the death of Michael Jackson, and you can't have Paul McCartney on every year. You're out of people. Yeah. Yeah. There just aren't this many palatable people out there who don't have like something about their music where someone's like, I don't care about that. I just Yeah. And and frankly, it's been butts for the last decade. Like, every halftime show Everybody in this halftime show was pretty much clothed. Yeah. I mean I mean There was a lot of pointing of butt. Like, I I was watching.

I'm watching the show. I'm like, hey. This is okay. Like, I I don't know the beat's fine. I don't recognize the tunes. And all and then all of a sudden, there's just this cadre of dancing ladies, and I go, ah, here come the butts. You know? And sure enough, there they were. There was some electrical infrastructure that I'm like, oh, look at that. I happen to like electricity. I actually thought like I thought the choreography was pretty cool outside of the budget. I thought like I think it was colorful. Like, I was it was put on like a theater production. I think it would have sucked if you were at the Super Bowl and you paid for a seat because like you really at home got the really cool view. Yeah. Oh yeah. But whatever, you know? Like, would there just choices? I don't care.

And so but if that's the thing you're hot about, I just, would be real cautious if you've blended like what it means to love Jesus or even love America and then be really hosed off because someone did not produce a show that was in your language. Now, as a nation, we're like, we have choices. I did. I think it was really bold for anybody to produce any counter programming and I have zero problem with you going to watch it. I think that's perfectly fine. Vote with your dollars, vote with your time. That's the choice of America. I think it's cool. Once you made a moral thing out of it, I think you run a real risk unnecessarily. And like you also then the bucket of stuff over at the TP USA event, again, some of that stuff converges in the Jesus Lane every once in a while. But like, I mean, a lot of the material over there was like, it was very lifting up of Southern culture. Right? Hey, we like

we we drinking. We like to drink. And sometimes we drink and drive. I got a text from somebody about the the TP USA talking about how disappointed they were because, like, I'm trying to find it now. Like, all the the immorality and stuff that was being sung about in the lyrics of of of them, and they're like, I thought it was gonna be a Jesus thing. It's like It wasn't a that's the point. It was an America thing. Yes. Is It is not a Jesus thing. Is it Yes. Yeah. And I'm not and actually, I think it's actually framed wrong. It's not even an America thing. Like, that's also the wrong way to say. I know that's what they called it. Right. Right. Now if you wanna go, look, by choices and demographics,

most people there's gonna be a group of people who are not gonna enjoy Bad Bunny at all and they're gonna be inspired by listening to Kid Rock and the Charlie Kirk message and some of these the country owners that were beforehand. Bless it. I hope it goes great. I am glad to hear. Regardless, I have no ability to judge the sincerity or how much it meant to Kid Rock Bob Ritchie that he said there's your bible is dusty. There's plenty of people whose Bible is not dusty who don't love and serve Jesus. Like, it's not even the right entry point for me. But like, is it a gospel message? And did he say it on national TV? And maybe it encouraged some people. Sure. I think that's great. I have no reason to have a problem with that or pick at it. I just, I think the framing of it was a mistake. Like if as a person who follows Jesus, I don't care how it was marketed to you. I just want to make sure that like you don't misinterpret

what is like, I'm not even sure it's an America event. It's like a conservative ish values belief not you event. Yeah. Okay. Fine. Yeah. Which is cool. Yeah. Yeah. We did it. I was saying, we watched it. Yes. Here here's the text I got that he he was wondering how many churches played

played the show, and and they didn't realize there'd be songs about drinking and strippers and promiscuity and then playing it at their church. I thought, wow. That that street just assumed well, it's, you know, Kirk, so it must be it's all gonna be Jesus stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And and I yeah. And it wasn't. That wasn't necessarily what they were trying to do. See what Rhett Walker said? It was super interesting. Like like, they they were broadcasting, you know, kid rock on TBN,

and Rhett Walker got on on Facebook or something, he's like, when I played on TBN, they made me remove my hat out of reverence for being playing on TBN. Yeah. He goes, but Kid Rock gets to go on here and talk about drinking and prostitutes,

and we're just fine with this. And I'm like, yeah. Yeah. A good point. See, I missed all that. So I go out because I was at my office actually doing Jesus stuff. Right. Yeah. And so, like, I I mean, here's the point. I I don't no one said, hey. I'm putting together a worship service, and so I don't have that expectation out of it. Yeah. It is wrong to treat like one was a worship service and one was not. Hey.

Next year, life in the path, let's do a worship service during halftime. We could produce it. We should see four frags available. Mean, it's like Walker could be there. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. I I say we do it. We should be kind of We got a year to prepare. Dude, what if this spawns, like, a bunch of ideas where, like, everyone's doing the road on 32 halftime show? It's actually I did think that that, like, again, once you gave the like you thought it's a it's a Leviathan. We're outside the box now. Yeah. Now we know and it's it's gonna do what cable TV did. Now you got 75 options and you're not gonna be able to know what to choose and watch.

And what whatever. Honestly, this is my biggest pet peeve with the Super Bowl in general is we act like it's like it is the most viewed thing. And so everybody and their grandma gets involved and they try to pack so much slop in there. Yeah. Like, were so many mentions of even even the language they were using when introducing, like, the Super Bowl in general. They're like, this marks this momentous occasion of blah blah blah of America's two hundred and fifty years of blah blah blah. I'm like, what are you even talking about right now? This is a football game. Right? You're like two hundred fifty years of America being America. And I'm like, no one cares about this right now. No one cares about your bloviated, like, speeches. Like, just fire up the tunes. Why are we doing so many been talking about the game. Yeah. That's the thing. It's like we It's like nobody Every Super Bowl we do like, we used to just do the Star Spangled Banner, and now it's America the Beautiful and the Star Spangled Banner. And then you're like, yeah, we gotta have this obligatory shot of some planes flying over. We're like, why though? Why are you doing all this? There's like Super Bowl champions from fifteen years ago awkwardly standing in front of Green Day, and you're like, what are you guys doing out on this stage? Green Day is out there pumping out the tunes.

And then all of a sudden come like six masters jacket wearing old dudes, and they just stand on the stage. They're like, join us on the stage with these six Super Bowl greats. I'm like, what are they doing out here? You know? A special coin. Like, these these kids from the boys and girls club are out there, and you're like, what is happening right now? Why is everybody out here? There's just too many people. There's just so much that's the thing is it's there's so much pomp. And like, I think there's a there's it's okay having a reverence for things and honoring things. Like, I don't wanna say that you never wanna do that, but almost all of it is just straight pomp with zero like, nothing to hold it up. The game sucked, by the way. You know what I'm saying? It wasn't even a good game. Yeah. And so, like, it had this big, big pump, and there's just graphics, and there's millions of dollars poured into. People were like, hey. If people could only see us represented at the Super Bowl for, like, three microseconds,

we're gonna move 20 more units. And I'm like, I don't think that's how that works. You know, you're you're describing the mega church Christmas extravaganza right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's every year has gotta be bigger, and you're adding all these to oh, we we got elephants. And I'm like, What? Do you have Jesus in I there was like The elephant got them. I don't know. It just makes me wonder if you just took the tools that Jesus gave the disciples in

in thirty four AD, like, here's what you get. You get the Holy Spirit and a set of cojones, and you go out. Yeah. Like, if you just took those tools and you took every bit of comfort and like human level arrogance. There's no marketing plan. You got no budget. You're just gonna go out and preach the gospel.

Maybe it it would be not as effective, but something to me thinks it would be 10 times as effective. Yeah. Like it would just do all the work it needed to without all this. It's just noise. All of it is noise and signal and mess.

And it's so irritating. Yeah. You know what? Actually, having worked in in corporate America for most of my adult life, I

it's interesting to think about the that is often the disconnect between what people think, what the what higher up folk think that people want and often put into place and have no particular way to tell whether anybody cared. You know I'm saying? They're like, oh, I think it would be nice to kind of tack on this song. And that's like, the only way you know is when someone's offended. Right? And so you they like, oh, we used to have one song and somebody comes up with the idea. They're like, oh, let's do three songs before the Super Bowl. Most people are like, like, just want this to end. But what are they what are they gonna call you? Yeah. They're gonna dial up your office and go, hey. I didn't care for that second song there. Like, the like, it's your your

the the measure is like selective celebration to whatever group you, you know, parry to and then cultural and then broad outrage. These are the only two reactions you're getting. What you can't measure is ambivalence. Yeah.

Very easy, which allows people to just dump crap in. And so I I say that because I think Dan's like a Christmas extravaganza example is a good one. Or even just how you think about your churches. Like like, I don't know. There was a clip going around a couple months ago about the pastor coming in on the roller coaster. Yeah. You guys see that guy? And you're like And, like, multiple churches had this airbag up doing roller coasters. Yeah. Like, what are we Really lame. Like, oh, we're having a great time. He's like, no. You're going in slow motion and you look stupid. It was so dumb. So dumb. And but here's the thing. Everybody around this dude is gonna be like, yeah, that was kinda they're like, well, the coaster was neat, but, like, did it connect you to Jesus? Of course not. And, like, most people who didn't care, like, you spent time and money and people's people's time putting this thing together. And like, if could I think about the return, the rate of return on my effort on this thing, it wasn't good except for a bunch of crappy social media clips of people who never attend your church and will probably use it to mock Jesus. And so like,

just stop that. Just stop it. And I'm like, I'm sure whatever line is about how much like pump and stuff you put in is gonna be more richer than mine. I'm a pretty bare bones fella. And I actually don't care about that. But there is a there's a cat like, where's your line friend? Where's the point where you go, you know what? This is for me. And I'm just creating noise and I don't really care. I think like, I mean, at the end of the day, like all of it is just too much. All of it. Yeah. Right? Like, I I can't tell you how I get how I get super excited when someone puts out an acoustic album. I'm like, yes. Yep. That's what I want. Or they're like, we're gonna do like acoustic worship tonight. I'm like, yes. This is gonna be great. You know? Because like somewhere along the line with the with the mass amount somebody was talking about this at at work when they were referencing AI slop. Right? Like your ability to create like a three page document where you had like one idea.

And it it just just bolstered this thing out into three pages of nothing. And and like a lot of that's true for the entertainment industry too. And I actually, I throw the Super Bowl in there as well. It's like somewhere along the line, the onus left the creator and then it got put on the on the person that was taking it in, on the person that was supposed to be entertained. Now it's my job to sort through all this crap. Where normally a creator would go, like, I'm creating this thing for you, you know, or I like this is the integrity of the product I'm making or the art that I'm doing. Like, all the onus was on the artist. And now it's on the interpreter because there's so much coming at you all the time that you have to start making quick hits on what you wanna take in. Like, who's the gal that sang America the Beautiful? Belinda Carlisle? Yeah. They like, she got a lovely voice. Yeah. She did a great job. I don't care. I don't care about America the Beautiful. Like, that song could not be played, and I would never go, oh, man. What happened to America the Beautiful? Here. I don't win a football game. Like, I I know Charlie Charlie, whoever did the did the start spanking banner. The dude was lip syncing for sure. Like, it's it's super easy to tell. And, like, I I was slightly let down. I'm like, this is the main gig. Like, you gotta come out singing this whole thing. Yeah. And like but there's there's just so like, people I felt bad, like, because I thought of this when they had these three kids out there from the boys and girls club representing,

like, inner city, like, children's programs in San Francisco. One, don't I live in San Francisco. Two, I don't remember met I don't have met these kids. I don't even heard of most of these organizations. And I'm like, what are they doing on this on the field? Do know what I'm saying? Like, it just seems like a weird emotional pull at the Super Bowl that and they're gonna, like, watch the coin toss. I'm like, what why? Can't you like invite them to the, like the NFL player's house, let them swim in your pool. You know what I'm saying? Or like give them money so they can actually help their situation. But we're like, let's put them on national TV to make it look like we care about these organizations all the time. And I'm like, I hate all this. All this feels like such a cheap rendition of real things. Okay. Two takeaways. One, the hashtag coming out of here is Mike hates the boys and girls club. Yeah. You know what? It's gonna come up from I'm gonna I'm gonna deserve that. I don't mean that, but it's gonna come out that way. But the second reaction is is that like, you know what's funny? Is you get you get people like who bring let's say, oh, we think we're gonna bring awareness to the boys and girls club. And then you look around the stadium about all the people who are watching this show and playing in the game and the NFL in general, which has a bazillion dollars. And you're like, you do realize you could solve this problem yourselves. Yeah. Like, you're trying to get me at my couch drinking my Shasta.

I bought discount soda, and I'm gonna drink that at my house. And you could as opposed to showing me these children, like, just take care of it. Yeah. Have you have all the money we have in the world is in that stadium right now. You guys do it. Yeah. You can skip the novelty check. You can just cut them a check for, like, $50 on the sly and say nothing to nobody. Yeah. Instead of, like, setting up a fundraiser to help Tom, just give Tom money. There. You know what I'm saying? Like like and I think that to me that like, that's the whole Super Bowl. That's even the bad bunny thing. That's even the kid rock thing. Like, all of it is shadows of someone doing a real freaking thing. Yeah. Do the you wanna share the gospel with somebody? Go freaking do it. You know what I'm saying? Like, you wanna honor your culture? Then honor it. And and like do all the things that you're pretending to do in front of in front of an audience of people you will never meet again. Yeah. And so I'm gonna leave you with two. Maybe we'll we'll we'll tie this off. I'll leave you with two things. The first one is is that like Mike's point is a really salient one because what you believe even as a Christian, is like, hey, we're we're fighting the battle where the battle's being fought. It's happening on social media. It's happening in the media, and then and on in Super Bowl and whatever. I'm a tell you that is not true. That is part of the false perception. I think ideas do shift around move and change. I think social media obviously has tons of influence. But like the

reality of the thing that you're trying to help people understand happens when you're holding their hand. It happens when you brought the meal. It happens when you stopped and helped them with their car. It happens when something difficult occurred in the neighborhood and the Christians were the people who put things together and set up time. Like, the hands of feet of Jesus get expressed in the actual hands that like express the good news of Jesus.

And that is often the introduction space. It's like it's the same thing I believe we've talked about this before. It's like oftentimes the right front door to the church is your kitchen table. And for our church, it's the only table I have to offer. We don't have, you know, we don't have a space to put them in. And so like, that's where it matters. Like, the ideas that flow society around, but I'll tell you this, just interestingly enough, a lot of the shift, like why Donald Trump wins the last election is because like

Hispanic Americans or people from those backgrounds do not trust the media and they have actually relative conservative political values on some key things, even immigration to a certain extent. Mhmm. And so like, again, sometimes the lanes come together. I don't know if they're loving it. I I think the lanes of what they care about and like what our current political climate is not in the same lane anymore. And so I think it's gonna be difficult in the old upcoming election.

But like, I I just your the the things that matter don't actually get shifted in those major things. And even and or in those, big spotlight stuff or, like, you don't have to spend all your time combating it on social media. And I know you're going to be like, well, didn't Charlie Kirk have some impact? I think he did. I think he shapes people. But I also think that a lot of times people just tend to get more entrenched to where they're in in the presence of that thing. And although I they did some I saw somewhere that they did some polling

after his death and like there was a like a jump of people going to church and then like it is mostly gone right like right back down. And I'm not trying to take anything away from whatever his legacy may or may not be. I'm just telling you that the moments that last are the human moments, are the things where you're in living rooms and holding hands. You can even participate in things that are a little contentious. Get on the school board or like go to the local like participate in the local softball league. Like things where other humans are doing things.

Those are still the places that matter. If you have to choose where to invest, I'd invest there. Okay. The last thing. And I I mentioned this to the fellows before the show started. And this is specifically talking like, you're like thinking about the Bad Bunny's performance. I just, I don't speak Spanish, but I heard him say I I knew he was saying something like, God bless America. And then he significantly expanded the number of countries in which you would use to otherwise describe like North And South America, basically.

And I I would submit to you just as a litmus test. If there's something that's offensive about that to you, you you you gotta check that. Because like why? In what world would it be offensive for someone to say, god bless all these people who who are not you and where you live? Of course, I would want that to be true. They're like, well, he's an infallible mouthpiece. Okay, kid rock watcher. Like like, you're not being you're not being honest. You're being disingenuous, and it's lacking integrity. And so, I did not enjoy it. Like, there's nothing about his you could have got rid of taking him out of the performance and I would have known the difference.

But I heard that and I'm like, yeah. Okay. If I have to find as a person who try who's like, if we making peace here, trying to find peace where it can be found, to live at peace with people. If someone said, hey, man, what do you think of that bad bunny thing? I could tell you, I agreed where he said that God should bless. We want God to bless all these countries. Yeah. I can agree with that. And so like, if you if that was not like even close to you, don't mean like you didn't notice it because maybe you didn't and that's fine. But like, if it once it's on your radar, you have a negative reaction to that, you better check yourself before you wreck yourself, sir. Like it's wrong. It's wrong. And I need you to be more precise about like which lane are you in because your reaction to that started in a non Jesus lane. And it's just a litmus test for something you're thinking and pray I think like, just to wrap that up, like the one of the big things that was reported on that halftime show was like, towards the end, he's like, there's a big message on the screen that says, the only thing more powerful than hate is love. I'm telling you right now, you're being sold a thing. Right? That like, it sounds deep. Right? It sounds deep and powerful.

And I'm telling you that he's not living that thing. No, no, no. He's disingenuous for sure. Yes. Yes. That's right. But here's the other thing though, is that like on its face, can I agree with that? Yes. Sure. Yes, I Well, kind of. I actually don't find hate all that powerful, to be honest with you. Like, it's a wasted hate feels like it's doing work in the world and it's just actually it's what was I say? It's an action. It's a feeling dressed as an action. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do know what I'm saying? It's not actually doing the work in the world, you know, where love actually tends to do that as an action more. But like in either case,

know like people are just grabbing onto the saying that like, yes, we need more of that. But here's the thing, right? Like you only agree with that when it's about things that you hate and things that you love, right? Like you want love the way that you want love and the way that you would like to see it portrayed and anybody who doesn't do that, you hate them. Oh yeah, yeah. People who are both like, there is a totally a risk that you use it like a banal enough phrase and people go, oh, like I agree with that because he hates who I hate. Which

is the thing. But here's the thing, it's what it all boils down to. Like, if even if you wanna find the most truest example of that thing, you can look at the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who loves people who hate them enough to die for him. Right? And like, there's no one holding that torch right now. There's no one walking around today that loves you enough that and you hate them or like they hate Yeah. I'm getting myself confused. Yeah. Right? He loves you enough that he would die for you even though you hate him. Actually, was it was in first Corinthians. I was listening to it on the way here, and I was letting the Bible man read me the Bible. Who? And he was he Paul's

talking about. He's like, you guys are wise. You guys are like kings here. Like, we're getting beat up and and in disrepute for, like, the apostle work that we're going to do. And he's basically like, oh, I'm fine with it. And then I thought, like, this is not happening to me. I I mean, sure. I'm sure there's people who disagree with me or whatever at times. But like, it costs me very little to even like full throated go, yes, I love and serve Jesus, and I will tell you that and share that with you. And and we could even as a country, you could stand up completely alternative programming, and you could just spade a guy to go Jesus is Lord over and over again for thirty five minutes. And it's perfectly fine in this country that you could put that counter to the program that's going on in in Super Bowl. And so, I just I guess to that

extent, whatever suffering that you perceive may be going on, you're not actually having any of it. And our perception of what it is like to actually take slings and arrows from the gospel is way far away from like the reality of which whatever you may be associating with when it comes to the New Testament. And so like, we're not even asking you to like like get the cojones Mike was talking about. I'm just like, acting like they were threatened. Yep. They weren't. And so, like, they're just your reaction should be tempered and get some hope. Get some hope in the world.

Alright. Here we go. Okay. Dear life from the path. My husband developed an addiction to slot machines, but I didn't realize it. He would leave the house in the early morning before I woke up. Life from the path, he gambled away every single asset we had accumulated during our fifty eight years of marriage. Oh. Somewhere around $600,000. Woah. Woah. Woah. I found out after he asked his grown children for grocery money. We are now bankrupt and must rely on our son who offered to bail us out if he could be the trustee of our land, home, everything. He takes our monthly pensions and gives us a tiny allowance when we beg for something. But we are so poor we can't see a movie, eat out, or go anywhere, including to visit our other kids.

I'm extremely depressed that nothing can solve this problem for the rest of my life. I'd find another job teaching, but I'm in my eighties, and I have limited mobility. At least I'm still in my home. I realize this is a dead end street, but it helps to vent. Can you comment? I I will grant. Like, it it it probably does help to vent. Yeah. You you were done dirty. Yep. That's that's unfortunate.

Yeah. You you just gotta make the best of it. I mean, you you can't change it. You can't there's nothing you can do. You're you're in your eighties. Live the best you can.

A marriage is full of all I I I I mentioned Sunday. Marriage is is is is is one radical act of grace after another. I mean, I mean, and forgiveness, and that's what she's gonna have to do. Yep. And don't throw away fifty eight years

on this guy's addiction. That's sad and it's terrible and it's tragic. But, man, you're just gonna have to pull up and and and do your best. Fortunately, you have a son to to help. Yeah. Yeah. And and rather than feel sorry for yourself each time you're you're you're living in poverty, at least you're still alive and you're still got something. That's all I can say. Yeah. Yeah. I I would

okay. I'm immediately mad at the husband. But then, like to go through $600, like, that's not just a I thought I could get my like, that's a problem. That's not a good job. Yeah. He he's he's got an issue. Yeah. And you know what's so funny?

Okay. I always use that. It's not right. It's not funny. But like the it would be interesting to hear her if you were to say, like, like, what is this man a good husband? If I took that thing out of the picture Uh-huh. What do you find? And I wouldn't be surprised to find that, yeah, he's probably a pretty good dude. She had it was a good marriage and things were good until you find out that this thing is going on. And like it's so easy to allow that to kind of repaint

the picture, and although understandable, it is a little unfair. People are just so complicated. Like, it's so crazy on how even you even found this in sometimes, like, with cheating spouses.

It's just unfathomable how you reconcile someone who could do something so awful, and then everything else actually seems fine. And it feels like, is it all a lie? And I just I I it's very

it's diff I know that it's really hard. And sometimes, like, it's it is all a lie, and the person was super deceitful. And sometimes humans are just so interestingly complicated that it actually doesn't repaint the world. It just sticks out like a sore thumb on what is a nor otherwise like a normal dude. Yeah. I think the the question I have is I was talking about the son, and she said he takes our monthly pensions and gives us a tiny allowance when we beg for something.

But we are so poor, we can't blah blah blah blah blah. And, like, my question is is, like, is is that because that's all you have Or like he's a miser? Or he's like, hey, you know, screw you, dad. Like, I'm not gonna let you do this again, so you only get a couple hundo. You know what I'm saying? Like Quite full of all of that. Yeah. Yeah. Or is it like your pensions only add up to x? You know? Like, here's the money you get. You know? Yeah.

I don't I I like, I would be I would be cautious. Like, I think it's difficult for us to read too far into to knowing. It's a good question though. Like, is is the son being punitive? Mhmm. But, like, I mean, she said a teacher. She didn't mention the husband. Like, is the husband still alive? Is he capable of working?

Being a Walmart greeter? Like, something that like Maybe a dealer? Yeah. Yeah. Do you know? A dealer. They could pay him to stay at the front thing and, this happened to me. Here, you might as well. I mean, the thing is if you work there, you can't gamble there. Yeah. Right. Right. That's so good. Yeah. Good barrier. But, like, reality is is that like we we are subject to the choices that we made and your you know, you are subject to the choices that your husband made. And so to Dan's point, there is not there's no magic wand here. Like, if people were able to suddenly change their circumstances

at 82, they would be doing it when they were 32. And so, like, unfortunately, this is the situation you're in. And so

given what you can't control, the serenity prayer is actually kind of appropriate here. Like, you just gonna how do I make the best of the situation I have? Lord, help me to see the blessings around me. Help me not to compare that which you have bountifully provided to the things that I may yearn for or want.

If if there's way like, if there are people around me, like help them be generous when you know that I need generosity. And like I think you're gonna have to turn that over to Jesus and be thankful frankly that you're not in worse shape that you're in. Yeah. You're gonna have to be one of those people that enjoys sunsets and birds. Right. You know what saying? Right. Yeah. Okay. Secular says, is your oh, she's gonna ask the same question. Is your son giving you such a tiny allowance because that is what your finances dictate, or is he trying to punish his father for getting into the predicament which you find yourself?

Talk to your son and explain that the little money he doles out does not allow you to go anywhere, eat out, or even see a movie, and see if you, his mother, can convince him to relent so you are not being punished for something you had no part in. Yeah. No. I mean, there is a measure of, like, is the son I don't know. Well well, maybe maybe the mom's being dramatic too. But, like, I don't know. If if she said, hey, son. We'd really like to go. She probably doesn't wanna have it's probably embarrassing to ask. Mhmm. It's probably and she says beg.

And it because it sounds like he does give money when she asks. She just used the word beg to describe it. Yeah. Yeah. But you but I don't think it's unreasonable for him to go, look, man. I'm not giving you the full kitty. Dad can't be trusted. If you wanna do something extra, I'm not trying to embarrass you, but you're gonna have to ask for it. And, like, I'll go buy a gift card or something like that. And, like, maybe, you know, maybe maybe he should be going, well, my mom can be trusted. But, obviously, she got was in the dark about losing $500,000. Yeah. And so, like, I he he's trying to protect you, and it probably feels like the roles are reversed and you don't like it. And I think I understand why that's true, but, like, maybe cut him some slack.

Like, you might be being too harsh on your son. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like he swooped in and kept you living at your house, which is pretty sweet. Yeah. So alright. Oh, another marriage one. Dear life from the path, my wife and I are approaching our fortieth anniversary. Friends and family have already begun to mention the upcoming milestone. While I politely acknowledge the event, I hide my indifference.

You see, my wife has always been a serial cheater. It's a secret that I have kept from everyone, especially our children. Because she has always been a wonderful mother, I would never do anything to tarnish their love and appreciation of her. The children are large part of the reason I've re remained married. Aside from her betrayal, she has been a good wife and companion, and I still love her. That's what I'm saying. Wild. During her affairs, I fought depression by submerging myself in work and crying when alone. Our children are grown and on their own now. We have a beautiful grandson.

We both retired a couple years ago, and that is when the reality of the past forty years hit me. I no longer have the crutch of work to help me through. Our marriage has been sexless since the since she went through menopause fifteen years ago. I have been loyal to her all these years, but I still desire intimacy. I have a few female friends who, in the past, have shown an interest in more intimate relationships. Would it be wrong to rekindle and move forward with an old friend? I have no intention of leaving my wife, but I am so in need of something more. Oh, boy.

Old friend. This is a hot mess. This is a hot mess. So my wife cheated on me for forty years. I didn't want anybody else to think poor of her, so I told nobody. So basically what you said is you didn't want anybody to know your wife. Man, I don't know how you hide that crap from your kids for that long. I understand trying to protect some kind of parental unit,

but good night. So and and then after her cheating has gone so she must've cheated the first twenty five years of marriage because the last fifteen, there's been no no sex no sex at all. And then and then you think, well, maybe it's about time for me to get some side action from these gals that I've tested the waters with to check their interest in the past. Oh, man. Well, you guys are rough. This is a rough marriage. There there will be no satisfaction in that. No. I mean

Yeah. I don't I'm kinda less, fellas. I don't even know how what to say. So the short answer, no. Don't don't do that. No. Yeah. Do not do this. Yeah. Well, okay. So let me ask you this. He does have I mean, he's got one of the traditional grounds for divorce.

But she's already said he doesn't he's not interested. He he wants to at least have the the perception of a solid family Yeah. With his children. He's not gonna get a he's not gonna get a divorce, but he might start an affair. And I can't imagine his wife caring. Yeah. What what we're missing is any type of details that anyone came to any reckoning Yeah. For any of this behavior. Yeah. Or it was just merely tolerated.

Although to be fair, the only thing stronger than hate is love. And so this man loves in a way that is very indifferent and and appeasing

to heartbreak and depression. Oh, man. I I well, okay. Yeah. Whatever. So I I think the advice is is relative to sounds like what you guys already said is relatively straightforward.

No. You can't. If you're not gonna get divorced, then no. You cannot entertain the situation with other with other ladies. I don't know. Do you think do you think I suppose it couldn't hurt to go, look. This is what you got. And so it's time to reinvest in this thing.

It's time to reinvest in this marriage. Yeah. Like, there's biblical grounds to be divorced here. If you're not gonna do that, then this is the marriage that you're in.

It's a miracle either way, I mean, you might as well stick the thing you got and just say, look, we're all we have. So let's see if we can get this thing turned back around. That's probably what I would do. Like, if we were gonna look at it, like, just we would just look at marriage differently. Right? Like, you're looking at a marriage as some kind of social contract that you've held onto for x number. For what output? I don't actually know. Right? Like to keep it together for the kids? I mean, there's just no possible way that that was functioning

in a way that God would have otherwise designed for a fruitful family unit. But like, if you want to look at marriage the way that God looks at marriage as a picture of His relationship with the church, like you are 100% right, right? Like you need to start

approaching your marriage as if God had always designed it to be this way, where you are sacrificing and surrendering for each other, and like basically have a covenant with God on how the relationship is supposed to work and how everybody is to be honored. And like, maybe you should actually try being married for once. Maybe this is what the last part of your days will look like is actually being

in a marriage opposed just to tolerating, right? Someone cheating on you for twenty five solid years and then going, well, I've cheated. I'm done. No. I'm out of sex anyway, so we're good. You know what I'm saying? And this dude, I have just I have no idea what he's got going on. He's leaving out very large parts of the story, but like, you should probably just take this opportunity to try to be actually married. Yeah. Yeah. Might surprise you. You never know. I mean, yeah, that's a great point. You've not actually tried it. And it's not your fault, I don't think.

It sounds like your wife also like or did not participate in your marriage. But, like, yeah, I don't think there's any harm in saying, we'll just try a reset here. I think I kinda get the feeling he's played the victim all these years and, you know, the woe is me behind the the scenes, and maybe he needs to be the conqueror and say, come on, woman. Let let's let's let's be married. Yeah. Let's do this. I'll I'll tell you this. Like, I think I have a prone I am prone, I think, within my marriage and maybe in some other things

where where, like, I think my initial reaction is often to be like, can I get someone to, like, recognize that I've been wronged? And then then they will take the inertia to set it right. It has never worked. Not once. No. Ted goes, no. No. And, like and and I mean, I obviously recognize this as old as I am and as long as I've been married. I just know that, like, it's the thing that I'm I'm likely to reach for. And I've just never had it be effective. And it doesn't allow you to to lead or help change or, like, get the thing that you want. And if you're dependent upon other people in the world to get the thing that you want or to steer a thing, hoping that whatever your wife is gonna lead it or that, you know, some dude you don't like who is your supervisor is suddenly gonna change paths and do the thing that you want. Like, it's just not gonna work. And so, like, you just gotta take control of some of your situation. It's not always gonna turn out.

But like trying to sit back and hope that there's just enough in the guilt bank, It's just not a way to do anything. It's not effective. Mm-mm. Alright. Sagler says, have you actually talked to your wife whom you love about this? Many oh, she's gonna focus on the sex. Postmenopausal

women whose libidos have declined still enjoy sex. This is a subject she should have discussed with her gynecologist fifteen years ago because this is not an insurmountable problem. If she refuses, you would be within your rights to tell her you want the same dispensation you have given her for forty years of infidelity because you still need and desire intimacy. Her response will tell you everything you need to know.

What? Her the advice? She agreed with the man about, yeah, if she doesn't get to, like, adhere to your demands, it's time for extramarital action. Get some. Secular says go ahead and get you a punch card. This is terrible advice. Yikes.

I don't here's here's what she has right. Certainly this not all the time, but most of the time, this is overcome. It's like a hormonal imbalance or something like this. I don't think this woman had any has any desire

to get that rectified or she's actually still hitting the town. Cheating on you, dude. She's still hitting the town. Could be that. That went spread through my mind. And I I would like, if it's been this long, if this woman has no intention of actually

trying to rescue your marriage, she just like, you're supposed to put on the show and protect her while she stamps all over you. And frankly, like, misrepresents your family in the process. I I think it's tie I think you cut that. I I would try to rescue your marriage. And then, like, if she's she's not you're she's not married to you anymore. Yeah. I don't know if she ever was. Yeah. Sounds like she's married to at least four other dudes. Yeah. This is not this is not, by the way, advice for you to go not like divorce this woman and then go punch card in the town. Sorry, sir, you're still bound by good thoughtful relationships that Jesus would approve of. I'm just saying that like,

there's a reason that when like of all the things the Bible could hone in on, there's a particular violation in this two becoming one and then you're sharing she's sharing you. Like she's sharing the one thing, the one that you two created and

doing all the other the thing that Paul's like, how could you have that with the temple prostitute? Like, it can't be. And so it's like a direct perversion of the picture that the Bible provides. And so you rescue it and repair it where you can. But if she's out, I it's fine. I think it's fine to be done with it. Okay. Last one. Okay. Dear life from the path, I've been eating dessert on days I have deemed, quotes, dessert free.

I get to have dessert on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Mhmm. Can you please help me to stop my struggle on the days when I don't get dessert? I love this one too. Here's the thing. This is everybody's life, dude. You nailed it.

How can I stop doing the things I don't wanna do? You say no. You don't do it. I thought it I I thought I found a winning formula, Monday, Wednesday, Friday desserts. But then Tuesday come along, we can make and say, you could have desserts on Tuesdays. Well, just this Tuesday. And the question is,

how do I not do that? Okay. So get creative. You you you know, I I like a little sweets here and there, but I also am choosing not to do sweets. So I'll get some Atkins bars that that are just fake sweets,

which, you know, probably are filled with all kinds of terrible things that will make me sick, but it I guess I mean, it still tastes sweet. It just doesn't have the calories or the sugar or something. Doesn't have the sugar. No no sugar. No whatever. You're gonna grow a tail, Dan. Yeah. I might. I might. But you're not violating the You're like, listen. I want to eat lies on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I so actually, interestingly, Dan, if I think about it, you've done a number

of of fasts in your life of various fasting things. Yeah. Have you have you ever broken one? No. Like, for lack of willpower? I have broken what she's saying. Oh, I'm gonna do this, but I've never broken a fast. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Wait. Never when you got Jesus involved. Yeah. This is just damn declaration. You're like, man, I don't know. Yeah. What's interesting though, because like I I I

it's sometimes and I think Troy would say the same thing, like food is a temptation Yeah. At times. Like and so but but every time we're like, a simple, no. I'm not gonna do this. When you made the commitment to do it, you were capable of not doing determined, we'll not do it. Yes. That's right. And so it's interesting because I was actually thinking the same thing for me that, like, if I've I've there've been a handful of times where I'm like, I'm not gonna do this thing, and I've not done it. I just said, look, I'm not gonna do this. And so which means, unfortunately, that every time it does happen, it's not because I'm incapable of saying no. I'm choosing not to. Now the pressure might be a lot to give in to the, you know, whatever the thing is that might be pressuring you. But at the end of the day, you you are actually capable of saying no.

I'm not gonna do this Yeah. When provided with some other counter motivation or whatever. And so, like, at the the easiest answer to this is like, how do I stop? You stop. You just stop. Yeah. You refuse to do it. You put on your big boy, big girl pants and say, yeah. I'm just not I'm gonna say no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, like, every every time that, like, if I've, you know, eaten in ways that I haven't supposed to or like engaged in other behavior that I shouldn't have and I gotta go admit it to someone, they're like, why did you do it? The answer is because I wanted to. That's the answer. There might be all kinds of other things like I wasn't, you know, I was feeling down. Like things that let your guard down, those are real. Emotional instability or like whatever. All kinds of temptation pressure from someone else. Eat this Kit Kat. I don't know. But like at the end of the day, I ate it because I wanted to eat it. That's what happened. And so, like,

you know, I I I think it's fine to, like, try to set a playbook to go, look. These are the things I I do not I can't go in the gas station. I can't go in there without buying something, so I don't get to go anymore. Fine. Like, set some parameters. But at the end of the day, you need to take an accountability that goes, I do it because I want it. They need to take themselves serious. I can't remember if it's a woman or a or a man. It didn't say. Okay. This person needs to just take themselves seriously. I will not do this, and then really actually mean that. Yeah. It like, it does help to know where some of this stuff comes from. Right? Not to crazy psychoanalyze this thing, but your brain is like the Google Maps of your operation. As soon as it figures out how to get from a to b, it starts carving in some pathways and go, this is how we get a to b. Right? And so if you train your brain that every meal is gonna have a dessert at the end, it's gonna fight you on it. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And the same thing goes like, we have the same conversation about addictions of all kinds. Right? Like, you train your brain most of most of the way that we deal with stress is it starts to get cemented in your brains and get pathways dug from the age of 12 to 16. Right? So however you dealt with stress in high school or your early twenties, your brain just goes, oh, when we feel x, we smoke. Yeah. When we feel x, we drink. When we feel x, we look at stuff we shouldn't. Whatever. It starts digging these pathways in. And so it's not sometimes it feels like it should just be a simple willpower thing, but really you have to fill in the trench and and and like dig a new road.

And so like, there's there's all kinds of advice on how to work through that and deal with that. But like you want some simple cheats to get you moving? Just shut off the phone. I go to bed. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, after like eat at home, make sure you're eating at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And as soon as you got the main course down, go to bed. Get yourself a Tuesday win. You know what I'm saying? Like, put yourself in a place where you're like, well, if I stay up, I'm gonna fight this all night. But you know I'm gonna do now? I'm gonna go to bed. Yeah. Right. And so just give yourself a couple wins so your brain can go, oh, and it's not gonna be easy and it's not gonna change overnight. And then it's gonna be months down the road where your brain's gonna go, you sure you don't wanna just we can go this road. Remember it always worked in the past and you're gonna have to keep filling it in. So to take a little bit of platitude out of it, like, it is kind of you gotta you gotta dig in. You know what I'm saying? You gotta rewire your brain. And so don't think it's like your lack of willpower. You've already dug a trench. Now you have to get out of it. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. That it is right to recognize that, like, every behavior up to this point has made like you've got stuff around your ankles.

And actually, you wanna think of it the positive side, I was doing some over the last two I started this program called basic discipline training. And

it it's not super difficult. It's like, you know, how many push ups can you how long does it take you to do a 100 push ups or something? And I think, like, the first time I tried it, it took me, like, twenty minutes. I can get 20 in and then then five and then two. I just have to keep waiting. And, you know, you they have you jog for a couple miles on the treadmill or something like that. And whatever. You just kinda it's it's more against yourself than anything else, but, like, just and the the way that it works is that they give you you only get to know what you're supposed to do, like, the day of. And so today, I actually you had to run a five k today and then write down your time. It didn't even take matter. You take two hours. I don't care. It's just like five k. And so you do it, and then it's like, okay. Now pick what time you're gonna work out tomorrow. Like,

you don't know what's happening tomorrow. And then you open it up and it's like, oh, you gotta do 50 lunges or something. So anyway, but one of the things I found this actually pretty helpful. This is my I I do know what's gonna happen the next day because this is my third time going through it. Because what I've what I realized is that like, I don't have an exercise problem. I have a discipline problem. I I stop exercising. I eat. I I don't tell myself no when I wanna eat a thing, and I start to exercise and then I just give it up. So my problem isn't at the moment, like, how many am I working out for forty five minutes? Am I getting enough cardio? Am I lifting up weights? This is not my problem. My problem is I don't do a thing I say I'm gonna do. And so anyway, this is working. I'm not I said, I promised myself that like after I finished the first time, I said, I'm gonna go through this three times because I need discipline before I start changing whatever workout or thing I'm doing. But one of the things this guy said, I stopped listening to is they have you do the daily thing and then you listen to the podcast. I stopped listening to the podcast. It was from a Navy Seal, but the guy was like,

he was blending faith things and exercise things in a way that I'm like, nope. Nope. You're not right. And and like, it was distracting to me. Like, he was again again, it a right point, wrong, or no scripture should have been involved in this situation. Should do all things. Yeah. It was it was kind of that ish. And it's anyway, so I'm like, okay. I I'll I'll keep doing the program. I just don't need to. There's plenty of really good Jesus things to listen to. I don't need to listen to this. But before I stop, the one thing the man said, I remember this, is that, like, he's like, I'm you're gonna ask you to do a wall sit or something like that to time. And he goes, when your legs are shaken and you're about you you feel like, okay. I gotta give up because, you know, maybe you're gonna be thirty seconds in or a minute in. And let me ask you this question. If I had your kid if I kidnapped your baby,

and I said, look, man. I I won't give you this baby back or I'm gonna kill him if you unless you make it to two minutes. Could you make it to two minutes? And he's like, here's the reality. Yes. You'll make it to two minutes. So the problem isn't is like isn't that you're not capable. It's that you just got barriers in your mind about what you're capable of doing. You have a belief that you're not capable of it. As a matter of fact, two nights ago, I was it was at the end of the last the second round of the program, and you're supposed to do the wall sits are terrible. I can't do them. He said, I'm not good at them. And so I kept getting I did them to finish the program, you had to do a two minute wall sit. And I tried it twice and ended up at, a minute twenty both times. Even though I'd done, like, a three minute wall sit two weeks ago. And

my second my second oldest daughter come in and she's like she's like, what are you still doing out here? Was out in my shed. She's I'm like, I can't pass this two minute wall sit and like I have to do it to finish the thing. And so she just starts talking to me and like throwing this ball back and forth. She's And like, just keep doing it. And so I did that and I made two minutes even after I'd already failed to do it twice. My legs were tired because I got distracted and was capable of doing it. And so anyway, I'd say all that to say that like you're capable of more than what you believe yourself to be. And the thing is, is like it is a brainwiring thing. If you go, look, I can't do this anymore. You will just drop. But if I thought, if I if my life depended on it, could I do this another ten seconds? I bet I could. And I was, and I am capable of doing that. And so there there is a lot of brain work that goes into what feels like a physical problem. And so

perhaps that's an encouragement too. Alright. Secular says, I understand only too well the mindset that a meal isn't complete unless there's something sweet at the end of the main course. Years ago, a psychologist friend shared with me that she resolved her cravings for something sweet by carrying a small bag containing a ginger snap cookie in her purse when she went to restaurants.

When she was finished with her meal, she took the bag out of her purse and ate half of one. She said it satisfied her craving without sabotaging her diet. Try it. However, if it doesn't work for you, consider substituting a piece of fresh fruit for the cookie. Okay, here's what I'm gonna tell you. We do this a lot. Like we just move in addictions around. You know what I'm saying? Like you you move in one I do this all the time. This is why I know we do this as a collective humanity. Because I do this all the time. I'm like, if I can just it's like every time that people try to quit smoking, they're like, I'm a take up gum chewing. But it's not a regular amount of gum chewing. It's a massive amount of gum chewing. They're like, I need six packs of gum. And like every time I wanna smoke, I'm gonna have a gum. I don't know how many smokes you think people have a day. It's anywhere between 10 to 20. It's all freaking gum. You know what I'm saying? People just popping gum left and right. And you're like, is this better? Like, maybe the cigarettes don't own you, but the gum does. You know what I'm saying? Like, I gotta give up soda. And they're like, I'm gonna replace soda with water. And then there's people walrzing themselves with like 700 gallons of water in a day. Then like, granted, we're supposed to all drink my water, blah, blah, blah. Sit down for a minute. We're not talking about that. We're talking about you being owned by stuff. Right? Even healthy things can own you. Like the the whole point is not to have it's for you to own things or or to be intentional about things,

not things to be like taking ownership of you and what you're gonna do. Right. If you wanted to fast all day, like, you should be able to do that. And it shouldn't feel like like that turkey sandwich owns you so much that, like, there's nothing else you can think about. You're just like, I can't wait for tomorrow. You ruined your whole day of fast of where it could actually done some work because you literally thought about food all day. So did it win? Right? You know what I'm saying? Did you gain any ground? You spent all day lamenting the fact that you were doing it in the first place. So just be careful about substituting

things for things. The whole point is to stretch and grow like the capability that God gave you with the body and the heart and the soul that he gave you and the faith that he gave you. Like that conversation really does translate that like, I don't know if I can trust God with this thing, so I'm gonna take ownership of it. Like that's exactly the stretch he's asking out of you most of the time. And like, you can trust him with it. You gotta redo some pathways

and you gotta really lean on this thing about what you're capable of letting go to to let it actually rest in his hands. Yeah. Well, we we I was in Genesis two this past Sunday, and, you know, God forms Adam from the dust of the ground and the whole from dust you came, the dust you'll go. That'd be Genesis three. But so I had a jar, a glass jar full of dirt on a table sitting next to me, he said, this basically,

you know, this is us. When it's all said and done, our bodies are reduced to just a pile of dirt, right? God breathed life into Adam, and like we have this eternal soul, that's the eternal part, the living part. And isn't it crazy that we let this pile of dirt tell

our soul what to do? Mhmm. When we should that should be complete opposite. Yeah. It should be our soul telling our dirt what to do. That's gonna come out next week because we're gonna hit sin. Yeah. And Wait. Are you saving the dirt in the dirt? Save the dirt. Because gonna be up there again. It's like, remember that? Yeah. Dude, now you're gonna draw a face on it. Yeah. Mean, I'm gonna call it sand. But it's like I was thinking about that today. Know, I was kind of processing that more, the the whole the image of of the just the dirt. Thought, man, I've let this pile of dirt just do my spirit raw a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know? It's like, what what? Like, I don't know. Somehow that was just kinda clicked in my mind, and I thought,

it's time you tell this piece of dirt what to do. Yeah. Yeah. You know? You're the boss. You died. You died to sin. You died, you know, all the things. And and I don't know. Thought that that that may be helpful. I don't know. No. I think I think it is actually because it like the I often you can recognize that there's a narrative that your mind is able to to have that is distinct from what your body's doing. That's how people resist temptation. Yeah. It's like there's an urge to go do a thing and you go, nah, I'm not gonna do that. Yeah. But to your point, like how often is like like you're being convinced by synapse.

Yeah. Like, this is not a thoughtful enterprise. This is just like grabbing and eating and taking and watching and doing, and you're like, that's what convinced you. Your eternal soul is going, dude, stop it. Yeah. You don't own me. Yeah. I own you. Yeah. Listen. Put the Kit Kat down. Drop the Kit Kat. Alright. You've been listening to Live From The Path.

We appreciate you hanging out with us this week. If you got any feedback for us on the show, hit us up on the Live From The Path. Complaint line. (515) 517-0085. Call or text. That's (515) 517-0085. Call or text. It's a Live From The Path. Complaint line. We're

gonna cut you loose. We'll probably be back next week, but we'll see how the day shakes. In the meantime, be faithful, means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to Live From The Path.