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

Yeah. A lot of stuff's happening. Okay. I'm not watching. Hey, I'm really loud. Hey.

Alright. You're you're listening to Life in the Path. My name is Ben. I'm in charge of this junkie show. So, I mean, whatever. Suppose if it's failing magnificently, I'm the guy. Info at lifeinthepath.org.

This is my fault. Amen. I know his failures. That's the deal. Here's what we got going on the show tonight. Michael Pollard a question earlier today and I think it was, can you help, can you reasonably help feed the poor or clothe the naked without becoming that yourself? Yeah. Is that the question? Well, kind of. Like, I I think there's a I don't know. There's a lot of people like, yeah, we should help the poor. I don't really want it to affect me much, but I would really like to help them. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not I don't know. I I I just figured we'd talk through it a little bit because I I think there's parts of me that are like, you know what? Screw this life. I'll sell the place and I'll go live on a dirt road. I don't care. And then the other half of me is like, am I just becoming part of the problem? You know what I'm saying? Am I joining the am I joining society?

A a different form of society? It's not where I was meant to be. You know I'm saying? Am I making rash decisions? And so, I don't know. I was just trying to think through it. It's like, can I can you can you can you really help, you know, the the the poor and the and the disenfranchised from your high seat? You know, can you help people from there? But then on the other hand, what's your definition of poor? You know what I'm saying? So anyway, I just thought we'd talk through a little bit and see where we're at there. Because frankly, I think I think that's there's there's a fifty fifty split. I think you got people out there that are completely unreasonable about it. Throw everything to the wind. Like, if if the lord tells you to sell everything you have and move somewhere, you best be on it, right? Yeah. If he didn't say that, I don't know if you should just be making grass decisions and getting rid of everything for no apparent reason. I I I don't know. We'll talk to it. Okay. Okay. Dan, you've got some what's trending with Dan. What's happening? Well, let's see. We got three different things. We have a young woman who accidentally sent a nude selfie of herself to her father. That was embarrassing. Oh. We have a a

dude. Hey. I didn't do it, but it's but it is trending. I think there's many reasons why I know you didn't do it. We have Steven Spielberg accidentally killed a dinosaur, and people are pretty upset about it. And we have what's this one? Oh, there's a bunch of people from other countries coming across our border who are also maybe right along the line with what Mike's talking about. Yeah. Hungry, poor. I might be borderline. We'll talk about it. This is that's actually one of the subject that's gotten me got me thinking about it. Yeah. That's where the rubber hits the road. You know? Yeah. Okay. Alright. That's what's happening today. We'll, we're gonna get to that, see if we can identify how how the man of Jesus is supposed to react to the modern things happening in the news. Also, with us is, Ryan Eklutunik. Hey, Ryan. Hey. How's it going, guys? Hey, man. It's good to have Ryan back in. It's it's been a little while. We had to ban him from the last time he was here. I mean, I'm not gonna go into details, but, like, it required a plunger to fix. So we haven't had it's been a while, but

but it's good to have him back. There's a lot of cool stuff, going on in his life. And, primary, I mean, happening tomorrow, on Tuesday is, is we're sponsoring the concert up at Zeke's and Ames, and, and Echo was part of that shindig, and we're glad to have him. So let me ask you this question. So, what's it

how's college life treating you on the music seat? It's been fun. Honestly, through the fall and spring semester, there really wasn't too much going on musically. Yeah. I was trying to just think about Broken Connection, which was my debut album from last year, and then thinking ahead. So college really had more of just the ministry side of just being in relationship with people instead of pursuing music. And so now in the summer where I'm just working,

and then trying to still be in relationship with people, but focusing more on the music aspect has been really fun, so we can concentrate more on that. So So talk to me about that about the relationship aspect. Because I think maybe that's something that that a lot of folks don't get to see from an artist perspective of how that plays into you actually being able to do what you wanna do musically. Yeah. I

it's that whole balance thing, man. Like, as an artist, what I always wanna be careful about is never making people feel like I'm just an artist, but making me them know and letting them know that I'm a human being as well. It's just that God's giving me an ability to use music to speak to people. Yeah. But it's not like, oh, I'm an artist, so all I wanna do is talk about music and what I'm doing on my next album. Yeah. You should come to all my concerts or you're not my friend. Like, no. Well, three quarters of them at least. Right? Maybe a few more would be nice. One tomorrow at six.

I'll be a better friend. Well, I mean, sure, I do appreciate the support, but I I wanna make an emphasis of that for sure that

just because you don't talk with me about music doesn't mean you're not my friend. Just Yeah. Right. It doesn't mean that I don't wanna be in relationship with you. So Do you find it hard to have a relationship with someone where they, like, forget you're an artist? I mean, like, I'm I'm coming from my world. I'm a preacher. And people like Yeah. What is you do again? You mop or something? Well well, they're all like, oh, I'm sorry I said that. Like, why do we you know, it's like they can't forget that I'm a preacher because they ever forget that you're just a human guy. You know, you're not you're not Yeah. Sometimes they really do. I actually get that as well, especially when some people say stuff around me. They're like, oh, dude. I'm sorry. It's like Was that gonna show up in a song now? Is that oh, man. You're gonna talk about me. And then one time, Greg swore, and I was like, yeah. Yeah. And Jesus was mad. What what? I called this a condom. And I threw him on the ground. Like, no. And so I no. It honestly, for me, when people do that, I just kinda look at them and I smile, and I'm like, man,

I would rather you be real with me about who you are in front of me than try to put on a fake facade and just try to impress me in front of me and do that. Always thought that if I swear too, they feel better. You know I'm saying? Exactly. Kinda alleviates Yeah. The Hey, man. I love Jesus.

Bad word. I mean, obviously, you're not good at it. No. No. I'm not I'm not sly about it. I'm weird about it. I'm just saying, hey, guys. I love Jesus and can use interesting words too. Listen up. Are we better friends now? Some people like, now we're just really, really uncomfortable. Big guy.

Did he even say? Jesus, dude, please stop. Yeah. You know what? If this is what the kingdom of god is like, I'm not coming in either. I thought it was too far one way. Yeah. It's too far the other. Here's the deal. Now I can no longer be cool with those words because you tried to use them. Here's I don't want a Jesus I don't want any part of a Jesus who is trying to be like me. You know what I'm saying? That's true. Like, where it's like, oh, I want Jesus to relate to me, so he starts calling me homie or whatever. And, like say that's what Jesus did. I said that's how I do it. Obviously, I'm falling. I'm I'm just saying, like, sometimes sometimes people wanna, like, try to twist Jesus so he so he acts like like I act. And I feel like that's kind of the antithesis of a god I'm looking for. Jesus. I really wanna follow a god that look who kinda resembles me. Wow. He looks up to me so much. Yeah. Sorry, guys. Jesus is not your homeboy.

I hear that one a lot. He's so great. That's like going to the home people, and all they have is, like, all the screws that you don't need, and you're missing all the screwdriver tips. Like, this looks like my house. That's why I came here. I could have done that at home. Alright. Hey. Actually, so there's there's a lot more actually I wanna know from from Echo. There's he's gotten some spoken word stuff that's got a lot of a lot of YouTube stuff. He he dove he broke the cardinal, live from the path inference, which is don't dive into the comments, but I feel like he might have done it the right way. So so we're gonna get to that here in a little bit. I'm interested to hear his experience in that. Let's let's get to, in the interim, let's see what's happening, in the world, Dan. Give me some details. What's happening? Alright. Alright. Let's see. Let's start out with a nice one here. Okay. Recently, a cheerleader received a bunch of for posing next to some big game animals. Maybe you saw that on the Internet that she had hunted. And as a joke, some guy posted a picture of Steven Spielberg

sitting next to a mechanical dinosaur from Jurassic Park movie from a long time ago. And the guy encouraged people to share the photos so they would could shame Spielberg for killing the animal. And it was shared, like, tens of thousands of times, and people were saying all kinds of mean things. Like, I'll never see one of his movies again. I can't believe he did this. It's like, it's a dinosaur. I mean, you know, it's like, it's not real. So here's the question. People tend to disengage their minds or become overly aggressive when they get on social media. This'll this'll this'll key in here. How should a Christ follower treat social media discussions? Holy cats. This is a big one. Go, Dan. How did I know? That was just something we were that was the easy one. Yeah. You got three options. It doesn't matter. A, it doesn't matter because nobody knows who you really are, so you can say what you really want with no consequences.

B, we must be self controlled and alert at all times. The words we use are a reflection of our faith in our Lord. Or c, I'm too wimpy to have the conversation live, so I have to do it online in order to say things that are truly necessary. What's d? That you only get three choices. It's a trap. That's all it is. It's a trap. There are no other options. Alright. Booba, you're up first.

I totally wanna say c just to be funny, but no. The so, b, no matter what, you're still representing yourself. People know who you are, by your name even if what you're posting on there isn't necessarily going to speak to them. I go under Diggy fifty seven. You have no idea who I am. Diggy fifty seven. I mean, I'm gonna change it to Diggy fifty eight. We'll find it. That I've gotten YouTube comments and wait a minute, Diggy fifty eight. I I talked to you three weeks ago. You were on 46. How many bad comments have you made? I'm just saying, you don't know me.

Ultimately, you're still representing yourself. It's you talking. You you should guard that no matter what. Even if it's they're not gonna be able to come back at you, even if I put boova o nine on there and they have no idea who I am, that doesn't mean that I still shouldn't be representing correctly myself, through my communication. So be Alright. Yeah. We we've got a life purpose. We've got an obligation. Right? We need to be getting this message out and, hey, social media can be a way of doing that. So by all means, b. Yeah.

Be. Tony? I would say b as well because, honestly, with every single action, with every single word, whether that's in person or on a screen where they can't really see your face or hear your words,

you're a living testimony, regardless of what you say. And so woah. Hey.

What's up? So I just I think with our words, sure, we do need to be careful. I also think we need to take into consideration the mindset that the person we're talking to also has, though, not just kind of go guns blazing at them without thinking first, hey.

Where are they coming from? What's their situation? But yeah. B. Alright. B. Everybody's in with a strong b. I I here's the thing, though. I I find myself rebelling against these conversations just in general because I don't think they can honestly be had. You know what I'm saying? Like, I think people borderline on the sea like Dan's talking about. Like, they don't really wanna have this confrontation in person. Right? And like, I feel like I'm exactly the opposite way. If I try to do it over some kind of writing, you'll infer sarcasm where there wasn't some or you'll you'll take context where it wasn't context and like, I

completely generally stay out of those weeds. I can't imagine. I can't remember the last time I commented on anything because even with two words, they're like, if you're like, okay, okay, for you then. You know what I'm saying? Like, confrontational no matter what you say. What do you mean? Okay. You know, giving me the rub. And so, like, I sometimes I think it's probably because I I see that more often than not, and frankly, it irritates me. That, like, people like, I'm having a rough day. And people will out of nowhere fly in with, like, verses and stuff, and it's like, hey, man. Look, the the guy's just having a rough day. You know, he's not giving up on the lord. You know what I'm saying? He's not he hasn't jumped ship on Christianity. Hasn't called Jesus away from him. Yeah. He's just like, having a tough time. You know what saying? Just just wanted to say so, you know, and here they come. They're like, they're like Jesus vultures. You know what I'm saying? They make you feel like the lord has left you for having a bad day and there's no possible way that you could feel down on yourself at all at the slightest amount. And and so like, I almost hate that just as much. Yeah. You know what saying? It's it's it's so I don't know. I don't know. It just feels like sometimes it's just a little bit too much. Well, you know what it is? It's it's like, they're they're really not engaging in conversation. Social media becomes sometimes

where people are are basically looking for ways to rent their own billboard space for a few seconds. Yeah. You know? What can I broadcast to the world that and that you could attribute to me and be like, oh, Diggy fifty seven really gets down on it? Yeah. You know? He knows the truth and isn't afraid to say a word. And then, like, to what point? To what purpose? Because you said it was gonna rain Thursday, and I I'm not having it. I've seen it like, hey, man. My mower's not running right. And then some dude was flying over to comments. They're like, lord, please help this mower. You know? Don't worry. The lord's with you. I'm like, you know, I feel like that simple mower technician could handle this problem. You know? I mean, if the lord wants to bring the thunder, he'll bring it. I don't suppose that he's gonna you know, you're gonna bring it on, but I don't know. Sometimes it just seems a bit much, you know? Yeah. I I mean, the the is the question is broad intent. Like, are you in there to have actually relationships or conversations? Or or, I mean, again, are you there to to rent billboards and kind of post around? Yeah. It it is pretty easy to to maybe go over the top when you're online. Even if you're as yourself, I was on on some Facebook discussion, I don't know, a year or two ago with a with an atheist with a bunch of other people. And and he was just making these ridiculous comments, and I I it was just I was in a bad mood. I was just like, you're ridiculous. You know? And I just I I just was really short and just, like, mocking him. And I kinda got done. I thought, okay. I don't know that I really advanced him, myself, or Jesus in any way. Yeah. It's not like he suddenly said you're right and came to Christ. You know? I am ridiculous.

Mean, he was, you know, he was purposely being ridiculous. But I thought, okay. I don't have to play his game, you know, but I did. I did that day. And I would never have done it live. I wouldn't have sat down across the table. I don't think. I would have maybe used some of the same words, but in a more maybe gentle way Uh-huh. Rather than you're an idiot, you know. Why do profile picture is deceiving, you know? Like, you got a big smiley face picture and you're writing a bunch of meat stuff. Hey, that's weird to see. Jesus hates everybody, especially you. Yeah. Okay. That one was always you know, I had a pretty obvious answer if you're a Christ follower, so I'll give you all 10 points. 10. They wrote it down.

I'll take 10. Alright. Yeah. I'll go with 10 points. Yeah. We're all winners. Participation medals for everybody. Okay. Here's another one. I wanna win. A 23 year old woman accidentally sends a nude selfie to her dad. She sent it by accident, and then she recorded his very angry response on video and put that on social media. And now she's trying to cash in and get some reality television show, and there's people actually looking at signing contracts with her. And, it's just blowing up onto some silly thing. So here's the question. What advice would you give to women who take nude photos of themselves? A, put your clothes on and stop trying to act like the Kardashians.

You're more valuable to God than a few cheap photos. B, you're only young once. Do what you want. You can always ask for forgiveness later. Or c, if you're acting this way for a Hollywood job, it's okay because it's art. Hold on. Here comes the Dan Agenda plane. Yes, you did. Clear the runway, boys. I may have thrown that in a little bit from last week. I stopped buying Suntan lotion. It's offensive to me. Alright.

Mike, you're in first. Hey. Okay. This is gonna not gonna sound right. If you're sending that to your husband, I'm totally okay with that. I feel like that's alright. Like, however you and your marriage wants to get down, I think that's cool. If it's not your husband, that's a big no. Absolutely not. Don't ever do that anymore. Ever again. In fact, even if it's your husband, I'd look at his phone directly after he gets it and then delete it. Because I mean, you know, what if it rings and the kids look at it or something? You gotta watch stuff on that jazz. That's why, like, if you don't have that number lock on there, you gotta watch yourself. But I'm just saying, I don't have any problem with it. I mean, I I don't really see the problem. Hoover.

I think I'm in with that answer. Yeah. Yeah. How awful do I sound? I'm like, I'm not a married guy, but yeah. No. Yeah. I think. Yep. Gonna get myself locked into that one, a. I agree with Mike. Okay. Alright. Tune it. Yeah.

I Married picture, Tune it. Come on. That's gotta be song. Don't ruin it. Could be the problem?

I'm not married yet, so I can't offer married advice. But to a woman just speaking to her personally,

I mean, obviously, a, what we're talking about there. But I think also just more importantly, they just need to remember who their identity is in,

not in the approval of other men. And I just really wanna encourage them that that shouldn't be their identity. That shouldn't be their appreciation.

But that's just a little deeper side note. But yeah. What? Ben? What? He's right about that. I know. He's he's at the I mean, the underlying the underlying truth is is that

if it's if it's not within a a married relationship, you know, I don't know. You're giving away the fine. I mean, like, what like, what you're doing is you're you're you're drawing you're to you're you're cheapening yourself the extent that that there's more if there's more to you than that, but that's what it takes to to keep someone reeled in or to get someone's attention, like, that's not the right kind of attention. I mean Yeah. It it feel good it feels good at the moment, but, like, ultimately, that's not where you wanna build. And so so yeah. That was my answer. It's exactly what I said. You the thing is you'll get that attention whether you send that selfie or not. I mean, that's the way guys are wired. They they don't you don't you don't need to have that selfie. She's already gonna get that sexual tension or whatever she's looking for that just just by being female. That's also true. That's also true. It's it is

it's a misnomer to think that you have to be nude for a guy to be like, oh. No. That's a fine looking lady. No. That's true. That that's and here's the deal. Like, I mean, you know, dudes are they're they're they're visually wired. That's true. Frankly, you're not doing, you're not doing fellas a whole lot of service by offering up more than you probably should anyway. Like, they're having a hard enough time as it is. You know what I'm saying? Just a female voice and a shoulder is about enough to, you know, send most dudes off the wire. You know what I'm saying? They can't control themselves anyway and so, like, the more you can keep it at bay is the more that you're going to attract the right kind of guy. Yeah. That can appreciate that. It's not it's not gonna he's not gonna ask for that anyway. You know what I'm saying? The right kind of guy doesn't ask for that stuff. Yeah. That's not what he's after. I mean, he's after eventually when they get married. But I was saying when he's not, I mean, that's he's looking for the relationship. He's he's basically looking to go through life together with you and not take from you. That's not his goal. He's he wants to add unto you, not to take from you. And so, you know, by by just offering that stuff and and and and taking it, that's that that is exactly what it is. It's not a fair exchange. And and frankly, like, especially as the woman, you really should be looking for a man that's going to add to you and not take away and I I just see that as as flat out theft. Yeah. Theft. Unless you're married, then it's alright to me. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Straight up. I don't know why Tunic's taking such a hard line on this thing. Eric, do you have any additional commentary?

No. I think Mike got it all. I think he's just there. Yeah. I agree, Mike. Alright. Rocket. Nobody should agree with Mike. Minus 10 points for Harry. Alright. This is the last one. K. In recent weeks, there's been a relentless onslaught of illegal immigrants crossing the border around the clock. Many of the people are unaccompanied children, some of highly contagious and dangerous diseases. Here's the question. How should the church respond to the needs of these people?

A, they should be sent home and taken care of by their families. They can enter our country legally if they want to. B, churches should send mission teams down to the border to personally care for the needs of people. C, we should pressure the government to take care of the needs. Or a bonus one, d, I don't like to talk about politics, so I'll pretend nothing's happening. Mike boost. Mike, you're in. Just watch the doors. Dan called it out. You're up.

Okay. I must hey. I wanna do a combo, though. I like a and b. You're always a combo. I know. I can't help it, though. It's a black and white world. Nah. It's not. This this issue is the one that's really put me in the straits because I I don't know. Like, there's there's a there's a separation between country and the kingdom of god that is starting to get wider for me. Like, it didn't used to be wide. It used to be one and the same. God and country, that's the way it lives. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, I'm

looking at this story like this morning. I was thinking about it. I'm like, I don't look at people right, right? I look at them with designations that god did not put on them. You know what I'm saying? And and I thought, I, you know, I I don't know. I don't know. Like, the implications of of where my heart is, there's more to it than that. Like, if I just say, look, they need help. Let's help them. Know You what I'm saying? There's there shouldn't be a whole lot of squander here, but like, that does have broader implications on, on on security of say, a better nation, which God does not ask you to forfeit.

But, you know, so I I don't know. My heart's torn between a couple things. I really don't, I don't know that I trust, say, our government to handle this correctly, with God's heart. But then on the other hand, you know, I I don't I don't know. I'm going with a and b. I'm saying, yeah, go down there and take care of them as they cross and b, we need to send, folks across the across the border and help them where they're at. That's where I'm at. That's gotta be both. It can't be just one. Bubba? So I think that I'm

torn before between a and b. I don't think I agree with both of them. And I'm I'm trying to figure this out. So a was we send them back, let their own families take care of them. B is the church sends missions down to them. Correct? Yes. Okay. Dang it. I'm sorry. I'm a combo between b and c. That was one help them at the border and c send someone across the across the place. Right? Yeah. Once have the government do it Yeah. And once have the church do it. Oh, no. Yeah. I vote for church. Sorry. Because see see here's my my reasoning on that is it's easy to sit back here in in Des Moines, Iowa and go, yeah. Yeah. Someone should do something about that and then do nothing. Oh, no. I'm sorry. I'm solid. I'm solid b. I confuse the two. I'm b solid.

Church yeah. I'm I'm on church responsibility. Sorry. I I agree with the church's responsibility. But No. It's a mistake. Go ahead. Oh, okay. Thanks, Mike. I I agree with the church's responsibility. That's what we're called to do. We're called to take care of the people that need be taken care of. I completely disagree with C. We don't need to leave it on the government. That's ridiculous.

We need to take care of this stuff. That's what the church is called to do. But I a, I'm I'm iffy on because I'm partially I'm wondering why they're coming over, and it it seems like their families aren't able to take care of them, you can't really say a. So I guess that then I am a solid b. Now they're thinking about it working through it. So b, church, you take care of it.

Eric? Eric. Yeah. Clearly, the church needs to get involved. I mean, our our country is not being invaded by children. This isn't an issue of national security even though it's a border issue. But it it's not like something that, you know, the republic is gonna fall because of this. So don't get crazy. The worst that's gonna happen is just some economic

switcheroo down in the Southern States. That could be a little bit of a problem, but that's that's small potatoes compared to what they're going through. You you have to ask yourself, there's a reason that these kids are are fleeing the countries that they're coming from. There's a reason that their families are sending them, that the families are willing to be split up in the hopes that these children might have a better future than serving in some cartel's army as after they've been kidnapped and and drafted into it. So these kids are looking for even though it could be the worst possible American lifestyle imaginable, imaginable, it's still better than the best possible lifestyle they could have back home, and the families are setting for this. The church should respond to the situation on both sides of the border if they can.

On our side of the border, they have a lot more ability to respond to these kids and take care of them and help them out. On the other side, it's tough trying to trying to work against the cartels that are there that are the ones who are really pulling the strings. I I know that each of these governments down in in Latin America has some kind of legitimacy, but, ultimately, there's there's some kind of drug money involved in all of them. So that gets very messy on the other side of the border, and that's a whole different and longer discussion. But the church need to needs to be involved in that too.

So I I mean well, Ryan, what are your thoughts? I I think you guys all summed it up, honestly. I mean, I really wish I could add more to that, but that is really truly what I believe. I think we need to help them is submission of the church, and

I agree. Absolutely. Alright. So let me ask this broad question then because I I I think, basically, the the the common thought here is that the church has a responsibility. There are people in need. Mhmm. There there are people that are hungry, people that are naked, direct responsibility. K? Does a nation

have a responsibility to protect the border? I would say yes.

Dan's in with a yes. Nobody else? Yeah. It's I mean, I'd yeah. I'd say yes, I guess. Yeah. Okay. So so then how do you how do you blend those two then? Like, how how do you do both? How do you protect a border, but otherwise accept

any number of people in who are leaving, because I I don't think there's a lot of room for disagreement here. Right? Like, that they they have a better shot at a better life in The United States, that the church has a responsibility, to to care for them, but that there if there's a legitimate, need for a country to have a border to be able to understand what is coming in and coming out of the country,

what what is is that a is that a separation where you say, well, as the church, our responsibility stops there. We we just started to care for these people. The rest are policy decisions, and that's not our deal because we kinda live here. This Yeah. That's that's where I have a difficulty with this whole thing. It is is that I see so often the church wants the government to take care of the church's responsibility. So the church pressures the government. You need to feed the children. You need to do this. You need to do that. And that's that's never what Jesus said to do. We are to personally Yeah. Actually, I'm a 100% that's actually kinda where I that's my standard argument against people who have problem with most of the government handout programs. I say, how do you think we got here? They should get rid of all government handouts and let the church do it all. Well, the the but the problem is is is the church didn't do it. That's why the government's doing it. Right? Right. Like, what happened is the church was supposed to be taking care of the poor and the disenfranchised, and all of a sudden, they're starting to line the streets because the guy's like, look. If he's not gonna help himself, he's not gonna get a job. If he's not gonna get off the booze, then forget it. I'm done. And so the church goes, I don't wanna help him anymore. And so now there starts to be poor people all over the place and go, look. Somebody's gotta do something about this. It's starting to bother me. Right. Right. And we can we can lament the fact that the government is involved in health care and that the government is involved in welfare and the government is involved in all these different things. Right? But, like, what the the state of the church should be that the government should be able to show up on a street corner with $300 in food stamps, and there's no one that wants it because they're being taken care of. Mhmm. But that isn't this that isn't the case. Like, we you can lament that all you want to, but that's not the case. Yeah. No no matter what the government's doing, it's still the church's responsibility. So the the doesn't the church can't cop out and say, oh, they got this covered. Yeah. We we still have to do this. It is our job. It's not so much a responsibility issue in my mind. It it's a missed opportunity.

Here are these kids who are very impressionable right here. They they can have their introduction to a new life here in America, or even, you know, if it turns out that, INS gets involved and and they get thrown across to the other side of the border, we still had a moment that we could share with them where where they kinda had a glimpse of something, and we can actually impart upon them, hey. There's this kingdom that you can be a part of. There's this Christ who is awesome. He he will change your life. They they can bring that goodness back with them, or they can integrate into this society, and we can be involved in that process. Or we can just kinda sit back and say, alright, government, it seems like you've got some money and you've got a small cot over here for them to sleep on. So you've got this covered. Right. And and and I think that's where we run that's where we run aground is, is not considering both. Right? Like like you're saying, we have a risk I think we have both, and we have a responsibility to care for them and an opportunity to share Jesus with them, and and they're they're it's the same thing.

And sometimes we we get in the, we get in the mindset where we're gonna choose one or the other, as if we don't have have the ability to minister them in both ways because I they both contribute to the same thing. They they see Jesus correctly through the understanding of both. But but I but I guess back to that same distinction, though, is like, then what do you do? Like, my response in country, I open borders, and people just run-in. I'm not sure that's a reasonable way to run a country, though.

So what's what's a government to do? Okay. We're off the UN council. Well, what's it say on the Statue Of Liberty?

Bring me your being your poor, being your Yeah. But in in a in an order in which we can identify who you are. Yeah. Because I'm big on using the We need to keep the legality of of the process and and illegals. You know, this this is where I wear the two hats. I I think nationally, we we have to be we have to secure borders. There are people are coming that are legitimate in need, and there are also people who are legitimately wanna hurt our country. And and so the the nation needs

to protect its citizens. The church, on the other hand, we can be more reckless and abandon and and go help people and and then and then, like, is that tension just acceptable then? Is it acceptable that our attention to say, look, the government's gonna do what it's gonna do. I understand the need to to to

close a border. I get that. I could even support or vote for that, but at the same time, I will still be down there, feeding, clothing Yeah. Talking about Jesus. Maybe that means it's more risky for me. I need to engage with the drug cartels and and and things. I haven't done any of that, though. No. No. No. Nor have we sent a team. No. No. That's that's true. And and I guess that that's the thing. A lot of this comes back to something that that that Dave has hit on a couple times, which is, you know, are you willing to get involved for the things that you're praying about? Are you just, like, tossing stuff in the air? Or you pray like, when you say, hey. You know, God, will you help? Are you willing to be the help? Are you willing to be the footsteps?

Mhmm. Let's do this. And a lot of time, we're not. And a lot of time, we just we get we blanket things, and and we're not we're not really preparing to jump in and and and work for something that God has had has working for. We're just we're willing to say it, which frankly is a is a symptom of, of a of our version of Christianity at points, which is the things that we like to say versus the things that we like to do, forgetting that we are saved for good works. So do we need to send a Life in the Path team down to the border? If we can be of service, let's check it out. We went to Oklahoma last year and did tornado relief. I don't know how we can be of help, but, it it sounds like it's worth sniffing into if we're gonna bother to talk and pray about it. I'll fight people. Okay.

You're out. They're gonna send you back to Honduras. In the name of Jesus. They're gonna say, what's that, Sidor Buva? I'm gonna get off the bus. I'm gonna start running whirlwinding at people.

Punching. No. That's that's gonna help. That's men. Look at that crazy white Mexican. You don't have any papers, Alright. You're listening to life for the path. Hey, Luke. That's what's happening in the world. Hopefully,

I don't know. We're trying to digest the the things of the day from perspective of someone that loves Jesus. Hopefully, we've done that. If it don't sniff rights, read the definitely check your bible. Berean that stuff, man. Just because it came out of our mouths. Anyone can have a radio show. Yeah. It's really It just takes a few $100 a microphone. So, I mean, definitely be checking that stuff against scripture. We're doing the best we can. Pray pray for us and be willing to step in if necessary. Info at lifefromthepath,.org. So we were talking a little bit earlier about, about dealing with people online.

And so, tune tell me a little bit about this, spoken word business that you got out there. Let people know what it is, and then go check it out. And then I wanna talk about how you're engaging people in the comments because we have a we have a standing rule that comments, especially on Christian oriented things, are freaking poison. It's a poison field. So so I think you got two options. You either gotta dive in or bail. And you've taken the dive in route. So so set it up for me. Let me know what it is that they're commenting on, about the spoken word thing. And then tell me how that experience of kinda digging in the comments with folks has been. Man. Okay. So it was an interesting experience because I honestly have never gotten into spoken word too much. And so me and Ryan Buck, who did the visuals of the video, it's up on my YouTube page, it's called what is love spoken word. And he just did a phenomenal job. Just a quick shout out to him. Ryan Buck is amazing in so many areas, and God has given him so many talents and gifts. But

so we did the video, and I think the thing that really got people in an uproar, which is interesting because I looked through the comments and I really can't find any other reason, is they go through the whole video and they're like, yeah. I really agree with this. Okay. Yeah. That that's so true. We view love in this way instead of this way. Because I take it at the beginning, from a perspective of someone who's kinda either looking at a TV or looking at ads and they're like, okay. So this is what love must be.

And they agree with that. They're like, yeah. It's what they seem to paint. And then by the end, you start getting these subtle messages of like, okay. There's something more. There's a reason why we all crave this love. There's a reason where this came from. And then with the last line, I just say that's Jesus Christ. Yeah. He is the love. And

that's what's got everybody, if I will, in a hissy fit, is that line, is that it's Jesus. Otherwise, they're like, I'm good with it. Like, it's a great video. And a lot of people, interestingly enough, and I find this encouraging are like, you know what? I don't agree with your views on it, but I think it's also still a really great video. And I think this is still a really great message, so thank you for that. And I really do appreciate that. It's like, I don't always have to agree with you about stuff. And that's something we do address in the video as well. It's like, just because I don't agree with you doesn't mean I don't love you. Yeah. And so the comments what I've been tackling

is a lot of times, comments between people. Yeah. So someone's trying to evangelize to someone else Yep. Who's like, well, I don't really believe in this Jesus stuff. It's kind of like, This other person's like, well, here's some books. Here's some context. Here's all this stuff. And they just I have someone who made a simple comment like, so what if they don't believe in Jesus? What is love then? And I just

gave them my perspective. Like, so this is why I wrote this video. This is why I wrote this spoken word. You don't have to agree with it, though. And I really do appreciate you taking time to give you to give your input, and that's really all I have to say about it.

Contact me through this email. I would love to talk more about it personally Yeah. Instead of over here. And then someone else commented and started talking about, well, here's these books, here's this, and that that. And after a while, I was like, I love that you both are giving your opinion, but there's really

no benefit to each other through that. It's really not gonna help. But thank you for giving your opinions, everybody. I would highly suggest and encourage. Let's take this off this page and talk personally with one another. You see face to face. You hear those things that might be take like you were saying earlier, sarcasm, things like that.

And they just kept going. So I was just like, okay. I'm not gonna keep trying to stop them from that. But the reason why I comment back to people is to let them know that I personally do care about their opinion. Yeah. Most of the time, it's just, thank you. Appreciate you watching. Thanks for giving your opinion.

I'm encouraged by this. That's an interesting viewpoint, stuff like that. Nothing like, well, this verse says this. So

Yeah. And I actually I think that's a really healthy tact. You know what I'm saying? Because I I I it's an ears to hear thing. You know what I'm saying? Which personally, I'm not the best at. But, like, especially online, like, it's an ears to hear thing. Like, sometimes you have to know somebody to know whether they have ears to hear what you're saying. Mhmm. You know what I'm saying? And, like, it's not like god does not know how to bring people to himself. You know I'm saying? It's it's not like you are the one thing standing between this man and Jesus Christ. You know what I'm saying? Jesus knows his kids. He knows the hearts of his kids. And and, like, if he wants to use you to talk to that guy, then great. But, like, so many people try to force it. Like, and they try to force it hard and, like, with really hard stuff that, like, maybe I wouldn't understand. And I don't, you know, I've known Jesus a while, and, like, I'm just now digesting CS Lewis with any type of capacity. You know what I'm saying? And so, like, if people are like, you should read this or you should read this guy. You should and people are like, you know, maybe you shouldn't start him in Leviticus. You know? Let's let's put some stuff in context and let's, you know, if they wanna talk about it, talk about it with them but like, there's and this this might just be personally me. But like, there's nothing I and literally, there's nothing I hate more than having a two man conversation in front of three people. You know I'm saying? Like Yeah. Having a conversation that belongs between me and Dave Herrick Mhmm. In front of everybody. You know what I'm saying? This I the same as at work, the same as with my wife, the same as with my kids. Like, if my kids do something they shouldn't have, that is a me and them conversation,

not a me and everybody in the church conversation, not me and everybody in the department store conversation. Yeah. Between me and them. And you know why? Because that shows respect and and love for them. Yeah. And that's the truth. And and so, like, by moving that off the thread, like you're saying, you know, like, that's showing respect and love that maybe they're not even showing themselves, but, like, I don't wanna have this conversation with you in front of everybody. Not everyone's gonna get it because they don't know you like I know you, and we can't there's things we can't say in front of everybody. And, like, I I think that's a classy move, and I think that's that really is an ears to hear thing. And, like, the fact that you get it, I mean, just shows that you love somebody more than the next guy that wants to beat him over the head with Deuteronomy. You know, I have that exact problem at work. Like, my wife will call, and, like, I don't like having I I work in a in an insurance office. Right? There's there it's a cubicle. There's there's 10 people around me at any given time. I don't like having a conversation with my wife, in that arena because they don't get to hear her side of the conversation. And, like and and and sometimes the way I talk, like, I'm afraid that they will think less of my wife by how I speak, And that that doesn't speak well of how I talk to people, generally. However, like, I just it's just not a conversation for them, and they can't help but hear. It's not like they're intentionally eavesdropping, but, like, I just anything there's there's con even mild disagreements about, you know, what we're gonna do that night or whatever. I just I I it's just not it's not for them to have any any room to think anything of my wife when she's not adequately represented because they only get my side of the conversation. And so I I I will I will not I try my very best to not have conversations with her actually over the phone. I'll go somewhere else. If it's something that I think, like, has that potential that we might have some sort of disagreement about,

you know, I just it's just not it's not for them. And I think it's not fair for for her for them to be able to potentially infer who she is or how she's talking or whatever based upon half of a conversation. I I also like, the way that with your comments, you're just kind of focused on showing support and appreciation. You aren't sitting there trying to defend this work that you created, and you don't have to sit there and dissect and and tell them what the meaning is or anything like that. I think that actually helps to elevate the the original video itself because you as the as the author of it, you don't have to go back in and and go through and talk through the meaning. I mean, that that's basically like having to explain your joke after you've told it. I mean, you know, it it ruins everything in it. But by not having to do that and instead just in response to what the people have been saying, you just say, hey. Thank you for your perspective. I appreciate that. Thanks for thanks for paying attention to this. That just there's a classiness about that that

you don't have to tear apart your video as you're going through it. So kudos. Awesome. Thank you. I honestly, to be real, it's taken me a while to get to that place. Yeah. Because, like, I used to be the guy that would bring the fire Yeah. To my comments. And so praise God that he's humbled me in that because I don't get it right all the time either. And, like, two things. One, I totally agree with you. I actually had a guy comment back to me on YouTube who was like, thank you for just, like, not pressing God on me, like, over and over and over again. It's not that I don't wanna tell him about God because Oh, he loved you. Yeah. I think Jesus is the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. It's not that I don't wanna do that. It's just I don't I don't wanna do that again. Yeah. He's been having over and over again. So Well, you just did it through the video.

Yeah. It speaks for itself. Yeah. Spoke for itself. Exactly. And, I mean, I have had comments where they're like, well, I don't I mean, I had one comment where they didn't get it. Yeah. They thought I had said it differently, and I did, like, have to explain a little bit to them like, hey. Go back and watch a video. I actually meant this instead, but thank you for watching that kind of thing. But I suppose that is the one thing you gotta correct. You just gotta make sure that Jesus is represented correctly. As long as you get that part, but, know, whatever. You hate the video, don't hate the video. I you know, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. That's all I'm talking about. Yeah. And and I guess I guess that's a that's a broad that's a broad lessons learned, I think, for us as the church is is, is is this posturing. Could go back to kinda Dan's question. Like, when you when you bring the fire, like, there's a posture in that that makes makes it sound like you have authority to bring fire. Mhmm. And you don't you hate the fire, man. Yeah. That's not even That's not you. Even the disciples didn't be like, bring down the fire. They're like, can we bring down the fire? Can we do that? Can we do that?

Exactly. Jesus, do you want us to bring down fire on the town that you just left? Like, we can do that for you. Don't worry about it. It's But but you like, it's it's it's the the difference in in having real conversations or or renting the billboard. Right? So, like Yeah. If if you've if you've all you've done is rent the billboard. Here's the deal. I never buy anything from billboards. It's just the truth to it. Whether it's digital or otherwise, like, I can't think of the last time I passed a billboard and thought, oh, sweet. Coca Cola.

Bust out. Bogo at Payless. Like, I don't care. I don't I'll check it when I want it. Now it it's not that there's not opportunities, but the the thing is is that, like, real life presents plenty of opportunities to talk about Jesus. From an evangelism standpoint, like, we're always looking for some sort of sweet path or 10 step program or something, you know, as if as if day to day life doesn't apply to the works and words of Jesus Christ. And that's foolish.

And that's straight up foolish. And, like and that's where we run into that is we use we use online as a as a billboard for, like, a supernatural event that we're gonna shove our crap into as opposed to recognizing day to day life where Jesus matters, where Jesus completely applies, and where you don't have to manufacture something to have a conversation. And and that's that's, I think, where our online online activity goes askew is we we we feel like every time someone says something, it's a manufactured event which asks for our billboard rental, so that we can get our our business in. And it's like and it's not it's it's weird to think that that's not real. Like, it's not real. It's not it's not actually a real life deal. It's a fake event that we've decided it to trump up, and we don't actually have conversations that people wanna have. I think that that the social media aspect of of evangelism,

it is so easy. It is so incredibly easy to go on to a post, you know, whether it be someone saying, oh, I don't believe in God. And then you coming up with this huge long comment back and be like, you know what? Through this comment, my words are gonna bring them to Jesus. Let's do this. Yeah. I'm going to do this. Let's god, don't don't worry about it. I got this. The wrath of my vocabulary will know Exactly. Will know no bounds. Okay. I got myself. I've got, like exactly. I've got my Jesus mad lib. It's just like, okay. I've got atonement in there. You know, we've got forgiveness. Yeah. Because everyone that doesn't know Jesus knows the word atonement. Exactly. Yeah. It's like, what do you know about sanctification? It's like, what?

I was just about to point that out. I see that hey. Do you know do you know what the word sanctify means? No. No. I know. It's the process of That is your opening you know, that's your opening get. I can tell that you don't know anything about Jesus. Let's start talking about how the holy spirit works in your life. It's I just I found myself doing it too. Yeah. Is the really easy comments to make. And I think that that hopefully, I'm I'm working my way and getting there to the point where I do not do that. But I I honestly, I recognized within the last year how easy it is to do the Facebook post Yeah. And how easy it is to do the YouTube comment about Jesus and everything like that. And it's so funny because it once you step back and you look at the concept of what relationship have I built with this person to even be able to speak into their life?

How have I connected with them in any way? I know their username. I know this is Diggy fifty seven. Diggy fifty seven. Whatever. But I don't know if they gave you me, bro. I don't know. That's right. I don't know. You're gonna get a lot of comments. I don't know what Diggy fifty seven. Me. I read in YouTube comments, Diggy fifty seven, that you're having a hard time. Let me try and reach out into your life and talk to you about my lord and savior. It's like, what? That makes absolutely no sense. You have just described the CNN belief blog. That is everything on CNN. Definitely. I know everything you need to know about your stupid cat picture and then your your profile name. That means nothing. I can't speak into your life when doing that. You love cats? You must be lonely. Let me hook you up with Jesus. You

know there ain't no cats in the bible. It's just it it's sad that that's what it's come to is is we feel like we're doing outreach and we feel like we're doing work for the kingdom of God when we talk on Facebook and when we leave comments and we leave the, hey, Jesus loves you on this random long rant and expect them to go, oh. You know why? Because there's no risk in that. Yeah. There isn't. You know Like, people are based this is gonna sound bad. People base are cowardly. You know what saying? There's no risk in sitting on my Facebook going, get back to the lord. You know I'm saying? Or you've separated yourself from god. Get close to him. You know what I'm saying? I don't have to say anything more. I've said my peace, and, like, I've represented God, so I'm out. Like, the risk is going to his house and looking him at the face at two in the morning and say, what is going on, man? And it kills me that that is was the checklist for someone. Someone did that on some social media and said, I did my evangelism this week. God is happy. I did what I needed to do. God is happy. I said he loves you to somebody. That's great. I've done awesome this week. And we look throughout we talked about it just in your daily lives and the conversations that you're walking past where you're not representing Christ and you're not representing your godly heart that you're supposed to have, and you're ruining every single one of those interactions.

But you go to Facebook and you put something up like god loves you with a bible verse and a pretty little sunset in the background, and you feel like you've evangelized. Yeah. Did you see this in God tube? Or this or this selfie? Did you see this young kid that's from a different country that's singing a God song? Isn't it great? Love Jesus. No. Or this selfie in the mirror with a verse and you're like, what does that have to do with God at all? Like, flipping four thirteen right behind you. What's up? It's like, did I Snapchat a Bible verse? I feel like that's my evangelism. I need to delete a few posts here. I have one half star that said, make much of me, Lord. Well and also just thinking about it, honestly, what's the heart behind most of those? Like, are you I really like the billboard statement you make because it's truly about, like, hey, Let me show you how great I am, how righteous, and how perfect I am for you and show everybody else, like, oh, that person's a Christian. What? Yeah. That's great. And so you you just go on social medias. And I also like what you're talking about with, like, one on one conversations

when you, like, try and make it a public event. No. You're you're making it a public event so you can get a little more self like, just more praise for yourself and make yourself Look how I handle this. Yeah. Takes much less glory and a lot more work Yeah. To go behind the scenes and talk to someone personally Yeah. Than to go public and make it look good for yourself. It truly does. Yeah. I mean, that comes from I mean, that's that's the deal. People are a dirty business. You should know you're one of them. You know what I'm saying? Like like, people's gotten involved with you, and it's Harry. Yeah. And and so but but, like, I mean, if you if you feel like you solved some someone's problems and it was pretty easy, you didn't you didn't help. Whatever it was, it wasn't helpful. Like, I dropped off some cupcakes, and now they feel better. Yeah. They have a lasagna. That was their life problem. I mean,

honestly, I I would love some cupcakes. Yeah. Is anybody out there? If you wanna drop by cupcake. That solves the direct problem, which is a man says, you know what my problem is? I don't have any cupcakes. Guys, I'm gonna tell you right now. Your problem is never you don't have cupcakes. I can attest to this personally.

I've said many occasions, my problem is I don't have HoHos. Guys, that's never the problem. Trust me. I know, think Never the problem. Here's the thing is ultimately, we get caught up on trying to point people to what Jesus believes. But if they don't know Jesus, they don't care what he believes. Mhmm. You know what I'm saying? Like, what I believe is irrelevant. Let's call God a God. Okay? I should care what Jesus believes, but only if I know who if know who he is. And if we don't agree on who Jesus is or I don't I don't know Jesus, I don't care that he believes in the Old Testament. Yeah. And so let let's start there. Right. Let's talk to you about the sin that's in your life because there's a god that you don't believe in, by the way, that loves you, that you don't believe in, by the way, that wants you to do something that you don't you don't believe in, by the way. But I'm gonna tell you how much you shouldn't be doing that before telling you about how much he loves you. That's right. You're separated from him. Oh, no. There's a law in Kalamazoo,

Missouri, and you're breaking it. What? That makes no sense. That's like someone tell you when you're 78 years old that, like, you have a great uncle Chuck who died forty years ago. It's like, oh,

good. Are they getting your inheritance or anything? Actually, you did. I've been waiting thirty eight years for this check. It's ridiculous.

Yeah. No. It's that's insane. I I see so many times where people attack the sin of someone, and before they say anything about what Jesus represents, who Jesus is for their life, who he is supposed to mean to their heart, they tell them about what they're doing wrong. And I'm thinking to myself before I was a believer, if someone were to come up to me and say, Troy, you're sinning in this way, and you need to stop it. And then a couple weeks later go, oh, by the way, I completely forgot about telling you, hey, Jesus loves you and died for you and then all this good stuff. But before I tell you about any of that, you need to start following him, and you need to start being obedient. It just doesn't make sense. I I suppose it helps if you're sharing the good news to actually start with maybe something good. Right. Yeah. Exactly. Let me share the bad news about how you're going to hell, and then we'll eventually get to how there's a chance you're going to heaven, but we're really gonna dig into the whole hell thing for a bit. Well, I think that goes back to in a mood at the end of the conversation. Well, yeah. It's it stems back to the old idea of the gospel being a sales pitch. You gotta create the need. And that's what they're trying to do. It's like, oh, you have a need. By the way, you realize

everything's going downhill for you, you know, and here and I can help you. Rather you know, that really stems from because that's a good mentality. You know the thing that I've noticed though is, like, everybody knows the need. Like, you don't have to tell them nothing. Yeah. Like, you can look at almost anybody. Whether they wanna acknowledge the existence of Jesus Christ and the lord and savior, you say, some don't feel right, does it? And, like, everybody knows that feeling. Everybody knows what that feels like. Whether they wanna say that's the lack of god in their life, they know something ain't right. They they they they may argue what to attribute it to and frankly what the solution is. But, like, that base need in people, there are very well, I've met a couple. Well But there are very, very few people that would deny that they have that. That's right. That that need exists. Because they've because they've obtained things and lost things, and they still have that same hole. Right? It doesn't matter what they get or what they lose. They still have that same hole. And whether they wanna acknowledge that as as as sin in their life and and not being next to the father, that is what it is. Right? And so, like, you very rarely have to oversell hell. You have to say something doesn't feel right, does it? And, like, they know that. They won't tell you that, but they know it. Yeah. And they'll remember that for the rest of their days. You know what I'm saying? As soon as people say like, it's the same thing when I have a conversation with a guy who's always struggling with something. He's like, I'm I'm just having a problem. You know, I feel like my relationship with god's not right. And I say, what sin is separating you from him right now? I said, don't tell me but the holy spirit told you right there. That one that you're not gonna tell me, that's the one the holy spirit's talking about. It's true every single time because everybody knows the answer to their question already. Yeah. Everybody already knows the answer. They just don't wanna they don't wanna take it take the the jump because it's messy. Just like with people. Like, even the relationship with Christ, like, it's very straightforward and clean-cut. But, like, the brass tax of it is dealing with his people and dealing with the fallen world, and that still is messy. Doesn't matter who's running the string. Yeah. I agree. Hey. We've got to, if you're on 99.3 KTA, we've got to, let you go. If you listen to the podcast, hang back, through the break, and we, talk a little bit more with, Ryan Eklutunik.

Hey. Listen here. Listen here. I don't know what you got going on tomorrow, and I don't care. I want you to be at Zeke's. Starts at 06:30. K? It's on Lincoln Way. I've forgotten the exact digits. Type that stuff in the computer. That'll help you out. But there's four great bands.

Echo's gonna be there. We're gonna be hanging out. I'm Elise gonna be there. Are you guys coming? I'll be there. I'm going. Okay. Alright. Sounds like we're gonna make a date of it. Four dude date. Instead of going out of the border like we belong, we're going up to sea. We're going to put on a show. A little conviction. My name is that. It's all good. Someone else take it. Here's the deal. Hashtag whoops. There's there's guys these guys are out there. They're working hard for Jesus to to spread a love, and they had they get access to people that you and I may never get access to through that music. And so support those guys. It'll be a great show. It's $5 at the door. Come out to Zeke's, and I hope to see you there. If you're on KTA, I gotta let you go. We'll be right back with you. You're listening to Live From The Pat. Hey, man. Apparently, there's a mouse in the studio. There's a mouse. Yeah.

Nice. Yeah. Tell me if you see him. We'll get a cab on him. Don't lick the floor. Gross. What was that? Craft. You know what that's from? I dropped a peanut butter, Captain Crunch last week, and I've attracted mice. Dude? Yeah. They love peanut butter. Dog got it. Hate cinnamon. That's what's done it. I've attracted What mice with

a mistake, man. No doubt. What a real bummer. Alright. Alright. Tunek, what else you got going on in life? He's tired. Are you Facebooking? What do I got going on? He's putting the first one. I saw people were sharing live from the path. So I was like, hey. See It's a bonus. People are like Hey. The way, I heard from someone yesterday that they were talking to somebody in Egypt who had seen live from the path. Oh. Oh, hey. That is awesome. We're live in Egypt. Is he under arrest? There it is. No. That's what I was thinking. Hey. Get the camera. Get the camera on him, Mike. Oh, he's little. Oh, he's a cute little guy. No. He's just a little, but he's very is he gonna reach? Guy. Sorry. There's a mouse in here.

He's beautiful. By the way, if you wanna stop by these low rent digs to be on the show, you give us a Facebook message to him. He's like, oh, out of here. I'm stopping. I'm going there. You can come in. Okay. Buba's got it. Alright. Out of this entire building, he comes in this room where he's, like, frightened for all these giants. Be free. Hey, man. Speak for yourself. I'm not that big. Hey. He's the best mouse missionary ever. That's true. He's going where he's going where the heat is. They're having they're talking about the border I'm in. You're like, these hungry people? So where can people pick up Broken Connection?

Yeah. You can go on pretty much any online distribution site like iTunes. You can listen to it on Spotify, Amazon CD Baby? Really anywhere. CD Baby, I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Would you bring up some kind of obscure one that might not be on? Everybody everybody else hopeful is that? Because he I've never been on CD Baby, and everyone that comes in here says, you can buy my album on CD Baby. I'm like, I've never been on there. That's a distribution company that helps get it on iTunes. Okay. And, yeah, a lot of artists do use CD Baby.

I use Tooncord, but I think CD Baby should be on there as well. We'll also have physical copies tomorrow night if you come to Zeke's, which is a really good That's the thing to do. Come. Yeah. And there's a little mouse. What's up, little guy? Think you the building. I thought you were think you left the building. I thought you were goaltending. BUVA. He's really kinda cute. Hey, man. I was trying. Dude. I did really get caught up. Let's be honest. It's like that Germany game. It's nice. Way to bring in pop culture.

We I tried. We did our best with what's happening. We didn't do great. Here here's the deal, guys. If you guys are expecting me to do any kind of physical activity, you don't know anything about me.

That's fair. You know why I was a goalie when I played soccer? I was the size of the goal for a while. Like, when we had the little kiddie goal, I was just like, alright. I'm maybe nine years old. I'm almost six foot. I weigh about two hundred pounds. Let's do this. Got size fourteen feet. Let's do this. Good luck. Second that that goal got bigger, I'm like, I can't move this fast. What?

You expect me to move to that side at the time that that guy kicked? No. I will fall. And then if I catch it in the fall, we're good. That's why It'd be almost funnier to see Bubba try to intimidate the guy kicking it. Don't you kick it over there. Exactly. I'm in the middle, like, just tell me where you're gonna kick it. Either way, I'm gonna have trouble reaching it. Just tell me. Like, I'll start running

when you tell me right side. You know? Right side. Right side. Right side about three foot below the top bar. I'm gonna go, alright. You know what? Can you teach Yeah. On the count of three on the count of three, I want you to kick this. Okay? And I start taking a couple steps. I would still miss it if I'm being 100% honest. Now if you need something that's stationary that is very heavy to be picked up momentarily,

I'm your guy. Like, I'm I'm that's it. But if you need that thing to be moved while I'm momentarily picking it up, as long as it's like two feet, yeah, I'm in. Like, you need a if you need a fridge moved out from where it was to clean behind it Uh-huh. I am a champion. I am your man. I am the champion. But if you need that fridge to go anywhere, no. No. You call somebody else or you get a dolly. Mhmm. And then sprinting, no. I'm not out. Like, I it's just not me. I don't walk. I don't sprint.

I don't run. I don't I think you're you're never gonna last on the green mile with this attitude. I'm not. Okay. I'm really not. Okay. The green mile? That's the guy with the little mouse on it. No. I've seen it. Well, then what are you asking me questions? It's just irrelevant. That's all I'm saying. It was kind of irrelevant. Just was getting with it. I no. I thought of it three minutes ago. And move it along. Yeah. I've got it. I thought Boomer better shut up soon so I can share my billboard with this book. So I'll break it down. Okay. Alright. Hey. So, you can pick up broken connection, by echo at any, sounds like any major online retailer. Maybe it's CD Baby or not. As well, we said CD Baby too often unless we get paid by the click, and then maybe we're gonna be We might we just earned 9¢ from cdbaby.com. Yes. Yes. Or you can pick it up at the live show if you come out to Zeke's tomorrow night starting at 06:30. It's,

five well, we just show up to the door and what you know, it's gonna be $5, but, we'll let you in for five. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Mike's people need some help. What do you got? Dear you want dear Abby's? Yeah. No. What yes. You got you got some Pope style? Real quick Pope style. Okay. Hit me with Pope style. Okay. The the premise of Pope style advice is is that, some some yahoo that used to be friends with in high school and you jilted him somehow. I don't know. He's mad at you. He's got a grudge at you. He told everybody that you're the pope. And so now there's thousands of people on your front front yard, and they refuse to leave without some advice, from pope pope style advice so they can get on with their day. And, this week, it actually it it tends to almost the social media aspect. But, so there's there's a there's a movement within Christianity. They're like anti

Christian Christians. You know what I'm saying? Like, they're like, people are too they they think this is too Christian. And and, like, I'm not one of those. You know? Like, I'm not one of those people that thinks like that or that they have a real hard time with religious folks. Right? They're they're really against the establishment. And so, you know, I I kinda got on board for a little while. Like, I thought, yeah. Stodgy old pews. Whatever. Let's take it to the streets. You know what I'm saying? But but here here's the thing. If you let this go too far, then you're you're basically stepping right on the face of everything that Christ talked about. Right? Because let's say you got a guy that doesn't know Christ at all. And he and and he's living a sinful lifestyle and he's done doing whatever he wants. And he has no idea that he's separated from god.

And you wanna evangelize to that man. That's the score. Right? Let's say you have a religious man that thinks that he knows Jesus Christ and attempts to be in relationship with him by following a bunch of rules that other people made up that have no connection to the heart of Jesus Christ, have no love for other people. K. You don't wanna evangelize to that man. Right. They're the same guy. Right? They're the same. Neither one of them know Christ. Right? That's the problem. And like, I I and like this this this this ultra, whatever, hip, anti religious movement of Christianity, like, wants to condemn the current church for, like, their

I I don't know. Like like, I I agree with him on some points. Like, there's parts where religion overtakes Jesus. Right? And that's a problem. But that's just another guy that doesn't know Jesus. Right? That's that's not anything else but that. Right. And so he's the exact same guy that you're saying, hey. We gotta drop everything and evangelize because we're gonna change the world, and you're pretty much leaving the church that needs Jesus. And so, like, I I I guess I'm asking not to miss the forest for the trees here. When you when you rail against,

like, like, religious people, which is a problem. I agree. Like, religion is an issue. But when you rail against them, you're basically saying, I don't want anything to do with those sinners.

They don't know Jesus. I'm out of here. Right? That's a mistake. That's you're you're you're you're dumping on the same category of people. And it just it it just seems so odd to me that they make the distinction. So so the basic nature of what you're saying is that when people get fed up with,

the the the religious of the church, where where they feel like they're more focusing on religion and not Jesus. Right. Right? Where they're caught up in a religion and not in a relationship with Christ. Right. And you say they bail from the church to go help the sinner, they're actually also still bailing on the sinner. Yes. Right? Because someone who is who is

put a religion or an infrastructure above Jesus has the same problem as a guy who doesn't have Jesus at all. That's exactly right. Maybe I did. I probably didn't phrase that right. But like, I I I I just it seems to be filling up the the my news feed more and more often of people like, you know, making fun of religious Christians. They don't want anything to do with those kind of people who don't put up with swearing or, you know, some kind of offbeat behavior. And and I'm like, man, like,

if the if they're that religious and they're they're missing Christ, then, you know, maybe you you should be talking to them. You know, instead of this all maybe there's there's there's all kinds of people that need to know Jesus, and religious people are are one of them. You know? And so, like, it just seems like such a a weird distinction to me. And and and I'm I'm just seeing it a lot more often than I'm used to. No. And and, like, I I think I I I think the perspective here is is that if you find yourself in situations where you're dealing with people I mean, even if whether you're in a a church, like a church community infrastructure. Actually, any community, this is gonna come up. Right? You're gonna come to a point where, like, the people around you aren't doing what you think they should. Right? They don't they don't appear to love Jesus or and you've been trying to talk to them and trying to help them and engaging in their lives, and and and nothing seems to be changing.

And you're or you're leading something, and you and no nobody's really following the things that you're trying to get them to do. And and it's this happens in families. It happens in communities. It happens in businesses. And and you'll get to a point where you're like, this just isn't working out. Things aren't changing. These people are not doing, they're not they're not growing. They're not maturing. And and and everyone you'll get to a point where there's a a thought in your head that says the answer is to leave and go to somewhere where the the soil is more fertile.

But, like, the very truth that those things still exist where you're at advocate for you to remain. That's the truth. The truth is is, like, it doesn't ever help the people for you to leave. If you're the maybe you're not the light. Maybe actually you're causing the problem. That's possible. I'd be open to that. No. That's true. Yeah. You could be the problem. Pinnacle of the problem. Right. But but, like, you know, and this this happens in every ministry. Every every person's ever tried to lead something is you'll get to the point you're like, this isn't working. And either I'm failing or these people suck. And those are the two options that you can come up with. And so your your your solution is is if I'm failing or they suck, one way or the other, if I leave, this solves problems. The truth is it doesn't. The truth is it doesn't solve problems. It doesn't help for you to leave. Doesn't It help for you to bail on a community. It doesn't help for you to bail on a family. It doesn't help for you to bail on a a relationship that's not working.

Like, that doesn't solve your problems. But and that's the mindset that you're talking about. It's like, these people are too they're too stuck up. They're too uber religious for me. The way to solve this is for me to go and talk to the real sinner. Well, if that if they if that was the actual problem, what does that say about you? You left. Yeah. You left where you saw an issue, where people needed Jesus, and you said, I'm gonna go to the other people who need Jesus in a different way, and I wanna talk to them. I mean, it's possible you're not the right guy at the right time. I I I get that. I'm not I don't wanna discount that. Right? Maybe God has you doing something else. Yeah. Yeah. But, like, there are there are certainly times where a level of frustration or a feeling that things aren't progressing the way they should, and you think maybe it's just better if I go. Like, that's the thought of a leaving husband. And it's it's

it's just not a good reason to do anything. If if you're being called to something else, I get that. But called away from this specifically into an of nothing because something wasn't working out, it just doesn't sniff right to me. Yeah. So Well, and honestly, the heart behind it again is, like, if it's, oh, this isn't working out for me. Well, what's the heart behind that? Is that really a servant's heart where you're wanting to give and serve Yeah. And be that example of Jesus to someone else? Or are you just looking at what's best for you? Like, when you're leaving and just being like, well, this doesn't work for me, so I'm gonna go somewhere else where it's gonna work better for me. Yeah. Honestly, it's just a heart of selfishness

and not a heart of serving. Yeah. And it's really not and the betterment of them, it doesn't solve their problems. It just solves yours momentarily. Right. It's like, oh, it's just solving what I'm dealing with, but what they're dealing with is still gonna be the same thing the next day. It's it might even be worse. I mean, unless you're the person causing Let's see the problem. Yeah. Like, we're talking about There's caveats. There's reason to go, Elliot. But I absolutely agree, especially in relationships.

Like, you don't just leave because something seems better somewhere else because honestly, then it's not gonna be as good then. And you're gonna leave again Yeah. For something better somewhere else. Yeah. If you're always if you're always chasing what's best for you Yeah. You'll be chasing that forever. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because there's always there always seems like there's something better coming around as opposed to what does God have me doing and how am I serving And if you can get content in both of those things, then you're probably in the right spot.

Ready? Yep. Dear life from the path. K. We are we were visiting my daughter and her husband when their three year old Bethany, offender, entered our room and rummaged through our medications. The door to the guest room was closed, and the medications had been placed on a desk. Of course, everyone thought she had ingested some, so they rushed her to the ER. We were fortunate that nothing was found in her system. My son-in-law thinks we should help pay the medical bills. I have set several $100, but he is asking for more. Bethany is an only child, and they allow her free reign in the house. I have other grandchildren who are even younger. None of them would dream of touching something that wasn't theirs. It's been almost a year since the incident, and they still haven't taught her to respect and leave things alone that are not hers. My daughter is a professional, and her husband works from home, which concerns me because he isn't as strict as I feel is necessary. Are we obligated to help with more of the medical expenses? I don't think so because we have already helped, and I don't think it's our job to teach our grandchild boundaries. Grandma in Ohio,

booba. You're up, booba. Really? Yeah. Man. Yeah. What would do? Kids snuck in, took some dropsy. I wanna say no

that you're not responsible for taking care of the kid. I think the parents should have to do that. It's part of having insurance, part of dealing with health, all that stuff. Even given the 100 of dollars that you've already done, I wouldn't have even done that to be 100% honest. The kid came in, messed with, messed with stuff that was yours. Ultimately, it's your grand it's your grandkid. But, yeah, the parents that they're trying to put a financial obligation on is ridiculous.

Alright. Tunic, what are your thoughts? Yeah. I don't think they should feel the burden that they have to do that. I think also what they're facing is just what we're facing as a society is this sense of entitlement. We just feel entitled, and we feel like we're entitled to everything. And so instead of earning it, which what our parents and those before us have done is worked hard and earned it,

worked hard, lived for respect, were taught the right ways. It's it's the parents' job, honestly. It really is I mean, the grandparents can implement examples Yeah. Of respect, and they can do what they can, but

that is not totally their burden. And that kid's three years old, man. You gotta lighten up on that kid. He's three years old. He roaming around. He opened the door. He grabs stuff. Yeah. Did you so I'm having troubles here because I I agree on the basic premise of the question. Yeah. It says, like, I don't think I should have to pay this, but, like, the attitude of this person is real foul. No. That's that's your job. Other grandchildren that are younger than them, and they wouldn't dream. Yeah. Yeah. This kid needs to be taught respect. She is three. You know what I'm saying? Three. If you have medication, you are responsible for that. Mean, I don't I don't I don't care that the I mean, whether the child should have been there or not, you should not have put it in a place a child could have found it. Uh-huh. I mean, know, you just don't What if the child's 10? With prescription. That changed that? You still you know what? I don't do it with high schoolers because they might take it and sell it to their friends. Oh. Friends. I'm just saying if you have medication and it's prescription,

you I don't care where you are. You don't just leave it out for people to find it. You just don't. It's on a desk, Dan. Exactly. Impossible to get to. Keep it in your suitcase. Okay. So are you are you saying that they are should be responsible for medical bills? Have a difficulty trying to figure out the financial part. I don't know why mom and dad don't have health insurance and and why there's this big huge bill. They've already paid hundreds of dollars. Yeah. I mean, and and so that I don't know. I can't that that's a bigger issue. But I do I can say the grandparents are at fault for having that accessible. Yeah. I here's the deal. I find this whole story a little fishy with her attitude being like, the kid has got disrespect issues. The kid is three. You know what I'm saying? Like, if he was stapling his his poop diaper to the wall, we might be talking about something. But, like, this kid opened the door and walked in and grabbed something that has no idea what it It sounded like a wreck. Yes. Right. It looks like a a Lego or a pill bottle. They don't know the difference. You know? Yeah. And so you the the and there's, hundreds of dollars. The that medical expenses doesn't make sense. Most parents are like, I don't care about the bill. Get the kid in there. You know, thank you, Jesus. There's nothing wrong with them. We're great. You know what I'm saying? I'll pay $300 to get that that stress off me without, you know, charging my mom and dad for the hassle. Yeah. The whole thing sounds weird. That. I wouldn't bring that up either. Right. The whole thing, yeah, the the the things that just don't add up. There's there's some dysfunctional issues in this family. They need to get together and and communicate and and

figure out the deeper issues that are there, I'd say. Ultimately, it sounds like a grandmother that's trying to get in the way of, like, parenting this child. She's she's getting into, like, saying, well, she's not up to my standards of what a three year old should be and all this different stuff. And the father's a stay at home worker, and he may not be as strict as for my liking and all this stuff. Nobody nobody, no no grandparent thinks their kids are as strict to their liking. Like, they're not raising them the way they did. And on an opposite side, want them to be not strict at all. Yeah. That's the general nature of being a grandparent. They don't discipline the kids.

Go ahead and let them run wild. They can have candy. Yeah. Yeah. No. I here's I don't think they owe them any money at all. I might pay it anyway, though. I might I might pay it anyway. Is is it worth long term, is it worth fighting over? If I have it, the principal is irrelevant to me here. Right. I probably would like, assuming they're not asking for $18,000

or something, like, if it's a matter of another couple $100, I might just pay it. If I have $600 and they're asking for $600 and it's the fact that the little kid went to the hospital and all this different stuff, the situation arise that there's money that the parents are having to pay, they didn't anticipate. I I feel the same way. If I have it, let's do it. But I don't think it's an obligation. Let me ask you this, Mike. Let me ask you. Let's say as a grandparent, you weren't involved.

Okay? You have to say that it was somebody else's pills. And they said, look. We could really use some help paying this. They had to be rushed to the hospital. They said, we got we need $600, and you had it. Yep. Would you give that? Yeah. So the prob the the problem is you won't give it because it feels like it's out of compulsion or because they're forcing you. Because one of those kids is my kid, and he's acting like a bump. That's why. My it's my job to teach that kid how to live. And you failed. I know. And so Unless his kid eat prescription medicine. Permit, I'm not as as Echo pointed out, his, entitlement attitude. Like, I've failed somewhere along the line that he thinks he's gonna mob squeeze me for a couple $100. He's a cheap man, and he doesn't wanna pay the medical bill.

I don't pay that. I might still pay it. I don't think you should, but I might. Yeah. But you can't teach kids like you teach adults. And and the lessons just are gonna be lost. Adults are not gonna receive that training and that discipline the way that it that a child would. So if you treat an adult like a child, they're just gonna split. So I don't I don't think that's gonna work. If he splits, then he's not hassling me for money anymore. That's a win win. Thanks, Eric. Let's hear what yeah. Thank you for affirming my decision. Here we go.

Secular says, that must have been some hefty emergency room bill. Obviously, closing the guest room door is not enough to deter your granddaughter. In hindsight, you know that you should keep anything you don't want, her to get into a locked suitcase. But you and your husband are not mind readers. If this wasn't a wake up call to your daughter and son-in-law, then it was time to teach their child the meaning of no and don't touch, then I don't know what it will take to prevent another oops. As to your shelling out more money than you already have enough for Bethany's medical bills, I think you have given enough, and you should not be blamed for what happened. It's false. It's

a false lie. What do you mean a false lie? Yeah. You heard me. Think on it. Hey. You've been listening to Live From The Path. Thanks for hanging out with us on this balmy Monday evening. Big thanks to Ryan Ekatunek for joining us. I hope you guys will join us tomorrow at Zeke's starting at 06:35 bucks at the door. We're gonna be there. Echo's gonna be there. It's gonna be a great show, and we'll see you next week. Thanks for listening to Live From The Path.