Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the path. On livefromthepath.org. You can check out the the show on the on the website at the, you know, the aforementioned address that I gave. You can also check it out on Saturday nights at 07:00

on ninety nine point three KTIA. You can also find it on iPods of most famous people, which I did not know until I got an email from a bunch of famous people this week. And so that was both encouraging and surprising. I don't know. What do you mean? What do you mean email from famous people? Like, what famous people? Who who talked to you? Well, Arnold Schwarzenegger sent me an email. He said, by the way, I've been listening to your podcast, and I think it's, fantastic. It sounded a little bit like this. I am the gummy bear of candy corn. Yeah. I'm not really sure how that translated into people liking the podcast. But

here's the deal. In the radio business, we like to call that a setup. Yeah. And then in real life, we like to call what you did a whiff. Alright. It was delightful. Here's what we got going on the show tonight. Is that the only phrase you know, Lou? It really was. Seriously. We got

you know, I I can't tell you what type of show it's gonna be. It could be really off the rails. It could be dead solid. Who knows what's gonna happen? As we are as in the studio, we're gonna get to know those guys a little bit more. Coming up tomorrow, they're playing a show at, at Alt at 4801 Franklin in Des Moines, and it's gonna be a great show. Echo's gonna be there. They're gonna be there, and, I'm really excited for that lineup, but we're gonna get to know those guys a little bit. You can know them. You can love them, and then you can hug them tomorrow when you see them at the show. That's totally loud. Yeah. That's nods. I got nods from almost everybody. Hugs available. So we're gonna talk with as we are. Mike's got some Pope style advice. Mike, preview on the Pope style. Well, here's the deal. It's it it it has to do with getting burned by a fellow Jesus man. Like, maybe you maybe you thought the that the fact that you both claimed the love of Christ, you had some common ground, and then, I mean, it just went south. It it went sour, like it like, it just didn't work out. And so, I have some Pope style advice concerning that. Okay. Alright. We're gonna hit that. We also have some advice on dear life and the path, and we need to know what's happening in the world. Dan, what's on, what's on tap for tonight for what's happening? First of all, I really burned Mike earlier in the week. It has by the Pope's advice has to do with pastors that you think are just untrustworthy.

No. That is that that is not true. I have I have three things here. Some of these have been big in the news lately. We have some Ebola Ebola, excuse me. What's that called? Can't even answer Only Dave Husson would call it Ebola. Ebola. What did I mix that up with? I mixed it up with something. E coli. Yeah. There we go. That's why I'm not a doctor. And also we had a big Tony Stewart ran over a dude. Okay. Did you see that? Yep. And killed him. And then one last thing, little we'll talk about ISIS, the group and the terrorism and going on and and some persecution going on. Okay. Alright. That's we're gonna hit that on on what's happening. Before we get into those things, let's get to know as we are just a little bit. Fellas, thanks for coming into the show. You're welcome. Alright. Awesome. So Hey. Wait a minute. Most people thank us for having you having you come in. Thank you for having And you just accepted our thanks and then said, you're welcome. You've been blessed by my presence.

I like this already. So so for for people who aren't familiar with As We Are, tell a little bit about yourselves. Where are you from? What you're about? Is it supposed to be up or down? That's fine. We're from Southern Illinois.

Okay. Alright. Like, Mount Vernon, Centralia area. Like, everybody's from the same place? Yep. Okay. Sweet. So how did you guys get together? Josh and I played music for, like, seven years together. And, I don't know. This is just kinda what happened. So we we, about four years ago, we quit playing in the band that we did play in, he started playing in a band. And I started as we are. And,

then, I don't know. We just came back together again. Well, it seems alright with me. I feel like your behind the music isn't gonna be very long. We first, we were not a band, and then we were Then we were a band. A band. Well And then success came, and then it was over. So so let let me ask you this. You you could do it I mean, you anything the world, right? You could work at a gas station, you could fish for I worked at a gas station. Okay. Okay. That's solid. See, now this Behind the Music is getting better. Things are getting interesting. You could be a janitor. Okay. But you're not. But you're you're you're traveling around as a band. Like, why? What what what about what what points you to being a band and being an as we are versus doing something else in life? Like, why why is this important?

Because it's well, personally, it's what I love doing. And if you can do what you love to do, you'd rather do what you love to do. And I enjoy writing music and playing music and hanging out with these guys because they're awesome, and, that's why we do it. And and it seems like wherever we go, we get an opportunity to to bless people, and and, it always seems like we're in the right place at the right time, it seems like. So it's kinda cool. Sweet.

I have to say, we we saw you in concert here a few weeks ago, and and I would I would confirm that. You guys look like you really enjoy what you're doing. You're you're not just like Josh lost a bunch of weight since that show. Yeah. Well, I was kind of wondering. I have not. I have not. I have the same weight. So thank That you for

was our friend Christian. He's been doing a lot of filling in. Josh has had some stuff going on. He's a boilermaker, so he got carried over in the spring a little longer than he thought. So Christian jumped in. And then before we left last time, he had to do like a schooling thing, and then his appendix blew up inside of him. So he got really sick. So Okay. Now we're talking. Yeah. Drummer. Now there is drama in the story. Fifteen minutes in, the appendix

Questions the band's future. And Paul had an interview for another movie role. Which one was that? I don't know. So so so if someone hasn't heard as we are, how would you describe yourself? How do describe your sound? Americana. A little bit of banjo. Don't know. I'd say listen to it. It's kind of poppy, rocky.

You know what, I can tell you nothing. Just buy the CD, you freeloader. We like you pirating our music. We do like it. I don't have to tell you anything. It's poppy and rocky. I don't know. Makes you happy, I hope. It made me happy. That's true. I was happy after having heard it. So we were at the show a couple of three weeks. What was it? A couple of three weeks ago? Yeah, why don't you answer that? What does it sound like?

And so not only am I not going to tell you, but you tell me. I love I love this guy. Or we won't come back. That's right. They've made a mistake because I'm fairly cynical. Sounded like a three legged dog choking up a chicken bone. Awesome. But like, here's what like, I had to describe it, it has it has a lot of energy to it. It has it has a lot of very catchy, you know, melodies and courses that come out. It's kind of that stuff that sticks with you after you get done hearing it. Yeah. And it probably probably be one of those deals where, like, two days later, you're humming a tune, you're like, where did I get that from? Yeah. And, you know, and and it's probably it's probably where you got it from the As We Are concert. I thought it was it was it was very well written. It has it has a lot of, you know, ups and downs. It's mostly fast paced stuff, but it was it was very good. I really liked it. And and actually, the slower one they played, I can't remember exactly the name of it, at the time, but, like, they do they do a fairly good job of of running, like, the full gamut of a of a full show. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's not it's not slapping you in the face the whole time, and it's not crying the whole time. You know? It's like a well rounded roller coaster of of entertainment. So I I think it's well worth your time. What? Yeah. That sounds like the band as we are, if I had to compare it to something.

Have Did he ever say it sounded like anything? Well, I mean, he gave a pretty full fledged I mean, a complimentary explanation. Alright. So you're taking it differently than I would have imagined. I was at the hot dog stand during their set. Okay? I missed the whole thing. I saw three guys punching a clown in the parking lot and I thought that sounds like Are. Done.

Done. If you want to find more information about As We Are, you can find them on Facebook. You should go like them and then that you can catch up on their information. If you don't know where to find them if you like us, and you should, we like as we are. And so you can go find them that way if you need to. Hook up with them on Facebook and see what they're up to. And they are like I said, they're gonna be at First Federate tomorrow at the alt venue, and that's at 4801 Franklin, and you can catch that. Door's over at 06:30. Echo's gonna be there. It's $5 at the door. Should be a really cool show. Yeah. And this the location is kind of one of those mega parking lots. So just do a full circle before you decide to pull in somewhere and hit a door. You know what saying? Drive around the place one whole time so you can tell where you're supposed to be. Don't just pull up at, the front door and start roaming the grounds. You know, do yourself a favor and make a make one full circle around the parking lot. You'll find us. You'll see where Life in the Past is hanging out at and where the show is. So just go ahead and do that. Get yourself in the general area and then take a circle. Yeah. Yeah. Sounds good. We'll be hearing these guys are gonna be hanging around. They'll be talking throughout the show about what we're talking about. So make sure to keep hanging out for as we are. Dan, tell me what's what's happening in the world?

Alright. We got we got some stuff going on here. It's it's it's it's been a busy busy news week. Right now, we're gonna start out with I numbered these. I don't need to know your process, Dan. Well, that that was my Fire them away. The Wizard of Oz curtain has been revealed. Dan numbered the pages. Oh, no. Now you know. There's a there's a method. Okay. We recently had some missionaries return to The United States who are infected with the Ebola virus. They're in quarantine. They became infected working with patients in Liberia. The epidemic is kinda broken out in that area. And some people are worried about the missionaries maybe causing

an Ebola outbreak here in America. So some people kinda ticked off and that kinda thing. So here's the question. Jesus was known to touch lepers and heal sick people. How far is too far for Christ follower to go in helping those who are infectious and potentially cause harm to a person's family, home, or even our country? A, there's no such thing as too far. Jesus said the shepherd leaves the sheep in the open in order to go after the one lost sheep. Every risk is acceptable when trying to save that one person. B, it's not worth risking your own health nor the health of your family in order to possibly help someone. Or c, we're all going to die anyway. Do whatever it takes whenever it happens. Alright. That's the big notion on the table. David Herrick, what are your thoughts?

I'm gonna use Jesus as an example. The only time that he ever really shied away from healing people and helping people was when it got in the way of his his mission of, advancing the kingdom. So if you're trying to build a kingdom, if you're sharing your faith with people and the other option is to go out and heal someone or help out the sick in some way, lean more towards the getting people in touch with Jesus. That's the only thing that it should really be sacrificed for. Mike? That was a pretty good answer. Shoot. Yeah. I should've let Herrick go. Yeah. You should've let Herrick go last. He's still going in there. Now it's gonna be typical. You know, but but I mean, people legitimately struggle with this though. Like, especially during, you know, anytime there's a natural disaster or there's a relief thing of some kind.

And and and sometimes it's it's a very opportune excuse to get off mission. Right? Like, the hard thing is slugging it out with people, with their junk, with their emotional attachments, with their with their life. You know what I'm saying? Like, being having interpersonal relationships with people, it's just it's it's exhausting. You know what I'm saying? And so, like, sometimes, it frankly, it's just easier to go build houses for some folks or feed the homeless for a while or whatever. I'm not saying that you can't do that. I'm just saying, like, I think I agree with Herrick. If if it's your one way ticket out of the hard work that God's got you doing, that's probably not acceptable. But I mean, I I I mean to pray on it. Know what I'm saying? If Jesus says, look, you're going to the Ebola country, you're going. Sorry. You know, you're I mean, what's the worst that's gonna happen? You're one step away from shaking his hand and say, why did you send me to the Ebola country? And then he laughs and said, come on in. It's the middle ground Paul solution. Right? To live is Christ, to die is gain, we'll do both. What do I do? Send me to Ebola, I guess. I'm fine. Yeah. I I guess

the only thing I would I would tag on to that would be, yeah, don't don't close the door on something God hasn't closed the door on. You know what I'm saying? Like, if that's what it is for you, embrace it. Love it. Hug the man. There was and I I I don't know the I forgotten the specific time frame, so forgive me on that. But there was a description of Christians going through and there was a flu or a plague or something going on. And there were Christian doctors and stuff literally dying from having gone in and helped these people. And the description from the historian was basically that they are doing what Jesus did. They have died for somebody else. They've sacrificed themselves that that person may live. And ultimately

be able to be pointed to Christ in a way that they would not have been if they had not done that. So don't close the door on something just because it requires your personal sacrifice, but don't jump into a pool of piranhas and yell Jesus on the way in and hope that everything works out. Like, go where God sends you, not where you think smells like Jesus but may not be. Sorry, I got one more example that I just want to throw in there. Jesus would also take time retreating from other forms of ministry to spend time with God. So the other thing that I would put as a higher priority to going out and and ministering to the needs of others is making sure

working on that that connection that you have with God, maintaining that relationship. That that should, of course, be our highest priority. That's true. It's like a domino. You got that straightened out. You don't have to worry about, did I hear from Jesus? Did I not hear from Jesus? I felt like I was praying on him, but he didn't really answer me. Well, you didn't really sit down and ask him or talk to him or pray to him or have any type of interaction with him. You know, maybe that's where the connection the communication breakdown is happening. So. The only problems sometimes with using Jesus as the example is is none of us are Jesus. You know, we're Christ followers. That's a solid point, Dan. I mean, we wanna babble after him. We wanna do what he did. But but I don't have the ability to just heal a leper if I feel like it. I can pray for them and hope that God will heal them, and I have faith God can do it. And I totally believe he can. But just because I say so doesn't mean you I mean, I might touch the leper and get leprosy. Jesus really didn't have that. That's true. You might. So are are you saying because of that risk though that that's that's an off limit? No. That's what I'm asking you. Yeah. I'm saying yes. I think yes. If god god may call you to touch a leper, you may I have gone in hospital rooms where I had put all the whole thing on and they had stuff on and and and I was kinda like that went through my mind. It's like, okay. Got a family at home. I gotta make sure I get all this stuff off and I don't bring any of that stuff with me. And it must must have worked. That was several years ago. So Finger it off, man. Nerily escaped that one. By the way I've been I've not been preying on it, but I went with the pagan finger crossing, and I feel like it's working out. Okay. Alright. Well, that's what's going on. Anything else? Jump out?

No? Everybody solid on that one? Alright. Buba Buba has no answer? Buba? What are your thoughts? I had not, to this point, had a microphone. So I did not answer. I I completely break the fourth wall, Buba. Yep. Why you just peel the curtain back more? Dan's been talking about his page number and you're talking about inner workings of a studio. Just give an answer, Buba. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Thank you. I I'm gonna go with a. I think that What

is this side profile booba beard shot? If you wanna take a look at Hey. What's going on with the beard. Don't talk about it, boob Just give your answer. So I completely agree. I think ultimately, we're called to to make disciples of all nations before anything, and that includes healing. And and I think that you're absolutely right when it says, you know, when God's calling you to do one thing, that's what you're gonna do. Take care of yourself. It doesn't mean you have to sacrifice yourself at every situation.

Really? Is that that that's what's going on right now? But whatever. That's my answer. Okay, Dan. We're in with whatever whatever letter distinction you made for that answer. Alrighty. C. I'm gonna spend two minutes to say nothing. Moving on. I concur. Alright. Alright. Here's the second one. Tony Stewart just recently struck and and killed a guy on the race. It's been all over the news. Maybe you've seen it.

Tony's car hit Kevin Ward Junior's car. It crashed. Tony kept going. The the dude jumps out of his car and starts running on the racetrack and pointing out at at Tony Stewart. He's he's obviously angry. One guy almost hit him but missed. Tony actually hits him, and the and the guy the guy dies. Tony is known for being a hot tempered guy. Kevin Ward, like I said, was obviously angrier angry himself. I'd say the root of this is anger. I mean, it just you know, there's some anger going on. And that's that's part of the sport. There's a competitive thing going on. So here's the question. What's the most biblical approach to interacting with someone when you are angry? Okay. So you can put put yourself in this. It might be, you know, may you might not be in a racetrack. It might not be Tony Stewart, but it's you angry at someone you're interacting. A, speak your mind freely. Let what happens happen. B, hold your tongue and your actions until you can calm down. Or C, smile at them and pretend you're really not angry and then go home and kick your dog.

Hold on. Let's hear from Dale from As We Are. Dale, your answer. I definitely think you should kick your dog. Yeah. Dale goes with the hypothetical dog kicker. Coming coming from the hard rocker. Solid. Moova. A is awful. No. Don't just let it go. C is awful. Don't be passive and lie. B is the answer. You need to let yourself calm down. You need to make sure that you are not reacting and freaking out in a way that's controlling. What if I'm righteously mad right now? You're righteously mad. That's fine. You've got the conviction going on. Allow yourself to be calm so you can interact with someone in a way that's gonna be constructive to them. Yeah, but Doesn't matter if you have a righteous anger. It just that's calling out the situation, but that doesn't mean you immediately jump on somebody. Are you saying that there's never a a benefit to heated exchanges? No, I did not say that.

So what I'm saying is than when I'm heated to have the exchange. What I'm saying is you need to make sure that your anger does not get in the way of the ultimate message of trying to help somebody out. If you're if you got a righteous anger, you're obviously convicted to speaking to someone's life. You're speaking to a brother or sister in Christ about what's going on. No. It's just a regular guy. Okay. It's just a regular guy that you wanna straighten up. We'll call him Pat Pagan. We're probably not gonna call that a righteous anger in your case. Oh. But, ultimately, don't let the anger rule your actions. It's too easy to get a righteous anger, to get angry about anything, immediately confront somebody, and then say something you regret. It's so much better to take the time that you need to calm down, think about how you're gonna interact with this person, and make sure you're catering to them in a way that's going to better them and not just berate them and demean them and bring them down. Your interaction with them should be building them up at all points of time while convicting them. So the answer is B. Jeez, boobah.

Go ahead, Eric. Yeah. That's what I'm gonna say in response to that first question where I just said two minutes ago, oh, yeah. Here's here's basically what Buba's answer was. Be all things to all people at all times. That was your answer. That sounds like Paul, doesn't it? That sounds like Paul. Sounds Yeah. Like You nailed him. Yeah. Not Arnold Schwarzenegger Paul. Go ahead, Eric. What do got? Oh, well, I

know of two examples where you will almost always have an accident. One of them is when you're angry and the other one's when you're going fast. And this is just one of those situations where you're going really fast and you're really angry. So, yeah, an accident's gonna happen. And really, if I if I was your enemy, you know, I wanted to really take you down a peg, then what I would do is I'd try and get you in a position where you're angry and you're going fast because that's the best way that I can overcome you. So watch out for that. The best way to stay in control is to slow down and don't act in your anger. When you act in your anger, you're gonna do something that you regret. Nobody's for yelling at people, Nope. I'm going with B.

I mean, I guess I'm the odd man out here. Feel like I feel like sometimes A is the way to go. Well, speak your mind. I don't well, I I don't know. I mean, here's the deal. It's like, it's for the same reason that some people are like don't use stronger language. Stronger language could some sometimes be translated over to people raising their voices. How do you know that you're impassioned about something unless your your voice raises a little bit? Say, hey, how dare you, sir? You know, something with some stank on it. I mean, sometimes people just wanna say sometimes people just wanna say That's the stank? Hey, how dare you, sir? Well, I I mean, I didn't wanna bring the full stank. That's how they do it in The UK. I'm not literally I'm not really riled up right now. But I'm just saying if you, you know, you you poke this bear, you sit, you know, you can get the claws. That's all I'm saying. Hey.

Here's the deal. Everything has been said. Go ahead, Dan. Move on. Hey, you. Alright. This was a little heavier. A lot of stuff going on right now in The Middle East. It has been for centuries. So this isn't totally new, but but but it's just really really hot right now. The terrorist group ISIS, they're they're raping Christians, beheading, enslaving other people too, but the Christians is definitely a big target. One one community, they they told people who are Christians, they said basically you you have to you have what is it? Three days or something to comply? I don't remember that. Anyway, they gave them a dilemma. You know, leave An ultimatum. An ultimatum. Yeah. Excuse me. They were in a dilemma and or pay a fine or die basically, and they pretty much have kept their threats. Here's the question. What do you do they've been saying there's evidence of ISIS here in America. I don't know. Who knows? But here's the question. What do you do? This is an honest question. If you had the same threat given to you, you had three days to comply. That's where I was getting my three days thing. And you knew you that that group had the power to back up their threats. You have to give up Christ,

you have to leave, you have to pay a fine. Alright? A is pay the fine, try to get along b, leave everything behind, run for your life, no one you're on your own. Or C, convert to Islam. Be honest. Wait, I'm sorry. What was it? I kind of didn't describe that well, did you? No.

Was good money. Holy cats. Was like a guy shaking a jar full of rocks. Are you trying to fix me? Is the question that you in the same situation that they are in? Is that the question, what is the right reaction? Exactly. But it was here. But it's you and it's here. So it's like real. It's not like you happen to be in The Middle East and oh, whoops. Well, I mean it is real for them. Right? It is. That's what I'm trying to say. It's really real for you and you have to actually leave your home or you know, risk your family. What are what are you going to do? Okay. Mike?

Okay. So the options were, a, pay the fine. Wait. If I pay the fine, can I still love Jesus and stay there? Yeah. They just said you can just try to get along with them. They're just saying, hey. Pay give us some money. We'll let you live. Although they didn't. Okay. And b was just run for it. Yeah. And then c was convert to Islam. That's what they're looking for. Okay. So c's out.

I don't know. I feel like I might bounce between a and b. I don't really wanna fund them. I guess maybe b. I don't know. B. I guess I'm gonna go with b. I don't wanna give them any money to to further their activities. B. Bubba. Yeah. I was thinking a, but man, this camera shot's weird. I was thinking a the entire time, but you're right. I don't wanna fund them either. I'm thinking b two. I think I might just try to run because c's out. No. It's not optional. I need to I have to ask a small sidebar about this because I was reading a little bit about, like, the folks that run the mountain. Yeah. You know that they kind of had a trap on the mountain. Now are they a different

sect of Christianity? Because it sounded like they pull from Christianity, Judaism, and then some kind of astrology? Astro something or otherism? Yeah. They're they have their own sort of faith. It's sort of a hybrid of a lot of different things. Overall, it's a mystic type of approach to God, just sort of whatever. But the one share Jesus? Well, we in some respects, we even share Jesus with Islam Sure. In some respects.

But, yeah, I mean, they've got pieces of just about everything in their religion. But it's different than ISIS' approach to Islam, so ISIS doesn't like them. Okay. Sorry, I thought that was interesting. I didn't quite understand the caveat there. Okay, so BUWA was in with A, no funding. Or with B, don't fund, run for it. I don't think I'd even trust them, let alone fund them. K. I mean, they're they're out killing people. I mean

Yeah. So I I mean, I I I think it's a lot it's a lot like the Ebola question. Mhmm. You know what I'm saying? Like, I think the the natural instinct would be I mean, there's no reason to stay here and be murdered unless God is is is calling for my sacrifice because it furthers the kingdom. Again, that's not off the table. That is a that is a that is very much a a revelation discussion. So, you know, I

yeah, I I said my first instinct would be to run. I I I can't I can't see the reason to stay around and trust whatever bargain they that they've struck. If they're if they're willing to kill you anyway, I feel like these aren't the type of guys I don't know. It's like buying donuts from a mob shop. So It's not like exactly a fertile mission field at the moment. You know? It's like not not like you're staying home. Well, I mean, everything's a fertile mission field. So I I don't know that I would mission, but I'm not very fertile, though. I I here's the deal. I I don't know that I'd be willing to take the I 'd say the Holy Spirit can do what He wants. Oh yeah. And in fact it is more fertile, it is ripe for change. As matter of fact I read something about,

there's been some reporting of a bunch of the Muslim men having dreams where Jesus was in him. Right. At this time during this season where these things are happening. And so, I mean, take away a God perspective,

yeah, I would just run and call it a day. But like, he'll kind of do what he wants and the church tends to grow on the blood of the saints. And so I'm putting in the Ebola category. If God has me staying for whatever reason, and I don't like that answer, but like the truth is that's what he has got going on, I can be faithful in that. So they're going after the children first, they're beheading What they're going to do is children. So you're just going to hang out? I would say the validation of my faith, if my faith falls, and whatever you say, like if I say, No, I won't renounce Christ and I'll do what He tells me to do, and you propose any other item, and I say, Oh yeah, maybe I'll change that, then I feel like I'm being a little bit disingenuous with my Do you send your family out and you stay behind? Of course then they're often on their own.

I mean, honestly, tried to figure this out. What would I what would I really do? Yeah. They're going out into the desert where there's no water, no shelter. It's like you you go out, you you you die. You stay, you die. Yeah. Yeah. I I would say, I mean, it's mean, here's the deal, there's a right answer here. The question is whether I'm honest in it. That's really the question. The right answer is I'm going do what God has me doing. And if that involves staying with me and my family or sending my family away and I stay, whatever it is, then I'm going to do that. What that looks like,

I guess, again, the Ebola comparison is it's not off the table. It just simply isn't off the table for me to die there. It's not off the table for my family to die there. But be warned, brothers, we are not to be like those who have no hope when those that we know have fallen asleep. And so, you know, it's not like our situation would be unique in those circumstances. This isn't something that people haven't seen before. What it does is it causes us to actually embrace faith as a reality, as opposed to this thing that we can hold in attention and say, maybe I run into a person and I talk to them about it a little bit and hope it changes their life by the things that they say. Or is is it a reality? Does it exist in real life? Is there a consequence to loving Jesus in a world that doesn't? Know, can I chuck revelation as an encouragement and just call it a good story? Or is it what it is? And so the answer is I think you I have to be prepared to do that and then be honest about seeking God as to whether that's actually what he wants,

whether it's in my perspective to see that through or not. That's where I'm at. Yeah, I'm going to agree with Ben on this one. I think unless God is directly speaking to you and saying, do something else, b is the clear right answer in this one. Get away from these people. I mean, Yeah. Get away from them. First off, from a ministry perspective, they have their hands over their ears. They're not listening to anything. So if you're trying to speak to these people,

they're not listening. There's no point in approaching that. However, if God is telling you to go and engage these people through either A or even through C, then you follow God. You do exactly what God is telling you to do. A is a very difficult option. That's the, pay and stay option. And if you do that, there's no guarantee that they're not gonna come back the very next week and say, hey. Now pay even more. And the following week, pay twice as much. And then you're out of money. I mean, there's nothing prohibiting them from essentially robbing you. And any any of them can come to you and say, hey. Pay us the tax. Pay us the tax tomorrow. Pay it as well. And and they will run you they will bleed you dry. And it's not just from a financial standpoint. They will also do this from a standpoint of justice. Someone comes in and robs you on the street. They're not going to come and defend you like they would any other citizen who's part of their state. So if if the route that your approach is is a, where you're just trying to pay, just understand you will always be at best a second class citizen of this state that they're putting together.

So realize that they would I mean, they will destroy you at any point. Finally, that leaves c, and this one gets really hairy. That's the convert to Islam one. This one gets really dicey because there are Muslims who follow Jesus. There are Muslims who honestly follow Jesus. Now it it gets really complicated because there's a lot of things that that you have to wrestle with. If they're pointing a gun at you and saying deny Jesus, that's something that every Christian and every Muslim should end up getting killed for. Yeah. And Muslims are supposed to embrace Jesus as the as someone speaking on behalf of the authority of God.

And so if someone comes to even a Muslim with a gun pointed to their head and says, deny Jesus, then they should say, alright. Kill me right here. It's something Muslims are obligated to do. So we already kinda have a little bit of a common ground of we should be embracing Christ. The only outstanding question is then, I guess, what do you do with Muhammad? And, personally, I've never met him, So I can't speak on his behalf. I have met Jesus. I can speak on his behalf. I I I can tell you about what I've seen in terms of Jesus, but Muhammad, I I don't get into. Yep. For other Muslims though, who who have grown up in that society, they've found something amazing in Jesus. They they found a a completeness

to their faith in in Jesus, something that was alluded to, through all these other avenues. It's like Jesus is that ideal of what it really means to be a person of peace. He he's the true manifestation. It's like if you wanna get an idea of what a really good Muslim looks like, take a look at Jesus. And so they what the way they'll describe it is, I'm a Muslim by following Jesus. Because of Jesus, I I now have peace with God.

And that's something that really couldn't be offered. In fact, it's not just peace. It's peace guaranteed. So see, it's an awkward route, but it is it's not something that's entirely off the table. And if that's what God is is leading you towards, then you embrace it and you follow God. And it doesn't mean that you're embracing everything about all of it, but you're certainly not gonna deny Jesus. Not at all. Right. So I think I I would I would die before I would say that Muhammad is his prophet, because I would say that is false. Now I I know people who identify themselves as Muslims, and they just don't even comment about Muhammad. Uh-huh. Instead, when they when they make the confession, they'll say, that's

Jesus. Jesus is the prophet of God. Or they'll say, that means that Jesus is the Messiah of God. And so they'll say the almost the exact same way that, other more traditional Muslims will say it, but they're just affirming something else that other Muslims will also affirm, and that's that Jesus is the prophet of God. They're affirming it, and Muslims will say that as well. They'll also affirm that Jesus is the Messiah of God. And so they've modified that confession just slightly because the emphasis of their faith is Jesus, not Muhammad. And they I mean, everything in in even their scriptures in the Quran, it more highly venerates Jesus than it does Muhammad.

Okay then. I mean, Eric kind of took the classiness of the show up a couple of notches with that with that foreign speak that he just pumped out. He just did it fluidly like it happens all the time. It sounded, woah. Yeah. I can't even do it. I'm going learn a phrase for next week.

I like potato chips or something. I used to be able to say I ate my pen in French. But that's the best I come up with. So, sorry, I'm trying to mentally walk through all the stuff that you were talking about, Harriet. So are you saying that

it would be possible, for you, it would be possible to, as far as they're concerned, convert to convert to Islam without renouncing Christ and otherwise continue to live a life that God has called you to. Yes. That seems viable. That is a viable option to you. You can do that without otherwise. Yeah. Yeah. No. Okay. Ask. Yeah. As a as just to make the idea a little bit easier to understand and digest,

There are Jews who grew up in in a Jewish tradition and and a Jewish faith, and then they're introduced to Jesus. Yeah. And they don't stop calling themselves Jews, and they don't stop associating with their Jewish community, but they'll identify themselves as messianic Jews. And what that means is that they're Jewish and they follow all the practices of of being Jewish, all of the traditions, the entire law that Moses has set out, and they continue retaining that Jewish idea identity and that Jewish religion. But in addition to that, they also are now disciples of Jesus, and they will identify themselves as messianic Jews. So now add now switch perspectives just a little bit. Instead of Jewish, now it's Muslims who have been introduced to Jesus in a new way. They had previously been introduced to Jesus through a very Islamic route, and now they're seeing how Jesus is in fact the fulfillment

of God's plan. And from their perspective, they will usually look at Muhammad as someone who's pointing back to Jesus and saying, hey. You should have been like this. So they would be, in a sense, kind of a messianic Muslim. That's tricky. So you're you're saying they can, like, come in the back door through a false prophet. What makes you say he he's a false prophet? Mohammed? Yeah. I've read part of his book as well.

They're they're following it. ISIS is following parts of it. I know what ISIS is doing. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, I don't want to debate about Mahal. Yeah. Exactly. I don't know what he said specifically. So, at this point, can't label him a false or a true prophet. I just don't know the guy. Alright. Boy.

What do you want me to say about that? I'm the dumb one on the edge of the bench over here. I'm like, can we play catch? That means I'm not even sitting on the bench, man. No. No. Thanks for listening to Live From The Path. Yeah. Right. Boy, it's sticky. I have sticky stuff over there in the corner. Feel like I don't know what's going on over there. Man, I wish the show was closer to ending. Feel like there's like twenty minutes awkward left. Alright. Well, let's

Mike, what you got some pope style. What's up? Yeah. What's the premise behind pope style? Here's the deal with pope style. Some some ne'er do well down at the local five and dime has decided to harass Mike by telling everybody that Mike is the pope. And so now crowds of people, I mean, myriads and myriads, have gathered upon his lawn expecting him to come out, walk out his front door, and in the style of the pope, give some sort of advice to them on how to live their life that is applies to his own as well so that they may scatter and go about their day. So, Mike, the mistaken pope, what is your pope style advice? Okay. So this week, I have run across

a situation that I actually it hadn't come across my table yet before. But there's there's a a friend of mine, and he was a Jesus man as far as I knew. Like, we talked about Christ and stuff and and, you know, how we organized our family in a way that was reflective of the Bible. And what? I thought we were great. You know? It was no no big deal. And then something kind of came up where, I don't know, we were having a discussion about how we were treating the people around us and how we were representing Christ

and how we were we were, you know, representing what a life with Christ looks like. And in doing so, I I don't know. I trusted I trusted him with some information, about people around us, that that made the discussion just a hair different. When I when I talk about people who know Christ, we talk about things that are that are, in common with with the Bible and the teachings of, of the Bible. Right? When I talk to people, you know, when I talk about people that are outside of God right now, they're just I shouldn't say outside of God. Right? But they're not interested in being in the kingdom of God right now. I talk about them in a much broader sense. Right? Like, the definition to me is generally, they don't know they don't know Jesus as their savior. Right? And so, like, there's a lot of grace that gets extended to them because of that. Right? How how do I expect them to act if they don't know Christ as their savior? And that's that's that's kind of my, my my working definition. So we were talking about some folks that were around us that that kind of needed some prayer and and that could use Christ in their life. And,

on a long story short, basically what happened is is is, you know, I I got burned in that situation. I had I had shared some information about people around me who didn't know Jesus, some specific things that maybe we could pray for and and look after. And, you know, the the opposing Jesus man did not keep that with a with a Christ heart. And and and basically took that information and used it against them, against the people. And, I felt really, burned by it. And and like I had like I had had a conversation that was honest and that was with, Christ in the middle of it, and the end result was not Christ honoring at all. It was just turned out to be, ugly and terrible, and I felt like I had betrayed some people.

And basically, here's my Pope's style advice on that situation because I think, that I've I've kind of wrestled with it for a little while, I think I've kind of come to where I'm at is, you you have to do that anyway. Like, the here here's the thing. Like, the bold move the bold move in your life with Christ is, being honest and open and and sometimes,

frankly, vulnerable. Right? Like, the the one of the things that I'm terrible about is that people can lie right to my face and I generally don't know. Like, unless they're just really bad liars like my seven year old. But like, other than that, like, I I mean, I just people can tell me all kinds of I buy that orange cleaner from the shyster that comes by and sells the stuff. He's like, the best cleaner you ever had. I'm like, no doubt. He's like, we got it on sale. One time offer. I'm like, one time offer? No kidding. We should pick some of this stuff up. Right? Like, I'm a total sucker when it comes to this. I I I always believe that people are being honest with me. Because the type of deception that you have to have in your heart to look me right in the eye and tell me a lie, I just I don't believe exists. I know it exists. Right? But like, I just don't ever catch it at the time. But there's an inherent flaw in that that I get taken quite a bit by people. People can fool me into thinking that they're one way or the other. But when I don't know. At the end of the day, I don't think that changes the way that I act towards them. Right? Like, I feel like I'm gonna I'm gonna say what I'm gonna say, and I'm I'm I'm gonna talk about, you know, the relationship that I have with Christ. And and our conversation is pretty much gonna be the same. I'm gonna hope that you don't take advantage of me. But actually, I I I think if I put all my trust in in that God's gonna handle the ends and I'm just being faithful in the means,

then, you know, I'm just gonna be vulnerable with it. And if I get hosed, I get hosed. You know? Like, I if it comes down on me and, you know, it basically soles my reputation or whatever, I, you know, I think I can live with that. I think I'm okay with that. I don't think that's gonna stop me from, having conversations, about people around me that need prayer and and and whatever. It's just it kinda falls into that same line of thinking where people always wanna do prayer requests, and really they just kinda gossip about people around them. Yeah. So the question is, is like if your heart truly is a prayer request, you know, and and you're sitting in a room with a bunch of people that you legitimately do not trust with that information, is the time to share that information. So I think there's a little discernment there to say, you know, may I don't know. Maybe you gotta kinda watch what you say a little bit, I guess. I don't know. I'm I'm just I'm kinda conflicted about that because I had, you know, I had a kind of a long standing, you know, relationship with this fella about, you know, Jesus and whatnot. And I and I kind of thought we were coming out from the the same angle and I and it just didn't end up that way. But I feel like I would probably do the same thing again. And I and and I was heading towards actually, was kind of kind of farming out to you guys,

if you feel that's kind of up for debate. You know, like, I can't test you every time, you know, I can't tell when you're lying to me generally. And so you could fool me into all kinds of stuff. And if I take that route, I never get to talk to anybody about anything. So I don't know, fellas. What do you think? I mean, kind of, you know, I don't know. What kinda what kinda vetting process are are we looking at here? Mike, you are not the one millionth visitor to this website. I'm telling you. I'm just letting you know. Yeah. Yeah. I wish I'd have won something.

So what so You're asking how do we trust people? Well, I don't know. Like, I I guess I guess my guard goes way down when people represent Christ. You know what I'm saying? Like, I feel like we have the same goal in mind, which is to, you know, connect people who don't know Jesus with Jesus. Right? Like and and like as soon as I hear that you represent Christ, I'm like, great. We're automatically in the same mindset that there's people around here that don't know Christ that need to know him. And so I feel like we're automatically there's a couple of things that we don't really have to discuss anymore. And so, like, because because your personal gain, your personal motives, the the betterment of you is kind of off the table. We're on the same mindset here. It should be, you know, the the outpouring of Christ on others. And like when that didn't happen, and when that wasn't the case, like I just felt really betrayed by the dude. You know? Like I thought we were on the same team here. Obviously we're not. You know? And so I made a huge mistake by trusting somebody that I shouldn't. Did I make the wrong move? Right? Did I did I did I did I share some things with the guy that, you know, claimed to represent Christ as far as I could see? He seemed pretty honest. You know, there's some fruit about him that I thought seemed pretty legit. You know? How do I keep that from happening? Well, the a Christian's not a substitute for Christ. No doubt. I don't man, it's tough. I I'm just thinking about the first thing that Jesus said about the kingdom of heaven was that it's the spiritually poor who inherit it, not the spiritually rich. And so those of us who are Christians are are right right from the get go, we're spiritually poor. We're we're gonna disappoint you. We are going to drop the ball. I mean, we're it's almost that first level of of being a Christian is just admitting that we have dropped the ball when it comes to our relationship with with God and and everyone else in our lives. At some point or another, we've dropped the ball. But

Jesus was able to pick that up. And based on him, he's helped to to restore relationships and make things right, and he's inspired us to to want to follow him and want to be more like him. And it doesn't mean that we're free from dropping the ball as we're prone to do. It just means that maybe if by watching this, you might at some point catch a glimpse of Christ.

Crap. Here's what it turns out that my postal advice is just pretty much indecision. I'm pretty sure I had I had the nip and tuck of this thing when I started talking, and then I've talked myself out of it. Dang. Well, is part of your your concern that you're, like, sharing maybe confidential information you shared? Wasn't. Yeah. It wasn't. And and, you know, I I I'm I'm not quite that foolish. You know? But I I guess it's painting people in a certain light. You know what I'm saying? Like, here's like, how can I how can I say that? So let's say you're in a group of people and and, you know, we'll take the whether you have a relationship with Christ is completely off the table. Right? It would be rude and insensitive of me to characterize your home life to anybody. It's none of their business. Do you know what I'm saying? Right. Right. Like so but like when I'm talking to another Christ follower who's, let's say, who's having a hard time with someone who isn't, you know, I would say something to the effect of, look, they don't have a they don't have a a salvation to be set in. They don't have a source of joy. They don't have a a community around them that that brings them up. You're gonna have to have a lot of grace for their behavior realizing they're missing, you know, the creator of the world as their as their joy source. Right? And and so like

but if you don't know Christ, and now I've painted a picture of this man of no joy, devoid of family whatever, no, you know, like it's different outside of Christ's context. Let me ask you this, if that same guy would have come up to you and asked you that question, hey, would you say that I don't have a source of joy in my life? What would you tell him? Yes. Okay. Well, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. No. I'm solid then. Post solid advice. Tell people about no joy. I would. I mean, here's you run that risk open in your mouth. I mean, you just like, when you say any when you say anything to anybody, you run the risk of of making them angry. When you take anybody into confidence, you run the risk that they're they're going to betray it.

If you if you pull out a life if your life is devoid of risk, you are not you're not doing anything. You know what I'm saying? And so, yeah, someone's gonna burn you. That's the nature. I mean, yeah, that's the nature of interacting with other people is someone's going to burn you from time to time. The thing is is like, if that were to come back around you, can you, in in in honesty and integrity, describe what it is that you said, and would you have said it to them? Or have you said it to them? And if you've done that, then I you know, the the the real issue here is a is a matter of integrity. Like, it's wrong if you're telling something to somebody else that you wouldn't say to them. If you're otherwise, you would say it to them, and frankly, you know, are just looking for the opportunity to be able to do so that so they will hear it correctly. I just I I don't know. I I wouldn't really have a problem with it. He's used it he's used it poorly. But heck, man, that might even bring up a decent conversation with one of those other guys. Should have come back to him. No. It might. So, Ben, what was what is my pope style advice? I think your pope style advice is is actually, is is to be faithful in the means. Like, you have to even even when those that surround you are not. You know what I'm saying? Like, if if you are faithful, if you are if you are doing what it is that you're supposed to do sometimes the bum will buy will buy lunch with the $5 you give him. Sometimes he buys booze.

Okay? Don't let your brains fall out, right? But sometimes you give $5 to a guy and it could go either way, and he could buy food or he could buy booze with it. Generally speaking, I will be taking advantage of probably a lot in my life at the risk of I wanted to try to help somebody. And sometimes they're going do the right thing, sometimes they're not going to do the right thing. Sometimes someone will approach you for counsel, you'll give them counsel and they'll spit on it and go ask somebody else who will tell them to do the wrong thing and they'll do that. It doesn't mean it was wrong to give them the counsel. You know what I'm saying? Like you can't control what other people do. There is a level of discernment that says

if they're just going to waste the time or the effort or they're going to use it intentionally and manipulatively, like there is a protection aspect to that. But, like, if in if you approach that conversation in earnest with integrity, what that guy did, I don't know, it reveals him. I'm not sure so much that it reveals anything about you that you wouldn't have revealed on your own. And that's my folk style advice. So keep that stuff in mind next time you run into some kind of situation where it's Harry.

What you need is a is a brother named Ben who can solve problems for you Right. Because you're a dunce. You're listening to to Live From The Path. We're coming to you every Monday night from ten at 10PM at lifefromthepath.org. At that website, you can also find past clips from the show, including musical performances, interviews with with bands and other characters of note, and also games like secular versus Solomon. And that one where we're the do you know do you know the people that have predicted the end of the world and were incorrect? It was excellent. Yeah. You can play that. I hey. There's an interview. By the way, we we did an interview with John Acuff. What is it? Two months ago. Yeah. And and that was a that was a a really fun interview, and it was very, very interesting. So, like, if you haven't listened to that, the video is not great because we we had a bad Skype connection, but the auto is pretty good. So go and check out that that interview with John Acuff. Also, you've been enjoying the the the times, the talents, the discussion of As We Are. They've been in in the studio with us. You can go find out more about them by going to Facebook and search for As We Are. If you don't like them already, you should like them. If you wanna know how to find them the quickest way, go to what we like. As we are rocks. As we are rocks. There you go. Facebook.com backslash

as we are rocks, and you can find out more about them. And if you haven't liked us already, I can understand the quandary. But, you know, Facebook box most of that stuff anyway. Yeah. It just makes me feel happy if you do. It's like a little tickle. So go ahead and do that. That would be great. Don't miss the show tomorrow night at the alt venue. That's at 4801 Southeast Franklin in Des Moines. And That's gonna be the best live music in town tomorrow. It is. There's no doubt about that. And that that's competing with the fair.

Yeah. The fair. Come on. Come on. Half the cost. How many times you gotta go watch those guys that do acapella and slam garbage cans together? Seriously. You've seen that show before. Also, before we go any further show, a big shout out to our sponsors. Bob Eisenhower with the Eisenhower team. Go to eisenhowerteam.com. Bob is in the business of buying and helping you buy and sell homes. They're easy to work with. They're hard to beat. And like I like I've told you before, I've been dealing with Bob a lot lately. I actually put another offer in on a house, and it was just straight up awesome. Everything was easy. They made sure I was well informed. I love working with Bob and his brother John. So go to eiselaherteam.com. And even if you're not in the market to buy or sell a house, say, hey, Bob. Thanks for sponsoring Life and Path. Also, Westfield Veterinary Hospital right here in Johnson. Go to westfieldvethospital.com.

It is I don't know. Take care of your pet. Know? Take it in. Make sure that they're up there on their shots. They don't have the fleas. Yeah. You brush your teeth every day. You brush your dog's teeth never. Yeah. Does that sound right to you? Yeah. You look at the dog, you think he takes care of himself. Look at that guy. Look. He licked his leg. He's fine. Everything's fine. Yeah. You're the worst pet owner ever. Get your dog into the vet. Go to westfieldvethospital.com. You can you can schedule an appointment right there online or you can give them a call and make sure you get your pets and take care of them. I care about your pet almost as much as you do, and I demand that you take him to Westfield vet hospital. Alright. Let's see. Shoot. Shoot. We're gonna have to we're gonna have to split. Okay. We're gonna have to split. Buba, do you have anything to say that'll take up roughly thirty seconds?

That would be the time. I don't have maybe something we'd start. I have a little bit of a question. I had a disingenuous faith moment this week and I really wanna talk about it because I had the most fake praising and prayer session of my entire life and it it's irking my nerves. It's really bugging. Alright. Boo Boo was a jerk to Jesus that's coming up after the break. Thanks for listening to. And wait, if you're on the podcast, we'll be right back. It's on KTA. We gotta let you go. Thanks for listening to Live From The Path.

Yeah. Do the Arnold voice. Seriously. Gotta get that in. Alright. You're listening to Life of the Path. Thank you for hanging up for the podcast. That's the free portion of the show. Like, you paid for it anyway. So here's what we got going on at the at the tail end. Buba's had some fake Jesus moments. We're gonna talk about that and see what's going on in his life. I've been there. I've done that before. I hear you. Also, we got some advice on your life in the path. We'll round out tonight. That's what we gotta happen. Alright, Bubba. Hit me with it. What's going on in your life? So we had a a prayer room going on here at the church recently.

If you don't know the premise, we've got for twenty four straight hours, we have people in a room that, are praying each hour, every hour. We switch out. Someone comes and knocks on the door. They, the person that's in there leaves. The next person comes in. They pray for their hour. There's a lot of different stuff you can do. I was in there at, at the start of our prayer room this last couple days, and we're sitting there and turn on some of my music and just kinda started my my normal deal where I put on some praise music and I'm sitting there, you know, trying to really get in into to my really spending time in contemplation with Jesus moments. And I'm sitting there, and I'm I'm listening to the music, and I'm really just jazzing into it. And I know this sounds like I'm starting up a a really good faith moment, but it's not. I promise. It turned out that I'm sitting there singing, and I'm really jazzed up for the music. But I wasn't jazzed up for the fact that I was worshiping God. I was jazzed up for the music alone, and I started singing. I was paying more attention to my singing voice than I was paying attention to the words that I'm I'm offering as praise to my God. And I even did the whole, I kid you not, I was so fake and I'm I'm I've really repented on this, but I even did the whole put your finger on your ear thing so you can hear your own voice I need more of booba in there. Like

I might check my praise with myself. Yeah. I kid you not. I'm just like, hey, can I get more me? Me, me, me, me, That's me. Okay. And I'm serious. It's so awful. Shut up, Tomlin Boo is coming in. Right. Exactly. I'm like, step back, Carrie Job. I got this one. So it was awful. And I'm just sitting there and I'm really just I'm singing my heart out, but it was for me and it wasn't for God and it wasn't his praise to to my God and it killed me. And so I'm like okay I'm not something's wrong. Something's going on where this is I've never done this in my entire life. I never have issues with praise. I love offering praise. I love singing. I love dancing. I look like a like a kid in there jumping around and having fun, and I and I do that honestly offering praise to God. And it's one of my favorite things to do, but it was just so disingenuous. And so I thought to myself, okay. Something's wrong. Something's going on. So I stopped. I turned off the music, I started praying. And I started praying just this

I and I'm not saying there's any bad prayers, but it just didn't feel real. And it felt so fake at the fact that I was offering praise to my god, but I wasn't. And I was I can't remember exactly what I was saying. Just kinda like, you know, god, bless me in this and and help with this, and this is going on in the world and this stuff. And, you know, I started reading the walls where people had written things on the walls, and I'm just I'm not paying attention to anything. I'm only paying attention to myself, and I'm only paying attention to what's going on in my life. And not from a from an introspective standpoint of, like, what is God speaking to in my life? It's more along the lines of, hey. What's happening with Buva lately? And I honestly, like, I've never felt so fake in my faith in my entire life. And it just made me sick to my stomach, and it made me mad at myself.

And I didn't know what's going on. That has never happened to me like that in my entire life. And it's never seriously, up to this point, I cannot recall a single time that it's ever happened. So I'll tell you guys what I did after I hear from you guys. Has that ever happened, to you guys? What have you done to to battle that? What have you done to to get away from that? And and you know, what can you say to someone who's who's honestly going through just a portion in their faith where they just feel so fake, and they feel like their relationship isn't isn't truly in their god, but their relationship isn't their faith is in themselves. What do you guys do to react to that? Has that ever happened to you?

Yeah. Stop it. It sucks. I mean, it it's just bad. Thanks, Eric. Don't do that. Appreciate that one. Hey. Don't do that anymore. Yeah. But okay. You're wrong and a bad person. Can do that. Thanks, guys. Where are the stones? Yeah. Exactly. Even though it feels fake simply because you're you're doing it under the the banner of, hey. This is for you, God.

There's a certain honesty to that because there's a lot of our lives that we just really are doing all about ourselves. And so now this is seeping into your worship in in an honest way is that there really is a struggle within yourself for authority of your life and for what you're gonna really worship. And this is just a manifestation of that of that

seeping in. It's like, you know what? I do want to do the things that Dave wants to do. On the other hand, there's a part of me that wants to do the things that God wants to do. And every once in a while, you know, gets really confusing. And all I can really say is just stop it. Actually, it's

I'm along Herrick's explanation a little bit, but like, yeah, it's happened to me. It's actually happened to me recently. I'd say in the last couple months that's happened to And it's it's somewhat encouraging because without that struggle, you would not be a free will being that can offer an honest love back to God. Right? Like, if that struggle didn't exist, then you would be a mindless bot. You know? I mean, he could totally created that, and he didn't. He chose to put that struggle in you and chose to give you the option,

to to offer a true love, a choose him, like a choose to be part of him and, and the love that he's offering. And so, like, it it is it's a funk, man. Like, it's not great to be a part of. You know, I went through it for a while. I tried all kinds of different crap. I I I stopped reading my regular bible. I think I read a c s Lewis book or something. You know, like, just for some reason, just felt like I needed a fresh deal. My prayers were empty. I felt like, yeah, man. I just I don't know what's going on here. And actually, my life suffered because of it. It was probably three or four weeks of just really awful, awful life. I mean, it just I mean, it was not like anything terrible happened or I fell off the wagon and started, you know, killing people and lying to my parents. You know what I'm saying? Like, I just I don't know. Like, there was no joy there. It was just a weird, crappy existence. And it was enough that that finally it came to a day where I'm like, you know, like the the the presence of God is missing from my life, and it is palatable. Like, it is noticeable, and I'm I've had enough of it. I think you mean palpable. Palpable. Yeah. Palatable means it is acceptable. It is totally acceptable. You've used it incorrectly. Thank you, Mike. That makes me feel better. I don't want to be the second streak Dan. Yes.

Hey, Dan. Sick. Can you be an idiot for a while? Absolutely. I I think Richard Foster calls that the dark night of the soul that that all believers go through. You just go through a time and you you feel like your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, that that there's no feeling, I guess, to your relationship. You know, you just kinda and and you have to work through that and go through the muddle through that that and and and stop it. Ultimately, that there's just there's no magic easy button. You you just go through You know what? Actually, it feels almost like the time

when I first met Christ. Right? Like, there becomes a point in your existence where you're like, what I'm doing right now is not working. I want to do something different. As a Christian already, I know what the answer is, right? Like, as a new Christian, I'm like, you're telling me this Christ is the answer, I'm willing to give that a shot. You know, but like, as a guy who knows Christ already, you know, I can say, look, I know where the answer is here, and I know that the last x number of days or weeks or whatever, with with without his presence of the Holy Spirit in my life, like, it's just not been good. There's been no joy there, and this just feels like I'm I'm roaming around in the sea on a raft, and I just don't like it. And so, I I think it's totally acceptable. Not a fun time to go through, but I think everybody does that. For a bright spot, sometimes it's a precursor to growth. Kind of like how a child will start off on simple foods and then eventually those simple foods just are not enough for them. And if you keep feeding them those simple baby foods, they are going to start crying out and saying, Hey, need more, I need more, and they are going to be famished. And sometimes our spirit is like that as well. We are needing more of God

and just somehow the ways that we've connected with God in the past, He's ready to start feeding us in bigger and better ways and we need to just chow down on Him, just dig right in and indulge in what God has for us. And so, you know, sometimes it's right before that that that we're just feeling empty and that we're feeling so I I guess my way of putting it is just that there might be something big coming down coming down that God has for you. So yeah. Yeah. And I I think coming back to to something that that Dave said, I think the

I think the key thing here is to embrace it honestly. Right? Like, he's he's God has never asked for a show. He's never like, dance, Buba. Dance. You know what I'm saying? Like, if if you're if you're get if you're getting Stop your dancing, booba. He hasn't asked for it. If you're like I feel like worshiping right now just knowing that. If that if normally, you know, how if you're if you're into to worship and praise and, like, you ain't feeling like dancing or you're singing for yourself, there's no reason to be like, but God wants me to sing and dance. You know what I'm saying? Like, he's not asking for that image. He's asking you to deal with him honestly. He wants to deal with you in honest space. So, like, I I think at times that I've had that in my life, really what I've done is is I've looked at God and said, hey, man.

I want to want to read this Bible right now, but I don't and and I want to want to to sit somewhere and connect with you, and I and I want to want all these help me with my unbelief. Like, that it's that type of thinking that says, I know you're there. I know that what I've always believed is accurate. I know that there is a relationship there. Right this moment, I'm just not feeling it. And all I'm doing is that's what I would I'm saying that to you because I don't know who else to say it to. To whom else will I go, I'll say this thing to you. You know what I'm saying? So

I think embracing it honestly and not feeling like God has a standard of what we're supposed to look like, which I mean, that didn't sound like what you're talking about. But sometimes we feel that way as if I think stop it is also of the right key, but it's not necessarily the right tenor. You're going to get past that, but you have to deal with it honestly. He's not asking you to sweep to the front of door. He's seen everything.

We're not fooling him with the fake praise and the unclear heart. Might as well just be honest with what's going on in his life. That actually puts God in the position that he belongs, which is I know you see it. I know you see it. I want to talk with you about it because no one else can help me. And that's how I want to discuss it. I appreciate that. Honestly Oh, by the way, I've never had that happen to me ever. I can. Yeah. So

I'll tell you guys I did, and it it was awkward. It was weird. I went to Subway. I went to Subway, and I'm like, you know, I need some Philly cheesesteak. That's gonna make me feel better about my fish. No. So I it was it was one of the weirdest things I've ever done. It was awkward, and I I don't know if I'm ever gonna do it again. I hope I do because it was it was beneficial, but it was still awkward. I'm really scared of what you're gonna say. So so I took off my shirt and I I got the e thon. I made a bandana out of it, I decided, you know what? This is my new style. I feel like this is the big thing that's happening to me is I'm gonna have a big fashion shift. So I realized that that I was being disingenuous with my prayer, I was being disingenuous with my worship, so I stopped. And I've never I I have a difficult time listening to music and not singing along with it, but this time I forced myself because I realized what I was doing. And I was just singing along the music just because it was good music.

And so I kept the music on, but I kinda just it's kinda it's gonna be weird. I just laid down and got on my knees, and I just I I just got on all fours in front of a wall and just shut myself up. And I just closed my eyes, and I refused to do anything but listen. And I've never done that before. And I've always had an issue with just listening. And I thought to myself, okay. So I believe that God is genuine. I believe that God has the power to talk to me. I believe that God is the one in this relationship who is the perfect being, not myself. And obviously, I'm the reason that there's a disconnect. It's not God. It's me. So if I'm the reason and I'm causing it, shut up, Buva. Stop talking.

Stop saying anything. Stop worshiping. Stop listening. Just remove yourself. So I laid down and just stared at the ground for forty minutes. I kid you not. Just on my arms and my knees just stared at the ground, and I've never in my entire life been able to do that until I just decided, dude, just shut it. Seriously, stop talking.

And it was one of the most beneficial things I've ever done in my entire life. Because for forty minutes, had to battle myself with listening to God and listening for what's going on. And am I making this up? Is this real? It doesn't matter because you're just shutting up and listening. And it was craziness because legitimate stuff started popping into my head. And it wasn't just stuff that like I can do that's, that'll be better. Like I can do to, to help the world, which I feel like that would be self centered boova thinking. It's just like, hey man, this is definitely God talking. He's telling me that I should do this because I'm great at this. Like no, that would be me talking. But it was more along the lines of hey,

you idiot. Is going what's going on in your life. And I just started thinking of stuff that kinda made its way to the back of my mind in my faith that I did not realize was going on. And it didn't and, you know, stuff that's that's going on in my life. And I started really just I had this weird forty minute, like, conviction fest in my mind. It was just like, hey, man. This is going on. Do you remember this piece? Well, do you remember this interaction? Do you remember this? What do these people think of you? And it was craziness, and it was scary. Like, it was literally like, hey, man. Stop looking at the stuff that you're doing. Stop looking at your fake faith that you try and portray to a lot of different people. Stop putting on a show, and let's talk about the stuff that's wrong. And let's talk about the stuff that's keeping you away from me, and let's talk about the stuff that is separating you from me, and that's separating your faith from what it should be.

And it was incredible. It was insane and scary and incredible for forty straight minutes. And then somebody knocked on the door and I'm laying on the ground. So I took a couple minutes to get up, obviously. Right. So I kinda just kinda moseyed my way back up and turned off my music and opened the door. And I think I had a red mark on my face because my my forehead had been been on the carpet for forty minutes. Yeah. And I kind of just looked at the dude. I'm like, I've kind of been just laying there for forty minutes. The devil hit me. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. The devil slapped me. But I will tell you guys that I I got a chance to close close the prayer room. And I had an hour of jumping around and praising and yelling and singing and stuff like that. And it happened within twenty four hours. Yeah. So conviction fest happened. I actually started to fix a couple things. And I immediately kinda went to my phone and I'm like, hey, man. I got that on there. That needs to go. Yeah. Hey, man. I got this going on in here. That needs to go. And had this going on throughout the day where the random stuff kept popping up. And I even got a chance to talk to some of the people that I hadn't talked to in a while. And I'm just like, alright. There's no way that that wasn't God right there. There's no way that wasn't God. And then twenty four hours later, I'm jump jumping around the prayer room again, and I'm dancing and singing. And it was I was in tears because it was so, like, incredibly real

versus the incredible fake relationship that I had twenty four hours prior. So it was fun to just kinda get myself out of the way, and that's difficult for me to do as you guys, honestly, would make fun of it. But you guys know that I am a very prideful beast, and I know that. Real faith is so much more fun. It really is. It's also a sweet t shirt that conviction fest comes before celebration fest. Cool beans. I'd wear that shirt. I've had it up to here with Zacchaeus. So I just it was it was a crazy thing, and I just

I'm glad it only took as much time as it did because, I mean, I can't imagine going through that for weeks. I really can't. Like, felt my soul and it took me weeks. You can seem to straighten it up in a day. Hey. No. I'm not saying it straightened up. Like, I'm still working with I'm still working with No. No. You're better than me. It's fine. No. Dude, I'm working with the events of I had to have a conviction fest. Like, that's alright. There had to I didn't stage a conviction. There had to be there had to be a forty minute boob of put your face to the carpet and stop talking. That is not better than anybody. That is god going, hey, buddy. You remember how I'm your god and not you're your God? Face to the ground, folks. Face to yeah. Exactly. I'm thinking I'm a second grader face to the carpet or face in the corner kinda deal. But I gotta party. No. You don't. No. You don't. You're fine. Put your face on that carpet and deal with it. So But here's always People can attend a church for decades and never have that breakthrough. I mean, so honestly, that's a big deal. It really is. Didn't have to, but it was. People will fake it for decades and never grow an ounce. They just they learn the lingo and they say the stuff and and they sing the songs and and it never I remember I said sanctification myself like four times. You sanctified? I've got you sanctified. I thought to myself, I'm like, hey man, maybe if I say sanctification correctly a couple more times, I'll be a lot more faithful. Can we call the potluck a sanctification meal? Yeah. Holy. We're gonna go propitiation today. Hey, man. Where's grace in your life?

Did you leave the door open for grace? People are sad. Alright. I grew four ounces in that conversation. Mike, do you have any last oh, yeah. We got time for one of these. Here we go. Dear life from the path. Oh, man. My husband and I and our toddler son were recently out to dinner. A woman walked past our table to the family next to us and gushed about how beautiful the couple's daughter was. Their child was the same age as our son, who was just as well behaved. I find it hurtful that a stranger would compliment one child and ignore the family seated at the next table. My husband disagrees. Am I wrong to be offended? Do you think this was rude? Okay. As we are, you gotta have an opinion on this now. Sorry. Some lady rolls by the table, compliments the the chick next to you, does not say anything about your well behaved son. How outrageous.

Your thoughts, Dale. Slow response, Dale. Dale. What about your thoughts? Well, first off, why do you keep asking me? You're the guy closest to the microphone. Oh. Are you the lead singer of of As We Are? Yeah. That's big trouble. Dale. I would say I would relate that to people walking by our table and buying merch from the next table.

That's very awkward. Would. Yeah. I mean, it's the same type thing. It's totally a pride thing. Obviously, the lady or the person was watching their kid and not their kid. Right. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So

either way either way, that made an impression on them. You know what I'm saying? So I think it's very prideful to to look at the scenario that direction. Just like just like me getting mad because they bought their shirt and not ours. Right. You know what I mean? So Right. Yeah. I would say

yeah. That so the person that that is asking for this advice is ridiculous. Like, who are you to expect that someone is coming by and like loving up on your kids and saying how great they are? Why don't you love up on your But you said another kid was great. Yeah. Yeah, I did. Was it you? I don't think that's your business.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, where would that stop? It'd be like same thing as compliment. I think that was a good one. Someone else has has noticed something that they could have noticed in you. They but they noticed it in someone else, and they made comment on it or reacted to it in some way or other, and you're upset because that attention wasn't drawn your way. Yeah. That is a that is a magnetism of pride. Come to me all who will know me well enough to say how great I am. That's this person. So you're telling me that when someone compliments a beard next to me and doesn't compliment my beard and I get angry? Yeah. I'm being prideful. Hey, didn't you see my beard though? Yeah. People are like, oh, man. Look at that guy's beard. I'm like, did you look at my beard? Yeah. Sweet beard. I have a beard too. My beard has feelings. That guy's beard looks like rice spaghetti. I hate

Yeah. I I completely agree. I agree. This is coming from a place of pride. It's ridiculous. The fact that you think to yourself that, oh, you complimented that child but didn't compliment mine. No. Leave it alone. You're you're completely making it about your child and not someone else's. Let that kid live in it. Love your kid. Don't worry about it. Yeah. I think I think it's fine. I would just be excited about the food that was coming out. Yeah. People are excited about food that's being delivered. They're also very excited. It's like, we're talking about the wrong things here. The problem is you got your eyes where they don't need to be. Not kids. Eats. Seckler says, I agree with your husband. I doubt the woman deliberately meant to slight your son. All her attention was simply focused on the little girl.

That's it. That's the only advice? Yeah. How about you were a pompous woman and you need to change your ways? Here's the deal. No one has ever come up to my son and be like, he's beautiful. They wouldn't have been, like, three months old, but after that, you gotta switch to handsome. You can't keep saying beautiful. You can't use the same compliment twice. Yeah. Honestly, I think it'd be a little creepy if someone just walked up and like say, Hey, your son is beautiful. Yeah. Agree. He's kind of creepy. Yeah. Can I pet him? Yeah. Been looking at your son from across the room. Oh, that's creepy. I

just wanted to stop by and say how beautiful your son is. Actually, that's irritating. I'm like, they're trying to eat a hot dog, man. Yeah. I would have just said Their self esteem is high enough as it is. They've been watching PBS Kids. They would have said, you know, I just wanted to stop by and say a beautiful son. I'd say, like, I just wanted to eat in peace, but, you we don't always get what we want. That's not going to happen, is it, weirdo? Honestly, if I'm thinking that someone's going to come up to my table and say, Hey, you know, I've been looking at your son from across the room and I think he's very beautiful. I'm thinking either they're a creeper or they want what I'm eating. Yeah. And they're just like, hey, your son's really cute. Yeah. They're special. And those french fries are really good. Valet, pull up my white van. Time for me to go. It's like, man, I know you're trying to mooch my fries. Stop talking to my son. Here we go. You wanna do one more or we done, Ben? Yeah. No. We got time for one more. Here we go. Dear life from the path. I always take my shower before I go to bed. My friends take their showers in the morning. Which one is correct?

I wouldn't wanna go to sleep dirty. Hey. You're a very insecure man. You know, hey, take a shower, everyone. It is best to take it in the morning so you start your day fresh. I feel like it's even it's offensive to me to say that it has to be done daily. I feel like I reject the premise just of the daily showers. Morning

or night. I mean, I feel like what's wrong with what's wrong with Wednesday? Do think I can do Wednesday? Okay. Alright. So actually, this is a I mean, I'm not conflicted about it really, but I do go in fits. Because here's the deal, if I shower before bed, I got to cow lick in the morning. I got that like my Oh, That's your biggest problem. Yeah. Hey. Here's the deal. You got like an ounce of hair up there, Ben.

You can't even tame that? Everything that is unfortunate about my appearance, don't have control over. I invested my cowlick. In fact, when I do cut my hair, I leave the little spot in the back so that I have something to to deal with in the morning. So anyway, I got a cow lick in the morning. And also, I feel like if I don't shower in the morning, I'm prone to making poor hygiene mistakes beyond that. Because like, you know what goes along with not showering? Not brushing your teeth and not putting on deodorant. Oh, the gasp! You are a filthy man.

So, but on the opposite side, I get up way too late. And if I shower at night, I can just I can hop out of bed and head out the door, you know, fresh as the day. Yeah. I I listen. I I shower strictly at night because I I because I get up and leave for work early, and the rest of the family is sleeping. And so if I get up, make a bunch of him, hawing noise, get the dogs all rassled up because the dog likes to lick my leg while I'm in there. And, like, if the dog licks your leg in the shower, what's to follow but me yelling at the dog to stop licking my leg in the shower? Right? Then everybody's awake. If the dog licks your leg, you don't need a shower. Yeah. I'm telling you what, I I what am gonna tell you about about that? Here, man. It's really disgusting. Here's the last piece of this discussion discussion. Mind explosion. I take both.

I do a shower at night and in the morning. What? Yep. There's no reason for that. That happens. Hey. Hey. There's some kid in Rwanda who is dry, and you're taking up all the water bathing in it. There's a call center full of people that understand that if I don't shower twice, there's some issues. I'm a big guy.

I sweat when I accidentally scratch my leg too hard. Okay? Like, if I have to bend it any further than the knee to do any kind of leg calf scratch, I'm sweating. I get flustered. We all know what happens when a big gentleman perspires. Nothing good. Okay. So that that happens and I'm thinking to myself, I made a sandwich an hour and a half ago. Probably should take a shower now. So that's the situation.

Double showers. Who was twice in a day? Eric, where you at? Night or day? I'm with Ben. First world problems here. Yeah. Eric's on Wednesdays. Got it. What what's the secular advice? Secular advice is the time of day one takes a shower is a matter of personal preference and lifestyle. If you are a mechanic or do heavy physical labor, showering before you go to bed makes sense. However, if your job requires working closely with the public or coworkers, then taking a shower in the morning before work is considered. Wow. Well thought out. Moova, you encapsulate both answers. Yeah. I was gonna say, I do physical work, leg scratch. And then I work I work in call center people. So

I do both. I'm the everyman. Alright. You've been listening to Live From The Path. Hey, big thanks to As We Are for hanging out with us in studio tonight. Make sure you catch the show tomorrow. Find on Facebook, facebook.com backslash as we are rocks, and see what they're up to. Buy stuff from them. It makes them happy. Max out your credit card. That's what I'm saying. It's okay to go into debt, sinfully to buy their stuff. That seems right. That smells correct. We will make sure Oh, I'm in Yeah. Go to lifeforthepath.org. Can sign up for the audio podcast. Find past clips from the show. Watch this full episode. Take take them back. Find

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