Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper. You are

am a special We're in Johnston Proper. Give up a quick thing. Just out. What do mean? I didn't no. I didn't turn down the tunes. I just turned down your ability to hear the tunes. Oh, well, that makes it embarrassing for me. Yeah. Yeah. No. That's that's wrong of you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Here we What was I doing? Now I got confused about what I was what the heck going on in the world. Hey. We got a lot of stuff going on the show tonight, Mike. I I have a real quick story that is embarrassing to myself. But you lay out what do we what do we got going on? Okay. That here's it's it's a wheel of fortune type type business here. We got a lot of topics on the docket, and we can see if we're gonna hit any of them. One is I have some Pope style advice, and it has to do with where your focus is. So we'll go through that.

I thought we touch a little bit on the Pokemon GO. Here's the deal. Everyone seems put their $2.02 cents worth in it, and we have at least 0.5 a cent that I feel like we can throw. I I don't even know that I have an opinion on this thing. But it feels like you can't have a current event style Jesus talk show and at least not mention it and say, hey, here's the deal. So we might throw that around a little bit. Actually, someone was trolling the West Burdo Baptist Church with the Pokemon GO, and he okay. Yeah. I'll talk about it when we get there. Yeah. Okay. See yeah. We we talked about this a little bit. Well, we we were gonna talk about this last week, but Life forty five came in and kinda started rocking things, and then we never got around to it. But there was a megachurch that had to have its pastor resign here in the last couple of weeks. And, we're not we're not so much interested in talking about that situation in particular, but, I think we are, interested to see how what's the right reaction when something like that happens as you someone who attends that church. Right? Like like how do you process this right? How do you figure out

what exactly your response is? And so we'll go talk to that a little bit. I watched a Sweet Jesus movie about Polycarp this week that we're going to talk about. If we have time, we're gonna talk about if we would just wanted to get rid of denominations altogether, how would we reorganize this thing? You're like, is there is there a plausible way to do this? Like, everyone's going like, there's there's a certain camp style where they're like, you know what? These denominations are pointless. When Paul talks about churches and and and Peter talks about churches, he just basically says the church in x town, not,

you know, the Ephesus church or the or the Roman church. Right? He just says the church in Rome, meaning that there's still one contiguous body. We're just referring them by location because that's easier to organize in your head, you know. And we seem to have gone differently, especially the guys here's we may have talked about this before, but the guys are like the second Christian church of of of, like, East Des Moines or something, or the reformed church of East Des Moines. Let me tell you something, fellas. When it comes to your marketing plan, when you say you reformed, I assume that means you screwed it up real bad in the past Yeah. And you had to reorganize yourself. Yeah. I don't know that I trust you right off the bat. I don't know if you want people to walk in off the street saying, hey, we really you that word reformed has some other connotations to it. It might make more sense to you. Right? But if you're one of those outreach churches that are like, we we're we're attraction. We want people who don't know Jesus to walk in this door. If you're saying, we're the second one, we're the second church of East Des Moines, first of all, it just means someone beat you to it, or there's a ranking scale that they don't understand and you're number two, that's not a good ploy. Right. That doesn't mean anything to anybody. Yeah. Like, unless you actually already go there to say, like, you're the third church of the open bible, it just looks like you're late to the game cracking it open to take a read of it. Yeah. Some more some more go getter fellas came in, and we're first and second of the open bible, And then you come sauntering in ten years later, and you're like, hey, man. The boat's already sailed. Yeah. That's I don't understand you. That's not healthy. I couldn't be First Church of the Open Bible when there were four other in town without feeling a little bit of pride Yeah. Associated with it. Exactly.

Yeah. So we're gonna talk about that just a little bit. Here's the deal. I'm I'm almost guessing we're not gonna come up with any good answers. Right. But we are gonna throw the idea around and see what sticks. The last thing we were gonna talk about is prayer walking and why you're not doing it and why you should or should not. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. That seems alright. He so he guess guess what happened to me today? Tell me. So I've been running. Like, I've been trying to to run to

I don't know. Take care of myself better because I sit on my butt. But I hate running. And so I I've been sliding and not running as often as I should, so I thought I'm gonna go biking. I'll bike, and I'll convince myself that this is also good. So I've gone on bike rides with the kids a few times, and we might have gone, like, a mile and a half somewhere and a mile and a half back. So tops two miles, three miles maybe. And then

because I had run for a couple days, the kids were at some kind of VBS event or something and so I thought, oh, I'm gonna go biking. And so I get on the bike and I start I start trucking around down the road and things are going easy. Like, the last time I biked, my butt hurt because this whatever this I don't know how people bike, but like I don't have the hemorrhoids for it because like I was sitting on is that a body part or a condition? Anybody? Whatever. It's gross. I feel like it's conditioned, but yeah. Moving on. Anyway, they were hurting. They didn't feel right. And so

the first time I was biking, but, like, I I I was biking this time, and it was really hot out and stuff, and I I thought I'll just stop when I don't feel right. But I was biking and and it was going along just fine and I found myself nine miles out from my house, not heading back yet

and I eventually thought, well, it was on a nice trail and whatever and I thought this is going to be okay And so I start to turn around, and like, I didn't recognize that I've been going downhill most of the time. Oh, no. And so I'm listening I'm listening to tunes on the Bluetooth, and I'm tracking my mileage biking, because I I want the computer to to validate that I've got out and exercised. And probably a mile 12 and a half, my phone died and I ran out of water. And I thought I'm going to die out here.

And and my legs hurt, I mean, like something terrible because, like, I don't use that part of my legs sitting on my butt during the day typing stuff up. And so I I thought, like, it was on a weird part of the trail. I hadn't seen anybody in probably forty minutes. And I thought I thought I'm not going to be able to make it back home. And, like, the whole time I'm thinking in my mind, I thought, I I I knew this. I knew this as I was coast and free and easy. I thought I would just I was powerful. I thought I thought my my this running has has done the whiz bang on my legs and like I just I got legs of steel. I can go forever. And I kept like, I just wanna know what's on another mile. I'm I'm a adventurer. And then, seriously, mile 13, that was a it was it was no there's no tunes in my head. All I could hear was the birds mocking me.

Tweet, tweet, Look at you. And and so, I mean, I stopped, like, three or four times. I'm, like, tapping my my cup, trying to get get water out of it, and, like, my cup was too big. It fit in the holder, but it stuck out too far, so it was rubbing against the front tire. Mike, can you see this? It's like, it's rubbed it's rubbed on my on the lid of my cup. Yeah. It has. And so, like, so I Wait a minute. You'd use your coffee cup as a water bottle? Yeah. Doesn't it taste like coffee? No. I rinse it out. Coffee is primarily made of water. Yeah. But coffee, the the taste of coffee don't rinse out of a cup like that. If you don't let it sit in there, they're friend beverages. They go together. Like peanut butter and jelly. Continue on.

Anyway, there's not a moral of the story except for you are not as powerful as you anticipate yourself to be like. Just like if you find yourself with some strength that you never knew you had, you are being deceased. You do not actually have this strength that you thought you had. You're probably just going downhill or on the backs of somebody else. And then, like, when you turn around and start to trudge up, you're gonna you're gonna realize that you you don't have this at all. And so, like, I was I was pedaling back. I was like, mile they didn't even know where I was at. Right? Because by the time the phone died, the phone tells you, like, you're at mile 14 or whatever. I ended up going 18 miles today, like biking biking back and forth in this thing. And without the thing to tell me where I was at, I got real disoriented and I and I felt like I was in a wasteland. And hey, this is this Hey, What's the matter with you? You know, you took a trail out there. Don't you feel like if you followed the same trail back, everything's gonna be fine? Yeah. But I did I really didn't know if my legs could do it. I mean, you're not in the the middle of the Mojave. You know what saying? You ran out of whatever 18 ounces of water you took with you in your coffee cup. My my survival

kicked in. Drove by and there's a bunch of creeks, and I've wanted to stop and bathe in them. And I thought, you're not supposed to drink that creek water, Ben. And luckily, I'd seen a number of shows about not drinking that standing sludge water. Although, one of the creeks was labeled Drainage Pond Number 38, and I thought I certainly won't stick my face in there. I'll wait for the next.

And then I thought, did it it occurred to me, can I suck water out of corn? I passed the cornfields and I thought to myself,

certain certainly, I could suck some water out of this corn if I got too parched. So would the farmer understand? Yeah. I've I've been growing corn for twenty five years and so is these young whippersnappers trying to suck moisture out of it. And that's how I have to detach it and maybe I was doing them a favor, you know. Because I could leave it on the on the branch or whatever, and then just kinda suck it out from there. Anyway, it turned out I wasn't near as far from the water as I thought I was.

And I made it into town, and I was I was greatly relieved. Yeah. Yeah. I tell you what, at least I know who I'm not taking on the amazing race with me. Resourceful being. Hey, man. We're we're 10 feet off the plane. What what what do you think is gonna happen?

I stopped a couple times and, like, pulled over to the side and looked I felt myself looking around thinking, where would I sleep? I could sleep here. I could sleep in this thing. And then there was a guy running by, and he had a water bottle. And I thought about asking him if I could have a token.

But he looked Oh, man. He looked sweaty. And I thought he might need it more than I am because he doesn't realize how lost he really is. And I I wept and prayed for that man. At least I was aware of what had happened to me. Anyway I don't even know I don't even know what to make of this story, Ben. You're obviously half half half crazy,

you know. I mean, you you biked out there, and then all of a sudden, you've created this completely alternative universe like you ate in the middle of Iowa or or ate within say ten fifteen miles of your own house. And then you act like someone picked you up, flew you in the middle of some unknown wilderness and you're having a tarzan on way back to society. You act like There wasn't a trail on your way back. No. Paved trail, Ben. It was as asphalt that shows you the way. You act like that was close, though. When you say you're 10 miles from your house, like, on a bike, that's not that close when you've already biked this distance that I have with the legs that I have. I don't use With the legs that have. I Here's what I was thinking is I was That's powerful one. And I was going is that I I don't use the upper part of my leg for anything. Like, it just I can't I couldn't think of like I couldn't think of what I used it for last. Except I did like a full high yacht, one of the kids. But like, I just don't use that part of the leg. And then I was looking at it, it was about I was biking and I couldn't hold my neck up anymore. It was sore from how I was biking. And all I could see was my pasty white top leg Mhmm. Coming up and down at me all the time. And and I thought to myself, I've neglected you, friend. And he I could hear him creaking and he was parched, and I couldn't help because I tapped out, and there were two bugs in my water, and I said, I'm desperate, I drank those bugs. This see, this is the kind of stuff I'm talking about. The athletes get out that far, they and even if this thought crosses their mind, they're like, gotta keep going, gotta push harder, gotta get home. And you're deciding you're gonna set up a camp, drink water out of a corn. It's like I look it looks like I live here now. Yeah. See, that's it. The but the the Lord has determined my steps, and this is the new me. I

guess I'm just gonna live 10 miles away from my solid residence, and I'm gonna sustain off corn and other man's sweat coming off other people's water bottles. I mean, don't you look at that situation and go, I don't think right, you know? When I got home, the perspective was different. But when I was in in the valley In the valley. Who who looks at their own thighs and goes, I've neglected you, friend. I'd

like to give you water, but I've I've already used it for the rest of my body. Now, you didn't get any. I'm sorry. It doesn't work that way. It was but I was I had a lot of back sweat, and I feel like it wasn't making it that far down. Like, it was all coming down to my lower back and leaving, and it wasn't my legs were dry, Porch. I could sleep here. I I licked it. I really hey. I really do think about sucking that corn though. I and and then I thought, like, what are the what are the odds that he's that that he's patrolling that he's out patrolling his fields. I mean, he's gotta have

200,000 ears of corn. Like, do you think he would get riled up if you saw a guy, like, trying to suck moisture out of one of his corn See, now, it's people like you that are causing people to believe in Bigfoot. Right? Like, there's some crazy fool trying to suck water out of corn and people are like, that can't be a human foot. It's gotta be a blurry

night foot animal. What's that sweaty looking man with weird thighs to Is is he that's okay. Yep. That's Bigfoot. So, Ben, I I have to say, so I've been trying to get healthy for the last couple of years. Yeah. I find myself every once in a while, if I go a couple weeks without hard hardcore working out at all,

I I will have the same thought process that you do, and and that's probably to your discredit. But I'll I'll find myself going for a walk, and then I'll have walked six or seven miles, and I'll think to myself, you know, I'm doing alright. I'm doing really good. My legs feel good. Like, my knees are fine. Yeah. And I'll keep walking, and and I don't do, like, treadmill walking or anything like that because if I get on a treadmill and walk two miles, I can just hop off and then be home. Right. But if I walk two miles away from my car, I have to walk the other two miles back. Right? Right. And so if I get to, like, mile six or seven, I realize that I have to walk back. Normally, by mile seven where I've decided to turn around after a half mile on the way back, my knees just shut down. And then I think to myself, do you think I could yell or possibly, get someone to come and pick me up because I'm some random dude that, just walked way too far or something like that? Yeah. And then, I always have to go through this thought process where I have to convince myself not to call a cab back to my own house that's only a couple miles away having walked I didn't even think it was planned. Far back. Well, that's because you were on a trail on a bicycle. And I didn't have any service. I could I was lost. See,

see, your situation was much much more dire than mine. That's what I'm saying. I buy I buy Drainage pond 38. Can you can you come get me? Hey, Uber. I'm not inebriated at all. Just biked way too far. Do you have any Did come pick me up by chance? Corn with you? I mean Can I give you an extra buck for like a bottle of water? I think about calling my wife though, and then I thought, boy, that's really embarrassing to have to say, hey, can you come pick me up, babe? I over biked. It's also just as embarrassing to have to find yourself in a place where you've decided just to give up and start living where you are then. I did hey. I I I'm surprised you didn't start building the foundation of your new home, Ben. I did look for a middle ground, which is where can I stash the bike and call my wife and have her come pick me up and just kinda get it later, because the bike won't fit in the car? Right? And the kid she didn't have the kids, so I didn't have to to shame myself as dad and say, hey, come pick me up while I'll pant here and wait.

And then I was here's the and here's the worst part. Right? Because my phone died, I didn't even get credit on the Google Fit for the last four miles of calorie burning. I will say that that I I get where you're coming from when you say it's basically just validation from from the digital world, but at the same point in time, it is nice to see, how far you ran, how far you walked, how far you biked or something like that and actually have a a something to look at. I don't like it when it scams me. Like, if I I if I find myself even at work, if I leave my desk to go to the bathroom, thought, no. Nobody. Those steps count. I go back and get my phone. Yep. I need the I do that with my Fitbit every time. Yeah. Well, you're supposed to wear your Fitbit on your arm. Well, what I'm saying is if it's dead, I feel awful. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Alright. Anyway Ben, you're ridiculous. 20 the 18 miles is is my max. I think I might be able to pull off 12. I was gonna hit 20.

No way. Push yourself further. Hit 20. Or charge your phone. Just charge your phone, man. Yeah. This whole thing from happening again. What? No. I no. My legs would still hurt me, part Yeah. But I think your dire sense came from also not having music. I think if you would have had tunes the whole time, you would have been fine. No. Actually, there was, like, a deep sense of dread though because, like, it it said it had 18% left. And I thought, oh, I can I'm gonna put the steam on and I'm gonna be able to make it home. And I swear four and a half minutes later,

it stops tracking miles because there's not enough battery power. And then I kept biking and then probably two minutes later, the music died and it was like a scary movie. Right? All this, like, you know normal has changed, but all of a sudden, there's silence and you look around and then it's like, and your parched legs are creaking up and down and you're like, I'm I I could die out here. You're ridiculous. It's what it's what I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying that's what went through my mind.

Okay. Yep. Thank you. Change your way to Ben. This has been biking with Ben. It's a mountain bike too. Right? So, like, it's got a it's got the thick tires, so it takes extra effort to get it to move down the path. Yeah. Ben, is there any chance we could stop talking about this? So I tried to convince the Google Fit that I that

I am riding a more difficult bike than your average guy in a road burning more calories than that. That's what I said, but he doesn't make the distinction. And so sometimes I tack on an extra mile or so and say, just so you know my ways. Hey, second question. Mike, how do they track the how do they track the miles when you're biking? Because like, you could not be pedaling. Do they like assume you pedal 80% of the time? Well, they didn't say they didn't say miles that you pedal, they just said miles that you biked. Well, right. But if you're if you're burning calories, like, do they know I could not be burning calories? I could just be coasted. Okay. Listen. If you want By locks flowing in the breeze. I think most people are are assuming that if you have downloaded an app to track your progress on calorie burning, that you're legit trying to do it because fooling the software

is of no gain to you. Well, and and if you're going downhill to a coasting, they're assuming you probably had to go uphill to get there. I assume they're using out or something. Yeah. Assume they're using an algorithm average Yeah. Yeah. And say, hey, you know, you're burning x calories per, you know, half a mile gone or something. I need a more physical tachometer. Alright. Mike, that's all. That's all I have to say about this until I'm gonna follow-up with the blog post.

Alright. Next. We're gonna do some Pope style advice. So if if you do not know exactly what Pope style advice is, basically, it's someone has has reported me to be the Pope down at the local pub. They have told everybody that, you know, Mike Foose is the Pope. You have to go dig on his advice. Right? And so all of a sudden, I I I pull out my I pull out my door or whatever and and here's like a, you know, a couple thousand people. And they they won't they're demanding advice like the pope would give. And I think to myself, crap. I I gotta give them something and it's gotta apply to me and it also has to apply to them. And then, they can go ahead and take it in and get off my lawn and that would be great. And so this week's Pope style advice, it's actually centered on on it this does apply to ladies too, I see this more often in dudes. Is I have been for my job, I visit a lot of different work sites of of different people that run different businesses, and they all have this piece of equipment that I work on or whatever. And they they

there's a couple of them that they're just they're just intensely crazy. Right? You get on-site or whatever, and they're like, you don't understand. This has to be fixed, it has to be fixed now. The what we do is the most important thing ever, and you just don't real who's your boss? And I'm like, we haven't even talked about what the problem is yet, fellas. You know? And they are just ape nutty crazy when you get there. And, of course, they they offer they offer me a job. Right? Like, hey. You should come work here. You know. And I think to myself, no. I could never ever ever work here. And I thought why? What bothers me so much about that? Right? Like, these guys are they're doing their job and what they do is very important to them. And they like to impress upon me that it's very important and they are extremely overbearing with it. And, I think I figured it out and I I when I was thinking about it after I had left and I thought why why do I find this behavior so distasteful?

And and I think the reason is and this this can turn into a lot for, fellows especially at their job. But like they they put so much importance on this like one inch by one inch square that they call a job. And they devote everything to it. And it gives them license to act in whatever way that they want. And it gives them license to be whoever they have to be to get that job done. And we push a lot. The tagline of the show is generally be faithful in the means and God will handle the ends. And, this has to do with some of the means part. Right? Like even if you have a job let's say it's a high stress job. Let's say it makes a lot of money. Let's say it provides for your Let's say it's all these things combined together. If any part of that takes you out of you handling the means and letting God handle the ends, then you're focusing on the wrong thing and you will continue to do that for the next thirty years or however long you worked there only to be sorely disappointed

when you retire and look back on what you did with your life. You know what I'm saying? And like I said, I I find that this this happens, you know, more to fellows, but it can happen with ladies too, especially with your with your children. Right? Like, you could focus very, very intently on this one inch by one inch square that is your kids and this is your whole life for fifteen, twenty years. And and don't don't get me wrong. There's biblical principles to loving and raising your children. Right? There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But when it becomes your your soul intense purpose, intent purpose and the only reason you do anything,

eventually, your kids will leave the house. And you will look back on the on the, you know, the fifteen years, the twenty years that you had with them living with you and you'll be like, holy crap. I I didn't do anything else. This is this is nothing that I did. Like, I spent all my time saying they have to have the the right clothes to be alright or or if I don't read this story to them, then they're the, you know, they're gonna turn out this way. And it it it's just I I I think what I'm the the point that I'm getting at is like, just be careful where your intense focus is and the excuses that you put around it on why you why you act the way that you do. Right? There is God has a lot of stuff out there for you. He has a lot of things available to you. And if he tasks you with something, then indeed, you you gotta put some effort towards it. Right? But like, as soon as you take that thing and use it to start dropping means everywhere else. It's just, it's similar to when Jesus was talking to the Pharisees and they they, the they made a big deal about their tithing. And, and Jesus is like, you're neglecting these other things. Right? Like these are all part of, the way that you live. And so I think, that's the Pope style advice is just watch where watch where your focus is and and if your focus is in the right place, that's cool. Right? But don't use that focus as an excuse where,

the ends justify the means and you can do you act however you want to make sure that that gets through. Our our egos tend to be directly related to our career Sure. As as guys. And as guys, we tend to be egomaniacs. Yes. You know? So so, yeah, that's a that's a pretty

solid combination to do exactly what you just said. Yeah. Yeah. And I it it's it's it's just so odd. Right? Because generally, like, excelling at your job is is usually a a plus to me. You know, like, being good at what you do and doing it with some integrity, that's fine. Do your best. Do it for Jesus. Yeah. But they're like, you don't understand. This widget we make is it's everything. It is everything. Right. The world will crumble. And this widget this widget factory cannot be without anything for even a minute because and in fact, I need to talk to your boss right now. You guys should have had this done yesterday. I'm like, woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. We didn't even talk about what the problem was yet, boys. Can we look at the deal? And they're like, I've had enough. Call, we need 10 more guys here right now. You guys are gonna work through the night to get this figured out. I'm like, you are gonna regret this in thirty years, friend. You are gonna regret regret acting this way looking back and goes, you know what turns out, no one even cares about that widget. And then like ten years from now, that widget will not be popular anymore and you'll go, I've treated a lot of people very poorly due to my my love of this widget and and I disguised it as being good at my job. But really what it meant to do is you wanted to throw your weight around and you used your job as an excuse to do it. Think think about the dude who used to be in the manufacturing of eight track tapes. Exactly. He was on the cutting edge. Right? By the deadline, at the moment, they're like

at some point, they looked back and said, woah. Yeah. We gotta get these Beats Boys tapes out. You don't understand. The public cannot live without Michael Jackson wants it out now. And then he looks at the pallets and pallets of the Bad album on on on audio cassette and goes, you know, maybe I put I was a little harsh there. Maybe maybe I should have toned that down a little bit, you know. Never mind. But Oh, go ahead, mate. Well, I I I guess maybe I'm I'm rounding that up and saying is is like,

you know, there is a there's some integrity in doing your job well. But like using that using what either God has you tasked with doing or responsibilities that you just flat out have because you're a human on this earth that you and there are certain responsibilities you have to have. Using any of those as a as a stick and saying that this is not the realm of Christ. This is not where, I get to share Jesus with people. This is not where peace, love, patience, kindness comes into play. This is where I get things done because I work here. Right? Those are dudes. Those are dudes I know. Those those are that's a classic dude thing where like you find them at church and they say, yes, I believe this and they do. They really do. They're not shining it on. This is what they believe. But at work, it's different. It has to be different because that's their job and they provide for their family. That's crap. That's crap and not even true. And if that's true for you, you're a phony. You quit. You need find no job because this one is not working for you. And if that's gonna keep happening to you at every job, then you need to figure out what you really believe because what's coming out of your mouth does not match how your actions are.

You know, it's it's funny. About a month ago, I actually I lost my job. You know, whatever circumstances wasn't wasn't fired by any means. Just lost the job. It's no longer here.

And I thought to myself, you know, it's gonna be really cool to have a couple weeks off, and then I'm gonna get back into the workforce and and just slam full through on that. And that was my big plan for for weeks. And so it's a month been a month now, and, I actually I haven't gotten a new job yet. I haven't even received a phone call back from anyone in the field that I'm normally used used to being in. And I'm actually looking into an opportunity where I won't have a job for a couple years coming on now, looking at actually going back to school. And the funny thing is I realized

after a couple weeks how much of my identity was pitted in my job, and I realized how much, I define myself based off of of my title and what I did and what I thought was important.

And I used to tell people all the time that I didn't think that. I used to think that, you know, everything outside of my job was what was important, but it took me losing it to realize how much it meant to me, and how much of it, it was what actually made me up. And and God's kinda done this thing in the last couple weeks. It's it's kinda broken me down in a good way and and kinda had me strip a little bit of that from me and kinda lay myself bare in front of, in front of myself to look at. And and it's just funny how that's turned out. And, you know, I six weeks ago, would have never thought that. I would have never told you that that was my identity. I would have told you that, yeah, I worked there, but, you know, the most important stuff I do is the youth group I deal with or, you know, the the radio show I'm on and stuff like that. But that is so untrue,

and God has totally laid that in front of me. So it's it's it's funny that you say that because that's exactly where I'm at right now. And God's got me in a place where I very well, like I said, may not have a job for a couple years, so I'll have to completely redefine myself based off of that. And, you know, I try and take my time up daily and try and find stuff to do, and it's just funny where my mind goes immediately to what I can do and how much that switched just in the last couple of weeks. So, you know, you're absolutely right. That's it's it's a big deal to be, have integrity in your job, but, you know, there's a lot more stuff that's important more important than that. I was talking to a guy on Sunday, after church for a little while. He was talk he was having a rough time at his job or whatever. He just started explaining to me the processes of it, and, you know, like, they're they're understaffed by some people, and they gotta they gotta look at the screen and then print this thing out, and it's gotta get out within nineteen minutes. Otherwise, they don't make their bonus or whatever. And he's talking for, ten, fifteen minutes. And I'm sitting there. I'm intently trying to listen to what he's saying. And, like, the whole time in the back of my head, I'm like, this sounds stupid.

This whole thing sounds dumb. You know what I'm saying? And like the fact that you are that you are hurting because of this sounds even more stupid. And like this whole thing has just irritated me. I'm like, I think you should quit, and I think you should not work in a place that's stupid because this is dumb. You know what I'm saying? Like, I if if you could really look back on your life and go, you know, I I part of part of a man getting a job is is providing for his family. I get that. And I'm not saying that you don't have to pick up a a very heavy shovel sometimes and work some very long hours to get that done because that is a priority for you. But like in the long run, if you you you have kind of two options, like as soon as long as you're as as as how do I wanna say that? Tootsie Roll. Tootsie Roll, your place of work is concerned. As far as your place of work is concerned, you either work there with a smile on your face because that's how you're providing for your family or you either have to change your attitude or get a different job. Those those are your options. Right? Like like this world is full, America especially, is full of a workforce that has nothing but complaints

and irritation. And this place is not good enough and I deserve better. And like, what? You don't though. You don't deserve better. You can find better. If you wanna quit and go work better, you can certainly do that. But what you deserve changed as soon as you sign that piece of paper that says you work here. You agreed whatever the setup was here. And so you're maybe panned be whining about and making a big, you know, crying deal out of this thing. It's it's it's just it's just an odd sense of pride. That is the whole thing that Christ is after. Right? He's trying to take this from you of of saying, here's what you believe that you deserve. I've given you way more than you deserve, but you need to tone down on this earth what it is you who you think you are. This self aggrandizement

of of the size of of of who you are and how much you actually mean. Because I mean and I make you valuable and that's there's no doubt about that. It's not that you don't have value. But like, if you're the king stapler the king stapler salesman here in the Northwest Region, look, nobody really cares about that, friend. You know what I'm saying? No one really cares about that. It's not that big of a deal. You know the I found that the way to solve that is to have a job where no one actually knows or understands what it is that you do. That really it it strips away all benefit.

I've been working the same job for almost thirteen years and my my own wife has no idea what I do in a given day. It it provides almost no identity to me at all. I was just out of the house for a while.

So I have no sense was to be more concerned, I went to the gas station again. I have no sense of pride and it's like, I've tried. She's, oh, I I I would like to know and I've tried to explain it and, like, literally, ten minutes later, my wife still has no idea what I do. Most of you you fellows probably couldn't explain well at all what it is that I do during the day. And it it'll humble a man because it means that, like, outside of that particular building,

it it means almost nothing what it is that I do in life. And it's and what makes it worse is it's tied to like it's insurance type stuff, which means it's notional anyway. It's not even real things. They're promises that people are making to other people about stuff. So you have a very nondescript job in an industry that doesn't actually exist. Yes. Yes. The whole thing the whole thing is a scam and I am a scam artist. But I don't even I don't even get to be a cool scam artist, like a guy that works for the lotto or something. I'm just a guy I'm just a guy who does

something in a building somewhere, and I it I seem important, but certainly has no definition or anything around it to take any pride in whatsoever. Yeah. See, we all That's how you solve that problem. Everybody needs job that way. Definitely. That's it. Polkadvice.

Okay. Alright. Now, Buva, how do you how do you think based upon what you're talking about, how do you keep from doing that? Right? Like, as a guy looking to pick up another because you want here's the thing is you if you wanna get a a good job, one that you like and one that you think matters, I mean, can't be completely wrong to not have identity in that thing or is it just like it's okay to have an identity but like you that need identity needs to be consistent with the Trump identity or the

higher card identity, which is how you live for Jesus. Is that the deal? So here's taking a step back from that, I think we'd what I need to do, and I'll make it more relatable to me and my situation, is I need to take a step back and and realize

what about my job needed to matter. And I think that that was my big problem. What I thought mattered about my job was how well I did at the job. And I'm not saying you shouldn't do a good job by any means, but what I'm saying is,

what should have mattered to me was my circle of influence that I had there, The opportunities I had to to talk to people and build relationships and stuff like that, and not from a business perspective, but from a Jesus perspective. I spent a lot of time building my circle of influence so people knew exactly what I did. And I think that a lot of people do that. And and like you're saying, Ben, you know, you're on the opposite end of that where most people don't know what you do, and have no clue how you affect things. My job was very different from that. Everyone knew exactly what I did. I was a trainer, so I was in front of all of our new hires. Anytime someone new came to the company, they immediately saw my face and had to listen to me for a hundred and twenty hours, unfortunately. And

I thought that was important, and I thought it was super great that I was the face of my company, and I was the voice of my company rather than, you know, what I really should have been doing. And so I think that there's nothing wrong with having an identity,

within what you do, but I think you need to redefine what it means to for your job to matter. You know? And and the identity you need to have is more important for what your identity is in Christ rather than what your identity is within your company. You know, I I look back and I wonder I know people knew that that I'm a Christ follower, and I know people knew that I love Jesus, and and I that's very important to me. But I wish more people knew that at my position, and I wish more people knew more about that, not just that Troy goes to church, but that, that that, you know, I'm I'm completely

in love with, in love with, with my God and and everything about that, and I wanna reach out, to bring people to him. And I just think that, that it's been a weird step back that I had to take because of that. You know, Of course, I'm gonna have a job eventually, and I'm I have to make money somehow. It's just it's been a weird

identity shift for me. You know? I've had to I've had to really pay more attention to what do people see in me about him, Jesus, rather than what do people see in me about what I've done. And it it was really hard to swallow, and I'm still taking care of that. Like, I'm still dealing with that,

you know, being a month out, and I probably still will for the rest of my life. It's just been it's it's been a huge dose, and it just kind of makes me laugh because, you know, for for a long time, I've been asking God to to kind of rattle me and shake me a little bit and make sure that I'm not staying staying comfortable. You know, I want to be uncomfortable from the perspective of I'm always, taking a look at where I'm at and what I'm doing and where my relationship is with him and where my relationship is with people, and that's exactly what he's doing right now. Is that what you is that why you think you had me go biking? Because I still don't feel right, to be honest with you. There's a good chance that he needed to make sure that you knew that you were not actually powerful.

Just a heads up on that one. So, like, if you don't walk tomorrow, there's probably a reason. Dan, we were trying to decide, is hemorrhoids a body part or an affliction? I I think that'd be an affliction. I think it's affliction. Okay. Thank you. Continue, Buba. No. No problem. It's not a voteable item, Ben. It's it's a it's a thing. It's not a body part. I don't I don't wanna Google it. No. Here's the deal. Don't Google it. Here's what you're saying. It's not a body part. We're trying to decide, and what you're saying is is like, I don't think it is. Yeah. I think it's perfectly fine to keep it in that category. I'm not gonna Google it. I I I wanna say you're just numb and you assume you have a hemorrhoid. I hope Oh, no. So I thought it was a body part and I thought my hemorrhoids hurt from biking. You don't know. Yeah. I I was so numb after riding my bike once, I thought I pooped my pants and then I was quite pleased to find out I hadn't. Dad went more miles than I did. I did. It was a rag brain. That's a that's a 25 miler, Ben. Well, you know, I can't imagine this situation six miler, my day. Where where you're like, I I think I pooped my pants. And then you have a look see and go, hoo.

This is good day. Yeah. I was walking with my girls. I said, I just want you guys to know that either I'm really swollen or I pooped my pants. I may have pooped my pants. And if you smell something, we'll know what happened. Well, that's rough time. There's a certain level of honesty you have to have with people to be able to have that conversation. We we were walking to get some Chinese food. I think worked quite well. Even better. I read I read an article a week ago about a woman who was running like a marathon and they said, like, running like that will cause you to have to poop and she pooped They'll just do it. Her own drawers Yeah. Nine miles in. I had no idea. That's like a common thing. Now listen I'm like, I would not the Lord did not design people to be this way. You know what I'm saying? We were supposed to be in the nude where you can poop wherever.

Like Just like the cows. Just like horses. They just come right out while you're trotting along. You know, this is what I'm talking about with your focus in your one inch by one inch square. Sorry. If you get if you decide, I really wanna do this, but it's gonna have to cause me to indecently poop myself, maybe you should reconsider that this is not the line of work for most people. It's weird. Can't imagine one situation that I've run across in the last ten years where I thought, you know what? Push gum to shove, I'll poop myself. Yeah. That's That'd be cool. Yeah. And that's gonna be fine because it'll help me Pay people to clean me. Jeez. Right. This event is gonna happen and for me to take part, I have to embrace a high likelihood that I'm gonna poop myself and be like, them's the brakes. And they will celebrate when I run across the the line. I here's okay. Hold on. I I ran into this recently. So I That endeavor is not for me. I was at I was at a job and they were gonna have to cut the power off to the whole building because I needed to fix something and they had to they literally had to have the electric company come out and pull the pull the transformer fuses. There's gonna be no power to this building. And so they're supposed to be there at 09:00, and it is 09:05,

and I something has something has to happen. Something has to change in Mike's world. Mhmm. And I'm like, but they're not here. But I'm the only one that can do the work once they pull the power. And I thought, what am I supposed to do? I don't wanna be trying to do the work while I have to poop real bad, you know, because because that would be a disaster. Right. But it's already 09:05 and they're not here. And I think to myself, and this is where me and the marathon guys part ways. I thought, you know what? They're just gonna have to wait because I'm going right now, and I'm gonna do it the right way. I'm not gonna poop my pants, and I'm not gonna have a stomachache while I'm trying to fix this deal. And so they showed up, and they couldn't find me. I was gone for another ten minutes. You know where I was? I was pooping. You know why? Because I don't poop my pants for any reason. I'm a grown man. I'm so glad I found reason, Mike. No. You haven't found the identity you need to be able to say, hey, man. This is too important. I'm gonna crap myself. There bet if hold on. The only situation I find this to be is, like, let's say I wake up in the middle of the night, my house is on fire and I overreact a little. And I say, oh no, the house is on fire, womp. And now, I would probably still continue about my business of of grabbing the kids and and the the hamsters and whatnot and taking them outside, and then I would clean it up later. But in in any other situation, I can't imagine that I would continue on as I was. Sorry. Did you say womp?

Yeah. That was that was the way you described that situation, just womp? Yeah. Womp. Alright. Yes. Here's a true confession. Dan might have crafted himself. No. He's looking to the future.

There are two things in my life I don't want to do. One is is be in a have a surgery or something where I have to, you know, use a bedpan, and and that's just so that just seems awkward. Right. No. Agreed. But but but number two is when you die, you usually go number two. And I'm like, I don't want I don't wanna deal with that. Right. You won't. You're dead. I know. But I don't want anybody to deal with that. I I just I just wanna, like, fall off a cliff and no one finds me or something. I don't want someone to go, what do I smell? Dead poop. Oh, he's dead. I mean, I don't know. It's just No. That's true. You know, I I I never thought about that, Dan. That is kinda crap. That's gonna that's gonna be my last thought. Oh, crap. So your solution is, I hope I fall off a cliff in the wilderness and no one ever finds me. Your prayer life has got to be vibrant, Dan. Lord, if you could just have me die in a way that people can't see me pooping, that would be great. Maybe a fiery chariot. Every time he's anywhere near cliffs, he's like, is this it, Lord? Is this it? Nope. Okay. Fiery trash. I plotted out a place to die in the Chaco Trail outside of Bondue, Dan. If you need a spot,

I picked one house. Or you can just give up and just build a house there too. Yeah. Long story short, do better at your job. Well, yeah. So I I think Don't poop yourself. I think the right way to think about it then is if someone says, hey, man, what do you do? And if your first response could be, I work for Jesus. And then where you work and what you do is the next logical question, that seems alright. But, like, if you're like, hey hey, where do you work? And I I give my place of business, maybe I just need to figure out, can I live my life in such a way where my first reaction is, I work for Jesus? Yeah. Yeah. But then you have like a creepy Jesus person. Well, I work for Jesus. I'm not saying you have to say that out loud. I'm just saying like Okay. In your like Go through that filter in your head. Yeah. If Just whisper it under your breath before you say, oh. Take this in consideration. Okay. Listen to me now. If you wear a pastel colored polo that you button up to your neck and say, I work for Jesus, you are exactly what Dan described. Right? Now take that same phrase and put it in the hands of a bearded biker.

Now this sounds alright. You know what I'm saying? You don't come off as a creepy Jesus man. You have some intrigue about that. As long as you don't look like Ned Flanders, you're fine? I feel like if you look like if you're a little rough around the edges, people will dig on this. So here's where the problem is. Our missions have failed due to our upscaled risk. We keep sending out the nerdlinger. Is that what you're saying? We we're sending out the wrong people. We're sending out guys that'll be like, do you know the love of Jesus? They're like, do you know how to buy a decent shirt? Because that sucks. The workers are few. Jesus, we need more bikers. Yeah. We now you send out a guy that looked like he's lived some life. They're like, I don't know Jesus, but I'll listen to it if you don't hurt me. Alright. I mean Please don't eat me. Tell me about whoever you want. Okay. This is great. This this is what I think this is. I think I think our topic we're talking about is is, like, so many areas in our life where there's such a fine line between the Jesus way and then us, like, totally screwing it up. There's so many things just like that. I mean, it is a fine little line because we're you know, work like a dog. You're working for Jesus. We're supposed to we should stick out because of our work ethic. Right. But the second you do that, you're like, hey, I'm I'm good. I'm I'm good. Look

how hard I work, you know. Man, I know. I noticed me recently. It's the same, like, we it's just a fine line. Right. And usually, it's an attitude is all it is. Nobody even knows it. It's an internal thing and you just totally screwed it all up. No. That's true. That's true. You could do the exact same work, and it's really how are you looking at it and your attitude about it. Yeah. That's true. This is terrible. Yeah. I screw most things out. Shoot. Dude, I was hoping I could play but somebody else. I know that salmon cutter polo I own's gotta go. What is that? What? What is Salmon cutter? Salmon yeah. What's salmon cutter? What's that? Colored. It's pink. Salmon I mean Oh, I thought that was like a brand name. Yeah. Thought you You think I bought a and cutter and I was wondering if that was a That's okay. That's what I thought. I thought I don't shop at the Von Mawr or whatever. I don't know who Sam or Cutter is. I'm at the biker bar. Does Sam and Cutter sound like a Von Mawr brandy? Who? I don't know. I don't shop at Von Mawr. I wouldn't I thought of a store, which I do not know the materials there.

Von Mar was a first It must be from there. Mall department store. I suppose I've tried to shop there before. They don't wear my they don't really do my size. No. Then I will stay away. Tricky. Alright. Just thought I'd add that. They have salmon colored shirts.

My salmon colored. So Mike, you you elitist bastards. I always know how to wear what I know how to wear. That's not a brand. Now Ben needs to make it. I did need just to bring out, but that's so just so everyone knows, I wear Sam and Of course, Sam and

know, so I I kinda I drew the line a couple years ago that I can't shop anywhere that sells white cargo shorts, because I feel like if they even have them in the building, it's not this is not the place for me. You know what I'm saying? I would never be caught dead in a pair of white cargo shorts. And so I I was at a couple places and and my wife's like, you should try this stuff on. And I'm like, no, they sell white cargo shorts in here. I can't. Can't shop here no more. Is that like a shop or something? I think I shop exclusively at places that carries white cargo. Yeah. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense to me. And there we have it. You know what funny thing is? It's only because they carry my size. That's it. Why why why would that's weird. That's a weird correlation, Bubba. I know it is, but it's actually 100% true. Okay. The only places that carry my size carry white cargo shorts. I do not own a pair of white cargo shorts. Okay.

So there was a a couple weeks ago, it was it is kind of a big deal, you know, if you follow, like, church news or whatever, the, you know, the Christian landscape of America or whatever. But there was a mega church pastor that resigned from his post, and it was a it was a church. It's a fairly well attended church. I can't remember what it was. It was like twenty, thirty thousand or something like I got a couple three campuses and and, whatever. And so,

I was thinking about this this week and I thought, like the the whole circumstance of why it happened or what happened, it doesn't really matter. It's it's really not the the point of discussion really. What I but I was thinking about is like, how does the how does the the the church take this? As far as I understood, like, this the the fellow in particular, he was like the founding dude, you know, like, started, like, with 20 people in his apartment.

And then, you know, circa five, ten years later, this you know, it's amazing. And and and, like, he was faithfully leading his his church. And, I mean, I listened to some sermons of his. He's good. He's a good dude. You know, he follows biblical teaching pretty well and and whatever. And so I thought, is there

is the church gonna have a tendency in a situation like this? And and and like I said last week, we've we've we've gone through this a a couple years ago with another guy. Had a we had a kinda a fairly big mega church and he had a couple seven, eight campuses and then he imploded and then he was gone and that whole church kinda dissolved, you know. And I thought, is it when when stuff like this happens first of all, we kinda know this. It's completely possible due to these fellows are humans and not Jesus. Right? So like, there's no, you know, outrageous expectation here. But like, how does a church healthfully deal,

when something like this happens? Like, is this where you start to see organization flaws where, like, the whole thing was based off the personality and showmanship of one guy? And, like, the church has to fight and figure out some way not to allow that even if they are amazing. You know, Paul's a Paul was a great speaker. You know what I'm saying? Does everyone go, look, we can't have this whole thing resting on the on Paul. Or Apollos or right? Like Right. Yeah. Right. So so, you know, like, is there is there leading up to this situation, like I said, I don't really care what happened or why. Really, what I'm concerned with is like the fallout afterwards. So how does the how does the the those people in that particular congregation, how do they deal with this correctly? How do they look at it right? How do they how do they see it for what it is and not you know, and and and do they is it a big deal? Is it not a big deal? Is it something that just happens? And and and you just, you know, you just join back up and prayerfully walk through it or or, you know, what do we think about that?

I know. You you you have have to to acknowledge the guy's a human being. You probably went there because you like his teaching or you really to protect yourself,

just as Joe Church member there, you you still have to remember, okay. The guy was human. And, you know, and and I fail. Why would I not expect him him to fail too? It it's and and on his side, everybody needs accountability. I mean, everybody does. And the the bigger you are, the harder it is to find legitimate

accountability. Right. Sure. You know? Because you don't have time for people arguing with it. You you you just wanna you know, you'll just replace them. And I suppose that goes back to our earlier conversation a little bit. It happens to, you know I mean, most of the we're talking about a full time pastor. This is his job. And let's say this church does grow from 20 to 10,000. It's real hard to separate a little bit of ego there even though, like, it will come out of your mouth that, like, Christ provided these people. The growth was from him, and you actually probably believe that. I'm not saying but, like, there is a certain amount where you're like, look, man. I I do the day to day around here, and and I've I've been a part of growing this thing from 20 to 10,000. I don't know if I'm gonna take a whole lot of lift from you fellas. You know I'm saying? And so, like, there has to be a barrier in that way. You know, 6,000

churches started the year he started his. His is the only one that grew the, you know, twenty, thirty thousand. Right? Sure. So there is ego. And and I'm not saying good or bad. I'm saying it is. He's human. You know? In anytime you do it's that fine line thing. Look what God has done, but he sure needed me, didn't he? Right. Right. He could have got this still without me. He could have, but he didn't. That's right. He chose me as opposed to my friend who started a church on the other side of country at the same time, and they closed five years ago. And so no matter what, there's going be some ego. There's just going to be ego involved. In

our little setting, every once in a while, catch my mind, it's like, hey, we've hit a certain milestone. I'm like, this is all right. And then well, number one, not this other dude that has 20,000 people. We're like his small group, right? That's right. So to put it in perspective,

but then I feel like that's frightening that I would even ever think that. So it happens at every level. And and you just have to watching for it. You you have to have accountability in your life, people who will just pull you aside and say, man, you are absolutely being ridiculous. And we and we can say, like, we can say with a 100% certainty that, like, this stuff is preventable.

If if you are willing to set these fences up, like Yeah. And say, look, I I know we man, we talk a lot about fences, but I love them. Right? But, like, fences that you get to set up and say, here's where I wanna be, and you set your fences right there. And then you tell five guys and say, these are the fences I'm putting in place. You cannot let me go past them because I'm telling you right now, I know that's where I wanna be. Even at the time when I think I wanna be on the other side of that thing, I know that's where I wanna be. We we need them because we are weak fools. Yeah. I mean, we're human. So what it is. You know? Yeah. And and, like, the stuff we're talking about, like, the I mean, that size, that amount of influence, like, there's like, power does still corrupt. Right? Yeah. And, like, Jesus was able to handle it. I you're probably suspicious.

And so, to the extent that, you are in that position,

like, I there's not there's nothing wrong with being a guy that leads 10,000 people, but, like, you need to do so responsibly. And part of the responsibility is is that, like, as your risks increases, the impact to the kingdom increases, and, that that you need to take proper steps. And here's the deal, if you're the right guy to lead 10,000 people, you're the right guy to know that, and to put those things in place as you go. And so so, yeah, I think it is doable. I think there's not a problem with a guy being able to be in that position. God does powerful things with individuals. That's true. I mean, that's why we remember certain names of folks. Right? Like,

there might have been a bunch of guys doing similar things that Paul did. Right? But, like, we heard a lot from Paul. And I think that's okay, but, like, as you go, but, like, Paul was clear. Right? Don't follow me. He's appointing elders as he goes. He's putting, you know, things in place that says, as this happens, I need to take steps to make sure that that stuff stays on the on the even keel even as people listen to me And and so, yeah. Yeah. I I think I think it is it is right. It's okay that those things are going on that you that you have that level of influence. You just need to make sure that you're doing so responsibly. And we, as a culture, make them into rock stars.

I mean, every I mean, okay, every every, like, preacher conference you go to and you and all the preachers are hobnobbing and talking, all they ask is, hey, how's the attendance? Right. Right? Yes. Well, you're the guy saying, well, it's bigger than all yours. Right. And and everybody knows it. And and they're all like and and they treat him well. Every time he's introduced, he's grown his church from blah blah blah blah blah blah. Little radio stations in Johnston, Iowa say, hey, you wanna be in a radio program? Man, he's getting offers all day long. He he they we we make rock stars out of these guys, and we destroy them. They're they're still accountable,

but but I think we're part of the guilt, our our culture. So, Mike, so we should start finding some guys who who we think are doing a good job leading somewhere and then invite them on the show and then disinvite them for their own benefit. Then say, yeah. Yeah. Or we could have them come on and be like, listen. I'm not super impressed by what you got going on. Or just send them a note and say, were thinking about inviting you, but you're not so much. Never mind. That's right. We almost didn't even waste this piece of paper to write the letter, to be honest with you. Send a postcard with Romans three twenty three on the back of it. For all that sin and fall short of the glory of God, you're involved in you must decrease.

Don't We don't wanna waste our time with you. Forget my phone number. We're done. Delete this message after you're done reading. You think they take that well? It's like, in an effort to keep a humble keep you humble, here's a list of five things I find very disappointing in you. See, their assistant will make sure they never see it. Right? It's like, I I have no relationship with you. Here's some forced humility. Here's here's the deal, is a lot of those guys, like, it's and this is this isn't true just in ministry. This is true across the board. Like like, people that have that level of influence, like, often can be people that are easily hurt by criticism, right? And so Yeah. So then they start separating themselves from that Yeah. And that's that's where you start losing your accountability

Yeah. And, like, your level of humility and your level of I'm trying to keep on the straight narrow and make sure that I'm people are refining me and they have the right people around me are still being judged by what you consider right. And that may not actually be entirely right and so and that could that that's a risk that always comes with a being right in any in regardless of how big or small but also like power.

It when when when you can otherwise dismiss criticism because you're so right most of the time, that does actually tend to amp up and and filter things out where you end up in a spot where you thought you had the right people around you and you don't. But you you wouldn't have realized it, like, got there in slow steps Mhmm. Be and and because to a certain extent, you were trying to dodge criticism. And also, on the on on the other side of this is they are separated from common people like us. Oftentimes, have bodyguards and armed people around them because they also have death threats from people who are not believers, which you know, so so in order to protect them, there's they're isolating them Right. Physically,

spiritually, emotionally. I mean and they're just like, to talk to Rick Warren, you can't just walk up to the dude and say, hey. I would just like to talk to you. Right. I mean, you you gotta have the password and the secret code and I feel like that's weird. I think Ben and I were having this conversation a couple weeks ago, but, like, like, martyrdom went off the table sometime ago, and I'm not sure quite when. You know I'm saying? And I'm not saying that, like, everyone's supposed to be out there for a lamb to slaughter, but, like, if I'm let's say I'm a megachurch pastor, and I really believe God's got it, what are these bodyguards for? You know what saying? Someone could take me out, they're gonna take me out. Yeah. What's to lose? What you know what I'm saying? And so, like, people have a hard time believing when you're, to, you know, to to to to die is gain. To live as Christ, to die is gain. You know, they're like, well, if you believe that, I feel like you wouldn't have them body cars and that armored limo when you pull up. I'd rather talk about it than do it. To live as Christ and to be safe is nice. That's it. If I die, poop my pants. That's right. Just don't wanna poop my pants. Dear lord, make it a little. Not in front of the church.

That's that Do you think make a church pastor that correct himself? This is the scary part is is, like, is is how much of that is is actually true. Like, some time ago, Christianity took, I'm willing to die for this thing off the table. And so then we come up with, like, 15 different ways on how we're gonna tackle this thing when really you should have put yourself in harm's way and let God handle Even even the apostle Paul, they let him down the city gate like, okay, dude. They're gonna get you we're gonna you out this Right. He's still ran. Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. They caught him sometimes and stoned him, but then, know, I mean, if he didn't do it on purpose Okay. So let's not say the death. Okay. Let's let's just put it like in Just get hurt real bad. Let's just say that there's Get the crap kicked out of you. Let's say that there's some consequence to you following Jesus. Right? Like, I would say that a majority of the of the Christian population will go out of their way not to feel any consequence for following Christ. Yeah. I would put myself in that boat on occasion. There are some times when you you go into a room and you're like, this is not a good room for this. And so you just sit there and shut your mouth. And granted, it's not always as a great time to be like, who's heard the good news? You know? But like, someone asks you a question They see them in color. Hold

on a minute. Let me finish button this thing up. I'm gonna say, is my top button done? But I mean, the truth of matter is that there's there's just as many cowardly moves where you're like, I I could have proclaimed the name of Christ here and I didn't because I didn't wanna feel the consequence of claiming Christ as Lord because really, it's just gonna be irritating and I would rather not deal with the irritation or people thinking different of But, you know, some of that though is because I I think, honestly, we don't believe that that it makes a difference. Right? Like, we actually don't have a lot of faith that the good news will be received as good news. Some of what our impression of how people react to the gospel is is a little bit skewed to reality and I I I personally, that this this has been something that I've been I've been trying to think through and I think react differently is like, I'm so used to spending time like looking at apologetic stuff. Right? Like, do you explain the

God of the old testament and his behavior to the land of Canaan? How do you blah blah blah? Like, I had, like, all these all these moral issues or these biblical issues that people have with things and, like, as if there's guy you know, a 100 guys on every street corner cocked and ready for you to mention the name Jesus, so that he could be like, yeah, but talk about the land of Canaan, you know, and like, we somehow have missed mistaken good news as if it like is difficult. Right? But like, good news is described that way because it is good news

and, and I wonder if like part of we look into a room full of people who we think won't receive it well, but like where did we get that impression? And where do like, who who doesn't like good news? And so but but I think that's the thing. It's like I I I've I've pulled some of the power from the gospel and said, it is a reasoned argument. It is something that no one is looking for or that they've already made up their mind. They're 40 years old. How could they have possibly not considered Jesus? But you know what? They haven't.

There's a large part of the population who is actually not considered Jesus. They had an interaction in bible school maybe once, like a VBS thing. They saw something on the net from one of friends who posted about a meme and they're like, okay, maybe I like that. And that's a that's about it. And so, like, it's just it's a false impression that that things like like prayer and telling people about Jesus doesn't actually change the world because I it does. I think we're just we we we don't actually believe that, which is the restraint. We have to sit in a corner and be like, am I ready to take a beating for the gospel in this room because I share it with other people? And be like, that's stupid. That's a stupid way to approach it. Yeah. I agree.

So anyway, I I that I guess maybe what I'm what I'm looking for, and I think that I actually got to it, is just holding your holding your leaders in right perspective and and realizing that sometimes it's you. Sometimes you're their accountability, man. You know what I'm saying? Something don't sniff right. Why don't you ask that man about it? A humble guy will receive that alright. I mean, off the right off the cuff, he's he's gonna be angry. That's what people do when you question the way they live. They are automatically gonna take that poorly. That's okay. Yeah. That's okay. Give him give him a couple minutes. Give him a half hour. Give him a day, you know, and let him process it and think about it. And if they're actually sinking, seeking the advice of the holy spirit and and and asking God for help in that, they'll God will take care of that. Yeah. Right? Like but like, it don't hurt if you're doing it in love, to say, hey, man. I just wanna make sure everything's on the cool, you know. Like, they'll take that wrong at first because everybody does, and then give them a while, and they'll it'll it'll you'll be glad that you did it. Right? As long as you're doing it with the right heart. If you're just a jerk face who likes to yell at people, you know, you should probably stay at home.

Play it right on. You wanna do some Dear Life From The Path? Yeah. Let's do it. Okay. Here we go. Ready? Okay. I I I previewed this one as in the title. Dear Life From The Path. I am a 58 year old man who has been meeting women online for a few years. Mhmm. I recently met Quotations Molly whose profile said she was 60.

We dated several times and then she spent a few days at my house. Certain things she said made me suspect she was older. So so I looked her name up online and found out she was seven years older than she had advertised. I considered lying on the dating profile to be similar to lying on a job application. When she asked me when she could come over again, I nicely said I couldn't consider a long term relationship with someone her age.

So what's the penalty for putting false info on a dating profile? Grounds for dismissal, like with a job? Well, I mean, yes. But I your premise is a little bit false. Right? Like, it's probably not gonna be a long term relationship dating someone or race. Listen, man. You're 58. You know?

I I I I don't know what you had planned. I mean, you got some time left. That's true. And I you know, I suppose if you like the woman, you could this is the thing. Like, you could just get to the direct part of it. It's like, why did you say that you 60 when you 67? You know what saying? Why did you do that? And she will shamefully look at the floor and be like, I just thought people would think I was too old and I just Yeah. I you know It's the date of 67 year old. That's right. I thought someone would judge me like you're doing right now. Just like you are, you're fried chicken at 58, I guess. You know, you're out running marathons, pooping yourself. And me, I'm just stuck in a bed and watching TV all the time. Yeah. The penalty is whatever you want it to be, dude. I mean, the the answer to your question is is like, make a decision, friend. You know, you you don't have to pull the audience to figure out how you're gonna react to someone telling you lies. When people lie to me, I say, are you lying to me? And they say, yes. And I say, I really wish you wouldn't do that. I have a hard time dealing with people that I can't trust. Let's start over and you stop lying to me. Okay? I guess the first thing is, yeah, does she have a habit of lying to him? Because she wasn't lying specifically to him. She wasn't targeting him to lie to. Right. She was being dishonest. Yes. True. To everybody. To everybody. To the world. Yeah. To the generic. Yeah. Anybody who happened to read her profile.

So, yeah, that's the big question. Is she a dishonest person? Well, it depends on how far you're gonna take that. Right? Like, my wife dye her hair brown. Is that a lie? You know what I'm saying? Nice. Is you know what I'm saying? Is every lady I know with dyed hair a dishonest woman because she don't have that color hair? Obviously, 60 was believable. Yeah. Yeah. She must have looked 60. Do you really care at this point if she looks 60? What what do you care? You know? Once you get past, 45, does it matter? Yeah. How much yeah. Well, see, not to me. You know, maybe those distinctions are made. When I was, you know, 18. I thought 30 years old was about halfway to death. You were gonna die when you're 40. You know? So, I mean, I suppose that changes as you get older, but right now, they're just a they're just a big plot of people that I put in one group after 50. Yeah. I I would say you filtered yourself out for dating her given, like, if you've met her, you've spent some time with her at your place for days.

And obviously, that wasn't a problem. So Praying together. No. That's the that's probably what it was. That's how I interpreted it. Or doing or canning vegetables. That's my second option. Stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So It's a lot of dishes. But, like, like, you're the exact person she was concerned about because if she put her real age in there, obviously, you're willing to chuck her to the curb. So, like, she called you.

So frankly, if I'm her, I would actually dump you for that for that reason. Second to that, like, since if you if you like her and age is that big of a distraction, you're as shallow as we were previously talking about. And again, I think she should probably dump you. So I think you're kind of self filtering. So go ahead and react however is most natural to you. That way, hopefully, she can get the gist and find somebody else. Yeah. Yeah. Why don't you go let's go with the honesty route, friend. Here's a secular advice.

Dating sites are a form of advertising. And as with buying any product, the rule is caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware. Many women and men fudge the truth on dating sites when stating their height, weight, age and income. There's a saying in journalism, if your mother says she loves you, check it out. Not everyone ages at the same rate. Some people are old at 45. Others are healthy, vital, and energetic at 70. Molly was able to pass for her younger than her chronological age. Mhmm. If the number is that important to you, it's your right to move on. But being rigid about age could let a good person slip by. Everyone puts their best foot forward to get used to it.

Yeah. Here's the deal. That's that's crap. I have had I have had so many run ins with people this week that are half telling me the truth and it drives me nuts. They tell me a half aversion of something that I know is an absolute lie. They shine me on about things that I know aren't true. They they there there's there's like a 15% element of truth in there that they've now started to believe and then they filled in 85%

of the rest of it with a lie. And that drives me absolutely up the wall crazy. When you have decided to live your life on a story you made up and then you believe your own lie well enough that you try to sell it to me. Like, I'm I'm I promise you, I I don't I there's a reason I don't let my kids do this. There is no joy in living that way. Absolutely no joy in fudging anything. Just be honest, tell the truth, and deal with the consequences, and stop trying to shade people on. That is awful. I don't know if that's a good reason to get rid of this lady. I have a feeling I know why she fudged what her age was. But like, at least you could look her in the eye and say, look, I I don't live life this way. We go with honesty because really, it saves a lot of time It saves me have to second guess myself and you every time you say something. And so, like, her advice is terrible. People people put their best foot forward. If your best foot is a lie, shame on you, man. Like, why don't you get a good foot instead of making one up and then trying to show it to everybody? Sorry. I Had a bad week with this. People tell me half truth. They drive me nuts.

Let's see. You wanna do another? Yeah. One more. Dear life this one seems mean. Dear life from the path, I'm facing major surgery in Seattle where my son and his wife live 2,000 miles from my home. After the surgery, I must stay in town for ten days until my post op appointment. Then I'll be given the green light to travel home. During that period, my son will be working overseas and his wife plans to join him. Because their condo will be empty, I asked if my husband and I could stay there during my recovery. My son informed us that while we are welcome to stay there when they are in town, we are not welcome when they aren't. My son would never do this to us. I know it came from his wife. Mhmm. I also know that if the request were from her mother, she'd be welcome in a heartbeat. Yeah. I have been nothing but generous and supportive of them. We aren't slobs and would care for the places if it were our own. I just don't understand. How do I react? What can I say? My son's wife has isolated him from some of his friends too. I get the you know, here's the deal. I I just got one on that rail about you about people being honest. But, like, if you're gonna be a bitty, you might at least try to hide it when you're trying to get sympathy from people in the newspaper. You know what I'm saying? If you're gonna be a sarcastic old woman that obviously does not like the woman that her son married, you could at least attempt to hide that when you're trying to get people on your side when writing into the newspaper. This was signed mother-in-law of Jezebel. Yeah.

Signed best woman ever. Here's the deal. You want truth about her? I don't think I don't think they like your husband. You know, she didn't say, you know, my son's mom and dad. You know what saying? It's like, this is a different dude. And they're like, blah blah blah blah blah. Blame it on the girl. Here's the deal. I don't think your kid likes that guy you married. That's what I think. Wait. It's a

So it was Mike thinks that she's not married to his dad. No. It's just a second marriage Like a father or something. Yeah. Does it say that or you just decide It said well, this is way she described it. She said let's see. I asked if my husband and I could stay there during my recovery. I would assume he would say she would say I asked if if his father and I could stay there. You know what I'm saying? Like, I would assume that he would just say his parents. Yeah. That's more sympathetic. That's what I would have said. Yeah. That was that would be way better to sell you. Yeah. But she's not being sympathetic. She's she's she's No. No. Sympathetic to her. Right. Right. It makes it makes the other woman look like even more of a jerk because it's both mom and dad versus her and her husband. But right. But I'm just saying the rest of her writing style does not follow

someone smart enough to try to play under something. Possible. A possible it could be his dad. I'm saying she's not that smart. Yeah. I don't know. Either way, it it it's sad. It's it's sad that they wouldn't have her. I mean, have them at at their house, but it's their house. So I feel like there's a lot more to this. Yeah. Right? There's things we don't know. Yeah. Like, generally, when your mom would be like, hey. Can I stay at your place for ten days?

You're like, yeah. Yeah. You can't even say no to that. Alright. Right? Now if your mom be like, I'm gonna move in with you and deliver your place for months, you'd like, ah, my I, you know, I don't know if that's what we're gonna do. But like, mom says, I got major surgery. I gotta stay here for ten days. What's wrong with you? Yeah. The answer is yeah. How do you like I don't care if you have a surgery. Whatever. Yeah. I'm out of town. I'm not even there. Frankly, if my mama gave me that option, I'd be like, sure. I'd rather be out of town. You can stay in a place ten days. That sounds good. You know? Great. Stop by anytime. You know? Feed the dog. But yeah. Yeah. There's I think there has to be much more going on to the story that isn't making any sense. Maybe they felt like she was gonna be a a burden on them or, you You know. Know? I want I I wonder if she's extremely difficult to deal with. Think she steals my guess. And she wouldn't bring that up. Right? But, like, if I maybe, like, yeah. I don't want you at my place. You're likely to snoop, you know. She steals the slipperware. She

changed the curtains all the time. All the slick houses and disco what happened? Yeah. I I She has mustaches on all my pictures. Yeah. I I think she's probably difficult and she obviously doesn't recognize that or agree with it. And here's the thing is, like, the premise of her letter is my I believe my son to be a pansy who's easily manipulated by this wife of his who were they are traveling overseas together. Right? Because, like,

no one someone couldn't tell that story about me. Haben's wife is dominating him, like, well, no. Like, if I wanted my mom to stay here, like, we'd figure it out. Yeah. It It's would, like, if it would be something where it was obviously clear, we both agreed to this not, hey, I I forced her into it or she dominated me and said no. That's true. The phrase where she says, my son would never do this to us. Yeah, he did. Yeah. He would. That's exactly what he did. You raised a son that either agrees with his wife or is too much of a pansy to stick up to her and have any type of conversation if she's as domineering as you're saying. Either way, this kind of lays at your feet.

Here's what secular has to say. Your disappointment is understandable, but but the way to react is to tell your son that you are disappointed and you will make other arrangements for a place to recuperate. I don't think it would be helpful right now to point out that his wife has isolated him from his friends and appears to be doing the same with his mother and dad. Now, secular things to the dad. He will figure that out for himself in time if he doesn't already know.

Alright. That seems pretty reasonable. Did you work on this this week? No. I'm gonna give it a shot.

Okay. Go ahead. I worked on it a little bit. I got I got a little phrase here. What what he says, if you feel you got the power, oh, no. And then it has got you made. I didn't get the rest.

You know, life in the path. Hey, this is life forty five. If you guys didn't catch the clips from the show last week, they did an awesome job. This is from their their EP decibels, and I I kinda like the stuff in the studio, really. The acoustic stuff rock hard. So

you can check out those clips from the show. Thanks for hanging out with us Make sure you go check out Life forty five at their website and pick up the EP. And I think that's all we got. If you need to get ahold of us, shoot us an email at [email protected]. Check out the website for other clips from the show, including the interview with these fellas. In the meantime, be faithful to me. God will handle the end. You've been listening to Live From The Path.