Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper. You are live from the Path. Hey. You seriously? You're listening Live From The Path. Thanks for hanging out with us tonight.

Know you just got here. Here's the deal. If you only do the podcast, you've made a mistake in life because we're laughing at the picture of Buva that's on the opening. It's terrible. Yeah. I don't know. If I cared more, would say switch it. But my my pride says change it, which means that I have to say don't change. Equal the same amount of pride you had in that in that video where you're like, I packed my own lunch lunch today. You look like you were very happy that you had gotten three carrots in where only two carrots should fit. Wait. I… That was said on a video at one point in time, or you're just making that up? No. I just like to attach a backstory to your last I kinda had a feeling that was what was going on there. It it it certainly felt like something I would have done, but then I wasn't certain if you were just lying about that. You never know. Alright. Fair enough. Alright. You're listening live in the path. Hey. Lots of cool stuff happening on the show tonight. First of all, Michael Leverton is in studio with us. He's… What up? Hey. There he there he is over there, Mike. Hey. Hey, buddy. Hey. We we met earlier. Yeah. Oh, that's true. Hey. So here's the deal. He… I I read… I saw Micah. He he is is the host of the… Was it Oops. I Miss Church. Miss Church. Yeah. Oops. I Miss Church. Every Sunday, three to seven. Awesome. So we're gonna talk to him about his, about his show and how you can, listen in on that stuff. He's also got some tunes that he's gonna play, and, we're excited to hear those from him. And he's gonna join in to the general riffraff of the program. You know, here's the thing is I… This is… Gotta say, I'm a little bit threatened here. Like, I like to bring in guests that are only good at one thing, better than me, and it turns out Micah could possibly be better at both things. Only a couple. Yeah. So, I mean, he's a radio host, and he plays musical instruments. Right now, he's got us both beat. You don't think? Yeah. But the radio show is only ten weeks old, so you guys have got some some time. We're on the Internet. We I guess you are on the Internet. Yeah. We can just keep up a ruse for a long time.

Eight… No. I meant that as in we're worldwide. Oh, right. We're worldwide. Take that, Mike. You know, I mean, potentially. They they… We're very big in South Korea. I'll get there. Wow. Big in South Korea. The world v. Then I came across… There's a couple of articles that I thought were interesting. Mike Mike, you said there's a CNN article about people misusing scripture? Yeah. It was it was just interesting. It was called… Actually, that's not in the Bible. And it has to do with a lot of folks in pop culture referencing bible verses that don't actually exist, which is a a bit of our premise on secular versus Solomon, you know, when we talk about where are you getting your wisdom from. And, you know, you you hear a lot of a lot of biblical phrases. They sound biblical, but they're really kinda mixed in with American

pull yourself up by your bootstraps type things. You know what I'm saying? And it gets comboed into, like, some kinda positive saying that is actually never in the Bible to start with. So it it was a… It was an interesting article. I think we we know these things to be true, but I didn't realize, you know, quite how prevalent it was that there's a guy… I don't know if they're gonna mention him by name, but, like, there's a certain guy that ran for president and may have won this year that, he does this a lot. He tends to reference bible versus it. Don't actually insist. Wait a minute. That's not in No. That's probably not in there. There's also… There was an article on… Actually, I meant to see… This is a year old by now, but I just… It came across in my Facebook feed. Someone had posted an article that said godless parents are doing a better job. And I thought, oh, well, my. Shoot. Oh, man. And so, I wanted to talk about this and, see if we can digest… I mean, is it is it is it true? And what do we mean by better?

And so we'll we'll we'll talk about that article, godless parents are doing a better job. Also, we got some advice on Dear live from the path. Mike, did you preview any that stuff? Yeah. There's a… There… I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I looked at them. They're they're not super distinct. Do they have, like, some examples? Of of, the questions people are asking? Well, of misused, by… From that CNN article. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So here, let me let me read the opening salvo real quick. Okay? It says NFL legend Mike Ditka was giving a news conference one day after being fired as the coach of the Chicago bears when he decided to quote the bible. Scripture tells us that all things that that all things shall pass, a choked up Ditka said after leading his team to only five wins during the previous season. This too shall pass.

Ditka fumbled his biblical citation though. The phrase this too shall pass doesn't appear in the Bible. Dickard was quoting a phantom scripture that sounds like it belongs in the Bible, but look closer and it's not there. There's also ones, these phantom passages include, God helps those who help themselves, spare the rod, spoil the child. And there's often, cited paraphrase, Satan tempted Eve to eat the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden. None of those passengers appear in the Bible, and no… And one is actually anti biblical, scholars say. Which one?

Yeah, Mike. I don't know. Hold on. I… I'm not a scholar. Me neither. That's how I can tell. God helps those who help themselves. Well, that one's anti biblical. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that that sounds a lot different than the, you know, give up your life. It's all about me. Spare the rod, spoil the child. That's not in there? I think I used to say that. Yeah. Exactly. I thought that was in Proverbs, but, I think my parents used to say that.

I think they were just justifying what they were doing. Yeah. That might have been the issue. Hold hold on. Hold on. God works in mysterious ways? People say that all the time. That's not in That's not in there. Cleanliness is is next to godliness. That's not in there. No. That's not a… Well, I think the word godliness is in the bible. Hold on a second. Does god not work in mysterious ways? Yeah. That's the thing where it's like, I feel like he does. Yeah. It might not say those exact words in the bible, but he certainly does. I think that's the problem here is people are are paraphrasing things that they're saying and are saying, well, this is what the bible says. Because, I mean, ultimately, like, this too shall pass. Like,

yeah. That… That's true. It's not wrong. Yeah. Exactly. That's not a… That's not an incorrect thing. Like, we understand that, like, the stuff that happens here is only only, like, here. No. I mean, there is past this. That could have been Geppetto's slogan. Yeah. Like, in it, you take your average clockmaker. Right. And and that's I'm saying. Like, it too shall pass…. Biblical. I will mark it with a tick. It… It's not necessarily something that's biblical, but it doesn't mean it's it's, like, against God to say it. I think the problem is people are saying, hey. The Bible tells us this too shall pass. It's like, well, that's not technically true, but, I mean… Well, I mean, here's the thing. I I think the bigger problem is is is… I mean, we are… There is a little bit… It's… You're you're not quoting scripture directly. Right? But, like, if you're trying to solve someone's issues with a phrase of some kind, you're not doing it right anyway. You know what I'm saying? Like Yeah. No one's comforted by that. This too shall pass. Oh, it's a good thing. Okay. I guess we're fine. Thanks. Now I can deal with all this stuff that's happening because I heard you say your… I just I just got fired. My my my company's downsizing and they and they let me go. Well, God works in mysterious ways. Well? Thanks. Yeah. I'm comforted by the mystery. Thanks, Greg. You're the best. Yeah. Did you ever consider that, you just don't get it because you're an idiot? You know what I'm saying? Maybe God does crazy cool things, and my human mind just can't take it. That's not a mystery. It just means I I just don't understand it. Right. Right. I mean, it also… We we also know that he's not a… If he's not a god of chaos, right, if he's a it's a god of order. Well, he created order.

Right. So, like, it's a it's a order… It's a mysterious order. Micah, have you ever not comforting. Have you ever been caught using phrases like this? I don't know. I feel like I try… I feel like they're kind of cliche, you know, or things that people say is like a almost temp… Like a trying to be encouraging Mhmm. But not really… I mean, it's not really encouragement. It's more just like, well,

this won't last or… You know? Like, I don't know. So I'd I'd try to stay away from those just because I wanna… I mean, yeah, I wanna offer more than a phrase to encourage somebody. And I think… I don't know. I think there's just a lot about, like, suffering and the value of suffering that you can kind of… If I'm gonna encourage someone, I wanna talk about how god is a god who redeems. You know? Because I think… I I mean, there might not be a specific verse that says God redeems. But He does redeem. He absolutely does. Right. I mean, that's the gospel. Right? I mean Yeah. Redemption. And so that's where I kinda try and focus more on redemption because

that's just what I've learned in my own life is I've seen, like, real redemption for things. Right. And so that's kinda… And, yeah, if I'm gonna encourage someone, I kinda like to explain, like, where… Why I've experienced or, like, how I've experienced something bad and then what I did to get out of it. And a lot of that is, I mean, just going and finding the peace of the Lord. Because I think there's a… I think a lot of times, we, as Christians, just… Or not Christians, everybody just wants to go so fast Yeah. For everything. You know? And, like, culturally, that's what culture tells us to do, especially in America. Like, go. Go. Go. Go. Go. And I'm learning a lot just personally right now that, like, man, slow down. Like, take your time. And I think when bad things happen to us, a lot of times, we need to just slow down and wait for the redemption.

That's a good point. The the… That we we don't understand the value of of patients or even perseverance to the suffering. Like, what what… The way we identify perseverance is attempting to skip over or ignore. Right? I persevered to that trial by burying it deep inside and never thinking about it. Congratulations to me. No. It's true. Actually, if you're going to… I I think really what the, the lesson here is if you if you feel urge to to pop one of these phrases out of your mouth, just just, take a take a note from, Job's buddies and just just just shut up. Just a couple of days. Yeah. You know, just be quiet. Just stand by a guy. Like, I I I will I will double down on this advice till the day that I die, like, when when really heavy stuff happens. Stuff that you cannot explain. There is no there is no comfort to be found in that moment. Just sit down next to a guy and stay there. That's it. Just hang out there until they're ready to say something. And if they're not, you don't say something. Right. You get up and get a bag of chips every once in a while. You grab some coffee on occasion, but you don't say nothing. You just hand it over and then you sit right back down there and you wait. And, like, if you can pull that off, that's the kind of friend people digging on when stuff is just awful. Right. That's true. Those, those cliched phrases are are really just like a a… An attempt to be wise and a kind of a facade way to say, yeah. I don't really care about you. Yeah. Yeah. Hey. Hey. Hey. Something really terrible happened. Well, you… You'll get over it really. This too shall pass. Like, the… Yeah. That's a that's a that's a total noncommitment that says, I don't care much about you. I hope these pithy words are a comfort. Yeah. What's a… And here's the thing. It's like when when when the trenches show up and and and you're at the lowest of the low, wisdom is actually not what comes through the door. You know what I'm saying? It doesn't matter how much wisdom that there is and how spot on it is. You don't have the ears to hear it. Right? Like, you're you're overcome by whatever's got you at the moment. And, like, if if if people can't be comforted by your wisdom, then you can give them the only thing that that you have to offer, which is your time. You just hang out. No. Actually, I was talking to somebody to… This morning kind of about… And this is not a this is not a a dictionary definition, but, like, we're trying to make distinctions on saying true things to people, that are right and it coming off as pompous or arrogant versus,

saying true things that are otherwise right that is received as wisdom. And I said the primary distinction between intelligence and wisdom in those circumstances is your relationship. Or it it… Like, if you have a relationship with somebody, they will take it in as, as wisdom or something that could be encouraging to them or something they can learn from. Whereas, if you have no relationship with someone and you're just kinda spouting off at the mouth, you could say the exact same thing. And, like, it won't it won't be wisdom. It'll just be pompous intelligence. Yeah. And like, I I suppose to expand that definition, it's not only the relate… It's it's a relationship that you have, but it's the context of what you're speaking in. You're right. Like, two seconds after the plane goes down, yelling this too shall pass into the Mhmm. Or the or the or the Lord. All things happen to the good joy and glory of the Lord Yeah. Like into the plane while it's on fire. It just… It fails context. You know what I'm saying? Like, is it… Are there true things about God is sovereign and, you know, there will be joy and peace even when you you feel like you're in a dark tunnel. Yes. But there's a context to speak that into,

where if you get the context and relationship right, you have wisdom. But you could say the exactly the same thing in the wrong context or in a relationship that you don't have and it's not wisdom. And so, yeah, I think that's a big difference. And look look why the why the sackcloth and ashes were so popular. Right? Like, it's… You're basically… You're joining. You're joining with them. Right? Like, I can remember there's some some pretty rough stuff happened to, some friends of mine. And I remember giving them a great big hug, I and didn't say anything. And I didn't say anything. I just hugged them and hugged them, and they said, you gotta say something. And I said, I got nothing. And that's the exact same place they were. And it was comforting because I'm like, I I don't I don't have any… I can't get… You know? Right. We're here. I'm here with you. You got nothing. I got nothing. That's all we got. And, like, it's… It was the best. It's the best thing you can do. It it does not fail. Yeah. I think there's, like, a, like, a a point you can reach where you just kind of realize your nothingness when… Especially in suffering and things like that when awful stuff happens where, like, there's nothing

that I can say or do to really explain this. And that is, I mean, like, rock bottom, I guess, is what a lot of people would explain it. And that's, like, one of the best places to be, I think, because then that's when healing and redemption can start to, like, work and manifest itself. Yeah. Yeah. It's… And and it's it's interesting, like, in times when people should be doing or saying nothing, but just being present and and aware of of… I don't know. Even the even the bigness of God around them or the minutiae of their circumstances or whatever. It's it's trying to fill voids that that cannot be filled that causes people to do crazy things. Right. The whole, the whole, business of medium of people, like, where someone, like, someone close to you dies.

Right? And, like, they cannot be brought back. And, like, there's just a… There's a weight to that. There's a, there's an emptiness, but there's also a redemption and a ultimate joy and peace that comes from kind of digesting the full circle of all that stuff. And, like, a wrong way to try to fill that void is to find a guy who's like, yeah. No. I'll just bring him back. I'll have him show up here and talk to you. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's an attempt… Not not being able to deal with a real void, and an emptiness and not being able to, like, walk through that in perseverance. I I I really like what what what Michael was saying, like, not recognizing that that, like, this is just something you get… You're gonna have to go through and you're gonna have to slow walk the thing. That's where the healthy way of dealing with it. If you… If something like that happened and you walked around the next day like it did not occur, that's psychopathic activity. Right? Like, that's not normal. There was a fact that was a friend of mine I met for lunch today, and he's just got a lot of heavy stuff going on. And he's like, you know, I can't sort out some of these emotions that I'm feeling and, like,

you know, I just don't know kinda how to express it. And I was gonna, you know, I I just feel… I feel weird. I'm like, yeah, because you're a human. Right? There's a bunch of stuff going on around you. And if you didn't feel it, like, that would make you a crazy person. You know I'm saying? Like, it's completely normal to feel that way. And so, like, trying to solve… Trying to get around the need to deal and work through things like that in, in in perseverance, in silence, in petition to God, by trying to skirt around and cheat the thing a little. Like, that's that's where we get some really unhealthy ways of dealing with some rough times in life, and we don't deal with them realistically. And then that… Then it just continues to compound over and over again.

Yeah. That's something… Because I… I've realized just recently how bad I am at letting myself experience, like, negative emotions

because I've always been such a happy go lucky kinda guy that I'm, I like… So I got paralyzed. Right? I got paralyzed four years ago in July, and I wasn't really that sad. Like, I didn't really go through a grieving process Right. When I got paralyzed because, I don't know. I just… I was, like, very aware that it was gonna be worked out for good. Like, I knew it was gonna be used for good eventually. Yeah. And, but starting out, it was like… Or just recently,

at the end of January, I was dumped by a girl, and that was, like… And I was, like, ready to marry her. And so because of that, that was, like, the real… I actually, like, allowed myself to grieve Yeah. And feel it, you know, and really, like, experience, like, sadness because I think I've I've always, like, been so obsessed with having this image of, like, oh, that's the happy paralyzed guy. Or Right. It's Micah. He's always happy. You know? And I'd… I, like, really

kinda hindered myself from a… Like, really feeling things. And because of that, it, like, I was being, like, a a completely false self Right. As I have… I've just been realized… Like, I've been going… Realizing so much stuff just over the past, like, month and a… Like, two months because of just this loss that I experienced with this girl and then, just realizing how much, like, pride I had, but I wasn't even aware of it. Right. Like, I had just been so blinded to all these things that I that I knew were foolish and, like, stupid, but I didn't really even think about it because I was so blinded by trying to keep up an image or a, like, a false self. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I'm very…… Like, everybody does that. You know, to a certain extent, like Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

Thing that I said that that you usually get to thank God for is the ability to know the difference. Right? Like like, it… I I can I can remember the time when I figured out that I was that I was phoning most of my relationship with Jesus in? Like, it was it was just a a giant facade, you know. I never much was one for, like, the, you know, the the happy Christian, we got this thing all figured out thing. I was never very good at that, you know, but, like, I was pretty good at at at at bringing the heavy and and and some of the the the biblical changes, especially what's expected out of a man and, bringing it pretty hard and heavy as if it applied and that's the way I live my life, and I wasn't. And, you know, and I wasn't. And I can remember I can remember the day when God showed that to me, and I'm like, oh, man. I I… Like, I'm really upset that I've been such a fool for the last x number of years. Right? But I couldn't be any happier that God let me see the difference. Because I could've gone on being a fool for years just like most. You know, I could've just continued in my own way and decided this is what was for me, and then God showed me the difference. And I'm like, man, I I don't know what I'd have done without this. I would've continued being exactly this way. Yeah. I don't know. It's interesting. Anyway, the the the tail end of this thing is… Well, he he… The guy goes on a little bit of a tangent here where he talks about the

the story in the book of Genesis never places Satan in the Garden of Eden, and the three wise men never visited Jesus according to the scripture. I don't know who their biblical man is. They they visited Jesus. They just weren't there when he was born. Yeah. He was like a toddler. Oh, yeah. It says, nor did the New Testament passages say that three wise men visited baby Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So he's he's a… He's brought up something but said it oddly. Like, it did say three wise men visited, it just didn't say they visited baby Jesus. One of the things he says is… Let's see. Most people have heard this one, God helps those who help themselves. It's another phantom scripture that appears nowhere in the bible, but many people think it does. It's actually attributed to Benjamin Franklin. Yeah. Yeah.

Didn't know that. Not actually an author of any books of the bible. Just a heads up, just in case anyone was was wondering. There was turn that up. Actually, he did write fourth Peter under the name Silence Do Good, but it was not accepted. Yeah. I did did did get it. We'd already established the canon before that occurred. Ben, we gotta talk. We

we know your silence, first off. Second off, unfortunately, it's it's kinda already solid. Like, we're we're not gonna put you in. Yeah. He's… He was the… Here's the deal. Ben Franklin was the guy… Like, we look at the interim, it's like, well, people can post whatever they want because they can self publish and there's no written… Like, Benjamin Franklin is that guy. Yeah. He just… He has his own printing spot. He's like, this is gold printed up. Was that story I was reading about Alexander Dumas where he had started, the guy who wrote… Catalano Cristo. Right? And Three Musketeers and stuff. Yeah. So he owned his own his own paper. Right? It was his. And he printed articles or whatever. And his own editor said,

look, we we we can't pay you what we used to. And he goes, if you don't pay me, I'm gonna go sell my articles to the other paper. And the editor's like, it's your paper. You own this paper. He goes, not at those prices. I will not write here. And so he started selling his articles to the other newspaper Yeah. For his own self out of business. That's amazing. Yeah. He was… There's a lot of cool there's a lot of cool stories about him. There was one where, like, they didn't believe that he was such a prolific writer and so they locked him in a room and fed him, like, one piece of paper at a time under the door and he would write something and then feed it back out. Woah. Because they were… They they were claiming that he had, like, a team of writers that would write on his behalf. He also published, like, a a full a full library's worth of travel books on some various places in, I think it was, like, Southern,

like, get into the Mediterranean and and Indian stuff, and he never traveled there. He just read other books that other people had read about it and then rewrote, like, wrote a better job as if he'd been there. And so he's… There's like a travel library of Alexander Dubois books, places he's never been. Ted is a guy who's too aware of how good he is at something. He goes, hey. You know how I have absolutely no expertise on that? I wanna read about your expertise and just I'm a say it better than you. He's he's great. He was just one of the largest in life dudes. Yeah. Alright. Just just bring this up. This is the the best part is others blame… They're blaming the spread of this. They said to blame the spread of phantom bible passages on King James or more specifically, the declining popularity of King James translation of the bible. That translation, which marks four hundred years of existence this year, had a near monopoly on the bible market as recently as fifty years ago. You quoted the bible and got it wrong then, people were more likely to notice because there was only one text. Today, so many different translations are used that almost no one could tell for sure if something supposedly from the bible is being… Oh, come on. That's ridiculous. That's a little weird. Right? Like, is take up your cross and follow me is not rendered so differently in the 2,008 NIV

Wow. That it can't be picked out. They're also blaming the blaming the the Phantom Bible verses on Martin Luther and the Reformation because it's a great protestant tradition for anyone, milkmaid, cobbler or innkeeper, to be able to pick up the bible and read for herself. No need for a highly trained scholar or cleric to walk a lay person through the text. So they're basically saying, because we let the cobbler pick it up, he's quoting on bad scripture because all he knows is shoes. Oh, gosh. He just goes, shoe shoe shoe, bad bible verse, shoe shoe shoe shoe. God helps those who help themselves. By the way, you need a a leather piece right there. It's… Wait. If I can summarize, the Bible has been polluted by the dummies. We should have kept it in the higher ranks. Reverse… You don't you don't get the read from the Bible until you've been in in in school long enough. Remind me not to be a professor of biblical studies anywhere. It ruins a man. Oh, yeah. He looks at the world in a very calloused way. Right? Yeah. So so anyway, to

round this thing up, here's the deal. Like, if if you… Let's say you know Jesus. Right? And your tendency is to pop off even just a soul scripture. Do know what I'm saying? Like, in someone's time of need or trouble or whatever, if your jaw… If you show up with just one verse and you're ready to pop that off and you think that gonna help, you just do the Job friends and you sit there and be quiet. Right? Yep. Yeah. Now, if you wanna explain Jesus as a whole, you… The person's worth in the in the eyes of their creator and the person's worth in your eyes, you go ahead and have that conversation. That's okay for you. But if you're gonna throw out one bible verse with no context, no backstory, no relationship, you… It's better off if you just be quiet because that's not how it's done. Yeah. All you're doing is alienating the person if they didn't know that Bible verse and just telling them, hey, first off, you are supposed to think a specific way based off of this and your grief is no longer here because of the verse that I just said. By the way, if you didn't know the verse, you should feel worse about not knowing it in the first place. You know, and if you want if you want a good biblical example, people are like, hey, Jesus, tell us stuff. He goes, hang on. Let me get on this mountain. Or, hey, Jesus, tell us stuff. He says, let me grab this boat. I got some stuff to say. And then he go on. You know, he don't just pop out one hit wonders and then fly out. You know? He's like, here's the deal. Five chapters later.

Here's what I'm saying. No. Yeah. That's that's actually… That's why I've… Every once in while, somebody like, hey. What is your life verse? And I said, I… No. I don't do that. I do… I do not have been… The Bible. I have a life Jesus. Right? Like, because I can't… There's there's… It it it is so restrictive to me. Like, if Jesus doesn't have a life verse, I feel like I can skip it. Right? Like… So… You imagine someone walking up, hey, Jesus. What's your life verse? Like, what's what's really it for you? Somebody gave me one of those for when my daughter was born. They gave me a plaque with her name on it, birthday, and they… It was her life verse. Oh, they chose one on her behalf? Yeah. And I said, that's definitely not it.

Like, I mean, I I… And and I didn't say it till after they left, but I showed it to my wife, I said, I'm a throw this away. Here's here's the deal. I I I get it. Right? Who's like, hey. What's your life verse? Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. I said, okay. That's fantastic. But then then Mark opens with repent and be baptized. Yeah. And I think to myself, that's a strong contender. Is it not? That's a strong contender. And so, no. I I just can't do the I can't do the lifers. Have to… What's your life voice? It's a multiple choice answer. Alright. You're listening live from The Path. We're hanging out with Michael Everton. And I tell you what, let's let's get in on one of these, well, first of all, tell me a little bit about your, your radio program. How'd you get into radio? Yeah. It was kinda random and, cool because I was living in Oskaloosa.

I've been living in Oskaloosa for, like, a year now. And that's pretty long for me because… I mean, I grew up there for, like, ten years. I I went to high school there and stuff. But then after that, I moved around quite a bit, and I've gotten to live in quite a few places. So then I came back to Oskaloosa last year, and I was thinking I should settle down for a little bit and get a job and make some money. And then I was looking for jobs pretty much anywhere I could get one, and then my best friend's wife told me that the radio station was hiring. And they were originally looking for a salesperson. And I didn't really want to do sales. I preferred to do on air stuff. And so then they hired me on just to do on air stuff, and then they put me in sales also because they ended up putting me in sales because they needed another person to do sales. And I realized after, like, a month of doing sales that I just was not very good at it. Right. Because both my parents have been business owners, like small business owners, and

radio advertising is just expensive if you don't have… I mean, it works if you have the money to invest in it. But, otherwise, it's like, the small businesses can't really afford it. And my boss told me after listening to my show, he felt like, well, he said a good salesperson cares about their pocketbook and the station's pocketbook, and he thought that I cared more about the customer's pocketbook, which was pretty true because I just don't like taking people's money. Right. And I really don't care about money enough to be a good salesperson because I feel like to be a good salesperson, you kinda have to have a drive for some money. You know? And my real… My heart was, like, definitely in my show more than… In, like, making commercials and stuff. Sure. So just recently, I got switched out of sales officially, and now I only work ten to three Tuesday through Friday. And then I work on the weekends doing my show stuff. Cool. So tell tell me a little about your, your show. We said it was called, Oops, I Miss Church. Yeah. Oops, I Miss Church. I got that name from a friend of mine who used to work at a,

like, a local news broadcaster that's affiliated with the college in Oskaloosa, and he had told me about how he wanted to start a radio show called Whoops I Missed Church years ago. Like, he told me that when I was in high school and working with him. And then, I ran into him one night and he… I told him I was gonna get a radio show, and I was trying to come up with a good name for it. And I was originally gonna call it the afternoon Sabbath show because the acronym would have been kinda funny. But I decided against it because he told me, oops, I missed church. And it was perfect because from three to seven, it's a great time to listen to something if you missed church, if you did or not, really. Right. And so with the show, I really… It's pretty cool because there's so much room for growth and different things to happen. And so each week, I do a fruit of the week based off the fruit of the spirit. And so love, joy, peace, patience, God. You know? And then, I went through the first nine weeks, and then this last… Just yesterday, I decided I was gonna just kinda recycle through the fruit because they work really good as loose themes for the show. Yeah. Because then it's like… I mean, there's just so much to be talked about with all the different fruits of the spirit because,

like, love, that's the most, like, broad topic in the world, I feel. Right. There's so much to be said about love. And so that was our theme yesterday, and next week, it'll be joy and just kinda going on and on. And so that's, I want it to be a place where people who don't identify as Christians can tune in and hear music that they may have never heard before and then just hear conversations about things that I think matter, like worldview.

Because I want the conversations to focus primarily on worldview and just, yeah, just different ideologies and things that make us… Like, why we believe what we believe. And so the majority of my guests so far have been, of the same faith as me. They love Jesus, and that's been great. But I want to get more diversity on the show just because I think there's so much value in having conversations about the things that we believe. And I think that people can really enjoy listening to that Sure. Because there's just so much to be learned from having a conversation with someone. I feel like I've learned… I've just learned so much stuff from talking to people. I never went to, like, actual college. I might do it now. I'm thinking about going to college because it'd be cool. But I never did actual college. I did a year of ministry school in Florida, and I practiced, like, worship ministry. Yeah. And

I loved that, but I didn't really ever see myself going to real college because I never really saw myself having a real job. So I need… You know, I like the way you live. Yeah. I'm with you. I don't want a real job It's… Need a… But, I mean… Yeah. And so it's cool. It's really pretty awesome the way that things have worked out because I was in Oskaloosa not necessarily because I wanted to, but then having this girlfriend that I had, it made it way easier to be in Oskaloosa. Right. And so I was like, okay. Cool. I could stick around. And then I got this job and was doing that, and I was like, right on. And so now I'm just working on the show and making commercials and stuff, and, I'm having a blast. I think it's it's really, really exciting to me because I just think there's so much… It's like a platform for creativity, and I wanna have people of, like, all different beliefs on because I really just wanna just wanna open up people's minds from the base of, a Christian worldview.

And so what I believe about Jesus is obviously, like, the root of the show, and that's where I get all of my ideology and beliefs and worldviews and everything. And so then I like to have people on just to discuss what we believe. And so yesterday was the first time I got to have, I had an existentialist, my friend Dakota, and then, like, semi Buddhist, my buddy Jacob. And we just talked about origin, meaning,

morality, and destiny, the four things that kinda build up a worldview. And I kinda just wanna go through those four things with all of my guests because I had never really done that yet until just yesterday because most of the guests up until this point have been pretty sporadic and random. The first week, I had my dad, and then I had a friend who just came on, and she just asked me a bunch of questions because she likes to ask questions. And so that was the first show. And then it's just kind of… Every single week has been pretty different because, yeah, there's just so much… I don't know. There's just so much room to go with it and, like, so many different places I can go. Yeah. I was gonna ask about that. So, like, does that type of, kinda blank canvas,

intimidate you, excite you? Like, how do you… Like, you can do anything. Yeah. It mainly excites me because I could do anything. Right. You know? Like, there's… It's really cool too because it's a classic hits radio station, but I'm allowed to play any music that I want. And so it's a secular radio station that I've gotten to play, like, actual worship tunes on, like, of my favorite worship songs. Yeah. And then some of my songs, just from favorite bands of mine that have probably never been played on an Oskaloosa radio station because it's a small town in Iowa. You know? And so, I love that. And then I love all the room there is with conversations because I just love talking to people. And so it's really cool that I have four hours every Sunday to just talk and play music. That's a monumental amount of time. Yeah. It's pretty crazy. Yeah. A lot of time. I mean, we used to try to… We used to do a two hour show. And, boy, by about an hour and a half in, I don't know, man. We we were grabbing it. It was was tough. Yeah.

It was tough. I feel like… That… That's why I asked. Like, I feel like that… Like, that's a lot. So so when I say, hey. That's a four o shoe. Think to myself, anything could happen, and it's not gonna be good. Right. Micah says, anything could happen, and it's gonna be fantastic. Yeah. He has a different worldview. Yeah. Exactly. That's right. My my destiny answer is could be true. So, Micah, but you also play tunes. Right? I do. I sure do. So you're you're gonna pump out a couple today, and I think the first one that we were gonna hear was called Politicians? Yeah. Yeah. And this is a song I wrote in high school. I'm gonna grab my phone real quick off the ground just because… Oh, sure. You can hold it if you want. And I… If I recall,

Politicians is off the album called Homesick, and I think you can get that on iTunes, Spotify. Does it stream on Amazon? Is it on Amazon? Think it is on Amazon music. Yeah. I love Amazon. It's… And the artist's name is Pilgrim Kid. So I don't go by Michael Leverton with my music. I just go by Pilgrim Kid just just because I like to, I think anybody who says they love Jesus is a pilgrim. And then… That's a weird statement, Mike, I'll be honest with you. You think so? Yeah. It was a weird thing to say. Why? Why do you think that pilgrim? I mean, what's the name of this show, man? Life from the path? We're all on this path.

Right? And as a Christians, what we believe, we're on the path to home, heaven. And so I'm a pilgrim who's homesick because the thing that I long for the most is heaven. You're just a deeper guy than me. I thought I'd be. You're running into a two dimensional man, but I can see what you're saying. I dig on exactly what you're talking about. You know what I'm saying. Yeah. And… Yeah. Buba gets it. And then I say kid just because I've had so many cool, revelations or just, like, things where god has kinda opened my mind about what it is to be a child of god and just the weight that that carries. Like, if you really think about what it means to be one of God's beloved kids and to think that, like, we have an inheritance in heaven, like our inheritance is heaven, and that's just

mind blowing to me to to kind of get, your mind wrapped around the love of God is absolutely impossible because of his love for us is, like, so, so beyond anything that we could ever fully understand because he's so much bigger and better than us. That's right on. But you can get glimpses of it, and they're the most glorious things in the world. And so, I called myself pilgrim kid because I'm a pilgrim who's on my way home to heaven, and I'm a kid because I think childlike faith is really important because Jesus said that. You know? Specifically,

did he really? Did he really? You never had to check me. But, yeah. So just being pilgrims and kids because I think we're all called to be pilgrim children. So… Yeah. Go right on. Do you want me to play this song, politicians? Yeah. Let's do it. Okay. This is a song I wrote in high school, so it's a pretty old one. But no, it's not that old. I'm pretty young. I'm just a kid. Everyone,

a politician searching for dirty recognition. Every word, a politician

Speaking loud with false ambition. You didn't want to tell another

lie. You didn't want to break your promises, But you got

selfish, and you gave it all away. You burned bridges, and we found you in your grave.

Everyone, a politician stealing time to never listen. Everyone,

a politician, faking smiles, and always kissing. You who didn't want

to tell another lie. You who didn't want to break your promises, but you got selfish

and you gave it all away. You who burned bridges, and we found you in your grave. Upper class,

middle class, sand falls through the hourglass. Now you're lower class, burning pages.

Wishing you could rewrite your past. Upper class, middle class. Sand falls through the hourglass.

Now you're lower class burning pages wishing you could rewrite your best.

Thanks, guys. Thank you. Hey, man. That song was awesome. Thank you. Here… Here's where I thought it… Well, yeah, it it sound… It felt like it belonged. And this is a compliment. Right? But, like, it felt like it's a song that's… That should have been in the Royal Tannenbaum's,

like, when when Royal died. That is a very… You know I'm saying? I was… It is a compliment. Wow. Like, it just… It it, like, it it tells a story. It paints a picture. It has a vibe to it. It has a has a feeling. It has an aura. Like, the whole the whole song wraps itself in its own ball and says, here's life in this moment. Right? And, like, it's it's… I I liked it. I really, really liked it. It was cool. This…… So much. Right? It… Okay. So it's humbling because of the fact that, like, you said you wrote that in high school. Right? Yeah. Like, I remember what I did in high school. Oh, man. And it certainly was not on that par. But, weirdly, I I was thinking kind of the exact same thing that Mike was thinking. One of my favorite bands, is Death Cab for Cutie. Oh, yeah. And so I love Death Cab because of the stories that they tell in in their in their songs and how it's it's… They're unapologetic with not necessarily their mundane stories, but they're they're relatable to every single person and but very specific at the same time. And yours, it felt like I could put myself exactly where that was. And at the same point in time, your delivery and and the way that the song was sung, it reminded me so much of them is crazy. And I mean that entirely as a compliment. Yeah. Because that… That's literally one of my favorite ways. So I always love when we have people on the show that that are singing and and play songs like that I would listen to. Mhmm. And some some people have come on here that I would not listen to their stuff. Like, I dig on what they're doing. I love that they're working for Jesus and stuff like that, but I wouldn't like… I wouldn't put that in my CD player. But that was a song I would totally see myself driving around in my truck, windows down, just letting wind blow through the hair and, and just enjoying that. So that was incredible, man. Man, thank you so much, guys. It's really encouraging. Wow.

So so if I can ask, well, you said you wrote that in high school. What what were you thinking when you wrote that? What was the reason that that that came out? That's what's kinda crazy. I don't really know. Because I came up with the guitar part that just… Mhmm. And then I don't know if there was, like… I just have always been… Like, my mom, when I was younger, brought me to a lot of, like… Like, we… I was raised in a real conservative Christian home. You know? Mhmm. And so I remember, like, going to the capital here in Des Moines to, like, protest after they, like Oh. Had the, the gay marriage thing, not not just recently when it was passed, but, like, years ago Mhmm. When they… When those judges made those decisions where they didn't let people vote or something. And so there were a lot of Christians at the capital protesting saying, like, let us vote. You know? Mhmm. And I remember going to that. And so from a pretty young age, I was exposed to, like… My… Because my mom was just, like, really into political stuff. Yeah. My parents, like, listen… Listening to Rush Limbaugh and stuff. You know? And so I had been

pretty just, like, aware that there were a lot of politicians and, like Right. What all went into political stuff. And I… When in… When I was in high school, I think I was just kinda realizing, like, man, there's so much, like, fake stuff. You know? There's so many there's so many phony people. Every… Like, because every… Myself, I've been phony. You know? I think every single person has just that false self, like an impostor, you know, that creates, somebody that you're actually not. And,

so I think I was just thinking about that and, like, I don't know. I don't wanna be a politician. I don't wanna be like a phony fake… And not just a politician. I just don't wanna be a phony. I wanna be genuine and authentic in everything that I do, you know, because I've gotten so… Growing up in the church and Christianity and conservatism and everything, it made me so good at knowing exactly what to say to all the Christians. Like, I know what all the Christians wanna hear. You know? And I don't wanna just… I don't wanna say just the stuff that I know is expected of me to be said. You know? And so, yeah, I guess that's probably I like that. Like, that that is where,

you noticed how… With the with the song where the song turns, like, the very thing that we're upset with at that, these people that we've we've raised up to do these big things and they are failing, in some way or another by a facade in life, they they are, for the most part, just on a grander stage with more consequence, doing the same things that we are prone to do. Yeah. Right? Exactly. And so, that doesn't that doesn't alter, I suppose,

some of the reaction to that humanity on the big stage, but it should at least help put it into some level of perspective Mhmm. On what it is that we're otherwise asking folks to do. And, I think I think that is… I think that it's interesting that you said that, that… Like, description there because that has come up for me multiple times in this past two weeks, is talking with people about not settling for fake freedom. Like, not not settling for

the facade of joy or the appearance of peace. Like, let's just… Let's have the real thing. Like, if the real thing is available and and and, yes, it's it's going to cost you, but it's going to cost you the fake things that are taking you a lot of effort to keep up anyway. Yeah. Like, that's like if you want if you want true peace, if you want true freedom, like, you're gonna have to voluntarily take off the shackles that you frankly voluntarily put on. Right? Jesus took them off and then you're still hanging out in the jail cell with the shackles on going, I'm just gonna hang out here. This place is alright. People seem to like me better like Yeah. More comfortable in here and Jesus is just sitting outside going, I don't I don't know what he's still doing in there. I opened the door and he's he's like, I hope the generator don't start. I'll go out.

So like, but but it's weird to think of how much effort that we put into false pretenses for the benefit of everyone else. It's such a goofy thing. Jesus allows us self sacrificially to also be extremely

selfish. You you understand what I'm saying? Like, in service to others, we find true peace and joy. And, like, it's the most self serving, selfless thing to do. And, and we miss out on a lot of that stuff with self imposed shackles or the simple effort that it takes to keep up a facade of, of of a perfect life or of joy that we don't really have or frankly just being dishonest with God about what our relationship's at.

When, like, if we just would deal honestly, we actually get to partake in those things, in the very things that Jesus died for. And we're like, well, but I think we're gonna we're gonna put together this facade version of these things. And it's such a it's such a waste. And so that… That's come up multiple times in the last couple weeks about people who really are getting to the point where they're like, I just want this thing that we're saying. We're talking about freedom, and I want it. And the thing that it costs you is the facade that made everyone else think that you had freedom that you didn't have. But here's the deal. If you want true freedom, the cost of it is your fake freedom.

If you want true joy, the cost to get it is your fake joy. No. It's it's the truth because you can only keep that up for so long. Right? Right. Like, you invite people over to your house or whatever and they're like, hey, you live in a jail cell. You acted like this place was like a farmhouse with with dogs and donkeys, and I show up at your place and you live in a jail cell. I don't get it. Yeah. Right. Like, hey. Hey. Thanks for coming in, boys. What do you like, what do you think of the green that I've that I've done in here? It was like, some guy painted that for you mandatory state initiated green. Yeah. This is terrible. Yeah. But, I mean, it looks really nice. No. It does not. Yeah. Alright. Alright. Well, big thanks to Micah for sharing. He's…

You see, you can pick that up if you do a… You go out to the Spotify or any place where legit music is sold and search for Pilgrim Kid. You'll find that action out there to to take in. I got it on iTunes. Oh, Mike picked it up on iTunes. Yeah. Yeah. And you can get hard copies on pilgrimkid.bandcamp.com. I was gonna get a CD, and I… Now I've just downloaded it. You can still get a CD. I mean, I'll get it. Yeah. If you want the the difficult ones, you go through Bandcamp. Truth be told, I don't know where that iTunes money goes. Oh. I think it goes to my record guy, my buddy Kyle in Nashville. I hope that's where it goes. He just takes it and swims it? I mean, he's stupid because I've sold a lot of CDs, and I probably owe him some money because he paid for all the, like… I mean, he paid for all the, like, packaging and whatnot. Oh, right. The CDs. So I don't mind if he… So Kyle's good people? Oh, he's great people. So this is why you moved to to Oscar Luther then to avoid Kyle?

No. No. I wish I come to an agreement on cash… Packaging fees. It's cool. I'm actually gonna be playing a show in Nashville, in April, I think, and and that'll be the first time I've ever played a show in Nashville, so that's pretty exciting. That's exciting. We get to go with. Right? Yeah. If you want. Okay. Cool. You start to pay for some things. Yeah. See, was hoping that iTunes money would kinda find his way back to me, and then I would be able to… Okay. I mean, to be fair, you were… I mean, you're driving down there anyway, so I don't feel like I gotta go have these on gas or nothing. If I get a trailer, I can put you guys up. Yeah. You're the worst host ever. You know what I'm saying? Like… It's a bad deal. What happened? I'm going back to my prison cell, boys. Like, I don't think I'm gonna leave it. What happened to hospitality, man? Yeah. You know, pilgrims travel in a group, Micah. They're not one man sure to put up against him. Hey. He's trying to get Kyle back. Yeah. That's all it is. If he's moving, I need $50 to give you Kyle. Keep him off my back.

Alright. Fair enough. I can I can get on that? Alright. So you're listening to Libran Path, with with Michael Everton. A couple of things. Make sure you, check out his show. Oops. I, I missed church. You can catch that from, three to seven. What… What's the what's the station digits? So… Okay. So it's ninety nine point five FM and 07:40AM, but we're getting, like, signal boost this month. And so I'm hoping that here in Des Moines, it'll be able to be heard because right now, it's gets… It's pretty scratchy. The 07:40AM

reaches further than the 99.5. But if you don't, if you don't wanna listen on the radio, you can listen at radiokmzn.com. That's every Sunday from three to seven. And there's also an app, the KMZN Radio app. It's just called KMZN Radio. And so I'm hoping… I'd really like to get my own Oops I Missed Church app. Yeah. Because I think it'd be cool if I could just have all my episodes archived on there and then also have it, like, double as a music streaming app where it just plays songs that I've played on my show. Yeah. That'd be cool. I think that would be pretty sweet. So I don't know. You guys know any app developers?

I know this guy named Kyle in Nashville. Okay. And he's… I think he's more of a record guy, though. He doesn't do a lot of app app development. Then… Maybe he knows a guy. Yeah. Well, that's cute. Actually, I've gone He got that iTunes money. I've gone down that same road multiple times myself, actually. Figured, like, an app would be a cool thing to put all the archive of the show and all of this. What puts the brakes to it, Ben? Money. It's cash money? Yeah. Cash money. Hey. We should record an album. Expensive. Yeah. We shouldn't. Yeah. No. No. I'm glad you guys reacted the way you did because that was an immediately bad thing. Stomach hurt after you said that. Mine did too, actually. I just went, boo boo, why'd you say that? Hey. Speaking of good albums, I heard, putting on the Ritz on the way to here. Wait. The taco version? Yeah. By taco. Yeah. Yeah. The '8… The eighties version of putting on the Ritz. I don't know if I've heard that song, guys. I have. What? Ugh. Hold on a second. I'm a see what I Oh, you didn't like it? No.

You… Wait. You heard that on the way here? Before I went and picked you up. I was gonna say, you heard me on the way here. It's a band called Taco. Yeah. It's like a electronica, eighties version of putting on the ritz. I just recently got a synthesizer, and it's been pretty fun. That's what everyone with a synthesizer thinks. There's so many sounds you can make. It's crazy.

Man, I want a synthesizer. Wait a minute. Is it? This a real thing? Hold on. I can dig it. This don't sell. Right? No. Oh, that was an intro.

Hold on. No. That… What what is this? I was gonna say, is this a new wave version of it? Yeah. This isn't quite what I was thinking of. Oh, no. But I can dig it. It's a slow jam. I feel like I put this on to go to sleep. Yeah. Yeah. That's… On. Don't play the… That's the remix. Oh, that sounds right, though. Yeah. Yeah. This is what we're talking. Okay. Hold on. I I don't think I've heard it.

But I like it. Wasn't there a movie that had this in it? No. This version, not the original. It's in Cats. That's from Cats. Yeah. You uncultured boobs? The musical Cats. Micah. Oh, come on. It's

it's got… It's sandwiched between mister Misopheles and, something else. You've not seen the musical Cats? I've never once seen Cats. Have you seen Les Mis? Les Mis, man. And you haven't seen Cats? No. No. Mike, you've not seen Cats. I know, but Boop is ridiculous. We… I know we played… We were in the in the band. We played in the in the swing band behind the show choir that was doing hits from Cats. Ugh. Ugh. Wait. It wasn't the taco version, though. No. We played… I know you guys well enough to know you did not play that version.

That's something's gonna be stuck in my head for the next ten days. Actually, if you could meld that together with, Very Superstitious, you'd have one heck of a tune. Hey. There you go. Yeah. What's that? Have you guys listened to that Hamilton musical? Yeah. It's good, isn't it? Oh, it's so good. Yeah. Hamilton musical. Moova. Oh. Oh, Moova. Get out of your house. Sweet up, Here, dude. Jeez. I've eating, like, six books right now. Here's the deal. I I listened to the Hamilton musical. I was taking a drive up to Minneapolis for work, and, I mean, that drive has never gone faster or better Oh, yeah. Listening to Hamilton musical. It's incredible. It tells a story. The music is good. Okay. Is it called Hamilton or Hamilton musical or what? It's called Hamilton. It's about Alexander Hamilton. Yeah. And they do it like cool putt. Alexander Hamilton. You know nothing about Oh, man. No. I've never heard of this. This is not a thing that my goodness. This is a thing that is just now reaching my brain. I'm telling you. It's like it's like maybe the best musical it's ever How old is it? It's new. Last year. Thousand fifteen or '16. Well, there we go. At least I'm not that I have open. When the rules are due, man, they do so. Hey, man. If I haven't heard of the thing, I probably wouldn't recognize a song from You wanna fight before you land back? You need your right hand man back.

No. You gotta stream that. It's fantastic. Alright. Fair enough. I'm listening to Hamilton. I was gonna put… We homeschooled. I actually had decided I I was gonna create some homeschool curriculum about Alexander Hamilton the musical over the summer. That's just lazy, Bill. That's just lazy on your part. Yeah. No. No. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. Except for… There's a couple, there's a couple inappropriate items that I have to figure out That's few. How to deal with. What's… Show me how to say no to this. You know that song? Yeah. Remember that one? Yeah. Man, I think that's my favorite song. Maybe. I don't know. It's pretty it's pretty good. It's so good. Alright. Boob has got stuff to do this week. Yeah. Apparently. Yeah. I'm on spring break. No worries. I can do that. Man, I think you're gonna leave that alone. You're gonna do life from the path. Okay. Ready? Yep. I'm ready. Dear life from the past. I have been with my boyfriend for two years. Until recently, we were inseparable, and I loved his company.

I got a job that required me to temporarily relocate. Wait. What what is this company about? Was he was he a manufacturer? Manufacturer? I got a job that required me to temporarily relocate and be on my own. So we saw each other only every other week. Does he produce paper goods? During that time, I gained a better understanding of who I am and how I want to spend my time. It's a service business. He's a mop man. Since then, I realized that my boyfriend and I may not be as compatible as I once thought. We discussed it, and he's willing to do anything to make it work. But some things can't be changed, such as his interests and small quirks he has. Wow. And small quirks. I love him, except for the things about him. Yeah. What… The things that make him him… The things that he's interested in, I'm really not into… He whistles Spanish rap and has a vestigial table. He was great on our first date. It went downhill from there. I'm having a hard time because I want to break things off, but then I worry that he could be the one that got away. Wait. No. He…… Weird quirk. She doesn't really worry that. No. No way. If she doesn't even really like him. Any advice would be appreciated. Sister, break up with it. No. I just got broken up with and it sucks, but do it.

Here's here… Strength is on the iron is hot. Everybody's going down. Here's here's the thing that this… I've seen this happen multiple times. Right? And this this will happen in marriages. This happens when people are dating, and and and it happens when people get space. Right? Like, when you spend time with other people, there's give and take. Okay. That's just the way it is around other people, whether it be friends or boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever. You gotta give some, you gotta take some. And then you start spending time by yourself, and you're like, you know what? This is great. I do all the taking. I don't have to give nothing. And then you start to think, maybe I don't like that guy so much. Maybe I'm just trying to figure out who I am. And really, what you just realized is it takes no work to be you when you're by yourself. Like, there's no give and take. It's just you doing whatever you want. And that type of freedom feels pretty good for a little while. Right? It just does. You're like, I I don't have to I don't have to call nobody. I don't have to ask nobody nothing. I go to bed when I want. I get up when I want. No one cares what I wear. I can eat cereal for three meals. This is fantastic. It's a it's a heroin. Self centeredness is a heroin. You've worn that hot dog shirt for three days, man. It seems like a good idea. You feel really good doing it, but it cannot sustain itself. That's… It's not a way to live. That's exactly right. So I I guess what I'm gonna submit here, friend, is that you found some space. You got some space apart from the person that was that was taking energy on your behalf to deal with. And then you realize that you you don't have to expel that much energy to be by yourself. You get to do what you want, and you get to center on just you. And then when someone else wants part of you, back, you're like, yeah, you know, this is kinda irritating. I liked it better when I could just do whatever I wanted anytime that I Yeah. And and you'll feel that way until you get lonely, until you realize that you kinda suck and, like, you can't pull this off for twenty years. For a while, you can't. And there's people that can do it their whole lives, but, like,

not without friends, without family, not without something. Like, being in relationship with people, that's what it is. And where there are folks that need time by themselves to rejuvenate. Right? But not not for years. And you can't blame other people because you enjoy that type of freedom. That's not fair. Right. It's a false it's a false reality. The the false reality is that your life is actually better, long term, without without people as a whole. Right? It doesn't have to be your boyfriend or girlfriend. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Just talking about… Yeah. I don't You care. Can break up with this person. But, like, the the the thought… But you you cannot do… It's not fair to judge, the quality of a relationship by the fact that you enjoy your free time away from that relationship

because it is a false premise. Your life cannot… Like, you can't be a a king of the ring for the rest of your life and live in complete selfishness. That will backfire on you. It will create deeper problems that you won't be able to deal with. So, like, at least if you're gonna evaluate the quality or the the of the relationship, do it in the relationship, not outside, from from a fault… What is ultimately a false perspective. It's okay. It's okay to be by yourself. It's okay to not be attached to somebody. All that's fine. But just make sure that, like, it it always feels different. Like, Mike has this experience too. Like, and when when you go out of town, for work or whatever and you're away from your wife, the first couple days is like, oh, man. Look. I don't have any of the same responsibilities.

Yeah. It's great. Yeah. And, like… But it's it's not a it's not a right view of the world. No. Right? Like, I'm not gonna live three months in a hotel room away from my wife. I got to day three and I'm like, where's the… Can I go home yet? Yeah. This sucks. Yeah. And like… And so what I'm saying is it's it's perfectly okay to break up with this with this person if it's not right. But like, don't be in the hotel room at day two going, you know what? Marriage sucks. This is the life. Yeah. That's that's the wrong way to do I like to eat at 09:00 and watch Sopranos, and then she wouldn't let me do that. Boo. You know I'm saying? Like, these are the things you're railing against. Yeah. Micah, any any, second thoughts there? I don't think so. I guess just from what I've learned from being on the other end, the guy that was broken up with is that it absolutely needed to happen. You know? And it was very… It's proven to be a very good thing for me because I was I was, like, allowing myself to be someone I didn't even really wanna be while I was in this relationship. And I think a lot of times we do that without even realizing it. And so maybe she's having those realizations, this girl that Yeah. Sent us this letter. You know? And

then I think it's very important that she breaks it off just because… I don't know. There's so much… Like, it sucks to be alone, but it's, like, one of the best things for us a lot of times, I think. And you're not doing anybody any favors by putting on a show here. Right? Like, going back to politician style. Right? Like Yeah. Like, if you… If you're not the person, for heaven's sakes, like, you're not doing them a service by saying, well, I'm not sure they're the right person for me, but I'm… I don't wanna let them down, or I don't want them to be the one that got away. Like like, you're being you're being downright cruel Yeah. By holding on to something. If it's not right, like, let them let them free so they can find the thing that's right. Don't tie them up just because you can't assuage your guilt in the matter. Mhmm. Secular says, as you have found, distance doesn't always make the heart grow fonder. Keeping someone around not because you're crazy about him, but because you're afraid if you don't like… If you don't, he will be the one who got away is not a a reason to continue the relationship. Your breather has shown that he may not be the one after all. That's a good thing and not something to be afraid of. What did you say? Breather? Yeah. What's that mean? Not… It's getting away from him or taking a break… A breather. Oh. Oh, I thought it was a reference to the person. No. Like, that was one of his mouth breather. He breathes for now. No. My bad. Hopefully, your person's a breather.

Let's see. So do the kind thing and let him go. That way, can find someone who loves him, quirks and all, and so can you. You wanna do one more? Yeah. Dear life from the path, my son Jake is headed to college in the fall, and I want his last year at home to be memorable and happy. He's a good student and has been admitted to the college of his choice. The problem is he can't wake himself up in the morning. He switches off the alarm and goes back to sleep. I must go up to his room several times to wake him because he won't get up the first time. Jake is otherwise independent. He does his own laundry and keeps his room spotless. I'm spending a large part of my savings on his tuition, and I'm worried that unless he can wake himself up in the morning, he won't get to classes on time. I've tried talking to him about putting the alarm on snooze instead of turning it off, but nothing works.

My husband suggests we pour a glass of cold water on Jake's face ten minutes after the alarm goes off. Can you help us solve the problem? Stop waking him up. Yeah. Yeah. Let him deal with the consequences right now, especially when he's free. You know what I'm saying? He graduate, and he's gonna go to college next year. You're still waking this man up. My eight year old gets himself out of bed. I actually… I'm not proud of that. I had that issue when I was, like, a junior, and I didn't have a car at the time. And my dad let me sleep in. And he said, you gotta get to school. And I said, well, can you give me a ride? He goes, no. And I said, well, I need to get to school, dad. He goes, yeah. The bus left, an hour and a half ago. I go, well, that's that's funny, dad. Like, I need the keys or need you to take me. He goes, you're walking to school today. Now I lived on one side of Altoona, and I went to Saddyspoke, which was, like, eight miles away from my house. Yeah. He made me walk to school. And, thankfully, because my dad realized,

yeah, my son Boob is kind of a bigger guy. He… He's gonna pass out before he gets there. He came and picked me up after about three miles of walking, but he he came and picked me up, and goes, you ever gonna be late again? I go, no, sir. He goes, you missed that bus again. I'm not I'm not gonna pick you up halfway through. You're walking the whole way. He goes, you're gonna walk eight miles to school, or you're gonna deal with the consequences of missing a whole day of school because I will hold you accountable for missing that day. And I started to set my alarm, and I realized I was awful at it. So I stopped putting my alarm next to me. I put it on the other side of the the room. I asked my parents. I said, I don't really have a lot of cash. Can you get me the loudest alarm on the planet? Those dinner bells that go off in schools when, like, when when lunch is ready or something like that. I had one of those that sat on my… In my room Mhmm. And my neighbors could hear it. Yeah. Because they started complaining and saying, hey. Can your son make sure that he turns his alarm clock off? We can hear it over here. And I got it quick quick taken care of, but it was because my parents said we're not dealing with that. He's he's gonna be an adult soon. He's gotta take care of that himself. Yeah. You know, they they… That's a… It's one thing that that people misunderstand about parenting, and I I don't nail this all the time. Right? But, like,

you have to give your kids the opportunity to fail and then let them sit in that for a while. Like, I was listening to a guy tell a story one time. He was like, my my daughter, she makes her own lunch, you know, and and and she didn't. She straight up was about ready to get off the bus, and she's like, hey. I I I don't have any lunch. Can I do hot lunch? He goes, no. You make your lunch. Well, I didn't make it today. You'll figure something out. So she calls back she calls back home, like, at 09:00. He's like, hey. Look. You know, I still don't have a lunch. Can you bring me one up? And and the guy's like, no. No. I mean, you're gonna have to borrow food from people or something. Like, figure something out. You know, use your resources. You know what saying? And and, like, the kid never got their lunch again. They borrowed an apple from one guy, a sandwich from another guy, and had a couple drinks of milk, and they were fine. Right? Consequences are exactly… Are there for a reason. Right? They teach you to do something different. And so if this kid is in his senior year and you and your husband are are are cahooting together in attempts to try to help him get out of bed, you've been doing this wrong for years. He… I mean, this is totally on him to get it straightened out. Mhmm. No. That's it.

Secular sense. Everybody wants secular? Although you may think your husband's suggestion is harsh and inappropriate, it's time you stop calling your son. True. The two of you need to sit down and tell him that college is expensive. And then if you and your husband are willing to go through the financial hardship of paying for it, he must wake up by himself. And if he cannot manage to do that, he will have to pay for his own education. Perhaps that will get across to him more serious. Alright. Still gonna need to lay it on. Here's the deal. It's like the natural consequence to not getting up is you miss school, and then you have to deal with that. Just let him just let him deal with the natural consequences. You don't have to amp him up. No. If you miss… If you don't get up for school, your whole life will be ruined. Exactly. You won't have a career someday because you couldn't get up for work. You get up or I'll murder your cat. I'll skin them. Murder your children's On the Internet.

Your bride. Like, I… This is Yeah. It's a bit strong. There's no reason go back They're fine. They they… Here's the deal. It's like if natural consequences don't work, your water on the face was like, you have a different problem. Right? People… If if he's a responsible dude who cares about his future, once he misses three days or is constantly running late or has to deal with the circumstance, like, he'll figure it out. If he doesn't care about that, you shouldn't be putting your money down on his college anyhow. Either just use a proper filter. How does he react to natural consequence? Yeah. Done. Wanna do one more? Let's do one more, and then we'll have Micah carry the rest of the show up. Alright. Dear life from the path, I'm 51 and my boyfriend is 43. Great. We've been dating for eight months, living together for five. Of course. Wow. We met at work a few months before we started dating. We get along great and never argue, but he won't let me meet his family. He has never been married and has no children. He sees his mom and brother sometimes for dinner and such, but because his mom doesn't have any grandchildren and I can't give her any, he said he's not ready to tell her about me. Does this make sense? What

the heck? Wait. I feel like that's not a real reason. No. They've been dating for eight months Yeah. Living together for five. Yep. He's 51. She's 43. No. Wait. Other way around. Backwards. I think she's she's Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right on. She's 51. He's 43. Yeah. He's… There… No. That's not a real reason. He might be catfishing her. Like, if you trust someone… Hold on. Hold on a second. What's that what's that phrase? What's a catfishing? You know that MTV show, Catfish, where the kids get, like, They're not led on by Internet

relationships or whatever? They fall in love with somebody over the Internet, and then they go and try and figure out if it's a real person. Yeah. It's like a dude. Yeah. Yeah. Someone makes someone makes a fake profile on some social media site, starts interacting with another person, and they actually start building and developing a relationship. So you think I was a little out of context. You think she's a twenty two two year old Indian dude in the call center? Right. That's what you think. Named Farhanoush? Possibly. I don't know. It just… It feels like this guy trusts her enough to live with her. Right? Like, after three months dating, they went, hey. This seems like a good deal. Do you wanna live together all the time? That's probably a bit of a shine on… Right. Exactly. And then he says, no. I don't want you to meet my family because my mother's gonna be mortified that you can't give her grandchildren because you're too old. Yeah. Right? Which is What? Yeah. That seems pretty odd. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. You live with my son.

You can't give me grandchildren? Give me grandchildren. I hear Get out of here. What is this? Like, some… I hear you're shacking up. Either either spit one out or break it off. That's ridiculous. Some weird custom that the parents have that's like, you only give us grandchildren. That's what we care about. That's right. It's like, what is what is this Eastern European thing that's being put into this that they're upset that they're not getting grandchildren and that's the only thing they care about? Fair news. You do this every time. Why do you go for Internet trolls? You should just adopt Rebitts. They

have lots of kids. Make make me proud, Rebitts. Instead of you bring home all the bag every time. I don't have any good advice except for get out… You gotta get out of the shit. Leave now. This is… Let's see. Here's the deal. Let… Let's just be flat out honest. You did… Moving in with someone after three months was a bad move. In every situation. When people hide you from their, closest known relatives, that's poor. That's strike two and three. Yeah. Like, they they should be showing you off, if they're at all even implying that you're gonna have to be dealt with with their mom or figure out how do I break the news that I've settled for you. That's not the right way to build a relationship. It's time to go, sweetheart. Is it possible the mom is just, like like, you know, bat crazy? Or the guy's a crazy ass. Like, he could just be afraid of his mother. But that… Okay.

The Rock. Is the People's Elbow coming next? Is that a rock sage? Yes. It's something The Rock would say. Wow. Alright. I didn't know that. I'm not expecting that from Ben. I don't I don't get those channels.

If if it doesn't come free over the air, I don't know it. Alright. Fair enough. So Ben makes a solid point. Like, if if… Let's say that the mom is is is bat crazy and, like, he is a coward and he just doesn't wanna explain it, that still makes him a coward and a candy ass. Yeah. Like, it's not worth it. Yeah. So I'm with Ben. What's the people's elbow? What? What is that? Do you ever watch wrestling? Yeah. I don't know. No. I I listen to Hamilton. Oh. So we're on two very battling sides of American culture. Like, you dug on the Hamilton musical, I was like, the people's elbow. Go… Steve Austin's coming out. Sippy O'Gray tea. Buddha drinks a 40 of Bush Light and watches wrestling. I've got some King Cobra over here

and the Mad Dog 2020. Let's do this. I was gonna pick up three shooters on the way out. America. I dip my Oreos in school. Now, what is the people's… Oh, man. Scorios. Is certainly not a place that I've existed before. I've never been the 'Murica guy. I'm excited to be him. I don't know. It feels weird. It's a it's a role reversal. Ex Jim Buva. Great. The people's elbow is just… Dwayne. Okay. Dwayne The Rock Johnson. Yes? Do you know him? The eyebrow band. Okay. Cool. When he was a wrestler, like WWF

wrestler, he had his signature move was called the people's elbow. And it was just him dropping his elbow onto somebody and hitting them. Now Logan does that. He called it the people's elbow, and he did it. I'm not saying I originated this deal and made it for him. He stole it from the hoaxter. He's certainly possible. Yeah. I was gonna say they all kinda originate with those dudes. Yeah. You can't copyright the elbow. Hey, man. He's the initial… He's the Trump. He's the populist. He says, hey. I'm doing it for the people. Everyone else does the elbow, but this guy does it for the people's elbow. And he makes a big deal out of it. He points at the crowd. Everybody knows he's gonna do it, and then he does this weird hand move and then drops his elbow on somebody. He calls it the people's elbow. He also says candy ass, which… But he he says it, like, when he's trying to be tough against his opponent in the ring. And so just seeing you and thinking of Dwayne The Rock Johnson saying it was certainly a weird play in my mind. I don't know. I can't… I I don't… You can't be a Bill Tough guy and use the word candy. No. It's true. The Rock did it. He also used the people's elbow.

I mean, you should reevaluate your ways if you're gonna say things. No. That's true. It's done right by him. He went from beating people up to what? Moana? Yeah. Moana. Yeah. Yeah. That's still haven't seen, but I really… I mean, I want… I saw a video online where he was singing a song. He's made, like, 14 Fast and Furious movies. All started with candy ass. He ended up in he ended up in the people in the Disney movie. I mean, he's done pretty well for himself, I feel, the career that he's left because he started out… I mean, the rest. People's elbow. That's true. Tell people not to sell out, and all you have to do is point at the crowd and drop an elbow and people… Yeah. Exactly. No. Selling out is what someone says who doesn't make money. Yeah. True. Yeah. You sold out. Yeah. That's why we're in a capitalist society. That's the point. Yeah. Everyone who hasn't sold out usually can answer the phrase, well, I tried. I just…

I tried to sell out, but they didn't want what I was selling. Folks weren't buying. So I just got curmudgeony about it. So so that makes me a pure artist. Secular says, if after eight months of dating and living together for five, you still haven't met his family, he has no intention of introducing you ever. Yep. Your inability to give his mother grandchildren has nothing to do with it. Agreed. You are a human being, not a not a brood mare. I'm sorry. What? Nice. You are a human being, not a brood mare. Okay. Right. And the excuse he's giving you makes no sense. Picture this scenario. Hey, Ma. This is Becky, and she's fertile. Police. Hey. I'm kinda proud of Secular for using brood mare. Yeah. That's cool. Hamilton. Yeah. This is the the people's elbow.

That guy's… He's not an urban gentleman. No. Absolutely not. He's not a regular gentleman either. He's not the kind of man that would buy Scorios. What was the… Oh, man. What was the phrase, in that Urban Gentleman article? It called somebody something. Do you remember it was it was a… It was an insult that was in the Urban Gentleman article. Pete, what is it? Come on, Pete. You gotta remember that. Right?

Pete will know. Pete know. Pete tweet me about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did see hook hook move up? I don't remember what it was. Nope. Gone completely. Yeah. I was gonna say I I… It's, like, there, but it's not coming out. It was good, and I feel like I'm missing it from my life. Okay. Shyster. The urban gentleman is a man's fashion blog. No. No. No. It was the article we read about the urban urban gentleman that we started kinda spinning off the urban gentleman. Yeah. One is… Like, we've tried to define what an urban gentleman does. Oh, right on. Okay. Yeah. We did that, like, one day Twitter campaign. Yeah. Right on. Oh, yeah. Right on. We should bring that back. Alright. Whatever. I was messed up on school during that time. Let let let's… School school in Oreos. Let's go to better person. Alright. Alright. You're hanging out with us on Live From The Path. We do appreciate you, being with us on the show. If you have any feedback for us and it is like… I mean, here's the deal. If you love the show, shoot us an email, [email protected]. If you hate the show, even though we are no longer on the truth network, I feel like you should direct your references to Chris Roloff at, I think it's [email protected],

and I'm sure he would appreciate. Hey. Here's the deal. It was very specific to think something. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that's what it is. But here's what I want you to do though. I want you to make it sound like we're still hunting station so that there's just a hesitance to him where he's like, I thought I… Those guys have not been on my station. Wait. They're not on my show. Oh, wait. No. They're… They're garnering complaints and I thought I'd kick them off. That's what I want you to… Like, so I mean, don't lie or anything, but, like, don't correct the notion that we're still playing on the truth network. That would be best. So, anyway, we appreciate that. And make sure you… During the week, you can check us out at lifeinthepath.org. Can see past clips from the show, including, clips from, Driven 11 and Egypt Ali who were in here last week. And I I saw… I just posted, on the Facebook, most high from Aaron Nale. One of the best. I mean, it sounded great Yeah. When Aaron Nale and the boys were in here. And they're playing at the Real Men, Conference

at Rising Sun Church of Christ, this Friday the seventeenth. I will be there. And, Buva will be there. And so you can check that out and, should be, TC Stallings is there. I think it's $15. Sorry. That price range cut me from the deal. But, I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm sure it'll be fantastic. I had a benefactor. It's gotta be $55 or less. Otherwise, I go make it. Hey, Micah. Does the KMZN, radio app, does that do, archives? Like, can people listen to archive or I wish it did, but it doesn't. It's just not. Pretty, like, minimal app. Gotcha. Kinda lame. You should develop your own app. I know. I'd really like to. So… And I call it the people's app. The people's…

Yeah. I don't know. I'm… And then I've been trying to get it, like, just on our website too, the radio station's website, like, the archives of the show, but that hasn't been able to happen yet either just because I don't really know why they can't figure it out yet, we just have to go through other companies and stuff. Because we're… The radio station is owned by the bottling company in Oskaloosa. Mhmm. And so we have to go through, like, all kinds of stuff with other businesses or, like, our media stuff has to go… It's really over my head. Like, I don't really know why I can't get the archives up. But I tried buying a SoundCloud account that I could just, upload the the episodes on. Yeah. But there's two options to buy on SoundCloud, and I bought the cheap one because I didn't wanna spend a lot of money. Oh, your show is too big. And it was like the… Yeah. But my show is four hours long, and I uploaded too much. So Yeah. I didn't realize that there was an upload limit. And then… So now I'm like, well, great. I gotta figure something out. Yeah. Yeah. I might just upload them all on YouTube,

just the four hour audio bit on YouTube. But Well, there you go. I'd also… I mean, I'd like to get an app and eventually probably, like, my own website and stuff that I could have them up on. Yeah. You gotta do that. That's what's happening. Big dreams. I like it. Yeah. Alright. Alright. So you have another tune, though. Yeah. Michael, what's on the docket over there? This one's called I'm a Gypsy? Yeah. This one's called I'm a Gypsy. It could have been called Never Alone or… I don't know. This is the first song I wrote after I got paralyzed. So I'd I'd kind of taken a break from making music after I got paralyzed just because I… I'm paralyzed from my mid chest down, so I don't have my… Or my abdomen doesn't, doesn't work normal anymore. I can't feel it or contract the muscles in there. And so I was nervous about my voice. Like, I didn't think I'd be able to sing like I used to. And so, it took me quite a while to write some tunes again, but I wrote this song one night,

and it was the first one I wrote after I got paralyzed. So it just kinda goes through just kinda the whole idea of the being a pilgrim and a kid and identity and stuff. So Sweet. Well, you're you're listening to live from the path. We're in studio with Michael Everton. This is I'm a Gypsy. Take it away. One second. Sorry, guys. There it is. Well, I'm wandering down this barren

road, and I'm looking for a lighter load to carry. Not on my own. And I'm searching

for an open door to rest my head on this hardwood floor, and I'm lying not on my own. Oh,

I'm a gypsy. I'm a pilgrim. I'm a son. I'm a bride. Everything in the world is awake. It's alive,

and I'm wondering how, and I'm asking why. And I'm doubting, not on my own. And the waves, they crash, and the waves, they rise,

and I'm looking for a reason why to open these bloodshot eyes. Oh, I'm a gypsy.

I'm a pilgrim. I'm a son. I'm a bride. And I'm longing for my coming home where the tears,

they're gone. And I'm running towards your arms, always open wide. And the sweet embrace of my papa's heart and that tender

smile tears me apart in the most beautiful way. And it's a foolish love.

I can't understand that he'd lead me here, that he'd take my hand, and I'd know I'm not on my own. Oh, I'm a gypsy. I'm a pilgrim.

And the wedding feast, it's near not far, and I'm longing just to be where you are again, not on my own.

And the marriage wine, it's sweet, not dry. And I'll drink it up, and I'll close my eyes just to see I'm never alone. Oh,

I'm a gypsy. I'm a pilgrim. I'm a son. I'm a bride. Thanks, guys. Thank you very much. I was… I'm a Gypsy with Mike Leverton.

Mike, a big thanks Yeah. For hanging out with us on Life From The Path. Yeah. Thank you guys so much. It was such a treat to be here. I'm so glad you found me, you creeper. Hey, man. That's dead off. Is… Creep on me all you want. That is pretty much what happened. Yeah. So big thanks to Micah for coming in. Don't miss his show. Oops. I missed Church. You can check out… Livestream that business on website. Oh, sorry. One more time. What was the website? Radiokmzn.com. There you go. It's having from three to seven every Sunday. Make sure you check out Micah there. Also, do do a search and find the tunes by the Pilgrim Kid. You can get that everywhere, legit music is sold because that is legit music and it's good. And so we, we do hope you enjoy that. And also, can they find you on social media? Yeah. I got, Twitter and my Twitter handle is just… I think it's Pilgrim Kid. Yeah. Or no. No. No. It's just Michael Leverton.

Just type in Michael Leverton, and it looks like Leverton. But it's lever like a lever, not lever like a beaver. That's what I tell people. You practice would that. Yeah. So just That's right on. Mike a lever. People's explanation. And I got all the… I… Instagram, Facebook, you know. And then the oops, I missed church page is on Facebook also. Yeah. There you go. Dig on that. Like that stuff. You can keep up to date what's going on. And when he when he either comes up with the big money to put the full show on SoundCloud or takes slick advantage of the YouTube open open upload Mhmm. And puts just pictures of whatever behind a four hour radio program. Right on. That'd be good. Alright. Thanks for listening to to Live From The Path. We do appreciate, like I said, good things about the show. Shoot me an email. Bad things about the show. Let Chris Roloff at the Truth Network know.

And we will see you next week. Jeff Hanna and his wife, Nancy, are gonna be in. They they run the fish factory here in Des Moines. Got lots of cool stuff going on. It does… Back thinking of Arendelle. He did his last CD release at the fish factory. And they do community meals and just lots of lots of cool stuff going on there. So we're gonna catch up with them and see what they got going on. Hey. Isn't Arendelle's at the… At Real Men. Correct? This Friday? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. Yeah. Seventeenth. Yep. Oh, shoot. And I forgot it again, but don't miss, Light forty five is out with their new their new music video came out last week. They're bringing you back to life. They're bringing you back to life. Yeah. So go check that out. Goes… Just do a search for Light forty five on Facebook, and they posted that video there. You can check that out. I always just love what those guys are up to. They're also… I I saw that they write some new music. So excited to see what they got coming up here in the, weeks and months to come. So, alright. We'll see you next week. In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to Live From The Path.