Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the path. And you're listening to Live From The Path. We're coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston proper.

Here's sorry. Here's the unfortunate question. The thing we're talking about just before the show started is you guys if you listen to the show with any regularity, you recall that our if you Google search live from the path, Google will come up with a like, you know, like a listing, like a business would. And if you click it to go to the website, it'll take you to a Viagra ad. Yeah. And so I had fixed that. I wanna say, like, four to six months ago, somebody, like, taps into the website and they they can change it to redirect to things. And I'd fixed it. So apparently, it's doing again. But I would also note that I checked the website statistics earlier this week or last week and the hits were up. Yeah. I mean, indiscernible. The hits were up and I thought, boy, we're we're cranking out the hits, boys.

No. No. Apparently not. No. That doesn't appear to be what's happening. There's certain things that help you with your sex life, and life from the path, not one of them. That's not one of We're not the all those ten year anniversary things we sent out, See, that's what that's what we would hope Hey. Would happen. But it turns out To that point, though, over the last month, our YouTube hits are up 80%. Whoo. Yeah? Wow. I mean, it's not hard to beat two. I know. The the daily posts are cranking. Somebody

actually, somebody we had two two comments over the last two weeks on a clip about would Jesus say the n word? Oh, jeez. We had we discussed that? Yeah. When did we I don't remember that. I must not have been here. It's been a while. But yeah. Did we come to know? Please tell me we came to a know. I don't recall it. But, like, one one of the comment was, my youth pastor used to rap to us, and it really got the point across. And I said, well What? Did did he use the n word? Because I don't quite follow the relevance of that comment. And I think the other guy was hard. No. Was this the gal on that TV show with the preacher? What was it? Oh, what was that show? That they went to a church with a youth guy always walking around with a guitar.

I don't get those channels. Wow. They must have been at the online pharmacy. I can't remember anything anymore. They must just send you a send you a packet when you get into the into the old people's. Yeah. Something like that. Oh, man. Cancer. Okay. Hey. So so I I looked at our bird the the bird What's up, Dan? What's our book we did? Oh, the Capcaster. The American bird. Not Moses. And and I don't know. I just I hadn't looked at that forever. And I looked at it I was like, there's some bad comments about the stuff I did. Oh. Really hurt my feelings. Oh. That's

yeah. Been, like, six years. You can't Yeah. Yeah. I know. Because they've been there years ago. I'm like, wow. Oh, man. Taste of what is being a celebrity's like because you'll read the comments on our cast for sale and they'll be like, I hate the monkeys. The monkeys don't actually talk. I'm like, I'm the monkeys. Right? Why is it? I took the monkey. I love the monkeys. I actually I I put myself out on social media in a much bigger way than I ever have recently, and I made a TikTok. Do you guys even know what that is? Yeah. I just deleted it. Yeah. You deleted it? Yeah. It's probably a good idea. It's actually yeah. Yeah. I found the restricted view, and so then I I'm in a much safer place there. And so you can restrict it so that it doesn't have a lot of the the nasty. Oh, I I was just a security thing. It's a like, marines, they can't even have that. All military, they can't they can't have it. Okay. Fair enough. The plot thickens. So I I put something out there. Just 02:00 in the morning, I was tired, I just couldn't sleep. And so I put something out about my weight loss, and I did not expect this to happen. But it's gotten, like, 230,000

views on it now, and I've got, like, 1,400 comments and, like, 5,000 followers off of one video that that's going nuts. And so I they promise that's not a brag. In TikTok world, that's absolutely nothing. Like, literally, that's no views at all. But I'm waiting for haters to show up. Like, I've been begging for people to show up and just completely rip me apart and be like, dude, this is the fattest dude I've ever seen in my entire life. That guy's gross. All this different stuff. Not once has it happened. It's like 1,400 comments in, and every single one of them is, you got it, dude. Good for you. We're proud of you. Blah blah blah. Everybody get behind this guy. Make sure we're we're lifting this guy up, all this stupid stuff. Now I thought for a second that might be a pun of like, hey. We need a thousand people to lift this guy up. Can't lift him alone. But it does not turn out that that's what it looks like. We can't even hold you metaphorically. This guy's freaking ridiculous. I've been waiting for hate to happen, and it's driving me nuts that it's not happening. I feel so illegitimate because all these people that I will never meet are giving me this ridiculous validation. And there's apparently, there's a thing on TikTok or it's new new people young kids say this thing like they got you dropped this,

and then they put the crown emoji. And so I've gotten probably 600 comments of, hey, king. You dropped this, and then it's crown emojis. And I'm like, this is the worst thing that's ever happened in the world. I think that that might be a bigger sign of the apocalypse than any of the quarantine that's been happening. The story and think you're in charge of our social media, and we have, like, three views. I don't think I we ever put me in charge of our social media. Oh, yeah. Me, Ben, and Dan should be in charge of the social media. That makes a whole lot of sense. It's ridiculous. I mean I use language on the air. Dan Valiquette, we have a show on Monday.

That's right. Mike text the last two texts I got from Mike, one was, hey, May. Can you pick me up an Almond Joy? And the other one is gonna be five minutes late. That's Mike's response on Monday night. I'm lucky to be here one week in a row. You should be in charge of social media. You've been shirking your response so. I'm sorry. No. I just it it cracked me up. I was I've been waiting for haters. 3,000,000 views on my personal account. You suckers. That's it. I'm turning over to Dan who's been wearing COVID nineteen pants for five years. I'm ready for the Zoom meetings.

That's great. That's right. Where's those ones with the hot peppers on them? Oh, man. I found myself thinking about that this week. I I only have a pair jeans, and I thought, I need some COVID pants. Right.

Not me. Some COVID pants? Are you talking like sweatpants? Yeah. Pants you can wear on the Zoom meeting, and no one knows the difference. Everybody thinks you're all professional. Wrong with you people? Just wear pants. So so this COVID nineteen thing, it it it put me in the straights for the first time this week. Really? Yeah. My daughter was I was I had to go to Menards for something. She's like, hey. Can I go with you? I'm like, yeah. That'd be great. She never wants to go to Menard's with me. You know? I thought this would be awesome. I I was really looking forward to taking her. And I got about 10 feet out of the driveway and thought, you're under 16. You can't go in Menard's. Oh. You can't go to the home improvement store if you're under 16 years old. And she goes, I look 16. I go, they're gonna card you. And I can't leave you in the car by yourself because you ate 16. The virus will get you. Wait. Is that a is that a quarantine thing, though? That's not like a Menards rule. Right? No. It's just Menards. Yeah. Menardy. Yeah. Yeah. The home improvement stores go to home improvement stores. The home improvement stores have seen no decrease in traffic. They're just getting slammed. Oh, yeah. They're getting increased. I had a terrible week with the home improvement stores this week. Uh-oh. I went to Home Depot. You wait a half an hour to get in because you gotta stand in line.

They let me in. I I wanted a battery operated weed eater. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because I I small enough. It works. So I picked the I mean, spent half an hour staring at it, reading all the packages, blah blah blah. Got the one I wanted, read the reviews, get it home. Someone had stolen the battery and charger out of it and returned it. Oh, no. So hoses. So I had to go back the next day, the line was longer. Oh, no. I feel like you should be able to jump the line in that situation. That's what I was thinking, but nobody else thought that way. And I was kind of in a bad mood, and I thought I really need to check my attitude. These people are in the same line I'm in. Right. But, again it it works. I got I mean, well, like, I put it together today. I got I got a new battery. Well, good. If I had picked two boxes up, it would've yeah. It was obvious. Those batteries aren't light. You know? Oh, yeah. It was it was it was obvious. It's like, some dork bought a thing. Man. Put the battery and the charger out. Returned it. Boy. You know, I I Mike and I actually went to the Home Depot or not Home Depot. One of the stores last week and I realized how non man I am because Well, look at the gloves. It's literally the first time I've been in a store like that and didn't immediately go to, like, either the food section. Not just a fat joke. It's legit not a fat joke on myself. It's just I don't know what to get at a Home Depot other than, hey, man. Don't they have that five gallon bag of gummies? Like, yeah, man. That's exactly what they have here. Right? I love those. I didn't even Who marries it in gallons? It's good for I a bit.

Didn't even know about some of these sections. I'm just like, Mike knows exactly where he's go no. No. Duh. He knows exactly where he's going. He lives in this store. I'm like, hey, man. I've never come in here with a purpose before. There's more than one kind of screwdriver? Yeah. Yeah. I I know It's a whole wall. I'm advanced. I know there's a Phillips and a flathead and a couple others, but, and then I it was it was a very interesting situation for me to to be involved in man stuff for the first time in a long time because I'm trying to learn how to take care of a house, and I'm just like, well, I don't know how any of this is working. I think I called the plaster knifes. I don't know. It was Yeah. It's just Hand me the plaster knifes. I'm like, what are you? 75? And I called I called the razor an Exacto knife. It just it was a weird thing. I I felt really unmanly. You better watch the YouTubes before you go to the station. No. I'm just gonna hang out with Mike more often outside of the show because I need to learn how to become a real man. Here's the thing. I did pretty good. I wasn't I wasn't overly harsh on any of my assessments. I just said, hey. Listen. If you get around other people, can't you call in an exacto knife. They're make fun of It was the most loving thing Mike has done for me in a very long time. Send me a text. I I've I've heard I've heard some stuff from Mike. Mike does not filter himself very much around me, which I appreciate. I appreciate that kind of stuff. But, he did a really good job of not making me feel like I was the little kid tagging along going, well, what what's this thing do? Yeah. I need save all those stories for my 10 year old daughter later. I feel like you're never gonna believe what Puma did. What an idiot. I I felt very good. I did not feel shunned like I was the little kid trying to be involved in the man stuff. I I I felt accomplished.

And then I told my lady that I was, helping re remodel a a bathroom, and she was like, babe, that's awesome. Yeah. And that's like manly. I probably shouldn't tell her the extent of what I'm actually doing. Because, like, I Throw this away. Okay. Yeah. Exactly. Hey. Grab the drywall knife. Okay. Yeah. We'll cut that out. Cool. I'm a sit here for a little bit, do this for a while, and feel real manly. Yeah.

That's welcome to manhood where you say you were part of something great. You just don't mention how big of a part you are. Right. I tell my kids I helped build the hospital downtown. That's amazing. I ran wires there. I mean, I I wasn't putting up the concrete by myself. I used the KTIA thing we did, running the transmission cable for the satellite up top. I tell people all that all the time. I'm like, yeah. I actually was involved in the satellite installation for the KTIA at the Merlehead Tower. They're like, really? That's awesome. Yeah. I was I was involved in that. It was a it was a big project. I think I held the cable. When we when we installed that thing, I held parts of the cable because they said this can't bend. And I'm going, alright. Sweet. That's me. I can help deal with this. That was all I was involved in that entire process. I remember specifically taking a Snapchat from the top of the Merlehay Tower and taking a picture, a selfie in front of the satellite going, yeah. Just installed a satellite.

And so many people were like, dude, that's cool. You do that? Yeah. Never met. Hey. You dropped this. Yeah. Hey, king. You dropped this crown. King of the satellites. Oh, man. Lost weight, and he builds satellites. This guy's coolest This guy's a jack of all trades. I'm like, no. I just don't know how to say no to things, and then I just get kinda roped in, and I go, it could be worse. Hey, man. That was fun, though. Like It was a blast. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Anyway was heavy. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Alright. Anyway, here we go. Hey. There's a I I thought this was an interesting story. So Zondervan publishes Quran Yeah. With commentary to help Christians interact more fruitfully with Muslims. Commentary. So Christian publishing company Zondervan is releasing a full translation of the Muslim Quran,

which features commentary throughout in order to equip Christians to interact more fruitfully with Muslim believers. Zondervan says the work is factual, respectful of Muslims, and insightful on issues about which Muslims and Christians disagree. It's available, April 28. So there's comments, but they're not comments on the scripture. It's more comments on, like, how we can relate to them? Think of it as think of it as a commentary.

Oh, okay. Or, like Where do they address where the Muslim faith and and Christianity Whether they disagree, but also, like, contextual background. Think of it as, like, the annotated version of the Quran written by with the with the Christian lens. Oh, alright. So I Interesting. Interesting. Yeah. I I don't know. What what if Mike Mike, you gonna pick this up as a reference? Well, I'm a deep reader anyway, and so I cycle through books like they're candy.

So, I mean, if it crosses my desk, I might take it. So Mike, you might might crack it over. I mean, I to be honest, it seems a little interesting, like, only because it it's just like anything else, though. Like, it it would be interesting to to to deshroud some of the mystery. I don't know anything about the cram. I don't know anything about it. I don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about it. So but, I mean, it's not to say that I wouldn't peer through it and and and read a little bit of it and see what's what. I don't know if it would captivate my captivate my, you know, attention for very long. Okay. Dan, have you ever taken in any of the Quran? I have one. I have one. I took a class on on

what's it called? History of the Muslim faith or something like that. Islam Islam theology of Islam. Yeah. It was. And we had to read we bought several books that dealt with theology and stuff of of the Quran and plus a copy of the see, it's not really Quran if it's in English. Oh, right. It has to be in Arabic to be

An act actual A legit Quran. Yeah. Okay. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Because Oh. Yeah. All all the prayers, everything have to be because that's the language of Right. Muhammad. Interesting. Okay. Yeah. But but I I don't know if I've read half of them, you know, and I haven't seen them with the class. I I I thoroughly enjoyed the class. Yeah. You know, I I like to maybe that's just more my learning style than it is, you know? But I do I read that about the Zondervan, and I was like, yeah. I don't know. I'm not I don't know I'm not a guest or anything. I just don't know that I would get it. Yeah. I I don't know. But, Bubba, have you done any any apologetic stuff related to the Koran or or Islam? I have not. The most I've ever been involved in was, just a class in college.

Where me and five other guys wrote it, actually. I was there. Yeah. What you guys don't realize is I spent time in the Medina, and, it was, an interesting thing. I went on No. Satellite. I was installing satellites at the Dome Of The Rock. It was funky and cold. No. I I I took just a a high level western civ class in college that we kinda went more in-depth into the history of Muhammad and the history of, like, the Quran and what was going on in that period of time than any other class I've ever done, but nothing more specific than that. Alright. Well, I I I don't I I think it's a good call

because, like, it's like anything else. I think there is I think it is appropriate for Christians to understand what people are reading, where they're coming from. God is calling these folks. So to understand their the background or what they believe, I think is entirely appropriate. Assuming that it's you've you're not being propagandized, then, I mean, take it in. And it's not written from the lens of propagandizing. Right? It's written from the lens of helping you understand help you communicate. Yeah. Through the you know, a worldview across globe. I wanna know how the Mormons think. Yeah. Which is amazingly very similar to the Quran. Yeah. I wanna know how any cult. Yeah. That's true. Because actually, there there is I I don't know if you have to seek out that kind of stuff all the time, but, like, to know that that, like, Jesus stands up to

to other religions. Right? Like, he stand there's he he's not weary of the task. Yeah. He's not afraid of the comparisons. He's not afraid of you looking at at at multiple things and seeing what's what. And and so, like, I think a lot of people would be more like, that that's a very old school way of thinking. It's like like, if I don't take any of it in, it won't affect me. Well, it's important to know, like, when I say Jesus to a Muslim, how what do they hear? Right. I I'm assuming that's what this gets into. Yeah. Because they they hear it have a different definition definition than than than what we would. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Why don't you order a copy, Ben, I'll borrow it? Okay. I will too, and then I'll never return it. I'll do it. Yeah. I'll buy it, I'll put it on my shelf. I'll use it as a dust collector. Wait. Dan described his learning style. It was directly of yeah. I enjoyed the class. I didn't really read any books, though. That's my that's my learning My learning style is doing very little work. I need pictures.

Okay. I mean, I've read some of it. I'm not that bad. I thought so there actually, I really liked that book by Nabil Khreshi. The Yeah. Me too. Steve did you read it, Mubba? Oh, totally. Are you lying? Yeah. Did you take a picture of you not reading it? What? It was it was was called Seeking Seeking a Law of Finding Finding Jesus.

And it's it's a really really good book. Dude comes from a from a Muslim background. His dad was a something. I don't remember what the what the right term is. Himong. But but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But he he Dan was trying to prove that he listened in that class. Yeah. See? No. Dan. Dan. Yeah. I read that word.

But yeah. Yeah. The dude, he he went to an American college and he met a Christian guy and it was his friend. And, like, the kid his friend was always wanting to talk to him about about Christianity. And the guy was like, hey. I'm gonna defend I'm gonna defend my faith here. And then the more he asked questions and the more they conversed about it, the more he was he was he was like, I just want the truth. And he's a he's a guy where Jesus showed up to him in a dream multiple times. And like I said, like I like, we you see a lot in in the Islamic world simply because they are out of there truthfully and honestly looking to meet God and to do what God wants and God will honor them in that. And so, anyway, that guy became a really cool he started working for Ravi Zacharias,

and he published another couple books and unfortunately died very young like three or four years ago of some some So I think some form of cancer. But the book is excellent. So and and and it it makes you I remember after I read the book, I thought one like it it helps to make sure you don't look at the word the world stupidly. That you don't isolate the world, that you that you come come away with the impression that Jesus likes these this group of people and Jesus is totally upset with this other group of people. He is desires at all of them that everyone calls him king. And so

he is doing that through ways that do that you won't interact with because that's not where not what your background is. But Jesus is is accommodating and meeting people that are actually honestly searching for him. And and it was very cool to see God work in a way that as a human you might walk into and go, I don't even know how to influence this. And Jesus will just step right in and do it. Christians are really bad at this too. We we tend to go through the filter of Jesus is Lord. You're all a bunch of idiots. So you just listen to me. Alright. You'll you'll be alright. Yeah. Rather than well, kind of we were were talking about earlier, maybe that was before the show on addiction stuff Yeah. Of acknowledging, okay, you see Muhammad as lord.

You you know, so when I you know, you need to kinda see where their Yeah. Their frame of of view. That's right. That's true. Like but you're gonna miss it with some of the subtext that we talked about before the show. Right? But, like, the Turner Byrne thing, it doesn't work. Yeah. Right? It it it just flat out doesn't work. You, Turner Byrne. Right. Mean Yeah. It's kinda Turn or burn. I don't believe in your fire. There's not a fire behind you. There's a fire behind and there there's one here. Yeah? Yeah. Be careful. Yeah. Bird. So to yeah. Yeah. To understand their heart, you know, and how can you communicate to someone if you don't even acknowledge them as Yeah. It doesn't valid. It doesn't take the it doesn't change the true thing that you're talking about, but it does provide context in how you go about talking about it or recognizing what they hear when you speak to them and yeah. That's true for a lot of things. There's just no reason to go around half cocked. Just listen to people for a while. Take them in. They're trying most people most people are trying to live out honestly based upon the background they have or the things that they know. Information changes things. Experiences changes things.

Seeing what you believe to be true interact differently in somebody else's life and go, now what do I do with In fact, lot of this this happens in Christianity going the other way. People go, look, I see a lot of peaceful people who believe this thing. They're not followers of Jesus. And so, like, how am I supposed to understand that? That that that's a reasonable question. And every Muslim of with a Christian that shows up goes, hey, you should really believe this. They're asking themselves the same question. Why should I believe that? Well, they seem to have something that seems maybe similar to what I think or their life felt like god's not punishing them right now. Well, how should I you know, like, coming with the right context is I was just I don't know. It's it's gracious. It's kind. It's Yeah. It shows love to people. Especially when when you're talking to someone who who literally stops multiple times a day to get on a mat and face the East and pray. Yeah. You know? And and they don't eat bacon of all things. I mean, like, you know, like Right. You know, the things we were about, could we could we keep up our bible reading and prayer life if we weren't forced into a church structure? We're like, I don't know. Yeah. We're not even committed to our god. You know? Let alone are buying rugs and carrying them with them. They're ready for action. Doesn't matter where. Yeah. This you know, which is so interesting because think of your first your gut reaction about about any Jehovah's Witness. But, like, they're committed. Yeah. They are they're committed to their faith. And so if you like, maybe you think they're misled,

and that might be true. But, like, they saw something, believed it to be true, and committed to it earnestly. We can barely get off our non bible reading couch. And so to have a have the right contextual conversation with people, you'd like think it's it's perfectly acceptable to respect what people believe without agreeing with it, and to recognize that they believe it honestly, because I would expect someone to to do that same thing with me.

And or even people who believe nothing. It's okay to respect it. I think we love them enough to continue a conversation. We love them enough to try to understand where they're coming from. And if we believe that the thing that we believe is true, we will be foolish not to share it because it is the most loving thing to do. But, like, for heaven's sakes, you you you have to be none of this, like, rejection of where people are coming from is honoring to Jesus. Because Jesus like like I said, Jesus showing up in dreams and having predominantly in in in Muslim experiences, that's Jesus honoring people looking for him. If you don't recognize that, then you're miss I think you're misunderstanding Jesus. And he doesn't do it to you because you won't go believe it. You'd think you had a bad taco or something. That's true. You'll discount it. Yeah. Yeah. But they're but they're legitimately looking for it. They're okay with they believe that Jesus interacts or that god interacts with people in that way. And so when it happens, like, they'll wake up and things will change. I'll wake up in with heartburn. Isn't that like the whole prayer of Ramadan? That they're seeking the true God? How is that? I guess I don't know which class, but let me check with my didn't expert. Read that chapter.

I mean, yeah. Because when you look at what they're praying for, it's like it would make total sense for Jesus to go, oh, yeah. Right here. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I mean, yeah. I mean, they're even they're sincerely looking. They're not like saying, appear to me within the definition of how I understand you. That's right. It's like, no. I want you to see who you are. Right. Boy, it's funny. We're like like, the I think the more that you get into that, the more I realize that, like, we are our evangelistic approach is we will love you as a future version of yourself that is following Jesus. Yeah. But until you do that, that's what we're loving you for. I'm terrible Right? Well, we will love you because we think that you will eventually come to know Jesus. You will, first of all, agree that I am correct in my following of Jesus and that you will also follow Jesus, and then all this will be worth it. But loving them as they sit, not worth it. I'll give you two shots, and then I won't have time for you. And then after that, you're on your own. Somebody else will listen to me. And, like, it sounds crappy as if that's our battle mission, and it's not. It's a shame to us. Right? But it is the truth, and then we are guilty of it. Hey, Farris. Can you take the knife out of my gut real quick? No. You can't. Yeah. I mean, we're we are we are very guilty of loving a future version of the person that we're talking to. Dang. Whether they follow Jesus or not. Like, we just think, hey. This is worth it's worth spending time with them because they might come to know Jesus. Tell me that's not come out of your mouth and or in your brain where thought, yeah, this is worth it because they might come to know Jesus. Not it's worth it because they people or,

you know, we can love them as their current self Damn. As they sit. Right? I'm certainly guilty of that. I agree you are. Yeah. I I learned it from Ben, my mentor, who hates present versions of everyone. I also learned it from Ben. Yeah. Me and Boover try to shake it, but it's like a virus. Oh,

nice. So, anyway, I I I I didn't realize that it was such a a deep chasm, but I I really think that it is. I think we we love people out of opportunity, thinking that it will be better for them in the long run, and then they will get to know Jesus, and we're like, yeah. This makes it all it's it's it's it's called planting seeds. That's us. Right? As if hanging out in the garden on their own is not good enough. Right? And just being in the garden is no good. We have to be throwing a seed out there, and we have to they have to be treated as the thing that's being manipulated. Right? Otherwise, it's no good. Oh, man. That just gave me it's a terrible image of of a guy standing out in a field getting ready to throw seeds or whatever, and some lovely dude shows up and goes, hey. How you doing? Blah blah blah. And the guy just looks him in the face, then he, boom, seeds him in the face. And I'll eventually be worthy of my love. Stay out of the weeds. I really hope this takes shape. Alright. You're listening live from the bath. Thanks for hanging out with us

this week. Hey. I was mistaken for the pope this week, and I'm gonna You were? Yeah. I'm gonna tell you what's really odd about that. I didn't really leave the house because of the COVID. Right.

And so and now I could've I could be reading too much into this. I'm gonna admit to this. But and so I'm working from home, and so I'm working in my bedroom, and my my desk faces a mirror so I can look at myself. And then just to the left there, there's open there's the window that looks out into the backyard. And about 09:15 every morning, there's a there's a trio of squirrels that run around this tree chasing each other, and they just have the real gas of a time. I mean, they love this for a good twenty, twenty five minutes chasing each other around. And there's always one that escapes from the thing, and the other two don't seem to care that he left. I assume he's the annoying friend. So he gets real close to my window, and I swear that he looks up at me at the window and stares at me through this window,

like I'm the pope. Yeah. And it didn't it took, like, three days for me to pick up what he was trying to get at. And I thought Yeah. My goodness. That squirrel thinks I'm the pontiff. He thinks I'm the holy sea, and I didn't know what to do about it. And so I cracked the window, and I spoke I spoke out to him. I said, go away, squirrel. And he he out of reverence for my position, he refused to go. And so to honor him

as a as a not not yet converted beast, I I decided I should give him advice like the pope would. And so here's what I told him. Well, I would tell you, actually, I I told I I I told him that I I I saw this on Facebook from a friend of mine, and it it was an odd interaction or intersection with something that I also had been thinking about from a spiritual perspective.

And and that is when you when you look out on your life and you wanna make and you want to change, you want big changes, you want small changes, you want your life to be different. You want to accomplish something. Whatever is that you live whatever you may or may not what you may aspire to. This is so cliche, but it starts with one step. It starts with one action. It starts with one thing. K? And so I was thinking about this in terms of just again, good rhythms, good spiritual habits. I always struggle with, like, all or nothing. I have to be all in. Like so when I'm firing all cylinders, I'm like, read my bible and I'm praying well and extensively, and I'm remembering people who I should be remembering and talking about in the scriptures. And I'm I'm praying with my kids before they go to bed, and I'm reading sufficiently

and like, all all the all the spiritual things, the disciplines. Right? The things that you should be kneeling. I always stink at doing it's either all of them or, nothing. I I, like, I just fall off a cliff. And so that's been that way for probably a good eight years, and I just I just had convinced myself that it's the nature of my personality. I'm just like that. I have to be all in and have to discipline myself across the board because, like, if there's any lack of discipline anywhere, it will drag the rest of it into its lack of discipline.

But the truth is is that over the last, what do I wanna say, four or five weeks, I've been doing two things. One's a spiritual thing and one's may not necessarily, but like it's something I've I've been intending to do. So I've been exercising every day for five weeks, like HIIT routines and all kinds of fun stuff from the net. And secondly, I've been getting up before I have work to do, and reading my bible and praying. And

the thing was is that, like, that is incomprehensible. I never make it five weeks. I might make it two to three weeks out of my own inertia and then it dies. Now one of the things that's helpful is my wife is doing it too. Both of those things. My wife and I are doing these things together. We're reading separate things, but we're both sitting and and reading early in the morning, hopefully, before the kids wake up, and we're both exercising together. But what occurred to me was is that it it never I didn't think that was possible, that I could get one thing right. And and just and we're small we're small chunks. My goal is a psalm a day. If I at least get a psalm a day, I it works. And like some of those psalms are like six lines. I mean, it take my I mean, twenty seconds to read that. But, like, over the course of four to five weeks, sometimes you read that giant one, Psalm one one nineteen, and then sometimes you're reading the tiny ones. And most of the time, I'm reading, like, two or three if they're small.

Anyway, the broad point was is that, like, as opposed to going, boy, I wanna be a person who reads the bible every day, you you should just start by reading the bible today. Hey, man. I really wish I had a really good prayer life. Well, your prayer life is made up of your prayer days and maybe your prayer moments. So maybe we'll just we'll do that. And, like, it's it's funny is I recognize this is a theme in I've said this I think it shows up in every wedding I ever do,

is that you live your life like you live your days. And I assume it shows up in every wedding thing I ever do because I also stink at this and I just assume everyone else stinks. And so I tell them before they get married that they should think about it this way. But anyway, there's just the the the advice to the squirrel was you live your life like you live your days, and you live your days like you live your hours, and you live your hours like you live your minutes, and and you have control of those things. Like, a lot of a lot of times when we get bundled up with worry, it's for a lack of control. But to be honest, you chose to sit and and worry. And I don't I don't mean that you can't like, sometimes you just worry, but you didn't have to sit there and worry.

Right? Like, that's happened to me many, many times is that my gut reaction is to worry or is to be anxious about something, and I purposely get up and do something. I'm still anxious about it, the thing that I'm and I'm still worrying about it, but I am moving. But I said, look. I might as well be worried and folding laundry. I might as well be worried and going on a walk. I might as well be worried and trying to read. And here's the thing, I might only take half what it is, but I'm I'm doing I'm actively taking control. And so a lot of the a lot of times we get tied up in the things we can't control. But for some reason, we seed almost all the stuff that we actually do have control over, and we don't take control over And so as as as tiny it is, and this is where this lines up with what Buva was talking about. Buva had had posted something on Facebook this week and and it was the same thing. The context was a little different, but the same basic premise. Right? Is that like,

you you know, when you want to if you you you feel like you're anxious or you're worried or depressed or something, something seems super big. And so conquer the tiniest thing you can and go from there. The psalm a day is a very, very low ask, but I'm nailing it, and it's going well. And most of the most of the days, if I get up, I get up with plenty of space, and I get I read a psalm, and then I read what I read over and over again what I'm gonna teach this week. I mean, the as as a pastor, like, I this is embarrassing to me, but, like, there are times when I have not looked at it till Friday. I have to teach Sunday. Almost all my studying happens on a Saturday, and I might not even take a glance at it till Friday. Now I probably know what it is, but, like, I'm not studying. I'm not reading. I'm not letting it saturate. This is this is changing. Like, I got time I read my Psalm, and then I read the thing that I'm gonna teach, and then I dive into something random, revelation or numbers or, like, something like like that just to just to read through. And so the broad point is to say,

whatever you might be facing or whatever you feel like you need to take some where it feels too big, then then start cutting it down. Get it into smaller chunks. Conquer that. And then move on to the next thing. And then conquer the same thing the next day. And it's okay to hold yourself to a stand and say, look. I'm I I'm gonna do this. This thing is gonna get done. It has to get done. It means a lot to me to get it done. And it's it's okay to I'm only could clip the big toe. I'm I'm gonna leave the other four for tomorrow. I'm gonna clip the big one today. It's fine. It's still just just it's okay to get wins that way, but don't don't settle yourself into the frame frame of mind that says, one, this is just my personality. That covers all matter of sins. It's a mistake. God is here to help change you for the better. Go ahead and let him. Secondly,

don't settle into the into the belief that nothing is in your control. Because you you sat thinking that, and you controlled whether you sat thinking that. And, again, you don't have to posture above your pay grade if you can't control everything that flips into your mind, because I can't. It doesn't mean that you can't do other things or fight it or, you know, fight to just just find other things to occupy your time while you're worrying or stress or whatever. Just take control of things you can control. There's plenty there's way too much stuff that you can't control that you're worried about. But, like, there's so much stuff that's in your control that you have decided that that is not, and I think that's a mistake. And if you can start grabbing a hold of those things, it can start building great foundations that are not only self supporting, but they also remind you that you have the ability to control those types of things. I always start with the little the little toe.

I mean, that's the grossest thing you guys could've talked about. I mean because it can be done with one clip. No doubt. I usually gotta take two shots at the big toe. Mhmm. I just go with the longest one. Yeah. The small the smallest toe is To the seven people that listen to this show, I really do apologize for what's happening right now. What do mean? I clipped my toenails into the toilet because then I can just flush them away. You could choose anything you wanted to watch. Do you do How do you do, Booba? And you decided to roll upon life from the past on this day's episode, and you heard this. We wanna apologize. This is good advice Ben's giving. I just it threw me off with the toenail example. It really did. Nobody starts with the big toe. That's ridiculous. I gave religious counsel to a squirrel, and you're caught up on the fact that it's a toenail? Here's the thing. And he did just say do one toe at a time. You you assumed he was talking about the big toe. No. He said use the big toe. Yeah. I said maybe you clip the big one. Maybe you Oh, maybe you clip okay. I'm wrong. I'm wrong. I'm wrong. You're right. Do you clip them straight across, or do you go in a curve? So it like a No. The toe goes straight. Do you the Fingers fingers get the curve. Toes get the straight. Yeah. This doesn't need to Everybody know Dan Dan Dan and I know that. Yeah. They just tell you that. We appreciate you. I screwed up the toe the toe guy, toe bro. Yeah. I screwed it up at some point because mine are curved, and if I try to cut them straight like they said so, then it looks like I didn't cut them at all because there's a white curve mark of the It's gonna take a little time. It'll take yeah. Yeah. Can be problems if you curve them. Yeah. Hey. They showed this video in a health class. You got caught up on the fallopian tubes, and they were talking about how to get your toenails straight. They were talking about ovaries, and I thought, I wanna see ovaries. That's disgusting.

What? I was in sixth grade. What do you want? Do I do with those? All I know is I don't have them, but I'd like to take a look. Again, to the to the faithful viewers. You wanna live in real life or don't you? These are the brass tacks of living, booba. If if you just so happen to stumble upon this show today, we've got ten years

worth of shows. You can check us out on the YouTube. Apparently, our social media presence is about to start. That's a pretty cool word. Blowing up because I'm taking over it. You're supposed to fix this on social media and shine it up. I really am. You don't got much to work with. I don't. We're the brass knuckles of entertainment. No. No. No. Just thanks for loving us. This is how you bring them in. You can say like, hey. How much do you disagree with the fellows about this topic? That's fine. Yeah. It is. Okay. Yeah. Buba, you know how to do this. Turn this thing around. I'm gonna have to put this shine by. This is ridiculous. Okay. The hashtags on this one are gonna be a bit odd. Toe fungus. Gross, Dan.

Hashtag leave the other four for tomorrow. Is that too long? Hashtag leave the other four. Yeah. Big toe no go. Hashtag big toe no go. Own your world. Here's your crown. No go. Yes. One of my biggest fears in life, I don't know what this says about me, is that there'll become a day when I make it a nursing home and it'll be like toenail day. And I was like, I don't want some dude coming in cutting my toenail day. Toenail day? Yeah. That's one of the things you pick up in ministry. You go visit people, you're like, what? They have people come in to do toenails? Like, you can't do your own toenails anymore. Oh. Oh. I don't wanna get there. Okay. That's true. Wiping my butt, no problem. Stay away from my toenails forever. Stay away from my toenails. Yeah. I'll handle this. What if you go too far? Wait. Okay. Man, I can't believe I'm doing this. Alright. Have any of you guys ever had a pedicure? No. No. Not one? No. Not a single one of you? Yeah. I have. Ah. There we go. Waiting for it. Like, wait. By a professional? Yes.

And it doesn't like, I'm not talking hold on, bubba. You don't that doesn't surprise me one bit. Mike, speak to me. This is impossible. You had your toes professionally done? I don't remember how I got caught up in this, but I was outnumbered with ladies, and I think I just agreed to it. It was nice. Anyway, let's I'd like to defend myself for a second and say I was in the exact same situation. Yeah. I don't believe that already. I didn't just seek out a pedicure. I think you have a punch card. With a little toe stamp on it.

They clip out the numbers with a toe over. Hold up, fellas. I resemble these remarks. Did you do the whole thing? Like, they massage your calf and everything? Or No. They did dance. Woah, dad. It was all above the ankle. Family of girls. I went told me about it. They don't massage your calf. That's wrong. It was my sisters and my sister-in-law that went, and they were going. And I jokingly said, I'll go with, and they all freaked out and said, yes. And so I went with. It was one of the most awkward things that's ever happened to me in my entire life. Because there's all these chairs along the wall, and it's all these ladies sitting there and then just my ogre of a man's self that sits down. Were the employees looking and arguing over who was gonna get you? And this young gal walks over to me, doesn't say any words, just takes my sock off, and I'm just like, oh, this is how it begins. And it happened. And it was weird. It was awkward. And she would, like, joked about, like, putting polish on it. I'm like, no. I don't want any of that stuff. Yeah. I just want them to look like human feet.

Please. That's what me I had too many calluses. Do they cut them and stuff? They do everything. Yeah. They Okay. Yeah. They cut they cut you. They they file it. They'll they'll, like, take care of cuticle evidence of it. Do they around the edges? I that part hurts. They take some cuticle Cuticle snips are painful. See? I don't want that. No. Yes. No. They're see, here's the deal. Here's what you need to recognize that your ladies go through is cuticle snips on your fingers or on your toes hurt. Well, then They are literally they are literally snipping away skin, the your cuticle. They're snipping it away, and they get down to the like, you'll see them bleed. It's ridiculous. The lord didn't intend that. So this Leave it be. This is what these gals go through to have these manicured nails and pedicured toes. That's exactly what happens. Yeah. I don't care about that, be honest with you. They're paying for it. Yeah. Agreed. I'm just telling you that's what's happening, and they and they are trained to believe that it's because that's what's more beautiful is to not have the cuticle. Hey. Is it I mean, would it be out of out of grade to hang out outside of a queue a tow parlor and be like, hey. I don't find that attractive. Yeah. Yeah. That's horrifying. Society. Ben, you should never stand anywhere outside of somewhere and go, I don't find that attractive. People walk out of it. That's terrifying. I'm trying to It's an enlightened age. Absolutely terrifying situation.

I'm trying to affirm Be a normal person. Start a podcast and talk about it on it. That's what you do. Yeah. But I would say I would say, look, Debbie. You don't need to do that. Did you say Debbie? Yeah. Here's this is how you fit in. You go, look, Debbie. I gotta tell you my truth, and my truth is that I don't find that attractive at all. Yeah.

Let me change your life. The pain you just went through is unnecessary. And, really, you spent $75 and you have a booger hanging out the left side of your nose. A booger. A hanger's in there. And leopard print. And you know you can't wear that in the age of Tiger King. The Tiger King. Harold Baskin. Hey. Hey. So funny. I was on a conference call with somebody today and there was someone I worked with who goes that the said that the tiger king has ruined 90% of her outfits. Oh, that's phenomenal. And I thought to myself, shoot. I I didn't realize you wore that much leopard, but, I'll be doggone. That really is unfortunate.

Yeah. Yeah. You don't need to be wearing the leopard print anymore. Okay. This is weird. Hey. What's the I looked at leopard shirts the other day. Tinkos, now is the time to get in on Halloween's a coming. Dan, I'll sponsor one. We'll make it work. Instead, you said, every day's a coming. This is my Tuesday. I was gonna say, we got a Tuesday coming up, don't we? I bet I could wear that leopard tiger Tuesday. Hey. There's a so we got a new segment on on the show. Oh, jeez. It's called dear Jesus greeting cards from Buva.

Oh, just from Buva? Yeah. It's gonna be a short lived one. That's like Deuteronomy Dan. That was a good game. Whatever happened to that? Yeah. You stopped doing it. Yeah. Take a guess. It literally has your wait a minute. It's all It's got your name in it. Dad goes, was I in charge of Deuteronomy, Dan? I remember. Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy. Dan. There's there's pub it's probably on the shelf with his books. I'll get to that. That's a study journal about the Quran and Deuteronomy Day. Alright. So I actually avoid that. I have a ton of books. I avoid that by letting people borrow them, and then I don't feel guilty. They never Like, well, they you know, I I would read it, but it's on loan. Boob has got, like, 12 books by I think I've got, like, 14 of your commentaries. That's why I show up going, hey, Boob. You wanna borrow this one? Looks looks pretty good. I think actually, to admit something serious, I think I have a Ben shelf at this point in time that's literally just stuff from Ben that's sitting on one of my shelves. And I every time I walk past it, I'm like I've borrowed books from Ben. It's a huge mistake. If they should just call the name of the book, Mike, you're an idiot. Right? Because every time I try to read one of these deep theological books,

I a paragraph. It's just like when I read CS Lewis. Well, if you think of blah, then you should think of blah, blah, blah. Right. He was 11 levels into this idea. Sense. And he goes, but if you think that, you'd be in error, and here's why. Right. Oh, there's too many truths. Yes. NT Wright is not horrible for me. When Ben lets me borrow N. T. Wright, I can kinda get through it. I can palate it for a little bit at least. But anytime I read any Doug Moo, I I cry. I cry from the Doug Moo. And, like, I'll I'll randomly text Ben 14 times throughout the week and like, Ben, Doug Moo. Like, I know, man. He's a beast. If you're one of those those resurrection Episcopalians that diverted from the Seventh day Adventist in 1847, you might view it this way. Are you a religious equestrian? View it. I don't know what you're talking about.

Doug Moo, I got nothing. Oh, man. That's great. I mean, the footnotes are longer than the article the man written. Here's where I pulled this from. You know where I got my information? James. Yeah. That's where I got mine from. If I'm 48 pages into the book and we haven't gotten to a verse the bible yet, I don't know if I'm in. Yeah. No one puts thanks to the apostles in their thank you page. You notice that? People write bible commentaries. No one's like, I'd like to thank the apostle Paul who wrote the thing. Yeah. No mention there. I'd like to thank my wife. Oh, that's great. Anyway, Bubba, you are doing me a solid because if I showed up at the house with them books, my wife would be irritated with me. Alright. So I I need them to stay at your place at least in the near term. Okay. I can do that. Okay. I got a bookshelf for them. Alright. Dear Jesus.

Oh, man. Okay. So, I I had a super cheesy Jesus moment this week, and and I don't I it's not that I don't have them. It's just I don't have them often enough to, like, really remember them. And so the story starts with my brother and I got into a little bit of a scuffle, with one another,

the other night. And just some stupid stuff happened. I I I really I'm not gonna go into the details of that because that's not the important part of the story. Trey and I got a fight, and I left the situation, left the place we were at. And I was fuming mad. Like, I was angry, straight up angry. My brother, I love him with all my heart, and he's he's my one of my best friends. But, like, he brings out a side of me that's like a pre Jesus Buva in in the worst of ways. And, like, I get to the point where I'm like, I I'm silverback gorilla when I'm in that conversation with the dude, and I'm just like, I see red, and I wanna hit something or somebody, and it's just bad. I hate that part of me. And so your left side? Because I find your left side violent, difficult. Is. It's the left side most likely. The right side, not so bad. So yeah. So left side Troy, Arbuba shows up, and it's it's bad. And I'm angry. We're we're we're pushing each other. It's physical. It's bad. So I leave the situation. I'm driving. I literally went for a two hour drive, and I just hop on the road, and I start driving. And and I'm listening to whatever. I don't remember what I was listening to. It wasn't about the music. I'm just driving. And I get to my destination where I'm like, I I'm literally gonna have to stop for gas if I don't stop driving. So I'm I'm gonna I'm a flip a UE here and fine, start driving back. And I've been feeling mad this entire time.

Just angry. And I have no idea why I'm so angry because, like, my expectations weren't different than what they've always been. And, like, he him and I act the sir same certain way every time when something like this happens. But we get angry and driving away, and so I'm driving back. And the weirdest thing happens, I'm driving, and I literally it's this is so cheesy. I I just I saw the sunset,

and this is the part where you laugh at me and go, this is about to get ridiculous. This is ricotta. This is straight up ricotta. Go ahead. It's it's it's it's straight cheese. So I see the sunset, and, like, I didn't immediately go, oh, man. Jesus, thank you for making that sunset for me. Like, it it wasn't that bad, but it quickly turned into something like that. And so I'm driving, and I'm looking at the sun. I'm just like, man. And I could see the whole thing. Like, it's it's it's almost to the point where it's actually setting, but I can still see the entire sun. And I got sunglasses on so I can actually look at it not like you'd be blinded. So I'm driving into the sun and I see the sunset. It's just it's pretty. It's just gorgeous. And I start thinking to myself,

I can stare at the sun and that thing is literally like 92 93,000,000 miles away. Right? Like, it's a long ways away. And I just got this overwhelming feeling of how small I am. And, like,

that didn't happen to me. It just doesn't happen. There's not many times where I'm like, man, I'm tiny. Like, that's just not a thing that happens. And so I'm looking at the sun, and I'm just like, this thing that's that's that's 92, 93,000,000 miles away. It's it's so small in my point of view right now, but it is literally one of the largest things that that we'd know of. Right? Like, obviously, there's bigger stars. I'm not gonna argue about you with that. But, like, it's huge. It is massive. Don't think so. Was gonna argue with you about stuff. Well, I I know the I know it's not the biggest star movie. I know the Internet. That is true. Is a soul story. I I have these delusions of grandeur sometime that someday we're gonna have, like, millions of views on each episode, and then people gonna be like, Buva, you're an idiot. Yeah. You don't realize the sun is actually not that big. And in the context of the universe and how big stars get, it's not actually that raving dolt.

You lepton. You don't even know what's happening. So it's it's this enormous massive thing. It's huge. It's bigger than than so many things, and, like, it's so small in my point of view right now. And then I'm like, blow this up into into the way god sees this. Right? Like, I am so intensely, insanely, infinitesimally small in comparison to what's going on in the universe. Like, it's just the truth.

I am one of billions of the same kind of creature that exists on this rock, and we are one of rock in a universe that has hundreds of millions of them. Right? And, like, I'm not arguing life on other planets, whatever. It may just be us. Hopefully, great. Whatever. But, like, we're still so small. And so it just it it threw my point of view and my perspective just completely out of whack. Cause I'd been driving angrily for an hour at this point in time. Just, I mean, mad, fuming mad about the situation. And I flip a UE to start driving back home, and I just see the sun. And I'm just completely reminded of how small I am in all of this. And not only is this small myself,

my entire world, this small circumstance that just happened an hour and a half ago is so tiny to me, really. It it it doesn't paint who my brother is, the way that we interacted. It doesn't paint who I am. It doesn't change our relationship with one another. It doesn't change that we love each other. It doesn't change that I am loved as a human being by him, by the rest of my family, and and by God. And it it literally means nothing. It means nothing.

And this thing that I'm allowing to consume me, completely consume me, is so insignificant, yet I am getting thrown all over for it, and it's ridiculous.

And so I just started thinking, I'm just like, I need to I need to blast out of my own perspective and just take a look down at myself 100,000,000 miles up and look and recognize that, like, what I'm blowing out of proportion

and what I'm making massive and giving power and giving authority over my mind at the time, over my actions and my thoughts, I'm going to allow this to seep into the rest of my night, my tomorrow, the rest of my week, whatever it looks like, is so insignificant. And there are bigger things at play, and there are bigger things that have more stock in my life and have more authority over what I'm called to be. And I'm like, I can choose to be just fuming angry at my brother about something stupid, and I can be choose to be fuming angry at myself about something stupid, or I can take a step back and recognize

that I'm a flawed human being, but my identity throughout all of this has not changed at all. Even though I am insanely small in this universe, I am still completely loved and forgiven and just drowning in grace from the creator of all of this. Creator of the universe literally holds me in his hand perfectly and loves me exactly who I am. Calls me to greater things, there's no doubt about that, but loves me for who I am. And if I'm gonna let something as insignificant

and tiny as this interaction that was dumb should never happened, if I'm gonna let that completely paint my world view for whatever amount of time, whether it's an hour, whether it's a week, whether it's the next ten years, it's ridiculous because there are more important things and there are more true things that are constant, and it's more important that I understand my identity in in light of the kingdom of Christ and in light of who God is

and who he calls me to be. And I just started just laughing, And it was weird because I'm driving. I'm I I'd probably been listening to just whatever music, and I'm angry and and pedal to the metal, staring at the sun, and out of nowhere, I just start laughing and crying. And I'm just like,

god, I really appreciate this perspective. Like, I it is so cheesy that this has just happened to me that I saw a sunset, and I went, I know Jesus loves me, and I'm so excited about that. And I'm loved, and I'm saved, and I'm happy because all those things are true, but it's just this ridiculous scenario that I find myself in. And I'm just like, I feel like I'm writing a greeting card to Jesus right now. I'm writing a greeting card and going, thank you father for loving me perfectly, creating me to be who I am, knowing that I'm a fallen person, but forgiving me and loving me regardless, and giving me grace and the opportunity to be a part of your kingdom. Please allow me to take a step back and recognize what is important in my life, what are big things, and what are insignificant things. And allow me to know what I can control and know what I can do going forward because I won't let things like this completely paint my worldview. I refuse. I refuse to live in that negative place, and I refuse to be that boova that I hate.

I wanna be one that's called to Christ, and I wanna be one that's free of chains. And I was just really thankful for that moment. And I'm like, that's my greeting card to Jesus today. Like, thank you for perspective and letting me recognize how small I am, but how loved and worthy I am because you call me those things. How do you know when a greeting card is done? You look at the back. See how much it cost? Publisher.

Boova. See that it's more expensive than The UK. $2.99. Yeah. That's just, actually, that's a that's a the dominant theme in the, in the old Psalms. Right? Just recognizing, god's bigness.

Right. And not only this is this is interesting in the context of, like, controlling what you could control. Recognize the things that you can't. Recognize the things that shouldn't have near the amount of influence. What was Mike you were just talking about this a little bit last week, Rob, but the our notion of, like, what's what's an emergency and what's not. Yeah. Right? How much how much any particular incident should color. Actually, it's so true in relationships. Like, the most recent thing that happens to you goes, oh, this person is a this. Like, really? That person was a that for the last thirty minutes. Are they a that all the time? Yeah. Like, is that is that really who they like? Is that is that the brush of which their entire character gets painted, or that's just the most recent scene that you saw? And I think you can acknowledge that, but, like Mhmm. Without saying this needs to dominate

to treat your spouse. It's gonna happen a lot with your spouse and people. Everybody. Thanks, Mike. Thanks for a heads up. Is that directed to Bubba? That's it. I was gonna say. No. Directed to me because I'm getting married? That's directed to everybody because

I hear that a lot, but I get complaints about other people's wives. And they'll say, she a babbity babbity bah. And I'll say, yeah. But that's not her track record or whatever. Maybe she's just a little off today or no. She's a she's the worst. No. I mean, overall, she's probably alright. She just made a mistake or you don't agree on the last ten minutes or whatever just happened, then you're all fired up about it. You gotta calm down. Right? Like, you you do completely lose, any perspective of what what they brought into the thing. This is how relationships go foul,

where you've had a perfectly good friendship forever, and then they do one thing. You're like, well, if that's the kind of person you are, I'm out of here. You know, I I I do I wonder if that contributes to our understanding of Jesus and and the recognition of of god's forgiveness towards us, things that are devastating at a human level. God has the ability, is willing to forgive. And I wonder if some of that is just the nature of he just has a more balanced perspective. Not that the thing wasn't bad, but, like, he just doesn't have to paint the entire

picture that way. Like, think of it that this is true for even the harshest of things. The harshest of things, like, it's very like, someone if if you had have been in a relationship and someone, you know, stepped out on you in that relationship or cheated on you or something, it's very possible that that represented, like, thirty minutes of their life. A third of a mistake of their life. No doubt. Right? But like grand scheme of things, actually, I remember I wrote something that occurred to me in college. Like, when you call if someone has committed adultery, they're an adulterer. And that whether it took them thirty minutes or whether they did it 700 times, it's the same name, the same reference to it. And, like, it's not particularly representative,

but it it we do that because it it recognizes how much, how painful it is. Like, the the impact of the thing is that it only takes whatever with the thirty minutes. But but I I I think the point is is that, like, god's perspective is just, one, he's gracious. And and two, that that is a frailty of ours is is the here and now read not only, like, changes the future, but it starts to redefine the past.

We see things when we go and we go, oh, well, that happened. Now all this explains everything that came before, and it probably doesn't. It it probably doesn't. But people are actually more nuanced than that. People tend not to be predictable. I mean, sometimes it's true. I'm sure you all have situations, but, like, it's just that, like, we we we our minds will hold on to to the narrow. And, like, it's real. The narrow thing is real. The the hurt is real. The time is real. But, like, I just I just wonder if there's an element of god's bigness that says,

yeah. But, you know, grand scheme, that's that's redeemable where it feels destructive or whatever in whatever many moments we have. You ready?

Yeah. Yep. Dear life from the path. During the past year, my wonderful father-in-law was widowed and became unable to live alone. He lives with us now and is part of our daily life. However, he has dementia. He is still quite social and verbal. If you met him, you might not realize that his short term memory rarely functions or that the filters this well educated and proper man once had no longer had no longer worked twenty four seven. Recently, he has started women and making comments about their physical attributes when we go grocery shopping or take a walk. He's also starting to confuse the women's roles in our household, me, my daughter, daughter-in-law, and niece, which has become even more awkward. My daughter confided that he made a sexual comment about me. I'm middle aged, no nonsense kind of woman. How does one approach such a situation? We don't want someone slapping him or worse. I can say, that's not appropriate, then deflect or laugh it off at home knowing you won't remember what he said twenty minutes later. But how would he make the best of circumstances without diminishing his outside social experiences?

Moving him to a senior living community is not an option at this point for financial reasons. Yeah. I'd start with the truth. He's got dementia. He won't remember you said it. You know what I'm saying? I mean Right. Yeah. Just said to the lady in the grocery store, like, sorry about that. He's I apologize. He he didn't I mean, he probably means what he says, but he has dementia. He's just he he just has no way of holding this in in in tandem, so I I I apologize.

Mhmm. And whatever. Maybe you can get a slap or two. I you know, I don't know. What are you asking for here? You can't cure you're not curing dementia. Right. It's it's not it's it's this is exactly what we just talked about. This is not as a sticky situation as you're making it out to be. Right? It might It's short term too. Right. It's short term. It's gonna get worse and he'll be you know, he's just not gonna be around. It's the thing. It's gonna be sad to watch. It's just like having someone within your family that has Alzheimer's or something. It's sad to watch. It's hard to watch. There ain't no doubt about it. Because you knew the person that used to be there. Right? And you're watching and and now you don't know that person. That person doesn't barely know you. You know, and it feels like you're talking to a stranger. And it's it's weird. But I don't know that you're

get You're achieving the greater good by following it down into the hole, and and being bummed out about it all the time. Right? So, like, if if you believe he's a social creature and he needs that interaction, I mean, depends on how far he's going here. If he's just making old man comments, you know, I guess that's alright. I mean, he starts crossing a line where it's completely offensive, like over the top offensive, then, yeah, you probably have to keep him at home. Or go to places where only dudes are out. Or maybe the I mean, the the grocery store is is kinda close confines. You're most likely to run into

a lady there. You know, go to the park or whatever. Like, if he needs to get out and about, there's places to do it that don't put him in such close confines to people where he's going to start making suggestive comments to him. So, I mean, it it may start to impact. Maybe you don't take him out as many places, and maybe you don't wanna leave at home. I get that too. But, like, where you have options, if you want him to get out and about and and be be around people but not that close, I mean, you may just need to change the places that you take him. Yeah. Just make sure the motivator is not you being embarrassed by him. Right? Like, we can we can he he has what he has. You know? And I think you could be honest about that, and you can try to help helpfully steer him away for situations where he's gonna say something that he doesn't intend, but it's gonna come out anyway. Like, you just do that in a loving way, but I I mean, I don't I don't see any reason to make a huge adjustment here. Am I taking this too lightly? No. You you have to live in their reality when someone has dementia. I mean, you can't correct it. You can't

You can't own it. You can't act like it has anything to do I with I would I would probably, in addition to what you guys said, think is all excellent, is maybe, like, just have a family meeting once a week without him to remind everybody this is where we're at. Maybe assess, hey, has it gotten worse? At some point, you're gonna have to go to the next step Yeah. And then get some help. And he's gonna have to have a place to live because for his own safety. Yeah. And for the safety of others. You know, he could become dangerous if he starts acting out on things. And you got some can't kids in the house so you can put that in perspective and, and, you know and you if you're not if you don't intend on watching him twenty four hours a day or, like, having someone tail him, you know, I mean, it does get to the point depending on what kind of dementia he has where he can't be in his room by himself or you gotta watch what he's got in there. He's just firing on the same cylinders anymore, and and, like, you can take care of that lovingly without embarrassing him or making an example of him or being disappointed in him. He's got no control. Trust me. Yeah. He does not wanna look a fool right now. He just doesn't he doesn't have the capacity to not look that way. Mhmm. And so, like, it's really hard not to start taking that stuff personally, let it weigh on you, or go, I shouldn't have to deal with this and what but you just be be happy in your toil. Right? This is your toil. Yep. And and and you can choose to let it bury you or you can choose to rise above it and say, here's the thing what we're gonna do. And and I'm I'm advocating for that. I'm to not I mean, it's it's probably kinda funny. To be honest with you, there's gotta be some funny moments of an 80 year old man making some kind of snide sexual comment. Don't you? Like, it just seems like it'd be kinda funny to me. But I don't know. I'm not the woman, so Okay.

The secular says, it's time for you to contact the Alzheimer's Association. It offers guidance for caregivers like you. Changes in behavior caused by Alzheimer's are challenging. It's important to remember that these behaviors are the result of a damaged brain and not something the person is doing purposely. If inappropriate behavior occurs in public, be consistent and kind but firmly remind the person that the behavior is not okay. It may help to distract the person from the immediate situation by directing their attention elsewhere or giving them something else to do.

Caregivers can create I can only think of comedy reasons for doing it like like a little puppet like Yeah. Look over here. Here's a pineapple or Rubik's cube. Oh, pineapple. That's terrible. That's that wasn't the heart of the of the comment. Caregivers can create quotes business cards stating briefly, my companion has dementia. Please be understanding. Caregivers would give these to hosts and hostesses when entering restaurants or discreetly hand them to salespeople

if situations start to deteriorate because the companion exhibits unusual behavior or lack of verbal filter. That sounds like a Men in Black type of thing. Like something happens and then you're like, here's my card. Yeah. Yeah. That actually went through my mind. I don't know if that's a good idea or not so I didn't say it out loud. Yeah. But there are gonna be times you might have to be paying attention to him and Yeah. I mean you can't just stop and say, hey by the way. Yeah. It'd be nice to have something to communicate it, you know, like Put it on a t shirt. See, this always this always brings up I'm with dementia. This always brings up pants. Right? Like, pants pants has had MS since he was 18. And, like, he he had business cards Business made card. Yep. That that have his full name on it. And where it would normally say like, Bob Bruin, MD, doctor, his says, Nick Whedstone,

MS. And and like, I mean, this is a guy that like I mean, this disease sucks. It really does. It's it's debilitating, and and like, I The guy is a ray of sunshine for the disease that he has. I mean, I I I cannot have enough respect for for pants. Right? But he took a thing that that would've crushed almost anybody and he made business cards with it. And like, I'm like, I love this man. I love this man. Right? You know, he he looks at this nasty thing, and he looks it right in the eye and goes, well, here's what we're gonna do. I've never heard more

shake jokes or unbalanced joke coming out of this man's mouth. He has the disease. Right? And, like, he looks at it holistically. He hits it right in the face and goes, here's the thing, and I've never seen him once without a smile on his face. And I'm sure there's times when he does not have this smile, because the disease sucks. But like, at the end of the day, he's he's determined to have a good attitude about it. And like, I I think that's what we're talking about here. Right? Like, you're talking about something that you don't have any control over, and you just have to smile and hit it head on and go, look, he's got dementia. I'm sorry. You know, and and and maybe the business cards aren't a bad idea. It's kinda funny, actually. You know? Like, just just make it make it so it's not a big situation. Yeah. And by the way, if you if if you're new to the show or you haven't ever heard us talk about pants, you know him. He's the guy who does the the voice over for the intro to the show. Live from the Pathway studio in Johnston proper. Yep. That's that's that's our friend, Pants.

Okay. Ready? One more? Yeah. Dear Live from the Path, I'm a teen living with a foot in each world. My parents are religious and don't approve of my sexuality. Oh, boy. I am bisexual. And my peers harshly stereotype my beliefs. I feel rejected by both worlds, and I'm trying to make it until I'm 18 so I can leave the situation. Lately, things have taken a turn for the worse. Both sides won't accept me until I am completely Christian or completely not Christian. Is there any advice you can give me? Yeah. You're trying to do something impossible. You can't play both worlds.

Make a choice. Hold on. I'm thinking. I'm thinking. I'm thinking. How does how does this relate to the the conversation we're having earlier about Islam, or does it? Like, not loving a future version of somebody. Yeah.

That's that's my question. Because, like, there's there's a semblance of of well, so here's what's interesting is when they say, I'm waiting till 18 when I can get out of this situation, that I don't think that means they're leaving bisexuality. Right. They're not trying to age out. Right. Yeah. But there does also seem to be a notion here of this being a reasonable a part of her identity. Like, if your parents were forcing you to go to church and you didn't wanna go, you would just tell your friends, look, I don't wanna go. My parents are forcing me. And they wouldn't likely continue to mock you because whatever the Everybody knows overbearing parents. Yeah. Yeah. I hear you. So, like, if there's a sense of, no, this is actually still something that I believe in or that I'm connected to or something, then that's a different conversation. And so

the question yeah. Yeah. I I don't I I don't know. I don't know if the if I think it's right to say if you have two different things that are conflicting, just know that they're not like like, Dan's right. Like, they're not they don't not just gonna resolve

themselves. Right? If if the notion from a biblical perspective is that this is not what God has for you and you're like, yes, but I it's what I have for myself, that's gonna continue to be in conflict. That's not going to resolve itself. Is there

would I expect patience on both sides? Yes. I think I would. Because if someone says, I I don't God has not given up on you. I think he will continue to to try to work on your heart and and and have you turn over all things to him, including And so I don't think God has given enough of you. I don't think there's any reason the church should either. But I would I I mean, it's interesting the the conversation on the other side

because, like, what is the to to what advantage is that to them? Like, to the extent that you're still saying, hey, I'm I'm bisexual, like, I mean, what kind of friends are these? I don't understand that either. This is not either way, I would expect a supporting community on either side, to be honest with you. Not supporting as in we affirm everything you you Right? But to say, look, you you are we we love you,

and and we are see, every word I say gets can miss misconstrued about how how you're reacting to this particular decision. But like, we're with you. And so that's I think you need new friends. And I and I think

I think the tension is right. Sometimes sometimes the tension is right. That's I've I've had to give that advice multiple times. Seems like, boy, I'm feeling real tension here, as you should. It's true. It's real. It's a real tension. Right. And so that you can't just think that away. You can't just feel it away. You can't just ignore it away. The tension is real. It forces you into something that that maybe you don't wanna have to deal with, but you're gonna have to. Like, that's the notion of tension, and it's alright. But I would say, I don't know that you have to have a reaction right now, actually. I think it's safe and it's healthy to my because what I would say is I think you should pray through it. I think you should start praying through this and say, god, I'm I'm I'm open to

every like, who you are and everything that you say to be true and good. And if that's the truth, I want you I need you to help me change these things in me and redirect my things to your things. And that that that would be right. Because, frankly, that's that's the that's the trump card. If god is who he says he is and what he says is good, is best for you, is obviously good, best for you, and you need help to be able to alter those things, whether it be your sexuality or anything else, frankly, I would start there because what seems difficult or is something that God can ultimately do, and and I think will do for you.

On the other hand, I don't think there's any reason to tolerate the harassment from your friends. I I You're trying to be honest. Actually, agree. Where where the the she said both sides won't accept me until I'm completely Christian or completely not Christian. That's a boo on the Christianity's part. And it's a I don't Ben's right. Like, I your friends are holding to no moral authority or moral ground at all. They're like, I just don't want you holding to any moral ground. Right. Right? That's weird. I've I've not met almost anybody that says they would say, I think you're stupid for for for being religious. And I'm like, okay. You know? But they don't try to call me out of it or be like, hey, I'm not gonna hang out with you unless you give up on this religion thing. They're just like, I just think you're an idiot for being religious.

And I that's acceptable. Right? Like, that's just being honest. But like, I've never had anyone say, I'm gonna be done being friends with you if you don't stop with this half Christian ways of yours. Right? That that does seem weird. Your friends are weird. They're hard to they're hard to get along with. Yeah. I mean, although that notion of they will or will not accept me, you are putting on to them. Right? Like, I don't know that that's nest I mean, we just don't have enough context to know how much that's true for your family. Because sometimes people say, well, you won't accept me for everything that I am. I mean, there's all kinds of things people should say, yeah, but I don't accept that. You should stop doing that. And and, otherwise, I should I should be all alright with it. That doesn't mean they don't love me. It doesn't mean that they don't support me and want what's best for me and pray for my good and blessings upon me.

But that that also doesn't mean, like, if my version if your definition of acceptance is agree with every choice that I've made or this particular major choice that would run counter to what what god wants for your life, then, yeah, then I think that's that's kind of an unfair definition of acceptance. But either either one would would put

both sides of those equations, like, on on some weird bounds. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Segular says so the question was, is there any advice you can give me? Segular says just this. You are a teenager. There are better days ahead for you. Your current circumstances may be unpleasant, but they won't last forever. If living your truth will result in your being shunned, do whatever you must to survive for now. Poor truth. Holy cow. That was there couldn't have been any more platitudes in there. You are a teenager. There are better days ahead for you. Your current circumstances may be unpleasant, but they won't last forever.

Boy, I mean, of all the things I'm terrible at, she's not even trying to meet any she's not saying nothing. She's not she just give her a bunch of platitudes. Yeah. I mean, that's not comforting. Hey, man. This won't Shut it up. We don't know what's gonna happen. Yeah. This this hurt won't last forever. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Yeah. But it might. Makes me feel good right now. It's just a phase. Yeah. It's just a phase. Just a season. Your Christian friends will show up and call it a season. Your non Christian friends will say, this will be over soon. Yeah. I mean, I here's here's here's what I think. I think we under I I know that teenage years are rough, but, like, teenagers are are capable of taking in

heavy conversation. Yeah. They can they can handle it. Oh, yeah. The the in fact, what this what this girl is dealing with is of every consequence. It's a significant thing. It's a tear. Like, there's something that that she feels or believes, and it is in conflict with things that that she otherwise used to believe. And, like, she recognizes the weight of it. Like, this is not a that this is you don't put people off like that. This is the right time to engage and walk with and hang out and and continue to come especially, like, in a confusing time, but but you're rest wrestling with weighty things. I think the last thing you do is just is is put them off on platitudes and and basically say, I that'll work out.

I think this is the time this is the right time to engage them. Yeah. I think that's silly. Yeah. I agree. I I just feel like that's not very that's not very helpful advice. I feel like secular got, thought this issue was gonna be weighty and backed out. Probably has a shared readership between Christians and bisexuals

and thought, I'm gonna offend one of these people and get in some real trouble. Yep. You wanna do one more? Is that it? Yeah. Don't know. Was it a good one? I don't know. I haven't looked I haven't looked at it. Preview yeah. Hit hit us up with it. I didn't have the tunes ready. I need to buy myself some time. Okay. Hold on. I I got it. I got it. Here we go. Dear lie from the path.

I met a young couple about a year ago. They invite me out for lunch every few months. They have several children they allow to run all over the place, climb over and under the table, cry and whine, and they make no effort to teach them proper behavior in restaurants. Oh, yes. Yeah. This is us. Boys. Get the chairs. It's so annoying and embarrassing that I no longer want to go out with them. I cannot believe that they turn their children loose in restaurants without acknowledging that they are creating a not so nice experience for other diners. If they ask me why, should I make them an excuse or tell them how I feel about their lack of parenting? I suspect they will be hypersensitive to any remarks I make, but I can't enjoy my meal while their children run wild. Those children need to learn some matters. I would rather eat out by myself than experience another episode. Yeah. I think you should do that. I think you should I think you should try to buy a new stick to put up your butt, and then you can go out by yourself. Because now if I could surmise your argument here, my friends have kids, and then they act like kids, and I just find it disgusting. That's basically what you're saying. I mean, hold on. Just

you alright? You kids running around like a restaurant, like a good coach of hooligans? I don't think they're doing all that. Interrupting other people. Okay. Well, no. Wait a minute. You just think it's not happening the way this person's explaining? Yes. I've seen it. I've seen it plenty of times. Nope. It's not happening that way. Ordered a drama gun on Amazon and pumped this thing up. Plenty of times. Kids running legit crazy. No. They're not. They're behaving themselves. No. They're not. Little kid dropped a fork, she got down on the floor to get it. They're like, I don't know if it's misbehavior. No, Mike. You're wrong. That's not happening. Yeah. Here. Just just just say, hey. Hey. I love you guys. I love your kids. I just don't do kids very well

in pass. Like my kids in particular or Yours. Yours. My kids. Oh, man. Rough. That's that's what I'm having experience with. Invite the kids and family over to your house. Or Chuck and cheese. Or to Chuck. Yeah. Exactly. Wait a minute. Invite them to a gas station. Yeah. Is that the case then? You just don't wanna do it in public? Right? Like, you just wanna go to a private setting so the kids can act act act fools? Like, I can get it. The kids are going crazy. I'd I've been embarrassed in that situation before. I'll be honest. Yeah. Yeah. I'll I'll be with someone that Was this before or after the pedicure? This would have been after the pedicure, actually. Thanks for asking. That's, know, that's important to establish

chronologically. I'm just I'm just trying to put his perspective here. No. No. That's totally fair. You don't Takes it. You're embarrassed, bud. It did change my life entirely. So you're right. Pedicures really made an impact on me. No. And I've been in places before. I'm just like, you dude, you're not controlling your kid at all. Like, there's not even an attempt at this point in time. I totally get you're trying, and your kids go crazy. And you go, dude, you're you're being you're being a hellion. You gotta you gotta figure this out. Like, this is this is ridiculous. But, like, I've seen parents that the kids are going nuts. I mean, completely nuts are in the faces of other diners and, like, running around, and waiters are having to corral the kids, and the parents are just hanging out. And I'm just like, this is is a bit much, guys. That's not what's happening here. I think that might be what's happening. Yeah. Kids kids are well behaved. I I don't think that's it at all. This guy's sensitive to children. Yeah. There's a there's a completely understandable statement to kids are being kids. Kids are gonna go crazy. Kids are gonna go crazy. Yeah. That happens. You're gonna be But, like, there's there's a level. There's a level where it's just like, okay. Take your kid. Go sit in the car. Like, if you if it's gonna be like this, go sit in the car. It sucks. It absolutely sucks. I can't imagine being the parent that has to deal with that. I have not been in that situation myself yet. But, like, I've had parents that are just like, my kid's going crazy.

I I he just threw his plate at someone. We're gonna go sit in the car the rest of time. And I'm like, cool. These are not the things he's describing. Climb over and under the table, that's legit method for kids to get places. Cry and whine? Kids do that. I don't know. This all seems legit. Climb over the table? I've done that as a grown man. Mike, I don't think that's a good bellwether here. I thought I thought one of my daughter wasn't gonna give me my phone back, and so I jumped over the table to go get it. No one yelled at me. I think they were just dumbfounded at the situation but hadn't had a chance to react yet before you realized,

hey, man. Nobody react to that. It's perfectly acceptable. That's a grown man. Hey. Did you notice that body that just moved? It had a beard. I didn't know we could do that in here. The whole place erupted. I freaking love Chuck E. Cheese. Good morning. No. In in all practicality, though, invite them to your house. I agree. Yeah. Invite them to your house. Then you don't have to worry about them go crazy. They can go crazy in your life. Tear up your stuff. Fine. Scrub all your records. Love them. Just stop having records where the kids can be. Yeah. And you're a single man. You probably bought white carpet like a dummy. Yeah. Kids are gonna ruin it. Yeah. Mismatched plates, LPs, and white carpet. I tell you I used that to to decide whether I was gonna we we were interviewing daycares or whatever, and I went to this in home daycare.

Woman had white carpet in her living room. I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. No. We weren't there for thirty seconds. I said, woman, that white carpet means no. This is not the right place for for our children. Like, this woman is not prepared to have kids in her home? Yeah. She had figurines and and and a white carpet. And I thought, you don't run a daycare. Well, did she have a different section of the house that the daycare runs out of? No. She ran them in the kitchen and the living room. Goes, yeah, because that's ridiculous. That's where the kids play. And I'm like, you live in a fantasy world. Yes. You do. All sippy cups have the lid perfectly on them at all times. Yeah. And every child obeys all cleanliness rules where they clean entire hands at all times. Spaghetti does not go up nostrils.

Yeah. No. You live in a fantasy world, won't you? Where you chain them to the radiator? This is not the place. Anyway So okay. So the advice is so don't bring it up. Just try to hope that the end around works by inviting them. They say, no. We really wanna go out. We like to be we like to go out. No. Will you come? No. We'll get takeout, and you can have it at my place. Your kids are buffoons. Hey, man. So we legit do that. This is the second kid where this has happened where, like, you could just tell. Once my once my son turned about about 14 old, we're like, we're not going out to eat. Probably gonna be six six to eight months before this kid turn because he's a terror. He just sits there and scream for no reason. It's not crying or anything. He's just like,

They're doing this. And we're like, I love your kid. But can't control that guy. And so so we stay home. We go pick it up and we eat in because, like, I don't wanna interrupt other people that are out there. Hey, man. I really appreciate the the realism that I really do. Yeah. You just Is that listen. Okay. Legit turning it around. I'm I wanna be a dad soon. Is that okay to understand that your kids are just kinda crazy? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because I know your kids. Right. Like, I I I just I don't I don't understand the perfectly good kids that just don't scream and stuff like that. I've only ever been around the kids that are just like, hey. Did you know I could do this? I'm just like, yeah. I noticed that. Yeah. It's alright. Our oldest went through a phase of that for a while. We just stayed away. Yeah. She was, like, 14. Straighten this up.

I guess what? Kept making advances at her. Oh, man. What a crazy time. Hey, man. Speaking of that situation, did they say that the grandfather, the kids, the kids' kids, and then a niece lives in the same house? Yeah. That's crazy. You wanna me or what? When they were talking about the, like, the not understanding the family roles Yeah. There was a list of people in that house. That's true. Yeah. I mean, that seems like a lot of people to keep track of when you're eight years old. Exactly.

Yeah. Which one are you? Are you the mom? Right. Exactly. I'm having trouble remembering the children that I helped raise for fifty years, and I'm exposed to like, that would be his great niece. Yeah. She says, hey. Yeah. And the daughter probably looks like the mom did when she was whatever. 100%. Yeah. That's a tough live. Oh, man. Alright. Sorry. They just randomly popped back in my Overall, our our general advice is is that you need to be better with kids, and you should continue to go out with them because you're you're making too big of a deal of this. Yeah. I mean, the the question is, Mike, would you ever bring it up if if one of your friend's kid was acting like a hula? I would just I would just stop it. What? What? What? You'd probably tell the kid to knock it off? Yeah. I probably would too. I'd do that I I'd do that with your son in a heartbeat. Hey, man. Tuck it up. You're acting like a fool in here. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. I I do talk to depends on who it is. Guess That's true. I live with my nephew. Known these people a year. Yeah. True. It's a year. I mean, that seems long enough, doesn't it?

Really? To correct kids? I don't know how often they yeah. They they eat every few months, but it's only been a year. So it's like That's legit. They have four dates. That is four dates. Are they totally overloaded here? Where, like, the parents are just looking for a little breather and they're like, look, we're just going out. I mean, tell me you haven't done that with your perfectly well behaved family. You're like, forget it. We're out of here. We're just going out to eat. Right? Oh, yeah. And, like, people who have crazy rambunctious kids are trying to do the same thing. And frankly, there's nothing that bring a smile to my face faster when there's a three year old, and they're going, ah. Right. I'm like, I'm gonna lie that guy. It cracks me up. Something fierce most of time. Yeah. You you elbow your kid and go, look at that kid. He's tearing it up. And then everybody could laugh, and it's funny. That is the most fun this Olive Garden has ever seen. So what I'm saying is is is is stuck up man with the stick in his butt is missing out on comedy and fun living. That's what I'm saying. You're worried about what everyone else thinks in that restaurant, and you should just be enjoying the fun festivities. From the perspective but, also, is there is there a level of courteous courtesy that you should be giving these people? Yeah. They call public for a reason. I I I'm just saying. What it means. You go around and understand be I understand and agree with the thought process of saying, like, I really don't care what people think, but I I do care what I'm doing to people. Yeah. I don't really care what people's reactions to me is. I this this just doesn't bother me. I don't care. But, like, if I'm completely disrupting their whole life or their entire experience, that's a different story than, like, I don't care what they think about me. Well, you just threw a fork.

That's a little bit different than I don't care what they think about me. Your kid drops glasses on the ground and they shatter. Like, that's that's a different thing. Yeah. And that's what's happening. That's not what's happening. That's what's happening. Think that's what's happening. At the worst, the kids run around the restaurant doing a fart copter or something. And people are like, oh, that's Fart copter? No. He's the worst kid ever. And I'm telling you, it's not what's happening. Ice cubes out of people's ice ice water. No. Yeah. And licking them and putting them back. That's kinda funny. He's cutting Mike, this is very telling that you're going through this entire scenario. Man, that's hysteria. Mike's kids are hoodlums. So we were at this Italian it was a Mexican restaurant or something, and, like this kid was sitting here staring at me, staring at me, staring at me. And then finally, I his parents weren't paying attention. He was pretty close table to me. I turned he was like five. And I turned around and looked at him with my eyes wide open. I said, I'm gonna eat all your onion rings, every last one of them.

And he started crying. You are terrifying. And then he tried to tell his mom I was gonna steal his onion rings. I'm like, what? I didn't why? There's it's a basically a restaurant. I know onion rings. Mark, you were horrified. That kid was freaked out. I can't do that, man. Corner reside for, like, an hour. That's scary. Restaurants are fun. I would I would go to prison if a kid told on me and said, hey. That ogre just said he was gonna be eat my chicken sandwich. I'm eat all your onion rings. That was awesome. I'd

say take That's a good idea, Ben. Take your kids. It's fun times. Restaurants. You're listening to life in the past. I appreciate you hanging with us tonight. Maybe you what? What's the complaint line number? Yeah. Maybe you hate the show. This is the time to call or text the complaint line. (515) 517-0085. That's (515) 517-0085.

We'd love to hear from you. Maybe you yeah. Yeah. Tell us hey. Hey. You don't be fun. All your onion rings. Kids are fun. Tell us a story about the the time you took your kids out to a restaurant, they were total terror. Yeah. We'd like to enjoy that here as a group. In the meantime, we will see you next week. Be faithful in the means. God will hand to the ends. You've been listening to Live From The Path.