Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the path. And you're listening to live from the Pathway Studios

here in Johnston's proverb. Nobody even knows what you're talking about. Five six funny things to say, and no one thought they were funny, and so they turned my slider down so I wouldn't be on the radio. And here I am. Hey. You're listening to to live from the past. You

did this to yourself. We got articles to get to. You had the options of making better life choices than this, and this is what you've done with your time. Was reading christianitytoday.com earlier today. Yes you were, weren't you?

Guess what I stumbled past? Hey, Ben. Say what? Oh, yeah. Sorry. Hey, what was it? Home Slice? It's it's a sweet article called nondenominational churches are adding millions of members. Where are they coming from? Question mark. And it reminded me of a show that we had I mean, it could have been three months ago where they're, like, old, like, set denominations are gaining

way more than nondenominational churches because of their liturgy and set forth ways. And I believe that same article came out of Christianity Today. So I'm really interested to read this one, Sora. Yeah. You're just asking different people? Yeah. Okay. That's weird. That's that's like you know, one day bacon's gonna kill you, the next day it cures cancer. I mean, it like, mean Yeah. On the radio was doing a a conversation on the way in where they're like, chocolate's Chocolate's really good for you according to science. I'm like, Now wait a minute. I

feel like I just read an article a couple days ago where, like, Chocolate's the secret killer. I don't think anybody can be trusted. Even the news sites that are like, finally, an unbiased news opinion, you're like, it doesn't keep it from being a lie. Just means it's not biased either way. It was to the highest dollar.

Alright. Other stuff on the show. There was an article that said 12 stumbling blocks to the gospel for this generation. Things that block the current generation from taking the gospel in. So things we gotta stop? Yeah, things we gotta stop doing. Well, when people say this generation, what do they mean? Everybody that's alive right now? Probably them, like the millennials or whatever. Yeah, millennials. Conversations with millennials. Millennial. Can guess half of them. Okay, yeah. So let's play this thing out. So everybody gets one guess and I'll

tell you whether they're on there or not. Dan, which one? What do got? A block would be non affirming to the homosexual community. Okay. Alright. Dan says you gotta never mind. I'll I'll summarize that in the comic book, but offensively. Nathaniel. I don't know. You knew your turn was coming. I'm gonna come back to I thought we're going the other way around. No. Go counterclockwise. Thought I was go counterclockwise?

Yeah. Thought you were gonna go, damn. Everybody goes counterclockwise. Why are you such an animal? Mike. Well, something blocks to this generation. Yeah. I think they're gonna say accessibility to technology or instant

gratification. Yes. Okay, okay. Nathaniel, you had time to think. Waste. Like the corporate waste of the church. Oh, okay. Okay, the structure is wasteful. Yeah. Okay. So even I I didn't even I'll I'll can I do two? Yeah. Dan, you can do two. Nathaniel's half a one. You can add on. Well, that was a full one. I think they don't they don't wanna be limit they don't wanna be told what time to do something like scheduling. Constraints. Yeah. There we go. That's the way you say it. Okay. Alright. Alright. Let's let's knock them out. Here we go. 12 stumbling blocks to the gospel for this generation. One, an overemphasis on money.

Oh. What? He says, I've been in some this guy this guy's picture has him standing in front of an all black background with the sun on his head. It's very disorienting. Someone needs to he oh, provided himself. Okay. I've They said submit your own photo? Yeah. Picture of me with the sun on my head. Hey, man. They keep trying to get to me this at work. They're like, Ben, we need a we need a photo. I'm gonna tell tell the story on here. So they we need a photo of you because, like, the photos I have of myself are not acceptable from a corporate perspective. Everyone's got these, like, Olin Mills looking photos. Yeah. I've took a selfie on a mountain in Ethiopia somewhere. That's what I use for my corporate picture. Yeah. I sent I'd send it everywhere. It's the same photo every place, they're like, Ben, we we could have you do a professional photo. I said, no. This looks pretty good. Yeah. That's what it looked like. That's what I can do. I got a hat on. I got a toothpick in my mouth.

What else do you want? I said, they might as well have a fresh impression. This is this is what I come bring to the table. Alright? Okay. I've been in some services where the offering took more than thirty minutes. No joke. I've been that way in Zimbabwe, but but not I haven't been in America before. Now how do you is it received well in Zimbabwe, Dan? Or, like, do you is there do you are you aware of any grumbling, like people asking for money too long? Since I don't speak Shona, I can't I can't answer. No one speaks sits there and takes it because they expect it because it happens every week. Okay. Y'all need to give. Give. And they're all like have nothing. They may have they literally have nothing. Right. You're trying to That's why they're trying to squeeze more out. Yeah. They just change change the tone. They're like, give. Give.

Give. God's gonna get you. Let's say he gives new people the impression that the church leadership is more concerned with collecting money than preaching the gospel. I mean seriously, if your request for money does out, it's longer than your service. I'm out. When was this article published? That's a great question. Oh, It doesn't 1982. Oh, 09/19/2021.

Yeah. We've read this before. What? Really? Yeah. Yeah. For sure. We have for sure read this before. Okay. Well, buddy Okay. What are they then, Mike? You didn't learn anything from it the first time. You're still too It's because it wasn't good the first time. Yeah. Okay. So we'll scan them then. So the opulent lifestyle of the leadership. Yeah. That's the same as number one. Yeah. I think you said the same thing last time. Okay. Right. Scandals. That is a point for me. Scandals. That's the same as one and two. Okay. I see. Yeah. This does feel familiar. We're talking about the megachurch right here. Yeah. The people making the big bucks and having the scandals and Yeah. Asking for money, and it's all a business. Duplicitous behavior, religious titles, religious language,

religious images of power. Oh, what do they mean by that? Thrones on a church stage. Yeah. I've seen that. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Pastor with pastors preaching down at the congregation. Oh, okay. I mean, I don't know that stages are against the Lord Jesus. Sometimes you just stand up taller than everyone else so everybody can see you. I don't. Yeah. I'm not sure that I'm not sure this generation is dissuaded because, well, look at that man. I can see him properly.

I'm against. That might be overdoing it. Territorial emphasis over kingdom focus. Yep. Taking over towns. Blah blah blah. That's right. Programs over people, triumphalism, and no community and authenticity. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Maybe we did. Look at that. Okay. This guy says third hold on. He adds to it. This man does. He says, I would add a thirteenth stumbling block, and that would be cultural wars. We must quit fighting unnecessary cultural wars.

I don't what that means, really. Like, just let them do what they want? Yeah. I mean, you know, there was a I did see something this week where some guy took exception to There there There's something at Oh, don't go I'm forgetting the name of the website that published it. But the crux of the thing was, like,

could be an advantage to not focusing so much time on Like, the generation or our world doesn't need reminded that they're sinners, they need reminded that God That they

are valuable to God. It was kind of the crux of the point. And, like, oddly well, not maybe not oddly, but it's it's burned two two different camps of of of starch reactions, of which both seemed unnecessary,

unnecessarily restrictive, as if, like, both can't be true. Like, I I often need reminded of both. I often need remind because, like, if you if you recognize the nature of your sinfulness, you're gonna feel like a real pile. Like, if you take that incorrectly. And in the same breath, you need to be reminded that God is good, he created you, you're created with inherent value and worth and that he loves you and would die for you. And, like, the gospel the gospel is both of those and, like,

to the extent that we feel like maybe we overload on them because we're like, Well, I just don't think there's enough reminding people how much they suck. Well, how prescriptive do you believe Paul's description of like, when he's talking about people who should be on meat are still on milk? Like, do you find that a prescriptive way of looking at presenting the Gospel to people? Like, the way that he goes about that argument, one could suss out that, like, okay, obviously when they're young and

are new to the faith, then they drink milk. And then as they move on, then we feed them a hearty meal, right? And so first of all, do you find that an accurate accurate way way to to look look at at presenting presenting the the Gospel Gospel to to people? People? To start with milk and wake way to meat? Yes. I don't know that that's prescriptive. I think he's describing the situation that they're in. Don't know that He's saying that's what they were doing. Yes. I don't know that he's saying it is the only way to do it or that someone can't otherwise

Or that that's an extended amount of time or don't overdo it. I'm not sure on that. Well, here's where I think the trap is. And the problem is, is that it's got too much humanity in it, and so it's hard to suss out, right? So, generally what happens is

people are trying to change outward behaviors or especially destructive sin, especially sin that they see as not only bad for the person committing it, but is also poisoning a culture. And so, like, we will go

The church's tact tends to be, well, as long as we can get that sin to stop, we can go back battling regular old sin. You know what I'm saying? And so we skip right past the milk, which is, you know, God loves you, you are created in his image, he sent his son to die for you and you are worth every bit of his death. He thought that, that's why he did it. Right? And so that's the milk. That's the basis, the bare bones. And instead of opening with that, right, we will tend to open with, The thing that you're doing is abhorrent to God and it's a sin and it's terrible and it needs to stop. And that is still true. Both those things are obviously true, right? But one is milk and one is meat. Because if you don't care the fact that if you don't believe there's a God in the first place, or you don't think that God cares about you at all, then why would you give a rip if he thinks that's a sin or not? You understand what I'm saying? So I think, like, some of that conversation

bends down to where it's not wrong, obviously, to give out the Gospel in its entirety, because whole thing's the Gospel, not just the milk part, you know? But it really depends on why we're

yielding it. And I think it just feels like a lot of the time, we're yielding it as a weapon to try to make sin stop instead of yielding it as an invitation to let grace win and sin will stop on its own. Yeah. Which is interesting because, like, it's a bit of a The question is, do we treat sin like you would treat a little kid trying to put his hand on the stove? Like, sometimes you smack a hand that's reaching for the fire and go, No. Like, you can't do that. But that is your influence with your child. I think the presumption is that like, what it feels like is there's a level of moral superiority that you are the hand smacker.

And I think that that actually gives the wrong impression. That is not the level of influence you have. And if some random person come over and be smacking me, I would not take that well because of the presumption of it. So, like, ignore whether the thing you're saying is true or not, the question is whether it is effective in its truth. Like, not that you have to be schemey about it, but like, are you Are they actually able to take in the whole truth of what you're saying? Like, Paul would recognize who he's talking to and then talk about talk things in a in a way that they might get, and, like, hand smacking just ain't communicating what you want, I think. There's there's earning permission to speak

into someone's life and correct them as opposed to just going around yelling at everybody. Yeah. I mean Yeah. I think that maybe a lesson that, I don't know if Goddard was specifically teaching me or something, but maybe just something that I've realized over the years is, like, I assumed there was way more mustache twisting going on in this world than there actually is. Like, I assumed way more people were, like, intentionally scheming direction

and, like, thwarting the God of the universe on purpose because that's how they decided to live their life. And, like, come to find out that either they were they believed a lie about themselves, they believed a lie about God, or they were fooled somewhere along the way and then built a pyramid of falsity on top of, like, this one thing. And there was no mustache twisting involved. They just followed one logical human thing to another until they were way far away from the Lord. Yeah. Think of how many people you know who have met and and would proclaim and desire to serve the living God and yet have the hardest dang time living with any intentionality.

And so then why would you look at the rest of the world and go, look at all these people intentionally thwarting the living God? They may in fact be attempting to do so, but not because they're doing it in like, I I think there's a lot more ignorance to the world. There's a lot of people just floating on their relative surroundings. Yes. Here's what's going on. Here's what looks kinda normal. I'm not a boat rocker. I have a little bit of a I got some things that make me make me feel good. I'm gonna try to do those. But, like, I I just like, one of the biggest mistakes that we make, and I think we make this not only just from a, like, a like a Christian perspective, but even in relationships we have, is we go around just presuming that people have been thoughtful and intentional about the things that they're saying or doing. Yeah. And I just I'm not that way. No. I wish I were. I wish I was way better about this. Like, it's it's one of the the serial things that comes into my mind. Like, I wish I lived with some intention. And here's the thing. I have everything at my fingertips

to to know what that intention should be. Like, the the the God of the universe has has allowed me clarity with the word he's provided with people around me, with with with constant influence of the Holy Spirit. I have totally the things at my disposal to live intentionally, and I often fail to do so. I just don't know I think we just gotta be what causes what this causes us to do is we give up too soon. We look and go, well, guy's mind is made up. I'm like, mine made up for what? Like, Cheetos tonight for breakfast? Like, that's as far as he got. Yeah. Yeah, I really I can't decide whether it's a humility problem, like, on our end, like, and when I'm saying our, I'm saying mine. Right? Yeah, you. Yeah. Instead of walking into a situation with anybody and just assuming that God is already working in their life. And so, like, you're not the opening gambit. You're not the one that's stirring. You're not the one that had planted a seed or is in charge of flipping the whole thing around. God is already moving in their life. Your job is just to come alongside it and be the presence of the Holy Spirit in this interchange.

Because what happens is, especially if you find people that are their lifestyle appears to be so far off of what God has asked, you instantly feel Now, you're picking sides. It's me against them. Right? Like, they have to change, and which is true, they do. They need to change. That's the thing, is it's not that they have to change because God said so. You want to be so desperately broken because they really need to change, and you want them to. You want them to see that. You don't want them to Your heart is not going, I want you to bathe in how wrong you are, and realize it and then turn. What we want you to do is meet the holy living God and your life will change on its own. The Holy Spirit will do those changes, right? And so, like, it's

just some of the way that we posture at it. We posture at it in such a I don't know. We posture it in a weird way as if we've done something and we haven't done anything, you know? If grace was freely given to you, then you will freely give it away. If you believe that you earned it, then all of a sudden you want everyone else to earn it, too. And so it really is just the way that we posture and how we look at it and our attitude just makes it come off not how Jesus presented it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's a convicting problem for everybody. I feel that way when I think I'm outnumbered and I'm like the only Jesus guy within three miles and I'm like, Alright, everybody's against me. And like, instead of standing with confidence as the son of the king that goes, God, will you be with everybody within three miles of me? If there's anything I can do to help this along, really need you so badly.

You know, but like my pride will come up a little bit like they're like I shrink and go, They're against me. I have to protect me and myself and my rights to love Jesus. And like, who gives a rip about my rights to love Jesus? Right. It's like walking into that three mile radius and instead of going, oh man, what am I gonna do? Going, hey, what are we doing? Yes. Exactly. What are we what are we doing around here, Lord? I know you're involved. Like what what are we doing? Yeah. It's a reflex of fear on our part, right, as once again sons of the King. And our reflex is, I must protect myself and my right to be able to love Jesus the way they want. And Jesus is like, I want you to introduce other people to me. Step on your rights to do that, I would like you to submit to that. And you go, Right. Sorry. I lost it for a minute there, you know? Interesting. That covers that part. People are going so what was the one that you had, Mike? Here it is. Nondenominational churches are adding millions of members. Where are they coming from?

Okay, quick overview. Somebody give me a quick synopsis on denominational versus nondenominational churches. Well,

an affiliation thing, like whether you affiliate with a denomination, and let's just go with an official one that's got to have some sort of regulatory structure and a leadership structure versus a non denominational church which basically is autonomous.

They're just a community of people. In and of itself, it has no other specific Now affiliations, hierarchical it's not like, though,

Catholicism or Catholics, are they a denomination or are they unto themselves? No, they're denominational. Everything rolls up, yeah. Okay. And so, now I'm trying to remember this because I don't do this very often. There's Catholics and then there's Protestants, correct? And those are just two big groups. It's basically Catholicism, and Protestants are everybody else. Anybody who protests against Catholicism.

That claims Sexual to be Gentile. A Christ follower that is not Catholic is a Protestant. Yeah. Okay, got it. Okay, here we go. We're gaining a bunch of people. Where are they coming from? Over the last decade, Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and every other Protestant family has declined except for those who say they are nondenominational.

The 2020 U. S. Religion census due out later this year, tallied 4,000 more nondenominational churches than in 2010, and nondenominational church attendance rose by 6,500,000

during that time. At the same time, mainline Protestant Christianity is collapsing following five decades of decline. In the mid-70s, nearly a third of Americans were affiliated with denominations like the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ and the Episcopal Church. But now just one in 10 Americans are part of the mainline tradition. In 2021, nondenominational

Protestants in The United States outnumbered mainline Protestants. But what is causing this tremendous shift in the church landscape? Does anybody want to take a guess? Here's something that maybe they're not taking into account is there are a lot of denominational churches that are being planted as nondenominational

churches but they're still what they are. Like for example, Saddleback Church in California is a Southern Baptist church and they are part of the convention of the Southern Baptist churches. But everybody assumes they were their own thing. Oh. So that number would be Most people would say, oh, that's a nondenominational church. That's how they promote themselves as they, you know,

And they're really not. So I wonder how they decide, like, they do the poll, they're like, Are you denominational or nondenominational? And they just take your word for it if you're like, nondenominational. I

yeah. I planted a church and it was like, We're just nondenominational. We just made up a name. But we really are nondenominational. There is no hierarchy telling us what to do. But I know people who have planted Baptist or Lutheran or whatever churches and they just changed the name because there's so much baggage that comes. It's from a pure motive. They're not trying to be sneaky.

They're just like, well, people don't like X brand, so we're not going use that brand. We're still going to be it. We're going to take the Levi's tag off. We're going to put brand X on our jeans. There's still Levi's. So there's a lot of that going on, which I think throws off the numbers maybe.

That's just a thought. I do wonder how much of this can be attributed to like I think they want us to presume that it's people trying to get out of structured,

like, what feel like more restrictive denominations, but like a lot of the mainline Protestant denominations are going through progressive crises. Trying to figure out what does it look like to be, mean take a Methodist church, take a Lutheran church, those churches are

splitting. Which side of those are continuing to carry the name of, Hey, we're still the Methodist Church or We're something else. We're another nondenominational and we changed our core position from the mothership. But I mean, some of the church growth they're talking about would be splits from denominational churches, where half the congregation

started a nondenominational church because of that. And then, actually, that would easily double the amount of nondenominational churches, Exactly. And then it gets all hairy because then let's say you are a denomination and we're brand X, and they say, wait a minute. We don't like the way the denomination is headed. We're gonna be their own thing. Well, denomination

owns the property, generally speaking. So they've just lost their building. So all of sudden, well, then we've got to go start a new church, find a new place, change the name, it's a new thing. A lot of that has happened. Yeah. So actually, attendance thing would be, once again, if you can say the attendance

for denominational churches had had a steep decline and at the same rate we're seeing non denominational churches go up, it almost begs to be, They're leaving this to start this. So one's really not going down. There's not a net gain in people meeting Jesus.

I think that's the risk, and it always has been, is that I'm not sure it particularly drives the kingdom to be swapping Christians around. Yeah. Now, some some of these denominational splits over, like, legit concerning spiritual items. Okay? So it's not like, I get it.

But, like, we the the macro thought, I think we should be careful hey, one of the narratives you could take away from here is to say, Oh, nondenominational churches are on the rise, we should plant more nondenominational churches, I'm not sure that's the right takeaway.

I'd be more questioning which churches are bringing on new people, people who've not met Jesus before, than I am It's okay that people go other places. That just happens, but that's not a mark that we should be chasing. We should be reacting to how other people are meeting Jesus. Because frankly,

the new Let's say you planted a nondenominational church and you had a bunch of mainline folks from a bigger denomination come to this place, I don't care that 100 people join that church, but if the church is working and 50 more people came to meet Jesus, then I can tell you that that structure is being effective. And so I care more about the number of people that they're reaching who don't know Jesus than I do about where they came from. Listen, we had a nondenominational

church start a couple miles from us here, and one of the first things he did was friend all of our people in social media and then start meeting with them and trying to get them to their church. What? Yeah. So it's like, well, under the guise of we're gonna reach people, it's like, well, no. You're not reaching anybody either. They're already people. They're already Christians. Yeah. Right. They're already believers. So it's that's something Did you I think you'll talk to them, Dan? Do you find do you feel like you're aggressive in this manner? I I mean,

we we know each other well enough that I and I know him well enough that it wouldn't wouldn't matter what we would do. Oh, man. It'd just be like a big, hey. Stop it. No. Okay. I mean, what do you do? You know? Gosh. That's embarrassing. It's it's Yeah. Yeah. And I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it. I just thought, well, that's been the hymn of God. What a jackwagon. But

there's a lot of that going on. A lot of the churches, the nondenominations that pop up, they and become the cool church and everybody starts going to them, they're just stealing people from other churches. We gotta grab musicians, we gotta grab leaders, we gotta grab, hey, can we have your children's people come to our church because all of ours are sick this week? I'm like, nope. Sorry. Because I know what you're gonna do. You're gonna just That's

embarrassing. Yeah. But it's out there. It's just like a cutthroat. It's like, in my naive little way, I figure God will just kinda take care of that stuff. Yeah. Know? And they used I mean, we have to answer for this type of buffoonery. Right? Can you imagine having to stand in front of Jesus and he goes, Now you're trying to steal

other people that love me that were already in a community of people that they love. But they can do it better. There's not a better. I know. But it's the arrogance that comes with, yeah. But I I know better because, you know, I do. I was like, I'm pretty sure you don't. Wow. Wow. Hey. Feed my sheep. Hey, Dan. Can I can I borrow some sheep? And some I'm sheep

pretty good at feeding it, though. Check this out. Look at me. I work out. Okay. What is driving the growth of nondenominational churches? While in the past, it resulted from a significant portion of individuals leaving a mainline tradition, now it looks like nondenominational

congregations are increasing by taking in people who were raised Catholic, which is about a quarter of the general population. At the same time, more and more young people are being raised in nondenominational churches, which means that retaining their own will become just as important to nondenominationals as bringing in new adult members in the future. See, this is where this article has turned to things I don't care about, right? Like, as

a person who attends a nondenominational church, I don't think we need to band together as nondenominationals and come up with a plan for the next fifty years. Right? You just need to look back at the tail end of Matthew and go, are we doing that? Yeah. Right. Okay. We're good to go then. Or are we not doing that? We need to do better. No. Let's band together and come up with a name and maybe a logo. Definitely. Not your denomination. And a governing body. Yeah. Okay. Who's in charge here?

Yeah. That's it. That's the end of the gist of that article, I guess. Hey, but now here's what I I've actually seen that quite a bit of I'd call it, like, the Catholic curious, like the people who are like, you know, they see other people interacting with the faith in a way that just is foreign to them and they're like, what is going on over there? And it's not like they've not not only they don't know things, it's not like they've not interactions or kind of a basic understanding of Jesus, but there's a lot of ways in which it didn't feel super tangible. And have experiences going to the Catholic church, and frankly, there's things I can appreciate about it. Yeah. Because there's things that get right about reverence and about I think church history is awesome. We ignore some of the really cool things that God has done to our peril of him working through his people, and some of those denominations have really long memories, and that's probably good.

So, like, I think there's value in it, but, like, I have seen quite a few Catholic curious folks, and, like, this exegetical, we're gonna go through and, like, read the scriptures is a surprising thing to a lot of them. They're just not used to, like, someone just going, alright, we're I'm not gonna pull this verse and and tell you what I think. It's it's we're gonna read this chapter and go from there and see what we all what we're taking in. It's just different. Alright. Hey. You're listening to Live From The Path. I don't know.

I'd be interested to see you can give us a call on the complaint line at (515) 517-0085. They call or text. Like, did you have you switched I don't I'm denomination's, I guess. Like, I don't care that you've gone to different churches, like, were you nondenominational and now you're, you know, Lutheran? Did you start as a Methodist and now you went to Catholic Catholicism? Like, is that something I'm just interested in how that process went, what kind of caused it,

and how you think about where you came from nowadays. I'd be interested in that. So, like, I don't know, if you wanna share that on the Life From Path, Bob Eisenhower complaint line, call or text, (515) 517-0085, and we'd love to hear from you. Yeah. Okay. So So, do Wait.

Never mind. Wait. It doesn't matter. Don't tell me. So, I wonder if they're including Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ in there because each church is, I mean, technically, autonomous

and they claim to be nondenominational even though they all bear the same name. Like, there's no hierarchical strike. There's no pope of the Church of Christ. Church of Christ. Can anyone to up a Church of Christ? I think so. Yeah?

I mean, because there's, yeah, literally nothing. I mean, there are several Church of Christs in town, but none of us see completely eye to eye on everything. Know, we have our own way of doing things. You're an antagonistic bunch in general, like a free individually spirited. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It really took off during, like, the Revolutionary War time because that was kind of the heart of where people were. They're like, up years. Yeah. Church of England. Presbyterian

church or know, they went from different Antibaptists. Yeah. I mean I'll have you know. We'll do our own thing. Me and Bob Stone. Yeah. I get you know, actually, I've I have seen another they said there was another run of them in in Ireland, and they just called them the Church O Christ.

Yeah. Goddamn. Sorry. Had a weak moment. Couldn't know what I got started. Just dang it. It's like watching the flow being commercial.

All of a sudden, I'm dialing the numbers. Oh, dear. Okay. So last week, we caught up with Dan coming back from Zimbabwe. Mike is off a recent trip to Ethiopia. Mike, this will be your second time Uh-huh. In Ethiopia. Tell us a little bit about how it went and maybe was there anything different between last time and this time?

Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Like, my wife and I both had gone previously and this time, separately. And then this time, we were gonna take the kids, you know? And so I don't know. I front loaded it a lot with

trying to take away from the trip what God wanted me to, right? So like the easy thing, what normally happens is like, especially if you're going to an African country or a third world country that has a lot of poverty in it, like the thing that you always see is the poverty, right? Because we grow up in a land of such excess and whatever, you know, the general thought when you get there is they need to look more like me, which means they need a TV and an air conditioner and then all of a sudden things will be well. And like, I know better than that, and I knew better than that after I'd gone there last time. And so I was praying really that that would not be the major thing that I took away. And so mean, long story short, I was amazed by how many people love Jesus and follow them faithfully,

and follow him faithfully and do the work that he has asked them to do regardless of their situation, right? Everything that I would see as a guy growing up in a Western culture as a detriment, they don't even It doesn't even cross their radar as a problem, right? They're not even considering it. And a couple things that I was really impressed with is one of the gals that we were working with that, she runs one of the homes for the girls, they still work on an orphanage system

in Ethiopia. And so like, it sounds like within the country, it didn't used to exist. You couldn't do inter country adoption. It just didn't happen. It was allowed, but it just didn't happen. There wasn't like a foster care system, really.

And so if the kids didn't have a place to go, they just went to orphanages, you know, and then they were government run. And so one of the adoption agencies, after they shut down international adoption in Ethiopia, just basically opened a house and took in girls after they would get out of the orphanage. Then they would take care them, start them out with some skills and some family and love them and teach them about Jesus and all this stuff. And so one of the things that they had introduced is is like they have some sponsor families where they basically say, Look, if we,

without any assistance, they will be forced to give up their kids. So what we'll do is we will give them assistance. We'll give them food and dry goods and whatever, and they can keep their kids because that's what they really want. They don't want to give up their kids. They just don't have the financial means to handle it. And so we got to hand out a bunch of food to families like that and talk to them and meet with them and played a lot of soccer. I was watching One of these gals had come in and she was in a wheelchair

and she had like three kids and basically the deal was is you got like a big old bag of of teff flour and some cooking oil and whatever and like $20 to get it home. And the woman did not want to spend the $20 on the ride home. She wanted to keep it, so she was gonna like wheel it all the way home, which was unheard of. Right.

So my immediate thought is, is I don't care, we'll give her another $20. Whatever. We'll just put her in the cab, give her another 20. And the gal, she's like, no. No, that's not how this is gonna work. You know? Like, I'm immediately ticketed in. I'm like, no, it's no problem. You know? And she's like, no, no, no. No. We just need to find the right people, and that money was designed to get it home, and, like, she doesn't get to keep it. She gets the teff and the oil and everything's cool. And, like, on the onset, was like, Well, that's not very generous. But once again, God puts people to manage the things, the generosity and the work of the things that he's doing. And like, just like you find people down at the homeless shelter and at the rehab joint, right, they see through things or they see things as they are opposed to just

a random person coming in and trying to retell how the story is going. And so I was instantly reminded that what they need mostly is what we have excess of, which is just funds, to let people do what God has empowered them to do. I mean, the

visit, like when you get to visit some of the kids and whatever, like, it's just as much as a change in my heart as it is for theirs. I did get to do a devotional to some gals, a group of teenage girls, and I had to go through an interpreter and it was very difficult. And I wasn't quite prepared. I think I had like five paragraphs. I'm like, this will take like ten minutes after we get through it. And I didn't get through one paragraph in ten minutes. Because it was just, like, I would ask a question and then she would translate and then they would all just stare at me and I'm like, that was a question.

And then the translator would stare at me and I'm like, okay, well, here's the answer. And so that was different. It was nice going there with my kids. And like, cool enough,

like my girls, I don't think they picked up anything that One of the things that my wife and I, especially my wife, was praying for the kids for, is that God doesn't expose them to things that their heart can't process. So some of the bigger things and like some of the sadder parts of it where I look at an 11 year old girl in an orphanage going, Man, she's got nine more years of this. And like, she's smiling now and playing soccer and she's not broken or bad or anything. And I'm like, but she doesn't have a mom and a dad or a parent either way or family that just like says, I will take responsibility for you and your relationship with Christ and what you're gonna do in your life and I will love you regardless.

Those orphanages are probably doing the best that they can, but it's not good enough. It's just flat out not good enough, you know? And so like that stuff weighs on me. And as much as I want it to weigh on my kids so they appreciate not only their situation but the situation of others correctly, God didn't do that. He just didn't do that, right? He'd let them out there to smile and play and make friends and whatever.

I think that's one of the other things I think I kinda took away is God's like, Don't tell me what to do. Don't tell me how to deal with my kids. I know what they can hold and what they can handle and there's no reason to beat your kids up with big world problems that, like, they're just not their heart's not ready to take on, you know? Like, they're not gonna take it on quite right. So overall, it was a I had a great time. I'd go back again. I always worry, like especially on shorter term mission trips, that like I think you guys called it last week where you're being like a mission tourist, you know? Yeah. And

like it's kinda one of those things is like we would go to some places and they'd be like, we'll have the girls come out and you guys can do this. I'm like, Hey man, don't be changing your schedule on my account. We were just here to buy goods. I wanted to hear from the horse's mouth what you wanted or what you needed, and then we'll go get it bought and we'll drop it back off. You guys don't have to entertain us or whatever, you know. Unless you want to, and then that's cool. We'd love to hang around with you. But don't feel like you've got a dog and pony show for us just because we're here. You guys go back, do your business, and we'll move on. And so, yeah. I think it's I was really against, say, short term mission trips probably ten years ago. I'm like, Nah, these are horrible. What a waste of time. God's got people. And all that is still true. But it doesn't change what God might be doing in you, you know, and what God might be helping you see differently. And especially after listening to Dan's

stuff from Zimbabwe, it's just some of the stuff I find to be a shame to us. Like we just got zero The amount of joy that pours out of some of these situations and the amount of stupid things that I get upset about is convicting and embarrassing.

It just almost feels shameful. You know what I'm saying? Like you're just embarrassed they're smiling and happy and have joy in the Lord and I got complaints and gripes. And so that stuff is always very convicting to me when we make those trips. Plane ride was terrible, for sure. Oh man.

For sure. What? Why don't we like it? That's just a long plane ride. It was like seventeen hours. You go to sleep. No. No, I tried that. No. Don't sleep Dan, you don't sleep on a No. Plane I thought I had it licked this time, though. Was gonna take some Zequil. I'm like, I'll knock myself out. This will be fine. I took that Zequil, and then I was just super drowsy for like two hours. Not asleep, but really tired and couldn't fall asleep. So then I was irritated.

Yeah. And that wasn't the best. Okay. Tricky. Either of you run into these situations where it felt I think people worry about traveling places like it might feel unsafe.

Do you feel that? So Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia, and it's like the It's the largest landlocked population, right? So like, it takes New York out of it because New York's got open water on one side, but like the largest landlocked city,

the largest population in the world. And like, you're not really supposed to be tooting around at night. But this fella's like, hey, you guys wanna walk up to the grocery store? It's just a little bit up the road. I'm like, yeah, sure. And it's dark outside. And when they This is classic of African countries. When they say it's a little bit up the road, it's like four miles. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, It's ten minutes walk. No, sir. No, it's forty five minutes walk, and they hustle, and they really move. And so but like, we're walking down the street at nighttime, you know, pretty much unattended. We're trying to keep up with the guy walking in front of us, and he was a super cool cat, but he just walked fast. And he wasn't worried about his safety at all, because he was not a white guy or a white lady walking down the street. And then it's like these little kids are at nine at night literally laughing at us, like barrel laughing as we passed by. And then they stopped and we walked all the way to the coffee shop we were supposed to be going to, which turned out to be closed, and we walked all the way back and they were ready for another barrel laugh when we walked by just because we were a bunch of weird white people walking around Addison in the middle of the night. So,

it gave me the stomachs for about ten minutes. I'm like, I don't think I really should be doing this. But I thought, If God wants to kill me in the middle of Addison, that's fine. What am I worried about? This is gonna be fine. So that part was I mean, it was fun. Dan, you ever you feel unsafe at all? I can't think of I mean, there were times I'd like the radar would come on a little bit, but in it's

it's it's really weird. I've I've gone to the same place enough times now where I it's I oddly feel more and more at home. Mhmm. You you know? It's such a weird I just feel like, man, this is like I miss this place. Yeah. And, like, it it was a new level for me. This time, they just gave me the keys to the car. I said, alright. Go for it. You were driving. You were driving in Zimbabwe. I was driving around and Is that legal? I think so. And they can't have so many months. Like, even if you, like, move there, you have so long. Oh. So, like, he's on a three month reprieve. You take to the streets. Actually, that was true in Ethiopia. I found out, like, you can use your American driver's license for, like, three months, or if you go into the DOT, they'll give you an Ethiopian one. And I'm like, We're definitely doing that. You should do that. I want an Ethiopian driver's license. And everybody laughed at me like I was being some kind of funny man. That'd be kind of fun. And then we did not get one. And I'm like, I really want my face on an Ethiopian driver's license. The Zimbabwe ones are metal. I don't know if that's common over there. I don't know. I didn't see any actual That's

balls. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, man, excellent. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But, I mean, there was there was, like, one time at night driving around that I was like went to the store, and while we were in the store, they closed the road that I know how to get back. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And they were gonna do some construction the next day. I say close the road, they would just put a bunch of rocks in it and said, don't go don't use Don't go there. And so

it took a little longer getting home because it's not like straight roads. It's like, oh, let's build a house here. So it took a while to get home. I had a couple of people with me that were more new

to travel. And so I didn't let them know I was kind of a little starting to kind of wonder, like, I have no idea where I'm at. But we found it. Okay. Wait. And like no phone service and stuff, dude? Oh yeah, no. There's nothing. It's just I gears on it right did find that the metaphor of making paths straight, making

roads we take that for granted around here because we pave our roads. And even a pothole is a minor inconvenience. If you drive some of these roads in some of these towns, you can't go any better than 10 miles an hour. It's just a bumbling and a bouncing and quick turns and they're falling apart and washing away and whatever. And so sometimes that metaphor that they're talking about, about John the Baptist making curvy ways straight and whatever, you're like, What's that? It just doesn't apply to us because we can go 75 for hours, hours and hours and hours without having much of a conversation

about it. And you can't go I was talking to the guy driving that was driving us around, I'm like, have you ever had this thing above 50? He's like, 50? No. No. Not 50. And he's lived there his whole life, and he's never driven above 50 miles an hour because there's no stretch of road that's good enough to do it. Right. Well, it's probably 50 kilometers a mile an hour. It's even less. Oh. Alright. You're listening to Life From The Path. Thanks for hanging out with us so far tonight. Let's deal out some advice,

and we'll we'll we'll put this ship in the if you put the ship to bed, where would you put it, Nathaniel? The harbor. Yeah. Put the ship in the harbor. Oh, boy. Nope. Dear life,

from the path, I have two friends who are sisters. They text me every day throughout the day, sharing every thought and every little thing that happens to them. Yeah. Also, they constantly invite me over to their homes and try to manipulate me into coming over. One does it by telling me her daughter loves me and wants me to come for dinner. The other uses other tactics of similar nature, like her dog misses me. None the other people in my life do this. Mhmm. We all have lives to live, some busier than others. But with the others, we see each other on birthdays, holidays, and other celebrations where we all get together, visit, and catch up. This everyday texting is getting on my nerves to the point where some days I don't respond to either of them. Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. I've tried

subtly and blatantly to tell them to stop, but to no avail. What else do I need to say or do? I've known both of these people for forty years, and it seems they only, quotes, hear me when I flip out on them. Something I'm trying to change about myself. Wow. That's a weird person. Why does this lady hate friendship? Yeah. You you you do you

who texts you the most often? Probably your wife. No. Not your wife? No. Who texts you the most often? Dylan. Man Friends. Dylan Crossgrove. More than more than once a day? Oh, yeah. Really? Yeah. I don't have anybody that texts me more than once a day. No. That's a great question. My wife, definitely. And sometimes just once a day. And then past that,

no. No. Tell you what, if a I'm text message stressed out. If a text message string goes longer than four interchanges, I start letting out audible guffs. Like, ugh. What you want? I hate friendships. Yeah. I guess I'm trying I'm trying to defend this lady slightly because

Because you hate friendship? I find I I I that drives me nuts. I feel like you wanna get out what you gotta say and then be done with it. What if so we're doing that in person? Like, you're in there, you're trying to work or you're trying to read or you're trying to talk to your kids and all of a sudden, some of your friend just shows up and goes, hey, man. Like, the fourth time that happened, I'm like, what? Yeah. Like, let's let's tuck this up. Yeah. I mean, she's known them for forty years. Forty years. So she's known known any young children. She's she's they just want her to come over and and be part of their life. I mean, it's just it's like

Like every night, though, Dan? Well, no. I I mean Maybe they feel bad for her. Maybe they think she's They're probably thinking, yeah. She obviously has no friends. We'll try to be your friend. Yeah. Let's call Meredith over. Sharing every thought and every little thing that happens to them. They're just showing us a journey. They're not just extending invitations. They're like, oh, bird passed the window. Saw it. Hey, Mailman's here. I don't know. I think she's she's overextended. Brownies are done. Oroldo's on. I gotta poop.

I think she needs to go to a nursing home and just put herself down. I don't know why you guys are acting like this toward this woman. She should These people are needy and cranky. And you might change your text message. Instead of going, bing, change it to, pay attention to me. Pay attention to me. That should be the audible sound that a text message makes. Because without any regard for what you're doing, it goes, pay attention to me. Stop what you're doing and look at me. Look at me. Look at me. At Can't they text each other? I'm sure they can. They probably do when she doesn't answer. They're probably texting the truth. What are gonna text next? Yeah. I saw a bird. I'm gonna poop. Oh, man. I don't know. I I think I think she she for one thing, they should take a cue cue, a clue, and and and just back off. But I think you've known them for forty years. Let's say that they're what? They're at least 50, would you say? Probably.

Or more. Yeah. So one is there's two separate things here. One is a matter of preference. One is a matter of jerky behavior. Preference if you're just not a person who wants to be chatted at all day. Ding. Look at me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I I think that's that's not jerky. It's just a preference item. It is, however, a jerky thing to do when someone goes, look, man. Don't be chatting at me all day. I I just I'm not gonna respond to them, and I don't particularly love this, and you keep doing it. Keep doing it with That's jerky.

Yeah. Listen, I can tell, I've done this, I've navigated this successfully. Ignore it completely, and don't answer it ever. And she does that too. And about two days in, they'll say some real mean stuff that they can't take back and then you go, done. And then they won't text you anymore. I think she needs to develop some people skills. Ding. Look at me. Must have texted you. I don't care what you're doing. Look at me. Tink. Because I love friendship. Tink. That's like, Nathaniel. Nathaniel. Hello.

I used to come and give you a big hug once in a while, Mike, just because I knew you hated it. Tink. No other reason. It wasn't because I wanted you to feel my flesh against you. Hey, man. Why are you gonna say it like that? Oh. Because I knew it made you feel really uncomfortable. Okay. This week's shirt quote is feel my flesh.

Episode four seventy five. Okay. So my here's my final advice. I would She's trying to not flip out on them because she's trying to change that about herself. Okay. Yeah. Don't flip out on them. I mean Yeah. To learn to like people. That's ridiculous. Get your laxative. Hold on. See, waxed philosophical,

and you're gonna take it in again. We all have lives to live, some busier than others. Yeah. But with others, we see each other on birthdays, holidays, and other celebrations, where we all get together, visit, catch up. Yeah. I I just deal. It's it's it's it's it's taxing. Here's the deal. You're you're wigging yourself out by spending too much time either thinking or responding to it. Like, respond however you wanna respond. Respond however often you want to. If you wanna respond every couple days, then do that. If you've already told if you've already told them that, like, hey, man. I just don't I'm not gonna get around I mean, I've tried here's the thing. I've unsuccessfully done this.

Well, like, I well, it doesn't ever change the behavior. A person who just wants to keep texting you, I said, look. I'm not gonna get to these all the time. Not everything you say is gonna generate a response from me. Yeah. It's just not. Yeah. And so, you know, either live with it or, you know, dial it back because you say you're wasting your time with me. That's okay too. Maybe that's that's what I was going for. Either way,

just don't feel responsible that you have to do it. Don't be a jerk about it. I'd respond back every few days or so. But like, if you don't want to respond every day, if you want to read it every day, put it on mute. Catch up it when you want to. That's fine. Yeah. You you you've already explained yourself. This is like, they are acting as if you're a different person than than you are, and that's kind of their that's kind of their deal. Yeah. I think that's fair. I think that that's fair. I I've had people that just text and or they'll call, and I'll just You just don't answer the phone. Nope. Just don't answer it. Yeah. You don't pick it up. Call it back if it's something important. If they're just saying, Hey, the grass is greener today, then

Yeah. I think that's the biggest biggest misconception about the phone. Yeah. They don't own you. Yeah. That's right. You're not you're not a slave to the phone. Like, it rings. You you answer it if you wanna answer it. When they send a text message, answer it if you wanna answer it. But the problem is is the person on the other end of the phone is like, well, I called you. They're like, Yeah, I know. Well, you didn't answer it. I know that too. I was there. I didn't want to. Well, you should call when I answer. So what it means is the inherent thought is, as soon as I decide I want to talk to you, you're gonna talk to me. Yeah, you're gonna yeah. Right? And that's not the right way to live. I texted Ben while we've been talking. He has not texted me Ben. I'm not gonna do it, Dan. He did. He's harassing me. He's gonna get he's gonna try to refresh you. Stay away from him. That's all. I don't wanna give the impression that I answer text messages. And so What are you doing? Not doing Alright. Chicken for supper. Secular says,

It would not be, quotes, flipping out to firmly tell these needy sisters you do not have time to text them with them on a daily basis because you are a busy person and being bombarded is distracting. You also do not have to visit anyone because their dog or their child misses you. Set some ground rules and see them when it's convenient for you. Say once a month, if that. Once the pressure is off, you might enjoy them more. Yeah. Yeah. That mean but here's the thing. Now, she she it's very possible she's telling the story manipulatively. Like saying, oh, they they may just be maybe this woman is a bit standoffish and she doesn't come over very often and so they're just trying light heartedly be like, oh, yeah. It's as opposed to offering up that they, as always, want her to come over. It's like, oh, and my dog misses you. Like, I mean, don't

I wouldn't over crank on that. Yeah. What say? I'm not saying anything. I'm just saying I side with the cantankerous woman at the beginning of the letter. That's too much communication. You friendship hater.

I like to keep my friends at a long distance away. Couple arm lengths? I answer most text messages, just not when they're, like, repeated or abusive or, hey, man. Hey, man. Look at me. Bing this angle. Bing. Look at me. I don't think there's ever been a text message that I've sent you that you haven't responded to. Right. I always But I'm not, like, hitting you up every day. That's but if you started, then I would certainly I would just ignore you completely. Hey, Mike. What do you think of this? Yeah. Like, good. Wants to see you. Send me pictures of their food or something. They're like, hey. I made this. I'm like, okay.

I don't know what to say about it. If if you ever send me a picture of your food and I say anything besides okay, I've literally just made something up based on what I saw in a movie happen. Someone said, look at this delicious thing, and I'll say something like, oh, man, that looks fantastic. Where did you get the recipe? I don't actually mean any of that. What what my brain instantly goes is, okay. Yeah. Yeah. What do you want me I don't know. You gonna break it off? If I I were a considerate human, what would I say? Yeah. Yeah. Let's try that. How long did you cook that for? Fool you.

But I have the recipe. You dumb bastards. Yeah. I just I can't. I told my wife I the biggest thing that I'm guilty of in this life is, like, I don't actually know what to do in 95% of situations. And so I, like, take on a role of a guy that would work I just I don't know what to do in big heavy situations or even little tiny ones, even at the bank. They'll be like, hey. We're closing in five minutes. And I would just awkwardly stand there like, so? Okay.

Does that mean you want me to leave? Or I don't understand. Like, just get your stuff done. Why didn't they just say that? I had okay. I I don't know why I remember this, but I had I was I was driving one day and there were some, like, people I worked with in the van. And one one of the girls that was in there goes, hey. I I bought some

I bought some pants for for, like, this it was one of the girls football games, you know, like, where the girls play? Oh, yeah. The power powerful games. And she's like, but I wore them to I I slept in them last night. And I'm like,

oh. Who the fuck? What do I say? I said, break did them in? And one of the other dudes that was in the car goes, Ben has no idea what to say to that.

I said, well, good. At least I'm understood. I do. I don't know if I'm I don't know if I'm being led into some sort of weird direction Yeah. Or this was like a legit conversation, but I just have no idea what to say. Oh. That's interesting. Why would you say that out loud? I don't know. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. That's it. You're trying to figure out what was your motivation, and and it's like, I don't know. I I because I can't figure that out. I don't know how to respond. I don't. Yeah. Yeah. But then I was waiting for him to fix it. Like, would say the thing I should have said, but he didn't. The conversation just turned to how I didn't know what to say. I'm like, well, dang it. How am I supposed to learn? I've not improved upon that yet. Okay.

Last one. Okay. Your life from the past. Go for heavensakes. I graduated from college with a degree in a niche field.

In my graduating class of nearly 7,000, there were only four of us with this specific degree. I now have a career in the field I majored in. I love what I do and take pride in it. The problem is my family. For whatever reason, my parents and siblings don't seem to want to remember what I do. When people back home ask what I'm up to, they come up with some vague or dismissive answer. When they tell me about it later, they seem to think it's funny. The first few times, I could laugh about it too, but this has been going on for years. Their one-sided running gag has grown old.

I don't care that they're not interested in what I do, but I feel humiliated and hurt when they act so dim dismissive of it to other people. It happened again a few days ago while I was out with my family at an event. A family member intentionally messed up the name of my workplace multiple times, even after I had corrected him, while talking to a volunteer. Although I managed to step in, it's still weighing on me. I've tried explaining what I do numerous times. It's not confusing. I haven't even suggested they use broader alternatives. If they would say I'm an ecologist, I would be thrilled. Nothing has changed. I'm left wondering if this runs deeper than a joke and they don't actually take me seriously.

Do I need to be more blunt? Should I tell them this has crossed the line from funny to hurtful, or am I blowing this out of proportion? First of all, dude, what did you graduate with? That's I've never heard such a bloviated amount of nothing. Yeah. I mean, it's like eight minutes of nothing. Why don't you just say the the more general term, I'm a I'm in the medical field. Right. Or I'm a college graduate. I'm a whatever. Yeah. Yeah. I do marketing. This dude studies moss. Guaranteed. Do you think so? Like he's a Yeah. It's something dumb like that. His

family is like, oh, look at old moss man Pete. Moss man Pete Moss. Exactly. Look at Pete Moss. And then they're like, He's like, hey. That's so funny. This this moss is super important for the ecosystems and the blah blah blah. And then, you know, he brings it up. Yeah. He works at Moss Incorporated. He's like, it's Moss Incorporated Inc, buddy.

This guy's blowing it up. I guarantee it. Yeah. There's something else wrong here. Because, like, I mean, when you go to school to be a proctologist, you know the jokes are coming. And you just prepare yourself, and then it's comedy time, whatever. You look at the butts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I went to school, but missteps there. Sometimes they turn the other cheek.

Oh, it's a whole different level. Oh, Dan said whole. Was that intentional, Dan? Yeah. It was. That's right. That bums me out. You know what, Dan? Off the w. You can text me, Dan. Yeah.

Hit me up. Alright. Let's put that in the rear. Here we go. The the long story short of this guy's conversation is is, like, he he didn't even mention what he graduated with when he wrote the paper to tell people what he graduated graduated with. With. And, like, he he couldn't have been more vague about every complete situation he was talking about, which means your his his second proposal is right. Am I blowing this out of proportion? Yeah. Yes, you are. Yes. The reason he didn't write it in is because he didn't want secular to make fun of him too. He thought that an 85 year old woman was gonna turn around and give the give him the grief. Said my family gives me grief. Is it Abby? Is that her name? Abby's gonna give me grief. Yeah. Yeah. That's why he didn't put it in. If he knew enough to know that some random stranger would give him grief, then he must know that his family is justified in the grief game. That's what I'm saying. If that that what a proctologist knows this is coming. So, like, did he enter a field

that is commonly just made fun of, or is he really sensitive that, like, the rest of the world don't give two craps about glowing algae or whatever he studies. You know? Sorry. You said two craps, Mike. Alright. We're gonna we're gonna wrap this up. He

yeah. He's he's he's blowing it up. Yep. Blowing it? I didn't say blowing it out. Yeah. Blowing it out. Come on. Okay. Now now he's he's being oversensitive. He's being a snowflake here. He just needs to get over himself. I mean, I don't care what you do for a living. You can get all sensitive if people are all like, the big preacher joke, oh, you'll be irked one day a week. It's like, well, I say it more times than anybody because I I know it's the judge, but everybody says, you know, it's like, yeah. Like, only work an hour. Yeah. It's like the garbage man that clears 6 figures a year and goes Yeah. It's like, laugh it up. You're loving your job? Laugh it I'm done at two. Who cares if they know what it is or what to call it or what you know, that's that's your own ego. Get it out of there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Coat it to the breeze. Secular sis, you may be putting more energy into this than it deserves. Yeah. You know the importance of the work you do? She didn't say whether it was important or not. She just said, You know it's important.

Your relatives may be jealous of your accomplishments or so intellectually limited that they can't remember the word ecologist. If you are present when this happens, feel free to correct the mistake as you did, but do it with humor. Yeah, here's the thing. Obviously, you were popular in high school or something, but this is a classic defensive mechanism. You make fun of yourself before someone else does it, and then they got nothing. Right? That's how they do it. That's why kids who aren't real popular are usually pretty funny, is because they got made fun of and they figured out that if they just make fun of themselves first or beat them to the joke, then you run the conversation. So, yeah, just beat them to it. Learn all the jokes of your particular algae field and then fire them out right out of the gate. And then no one can say anything.

Alright. Hey, you've been listening to Live From The Path. Thank you for hanging out with us this evening. We very much appreciate it. If you got feedback for us on the show, give us a call on the Live From The Path. Bob Eisenhower complaint line. That's (515) 517-0085. We'd love to hear from you. And we do very much intend to see you next week. In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to live from the Path.