Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the path.

Studio's here in Johnston Proper. It's lovely to be with you on this I don't know what type of evening it is. It's probably morning when you're listening to it, and so let's just not let's not worry about the formalities here. Saying it's lovely to be with the listener or like me? No. No. I was talking about the listener. Oh, okay. I wanna know who would listen to this in the morning. Who wants to start their day with that? Coming at you for your drive time. Okay. I think that makes sense, Dan. What you're saying makes sense. I'm just saying. Okay. Here's what we got going on the show this evening. First, we got a very special guest. Dirk Von Steen is in, the studio. Yeah, that was good. That was good. Way to do it, bubba.

So anyway, I ran in We'll talk with him a little bit more about kind of his background and story, but, I saw him, as kind of headlining this event for the sober soldiers. And we've had those fellows in before. Boob was doing some, like hanging out with that group and doing some work over there. And so I thought natural fit. And so excited to have Dirk in. He's gonna play some tunes. He's gonna share about his life story, and then he's going to just participate in the general revelry that is going on in here. Yep. Come on. Okay. So I think that's going to be good. Also, we've got a few Mike, what was your I don't know. Can you sum up the thing we want to talk about?

Got a text from my wife this morning that asked me if I was mad at God. Oh, yeah. And then I realized the answer was yes. Oh, okay. Okay. So we're gonna have to Come on. See what you're doing with the wife. Yeah. Okay. And then, Buba, you've got an ask the pastor? Yeah. I do. I was reading in Jeremiah 26 today, in regards to, the the priests coming at Jeremiah being angry at him for for doing some things, and then it it talks about two different, other prophets that, have given a rough word. One is Micah and the other is Uriah,

And I had a question because we have the book of Micah that we can go back to and what that prophecy is, but we don't, at least not in my 66 books, have the book of Uriah or the recorded prophecies of Uriah. And so I'm interested to hear why do I not have that. Like, is is that not proven to be God's word? Is there a problem there? Like, what's going on here that I don't have that in my 66 books, and,

you know, should I be worried about that? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That seems like a great question. Kind of a common question even across as you think about either Old Testament or New Testament stuff, like, why don't I have all this especially if you get into these things where, like, the gospel of so and so and such and such. Why isn't this stuff in here? Yeah. Philip wrote a gospel. Yeah. Those are the ones where they tell you that Jesus had a twin and was married.

Oh. Yeah. Those are the Gnostics. I just need to know more about that. Know what that word means. Gnostics? Yeah. What's that mean? I read it sometimes. They'll be like, these are the Gnostic gospels, and I'm like, okay. That's not in my bible. Don't care. What does it mean? Dan? We're doing a second aspect mean, was a philosophy. There's a there's a really good answer that I don't have. I mean, but it's a it's a yeah. You know? It's Mike Shuta. That stuff. I mean, here's the thing. It's the algorithm catches me on the on the news feed. I click on one whatever cool looking Jesus type article, and then the next 15 articles are like 15 things that will convince you Christianity is not real. I'm like, what the heck is this? I don't care. What are they, though? I wanna know. Right. They're never any good. Did you know the cynics were a group of people? Yeah. So it's I thought well, just real quick. Like, gnosticism just believes that there's a separation between, like, the spiritual world and the physical world. Yeah. And and Gnosticism tended to elevate the spiritual world, like, spiritual world good, physical world bad. Oh. Right? Didn't matter what you did in the physical.

Yeah. So, like, Christianity says, like, both. Right. It comes of heaven and earth. It's it's from, like the the bit Bible word we use is is to know, like, and that's Gnostic Gnosis. That's that's where it comes from. I know I shouldn't ask. Yeah. I don't know why you asked that. The the whole eat, drink, and be married for tomorrow where we die. You know? It's like, I I can be as sexually active as I want. It doesn't matter because it's just that's not my spirit. That's my body. Yep. Dan went right for the sex. That's I do. That's where I go. When you look like me, you go there because

I feel most of people in the first century would have done the same thing. Tom Cruise. We know how it is. We know. We know. Okay. Alright. Anyway Well, okay. Dan, have you ever been compared to being in a group with Tom Cruise before? No. I don't think wisely. No. I I there's there's others that would surprise you, but but, no, I don't believe him. Okay. Fair enough. Okay. Let's before we ruin the show completely, let's do this. Let's let's hear a song from Dirk so that you can you can this will reel you in. He's the grabber so that we can do our poor content later. And so, Dirk, maybe just real quick, just give an introduction of, like, what the song that you're gonna do and any any kind of context they need for it and then perform it, and then we can kinda talk more about it. Yeah. So this, so the song that I'm gonna play first is called Living Water.

This is off my new record that was released this year called Angel Road. And this one is all about kinda getting on the right track. I'm celebrating ten years of recovery, so it's

always a conversation between me and God and what God is revealing to me. And the living water that we know from a Christian perspective has definitely been proven to be a lot more potent

than the alcohol when that was the center of my life. I guess when that living water gets inside of you, you gotta follow it. This

is what this one's about. We ready? We're ready. Okay. Living Water. Thanks for having me on the on the pod. Thanks, guys. Hey, man. That song kinda smokes. Yeah. Thank you. You don't you know, I I think that's a real there have been certain genres of music where it feels like people singing about Jesus just hasn't soaked through. Yeah. And, like, this this is I'm glad to hear it. Yeah. I'm glad to hear it happening,

because you're right. That song does smoke. It kinda humor reminds me when, Arendelle was in here playing some of them smoky numbers, he was the swampish. Yeah. That's got some swamp to it. Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty great. How long like, how long have you had that song in the tanker? This one, I've probably been working on. I recorded it this last summer. Usually, what I do when I get a new guitar, which is why I like to get new guitars, is I just pick it up and put it in a tuning that I don't know what I'm doing Yeah. And what the chords even are and just start riffing on it. Yeah. So I think when I first started I got my first resonator probably about two and a half years ago, and just I got I still have a couple more that are kind of from that same time, you know, where you just start you get a riff in your head, and you put it down for a while. And it's like, you want to finish something, but until it's the right time and the words come in, and that one, when

the words come, I like to have the music kind of ready to go, and it and it fell together pretty quick after that. So Yeah. Dang. That's awesome. Yeah. You and I and I will say, you guys listen to my record on it, that's a hard one to do by myself because my brother plays drums on the record, and he just smokes on the on a drum solo that's so good. Yes. And and I have a fiddle player that played on the record, and it was like a whole I had a whole middle section that was just them just killing it, and it's it's Okay. I'm pretty excited about this. Yeah. Now hold on. This so this is on an album, and it's out there. Like, it's on Amazon? It's on Amazon. It's on Spotify. It's on YouTube. Yeah. Wherever you do your stream. Yeah. So Dirk Vonstein, and the the record is called angel road is what this last one is. And, yeah, it's it's it's fun, man. It's it's fun to to to, you know, be able to start sharing this this music with everybody. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, man. So go I mean, give it a spin. Sure. But, like, go ahead and buy that thing. Dirk only gets, like, a penny or 2 every time you let it spin. It's a gesture. Yeah. But the man needs to buy new guitars so he can write new tunes. Yeah. And so You're standing in the way. Yeah. The lack of an album purchase is a problem for me. Yeah. Yeah. Fix it immediately. It's possible that Paul was not allowed to go into Mysia because people weren't buying his his tents. Speculation

on my part. I'm just saying. That's in the Gnostic Gospels. Okay. Hey. So speaking of which, like, when you were talking about, like, coming back to a to a song, it it made me think about something that you had shared about kind of your life where you you had been it was funny. We won't go into all the details, but, like, we've Dirk and I and Mike have met when we were in high school in some in a, like, a battle of the bands. What? Yeah. Wild. I thought it was the mister universe contest. Yeah. I know a lot of people from that. Oh, let me give that what it deserves.

Living water. So but, anyway, so, like, you were doing you you were doing music back then, but then there was a there's a, like, a point in your life, kind of a drought of music and related to to alcoholism. Like, it just sounds like it sapped your desire to to make tunes, to write tunes. Correct. And and just yeah. That's you know, the way that, you know, alcoholism work for me and for, you know, for a lot of people is it is it we we build these walls of isolation around us. And, you know, I used to play in bands out, and I used to have fun, and the blues community is great in Des Moines and and great people and support it. And,

I just got to the point that I was so so scared of drinking and driving Yep. You know, after getting very lucky, you know, time after time after time that I I just I didn't wanna go drive anywhere, you know, because I was gonna drink. Well, that was never a question. And, yeah, so those those walls of isolation, when you're just sitting there in your house with no passion or, you know, reason to really play or with anybody, yeah, it just it that's that's part of my testimony is alcoholism took away my,

you know, desire to play music. And, yeah, there was a drought for I put my guitar down for about ten years. Did you, did you find yourself during that time, like, trying to write and then not being there, or you just just didn't wanna touch it? Yeah. I I'd you know, I would I would always in my head, I'd be I would miss it, miss playing a lot. Sure. And then, yeah, you pick the guitar up, and after about a half an hour, it's just it's just it's just frustrating. Yep. You know, when it's like, man, it's not what it used to be. You know, there was a part of, you know, when you get into that part of your addiction that you don't think that you could ever go back to that point. Mhmm. And then you get then the the kind of depressive part that substance abuse will force on you

makes you, you know, just regret it and all. And it's like it's almost like I I would not wanna pick it up because I would feel so terrible about the fact that I've Sure. Did this to myself. Oh, yeah. Was a kind of a sad reminder of like, man. That is so tough, and it's it's it's a unique I think it's a thing that maybe is can get overlooked about

like, it ended up being it's an overused word, but, like, some of the the trigger points or the thing that memories that are associated with the realization that, like, to your point that, you know, things that you've done to yourself feels like that you're out of control to shift or change, and then you're constantly kind of fighting against this image of what you could have been or what you were. And it's kind of kinda rehashes what feels like a defeat over and over again. That's tough. Yeah. It's a tough because you like, it feels like you gotta muster it yourself to get over it, and, like, you you can't really. Yeah. And I and I always tell people, you know, music and alcohol and drugs were woven together for me. You know? And I think that's a common thing with a lot of people is that I I could never it was I I never could it took me a while even in recovery to really feel comfortable playing and desire to get back out and do it again because

part of my identity was just there. Yeah. And I didn't feel like it was you know? But yeah. Yeah. You know what's so funny? I It sounded maybe foreign to me at the thought that people felt so connected to say alcohol that when you take alcohol out of an equation of which it normally is in, the situation was just so foreign to them.

It makes me think about situations like playing music sober when you're not used to. And maybe even if you weren't drunk at the time or something or high at the time, everyone else was. And so there there's like a buffer. There's like an agreed upon thing. We're all kinda doing the same thing here. And so but there was a I was talking to a friend of mine, and he think for for health reasons and things, he's about my age, and he's like, I really just I I needed to stop drinking. And so he gave up drinking, and he said that some folks that he was really close to were, like, mad. Yeah. They were just, like, pissed at the guy for trying to give up alcohol and, like, stuff that they would normally do, like, get out and work at work on vehicles together or, like, hang out, sit on the front porch front porch. If he wouldn't drink, then they, like, they didn't want him there. And it's it's,

I think it it makes it it's just much deeper and even more gray of of a situation than just, hey. Do I drink or not drink? Because there's memories tied to it. There's social situations, the ease of which, like, how do we relate to people if it's not through alcohol? Or Right. Yeah. Mike Mike's often talking about, like, how easy it is to make make friends at the heater shop, you know, out Yeah. You're out there make a quick friend, get out of pack smoke, stand outside. These people come out of the cracks of the mortar. Right. They're like, hey, man. I bought my smoke. They're like, yeah. Those candles. Nobody smokes anymore. Yeah. I know. They're all vapers. And so I I say that to say, like, if you're someone who's not ever had an addiction or even just tried some of those things and you hear people talk about it, just know, like, there's more sinews to it than, like, do I choose to to drink today or smoke today or do whatever the thing I was gonna do today? It's there it's it's deeper than that. It's more interconnected and interwoven than that. And, like, it's the things that it can give you, it also, at at some point, can feels like it takes away. From those types of things in the same manner. So It is funny how, like I I remember Dan gave a sermon illustration one time about, like he was talking about divorce, but he, like, glued two boards together.

And then when you rip the two boards apart, like, were shards of it. You know? Like, it didn't it didn't break away clean. And, like like, when when you start talking about addiction, like, especially if you have not walked through it, it's so easy to start categorizing it as if it's this one easy definable thing. Right. But, like, I tell you what, like, this is gonna sound so stupid in relation to a lot of other addictions. Right? But, like, I thought I loved long drives. Like, I really like driving,

like, for eight eight, ten hours, stopping at gas stations. I just loved it. Right? Turns out I like smoking and driving. That's what I like doing. When I try to drive, well, I'm like, this sucks. I just take forever to get here, and, like, I don't wanna do this anymore. I always thought I was a really patient person. Like, I could sit there and wait for somebody, and however long it took, no problem. I'm not getting all fired up. I'll just listen to the radio and hang out. Turns out, I like to just sit there and smoke. And so, like, when when when I'm not doing that, I'm like, where is everybody, and what is taking so long? I am not an inherently patient person. And so, like, even even what feels like a virtue kind of, it was like writing on the back of, like, this addiction thing that I just liked, like, that would really you know, would hold on to. And, like, this is true across whatever, pick your poison. You know I'm saying? Like Yeah. People who are really sociable. And it turns out that they, like, they the the thought of going out and sitting in a room full of people if you're not drinking sounds like not fun. It just sounds like sitting around in a loud room where everyone is starting to act away, and you're not acting that way, and you're like, I don't know. I feel like I'm talking to, like, 20 different people than the people I walked in here with, and I'm the only person that's still sane. It's always interesting to to have conversations with with fellas that are kind of, you know, just starting on the recovery life. And, like, you get two weeks in, and your body is still kicking at you and fighting you and stuff, and and there's still chemical stuff, like, kicking around, and and it's it's rough withdrawals and everything. From that two week to the thirty days, you start to, like, feel a little bit better, and then it gets to, like, it's not holding those hooks in you so much anymore. But, like, when you get to that thirty days, and this isn't, like, the the way that that psychologists and psychotherapists talk about it, but like from my experience what I've seen, you see that like thirty day hit. People start to realize that like the other hooks that were in them was the community, was the was the fact that they had that identity in that, And they start having this crisis of of stepping back and going, oh, I don't know how to be a sober adult. Like, I don't know what my Friday nights look like now that I don't go drinking with my buddies, or I don't know what I do when I've got a day off. Because, like, I I get my stuff done, but, like, then what? Like, what do I enjoy? Or I have hobbies. I have money in my pocket. I don't know what to do with money. Like, that that's the crazy thing that I see the hit where they're like, I just Yep. Like, what's pulling me back now is not so much the chemical, like withdrawal addiction pulling on, but it's the it's the it's what was ingrained in you from a from like a behavioral perspective and from a community perspective and identity perspective. You just you don't know what to be now. And and, I mean, that's why, you know, when I have these kind of conversations, it's pointing to Jesus because, like, you gotta replace that with something. You gotta replace that with some community that, like, fine. You wanna know what to do on a Friday night? Find a church. Find some people that are hanging out that aren't doing this stuff. Come to my place on a Friday night if you need to. I'll take you to a movie or go bowling with you. Like, we'll figure it out. But it's just crazy that that that you don't think about that that identity crisis that you end up having when you leave that. So so what what,

what turns the corner in your life, Dirk? Yeah. I I'd say that, you know, to just to kinda follow you up there is, you know, I I went the route of of Alcoholics Anonymous. Yeah. Sure. You know, that's just my it's part of my testimony, my story. Yeah. And we have a saying, and I we were just we were joking about this before. There's always these sayings that people say that in early recovery, you're like, whatever. But, you know, one of the things that you know, certain people will say something, and they're like, oh, you can take the alcohol away, but you're still left with the ism. You know? Yeah. And then you hear then you can then you start doing things like going to church and you hear a pastor talk about how do you know the difference between God's voice and Satan's voice?

God will tell you something one time, and Satan will sit and nip at your heels all the time, and that's exactly what, you know, what that addiction did. And so to answer your question, but, you know, when when I turned, I by the time that I sobered up, I was ready to was ready to hit the ground running. I was ready to do whatever I needed to do to change. Yeah. You know? And I but I didn't know anything about recovery. I was I I I think it's a blessing. I I like to look at it like that is I hadn't gotten an OWI. I hadn't gone to jail. I hadn't been court ordered to an AA meeting. I hadn't gotten trouble at work. You know, at the time, I hadn't been through a divorce. You know? And so it was a part part of it was like, am I an alcoholic? You know, I I knew that I struggle with Yeah. Not I I so so I I knew that I could not not drink. Yeah. Right. You know, alcohol controlled my life. Yeah. It controlled my time. It controlled just how much wasted time. Uh-huh. Sure. You know, I was

so I started I started diving into recovery. Yep. You know, I went to five, six meetings a week. Wow. You know, at the beginning because I I number one, I drank every day. So it's like, okay. I gotta do something to fulfill, you know, to to start working through it. Yeah. After thirty days in, you know, you start going to these, you know, to these to these rooms and, like, these people that you don't even know, I'll I'll never forget it. You know, you walk in and you're like, you look at these, you know, you know, just because I at the time, I was 33 years old. Mhmm. I'd look around and I'd see, like, a 70 year old woman, Spanish woman sitting there. Yeah. She's she was from Mexico. And so and I'm like, there's nothing that this woman is gonna say that I'm gonna connect with. Right. You know, there's nothing. And all of a sudden, she opens her mouth, and within ten seconds, it's like, this this the hair on the back of my neck stands up. Like, I can't you can't get anything past this woman. She's gonna call you out on it. Yeah. If you try to, she's gonna see through it. But she but then all of sudden, they they they kept telling you to come back, and they kept telling you things like, we're gonna love you until you can love yourself. Yeah. Because when I came in, it took me two years sober to where I accepted Christ. Yeah. You know? And it was it was not because

I didn't believe you when you said, you know, that Jesus is the way, the truth, and life. Like, that that it was never that for me. Right. It was always like, that's great, and I don't know, you know, if it was just maybe a little agnostic, you know, inside of me, like, I need something else right now. I need to do something. I need some work. I need to work through some things Yeah. You know, before I can understand any sort of like a you know? And I think that that's why I was I was happy that it wasn't defined. Right. You know? I know that that's always a controversial thing in recovery. Yeah. You know, some things, well, you know, they you know, we you you have to throw Jesus out there,

or they don't say Jesus, so I don't connect with that. And I say, I'm glad there's both. Absolutely. Because if I had if if I had not had a program that focused didn't that focused more on, let's get her to do some work to take care of what you need to do to work through this stuff. Yep. I would not have stayed sober. Yeah. The STEP programs are awesome in in in so many ways because of that structure and because of the the the ability to do something and to, like, make your way through a process rather than just making your way through what it feels like a book at the time. Yeah. Like like the big book is. Right? Like what we call it. Correct. Yeah. No. Totally fair. Yeah. So I got in, and I and I just I dove in head first. I I did everything that they told me to do because I started seeing results. Yeah. That's awesome. I started to see the miracle happen early on, you know, where it's like that's know, you the first song that I that I wrote talks about that, you know, that I you know, once I started working through, you know, you do the step work. You know, you do work where you actually make a list of your resentments, your fears, and your sexual inventory, and you and you start working through this stuff. Yep. You know? And you actually start oh, so what you're left with what they call a character defect list.

You know? That's not a character defect list that god just oh, now you've worked through this? It's gone. No. Right. I look more like, okay. Here's a list of things that if these things start creeping back up in my life, I'm doing something wrong. Sure. Yeah. I need to oh, what is it that I can go so I start yeah. So I that's that's what I did. You know, when I started going through it and and doing the step work was just figuring out how can I become a better person and and new playgrounds, playmates? And at two years sober, Jesus revealed himself to me in such a beautiful way that you know? That's amazing. Yeah. That is amazing. I love that man. So tell me a little bit about that. Like, one of the things that that you had mentioned was, it was about eight years ago where you felt like the Holy Spirit said, you need to be writing and playing music. What was Yeah. That experience We had some revival services at, at the time it was called Grimes United Methodist Church, and they're Pray Creek now. Wait a minute. Just to clear, is that the church that had that has, like, the walk through nativity? Yeah. It's pretty good. We used to do that. COVID canceled that. Oh. Oh, I didn't see. I was a wise man. I was one of the wise men. Yeah. It was it a lot of fun. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Anyway, I was just you should check it out. Did make it as a wise man? Is that what you said? A wise guy would probably be more what it would be. Why? I ought to move along. But

where were we? Oh, yeah. Revival services. Sorry. You got me you got me off on tangent there. Yeah. So we had some revival services. We had a pastor from, from Canada come down. I had pastor Ian and, had a couple days of revival services. And I, you know, I was I was pretty pretty newly into this whole going to church thing and and accepted Christ a few months earlier. So I think I was in I guess you could call it fertile ground, I guess. Sure. But, you know, to see what what God was doing through those services, just to the church community, was just fascinating. The spirit came upon me very heavy, went to the altar, and I was just weeping, and

just very clearly said, I need to be doing music. You know? Yeah. That was very clear. What was what was not clear was the the next day when I woke up, and it was like, okay. Now what do we do? So it became clear over time that it that what what the opportunities that came from from going to church was after that shortly after that, I got asked to lead the youth worship band at at church, the and I had no idea what I was doing. I'd never heard Chris Tomlin before. You know? I was

I was pretty green as we call it into the trade. And so it was me, two drummers, and six singers. That was our band. That's pretty much the makeup of Tomlin's band. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. And and and the craziest thing, and it it it

ten years ago, even ten years ago, you know, if you would have said that, you know, two you know, little over two years into this sobriety journey that all of a sudden my passion and desire to play music and purpose would come come back to playing at church, I I wouldn't there's no way I would have left. Right. Yeah. No way. Oh, I love that so much. But yeah. So, okay. So, so then the the journey from then to now, if I think about, we had a

COVID kind of creates an interesting situation when it comes to kind of playing, you know, playing live music. And so I think in some ways, sometimes that caused people to just kind of, I don't know, give it up. Some people, like the time being able to just focus on writing and putting some stuff together, I think reenergized it. Did you have any, either one of those? I did. Yeah. I I had I had both of them. I had a there was a just ache in my heart when there wasn't any live music because, you know, I mean, when when that whole thing started, you know, like anybody else, we didn't know what to expect. Yeah. You know? There was this there was that there was a short period of time that, you know, there was the thought came through my head of, is this just the way life's gonna be like for you know? And so I really started to miss playing, and I wanted to get back out. And I knew that my guitar playing, you know, I had taken lessons multiple times, you know, and played guitar my whole life. And I was I was always a drummer in high school, and so I never was a lead singer. So I knew that I needed to get trained as a singer. So what I did during COVID is I decided, I'm like, you know what? This if I'm gonna do this, I I need to know what I'm doing singing. So I I went and, took some vocal lessons

and really had a great time with, Sheila Cutler at, Central Iowa Music Lab. You know, she was a classical classically trained vocalist, and that's how she taught and just learned so much about how to control my voice Yep. And how to project your voice. And and yeah. So then I I I started getting out and playing live shows. It was pretty rocky at first, but got, like, you know, my first three hours of music down. I was doing some nineties pop rock and anything I could get through to fill up the time. And

and I played a lot of empty rooms. I played with some some some places with, you know, decent amount of crowd, but I what I did is I found I'd absolutely love to do it again. Yeah. And that whole time I was writing music, you know, and was kinda sprinkling that in, you know, with the, and I still do that now. You know? I you know, I'll still do a lot of different cover songs as well. But yeah. So over the last three years, that's that's been my focus is is is getting back out and using even you know? And it's funny because people always you know, it's like, how do you do you get do you like playing the gigs where there's nobody there? And I love them because those are the ones that I get that's like a practice. Sure. Yeah. You know? It's like, okay. I'm gonna start this is where I'm gonna work stuff out. You figure out. You know? Like, you figure out an act. You know? Like, you figure out, okay. I don't wanna play

if I never have to play brown eyed girl again, I'd be just fine. You know? Like, there was like a list of, okay. These are all the chopping block, and these are you know? And then you start filling it up, and, you know, now I'm to the point that, you know, I'm really ready in 2025 to kinda let God take the reins. Right. Right. And direct. So What if God wants you to play two princes? Don't care that if if God is before you You better bring a big player. Let's go ahead, John. Okay. Okay. I'm just saying, how do you tell whether the spirit's moving you or whether you just got yourself Hey. Although, if you got yourself a beatboxer to go along with two princes and an acoustic guitar, that I'm a tell you what. You could do it. That's a fog machine and a half. I mean, I'm in for that whenever you wanna give it a shot. I'm just saying. Okay.

Alright. That might not be the spirit. Just okay. Don't do that. Let's do this. Let's let's do another tune, and then I think maybe we'll we'll catch up just a little bit on, say, how does Dirk see his 2025 shaping out? How's he thinking about it? And then then we got some Mike, we gotta figure out why Mike's Mike's wife left him a voice mail and said, hey. You angry with the Lord? Yeah. Okay. Alright. Do it. So tell me a little bit about this next song you're gonna be So this next song is is it's a title track for this next record or the real record that I released this summer. It's called Angel Road. And, you know, one of the things that, I'm very blessed to, to get to say today is that I'm ten years sober. And and, you know, along with that, where I did an event called the road to recovery. You know? And one of the things that I've learned in recovery is the more there's God's will and there's my will. Right?

And all of a sudden, you stay sober a little while, you start doing things right. You know? At first, my road, it was all over. It was pretty clear when I'm following my path. You know, but the more you more you kind of follow Jesus and, you know, those those it's not as it's it's not as far off. So this this song is is it's just called Angel Road, and it's, you know, it's knowing that accepting the fact that Jesus does love me and Jesus does have a place for me in heaven, and

it's called Angel Road. Hope you enjoy it. Your words are growing in my heart trying to cultivate Yeah. Hey, man. That was fun to listen to. It was? Like, I know like, I know that seems like a super simple compliment, but I mean it. Like, it was just it was fun to listen to to to that whole song, and there wasn't a single part where I was like, okay. Like, I know what's coming next, and I know what to expect, and it's formulaic and all the different stuff like a lot of music turns into. Yeah. And I'd like, I enjoyed just sitting and listening to that more than I've enjoyed music in a while, to be honest. So It's definitely not formulaic. Like, you write very unique songs. Yeah. Like, very like, they're just it's not something that I would expect to hear anywhere else. Like, even the first one was this way too. Yeah. It's it's like I your your brain gets used to taking in Mhmm. Like, pop style music or even worship music. It's horrible for this. You know what I'm saying? Like, just very formulaic, and, like, these are not the songs that you're pumping out. And so the I'm that was awesome. Very, very cool. Yeah. Agreed. Thanks, guys. Alright. So,

again, you can go check out you can go to to, dirkvonsteen.com. Yeah. And just check it out. You can also follow him on the socials if you look for, Dirk von steen music on Facebook. Now, like, how widespread are you on these socials? You do the Instagram and the X and all this? I do the Instagram. The X I haven't quite got onto yet, but I think I could probably step up my social media game a little bit. Facebook makes it so easy whenever you're planning events. Oh yeah, just make an event where people could follow it and see it and get the information,

The time, the date, it'll take you right through maps to get there and everything. Yeah, right. Anyway, if you want to find more on Dirk and make sure you keep up with the news and all that stuff, it sounds like Facebook's the weapon of choice, but certainly the website will Okay. Little dabble to So let's talk about just like, what is the

how do you see the future? So you just did, you did a big recovery event for for Silver Soldiers. You had mentioned that. You got something coming up. This week is a Saturday. This Saturday yeah. This Saturday, I'll be playing at it's the just it's Just One More in Jamaica, Iowa. They they they invited me back to to play there. So, yeah, I'm right at the tail end of the the live shows for this year. Because after once December hits, we've got kids birthday parties and the holidays coming up. And and I've tried the last couple years to book in December, and it's it's

makes for just I'm getting running running around everywhere. But I'd like for you to check out the music. And, yeah, you know, one of the things we were talking before as well is is 2025 is gonna look a little bit different. I'm I'm gonna continue to continue to book live shows and, to play out at different, bars and restaurants around town, you know, because that's where a lot of people like to go see live music. But I'm also gonna be kinda diving in, and

and I guess we didn't even talk about this ahead of time, but I'm gonna be actually putting together a live worship band. Oh, nice. Because I think there's there's a lot of worship leaders that, you know, are incredible musicians that, you know, everybody's got their Sunday gig. Right? Right. And I but I'm finding that there's new opportunities to lead worship in the community. Yeah. And different days of the week. So, you know, yeah, the service soldier guys looking to maybe get a couple events

booked with them. Got to Sheep Gate, teen challenge. We're gonna work with them on getting some worship in the into that, to their facility in Colfax. And I got some other stuff that's brewing right now. Nice. And, letting the spirit lead the way. Yep. You know? Just kinda ready to to kinda dive in and really let let God take the reins. My wife and I, she she sings as well, so we're I enjoy singing or having her sing with me. So I'm looking forward to some new opportunities to get to do that as well. That's super exciting.

So I'm gonna be praying for Dirk, and it's interesting, as you were talking about letting the spirit lead the way on that thing. It's not dissimilar to how you think about people trying to grow any artistic career. You take the opportunities that come, except for there's a lot of pressure in those arenas to try to formulate what you think it should look like, and to kind of curate the things that go on to like, well, this fits me, this doesn't, whether you're an actor, whether you're a writer, whether you're a musician or whatever. And the cool thing about letting the spirit run with stuff is that

oftentimes it doesn't match what you thought at all. It doesn't necessarily meet what you expected. And so you saw hints of that, like, it's okay to play to a room of two if it's the right to. Like it's, you know I'm saying? Like if it's what God has you doing, and we say that to ourselves just to justify why we keep doing this show, but I was gonna say that, but yeah. But you know, in general, it's it's just like if it's

it takes off some of the pressure having to curate a different version of yourself and just go, this is what I it's what I got. It's what God is using. And, and to be open to where that may take you, you know, before, before you stop playing music the first time, you never would have thought that you'd end up doing, you know, work in churches. And even as your stuff starts to come back together,

being able to play to crowds who just need to be inspired and reminded that you walked the things that they walked. There's a lot of opportunities in that. And it may not be the way that you fashioned it forty years ago, but God does awesome stuff with things you never thought of. So what a cool way to approach it. It is, and I think the one thing that I didn't see coming as well is just the interaction with how being able to touch people's lives. Like, I'll never forget. I was at Pally's Bar and Grill probably earlier on when I when I was still kind of working through my set list and and not, you know, faking it till I make it. You know, I hate to say that I've I come across like I've made it because I'm that is not the case whatsoever,

but I was still pretty early and was not real confident. That would probably be the better way to say it. And I was I I and we were talking. I I would do some some nineties pop rock music, you know, because that's what the that's what women that go to a bar like to listen to. Yeah. You gotta give people what they want. You know? And I there was there was a handful of people that were there, and there was a gal that was there, and she kinda had a look on her face. Like, I wasn't sure if she was enjoying the music or not,

to be honest with you, but she, you know, she stuck around, and at set break, she came up to me, and she said, how did you know to play it was like Wonderwall. Yeah. Everybody's got that guy, that buddy that plays Wonderwall. Yep. And a couple other ones, and she said, how did you know to play those songs? I said, I I, you know, I try to I try to I play a lot of country music, Chris Stapleton. I'll Chris Stapleton to seventies classic

rock, you know, stuff all all over the place. Yep. And she said that, I'll never forget it. She walked up and she she she had tears in her eyes, and she said, I buried my best friend this morning. Oh gosh. And a year ago, she was diagnosed with a rare disorder. I'd I I don't remember what she had. It's and she said I was holding her son as they were bearing, you know, her her his five year old son while she's bearing her in the ground. And she's just like, it was a horrible day. Yeah. She's like, I I just didn't wanna go home yet. And she's like, I just wanted to come out. And when you played those songs,

those were her three favorite songs. Oh, man. How so it's like, how did you know to do that? And I said, that's god working right there. Yeah. And we hugged, and she left, and it was just like, wow. That's I didn't see that coming either way. Right? Yeah. Nobody thinks you can worship with Oasis. That's awesome. That wonderful Especially Oasis. Still still got it. Wonder Worship. Oasis. Especially Oasis. They're like, god. It's not worship music. You stop that right now. They'll be so mad they found out god used them. Like, if you're gonna play for god, do champagne supernova. Oh, wow. That's super cool, man. That's awesome. Yeah. Alright. Well, so, thank you so much for sharing tunes. I think, Dirk's gonna do one more kind of once we get toward this is how we keep you. We keep you by telling you that Dirk's gonna provide more ice cream at the end of the show here. And so so big thank you to to Dirk so far for for sharing your story. He's gonna hang around too. So if you hear him, he's gonna be chiming in on the conversation as he sees fit. Alright, Mike. Tell me about this. Your wife says you might be mad at the lord. You said, I think I am. It's hot in here, fellas.

This isn't the start of, a Nelly thing, is it? No. I hate that. Oh. Just a little bit. Hey. Duck started it. Okay. So, anyway, my wife sent me a text this morning,

and she asked very plainly, like, are you are you mad at god? And I'm like because, like, it's not been, I don't know, four, five days, six days, almost a week. I don't know. Probably less than that. But

I I'm God's been very generous to me in allowing me fences to, you know, be in my bible every day. And I'm I'm in a bible study with somebody that requires, like, a daily reading and and some prayer time and then a separate, you know, just bible reading on my own and, like, a a drive of which I, you know, can can pray or listen to my thing. And, like and God has been just very generous in helping me get into a rhythm with all that stuff.

And for some reason, like, I don't know, last Tuesday or Wednesday or whatever, like, I just started taking inventory of all the things around me, and I'm like, you know what? Like, this I think I think what what finally broke the camel's back is somebody was I was talking to somebody, and they're like, you know, I'm just having a hard time believing God even exists. And I'm like, you know what? I can't take any more of this. You know, like, literally, like, people, like,

have been shown his glory and the difference that he makes in the lives of of them and the people around them. And a completely ungenerous heart, which is the one I had at the time, is like, I can't take any more of this arrogant approach to denying God's existence. I'm just done. I'm done listening to this. And a lot of it like, this is just gonna have to be me admitting some things. Mhmm. A lot of it is me lumping a lot of things together and seeing a lot of

God's promises yet to come true. Yeah. Things that God is things that God is good and faithful for, where his character proceeds his glory until, like, you're patiently waiting on earth for God to redeem a thing.

And I think I was just one more not yet away from being done. Not with my relationship with God or anything, but, like, just I just was not and so, like, last Wednesday shows up or whatever. I have my bible study, and I have to admit to the person I'm I'm like, look. I

didn't read it today. I I can't you know, I don't have a ton to talk about. How was your week or whatever? And then Thursday, I skipped it. And Friday, I didn't go pray up at a bench that I pray at every day. Yeah. Every day, I pray at a bench. And Friday, I'm like, I I just don't want to. Do I really have to do this every day? You know? Sure. And then Saturday comes same story. Sunday comes along, and I go to a church that I don't normally go to, and I'm like, you know what? I'm I'm my relationship with God has been feeling a bit funky. Maybe getting out of my normals and going to have a big worship, you know, and, like, listening to someone else preach, and I'm like, I this is this will and I went by myself. My whole family was six. I was by myself. Yep. And I'm like, this would be great, and it was good, but it wasn't it wasn't the thing. You know?

And so and I told my wife about it. I'm like, because God had been he had been specific about one thing, and there was an addiction that he wanted gone. And

it's a level of whatever. It's smoking again, fellas. Here it is. It's smoking. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. So, anyway, he he wanted it out. And for some reason, don't tell me why I think, like, he I it's not an audible voice, But, basically, I feel like god was basically saying to me, we don't have anything to talk about until you are ready to be obedient to the thing I've asked you to do. Because this isn't the first time the It's not the first time he was very clear the last time this came. Very clear. And he's always been that way. Right? Always been that way. It's not that it's the smoking that's the thing. It's flat out disobedience.

Yeah. And so and he like, he's not and and his heart is never feels jerky about it. It's always like, Michael, I want to use you to join me in these things, But if you're not gonna join me, I there's not what you know what I'm saying? What do you want me to do? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know? So, anyway, I did it. I'm like, okay. That's it. Fine. You're right. It's out. And and this was all last week or whatever, and I was still feeling the same. Still feeling the same. You know? And then, like and then so finally, I was telling my wife, I'm like, you know, she had she was praying and, like, she's still doing her bible study and still writing in her journal and still spending time with god, and she's like, you know, God really, I think, is is is leading me to look at this thing this way. And now I'm even more kinda irritated because I'm like, I quit the smoking like you asked me to, and there's nothing but not yets. It's not yets, and then you take my thing away that I love that makes me a patient loving person who likes to do long drives.

And so all of a sudden, that's gone. It's the thing that you know, it's funny, though, is it's the thing that takes the edge off the not yets. Yes. For sure. Like For sure. I I very much just just so we don't pass it too quickly, I very much sympathize with that. Like when you when you are when you are following Jesus's footsteps into crowds of mess and disobedience and difficulty, the places where the gospel is needed the most, you're gonna look around and you're gonna be surrounded by what you know to be good promises and the realization that a lot of them are not yet.

There's there is there is a weight that can come with those things. Mhmm. Because it's it's tough to watch. It's tough to watch things crumble in front of you. It's tough to watch people who you love, people who you've you have hopes for continue to pile stuff on their own head, to live the weight of those things, to make choices that otherwise harm themselves or harm other people. And like, there is a very even though you very much trust in the promises of God, there is a human weight to watch human suffering.

Yes. And so I I I think that is that is very human and relatable to not be able to at any given time, you know, continue to carry what feels like the pressure of believing in god's goodness and recognizing that they have not yet come to pass and trusting in that, but still having to live in the moment of which they weigh. I think that's I think those were all the things. Okay. Yeah. I think they were all the things. Okay. And that that yeah. I and you kinda said that, but I I just like, that's super relatable. I and I think it's very human. And, anyway, I just wanted to call that up. So, anyway, like, I've been you know, I've I would voice my frustration a little bit with with my wife. I'm like, well, at least he's talking to somebody in this house. You know what I'm saying? I'm half irritated. And I I know that I'm being disobedient, not even in the smoking thing. Right? Like, I was being disobedient. I wasn't

I I I couldn't even get myself to, like, actually have a decent prayer, like, to just talk to him. Like, I just don't want to. I just flat out don't want to. I gave you the smoking. You know what I'm saying? And we're, like, five days in. I've not championed this thing. I haven't kicked it to the curb and not let it own my life at all. We're five days in obedience, and I'm like, Lord, reveal to me the secrets of the universe. This is all complete arrogance on my part. Right? So this it's not lost on me that I am the problem. Right? So, anyway but I did not realize it to the extent until my wife texted me this morning. And she said, are you mad at God? And I'm like, why

would I be yeah. Yeah. I think I am. I think I am. I think that I'm I feel like I'm surrounded by not yets. And the problem is I am a central part to the not yets.

Almost like a lot of things that I like, that where it's either my responsibility to bring the gospel into that situation or to be the light in a in a darkness situation. What feels like I was the guy that god said join me in this thing, those are all the not yets. And so, like, I think that I'm like, I I know I'm the I know he's not the problem. I know if there if there is a problem,

it's definitely me. But I think the ultimate thing is is God's like, there is no problem. You're just in the not yets. Right. That right. That's a thing. But but, like, that's not how I was seeing. It wasn't from a maturity way of looking at it. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I'm sorry. I'm trying to phrase out because it immediately popped in my head,

is that you are not the purse even in all those situations, you're not the person who makes the difference. You're the person who knows the difference. You understand what I'm saying? Yeah. Like like, as opposed to the person whose responsibility is to carry the weight of changing all the bits of darkness, that would be the person who makes the difference. I I think, like, it's very, very possible that in any given or even all of these situations, like, it it's God's to do. It's the Holy Spirit's to do. You're the person who is there to not make the difference, but you do know the difference. And so you can recognize when thing is moving in God's direction and where people are not and to be able to to facilitate prayer for those things and to step into situations that obviously need it. But, like, it's a it's a responsibility carrying issue. Frustrated because, like, if, hey, I'm good doing all these things. Why isn't it changing? It had nothing to do with the things that you're doing. Like, it's not your responsibility anyway to make the difference. It just is responsibility to know the difference. I don't know. I'm just testing it out. It's a thing that popped into my mind. No. I think that's it's true. I think that's definitely true. Well, like, in a right humility

and, like, understanding, like, who we are in the equation. Like, we talked about this a little bit last week. Right? Like, it is so much a gift that when God invites you to be part of something and allows you to see it happen. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, like, the the center the the the part where you're the center part of that story is the fact that god loves you centrally and wanted you to walk through that with him. Yeah. Not that your bold actions or keen intelligence or suave way of speaking

was the mover. Right? Like and so, like, once again, I think, overall, I would not have realized how my seesaw had bordered on arrogance,

how my seesaw had gotten out of whack, where I was basically lumping all of the not yets together as if that was my whole world, missing out on the fact that I have a loving wife that loves Jesus that is still walking through this with me. That is a blessing. Yeah. A huge blessing. Like, it it colors my every day. That relationship covers my every minute that God has given me that person. Right? That I've I've the the person I'm doing a Bible study with just met Jesus six months ago, and I got to be the one to be to, like, talk to her about it and, like and baptize this this girl. And, like, it's a huge blessing. I've pushed these off to the side as if that is small and not a thing because I want I was focusing on the not yes. And so the truth of the matter was when she asked that question, I realized that, yes, that is that yes. I am mad at God

wrongfully, but still, that was the truth. That was my that was my posture. Yeah. But I think, overall, the reason I wanted to talk about it is is this has not been the first time I've been mad at god. Right? Like Sure. There's cycles. It happens. You know? But find me when I was 22, and I'd be mad at him for a year. Right. Or because I because the thing didn't go my way. You know? Or then fast forward another five years, and I'm I'm mad at him for, like, six months and then two months. And then, you know, was it a blessing to look five days down the road and go, I've been separated from God for five days for all the same reasons I'm normally separated from God,

but this time I got to see it in five days and not a year and not six months. Huge. And you know I'm saying? Like and so, like, even in its even in my even in the the the way that I've been seeing it incorrectly, kinda loving dad brings you back like this. Yeah. Do know what I'm saying? Yeah. That goes, Mike, come on. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. You're a big deal. You gave up the smokes. Not the point. You know what I'm saying? And so, like, it was it's it's

I guess maybe at this point that I'm thankful that I have a loving wife that's willing to ask me that question because, like, obviously, like I mean, we're on a a podcast talking about Jesus here every Monday. I show up at a youth I teach a youth group. You know what I'm saying? Like, I have I have things that I'm that my life is centered around as if Jesus works all the time in my heart. And, like, not very many people would ask me that question. We'll put it that way. Yeah. But my wife certainly would because she loves me and she loves him more. So the fact that that, like, I maybe maybe the broad stroke is, like, it's your heart's gonna do this every once in a while. We're kinda broken people. It happens. But to realize that he didn't move, and the way you feel about him doesn't change who he is one iota.

He just is. Yeah. And he's the same god he's always been. I actually think that this is you're most prone to this. Like, if this is not happening to you, you you may not actually be engaging in the difficulties of the world in which the gospel is keenly used to address. Like, there is a perfection out there, I'm sure, but like generally speaking, when you look around and you start interacting with the harmfulness of the things going on, like the poisoning of minds, the people who aren't eating that should have, like just the fallenness of the world around you, There's like a normal thing to go back to God and like, are you sure the balance of like where your grace and justice is hitting right now? Are you sure this is right? Because this is hard to watch. This is hard to be part of. This is hard to see my own fallibilities reflect in the lives of which I'm interacting with. And so like,

I actually think it is at least momentarily somewhat normal to to have a an earthly frustration with like, I don't know, of the not yets. Yeah. That immediately they call, like I don't think God's

got quibbling so much with the same thing that the prophets are quibbling about. God how long? How much? Why do you persist in these things? Like, why do you allow these things to go on? Like, these are the same things the prophets of God are asking. Yeah. And so that part's completely normal. It's it's like, it's not the necessarily the recovery time but like, those things prompt, where they prompt you to reorient and thank God for what he is and who he is, and so that you can see the situation rightly, then it's healthy. Where where it persists,

where it starts to separate you, that's where it becomes like, unhealthy. And that's that's where the where anger comes in. Because, like, no one goes, I was angry for half a second. Anger generally is is rendered because it's stuck. Yeah. They linger. You grab a hold of it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you hold hands with it, and you spend time together. Yeah. I only say that though because, like, I don't know. Like, if it's not occurring to you that you're not these things don't actually even hit you for a brief second, I mean, it's possible that you're not elbows and eyebrows and hands and feet in the situation of which you should be like, boy, there's just all kinds of worldly injustice, Lord. Are you sure? I feel like it's healthy. Yeah. Because here's the I like I think where it comes to head too is, like, I can even believe God's promises are good. Right? And I can lose hope in humanity to choose it. Oh, totally. Absolutely. Yes. Yeah. Easily. Right? So, like, does that put my heart in any different of a space? Right. You know what I'm saying? Like Yeah. I can be comfortable that god is good, and every promise he's ever made is true and right and full of mercy and grace just waiting for his kids to turn, And then I have to watch person after person not do it. Right. And I'm like, god, can you make them? Why won't you make them? Why won't you make them do this? He's got heartache. Because he's like, because I won't, and I'll show you why if you just walk with me. Yeah. Yeah. And and and lack of lack of hope is just, like, is never progressive. Like, it just doesn't if it doesn't do anything for you. It's not it's not it's not a practical good. It's not a relational good. And, like, think of all, like, just I I look at all various parts of our lives. Like, I could look at every guy in this room and go, there's a point in your life where someone could've looked at you and go,

whatever hope I had for that person's future is not good. Oh, totally. Some are different levels. Den was a patch stealer. So but but, like Well, that's going that's going back ways. I don't know why I feel like Dan and I were just put on opposite sides of that spectrum. Just being real honest about this. I know it wasn't expressly stated, but it felt like it. I'm just saying there's there's different licks in the ice cream cone here. Took some hubba bubba one time, and then there's Boova. Boova had a law and order episode written about him. But, you you know, like, just just just thinking of there's has to be people who looked at you something that's going on in your life and go, whatever there there's not really hope for that being a different life for that guy. And,

like, that was the hope that like, and then I look around the room and go, look at Dirk's life over the last decade. Look at look at Dan's life. Look at Buva's life now compared to even five years ago or something like that. Totally. Like, at all the things that God has you doing coming from some of the stuff that you and I have been involved in growing up. And you're like, who are we to take hope away from a scenario? Absolutely. And what would it have done if you would have rightly rendered it nothing? What if for you to be wrong is glory? So why don't we just choose you know I'm saying? And so, like, it's not even a practical good to be pessimistic and not hopeful in people's lives. And frankly, and I I say that because there's a practical good in just being optimistic. Yes. You approach people differently. Absolutely. There's some people where I can I won't even answer? Like, I've I've lost hope a lot of times, and when they call, I'm like, goodness

me. I don't even wanna pick this thing up anymore because I'm not hopeful about their life, and there's no practical good with it. Frankly, the way that I answer the phone, the way that I think about them, the way that I pray for them is way different when I'm thinking positive or optimistically about what the gospel does in their life versus someone who goes, Look, this guy's just chosen to give God the middle finger. Well, I mean, lot of people have. Sure. And sometimes that middle finger transitions to five on each hand and glory in the middle. And so like, what are we doing? Who am I to take that away from them? But it's hard. The weight of people's arrogance or rejection of Jesus, or like the practical good where you're like, hey, God's got me saying a thing, and then they completely reject it, and you're like, it feels this it's it's hard. Yeah. If if it was your own steam to keep up the the energy, it's But like, if it's God's thing to move,

and he is to be trusted, then the conversation and the weight of it is different. But it is a constant reminder. That's why we have scriptures that are so long. They're constantly saying praise him for who he is. He is the creator God. I mean, there those aren't just, like, oh, things that we say. They're reminders because we need reminders. Yes. We got short memories. Yes. Yep. No. That's absolutely like, that's so I was just about to say from the perspective of, like, being in my scriptures, the the change for me has been rather than reading reading a book of history to go, oh, this is a far off god that, like, I'm learning about. It's super cool that I'm learning the places he was at and all the people he interacted with and stuff like that. But, like, if I take that that back and go, how is this me being able to see the identity of my father and seeing the way that he is working within me now or around me now, and I'm reminded or shown that that he's been doing that since the beginning of time, the dawn of creation. Like, this is the same God that is the God of long promises

and of faithful men and women that were were instructed to wait upon him. They were to wait upon him for his timing. There are plenty I mean, Hebrews 11 is literally a study in how many people, like, did not see their promises come about, but, like, they still waited on the Lord through their entire lives for that, and they are counted to be heroes of faith because of the fact that they may not have seen it come to pass, but they trusted that God was going to do it, and he did. Yeah. Yep. Alright. So, yeah, I think I think some things to take away, Mike, from your story is

one, like, it's good to be the person who asks the thing. Yeah. The straight thing. I mean, be listening to Jesus about it. But, like, some sometimes you need it rendered to you in a very direct way, because we can even sometimes skirt around issues with God or not have the language for it that sometimes God provides somebody else. I think there's there's a lot of, there's a lot to be spoken though, Mike, of your of your transparency there. Mhmm. Like, the the self assessment that goes in, hey, Am I sure am I sure I'm not blocking God's like, what the things that God's doing in my life because either, like, there's choices that I'm making, my attitude towards it, and being able to get to it. I think that refinement is a work of the is the work of the spirit in your life. Yep. Or

sometimes, like, people just don't catch it. They're like, why why, oh lord, are these things not happening? And then after they, you know, bought a pipe and a porn and went on there with their name. A pipe and a porn. I'll be right back. I'm gonna go buy a pipe and a porn. And we're here at the corner store for a pipe and a porn. What's a Gross. What's a porn? It's an old magazine that's in the back that they put behind the auto traders so that none of the kids can see it. Look, dude. We'll sell you the pipe, but I I

mean I'm sorry. Do you have a porn? Is this is this your first time, friend? What's the intel webs? My corner store. The problem is is that modern modern sinful behavior is very much harder to pin down. I I ended up saying a porn because what I had in my mind was a pornographic magazine. Listen. Also very 1960. I would would like a corncob pipe and a hustler, please.

Sweet Moses, man. A piping a porn. It's the worst thing ever. We were doing good for, like, ten straight minutes. So Ben Ben comes in, oh, yeah. I'm piping a porn. It's so much worse. Value bill at send this up. That would number three, please. Can we Here's Charlie again. Can we just appreciate that that was not me who said that? It's true. I think we've been doing this for fifteen years, and Dan's had plenty of pipes and porns that he said.

This time, it's old Ben coming in. That's my fault. I've been under the weather. I think that's Oh, boy. I'm acting very Dan today. I'm acting very Dan. It's a good day. It's a good day. Okay. Alright. Moovie, you've got some you got a question on ask the pastor. Do we even have the time for it? Are we good? Yeah. Yeah. We can do it. I think this is quickly answered. Oh, well, hey. Tell me. I was gonna say, did that feel like a dig to anybody else? I'm like, hey. I have a question for my pastors. Yeah. It's a really stupid one. Yeah. But I answer real quick. Only an idiot would answer something. Yes. Yes. Sure. The book is called Yesure. No hard j's. Alright, so reading in Jeremiah 26 today, and there's mention of the prophecy from the prophet Micah, and we have that book that's recorded. We've got those prophecies recorded. But then later on in Jeremiah 26 into,

I believe, verse 21 nope, 19, you start to get this verse 20 says, There was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath Yearim. He prophesied against city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah. And so I was interested because

so so obviously there there are people here, there are Jews in this situation that are saying that, like, we know of this prophecy, but that is not a prophecy as far as I know, unless it's, like, tucked away in, a chronicles or a kings, and I don't remember it. Right? That, like, there's a there's a prophet of the Lord that we don't have, as recorded as a part of our our larger bible that we would we would call the 66 books of the New and Old Testament. And so I'm I'm interested. I I've I've heard the answers. I've probably given the answers, more as a regurgitation of something I've heard than an understanding on my own part of why it is that I can say with conviction

that I know that this is the breathed out word of the Lord in the 66 books that I study and not within some of the other books that are mentioned, even within the books that we have. And so I where's my confidence coming from that that I'm not worried that I don't have the the prophecies of Uriah to read? Well, I I think the the the most direct answer is, like, well, you kinda do. Right? So like like you have like for the things that gives you a perception that there's something else out there Sure. It's largely telling you that like we

the contents of whatever it is is largely present. Now, so the places where it's not is like what what if you get into the kings and chronicles where like, hey. Don't you know that you can read the rest of this and the Yeah. Blah blah blah. Recorded in the books of the wars and stuff like that. Right? By the way, is that just a Hebrew way of saying that? Because it sounds real sassy. Have you not also read within the book of the of the kings of the chronicles? Duh. Have you not looked in the annals of Israel history? The

book of wars? Right. I'd appreciate if you say annals. No. Let's say annals today. I'll take it to number four. I hate this restaurant. Sorry. So so so, like, it it rolls up into a larger question. It's like, how do I know I got everything that we're supposed to have? How do I trust that this is a full either a full representation or what is often the thing is is like, hey. How do I know that people didn't keep some things Yes. From the stuff? Right. And so I say it's

a quick answer, but it doesn't mean that it's a direct one. The quick answer is that there is a faith here. Oh absolutely. Right. There's a trust in God that the same Holy Spirit that has inspired the scriptures has inspired its collection. Yeah, and I think that's the answer I've given before, to be honest. And that is the reality. Now, as you dig deeper into those types of things, the question is what types of stuff might you be

missing? And like it tends to show up most in kind of these pseudo pavilion stuff in the the New Testament where like tell me about it's the gospel of so and so, the gospel of or the acts of Barnabas Yes. Or Gospel of Philip. Yeah. The the those types of things. And so there's this there's this broad view of, like, hey. Didn't a bunch of, like, old white fellas get together in a room in, like, the third century and, like, choose the books? Right. Here's what's in, what's out. Right. I mean, the kind of the answer is, yeah, but not in the way that you're thinking. So stuff manuscripts that we were able to. Yeah. Could they verify the authorship Yes. And know, it's just Was there actual degree of of closeness between this person that's writing this and actually Jesus of Nazareth and all that? Yes. That's right. It's more of like an affirmation. I will also just to clarify in case this goes too far on the old TikTok, like, most these weren't white dudes. Like, these were still, like, olive skinned fellas. Yeah. And so whatever thing you got in your mind of these predominantly, you know, Eurocentric dudes That is what they think. It's bunch of George Washingtons altogether in a room. Yeah. George, Patrick, what are we going to tell people Jesus said? For the same reason Jesus also was not a white man, neither were these fellas in the same area of the world doing the same thing. Just a few centuries later. Yeah. So go ahead, Dan. Oh, I'm sorry. I said at the same time, God speaks in a lot of ways to a lot of people at different times, and you look at the New Testament, there were people with the gift of prophecy. Like, there was no New Testament yet. It was in the process of being written, and so God was still speaking to his people in many ways through prophets,

and as apostles started writing things down and they started kinda being able to verify, you know, okay, this is from Paul, this is from Timothy, not from Fort Timothy, not from Timothy. But there were still prophets out there prophesying Yeah. You know, little bug tussle

Jerusalem, you know, suburb of Jerusalem, whatever. And, yeah, like like they say, you you trust the process. You trust how god brought it together. You trust that he was able to to to make sure we know what what what he wanted us to know. And and

Right because like this is his this is his connect well it's it's the living word of God right that we can trust that we are to see the identity of our father and and and Yahweh of of the people of Israel that like right like I I I believe that and I have a a trust in that as well I just and I that does make sense. Nothing none of that changed anything that I thought. I just I wanted to hear the the the breakdown of that Yeah. To make certain that I met one, was not missing anything Sure. As as I get asked this quite a lot more often than I ever thought I would, if I'm if I'm being honest with that. Well, and and and so I will say is like but the the the answer that, hey. The spirit who wrote it is also helped to codify it. Yeah. That you don't have a problem with, you don't have a problem with it because you've seen the spirit work. Yes. Exactly. This is trustworthy. Yep. You have a personal relationship with that. Right. For folks who don't have it, you're like, well, couldn't people have manipulated it? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. It it would have been possible if I did not trust that the spirit made sure that it was the case. Now, you know, we'll say from the old testament perspective, we see this pretty consistently as they start to find things like Right. They're seeing not only consistent books Mhmm. But we're seeing consistent language. Yeah. Like, this is why the Dead Sea scrolls were so important. Right. We get an affirmation not only of the text itself, like that matches, and then some of the even the translations from the Masoretic text and stuff. Even when the New Testament starts to split and kinda go east ish, west ish, like even a lot of that stuff still matches up as they start to compare things. So like, again, I I would say, and it's you can totally this is verifiable. Plenty of books that go out and do this. But like, these texts are reliable. They're far more reliable than a lot of the things that we are not questioning, like the works of Aristotle and Plato, and like, these things where, you know, your extant copy is is not as robust and it's not near as recent. Like a lot of the the works that we rely on from Cicero or whatever, like we're finding things that are three hundred, four hundred years latent from when they were written. The New Testament, people are validating. You've got copies of the thing within fifty, sixty years. Sure. You've got people who are writing other works who are quoting from those works within thirty, twenty, And 30 so like, I just, it's, it's, it is the most, the New Testament specifically is like the most robust and affirmed historical document than anything else you're holding onto from that timeframe,

or even, even within like five hundred years after. And so, it's a right question, but, like, the the history is on its side, the documentation and the and the robustness of it is on its side. And then, the the persistence of how it's been used over the over time frame through translations and stuff. Like, it's just it's stock Stalin. It's it's difficult to not have to, like, to question or not have to deal with the historicity of the New Testament. Right. And then they call everything else that bounds our modern society into question. Yep. Yeah. I think the the biggest one I've run into recently is the book of Enoch. Like, so many people wanna read the book of Enoch and talk about that lately. Like, it's weird how many people in the last three months have popped out of the woodwork like, hey, man. You heard about the dragons and Enoch and all this stuff about the and all that. Like, what? What is going on? Yeah. Or Nephilim, not Anunnaki. I would just go like, how's the sermon on the mount treating you? And then Yeah. And then we'll come back. You you've been to Matthew five to seven recently? Like, Enoch is interesting for sure. Sure. Yeah. But, like, I mean, I'm not sure we've nailed all the other stuff that are in our fingertips here. And so even if it was in the canon, like, maybe don't spend all your time on it. Let's how we doing the feed the poor thing and the naked stuff? That's true. The same situation is why I don't spend a bunch of time in Job one to two. Yeah. Like, I don't spend an insane amount of time and, like, wait. Satan was able to just go to and fro and then show up to the heavenly host in the courts and just be like, that one. Let's talk about your son here. And I'm like, what is going on with my life? So Yeah. Okay. It's I I would and then I think we've talked about this before, but, like, the things that tend to interest you the most are the things of which God is probably the least interested in right now Totally. In your life. And so, you know, make sure you feel good about other things before you start diving into that stuff. But I'm scared of dragons. Alright. Cool. You're listening to Live From The Path. Hey. If you got any feedback for us on the show, maybe you haven't asked the pastor, or you've got a better answer to something we've provided, or you think Dirk is great and you just wanna make sure that somebody knows. Hit us up on the old Life from the Path complaint line. (515) 517-0085. Call or text. That's the Bob Eisenhower Life from the Path complaint line. (515) 517-0085, and that's call or text. And, you can just again, it I know it says the complaint line because that's the most logical use for it given the context and how the show goes. But, again, if you love Dirk, like, can say, we love Dirk, and write it on your knuckles and take a picture and send it in, and that's fine. Will that fit on your knuckles? What? We love oh, yeah. Totally. That'll work. What? Okay. Try not to put one letter per knuckle. Per yeah. To ape? Yeah. Two hands.

We love Dirk. Like, love hate. Yeah. Okay. With a heart. Yeah. Yeah. See? He's it's happened before. Dirk knows how it goes. Okay. Let's give some advice, and then we're gonna do a tune from Dirk and then call it a day. Okay. Ready? Dear life from the path. A month ago, my seven year old son was struck by a vehicle while riding his bike in a crosswalk. Oh. He's fine now. His injuries were minor, although it was frightening. Police and paramedics responded quickly, and I took my son to the hospital to have him fully checked.

Later that day, a police officer came by our house with a new bike for our son purchased by the driver of the vehicle. He gave us a paper with the driver's insurance information and said something to the effect of, her address is on there too if you wanna thank her for the new bike. That was really nice of them. I was shocked that he would say that. I guess it was a nice gesture, but she hit my son with a car. The driver admitted to having been distracted. At the scene, she said she thought she hit a dog. I could go on, but suffice it to say the driver was a 100% at fault. I put the new bike away in the garage. My son saw it there and wanted to ride it. I held out until our insurance claim was accepted, and we went for a ride today. The new bike is not as good as his old one, but he was excited about it because it was of a different color. I'm so grateful that he's doing well and isn't afraid of biking again. My question is, do I have to write that thank you note? If so, can you please give me some words?

Okay. Alright, Dirk. We'll we're gonna let you kick off the advice here. What do you you write that note, or what do you think? That's yeah. It's conflicting there, isn't it? Because yeah. One one way or the other, I guess. So so did she did she did say that the insurance claim did go through? Yeah. That was She didn't say whether she wanted or not, but she did say it through. Not just say it went through. There's a couple things not adding up here. Well, yeah, to me, the number one thing, it sounds like that her son is okay. Yes. Right. Right. So I think that knowing that her son is okay, I think that was at least they they decided to do something. So

It's more than others would have. Yeah. You noticed that the police nor the paramedics took the kid to the hospital. She took the kid to the hospital. Right. Yeah. Yeah. The ambulance drove all the way out there and went, He's right. Good. Those guys won't let you do anything without putting a neck brace on you and at least setting you in a gurney. Okay. So you think the mom is suspicious? I so I'm just listening. Overreacting to her. Just listen how this particular violin plays. The cop shows up then an hour or two later with a new bike and says, this is a really nice gesture of them.

So now the police and the paramedics are in a conspiracy against you of trying to frame as if. Not only did you not take Jimmy to the hospital, you're on the side of the assaulter. Like, you know what I'm saying? It doesn't seem odd that the paramedics wouldn't have at least taken they take everybody in. And then the police show up as part of a liaison of of of, like, a a a outreach program and be like, that was super nice of them. Here's the insurance information. Yeah. You know, you can write them a thank you if you want. Yeah. They're getting paid to take your kid in. It would make sense for them to be like, yeah. Hop in the ambulance. So you think as opposed this woman's representing that, like, most parties are being insensitive. An alternative explanation would she would be that she's significantly overreacting.

Yeah. I think her son ran into another vehicle with a bike. Like, Mike, when when the deer run into you, that's what I think happened. Yeah. Or or or at what point I mean, as as a parent, I taught my children, I don't care if there's a crosswalk or not. If there's a car coming, it's bigger than you. Yeah. So you know what? It's gonna win. So so you you don't just go into a crosswalk because you can. Yes. I don't I don't go on the bike trails that are painted two inches away from the street, and I'm thinking those are stupid because a car is gonna run you know, some dude's looking at his phone or something. He's gonna run me over, and I'm gonna say, yeah. But that was my lane. It's like, yeah. But I'm still dead. So, you know,

that part of that's on you. You know, know, you know? Right. Use your brain. I kind of agree. I just I'm realizing my parents didn't love me. So I don't remember that conversation of like, Troy, now these cars are bigger than you. Yeah. And so you better not be out there. Yeah. I don't care what the law says. I don't care what the sign says. I think you'll be fine. People run stop signs. People run red lights. You never go into traffic because when there's a car coming unless you know they're gonna stop. You make eye contact. You understand they're stopping. Be defensive a bicycle. You can't get offended. Because they always say that. They're like, pedestrians have the right of way. Yeah. Once. Until they're dead. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Yeah. They get one shot at that. But I was right. I I was right. But then I'm like, right away. Guess you misjudged that one, Greg. So do you. Okay. So so let me maybe let's let's let's take a couple tranches here. What is your advice to this woman if you believe that she's overreacting, and does it change if she's not overreacting at all? And the situation is just as she explained it. Derek has to answer first. Doug, I think he will. I think so did you say what what do you think? Yes. Write the note. I

I think that there was initially obviously a lot of emotion involved there. As long as the kid is okay, and the the what what are the what are the police really supposed to do if the kid if the child's okay? You know, I guess the other part of the as my skeptical brain is sitting here thinking, do you think that the person that ran in that the that owned the car actually got the bought the bike for the kid, or was this the cops just brought something that said was a nice gift? Yeah. That's true. They took it out their stolen inventory. Yeah. Other than It's not nearly as I also don't love that it's not nearly as nice as the other one, but little teen is just excited because it's a different color. That's where I was that's where I was going with it. I'm like, just set it up. I don't know if anything's gonna, you know, replace that that bike. That is the most damning piece of it to me is the fact that she's like, it's not nearly as nice as his old bike was. Yeah. And I held out, and he was excited about it. But, like, I held out until we got that insurance claim back. Yeah. But now we're out right. I don't understand this piece. It's yeah. No. I would I would say you are not obligated to this human being, you are not obligated to write this note. Like, don't have to write it. I don't think you're gonna be a a discourteous person if you don't write it. It's whatever. The cop is is making a gesture because they've seen a lot of stupid crap happen, and they've seen lots of stories that don't end like this. Mhmm. And so they're very jaded to the world. And so that may have been the first story that month where the person did a nice human thing of, like, replacing the bike. And so they're like, wow. This person didn't actually murder someone, and I just dealt with this person down the street. I'm excited to see humanity is still alive. You should write a note. That'd be nice. Whatever. Don't write it. Write it. It's fine. I think you need to take a step back and and recognize what you care about in this situation because, like, yeah, you were probably upset because your child was hit by a car. Regardless of if they should have been in the road or shouldn't have been, I understand that. You're a human being and a parent. But, like, if it's been weeks and you're still fuming mad about this situation and holding on to these, like, super, like, I don't know, shallow thoughts about the situation, I think you need to take a step back and and wonder why you're so angry about everything in your life because I doubt this is the only thing.

Yeah. I'm I'm pretty sure that this kid pulled out in front of her. I wouldn't be surprised. You know what I'm saying? And, like, can you imagine if you were the person that hit a seven year old on a bike? Like, you'd feel terrible. Oh, yeah. Terrible. And so, like, you're just like, what I what can I do? Right? I'll pay the insurance money. Like, we'll get the kid a bike. Like, this sucks. What a terrible day for this kid. Right? Because even if they're not hurt, they're traumatized, probably. It's mess. You know? And so if let's say, you know, you take the the mustache twisting out of the driver and just be like, this kid you've seen kids? They just bomb right onto the road. You know? And so, like, I don't know. The whole thing smells a little funny to me. Agreed. Just just not quite adding up right. And so I think overall, I agree with Buva. If you don't wanna write the note, don't write no one wants to read your passive aggressive note anyway. Yes. So you should probably just keep the note to yourself. But, like, if you think that you're doing your kid any favors by not, like, looking at the reality of the situation, all you're doing is setting him up to be hit by another car. Mhmm. And I think that you're The power of life. You're not doing your kid any favors by acting like, you know, he's impervious to all consequences.

Yeah. Like, you got like, I mean, put put the same situation back twenty years ago. Be like, you shouldn't have been in traffic, Todd. You're out of bike, dude. You're lucky that woman like, I wouldn't I was not gonna buy you another You rode out in front of a car. No bikes. Yeah. Alright. Secular's advice? Secular says I The question was

let's see. My question is, do I have to write that thank you note? If so, can you give me some words? Secular. I can think of a few choice words, but no rule of etiquette demands you thank the woman for the bicycle that was destroyed because of her inattentiveness. Done. Full stop. Full stop. You know you know what happens when people are distracted? They say they were on their phone.

Like, they have a real specific example of how they were distracted. They don't just go, yeah. She admitted to being distracted. I was distracted because there's a kid in the bike in the middle of the road, and then I slammed on my brakes. I feel like now I'm a 100% sure that I'm right about this. This kid is to blame, for sure. Heard from secular. You know what? I am right. Yeah. I'm I'm 100% right. This kid is the cause of the accident, and I think his mom's trying to cover it up. I should you know what? I like, realistically, I would have the kid write the note. Oh, there you go. I would I would keep the mom out of it. She needs to do it therapeutically, but she's not gonna do it. But I would say let the kid do it because the kid seems to actually be thankful about it. Like of a new color. This is awesome. Yeah. That's so nice of you. And it right. And it shows And it's way better red anyway. It probably gives the person who hit him a chance to like, it should probably respond. Yes.

And it shows a kid how to work out a problem regardless of whether the kid was at fault or the person was at fault. It's probably be both in some regards. But, like, this how will though, you think? Yeah. Probably mostly the kid. In my world, the person who hit the kid should write a letter to the kid going, why were you in traffic? You distracted me, Timmy. You suck. That's what John Wayne would do. I got you a Schwinn from Walmart. It's $65. Coffee, and I didn't tell you about that. Burn my leg. I would have the kid do it.

And then yeah. Because the kid probably would. But I tell you what, man. Several years ago, ten, fifteen years ago, right in front of our building here, some kid went out in middle school, drove his bike out in the traffic, got hit, and died. And and there's a bench out there now with his name on it, and once a year, they bring flowers out there. And Wow. It's like, was it the kid's fault? Yeah. Probably. Was it the driver's fault? I don't know. I mean, you know, it's Driving on a road. It's both. Both have to do their job, and both didn't. Yeah. Yeah. That's You know? Called an accident. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. You're listening live from the Path. Thanks for hanging out with us this week. Let's do this. Let's finish off the night with the musical stylings of Dirk Vonstee, of not BUVA, for sure. Oh. That boom that beatbox thing that you suggested has put me off any suggestion that you might perform I started a band in the last twenty minutes called the right two, and it's just me.

Alright. I know unfortunately, Dirk laughed at that. Now I question his judgment. He's a good songwriter, but I I mean, I wouldn't I wouldn't don't take him to play the lotto or anything. Well, this is my first podcast, so I'm learning that it's all live. You don't know what to expect. I'll tell you this. We've been doing it for it's been thirteen years? Thirteen or fourteen years. Almost fourteen years. And I I don't I think you've done a great job. Like Oh, absolutely. We've not improved. And so I bet two or three more rigs, Dirk, you could take the place over. I would think about it. Fact, please do. Yeah. Hey. Just come on out. Did you guys see that the real Millie Vanilli is gonna cut an elbow? The real Milli?

Yeah. No. Like, the dudes. Yeah. The actual the uggers They're not dead? The uggmos. Wow. Like a Oh, the real Milli Vanilli. That's what I'm saying. What you're saying. Sorry. I was missing the point. No. The actual Milli Vanilli, not the not the handsome versions. Alright. Wait a minute. Hold on. Hold on. Just to clarify. The ones who are actually recording it, who's saying or the bodies? Yeah. The voices. Yeah. The voices. Real. The voices already cut an album. They were the original album. The bodies of the guys have follow-up album after all the crap. I didn't think about that.

Anyway Fake Millivanillis. Alright. What you're saying is we could be the new cover band. We could possibly be the new Millivanillis. Yeah. We could be the new Oh, we could be the new of an anthem called Millivanillis. Put on some moves, man. That's way better than the right two. You guys are right. This is good. Blame it on the rain again. Well, thank you, gentlemen, for having me on. This has been a it's been fun. It's been fun. I'm gonna it's 05:30 tomorrow morning. It's gonna come a little quick. It does. It sure does. It really does. This, the last song I'm gonna leave everybody with is is the first song that I wrote, when I sobered up, and it I started writing the song immediate like, within a month after I first sobered up. It took me a few years to to really kinda finalize it, and I had a good friend, Josh Dom,

at, worship leader at, Grimes United Methodist Church, Prairie Creek. They kinda helped to hone my, my picking skills, I guess, a lot on this one, and that was a very big influence. The song is called feel again. This is really raw, emotions and, what it's like in early days of recovery.

Opening line, got to breathe out to breathe in, and this is all about accepting that there is a higher power in my life. And at that time this time when I wrote the song, I had no idea it was Jesus, but I was ready and willing to change. Right on. And that's what it's about. So it's called to feel again. Got to breathe out to breathe in to stand and walk away Got to get down

on my her