And no one has seemed to take me up on it, you know? Do you think anybody's listening to you? Well, I don't know. I mean, they probably think it's empty talk. Well, there's just Mike just talking. He doesn't really want me in. Well, yeah, I want you to come in. Here's the thing. We're all about, actually, I'd like to say that we're all about diversity and everybody's opinions. But that's really not the case, right? We just want you to come in and say how you disagree with the Bible, and then, you know. We're about diversity.

I'm not wearing a hat. You are. You got a T-shirt. I got a button-down shirt. We're about different cultures. Boy, okay, you're listening live from the path. I got some ramshackle problems over here, fellas. What's happening? I don't know. I don't know what to tell you about it. Here we go. We got a heck of a deal going on tonight.

So here's the thing. I'm excited about the show. We are on week 19, proof 19 from goddessmagic.com. And if you remember the pitch from last week, I might actually agree with this one. I didn't read it ahead of time because I wanted to catch it live on air. But his proof 19 from goddessmagic.com is, notice that you ignore Jesus. And I thought to myself, okay, I think I might be able to get on board with this one. Also, we got three things. That's three things that you've got to know before you proceed with the rest of your week. You've got to know them. You need to hear it. And that sounds like something important.

It's only on Live from the Path. So we're going to hit those three things, things that you need to know before the week continues. Also, where are we getting that information? Well, it's coming from you. Okay, I'm ready. And from me and from Dan. And also, advice on Dear Live from the Path. We're going to be hitting that. Mike was at the Real Marriage Conference in Indianapolis. Uh-huh. It was a great time. So we're going to talk a little bit.

See if your marriage is more real for having been there. And see what maybe you pulled away. That's awesome because I don't see you as a marriage seminar guy. Yeah, actually, you don't come off as a conference guy to me at all anyway. I see you as the guy who laughs at the guys who go to the marriage seminar. A conference. Oh, ho, ho, ho. Here's the thing. What a Johnny Doofus. So if you don't know anything else about me, you should realize that I enjoy – there's a pastor named Mark Driscoll. And he's in Seattle, and he's really hard on dudes, and he's just rough. Like, he's no punches pulled, no lovey-dovey.

I think he's a good Christ-following dude. But he's just no punches when it comes to how dudes are holding up their end of the bargain when it comes to their marriage and their kids. And so this guy – like, the Holy Spirit convicts me of something fierce when I listen to his sermons, especially when they have to do with marriage. And so, like, I'm generally not a conference guy. I'm generally not a marriage – you know, let's go spend time together holding hands. But, like, that was not what this conference was, and I knew that's not what this conference was going to be. And so we went, and it really was. It was – I was glad that we went, if not only for the fact that my wife and I have been on vacation without the children since they were born in five years. And so just the time together to hang out with the wife and, you know, talk about some things and, you know, get back to being friends instead of coworkers. And I don't know. It was really – it was nice. It was a very nice weekend.

It was a nice time to reset and figure out why the God filter is the best filter and maybe not everything else to get caught up in. All right, cool. Well, we'll catch up a little bit more about that, see if there's anything specific you thought you could take away from it. Okay. And we'll hit that. Also, we got your chat, our advice on dear life and the path, and that should straighten us out, I think, for the day. I think that's plenty. Yeah, I think that's a lot going on. That'll put us in overtime. It just might. It just might. Hey, if you haven't had a chance to, make sure you check out the YouTube channel, youtube.com backslash life in the path.

We had a couple cuts from Double J. Mike, did you catch your show last week? I did. I listened to it. What were your thoughts? Well, here's the thing. I didn't see it live. Every time I'm out of town, I end up staying in some kind of rat motel where the internet can be outrun by the bugs in the ice bin. Oh, nice. And so, in fact, the hotel I stayed at last week, it had bed bugs. And here's how I know, because I came back from my work deal I was supposed to go to, and I came back, and I looked at the second floor. There was an open window and a mattress up against it, and the bug truck was out front.

And I said, hey, what are you guys spraying for? And he said, I can't tell you. I'm like, how many of those can there be? It ain't lions. You know what I'm saying? He goes, you have to talk to management. I said, oh, I really expected an honest answer there. And so I thought, man, this place has bed bugs. I've got to get out of here. Luckily, I didn't see any effects of those vermin. But anyway, I caught the show on podcast like I always do. And I tell you what, Double J is putting out some tunes now.

Like, I'm starting to get pretty impressed with his writing style, and I'm kind of excited to hear when his album comes out. It's in January, right? Yeah, yeah, shooting for January, EP in January. Yeah. Yeah, so it was pretty solid. But he's matured some in his musical abilities. Now, I'd say, on the other hand, that you have not, Dan. I have not at all. I've kind of digressed. Here's what I can't wait for. I can't wait for it until we get to the Dear Life from the Path. Because once again, I've been listening to the podcast so I could critique Dan.

And Dan's answer for every single Dear Life from the Path is, you need to get a relationship with Jesus, right? Yeah. And so is that bad advice? No, of course not. That's bad advice. Is that practical and helpful? Absolutely not. Someone would say, that's like saying, hey, listen, you need to get a better job. Well, how do I do that? I don't care. Just get it done. Same thing with, you should get a relationship with Jesus.

I feel like your advice could be more practical, Dan. Like, how do I start? I think I believe literally every time someone comes into my office and says, I need to talk to you about blah, blah, blah. I say, well, let's talk. And they blah, blah, blah me. And I say, well, here's the deal. So you need to get right with Jesus first. And then we can work on blah, blah, blah. Yeah, but what does that mean, Dan? Well, let's start out with, you know, going to Jesus for some little forgiveness. Let's forgive the past. Now we're in a fresh start.

We've got somewhere to start. And now we're going to say, okay, here's the principles that you've been neglecting from Scripture that has caused you to be in this problem. See, this is useful, Dan. We'll see. This is what I'd like to hear. Here's what it sounds like from your king chair. Get in a relationship with Jesus. You need some Jesus, okay? I mean, it's so obvious from right here where I stand that you need to straighten your ways. Anyway, man, I would know. Because look at me. I have a Jesus t-shirt.

So anyway, I'm excited. I'm excited. We'll see if Dan can get a fresh take on getting in a relationship with Jesus. Do you own or have you ever owned any, like, hip Jesus propaganda? Like, I don't know, bumper sticker, sweet bookmark, t-shirt, anything like that? I used to buy, when they used to have shirts at our old church when I was, like, 10, they used to say Christ on them with a shield, you know? Oh, yeah, yeah. And I always used to purposely wear them down to my grandpa's house because he was a minister, so he would think things would be up and up in our place. Like, that's the only shirt I wear. Every once in a while, I'd bust it out in high school going, okay, today's the day. I love Jesus, you know? And then I'd go and steal something or, you know, use a bunch of terrible words throughout the day, make fun of a guy.

It was awful, awful. I was, like, in sixth grade, and I had a t-shirt that was, like, a large thumbprint, okay, the whole big, big front. And there was a face on it with little legs and hands, and it said, God loves me. I'm somebody special. It's like a sticker they give you at the dentist. I wish I still had that shirt because it is so embarrassing to say that I ever – and I was proud of it. I wore it with pride. I don't see – I'm somebody special. I don't know how people aren't flocking to the gospel with these kind of evidences around. Somewhere there's a guy that was born without a thumb that's like, ooh. Ooh.

I've got a leg up on sinners. Ah, crap. I was trying to – so I was trying to think if I had anything. I don't think of any bookmarks. I got a – when I was little through VBS and stuff, I think I got a lot of crocheted crosses, you know, things made out of beads and glue and paste, things of that nature. The little nail-y on the board, yarn. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Stuff like that. Stuff like that. Weaving. But I don't think I've ever bought anything where I thought – because Christian apparel always is, like, way cool from eight years ago. Yeah.

And it's always epic. It's always epic. I mean, some kind of epic shirt with nails and blood and, like, got a bunch of weird stuff on. And, like, no one's going to walk by and go, hey, man, that's an epic shirt. Tell me about your Savior. Yeah. Like, it's just not going to happen. I'd say the last 30 years of my life, I've been awfully embarrassed of most, you know. You know, here's the thing. Whether you love Jesus or not, large screen print T-shirts are – they're creepy looking. Hey, do you remember – I posted on Facebook, had to have been, like, six or eight months ago, a giant shirt with a pig's face on it? Yeah.

Do you remember that? It was from the big and tall section of the Gordmans. I laughed at that thing for 45 minutes. Yeah. Okay? I went to the Indianola Balloon-a-Fest, and sure enough, here comes a guy trucking along in that giant pig shirt. And I go, woman, check that out. It's that giant pig shirt. And, of course, I said it way too loud. I couldn't believe someone would have bought that thing because I thought, come on now. I mean, seriously, who's going to put a giant pig right on it, especially in the double XL size? You know his wife is the buyer for the big and tall store, right?

His brother. Like, look, I spent, like, $8,000 on these shirts. You're going to have to wear one. That's a woman that's giving up on her husband who goes, you know what? I'm going to get him the pig-faced shirt. I'm going to bring it home, and he's just going to wear it. I no longer care what he looks like. Let's just admit it. This fits him. All right. Yeah. Not everyone's a lumberjack, all right?

Two XL, you're either a lumberjack or, like, really cheesy with the big screen print. Once you hit that size, you don't have any choice. It's done. All right. Here we go. Well, let's hit Proof 19 from GodIsMajority.com. See if we can come to an agreement on this guy. Proof 19 is notice that you ignore Jesus. Here we go. Jesus made a number of very clear statements about money and wealth in the Bible. For example, and he gave up a lot, so I'm going to truncate them. Matthew 6, 19, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. Luke 14, 33, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Matthew 19, Jesus answered, if you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor. Blah, blah, blah. Luke 9, 23, then he said to them all, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. Matthew 13, 22, the one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. Hebrews 13, 5, keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. Let's see, Acts 2, all the believers were together and had everything in common, selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had a need.

The man did a great intermoney on BibleGateway.com, and this is what he got. Here's his synopsis. The message is clear. If you want to follow Jesus, you need to sell your possessions and give to the poor. It is a very simple message and easy to do. Have you done it? The fact that you are reading this page would indicate that you have not. Most homeless people, and excuse me for the observance, but they can get to the Internet. There's a million of them at the public library over the noon hour. I would know because I'm skipping out on work wandering the halls of the public library. The fact that you are reading this page would indicate that you have not. Chances are you own a computer, pay for an Internet connection, guilty every month,

live in a home or apartment, have a car, etc. In other words, you live a life at a level of wealth unimaginable in Jesus' time. Meanwhile, billions of people on the planet live in startling, abject poverty. Why don't you sell everything and follow Jesus as he requests in the Bible? The reason is simple. Jesus and God are imaginary, and you know it. If Jesus were real, you would do what he says. So I'm going to categorically disagree with that assessment of what went down there. Basically, what he's done is, this is the same problem I tend to have when you pick a life verse and run with it, right? Like say, this applies to me when it really applied to somebody else. I'm not saying that. I think the overall sweeping principles of the Bible are, don't make money, you're God, right?

And Jesus talks about that a lot, way more than the verses he just cited. He talks about saying that you can't have two gods. You can't serve one and love the other, you know, whatnot. You can't serve money and serve God. So as long as your aspects are set on God, your prayers are meant to glorify him, and if your life is lived in such a way that is meant to, you know, show how great your father is, then your money will do what it does. You know what I'm saying? And if God blesses you with money, I mean, look how many parables he talked about, you know, with the guy with the ten talents, where they divvied up money, and the master left. The master came back, and he said, what did you guys do with my money? This guy says, look, I put it to work.

I made you ten more. And they said, give him more money. He's responsible. Same guy. The next guy, same thing. And then the other guy, they gave one talent to. He hid it somewhere and said, look, I was afraid of you, and, you know, I didn't want to lose the money. And so I just kind of hid it somewhere, and the guy's like, man, you're responsible with the one thing I gave you. You know, I can't bless you with any more. And so, like, there's way more. He's drawn a very narrow line in a very, man, Jesus talks about money a lot. Money in hell talks about both those things a lot.

And so basically all that to say is that the Bible does not specifically say that everybody needs to sell their stuff and give to the poor. What your money needs to do is glorify God. Some people who are responsible with their money and use it for the glory of God tend to get more money so they can continue to glorify God and bless others, right? I'm not saying that as a – I'm not trying to sell the prosperity gospel, right, where, like, if you – like, God loves you, he gives you more money. That's not necessarily the deal. If you're meant to minister to people in a lower income bracket, if you're meant to learn some lessons in humility, look, God does whatever he wants on all kinds of levels. That's like saying God hates missionaries, right? Yeah, that's not what I'm getting at. But I guess what I'm – you know, I mean, once again, you just need the full counsel of the Word of God, right? There's a ton in there, and none of it is contradictory, but a lot of it is, you know, directed at a single guy. The reason – like that one in – The Matthew 19 where he says, if you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor.

Yeah, so this is a guy – the guy that he's referring to is a guy that thought himself to be a very moral man, you know, but he also had a lot of money. And Jesus picked out the one thing that was standing between him and a life that is a submitted, humble lifestyle to the Word of Christ, right? Like God said – Jesus said, look, if you want to do this thing, you know, go sell your stuff and come on back. And the guy walked away. Yeah. He said, no, you know, like he did not go with Christ. So was Jesus right? Basically, it was the saying without saying argument. You know, Jesus said, okay, I'd love to have you, knowing full well that he wouldn't. And he said, look, go sell your stuff and I'll be here. Yeah, I mean, he just picked the – it's not that nobody can have money. It's that he knew that that was this guy's God, right?

He could, like, pick up anybody else and say, hey, man, give up your adultery. Give up your lady on the side and follow me. The guy's like, oh, I can't do it. And he's right to point out, so deny yourself. Deny yourself that lady on the side. Deny yourself that money that you are clinging to. You know, deny yourself that anger that you really enjoy. You know, that's – all he's doing is he picked out that guy and that was his God and he said, you've got to give that up and then you can follow me. Then you've done everything that I've asked you to do. And that's the thing that guy wouldn't let go. That guy is not every man. Every guy's got a God that is not God that he likes to follow.

And that's what Jesus is saying is you need to deny yourself that. Take whatever you've put on the throne in place of me, throw it off and follow and serve me, and then you'll be in good shape. For that particular guy, his problem was money. There are people that – now, it's hard for us to believe, especially in our Western society, that there are people that don't struggle with money. But there are. There are people who simply do not serve money the way our society encourages people to serve money and, frankly, most of our society that does. As much as we try not to, the basic nature of our lives makes it way more difficult. When Jesus is talking about, you know, harder to go through the – the camel to go through the eye of a needle, what he's saying is it's like, you know, you guys in this Western society, you're in a tough spot. The basic nature of your gig is that you're going to have a hard time not serving money. There are people in other parts of the world where that's just not the same struggle. Yeah, well, isn't that like almost a proof within itself, right? Like you take the freest nation in the world, which the United States has tended to be thought of in that way, and what have we done with our freedom, right?

We've created a money society, right? Like where money is, it's the highest and the greatest, and that's what you seek to attain, right? That's what we've done with our freedom, you know? And so tell me, if you want to try to point out that money is not the propensity for people to put as their god, we've been given the option. We had a free society. We busted loose. Everyone has free rights mostly, and here's what you can do. You can, you know, do all these things for yourself, and look what we've done, right? Everything is prosperity, and there's no – the humility isn't even built into you anymore. You know, you go through the public school system, the way that our economy works, the school. You know, you run through college, the way that it – what it takes to succeed in business. No one looks at the guy that says, look, he's a good husband.

He's a good father. He's responsible. He takes his role at church and within his community. Promote that man. They say, I want the guy that will deny all those other things and work here. That's the guy I want, right? And so, you know, tell me we haven't built a society that proves exactly what Jesus is saying. So let me ask you this. What do you say to the guys who are the ax guys? Like, we have modern-day ax dudes, you know, that are like, give everything up and live in some kind of hippie community. Your thoughts? I think they missed the point.

I mean, I really do. It's the heart of what you guys have been saying. You know, the problem – he's saying that because people aren't good followers, there is no God. The problem is there's a lot of not very good followers. Yeah, that's true. That's the problem. I mean, it's really the heart of the series we're doing right now at church, fan or follower. You know, there's a lot of fans out there, but cheers, yay, Jesus, he's a sideshow. It's really cool. Talk about the stuff he did. But a lot of people aren't willing to take the step and say, I'm going to deny myself. I'm going to get off the throne, put Jesus on the throne, and do what he says.

And that doesn't prove he's not existent. No, and actually – I'm sorry, yeah, I kind of missed your – Did mine stop working? Yeah. Okay, anyway. The ax thing, I find funny because, like, I run into these guys, right, who are like – you know, I think they're genuine followers of Christ, and, you know, and they're basically just trying to get back to, look, I don't want to be beholden to any type of possessions. I want to live in community with everybody. The problem is, good luck finding a community. You know what I'm saying?

And we went through that – Preferably a gated – I read through that Crazy Love series, you know, by Francis Chan, right? And he tends to gravitate that way about the, you know, why should we all have life insurance? The church should be able to take care of each other? And, like, he's right. That's true. And then I think, I couldn't – I wouldn't want that responsibility falling on me because I can't be trusted. You're in a league with a bunch of sinners. I'll take the contract with the company that has to turn it out than the good faith handshake of a bunch of sinners in the church. Right, look what – They're not going to show up.

Look what freedom does to people. They do whatever they want. It's not – I can't even save $20 a week to try to, whatever, buy a new vacuum, and you want me to save back $150 every two weeks to try to pay for your life insurance, take care of your lady after you're dead? 60 years now, yeah. I can't be trusted with that. I'll spend it on a new car when mine breaks. You know, good luck finding a community of believers where you can trust them. It's just kind of the truth. Well, even Jesus, you know, the dude holding the money strings, he was a thief. Yeah, right. Jesus' head accountant was dirty. What better community can you have?

Yeah, Jesus is the head of our community, literally. Crap, someone took the money. You know what, like, blows me away about that story? Like, I don't know. Like, the grace and patience of God just – I mean, sometimes when I really think about it, it just blows my mind. Because he knew the whole time the man was a thief stealing money, and he just put up with it for it to play out. It's like a guy who can't contain a surprise. Or, like, if you have really good news, it'd be better if you went home and told your wife face-to-face, but you can't hold it in long enough. You know, if you phone it in, it was like half the effect. A text? Yeah. I got a new job.

Instead of showing up with, like, you know, a bottle of wine, some flowers, and a real celebratory deal, you, like, cheeseball out, grab a Kit Kat, and text her. You know, you're a cheeseball. By the way, it's okay if I go to the gas station. We go. Right. Okay. It's deadly. That's me. I'm the cheeseball. I can't. I'm that guy. You know, I wish I wasn't that guy.

That's why Jesus blows me away so much is because, like, he knew Judas was stealing from him and, like, corrupting the ministry and whatever. And, like, every time, you know, especially when they're like, hey, let's go to Jerusalem. And Jesus is like, it's not time. I'm not setting – it's not time for me to be there. You can go. I'm not going. It's not time for me to go. You know, and he did everything with, you know, careful consideration and thought and patience. And I'm like, if there's anything more – like, I feel like after you get in a relationship with Christ for a while, you start to get the majors down, right? Stop worshiping money. You know, stop worshiping sex. Stop placing things on the throne that don't belong there.

But after a while, you start to get – like, see the characteristics of God, and you're like, I need more patience, man. Seriously. And sometimes I need to get righteously angry. Like that story where Jesus makes a whip and goes in there and tears up the temple. He didn't just show up with his fists. He stopped, looked at the situation, made a whip. And then with – He's like, hang on. I need, you know, 18 yards of that thread, please. Whistling, making a whip. Let's do this thing. I'm like, man, I would not be on the wrong side of Jesus when he's patiently made a whip and he's ready to tear the temple up.

It's like the – it's like going to get the switch kind of. Like you're anticipating something's happening. And if you see Jesus over in the corner and he's putting a whip together, I mean, it seems like it's just that – that's almost worse than the woman is to see you to make the whip. Oh, God, something's going on here. You know, the funny part is – This is going to end, Will. It's the side stories I find funny, right? Because – so Judas was the money changer of the disciples, right? And he was a dirty thief and he was cheap. And so I can see Jesus handed money over for 18 yards of whip and Judas is like, hey, man, I can't believe you spent all the money. And can you just see the look that Jesus gave him? Shut up, Judas.

I'm making a whip. It's like that nard conversation we just had. We just talked about this. We just talked about this perfume and you're like this everywhere. You know, the thing about that Judas story that kills me is if you think about it, like just before Judas goes to betray him, Jesus is in there washing feet. And who's dirty, nasty, like crap-filled, bug-nasty feet is Jesus scrubbing away, but Judas is scary. You know? And like you know – you ever found out something about somebody and like they don't know that you found it out and they come in and they're like all smiling around, having a good time and acting like there's no problem. I mean, in the back of your head, you're like, dude, I know what you said. I know what you did. I know the things that have gone on. And like Judas is in there bopping around.

He's got his dirty feet and is like, yeah, go ahead and scrub this thing, brother. How could you even control yourself in that situation? I couldn't believe it. Of course, he had the weight of knowing what he was about to do. It was bigger than, you know, a petty thing of Judas. You know, actually, but the bigger thing that's going on around me, the more likely I am to latch on to something petty just so I have control over something. That's why you're not God. Understood. That's no doubt, right? I'm about to take the sin of the entire world. You know, here's where it's included. Ready for like a candid revelation?

Like I am more likely to like look at something that I'm not supposed to, think about something when I'm not supposed to when I'm sick. Because like I can't control anything else. And so like my mind starts to going things that I can control. Right. And it's weird. It's terrible. It's awful. It's like a weird thing. You're not feeling well. Your mind's falling. You're like, what is this? I better have some more ice cream.

Yeah. Like I'll be throwing up. I'll be drinking chocolate milk. Like it's just ridiculous. The behavior you take to take. You're not going to tell me what to do. I own my body. It's weird. I'm not. I didn't feel well like two nights ago when I thought, like my stomach hurt and I thought, you know what? Forget it. I took like two big swigs and like how am I going to know whether it's chocolate milk or not unless I pile it on?

I'm getting better. I'm not getting better. You know, just to correct something the way that he said, he said when he was talking about the fact that you are reading this page would indicate that you have not. Chances are you own a computer, pay for an internet connection. Now, I would say that as a culture broadly, we probably do not take seriously enough God's – Jesus' instruction when he says, you know, I want you to help the poor. I want you to help the widow. Right. Like we are kind of like, well, we've got institutions for the widow. But like your job is to not give away everything you have so that you are then a burden on somebody else, right? That is – there is a point in which you become part of the problem. If I go to a homeless man or a group of them and I got, you know, $10,000 to my name and I give them everything, now I'm turning around and have to ask those guys if I can borrow a few bucks because I can't feed myself, can't clothe myself. I just gave them everything I had.

Your point is to – Jesus was not a burden on the people around him. Now, there are people that supported his ministry. There are a group of ladies that followed him, you know, providing support and caring for him. Right. They paid their own way. Yeah. But he was – but he's not a burden on other people simply for being generous. God provides so that you may also be generous to other people but not to the point where you're then becoming – like a guy who gives away everything and has to go from church to church. You're like, hey, can I – I mean, seriously, I need a few bucks. I give everything I could to an irresponsible man who spent it on weed. But so some of those people who, you know, take some of those verses the wrong way of it when he sends the disciples out or he sends the 70 out and he says, don't take an extra tunic, don't take an extra this, let people provide for you. But he didn't say go buck naked and ask for clothes when you get there.

He had something. Yeah. God was going to provide – yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. That's my input. Yeah. Is it working, Mike? I think I'm going to back up and you just haven't heard that. Okay. Maybe switch to that one.

See, here's where I think that – and I have a limited history because, you know, I'm not 900 years old or anything. But I remember in the – I'm pretty close. In the 80s is when I started doing the church thing. And at that time, all the conferences and everything were about – all these churches were ingrown and they're all, you know, heavy. Live from the Remax studio. They really hit the next generation. So they talked – they kind of – I don't want to say soften the message, but they kind of soften things up. You know, we need to provide donuts and we need to provide better music and we need to make a more comfortable setting. We need to look at our society and say, hey, make it more, you know, friendly. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, not like handshake friendly, but seeker sensitive. More inviting. All the seeker stuff. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The seeker is the ready thing. Yeah, yeah. And so what we've done is then we never – we made it comfortable, which I still agree with. That's why a lot of – we do a lot of stuff we do. But we never moved people forward. We just got people comfortable and kept them comfortable and said – you know, and we even – you know, a lot of people love a good sermon where you get punched in the face and you're like, yeah, you know, I like Driscoe, blah, blah, blah. But then still people go home and don't do anything about it. Driscoe, you listen to him talk at his church.

She sits there and screams at these people, quit having sex. And then they go home and go, come on, babe, let's go. I mean, it's like – You didn't really mean that. Yeah, that's what those other people – we're doing it okay because we'll get married someday. I mean, there's a disconnect somewhere. And there even was to Jesus with the crowds he spoke to. You know, there were times he drew the line in the sand and said, deal, here's the deal. And people left. You know, you're going to follow me. It's going to cost you something. And they get all upset.

I don't want to cost me anything. And they leave. And I don't know. We're not doing that in churches. We never have that drawn in the sand times where we say, hey, here's the cost. Or people just get mad and go to another church and do the same thing. Where there's better donuts. Yeah. They've got donuts there. I think I get caught up a lot in like – like you take Driscoll, for example. Like I see his sermons and I think, that's what we need, more hard-hitting, in-your-face type stuff, not realizing that they are ignoring him just as fast as they're ignoring anything else. Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? And so what convicts me is because I'm putting myself up to be convicted. You know what I'm saying? Like I'm putting myself up to the throne before God and saying, I need you to point these things out because I'm an idiot and daft and I ignore you and I want to know where I'm failing. Right? And so like those sermons convict me because I'm willing to be convicted. I'm saying, God, I want you to find them. The ones that are hiding, the ones that I don't see, the ones that I'm burying, the ones that I'm ignoring, those are the sins I want you to find and tell me because I want to stop. You know? And so it doesn't take much to convict me. You know, I'm easily convicted because I'm easily open to conviction. Now, there's still the same amount of times where I'll be convicted and go, eh, eh, you know, but a lot less.

It's getting less, you know? And so sometimes I look at the message or the preacher and I'll be like, your message is soft and it's kind of, you know, it doesn't affect me at all. I think you're being too lovey and not near, you know, you're a sinner. You need to repent. But then on the other hand, like even the repent sermons, people are like, you know, here's the thing. How many sermons do we have a year on tithing and sex? The two ones that nobody wants to talk about. Everybody complains. Everybody gets all hot and bothered when you do a sermon on money or a sermon on sex. Why do you think that is? Because you ignored the last one. Otherwise, we wouldn't have to have another one.

We wouldn't continue having sermons on sex and tithing if you'd stop doing both of those things. Stop putting your money as God and stop treating God's sanctity of marriage and the gift that he's given you as sex as your own personal carnival. You know what I'm saying? Do those two things within God's prescribed way of living, and we'll stop talking about them. You notice we don't talk about sacrifices anymore. You know why? Because you stopped doing it. So we don't have a problem. We don't have any sermons on you worshiping Baal because you stopped doing that. It's not an issue here. Right? We don't talk about things that are not an issue.

And so if you want them to be – if you're tired of feeling uncomfortable with the sermon, stop sitting. Stop sitting, and we'll talk about something else. You know? And I don't know. I can't decide. I go 50-50. Do I think it's the Holy Spirit that convicts you? Yes, I do. I think the Holy Spirit convicts you of sins. Do I think it matters how the message is delivered? I have 50-50 on that. I think the Holy Spirit can convict if you're willing to be convicted.

But on the other hand, you know, a boring guy doesn't convict me very much because I don't listen to him for more than about three minutes. You know? So I don't know. I'm 50. Some of it, I believe, is the human input. A lot of it is the Holy Spirit. I don't know. All right. Well, we were close. We were so close with Notice That You Ignore Jesus on proof number 19. We're walking through the 50 proofs from GodIsManager.com, and we were on 19. Notice That You Ignore Jesus.

I will agree to the extent that people do often ignore Jesus. Their lives do not reflect a desire to follow Christ or a blatant ignorance or refusal to listen to the things that he's asked you to do. He's taken it a step further than I think it was intended. And basically, you know what my broad question would be for him is he's quick to point the fingers at people that say they love Jesus and say, look, you're not doing anything to help these people. And I say, well, where's your moral standard that you are not helping these people? And maybe he is. Maybe he's a good guy. Maybe he gives money to people. But generally speaking, you know, for all the fallibilities of someone that loves Jesus and cannot or does not otherwise do everything perfectly that they should in their Christ-following life, we've got a top-notch moral standard of which to aim for. That I know of. We don't move the bar and change how we treat people or shouldn't as far as where the bar is, regardless of where they've come from, what they've done, what their past looks like, even what they think of you. Just hate those that love you.

Pray for those that hate you. Wash the feet of those that are going to betray you. I said hate those that love you. That was a mistake. That was a mistake. You know, it was kind of like swap it. Something didn't work, but I thought, yeah, yeah, yeah, do that. Love those that hate you. You know what I'm saying? It grinded a lot. We've got a solid bar. I've got Bible verses that can support that.

Hate your father and mother and, you know, follow me. There you go. How would you like to twist the words today? So anyway, that was it. It didn't disprove God. It just disproved believers. I'm guessing he will. Obviously, there's a pattern here. He disagrees with God, and from what I can gather, I think he believes that Christians are a poor example of the Bible written, which I think we can agree on. But I also believe that he has a—he can't recognize the principles for what they are. How many people do you know that says Jesus was not the son of God, but he was a good teacher, he was a good moral man? Like, he's a step below that.

The guys that are willing to admit that he's a—that they believe his morals are right on, or he seems like a nice guy and prescribes a good way of living, he's not even quite there yet. He's a bit—there's a bit too much pride involved to even admit that something is positive out of that, you know, apart from the fact that—but, I mean, the same—the two schools of thought are still in the same bucket. It's not a good bucket to be in, right? Jesus is Lord, and that's it. But he's still—I mean, he's just being obviously obstinate. But, you know, most people would look at the teachings of Jesus Christ and go, he's basically saying deny yourself and live for others and for his glory. And he's not interested in either one of those things. So I'm guessing he doesn't have very many friends. Yeah, you know, he's unhappy. That's mean. I don't know if that's true. I'm just a guess.

Oh, man, here we go. So next week, we're on proof number 20, and it is notice your church. And I think we're kind of on the same subject. His opening line is, here are six important statements about wealth from the Bible. And then he lists some, and it says, now the next time you go to church, look at the building. So—and here's a typical church in Raleigh, North Carolina, and he gives some examples. So that's what we'll be hitting next week. We are in a multimillion-dollar facility. We sure are. Actually, the conference was at a multimillion-dollar facility, and it was awkward for me to be there. The seats were super comfortable. They had a light set up that's worth more than our church.

You know, and I'm like—and it's not like I was against it or anything, but it was just—it felt really weird there. Because, like, at our church, when I walk in, I'm like, hey, I wonder if somebody sets the lights up. Hey, I wonder if the speakers are working. Hey, I wonder if I should go do this. Hey, I wonder what's happening here. And it's been so long since I've been just a guest at a church, you know. Kind of feels creepy, doesn't it? Yeah, I just walked in, and I'm like, someone's already running the lights. Someone's got the sound covered. I wonder if they—no, they've got guys set up the stage. There's like 10 people on the worship band. I guess I'll just sit here.

You know what? I guess I'll just sit here. They don't need me. I guess I'll just wait it out. I wonder if they need a—no, there's a guy vacuuming the floor. Oh, well. I guess. You know, it was just—it was really awkward to stand and not do anything. Like, the break, I didn't get up and run back and see, hey, you should fix this. Hey, put my two cents worth on how something's not going right. You know, I just sat in my chair and thought, well, I guess someone will—of course, they charge $2 for a cup of coffee.

Free will donation, basket right next to the coffee. I thought that was a bit extreme. That's a no. Is that wrong? Because that's a no for me. That's a, I drink the coffee, and out of a free will, I give you nothing. Because coffee's cheap. Yeah. I think you should not milk me for coffee. Hold on. It didn't say free will. They just put a basket and then put the prices of the coffee on the basket.

Oh, man. It didn't say free will donation. Should I assume free will, or like, is that a direct $2 charge? See, technically, we used to have a little box or something on the cafe, and technically, at least in Iowa, we would have to pay sales tax. Oh? If we're telling people, yeah, $2 would be nice for a cup of coffee, then we'd better be paying $2 sales tax. Oh. The tax on $2 for each cup of coffee. So we just said, you know what? Hey, enjoy your donuts.

Free eats. If you want to help, you can throw some money in the offering box. Man. But we haven't said that for years. You guys have never heard that. No. You've been there around forever. No. So, no. I don't know. It was very awkward. Now, here's the thing.

They have a facility. They facilitate things like that conference. We couldn't facilitate a conference like that. You know, so I get it. I mean, you've got to pay for stuff, and there was a ton of people from out of town, and it's just like the state troopers, right? You built the out-of-state guy. You don't want to take money from your own prisoners. So you get a bunch of people from out of town, and you get some money out of them. But, like, I thought, I bought the, me and the woman stopped at Starbucks on the way up, figured we'd do something fun while we were out of town, like buy expensive coffee, and it was $2 for a large.

Same price as a church. I thought, okay, you guys are overstepping your bounds here. You know what I'm saying? You're not Starbucks. You're proud of your coffee. Of course, they probably have Starbucks coffee. I don't know. I don't do. There's free coffee everywhere. I don't, I don't, I don't pay for it, really. I suppose unless you want like a fancy coffee, but like straight black coffee, it ain't, you know, don't give me a bottomless cup for $1.80 at the Village Inn, and I'm going to pay

them $2 at the church. You love Jesus. $2 of Jesus money. If I love Jesus, I'll give him two bucks anyway. You don't have to sell me like, hey, you love Jesus enough to pay extra or over a board for this cup of coffee. You can buy, you know, at Sam's Club, a box of like 40 things of coffee, pots of coffee for like $18. So how many cups are in a pot of coffee? I don't know. I'm not a coffee drinker, so I don't, you know. A lot.

Yeah. It's 12. That's, that's cheap. Yeah. I mean, you're paying pennies. You know, you're, you're, you're. Coffee's not a. I feel like they're bilking me unreasonably. Although, I, I was in such a good mood, and I was hanging out with the wife, and I didn't care. Here's a five. Here's the thing.

If I'd have gone to that conference by myself three weeks ago, I'd have been so mad and so religious about that situation. I'd have kicked things, and I'd have been like, you stupid mega church, you know what I'm saying? I'd have been an awful person to be around, but like, this weekend was so full of me just being able to hang out with my wife and, and, and whatever, take it easy. I didn't care. I didn't say two words about it. It was weird. I, I expected to be very upset about it, and I was not. I'd have put a Jesus 20 in there and take 10 cups. Do you have to go? It was, it was, it was, it was, it was awkward.

You listen to Live from the Path. You can get just every Monday night from 10 to 11 p.m. here at livefromthepath.org. Also, if you want to see full, the full show, full video. I mean, the, and who wouldn't? The total production. You can check out youtube.com backslash the path online, and that's full production of the show. If you want clips, you just can't take the full throttle thing. I hear you. Go to youtube.com backslash livefromthepath, and those are just clips from the show, including last week, two performances from Double J, and we got some interviews from some of the folks at the local day.

A lot, a lot of bands that we've had on the show hanging out in there. The, the two year anniversary clips are hanging out there. It's, it's, it's worth checking out. Can you find that two year anniversary clip? It's, it's the, it's the first one on, uh, it's, uh, the, the featured video. Okay. Yeah. So, uh, and we got, uh, we got some guests coming up, right? I, I, isn't Lindgren coming in on, uh, 15th of October? Yeah, Kevin Lindgren, uh, his, uh, his EP's out. He's, uh, he's gonna be here October 15th. Kelly Johnson's gonna be here on the 8th, October 8th.

She's going on, uh, doing some mission work. Yeah. Okay, so she, she's gonna be here. We're gonna talk to her in the, uh, next week, uh, Bob Eisenhower. Yeah, Bob Eisenhower. He's my realtor. All right. He's coming in. He's coming in. I do. Is he gonna sell anything? I, well, I doubt it.

I might be buying. Not to these fellas. Oh, yeah. Uh, but, uh. Coffee? I don't pay for coffee. We usually go to the Altoona, uh, the, uh, Southeast Polk, uh, homecoming parade. The local high school homecoming parade. And, uh, they usually have a float. And I usually see him once a year, shake his hand, and, and he's always super nice. And I didn't see him this year, so I just figured I'd text him. Say, what's, what are you doing with yourself, Bob?

I didn't see you, you know? And I'm like, do you want to come on our Jesus radio show? He said, yeah. I said, great. We'll see you there. That's awesome. So I'm pretty excited for Bob to come on. All right. Well, excellent. We're gonna see Bob next week. Yeah. See what he's got to say for himself.

Uh, so here's the deal. Here's the deal. I'm gonna give you number one. Uh, there's three things that you need to know this week. Don't go another minute without knowing them. And I'm gonna give you number one. Dan's gonna go second. Okay. You guys aren't ready, are you? Well, kinda. I've been thinking. I think, I think I know what I want to say, but I think it won't fit whatever guidelines you've set up in your head,

and then you'll… No, no, no. So here's the direction I gave these two guys, and we might even keep this up. So the thought is… I come up with a new one every week? Yeah, a new one every week. So let's say you had an audience, 10,000 people, um, who gathered weekly to hear something that you had to say. They wanted your direction for the week. Like our Life on the Path audience. Just like this. Just like this, right? But it's Pope style.

I guess in my head it was Pope style, right? You go out on the balcony. You get to actually see them. Instead of them seeing us. You get 10,000 people, and they gather weekly, and they want to hear, like, what is the… What do you want to say to them? What could you say to them? What could you share with those people? And they say, look, what do I need to know this week? Now, you either have a couple instincts, right? Is to say something like, like, do the armpit fart or whatever. You're like, ha, ha, ha.

That never crossed my mind. Send them out in style. I've got to be honest. Send them out in style, right? You can't do it in long sleeve anyway. Anyway, you, or say something real broad, like, everybody this week, love Jesus. And that's great. That's Dan, that's it. Yeah, okay. You need a relationship. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking, like, this week, what do you have?

What could you, like, is something going on in your life, something specific that you give an example? And I'll tell you mine. And this is what I was thinking. Like, if I had 10,000 people in front of me, and mine is advice. Mine is advice. And my advice, the one thing you need to know this week from Ben Foost is, listen to people's stories. That's my advice to 10,000 people this week. And I'll tell you how I came to it. I was watching, you guys seen the movie In the, or The Gray? It's about, like, a bunch of oil dudes who are, like, heading out into the Alaskan

wildlife for oil drilling or whatever. Their plane goes down, half of them die there, and then these pack of angry wolves are just, like, picking guys off. Okay? So, like, what do you do with yourself? I watched… That's a fairly recent movie, right? Yeah. Yeah. I watched The Gray. The Taken dude. Yeah, yeah.

Liam Neeson's in it. Okay, so we're watching this thing, and, like, they fought off. A couple guys have been eaten by wolves. There's five of them left, and they're sitting around this campfire telling us, like, talking about stuff in their lives. And the Liam Neeson guy, his wife is gone. Like, you give the impression that she either left him or she's dead, one or the other. Okay? So he's kind of by himself. And he's gone through this harrowing thing, plane crash, saving a bunch of people, wolves picking people off, and he's sitting around the campfire telling stories. And I thought to myself, like, let's say this guy gets rescued, okay?

And there's a lot of to-do, and there's articles in the paper, right? And then he goes… He eventually goes home, and he goes into his apartment, and he sits on his couch, and there's nobody to tell this story to. And I thought… And, like, there's a bunch of people who died in this movie, and the thing that made me, like, sad was, like, this guy doesn't have anybody. He doesn't have anybody to tell this story to. He doesn't have anything to share. Like, he just had this epic experience, but, like, a bunch of stuff going on. And I think, like, all the different ways that I want, all the things I want to share with somebody and tell somebody, and, like, this guy's going home, and there's no one

to listen to his stories. And, like, that was a fairly shallow thing, right? Because it's a fake scenario in a movie. And I thought, think of all the people out there that don't have people to tell their stories to, like widows, you know, or… Nursing homes. Widowed guys. Yeah, people in nursing homes. People who tell bad stories. There were people… Yeah. No, I thought about that.

I thought, like, people that don't tell very good stories, and, like, no one wants to listen to them tell their stories. And their lives go on, and there's, like, people that are single, right? They're not married. They've never been together. They're not with someone now. And maybe they don't have any friends. Maybe they're jerks. I don't know. But think about that, like… Hey, man, your bleeding heart is going to sit there and listen to some really, really bad stories for the next 50 years.

I know that, and to 10,000 people, that's what I'm saying, is I'm saying, shut up for a minute. I see what you're trying to do. Just shh. Shut up for a minute. You're trying to sell books. Listen to people's stories. Let people tell you their story. Let them share information about themselves. Like, there's something… They will never open up to you. Like, the easiest way for them to open up to you is to allow you to open up to them.

Let them just start sharing pieces. People are real selective about what they decide to talk about, what they decide to share. But, like, if you're just a person that listens to people, like, listens to their stories, lets them talk, especially people who don't have stories to tell. And your people that tell bad stories, you want to step in and be like, dude, let me help you tell this story. Or like, oh, and they're, like, stuttering around and you're like, you're answering for them. Don't do that. Let them tell their story. And that would be it for me. For some reason, like, that's what hit me this week.

He's like, you know what? Just live a life where you listen to other people tell stories. You'll get to tell yours. Your anecdote can wait. I'm sure it's ingenious. But just hold off and listen to people's stories. That's it. 10,000 people. That's my thing. You need to know this week is listen to people's stories. That's beautiful. I thought it was going to be religious-focused because he said the Pope.

No, it very well could be. And I think a lot of times it will be, right? Like, my life, it will probably come from Bible reading or, like, interactions with people. But I actually think that's a lot of it. A lot is part of it is, like, it's very difficult to impact someone's life, even for Jesus, if they think they're just a number. You're just a person that's just trying to get you involved in their church or in their program or to make yourself feel good about helping other people, right? Like, people can benefit from that. If you want to give out canned goods to guys you otherwise don't care about, but it makes you feel good, still give the cans.

We'll work on your motivations later. It helps the guy, okay? But, like, generally speaking, you know, like our God is imaginary guy, there's something at the crux of whatever his issue is, right? He's got some kind of problem with God. Something has happened. Somebody around him has poisoned his mind, whatever, right? I'll never know what that is. He's not going to type that out. I'll never know what that is unless I know the guy. And you know people because you listen to their stories. You listen to them talk.

I say, actually, you look at his story, and it's obvious that somewhere along the line, he's prayed for something that didn't happen. Yeah, but why? Probably a loved one passed away or something, and he's mad at God. That sounds like, like, there's something at the root of that. But, like, you know, there's people that just, they don't have anybody to talk to, and that's a very lonely thing. As much as it, like, stinks doing things on your own, you go on a walk or whatever. You know, there's things that are lonely in the world, but, like, thinking that even the experiences that I do have, you don't have anybody to share that with. I must be getting old or whatever, but, like, that seems like a, that's a real downer. And being a person that can see that in other people and listen to their stories, I don't

know. I think you can really, you can really see changes in your relationships if your first reaction is to listen, and your first reaction is to ask and be interested and to listen to people to other stories. That's actually true, because you're almost forced to have a more intimate relationship when you already know something, somebody already knows something about you. Like, I talk differently with you guys than I talk with some guy I just met, because you already know that about me. There's no reason for me to rehash it. So, for me to even have any type of conversation with you, it's going to have to be deeper than the last one I had, because otherwise, what do you care? You know, like, have you guys met my wife, Jara?

Yeah. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I can't do that again. Pray for her all the time. Right. So, yeah, I think that's probably a good advice. All right. There you go. There you go. So, Mike, you've got to…

Actually, mine is biblical. I was… I ran into… In fact, I ran into this a couple times this week in my Bible reading, but, like, the Lord's really convicted of me, and I don't know why, but it's stop giving up on things, and more aptly, stop giving up on things that you're asking God for. Like, there's two parables that Jesus references with persistence, and they seem like such ridiculous examples to me that I think they're hilarious. There's a guy, and Jesus tells the parable where he comes knocking on the door, and he's like, hey, I had a traveler come over, and he just came in, and I don't have any bread for this man. Can I have some bread?

And the guy in the house is like, absolutely not. The door's locked. The lights are off. The kids are in bed with me. I ain't getting up. And Jesus says, now, is that man going to get up and give you the bread you asked for, you know, just because you asked? No, but if you continue to knock on the door and don't leave the man alone, he's going to do it just sheerly to get you to go away. And I think, is this how my heavenly father works? Because I have some fantastic ideas. But like, what was the other one?

It had to do with a woman. Oh, two bits. Anyway, both of the parables, since I can't remember the other one at the moment, that one specifically. Oh, with the judge. Yes, the one with the judge, where he's like, give me this justice, give me this justice. And he's like, I tell you what, woman, if you just stop asking me, I will provide this justice for you. Just to get you to shut up. And I'm like, these two parables really speak to a different kind of God to me. I didn't realize this, that he is easily irritated after five or six attempts. But, like, there's some things, you know, some upcoming events that I anticipate in

my life and some things that I would like to see changed. And they're all godly ambitions, but they're just not anything I can do on my own. And so, you know, I'll remember them on occasion, pray for one, and then be like, well, he's got it. God's got it. You know, and I read those two parables and I go, it's not how he says for it to go down. He says, keep asking. Keep asking. I hear you. I heard you the first time. I'll hear you the 10th.

And it's not because God likes to see you grovel or likes to see you beg for things. Basically, he's developing a relationship in you. He's developing a deeper talking level and he's developing a deeper relationship with you where he knows what you want. He knows and you recognize that he has the power to do these things. And it's just persistence. Like, Father, it's you submitting your will. Like, here's what I want. Your will be done. If that's cool, I'll take it. If it's not going to work out, just show me where else to go. What are we going to do today?

You know? It's hard to know when do you know that, like, okay, God said no. Sometimes he says no and you just stop praying for something. Or when he's saying wait later, you know. Right. That's why it's just hard. You know, and I think, because I thought about that and I thought, man, what if I'm way off base here? What if this is never going to happen? And I thought, you know what? I'm just going to keep asking. Keep asking.

If it's not a sin and it's not against God's will, I'm just going to keep asking. He can keep saying no. Yeah, and he can keep saying no. And he, what is it? Oh, man, I should have had a Bible verse. But, like, he never angers. You know what I'm saying? Like, he just, he never, it's never, he's tireless. He's like, I'm going to reach out and slappy around. Oh, it's quick. I'm so tired of hearing that. Mike Foose.

Tell me. Tell me, there's a name I put on the wall of every single prayer room we have ever had. And it's someone I had prayed for and prayed for and prayed for for 11 years. Okay? And every time I think, ah, do I put the name down again? It's like the same old name. And, you know, I kind of go through phases where I'm praying more regularly and then I kind of forget to pray. A week and a half ago, this guy comes up to me and says, hey, what time is your church? Like, uh, 9 and 10.30. We're coming. Like, this Sunday. Okay.

No, they weren't there. But I also noticed no one was home. So I think they were like, there was something. Yeah. They traveled. But I just thought that was cool. I mean, it's like they've suddenly, you know, fallen over and I'm going to be a Christ follower. But it's like, wow, that was a big deal. Well, that's a huge deal. Yeah. You know what, actually, Dana, and as I struggle with this sometimes, is that my list of permanent prayers gets really long. Yeah.

Really long. Stuff that I'm like, you know, like the people that I know that don't believe in Christ or the people that I know that could really just use God's help. And when that list gets so long, I tend to get frustrated with God. And good or bad, that's how it happens. Like, I have so many people that I think, I've got to pray for these people. They need Jesus. You know, and then, like, it'll seriously, it'll take me 45 minutes to get through these guys every night. You know, and actually have any heartfelt, persistent prayer about them. And so I thought, I either have got to start, I don't know, like, I can't decide. Like, I don't want to cut anybody off the list. You know, and I've already asked Christ about it. You know, so, I mean, God knows that was my heart.

But I want to be persistent. And I want to say that's the deal. So I think probably what's going on here is Jesus is, the Holy Spirit's convicting me of my lack of prayer time. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't need 45 minutes at one sitting. But 45 minutes throughout a day is not too much to ask. I should probably be 45 minutes talking to my Savior. I don't see anything wrong with that. You know, and so I would just split it up a little and maybe not do a marathon at nighttime. I'm more of a conversational-based relationship as opposed to, oh, this is my prayer time. At my buddy Bunyan, you know. We need you, John.

Bless the missionaries. They're so greedy. When we had Danielle, our youngest, and she so badly wanted a brother or sister. And, you know, at a certain point, we thought, ah, it's time to have another one. And then we lost one. Then we lost another one. And then we did the fertility treatments and stuff. And it just became evident. We prayed, prayed, prayed, prayed, prayed. Okay. And every single night, we have our prayer time like you do with the girls now. We do.

We did that. And every night, she's praying, praying. God, I want a brother or sister, blah, blah, blah. And I remember one time thinking, it just came to our realization, Cheryl and I, he said no. You know, it's okay for him to say no. And it was just the most heartbreaking conversation of my life. I was going into my little girl's bedroom, and she's praying for, you know, a baby brother or sister. And I said, you know, sometimes God says no, and we're pretty sure he said no. And she kind of looked at us like, well, I'm going to keep asking. And I'm like, it just broke my heart.

Because I was just convinced it was no. And I said, well, you keep asking, but, you know, it's okay. It's okay. Sometimes he says no. And I bet it was six months later. After we dropped maternity coverage, thinking God said no. Well, look, you're going to have a baby. Crap. But, no, that was good. What kind of lesson do you take from that as a dad? Like, are you screwing me? Seriously?

You know, I'm submitting, okay? I think you said no. I've done everything I can do. I'm going to let this thing go. And then, like, your little kid's like, ha, who loves you? I'll show you. We'll see who has faith around here. You should read Luke 5 again. Persistence. Ah, man. That's always been cool. It's always been a special bomb between the two of them.

No one, you know, hey, you know, mom and dad kind of gave up. I prayed for this thing. Yeah, it's like, you're my responsibility. You prayed for it. Get her out of here. That's right. You take her to the dance. Get her to clean her room. You've been listening to Live from the Path on livefromthepath.org. Ben, what was the YouTube rundown again? You can catch the full versions of the show at youtube.com backslashthepathonline. If you just want to see the clips, you want to go to youtube.com backslash livefromthepath.

And get to podcast. Where do you get to podcast? You can do it from the website. Go to livefromthepath.org. There's a little podcast, man. Give them a click. Here's what I'm going to do for you. Or go to iTunes. We're on iTunes. Yeah, for you mobile users, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to throw a link up on the main livefromthepath.org page. There is a way, if you don't have Flash Player, like if you're an Apple user, to watch mobile

YouTube through your web browser. And so you can watch the live show. Because otherwise, if you have like the YouTube app, you cannot watch that, the livefromthepath broadcast from the YouTube app. So you have to go to a certain site for mobile users. And I think we'll put the link up if you're an Apple user or a mobile user that you can start to see the live stream if that's something you're interested in. If you have an iPad or something. Yeah, if you have an iPad or an Android phone, I think it's the same way. Cool. We'll get that set up for you. Do you want to know my thing?

Yeah, yeah. Let's have it, Dan. That's my thing. I put a lot of thought on this. Mine would probably be a challenge. It's kind of my personality. I think if you've got 10,000 people gathered together and it'd be like, they're doing whatever. It's like, and fight. It's the best seat in the house. I've got 10 bucks on the people on the left. I think it would be two words. Wake up.

Especially when you put people in a big crowd, a big mob of people. Society just kind of voles itself into a sleep. You know, I mean, we listen to music that we think is popular because somebody in some suits and in some room decided this is what we're going to make popular. You know, it's not like because they like the music. It's because someone told them you should like this. And our whole life is that way. We wear the clothing that people tell us we should like. You know, and it's all a game. All of life is just this big game. And the warning would be just wake up. You know, I mean, you get into political stuff.

Wake up and really look at what's going on. And you look at your spiritual life, wake up. Just wake up. That'd be my challenge. That's true. Take a fresh eye. Yeah. At something, you know? Yeah. You know, I remember this from the last prayer room we had. The theme was awakening. And there was like the thought was to go through and find verses that kind of fit this.

And I remember there's one in Ephesians 5. And it's like, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said, wake up, O sleeper. Rise from the dead. And Christ will shine on you. And I like absolutely love that verse. The thought was like, I'm just, you're asleep. You're or dead in the things that you have going on. You're like, you're not an active participant. Things are just like happening to you. And you're like, wake up and Christ will shine on you. I'm like, how awesome of a thought that is.

But you got to open your eyes. And quit living in that world that you live in that is just so not Christ shining on you. Exactly. All right. I'm with you. I'm with you. Anyway, those are the three things you need to know this week. All right. You want to hit one deer live from the path? Yeah. You got to. Yeah, let's do it.

That happens to nobody else. Seriously. I'm long-winded. You're boisterous. I'm very concerned. Deer live from the path. I'm very concerned for my henpeck son who is expecting his first child. He works long hours, 50 plus a week, at a low-paying job with one-hour commute. His wife works part-time, 10 hours a week. The problem is, their tiny apartment is a pigsty, and she doesn't clean or pick up. She expects him to do it all, and he tries while she reads and makes baby quilts. How do I tactfully, quiet now, listen to my story, how do I tactfully get her to do her

share now before the baby comes and she expects my son to help her even more? He is totally overburdened, stressed out, but seemingly happy. Until I saw the condition of their apartment, I had suspected it was bad, but had no idea how bad this situation really was, despairing mom in Connecticut. This woman makes me sick. And this guy is a total pansy. She needs a relationship with Jesus. Holy cats. Seriously? My poor son, what, she makes baby quilts and stuff? He's a total mama's boy. She's meddling.

She's totally meddling. He's nothing. I think you need all three mics. Forget it. Here's the deal. He's not a mama's boy. She's overbearing. You know, it seems to me this man has done his best to get away from this situation by marrying a lady, and she refuses to jump on board and, you know, get the who's or what's it out of it. It's not her business. It's not her business.

That's not your business. My son is overburdened. He's overworked. I'll tell you what he is. An idiot. Any guy who works 50 hours a week with a one-hour commute that pays no money, that's a dumb job to be in. You know what I'm saying? You get a low-paying job around the block. Exactly. And if they're in an apartment, they can either move closer or get a better job. Maybe it's a pig's guy because it's small.

You know what I'm saying? I mean, you can only put crap so many places. And, like, I don't want to blame this all on the fella, but seriously, put your mama check. Tell her to stay out of your business. And, listen, if the man likes to serve his wife, maybe she is. Maybe she can't. Maybe she gets physically sick and is too embarrassed to tell everybody that she's having a rough pregnancy. Whatever. There's a million things to explain why this gal is sitting on the couch and this dude is working a terrible job.

In either case, it's none of her business. Or maybe he's working such a long-hour job with an hour commute because his wife also is overbearing and he's just trying to stay away. Yeah. Maybe he just… What a crappy life that guy leads. He's surrounded by overbearing women. I'll put him on the permanent prayer thing. It's 46 minutes, whatever. You know, that would stink if you had to go through your Rolodex. Who's going off the prayer? Who's going off the prayer?

You know what, Grandpa? You're done. You know what I'm saying? I've wasted too much time on this thing. That's terrible. I don't know. Yeah, I think that's butt out. I think that's my straight-up advice for this woman is to let it go. I think so. It's just not your problem. Okay, here's… Unless he has specifically said it's an issue, then the two of them need to speak.

Yeah, still butt out. Just tell him to go back and talk to his wife. Okay, here's the secular advice. Not knowing your daughter-in-law, I can't judge whether she is lazy or whether the reason she isn't doing more around the apartment is pregnancy-related. You say your son is happy. Be grateful for that. Rather than tactfully getting her to do her share, why not volunteer to help them until your grandchild is on a regular sleep schedule? It would make you appear to be an angel instead of critical and bring the three of you a lot closer than you appear to be. I disagree only to the extent that if this woman is what I think this woman is, telling

her to go in there and meddle in their affairs is a terrible advice. Yeah. Excuse me. Do you have sheep's clothing in a size 10? I got some work I need to do. She'd be in there rearranging the cabinets and… No, kid. Is this the soap you buy? This isn't good for me. My son deserves much better than this. Even though he works for eight bucks an hour in Cleveland, which is three hours away, spends all of our money on a one-hour commute like a doofus.

Would you put that baby blanket down? What kind of east sider doesn't have a plunger? Everybody has a plunger. I'd go ask your neighbors, but they're filthy. Just like you guys. You're listening to live from the past. We may have unfairly characterized her, but… I feel better about myself. That sheep's clothing joke is funny. We will see you next week. Bob Eisenhower is going to be in here. Here's the deal.

We're going to see if we've got three more things that you need to know next week. And we're going to catch up on, what is it, week 20 on godsmanager.com. We're pumping right through. It's another long 30 weeks and we'll be done. This guy will… God will still live. All right. Thanks for listening. Have a good week. Check us out on the podcast. Thanks for listening.