Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper. You are live from the path. And you're listening too live from the Path coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston Proper. It's good to have you here on a crisp either Monday or Saturday night depending on when you're listening.

I suppose you could be a podcaster, and you could be kinda doing other stuff. Yeah. I might listen to this show on Wednesday night. Yeah. Yeah. Hey. I appreciate it. In the morning. Appreciate that, Dave. Yeah. Thanks for listening to the show. I'm just saying. Morning, day, and or night. What? Thanks for listening to the show morning, day, and or night. Oh, okay. No. That's true. You could do it any of the any of the above. Yeah. Who gives a flip? Anyway Alright. What do we got? Here's here's what's going on the show tonight, on Life Path. First of all, a big heads up on on be watching your Twitter, alright, this week. Tonight is the night after the show. We're gonna figure out when we're doing this hibachi hibachi buffet. Oh. There's there's a there's, like, there's a buzz. And so we're gonna get that nailed down. That's happening within the next two weeks. So heads up. If you now here now here's the deal. When I say, hey. Like, I'm inviting y'all out to the hibachi, don't don't read that as me saying I'm paying for you to come out to the hibachi. K? That is not what's happening. I mean, I I may or may not love you, but even if I do, it does not mean that I'm going to buy you the buffet. Okay? I would love to see you out there, but we just we don't have that kind of scratch around here. Yeah. I mean, you've heard the program, like, we're probably a $45 program, and that's that's that's not enough to cover everybody for for hibachi. Alright? So I'm afraid you're gonna have to buy your own buffet.

However, I would love to have you come out. So anyway, keep an eye on Twitter, and and we'll be throwing that out sometime this week so you can hopefully, you can meet us out there. What's going on the show tonight? So we're on number six of the guy that wrote an article on on time.com. It's what I gained when I lost my religion. Number six is getting Sunday mornings back. This seems shallow on the offset, but, we'll take a look at it. We'll see what, if number six is a viable reason for, for, you know, going REM style and losing your religion. Also, we got a couple popes in the in the studio. Buba's got some pop style. Dave Herrick's got some pop style. Mhmm. Okay. And if if you're unfamiliar with the premise of pop style advice is, some ne'er do well has pointed people to your place, and have mistaken you for the pope. So And you come out in your undies and your bathrobe, and you have to give them something,

like the pope would when he stands out on that balcony, some sort of advice or words of wisdom, that are also true in your life, so the people will get off your lawn and go away. That's the Pope's style. We got some advice on dear, dear life from the path. There's woes of the world, and, and we're here to help. And, also, if we have time, I wanted a quick touch on that, the hubbub in Houston, with the sermons. I thought that, yeah. I mean, I've heard I've heard like a million people talking about it. But, you know, it's what gets the ratings, boys.

Houston sermons. It gets the Christians riled up Everybody's talking about when you talk about it. Oh, yeah. They listen to your program. And because we're only a $45 program, we've we've gotta reach out for the people. Put some baloney out for people to come. Alright. So a little wrap up with this time.com article. Again, we're doing what I gained when I lost my religion, and we've gone through one to one to five. Some things that he's gained since losing his religion. He's got a peace of mind, a rediscovery of a love of learning, the ability to accept people I formally judged, less judgment toward myself

for something. And I give credit where credit is due, both to others and to myself. And last week, we kinda talked about, it was just kind of a weird example why you wouldn't recognize a good job when it came from somebody when it when it happened. Mhmm. I don't know what and and I think of the ones that we've heard so far, we had a little bit trouble parsing out where that's coming from unless he he's just overreached. He's taken something that perhaps he misunderstood to begin with and then moved it entirely into to an unnecessary column that most people don't act like and then called that kind of the issue. Mhmm. So, but anyway, his number six is getting Sunday mornings back,

as something to gain when I lost my religion. Here he says, of course, It extends beyond that once you consider how much a person's life can be spent investing in things like prayer, worship, bible study, witnessing growing membership, or attending conferences, which teach you how to do all these things more effectively. After you give those things up, you realize just how much your life you get back. I never resented my religion for the amount of time and effort it took up. I enjoyed it at the time because I believed all of it was pleasing to God, and that's all I wanted in life. But now that I've given up the ghost, so to speak, I see that there are so many other valuable things toward which I could be devoting my time and energy. It takes a lot of time to worship Jesus, Buva. Yeah. It definitely does in a good way. I I agree with where he's coming from is a believer loves what they're doing and enjoys the fact they get to spend time. But I'm sorry. If you think that you're whittling time, it's more important than spending time with people that that genuinely

wanna be around each other and wanna love on each other and serve each other and care about each other, I'm sorry. You are you're wrong. Ultimately, I'm that's just wrong. I can't imagine me wanting to spend more time at my house watching movies than spending time with people that genuinely love me and I I genuinely love. I don't have to have the whole Christ following thing

involved in there for me to spend time with my family that my my church family, if even if we weren't Christ followers, spending time with them and feeling love would be enough for me to spend that much time. I just I don't see it. I see it from a community standpoint on top of I'm spending time with with investing in the church. It's not just that time that I'm I'm trying to get or put stuff into. I'm getting out of that time. This is just like the guy who who says, man, I'm so glad I finally divorced my wife because I used to spend all of this time with the love of my life, with the person that completed me, my soul mate, and now I have time to go fishing. Yeah. Exactly. I have a lot of time to work on the car now. Yeah. Okay. Good for I to play solitaire now on my phone. Yeah. And Yeah. Well oh, alright. I recently took up Scrabble a lot. It's like, I don't get it, man. I just don't understand it.

I I'm upset by the fact that he identifies just Sunday. It's like Yeah. Really? Sunday morning? That was it? That's the extent of your spirituality? That might explain. Didn't affect the other times of the week or anything else like that? He didn't give up much. Yeah. Sunday mornings and conferences. It's like, okay. So you had one hour for God each week, and all the rest of the time you were doing your own thing. Something's missing in this thing. Yeah. Yeah. So like if you're following God appropriately, basically, to the to the tune of what Jesus calls you to do, your reaction to finding out that that if you've discovered or believe that God is not real is that he wrecked my life. Mhmm. I mean, that's the right reaction. Yeah. It's like this fake God ruined my life. Yeah. Right. Not, oh, man. He took a few hours on Sunday for me. I lost an hour every week and then four hours every six months at a conference. Yeah. Really, man? When when and you're when you're truly in relationship with someone, a community of believers or or, you know, Jesus, like, or your wife. I don't I I can't tell you how many how much time I spent thinking about or being with my wife last week. I mean, I I I it's you you just enjoy it. You just do it. It's it's an extension

of your of who you are and and and and your life. And the same with your relationship with God. It's just I I I can't tell you how much time I spent in a bible reading or or, you know, then it's just a bunch of boxes you're checking. Oh, I did my prayer time. I did my bible time. Yes. I think that's where he went. This one kinda explains itself to be a 100% honest with you. I've been in that place where I've spent the hour every week, and I've spent the couple hours every couple months at a conference before. And I would agree that was a waste of my time. In some aspect, what I mean is I had to get to the point where I was truly invested. I was invested in my church as a believer in Christ and as a person that was a part of the community until I thought that time was valuable. When I was only spending an hour every week, I thought that was a waste of my time because I didn't have a true relationship

until I jumped in and truly started believing that I was a follower of Christ and part of the bride of Christ, part of the community that was my church, started giving rather than just taking, I started seeing worth in all that time. And now I can't tell you how much time I spend every week in church. Just like I wouldn't be able to tell you how much time I would spend with a girlfriend or with a wife. I I agree with that entirely. The fact that you only spend one hour every week on on Sundays and spend some time and then spend some time in those in those wonderful conferences every six months, seven months, that may be where it comes from where you thought that was a waste of time. Yeah. You weren't filling yourself with god's love. You weren't allowing god to overflow your cup because you weren't spending enough time with him.

It's it's it's it's counterproductive, and that's the reason you thought you were not investing good time Mhmm. In my thoughts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's just I mean, it's true that that he he's saying a very general thing about something you may have committed time to that you're no longer committing time to. But but to the extent of of ultimately where what Jesus is calling you to do with your life, this should have a much greater impact than what he's representing. Yeah. Not not having it be a greater impact would would make you feel that that perhaps mean, that's exactly what was is is is the type of thing that you'd say either either this is the best thing that's ever happened to me or it has ruined my life. It's it's kind of one of those options. When when Jesus says you give up everything and you follow me, it will either be totally awesome or complete disaster.

Mhmm. And it won't just be a minor inconvenience. If your religion is a minor inconvenience to you, you might as well give it up. Like, that's really what he's calling to. And I don't you're actually you're getting the worst of all worlds. You're getting the the non relationship aspect of Jesus and probably a a what is a restrictive morality from someone you don't know. And you're pulling time away from, you know, ping pong or whatever it is you do with your life. Yeah. Mhmm. And so, I mean, that sounds like it sucks. You should probably change your ways and either jump in or get out. Yeah. If I spend an hour every week going to a council meeting for the county that I'm not involved in that has nothing to do with me, And then I said, I'm done. I'm done going to this county meeting. I no long I don't I don't even live in that county. I'm sorry. County meeting? A county meeting. Whatever. You know, it's a everybody does. Everybody. Yeah. Everybody has the county meetings going. Whatever. You don't you get what I'm saying. If I spend an hour okay. Fine. At a city hall meeting, and they're talking Let's go with city council. City council. Example that is a, real, and b, For put my all of our listeners who can relate to this. That's how noninvested you guys are in your county. I go to those county meetings. Hey, y'all. We're having a county meeting.

Yeah. What county do you think of? We're we're going to a county meeting today, and we're gonna be so it's city council meeting. At different times of the day. A city council meeting to a city that I have nothing to do with, that has nothing to do with any of my surrounding area, and I spend an hour there every week. Yeah. And then I finally decide, I'm done. I'm no longer going to the city council meeting. I can understand that from the concept of, well, yeah, you just got an hour back. You no longer have to go to that. Yeah. You weren't getting anything out of it because you weren't putting anything into it. So same situation here. Yeah. This guy is not putting towards the effort that he needs to, that god calls him to do so, that that Christ commands us to do is spend that time in in our relationship serving people, serving our community, praying, reading our of actually knowing him more, not just reading the words. He's not investing his heart and his time into it well enough to get anything out of it. So I can see where he's coming from, and I feel bad that he's wrong. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. County meeting. And and I and also, I would agree with him that if I've always wondered people who really don't

believe why why do they waste so much time at church? Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, what a waste of someone's morning. If they're doing it for religion or Thanks, lukewarm. I'm a spit you out. Yeah. That's fierce. True. But fierce. Yeah. I don't know. Like, I actually I I I struggle with that, actually, with with people that I know. And I'm like, what? She really what are you doing here? Yeah. Apologize for that time. That was me. To have you, but but I cannot figure like, you make bad decisions in life. Yeah. I I it feels weird to say, hey. Coming to church is a bad decision, but I don't understand reasonably what why you walked into this building. There's there's better places to get donuts

without people surrounding you. Like, I mean, basically, you're trading about an hour of your time for a free donut and some friends. I'm like, you know, I don't know. It might not stop bugging you. Okay. Alright. Anyway, that was that was number six. Man, he's he's kinda going downhill. Was I was kind of impressed with him. I think he put a I I think he put a lot into the first four, and then it just kinda started fading a little. You gotta get to 10, man. No one likes to listen to it. Oh, wait. Hold on. No. He's got 11. Yeah. Oh, crap. That's his editor's fault. That's no. That's his that's his play against the 10 commandments. He was a god does 10. I do 11. Yeah. And I one up him. I see

you. I see your loss. 10, and I raise it one. Someone hasn't read Deuteronomy. Alright. So anyway, next next week, we'll get to number seven. Oh, crap. I kinda wanna do this one a day. Better health. He has better health now? Wow. Ever since I stopped drinking the communion wine.

Shoot. We're gonna see what happens. We'll make goat access today. Those donuts We might talk about that later. Those donuts really do pile up. See what goes back to. I invested an hour every Sunday, and I got two free donuts. You know how old that communion bread is? My physical I I I can't read it. What was that kneeling? It hurts my arthritis. I'm gonna have to let that one slide. Alright. So we got a couple rounds of Pope style advice. Buva, why don't you fire it up? What what's your Pope style this week? Alright. There's no easier way or more simple way to say it than god is he's incredible. He's amazing. Just to make sure that that you guys did hear, the premise of Pope's advice once again is

there is some random dude that keeps telling people that the Pope is nearby, and he's he's talked to thousands of people and told them, hey. I know where the Pope is living. I know where he's staying right now, and it's John Bubba's house. You need to go get advice from him. So I've got a couple thousand people on my front doorstep. They're not gonna leave until I give him some piece of advice that means something to them and is actually gonna get them off my lawn. So here we go. You need to trust god. And I know that's broad, and I'll explain a little bit of the story, but you need to truly trust god. We use the word ladies on this program. Booba, don't be so interested.

My apologies. So and I mean that specifically right now in this specific situation of finances. I will say that very recently, I've been in in a little bit of straights, and I won't go in too much depth into that because, obviously, I don't wanna give you too much personal information. But I I had some issues,

and I kinda broke down. And I had to to pray about that, and I had to reach out to people and kinda kill my pride when it came to a couple things. But within months, God has flipped that from me praying to him for resources to me praying to him to take my resources and send them where he wants me to.

I didn't hit a lottery. I didn't hit anything crazy like that, but I I was talking to a couple people before the show. In regards to math, I've been doing a lot of it, and it's not making sense. And I I know it's not based off of my calculations because I've gone through them, and I've had other people go through them, and we're just not figuring this out. But for some reason, God was able to take the same amount of money and flip that from me not having any to me having a lot to give away.

And it's such an amazing thing. I've been able to or I I shouldn't say I've been able to. God's been able to use me to bless more and more people, and it's so incredible the way that that god's been trusting me with a little bit more and a little bit more Yeah. And showing me that that if you invest yourself and and if you care and and if you're able to be a manager of little, he says he can he'll make you manager of of of much. He'll he'll give you more to to manage and to to steward, and and

it's so incredible the way that I've thought about that for years. And I've thought about money and and finances and tithing. And I've thought about, you know, what am I supposed to do with my extra cash? And am I spending too much money on me and not enough on other people? And God has shown me an avenue to be able to use that money and then blessed me in the process. Somehow, I am spending more money on other things that have nothing to do with me, yet I walk away happier. And I cannot stress that enough because I know that money is one of the things that for some reason stresses us more as people than a lot of other situations.

And a lot of people get are angry about their budgets and about, you know, with anger with their spouses on what's going on with with the budget and how they're gonna pay for things. And I have more joy in my financial situation now that I'm giving more. And I cannot say that without truly meaning it. It's insane. I I if I talked to myself a year ago and said, you're going to give more money than you ever have, and I'm not trying to boast there. I'm trying to boast for god. But you're gonna give more money than you ever have in your life, and you're gonna get more joy out of that. Yeah. And it's so incredible how god's used that. And I cannot stress that I'm not saying this so people think that I'm a great guy because I'm not. I'm stressing this and saying this because god needs to be glorified through this.

He has done such an amazing amount of work in my life and in my finances and in my situation, showing me where I can help and showing me his loss. And through the financial situation, I've been able to talk to more people about Jesus Christ than I have in years. And I'm presented with a biweekly situation where I can just walk up to a bunch of people and talk to them about Jesus or just talk into their life. And then on top of that, God's saying, it just doesn't happen on this day. Look at my people here. Yeah. Look at my people here. See them here. See that there's need outside of your organizations and outside of your meetings and your events. Find my people and help them.

Help them for me. You know they're there. They're always going to be there. Help them for me. So I guess I kinda made, like, six or seven points, but, ultimately, just trust god. He is so incredible. He knows your heart and your needs more than you could ever even imagine, and he's going to care for them more than you could ever even imagine. We I mean, it's just it's so incredible the way that he finds our needs, and he shows us what they truly are, and he takes care of them. And I have never seen that played out in my life so much as I have in the last couple months. So trust him. Place your trust in him. Trust that he's gonna take care of you,

and he truly will. He loves you enough to take care of you. Now that doesn't mean he's gonna take care of you in the way that you have designed. You have to let him do it in the way that he has designed, and let yourself be joyful through that. Now get off my lawn. Now get off my lawn. Yeah. You know, you know what's interesting? I was I was actually listening to something on the way here

that was covering, you know, parts of parts of Matthew, Matthew six about not being anxious. Mhmm. And and a lot of times money is the is the root of that anxiety. And and this part is is getting to this this follows where he says you can't serve God and money, and he's talking about not being anxious about your life. And and I think the linchpin here is sometimes we want we wanna believe very strongly the don't be anxious. God will provide

food and clothes Right. To the things that we want. And then we ignore the fact where he says, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. We we just want the food and the clothes to show up. Yeah. Yeah. We wanna be taken care of. We don't wanna take care of others. Yeah. And, like, there I mean, there is I I don't know if trade's the right way to work for it, but he's saying this is this is out of this these things flow, not god show me the food and clothes that I may give them. He's saying, you know, pursue

pursue me, pursue righteousness, pursue the work of the kingdom, and I'll take care of it because you're doing my work. And I'm the king and I fund work that I want done in my kingdom. Yep. Mhmm. And I I I think sometimes sometimes we miss that. We like we'll at these and say, I've never just stood somewhere and God delivered clothes. You know? But

think of the think of the people that are that are the other excuse me, that are on the other side of God's work in John Buva's life. Mhmm. That guy was standing around and clothes showed up Mhmm. And food showed up because Buva's pursuing righteousness. Mhmm. It's happening. Yeah. And so I don't know. It's just interesting. I think I think sometimes especially coming from a from a perspective of where we we

need very little and we provide much for our own, that section of scripture is like is very creepy for us because we're like, that just seems like miracles where where clothes appear and they don't appear. So I'm maybe I'll just take that as a symbol. And, you know, as if God doesn't literally do the things he says he says that he will do. Right. Mhmm. Yeah. So it's yeah, I was thinking about that that very similar thing on the way here of, you know, those those things actually do happen. What God says happened will happen, do happen.

But he says seek first the kingdom of God, and that's when those things occur. So I was kinda having a conversation with God recently in in the last week. I can't remember what day, but and I was just kinda thinking Kingdom, just kinda meditating on the thought and and and the idea and and, you know, it was first introduced to me like in college, you know, I thought, oh, Kingdom. Yeah. It's bigger, you know, but I I don't know if I've ever, you know, I can give you textbook definitions. I can I talk Kingdom? I get I kinda get it maybe more than some of my peers but but maybe not. But anyway, I I I don't get it enough and I was just, you know, I was just thinking there there's there's a there's a gap somewhere

and I was thinking, what what if I I truly grasp kingdom? How how how does that change my my prayer life? How does that change my my thought, my actions, my day to day and I was just, you know, this conversation with god. God, do do whatever you, I mean, help me see this. Yeah. Not not just, I mean, help me get it, you know? Yeah. And it just, you know, one of those things just led to to another. Mean, as I thought through, what does that do to my prayer? How's that, how's that, I mean, because we're so selfish and I, I mean, not always, but you know, we may pay pray for other people. We still go through this mentality. I'm gonna pray for this, this, this, I'm do this list. It And might even be good noble things, but is any of that kingdom? Some of it might be, some of it might not be. I don't know. But it goes through my filter, and I I was asking God just to take my filter out and put his in, you know you know? Yeah. And

retrain me if I need to be, whatever, you know, whatever that means. Yeah. Right. It's a strange conversation to have in a in a vagueness of, okay, god, do what you want. But Yeah. It was kingdom, you know, related and trust and and it's a it's I don't know where that's well, I don't even know where that's gonna go. Well, so it's I've been thinking about that a lot, actually. And so this is what it feels like to me. Sometimes prayer is like like king Jesus so I all I have is Middle Ages kings. That's what's in my mind. Right? That's the only thing I can think of. King Jesus kinda sitting around. And and he's and and Enter, please.

He sees me kinda walking around in this great hall of which he is sitting, and he goes, Ben, tell me what's going on in the kingdom. And that's my prayer. It's the thing that I'm talking to him about. Well, I tell you what, God, here's what's happening. Here's what's going on. And and we're and we're doing these things. We could sure use some help. And he says, good. I'll send some people. And I say, god, I'm really actually, you know, in in in the kingdom and in this small village I live in, you know, we're actually really struggling with this, and he and he comforts you and and like that. This is what's in my mind. I don't know how this is realistic, but I love it. This is part of what's in my mind. It's like talking to king Jesus. Throne Jesus. You you just and this has helped actually frame a lot of I've been feeling real lazy at times on kingdom work. And I and I think of, you know, you're putting on the full armor of God, and then sometimes I just leave it at the bedside. And then I just walk the countryside,

and I don't I don't go to the war or anything. I just So much lighter. Yeah. And and and and maybe if I don't talk if I don't run into king Jesus, maybe maybe he doesn't know that I didn't put the armor on that day and that I left it at home next to the bed. But, like, some days, I'm out walking the countryside, and King Jesus is standing there. And he's like, Ben, you're not Let's fight. You're not fighting for my king, what are you doing? Just kinda walk in the countryside. And he says, I love you, but get back in there, Put on the armor I gave you

and get in the war because you're fighting for for the kingdom here. And I'm like, okay. Yeah. Yeah. No. That makes a lot of sense. And frankly, it's pretty embarrassing when king Jesus finds you walking around in the pasture. Like, if you're just blocking the grounds. Not about your underwear. Yeah. You know How's it going? Just wanted to take a walk. And and it like, there there may be something very elementary of how how I'm seeing those things, but, like, it very much helps me see things in perspective where I think, yeah, I'm supposed to be doing something. I have work to do in the kingdom God has provided for me. He has set me up with a sweet kingdom to live in. I I shan't walk around in my undies perusing the pastures when king Jesus rides by. Mhmm. Not not because I'm afraid he's gonna take a spear at me, but because I

wanna serve king Jesus. And and, like, sometimes there are just parts of you where you start wandering the fields, and your mind has to snap back. It's like, oh, no. Like, if if I were presented with the choice right now that says, do you wanna wander the fields or serve king Jesus? I'm like, I I wanna serve king Jesus. What what are you doing right now? Oh, yeah. Perhaps I shall go back. So, anyway, like I said, could be rudimentary, but to him as, like, a, like, a ninth century king, it very much helps me keep things in the right perspective. Alright. That's a powerful dude. That's understandable. That's what I'm saying. Like, I it's it's helpful for me.

Middle aged Jesus. Buva, that's that's solid pope style. That's that's solid pope style. And I I think I think here's here's what's helpful is it it sometimes you have to walk you have to walk through that. You have to do that for it to be true. Otherwise, it sounds like things that people who have gotten used to a low standard of living say. Yeah. Right? Yes. Or it sounds like things that people who seem to have, like, a, like, a dead nuts faith say, and you're like, the heck out doesn't live in the real world. Yeah. It's like, I I appreciate where you're coming from when it comes to finances, and I know you talk about how Jesus is or excuse me, God is gonna take care of you entirely. But have you tried stuffed crust pizza lately? Because that's, like, $13 a pop, and I can't do that and serve other people. Yeah. It's ridiculous. But no. I I completely agree with that. I had to I had to see it firsthand to have any faith in that, and I had to take that that I'm not even gonna call it a step. I'm not even gonna call it a jump. It wasn't a leap of faith. It was me going, alright, god. Fine. You said this. I believe it. Let's do this. Yeah. It's really just taking god up on his on his end of the It's like of the deal. Told me maybe 30 times or so that this is going to happen, that you you love me entirely. You I mean, completely all these different things, and I should trust you. Alright. I'm going to. It it's it's easy and incredibly difficult at the same time, but if you have a heart for God and you trust that he's gonna take care of you and you know that no matter what the outcome is, it's gonna be better for the kingdom if you're doing it this way. That's what you do.

You said a little bit more earlier, and I that this song came to mind. Thank you. A little a little bit more. Thanks for that, man. Sorry. Something about you talking, boovah, causing me distraction. A little bit more. A little bit more. I love that song, though. Getting more. A little bit more. Alright. Alright. Cool. Let's see. What's what's

alright. So here's the deal with this with this Houston business. So there's Dana Dana, are are you close to this story? You follow this thing closely? Just the the headline stuff. I mean, I haven't got into great deed. I mean, I may have heard a few things.

You gotta brief me. I'll admit it. I have no idea what you're talking about. There there's Who was out helping people? I'm digesting news. Wasn't there a a a city ordinance, something about restrooms and and and cross gender, being able to get into whatever restroom you want. And some pastors sued saying they don't wanna do that and had a bunch of petitions, but they didn't really follow all the rules correctly. Anyway, somewhere in there, the mayor petitioned or subpoenaed The sermons. The sermons. Yeah. I I probably missed the It wasn't the mayor specifically. It was it was a lawyer acting on behalf of the mayor. Oh, okay. Okay. The subpoenas were issued by essentially a pro bono lawyer, which means they're not on official city staff. Gotcha. But they're involved on on the city's behalf in terms of the lawsuit. So

and and it's in the initial stages of discovery of a trial where they're just trying to look through everything and anything that they can, and they're asking for what kind of public records were were thrown out there, you know, what but it's so broad that it includes all forms of public speech related to this in any way, So shape, or if, you know, some guy's standing on a street corner blaring out at the top of his lungs, in theory, he would be part of that subpoena, which really starts getting into freedom of speech issues. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I've seen a pretty swift cross greater reactions on this thing. This is the end of your rights as you know it, or what what do I care? Send him the sermon.

And so the question is is is how do you react to such a thing in in a way that in a way that furthers the kingdom? Maybe that's what I'm asking. Is is like it it is a question of it is a realistic question, I think, of First Amendment rights. Mhmm. But let's let's say for a moment that I don't care. Mhmm. I'm asking as a guy that loves Jesus

Mhmm. In a nation that is asking for something that that may or may not may or may not have legal rights to, what is it what is your appropriate reaction? How does the First Amendment impact the kingdom? That is the question of the day, Buva. Have you sat on the john and put any thoughts on it? I have not. No.

Well, if we serve a a kingdom that is beyond this kingdom, it's irrelevant. You just gonna you're gonna keep saying the same thing no matter what they say. Yeah. Take my sermons, whatever. I don't care. I'd like to actually mind to sit down, have a conversation with you, attorney dude, you know, mayor, whoever is asking. It seems like Paul did some of that, you know? Yeah. Got audience with the king here and there and governors or whatever. And What would you like to know? Right? Yeah. Yeah. I I'm an open book. Let me tell you about Jesus. And what he thinks about cross gender bathrooms. I don't know if that how that fits.

It's that's okay. So I guess what I was trying to figure out is that that's kind of my general reaction. It's like, don't, you know Yeah. Whatever. I mean, you can seems like I don't really wanna have to pay someone to dig this stuff up and send it to you. Sounds like it's gonna cost me $2.80 in postage. You have to mail this to your joint. If you could pick it up, I guess. I mean, mean, I I realized the other side of this that that are are are concerned that it's gonna lead to pastors going to jail and so forth. Yeah. And then I think, well, that's pretty much the history of the entire church. Yeah. Right. It's it's the then then there's the rub of, well, but we're in a free society. That's the whole point of America. So I I get the idea of of pushing back Yeah. On this. I guess, however it falls, I'm not going to change what I'm doing. Yeah. Mhmm. You know, it doesn't alter my discussion, my conversation, my speeches. Yeah. It it I like it. I really like the idea that we live in a place, a nation where I can say what I want. Yeah. Mhmm.

Without harassment. Although that that really is gone. Well, I haven't been personally harassed, but it's it's on the way out. It's it it go ahead, Buva. I'm just I'm trying to figure out where there's there's a big stink between I

I don't know. I'm trying to think how to word this correctly. So, ultimately, we shouldn't care entirely what our our government's saying against if it's going against our beliefs. Ultimately, Jesus call. It's his kingdom is higher than all. Well, I think we can all agree on that. As long as you're willing to pay the price. Yeah. Exactly. Come with it. And and there will be. And you need to expect that. There I mean,

there's a reason that that there are a lot of people that have gone against the church over the years. There's a reason that in Jesus' time, he was being he they were trying to stamp him out, whether there was the Jews that were trying to stamp him out because they were going against their religion. And then eventually, after Jesus' time where the church was growing and growing and growing and the government and powers that be were trying to stomp that out as well Yeah. Jesus called his followers to be in a new kingdom, allegiance against the kingdom that they were in going into his kingdom. His laws in his kingdom were more important and were higher than the kingdom of men.

If we're in that same situation now, there shouldn't be any stipulation between the two. If there is a kingdom that is trying to go against the one that we believe in, we are truly going against what we are we are trying to preach as as Christ followers. We need to choose the kingdom of Christ first. That is our biggest piece. And you're absolutely right. We need to expect consequences. We are told that we need to expect consequences to that. We know historically what has happened to people who have gone against society and against the kingdom of their time to go for the kingdom of god. And if that's where this is coming from, and I haven't read enough to speak to specifically to the points myself,

but if that's what this is boiling down to, where we are either speaking and aligning ourselves with the kingdom of god or we are staying behind and we are not aligning ourselves with that, we have a clear and cut choice. We know exactly what we need to do. There is one choice that is above all, and that is choosing the kingdom of god and furthering that for the souls of this world, for the people in it. That is the most important piece that we need to be called upon, and it does not matter any other piece. We know death comes upon. We know that that persecution comes. We know that harassment comes. We should be expecting those pieces. Hopefully, it doesn't get that far soon. I think ultimately, we need to expect that. But

we need to know that that's going to happen if we are revolting against a kingdom that is against our god. Yeah. And it it reminds me of of kind of some of the encouragement in in Revelation 13 where it's like, anyone was to be taken captive to captivity, he goes. Yeah. If anyone was to be slain with the sword, with the sword, he must be slain. Here's a call for the endurance

and faith of the Saints. Like Mhmm. It's and maybe this is what it is. I struggle. I I the truth is that I struggle with where the, balance may not even be the right word, but to to what level it is appropriate to spend energy on on fighting something like that when it is completely reasonable within the the the realm of our

of our of our our country country infrastructure to say, no. This is not right. Like, that's completely reasonable. I I I'm I struggle, I think, with the with the balance of how much effort I put into that versus there's other kingdom work that could be going on. Yeah. I that that, I think, is a reasonable thing to tussle with because part of what you are fighting for is the ability to continue to speak and to reach more people in an easier fashion. However,

it is the, it is the surprise, I think, out of some of the mouths of these folks, and and the indignation that makes it sound like you've never heard of something like this happening. When I think like, certainly, the story that the first century tells of Christianity and recurring well throughout the centuries just depending on where you're at geographically.

I don't know. Like, the surprise is simply uncalled for. Well, we've been raised with the idea that this is a a, quote, Christian nation that we have certain freedoms, and and a lot of those have been pushed against in the last ten years or so or more. And a lot of the church hasn't recognized it yet. And and they're still fighting battles from the eighties,

not realizing that battle's lost a long time ago. Yeah. Mhmm. And and some of the public things you hear and see are are people hanging on. A lot of the outcrying anger with the the LGBT community, it goes back to, hey, this is how it used to be and now you're doing it this way and. Yeah. And culture is shifting and and instead of worrying about the kingdom, they're worried about my my comfy place is is not where it used to be. I don't recognize this place. So, I'm I'm pushing back And part of that, the church needs to just get over Mhmm. And and get get back to business. Yeah. Get back get it back to kingdom business. Yeah. Mhmm. And and that's a hard shift for a lot of people that that have spent their whole life thinking life was one way, and it really was a a charade. It wasn't it wasn't there. I I think the thing that we run into is we're not in here to change the ideals of that kingdom. We're in this to bring those people into into gods.

And that's where the issue of we fight morality and things like that where, you know, we look at at laws that are going against our morals. We look at things that go against our morals, and it it's it to me, it seems like a battle that we shouldn't be fighting. And and I believe that from the perspective of we're not going out there to try and change their kingdom. We're going out there to try and get them into ours, into god's. We bring them under under the knowing that god is is love and that he loves them and is merciful and is is has grace for them and everything like that. And Jesus is the son of god and is the king of that kingdom, and that's the tenants of it. Then once you accept that, then things start to fall into line. Once you start understanding that that Jesus is your king and is the son of the living God, you start getting those morality issues that start shifting a little bit. Yeah. That that's that's the thing is as more and more people enter in the kingdom of God in our form of government, they will elect people who also have those values.

But right now, culture has shifted away from God, so we're putting in politicians who have shifted away from God. We're we're we're the product of of of us not making disciples. Yeah. Yeah. All about the church failing to make disciples. Well and and and the truth is is, like, regardless regardless of how many people that you try to be part of this process, we are always electing a president. We are not serving a king Jesus in our country. Right? Right. So, like, we gotta let go of the thought that, like, regardless of how our country was established, regardless of what allows us the freedom to do, king Jesus does not rule it. Right. Mhmm. And so once you let go of that, you start making better decisions about what you're what's worth fighting for. But, like, I I think what you're talking about, Dan, is exactly right. Like, this we're holding on to the concept that that might still be true, and then if we just fought hard enough in these areas, it would start to look like that again. The truth was it never was like that. It may have been painted that way. Right. And and the infrastructure, the the the things that that you're you're seeing change culturally, all we're losing is the grip of someone who

of the infrastructure that said, this is right or wrong, but it didn't mean that fifty years ago that people weren't on the other side of that. Right. I mean, that that it just it just wasn't normative. All we're losing is that the needle of what's normative has moved, But it doesn't mean there weren't ever people that were on the on the outsides of those things. Well, we made laws that you couldn't drink, and so what did people do? They created They bootlegged it. Yeah. Yeah. You know, a lot. Yeah. And we we learned our lesson after three years of that. Yeah. And then we let it come back. It just it it just we we've gotta let to go let go of a false of ideal. We've got to deal with reality. And frankly, it's a reality that I think the Bible puts fairly plainly,

and that we've just ignored for a while to say, well, it doesn't work it doesn't work that way here, and it does work that way here. There was just infrastructure that kinda covered those things a little bit, and we didn't have to have those conversations. And and, frankly, Christianity felt like it was a, it was a majority. I'm not sure Kingdom Living was ever a majority in The United States. Yeah. But Christianity as a as a social club and a a thought process and a moral guideline may have been a majority at some point. But Kingdom Living, certainly not.

And so what we're doing is we're just kinda pulling some stuff away that just reveals that if we're talking about kingdom living, let's deal with what we actually have in place. Not not kind of this this myth that says we we were always this or that. Because we just set the bar in a weird spot. Does our country look like Christianity, or are we living are we kingdom living?

And and that think that that's the veil that's kinda tearing down. And you're right. We we've either got to embrace it, or we'll keep fighting battles that we we never actually won, but we felt like we lost something that we never had. Mhmm. Yeah. The Old Testament's just a a long story, a narrative of you you can't you can't win this battle through legislation. And there's no set of laws that that can solve the land. Yeah. There's no substitute for actually engaging the hearts and the minds of the people, and that's where the battle is ultimately won. It's Jesus came and he engaged the people. Yeah. And it's it's through our hearts and through God's spirit living in our hearts. That's how he governs his kingdom, is the Holy Spirit in us. It's not by setting up a certain set of laws and saying, okay, now we're gonna follow these laws. Because you know what happens with that. Right. Everyone tries to find whatever kind of loopholes they can in order to recreate the world in the way that they really want it to be. Porne, Does it include this? Nah. How about this? Nah. Oh, man. Let me try a different form. You know? Just whatever. I'll get around this somehow. That's a pretty good point, though, is the the thought process that that, like, those type of rules governing a society. It's God's own people that totally blew that one up. Yep. Yeah. Evidence that this isn't just, hey, we're God's people. Let's see if we can get you to act like this. Like, we even stink at it. Are we gonna come up with a set of laws better than the ones that God gave? Really? Yeah.

Is that what your hope is? And and we're we've got better people than the ones God chose? I'm more persuasive. That's what you're hoping? That's your that's your avenue of attack? No. Not gonna work. And I get it. And this is this came up recently, just some some other stuff we were talking about. But, like, I I I get it. There's this underlying thought that says, I I'm fighting for truth. And I'm not saying that you're not. I get the heart in that. I I totally get it. But but you're not fighting in in in the way that Jesus fought for it. Right. Mhmm. And the means better. Yeah. Okay. Before we move on, can I give can I give an update to Thankful Leper? Yeah. Do so. Awesome. So I wanna make sure that I got a little bit of information out to everybody. So

a couple things that we are trying to do at this point in time. We are still putting on what we're calling the roundup on every other Sunday afternoon. The next Sunday that we're actually doing, it will be the October 26.

That's this coming Sunday. Yep. That's this coming Sunday will be October 26 at 2PM. We will be meeting at the Papa John's Sculpture Park. So that is Downtown Des Moines. Everybody is absolutely welcome to come out to that. Have to bring anything to come out and spend some time with us and spend time with the people that are there. But if you do have the resources and the ability to do so, I would strongly encourage you to do so. We are needing quite a few things. We are needing still camping supplies. So when it comes to, like, two man tents, sleeping bags, flash

batteries, thermal underwear, cots. I mean, anything you can think of that you would want in the middle of the winter if you were sleeping in a dumpster, you should probably show up with that. That'd be a good decision to show up with. That's hygiene products of any kind. If you wanna stay, you know, with soap and things like that, obviously, that's something you would want and a luxury that sometimes you don't think about that some people don't have, bring that out. If you can, we're also requesting gift cards in a lot of different forms. I actually have a list of some of the gift cards that we need that we're looking for, and we would bring

those out if you get a chance to. We are looking for Subway gift cards of any kind, Walmart gift cards of any kind, McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco John's, Jimmy John's,

and Quick Trip. Guys can do anything like that. Please show up. Spend some time with us most importantly, but if you can support us financially, we would greatly appreciate that. That's one of the big things we're looking for, and I know that that's seriously a blessing in people's lives. It's it's personally, it's incredible to see somebody almost in tears when you hand them a stick of deodorant. It's something you do not think about. It's something that we get very comfortable in our in our situations, in our lives, and we take a lot of stuff for granted. And I don't say that sentence lightly. I truly mean we take a lot of stuff for granted. The shelter we have, the food that we have, all the different things that that we call normal that they don't have at all. There are people that are legitimately without coats,

without a home, without anything whatsoever that if you bring something that's $2 to you, it is something that will change their life and change their situation for the better. If it's something you think you might take for granted, it's probably a thing that they might need. So that's one of the big things we're doing. So we're continuing to do the roundup on every other Sunday, Papa John's Sculpture Park. Once again, that's Downtown Des Moines, 2PM. A couple other things we're doing. If you look up the thankfulleper.squarespace.com, there's a lot of information on there about Bobby, the guy who runs the organization, and then a lot of the things we're doing. One of the other things that we're doing that's a big thing, we're actually pushing for what we're calling the locker room.

What that is is we're actually trying to get either a building or a mobile unit set up where we can have locker stations set up for people who are living in camps or downtown that are having to get away from their camps, go walk around the town and look for money, do odd jobs, do dumpster diving where they're getting cans and things like that. You wouldn't think about it if you didn't live in that situation. But when they leave those camps, sometimes their stuff gets thrown away. Sometimes their stuff gets stolen. And if all you have is a two man tent and a sleeping bag, and that's stolen while you're out trying to get money to buy more things, you walked away to get money, and you came back with nothing.

And it's completely counterproductive. So one of the things we're doing is we're trying to set up that unit that has locker rooms or a locker room so that people can come in, they can check their stuff into a locker, and they can leave their stuff in a safe place for the day. So if they need to go out, they need to get cans, they need to get food of some kind, talk to friends, network with people, go out for interviews, try and get a job, anything that they need to leave their camp for, they can actually leave their stuff there, and they're worry free on getting their stuff stolen. And it's one less thing they have to worry about in a life that there's a lot that they feel they need to worry about. We're actually taking donations of any kind on the thankfulleopard.squarespace.com. There's actually a link on there that you can donate online. Any kind of cash helps. We really wanna push that fund and all those different things. So if you want any questions answered, if you're looking for more information on how to get connected or anything, you can contact

a lot of different people. You can contact Bobby Depper on Facebook. He's the guy that's pretty much heading it up and is getting people fired up for it. You can send some emails to some people. You can also contact me. My real name that you will be able to find me on Facebook is Troy Engeldinger. I'll put something on the Facebook. That name stinks. Yeah. Don't like it. You could probably search John Buva. You might not find much, but if you're actually looking to get involved, search Troy Engelbinger. Just contact us. Let us know. There's a lot of different ways you can support. It's not just financial.

There's other ways. We'd love to just have you come down and hang out with us. The last thing that I I wanna talk about, if you don't mind, would be the Monday night deal we do. We actually transport people from the Papa John's Sculpture Park downtown to a place called Rock Power Pizza on the South Side, Chef D's Rock Power Pizza. Chef D is actually an awesome guy that opens up his restaurant to anybody in need on Monday nights. He actually shuts down his restaurant for business and opens it up for people just to come out and get hot meal for the first time in a long time.

If you're interested in any way getting involved in that process, whether chauffeuring people from the park because we're hoping to get more and more people as this go we could use you, get in contact with with Bobby or with myself or also April Babcock. You can try and find her on Facebook. She might be able to help you out a little bit. Or just to to to simplify stuff, if you just wanna hit up a message to life and the path, we'll make sure your information gets to the right spot. Even better. I appreciate that. Contact us. Let us know how you wanna help or ask how you can help, and we'll get you caught in contact with the right people. So thank you for that, Ben. But it's going really well. We've got a lot of people that are getting helped. We have a lot of people that are gonna be a lot warmer this winter than they were at any point in time because God is truly moving to people's hearts, and God is really moving to help his people in this town, and it's amazing to see.

Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I agree. That's that's been a real good perspective, I think, perspective shift even being involved with stuff like that. So alright. You've listening to Live From The Path. Hey. We come to you every Monday night here here at 10:00 at livefromthepath.org or Saturdays at 07:00 on the truth network ninety nine point three FM.

And real quick, we wanna give a shout out to our sponsors. Last week, the Eisenlowers were in here. Both Bob and John were here. And hey, man. That's Sly Boots. Bob Eisenhower got got engaged this week. What? What? He got that's what I'm saying. He was in here, and he didn't say anything. I feel like Well, congrats to that guy. I mean, I feel like he could have said something. It could have been like a what did they do? Those little surprise

sing things. That's not a mosh pit. I wanna say mosh pit. What do they call that? Have no idea what is in your mind right now. A frog ram? A singogram or something? No. Like, you're in a mall, all of sudden people break into Well, flash mop. Flash mop. There we go. Yeah. I'm I'm a cultured idiot. In here? Dan, you want it somewhere else? Dan, I appreciate you as a friend, but I never thought you were so culturally relevant. Could you just call a flash mob a mosh pit? I

it's a mosh pit. It's all good, man. I'm proud of you. Oh, ain't it? I'm proud of you. Anyway I just read the bible and create closets. So leave me that I'm gonna be shoving people rather than people being happy and dancing, man. Hey. Big congratulations to Bob. That's all you did. Congrats, Bob. Team. Anyway, go to eisenhowerteam.com, for all your real estate stuff, buying, selling a home. He's your man he's your man to do it. And, you know, he if it sounds like he might have a big wedding coming up. He might need some cash. So maybe you go maybe you'll help him out. Maybe he needs a house. Yeah.

Do you do you think he sells himself his own house for big money? Do think he charges himself a realtor fee? That'd the hardest thing for me as a realtor. I'd go through all these houses. I'm selling going, yeah. I think Terrible car salesman too. Daddy got a new car. Nice. Hey. I'm sorry, mister and mister Johnson. This house is no longer in the market. I just thought about buying it. It's been recently sold to a very handsome man. Oh, he's stuck in that mirror over there. Rhymes with Schmeisenlauer. Anyway, go to eisenhowerandteam.com.

He's a gracious sponsor of the show. He's got he's a wonderful man, and he may or may not be at our hibachi hibachi buffet. Hibachi. So I think John's coming. I I I it sounded like John was definitely, you know, gonna make He seemed invested. That's what I'm saying. He seems like a man and enjoys he he knows some distinctions about buffet. I'm gonna take some words from him. I know. I don't trust you, booba. That's Okay. I don't have a lot of a lot of issues when it comes to buffets. I'll just eat. Yeah. I've I've I'm I'm I feel like you might be unscrupulous Mhmm. At the buffet. Also,

Westfield Veterinary Hospital. Go to westfieldvethospital.com. Hey. And as chance may have it so Mike's not here tonight, but he his wife is working out there for for a while, kind of filling in. And so you can go out there and say, hey, man. Thanks for next response from Life in the Path. By the way, can I can I speak with Mike's wife and see if she's out there? And then ask for ask for things that you wanna know about Mike. Mhmm. Because I feel like she might know those types of things. It's also an excellent veterinary hospital. Go to westfieldvethospital.com. It's where I take my dog dogs for all our all our vet needs. We go to there because they're awesome. And so, anyway, check those guys out. Tell our sponsors.

Give them a call. Send them an email. Knock on the doors at late hours and say, hey, guys. Thanks for sponsoring Life From The Path. They're the ones that keep us on the air. So we we very much do appreciate that. So if you are listening on the Truth Network ninety nine point three FM, we gotta let you go. Our time draws nigh, and so we will see you next week. See you. You can catch us at the same bat time, same bat channel at Saturday at seven here on ninety nine point three, The Truth Network. If you're on the podcast, if you give us just a moment, we'll be right back with you. Thanks for listening to Live From The Path.

Hey. Shoot, man. I I I got, like, ten more seconds. Just real quick, I wanna give a heads up to the the Misfit Foot toys tour. It's coming through town. It's gonna be November 7, November 8, and November 9. Gonna be at Marion on the seventh, Des Moines on the eighth at First Federated Church, and Osceola on the ninth. Make sure you check that out. It's the Misfit Toys Tour. Give a look at Mark and the Owls, Egypt Speaks, Hunter Dumped is here, live broadcast, Sweet Ascent. They're all gonna be there. It's like $5. It's gonna be an awesome show. I'm a try to catch one here in Des Moines at at Federated, but make sure you you check that out from that one place entertainment. Alright. Now I'll be right back with you. You listen to life path. Okay. We're back because I'll do what I want.

Yeah. Shoot. I meant I meant to mention that. Alright. Yeah. You've got some you've got some Pope style. What do you got? I do. I'm actually rather astonished because it seems as though Buuva and I are on the same page on this one. Pew. Awesome. So alright. I'll I'll just read it to you. I mean, I I'm not actually not trying to pick you piggyback. I've actually got it written out here. Oh, I know you do. So Wait. You can't write out the pope style. Why not? Pontiff don't walk out with a big old steno pad. He's a new. He's a new pope. You're new to the popery? Who's gonna tell the pope not to? I'm just I would. He doesn't. I'd stand up to the pope and go, hey, man. That ain't cool. And where's your hat? Off the top of off the top of your hat. That's how you need to say this stuff. Okay. We have never required a hat before. Feel like I got the Thursday morning pope. Go ahead, Eric.

Alright. Here's the pope in his PJs. Alright, guys. Here's what we've got. Why is he talking like that? I know. Because he just woke up. Alright, there, boys. Alright. Gonna have us a shindig. Hope coming at you. Alright. Simming down now the pope's So

remind me again, what what was your pope style, Boola? No. I because I wanna make connection. It's it's basically just trusting God as especially in my specific situation when it comes to finances. Okay. Yeah. Alright. So here's what I've got. First point, God is wanting to do astound astounding

and we need to just let him. You know, often we're just in the way or we're just whatever it is. But ultimately, it comes down to trust. Are are we trusting God? And he's wanting to do astounding things through our lives, and the more we trust him, the more able he is to actually use us as instruments for what he he's designed for us. So I on the subject of trusting, here's my next point.

You're trusting God with your eternal salvation, so what's a few thousand dollars compared to that? This can be what taken in one of two two ways. You could look at it as your need and imagine how how much better your financial situation or your financial need would be and be addressed if you just had a couple thousand dollars. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So, you know, we can trust God. On the flip side of it, he could be asking you to meet someone else's need. If that's the case, what's with all this hedging and and him hawing and whatnot? Just,

you know, go meet the need. You you were already trusting God with so much. Why not trust him with more? So what's a few thousand dollars compared to your eternal salvation? You're already trusting him Yeah. In for a penny, in for a pound. And and that's a that's a good comparison because we do treat that as the more. Mhmm. I trust you with my soul. Maybe just a little bit with my money. Yeah. And and we've we have put that in the more category as if that is more extensive than the, you know, destiny of your soul. Mhmm. Tricky. Okay. Yeah. Alright. So here's my third one, and and it follows this theme. And this one, I'm actually plagiarizing straight from scripture. Okay. But this is the promise. Not one of all the Lord's good promises to the house of Israel failed. Every single one of them was fulfilled. So trust God.

That's my pope's heart. So Get off my lawn. Get off my lawn. Boys. Puff puff puff. You have a you have like a a pipe, I think. Yeah. A beer shop. The Thursday morning pope uses a pipe. It's the pipe pope. And figures out what the Wednesday pope said and kinda takes some. Now you've recently been told by the pope. I hope the Thursday morning pope actually.

Thursday morning pope. Alright. Hey. That was that's pope style advice. It runs a similar similar vein. And here's the deal. It's something that I think continually the scripture runs, and and it's just one of those things where you can pass by and assume that other people do that, and and God is asking differently from you. But one of the things that that that scripture really is a great equalizer, as is, say, the life of Jesus. And the the more I interact with it, the more I think to myself, like, as opposed to to constantly waiting for some sort of specific direction for whatever it is you got going on in life, why don't we just be faithful to the broad things that Jesus had otherwise called us to do and see how that shakes out? Yeah. Sometimes we we just wanna sit in the corner with the in the special stool and be like, but Lord, send me to somewhere directly as opposed to well, I mean, it gave a pretty broad swath of what kingdom living looks like, and we still kinda wanna sit out the back of it and look for something particular to our lives. Mhmm. Just go about your business Mhmm. Which is Jesus' business, and things will be fine. Yeah. And that that is very much, sits in the trust God with it category. So

true words were spoken by Jesus, but thanks guys for the contribution. Okay. Do you do you got you got Dear Life From The Path? Got some. Okay. Alright. Dear life from the past. Halloween is around the corner, and my seven year old daughter has decided to be a cowgirl. She wants the boots, the hats, and the gun. Mhmm. Is it appropriate to let her have a holster and an obviously toy gun to accessorize her costume for trick or treating? She would not be taking part taking that part of her costume to school on Halloween.

I live in a part of the country where guns are an important part of our culture, but I am unsure how to proceed. Confused about Halloween in Montana. Yeah. Unless you're going as the eunuch cowboy, I feel like you should take the gun. Mhmm. The what? The eunuch cowboy? Cowboy without the piece. I didn't didn't realize such a thing existed. So what it is?

I've used artsy language to describe our problem. Take the gun. Thanks. So take the gun. What do you guys think? I'm gonna say no. Cowgirl's an anachronism. Is a what? It's an anachronism. They didn't hire girls to do ranch hand stuff. It's a costume.

Oh. Well, then it's okay. You're not vetting for historical accuracy. Alright. Then if that's the case all of interest sure it's make sure it's got a clear orange safety Seven year old daughter. On it. No. I've seriously I've never met an alien, so I feel like you're out of line. That's definitely Out of line. Realistically

speaking, we haven't had any true contact What are proven to extraterrestrials. So What are you, poor going as a serial killer? What's the deal? Come up with your that's what the poor people go at. Serial killers. I went for one as a number of years. You go to the DAV. You pick up, like, whatever random pieces of things are. You're like It's true. It's not true. That's what I'm saying. Protein. Co serial killer. That's right. I totally went into zombie hillbilly one time, and I literally just grabbed a pair of jeans and ripped them. Yeah. That's all I did. I put on one of my dad's flannels, and I ripped a pair of jeans. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. It was the

less money you have, the more you seem or not exposed to being concerned about how offensive you are to people with actual mental health issues. You're like, no. I'm psychotic. See? See how I've dressed randomly? I look like you. It's offensive. It's what it is. But that's what happened. Yeah. Take the gun. Yeah. I'm I'm embarrassed that she even asked the question. Wow. That's just that's a silly question. Take the gun. I especially in Montana. I mean, if you may wanna rethink there's parts of has a gun. Especially in Montana. Gun? It's a toy. I feel like they're If you're in Kansas, maybe not. But Montana, definitely. If it was New York, take the cannoli. Leave the gun. Yeah. But, you know Yeah. Why are you trying to be a cowgirl in New York City? Come on. Alright. What's the what's the secular advice?

Secular says, dear Confused, guns may be an important part of the culture where you live Oh, I see a bug. How do you feel about them? If it's alright with you and the weapon your child carries is obviously a toy, then there should be no problem as you take her from house to house collecting her goodies. But there's nothing wrong with a seven year old cowgirl not having a gun and holster as part of her costume. If you need verification, have her check out the character Jesse in the movie Toy Story two. PS,

having her not take a toy's gun to school is wise because many schools have strict policies about weapons, including toy weapons being brought on campus. And now on a side note, this would be a good opportunity to teach some gun safety. That's correct. Teach her to respect it. Yeah. Even though it is a toy, don't treat it like a toy. Treat it like a something that is a a, you know, a A weapon? Weapon that could kill a person. So so respect respect it. Yeah. But here's the deal. It's it's like a lot of things that we fear, we fear because we we've actually not Yeah. Provided any education at all. Right. Right. I got actually, I was thinking about this this week. So I saw an advertisement for one of those cooking shows, the kitchen shows. And it's got kids on it. Like, people like like, little kids that have been cooking. I mean, these these kids look freaking awesome. You know? Like, they're they're making and they're six or seven years old. And the deal is is that they're in there flipping eggs and and baking things just because someone educated them on how to do that. Yeah. And and and the more that you raise kids and be like, well, you know, you'd never touch the stove. They're gonna be, you know, 15 and not know how to cook anything. Yeah. Like, yeah, they're probably gonna get burned at some point. But the deal is if you never ever educate They'll get over it. Educate them how to deal with things Yeah. Like, they're going to be afraid of it. Right? Yeah. And, like, that's why this this this kid was impressive to me in this commercial because I thought I mean, that kid's obviously been cooking for four years. It started when they were, like, four years old. But it's possible

if you educate them to handle things correctly. Mhmm. Alright. Alright. What else you got, bubba? Alright. Dear lie from the path. A female acquaintance recently asked me to submit a reference letter for her in order to help her in a custody battle with her ex husband. She had problems with drugs and alcohol in the past, but has been sober for more than a year now. She wants a recommendation letter to reflect how much she has changed for the better. I didn't know her a year ago and didn't witness the change. Also, from what little I have seen, her parenting skills are questionable at best. How do I proceed? Ignoring her request isn't an option because she has asked multiple times.

Acquaintance in Georgia. Write the letter and then give her to her. And say, do you want me to hand this to the court? That seems fair. Right? I'll write the letter you asked me for. I'll represent it and honestly. You decide whether you feel like you wanna be represented by my letter. K. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. I've written a lot of affidavit affidavits

before in sitting settings sim similar to that, you know. And I think I just you're really honest saying, hey, I don't know this person before. This is what I observed now. Yeah. And, yeah, you you you can't lie. I mean Right. You gotta be honest. And they've asked you to do it. So just tell them, yeah. I'm I'm gonna be honest. Just so you know, here's about what I'm gonna say, and then do what you want with it. So so if you have experience in this, let me ask you about this So have you ever had experience with the whole writing about parenting styles and things like that? Because I think one of her questions is how do I react in the in the concept of I think her parenting is questionable. Should she write that into the letter? What should she do? I I actually went to a court and I had I was grilled by an attorney once about some some custody

case, and I just tried to be you just you just be honest. I mean, this is the children you're looking out for too. It's not just a friend. Yeah. And Absolutely. And just I, you know, I I would always say something to the effect of, well, this is what I have observed. I don't know when they're at home in private. I don't know how they're, like, in public. I know how they're, like, in a church setting. I know what they're like in front of me, you know, and say things like that. I you know, it it was it was an interesting situation when the the the

opposing attorney, you know, accused me of trying to paint him out to be some great parent. I'm thinking that's not really not what I said, but, know, you're gonna hear what you want. Mhmm. Yeah. Just you have to have you have to be honest and and objective as much as possible. Okay. Because it could be just maybe I wouldn't parent that way. It doesn't mean it's a bad parenting. Right. It's just I wouldn't do it. I would handle it differently. And I think that that's probably one of the things is is is if I were to have to prepare such a letter, I might provide,

yeah, what your observations are, like, what you've seen. But, I mean, you don't need my cumulative assessment as to whether Yeah. The like, if if their parenting choices were iffy at best, well, I don't see other parenting choices. I know I saw I can say I've seen at some point. I noticed this. I have witnessed this. But, you know, I I'm certainly not in a position to to to say, you know, whether what amount of their parenting choices are good or whether they're bad or whether they're different. So, yeah, like, I you you stick to things that otherwise you can say, here's what I've seen. People can react to whether that is a good or a bad thing. You're just saying, here are my experiences. I've had to write letters for, multiple

parents families adopting too, and and the agency wants to know what kind of their parenting skills and so forth and do assessments. And, yeah, I I, like you said, you can only report what you've seen. Every you can find a flaw in anybody Yeah. Right. About anything. So,

yeah, I tend to stay with the cautious stuff. Unless unless it's a serious life threatening, like, you really shouldn't let these people have this child, then I would I would say that too. They wouldn't generally ask me to write one. So Yeah. You saw me strangling my child one day. Would you write a reference? I would. No. Can I send it to the opposing counsel? Exactly.

Would you like me to lie on it? I've got some photos right here. Alright. Here's what Secular says. Dear acquaintance, tell your acquaintance a version of what you have told me. Great. Already starting off with a version. Not comfortable writing the letter because you have known her only a relatively short time and haven't witnessed how far she has come. It's honest. Do not mention that you think her parenting skills are lacking if you would like to maintain the relationship.

That's what secular's got. Alright. We got time for one more? Terrible advice. Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. That was terrible. Dear live from the past. I often often shop at a convenience store on the corner for various things.

It is run by two men Is this Mike? Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Sorry. It is run by two men I see fairly often, but rarely talk to. I would like to thank them for being available nearly every hour of the week year round. How can I appropriately show my thanks? I think supporting their business might be the best way, but I'm not sure what else to do other than simply continue buying from them. Do you have any advice? Appreciative in Albany.

What? I'm not even following this. How about say, hey. Thank you. You guys are always there for me. Right. So there's a there's a person who frequents a convenience store. Yeah. The two dudes in there are good guys. Uh-huh. They don't

she doesn't this person doesn't really know what to say. I don't know how to communicate. I don't know how to show British Asian. I think buying stuff there might help out a little your name on my belly. Weebo. I'd give them a pack of gum that they can resell.

Alright. What's our advice? Whatever it is that you said to me in preposition to this letter, go say that and then awkwardly walk out and maybe buy an orange juice. Hey. You guys are great.

That'll be a buck 39. Alright. Anywho's there. I'll be gone. You guys are open all the time. Here here actually, Go go on one of those online survey things and fill out a really positive Do you guys have a satisfaction survey that we can fill out? Because I would give you great scores right now. What's what's the website that all that you Yelp. Yelp. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. Go on Yelp and and really talk them up. Okay. Some automosh. Alright. I don't know what's Our answer is either be awkward because you probably are based off of this letter and walk in and say, hey. Thanks. And then walk out.

Or yelp them. Alright. You guys are great. Do you have a public bathroom? Like, awkward can you be?

Although, hey. Check this out. So this with this this Sunday, I I totally mistook a person for someone different than who they were. Yes. I mean Amen. Major awkwardly. It was a guy that that that that that was came to church for the first time and how who I'd met before and and whose name I remembered, but I mixed up his circumstance with someone else and asked, like, a very specific question that had nothing to do with him.

How those hemorrhoids doing there, buddy? Man alive. And apparently How's aunt Eliza doing? And and and my I I have like, I'm better than Mike. I'll put it that way. But otherwise, my small talk skills are just like a notch above Mike Foost. And so, like, after that, I apologized and said, shoot. That's rough times. I I totally sorry, man. And then we just looked at each other for a little bit, and no one was helping me out. I yawned. I made an awkward statement about that, and I excused myself. So I see you brushed your teeth. It was rough times.

Giant awkward meatball. Oh, man. I thought I cannot get out of here soon. That that is a here. I had an awkward situation like that too. So I'm walking I'm walking out of a local establishment with a buddy of mine. And Was it hibachi? Hibachi. Hibachi. No. It's actually Dairy Queen. He's walking out and I stopped to do something. I can't remember. I was reading the bulletin board and another customer walks past me and around and is walking behind my friend. And my friend reaches back to tickle him on the stomach.

Oh, for little closer. Thinking it was me. And I was seeing it happen, and I had to just let it happen. There was nothing I could do to stop it because I can't just yell at the man and say, stop. You're about to be tickled. And I can't yell at my friends. Stop for the creeper. You're about to tickle a stranger.

So I had to let it happen, and it happened. It was wonderfully awkward. You could you could cut the tension with a knife and just eat it. It was delicious. It was it was great. And he looked at me with just hatred in his eyes afterwards. He was so mad that I didn't stop him from tickling another man's stomach. It was wonderful. Okay. He learned a lesson. He sure did. Don't tickle my stomach, especially if it's a stranger's. So let's read what secular's got. So dear appreciative,

I believe that if people have something nice to say, they shouldn't keep it inside. Tell the men their efforts are appreciated. I'm Doctor. I'm so stressed. I've bottled it all up inside these compliments that I have for people. I'm sure they'll be pleased to know their hard work is recognized. Other than that, mention it to others who live in the area. It's good publicity for the store, and it might increase their business. Hey, man. That store's great. Do you have a public bathroom? Oh.

Actually, that that to to be honest, that is something we we probably could it would help to do more of Mhmm. Which is to say the things that you're otherwise thinking. Is to say, hey, man. Thanks a lot. You you know, this has been very helpful to me. Doesn't have to be awkward. Doesn't have to be, you know, a bunch of stuff. But, I mean, even sending a guy an email or, you know, stopping by saying, hey. I really appreciate that. Just things that you otherwise think, but don't necessarily take the time to do. You know? Yeah. Just take the time to do that. That stuff goes a long way. It's, in in not only creating, like, a positive atmosphere between, you know, you and somebody else, but, like, there there's just a lot of outlets where people don't they don't have a great forum in which to understand whether they are valued or not,

unless someone takes the time to do that. And there's some people that do they just rock at that, and there's there's, most of us do not. Most of us will do it as it's part of a passing conversation, but there's something about coming. Like, I don't need anything else. I don't even buy anything today. I just wanna tell you guys, I really like your I like your establishment. I like the way you do business. I feel fortunate that I'm I'm close and that, you know, I get to I get to be interact with you on a, you know, quasi weekly basis or whatever whatever it is. It's just a cool it's just a cool thing to do. Dear local Hispanic restaurant, I like the way you make nachos. Sincerely, Buva. I really appreciate your overpriced yet delicious guacamole. Dear hibachi, I can't wait. I cannot

wait. I'm counting the hours. Hibachi. Hibachi. Alright, guys. Hey. Thanks a lot for hanging out with us on life from the path. I hope that that advice was helpful to you. It didn't change my life, but you got different problems. I know how to interact with people now. That's right. We will see you next week. Hey. Don't miss that thankful leopard stuff, guys. Come down. Hook up with us on on Sunday. Bring bring some stuff to hand out to some folks. Like, know, what Bupa said was pretty, I think, pretty accurate, pretty telling is the stuff that we take for granted means the world to someone who doesn't have it.

And so so grab it. You know, you bought two because it was on sale at the Sam's Club. Bring it with you. Hand it out to somebody. They'll take it. Like I said, we talked about it last week on the show. If someone took a took a can of uncooked pinto beans or no. It wasn't a can. It was a it was like a dry bag of pinto beans. Mhmm. And I thought, what in the heck, man? Like, I'd let that stuff lie. I'd have to be I mean, I'd be eating cardboard before I'd picking up that thing of pinto beans. Something doesn't mean anything to me. And there's some guy that goes like, heck yeah, man. I can do some really cool stuff with that pinto beans. And you know I'm saying? Like, just the things you don't think about. Check your check your coverage. Check your closet. You know, even pick some stuff up. Just head out somewhere. Take $50, $40, $20. Just buy some stuff. Bring it out with you. It's at the Western Gateway Park. It's Papa John Sculpture Park in Downtown Des Moines. It's 02:00. And just just come hang out. There's plenty of stuff to do, plenty of people to talk to. Anyway, thanks for listening to live from the path. We'll see you next week.