Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper, you are live from the Path. And you're listening to Live from the Path. We're coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston Proper. Pathway Studios. What's that? That's not a thing. I thought I'm just trying it out. That was terrible. It'll catch on. Yeah, it will. I hope it does. A flu. All right, here's what I've got going on the show.

Can't vaccinate against that. The flu. Pathway Studios. It's already catching on. Hey, man, here's the deal. I listened to a study today. They were talking about the flu vaccine. And here's what they said. They said, look, it's not very effective on the young, the old, or the overweight. I'm like, so America then. We just aren't going to dig on that. So America, it's not effective. Oh, boy.

Yeah. I like to put out stuff that's like, here's the deal. You guys should go in and get this done. We should get everybody inoculated. How effective is it? Eh. You know, you went into the waiting room of the cesspool disease that is the hospital, and you're probably going to get something in there already. Oh. I think it's, until they come home with an at-home vaccination kit, I think you should just skip it and get the chills or whatever for a couple days. Yeah. I would just have a neighbor come cough in your face.

Yeah. It'll save you the drive. You say you got the food, you want to share a drink? Yeah. Pick yourself some also, settle, cough, some, and whatever. Just hang out at your place. Yeah. Yep. All right. So we've got going on the show today. Hey, first of all, just a note of surprise. No one has complained. Like, the complaint line is dead over the last few shows.

And, like, I remember parts of the last few shows, and there are certainly some dicey areas. So, actually, it crushed me. A couple weeks ago, we did a story about the comedian guy. Oh, yeah, yeah. Right? Like, and I had got, like, in my attempt to talk about how he had gotten away with this for so long, I listened back to what I said, and it was completely insensitive to the fact that, like, it made it sound like I was blaming the women for being, right, for being, allowing this to happen, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. As if it was their fault, right? And, like, oh, it was horrible.

I cringed when I listened back to it. It was horrible. It was completely narrow-minded. I didn't intend it to come out the way I did. I have to hear that again. I'm going to use the complaint line. Oh, it was really embarrassing, actually. And so, like, I almost considered putting out, like, an apology. But it turns out no one listens to the show. I was actually upset. But I was so embarrassed after listening to it. My wife listened to it. She goes, you need to listen back to what you had said.

And I'm like, oh. Oh, no. And, like, my whole broad point was, like, if we are a Christian community, how is someone getting away with this for as long as he did? Like, it's just too, it's ridiculous, right? But in my attempt to say that, it sounded like I was blaming the ladies for allowing it to happen. And they were complete victims in the whole thing. It wasn't their fault at all. It was him. It was the perpetrator, right? And so, like, broad strokes, like, I, you know, I'm sorry. It was the wrong way to say it.

It was the wrong, it's not what I meant to say, but I did say it. And so. You sound like you're getting ready to run for president. No. Usually people will have some bold statement, then they'll come out and apologize, and by the way. I gotta be honest, I put my foot in my mouth a lot. It's not very often that I'm embarrassed about it, right? Like, I mean, just, I mean, we talk a lot here, and so, like, I'm bound to say something that I regret. None of us can run for president, ever. We have a lot of tape. Yeah, there's 10 years of saying stuff.

They can destroy all of us. But that conversation in particular, I very much regret the way that I participated in it. So, anyway, whatever. If you want to be upset, go back and listen to it, because a couple weeks back, it really, it was, it wasn't my intention, but boy, it certainly came out very poorly. Okay, noted. Anybody else? Me, I may, I recall sometime over the last six weeks, I've used the words both whore and blowjob, and I, if that was over the line, I, you have my apologies. Three. Three, and here do they come back. I just, yeah, actually, the old BJ came out last, last week, I was listening to the show

this morning, and I'm like, whoa, whoa, probably not necessary. Can you say that on the internet? It is the internet, and I'll note that nobody listens to the program. Right, exactly. I mean, I can apologize for the last 10 years of my rambling on every time I do a Pope style, saying the same thing over again four times and not actually having a point, and then Ben having to eventually go, all right, Bubba, let's put a cap on this bad boy, and let's see, what's your legitimate advice, not your 12-minute story? Hey, man, I dealt with a meter maid today. Let me tell you the 11 minutes of it. It was great. I'm liking it to Zacchaeus. So don't eat grapes.

What? Yeah. So what's your advice? I mean, I'm just basically saying, stay away from meter maid. It's like, what are you talking about? So I think if there's a broad point here, for you folks that do listen to the show, one, thank you, and two, just know that we're very much aware of these problems. This is not a blindness. It's just we can't seem to control it. I'm 100% aware that I suck. I'm sorry, guys. I'm a little disappointed that no one complained. Like, that should have riled some people up.

It was horrible, right? And the fact that no one complained made it really sink in that no one listens to the show because it should have riled some people up. We're like the shock jocks of Christian radio. Oh, yeah. I think they said blue job. We are the late night online Christian radio Howard Stearns. That is us. Wow. With the bottom of the dust barrel. All right. Okay, so here's what we've got going on the show this week. So I wanted to get through a few more.

Last week we started talking about 15 proposals for church renewal by Jake Meader. I thought that was an interesting conversation. He's got some more, so we're going to try to get through some of those today. And just before the show was started, we actually had to cut off the conversation so we could start the show. But we were talking about is there no fear of God anymore? And I say anymore like I have any idea whether people actually feared God. Like the 30s when they really feared God. Yeah, right. What happened in 1957? I don't know that I'm really lamenting for the 50s or 60s when we were probably just lying about fearing God. We weren't afraid. We just didn't want to be called out as people who weren't acting like this. But like the very nature of – I don't want to say modern Christianity because I feel like I use that bucket too much.

But like I think our indication in this room, dudes looking out trying to follow Jesus, when we're trying to help people move into the right direction, one of the core fulcrums that doesn't ever seem to cause a tip is that we simply have no fear of God. And so to the extent that you don't fear God, I don't have – you don't have any reason to fear me. As a matter of fact, so I'll give you an example. There was a guy in a church that I was at who wanted some accountability or whatever. I said that's fine. His previous accountability man could throw him off a roof if he wanted to. Like he was a stronger fellow. And so he gets me, and I'm like, just so we're clear, I'm not throwing punches here. Like you're the wrong guy. You need to do the right thing because it's the right thing, not because you're afraid of me. If you're afraid of me, you've got the wrong problem. And so it kind of worked, but I think ultimately he would have preferred someone who could throw him up against the wall or something. And I'm like, I hear you, buddy, because sometimes you need just a little bit of that physical motivation.

I get what you're saying. But like if ultimately you following Jesus closely turns it all upon your concern that I might raise my voice or physically accost you, we're not winning the right battles here. At some point you've got to stand on your own two feet. Yeah. I mean, yeah. But actually think about that. Think of all the infrastructure we put in place, and it is all an attempt to replace a fear of God that doesn't exist. Right? Like you don't see Peter and James having an LTG. Right? Have an accountability ban. I said two swear words. So Paul talks to Peter.

Oh, sure. Peter, you're not acting the right way. He calls them out, but you kind of get the impression he does it in front of everybody. They just seem to care. So I guess what I'm saying is like the accountability between – what I'm saying is like my fear of God is not strong enough. I need you to step in and remind me of my fear of God because it's not strong enough to handle these things. It's lazy on their own. Yeah. Correct. And like I'm not saying whether that's good or bad right now, whether the accountability guy is good or bad. It's been helpful in my life, but I actually start to think that like it should be much more simpler than this. Right? So your accountability stuff, like when it's functioning in its most healthy means, is a source of encouragement.

I'm being reminded in this person's life of who God is, that someone is thinking and praying for me. I have provided a means of which I can do, like we were talking about last week, a confession to the ability to biblically handle things that are going on in my life, to seek advice from someone else who also fears God. Not someone who fears God on my behalf, right? But because they fear God, I want to know what they think or help them to teach me or mentor me, and I might be able to provide the same thing for them when my human fallibilities creep in. It is a recognition of our fallibility, not a replacement for someone to stand in for the threatening. It's only one element of God anyway. Yeah, but I feel like that's not how it ends up working out. Like I can recall almost directly, like when I was thinking about sitting in a certain capacity, and I thought, I do not want to have to tell the fellas that I did this. Right? God wasn't even in there. I just thought, I don't want to sit down on my accountability, man, and tell them here's what I did. Right? I would rather not have to say that.

It's embarrassing, and I don't want to do it. So I chose not to sin, not because I love God, not because I – I just did not want to have to explain myself in front of another human being, which means the fear of God was not the motivator. Well, so that goes back to the question of putting – is it okay – is it false to put up proper fences? Right? Like, oh, I should be able to keep from falling off the Grand Canyon just because I know it's bad, as opposed to, again, the nature of human fallibility that says, look, we should probably put up a fence. Is it okay to have people around you of which you're like, hey, the presence of those people reminds me that I'm finding something holy, of which the standard came from God. It's not devoid of that. They are just an earthly reminder of that, something that sticks in your face, like a Bible. So I don't know that those implicitly – it doesn't lack purity. It doesn't lack the very thing that God is after simply because there's a human standing in the realm of it. As a matter of fact, that is very much how God acts, right? Like, God has chosen to have humans stand in that space between him and humanity. And so I don't think it's bad.

But I suppose ultimately if that's the only thing you're worried about protecting your image, which I think is very much a church problem. Like, we do get that. That is – that's probably a more 1950s problem. That's not a fear of God. That's a protection of, oh, the Henderson. So if you think about it, is we are the – we're the same number of years out of the 80s as the 80s were out of the 50s. Yeah. Right? So it seems like – like, you look at the 50s and, like, all you do is see, like, black and white church services, everybody dressed nice, sitting in pews or whatever. And, like, we're not that – they weren't that far away from the era of which I was growing up, right? And now we're 30 years away from that. And then you go, so what is the big difference here, right? Like, what have we come from that we're fighting back towards?

Like, I think you guys talked about this a little bit last week. You were talking about confession. And, like, it was part of the points the guy was making about doing public confession. Yeah. And, like, we said – you guys said that you don't – like, there's certain things you just don't want to stand up in front of and tell whatever, 300 people. Because, frankly, 275 of them aren't trustworthy, right? They're just going to wreck you with it or whatever. But at the end of the day, man, if I thought that that was actually the road to repentance, would you do it anyway? I mean, what are you going to wreck me with? My dealing is with God and God alone, right? I'm publicly confessing the sin that I screwed up and, like, whatever. You're going to hold it against me? You're going to think less of me?

I don't care what you think. You're 275 God's pounds, right? If that was actually the road of which God said this is how things are recompensed, then would you do it? So, actually, that's a good point. Think about people going to the temple. Everyone saw the dude walk up with the goat. Oh, yeah. They're like, oh, look, he's got an ox. Oh, I bet he did this. I know what he did. Right, right. Those aren't the turtle doves this week. And so, like, that's not a grain offering.

Like, there was a bit of – now, here's the thing, though, is that's only a risk. That's only a risk if you're dealing with people who don't have a right understanding of their own sin. Because I thought about – I don't know why this was happening in the showers. Take a shower this morning. And I was thinking about – there was a situation that I'm aware of of which someone had been trying to help someone understand Jesus. And then there – the believers following of Christ obviously lent this nonbeliever to be like, dude, you're a total hypocrite. And if this is what Christianity is, then it's bogus because I don't like this behavior that you're doing. And I thought two things. One, yeah, I mean, I totally get that. But two, however, that only comes from someone who is not – who doesn't recognize their own sin, right, who doesn't have the same understanding that they need this level of forgiveness because of their human frailties and their propensity to sin as whatever – whoever this Christian is who's trying to help them. And so I say that to say the risk of that kind of thing publicly is someone going, oh, look how terrible that person is. But, like, again, the tabernacle, everyone would have seen it. Everyone would have seen it going up because you were there with your goat too.

I've never thought of this ever before. You've just blown my mind. Were there like a group of little negative Nancys out there watching to see – well, I see Sarah hasn't brought her tootledoves. I can't imagine. She must be pregnant. Yeah, look, I mean – Right? Right? Look at Greg with his bobsled team of ox coming this way. Boy, he's really done it. I mean, yeah, because some things you can tell. Yeah. Or, you know, when the cleansing – I mean, there was just different things that – man, never thought about the gossip mill coming out of the temple.

Had to have been. Well, you could really – you could catch the pulse of the town because, like, you can't – you could hide from other people. You can't screw with God and what he set up for the sacrifices. I mean, Jesus and the disciples are watching the offerings. He's like, yeah, look at that. Whoa, man. Or, like, even some of the things where, like, multiple people had to come up to there. Like, it seems like the discussions between people was very public. Like, they would do them in the courts or whatever. And the thing where the lady has to drink the thing with the dirt in it or whatever, for the adultery stuff. Like, they didn't get to go into the holy place. It had to happen out in the public area. There was no, like, private place.

Well, I suppose – that's the thing of it being part of a – like, that whole community was set up solely on this faith, right? Like, that's all – that's what the community was. It was based on this faith, which is our church communities, right? And so, like, yeah. I mean, people get to be like, look, that's private or whatever. What do you mean? This is our community. What do you mean? Right? Like, you look – I mean, the biblical example is – like, we use it when we say Acts. Everybody had all these things in common. And everybody shared. And we're like, yeah, that sounds great.

But that means you've got to share all your sin in common. Oh, no, I'm not really listening to that. Yeah. You notice the reaction when it talks about those sacrifices and stuff. It doesn't say, hey, we need to take care of this because – so that there's no sin in Ted's life. So there's no sin in the camp. Like, it's a communal way of saying, look, we don't want this – we can't have the presence of whatever this is. It's why they sackcloth the animals. They're like, we just – whenever we're mourning, everybody's in. Put the cloth on the animals. Put the cloth on everybody. This is – it's a communal problem. And so, again, I'm not sure that changes completely what we talked about last week of the notion of smaller things.

But, like, I think we hold on to that too tightly. It's a very personal thing. And some of it – actually, this goes back to something you just said, Mike. Some of it's the nature of how we do things. The temple – like, people who were going to the tabernacle, as an example, stick to that. Like, they were Jewish, right? They were following Yahweh. They could be a visitor, but they're, like, following the similar customs. Whereas the church doors of Pathway Church are open to absolutely anybody. Anybody can just walk in here. And so, like, your environment is not implicitly one of which everybody potentially agrees. It's a public – I don't want to say performance because that's not what I'm intending. But, like, it's a public –

Gathering. It's a public gathering. Gathering that is not the same as, like, limited to people of same belief or commitment to the community. Do you – I mean, were there people that, like, during the time of the tabernacle, were there people that just didn't go? Like, non-practicing – like, even the people that came out of Egypt, which I'm assuming would be the rebel rousers that are like, Like, oh, I wish we'd have died in Egypt. Like, I mean, you know, when the presence of God shows up, you know, they just – they hang out in the tent. They don't care. They're not coming. Or does everybody go? I think – Well, they would have to at least gone to do their own things. There was an annual thing.

There was an annual tax thing that you did, temple tax. I don't know that it says what happens if you don't go. Yeah. Like, it wasn't even an option. I think it's everybody goes. I mean, what if some guys, like, look, you know, I haven't seen, you know, Trevor over here with his sacrifices. Yeah, I didn't see him at all this week. Oh. Notice his crops are failing. Really? Well, right, because think of when they try to hide something from Yahweh. No, we didn't take the spoils and put it back in our tent. Yeah.

Right? But they're not foolish. Hmm. So – but the core thing that we were getting at, I think – and this is a little bit what it's getting to – is that, like, of all the methods or means of which we attempt to otherwise help people, where there is not a legit fear of God – and when we say fear, like, you can reduce it to respect, but you've gone too far if you go – if that's exactly – if that's all you think of it. So, like, yeah. Yeah, there's an awe. There is a right notion of there being a being, an entity that is bigger than you, stronger than you, faster than you, smarter than you, of whom is worthy of praise, of worthy of submitting to and doing the things that they ask because of who they are. Okay, so hold on a minute, because, like, that is the absolute most impossible thing for someone to take on on their own, right? Like, if you should say, look – if I would say, look, I need to have more awe or respect or fear of the Lord, how do I get that? Right now, Proverbs starts to go through that, right, a little bit to help orient you in the right direction. But to be honest, especially in our Western society, boy, that's a struggle. That's a struggle for me, and I know Yahweh, right? It's a struggle for me to hold him in that esteem because I have absolutely nothing to barometer that against.

No comparison at all. Yeah. Because of our free political, our free cultural society that says, look, you know, basically you get to do what you want, right? And there's no ultimate governing authority apart from some various laws here and there about not killing a guy and, you know, not tearing up property that ain't yours. But in general, you know, I'm free to worship, not worship, you know, pay, not pay, whatever. I can do all this stuff. And so, like, there's no ultimate authority that I actually have that type of respect for. And I think that's the core issue. So is it – does the Holy Spirit give you that? Well, maybe some, but also just a correct teaching of who God is. I mean, our culture has a pretty wimpy view of God. You know, he's this lovey, mushy thing that if you look at the general idea with our population beliefs. In January, I'm going into a series, I don't know, I can't remember, five, six weeks of just who God is, of how awesome he is, you know.

And I think people understand the awesomeness of him. That in itself demands respect. You don't have to tell them to respect them. It just – you know, in his name, you can crush mountains. I mean, you can't do that with my name. You know, I'm nothing. I mean, but God is amazing and awe-inspiring. So I actually feel like – I mean, I don't think God is a mushy God, and I struggle with this. I am more afraid to tell my LTG guy something that I've done than I am to – I used to – there's parts of my life where I would sin, and I would just avoid God because I don't want to talk to him about it, right? Like, I've got to wait until he calms down a little bit or I calm down or whatever. And then I thought, well, that's dumb because he's not going anywhere. So whatever.

We're going to fight it. I'm going to talk to him right now about it. But, like, if I had to have that same conversation, you know, with another human, it would be much more difficult. So where I can walk into the throne room of God and vomit with my sin and crap in there and go, well, you know, here it is. But maybe that's because if I tell you something, you're never going to forget it. If I tell God something and he forgives me, it's separate. It's gone. He doesn't remember it. So it's like it's clear. It's grace. It's clean. Well, it's a trust thing then. Well, actually, that ends up in by no means category, right?

Because, like, you're like, well, if I tell God and he forgives it, you have the freedom to walk in the truth that it is gone. There is a human element of remembrance, of, like, actually seeing it reflected back in the eyes because although you – although God may forgive it and you may not hold it against me, I will look at you and remember that I told you that. It will be in the back of my mind. Well, true, and actually my human thought of you, I say this is part of his character, and God says, no, it is not. No, he is a reflection of me. He has fallen into something that I'm going to get him out of, right? That is not who he is, where if I tell another human something that I've done, then they go, oh, he's a liar. Mike's an occasional liar, right? He's a sneaky man. Yeah, yeah. But that goes back to, again, the physical nature of, say, having to sacrifice something. Like, there's a greater weight. Sin seems free.

The post-Christ dying on the cross, especially in the context of our society that elevates me and whatever definition I find about myself above anything else, sin either becomes something that is not defined at all. Unless it's offensive to my particular proclivities, then it's not a sin. Or secondly, it seems free because it's without consequence. You could do – I could do – I could do something – I'm trying to think of a good example here. Let's say I'm going to swear. I'm going to use a foul language, okay? No, Ben. I could. I could. If I start – if I do it in the context – in the grocery store, people are going to look at me funny. There's a consequence to it of sitting in the grocery store. It feels like I've offended something. However, all I have to do is change locations.

If I move to the bar down the street or – Mike's work. Yeah, where Mike works, right? And then – and just start swearing away, like it's no longer offensive. And so you don't get the natural rub that's with that. So if you're not surrounded in a holy context, I have the ability to just move myself, and then what I do gets evaluated. And so the question is – now think of that. That's a macro – a micro example. Now move that to the society as a whole. The society as a whole doesn't find this particular thing offensive at all. And so now I can act like that, and there are no consequences – no, quote, consequences to it. And so it doesn't land. I don't even – I don't have any fear of God because I'm not seeing any earthly impact to it either.

It's like Isaiah living his life doing his normal stuff, and all of a sudden he's in the presence of God in this vision, and he just falls to his knees. He doesn't know what a wicked man am I, and what am I, and it won't – I'm a man of unclean lips because he swears like Ben. Yeah, right, right. Actually, that reminds me. This week – this past week I had a dream that I saw God, but it was a weird – like I know it was a caricature because he had – it was like the scene from Exodus where he walks by, and you can just see his back. And so I was in some kind of like tinkerer's shop, like some guy who like made clocks and things. Like a Pinocchio. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I was somehow in there, and like I knew in the dream that I was in – that I was in the presence of God. Like you could feel it. And it was – I felt it even after I woke up, and that's happened to me a couple times where like you just tangibly – whatever emotions were there or something about it, you felt it. Yeah. And so – and I remember in the dream that I had this – like God wasn't doing anything in particular.

He had his back to me and was like working on something. And I remember thinking in the dream, oh, no. Like this is it. And like all my failures, all the points of which I knew God was faithful and I was not were running through my mind. And I thought – and I was trying to get up the nerve to ask and say, can it be that I get to still be here because these things are running through my mind. And like I – the dream kind of progressed, and I just didn't have – I couldn't do it. I could not work up myself to ask the question because I was so afraid of the answer. I didn't want to hear God say no. But about halfway through, like my emotion about it in the dream completely shifted. And I remember thinking in the dream, do you really think that God is not faithful to how he's represented himself? You're sitting in this room with him. Do you – it was like an internal thought to say take the pulse of the room. Do you feel like this is God condemning you?

Do you feel like this is not a gracious and loving God? And like I could feel it in the dream that like it was complete warmth. It was complete love and forgiveness. And like I said, he's not even looking at me. He's facing some other way. He's over there tinkering. I get his back. He's making a clock or something. I don't know what's going on over there. But like by the end of the dream, I thought, how could you ever think that this God who is in front of you would not be faithful to the love and forgiveness that he portrayed? And like the things that I was worried about were no less a reality. But the love and forgiveness that was coming for God was also no less of a reality. And so like it was to the point where I thought, I don't even need to ask this question.

The thing I was burning with, the thing that I thought – it's the crux of all of it. I need to ask so that I can finally know without saying anything, just sitting there long enough in the presence of God. At the end of the dream, I was like, I don't even have to ask this question. There's no – I don't even have to ask. I feel great. And then I woke up and I woke – it was like 3.30 in the morning and I thought, am I supposed to do anything with this? I don't know. We hear the Arabs and the Arabs do things and I thought, am I supposed to do things? I don't have any clue. But like – so the reason I tell that story though is because there's something about like considering in the presence of God, there's an Isaiah reaction. And then there's also like the reaction of God's – like every time there's a notion of his presence in the Bible, it's always like calm down. I am who I say I am in both things. The thing that you're worried about is the right reaction because I'm holy.

However, I'm handling. So can we get into some business here? I've got some things I need you to do. Well, that's true because you feel like the angel's actual reaction could be, yeah, I see you're freaked out and you should be because there's some heavy stuff coming. Right? A God that has no regard for you at all doesn't say fear not. Everything's all right. Doesn't have his messenger say, look, don't freak out here. This is just God showing up. Right? A God that is full of himself and has no care for you goes, oh, yeah, you best be afraid. The big stuff's coming. Yeah.

Leading by intimidation. Right? Yeah. I can't crush you. Which goes back to the point, right? Is that, like, where God – if that isn't how God chooses to interact with us, we shouldn't be leaning on it on how we try to help influence other people. And I do have this conversation with people close to me where they're like, hey, you need to be firm with folks. You need to kind of be a little bit more heavy-handed. And, like, I don't ever feel like I'm dodging true things, but, like, ultimately, these are people's choices. I can be honest about the consequences of them. I can be honest about, like, what is – what a good choice looks like, what is likely to occur based upon what they're doing. But, like, ultimately, I don't – I'm not sure it does me any good or reflects the character of God for me to be like, you cannot do this. That's right.

Like, well, it's just – it's not my – Then it's you living their faith. That's right. And, like, let's say – here's where I worry is you think to yourself, does everyone – someone just needs a firm hand? Like, whether – they're not going to do it because they respect God, but because you follow God and you know that this is good for them, is it okay just to take the firm hand with them and say, look, no. No, I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you from doing this thing? I mean, people tell really cool stories about someone who, like, was committed that much and, like, stopped them from doing it. I just – I'm not sure that that's the general mode of which we are to go about something. Some of that is self-preservation, right? Like, it's hard to watch people make a bad choice, right? Where you want to give them – I mean, coming from my lips as the Lord looks at me – but, like, as you want to give them the freedom that God has given you and the choices that God has given you to do these things voluntarily, I don't know if I can live with the consequences of you continuing to make these bad choices. Yeah, but look at Jesus just discipling the disciples.

There was some loose cannons there. There were people who made mistakes there. He knew all along Judas was stealing money. Right. You know, he could have stopped every one of them, and knowing their hearts, knowing their minds, just slapped them around all the time. He gave them space to make their own choices. And there were times he's like, hey, hey, let's not rain down fire on the city. Right. That's the overreaction, boys. We've got a different direction we're going. But he didn't micromanage them because they had to be able to learn to stand on their own because he wasn't always going to be there. And he knew that. Same with us.

With people we're discipling, we won't always be there. We can't live their faith. So you give them truth. You give them, hey, here's what God would do. This is what the Scripture says. But they have to process that and internalize it, or it's just you directing them, like marionette. So the thing is, it seems to be that goes back to the core thing, though, is if people do not—that's where the heavy-handed explanation comes in. If they don't understand the weight of their sin, and you don't explain it to them, how much it actually weighs, then they think their sin weighs nothing. Right. Which is our culture at large, right? They believe that their sin weighs nothing. And then—so now what? You can't expect them ever to make a choice towards God because on the other side of the seesaw is nothing.

So they go, why would I ever jump up? Why just sit here? I'll just sit here. And that's what was going on at the time of Malachi. The priests and the teachers were saying what was evil was actually good and that God delights in them in those things. I mean, so that's what's happening today. We've got churches and pastors teaching that what God says is evil is actually good. And, hey, he really enjoys—he's really glad you're doing this. Just celebrate who you are. So there is some accountability in the teaching. And that's where in Malachi, God just smacks down the priests. That's—and I believe there was a big segment of the American church that would be smacked down, too, if there were a prophet walking among us. You know, I think there's some of the—much of the same stuff of the Old Testament that's written would be written—and the New Testament would be written to our churches today.

So, yeah, there has to be truths taught still. Just not, you know, shoved down their throat. I mean, you can't make them. And I suppose we just have to say, look, you're not doing anybody any favors by coloring thingies either way, right? Like, you can't undercolor God's forgiveness and kindness and generosity, and you can't overcolor his justice, right? Like, they are both equal parts of his personality, right? Like, and they are weighed and measured exactly to the right tune of which they should be, right? And so, like, his mercy comes with his justice, and without—actually, without his justice, mercy wouldn't even exist. Because, obviously, you wouldn't need mercy from a non-existent justice. So, it's trying to explain God, right? It's trying to explain a complicated being that seems to be able to hold in both hands justice and mercy, and he delves them out as he sees fit. But he gives you a roadmap of how he delves them out and says this is how they're achieved. And they just—I don't know, all of it—maybe it's the weight of it that creates the confusion, right?

It's because, I mean, when you're talking about just on paper, this is not a big deal, right? But then when you've got to look at a guy or you've got to look at a gal, and you've got to look at them in the eyes and look at the way that their life is going and look at the choices that you're making, and you're like, boy, even this simple choice seems to be a lot freaking heavier because of the consequences that come with it of the choices that you're making. And so, like, as much as, like, half the time I want to say, look, man, just nuzzle in. Nuzzle in to God's forgiveness and love and just let that light shine on you. Dark can't be where light is. Do that. And then they do that, I think. But actually what they're doing is avoiding any consequence and justice at all from anything that they've ever done, make no changes at all, and just assume they're going to walk in the sunshine. And it's a lie. That's not how it's going to work. But if all they get is the justice, then they go, well, look, I was getting beat up by life.

Now I'm getting beat up by your deity. I'm out. I'll just go back to doing whatever I want. But the framework of that is still – it's a me. It's a me-focused framework. Now, I'm going to grant that you can only take on the world through your own perspective. I get it. But that does not mean that your perspective is what dictates the world. And so, like, it's only, like, it puts me in the place of God and says, how does this choice serve me? How does following God serve me? The question is more so what is true. If God is real and this is the notion of which I am to function under in service to this God based upon the consequences, one way or the other that he's laid out, do I or do not – do I not want to – which reality do I want to be part of?

Like, what do I want to be the reality? Not that I get to dictate something different, which is how will this best serve me? And if, like, if we can walk out – and this is what Paul is getting at, I think, in the beginning of Romans when he says, you walk outside and you look at the sky and go, it can't be me. It cannot be me that is the top of this chain. It just can't. I didn't create any of this. I wouldn't even know where to start. Even if I – even if, like, as much as our advances in science have given us the ability to understand what's going on, we still cannot create it. And so, like, if Paul's notion is to say, like, if you walk out the door and you say, yes, I am king of this thing, I own and control it, you are a fool. And that is the notion you're walking under when you say, does this or does this not serve me? And it's that same thing that caused you not to have any legitimate fear of God because it gives you an inflated view of yourself. And every time sin has darkened my doorstep for an extended amount of time on a specific thing, it's because I expected or was under some impression that I had more control over something than I did, and it was a lie.

And that remains – and the thing that a cautious Christian recognizes is they at least can call that out. Hey, this thing is on me. I am not powerful enough to do anything about it. I need God's help to do it, to be able to submit to this one thing or the other. And so – but I think that's the thing is, like, the one thing that you cannot force into someone is a fear of God. And this is where I – the reason why I redefine fear is only because it gets into an emotional thing that I don't think is necessary. You don't have to run – we're not talking about feeling one way or the other. It's a recognition of a reality that God is who he says he is, and in reaction to that, you submit to the things that otherwise he says is good. What you get – like, what kind of – of all the people who say, like, submit to a ruler, like, we're saying submit to things that God says is good because they're good for you. This is a great proposition. But we can't – you cannot force that. And when we're running into brick walls, it's mostly that. That's mostly the wall.

Okay. Bova, you all right over there? I can't see it. You're on the other side of the computer monitor. Yeah, I'm all right. Okay. Thanks for asking. I don't know. I mean, it's been a long time. It's been a number of minutes. There's nothing – this conversation does not fire up, Bova. No, there's no relevance. Okay.

I don't agree with that at all, but okay. We've just said a lot, and I didn't feel like I needed to add anything. Bova's bored with your blander in bed. No, you guys said a lot. I think that's understood. My main points that I would have had, too, so. Okay, right on. He was on the complaint line. Let's go. Do you live from the path? So let's pick up. We talked last week on Jake Meater's 15 proposals for church renewal. We ended with Wednesday evening prayer meetings, and we said, awesome, but something's got

to change because people ain't coming. Yeah, so we talked – you guys talked about that last week. Anybody fire one up this week? No. Nope. Not real big on the burner there. Yeah, I don't know. So actually, let's think about that, Dan. If in the past, we say nobody comes. There's always, like, your core two people or three or four. Someone who would be at the church anyway. If you said there was a leaky faucet, they'd be there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So is there any – is there any – like, is there – I suppose the question is, is it about turning on the lights? Because I feel like it's not about turning on the lights here. It's not about putting staff in the thing. There has to be something that undergirds this, of which people then start to embrace it. I mean, it seems like there's 1% to 2% who will show up for a prayer. Yeah. I'll say that. Probably 1%. Maybe 2%. Yeah. Was it the Strange Wind, Strange Fire book where the guy was talking about, like, the

popularity of Sunday? I think it's fresh, Mike. Fresh wind, fresh fire. I was going to say, strange wind, strange fire. Strange wind is a much different proposition. Something much different in Ben's life. Here's the deal. I'm not a big book reader. It's a strange wind. But, like, I think that was that part of the book that stuck with me, is he said the Sunday morning service tells you how good your worship is, the Sunday evening service tells you how good your pastor is, and the Tuesday evening prayer meeting tells you how much people love Jesus at your place.

So maybe this is where I've got it flipped up on its face here, is that maybe the thing isn't how many people will come. If you've got 1% of your population who's like, heck yeah, I'm in, I mean, that's enough. Because they're the people that want to pray. You know what I'm saying? Like, at its whole, do I need to find, is my goal to say I got 50% praying fiercely? I'd love that. But if I got 1%, shall we not still gather? Right. Yeah. I mean, it's not a reason to not pray. Right. Right.

We don't have enough people praying. Everybody quit. So do you think, so is, okay, so is this a Western deal where people will say, look, man, why don't we just say, look, everybody's going to pray at home on Tuesday nights? Do we have to get together for it to be a thing? I don't think you have to. I think there is something unique about it. Yeah. So is it unique because we don't, because that's not our culture? Our culture doesn't actually work like that, right? I would guess most people don't attend the prayer meetings is because they're already out of the house like six days a week, and they're like, can't we just, I just want to, I think it's better if I'm at home with my family.

We'll pray together as a family. Do we have to pack everybody up and come to your place? I mean, you can make, so it's interesting because that conversation also exists on, hey, should I go to the soccer game Sunday morning? Right. Like, is there something about Paul saying, don't neglect to meet with your, to meet, right? Like, he didn't mean meet, like, in your mind. And so I don't, this is where I don't have a great technical answer except to say, I believe it is unique, and I believe it is, there is value in sharing a space together as a community. Like, every element of what God has instituted had people coming together. The place itself, like, God's residence in the temple was, yes, was holy, but like, people gathered there, like, they can, and that's actually where a lot of people, I've had some people push back on house church because of that.

They're like, well, God had people come to the temple. I'm like, well, we're still coming together in a place. We just don't pay rent. And so, like, it was kind of an odd thing, but they're like, there's just something about going to the temple. And like, I'm using the phrase, there is just something about, I'm just landing on what I think is the core principle as opposed to the architecture. Yeah, I guess maybe where I'm swirling the toilet here is to say, is that more of a cultural thing or a Christian thing? To what? So, like, like, Mideast cultures still operate that way. They're very communal that way, right? Like, and we talk about that a lot on this show, is like, they, almost all your biblical

texts or whatever are working on honor-shame culture. We don't. Right. Does that mean we should adopt an honor-shame culture? Because they did. So, you know what I'm saying? You see what I'm comparing here? Right, right, right, right. It's like, it's not an anomaly for them to act communally because that entire culture acts communally, whether they're Christians or not. The Muslims act that way. You know, and so, not saying that, like, to be honest, if I think there's the biggest deficit in Christianity, it's our amount of prayer.

It's praying as a community. It's praying individually. It's all of it, right? I think it's the biggest thing. We could, we're trying to solve a thousand things and they could all be solved with prayer probably, right? If we just did it. And so, I'm not advocating for not doing it. I guess what I'm saying is, it's like, I know, I know why common families will go, ah, man, right? We're already, we got youth group on Wednesday. We already out most of them on Sunday. Like, we're going to go to a prayer meeting on Tuesday too?

Are we going to, are we going to be the crappy family if we don't go? What if we don't make it? And everyone's going to be like, well, I guess the foos didn't come this time because they didn't want to go, ah, bah, bah, bah, bah. You know what I'm saying? Like, the power of God. Yeah, okay. You know, so like, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do. And I think those are legitimate, um, our lives are different. Like, here's the thing. I think it is, it is very important to recognize the culture of which the Bible is speaking without otherwise elevating the culture implicitly.

There are things in which Jesus is saying where you, I think you have to recognize, and that the New Testament is operating, that he's not having to say simply because that culture goes about something, but like, to your point, um, I, I, I, I don't, I don't think we have to say just because that's how that culture works, it's how all cultures have to work. However, um, I think maybe where it rounds up to, so let's, let's get back to the core question. Uh, can, can everybody pray at home at the same time? Yeah, sure. I think that's fantastic. That's great. You could, we should do that. Uh, but of all the things to work out though, um, I don't know that they're practical. Things that I have to make, that I have to change.

Here's the thing. I don't expect people to stop going to the soccer game on Sunday morning because I said to, for the same reasons that we talked about. Like, uh, it's not a, well, Ben gave us the stink eye and so we're going to stop going. I expect that as you continue to commune with God's people and with the Lord, you don't want to miss it. That's where I'm at. Like, I don't, I'd like, I don't, I would prefer, I want to be there. I would prefer to be there. Actually, I suppose it is a misunderstanding a little bit of God's character. Uh, because he rarely acts efficiently. And so like, uh, you know, on some occasions people will go, look, I could get together with these 10 other people and we could pray and read our Bible or I could just do it at

home. I do it at home anyway. I don't see any reason why I got to get together with 10 people. Where's the thing is, is God prescribes the 10. God always tends to have people gather together opposed to, uh, being alone. And so like where it may be in your human mind, you go, look, this just doesn't make any sense. Uh, because I could just as easily do it here. Uh, if you look at God's character, he rarely does anything efficiently. Like you're saying, he does things in a way that says, this is how I want them. Uh, whether your human mind agrees with it or not is, is not the point. Right. He had one, he had one temple for the entire land. Like you had to go to the one place.

Like you weren't allowed to sacrifice elsewhere. That was the problem. And the guy way out on the sticks is like, uh, temple time. Right. He's got to saddle up and go three days to get there. Yeah. Right. And like, I mean, God's not an idiot. He could have put a sub temple. He could have set it up as a network of temples and said, look, just, uh, you know, but he didn't. Well, the synagogues. Right.

Right. But you can, you'll sacrifice there. Oh yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. So, so like he could have said, look, uh, this is the North sacrificing station. So these guys don't have to be hauling down here during the middle of harvest. Totally inefficient. Right. Uh, he didn't care. He didn't do that. Right.

He just put one temple in and said, everybody go into this one. Right. And so it's not like efficiency is lost on him. The economies of scale are lost, or he doesn't understand how processes work. He chose the one. You know what? I've realized, uh, as we've been having this conversation that I have, I am a totally perverting a core principle, which is you do the thing that you're, that you know, is right, regardless of how many people are participating. I don't need to wait for 10 people to agree to come to the prayer meeting. If I'm praying by myself for two years, what do I care? I'm praying. Like I'm holding, we're holding church anyway.

We're praying anyway. If people get, and here's the thing, and not getting so invested as to, to, to the concern, Mike, right? Like if I'm praying, let's say we set up something as a church and we say, look, we're praying Tuesday nights at six o'clock. I literally don't care whether there's two people there or 50 people there. And I don't care whether the Thompson family makes it twice a month or twice, once every two months. Like faithful people are gathering to pray and we're going to do it anyway. That's, that's a core ministry principle for me. And it's foolish to be like, well, I don't know if it's going to work out. It always works out. Faithful people praying works out.

And for some of the things that aren't happening that we want them to, I feel like they were, they start to get solved by faithful people. And actually we should just do that. I mean, if we're, and if we're talking about a holistic approach here, I think it's stupid for you to set this up at your church individually. I think you should just let one church host it and then have everybody from a bunch of churches come pray at your place on Wednesdays, right? Like you want to praise a group of Christians. Let's just do that. Right? Like it, because we tell me there's no difference into saying, look, why don't we all just pray at home on Tuesday nights. That's what we're saying is like, why don't we pray at our individual buildings on Tuesday

nights? Well, why don't we all get together on Tuesday nights and pray like the people of God, right? Like that's cool, right? That's, that's a community. And so like, well, look, well, we'll just have the place with the most seats in town and say, look, we're doing prayer Tuesday night. Every church in the, within 30 miles, just come in and whoever wants to pray, pray. You'll get some, you'll, you'll get people to show up. God's people will be praying as one solid deal. You can pray for community in a holistic way. That seems way cooler than, because otherwise doing it at your individual churches is just about the same as doing it at your individual houses. Okay.

Thoughts? Here we go. Number five on the 15 proposals for church renewal is a cross in every sanctuary. He provides no description on this one. Huh. It's implicit. Uh, I think it's more, uh, that's more condemnation on saying, why would you be against that? Like if you've taken one out, like what thought process said, Hey, get to cross out of here. I don't like it. Yeah. Not, you have to have one for it to be holy in here. It should be odd for you to say, I don't want it here. I was speaking about out against some of the newer churches that purposely don't put them

in because they're like offensive or something, which is, I've never known personally, but I've read of them. Yeah. I mean, it's like, I've in like church planting conferences, though, there's rumbles of churches that don't like crosses and don't do communion because it talks about blood and stuff. I mean, obviously the first century church didn't have it, you know, and so, uh, I mean, I don't know if it's a hill to die on, but it's so ingrained in our church culture. It's just weird for you to say, I don't want it here. That's all. But he's saying to have one, we'll renew the church. Uh, yes. I'm going to, I'm going to give that a negative part of a church renewal. Yeah.

I don't, um, I'm for having a cross, but I don't know that that's going to renew a church to add a cross. I don't think it's going to do anything either way. Yeah. Unless the pastor needs something to point at. And then there's this. I'm going to say something outlandish. No, no. Have we made too much of the symbol? I don't mean the act. Right. I mean, have we made too much of the symbol? I think sometimes we made so much of the symbol, we forget the act.

Yeah. It becomes a, an indication of piety or something or commitment. Believe me the cross. I got the cross. Yeah. We have a cross right here. Yeah. I like, like where here, cause here's the thing. A million people died on the cross. Right. It's who Jesus was. Probably 20,000 of them named Jesus. Right.

Right. Right. A lot of them were named the same thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like he was one of three dudes that died on the cross today. And, and, and, and here's the thing. And I always, Oh, this, this always, I really struggled through this. I think a few years ago is that like, sometimes we really focus on like how painful it was. I'm like the guy next to him died the same way. Right. As painful nails through hands.

The point was who it was. He didn't deserve to be there at all. And the nature of what was going on. And so like, is it, do I like it as a reminder? Most, most certainly I need to be reminded of what, what, of what I deserved. Certainly. However, I think you, I don't know about this. Um, I, I think it invests to, if, if, if we think it's a revitalization point, I would agree. I think it invests too much in the, in the symbol without again, taking anything away from what it was like that. I think we should be, but it should be coming up. Like if it's not coming up in what you're teaching on a semi-regular basis, I don't know what's going on at your place. I mean, it's like some people put more into the act of communion than what communion is. Right.

You know, like, is this right? Is that right? Are the elements correct? Are they, you know, they placed correctly? On the tray or however you do it, you know? Yep. And, and, or is the table say the right thing? You know what I'm like? That has nothing to do with what we're remembering. Right. Right. But the fact that we, are you even remembering, are you just remembering this is what we do? Yeah.

Right. So, I don't disagree with that. All right. All right. Uh, sorry. Now, number six, four scripture readings every week. Four. Use a psalm as a call to worship. Then when you do the scripture reading for the sermon, you have one related Old Testament text and one related New Testament text. First picking. Love it. Uh, he says, what, uh, what it does is force you to preach hard texts.

That said, the downside is that it means churches do not read a ton of Bible in service because the pastor is slowly making his way through an individual book. By including Old and New Testament readings with the sermon text, you can combat that. If you are preaching on Galatians 4, for example, the scripture readings would be the account in Genesis of Sarah and Hagar and another New Testament text on freedom in the gospel. I've seen some PCA churches do three scripture readings in every service in this way. I merely propose that we also work in some more psalms, but this could also be done by simply singing the psalms as part of our congregational singing. So we want to make sure you get a full, a full breadth. Now, I will, I will say, this goes again to my context. It is hard in my context, um, because of the variety of kids, because there's kids in the room. When you start jumping texts, adults can put stuff together. If you start just, just to either proof text them or show them that like, Hey, this is related somewhere down the road. Like they're gone. Uh, and I'll be honest. I think a lot of adults are actually similar.

Um, you, you, it seems impressive to do that, but like you actually lose the intent of what you're trying to do. Yeah. Um, I, here's the deal. The Bible is an, is, is, is, is a storybook, um, with various means of which stories are communicated, various, various formats and stuff. And like people who tell good stories don't often just bail out and tell other random stories because they felt like there was a connection. And because we really wanted the text in there. I, I'm not, I'm, and here's, I'm, Dan, I know, I know this is true about Dan too. Like we are faithful to text fellas. Yeah. Um, I, so like, this is not a liberalization of this cause we just want to tell stories, but like, I, I'm not, I'm not sure about this. They're throwing a Psalm just because, I mean, I'm not against a Psalm. Right. I'm okay with like, if, as part of your, if it's part of the thing that like, Hey, we, we do a Psalm that calls us to the, uh, the repentance thing and like good themes that a church always need to remind it of.

And you're just, you do a Psalm as part of your normal worship thing. I actually think that's pretty cool. But like, I'm not sure that it's necessary to, uh, puff up the sermon focus to catch an old Testament text and it's an irrelevant new Testament text just because I think they might be getting too shallow a picture. I, I, I, no, I don't think so. I'm not sure I'm in on that. Yeah. I don't, I don't think that in itself revitalizes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Let's do, let's do one more and then we'll move to, uh, dear life from the path. Uh, Lenten and Advent fasts encouraged, but absolutely not required as well as Easter and Christmas periods of fat of feasting likewise encouraged, but not required, uh, descriptions. God doesn't love you more.

If you practice a Lenten fast, neither does Lent fasting accomplish some spiritual good in you that cannot be accomplished any other way, nor does the church have authority to compel such fasts. But God does work to sanctify us through practical means, one of which is fasting and fasting collectively is not the same thing as a private fast. So there's nothing wrong with churches fasting collectively, as long as we're clear about what is and it's not being done. Secondly, the end of a festival periods can include some kind of churchwide celebration, line dancing, food trucks, a bounce house for the kids. Festal period should feel like festal periods. Festal? Line dancing. Line dancing. Yeah. I didn't see that coming. I knew, I knew those Presbyterians were up to something. We have never done a line dancing celebration. Uh, and they should be some of the best entry points for non-Christians to enter into the life of a church.

Come have a free meal, play board games, dance, let your kids run around and have fun with us. We're celebrating that Jesus is alive. Yeah. Yeah. I like all of it. Yeah. I'm, I'm, I am in with that one. I'd be laughing at the lane, line dancing, but, uh. Yeah. Yeah. Although, you know what's funny? Um, is as we talk about the, the fasts I get, that the, the feasts. It's, I also get, um, I have a harder time finding places in which non-Christian, you want to invite, like, a specific place to have non-Christians come because, like, they're celebrating something they don't believe in.

Yeah. Woo-hoo! Yay! Like, in fact, what, I mean, I, I, I can't think of a situation that would make me feel less comfortable than to show up somewhere where a bunch of people are celebrating something, and I have no relevance to that. I'm just there for the potato salad. Uh-huh. I feel like the type of people who are most likely to bend or, like, be interested in church work are people also going to feel super, like, uh, odd. Yeah, like, I, I would not enjoy going to, like, a soccer game party. I could give a rip about soccer. Oh, right. Even if I like the cheese dip and I like the people, I'd be like, eh. I mean. Or, uh, or a, uh, 30-year wedding anniversary for a couple you don't know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're like, hey, everybody come. Love marriage. You're like, I'm not coming. This is, free games, line dancing. Still no. Not gonna do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't, so I love this. Uh, and again, this is, and now I'm super interested, is, is talking about doing things communally versus doing things individually. Um, that is the theme that keeps coming up without, I, I, there's just nothing in Scripture that's hitting me with a grounding except for that was their, that was their context. And without saying that it is implicitly holy, there does seem to be something to it. Yeah.

Uh. Well, I mean, to be fair, their culture, I mean, their, their culture came from Yahweh in the first place. Right? Right, they're, they're a set apart nation. And so, like, their culture was, he made, he made everything about their culture. That's true. That's true. Okay, so anyway, we're through seven. These are good. He's got 15, so we can pick up some more next, uh, maybe next week. All right, you ready? Yeah, what do we got? Dear Life from the Path.

I need advice on how to discuss a sensitive matter with my son and daughter-in-law's babysitter. She watches my grandson Monday through Friday while they're at work. They live with me and I work from home, so I'm around all day while she's sitting with the baby. Overall, she's pretty good, but we have discovered her asleep in my son and daughter-in-law's bed a couple of times. She also changes into my son's clothing occasionally, which makes my daughter-in-law very uncomfortable. What? My daughter-in-law needs to have a discussion about it with her, but doesn't know how to approach the matter. My suggestion was for her to be clear and tell the woman she's uncomfortable with the behavior and ask her to stop. What do you think? I'm, I'm, can you read? That went weird. Can you read the middle part again about what she was doing? She was sleeping in their bed and then putting on her son's clothing.

Overall, she's pretty good, but we have discovered her asleep in my son and daughter-in-law's bed a couple times. She also changes into my son's clothing occasionally, which makes my daughter-in-law very uncomfortable. Like a, like a pair of sweaty sweats? Or, or a suit? Yeah, I guess I was, like a dress shirt. Yeah, that's a good question. Suspenders? I mean, what exactly? Sarah, why are you wearing Bill's suit again? Yeah. I mean, what? Just stay off a set of her clothes. She's pretty good.

I'd give him, I'd give her one chance. I'd go, hey, you can no longer sleep in, in our bed and don't put on my husband's clothes. I think you could let her sleep in the bed. I guess I'm not freaked out about the bed, but the clothes gets, I mean, she could take a nap. It's a baby. Why is she sleeping? The baby's taking a nap. They're living with their, with their mom, right? So there's not like there's a spare bedroom. How old are these kids though that she fits into the clothes? It's not a baby. It's, it's not, it's not a baby. Yeah, I guess I'm thinking about like a 20-year-old girl.

Maybe. And a 13-year-old dude? No. What? No, Ben. What? Like a 25-year-old dude. It's the mom, her son and daughter-in-law. Live at the house. Live at the house. We've got three generations. And it's their babysitter of their baby. What story were you listening to?

That's what I'm saying. I wasn't catching it. I couldn't think about what was going on. So the mother of the couple who owns the home is writing for advice. Okay. And the babysitter is employed by the married couple or the couple. I don't know where the Kraken came in to play. And the married couple have a kid whose babysitter is sleeping in their bed. Not a problem. No, that's not a deal. And then wearing his clothes occasionally. That's weird. Yep, super weird.

We're cool with her sleeping in the bed. Sure. She's tired. You invite someone over to your place like to house sit or to watch your kids or whatever, then I mean, what do you want them to do? Watch my kids. What are they sleeping? With the kids sleeping. Okay. Would sit and stare at them? There's probably a baby monitor in their room. After that happens? So they could, I mean, she had to go where she could hear the baby.

I guess I've never met a daycare provider that just sleeps during the day. They're not likely watching where all the kids are sleeping at once. She's not supposed to be doing the laundry while the baby is sleeping. No, Booba has a solid point, though. You're paying her. Yeah, my mother runs a daycare. Up and about. The gal that, okay, whatever. My mom runs a daycare, and she has upwards to 10 kids who all nap at the same time because they have a nap time. Yeah. And when they go nap, she cleans. She cleans up after the kids.

She does dishes from the day. She makes sure the laundry's being done. If there's any kids who had taken out trash, making sure diaper genies are dumped out, all the good stuff. Yeah, but there's only one. There's not as much to do. Yeah. Agreed, but she's still being paid to take care of this baby. All right, hang on. We're getting off track here. I don't have a problem with it. Okay. All right, okay.

The wearing the son's clothes is a problem. That's weird. That's weird. Yeah, agreed. Here's where it gets off track for me is the mom. She's talking about the daughter-in-law having to confront her. Yes. I feel like your son should do it, right? You're kind of putting this onus on the daughter-in-law to handle the situation. It's your son's clothes. Why don't you say, hey, look, Mindy, stop putting my pants on. Right, right. I'm going to catch you in my sweaties one more time.

We're going to have an issue. Stay out of my closet. That's what I'm saying. Give her one chance. This is a conversation that's not like, hey, we're going to put you on a disciplinary plan to make sure that you're not wearing my clothes again. It's, hey, don't wear my frigging clothes. Yeah. And if I find you wearing my clothes again, because guess what? My mother, whose home it is, works from home. Yeah. And is here when you come out in my underoos. Yeah.

Okay? It's weird. It is weird. Don't do it again. And if she does it again, you find yourself in other babysitters. You can't wear people's clothes on while it's a place. No. I've never had that issue. Because there's not many people that I could wear their clothes, Mike. Now, hold on. Let's give her the benefit of the doubt here. The kid spit up all over your shirt. Right?

And the wife is petite. And so the only clothes that you could actually borrow are from the dude. I can understand that one occurrence happening. Because next time, make sure you have an extra shirt. I kind of like context on it, though. Because, like, I mean, is it possible that it's gold in there and she just put on a sweatshirt? Yeah. I mean, that's no big deal. It's 2019. Text them and ask their permission. Hey, can I borrow one of your sweatshirts? Yeah, exactly. We're not waiting for you to get home so we can send another letter out to you.

You're not going to be home in a fortnight. Like, I'll see you in seven hours, but good thing we have computers that are in our pockets. But, hey, I don't think she's wearing a sweatshirt. No. I mean, grandma sees it, so. I feel like this grandma's very suspect to me. I feel like the babysitter's all right and the grandma is. You would have that opinion. We're putting all kinds of weird things on her. Like, oh, she's wearing the underwear. Yeah, it could be a sweatshirt. I mean, yeah. Maybe it's a jacket.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean. And once again, maybe he is married to a super tiny gal. She couldn't borrow a sweatshirt from this extra small. That makes it sound not so creepy now. Yeah, now it just sounds regular. Now we need to know. Again, why is there not a text message, hey, can I wear your sweatshirt? Yeah, I mean, I think that's possible, and I think that would be helpful. Like, it would be helpful, right? Like, you just ask things. That's the advice.

She's a millennial. She doesn't know better. That's not. I'm a millennial, Dan. I know. Yeah. Okay, boomer. And you think I wouldn't have the thought process to text someone and go, hey, I'm going to Tommy Boy your sweatshirt right now. Is it okay if you come home and it's ripped in half because there's no way it fits me? Boy, I was going to sleep in your bed, but the porridge was too hot. Now I'm Goldilocks in this situation? How'd that turn out?

I just feel like I'd nap on a couch before I went and slept on somebody I don't like that even – I can – I'm thinking of it as a boss. If my boss asked me to house sit for them, like, and there was another place for me to go, I would probably not sit – I would not lay in their bed. It depends where the grandmother works at home, I guess. Right. Like, maybe it's better to sleep – or to sleep in the room where the kid's at. If the kid sleeps in the room, I'd probably do that. The kid could be sleeping in the room. So roll it up. There's a path to reasonableness for this babysitter. At the very, very least, she's probably best served by asking questions before doing things that might seem odd.

If she doesn't find any of these even remotely odd, you might want to keep an eye on her. But, like, I think there's a path where she's pretty reasonable. And the grandma's probably a little bit snooty. I think she's snooty. And I don't know why she's not having her son take care of this and trying to load it onto her granddaughter or daughter-in-law. I agree. Yeah. Here we go. I dig it. Segular says, your daughter-in-law should ask her babysitter why she's crawling into their bed and putting on her employer's clothes because, frankly, what's going on is bizarre. The sitter should be told she's not being paid to sleep on the job.

And further, that dressing up in a husband's attire is forbidden. If it happens again, she will be replaced. You will be banished. Take off that tie. You are no longer allowed. If it's a business suit, that is weird. Yeah. That is over-the-top weird. I really like this suit jacket, Steve. I look good in Dockers. He probably wears a Burger King. She's got, like, an orange and red. Oh, man.

Did you notice that I have a burger on my bed? I think she's cold. She's bar a sweatshirt. Yeah. That's what I think. Yeah. And here's the thing. I don't have – I wonder how many times this has occurred, too. Right? Maybe she slept once in their bed or something. Like, I don't know. I mean – We need more information.

Yeah. Part of me hopes that it would have had to have happened multiple times for this person to be writing in. But then again, I don't trust anyone. And so – That's what I'm saying. Everybody tells you that. I can totally understand. Yeah. And Grandma just saw it one time and went, I have no idea how to interact socially with people. I'm going to email Dear Life from the Path and see if they know how to deal with this woman.

I'm going to have my daughter-in-law straighten this up. Okay. Last one. Ready? My husband and I – Dear Life from the Path. My husband and I took our children trick-or-treating in my mom's neighborhood because we live in a rural area and there's no trick-or-treating where we are. When we were done, we found a letter taped onto our windshield telling us how rude we were for bringing our kids trick-or-treating in a neighborhood that we don't live in. I mentioned it to several friends and family members afterwards and their reactions were mixed. Some sided with us. Another sided with the note writer.

We're not sure what to do from now on. Is it rude to go into another neighborhood when there is no trick-or-treating in our own? What are families who live in areas with no trick-or-treating or who live in unsafe neighborhoods supposed to do? Tricked but not treated. No, it's not rude. Yeah. Do it. Do it. The neighborhood you went to are a bunch of snooty, like, craps. They turn on their lights saying, hey, everyone, we have three candy. Yeah. Snooty-crats.

Yeah. I was thinking worse words, and so I censored myself. I thought you were putting snooty with aristocrat. Make it a snooty-crat. It was craps. I said craps, yeah, but snooty-crats sounds great. You guys are a bunch of craps. Okay. Hey, man, at least I didn't say words that I shouldn't have. Fair enough. Ben. This is all wrong. All of this is wrong.

Right? First of all, who puts a note on a windshield? Right. That's passive-aggressive smoothie-crats. Very passive-aggressive. Second of all, your mom lives there. Your mom's handing out candy. What if your mom didn't live there, and there was a family with two kids living at that house? Exactly. So per capita, you're not out anything. The same amount of candy's being given out. You just lucked out. There's an old lady living on your street.

By rights, you should be trick-or-treating as the adult in that neighborhood. Correct. And so, like, law of averages, do the math, friend. Yeah, that's how their logic plays out, is the parents should be the one trick-or-treating. Yeah. Yeah. Nothing's being harmed. But not their children. So their question is, what was their question again? What should we do? Go back. Is it wrong to the neighborhood where you don't live? No.

No. Go trick-or-treating whoever the heck you want. Bring some friends. Yeah. Yeah. You know, here's the deal. If you live in a bad neighborhood and you're afraid to go trick-or-treating in that neighborhood, please come to mine. Please happily come to mine, and I will give you a bucket of candy each. Yeah. Like, dig it. I love that. We trick-or-treat up in town.

Yeah. What person goes, I bought this candy, but only for the residents of this neighborhood? Yeah. And if you don't, we'll leave passive-aggressive notes on your vehicle. Yeah. I mean, anymore, half the people… Freaking Stepford crap going on. Half the people just put the bag of candy out on the porch. Right. They, like, take some. I don't feel like talking to you. Yeah. I don't have a problem with this at all.

Actually, you know what's funny is I saw a hack, a life hack, if you will, on Facebook this year, that said, if you don't want to buy candy for a bunch of kids, just put an empty bowl out on your porch and put in a note that says, sorry, we ran out of candy, and that way you never have to buy candy. And people think you would just have one of those bowls out that everybody was helping themselves to. Yeah, like, you got taken advantage of. Yeah, exactly. Everybody already took our candy. Sorry, kids. Yeah. You're lying because you were a terrible person. You never actually put candy out.

Hey, man, it's not like it takes a lot of effort to buy a bag of candy and just put it in the bowl. It doesn't, but it'll be like 12 bucks if you want to buy the goods. Hey, here's a life hack for Bondurant Foos' house. Don't turn on the light. Yeah. Yes. Then no one comes by. You just, you egg that house. Life hack. If you know that house has children in it and their light is off, you egg that house. Here's a… Life hack from Boova.

I was thrown into a tizzy because we went trick-or-treating at an old folks' home. Oh, man, I love that. And we went, and there was a guy giving out full-size Snickers. I'm like, this is the man, right? And I talked to one of the residents. I'm like, hey, man, did you see that guy giving out the full-size Snickers? That's the best. And he goes, yeah, that guy's a real jerk. He's a gossip and a gadabout. And all he does is talk bad about everybody. I'm like, oh, man, I feel betrayed. Usually, whoever gives out full-size candy bars is just a beast. He bought my love.

He's the society. What's up, Rockefeller? What you been up to handing out them full-size? That guy is the best. Because then you get to the guy on the other end that's giving away them circus peanuts, and you're like, man, you're a jerk. First of all, ain't no one ate butterscotch in 30 years. What's the matter with you? Halloween is not the day of atonement for you. Okay, here we go. The Segular says, whoever wrote that note must have been the neighborhood witch. It is not unusual for parents who live in neighborhoods such as yours to bring their children to more populated areas trick-or-treat. It happens every Halloween.

Don't let it get you down. Do you think Neighborhood Witch was a joke on Neighborhood Watch? That was a good one. Yeah. I got confused there. I almost read it incorrectly. That's what I was thinking you were going to say was Neighborhood Watch. I was until I read it right. The Neighborhood Witch. Yeah, right. Halloween joke, secular. Yeah, I guess that's it, man. It's real bad.

Yeah, it appears that that's all we've got with these people. What did you say, Dan? Really? How do you say that part? Wicca. But it's like they are a wicca? No. Wicca is a wiccan. Like I'm a Christian. They're wiccan. Yeah. Just some of the stuff on their window. At first it was like, hey, relax, it's magic.

And I thought, hey, relax, it's magic? And then underneath there was some other stuff that happened. You went to Hogwarts to get your hair cut and they said, hey, relax, it's magic? Well, all right. The Chronicles of Dan Hudson, Volume 2. I've got to be honest. The conversation was lively. There wasn't a dole in the thing. I don't know where Dan would come up with this. Usually when there's like a three-second nobody's talking, then Dan steps in with these weird stories. But he completely hijacked a normal going-on conversation. He goes, I heard I'm going to stay by the way.

Next week I'm going to tell you about my gas station. You had a banana for breakfast. I did. I sang into it on the microphone. Full calling. I bought it from a Romanian panhandler. All right. You've been listening live from the path. Thanks for hanging out with us. We really do appreciate it. Hey, we know you're upset with the show. Hit us up on the complaint line. That's 515-517-0085.

The Bob Eisenhower complaint line. 515-517-0085. Next week Ali Carmel will be, what is that next week? No, maybe two weeks from now. Hey, we've got more tunes coming in. So be on the lookout for some good times. In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to Life in the Back. Once everybody gets comfortable.