Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper. You are live from the path. Am a working man.

I get things done. Work for the holy ghost. Work for the sun. You're listening to Live From The Pathway the Pathway Studios here in Johnston Proper. Special agent of Hello. My name is Mike. Hi, Mike. I am not. What brings what brings you here today? Hey. So so I I caught a lot of backlash from last week's show because Buva had been off the show for a year, and nobody even mentioned it. We just said, well, Buva and Nathaniel haven't been on the show together in ten years, but we didn't really celebrate Buva's triumphant return to the ring. Oh, man. I don't I don't I don't triumphant. Don't you think don't you think that's over selling us? That's strong. Yeah. I mean, he came in guns blazing.

Yeah. But that doesn't mean he was triumphant. Yeah. Hey, as a matter of fact, in any given war, the loser also was ablazing guns. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What… Wait. Is that for… Hey, reminds… When Jay was in here, we also did this. Like, we lack formality, I think is the problem. We we just don't run… I think it's my general assumption that no one is listening to the show who hasn't already listened to the show. And so I I find… It's not in my mind to introduce people or reset a scene. Like, it just comes on as if you're dropping in to a reality show, and then the mics go off and you've stopped. And no one stops and explains their life all the time. Is that… Was that the miss mic?

Yeah. I I think it was that, like like, I mean, he was a a serious giant part of the show for, like, six, seven, eight year… I don't know. Most of it. Right? Most of the years. Yeah. Yeah. I'd be around. And then and then his… He retires and leaves, and he comes back for a for a one one stop. And we let it go without any fanfare or like, hey. It's great to have Bubba back in the studio after a year long, whatever. We're just like, yeah. Bubba's here.

And so and so I don't know. It feels like maybe we're kinda jerks, Ben. I think this was the overall take. Really? Did you… Do you ever, though, like, listen to a podcast and they spend the first ten minutes all the formality crap? Like, yeah. My name's John. And, well, Joe hasn't been with us for a while and Yeah. And you… And like I I turn it off before they even get to Maybe people don't care. Nobody cares. Yeah. I don't care. I mean I don't… Yeah. I care… Yeah. And I think that's true. In general, we we do care far less about contextual stuff, especially stuff like that. Like, relationships mean something to you because you're in them. But if they're not your relationship, I… You're like, okay. Great. Hey. Did did Ben tell you that we ran into Tim Cooper? You remember Tim Cooper? Oh, absolutely. With a British accent going on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we talked to him for a little bit, and I I well, he's coming in. I I said we gotta find a free Monday night. Tim Cooper gonna come back in. Oh, that'll be a party. This is the type of formality stuff that, like, you as a listener, you won't care about because you never met Tim Cooper. He was on here, like, nine, ten years ago. But, like, he's a great dude, and we're gonna have him in. So I was just thinking about that. It's like, if I brought up brought up that as an example, you're right. People wouldn't care at all. Yeah. They're like, okay. And I sallied forth with it anyway. So why why, why is he here? Why Produce Tim or shut up, Mike. He got to say? Yeah.

Okay. Hey. You're to life from the path. Thanks for joining us. Boob is not here. No. He's not here. What? He retired again. Yeah. Yeah. He's like Good luck. Obyn's gonna get wise to it. He ain't giving you no more money. Holy cats. Did you see Hey. What do do you know about this… What what do you know about this kid's stimulus? Are they gonna start sending me checks for these kids? Yeah. Like legit checks? Yes. When's that gonna fire up? I think in like a month or two. Well, hot dog. No. We're gonna run out of money. Yes. No. It's my money that they're just giving back to me

at higher interest. And so… Yeah. No. This… Yeah. I mean, but here's the thing. It's just like people would say, you know, like Warren Buffett would say, hey, man. Well, I would pay more in taxes, and you're like, go ahead, Warren. Go. Yeah. Send it in. My… Am I, you know, am I gonna send this check back? This is where they have me. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Because I think I think they're gonna waste it. I mean I know they're gonna waste it. They sent it back to me already. If he keeps if he keeps giving me money, I don't need this gig no more. I'm gonna go out booba style. I'm just gonna straight retire from this place. That's why that's why these restaurants can't stay open. It's why the Walgreens can't hire. Mike, did you see the… One of the rest… Klaxons in Altoona's or the Fireside Grill in Altoona is closing down for a few days? No. Or closing early, I think, two days a week because they get… They just can't get enough help. It's go… I mean, it's going around. They said it's it's causing a plasma shortage because people aren't donating plasma because they don't need the money. Because they don't need the money. Wow. Yeah. But there's a ripple effect I think that's pretty serious. Yeah. It's that that's not… I mean, here here's the… Just wise thought here regardless of what you think about it. Like, this stuff isn't free. Like, you you… One, the money's not free, but but two, like, there are bigger there are bigger consequences. You guys remember when we were talking, one of the one of campaign promises was like, hey, hey, well, let's let's just eliminate student debt. I'm like, okay. Sure.

That sounds great for the person whose debt you eliminated, but like, there's there's a greater impact in that. There's there's there's banks who are hiring, who've got employees who support student loan things. There's guys… There's call centers all over the place with people servicing this stuff. Like… And maybe that's okay. Maybe those infrastructure's okay to go, but don't walk into it thinking, like, you can just make one thing and, like, it's fresh it's fresh goods for everybody. Right. I mean, maybe I should go back to school. When they gonna enact this? Yeah. Mean I'd like to front load some debt and then have it be swept away. Yeah. You could do it, Mike. In fact, that you could you could pay for your mortgage and stuff while they're sending you the kid money and while you're going to school and then incur a bunch of debt and then just get it wiped away. Boy, I don't know why I've been such a fool all these years. I know. You just didn't play… Here's the thing. I… Now here… But this is the same thing I would say about the tax code is there was a… The big deal about politicians. They're like, hey, man. That guy's got money in offshore offshore accounts, and he's invested in this, so he's paying nearly no taxes. I'm like, is it legal? Is he following the tax? Well, yes, he is. Well, then it's not his fault. I don't expect him to be more generous than the tax code. And so I would say the same thing here. I would very much expect people to take advantage of the student loan thing. That's why you don't do it. But, like, if you do it, peep… Someone's gonna… Like, it's not illegal. They're going to to use it to their best advantage. And I I would expect people to do that. And so you just can't set it up that way. You don't wanna create a disadvantage to what you're trying to do.

Alright. Interesting. Anyway, hey, so there was an article there was an article on Christianity Today that was, do you follow the right Jesus? Oh, no. Oh. Four cultural values entices toward an American ized messiah. Okay. Now hold on. Crucified Christ. This is a great question because we were just talking about this before the show started. Right? Yep. Is if you did not have the scriptures as a reference, could you identify, say, the differences between these four Jesuses? Right? Good question. Yeah. Yeah. And so we're… So let's let's look at it through through that lens as you read the article, but but Dan brought up a point. We were just talking about, like like, Joseph was before Torah, before the law. Yep. Right? And so…

But but he behaved above reproach. Right? Like, he skinned out of places he didn't belong. He wasn't gossiping about people. He kept his mouth shut. God gave him the ability to interpret dreams. He was fair and generous with his family who had burned him. Like like all attributes, all, Romans 12 attributes of how, you know, people are supposed to be acting as a follower of Jesus Christ. So… And and and therefore a follower of Yahweh. And so, if that's the case and and and he didn't have a scripture to point back to or remind on, you know, what does his his relationship look like with God, and can we tell,

you know, the types of things or the behavior of things of of of these four Jesuses, you know, could we do that without the Bible? Okay. Go. Okay. Fire. Alright. So let's see. As pastors immersed in Western culture… Oh, this is four pastors. Sorry. Four vices of worldly discipleship are deeply ingrained in the church. Just as Jesus taught the 12, we too must reject these four things categorically, not only because they are illusory and temporary, but because they damage us and the people we lead. Here we go. Number one, the temptation

of popularity. Who doesn't wanna be popular? The problem is that our desire for popularity leads us to do and say things solely to impress other people. Jesus calls his disciples to utterly reject showy spirituality for popularity's sake. Okay. So let's stop at that one. Mike, how does that fit in with the question you're asking? So did Joseph do things that were not popular?

Joseph. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. He told dreams, and his brothers didn't like it. Correct. It's what got him exercise… Ostracized in the first place. Right? Got him shipped off near death. Yep. Yep. Yep. Two, he he…

I suppose it's a popular move to have relations with the highest woman in the land. When she's throwing herself at you. Yeah. When she's definitely says, yes. Let's do this thing. And he goes, nope. I'm out of here. And he he… John Mark styles it out. Yes. Right. Yep. So I would say I would say Joseph innately covered covered this ground. He he made moves that were countercultural and and were not gaining him any popularity, especially the dream interpretation. Right? Do you remember how the stones it takes to interpret the dream he did to the to the reigning dude at the time? Right. I mean, these were… The the the… These were against him. Right? Like, your land is going to suffer.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Based on one, Joseph Salad. So do… We'd do… Let's see. We'll go go… So go go back beyond the Joseph question. Is is it… How would we describe this then? Is it to say if if you are popular, you are fall… You are implicitly following an Americanized Jesus? Like, how would you know if you're getting this wrong?

Because it can't just be… Well, if you're unpopular, you're rocking it. And if you are popular Yeah. You… You've been sucked in. Yeah. And so it's probably a a turn of phrase. Right? Like… And and once again, it's gonna it's gonna go back to bible for me because, like, I will say, there is a there is a right thing to do to coalesce with the way that god has created this world to work, and the bible tells me what those things are. And so whether they are popular or not, we will do those things. And in some situations, they're very popular. Like like,

obviously, God's view on humanity is full of grace and patience and forgiveness and and turning the other cheek. Right? And, like, giving when when… And praying for your enemies. All these things are are popular at its base because it's a love for humanity more than a love for self, and people go, yes. That would be great. They can agree to it as a thought that that would be fantastic. But that same type of, reaction from people will go south if, say, they want to hate another group of people and you do not, or they wanna hate a guy and you do not, or they wanna gain from those people and you don't wanna participate in it. Yeah. So so

it's a… I think it's a fealty question. If the truth if the truth… God's truth, God's spoken word truth shared And care. With the heart of God and character of God is popular,

then awesome. If it's not, not my problem either. Mhmm. Like, it's it's just really… It's a non… It's a nondistinction. I don't need to be… I don't need to care one way or the other whether I'm popular or not. The question is is, am I walking faithfully, with where God has has has told us to walk and faithfully in the character and how we think about and see the world around us? And if those two things are true, it's just irrelevant. It's not it's not a measure of one way or the other. It just it just doesn't bear any particular relevance. It's why your Sunday morning gatherings are refreshing. Right? Like, you're ground a a community of people where Jesus is popular. The things that he's saying is par popular. And even when you're against them or you don't agree with them or you're struggling to to to follow them correctly, there's a group of people that believe, yes, Jesus is popular. He knows what he's talking about, and all those ideas are well supported here. You know? And then and then you have to go back out in the world where maybe that is not true. You know? Maybe the things that that Jesus believes are having patience where where there's a there's a mob of people at your workplace that just wanna be mad at your boss. And and you're like, I don't know, man. Maybe we should give them the benefit of the doubt or maybe, you know, whatever. That's not a popular opinion. People just want you to join them in being mad at this guy. You know? And so… Yeah. Yeah. I I believe that you're right. It's not inherent

popular or unpopular. It's… There is a right, and there… And I shouldn't say right. I should say there is following the design. Right? And what… How how God designed the world to work before it was broken. Right? He designs it to work in a in a in a perfect way of which he saw, before he made it. And and the more you can get on board with that, it really doesn't matter if it's popular or not. I I think that to… The… I think what he's getting at is when you are putting things through the filter of

people are really gonna love this, so we're gonna do this. Mhmm. Or we're gonna we're gonna have shareable tweets, you know. If we tweet this out, people will love it and like it and share it or or whatever whatever the the social media you're you're using. You will maybe do things differently than if you were just putting it through the filter of scripture. Yes. Right. You know, know, Jesus said pick up your cross. Well, that's… You know, how about love? Let's just love people. You know? I mean, yeah, love people too, but but I'm just saying that if it bends your message so you're not doing the whole truth, but only part of the truth, you you… You're not discipling properly. Am am I filtering this correctly? Like, it's discipleship, right, we're talking about? He, well, see here, Ditto. Or maybe I just… No. I think you're right. It's difficult to entangle our view of Jesus from the Americanized identity, an identity measured mostly. What does it mean for us to be cross centered and follow the crucified Jesus in context? What are the distinctions between the world's…

World discipleship and Jesus' discipleship. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So so, like, the churches were jumping the last summer on the the Black Lives Matter. We're gonna talk… Really talk that up whether they knew it really was or not. You you know? And I'm not even talking about that as a topic. I'm just saying that the churches will jump on something if it's becoming popular though. Like, I'm gonna be cool too like that one and that church and that church and and rather than just saying, hey. We're doing what god's called us to do. Yep. To say something like, well, all lives matter is like, woah. You can't do that. You you know, it becomes angry and unpopular and and… But but literally all lives do matter to Jesus. I mean… Right. It allows… It arouses the social narrative and the popularity of what you're saying to otherwise drive the actual thing that you're saying. Yeah. Right? I think I think though… And and the problem with popularity, it's popular for a reason. People like it because things that are popular affirm affirm you. Right? Yeah. Right. Yeah. And it's it's true. And it's a danger for the church. It's a danger for your teaching. It's a danger for the way that you run your youth. Alright? But, like,

when you stop at the love, which I think is absolutely needed, of course. Right? Like, because that's what god did. Like, ultimately, that's what god does. But if you let it stop at your organization or even internally with yourself. Right? Like, I was I was running through this a couple weeks ago. I was trying to think what the difference between, like, the the the way that they teach… Even even my kids in school is, like, that that you're enough. That you're enough. Who you are is enough. Yeah. And the truth of the matter is is, like, it sounds terrible, but, like, you're enough because god says you're enough. Yeah. You're enough because god created you to be enough. Right? But if you let the affirmation stop with you, then you could do no wrong. And so how popular are you? How popular is that message with you? If there… If I can't do anything wrong, I find that very popular. Everyone's gonna love that. Right? It makes everybody feel great about themselves that they can't screw anything up. And, like, I've lived with myself long enough to know that is a lie. That is a bold place of just a beast of a lie. I've screwed up all kinds of things. I do do things wrong. And so, like, we… I I think it's the popularity is deceiving people into believing, you know, that, like, on your own, you're you're you're just fine. And the truth of the matter is you are just fine because god designed you to be fine. And he says you're enough because the price that he paid for you to be enough. And, like, without that proper perspective,

then it's a real popular message to say, you're good. Everything you do is good. Right? And, like… And it leads to a bunch of ramrod, and it's… Once again, it's very popular. It's a popular thing to say. Yeah. And and so that goes back to how would we know the difference here between… If we fall in this trap versus what what Jesus is doing is is Jesus…

It is… There's an irony in here because Christianity was the fastest growing and largest… Has been the largest religion for ever since Jesus dies on the cross or within, you know, two or three hundred years. But, like, wasn't…

Like, he had crowds following him, and he was saying things which they knew they would turn away. Yeah. And and even things that, like, they even slightly misunderstood, and he knew that and he let it go. And he's like, no. No. No. He didn't like chase him down and go, no. You misunderstand the blood thing that I was talking about. You just… You're miss… He did… He didn't do that either. Like, if you… If they they weren't gonna stay and hear him out then he's he's not gonna bother chasing them. And so the… It… It's… It is a… I think it's a it's a double edged sword in that it relieves pastors and disciple makers of a very large burden. It is not necessary for you to plot and see what will work. I… It's it's it's one of those things where, like,

well intentioned behavior from churches, pastors, disciples, other followers of Jesus is to like, well, what are the… What's the right way to get these people to latch onto our message? Mhmm. Like how do I reach… Like anytime you start… This is gonna sound harsh and I don't mean it that way, but I just want I just wanna think about it in these terms for a minute. How do we reach x? How do we reach the young people? How do we reach the old people? How do we reach the people of color? How do we reach the native Americans? You know? How do we reach the white people? Like, whatever it is that you're thinking of. And, like, as if we've gotta have a bunch of different strategies that cater to different people. And, like, I know there's all kinds of churches that have, like, what you would call successful ministries for buckets of folks. And so I'm not gonna haggle over whether

those are working or not. You have people who are close to that stuff, you're gonna have to judge that for yourself. But here's what I'm telling you. The first answer to every one of those questions is the good news of Jesus Christ. And so, like, I I think when we chase when we chase people's proclivities to try to,

as if that is the first the first of the priorities as a as a means to otherwise say, now can I let them hear good news? I think we do them a disservice. Jesus… If if I teach if I teach the bible, if I teach scripture and I follow Jesus faithfully and I teach his example to people, he didn't he didn't come back a second time. He didn't come back, like, 200 and go, alright. That was for the Middle Easterners. You're gonna run into problem with the with the Pan Europeans.

And so check this out. I'm gonna walk the earth again. Here's what I'm gonna do. And my my… I got some different loafers on, and they're gonna take it in great. That he didn't do that. So I have to trust that this this broad story of good news of the sinfulness of man is universal, the graciousness of God is universal. Universal. The good news of Jesus Christ is universal. And how do I know that? Because I'm a pan European white guy sitting here talking about a Middle Eastern dude. And I… And there's nothing about that context that I'm having trouble applying to my life to understand exactly where it fits. Yeah. Okay? So the the good news works everywhere. Everywhere. And so I think it alleviates us not of consideration of who you're talking to because I think you do need to recognize how different people will receive it differently and will ask ask different questions in regards to it. But but but, like, I I don't think we are… We have to psychologize

or culturalize or any of our ices. I think the good news can carry the work here. The bible's translated the same. Not like some of the… So again, some of the words… We don't have words for certain things in certain languages. Like, it'll be a little different, but, like, we're not telling completely different stories here. No. I mean, there is there is good space for, like, I mean, good solid bible teaching where you explain the culture at the time to have it make sense, you know, to a culture that doesn't know anything about that. Right? That makes perfect sense. And and and also just to just to clarify something that Ben said, I I… I'm I'm 100% certain that he's not saying that you should not, you know, spend time developing, say, a recovery ministry for people that are afflicted in in certain ways. I think we're talking about looking at people differently Yes. As if how you're presenting the gospel to them to cater it to them when when Jesus did That's right. Jesus did not do that. Yeah. Like… Okay. So like the… And one of the core things would be, hey, how can we how can we make this thing more more hip Mhmm. For the 16 year olds? I'm like, freaking, this is the hippest thing that ever happened.

Well, and honestly, when when you're trying to be popular, what you're doing is you're focusing it on the local congregation, that particular brand Mhmm. You know, or the pastor, and you're focusing away from Jesus. So that's that's where the issue happens. You're making a disciple of of a particular church. And and we want our pride in the church and our pride in this brand and this logo. We're gonna wear the t shirts and have the cups and yada yada. And

we're missing the mark of discipleship. Not not that you can't do those things or do those things, but but if that's the focus, you're teaching people to love your church more than love Jesus. And Right. Then that's when the storms come, they they fall. And you're talking… I mean, we're talking about three guys in the room that couldn't love, god's church more. Yeah. Right? Like, I mean, we spend our lives here, and and we're well aware of the dangers that you… I mean, as… Like, as we were talking about this before the show too. Right? No church gets set up and goes, I can't wait to focus solely on our organization within the next ten years. Right? When they fire up, they're like, we've got to tell people about Jesus. And somehow, you just get on you get on cruise control here, and then you're you're accidentally

pointing people to the church. Well, then you have, like, a building to pay for, and and you gotta make sure people stay because now you got… Yeah. You have a building. Pay for the building. And you gotta attract more So so you gotta be more popular. And, you know, it can become And it can't. And, like, these are all… They're all mitigated risks, and they're all risks that actually are addressed by the holy spirit. Right? It's not a thing. I mean, you have to do your… Like, god has has set up the world to be, co run by his creation, and and it's… We have to take our part in it. You know? But there are risks risks in in in in the way that churches run. And, like, the thing that I've probably seen more often in the last ten years than I've seen my whole life is that, like,

even with the best intentions, we always think the church is the is is the buck. The buck stops at the church. Mhmm. And, like, the church has always gotta be pointing to Jesus. That's all that's all we can do. Right? Because, I mean, once again, we're gonna let people down. We're… Us as the church is gonna let people down. Me as a human's gonna let people down. Jesus is the only one that's not. And so, like, anywhere else is just slightly misguided. Yeah. And I I think that that goes to what I was thinking when Dan was making his point, which is to the extent that you make disciples of a church or even of a pastor and you know those structures are not Jesus himself, they will let you down. And that's how people can go through some sort of church scandal and lose their relationship with Christ. And you're like, well, how the heck? How the heck is this happening? Jesus didn't do this. These are fallible humans following Jesus who failed, but it's because some of that discipleship is tied up in the organization itself or even

the the popularity of the pastor. And, like, their faith was hinged upon that, the infrastructure working, and on the pastor himself doing a good job. And so, like, it's it's… We should be able to weather the storms of sin, whether that be in our personal lives or in our corporate communities, because of our relationship with Jesus. And and, again, it's it's just a it's just a risk that masquerades as as effectiveness,

which is why it's worth saying out loud. Like, it's just, it goes back to that prayer conversation we were having last, last week is that well intentioned, faithful people can can still have this happen just for for for the… With the right intent. I wanted… I I don't want people to be turned off by what we're saying. So maybe we don't teach this thing upfront.

You know, maybe you don't target this message at this time because I don't want… I want people to come back and then come back and then come back. And, like, then you're always gonna be chasing them, like, to not leave. Like, if I got them here with something that's a little bit softer, and I don't mean… Not the… The gospel is good news. So, I mean, I want the harshest good news I can have. But, like, I just… I I… It's just a risk we run, and we don't often do it intentionally. We're just… We're sensitive. We're sensitive to people around us in a good way

with… And and it goes… There's just an enablement there, and we see this as we treat… Like, even people who are struggling, the the recovery stuff's a good example. Like, sometimes people need to hear really, really true but hard things, but very clear. And they may need to hear it 10 times, and they may need to that… To know that the eleventh time, it still didn't change,

because they have to deal with the reality kind of as it sits there. And, we're not doing them a service by otherwise avoiding things like that. And I actually think this is happening far less than than people talk about. Yeah. I I I think… I mean, I think people are. I think people will duck this a bit. And I I think there's some very large churches who just don't do this as a practice. Like, their whole their whole mindset is, let's give them a place to go where they can't… Don't feel comfortable going anywhere else. I totally get it. I I I think there's a lot of risk in there, risk that I personally feel like I won't… I can't take. But I I think God has done great things through some of those things. So, like, even in the midst of that, I think God God himself will do good. But, like, I think in general,

we have to be confident. If I trust that the good news does great things, then by goodness, we have to speak it. And and why would I deprive anybody of that? And and and good news is even things like, yes. You know what? Guilt is kind of a thing, and it's god knocking on your heart saying, hey. Maybe you should you should turn from this, and I think we should be thankful for that. And repentance is a good thing because there's freedom in it. And so, like, which one of those things that Jesus said was good am I making the human decision to deprive somebody of from… For what? So that they like me? Boy, I I I would hate that they like me and miss out on god's mercy. Yeah. Right. You know what saying? And so, like, I think that's where we can miss it. And it's it's as simple as not caring about your popularity, but it's as difficult as that too, which is… And it is a hard thing because not just, oh, I don't care. I'm I'm willing to be an

off the books dude who burns my own path. Well, great. But, like, don't don't you have a perception at all when no one's listening? And don't you at the core of your heart want people to listen? So, like, it should mat… You should feel it. You should know when you're unpopular, and it should grieve you when while you're unpopular because it's true. Not because you… It's not that you don't care that you're unpopular. It's that you know to react in grief. I think that's probably the key. If it's just like, oh, I don't care what people think. Well, that's silly because you care about people. And if they don't think anything about the good news that you're sharing, you… That you should grieve that. And so… But, yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna take what I said back. I don't mean that you don't care.

I mean that you know to grieve about it as opposed to changing what you're doing and saying true things. Okay. Next one. See, I I think these all seem like the same to me. The next one was the temptation of worldly greatness. Jesus popularity. Is

Yeah. Doesn't it seem the same thing? Yeah. Seems seem pretty similar. We're gonna skip that one. Third, the temptation of success. Seems like the same. Seems like greatness. How many how many did we have? Four? Okay. So you have to know that you're pretty prideful when you could subcategorize it. You know what I'm saying? There's levels to my pride, and I like to put them in the popular successful bucket. People love me because I'm successful. What… Hold on. I'm gonna read success just to see if he makes some distinctions that we're… That I'm missing here.

Striving for success may be the world's most universal quest, but success is a counterfeit faith with the power to separate us from Jesus. We live in a culture where bigger is always better. Bigger profits, bigger influence, bigger impact. The church tends to believe the same. We measure effectiveness by the numbers, and bigger is always better. I mean, if it's… If you're reaching Jesus and it's bigger, that is good. I don't I don't nice to that They gave a big number at Pentecost. Right? I mean, it was it was there for the wow. You know? Like, how many people? Holy cow. What? Yeah. If our numbers are increasing, we feel great and consider our efforts as blessed and our intentions as righteous. If our numbers decrease, we feel despondent and regard our efforts as failures. Now here, that is totally human. I'm… I like… I totally get this. It's different when you're talking to a room of five people or 500, and you're… In the 500, your voice is loud and it's landing on the group, and it feels like they're soaking it in. When you're talking to the five a living room, two of them are picking their nose. And like, boy, just I feel like I was way more successful with the other one. Like, I… It's totally human. I I think the thing to think about here… And this is true for discipleship too. Like, you got 10 guys…

Never I was gonna compare it to dating ladies, that's just wrong. Good. But when you got 10 folks that you're dealing with, it feels like you're making more progress simply because you're burning hours doing it. I had 10 breakfast this week. I don't even know how that happens, dude. You ate twice in one day. And it feels like you're accomplishing something. It's it's… And and not this one irritating dude who you met just you and him week after week after week after week, and you felt like it wasn't doing anything. Like, busyness and high numbers are the illusion of success. It could actually be success, but it's not really a good indicator.

That's the number of people you you might be spending time on, but how much time you spend isn't even a good indicator of where things are going. This is where, like, god's god's providence and god's direction for the world should allow us to be able to think, if my only job is to pour into my family and that was it, for some reason, god is just not tapping me for anything else, that's holy and righteous. I think that's not likely, just that, but it's possible. And there's other guys who… I mean, like, millions of people will come to know Jesus Christ to the work that this person is doing. That's also holy and righteous. Like, god god does work local with folks in that way. Yeah.

Maybe the flip side of this is not allowing yourself to get down on yourself if you're not whatever those numbers are that you consider successful. Right. You know, because if you don't have Pentecost numbers, you're like, well, I guess I'm not a Pentecost guy. You know I mean? I mean, look at Jeremiah. I don't know how that guy got out of bed in the morning. Right. Right. I can't over listen to a word this guy's saying, you know, and he's keep having at it. Yeah. Right. What was it? At the end of the day, one one guy

one guy listened to Jeremiah. That was it. And I I mean, he talked to thousands. Like, so much that they were hosed at him and they put him in that well. You know, like, he… They were listening. They just they just didn't like it. Not responding. Well. And I suppose in in a real practical way, like like, it really does go back to your faith in God's word and the work of the holy spirit. Right? If the holy spirit told you… Like, it's it's it's just the way that God does things, and he… And and and he's doing this because for God reasons that I don't know. But, like,

he could say when I'm 22 and go, Mike, legitimately, I have one person you're after, and they're gonna show up when you're about 45. Mhmm. So I need you to live your life and follow me and talk to everybody you meet, but the one that's actually gonna fruit is was when you're about 45. And if I'd have known that, I'd have phoned this thing in for twenty five years, right, to my own detriment, right, and to not god's glory. Well, then we don't know, you know, when you look at the scripture, some sow, some harvest, you know, we don't know

when we're part of the picture. We're just watering something that someone else is gonna harvest later. You know, we're still doing production. We're still productively making disciples just at a different place that we don't see the the fruit of. You know? So it's still legit. Well, it's kinda funny that god… I mean, you almost seem like a like a dumb video game worker. Yeah. But, that's Mike the waterer. Yeah. To be honest, we've been putting plastic plants in there the last three years. He doesn't even know. But he's out there smiling, watering away. You know? And so I I think that's the thing is, like, it really is, you know, when we talk about having a personal relationship with Jesus and and trusting the holy spirit and and and, you know, ears to hear, eyes to see that's god's job. Right? You really have to believe that if you're gonna long stay this thing. Right? Like, it's not every day. And every day is not gonna be like these amazing conversions and dudes on the street are like, hey, man. You smell like Jesus. You wanna baptize me in the sewer over there? Like, wow. That's crazy. You know? Like, it it just doesn't have… There might… It might happen, like, once. You know? But, like, it's not gonna be your everyday here. You know? And so, like, you… We talk about trusting Jesus with stuff. It it can't be a results based operation. Operation. Now I think I think, once again, when you trust Jesus with this stuff, I… You're gonna feel his presence in your life. You're gonna feel the presence of the holy spirit, you know, reacting within you and within your personal situations. But, like, if you think you're gonna Billy Graham everybody,

I think you're really underestimating your your power in this thing. You actually have no horse in the race. Only god does. Right? You're just the guy that goes, is it time to ride? I'll ride every day, and we'll just… Maybe one of these will turn out. And and and that's how we live in faith that God will do, his purposes through you, through faithful acts, and the Bible does spell that out. Alright. I'll finish this, success one out. He says, it's essential that we see success rightly. According to Jesus, success is becoming the person God calls you to become and doing what God calls you to do in his way and according to his timetable. We must expose and reject every drive to succeed that compromises our integrity as followers of Jesus. Not every opportunity to expand the work of God is actually an invitation from God. That's… I think that's that's poignant. Unfortunately, it just points you to something that you know to be true without giving you an answer.

Because realistically, you're like, well, okay. How do I know which opportunities are are the ones that are actually invitations from God? That's prayer. That's that's holy spirit. That's talk, like, using your community, the same way you decipher, I think, what god is trying to do in your life at any given time. I had I had more than one more than one person I talked to that they were attending churches that during COVID, the the numbers went down and the ties went down. And, like, they're like, we just gotta pray that that god straightens us out and that he brings more people or brings in more ties or whatever. And I'm like, you should consider asking god if he wants you to sell the place. They're like, what? Like, I'm just saying. Right? Like, if you're if you're open to whatever god is doing, it's those kind of barriers where you think that's counterintuitive.

When the economy goes bad and we don't have money to keep the place up, we fold. Like, no. You don't fold. But, like, god has the option to fold whatever plan he had started and start a new one. That bill, he coulda had… He… And listen. Isn't… God has lots of money and lots of people and and and a and a vision for what the whole world is. If he created that whole church, had you put in $3,000,000, put in all the seats, and one dude he was after got got in through there, he could very well shelve the whole place and go, well, that's what I needed. Yep. I need Bill in there. And then looks like Bill's gone through. I need you to fold this up. I actually have you something else for you guys to do over here, and you go, sounds great. I wanna… Let's do this thing. You know? And so, like, we do… I think we get caught up on… We we want the whole plan. We want Yeah. We want what god wants to tell us to do, and we're like, okay. And we don't wanna walk by faith. We wanna know that faith is available at the end and the course it's gonna take to get there. And and god knows humanity well enough that, like, it's a precious few that get this information. You know? And, like like, he just he just knows better. And, like, I've been caught in this myself where I'm like, god, I know this thing is killing me, and it's eating me from the inside. But if you fix it, I will drift. I know that. I know that that if I… If if you take away this dependence that I have on you right now and fix this situation, I will drift from you, and I don't know what to do. My own sin is stopping you from interacting for my own benefit, and I'm I'm torn. I'm I'm broken because of the thing that that I'm involved in. You know? And, like, I think god will wake me out, and god will say, yes. Yes. This is exactly what I'm doing, and I'll keep it up too because I'm not willing to lose you over something stupid.

And so I think it's one of those things where we think we know what god is going to do, and and and we don't wanna sell the church building. We don't wanna pack it up. We don't wanna start taking a checkout position at the local gas station because we're like, I know god's already got me doing this thing. Well, mean, you gotta ask him. You should ask him. Yeah. You know, I… And I'm trying to decide whether this is shallow example or not, but, like, we had… My wife and I and my family moved last… Almost a year ago. It was in July. And the mechanisms of us moving,

like, it made it made the prayer table. I'll put it that way. It made the altar. Like, I felt… We we had written these things down and said, boy, like, we've been praying about moving, hadn't… We we… In fact, we'd even given up on on moving. We just weren't finding the right place. We didn't… We got comfortable. We'll just stay at our house. We think this will be fine. And then, like, there were a series of things that occurred where we found, like, my wife had had had a

vision's not right, but, like, had had, like, a scene of what our land would look like in the place that we wanted to live, and she'd kinda sketched it out. And this had been, like, I don't know, year and a half, two years ago or something. Anyway, grand scheme of things, three or four things come in, and and it just felt like God had had found us a place to to move. And and when we went to go look at the land, it looked just like it was super close. It was almost exactly like this thing that my wife had drawn. Like, we're supposed to move here. Like, we're supposed to do it. And it made the the… He made the money work out. We were able to sell our house to to to Nathaniel,

who's been here. Like, him and his wife were were contemplating moving, and and we were able to to, like, sell our house to them. And it was dead easy. Right? Because we… Like, I… We could do… Handle it ourselves because we didn't have to go through the process of going through realtors and stuff. And, like, it was a sign for them because they wouldn't know what they're supposed to do, and he just got, like, a job offer from Bondurant after he already turned the notifications off for job offers the previous day. Like, it was just… It was all… There's all stuff in there. So anyway, the the reason I'm telling this story is… So my wife and I were talking about this a few weeks or just a few days ago, is that we we just been talking about our house and trying to figure out whether we're supposed to stay here. Like, is this really the place that we're supposed to stay long term? And my wife is like, but but but but god showed us this. Like, he he made sure we saw the thing, we saw the land, and we said this is exactly what we're supposed to do. And, like, one of the things we're talking about was, yes, I think that was true at that moment. But I don't have any… There's no guarantee that god said, here, I want you to go here, and I'm gonna put you there forever. Like, I don't know that that's the case. We very well could be… Maybe it makes sense for us to move. Maybe this whole thing wasn't about us at all. It was about,

the the Nathaniel and his family. And we just… He needed a means to get us out of the way, and he knew that we wouldn't spend the money that we were… That they were asking for that property if we didn't see it through the means that we did. You know what I'm saying? And so, like, the point wasn't, like, I mean, maybe we stay in this house. Maybe we don't. We're gonna… We'll keep praying on. We're gonna keep looking. Maybe God doesn't care. I'm I'm open to any one of those particular options. But, like, I think to to to what Mike was saying is that there's this notion of God God has has stepped into creation and continues to use it for his means. And not everything

where I can… I am confident that God has shown himself and and done something means that the rest of my life only existed in as… Or in a relationship to that moment. Because God may very well say, yeah, I needed you to move. I… There's… I got 10 other things going on that I orchestrated, and I just needed you out of that house. And you weren't gonna buy it if you didn't see that land that your wife sketched. And so, yeah, I got that in. Now I got other stuff for you to do that you don't live here permanently. But, like, as humans, we go, oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. God told me to move here. I must be here forever. We're the center of every story. That's right. Right. Alright. And so… And that's that's even true with, like, why would God why would God allow us to

buy a place and put a bunch of stuff in it and get a bunch of people through there and we've been baptizing and like things keep going super well. Like, why would he have us give this up? I'm like, well, I don't know why he gave it to you in first place. You're a bunch of irresponsible animals. Right? Like, through his blessing, it was there. He's not likely to just yank it, but, like, it's it's really more of a question of anything. And let's get off let's get off, like, churches in in general. Let's just talk about people. It's what do you have on the table? Are we… Is there any time where you're not… Where you're dissatisfied with God going, great. Thank you for being faithful in this thing. Now I want you to do this. God is completely… It seems different from what you told me in step one. Yeah. Sure is. Absolutely. Because, like, what I'm evaluating God's direction for my life on is what I logically thought of. That seems like a really poor basis of which to go about something. Mhmm. And and this doesn't this doesn't prescribe… God is is a god of of of

order. And so… And and and a lot of the the expressions that we're seeing within churches and individual lives are people following faithfully. Right? So it's not like God just going around going, let's see if he's faithful in this rug out from underneath. But, like, don't let it keep you from… Don't let being part of something God promised or God fulfilled get you too boxed in as a human with with not being open to God doing something else, doing a new thing. There are used to biblical way of saying about it, so you feel like you have to do it. Yeah. Okay. Number four.

Something that might be happening if you have Americanized Jesus and not the real one. The… You avoid the temptation… Oh, the temptation to avoid suffering and failure. Imagine Peter, unbroken by his humiliating failures leading the church after Pentecost from a place of smugness and unteachability. Imagine Paul with all his gifting drive and intellect without his immovable thorn in the flesh to keep him humble and focused on Christ.

Imagine Moses without forty years in exile in Midian after murdering an Egyptian. Suffering and failure have always been God's means to transform us from willful to willing, from anxious to patience, from swimming upstream against the current of God's love to floating downstream, trusting him to take care of us. Is that is that a thing? I mean, it's a thing. Is that does that sound like the same problem, like, the first three are occurring? Are we seeing this a lot where people are like, I'm afraid… Or or is it more that they think failure

is an implication of lack of success? Well, I guess that's what failure means. I'm I'm trying to figure out, like, what is the Dan, let me ask you directly. Do… Are you tempted to avoid suffering and failure? I wanna say no. Could be a blind spot, but I… I'd say no. Yeah. I don't…

I mean, I I wonder if he's he's making a point then… It's… These examples are kind of odd because, right, like, Peter wasn't trying to avoid suffering and failure. He just took the he took the world wrong, backed the wrong horse, and then acted like a ninny. Yeah. Like Let me ask you this, though. When's the last time you preached to a hostile room? You know, we're we're like the… Like, let's say it wasn't even fifty fifty. It's 40% people who are… Who know Jesus already and 60% that are not gonna take in what you're saying

very well. I I I don't know that I have. I think everybody's been… I mean, they're… So in church settings, they came to church. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. I always know there's one guy… Like, I I know I I know who in the crowd is hostile to me. I tell you, I mean, I've… Dan, I assume you know that. Like Yeah. You just know people who don't take you in right. And I always look for… It was a dude,

and he just didn't think much of me. Probably still doesn't. And, like, he's hostile to me. I know that. I've I've done funerals where the crowds are obviously not Jesus people. Right. And I talk Jesus. Right. Like, I I think, you know, that this biker funeral I did, there was a thousand bikers there and and they were not Jesus people. Right. There could have been some, but but it was not the Yeah. Certainly wasn't overwhelming. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. I mean, I I think… I mean, obviously, Paul's the best example here. Right? Like, that dude will just roll into just about anywhere and say the most

rambunctious thing. You know? Like, look. We're gonna have to lose your your way of living here. Right? You gotta stop making the idols. These these gotta go. I'm like, I feed my family. These… I mean, he has to know that this is gonna be taken in poorly, and he rolls it out. And maybe that's a pop… That goes back to the popularity thing or whatever, but, like, I I was just thinking about it. I was, I've… It's been a long time since I've taught Jesus in a room for people that didn't already know who Jesus was. Yeah. Yeah. You know? And so, maybe maybe we're a little afraid of that. You know? Maybe we're afraid of, like… I I mean, people might straight up not like you. Man, it's back to the popularity thing again. I guess I don't know what… The the suffering part, we don't… It… It's not much of a tune here. Right? That banjo don't play in Western society very well. And so it's not like people are actually gonna physically hurt me. You know? They're just gonna not… They just don't like me or don't wanna hang around with me or think that I'm an idiot. And and, like, these are all acceptable risks. But, like, the the the actual suffering part, the biblical suffering, I I don't know. Maybe I maybe I un care… I I shouldn't discard emotional woundedness or suffering. I just tend to. Right? Like, it just seems like if if if if I got a free trip to the well all the time, then I can take on

suffering in that way. Well, so here's… Yeah. This is kinda like the first three. Let me read this next paragraph and see if it clarifies it all. For Jesus to rise from dead in glory, he first had to resist the temptation to earthly glory by refusing to deploy his power and come down from the cross. I think there's stretching scripture to make a different point here. There's a… The the common errors in the church is wrong scripture to make the right point or right scripture and you you made the wrong point out of it. To suffer and fail so colossally on Calvary proved to be the greatest victory. But, like, Jesus knew it wasn't a failure. Yeah. Yeah. That's like, whoops.

Yeah. Like, there's No. It wasn't a whoops. Yeah. Someone… Like, someone… The world might have thought it was a failure, but this goes back to items one through three. It's like, I just don't agree to someone else's perspective. Like, if I know, if you could, you could've bedded 10 ladies, before you got married and you chose not to even with the opportunity, the world might go, hey, man. Failure. And I might go, Potiphar, total success. Yeah. Definitely. Right? And so I don't go, boy, I had to go I had to go through some failures because it wasn't a failure. It was a success. I… We're just using the right definition.

And so I I I don't I don't care for the examples, guess. Yeah. I mean, what's what's a broad sweeping point here? He's basically saying that, like, God gets to dictate, how his world is designed and how we talk about him, and he's given us more than enough ammo to do both. And and the temptation is is to, take God's message and make it more palatable

or leave some parts out or, you know, try to act like, their justice is not something that God is interested in. And and that's the big temptation. Right? Yeah. I I think if you… Here's the… Here's his last part. He says, for me, I seek to save myself whenever I set down my cross to avoid failure. When I launch initiatives out of impatience, when I make hasty decisions, those are both the same, and when I frantically overwork out of fear, my ministry might decline or stagnate. And so I think this actually still does… Ultimately, his point is the same as it was in one through three, which is I'm measuring

what is success not in my faithfulness, but in the either people not liking it or the repercussions of people not liking it. Right? Like, ministry declines and stagnates because people don't like it, or or you stink at it, I guess. That could be true. But, like, in general, I… These all seem to be the same same thing. And I'm not even sure this is related to the Americanization of anything. I feel like this guy just has a… He's worried about people being… Shooting for popularity.

Because these are all essentially the same problem. And I don't even… I don't think that's an American problem. It's a human problem to wanna be popular. And I think it's different in America, and then you can correct me if I'm wrong here, but, like, as I think about some past… Like, in in certain… There's there's certain places where pastors are just straight up, like, persecuted, but there's other places which pastors are idolized for being pastors. Not because they're, like, not because they're, like, bending to what the people wanna hear. It's because they're men of God. Like… And it puts them frankly also in a rough situation that they probably shouldn't be in. And so, like, I think just in context, western culture, America specifically struggles with this or pastors struggle with this because we're not implicitly idolized.

Like, you're… No one's gonna like, oh, you're a pastor? Oh, man. That's great. Revered man of God. Like, even reverence seems overdone. Like, we can't… You can't even get away with that with people think you're pretentious. And so, the only thing you can do is then if they're not… If they don't care about this… The title you have or the role you have, is you tickle them a bit,

by by catering it to them. And that's why it's that's why it seems American. But I think it's just more prone because of that in America. I think it's true everywhere that has this this risk. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Don't follow popularity. That was that was the article. Yeah. Yeah. You could've got that down to a sentence or two. Yeah. What… And he wrote a book about… Holy cats. This article is adapted from emotionally healthy discipleship. Dang it. You know what? This goes by our point from last week. This is way… These books are way overdone.

Seriously, get an editor that chops this stuff down. These, you know, three three things in a list of which one is actually unique, four four points within a broad article of which one is unique. I mean, are people impressed by thick books? Because frankly, I see a book that's over a 100 pages. I'm like, man. I don't know. I want you to distill this down. That's right. I mean, if you could get get in and get out in a 100 pages, I'm like, yes. That was refreshing. I'm a pass it on to somebody else. We're good to go. I don't wanna feel like I'm involved in likes of the the forty years in the desert operation. I wanna get in. I wanna read what you to say, and I go, yeah. You know what? That's a great perspective. I'm moving on. Here we go.

I'm sure there's a price point situation. So many pages, so much per… You know, where the profit is higher. You know? And That's dumb. Yeah. I think that's dumb. Just make the font bigger. Yeah. For the old people. Oh, so let's go back to the the real quick to the the question of how did how did Joseph have any… Where does his morality come from when his existence was pre Torah?

And I think… I'm a try to… I'm gonna I'm a I'm a propose an answer. I I think the the answer for him is the same answer that actually undergirds Torah and and everything else, which is

Joseph somehow had, like, understood the character of God. And he even says this. I don't know if you remember, like, when they… I don't remember what his situation was. Maybe it was during Potiphar's thing or maybe it was some some other time. But, like, basically, they they were asking him, why didn't you do blah blah blah? And he's like, how could I violate… How could I act outside of the character of my god? And so so some form or another or… Probably orally passed down,

what they what they didn't remember was that the the law was God's gift to try to codify this is what my character looks like expressed through fallible humanity. It… That's… In that way, we should think of it as a gift. But the notion of his… Of people understanding character and having stories about Yahweh kinda passed down through people so that his character could be known, I think that makes sense to me, that Joseph… And and that's what he references is that that he is aware of the character of God and does not wish to act outside of it. Yeah. I mean, do you think that is available to us today?

Yes. Yes. And I think it's… We get it we get it from scripture. But, like, just because the the Torah didn't exist or it wasn't written down, I mean, people certainly talked about it. Like, that's why… If think of think of the stories, even all the Genesis stories up to Joseph, like,

they're good they're good stories that people can remember. Right? Like, it's like six year olds can tell you the story of Noah and the flood, and and and walk away with a broad point of it. And so, like, they're not… Even the way that we write things doesn't always get the essence of a story that otherwise communicates you God's character. What do I know from the Noah story? I know that God hates unrighteousness and that when people were treating each other the way they were and giving themselves up to lust or other worship, like, that was outside of his character. And so, like, Joseph can can know that is knowable. What was going on over there, Mike? Something's foul. Keep keep keep rolling. Okay.

So so, yeah, I I think that I think that makes sense to me is that, god's… God was… Has revealed himself to his people. They shared that, what was still the good news to them, and they shared it as they went along. So even if the law wasn't there yet, his character can be known. And I think Paul kinda… Paul Paul kind of references this. It… It's more about the… That there was a creator, but even that, there's a sense of that something is above you and that the,

some of it is written on you. Like, you are able to… You recognize when things are morally not going well. You just ignore it because you don't have anything that you're tying it to. But, like Right. I I think I think that makes sense to me. It does meet. I mean, it wasn't that long into history where these things happened. Yeah. That, I mean, that many generations. I mean, where it it wouldn't have been that difficult to pass pass it down. I mean, there was a time when when, you know, Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden. You know? And Yeah. And who knows the stories that they had that they passed on to their children, passed to their children, and so forth.

Yeah. So, yeah. But but, I mean, there's just that the the general character of of Joseph is so impressive. Mean, there… There's some detail in there. I mean, Potiphar's wife went after him multiple times. It wasn't like a one time situation.

Right. She was trying to wear him down. And I I know people, you know, find Christian people who'd be wore down like after the second time. Yeah. Right. I mean, you know, it's like, what what… How have we… How much more we have to access the the desires and character and will of God than they had, and we're like losers. I mean, what what… What's the deal with that? Right. Right. There's just no notion of, no notion of self control there. Or no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and and maybe there's maybe there's a sense of, we've gotten away from, the the the core desire to align ourselves with the character of God. Yeah. Maybe… Oh, go ahead. Sorry. No. Yeah. Go ahead. I was saying, it just kinda thought to me, occurred to me, like, the great storytellers

of our generation is Hollywood. Mhmm. And that their story is not the story of God. That's right. So… Because I'm thinking like, okay. The average teenager out there or whatever, average person who doesn't know anything about Jesus, Potiphar's wife comes up, they're like, alright. What a deal. Yeah. Cool. Can't believe it. Let me take a selfie. You know, I mean, you know, and

it's like, they've heard the other story masterfully pulled over and over again through their whole life. Who's telling our stories. That's right. That's right. Disney plus Mike.

They have all the Marvel movies, which I enjoy. I I don't get those channels. Okay. Alright. I think that tucks us up. Mike, what do we got for… We got… People need some advice today? Yeah. We got a couple. Okay. Ready? Yeah. Dear life from the path. I just got engaged, and I could not be happier. But my fiance is referred to by the entire town as the, quote, bad guy because of his past. Okay. He's changed a lot, and I really want this to work out. But people come to me and say he's not marriage material, and they try to make us break up, one of his exes in particular,

like she would even know. Oh, wow. He told me about his past, and I don't judge him for it because everyone has a past. He really wants to get married. How can we have a wedding without everyone knowing about it, especially our family? Look. I don't think you could put two thoughts together. Yeah. What… That's that's a weird combination of stuff going on in there. Okay. We're gonna try to parse this out. You just got engaged, and you're super happy. My my my fiance is referred to by the entire town as the bad guy. Look. I know this is hard to take in. I'm assuming you're a younger gal. I… Just just just walk with me on this. People don't… People actually love you. You need to take that in. Right? People love you and are trying to save you from some harm, and you don't wanna hear it. And I get it. Everyone's been there where they're like, I hear what everybody's saying, but I don't know why everyone's trying to break us up and cause us a bunch of They don't know them like I do. That's right. Yeah. The truth is is that with the facts that they have on hand,

they see the investment that you're making in this man as a mistake. Mhmm. Now granted, there's been times where this has been wrong in the past. People have misjudged people. They bring their own crap into the conversation. Like Boo Radley. Like Boo Radley. Boo Radley. We… That was a mistake. Okay. Carry on. So so people will do this, but don't discount the fact that they love and they're trying to give you,

advice from the perspective that they see. Now now people can change. That is true. But you need to be a little bit careful on the time frame of which you, identify change. Right? Everybody could do better for three weeks. Everybody can probably hold it together on their own steam, maybe even in the month's range. Right? But, like, especially people that have had a past,

and I don't even know what the past is. For a whole town to turn against you, either you live in a very small town or he's done a lot of tornado type damage. Uh-huh. But either way, people who have truly changed from a life that they were living, they will understand your trepidation. They will understand the time frames and go, I think that's fair for you to wait this out. And and I owe it to you, to graciously give you the amount of time it makes for you to feel more comfortable,

that I am truly on the path that I say that I'm on. And people who have made mistakes enough and have turned from them are very gracious with things like that. I would agree. And so his I really want to get married pressure, I'd say that's a decent red flag. I don't even know you or the man. And people that that try to rush a decision like who you're gonna spend the rest of your life with, that's an unfair position to put you in. The fact that you want to get married, I think is fine. The fact that you want to to start a family and spend,

your life with somebody and get that moving, I think that is all well and good. It's probably not a good reason to throw every bit of common sense out the window. But your actual question was is how can I get married without people knowing? If it's a small enough town that the guy at the clerk's office is gonna rat you out They're gonna figure it out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think… I mean, even when we applied for our marriage license, there was, a neighbor of a neighbor working at the clerk's office and told everybody before we even told anybody. And so…

And and we live in a decent sized town. So I I just don't… I don't know that you're gonna be able to pull this off. And, frankly, I don't know if you wanna start your married life off on the sneeze knee. Don't do that. Yeah. Don't do that. Yeah. Like it's a weird it's a weird question like of of all the things that that are setting this situation up, the like very practical how do I get married on the sly It's like a You could save all the backstory. Yeah. I don't care about it. How do I get married in secret? Yeah. What… Did the ex really say… Did she really say about the ex like she would know?

No. I said that. Okay. I didn't know if that was your personal comment marriage material and they try to make us break up. First of all, that's just a real juvenile way of putting that. Like, you trying to make us break up like you in third grade. Yeah. And and one of his exes is even doing it. And if there's somebody to talk to, I would I would find the Yeah. Here's the thing. I would not assume that just because these these people broke up that her perspective is not right in some way or another. It might be worth having a coffee with her. I was looking… I was I was talking to somebody, and they were applying for a job, and I actually knew the guy that was leaving the job. And I said, I'm a call him. Let's see why he's leaving. I think this is great information to have. This is the kind of thing that that is probably good to know. And so

I really… I think you should get out of this thing. I don't know if I need any more information. I think it's time to bail. Yeah. Yeah. Or I would say at the very least, give it a year. Yeah. Give it a year. If if if he has a problem with it a year, then whatever he's the… That got him that reputation isn't gone. Because Mike's right. Like people who are generally or genuinely, excuse me, repentant

and recognize when they've caused harm are very patient with people because they because they they look around and go, I caused harm. And I recognize that that hurt someone, and I will not presume upon their grace in any manner. And so we're gonna give it time. And so, yeah, he should he should be glad to… Like, because you're basic… Here's the thing. If you say, I'm a… Let's give it a year. You're basically saying, you're you're… That's a that's an affirmative opportunity.

Hey, man. This flows for a year, then I believe it, and I'm totally in. Like, what a great chance to prove yourself. If you intended to be faithful or keep a straight line in that year anyway, it might as well be as your credit heading into marriage. Yeah. And that piece of paper does not change the way that you treat your future spouse. Right? This year before that you're married, there's some activities we're gonna ask you to to abstain from. But other than that, the honoring your spouse and and and being an advocate for your spouse, you can start that right now. Call it a Jewish engagement. You're basically married. You're just not going through with some of the physical stuff, and, let's start with that now. That's totally fine. Yeah. I'm with that. Okay. Segular says, if the whole town, including your family, thinks that marrying your fiance is a bad idea, it may be time to hit the pause button. Marriage is something you want to do only once. The chances of it being successful will be better if you don't go rushing off to the altar. Make your engagement long enough that your fiance has time to prove to your parents and the community that he is a changed man. No one can, quotes, make you break up, but it would be in your interest to listen to those exes, including the one in particular, and compare what each has to say. If the stories they tell are similar, it may be your mister Wright is the wrong man for you.

Would you… If… Let's say, you fellas, everybody's in this room been been married a real decent time here. If your wife said, you know, just for a gas, I wanna get ahold of any of your old lady friends and just ask them some questions.

Any of that make you nervous? No. No? Yeah. Me neither. No. No. Go ahead. Have a run at it. Yeah. You call… You dial them up. Think there's notes. There's only one bit of this advice that I think I I I don't know if I love, but, like, I I… This is between you and him. Right? So, like, you know, if if my daughter was dating a a pretty rough customer,

I would… I'd be slower on the uptake for forgiveness than probably she would. And so I would put in a little bit of grace to saying, I don't need my parents' approval here. I don't need the whole town to forgive the man. And and we're still talking from a

a Christ centered perspective here. Right? Like, I mean, I was certainly praying. I would certainly insist that, obviously, you guys are attending worship somewhere, and, you know, what… You're doing all these things. Right? But, like, you know, if everybody's… People get tuned up and they get set in a rut and they're just not gonna like a person, And I'm okay with you bucking that trend a little bit. It depends on your relationship with your parents and if they love you and they've shown that. And if they say hard things to you and even though they love you and they're they're good parents, then I'd give them a little bit more weight. But, like, I don't need the whole town to forgive this guy. I've had people write other people off for years, and they stubbornly won't come out of it, even after true repentance has shown up. Here's the deal. When someone does you when someone does you wrong and they change, by admitting that they've changed, it pulls your ability to continue to be… To tell your sob story about it.

Mhmm. And so people, right… Well, wrongly, people people do like to tell their sob stories. They like to tell, hey, I want… This is where I've been wronged. And when the name

Brandon Beaverton comes up, they wanna tell their Brandon Beaverton story. And so to say, oh, Brandon Beaverton has changed my mind. Now you look like… Here's the deal. If if if Beaverton's a jerk and you tell the story about how he's a jerk, then that's a fun in in story, and everyone sympathize with you because they all agree he's a jerk. If he changes his ways and then you tell the Beaverton's a jerk story, you look like a jerk. Yeah. And so I'm just saying, and it's not just because people like to tell stories, but when you… When people are harmed by people,

they don't generally… It takes them a long time to acknowledge, and sometimes stubbornly, they refuse to acknowledge positive change in someone because it causes them to have to give up some of the identity that they got from dealing with the jerk Beaverton. And and so just be careful that, like, people don't even do that intent. They're not thinking in their mind, screw Beaverton. What they got in their mind is, it almost makes them feel like they're wrong, and no one wants to be wrong. It's why,

it's it's it's it's the same thing that happens when, like, you've you've been in a work situation where, like, a boss hires a dude, and the dude could be a a a total waste bin. Okay? He's just… He's not good at his job. But for a boss to have the humility to admit that the guy's a waste bin is very difficult. Because if you fire him, you're not only firing him, you're saying, by the way, I did a bad job. I sucked. And that's why a lot of bad behavior continues is because it takes a it takes a true character to have have the humility to go, boy, that really… I did a bad job on that one. Let's get rid of him. Cut it off. Let me fix it for who it is. I'm gonna apologize, and let's see if we can straighten it People don't tend to do that. And, like, they they don't like to admit their own mistakes or their reaction to those mistakes. And so then they don't wanna admit it. So just know, like, I… It… You could be… This bad dude in town could be groupthink, and no one wants to admit that Beaverton's changed his ways because then they have to stop telling Beaverton stories and no one do it,

especially ex girlfriends. Yeah. Just saying. Yeah. Ex wives, same thing. Oh, he'll never change. You know, he might. He might. The question is, can you accept a changed man? Because that's to your detriment now now. Because, like, if the only reason to hold on to a man being crappy is so that you can tell your sob story about how crappy he was, that's not healthy for you at all.

And so as much as I like the pause and heating the consistency of bad bad Beaverton Brown,

I mean, people do have a bias, and it then… It always points to themselves in some way or another. And so just take that in consideration. Okay. One more. Ready? Yep. Dear life from the path. My husband of thirty years, whom I love dearly, has started singing all the time. I mean, all the time. If he's not on the phone or involved in a TV show or conversation, and sometimes when he is, he's singing the same few songs over and over and not well.

I don't feel I have a right to ask him to stop. What should I do? How many years was he married? Thirty. Thirty. Oh, yeah. Bring it up directly. Yeah. Boy, I don't know what you've been doing the last thirty years, but I feel like my wife would tolerate that for, like, an hour Yeah. And then go, that's gotta stop right now. Yeah. Hey. You know who's sang in the year 2525? Yeah. Zegger and Evans. They should keep singing it. Yeah. Not you. You shut it down. Turn that fan off, bro. Yeah. It is odd that after thirty years, she is afraid to have a conversation with her husband.

Yeah. I mean, that's that's that's unfortunate. Yeah. I mean, you could look past it and go, I feel like we have some deeper issues. This is kind of a funny deal. I don't know what kind of man only picks two songs and rocks them all the time. But I really… I I mean, I don't know what's stopping you from bringing this thing up. Yeah. Unless I… You know? Yeah. I just can't think of one married couple where I think a wife would go, you know, he does sing all the time, but I love him, and I'm willing to put up with it.

That don't sound right at all. That sounds like, hey, man. I I mean, would would would would she do… Would you… Would you do the same thing about your husband's nose hair? Right? Ain't no woman putting up with that longer and say, boy, that's getting out of hand. That one's about ready to get married to your mustache and haul off. You need to do something about that right now. Right. Why is the singing any different? You gotta shut that down. I I just can't… Personally, I don't like it. I can't take it no more. Or learn a new tune. But she didn't say that if he got a new song that things would be better. I don't think that would make it any better. I mean, aren't you curious of what these songs are? I I… Yeah. Yeah. I really wanna know what they are. Are they happy songs? Are they sad songs? Since the day I was born. Yeah. He's just narrating his life all the time. I'm going to the bathroom. Gonna leave the toilet paper empty. Here's the deal. I sympathize with this man. Because, like, I feel like it is just… It's within my personality to, like, latch on to something. And I'll say that thing or sing that song or just have it. I remember I got with my

my… I have one son, and he's, like, two. And he he got in this kick for a while where he would just like… When he wanted my attention, he'd go he'd go, dad, dad, look at this. Look at this. Look at this. And like, it was it was just funny the way he would say it. And so like, I caught myself probably for three weeks straight just going around going, look at this. Look at… And I wasn't even I wasn't even drawing people's attention to it. I was like… My my oldest daughter was with me in the store. It was at the Walmart, and I was just, like, turning an aisle and, like, not pointing anything out, just saying to myself, look at this. Look at this. And, like, I was just… It was subconscious. And, like, I'm… I think I'm totally prone to this. I'll use one word or one phrase for, like, six weeks, and it's my phrase… And it's just gone. I'll never say it again. Right. It's real talk. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hashtag real talk. You know where I got that from? That was from the guy that was getting out of Christianity. Yeah. Yeah. The Hillsong dude that was leaving real talk. I'm leaving Christianity. I don't care. I started saying real talk for, like, a week, and that was intentional because it seemed like a really irritating thing to say, and so I just started saying it. Real talk. We're out of toast. But, like, I I totally saw myself in this guy. Like, I would… I could do that. And my wife would be like, what? Hey. Can you… But she would. She would say… In fact, I got I got away with it once, and then she said, hey. I want you to stop saying real talk. What is that? I hate that. Stop saying that.

I said… And I said, real talk. You just real talk me. Yeah. Okay. So our advice to him is just this… To her is talk to him. Yeah. Just talk to him for heaven's sakes. Yeah. I do it in a funny manner. I'm like, look. I can't put up with this no more. You know, okay. You know what I would do? If this was happening at my house and it was irritating me, I'd start duetting. If my wife was, like, singing it, she… I would I would jump in. She's… And I would go, hey la. Hala. My boyfriend back. Like, I would sing whatever she's singing. Be fine. And just dance around with her. And then eventually, was like, I don't want that to happen anymore. Yeah. That's say, I didn't want that to happen anymore. Now we're on a same page. Yeah. Just say, hey. Look at this. Yeah. Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. At this. What do you think of this? Look at this woman on YouTube. I caught that they have on their singing show. Here's some real talk. That looks like me. Real talk. You on the Internet, woman. Quit doing that. That sounds terrible.

Yes. It does. Alright. Secular says, tell your husband sweetly it's time to expand his repertoire because his playlist is getting repetitive. Wait. That that… She thinks that's the core problem is that it's just the same songs? I know that's what she said, but that's… I don't… I'm not… I'm guessing that's not really the problem. No. No. It's definitely not. Unless he's like… Unless he's the… What do they call Mel Torme? The London fog? What was that? Yeah. Unless he's the London fog. I mean No one wants to hear you seeing the catalog either. I mean, yeah, he's legit just walking around doing the walk to Dinosaur. I mean, every day, all day, you're like, look, man. You gotta put this awake no more. What? If it's like it just started happening, may… Maybe a doctor visit. You know? I mean, maybe that's the beginning of something more serious. I don't know. Yeah. Okay. But let… Let's go with the all eggs in in… I think everything covers with… First of all, just give it a wee… Another few weeks or something. Yeah. Like, you'll just get sick of it. It'll go away. Like, my… Look at this. It'll just stop. And then if it's persisting,

I like Dan's route. I think it's not a bad idea just to try the old physical just to make sure something isn't, ticking funny. Can you, count backwards from a 100 by sevens for, you know, a while? Yeah. I mean, you know And then he starts singing that one. Yeah. Let me play the b side. It was not was. And he's gonna fire it up. He can't count backwards, but he can do that. Something's going on. Okay. Is that it? You want… We can do one more. Okay. Yeah. Oh, teen chafes under mom's insistence on attendance at church. Oh, nice. Okay. This is alright, Ali. If… Okay. Dear life from the path, I'm 15, and my mother makes me go to church every Sunday. Yep. I don't like going. I believe in God, but I feel awkward when people ask me about it. My mother makes everything bad until she gets her way. I've tried talking to her about it, but she doesn't listen to me. I don't know what to do. Go to church? Yeah. Your mom told you. You're 15. Yeah. Shut up. Yep. Put on your mask and shut up. Dad's…

Dad's got away with the people. Yeah. Yeah. I… Yeah. You gotta go to church. I mean, I probably… Here's the thing is I probably have some commentary from the mom. I… Here's the thing. I I know it's a common complaint. Church should not feel that way. Yeah. I mean, sometimes it is. Sometimes it's just a place that you go on. Sometimes it's because no one else is your age. Like, it's just… It's not it's not the same as whatever giant fun thing that you wanted to do. I I I totally get you. And, frankly, there are things of the faith where I feel like it does take…

There's some kids that don't go through this, but I don't think it's very many. Like, sometimes life has to hit you a bit before you're like, I get it. I get why that's important now. I understand. And these, like, the things that seem, it's funny. You would say, like, we almost would accuse some some people who… Church goers of… Like, boy, look at these look at these platitudes. Look at these things they always repeat that seems so shallow until you realize five years later after some life has happened to you that they're not shallow at all. They're repeating them so they don't forget them because it's super important to their life and it matters to them, and it's the rhythm of what they're doing. And so, yeah, I think I think I think Dan's right. Like, you got… You're just gonna go. You're 15. You're gonna do what your parents ask you to do.

If I have an encouragement in here somewhere, it is don't live… One of the one of the worst things you could do at 15, actually, is to have your faith and how you view faith dependent on what your parents are doing. Because right right, wrong, or indifferent, you will, if your relationship with your parents, just like if your relationship with your pastor or whoever disciple you, is dependent on how they are doing things and then you misjudge Jesus, Like, you'll get it jacked up. You will. And everyone has a… An unfair view of their parents at some time or other. Okay? And so, here's what I would say. You gotta be there anyway, and so make the most of the time. If the thing is… Like, if if you're saying, hey. I get awkward when people ask me about Jesus. If you believe in God and you've and you've been paying attention through the first fifteen years of your existence and Jesus says go and make disciples, then you know you got you got something in there that you need to work on Yeah. And that you need more information on. So, like, here's here's what I… Here's I used to do this. If you go to a church and, like, maybe the the sermon's not particularly grabbing you, doesn't feel like it's hitting you, it's either over your head, doesn't apply to you, then just read. I read I read through most of the old testament. Listened to old Howard.

Mhmm. Because I like Howard. He had a nice deep baritone, but it puts a man to sleep. And I didn't get the stories. He had a tattoo of a ship on his arm, though. Yeah. So pretty interesting. Yeah. He was… Yeah. Okay. But that's what I remember about Howard, and I read a a good chunk of the old testament doing it. I don't remember much of that now. It's not like I took away great things, but I was already there. You might as well read something. Make good relationships. Like, just just don't, if you if you acquiesce to the fact… This is how bad because my comparison's gonna be. Look. If you're already married, you stay in it, you figure out how make the best of it. That's kinda the situation. You're gonna go anyway. Try to make… Be nice to the people who smile at you. Don't just put them off. Like, embrace the fact that you're there, and don't make it about your mom. And then hopefully, you know, that… That's a… It's a it's a faith that you continue to grow into that as your own so that when you… Mom can't force you anymore, you don't drop Jesus at the same time because I think that's the risk. I think I think if we had to give some counter advice to to the mom,

there's no benefit to both your child and you bringing gas to the fire. Right? Like Yeah. Your kid… It's it's a way that teenagers are gonna go. You did it, and your teenagers are gonna do it to you. They're loaded with gas all the time. And and and some of the things, they're just gonna wanna blow up. And your job is to never let their emotions control you. And so, like, she's gonna go, I don't wanna go to church. I don't know why we gotta go to that stupid church. I don't even wanna go. And you go, I hear what you're saying. Car's running. We gotta we gotta get going, though. Right? Just just deadpan it. Work on work on your deadpan because you're gonna… Their their emotions are running, and I hate blaming things on hormones, but they play some they play some roles. Yeah. You know? And and and most of all, if you can remember this about your teenage daughter, your teenage son, they're trying to figure out who they are. They don't even know who they are. They're trying on a bunch of different skins and a bunch of different attitudes and trying to figure out what suits them and what they like, and everybody does it. And you gotta have some patience to know that your darling child is still in there, and they're just trying to figure out who they're gonna be. And they they do have to go to church. You don't bend your rules. Right? You just don't throw… You don't bring gas with you. Right? You just… Yeah. I know you don't wanna go. I hear what you're saying. I think it's Valen. I need you to have some grace for me because you're still getting in the car. We gotta get going. It's like 09:10. So I'll get you donut on the way in. Here to go. We gotta get going. So so don't don't bring gas to fires that teenagers bring. You just gotta let you gotta let them blow it up. You gotta let them try it out, and and you're their test audience. And and and be grateful for that you get honor of doing that. Right? Because you don't want them trying out personalities in front of other peep… A bunch of other people. That's right. You want them trying it out on you. And so which means you're gonna have to get some real thick skin. And some… And and every once in while, you're get waylaid. Right? Something's gonna come out of way out of nowhere, and you'll be like, what is happening?

They're just trying skins out. Right? Back it down. Submit them over to god. This is the hardest thing for parents to do. You have to submit your kids to god. And that's not submitting them by, like, you're gonna say, you submit to god. You're saying, God, you gave me these gifts. I'm trying to be as faithful as I can, but I cannot do this without you. Please help me raise these kids. Point them. Give them ears to hear and eyes to see. Let them see you, and let them see you through me and give me the strength to do this and do it well. Through your grace, amen, and be done. And that's it. And some of and some of your kids are gonna go off the deep end, and it's hard to watch, and I hear you. But you're doing no favors by… It it was the phrase where she said, my mother makes everything bad until she gets her way. Some of that is a teenage perspective where Right. These things are bad. But once again, just just be careful that you're not bringing gas to a bonfire that's already rolling. Right? Just… You're the calm presence here. You need to be that through their teenage years because they're gonna need it when they get… Finally pick their skin, and they're gonna wanna know that they're accepted for for the skin that they chose and and the god that they still want to know and remember that you took this thing well. So I I I know it's hard, and I know it's hard to watch them try these different things on because they're gonna try out some wild ones. But just be patient, and and whatever you do, do not stop praying for your children. It's that… That's the thing. Like, there's books and there's classes and there's talking to other parents and all these things are great. But, like, if you're skipping the prayer thing, you're missing out on the most powerful thing that we know. And so I'm I'm begging you to just go back to to praying for your kids if you're not doing it. Do it do it often. Okay.

Secular says, your mother isn't listening to you because she is convinced that she is doing the right thing for you. Not knowing how fervent she is about her church and her religion, it's hard to predict how she would react if you tried to turn this into less of a power struggle and more of an adult conversation. As it stands, you are a minor, and as long as you live under her roof, she makes the rules. When you are 18 and can live on your own, the decision of whether you want to continue going to church every Sunday will be yours. This may seem hard, but if your mother is unwilling to talk through this with you, you will have to be patient. Yeah. I think that's true. We kinda agreed with the secular twice today. Yeah. Yeah. That's odd. We usually… We're usually not on par with what she's saying. I mean, it's… It is a very flat thing. I I know I got I got more of a heart for the parents on this deal because I think the kids are gonna… You're just you're just gonna run through this. And, like, I I just had a I had a conversation with one of my kids this early this week. She was talking about hormone changes and people going through adolescence. And I said, adolescence is a phony word made up by parents who feel guilty that their kids are being jerky. I said, we don't subscribe to adolescents here.

He goes, you mean it doesn't… It won't happen to us? And I go, oh, no. People will say it will happen to you. We just don't subscribe to the effects of adolescence, which means that you have take responsibility for everything that comes out of your mouth. I'm not gonna say that you're not being driven by some changes that are going on and and some angst and whatever is happening. Everybody's been there, but we don't get to relay responsibility to a phony period of life that doesn't actually exist. Right. Right. Like, if if your emotions got you all jazzed up and you said wrong wrong thing, like, you still have to apologize for it. You get to practice the art of the apology That's right. Which you will use plenty when you're an adult. Right? You'll you'll have done something and you'll sit… You'll… Two minutes later, you'll go, ah, crap. Yep. Yep. And then you get to practice walking down the stairs and going, I screwed up. Here's the thing. It's it's… And that's a that's a good reminder of not missing an opportunity to to handle things the right way in that, like, that's a very healthy thing to be able to do. To be able to go, hey. It's come back down stairs ten ten minutes later and go, you know what? I lost my temper here, and I know why. I'm feeling a little bit jazzed up. Said I've been like that all day, and, I know that's that's not deferring responsibility. It's it's it's owning your emotions and saying… Like, I'll… I've done that.

I think I did that as recently as two weeks ago. Like, I don't know. I would just woke up, and I was just irate. I just might… Irritated. My frame of mind wasn't great, and, like, I caught myself, especially when it's… This is where having a two year old is helpful. Because, like, there's really isn't much that two year old could do that should cause me to get… To have anger. Yeah. It might be irritation. Sure. But anger doesn't make any sense. And there was something where, like, I think he was just he was just kinda nagging. Like, I was I was sitting around. I know what it is. I… But I work… Because I work from home. He just loves it. He goes, are you gonna talk to the Peoples? Dad, you gonna talk to the Peoples? You need coffee? You gonna talk to the Peoples? I'm like, no. But it's Saturday since I'm not doing that. And, like, he just kept asking me. I'm like, Harlow, stop it. And then just at that moment, like, I wasn't harsh, but, like, I just thought that's… I over… That was… That doesn't make sense. It does overreact. And so I I told him I'm sorry, and then I found the other three kids. They happened to go staying in the living room with Sylvia. I said, look. I need to give you a heads up here. I'm feeling edgy, and I'm not quite sure why. And just so you know, I'm gonna do my very best to to to tone this down. I'm praying on it, and I'm I'm trying to figure out what's going on. But just a heads up to you that if I don't take you in right, one, I'm telling you this is how I am,

and two, just know that. Just know how dad's feeling just this morning. Because, like, then I can take some level of responsibility for myself. Yeah. And, like, I I know what's going on. I'm not saying… The the point is it's not justified. I'm not saying, oh, you made me mad and, like, it's the edginess that's getting it. I… I'm still responsible for this one where they're… I'm doing my best to have you take me in the best I can while I'm working this stuff out. And I think it's totally great for a teenager to have to say that. Have to go… Not go, oh, it's the hormones. Say, look. I think my hormones are jazzing with me, but I I… Regardless, I overstepped.

But just know this is… I'm not been… I'm not feeling right. Something right now is just not working fluidly, and I feel… I I I seem to be overreacting because of it. I've self… I'm self diagnosing. I think that's very healthy because it causes people to have to reflect on themselves and go, why am I acting the way that I'm acting? Is this even justified? And, like, even if I can figure out the thing, can I at least acknowledge that even if I didn't? It's not my normal personality, I impacted someone. And I should still apologize for it because I don't want them to feel bad or be on the other side of my hormonal activity.

Right. So I think that's… Yeah. I think it's totally okay. It's okay to explain yourself, but not to make excuses for yourself. Yeah. I think that's solemn. Alright. Heads up, parents. We'll be praying for you. Yeah. Tough times. Yeah. Hey. You've been listening to live from the path. Thanks for hanging out with us this week. That's two weeks in a row. I can't make any promises beyond that. I'll tell you this though. If you go out to the Life From The Path YouTube page and you search for caps for sale, caps for sale continues to do awesome. It's almost up to 1,200,000 views. Two people this week have commented that they're… They came to that video from something called Polo Boys, which I thought, boy, what's that? I I I got the filters on the Internet. I don't know if I wanna go finding this thing, searching whatever this is. I think it's a I think it's a,

like, a Korean channel or Chinese channel that has kids stories on it. Okay. Cool. And they refer people over. But I can't read the Chinese or the Korean, so I don't have any idea. Do we monetize this thing? Do we get a couple cents? We can't. Here's the deal. The show would be doing fantastic if we could, but because if you listen to Caps For Sale, there's some there's some music in there that we didn't pay any licensing for. Remember I told you it got blocked by the guy from Amelie soundtrack who plays a piano, but it's not blocked in The United States. You can still watch it. We just can't make any money off of it. Okay. That's the biggest irony and the right thrown in the side of the old life from the path. 1,200,000 views, $0.

Nothing to show fast. This this sounds like our gig right here. That's how we roll. I don't even know how that… Does it pay like a… Like like, if it was monetized, you get, like, a penny per view? It depends on whether they click the ads or whatever that that go on in the in the monetization. But, like, there was a time when it was monetized. It was very short amount of time, and we paid, $20. Yeah. Yeah. That'll pay for

one eighth of this microphone. If it was a penny per week, we'd have $10,000. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's make some new music on that. Swap the music out. Go to something else. We'll beatbox it. People love Okay. Thanks for hanging out with us. We do appreciate it. Hey. Let's say you hate the show or love the show. Don't care either way. Call the Bob Eisenhower complaint line. That's (515) 517-0085. That's call or text the Bob Eisenhower live from the path complaint line, and we'd love to hear from you. In the meantime, we will maybe see you next week or the week after. Who knows? In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to

live from the path. Yeah.