Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proverbs. You are live from the path. And you're listening to Live From The Path coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston proper.

I love it, sir. That's interesting. Tell me more about that. No. I can't. Here's thing is I always think after you say that, I'm gonna cover the the small bit of space after you do the intro, and I'm gonna say something with whiz bang, but I put zero thought into it ever. And then I always just say the first thing that come out of my mouth. That's what happens to Yeah. Alright. So you're listening to life from the path. Here's what we got going on the show this week. It's pretty standard fare. I got I got a few articles that I wanna cover. Mike Mike has been in attendance this past weekend at a Christian music festival. Post post COVID. Mhmm. Post COVID music festival. And so we're gonna get his on the ground on the ground thoughts and critiques. Yeah. And then we got some hey. I got a few I I I spent a lot of time finding these, but I got a few clean jokes. A

few clean dad jokes for Father's Day? Oh, yeah. I bet yes. I bet I do. Did you look them up ahead of time to to, like, suss them out? Or no. I just said that. No. I just I didn't really mean it. I'm just gonna go to that Christians unite jokes page and tell a few. But I you've given away my secrets. Hey. Hey, Ben. Yeah. I'm yeah, Ben. Just to make sure that I cover this, in a in a large arena to try to embarrass you. Yeah. There's no podcast for, like, the last three shows. Yeah. But here's the deal. By the time someone heard this podcast, they will be there. And so what you're talking about doesn't exist.

Dang. Oh, that's embarrassing. Yeah. As a matter of fact, if just so it does not release my embarrassment, I'm not gonna post this one either. Here's the thing. Here's what here's what I have I struggle with. So my I generally get multiple eye rolls for whatever show we did. Right? Like, my wife listens to them. Know? Oh, dear. And so, like Yeah. It's but but she is staunch about the podcast not coming out because she needs legit reasons to give me the eye rolls. And so and so it's it's it's becoming a point of contention in our marriage. Like and and and always, as soon as, as soon as the conversation comes up, Ben is no longer, like, innocuous part of the family. He's my brother. Yeah. Your brother hasn't hasn't posted the podcast. I'm like, I know. I talked to him. Yeah. That's impressive. She listens though. Yeah. She does. I think my wife thinks I'm having an affair or something because, like, she doesn't listen. She doesn't know. Yeah. I'm with the cool hotties. Yeah. Still not doing that radio show, are you, Dan? Yeah.

Yeah. I sure am. You could listen. You would know. Oh, alright. Yeah. Yeah. Compiling evidence for wary wives all over. You're listening to live from the path. Yeah. Okay. So here. Hold on. Hold on. Check out these stories. Look at these. These are these are real classics.

No. That one's not a classic. Never mind. No. There's hold on. Let's see what now some guy asked you know who Boris Johnson is? Is he a Russian? No. UK guy? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's from The United Kingdom. He's the he's the prime minister. He needs to, like, get a haircut or something. Okay. That's what I always say. Okay. Good. That's the guy. He does. He his hair is a little bit unkempt. So if someone were to ask you

let let me ask you this question. If if someone were to ask any politician, hey. Do you believe in God? Are you a practicing, you know, whatever? Would you expect what what kind of answer would would would be an a plus answer? An a plus? Yeah. A plus. Hey. Hey. Listen, mister politician. Do you do you do you love the do you love God? Do you believe in God? A plus answer. I mean, he'd have to say, like, include Jesus in there and and, like, if it's an a plus, says, yes. I believe in I believe in God, the creator of the universe and his son, Jesus, as the Messiah and savior of my soul. Okay. Dan wants an open air baptism. He said a plus. A stiff breeze of the Holy Spirit. Okay. That's what I want. Okay. That's right. I mean, that's an a plus answer. Okay. I wasn't going for c minus.

Yes. I I have a higher power. Would that what what what where does that rank? No. That's enough. D minus. That's a does it make the scale? That's a d. Yeah. That's that's terrible. Nathaniel, give me a b minus answer. I don't know. I feel like this is one of those things where there's there's not really too much in between. Yeah. If although if seven seven say, hey. Do you believe in God? And you said, who?

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Alright. So We all believe in a God. Yeah. My my family has always had a strong faith. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's a that's a b minus answer. Maybe even a c plus. Like, that's not great. Yeah. Okay. Alright. So here. Now that we've set the table, k, the cranberry sauce is up to can. He looks like, hold on. He looks like that one crazed who's that one crazed actor that like I mean, he's Nick Nolte? Yes. He looks like Nick Nolte. Or like a a a heavy Shaggy. No, Dan. No. I don't see that at all. No. No. I could get him like Scooby Doo. Yeah. Yeah. Uncle Shaggy's uncle. Yeah. There we go. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's not the same as Shaggy with the who's pooped orbiting.

Yeah. There's a family resemblance. He's a little bit paunchy. Okay. Shaggy Nolte. Let's go let's go with that. Yeah. Okay. I thought we were talking about the reggae star. Who? Who? Shaggy? What? Yeah. Oh. I don't know. A star might be a bit strong. I mean I think he had, like, one tune back every those two words in the same sentence before. Reggae man. Yeah. He was a it wasn't me. That's the guy. Yeah. He's on the angel one. Okay. Give me a few bars of it. Yeah. I don't remember it. No. Let's have it. No. You definitely do. Go. Had two songs. That's all I'm saying. I'm saying he had two songs. P minus. Alright. Alright. So now now that we've got the span, the question is how did old Boris do? K. Responding to the question of whether he is now a practicing Roman Catholic,

British prime minister Boris Johnson, who recently got married in Westminster Cathedral, quoted from the Psalms while speaking to a reporter during the g seven summit in England. When ITV's Robert Pestin asked the question, Johnson initially sought not to respond by saying, I don't discuss these deep issues. Certainly not with you. Okay. C? That's a good one. I like his snark at the press. Mean, I mean, I gave him a c plus with the snark. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. The reporter then told Johnson that labor party leader Sir Keir Starmer had said he does not believe in God.

The prime minister then quoted Psalm 14. The foolish man has said in his heart, there is no God. Yeah. I mean, I Where are we at? Okay. That's not a yeah. No. It's a dodgy yeah. That's it. Is he what party is he? He's

a he's in the labor party. Oh, so they're both labor party. Yeah. Oh, wait. No. No. No. No. He's not. No. You're right. You're right. What what's the opposing what are the two opposing parties in in The UK? Isn't it the I don't know. I don't know. I only I only know the Tony Blair. He's the Labour Party. I'm I'm gonna give him a b minus. The Tories? Labour Party. Things like this that make me feel like a real dumb dumb. That you don't know world events? Yeah. Other people, like, I'm sure would know it's Republicans and Democrats. That's because we're loud. We're like the loud neighbor. You know what saying? Like, we're pretty out front about whatever we're arguing about. We'd like to argue with our spouse on the in the lawn. Like, we're we're that neighbor to everybody else. Yeah. Oh, okay. So this is confusing. People on Google ask, what are the five main political parties in The UK? Five. And then they say, what are the four main parties in The UK? Four. Yeah. It doesn't seem to be a the fifth one's got no traction. I bet the guy who's in the fifth party asked that question is, who are the top five?

Yeah. Okay. Alright. Hold on. Here we go. Here were the five. Labor party, Scottish nationals, liberal democrats, democrat unionist party. Yeah. Okay. I don't know. Okay. This is of no consequence. Yeah. Alright. Go. Okay. Anyway, that was it. I just wanna see if they were opposing parties, and that's why he was he was giving them the business on that, calling them a fool. Oh, yeah. Maybe. As part of a James of of a bible reading project for the King James Bible Trust in which a reading of the entire Bible was posted on YouTube, Johnson read from what they would call Isaiah chapter 11. He called the King James version the single most beautiful and influential work of English literature.

Yeah. I mean, if you wanna feel like an idiot. That's why I don't read it. I think there's a lot of thousand arts in there, and then I get all strung up about what's happening. Here's the thing is it colors the way that you imagine the story going down. Right? Like, especially when Paul's talking. For some reason, now he's got a a sniffer of wine in his hand or something and wearing a super nice dress. Or I I don't know. There's something about the way that the King James is written that I think it colors the way I think of of the story happening. You you think of a Shakespeare play? Yeah. He's in tights and Yeah. Yeah. It feels actually yeah. It separates you from the the the street ruffian nature of the gospel, good news spreading. Yeah. It seems to orate in high courts as opposed to, like, walking the streets. Yeah. I mean, Simon the Zealot is hard to picture when reading it in the King James. But if you take it in in just about the American Standard or the English English Standard version, you're like, yeah. He's pretty rough. That fired up. Yeah. He smite thy brother. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, is that good or bad? Is that

Okay. Alright. That was it. What else? I don't I I don't know if I wanna read this story. Okay. Alright. Alright. I think I'm going to. This is a heavy one. Days before he was found dead in Alabama of an apparent suicide, Steve Austin, a former youth pastor, suicide survivor, and mental health advocate sought financial help from subscribers to his newsletter as his wife. Lindsay battled a mental health crisis a week after he publicly came out as queer. For a bit of a backstory, Lindsay switched. Wow. That's a whole bucket of stuff right there. I know. Just that sentence. I know. There was a I'm trying to unpack I mean, I'll just filter it in my head, like, little folders. It's like, wait. What? There's a lot going on here.

It says for a bit of backstory, Lindsay switched from one SSRI to another a little more than two weeks ago after okay. That's asking for help for his for his wife. He further noted that his wife would be unable to work due to her condition, and he would only be able to do limited work. It's unclear how much he would raise. Days later, the author, podcaster, and life coach was reported missing from his home in Alabaster. He was eventually found dead in a vehicle in the parking lot of a business early on the morning of Monday, June 7. He had a book set for publication on July 20, called hiding in the pew, shining light on mental illness in the church, in which he tackled the issue of mental health in the church. Austin's suicide in his book came in the wake of his May 23 declaration that he identified as queer, which he revealed to his wife for the first time in 2018. Is that is that different than gay? I don't know. I don't know why they're using that word. Yeah. It's unusual for, I mean, for for what I read. I don't Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. He said, for the past three decades, I've lived a lie hoping to appease a group of people who only support you if you follow their rules and live up to their unfair and unrealistic expectations.

He said in May 23, approximately two weeks before he was found dead. I knew I wasn't completely straight when I was 12. Sure. I've been in in hetero relationships all my life, but that's not exactly who I am. Well, the hiding ends today. So is he saying he's never been in a homosexual relationship? He just would rather be? Yeah. That sounds like implied. Like he's yeah. Like he's hiding like he was having to hide that. Maybe that's what queer is. Yeah. I don't wanna guess, but don't wanna do, you know, do an Internet search either. Are you doing an Internet search? No. Are you doing it? Yeah. Nathaniel. You're gonna get a lot of lot of strange things in the mail, man. So so anyway, the the the part of this why this jumped out at me, is that, like,

it got me to thinking that there there's just a whole bucket of stuff going on here. And I'm gonna say I'm gonna say the wrong thing. Yeah. But but my goal is to get the to the right thing. You can't win. And

but but, like, with with this many things going on, like, with the the the stuff that he's got going on with his wife, He knows he has mental health struggles. That's why he's written the book. He's attempted suicide before. They they have financial issues going on. He it sounds like he only works part time. His wife isn't able to to to stay there. Like, for for land sakes, man,

like, why why is the man pastoring youth? And and I'm gonna ignore just just for a moment the youth themselves. And, like, from a church perspective, like, why why why is this man having to do this? Like, I feel like we like, our church care for people who lead other people or even just wisdom on, like, are these are these the people who should be bearing

both the responsibility and the burden to to lead and shape minds? And and the reason I'm I'm hesitant with this because I think the church has has kind of failed from to to learn from people who struggle with stuff like this. Like, that so that's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying just because you have there there's something going on, that is mentally, that you you can't do anything. I just this just seems like a lot,

and and maybe it's it's there's there's there's a there's a church care in here somewhere that feels like it probably could have kicked in before the man was in Yeah. I mean, I don't know. His underlying sexual stuff, I like I I get like, it's not like they people would have known. I don't know. It just seems like a lot. I mean, like, I've known people who have

told me they struggle with same sex attraction but have never acted out on it. Yeah. So it's like, well, would I keep them from working with youth? I don't I mean, if they if there are precautions, I don't know that I would if they're

by all appearances, their heart is is right and they're, you know, in their heart of hearts trying to do the right thing. I don't know. I'm probably gonna say something wrong too. Well, mean, general, like you would say, hey, I'm tempted to sin, but I'm not doing it. I mean, I worked with with when I was young and and helped a friend work with youth, I was quite attracted to some of the girls. Well, right. Exactly. You know? So it's like, I I don't you can't take that, you know, by doing thing. You know? So it's possible to be attracted to someone and not act out on it. That's right. Yep. It's what I'm saying. Yep.

What was that what was that thing he said? What was the post about holding up people's standards if they won't help you if yeah. That was that's when he was talking about telling people that he that I'm gonna say gay because I just don't understand, if I'm using queer right. He said What do think? For the past three decades, I've lived a lie hoping to appease a group of people, I assume this is directed at the church, who only support you if you follow their rules and live up to their unfair, unrealistic expectations. Wow. So so I I guess, like and this has been true. This is this is true,

I think, for a lot of critiques I hear about the church, is they're improperly pointed. If your your your question, sometimes it's the church, but most of the time, you're you're you're upset with Yahweh himself. Yeah. Like, because you don't agree how life should be lived.

That's right. Or or you feel like the things that God has said about his creation or the way that it was designed to work, and you flat out disagree with him. That's right. This restricts me in some way or another. Correct. And and you don't see that restriction as love. Very similar to like kids growing up with parents. So like, mean, by the time you get between 13 and 16, their restrictions, you don't see it as love, you see it as unnecessary rules. And by the time you get to be say 25, you go, well, that was certainly love. Right. Right. Like, I just took I took it in, you know, as as a restriction and your parents saw it. And it felt like a restriction because you wanted to do

the other thing. Correct. And you honestly wanted to do it. And you honestly it was right. You didn't see any reason why it was it was any good. Right? Like and like, certainly, I understand the perspective that says, God owes me an explanation here. This feels great. I I love this. Right? And like, there's all kinds of pernicious pernicious sin that that works that way. Right? Like, I mean, it's real easy that, you know, we like to the church in general has struggled

with billboarding other people's sins while, you know, sticky note in theirs. You know, where where this is the exact same sin as we're talking about with with porn. You know, where they're like, it happens to everybody. We're gonna work through it. It's not a big deal. Let's talk about get yourself an accountability guy. It's not a big deal, you know. And and you will long suffer with a man or a woman who struggles with either extramarital attraction or investing too much in say, romance novels or a dude looking at naked ladies on the on the Internet. You're like, oh, again. Okay.

So you're forgiven, dude. No big deal. Right? And so, like, we it's disproportionate because a larger majority does not suffer from it, and so they think it's extra worse or extra bad. It's not God's perspective on it.

But there is there's a line where you start to say, if you don't trust God, then whatever God says doesn't matter. Right? Like, there's there's a lot of things in my life that happens you know, it happens to all of us where I'm like, look, I don't feel like God's got the ticker on this thing, but I got enough proof that I know God is good. And he's ultimately right. Right? So even if I don't believe it right now, I don't trust it, and I I don't actually see that that this is causing a big deal, God certainly knows over the long span what does cause a big deal. And what does happen when you start to, you know, go against the way his creation is made to work. He made it. He knows how it works. He's he's the potter. He he knows how the vase is supposed to operate.

And whether it feels right or to you at the moment, I've had a thousand things where I've thought this is definitely the way for me to go only to find out that like, holy cow, did it was I I don't know. I got sucked in. It was weird. I shouldn't have I don't know why I believe in any of that. It was dumb. It was really dumb. And like all it is is God calling us to to not do something before we do it. And stubborn humanity goes, I'm gonna walk through this. You can't stop me. And I'm just gonna have to go through the coals when we do it. And I say all that because the church it's really easy to billboard other people's

proclivities. Right? And just like the guy that says, hey, I struggle with, say, a same sex attraction, but I trust God with it. I'm trying to hand it over to him. It's it's I'm I'm trying to be a a broken humanity in front of a king. And so I'm I'm willing to lay this down and say, I'll I'll fight it. And I'll hand it over every day and go, there's no way I can trust myself here. I'm gonna trust what God says on this deal. That is different. Much different than God and I disagree.

God does not love me. He does not care for me. And he's asking me to do something that doesn't feel right to me. And I'm gonna go ahead and abandon everything else I know about God and chuck forward or have my cake and eat it too. And say, I'm gonna try to follow all all everything. I trust God with all these things, but not this one thing because he can't be right about this. That you can't really hold that in in the same hand. That's not doesn't make any sense. And so I I think our our struggle here is, like, we tend to get upset. Like, we bring our emotion into it, and and we get upset at the guy or the gal or the people. And and at the end of the day, if you take in God's perspective here, he's weeping.

He's weeping. My my son is fooled. My daughter's been taken in, and I don't want this. And I don't want this at all. And and it's God's not looking to to swing hammers or or, like, beat up a dude. And, like, we so struggle with this. I I I say we because it's me. I I, like, I I'm I'm really good at a a heavy conversation, especially with another man. Right? I'm this is my area. I I really I I it it works. But that's it's not the right it's it's not the right tact here. We're already broken. We're already missing it. We're already mistrusting God. And like, we show up and like, whether he the church actually made him feel that way or they just didn't support him when he thought that they should have.

I felt that way too. Right? I've been doing something wrong, and someone's called me the carpet about it, and I'm like, why can't you just support me in this? Why can't you just leave me alone? Why you have to act like this is the biggest thing in the world? And like, it doesn't even make the list of top 10 things that God is upset about and you're coming after me. That seems like a way overreach. Only to be months or years down the road and go, thank you Jesus for that man. Right? Because I wouldn't have second guessed myself at all. I would have thought, this is fine. This is good to go. So I I I realized it's a it's just because society wants to make it a hot button issue and a hot topic to discuss and people's people are already amped up about it anyway. They're very sensitive to the conversation. And to be honest, I do not blame them. This is their whole world we're talking about here. The way that they define themselves, I think that it's a slight miss to

dump your entire identity just in that. I think you're more of a person than that. I think God says you're more of a person than that. There's more to you than just how you decide to be in a relationship with somebody. But I I I think the church has they have some growth they have some growth to do here, but they can't

back away from truth. But we don't have to get amped up about it either. Right? We don't have to be rocking in at eleven. Right? Because God's not. God is sad about this. Right? He is angry at the sin and angry at the at the at the tempter and the opposer that has lied to his son and lied to his daughter and and watch them build a whole identity and a life around this thing that's not actually true, not actually good for them, and and can convince you that your feelings are act are reality. And God is weeping over this, and we are more apt to grab a board.

And we we could do better about that. And that's a humility thing with with with the church. Like, it's a humility thing to realize that, like, we're the same broken lot of people here. We're the same, you know, we're the same humanity, and we're all broken. And I just happen to have the right information and the right community around me and a trust in God that my brother and sister are missing. They're missing that right now. And so I don't know what actually happened or whether the church actually treated him that way or didn't treat him that my guess is they probably did, or he at least felt like they did. I mean, I I could like, in fairness, I think this is the this is the rub, and this has had nothing to do with with a a sexuality question. It's like you're always going to run into situations where somebody wants to do what they wanna do. That is correct. And to the extent that other people don't agree with that because their their belief is that what they're doing or what they believe about themselves is harmful to them or counter to a to to

to following faithfully, and they say so, you're not going to feel supported. I would not expect someone to feel supported by me if their intent was to do something that was not good for them. Correct. And so and so it's it's it's possible,

although although here's the thing. I should find my my ability here's what here's what I would ask from a from a Christian perspective is that we don't we sell it. We we support or not support actions. You can choose not to support somebody's actions. You should support them as people. And by supporting them as people, what I mean is is that, like, you can always you can always be praying for them.

I think that's bellwether, Ben. I think the bellwether is is like if you are spending your time with Jesus talking about your friend or your cousin or your family member Youth pastor. Your youth pastor. If you're if you're spending time talking to Jesus and like, Lord, please let him see what is happening. Please let him see the difference. And you're doing that, then I feel like you you love them. Right? And you and you want to speak with them, and your attitude towards them will change. Right? But you lump them in a in a group of sinners, which covers you. Right? And and spend no time praying for them. You're disqualified. You're you're out. You don't get to talk to them. Right? Because your attitude's not right. I pray for people that I love all the time. I pray for people that I do not love all the time. Right? So, like, if your attitude is, father, can you see what's I know you see what's going on there. Will you just will you just do it today? Will you just come after them today? It doesn't have to be me. You'll do do it. I like to ask for dreams. That's my that's my go to. I'm like, Jesus, get them in their dreams. Whatever you wanna do. I don't care. I'm open to whatever you wanna do here, but I but please show them the truth. Please give them the option. And if they deny you, please give it to them again. Please. Because that's his heart on them.

And so, like, if our heart is to pray and ask God to intercede in the thing, because to be honest, he's the only one that can do it. It's not you and your clever words. The clever words is what got them there. Right? Right. I don't know what type of what what it is that you're going to say if someone, especially when it's caught up in in in how they think about themselves or their personal identity. Like, you're not gonna be able to talk someone out of what feels is feeling right to them and natural to them or, like, real to them for like, guy was talking about for the first time. Like, you I don't know what wordsmithing you think you're gonna do that's gonna say, you know what is best? Is this god who doesn't agree with you and his way of life, which says deny all those things. I that's that might be the reality, but I don't know if it's a word. I don't know if it's a wording problem. Yeah. It's not an oration. So as much as as as much as as people in a lifestyle outside of Jesus, and this covers all lifestyles outside of Jesus, as much as we're asking them and saying, look, you're missing it because you don't see it and

you don't trust this God. I get that. So it has to be on our end to trust God all the more because it is his. There there's no doubt he is sending people after the people you're praying for. There's no doubt. And maybe they they will continue to deny it. Maybe they will continue to push it away. But don't act like the father is not moving here. Don't act like the like like, you trust God to do it or not. Right? You're show up with the board and start smacking people around? You're gonna treat them poorly, and maybe they'll feel it through your through your non love. You know? Right. Right. Like, the the solution to people feeling isolated from God isn't to continue to isolate them. That's just it's stupid. It's counterintuitive to the way that God the God it's and I do wanna make a distinction here because I think smart people who read scripture will go, what doesn't Paul prescribe kind of this notion of kicking someone out of your out of your community? And the answer to that is yes

in in the light of continued sin. But that isn't that isn't quite the same problem. I think the proposition there implies that someone like, like, they agree with God. The people you had a they agree with God here. They're not just saying I think this is right. They're just continuing to persist in the behavior. And so I don't know that that's particularly the same

as like, some of this identity notion isn't isn't the same level of the stuff that they're struggling with in Paul's day. Like, they're they're there's the behavior is wrong, but, like, I think this is a slightly different character. And and you're not separating some somebody from something that they don't already feel separated from. Like, that's not the same. I just don't think it's the same. And you you can disagree with me on that, but I don't I'm not sure that I would reach for that particular piece of scripture in reaction to what what what we're talking about, which is I think sometimes where where people have have otherwise allowed

certain behaviors in their life or certain behaviors they want to do to act as if that is their definition as a person, they've already they've already separated themselves from the notion of a god who provides them identity outside of that behavior. And and and so I I think that it's not particularly helpful to otherwise reinforce behavior or thought thought of behavior is the separation when when really what they need to be reminded of is that their definition doesn't come from that anyway. And so let's start there.

Yeah. I I think it's the whole thing's sad. Right? Like like This is awful. Look what this has produced in this in in in this man's life. Right? He like, there were no here's the thing. Is this this guy and whatever. I don't know him. Alright? So, like, we're going based upon as much as you can possibly glean from a from an article like this. But, like, every every indication would be he's grasping. He's reaching out desperately for some level of peace that he's not finding. It could be the under just the underlying notion of what he's struggling with mentally is causing him to say, well, maybe it is this thing. Maybe this thing is actually isn't true, and maybe this thing is true. Maybe I can finally find like, where you're interacting with with someone who just can't find rest.

And so you start trying other things. And so, like, when you've got when you've got this notion, you're like, well, maybe this maybe maybe my whole paradigm was upside down. Or maybe this if I pull this lever, if my life was actually this, I found peace. This this man, like, awfully ended his own life, like, mere weeks after he came out publicly to say the thing that was supposed to otherwise give him the peace. Right? To say if I've been living a lie, now I'm gonna live out in the open, and I'm going to live peacefully. And it's two weeks on and whatever it is that he was grabbing for, like, it's the rock still slipped out of his hand. Well, he he was obviously

delving deeply into this because he was writing a book on it. Right. You know, so he was really analyzing himself and his life and his his story and and his relationships. And and whatever conclusions he must have come up with in the book, must not have ultimately agreed with because Correct. Am I am I jumping to a conclusion? No. No. No. Because here's the thing is, like, we're used to this within our own crowd. Like, we would certainly say, your words don't mean anything to me. Your actions do. Right? Like and so and and and we would we would sharpen iron in this room easily with that statement. And so I it's that's just a flat out fact. What you care about, your actions will show. You know? And what you believe, actions will bear out. And so you can easily get tuned up by your own words, the words of somebody else. I mean, that's that's what happens at youth conferences. Right? Like, get a you get a sweet band and a whiz band speaker, you got a bunch of kids on fire for Jesus. You know? And and maybe that spark will last three days. Maybe it'll last the rest of their life. It just depends. You know? It depends if they reinvest and re and and deepen and grow. And so, like, the thing is is, like, I've had this conversation a couple times over the last couple months, and it's a tough one because

you you really from the Christian perspective, hear me people that follow Jesus, you have to pray on this. It's God's to do. It is not it it it's you're not a one man superhero in this deal. And you don't get to pick the sins that you don't like and decide that you're gonna champion against them. I I I think that's a mistake. You get to you get to champion for people through the creator and go, God, this is yours. I have to lay because it's a burden on your heart. Because it has been said, you feel you know, from from the truth of scripture that some of the choices that they're making are not ultimately what's best for them because it's not ultimately what God has for them. And and, like, if you believe

that God the creator would know more than Mike with a small amount of perspective, all I can say to God is is, like, I don't know what's going on, but this hurts my heart to watch, and I know I'm not handling it well. Will you please show up and intercede? And, like, he will. And and and maybe they say no. Maybe they're not interested. But like, it's God's it's God's to handle. God loves them more than you do. And and and you you think, like, the way maker is such a great song. Right? Because even if you don't see it, he's still working. He's trying. They can say no a thousand times and and for the rest of their life. But I can guarantee, God is still sending people. He doesn't run out of people. He doesn't run out of heart or love or, or intent to bring every one of his children back to him. And so while it is difficult, while it is hard to watch, your reaction does not get to you're not the justice part of this thing. Right? God's got justice and mercy

completely balanced out in a perfect way. You do not. You you you tend to read I can almost guarantee it. Like, we tend to land heavy on the justice. And then we like to reference God as if he's gonna bring he's gonna be the dad when he comes home. You better wait till God finds out. He's gonna be very disappointed. Mhmm. He will. He will be disappointed. That's biblically true. He will weep over that. He will be jealous for the affections that you're giving to other things. He will he will seek after his jealousy doesn't equal though, like slashing tires and and and and writing things on your Facebook account. That's not his form of jealousy. His is, I want you back, and I will get you, and I will continue to send people, and you will have to tell me no until you die. And that's God's jealousy. That is not our heart in this situation. And frankly, it's because we're afraid of it. Yeah. So I maybe I again, I I don't think I'm gonna say this right, but I I do wanna

I think it's probably worth calling out what isn't I don't think I'm not sure it's quite the other side of the coin. But, like, even if even if the church finds like, if the church humans within a church, within a community can support someone do does a great job of separating behavior and person, puts it in God's hands, prays faithfully.

The truth is is that it is a very difficult life to know God the father,

to believe that he exists, and to proclaim a life that is in not in alignment with what he says and to live it that way. It is a terrible burden to carry. And you will feel it. You will feel a disconnect

between what God has designed you for and what and and things that he and even if even if you think, like, whatever you feel or your compulsions are because, again, I think you can throw out, you know, the homosexuality as an example. Like, at the heterosexuality, sexual people have all kinds of compulsions they can't

they can't act on. But, like, to the extent that you do or that and that that starts to consume or identify your life and you and you live kind of in this double world of of of what is recognition of true things, but then guilt for wrong things, but then no repenting from those things,

and then indulging those things and trying to walk in and out of it. Like, the reason I bring it up is because I think the church can get this right, and people themselves will wear the weight of not walking faithfully. And it will weigh on your mind, and it will mess with how you look at the world, and it will be a burden that is too heavy for you to carry. And sometimes people will succumb to that weight because they refuse to give it to Jesus.

Sometimes because they're they too feel good too guilty too as if it doesn't matter. Sometimes because they stopped believing it because it allowed them to do some of the stuff that they wanted. Sometimes they just can't consider in their mind, they cannot conceive of what it looks like to turn back and and and do something else. And so I say that because I I I do think good news is still good news and it still rescues. And so, like, the notion of supporting people still means

saying true things. It's just you say that because you love them. Mhmm. You say true things because we we we don't I don't have anything else. Like, going back to our ability to to say clever words. I don't have anything else that saves. I don't have anything else that rescues except for this good news. And where it applies to someone is a disservice to say it. I think what we're saying is that if you're gonna say the things of God, the good news of God, you need to say it with the heart of God. That's what makes it true. But if you were to do that, you could say, like, we will we wanna support you. We know you're struggling with this thing or other, and but we're not gonna say true things. Like those that disparity in someone, like, will weigh on them, and that can have a very like, the same result

where they what's too much for them to carry, and they end up not being able to like, and again, this is this is a good example of what how things can be is that, like, where where you felt like you were gonna find freedom in declaring this thing about yourself, this thing you were hiding. Like, if if this was the freedom card, what happened? Because it's because it wasn't that. That wasn't the thing that really set you free is the thing you felt like you were hiding. And so, like, that that's that's all I'm saying is that, like, I think it is our our goal isn't just to keep sorry. I don't know to say this right. Isn't just to make sure people persist in life.

Like, that can't be it. Because, like, sometimes their lives will be torturous because they've because the people were not saying true things to them. And so it's just it's both. Like, hey. This seems like a large burden on the church. Congratulations. It is. It's a large burden for you not to become king anywhere in this equation. It's a large burden for you to recognize the things that are out of your control and to and to give them up to God and to pray on them faithfully because you love people. It's a large burden to love people who who would turn around and tell the newspaper that you don't love them. It's a large burden to say true things, especially when people feel like the only thing like, they can't handle another true thing. When it's the only thing they can handle,

if it's done well, and if it's done faithfully and lovingly. I guess a large burden. Yeah. I agree. Dan, were you gonna say something? No. Okay. I thought I heard a breath there. Don't breathe so close. I thought you had wisdom.

It's a breath of approval. Alright. To be honest, I didn't know I I don't know if we were supposed to talk about this tonight or not. I saw that article. I'm like, I don't know. There's like three big bucket things in here that we'd I know we don't spend a ton of time on. I don't know. I I almost skipped it again, but I thought I'm just gonna read it. And I had no particular thoughts about it going into it. It just I don't know. Yeah. I

I think we I I I I think it falls into a bucket of humility things for most of Christianity. I I I think that that you

we feel that, like, there's certain there's certain big dollar sins. Right? And and this one's hard because it's it's it's an identity thing. I mean, the Bible is not agnostic to that. The Bible does actually think there are some big dollars. No. I I agree. And here, this one seems pernicious because you're identifying your everything for who you are. That's right. Right? That's why it's hard. Right? Like, they can say a lot of people can say, I do I do love Jesus, but I struggle with this. That's not it's not my entire identity. I just I struggle with it. Right? Like, I'm I I know who Jesus is, but I'm having a hard time putting this bottle down, And it's taken me over and I'm do I'm you know? But you don't say, I'm an alcoholic and I'm proud. This is what I wanna do. I wanna be an alcoholic my whole life. I want the whole world to know I'm an alcoholic, and I want people to support my alcoholism. You know, we're not we're not gonna do that. You know? And so, like, that that this one becomes people feel personally attacked because of it. Where if someone said, hey, you're an alcoholic. Yeah. It's gonna make them mad, especially if it's true. And no one but but they'll sit down later and go, crap. Now everybody knows. Yeah. I I I feel like I hate that. I gotta do something. And and and we wouldn't we wouldn't consider doubling down and saying, just support them in their alcoholism and let them be. Yeah. Because I won't do that. I I was telling someone we're having a conversation last week with someone and talking about, you know, the the pride, you know, and the flags and and all the companies and churches even doing the, you know, the the the pride flags.

And I think that, you know, I I said, okay. When I was young, I I was a thief. I I stole a lot. I had a stealing club, you know. It was like I wasn't like casual. I bet we were aggressive. How many people were in this club, Dan? It was two of us, but no. Okay. It was it was hard to keep people. You had to steal something every day to stay in it. Oh, man. From a store. Dang. So we were we were strict. But here's the thing. I never I never expected people to put up the pirate flag and and celebrate me. You you know? But at some point, I realized, well, I was I was being sinful and I had to stop.

And and because someone was honest enough to tell me that. And I think, yeah, I think that's the difference is people would push back quite a bit on me if I was expecting everyone to have pirate flags and pirate tattoos and, you know, saying, hey, we're all thieves and celebrate me. That that's that's the challenge. Well, yeah. And I think that's that's the that's the rub. Right? Like, it would be weird. It's bad if I if I just showed up at a farm one day and snuck under a lady cow and started drinking from the others. You'd be like, dude, that's not normal that's not normal behavior. You're acting outside of how you're supposed to act. But if if I were a baby calf,

it would be totally fine. Yeah. And so, like, the very notion of of of an individual being able to control the sense of their own identity, to manifest it in their own lives and say, I am what I am, it takes all of it, all of the the the reality of God's design out of the equation. That's the break, man. Whatever whatever behavior follows that is a natural consequence.

Like, if once I start once I start saying I'm a baby calf, then I can crap in the field. Right? Then then I can there's all kinds of stuff I could do that would be odd if I was a human. And, like, this is an extreme example. Don't Yeah. Yeah. Keep your text messages to yourself. Just don't look far too far into my example. But, like, the point is is that, like, once you get once you you shift away from here's the identity that God has created and said was good and is me and is loved and is rescued and that kind of thing and becomes something you you wholly define on your own, that's when the break happened.

Everything else that follows is not surprising at all. And it's and frankly, it makes logical sense to because, again, go back to the the example that Dan gave. If you if if if the definition of who you are comes from you and you say, I am this person, and previously, I felt like I had to hide it, and now I get to live free from that, is that something you're proud of? Sure.

And would you put a flag out? Sure. Because you don't you don't look at it the same way people would look at the at a pirate or a thief. Like, because it because you changed the definition of the thing. And now it's just just just like if someone were to say, look. Are you a Christian? Yeah. Would you be willing to put a flag out? Sure. Sure. I'd glad people to know. Great. Like, that's where they're coming from. Mhmm. And so, like, that's not the break. The break happened when we said, does not have a say in my life to speak this thing. He it's not it's it's not his opinion that I care about. I I I'm going with my own thoughts on the matter. And if that's not a red flag, boys, I don't know how many times I've made a mistake when going, you know, I'm going with my own thoughts on the matter. That's the entire Bible. The entire Bible is full of people who said, I'm gonna go with my own thoughts on this thing. Yeah. Hey, man. I I felt so alive when I was in a store taking stuff. I mean, the adrenaline's flowing. It was exciting. I felt alive. Right. Right. Right. You know? I I never felt more like me than when I was doing that. Right. But it was a lie. The break was a misunderstanding. Right? Like, that is not who you are. Right. Yeah. But you felt invigorated, and you got yeah. Yeah. And so, like, the this is where I think we we do have to be we gotta be honest. We gotta be honest about this thing. If you take away the notion of whether God is who he says he is, and he's designed people and and the world to work in the way that he says it, the Bible accurately represents it, then none of this stuff is crazy.

It's not it's not even it's it's it doesn't lack logic. There's plenty of things that lack logic. But, like, these types of things, like, they don't lack logic to me. If you if I accept premise number one, everything else follows just fine. Just fine. The guy won't bake the cake. You're like, why? It's just humans. Why won't you just bake a cake? Because we just we just change the start of the conversation, and then it changes. And it's and so, like, it's not illogical if you accept the first break. But that's that's where the rub is. That's what I'm praying at. I'm praying at that. Hey, man. Can you can you help me, and can you help this dude over here and this lady over here to to recognize that you are who you say you are? You are there. You are who you say you are, and that what you say has to be good. And if we can if all three of those things are true, then the conversation has to completely change.

If you don't believe any of those, like like all of those are true, then then other outcome has a has a chance of being logically correct and making sense in how people think. If all you have is yourself, then you might as well celebrate that self. Like, would celebrate God. I would say God is good. God deserves praise. If you take the God if you take God out of someone's life, who's calling all the shots? I am. Am I to be celebrated? Well, yeah. I'm the one who comes up with the definition. I'm the one who who who gets to say who I am. I'm the one who gets to trumpet it and and then show it off to the world. Now I think and this is kinda what I was getting at earlier is that, like, I think in our heart of hearts,

everybody knows that you are not that. I can't imagine there really is a person who goes, you know who knows everything, who's got this total world figured out, who always feels consistent, and, like, the things that I say match my inner person. And, like, I don't ever wonder, like, is there a moral good beyond what I just thought of in my mind? I'm not buying it.

I'm not buying it. And I think that's the that's the thing where, like, there's there's a lot of folks within the, I'm gonna miss the letters, the LGBTQIA communities where they don't ever find the peace that they were looking for in the declaration. And and and I think their general conclusion would be, well, it's because society still hasn't accepted what I said was true.

And and I I just I'm gonna beg you to to consider that it might just be that the peace that you are grabbing for can't be found within yourself, and it can't be found within what you feel. Like, it can only be found within the within the reality, the true living God who who has designed you and have given you an identity. And, like, hey, man. I'm with you. I'd like I it's it's not that bucket of stuff, but, like, I've certainly felt the disconnect between God and I, and I'm not super impressed with the the the what it looks like for me to run my own affairs.

What was the phrase I just used? It was great. I'm gonna take I'm gonna nope. Forget it. Nope. Mhmm. Whatever. It was a guy who takes his own counsel. And so, like like, I I it's the phrase I used. It great. It was great. Write that down. It really sailed. It was fantastic. It was it was tweetable and everything if we use the Twitter. Anyway, the the the broad point was is that, like,

I just I mean, what if we're gonna end up in a deep trench talking about homosexuality and suicide in church? But that's what the story was about. But I I think the point was is that, like, there's there's one or two ways in which some of those things can go, and I'm just I want I wanna to to make sure that we're cautious that

that that it that is not the conclusion only because folks didn't feel like they received the support that they wanted from themselves. Sometimes they come to that, like, that feeling doesn't ever go away because the trajectory actually isn't right. It's not true. It's it's taking you farther away from the from the reality of God and who he is and what he who what he wants, in a relationship with you and what that means for what you get to be.

And I I I think if you, there's there's some things that you believe that are true that don't have to be. Right? Like, not everybody has to has to go through a struggle every day. Not everybody like like, there's a life to be lived that God offers that, like, you don't think is possible right now. You know, you feel like like everybody has to go through this or everybody has this this thing that weighs them down, and it's a constant struggle and blah blah blah. Like,

it's it's not the populace. Right? Like, you got the populace. We're we're the minority here. Right? Like, the Jesus folks are are in the minority. But I'm telling you, there's there's there's a life that God is offering that is not filled with all the stuff that you that you're currently going through that you think has to stay. Right? You're just you're convinced that everybody has a common life thread, which is, you know, we go through this thing or I'm I'm super bummed out or I'm super worried all the time or I'm super stressed. It's not like that, like, we're not humanity.

Christians go through the same thing. Right? We just we just route it different. All that stuff lands on people who don't follow follow Jesus, all that stuff lands on you. For us, all that stuff lands on him. If we're doing it right. Right? We're turning around and shoving it back up and going, God, your world's your people. What's going on around here? I want an explanation. I don't know why things are going so foul. And sometimes he goes, son, I'll I'll give you an explanation. Sometimes he says, if I told you, you would act a complete fool. And so I'm not gonna tell you. And and that's a loving move. And I and and, you know, we get to trust that. And maybe it seems lame or like a easy out, but like, it's it's the world God created for us. Right? Like, knew that once the world was broken, we couldn't there's certain things we weren't gonna be able to handle on our own. We weren't built for it. Right? We were built to be in community with God. He was built to walk the garden with us and say, how's the day? Sons and daughters, I'm here to check up on us, make sure everything's going okay. Plants are growing good. I told them that's what I wanted, you know? And we were built for that, and then we cracked it. And then and then that that community with the creator wasn't there by our choice. And and and and all of humanity will continue to make the same choice. And and so I I I guess what I'm getting at is like, it's so hard to believe

that someone that believes the complete opposite thing than you can actually love you and see you for what for what you are because you actually look the exact same as me. You're the exact same broken. You're the exact same fooled. You're the exact same. Except for I know that, like, I am broken and I am fooled. And I'm and that does happen to me. And so I have a creator that I go to and say, look, I I trust you with this thing. And if you say it's not the right move, I I don't agree right now, but I want you to change my heart. So I do agree because I think you got this. Well, actually, that that's a really good point. And maybe we'll we'll leave with this Mhmm. Is that we just we just have to be very careful on on defining whether someone loves me on whether they affirm my behavior or not. Correct. Because the think of it at its core. At its core, the biblical message is, I will not affirm your behaviors.

I can't. I will die so that it can be rescued. I can die. I will sacrifice my own life that it could be set right, but I will not affirm it. That isn't the notion of love. And so, like, some of us, I think, are in a trap that says, I will know that people love me when they support me in my behavior.

And and you gotta chuck it. Yeah. I mean, that's true in any relationship. My my wife loves me, but there's a lot of behavior of mine that she does not affirm. That's right. I mean, that's just That's right. You know? And she lets me know. Yeah. Dan, you shouldn't fill out that that hoo hoo punch card this fast. Man. I do not affirm that. Yeah. I got a rough life. I come here a lot. I gotta memorize. I smell like garlic. She knows. It's the first time I had the occasion to spell my name. Yeah. So yeah. So so I I like and that goes that just know that that, like, if you look at the maybe you're struggling right now and you look at the church and you say, look. They're just not supporting me. I cannot find the support among my family, among my friends, among my church, among whoever. They're not supporting me. And I want I want you to ask yourself, by support, do you mean affirming your life choices? Because that's not the same.

That's not the same as supporting you. That's not the same as loving you. Loving people don't go, hey. Yeah. You're gonna jump off that cliff? Sure. I'm with you. Make it a good one. Like, that's wrong, and we're not gonna do that. Yeah. And but here's the thing. It's like the thing that he said were like, I hang around with people who expect you to live up to impossible what did he say exactly? Like, they're impossible standards. Standards that you can't possibly live up to. Yes. Is that your experience? Like, I I guess, fellas in the room, like, do you like, does that occur to you often where you look around and go, this is impossible.

I cannot keep these standards. No. No. I don't ever think about that. I say yes. You do, Dan. Mean, that's the whole point. That's the whole point of the laws. We can't do it. No. I mean, I know it's You have have the balance of understanding of grace. No. I know it's true. I know it's true, but I'm just saying, like, do you does that hit you hard and weigh you down? No. No. Okay. That's what I'm saying. I thank god for grace. Okay. That's okay. That's what I'm saying. Yes. That that that was the whole point is that, like, I think it's what he's that's a reality.

And to Dan's point, like, I think we have to know that we recognize what the what what it means to miss the mark, to sin. Yeah. But, like, I I I just cannot think of a time in in my in my life as a as a Christian where I'm like, boy, these are impossible. These are impossible. Because at the same time, I know very well that Christ has died to pay for the impossible. Like like, I didn't forget that in that moment. So when people say, are we gonna call you to this higher thing? Well, sure. I would expect you to. But then when I fall short,

I don't I guess it just has not weighed upon me in the way that it feels like it's weighing for or had for this fella, to say, boy, you're calling to something that's impossible. Yes. I know. But the grace was part of the story. Mhmm. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's the thing. It's like, what's God actually asking out of humanity? What God really asks for is, you are God. I am not. I need you. I can't I've I I can't be around. I can't measure up. I can't cover all the bases. I can't try hard enough. I can't succeed on this on my own.

Like, honestly, that is what God that is what God is that's all God is asking. Mhmm. And he did all the legwork. Right? Like, he sent his son to die for us on a on a price that we couldn't pay. He says, all I need you to do is acknowledge the situation you're in, which is I am a perfect God. I I created you. I know you. I gave you identity. I gave you I gave you citizenship in my kingdom. I gave you high standing. I have tons of rooms. I love you. I'm planning parties for eternity. I want you to be with me. But realize that in your current state, you actually can't come in here because this is this

is this is my kingdom, and my kingdom runs the way that I designed it. And so to pay for you to get in, I will send the representative from my kingdom, my son, to die for you to let you in the party. All you have to do is acknowledge is that that's what happened, is that you can't come in on your own, that you come in because I allowed you to be in, And that you say, God, your ways are not my ways and I want to follow them. I want to do the thing that you want me to do. And like, it's it's not all complicated. It really is just understanding the relationship between God and humanity. That's what he's asking. And where you and God disagree, you go, I'm struggling because I don't see it right now, but I'm gonna trust that you got it. That's what he's asking. And so it's not a list of unrealistic expectations or or rule after rule after rule after rule. You'll get them. And the reason we have the rules, the reason we have the law is for you to understand the God that you're dealing with. Mhmm. To understand God's character. It's a gift, man. It it really is a gift. Because there's some things where you're like, don't know where God would stand on this. He's he's spoken to it. Yeah. He's he's covered a general principle, right, inside of his word so you understand what God's heart is. And Right. Because short of that, you really are just in a tussle with some other dude who goes, you know what I think is right? This thing. And then you think to yourself, you know what I think is right? This thing. And you have a terrible bias in the matter. Right. And how do governments fix that? We either vote by a majority rules, right, or we get ourselves a dictator who don't ask nobody. That's pretty much the two options. Right? We either we either get a guy that sees the ultimate authority because he's in charge, or we try it by a group and say, who thinks the most of this? Like, what percentage think this is right? What is wrong? We'll take a vote. And wherever we come out with, that's the deal. Right. That's not ultimate right and wrong. That's just how many people you can convince believe the thing. That's right. And just under that, the amount who said yes is a is a strong group of people who are hosed off until we talk about it again next time. Correct. And so, like, and so we say, well, I don't want God to tell me what to do. Well, my goodness. Why not? Like, why wouldn't you? I I'm for it. I'm for whatever keeps me from acting a fool. I don't believe he's going to lead me into happiness

and joy. At which means flat out, you just don't believe his promise because that's what he is promising. He is promising to lead you into joy and peace. And You know what's funny? It's like I I I I have talked to people who are like who who don't believe that, but they do believe in a god. And I'm like, in concept, like, I just don't know what your like, if there was if you believe that this god is true and real,

I I I one, I don't understand why you believe that and you don't believe the underlying promises. Like, that I I that doesn't make sense because, like, you're you're saying basic references and resources that are affirming these types of things. But then secondly, like, let's say your god was like a jerk. Like, there was a true God and he was a jerk. Like, I'm you still don't really have much of a choice. Right. I don't wanna hang what? I mean, I don't wanna hang out eternity with a God that's a jerk. Right? And God don't want you there if you don't wanna be there. That's that's what the choice actually boils down to. What it boils down to is God says, I have I created everything. This is the way that I created things to work. Would you like to join me? That's it. That's it. Would you like to come with me? And you go, sure. But I want this and this and this and this changed. God goes,

that's not here's the thing. Because he knows that can't sustain. Not talking about living your meager one hundred years or eighty nine years or whatever you pull off on this earth. We're talking about eternity for the rest of all days. Why'd you say it with a heightened e like it's a website? What? Like eternity. E dash eternity. You don't say it like that? Eternity. You say it with eternity? Yeah. Yeah. Eternity. Nathaniel, you say it right. Eternity. Hey. You're not talking like, we're talking about homosexuals

and suicide in the church, and you really haven't said anything. That's true. I just feel like I'm you you guys were saying a lot of things, and I can't get a word in Edwise around here. That's probably right. That's probably right. Nathaniel also wants to stay employed or whatever his place of business is. I I think that's all. This maybe my my my broad point is is there's some very heavy stuff in here, but like this is

this is regular brokenness. Yeah. That's it. That's it. I I think where the church goes foul is we like to to pump up the the water balloon gun with certain things. Celebrity brokenness. We try to do celebrity brokenness. Correct. And acting like it's not the same brokenness that you got. It's the same brokenness that you got. It takes a different form. Somebody believed a lie. We always say this, like somewhere down the road, somebody believed a lie somewhere.

Someone said, what God says about me is not true. He doesn't he didn't he didn't make me. He didn't create me. He doesn't have a plan for me. He doesn't love me. He's not gonna guide me. He's not he doesn't have joy in my future. He doesn't have all the fruits of the spirit that God promises. I don't believe any of that. And so right there, when you believe that lie, then you're like, I guess I'm on my own, and I'm gonna start trying to find ways to make these things for myself. And I mean, if you're just talking to people on a human level, are you telling me you don't understand that? You tell me you don't get that? That, like, that thought process makes perfect sense. If you don't believe that God will do all these things, then you're gonna try to start making things, make ways for your own. Get your own path going. Cut your own trail. And this is what I'm gonna do. And It's homesteading. It's homesteading for the spirit, for the soul. Correct. And so, like, on on the opposite of that, like, if as a person who knows Jesus, I say, look, I I understand how you got there. Like, this is true with just about every sinful path or sinful thing I've ever done. I know how I got there. And the truth is I just didn't believe God and His promises, but I've watched His promises come to fruition. I've watched Him turn lives around, lives that you thought were so far gone that they didn't even have a shot. And like, God's God's promises are good. And I know that because I've seen it. And you just haven't. That's all. That's all we're talking about here. And so if we can take the amp gun down

and and and and just stop rolling in there as if we are the holy representative of God's justice. That is not our play. Truth is certainly God's truth. That's our play because that's the only thing that saves. Ben nailed that. Of course. That's the only thing that saves people is the truth of what God has done. Thank you. If felt strongly about it. Here's the thing. As a Christian, when you decide to bail on that,

that's a millstone deal. That's a problem. That's a real big deal because you're leading people astray now. You're taking what God said was true, and you're bending it a little bit because you think it might be taken in better. It's not your game. Prayer is your game. You pray how they take it in. Sometimes we're we're much more subtle than than just like an outright rejection of God. I had I had a guy call me this week. He goes, hey. We we talked about pornography a couple three years ago, whatever it was. And he said, okay. So I I I've really stopped. I I don't I don't look at pornography anymore. I said, well, that's that's great. I'm glad to hear that. He goes, but I have this thing. He says, I I get all these premium channels. And if I see a movie that looks like there might be nudity in it, I'll like, I'll make sure and watch it. What do you think God thinks of that? I'm like, wow. He's yeah. He's, like, intentionally trying to find a movie to accidentally find naked people. Right. Right. You know?

I mean, like, both he started with a good spot, like a contrite heart. He, like, he he honestly wants to serve God right. And he but he's struggles. Yeah. And I'm like, it was yeah. It was an interesting conversation. I mean, it's it's I'm just saying it's that's down a few notches of what we're talking about. That's right. But it just shows we're all we're all there. Right. We're all so so can he live up to the expectations of of that the church was throwing on him? No. No. No. Can't. No. That that's why I guess what I was thinking of earlier. It's like, of course not. Right. We we can't we can't hit perfection.

And and so, you know, it's like I kinda encouraged him to maybe try to look at other things, you know, if that's a struggle. Maybe maybe don't get those channels like we say at Ben's house. Yeah. Hey. There was a time I I I don't have any of them for that for that reason because I I could relate to him. I probably did that, you know, I don't know whenever how many years ago I had that stuff. Would I I would kinda go that was back when you Google magazine. You know? It'd tell you what the the shows worth a month. Like, oh, look at that. I might just accidentally watch that. That's right. Like, what? Really? Some cheap little thrill of of, you know, the side of someone's breast or something like, oh, that got me. Know? I mean but it's, you know It's it's it's a hard pull. Yeah. It's a hard pull. Yeah. Yeah. Nathaniel, did you did you need to get a word in, Edgewise? No.

I don't. I think he was making that up, Mike. That he had a word actually to say? Yeah. I think he just wanted a clever bar, but you Is that what you did? I think he's implying that you overspeak. That's what I'm that's what I think. You know I think I probably underspeak is honestly. But also, I things like this, like, I've sometimes I'm gonna be honest with you guys. Sometimes I forget there are homosexuals out there. Right. In the world. And then I go to work, and I'm walking on this rainbow path, and I go, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

I think I'll be honest. Like, I'm not sure what you guys thought he was gonna say. I didn't think he was gonna say, I forget there's homosexuals out there. That that just didn't even cross my mind. It's something you were gonna say. The rainbow path kinda got me going. I I was picturing, like, little flowers falling from the sky too. I don't it's it's I mean, there's a path, though, there. It's it's rainbows of of duct tape. Yeah. Oh, someone has gone and set this up. Yeah. Okay. And there's meetings and all sorts of stuff. Yeah. And I just, like, forget, like, it after I leave, it just it never enters my mind. Yeah. Mhmm. Alright. Maybe I should spend more time in prayer on it. I don't know how to help Nathaniel.

Hey. You've listening to life from the path. Here's what I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna give you the complaint line, but I want you to use it responsibly. Because, I'm sure there's all kinds of things in here you may or may not find offensive. There's probably some word choices where you feel like we could have done better. I want you to call the complaint line, and I want you to to or send us a text message only if you've prayed before you sent sent it to us. Alright? Like, no joke. I'm glad to learn and hear from anything that that you have to say or feedback that we have, but I need you to take this conversation in in the way that we intent it.

I think we prefaced a couple different times. I'm not gonna get the words right. So if you got any critiques about some of our words, I want you to let it go. Again, we're we're we're willing to be sharpened here. But I just I'd like I've seen these types of when you put the three things we just talked about in one bucket and you shake it up, like, ten people out of 15 are gonna die in the discussion. Alright? I don't wanna do that over our over our complaint line. Alright? But I we do wanna learn from you. So I want just want you to think about it. Pray it. We're totally we're open to being wrong on any given item. As long as God's right, we're okay to be wrong. So the complete line, if you need to use it, it's (515) 517-0085. That's call or text (515) 517-0085. Alright. Here's the jokes.

And another thing. And then, Mike, you gotta tell you gotta tell us about the Rise Fest, and then we gotta do some advice. Okay. Because the day the day grows long. Got it. Okay. I didn't read this one ahead of time. Let's see what happens. One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm, a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, mommy, will you sleep with me tonight? The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. I can't, dear, she said. I have to sleep with daddy. A long silence was broken at last by a shaky little voice. The big sissy. Does that count as a joke? The dad's a pansy, Mike. No. I hate that. Okay. Okay. Hold on. There's a couple other options. Hey, man. Dan really likes it, though. That was great.

That makes me angry. Just thinking that someone typed that in and thought, this will get him. This is the greatest. A four year old boy was eating an apple in the back seat of the car when he asked, daddy, was my apple turning brown? Because, his dad explained, after you ate the skin off, the meat of the apple came into contact with the air, which has caused caused it to oxidize, thus changing the molecular structure and turning into a different color. There was a long silence. Then the son asked softly,

daddy, are you talking to me? Hey, man. The father jokes just really aren't they're oh, boy. Okay. Here we go. I I I just that that that was every one of your children, Ben. Okay. Hold on. I did this exact yeah. Okay. Yeah. I did this I did this exact same thing. Right? So so Pat sends me a question. He says, what happens when you eat aluminum foil? I say, I think it's galvanic shock if you have fillings or dental work. If you don't, you won't notice it. Thinking it's a legit question, he goes, you sheet metal.

I always tell the joke. And I had Johnny seriously answer it. And I'm like, take it, Pants. And I was like, hey. My friend Mike has wisdom in shock or whatever. I'm like, I'll tell you the answer, Pants. I love you. Here's the thing. And he's like, I totally that speaks to your capacity. It really does. Yeah. I felt like such a fool. Someone's petitioned me as an expert, but they're setting you up for a gag. Pence is, like, laughing at me at his house. Alright. Four expectant fathers were in Minneapolis waiting hospital waiting room while their wives were in labor. The nurse arrived and announced to the first man, congratulations, sir. You're the father of twins.

What a coincidence, the man said with some obvious pride. I worked for the Minnesota Twins baseball team. The nurse returned a little while and turned to the second man. You, sir, are the father of triplets. Wow. That's really an incredible coincidence, he answered. I worked for the three m corporation. My buddies at work will never let me live this one down. I'm sure. An hour later, while the other two men were passing cigars around, the nurse came back. This time, she turned to the third man who had been quiet in the corner. She announced that his wife had just given birth to quadruplets. Stunned, he barely could reply. Don't tell me another coincidence, asked the nurse. After finally regaining his composure, he said, I don't believe it. I work for the Four Seasons Hotel. After hearing this, everybody's attention turned to the fourth guy who had just faded flat out on the Floor. The nurse rushed to his side, and after some time, he slowly gained back his consciousness. When he was finally able to speak, you could hear him whispering repeatedly the same phrase over and over again. I should have never taken that job at seven Up. I should have never taken that job at seven Up.

He's gonna have seven kids, Mike. I saw that one coming. Nathaniel hates that one. Okay. These are bad jokes. These are only there were only four dad jokes. Here's the last one. After tucking their three year old child Sammy in for bed one night, his parents heard sobbing coming from his room. Rushing back in, they found him crying hysterically. He managed to tell them he had swallowed a penny, and he was sure he was going to die. No amount of talking was helping. His father, in an attempt to calm him down, palmed a penny from his pocket and pretended to pull it from Sammy's ear. Sammy was delighted. In a flash, he snatched it from his father's hand, swallowed, and then cheerfully demanded, do it again, dad. That one got me a giggle. I was not really a joke, though. It's just, you know, the kid thinks he makes magic pennies out of his ear when he eats them.

Okay. Those are rough. Hey. You don't like those jokes? I don't care. That's not completely raw material. Go to the jokes.christiansunite. It's it's not a good site. K. So I went to the I went to a Christian music festival over the weekend. Who was playing at Torah's Fest, Mike? Oh, boy. Okay. So, let's see. I mean, there's there's the the opening day fillers, which I I I won't I'm not gonna remember. Yeah. But the first day, We The Kingdom played Mhmm. They were really good. And then they were followed by Big Daddy Weave was there. Mhmm. And then the closer for that night was Casting Crowns.

Yeah. Okay. And and Mark Hall, still great. The lead singer of Casting Crowns is I mean, you don't realize how many songs Casting Crowns has put out until you go to one of their shows and you know all of them. Where I mean, a Christian music festival is kinda tough, especially for up and coming artists. You're lucky. I mean, they play for, like, in a little bit over an hour, and they're gonna play 10 songs you're gonna one. You know? Especially for like like, I didn't know a ton of songs by We The Kingdom. I know quite a bit more now, and they were pretty good. But, like and then casting crowns takes the stage, and you know every single one they play. Yeah. And, like, he said a couple things that that I almost interjected into our our, our stuff tonight. But, like, he said it twice during the concert. He closed with it. He goes, just remember, you're not the point. We point to the point. And I'm like, oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Alright. That's a takeaway. I like it. I like it. I've I've actually been thinking about it a a couple times. So those were really good. And then the second day

was Zach Williams was there. And then the closer was Chain breaker. He's a Chain breaker man. Yeah. Chain breaker. He's he's actually has quite a quite a a few

A repertoire. Really, really yeah. Yeah. Really good tunes. Nathaniel, what's his favorite that they don't play that they don't play on the radio? What's your favorite? Of what? Of of the Zach Williams songs that don't make the radio play. I don't know Zach Williams. Me tell me which one of the deep cuts do you love? You don't you don't you don't know any Zach Williams cuts? Of all the people you've mentioned so far, I know Big Daddy Weave, and I know casting pronouns. You don't know any tunes by Weed of Kingdom? Uh-uh. But, man, they just name some more bands so we can shave Nathaniel. Okay. Well, the the closer on the second night was Matthew West, and he was great. Everybody knows Matt West. Yeah. Matthew West. You know every song that he's ever put out. You just don't think you know it. Grace wins every time. You with me on that one? Can you a few bars? No. Truth be told.

Listen. Actually, I don't know either of those two either. Are you serious? I don't I don't get those channels. I I wanna start sharing playlist with you fellas. Now listen, there's a broad swath of Christian radio that I just cannot dig on, which actually those are the dudes that take up like the twelve to like 03:00 slot. Like, I just I don't know. That's all super flowy. You you know, it kinda wispy. And they got like a synthesizer running all the time. I just it's not for me. I I I don't dig on you. If you worship that way, I think that's great. However, you connect with Jesus, I'd I'd go right down that road. But like this wispy never ending tune, it's just it's I don't dig on it. But like, Matthew West, he wrote he's got all the hits. And here's the thing, the second day, I I volunteered because you get a free ticket. So I volunteered to be on the stage crew to help set the place up. Told me to be there at 07:30 or at 07:00. I got there at 06:45. I was pumped. I'm like, I'm here to help. Nobody else got there till 07:30, I sat around doing nothing. And it turns out they were slightly overstaffed. And so I sat around doing nothing. And because they had too many people. And all everybody else had done it before, and so they kinda knew where the stage props went and and they're like, take this to stage left or front of house or or the second take this to monitor land. I'm like, where's monitor land? I can't tug anything around. And so finally, I I get my own wheelhouse. Right? Like, so my background is I'm electrician and I used to play in a band. I can hook up some cables. And so I start stringing cables out. And I start go I I go to plug one in. It's got like a 50 pin microphone cable. And I'm getting ready to plug it in and some dude comes out of nowhere. He's like, don't do that. I'm like, why? What happened? I said, does it not go here? He goes, it goes there. It's very expensive. I don't want you to break it. I'm like, oh. And and then I thought, I'm not the point. We point to the point. I wanted Mike to be a big deal. And so it was all known by the Matthew West setup crew that I certainly knew how to run mic cables. And so I'd let that go. My pride had to go on the back burner. And then Matthew West comes out to do the sound check-in, like, shorts

and regular dude wear. Oh, yeah. I'm like, he's pretty cool. You know? Like, I saw I mean, I I thought I I told the girls before I left. I'm like, honestly, if I run into him, he's probably gonna say something like, you're Mike from Life From The Path. And I thought he would mention that. Yeah. He's gonna bring it up. Sure. It slipped his mind. He must have had some other thoughts going on. It is the first, big concert out of since COVID, you know, and the festival and like, there was I don't know what the count was. Thousands of people here. So here's anyway, here's my positive takeaways. Here's what I really like. Okay. One, it's a great reminder to me and to my kids that we serve a very big God. Like, you are not in this on your own. You're not by yourself. There's like 5,000 people here, like worshiping, praying,

you know, just just raising hands and and having a great time singing about Jesus. And no one on stage ever let that go. Right? No one it never felt like anybody was like, you know, dig my new CD or whatever. Like, everybody had had everybody did what we recommend to grow churches. We're I just listened to our show from a a month ago because it's the only podcast available. And we were talking about church growth, like the seven things of old that would work for new church growth. And the thing that we always landed on was like, you don't need fancy gospel. You just need your story. You need what God did. How you know how do you know God? Why do you trust him? Right? Like, just straightforward things. And none of the artists got on stage and let that go. Everybody everybody said how they met Jesus and and and why they're still here and what they're doing with their life. So that part was very cool. And then my kids, we go to a relatively small church, and we live in a relatively small town. And, like, sometimes around their friends or at school, you feel like you're the only guy that actually believes this thing. Sometime you can relate if you work somewhere or you're like, I think I'm legit the only Jesus person here. You know? But then you go to this you go to this festival and there's like five, ten thousand people here that all love Jesus. You're not on your own on this thing. Right? Like, you're you've not been fooled. You're not in the middle of a cult here. Right? Like, you believe a thing and God's doing work all over the place. So that was that part was very, very cool.

Getting to see my kids worship was awesome. Getting past my own hang ups of of of normally, play in the worship band and instead, like, I just got to sing and close my eyes, and then I find my hands going up, which I really find very uncomfortable. But, like, I I got to do that. And that was that was very, very fun. The festival itself was was cool. I haven't been to one in a really long time. And Christian music festivals are great because they don't just plow like one headliner in there. You'll get at least six full name acts because they're cheap. Right? Like a standard rock festival or whatever. I mean, these guys are $100,000

just to show up. And, Jesus people, we go we travel on the dime. Matthew West can't even afford pants. Yeah. Yeah. So that was very cool. Some of the things like, it was still turned out pretty good, but, like, some of the political stuff kinda showed up a little bit. And, like like, one of their major sponsors had like a fifteen minute video on how they been working to get the right people in power and then this and this and they kept showing pictures of like these certain leaders or whatever and and and like and and my my daughter looks at me and she goes, dad, I think they missed the mark a little bit on on the message they're trying to convey. And I'm like, I think you're right, hon. I think they did. I think they did. I think they got I I I have no problem,

with, God's people having, what's good in mind for our country and having views on that. I think that's good and healthy, and that's part of the country we live in. But I think when you try to marry the two up as if they come as one solid package, you're fooling yourself and you're not doing doing any good. And so let me ask you this question. I I I I I stopped putting my hand over my heart

when they do the pledge allegiance or the, the Star Spangled Banner. Why? I don't know. Like, it felt like, like, I still stand because they they do it at the kids softball games and stuff. It it they just got to a point where I it felt like I was of the level of connection that I was being asked to make to the concept of my country

took was at a level that I wouldn't give anything but God. Is that is this wrong? Am I thinking about this wrong? Am I doing the wrong thing? I mean, you're not saying I pledge allegiance to the flag only. No. I know. Or or above. I mean, I don't know. Yeah. I think it's just a hey, what a what a great privilege to live here. I mean, you've been to other places. You've seen what it's like. It's like, this is a pretty cool place. Yeah. Brenda Caesar, where does Caesar's? And Caesar wants a hand over the heart when we sing the tunes. Seems alright. Yeah. I yeah. I don't find it to be a problem. Okay. Yeah. You should let that go, Ben. I'm gonna I'm not I'm probably gonna keep not doing it. Okay. Second thing that happens at Christian concerts, which I which it could be you either love this or don't like it. But, like, standard rock concerts don't put the words up on screen for you to sing along with.

Right. You guys expected to take in the performance. Jesus people don't dig on that. And so the downside is is, like, they have this really big stage and then that they just built. And then right in front of that, like, 50 feet is the front of house mixer board, the guy that's in charge of doing the sound for everybody. So he covers the best spot of the house, you know, in an outdoor stage. So to make up for that, just to the left, they put up this giant screen. And so, like, I'm watching Casting Crowns and I'm watching Matthew West, and everybody's looking at the screen because they got cameras and they get a much closer view and it's a better shot, you know? But I'm like, the guy is, well, right there. He's right in front of me. He's, like, thirty, forty feet away. You know? He's not as big as he is on the I can't see each individual droplet of sweat like I can if I looked at the video. But, like, I mean, the dude's right here. You know? And then half the crowd's, like, filming the whole thing with their phone. I'm like, parts of that just that's just my personality. It irritates the crap out of me. I'm like, you're missing being in the moment. You know, you miss the whole thing trying to get a video of it later on your crappy phone. I mean, they'll yeah. They put three three cameras on your latest iteration of the iPhone or the Samsung or whatever you got. But, like, ain't gonna make up for the fact that you're literally 30 feet away from Matthew West. You know? And he's talking to you, telling stories about his wife and his kids and, you know, being being super cool. You know? And and you missed it because you wanna look at his big TV and then record them with your phone. So, that that part was was, unfortunate. But overall, it was nice to get out. It was awesome,

to worship with other people, in a big crowd. And, I don't know. There's there's a sense of community that as much as we push for the small community, God does give opportunities for, you know, his people to get together and celebrate

as as as a whole, as a collective. And it's it's it's cool to be a part of. You're not worried about your voice standing out. You're not worried about, you know, it being about you. You're not the point. We point to the point. And so yeah. Overall, it was it was pretty cool. My kids had a good time. I had a great time. I thought I thought it was pretty awesome. I I could probably only go to one a year, I think. I I the festival stuff, I mean, it's like 95 degrees outside, and you spend way too much money on food because they kinda got you trapped. But other than that, it was it was a very cool experience, and my kids really had a good time. So I I think we'll definitely do it. We were talking about going again next Was there anything, like, they're coming out of COVID or whatever?

Did you notice anything? Any restrictions or, like, a lot of freedom or what anything? Yeah. Yeah. No one made any mention of it except for all the artists because they haven't been traveling for, like, a year. You know, like, they canceled 27 shows last year. And so, like, they were so thankful to be out playing in front of a crowd. Yeah. You know? And so, like, everybody put out the best show they ever did. You know? And so, there's a couple bands that struggled with some sound problems, and that was really unfortunate. But overall, it it it was very cool. Yeah. It was it was really nice. Nobody was worried about, you know, masks or distance or anything. They were just they were just out there worshiping and having a good time. So, yeah, I I had a really good time. It was it was fun.

Okay, sweet. Let's do let's do one advice, then we gotta call it a day. Oh, yeah. Okay. Here we go. One advice. You guys have any plans to go any concerts this year? Is that even in your in your mindset? I haven't even thought about it. Yeah. I'd be willing to go see Need to Breathe at Red Rocks. I think that'd be sweet. Yeah. I'd like to go check out a few shows, definitely. Okay. Here we go. In fact, I'm gonna put a playlist together for you guys, especially you and Nathaniel. There's all kinds of good music for you to take in. Listen. All I listen to is metalcore from 2011 to 2014. You can't change my ways. I got those three years covered. Like like, I still have memorized the world series lineup for the sake I think it was cardinals from 1987.

Pedro Guerrero was not in on anybody's list but mine. Okay. Here we go. Dear life from the path. My husband and I recently moved in with my grandma, partly to help out and partly because I lost my job due to underlying health conditions that made dealing with COVID incredibly difficult. Now that we're close to family again, some of them think that they need to dictate what we do. Mhmm. The biggest topic is whether I should try going back to work now. Mhmm. My husband is adamant that he wants me home until it's safer for me to go out again. But my father thinks it's not a good idea and insists that my husband doesn't understand quotes everything. I want I don't want to make either of them angry, but I feel like I need to stick with my husband. And I don't know how to get my father to understand because he's stubborn. Any advice? You moved in with your mom and dad? Grandma. Grandma. Yeah. I recently moved in with my grandmama. Yeah. Stick with your husband. Yeah. I mean, here's the I want you to consider a couple of things because I agree with Dan, but I'm gonna I'm gonna provide a couple just to think pieces on you.

The the dad is probably worried that you're freeloading on your grandmother. Yeah. Let's assume it's his mom. Yeah. And so

also, he may be looking, (515) 517-0085. He may be looking a little bit objectively at this COVID business and going, you know, if you're gonna go back to work, maybe now is okay.

Given that, everybody at the Rise Fest either appears to be vaccinated or not caring. And I might submit to you that, the Menards is full of people who at least are proclaiming to have been vaccinated. Yeah. Because I hadn't seen a mask in that place once they took the restriction down, and they said, well, if you're not if you're vaccinated, you don't have to wear a mask. And I say, well, I'll be doggone if everyone who shops at Menards was at the front of the line. And so I I just like, I don't know. I'm not sure what you're waiting for. And it depends on your underlying health condition. You do you. But, like,

I'd just be hesitant. This not working thing, it just it sticks out with me. Like, I don't know what I don't like, you're never gonna find a perfect situation to work. And there's plenty of job openings, and you don't wanna be a burden on your grandma. And so you're telling me there's no jobs that might might facilitate your underlying condition. You can't work from home. Everywhere works from home. I'm not even allowed back in my office for at least another three months. They keep pushing it back. Like, everyone could go back. They're like, nah. You can't even go in there. Yeah. And so I'm just you know, here's what so here's what I would say. I think you you stick stick with your husband as because, like, that that's that's the most important relationship you currently have. I wouldn't necessarily dismiss input that you're getting from elsewhere. Maybe run it through the ringer,

and you and your husband talk about it. And it doesn't hurt to go, you know, dad's saying I gotta go back to work. And, is there a real is there are there no options for me? And just talk that through with your husband. Just let it be added in to the things that you're talking about with your husband as opposed to putting them against each other. That's wrong. It's it's it's okay to to drag those perspectives in. Do people a service by trying to own their perspective and defend it the best you can, and then make sure it gets shaken out. Because ultimately, don't you just want the right answer? You don't want your husband's answer, or you don't want your dad's answer. You just want the right answer or the best answer. And the way that you get that is just take both of those and talk it through with who you trust more, and that's it. That's your husband. That's great. That's my advice. I think you should make sure you're not freeloading off your grandma. Don't freeload off your grandmother. Yeah. If you're doing that and that's why your dad's in the middle of this thing, then you should address that. Does does it say whether the husband what does the husband do? It doesn't say. What is what is is he a baker? A tire man? My husband is a baker. Yeah. He's a baker. Yeah. It says that explicitly. Times are tough. Boy, you really nailed that, Ben. That's what I thought. That's what I think you were paying attention. You pull out a a ruby. Okay.

I feel good about it. Yeah. I they might be because he says, I really want my wife to stay home. I guess that's is he if he's an unemployed baker, maybe he just wants company. I don't know who's He doesn't get along with the grandma. I want my wife to do what she wants to do. If she wants to stay home, I want her to stay home. She wants to go to work, I wanna go to Whatever she wants to do. She's like, I don't know. I here's the thing. If you're talking out of fear, do some research and figure it out. If you still believe that that that it's a legit deal and your wife has an underlying condition that, like, she has a heart condition and it's a whatever. You just can't. It's a bad deal. Then stay home. Stop worrying about your about your dad. Yeah. Right? Like Agree. Make an informed decision here. You know, like, if if if if your your dad is all tooled up because for political reasons or just his own personal bias that he's decided this whole thing's a fraud,

and he just wants you out in the workforce, and and and he's trying to live through you to make you do it. Then take his opinion out of it if you don't care for it, you don't believe it, fine. But, like, at least have done your own research. Right? If it's a risk for you to go out and and get a job, do Uber Eats, man. They'll drop the food off, and then after they go away, you go pick it up. And then you go drop it at somebody's house, and then they text you the money. You don't have to have contact with people. There's jobs out for you to do. And so just make sure you're being honest with yourself. I think you're tell there's there's somebody in there that's telling about half a truth here, if maybe a quarter of the truth. So if in fact, this wouldn't even be a conundrum for you. Right? If if if you somebody was telling the truth. If your if your dad is all tooled up because he's on the opposite end of the spectrum on on his opinion on COVID, then discount his his opinion and be done with Right? If you actually feel like it's a health risk, then discount everybody's opinion and figure out a job where you don't have to go outside. Yeah. I guess that's the point is that that's not mutually exclusive. Hey. You don't wanna be around people? Fine. This seems like this is the environment to find work where you don't have to be around people. Yeah. I think that you're taking advantage of your grandma. That's what I think is actually happening here. And your dad is trying to an alternative route, to try to help you to see that, and you're not seeing it. And you've probably frankly, you've probably represented him in the worst way possible. Correct. Like, if there's a nuance of my dad says I'm taking advantage of grandma, you didn't mention that part. You just mentioned that he's just like a stubborn guy who, you know, went to work with 85 hangnails, and he always worked, and he just wants you to work. K. Nathaniel, what's the real problem here? I mean, if there's one thing,

it's never free to load off a grandma. Yeah. That's no good. If you're gonna do anything, don't free load off a grandma. No. Grandma's on her on her reclining years. She's got a fixed income. Sorry. What what were the years? Do you mean declining years? I said reclining where she gets to lay back and be grandma.

Oh. Yeah. Okay. Not not not one foot in the grave, one foot up on the La Z Boy. I didn't say that. That's what you mean. I said reclining, and I meant it. Declining. No. She's just hanging out. I think she's a retired picker. I don't know why. Grandma worked. Yeah. Grandma went to work for forty five years Yeah. In the steel mill. Yeah. And now you're freeloading on her. Yeah. And you're asking to borrow a credit card for Amazon purchases because you wanna burn some kind of incense or oils in here, and she don't like it. She don't pick them oils. She doesn't like the incense either. Yeah. It gives her asthma. Yeah. She fixes everything with Excedrin and a stiff drink, and you gotta come in here with your own ideas. Yeah. And she's too kind to kick you to the curb, but that's why she's incensed. Yeah. I think grandma I think you're yeah. I think at the end the day, you gotta read through all the lines here, you're taking advantage of grandma. Yeah. Knock it off. And and her son is like, look, man. You gotta stop this. And he's kinda going about it to I bet grandma's talking to him. You think so? Grandma's saying, hey. You know, I love my granddaughter. But This has to stop. Let's get America back to work. Get back into a bakery. K. Segular says, your husband is protective, and for that, I applaud him. If you can't work because an underlying health condition makes you more vulnerable to COVID, then as much as your father would like you out of the house and working during the day, you cannot do it. Your life could be at risk. What does your doctor have to say about this? You are no longer a little girl. It's time for a family discussion to iron this out, including what your father meant when he said your husband doesn't quote to understand. If it can't be resolved in a mature and respectful manner, you and your husband may need to make other living arrangements.

Yeah. You said a lot of stuff here. And basically, would say, you're right. I am not a little girl, and I don't have to listen to you, dad. If your ideas are dumb, they're dumb. Right? If they're good, I'll take them as good advice. Yeah. But, like, I I get it. She accepted a false premise. Hey. You're fine. If you're worried about dying via COVID, then you shouldn't work at all. Like, as if that's the only option. It's not the only option. No. That's true. And, like, do you really think that, like, that goes like, I would say that about just about anybody. Nathaniel doesn't know everything. Dan doesn't know everything. Like, I don't know. Pretty close.

That but not everything, Dan. Yeah. You're right. Okay. Okay then. I don't know. Seems like a normal thing to say. Hey. You've been listening to life in the past. Okay. Two things. Maybe you're upset about what we said earlier in the show. You're gonna pray on that, then you're gonna shoot us a call or text too. Maybe you got a better dad joke because those were not good. They were not good jokes. So, maybe if you've got a better one, you shoot us a call or text (515) 517-0085. Also, just know that what Mike said about those other two shows not being out there is a lie because you will go look right now and you'll see that they're out there. And so what he said was a false false propaganda. No. Hold on. You're saying that in the future text. I'm gonna check it right now in the present. What I'm saying is by the time they listen to the show, those are the two shows will be out there and you will be you will be proven a lot of shows.

Yes. And her life in the past updated May 4. Hey, you've been listening to life in the past. We appreciate you hanging out with us and acknowledging the mic is in the wrong. We will see you sometime in the future. I'm not sure when, but it's certainly a time of which all three shows will be available. In the meantime, be faithful in the means God will handle the ends. You've been listening to live from the past.