Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the path. And you're listening to him live from the Path. We're coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston proper. It's good to be with you on this, you have no idea what time of day it is. I don't yeah. You don't care. Yeah. You know, I I assume you're listening to this on the podcast on a long drive and you thought to yourself, you know what? I'm gonna plow through six episodes of Life in the Path all along and then get it over with so I don't have to feel guilty about this. And frankly, that's how I do it. I save it up for vacations. I don't listen to the show all year and then I fire it up when we go out of town and then my family hates I was gonna say that. What what does your family do? They just put their headphones on and Well, one of my kids thinks we're funny. Oh. The other one could care less and my wife her eyes roll quite a bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I can't believe you would've said something like that.

Yeah. And my wife said, do you still you guys still do that? Where do you where do you go, dad? Where are you going on Monday night? Good stuff. I do things. Good friends. Okay. So here's what we got going on the show this week. By the way, just I wanna say thank you to you folks that listened to the show last week. I I got a lot of good feedback from one person about the show, and so thank you to that lone person. Wait a minute. Was it was it negative feedback? No. No. It was good. They enjoyed it. Well, for every one person who listens, I think there's three others who might. Yeah. I think that I think that bail bails out because I was the one person. I thought it went well. Yeah. This is terrific. And I wouldn't have typed something up before. Nice

job, boys. Stars. Here's what we got going on the show on the show this week. So lots of cool stuff going on. So last week, we teased there was an article from I mean, like a legit place about the Webb Telescope, like, that's that's taken all these really awesome pictures Yeah. Farther into space than we've ever seen. And there's they're learning things that are then causing

scientists who are, like, all in on Big Bang Yeah. To go, this doesn't quite match. This can't be. This this doesn't quite match. My beliefs cannot be true. Yeah. Like, it's not it's not lining up, which, like so let's get to that. There's a shouldn't be a surprise, and some some scientists would react differently to that information than than others. But I it was interesting. It was interesting, and I think it teaches us a a right a right lesson about humility on all sides. So we're gonna talk about that.

Also, Todd Gordon is in the studio. You've not met. Well, maybe you have. Todd Todd Todd gets around town. Gets around. Yeah. Football fields, gas stations, things of this nature. So I'm a I'm a big fan of Todd Gordon. We we we know each other from from church, and he's just a super interesting dude. And he's he he had posted some stuff on on Facebook about a a career transition, and and it was it felt like a like a point in time of which this is the this is the point to extract his wisdom onto the world. So he Onto that one person. That's right. That's right.

And I don't wanna give away all his secrets, but so Todd has a background in, Todd has a background in, well, I don't want to quite say school administration. That's not quite right, is it? Just say education. Education. Okay. And so not only I think it will be interesting to talk to him as he kind of moves into a different area of focus in his life on like looking back on that and some of the wisdom in working

in education with students, with administration, with teachers and stuff. I think there's a lot of wisdom in there, but also kind of the intersection of, I don't know, like, it's it's kind of, trope ish or easy to go, oh, it's those school systems, or look at all the activities kids are in or that how parents react in activities. And it's it's a bit of a bogeyman, but, like, like, so how does Todd who's navigated some of these things in his career, been been a leader in some of these areas, dealt with all the all the different parties in these things. How does he look at that? Look at these areas

in in ways what ways are bring hope and what ways are like rightful cautions on how we think about those things and the environments and the people. So we'll explore some of that with Todd. Plus he's got, I'd like him to share some of the, what he's doing now and ways that you can hear more from him. He's got a couple podcasts out there. So anyway, Todd, thanks for joining us Pleasure to be here. And and given given his background and education, I expect Todd to do awesome on a I mean, it's probably been months months since we've done secular versus Sullivan. Almost a year, I guess. Yeah. So, Mike, have you been preparing? You've been reading the Proverbs? I've been reading the seculars. You've been catching up on secular wisdom? Yeah. Yeah. I know exactly what is not from the Bible. So if you're if you're new to the show and and haven't actually caught one of these, the goal of secular versus Solomon to try to figure out where wisdom is coming from. Sometimes we say something that we thought we said, well, the Lord said, and really it was like Ben Franklin. And so we want to do two things. We want to be able to pick out like, where's our wisdom coming from? One, is it really wise? And two, is it is it something that God is saying? Does it match up with something that God is saying? Or is it something that like we may find wise, but we shouldn't put the force of scripture behind? And then where it's not, where it's not biblical wisdom, like where's this coming from? Who's perpetuating this out into the world so we can, you know, figure out

where we might be being led astray, Franklin. That's how I think about it. Yeah. Okay. And then we'll, we'll do some advice on Dear Life from the Path and yeah, I think that's the goal for today. So let's, the first thing I wanna do is I wanna touch up on this on this article with the with the Webb Telescope. Okay. So now shoot. I've lost it. How long how how long ago did I send it? Oh, there it is. Yeah. There it is. There it is. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Hold on. Me and Mike are gonna talk about a small technical item. We don't record over there. It's no problem. It's not working. No. No. It's I'm very worried about it. No. No. It's perfectly fine. Big bang happened. No.

So this was on this was from website called mindmatters.ai. And Is that a legit web domain AI? Yeah. What does that mean? Yeah. Well, artificial intelligence is what the AI is for. And you get to pick? Like, do you get to decide whether you're a .com or a Yeah. We could totally be live from the path.ai. I don't think anybody would buy the iPod. I don't think we're artificial, though. No. Woah, Dan. We're we're near the one, apparently. Neither letter makes the cut.

We need the life from the path dot dummy. I'll check and see what's out there. Actually, I wonder if you can buy the dot gov. That'd be kinda fun. Yeah. It would. Okay. So the the title of the article is James Webb Space Telescope Shows Big Bang Didn't Happen? Question mark? Wait. Mhmm. The unexpected new data coming back from the telescope are are inspiring panic among astronomers. So here's the kind of the the lead quote. To everyone who sees them, the new James Webb Space Telescope images of the cosmos are beautifully awe inspiring.

But to most professional astronomers and cosmologists, they're also extremely surprising, not at all what was predicted by theory. In the flood of technical astronomical powers published on sorry, it's paper, excuse me, published online since July 12, the authors report again and again that the images show surprisingly many galaxies, galaxies that are surprisingly smooth, surprisingly small, and surprisingly old. Lots of surprises. Maybe a thesaurus could be used for this article. And not necessarily pleasant ones. One paper's title begins with the candid exclamation, panic exclamation point. Why do the JWST's

images inspire panic among cosmologists, and what theories predictions are they contradicting? The papers don't actually say. The truth that these papers don't report is that the hypothesis that the images are blatantly and repeatedly contradicting is the Big Bang hypothesis that the universe began fourteen billion years ago in an incredibly hot, dense state and has been expanding ever since. Since that hypothesis has been defended for decades as unquestionable truth by the vast majority of cosmological theorists, the new data is causing these theorists to panic. Right now, find myself lying awake at three in the morning, says Alison Kirkpatrick, an astronomer at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, and wondering if everything I've done is wrong. Update. Kirkpatrick has protested learner's handling of this quotation.

That's interesting. So, I mean, there's a, there's a long, there's a long article there, but like, and he'll provide some kind of justifications as to why they're getting there. But like, one of the things I felt I thought was super interesting about this article, and I think in our there's always felt like there's been a contention between kind of a faith perspective and a scientific perspective. And a lot of that was really unnecessary. Like, like it was a blending of, of

views of worlds that either didn't have to be contentious or were intentionally trying to manipulate each other because we wanted to finger point. Like, you know, don't, don't tell me what happened or what you see demonstrated in the natural world. I know that God did this and I'm against that. Whereas, I mean, like, there's there's certainly a path to go, look, God will do what he wants. It's not like he can't make if if he wanted to make a world that looked like it's been around for billions of years, he totally could. Right. Right. I think there's room in the faith spectrum to go, look, nobody was there. Genesis is maybe nebulous on whether it's trying to be history or whether it's trying to tell you something that is true, but through pictures or a mix of poetry

and fact and those type of things. And again, God can do as he pleases. There might be a path for that. I think where some of the critiques landed well from the faith side is the places where science, at least some of these studies transitioned to what was a pseudo faith.

Is to say that things that we can't touch, taste, smell, we've come to believe in so fervently that we were willingly blind to other things that may be true. And it was interesting because science as a study

isn't actually restricted way philosophically. It's people's interaction with it that does that. Right? There's nothing about science. In fact, most, like, in its healthiest state, science would go, well, hot dang. That doesn't match what we thought at all. More information. That's right. It shouldn't be a panic. It should be a, okay then. Now we've got more to work with. More data. Let's the dice and and see what we can we can go on the other side. But it became pseudo religious in in a defense against sometimes the notion of a of a god that, like, this thing had to be true in this way so that I can exclude this view of the world that like it actually upends someone in the same way I would be upended if they said, look, we found Jesus' body. Like, it's that type of thing. And so, you know, I don't know, fellas, was kind of my reaction to it was there was some validation in the risks of

the study of the world as a religion. And so there's some validation of that, but then like, it also, I think starts to, if we think about this well, it puts science in the, within its proper bounds, which is human perception of the world around us and our attempt to understand that some, in some ways through what we can see, touch, feel, smell, and in some ways of which the things, the knowledge or wisdom or perspectives that have been passed on to us over time. And that probably gets you a more full crack of it, then, you know, maybe even limited to what we can take in. So I don't know if you guys read it, if you had any reactions to it. I remember in school as a student

going through these, what do you call them, not chapters or the periods, sections, whatever, of the science, and thinking to myself, maybe God used the Big Bang, I don't know. I I wasn't like against Big Bang, but when they would start forcing it as fact, would think, well, I have to choose, I'm gonna go with the God story. Right. Right. You know, so you guys lose and he wins. He's been around longer than all of you. You lose. But but in in my mind, I kinda just would kinda sit back and think, I don't know how he did it. I mean, I wasn't there. Right. Yeah. Maybe he used to be bang. Okay. I'm okay with that. Right.

Maybe he just said bang and it all is as we see it. I I was good either way. You know? I that that's what a result of a god interacting into a voidless world would look like. It would look like a big bang. Right? You're like, things were this and now they're crazy differences. Just like that. Right? They're solar systems. Yeah. I I think it was like, I've done the same thing. Like, I've had this discussion in youth group, know, where I'm like, I I don't know what when the hand of god shows up into a world, like, there's gonna be matter and effect on the world and if that's what the big bang is, I I got no problem here. It's just same like like this article would come out and I'm like, I got no problem with this either. Like, none of this is shaking me any direction. Yeah. And the thing is is that's the thing with worshiping science is it changes. Every discipline of science does this about every fifty years. We've talked about in the past some of the stuff that came out of the nineteen fifty's when referring to psychology that's like, look, don't be hugging your kids and getting them all dependent on your love. They need to be independent functioning children and if you pamper them like that, they're gonna end up being invalid losers. Legit pamphlets coming out of The US

whatever. Psychiatric Association, whatever it Yeah. Psychiatric Association for the nineteen fifties. Right? And, like, we can look at that and then fifty years from then, we're like, no. No. No. You can't do it. You gotta love dumber came from. Yeah. You gotta support everything they do even if it's terrible. You know? And so, like, maybe we've gone too far in one direction. But, like, overall, science always does this. Yeah. Right? Like like, when they they discovered uranium, they're like, this will change the world. It doesn't kill a bunch of people. They're like, oh, turns out you can't, like, hold it, You know, put it in stoves along with asbestos and lid. You know, like so science is like always like we took we're every generation or every day is a fresh day for for people to go, and this is people in general to go, we've got it all figured out. There's nothing more to be known. Right. Right. And so, like, if you could put humanity on the same time clock as you do, like, a a child growing up. At three years old, Dora is the coolest thing ever. And you're like, nothing is cooler than Dora. They will sit there and watch it if you let them twelve hours a day, only to find out by the time they're seven, finger paints are the coolest thing ever. As they get older and they get more facts and they get more context, things start changing in the way that view the world. As a world, we're infants. We're gonna be on milk forever until the lord shows up with meat. It shows you how powerful peer pressure is though because, know, scientists, they go by consensus. And if all the cool kids are saying there's big bang, then you have to say, but there's big bang whether you you know, you you just you just make the data say that because, well, that's what all the cool kids say.

And because they're smart people. They're, you know, they're not dumb. Oh, no. They're bright. I mean, yeah. But but they forget sometimes five year old watching Dora. But they're dealing with the facts that they have, and they're like, this is gonna be the end. Right? But they'll get blind by the the consensus. And so, yeah, now they're in shock going, I don't know what to do with this information that seems to contradict what consensus has been. We've gotta come up with a new consensus. Know? And to them, it shouldn't point, you know, in their line of thinking, it doesn't point to a deity. It doesn't point. It just it means that there's It should something be exciting. Yeah. Like you said, should be like All the things Fantastic. Find out that you've been rowing the boat in the wrong direction for fifty years, you're like, I'm gonna look like the biggest turd. You know, like, people have been putting out articles and and putting their their degrees on it, they're like, this is the thing, and we've been expounding upon it. Turns out the foundation you built it on was going north, and you were supposed to be going south. You know? Right. Which is which, you know, it's it's where the caution came from and, like, not to kick a pig on fire, but, like, you know, with with some of the reactions to to to COVID or, you know, just, like, anytime anytime we go, hey, man. Let's You kick a pig on fire. That's what I'm saying. I was watching. To get it away from you or to try to put it out? Get her back up into the barbecue pit. You get into the bacon. How dare you leave? Dang it, Todd. You were supposed to make sure this pig was dead. Things must be persuaded.

And so but, you know, like like, it's just there's a there's a caution in it. When when a man looks out at the world in general and goes, I've got this thing figured out. Like, when a man does not have a sense of his own humility, of his own smallness in, like, how capable they are of taking the whole world in, how many things I can understand at one time, how many perspectives I can handle or properly take in to shape and mold what I say and how I say it. Like, where you lack, where there's an arrogance to it, but it's not, it doesn't mean it's ill intended. It's just like a lack of recognition of how small we are. And it's not intended to make you feel like crappy, but it's just a recognition of like, really, you've got the whole thing figured out. And like, I get it. We're we're we're we it's okay to be imperfect people doing the best with the imperfect things are limited abilities. I think that's okay. But we do need to say that. Like, we think based upon

this much information, as far as my nose can smell, I think there's a fire. Whereas I might find out that my wife bought, you know, like smoke scented oven mitts. I'm like, well, hot dang. I had no idea. I didn't see that one. Yeah. Why would you do that? But okay. And so, yeah, go ahead. Obviously, don't care who you are. You're at the most a few decades old. Right. Right. I mean, you don't have it figured out. Mhmm. And then I know you're building on previous information, you know, we're we're trusting that information Right. From people who were only a few decades old. Right? And there's biblical examples of this. Right? Like, Paul had a thing, and he's like, I'm going to Asia.

Then he gets certain and god goes, you're not going to Asia, and you're like, oh, right on. Right? That's humility. That's that's a humbleness that goes, are you sure I wanna go to Asia? I'm I'm dead set you had me going to Asia. And Paul goes, well, turns out I'm not going to Asia. Then he turned around and go, you know? Well, and and think of how many things so so that there there's one side. I think that humility picture paints well. Like, this is not a I I wouldn't we walk away with this wrongly, and I'm saying this to you, Christian, if you're real excited about it, like, screw you scientists. That's wrong. That's not how you should be taking this. This is a humility question of recognizing our humanity and the limits of it, which I think does, if I were to take that same lesson then and put it back from someone who says, look, I love and follow Jesus. I want you to think about, think of the things of which we feel like we're trying to correct from a church perspective from twenty years ago and what that church, what those folks were trying to correct from where they feel like the church over cranked twenty years before that. And and frankly, my kids are gonna look back at the stuff that I found. I was real jazzed about and said, look, need to get this. We're gonna reform and get this right this time. And they're gonna go, look, you overcooked a fish on that one, dad. And so we're gonna bring it back around.

And we should be glad for the continual refining that God's people are under the leading of the spirit that says, look, God pointed us in the right direction and we took it. We kind of human it up a bit. We ran with it and we said, will never fall for this again. And then we overturned. And so like, you know, the broad notion is that like, we should walk humbly. We need to walk humbly with our God, recognize the limits of our human existence. Praise God for the delta between us and and whatever he's got going on. And then and then that what that keeps us doing is putting our foot in our mouth. What it keeps us from doing is like trying to say, God will handle the rest of these things, but I'll handle this one. Like, just

think of all the things where, like, this is the big one that's real obvious. Maybe, hey, maybe we got the big bang wrong, but like, how many minor things am I asserting, lacking humility with some level of arrogance, not ill intent, which then causes people to think differently about my belief system because I over cranked on the bounds of the thing that was been presented to me. I overstepped. And like, I think of that when you talk about some of the forcefulness of Turner Byrne folk or,

you know, like some of the stuff, like, as we learn more about some parts of the Quiric language and look. Well, think of the think think of the the nuances and some of the revelatory stuff we got from, know, finding the finding the Dead Sea Scrolls. Right? We we learned a lot. Our translation started to shift and change a little bit. Nothing crazy, but like some of the some of the depth of some of these things started to come out and like, great. That's awesome. The guy before us, well, it didn't suck. This is just, we got, we refined. And so anyway, I think, I think the call to humility here is a right one. And this isn't, this isn't just Hey, I'm glad to see scientists humble. I think science is awesome. I think it reveals good things that God has done and we should delight in that. And we should be excited for every time we get something wrong because we got a path for looking like maybe we're closer. Again, it's a depth thing. It's not a different thing. It's like, okay, well, we know it differently and deeper. So You know, some people get super cranked up about that and you you think like god hasn't reinstituted the Tower Of Babel. You know what I'm saying? Like, he made a move when he said, look, this is gonna get out of hand. You're gonna destroy yourselves. I'm gonna have to step in and do something. Right? Like, he

has not felt the same fear or pressure from whatever the scientific community is coming up with, right? Right. They go, I'm gonna have to spread these fellows out. This is getting out of hand. They're getting too small. You know, and so like, it it is a little bit of arrogance on on on Christian's part where we're like, the bosun or whatever is a tool of the devil. We're like, what do we do with the devil? It's bosun. It's cool. You know, they're making a thing. You talking about that that collider thing? Yeah. The Higgs bosun collider. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That thing's I mean, that's boss. That's a whiz bang amount of power. I mean, here's the thing. They're coming up with cool stuff and, like, and and and, like, I don't see God Tower Of Babeling that thing apart, blowing it up and saying, no. This can't be so who are you to stand on a street corner and go, all of this is a tool of the devil? You know, like, it's God's good world. He'll handle that stuff. You know what I'm saying? And so, like, because it's just as easy it is to crank on the the science community that obviously thinks we're crazy. You know, we don't help by fueling the fire by sounding like a bunch of crackpot conspiracy theorists. You know what I'm saying? Like like, I'm afraid that the Higgs boson is gonna tear down my my faith in the lord. I don't care about that Higgs boson. Right. I've got excited to see what they do. The particle goes so fast that, like, all of a sudden, three angel are exposed Yeah. Living in Utah. Still in the fire. Yeah. Like, Like, that's a good point. Right? Like, it's not like god couldn't laser beam the the International Space Station. He don't care. He don't care. So, anyway, I thought it was a cool article to be honest because, like, it's super interesting. Like, the limits like, as as humans expand our ability to look farther, we come more and more to the collusions of, boy, we just didn't have a we did our best Yeah. But we don't know. We didn't know. What a cool place to be, man. Who doesn't feel like that after they've raised some kids? You know what I'm saying? They go leave your house, and you're like, did we the best we could. I don't know. I don't know. I think we had we did the best with the information we had. Yep. And that one's weird, but I mean, I love them. Yeah. Alright. Alright. Anyway, maybe you got if you got thoughts or questions on that, shoot us

shoot us a text or or an email. 51 or (515) 517-0085. That's a live from the PATH complaint line. Maybe you're afraid of the Higgs boson. Yeah. And, you know, give us a call. I I got a t shirt I can sell you. Maybe we're taking it too lightly. You're like, you don't know that Higgs boson spelled backwards in Greek is Satan on a stick. Yeah. Yeah. Let me just I mean, let let me know so I I know how to deal with you if I run into you at the gas station. But 55155170085. That's Life Path. You can call or text that line, we'd we'd love to hear from you. Okay. Hey, so let's let's let's hear more about let's get to know Todd Gordon. And so Todd, maybe I'll give you a chance to kind of fly over. Okay. A radio introduction is different than like, hey, I met you at some sort of industry event or at the Hy Vee or something. We are actually already know you. So, yeah, that would ask questions like, hey Todd, we've never met before. Yeah, we totally have. Yeah. But maybe just tell

people a little bit about yourself. So like, know, what your, cause we focused on some of your career stuff, kind of like how you get got started in education, how that trajectory went. Yeah. Yeah. Let me let's just start there. Sure. Well, I'm a preacher's kid, number one. So I I grew up loving home, mom and dad, and

dad was in the ministry for over sixty years and finally stopped supply preaching just a couple of years ago at 82 years old. Yeah, he was still writing sermons. I don't think he's pulling them out of file. I think he was still trying to be relevant at 82 years old. So, you know, I was blessed with great parents and small community and, just a lot of support. So my road to education really is what it's why I believe what I believe.

I was standing in a gym hallway waiting for who is now my wife of almost forty years. She was going to go on break from painting the school. I'd quit college about six months earlier and, and, was just kind of working a couple jobs and my hair was really flowing very nicely back in the early eighties down to my shoulders and my scraggly beard worse than this one. Was it was it a mullet? You probably could be considered a mullet more than anything. Just just just it's trying to get It's a flowing mullet, man. That's what I was. Here's what I'm gonna tell you. If I can get Todd Gordon to send me one and you text mullet to the live from the path complaint line, I'll respond and send you this picture. There you go.

So I'm standing in that doorway and and my high school basketball coach who next to my dad was the, you know, second most influential man in my life, six foot five, played basketball at Carney State and, came over and poked me in the chest, said, why don't you go do something with your life? And he walked away. Well, that's awesome. I am. And so I I thought, okay, well, I guess that's what I needed, the prod I needed. And I cut my hair and I shaved up my scraggly beard and I enrolled at Iowa Western Community College, went to Northwest Missouri State and became a teacher and a coach. And That is the coolest story.

And, you know, the then, you know, thirty seven years later, I I closed that chapter after several stops and coaching and being athletic director and activities administrator. And, the coolest part of that story is, my wife planned a surprise retirement and sixtieth birthday party for me just this last Saturday. And coach Gatie has been struggling. He's lost forty, fifty pounds and he's he's got some health issues and

it was totally shock to me to see people that I thought we were meeting about two or three couples and Right. Lo and behold, she'd paid other people to come try and be my friend. But the first person I see when I walk on the corner is coach Gatie. Wow. With a cane and just weak and feeble and crying and that's the first person I hugged and we hugged for a long time. What a cool deal. Like, think if you were to ask me, hey, do people's words

do that? Yeah. I've maybe I'm a skeptic on it. You know? Like, just in my experience, like, I don't maybe it's because we come in here, we blow hard and we're like, words don't do anything because we waste them. But, like, to to hear, you know, especially something where, like, he didn't win back it. He just said, hey, man. Here's here's what I saw. And they why why don't you go do something? That's awesome. Yeah. I love that. That is awesome. My fear is on our current generation. They just push back. Well, am. I would say I would say yes and I would I would I would say no because

kids still want relationships now and we'll get into that later. Yep. And I'll get into why, but that's why I believe, I believe in the power of moments and you'll hear me say that over and over, and that's what I write about a lot is, is moments because moments matter and kids need to know we care about them

and we can say things to kids. These kids nowadays just it takes a little further to get into them now. Yeah. It might take a little more time, but kids still want relationship and they still need to have that relationship, not just with their phone and not with texting people. They need to talk to people and it's up to us to to continue to do that and not give up on anybody. And that one moment

can make a difference, I think, in somebody's life and even nowadays, maybe if they're gonna think about taking their own life. I think there's, that's why I just I said good morning to everyone who walked through the door and I said hello to everyone I saw in the hallway because I just want to validate. I wanted to validate them and let them know that they exist because there's too many people that are walking around with their head and their phone and don't feel like they exist. So we need to give them that human connection. And

yeah, you do get pushback, you do, but I would never stop and will never stop trying to have a relationship with people. So that's interesting is to think about, I think it's easy to say kids are different, but like, in some ways, kids are in addition to, can, can be a product of the environment around them, parental environment, societal environment. And so like, the question, I suppose, to what you're talking about is is not just, okay, well, they're they're started to be born different fifteen years ago because of the aspartame. Like, but like, what about our society around them is changing them that they that they need it more or it takes more to get into it, like the core need isn't gone Exactly. On what people There's still a soul there. Right. There's a heart and there's a soul there. Right. And that soul doesn't change, it's just the stuff that's gone into it. Yeah. And so,

and that's why it's important for people, not just educators, but it's important for educators because they're on the front lines with these kids. Yep. But it's important for all of us who are gonna touch kids' lives, even at, you know, church, whatever. Yep. Though we stay current on what they're what they're what they've got in their hand. Right. What they've the pressures they have. Yep. We just can't say, well, back in my day, that's the way it was. Right. Gosh, rub some dirt on it and let's go. Well, no, you don't rub dirt on anymore. Right. They don't wanna rub dirt on it. Yeah. They don't need to rub dirt on it. They need somebody they they need more hugs now. We know that. Yeah. Yeah. But we just have to stay current on where they're at and what they're dealing with and just know that every one of them matters. Yeah. So what was your so what did you when you started teaching, what did you teach?

I taught my degree was physical education. You know, when you're gonna coach, I guess that's I learned how to swim in college and I couldn't tell you anything. Do know how not to drown, but yeah, so I have physical education, but it took me ten years to get there. To teach physical education. I taught special ed, I taught resource room, I taught computer.

My first job in Walnut, Iowa, we had twenty five two Apple two e computers. Uh-huh. Double disk drives now. Double. Single. Double disk drive. Last year. And when all those things were cranked up, the temperature in the room went up about 40 degrees and it sounded like jet engines were gonna get ready to take off. So, I mean, I just and then my next job two years later, I was teaching computer concepts and some programming stuff. Yeah. And I was on two GS. So now we had the the floppy drive. Oh, yeah. Right. The disk drive. The disk drive. Right. So in two years, that's where that went and then on it went. But I I taught a lot of phys ed, taught special ed, and I taught a lot of computer and and computer science type stuff too. The utility, man. Said, hey, man. We need something. Wait. Where's Todd? I can play all the positions. Nice. That's awesome. And so how many how many different school districts have you gone through in your career? I served nine different school districts in that thirty seven years,

an average of four and a half years per district. And just, my path was different, but I felt that was my path. Yeah. And I never apologized for that. I felt like my job was going in to make something better. Yep. And then I wanted to go, I got the itch to go do that again. Yeah. Yep. And not that I, but I just, I had opportunities, then I thought, you know what? Yeah, I'm gonna do this. And it was usually some place where I could go and make something

take something that was been messed up a little bit. Yep. And maybe kind of put it together and then leave it for the next dude. Yeah. For the next person to to take care of it. And that that's what I felt my calling was. Yeah. And, you know, my wife about four or five moves in said, I'm not moving again. Well, she did it for another three or four times. So I know that's shame on her or what, but and it was it's funny about, you know, I think probably just a couple years ago when we moved to Jefferson and I went from Roosevelt, Des Moines Roosevelt to Greene County. I wanted to finish in a smaller school. Yep. Kinda because that's what I am. Small town, small town guy and I love my time at Des Moines Roosevelt and that experience with the cultures there and and everything and experiencing a

the only way I can describe is corporate school. Yeah. I mean, it's just a whole different animal. Yep. The layers in the school. That's just the way it is. But that's not where I wanted to finish. So when we moved out to Jefferson, I say, you know, I I thank Deb again for moving. And, but she said, just think about all the friends we've got Right. In different places, in different towns. Yep. And I kinda felt that last weekend at that that party and that get together was because there's people there from every community I'd served. That's awesome. And I just was blessed to see people like that and and know that was it. So I think that is the other thing I tell people and I tell kids, I said, your path is your path. And

I can throw in, I I believe my path was directed by God, not that I was anything special, but I think he directed where he wanted me to go at different times in my life. Yep. I believe that. But your path is your path based on your your skill set, what you can do, and if it's your skill set to stay in a place for thirty five years and touch community there, great. Yep. That's don't apologize for that. You don't have to compare yourself to me or anybody else. That just wasn't me. Yeah. Yep. That wasn't that's not that wasn't my heart. Right. So that's that there's nine and my longest was 10. Had a three schools of two years each and

you know, most of them are four or five right in that area. Yeah. So so you your trajectory then is you're you're teaching, you're you're you're coaching. What did you like, was there a favorite sport or or something that you coached? Well, it was basketball. Primary basketball. Yep. Yeah. Primary basketball and golf. Boys? Both. Both? I started coaching the old six on six game Mhmm. Back in the day in the middle eighties and and did that. Most of it was boys. But, yeah, I I I ended I actually had to coach the girls one year at Greene County. Couldn't hire couldn't find a coach, and I told the superintendent, I said, I don't know. I guess I hadn't been a head coach in ten years and actually seventeen years. And

so I did it. Yeah. Are we still doing the hoop and the ball thing? Okay. Yeah. I think I I can pull some stuff out of that. I mean, as you get older, do you like like and and you're still coaching. Like, do you look out and go, man, we're gonna run. Forget it. I mean, come on. I don't wanna follow you around, and you guys don't really wanna do it. So, I mean, whatever. Right. Yeah. So, I mean, it's just it was basically basketball and golf. I coached volleyball. I coached softball. I coached baseball. Yeah. You know, in some capacity here and there, track and field. Yep. So I I did a little bit everything and had my hand in a lot of different sports, but And then you moved, like like the kind of the latter part of your career, you moved into some of the activities director role and stuff like that. How was that transition from, I don't know, line level teaching coaching into some of the administrative work? Well, when you move up a level, basically, I would say you're moving from teaching coaching where you're interacting with kids every day. Now my first athletic director's job and trainer down by Council Bluffs, I I was still teaching as well. I taught like, five or six phys ed classes a day. So I had every kid in trainer seven through 12 and I love that. And then I'd go do AD stuff and, but then when I became a full time administrator at Carlisle and then Roosevelt,

Greene County, I was just a full time administrator. Yeah. You lose that layer with the kids. Yeah. And so you've gotta find ways to do that. And that's that's the biggest thing you miss and really that's I miss colleagues and things like that, but when people have asked me over the last couple months, you know, what are you gonna miss when they go back to school? Asked, the kids. I mean, I just I would have I get out of my desk every passing period and just go stand in the hallway and hope somebody talked to me. Or I try to give up a conversation. You know, I try to whether it's a, hey, good game last night or good luck tonight or how's the practice going? How's the musical going? You know, so you just try to find a conversation just to talk with kids and connect. But Yep.

Yeah. It's that's that's the thing you miss the most, but when you go up that layer. Do you do you feel like so so a lot of and I suppose this happens with every generation, right? They're like kids these days, you know? Yeah. That's the exact phrase I was just thinking is like, how would you complete the sentence where some people might go, kids these days. If someone if you were to start a frenzy and go kids these days, like what? How would you end that? They ain't loved. I mean, I I just I don't there's no way about it. I mean, they're they're kids and they just need they need love.

They're looking for love. Mhmm. Sometimes in all the wrong places, and I think there's songs about that. But they just it's amazing to me, you know, some of these kids, and I wouldn't just talk to the athletes or talk to the musicians, just the kids in activities, mind you, because that might only be 50% of the kids in the school. The other 50%, well, they matter. Right. And

so you try to find where they are. If they work at Fairway, they work at Hy Vee, you might say, hey, how's work going? Or you find something to connect with them. Try to find some little piece just to have a conversation. And it's funny. It's not funny, it's just a fact.

If I'm standing in the hallway and a kid walks by and I just say, hey, how are doing? How are things going? How's classes going? Where are headed now? Oh, you're headed to ag. Okay. Well, why do you like ag? You know? Nobody likes ag. No. I mean But it's amazing how sometimes those kids, then they start to find you. Uh-huh. And if I would go out and maybe sit in the lunchroom and during the lunch hour just to hang out, They might come up and start a conversation then a little bit later, and you don't know you're gonna connect with the kids. So Yep. But they all matter,

and they all it's amazing how many nowadays, you know, kids these days. Kids these days still It does hearken back trusted adult. Yeah. I mean, it hearkens back to like there's nothing new under the sun here. No. It's the same they're people, right? Like they're image bearers of God and like where where I think maybe we get stuck a little bit is is a little bit of our own nostalgia on how it was back in our day or whatever, you know, you wanted to think about it and a lot of it is centered around technology.

You know, where, you know, the the the kids get a lot of their what they feel like is their community from their devices, right? There are people on the other end of the things that they're talking on all the time but they're not deep communities, right? Like, they're they're they're shallow communities, one offs and like, if there's anything that's been true especially through our our more technological world is like the written word does not have the same inflection as the spoken word, right? Like, even when you're talking to your wife, she'll say something and you just read it right off the bat and you're like, what the heck is this? You know, but like if you'd read it with an up inflection instead of a down in one word, the whole sentence changed. You know, and so like if all of your communication is done on a flat page, you know, written word device, It it just it makes it very hard to to have deep community like you like we're talking about, you know? And so like, it's it is it's interesting to hear you say that because like I I I think the more that like I get involved you know, with the youth in our town like the same as they've always been. Yeah. And whatever red letter, big banner thing, you're like, well, here's the new thing we're going through. It's like, it's the same dog with a different tail on. Right? Like, it's it's the exact same thing. I bought a new hat. Right. We're not kids. I we're do you know what they're not finding in schools these days? You're gonna have to back me up on this, Gordon. Like, the the sheer amount of kids smoking in the bathroom like they used to. Right? Like, back in the day. Smoking is I mean, they've done it. We've done a job. Like, it's it's the devil. It's the devil, these cigarettes. You know what I'm saying? Like, we we've won. And so, the devil back in 1975, it was the cigarettes and the left handers, you know,

and the delinquency out in the parking lot. And and like anymore, like, it just it just shifts to a a different thing. Right? Really what I I I think what I see is is a lack of community, right? Because it breeds loneliness and loneliness breeds depression and anxiety and and like if you see the sheer amount of kids that want to claim depression or anxiety just so they claim something. Hey, man. I saw I heard something on the radar today that is that it said they they surveyed college kids,

adults, and it was one out of three. Yeah. One out of three said I'm dealing with, like, some sort of diagnosed depression or anxiety. The statistics are amazing and really eye opening and disheartening, really. And I think a lot of it is like there's a good portion of it if it's true and there's a good portion of it where people just want an identity to explain themselves. This is why I am, this is why I feel the way that I do, Right? Instead of, once again, that relationship that goes, I know exactly who you are and you are not that. Right. You know what separate you know, you know, what often separates someone from going, hey, this is something I'm I'm dealing with versus this is something of who I am is the amount of hope you have to come out on the other side. Right? Like, if something's weighing heavy on you and you don't see a path out of it, then you're gonna identify with it and say, this is who I am. But like, if you've got, and I I I get this as way more nuance than I'm giving it, but there's a, the broad point is, is that like, if I look out and say, man, I'm feeling real low today, but like, I've got a healthy community around me. I know people love me. I'm reminded that that God is good and he created me in his image and likeness. Then, then something where I feel low feels like something that I'm walking through, but I have a hope that I can get out on the other side.

Right, and I think that's one of the things I keep in my mind all the time, whether you're in the school, whether now that I'm retired and I'm talking to ADs and coaches online or in person if I'm training them with the job I'm doing now, whether I'm going into the grocery store or into the convenience, wherever I'm at, The phrase I always keep in the back of my mind, it's it's by a guy by the name of Manny Scott, who's a he's one of the original freedom writers,

out in San Francisco as a high school kid. But now he he he teaches and speaks to schools all over the country. And in one of his books, one of his quotes is, he tells teachers and his lifelong goal is every day you are someone's best hope.

So I think we need to all try and be somebody's best hope every day. Whether it's just the thank you to that person who just served us at the restaurant, maybe we're their best hope. I think we can always be somebody's best hope. We don't know who it is and we'll never know. Right. And so, but I think that's just the way we need to treat people, is give them a hope

that there is kindness, there is good out there because there's too many people living in the shadows and we, to get them out of those shadows, sometimes we just gotta offer them some sort of hope. Yeah. We just had a gentleman pass away here a few weeks ago and I didn't realize the depth of the conversations he would have with the children around here. And it was always just jokes over the donut at church. They'd get a donut, he'd say, how's my donut? And I knew there was a couple he had joked with, but the kids were coming out of the woodwork. They had a special bond and connection just because he actually talked to them. And I thought, man, how often do I just walk right by him? Right. You know, because I'm busy. I gotta get to my base. I gotta I gotta preach a sermon. That's right. Four string of thunder a week. I

gotta tell you about Jesus. Get out my way. That's right. That's right. People are hurting out there. That's the t shirt for this week. I gotta tell you about Jesus. Get out of my way. Oh, man. Yeah. And and but but it was so impactful with these kids. They were in tears because, like, the the their their friend who who joked with them about donuts Yep. Had had passed away. You know, if I died, they'd like, oh, well, okay. Use long winded anyway. I mean, you know, I I don't wanna relate to with this. He was butchering me around. True. That's powerful. That's really is powerful. Yeah. That is powerful. And I think, you know, I think sometimes we struggle with, you know, especially if you're trying to look across generations and especially back generations,

like we are often looking for ways to like, how do I modify, how do I modify behavior? Because I see certain behaviors as destructive. I think one of the reminders here is that like, it's often not that simple because like, we've talked about this, right? Like, Jesus is after gospel transformation, a behavior modification follows because you've been transformed by the gospel. And like, even some of the things that we find destructive to people, yes, sometimes you just gotta grab a hand away from the stove, but like, especially the older kids are getting, like, you're getting into the high, you know, junior high ish and kids are getting older faster.

Don't I know if that's your experience, but, it feels to me like, like, it's just I and I don't know how it's happening because, like, part of part of things it seems like we're not requiring maturity in society, but then the types of things kids are exposed maturity to it. And so like, it's a very difficult thing. It's kind of like sending a 17 year old off to war. You're like, here's the most like responsible thing you could possibly be in your life to someone who can barely drive and can't buy cigarettes. Like, there's a dichotomy in that. We're just, as opposed to setting them to war, we're just saying like, good luck avoiding the junk on YouTube and late night Netflix. But like, you know, it just makes you think that everything has a cause. Like everybody, everything's more gray. Everything's more nuanced. Everybody's more complicated than than a trend. You know, like people are oftentimes,

and we see this totally as adults. Like we we reach for something that God created for good, and then we find a way that it gets twisted and it's harmful to us. But the urge for it was right. The urge for certain types of relationships, the urge for certain types of communities. We're like, boy, look at all those, those folks who were creating this kind of shadowed community of people over here that are different than, than all the other things. And we're like, well, the desire to have it be in community and define mutual care and concern about each other. Like that's why would that be a problem? That's not a problem. But like, because it's not like this thing over here, then we start, people get concerned about that. But like, at its core, you know, before we reach for

either broad generalizations or thoughts on like, just, they just have to stop doing that or stop thinking that. I mean, it has to come from somewhere and all of it, like, as you start to peel it away, is it like, what do people think about themselves? How do they feel about the world around them? And frankly, what is the world telling them in the way that they're interacting, and how are we contributing to that even something so simple as I kinda wonder I kinda wonder if coach Grady thought much about what he said. No. Right. He didn't. He just said, I see this. He says the thing. It didn't go like, go, Gordon's life changed forever. Right. I flipped him over. But it but it was regardless

of of, like, how you might take it, it was a look in your it was a look at you and says, I've been thinking about you and here's the thing I'm gonna say to you. And then it does what it does. And I think that's again, it was a moment in time, but you have to be brave enough to step into that moment. And he cared about me enough and of course I'd played before him for four years and, you know, that's just, we had a great relationship because you just had relationships with your coaches. Yep. And that's why coaching is such a powerful

tool with kids even now because you're with those people every day. But as a leader, as a person, you just have to be willing to step into the moment and take a risk. Yeah. And he did that. And he was at each one of our kids' weddings and he was

he's my biggest fan and I'm his biggest fan. Yep. It really does make you feel like they know something you don't When someone is willing to step into a moment like that. Mhmm. Right? Like like to have a person come up and say, whatever, a thing. Mhmm. You know? And like you stand there awestruck for a minute and go, what does he know that I don't know? What is this? Like for a second you're like, is everything I think that I knew about myself that led me up to all the decisions I made to boom right here, and then this dude says a thing and you're like, okay. Yeah. New. We'll do we'll do something different and like the boldness of of someone willing to because like that's awkward. If you tried to plan it,

it would be contrived and awkward. You know, you're like, I can't wait till I run into so and so just when they're walking out of school and how, boy, I'm gonna say this whiz bang thing. You know? It's like, it would come off so adult y, really. Right? It would come up formulaic and adult y, you know, opposed to heart things. It has to be real. That's right. That's right. And that's the other thing I think you've gotta be with people with kids. You gotta be real, and they need to see human emotion out of you. They need to they need to have somebody because there's too many people. There are too many people these days not taking responsibility

or saying they were wrong. Yeah. I'm not afraid to say I was wrong because that's I'm practiced at it and I'm pretty good at it. I'm getting real good. I'm not really good at being wrong, but also admitting it. Yeah. So I I mean, it's just you gotta be real with them and I and kids in general, they can see fake a mile away. Yeah. That is for a 100% true. They they are so good at that. Yep. They know real and they know fake. And you know, so they just they pick that up. And Yep. You know, I you you talk about coach Gatie know that, and my son AJ put together a video

at different people I've worked with in schools, three or four former players, friends. Anyway, one of the players on there was a kid from Manning, and he he played at the University of Iowa

football. And but he he said, I remember sitting you pulled me onto the steps in the Manning gym, and you were the first coach that ever told me to get my stuff together and this is how you need to act. I think it's when he decided he was going to University of Iowa and he's kind of acting a fool. Yeah. And he said, you just told me how I needed to act. And I don't remember that conversation. Oh, right.

But he did. Yeah. So and I think I probably had that conversation because coach Katie was brave enough to do that with me. So you pass that stuff along and one conversation could change my life and that could have helped change Jared's life. Yep. And if Jared has that conversation with one of his boys

on down the line. Yep. You know, so it's generational. Yep. But I think, and then I think we have responsibility to the people who have impacted our life. My dad, coach Gatie, other teachers, other coaches, other friends, other peers who have impacted our life like our Mount Rushmore of of friends. Yep. But we have an obligation to them to pay that forward too and to use what they've taught us or it's wasted. Yeah. Right. And that doesn't respect them. Right. You don't wanna be the guy in the drive through who's supposed to pay it forward to the next guy but just takes the two lunches and moves on. Yeah. And it's lame. Especially for, like, the right kid.

They've not had any like, to to cross that boundary and say something, like, you have to care about them. Have You to care enough that you didn't let them walk by. Right? Like, there's all kinds of kids out there acting a fool and like how many of them get a guy that pulls them aside and and cares about them enough to say something that actually might offend them. You know what I'm saying? But like, if you look at back your relationship with your own kids, I say stuff that should offend my own kids all the time. Hey, your behavior is not where it needs to be. It's gonna cause you this thing. You really should consider changing it around to do this differently. Right? And like, because I love my kids to the degree that I love them, that's conversations we have all the time. And so kids that aren't necessarily, you know, your biological kids, I don't know what house they grew up in or what community they have around them that anybody's willing to step in and go, actually, you should really consider doing something differently. Here's the path, right? And like,

some of us are so scared. It's still fear. We've talked about this for a couple three weeks now but like, we're so afraid of like the output of of some of the the the kids, you know, and like the things that they're doing or the acts that they're committing or the way that they're acting that like we're just not willing to dive in deep and like show a little bit of give a crap. Like, I don't care what you're doing on your outside. Here's what's true about you. I love you. And I think you should probably make a different decision. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of shallow stuff out there. Yeah. I mean, the phone's shallow. Like you said, if you're if you're just relying on this screen

and how many likes you get on Instagram or TikTok or whatever the kids are doing now. Yeah. If you were just relying on those likes and those comments for your self worth and they are Yeah. Then that's shallow. Oh. And there's gotta be more they've gotta get more. That's a good point where the crowd is fickle. Be the non fickle person. Be the person that's that's that's there anyway. That's there regardless. Right. Where where the where the rest of the world are are are like, you know, tossing seas. I mean, you're the still pond. You're the boat, man. Mhmm. Because otherwise,

without without that, you don't even know the difference. Like, you don't have something to compare it to. Like, what the heck is this is this stone cold rock doing over here? I thought the whole world was a bouncy sea. And to see a dude who smiles at you every day, who knows where you work and cares about you, isn't after you because you're another like to them and they're alike to you. Like, how would you even know the difference? It's the same reason that, like, you know, you always you encourage, you know, folks who are growing up and and and, know, and, to hang out with families where that have good marriages. Like, how would you possibly know unless you saw the difference? Unless you saw exposure? Boy, I didn't even know people didn't yell at each other like that every night. Mhmm. Or like, hey, man. Both parents are in the house the same time. No joke. Right? Like, you wouldn't even it's not a it's not that you're not dumb. You just have no idea. Like, there's all kinds of things where, I've heard somebody this happens at work too. Like, I'm a I'm a problem solving dude. That's my job. I go in and people and it's like every once in a while, in fact, probably twice a week, someone says something like, well, hot dang. I had no idea. That opened like a whole another trench of the world that I just hadn't even how would I know? Except for someone said something to me and now I've got a different way to kind of measure and understand the things going on around me. And so like, you know, where the rest of the world is jumping around, what does it what does it take to be the be a rock? A little light a little bit of give a crap, a little bit of smile, a little bit of a, hey. Look Be stable. Yeah. Right. That and and that's and the funny part about that telescope discussion is, like, we say science flips and flops every fifty years. God been the same. He does he doesn't change. Right. He doesn't change and like as a result, we don't change either. Right? Your behavior doesn't cause me to change. Whatever adverse behavior that that that brings us fear and and worry, it it doesn't cause me to change because god is steady, his grace is steady. None of that stuff ever moves. Right. Ever. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Though yeah. That's a good call. Like, just the underlying notion of communicating a sense of reliability,

of stability when like, you know, getting people like to what you were saying earlier, you know, if people won't take responsibility for things and and and like you, like commitment is not people don't they see it in marriage relationships. They see it, you know, just with things changing so often, people don't work at the same place, like people used to be for extended amounts of times, same spot. It's not the general path anymore. Like, it just feels like things are constantly in flux. What is stable? Well, if we're not speaking to the things that are unchanging, how would someone even know? Yeah.

You know, one of the things that I wanted to, I was interested in, Todd, is I think, you know, you have a unique, you have a unique perspective in your work. As I like, I think about folks who look at school systems and kids and even activities and things. And and from a Christian perspective, I I think it's it's tempting to go, that just seems like a big bucket of risk, man. Like, like the schools today, you get it like the kids today. Right? Like the schools today are blah blah blah. And like, it feels the tug over

here's here's the all the things that the church has going on or that we think is is important and here's the tug of activities and things against those and like the various things that frankly schools are having to deal with. Like, you're you're you're you're treading in an open forum trying to handle a lot of different things coming at you. And so I'm just kind of curious, like in what ways do you look at public schooling and coaching and

those types of things with hope? And are there ways in which you go, you know, here the unique challenges they're dealing with and here's where people like, the caution is warranted. Well, you know, it just all goes back to that first story

and why I believe so strongly in what what I did for so many years and why I believe it's so valid because, you know, whether we're gonna be somebody's best hope, I always I tell my coaches or told the coaches or teachers if I had a chance,

if not you, then who? And if not me, then who? And so as a leader, I had to have that mentality of if I'm not gonna step out there and risk myself with kids, coaches, adults, parents,

community members. Yep. And who is? Yeah. And so the same was true of of coaches and teachers, directors, whoever whoever's working with those kids, whoever's working with people. If if not you, then who? Yeah. And so, it was just always driven by that. And, you know, I just always believed that every job we do is a ministry and

that's just where the ministry lies. And so whatever job you're doing is you're there for a reason and it's not a mistake. There are divine moments in every day and whatever sometimes you come across them and sometimes you don't know them till years later. Yeah. That it was a divine moment. Yep. But we have to believe, I mean, I mean, God can use everything for good for those that are called by him and and

he can use every moment that we have down the road and maybe it's just that seed that's planted. So I just that's just how I carried into every day. Yeah. Was not knowing, but not carrying that I didn't know. Yeah. Yeah. What the impact was. I was just gonna try and be faithful and show up and do the job. Now,

when you start wrapping that around what education has become, if not us, then who? Right. You know, it's still the same thing. Yep. Yep. Sometimes you you had to speak to say, no, that's wrong. And and sometimes maybe I was too silent. Mhmm. But sometimes you had to know when it was good to be silent and when it was good to speak. Yeah.

And you knew when there might be a time later to speak to somebody who heard something said that maybe you didn't think was correct or you could go a different way and you could have that conversation on the side. Yeah. But like, Mike said earlier, we don't need to throw fire and brimstone on everybody. But you still I think if you're a person of faith and you're in the public schools, can still people still know your person of faith. You

don't have to shout it from the top of the school building or when people are walking in the room. Now there's a time when we need to be faithful to share when that can be shared. But I think we we start by just living the life

and being consistent in the life that we live. No matter how much school has changed. Now, you do have choices. I admire the people of faith who are working in other states that are a bit wacko in my opinion. Talking to you Missouri. So, you know, I'm blessed to teach in the Midwest. Yeah. I mean, I was blessed to be where I was and didn't have to worry about that so much. Yep. Yep. And some of the communities I was in, but I just think it's it's important to be who you are and be consistent in that. Yep. And be faithful to that. And then the opportunities to really have a deeper conversation.

They come in times of of distress and tragedy. Mhmm. That's where I've been able to probably share faith more than any. Yep. Is in those dark times. Yep. Or when you go see somebody in a hospital that you may be in there alone with them and that's your moment. Yeah. Yep. That's I think that's a really good I don't know. I think I would always say that

when people are running out, the people of Jesus are running in, right? It's been true with, you know, emergencies and natural disasters. Like when people are like, we gotta get out of here. Like who's running? The Christians. It's the missionaries. They're like, we're we're going in. It happened. It happened in the plague, the black plague. Like one of the reasons Christianity spikes. This was one of the books we were talking about last week on the the rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark. But like one of the reasons Christianity grows the way it does is because like when everyone else was running away from all the people dying, the Christians were running in and people met Jesus that way. And so, you know, then you look at, I think we talked about this even during some of the COVID stuff for like public school is hard. What a hard thing to do is to try to like meld

everybody into something that isn't, that doesn't create just like a giant explosion. We're like, we're debating as a society, the same thing Pilate's debating with Jesus, like what is truth? This is the conversation we're having. And so like, there's fires all over the place, but if not, if not the people of Jesus running in to where the groups are gathered of people who need reminded of

true stable things real and deep things as evidenced in lives of people, if not us, then who? Right? And so like, I there's, there's, I think there's a right, there's a caution in going like, to what do I subject? I mean, what do you subject your kids? What do you subject your own kids? Like, is there a risk in systems and societies like that? I get that. I totally get that. But like, where

where we have a pretty good we feel like there's a pretty good bellwether, an indicator, that like true, stable, right, good, good news types of things are needed, well, then that's where the people of Jesus are needed. Mhmm. I think that's I think that's a good I think that's a good way to think about it. Because it's true everywhere. I mean, like, what what the heck kind of place I might you know, where does everyone else work except for maybe Dan? Although Dan Dan's worked at Target. And the Burger King. Right?

Like, where else is, is not a hotbed of like all kinds of stuff. Like people believe all kinds of things. It just, it comes to a big head and is it the most influential in those years where people have an opportunity for influence and like, this is why the college years are so formidable. People can go from believing one thing, you show up and do a college and like, you're like, what the heck happened, man? The world was supposed to get deeper and somehow it got different. You know? And so like, get that, but like, I think that's a right, that's a healthy way for Christians to think about it. I think that the conversations about your own kids activities and all kinds of that stuff, think is maybe slightly different conversation, like, as we think about institution like that, like what do we expect a human governmental type of institution

to reflect, but the chaos often of what man himself has tried to build? Oh, exactly. You know, it's gonna be nothing less. And so if we get caught up in trying to change every little thing that happens, you know, you control two things every day, your attitude and your effort. Yeah. And that's it. And if I let my attitude get distracted by

a policy or procedure that I don't agree with, okay, if I can't change it, then I've just gotta have the right attitude and try to work with it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I suppose like you could spend all your day drawing lines in the sand. Absolutely. Or be the guy that remains stable even even as the lines get drawn, the lines move, people dash around about it, and like and yet the truth persists. The good news remains. Yeah.

You know, it's it's so interesting. Like, I was I've been thinking about this a lot last couple weeks, but like and and it circles around to like how I pray and and like having a a like like I'm talking to my father, right? Like this steady calming presence in my life, you know, that that like like like you're not praying at a god, you're praying at your father, you know, and and like, it's just so awesome how that translates down to people. Mhmm. You know, like, it just it resonates with with me something fierce. There was this movie that I watched, I can't remember what it was, but like, it had to do with fathers, know, and like so many guys that are like like it had to do with their either their dad's splitter wasn't there or you know, they they didn't have a like a strong, you know, dad type figure in their life and and like they just wanted like the blessing of Jacob. They just wanted their dad to say, I want what's best for you, I'm looking out for you and I'm intentional about putting this blessing on you, like I love you, you know? And like this one guy was talking about it, he's like, we did this one Sunday, like we just said, I don't know how many of guys are feeling like you didn't get that blessing you needed but like we're gonna give it to you today from God. And like droves of dudes getting up out of their chair, you know, and going down to the front just to be praised I just want a blessing. Like I just and like and and not in like the cheesy Right. I want stuff way but like like, like, this this unmovable, steady figure

that that knows all and loves completely and puts a hand on you and goes, I'm for you. I'm for you. Right? And like, if that's not what kids need, I don't know what they need. That's what that's what I need. Right? Like, I mean, that's the and and like it changes the way that you that you interact with god and like it hopefully it changes the way that we interact with with especially kids around us. Like, I mean, just some of these stories. Some of it were some of these environments that the kids are coming from and like you wanna nail their outgoing behavior and like there is broken in there, just a broken broken broken and you you can't fix it. God can. Jesus can redeem all of this but you are you're not the fixer. Right? You're the one that says, I know you. I love you. I'm for you. What's happening with you? You know? That's just such a cool and that's the thing is it's like with a career like yours, you get to look back and go, like, there's there's if there's nothing else they can depend on, maybe they're short on cash and, like, they don't get to eat lunch every day or they didn't get shoes or, like, their dad is flaky as well, whatever, Todd Gordon will be out there on lunchtime, hands folded going, hey. How's going? You know what the administrator post down pretty good. Yeah. You did. Yeah. Hold those arms. That's what's happening right now. I mean, it and it sounds so stupid and simple,

you know, but, like, just being present and, like, it's us going in when everybody's going out. Yeah. I there's parts of the government are a mess. The government's a mess. Public education's a mess. Whatever. But, like, we should run for government. Right? What better place than to put god's people in? Same thing with public education. We're not running out. We're running in. We're part we're part of the solution here. You know? All that's a mess, and most importantly, people are a mess. People are a mess. And what are the one thing we can influence more than anything, and that's the people. Yeah. Yeah. And I think I think it's powerful too to to consider kind of where the where the conversation started, where you use your influence for for in effective ways. Like,

your influence isn't cheap influence. Like, it's, yes. I care about you. Yes. I love you. And actually, I care about you so much that, like, I'm willing to say something that actually matters. That should make a difference to you. Because I think I think, you know, there's a to to your earlier point, kids can smell being advertised to. I just started with, like, the tail end of my generation and the generations that's passed. And I think this is where, like, even some of some of the counter reaction to some of the the like, previous generation, the church is trying to catch up. Like, look, we're not lame here. We got people that can play the fourth four strings of thunder. Turn it up to you know? And, like, it was to make sure that, like, hey. We weren't god's people are are can do. God is awesome. He can be worshiped with something's got some pump to it. And I think that that was great. Right? And then there became a point where like, kids grew up and they became so averse to being advertised to that soon as the music in the church started feeling like the music that was on the radio, they're like, no, wait a minute. Are you trying to trick me? Trying to sucker me in. Right? You're trying to drag me into something. Right? And like, are these lights? Like people get super hypersensitive to being advertised to. And here's the thing, The music the church was doing was just as righteous as it was ten years ago. Like, it didn't matter. It's not that the music didn't change. The hearts behind it didn't change, but the the people become so suspicious. Like, my the tail end of my generation and into the next one just became real hippie dippie about the whole thing. They're like, bring the acoustic guitars back out, man. I don't trust anything else. I think you're trying to you're trying to make like, you're trying to get me to love Jesus because I tap my toe and I don't want it. Yeah. That that fourth wall is gone. Right. Right? Like, I'm watching a a like a like a a show with my girls. Right? Like, we sit down and watch this show. And, like, my oldest one will sit down and go, this is my favorite story arc of the show. I'm like, what? You you can't just sit and, like, immerse yourself in the show and be entertained. You're like, this is really well written. I'm like, shut up. You're you're you're

ruining this. It's a character. Character. I believe it to be real for the half hour, you know, and she's like analyzing the thing and then, you know, I'm like Right. What's what's wrong with you kids? I like the the same thing with like like the way they play video games. Right? They're not immersed in it in a way that like they go beat the boss. They're immersed in it in a way that's, like, I just wanna roam around the world and check the whole thing out. And that that's a glitch. I can tell. You know, like, they they look on how it was designed and how it was made and what the game was trying to get them to do, and then they will do the opposite. They're like, I'm just gonna go build a hut. I'm supposed to be fighting this army over here, but I like building huts. So I'm just gonna run over here to this other ice world where there's nobody at. I'm gonna build a hut. They're like, I just you know? It's a behind the curtain generation, which means that, like, if what's behind the curtain is genuine and matches what was in front of the curtain, then it's believable. That's right. Right? The church don't wanna be caught being the wizard of Oz. Right. No one is fooled. No one is fooled by the quote they found in the newspaper. Right? Because they know it got massaged. They know someone said emailed some guy and said, hey. What do you think? And some guy looked over it for about fifty hours and goes, here's what we're gonna say. And that's what got back out. What are they gonna do is they're gonna go to Reddit, look for the secretary that was in room and like, what did that guy really say before he said that thing? You know? And which was like, I like that, but but, like, it means that the people of Jesus,

you know, where where perhaps there was something showy about, you know, I I don't know, certainly the eighties, parts of the nineties, like, because we wanted to believe something. We wanted to believe that, like, Jesus wasn't being left behind in some of that stuff. But then but then there's there's a notion of, like, hyper integrity. Like like, people won't even sometimes sometimes our posturing is, like, right. We're like, hey, man. I'm not great, but I'm trying. This is what looks like trying. And sometimes this behind the curtain folks goes, I don't even want you to try. I just want you to suck and do it openly. I'm like, well, I'm not sure that's the healthiest way to think about it. Right? Like, it's it's it's not implicitly righteous, but it is what they it is it is like such a concern about being advertised to and that we're someone's trying to deceive it. Like, kids kids will look at a commercial and go, they put red on there because it's trying to draw my attention. Yeah. Because we everyone started going to psychology class when they were high school. Right? Coffee to make it look fresher. I ain't buying that. Right. And they're like, I got lied to. I'm gonna buy this dope like, Senka because it doesn't posture above its pay grade.

Here's the can. Go to town. Stir it up. That's right. Anyway, but it's such an interesting thing because like that is reacting to something. It's not a bunch of jerk kids, just like it wasn't a bunch of jerk kids the generation before. They're they're reacting to something and it's it's okay to honor that. You don't have to let it like run off the leash and crap in your yard, but like, it's okay to go, okay, I get it. What what did I think before this that can then refine how I'm taking in to make sure I didn't over crank on the thing, you know? And don't make them be like the previous generation. Yeah. Right. They're not gonna. It's just a fight you're not gonna win. Right. Right. That's why we gotta meet them where they're at and try to learn what they're doing and Yep. Where they're coming from. Which I think rolls back again to that previous article is like, where's our humility? As opposed to going like, what's the look at how wrong this generation is. It's like, what have they got the right line on that I'm missing?

And like, you're gonna be a source of wisdom to people. Like, there are things that you've learned that you're gonna be able to influence kids and they're gonna be hungry for because they do want true wisdom. But what they don't want is this denial of their entire view of the world. Because like, you, if you don't believe there's something redeeming in it, you're the problem. There's an arrogance to that. And boy, I like actually, if generationally, we were all like looking, looking to, to pass on good, righteous wisdom and in humility going, now how can I learn from what they see? What our excesses? And how can I know those quicker?

Boy, that seems healthy. Yeah. That seems healthy. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Wait. So, Todd, if if people are interested in your in in hearing further bits about your wisdom, like you got you have a website where people can go and connect? Pretty witty. Toddagordon.com. There it is. Toddagordon.com. Yeah. That's I do. I publish, every day,

just a little quick article to read. I I do a newsletter on Thursdays, just moments Mhmm. Where I think about moments of leadership, moments to be better, moments from social media, something I picked up to share, moments from something I've read in the past week or two, and then a moment to remember, which is always a memory of some sort. So I do that every Thursday and just thoughts, random thoughts from my head. I try to

it's just always looking for things that are happening, that are probably leadership moments or leadership driven or just just quick little thoughts to help somebody during the day. That's awesome. Alright. So go to toddagordon.com, and, you can you can interact with Todd. Like, you can see the stuff that he's posting. And, I mean, I'm sure there's a way to contact you. Maybe you got questions for Todd or you're just kind of interested in hearing more of his thoughts. Maybe you wanna have him on your podcast. Now Todd is a prolific podcaster. Yeah. He's he's a man of of double podcast right to moment. So what are the two podcasts that you're doing? Well, we've done we're starting one in our fifth season called Beyond the Bench, and we started that, well, four years ago, going on five now. We had a lot of athletic directors leaving the field after three years. We found that three years if you could make it past three years Yeah. As an athletic director, you could probably make it a career if you wanted to. But a lot, we had one year, the year I was president of the Iowa High School Athletic Directors Association, 75

ADs leave. Wow. Yeah. So that's 75 out of 300 and So we just wanted to provide a resource to, hey, we wanna encourage you. And that's all we've done in that podcast is I encourage. Now we're taking a little bit more towards leadership now, because we've kind of started a leadership side to be on the bench to the two guys I do that with. And then, I'm work working for a company called Bound now. Mhmm. And we are a sports management web based, where our schools use us. And so, a partner and I, we've decided to we're doing a podcast just twice a week, just ten, twelve minutes. We have a little leadership component in it and a little how to or, hey, think about doing this in your job type coaching, a d type stuff. So

just doing that, and that's called bound for greatness. Nice. And, you know, here here would be my encouragement to to you guys that are listening is that cannot imagine very many situations of which like, hey, okay, this feels like, oh, we're we're we're we were targeting, you know, ADs or like, you know, but like, just think about the types of problems those folks are trying to solve. Like there's coordination issues. Like, don't think of all the different parties that you're trying to manage and all kinds of things. And then you're talking about how do I encourage leaders to lead well,

interacting with kids and some of the, lot of the things that we've been talking about here, methods of which to engage people, of which to call them up to kind of their best selves. Like I just, you know, if you normalize some of the context of where some of the stuff is coming from, I just, it's so surprising where wisdom that applies to something you're not even thinking about has something that kicks off for you and that you see that you can apply in your I mean, even even as parents, even as even as spouse here's dude. Your your your husband or what? They need encouragement, man. Like Mhmm. They'll like, we've been talking about this a lot in some of the we've been going through first Peter. It's been a little harsh on me.

But like, like, oftentimes your spouse will live down to your view of them or live up to it. Right? And so, and, and, and with the amount of we talked about this a little bit, I think within the last few shows, but like, what are you doing with your influence to your close relationships? And like some of the stuff that you might have like, well, that's, that might feel superficial. It's for over here. I'm just, I mean, are there parts of that? Ten, twelve minutes where you're like, is there an, is there, are there nuggets in there that are more broadly applicable? And so I just maybe give it a shot, maybe give it a shot on your drive to the store or something. Well, I think that's that's such a great point because I and I think one of the things that I struggled with and had to come to reality with is sometimes the people that get the least of us are our families. Right. I mean, no matter what we're doing. So our, our, my three kids sometimes got the least amount of me. I gave my best stuff between eight and four or eight and six if I was still coaching. I gave it to that group and I'd go home and I was tired. They didn't get my best. My wife didn't always get my best. Yeah. Even as a

leader, an administrator, you know, you're trying to lead people. Sometimes I gave my best there and I didn't give her my best. And so I think I had to come to grips and come with the reality that I gotta be better at home. Yeah. I gotta be better with my kids. I gotta be better with my wife. Yep. And that's that's a humbling thing to come to grips with because you're giving your best out there. Right. During that day. Right. But then you go home and you're not giving your best. You're getting cranky. If anybody would ask you to make a list of things that are important to you, they'd be up there. They'd be up running the top. Right? And then you're like, this is out of balance. How do we treat them? How do how do we let this get so out of balance? Right. Well, and like, and and in it's gotta be so tough too because like, again, it's speaking the environments that you're you're working in. I mean, I I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm more of an introverted type of guy, but like, I mean, it I get drained dealing with folks. Like, I just don't I'm some people are energized by people. It takes a lot of effort for me,

and I know it's good. And like, get it is good. It is reciprocal, but like, it just I'll come away from conversations and just feel just kind of sapped. And so like, I would look and go, man, I just gave a lot of energy there and I think it was for good and I'm trying to be helpful and talk to people and encourage them and blah, blah, blah. But then what did I, then I come home and I'm drained to the people who also need my best. Right? And so like, frankly, fellas, you know, it's it's really easy to get real cranky about this. Not because not only because you're tired from the other stuff, but you feel underappreciated. It's like, person's not look. My wife's giving me business because she's not getting my best. And and you feel like, hey. I I gave my best over here. She has every right to expect your best. I'm sorry. You're on the hook for your best all the time. I'm sorry. Twenty four seven. I'm sorry. Your best. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Well, I owe some apologies. That's next week. That's next week. I feel like Ben owes me an apology. Yeah. Yeah. Boy, boy, if I gotta I'm gonna need another journal. All the places that didn't get my best, but should've.

Hey. You've been listening to life from the path. Thanks so much for hanging out with us. I hope you've enjoyed this conversation with Todd Gordon. Again, go to toddagordon.com, and you can hear more. Again, you you pick up on those those bits of wisdom. I I just yeah. Be be open that other people's context in the world can can speak into yours in ways that you you you didn't imagine. And so and you've met Todd. He seems on sounds like a lovely fellow with a lot of really good experience and a good view on the world. So, I mean, you know, go check it out. So here's what we're gonna do. Was it? No. We're gonna get to advice? Yeah. It's time to do some advice. We're after we're after cut it. No secular Solomon. No. We burned long. Oh, man. Unless you wanna do secular Solomon and no advice. No. We better do advice. Okay. Todd Todd's here. He's gonna change the world. K. Here we go. Here's the advice. Dear oh, we haven't given the advice yet. Here's the proposed question. Question. Yeah. Dear life from the path, my lovely and successful 30 year old daughter has recently become engaged to a 31 year old man. I'll call him Jonas. Yes. They have been dating for several years. He comes from a good family and is successful in his career. She adores him and is extremely happy. I love it. The problem is Jonas has a habit of making off the cuff comments about her to my husband and me behind her back Mhmm. Suggesting, for example, that he felt a bit pressured about the timetable for proposing. More recently, I thanked him for offering my daughter and me the use of his beloved vehicle to go wedding dress shopping instead of saying, you're welcome. He muttered, she's going to wreck the car one day. The sooner she does, the sooner I get a new one.

My daughter has an excellent driving record, so this was just weird. He said he says it like it's a dry joke, which he likely sees this way, but I find his comments hurtful. I haven't said anything to my daughter about this, and I don't want to run him down to family or friends by asking for suggestions in handling this. Should I let it go, or should I tell Jonas privately how his comments hurt us? I don't wanna make more of this than it is, but it makes my heart ache a bit. Let me tell you this, Madge. You already have. Yeah. Side of things. It's too late. I find him funny. And and, frankly, like, they're not even remotely hurt. Like, I was prepared for some really Yeah. Like, snide things, but, like, feel like the type of jokes you make about your life. And I get a mixed maybe I'm I'm, I think, cautious in mixed company, but, like, I wouldn't overreact

to this. Right. Maybe you should be grateful he feels comfortable enough to have a conversation with you about something like that. No. No. I mean, you know, he may cross a few lines, but it's like at least he he he he's already sees you as family. So Yeah. Right. I mean The closer you are to somebody, the more likely you are to make fun of him. Yeah. Yeah. Right? That's just how good relationships work. Let me talk about your daughter, how I'm I'm happy. I mean, it's like you don't do that unless you have some type of relationship with mom and dad. So Like a rapport. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She is an excellent driver. I mean yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think there's a line you wanna make sure you're not crossing when talking to her parents. Like, you know, especially, like, you know, like, as a dad giving away a daughter, I I mean, you bet I don't trust you already. I'm doing my best to try to love you, and she says you're alright. But, I mean, you say one iffy thing, I'm like, okay. That's it. You know? Yeah. So, like, I I I get it if I'd get it more from the dad's perspective, you know, but, yeah. I this seems fairly innocuous to me. Well, and I think eventually, she's gonna put him in his place. Yeah. Yeah. She'll she'll straighten around. Yeah. She's right on pre marriage borrowed time here. I mean yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've whatever. I've done this. I've, like, I've been telling jokes and, like, there there's been times it's been too much. I've I've crossed the line and my wife goes, hey. I didn't care for that. I'm like, right on. I wasn't even thinking. I wasn't even thinking. Yep. And, like, I've gotten better at it. I don't do the same thing anymore. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. This is probably a a time an opportunity for grace, not an opportunity to put your foot down and cause an unnecessary scene. Yeah. Well and and, you know, I and and maybe the reminder here too is that, like, this is not you against him. Let your daughter handle her her own affairs. This is her husband. And like, I don't think again, this isn't of such an extreme nature that like, oh, well, she he says it when she's not around. I I'm guessing that the you may stink as a driver has come up in in probably conversations that she also may find funny.

Right? It's just, you lack context in the depth of their relationship, and I just stay out of it. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Secular says, boy, this is not gonna go well. Oh, no. Holy cow. Call the police. Is it long? Well, no. It's just ridiculous. That's what they always say. Secular says, Jonas's quote's joke that he felt pressured to become engaged to your daughter wasn't funny, and I can understand why you might be concerned. Well, I don't think you should solicit advice about this from friends and family. I do think you should discuss this with your daughter because it could be a big red flag. Now hold on a minute. Like, couldn't you explain, oh, I felt pressure that, like, if he were to say something like, yeah, man. I I, you know, I felt I better hurry up and get a ring on it. Like, if you said something like that in a joking way, like, couldn't you rightly describe it in the way that she just did, which, like, I think really mischaracterizes the situation. And and they've been dating for years, it said. I mean, so he is dragging his feet. Yeah. They're, like, 30. I mean,

it's time. Yeah. Which which you say, hey. I felt pressured as you should've, you sloth. Like, fine. Exactly. Yeah. We were moving. So we pressured you. Where's your witty retort? Why are we playing the victim here? Right? Like, he's he's got something witty to say. I mean, wit right back at him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is an odd over over crank. Ditto with any other possible pejorative comments he makes to you about her. There's often a grain of truth within comments that are made in jest. They could be That's why it's funny. They could be a it could be a tip-off about what her fiance is really feeling. Okay. All of a sudden, this guy is like Beelzebub's son. I don't this seems like a little much. Yeah. You know? I don't know. I I mean, here's the the real of it. Like,

the closer you are to people, especially your wife or your your spouse or whatever, like, you just you you make jokes and, like, sometimes you cut a little deeper than you intended and some of it is just the sheer amount of time you're around them. You're around them a lot. Yeah. You know, it's the closest relationships you have and sometimes it's a swing and a miss and sometimes you think you're funny and you're not and, like, I I mean, unless you're it actually seems like you might be thinking less of your daughter. Right? Because, like, if she can't see past this manipulative dude, you know, to the point where she's being taken in, you're actually saying that she doesn't know this man very well and she's being a little foolish. Yeah. If you feel like you wanna have not about these specific things, but just to your daughter in general about that relationship, I you know, I think How are feeling? Think that's a fair conversation to have with one of your You know, I Yeah. I would not bring up this specific example because you're gonna look like a conspiracy theorist. Right. But, you know Maybe maybe it wasn't a joke. Maybe he's just somewhat of a pessimist. Yeah. She knows that. Yeah. I mean, she still wants to marry him. So Yeah. Truth. The yeah. These these see the idea they just seem like real shout, like, hey, Hope she wrecks that car. Gonna get me a new set of wheel. Like, it just seems like a joke. He wasn't saying I hope she gets hurt. Right. He's saying I get a new car. Yeah.

I he's funny. And some life insurance. I mean, that'd be going over in line. I can't wait till she wrecks this car so I get a new one. I mean, this is weird. To say, dude. I mean, just he might just be a little awkward. You know? Yeah. Alright. One more. Ready? Yep. Dear life from the past. I've been interested in a woman for several years. Me too. During that me too. During that time, I've dated her and helped her with her house. Today, she called me and asked me to walk her dog. I had to decline because I couldn't fit it in. She sent me two emails back to back. Quotes, thanks, Fred. But one thing I'm sure of, anyone who isn't a friend of my dog is no friend of mine. Where's your Christian service now? Wow. I don't want you to check on my dog or me ever. You are a selfish guy who couldn't take a five minute drive on a 60 degree day, and I hope I won't hear from you ever again. I wish you all the best. Enjoy sitting around taking care of yourself. Bye. Second email. End quotes, a true friend would check on my dog and lock all the doors after, so don't go near my house or apartment. You are not a guy I want around. You think you're better than you are. Wow. Question. What do I do, and how do I take this? Look, man. I don't think anyone has shot anything so hard right at the mouth in my whole life.

How do I take this as it as it sits? Yeah. Kind of real. Play that. Yeah. Play that from the rough where it landed. And, actually, based on your question after these two things come in, I think I understand your anger. You might be a hair up tooth. Yeah. I don't I mean, I I'd be super curious on what he said. Yeah. He's he's gotta be telling one eighty fifth of the story. She politely asked me to go check on a dog. I couldn't fit it in. And then she goes, I hate you. You hate my dog. You barely love Jesus. Stay away from my house. Don't

stalk me. That's right. My doors are unlocked. Don't go in there. Do we go to the next level? Yeah. No. No. You don't. So we're off for Friday? Yeah. So so what do you want in life? Do you want the the guy with a dry sense of humor that's not really funny or or like an an oblong octagon that just kinda roly ponies everywhere and goes, you know, I think she might be upset at me. You think so, Fred? Well, I mean, either that or you guys are perfect because the guy, obviously, this didn't land as hard as she intended it, and maybe she needs that because she's she's harsh to deal with. His tag is confused in Colorado. About what? That seemed pretty clear. I mean, holy cow. I'd dump you. I don't even I even bet you you're hard to get along with, friend. And she's obviously using him.

Yeah. I I mean, you know, the first time he says no, she's like, you're out. Yeah. But once you find somebody that's willing to do kinda your bidding, don't you put up with a little bit just because they're gonna continue to do it? You know what I'm saying? If he's good for running that dog out four times a week for the last two years, and all of a sudden, one time he splits, you're like, forget this. Then you lost your dog walker. Yeah. Both of these behaviors seem odd, but I I I feel like the storytellers really holds Maybe they're perfect for each other. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Maybe this is a this is an opportunity. So I would say that we're obviously missing context here. If if I if this is the whole thing, if this is the only thing I have to work with, then you I I I mean, you just say, hey, man. I'm sorry you feel that way. I just couldn't make it today. I'm still glad to help you out. Just let me know. And I probably just drop it. And then, like, here's the deal. If she's so mad, then she won't contact you in no problem. Yeah. But if she's over here's the thing. It's like, again, massive problems happen. Craters in the world occur when two people decide to both be a horse's behind at the same time. And so let's just presume that she's significantly overreacted. You don't have to meet the moment that way.

Don't you overreact and then see what happens. Let's check again tomorrow or a week from now, and then maybe we don't have to, you know, San Andreas fault the thing. She'll come to her senses. If she doesn't, then you righteously handled it without acting like a turd on your own account, and then she's not gonna call you, and you're saved. You got the same outcome without acting like a doofus. Yep. Yeah. I mean, what's the isn't there a strong indication if this is not her normal behavior and you receive this email back, you're like, woah. Something's going on. This is way out of bounds. Right? So, like, your instant reaction would be like, I I feel like I should go over there and see what's up. Like, this is you know? And if she continues to, like, yell at you and and kick you out or whatever, then you're like, well, I gave it a shot. I guess we're done. No no big deal. You know? But, like, if this is not characteristic of her behavior, I actually might be a little concerned that she's not doing very well. Right? Because this is way out of bounds for the way that you described it. There was they were they've been together for for years, or was it? What did he say? Or am I did he just say the other years? I've been interested in a woman for several years. Yeah. During that time, I have dated her and helped her with her house. He hasn't said whether he's currently dating her. So it's kind of a Weird. Off but but she she dumped him with an email. Yeah. I mean leaving, like, a call. Yeah. Once again, this dude is like a mixture of of like a a fog and a really dense soup. Right? Like, he can't he's got real smoky trues going. You know? Like, I have I've been interested in a woman for several years, and I have dated her and helped her with her house. Okay. That does seem stalkerish. Right. Like yeah. Are you currently dating her? Or How long is it for your range floater guy? It's Colorado. He probably owns one of those pot shops. I think he's gone all through life being some kind of amoeba. You know, he just, like, melds himself to whatever the situation is and then and then tries to re explain it. Everyone's like, what what happened? Or or maybe she's not aware of some of the way that he sees it. Like, he's been interested in her, meaning he stalked her. He did work for her because she hired him as a legit plumber. And, like, he just talks about it as if it's the same relationship, but they're two separate. You basically dated. Yeah. Right. Yeah. In fact, yeah, if you read back her email, it sounds like he's a hired dog walker. Well, that's we're good. Look at it as a perspective from as as if he was just a hired dog walker. Okay. I'm ready. K. Thanks, Fred. But one thing I'm sure of, anyone who isn't a friend of my of my dog is no friend of mine. Where's your Christian service now? I don't want you to check on my dog or me ever. You are a selfish guy who couldn't take five minutes to drive on a 60 degree day, and I hope I won't hear from you ever again. I wish you all the best. Enjoy sitting around taking care of you yourself. Wait. Is it 60 degrees Celsius? Because otherwise, what is the big concern? Yeah. It's 60 degrees. He's he's he's pea souped this thing. It feels like he said, it's a little cold out. I don't wanna venture out the house. Like, he had to have said something for her to bring up the temperature of day. I think she's just pulling every guilt string she can.

Like, what like like, maybe she's saying, hey. It's so nice out. Why didn't you enjoy this? I don't understand any of this. This is really unfair. A lot of people letter, don't I massively mistrust this man. And I assume the woman is wearing a halo of some kind and is a perfect angel. That's really unfair. Yeah. I don't like her. Yeah. Okay. Let's get the seculars advice. I mean, I love her. Secular says. Dan went too far there. Yeah. He did. That's I've been interested for you. I've been interested for years. It's classic out of gutters. Classic eighties Dan. Okay. Segular says, because this is how your self centered lady friend reacted when you told her you couldn't come when she whistled, it's a shame for your sake that she didn't say it years ago. What you should do now is take her emails to heart, follow her instructions to the letter, and don't let her hear from you again. She's bad news, and you can do better. Much better.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I here's the thing. Like, when people act out of character, sometime to Mike's point, like, that's often the right time to invest, not defend. Right. Like too much credit. Because there has to be a reason. And and again, if she She's manipulative. Yeah. Dan's okay. I mean, if it's the second time you saw it, I like I said, just handle it graciously. Wait a week. Go from there. Yeah. Let it stew like a nice SCOBY for a kombucha. Yeah. Something They have apps. You can hire people to to walk your dog. Yeah. I have a feeling he's on this is what I really think is happening. I think he's unemployed. I think he sits around doing nothing. And then I think that like every once in a while, she'll call him over and see if she can get some help with the house and maybe take care of the dog. And then knowing full well he's got nothing going on and she's like paying for dinners all the time and making sure the place is upkept. She asked him to come over and do a thing real quick. He's like, I got a lot brewing right now. And she's like, you definitely do not have a lot brewing. You're unemployed, and you eat dinner at my house all the time. And so I think she just had enough. Yeah. Okay.

I don't know about that. Hey. What do you think? Maybe maybe you we've given out bad advice here. Maybe have you ever run into this situation where a guy wouldn't go help your dog on what is like a nominal temperature day? And you got you got so fired up. A reasonable time to be out. I'm worried about the dog in normal temperatures. And here's the thing. He's claiming the name of Jesus, apparently. And so I we might have to follow-up with him just as a man to man. Yeah. I mean, does it feel like maybe he said, hey. I can't I can't make it. As a good Christian man, I wanna stay at my house. Like, I just Yeah. I the terms of how this came up are super interesting. Don't wanna find my parka. I just put it in the order. He's at the food kitchen, and he's he's feeding people. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. That's why he can't do it. Ah, gotcha. Yeah. Tells maybe the lady is crazy. Dan's right. He's monitoring for jaywalkers. Okay. So let's say you disagree with advice. So here's the deal. I'm just gonna open it wide open. I mean, anything you wanna talk about, you call the Life From The Path, Bob Eisenhower complaint line. That's (515) 517-0085.

Bob Eisenhower, life from the path complaint line. And we'd love to hear from you. Again, maybe you disagree with our advice. I'd love to hear about that. Maybe you love Todd Gordon. Now I it's I'm I'm I'm serious on this picture thing. I don't know whether he's gonna send me the picture. Okay? So this is dependent on picture of Todd with the long hair. But if you send what what did I say you had to send? A picture of the mullet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's right. You text me the word mullet Yes. And I will respond with the picture of Todd Gordon's mullet hair if he sends me one. I feel if at least three people do this, that we have to do it. Yeah. Todd Gordon, I feel like Oh, boy. You're That mean, that's, like, 50% of our listenership. Yeah. And, I mean, it sounds like your wife's willing to do all kinds of things, and so I'll call her. And if she's not, my son will. That's good. Okay. We're we're gonna get ahold of this one way or another. So let's let's do that. So I I think I think we'll we'll we'll call the dice here then. Big thanks to Todd Gordon. Todd, thanks for coming down. Yeah. Todd had to travel. Fun. Yeah. Yeah. We love you. It's great to have you in there. And, again, you can catch up with him at Todd a Gordon dot com. In the meantime, I don't know. We'll we'll plot a show for the for the coming weeks. In the meantime, be faithful in means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to live from the past.