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

here in Johnston proper. Hello. My name is Mike Foust. Nice to meet you. Oh, yeah. I guess I would I never really do that. Hey. This is, I'm Ben Foust. I'm the the host on the show. This is Mike Foost, Dan Hudson, and Big Ron is out tonight Yeah. Doing whatever Big Ron does. We don't do that because no one cares about it. Yeah. That's true. Okay. I don't you know, maybe somebody does. I I don't don't think so. No. I don't think so either. Here's Dick of a soul. Here's we got going on I just don't care. On the show tonight. Yeah. So I think I think I'd set up some secular versus Solomon.

Now this is awkward, I think, with only two people in the room, but I think we're gonna give it a go. Why would you set yourself up for failure? Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna do a secular Solomon with with and that it'll just go fast. Okay. Okay. So secular Solomon is we're testing your understanding of the wisdom of the world. So when we hear a good some somebody says something, we're like, boy, that seems like the the word of the lord. We wanna test that and go, is it? Is it really? And so I'll give you a proverb or a bit of wisdom, and you need to tell me, hey. Is that from, is that from the holy scriptures? And so Solomon, or is it a secular bit of wisdom comes outside of the bible? And then we'll kinda talk about whether it's a good bit of wisdom and, you know, the country of origin in case it's nefarious. Oftentimes, Russia. Yeah. They've infiltrated our proverbs. And so, so we'll do that. We we did have there was a story, an interesting story this week where, there's a pastor

in Texas who is stepping down. He's not he's not leaving. Right, Mike? No. No. He's they're it's just a a a pull away from preaching for a while, and and the way they phrase it was time, though. Right? Yeah. They didn't say how much time it was going to be, but they called it for a time of discipline and development. Yeah. So this is interesting because, like, we've covered stories like this in the past where, like, oh, man. Pastor's behaving badly.

This really stinks type of stuff. This one's interesting. One, because I I'm familiar with this guy. It's Matt Chandler, and I'll be honest, I really like Matt Chandler. Like, I he's always been a solid Solid teacher? Yeah. Solid teacher. Good. I mean, he's we even disagree on some core bits of theology. I still love this man. Mhmm. Yeah. But they made some moves, like, at the Villa Church there a couple three, four years where they were becoming a fairly giant multi campus site and they said, you know, I think the Lord's leading us down to be individual churches and like everything that that you would see someone grasping for power and fame, they kinda retreated from Mhmm. And went back down to communities and like so anyway, yeah, in the room, I I mean, I overall, have a I still listen to his sermons. Like, nothing changed for me as of today, you know? So Generally, we like this dude. And so, like, he would have been a guy where I just said, I just don't think so. I don't think anything like that would ever happen to this dude. Some people can handle bigger organizations like this. And, we'll we'll read a little bit of the article. So I like, I was, I'll be honest, my heart sank a little bit. I saw an article and it said like that he's he's stepping away from preaching for some sort of inappropriate relationship.

And then I read it and I kinda shared it with the fellows. I'm like, hey, the details are super important here. Yeah. And so I think we wanna look at this, like, don't we don't need to get caught up in some of the how the church is reacting, maybe just a little bit. I think we wanna talk about then, like, how do we what are the boundaries of our relationships with people? What are the risks we run-in crossing lines in in a protection of them, of ourselves, and our other relationships? And maybe a quick understanding of of of how the bible looks at leadership

of God's people. Right? Like, what what the standard of of living and of taking care of other people that God he puts a little bit higher on us on and he you know, you're to know that before you get into that. Yeah. Because interestingly, I mean, like, his wife and the other person's husband were completely fine. Right. That no nobody was mad. Yeah. That's right. For a friend. Yes. But but we'll pull that out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We'll we'll talk through that. So Secular Solemn, we'll talk about that. Also, just a quick follow-up. Last week, we there was a there was an article from a guy, Eric Lerner, I think was the guy's name, and it was about, hey. Do we need to rethink the big bang in light of what we're finding from this space telescope? And and we Dan and I were talking because Dan was posting some clips from the show, and it was like, subsequent to our conversation, a few different articles, there were probably a ton. I only saw a few and it was like, hey man, this guy's bonkers.

There's nothing wrong with the big bang and we still, you know, it's still tight. And then I saw kind of an article that's about mid ground and it's like, well, you know, it's evolving as science should. And so I got to thinking back of how we talked about this. And and I think we came to the conclusion that's like, hey, release the clip. I don't if if you go back and listen to last week's show, frankly, I I agree again with our perspective on it. It was look. We should anything that feels like it's bigger than us and like, hey, man. If you if you don't look at the universe and go, this is beyond me. This is bigger than me. There's obviously a whole slew of things

that we don't understand that we're doing our very best to guess and test theories and think, oh, we think this works out. I think the same thing about how we think about the existence of a God. But like, if you don't approach either of those two things with a a a major amount of humility, then there there's an arrogance to thinking that you've got either one of those figured out. Yeah. Considering none of us were there. Yeah. You weren't there. Right. We we learn a new thing every day. We just now got enough technology to get a little bit out to start taking pictures and going, well, hot dang. I had no idea. Yeah. You know you know how you know you understand something? When you can when you can recreate it. Right? So so when you say, hey, I I know how to make French toast and when you can go home and like make it and have service to somebody, they're like, sir. That's definitely French toast. And so like some of some of these things to be weary of is like we understand completely how the universe was made. Well, go ahead and fire one out. Go and make yourself a planet. Let me see what it looks like. Oh, we can't do that. There's not enough blah blah blah. We're like, well, what's the blah blah blah we're missing? Right. Right. And so which is like, it this is not to say oh, I think the right level of humility goes, yeah, man. I don't know. I'm interested, and that's a that's a cool theory,

and it may be right, but I just well, I don't have any idea, and, we should always hold those things not so tight where it starts to bind the rest of the world and the rest of how we put like, you don't create a blindness with your arrogance. Just recognize the right place of humility and, like, creation of the world, how big the world is, how fast it's moving, and all these other things. Like, I would I I trust humility way more than I trust confidence because, like, this is not an appropriate place to be so certain.

You're you're you're wrong in some way or another. And so, anyway, I I I I just because I I say that out loud just so you know, like, hesitated. I thought, like, I don't wanna be wrong. I don't wanna unnecessarily be wrong and, like, pull the stuff back and cause a rub between you know, people would go, oh, those guys love Jesus. They're also stupid and scientifically ignorant. But, like, all we were calling for was a humility and frankly, I I agree with it still. Because whether there's a big bang bang or not, it doesn't shake my faith faith one way or another. I'm I'm I'm my faith in God is secure either way. Yeah. Agreed. I knew what he wants. That's right. And I think the the there's nothing about in case you're someone who goes, you know, well, then doesn't that fly in the face of the scripture? From my perspective, it does not. Yeah. I I don't the the Bible is not it's purporting to tell a specific story in a specific way. It doesn't claim to be either a newspaper or a science textbook, and so you gotta let it live and breathe a little bit. It's not to say that I, that there aren't very simple ways of which God could have gone about something, but like nothing that I've heard coming out of science over the last X number of centuries causes me to go, well, shoot, we gotta throw the whole whole thing out. Because here's the reality is that, like, based upon the biblical evidence of the existence of Jesus, like, you know, life, death, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus, and people's reaction to those events to their own peril, see the case for Christ.

Plus, like, just the the the types of things that we're still seeing today. We're talking about changes in people's lives. We're talking about, yeah, miracle stuff, that kind of thing going on. Just the faithfulness of God in my life and people around me. And frankly, those stories extend all over the world. There's no boundary to this. You can find this. There's a guy, Craig Keenan, wrote a really cool book. And he, this is a dude who's like, like, was skeptical on how do we think about miracles today. And the dude just got, I mean, example, after example, after example, just documenting this stuff. And so here's the thing. If all that matches up with what scripture tells me is true, and I'm seeing it in my life,

then I have no reason not to believe the foundation of those things is also true. I just am open into what way it was true. And frankly, that was something that even the religious folks of Jesus' day missed Jesus because they had a specific way in which they thought something would be true. Jesus comes along, does the things that he does, and he pays off on all these promises that God made over the last two thousand years before that, but they missed it because they had too narrow of a view on how God would do things. And so like, I just don't want to be that arrogant. I don't want to be in a place where I go, well, God has to do this thing in this way. And that's the only way I'll take it when like there's clear evidence that people missed the king who came to rescue them, because they, to box themselves too far in, in some sort of human world view, you know? Okay.

Alright. So let's do let's do that let's check this Matt Chanler article. So I'll read this a little they had to pick doggone it. Crazy, this is the the articles from Christianity Today, and they got they got this picture of him doing like a like a oh my type I of mean, we're not a scandal rag. Alright? We we can pull ourselves together. Christianity Today is sometimes a scandal rag. That's true. The Village Church pastor Matt Chandler announced on Sunday that he had an inappropriate online online relationship with a woman and is taking an indefinite leave of absence from preaching and teaching. So first thing I thought of was, oh, crap. He's, like, sending pictures of his, you know, lower meridian or something like and I thought, doggone it anyway. I'd pay probably $3 not to know the inner workings of Ben's mind

starting fifteen seconds ago. That isn't what you thought? No. Oh. Well, hot dang. Yeah. I I I'm in a whole different

direction too. Okay. I thought I was like, hey. Let's meet for dinner. Oh, okay. Either way, this Dan Whitmore, nineteen fifties. Well, he's he's I have a lot of respect for the guy. Yeah. Right. Meet me at the soda jerk. Okay. Ruby. And then it says, the relationship was not sexual or romantic. And so I kinda stopped there and I go, okay. I mean, what is he trying to do? Get discounts on soda? And, like, for the church room? Again Rectory? And now it's up to, like, $6 I'd pay not to hear such ridiculous thoughts. Well, pictures of the elbow. It's it's It looks like a butt. Anybody used to do that? Put put your elbow together and take a picture of the crease. It looks like a butt. Guess what this is?

Crap. Now I'm gonna get take it away from the pester. I'm a I'm a send it to my wife. I'll do it later. I had Macris out at the studio. That's going on a shirt. Gross. Okay.

Okay. But it says the relationship was not sexual or romantic, Chandler told his church, but the elders believed the frequent and familiar direct messages exchanged over Instagram were unguarded and unwise and revealed something unhealthy in me. Chandler said he agreed with her assessment and was grateful for the spiritual oversight. Since we cannot be a church where anyone is above the scriptures and above the high heavenly call into Christ Jesus, Chandler said. The word of God holds me to a certain standard, and I fell short. So now here's what's super interesting to me because like, well, hold on. Let me get into a little bit more of the detail here.

For Chandler, the red flag came several months ago when a woman approached him in the foyer or the foyer of the village church with concerns about how he was communicating with a friend of hers. He told the congregation he didn't think he'd done anything wrong, and the DMing was not a secret. His wife knew, the woman's husband knew, and yet the woman who approached Chandler did not think the online exchanges were appropriate. Chandler, who has been critical of social media's impact on pastors, has a 134,000 followers. According to Chandler, he found the confrontation disorienting and immediately informed another senior pastor and an elder at the church. They reviewed the direct messages and decided they were concerning. The church said in an online statement that it also hired a law firm to review Chandler's use of social media, including direct messages, as well as his phone, text, and emails. The firm, which has not been named, concluded that Chandler violated the church's social media use policy.

He said it was that our conversations were unguarded and unwise, and because I don't ever want there to be any secrets between us, the concerns were really about frequency and familiarity. We believe in brother sister relationships here, and yet there was a frequency that moved past that, and there was a familiarity that played itself out in coarse and foolish joking. It's unbefitting to someone in my position. So, I don't know, the reactions to this for me were I'll be honest, a part of me thought,

are they overreacting? Yeah. Like, I mean, it's okay to have friends. It is. It is. And so I there was also part of me that, just think of how many people have just taken a whiz on God's good name with pastors

believing they can do whatever they want, act hypocritically, act foolishly outside of what God has called, like, not only called his people to, but the higher calling of those who even like represent that they are leading God's people. And I thought, what kind of awesome dude, like, has some sort of conversation where someone accuses him of something and he literally had no idea or concern that this was bad, and yet immediately goes to another guy's guy and goes, we should check this out in case I'm wrong. Uh-huh. I mean, that that I can see. That that that that's like, okay. Maybe there's a blind spot. That's awesome. You know? Maybe yeah. Yeah. It's different than than the way that, like, the church has been known to react to

Right. Internal problems. Every other sin wagon is, like, going about this. You are hiding it, manipulating people, pressuring people, like, I'm the pastor. Like, shut up with that stuff. And this dude goes, I don't even like, many times I don't know, Dan. Maybe this happened to you. I like, people who are like, hey, I think you're doing something wrong, or I'm concerned about behavior. And I think about it, I'm like Yeah. We call that Tuesday. Right. I mean Someone's someone's got some sort of critique. Actually, I think I taught here at Pathway once, and

I was talking about, I used the word cramp. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And someone was real piped up about it, like long email about it. And like, it was in the context of I was talking about how unimportant we just put put a building together, and I was talking about how unimportant all of that is relative to don't get comfortable in here. Like and I am, like, you know, I like doing this, and I like we bought all this crap at an auction. And I'm, like, pointing around. I thought nothing of it. Just not a thing. And this and this and this this lady was just real fired up about it. And I thought, like, I asked I asked around, like, did I overstep? We're like, I don't probably not. I don't she's probably just overreacting. But so, like but but, again, reaction one, dude doesn't go, oh, it's a nothing burger. It's just another complainer.

He finds someone who who holds him accountable and goes check it out. And they agree. And they don't just agree to, like, be his friend and go, ah, man. Don't worry about it. You know, appreciate you trying to do the integrity thing here. But he's like, no. Yeah. We'll look into it. And then, like, full fledged looks into it and then comes back and goes, you know what? You might have crossed a little bit of a line. Right. And this is but a law a law firm confirmed that. Yeah. It was a little too many, too often. Bet what the law You know this person too many. Because they didn't give out a ton of detail, and and I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt. I think it was because they didn't want to expose the person that On the other side of it. Yeah. They brought up The objective is these are lawyers. Yeah. Right. And so they hired it. And all the I I bet the law firm's job was to say, what is your stated social media apology for or or policy for elders? Did this conversation cross it? And that's what they were confirming or denying. And so, like

yeah. So so broad strokes, one, like, when we're talking about leaders in God's church of God's people, like pastors and elders, and Ben's been talking about this a little bit last couple weeks, but, like, eldership is not a job. It's just what you are. Right? And so, like, this is the when they say the bible will talk about what a qualification for an elder is, and it's like, you know, a husband of one wife and, you know, he supports his family and, like, he leads people in Christ. He lives honestly and and, you know, just that's a broad summarization. But, like, either way, like, you're held to a higher standard. Like, god's gonna god says, look, if you feel like you are going to take a leadership role in shepherding my flock,

you know, just know that I'm holding you accountable for what you tell them, the example that you set for them, and how you live your own life as an example for other people to look at. I'm gonna hold you to that. Right? And so this is this is what's coming up here is what they're talking about is is, you know, there's there's a little bit when they say, look, there was it wasn't romantic or intimate, and we're like, whoo. Okay. It's not a sex scandal. Like, that's solid. We dodged one. But, like, he's like, the relationship between me and another woman, there were there were messages that were very frequent and very familiar. And this is where this is where, like, some of our our church tradition stuff, I think, is gonna come in. Right? Because, like, even guys like Mike Pence took a lot of crap in the in the media for, like, saying, look, I don't have meals with just me and another woman. Yeah. And this is kind of along those lines, right? Like, where the rest of the world goes, hey, it's really not a problem if you have course joking, and we'll say course is probably like they

don't tell you what the messages are, but, like, biblically, we look at course as maybe slightly inappropriate, you know, or jokes or, like, whatever. So, like, overall, we would say a course course joking between a man and a woman is not really a problem. The world would go would say that. And, like, like, the the more traditional sense would go, look, you're just you're crossing into areas of which are they're kinda meant for your for your spouse. Right? Anything of, like, a a sexual nature or, you know, even even half joking about it, that all kinda belongs to your spouse, and maybe it's best to be left there. Right. It just introduces concepts and things that put put images in your mind, put thoughts in your mind, in in in the in the surroundings of people who are not your spouse, And, and so that, like, it just it just something you protect. Yeah. And so

right. Right. Right. Right. And so and so so the as a higher state of the question is, is it like, you know, are you are you acting a good example to people? Or are you acting outside of those bounds? And so, you know, I I guess I guess as you as you roll it up and think about it, you know, is it is it appropriate to hold a guy like this to a really high standard? Yeah. I think it is. Yeah. I think that's right. And like,

but here's I I do wonder that that they have they taken this step even just even if it's a I don't know how temporary it is. Right? But as a demonstration of this is what it looks like for a guy to go, I asked to be held accountable.

I'm willing to follow through with this. I'm willing because like, didn't just open up his direct messages. He's like, check my text, check my email. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not hiding anything here because because it is so important that God's people, God's leaders specifically, but like God's people act with integrity because we so stink at it. So I just I don't so we we talk often about building fences around principle. Yep. God says don't have adultery. Right? Or don't look lustfully at a woman. You know? Yep. That that's that's the principle right there. We don't want him to have an affair. Yep. So they built this fence and fence and fences fences upon fences around that. Like, you can't

cross this fence, then you're not gonna commit adultery. Yeah. So many fences built. Like, the guy the guy stepped down because he did something that wasn't inappropriate, but could be if you let it go. Yes. I mean, it's not I kind of agree

with Dan. Yeah. Here's what it means. We get to have relationships. I mean, he they're basically saying don't have any friends that are women. Don't communicate other than strictly business, you know. Did you get the letterhead? Yeah. And that's here's the thing. It's like I've always struggled with that a little bit because like, it's like saying that I can only love, like in a Christian way, I can only love half the population. Everybody else comes up and says, you know, like like if a a a were eat let's say my age and no connection to me at all and says, like, can you please tell me about Jesus? And I go, you're gonna have to talk to my wife and then turn and run away. Yeah. So I was gonna say, like, I'm already awkward around women because I wanna make sure I already have my boundaries. Right. I'm just not gonna do anything. Yeah. And and to think, well, I can't even send a this

is funny, you know, because you're a human being and and we Yep. Yep. Yeah. And I respect it, but at the same time, I don't agree with it. And I think sometimes we over this is so hard because it's going a different direction than I thought it was gonna go. But, sometimes we overload our young men with this same principle to the point where, like, they can't they can't talk to anybody well. Can't look them in the eye. Can't have a conversation. Like, they're just breaking out. They're like, I don't wanna accidentally do whatever. You know? And you're like, holy cow, like, can we the whole goal, right, the whole goal of what God is, I think, trying to refine out of men is like the culture looks like like teaches men to look at at at women as as a sexual object. Right? I wanna be able to look at a woman as not that. That's what how I I wanna look at my wife that way. I wanna look at every other woman as a as a reflection of God and something that I have ease and ease easy love for. Right? Like easy conversation and easy whatever for and and, like, their physical attractiveness is not the first thing that overcomes me. That is what I think god is trying to refine in dudes, not like, don't look at them, don't talk to them, blah blah. You know what I'm saying? It's it sexualizes a woman. It treats her as an object when you your own your primary description of her is as a risk. Mhmm. That sucks. I mean, the the apostle Paul spoke with Lydia down by the river and then baptized her. Yeah. Right. What was he doing? You know? Right. That that means he stepped down. It's like, no. He was telling her about Jesus. When he gives the letter to Romans to Phoebe to go take there and read to them, like, they I'm sure they disgust. I bet you. She goes, you you feel here's how here's how you handle questions, Phoebe. Now so and so, like, on the other side of that, do we feel like there it's it's a good idea to put protections in? Of course I do. Yeah. Of course I think that. Right? And, like, I think that especially

when it surrounds, like, lead passers. Like, the example I thought of is, you know Obama's a smoker. Right? And so, like, is it okay if Obama smokes cigarettes? Yeah. I don't care. Whatever. If he wants to be a smoker. Right? Now when he becomes president and we teach our kids, like, in our social studies classes to revere our president as our commander, is it different now that he smokes?

We feel that way. Like, we were like, know, can you not do that, like, in front of cameras or whatever? Like, at least hide it because we don't want our kids thinking that we respect you so much and now it's okay. We don't want them smoking in emulation of you. Right? That's kind of if I were gonna take a a non Christian perspective, like, that's kinda how we feel about the pastorate. Right? That's kinda how we look at at at Matt where he's like, is this really that big of a deal? No. But it would That's an extreme step though. It I I kinda feel that it is. Yeah. I I'm really I guess I'm I'm I feel good about their reaction to it. I think they're falling on a sword is what I feel like. Yeah. I think they're trying to do, like, make an example out of this what happens when this stuff comes up. Although it probably isn't that big of a deal.

I mean, wanna know, like, the last time he went to a mall, shopping mall, like, fourteen years ago, whenever malls were cool, and he walked by the what's what's the the the store with the naked women on it? Victoria's Secret. Victoria's Secret. I wouldn't know. Did he look yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I've never heard of such I don't go to places like that. Did he look twice because he needs to resign? I mean That's right. You know, even if they think about, what was that like? Woah. That is what I thought it was. Oh, I'm going to the candy store. Here's that. It's And you know what? Yeah. So I actually I think it may be and this is maybe this is inappropriate because it feels like I'm too far separated from this. But, like, I would've liked to see the whole process go exactly how it went and then he not step down. Yeah. Just say, hey. This was too close. Yeah. I recognize yeah. Yeah. We put we put a guard in. That's what these are for. Nothing happened that shouldn't have happened, but, like, I want you to know we went through the process so that you can trust that, like, we are holding ourselves to a higher standard. And we excommunicated her from the church. That's right. Wait. No. No. She's gotta feel awkward in this whole And thing they and that's the thing is they said that, like, she she can she, you know, agreed to be part of the investigation. She was open about it. They said, like, we're not naming her out of because she's asked to be private, but if she decides she wants to come out and talk about it, she gets to completely do that. We haven't made her sign, like, a nondisclosure

or anything. Like, the the ball's completely in her court, and and and I I think the way they're handling it is is admirable, actually. Yeah. But I feel like it they're The outcome is just not The outcome seems more for show, and I'm I I don't Ah, yeah. And that's not And don't believe them to be that way. That's correct. Of the pastor who's out there taking and picking up girls at the bar, taking them to the hotel Exactly. Like, their little conference they're holding, you know. But we don't wanna be that. Which, you know, sometimes swing the other way. Like, sometimes, you know, you gotta get you got your kids and a group of friends, and, you make an example out of your kid that's a little bit harsher because you're tired of all the kids acting foolishly and so they get a sense of I mean, that's not right. I've done it. But it's not

it probably, it succumbs to a, as opposed to treating it maybe as evenly as they should've. I agree with Mike, there's a bit of a posturing in there, and even if it's, hey, we would default to caution, which I understand. But, like, when it when it comes down to it, we should still deal with things as it lies and and not posture for anything. If the right line is

maybe he even says it out loud and said, it's just a caution, it's just and brings it to their attention because it provides confidence in people that everything that we preach about, I'm not a hypocrite about. People can come to me. There is a process for people to look at it. My life is an open book because I'm taking responsibility to help lead this church.

I would've still done everything up until the point of coming to the decision that says you should not preach or teach for a while. And now, whatever, they didn't say the contents of the thing. That's true. I thought they could come out like they're, like, maybe they're covering up the big seedy details and whatever, and we've been fools. But like, it's not the vibe that I generally get out of that camp. And so like, it it's just maybe we're what's what's our caution here? Our caution is to one, like, is to to just be careful that we're not becoming pharisaical about our own stuff here. Right? Like, we like we I have fences in my own life where I'm like, set up a fence here and a fence here and I got two layers of fences because I'm weak enough to to stumble into to trouble. And so I set up a fence. So I bop I bop into the fence, you know. And so, like but, like, I don't get I don't get rebuked because I bop the fence. The fence did its job. Right? And I'm thankful and grateful for the fence and then I head back into the direction I actually wanna be. And so, like, this feels like to me that, like, he ran into a fence and instead of going good, the fence did its job. Yeah. Thank you for for the reminder. I'm going back to Greenpasture where I belong. You know? And now we're mad because you bump into a fence. And, like, we we as humans can't we can't pull that off. Right? Like, if you're gonna get in trouble for even hitting your own safeguards, that's tough. You know? I mean, so what what's he gonna do when when the homeschool mother shows up and says, I'm really offended you don't make your own clothing, and you're not wearing denim? Yes. I love denim. It's the lord's fabric. I mean, does that mean he should step down? I don't know. I struggle. At the same time, I believe in complete

integrity. Correct. You know? So yeah. It's just it's it's an interesting thing to think about. And and, like, it did hit close to home. Like, we are so used to talking about pastors who were caught dead guilty and really what had happened is they had covered it up for twenty years. And this has gone the exact opposite way and

it feels like their reactions all seem to be what we call for biblically, right? Yeah, own Like, up to the truth, live with some integrity, and apologize, and whatever. I feel like the reaction's a little harsh, but then again, I guess we didn't read the messages. So, overall, we're not trying to get into the church's business. Oh, no. No. God's handling that situation, they're praying through it as a community. I'm sure it's all fine. It's not a judgment on them or or the pastor or the woman that reported it. All that is fine. It's more just us trying to think out loud, right, just to make sure that we're not what this is an odd story of a pastor. Right? It's just an odd story because it feels like they're reacting to it appropriately.

Just wanna make sure that we're not creating swords to fall on just to appease the masses. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Hey. Well, maybe I don't know. Maybe you got a reaction to that story one way or the other. You can give us a call or a text on the Life From The Path complaint line. That's (515) 517-0085. That's the Bob Eisenlauer Life From The Path complaint line. (515) 517-0085.

And I I regret to inform you that not one person texted the word sent a text to the word mullet to that complaint line, which means I did not have to produce a picture of last week's guest, Todd Gordon, in said haircut and distribute out to the masses. That would have been cool. I was disappointed. Yeah. I feel I was gonna ask for it anyway, but I feel like I didn't have any justification for it since no one sent a text. Yeah. Agreed. So, yeah, I I'm gonna I'm gonna extend that for just one more week. One more week, the word mullet, then I'll know that you want a picture of Todd Gordon from last week with what would that have been? Was that was it eighties? Late early eighties? Yeah. Seventies. Late seventies, early eighties. Late seventies, early eighties. Anyway, it's it's when I mean, Todd's a good looking fella, but if you wanna know what he looked like, I'm not sure if I'd called his prime, but No. He he had long flowing locks. So, anyway, you want you text mullet to (515) 517-0085,

and you you text mullet twice in the same text. I may even include a picture of of Dan with some real shorty basketball shorts that I've seen going around. Yikes. It's on the it's on the net. You can search for it yourself, but Dan's shorty basketball shorts may not get what you're asking. Thing is that might be too coarse for the public, Ben. I I'm saying it exactly. I don't know if you wanna do that. If you're a woman, just say it ahead of time. Oh, okay. Alright. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We were gonna do we were gonna do secular Solomon. I are you gonna rebut that telescope article, or is it not worth going through? No. Yeah. It's not worth going through. Okay. I I think I just would would reassert that let's walk in humility on this thing, on all on all these things. Just know where your limits are as a human. I gotta move if we're doing Solomon, so I don't see the answers. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You better get over there. Okay. I don't want you cheating.

And I would too. I like integrity. I don't have a fence there. Talk to me. Okay. This this chair is comfortable. Can you okay, Mike. Can you can you hear everything? What do you mean can I hear everything? I'm in the same room as you. Oh, yeah. That's right. I'm the only guy in headphones. I forget that. Sorry. What the heck? I don't know how to behave in front of people. People people make me nervous. Okay. Alright. Here we go. We're gonna make this thing happen. And now for America's fastest growing game show,

secular or Solomon. Hey. You have stumbled onto America's fastest growing Internet game show, Asterisk completely unproven. This is secular versus Solomon. Yeah. You know, I'm the I'm the full time winner of this game. What do you mean? The full time winner of this game? Yeah. No one's ever claimed that before. I figured it's it's irrefutable. Okay. Okay. Got it. Here's here's the crux of the game. So I'm gonna give you a bit of wisdom,

and the goal, like I said, is to sort out what is biblical wisdom and what is coming from other parts potentially nefarious. Folks, I usually use the example of Ben Franklin. Just because Ben Franklin said it, doesn't mean that the lord agreed. Like, god helps those who help themselves. That's not a biblical reference. That's a Ben Franklin. And so, you know, can we see where these types of things are coming up? And, you know, maybe, maybe just make sure they actually align with what, the good and perfect thing that the Lord has created. Okay. Are you guys ready? We're gonna start with Dan? Alright. I'm ready. Okay. Here we go. Secular

versus Solomon, A drowning man is not troubled by rain. A drowning man is not troubled by rain. Secular or Solomon. Dan Hudson. I'm gonna call that a secular bit of wisdom, and

I need a country, don't I? Oh boy, rain, trouble. Rain and donkeys. Okay, I'm gonna go with Kenya. They have a rainy season there,

and that can cause trouble. So I'm gonna go Kenya. Okay. Could be the Kenyans. Mike, a drowning man is not troubled by rain. Yeah. That's definitely that's definitely secular. And I would say what'd you go with, Dan? Kenya? Kenya. Yeah. I mean, they're not. Yeah.

London. England. Give me England for for a country. They get the rains. Okay. Alright. We've got the option of two seculars and Kenya and England. A drowning man is not troubled by rain. It is indeed secular Iran. Funny. Iran. It's an Iranian proverb. I don't think of a lot of rain or drowning in Yep.

Yep. Maybe that's something they, something they dream about. And they came up with, and they said, look. If I if I were a man drowning, I would not bother with the with the rain. I suppose so. You make things up if you've not seen it. Yeah. Is this a true proverb? A drowning man is not troubled by rain? No. Not well, I don't know. The drowning part might might suppose makes a difference. I think he's preoccupied with, you know, death. Yeah. Yeah. Except for it's rainy or sunny or cloudy or drowning. What would be a more tangible comparison? Like, what like, how much you apply this in your own in your own existence?

Like, maybe this isn't the great this is the first thing that pop into my mind. But let's say your wife yells at you all the time. Okay. Got it. Hate your guts. Says all kinds of mean things to you. If she then says one more mean thing, you're like, Yeah. Because the thing is troubled by this. Thing that is continuing to come out to you is already causing your destruction. Yeah. Yeah. So you're like, I don't care. What what we'll just take on another one. Doesn't matter. Filing for bankruptcy and you get another bill in the mail, you're like, Yeah. Yeah. There we go. Yeah. That's good example. I already owe $40,000. What's this? Actually, I feel that way about any any dollar amount over $200.

It's all funny money to me after that. Is $200 hits my wallet hard. I'm like, oh, man. That's a killer. Someone's like, you owe me 8,000. I'm like, 8,000. Okay. Somebody gives you $10 for your college loan, you're like, hey. Whatever. Yeah. This ought to tear it up. Right. That's a the minus 10 from 80,000 I wasn't gonna pay to begin with. Whatever. Fantastic. Don't worry. The government will cover it. We're good. Can I still defer the other 70 like I have been? Okay. Excellent.

Roll up the interest, boys. Alright. Secular or Solomon, a monkey never thinks her baby's ugly. This is definitely not Solomon. A monkey this could be biblical wisdom. A monkey never thinks her baby's ugly. Secular or Solomon. Mike? I'm gonna go with secular and Belize, a Belizean proverb. Okay. Yeah. There's a bunch of adoring baby mama monkeys Yeah. In Belize. Dan. Baby mama. I'm gonna go secular, and I'm gonna say the San Diego Zoo, but I don't think I can do that. That's not a country, Dan. It's It's big, though. It's not a country. I know it's very large. So go I'll India. Okay. India. Okay. We went with the giant country anyway. That was a good one. I just wish I had said India. Belize is not popular. Okay. For a for a penalty of of five points, you can change to a different country, Mike. No. I won't take that. Okay. You stay okay. It's not worth it. A monkey never thinks her baby's ugly. It is secular Haiti.

Dang. Secular Haiti. I was in the right part of the world. You think that's really true? Yeah. Did we talk about that story about that monkey that grabbed somebody's baby and threw it out the window? No. Did we there was that was a legit story. I saw it in the news. I thought it was a joke article, but, like, monkeys were overtaking somewhere in the world. I don't I don't that seems India was was right, but somewhere in the world place New York. I've seen the movie. Okay. He's just overrun by monkeys, not apes. Oh. If it doesn't have a tail, it's not a monkey. Oh, okay. Even if it has a monkey kinda shape. If it doesn't have a tail, it's not a monkey. If it doesn't have a tail, it's not a monkey. It's an ape. Anyway, the place is overrun by monkeys. And they go into this dude, and the dude like, the baby's in the crib or whatever. Dude goes to grab the baby, somehow, like, drops the baby. Monkey picks it up and immediately

chucks it out a two story window. What? And the and the baby dies. Oh. What? Yeah. What was a monkey doing in there anyway? They're just they tear they're terrorizing the town. Wow. Freaking monkeys overrunning the place. That is awful. Yeah. Ain't that terrible? I I don't know how you'd hear that guy. I mean feels way out of your control, but also way within your control. My suspicious mind says, how do we know the dad didn't throw the baby out? Because he was crying. And he just said, was overrun by monkeys. I suppose I suppose because monkeys are tricky. You could get away with all kinds of stuff in a country that's overrun by monkeys. Yeah. Monkey did it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you run your car into the tree like a drunken fool? No. Where'd you get them jewels? A monkey dropped it off. Monkey did it. Yeah. Yeah. How'd you get that ATM cash? Yeah. Monkey. Yeah. Talk to a boo. Yeah.

Okay. Secular or Solomon? And why are you wearing that big yellow hat? Monkey. Just curious. Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out. Yeah. Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out. Secular Solomon Dan. That is Solomon, Proverbs twelve seven. Oh, Dan says Proverbs twelve seven. He's gone in. He's gone all in, Mike, to give a chapter and verse. Yeah. Secular Solomon. Yep. That's the way that's how you walk in the proud and arrogant, Dan. The humble man claims to not know the verse and chapter and just goes, that is from, definitely Solomon. Okay. Solomon, Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out. That is indeed Solomon, Proverbs ten nine. So close. Proverbs ten nine. Yeah. Here's the thing. It's like that is

one of the glorious byproducts of trusting Jesus with your life, is you are not afraid that you are gonna be found out of doing just about anything. That's true. True. And it is like look. People talk about like, we always say there's freedom in Christ. That is a major portion of that. Is the freedom is is like you don't have to be aware

of a story you've told or a lie that you're trying to think or a thing that you're hiding because you're not doing any of that. Right. Right? You're living in integrity, and you're like like, your yes is yes, your no is no. You you can be trusted with your word. If you tell your wife you're going to the store, you went to the store. You don't claim to work late when you're not so you can go drink some beer with your buddies. If you're gonna go drink beer with your buddies, you call your wife and say, I'm gonna go drink beer with my buddies. Right? Like, you just you don't have to do any of that. Right. Yep. That's right. That's right. And that that's earlier in this week, like, think we've given the example before is is you think about some people react to things that that god would say, like the bible would say, god would tell you, hey, man. Don't do these types of things. And we're like, god is handcuffing me. But, like, you would never walk out on that glass bridge at the Grand Canyon and curse the railing. You would be like, look, look at how I get to walk out and enjoy this thing that otherwise I would never be able to do, but I I get to explore it safely within the bounds of not destroying myself in the process. Mhmm. You don't curse the railing. And, like, God's God's we call them laws, but like God's description of what he created good to look like are the are the handrails.

Okay? They're the things that allow you to live freely to explore without destroying yourself. And anytime you reject those and go, yeah. But I think I wanna do this, it's like you taken, like, a little bit of a screwdriver to one of the screws in the handrail and go, well, I hope this isn't the one that destroys me, I'm gonna give a shot. Yeah. Right. People are like, deserve to live more free. These handrails are holding me back. Right. From from falling to your doom. Right. You know, they're like, yeah. That's what I deserve. Like, well, deserves a weird word, but okay. Right. Right. You may and and and, oh my, whatever. God will let you take the rails off if you want to. You don't have to follow them. But, like, if if there is a god and what he's created is good and he can be trusted to say what is good, then, I mean, bless the handrails that showed up that kept you from destroying yourself. Hence the proverb, don't go off the rails. Exactly. Right? I visited a a crisis pregnancy place this past week, and they were talking about they do all these tests for STDs, and he's like, you know what an STD is? Well, I yeah. I'm not, like, completely ignorant. Hey, Nerdinheimer. So he named off all the, you know, different sexually transmitted Have you heard of this? Yeah.

Know what's in case you don't know? I I thought that was a side dish in Italian restaurants. But but, you know, it was kinda comforting to think I've never in my life have to worry about that. Right. I mean, I've never I like I have never thought I better get tested because I've never been with anyone else. Right. Like, it's that's that handrail. You know? Like, it it it's And it's the thing. It's like people look at it as like some kind of gloating. You know? But I'm like No. You're not I'm I'm not afraid at all at all of a woman calling me up and going, by the way, I had your son thirteen years ago. Right. It's never gonna happen to me. Yeah. Exactly. Ever. Right. I don't know how you did that, but People are, like, worried about this. Like, like, it turns out this and this happened or my past is gonna catch up with me. I'm like Right. I mean, here's the thing. It's, some people have legit past and, like, I you know, it happens, you know, and God redeems and it's all good. But like,

since that time that Christ got ahold of you, you walked in freedom and it's awesome. Yeah. No one's ever gonna call and go, hey, Ben. I just wanna let you know I have gonorrhea and you should get tested. And I go, does it come from chocolate milk? Because I just don't see a path here.

If you can get it from that, then I probably had it. I could be in trouble. Alright. Secular versus or secular or Solomon, with his mouth, the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge, the righteous are delivered. With his mouse the mouth, the godless man will dis would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge, the righteous are delivered secular or Solomon Mike.

That's definitely Solomon, but it's it's the parts of Solomon that I don't understand. Oh, we don't follow it. Yeah. Okay. Well, not I mean, I'm not against it, but I just read it and go, this must apply to smarter people. Because I ain't taking it again. This is not hitting me. It's not hitting me right. Dan, sick people don't need the wisdom. It yeah. It is Solomon. Okay. He says, with his mouth, the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge, the righteous

are delivered. That is indeed Solomon, Proverbs eleven nine. You weren't gonna take a guess on that one, though, say eleven nine. Oh, yeah. Okay. Oh, there we go. That would have impressed you. Yeah. Here we go. Secular or Solomon. This one's for Dan. Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. Secular or Solomon. Dan. Oh, yeah. That that's sounds a little Solomon to me. I could see him. I'm gonna say I'm gonna say Solomon. K. K. Dan says sniffs enough slack. Nine nine twelve. K. Probably he

treads in the water. He's got his paper trunks on. He says I'm gonna give it a go. Mike. I'd say that's ecclesiastical. Ecclesiastical Solomon. I don't think you're allowed to say ecclesiasticals

on the, on the Internet. Ecclesiastes. It said ecclesiastes. You may you may need to step Dog on it. Both of those tenses match up with testicles. You need you may need to step away from the show for a while. And say, that's a coarse joke. Dog on it anyway. Nope. Is there a different standard for Internet radios? I'll be here alone next week. It's like, and welcome to the show. I'm the only man who didn't say testicles. Ah, doggone.

And then it switches over to that multicolored screen. It's just the doofuses there. Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. It is Solomon, Proverbs twelve twenty five. Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him, but a good word makes him glad. I mean, I suppose I suppose it's talking this is where, like, it there could be fifty fifty ways of taking this in, I think. But I I think the connection, if you say the anxiousness

feels internal and weighs him down, there's the external expressions. Good word. Like, maybe can shake him out of it where you're not so it's not internally focused in weight, but, like, someone coming on with bit of encouragement can turn things around. Yeah. I think I think that's the intent of it, which is you know, I saw this clip on the Internet this week, and it was about a guy who worked at two hotels.

One was, I don't know, it was like a famous hotel. I don't remember which one it was. And then he worked at a second one. And he said that he was this coffee dude at one of the hotels and the guy was asking him, hey. You know, what? You like your job? And the guy's like, love it. I just love my job. And like, that takes you aback. A guy slinging coffee at a hotel. You're like, really? You tell me more about it. And he said he loved his job because he said

the managers and, like, not even just his own direct manager, but, like, any manager in the place, like, often, multiple times a day would come come by and just go, hey, man. Just wanna check-in. How's it going? Is there anything I can do to help you with what you're working on? You know, any anything that I can get for you, anything I can make what you're doing, like, help you achieve the stuff that you're trying to get done today or something like And he goes, again, like, it's not just my boss. It could be anybody around there. He goes, I also work at this other hotel and like that one, I just put my head down and try to get through the day. Because like those guys are just constantly pushing, pushing numbers, pushing time, trying to force, get as much kind of value and service out of you. And like, if just listen to this guy talk about it, it's, it's just like, I know, is it justified in hotel number two for a guy who managed you to try to make sure that the company's getting as much value out of the time you're in there. Okay. Yeah. Sure. But, like, the question is is do you get as much value out of a guy who's just put his head down and just kinda kinda crank away at stuff so he can get out of there with the paycheck you promised him or a dude that loves what he does, who's generally excited to be there. And, like, it it just reminded me that

I think there's always a fear that when you switch to trying to when you switch to, to your focus on building people up and calling them up to, to right behavior and good standards and good, and, and like good measures,

as opposed to constantly reminding them and calling them down about how much they stink for not meeting those things. Like, I know I said this last week about husbands and wives, but it just made me think that I think this is even more universally true that people tend to live down to your, how you treat them. And so I think your kids will live up if you convince them, if you treat them like they are people who can change the world and people who are capable

of doing good and righteous things, they will live up to that. It may take a while, but doing that also means that some of the times when you want to go, I cannot believe you did just such a crappy job in here again. Instead of saying that, you get to say something different. You go and and you get to offer to help them to help them do it because, obviously, if they're not doing it right, you can either chastise them into doing it better or you can say, look, let me help you. Let's get this thing tucked up looking great. And then they get to see what you did, and then they and they got to and they got the sense that someone wasn't just hosed off and disappointed in them. It's someone who came along and said, instead of chastising them, pointed them to what it look good looks like, and you're gonna do that over and over and over again, but, like, it will rub off. And, like, I just I think there's an underlying worry in some people that, like, this it won't work. Sometimes you like, you just gotta lay the hammer down and, I'm not a super softy.

I just think that people you get more out of folks. People will live up and stay up at those types of things if you encourage them up to it way better than if you remind them just how much they suck all the time. Yeah. You know? So anyway, a good Solomon's right. A good word makes them glad and releases anxiety. Then they're not worried about you coming around a corner. True. I've had relationships like that. There's been times in my marriages like this. Like, I just don't I've been cleaning something like, oh, my wife don't come around a corner. She gonna say something, and I probably didn't do this right. And I just you know, you just feel like you're just oh, man. And so, anyway, Solomon's got it. Secular Solomon,

slipper ground does not recognize a king. What? Slipper ground. Sorry. Slippery. Slippery ground does not recognize a king. Slippery ground does not recognize a king. Secular Solomon Dan. Well, I'm gonna say that is a secular

type of a bit of wisdom, and it just doesn't care if you're a king or a pauper. You're going to it's gonna it's gonna bring you down. You were gonna use his banana peel time. That's right. It's just gotta have someone with with monkeys to throw banana peels. Let's see. You know what? I'm gonna go

they're gonna throw me off on this. I'm gonna say Afghanistan. Dan's out of practice. We we haven't done the game in a while. He just doesn't have the countries at the ready. I can see you spinning a globe in your mind. I am. And it always lands on the Middle East. Yeah. Slippery ground does not recognize a king. Secular Solomon, Mike. That's that feels like Solomon to me. Mike says, hey. Hey. It's not relevant who you are. Everyone the the rain falls on the just and unjust alike, and I don't care who you are. You'll slip. Yeah. Okay. So alright. So first source of contention, the answer is

secular Kenya. Dang it. Secular Kenya. I already used Kenya. I couldn't use it again. Nope. Nope. I don't think that's a legit rule, Dan. Oh. I think And once again, not a place sees a ton of rain. Yeah. Again, maybe they just have it on the mind. They're thinking about it all the time. Alright. Secular or Solomon, whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor. Mike? The heck? Those seem like two different thoughts shoved together. Secular. Mike says secular. Dan, whoever despise oh, wait. What country? Who does a lot of sinning? Hold on.

Costa Rica. Yeah. That's dead on. Mike Mike says, Costa Rica. Dan, whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor. I think about the only people out there calling people sinners is God, so I'm gonna I'm go with secular. I mean, mean, sinner. I mean Oh my goodness. Oh, boy. It's getting late. Who is that guy? Solomon.

Dan's acting like a real Costa Rican over there. I'm going on vacation soon. Solomon. So if you despise your so remember, as we think about the word sinner, like, means missing the mark. So whoever despises his neighbor misses the mark, But the blessed man is he who is generous to the poor,

and that is Solomon. Proverbs fourteen twenty one. What if my neighbor is not poor? It seems it's doesn't it sound like two separate thoughts put together? Yeah. I do find proverbs are, though. Yeah. I do find that the proverbs are not are not always telling, like, again, a direct yin yang. It's just like, these are two options in the in the the wheel of fortune. Yeah. These are two things I thought of. It could be this or that. And, like, so if you took them individually, blessed is he who is generous to the poor, and whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, you're like, oh, okay. I just don't know why you tied these two cats' tails together.

Yeah. Okay. Interesting. But that's what he did. He tied them together, set them on fire, let them run. Secular or Solomon, a slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. Secular or Solomon Mike? First of all, is it is it a is it a sin?

And let's put me at a pastor level if I decided to start nicknaming somebody old slack hand. No. Because I feel like I wanna totally call somebody that. Yeah. That's not work. That's not course. Like, oh, look. Here come old slack hand. He ain't gonna do nothing. I mean, it's unnecessary. You may be despising your neighbor. That's the problem I'm worried about. What if it's a guy I really like and I'm just I'm being in jest? Like, he's obviously not a slack hand. I think it's alright when it's when it's when you have close relationships, just like I think it's alright to say the random course thing to your wife. Sue me. Yeah.

Fight me. Okay. Yeah. That's definitely Solomon. What was the look. What's I don't mean, like, cruelly to your wife. I mean, just you would share it with your wife. Yeah. Yeah. No. That's that's Solomon. Okay. Solomon calls people slack hand. Okay. Dan, a slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. Yeah. That's that's Solomon eighteen two. Okay. Dan says Solomon eighteen two In the proverb. It's not a they're okay. There we go. Proverbs eighteen two.

It's it is Solomon, Proverbs ten four. Ten four. It's the old good buddy verse. Yeah. Listen here, old slack hand. Okay. Buddy. Alright. Secular or Solomon,

the bear and the bear hunter have different opinions. The the bear and the bear hunter have different opinions. Secular or Solomon Dan? That is a secular Canadian proverb. Said it's a problem in Canada.

Say this Did spell bear differently for the hunter? Or was it? No. No. They're both the animal. Yeah.

Surprising, it's the bear hunter who's against the socialized medicine in Canada. That's where the disagreement comes from. I'm going secular in Scandinavia. Oh. Are they still a country? Yeah. Yeah. Mike think it's it's coming from the Russia own them yet? No. Alright. He think it's coming from from Scandals. Northwest Europe. Yeah. Alright. The bear and the bear hunter have different opinions.

Secular or Solomon, the answer is secular Norway. Yeah. I mean, right next door. Talk to me, friends. Wow. Talk to me. Do I know the world or don't I? Yeah. Yeah. Here we go. Final last one. Here we go. Secular or Solomon,

hunger is the best sauce. Hunger is the best sauce. This seems like an unhelpful proverb. Hopefully, it's not the scripture. Secular or Solomon.

Mike. Okay. That's Solomon. Solomon oh, no. That's secular. Solomon don't talk about no sauce. He's got a hold of the dance. No. That's a that's a secular for sure. And

Holland. Denmark. Holland days. I did say Holland days is what you're doing. Okay. Denmark. Hey. Okay. Slight to slight conflicts of some of the things we've talking about. So, I I work in a supplementary insurance business, and like one of the things that we offer is short term disability products. And unfortunately,

the acronym is STD. And so every once in a while I'll be there, they're talking, just flying this term around and like, will use it in a way totally unintended and and people will have a good fall at my expense. And that's unfortunate. I I said, can't we do it like temporary disability?

Like, change it a little bit, but I couldn't get anybody to change it. No. They're stuck with the STD acronym. Yeah. We got 300 gonorrhea claims today. Dan Hudson, hunger is the best sauce. Secular Solomon. Well, that is a secular proverb from the People's Republic Of China.

Okay. Dan says that they Chinese They like the sauce. They said, if you are hungry, I don't even know what this is supposed to mean. Uh-uh. And they mock people who are dying of starvation. So Yeah. It took a real turn there is what it did, and they ate their own cat. Yeah. Hunger is the best sauce, secular Rome. Rome. Yeah. Yeah. I I blame the pope. He's close to that area. He's supposed to straighten this right out. That's his fault. Alright. Hey, Ben. You've you were hanging out at what

is debatably America's fastest growing Internet game show, secular versus Solomon. Yeah. If you enjoyed the game first of all, if you if you played along at the home game, Mike, if they got how much how many points they get per question that they got right? 72. 72 points for every right. How many what's the deduction if you get it wrong? Well, if you're over the age of 40 and live in Pleasantville, you get a positive 10 points for every wrong answer. Okay. Okay. Outside of those parameters, it's a negative 43. Oh, man. That's really unfortunate. It seems imbalanced the way that you set up the score system. I've won again.

Well, that's that's unfortunate. So if you wanna text me your score to that live from the path complaint line, (515) 517-0085, I just wanna hear how you did. If you enjoy the game, we do play it every once in a while. If you go to our YouTube channel, youtube.com backslash live from the path, just do a search for us. Just just do Solomon, and you'll find some clips from other people we've played secular versus Solomon with. Now here's the deal. We've been playing this game for nigh on a decade,

and so it becomes more and more difficult to find proverbs that we haven't done, especially scriptural proverbs. And so we might be we might be tapping the barrel here. But if you wanna brush up on your proverbs without committing to daily bible reading, which you shouldn't, but let's just say that's who you are and where you're at, oh, you can check out secular versus Solomon and see how life runs you. Alright. Here we go, Mike. We need the the world needs some advice. Hear life from the past. I didn't, yeah, I didn't see that coming like that. My husband quotes Alex and I are close friends with another couple who live out of state.

During a virtual happy hour, our friend, quotes Darlene, advised us that her brother Roy is moving to our area, and she suggested we become friends. She assumed my husband likes Roy. My husband answered honestly and said he doesn't particularly like Roy. When Darlene pressed the matter, wanting to know why, Alex again answered honestly. He said he thinks Roy's kinda obnoxious. We have spent time with Darlene's family and generally enjoy them, but we wouldn't seek out a relationship with Roy. It does not mean Alex hates him. When my husband made the comment, she didn't respond or seem upset. I texted her to apologize, and she replied, no need to apologize. I just didn't know Alex didn't like Roy.

Two weeks later, she confronted me about it. She said my husband was rude, and her brother had done nothing to him to deserve being called obnoxious, adding that Roy is a great person. We went back and forth, and I gave her a couple days break from communication because she was clearly upset. Yeah. We revisited the issue today, and she's still mad. She is not upset with me, though. I suggested she reach out to my husband, but she believes that he should reach out to her. Truthfully, I don't think my husband did anything wrong, although he could have been more diplomatic. What do you think? What? I think you need to just get out of the middle of it. Yeah. I don't hi. You should be friends with this guy. I don't want to. Okay.

Like, what? Yeah. Here's the thing. It's like, do I appreciate someone that pumps out in still honesty? Yeah. I usually do. In these type of situations, though, I feel like someone said, hey. So and so is moving to town. You should probably reach out to them. You're like, yeah. Maybe. That's how I would answer. Yeah. I mean, we'll see. See what happens. Yeah. We'll see what happens. But sounds like they've met already, though. Yeah. And and and Roy's a bit on the

You don't care for him. He's a stubborn guest side. That's an odd request. Is it? Become friends with with was it my the brother. Right? Yeah. But, I mean, like, if let's say my brother was moving to somebody's town that I knew. I'm like, hey. My brother's moving to town. He don't know anybody. Maybe you guys should hook up and, you know, go out to dinner sometime. Well, Well, Ben Is that a weird position to put somebody in? Yeah. Yeah. You you don't match make friends with your incoming town brother. Now if you wanna throw a soiree or a shindig and invite the brother and have him help him make friends, that seems alright. But, like, no. I didn't ask to speed date your relatives when they come in to try to move to town. No. But they're I mean, they come from the same fold as me, and we get along just fine. You should like him. I mean, do you think that's what it is? You think she's personally offended because she either likes her brother likes him or It's her brother. I mean, I that's not My brother's covered town. What do you say? What do say? Wooden water. Yeah.

And all of sudden, she's up to the defense. That's right. You don't like Roy? You don't like me? We're the same cook. That's right. Yeah. Mean, I would call, like, a pastor friend and say, hey. My brother's moving to town. I hope he'll come I've told him to come visit your church. Yeah. But I wouldn't say, like, go call him because that puts him in an awkward place. You know? Right. Yeah. I'm a maybe she thought there was a a clear path there because they met her, but, like

now do you think she's overselling it just because she doesn't wanna Roy? She's trying to pawn him off on other people. No. She's taking it to extremes, though. Now she's creating rifts in her other relationships just so she can create a rift with Roy. That don't make no sense. Either she's self destructive or this is a dumb plan. You could've she could've played it and said, hey. Send me about a $100. I'll take him to a ballgame. Yeah. I wonder how many relationship things can be solved with the phrase either you're self destructive or this is a dumb plan.

I feel like that covers a lot of situations. Here's what I know. I mean, like, I you you gotta realize you you did put somebody on the spot. Yeah. And, like, you know, she did press further. You know, it's like, hey. You know, you should be friends with Roy. Well, I don't know. I see, I wouldn't have never answered this way. I'm I I think I would have gone way way more polite than that. Like, well, we'll see. I guess we'll see when he gets into town. Well, can I tell him to call you? Yeah. We'll see. Yeah. And then I would have just I I I would not have time because I don't have time for friends right now. Yeah. I don't understand this obfuscation you're putting on, Mike. I I'm just telling you what I would have done. I'm not saying whether it's the gospel. I'm just saying it's what I would've done. I would've I say maybe to all kinds of stuff I know the answer is no. Ask my kids. Yeah.

Do have ice cream? Maybe. That's no. That's what I'm gonna do. Kids hate what I do. Why do we do that? I I did that too. And and they know. They're they're smart. Yeah. They're not dumb. It's like, just say no. It's like, I have they don't have to fight it. Yeah. I don't have to I kinda want ice cream too. It's like, maybe. No. I said maybe. That's a good idea. I'll have that when you go to bed.

There's only enough left for me. Thank you. Thanks for bringing that up. Okay. So what's what's the advice here? Well, like, what was the question? Am I overreacting? Or should I I don't think my husband did anything wrong, although he could have been more diplomatic. Yeah. I I think that's right. I think Now hold on. You stop right there, Hass. Uh-huh. You tell me that you don't like my maybe answer. What how's what's the more diplomatic way?

Oh, yeah. The chair don't seem so high now, does it? Old bike and his crappy maybe. Here, man of the people got nothing to say. I do I I would say so how I would handle it. Not the way you would. Think you're

I I don't know. Yeah. That's right. I know. I came in with a solid answer. I'm batting three fifty solid, and you're swinging for the fences, telling me I'm I'm in Buntsville. This is a bunch of crap.

Maybe is the right answer. I don't know. It's what okay. So is is your your position is don't don't say the don't say don't tell the truth. It's not the it's not the untruth. Maybe I will get along with him. Maybe he calls and I happen to have an extra and I'll be like, I'll fall on the sword and go have lunch with the guy, and we hit it off in a different area. Maybe it's the right answer. I can't read the future. Maybe maybe we're gonna get maybe we're gonna get along. Will you give the eulogy at my husband's funeral? I can't read the future. Yeah. Maybe. That's the way I would answer. We'll see how the day rolls. You know? Yeah. Especially for something not dot tomorrow. If it ain't tomorrow, my answer's maybe.

Okay. Got it. Yeah. I okay. So here's here's what I would say. I think I think your your your husband is you can answer that way, and this woman should not be so offended about it. Yeah. Like, he has a right to say no, and I think the the lady needs to not be so invested. I think as a friend, you can tell her that. If she's not gonna take that in, I think you're just gonna have to give her time to cool down. If she wants to deal with your husband about it, then she should. And now she's mad because the husband won't call and discuss it. He's not good. I mean, I don't he can do it. He already said his piece, really. Yeah. He's like, what what else do you want from me? You don't wanna talk to your brother, chef Roy Hardy. Yeah. He don't want him in his life. Yeah. You don't really like, it's not like I call random people I've had discussions with and go, hey. I was thinking were you offended by what I might have said? And so I would just thought maybe I'd offer my apologies or clarifications. Like, if I said the thing I intended to say, unless they mentioned it to me, don't just randomly solicit whether there was a problem. That would be weird. I mean, although she's like, oh, like, expects that the wife is gonna pass it on. But here's the thing. I'm okay with the wife going, no. I'm not I don't pass notes in class even to my husband. Yeah. Like, if you wanna ask him about it, do that, but, like, I'm not gonna don't need to get in the middle of this. Yeah.

I I always told my wife when when the kids were younger to never ask questions you don't want to have the answer to. And and she asked the question she didn't like the answer. It's like, well, don't ask that question. Well, yeah, why would you answer that? Let nature take it you know, let let him, you know, just say, hey, my brother's moving to town. Here's his number if if you're interested. Yeah. There And you he can do what he wants with it. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point. I like, I've had that come up recently where it's like, you know, you can't ask a question where someone where, like, there's one, there's not a a viable right answer. Yeah. Like, there's no chance to get it right. Or, like, if you frame it as an opinion, but you only accept if they answer your way. That's not fair. Right. Like, you can't do That's you're you're you're inviting a fight. You're setting them up for anger. Yeah. Yeah. Like That's right. Yep. Don't go around throwing throwing smoke bombs around. There's no reason for it. Maybe. Okay. Now stop that. Alright. Secular says K. Your husband was honest about his feelings, but he should have been more tactful than to accuse Darlene's brother of being, quotes, obnoxious.

Still, not a solution. Boy, Ben and Secular are just in the same boat. I hate everybody else's ideas. I got none of my own. I might have said what what if like, I don't know if you had to call him obnoxious. I might say, you know, we didn't really we didn't really get along the last time we got together. Yeah. I should give it another shot. Yeah. I'm not I'm not so sure I'm interested in that. Yeah. We'll see. Maybe. I'm just joking. I can't handle it. Yeah. That's right. I'll have to get I'll to step down. He he mistook my long flowing locks for feminine and told me course jokes. Yeah. At the end of the day, someone's gonna end up at a maybe here. Segler continues. If you and your husband value the relationship you have with her and her husband, then he should reach out to her and apologize for his lack of tact. However, neither of you should allow yourself to be guilted into interacting with Roy against your better judgment. He's that's right. At the end of the day, no one wants to hang out with Roy. That's the role of it. That's the end of it. That's right. Roy smokes in the park by himself. That's what Roy does. Okay. Ready? Last one? Yeah. Hold on. What what just one final question. I don't think the man has to make the call and apologize,

but, like, is there a is there a swallow your pride thing here where, like, you know you didn't have to, but if you did, it would smooth things out. Is it a thing where you just do it? Like because it seems the principle of the matter is that he shouldn't have to. But, like, if you knew or felt that otherwise would make things better, couldn't you do it anyway? Maybe you do it with a couple maybe three or four people, and maybe one of those connections will work. So you're helping. Yeah. You're you're you're being proactive, and maybe my friend Butch likes him better. They'll just say, Hey, let's do something tomorrow.

Butch and Roy, that sounds like a group of fellas. I think it'd be great. It could be a band. I would say maybe maybe because we are because Jesus says, look. We we make peace. We don't just accept it when it comes. Blessed are the peacemakers. That you call this woman and go, hey. Look. I didn't mean to be offensive to your brother. Like, what I said was true,

but, I mean, you never know. And so, you know, if it would help, maybe we could arrange some time where we can all get together and Roy can be there. I'll invite some other people over so he's got a chance to maybe make some friends around here. How does that sound? Let's make let's put some effort into making peace as opposed to just waiting for it to show up. I think maybe I'm gonna change my advice and say, I don't think you have to call on principle, but, like, let's not hold principle. Go out there and make some peace. Yeah.

K. Ready? Last one. Yep. Your life from the path. Whenever I'm out early for a medical or dental appointment, early church services, whatever, I usually stop at a fast food drive through and bring home breakfast. Yeah. My neighbor is a single mom who works at home due to the pandemic, and I buy something for her and her son and leave it on her porch. I remember times when I was still working and a coworker would bring in breakfast treats and how much I enjoyed them. My wife has told me to stop because she says my neighbor will think, quotes, I'm a dirty old man. My neighbor and I hardly ever say hello, and I never give her another thought. What do you think? I mean, are you otherwise giving off a perv vibe? Like, do you drive slowly by the house and leer in the windows? Stare out the window of your house into theirs. Play with your suspenders while messing with the door lock? Like, I don't know what the Pushing your mustache.

So, I mean, it either your wife knows something that we don't Yeah. Or she's wildly overreacting. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't there's all kinds of things that could weird people out. There's things you can do that are totally innocent that, like, will cause other some somebody to be weird to doubt about it. Like, this seems real innocuous. I mean, as long as you're not leaving weird notes, I I mean, you know, maybe it's worth saying something every once in a while, like, hey. Just thought I'd do something nice. Hope you guys have a blessed day or some I don't know. Whatever. Something so that it doesn't give a creepy vibe because there's nothing being spoken. Yeah. I mean, the the wife could go to the neighbor's house and say, hey. I hope you appreciate my husband dropping off breakfast. Yeah. He thought he he just thought it was so cool when people brought him stuff when he was working. Yeah. He's thinking and she she she could

give the my husband's not being creepy about it. Yeah. Or even ask and say, you know, he just really loves to do it. I don't know, you know, if you guys are watching what you You're eat or right. Should we I, you know, I I don't I don't wanna tune up? Is he being weird? Yeah. I think yeah. Whatever. I think it's I think it's alright to have a hushed conversation to work this out lady to lady if he's being awkward in some way where he just has no idea and thinks he's just being he's blessing the pants off of people. Yeah. I'm sure I'm holding this awkward all the time that I don't have any idea. Right. My wife my wife wouldn't recognize that kind of stuff. I've I've actually always been cautious about that and probably on like wrongly so about like, hey. Does it seem presumptuous to show up with something at somebody's house? Yeah. Hey, I think you have a need. Like, nobody probably cares. Right? But like, I I get self conscious about it and I always kind of regret that I'm not as bold as I probably could be. Like, what's the worst that someone's gonna do? Thanks for buying like, bring baking a lasagna and bring it over. I hate you. I hate your family. Like You never once brought me potato salad. I have not. I'm I'm just saying. I've noticed. No. That's okay. Well, shoot. You're right. Maybe the reverse is happening. Yeah. I think I I think I would if the wife is worried about it, my recommendation is is for the wife to just go have a quick chat. And there's there's all kinds of auspices of which you could fire this conversation up and just check it out. Otherwise, let the man let the man go about it. Yeah. Yeah. This this this feels weird. Yeah. Secular says, when you pick up those breakfasts,

do you bring something home for your wife as well? If the answer is no, your wife may be insecure about the attention you are paying to this neighbor. Well, you created a problem that didn't exist, Secular. Am I. She didn't say anything about that. It's real. Anyway, from my perspective, what you've been doing is a kindness. Done. Yep. I agree. I'm okay, so you're okay. Alright. Hey. You've been listening to live from the path. Maybe you have a burning question. There's a a problem in in life, and you just can't it's a Rubik's cube,

an emotional zentangle, and you don't know what to do about it. Well, we're here to help. You can get a hold of Live From The Path. Use the Live From The Path. Bob Eisenhower complaint line, (515) 517-0085. We will untwist those knots, set that rope right, set you on your way into the horizon. What?

I'm just letting it all soak in. You're welcome. Anyway, thanks for hanging out with us. We really do appreciate it. Get ahold of us if you want to on the line. Hey. I do we really do. Thanks. Thank you guys for listening. We appreciate, when you guys use the complaint line, even if it's not a complaint, even if you're saying weird things like, hey, guys. I appreciate the show. It's encouraging to us. So, anyway, thanks for hanging out. We do appreciate it. We will hope to be back with you in the weeks to come. In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening too.