Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the Pathway. And you're listening to live from the past. Yes. I am. Dogs dog on it. Do you sneeze like a little kitten? I knew it. What was that? I knew I was gonna sneeze. Were you laughing because you knew you were gonna sneeze? No. No. I was trying to figure out what to do with it.

What to do with your sneeze? Here's the deal. It's like decided against Sneezes are like So you sound like when you sneeze. They're like a lit firecracker, man. There ain't nothing to be done with it. Yeah. I knew I knew it as soon as about ten, fifteen seconds into the opening music that I was gonna sneeze, and I'm like, I what I can't do anything about it. I was trying to get it to happen faster so that it would happen before I had to start talking, and I I I couldn't force it. I know it seemed like I wanted to talk as much as we did about that, but I didn't. There's something about your face that says tell me more about your sneeze. I do have an inviting face. Alright, Ben. Moving on. Okay. You're listening to life from the path. Mike, how do you sneeze? I don't. Alright. Fine. Okay. That's that's manly. I don't? Right. What? Okay. Here's what we got going on the show. You never see John Wayne sneezing. No. That's true. He's got true grit. Not even once. Or Yule for that matter. Yeah. Yul Brenner? Yeah. Who's that? He was he was the the pharaoh from the 10 commandments movie. Also, the king and I.

King and I. Yeah. I got the joke. I I got it. Oh, I didn't recognize the joke in there. Oh. Okay. Here's what we got going on the show. First of all, let's take care of some let's get down to business. Marshall had a solicitation from the complaint line and says that his brother, as a police officer in Texas,

ended up sharing coffee at the Sandra Bullock's house after some sort of domestic disturbance that I don't think was at her house. Was just in the neighborhood. Yeah. What? Yeah. With the Sandra Bullock? Yeah. The Sandra Bullock. I mean, she's a list celebrity. Does that beat biking with Billy Shatner? Yes. It's it's still brothers. It's no. It's not a direct connection. Right. Agreed. But still, like, Bullock with with Bill Shatner is cool, but, like, sharing a coffee in the home of Sandra Bullock. The home. Yeah.

Yeah. That's like that's not running into Sandra Bullock out in the wild and going, hello, missus Bullock. I know this is probably something you get a lot, but I I'm a fan. Yeah. Missus is like, hey. Would you like to come and, like, sit at my table with me? She probably made the coffee. You're drinking coffee made by Sandra Bullock. Did Shatner make any type of beverage or food? No. Yeah. That's probably just a water bottle. Yeah. He got to use her weighers. Like a star bar or something. Yeah. I think that would that's the topper. Yeah. I think that wins. What if what if if Bill Shatner had allowed Dan's brother to ride his bike? No. Mean, it would be closer. Now hold on. What if story, but I don't think it'd beat it. If Willie Shatner brought that bike from home and didn't just get it for the ride, because I don't think he probably brought his personal rig. I think he borrowed a bike. Oh. Yo. That would have been cooler. Yeah. Like, he had Yeah. Like, this is the personal bike of of Billy Shatner, and I know He shows up. He's like, you might think this is a rental, but nope. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my. Yeah. I think the Sandra Bullock story wins for sure. So far, Marshall, you're the winner. And I I may I

may follow-up. I think we should give you something. And so we're we're trying to figure out what to what to hand out. We lost our hat supplier. But we won't, like, sign a shirt for you because that would lower its value. Do we have a mug? Like, ride from the path mug? Yeah. We could do that. Oh, yeah. That's even better. Okay. Okay. I've what's we're gonna talk. We're gonna talk, Marshall. Hey. One, thank you for listening to the program. It made our week, and I'm glad you were so far the winner of the world's best celebrity story. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Here's going on the show this evening. One, I wanna talk about,

is this wrong? Now I know this sounds like is this love, the video the game. Is this love? No. It's not. That's wrong to do. That's that was a good example of something that shouldn't have been done. Ah, got it. Okay. So the question is, is there anything where as a man who follows Jesus, you think to yourself, You know, I believe this thing or feel this way or have this attitude towards something, and is that wrong? You feel like it might be a borderline problem. I

got a couple of submissions then. Okay. Mike's got a couple of boobies. You've been churning one? I've been trying to, but I keep forgetting it. Okay. I'm drop one just so you guys understand so you know what the tense of it is. Don't think

I don't spend too much time nor do I think it's all that important knowing how horrendous the crucifixion was of Jesus. Like as in the visceral details or the pain? Yeah, I just don't I think we over I don't wanna say overcook them, but, like, we spend a lot of time talking Yeah. About that And, like, I just don't I just don't know how important it is. Like, he wasn't just killed. He was killed in this heinous manner. We've got the word excruciating from it, stuff like that. Yeah, and so we'll talk about why I think that. That's my first submission, so we talk about that. Like that's an example as a pastor of the Lord's service, look at all the details that

people often talk about in the crucifixion and I go, Okay. Is that wrong? That's going to be the question. Yeah. Okay. Also, there was an article in the Christian Post and the question is, What is the one question you should ask at any church? Like every church owes you an answer? Is this the premise?

Maybe you're trying to decide whether you're gonna go there. Oh, okay. Got it. This is of all the questions that you could ask, which this is the one. This is the one you gotta ask. So Okay. We'll we'll hit that one up. I'm pretty sure I dis I'm gonna disagree ahead of time. What do your pot looks like? No. Oh. No. That could be it. Okay. It could be. Here's the weird part. I don't like twice baked potatoes, and it's because I think they're gross, but I figured that

the only time I've ever had them is at church potlucks, and there's no way that they're making them wrong. Like, that has to be the best place to get a twice baked potato. Oh, actually, here's the consideration. If you're getting a twice baked potato at a church potluck, they didn't bake it they didn't cook it twice that day. They had cooked it once, like, four or five days ago. It's possible. Yeah. Did not use them all. You're get it's leftovers is what it is. What about what about scallop potatoes? Same. I don't like scalloped potatoes either. No. What? A get that. I love potatoes. All forms of potatoes except for twice baked and scalloped. What do you never mind. We don't need to get you Scalloped is just how you cut it. Right? That's it? Well, scalloping is the way that you cut it and cooking it in, like, a cheesy creamy sauce. Yeah. How can that be bad? I don't understand what you don't like about it. But it is bad. Is it because it's there's no, like, crispy texture to it at all? It's just straight Yeah. Like, cooked but not mashed potatoes. Eating a it's like eating a limp handshake. That's what it feels like. It's like eating a limp Right. Right. You licked the hand of a 95 year old man with no strength. Yeah. They gave you the cold fish, and then all of a sudden you're trying to eat it. What wrong with the two of right. Okay. So anyway, put the thought on it. Like,

what one question. Shake a hand of an older gentleman? Yes. And then you hold on to it a little bit longer. You're like, I'm looking to see if there's pulse here. Right? Like, their hands are so cold that you're like, I'm just I'm not a 100% certain. He might have died in your arms tonight. It must have been something you said. I'm always afraid. Here's I'm not a stern handshaker. Like, some of these guys are trying to demonstrate how much testosterone they got, giving me the handshake. Like, hey, buddy. In fact, I there was a there was a a pastor, I'm gonna say acquaintance, I ran into, like, six or seven weeks ago. And not only did he bring up I had, like, a hole in my jeans. He's like, hey, man. Like, nice hole in your pants. I'm like, how manly is that? The first thing you noticed was a hole in my drawers. Yeah. Gross. But secondly, this guy shakes a hand, like, the more manly of his like, the American Gladiator. He's the guy who wins the mountain. Turbo. Yeah. If he he's gonna squeeze my hand Wolf is coming for you. I'm like, dude, like, strength like, power in a man is strength under control, not unrestrained strength to show how much you can squeeze a man. And so but, anyway, I I've often am not sure how hard to squeeze the hand of an elderly gentleman. Yeah. Because I you don't wanna cold fish him to Mike's point. Yeah. It makes him feel like less of a feller. Yeah. He got cold fished. You gotta give him a stern. Let me let me ask you two fellas. Is this actually something that you're thinking about when you're going to shake someone's hand? Yes. Yeah. What? Yeah. You don't just shake the hand? No. I shake a lot of hands, though. Think of think of how many old fellas you've abused. I think I think it's a I don't come in for a power grip.

I think it's not actually my move. It's a skill, not a talent. I think the more often you do it, the more you just find the sweet zone. It's like driving without knowing what the speed limit is. Yeah. Like, you automatically just kinda get there after you've been driving a while. Lot of houses. I bet this is 25 to 35 will stay in there. And you don't even think about it. Your foot just kinda muscle memory is back to where it belongs. Yeah. I think hand shaking's the same way. You just gotta do it a lot. In fact, if you are wondering to yourself, how can I become a get out of my amateur status as a handshaker? You just need to do more of it. Shake hands with the person running the register at the at the grocery store. Shake hands with all kinds of people. Every time the Amazon guy goes shows up at your place, give him a shake. Yeah. Hey, buddy. Appreciate that package once you lay five on me. Yeah. Yeah. Don't don't do any of that. Let's exchange calm sweat because we're close. I'm gonna I'm gonna counter all that and don't do any of that. Okay. How did you get good at it? I I don't know if I'm good or bad at it. I just shake hands. Like, it's there's no thought process that goes into my mind as I'm shaking somebody's hand. Okay. I want you to think about that advice Buba just gave, and he's probably not even good. Yeah. He grabs the wrist and then just shakes your whole arm. Yeah. I go for the full forearm check like I'm a Viking, and I'm like, did you know the historical accuracy of this is that I'm checking for a dagger that might be underneath your bracer? Actually, I don't know about people that they go in this is more apt in church circles, but, like, they'll shake your hand, and then they'll put their other hand on your shoulder.

Like Yeah. Yeah. That's weird. Like a presidential power move. Yeah. I don't know about that. I I yeah. I don't, like, hate it or anything, but I don't understand what to do once it's happened. I mean, that's the same move you would do if you were gonna knee a man in the funny bits. Yeah. That's true. You're squaring him up. If you're about to give him the roadhouse, you would totally square him up that way. Okay, Dalton. You walk in. You shake sand, put your hand in your shoulder, and then knee him in the in the gibblies? Yeah. That's wrong. I didn't say I did. I'm just saying that's why I'm wary of it. It feels like the same thing a man would do or if he's gonna kidnap you. Either way, I don't I thought you trust me. I feel like anytime I've ever done the second hand, it's been to try and comfort the person. Yeah. But that's the thing. It's a power comfort move. You're you're basically saying of of between you and I, I am the more comforting person, and you're forcing your comfort on me, which I don't even want. I am uncomfortable with your comfort. Is this something y'all think about if somebody puts their hand on your shoulder? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I think about that. Yeah. We I I was talking about this actually with one of our kids in youth group about you specifically. Like, like, people have a thing where they're like they go up to meet somebody and they're worried like, well I it's they get some real nervous because they're like, what if they don't like me or what if I don't like them? What if we don't vibe together or whatever? I said, Buva does not that doesn't cross his mind. Like, he just rolls up to people and he doesn't think, I wonder what they'll think of me. Right? He just goes up and just, like, has that's it. That's it doesn't like, it's not part of the process. Yeah. I said, me, it's like, it's definitely part of my process. I wonder what they think of me, what I'm gonna say, what I what should my opening line should be, like, how are we gonna shake hands if that's what if they want a fist bump? Will I awkwardly change to it? And, like, all these things run through my head because I'm socially awkward. And, like, some people are just not wired that way. They just walk up and they're like they have a confidence about the way that even if they're not actually confident people, but when they go meet other people, they're not, like, super concerned about it, And some people just very much are. That's crazy to me because, like, I think you are the more socially cool guy than I am in most situations. Mhmm. No. Yeah. I'm super worried about all that stuff all the time. Yeah.

Yeah. Me too. Okay. Interesting. Yeah. No. I don't I don't have that thought, but I generally don't have a lot of confidence in myself, whereas you two are the exact opposite. Like, you guys think, well, I think you guys have a have a a better, feel for yourselves in internally, at least, than I would say, and I don't think you guys are that socially awkward. No. Yeah. I would say in general, I don't have I don't find a compelling reason to be disappointed or wary of myself, but I am wary of other people. Oh, interesting. Okay. Yeah. You should have seen like, for example, my wife wasn't feeling well this week, and so I said, okay. I and the kids had a dentist appointment, so I'm gonna take the kids to the dentist appointment. I'm like, it's no problem, right? Well, I take the kids out there and then they go in there and they do their cleaning and then they get seen by the doctor, the doctor, dentist person. And the dentist person says, hey, we need to talk to you, come back. And I'm like, oh no, This is gonna be horrible. Oh, boy. And they're sitting there. They're explaining these things. They're like, your kids, something or other, blah blah blah. They need to do this. And I'm like, I'm gonna be real honest with you. I'm gonna stop you right there. I'm not the button pusher at my house. So, like, you should write this all down in some kind of estimate or whatever you think the problem is. But,

like, all the things you're saying What do we need for the body? Not only do I I will not be enforcing, I don't even know half the products you're talking about. And, frankly, like, it seems like you should be yelling at the kid. I don't know why you're telling me. Right? Like, if they're not brushing or flossing right, like, why are you talking to me? You should just be like, hey. Look. You don't you're not flossing right, child. You're, like, 14 or 15 years old. You're responsible. But she's telling me, like, I'm supposed to do something about it. I'm like, I don't know. Like, I can talk to them in the car and be like, look. You embarrassed all of us at the dentist. Right? We all got yelled at. Not only did you get embarrassed, like, did you get talking to, but then I had to come in and get it talking to. Oh, yeah. And I didn't deserve any of this. Things I need to be prepared for as I try and become a dad. I reference that to the children most of the time. I said, you better clean up the place over there or you're gonna get us bolting trouble. Yeah. Yeah. Doctor's like, listen. This is imperative. You do blah blah blah blah. I'm like, I don't know if it's imperative. Oh, crap. And then I got in the car and promptly told the kids, like, look, man. If you go to the the foot doctor, they're gonna come up with $10,000 worth of footwork you need to do. I said, you go to the heart doctor, they're gonna be like, you need to get rid of all this and this and this. The dentist is the same way. So here's the deal. You get a finite amount of money, and then you start doing some weighing. And you go, what what can I afford to do? Like, because New heart valve or new teeth? New teeth. You know what I'm saying? We're gonna go heart valve on that one. You know? And so I said, just be careful as you get older. You're gonna go to specialist. And, like, is this lady very good at her job? Yes. I find her to be super intelligent. She's probably right about everything she said. It'd be sheer arrogance to be like, I don't believe that. You know what I'm saying? She's dentist. You know? Like, I I believe Buddhist? I believe everything she's saying. But truth of the matter is, I mean, like, if you breathe out your mouth, I don't know if we're gonna you know what I'm saying? We're gonna have some kind of $10,000 surgery so we can get the breath back into the nose like they're supposed to. I'm like, I I don't know, man. God gave a couple options. I'll just use one pretty much my lip. A couple options is a great ways greatest way to put that. Anyway, what were we talking about? Okay. So the question, the question you ask at the churches. Oh, yeah. Okay. Do that one. The premise, they said the unexpected question to ask at church, but then they just said some of the best learning experiences a leader come when you ask a good question. Listen, after twenty five years of researching churches, I found one question more than any other seems to get people talking. The question is, what gets your church most excited?

I hate this article. Let me ask you this question, fellers. What would be an answer of what you would like to hear? What gets your church most excited? Yeah. Yeah. Now here's like, let's presume that almost like a bunch of the churches are gonna go, Oh, Jesus. Right. And you're gonna go, Is that wrong? Yeah. Of course not. Okay. We're gonna go, Yeah. I'm excited that you're excited about Jesus.

The gospel being preached. Yeah. Is that different? That one feels different. I feel like mine's people get baptized. Our church gets pretty excited about people getting baptized. Yeah. But we also don't like but here's the thing. It's like they have big old churches who are running baptism once a month. They're running 50 people through there or whatever. And, like, we get a couple, and we're like, yes. We get we we got to great. We clear the calendar. We clear the calendar. We're not doing anything else. It's only baptism. That's it. I feel like my the the the answer I would wanna hear the most is, like, we take care of babies. Like, we adopt babies. We take care of babies across the world. We help foster babies. We, you know, do all that kind of stuff. Okay. Like, you deal with little children well. Yeah. So what gets your church most excited? If they said, we're we're in we're in the world to take care of babies. Hold on. So, like, would this question be helpful to figure out, like, what elbow, hands, feet, whatever, that God has your church doing? Is that why that's a helpful question? Because, like, there are churches that they're organized for missional work. They're organized for homeless outreach. So, like, you know, they don't try to put their hand in every bucket. They're like, we know what god's god is doing. It's x. Yep. You know? And so, like, if if if god doesn't have your heart tuned to that, then you're like, okay. I love you guys. This is not my place. Right. These are not this is not my people, my village.

And so That's fine. Is that why that that question's a a really good question? Because let's just assume all the other boxes are ticked. Right? Yeah. They are preaching faithfully out of the bible. You know, they love Jesus, and they they hold scripture in high regard and, you know, they they love the world. They love the people. Right? So, like, yeah, I suppose if you take all that other stuff out of there and go, you know, what what the better question would be, what does God have your church doing? Like, what does God have this this community doing? And is there a thing? Is there a specific thing? And often there is. And what's interesting is oftentimes it's related to the passions of the pastor.

They're passionate about it and then other people come along, which is a good leadership thing. Right, get them fired up. I was trying to think of whether, like at our church, would we be able to answer that? Baptisms, I think, is right. We would say, Yes, we get jazzed up at baptisms. Is there a specific thing our church is to do? Probably not actually. Like we're scattered. We're a group of randos. We're like, God seems to be doing different things through different types of people.

So it be one thing, which from my perspective is just as good an answer as any. Agreed. Just feet moving. Yeah. It is an interesting conversation though. The same thing you would ask yourself personally. Is there something unique that God is doing through me that I need to respond to as opposed to just like you could do anything, which of course you could.

And as a church, as God set you up in such a way that you get to do like you would best be served to go be part of this type of service or whatever goes on the church. Yeah. I don't know. It's an interesting question that probably it's unfair to be boxed in by a single answer, but it is an interesting conversation to see what people would say. Yeah. Yeah. Are there any answers if somebody said it to you, you'd go, I thank you very much, but I'm gonna be heading down the road. Church attendance. Yeah. I think if you were, like excited when what what if they said when new people are here? That's a different thing than when all of our our when when we see more and more people showing up. I said I well, yeah. Or if they said we want we wanna get more people in the door,

I don't know. I don't think that would probably tick a box for me. Like, I understand the concept of why a lot of people would take that in and go, yeah. Wouldn't you want more people in here because we're showing people Jesus, and that means that more people are listening to them? But I think that that's not actually a lot of the times that that equates to. It turns into a numbers game. Okay. And it just doesn't seem that that that runs in line with with what I've heard. So as a as a parlay maybe into the into the the question thing, like, it wrong to think that, like, if like, God will send people. Like, the thought is is, like, you don't have to actively try to gain people in your church congregation. God will send them. Is that wrong to think?

No, I don't think it's wrong to think, but it also is probably not a complete thought. Like, so God I think God will send them, but, like, I generally think that God is not sending people into situations of which are not beneficial for them. Right. Right. And so some of it does depend not on necessarily your evangelism,

but on your obedience and faithfulness. And it doesn't mean God will not send them somewhere else or otherwise handle with them differently. But like, I do think that faithfulness to God is attractional and it attracts people in the same way which we could say God will send them or God will draw people to follow him within certain groups of people because they are otherwise behaving in a way of which points them back to Jesus. And so it's not that your behavior doesn't matter.

It's just that you're psychologizing your salesmanship, your marketing budgets, that kind of stuff I'm less concerned about than I would be about your faithfulness to Jesus and its expression in your everyday life. Then I do believe God will send the people. Yeah. Because what we're saying is, like, because God tends to use humanity to do good things in his world, right, like, your behavior does matter, your actions do matter,

But, like, when we're talking about selling it as if it's a thing, that's probably less important. See, I would put that on of no importance. Like, I would rather print out no pamphlets, no Facebook announcements,

nothing, and just go, God will send people based on our faithfulness to the good news and the way we live our lives, and just watch that play out. Yeah. I think the risk not that some of that stuff can well, it can work, but it depends what you mean by work. And the thing is that like if through some other non kind of relational means you pulled in, let's say, 100 people next month, how many of those people are actually going to stay at the church and are interested in a relationship with Jesus or otherwise just wanted to meet people in the community or whatever they were compelled to come to do? And

there's a use of your time and resources for 90 people who aren't gonna stay and maybe 10 do. And maybe that's I mean, 10 is still great. But like, is it possible God would otherwise have just handled the way that those 10 interact with churches through no budget or whatever? I don't know. Here's the thing is that like it would take you would never be able to try it in isolation. Same way you can't test communism or pure capitalism. Like, we just don't we're not in a situation where you could actually see it all the way through to be able to say. And can God do whatever he wants with even a poorly worded pamphlet? Well, of course He can. It's the problem with all Christian behavior is that like, Well, it works, didn't it? Like, It worked, didn't it? And like, I don't know. Of course, God can work through whatever fallible offering you have, but how much of it reflects a human initiative and inertia and how much of it reflects just faithfulness to God and letting Him handle the ends? Yeah. It's not like as soon as the Ethiopian eunuch thing happened that they were out trolling the forest hoping to find another broke down dude. You know? Right. Maybe we could talk to this guy. Actually, was I was running through my mind from earlier is if I think about the book of Acts, how many of those were they being super intentional about any of these behaviors? Like,

know, people getting flagged down on the road, they were teaching in a house, they were talking at the temple like they normally would, they're on their way to the temple and they see the dude at the gate. They're all just like Like, none of these are like set up events per se. Places They're where they normally do things, hang out. Now, just like Jesus was willing to set up shop and teach in the temple, like that is it is an event. Like if you had a if a current pastor just decided to set up shop at a college, like, it would be a similar type of thing. But, yeah, there isn't any like, Hey, we set up an event and people came or didn't came. They just did the thing or they heard another event was going on and Paul goes, Hey, I'd like to speak at that. I wonder if they'll let me talk to him. Yeah. I think they just showed up where people were.

Yeah. They went about their daily lives and then interacted. Like, they didn't back away from interacting in society as it happened. No. And so I don't know. Like, seems like a very like we have to be super I in my mind, I don't do those things naturally. I don't go I don't interact in outside stuff very naturally. I have to be intentional about doing it. And so all of it feels like a put on to me

versus not like an event type of thing, but just a, Hey, would I walk into some event where someone was talking about worshiping some other god? Would I feel natural to walk in there and go, Hey, can I offer Yahweh into the conversation? I have a thought. Feel That or even, you know, Paul talking about in the Garden of the Gods, you know, like talking about all the Greek religions and stuff. Like again, I think it takes a certain type of dude to be able to be part of that kind of thing. But in general, I don't know.

Would it work if we just stopped doing all of it and just did the following Jesus part and did like no marketing, no events, no nothing? Would it work? Yeah. I don't know. Interesting. So we're gonna say it's not wrong. It's not wrong. It's not wrong. I think well, I I think it's not wrong and it takes all kinds. Yeah. Agreed. But I would be cautious on how many things like, well, yeah, we we we're just throwing it out there, but like, God'll, you know, God'll do what he wants with it. I mean, yeah. But, like, wouldn't I rather wouldn't I rather just default to God will do what he wants with my faithfulness,

not God will do what he wants with my innovative idea Right. To try to get more people to arbitrarily show up here. I bet people will will show up more likely if they see us at car washes. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. And, like, again got the same shirt on. People's hearts are good. People's intentions are good. Yeah. And so, I'm I'm trying to be cautious here about overdrawing a line about I'm not sure it's wrong. I'm just not sure it's it's not the only way to go about it. Well, I think it's also it's a different understanding of what church is. Like, are we drawing people to the building for the event or are we out in the world as lights for Jesus? Like, I think those are two different concepts that that I've seen churches get right, and I've seen churches get wrong. Yeah. And so, like, it really is understanding what your responsibility is, trying to find what God's got you doing. And a lot of the times, like, you don't have to go on a giant, like, worldwide mission trip. You could figure out that you're at the same come and go every week and, like, you run into Steve. And, like, maybe that's where Jesus has you being a light, and, like, that is where that work comes from. There's no marketing team. There's no pamphlets. There's no nothing. It's just you're in the same place, and that's the circle that you're next to. Yeah, it does. It is interesting to think about just like you live your life, like you live your days. Yeah, right. You grow the church like you grow your relationships.

And so like, again, as opposed to thinking that someone else in the machinery is making disciples, like, if everybody just kinda made disciples in their own corners, like, then there would be disciples being made. Right. Very rarely have I heard the whole I mean, I've been doing this trying to figure out this Christianity thing for almost twenty years now since I was a kid, and, like, very rarely do I hear stories where God just flat out like, no conversation with anybody else, they see marketing materials or they see a sign and they're just flat out brought to the building. Like, that happens. I've heard that happen before where somebody's, like, out driving drunk, and they see a sign and they just go, man, I gotta be there. And they they they walk into a room and there's a pastor there, and they're able to to to get that connection. But, like, a lot of the times, like, it's not marketing. It's just it's Jesus' people being out in the world Yeah. And, like, being light, being salt kind of stuff. I'm out there and people see that. Okay. Alright. So alright. Let's flow in then to is this wrong? So my is this wrong?

Is the amount of detail that we often talk about and even show, so think Passion of the Christ, think the things that maybe get taught in churches on Good Friday, and it's just the kind of excruciating

violent detail about Jesus' crucifixion. And so my caution, I suppose, is that like, it's not that I don't understand it

and I think there is some relevance to it. Like I get it but oftentimes what we're trying to do is go like, do you realize how much he suffered and died for you? But

what it pits is like the earthly suffering that he took on your behalf, like you totally belong to you, I guess. Although, I mean, you weren't a rebel against the Roman government or the current Jews. There's plenty of people who that There's also plenty of people who died who did die that way who weren't Jesus. And interestingly enough,

the Bible does not go into very much detail about it. Like there is detail that we have. Like we know the whipping, we know the crown of thorns, we understand the crucifixion and the wine. But like that level of detail, like, excuse me, there's a lot more detail in other biblical stories that aren't like the crucifixion. Yeah. And there's a lot of things that we've had to know historically, which I think is good for context. But I just it almost feels I think it can feel manipulative to me. Like, don't you owe it to Jesus to believe in him?

Because of what he did. And and I think I think that frames your relationship with God incorrectly. There are parts of it which otherwise helps you understand your own shortcomings and the repercussions of it. This goes to a conversation we're having, I think before show started, around thankfulness. Like one of the things that was occurring to me is like we were born wealthy

in the grace of Jesus. I have never known a period of time of which the sacrifice of Jesus was not known to me and available in my life and I cannot even give it up to experience for a while to come back to recognize that I'm so blessed. Like someone who grew up with a million dollars, you could take their million dollars away and make them live on their own for six months and then they're like, now I really understand how lucky my situation was or fortunate I was and so I'll appreciate and use my money wisely. I cannot give up the grace of Jesus in any way to experience it without it. And so like we are simply blind, flush and rich with the grace of Jesus and so it runs the risk that we're not thankful. We don't feel a level of thankfulness because we're used to it. But

anyway, long story short, like does it feel is it wrong? Is it wrong that I don't feel either, like, super emotionally connected nor that it is all that important to go into extensive detail about the violence behind Jesus' crucifixion? Is that wrong? Here's the thing is I think

that it's a cultural thing because we're largely desensitized to most things. Mhmm. Right? And so, like, I think that we've been leaning in on the violence thinking that, like, because we can't feel the heart weight, you know, of of of, like, of the weight of our sin, and once again, because we've always had the the riches of the grace of Christ. Right? And so, like, we we don't feel that. And, like, we were talking about that before the show a little bit is, like, I feel slightly guilty that, like, I don't

have this big buildup to Easter, and, like, it is a great celebration for me, and, I do realize the celebration, and but I don't, like, feel this weight. Like, I almost asked God to put the weight on me so I would feel like the weight that's been taken off and like he won't do it. So as much as like it feels like you're getting away with something, Right? Like, I understand the implications of of of Easter and resurrection from the dead and the clearing of my sin debt. And, like, I know what it feels like to be loaded down with sin and then what it feels like to have him take that off of me. That feeling, I know. But like as we approach Easter of the one defining moment that we use to point all to the cross and go, This is what makes this this.

You know, like, Ah, you know, like that big weight doesn't show up. And so I think we've been pressing in as a culture into the violence part thinking like, maybe we can feel it this way. He shock it out of you. You can realize how bad this actually was. Because, like, the thing that is the most appalling about all of that is that and, like, this works for me, and maybe it doesn't it won't seed any ground for you, but, like, I just keep thinking about Jesus coming down into an ant farm where the ants rebel against him for trying to show them how to build tunnels and move the food. You know what I'm saying? Like, he he makes himself the creator of the ant farm, like creates like, shrinks down and goes, they're struggling. I'm gonna I'm gonna help them figure this out, only to have them completely turn on you and kill you for trying to show them how the ant farm was designed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know? And like, I find that, like, like, that I can sit in and go, that's, like, outrageous and Yeah.

And like, it's it's it's just so ridiculous and it paints human sin so correctly, you know? And the fact that he died and defeated death, that's the big bell ringer, not how he got there. Granted, how he got there was rough, but he was rough anyway. Like, his own creation is turning on him in complete blindness. That was his heartbreaking. Like, with the where he approached it with nothing but generosity

and and, like, attempt for freedom and clarity, and to watch your own creation, like with vitriol, like just mow you down, hate everything you say, slander you, say everything you say is a lie, like, just that is appalling, you know? But like we don't feel

that well, you know? So I think that we've centered in on the violence going, Well, there's a cat of nine tails involved that's got razors on it. Right. You know? And so we're like, Can you just feel that? Can you feel that? But here's the thing, it's like our culture is past that too, right? Like we have like if you find people twenty five years ago, there's a good 75% of the population. If you said, you get in a fist fight in high school? They're like, yeah, I've been in one, you know, at least one of them. That is not the same numbers anymore. We're not a conflict society anymore. And so, like, that doesn't I don't think that rings the bell either. So now it's almost gratuitous, you know? Yeah.

Okay. Alright. Buva, did you have a is this wrong? No. I don't think so. I think that that I I would echo a lot of the things you guys are saying is is ultimately, we have we have made a a a drama out of, like, the the gore of the sacrifice.

But, like, if I just find out that the lamb was sacrificed, like, that should be powerful enough that it took on things that it didn't need to, and it was pure, and it was it was unblemished and all those things. Like, that has power in and of itself not to know and I don't need to know how the the lamb was slaughtered. Like, just to know that a perfect being and a sinless and blameless thing took on all sin, all blame, all of that for us is a powerful message and doesn't need to be backed up by by, you know, visceral things. Yeah. And I think, you know, Mike, you touched on this a little bit. This is the the murderous intent and the the gore of the moment was not the most power powerful thing or the biggest offense against Yahweh. Like, Yahweh had been offended for thousands of years by this point in time by the same peoples. Like, he knew what he was going to have to do all the way back into Genesis. Like, you've got you've got the the situation with him and Abraham. Like, he knew he was gonna have to be the one to take on the the the consequences of this covenant that he knew his people were going to break. Like,

his I I think I've I've heard I've of the concept of God's heart being called like His gift house, like the house that He gives beautiful things from and stuff like that, like that had been broken by His people for years because the gifts that He had been given had been trampled upon Mhmm. And, like, the blessings that he'd give them had been stomped upon. And the people that he put forth, his prophets, and all these different things that he did, for his people and delivered them from so many things, they had been perverting that and spitting at him for forever.

And so, like, to take in the whole span of that story up to that point, that's more impactful to me than is the nature of of the murder that was placed upon Jesus. Mhmm. Okay. Alright. Alright. Well okay, Mike. Was that did we hit your example then? No. What was what's yours? Is this wrong? That's what you Oh, I have a couple. Okay. Yeah. Hit let's hit with one. So wait. Your answer was, I I think we're saying no. It's not wrong to think that, like, we might be over cranking on the physical violence part. Yeah, I think so. Mine's gonna be completely one-sided because these are things that I would like to do.

Appreciate being honest with So my question is, is this wrong? Like, can I love and follow Jesus all of my days, maintain a slight potty mouth, and continue chewing tobacco?

So here I can play on both sides of this coin, right, because this is not foreign to me. If someone came up to me with the same question, I would say, You have the same freedom in having the potty mouth as you do in not having it. So if it causes someone to stumble or look the gospel differently, why would you keep it? There's not really a good reason to keep it. And as far as the like, let's just put it in the line of

smoking, drinking, chewing tobacco, let's say, occasional casino visiting or whatever. Like like, we're gonna call them the the almost the comical vices. Right? Like, the one if they wanna set an example, they're like, gambling.

Does the bible even say not to gamble? No. I don't think so. It comes from money. I mean believe this for a long time, but now that I'm thinking about it Because I've had this conversation before. I don't I was never able to find anything because I I was, like, confronted by someone that it was sin. While you were at the casino? No. Just somebody found out that I had gone to the casino before, and it really irked them. Oh. And, like, they were like, you know, gambling is a problem. Like, that's absolutely against God. It's Do a quick Google on it. Let's say ask if, does the does the Bible have gambling as a sin? Yeah. Because I can't think of anything. I'm trying to think if I can think of any of Yahweh's people that would draw straws. I mean, I think Or cast lots. I think seventy thirty meat from the Walmart is also a gamble. There's all kinds of like, driving. That's a gamble. There's other people out on the road. You know? Okay. Boob is gonna look this up. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, as far as the chewing tobacco thing goes or smoking or drinking, gambling, whatever. So once again, I think if it owns you,

the answer is, yeah, Jesus died to offer you freedom, and that includes freedom from even thing that appears good. As soon as the thing turns into a slavery and it owns you and is chaining you, then it's not a freedom anymore. And so

if I was gonna self diagnose, I would go, look, does the thing own you? And I'd say some days, yeah, probably. And then some days, no, I just like it. There's like my soda drinking or something. So can you because I've seen people do this is the reason I'm asking, right? Like, I've seen people who, like, they have this thing or this habit or whatever and, the grace of God in their eyes is not in their lives

because they screwed up and bought six Cokes today or whatever they did. You know I'm saying? Six Cokes or a pack of smokes or whatever they do. You know what I'm saying? And so my question is, is it wrong to think that you can keep, as the world would define it, as an unhealthy habit for all your days?

And is God like, is it implicit that God is trying to free you from that? Or does he go, I don't know. I created tobacco. Have one. You know what saying? Like, does it own you? Right? Do you worship it? Does it are you running to it during stress or are you running to it as your peace? Then that's problem. Right? Like or, like, are you trying to get joy from it? Because it doesn't offer that. But, like, God also knows that, like, chicken is delicious and you know what I'm saying? And, like, a nice warm meal is a comfort that he put into this world that you don't worship but you sure want. So was I mean, so was more wine at the wedding. So so was more wine at Yeah. The Yeah. So I I think that a lot of these things get bucketed under your body as a temple and so, are you treating it like you would treat the temple? Oddly enough, the reference tends to be people thinking about, Do we keep the church itself clean? Like what do we mean the body? The temple was dirty. I don't know what to tell you. There were like hundreds of thousands of people there during the Passover feast and like It's a particularly clean society. It's like the Iowa State Fair after There's one

birds crapping everywhere. Like, this is not a clean plate. Mean, the Holy of Holies for sure. But, like, God dwells among you and, like, he's offended by the Twinkie, I think is the I think is the perception. I I think it's wrong. Like, I I think it's I think it's a wrong way to look at it. I think you you got the right things. Does it own you? Right. Is it stealing things from you? Like your health. You could put those things into a bucket. You could, but you could also like your health. Remember everyone will tell you that some of the context of the New Testament story of the prodigal son is that the elderly man or not the elderly man, the dad doesn't run. It's crazy that he runs.

Do you remember that? Yeah. Okay. I mean, that's cultural. The man never runs. You know what He does not exercise. He gets old enough and his children who can work the land, work the land and he does not do a bunch of physical labor. It's dishonorable for him to be doing a bunch of stuff like that. And so he

also could probably live longer if he continued to do physical labor, if he jogged a few miles every other day, if he didn't have a Mediterranean diet primarily focused on olives, like all kinds of things. There always is a potential imbalance. But think about it this way, Ignore the convenience of how easy it is to get food and tobacco and stuff around the world now. Take a thousand years off the clock. You were stuck with whatever you could eat where that was local to you.

So think about the mix of foods available to certain peoples, especially during certain times of year around certain parts of the world. They did not have a balanced diet. It wasn't even possible to balance your diet. There's certain parts of the world like they subsist almost primarily on grain, like they're barely touching a vegetable.

And so, like our concept of what it is to serve God cannot be explicitly bound by our notion of health that is new as of the last forty years and our ability to get food around and bananas out of season delivered to my household or whatever. Same thing similarly, like there are plenty of cultures who have like been using tobacco forever. Right. Right. Is that the primary thing that's killing people? No, it's actually the stuff we put in the poison. And so like you openly going, yes, I continue to ingest poison. Selfish

is the problem. Yeah. Like it's a self centered thing to go, yes, but I like it and I don't care the impact to my family or friends or the stuff that I could good things that I can do in the Lord's service here because I just like poison. Okay, that's a mistake. So I it's wrong just fundamentally to have to go, Do I have to give up things that aren't sin

but they are known as vices because they could be misuse of your time or harmful to your body? Because I think you can get super legalistic about it. However, what I would say is I would certainly prey on it and you better gosh darn well have them on the table and say, Hey man, if you're asking for the tobacco, it's yours. Like it's gone directly.

Because if it's an idol, if I reach for it as opposed to you, if I misuse it, if I'm like spending 30% of my family's income to go gamble or on alcohol when there's other place it should be doing good service into the world. Like they tend to be balanced problems. They tend to be holy spirit inquiries, but not don't think it's wrong that they exist. Yeah. Even the six Cokes.

What about the swearing? Actually, that would have been another one in my bucket is that like swearing is is a cultural thing. Yeah. What we even determine is a swear word is is largely agreed upon by groups of or disagreed upon by groups of people. But they tend to point towards unsavory things or unsavory attitudes. Yeah. And so like this is where I would draw is it depends on which word you're using and also use depends for me on the context of which you're using Like

I would say you shouldn't be crass. You shouldn't be having crass things come out of your mouth, but you can be crass using words that are perfectly acceptable to use in common company. The problem is that it's crass. If you slip and fell on your behind and you

said, Damn, I don't care. You didn't try to damn someone to hell. It's just like this is the word that was in your mouth and you used it when you fell down. So like, I don't care. That stuff doesn't bother me. Even you get to the lower level swears, I'm like, I don't care. But if you use them for like a lot of those, which you may use kind of casually but not in own in its right context, it's less of a problem to me than if you're using almost all swear words point to something crass. And if you're using in those terms, then, yeah, I think you have a problem and you shouldn't be speaking crassly like that. Even if you're not speaking crassly but you're using those words, do you have any problem with using them in front of people that it would like going back to the stumbling block conversation?

That's one of the things that I wanted to call out too is if course language, even without crass thoughts or intent, if it's going to be a problem for someone and they can't see Jesus or the gospel move because you're using those words,

put them on the table and take like, they're gone. They're gone. Like, yeah. They they don't they don't control power here, and you can clean up your your act. Like, it's fine. And, like, around you guys, I would say words that I wouldn't say around somebody that, like, I'm trying to show Jesus, and they have no idea what's happening and, like, don't have a basis of understanding that, like, I'm like, hey. I'm just using these words because it's part of my vernacular. Like, it's just but it it's it's not meant to be rude. It's not meant to be mean against anybody. I'm not insane. I'm in anger, Not being crass with my thought process. It's just it's a filler word for me. It's what I do. Nor is it hypocritical. Just like I will I don't find it hypocritical for you to, like if if you enjoy alcohol and can use it responsibly, but choose not to use it in front of people who can't handle it, you're not being a hypocrite or two faced. You're being intentional about how- not being a sex block. Yes, about stuff that otherwise might impact them. So yeah, yeah, I would say sounds put together are not inherently coarse. Right. But I think you should watch context and I think you should probably and but but, like, the meanings of some of these words, like, they're they're straight up coarse and you shouldn't use them. Yeah. Agreed. I've had more like, this is a fact too. I've had more meaningful conversations about who God is,

like, outside smoking with somebody. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's just where the conversations Some of smoke shack mentality. And, like, there's a thing about going out there and not smoking and hanging out at the smoke shack that's kinda lame. Like, you're no one wants to talk to you. No one wants to talk to the nonsmoker at the smoke shack. Do you know what I'm saying? Mhmm. And, like, I don't same vices. I'm not much of a consistent smoker anymore. That's how I got on the chew. But but, like and no one wants to go out to the chew shack. So, like, that's unfortunate. That's a horrible position. It was it was always a thing that, like

you know, I always heard people, like, beating themselves up over this thing. I'm like, you know what? I I've always approached it where I've and it's where I'm Is it wrong? Is this just lazy? Where I'm like, Look, I just need you to meet Jesus. And then when you hear his voice, he'll tell you. I don't have to go after your particular sin or be like, Well, here's what you're doing is wrong. Now, if you're asking, I'll tell you. You know how God feels about things, but when you meet him,

he'll start worming in on this. He'll start taking away stuff you thought was solid, And then he'll start pointing at other things that you're like, this has got to go, he's like, I don't care about that. You're making too big of a deal out of this. Right. Yeah. And and not to, like, prescribe a particularly low bar, but I just I want you to take in this example. The Lord talks to Noah and he says, hey. I need you to build a boat, and He does it and He floods the earth. The only man and his family are on this boat forty days, forty nights. He's seen the Lord obviously keep His Word, do powerful things. What's the first thing He does when He gets off the boat? Plants a vineyard. Naked. And then He does what? Drinks and stuff. And then He gets drunk. Now interestingly enough, the story doesn't focus on whether that Noah got drunk. The problem is what happened to him after he had gotten No, shame with his sons. Right. It's the son's problem. It's the son's sin. You

notice it says grandkids that are cursed. It's that line of people, not Noah specifically. Should he have gotten drunk? No. But they don't really belabor the point. The problem is, is like what it would have exposed you to because he had gotten drunk. The repercussions of that. Yes. And so like it's a weakness. So again, like I'm cautious on anything that otherwise doesn't put my mind in its right shape, lest I mistreat someone, lest I lower my defenses against something that otherwise might be a temptation to me. I would stay away from all that stuff for those particular reasons. But again, don't

think it's not hyper focusing on the fact that Noah got drunk. Just would Drunkenness allowed other people to have otherwise committed sinful acts in his like, because he was not on his guard. And so, yeah, I I just I don't I don't think it's wrong and I I I realize it's gonna hit some of you guys the wrong way, like how we're talking about this. Yeah. It feels cavalier in our response to certain types of language. As a matter of fact, we've talked about this on the show and I think

Dan would draw a firmer line on some of this stuff, which respect and understand. Because I think, Mike, to your earlier point, you could just as easily say why you snuggle it up to any kind of line? Like, what what does it matter? But I would but I'm not sure that the Bible set a line to begin with. It's different than what we just talked about.

You're looking like oftentimes we're looking for a clear line so that we can call balls and strikes on things. I think a lot of lot of the stuff is is more contextual than that. Again, even think of the scenarios of which just cultural backgrounds and like, here's the thing. Here's the other thing I'll say about it. The Holy Spirit will root it out. Yeah. If he wants it gone, he'll want it gone. People who faithfully follow Jesus and are listening and open to the spirit working in their lives, he will root some things out. I was okay with I know we've used this example before. Like, I was okay with downing music, downloading music from Napster until I wasn't. Yeah. And then and now it's distasteful to me. And now I won't do it even if there was legitimate reason that like you could go online and do file sharing and get some music or something like, it feels like stealing to me. Same thing with sharing digital copies of books or stuff like that where the intention isn't that you should be able to have this in multiple places to listen to. I don't share. I'm against sharing Netflix accounts and stuff like that. That's stealing to me.

And like I feel very strongly about it. Not like I'm not an advocate, I guess, but like I feel very strongly about that. And then I could really care less if you use the A word as long as you weren't using it in a course manner. Like that doesn't hit me at all as a particular problem. And I would if the sharing password sharing hadn't hit me, I probably be like, oh, well, I mean, save a few bucks. What do I care? Well, Netflix doesn't need it. But I don't. I've been very strongly convicted of something like that and have not about some of the ways we're talking about language.

We're saying tally forth, my good friend. Once again, I think all this is vetted out through personal Bible reading, praying, allowing your community to speak into it. Right? Because everyone has been on the other side of this where people can't get through a sentence without dropping the f bomb and you're like, this is just flat out distracting. Or they drink for drunkenness or they spend all their money or like, they put themselves in an early grave because they just wanted to smoke two packs a day. Right? Like, there is consequences if you follow this thing out, but like, at some point, you're worshiping these things, right? Like, they are your idols, right? If your

only coping mechanism is a chemical substance, then you've replaced the Lord Jesus with something else, you know? Yeah. And so, like, you gotta be careful because addicts are a thing, including me. Right? Like, I can come up with all kinds of ways why I should keep doing the thing I'm doing. You know, it makes perfect sense to me. You tell me that my body's a temple, I'm like, well, you find me a guy that locally sources his water and gets all the fluoride out of it before he drinks it, and then maybe we'll talk about temple. I don't care how many miles you ran today, mister fluoride. You know I'm saying? So, like, if you sin will defend itself in a very ugly way. And so, like, if you can look at yourself honestly and go, this is the sin defending itself. This is not me, like, defending good things, good and right things, you know? But, like, I could just as easily have an addiction to orange juice where I just can't get rid of And and, like, the world will accept that. They don't even care. And Jesus looks down and goes, that don't look like freedom. That looks like you're tied to OJ twenty four seven having to plan out refrigerators and, like, how many containers you got? You go, that's not freedom. So I I wanna free you from that even if the world goes, I don't care how much orange juice you drink. Yeah. Yep. Okay. Buba, did you have any did you have any examples?

I did. It it left or you found it useful? I got it. Okay. So my question of is it wrong has to do with prayer time. K. Because I find it difficult to just have

focused I'm doing nothing prayer time. Mhmm. Like, I don't know if it's, if it's ADHD or whatever. I just I I I most of the time, I find it very difficult to just sit in silence and pray. Now, I can do it. There are plenty of times I have done it, but it's definitely not my go to. I'll throw on some music or I will go for a drive or I will start doing a thing. Like, I'll start doing chores while I'm praying. And I think that, like, not that it's holier to get stuff done while I'm praying, but it just allows me to, like, let my hands be busy doing dishes while my mind's focused on prayer. Is it is it wrong that that's my default that, like, I I I have difficulty getting, like, knees on the ground and, like, head to the floor praying

and and, like, that very hyper focused. This is reverence to to Yahweh stuff like that. Like, am I wrong for not really being able to do that naturally? No. I don't think it's wrong to not be able to do it naturally. I do think it's I I think it's a skill, not a talent. Think it takes effort and practice to be able to do that.

I have the same problem. I don't know how many times I've tried to do this where I'm going to get better at praying and like my mind it feels like I'm putting on a show to be honest with Yeah, totally. It feels like I'm this does feel like play acting, like I'm hypocriting myself because I'm like, know I should do this. I think I believe that it's important and valuable. I'm gonna listen to god and like, I don't even know how I'm I'm listening right now. I don't expect god to say anything right now. I'm not demanding that he do anything. Am I just offering an hour of silence to him? Does he want it? Does he even care? Right. Is this for me? Is this for me to feel holy

or is this actually doing something? Because I also wouldn't think that God's not gonna go, well, got something that's super important to tell you as your dad, but you didn't spend four hours worth of silence You this kept talking, so I didn't talk. So you can't have it. I don't think that's true either, but I do find something I

think it is very valuable to be able to spend that kind of time. It is holy, it is purposeful, it is set apart, But right now, but I very much struggle with setting it apart. It's in ways to focus. My mind rarely focuses on anything for an extended amount of time. I can't barely do anything without reaching for my phone after two and a half minutes or something. And so

it's not a I have a problem with Yahweh, I have a problem in general with focusing. So I do think it is not wrong, but it goes to a conversation I was having with some high school kids. We were talking about how they communicate and their inclinations of their personality.

And like, it is perfectly fine if your personality inclination is introverted, but it is not an excuse to otherwise be a jerk to people or not be aware of how people might be receiving the things that you're saying to them. So like it's helpful to know your inclination

but it is not a prescription or an excuse to otherwise not change behavior. Yeah. And so I think I feel that's how I feel about my own ability to pray and focus, is that like I am not easily inclined to introspection and focus time and getting something powerful out of it. But I also don't practice it and I have to because I I don't take things in that way. I also don't look at the sun and go, God is good. Look at the sun today. Or my wife totally does that. Yeah. I I like, I don't have difficulty with reverence. Like, I can totally see, like, holy ground kind of thing where I'm like, oh, this is a this is a gigantic, loving father that I'm going to respect and ascribe worth to in these moments.

I just have difficulty being like, I'm gonna be quiet for twenty minutes and just listen, or or the whole, like, hey. I'm I'm I have to, like, be very intentional and focused in these moments. Admittedly, outside of a prayer room, it's almost impossible for me to do that. Mhmm. Like, prayer rooms get me because, like, I'll walk in. I'll turn on the boombox of of of the casting crown CD from 2006. Right? Like, that's what I can do. No problems. And then I can stare at a wall and write down names and pray through all this different stuff. But, like, outside of that, I find I it's so difficult for me to, like, wake up in the morning, open up my blinds, look at the sunrise, and go, ah, this is the Lord's day, and then fall to my knees and pray about it. Yeah. Some people take the world in like that. You know what's odd what's odd is that Paul takes the world in like that. Yeah. For being a super analytical dude, he's an argumentative dude. Yep. He's, like, a very bold and brave man. He also looks and goes, the glory of the lord is everywhere. Right. How could you deny his existence? Look at the masterpiece he painted for us this morning. And I wouldn't I just I don't, I don't take it in. I I think that there's there's wisdom in both of the things that you're saying.

But I think that there is an intentionality about it that you have to fight for. You Do know what I'm saying? And that it's probably worth fighting for. Like, not the sitting in silence for whatever an hour. Right? Like, I don't know that he necessarily is asking that out of you. He might be, you know, but you'll know that. Right. But I think, like, it's it's the it's the saying that, like, I want this to be your rhythm for this time and not mine.

You know, like, he knows intentionality. Like, he knows the posture of your heart. Right? So, like, I'll default like, if I get in there and I'm gonna sit down and I wanna pray for a while, like, I I I need I need help, and he knows that. Right? Like, other other people's words will inspire me, including scripture Yeah. And including, like, a a devotional thing you're reading or a song you've listened to. Right? But if you're using those things to pass the time so you can say, made the hour, he's not fooled. Dang it. You know what I'm saying? Like, if you're saying, like, I can't do this without this, you know, you're saying, if your intentionality is, God, I'm coming to meet with you and this is the way I'm doing it. And like one of the things I would recommend that I'm not really good about this, but like I've watched it help a ton of people, is journaling, and the reason it's important and the reason it's helpful is because it slows everything down. It takes a like, your mind is running 80,000 miles a minute, but if you're forced to write down your prayers

and write down the things that you would want to talk to him about, the whole thing takes a little bit longer, and you can't quite think as fast as you were, right, and you can't get distracted by the song so easy, and you can't get like, Well, maybe I'll just read this thing in Philippians or whatever and this will help. Like, it's okay to do that, right, but if you're speeding through Philippians and say, I'm gonna pull down this whole book today, and you're like, I'm gonna read these first three verses three times,

and then I'm gonna pray about them. God, if there's something you want me to see on this thing, I'm gonna read this again, you know? And then like, think it's skill not talent is right. Like, it's not just a skill so God's booming voice can come to you. It's a skill to slow your life down. Right? Like, you're not trying to get through it. You're trying to be there. You're not trying for the party to get over. Right. You're trying to enjoy the party. Know? And so, like and and, like, I I think it's it's hard. It's not easy because the rest of your life is not set up that way. In our culture, in our life, in the everything is not set up that way. And so, like, the intentional part is is, like, you leave your phone in another room Yeah. And you don't get up to go check and see what time it is. Right. You get up when you're done. Yeah. And maybe it's only twenty minutes and you're like, oh, well, I don't have to be at work quite yet. Maybe I'll have some toast. Whatever. Or you get up and you're like, I'm ten minutes late from work. But the point is that you decided

how you were gonna run your day, not your day deciding you, and it's an intentional slowdown, and God doesn't have to be in the slow. He can just as easily be in the fast, right? But like, if you it's basically saying all these worldly things, they need to pause for a minute, they need to slow down for a minute so I can hear the shepherd's voice because there's a lot of shepherds talking. That's a very interesting two things hit me while you were talking through that. The first one was kind of that famous Socrates quote, The unexamined life is not worth living. But you're right, if you don't stop

and examine, that is the thing of which breeds intentionality. You can't be intentional if you're constantly moving. Like, intentionality requires some level of stop and focus and decision making as to what am I intentionally gonna do next based upon things that happen. I'm terrible at journaling. I've always been bad at it. But like when I'm doing it, you're right. Like it creates an introspection that allows me to assess something. If you don't stop and examine and assess, you don't even know where to take from it. You're just passing time. And that's, that's interesting. And so I the the thing that gets to the second thing I forgot the second thing. I I thought maybe I'd come up with it as I was talking, but I forgot what the second thing was. What were you gonna say, Bubba? Yeah. Go ahead. Well, I just was gonna say that, like, that's that was super powerful to hear because

when I'm in those moments where I want to be reverent and intentional about my time, I'm totally checking my clock. Like, I'm 100% like, okay. Am I done with this yet so that I can move on to the next thing? Rarely ever am I living that moment going, Lord, this is your time. I am here with you, and I'm off and and I am you've given me the free will to choose not to give you time. I'm here giving you this time. And I I want this to be about you. I want this to be focused on you, and I want this to be fulfilling for me to go out from a place where I did hear the shepherd's voice. Like, my day is better because I'm I'm guided to still waters by my shepherd, And I don't think I've I've ever been very good at doing that of, rather than just checking the box, going like, okay. I did that. Now I'm done. Move on to next task. I would like to take a step back, slow down, and look at this and go, no. This is where I want my time spent.

Not just because I wanna look like the kind of person that spends this time, but I wanna actually benefit from the time I've spent with my father. Yeah. Yeah. And even if it it yeah. I I think the the, like like, the key, if you're interested in in, like, trying something like that, you can't replace it's just like with your marriage, it's just like with your other relationships, you can't replace time with people. You can't replace relationship. Right? And your relationship with him is like it's celebrated with a lot of other people, but like the nitty gritty of it, like if you really want to hear His voice, if you're like, I don't ever hear from God, nothing ever comes and hits me, blah blah blah blah, like, look, I'm gonna just bet that you're not spending very much time with him at all. Right? He's not a drive through. And so even

when I said journaling, some of y'all would be like, okay, I'm gonna type this up. That way I can go back and look at my journals and I can see what stop that. You're gonna handwrite it because it takes longer. It will slow you down. The point is not what you've written, not for you to go back and look at it later. It will be a beautiful gift when you've seen the work that God has done that you get to go back and look at it. But it will slow you down. The whole thing is to slow you down. Right now, like, in your mind, you're like, my regular life, that's what I gotta get back to. You should probably make sure that that's how you wanna be living your life in the first place. Yeah. Giant fast paced, can't keep track of nothing, always hurried, never rested, full of anxiety, full of stress, and you're like, that's what you wanna get back to? This this writing things with a pen is is that's the weight to you. It's causing you trouble. Right. I mean, that that doesn't even make any sense. Yeah. And you know it and you know it doesn't. Yeah. Hey. You're listening to live from the path. We were just talking about, things that, I don't know. Is this wrong? Maybe you, have an opinion on that. You wanna share it with us. Get ahold of us on the live from the path. Bob Eisenhower complaint line, (515) 517-0085. Call or text. That's (515) 517-0085. We'd love to hear, either. Maybe you have an opinion on the things that we asked about, whether those were wrong or not, or maybe you have a question on your own, a situation you'd like us to, opine upon. We'd love to be able to do that for you. And so hit us up on the live from the PATH complaint line. Let's either call or text. Alright. Let's hand out just a little bit of advice. I didn't I didn't even look them up. Hold on. I wasn't even paying attention. I'm gonna fire out the first one. Okay. Hey. Well, while he's working on that, let me remind you that if you want a great cup of coffee, go to

Kapona's Coffee House in Ames. Is that place still going? No. It's been closed. I was gonna say, I didn't think that was open for a closed a long time. Also, get for all your print media, banners, T shirts, and hats through On Purpose Promotions. That's onpurposepromotions.com, and you can get all your custom items open. That business also is no longer That's been out of business. These are former advertisers of us. Finally, if you're looking for someone who's easy to work with and hard to beat, you're looking for Bob Eisenhower with the Eisenhower team. Indeed. He is indeed still in business, and you can go get ahold of Bob or go to eisenhowerteam.com.

And Bob, I'm sure he'd love to help you buy or sell a house. Like Mike and I have both used him, and he's just a wonderful fella. That's why he gets the honorary ownership of the complaint line because he's just a straight up awesome dude. And frankly, I will say when there was very little justification to put any advertising money with Live From The Path, Bobby Eisenhower was there and he kept us on the radio and I'm not even sure I could prove that we did a lick of good for the poor man.

But he was a good dude. He believed in the in the show and and was willing to advertise with with us when otherwise we were kind of scraping the barrel. So, anyway, it's not a that's not the only nor a particularly compelling reason to use him for your real estate transaction. You should do it because He's also voted, like, the number one realtor in the automotive industry. All around good dude. Yeah. Yeah. So that's that's why you should do it. But, anyway, that that's why we that's why we continue to to, you know, give Bob the old complaint line because he's just good people. Yeah. Okay. Ready? Take Bob to Kupanis. Dear life from the past. My wife and I have been teachers since 1999. Mhmm. We married in 2011. She became vegan in 2017.

It helped her beat diabetes, which I love. I can't tell whether you love diabetes or you love that she beat it. You that's crazy. Brimley. However, she's pure vegan for animal rights and listens to vegan podcasts all day long after teaching and on the weekends. I mean, all day, every day with earbuds in. I have to say knock knock to even talk with her. Right now, she's listening to podcasts and messaging vegan people on social media and doesn't even realize I'm typing. I love my wife, but I can't escape the frustration of not being able to have a conversation with her about anything. We have no kids together, but I raised her son from seven years old. He moved to live with his dad because of her obsession with work and veganism. I love her, but the fridge is filled with kale. Should I stay or should I go? Okay. Let's let's back away from your arbitrary your binary options here. Right. It's not just stay or go. Not the clash. So, like, reasonably,

it doesn't matter whether it's veganism or exercise or Keanu Reeves or whatever the obsession is. It does feel like she's not being a good marriage partner. You you can't be you can't be overly you can't be obsessive about things to the detriment of the relationship that you're supposed to be in. Like, you have to care about what other somebody else is thinking, feeling, talking about, wants to wants to discuss with you. And so I I I get like, obviously, this this she's as important to her because it represents some sort of what she believes to be a positive change in her life. That's great. That's fantastic. However,

there is a balance to it where, you're still in a marriage relationship and the question is, what do you what he didn't did he say that he's, like, tried? Besides the fact that, like, she's hyper focused on this, like, we don't get a sense for, like, what he's tried to do to kind of shake her out. Not not shake her out of it, but, like, I don't know, remind her that he's still there. Yeah. No. It doesn't sound like there's been anything done there. I would also rarely

ever have I seen in practice a a marriage that is this distant from one another be this one-sided. Like, rarely ever is it just, oh, man. She became vegan, and then I lost her entirely. And I did nothing in this, and I I have not pushed her away in any way, or there's nothing that I'm doing. I'm so focused on my wife at all times, and she just turns around and and keeps talking to people on social media about veganism. You think he's to blame in some way? I don't

think I don't think it's it's very likely at all that there's no there's no fault on the other side of the aisle, if you will. Okay. And so I think that that one of the things you can do is recognize that, yeah, like, if you're if you've lost your wife to veganism, only because that's the only thing she cares about, like animal rights, I can understand why all of those things are important to someone, especially if that led for you to be, able to kind of beat diabetes. That's a big deal. I bet there's more to it, though. I I'm I'm wondering if you can take a step back, do some self examination, perhaps go through some conversations before you felt like you completely lost your wife, and wonder if there was anything that you might have done to push her away. Mhmm.

Or even not necessarily like you're you're nefariously pushing her away or you've broken the marriage and it's all on you, but, like, this is this is a marriage. It works. It's it's a it's a partnership. There's things that happen on both sides of this, and I think that maybe you might wanna take a step back and see if there is anything. Because if you're the kind of person that you found nothing you've done, either you really are in that very specific marriage where you've done nothing wrong and your wife just, like, fell in love with veganism and ran away. Yep. But more likely, you don't take ownership for anything, and, like, she might she probably brought stuff up to you as you were doing them or tried to be open, maybe not in the most healthy way. Nobody's perfect, but, like and you just missed that entirely, and now all you see is a marriage that's nonexistent. Yeah. It does feel like he might be he's hyperfocused on the veganism. Like, hey. She's messaging her vegan friends or her friend Karen. Like, is it? Yeah. Right. Exactly. What does matter whether Karen's vegan or not? And so, like, Her maybe son left her because of her veganism. I mean It's certainly possible. It could be obsessive. But, like, there's also a possibility that, like, she was a distant mother and, like, the father on the other side of that was giving that person more of what they needed, and the veganism was just, like, the spearhead of it. But that doesn't mean there's not more to the spear. What does it matter that they were teachers in 1999? I don't know. There's no real real nine. We were married eleven years later, and then my wife fell to veganism.

I I don't understand this. That it's it makes the man sound not credible to me. Right? When you include a bunch of extraneous details that don't add Her favorite color is blue, and that reminds her of the vegan flag of joy. I think maybe he was trying to to point out that, like, whatever this vegan thing is kicked in and what? What did he say? 2017? Yeah. So, like, they were together for they knew each other for twelve years. She seemed normal. They got married. She was over for five more years, and then all of a sudden nowhere. The veganism has taken over over. She saw a documentary, it just took her on. Which is mean, like, totally. Maybe she's become a fierce advocate, and that's fine. So actually, here here would be, like, legitimate advice. Here's what I would say is, where can you jump in, and agree with her? You don't have to become a vegan, but if she's, for the the rights of the, the Scandinavian wombat or something because it relates to her veganism. Could could you support that? You should. Fine. If you're having trouble redirecting her back towards the things that you care about or and you think this is taking up her whole mind, then go where she is and start there. See what you can join.

Baby, cook a vegan meal now and again. Like, figure out Stop eating steak in her face. Explore it. Actually, we were at a I was at some kind of get together, last week at this conferencing I was at, and they took us all out to this Brazilian steakhouse. People who were gonna be Yeah. So, you know, like the Gauchos where they bring the Was it Fogo De Chao or Texas State Brazil? Fogo De Chao. K? And so they're bringing all the stuff by, and there's this one dude who's, like, constantly going, nah. No. It's okay. He's he's a vegetarian. Like, I can't think of a worse situation What a war zone. To go yeah. Right? Like, like, we need somebody should have asked. Are there any vegetarians? Maybe go, listen, dude. We're not gonna do something else, but, like, maybe you don't wanna come. Can I have some beans? Because this gaucho deal I mean, they probably said we're going to a steakhouse, and he showed up. He was cool about it. He's got his own picadillo that he's gonna he's gonna hold the line for, and he's not like, everyone change for me. I'll just go with you. I'll find something. He was cool about it. Yeah. So but anyway, so, like, first of all, it may it may get her attention for you. Don't ignore her and don't fight about it. Like, figure out where you can snuggle up to the stuff that she's doing. And then I think it is fine, to to, like, casually start bringing to her attention to go, hey. Since we, focused on the wombat here on, Thursday, why don't we go out and do something? I wanna go to the local AAA baseball team game, or can we go bowling or something? And, like, if if you can just just get three or four kind of steady examples where she's like, you're in for her and she's not in for you, and then you need to have a more frank conversation about it. But the problem is, is you build a bunch of stuff up in your mind and the ledger tilts

as you're trying to where you believe your spouse has offended you. You're like, they're always like this. Always is and never is rarely correct, And everything is is amplified in your mind. And so just just write a few things down so that when you can have a reasonable conversation to go, look, I'm trying, I'm struggling because it feels like you're not interested in anything that I'm that I care about. Is this true? They're gonna say no. They say, well, here's the situations we came up into and you didn't wanna go bowling and you wouldn't go with me to here. And I tried to join you in your thing and this is why I think this way. How would you respond to that? They're gonna self it's always been like we talked about before, it's always better when people self identify. She's gonna end up self identifying that, yes, she has a problem. Either she's gonna have to admit, I'm a psycho vegan and I don't care about our marriage or something needs to change. But that's how I would approach it. Don't go after it fist after fist, man. Just join

the wombats for a bit. Segler says, tap your wife on the shoulder and ask her to remove her earbuds. When she does, give her an earful. Yo. Good one. Start a fight. Tell her you love her, but you need a partner who's willing to be more of a com a companion than she has become. Tell her you shouldn't have to ask permission to talk to her because of her preoccupation obsession with her podcast. If you want

oh, no. Yeah. Sorry. Nope. Did you lose it? Yeah. It left. It happens. Okay. It was gonna be a bunch of trash anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Basically, she's saying, listen. If you you're gonna have to tell her and then give her the option to start straightening up, and then you should start keeping some non vegan food in the house and have her go to marriage counseling. If she doesn't, then we should have a different conversation. This is here. You sometimes Divorce her. Like, the most abrasive path is rarely the right one. Like, the the thing that happens with that, and I know why people take this path, is it makes you feel righteous. Yeah. Like, most people, when they're arguing with a close relation, whether it's spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, parents, whatever, like their prime end is that they're heard. The thing that I wanna say. And oftentimes we use the most biting words because you said the thing you wanted to say and you got it out.

But it's very self centered to to to look at the ends of a conversation as the primary means the means of which you just wanna get it out. You just wanna relieve yourself of whatever weight you have by saying the thing that you wanna say when you wanna say it. There's no concern for the people around you for that. No concern for the permanence or health of the relationship. And so, like, I get that you're feeling rough, but do you want to resolve do you want her to know that you're mad or do you want to improve your marriage? If you want her to know that you're mad, then tap her on the shoulder, take out the headphones and give her an earful. If you wanna improve your marriage, join the Wombat Club for a while. Figure out, make her some vegan meals like we talked about. And then then I want you to bring it to her attention because it's important. Like, she doesn't just get to do what she wants. Like, you want a healthy marriage and you need to have the conversation, but you're gonna get her attention in a kind and thoughtful way. Yeah. The shoulder and give her an earful. That's just that's freaking stupid. Stupid advice. Alright. Ready to last one. Dear life from the path.

I recently received an Evite to a surrogate baby shower. I was happy to attend. Each guest was asked to bring a box of diapers, our favorite children's book, and a donation to help cover the surrogate expenses. A written explanation of how expensive the surrogate process is was also included. Mhmm. In my opinion, when the couple started the surrogacy process, they were aware of how expensive it would be, and to ask the shower attendees to contribute to it is a little nervy. Was this proper etiquette? Just give $5 if you don't wanna give a lot. Gosh. Well, here's the thing. The baby what what what does she think the baby shower itself is? Do you think we we The diapers is monetary. Yeah. Exactly. Like, anything You knew you were gonna have to buy diapers when you decided to have a kid. You shouldn't have to ask me to bring them. Yeah. Or, like, what do they call it when you buy a new house?

Is it a it's not a It's a shower. Is it a home shower? Yeah. House shower. No. It is not. It's called a hower. Homewarming. Housewarming. Housewarming. Yes. Home shower. That's definitely right. Wasn't right. Yeah. They call it a house shower. It's a hour. No one calls it a hour. It's ridiculous. A baby it's a baby warming What is housewarming except for, like, it's extra Christmas? It's like, we could buy all this crap, but maybe you wanna buy it for us. I that's thing. Same with wedding shower. Yeah. Exactly. That's the thing. People get tooled up. Like, I've heard people get really offended. They're like, I can't believe they're asking for this on their wedding registry. I'm like, did you just want a like, the freedom to buy them whatever the heck you wanted? And then hopefully they like it, or, like, would you rather have them just say, here. Here's what I want. And then you're mad because they were specific about what they wanted. That's dumb. Yeah. Don't think I've ever seen someone buy a KitchenAid mixer other than for a wedding registry. That's a bold gift too. Right. That's probably the top shelf for whatever's on that list. Exactly. Sorry. I know that was a random thing, but, like, I feel like I've never got mine? Yep. Right. Yeah. I've never met someone that went, hey. I went and bought a a KitchenAid stand mixer. Yeah. I hear people all the time say, I got married, and that's when we got ours. That's right. I had I had had an aunt who was single till she was 55, and she needed a mixer, and she And then she found a fellow. Found a man. Yeah. No. I think that yeah. You're absolutely right. I I don't think it is against etiquette to have this conversation or ask for that. I think that you are a very interesting person that this has offended you. And I usually try and go the path of like, oh, well, let me think about where you might be coming from and sit there and try and figure out how your your past trauma made you the way that you are. But there's a good chance of this one. You're a schmuck. Okay. This is gonna this is gonna assess And I'm okay with coming across that way. I'm a I'm a try to minefield this thing. Right? But, like,

surrogacy is not it's an option for the rich. Right? Like And generally, if you can't get pregnant, you just don't, or you adopt. That's the way that works. Right? He says, no, we're to do this very expensive thing. It just it does feel like a little bit that, like, you walked into this thing. You chose a route. You could have adopted a kid for sure. Right? You chose a route that happens to be very expensive. I mean, adoption's expensive. Adoption is expensive. There's a lot of good tax credits for it, though. I suppose there's some for surrogacy too. I I think the way this woman is looking at it is basically saying you had other options. You picked the most expensive one. And now you want $20. Now you want me to pay for it. Right? As you included a guilt note

and showed me how expensive it was. That's what I was going to ask. It kind of depends on the contents of the note. If you made it sound, the, Hey, would you give to us because this is super expensive and we're going to be in a bind. If there's anything about that that wasn't like, Hey, in lieu of bringing an extra gift, if you'd like to donate money towards the cost of the surrogacy, it would be helpful. That's totally fine and pretty

good. But like, if there was anything that made us is a pretty good is pretty good. Dang. I wanted to say something else, but I couldn't find it. It's totally fine and pretty good. Dang. It's a catchphrase of, like, a 1995 radio DJ. That's totally fine and pretty good. Okay. What I what I have about point seven, the bus. I was gonna say that was pretty righteous, but then, like, I thought, it's not It's not righteous? Nothing righteous about this. And so I It's just good. I couldn't find the word I wanted.

Okay. Anyway, so, like, it's it's fine, but, like, I I wonder the contents of the note might sway me. Not I to mean, if you still don't have to give. And whatever. Not everybody's a good note writer. Maybe they just they communicate poorly. Know You what I'm saying? I would say that's the vast majority, are people are not good note writers and communicate poorly. Totally. That's why Dear Life for the Path exists. Yeah. Yes. So, you know, I either way, like, the one one of the things I would always tell my kids was, like, if we're gonna argue in our house, I want you to presume the best of what someone just said. Yeah. Like, I don't care what they actually said. I want you to think about it and go, what are they trying to say if they were in their best mind right now? And then just presume it's that so that we don't get people tied up on words and situations. And so they're looking at it and going, Circuses expensive, as opposed to some knickknack you bought that you remember from your childhood. If you want to give us $30 to help us towards the cost, that's probably the right way to think about it, and you should probably just do you do both because you Instead of 11 copies of o the places you'll go, we got a little bit of money towards the surrogacy. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. And and, like, obviously, you know, like, insurance covers a lot of a natural baby birth, and there's a lot of organizations that will help with adoptions.

And maybe surrogacy is not that as much supported. So they're like, look, this is gonna put us in the financial straits, but we're doing this. This is what we're going to do. And, like, if you love them, then, like, I don't see any reason why you should be against supporting them Yeah. In doing it. No. I think that's fair. So the question was, was this proper etiquette? Segul says, no. Soliciting the donation was over the top. I can't help but wonder how many invitees declined the invitation because of it. To ask for money was tacky. Oh gosh. Yeah. That's my big concern. I don't want people to think I'm tacky. Bring me diapers, but don't bring me extra cash. Right. Here's things. There's something for your kid's butt. Right. Or here's $20. Yeah. Also, you're gonna use them size zeros for literally three days. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, you I mean, if you're gonna have people bring diapers, you should just sign sizes because them size zeros, that kid's out of that thing within the three days, and then you're like, we're onto the ones, and now we have, like, 45 size zeros hanging around. Yeah. The diapers are the type of thing. Unless you're getting, like, reusable diapers, like the cloth diapers, I would say that, like, diapers is a thing in a shower as you you get that for first time parents, and that's only because as a first time parent, you don't know any better. It's like someone getting you a loaf of bread.

You're like, I mean, okay, but I could buy my own bread. I could get my loaves of bread. You know what I could really use? It's like a bunch of bottles or something to sanitize the bottles or, again, like that kind of thing. And so I don't even think these are good options. You should give you should, upscale your, baby gift. Okay. Yeah. Interesting. What are you thinking about giving now that I've said that, boobah? Alright. I've always given just cash. Like, I just I just go, here's the deal. Like, you you know more about what you need than I do. Everybody's gonna give you the thing that they think is the most important thing for your baby. Like Ben. Like Ben. Yeah. He's gonna give you a loaf of bread and go, it's just like giving you diapers.

It's pretty new. Like, sweet. 99¢ worth of bread is the exact same thing as $35 worth of diapers. It's the same. You cheap schmo. Here's the thing. You go through so many diapers, and, like, again, it it just doesn't feel it doesn't stand out. It's just like slices of toast. Well, that's I mean, the gift is not to make you seem like a great gift giver. No. You're supposed to be trying to be helpful. Yeah. I just go, actually, a lot of the times, I'll wait until a little bit into it, I'll just be like, hey. Tell me what you didn't get. Jell O. Yeah. They usually say Jell O. Jell O, buddy. Or or say the thing that you wanted to get, but, like, you didn't wanna tell anybody else you wanted to get because it seemed way too expensive. Let me give you $50 towards a car seat that you really want for your kid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Expensive $250 car seat. That's way to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Like, instead of giving you the thing that, like exactly. The size zero diapers that you're gonna be out of in three days, Let me know what you wanted to get that you just don't have enough cash for, and let me Here's the thing, though. First time parents are like first time or, like, newly married couples. They're kinda hard to get along with. Yeah. Right? They have this, expectation of how they're gonna raise their kids. They're like, I gotta have this $250 car seat. You're like, my kids, literally rode around on $25 death defying seats,

and they seem to be doing okay. Like, I think we should scale down the baby bag that we picked out that's $300. Okay. You're like, that's true. It's outrageous. I'll give money towards an expensive car seat admittedly, but, like, if it's like a, hey. I got the baby Bjorn, or whatever it is. The the baby Bjorn, that's, that's a $185, and we're gonna use it for the next three months. And then I'm gonna sell it on Facebook Marketplace for two thirds of what you gave me of it. Yeah. Well, that means that you should've just picked it up for two thirds. Right. Exactly. Go to Facebook Marketplace. There's parents giving them away. You're listening live for the Path. Thanks for hanging out with us this week. We really do appreciate it. I think we ran the gamut. You wanna talk about sneezes? You wanna talk about handshaking, an old man? Things where you're like, I can't believe those fellas claim to follow Jesus and think it's okay to do, I don't know, five or 10 different things that you think is probably wrong. Also, the the we talked about the with the question.

What does your church what gets them excited? I don't know. Just maybe something to think about. Let it run through your mind. What gets you personally excited? And I should be doing something with that if you're not already. Something to think about. Alright. We're gonna cut you loose. If you want any feedback, give us any feedback on the show. It's the Life and Path. Bob Eisner Capate line. (515) 517-0085. Call or text, and, we will see you when we see you. In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to Live From The Path. Pretty good. Get me