Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the Pathway Thank

you for hanging out with us so far this evening. I I Did you say thank you for hanging out with us so far this evening at the very beginning? Yes. Because I feel like if they're this far in, just a wild thing to say in the first five seconds of the show. No. That's usually what I say. I just it feels wrong to not acknowledge that they've made a sacrifice just even for the small bit. Oh, that's fair. Okay. Yeah. I can appreciate that. Sacrifice, life mistake, what whatever. I you know what I mean? Like, in either way. Here's well, we have a really we got a big show, fellas. We got a as as Ed Sullivan would say, a really big shoe. Who's that? Never mind. It's the wrong room for that, Ben. No. It's okay. Didn't it didn't play. It didn't play. Okay. Anyway, we got a great show going for you tonight. First of all, it's been a while since we had any tunes in here. Mike Mike is I mean, I would say almost every week, Mike has claimed that he's gonna he wants to perform his hit single, Shofar, Show Good. Yeah. It's not good. No. Look. The chorus is a banger, man. People get they stand up, and they're like, Shofar,

Show Good. It sounds like the beginning of threes company. You just just wrote that right now. That was awful. Now it's long standing gets. Okay. Anyway, but but but we got we got, like, legit musicians in here. Yeah. And so so Jeff Arendale's here. Yep. Oh. Nailed it. Yeah. Jeff Jeff Dirk is here. Yes. Nailed it. And Angela Triplin is here. Nailed it. This is wild. Hey. I just met these three people just a second ago. This is amazing that they also happen to be on the show. I know. I know. It's wild how it worked out. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna first of all, they're all three gonna be they're on the bill for an upcoming concert.

And as I saw it on Instagram, I was scrolling Instagram. Hey. Okay. I'm a tell you an Instagram story later on. But I scroll on Instagram, and there was like Arendelle's face. And I said, what the heck? I thought I put on the filters and everything. Right. Yeah. I've messed with our content preferences long enough to make sure that doesn't happen. Like, I've curated my experience to not have Arendelle just, like, show up. But I'll be doggone. He there he was. And then they all were. And I said, well, whiz bang, we should have him in. So that's what we did. So we're gonna get we're gonna hear some tunes. We're gonna hear about the show coming up. We're gonna catch up on their lives, and they're they're gonna take part in the general frivolity of the So that's gonna be exciting.

Also, I didn't get to this last week, so I wanted to cover it this week. This in I wanna say it's second Samuel. David's about to about to pass away. Yeah. And he he goes He's aware he uses a young lady for warmth?

No. That's a weird story. Okay. That is a weird story, but that isn't what this story is. Okay. Got it. So this was in it it's it's in second Samuel 22, and it's like a song It's definitely in there, Ben. You acted like it's in first Kings. You acted like it wasn't in there. It's definitely in there. That's what I'm saying. It's just not what we're talking about. Okay. Got it. Anyway, second Samuel 22. David's nearing the end of his life and he's like he he starts making these wild claims. He's like, I followed the lord all my days. I did all the things he asked me to. I was faithful to Yahweh. And you're like, now wait a minute. I isn't this the man that, like, sent the guy to die in the war so that he could take his woman? And you're like, I don't this doesn't seem like a man where, like, if I had done these same things, I couldn't claim what he's claiming. Yeah. Right. And so the question is is, what way can you understand this? Because, like, this is not the only place he claims this. He claims this probably ten, fifteen times. Pick a psalm and then pick second Samuel 22, and he's like, definitely. Followed, like, been righteous. Been I followed him all my days. Did all the things I was supposed to do. And you're like, there's no way you did or claiming to have done all the things you were supposed to do. Right. And so there is a way to understand it, but I wanna kinda talk about that because I think it's a it's a legitimate stumbling point that you feel like you've gotten this kinda glossed over of you. How could David possibly see his life that way? And in what ways does god agree with it where he goes, David is a man after my own heart. And how does that compete with guys like Saul or even Absalom? We start going down the line of David's kids. Right. And so anyway, I think there's a way to to think about that, but we'll talk about that a little bit. Nice. Okay. Also, we'll have some advice on Dear Life from the Path. Mike, have you have you previewed anything? Oh, yeah. They're gonna be great. Okay. I think they're stellar. Probably the best we've ever done. Okay. Good. Good. I I would imagine nothing less than that. Okay. So let's let's

let's dig right into this situation. First, Jeff Herondale. Yeah. Tell me tell me a little bit about this show that's coming up. Well, this is the first one coming up on May 18 down in Saint Charles, Missouri at the Talk Shop Lounge. It's the same basic area Saint Charles, Iowa. Saint Charles, Iowa, not Missouri. Although you probably have listeners down in the Saint Louis area.

I was already driving towards Missouri. Yeah. So one to four, features three artists. This is the first one. They're hoping to do, one a month. I don't know if it'll be that much to start with, but I hope so. Lord willing, we'll do that. And, it'll be Angela Triplett, Dirk, and his group, and then the Jeff Arendelle band will, close things out, you know, at the end of the end of the day. There there will be a food for purchase.

There will be I think there's gonna some vendors and things of that nature. Yep. I think there's gonna be a few, craft vendors selling some, some Christian merchandise to to purchase. Yeah. So we're so what we're hoping is is that, folks after church throw the kitties, or just themselves into the car, drive down to Saint Charles. They've got food for, purchase. Yep. And they've got a really good menu that's awesome. Great great food. Yeah. Great food. Yeah. So wanna do that. And it's gonna be outside, unless, weather doesn't permit that. And then if that doesn't happen, they're not calling it off. No. We're gonna move it inside. Right. So, they've got a nice big you've played there before. I have. Yeah. And it's it's a it's a wonderful venue. It's it's where they have the Hinterland Music Festival. Oh, okay. Yeah. So that's the that might be the landmark that people might recognize this the location from. It's actually just right next door to where the the festival is held. Oh, yeah. It's the family that that, owns the ground. They have a it's a bar restaurant, that they're they're they she wanted to host a Christian event. Yeah. Cool. Jeff and I both saw that post and reached out to her. And,

so we're gonna she's gonna give it a shot. And this is the kind of stuff that Jeff and I and and great to have Angela join us as well for this. We we wanna we wanna do more events like this, and you gotta kinda roll with it and and give it a shot and see see who we all can get to come out. So looking forward to it. Yeah. We're hoping that, a lot of people will come and send a message to these guys that, hey. This is something that the community Central Iowa, would support. They're even hoping that at some point and and many years ago, Spirit Midwest. Remember Spirit Midwest? It was a Christian music festival. They had one or two years where they were hosted out there, and they're hoping that maybe this might turn into something like that where there'll be some, national acts that'll come along with some local acts and So yeah. That would be super cool. It was I'll tell you this, like, we got started. Our our radio show started right like, our very first guests were from the upcoming Spirit Midwest Mhmm. Festival. This was before it moved out to Saint Charles. So, like, I think we broadcast one we broadcast from there, like, 7AM shop. We were, like, doing full day broadcast out at these Midwest Midwest Spirit festivals. Oh, boy. It was terrible. Yeah. It wasn't good. Not that the shows were terrible or that the weather's was bad. We were bad. Yeah. We were rough. Like, 12 just you've been here, Airedale. Yeah. Like, think of about twelve, fifteen hours of us having no particular content to talk about, hoping that someone's gonna swing by, and we're just in there talking in the humidity.

It was bad. It wasn't good. Oh, yeah. It wasn't very good. But but a hairdanil talks to you like an old grandma. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Sweet. Very cute. You're a you're a sweet boy. That was so sweet of you to do. Have a have a Werther's. Butterscotch. What's your name again? Aaron Neal, don't you sorry. I didn't and tell me if this delves too far into your personal life, but you have recently retired. I have recently from day job. Do they give you a packet of Werther's upon retirement? No. It is they give you a box. Oh, okay. You just clean out your desk.

Was unceremonious. Oh, yeah. I thought you were saying a box of Werther's. I'm like, wow. That really hooked you up. That was fantastic. No. You meant a box to get your stuff out. Okay. Alright. Mhmm. That's worth living. Boy. I don't know. Was it has has it been what you imagined it to be? I think I'm still transitioning a little bit. It doesn't stink. Yep. Yep. Know? It's it's okay. There's a lot of fun things that happen, and Linda retired. My wife retired about six months earlier. It was hard for her when I was still working, and I'm like, hey, just get up and make bacon and eggs every morning and we're square. Yeah. That's way you're around this.

As I would have expected it, I, you know, was kidding sort of. Yeah. But it's it's helped that that we're both now retired. And so we've got grandkids and bikes and golf and more grandkids and the great grandkids coming out the ears. So it's awesome. Well, that's that's recommend it if you can do it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, congratulations. That's like, what a cool transition into life. And then you get, like, all those things that open up that Yeah. You just you got more time at your fingertips to be able to indulge in all the things that you've been blessed with. Right. That's pretty cool. You know, one of the things that has been cool is more time for music, for this stuff, lining up things and going and doing things. Also, doing some recording here locally too. Know, we talked about last time I was here, I was set to go to Nashville, did that, and but lately been kind of working a little bit in a local studio called Golden Bear. Oh, totally. Yeah. Yeah. Brian

gosh. What's his last name? Vanderpool. Yeah. Vanderpool. Love that. I wish his last name was Golden Bear. Yeah. Because that would be cool. Yeah. I don't wanna, like, not know him very well and be disappointed by him. Yeah. Yeah. That's too bad. Yeah. You're just upset that the dude's name is not in fact Brian Golden Bear? Yeah. We got got off on the wrong foot. These are the weirdest people on the planet. Like, I just I really I gotta be real honest. Don't even remember what his real last name was. I just remember being just got said three times. That it wasn't Golden Bear. You should ask him. If fact, you message him on social media. You should find him and be like, hey. We're strangers, but I need you to realize that the shame that I feel for you at not being named Brian Golden Bear is it is just insurmountable, man. Hey. That means it's up for grabs, Mike. You could go as Mike Golden Bear. Hey.

To Ali Crummey. She is been producing engineering and doing a great job. And She was on the show. She was on the show once. Yeah. Yeah. And then refused further invitation. You should take wise counsel from her and Bill. It's a valid point. And Brian Goldenbear. That guy is just wise beyond his years. You know who won't come back either? Brandon Lake. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I referred to him as Brandon Pond on Sunday, and I didn't mean to. His name should be Brandon Golden Bear. Yeah. If you're trying to make it Nashville, kid, you gotta change your name to the golden bear. Follow the rules, lake.

No bodies of water. Colors and mammals only. Yeah. I actually you remember when he was in, I I may have made mention. I said, look, dude. No one's looking for, like, this Christian combo of in excess and, like, air supply. And he didn't didn't take it very well. Are he was really here? No. Aaron I

can't even get my whole mom on this show. You can't be taken in by these two, golden bear one and two. This is ridiculous. Okay. Alright. So let's do this. Erinnell, let's let's you got a tune on the docket. What do play tonight? I do. This is a tune actually co written with a a a legitimate singer songwriter that's based in Nashville, Matt Marinczek. It's one that I started, and he helped helped me a lot to finish it.

Written around or based on the prodigal son, kind of called prodigal parentheses, you let me go in parentheses. Mhmm. Yeah. So just a mystery to it.

I don't know if you can anyway. Am I good to go here? Yeah. You're good to go. Alright. So this one's actually, this one's called You Let Me Go. Awesome. Looking back at the years gone by,

I'd fallen from so high. Nothing left to lose. I made up my mind to turn away.

You didn't have much to say. I knew I no longer needed you. You let me go.

Felt you in this time you didn't seem to mind. I knew I had seeds to sow. Oh, you let me

go. For a little while, life was

good. Doing everything I could and opened every door.

Life came fast. I was left behind. And in the back of my mind, I knew what I had before.

You let me go. You already knew what I needed to know, but still you let me go.

Oh, you let me go. I'm cursing me now,

looking back at them. Could I start all over again?

Would you take me back in? Wretch like me had to go blind see.

I was lost. Now you run to me unconditionally. But you let me go. I know

there's always a way back home. Oh, you let me

go. Any sense? Well, that's a great song, Aaron Dale. Yeah. Deal for once, You get a you get a real professional writer, and oh my goodness. Yeah. Actually, I wanna come back to that. But I will say, Arrendale's been on a tear. You remember the last time he was in here, there was like an a series of swampy tunes. Oh, yeah. Yes. They were great. Yep. I we got a number of people who are like, hey, that's a I like the vibe of those tunes. Now this was different. This was a kind of a different vibe than the the exploration of the drop detuning from the last time you were here. What was it how did that come about you working with the songwriter? Well, he he actually works with,

oh gosh, the studios and the producers that I work with down there in that part of the country. Yeah. And so I was introduced to him, by Art Ward and, just got to know each other a little bit. I was down there to do some work, and I called him and said, hey. I'm coming down. Would you wanna do a co write? He does that all day, every day with some dudes. And so, had some free time, and he came up to the hotel room and with Linda off in the corner reading a book or something, we hashed it out. It actually, it's

surprising, maybe not surprising, but how long it's taken for it to come fruition because I do have a new EP coming out called Jesus Guy. Yep. And that'll have some of that swamped but it'll have this on there as well. Nice. Yeah. That's cool. What's up? How was it was it difficult

in some ways listening to someone else? Like, I don't wanna say necessarily critiquing, but obviously helping shape stuff that you've written. Like, how was that for you? Well, it was I'm not an academic writer. It's all about feel and heart and emotion and the word, and he was about meter. I mean, was very disciplined meter and rhymes

story, that kind of thing. So, really helped me. Has that shaped anything about how you write going forward? Oh, definitely. And I've been doing some local co write too with Micah Smith, M. T. Smith. Yeah. And we were working on a song ourselves. So, that helps me as well.

It does. Yeah. Absolutely. Nice. And and and more so about the story and the feel. So Yep. Dirk, so that, see, that brings the question up for me, Jeff, you know, because we're we're becoming friends and Yeah. You know, this this interests me a lot. So when you sat down in that songwriting session, how much of that song did you bring like, have prepared before you got there compared to compared to what transitioned from that? I would love to hear you talk about that. Well, I I think I had probably about two thirds of it, and I just didn't know where to go. And you see things online about songwriting. Hey, we've got this book and you're stuck. Well, we've got 27 ways for you to go. Turn to page 32. Yeah. And actually, he just brought that. And and he was a man of faith too. So he's familiar with Luke 15, right? Yep. Prodigal son story there. And so he kind of knew the vibe and where I was going. And he was asking like too, okay, so now is this about you or is this about and it's like, well, it's kind of both. I mean, that's my testimony as well. So and a little bit his too. Nice. I love that.

When when can we expect this, EP, Jeff? Soon. It's actually been kind of on the, the back burner a little bit as I'm trying to get, everything around and finalized and that sort of stuff. So Yeah. Man, Art did a great job. The studio Soul Sound Studios there in, Little Music Row. Fantastic. The player's fantastic. Is his name Art Soul Sound? No. No. No. Art Ward.

Golden Bear, actually. Nobody hits it. No one gets it right, Mike. What a disgusting display. It's Art Golden Bear. As a matter of fact, it's old family of It's Golden Bear. There's gotta be some nepotism happening here. If I'm just connotably honest about it, it feels like Nashville's been taken over by the golden bears. This is wild. Oh, yeah. You know what? It's really cool too, and I'll just get out of the way here, but really cool. Art is is a fantastic A and R guy. So I had you know, I wrote a bunch of songs during downtime, you know, the Yep. The the COVID time. And I had about, I don't know, 10 or 15 or 20 or whatever. He's like we're listening to him, and he's like you hears, like, like, a measure. Nope. He hears another measure on the next song. Nope. We're not doing that one. We're good. Oh, that was that was kinda good. Alright. What else you got? And so it's really cool. And he picked the ones that I would have picked anyways. Yeah. Yeah. It's good.

Hell is I I've never wanted to be involved in songwriting or any kind of musical expression, but Yeah. That just steeled in my mind how I would never do this. Yeah. So I can't imagine just going, hey, man. I I I bared my heart and soul into these songs and then someone hearing it for four seconds and going, nope. We're not doing that one. I'm like, okay. I thought it was stupid anyway. It was my childhood. It's okay. It was about me. It was about my dad. He's like, don't care. Yep. Nope. That one sucks. Oh, that's called my baby boy, but sign. Whatever.

How many versions of Shofar Showgood do you have? We gotta workshop this name, Golden Bear. Oh, yeah. Oh god. Alright. Well, I didn't have aspirations before, but they're not they're not happening. Okay. Okay. That's alright. That's I'll listen to your tunes. No. You won't. You put them put them together. Alright. Alright. Hey. If you wanna find more about Jeff Arendelle, you can find him on the socials. Just search for Jeff Arendelle band. Follow him on the old Facebook. He's on Instagram. Yep. And you can keep an eye out for upcoming shows like the one that we're talking about here tonight. Yeah. And also for this at some point in the future EP, here's what I'm gonna tell you. I'd he didn't say this publicly, but he told me in the over in the stairwell right when he came in. The delay on the EP has nothing to do with the tunes. He's having a hard time picking out, like, what he's gonna wear for the cover shop. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He's he's just being a real miss USA about it. Hey. You should get Art involved on this as well. I'd say full Canadian tuxedo. I think you should get the chest meat out.

That's what sells out. One bus is right, and the other one is named Mike. Wait. Did you know what the art's gonna be there, area? We did we did a photoshoot. Guy went down to Nashville with we did a photoshoot there at a state park, and we did we were around railroad tracks, you know, kind of typical stuff. Yeah. A little bit downtown. Yeah. Looking slightly askew. Yeah. Like, I know the camera's there. I can't be bothered. Reason number two, I'll never have a music career, Phyllis. I can't get involved in these photo shoots.

Well, don't know. Dark colors are slimming and if we turn the lights down, wait on low. I take that the first thing he talks about is how to sleep down. Alright. Yep. No. I'm talking about me. Okay. Okay. Alright. It's a song about my dad.

Mike, you totally missed it. When Naderdale came in, he says hi to boob and he goes, hey, you still married? That was the what he'll say is the second thing he said. I would say it's the first thing after hello. You still married? Yeah.

I sure am. Oh, that's that's awesome. This this this ring isn't for show. Is a real thing. It was so good. No. It's it's real categorical of who I am as a human being. That someone hasn't seen me in a while, they come up to me, do mind? Yeah. I sure am. And I'm wearing a lot of black colors recently. It's I've been told by And low lighting. Been told by wiser retired men that it's slimming. So

I got a photo shoot with Olin Mills tomorrow. I'm gonna be on a railroad track. People might confuse me for the train. It's fine. I chew chew chews you. Boy, Air, nail your sharp sword, my friend. Oh. Oh, gee. Oh, boy. This is good stuff. Super excited to buy this EP. Yeah. Iron sharpens butter. Okay. I know this is counter to what I said the last time, but we gotta have Aaron Dale and hear more of it. Absolutely agree.

Agree entirely. Hey. Hey. Can I can I also say Yeah? Jeff aarondale dot com, and State Fair is on the docket. Oh, nice. That's awesome. August 9. Do you know which stage you're on? Bill Riley Stage, 4PM on August 9. So yeah. And other stuff too. Yeah. So I heard the talents there. The talents on the Bill Riley. Yeah. Yeah. That's okay. Alright. Anyway, you're listening live from the Path. We're hanging out with Dirk and Jeff and Angela. We're talking about the show. What was the name of the place again? It was a lounge. Talk shop lounge. A talk shop lounge. Yeah. Here's I I went to pull it up because I wanted to double check the poster, and the first advertisement was from a band, I think, called, like, the band of Heathens. And I said, now wait a minute. Arendelle didn't tell me about a name change, but it was a different it was a different group of people. So anyway, check this out. They're still do they have to get tickets ahead of time, or do they just kinda show up? Just show up. Okay. Alright. Awesome. There's gonna be sweet goods,

like stuff to eat. There's gonna be awesome tunes. Crafts. Christian crafts, like the Trump bible and stuff is gonna be there. Okay. Don't know about that. I was just a rant. Okay. Anyway, make sure you you go check it out, I will remind you of the date, time, and location throughout the program so you don't forget to go head on out. Alright. I know I know okay. Angela, listen to me. It's good. It feels a little bit scary because of what we did to Arendelle, but he he brought most of that on himself. And so I just tell me a little bit about how did you get involved in this in this show?

Not our show, but the show at the lounge. I was kinda wondering how I got involved in the show myself. Yeah. It's probably twenty minutes. I've been doing it for fifteen years now. I just wanna know. Are you gonna wear dark colors at the state fair? Absolutely. Yeah.

It's gonna be real hot. Yeah. I actually got involved in a really interesting way. I have a friend named Bruce Harris, and he knows the owner of the the talk shop lounge, and he got me involved. She asked him if he knew of any Christian artists, and he reached out to me, and I said, yeah. Sure. Nice. Now do you, do you are you do you have, like, normal gigs anywhere, or is this, is this, like, kind of an anomaly for you? I I mostly love to just help with worship at our church. Yep. I've

I've loved to write. I've written some songs over the years. I stay pretty busy. I have two boys that are six and nine years old that are involved in a lot of different activities are actually here in the background Mhmm. Hanging out with us, and you guys are so funny and entertaining. My cheeks already hurt. So Okay. Alright. So, like, wait. Wait. Is this is it far away? How far is this show from your place?

So I think Saint Charles is what? How far from here? Twenty? About thirty minutes. Thirty minutes. So I'm actually I come from Leon, so that's down on the Missouri border. Oh. About an hour south of Delaney. Okay. So this is mileage deduction territory.

There's math. Yeah. There's math involved. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, I'm ex I'm excited. So Yeah. Tell me a little bit about do you the the the tunes that they can expect? Like, what's kind of your do you have a vibe? Well, I'm gonna do a couple original songs. Okay. And also just some worship songs that I feel are pretty familiar to to most people. Mhmm. So Okay. What's do do you have like, when you write,

do you tend to write the do you do the tunes first? Do you do the lyrics first? Like, how does that work for you? Definitely kind of like you. I'm an emotional writer. So I I feel like I go in seasons where there's seasons if there's a lot going on or I just feel like I'm growing a lot or I'm learning a lot, I tend to write a lot more. And then there's there's dry seasons where,

you know, I kind of just write when I feel inspired. I don't always just sit down and be like, I'm gonna write today. Like Yep. Dirk over here who wrote his song, he's gonna perform on the way here in the car. He's so awesome. Which is so cool. That's just such a great gift to to have, you know, music and words that come so naturally like that. That's really awesome. I'm looking forward to hearing It's gonna be yeah. It's gonna be good. He was he was tying it up, like, even as the show was in fact, we had to keep the show from starting. We did. We did. Like, figuring it out. He was dancing to his own too. He was. He was awkward. What did you name it? I was stuck in traffic. Is that what you no. It's gonna be great. Okay. So let's let's do, what song are you guys gonna do tonight? We're gonna do a really familiar worship song. I came straight from baseball, so I wasn't super prepared to to play a song for you guys. But Jeff is gonna play. We're gonna do How Great Is Our God. It's just a really common worship song. I've actually never we've never played through this. I've never met him before tonight. So this is like the ultimate winging effort here. To rehearse yourself. This is awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I'm probably gonna sing backup vocals. I'm ready. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's gonna be fun. I think you should sing harmony. Oh, I don't do that.

Golden Bear. It's not Box in the corner. Yeah. It's a lack of skill problem. Yeah. I'm not shy. I'm just terrible. Okay. Well, sweet. I'm excited. Let's listen. This is Angel Triplett, and we're gonna do How Great Is Our God.

Rejoice. He wraps himself in light.

And darkness tries to hide and trembles at his voice,

trembles at his voice. How great is your God. Sing with me. How great

is our God. And all we'll see how great, how great

is our God. God. Sing with me how great

is our God. And all we'll see how great how great

is our God. Hey. That was fun, guys. You sounded great. Alright. Nicely done. Yeah. We had a little background vocal help. Hope you don't mind we joined in. That was fun. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You you kinda saved me. Thank you. That was good. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing. So that so Angela's gonna be at the show at the the Talk Shop lounge,

and no no tickets. Food is available. Christian crafts. Now is that again? Yeah. So how how they're doing that, you guys, as far as the there's no no tickets for the event, and it's a it's a free family friendly event. Nice. So there is a free will donation.

Got it. If you, whoever would like to donate, but it's not required. We want people to come out whether you have, you know, a little bit to give or not. That's less important to us than that people are there. That's what we want. That's what would love for everybody to do. Yeah. Excellent. 05/18, is the date, one to 4PM.

Got it. Talk Shop Lounge in Saint Charles, Iowa. Fantastic. 3357 Saint Charles Road in Saint Charles. That's right. It's gonna be great. And is it like, does everybody do an hour? How does it work? We don't know. Probably? We're we're kinda we're kind of

we'll we'll know more that day. We'll probably Yeah. Good. Answer probably maybe, like, twenty, thirty minutes is my guess, something like that. Is that what you were kinda thinking for you? Yeah. Yeah. So then and then, well, I'm gonna have, my wife is gonna sing some songs with me, which is great. I get better looking. Right. She's around. So I'm really looking forward to that. Eye of the beholder. I'm with you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then, so we'll we'll probably play for forty five minutes. We're gonna kinda play it by ear. We obviously want Jeff and the full band to to to get their fair share of, rock in the the afternoon to to close it out. So we're we're gonna be a little flexible, but above all, we're gonna have a good time. Yeah. And we're all gonna be there ready to roll, and we're we're really looking forward to to playing the music together. Yeah. I think that's gonna be exciting. Now, Derek, it it it occurs to me

that I've been seeing on the socials. You've been since we last talked, it sounds like you've been getting deeper into being able to perform and support

some the recovery programs. Yes. Is that right? How's that been going? It's been going really well. You know? Because yeah. Because I was trying to think because I was on here, was it October, to promote that event that I did in November. So yeah. So one so god works in, great ways when we are willing to allow him to, to open doors. Right? And that's exactly what he did at that event in November is a couple of the the groups that, were there, was a Sheep Gate Recovery Center Yep. Out of Colfax. And I'll tell you what, we went to them, my wife and I, since they were so nice enough to come to that event,

we went to them and we we talked to Mike Foreman, and we said, how can we help you guys? And we thought maybe they'd say a fundraising event or something similar, and they said, honestly, what we would love is some in person worship. Mhmm. The guys, required to go to church on Sundays,

but they have this beautiful facility Mhmm. In Colfax. I mean, it's been the history of the place is is amazing. It was some healing springs, you know, at one point in time, and then the nuns were there, the monks were there, all kinds of different things over the years. And Sheepgate, which is also a Teen Challenge? Teen Challenge. Yep. Mhmm. They switched the name a couple years ago because it's really not teens. It's more adults.

And, so we we went in there, and these guys were on fire. You know, when you're in a room full of people that don't have a cell phone, we don't know that. So we don't experience that in life anymore. When you get around 40 guys that were nice enough, so, so overly nice. Like, they carried all our gear in. They had to set it up if I'd let them, and they had this wonderful meal that they have. Well, that's my thing is I I get real particular about how every single cord goes in a case, so they're all waiting for me like,

hang on. Hang on. But, no, they so they had a meal for us, and, they were so nice to my wife, and they absolutely were on fire. You know? It was just an an unreal experience. We got to lead. We we led there three times and then, and just have absolutely loved it. You know? And it it just it changed my perspective on playing music. I left there playing the first time. I was telling this to Jeff. You know, as as a musician, you're always you're trying to find your audience. Right? Yep. Whether that is leading at church, whether that's leading at a bar or restaurant, whether it's, you know, Jess going down tour to Nashville or playing at different areas. You're trying to find where you fit in. Right? Yep. And I left playing that first time, and it was like they were all on fire, and I got done playing. And I was like, this is this is a different perspective

that I love doing it. So we we just last night, actually, my wife and I partnered with, Hope Ministries. Nice. They have a Hope Center that they just built. It's a brand new facility that, they just built actually just right over by Life Change Church, our church, that we attend. And, the gal that runs the place just started going to our church, and

it just worked out that when we were talking about going there, finalizing the last tour before we scheduled it, one of our pastors said, Well, Elizabeth that runs the Hope Center is right there. She's just gonna become a member of our church. So she came up and sang some songs with us. And, two of the gals from there just got baptized at our church, on Easter Sunday, and it's like we're all it's just amazing. So it's and we have we've got some more stuff like that coming up. But, yeah, it's just it's been wonderful to connect to the right people, you know, and I've really enjoyed that. Yeah.

Yeah. It's pretty cool to be able to to see how, like, your skills, talents, and desires, like, god finds a place for him to get him plugged in and to be in service to his kingdom and, to his people and to people who wanna be his people. Yeah. So that's that's super awesome to see him kinda tie all that stuff together. That's pretty cool. Mike, we were talking before the show. Weren't you trying to remember I can't remember. You're doing some, like, bible reading or remembering. Like, were you trying to remember something?

Was it some verses? I don't know. This feels feels weird. Because if even if that was true, I wouldn't remember it.

And so I'm not a 100% sure how to respond to that. I thought no. It was it was like was it Ephesians? Ephesians. Right? What's that? Oh, Hey. You know what I always wanted to learn? No. Yeah. What was Ephesians three seventeen through 19. Oh, yeah? Well, I'm the man. Ephesians three seventeen through 19 says, that Christ may dwell for your heart through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints, and to know what is the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge so that you may be filled with the fullness of God. My man. Woah. Wow. Nice. I I wasn't even close. Yeah. You

couldn't even remember the book. I was confused completely. Hey. There's 66 of them. I can't remember the one. I heard him practicing earlier, he's like, dear Ephesians. And that's as far as he got. And I was like, I don't think you understand how these lessons work. Why is Paul always in trouble? Dear Ephesus.

Whole whole city. I'm not happy with your barbecue selection. You feel like Paul had favorite restaurants. Right? Where he's like do you think he did, hey. What we don't have are his writings, like Michelin Guide style, where he was like, you really gotta stay away from this fish joint. Like, he left some stuff out. He's like, I really wanna get back to Ephesus for the meatballs.

We have the best pasta in Greece. It's surprising. And the spirit kept me from because last time it upset my stomach. We had to figure out how to what to do with all these statues, so we used them for stone cookery. Oh, man. I'm telling you, I'm a Roman citizen, and that's no Pasta del Romano. They broke the spaghetti. Alright. Oh, boy. That was fun after a cool thing we just did. Sorry. Ruined it, everybody. I

should just put that at the end of every show. Sorry. We ruined it, everybody. That'll be our. That's all, folks.

Okay. So second second Samuel 22. Alright. Listen, fellas. You gotta and and ladies, you gotta just jump in if you got something to add to this conversation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It won't it won't stop naturally, so you just gotta jump in. That's true. Who's the other lady in here? That's, that's pretty much That was, like, plural. Yeah. Sometimes he will you know what I'm saying? We were both about to make the exact same joke at each other. It's not funny. Hey. It's Mike. Well, that's boo boo. I thought she was talking about Aaron Dale in that cover up film we were talking about. Yeah. Calm down, Slim. Okay. I can wear light colors. My new nickname.

Hey. Not not before Easter. No. Before. Yeah. You're safe. Alright. Labor Day. I don't know the things. Second Samuel 22. So reading through reading through the life of David, and you're like, okay. Great. And you're there's a obviously, you're getting these very clear comparisons between David and Saul. Some one listens to Yahweh, one does not. And so you get into second Samuel 22, and you made your way through the life of David and his son kinda rebelling and trying to take over the throne from him, and he's like, he's gone through all the things. Right. Yeah. Okay? And then you get I'm not gonna read we're gonna have to skip a few spots because it's super long. But in second Samuel 22, which has a connection, David also writes about this in Psalm 18.

It says, and David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. So this is this is where this is coming from. Sure. K. And he says, Yahweh is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. My God, my rock and whom I take refuge. My shield and the horn of my salvation. My stronghold and my refuge. My savior, you save me from violence. I call upon Yahweh who is worthy to be praised and I am saved from my enemies. For the waves of death encompassed me. The torrents of destruction assailed me. The cords of Sheol entangled me. The snares of death confronted me. In my distress, I called upon Yahweh.

To my god, I called. From his temple, he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears. Okay. So so far We can get on board with this. We saw the greatness of Yahweh. Yahweh. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, we talked we did talk about this one a little bit last week because the following which says, then the earth reeled and rocked. The foundations of the heavens trembled and quaked because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth, glowing coals flame forth from him. He bowed the heavens and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub and flew. And so we were talking about, the veracity of scripture and like things can be true without having to be literally true. Right. He did not see fire come from Yahweh's nostrils. He's telling you a true thing about God. He's just doing it in poetry and in that kind of language. Okay. So anyway, I'm like, okay. Got it. Got it. God God protected him, rescued him. This is all great. And you make your way down. And then it said, verse 20,

he brought me out into a broad place. He rescued me because he delighted in me. Yahweh dealt with me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness cleanliness of my hands, he rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of Yahweh and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his rules were before me and from his statutes, I did not turn aside. I was blameless

before him and I kept myself from guilt. And the Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight. With the merciful, you show yourself merciful. With the blameless man, you show yourself blameless. With the purified, you deal purely. And with the crooked, you make yourself seem torturous. You for you are my lamp, and he he continues. But anyway, this is the part. Yeah. Okay? This is the part where you're like, why is he saying these things? Why is he saying I have walked blameless before my God when you can look back at David's life and you're like, he was deceitful.

He sent a man to death so that he could take his wife. And you're like, I I don't understand. Yeah. How has he come to this particular conclusion? So Did you have a thought? Okay. Well, we gotta give the you gotta give the microphone.

Are we talking about David or Goliath? We're talking about David. David. Yeah. We're talking about David. Good question. Yeah. David. Solid. So okay. Go ahead, Mike. Okay. So my question is is, like, I know why this is hard to take in on its face. Yep. But if a man were to say this in the New Testament, I would say, well, this makes sense. Right? Because Christ. Right? Because Jesus says you are blameless because of me. Yeah. All your sins have been washed away. Like, evil, I can look back on your whole life and go clean. Right? But, like, this was before that period of time. And David appear like, the way it reads off the pages, David is like, yeah. I nailed this thing. Yeah. God was good to me because I was good at representing him. Yes. Yeah. He didn't just say,

I'm good like, I'm in good shape because God has rescued me. That was the that was the first half. Right? But he very clearly says, because of my actions. Yeah. Like, because of the things that I did. Right. I walked cleanly. Blamelessly. Yeah. Right. Blamelessly. Yeah. Okay. So I this is difficult. This is difficult to take in. And like I said, he's multiple Psalms also reinforce this perspective. And so I I I was reading through and I'm kinda praying, and I'm like like, how am I supposed to understand this? Because here's at at its worst, you could read this. Let's say you didn't if you were not particularly excited about following Yahweh, you could look at this and go, look, man, with the facts on the ground, either the Bible's not true or this man is seriously deceived. Right. Yeah. Right? And, like, and and how did we get it that it's scripture? We're supposed to go, like, this thing is firm, reliable, hand of God,

and this is obviously not right. Yeah. Either that or or Yahweh is a purveyor of terrible activities. Right? Like, God affirms all the things that David did Yeah. And said, yes, this is the kind of man I want. Yes. So these are the risks. Right? From this so the question is is, like, how can I understand what I believe to be true about scripture and then run into this mess and go, oh, yeah? Makes a lot of sense. It's also interesting because, like, you get the you get the David's the man after god's own heart Exactly. Description. Right? Like, it's that that has always been something that seems super contentious to me. Yep. Like Which made a ton of sense when you were, 10. When when they only told you the stories about David that were like, he's such a great warrior. Right. Exactly. David and Goliath, you hear that story, you go, heck yeah, man. Like, I how dare the armies of Israel, allow a a Philistine to come in here and besmirch the name of our lord? Yep. I refuse for this to be a situation. I will go out. Yeah. And I will be the one if no one else does. And if that's the only conversation we have about David, we go, yeah. Totally. Man after god's own heart. This makes sense. Yep. But then, oops, the rest of David's story. Like Harder to take in. I it feels like it feels like there's one common thread that you can really follow

that maybe gets at this Yep. With me, and I don't know if you're gonna talk about it, but, like, it's just You tell me what you think it is. Well, it's it's it's his it's his treating of Saul. Like, it's it's it's the way that he he seemingly correctly takes in the concept of Saul's anointing by god and his kingship that has been given as, like, this is god's anointed king, so I won't kill him. I may I may take,

a piece from his garment. I may do this thing to show him like, hey. You know, you keep trying to kill me and doing all these things. I could have taken your life many times. Remember that, but I'm not going to. Yeah. And then also people come to him and go, why don't we just kill him right now? And he goes, no. We're not gonna kill Saul. That's god's anointed king. Yep. I refuse to do that against god's anointed king. Even if I have been promised that someday I will be his king, I haven't been anointed amongst the people yet, and so I'm not going to make actions. That seems to be one of the only, like, I don't know, like, wrath staying things that you really think of in the story of David that maybe that's the concept here, but I I'm not stopping

his view of Yahweh is, like, god put him in, god's gonna have to take him out. If god appointed me, god will put me right? Like, it's it's the view of god as king. Like, and his treatment of Saul is that way. Right? Like, he treats Saul that way because he goes, god makes the decisions here. If god put a man in, god's gonna have to take a man out. Yeah. Yeah. Like, in major movements of his life, he's he's known as one who is faithful to god knowing that god is faithful to his promises. There you go. And, like, that's great. But then I don't know how you get a a David that goes, I've walked blamelessly. Ask Bathsheba and Uriah, friend. Yeah. Like, I don't know. Or Ahimelech's whole family. Yes. Right. Exactly. He's like, oh, yeah. The Ahimelech deal.

I don't know. I think we're being made fun of for I don't know you're about. That's why he all the priests got killed. Remember, he he got the bread and the Goliath sword from Ahimelech. Oh, yeah. And then And then Saul killed all them. He killed all of them. Oh, yeah. Technically, it was Doeg, the Edomite, but whatever. He got them. Yeah. No. I understand. Doeg. Okay. So but but so I think you're right. You're just pitching too low. It's not his it's not just his relationship and how he reacts to Saul. It's the it's the thing that undergirds that, which is at his core, he never turns from Yahweh. The measurement Uh-huh. The measurement of second Samuel and of David's own representation,

and even as we look at, like, how the prophets represent David, what they're looking for is going, he we regardless of how fallibly humans followed in the things that God told him to do Uh-huh. He walked with Yahweh.

He he Okay. He never he didn't chase he didn't chase other gods. That is the sole criteria Right. Of which he's assessing his life. And so and this is where you see, like, he reacts differently than Saul does. Like, when a, when a prophet confronts Saul, Saul rejects it. When a prophet confronts David, he repents. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Right. Nathaniel brings something to him and he's like, I gotta change. Or Ethan? Yes. It's Nathan. Yeah. Yeah. So so but but that's the thing. And so so which what makes it so interesting then is that, like, the description of David goes, like, even in my fallible following of of Yahweh, I am yet blameless. I never sought anything else.

Sought Yahweh and Yahweh alone in my human fallibility. Yeah. Okay? Now the reason that is so interesting and so powerful is doggone it if that isn't my life. Where like I could easily take the I would the same scrutiny that I'm putting on David's description of himself would show up if I made the same description of my own life. But here's what I know is that like through through the tides and the scorching sun and the waves that I have created even in my own existence, I have never clung to anything else but Yahweh.

And like that, in that David is blameless. And that is the assessment of what scripture is looking at is that like, it's not not the expectation that David was a perfect character. Sure. Was a perfect human being. Like, that's what how I'm assessing what he's talking about, but he took that off the table already. He's like, of course not. But

but I I blamelessly I clung to Yahweh even in those human frailties. And I don't I don't find that super encouraging. I suppose that's interesting because if you take that and continue it on into the story of of first and second kings, right, like, that is that is the major thing. Like, that is the major theme of this king followed Yahweh. That's right. Or this king I mean, Solomon does it for a second and then immediately is like, well, on that hill, I'm gonna go ahead and build some stuff for some other idols or some other gods allow the prophetesses and my wives and stuff like that to do that stuff. And then you get out of, what, the 40 kings that are talked about, but with within the Southern and northern kingdoms in first and second kings, you get, like, five, maybe six that are doing halfway okay. And, like, everybody else is like, oh, but they didn't destroy the Asherah poles, and they didn't take down the high places, and they were worshiping other gods or creating other idols and all that stuff. Yeah. And think about that. Like, that that was the big prescription on this is why you can't be, like, bringing foreign princesses in here. It's not that God's worried about, like, the purity of the relationships within his people. He's worried that you're gonna bring in people who are gonna influence you towards other gods. And they absolutely do. And it's exactly what happened over and over again. Okay. Okay. So I have a question. How like, do you feel like this is prescriptive of how people should view their relationship with God as whole? Because here here's the thing. Like, modern day Christianity

really struggles with giant waves of feeling close, not feeling close. I screwed up. I'm really apart from God. Right? Like, instead of looking at ourselves as a broken humanity. Right? And and but, like, we'll go like, we feel so bad and so apart from God today, and then an experience will change that. And then we're in for, like, three, four days Yeah. Or a week or two weeks, and then you're like, oh, I'm so far apart from God again. Right? But I've screwed up so much. You know you know, like and it seems like we are we there's a lot more churn. There's a lot more thrash, right, with a modern view of how god views humanity.

Yeah. Yeah. Think of the confidence David has to make the statements he's making in the events that he does. We're like I mean, I think we we're saying this from, like, even a ministry perspective. Like, how many, especially fellas, I feel like really struggle with this where, like, they like, any in the presence of any sin in their lives feels like the flick football. Yeah. Like, you just got totally shot out of the picture. Yep. And then you come trudging in with your head down and then you made a bad decision and flicked football again. It's not that those things aren't wrong and that you've not, like, causing yourself difficulties in life. But the the thing is is that, like, David can still look for all I mean, got some major football flicking going on in that man's life and he's still like, but I never left Yahweh. I never even thought about it. So this is the thing. It's like this this I feel like a lot of our modern generation gets robbed

of the confidence of God moving, of God doing, of God redeeming, or speaking with confidence to the things and the character and the mighty right hand of God. Because, like, you feel confident saying that if you happen to be on track to your bible reading this week. Mhmm. Right? Or, like, you showed up to your community group or you got to pray with somebody and, like, you're like, I'm confident. But as soon as you have a fallibility in your life, you're like, I'm unqualified to speak to the greatness of God. And the truth is is like the greatness of God didn't move at all. You're always qualified to speak on that because that part's always true. Whether you're nailing it or not, you know, roll the dice. You know? We're being we're being purified. You know what I'm saying? Sanctified throughout our lifetime. But but I think what happens a lot with, especially dudes, I think this is definitely true, is like they will they will find a failure or or they'll view themselves as a failure, and then they completely pull back from ever having the mighty word come out of their mouth because they're just not feeling it this week. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. You're categorized by shame cycles. Right? Like, it's over and over again, that that concept of that roller coaster is it seems to be an incorrect,

like, long long vision look at yourself because, like, you get stuck in, oh, I sinned today, and therefore, I'm going to hate myself enough that I'm not gonna be in my bible. I'm not gonna pray because I'm so full of shame. And, like, I can't I can't accept, the mercy and the gift of the cross today because of Yeah. Not today. Off to wait till it's noon tomorrow morning. We're we're we're we are we are biweekly prodigals. It's like it's insane. That is correct. Every every three to four days, we're running off into the distance and spending our inheritance

and then coming back with the pigs. And it's like, that's insanity that we're looking at that and going, no. This wasn't meant to be like a a thing we do all the time. Like So that's the thing. Is this is where I think the difference is is, like, we view it as a prodigals every four days. Yeah. Right. And instead, we just went to the edge of the property and then kinda and used a low level square. Yeah. And then we're like, we'll never get back in. We dipped we dipped a toe in the mud and went, oh, no. My clothes aren't clean again. That's what I'm wrong. Any any spot of sinfulness is absolute, like, uncleanliness. Like, that's Yeah. Yeah. That's true. But, like, the the concept of, like, we we we very often will will use the gavel against ourselves in in, like, the court of law and judge ourselves broken and lost and shameful and guilty, but rarely rarely ever are we looking at, like, the power of the mercy and the majesty of what was given to us on the cross and the and the the crucifixion of Jesus. And, like, if I am to be like, Paul looks at it straight up like, yeah. That's my flesh, but I'm spirit. Like, I'm spirit, and this is how I move. Like, was openly saying, my flesh may fail. I made make these mistakes, but what I don't let it do is that now is is exactly how I'm gonna categorize who I am forever. Yeah. Like, he moves forward. He goes, no. I don't I don't live that way anymore. That's not who I am anymore. I that part of me needs to die every day being crucified with Jesus on the cross and then move forward in it without shame.

Guilt can be there because it's an understanding of a problem that's happened in your life. It can exist there to go there is sinfulness and I have to I have to reckon with that reality. But what I'm not going to let it do is put on a new name tag for me. That's not what's happening. Like, I need to move forward because there's work to do and there's time to be with the father that you need to be doing rather than shamefully running away from him again and again. And sleeping in the back 40 acting like dad locked the door. He didn't lock the door. His house didn't even move. The lights are still on. You're still on the property, friend. Like this I think that's the thing. It's like, think we blow it up. Like, we have a tendency to blow it up too much. And I think the broad point is is like, boo's right. There's a lot of work to do, and we're disqualifying our disqualifying ourselves from doing it based on our own judgment of the situation when when, like, god's standing at the door going, what are you doing? What are you doing? The door is still open. Right. Yeah. You're you're a sinful fallen man. I know. I sent I sent a son for this. Come back in and speak confidently where my house is and where my door is and the kind of character I have and that all are welcome. And, like, it can come from you. Maybe that's the big confidence. It it can come from you. It doesn't matter if you're on the back 40 or you're standing on the porch. It can come from you. Yeah. And I feel like practically the things that lead me back to sin is shame.

Like, if I feel like I'm going for for a period of time and, like, I've been close to my father and I've been doing the things that I need to be doing and things like that, the things that'll get me back into the muck and the mire is feeling terrible about myself or being shameful or hating who I've been and the things that I've done. But, like, if I rightly look at the situation and go, yeah, that was a falter. That is a real thing. Guilt did happen, and I needed to be called out by the spirit in my life to go, hey. That was sinfulness. Can't do that. Like, be better. Like, get up again and walk with me. The things that'll make me go for three months without running back to my father is shame. The things that will get me back up and it'll go a longer time between periods of of sinfulness is when I legitimately feel like I'm not living in shame, I'm living in the victory that is in Christ Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, anyway, I did like, so I think that's all helpful that I found once I either this is the type of reading this part of David David's life either goes, look, this thing isn't gonna be trusted at all, or I frankly think I can understand my situation Yeah. Differently.

And I think healthier because obviously, like, the Lord has codified the scriptures here and he goes, yep. Yep. So, like, second Samuel 22 stays. Psalm. Psalm 18 stays. And I'm like, okay. So maybe it's it's and then we're not trying to, like again, this is not a justification of whatever fallibility you got in your life that it's perfectly cool. It's not. But, like, try not to, like, tip over or rerender your entire existence. Sure.

Dave David doesn't have any problem in confidence saying, look. Followed Yahweh even though he's got some pretty rough football flicking. Mike, we got we got a time for a couple for a dear life in the path. We got are oh. Let's do one, and then Dirk's gonna carry us out of here. Okay. Got it. There we go. He's gonna grunt until he pulls up. Now this is the time though. So I know it's it's hard to get a word in edgewise on this last conversation, but this is an advice column. Okay? So we're gonna people are asking for advice from us, which is a mistake, and so you guys can help. Yeah. Yeah. Do better. You guys to make us be better. Yes. Okay. Alright. Ready? Yeah. Let's have it. Dear life, from the path. Ever since I was a child, my mom has regarded me as wise, thoughtful, and intelligent.

She has confided about family issues, tensions at church, and cheating at her workplace. Lie from the path, I don't wanna be your confidant. Am I doomed to always hear her never ending problems? She creates them by her herself by jumping to conclusions and suspecting everyone has ill intentions.

While I understand this is to protect yourself, it's exhausting to listen to and to advise when I know nothing will change. The worst part is is that I can't confide in her. She doesn't understand my perspective. I don't think she even tries. Our relationship is very one-sided. Sometimes I feel like I'm her mom. She talks to no one else like this and refuses to go to therapy. I'm a senior in high school, and I plan to go to college. I don't wanna leave her like this. How can I help her? Sweet Moses. Okay. So

You want the synopsis? Yeah. I was gonna say it sounds like a senior in high school is dealing with a mom that's yeah. She basically I it didn't say whether she's a single mom or not, but, like, here's what it sounds like. It sounds like the mom is using her teenage daughter Yep. As her best friend. Okay. And so, basically, you're getting all of the all of the situations that an adult woman would go through, what she perceives, the shortcomings, all the things. And you're like, hey. What do you think about this? What do you think about this? How do you feel like this is going? Yeah. And and and her daughter's like, I don't wanna I don't wanna be this. Especially now the daughter feels like she brings stuff up, you know, like, hey, mom. I'm having the trouble with, Tara at school. And she's like, yeah. I have trouble with people at church like this. You know? And then, like, just skips over the whole thing. Right? So it's a really one-sided best friend relationship except it's a relationship between a mom and a daughter. Yeah. Basically, her concern is I don't wanna leave my mom like this when I go to college. That's unfortunate that, like, the daughter's being asked to hold that line. Like Yes. She's the one who's gotta be,

worried about mom when she goes off to college. Like and that's that's a hard place for a kid to be, like, to have to to to be thinking about that kind of thing. And, like, it it it sounds like it's just telling of the entire relationship they have of, like, I think it's super cool that, like, mom is in kiddo's life. Like, I love that. And I think it's it's it's cool that they're they have a connection, but, like, I seeing it from the perspective of, like, having to be the best friend to your mom, like, that's why I I I had a little bit of that by the time that, like, I was 18,

19 with mom. Like, it really felt like we were friends, and I didn't really have, like, a parent. Mhmm. And it it I'm trying not to be dramatic here, but it really felt like I lost a bit of of, like, the the kid days. Yeah. Like, I I lost a bit of the the the the the joys and the the pleasures of being a kiddo, because I had to grow up and be a a a friend and confidant and, like, support to someone that was supposed to support me. Yeah. And, again, I'm, like, I'm not mad at my mom, and I don't I'm not, you know, condemning her for that kind of thing. She had her the stuff that she dealt with. It just like, it was just a weird kind of twang to the relationship, I guess. It was like, I knew better because, like, my friends, I all saw them, and they didn't have to be the bestie and, like, the friend and the the support system for a parent. And I'm like, I wish that I could just be a kid. Yeah. And so I can imagine that this this young lady is feeling that same way of wishing that she had the the ability to be a kid and maybe not even wishing it because it doesn't sound like she's been able to be that for a while. Mhmm. But I'm I'm always cautious of the, hey. They're way they're way more mature for their age than than people realize. I'm like, I don't know about that. I think you've just asked them to step up to a level that they should have never had to.

So Yep. Yep. I don't know, Dirk. Does this any of this hit you? I'm trying to. I'm I'm I'm I'm trying to figure out the angle that I would go. Sure. First off, I gotta take this off. I'm gonna talk. It it it is a tough one because, obviously, there's

a little bit of a role reversal Mhmm. Going on there. And, I think that it might be time for the for the young lady to go her own path and not maybe feel like she has to carry so much of that. And maybe it might be a good thing for her for her mother to to to find her own feet a little bit Yeah. And to not be so, you know, relying on her daughter to be the support system, so to speak. Yeah. And, like, I can understand the daughter that's like, I don't wanna leave my mom in this. You might have to. Yeah. Like, they I I it it stinks that you have to even think that way about your mom in the in this space, but, like, believe it or not, it may be a a blessing in disguise. I hate to use that phrase, but, like, that she then doesn't have this bestie that's in her life. That's her 17 year old daughter or potentially 18 year old daughter. And, I mean,

I don't know. Like, I just I what I would caution you at is I don't want you to leave for college and feel guilty every day of your life because of what you've taken from your mom. I also don't want you to make, drastic decisions about not forwarding your life

in an effort to protect your mom. That's an unfair thing to ask. Think one of the hardest things as she becomes an adult, and this is true with all adults, is is trying to figure out which weight belongs on you. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's just true in adulthood anyway. Like, you stuff that you're responsible for, people you're responsible for, people that you love, people that you want to try to maintain a good relationship. And, like, it people will do this sometimes manipulatively,

and sometimes they'll do it, like, without actually knowing, but they start putting weight on you and responsibilities. And then it is up to you to play goalie. Uh-huh. Right? To decide what belongs and what doesn't. So, like, at the end of the day, like, some solid truths have to come into light, which is one like, that relationship is not what it's supposed to be. And let's say that it's even let's say that is what it what it's supposed to be and you just don't like it. Well, all these things are good enough reasons for you to go, this needs to change. Right? And what's true is change usually happens when someone has to hurt. Like, the pain's gotta be felt somewhere. They do that with we talk about this all the time when you're trying to make a business move or you're trying to make it a personnel move or whatever you're like, look. If we're short staffed, stop working double time to make it look like we ain't short staffed. Right? Someone's gotta hurt. It's gotta it's the pain's gotta get felt somewhere. And so what you're gonna feel like is you're responsible for the pain. Mhmm. And, like, the thing that we're gonna caution you not to do is try is is, like, just because someone else is looking at this thing incorrectly

doesn't mean you join them. Right. It means you have to help them see it correctly. And, like, I would make sure that you're seeing it correctly. Like, obviously, if we're getting one side of the story, get yourself an accountability somebody. I'd find someone at a church or a good best friend to talk it through and make sure you're looking at it correctly because you might have inserted yourself as the best friend and now regret it. And so, like, you're gonna have to say, mama, I done this. I put myself. I shouldn't have been here. And now it's time that we gotta we gotta tear this up. But, like, if you own part of this, you you need to own it. But, like, overall, the right perspective gets to win regardless of how we got here. There it's never too late to say, alright. Let's start let's start backing this back out. Okay. Secular?

Secular says, the best chance you have of helping your emotionally dependent mother would be to start by helping yourself. Begin making plans about where you will go to college, creating plenty of physical space between you and mom. The next time she starts confiding, which from what you have written seems more like gossiping,

tell her you don't have time to listen and that she should discuss it with a contemporary who has more life experience than you. It's the truth. Okay. That's not the truth. Super awkward. Like, I don't have time. That's not the truth. Say to your mother, perhaps you should find a contemporary. Won't Mother. This is terrible. Perhaps you could find a contemporary to confide in these shoes you're having. She won't like hearing it. Love your daughter. And may try to make you feel guilty, but don't fall for it. Keep repeating to your mother that her problems are more than you can handle and that talking to you about them hasn't helped her, which is why you want her to talk with a licensed mental health professional.

Okay. We wouldn't say contemporary to therapist. Wow. Okay. That, my girl, would be the best way to help your mom. Now listen here. Like, I I I'm gonna I'm gonna give the mom the benefit of the doubt. She's not trying to be this way. And, like, in some ways, it feel it's gonna feel like I have a really good relationship with my kid. Right. Right? And so, like and it's it's difficult, especially, like, let's take it your oldest kid. I always think about my poor oldest kid, and I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. Like, I don't know whether I have this right or not. Like, I'm just it's like she's new at being 18, and I'm new at parenting a nation. You know, it's kids an experiment. It's whole life. Right. And so, like, she's probably not doing this on purpose. So, like, don't Agreed. You don't have to lay it on thick and try to guilt her into things. She didn't end up in this place. And frankly, she probably loves having your time and attention and being able to, like, have someone that she's raised to, like, be able to have conversations with. It may not it's not long term the healthiest, it sounds like, wherever this line is. But, like, don't don't treat her like she's a like an irritating person in your life. Like, just, like, love her into the next spot now that you have the benefit of, like, being old enough to recognize something that maybe your mom doesn't.

And frankly, is is is going to like, you could replace her with some sort of or have her go talk to a contemporary, but, like, it's not gonna feel the same as being having a close relationship with your kids. She just got her lines a little bit on on the wrong the wrong place. And so but, like, be loving about that for good and safe. I don't have time for this. That's terrible. And that's a lie to start with. You know what I'm saying? I'm super proud of the 18 year old, like, for recognizing that this is an issue. Like, because it very easily could have turned into

I mean, this twenty years later, like, this kind of thing. I'm gonna skip college and stay home with all it. Never changes. Like, for you to recognize that this is this is a place that, like, a boundary needs to be set, lovingly set, absolutely true, but a boundary nonetheless. Like, that's a super cool thing and a blessing that, like, you are are apparently in a place where you've recognized this is an issue. Walk walk gracefully with it and, like, love your mom. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We're gonna leave that there. Hey. Maybe you've got some thoughts

on all kinds of things. Like like, you loved the show because the other other delightful folks were Maybe your name's Golden Bear. Yeah. Maybe you're curious about the nepotism of the Golden Bear. Yeah. Yeah. You have thoughts on that. Maybe you're Brandon Lake, and you're like, maybe I should come on that show. Yeah. In excess. I don't know why they said that to me. Or maybe we didn't give the right advice. Either way, that's why we've created the Bob Eisenhower Life From The Path complaint line. That's (515) 517-0085. Call or text the Life From The Path complaint line, (515) 517-0085. And this is the place where you get to call, and you can just leave a message if you want to. You can send us a text message if you want to. You can use a meme

or I I'm really into the photo emojis. I've made a lot of photo emojis of myself that I use as reactions. It's a deplore data. And, anyway, this is the time to let us know how you think the show was going, what we could do to to to make it better. Now I think there's some sort of limitation on how many characters. So, know, like, get your top three thoughts Yeah. And send it on the end. I don't even know. Multiple texts. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. Hit it up multiple times. Anyway, live from Path to Complete line. Hit that thing up. (515) 517-0085. Call or text. We'd love to hear from you and your thoughts on the program. Now before you do that though, like, just listen to the end. I want you to listen to the end though because, like, maybe you're like, I don't know. They got to talking about that David thing and it went off a real tangent. And I don't know about this advice, like, bunch of dudes speaking on this It's reasonable. Daughter mom

conversation. We we're out. So but let Dirk's gonna it's everything in the world is on Dirk's shoulders here. Yeah. We've we've saved it to the end so that Dirk can kinda bring it home where we've created a dip in the program. So but, Dirk, I do I know we alluded to this earlier, but, like, you were crafting this tune. Like, tell me about this tune you're gonna sing. Because, like, it feels like you you were pulling it together. This this tune that kinda took on a life of its own, I wasn't actually finishing writing it in the car. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. I had the only, the words I had written down are in my scratchings of my journal Oh. Of my songwriting journal. Okay. And I can't read half of them. Right. Right. So I figured if I'm gonna go on the path, should at least write it on a sheet of paper where I could read Oh. The words You're professionalizing

the your own personal scribe to things you need to put down. Okay. I was gonna do this earlier today, And It happens. This is literally more effort than anyone has put into this show. Yeah. Appreciate you. Yeah. That's fantastic. I feel all made this place better. Thank you, all three of you. Better head right you guys. You know? Thank you guys for for letting us come on and promote this event and, yeah, share some music and, you know, we'd love to have we'd love to have some people make it out, you know, and and and worship and and and just, you know, have a good time together. That's what it's all about. So I think it's gonna be great. So to remind you, before Dirk carries us out at the end of the program Yeah. Tell me. This is the there's a it's at the Talk Shop Lounge in Saint Charles, Iowa. We're talking May 18 from one to 4PM. Speaking. Jeff Arendelle's gonna be there. Dirk and Lisa are gonna be there. Angela's gonna be there. Yeah. It's gonna be a great show. You're gonna be there? You're gonna be there. Question mark. Are you guys gonna be live from

the Christian revival concert? Is that That's a good idea. You have a reliable Internet connection and a toleration for weird people? Absolutely. Actually Absolutely. The one thing that I remember from when we broadcast did the broadcast in Saint Charles at that time was, like, we the we we had drug out, like, a 500 foot Ethernet cable

to try to get because we I mean, we're live streaming all day, and this was fifteen years ago. I was gonna say this a long time And so, like, the base Internet package is not what it is today. Okay? And so and but we couldn't find a place. Like, couldn't get a In reliable St. Charles, Iowa. Exactly. We are way cooler than Joe Rogan with what we had to do. Yeah. We we couldn't get a reliable Internet connection. And so some dude who was with the Spirit Midwest people had Verizon, and he just opened up a hot spot, and we ran on his hot spot for, like, sixteen hours Wow.

At this at this music festival. We owe you money for that particular hot spot. Yeah. Literally. They went they did not have a festival the year after. Hit us up for the on the life of the basketball plate line if we owe you money for a hot spot fifteen years ago. Even more so, and this is like looking back on this, I'm flabbergasted that a man was so unaddicted to his phone that he just turned on the hotspot and left his phone with us. Live life. And just walked around free without the dings and with all the things going on. He's just like, whatever. The life from the Path Boys will take care of it. We should reconnect with this fella. He seems great. What a grand gentleman. Okay. Alright. So, anyway, make sure you hit up that concert

and sign up for everybody's on this wait. Durst on the socials. Angela, are you on the socials? Okay. You can find Angela on the socials too. Just just type in your name and you're gonna come across it. Facebook. Okay. Facebook. Angela Triplett on the Facebook. Yeah. Every time you talk about anything on the Internet, you sound 912. The webs. What do you mean? It's on the interwebs. Are you on the socials? Whatever. Anyway Socials. Did the kids stop saying that? No. They never said it. Oh, okay. You were both before and after the trend.

What's the not alpha and omega? That's me. You could be in there somewhere. Okay. Anyway, let's let's tuck the show up here. Dirk is gonna carry us out again. So alright. This not finishing right at the last minute tune, but clarifying handwriting before the show. Tell me a little about the song. Yeah. So this song is it's a little little little little prodigal sonny as well. What I've done this last couple songs I've been writing is I just I I've just opened up the Bible and started reading a passage

and letting the spirit kinda go through it. And this is one it just kinda it I should have written down in my chicken scratching of my journal what bible passage this kinda came from. Mhmm. But it it just kinda came to life, and it came to life pretty quickly. And it's got a different vibe to it. It's a little more southern rock and roll. And,

Jeff, you'll probably hear a full band. We might do this one together at the Christian revival concert. Haven't talked about a lot before now, so we might as well just say I'm you're you're gonna be joining me on this song. Right. But, yes, that's what it is. And, this is it's a you know, the song's, I think it's gonna be called Jesus teach me to love again. Maybe just to love again. Okay. But, that's that's kind of the theme of the song. So y'all know that I was in recovery or am in recovery. And, so that's always, it's always in the back of my story, a part of it, and, coming to, the realization that,

to boldly proclaim Jesus, which is one of the things we talked about. I was I'm in this transition of of of of seeking to do that more. You know? And, you know, Jesus says, you know, you you you don't have because you do not ask, and I'm I'm trying to boldly be okay with with doing that. So that's here we go. Do we have a do we have a guitar? I took the headset off myself. Yep. Yep. We're good. Good to go. Yep. Alright. I sing a little louder than Jeff, so don't be letting it feed back. I'm ready.

Jesus, teach me to love again. Take my heart. Don't let me take it back even when I don't deserve. I've missed too many days

living hard at night. Opened up my bloodshot eyes blinded by the light.

The truth seems so far away. My

Alright. Well, big thanks to everybody for coming in. Thanks, Jeff. Thank you, Angela. Thank you, Dirk. We boys, it's really great to have you guys in here today. Really appreciate you coming. And we'll look forward to that show on in May. Yeah. And I don't I'm not quite sure what's going on next week whether we'll be here or not, but in the we'll try our best. But in the meantime, be faithful to means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to Live From The Path.