Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live And you're listening to Live From The Path coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston Proper. It's very good. I can't see you, but I know that you're beautiful. Thanks for joining us. I appreciate that. Here's what we got going on the program. I I know you can't if you're if you're listening to the podcast, you're not taking in the epic visuals that are available on the YouTube. Come on. I know you're not watching the YouTube because I know how many people watch the YouTube. Hello, less than 10. But there are 75 people in the room. Mike Mike is this is this is on Mike. These are my friends. Yeah. He's piled it. I'm gonna that that's probably too far. They

I don't I don't know if you asked them individually if they would agree to that, but, like, overall, I know them. And so I'm gonna tell you who they are real quick and, like but that's it. So I'm just gonna give you a first name of who's in the room, and, hopefully, we will hear from each of them as the night goes on. But I brought with me Kendra and Addie and Suri, and Emma came with Ben, and then Ella, and then Leila came with Ben as well, and my buddy Bryce. And then Dan's here. Thank you. Dan's here. I was feeling left out. Okay. So here's what we got going on the program this evening. So we we have this delightful cast of characters in here. I I I was trying to write it up for the for the YouTube description, and, like, I said younger generation.

May that makes me feel old. That makes you old. And I I don't know the right way to say it. But in any case, Peter What's the what's the right way to refer to your generation? Do you guys know? Gen z. Youngens. Is that right? Gen z or youngens? Youngens. Or you could go with youngster. I feel like if you say younglings, it just makes you feel older. Like, oh, those younglings. Like, it just makes you feel old. I didn't have youngling on my bingo card at all Not at all. As a possibility. It's the free space. I was

that. Yeah. Well, it sounds like read a, like, a scene from the Christmas story or something. We have all these people in here. We should Oh, we should've done a choral reading. Swing and a miss, fellas. You know I'm saying? Now we think about Okay. Alright. So anyway, one of the interesting things I think for the room is it it kind of feels like, and you guys can validate this or not, but, like, there's different bits of the gospel message that seem to resonate with different generations. And I know it's a broad brush, right? But there's like, maybe it's easier to say, hey man, here's the bits that maybe people found really effective like a generation ago, but like it doesn't hit people the same way. And so I am kind of curious. And that's even maybe Mike and Dan, even for us to think about

what hits your generation differently than maybe you've heard and what seems to resonate. And like, I'm not making a case that any particular part of the gospel story is bigger or better than the other, but I think you do have to read the room a bit on the context in which people are taking it in. Just just over my generation, they like fire and brimstone. You like you like to get hit with it? Not not me, but everybody always wanted that for me. I'm like, I'm not that guy. You know, I'm not that guy. I wear sweaties. Yeah. And so, like, a lot of the, like, the college aids kids that I talk to, like, they detest the fire fire and brimstone Yeah. Part of I wanna I wanna feel like I'm in my feet been stepped on. Wanna be yelled at. I'm like, yeah. You got a wrong guy. Yeah. Like, it's just so and, I what I thought was normally, like, personality driven, like, depending on who the person was, but there are definitely patterns throughout, like, generations where, like Yeah. You get that dude, especially, like, college campus dudes with the sign and saying, like, here all here's all the things that are wrong. And, like, all the college age people that I I talk to, all they do is hear that or look at it and see, like, that's not the gospel I know. Like, you're gonna not convince people that they are loved and that god loves them if you only see them by their sin. So what a terrible representation of Jesus. But, like, twenty years ago, I just saw that sign and went, I mean, most of that's probably right, I guess. I mean Yeah. Yeah. It is what it is. I'm kind of a jerk. Yeah. Okay. So we're gonna talk about that. Plus we have some I we some of us, I think, in the room saw the David did you guys see the David animation movie over the weekend? Yeah. No. Okay. I haven't I will without I don't wanna give away the plot, but then if you're like, hey. Don't give it away. You told me you didn't read I'm sorry. Do you say so? Samuel. You don't wanna give away the plot. It's in the bible. That's what I'm saying. And so if you're like, I was gonna give a disclaimer that heads up, I'm gonna talk about it, but then that's you saying I don't read the scriptures. And so I'm I'm probably not gonna give away anything you you didn't already know or can't easily know. But oftentimes when you have Christian movies like that, I have a hard time taking them in. I've got some just a couple things to point out, the things that I thought they did really well. And so I'll start with that, and then you can kinda decide whether you wanna My five year old grandson liked it. Oh, yeah. Do did you go with him? No. No. I was I was a homeowner. Him in the theater and waited outside? I said, I'll I'll pick you up later. I'm gonna watch Harry Potter. Do you have you guys run across any, like like, Jesus

or gospel, like, media that you thought wasn't cheesy? That you actually thought, like, this is actually pretty good. Like, a book series or a TV series or something? Annie. I well, probably a lot of you know the chosen, but that one's probably my favorite. Mhmm. Mhmm. I think they do a really good job. It's not like it's not like word for word what the bible says. It's more or less like what do they think, like, would have happened in that situation. And I think the cast and, like, the show, it's just overall really good, and I think it helps people understand the bible a lot better. Mhmm. Yeah. I agree. I I like, of all the Christian media that's come out, like, probably since I've been alive, I found the chosen most palatable, right, for all those reasons. Yeah. I agree with that. I saw the guy, the Jesus, the Jonathan Rumi. Yeah. He was in a trailer for movie before the David one and where he's not Jesus, and I have a hard time taking it in. His beard was shaved in that one. It freaks me out a lot. Yeah. His hair was the same length, but his beard was gone. It was disorienting. Yeah. I didn't care. He's never gonna be able to do anything else. Yeah. You know what saying? And especially, like, if he decides to do, like, a Chex commercial down the road, they'll be like, Jesus eats Chex. We gotta get some. They'll make millions. Do know what I'm saying? Like, it'd be really hard for him to do other stuff. Well, I watched the the Jesus revolution may be movie that came out Oh, yeah. I don't know, like, a few years ago, and he's in that, and he's shifty. Yeah. It is it's hard to take.

That's true. That's true. Yeah. That's true. Maybe it takes a little time. Like, when you watch him in a different character, if you give him, like, half hour, then it kinda separates a little bit. Right? But, like, right off the crack when you see him, like, he's just he's he's doing the Jesus thing. And so, like, it's hard to get him out of your mind. Yeah. I also feel like it's really hard for an if actor chooses to be represented as Jesus in a movie or in a show, then it's hard to, like not necessarily that you'd want to get that title off you, but, like, in Hollywood where they make movies, like, are like, you're known as, like, Jesus. You're typecast. You are like, that is, like Didn't that happen to Jim Caviezel when he did the, like, the passion of the Christ or whatever? He was Jesus, like, fifteen, ten ten, fifteen years ago or something. Like, he didn't get a whole lot of Hollywood action after that. Can't shake Jesus. I know that. Alright. Okay. So let's so then we'll do some advice on Dear Life From Path. Also, I'd be curious if anybody if anybody took us up on any of the Life From The Path Christmas suggestions from last week. I I I kinda doubt it, but just let me know. Hit us up on the Life From Path complaint line. (515) 517-0085. Call or text the Life From The Path complaint line sponsored by Bob Eisenhower with the Eisenhower team. They're easy to work with and hard to beat. Go ahead and hit them up for all your buying and selling needs. Also,

maybe just stop in and say, hey. And I heard your name on Life From The Path. Can I FaceTime the Life From The Path? Completely. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're not gonna answer Oh. For sure, given that we're in the middle of the program. But, yes, for sure. Yeah. Never mind looking. We can you can we rig up a secular Solomon? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Remember? Do secular Solomon? Yeah. We talk mhmm. Yeah. For sure. Sorry. I forgot. We can we'll also squeeze that in. Alright. So let's get to the while I'm kinda working on that, let let's get to the question which is is if you noticed anything like, as you hear maybe parents, grandparents, pastors, like, people who aren't of your generation talk about and share the gospel message, And you've then tried to either well, you're taking it in on your own or you're sharing it with other people. Are there things, like aspects of it that you feel like grab people? And there are aspects of it where they're like, meh. Like, you just don't connect with people very well. Or you find just a barrier to talking to folks. Like, what have been your experiences

for that? So let let me ask you this. Like, if you were gonna try to explain, like, what if like, if if good news if gospel means this is the good news of Jesus, like, what is that to you? Right? Like, what is the actual good news part of this? I think thing to be really big on is how much Jesus loves you because I know a lot in our generation, just social media and stuff just tries to make you feel like nobody loves you. Nobody nobody cares about you. Just go away. But

I just really like, you just need to know how much Jesus loves you and how deep his love is and how graceful his love is. And he is always forgiving. It's you don't have to beg for forgiveness. He already did that on the cross. So just yeah. His love. I definitely agree with that. A lot of the time, I feel like if I'm trying to spread the good word of God, a lot of the things I use to relate to, like, other people and to, like, a lot of people that are, like, surrounding me, just the freedom that you feel when your sins and your burdens are gone. Like, you don't have to carry that. That's not yours. So that brings up an interesting question for me is, like, most folks, and just I'm gonna speak stereotypically. So try not to be offended by the things I'm gonna say. Right? But when they would look at folks your age, they would say,

well, what's with all this non freedom? Because, like, you don't you're you're not, like, have a full time job. You're not under the weight of, like, a mortgage or responsible for children or whatever. But, like, like, at at its actual core, like, your generation is kinda flagged with feeling a lot of tension and a lot of anxiety and a lot of weight. And so, like, where is all this coming from? I think and I would say that probably this is a trend I've noticed when I've gone to, like, church groups and stuff like that is that there's a pretty big emphasis on the world as, like, sort of an opposition. And I feel like sometimes that is good and that's necessary. And I think it's being highlighted, especially now just with stuff that's going on where it feels like you don't want, especially for like my age, like college age kids,

I think ministries aimed at them kind of are trying to make sure you don't feel like you have a hand in like both buckets. Right? So like trying to emphasize that, like, this is an all in sort of thing. Like, you have to separate yourself. And I think probably part of the heaviness is or at least they tell you what feels like heaviness is just, like, what's going on. Stuff that happens in the world. Things people are doing, things people are saying, whatever. And I'm sure I think that probably is true. But like

something that I've noticed as like a pretty what feels to me is a pretty steady trend when I've gone to groups is of, like, an increasing view of the world as, like, the the opposition to us as instead of, like, the mission field sometimes, which it's also highlighted as the mission field, but, like, I don't know. Does that make sense? They're bad people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, I I've always been put off, I think, like, by even calling something worldly.

Yeah. Like, I I live in the world. Like, I'm worldly. Like, I and even the because the proposition then becomes like actually, I think I've mentioned this before on the show, but even that there's a song that goes like, I know I'm not home yet. This is not where I belong. Yes. It is where you belong. You were created here and and you're forever will also be here, restored for sure. And I know what we mean when we say that. Yeah. But to your point, like, it makes it seem like I am different on some account other than Jesus as opposed to I am I am the the my status has changed only because of Jesus, I am planted in a mission field of which I am also a beggar like the rest of the folks. And to to the point that it feels like opposition, it actually frames our heart as protecting against people that we otherwise should, like, don't square hugging instead of squaring off. Yeah. And that's actually that's super interesting you said that because I just watched a movie with the whole point or, like, the main character's whole point was, like, open arms instead of, like, fists up. Yeah.

But I feel like, personally, I don't like that doesn't connect with me. And like you said, like I just I've never really liked that. I felt like it feels weird and I feel like it's not right. But I think my people my age are turning to that more and they like that because it makes them like it gives them like a sort of a concrete image that like they're not risking it, you know? Like they're not half hearted. Like they are it makes them I think makes them feel pretty firm in their faith and then gives them like a feeling that like they are they're doing, like, the right thing by, like, separating themselves from it. So in the would it be fair to say that, like, where in a what is kind of an identity soup that is difficult

in in I I think it has been more difficult in like the current college and high school age ranges of like who am I? What do I mean to the world? What do I do? It does give you something concrete, but that concreteness may actually be making something firm that otherwise then Yeah. Cuts things off that maybe Yeah. We Dan, were you gonna say something? I had two or three things going through my mind. So we're talking like a difference between our focus is walking in the spirit as opposed to walking in the flesh. So it's not necessarily they're the opposition. They just have a different focus in life,

and they're living a different by a different set of rules. Mhmm. And I would I would hope that that communicating that to to your generation would make sense. I mean, didn't here's one question I had though, like, does does your generation You six seven, Dan. Yeah. You did the six seven. You you did it. You can't What did I do? Damn. What did you Dan. Stop doing that. Is that the thing? Well, actually, the YouTube's I knew 67 was a thing, but I didn't know that you would have hand motions. How do you do a six seven. Oh, that's really awesome. Anyway So 10 more people are watching the show. I'm so irrelevant. No. No. So my question is that

is your does your generation push back at the idea of sin? Like, that that's what my generation has been told, like, oh, you can't talk about sin, whatever, because we all offended, and they'll push back. And and and, like, I'm I'm not civil. There's no there's no concrete anything. You know? All the rules are negotiable, or that's just stuff I just read? I think that our generation honestly has, like, normalized sin. More or less specifically, like, honestly, like, thinking sin is okay. And especially with, like, going back to the identity thing, like, I've heard so much of, like, you're young. You can be reckless. You can go off and do these things. I think that sin I mean, it's been normalized a lot, but I think specifically for our generation and, like, specifically

around the identity because, you know, you're still figuring out figuring life out. So, like, you can go off and do these things to just figure out who you are. And I think that the enemy uses that to, like, feed into, oh, you like this stuff? Like, then it will the enemy will bring that into your soul, and it will affect how you see the world. And so I think that our generation has normalized in, like, a great deal, especially in, like, the older adolescent age. Mhmm. Yeah. And I think I've seen YouTube videos, too many of them, that it's like people think that other people are gonna watch their videos because they're doing bad things. They're talking back to their parents. They're getting kicked out of stores. How many stores can I get kicked out of? And they're just like, how many beers can I have before I get drunk? Just stupid stuff like that that is bad. And they're underage doing those type of stuff and just, like, underage people driving like, how far can can I drive without getting caught by the cops? It's just I think it's so normalized because people think it's so cool and they just wanna fit in so badly.

And they just need to know that there's other places they can fit in that aren't doing bad things. Like, go to youth group. You'll make friends. Not going to Walmart, see how fast you can get kicked out, and then putting it out to people that are watching it for five minutes and then going off. It's just man, people are getting paid that. Yeah. I think that's the problem. It's because YouTube is paying them too much money to do this dumb stuff and go out and be disrespectful. But they're getting viewers, so they're getting money. It's just Yeah. Yeah. Emma, were you gonna say something? I yeah. I just feel like I feel like that's alright. And then I feel like probably I'm like, it makes sense why Christians of my age, like, young Christians are wanting to get away from that and, like, why are they trying to separate themselves from that even if it's, like, not too far, but, like, in a way that's maybe not

the most the best sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. I think I think it is of where where you've where the sense of identity if the if from a this is what I don't know how what other word to say. But like, where following Jesus, like, shapes and refines who you are as a person. If beyond Jesus, what we're saying is like, it's I'm just waiting to be revealed.

That is squidgy and can change all over the place. And you will feel that there's no solid footing. The risk that comes with that is the reaction then says, well then I want solid footing. We've seen this in where the types of churches that are growing. Like how you're moving away from like some of these like evangelical churches and you're moving to some of the high church stuff because there's something High church you mean like Catholicism Yes. Lutheranism, like like very ordered. Everybody says the same thing. Yes. Yeah. Liturgy. Like stuff like that because it does feel ordered, it feels solid. Like we know who we are, we know what we say, we know how to behave, we follow these patterns of things. There

is a comfort in that because it provides a clear identity. But there is a rigidity in that that kind of one starts to separate you from the mission field itself. And also probably ends up like putting what we would call like these aren't actual rules or anything. But it starts to mistake who Jesus is for some of these behaviors. But I think the point is that like that's actually a natural safe harbor from the fluidity of I have no idea who I am. How am I supposed to know what's good or bad? And even who I am feels like it can change all the time. You're gonna grab for the solid pole in the storm and that's going to be something that is somewhat more rigid than that. So but like this is the pattern of Israel, of the Bible, right? Like it's a big circular pattern that goes, okay, here's all the rules. Let's follow them. And then it's like, well, let's hyper follow them. And then everyone's like, well, these are way too many rules. The rule was like a, and then you set a point like 10 feet back and called it B, and now we're worshiping B. That sucks. And then people rebel against it and they go, well, here's the thing is we have freedom in Jesus and we have freedom in Yahweh. Like, if we understand his heart and the things that he loves and we love the same thing, let's do that. But then that starts to just bulb us out into this fog

and then you find yourself nowhere near Jesus, basically worshiping yourself for the things that you thought would be good. And then you find by the time you figure out it's a lie and that it was a shadow that couldn't hold you, then you're like, man, those rules actually weren't so bad. Maybe we should I don't care. Like if worship starts at ten and the new law was I had to be there at 09:30, whatever, I'll get there at 09:30. You know? It's better than this. You know? And so like, I I think that, like, interesting part for you guys is like is like there there's you know the the the rules are on offer. Right? But like some of the tactics of which people try to reach youth is they're like, well, let's let's help this youth group feel more like a downtown party or more like a like a like a school get together. You know? And that this is gonna sound bad because I just hate games in general. But you know I'm saying? Like, we're like, hey. Let's have a bunch of games and have a bunch of food and, like, we'll talk about Jesus for, like, ten minutes. And we'll sing a bunch of worship songs that like, if you don't know Jesus, they're just weird to sing honestly. There's a lot of blood involved. Like, you know what saying? People are like, I don't understand what's going on here. But like, it's like all the show of living the thing without going, look, here's the hard and fast of it. Like, here's what it looks like. And here's, like, if you stay in it, it will produce fruit. So, like, do you feel like like maybe we're shortchanging the way that we're approaching this a little bit with with people your age? Yeah.

I think that our like, with most youth groups, they have honestly, it's almost like an advertisement. Like, okay. How do we get kids here? But I think they've done it too much to the point where the kids are only there for the games. And then to the point where then they do start talking about Jesus and they end up starting to get on their phones or they're waiting until they get more food. And just, honestly, I've been to a lot of youth groups in my life and most of them are literally just games and you talk about like like what you said, only talking about Jesus for, like, ten minutes and then the kids don't get anything out of it or I think that they also don't, like, genuinely engage with the kids either. Like, generation, I feel like we need to spend more time

asking questions because, you know, obviously, our generation has a very short attention span and kids aren't going to be, you know, sitting there listening to somebody talk for, like, half an hour. And I think that if you actually get the kids to engage with the youth leader, they'll actually start to, like, understand what what is happening. And I agree with that a lot. And I used to go to a youth group when I was little with my friend. And when we got into the classroom after playing, like, an hour and a half of dodgeball, the teacher would say, how was dodgeball? And then and we'd talk about the game for five minutes and then color color a page and then go on. And what I mean by lit I was not little. I was, like, 10. But but it's just, like, we need deeper stuff than that. And it's just

kids that go to that, there's so many immature kids there. And I know we're 10. It's not not the most mature part of your life, but it's just you gotta get deep with the kids or they won't know how, like, how it feels and how what to do. And I like Addy's mom runs a camp, and we do power praise. We dance with the songs, and it just

you feel so much more involved and you understand, like and you're super sweaty after you do all the songs because you were just done with saying amen while, like, guys talking for an hour. It's just it's so fun. Yeah. And I like how deep we get and we don't have to be like, oh, you guys are only so and so years old. We don't have to get that deep. Yes. You do. So, like, would you say because I think that's a common worry with engaging with a lot of people is going is it gonna feel like too much? Does it feel too technical? Does it feel like we're just trying like, no one wants to sit and listen to this information. But part of what you're saying is that, like, people have some hunger for something that's real, something that changes the world, something that matters. And there's probably a balance. Like, you can't be dry and boring. But the stuff we're talking about isn't dry and boring. And so, like Come on. Yeah. Like, we shouldn't be like, folks shouldn't be concerned

that interacting with from, like, college and high school age folks, like, you do you do want something that matters and something that's deep. And and so so like if you can get to talk about it in the right way, people want it. Is that is that right? Sound right? Yeah. Okay. You got it. Bella? Sorry. I kind of feel like a lot of churches like, lot of adults, when they run a youth group or when they start a youth group, they wanna become, like, a safe space for those kids and they want them to know that they are, like, safe there. But at some like, there's just certain points where they become too safe that they start being the, like, the wrong kind of safe. Like, do you kinda understand what I'm saying? Yeah. Like, they start being more they start less sharing, like, the gospel of the Holy Spirit and instead if a kid comes from school after a long day just wants to play games, that they will become so easily breakable and moldable that they will play games. They will become

more of an unsafe space than a safe space for someone who is looking for Jesus than more of someone who is looking for worldly stuff. Yeah. And so this is really fair. Right? Because like I struggle with this a little bit as somebody who runs a youth group. Because like there's all kinds of kids that go in a home where they're not loved at all. And like the basic thing about God is in John. Like God is love. He embodies that. So you're like, well, I don't know that you're gonna listen to me fire out a lesson right now, but I can at least love you. And you can get a little bit of feeling what that's like. But very much to your point, like at the end of the day, and this is where like teachers, preachers, youth leaders have to check themselves. Like, my love can't save anybody.

It can't actually do the work of the good news. Six seven, I did it, dude. You know? Dan started it. Dan did start it. I'm a trendsetter. Thank you. Here. Jeez, you guys. They're going in my armpits. Don't look at me no more. They'll be doing doing it everywhere pretty soon. So that's right. Dan kicked it off. He started here. Retro rocked it. So, like, at the end of the day, it's like it is a danger. Right? Because, like, what we think is we'll get if we can just get kids here, right, with games and food and whatever, and then they'll listen to the thing that we'll say and it will change and it will help. But like as much as I really, really love the principle of like every kid deserves love, that's true. And we should be the people to reflect that out into society as people who love Jesus. That's also true. But our influence stops at saving,

renewing and forgiving sins, like all those things. Like if someone were to walk through this life and think that the love of the youth leader was enough, or the love of that community was enough, like we're eventually, I think I've told our kids this too, like I will eventually fail you in a way. Like you will have needed me to be patient and I wasn't, or you needed me to like be caring and empathetic and instead I cracked a joke. Right? Like, because I'm a failed human. My love only works so much. I'm just a reflection of the thing, you know? And so like where we where I think like as as leaders, and this is true for for everybody in this room really, where like our love is a great reflection of who the creator is, at the end of the day, it is merely a reflection. It is not the creator and is not the saving work of Jesus Christ. And so anytime we start pulling that out because it might be offensive or they might not have ears to hear it, like, is the time that we actually stopped loving them enough

to do the thing, you know, that would actually help them. You know? Maybe this will be a a comfort for you, hopefully. I cause I think that for a lot of people of our age, just having someone tell you the truth is like being loved. Because there are so many people telling us so many different things in so many different ways that we want the humanity. We want the truth. That's pretty much I feel like that's what everyone our age is looking for no matter where they're looking for it. And so, like, with the people my age largely rejecting, like, AI stuff,

largely And then like looking they just want they value the human aspects of things, whether imperfect like the imperfections in them, but they also value like the truth. And just by sharing the truth with people, especially

in a time where sometimes the truth is what people are trying to find and what is the hardest to find, I think that is also giving them the love that they are needing. And I think I've seen this in many accounts. People go to youth group and people go to church to say they're more Christian than people and for them to internally feel perfect. And it's just yeah. It just makes me feel weird saying that, and I don't like that I'm able to say that. And it's just yeah. I don't like how people are doing that. And

but, normally, those type of people come to a realization from going to church a lot. And yeah. I think another thing that our generation chases is a feeling and thinking that the feeling is holy spirit. Like, I have a lot of friends that will come to youth group one week and then the next week, they're like, I don't wanna go. I just didn't feel it. Or, like, they will they'll honestly just think that the holy spirit is a feeling, and they'll they'll talk to me and be like, Addie, like, I don't know. Like, I just haven't felt God lately. And I'm like, is that the holy spirit, or is it a feeling? Because a feeling can get you your dopamine rush and the worship screen, it's like, oh, yeah. Jesus must be here.

And at the end of the day, you could've just be liking the music. And I think that, especially with our generation, it's thinking that the Holy Spirit is a feeling, and I think that we need to teach kids today understanding the difference between Holy Spirit and a feeling because honestly, like, we're just chasing feelings at this point, and a lot of my friends specifically will go to church based on whether they felt the holy spirit the week before or not. Yeah. I'm a tell you right now that I am blessed to know you people. You kids are you guys are cracking out wisdom here. Like, it's solid. Yeah. All of you, solid. Like, really, really blessed to know you. Very good points, you guys. I was gonna say that, like Hold on, Ella. I'm trying to compliment people. Okay. Go. Okay. Never mind. Anyway oh my gosh. I sound old. Anyway but I was just gonna say, like, I love the way that you put that,

that a lot of people, they wait for God to chase them and they say, well, he's gonna come after me. I don't have to run after him. Like, that that's not Crap. I say stuff like that except for I use it as a threat. Like Well, you can you can I'm not saying that you can't say like run all you want. He ain't gonna leave you alone. Well, I mean, how are you are you going to Holy Spirit's coming after you? Are you saying I'm not saying I ain't said that. I'm just I I don't disagree with mhmm. I don't disagree with the phrase, like, the holy spirit will go after you. Not in a creepy way. Not in not in, like, the way. But, like, also, to add on what you're saying, like, also, like, people will tell sorry. People will tell me that

that, you know, like, god just isn't near me or, like, he's not after me. He's always there. And that is, like, that is something that, like, I've had a hard time too where, like, I just feel like god's so far away. He has never left. It is you. You need to recheck your heart and see what is causing you to keep yourself away from god because he is always there. And that is something that you also have to remember too is that he's always there. You have to check your heart and figure out what are you doing that's causing you to feel this way. Yeah. Like, you running with him or are you running away? Yeah. And I think what needs to be taught a little bit more is, like, the reality of spiritual warfare of how it's always going on. And people are like, oh, yeah. God's just right there. He's just sitting next to me like a friend. But, like, there's literally angels and demons fighting, and you just can't see it. And it yeah. They're basically I'm gonna say this wrong, but they're fighting for your attention. And, yeah, I just I feel that

we need to know more about that than what we already know because, honestly, I haven't learned that since I learned that since, like, the past year, and I wish I would have known that more. I I'm gonna be honest with you. This surprises me. Like, the like, I there there's always like a like a a gouge interest in spiritual stuff. Right? Like angels and demons fighting. But, like, every time that I've tried to talk somebody to be somebody actually about it, they're like, You know what I'm saying? Like, Jesus is enough. He's got this handled. I don't wanna get all involved in this business. But to be fair, like, I like, I think, like, we avoid it like I do. Like, I I don't say I avoid it on purpose, but like, in general, like, I focus on the things that we can control. And but, like, I I'm surprised to hear that. And, like, I'm interested. Like, we definitely have some conversations. I would have not have thought that would be true. Would you guys all agree with that? Spiritual warfare stuff? I've noticed that actually because we've had a few conversations before where I've said something about that. And normally, you're very fruitful in our conversation about Jesus Woah. Because you

Here we go. No. Like, you want no. You failed this one. Like, you want to, like speak wisdom and speak truth. But if I like, when I mention that sometimes, you're just like, what? Okay. Here. I'm I'm gonna this is kinda me defending myself, but, like, spiritual warfare stuff something wrong. Wait. No. No. No. No. You're not wrong. Like, that's probably true. But, like, spiritual warfare stuff is probably the most misunderstood and grossly abused part of the way that some people teach. Right? Like like, I've heard so like, Jesus gives gives Satan, like, six paragraphs or six sentences in the New Testament. Right? Too many? No. That's about right. It's nothing. It's nothing. Relatively speaking, Jesus does not spend a lot of time talking about That's right. Jesus does not spend a whole lot of time talking about spiritual opposition. He does acknowledge that it happens, acknowledges that it makes impact, but he doesn't spend a whole lot of time teaching and preaching for people how to deal with it. And so, like, I always get I'm not against it. I'm also not super well versed in it. And, like, the best I usually just lean on that, like, if Jesus didn't give me near enough to like, more than that to work with, I kinda go I it sounds like he's got it handled. I try to stay out of it. Because I've heard so many people make, like, bold predictions on holy spirit feelings. I don't know how many bands we've had that you see on the wall that came through here that said the holy spirit told me I was gonna be a famous ex.

And then when it didn't happen, because the holy spirit did not say that, they gave up on Jesus completely and then completely stopped a relationship with God, and I haven't seen him in ten years. Right? Because they had a feeling about it. And they're like, the devil's really after me today. And my usual response is the devil's a finite being. Like, opposition, there's like one. There's finite numbers of demons. You really better be kicking up a bunch of rocks today that he's gonna take precious resources and devote them to you. And and your impression of the devil coming after you was your light turned yellow and you were inconvenienced. You're like, I really wanted to go to church today, but then I had a flat tire. Satan's after me. Or you have bad car maintenance practices and you didn't fix your tire like you were supposed to. Do you know I'm saying? So like, I'm very careful, probably too much to one side where I'm like, you gotta stop attributing spiritual attacks to consequences of living in a broken world or your own laziness. Those things are really high possibilities more than you were causing such a stir in the demonic world with your Jesus presentations that Satan flattened your tire and went, is powerful. Gentle, keep them out. They are real powerful. Yeah. So where I think where I think

this is valuable is when Paul points us to powers and principalities, I think there is a very you should be keenly aware that there is a pervasiveness of like unexplainable evil that is greater than the sum of its parts. And you've seen this in history multiple times where like there's just like it's unfathomable

how such evil things could happen and multiple humans are contributing to such a thing. And because there is there is a force and an influence into the world that is trying to point you away from Jesus. I think it is right to be aware from that, for you to be aware from that. If there is no instance, I think within the New Testament outside of actually like cast the casting out of things that you are like taking on massive powers. Like these are God's things to otherwise do. But to recognize that like there are instances of unfathomable evil that are beyond like five humans couldn't produce but somehow contribute to something that is so big because there are active spiritual forces into the world. I think to Mike's point, the risk is it consumes. Like you get people who are just like looking out all over the place for it. There is no demon hunting going on within the New Testament. These are all relational communal things. They are people people you are interacting with. Like this notion of like people going around and looking for it isn't really a New Testament proposition either. And so I think there is a right balance to it. But, like, blindness is risky in the same way that, like, overemphasis is risky. Same. Yeah. And I I do gotta be honest. There's a lot of times where something real bad like, I'll be way back away from my house right in the four wheeler and something will happen. It'll shut down. I'll be like, oh, darn you devil. This is all your fault. And the Lord will be like, no, it's not. It's it's not. Dude, this is you. Yeah. So You forgot to change guess. It's not I will say I for the longest time probably Mike Michael probably remember this situation. But like, my my grandpa was a pastor in a Baptist church, and they had built

either built or moved into a new church just down the street. And so the old church they kept is a food pantry. And so Mike and I would go over the summers and help grandma and grandpa like serve the people and stock the food and stuff like that. In the basement of the church though, they would teach, do some college classes and stuff there every once in while. But for the most part it was like cold and dark and you'd have to go down there every once in a while. And just something about the combination of being in an old church and being 10 or 12 or however old I was and going down in this very dark thing, like I was convinced that there was there could be something spiritually creepy going on down there. Now was there something spiritually creepy going on down there? No. He was Baptist. Yeah. Probably so.

Ain't you Baptist? But but like the but the all the ingredients were there to creep my my spirit out a little. And so I attributed this eerie feeling because it was a spiritual building. When really I was just young and it was a creepy basement and that didn't have anything to do with it. I was about to ask how old were you because I feel like that could have contributed a little Also, yes, possibly. Yeah. And we got a guy that he comes to our church a lot. His name's Samuel. He's from Uganda. And our youth pastor told us a story about how he told them that he went into a hotel

and the Top Floor was known for demonic things. Everyone saw, like, ghosts and all this stuff. And he literally just walked in and goes, the demons know who I am, and just walked up there. Creepy. Actually, you know what? That's my that's my favorite part of the chosen actually is, like, looks like they have a guy that's like, hey, we got some rooms available. And they're like, oh, you don't want that when it's haunted by, like, my dead grandmother. And then Jesus is like, I'll take that out. I'll take it out. Yeah. Yeah. That was that was one of my favorite parts of the chosen. I think the other end of the spectrum, though, is that it is real. Mhmm. And you have to be careful not to just dismiss things. Yep. I mean, I've seen and heard things that that are not Yeah. You know? Yeah. I just didn't take care of my car. You you know? So so there but it's not like an everyday demon behind every bush, you you know Yeah. Thing. Yeah. Also, and I think I think you've seen this probably with some some of your international work too, is that like there are places where people are actively engaging demonic forces. Yeah. And so like obviously that activity is gonna be more prevalent when people are actually doing it. You're far more likely in our in our culture and then other western cultures

to be just completely agnostic to the thing. I think it's on the way though. We have done so many things to welcome and invite demonic activity. You're gonna see more I mean, people are going in and just scooting shooting schools, and and I mean, that's not because they just had a bad mood that day. I mean, there's there's demonic It's also pharmaceutical, Dan. What's that? I think it could be pharmaceutical. Some of that too. That that opens up doors. This is where I get really more layers than Yeah. Than what us Americans generally admit. Yeah. This is where I get really convinced the screw tape letter stuff. Right? Like Yeah. Like, why why would if if if you imagine that, like, the opposition has a finite number of resources, most Americans will ruin themselves. Right? Like, given the opportunity to, like like, they basically just have to this is terrible. I said this a couple weeks ago, and I'd I'd think I was just in a really bad mood. But I was really mad about online church for some reason. I'm like, I hate that we've done this. Mhmm. Right? Like like, it's the illusion of a community.

Right? You sat there. You consumed a teaching, but, like, it's not where two or more are gathered. Right? It's not what the New Testament was asking for. And we and I'm like, this feels like a a screw tape letter, like, demon propaganda thing to me that day. And I was so fired up it's not true. But I was really fired up about it for some reason. Because it does smell a little bit like that where it's like, look, if I can take a good thing and just tweak it a little bit, they'll ruin themselves. Right? And so don't go to the community gathering. And I'm not talking about people that are disabled or it's bad weather out. We're talking like, I just don't wanna go today and be in the community that God has asked me to be in. And like, you've convinced people that it's now okay to just sit there and be a consumer of a teaching and not being part of a community that God has created. And so either way, I'm not saying that's true or not true. I'm just saying that like, it doesn't take much twisting of a good thing to make it completely ineffective. Like the devil's not going, hey, I need you to worship me. It's just saying, need you to not pay attention to him. And so it don't take much to just turn ahead a little bit. Yeah. But what I find kind of fascinating is as the as the elderly man in in the room here is things haven't changed. You know, everybody talks about, oh, this generation, that generation, everything's all this it's like we're the same. We're all the same. When when when I was a teenager, they were like having speakers come in and we were like having burning album record albums and and videotapes of whatever movies they thought were evil or demonic, whatever. I never participated in any of those, but had friends who participated

in those. That was a big thing. The questions are the same, the issues are the same, the desire to know. I mean, was my thing. I just wanted to know something real. I don't want to play games. I don't want to just, you know, bob for apples or, you know, whatever the dumb thing was of the week. Was like, just get in Jeez, the five Dan. I went to a YouTube where they actually did that. I'm like, dad, you got past it. Thank you. Mama, I won a matchbox car. But it's, you know, I mean, we might turn use different terminology. Yeah. We we look at it slightly different. It was the same basic things, you know. I wanted to know, what does god really want me out of me? How does he want me to live? And and and that sounds like those are the things you guys are searching. Like, I just wanna please God, what does that mean? You know? And then teach me. Teach me the word. And and so that's that's kinda that's kinda cool. And and I actually thought that the Israel comparison is super helpful. Right? Like, we're not everyone's walking in a pattern that like

generations have already walked into. Yeah. Over crank, loosen it up, go weigh the other side, over crank again to correct. Everyone thinks they're gonna be the person that sits in the middle and is reasonable about it. Yeah. I mean all kinds of things swing on people's belief that like they're correcting rightly and you've all it's always overdone. And like it's one of the things that I'm constantly this is where like being on this program talking to you guys and stuff is helpful to me. It's like in any given day the breeze might move me a few feet too far one way or the other where like I'm feeling real

soft on people just in general. My heart hurts because I've seen people upset and hurt by things and I'm like, oh man. And then I realize that I can't love them and lie to them. And then you try to shape and refine someone but they are not Play Doh. You can't shove them into some sort of mold that they are not. And Jesus has to do the rescue and see you pull back on that a little bit. And actually think, sometimes it feels well let me put it this way. If you actually love and care about people and you actually love and serve Jesus, you will get the part right where you shape them well. Because there will always be attention. You will start to recognize when it is too much of you and you will start to recognize when you put Jesus in the back. You'll start to recognize when you you clung to the safety of rules because you wanted the stability of it and you'll realize that you lost the hugs of Jesus in the process. And like because God is always refining you, you will go through that process of refinement. And like I'm I'm encouraged by what I'm saying because like if as long as you recognize your own fallibility, your own attempts to do that, and as long as you're willing to walk through people in love in that way, they're gonna see your genuineness, and they're gonna recognize places where you are getting it right and places where you are not. But it will be fine. You don't have to constantly go like am I over cranking Jesus? He will refine you on those things.

So I don't know. Am encouraged by that. If you can love Jesus and follow him and if you can love people well, I think you will find that balance. But I think you will always have some level of tension in it because you are open to being continually refined. And that is a good thing. It shouldn't be a weight. It is just a good constant refining presence. Yeah. And so like I think if that is an encouragement to anybody out there that that, like, helps lead youth or, like, is part of, like, a young adult ministry or something, like like, honestly, just be honest with them. Just tell them don't talk down to them. Right? Don't don't act like you were, like, imparting your years worth you don't know either. You know what I'm saying? Like, They got the same Bible you got. Just tell them the thing. And I've watched I think the thing that frustrates me most sometimes with some youth ministry stuff or especially college age, young adult stuff, is they like to take the new shiny sin of this generation and act like it's the worst thing they've ever seen. Right? And they're like, it's the same as the old sin. It's just sin. It's separation from God. And they're like, we would never do that back in my day. That's what they said when you were burning records in the middle of day in sanctuary. You know what I'm saying? Like like the Bible is pretty clear. There's nothing new under the sun. Like, we've been through all of this stuff before. Culture moves in a way that goes, I wanna glorify this separation from God for this time period. And then it'll lose. And then it'll politically even you'll think, hey, the tides are turning. Policies in the government all look like they're following us now. They're against and for the for and all this stuff. And then give it another ten years, and they'll turn right back. Like, you're not winning that battle. Like, the battle for sin is the one that we wanna care about, and Jesus already won that one. So all we are doing is pointing to a place where people can get to know their creator. And so we got to stop coloring generations,

like, with their sin identity. Let's start covering them. Like, I'm not a big, like, Damon and Claymont guy. For But heaven's sake, start speaking blessings over people instead of curses of the sin they've chosen. Right? So, like, instead of going this generation is X and they believe that, you start praying for them and go, this generation is blessed in a that God will reveal himself to them through this mess because God is good. Right? Like, just start blessing people when you think about them opposed to trying to like, they've already chosen sin as their identity. Don't join them. Like, you start claiming their identity as being in Christ, and then pray for God to help show you how to get involved in it. Hey. You're listening to Life The Path. Thanks for hanging out with us so far this evening. Very much appreciate. If you got thoughts on that conversation, hit us up on the Life From The Path complaint line, (515) 517-0085. Call or text. Now you're not gonna be able to see the visual on this, and in the room, you're not gonna be able to hear it, but you are about to enter America's fastest growing Internet game show, Secular Horse. And now for America's fastest growing game show, Secular Horse Solomon.

And you've stumbled onto America's asterisk. I I this is not true at all. It's it's I don't think they keep keep stats on America's fastest growing Internet game show, so we are gonna name and claim it. You, Paul. White. Keep some of the secular Solomon. So here's here's the way the game works. I'm gonna give you a bit bit of wisdom, a proverb if you will. And the point is to understand where is this wisdom coming from? Is this something that came from the scriptures? Solomon? Or is it a secular biz bit of wisdom? Something they taught you in school or they think Ben Franklin said. K? If it is a secular bit of wisdom, I wanna know the country of origin. Where's this information coming from? And if it's Solomon, if you can give me the chapter of could be Ecclesiastes,

could be Proverbs. We'll see. What are you guys trying? Are you counting on your fingers? I don't know. Country is they are Everybody everybody plays. Everybody's in on this game. Okay. Secular or Solomon, that's your guess. And if it's not in the bible, it's secular, then you gotta guess a country of origin. Botswana. There's gonna be a lot of Mike passing, so prepare yourselves. Okay. Here we go. Alright. We are gonna start with Adi's group. Ready? Wait a Are you getting from the group, or are you gonna do everybody individually? No. Yeah. You guys have to you can move microphones and the different answers. Okay? Adi, you you can start, and then you guys can look at each other awkwardly and negotiate who's gonna take the microphone next. Okay. Here we go. The question is, the sluggard says there's a lion outside. I'll be killed in the public square.

The sluggard says, there's a lion outside. I'll be killed in the public square. Secular or Sullivan? Eddie. Sorry. Could you say it one more time? A little slower. Okay. The sluggard says, there is a lion outside. I'll be killed in the public square. Secular or Solomon? I'm gonna go with secular. Secular? And from what country?

I almost said Africa. It's gonna be a long game. Oh, boy. There there are no penalties for wrong answers. Oh god. No shocks at least. What's a country in Africa? Ethiopia. Ethiopia. Classic. Alright. Ethiopia. Alright.

Ella. Howdy. The sluggard says, there's a lion outside. I'll be killed in the public square. Secular Solomon. Hey. Did you have time to look at each other during the other answers? I'm looking at Emma. Pull it together. Listen to me. Secular. This game needs to move faster. I did. Secular. K. Country. Botswana. K. Botswana. I'm going secular Great Britain.

Secular Great Britain? Britain isn't a country. I'm not sure if you check with Mike on that one. Dan. I'm at England. We're gonna go Solomon. I wanna say chapter 18 of Proverbs. Be a plan, wouldn't it? Alright. Dan is the only guy in for Solomon. The sluggard says, there's a lion outside. I'll be killed in the public square. The answer is indeed Solomon. Proverbs 22. The word sluggard is a dead giveaway. Come on, you guys. Chuck it up. I thought it was from apparently Great Britain. Solomon was already rattin' on the sluggards.

Okay. So Hugh answered last time. You're not answering this time. So swing the mic. Okay. Here we go. Give me a country. Give me a country. Okay. Layla is whispering, give me a country. She could give me literally no countries. There we go. Oh my. K. Face up in the microphone. Butt lip to the trough. Here we go. Layla, secular or Solomon, if you climb up a tree, you must climb down the same tree. Secular or Solomon? Say it one more time. If you climb up a tree Mhmm. You must climb down the same tree. Secular. Secular country.

India. Secular India. Looks confident. Mike. Yep. Secular Germani. I'm sorry. What? Secular Germani. Dan Hudson. I'm gonna go secular, and I'm gonna say Venezuela before the hurricane. Pre hurricane. Pre hurricane Venezuela. Okay. Suri. Specular.

Wait. What Mike, you keep the score. Do we accept specular as an answer? Sury, we're gonna accept specular. What country was specular from? Any country will do. Oh, Spain. She said Spain. Spain. Which is where specular came from. Okay. Spain specular. Nailed it. Okay. Here we go. If you climb up a tree, you must climb down the same tree. The answer is indeed secular Ghana.

Ghana. So close. Thought I was close. Basically. I thought you said that, Mike. I got you. I said Germani. Uh-oh. A clever way of saying Germany. Okay. Here we go. Mike Bryce, a secular word Solomon. The eyes of man are never satisfied. Solomon. Oh. Wow. That's hot off the press. Alright. What chapter? 10. I don't know. 10? I don't know. Dan

Hudson. I'm gonna say secular Egypt. Secular Egypt. The eyes of man are never satisfied. You guys are up. Okay. Solomon chapter six? What? So Solomon. Interesting. Chapter seven.

That was good. Alright, Dan. What? It says chapter six or seven. I blame Dan. The eyes of man are never satisfied, Emma. Oh, to Solomon. Solomon, chapter 17.

Proverbs 17. Alright. Here we go. The eyes of man are never satisfied. It is indeed Solomon, Proverbs 27. We were close. That was close. Okay. Secular or Solomon, this is to Dan. Do not make friends with a hot tempered person. Do not associate with one easily angered. Oh, that sounds like a Solomon.

That sounds like about a chapter 20. Solomon chapter 20 back to Eddie. I'm gonna go Solomon. It seems like a chapter 15 to me. Yeah. Smells a little bit like 15, just like mayonnaise smells like six. What?

What? Say that again. I'm sorry. What? I can smell numbers. What? Alright. Ella, do not make friends with a hot tempered person. Do not associate with one easily angered. I'm gonna say Solomon. Solomon? How many chapters are in Solomon? Oh, boy. There's not a book called Solomon. No. I'm just declaring Socks of Solomon. Proverbs generally. 31 in the Proverbs. Yeah. Sirach. That's

I'm gonna give you 19. 34. Okay. Nope. Nope. Nope. 31 was the max. Back to '19. '32. Mike, have you not heard of a Proverbs 31 or that's it's on every I choose 22. 30. Okay. 22. Very good. Alright. Proverbs eight. Proverbs eight. Alright. Here we go. Do not make friends with a hot tempered person. Do not associate with one easily angered. It is indeed Solomon.

Proverbs 22. Oh, I'd be careful celebrating that. Victory you put forth, Ella. It was a team effort. By team, I mean, How many chapters are there in Solomon? It was the songs of Solomon. Okay. Here we go. Secular or Solomon, where did I leave off? A zooey. Zooey's up. Okay. Secular Solomon, a rooster is not expected to crow for the whole world.

What? A rooster. Hey. Hey. You guys looking at your phones? Get out of there. They're looking at country. Yeah. I'm just looking at the names. Get them, Mike. Get them. Okay. Listen. If you're not a youth pastor but you work in the geography field, you're you're not effective. Public school has failed you. It's not worth it. I have a list of countries up. Listen. Stop that. This is not part of the game. Wait. Hold on. You just name a country. Is this cheating? Yes. If the only country you think of is Canada, say Canada. No. I have one. Cannot Google the country names. Hold on. You're not up yet. Oh. Okay. I didn't think the countries would be the sticking point. Interesting. A rooster is not expected to crow for the whole world. Siri. Oh. In the microphone, Siri. There's no consequences to being wrong. Are you looking for the word secular? Secular. Okay.

Good. Specular. What country? China. Excellent. Secular China. Alright. What's Layla. Don't don't tell Siri they don't have roosters in China. Secular. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

Secular. Chickens are everywhere. Leila. Secular. K. Secular. Yep. I was gonna What? Knew Estonia. Coming. Good night. Estonia. Secular Estonia. Bryce. Gonna go secular. K. I'm gonna go with

Dan, are you thinking ahead? I'm ahead. Ready. Go. Dan's ready. Norway. Say secular Norway. Dan, rooster is not expected to crow for the whole world. Alright. I'm gonna go with secular, and roosters are big in Taiwan. So Taiwan. Big in Taiwan. Almost it's China adjacent. Yes. A rooster is not expected to crow for the whole world. The answer is secular Tanzania. Of course. Tanzania. Wait. Could That was my second guess. I'm sorry. Was it Rhode Island? I know. Alcatraz.

Okay. This is devolving into chaos. Let's see here. This is Emma. The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. That's gonna be It's pretty secular Moldova. Moldova. Secular Aldovia from the fictional princess Oh. Okay.

Bright, the prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. I'm going secular and Scottish. Secular. Scotland. Damn. Solomon chapter 27. Oh, two seven Solomon. Alright. Alright. Kedra, you're up. Okay. We're going secular Bulgaria. Secular Bulgaria. Look at this team is on it. It's not Bulgaria?

Oh, for heaven's sakes. No. Bulgaria. Again. I don't think the naming that Mister Fell is rolling around in his grave. He was my junior high geography teacher. And he can't imagine what's happened to the world. Okay. Here we go. The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. The answer is Solomon, Proverbs 27.

Did anyone oh, yeah. Think he looked it up. Dan goes hashtag, you know, speak. Stop taking your own streak, guys. Go down. Dan goes my generation reads the bible. We used a paper bible. And a globe. Alright. I forgot where we're at here.

Rice. We're at B Rice. Alright. A fly will not get into a closed mouth. Oh, that's definitely secular. Solomon eats flies. Oh, sorry. Oh. I'm just saying that's the implication of what you're saying. A fly will not get into a closed mouth. Actually, I'm gonna go Solomon. He's gonna switch it. 20.

Proverbs 20. Dan, fly will not get into a closed mouth. We're gonna call that secular, and that is at the Dubai Airport. Specifically, Doha. That's where it happened. Dan says it's not a it's not a country. We accept The UAE on Dan's behalf. Yes. K. So back to you, Eddie. Flight will not get into a closed mouth. I'm gonna go with secular, and Surian really wants me to say India for some reason, so I guess I'm gonna go with that. K. Suria says India. Ella. That sounds pretty sec y secular to me. Yeah.

I'm a This is the Internet. Internet. Yeah. You can't you can't say whatever you want. Yeah. Apparently, people are going into Walmart and get kicked out. So I'd say secular Nigeria. Alright. Bringing Seki back with Nigeria. A fly a fly will not get into a closed mouth. The answer is secular

Cameroon. Oh. Cameroon. Never heard of that. Okay. I thought it was T. Okay. I think you to look at words a little bit more, Ella. Here we go. We got two more. Two more. Over

here. Mike. He who digs a pit for others falls in himself. Mm-mm. He I'm so sorry. Little assist. No. He who digs a pit for others falls in himself. Mike, secular Solomon. I'm looking at Dan's eyebrows. Does he get is that his tail? Yeah. He gets shifty. Looks to the right if it's not Solomon. I'm gonna say secular and

come on. Rwanda. Secular Rwanda. Dan. Oh, his I can go either way. I'm I'm gonna go I'm gonna go secular though, and they make a lot of pits in Hawaii for those luau. So I'm go with Hawaii. Dan, I'm just small point of order. That's not a country. It's but but but it's part of a country, and and this is it's it's own little place. I'm gonna have to insist. It's a special place in The United States Of America. I I covered up on that airport thing, but I'm gonna have to insist on a country. Okay. So it's America. Okay. Hawaii.

Honolulu. Waikiki Beach. Secular or Solomon. Who we at? Surrey? Secular Turkey. Secular Turkey. That was mine. Hold on. I need it for country You you can guess the same one, Layla. Nah. Get off your phone, Layla. Yeah. Secular? Malaysia. She's cheating. Secular. He who digs a pit for others falls in himself. The answer is secular Russia. Oh, Russia.

Russia. That doesn't surprise by the big bear. Here we go. Also, hey. Just we got one more question to go, but I'm gonna tell you this. Generally, when I wanna do secular Solomon, I find myself coming to the show about twenty minutes early and digging the Internet and putting all these things together. But today today, I was helped out by the Live From The Path mobile app. That's the Live From The Path mobile app. You could play secular Solomon at home, and I'm just using the questions that are coming up under my own thumb here. Pretty impressive. So far, we're not doing a very good job. We have a streak of four with a 78% accuracy, and so it's not going as well as it could have. But if you wanna play secular Solomon at at home under your fingertips, you can get the Life From The Path mobile app. You can also play thrift store hoops where you can bleed the the thrift store priest himself, and you can play shoot basketball just like Hoop Jones at the truck stop if you've ever played that. Also, you can find all back episodes of the show. I mean, maybe you wanna go to the deep cuts. I was looking for an episode from 2014 today, actually, just to it didn't work, by the way. It was I think it went all going back to 2016, but whatever. You can get past clips of the show under the video tab. You can also provide us feedback. It's interesting. If you go to the the podcast and you click thumbs up, it'll tell me. It says, hey, man. I liked this one. So I know whether you guys are liking an episode or not. I know whether you can favorite something. You can send us comments on a particular show. You can also favorite your own episodes of the show. You're like, there's way too many episodes and some of them suck. I hear you. So just give it the old heart though for the ones that are really good, and you can go pick them out in the favorites tab. I do that. And so, anyway, you can download the Live From The Path mobile app, but it's not available in your common stores because we haven't passed the threshold. So if you want it, you gotta tell me you want it. Shoot me your email address at the Life From The Path complete line, (515) 517-0085. Just tell me what what

what operating system you're using with your Apple or with your Android, and then send me your email address. And I'll send you a link. You can download the Life From Path mobile app, and you play at home. I have a question. Yes. Have you ever called it the Life From The PAP? I I unless I did it accidentally, I did not. You should call it the lie from a pap. A pap has a connotation that may be beyond your years, but you don't wanna say it. If if any Don't Google it. Anybody needs a a person that makes brand names, hire Ella. Come on. Lie from the pep. A secular sec secular Aldovia. Alright. Here we go. Final question. Here we go. Alright.

If a snake bites before it is charmed, the charmer receives no fee. Who who's up? Who's the lesson? Who's up here? Dan? Dan, if a snake bites before it's charmed, the charmer receives no fee. Secular Solomon. That is Secular Iowa State Fair. Okay, Dan. Dan is being assigned. India. Okay. Okay. Very good. You were gonna get green with Keep it up. Was close. Feel You and Trump. Get green. I can feel the fire. Alright. Secular solemn. If a snake bites before it is charmed, the charmer receives no fee. Who's up? We're gonna, okay, we're gonna say secular India too. They'll say, okay, double down. They've gone what is a separate country? India too, which has been separated from the original India. I accept. Emma.

I was also thinking India, but I don't wanna be a bandwagoner, so I guess secular Ethiopia. Secular Ethiopia. Stereotyping snake charmers are this side of the room over here. If you're charming snakes, it's happening in India or India too. When's the last time you charmed a snake? The sequel. I've never seen it. Okay. It's definitely not in The United States except for maybe somewhere in Pennsylvania. Okay. Next. I'm

gonna say secular Vietnam. Secular Vietnam. If a snake bites before it is charmed, the charmer receives no fee. It is Solomon Ecclesiastes 10. Woah. I

thought it was Solomon. And we wiped the board with him. Oh, boy. Mike, tell me the scores. Okay. At the at the end of the game, Dan came in how many people we got here? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Dan came in eighth with a score of 14. Yes. Pretty good, Dan. Kittney came in at third place with a score of 72, Addie was in fourth place with seventy seventy straight. Yep. Suri was came in as the number one winner with a score of 1,204. Oh, wow. Emma was fifth place with 45. Ella was negative. She was numb ninth place. What? Was 20 from the pep. 23 points in the hole for the life from the pep comment. Yep. Damn. Leila was I'm losing track. She didn't win. And and then Mike and Bryce tied for the most handsome.

Oh, is Wait. Ben Wait. Is Ben not on here? Yeah. I don't what? I read the You're on a different board. I win all the things. Yeah. Oh, it's not ranked. Alright. Again, if you want that live from the PATH app, hit me up at (515) 517-0085. Text that over. Just shoot me your email address in your operating system, and you can get that and play the home game. Alright, Mike. Let's give out some advice. Okay. Then we're gonna tuck it up. I got two. Ready? Yeah. Dear life from the path, I'm a 61 year old woman who still works full time. My husband is 65 and retired.

Unfortunately, he has severe back issues that prevent him from doing much. He's unable to walk or ride long distances or even sleep well at night. When I get home from work, I cook dinner and clean up. But by but by then, he's asleep in the living room, and I am unable to entertain myself. He controls the TV, and I'm stuck watching old shows from the fifties and sixties. I feel so isolated. We can't go anywhere or do anything. Yep. I am the loneliest married woman I know. My husband is currently good and kind, but he is getting more easily frustrated by everything. Should I stay or go? Stay and get a chiropractor. Well, it's a good thing there's no vows involved. Better or worse.

Sickness and health. I feel like a easy solution would just be buy another TV if that's that's I do gotta say TVs TVs, honestly, they're expensive, but they're not that expensive. No. You got it's so good time for it. Yeah. But and I know a lot of old people, and a lot of them have back problems. Watch your mic. Gotta watch your Get my microphone. I'm familiar with psoriasis. Go ahead.

There's creams. I mean, honestly, chiropractor, probably not a bad idea, but a nicer bed would also be an option. But Okay. So far, our recommendation is to save your marriage, you need a better TV, a Tempur Pedic mattress, and a chiropractor. And I'll be honest. When dad said no vows, I thought you said no vowels involved. I thought you said vowels. No. Yeah. That's what I thought he said too. Only constinence. Only

constipations. Okay. Okay. So one, should she stay in the marriage? This feels like a firm yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. To Dan's point, like, if there's a better and the worse, and if your view is this is for worse, I mean, was still part of the thing you said yeah to. It's the thing to work through. It doesn't mean it doesn't suck. Like, no one wants to be in a committed relationship and find yourself lonely. Right. For sure. That's difficult. But the thing is is that, like, part of the isolation you're feeling, one, your husband is feeling it too. If you find that he's got a short temper like, no one wants to feel angry. He whatever he's roughly going through that you're on the other side of, just know that he's also participating in and is probably not at his best either. And so, like, he needs you more than ever. And frankly, you need him more than ever. And if you are having trouble shaking out of it between the two of you, it is okay to ask for help from an outside party. I don't immediately jump to therapist. Like, let's start with good friends. Let's start with other people who love and serve Jesus who can see objectively between the two of you and help you kinda see

see each other fairly in in some of this stuff. And then start to figure out how do you work through it. And to Bryce's point, you might be able to solve some of the consternation with some very basic things that twenty years ago, and without some of the problems he's going through, you would have arrived at on your own. You may just need some help breaking down some barriers. Yeah. Yeah. It's certainly a good conversation of like, hey, dude. You're here like all day long. Watch your sixties movies then. Yeah. How about we watch something we both can watch Yep. At evening time? Or to be morbid, he's not gonna last much longer. Just ride it out. And also oh, that's a different take. Just saying. Also, they said they were husbands

65, wife 61. Right? Yeah. If you I don't know when you guys got married, but I'm guessing it was young. If you have been through this much and not enough TV time and back problems is getting in your way, that there there probably is an easy solution you just haven't tried yet or you don't wanna try. But, I mean, you you've had to have gone through worse than this. Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you to take a retrospective of your life, for you to say, are we willing to have this thing break

over over bonanza? Yeah. I was going to ask, has she expressed frustration yet with the husband, or has she just kinda kept this to herself? Because that could also be a real big thing that could be stopping this from being resolved. Mike, do we have a sense of whether she's is she talking it out? No. My guess is that she has tried, and he has just given up on life, really. Like, this man's going to bed at 5PM and watching the same old shows from his childhood. Right? Like, he's he's depressed. Like, the man's Yeah. Not in good shape. So is that does she change the channel that he wakes up or something? Because I don't Yeah. Because I was gonna say, I thought he was asleep. Why doesn't she just, like, you know, not watch the sixties shows? Yeah. If she's working, you would think they get off around, like, three or four. That's only an hour you gotta watch the sixties shows. Like and, honestly, if you've been married for that long, you should be, you know, man whatever. Of each other? No. Oh.

Like, you should be, like, you know, comfortable enough with each other to be like, hey. I don't wanna do this. Let's just turn on something else. Or you go upstairs and go to sleep, I'll watch something. Well, but she's okay. So if she's lonely, that's fine. But, like, is she saying that? About solving the right problems here. Right? Yeah. Like, Bryce is right. We could solve the TV problem. No. You know, this is not an issue. Right? The the the man has some health issues that like obviously need to be addressed. But I'm guessing if the fix was a chiropractor, like he's just lacking motivation. Like the man's just depressed, right? Like he's got some mental health stuff probably associated with some physical health stuff. He's practicing at home all day. But yeah, the point is that what is probably a simple layered approach to fixing some of the surface problems, at the root of it, you won't fix any of them if you're depressed and don't do anything to try to help it, Right? So like there's something the man is like he's obviously just kind of given up on his life. And like the weight of his wife being unhappy is not moving that needle any. Like she's not saying the man's a turd. She's not saying they've had a horrible marriage for the last twenty years. Right? You're just looking at a dude that just gave up. And so, like, something's wrong with that man. So think he needs a coffee group. I I think coffee group would be helpful. This is where we're talking about getting community involved. Mhmm. And basically just trying to shift. Like, know I know that, like, you've been through stuff like this where your whole world just starts to turn black and white for some reason, and you're just not taking it in right. The thing that you wanted to happen didn't happen, or the thing that you thought was gonna make you happy didn't. And your whole world's just like this cloudy weirdness, and you just can't get out of that funk on your own. Somebody needs to help you see differently. And then yeah. And You so didn't see one anymore. You're tired. If you can't see a purpose at all, then you don't see a purpose in buying another TV. Yeah. You crack wise at your wife. You sit fall asleep on the couch all the time because she gave up. And so, like, I'm not saying that, like, she's not right. She's right about everything that she's saying. But at the end of the day, like, the problem is the guy

who's just lost all hope for for being involved in life. Yeah. And so you wanna really hit the nail on the head and save a marriage and save a man. Like, you're just gonna have to, like, go, yeah, he's he's making me angry. And I don't like him right now, but I do still love him. And so here's what we're gonna do. Yeah. And I will say, though, like, as you think about what it is to have sacrificial love is for this this wife to recognize that like this man is at his worst. He's at his worst right now. And like generally when people at their worst, they're gonna crap on people around them. And so being able to ignore that for a bit and invest in him to try to help him not be his worst is actually the same thing that helps you be better than the situation that you're in. But it does require a sacrifice. It requires a like, there's will be a justice that goes, why did he can't treat me this way. He is though. And it's gonna take you actually pushing past that to help him in ways that I hope that he has done in your marriage earlier in his life. So like the Vince cardinal rule of marriage is both people can't be at their worst at the same time. Okay? You somebody's gonna be at their worst. It's gonna happen a lot actually when you're like, boy, this person is really, like, throwing it around. You just can't invest in it. Like, you cannot be at your worst at the same time. And so when you recognize the person you're with being at their worst, you gotta be at your very best. And that's how you actually stay afloat and and stay connected. And I feel that,

honestly, I think the wife should go to church and find a community that because I know a lot of churches that I've been to have, like, a 55 plus thing where they all have a potluck on a Saturday. Mhmm. And also, I think the woman should just get a dog. Like, if you're feeling lonely Oh, this is not a bad idea. Yeah. And it's just I've I know a lot of people that, like, felt lonely and then they got a dog and it's like they kinda started coming around. They got they felt more alive and just you know? But isn't the point that she shouldn't feel lonely because she her husband is just, like, kinda slacking a little bit? Well, actually, this is where I like like Bryce has suggested. Sometimes a puppy or, like, an animal, if she's willing to, like, you know, care for it or whatever, will bring some life into the house. It's not a that's a that's a I like that as a practical step to do. Also, I will tell you, if you can find a church group that's 55 and over, they will often give you 10% off the tithe. Just something to think about that. Oh. Also, like, I think the dog could be good for the man too because, yeah, his back hurts, but can he just do, like, throw the ball with his arm? Oh. I

thought I was like, why need to come get your dog, Ben? Right. I thought Bryce's recommendation went the opposite direction there for a second. That makes way more sense. Throw the ball. Yeah. It's just I know my grandpa, he's got a dog, and he just loves throwing the ball with the dog. And that that dog is both crazy. Yeah. A squeaker goes off. He's right in front of you. But I I don't know. It just makes me and and it makes me too because I have two dogs. Just playing fetch with my dogs just makes me happy. Yeah. And it makes me feel like I'm not because I'm an only child. Yeah. Some summers when my parents are at work are horrible. Yeah. But just sometimes just playing with my dogs just makes me feel better. Yeah. Totally. I know that's a whippy reason. But I think it's a great I think it's a great suggestion. I love it. Mike, what's Secular's advice? Alright. Secular says, where you okay. The question was, should I stay or go? And Secular says, wow, Bryce, where you should go straight to a store that sells television sets. Buy one for yourself and place it in a room your husband doesn't sleep in. This should solve part of your problem. As your husband's increasing level of frustration, this should be discussed with his doctor. Neither of you is in a particularly happy place right now, but this might be a step in the right direction. Yeah. So I think So avoid him? Yeah. So I think the risk yeah. The risk of seculars advice like, this is where Bryce, I think, did a good job is that, like, there's multiple layers to this. Are there some practical considerations? Sure. But, like, we are ignoring the root problem is that, people who are having a hard time often cause hard time on other people. And so trying to get to the core relationship stuff as opposed to just going around it, like, as your only solution, think is yeah. I don't love that advice because I think it's a little bit too shallow. And I think

I know my parents do this, but just to feel like just to sit down with him and talk to him and be like, this is what I feel and not be afraid to say that or because it'll make him mad. My parents do that all the time and they are in such a good marriage. I they love each other so much and it's just just the fact that you need to feel comfortable to be able to sit down at the table with your husband and be like, hey, I feel this, it's making me mad, I feel really lonely, I'm in a deep spot, I know you're going through this, but I'm kinda going through this too. Mhmm. So and then sometimes after those talks, you feel in like a mutual position where it's like, oh, we're kinda going like, you feel like we're going You're back together. Yeah. Exactly. And it's just like, oh, marriages should go, like, through better or through worse. Yep. It's just you feel like you're together again. And I think that's why I I know I'm kinda, like, bragging about my parents but I I'm just glad that my parents can do that because I know some people

talk about how like their dad's literally like afraid of their mom and I just feel like that's that's just almost scary to me. Mhmm. And yeah. Going back to what Bryce you were talking about earlier about like how the lady should get a dog, I think like with the amount that the wife is having to pour into her husband right now, she also needs to focus on herself because that takes a lot out of you. So, again, like, finding community, finding, like, a group of ladies your age that you can talk to and have support if you are going through that because you also need to, take time for yourself and make sure that you're doing okay if you have to take that much time into helping your husband during this difficult time. Yeah. Yeah. Get a beagle and a gaggle of bitties. Yeah. My my mom That's a sweet band name. So we we had one dog for four years and

my mom we were thinking about getting a dog. I wanted a bigger dog because I love big dogs. But my mom goes, I want a purse purse dog. So we literally drove to basically Minnesota to go get our second little tiny dog, and it just made my mom and me so happy just to have a little dog. Like, she was just like, I can pick it up. Like, I don't know. It's just so much more fun to, like, be able to pick your dog up, put them on your chest, like, just start pitting them. It's just and there's a scientist thing behind it that's, like,

it hoops your brain. I don't know. Yeah. So so we'll pick it up. We're gonna do next week on selecting the right dog with Bryce. Apparently not a beagle. Go for the purse puppets. Once you got to microphone, you you dominated. Do you know what I'm saying? You had really great advice, and then you went off on this weird tangent about having small dogs and the brain science behind it. And I'm I'm I'm there's nothing I can do, Bryce. We're sharing a microphone. I have to just sit there and stare at you and go, what are you what are you talking about? Okay. I I am though I figure as we talk about different individuals, folks who are in the news, I am gonna, like, dial a friend and have Bryce tell me. I'll be like, what what's the right type of dog for this guy right here? And so I'm just gonna have him he seems super handy. Let me call my dog guy. I used to velamir putin seems like a schnauzer type of killer. Yeah. This is Bryce. Go.

130 pound brown lab. Woof woof. Give me the name. Okay. Mike, let's do one more. Okay. Here's the last one. I'm a 55 year old man who dated a oh, dear life from the past. I'm a 55 year old man who dated a very special lady. Yep. Quotes Dawn for twelve years. Woah. Woah. Dated for twelve okay. Sorry. Yeah. Oh, wait. So it's gonna take a lefty. Hold on. Pay attention. We were both married when we met. Oh. Oh. She didn't have a dog. Border collie. I fell I

fell in love with her, and after we divorced our spouses, we continued being together. Well, can trust each other. Uh-oh. Layla's getting fired up. Hold up now. Time for another left. Keep the facts straight. I have two kids. Dawn didn't get along with the older one. Yep. My daughter wasn't rude, but she obviously didn't like Dawn. I proposed to Dawn, and she accepted. Over the next few months, she became agitated and threw her engagement ring back at me. I kept it until we figured things out. Good. Two years later, Dawn ghosted me. I was hurt, so I gave her space. We reconciled five months later. Three years later, I finally trusted her enough to ask her about getting married. Then right at Christmas, she ghosted me again. Mhmm. Six months later, nothing. I texted her after four months to no avail.

Stud keeps good records. I am now in therapy. Apparently, a lot of months too late. Life from the path, I don't know how to move forward. No kidding. Sometimes I get these divine messages, signs, dreams, etcetera. Oh, I hesitate to label anyone, but I wonder if I'm dealing with a woman who has a commitment phobia. Says the guy who loved his wife. No. Sit.

Woof woof. This question is not over. Okay. Hold on. He gets his own dreams and science. Okay. What should I do now? I have respectfully not contacted her except maybe once. Are we sure? I am heartbroken. I'm not asking if I should wait around. I'm living my life. Oh. But these divine messages and signs have me wondering. Ugh. Can we go back to earlier with the feelings and the dopamine and then the actual other stuff? What do you mean? I can't elaborate any more than he has about these divine signs, which he did not point to any solid ground. Well, we earlier, we talked about, like, the dopamine,

like, what Addy said, like, how it's a sometimes it's a feeling and how sometimes maybe you're not energized for a church. That's like, it's a feeling and people are saying that they're not feeling God in their heart and not feeling God move. Are we sure that it's not like, are we sure it's not feeling This man is confusing divine intervention with the tingleys. I just wanna say one thing. Oh. Erase her number. Oh, erase her number.

Oh, erase space her space number. I thought erase her number. I'm like, I I'm not hip. What does that mean? Number 12. So so now they they were dating 15. Right? Was that what I'm sorry? They were dating for twelve years. Get the advocates out. Okay. Hold on a minute. Okay. Dated twelve years. Twelve years. Now did I include, like, all of these several months? Is it up to eighteen years? No. And I don't know. Twenty years. Half of his life, he's chased this woman that he would have an affair with. There's a lot of extra jewelry. He blew up his family. What did the lady not getting along with the daughter have to do with anything? Well, I think my big problem is did they both divorce their partners Yeah. Yes. Because they loved each other? Yes. Did did they have a dog? Yes. Here's the thing about my generation. I would go to Layla for marriage counseling. Yeah. She's like, that's stupid. Yeah. It is. Like, you both are stupid? No. What what's the that's frustrating. I have a question. Are we sure this didn't come from, like, a Hall mark movie? Like, this

this actually happened. Big city editor. Yeah. She was at the farm. That must be late night Hallmark. I don't It's a little dark for a Hallmark movie. To be fair, this one's a real nail biter. They're like, they're back together. Oh, she ghosted him again. Oh, I'm not really sure what ghosted him. Did they not ever live together? You know what I'm saying? Of all the other, like, like, traditional marriage things they look to be bypassing, they never moved in together, I guess. Doesn't appear to be. Like, she just ghosts him. If she's doing that while living in the house, that's boss. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? If you just act like something doesn't even exist while you're living with them, like, that's bold. I mean, to answer his question, does this lady have commitment issues? Nope. She was already married once. She just doesn't wanna marry you. I don't think it's commitment issues. I think you have abandonment issues. Maybe. I just wanna point out that Mike said it was boss that she ghosted him. In the house. I think the point is is that, like, if I went home to my house tonight and just ghosted my own wife in my own house for any number of time, that's a boss move, I think, is the point. I mean, that is a really long version of the silent game. Okay. Yeah. So so I think I think to come to the crux of it,

you need to let this go, like, yesterday. Yeah. Like 10 yesterdays. Like, you this woman does not want to marry you. She's she's jacking with you for some reason or another. I maybe you're giving her money. Like, you've not probably listed the reasons in which she's taking advantage of you, but you need to knock it off. This is harmful. Whatever line that you think you're holding is reasonable, you are way off, my friend. You you need to let this go directly. You don't need I I'm not trying to pull you out of therapy, but I'm telling you that like your your problem is very simple. This woman does not love you. You are looking for love in the wrong types of places. You are trying to find it in touchies and feelies as opposed to something that is true and sustaining, and you need to knock it off directly. He's, like, either 55 or pushing 60 now after all these months and months of stuff. The dude needs to grow up. Yes. He do he's too old. He's too old for this. This feels this feels like more of, like, a teenage, like, summer romance. Know. It's like, oh, Jonathan, run away. He's back. Oh, he's gone. A don't think that should be happening. I also wanna know I know he didn't write this, but I just wanna know how old the lady is. Like, is this some messed up story where she's 20 and he's 55? Oh, good. They were together for twelve years. I'd be a little concerned if she was Yeah.

Is the shit. And also Go ahead. Okay. So over like, just sub off our advice, like, listen, dude. Like, this is over. That you don't have to tell any more stories. No more background necessary. You will never be in relationship. You won't even be friends with this woman again. This relationship is done. And so we're all finished up there. Quit chasing, Terrence. Yeah. Just call everyone he's ever known and apologize. Yeah. Yes. I just need to say one more thing. I feel like after what was it? She, like, threw the ring at back at him. That's done. That is the sign to stop it. Like, you know the heavenly signs he's getting? That's stupid. He's imagining that. That's my view personally speaking. Yeah. From my marriage counseling perspective,

he should stop, and he should have taken that, like okay. I just okay. Just think about this. If you're like if you propose to somebody and they're like, oh my gosh. Yes. You know? And then a month later, they throw the ring out the window. Don't you think that's like like a wow. I should back off? Yeah. I think How was that an invitation? Give me a month and then propose to me again. If your if your sense of like, if you only receive divine visions after a bucket of fried chicken or a gram of cocaine, like, these are not coming from the Lord. So so Leila's just over and be obvious. Yeah. And he's just like, no. I'll come back for you. Don't go pack for her. Yep. Give the ring to the dog.

Alright, Mike. What's what does secular say? Okay. Okay. So the question was let's see. These divine messages and signs have me wondering if I should really get rid of her. Secular says Is she a houseplant? Secular? Is that our belief that the holy spirit intervenes on a ficus? Get rid of her. Is there a strong possibility he's actually fighting with a houseplant? Like, know what saying? This is not an actual woman. 100%. Yes. Old was he again? It's it's it's like a wig on a hostage. Yeah.

Don't you turn your back on me? Are you leaving? He, like, puts the ring on Don't leave me. She ghosted me. We could grow roots, Bethany. You've been photo sensing with another man. Okay. We go. Say That was the low point of the program. No. Nice.

Although, think our next t shirt. What kind of dog does a man who dates a houseplant have? Yorkie. What? Yorkie? Yeah. Price is insulted. His expertise was not consulted on that. My bad. Bad. My bad. 150 pound lab. Okay. Got it. Is that all the solution? A 150 pound lab? Alright, Mike. Secular turn us around. Secular says, I am pleased you are now in therapy because it is where you belong. I don't know what your daughter picked up on about Don, but perhaps you should ask her. If you do, it may get it may give you some insight. Until then, you should stay away from this woman at all costs. Love, secular. I mean, she picked up on this woman that she cheated with her father. Yeah. Right. Of course, she hates that woman. Yeah. Of course. Like, why would your daughter like this woman? Well, let me welcome you into my oh, my new mom. You know? Like, no. Listen. I don't it's like beating a a drum here. But, like, there's a reason God sets up marriage the way that he does and has you make a lifetime promise.

Because this type of ridiculous circus act does is not allowed. We don't tolerate it. Right? And so God's like, this is not my intention for you to make lifelong commitments. But I want you to make lifelong commitments to people for better or for worse because then you end up sacrificing for them and you end up being vulnerable with them. And then you go, okay, we're just one person now because this is dumb. And this poor dude is like so confused. I I don't even know why. I I'd like to have met his first wife. Like, he's either the biggest moron I've ever met in my life or he is so jaded in the way that he looks on how relationships work that, like, she threw a ring back at him two times. He counts in months the amount of time she ghosts him. Right? Like, if I text somebody and they don't answer me for months, I put it in the they haven't answered me forever category three weeks in. I'm like, they never answer me. It's now finite. You know, it's it's infinite on how long they answer me. So, like, this poor dude I feel like, personally, if it were me, you know, after if you were having an affair with somebody, like okay. This sounds really bad. But, like, let's let's say you're this guy. Right? And Dang it. What? He's a moron. Go continue. What? I am I am I am this guy. Whatever. Got it. And you're dating this woman and

okay. Sorry. Restart. I'm the woman. Okay. I'm with you so far. Listen. Sorry. I can't get my thoughts together. If I see this guy that he fell in love with me so easily, he already obviously has commitment issues and doesn't know how to stay in a real marriage. And he's not, like, obviously fully committed to it. So I feel like that is your sign before it even gets further than that to be like, no. Right? Yeah. Like Like, if you like, this and this will happen. Right? If you meet someone that you are interested in and find out they're already in a committed relationship or they're already married, you're done. Right. You're done right now. Like, just stop. They're like you don't you don't pursue a relationship with somebody who obviously can't maintain the relationship that they're in. Like, that's a horrible idea. I I also feel like he should have trusted the daughter's instincts a little bit more. Like Sometimes children are rebellious and terrible. Daughter's the same That's very true. But, I mean, I okay, Ben. But,

I mean, if I like, if say you were this man. Say you Hey. That's twice, Mike. That's twice someone said you're the guy. Ben, I wanna use you, but you're not my dad. Okay. Say you brought home this houseplant named Bethany, and she starts treating you all the wrong ways. And I was just k. We'll pretend she's we'll pretend she's real. Ella, you'll respect your new mother. Go get the watering can. You do it. Anyway Your mother's arch. Don't water your mother. Regardless,

if you did this and, like, the way that she's already been treating you as a daughter, as your kid who's been watching this happen, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if the daughter was like, I don't really vibe with her. She's not my favorite. Maybe she doesn't like hostas. Maybe she's more of a fan of tulips. I don't know. But I know as a daughter, if you started acting this way, I would definitely yell at you and tell you that you are a moron and that you are dumb. Yes. Clock it, please. Oh my Just don't give the engagement ring to the new hostess plant. Clock it? That means that you're like, oh, yes. This is important. Yeah. Means you made a good point. This is a good point. Okay. We nailed it. Alright. Hey. You've been listening to life for the Ben, do it. Join the doing the Dan. No. Dan, clock it. Clock it. Clock it. What? Here we go. Hey.

You've been listening to life for that. Thanks for hanging out with us so much tonight. Hey, everybody in the room. You guys did so good. Thank you for coming in and sharing your wisdom with us. We appreciate it. I'm gonna cut you guys loose. I don't know if we'll be back here before the end of the year, so I'm gonna leave you hanging in suspense. In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to live from the past. The lion roars loud, echoes in the valley, judgment in the cloud, plowshares turn to soars, the harvest going sour, the merchants wait to see stacking three by the hour, the shepherd from Tico with no crown,