Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper. You are live And you're listening to live for the Path coming from the Pathway Studios. I'm away. You're right. You're a Johnson proper. It's good to be with you on this lovely evening. Okay.

Come on. I don't I don't I don't care for the hell. I'm gonna tell you where this came from. It was a couple of years ago. I can't remember. I saw some dude. I was on the I was watching a video, and some guy was preaching, and he was saying cool stuff. You know? Yeah. And there was some dude three rows in that's just he's like, he's doing the the come hither wave. He's like, come on. Like, just keep bringing the holy spirit. And I thought, that's the coolest man. Yeah. I've ever I wanna be this excited. And so, like, I did like, I organically just started saying come on every once in a while, and now I overuse it. I say it all the time. Yeah. And so I need, like, some follow-up phrases. I tried that grunt noise, but it's it's misconstrued. Yeah. So I gotta I gotta come up with something else that I can say besides come on, cause I say it all the time for just about any reason.

Hey. So, I mean, not to give you an assignment right at the start of the show, but, like, if you wanna provide Mike some possible phrases to test out here on the program, you can use the Life From The Path Complete line. It's (515) 517-0085. Call or text, and we're looking for phrases that Mike could use here on the show to represent affirmation or send more in. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Zip. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, it's gonna be hard to replace. I mean, you didn't say come on, like, three years ago. What have you been doing with your life? Yeah. I mean,

I don't know. I I actually wish I would've written down throughout my lifetime. Like, will I find a word and I'll stick with it for a couple years and I will overuse it. Yeah. And then I don't know what transitions it out or if I don't remember anybody like saying anything to me that made me wanna change it. Like I used to say, yeah, yeah. Like, I double said, yeah. It's like a couple like, for a couple of years, three years, I did it forever. And then and then I can't remember. I was I should have written them down, but, like, they just come in and then they leave. And they disappear. Yeah. Fade away. So I don't know. Or, like, you know, like, you you find a word that you really like and then you just start popping it out all the time. And, man, it's it'd be so cool to go back and look see what what I've ditched, you know, in the last five years. Okay. This is a legitimate use of the AI. I it's gonna take a really long time because we have a, you know, a 550 show back catalog. But I keep thinking I'd like to run all the shows into some sort of, like, repository and just ask questions about the show. Like, hey. In 2017,

which was which word was said most often on Live From The Path? Oh, yeah. Or which catchphrases and and what level of popularity have we seen over the last 15 I mean, it'll be super interesting. That would be interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And embarrassing. Yeah. And embarrassing. Probably a little self indulgent, really. Right. 2016, the big word was Jesus. 2012, the big word was not Jesus. It was whiz bang. And you're like, oh, shoot. And there was the peanut butter year. Yes. Okay. You listen to life from the path. Here we go. Here's what we got going on the program this evening. This is a real this is a real smattering of stuff here. So, Mike, I don't know quite how to phrase

the thing that we were talking about, which is kinda like like stay in or stay off the sidelines or like, what do we what's the right way to talk about it? I don't know. Like, it's gonna come out real harsh Yeah. No matter how I say it. But, like, like, speaking of self indulgence. Right? Like, I just feel like I keep like, I I've been increasingly frustrated with individuals and then, like, local groups or parents and then, like, the church body as a whole where I'm like, stop bailing on things and hiding at your house. Just stop protecting yourself

so completely. You know? And like, mainly it's been like, when I've been reading through James lately, like, I've never taken like James is always known for being a book of action. Right? Like it's practical and it speaks to stuff and people are like, Yeah, this will kickstart something or other. And I've always kind of read it that way, but I've never read it in like the finality of which I feel it here lately, where it's like, Listen, when he says faith without works is dead, like, we take it as we need to improve. You know what I'm saying? Like, we should do better. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe I'll find a charity to get involved with or maybe I'll help at Sunday school or something. And, like, it feels like it's just way more sharp than that. That like, you are literally refusing to sit in a chair.

So the question is, do you believe the chair exists? Like it's that foundational. Because there's no possible way that if given the option to stand all the time or sit in a chair, like the there is no reason you wouldn't sit in that chair if it was available. So the question is, do you even believe it? Is it even a real thing to you? And so it just feels like it's been pretty sharp the way that I've been thinking about it and the way I've been praying through it. And then it's been time after time I just keep watching people who profess the name of Christ getting as far away from brokenness as they can. And I'm like, how can you do this though? Right? Like if the Great Commission is in there and the life of a Christ follower is to be one of sacrifice and not protection and comfort, then how is this true all the time? That everyone that like, even within our schools

and within like like really broken situations where like we could just use some Jesus folks to get involved. And like, we're like, no. Never mind. The government will get it. And we're like, come on. What is going on around here? Yeah. And so like, one, this is a litmus test on if it's a righteous egg or not to make sure I'm not overreacting. Yeah. But two, it's a little bit of a call to action. It's like, don't make up acts to do. Like, live your faith out, you wuss. Like, I'm just tired of everybody running for the hills all the time. Yeah. Okay. Alright. We're gonna come back to that. And I suppose that you like, if you've got time to bail, if you feel like this might cut you a little bit to the quick You'll stay here and take this tongue lashing. Also, I I was think I've I've been trying to figure out how to do this without going way too giant here. But the pondering for me for this this week was how do how do we think about what systems or organizations

or countries or or companies or something like the things that those types of entities have the way they have to behave versus the way that individuals within those have to behave, and is it okay that they're different? And so, like, high level, could you say, is it okay for a con like a country to have a different morality or moral level of type of action than the people that live within it? Or is it necessary that the country do that same thing? Or even a church. Like if we say, is it okay that the people of the church

are doing different things than say like the church as the institution? And so, and I think out of that thought is a little bit of an encouragement. And so like, I wanna talk about that a little bit. Because like, especially as you think about political matters, like a lot of the times we spend our time trying to influence some level of the institution. And the question is, is it like, can't you can't you just do it then? Like, can you do it on your own? Like, is there a reason we keep trying to get institutions

which move like a ship towing another ship towing another ship, or is there things that we can do? And I mean at a very macro level, like wildly big where you're like, can't we just as humans do it? Like, maybe The US can't do it as an entity or they or they're gonna suck at it, but you go ahead. Go right ahead and do it. And so, anyway, I we'll touch on that only briefly, but I wanted to talk about that. Okay. Was there one more thing? No. We got some deer life from the past probably. Alright. We'll do that. Alright. Alright. So let's let's talk about this. What Mike, why do you what do you think is what do you think is causing this? What do you think is causing folks

there's a there seems like there's a multi like, a couple things going on where, like, there's a disconnect between, in some ways, what we believe and what we do, but also kind of a wariness of getting involved in situations that otherwise might put you, your family, or something at risk. Yeah. I I think this is where I I wanna make sure that this is coming out balanced. Right? Because, like, it is not off the table that, like especially when it has this is where it gets gets most frustrating to me, but I also understand the flip side of it when it comes to kids. And, like like, I had I've had a couple stories even this week where, like, these kids the kid I know, like, has a rougher home life and, like, they're just they had a hard time making friends. And then there was, like, this Christian kid in their school, and they, like, befriended him, and then they were, like, hanging out with him. They were going out to to, like, bible school with him when they got a chance. They were eating dinner at their house and, like, and just looking how a family could maybe operate or whatever. And then all of a sudden, the Christian kid bailed to go to Christian school somewhere. Yeah. And I'm like, dang. Like, I get it. You know? But, like, come on. The kid was doing the work of what God calls us to do into his broken world. And, like, you yanked him. Like, dang. You know? And then like I've had some other kids where they're like they were attending youth group and they were attending like these other functions, but like they were the places were inviting like rougher kids. So they had a place to be and they had a place to to be loved and and, like, could learn about Jesus. And they're like, I don't know if I like my kids around that influence.

So they yanked them. And I'm like, where are you going? What are you what are you doing right now? Like, I just and and, like, I I remember I used to tell some of the kids in our youth group. I'm like, look, I know you guys love Jesus already, but I need you to realize that you validate the things that I'm saying. Right? The things that I'm teaching out of the Bible, like it's not validated as they look at a 40 year old man saying. It's validated because someone else their age believes it, lives it, and there's a noticeable difference in their life. So, like, you're just as much as part of this equation as you believe that I am. You know? And so, like, it's why God has you here. And so, like, when we start yanking

kids that come from a house that loves Jesus and can actually bring light into a situation because it's possible they might be vulnerable to outside sinful influences. Like, I hear it as a parent, I get it. Right? You wanna protect your kids from that. And I think there's there's questions of age

and maturity levels and all the things. Right? But like the examples that I ran into here lately, I'm like, these kids were actually doing the work. Like, they were actually out holding their mud, like proclaiming the good news of Jesus, loving the loving people, like, who were cast aside and hard to get along with and had all these rough edges, and they just kept inviting them in and inviting them in. I'm like, Lord, thank you for these kids and thank you for their families. And then I couldn't barely get that prayer of thanksgiving out before they're gone. Yeah. And they're pulled back to their house, hiding around with either a bunch of other private school kids where there won't be any danger. You know what I'm saying? And I'm like, I just, you know, I just it just grieves me a bit that like for the thing that God equips like if we are actually outfitted with the presence of the Holy Spirit let's go back to adults now. Let's gonna hold the kids off for a second based on maturity. Right? But let's say that, like, as adults, that we are outfitted with the presence of the holy spirit. I mean, hot dang boys, you should be able to walk anywhere you want. You know what I'm saying? You should be able to walk past all kinds of broken. Now granted,

like, we are still broken humans ourselves, and there's certain things that tend to grab you by the ankle, you know, more than others. And so, yeah, maybe you should stay out of that. But, like, at the end of the day, like, I I just feel like I've had I've had churches, like, kids getting yanked by their parents. And then the parents, like, nuzzling in in this little super tight community where nothing broken could ever come in. And if it was, it's like the windows are shut tighter. And then churches that, like, pray for, like, no outgoing prayers. Like, they're when when Jesus says that, like, they will know they will know me by by my love or your love for them. Right? Like that Jesus, this is how the world's gonna know. And they're like, well, we like to keep our love in this tight circle. You know what I'm saying? And so I don't like to bring it out or I don't wanna pray for stuff that's going on with the complete broken around me. I just wanna pray for protection and comfort for my own, like, compound. And I'm like, come on. Like, you're wearing everybody. People are out there hustling here and you guys are like hiding, trying to build up bigger walls. And like, it's not like I haven't gone through some of this with my own family. And like, I've probably exposed my kids to stuff earlier than I should have, or who knows. Right? Like, there was always a danger. There's a danger for me. There's a danger for us in walking around and being part and in a world that is actively fighting against what Jesus is offering. But like, how are they ever going to know the difference unless you're out? Right? And how are they ever going to how are they ever going to see the work that God is trying to do? And how are we ever going to be a part of it if we we know God's love by the way he loves us. And that's the only way we know it. Right? Like, I feel love. God loves me. God is trying to help me. God is my comfort, my peace. And all those things are true. But like he says, the world knows that by you getting out into it. And like, I just I I don't know. I've been just been it's just been grading on me lately that I just see a whole bunch of Christians, like, hiding

and bailing out of hard things and not wanting to get involved or like, this is messy. Those kids are dangerous. That kid uses bad language. These kids over here already had their phones since they were nine, and all they do is be on Instagram for six hours. I don't want my kids around something like that. I'm like, what? What do you mean? That's exactly where I want your kids. I want your kids to come with me, and we will go talk to this young fella or something. You know? And so, like, I can't tell whether it's just from my perspective as a youth, like, group leader guy that I'm like, look, I I'm I mean, I'm starting to lose credibility here as an old man. Right? We need some fresh meat on the streets out there trying to to help and and and like get people to feel what God is trying to offer them. And like, I just feel like it's it's people are just bailing, you know? You feel like that's systemic in the church. Some of that selfish praying though, I feel like that's getting systemic in the church. We're like, it's just like, God, but like, grow our church. God, like, help us to find peace in these hard times. God, protect us from all this mess out here. Not, Lord, will you will you make the holy spirit so obvious in me that I'm just ready to go out and talk to whoever? Even the guy at the gas station or the dude that got in a wreck, and he caused it because he was drinking. You know what I'm saying? Like Yeah. Man, just where's the the grit and the fire to get get involved in gross sin and let Jesus watch that thing? Yeah. That's all. That's all. Mhmm. Maybe part of that is, I'm just trying to think from like the pastor's point of view,

you're preaching, you know, separation and holiness and and and, you know, living a holy lifestyle and it comes across as, you forget the part of, but yet you're still here, you're still be in the world without the world type We just say get out of the world, I think, sometimes, or at least it sounds like that's what we're saying. Yeah. And then we forget to verbalize, but don't forget, you're here. You know, we're called to these people. And I think a church can go through periods of times where you're emphasizing one or the other rather than the balance. And at least I am, I guess I can only think of myself as sometimes I'm like, oh, wow. I've kinda got out of balance here. I need to get back over on this side. Maybe that confuses just the average person, you know, who's just trying to live their life and

figure out how to live as a Christian. They're kind getting tossed around. And so maybe that's part of it? I don't know. I mean, maybe, but you'd have to ignore the entire life of Jesus. Right? Right. You put this on the pastor, and I get it. And even as like a broken group of dudes, yeah, I've done this individually for sure. You know what I'm saying? Like, find yourself, you're like, okay, I'm a little too far in this thing. But Jesus' example was completely holy, completely set apart, walking in the middle of mess. And that was his whole life. You know? And so, like, if he's our human example on how this is supposed to look, like, you do all the things that God says, like, creates you in a separated holy, like, follower of Christ, you know, and then you are unstained by the world. You know? And when you get stained on you, you repent of it, and then you hand it over to Jesus, and then you get back out there where stain getting thrown around. And somehow, it either don't land on you because you put on the full armor of God, or it does land on you and you go, oh, God. I let my guard down.

Can you forgive me? Put me back to work. You know? Right. Like, it it just seems like like I don't I don't don't know what we're trying to produce. Do you know what I'm saying? Like at the end of the day, like I've had these conversations with a couple kids here lately where like their big struggle is like, know what I wanna go to college for, what I wanna do with my life and all this stuff. And I'm like, just you could go to college or not. You could work at Burger Shed or not. You could pick up the streets in your town or not. Like, follow Jesus wherever wherever you're going, live wholly set apart in pursuit of the work that God is doing. And no matter what you choose to do, like, this is what joy will look like and freedom and peace and all the fruits of the spirit and success as far as God measures. That that's what success how success is measured. Now your parents who know you better are gonna say things like, look, I know what your tendency is to do. You need to go to college. Or you know what I'm saying? This is where God put you in a community and a family to help you figure some things out. But, like, practically,

the big red letter sign is just follow Jesus wherever you're gonna go. Just make sure that like you are involving him in your questions and you're involving him in your decisions and you care what he says. Not just I'm gonna do this, you should bless it. Right? Like him being in the middle of it. And and so, like, like, even if we we set these kids apart and we kept them unstained by the world, and then when are they gonna go out? Right? When they're 18 or 19? You know what I'm saying? Or 20 or 21. And then they start walking around the world and you're like, this place is terrible. And then like, what's their gut reaction? It's either to join them or hunker down and now they're out of it. And then their kids are out of it too. And then and you know what I'm saying? Like, we just create generation upon generation to staying out of it. And like, that's a worst case scenario and not even a practical example of what definitely happens. But like, I think it's a little bit of my fear. Right? Like, just want to be able to be praying outwardly as people who love Jesus. Like, once you're saved, you're like, I don't want this room to be lonely.

I like I don't want it to feel like God's work is done after me. And and all the things that I know that he saved me from should give me enough gumption and grit to be like, Lord, fill me with the holy spirit and send me back out. Because there's another dude just like me on the other side of the block. And like that guy deserves better than he's getting too. So I'm a go talk to him. You know? Yeah. Yeah. I do like, I wonder if there's a like a couple key barriers. I think barrier number one is when you start to mix what are clear

think of think of clear biblical responsibilities, right? Like you're supposed to you're supposed to protect your children. It's part of your job. It's built in you as a parent. In the same way, you're supposed to provide and be around for and lead your family. But like can God send you say to go do missionary work for a year or go do something that is away from your family for a year. Could God do that in contention with your understanding of what it looks like to care for your family? Yeah. Sure. He could do that. And the same thing goes with how you think about your kids. Like you you're you have you have a biblical responsibility to care for, protect, love, point your family.

But the question is, does that understanding supersede you asking God what do I do? How do we serve you best? Is this the spot of which like

place where my family or my children are supposed to be involved even though it carries risk? Because it has to. Opportunity is risk. These are the same these two words are describing the same thing. It's just which side of the coin you're on. Okay? And so I think the question is, is that like, do I trust

God with my children? And will I continue to listen to him and trust that he will guide me, one, if or as you get exposed

to messy things that otherwise this person may be bringing a light into, they also can be influenced by. And so like the opposite can also or the other side of the coin can also be true. The risk part, which is like, hey. I wanna go I think this is important to kind of like make sure that we are being light into darkness and you're you or your children or something starts to get consumed by it, and you gotta bail, and you can't do it anymore. Both of those but like that's how we manage all scenarios which is like where am I? Where is God pointing me to to otherwise be involved

or pull back or invest time or don't invest time or whatever. And that is true for your children as well. And as discerners of where the spirit is leading them then like you should basically we shouldn't just not ask which I think is somewhat of the thing. It's like, oh I have responsibility to protect them and so you didn't even ask. Like God, is it better to leave them here? Is it better that they go to the place where the risk exists than it is to separate them from it because I'm worried that something's going to happen? The worry is righteous. God probably like you were built as a parent to have the worry but like the same thing would be true for you, for any situation. Was like hey, this is it would be just like you might pray, Lord, should I quit my job and do something that pays

half of that because it feels like maybe you're directing me towards that thing. You would have a worry because you're supposed to protect your family or provide for them. But God may still be asking you to do the thing that's a little bit unknown or a little bit risky. And so like in those examples, like I think that's the question. And the reality is is that like not everybody's doing the same thing. There's some people you got loads of people who are involved with things that may carry a risk even like certain levels of homeless ministry are risky. Certain things to like types of folks or situations or whatever. Not everybody does that. Not everybody is called to that exact thing. But I think the key question is like are we asking? Do we ask God, is this the thing that I'm supposed to be involved with and that my children are supposed to be involved with? Or did we just go, look, isn't it my responsibility to protect them? And you didn't even ask. Yeah. And that maybe that's the harder part. Like but, like, what do you do if you don't like his answer? You know? You do it you do it anyway. Right? But, yes, that's the hard part. Because, like, I mean, as Abe ties up his son Isaac and goes, I don't I hate this. Yeah. I don't like like that like that story is so flat in the bible. You know what I'm saying? It's so flat.

Take take your son and tie him up. You're gonna sacrifice him to me. And you just get Abe's compliance. Yeah. And you're like, boy, he's taking this chill. You know what I'm saying? But like, you know that's not what happened. You know that's not how he felt about it. Know? And so like, it just sometimes it seems so difficult because you think you know what God's gonna do and how he's gonna do it. Right? But like, I don't know how long that you have to walk with Jesus before you have figured out that you have no idea what he's gonna ask, and you have no idea how he's gonna do it. And you can be guaranteed it's not gonna be in the way you figured.

And like, it's oh, that is that is the one constant with my walk with Jesus is the inconsistency of which he accomplishes his means. Like, the the like, whatever thing that I thought was gonna do a thing almost never does a thing. Or it contributed to the thing in such a way that I had no idea was actually accomplishing this. You know? And so, like, we've talked about this a little bit before. Like like, God will God will eventually, for example, want you to plant a church in Boston.

And you if he'd have told you that's what he wanted, you would have gone on a plane and hit Boston immediately and said, alright, let's fire this church up. Yeah. But what you didn't know is the first 20 members were gonna come from Denver, Toledo, and San Antonio. And then but he's not he didn't tell you any of that. He just creates a job opening for you in San Antonio for a bit, and you make some friends. And you know what I'm saying? And like you never if you would've just said Boston church, you would've got there, opened it up to nobody, and it would've fallen flying on its butt because the guy you picked up in San Antonio is actually the dude that knows some folks in that neighborhood and was gonna bring it and get God's work done. Right? And so like all of that being said, that like presuming on the ways and means of which God is going to accomplish something because you have an overall directive.

Like, you just have to be so careful. You know, that you believe that you understand that like there is this one overall edict. Like right now for us, like sin is our overall edict. Sin is no. We don't do things that God said not to do and we do the things that God would do. Right? That's our guiding mast on how we get things done. But like everything past that, oh man, it's a wild ride. You just like Dan goes to Africa on a consistent consistent basis. Basis. Did Did Dan Dan know know he he was was gonna gonna do that when he was 25? He did not. He did not. And if God would have said, Dan, I got big plans for Africa and I would like you to be involved. Dan at 25 would have quit his job, told his family everybody's getting raised in Africa and went over there and stood there like a moron and would have accomplished nothing. Right. Until God was like, all right, it's Africa time, Dan. I want you to meet this fellow. You know what I'm saying? Right. So like, it just That's

a good example because like in that example, the heart would have been righteous, the intent would have been righteous. You do it because you love Jesus. You're willing to sacrifice all the things. God was not there with you yet. And you jumped the gun to go do it. And I actually think some of that's true. You know, I think the difficult reality is the the in in like a modern Christian mind, I'm gonna have to stereotype a little bit here, but like the risky situations you're worried are gonna create prodigals,

like prodigals. And they might. And then and but then I'll tell you this. A lot of times, the methods that you're gonna do to try to keep your kid from becoming that, you're gonna turn it into that kid's brother. Yeah. There's what I'm saying. You know what saying? Like, the difficulties in Christian schools. Like, you surround your kids by a group of a bunch of other Christians. And like, again, Christian community is great. Go for it. But like, if if they don't actually have a view of the world of which these things are happening, which the world is how it is and it's difficult or whatever, you get you can become high minded about it. I've I've I've said it on the show like a ton of times, and like we've talked about it at church consistently is like the risk of the house church environment as an example is like because

of its stripped down nature, it feels like it has a purity that is somehow like better than somewhere else. It's an asinine thing to think. It's wrong. But it can feel that way because you're like, oh, we're not subject to all the other crap going on around here. Oh, yes. But you're subject to the different kind of poison, but it can be a poison nonetheless. And that can be true on the whole like, the separating from has a risk of pretentiousness. Pushing all the way into with a heart for righteous work can also get you swallowed by the muck. And so like these are both risks here and let's not pretend like one of those risks is actually more holy than the other.

But both of them can be appropriate actions, but like it's the discerning voice of Jesus. But I think the big thing is like, did you even ask? Like, that's the question. Did you like, we've asked I think every few years we're asking like, is this time for either one or all of our children to to go to public? We've homeschooled all of them. I'm open to putting them in public school if we need to. Like, if that's if that's what god said, like, we I would say actually pretty pretty, like, strong petition a couple years ago was like,

are we sure? Because, like, so far, this is the path that we've been on. Is it still the right path for us? And, like, I'm I have all kinds of reservations, but, like, I also have all kinds of reservations in the situation that we're in because our situation currently carries risks for not doing that. And so, like, that's the question. Are you asking? And here's the thing. It is it a different situation if it is so clear like, if God himself in some way shows up to you and goes tie your kid up, you're gonna be like, I'm gonna have to time up, man. I don't because God said. But I think for for the inability often to discern the movement of the spirit,

and I think from such corrupt view of the spirit that we're often getting from pulpits and from like teaching and things and just wacky stuff that you're like, I don't even know if I should be listening to any of this stuff. We can't discern the spirit, which means we start leaning back on our own wisdom and your wisdom predominantly will be protection. Yes. And, like, I mean, no one is gonna look like I said, I know this is fire and hot one side. I know you wanna protect your kids. I wanna protect my kids. You know? And but, like, there just feels like if I look at the biblical example of Jesus, and then the most well, actually, the rest of the New Testament, it's literally people putting themselves in harm's way surrounded by brokenness and usually suffering the consequences of having been around it without being corrupted. Oh, okay. So here's what's what's here's what's interesting contextually, I guess. Do we have this example

anything to go off from a New Testament perspective as it relates to youth? No. I would say no. But I would say the age of which youth stopped in the bible was like 13. Yeah. Also true. Like, yes. Our our notion of like you could be getting married at 14. Yes. 14, 15 and stuff. So, the notion of being an adult while doing adult things was certainly earlier. Yeah. Yes. Agreed with that. And so are we in a different place socially

where, we simply are not having and our society is not set up to have your kids act in grown up ways and be prepared for it by fourteen fifty. Yeah, I do actually think we've probably I'm not sure it's a disservice. I'm not sure. Jewish culture is not implicitly healthy on how early they did a thing. But like, I suppose, like, there is a it's not a risk is is too harsh of a word here, but like, do do all the the the example of the life of Jesus, do I say, okay, well then five year old, that's you.

Probably not. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this is where churches have, depending on the denomination, struggle with things like age of accountability and stuff like that. They're trying to figure out basically at what case should I be wary of behavior versus going, I don't know. Their bodies just aren't set up for it yet and it's fine. Yeah. And I think there is a wisdom in it. I don't think you have to go I think there's some eight year olds where you're like, I don't know, man. God just wired these kids different. Send them in. Yeah. Yeah. Is it most eight year olds? Probably not. And you don't go, look. They need to know the world and then set them loose on YouTube unrestricted. That's dumb. That's dumb behavior. You should not do that. And I'm sorry if that's what you did, but you need to stop that. But like, so there

is again, it's a there's a wisdom in it. I think it's a communal question. I also think like the spirit will guide, but like God did give you a brain to go, look, don't you don't set up something that seems holy to go, Lord, I'll do whatever with my eight year old in your service. And God's like, I did not tell you to send that kid into the wolves. Why why are you doing that? You didn't honor me by showing up to Zimbabwe twenty five years early. You didn't honor me by putting your kids on an altar if I didn't ask for it. And so they that is that is the caution. But they all they both solve the same way though. Yeah. Like you solve the same way to go. Do I am I always asking? And frankly, I I almost I always have to ask the way I think of it is like I have to ask double in a thing that I know I don't want. Like if my proclivity

for whatever my human wisdom is on like where do we go? How do we spend our time? What do my kids do? What do we eat? What do we watch? Whatever those things are that I feel very like firm about, unless they are biblically specific, I probably should be praying about those twice as hard to make sure that I am not trying to run my own show over Jesus'. And it doesn't mean any of those things that we may have made decisions on are not wisdom and he is not for. It's just it is my biggest risk for blindness. Just like safety is most of the time for humans and their children. So here's where I think I'm gonna land is like and maybe this is just advice coming from youth leader guy. Right? But it

makes perfect sense to me to protect your kids from the weather outside. Right? What doesn't make sense, like if you want to take the control or at least the the ability to lead them well, that, like, when they're at home, don't open the window. You know what I'm saying? Don't expose them to crap at your house that you would be like, this is not the kind of influence I want in this house. This house is set apart. It runs set apart. This whole house runs wholly. So that means, like, if you're gonna decry the world and its influences, I think that's fair to look at it honestly and go, when you boys go outside, you put your coats on. Right? Like, walk out of here knowing who you are, who Jesus is, and who Jesus says the people around you are. Yeah. Despite what comes out of their mouth and despite their actions, I want you to love them in this way. But just know, like, you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna strength up in this house because this house runs holy and set apart.

And then you're gonna strength up not just so you can stay in the house, though. You're gonna strength up so you can go out into the world and do the work that God has designed all of us in this house to do. But you do get to come back here. When that world gets heavy, you will come back to this place of rest and peace where the God resides and is held in high esteem. You know what I'm saying? Like your house was going to be set up as the sanctuary of which if if anybody in your whole community wants to know about the refreshing, like, walk of the spirit, then they know it's found at your house. And it's found, like, where you are. And granted, like, I'm I'm with you. When you go out into the world and this is the way we're outpouring and this is the way we're surrendering, it's exhausting. And it's going to test you, and you're gonna have to lean on your faith more than you do in your house where the windows are closed and the storm ain't getting in. But, like, we we do need to go out Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Into that storm. You know I'm saying? We need to go out there and and and get other people out of it. Right? That's the great commission part. The last thing the Lord says on his way up, and he's like, you're going, and I'm gonna send someone with you that's gonna make that all possible,

that you're gonna speak the words of my father. And I want you out in there. And so, like, I think there's there's a balance to be had that doesn't quite come off so heavy handed. But, like, if the like, the more we're leaning for withdrawal, withdrawal, withdrawal, you're doing the exact opposite of what Jesus said is to go out and go out and go out. And so if your primary direction is in,

right, with your prayers, with your actions, with your thoughts, right, who gets peace and who gets comfort and who gets protected. If those things are inward focused, I'm just asking that ask God if that's the season he has you in or if you're hearing him correctly. Yeah. Because I'm having a hard time thinking that when I'm watching kids and adults alike out there doing

the hard stuff, and I'm watching God actually make some differences, and then God yanks them completely out. Yeah. Like, I'm just having a hard time watching that, and either God's got something to settle with me, and I need to look at it differently, or God's got something different to settle with them. Yeah. And I'm open to either one. You know? But, like, it just it it doesn't it doesn't have to make logical sense to me. It's having a hard time making biblical and spiritual sense to me. Yeah. Actually, now that I think about it, I have an example. I was talking about talking to someone at a church, and they had there someone there who, like, started coming, and they were there was some concern around some of the parents about the influence of this person. Like, they weren't and they were curious, but I'm not sure they're like, how closely they're following Jesus.

And they're like, you know, I don't know. Maybe maybe we should be careful about, you know, the kids hanging around or like blah blah blah. And like it was the wrong reaction. Like the right reaction is to go, hey, if there's a person who's at your place and who's curious about Jesus, like, you could either go, oh, but we think that they may believe things that could be a negative influence. Like, I don't know. Shouldn't you just go help him not continue to believe those things? Yeah. Saddle up, Zechariah. It's your time, buddy. Yeah.

Like like, don't you're solving the wrong problem. Yeah. And and I think that is often the case. And and so, like, the but it it feels easier. You know you can control, like how much time you hang around certain people. You're like, well, I can do that. It's a much harder effort to go, hey, how do I point them to Jesus? But like to Mike's point, like that's the go and make disciples part. Like that's not not go not drag in and protect my disciples.

It's go and make more. And so like that probably should be the default is like I presume I'm supposed to be involved in doing that kind of work unless it is clear that either God is like there isn't any or like God is not specifically saying, no, I want you to focus over here. But like I you know, as an overarching theme, go and make disciples is actually a pretty clear one. I it's funny enough. Like, I had this conversation with my wife today, and, like, I told her, I was like, as of late, I have a really hard time, like, finding

time to be me. You know what I'm saying? Because there's so there's so many opportunities and so many things to be doing that I'm like, what if I never, like, fixed my house again? I'd give that up to, like, get the opportunity to talk to people about Jesus. What if I never worked on another car again? You know I'm saying? What if I don't golf, but let's be like, what if I I'm just done golfing. You know what I'm saying? And I kept going through the list of the stuff that I don't know. If you had to look at me from a 10,000 foot level and you weren't gonna talk about Jesus stuff, what would you say that Mike does? Know what I'm saying? These are the things that if there was zero things going on, Mike would default to x. Yeah. And, like, I don't know that I've defaulted to x in quite some time. Yeah. And I thought, would I am I no longer me? Am I just just like a pawn in, like, this this Jesus work operation? And I thought, I don't I don't think he wants that. But, like, do I think he cares if I ever rent a car again? No. I don't think he does. You know? And so, like, part of me goes, like, I thought what a weird problem to have, but actually, I'm I feel kind of blessed to have the problem. I'm like, apart from the identity that the Lord has given me and the work that he's given me to do, what do I do with myself? You know what I'm saying? I'm like, I like that's a better question than you know what I'm saying? Like, I know everything that I would do. I need to make sure I set a part time to keep my golf game up or set a part time to make sure that, like, I'm doing woodwork. Because hobbies, the woodworking hobby is what really makes me me and gives me the refreshments. And I think that's cool. Don't get me wrong. None of that sin stuff. Right? But what I'm saying is, is like, if you're looking around and your heart's got the same opportunistic look at people as Jesus does, you're gonna be like, screw that table. I bet I could go to coffee with Tim.

Yeah. You hear what I'm saying? And so, like, I I don't know. Like I like I said, I knew this was gonna come out a little harsh, but I I I was trying to figure out how to weigh it out in my mind that I'm like, God does get to do individual things with individual people. Like He knows people in an intimate level, and like I can only see broad swaths and then people not saying anything. And so like, I could be taking the whole thing in wrong, but I know biblical principle wise, like, I know we're designed to go out. And so like, at the end of the day, it can't always be the answer that you and your kids are in. It just cannot always be true that we're hiding from everything. Because like at the end, what my big concern is, is let's say you did everything right by your own measurement. You raised them. They stayed out of trouble. Right? Like, not even through college, and, like, they're not out like, hey. They're they're going to church. They still hit, like, some kind of salt group. They're working. You know, they're just living a regular life. They're not really making any kingdom work happen, but they're not really getting sucked into drugs and, you know, a bunch of mess. And then they get out of college and they get a job and then they just do the same thing with their family. And then they just we just keep raising generations of safe, not in the broken.

And then what? Jesus is like, I mean, I'm glad you had a safe life, I guess. You know I'm saying? I wasn't involved much in it. You know? Because humanly, you can keep yourself pretty comfortable and safe by having money and staying away from trouble. Those things will do a lot of good work in the world for you. But funny enough, the adage for Christians is like, we are kinda looking for trouble because that's where light goes. Light shines on trouble. And so we're kind of have one eye open to go, that looks like trouble. I know what helps trouble. You know what I'm saying? And so like, that's what that all is about. So maybe it's just a question to prey on. Right? Like, God, am I hearing you correctly? Right? Am I hearing you correctly, or am I stepping out in front of you? If my family or if me personally or my kids, I need to be praying for them in a way that puts them out helping to make disciples

in a way, or at least reflecting your light into a society or a world that doesn't get to see it. If I'm dimming that light for comfort reasons, will you just help me to see how to stop that? Yeah, Yeah. And this is like, if this helps tie, I think a lot of times we treat that the Laodicea example of like being lukewarm. It's not a salvation deal where God is going like, I either want you on fire for me or I'd prefer that you just give me the cold shoulder. That's wrong. This is about usefulness.

The usefulness of hot water, the usefulness of cold water. Dude, do you wanna get into heaven and go, man, I'm so glad I'm in the presence of Jesus? Or do you wanna walk in the gate and go, hey. There's literally 20 people here that, like, I totally know. And I like talking to them. They're like, I am so glad you happen to bring up the fact that Jesus is king because it turns out totally right. Look. There he is. You know I'm saying? Yeah. Like, come on. That's what we were built for. I just can't there's no loneliness in heaven, but, like, it's gotta be weird when Paul rolls in there with a group of 75, a 100 people, you know, that he took whoopings for to prove a small point. And then you're like, I made it safe here. Yeah. Yeah. I dodged a bullet, Jesus. Glad to be here. Yeah. Good thing I got you. That's what bought my ticket. You know what I'm saying? Come on. Alright. You're listening to live from the path. Hit us up with any feedback on that one on the live from the path. Bob Eisler complaint line, (515) 517-0085. Call or text. Also, remember you were to include any Mike's gonna test out some phrases. He'll he'll if you we get a good list, he'll try them out on the next show, and we'll see we'll see how they work. Yeah. Pop it. See if they catch on. Pop it. What did think of that one? That one got some zip. Okay. So let's Ben. What? Don't ignore my phrases. I don't I did I'm not the person who gets to say. Pop it. Okay. No. Say say something else. I got another one. And and and and that's we're gonna talk about a new topic here coming up. Zoom Zoom.

Zoom Zoom. I don't See? It's gonna be hard to repeat. I don't know. Dan Dan enjoyed that, but like a like a junior high kid would enjoy it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't have a long longevity there. I don't know. Okay. So I'll be honest. We're not gonna dive deep into this particular topic. It's it's it's not It's a mid level topic. Yes. But but

I was pondering this question as I was pondering this recent bombing of Iran where I'm like, I don't what are you supposed to I don't think this is probably good. I don't think you can't police the world. I'm not sure we should get involved in all the things. As a country, I think you can't be on the hook for it. Frankly, I think it postures you towards aggression. And I just I don't know. I'm not sure it's healthy. However, is there something compelling about evil getting reckoned with and people finding the

out of oppressive regimes? Yes. I actually think there is. And so that level of thing got me to thinking like, so what would you do if you're not supposed to go and like just invade all the places and do all the bombing and all the stuff as a country? Let's just presume that's right for now. But you do think actually, you know, you could support them overthrowing their own place.

Can you just do it individually? Can you send your own can you and a group of dudes go like, you know what? We're just gonna go help out in Iran. I gotta go topple a country. I'm not I think they could use some help. I think I'm gonna go over there. I'm motivated to personally help overthrow. And so I get that's a little bit of a of a of a thought exercise, but it pushes down. And it got me thinking just kind of holistically of a pattern to say,

like, is it is it right to think that there are it is not always necessary that you change whatever the systems are around you. You can actually just act like an individual, and that might be the most effective thing. And so just a couple examples, and I do believe we've talked about this a little bit in the past, but like, is it is it if it's fine for a nation, for example, to say, look, we have to know who's coming in and out of here. Everyone needs to come in the same way. We need to do it legally. Otherwise, you can't stay in the country. Do I think that's a legitimate thing for a country to protect its citizens and its resources by doing that? Yes. I think that's fine.

I think that's totally fine. As a as a human though, and probably particularly as a Christian, you're not actually you shouldn't be smuggling people across the border. Like, you can't violate the laws. But can you take compassion on those people? Sure. Can you go down and serve them at the border? Can you open companies that provide them jobs on the other side of the border? Can you try to change laws or find ways to get them in legally? Absolutely. Can you decide that, that your whole ministry is just gonna hang out where people are fleeing difficulty and try to find and work with countries to find solutions for these folks that have places to go? Yes. Heaven's sakes, yes. Absolutely to all of those things. Absolutely.

And so, is it okay that whatever limitation this institution may have, the country may have, the responsibility may have, does not extend in the same way you're not bound by that. And so but you are bound by the laws, but you're not nothing says that you can't on your own go do the things that your heart is moving. And so, like, maybe if we spent, I mean, even one one millionth of the time using your own hands, feet, pocketbook, heart, love, care, water, food,

medical supplies, and all this stuff and put it towards helping in some way the people that you are concerned about. And I think you have every reason to be concerned and compassionate to folks, you can either change the whole machine or you can go, let me do with every ounce of thing I have to go serve these people well. Because because it's not required that you change the whole system. You, within your own power, can go do these things. And and I think the same thing about churches.

I I talked to some guy one time. It's been a while ago, and he's real frustrated because there was something he was real excited about. I don't I don't remember what the what the thing was. To just pick a pick a, I don't know, sex trafficking or something that he's like, I want my church to be real fired up about it. They forgot. The pastor didn't do it. He didn't set up a giant campaign. They didn't divert the fall harvest of giving or whatever this stuff was they got to whatever this thing that this guy wanted. And he was real mad that the church didn't do it. And, like, one of my questions to him was was like, well, I mean, did you give? Did you did you support the thing? He's like, no. I think it would be much more impactful if the church did it. I'm like, dude, what are you talking about? You are the church. Just go why don't you start giving money? And like, why are you ask why are you trying to farm it out to the pastor to go set up the thing god put on your heart? Like, go ask people in the church. I'm sure you'll find a few. There'll probably be two or three people who's like, you know what? Ted's real excited about this. Ted, I love your passion for it. I'll I'll you know, how can I help? And then Ted's gonna say time and money. And three people are gonna choose very low amounts of money. One guy's gonna choose time, and eventually, one dude will show up who's got a big amount of cash. It's gonna be awesome. Alright? But that's what's gonna happen for Ted. Why he has no reason to be mad at the institution when he has within his ability to go do a thing. And it doesn't mean it's not powerful for institutions to do things. And sometimes

making systems and organizations better is the most efficient way to help the most people. I totally get it. I'm just saying that like, your hands aren't tied in a lot of these situations. And so, maybe just the thing to think about is that like, you feel powerless as an individual, but like, everything is made up of individuals.

Like, some like, once you reduce the thing down, you're gonna end up with individual people doing individual things. Sometimes some of them get together and do it together, and it can get more powerful. But like, I just I wonder if we're using our time proportionately well trying to change massive institutions or infrastructures or some things when we're when it's like, I don't know, just do the thing one that's right in front of you. And if you think something that's not right in front of you is totally righteous to do, then you should go do that. And I I encourage you to go give it a shot. It's one of the is it if there's anybody I would turn to, it would be Dan Hudson. No one can take an idea and and, like, immediately have some action to it within, like, five minutes than Dan Hudson, which is funny because the vast majority of people I know will, think like, where they're gonna ponder it for, a long time. What's the best way to do it? And, how can I get it to work out? It's and they're always trying to set up or manage or change systems. No no no one moves the next inch like our friend Dan. And so I like and I'm encouraged by it because

it's just like a remind and some of them work out. I mean, Dan would say this, some of them work out. Some don't. Some do not. Right? But like it's what you could do Mhmm. And so you did it. Right. Right. And so anyway, it was an encouraging thing for me. I just it got me thinking of I I don't know. I don't think you should probably go go to random countries and join the freedom fighters, but you can. You can if you want to. And so anyway, it was just something I was thinking about. Sometimes you can't change the world, But, like, if you can by changing the few feet in front of you, and and you should probably do that. I I think most people probably don't well, they might be thinking about, like, right now, like, the the war is out there and stuff. But, I mean, that I think the average person

mostly is is worried about issues like, you know, the homelessness, the we need do something about welfare. We need to do something about how why isn't anyone helping, you know, this situation over there? And I think that's where, as as believers, like, we're we're being doing a disservice by waiting for the government to do it. Yeah. Or just expecting them or that's often the argument. You know? Like, well, aren't we supposed to feed the poor? Like, yes. Yes. You are supposed to feed Go ahead and do that. They're like, well, let the government do it. It's like, okay. They can do it what they want, but but really, I am supposed to do that. And and that's where I think it it getting personally involved, it doesn't take you just do it. Yeah. I mean, yeah. You you you don't need a new system. You don't need a new organization. You don't need a five zero one c three. Just go out and feed somebody. Yes. You know? Yeah. And and, like, I even heard was just someone was having a conversation recently. They're like, hey, man. It's a real it's because they changed some of the SNAP benefit laws in a few states and like, oh, they can't buy any soda anymore or whatever. And I'm like, okay.

I mean, if you're really upset about it, like, go then go pick up some soda and go take it to somebody. Yeah. But also if you're like, hey, man. It's a real scandal. People can't get by on the amount of money that the government provides, they can't buy healthy fruits and veggies. I'm like, okay. Grow some and take them over there or hit up the farmer's market. Now what is often difficult, actually, had tried to do this and like we actually had a hard time getting someone to take vegetables. Like we had grown some kind of intentionally to go, oh, we should go. We we're gonna go give use our space to go help. And people are like, no. We get those through Hy Vee. We don't so just it's kinda like you can't take Valentine's and homemade brownies to the school anymore because Yeah. Might have a nut allergy or Ted Kaczynski might be your dad or something. And so they just don't want you bringing in random crap. So I get in some ways people rely on bad systems and the only way to do it is to change the systems. But But think it's an encouragement. If

you solve the mile, then go ahead and solve the inch and then keep praying on the mile. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny how many how often systems in general, they sound like such a great idea. Right? But we'll put in systems that actually didn't ever need to be scaled. And we're

like, this will be solved through a process that is repeatable and can be counted upon every time. And it never fails. No matter what system it is, it is repeatable, but it cannot be counted upon every time, and it cannot fit the nuance of what the situation is being that's being asked of process. And so to fix it, we create another process within the process to try to catch the nuance, except for it overswung a direction. And then we're like, Oh man, we need another process that would keep this from over swinging. And the truth is, a human on an individual level would have saw all that within three seconds of being in the situation and went, here,

take this. There it is. Or guy who is, like, who you're enabling and not helping, you go, you won't be taking this. You know what I'm saying? And so like, you need help of a different flavor and this is not gonna actually benefit you. So I'm going to withhold this from you. You know what I'm saying? And so like, it's such a And it's funny because we're a very individual

society, but we push all our problems up to the collective as if the collective is not a bunch of individuals. You know what I'm saying? Like it's this faceless entity. And you know you've been a part of government things before. I don't care how great your government is. It's

got two hundred years' of processes layered in it, trying to figure out how to handle nuance of human behavior. And there's one clear entity that can handle nuanced

behavior of humanity, and it happens to be the holy spirit. Right? Yeah. Who can go like, where who can give discernment in a way that goes, yeah, this is risky, but it looks risky on paper, but no, I'm doing this. Right? Opposed to is like, you're gonna stay out of this because this is chaotic and it has no bit of me involved. And so, like, it's never it's not gonna resolve even with your help. Yeah. You know? And so I

do get it. You're like, they take money from us for taxes. And so they should be doing all these things. But I was trying to think of an example that actually that might solidify some of the things you're saying. But like, it's like you live in a town that takes, you know, like a local option sales tax or something for the town. And then like, there's this guy in town, he's super nice and he becomes handicapped. And then he requires like a wheelchair ramp to be built at his house. And they're like, we think the shitty the the oops. The city I don't regret that. The city the city should install a wheelchair ramp at this guy's house. Yeah. The city is gonna go, no. No. We can't do that for x number of reasons. One, we take taxes from everybody. We can't use it at Bob's house. Two, if we install a ramp up Bob's house and Bob hurts himself or the mail carrier gets on there and falls down, then they're gonna sue the city. The city's got big pockets and they know it, and then we're liable. Like, there's no reason for us to get involved. But Bob's neighbor

and like, let's say the town's only got seven people in it. The seven people individually in the town can build this ramp all day long. Totally. No problem. And then just go when someone gets hurt, goes, it's a ramp. Figure it out. And liability is not handed out anywhere. And so there are times where the system has to protect the fact that the system exists in the first place. The system has to act different than an individual could. The individual has more freedom, even if it's part of a system, than the system will ever have, because the system always has more to lose. Yeah, yeah. The systems are designed to accommodate variants. Individuals don't have to do that. Yes. Actually, the the I didn't think about this until how you how you said it. Maybe think of, like, sometimes the perniciousness

of the facade of an institution. Who's coming to the DMV? Individuals. Who works at the DMV? Individuals. But somehow, the DMV as an institution has taken on a consistent flavor across every municipality of which it exists. Even though you could like, you could look at your neighbor who works at the desk and goes, dude, this is crappy. And you go, this is crappy. And it's not necessary to treat individuals that way. But somehow,

because you're under the banner of the institution, like, well, I just I've been changed into a DMV man. Like, and it's just so it's so crazy because like it's a fake thing. In that moment, it's a human and a human. But somehow we start acting like we're not two humans dealing with each other anymore. We're we're emissaries on behalf of a faceless box. And it acts like we have like, something has changed about how we are as humans. So, like, this this is actually what perpetuates our presidential elections.

We're like, we'll get this guy. He'll fix the systems. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. And what has been historically true since our country's inception, no one has nailed fixing the systems. Most of them like to create even more systems. Like, I've passed a new law. Very rarely are they like, I'm shutting this stuff down. Now, old Trumpo's a little different. Likes to cut. But most are like, we're adding this. We're gonna put this layer in. We're gonna create this department that focuses on this thing. And like, you're just adding more systems to manage on an organization that already struggles to maintain the systems it's got. Yeah. We can't even enforce the system that is currently in place because most of these systems actually aren't as bad as you think. They're just not enforced to any way. You know what I'm saying? And so like there's rampant fraud and people are stealing and you know who's stealing from it? Individuals. And you're like, this system is broken. You're like, no. The guy stealing from the system is broken. Yeah. No one no one like watches a guy take seven seven whole chickens out of the freezer and make a run for the door at the fairway and goes, I can't believe fairway allowed this.

Right? We go, that dude stole seven chickens. Yeah. Actually, what's so interesting about that so take take as a quick example, if you think about health care and provision, like Medicare and stuff within The United States. So like there's a $100,000,000,000 of fraud in Medicare a year, and they know this. Like, they know that it's fraudulent. And then so to to like, what the what you would do if you were in the store and you saw a guy grab seven chickens and start to run out the door, you would look at the dude and go, hey. Hey. That guy's causing higher prices for everybody. He should stop. Yeah. Yeah. And you would be part of tackling or go get him or whatever. Like, you participate in the stopping of it. But we don't do that. We look back. It'd be like being in the same store and looking at the guy who runs the fairway or the Walmart grocery and go, hey,

like like you are screwing this up. No, you shouldn't. You should eat it. Whatever this fraud is, because it's your problem, not mine. Even though and you should never raise the prices because you're harming the poor people who needed the cheaper groceries. Yeah. Right. And, like, communally, we should be, like, against the guy stealing the chickens, but instead, it's as opposed to going, dude, you should lay down hard on that guy, and he should never be able to get chickens from here again. Yeah. But we don't wanna do that, and we don't wanna have to put any individual thought effort or whatever into it. We just wanna blame the faceless thing. We wanna write a letter to corporate Yeah. And tell them that they suck. Right. Because Fairway's Fairway's response to you because, like, if you go to Fairway and go, hey. It's it's unreasonable that you allow people to steal chickens. Yeah. And they're like, okay. We'll hire security Yeah. To watch chickens all the time. We'll have two dudes look at the chicken aisle and just sit there and stare at them and make sure what's up. You know? And they're like, well, how are you paying for that? Are you gonna raise the price of bread to cover the security guys? Like, I mean, we gotta raise something. We just generated

a $150,000 worth of salary here to protect the chickens. Yeah. You know? And people are like, this is outrageous. And you're like, here's the thing. The guy stealing the chickens was the whole problem. Yeah. Right? Now you're just mad at Fairway because they allowed allowed a thief? I mean, like, it's just such an asinine thought. You know? But, like, it's pervasive. And we've been conditioned to think about it this way for so long that you find yourself jumping on the bandwagon. You're like, you know whose problem this is? Government. You know what I'm saying? But like now granted government has problems. I'm not a fool. You know? But like but at the end of the day, if you would just be willing to, like like, sift through some of this mess, the chicken thief is the problem. Yeah. That's the whole problem. You know what I'm And so like, I don't even know why we got to start talking about this, but it's so difficult because people seem to lose people, including me, I guess, depending on the situation, but you lose your ability for rational thought

that goes, everybody's not a mustache twister all the time. Right? This especially comes up with like the immigration debate is is one where it's it's most abused. Right? Where people make it a complete heart issue or they make it a complete legal protection issue for a country. Right? But at the end of the day, if you were to turn around and think about it and go, just pretend your house is a it it's exactly what it is. You pay for it. You manage it. You know how much money's in there. You know what you can afford. You know how you can take care of the people there. And a guy comes up to you and says, hey, can I live at your place? And you're like, well, I don't know you. I don't know where you came from. I suppose I I might be willing to take the risk. I don't know. You'd have a couple thoughts about, well, this guy's gonna be around my

or do I have room in the basement? Or what if he gets hurt? Can I pay for him to go to the hospital? He's gonna eat food that costs money. You know? He doesn't say that he has a job, but he said he's willing to get one. How long can I float him? You know, until, like, it kinda sinks the whole ship here? You know? Like, I would ask the same question about taking on a wayward family member that The United States is asking about letting someone in the country. Now to be fair, it's very convoluted and difficult to become a full fledged US citizen. It takes a lot more time than the immediacy of their situation feels like it dictates. Right? But all like, the problem is not The United States' ability to let someone in. The problem is the crappy war torn mess of a city they came from. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, like, the actual problem is people are doing evil things where they come from. That's the problem. Right? It's not whether they can come in this country or not. The problem is their home sucks because evil things are happening there. So if you wanna be mad about something, you should be mad about that. Now,

granted, I know that the immigration debate is much more nuanced, and there are injustices are done. And, like, as a system, there are parts we do not great. Yep. Right? Embarrassingly bad, frankly. Right? But, like, if can we just agree if you just put your your your rational thinking cap on? The problem is, like, people are running awake because they have such a horrible country that they live in or they want to live in this country for opportunity. I like, I totally get it, and I don't blame them. And I think we should follow the process and totally come in here because I would love to have them as part of our great country. But the problem is not how we're doing it. The problem is that they're being forced to have to move somewhere else because their home sucks terrible. The evil is being done over there. Yeah. And you should hate that more than you hate the necessity of having to have them flood into the country. But, frankly, if you wanna bypass all that, we should go back to Mike's system of immigration, which means you should vouch for them and let them live at your place. You take care of them. You make sure they get a job. You help them get health insurance. And if you can still vouch that they're a good productive citizen a year in, we'll make them a citizen. Done. Alright. You're listening to live from the past. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe you don't have any feedback on that. Or maybe you're super mad because you're like, that's an oversimplification of our problems. For sure. I mean, for sure. But yeah. Yeah. Whatever. I I but I that's the thing though. Is that, like, however complicated these systemic problems are, I don't know if they preclude you from taking whatever action you may wanna take tomorrow. Dude, you could buy a house in their crappy town and bring all your money that you made from selling your place in The United States and bring hope to that town. You could probably buy a mansion for what you own in The United States, and you could say, everybody live with me. We will pool our money together and we'll hire guards, and we'll start taking out these crime syndicates one by one. Yeah. And then you're like, oh, I don't wanna get that involved. Oh, well, I see. Well, then we'll just pass that responsibility onto somebody else. Right. And that is generally the problem. It's like, I want I want to advocate very strongly that someone else get involved. That's the thing that needs to stop. But the thing is is like, that's probably the exact

same point of our first discussion too. Yes. Is I wanna advocate very clearly that God's people go out and do x, but I do not wanna get involved. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Same zies. I'd say it's it's it pretty much is the same conversation. Yep. Okay. What do we got? Okay. Dear, live from the path. I'm gonna just add. Where I get to source the dear life from the past from, the website has become very overtaken by ads and weirdness. Yeah. And every once in a while, it'll just refresh the page, and I'll lose everything. So just just know if they've been a little staggering lately, sometimes we'll have a discussion. I'll look back. Question's gone completely. Here we go. Dear life from the path. Path?

I have always looked inside a person before casting judgment. It has been six years that I've been close friends with my neighbor, quotes Tim. I've always regarded him as a Kramer from Seinfeld. I have OCD. I'm a clean freak. I work hard to support myself and my kids. Tim is on every government program. He's a hoarder. His dog is filthy, and Tim literally has to leave notes posted in his house to, quotes, remind himself to wash his own hands. Tim is politically my opposite. He's narcissistic, and if you disagree with him, he gets crazy, raging with anger. I've remained friendly with him because I feel bad for him. Tim is always asking me to go out to dinner or an event, and I'm always turning him down. He doesn't have much money, so when he needs something, I help out. Lately, though, because I feel like he's taking me for granted, I have been quietly pushing him away. Tim has now become increasingly needy, both emotionally and financially. How can I end the friendship without sending him into a spiral?

Woah. Tim's kind of interesting. Yeah. He's a real interesting dude. Yeah. I would also submit your description of yourself. Like, you've just painted yourself as the best person ever. And then you're like, and then there's Tim. Tim's a problem. He's not only politically opposite than me. He's pretty terrible. So okay. Here's what here's like, I'm listening to this description of Tim, and I and I know I'm I'm not supposed to like him. But then I think to myself,

like, I don't know. It doesn't doesn't look like he's trying. He's setting up notes to remind himself to wash his hands. It's like, this is a man who's trying. Whatever his normal base level reaction to the world is seem like it's probably difficult and probably a little bit abnormal compared to how most people live. But he does look like he's in some way trying to do good things even though it's not his natural bent. It's I find it interesting that he

invites you he's trying to build relationship with you. Yeah. I mean, is he trying to, like, have a date, or is he just trying to know his neighbor? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. I think he's just trying to know his neighbor. Yeah. I mean Doesn't have the air of romanticism. Yeah. I mean, to be fair, like, by your description of Tim, it feels like Tim is probably not a, like, a high functioning individual. He's not dealing with a full sandwich. Yeah. There's there's there's a is what I'll tread lightly here, but the

maturity of someone that has to remind themselves to wash their hands, the fact that they're doing it means someone cared enough about them to help them set up a system of which they would remember. Right? But like, there's a large amount of the population that does not require a note to remind her to do something like that. So I feel like you are

either not telling the full story because you really wanna be mad at him. And if you said, hey, like he suffers from a mental disability or whatever, people would think you're a turd. Yeah. And so my guess is you are a turd and and Tim is has some issues that you don't share. And so, like, instead of, like, at least having a little empathy, not excusing his raging anger that you claim he has, but, like, at the end of the day, some people's capacity is only so much, and they're running at full. And I I feel like you're you held out every bit of information that would actually point to the truth, which is, like, he's not operating at full capacity and you, sir, are judgmental and kind of a turd. Yeah. I mean, just don't okay. So his

his question was how do I basically sever ties? Yeah. Okay. Here's the difficulty is that like I would I would try to talk him out of it. But like if his position is is that he wants to sever ties with his neighbor, maybe you're not a good friend to to old Tim regardless. And so maybe it's fine if you sever ties. Yeah. But like generally speaking, what I would say is is that like, I think it's okay to go, look, man, Tim's not my favorite guy to hang out with, but I'm going to be generous with my time. But just say like, look. Once a month, you'll go out with Tim. And you know what? Don't bring up politics. Talk about the Detroit Tigers or something. Like, I mean, there are a billion other things to talk about. Mhmm. Not everything you believe has gotta get hashed out with someone who disagrees with you. Right? Just let that go. And maybe go help him clean his dog or something. Well, this is the thing. It's like, when it fit this I've really cited this guy, but like, it feels like manipulation to me. Like, his question was is how can I end the friendship without sending him into a spiral? What I think is true because I've definitely given you a character is like, you're not so worried about Tim's well-being. You just don't wanna feel guilty because you are not over there helping emotionally and financially a guy that needs help. Yeah. Yeah. You know? And you just don't wanna feel bad about it. Yeah. And so like, to a certain extent, like, I don't think there's anything wrong with putting up barriers,

Right? That says, look, but you need to know where your help can stop and like both financially and emotionally, how much time that you can devote that is healthy to to both, like, enrich your family, but still love Tim well. But like some folks won't stop taking, and that might have something to do with their capacity, but it also might have to do with their selfishness. Some people don't realize that they are causing such strain on your family because of their individual actions. And sometimes you just gotta set boundaries up and enforce them, and that's okay. So, like, I don't what I think is is probably the actual truth is, like, it's not an all or nothing proposition. Like, if your friend if you're Tim's friend, you have to accept, like, his narcissism, his raging anger, his need for cash and time and emotional support and all this stuff. Like, you don't have to just take what's on the table and go, it's either this or nothing. Yeah. You can go,

Tim, here's what I can offer you, my man. Right? Like, I'd love to watch the Pistons game with you come Thursday, but I'm pretty much out the rest of the week. Can I I'm I'm also washing my dog Saturday? Can you wanna bring that animal over here? We'll get him give him the shine. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, set set some terms that you can live with that is still helpful to Tim without letting Tim get in the driver's seat and dictate how your life runs. Yeah. I think that's probably the safer route. Yeah. Agree. If you're not a dirty liar and you and, like, you're leaving a bunch of the the story out, which Yeah. Like, I guess the broad impression to me is that because Tim disagrees with him politically, he's being very harsh with Tim. Yeah. Yeah. That's real true. Yeah. What I mean, and here's the truth is like funny enough. I know quite a few people who suffer from things like that. And you'll be like, where did you get this political opinion? They are so tuned up on stuff that you would think they would have no interest in. And they've just been spoon fed by a family member or something who's also fired up, but they don't have the nuance to put it in its right compartments. Yeah. You know what saying? So they like just fire really hot for some reason. Okay. Here we go. Secular says, friendship is supposed to be reciprocal. From your description of your relationship with Tim, it has been all taken, no give. Because this relationship has become so lopsided, continue refusing his invitations,

be less available when he wants to dump his troubles on you, and quit giving him money. Wow. Would she oh, did he say he was giving him money? He said he needs emotional and financial support. Oh, yeah. I mean, I don't know. Like, is it is it the belief that like every relationship you have has to be one of which you are getting what you give. I don't think that's I think you should be I think you should settle that in your mind

to know that that that's what this situation is. But like, does Tim even have the capacity? Like, basically, who's gonna be friends with Tim? He's gotta find someone that's in his exact type of situation to otherwise have a reciprocal friendship.

And I just don't I don't know that that's necessary. I think you do have to be cautious of having too many people around you that are always just like sappin' and you don't have any way to recharge. Like, I think that's a risk to people. But like, generally speaking, if you go, look, this relationship with Tim is like, I am not I'm not gonna get much back. He's not gonna provide me emotional support. He's not gonna energize me. I mean, let I'm just being honest here, fellas. Like, how many reciprocal friendships do you actually have? I bet I got four. Yeah. Maybe four or five. Yeah. Maybe. Right? I have way more friendships that are completely lopsided. Yeah. And I don't I'm not thinking of not being friends with them. I'm just like, I need four, five that like

can that like I pour into, they pour into me. Yeah. Right? But like after that, I'm just gonna assume as you go out into Broken, you're gonna be pouring out. Right? Like that just feels regular to me. And so like, I think if we're being real honest, like if the the modern thought that every friendship has to be reciprocal, it's really hard to be generous if everybody has to be reciprocal. Yeah. That's true. It leaves zero room for generosity. Yeah. Like that's just not our Now obviously secular is going to answer different than us, but like our approach to life is pretty much one of sacrifice and surrender to what God has you doing in the service and love of other people. So like as a follower of Jesus, you are probably gonna pour out a lot. And like, this is where God refreshes and renews and restores and you set boundaries and you get yourself some close reciprocal friendships. But like all the other friendships, they're just gonna wanna talk because you're the one reflecting light into the world. And so they don't have a whole lot to offer you anyway because the world's wisdom kinda sucks. So, like, really, your reciprocal friendships are people who reflect Jesus back into your life so you could take it in. Yeah. Exact change. Exact change. Alright. Next one. Dear life from the path. My spouse and I host regular meetings of a book club.

It has been very successful. Lots of people attend. We serve wonderful food and wine. Two attendees rarely miss this event, although they have never actually been invited. They come by default with their spouses whom we did invite many years ago. We are not fond of these two women because they are whiny and annoying. They go on and on about their ailments and life problems, and they rarely have anything insightful to say about the books we discuss. My spouse and I wonder if they have ever read a book, much less one of the books that we we cover. We're not sure if anyone else who attends feels the same way, but we do know that some of our friends have hung out with them. I often tell my spouse we need to drop them from the invitation list. She says we can't because the other attendees will notice and will look like the bad guys.

Is my partner right? Is there any way to stop inviting them without looking mean? I'm worried we will be stuck hosting this pair forever into our old age. I don't know that you're looking mean. I think you're mean. Like, they seem very concerned about the appearance of the situation. Yeah. Hey, the other people around will think that we don't want them there. That's true. You don't. You don't want them there. And so either deal with the consequences because you feel like it's justified, or if you look around and the whole community that you've invited in here is going to think poorly of you, it's possible because you're behaving poorly and that should be the trigger to stop behaving like that. Yeah. So

as your advice to tall just tolerate this. Yes. It's actually not as probably as bad as you're making it out. Yes. Yeah. And I I here's my guess too. Is that like if you set up you set up a real book club or whatever and everyone else participated and you got a couple of looky loos in there who ain't reading the books and talking about their ailments, you're probably doubly irritated. Dude, welcome to Sunday church, dude. Yeah. There's like four people that really care what's going on. Everyone else is just there to yap it up. That's what I'm saying. It's what I'm saying. And so you can always you gotta have to retain some optimism that they're eventually gonna be taken in by this book. This is the way the church runs. That's what I'm saying. And so, like but what are you gonna do? You're gonna look around and go, like, okay. We're gonna pray. Those three guys back there not praying. You're out. You're out, Huseby. Out. You're out. And but my wife's next to me. Don't care. She gets to stay. You, sir. You're out of here. You embarrass us. Yeah. Take your kids. You're making our church look bad. Yeah. And so like like it's a it's a tough spot.

You could now maybe and maybe you've tried this and you just didn't mention it. But have you tried engaging these people in such a way to go like, you know, what did you think about the book? Or, you know, like just finding I I think there is we've lost a little bit of ingenuity that goes, hey, man. How can I help turn this into what I want as opposed to recognizing for something I don't want and then immediately trying to take action to separate myself from it? Again, to earlier conversation.

Yeah. So, like, what would need to change? What and so, like, maybe when you've exhausted all the things, maybe it'll be clear that you've exhausted all the things and everyone be like, look, man, Mary Anne really tried. She really tried to get that lady in here. And instead, she just dominates all the things about her bunion and her hernia, and we don't get to talk about the book. Then the then the group will shame, and it will work itself out. It doesn't require your own internal action. But, like, I don't know. Can you see it as an as a positive challenge to go, I wonder I wonder if I could figure out a way to get these people engaged. Dan, you feel like this is like an art that people learn from interacting with people? How to, like, guide them in a way that keeps you from having to say the blunt thing? Yeah. I I I mean, people, they they don't like confrontation. They feel uncomfortable,

so they'll kinda back off, but they wanna disinvite them. I don't know. Some some people I think I I've seen there's I've seen people be good at this. Yeah. I mean, I recognize this actually. It's one of the things that like I I keep saying I gotta put sticky notes up at my up at my desk to make sure I handle situations,

like, quickly. But, like, immediately, if someone says, like, they give a a comment on something I've created or something at work or an idea I had, like I'm immediately defensive about this. I'm like I gotta defend this. They're wrong. They're thinking about And the here's the deal. A lot of the times they are actually. I'm pretty good at what I do. I'm mostly right actually. But the way that I approach the reconciliation, this is not healthy. There is no reason to go about it this way. This person just has a thought.

There is a skill in helping win people to your way of thinking as opposed to try to convince them that like how what they were thinking was dumb. And like there's a way to do that. And it's actually an art that I don't I'm not very good at, but I'm trying to get better. And I'm just saying that like, I don't know. Have you tried anything else? Get like, she said that the other couples hang out with this lady. Yeah. This sounds like a personal problem. Oh, yeah. There we go. Maybe you're a little jelly. Maybe you can talk to someone else and say, hey. You know, Barbara doesn't

she doesn't seem to enjoy the book thing. Do you think there's anything I could do? Have you talked to her about it? Does she enjoy our book club or whatever? Yeah. Maybe you could encourage her to read the book. I don't know. Like, have people help. I'm just saying, like, just try some other things. I here's the thing. I can tell you right now, I don't like whoever wrote this letter. Because they referred to this wife as spouse, spouse, partner, wife, spouse, partner. Like, why don't you just say my wife? You know I'm saying? Like, why are you why are you saying it like this? Like, I've never hello. This is my spouse. Like, it's just a weird way to say it. Right. This is a role this person has in my life. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like and and his his description, here's what he didn't describe. Here's the way he described the ladies. These two women, we don't we're not fond of them. Charleston

wrote this. We're not fond of these two women because they are whiny and annoying. They go on and on about their ailments and life problems. They rarely have anything insightful to say about the books we discuss. What I didn't hear was they get ravenously drunk, tear the place up, tease the dog. You know what I'm saying? Like, they're not causing a bunch of destructive behavior. They're just not doing the thing you want them to do. And like, you're like, this is a book club. We're here to talk about books. And that's the whole point. But I'm gonna guess that almost everyone else in there, the book is reminding something them of something in their own life and they bring it up as part of the discussion and that is not bothering you near as much. You just don't like these two ladies. Right? Yeah. And like, they're not your flavor of people. But they're coming with their spouses. Right? And so like, you invited their spouses. And so like, yeah, that stuff comes as a package. You have to figure out how to be a three-dimensional human here and, like, distract them with the TV show or bring the dog out and be like, hey. The dog loves them. You guys pet them if you want. You know? Like, figure something out. Yeah. Okay. Secular says,

you you very well may wind up posting these two pills in perpetuity unless at the next meeting you establish some rules that should have been made clear from the beginning. In order to participate in these get togethers, members of the group must have read the book under discussion and refrain from discussing other topics during the meetings. To do this is not unreasonable. Certainly not fun. Yeah. Who's gonna be the police? This is an HOA. Yeah. Turned into a book club. Okay. You wanna do one more? Yeah. Do one more. Then we're out. Okay. Alright. Dear diary from the past, my mom and I recently got into an argument about her mortgage. I'm on the mortgage and a title to her home because she couldn't afford to be on it by herself and needed my income and credit to help her. So I did. I helped her. I am now married, and my husband would like to refinance our home. Problem is I'm still on the mortgage to my mother's house. I've asked her twice before to let me off the mortgage, and she responded by saying, I can't. I need you. When I asked again this last time, she blew up at me. She thinks my husband is controlling me or manipulating me to ask her to let me off the mortgage. Now she, quote, hates him and doesn't wanna see him or his family. She's barely talking to me and acting super cruel and vindictive.

It hurts me that she is acting like a five year old having a temper tantrum. I'm so sad. I just don't know what to do anymore. Any advice? How do you get off a mortgage? Someone have to buy you out? Pay it off. I mean, do you just sign a paper and be like, This person's no longer liable, They just have to go through the credit check and all that stuff and all the underwriting or whatever they They have to basically rewrite a mortgage, right? Because they're like, Look, there's no way the mortgage company's gonna go, Okay, we had two people to collect from. Now we only have one. We're not doing this for you. Right. Right? You're gonna have to re sign up for a mortgage with us. I mean, it's not okay. It's not as simple as either the husband or the wife are making it out to be like, just let me out of here. You know? Like, you made a contract a binding legal contract with an entity called the mortgage company. Yeah. And they're not just gonna let you tool out of there because you wanna. So, like, there's more to it than that. But the mom's maybe the mom doesn't understand that either. I don't know. You know? Like, do you think she's being generous?

I wonder how old her mom is. I don't know. You know? Say she's 50. Is that different than if she's 70? I don't know. Dan doesn't feel strongly about it. I'm not yeah. Okay. Well, I yeah. So do you have any advice? I mean, she needs money. She's 70. She has a harder time getting work, so it probably is harder for her. She's 70. You think, like, the mom might know something about her own financial Yeah. Yeah. That she's not, like, letting the daughter be privileged. She can't do it on her own. She's like, I need you. Not like I need you emotionally. Like, I need to bring you back. Money. I need your I need your name on here or I can't have this house. But the mom's covering the mortgage. She's paying it. Yeah. I wonder why that's stopping the husband because, like, the bay basically, the new more the refinance mortgage company is going, this woman already has a $200,000 house in her name. We're not refinancing you. How'd they get it in the first place?

I got more questions than answers here. Yeah. Looser lending status. Things have changed. Yeah. Yeah. True. Okay. I'm just gonna give the secular answer. We're gonna pop. Okay. You have says, you have my sympathy. Getting your name and the financial guarantee that goes with it off your mother's mortgage may not be as simple as you would wish. It's time you spoke about this with an attorney with an expertise in real estate because extricating yourself may be both time consuming and expensive. Yeah. Probably cheaper than refinance or more expensive than refinancing. Whatever money you were gonna save refinance in your other house, you're gonna pay in attorney's fees and getting yourself off the mortgage to your mamas. Yeah. I sorry. Missed it because I was doing something else. Like, is the mom

want like, wants this to happen or just no? The mom does not want it. Yeah. And then and now hates the husband because she thinks the husband is the driving control over this attempted refi. But it's a refi of the husband and wife's house, not the mama's house. Oh. Right? And so she's like, for for the refi for the husband and wife to happen, the wife's gotta get off the mama's mortgage. And the mom is not is not letting it happen. It's like, you will not get off this mortgage. I need you to be on it. Probably because the mom doesn't for the loan herself. Right. Okay. Yeah. Right. Yeah. This is this is a classic you want you just wanna blame the big company. That's fine. The mom should start it. Go try the action, and they'll go, oh, if you if you get off the we won't allow this to happen. We want you both to secure the loan, and the mom can just go, look, man. I tried it. They won't let me do it. Yeah. But and if they let her do it, then she should stop protesting. This is relatively simple. Well, you feel like the mom's just personally offended, But it's a weird thing to be like, I really love it when people are on my mortgage. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, it doesn't make any sense. Or I much prefer you pay higher interest on your current home. Like, none of those two make sense. Right? See, she's probably just afraid,

but she's it's very possible that she's afraid because she thinks something's gonna happen, but doesn't know for sure. And so it's probably just a little bit of paperwork. Give it a shot, and it fails, and it's it's going to either way, this will get resolved. Either it fails with the company, and she go and she can say that she tried. Yeah. Then everyone's gonna be fine because, like, hey. I wanted to do the thing. They wouldn't allow me to do the thing. Stupid insurance company. Okay. Fine. Yeah. Or mortgage husband's gonna go, okay. Your mom's mortgage is screwing us. We cannot refinance. That's too late, homie. We signed up, and they won't let us half of it. Yeah. We gave it a shot. Yeah. And then the husband's gonna have to go, well, we'll pay our current rate then. Yeah. Or you go figure out why this other mortgage company actually cares. If they're if they gave them these two more like, if they somebody agreed to have both of these mortgages on the books That's associated with this guy. This is where I'm where I'm suspect because at some point, like, they originated the the husband wife mortgage with her name on her mama's mortgage. Yeah. So so somebody said this was fine. And now you're going to refinance it and they're like, no. No. No. Yeah. And presumably, the situation has improved as both of those mortgages are being paid down. And so unless you're just and maybe you just need a supervisor or something on your side that goes, look. I can't get off the mortgage, but you know our payment histories. Just let me refi I'm not going anywhere. Let me refinance. Heck. I'll refinance both these mortgages. Come on. Double commission, buddy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Here's here's the thing. It's like sometimes the I I don't know. Maybe I maybe this is just because this happens at my house too, which is like sometimes the kids have a bad idea, The older ones. They're like, hey. I'm gonna do this thing. And I know it's a bad idea. I don't think it's gonna work out. And my wife is prone to trying to convince them it's a bad idea. And I'm like, I don't know. Why don't I just they'll try it for about five minutes, and they'll go, you know what? This probably and they'll stop on their own. Like, why do I Yeah. Either and sometimes you keep your kid from touching the stove. It makes a lot of sense. And then sometimes you go, you know what? It's a lot less effort, and they'll probably actually remember it better if they do it and decide they don't like it anymore. Yeah. And then that'll be fine. So Yeah. I think just let it let it happen. Just go ask the mortgage company and the or the and whatever. It'll either it'll work or it won't work, and then you'll be fine. It's not personal anymore. You blame the mortgage company. Alright. You've been listening to live from the past. Zip.

Come on. Come on. Yeah. No change. What did I say? Exact change. Yeah. Okay. Exact change is a cool phrase. You're listening to Live From The Path. Thanks for hanging out with us today. We really do appreciate it. Hiss up on the Live From The Path. Bob Eyes on our complaint line. (515) 517-0085. Call or text. You got any reaction to the show complaints primarily, or if you got phrases for Mike to use in the next show, we could do that. Yeah. Yeah. Peyton fool. No.

I know. I I use the finance metaphor. You just you stepped on my toes. Peyton fool is a cool it's a Peyton fool is a more street level cool thing to say than exact change. Yeah. Right. We got rid of the penny. This doesn't mean a thing to anybody anymore anyway. That's right. No Lincolns. Maybe? No Lincolns? Maybe no Lincolns. I'm gonna call the complaint line so that you have to say all these. I'm gonna I'm gonna call in with, like, ten. Alright. You're listening live from the path. We're gonna cut you loose. In the meantime, be faithful to means. God will handle the ends. You've listening to live from the path.