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June 5 – Open to God's Will · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:03
  Welcome back, everybody, to the Daily Ripples podcast.
• 0:07
  I am thankful to have my fact checker and crow shoveler co-host, Corey, with us today,
• 0:15
  as well as our special guest, Kevin, rounding out his initial run here with us on the Daily
• 0:21
  Ripples podcast.
• 0:22
  And if you want to hear some really fun stuff, be sure to stay tuned today after the prayer
• 0:27
  for our post-pod Easter egg kind of moment
• 0:31
  because where we're starting today
• 0:32
  is not where we initially started.
• 0:34
  But we're gonna jump right in
• 0:36
  with our devotional for the day
• 0:38
  titled Open to God's Will, The Stone.
• 0:41
  Growth reaches a turning point
• 0:43
  when I stop insisting on my own way.
• 0:46
  Readiness begins when I admit
• 0:48
  that my best efforts are not enough.
• 0:50
  Ripple One, practical.
• 0:52
  Today, I will notice where I am still saying no to change.
• 0:56
  I will not cling to familiar habits or limited goals.
• 0:59
  Instead, I will open myself to a better way, even if it challenges my comfort.
• 1:04
  Ripple 2 is spiritual.
• 1:06
  As I surrender my will to the Father, the Holy Spirit begins to reshape my desires.
• 1:11
  Following Christ, who yielded completely to God's will,
• 1:14
  I learn that true transformation comes through surrender.
• 1:17
  When I stop resisting, grace begins to work more freely in my life.
• 1:22
  And as always, we'll save our prayer for the end of the episode.
• 1:26
  Now, I will say that, you know, in June, typically, because these daily devotionals are derived from,
• 1:35
  the Stone of Truth basically comes as a derivative from AA's daily reflections.
• 1:39
  And so the way that those are set up is that each month, the reflections, the readings tend to follow with the step that matches the number of that month.
• 1:50
  And so typically, the sixth step is what's going to be focused on in the month of June.
• 1:55
  And, but for me, this one, you know, as I, as I read this, I mean, it takes me back to
• 2:00
  step one.
• 2:01
  It says, you know, readiness begins when I admit that my best efforts are not enough.
• 2:05
  You know, and guys, I don't know about y'all, but before I stopped drinking in March of 2013,
• 2:11
  I would have never admitted that I was an alcoholic.
• 2:13
  I never would have even thought that I needed any help, much less I wouldn't have thought
• 2:18
  that I needed God's help in terms of my drinking.
• 2:20
  After all, I'd been back in a church for, you know, a couple of years and that church was
• 2:24
  Methodist, and in Methodist churches, they say moderation in all things, so they were good with,
• 2:28
  you know, the alcohol, the smoking, what have you. At least that's the way I justified it to myself,
• 2:34
  but it wasn't until my life got bad enough with the drinking that I stopped drinking on that day,
• 2:40
  the 13th of March in that year, and then the next few days after that, I experienced those physical
• 2:46
  DTs, you know, the detox from alcohol, the shakes, the sweats, all of those things, and it took me a
• 2:53
  while before I even stepped into a recovery room to kind of see what was going on. But again,
• 2:59
  God, we talked about this just the other day, seems like, you know, over the weekend, that
• 3:03
  if I don't follow God's will, God will work His will sometimes through other people. And those other
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  people in my church at that time shared about their experience, strength, and hope. And their
• 3:13
  story sounded so similar to mine that I knew that, well, if they needed help, then maybe I need help
• 3:18
  too, and I started developing a little bit of that openness to God's will that got me into a room
• 3:24
  all those years ago. But that's where it took me all the way back to that. But
• 3:28
  Corey or Kevin, what have you guys got for us on this one?
• 3:34
  I was just going to say, you know, resistance has always been a real character flaw for me,
• 3:40
  because, you know, from the time when I was drinking, you know, I didn't really think I had
• 3:46
  a problem, although, you know, it was really evident based on, you know, all the trouble
• 3:51
  I was continuing to get myself into.
• 3:55
  But even after, you know, I was able to realize, you know, that I couldn't do this, stop this
• 4:03
  on my own and got into the program, you know, I still had resistance towards other things.
• 4:10
  And even to this day, I can find myself falling into that trap where, you know, instead of keeping an open mind, just going back to old habits of thinking I know without getting all the information.
• 4:27
  And, you know, the great thing is now I usually have to have a little pain in front of it and make a mistake and see it for what it is before I learn from it.
• 4:40
  But eventually I do learn from it.
• 4:43
  So, you know, this is definitely a hit home when you read that for me.
• 4:50
  Yeah, I like how you put growth reaches a turning point.
• 4:54
  And I came to a bunch of turning points in my life.
• 4:58
  You know, I don't think they were enough to, you know, knock it.
• 5:02
  I don't know, because some people, I guess, you know,
• 5:05
  they can just keep on going down and down and down.
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  And I'm one of those people.
• 5:09
  Just a little bit of pain never really got in my way.
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  They were just speed bumps.
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  And you've heard me talk a little bit about this.
• 5:19
  Kevin, you probably deal with a lot of guys like this.
• 5:23
  To me, when I read this, I'm kind of more on the third step when I read this a little bit.
• 5:29
  Because it goes into saying, I surrender my will to the Father.
• 5:33
  The Holy Spirit begins to reshape my desires.
• 5:39
  Yeah, I don't think anybody, or at least, you know, when I think about the third step,
• 5:45
  especially because I deal with guys that, you know, don't believe in God sometimes, you know,
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  they're kind of atheists. So the third step is made it a decision to turn my will and my will
• 5:57
  and my life over the care of God as I understood him. And so when I come to somebody in that
• 6:03
  crossroads of, you know, they don't believe in a God and they don't want to, and they're very,
• 6:08
  you know, prejudice and they have some of that stuff, you know, still in them, you know, I changed
• 6:13
  the words up for them a little bit. You know, I just say, you know, made a decision to turn my will,
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  my thought, my, you know, because will is a weird word too, right? I don't even like to use the word
• 6:23
  will because it's in the 1939s. But, you know, my thoughts is my will and my life is my actions. So
• 6:31
  made a decision to turn my thoughts and my actions. And I don't put God in there over to this program.
• 6:39
  And so when I think about this, and you've heard this probably for a long time,
• 6:42
  when you know someone's done their third step, they're working on their fourth step.
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  Because on page 64, it says, though our decision was a vital and crucial step,
• 6:53
  it could have little permanent effect.
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  And I ask the guys I'm going through the book with,
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  do you want this to be a permanent effect?
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  Because some people, this is just another speed bump like it was for me,
• 7:05
  and all power to them.
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  You know, maybe they get what they need and they'll come back in one piece.
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  Maybe they don't.
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  But if it's a permanent effect and less followed by a strident of effort to face and be ready
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  things which ourselves have been blocking us.
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  And you've heard me talk about this before, but I'm going to bring it up, Pastor Mike.
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  So there's a difference in between a decision and a commitment.
• 7:27
  And Joe Hawk talked about this.
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  But, you know, it's like the chicken and the pig are walking down the street, right?
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  And the chicken sees a sign that says help feed the poor.
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  and, you know, he was feeling virtuous that day.
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  So he looks over at the pig and says, I think we should feed them.
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  And the pig goes, well, how are we going to do that?
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  And the chicken says, well, we'll feed them eggs and bacon.
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  And so, you know, the pig says, you know, well, that's just a decision for you,
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  but that's a commitment for me.
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  And the commitment is four through nine.
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  And really, I think the commitment's more than four through nine.
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  I think the commitment's four through 12.
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  Because if I'm not committed to go helping another alcoholic,
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  Have I made a decision to put myself in God's hands in this program?
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  I don't think I have.
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  And then in return, I would look at the person and I said,
• 8:15
  well, let's go back to step two if you're not willing to do step three.
• 8:19
  Do you think you're insane?
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  Will this program help you to get sanity?
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  If they don't believe that, then let's go back to step one.
• 8:29
  Let's go back to step one.
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  Do you believe you're powerless?
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  Because if you're not powerless, then what are you doing here?
• 8:34
  then go somewhere else. Because we come into this position of, are you powerless of alcohol?
• 8:41
  And we came back to you, Michael. Are you powerless or not? Do you still have power not
• 8:47
  to drink? Are you making a decision right now? Because when I came into AA, I'd exhausted every
• 8:52
  decision. I knew I didn't make a decision anymore to drink because I was drinking without even the
• 8:59
  thought coming to my mind. I wasn't meaning to tear up my life. I wasn't meaning to put my hands
• 9:06
  on women. I wasn't meaning to just go out and, you know, put my son in harm's way and leave him
• 9:11
  with drug dealers and people of that nature. I didn't make, I didn't, you know, those are not
• 9:16
  decisions Corey made. So I come in and broke and, you know, man, so, you know, and, you know,
• 9:22
  you, you know, flowers to you, Kevin, you were there when I was at the most broken place of my
• 9:27
  life. And, you know, what a cool deal to be sitting here with you, you know, being on the same side,
• 9:32
  helping guys and doing all these things, because you're the one that took me through that work in
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  the beginning, right? And, you know, I owe you my life for that, right? Because you saved my life.
• 9:42
  Well, God, you know, you can be humble and all that. But you took me through the work when I was
• 9:46
  at the lowest point in my life, and I'm extremely grateful for that. But that was my first thought
• 9:50
  on all this. Well, I won't ask Kevin for any comments or rebuttal to that, because I know,
• 9:55
  Kevin, you're probably like, Corey and I have talked about this before.
• 9:59
  Sometimes we get a little bit uncomfortable when we get compliments for just doing what God wants us to do anyway.
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  You know what I mean?
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  So I can understand that for sure.
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  I was thinking about, as we've been talking about this, I take it back to the book of Romans in the New Testament.
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  You know, Paul was writing in Romans to a church, and there's a lot of things written in the book of Romans kind of urging them, this early church that was in this Roman society, about ways that they would use their bodies, you know, and using their bodies, you know, for to be of service to God and rather than just to serve, you know, the desires of the flesh, as it were.
• 10:41
  And so many times, you know, when I was drinking, I certainly was only concerned with serving the
• 10:46
  desires of my own flesh. You know, I wanted that drink to either make me feel good or to make me
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  feel nothing. You know, it started with trying to make me feel good, and then by the end, I just
• 10:55
  wanted to feel nothing, you know, with the drink. But in Romans 12, you know, in that book, the first
• 11:01
  chapter, you know, Paul writes, therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy,
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  to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper
• 11:12
  worship. And I think about that word, worship. Worship grows from a place of love. And we've
• 11:21
  been talking all around this for the past week, week and a half. The love that grows within us
• 11:26
  of others and of ourselves, and hopefully the love of our higher power, our God, as we work
• 11:31
  through the 12 steps, but it's all rooted in a place of love. And, you know, if I truly am
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  thankful for what God has done for me in my life, and I am, then my gratitude turns over by offering
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  my whole self as a sacrifice and as an act of worship to God. And sometimes offering my whole
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  self in worship and in service to God means that I show up to meetings that I might not otherwise
• 11:58
  want to be at, on days that I might not otherwise want to be there, that I answer the phone when
• 12:03
  somebody calls that I might not otherwise want to speak to, that I respond to a text message that I
• 12:08
  might otherwise not want to respond to. You know, all of these things are things that become in me,
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  and for me at least, an act of worship to God. And it's because of and rooted in and flows from the
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  Holy Spirit working in me and creating that response, that transformation, that renewal of
• 12:26
  my mind whenever I am attempting just a little bit with that mustard seed of faith that I
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  have to do God's will.
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  I think it was well said.
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  I mean, it's, you know, it's, I don't know, it's just, it's funny how this whole, all this
• 12:48
  stuff works.
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  I mean, you know, when I was thinking about doing these podcasts, you know, I was like,
• 12:53
  oh man, I'm not really geared up for this.
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  But then I thought, it doesn't matter about that.
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  It's God's, you know, I need to do what's God's will.
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  This may, it's just like Michael said at the beginning of the intro, you know, we may help
• 13:07
  somebody in the prayer.
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  We may help somebody, you know, if it helps one person out there, that's all, that was
• 13:13
  the main purpose of this whole, the whole podcast.
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  So, you know, it's a struggle.
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  My default doesn't want to do God's will.
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  But over time, I've learned that it's starting to align a little bit more each time.
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  So it's going to take some time to get fully there, but it's going good.
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  So that's all I got.
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  I mean, one of the things that the program in AA tells us is that it's about progress over perfection.
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  And our faith tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
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  So it's all about what we start with, which is our willingness and the proper use of our willpower.
• 13:59
  Corey, you got any closing thoughts today?
• 14:02
  Yeah.
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  Well, on that, you know, I think because, you know, I think that we can say that I don't like progress over perfection.
• 14:13
  I had a feeling you weren't going to like it because we haven't talked about it on this podcast before in all these, you know, couple of months.
• 14:20
  And as soon as I said it, I said, I bet you Corey's going to have some smack to talk about that particular cliche.
• 14:25
  But I'll make you pause because when I was where you are in recovery, I was the same way.
• 14:30
  I did not like all the cliches and the phrases.
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  But as I've stuck around for a few more days, I have seen the truth in every single one of them come about.
• 14:40
  Well, I'll tell you, I agree with it.
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  It's not that I disagree with progress over perfection.
• 14:46
  I agree with it in the terms that the book says it.
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  It says we claim spiritual progress over spiritual perfection.
• 14:54
  I do not, I cannot, no, and I like the cliches.
• 14:59
  You know, I'm not a, I'm not, you know, I am pretty rigid, but I'm not as rigid as, I just do not like the cop-out.
• 15:08
  No, neither do I, neither do I.
• 15:09
  You got to have the proper context and understanding of it.
• 15:13
  Absolutely, because the compound is because everybody in everywhere, and you know, an assortment of anonymouses, they say how it works.
• 15:24
  They read how it works.
• 15:26
  And everybody in that room becomes philosophers of Alcoholics Anonymous after they sit in five or six AA meetings.
• 15:32
  So, you know what I mean?
• 15:34
  Because they've heard some good words, and maybe they're good with words as it is.
• 15:37
  And I know probably Kevin and you, before y'all got into here, were able to word salad pretty well to get what y'all wanted.
• 15:46
  Absolutely.
• 15:46
  I was a manipulator of the highest caliber right there, man.
• 15:51
  Yeah.
• 15:53
  But, you know, growing understanding and effectiveness, I can understand progress over perfection because I'm not going to be perfect at this.
• 16:01
  And so if anybody's listening to this and wants to know when a good time to go read a book that has 164 pages in it with somebody that's more broken than you, I would say today is the day for you to do that.
• 16:12
  Don't wait, because it took many, many, many, many, many, many, many people for me to go through the book to even have a working knowledge of this literature.
• 16:23
  Let alone, you know, to think that I hang out with people that, you know, when we start talking about the book, you know, I talked to a friend of mine this morning.
• 16:32
  And, you know, he had something to say about something I sent out this morning.
• 16:36
  And, hey, Pastor Mike, I do want to talk to you about what I'm sending out in the mornings, about implementing that into the daily somehow.
• 16:45
  Because I am doing a book study, you know, going through the book page by page by page.
• 16:51
  But, you know, he goes, cool, you're kind of rigid on this.
• 16:53
  And this guy's been around the deal since 84.
• 16:56
  And, you know, after 35 minutes of talking to him, I think me and him quoted the Alcoholics
• 17:03
  Anonymous literature probably 15 times each.
• 17:07
  And, you know, after we got done, I said, you know, you called me about this, but we've
• 17:11
  probably quoted this line for this line probably 30 times in the last 30 minutes.
• 17:17
  But, you know, back to that, I just think, you know, when I grow an understanding of this work,
• 17:25
  and I become more useful to God's kids, you know, Michael does a great job of listening.
• 17:31
  So do you.
• 17:32
  Y'all both listen to me on the phone.
• 17:33
  You listen to me on here.
• 17:35
  And you sit and listen better than I can ever do.
• 17:39
  Because I'm always, you know, I always think I'm ready to go.
• 17:44
  I'm hyped up on coffee.
• 17:46
  But, you know, y'all do really good at listening, but I think, you know, God does the best listening for me.
• 17:51
  Proverbs 3:5 says,
• 17:53
  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
• 17:58
  And my own understanding is what I know thus far.
• 18:01
  And so if this is all I know, I hope there's more.
• 18:05
  But anyways, it goes on to say,
• 18:07
  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.
• 18:12
  Anyways, I think that's really cool.
• 18:14
  But we can end it with that.
• 18:14
  Absolutely.
• 18:15
  Well, I just want to say, Kevin, how much I know Corey and I both appreciate you being here and being willing to fight past the anxieties and the fears to go about this podcast experiment with us.
• 18:28
  As I've promised earlier, I'm hoping that you'll agree to come back and join us again in the future.
• 18:36
  Absolutely.
• 18:37
  Absolutely.
• 18:37
  I enjoyed it.
• 18:38
  Thank you.
• 18:38
  Kevin, if you would, I think it's only fitting that you close us out with our prayer for this day.
• 18:45
  Sure.
• 18:46
  Father, make me fully willing to follow Your will.
• 18:50
  Through Your Spirit, remove my resistance and lead me into the life You desire for me through Your Son.
• 18:58
  Amen.
• 18:59
  Amen.
• 18:59
  Amen.
• 19:02
  Amen.
• 19:06
  Just make it sure.
• 19:07
  And, Corey, just make it sure after last time, you're on the right day this time, right?
• 19:12
  Michael.
• 19:14
  Well, welcome back to the Daily Ripples podcast.
• 19:21
  Today is June the 5th.
• 19:23
  Our devotional entry today is titled Asking for Help.
• 19:26
  But before we get to all that, I'd like to welcome...
• 19:28
  Two hours later.
• 19:31
  I'll pause a little bit.
• 19:32
  I may or may not cut this out, but Corey looks altogether confused like he didn't have
• 19:36
  June the 5th printed out.
• 19:38
  Yeah, he gave me the wrong one too.
• 19:39
  I got June the 5th, but I got open to God's will as June the 5th.
• 19:44
  I'm going back.
• 19:45
  I was fixing to have to wing it.
• 19:48
  Okay, hold on.
• 19:50
  Let me check.
• 19:51
  I might be wrong.
• 19:53
  Let me see here real quick.
• 19:57
  I'm just going to start all over.
• 19:59
  Open to God's will.
• 20:00
  That's what y'all have, right?
• 20:01
  Yes.
• 20:02
  Okay, good.
• 20:03
  It helps whenever the person reading is in the same place as everybody else.
• 20:07
  Do you remember the statement you made at the beginning of this?
• 20:12
  No.
• 20:13
  Okay.
• 20:14
  What statement?
• 20:15
  You remember, you're like, make sure you're on the right one, Corey.
• 20:19
  This is a full circle.
• 20:20
  We don't have to go into that, Corey.
• 20:24
  And there's absolutely no way this will end up being a post-pod Easter egg.
• 20:29
  I'm certain of that.
• 20:30
  But anyway, it'll be great content.
• 20:34
  Yeah.