Latest / Beliefs, Ballots, And BullDawgs / September 1, 2026
Transcript
- Greg: Good morning, everybody. It is Tuesday, September 1st. Let that sink in for a moment. September 1st. We're almost there, folks. It is ⁓ it hadn't exactly had the ⁓ the cool, crisp fall mornings yet, but it's it's starting to trend in that direction. ⁓ it is September 1st. Fall is almost here, and dog fans, we have actually got a real football topic today. ⁓ unfortunately, we we got our first ⁓ intro into hey, there might be some bad news along the way. ⁓ it's been reported that Xavier McLeod ⁓ left the team. Wasn't a whole lot of information given. It doesn't seem to be anything revolving playing time or a dispute with the coaches. It seems like the young man may have just kind of finally realized, hey, I have reached the pinnacle of what will be my football career. It's not going any farther, and I think he may have just decided to walk away. Pure speculation on my part. I know nothing. I'm not pretending that I do. ⁓ but I I'm also, you know, I want to address this from a football ⁓ standpoint before we get into the first game of the season, you know. I I don't want to overreact. You know, Xavier McLeod was not in Jordan Hall. It wasn't Elijah Griffin, but but Xavier McLeod is a valuable piece. ⁓ I don't want to pretend like this doesn't mean anything. ⁓ experienced defensive line matter. Big bodies matter, especially in the SEC. ⁓ so this did this isn't a breaking point for Georgia's defensive line, but it does make the room a little bit more interesting because. X was going to play. This this was somebody who was going to contribute, was going to play meaningful snaps, and may have even gotten some rotational starts from time to time. So here's what it means. It means, you know, Jordan Hall, after being injured most of his career, he's got to be able to stay healthy and be that grown man inside that we all know he can be, that he was projected to be. Elijah Griffin, boy, the sky is the limit for this kid. The reports are off the chart. It's time, brother. He he's got to step up and grow up and be the guy he's gonna be, and he needs to be that guy right now. ⁓ JJ A needs to become a little more disruptive. Namia Boko needs to be a big presence inside. You know, some of the other guys that we we keep hearing that are flashed in practice, but we haven't really seen ⁓ Vald and Sohn, ⁓ JJ Hanney, you know, these guys have got to step up. And that's the question now. It's not whether the talent's there, we know the talent's there. It's just hey, do we have enough trusted bodies up front that we can rotate, that we can that we can hold up against the run in the SEC, that we can create a pass rush consistently. You know, can we stay fresh in the fourth quarter when when the games get nasty down the road? Because that's look, that the key to any defense starts up front, and especially a Georgia defense. That's always been the case. If if we can control the line of scrimmage, everything looks better. The linebackers play faster, the safety plays cleaner, the the whole defense feels different when the D line is in control. So look, I I'm not panicking about this loss, but but I'm watching. ⁓ with Xavier McLeod gone, you know, the the opportunity just gets a little bit bigger for for some of those other guys in the room. And look, let's be real, for for us as Georgia fans, we've been blessed. A lot of times it's a situation like this that allows us to be introduced to the next guy and we go, holy cow, where'd that guy come from? So it that's what it is. Somebody leaves, somebody steps up. So who We we know that everybody's role becomes a little bit more important, but who do we think we can count on to to really step up? Is it Jordan Hall? Is it Elijah Griffin? Is it J J A, Nam Diaboko, J J. Hanny, Val Dunso, any of these guys. We know the names, we know the potential. Which one of these guys is gonna step up and get his name called routinely on Saturdays now that Xavier McLeod's gone? We'll find out soon enough. Don't have to wait much longer. All right guys, get back to the ⁓ the scriptural ⁓ thing of the day. The the theme for today is ⁓ and it's kind of one we may have touched on a little bit, but it it's you don't have to pick it up. And it and it simply means that not everything thrown at you deserves for you to pick it up and carry it. Let's go through a quick common scenario. You know, somebody makes a smart ass comment to you. Do you really need to respond? You know, somebody cuts you off in traffic. Do you have to let them know how you feel about it? Your spouse says something with a little more attitude than you felt necessary. That ever happened to anybody? Does this require a summit meeting? Do you need to address this? Maybe somebody doesn't text you back, doesn't invite you to something you should have been invited to, or Maybe they just make an offhanded joke at your expense or something that makes you look weird. You know, maybe somebody just simply misunderstands something that you said and it causes them to have the wrong opinion about you. Well, here's my question Does every one of those things require your attention? Because I'm beginning to think that some of us have exhausted ourselves, not because life gives us an extraordinary number of enormous problems. But just because we seem to be able to turn every minor irritation into an enormous problem, every comment gets overanalyzed, every slight gets remembered, every disagreement has to be addressed and confronted, every offense gets picked up. And and today, I want to suggest something incredibly complicated, something that requires enormous spiritual maturity, maybe more than we all have. And something that might completely change your life. You ready for this? Life-changing moment coming. Let some stuff slide. That's it. Seriously. You don't have to address everything. You don't have to correct everything. You don't have to respond to everything. And maybe you don't have to pick up everything somebody throws at you. The Bible actually calls this glorious in Proverbs, and we're going back to Proverbs because I love me some Proverbs. Chapter 19, verse 11. Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook offense. Now I love the verse, especially the word. Overlook. They overlook the offense. Notice what it's not saying here. It's not saying the offense didn't happen. It's not saying that you made it up or imagined it. It's not saying that what was done was okay, and it's not saying you have to agree with it. It doesn't say that you have to enjoy being treated poorly. What it says is sometimes you overlook it. You recognize it, you could respond, but you decide, you know what? I'm gonna let that one go. And scripture doesn't call that weakness, it calls it glory. And that's fascinating to me because the world teaches us the exact opposite. We developed this strange idea of strength. We all carry that. Nobody's gonna talk to me like that mentality. Nobody gets away with disrespecting me. If somebody says something about me, I'm gonna address. Somebody comes at me, I'm coming back out of twice as hard. If somebody posts something about me, I'm gonna respond. If somebody misunderstands me, I'll make sure I correct the record. We have almost turned being easily offended into some sort of show of strength. Proverbs tells us something different. Proverbs tells us that the strong person isn't the person who can put somebody in their place. Sometimes the strong person is the person secure enough to leave the other person where they are. Think about it. Constantly needing to respond isn't always a show of strength. Sometimes that's just your insecurity coming out. If you need everybody to understand you, that's insecurity. You don't. I need everybody to like me. No. You don't. I need everybody to know that they were wrong about this thing about me. Yeah, maybe, maybe not. Here's something that it has taken me a long time to understand. And I still struggle with it. Other people are allowed to be wrong about you. It's uncomfortable, but it's also incredibly free. Somebody can misunderstand you and you can just go eat lunch. Somebody can dislike you. And you can still sleep okay tonight. Somebody can say something stupid about you, and you don't have to hold a press conference. You don't have to correct every record because sometimes the people who actually know you already know the truth. And the people determined to misunderstand you aren't you gonna be convinced by anything you say in response. Here's where it gets really interesting to me because. Let's be honest, if anybody had the ability to win every argument, it was Jesus. If anybody could have corrected every accusation, it was Jesus. If anybody could have completely embarrassed all of the people who questioned him, you better believe it was Jesus. And yet, he didn't always respond. In Luke chapter 23, Jesus is brought before Herod a They've heard about the miracles. He's hoping Jesus will perform some kind of sign in front of him. Luke tells us Herod questioned Jesus. At some length, it says. And then in chapter 23, verse 9 says to us, So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. Nothing. Imagine that. Jesus has the perfect answer for everything all the time. And he doesn't give it. He could have exposed Herod, but he doesn't. He could have defended himself. But he didn't. He could have corrected everything, but he doesn't. Why? Because giving an answer doesn't mean the moment deserves. Let me rephrase that. Having an answer doesn't mean the moment deserves it. There are things where you absolutely have the ability to fix, but maybe it's not the right time, and that's important. Not every question. Is deserving of an answer. Not every accusation deserves a defense. And not every person deserves access to your emotional energy. Not every disagreement is worth having a debate over. Some things you just need to let somebody be wrong about. Not every moment is improved by your participation or response. Sometimes, and we have to get down on this. Sometimes silence isn't weakness. Sometimes silence is wisdom. refusing to waste itself where it's not wanted. Here's the image I want us to remember today. Imagine somebody walks up and throws something at you, a an insult, unnecessary attitude, a sarcastic remark, a criticism, a Facebook comment, maybe just a rude look, a misunderstanding, or whatever it is, that they throw it at you and it lands right there at your feet. What happens next? For most of us, the immediate reaction is, hey, I well, I gotta pick this thing up. You don't. They threw it. You decide whether you pick it up and carry it. I think that's the part we all forget. Someone else's behavior can create an opportunity for offense. But I still have the ⁓ some choice over whether or not I'm gonna pick this up and carry it. And we've all done this. Somebody says something to you your first thing this morning, ⁓ ten seconds, and that's it. They've moved on with their day, and they're eating lunch, they're laughing, not thinking about you at all. ⁓ meanwhile, it's 2 30 in the afternoon and you're still having this argument in your head. I I this is what I should have said. I and another thing, and if they say that again, here's what I'm gonna tell them. We've all become really good at winning these imaginary arguments in the car while we're alone, and the other person's not even there. So who's suffering in this case? It's not them. You're carrying something that they dropped. Maybe it's okay to just put it down. You should have never picked it up in the first place. There's a point where we all have to to have to decide just how valuable our peace is. Because every offense cost us something to carry. It cost attention, energy, time, emotional bandwidth. It may cost you some sleep, some joy, time with your family. And here's the crazy part. Sometimes you're paying the price for somebody who didn't pay for anything. They forgot the interaction altogether. We're still. Furious, but they have moved on. We're replaying in our head, and they said one sentence and forgot about it. We've given them six hours where they gave us no thought at all. That is a terrible trade. Maybe maturity really means becoming much more selective about what gets access to your peace. Because let's be honest, peace has a price. And sometimes that price is letting somebody else have the last word. I know it's it's incredibly difficult. Especially for me, especially when you know the other person is wrong. Especially if you've got the information for the perfect comeback. Especially when you know you could absolutely destroy their argument. But sometimes you just gotta let them have it. Not because they won, but because you've decided this just isn't worth playing. Now look, let's make sure we're clear that let some stuff slide is not ⁓ is by no means meant to be universal biblical advice. ⁓ some things absolutely should not be allowed to slide. Abuse should not be overlooked. Repeated destructive behavior, those are things that need to be confronted. A serious dishonesty has to be addressed. Someone hurting your children in any way needs to be handled. Patterns that are destroying your marriage, those can't just be allowed to slide. Boundaries can be necessary. Jesus confronted people regularly. The apostles confronted people. Scripture teaches us to correct people. So I'm not telling you in any way, don't ever confront anything. I'm asking you to use wisdom to ask yourself, does this thing need to be confronted now? Does this need to be confronted now? Because there's a difference between courageously confronting something important and constantly policing every minor irritation in your life. So look, before you address something, maybe you should ask. Look, Hey, is this serious? Is this recurring? Is anybody actually being harmed? Will addressing it improve anything? And look, here's the uncomfortable one. Am I addressing this because this actually needs to be fixed? Or because I just don't like it and it maybe bruised my ego a little bit? I think that that question alone will probably will probably eliminate a lot of arguments for a lot of us, but because sometimes. What we're getting dragged into isn't just about defending the truth. It's not about justice. It's not about really even protecting anything or anybody. It's just being upset because somebody didn't treat me with the amount of respect I think I deserve. And maybe sometimes I can survive and just be okay with that. Look, bring me this home. I I think this matters enormously in marriage. Look, if you've been married long enough, your spouse is eventually going to say something imperfect. Not my spouse, your spouse. ⁓ you're gonna have, you know, you're you're gonna get a tone. They're gonna have a tone. You're gonna have a tone. Somebody's gonna have a tone. It happens. Somebody's gonna ⁓ answer a comment and just have a weird face. Somebody's tired, stressed, hungry, hangry, somebody's had a terrible day. Sometimes some of us just choose the wrong words to express what we're feeling. And it's Every single imperfect interaction requires a full deep dive investigation. Man, that is absolutely exhausting, and you're going to make each other miserable. What did you mean by that? Why did you say it that way? What's that face supposed to mean? You sound irritated. No, I didn't. Yes, you did. Been there. I mean, again, I married Haley Lynn, so I don't have to deal with this. But suddenly we're we're we're holding a a congressional hearing over the way somebody said the word fine. Look, I I get it. If if fine is part of a larger problem and sometimes it can be, have the conversation. But sometimes one of the most loving things we can do for someone else is simply think, maybe that wasn't their best moment. They maybe they didn't mean anything by it, and we just let it go. Gone. Don't have to make a mental note of it. We don't have to file it away. We certainly don't need to save it as ammunition for three months from now. No. And look, while we're yeah, that that whole bringing things up from the past, not healthy. Not we gotta release it. And here's why I think that's so important. We all want people to occasionally do that for us, right? I I know I do. I don't want the people who I love judging me exclusively by my worst few minutes or when I'm flustered and say the wrong thing. I have bad moments. I get tired. I certainly get irritated. I have used the wrong tone. I have spoken to people poorly. I have chosen the wrong words. I can be selfish at times. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that between my wife and kids, I need some serious grace. And if I desperately want people to extend that grace to me, well, then maybe I need to be a little more willing to extend some of that in the other direction. I mean, think about it from this standpoint. What if we simply chose as individuals that we just choose to become harder to offend? Think think about and it sounds so simple. Think about how much freedom there would be in simply becoming somebody who's difficult to offend. Look, it's not that you're numb, it's not that you're weak, it's not that you're incapable of standing up for yourself. It's it's just that you're secure. Hey, if somebody says something rude, cool. Somebody disagrees with you. All right, they can be wrong. Somebody doesn't invite you, well, they're lost. But but it's okay. You know, hey, somebody misunderstands you. Let it go. Move on. Somebody has an attitude. Hey, look, maybe they're just having a bad day and it really has nothing to do with you. Or maybe they're just a jerk and you know that. Either way, you don't have to get involved in that. You don't have to become a jerk too. That's the freedom we all have. Because now other people aren't walking around with the ability to control our emotions. We have given far too much of that away. Think about that. If if any random person can say one sentence on social media and ruin your entire day, you have given that person an incredible amount ⁓ amount of power that they absolutely do not have any reason to have. And look, I I I want to make sure I make this distinction. Being spiritually mature in situations like this doesn't mean that you never feel offended. We're all human. Sometimes stuff hurts. Sometimes it really hurts. Sometimes it irritates you and you notice it. Sometimes people legitimately are disrespectful and you recognize it. Maturity is not saying or pretending that, hey, nothing ever bothers me, because that would be absolutely untrue. Maybe maturity is just becoming somebody who doesn't have to do something. Every time something bothers you, you notice it, you feel it, you don't like it, and then you just release it, you let it go. No response required, no revenge, no speech, no post, no text, no three-hour imaginary argument in your head. It's just gone. Because in that situation, you're making your peace more valuable than your need to respond. We talk a lot about grace in Christianity. usually in these enormous theological terms. And and rightly so. The the grace God has extended to us through Christ is beyond anything that we could ever earn or deserve. But maybe one of the practical ways grace starts showing up in us is that we stop demanding payment for every tiny little debt somebody owes us, every poorly chosen word, every every little situation with some attitude, every inconvenience, every minor slight. Every moment somebody's not exactly who or what we want them to be. Maybe Grace says occasionally, you know what? I'm not going to collect that one. I'm just going to let it go. Because God knows we need people to do that same thing for us. So look, here's the challenge. We've been on similar challenges like this before. But look, for the next 24 hours, make a concerted effort. When something irritates you, just pause and ask, do I need to pick this up? That's it. Some things, yeah, you need to pick it up, address it, have that conversation, set the boundary, speak the truth. But look, maybe tomorrow somebody just says something stupid and and you just think to yourself, nah, I'm just gonna leave that one right there where they left it. If somebody makes that smart ass comment and you go, nah, I'm not worried about it. Somebody gives you some attitude and you just choose not to re-engage. Somebody misunderstands you and you go, you know what, it's just not important enough or a big enough deal to worry about correcting. Maybe for the love of everything holy, you don't have to pick all of those things up. Just keep going about your day, keep scrolling, keep working. The world will continue to spin without your response. I promise. Look, tomorrow, today, every day, somebody's gonna irritate you. It might happen early in the days. Somebody's gonna say something, they're gonna misunderstand you, they're gonna give you attitude that you don't deserve. Somebody's gonna drive like an idiot on the way to work. Somebody's gonna say something online that you think is the most unbelievably stupid comment you have ever seen in your life. And you're gonna feel that little urge that we all feel to go, ooh, I got to get involved in this. I got to address it. Maybe you do. But before you pick it up, before you get involved, just ask, do I really need to carry this? Because not everything thrown at you belongs to you. And not every opinion deserves your defense. Not every insult deserves your response. Not every irritation deserves a conversation. And not every accusation deserves an explanation. And not every battle deserves your personal participation. Sometimes wisdom confronts, sometimes wisdom corrects, sometimes wisdom draws an absolute hardline boundary. Sometimes wisdom speaks the truth clearly and refuses to back down. And sometimes wisdom just lets it slide. Proverbs says, it is a person's glory to overlook an offense. Maybe strength isn't proving that nobody can disrespect you. Maybe strength is knowing that somebody can and it just doesn't have an impact on you. It doesn't control your peace. Maybe maturity isn't having to have the last word. Maybe maturity is realizing that you never needed it. When somebody throws something at your feet next time, look at it, decide whether it actually matters. And if it doesn't, Leave it right there where they dropped it for them to deal with and walk away. Go enjoy your day. You don't have to pick that thing up. That'll do it for today, guys. As always, get in your Bible, say your prayers, love one another, and tell the truth. God bless.