Latest / Karl and Crew / Stories of Faith from Iran with Lana Silk & Christmas All Year Long with Tasha Layton

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Stories of Faith from Iran with Lana Silk & Christmas All Year Long with Tasha Layton · Karl and Crew

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  S1: Broadcasting from Chicago, across North America and beyond its curling crew.
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  S1: Come as you are an experienced guide, overcome what seems
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  S1: impossible and live. As you never imagined delivering the truth daily.
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  S2: If it were possible to have every worldly gain available
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  S2: and you're forfeiting your soul, there's no amount of gain
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  S2: that would make it worth it.
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  S3: Our own way never ever works. Because it's apart from
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  S3: the life source, which is God.
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  S4: For me, growing up, love was always conditional and can
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  S4: be taken from you. Christ love can't. And he went
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  S4: to the cross with my mind and my heart that night.
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  S1: Now from the call of Hope Studios, this is Carl
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  S1: and Crew. His primary passion is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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  S5: There's no doubt about it. I've seen it, I've witnessed it.
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  S5: It's fun to watch, but I'm going to let young
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  S5: thunder Vent for a moment here on his second passion.
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  S4: Which, before he explodes.
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  S5: Well, no. Maybe then. Then God, then. Then family. I'm
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  S5: not a big life by the list guy, for crying
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  S5: out loud. By the way, I need to explain that
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  S5: again sometime. Getting got at the bulls eye and then
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  S5: having a pie chart that goes out from there. In fact,
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  S5: let me take a moment to say this. Everybody says,
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  S5: you know, and this has been a big misnomer, which, uh, living,
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  S5: which is kind of prioritizing your life, it's called life
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  S5: by the list kind of captured that about 25 years ago,
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  S5: dawned on me, we got to start looking at this
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  S5: thing differently because you don't find in the scripture life
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  S5: by the list if you start living life by the list,
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  S5: there actually any, any cheering for the bears, as Jonathan
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  S5: is about to do is, is one of the most
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  S5: nonsensical low level things you can do. And I don't
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  S5: God does not operate that way. So I want you
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  S5: to imagine with me boom crew life by the list.
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  S5: And Ellie, go ahead and give us the the proper
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  S5: order of life by the list. If you're prioritizing what
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  S5: value call relationships and efforts in your life have, you
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  S5: would say, we can all say God at the top
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  S5: of the list 100%. Yeah. All right. Then we'd go where.
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  S2: We'd go family.
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  S5: Family, and then.
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  S2: Where, you know, you see those signs that people say, God, family, country.
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  S2: That's kind of a life by the list approach. Those
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  S2: are my allegiances. Um, but then work and you would
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  S2: look at like career. Yeah, type stuff. Um, then as
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  S2: you go down, then you would start to add in
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  S2: maybe things that you do for extracurriculars or charitable type
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  S2: things or volunteering and then hobbies, leisure entertainment.
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  S5: Yeah. And so the bears aren't even up there. No,
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  S5: no righteous life by the list. I mean, the bears
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  S5: aren't even there. They get a little sliver down at
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  S5: the bottom. But the misnomer with that is if you're
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  S5: living life by the list, you would put time allotments
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  S5: to these things as well. You know what I mean?
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  S5: It's like, well, hold it. How can work take exponentially
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  S5: more time than spiritual disciplines or cultivating this thing with God?
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  S5: Let's just get real honest.
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  S3: Yeah, sure.
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  S2: Most people spend.
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  S5: Eight, eight.
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  S2: Maybe nine hours a day at work.
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  S5: Right? Well, here's the point. When we have this radical
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  S5: transformation inside us now look at a dartboard. Look at
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  S5: a dartboard. That little red dot is. Oh, man, I'm
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  S5: getting chills right now. Christ in me, the hope of glory.
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  S5: I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live,
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  S5: but Christ who lives in me. And now all of
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  S5: a sudden, you've got something different happening. You've got this
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  S5: high intensity relational component with God and then poof out
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  S5: in these different pie charts. Now those the different thing
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  S5: about a dart board is they aren't all equal parts
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  S5: out and around. So there's different parts out and around.
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  S5: But this here's what's awesome about this. In fact, I'm
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  S5: going to start picking it up again. I used to
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  S5: carve soapstone and I'm you might say, well, how could
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  S5: soapstone carving give glory to God? How could my wife,
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  S5: she's an artist, uh, acrylic painter. How can that stuff
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  S5: give glory to God? Listen, when you live life by
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  S5: the list, even acrylic arts can go way down there, right? Yes.
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  S5: But when you live with Christ at the center. Exploding
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  S5: the power of the Holy Spirit through all those things
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  S5: so that as you're, as you're walking, as you're working,
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  S5: as you're sleeping, as you're hugging a Grandchild. You can
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  S5: do all of these things to the glory of God.
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  S5: And it takes that weird funkiness. Because I'll tell you what,
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  S5: if you're not careful, you can look at things that
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  S5: are really redemptive and start saying there's there's nothing to
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  S5: that at all. I've had a lot of people come
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  S5: to me and their comment is, pastor, you know, my
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  S5: I love the Lord, but I, I spend a lot
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  S5: of time doing. I'll just pick one embroidery. All right,
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  S5: let's just go embroidery. Hey, listen, when you have that
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  S5: cultivated inner peace and power of God and you begin
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  S5: to learn the beauty of walking in the spirit all
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  S5: the time, you can embroider to the glory of God.
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  S5: You absolutely can. In fact, it'll change the way you embroider. It'll.
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  S5: It'll change how you utilize things.
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  S3: And I think that living life by the list unintentionally.
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  S3: So we, we kind of take away that ability to
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  S3: have that experience with God in the midst of it
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  S3: where it's like, yes, God's my number one, but there
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  S3: are still moments without him in my day. And like
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  S3: when he's the center of it all and it all
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  S3: kind of centers around it, then I can enjoy football
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  S3: and conversate with God while I'm doing so. Last night
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  S3: I did. I said, God, this is really enjoyable. I said,
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  S3: thanks for giving us experiences that we can just sit
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  S3: and enjoy fun games and like, he got to be
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  S3: a part of that with me because it's not life
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  S3: by the list.
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  S5: Yeah. You're so your life doesn't rise and fall. Yeah.
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  S5: The beautiful thing about with, with Christ at the center,
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  S5: permeating all these aspects of our life, it brings redemptive
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  S5: value and power to them in ways that we might
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  S5: not otherwise ever have imagined. And it's just a cool
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  S5: way of looking at things.
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  S3: Very cool.
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  S5: Just a cool way of looking at things. So with
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  S5: that as a backdrop, all right, your sliver of the
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  S5: bears coming out of Christ at the core. Yeah. Go ahead.
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  S3: Boom. Crew. Don't look now. Shh. Everybody. It's a secret.
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  S3: I think we're gonna go to the Super Bowl.
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  S6: Yes, yes, yes.
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  S3: Last night was incredible.
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  S5: Who's we?
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  S3: We, as in all those.
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  S5: That have don't have football on their on their pie
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  S5: chart at all.
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  S3: The Chicago Bears man and all their fans. I'm sorry.
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  S2: The Super Bowl Seattle listeners.
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  S3: Yes yes I know. I love you. We do. We
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  S3: do love you a ton. But I'm very grateful for
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  S3: the gift you gave us last night, which was that game. Uh,
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  S3: it was incredible. I mean.
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  S5: They didn't give a gift. We took it.
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  S3: We took it. Now, this is. I mean, this was
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  S3: a big game. It's not just like, ah, you know,
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  S3: Seattle's a middling team. This is the team that won
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  S3: the Super Bowl last year. Their defense averages giving up
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  S3: 17 points a game. We scored 34. Their defense had
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  S3: not allowed a quarterback to throw over 200 yards this season,
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  S3: including Patrick Mahomes. We threw for 247. This game was
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  S3: not just like a, you know, a little like asterisk
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  S3: on the season. Oh, they did something cool. No, this
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  S3: was like a hey, we're here and we're ready to
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  S3: compete to win right now. It was it was insane.
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  S3: And I told you guys yesterday, you said, well, what
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  S3: do you think's going to happen? I said, I don't
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  S3: even think we're going to win necessarily. But however we
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  S3: do lose or win, it's going to be by like
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  S3: three points. And it was not by like three points.
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  S2: By three points.
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  S3: We won 34 to 17 points.
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  S5: Yeah. It was. And if not for a blown coverage
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  S5: by Stevenson on one of those who knows what it
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  S5: would have been.
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  S3: Oh my goodness. Yeah it would. Yeah. They seven points
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  S3: or I guess it was because they missed an extra point.
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  S3: So it was six points off of a missed coverage
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  S3: 43 yard touchdown to Seattle. And uh to make it
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  S3: a closer game. But I mean, it was it was insane. I,
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  S3: I was shocked last night. Hard to go to bed.
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  S5: It was a cool thing. Yeah. Okay. Ali, just to
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  S5: be fair here. What's on your pie chart that we
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  S5: want to champion today? Come on, sister. What's that little
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  S5: sliver thing that you kind of. Nobody really knows about you,
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  S5: but this is kind of Ali's little world.
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  S2: I mean, girls basketball in Illinois kicked off yesterday. Girls
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  S2: high school basketball this season officially started yesterday. So that's
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  S2: that's an exciting thing in our house. Our daughter is
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  S2: a high school senior. So this is her last year
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  S2: of high school. She's committed to playing basketball in college.
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  S2: So basketball is a big deal to her. So we're
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  S2: we're really excited to cheer for her as she has
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  S2: her last last lap for her high school career.
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  S6: Oh that's cool. That's really awesome. So her goals this.
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  S2: Season are to be a thousand to hit 1000 points
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  S2: for her varsity career and to try to get a regional,
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  S2: maybe sectional championship for.
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  S6: Her team. Awesome. Go, Gabby.
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  S3: You're gonna have to keep us updated on how she.
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  S6: Does with this. Right.
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  S2: So I will, I will, I will pop in with
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  S2: girls basketball updates. That is a big sliver of the
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  S2: pie for me. I follow a lot of high school
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  S2: girls basketball.
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  S5: Yeah. Uh, it's kind of funny. I got a call
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  S5: from a really good friend of mine, Phil. He said, hey,
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  S5: be praying for my boy. He's going in to play
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  S5: the first, first game of the season for Gonzaga last night.
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  S6: They're ranked 15th.
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  S5: And they played Purdue. And he was the high point
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  S5: man on the court.
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  S3: Incredible.
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  S5: Davis Fogel he's a player.
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  S3: Guys I've.
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  S5: A.
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  S3: Player. You've told me his name. So I've been trying
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  S3: to keep up with him. He looks good.
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  S5: He's a player. Okay. Um, this this life from the
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  S5: center out, man. It's helpful, isn't it, guys?
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  S3: It's a much more enjoyable experience to life.
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  S5: Yeah, it really is. And then we have an opportunity
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  S5: to allow Christ to permeate every aspect of what we do.
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  S5: So it's not like you got Okay, God, I'm cultivating
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  S5: this thing with you up here. And then I hope
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  S5: the fumes of that kind of carry me into being
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  S5: a mom or dad or a grandparent or whatever. No,
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  S5: it's it's just flows out.
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  S6: From.
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  S3: Be a part of all of it.
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  S5: Yeah. And even even I had the wildest thing last night.
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  S5: I don't sing a lot with my bride, but we
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  S5: sang a Christmas song together and worship tune together and,
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  S5: and we're just sitting there together in the living room,
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  S5: and it was a joyful noise. I'm not saying it
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  S5: was a great noise, but it was joyful.
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  S6: So you got.
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  S2: Your tree up already, right?
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  S5: Yeah, we we needed to do that. And the reason
• 11:17
  S5: is I've not even said this, but my wife had
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  S5: hip replacement surgery and she's recovering so well. But, you know,
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  S5: you don't want to be, you know, putting the star
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  S5: on top of that thing when you're.
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  S6: Yeah, you.
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  S2: Want to focus on some recovery.
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  S5: So you want to focus on recovery for sure. So yeah,
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  S5: it's good stuff. Boom crew. Think about this life in Christ.
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  S5: Flowing out into every aspect of your life. See, it
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  S5: can change your work today. It can change that tough
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  S5: conversation that you've got to have. It changes everything. That's
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  S5: how good God is.
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  S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
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  S5: You know, uh, real quick, I want you to hear me.
• 12:01
  S5: There's some of you that feel like, boy, thinking about
• 12:07
  S5: just framing out this biblical, very biblical, uh, kind of
• 12:12
  S5: theological understanding how God works in the life of people.
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  S5: It's so radically transformative. When we move from powerless belief
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  S5: to true faith, it can change everything. So it begins
• 12:27
  S5: to permeate every area of our life. And in the
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  S5: fourth session on Saturday the 14th, I'm going to be
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  S5: breaking down some of the hidden disciplines that allow people
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  S5: to really take hold of this abiding relationship with God.
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  S5: And not least of which is experiencing the love of
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  S5: God being wrapped up in his arms. And I mean
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  S5: really experiencing it, moving from this powerless, powerless, disconnected belief
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  S5: that is no faith at all. And when I say
• 13:05
  S5: no faith at all, I mean no faith at all
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  S5: into this true faith that flows out of communion and
• 13:13
  S5: connection with God. I love this cool little story. God
• 13:18
  S5: just dropped into my lap and boy, that's the truth.
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  S5: I it's been almost a year ago now that I
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  S5: went to Alaska and picked up blaze and I love
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  S5: this guy. I'm. Oh, last night I had some fun
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  S5: with him. Guys. He loves to wrestle.
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  S6: I love wrestling. I can see that.
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  S5: He loves to wrestle. So up to this point in time,
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  S5: it's been just wrestling with dogs at this big dog park.
• 13:46
  S5: But I noticed how much he loved it and I'm like,
• 13:49
  S5: oh my goodness, this guy loves to wrestle. So last
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  S5: night we had about a 30 minute wrestling session and he.
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  S6: So.
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  S5: He's so pumped.
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  S2: You and you and blaze.
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  S5: Yeah. Me and.
• 14:04
  S6: Blaze. Oh, okay.
• 14:06
  S5: Where? I mean, he would just come at me and
• 14:09
  S5: he snarls and just gets his upper lips curled up in.
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  S6: His huge.
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  S5: Teeth are.
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  S6: Just.
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  S5: And he's. And and so he's like, just ready to
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  S5: jump on me. And I sit there still, and then
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  S5: I move and then he just pounces on me and
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  S5: he's got those teeth bared and he's acting all tough
• 14:29
  S5: and his tail is just wagging like crazy. This is
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  S5: the best thing ever.
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  S6: Yes.
• 14:33
  S5: And and at one point I said, I'm going to
• 14:36
  S5: get you an eye. He was leaning on me, so
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  S5: I just went backwards. Bam! I took all the weight
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  S5: of him on my chest, and I just let him
• 14:44
  S5: body slam me to the ground. But then I held
• 14:45
  S5: on to him and he was like, I'm going to
• 14:47
  S5: get out of here. And I mean, he was scraping
• 14:50
  S5: my face. I'm surprised I don't have scars on there
• 14:52
  S5: this morning, man. So he was scraping my face with
• 14:55
  S5: his claws and, you know, not trying to.
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  S3: He's just trying to move.
• 14:59
  S5: He's just trying to move. And it was such a
• 15:02
  S5: kick in the pants. But I got to take you
• 15:03
  S5: back to when we bonded for the very first time.
• 15:10
  S5: And so he's just a little guy. And for the
• 15:12
  S5: first few weeks, I had to sleep downstairs in the
• 15:16
  S5: basement when I heard him stirring. Got to get up,
• 15:19
  S5: let him out, go potty. Because they can't make it
• 15:22
  S5: through the night. These little husky pups, probably any pup.
• 15:26
  S5: And so I hear him stirring. I'd get up, take
• 15:29
  S5: him out, man. Bleary eyed, you know, 2 or 3
• 15:32
  S5: in the morning. Here we go outside one morning I
• 15:36
  S5: didn't hear him stirring, but what hit my nostrils was
• 15:41
  S5: so bad. I'm like, it broke me right out of sleep.
• 15:45
  S5: And I'm like, oh, no. And I get up in
• 15:48
  S5: the in the dark and there's just enough ambient light
• 15:51
  S5: in the room, just barely glowing that I get up
• 15:54
  S5: and I look and he's sitting perfectly still and he's
• 15:57
  S5: got his head down and I'm like, oh, no, blaze.
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  S5: And he had pooped all over and he had rolled
• 16:05
  S5: in it. And then he probably thought, well, I pooped,
• 16:07
  S5: I gotta pee. So he pooped in Pete and it
• 16:10
  S5: was everywhere in that kettle. And it was all over him.
• 16:14
  S5: And I had a critical moment there. And thankfully, I
• 16:19
  S5: heard from God, really what to do. I opened up
• 16:23
  S5: the kennel. I sat down right in front of it.
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  S5: I said, come here, buddy. And he hung his head
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  S5: way low. I said, come here, buddy. And he stepped
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  S5: one step, two steps. I said, listen, I love you, blaze.
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  S5: You come here, you're a good boy. And guys, I
• 16:45
  S5: had on a pair of jeans and a t shirt
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  S5: that did not recover from this experience.
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  S6: I'm sure.
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  S3: Went to the trash.
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  S5: That boy stepped up into my lap and leaned right
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  S5: up against my chest, and I hugged him and I
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  S5: whispered into his ear and I said, I love you, buddy,
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  S5: I love you. And that day changed everything for me
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  S5: and blaze everything. Now, there's some of you that have
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  S5: a powerless belief where you're distant and it's like you're kindled,
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  S5: but you're kindled away from the arms of God straight up.
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  S5: And I want you to know that Jesus has so
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  S5: much for you, so much more than you've taken hold of.
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  S5: And that relationship that you have with Jesus could be
• 17:39
  S5: born out of bad information about how much he loves
• 17:46
  S5: you and you've surrendered your life to him, but you've
• 17:48
  S5: never really been fully embraced by Jesus. You still have
• 17:51
  S5: a standoffish relationship with him, but for some of you,
• 17:57
  S5: you have a powerless belief. You believe in Jesus as master.
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  S5: If you use this metaphor, you believe intellectually that he's
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  S5: the one that feeds and sustains people. You've never been
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  S5: embraced by his love. You've never had true faith. That
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  S5: changes everything. And I want that for you. You know,
• 18:23
  S5: we've spiked a lot in this conference that we're going
• 18:26
  S5: to be doing that's going to be exposing how we've
• 18:30
  S5: lied to our culture in the West about what faith is.
• 18:34
  S5: And we've lowered the bar so much. We've walked people
• 18:36
  S5: into something that is far cry from what Jesus called
• 18:39
  S5: us to embrace in him. But I haven't hung out
• 18:44
  S5: too much on what's going to be session four in
• 18:46
  S5: this conference, which is how to crawl up into the
• 18:49
  S5: arms of God, how to commune with Jesus, how to
• 18:52
  S5: let the Spirit of God guide and direct your life
• 18:54
  S5: in ways that are intimate, real, powerful, overflowing with fruit.
• 19:03
  S5: And guys, I, I, I want this for you. I
• 19:06
  S5: want everyone that can carve out a few hours on
• 19:08
  S5: Saturday morning, November 14th to be here. And you can
• 19:13
  S5: be wherever you are and be here in Chicagoland. We
• 19:16
  S5: got some live seating available, I think, to be really
• 19:19
  S5: candid with you. 161 seats left and I, I'm praying
• 19:24
  S5: that by God in His mercy, he's going to fill
• 19:26
  S5: him up. but we're going to have a sweet time, Alli,
• 19:29
  S5: because God wants to hug us, hold us with all
• 19:35
  S5: of our mess. He doesn't need us cleaned up. He'll
• 19:38
  S5: do that. But we've got to bond. We've got to
• 19:41
  S5: connect with God first and foremost. It's going to be
• 19:44
  S5: a rich Saturday.
• 19:45
  S2: Alli yeah, the unstoppable gospel conference. You've heard us talking
• 19:48
  S2: about it. Or maybe you're hearing it for the first time.
• 19:50
  S2: November 14th, a half a day on a Saturday in person.
• 19:53
  S2: If you're in the Chicagoland area, seats still available. Live stream.
• 19:57
  S2: For most of you who are outside of Chicagoland, just
• 20:00
  S2: text intro. We're going to send you an intro to
• 20:02
  S2: the book so you can get a preview of what's
• 20:05
  S2: going to be discussed, and then an opportunity to register
• 20:07
  S2: for the conference. Just text intro to 805 557898, intro
• 20:13
  S2: to 805 557898.
• 20:17
  S5: Well, coming up here, because we believe big time in
• 20:21
  S5: leveraging freedom that we have in Christ, there's other freedoms
• 20:24
  S5: that we have as well. One in particular, and you
• 20:27
  S5: might think is the news of the day lost on us?
• 20:31
  S5: Not at all. We'll break it down straight ahead.
• 20:33
  S1: He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you
• 20:37
  S1: can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's
• 20:41
  S1: curling crew on Moody radio.
• 20:43
  S5: You know, freedom is something that we can easily take
• 20:48
  S5: for granted here stateside. I've traveled enough around the world
• 20:53
  S5: to know that there are people that would, who give
• 20:57
  S5: up a lot to have the privilege to go into
• 21:01
  S5: a voting booth and to vote. Just the chance to vote.
• 21:08
  S5: Maybe if there's no one there that they would be
• 21:13
  S5: inclined to, but just the chance to get their voice
• 21:16
  S5: be heard somehow. It's just an amazing thing. Isn't it
• 21:21
  S5: amazing how freedoms Can can get left on the table
• 21:26
  S5: sometimes when we grow accustomed to them.
• 21:28
  S2: Absolutely. And so, I mean, when you look at statistically
• 21:32
  S2: every election, there's a lot of people who, for whatever reason,
• 21:35
  S2: choose not to vote.
• 21:37
  S5: Oh my goodness.
• 21:38
  S2: More most elections, more choose not to than do. So
• 21:42
  S2: you have the votes are decided by sometimes the minority
• 21:46
  S2: of the people who actually show up, especially mid-terms. Midterm
• 21:51
  S2: elections tend to have a lower voter turnout. But what
• 21:54
  S2: a privilege that we have. This isn't a guilt kind
• 21:56
  S2: of thing. This is consider what it's like to live
• 22:01
  S2: someplace where you don't have the opportunity to vote. Or
• 22:05
  S2: if you do, you vote under the threat of violence
• 22:08
  S2: or knowing that your vote won't actually matter because it
• 22:11
  S2: may or may not be a fair and free election.
• 22:14
  S6: Yeah.
• 22:15
  S2: Meaning you could have the overwhelming majority of people vote
• 22:18
  S2: for someone and that other person simply say no. Yep.
• 22:23
  S3: Happens all the.
• 22:24
  S6: Time.
• 22:24
  S2: Happens all the time. And how? How tragic.
• 22:28
  S5: Yeah. And I'm sorry. I got to go back to
• 22:31
  S5: and mention the 5:00 hour. I'm just. Remember the dangling chads.
• 22:35
  S5: And if you can't remember the dangling chads in my
• 22:40
  S5: favorite photos. That one dude, did you guys, you guys
• 22:42
  S5: saw that photo.
• 22:43
  S6: Of the one dude with.
• 22:44
  S4: The magnifying.
• 22:45
  S5: Glass? He's got the magnifying glass. So you see his
• 22:47
  S5: eyeball and he's looking down at this Chad and going,
• 22:50
  S5: is that thing? Is that was that thing really pushed
• 22:54
  S5: or was it not? And then his huge impact people.
• 23:00
  S5: So many elections. Not all of them, but a good
• 23:03
  S5: number come down to 100 210 one vote cast. And
• 23:12
  S5: it's it's a it's a freedom we've got to leverage, man.
• 23:16
  S5: Let the Spirit of God lead you. Let the Word
• 23:18
  S5: of God direct you and go cast a vote today.
• 23:23
  S5: And I know for some of you it's it's a reminder.
• 23:26
  S5: And that's okay. And like Ali said, no guilt at all.
• 23:29
  S5: But man, don't squander that freedom. Who knows, man. We
• 23:32
  S5: don't know what the future holds. But don't squander that freedom.
• 23:35
  S5: What an opportunity we have. So be sure to get
• 23:40
  S5: out to the ballot box today. Cast your vote, man.
• 23:44
  S5: It's a freedom we got to use.
• 23:47
  S1: Youngest in age, oldest at heart. Young Thunder is in
• 23:51
  S1: the crew. You're listening to Curling Crew.
• 23:55
  S5: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And it
• 23:59
  S5: sounded like it too. Is everyone else fired up about
• 24:01
  S5: Christmas around here?
• 24:02
  S3: How can you not be fired up about Christmas?
• 24:04
  S5: Yeah, we've got a crazy lady here with us that
• 24:08
  S5: got dressed up in Christmas PJs. I kid you not.
• 24:12
  S5: All right, Ali, who is this crazy lady?
• 24:14
  S2: Tasha Layton is with us right now. She is at
• 24:17
  S2: home in her Christmas PJs.
• 24:18
  S6: Lest you think she wandered into our studio in her Christmas.
• 24:22
  S5: She's walking around downtown Chicago.
• 24:25
  S7: Don't underestimate me, guys. I would completely walk into the
• 24:29
  S7: studio in my PJs. That's how much I care about it.
• 24:33
  S2: Oh, Tasha Layton is going to be headlining that. This
• 24:36
  S2: is Christmas and Evening with Tasha Layton. It is coming
• 24:39
  S2: up in December, but boy oh boy, you got to
• 24:41
  S2: get those tickets. Have you always been a Christmas person?
• 24:45
  S2: Have you always been one of those people who, as
• 24:46
  S2: soon as that calendar goes from, I don't know, September
• 24:49
  S2: to October or October to November, you're you're all in
• 24:52
  S2: on Christmas.
• 24:53
  S7: Well, I've always loved Christmas, but I have put my tree.
• 24:57
  S7: Had to put my decorations up a lot sooner than
• 24:59
  S7: I normally would over the last few years, because we've
• 25:02
  S7: been doing a Christmas tour and I always need to
• 25:05
  S7: shoot a promo video or something like that. And so
• 25:08
  S7: rather than, you know, go set it up in a studio,
• 25:11
  S7: I just put my.
• 25:12
  S6: Do it at.
• 25:12
  S7: Home early.
• 25:13
  S5: Tasha Layton with us right now. What's the earliest you've
• 25:15
  S5: ever set it up? Yeah, I am totally gonna.
• 25:17
  S6: Totally.
• 25:18
  S7: Gonna judge me.
• 25:19
  S5: No.
• 25:19
  S6: We aren't.
• 25:20
  S7: October, probably. October 1st.
• 25:22
  S5: That's okay. We're all good with that.
• 25:24
  S7: I still feel like that's really early.
• 25:26
  S6: It is.
• 25:27
  S5: It's crazy.
• 25:27
  S6: Early.
• 25:28
  S7: The whole shebang. Usually I'll just do, like, a little corner.
• 25:31
  S5: No.
• 25:31
  S6: That's good.
• 25:32
  S7: Um, and then we'll put the rest up later.
• 25:34
  S5: So that's great. I mean, come on, let's face it, guys,
• 25:36
  S5: we're celebrating the birth of the Savior. I mean, come on. Right.
• 25:40
  S6: It's gonna.
• 25:41
  S7: Go all.
• 25:42
  S5: Out. Okay. Really quick. Tasha, what are you looking forward
• 25:44
  S5: to about this tour?
• 25:46
  S7: I'm going to be joined by Jordan Saint Cyr and
• 25:49
  S7: Jay King. And I am so excited because we're so different.
• 25:53
  S7: And so that I feel like the night is going
• 25:55
  S7: to just be such a variety of things, but it's
• 25:58
  S7: also going to be really fun and nostalgic and traditional
• 26:04
  S7: and modern. Like we're just going to have something for everybody.
• 26:07
  S7: So I feel like no matter what your taste is,
• 26:09
  S7: you'll find something that you really, really like. If you come.
• 26:13
  S2: You know, Christmas so much. There's so much around it.
• 26:16
  S2: We there's the decorations, there's the parties, there's the Christmas pajamas.
• 26:21
  S2: And so sometimes lost in all of that is the
• 26:24
  S2: message of what we're celebrating. And I know based on
• 26:27
  S2: your background, I've heard your story. I've done a podcast
• 26:30
  S2: with you before, but the gospel is so central to
• 26:33
  S2: everything that you do. Speak to that.
• 26:35
  S7: I have little kids and they're six and nine. And, um,
• 26:39
  S7: I have really tried to make an effort aside from
• 26:43
  S7: all of the gifts and the parties and the hoopla
• 26:46
  S7: and all the things you just referenced, I've really tried
• 26:48
  S7: to make an effort to let them know what the
• 26:51
  S7: Bible says about it being better to give than to receive.
• 26:54
  S7: The last shall be first, the first shall be last.
• 26:56
  S7: Like we, we're living a kingdom of opposites as believers.
• 27:00
  S7: And so at Christmas time, I'm trying to instill that
• 27:03
  S7: in them. It doesn't come naturally for kids, right? It's like,
• 27:06
  S7: it's so we're so selfish. We're selfish.
• 27:09
  S6: From the.
• 27:09
  S7: Very beginning. It's like we're born into it, you know? Yeah.
• 27:12
  S7: And God just has to kind of get that out
• 27:14
  S7: of us. But I have just made a concerted effort to, like,
• 27:18
  S7: remind them of the reason of Christmas. If you ask
• 27:21
  S7: my kids what Christmas is about, they know what it is.
• 27:24
  S7: And so I feel like that kind of makes way
• 27:27
  S7: for the fun stuff. Like once you kind of get
• 27:30
  S7: that basis covered, then you can go celebrate and do
• 27:33
  S7: all the other things. But like start there. And when
• 27:36
  S7: you start there, everything else just works out the way
• 27:39
  S7: it's supposed to.
• 27:40
  S5: Boom crew. I want you to know this is going
• 27:42
  S5: to be a night to remember. Do I believe you
• 27:43
  S5: can get away for a night and reorient the whole
• 27:46
  S5: season of Christmas? I absolutely do. Do I believe this
• 27:49
  S5: could be the ticket? I absolutely do. Ali, give him details.
• 27:53
  S2: Yeah. This Christmas tour kicks off December 6th in Tampa, Florida.
• 27:57
  S2: Then there's stops in Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, a couple in Illinois. So.
• 28:01
  S2: And one of those is probably close enough for you
• 28:03
  S2: to get there. Just text Christmas. We'll get you all
• 28:06
  S2: the details. Text Christmas to 805 557898. Natasha Layton Christmas tour.
• 28:13
  S2: An evening with Tasha Layton. Rather just text Christmas to (800) 555-7898.
• 28:18
  S2: And don't miss out on the opportunity to potentially win
• 28:22
  S2: some tickets first this Christmas. All year long contests we're running.
• 28:26
  S2: So that means two VIP tickets plus a Christmas box. Well,
• 28:30
  S2: it might be seasonal. January. February. March.
• 28:33
  S6: Every month.
• 28:34
  S2: Every month from 2027. As part of this, fun.
• 28:37
  S5: Keeps on giving.
• 28:39
  S2: Keeps on giving, keeps on going. So text Christmas. Make
• 28:42
  S2: sure you enter to win the tickets and the prizes.
• 28:44
  S2: All of 2027. Text Christmas to 805 557898.
• 28:50
  S1: Walking closer to Jesus every day. You're listening to Carl
• 28:54
  S1: and crew.
• 28:55
  S5: What a joy. Lana Silk with us today. And today
• 28:59
  S5: she is live in studio.
• 29:02
  S2: Lana is the president and chief executive officer with Transform Iran.
• 29:07
  S2: Born and raised in Iran before emigrating to the UK,
• 29:09
  S2: where she completed her education. Lana, you have been such
• 29:13
  S2: a helpful voice for us to really understand what's happening
• 29:17
  S2: in Iran. Not just the the who and the what
• 29:19
  S2: and the where, but kind of the stories and the
• 29:22
  S2: meaning behind it. Give us a fresh story of something
• 29:25
  S2: that you want to share with our listeners.
• 29:27
  S8: Oh, Ali. First of all, thank you for having me.
• 29:29
  S8: You have been such good friends to Iran, all of you.
• 29:32
  S8: And I really appreciate all of you. And what a
• 29:35
  S8: joy to be here with you in person. Yes, I've
• 29:37
  S8: been speaking to our team knowing that you're both going
• 29:39
  S8: to want some fresh stories.
• 29:41
  S6: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:42
  S8: I know the drill. And they sent me a couple
• 29:44
  S8: of fun ones and really different to each other as well.
• 29:47
  S8: One about a person who had fallen away from the faith,
• 29:49
  S8: and another about a leader in the church. So let
• 29:52
  S8: me show you the story of this woman who had
• 29:54
  S8: fallen away from the faith. She'd come to know the
• 29:55
  S8: Lord in Turkey years and years ago. Then she'd gone
• 29:58
  S8: back to Iran. Family pressure had pushed her back to Islam,
• 30:01
  S8: and she had had years of just backsliding and just
• 30:04
  S8: sinking into regret, really over the loss of where she
• 30:07
  S8: was spiritually with God. Then she started to get more
• 30:10
  S8: and more aware of where she was going wrong and
• 30:13
  S8: started seeking back Christian content, Christian TV, consuming it, trying
• 30:17
  S8: to figure out whether she ever had a way back.
• 30:19
  S8: You know, Islam is a workspace religion. So when you
• 30:23
  S8: make poor choices, it really counts against you. And I
• 30:25
  S8: think there was something in her mind that was around, well,
• 30:28
  S8: I've gone too far now. I knew it and I
• 30:29
  S8: let it go. Now there's no hope for me. But what?
• 30:32
  S8: The catalyst that brought her right back to God was
• 30:34
  S8: that her son was imprisoned. There was no court date.
• 30:37
  S8: Statue was stuck in prison for a while. She was despairing.
• 30:39
  S8: So she finally contacted us through our TV channel and
• 30:43
  S8: wanted to learn about what she could do to address
• 30:46
  S8: her spiritual failing. Basically, they shared the gospel with her again,
• 30:49
  S8: told her about God's love for her, the forgiveness that
• 30:52
  S8: was available to her. She spent some time processing. She
• 30:55
  S8: came back, called again, gave her life to the Lord.
• 30:58
  S8: Then she came back with the testimony. She said, since
• 31:00
  S8: I gave my life back to the Lord, everything has
• 31:02
  S8: changed significantly. First of all, without even following up, the
• 31:05
  S8: court has called me and set a date for my
• 31:08
  S8: son's hearing. Then the day that I went to go
• 31:11
  S8: to his ear hearing, I prayed before I went, Lord,
• 31:13
  S8: I give myself to you. You let your will be done.
• 31:16
  S8: On the way, an elderly man just suddenly appeared out
• 31:19
  S8: of nowhere and started helping her to get to the
• 31:22
  S8: prosecutor's office on time, navigate traffic. And then he caught
• 31:25
  S8: her again on the way back and brought groceries for her. Wow.
• 31:29
  S8: She had nothing left at home. Her fridge was empty.
• 31:31
  S8: He filled her fridge up with groceries. She had no
• 31:34
  S8: idea who he was, hasn't seen him since. And of course,
• 31:36
  S8: she's now talking about how miraculously God has been there
• 31:39
  S8: for her, despite her failings.
• 31:41
  S5: She may have been entertaining an angel unaware.
• 31:44
  S8: Yes, I believe she was.
• 31:46
  S5: That's fascinating. Okay. More stories. Let's go. We can't get
• 31:51
  S5: enough of them.
• 31:52
  S8: Well, this is a totally different place in someone's journey.
• 31:55
  S8: This is a leader in Iran who has been serving
• 31:58
  S8: the Lord for a long time. And she was getting
• 32:01
  S8: ready to go to a training event. We have safe
• 32:04
  S8: places across the Middle East, where we bring people to
• 32:07
  S8: minister to them and strengthen them in their in their leadership.
• 32:11
  S8: And in the weeks leading up to it, she had
• 32:13
  S8: a dream. And in her dreams she saw Jesus sitting
• 32:16
  S8: on a chair. She was describing the carvings on this chair.
• 32:20
  S8: And he invited her to take that seat. And he
• 32:25
  S8: got down and started washing her feet. She was describing
• 32:28
  S8: the picture that he used. The golden basin filled with
• 32:31
  S8: rose petals. Rose petals is a very Iranian touch. I
• 32:34
  S8: love the way God understands your culture.
• 32:37
  S6: Yes.
• 32:38
  S8: And he said to her, you have loved and served
• 32:40
  S8: my children, and I want to wash your feet. And
• 32:42
  S8: she resisted. Her feet were grimy, but then she remembered
• 32:47
  S8: Jesus's story with his disciples and how he had insisted
• 32:50
  S8: how important it was. In fact, he said, unless I
• 32:52
  S8: wash your feet, you'll have no part with me in
• 32:54
  S8: the kingdom of God. So she surrendered to him, loving
• 32:57
  S8: her in that way. She said. He even went on
• 32:59
  S8: to wash my hands and my head as well. And
• 33:02
  S8: then he told her to hug herself and to show
• 33:05
  S8: herself the love and care that she was showing others
• 33:07
  S8: and look after herself a little better. He told her
• 33:11
  S8: to be patient with some difficult family relationships. He started
• 33:14
  S8: giving her visions of what he was doing in her
• 33:16
  S8: son's life, who was struggling in that time. She said,
• 33:19
  S8: don't worry about him. Um, before you became his mother,
• 33:23
  S8: he said to her, I was his father and I
• 33:25
  S8: have good plans for him. And then she saw in
• 33:28
  S8: the vision her son kneeling on one side and her
• 33:31
  S8: husband kneeling on the other side of her, all before Christ,
• 33:34
  S8: and just that family unity in their worship of God.
• 33:37
  S8: And she was obviously just on a high after a
• 33:39
  S8: dream like this. But then a couple of weeks later,
• 33:41
  S8: she ends up going to the safe center out of
• 33:44
  S8: the country for training. And she said that as soon
• 33:47
  S8: as she walked into the main room right there in
• 33:49
  S8: front of her, she saw that very chair that she
• 33:51
  S8: had seen in her dream. And she took a photo
• 33:54
  S8: of the chair because I had very specific carvings and
• 33:56
  S8: of course, just the full circle moment. And going back
• 33:59
  S8: to that church, sitting on that chair again, remembering how
• 34:02
  S8: God administered to her. Beautiful.
• 34:04
  S5: You know, there's something interesting here. As you share that story,
• 34:07
  S5: there is a common thread between the desperate need in
• 34:11
  S5: the book of acts and God showing up in those ways,
• 34:13
  S5: and the desperate need in Iranian Christians or those persecuted
• 34:18
  S5: around the globe that have threats on their life constantly.
• 34:22
  S5: There seems to be a unifying theme around people who
• 34:25
  S5: are truly desperate, that begin to see visions like that,
• 34:31
  S5: and we hear about it all the time. It's astounding,
• 34:33
  S5: isn't it? Lana.
• 34:34
  S8: Yeah, I agree completely. Yesterday, actually, I had the privilege
• 34:37
  S8: of preaching at a church near Chicago right here and
• 34:42
  S8: ministering from the persecuted church. What can we learn from
• 34:46
  S8: the persecuted church? And that was one of my key
• 34:48
  S8: points that when we have desperate circumstances, we develop a
• 34:52
  S8: desperate dependency. And, you know, when you are in an
• 34:55
  S8: environment like Iran, that that's just happening already, you don't
• 34:58
  S8: have to do anything about it. Our challenge in the
• 35:00
  S8: West is to find opportunities to create that kind of
• 35:03
  S8: desperate dependency on God, where the world around us is
• 35:06
  S8: so comfortable.
• 35:08
  S2: I'm curious. Give us more. What did you say to
• 35:10
  S2: the folks listening about how creating that sort of desperation?
• 35:14
  S8: Well, I think a lot of it is about putting
• 35:16
  S8: ourselves in uncomfortable places and just and that means something
• 35:20
  S8: very different to each person. It could just be as
• 35:22
  S8: simple as going to the local grocery store and being
• 35:25
  S8: prepared to strike up a conversation about Jesus. You know,
• 35:28
  S8: a lot of our comfort, I think, builds around reputation,
• 35:32
  S8: how we come across, whether we look intelligent or put together,
• 35:36
  S8: you know, and we're prepared to let those things go
• 35:38
  S8: and look the fool and let God be the one
• 35:40
  S8: that gets glorified. Then we can create spaces where we
• 35:44
  S8: are out of our depth like, Lord, oh my goodness,
• 35:46
  S8: I just started this conversation and I have no idea
• 35:49
  S8: how to how to finish it. Well, and then God
• 35:51
  S8: can come through.
• 35:53
  S5: Lana Silk, our guest right now, president and chief executive
• 35:56
  S5: officer with Transform Iran, and she's doing a phenomenal work.
• 36:00
  S5: Let's stick after this theme. It's interesting. You bring up
• 36:04
  S5: a point that, frankly, I get I think gets lost,
• 36:07
  S5: but it's John Piper. I think he coined the phrase
• 36:10
  S5: that faith is risk and risk is faith. And he
• 36:13
  S5: said a life without taking risk is a life without
• 36:16
  S5: steps of faith. You see that with the people you
• 36:20
  S5: minister to. They have to, by virtue of being a
• 36:22
  S5: disciple of Christ, they're following Jesus. It's going to put
• 36:25
  S5: them in harm's way every day. How do we do
• 36:28
  S5: that without having it foisted on us? And a lot
• 36:31
  S5: of people are going, what would cause me to want
• 36:33
  S5: to do that without having it foisted on me?
• 36:36
  S9: Well, I think it's a really healthy self-feeding circle.
• 36:39
  S8: If we just take that first step, because you take
• 36:42
  S8: that risk and you get uncomfortable, you become reliant on
• 36:45
  S8: God to come through as your source, your strength, whatever
• 36:48
  S8: it is in that situation. When he does that, you
• 36:51
  S8: learn to trust him more. You experience what he's capable of.
• 36:54
  S8: You feel a little more courageous to take another risk,
• 36:57
  S8: a bigger risk, maybe. And again, you experience more of
• 37:00
  S8: God's supernatural power in your life and it just you
• 37:03
  S8: grow from there. You know, we, we look at some
• 37:05
  S8: of these amazing stories and we feel overwhelmed because people
• 37:08
  S8: are jumping off cliffs and we don't know how to
• 37:10
  S8: do that. Well, maybe we don't need to jump off
• 37:12
  S8: a cliff. Maybe we just step down a staircase for
• 37:15
  S8: a minute and just take that little baby step and
• 37:17
  S8: let God really increase our appetite and our courage for
• 37:20
  S8: greater and greater discomfort and risk for his glory.
• 37:24
  S2: We've got Lana Silk with us, President and Chief executive
• 37:27
  S2: officer with Transform Iran. I don't want to move past
• 37:31
  S2: just a context for understanding what's happening in Iran. We
• 37:35
  S2: have plenty of listeners who may not even be clear
• 37:38
  S2: on on what's going on, what the main challenges are.
• 37:40
  S2: We hear a lot of headlines, but we know we
• 37:42
  S2: don't get the full story. Give us the picture of
• 37:45
  S2: life every day for folks in Iran.
• 37:48
  S9: Well, I think we have really.
• 37:49
  S8: Gone past what was simply a spiritual, maybe slightly political
• 37:55
  S8: prosecuted environment to the kind of oppression that is getting
• 37:59
  S8: people from every angle. So the trauma side of it,
• 38:02
  S8: the relationships, the poverty, you know, there is just a
• 38:06
  S8: crushing in. And it just reminds me, actually, in this
• 38:08
  S8: moment of Paul in, I think it's Corinthians where he says,
• 38:11
  S8: we are pressed in from all sides, but not crushed.
• 38:14
  S8: So there is this from every angle, you know, they
• 38:18
  S8: can't afford to feed their families. They can't afford medical care.
• 38:20
  S8: Not someone they know is in prison now. Someone's unaccounted for. Meanwhile,
• 38:24
  S8: all their freedoms are taken away. They're being hunted down.
• 38:27
  S8: It's just constant. And I guess that goes back to
• 38:30
  S8: also what we were talking about earlier, about taking risks
• 38:32
  S8: and from those risks, learning greater and greater dependence on God.
• 38:36
  S8: God has strengthened this church over 4 or 5 decades
• 38:39
  S8: now in leaning into God, allowing him to be their
• 38:42
  S8: source for everything. And they're having to really live that
• 38:45
  S8: out now. Praise God for that growing dependence and courage
• 38:49
  S8: that's happened over many decades. All I hear from them
• 38:52
  S8: is courage. All I hear from them is willing sacrifice,
• 38:55
  S8: whatever it takes for God to be glorified. We. We
• 38:58
  S8: are struggling, but we are full of faith and hope
• 39:00
  S8: for God to not only redeem our nation, but show
• 39:02
  S8: his arm to the world and show how strong and
• 39:05
  S8: wonderful he is.
• 39:06
  S5: Lana Silk, our guest right now, and we're going to
• 39:08
  S5: give you a link in a little bit here. It's
• 39:10
  S5: pretty interesting. I'll tell you what I went through when
• 39:12
  S5: we first started talking with you about Iran is everything
• 39:17
  S5: inside me is like, get these mullahs out of there.
• 39:20
  S5: Here's a challenge, though, as we study scripture, if we
• 39:24
  S5: are near the end now, history can repeat itself. I'm
• 39:27
  S5: not predicting a day or an hour. I am leaning
• 39:29
  S5: toward a season, by the way, but we seem to
• 39:32
  S5: be marching toward what could be Gog and Magog, that
• 39:36
  S5: battle before Armageddon, which, by the way, is going to
• 39:40
  S5: bring in Turkey, who, by the way, used to be
• 39:42
  S5: a big ally of Israel and is now not. It's
• 39:45
  S5: going to include Iran and a couple other countries. So
• 39:48
  S5: in that battle alone, it implies there won't be a
• 39:52
  S5: new Shah. There won't be a. I almost hate to
• 39:56
  S5: say this. You know what I mean, Lana. If we
• 39:59
  S5: are nearer the to the end or in proximity enough,
• 40:03
  S5: it almost is requisite. There's a radical hatred of the
• 40:07
  S5: Jewish people. How do you wrestle with that?
• 40:10
  S8: You're right. We. I think we have harder times ahead
• 40:13
  S8: of us than we have behind us. When I speak
• 40:16
  S8: to my team about it, I. Our thinking are sort
• 40:20
  S8: of posture is we. We live with both intention. We
• 40:25
  S8: live as if. Today is the very last day. We
• 40:28
  S8: have no more time. There is urgency. Let's do what
• 40:31
  S8: we can and do it with a sense of fervor
• 40:35
  S8: because we're out of time. But at the same time,
• 40:38
  S8: we have to work and develop processes and build structures
• 40:42
  S8: and teams in a way that we might have generations
• 40:45
  S8: still to go. And we want to be good stewards
• 40:47
  S8: of what God has given us to plan well for
• 40:50
  S8: a future generation. And we have to do both. You know, Jesus,
• 40:53
  S8: of course, told us that no one knows when all
• 40:55
  S8: of these things are going to come to pass. So
• 40:57
  S8: we have to just think, right, plan as if we
• 41:00
  S8: have generations, as if there are children that are going
• 41:03
  S8: to come through, that have to inherit the good work
• 41:05
  S8: that we have set up, but live as if this
• 41:07
  S8: is our very last day and we're working with great urgency.
• 41:10
  S6: That's powerful.
• 41:11
  S2: It really is. And you know, when you anyone who's
• 41:14
  S2: gone through any degree of hardship, looking at the scale
• 41:17
  S2: of all of the things that could happen in life,
• 41:19
  S2: there's nothing that starts getting you looking toward eternity, like
• 41:23
  S2: things being really challenging, whether it's a tough diagnosis or
• 41:27
  S2: even a job loss, or even all the way to
• 41:30
  S2: the scale of full scale persecution like you're describing for
• 41:32
  S2: the people of Iran in there is a gift, a
• 41:37
  S2: gift of, of having things clarified, the important things set
• 41:41
  S2: out in front of you and speak to that a
• 41:43
  S2: little bit, because we don't we don't wish for it,
• 41:46
  S2: but without Hardship. Do we really see what's most important?
• 41:50
  S8: Very true. And there are scriptures that talk about how
• 41:53
  S8: persecution is as necessary part of our growth as Christians.
• 41:57
  S8: We can expect it, but we can also expect to
• 41:59
  S8: grow as a result of it. And persecution and hardship
• 42:02
  S8: are of course different as well. Some of it is
• 42:04
  S8: we are being targeted because of our faith, and some
• 42:06
  S8: of it is just life circumstances like you described. In fact,
• 42:10
  S8: one of the illustrations I love to use is one
• 42:12
  S8: of my own daughter. And it was she wasn't being persecuted.
• 42:15
  S8: But when we moved to the US, she was nine
• 42:17
  S8: years old and she just had a really, really tough year.
• 42:20
  S8: She had no friends. She was very isolated. She was
• 42:24
  S8: I don't think she was depressed, but she was heading
• 42:26
  S8: in that direction and she was losing herself. And, you know,
• 42:30
  S8: as a mother, you're watching that and everything in me
• 42:32
  S8: was just tortured. Like, how do I rescue her out
• 42:35
  S8: of this situation? How do I fix this? But what
• 42:38
  S8: I learned was that she's a very, very relational person,
• 42:42
  S8: super extrovert, and she draws a lot of joy and
• 42:46
  S8: a lot of fulfillment from her relationships. And God was
• 42:49
  S8: ruthlessly perhaps teaching her that he was enough for her,
• 42:54
  S8: even even for what she wants from her friendships. And
• 42:57
  S8: she had to go through season as a nine year
• 42:58
  S8: old girl to learn that all the joy that I get,
• 43:02
  S8: all the fulfillment that I get, the fun that I
• 43:04
  S8: have with my human friends. God is the better version
• 43:07
  S8: of all of that. And until she learned that, that
• 43:11
  S8: that whole situation wasn't released for her. Wow. She had
• 43:13
  S8: to learn to rely on him.
• 43:15
  S5: Man, that's great counsel for, uh, aspiring helicopter parents, that
• 43:20
  S5: is for sure, because that's where you've got to really
• 43:22
  S5: love care, do everything you can to comfort, but also
• 43:25
  S5: leave some of that up to God. And that's hard.
• 43:28
  S5: Way to go, Lana. Lana and her team are doing
• 43:30
  S5: an amazing work boom crew, and I want to thank
• 43:33
  S5: you for your generosity. I'm going to let Lana do
• 43:36
  S5: that in a moment, because when we put out a
• 43:38
  S5: key word and we ask for in this case, just
• 43:41
  S5: as God prompts you, give. Why? Because these monies go
• 43:45
  S5: directly to the equipping of the saints to do the
• 43:48
  S5: work of ministry in Iran. Some of it offsets emergency
• 43:52
  S5: costs for leaders. Some of it provides training materials. But
• 43:57
  S5: at the end of the day, they are responding to
• 43:59
  S5: one of the greatest harvest of the gospel souls, men
• 44:04
  S5: and women, boys and girls for Jesus than any other
• 44:08
  S5: country on the planet. Yeah, that's what Missiologists are saying
• 44:11
  S5: right now. Iran is the fastest growing church per capita.
• 44:15
  S5: And you say, how in the world can this be?
• 44:17
  S5: And it's because when the things of earth grow strangely dim,
• 44:22
  S5: the light of his glory and grace shines brightly. Guys. So, Ali,
• 44:26
  S5: we got a link, don't we?
• 44:27
  S2: We do. You can text transform to 800 555, 78, 98.
• 44:33
  S2: Transform to 805, five, five, 78, 98. And as promised,
• 44:38
  S2: I want to give you the last word our folks have.
• 44:40
  S2: Every time we have you on and are able to
• 44:43
  S2: give people really the heart behind what your ministry is.
• 44:47
  S2: Speak directly to the folks, many of whom who have
• 44:49
  S2: who have supported this ministry.
• 44:51
  S8: Yeah. I just want to say such a huge thank you.
• 44:54
  S8: We feel the love and the support. I have chosen
• 44:58
  S8: to keep alerts in my inbox for when we get
• 45:01
  S8: donations through our website, because I want to pray for
• 45:04
  S8: every person that supports us. And sometimes it can be
• 45:08
  S8: overwhelming and praise God for that to be overwhelming. But
• 45:12
  S8: I want to say that we see each of you.
• 45:14
  S8: We pray for each of you by person, by name.
• 45:17
  S8: And we praise God for you, for your, uh, the solidarity,
• 45:21
  S8: the strength, and the encouragement that you provide through every gift.
• 45:24
  S8: Nothing is too small. So thank you. We see it.
• 45:27
  S8: We receive it with gratitude. You are making such a
• 45:30
  S8: difference and we really feel part of this community here.
• 45:33
  S8: You have done that for us and we appreciate it.
• 45:35
  S2: Just text transform to 800 555, 7898. The word to
• 45:41
  S2: text is transform.