Latest / Karl and Crew / Finding Freedom from Performance Pressure with Greg Dempster & When Crisis Becomes a Calling with Nadia Gordynsky

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Finding Freedom from Performance Pressure with Greg Dempster & When Crisis Becomes a Calling with Nadia Gordynsky · Karl and Crew

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  S1: Broadcasting from Chicago, across North America and beyond. It's Carl
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  S1: and crew.
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  S2: Come as you are an experienced guide, overcome what seems
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  S2: impossible and live as you never imagined.
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  S1: Start your morning with a laugh.
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  S2: Cold spaghetti's. Great. Okay.
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  S3: Okay, I disagree. I guess not. No, I guess certainly
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  S3: it is not. No. Okay. Well, man, I'm going back.
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  S2: To my bachelor days. I guess I thought cold spaghetti
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  S2: was universally loved.
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  S4: I've never been known for, like, high levels of coordination.
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  S4: That's just. It feels like.
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  S2: I've never been known for high levels of coordination.
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  S1: Delivering the truth daily.
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  S4: If it were possible to have every worldly gain available
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  S4: and you're forfeiting your soul. There's no amount of gain
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  S4: that would make it worth it.
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  S5: Our own way never ever works. Because it's apart from
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  S5: the life source, which is God.
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  S6: For me. Growing up. Love was always conditional and can
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  S6: be taken from you. Christ love can't. And he went
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  S6: 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.
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  S2: Yeah. Pressure reveals where we run. You know, I found
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  S2: out blaze had never run into a a man on
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  S2: the sidewalk who was crouched down. He's only seen him
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  S2: standing up.
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  S4: How did you make.
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  S2: Well, we discovered this in an interesting way. I have
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  S2: never seen a more panicked Alaskan husky than last night.
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  S4: Oh.
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  S2: He was freaking out. We're coming across the roadway to
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  S2: a sidewalk, and he spots this guy, and the guys just.
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  S2: Turns out the guy knows me. And he knows about
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  S2: Carl and crew and, oh, preach at his church. And.
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  S2: But he's crouched down and he's on his buds, and
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  S2: he's just kind of tuning into something. And he had
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  S2: never seen that person crouch down, apparently, in his whole
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  S2: long life of eight and a half months here. So
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  S2: we're coming across all of a sudden, he just all
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  S2: four legs, just bam, full spread plant in the middle
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  S2: of the road. And he looks and he's like, huh.
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  S3: Huh.
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  S2: And he's not even barking. He's just going. And he's
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  S2: not growling either. He's just it's full panic mode. And
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  S2: I've seen this before. It's a real bummer when you
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  S2: have 16 of them hooked up together. They all panic.
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  S4: Together, panic.
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  S2: And I've had that happen when there's moose in the
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  S2: trail and they all like, whoa, look at the size
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  S2: of that sucker, dad. You take them on. And that's,
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  S2: that's the point here. So he's he's in the middle
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  S2: of the road. He's bouncing. I even laughed in the
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  S2: middle of it because he. I've never seen a dog
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  S2: be able to self elevate off four feet just just
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  S2: from four pads. Just flexing those toe muscles and bowing
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  S2: went up in the air and came back down. Bowing
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  S2: went up in the air. I mean, he was every
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  S2: fiber of his body was just tense. So he's freaking
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  S2: out about this guy. And then he did it again.
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  S2: He ran right in behind me like you get him.
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  S2: This guy's gonna get me. You get it? You make
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  S2: sure we're clear. And so he put me on the sidewalk.
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  S2: He's on a patch of grass between me and the guy.
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  S2: And only then I was thankful. I didn't want to
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  S2: tell the guy. Hey, could you stand up? You're freaking
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  S2: out my dog.
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  S3: Fair?
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  S6: Yeah.
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  S2: But but he. But he he stood up and then
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  S2: he's like.
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  S3: Oh.
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  S5: He's he's a normal.
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  S3: Human. He's a human.
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  S2: He's a human. It's just one of the funniest picking
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  S2: things in the world. But the precious thing is this
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  S2: big old boy went under pressure And he's got these teeth.
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  S2: I mean, he's got a mouth full of the biggest
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  S2: meat eating, meat ripping, tender, tenderizing teeth you can imagine.
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  S2: And guess where he runs behind, dad?
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S2: And I feel like saying to him, dude, you could
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  S2: take this guy better than I could by far.
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  S3: Exactly.
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  S4: What did the guy say? Did he even notice?
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  S2: I don't even think he knew what was going on.
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  S3: Oh, okay. Oh. That's funny.
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  S2: It was kind of happening behind him.
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  S3: Oh, gotcha. A little.
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  S2: Bit. And that was part of the problem. He couldn't
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  S2: see a face. All he saw was a huddled mass.
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  S3: Sitting.
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  S2: Where.
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  S3: Nothing's been before.
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  S4: Kind of creature is this.
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  S2: What is this, man? It's just funny. Oh, where we
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  S2: run when the pressure builds, huh? Guys?
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  S4: Oh, boy. We run. We run somewhere.
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  S2: Yeah, well, we do, don't we, Ali? That's the point.
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  S4: We do. You know, I put a question out there
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  S4: a while ago because I was just curious. What do
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  S4: you think is the most pressure filled moment in sports?
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  S4: so a couple different scenarios. Is it you're down by
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  S4: your NBA finals down by one times out. You've got
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  S4: two free throws. Is it. That's the kicker. Who has
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  S4: to come out with the game on the line.
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  S3: That's worse.
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  S4: Is it those extra innings in baseball. Remember remember the
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  S4: 2016 Cubs run?
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  S3: Yes. Oh. 10th inning. Cleveland. Take me there. So what
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  S3: do you think? Sorry, Cleveland.
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  S4: Sorry about that. What do you think is the most
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  S4: pressure filled moment in sports?
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  S3: What would you.
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  S2: Say? The second option. I'm sorry. I'm camping.
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  S3: On.
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  S2: That one. I cannot.
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  S4: You think the.
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  S3: Kicker?
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  S2: Oh, I cannot imagine being a kicker in front of
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  S2: 60,000 people. Are you kidding me?
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  S5: I mean, the it's it's a ball. You're, I don't know,
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  S5: probably most of the time, if it's the last second kick,
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  S5: you take it wherever you got it. So you're probably
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  S5: 45 to 55 yards away. And and there are 11
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  S5: dudes trying to kill you.
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  S3: Okay.
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  S5: And you are not the same size as they are.
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  S5: And so you have to kick it over these people
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  S5: that are trying to kill you and then make it
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  S5: through these two little flagpoles and, and that seems. And
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  S5: then if you miss it, everyone will hate you. If
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  S5: you do it, everyone's like, well, you did your job.
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  S4: What about penalty kicks in soccer? Because I feel like
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  S4: I mean.
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  S2: Yeah, but here's.
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  S3: Not a loving guy coming.
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  S2: After.
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  S3: Me.
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  S5: It's one on one.
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  S3: It's just.
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  S4: You.
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  S2: Here's the thing. Here's the thing. There is no missed
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  S2: penalty kick or no missed free throw that has the
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  S2: name double Doink that everybody.
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  S3: Knows what it means.
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  S5: That is true. In Chicagoland 2018, we were this close
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  S5: to beating the Eagles in the playoffs and, uh. And
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  S5: the ball doinked off one of the uprights and then
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  S5: doinked off the crossbar and bounced out and, uh, and
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  S5: none of us have forgotten it. And we all say,
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  S5: double doink.
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  S3: Here's, I guess eight years later.
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  S2: I'm trying to be fair because basketball, the pressure on
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  S2: that is huge.
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  S3: I mean, the free throws they're called, right?
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  S4: Well, I mean you're supposed to the free throw. It's
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  S4: supposed to be automatic I think even more so than
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  S4: a kick. I mean it's literally you're you're your best
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  S4: free throw shooter shoot in the 90s 90%. I mean
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  S4: they're there. So but I don't know. I come in
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  S4: I think that that penalty kick and like the World
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  S4: Cup finals.
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  S2: Now well now you're up in the stakes here.
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  S3: But yeah.
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  S2: Penalty.
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  S3: Kick penalty kick in. The world's.
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  S2: Not one. It's well penalty kick.
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  S3: That's like.
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  S2: You're not talking extra innings or whatever they.
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  S3: Call it like in.
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  S4: Soccer. Like when it comes down to the penalty kicks.
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  S5: Yeah it's it's a one one guy in front of
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  S5: the goalie and that's it just goes to the hole.
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  S4: And there's no other sport that the whole world cares
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  S4: more about.
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  S2: Yeah, the whole world for sure.
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  S3: That's true. The whole soccer.
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  S4: You're adding, you're.
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  S3: Folding.
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  S2: In some more. Yeah. There's some other factors here that
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  S2: are really good. I still say you say say for
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  S2: the West. I mean, if a, if a if a
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  S2: field goal kicker hears the word doink. Yeah. They perspire,
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  S2: they pit out.
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  S5: I will say this too, because there's only one kicker
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  S5: on a team. If you sometimes if you miss that,
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  S5: you lose your job like Cody Parkey with the double doink.
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  S5: Guess who didn't kick here after that year was Cody.
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  S2: Parkey and that's. I don't think that's fair.
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  S4: I don't think that's fair either.
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  S5: Well, it's hard because there's you get there's one kicker
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  S5: on every team and there's a lot of people out
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  S5: there who can kick a ball. And so it's like, well,
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  S5: if you don't, if you miss a free throw, if
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  S5: Jalen Brunson misses a free throw in the next game
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  S5: after time has gone out, guess who's still going to
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  S5: be on the team next season. It's Jalen Brunson.
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  S4: I knew Jonathan was going to have some passion behind
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  S4: this one. If you want to weigh in, because I
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  S4: know you've got thoughts 805, 557898 text only on this.
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  S4: We're going to move quick. But what do you think
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  S4: is the most pressure filled moment in sports 800 555, 78, 98.
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  S2: What is the most pressure filled moment in sports? 800 555, 78, 98.
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  S1: Your shot of hope to get you through the day.
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  S6: You are so, so loved. God does not want you
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  S6: to stay in your past. And I want you to
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  S6: know and believe that today.
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  S1: You're listening to Carl and crew.
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  S2: Tasha Layton write their worship through it. Okay. What are
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  S2: some responses here?
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  S4: Well, most pressure filled moment in sports. How about sudden
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  S4: death in the Stanley Cup final? How about having to
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  S4: land that vault in gymnastics in the Olympics? Remember Kerri
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  S4: Strug back in, I believe in the early 90s, bottom
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  S4: of the ninth, down by one run, bases loaded, full count.
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  S4: Oh boy. Someone else said I agree with the football kicker.
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  S4: Baseball championship last inning. Yeah, I think there's a lot
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  S4: of baseball answers with when you're. We got that full
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  S4: count and something needs to happen for the game to
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  S4: be won. I don't know, there's a lot of different
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  S4: ways you could go with this. I think we've landed
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  S4: on the kicker here, but not everybody is in agreement.
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  S5: I think it's safe to say, though, that all of
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  S5: these situations are extremely pressurized.
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  S2: They are for sure. Okay. We're tackling a topic here
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  S2: about pressure today. That pressure reveals where we run, and
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  S2: there's no pressure like we feel when we have blown
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  S2: it spiritually. And the real question, when we blow it
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  S2: spiritually or we feel like this madness cycle that we
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  S2: kind of kept under wraps has now been exposed. Where
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  S2: do we go? And some of you feel like that,
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  S2: or I don't know that anyone listening has ever not
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  S2: felt like that. And the question is, are we running
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  S2: to the father or are we running somewhere else? And
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  S2: then what do we do to get back on track again?
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  S1: Hang on your shot of hope to help you through
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  S1: the day. This is Carl and Crew on Moody Radio.
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  S2: It's Carl and crew talking about pressure. And where do
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  S2: you run and do you cling to God? It's a
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  S2: fascinating thing. Let me do a quick riff on this
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  S2: one in Psalm 46. You'll find that this song is
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  S2: written by the sons of Korah. I like to call
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  S2: them one of the earliest worship bands out there. They
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  S2: were amazing and they had a long legacy of great
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  S2: songwriting and the. The question is, what can you learn
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  S2: about Sons of Korah? Well, if you think Sons of Korah,
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  S2: you're thinking about the kids and grandkids of Korah through
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  S2: Cora's rebellion against Moses, but really against God, right? I mean,
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  S2: the earth swallowed them up with hundreds more, and Korah was.
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  S2: His rebellion was quashed by God himself. So you go
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  S2: to Psalm 46 and you look at this and you think,
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  S2: what kind of a long tale did the story of
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  S2: Cora's rebellion have? And you would probably think a generation
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  S2: or two. Here's an astounding thing that you find when
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  S2: you look at Scripture. This Psalm 46 was probably written
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  S2: somewhere between 500 and 700 years after Cora's rebellion. You
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  S2: ready for this? Around somewhere between 15 and 20 generations later.
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  S4: Wow.
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  S2: Okay. You get your head around this one, guys.
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  S4: It's a lot of time.
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  S2: Yeah. But there was something they didn't forget. They did
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  S2: not forget the reality of that rebellion. And they decided,
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  S2: generation after generation after generation, they look back to Cora's
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  S2: rebellion and they said, we are not going to do this.
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  S2: Now here's a little thing in the second verse that
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  S2: is a dead giveaway. How it was constantly on their mind.
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  S2: It starts Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength.
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  S2: In other words, this is who we run to when
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  S2: pressure builds. A very present help in trouble. Therefore we
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  S2: will not fear. Though the earth gives way. Do you
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  S2: hear that? We will not fear, though the earth gives way.
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  S2: This is an absolute no nod to 15 to 20
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  S2: generations prior, 700 years prior to Kora's rebellion and the
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  S2: earth swallowing them up. Can you. AM I the only
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  S2: one blown away by this reality that this thing is
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  S2: hung with these worship leaders for up to 20 generations later?
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  S5: I love that it did, because obviously Cora's rebellion is
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  S5: in Scripture. So this family to be 20 generations down
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  S5: the line and still be called the sons of Cora
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  S5: to be, you know, connected to this one guy who
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  S5: who caused a lot of problems, uh, and to be
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  S5: known for his disobedience. I love that they made reference
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  S5: to it because they're saying we may come from the
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  S5: same line, but we're different. We're different people, and we're
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  S5: humble to the Lord.
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  S2: Yeah. What what a crazy thing. What a crazy thing.
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  S2: That Cora's life left a long tail of worship leaders
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  S2: that lasted for up to 20 generations.
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  S5: It is really cool.
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  S2: I mean, that just that kind of stuff astounds me, guys.
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  S5: Yeah.
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  S2: So then you go all the way through the Psalm.
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  S2: It's very short. As a matter of fact, it's short enough. Ali,
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  S2: do you have Psalm 46 opened up. Yeah.
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  S4: Read it. I'll start right back up from the top.
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  S4: God is our refuge and strength. a very present help
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  S4: in trouble. Therefore we will not fear. Though the earth
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  S4: give way, though the mountains be moved into the sea,
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  S4: though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble
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  S4: at its swelling. There is a river whose streams make
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  S4: glad the city of God, or make glad the city
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  S4: of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God
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  S4: is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved.
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  S4: God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage,
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  S4: the kingdoms totter. He utters his voice. The earth melts.
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  S4: The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of
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  S4: Jacob is our fortress. Come, behold the works of the Lord.
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  S4: How he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes
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  S4: wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks
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  S4: the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots
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  S4: with fire. Be still and know that I am God.
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  S4: I will be exalted among the nations. I will be
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  S4: exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us.
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  S4: The God of Jacob is our fortress.
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  S5: Wow.
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  S2: This psalm to me is breathtaking. It. It can take
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  S2: your breath away. And what the sons of Korah have
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  S2: written here is that no matter how bad it gets,
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  S2: no matter what kind of pressure is building, we are
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  S2: going to run into the arms of God. What a
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  S2: powerful teaching, guys. What a powerful song.
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  S5: And I think sometimes because we've even the Lord says,
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  S5: you know, those who do evil, it will be put
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  S5: upon the. The third and fourth generation. It continues. It
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  S5: has a lasting effect. But righteousness will continue for a
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  S5: thousand generations, and we. Even though our. The people who
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  S5: came before us maybe have put things on us that
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  S5: have done damage or have have created difficulty and maybe
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  S5: influenced us to act a certain way at certain times.
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  S5: We have the ability to say no to that and
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  S5: to follow the Lord. We don't have to go the
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  S5: path of the people who came before us. We can
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  S5: turn and seek God.
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  S1: Standing on the rock each and every day. You're listening
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  S1: to Carl and Crew.
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  S2: Got a question for you this morning, guys. Tell us
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  S2: about a moment of pressure you felt that caused you
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  S2: to run to God as your refuge and strength? Good
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  S2: thing about this is, I think most of you listening
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  S2: right now can look to a time, not least of
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  S2: which is when we were born again felt like, man,
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  S2: I've got pressure around me that is so incredibly enormous
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  S2: and I don't know where to go. God uses those
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  S2: kind of moments when we are spiritually bankrupt to say, God,
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  S2: I need you now. And that begins this journey of
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  S2: dependence and dependence on God.
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  S5: Yeah. For me, my pressure situation was, uh, when my
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  S5: wife and I were trying to have our first daughter. Uh,
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  S5: we're pregnant with our second now, but It when we
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  S5: were trying to grow our family, it. Everyone who's gone
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  S5: through this knows how tense and pressurized these situations can
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  S5: feel because you. You hope and you wait. And then
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  S5: you find out not pregnant. And then you got to
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  S5: wait a little longer. And then you hope and you
• 17:43
  S5: wait and you find out not pregnant. And that can
• 17:45
  S5: go on for months at a time, sometimes even longer.
• 17:48
  S5: And ours went on for a while. And every time
• 17:51
  S5: we got a not pregnant result on a test, it
• 17:53
  S5: just was so discouraging and it was so pressurized. And
• 17:56
  S5: I just remember, you know, feeling so stressed out all
• 17:59
  S5: the time, is it going to happen? Is it not
• 18:01
  S5: going to happen? And then feeling disappointed, um, one day
• 18:05
  S5: after a not pregnant result, my wife said, can when
• 18:08
  S5: you get home from work, can we just sit and
• 18:10
  S5: pray and read the word together? And I said, yeah,
• 18:12
  S5: we can do that. And we read Ruth and not
• 18:16
  S5: because of it. Had anything we knew about, you know,
• 18:19
  S5: pregnancy or anything. It's not a story about pregnancy, but
• 18:21
  S5: at the end she gets pregnant and doesn't talk about
• 18:24
  S5: any complications or anything like that at all. But it
• 18:27
  S5: still says at the end that God enabled her womb
• 18:29
  S5: to bear a child. And we realized that God was
• 18:32
  S5: telling us, listen, it's my decision. It's not up to you.
• 18:36
  S5: The pressure isn't on you. It's 100% chance or it's
• 18:39
  S5: a 0% chance. It's on me. And from that moment,
• 18:43
  S5: we said, okay, I'm going to run to you, release
• 18:46
  S5: the stress and say, God, it's 100% chance or a 0% chance.
• 18:50
  S5: Every time I started to get stressed about it, I
• 18:51
  S5: would run to him with that. And the next result
• 18:55
  S5: that came out was a pregnant result. And we were
• 18:59
  S5: so happy and so joyous. And we named our daughter
• 19:02
  S5: Eliana because it means God has answered. But in those
• 19:06
  S5: in that pressurized situation, the only thing we could do,
• 19:10
  S5: the only place we could feel peace, was running to
• 19:12
  S5: God and reminding ourselves that he was the one in
• 19:14
  S5: control of all of it.
• 19:16
  S2: Yeah, that's a beautiful story, bro. That's a beautiful story.
• 19:20
  S5: Yeah. And we get that testimony now every time we
• 19:23
  S5: say her name.
• 19:24
  S2: Isn't that great?
• 19:25
  S5: Yeah.
• 19:26
  S2: Names matter, don't they?
• 19:27
  S5: They really matter. They they really, really matter.
• 19:32
  S2: So I think the natural takeaway here is every one
• 19:37
  S2: of us heading out into the day has something. Maybe
• 19:40
  S2: it's all consuming, maybe it's a little subconscious thing that's
• 19:44
  S2: rolling through your head. And the answer for every one
• 19:48
  S2: of these situations, amazingly enough, is return to God. He
• 19:53
  S2: doesn't say, come to me, all who are weary and
• 19:55
  S2: heavy laden. Once I hear that voice over and over again. Yep.
• 19:59
  S2: That's the power of the gospel, right, Ali?
• 20:01
  S4: And the beauty, when you read this, Psalm 46 is that,
• 20:04
  S4: you know, the earth giving way, the mountains being moved
• 20:08
  S4: into the sea. I mean, that is catastrophe. I mean,
• 20:14
  S4: that we can trust that God is our very present
• 20:16
  S4: help in trouble, that he's our refuge and strength even
• 20:18
  S4: when the worst possible. The worst case scenario. Apocalypse is
• 20:23
  S4: in front of us. Yeah. Like that to me, when
• 20:27
  S4: I've thought about that, like this very verse, like that's
• 20:30
  S4: very comforting that there's nothing I could possibly face today
• 20:33
  S4: or any other day that's too big for God.
• 20:37
  S2: Yeah. So I've had a lot of discussions with people.
• 20:40
  S2: They look at what's going on in the world and
• 20:42
  S2: a lot of the conflict and moral slides and different
• 20:45
  S2: things camp out in Psalm 46, guys, no joke. That's
• 20:49
  S2: your Psalm today, the sons of Korah singing about God
• 20:55
  S2: and running to him, no matter how catastrophic things may seem.
• 21:00
  S2: Psalm 46 camp out there today.
• 21:04
  S1: Start your day moving closer to Jesus. You're listening to
• 21:07
  S1: Carl and crew.
• 21:10
  S2: What's the most pressure you ever felt in elementary school?
• 21:13
  S7: Oh, that's a good question.
• 21:16
  S2: You know, Allie's got it. Alis got it. She's got.
• 21:20
  S4: It. I mean, there are a couple of things that
• 21:22
  S4: come to mind.
• 21:23
  S2: I want to hear them.
• 21:24
  S4: But do you remember the game? Heads up. Seven up.
• 21:26
  S7: Yes.
• 21:28
  S4: And so how the game goes. Everybody puts their heads.
• 21:31
  S4: A couple people are picked. And this is my recollection
• 21:34
  S4: of it. And then you everyone has their head down
• 21:38
  S4: on the desk and their thumb up. And then you
• 21:40
  S4: have to walk around and you push somebody's thumb down. Okay.
• 21:44
  S4: But you. And then it's this whole guessing game to
• 21:46
  S4: try to figure out who did it. And so I
• 21:50
  S4: remember like, when I was picked, the amount of pressure
• 21:53
  S4: that I would feel to try to remain composed and
• 21:56
  S4: not look like.
• 21:57
  S5: Yeah, like you did something.
• 21:59
  S4: Like, you know, I'm just acting really nonchalant because of
• 22:02
  S4: course it wasn't me and I was so bad at it.
• 22:04
  S2: I did give.
• 22:05
  S4: Away. So I remember one time like, like when actually
• 22:09
  S4: like turning around and casually writing on the chalkboard, like
• 22:14
  S4: to deflect attention, which absolutely draws all the attention. But
• 22:18
  S4: and then the other thing was tetherball at recess, the
• 22:21
  S4: amount of pressure I felt when it was my turn
• 22:23
  S4: to go up against Tanya Minor, who was the best
• 22:27
  S4: tetherball player in the history of elementary school. I mean,
• 22:30
  S4: this girl was like six feet tall in elementary school,
• 22:33
  S4: and she could get that ball going and you're just
• 22:37
  S4: standing there flailing. So it was like looking up like, oh, boy,
• 22:40
  S4: I gotta face Tanya today. There you go. That's a
• 22:46
  S4: window into.
• 22:47
  S8: How about you guys?
• 22:47
  S2: Elementary school.
• 22:48
  S8: Biggest story.
• 22:49
  S5: Oh man. The most recent I can think of it was,
• 22:53
  S5: was actually middle school. Uh, so my, I, it was
• 22:58
  S5: English class and you know, those spelling books that you
• 23:01
  S5: would get and I don't know, maybe do you guys,
• 23:03
  S5: did you guys have spelling books?
• 23:05
  S4: Oh.
• 23:05
  S6: Oh yeah, I think so.
• 23:06
  S5: Yeah. They were big books that had little like workshop
• 23:09
  S5: pages in them. And then, you know, we would do
• 23:11
  S5: the workshop and then we would pass it over to
• 23:13
  S5: the student next to us, and then they would grade
• 23:16
  S5: it for us and. Okay. And I was known and
• 23:20
  S5: really still don't have good handwriting, but I had I
• 23:22
  S5: have really bad handwriting. Uh, it's not good. And I
• 23:27
  S5: would always, when I made a d a lowercase d,
• 23:30
  S5: it would come across the top line and look like
• 23:33
  S5: a t crossing. And the kid who was grading my book,
• 23:37
  S5: you could tell it was a D. He called it
• 23:39
  S5: out in front of the entire. Because I can't read this.
• 23:41
  S5: And so the teacher picked up the book and she
• 23:44
  S5: then proceeded to write on the chalkboard, Jonathan, this is
• 23:47
  S5: how you make a D, this is how you make
• 23:50
  S5: a T, and I'm 14 years old.
• 23:53
  S4: Oh, this is okay. This took a turn that night.
• 23:56
  S5: Yeah. And so no, no, no, it was the closest
• 24:00
  S5: I could remember to the most pressure I had felt.
• 24:02
  S5: But but I even even kids in the class who like,
• 24:05
  S5: didn't know me were like, okay, stop, teacher, you're embarrassing him.
• 24:09
  S5: He knows how to make a T. And it was
• 24:12
  S5: pretty crazy. But by far the most pressure I ever
• 24:15
  S5: felt was that.
• 24:16
  S9: Oh, man.
• 24:17
  S2: Yeah, it's getting worse as we go here today.
• 24:21
  S6: I feel bad, I don't remember anything.
• 24:25
  S4: I was always composed.
• 24:26
  S5: Well, she was she was like Tanya. She was she
• 24:29
  S5: was the one putting the pressure on others.
• 24:32
  S6: Um.
• 24:33
  S5: She was her school's.
• 24:34
  S4: Tanya recess queen. Yeah, I was hardly six foot tall. Greek.
• 24:39
  S4: We're lucky to get five foot okay. But anyways.
• 24:42
  S6: Um, yeah, I, I feel bad. I really nothing's.
• 24:45
  S4: Coming. Not even in dance or theater. Well, you always
• 24:49
  S4: get the.
• 24:49
  S6: Butterflies before you hit stage a little bit. That's the
• 24:51
  S6: excitement of it.
• 24:52
  S4: But I was calm, cool and collected.
• 24:54
  S5: She always is. Still is.
• 24:56
  S6: Man.
• 24:56
  S4: You ever felt pressure Carl?
• 24:58
  S6: Yeah.
• 24:59
  S2: Never in my life.
• 25:00
  S4: Never. Yeah.
• 25:02
  S8: I mean.
• 25:03
  S2: Felt pressure all the time. Mainly because I had orange
• 25:05
  S2: hair and buckteeth. Seriously? Yeah. I mean, I felt pressure
• 25:09
  S2: all the time, And I think the biggest pressure I
• 25:15
  S2: ever felt, though, was for my parents. I didn't know it,
• 25:18
  S2: but I saw him in the audience. I'm looking out.
• 25:21
  S2: We had this big assembly, big performance thing and the
• 25:24
  S2: whole choir singing something and saying something. It was the
• 25:28
  S2: Christmas story or something like that, and I've got some
• 25:32
  S2: part that I wasn't supposed to do yet. So I'm
• 25:34
  S2: the only kid up there standing up there that's not
• 25:38
  S2: saying anything. And my dad's a school principal and he's
• 25:42
  S2: known in the district. And I found out later, my
• 25:45
  S2: mom looks at him and says, Joe, he did not prepare.
• 25:48
  S4: Oh, no.
• 25:49
  S8: Oh, my dad going, yeah.
• 25:51
  S2: I know Eva. He didn't.
• 25:52
  S8: They thought.
• 25:52
  S4: The worst.
• 25:53
  S2: And then my part came and then they had double
• 25:56
  S2: the pressure because now I'm the featured voice of this.
• 25:59
  S8: Oh goodness.
• 25:59
  S2: I think I was Scrooge or something, so I had
• 26:02
  S2: to do this whole part. And I had actually prepared
• 26:04
  S2: my tail off. So they had pressure thinking their son
• 26:07
  S2: totally swallowed his gum on this project. And then I
• 26:11
  S2: had pressure when I had to speak up, and then
• 26:12
  S2: my mom freaked out for me, but I. But I
• 26:16
  S2: knew it was pressure because I can remember what I
• 26:18
  S2: was wearing, what the lights were like in the gym.
• 26:21
  S2: I could remember how the chairs were set up where
• 26:24
  S2: everyone was sitting. I can remember the dessert afterward and
• 26:28
  S2: going to bed that night. Now I don't have that
• 26:30
  S2: kind of recall, but when you can recall stuff like that,
• 26:35
  S2: you know what I'm saying?
• 26:36
  S4: Oh yeah.
• 26:36
  S2: That's it's etched in your brain.
• 26:39
  S4: And I, I don't know. I mean, this is where
• 26:41
  S4: you start sounding old when you say how it used
• 26:43
  S4: to be.
• 26:43
  S2: Oh yeah. But you are, you are. It's okay. You
• 26:46
  S2: can sound old.
• 26:46
  S4: But I definitely feel like we've scaled back some of
• 26:50
  S4: those pressure moments for elementary school. Like my kids don't
• 26:53
  S4: have near the kind of.
• 26:54
  S2: And I'm not in favor of that.
• 26:56
  S4: I'm not. Well, I mean, I think there's two sides
• 26:59
  S4: of it. I mean, there's something, I guess, character building
• 27:01
  S4: about being called to the mat and having to try
• 27:03
  S4: to climb the rope to the top 100%.
• 27:06
  S5: Absolutely.
• 27:07
  S4: Oh, yeah.
• 27:08
  S2: That was pressure.
• 27:09
  S4: I'm not getting anywhere near the top. I can't even
• 27:12
  S4: get my feet off the ground with that rope. They
• 27:14
  S4: don't do that to kids anymore. Like you don't have
• 27:17
  S4: to pick teams. Like all of that stuff sort of
• 27:19
  S4: been kind of neutralized. So some of that elementary school
• 27:22
  S4: pressure's been just kind of just cast aside so they
• 27:26
  S4: don't have to go through those rites of passage.
• 27:29
  S5: I'm okay with not picking teams, but you need to
• 27:31
  S5: do the rope challenges in front of your peers. I
• 27:35
  S5: didn't do the rope climb in front of people, but
• 27:36
  S5: they made us do pull ups in front of people.
• 27:38
  S9: Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was for.
• 27:40
  S2: The presidential fitness.
• 27:41
  S5: Yeah, absolutely.
• 27:42
  S2: In school.
• 27:42
  S9: Flexed.
• 27:43
  S4: Arm hang.
• 27:43
  S2: I don't think it's all bad, though. I remember we
• 27:46
  S2: changed a kid's life one day. Um.
• 27:49
  S9: His name's.
• 27:49
  S2: How. Well, it was really cool. I saw his whole.
• 27:54
  S2: This is now middle school. Oh, goodness sakes, I might
• 27:57
  S2: cry over this one. Um, you know, kids can be
• 28:01
  S2: so cruel, but.
• 28:02
  S9: Kids.
• 28:02
  S2: Can also have great moments. And we had this. It
• 28:06
  S2: was a 400 meter run and I wasn't super fast,
• 28:11
  S2: a 400 meter, but as fast as 102 hundred. So
• 28:14
  S2: I think I came in second or something like that
• 28:16
  S2: because there were better 400 meter runners and but it's
• 28:19
  S2: everyone in gym class. And when I got done, there
• 28:24
  S2: was this kid named John. And I'm not going to
• 28:26
  S2: say his last name, but. Guys, he was maybe 100m
• 28:32
  S2: in when I finished. And he slowed down from there.
• 28:37
  S2: And he was a kid that struggled with his weight
• 28:38
  S2: big time. And he was a kid that got mocked
• 28:41
  S2: a lot and, oh goodness, I'm going to cry. I
• 28:48
  S2: don't know what happened, but man, a few of us
• 28:50
  S2: started yelling, come on, John. Good grief, I'm crying.
• 28:54
  S9: Oh.
• 28:55
  S2: Uh, a few of us started yelling, come on John.
• 29:00
  S9: Yeah.
• 29:01
  S2: And he's at about 200m and he can barely pick
• 29:06
  S2: a foot up off the track, guys. And oh goodness sakes.
• 29:12
  S2: And everybody's finished now. And he's got 150m to go.
• 29:15
  S2: And everybody's yelling come on John. Come on John. Come
• 29:20
  S2: on John. And I watched that big old boy pick
• 29:23
  S2: up his feet and lay him down. And he came
• 29:25
  S2: across that finish line. Good gracious. He came across that
• 29:30
  S2: finish line. And John's life changed that day, guys.
• 29:36
  S6: Yeah.
• 29:37
  S2: He stood tall. He started believing in himself like he
• 29:39
  S2: can't believe. And I saw the whole trajectory of high school.
• 29:43
  S2: I moved schools when I was a sophomore, but I
• 29:47
  S2: saw his whole trajectory shift.
• 29:49
  S4: So you think just him being able to complete.
• 29:53
  S9: It.
• 29:53
  S2: Was it was a pressure moment when everybody was looking
• 29:56
  S2: at him, and it was a moment when he was
• 29:59
  S2: probably dying in a pile, and to have that pressure
• 30:02
  S2: moment be turned around into a cheering moment changed the
• 30:07
  S2: trajectory of his life.
• 30:10
  S5: That's right. If you think he. If you think he
• 30:13
  S5: wasn't thinking about the fact that he was the last
• 30:16
  S5: one out there and that he was.
• 30:18
  S2: It was all written all over him, even on the
• 30:20
  S2: back side of a track.
• 30:21
  S5: I mean, sure, absolutely. And he's thinking, all these kids
• 30:25
  S5: are looking at me. They're all done. They want to
• 30:27
  S5: get inside, they want to be done with this. And
• 30:29
  S5: I'm out here and they're all mad at me and
• 30:30
  S5: they're laughing at me. And instead he comes around and
• 30:33
  S5: he hears his name being screamed and he's being encouraged
• 30:36
  S5: by his peers. It was the pressure taken off of him.
• 30:38
  S2: Yeah, it was just cool. For crying out pic. I
• 30:41
  S2: have tears on my chin.
• 30:42
  S4: Yeah you are. Wow, this really choked you up this morning.
• 30:46
  S2: Yeah, it's okay though. Um, you know, pressure can be
• 30:52
  S2: so hard. And sometimes it doesn't end well for people.
• 31:00
  S4: No. And it's the pressure that you feel, regardless of
• 31:04
  S4: what's on the line is so real. Like you. That's
• 31:08
  S4: why you can still take yourself back to that. Those
• 31:11
  S4: moments of pressure in elementary school, because was anything on
• 31:14
  S4: the line with the presidential fitness test or climbing the rope?
• 31:16
  S4: Of course not.
• 31:17
  S9: No, just bragging rights.
• 31:19
  S4: But you, when you feel like I gotta, I gotta
• 31:23
  S4: do something here. Like people are looking at me. This
• 31:27
  S4: is the time where I'm expected to perform. Like that
• 31:30
  S4: feeling is real, whether you're 8 or 80.
• 31:33
  S2: Oh, no. I gotta tell you, the worst one for me, though,
• 31:36
  S2: without a doubt, was speech class.
• 31:38
  S4: Oh, yeah.
• 31:39
  S2: I mean, I could not get up in front of
• 31:41
  S2: people and speak. Guys, I could not.
• 31:43
  S6: You really?
• 31:44
  S2: Oh, yeah. And I mean, it was I'm in 10th
• 31:48
  S2: grade at service high school and I'm in speech class.
• 31:53
  S2: And it made it worse because there were seniors off
• 31:55
  S2: the track team that I ran on that were in there.
• 31:58
  S2: And I think people because of my personality. Thought he's
• 32:01
  S2: going to get up there and nail it guys, I
• 32:04
  S2: tell you. My voice was so trembling. And my knees
• 32:09
  S2: were I and no, there was no blood in my system.
• 32:12
  S2: It all ran out somewhere. It was gone. Oh, that.
• 32:15
  S2: Bless her heart. The teacher bailed me out and said,
• 32:18
  S2: that's good, Carl, that's good. You did really good. And
• 32:21
  S2: it's like, no, I didn't. I stunk and and I
• 32:24
  S2: walked out of class that day and she grabbed me
• 32:26
  S2: and she goes, listen, you just got to breathe a
• 32:28
  S2: little bit. And she goes, I didn't know that this
• 32:30
  S2: would be that hard for you. I said, it's just disabling, man.
• 32:34
  S2: I can't even do it. Isn't that a and now look.
• 32:37
  S4: Look at the irony, right?
• 32:38
  S7: Yeah, yeah.
• 32:39
  S2: That's crazy. That's good, isn't he?
• 32:42
  S9: Guys, he.
• 32:42
  S7: Is very good.
• 32:43
  S10: Oh.
• 32:43
  S9: Amen on that.
• 32:44
  S2: Well, that went a weird direction here today.
• 32:47
  S7: It did.
• 32:48
  S4: Pressure is a very relatable feeling. I mean everybody has
• 32:54
  S4: felt it.
• 32:54
  S5: Every every age stage in life.
• 32:57
  S9: Yeah.
• 32:58
  S1: She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her.
• 33:03
  S1: Super di is in the crew. It's Carl and crew
• 33:06
  S1: on Moody radio.
• 33:08
  S2: Talking pressure all week long and there's no pressure. It's
• 33:13
  S2: a different kind of pressure, but there's a pressure that
• 33:16
  S2: we feel when we failed at something spiritually. Look, we
• 33:22
  S2: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
• 33:25
  S2: and the reality is that we can find ourselves in
• 33:29
  S2: situations where we've blown it. And the question is, where
• 33:33
  S2: do we run? Greg Dempster works with a lot of leaders,
• 33:38
  S2: some of whom many of whom have found themselves in
• 33:42
  S2: a situation where they've blown it. They failed. The question is,
• 33:47
  S2: where do they run? Greg, it's good to have you
• 33:49
  S2: with us today. This is tender topic. You know, in
• 33:52
  S2: First John, we find if you say you're without sin,
• 33:54
  S2: you lie and the truth isn't in you. So in
• 33:57
  S2: many respects, we've all missed the mark, but there's some
• 34:00
  S2: missing the mark that can have a high cost attached
• 34:03
  S2: to it. Where do people run wrongly when we get
• 34:08
  S2: in pressure situations with spiritual failure? What have you learned
• 34:12
  S2: in all your years of working with high profile leaders?
• 34:15
  S11: I think they end up running in the same direction
• 34:17
  S11: that they ran that got him into trouble, that they've
• 34:20
  S11: been running independently. They many of them have have been
• 34:25
  S11: self-made men, self-made women leaders who know how to do
• 34:31
  S11: ministry really, really well. They know how to build out
• 34:34
  S11: their resume. They know how to influence people. They've carried
• 34:39
  S11: the weight on their shoulders, and carrying the weight independently
• 34:44
  S11: has led to major breakdown. And then the problem that
• 34:48
  S11: they run into is then they feel that to get
• 34:51
  S11: out of the train wreck that's become their life. They've
• 34:55
  S11: got to do it on their own. And it seems impossible.
• 34:58
  S4: Greg Dempster with us this morning, founder and director of
• 35:01
  S4: Christ Life Ministries. You know, is it the pressure? You've
• 35:04
  S4: heard the quote that pressure makes diamonds, but it also
• 35:08
  S4: bursts pipes. So pressure can do a lot of different things.
• 35:10
  S4: Some people say, I thrive under pressure. I do my
• 35:13
  S4: best work when there's some pressure. But when leaders feel
• 35:17
  S4: the pressure to perform or to keep up, some sort
• 35:21
  S4: of image, does that in and of itself kind of
• 35:25
  S4: start to reveal some cracks when you're feeling that pressure,
• 35:29
  S4: as opposed to kind of realizing that it's on God,
• 35:32
  S4: it's not on me.
• 35:34
  S11: You know, the reality is that when we're ministering or
• 35:37
  S11: when we're doing life or the jobs that we're driving
• 35:40
  S11: to right now in order to get to get valued to,
• 35:45
  S11: to perform in order to be seen when there's get
• 35:50
  S11: attached to it. We are also opening ourselves up to
• 35:52
  S11: massive liability because for every positive, for everything that we do,
• 35:57
  S11: that's a win. There's also great liability, right? If we're
• 36:01
  S11: basing our sense of value on on how well we
• 36:04
  S11: do or how well we're perceived, then we're on the
• 36:09
  S11: roller coaster, this emotional roller coaster where I have these
• 36:12
  S11: high highs, but I also have these deep lows. And again,
• 36:17
  S11: it all comes back to me whether I'm able to
• 36:21
  S11: perform well enough, whether I'm seen well, whether anybody's seeing
• 36:25
  S11: behind my mask or not. And, and God would have
• 36:29
  S11: us look up into his face and see that, that
• 36:32
  S11: the scripture portrays something totally different for us, that we're
• 36:36
  S11: unceasing spiritual beings that are deeply loved by him, that
• 36:41
  S11: he's got a plan that's been woven together for our
• 36:44
  S11: lives and, and that he's the one who wants to
• 36:47
  S11: provide the power, the resources to pull it all off,
• 36:50
  S11: that it's on him. We need to become less. He
• 36:53
  S11: needs to become more. And that really is the secret
• 36:56
  S11: to turn to the 180 turning from where you're broken,
• 37:00
  S11: where you are right now, to running into the arms
• 37:03
  S11: of a God who is more than willing to receive you.
• 37:06
  S2: I guess pressure is unavoidable. We. There is no way
• 37:10
  S2: in a broken and fallen world that you won't have
• 37:13
  S2: expectations from others, from yourself. That creates pressure moments. And
• 37:19
  S2: the only question then is where are you going to run?
• 37:22
  S2: And the quicker we can get into the arms of God,
• 37:24
  S2: the better off we are. Right? Greg?
• 37:26
  S11: That's exactly it. You know, we often say here that
• 37:28
  S11: disruptive emotion is an indicator that we're carrying something alone, uh,
• 37:34
  S11: that God only can carry, that God wants us to
• 37:37
  S11: begin to work into a life, move into a life
• 37:41
  S11: where God is doing the things that are impossible for
• 37:44
  S11: us to do ourselves first Peter five seven encourages. It
• 37:48
  S11: exhorts us to cast care and receive care. And I'm
• 37:53
  S11: convinced I've seen this a thousand times in the lives
• 37:56
  S11: of the leaders that we work with, that as leaders
• 37:59
  S11: learn how to cast care onto the Lord, it opens
• 38:03
  S11: up the floodgates of the care of Jesus pouring back
• 38:07
  S11: into them.
• 38:08
  S4: Greg, you know, being tempted to put leaders on some
• 38:11
  S4: sort of a pedestal is certainly nothing new. I mean,
• 38:14
  S4: there are passages in the Bible that talk about people
• 38:17
  S4: having a preference. I follow this person or I follow
• 38:20
  S4: this person. But certainly now with YouTube and with social media,
• 38:24
  S4: with the pressure to kind of create a brand or
• 38:27
  S4: to build some sort of platform, how much do you
• 38:30
  S4: see that play into the pressure that leaders feel that
• 38:35
  S4: it's not just getting up and preaching the word anymore
• 38:37
  S4: and faithfully shepherding the people? There's now pressure to kind
• 38:42
  S4: of have this public following.
• 38:45
  S11: I think, especially after the last six years, you know,
• 38:48
  S11: Covid exposed so much. You know, we say in the
• 38:52
  S11: the worship world, the music world, that that the room
• 38:55
  S11: covers over a multitude of mistakes or sins. Like you
• 38:58
  S11: could have a band playing in a big room and
• 39:00
  S11: you don't hear the nuances that that are just wrong,
• 39:04
  S11: the pitchy realities for, for any band on Sunday morning.
• 39:09
  S11: But when you're beginning to live stream, meaning that that
• 39:13
  S11: you're not touching what people are hearing on Sunday morning
• 39:16
  S11: and you're just sending it over to the airwaves, it is.
• 39:19
  S11: I've met with so many pastoral leaders that are just like,
• 39:23
  S11: oh my gosh, now I've got 100 new things that
• 39:26
  S11: I need to fix in order for us to be perfect.
• 39:29
  S11: And really, when all is said and done, what pastors
• 39:32
  S11: experience is the same? That thing that we all experience
• 39:36
  S11: and that is that that if their basis for value
• 39:41
  S11: Is performance there going to be doing that from the pulpit?
• 39:45
  S11: They're going to be doing it as they lead their
• 39:47
  S11: small groups. Or for many of you who are listening today,
• 39:51
  S11: you're going to be doing it. When you show up
• 39:53
  S11: to your job this morning, you're going to be looking
• 39:56
  S11: for approval. You're going to be trying to do the
• 39:59
  S11: best you can to gain something. Hear me say this, please,
• 40:03
  S11: to gain something that you already fully have in Jesus.
• 40:09
  S11: You're fully received. You'll never be loved more than you
• 40:12
  S11: are loved. You. You'll never value as gifted by God
• 40:16
  S11: and not earned. It's like bringing your own brown bag
• 40:19
  S11: to a banquet. We think we need to provide something
• 40:23
  S11: for ourselves when Jesus has provided.
• 40:26
  S2: It into a banquet.
• 40:28
  S11: That's just the truth.
• 40:29
  S2: You're right on, man. All right. Here's something real self-effacing
• 40:33
  S2: for you. So our show, if that impresses pressure enough
• 40:38
  S2: because everything we say goes out there. No way to
• 40:40
  S2: retrieve it. But now we're doing these little YouTube shorts
• 40:43
  S2: or reels or whatever they're called. And I got to
• 40:46
  S2: preview a couple before they went out and I'm like, boy,
• 40:50
  S2: you look pretty rough, Karl. You're you're looking kind of rough.
• 40:55
  S2: And you know what? I had to get to the
• 40:57
  S2: point and go, you know what? I'm not thirsty. I
• 41:01
  S2: really didn't look that great when I was 30, 60.
• 41:05
  S2: I'm in my 60s and there's something healthy about going, oh, well,
• 41:11
  S2: it's okay, because I'm really in the arms of God.
• 41:15
  S2: And you mentioned first Peter five seven. But the interesting thing, Greg, is,
• 41:20
  S2: you know this. You back up one verse and it
• 41:22
  S2: begins with humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,
• 41:26
  S2: so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
• 41:29
  S2: casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.
• 41:34
  S2: There's something about saying, okay, God. Pressure's off because I
• 41:41
  S2: don't have to fake it. I really don't. You know
• 41:43
  S2: everything about me, and it's going to be okay. Boy,
• 41:46
  S2: that can be that can put us in a lane
• 41:48
  S2: that is so much healthier, right? Greg.
• 41:50
  S11: Come on, man. There is. There's a way that leads
• 41:53
  S11: to life. And it's almost as if back to our
• 41:56
  S11: old construction days. The lumber truck shows up, drops the
• 42:00
  S11: unit of lumber on the driveway, and we go to
• 42:02
  S11: work building this edifice to ourselves. And then when we
• 42:06
  S11: lay down at night, we hear nails popping out and
• 42:10
  S11: that edifice coming down, and then that lumber, when we
• 42:13
  S11: wake up the next morning, is stacked again neatly in
• 42:15
  S11: the driveway. God will do whatever it takes to help
• 42:20
  S11: us move towards true life. And we're so convinced that
• 42:24
  S11: life is all about what I build, what I provide
• 42:27
  S11: for myself. It's really the self led or self-empowered life
• 42:31
  S11: that it takes some time to realize that God can
• 42:35
  S11: do it better. Yeah. And that the things that I've built,
• 42:38
  S11: maybe it's better that they're torn down again. So that
• 42:41
  S11: we can begin again and allow God to build the
• 42:45
  S11: thing that he always designed our lives to be. And
• 42:48
  S11: let me tell you, the reality is that God's way
• 42:51
  S11: is better. Every time he makes life, he produces life
• 42:56
  S11: where there is no life. Everything that God does leads
• 43:00
  S11: to a sense of growth and a greater sense of vitality.
• 43:05
  S11: And to go the other way, we can experience virtual reality.
• 43:11
  S11: Virtual vitality. But it's short lived.
• 43:14
  S4: Greg Dempster with us, founder and director of Christ's Life Ministries.
• 43:17
  S4: If you want more on this great ministry, just text
• 43:19
  S4: life to 805 557898, text life 805 557898.
• 43:29
  S2: Yeah. One of the coolest things you're going to find
• 43:30
  S2: when you go here, boom crew is Resources about mining
• 43:35
  S2: down to the raw, unvarnished, Formica less raw wood relationship
• 43:42
  S2: between you and God. And you might want to look
• 43:45
  S2: at journeys. There's a resource there called journey. Journey one,
• 43:48
  S2: journey two, start with journey one. If you haven't done
• 43:51
  S2: that already, we've had thousands of you that have grabbed
• 43:54
  S2: up these resources in the past. But at the end
• 43:57
  S2: of the day, woo! Pressure is always going to be there.
• 44:01
  S2: The only question is, is it going to drive us
• 44:03
  S2: into the arms of God and who we are in him,
• 44:07
  S2: or continue to try to make a life that has
• 44:09
  S2: a bit of a veneer to it? And that one
• 44:12
  S2: is never sustainable. Text the word life to 805 557898
• 44:20
  S2: 800 555, 78, 98.
• 44:27
  S1: The gospel changes everything.
• 44:29
  S4: Where else am I going to find peace, joy, eternal
• 44:32
  S4: life not found in anyone else.
• 44:36
  S1: You're listening to Carl and crew.
• 44:38
  S2: The amazing reality of being under pressure is that God
• 44:43
  S2: is there. The question is, will we see him and
• 44:46
  S2: will we hear his voice? It's astounding to me how
• 44:49
  S2: we hear over and over again that a lot of
• 44:51
  S2: our calling is discovered during crisis, and that's the way
• 44:55
  S2: it is for Nadia Gudinski. She's our guest right now. Nadia,
• 44:59
  S2: when you think about crisis, you don't normally think about calling.
• 45:03
  S2: But that's your story, isn't it?
• 45:05
  S12: Yes, actually it is. It is.
• 45:08
  S2: Would you give us a little glimpse? Go back to
• 45:12
  S2: a heartbreaking time in your life. Give us some of
• 45:14
  S2: the details there.
• 45:16
  S12: The details. We lost our baby on 18 weeks pregnancy.
• 45:21
  S12: Me and my husband, uh, little baby Jonathan before. I
• 45:26
  S12: never thought it will happen to me because I served God.
• 45:30
  S12: I did everything right and was devoted Christian, but he
• 45:34
  S12: was born actually 18 weeks and he was alive. It was,
• 45:39
  S12: you know, not what I expected. Everything was great. And
• 45:43
  S12: suddenly my baby lived for an hour and we were
• 45:49
  S12: hoping that doctors will save him. But it was he
• 45:53
  S12: was too small to live. And, uh, at that moment
• 45:57
  S12: when we were saying goodbye to him, we really didn't
• 46:00
  S12: know what to make of it. We didn't blame God,
• 46:03
  S12: but we really were lost. After he passed away, I
• 46:08
  S12: went to Ukraine, to my home country, and I believe
• 46:13
  S12: it was not accidentally. I met people who were promoting
• 46:18
  S12: sanctity of life and he was like talking about abortion. Uh,
• 46:23
  S12: after I lost baby, I met those people. They invited
• 46:27
  S12: me to come back to Ukraine. When I went back.
• 46:31
  S12: I realized that my home country is pretty much women
• 46:36
  S12: doing abortion as a method of prevention pregnancy. So I
• 46:42
  S12: didn't know that because growing Christian home, I didn't know
• 46:45
  S12: what abortion is. It was totally foreign to me. But
• 46:49
  S12: after I lost a baby and I saw this beautifully
• 46:53
  S12: formed baby, Jonathan at 18 weeks pregnancy, so I realized
• 46:59
  S12: that millions of women are tearing apart those babies, not
• 47:04
  S12: even knowing that this is a life. So I came home,
• 47:09
  S12: back to America, and I told my husband, um, it's like,
• 47:14
  S12: aha moment. I have to go back. I have to
• 47:16
  S12: go back. And from that time on, I started traveling,
• 47:21
  S12: speaking about pro-life, talking about sanctity of life with students
• 47:25
  S12: in Ukraine. And this ministry started growing. And then we
• 47:29
  S12: start opening. Ten years ago, we started we opened our
• 47:33
  S12: first pregnancy center in Ukraine. So never thought that losing
• 47:38
  S12: little baby Jonathan will turn into something that over 1000
• 47:45
  S12: little babies right now walking this earth because of this
• 47:49
  S12: little baby, that was a crisis. That was my crisis
• 47:54
  S12: that turned into something amazing. And I'm grateful to God.
• 47:58
  S4: Nadia Grodynski, our guest this morning. She's the founder, president
• 48:01
  S4: and CEO of Save a Life International. They operate 13
• 48:05
  S4: centers across multiple countries with a team of 45 staff,
• 48:08
  S4: 150 volunteers. Talk a little bit about this ministry. Just
• 48:13
  S4: last year alone, two over 200 mothers came to faith
• 48:17
  S4: in Christ through this ministry. Tell us a little bit
• 48:21
  S4: about that.
• 48:21
  S12: I, I'm very excited to talk about it. First of all,
• 48:25
  S12: because we save a life turned out to be not
• 48:30
  S12: just a network of pregnancy centers, crisis pregnancy centers. It's
• 48:36
  S12: a network that actually gives women hope in Christ. We
• 48:42
  S12: believe that you cannot save baby if you're not influencing
• 48:47
  S12: the mother. So that's our method. We believe that only
• 48:51
  S12: through Christ the woman could could be transformed so she
• 48:56
  S12: doesn't have to perform an abortion. She doesn't have to
• 48:59
  S12: get rid of the little baby to prove something to
• 49:04
  S12: get ahead in life. We believe that through Christ we
• 49:08
  S12: can transform women, not just save babies. So this ministry
• 49:12
  S12: actually right now we have 17 pregnancy centers because during
• 49:16
  S12: the war, ministries started growing because we had we had
• 49:21
  S12: so many women who are afraid to give birth in
• 49:25
  S12: every pregnancy right now is a crisis pregnancy. And that's
• 49:29
  S12: amazing opportunity to talk about law to them and bring
• 49:34
  S12: them to Christ through their crisis.
• 49:36
  S2: Nadia Gudinski is our guest right now. We love that here, Nadia,
• 49:40
  S2: because our whole conviction here with Carl and crew on
• 49:44
  S2: Moody Radio is that Christ at the core changes a
• 49:48
  S2: lot of choices that we make. What is your approach?
• 49:51
  S2: Because there's a lot. I've seen some reels and some
• 49:56
  S2: TikTok shorts and different things here as of late. There's
• 49:59
  S2: kind of two different approaches to this. One is pretty
• 50:02
  S2: hard line and a lot of yelling and raised voice,
• 50:06
  S2: but a lot of it is mercy, love, care, compassion. Obviously,
• 50:11
  S2: that's your tech. How do you approach this?
• 50:14
  S12: Our motto is sanctity of life, women's dignity and love.
• 50:22
  S12: Those words tell everything, because first of all, our approach
• 50:27
  S12: is to give, to show women that she has a
• 50:32
  S12: dignity in Christ, that she is God's image. Once woman
• 50:38
  S12: understands her value in Christ, then she doesn't have to, uh,
• 50:45
  S12: accommodate society or anybody else. She could have this baby
• 50:51
  S12: if this happens. So she is voluntarily will give birth
• 50:56
  S12: to this baby. She's not. She doesn't have to get
• 50:58
  S12: rid of this child to have her dignity because God
• 51:03
  S12: already gave her her value. So that is our approach
• 51:08
  S12: to elevate woman as a person in Christ.
• 51:12
  S4: Nadia, you mentioned that every pregnancy in Ukraine right now
• 51:15
  S4: is a crisis pregnancy because of the war, the birth
• 51:20
  S4: rate has plunged to just one child per woman, the
• 51:24
  S4: lowest in Europe, among the lowest in the world. There
• 51:28
  S4: has been attack on on hospitals. Talk a little bit
• 51:30
  S4: about ministering in this context. I'm sure you find opportunity
• 51:35
  S4: for the gospel, but also a whole lot of pain
• 51:40
  S4: as women are struggling with with what to do, feeling
• 51:42
  S4: like their lives and their babies lives are at risk.
• 51:45
  S12: I just actually this morning I received, I received reports
• 51:50
  S12: every day from all our centers. And the one woman
• 51:54
  S12: was telling we recorded on a video and she was saying, um,
• 51:59
  S12: my husband is in the war. And when this is
• 52:03
  S12: our first child and I wanted this child. But when
• 52:07
  S12: he was drafted, we just got married, I got pregnant,
• 52:11
  S12: he was drafted, and I really didn't know what to do,
• 52:15
  S12: Not because I didn't love this child, not because I
• 52:19
  S12: didn't want it, but I felt like I won't be able.
• 52:23
  S12: It's the wrong time to have a baby and I.
• 52:26
  S12: My husband at work. I didn't know what's going to happen.
• 52:29
  S12: And she found our crisis pregnancy centers. What she said
• 52:33
  S12: it becomes a community. She said, even if I didn't
• 52:38
  S12: have didn't need money, but I was broken. I was scared.
• 52:44
  S12: And these people gave me not just a pack of
• 52:47
  S12: diaper and told me, go home. They. Because through our programs,
• 52:52
  S12: those women actually are flocking to the centers more than ever.
• 52:56
  S12: And it's not only pregnant women, but women with babies.
• 53:00
  S2: So, Nadia, give us one story that most grips your
• 53:04
  S2: heart right now.
• 53:06
  S12: One story that never leaves my mind. Um, about Tanya. When, um,
• 53:12
  S12: Russians were bombing. They bombed her house. Um, so she
• 53:17
  S12: had 16 year old boy, a 12 year old girl,
• 53:20
  S12: and she was pregnant. She was six months pregnant. So
• 53:24
  S12: when she was trying to escape from Russia. Russian occupied territory,
• 53:28
  S12: she had to go through through checkpoints. So she was
• 53:32
  S12: she was driving in her car and she was harassed
• 53:35
  S12: on every checkpoint. Once she was trying to get to
• 53:39
  S12: Ukraine on Ukrainian territory, the sole Russian soldier told her,
• 53:43
  S12: so you want to go to Ukraine? Why? Why don't
• 53:46
  S12: you want to stay with Russia? So and he said, okay, fine.
• 53:50
  S12: You could get in the car. I'll give you 50s. Uh, drive.
• 53:55
  S12: And after that I'm going to start shooting. So imagine
• 53:58
  S12: this woman jumps in the car with her children and
• 54:01
  S12: she starts driving. And she said we were driving, navigating.
• 54:06
  S12: And this soldier start shooting. Literally start shooting after she
• 54:12
  S12: went away and they hit her gas tank. So miraculously
• 54:18
  S12: she was able to get through territory and she ended
• 54:22
  S12: up in our life center. Her boy ended up in
• 54:26
  S12: the hospital because he was so shocked he couldn't talk,
• 54:29
  S12: and she gave birth to a little baby boy. So
• 54:34
  S12: that's a one story that this woman become our client.
• 54:38
  S12: We help her. We have. We found her place to live.
• 54:41
  S12: So this woman, after that, she she gave birth and
• 54:44
  S12: she would stay with us. And later she moved out
• 54:48
  S12: into Europe. And she wrote a letter. She said, if
• 54:51
  S12: not for you, my baby wouldn't be alive.
• 54:54
  S4: Nadia Gudinski has been our guest this morning. The ministry
• 54:58
  S4: is called Save a Life International. You can text the
• 55:01
  S4: word save to 805 557898. Just one word. Save 805 557898.