Latest / Everything In Between: a Trinity UMC Podcast / Faith in Real Life
Transcript
- 0:01Life isn't black and white. It's not just mountaintop
- 0:04moments or rock bottom seasons. It's lived in the middle, in the
- 0:08doubts and the prayers that feel unanswered, in the joy you
- 0:12didn't see coming. Welcome to Everything in
- 0:14Between, a podcast from Trinity UMC.
- 0:20All right. So welcome to our podcast,
- 0:25Everything in between. My name is Christina Shaver.
- 0:27I am the pastor here at Trinity. Who else is with me?
- 0:30Today I am Josiah Drew. I am here for on another episode
- 0:36of Everything and in Between. That's how you say right?
- 0:40Everything and in between or. Everything.
- 0:41Everything in between. I just want I was testing
- 0:44everybody else's knowledge of. Our show and with that,
- 0:48greetings. I'm Melissa.
- 0:49I am the Next Generation minister here and we are excited
- 0:53to talk to you about some exciting things.
- 0:57Who else is here? Thanks Melissa for the setup.
- 1:00I appreciate that. You're an exciting thing.
- 1:03I'm just back here behind the computer.
- 1:05Nobody's paying attention to me. They're just all just in there.
- 1:07They're just doing what they want.
- 1:08I'm Ben. I can't see you on the camera.
- 1:10Please remember that I came looking for you last night.
- 1:13You did. She did come looking for me last
- 1:15night. Oh, that was the last night
- 1:16thing. It was I was she saw my car in
- 1:18the parking lot at weird hours and she was like, he's still in
- 1:21the building. I wonder if he's OK and not
- 1:22dead. And so here we are, worship arts
- 1:26pastor, also behind the computer, doing the stuff I do
- 1:28these things, I. Didn't hear that last episode.
- 1:35Oh, I had it. It was in there.
- 1:36Was it? There were cricket.
- 1:38Oh, there were crickets. Let's go.
- 1:41Come on. Can I just say I think we have
- 1:46excellent podcast voices. Oh, do you?
- 1:49Do yeah, like I think my voice gets a little deeper in the
- 1:52podcast. Oh, it's a little sultry, little
- 1:54sultry. Oh my God, now?
- 1:56I thought I sounded really nasally.
- 1:58I didn't know that I sounded like this, and I was.
- 2:00I think. You sound great.
- 2:02Thanks. I think the mic are, I think the
- 2:04mics are doing a lot of the heavy lifting.
- 2:06What are we talking about today? What is our topic, Melissa?
- 2:11Our our first topic is what role does hope play in your life
- 2:15right now? That's our first topic, yeah.
- 2:17Anyway, our question of what role does hope play in your life
- 2:21right now ties us back into our topic of faith in the middle of
- 2:27real life. Because granted, we all work in
- 2:30the church and we're here. I don't know.
- 2:33Collectively, if you put us all together seven days a week,
- 2:35someone's in the office. We're real people who have real
- 2:39lives, who still live in hope and in God's grace.
- 2:44Yeah, we are definitely real people, non perfect.
- 2:49Not. Perfect, not perfect goobers who
- 2:52were just trying to figure it out.
- 2:54Just I just did an eyebrow raise, so maybe he's perfect.
- 2:57I don't know why Melissa's lenses are zoomed in on me, but
- 3:01I need her to stop. So I will say when it comes to
- 3:06our faith in real life, hope is a huge part of that.
- 3:09There's always hope. I, I tend to have a very
- 3:14optimistic view of life, like it is all going to work out.
- 3:18And the reason I have this, and this is something I want to talk
- 3:20more in depth about one day is that when my son with George was
- 3:27very sick and we got some bad news and it was just like 1 bad
- 3:32news piece after another, I was like screaming at God, like
- 3:38where is George's miracle? And God's voice came to me and
- 3:43it was God's voice. It was not my voice.
- 3:46God's. God was like Christina, George
- 3:48doesn't need a miracle. He needs time.
- 3:51And he has that. And I've watched my son heal and
- 3:57become this hilarious, fun, super energetic person and it
- 4:03there's not a day go by, goes by that I don't think at least 10
- 4:06times. Maybe you don't need a miracle.
- 4:09Maybe you need time and to watch things come together and to
- 4:15watch God move. I mean, I can look at that.
- 4:18I think about like coming to this church, how God really laid
- 4:21it out for me to come and how things have gone really well.
- 4:26And I was nervous because I thought, what if I don't do a
- 4:29good job? Or like what if the church just
- 4:31like keeps declining and then it hasn't like we it is?
- 4:36Just the opposite. Just the opposite.
- 4:38I feel like I have thrived here. I feel like we've all thrived.
- 4:41I feel like the Church has thrived and I, I think about
- 4:45that in relationships. I think if you just commit to
- 4:49working in relationships and in friendships, they keep going.
- 4:53And with children, you just, you have to give the time and the
- 4:57energy and there's just always hope and you have to be willing
- 5:01to work in that hope. And I think hope inspires me to
- 5:04keep showing up and to keep working.
- 5:07And and so that is something that I, I think about every
- 5:11single day now. I'll try and talk that, yeah.
- 5:14I think hope inspires hope inspires purpose.
- 5:18Just like just if you even think about just what it means to have
- 5:23hope, it means that you're not there yet.
- 5:25It means that that you're looking for a day to where it's
- 5:33not going to be. You're looking for a time that's
- 5:36going to be better than now. And so if you strive to, to
- 5:42reach that and hope means that you're eventually going to get
- 5:47out of what you're where, where you're in.
- 5:48So I think that's has a lot to do with our faith that but also
- 5:52being able to, I think we talked about this a little bit in the
- 5:54in the last one, but being able to be where you're at and learn
- 5:59lessons and where you're at and not rush to get to the end
- 6:02because even though you're hopeful for the next stage,
- 6:04you're not rushing to get to that to.
- 6:06That spot? Yeah, Matt Hall talked about
- 6:10when I was starting, when I was interning for him and starting
- 6:12out in youth ministry, it was trust the process.
- 6:15And I think that plays a lot into hope because right now when
- 6:18we get 6th graders or kids that are brand new to faith, you look
- 6:21at them and you're just like, oh gosh, I hope this works out.
- 6:26I hope they know Jesus. I hope they don't break
- 6:28something. Oh my gosh.
- 6:31Confirmation. And so, and then you watch them
- 6:35grow and develop like confirmation, they stood up and
- 6:38they read their creed and they were so proud of that.
- 6:41And I think you, you look at it and you just hope that like my
- 6:45hope is God's going to work this out.
- 6:48God's going to play the role. I'm just an instrument in this,
- 6:52but in my everyday life, hope plays a role in the fact that
- 6:58Jane just graduated VPK yesterday and she's going to
- 7:00kindergarten. I know I have cried so much, but
- 7:03she goes to kindergarten next year and she won't even let me
- 7:06call her a kindergartner yet. She just wants to be a graduate.
- 7:09She's not ready to be called that.
- 7:11But my prayer life is a lot of hope and asking God just to
- 7:18prepare this path for her so that when she starts school,
- 7:22which I know she'll do well, but when she starts school, she
- 7:25finds the friends, she finds the community, kind of like she's
- 7:30had here Because and here she's been in this God bubble of
- 7:34Christian preschool. And my hope now is that she'll
- 7:38find some sort of like God bubble at elementary.
- 7:42Christina, the I've heard you say in your sermons and now in
- 7:45the podcast several times that like you heard God say that it
- 7:49was that he doesn't need to be healed, that he just needed time
- 7:52to. Be a miracle.
- 7:53Doesn't need a miracle, but needs time like during that, I
- 7:58know I believe that God works in throughout everything.
- 8:02And so in that time where you were in the waiting, is there
- 8:05any like particular stories of like things that you saw, like
- 8:08divine conversations, things that happened either up in
- 8:11Boston or where you were at? And like, was it easier during
- 8:16that time to trust God in the struggle or do you find it after
- 8:21the struggle? It's easier to trust him after
- 8:23knowing it. Or can you I?
- 8:25Did not find it easy to trust God in the middle of that
- 8:28because I was so devastated that my son was born with half of his
- 8:32heart not there. And what I couldn't envision
- 8:37what George's life would look like.
- 8:42There were some really good divine moments like so George,
- 8:47part of the issue was he had, he kept getting fluid in his lungs
- 8:52and they were giving him this like terrible formula.
- 8:55So he stopped wanting to eat. And then they decided that he
- 8:59just needed fluids for a little bit.
- 9:01And because the formula tasted bad and he just was so sick,
- 9:05George basically forgot how to eat.
- 9:08And I was like, really. And they were starting to want
- 9:14to put AG tube in so they could feed him through his stomach.
- 9:18And I really hated that because I mean, God had the by this
- 9:22time, God has said he just needs time.
- 9:24He doesn't need a miracle. And I really thought, I want for
- 9:28my son to have this normal life. I want him to eat through his
- 9:31mouth and I need a sign that tells me that I can keep trying
- 9:37to figure out how to feed him and help him remember how to use
- 9:42the like sucking reflex and and so.
- 9:50Or do I need to get a doing? Does he need to have AG tube?
- 9:53Well, for the first time in like weeks, that day he took a
- 9:57pacifier and like was sucking on it.
- 10:01And I took that as like, he remembers how to do this.
- 10:04We just have to make him unafraid to eat because like if
- 10:07you, if you've been, you're being fed 5 or 6 times a day and
- 10:10then after every one of those times you threw up, you
- 10:13basically wouldn't want to eat anymore.
- 10:15And so I was like, we just have to teach him that food is his
- 10:20friend and that we can't, we, he doesn't have to be afraid of it.
- 10:25And so we went down this whole like feeding journey path.
- 10:29I pulled out of ministry for a few months to really focus on
- 10:32that. And that was a big sign to me of
- 10:37just trusting the process. Keep going, keep showing up,
- 10:41keep doing the work that you're supposed to be doing to heal
- 10:46your child. So that was like a like a really
- 10:48big moment for me. And then just the people that
- 10:53showed up, I mean, y'all, we spent a month in Birmingham, two
- 10:59months in Boston during 2019, the month in Boston, we were in
- 11:05hotels the whole time and churches paid our hotel rooms.
- 11:09We didn't pay for like any part of the hotel really.
- 11:13What your nice driver during the snowstorm?
- 11:15And yeah, like, I had, we were there in December for a
- 11:19snowstorm. It was a Blizzard.
- 11:22And I didn't know how I could walk from the hotel to the
- 11:25hospital. And I had this like, amazing
- 11:28Uber driver. I finally found.
- 11:30It was like an Uber Black. Like it was this in this
- 11:33Escalade pulls up and like rolls me to the hospital.
- 11:37And that guy was so kind. And he gave me his personal
- 11:40number so I could call him if I needed to, to get to and from
- 11:44the hospital. And it was really, really just
- 11:47wonderful. Like, like, I really feel like
- 11:49God recovered us in ways that I wasn't always fully ready to see
- 11:54then. But like looking back, I see and
- 11:57now I have that. I feel like I have that faith
- 12:01and trust so much more. And I'm willing to, I'm a little
- 12:04bit more willing to be less freaked out when things are hard
- 12:12because I'm like, God's gotten us through this.
- 12:13We're going to get through everything.
- 12:15And it's helped me with church members who who might be facing
- 12:19a health crisis of going, Hey, we don't really know what's
- 12:22going to happen yet. Like keep, like don't, don't
- 12:27feel like God is abandoning. You know that God is with you
- 12:32and that there are things that are going to work out that you
- 12:34didn't think we're going to work out.
- 12:36So it's been, it's been really wonderful, really wonderful.
- 12:42How about y'all? Do y'all have anything as far as
- 12:44like hope in in trying times or in ordinary times?
- 12:47When is it easier to trust God for y'all?
- 12:49I mean, I think it's always easier.
- 12:51Oh, actually, I got to say, I say it's always easier to trust
- 12:54him in the trying times. But it's always to me, I'm not
- 13:00usually not in my mind to lean on him in the non trying times.
- 13:03You know, a lot of Times Now I'm leaning on myself.
- 13:06But as far as trusting him in the struggling times is always,
- 13:12That's why I feel like my trust matters the most.
- 13:17I think a make or break point, because there's all, we all have
- 13:21pivotal points in our faith, but I think a make or break point in
- 13:25who I would be as an adult was when my dad had his heart attack
- 13:29my senior year. We were at Meltdown in Panama
- 13:32City and we got home that evening.
- 13:36I think we had a Super Bowl party here, which is an insane
- 13:39idea, but we had a Super Bowl party here.
- 13:41And when Jared and I got home, my uncle, who was an alcoholic,
- 13:47was talking about my dad had had a heart attack and all of these
- 13:51things. And so, you know, we rushed to
- 13:54the hospital where my family or where my parents were.
- 13:59And that next week of my life, because my dad had an open heart
- 14:03surgery, quadruple bypass, all sorts of things, traumatic
- 14:08experiences happened. But the way again, like
- 14:13Christine said, the church showed up like Matt and Shannon
- 14:16Hall would just come sit with me all day long in the cafeteria
- 14:20because I wasn't willing to leave the hospital.
- 14:23I wanted to be in the building if I needed to be there.
- 14:28And just the way that the church loved and cared for my family
- 14:32and in that moment and the way that they love and cared for me
- 14:37in 2019 when Annie Ferguson passed, those moments really
- 14:45developed my faith and the way that you see people live out
- 14:49their lives, that they're not just showing up, you know, not
- 14:53just on Sundays, but they're showing up throughout the week.
- 14:56Because back then, I didn't make enough to pay for Annie's
- 15:00funeral. And she, you know, everything
- 15:02was kind of in probate. And so I paid as much as I
- 15:05could, and my mom helped, and then church members called the
- 15:10Funeral Home and paid for it, which was wild.
- 15:16So that left a huge impact on my life and the way that I see how
- 15:21the church functions, not just in services but as a community
- 15:25of believers. I think Mackenzie just sent me a
- 15:30really interesting question. It's it's convicted me a little
- 15:33bit, but like, have we accidentally made Christianity
- 15:36feel like an event instead of a lifestyle?
- 15:39And I was like, have I done that?
- 15:44Have we done that? I don't think so.
- 15:47I think that it can fall into that because of the way that we
- 15:52our schedules are so detailed and they our schedules, I mean I
- 15:55think I speak for all of us. We revolve them around the life
- 15:59of the church. And so it feels sometimes like
- 16:01it's an event, but I think that our faith is spoken out in like
- 16:06the in between moments, like when you're, you know, talking
- 16:09to the family before the service, this when you did the
- 16:12baptism for the baby recently. You know, I think that the way
- 16:17you live and carry yourself depicts a lifestyle of faith.
- 16:21But I do think sometimes, like I, I've been really
- 16:24contemplating my lifestyle and I'm like, when did I settle into
- 16:28this? Like, is this who I am or is
- 16:29this who I've trained myself to portray myself?
- 16:36And that's difficult. And I think what's hard is we,
- 16:40we are really good at scheduling, like really great
- 16:43events, right? We are like, like, I think the
- 16:47baptism night is so beautiful. And it's a, it's a public
- 16:51showing of a private commitment. We do Easter really well.
- 16:57We do things like the challenge. And like for me, it was meltdown
- 17:01when I was, you know, in student ministry or youth as we called
- 17:05it back in the day. But if those are the only times
- 17:10that you are thinking about God, then yes, you have made
- 17:13Christianity an event and not a lifestyle.
- 17:17And that is really something that every one of us has to
- 17:21think about of are we only showing up for these big events
- 17:25when Christianity is a day in, day out commitment that we make
- 17:30to God? And I think as parents, it's
- 17:33interesting to try to instill this lifestyle or way of life
- 17:38into our children. Like, I don't know how it is for
- 17:40you, but when Jane was little, it was really easy for us to say
- 17:43nighttime prayers. But now, like, I'm like, OK, do
- 17:46you want to pray about it? And she goes, no.
- 17:48And I'm like, can I pray for you?
- 17:49And then she'll hide under the blanket.
- 17:51So I'm just like, putting my hand on her blanket with her and
- 17:54praying. And she's like, OK, Amen.
- 17:56And I'm like, OK. That that's definitely George
- 18:00George is like we have to pray before the meal yes, stop
- 18:04eating, but James is very much he likes to talk about it.
- 18:09He likes to pray, he likes to serve I mean, George likes to
- 18:12acolyte like they like to do those things unless, you know,
- 18:16maybe there's some people there that James is trying to impress
- 18:19or George is trying to impress. You know, they are, you know,
- 18:22kids, but they it is definitely about instilling it in them.
- 18:28Even if they don't understand it for right now, that's OK.
- 18:31But they still need to like have those things that we do that
- 18:36make faith a part of everyday life.
- 18:38That's reading scripture, it's prayer, it's going to worship.
- 18:42Even if your kids don't understand it, these are
- 18:44important things to do with them so they can understand them as
- 18:49they get older. And how do you take it from just
- 18:52something you do to like how you live, you know, like praying
- 18:56before a meal. It's just like something you're
- 18:59supposed to do, but like, why are you supposed to do it?
- 19:03And so it's just. To talk about giving thanks, I
- 19:06think one of the best ways you can bring Christianity into
- 19:09everyday life is to actually be someone who apologizes for when
- 19:13you do something wrong and saying I was wrong.
- 19:19This is why. Please forgive me and being able
- 19:24to talk about forgiveness because so many of us never want
- 19:28to admit when we may have messed up.
- 19:31It shocks kids when I apologize like, Kaden Tompkins needed to
- 19:34pick up paperwork and I was like, I'm not going to be there.
- 19:37I know I said I was going to be there for you to pick it up.
- 19:39I'm really sorry that I'm unable to do this.
- 19:43And he was like, it's OK. I was like, OK, OK.
- 19:48I would say to what that is, I feel like a lot of people
- 19:53sometimes we don't make it Christianity like an event.
- 19:56Well, but what I think about is a lot of times we make it like a
- 20:01destination, like because we know we're like, hey, we're
- 20:04called to live like Jesus, but we know we're not like him there
- 20:07yet. But eventually, maybe one day,
- 20:10we're continuing to strive towards that sanctification
- 20:13goal, that one day we will be. Or if so, there's that aspect of
- 20:19it to where I was like, OK, I'm trying to be more like Jesus
- 20:21everyday and then I'm just waiting and being hopeful for
- 20:24that point when I'm finally there.
- 20:25And then there's the where does following?
- 20:30Because we're following Jesus, but where does following Jesus
- 20:32get me? Like where, where are we going?
- 20:34So I was like, so a lot of times I feel we in life might try to
- 20:39rush to get to that point of far as where we're going rather than
- 20:45realizing there's joy, freedom and excitement in the path that
- 20:51we're taking. And then there's that part of it
- 20:53making it your lifestyle to where?
- 20:57I have a scripture. Oh, yeah, absolutely.
- 21:00Yeah. So, and I guess the way I can
- 21:02say that in like application, where it goes being out to be
- 21:06applied to our lives now is like a lot of people think there's
- 21:10there's something that they are like, Oh, yeah, I need to change
- 21:13this in my life. Sometimes they think of it in
- 21:15their head, like, I know if I'm ever really going to make it
- 21:17into heaven, I need to change this a part of my life before
- 21:20the incomes, but not really seeing that goal of, oh, if you
- 21:25give this part of your life up to God, you know, there's there
- 21:29could be joy and a little slice of heaven in you right now.
- 21:34But also often do we hold on to those things Me like, Oh no,
- 21:39what he has for me is not better for me now.
- 21:41It's always going to be better for me later.
- 21:43I was like, no, sometimes that stuff is better for.
- 21:45You right now with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- 21:48The idea is that God is with us and that literally we are never
- 21:51apart from God. Yeah.
- 21:53And so like we're not waiting till we die like God is with us.
- 21:57Now in First Thessalonians 5-6 through 18, it says rejoice
- 22:02always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances
- 22:05for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
- 22:10That's what we need to be doing. I, I, I think that's so
- 22:14important to rejoice always, to rejoice that the presence of God
- 22:18is with us. Pray without ceasing.
- 22:20I feel like that's always our connection to the Holy Spirit
- 22:23and to give thanks in all circumstances.
- 22:25I feel like faith in everyday life is when you feel nudge to
- 22:29check on someone, to check on someone to when your first
- 22:34emotion is anger or like being very self-centered about
- 22:38something to maybe like take a beat like the Holy Spirit just
- 22:43as it opens your mouth, it also can close your mouth, you know,
- 22:47and like allow that to take root in our lives.
- 22:54And I also think when we have an attitude of gratefulness, it
- 22:58really, I think it shows Jesus present in US instead of a woe
- 23:02is me, everyone's against me. News flash, not everyone is out
- 23:06to get you. You know, like sometimes I think
- 23:11that everyone's out to get me. Who who's out to get me?
- 23:15No one, you know, like I, I think that's just a really
- 23:20important mindset to have. Rejoice always, pray without
- 23:23seizing, Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the
- 23:26will of God and Christ Jesus in you.
- 23:28And those things sound nice until life is hard and you're
- 23:31like, I still need to be doing these things like Christianity
- 23:35isn't rainbows and butterflies and happiness like you have to
- 23:41still find joy in in trials and you still need to be in contact
- 23:46with God when things are hard, maybe even more I.
- 23:50Feel like too sometimes people need reminded this because, she
- 23:53said. Some people ought to get me.
- 23:55Some people need to realize no one's out to get you.
- 23:57The devil's not. I mean, the devil's always
- 23:59trying to. He's always in your corner
- 24:00trying to. Get devil is trying to devour.
- 24:02Trying to devour you but sometimes people need to realize
- 24:05you just make bad decisions. Oh yeah.
- 24:07It's not sometimes like, Oh no, the Lord's Testament, you're not
- 24:10Joe. You just make a bad decision.
- 24:12That's that's all that's happening right here.
- 24:13You. You made a mistake.
- 24:15You you sowed weeds and now you have to pluck them.
- 24:18That's all. So God doesn't only meet us in
- 24:22sanctuaries or worship space, God meets us in all over the
- 24:25place, carpool, doing the dishes, classrooms when we're in
- 24:30the waiting room. So where is the least spiritual
- 24:35place you've ever suddenly had a spiritual realization like an
- 24:39encounter with God? On the toilet.
- 24:42But for real, you're not going to say it.
- 24:44I knew you were going to say it. But Matt and I used to talk
- 24:47about how like, our best ideas and our deepest prayers would
- 24:51happen in the shower. And maybe it's because and you
- 24:55you all might relate like we have kids and that's the only
- 24:58maybe alone time you get or the car drive.
- 25:02Like when I'm driving in the car and like the song comes on and
- 25:06I'm like, Oh, no, I'm going to cry.
- 25:09Like those are the moments that it just, you know, the everyday
- 25:13life where it hits. But I don't know about like the.
- 25:15Least every every place that's been pronounced right now has
- 25:18been a very spiritual place for me, whether it be in the car or
- 25:22in the toilet. I do have AI do have a story and
- 25:24this is very me being very vulnerable that there was a time
- 25:28that in my 20s, early 20s and I I was in a strip club and in the
- 25:35middle of a being in the strip club.
- 25:38I had that moment where God was like, this is not where you want
- 25:40to be and like thank. God and you left right.
- 25:43No, I didn't. The thing is, is you have to
- 25:46understand, I don't understand strip clubs.
- 25:48I really don't like. I don't know why people go to
- 25:51there and I'm sure it's everyone has their thing, but.
- 25:55I can explain it to you. That's also two guys in the
- 25:59room. But no, it was a seriously, I
- 26:01don't know how we ended up getting there, but it was, it
- 26:03was, it was very late in the morning.
- 26:05And I just remember, like even in that time of partying that I
- 26:09was sitting there and I'm just, I just had that feeling of like
- 26:12God was just like, yeah, this is not the place where I'm at.
- 26:16And I'm like, yeah, I feel that. And he's like, you you see what
- 26:18this feels like? This is not, this is not good.
- 26:20And so I always remembered that. And it wasn't like it was a
- 26:23conviction for me not to go there, which I don't condone
- 26:26going to places like that at all.
- 26:28But that was probably the the least like spiritual time where
- 26:32I felt like I was actually in church and I was going like,
- 26:34yeah, you're right. This is not that.
- 26:35And it wasn't a, it wasn't a condemning thing at all.
- 26:38It was just, it was, it was almost like how Jesus would I
- 26:41would I would, I would imagine him going to talk to the
- 26:45prostitutes, talking to the tax collectors.
- 26:47Like it just like I was there and he was there with me.
- 26:50And he was like, yeah, you see this, this is not my plan for
- 26:53your life. And I'm like, yeah, you're
- 26:54right. This is, this is all just a
- 26:56fleeting thing. And but yeah, that's that should
- 27:02be being vulnerable. Yeah.
- 27:04I mean, that brings me, I'm sorry, no, go ahead.
- 27:06That brings me to just a thought I had with a lot of people, a
- 27:09lot of our mindsets, a lot of times we're we, I, I think, you
- 27:14know, I might be wrong in this, but a lot of times we have this
- 27:16this mindset of the Lord dwells in the places that we make
- 27:22sacred. So and that's why that confused
- 27:25that question always confused me a little bit.
- 27:27It's like, oh, the, the the least spiritual place because we
- 27:30feel like, oh, you know, like people always say, Hey, you're
- 27:32in the church, you're you're in the House of God.
- 27:34God's eyes are on you or you're here.
- 27:37You know, this is a sacred place.
- 27:39You know, you're for holy ground.
- 27:42And you know, I just have this always been and having that
- 27:46belief that, you know, the Lord is dwelling.
- 27:49I mean, the word, the word dwells within us at all times
- 27:52and that at any moment in time, there's no that you're never too
- 27:56far from him to have to say something to you.
- 28:00And just like Ben said, it's often not in the times where
- 28:02we're in a place of worship to where sometimes that we hear him
- 28:06being really audible, but in the times where he really needs us
- 28:09to be yelling at he need, we need him to be yelling at us.
- 28:11So using times where we're running away, It's not that
- 28:14we're in the least spiritual places that are in our mindset.
- 28:18We might be in a we're not in a good spiritual mindset, but he's
- 28:21never too far to be like, I'm still here.
- 28:23Hello. You've never you've never really
- 28:25gone far. Even if you've gone to the mouth
- 28:29of a fish is I'm still here, you know, you never you can't escape
- 28:34my hand. So.
- 28:35I think in my early 20s, like I was working at Skater Rink,
- 28:41working at a restaurant and the restaurant was above a nightclub
- 28:43and my friends would meet me after work and we'd go to the
- 28:46nightclub. And then when that one closed,
- 28:49we went to Night Town, which is now a church, but we would go to
- 28:52Night Town. And I spent many weekends with
- 28:55these people. And the further I got into my
- 28:59job and they got, we got into our careers.
- 29:01We kind of have separated. But one of the one of my
- 29:05girlfriends that I went out with every weekend and worked with at
- 29:08the skating rink, she called me up and we hadn't seen each other
- 29:13in a while and she asked to have lunch.
- 29:14And I was like, yeah, absolutely.
- 29:15So we met at Olive Garden. And so those least spiritual
- 29:19places led to a moment at Olive Garden where she was like, she
- 29:24was like, I'm pregnant and I want you and John to be the
- 29:28godparents of my child. And I was like, but I'm like 3
- 29:32or 4th in rank when it comes to our friends.
- 29:35What about so and so and so and so?
- 29:37And she was like, no, she was like, if I die, I want to know
- 29:41that my child will be raised in faith, which makes me emotional.
- 29:46But it was one of those moments where it was like, oh, I was
- 29:48being used in these least spiritual places because I was,
- 29:52I still brought my faith. Like this friend would drive us
- 29:55home from the club. I would take a nap at her house,
- 29:58and then I'd be in church Sunday morning.
- 30:00And she thought I was insane. But seven years later, she's
- 30:04like, I want this dedication in my child's life if I can't do
- 30:08it. And I thought that was huge.
- 30:10And how God uses these moments to like been said to bring us
- 30:17how he works all things together, how he brings that
- 30:19I'll. Tell you what, there's nothing
- 30:20like talking about Jesus over a bottle of wine.
- 30:24There's something about them. Conversation.
- 30:26I can't really argue. But then then drives home from,
- 30:30from from the nightclub and, and you're trying to get home safe.
- 30:33You're, you're talking to Jesus the whole time, I'm telling you.
- 30:35Well, it would be like we'd be in Whataburger and I'd be
- 30:37talking about my faith and people didn't really want to
- 30:39hear it. Please don't drink and drive,
- 30:41everyone. Please don't drink and.
- 30:42Drive. That's not what I'm saying at.
- 30:44All OK, just backseat you're in the.
- 30:45Backseat in my story, and that's where I was.
- 30:49But yeah, like sharing my faith in Whataburger at 4:00 AM with
- 30:52people planted seeds that my God said in Bronx, you know, if if
- 30:59God forbid ever anything ever happened to his mother, like she
- 31:02trusts me to keep him, you know, growing up in faith.
- 31:08So maybe following Jesus isn't about escaping ordinary life.
- 31:11Maybe it's about discovering God already present in it, right?
- 31:17It is. I mean, that's just, that's just
- 31:19part of it. God is present, just like in
- 31:22Ruth, God was present in all of her actions.
- 31:25And with Esther, it's interesting, you know, the word
- 31:28God is never mentioned in the book of Esther at all.
- 31:31Like they never, you never hear that word in the book.
- 31:34But you know that God is moving. And I think that's really
- 31:40important, that sometimes we are so like the Holy Spirit, we're
- 31:44so entrenched with God that our actions are all from God if we
- 31:49trust God with with our lives enough.
- 31:52Yeah. Like huge miracles don't happen
- 31:55in those books, but life happens and God used life for his glory.
- 32:01I mean, I think, you know, feeding the 5000 like this
- 32:04little boy brought his his fish and his loaves and it fed 5000
- 32:09people. You have to be willing to offer
- 32:11what you have, and God does a whole lot with what you offer.
- 32:17Absolutely. Makes loves.
- 32:20Makes loves, makes fish. All right, do we have our
- 32:26closing question? I asked it as an opener, so
- 32:31let's just let's draw a random one.
- 32:34Uh oh. Wild.
- 32:36That's wild. We have to keep our answers a
- 32:40little quick. Quick.
- 32:41We're going to do a level 10. This is nice.
- 32:45What's 1? What's one thing you hope people
- 32:51feel when they're with you Let's can we do one word?
- 32:57Can we do that to our closing I would say I hope they feel
- 33:02loved. I know I took the easy one.
- 33:06I. Know that's why she's like, I'm
- 33:07going first first. Wow.
- 33:10I could do another one, but then I'll steal again.
- 33:12No, I mean I hope I they feel appreciated.
- 33:19Go ahead, Josiah. No, I want you to 1st.
- 33:21I'm I'm going to ask ChatGPT what it thinks.
- 33:23Stop. Do not do that.
- 33:26Do not use that thing that is literally killing our planet to
- 33:29find. A word.
- 33:31Well, ChatGPT is so last month. There's new things out now.
- 33:33Joy. I'm going to go with joy.
- 33:36I want them to feel joy. Joy.
- 33:38People do feel joy around you. Yeah, they do.
- 33:41It's not, it's not me. It's still not working within
- 33:43me. I would say at ease.
- 33:46I hope that I bring people peace when I'm around them.
- 33:50And should work harder. Some people told me.
- 33:53Kidding. Gosh, we're supposed to keep
- 33:59this short. We're closing.
- 34:01I'm so at peace every time I'm around you.
- 34:03I am too. I always, I always do feel at
- 34:06peace around Ben and Joy and loved and.
- 34:10Appreciate. It and on that note.
- 34:15We hope you guys have a great week and we're so thankful for
- 34:18each and everyone of you and we. Don't know, Josiah, I'll be
- 34:22back. We will see you in everything in
- 34:24between. Bye.