Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E124 | Everyday Eurasia |  Caleb Cray Haynes

Transcript

S1-E124 | Everyday Eurasia |  Caleb Cray Haynes · Eurasia Region Podcast

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  Hello and welcome to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
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  Inspiring Faith for Every Day. Each day we are on a journey
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  with Jesus in our churches, our homes, our workplaces, and in so
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  many different places around the world.
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  Is it beautiful that no matter where we are, we can walk with
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  him every single day? Jesus is the one who connects us
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  all and stands at the very center of our lives day after
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  day. Through this podcast, you'll
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  hear voices from across the region sharing devotionals that
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  reminds us of God's presence in our everyday moments.
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  This week, we will join Reverend Caleb Gray Haynes.
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  He directs NES Rims for creation care.
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  He has written multiple books on creation care, including his
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  newest book, Urban Christian. Caleb host the Econ Christian
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  Podcast and serves on the Board of Directors at Creation Justice
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  Ministries. Greetings, this is Reverend
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  Caleb Craihanes in Job 38. We read.
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  Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind.
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  Who is it that darkens my counsel by words without
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  knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man.
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  I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
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  Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
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  Tell me if you have understanding.
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  Who determined its measurements? Surely you know, or who
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  stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk?
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  Or who laid its cornerstone? When the morning stars sang
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  together, and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
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  Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the
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  womb? When I made the clouds its
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  garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, And prescribed
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  bounds for it, and set bars and doors, and said, Thus far shall
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  you come, and no farther. Oh, it's the word of God for the
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  people of God. Amen.
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  I love this telling of creation. Along with the Genesis
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  narrative, it continues this all important thread about a
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  hallmark of creation, that it has boundaries.
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  The earth as it is designed to be has limits.
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  But it's not that it just has limits.
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  You might even say it is limits because there is no such thing
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  as something or some place or someone without form, without
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  limits. Creation is what happens when
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  God the Creator moves into spaces that are formless and
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  void and creatively adds form. God separates the land from the
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  sea, or the light from the dark, the waters above from the waters
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  below here, and no further. Or you might say limits.
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  In 2026, though, limit has become culturally taboo.
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  Imagine driving down the road and you see a bill, a billboard
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  that says right? T-Mobile act fast to get limited
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  data or Netflix. Join Now for limited streaming.
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  Or, you know, we want our streaming like we want our all
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  you can eat buffets. Unlimited food.
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  You enter hungry and you leave miserable, right?
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  This is an American thing. But we keep coming back to this
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  unlimited cultural ethos. Why?
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  Because you know, all you can eat sounds like a good idea.
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  All you can possibly put in your body until you realize it isn't.
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  Why do we do this? Since taking that off limits
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  fruit? This has always been our
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  temptation, hasn't it? Because it's unlimited.
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  And unlimited is always good, right?
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  Unless it's unlimited. Bad.
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  Unless it's the fruit we're not actually supposed to eat.
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  Unless the food actually is unhealthy for us.
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  Unless you overconsume. Unless the overconsumption
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  actually takes life. Have you ever noticed how many
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  of the seven deadly sins are about limitlessness?
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  Greed, sure, but also gluttony, Definitely.
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  Lust, right? Even slothfulness?
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  Pride. Because left unchecked, our ego
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  always wants more. Are you with me?
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  Creation is marked by holy limitations.
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  Is it possible that sin is marked by the breaking down of
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  limitations in a culture that wants to vilify limits?
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  No, that needs us to turn ourselves against the very idea
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  of limitation. What does it mean for us that
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  these limits are not just God's desire for creation, but God's
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  gift to us through creation? What if underneath all the
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  ecological crises that we talked about is a spiritual 1:00?
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  What if it has to do with who we are worshipping and what idols
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  we have made for ourselves? Idols can come in all shapes and
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  sizes, can't they? But what if we finally made an
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  idol that is not defined by lines, shapes and materials like
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  gold, but one that embodies limitlessness?
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  You know, right before Jesus ministry, it says that he was
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  led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the
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  devil. And these temptations that Jesus
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  faced in the wilderness, we're not arbitrary.
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  This was a visit into the lowest depths of temptations for us as
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  humanity. It is within these temptations
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  that we find our own greatest temptations.
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  Jesus was tempted to turn stones into bread and fly from great
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  heights. Can we imagine God, who is the
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  Creator, facing mortal temptation to exhibit the power
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  of limitlessness? The God who could blink and turn
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  all stones into bread does not do so.
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  Jesus chooses the limited, earthy path, knowing that it is
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  the path of life. That flourishing is already here
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  for those who can receive it, for those who have ears to hear,
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  for those who are willing to fast and pray, to reach down and
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  touch it. The temptations are to defy
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  limits, to be spectacular, to have it all.
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  But what if having it all looks more like hell rather than
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  heaven? And what if the lives we're
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  meant to live are down here, close to the ground?
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  And the whirlwinds of life, friends.
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  And there are plenty of whirlwinds right now, aren't
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  there? And the pain and the storms.
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  What we learn from Christ is that flourishing can happen even
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  within them. Let's pray God, this boundary
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  layer in which you have placed us is beautiful.
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  Bring us into your presence so that we may not miss it.
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  Offer us patience in order that we may take our time and
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  discover a more meaningful relationship with Your creation.
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  Help us to be vulnerable enough to live close enough to the
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  earth that we may understand our place within it.
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  Give us courage to be part of the freeing of Your creation
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  amidst systems that want to devour it.
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  Help us to embody Your love in the world.
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  Amen. Thank you for listening to the
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  Everyday Eurasia podcast, Inspiring Fate for everyday.
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  For more Everyday Stories, subscribe on this podcast
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  channel, follow our socials, Facebook and Instagram, or our
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  newsletter Snapshots. For our newsletter and further
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  information about the Eurasia region, visit our website,
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  eurasiaregion.org.