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June 6 – Willing, Not Perfect · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:04
  Hey guys, this is the Daily Ripples and we got Pastor Mike, he's back.
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  Or I'm back, however you want to put that.
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  We're all back.
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  We're all back.
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  And today is June the 6th.
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  And by the way, before we get started, you got to give props to Larry because he did a
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  really good job as well.
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  Absolutely.
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  Absolutely.
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  And then even on Wednesday, we had Aaron with this also with Larry and I, and he also did
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  did a great job. Cool. June the 6th, willing, not perfect. The stone, progress does not require
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  perfection. It requires willingness. Growth happens when I keep showing up, even when change
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  is slow. Rip a one practical. Today I will acknowledge my weakness without being discouraged
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  by them. I will take responsibility for them and be willing to let them go one at a time. I do not
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  have to fix everything today. I only need to keep trying. Ripple to spiritual. As I bring my
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  willingness before the Father, the Holy Spirit works within me over time. Following Christ,
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  I learned that transformation is a process, not a moment. What I surrender today, God begins to
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  shape, and over time I become more aligned with His will. And you know what I was thinking about
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  when I read this the first time,
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  maybe the second time,
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  I don't know which time,
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  I wrote it two or three times,
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  but I was thinking about page 12
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  in the big book of the foundation
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  because it says it requires willingness.
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  And it says,
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  upon a foundation,
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  a complete willingness,
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  I might build what I saw in my friend.
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  And you know, man,
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  well, Larry kind of said it too
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  because I was thinking about
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  what that looks like
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  and, you know, prayer.
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  I mean, and meditation.
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  and I don't know, you know, because for some reason
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  when I'm willing to pray, I'm willing to, you know,
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  my mind's able to sit down and think about it.
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  But is it going to, like, but can I sit down
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  and be willing to do that?
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  Is the pain good enough, bad enough to do that?
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  And I don't know, you know, that for me,
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  I've been talking a little bit to you about the
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  William James Varieties of a Religious Experience.
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  Right, yeah, yeah.
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  And I, they taught, they called it a, back in the old times, they called it a lysis and a crisis.
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  And that was, so when like, so his book, he was going off about a, talking about spiritual experience and a spiritual awakening.
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  And so, but back in old medicine time, a lysis and a crisis, one would, you know, if you were going through the, I think it was lysis, that was immediate.
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  like the fever broke immediately.
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  And over a crisis, the fever broke over time.
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  And someone a lot smarter than me might,
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  it could be backwards.
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  I don't know, but I'm going with it.
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  But, you know, and William James kind of, you know,
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  talked about that within a spiritual experience
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  and a spiritual awakening.
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  And, man, I don't know about you, but, you know,
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  in some quiet times with God and me willing to get on my knees
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  and just be quiet and listen, just like Larry was saying.
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  I mean, I was listening to him.
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  I was like, man, I got to give him his props because I really like the way he worded that.
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  But yeah, when I get down on my knees, like, you know, I don't know if it's a spiritual experience, but it's definitely a moment of spiritual clarity, at least.
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  What do you think?
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  Well, I did just look up a little bit, you know, while you were talking about the lysis versus crisis.
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  And it was a little bit backwards.
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  Lysis says is a gradual destruction or dissolution of cells or tissues where crisis is sudden in the acute point.
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  But I'll tell you, when you first started talking about it, because I didn't know any of this before you just brought it up.
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  When you first started talking about it and you said lysis, I thought he was going to be making the point of that's the crisis that we lie to ourselves about.
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  In other words, it's not a real crisis.
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  It's just something that we elevate and explode in our heads to a crisis level.
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  But no, I mean, I like that.
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  That's a good, you know, concept to bring in.
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  But yeah, I kind of got distracted by that.
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  But when I think about, you know, this one for today about, you know, being willing and not perfect, you know, that the growth, you know, happens when I keep showing up, you know, even when the change is slow.
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  Because that slow change or, you know, kind of using that, that slow change can be for the good or for the bad, right?
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  Kind of bring it back to what you were talking about.
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  You know, if I'm in the middle of either a full life or even a midlife lysis as opposed to a crisis, then, you know, over time, that can gradually get worse and worse and worse if I'm not, you know, paying attention to what's going on in my own life versus when I get in and I work these steps and apply the principles of recovery.
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  And when I do this work of, you know, acknowledging weaknesses and allow, you know, just following the simple instructions that my higher power gives me, you know, day after day and just keep showing up and recognizing that just like everything is not a crisis where everything falls apart at once, everything's also not fixed at once, you know.
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  And so it's a very gradual improvement. And the way that I make sure that things are improving in my life versus degrading is to basically set my own problems, my own selfish desires, wants and needs aside so that I can follow, you know, God's will and be of service to another person.
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  I mean, you talk about it a lot, Corey, and you hit the nail on the head a lot about, you know, it's all about being of service to our fellows, you know, both in recovery and honestly in our life of faith.
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  And being of service to others in our life of faith is twofold.
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  It is, you know, reaching out and helping those who are oppressed or who are in need, you know, kind of following, you know, what Jesus preached about, you know, whenever he preached in the synagogue in Nazareth, his hometown, he read from the prophet Isaiah, you know,
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  declared the year of the Lord's favor and release of the captives and, you know, setting the oppressed
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  free. That's one form of serving others. And then another form of serving others is what, you know,
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  Jesus, you know, left his disciples with, you know, at the end of his ministry, which was a great
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  commission to go and teach everyone to keep his commandments and baptize them in the name of the
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  Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. So, in other words, carrying that good news of, you know, God's
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  salvation or God's healing to others is another way that we are of service to other people.
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  And if I'm working from either one of those aspects in my life of faith and in recovery,
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  if I'm working to help somebody who's in that acute period of need, or if I'm working just to
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  either through my words, deeds, actions, to shine that light of God's love, the good news or the
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  gospel, you know, of Jesus in my case, if I'm spreading that message or carrying the message
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  of recovery to a sick and suffering alcoholic, then I really am, you know, showing my willingness
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  to, even though I'm not perfectly doing any of it, I'm willing to follow where the Spirit
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  leads me today.
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  Right.
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  And I think, you know, well, I mean, you know, discipline is something that, you know, I wasn't
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  born with.
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  Oh, me either.
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  Absolutely not.
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  No, no, no, no, no.
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  If it didn't serve me immediately, then I didn't want anything to do with it.
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  But it's interesting, you know, because to some people that I talk to,
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  they would say that I'm disciplined within the gym, within some of my routines I have.
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  And, you know, but I wasn't born that way.
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  And I think about, like, you know, how that is if I'm willing to do some of these things, right?
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  Some of the small things.
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  I mean, even just talking to you.
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  I mean, me and you see each other.
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  you know, quite frequently. And, you know, both of us are in different spots of our lives at
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  different times, but we do this regardless. Right. And I think, you know, that's the most important
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  thing, you know, because if my, I think it talks about this, you know, in the book, we talked about
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  a little bit last week, but if my main purpose is to grow an understanding, I will grow a relationship
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  or a bigger and better relationship with my higher power,
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  more conscious contact with my higher power.
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  That doesn't mean it's always going to feel good.
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  That doesn't mean it's always going to feel bad.
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  That doesn't mean it's always going to feel just in the middle.
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  You know, I mean, because I was golfing with Kevin one time,
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  and I remember.
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  Wait, hold on.
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  You're a golfer also?
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  Yeah, I'm a golfer.
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  I mean, I'm not a golfer.
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  When do you have time to golf?
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  I mean, speaking of discipline, I mean, between all those things you just said,
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  and then you want to throw something like that's so time-consuming like golf into the mix.
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  I mean, man, you must truly be insane.
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  Oh, well, I haven't this year.
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  You know, we had baby and, you know, that kind of.
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  Yes.
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  But we were golfing last year, and, man, I hit a tree, then I hit another tree,
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  and then I hit another tree.
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  Oh, so you're not good at it.
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  Okay, never mind.
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  No, I'm not.
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  I can hit a straight drive, though, I can tell you that.
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  But it landed perfectly up on the green.
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  And Kevin was like, man, you probably did your prayer this morning.
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  And I was like, after he said that, you know, it got me thinking about that, though, for a little while.
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  And I was like, you know, nothing bad about that.
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  We were just talking.
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  Sure, yeah.
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  But it was, you know, it's like, you know, if I did this, because there was a time I did do that.
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  I was somebody in the rooms, you know, years ago that would be like, yeah, I pray every now and then.
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  I do this.
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  And, you know, it really was when things got really bad.
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  It wasn't really a consistent thing.
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  But if I'm doing it for the, you know, the conscious contact with God and to grow that, you know, with no, you know, if it feels good, bad or in between, you know, I just do it.
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  And I do it and I do it and I do it.
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  You know, and I think that's what it says.
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  You know, I learned that transformation is a process, not a moment.
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  Because I was used to look for those moments, right?
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  You said it just a second ago.
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  You know, if it didn't serve me right then, I wasn't doing it.
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  But, you know, I think, you know, when this consistency and consistency,
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  you know, your words are starting to, you know, go, God begins to reshape.
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  And over time, I become more aligned with his will.
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  But I think, you know, I think you did a good job on this one.
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  Well, and it ties in, you know, almost directly to, in the New Testament, the book of Philippians,
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  the first chapter in the sixth verse.
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  And it says, you know, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you
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  will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
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  So, in other words, all of our life, until our life is over and we rejoin, you know,
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  our heavenly Father in heaven or until our life is over because Christ comes again, you know,
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  until the day of Christ Jesus. That's kind of what it's referring to. It says that God will continue
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  it, carry it on to completion. And I think that's important is that the completion of the work,
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  so if we're willing and we show up to do the work, the completion of the work is on God. It's not on
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  me. So in other words, and we've talked about this a lot before, and even your sponsor, Bill,
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  when he's been on, has talked about the parable of the sower quite a bit. You know, our job is to
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  sow the seeds. Our job is to go about, you know, and do the work. The completion of the work or
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  even the harvest is not our responsibility. That's on God and that He finishes it. And for me,
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  that takes a lot of the pressure off because if I'm the one who think that, well, I'm sowing the
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  seed and then I'm going to make sure that I put fertilizer on it as well. And then I'm going to
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  make sure that it has enough water and I'm going to make sure that the soil that I'm sowing onto
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  is rich and deep. And at the end of the day, that harvest will be, I have accomplished something.
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  And I'm glad that it's not that way because man, that could feed into my ego in a heartbeat. Half
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  the time when I'm sowing the seeds or I'm doing, showing up and being willing, you know, as this
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  today's devotional says, you know, as I show up and I'm willing to do what the spirit wants me to do,
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  I don't have to worry about the results. And for me, that's relief because man,
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  I can get a little bit manic trying to control all the results in my life.
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  You know, I can definitely be bouncing all over the place and you get that stress and that anxiety that comes from feeling as though I have to manage everything.
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  And it's really a sense of true freedom in knowing that I can turn it over to my higher power to God and he controls the outcome.
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  Right.
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  Well, you know, real quick, you know, I was thinking this because I try to, before I ever talk, you know, I try to get on my knees and anytime.
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  And, you know, usually, but I was, you know, my knees praying before this.
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  And, you know, I was thinking, man, because, you know, something we were talking about before, you know, in a certain aspect of my life, I had some really good days, right?
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  I was with someone close to me and then, you know, kind of hit a little divot in the road.
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  And, you know, my, you know, my, my disciplines with some of the stuff like me carrying around note cards in my head with like, you know, watch for these things and different little things I do has come because I have to be disciplined in my life with that stuff.
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  Because I can't, I don't, I don't have the luxuries most days of flying off the handles either.
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  And, you know, I was thinking about prayer or, you know, the meditation probably being quiet.
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  You know, I was thinking, you know, Corey, just because, you know, you kind of slacked up on some couple of these things.
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  You know, like, you know, I haven't been writing my, haven't kept a note card in my pocket all week.
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  And, you know, just because things are getting a little good, Michael.
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  And, you know, but, you know, if I slack off all that stuff, right, I can find myself because, you know, when everything's bad, I'm watching what I'm doing, right?
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  But when everything's good, I get a little relaxed.
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  And it's interesting, you know, how that works.
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  But I'll also get the prayer.
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  Prayer, Father, help me remain willing, even when change is slow.
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  Through your Spirit, continue your work within me and guide me toward the life you are shaping through your Son.
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  Amen.
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  Amen.
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  Amen.
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  Man, you didn't even give me a second for a rebuttal for that last statement.
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  You just spoke and dove right into the prayer there.
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  I might have had some award-winning podcast commentary before that prayer.
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  We got four more episodes.
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  I know, I know, I know.
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  Yeah, we'll get there.