Latest / Beliefs, Ballots, And BullDawgs / Thursday June 18, 2026
Transcript
- Greg: Good morning guys and welcome back to the latest edition of Beliefs, Ballots and Bulldogs. Today is Thursday, June the eighteenth. I'm your host, Greg Miller. We're gonna talk a little bit about the ⁓ the bad news from Omaha last night, but we're gonna start with the word of God like we always do. The scripture today comes from the book of Romans. Now the Apostle Paul in chapter five, verses three through five tells us. Not only so, but we also seek glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and And character hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Great verse here. It's, you know, a lot of folks read this and and they stop at suffering produces perseverance. And hey, perseverance is a good thing for sure. But Paul isn't finished here. He he's building a chain. He's building a process and a progression, if you will. Paul's saying here that that yes, su suffering yields perseverance, and perseverance does in fact yield character. But that character is where we get our hope from. Most people, and and and let's not lie, we'd all like to we want to skip straight to the hope. We we'd love to skip the whole perseverance and building character part, because that usually comes in the harder times. But that's what Paul's telling us. Paul Paul is telling us hope is built, it's forged, it's it's developed over time. And More often than not, real hope has to be tested and it will be at some point in your life. That's that's the message I think that the Apostle Paul is trying to trying to convey here. Any of us can be hopeful when things are easy and it's easy to be optimistic when everything's working and go in your favor. But the the hope that the Apostle Paul here is describing is is different. This is this is a hope that has survived disappointment. This is a hope that has has gone through setbacks and survived unanswered prayers and You know, this is a hope that's been through and and survived some hard seasons. And this is this matters because right now our culture is running extremely low, dangerously low on hope. People have more information than ever, more access to stuff than ever, more technology than ever, more convenience than ever. We live a simple life compared to our ancestors. And yet people are constantly anguished, discouraged, as cynical as all get out. And fearful. We're all terrified, but we're not even sure why or or what we're afraid of. I think the reason here is that we have we've confused hope and we've linked it to current circumstances. Paul's tell us here: hope hope is not tied to circumstances. Hope is not tied to anything that's going on around you beyond your control. Hope is tied to character. If you if you think about the strongest people you know. Not the most talented, not the richest, and not the not even the the the most gifted or the or the strongest physically, but the the strongest mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. Usually you'll notice something in common. They they all have something that they've been through. They've they've been through a loss, they've been through heartbreak or failure or disappointment. And somehow those those trials and those tribulations and those negative circumstances Produced people that came out with more faith, not less, more gratitude for what they have, not less because of what they lost, and more hope, not less hope. I think the reason is because those are people that they didn't build their hope on their exterior circumstances. It was built through experiences. Every day we're told, you know, if you go on social media, that it's terrifying. They're telling you, be afraid, be angry. We need to panic and worry about everything. But that's part of their process because the the news cycle thrives on anxiety. Political campaigns live off of your anxiety and social media absolutely capitalizes off your personal anxieties. But as Christians, we're we're called to behave different. Certainly not denial, but hope. Not because the world is perfect, but because God is still God and our God is perfect. Verse five here is is the key because this is this is where this is where the passage gets from the the hard times to the beautiful times. Paul doesn't tell us, hey, hope won't disappoint you because life will always go your way. That would be dishonest. That's not accurate. He he says hope won't disappoint you because God's love has been poured into our hearts. In other words, the the foundation of hope isn't circumstances or things going on in the world around you. The foundation of hope is is the character of God and your relationship and trust in Him. We all know people who are quite optimistic, and I tend to be one of those more often than not. You know, optimism says things will probably work out. And that's usually my approach. Whatever's going on, I go, you know what, things things will probably be okay. I think I can get through this. But true hope, biblical hope says, hey, God is still faithful, even if this doesn't work out. And that's the part we want to focus on. Tough night last night for the Diamond Dogs. Fell ⁓ fell to the Sooners and and ended what was what was just a tremendous season. ⁓ but hey, hat hats off to the fellas. Dog Nation loves you guys. Super proud of you guys for an incredible year. Came up a little short of our goals, but that's that's not what we're gonna focus on. We appreciate all the thrills you guys gave us. Congrats to Wes Johnson and the boys for For bringing a fun, exciting, and uber talented baseball product back to Foley Field in Athens, Georgia. We we're super proud of you guys. And I know baseball's a a a especially college baseball, about half the team will be different next year, if not more, at this stage with transfer portals and NILs and all that. So it's to this year's to the 2026 version of the Diamond Dogs and Wes Johnson. Thank you guys for an epic year. It was a fun run. I know you guys hate coming up short as much as we all do as fans, but hey. Good luck to each and every one of you in the future wherever you end up. We are ⁓ we are officially under eighty days until UGA football. Seventy nine more days, in fact, until ⁓ until we unleash the the dogs on the college football world. And there's a there's a bunch of seventy nines in in the history through Athens, Georgia, and they all have one thing in common. Every one of them people that wore number seventy nine, red and black, was a large individual. You go back to my my time in Athens with Matt Stenchcomb and you got Alex Jackson, Ken Shackelford, Big Bean Justin Anderson. Huge mountain of a man, Isaiah Wilson. Just just some absolute massive behemoths that that did their job. They they went you know more often than not unrecognized because that's the way you want to be as an offensive lineman. But they opened holes for the backs, they protected our quarterbacks, and and we all know if you follow football at all, the O line is is typically the unsung heroes of the of a football team. But the coaches, the players, and and all of the true fans know. Those big fellows up front are absolutely crucial to any football team success. And I know for a fact Kirby will be leaning on the big guys up front this year. It's just part of his MO. It's it's how he wants to play football. He just wants to lean on you, rely on the offensive line, rely on that defensive line. Let's play some old school smash mouth football the way it used to be. ⁓ but yeah, just some massive number seventy nines, too too many of ⁓ to to get down to just one. But I don't I don't think it surprises anybody and I think you can hear the excitement in voice. I cannot wait for college football. It is the opening of college football season is like Christmas morning for this guy. But for one last day, we're gonna stay locked in on the Diamond Dogs and we're gonna we're gonna focus on the celebration of what was an absolute great year, one of the best teams in baseball, exciting product, resilient. Them dogs never quit on a game, never gave up no matter what. So Hats off to the Diamond Dogs. Congrats on a great season. Don't sweat coming up short. You'll look back and have some great memories. And as we've talked about here on this podcast very often, sometimes the the the outcomes in life are not our control. Our control is to do what we're supposed to do, what we're called to do. And I think the Diamond Dogs did every bit of that this year. Today we're gonna ⁓ we're gonna chat a little bit on a topic that that I feel like we have all become more and more aware of, and and yet for some reason we keep trying to pretend like it's not really a big deal. Are are we ever gonna get around to talking about and and admitting the negative impact that social media is having on our kids? ⁓ studies are coming out all across the world. People, you know, certain nations and certain countries are starting to institute restrictions, institute age limits, you gotta be fifteen or sixteen, institute screen time l minimal or maximums and things of that and It's heating up in the US too. You know, our political system's so screwy now it's hard for anybody to get anything done because Congress just wants to argue about everything. ⁓ but even here, lawmakers are introduced to you know a lot of online safety provisions and and rules around age verifications and and data collected and things of that nature. But you know, the the big question to me is at at what point do we as parents, do we as local, you know, church people, as as school administrators, local lawmakers, what At what point do we start pretending that all this is just harmless entertainment for our kids? You know, we we used to worry back back in my generation and before before cell phones and internet and social media really took over the world, we used to worry about what strangers in in the neighborhood would do to our kids. And and now we we we essentially hand strangers across the world a direct line to our children. We call it a cell phone, but make no mistake, this this is giving access to people all over the world directly to our kids. I am I am the last one. I'm as diehard conservative, keep the government out of my life as much as possible. I do not in any way, shape, or form love or support much government outreach. But I also don't love the idea of billion dollar tech companies raising our children and and them being solely in control of the algorithms and they all brush it off and go, ⁓ don't worry. We we have safety settings to protect the young kids. But I don't know. I don't trust it and and I can I can see it in the younger generations already. We can all tell the the the impact that so much screen time has had on kids these days. But even but beyond the fact that the short attention spans and just the inability to carry on a face to face conversation that most teenagers are are dealing with, man, have we really started to think about what are they consuming? What is it, what is it really doing to them mentally, spiritually and emotionally that the stuff that we haven't even picked up on. You know, at at the core of this, and and I and I I got three talking points on this as I was kind of thinking through this and trying to outline my thoughts and and First and foremost, is this is we've got to address this from a family standpoint, not a political standpoint. Parents, you know, as parents, we can't be shocked when our kids are anxious and insecure and and addicted to this constant need for validation. ⁓ and frankly, they're you know, young kids these days are exposed to way more serious and adult content than than they ever should have been. So we can't just give them complete unrestricted access to the digital world. We all know that. You know, we have to be aware of the fact that that these big tech companies, they know what they're doing. They their algorithms are dialed in. These these applications, these apps are not neutral. They are designed to be addictive, to hold attention and to create that dopamine release that that we all, not just kids, keep coming back to time and time again. And I think as as Christians, we we have to we have to care about the formation. The the question can't just be is the content bad? The question has to be, despite the the purity or the the intrinsic value of the content, what is what is this situation, what kind of person is this forming my child to become? We we talk a lot about protecting our kids from, you know, certain books that we don't release in school, certain school systems and politics and bad influences, you know, and and a lot of those conversations matter. As parents, protecting your kid is your number one job. So these things matter. But the most powerful influence in in a lot of kids' lives these days is sitting right in their hands, glowing in their face, and and just whispering to them all day long to, hey, compare yourself to other people, expose yourself to other people, entertain yourself, sell yourself, and ultimately hate yourself. Not just a technology problem. It's a discipleship problem. The world is discipling our kids through these little screens. So the question for parents, for churches, and for communities is simple. Are we going to be more intentional about how we disciple our kids? Or are we going to keep acting surprised when the algorithms beat us to it? Maybe that's the real reason so many people feel exhausted today. We we talked about this on some previous ⁓ previous episodes, and you know, we we put our hope in things that were never designed to carry it. Your political party can't carry your hope. Money certainly can't carry your hope. Success, no matter what avenue, success can't carry your hope. Other people, and especially those people you're connected to through the screens. They can't carry your hope, and that little device in your hand will absolutely never carry your hope. And it won't carry your hope for your child either. That's why the Apostle Paul points us somewhere deeper, not not to the circumstances around us, not to not to the little devices we're all connected to, but to character. And ultimately from character to God. Hope you know, he tells us hope is not something you find. It's something that God builds. And unfortunately for us on this earthly premise we call home, he often builds that hope in seasons that you would never, ever choose for yourself. But you gotta go through ⁓ but you're not gonna go through ⁓ alone. Get in your Bibles, say your prayers, love one another, and tell the truth. God bless.