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42 In this episode I'm going to take the next step to increase your power in the spirit realm. The power of your words.Get access to the entire 12-part Christian Podcast Bible Study LessonThere are many examples for us in scripture but I want to start with two verses in Proverbs 18.Proverbs 18:20,21A man's stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; from the produce of his lips he shall be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.From there God took me to James chapter 3.James 3:1, 3-10My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. Indeed, we put bits in horses mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships although they are large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set amongI also use Mark 11:22-24So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.I continue the lesson from Mark 11 by going back to when Jesus cursed the fig tree.Mark 11:12-14Now the next day, when they had come out of Bethany, He was hungry. And seeing afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response, Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." And His disciples heard it.

brandon handley00:08All right. Very cool. 00:10Very cool. Well, they'll start it off in 54321 Hey there, spiritual dope. I'm on today with Cody rain Cody rain is like he's a master of all kinds of marketing. He's got the mantas programs got this podcast visceral human 00:27He has a course creators Academy that's powered by the mantas program you're looking to get into video 00:33Code is your guy, he's got the Hitchhiker's Guide to video. He's got so much other he's got so much going on. I personally kind of wonder like how you keep it all together. But you know, it's obvious to me that you've got a system of implementation. 00:46And you just kind of rock it out because you do have your systems in place, but man, thanks for joining us today. How you doing, Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program00:52Hey, thank you so much brother is such a pleasure to be here. Yeah. Man systems in life so many things that we, I love that you talk about systems because we are a system. 01:04We are a series of processes that are constantly executing. We're taking a new devil data developing it, we are processing that data, making decisions utilizing our power of choice and for me. 01:17My brain has been really scattered my whole life, because we'll just say ADHD and all these other random things. And so for me, systems and all that stuff is very, very, I don't want to say it's necessary, but it is important. 01:31And so for me, kind of having that structure is, you know, the one way you do one thing is what you do everything so 01:39I structure my life. 01:40And that reflects in my business man. So with that, yeah, I got a lot going down constantly emotion constantly thinking about the things that a lot of people tend to ignore. 01:50And I appreciate you for having me, man. Today is the best day of my life and I'm so excited. I get to share it with you. brandon handley01:55Now, man. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. I always tell people I've waited my entire life for this moment right 02:01Right. 02:01I mean, because here we are. I mean we everything's everything's built up to this moment. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program02:04Yeah. brandon handley02:05As far as we know, right up until now. 02:07So, so, you know, I think you started off with something pretty well there and and i think it would tie into this piece, but I'm gonna go ahead and ask this piece anyways because it may may hit you differently, right. So, 02:19We, we agree, like the kind of universe speaks through us. Right. And that like when somebody listens to this podcast. It's gonna 02:26They're gonna hear something that you and I didn't even hear right in between our dial. I think like that these guys, this is what they're talking about. Oh my god. So to that person through you today. What, what message do they need to hear me to the universe. 02:42The universe, Dorian, Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program02:43Hey, yo. Gotcha. Man, if I was to speak to anybody. My message to 02:48Everyone at all times. It is, isn't it, it is oneness to what happens when I'm sorry what's most important is what's happening right this very second right this second. 03:03In a perfect kind of will say execution of that or example is I woke up today. 03:08And pleasure to be here right woke up. It's amazing. And for whatever reason, had a song stuck in my head. I don't remember my dreams or anything, per se, but I do remember waking up with a feeling 03:19But then I also remember kind of surrendering to the thoughts and then I put on some music wasn't sure what was going to play and that first song just 03:26Just hit man, it means so well you know when music hits you, that you don't feel any pain. 03:33And so it hit me really hard and I had to kind of surrender to the moment and allow myself to remove judgment to remove you know will say the permissions. I might be asking for to express myself. 03:48And I just stood in the middle of the room in his eyes closed and just listen to this song and try to express myself, honestly. 03:57And I'm just in a moment. Man, am I thinking about what's going on for the rest of day. I'm not worried about what happened to me. I'm not worried about the projects and backlogs and clients and business. None of that stuff. 04:09I'm seriously just being one with the moments just looking at it, breathing filling my heart rate feeling this my skin. The breeze from the fan above me. 04:20And I'm just in the moment and I went to the mirror. I looked at myself and for whatever reason, I looked at myself a little bit longer than normal. It's one thing to recognize yourself. 04:31To experience your reflection. But for me, I felt like I was looking into a whole nother world but connecting at the same time. And I realized that Cody, you're not wasting time. You're seriously experiencing the illusion of it. 04:48And so it was that moment the today this morning that I was so in the moments in the expression. I was actually practicing dynamic freedom. 05:02My ability to do anything and being honest and real with who I am today right is second. And I'm thinking about these things. And I realized 05:13Cody, those, those thoughts are in your head, because that's what you actually want to do. Those are the things that you're interested in. 05:18Go outside man do these things. There's no restrictions practices, man. Get in the moment be more in the moment. And that's why once again today is the best day of my life, brother. brandon handley05:31I love that I actually, I interviewed a you know a transformational coach last night. She's been been at the work for quite some time. And one of the first pieces that she has somebody do 05:44You know she she she coaches, people who are on the business side and how and this podcast is related to this, right. Like, how, how do we integrate our spiritual self all of who we are into 05:56Our business mechanical self right like this robot and, you know, checking off the boxes piece. And one of the things that she hasn't do is just what you said there, which is to do the mirror work. 06:07Right. Look at the mirror and say I am here with myself. I am here with myself. Right. So, I love, I love that you're doing that and, you know, to, to others that are listening and I totally. I think that that's something you should give yourself a shot to right I would Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program06:21Like to express this on that notes. 06:24Sure know about mirror work. 06:26I've never done it. And so I will say this man when we feel like we're doing work. 06:33Like me we're work even having that word work and brandon handley06:37Sure, sure. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program06:37Already has that connotation, or like it's gonna be 06:40It's gonna be difficult. I don't like work right. 06:42Like doing. And so for me today. It's once again. It wasn't like I was out to study myself. I was just in a place 06:51Over the last few months, man. I've been developing and constantly evolving to be more and more and more of the person that I really am and more of the person that I actually want to be 07:03And so today, it was a natural thing that happened. It wasn't like, Hey, I'm working on myself do this. What do you notice it just, I just felt like an energy line. It just kind of pulled me there. I actually caught my own reflection and I was like, I'm going to give you a moment of my time. brandon handley07:22Now hundred percent brandon handley00:16He has a course creators Academy that's powered by the mantas program you're looking to get into video 00:22Code is your guy, he's got the Hitchhiker's Guide to video. He's got so much other he's got so much going on. I personally kind of wonder like how you keep it all together. But you know, it's obvious to me that you've got a system of implementation. 00:35And you just kind of rock it out because you do have your systems in place, but man, thanks for joining us today. How you doing, Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program00:41Hey, thank you so much brother is such a pleasure to be here. Yeah. Man systems in life so many things that we, I love that you talk about systems because we are a system. 00:53We are a series of processes that are constantly executing. We're taking a new devil data developing it, we are processing that data, making decisions utilizing our power of choice and for me. 01:06My brain has been really scattered my whole life, because we'll just say ADHD and all these other random things. And so for me, systems and all that stuff is very, very, I don't want to say it's necessary, but it is important. 01:20And so for me, kind of having that structure is, you know, the one way you do one thing is what you do everything so 01:28I structure my life. 01:29And that reflects in my business man. So with that, yeah, I got a lot going down constantly emotion constantly thinking about the things that a lot of people tend to ignore. brandon handley01:44Now, man. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. I always tell people I've waited my entire life for this moment right 01:50Right. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program01:53Yeah. brandon handley01:54As far as we know, right up until now. 01:56So, so, you know, I think you started off with something pretty well there and and i think it would tie into this piece, but I'm gonna go ahead and ask this piece anyways because it may may hit you differently, right. So, 02:08We, we agree, like the kind of universe speaks through us. Right. And that like when somebody listens to this podcast. It's gonna 02:15They're gonna hear something that you and I didn't even hear right in between our dial. I think like that these guys, this is what they're talking about. Oh my god. So to that person through you today. What, what message do they need to hear me to the universe. 02:31The universe, Dorian, Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program02:32Hey, yo. Gotcha. Man, if I was to speak to anybody. My message to 02:37Everyone at all times. It is, isn't it, it is oneness to what happens when I'm sorry what's most important is what's happening right this very second right this second. 02:52In a perfect kind of will say execution of that or example is I woke up today. 02:57And pleasure to be here right woke up. It's amazing. And for whatever reason, had a song stuck in my head. I don't remember my dreams or anything, per se, but I do remember waking up with a feeling 03:15Just hit man, it means so well you know when music hits you, that you don't feel any pain. 03:22And so it hit me really hard and I had to kind of surrender to the moment and allow myself to remove judgment to remove you know will say the permissions. I might be asking for to express myself. 03:37And I just stood in the middle of the room in his eyes closed and just listen to this song and try to express myself, honestly. 03:46And I'm just in a moment. Man, am I thinking about what's going on for the rest of day. I'm not worried about what happened to me. I'm not worried about the projects and backlogs and clients and business. None of that stuff. 03:58I'm seriously just being one with the moments just looking at it, breathing filling my heart rate feeling this my skin. The breeze from the fan above me. 04:37And so it was that moment the today this morning that I was so in the moments in the expression. I was actually practicing dynamic freedom. 04:51My ability to do anything and being honest and real with who I am today right is second. And I'm thinking about these things. And I realized 05:07Go outside man do these things. There's no restrictions practices, man. Get in the moment be more in the moment. And that's why once again today is the best day of my life, brother. brandon handley05:20I love that I actually, I interviewed a you know a transformational coach last night. She's been been at the work for quite some time. And one of the first pieces that she has somebody do 05:33You know she she she coaches, people who are on the business side and how and this podcast is related to this, right. Like, how, how do we integrate our spiritual self all of who we are into 05:45Our business mechanical self right like this robot and, you know, checking off the boxes piece. And one of the things that she hasn't do is just what you said there, which is to do the mirror work. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program06:10Like to express this on that notes. 06:13Sure know about mirror work. 06:15I've never done it. And so I will say this man when we feel like we're doing work. 06:22Like me we're work even having that word work and brandon handley06:26Sure, sure. 06:29It's gonna be difficult. I don't like work right. 06:31Like doing. And so for me today. It's once again. It wasn't like I was out to study myself. I was just in a place 06:52And so today, it was a natural thing that happened. It wasn't like, Hey, I'm working on myself do this. What do you notice it just, I just felt like an energy line. It just kind of pulled me there. I actually caught my own reflection and I was like, I'm going to give you a moment of my time. brandon handley07:11Now hundred percent Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program07:11Really interesting to think about brandon handley07:14Now, I love, I love it. I mean, you also you also hit on to you know to experiencing the illusion of time right where you were, you were talking about. 07:31You're looking at yourself as a human. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program07:33Being right brandon handley07:35Right, right, right. 07:37And I also love to, you know, you talked about, you know, the permission for greatness. It makes me think of that Banksy one right. The thing you know and it goes, you know, stop asking for, you know, stop asking for permission to be great. 07:46You know, for greatness and yeah Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program07:49It's amazing how that works. 07:50I realized today. And today, maybe is it, is it a coincidence. Is it meant to be that I have this this experience today before we had a chance to speak. I don't know, man, that's the exciting part about being 08:05Right, I'm excited for those moments. I'm really excited to explore them. More importantly, I'm excited for the experience 08:12Because I'm in a constant state of curiosity. I'm a constant state of growth and I know this, I repeat it to myself, and I know it. I feel I am it's it's a staple in my being. 08:23Is to be in a place of evolution. And then when you surrender. A lot of times people go surrender means you got to give up. No. 08:31You have to allow these emotions to set in. I remember feeling it. Tears welled up. I looked at my smile. And I was like, how I'm smiling right now. 08:39Hold. I'm just being I'm just one. I just feel good. I'm accepting these things and yeah just removing those permissions when you go, man. You're the one granting permission but you're also restricting access at the same time. 08:55Yeah, it's conflicting so today I was on that part where I recognized my restriction and I just let that let that down for a little bit so I can just be brandon handley09:04I love it, I love it. You talked about like a, you know, awareness and becoming more of who you are right. Let's talk about that. What does that mean, you know, becoming more aware of the person of who I am. So who do you know, who do you feel like you are Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program09:19You are your truths. brandon handley09:21You are what you say. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program09:22You are brandon handley09:23Okay, so, I mean, 09:25Right, right. 09:25I mean, so I mean what, what does that mean to you, right. Like I always, I think that when we were talking. I'm not sure if I hit, hit on this or not when you have me on. And thanks for having me on. It was a 09:34Great One 09:35Um, you rise to your level of thinking 09:38Right, right. 09:39So who do you think you are right. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program09:42Right. That makes sense. Well, when you think of who you think you are, it puts people in a place of contrast of going, who, who do I want to be my comparing myself to 09:52There is nobody that's going to do a better job at being you than you and if someone can be a better version of you. Then you've got some real work. 10:01Some people are there. 10:02Right. But who am I right, I am what I say I am I'm happy. 10:07Yeah, that's as simple as I could possibly put it, who I am is also what I am is where I am, as well. 10:15When are you 10:16I'm happening in. Yeah. brandon handley10:17Sorry. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program10:18I'm in a place of happy, you know, brandon handley10:19Right. That's a state of being right like a state. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I love it. And you have a great question on your podcast and almost, you know, I think that I'm gonna steal it today for you. 10:30The, you know, and you said you hadn't had the state of awareness yet, right, like, and when did you first fully become aware 10:36Right. Do you feel like you're becoming more aware and, you know, what does that, you know, 10:40What's that mean to you was me to become aware Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program10:43That level of awareness. I've noticed that I'll say over the past two months, right, because I've been surrounded by the most amazing people. 10:53Were all practicing boundaries and communication and connection and actual spiritual enlightenment on a day to day what I've noticed about self awareness is you think you got it and then you level up. 11:05Think you understand it and then you actually understand it and then you feel it, you experience it. 11:12It's a whole different level self awareness for me is coming down to, and I'm going to repeat this absolute truth. 11:21It's not this is what I'm going to say because it's going to sound good, or I don't want to hurt your feelings or I don't want to say this, I'm it's removing those restrictions and being like, Man, I don't like that it's being able to go. That's for me, that isn't for me. 11:35That's a yes for me that's a note to know your level of self awareness stems from not looking at your reflection and going this is two separate entities and I'm connecting and I'm self aware, because I can make choices. 11:49It's literally connecting to as much of your personal truths as possible. It doesn't matter what the truth is because you believe it. 12:00When you're honest with yourself and you're going, I like that. But that's not my thing. I love that because it does this for me. I really enjoy this. 12:11When you can connect with those things because of the truth because of what you've told yourself how you feel about them. 12:18You are more real with everything and everyone. And more importantly, more real with yourself. 12:25And you only do the things that can contribute to your progress through life, your happiness, man. Your success and abundance. It's amazing. So self awareness is first off, recognizing that you're in a place of growth and you don't know everything. brandon handley12:40Right, right, right. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program12:42It's knowing what you like what you don't like even not knowing what you like and don't like is still something that, you know, 12:49So when you're in that place of uncertainty, then you're aware of this, it's looking at these things going. I'm unsure. I'm confused or 12:59I am really centered and focused on this and feels good to me. I'm going to use this belief to guide my behavior in a positive way. So being self aware man is is really just, I'll say complete self awareness is not having to think about this stuff ever you just do brandon handley13:18That yeah well I absolutely i mean but i mean i think that you know some of this stuff is a 13:25You gotta peel back to, you know, societal layers, right, that have kind of been been you know enforced on you right, you're like, Wait a second. All the stuff that I've been taught up into this moment. 13:37It was serving those people 13:39You know, but not necessarily me. It was serving this function, but not my function of growth right type of thing. 13:46So now, and I love it. Right. So let's talk about like how are you applying some of this to your business man like I mean how the other question is like how could you not, but like, you know, 13:57How do you not, but like, how does, how does this, like, you know, like I talked about earlier, you talked about like the robotic guy that you know shows up and just 14:05Eight. And, you know, nine to five or whatever, you know, how is your life different because of this call it a spiritual practice right of your life practice and weaving those together. Talk about that so Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program14:17What I do is build this cerebral super suit for entrepreneurs to connect more deeply with their core audience. 14:24The reality with that is you got to step into the shoes of your clients of your customers of the people you serve. 14:32I don't care if it's the homeless guy. I don't care if it's this. I don't care what solution you're providing or what you're doing in life. 14:38When it comes down to really expanding your business. It doesn't come down to the tech, that's the easy stuff. It doesn't come down to your sequences and your landing pages, all that stuff that's easy connecting with the people that you serve. 14:56comes from a place of oneness. 14:59Of understanding of self. So along the spiritual enlightenment along this journey of personal growth. You're actually opening yourself to understand and feel and have more compassion. 15:12For the people that you're most likely to benefit. More importantly, how they're going to benefit from you. 15:19So for me, I look at oneness and connection that is missing. Now I look at where I'm at. I'm paying attention to how I feel what I'm thinking. 15:29I'm going to state of curiosity. So I'm wondering why that's all that's coming in. I'm going to state of health. So I'm changing the foods have it seen how it affects my body. I'm getting rid of things that don't serve my journey. 15:41And do not serve my focus 15:43And don't really deserve my intention. So when I personally develop as a human being and become more of a human doing 15:53I am putting myself to in a place to thoroughly connect to everyone that I'll be serving which helps me 16:01Develop better wording in my copy when I'm writing an email. It helps me reach out to better people. It helps me attract better clients. 16:07It helps me build better websites helps me build stronger teams, it puts you in a place of connection to who they are in their core. So, the stronger, more 16:21Will stay connected you are to yourself, the more likely you're going to be able to connect to the people that are going to benefit from your product and service. brandon handley16:28Now, I love it, I love it. So, I mean, what I'm hearing in there. Those like you know you determine kind of 16:34How you love yourself and and what serving you. Right, letting go. The things that don't deserve your attention. I love that line, you know, you're going in with your journey and you know be being able to write better copy do better marketing. You're in my mind. 16:51You're tuning yourself. You know, like a crystal tuning. Right. You know, like a radio dial. 16:57To your clients to the people who you can serve. You're like, this is, this is what I'm transmit this is what I'm good at this is what I love to do this is if I was working with you. Oh my god, I would serve you so hard. 17:08Right. 17:09Space, right, like I'm and like you know you're going to be blown away by what I give you, because 17:14You're you you tuned in. Not only did you tuned in. But you to deal with, like, an amplifier on your side you turned it up, you're like, 17:20What's up, Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program17:21Yeah, it's amazing. And lately. My clients have been going. They've been they've been reaching out to me personally. 17:27Outside of like business hours, which is the best feeling ever because now we are connected, we are comfortable 17:33We are really considering each other. We're thinking about each other outside of business hours and it's more of a real relationship and a friendship went up. 17:42And what I have noticed is especially over the last couple months is when you are in a place of curiosity and genuine growth and you recognize that you're there. 17:52You listen more you really, you don't have to speak as much, actually there's a reason why we have one mouth and two ears. 18:00were meant to listen and when we listen to people when you deliver what you actually want to say or how you can contribute 18:09Every word that you say has more impact and more value. Now when it comes to connecting with your clients, how it relates to people in a digital space. 18:18I'm telling you this man, the more self aware you are the more connected you are with the universe and how you relate to it. More importantly, how it is relating to you. 18:29When you write your copy. When you say these words when you create that video when you do those things. You're literally creating with purpose and positive intent. 18:40There are times when I will release something, and I'll type it out and I'll put it up into the digital space. 18:47And it will be the same exact words no difference. Everyone's interpreting it differently from their own level of perception, their mind state. 18:56The people that I love working with are the ones that feel the intent behind the message and pick up on the energy when I wrote it and they feel it speaks to them. And those are the people that I attract. This is why I have such a great time doing what I do. brandon handley19:12Now, I love it, I love it. So it's so funny, you brought up purpose and intent because you know I was gonna ask you about that right how to, you know, 19:17We do deliver that message and just like you said, the people that there's there's going to be the one set of people that you know just give you a thumbs up or like or be like, you know, Hey, that was cool. 19:27And then there's going to be the other set of people that are gonna be like wow that was, that was awesome. That was powerful. Right. 19:32And they get, they get kind of where you're coming from on that and it's a totally 19:37That the two different groups, but that doesn't. And what I think I like about that too is that, you know, 19:43The group that doesn't get it today doesn't mean they won't get it tomorrow or see it like you know a little bit later down the road, and they're going to go back to your content and they're gonna be like, I didn't, I didn't even realize you were into all this shit. 19:55Right. Yeah. Yeah. And because because you can. It's funny. 19:59I do that without so my own my own my own stuff. Right. Like, why go and I'll look at other people's content, who I follow it earlier, but I wasn't at my Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program20:09This mind state. Yeah. 20:10You go into through a different lens. brandon handley20:12And I've got a new job or I have a whole brand new lens right whole whole new lens on like, Where have you been, 20:20I never even saw 20:22And so it's really interesting that the content that you put out 20:27People 20:28Come back and take a look later and it'll 20:30It'll be fresh to them. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program20:31I 100% and I was just talking about this yesterday. And the reality is to put the content out. We have to realize there's entire generations of people that are moving through going to go to catch up to us. 20:42We could be saying the perfect thing right now to people that don't even exist yet. 20:47Like 20:48What we put out there is really important. And you think of your overall vibe, man. So as people become more connected and understand 20:55Their power of influence and how we are influenced and just the decisions that they make. 21:00Man, they meet someone may go, Man, I want to create a podcast called spiritual dope. I wonder if that's even a thing could click there's 21:09There is, oh my god, they're talking about all the things I didn't even know it was an idea was connected. I felt it. I mean, I took an action and this is everything I'm looking for and you spark an entire movement, based on your idea man. brandon handley21:23Simple thought simple action. Right. It's just, it's just a matter of taking that action. What's funny. I mean, it's funny you say that though I did prosperity practice before spiritual dope and 21:34Somebody else I spun up prosperity practice like afterwards, after the fact. Like I reached out to her. I was like, I was like, wow, you're doing like the exact same thing I'm doing. I was just like, 21:43So it's really interesting. I'm not sure if you've ever seen like some of those videos or, you know, I forget, like, you know, let's talk about Tesla or being connected to the Akashic Record right or Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program21:52Yeah. brandon handley21:53Hello, say like two thoughts happen at the same time, like 21:56Different receivers. Right, so you'll receive thought somebody else or received thought only one person X on it though, or maybe both people act on it the same time. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program22:04Right. brandon handley22:05And it's not until like later that they converge and and you know you see it show up. So Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program22:10That when I remember saying 22:12interprets that differently. I really never there's no such thing as original I always say this every thoughts already been funk. Like, what are the chances of you thinking of a sentence or something or whatever. 22:22As someone else hasn't already done that you're picking up on something somewhere actually look at that as alignment. 22:29If you're having this thought and it's moving you. That means you may actually be being pushed her poles. 22:34Pulled in that direction. 22:35Hundred percent old yeah brandon handley22:36Yeah. So when we talked, right. We talked about the, the, the idea of everything's already been created. It's just a job. What's your awareness of it right and it's funny that because you talked about the losing time right the future now and the past are all here right now. 22:52Right, so 22:53You've got the, you know, we'll call it the multiverse, right. We've got your, your quantum entanglement kind of guy. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program22:58So, yeah. brandon handley22:59You know you can sit there and you can think for a second, you're like, All right, well, if I make this direction, kind of like a Sherlock Holmes type you know movie right like if I go this direction. This is what will happen right 23:07Right. Or in my case, it's like, you know, the, the, the Green Hornet with like Seth right and he's like sitting there thinking, and he looks like he's gone. Fast as mine is really going five minutes. Anyways, the deal is like Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program23:16I get it. brandon handley23:17You got like all these slices of possible universes, each one of those each thought that you just had they all just happened. 23:24Yeah. He's one of those things happen. 23:26Right, and it's happening right now. So, I mean, 23:28Whichever one you kind of lock into and tune into that's the one is pointing forward. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program23:33Right, the one that you're going to resent so 23:34I'll give everybody a practice right now. I've been doing this. 23:37I've whiteboards all over the house Ivan. What do you walk into every door. There's a small whiteboard and it's it's whiteboard wallpaper. So I put it on the things that I 23:46Hang out around most often. And so what I've been doing is recognizing words. Okay. There's a reason why words stand out to you. So Brendan, I see writing stuff down rather just like this, man. I got notepads and notepads 24:02All this is not just client notes. These are thoughts. 24:04These are things that are standing out to me if I here at once and it gets my attention. It means pay attention if it gets my attention twice. It means focus on that it's get detailed with it. So you'll see random words written all around the house. It'd be like proximity 24:22Right, right. I was Moses. 24:24And then it's just random things and then later I'll go back and connect the dots. Our oneness is 24:30We're, we're basically it's inevitable that we're going to grow based on our environment or as Moses and our proximity to people who are at a higher state of consciousness. 24:38That creates this infinite loop which connects that we're just just doodling manages everything is just total 24:47Brainstorming so if you if it gets your attention once pay attention if it gets your attention twice focus on that. There's a reason why you are being pulled towards that. 24:58Get, get close to whatever that where it is, whatever that thing is if that person if they mentioned somebody towards two people on two separate days mentioned the same person get interested 25:09Yeah, that means that person or that thing is leaving an impact. And it's worth your time. brandon handley25:14Sure. I mean, the person's calling out to you right 25:16If they got what they've got like something something they've got is really, it's meaningful for you so 25:21You know, follow up on that, I love that. Thanks for sharing that. So, one more time. So if it's, you know, if you, if you see it like once you get your interest rate. 25:30See it twice, you know, focusing on that, like, you know, 25:33And then the third time, like, I mean you you're hooked right like you shouldn't be. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program25:36You, you are the third time. brandon handley25:39Right on. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program25:39If it gets your attention. Twice I say this because if we continue to go Wait I need three times right to is the coincidence three is a staple 25:50Rather, if a guy your attention to times. Why are you paying attention. Why is is getting your attention, two times. First off, you could have been thinking everything you could have been doing anything. 26:00It literally stopped you in thought and got your attention. It's there for a reason, our subconscious is very active at that 26:09Moment. And so there's the zoo, there's something you want to get from it. There's something you want to define might be something you just want to explore for understanding but somewhere along the way your mind picked up on something and it needs clarity. There's an open loop somewhere. 26:25Yeah, gotta close this. brandon handley26:27For sure, for sure. And I love that you know programmatic reference right if you've got an open loop. It just keeps going and going and going and going and going until, like, you know, there's some type of closure. Right. 26:38Or control see right Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program26:39You know, just, yeah. Stop, stop at brandon handley26:42The so um you brought up something really cool that I really enjoy too is like the idea of the subconscious always being on the lookout for what you're on the lookout for you. 26:52Programmatically said you set a filter, right, these things are popping up because you set a filter for that. Right. You said you said all right. 27:00Hey, yo, I'm really interested in something like you know give what is something that you're interested in, you know, proximity osmosis where you know and and so now you've got your, your mind and subconscious filter on that. Like for me right now I've got divine and divinity. Right. 27:17That's my thing. 27:18Right. I've got a divine framework set up as my next course right so 27:22Anytime somebody says divine. I'm like, Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program27:24Yeah, it's brandon handley27:25Over there. Amen. Amen. I'm like, What are you saying Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program27:27What do you got the coolest part that so you you look at your mind if we open with this as system. 27:33A series of processes hundred 27:34Percent computers and quantum tech and all that stuff. The quantum computing, man. It's just algorithms. It's going into this than that. If that doesn't this 27:43You're just computing data. 27:45So when you program your mind, based on your intent. This is why I always say define what happiness looks like smells like tastes like feels like 27:56Get like get just seriously go to Amazon buy a bunch of notepads for like six books in just elaborate on what happiness and success looks like to you. Yeah. 28:07Do it right, right, right, right. You're only going to spend like a half hour doing this thing. It's nothing in the illusion of time. brandon handley28:14Well, I caught the the 28:16Real quick, real quick. So I mean, would you would you make them write it down or type it out. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program28:21Does it matter personally 28:23I'm into writing 28:25Okay, now 28:26Now, and I. The reason why is because of the time it takes for me to write it out. If I still commit to that thought. By the end of the sentence, and I still feel good about it. 28:36And it's an actual thought 28:38If in mid sentence. I'm like, this isn't my thing, then it's just a thought. It's just something that popped in here. Probably for contrast 28:45And so when I write it down. I'll say this, there hasn't been a single person that I know that is working on themselves. That isn't writing stuff down 28:54Hasn't been writing a book isn't journaling isn't doing any of this man this is pages I just naturally picked it up. I don't necessarily enjoy writing 29:04But I realized that for me to be honest and express myself. I need to write these things down and go back and label them right 29:13These are all these are all staples in my, in my future, man. brandon handley29:16Now, I love it. I call it 29:18I call it looking at last. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program29:19Thought the programming brother, when we do this when we write all that stuff down or type it out. 29:26Now we get clarity. We're programming our subconscious to look for that. So when we are in a podcast and say, I got a big window right here. And if I was looking for a motorcycle motorcycles make me feel happy. 29:40Anything that's going to get my attention that may resemble a motorcycle. I'm gonna, it's going to get my attention. Oh, is it. No, it's not. It's like somebody you're waiting to arrive. Is that damn is at them. 29:51Right. Your subconscious is going to constantly go out and look for 29:55All the things that satisfy your happiness make you feel successful make you feel to find find divinity, all of those things, man. So programming is really important, but only if it's healthy. brandon handley30:07Well, I mean, I think that, uh, you know, healthy, healthy is also subjective right initially. And I think that even if you begin to 30:18Just even understand the dynamic of what you're talking about like the programming right set yourself up, you make that choice consciously to be programming yourself. Yeah, right. Because up until up until that point. I mean, I'd love to hear when you realize that 30:34You needed to program yourself. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program30:37Yeah, well I was, you know, my story. Man, I'm a liver failure survivor. 30:43Like I was on my deathbed, and I know what it's like for your body to start dying and have to sign away your life surrender to the universe. 30:51I don't know what's happening on it was going on, but all of the decisions every single thought that I've had to that point has led me to my deathbed. Yeah. 31:00And I'm still defending that for some reason, like why am I defending being here. I'm justifying my death. Oh, I lived a good life. I'm doing. Are you serious, I haven't even tried yet I'm 32 at this point on my deathbed, and I'm trying to justify that I lived a long good life. 31:18And I was just meant. That's ridiculous, man. So when I get in. When I start recovering I'm realizing all these thoughts and it wasn't until I started debating my environment. 31:29I'm not in that scene. Am I surrounded by those people am I doing those things am I interested in that stuff. I don't think those thoughts. Why am I still the same person. 31:38Hmm. Why am I still the same guy before I died. This is a whole new me 31:46Right. 31:46But is it really a whole new me, this is, this is just me. 31:51With a new opportunity. So who do I want to be. And then as I call this self auditing. 31:57Then you start to realize where your brain starts to go, you start thinking about happiness and success and these these other things that you want to accomplish. 32:03And then you start recognizing now that's not gonna work. Whoa. I just told me know what the 32:11And I believe that what happened. I just shut myself down. I can do anything. And I said no to me. Why is that a thing. Okay, I can do it. 32:24I am doing it. It's happening go okay and then that thought comes in again. No, no, we're doing this. It's happening. Got it. Go, then it starts to be less and less. And then I'm starting to realize that I have just created a healthy thought pattern. 32:40When it comes to can or cannot there. Is it just is man, you just, are you doing it. 32:45Are you focusing on your happiness. Yes, well then I'm gonna keep doing those things are you building your business. Yeah, I'm gonna keep doing that thing. 32:52I am giving myself permission, I get really good at doing that and anybody can develop healthy habits healthy thought patterns, they can easily reprogram themselves. 33:02From an actual neurological standpoint, we need at least 63 to 64 repetitions of anything to be considered good or for it to be written into our being all those veins in our brain. 33:16Those lumps and things 33:18The valleys. Those are based on repetition. Right. So developing healthy habits. It comes with practice. And once we put ourselves there, man. Then you get really good at practicing. It's not what you're practicing. You just get good at creating good habits. 33:34And then this is kind of all easy peasy. From there it's difficult with there's a lot there's less less difficulty involved right brandon handley33:43I think that it's a you know it's it's the idea that, you know, somebody as they grow older, right, they, they try something once 33:51And it didn't work out. I'll give a couple more shots. But you're saying it's like 64 tries and keep at it and you know it's not like it's you need that repetition. I also you're calling from 34:02Your computer land right I look at that number 64 and I think about like 64 bits, right, like 34:07Yeah yeah so 34:08So that's a, that's interesting. So, you know, you're on your deathbed, and and you you crawl up out of that and you start to recognize 34:18You know, you've got to make these these pattern changes and you've got to develop these healthy life patterns, you know, the challenge that I think that we see is somebody that isn't dying. 34:31That isn't you know isn't dying and has a safe life. Yeah. 34:35Right, I mean you know that they haven't they haven't drunk themselves death, but maybe they have several beers at night and maybe you so 34:44How do we get someone to recognize that they've got patterns that aren't serving them even though they've got quote unquote good are safe life and they can have more Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program34:53Is that familiar do. That's the question is this, is this what you do. Is this your thing. That's where you do these are that that okay 35:02Have you done anything else. Have you tried anything else you realize that you're back in the bar, you have this. How many times have you had this drink. You know what it is. 35:11If you keep doing the same things, you get the same exact results results. Why do you think I became an alcoholic is because I needed more and more and more to feel normal. I've never had this until like yesterday. This is amazing. I'm a 35:27New person holding pineapple. 35:30I had to switch it out, like, what is it synergy raw kombucha 35:35Love this. Right. 35:37Did a hippie. Give it to me. Yes, but does it matter. No, my point with it is that if we keep doing the same things and living in a place of familiarity. 35:46We're never going to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Therefore, we're never going to grow. 35:51Is this as good as it gets. Is this as good as you want it to be. Is this what you really want. Man Seriously, look at this point, you're just writing. Just ask yourself this question, is this what I really want 36:06Is this how I really want to feel if I can relive this my state of being for the end of my existence. Is that good enough for me. Can I achieve more goodness. Is this how you really want it to be nine times out of 10 it's know 36:24Even in a healthy place. 36:27If I asked myself, This Is this really how good you want it to be, or is this really where you want to be. It's really where I want to be right now, but it's only getting better. So know if I get complacent here I get no more results. 36:42I have to continue growing right so we got to look at that complacency and go, you know what, man. Is this as good as it gets. Is this as good as you want it to be right now. 36:51Chances are the same. And then we start taking action. And I know this because just the power of influence from three people, we were able to get an alcoholic to leave the bar. The other day on a podcast and he went home to go play with his dogs. 37:07Hmm. He made the decision to leave the bar, man. 37:11stopped drinking poison not permanently. 37:14But the power of influence is there, he made that decision. It's amazing what happens when you realize that it can be better. brandon handley37:21Yeah, no 100% you know I know when I quit drinking 37:27It has influenced many people right and you know we talked about being pulled you know I was pulled, man. I wasn't, I didn't quit drinking because I didn't like I love drinking Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program37:38Drinking. No, I haven't done it since. brandon handley37:41I have a blast. I you know do stupid shit all day long. 37:46And and but you know it fell away man fell away is something I didn't need anymore. And I found that I could do stupid shit without having to drink. 37:57And I could be there more for people. Right. And so, but but that influence is just like 38:02It's not something we're not doing any force on anybody is because I just feel great. 38:07I get to I get to drive whenever I want. 38:09I get to do and go places, whenever I want. 38:11Because I haven't had a drink. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program38:14It was one of the most interesting compliments. I've received recently is you don't need anything in your system to have a good time. You don't have to smoke. You don't have to drink enough to do anything you're just having a blast all the time right now my 38:31That whoa, you're right. 38:33Well, I know this. 38:34But now you're saying it. So you got my attention. 38:38Whoa, that's cool. And then they're going, I don't, I don't really need to do these things. It's just not really. I mean, I get 38:45You know, it's not necessary. 38:47It's not a staple of my existence anymore. Let's just say that. Yeah. 38:51Wow, man, that's, that's amazing. And people talk about high on life. I get what they're saying. brandon handley38:57Is visual rather than just Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program39:00The Scripture that brandon handley39:01That's it. That's it. That's man. That's exactly what we're here. And what we're doing right 39:07You know, talking about that. And again, you know, being able to live from that space and be successful in business right and leading leading with that right not like that's not your cover. That's not your life, you're not like I go home and I meditate, I go home and I pray. No, I read 39:25When I was with with spirit. Right. 39:27So, I love, I love, I love that you're doing that, and I love you know I see what you're creating 39:33A see the momentum. You've got new built 39:36You know what, what are some other things that you would hit on in this space that you would share with anybody. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program39:42In regards to tech or personal or just just brandon handley39:44In terms of like, you know, you know, 39:46Leading from spirituality. Was it. That's right. Yeah, I heard you say to you came from, like, a hippie. You know, you kind of came from that background to right and that was real similar to me to write hippie mom. 39:58And just 39:59For me, it ends up coming easily because that's how I was raised, I fought it 40:04For a long time, yes. Talk about that. Right. So talk about knowing that it exists, and then being like them being like, Oh, shit. It works. Yeah, I know that resistance. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program40:15Is useless. Honestly, I just posted about this. And yeah, my parents, you know, different what 6070s 40:22Yeah, you know, so they were raised, like that. My parents are definitely hippies, but not like your, your typical hippie not like will say modern day hippies, or what I i actually been thinking about and you're welcome to take this and join me. Not all hippies climb trees like 40:37I want to start a movement. brandon handley40:39Well, that's a special again. That's what spiritual dopes about there is a greatness. And if you go to my website right now says you don't have to wear like beach. You don't have to wear that. 40:47Dress. You don't have to wear sandals. You don't have to 40:50You don't have to put on this uniform to feel this way. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program40:52100%. So we'll talk about that. Absolutely. There's a brandon handley40:55Reverse it what I'm saying. And you see Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program40:57Like we're on the same wavelength. 40:58Yeah, man. And so, so here's the trip is my, my brother, my older brother, he's like a hippie is of all manly man, but he's climbing trees, he's cutting trees down building homes log cabins, he makes his own tea and coffee and everything is from the earth and He is like 100% hippie. 41:15Spiritual Empath all of that stuff. It's really amazing. 41:19Now for me, I always thought that because I'm a tech guy right at artists. I'm an artist in general. 41:25You know I connect with people in different ways, but I've been through an extreme amount of trauma before liver failure. So my trauma. 41:34I've had to process these things differently. And my viewing angle my perspective on will say the hippie approach is it's a little too flu fee for lack of better words this little to brandon handley41:46motherly soft Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program41:48It's not it do, like, just take your shoes off and just seeing one drink like okay brandon handley41:53I want to kick a door. Yeah. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program41:55You can't force this hippie just like religion or anything. brandon handley41:58Right, right, right. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program41:59You have to be open to it. Oh, so on my journey. 42:04As it became more receptive more open, more compassionate towards other people, and more importantly, developed more compassionate towards myself, which I learned from my mentor asara sundry 42:16With that, I started to let down those walls and I started to break those permissions started signing off on my own. brandon handley42:24Certain he Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program42:25Recognizes my permission slip and 42:27Walk down that hall of success and happiness. 42:30And in doing so, I started to realize that people have been telling me this forever. 42:35And I've been to so 42:36Not have it. brandon handley42:38I mean, that's what we talked about earlier, though, too, right, like in writing your content right you're yourself. You're telling people, some things and 42:45They're just not. They're not in that spaceship, they're not they're not there right and it's not until it's not until you kind of come into your own awareness of being and you can look back and be like, Oh my gosh, people been telling me this my entire life. Yeah, right. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program42:59100% brandon handley42:59Now, I love it man. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program43:01It's amazing the way it works. And I'll tell you this, brother. You remember. Oh, sorry about posting with purpose. brandon handley43:06But 43:07I intent, but Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program43:08How do you think I ended up in Texas, dude. 43:10There you go right person, pick up on the intent and the power and energy behind the same message and they open the opportunity like you. We want you to come here. 43:21Right, that's how I ended up in Texas in a series of events had to happen perfectly in alignment. 43:28And I ended up here in the most incredible place I've ever been in my entire life more growth, more happiness more communication more connection. 43:36More forward progress than any other time in my entire life. And I'm beyond humbled all because I posted with purpose man right person felt it. And then we all took action make magic happen. It's really, really cool. brandon handley43:52That's cool, man. So, I mean, you know, again, this is kind of like a follow your bliss type moment right Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program43:57Yeah. brandon handley43:57I love it. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program43:59Though well brandon handley44:00I mean you got you got to do it for yourself. Right. Like each person. Everybody's got everybody's got to find that for themselves, you know, you talk about your truth right you could 44:07You could say, Hey, you know, for me, you know, at this moment, this bliss is my truth right if I'm feeling, you know, and again, I'll talk about that word, you know, vanity, I'm feeling 44:17Or creative source like through me and, you know, or like we talked about resonance and we look at, like, you know, somebody just plucking my divine source string. 44:26Everything has resonated and that was bliss and so I'm following that like somebody, you know, talking to me and just dragging me out and like me, like, yes, this is, oh my gosh, this is uncommon. I'm on my way you 44:37Know how this is going to end. Oh yeah, they are they aware of the path. Now look, you're always on your path right it's like you've got a you're always on your path you're never all fit. It's just, you've got to make that decision. 44:48To to recognize that you're walking. It's at your part of it that you're being it right Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program44:53You know, want to man. 44:54Like, think of it. Think of it like this in like I if I go to the doctors right now and they they put a needle in my arm. Yeah, that's gonna be my only, you know, uncomfortable. I'm not worried about the needle, man. I'm worried about the results. 45:06They want to see how unhealthy. I really am. 45:09Don't want to like surrender to that. 45:11Right. Some people really aren't. They're not good at walking through the doors, man. brandon handley45:15Yeah. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program45:15You're not good at that. That's their out of practice. 45:18And sometimes we got to kick those doors down, they gotta be receptive on the other end. You've got to kick those doors down for yourself. 45:24Man, once you open that door now. 45:27Then you can see the path. brandon handley45:29Yeah. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program45:29And know that you're on it. 45:31And then you can frolic down that bitch as much as you want. You know I'm saying, like, what are 45:34You going to do brandon handley45:36All that. Well, I mean, look, you can't make a wrong decision. You know a lot of people 45:40You know that they've got their systems in place that work for them. And if you get off of their system, they're going to come up and say, Well, well, well, you got it. You're, you're off your system and you're off your path, but 45:50That's not true. You're off of what their path would be you're off and out of their system and so have faith in yourself, man. I love what you're doing, I love, I love that. That's what you know you've developed like kind of this core 46:02Being again and you're, you know, you're, you're leading with that and you're in that space. That's awesome. Where should I send people to go meet up with you and find out more about you. Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program46:12Absolutely. So my primary focus right now is the mantis program so mantis is every single thing that I've ever learned tops mastered 46:25All in one place in regards to not just evolving as a human being but evolving into the strongest and most accurate business mindset that you could ever possibly hope to get yourself into 46:38It's the reason why I can operate at a peak state of performance for forever and cost deliver content get things done while having a family doing all that stuff. 46:48So I want to show people exactly how they can implement 46:52These specific concepts into their life. But more importantly, there's so many people who don't take the necessary steps because they go all but there's technology, there's this and I don't understand that. 47:03I cover it all, every single aspect. So you don't have to be able to business or even bill yourself without fear man like you don't have to do that. You don't have to restrict yourself. And it's basically what I now that I say I give people the permission to evolve as a human. 47:19And then, yeah, so that's the mantis program. So the mantis program com 47:24And then of course graders Academy man the CCA it's an extension of the mantas program. This is for people who want to build an online program. 47:33I have numerous clients 2020 is packed with people who are going. I know what a lot of information. The online learning industry is a $34 billion industry. 47:44If you know something, and you want to get it out there and develop a program for people to get their hands on. 47:51And I hope people evolve through that process developed a program and then also handle all the tech and all that stuff with with just with ease. 48:00Then yeah, then I'm gonna communication artist. So I help people communicate more deeply with their, their core audience, not just as a servant leader, but as a professional graphic designer 20 years in Photoshop. 48:12And yeah and then for everybody who already has a message or is looking to dominate the second most powerful website on the planet YouTube 48:21I have the Hitchhiker's Guide to video marketing and that's showing you, not just how to get video views up into the millions 48:27But I'm actually showing you how to build a complete online digital business or any product or service that you're working on. Or like to get your hands on. That's the secret behind the sauce. brandon handley48:40Yeah, man, that was Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program48:41What 48:42What is there, man. So you can also find me on Facebook or is Cody rain and then you could also go to Cody rain calm. If you guys want to learn more about me or jump on my calendar, we can have a chat about you and your business. brandon handley48:53Awesome, man. Thanks for joining into Kohdi Rayne - The Mantis Program48:56Thank you, man, I appreciate you.

Today’s Bible Translation Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 16-17 NET, Ch. 18-20 NKJV Support Please remember that this is a listener supported show. Your support of any amount is needed and very much appreciated. Find out how by clicking here. Thoughts “14Now the Spirit of the Lord had turned away from Saul, and... The post LSFAB0093: 1 Samuel 16-20 first appeared on Lifespring! Media.

Today's Bible Translation Bible translation used in today's episode: Ch. 16-17 NET, Ch. 18-20 NKJV Support Please remember that this is a listener supported show. Your support of any amount is needed and very much appreciated. Find out how by clicking here. Thoughts "14Now the Spirit of the Lord had turned away from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. 15 Then Saul’s servants said to him, “Look, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you!” ~1 Samuel 16:14-15 NET An evil spirit from the Lord? God is not the author of evil. Therefore there could not be an evil spirit from the Lord. This is an example of a faulty translation. Several translations use this word, but other translations say “an injurious spirit” or a tormenting spirit. The notes in this translation (NET) say, “The  Hebrew word translated “evil” may refer to the character of the spirit or to its effect upon Saul. If the latter, another translation option might be “a mischief-making spirit.’  I also like the NKJV’s translation here: a distressing spirit. It’s been said that if you live long enough, you will have regrets. Regrets are often times caused by sin. Could be the sin of commission, or could be the sin of omission. We regret what we  have done, or what we haven’t done. I'm sixty-six, and I have lived long enough to have regrets. And some of those regrets have caused distress. I have lost sleep over them. Or to use one of the other words I referenced earlier, I have been tormented by some of the regrets in my life.  Imagine the regrets Saul must have had in losing God’s anointing? To think that he was God’s chosen to lead God’s people, and then to have that taken away because of bad decisions? I have an inkling of how tormented he must have been.  Regrets can be good if they cause us to confess the sin that brought them on. I'm so thankful that God has provided a way to put our regrets behind us. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.”

Transcription:Russ Cox 0:03What we soon found out was that we were posting that on YouTube. Employees were watching it regularly. But what we also found out is it in a vacuum of information, they were forwarding the link to their family members and to other people. And it became a very good community communication as well. To the point we even had media watching it.Gary Bisbee 0:22That was Russell Cox, President and CEO of Norton Healthcare commenting on the benefit of his daily video for Norton caregivers, which quickly went viral in Louisville for their families, the Board of Directors, local media, and the Louisville community. I'm Gary Bisbee, and this is Fireside Chat. Russ is only the fifth CEO in Norton's history. We'll track Russ from his first job as a teacher and explore lessons learned that he uses to this day. All health systems have seen telehealth visits explode as has Norton. Russ provides a unique answer to the question of whether telehealth visits will recede along with COVID and which demographic will benefit from them and why? Let's listen.Russ Cox 1:05You look at folks who have mobility issues, immunosuppressed people that have transportation issues. I think our patients have always had the muscle to do telehealth they've just never had to flex it. And COVID made them flex it and made them actually say I've got this I can do it.Gary Bisbee 1:20Our conversation includes reference to the community dismay at canceling the Louisville institution, the Kentucky Derby, the importance to maintain needed surgeries and treatments in the face of a crisis like COVID, how Norton invested in its employees so that they could focus on Norton's patients, characteristics of a leader in a crisis, and the fundamental learning from COVID. I'm delighted to welcome Russ Cox to the microphone. Well, good afternoon, Russ and welcome.Russ Cox 1:32Thanks very glad to be here.Gary Bisbee 1:55We're always pleased to have you at the microphone. Most of us are generally familiar With Norton Healthcare, but probably not in as much detail as we'd like to be so could you please describe Norton Healthcare for us?Russ Cox 2:08Yeah, sure, Gary. We're in Louisville, Kentucky. We sit in a metropolitan area with a population of about 1.2 million people. We have five hospitals that are geographically located within 13 miles of each other, the furthest to reporter 30 miles. So we operate very much as a system where about two and a half billion dollar system that probably the most meaningful statistic for you to think about where Norton healthcare is in loyal is that we have about a 55% market share, which is really a good thing. It's many things but it's a responsibility when you really think about it.Gary Bisbee 2:42Right, but quite amazing. How would you characterize the culture of Norton Healthcare?Russ Cox 2:49The culture of Norton Healthcare really goes back a long way when you go back to the beginning of Norton Healthcare. We've only ever had five CEOs. I'm the fifth one. So there's been very few CEOs, folks who stay around a long time, and we go back to Wade Mounts who was the first CEO who was the very first president of AHA and really did some great things in the Hall of Fame. And you come right on through to Jim Petersdorf who was very focused on measurable quality. Then come right on through that Steve Williams, the CEO prior to me, we were the very first organization to post every quality score on our website when we did that 12 years ago. So transparency is part of the culture, very community based, our Board of Trustees all sit right here and live in Louisville, Kentucky. So it's a very community-centric, very transparent, very trusted asset in the community.Gary Bisbee 3:40Actually, I was at AHA when Wade was chairman officer so I go way back with Norton and your leaders.Russ Cox 3:47Sadly, we lost Wade this year.Gary Bisbee 3:48Really? Okay.Russ Cox 3:49We lost him the first week of March. He had a great life. He lived 93 years and he was healthcare through and through.Gary Bisbee 3:56We'll get into the COVID outbreak in a little bit, but could you describe your main priorities before the COVID outbreak?Russ Cox 4:03We were in the beginning of a brand new approved strategic plan that really had great focus on extending access even further in our community and had a strong emphasis and platform on telehealth for convenience, for reach, for being able to extend our nearly 2000 on the medical staff 1500 employed position and provider platform that we really felt was a great opportunity. It turned out to be a great thing that we were because we certainly needed it sooner than we thought we would, but we were all about pushing access. We were all about looking for ways that we could personalize and make the convenience much better for the consumer. I think everybody had that focus going into it, but it just really was taking on a bigger role in how we advocate for patients and getting access to specialty services for patients who lived out further in Woodland in Kentucky. So again, it was fortuitous that we had such a focus on the virtual model. And we had already begun construction of that and already begun preparing for that way. So we were able to accelerate very quickly when this COVID-19 issue came about.Gary Bisbee 5:14Absolutely good timing. Let's turn to you for a minute. Russ. It's always fun to get the background of the CEO, the health system, so a lifelong resident of Louisville ever think about going elsewhere?Russ Cox 5:25Oh, sure. I had the opportunity to in my early days. I worked with what was Humana, the hospital company, and then it became an insurance company and then it became Galen. And then it became Columbia HCA and then it became HCA. I had the opportunity to relocate to Nashville, Tennessee with HCA and I actually did live there on a temporary basis for about a year and a half, two years. But I've always considered Nashville a very dynamic city from the standpoint of what the Frist family has done for entrepreneurship and healthcare and how so many interesting things have happened in healthcare in Nashville. So I'd say Nashville would be up on that list.Gary Bisbee 6:02Of course, we all think about Louisville we think about the Kentucky Derby. Seems like you and the Norton executives are all active in Kentucky Derby week. This year didn't happen, probably what the first time in a long time that the Kentucky Derby wasn't held?Tim Pehrson 6:19It absolutely was. And it's just another one of those signs of how different things are because we can't even imagine the first Saturday in May is just absolute tradition in our state and in the country. And for it not to happen this year was just devastating, both mentally and from a financial perspective to our community. So we're certainly hopeful that it can be run in September, we're not sure whether or not we're going to be able to be there to watch it in person. But these are different times and we understand that we all have to adapt and adjust and we certainly are going to be supportive of fire brother and at Churchill Downs and hopefully we get through this and things get back to normal.Gary Bisbee 7:00Well, what do you like best about Louisville?Russ Cox 7:02You know, I'd have to say here that one of the things that have always attracted me to Louisville is the strong healthcare DNA and Humana. David Jones and Wendell Cherry started up a hospital company here from scratch that turned into what you still know is Humana but in a different configuration. It's all about insurance and on the payer side and Medicare Advantage, we've had a lot of firsts that happened in this community in healthcare. If you go back to hand transplants and you know, a competitor hospital if you go to the first pediatric heart transplant that was done at Norton Children's Hospital. And there's been a whole lot of things that have happened in our community that have really made that DNA strong and such a vibrant part of the community. And I think that's always been an attraction. I'll tell you the other thing that you have to appreciate about Louisville is that it's not a parochial community at all. We've had people we've had physicians relocate here, we've had all kinds of people relocate here. The one thing they say is you can be as involved in the city as you want to be. It's a very welcoming, very open, very willing to let you be involved in anything you want. It doesn't matter what your last name is here. It really just matters what your passion is. And it's been a great thing for this community. I think it's it's helped us get through this particular time as well.Gary Bisbee 8:14Now, I know from past discussions that you were a teacher earlier in your career, was that your first job after college?Russ Cox 8:22Actually, it was, I was certain that I wanted to be an attorney. I had been accepted to three law schools. My father had paid a $500 deposit for me to attend one. I clerked the summer of my senior year in college and came home and said, "Oh my god, I can't do this." This is not like what lawyers look like on TV at all. And it was a good experience that I never will forget. My father told me that I said, I'll pay you back to $500. And he said, don't worry about that. $500 to find out what you don't want to do is a good investment. I graduated from undergraduate and taught school for two years and taught Middle School of all things. So I often say that if you can be prepared five days a week for middle school students, you can do anything in healthcare, because it's a different kind of challenge. But I did that while I went to graduate school and was able to then find myself working in the early 80s. For Humana in its early days as well, in the Human Resources function there. So I jumped into healthcare in 1982, after having been a teacher for two years and had a good background and obviously Training and Education and Human Resources area, and the rest was kind of history. It was such a growing company back then. And the opportunities for somebody to come in and really develop and really grow were great because it was growing so fast. They needed people and Mr. Jones and Mr. Cherry were not afraid to throw you in the deep end and help you learn how to swim. That's exactly what they did with me and it's been good for me, I still say that I call upon those teaching skills on a daily basis, Gary,Gary Bisbee 9:55Well, the other skill may be what you learned at Humana. Can you share with us? What lessons did you learn there that you've carried on to Norton?Russ Cox 10:05There's so many things to transfer both ways, the investor/own side of it. And let's just put this at the top of it. Both places put the patient at the very center of every decision that they make. And I never saw a decision made at Humana that was in any way detrimental to a patient. As a matter of fact, it was always about the patient. So there's a lot of similarities that are there. I think the differences that you have to think because you have a responsibility to shareholders. We have a responsibility to bondholders, but we can be a little bit longer-term thinking the not for profit side. And I think that's an advantage. You can be more strategic from the long perspective. I think that when you're investor-owned, you have to think about what am I doing that will increase value over the next 90 days. Now, that's not to say that everything's that way. But you get a report card every 90 days, and that's a pretty serious report card. So I learned to think in terms of how can we improve a situation and get it done quickly? How can we expedite? I think I also learned a whole lot about measurability because in the investor/owned side, it was very important that you be quantitative, that you get the right data to make decisions with. And I think that's played over into the not for profit side, currently. But I think it took a little bit longer to get to that place. So there's a lot of things that have transferability. But at the end of the day, we're all very similar in how we approach patient care.Gary Bisbee 11:30Let's turn to the COVID-19 crisis. What was the surge or the profile of the surge in Louisville?Russ Cox 11:40Well, it's been an interesting time for us. Obviously, we anticipated a larger surge than what we actually experienced. And hopefully, if we're going to want to say that we took enough very appropriate action quickly and made certain that certain things happen. We had a very, very strong, newly released Governor Andy Bashir, who really took a great leadership position in the state and made sure that while the decisions weren't always popular to shut things down earlier to stop things from happening, that it was the right thing to do. So we were able to preempt a whole lot of what that surge could have been, we were all prepared for it. What we've really seen is more of a less than expected surge that we would hardly call a surge and it's flattened into what we now are calling a steady plateau. We're seeing about the same numbers come in and go out on a daily basis. So our new abnorma...l is I'm calling because I don't think anything will be normal again... but our new abnormal is that we're probably likely going to have in our system 40 to 50 COVID positive patients on the inpatient side, every day for a while. We were fortunate that we didn't see a whole lot of event utilization. We were prepared for that. But we always had plenty events, most of our obviously more serious patients on the inpatient side, we're in the ICU. So we monitor those days very carefully. But it's been a pretty steady sort of run over the past two to three weeks. And hopefully as things begin to open up, we'll be able to see that steadiness continues. We hope that it doesn't create a spike. But we're prepared for that. If it does, and hopefully by continuing to do the things that we're doing, we'll continue to see that gradual decline.Gary Bisbee 13:20Building on that we've seen that there's a lack of information and probably disinformation going around how have you communicated with the community, Russ?Russ Cox 13:31Well, we've taken a multi-pronged approach to how we communicate. We knew in early March that this was going to be different and we were going to have to do some things very differently. So one of the things we did is I started recording a video once a day, about 10 to 12 minutes where I was 100% transparent with employees gave them exactly the numbers of people that were coming in. How many of them were positive, how many of them were impatient, where they were, how many employees we tested, how many employees were positive. We gave how many people were Were out on medical furlough, how many people have returned from furlough, then we would use what was left of the 10 to 12 minutes to talk about significant shifts in policy that we needed to make whether it be a restricting visitation, whether it be utilization of PPE. I took the last two or three minutes and we set up an email where people could send in questions and we just tried to run through questions that people had sent in as quickly as we could. What we soon found out was that we were posting that on YouTube. Employees were watching it regularly. But what we also found out is it in a vacuum of information, they were forwarding the link to their family members to other people, and it became a very good community communication as well. To the point we even had media watching it. And again, 10 to 12 minutes is about all you can do. The players don't have time, but what we found was that people were watching it at home, letting their spouse watch it at home. And so it was a very effective sort of communication. We send it to all of our physicians, all 16,300 employees got link to that on a daily basis. This afternoon I'll film number 72 in a row of doing that. And it's been one of those good things that we've been able to do because people will watch that video, people tend to get an email and only glaze through it and not get some of the details. So we've really tried to extrapolate what is it that people really need to know to do their job the next day. So that's been very effective. The other thing we've done is we've worked very effectively with local and state governments to make sure that they had our information that we were helping them in any way that they needed possible to get messages out. When you have 55% market share, you have an opportunity to leverage that. We're an epic, EMR. We've got my chart, we were able to leverage my chart to really improve telehealth. We went from probably 250 telehealth visits in February to the month of April, we had 18,000 telehealth visits. So we were able to use that to communicate with patients as well. We did zoom media availabilities once a week where we would just again, be very transparent. Take any questions that the press had. I just felt like that our history of transparency and a responsibility that we have to make sure that we're providing as much information as we can for the public really required us to take an hour out of a week or whatever, and just sit down with the media and say, here's what we're saying, here's what we think, what can we answer for you? We leverage social media as much as it could be possibly leverage during this time, as I'm sure everyone did. But my goal for our organization was to be accused of over-communicating. I think that's one of the things you learn for being a teacher sometimes is that sometimes you've got to be repetitive, repetitive, repetitive, as they say for students to learn and sometimes for the public to understand we have to just continue to they use that message I'd really like to have $1 for every time I said, make sure you wash your hands, make sure you social distance, make sure you cough it to your elbow. Make sure you don't go to your eyes and nose with your fingers. I mean, I could give these speeches over and over again, but we just made it our goal to over-communicate. I also should add that we included our Board of Trustees in those videos. And that was probably one of the smarter things that we did because it sure made board meetings a lot easier. They would watch that video every day and be able to keep up with what we were doing and how we're doing it. So we got a board meeting and we didn't have to recreate everything that had happened over the past month. It's an effective tool.Gary Bisbee 17:26Well, it's 72 videos, you're going to be quite a personality around Louisville. If you need an agent Russ just let me know I'm available.Russ Cox 17:36I didn't say the news was always good. I was delivering. We did learn from that too, Gary. That if you are palms up with your employees and tell him exactly how it is and it's pretty hard for me to stand in front of that camera last month and say, folks, the month of April, we're going to lose $80 million. But it was very much a rallying cry for everybody to say hey, at least I know what it is. And at least I feel like we have a plan to figure this out. And we did our best to make sure that every day, and it got us through some PPE issues to hearing, because we had PPE problems just like everybody else did. I mean, I literally would go on the video every day and say, here's how many of these we have, here's what our burn rate is, we're going to need to reuse these and we're going to need to use ultraviolet rays to sanitize these masks, and you're going to need to use them the next day and I bring in somebody from our infectious control to actually talk about this will work and you need to trust it. So it has so many uses that I would do it all over again, I think that was the one strategy that really did make a big difference for us.Gary Bisbee 18:41If we could dig into telemedicine, you made the point that your virtual strategy was a priority pre-COVID, and that played well into what came post-COVID. How do you see televisits growing from here?Russ Cox 18:59I think they'll grow. There's going to be circumstances where the face to face visit with a provider is always going to be the best possible way to do it. But there's going to be a real need for telehealth and increase telehealth going forward because we have so many people who fit into this higher risk category. And until we have a reliable vaccination, we're going to have people who shouldn't be out and about. So leveraging this and the good news is one of those categories of at-risk are elderly people. The good news is that elderly people have been introduced to technology to communicate with their grandchildren and their children. So telehealth now feels very natural to a whole lot of people who in the past, wouldn't it use telehealth? So, you look at folks who have mobility issues, immunosuppressed people that have transportation issues. I think our patients have always had the muscle to do telehealth, they've just never had to flex it. And COVID made them flex it and made them actually say, hey, I've got this I can do it. So we're pretty excited. We last week announced a concept that I'm very excited about and really it just came from understanding more about telehealth. We're building the first permanent drive through testing diagnostic site that I think we've ever seen. We certainly have none of them in this region. And I don't know if there's any in the country, but we saw how telehealth works so well. And we realized, hey, if we could almost if you could think of a Jiffy Lube concept, but for healthcare, we're gonna have three bays where people could pull up, they can have lab work done. They can have diagnostics done. They can have tests, they can have vaccinations, and we learned a lot that if you can do it in your car, you can have a telehealth visit, get the orders, go get your lab work and your car and not have to leave your car and not have to come into medical office buildings or labs and interact with people. And we can put two people in Pampers for the whole day and save PPE. So we're moving up telehealth to the next iteration of testing diagnostics for an express drive-thru and walk-up perspective that we think will help drive even more telehealth. So I think we have to look at how do we get ahead of the curve on this because the circumstances that we're in may change, but the memory of the patient is not going to change for a long time. And if we have spikes, we're going to need this capacity. If we have another virus of some kind, which is altogether possible, we're going to need this skill set. We're going to need these kinds of opportunities with telehealth and travel through testing to make people feel very comfortable with continuing to use. So yeah, I'm very bullish on telehealth and drive-thru and walk-up permanent testing sites. Be interesting to see how it works.Gary Bisbee 21:35Yeah, for sure. Well, that's a terrific initiative and on Norton's part, one quick question there. Do you think insurance companies will continue to reimburse for televisits the way they have during the crisis?Russ Cox 21:48We certainly advocated for this during the time we've worked with all of our political leaders that we know we've worked with our payers. It will be a shame if they don't because we're able to make a difference in so many people's lives that otherwise won't come in. And I've tried to convince some payers along the way that we will probably lost some people that will never get to come to again. And that's going to be to their benefit. So hopefully, they'll see the wisdom in continuing to invest in good reimbursement levels for telehealth, but I'm going to be honest with even if they don't, the consumer is not going to let us discontinue this service. I really think that it's a whole different world that we're living in as it relates to patient and patient advocacy around how they want to receive health care.Gary Bisbee 22:33Let's turn to a story that's not quite as attractive and that is surgeries, particularly elective surgeries, you make the point that we might be a captive of our own terminology. Why don't you dig into that a bit? If you could, Russ?Russ Cox 22:46We've always known the importance of surgical procedures, diagnostic procedures, and the like on hospitals. I don't think in my careers, and I've been in it since '82, that it's ever been hammered home more than it was when we were forced to discontinue those kinds of services because it's a severing of the cord, if you will, with the patient in many ways to not be able to do those things. Not to mention what it does to your revenue stream. But I really do feel like we're a victim of our own nomenclature at times because the word elective, so often go to the mind of a consumer or the mind of the general public that all we did was cosmetic procedures. And that's so wrong. All we did really was delay procedures that needed to be done. And they got categorized as elective and pretty soon everyone's arguing over what elective is, and I think that was a learning for us all in this that we need to really examine how we define surgeries that need to be done. And all we did was delay which many times put the patient in a compromised position. What is elective about a person needing spine surgery with horrific back pain? What's the elective about a knee replacement? If the person has a blood infection in that joint, there is nothing elective about that. But we found ourselves arguing about what's elective and what is just really has to be done. It certainly was an eye-opener for us. As I mentioned earlier, we lost $80 million in the month of April. And a whole lot of that goes to the fact that we couldn't do surgeries, we couldn't do procedures. We never laid anybody off. We never reduced anybody's pay, we made the conscious decision that we were going to invest in our employees and that we were going to ask them to focus on patients and focus on staying ready when the patients came back, and we were going to fight through it together. So it all added up to not a good financial result. But the culture of our organization is better for the fact that we stood by our employees and I think physicians have noticed that I think that as they make decisions as to where they want to practice in the future, they're going to remember to take care of their employees. So we're glad to see that we're able to return to 100% of elective surgery starting tomorrow. We were at 50% for the past two weeks. We saw a very strong willingness for patients and physicians to come back. We were worried. I think one of the lessons I learned here is that you can't just tell patients, trust us, it's safe. They expect us to say that. They think oh, of course, you're gonna say it safe. But what we have to do is tell them how it's different. And so our communication strategy has been to communicate with patients how it's different. You're going to get your temperature taken before you come in the door, you're going to be asked to put a mask on, you're going to be asked to only have one visitor with you, when you're here. We clean all of our areas with UV ray machines, we're not going to have waiting areas with chairs that are not six feet apart. So we've worked very hard on building trust back by not just saying trust us, but by saying here's what's different. We're encouraged our fear at times that what I'm seeing right now and feeling good about is just a backlog of necessary surgery that is enthusiastic, we come back so I think we'll know a whole lot more over the next four to six weeks is to the general public's willingness to read Return to those procedures. We've done a lot of research, I think that everybody knows that they're more comfortable returning to ASC than they are to hospitals that have procedures. So we've done everything we can to communicate what we're doing and how we're doing it and to get people to places where they're going to be comfortable with a procedure with the surgery being done.Gary Bisbee 26:19Following up on the economic story, how do you see 2020 ending up? And how do you see '21 ending up given there's so many variables here that it's just impossible to figure out?Russ Cox 26:32It really is. I have to say that I'm very pessimistic for the rest of 2020. Simply because I think that it could have everything from spikes to another surge to still some reticence on the part of patients to come back as quickly as we would hope. I think it's going to be a difficult slog for us. Well, let me say that the Cares Act has made a difference for us. For us getting $43 million is significant. It doesn't make up for the revenue we lost. But it helps. And it's certainly something that we didn't count on or expect. So I think that's been a good thing for hospitals and healthcare organizations to at least have that assist going forward. We don't know how much more that's coming if he's coming. But that would always certainly be welcomed and help. I like to think that payers are going to understand that they've done very well during this time. And that hopefully, they'll see their way fit to help us through this time as we go forward. So might be crazily optimistic on that. But I think these are different times. I think that it's in everyone's best interest to be some shared help along the way. So I'm more optimistic that if we're able to do the things that we're doing and sustain the behaviors and activities that we're in right now that 2021 can be a year that we maybe not return to the levels where we have been in the past, but that we begin to calibrate more towards what we're used to.Gary Bisbee 27:54We've touched on this several times before today, but let me ask that question directly if I can, what are the characteristics of a leader in a crisis? What should they be?Russ Cox 28:06I'm going to go back to what I said earlier, I think it's number one, two, and three, a good communicator, and a communicator that's willing to share everything that they know. And everything that I say, I think is important for people to know. And be willing to do it in a way that is very palms up, very transparent. And that creates a sense of stability and calm. I think the mistake that a lot of leaders make during this time is to get so buried in the details of execution on operations around things that they forget that just communicating that we're going to be fine. We are going to get through this and that we do have a plan and that we're going to tell you about that every day and be willing to say to people, it's going to change because the situation is gonna change and just watch us every day. Listen every day and if you have concerns, we set up a hotline one 800 number for if you have concerns about PPE call this and it will get it resolved to date. If you're not feeling good call employee helpline. It's one central line here. But I think communication I just go back to, it sounds so easy to say all communication is so important. What I found during this time is you cannot communicate too much. And you need to be out there regularly. They need to be able to see your face and not just read an email, they need to be able to see the emotion that you feel. They need to understand that you're very much into this and that you're very much about making certain that they're safe, that they have the tools they need to do their job, and that they can take care of patients. I've become a big believer in that anything in everything that you can do. To communicate is very important and I haven't it hasn't been lost on me that you're not just communicating with your employees. you're communicating with their families in the morning information they're able to share with their families, the more secure their families feel about that person coming to work and putting themselves in harm's way every day.Gary Bisbee 30:09Well said, Russ, this has been a terrific interview, we appreciate your time, I'd like to ask one final question. That is this idea of new normal, you make the point that we're not going to see normal again. But what comes to your mind in changes in the delivery system as a result of COVID that you would like to see?Russ Cox 30:29Flexibility. I think there's going to be a list of terms that we hate going forward and I'm going to put in an abundance of caution on that list. I hate that term. I feel like I've used it so many times and it's become so trite but new normal is another one that I hate, but I think the new normal if you will, is flexibility. We've got to meet patients where they are. Some are going to want those telehealth opportunities, some are going to want to come to the office. Some are going to want to delay care. How do we stay in touch with them? Some are going to want to do it virtually, we established a virtual hospital during this time, it's been a great success. We were able to discharge people into this virtual hospital where they had a virtual visit every day from their provider, and we were able to monitor their vitals remotely. So we're just going to have to meet people where they are and have a flexible approach to saying, How do you best interact with us, and what makes you most comfortable, what makes you feel the best about it? What makes you feel the safest? So my new normal and the thing that I preach here every day is meeting that patient where they are and having a flexible enough model that we can accommodate whatever it is that they choose, and however it is they choose to interface with us,Gary Bisbee 31:41Russ, thanks so much for your time today. Norton is lucky to have you and we've enjoyed very much having you on the show.Russ Cox 31:48Appreciate being here. Appreciate the great work of the Academy and look forward to us all being able to get back together again someday.Gary Bisbee 31:55This episode of Fireside Chat is produced by Strafire. Please subscribe to Fireside Chat on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening right now. Be sure to rate and review Fireside Chat so we can continue to explore key issues with innovative and dynamic healthcare leaders. In addition to subscribing and rating, we have found that podcasts are known through word of mouth. We appreciate your spreading the word to friends or those who might be interested. Fireside Chat is brought to you from our nation's capital in Washington DC, where we explore the intersection of healthcare politics, financing, and delivery. For additional perspectives on health policy and leadership. Read my weekly blog Bisbee's Brief. For questions and suggestions about Fireside Chat, contact me through our website, firesidechatpodcast.com, or gary@hmacademy.com. Thanks for listening.

In today’s gospel reading, we are invited into a story, a story that simply did not just take place a long time ago, but a story that is truly our story, here and now.  Because of the nature of this gospel passage, I am going to do something different.  Before we hear the reading, I would like to share just a few insights with you.  The community to which the Gospel of John is addressed may very well have been expelled from the synagogue for confessing Jesus as Messiah.  They may well have felt isolated and abandoned.  So, as you experience hearing today’s reading about the isolated blind man, ask yourself how this passage might address the isolated and the abandoned, not only within John’s community, but also the isolated and abandoned among us today.  How does this story address us as we face a whole new form of living in isolation? Not only does this reading address the nature of this early Christian community, it also works to undermine a simplistic understanding of sin.  When the disciples voice a common view of the day that disability or hardship is the result of sin, a view some people today even continue to suggest, Jesus sharply disagrees.  Also, when the Pharisees assume that knowledge of the law automatically grants righteousness, Jesus counters their thinking by saying that precisely because they feel so certain regarding their understanding, because they deny their sin and claim to “see,” they are in fact sinning because they do not recognize and trust God’s very saving presence to them in the person of Jesus. So, are they really the blind ones? With these insights in mind, I invite you to listen or follow along and enter into this story.  John 9:1-41 As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” 12They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” 13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” 16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 17So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.” 18The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” 25He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out. 35Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 39Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.   Friends, to follow Jesus is to see differently.  Sometimes, to follow Jesus is to be brought into a messy situation, maybe even a crisis.  But, in the mess, we are called to trust that God is present and at work doing a new thing.  Sometimes, this newness means discovering that we are actually the blind ones when we think we see perfectly.  My friend, Pastor Bill Uetricht, quoted theologian John Petty on Thursday and then added some thoughts of his own. He wrote: “John Petty speaks of Lutheran irony, the notion that ‘it is precisely when we are most spiritually confident that we are in greatest spiritual danger, that it is precisely when we feel strong in faith, precisely when we are feeling the most committed, precisely when we are the most religious, that sin lies closest at hand.’”  My friend Bill then said, “I suspect that in the craziness of these current times, this wisdom is worth clinging to. Who knows for sure what it is all about? The call in the midst of it is not certainty, but trust. That isn't coming easy for me these days.” I agree with my dear friend, Bill.  That trust is not coming easy for me these days.  Yet, I do continue to trust God’s word to us.  That blind man was made new.  Theologian, Nadia Bolz Weber, writes, “New is often messy.  New looks like recovering alcoholics.  New looks like reconciliation between family members who don’t actually deserve it.  New looks like every time I manage to admit I was wrong and every time I manage to not mention when I’m right.  New looks like a very fresh start and every act of forgiveness.  New is the thing we never saw coming – never even hoped for – like our blind guy here.  But new ends up being what I needed all along.”  And, I would add, new is discovering the new ministries and new ways we are able to be together as people of Faith in the midst of the craziness of our present existence. Such newness is also what we call grace, it is what we call love.  Nadia Bolz-Weber continues by saying, “God simply keeps reaching down…reaching down into the dirt of your humanity and resurrecting you from the graves you dig for yourself through your violence, your lies, your selfishness, your arrogance, and your addictions.  And God keeps loving you back to life over and over….There are times when faith feels like a friendship with God.  But there are other times when it feels….I don’t know….more vacant.  Yet none of that matters in the end.  How you feel about Jesus or how close you feel to God is meaningless next to how God acts upon you.  How God indeed enters into your messy life and loves you through it, maybe whether you want God’s help or not.” In today’s story, one of the most remarkable things is the fact that the blind man didn’t seek out Jesus or ask his help.  Yet, he was healed and made whole.  And the powerful, life-giving truth of the gospel is that our suffering, our grief, the challenges we are currently facing, and even our sin will not have the last word. As our souls and bodies desperately cry out for relief, we hear the faint yet clear voice of the Christ calling us; reminding us that, through the cross, death and all its trappings have been swallowed up in victory. The final word rests not with suffering, not with blindness, not with this coronavirus and everything that we are currently facing and experiencing, but with the newness, life and peace that come through Christ. These days, we hear people reminding us to wash our hands over and over and over again, and it is a necessary reminder.  But, this story reminds us that the most sublime words imaginable are, “Go, wash.” And, I don’t mean just go wash your hands yet again.  I mean wash in the waters of your baptism and the water of life in which God daily bathes each one of us, whatever our circumstances.  We may not always sense this, but we trust God’s promise to us.  And, as the cool and refreshing waters of life wash over all of us – those baptismal waters in which we daily live – our eyes and our hearts are opened to behold the living Christ, standing as the chains of death and hell lay broken at his feet.  There is no other response than to simply trust, raise our voices and cry out at last, “Lord! I believe!”  

Mark 1:14Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of GodThe cost of telling the Truth can be very high--are you willing to accept the cost?

Acts 13:1-14Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. 6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.13 Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, 14 but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia

Mark 1:14-15 14Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”