Podcasts about luke it

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Saint Luke the Evangelist. Russian Eastern Orthodox icon from Russia. 18th century. Wood, tempera. Via Wikimedia Commons. https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/ultraviolet-light-reveals-scientists-hidden-bible-passage-1500-years-later (for Luke) Unique passages: https://www.julianspriggs.co.uk/pages/UniquePassages  Thanks Biblehub.com's parallel chapters tool. Words of Jesus ("All the Red Letter Scriptures") https://www.jesusbelieverjd.com/all-the-red-letter-scriptures-of-jesus-in-the-bible-kjv/    Parallel Passages in the Gospels https://www.bible-researcher.com/parallels.html#sect1     The Eye of the Needle (crossword/sudoku feedback): https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-25583,00.html#:~:text=The%20%22Eye%20of%20the%20Needle,in%20order%20to%20enter%20heaven   Camel needle w/Aquinas citation (of Anselm of Canterbury)-- Anselm of Canterbury as cited in Catena Aurea, Thomas Aquinas, CCEL Edition. https://classictheology.org/2021/10/12/through-the-eye-of-an-actual-needle-the-fake-gate-theory/    The Widow's Mite: https://numismatics.org/pocketchange/the-poor-widows-mite/    Miracles of Jesus reference list: https://sunnyhillschurch.com/3301/the-37-miracles-of-jesus-in-chronological-order/    TRANSCRIPT   Welcome to the Popeular History Podcast: History through Pope Colored Glasses. My name is Gregg and this is episode 0.21g: Sayings of the Savior Part VII: A Look at Luke.   All of these aught episodes are made to let us build our Pope-colored glasses so we can use the same lenses when we look at history together. If you're lost, start at the beginning!   Today we continue our Sayings of the Savior series with a look at Luke, covering everything Jesus said in that Gospel that we haven't yet discussed–so leaving off things like the miracles we did in 0.20 and the parables and other sayings we did in earlier Sayings of the Savior installments- so we'll be leaving you in suspense right before the concluding few chapters discussing Jesus' death and His (spoiler alert) resurrection, which we'll cover as we finish the remaining mysteries of the rosary in future Catholic worldbuilding episodes.   We already covered the first three chapters of Luke gradually from Episode 0.14 to Episode 0.19, and we'll cover the last three chapters as we talk through the Passion and the Resurrection (oops, spoilers). Which leaves Luke chapters 4 through 21 as our focus for today.   Luke 4 starts with the Temptation in the Desert. As you know by now, it's not unusual to find parallel scenes in the Gospels, especially in the so-called synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and fitting with that pattern, we saw a version of this scene in Matthew, and it actually made an appearance in Mark as well, though the Mark version was so abbreviated it didn't actually assign any dialog to Jesus or Satan so I didn't zoom in on it–after all, this is Sayings of the Savior.   Anyways, let's see Luke's temptation scene and note what differences we see from Matthew's version.   In the first temptation, Matthew has Satan referring to multiple stones Jesus could turn into bread after his 40 day fast, while Luke has just one stone. I'm sure there's commentary that discusses this difference--it's the Bible, there's commentary for everything– but unlike the Mark episode, I'm not going to go into quite that level of detail with Luke. It's worth noting that when Christ responds with   LUKE "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone.'”   GREGG he leaves off the second half of the quote from Deuteronomy 8:3   “but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”   which Matthew had included.   Then, the second and third temptation we saw in Matthew are reversed. In Luke, Satan first tells Jesus he can give him all sorts of power if He worships him, which, I mean, I guess things would have been pretty different if Jesus had taken him up on that. Like, serious plot twist. But nah. He says   LUKE “It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only”   GREGG and then the third temptation in Luke's ordering is the testing of God's protection of Jesus. Rather than seeing if God will save Him, Jesus says:   LUKE: It is said: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”   GREGG After seeing the devil off, Jesus begins his traveling and preaching ministry and soon enough winds up in his hometown. This is a scene that showed up in Matthew and Mark as well, the one where Jesus notes that no prophet is welcome in his hometown. In Luke it's more thorough and frankly dramatic. Long quote ahead, let's get into it:   LUKE 4 16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,   17and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:   18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,   19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”   20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.   21He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”   22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.   23Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself!' And you will tell me, 'Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"   24"Truly I tell you," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown.   25I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.   26Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.   27And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian.”   28All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.   29They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.   30But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.   GREGG   So, just to recap, we have Jesus preaching a bit of a softball passage from Isaiah, promising good news to the poor. That was a long quote, so let's hear just that passage as a refresher:   “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor”   The good news part is clear enough In terms of freedom and healing, but what is the year of the Lord's favor mentioned?   By all accounts it's the Jubilee year described in Leviticus 25. You know how the seventh day is the Sabbath, a day of rest for the people? Well the seventh year was a “day”of rest for the fields, where they were to lie fallow, that is, go untilled and unworked, letting nature take its course for a year. Crops could not be harvested in an organized way, though what grows could be casually consumed by the owners, or by the needy,  or really by anyone, or by animals. Going further, personal debts among the people of Israel were cancelled in a levelling move. This custom is still in force in much of Israel, where it is called the Shmita. Of course, following the quasi-precept of “two Jews, three opinions”, application slash abrogation of this practice varies.   Anyways, the Jubilee year was not the seventh year, the Smhita I mentioned, but rather the fiftieth year, being the year after the seventh set of seven years, because symbolism. In the Jubilee year, things were even more intense, for instance going beyond personal debt forgiveness to returning sold land to the tribe of origin and to freeing Israelites who had sold themselves into slavery, basically a factory reset for society.   But note, this was only enslaved Israelites who were to be freed in the Jubilee year, the “year of the Lord's favor”. And this is where we turn back to Luke 4, because Jesus pivots the conversation away from the people of Israel to the fringes and even beyond the borders of Jewish society, to Sidon and Syria. But sending the good news to the gentiles is quite a bridge too far for his audience, who prepare to kill him in their rage. Like I said, quite the scene, and it's easy to understand why skeptics might place it as having been written after Christianity had already begun to spread among the gentiles and catch flack for doing so on the home front. My main narrative episodes haven't gotten far, but we've already started to see some of that tension, and it will only grow.   Of course, I've committed to getting my Catholic Worldbuilding stuff done before I dive back into the main narrative stuff, and to do that we need to get through the rest of Luke, and to do *that* we at least need to get through the rest of Luke 4.   After escaping the assembled mob, apparently by miraculous means of some kind because it simply says He walked right through the crowd, Jesus proceeds to do other miracles in towns around the region. The people who lived near Peter's mother-in-law must have really appreciated the assist, because in stark contrast to his hometown reception they tried to keep him from leaving. He responded:   LUKE 4 “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”   GREGG Luke 5 opens with Jesus calling his disciples to follow Him. We covered the miraculous catch of fish that got Peter on board when we did our roundup of miracles, and other assorted miracles carry us through to Verse 27, when we have the Call of Matthew, known to Luke as Levi.   Matthew vs. Levi Is worth a minute. Matthew is the more common name for this disciple, and may have been his Christian name. But Levi is the name preferred here in Luke and also in Mark. One explanation I saw in multiple places is that Matthew is a Greek name while Levi is Hebrew, an explanation that suffers from being wrong, as Matthew is Hebrew for “gift of God”. A perhaps more successful explanation is that Matthew was a Levite, you know, someone from the Tribe of Levi, and things got a bit garbled. Or there was a name change that just didn't get recorded in Scripture or in any other tradition for that matter..   Matthew and Levi being separate individuals seems to be the least popular theory, so regardless of the particulars, your takeaway from this should be the same as it was when we talked about this last episode: they're the same person.   Either way, here's the call of Matthew *cough* Levi:   LUKE 5 27Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, 28and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.   GREGG OK, maybe I didn't need to go into all that detail for two words of Jesus, but hey, what's done is done, so “follow me” across a few more verses, where Jesus gets questioned about the company He's chosen to keep:   LUKE 5 Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”   GREGG That's good news for us sinners, I can tell you that much.   Luke 5 finishes with some parables, which we covered in the Parables roundup earlier in this series, so on to Luke 6, which opens with the grain-picking scene we've seen a couple of times already. SYNOPTIC ROUNDUP, you know the drill [airhorn], except I'm skipping rehashing the other two accounts, just, you know, general reminder that synoptic parallels are a thing.   Anyways, let's get another dose of that “Lord of the Sabbath” action:   LUKE 6 1One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. 2Some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 3Jesus answered them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” 5Then Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”   GREGG Oh yeah, good stuff. Check my Matthew and Mark episodes if you want more commentary on it, I want to buckle down and get to John. Of course by that I mean John the Baptist, whose inquiry  gives us of the next section we need to cover. Of course, as is so often the case with these synoptic Gospels, this isn't actually a whole new section. This next chunk closely matches a parallel passage in Matthew 11. If you want to follow along, in Matthew it's the start of that Chapter, while in Luke we're at chapter 7 verse 18:   LUKE 7 18John's disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, 19he sent them to the Lord to ask, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else? 20When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?'” 21At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind.   GREGG Oh look there's a batch of miracles that didn't make it into my miracles roundup, at least not directly. It's pretty vague, and it's unique to Luke. This small difference is exactly the sort of thing that gets analyzed to try to understand the relationship between Matthew and Luke, and like every other bit of Scriptural analysis you can find someone taking pretty much any conceivable stance. In any case, the reference to those timely miracles helps set the stage for the next verse, which is back to closely paralleling Matthew:   LUKE 7 22So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 23Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”   24After John's messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 25If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. 26But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27This is the one about whom it is written: "'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' 28I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”   GREGG Now, I went back and checked my commentary on Matthew's version of this scene, and it was basically nothing. Which is fair, I was pretty deadline-crunched at the time and knew I'd be revisiting it here. But it's definitely worth noting that both passages have John the Baptist, who Jesus proclaims as a great, or even the greatest, prophet, both passages have this spiritual giant publicly uncertain about whether Jesus is the Messiah.   You could perhaps argue this was a ruse, but John seems to have been a straight shooter- that's why he's sending delegates from prison after all rather than asking himself. So it seems to be a genuine question. Which means if you're under the impression that having faith or even being the greatest prophet ever automatically means you have no remaining questions and can see all of God's plan perfectly, apparently not. After all, John had been the one ministering at Jesus' baptism, where Heaven had opened and the Spirit had come down as a dove and God's own voice had told Jesus: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”   And yet now John is asking, publicly: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?"   There's a lesson in there on vulnerability and openness to God's plan. Or perhaps a lesson in how everyone can encounter uncertainty, no matter how certain their role seems. We'll see Jesus go even further in questioning during the Passion narrative when the time comes.   Skipping a few verses of parenthetical commentary that can only be found in Luke, let's pick back up at Luke 7 verse 31:   LUKE 7 31Jesus went on to say, "To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: "'We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.' 33For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' 34The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' 35But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”   GREGG If you aren't willing to listen, you'll find any excuse to dismiss the message. But the wise will be shown by making the right choice.   After wrapping that up, Jesus goes on a bit of a parable tour until he winds up with a bit more family awkwardness In Luke 8:19:   LUKE 8 19 Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting CORRECT  to see you.”   21 He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice.”   GREGG Ouch, but also yay, Jesus doesn't put His earthly family above others. Which is good news If you didn't start out as His family, though it might sting a little if you did.   The rest of Luke 8 is a bunch of previously-discussed miracles, so we're on to Luke 9:   LUKE 9 9 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. 5 If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.   GREGG This Isn't the first or even the second time we've seen these basic marching orders, but it actually is the last as John is, well, a very different Gospel, as we'll see in our next worldbuilding episode.   Anyways, after feeding the 5,000 we get to verse 18, where Luke's version of Peter's confession begins. As with Mark, don't get too excited:   LUKE 9 18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”   19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”   20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”   Peter answered, “God's Messiah.”   21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.”   GREGG   So that's three for three on synoptic Gospels having Peter describe Jesus as the Messiah. Only Matthew did the keys thing, though. Also note the messianic secret trope popping up again- Jesus will apparently reverse his gag order after the Passion, because the Book of Acts- which was also written by Luke, or at least by whoever wrote Luke, will be all about telling everyone Jesus is the Messiah.   Immediately after that exchange, Jesus starts talking about his future, and it's not rosy:   LUKE 9 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”   23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.   27 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”   GREGG This is all closely paralleling Matthew, and Mark as well, though as usual Mark was a bit shorter, skipping the last verse about some standing there not tasting death before they see the Kingdom. Again, you can see why early Christians were basically a doomsday cult expecting the end sooner rather than later. Certainly *your* end will come, so, you know, keep that in mind.   We're going to skip the transfiguration since that's its own mystery of the rosary with its own episode, and there's another miracle account after that. So skipping along, come with me to Luke 9:43:   LUKE 9 While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, 44 “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” 45 But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.   GREGG If my episode on Mark is still fresh in your mind, you may already predict where this is going, as this particular section is a close Mark and Luke parallel. Matthew split things up in different ways but for both Mark and Luke the conversation with a child and being the greatest in the kingdom follows immediately after Jesus states what will become of him, leaving the disciples too afraid to ask.   Let's carry on with the next verse:   LUKE 9 46 An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. 47 Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. 48 Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”   GREGG The next verse is a bit of a random aside, but an important one as I mentioned before when it came up in Mark:   LUKE 9 49 “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”   50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”   GREGG Skipping ahead to verse 57, we have some stray sayings that underline the urgency of following Christ:   LUKE 9 57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”   58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”   59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”   But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”   60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”   61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”   62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”   GREGG A bit harsh, but Jesus is like that sometimes.   Luke 10 opens with an long section on Jesus' next project, sending out seventy-two disciples, or seventy according to some manuscripts. Some may recall a previous seventy vs seventy-two discussion when we talked about the Septuagint, and I expect there's a reason for that parallel, but either way that's not the particular rabbit hole I want to go down here today. Instead, I want to note that we can have some fun with this Luke-only passage, and that we wouldn't be the first to do so.   You see, seventy is a long but not completely impractical number of folks to list off, and while Luke doesn't give names, there are plenty of extrabiblical sources assigning names and biographical details to some or all of the seventy. This passage discussing Jesus sending out seventy disciples was especially useful for ancient or wannabe ancient dioceses that couldn't trace back to a specific Apostle. Instead, lo and behold, turns out their founder was one of the unnamed seventy. Boom presto, a biblical founder!   Of course that's the skeptical read, it could well be that some such stories are true. But there are enough names assigned to the 70 that they certainly aren't *all* true, kind of like how there are at least four heads of John the Baptist floating around. In the end, as a reminder, Catholics are generally free to believe or disbelieve in the authenticity and or efficacy of any particular relic or tradition as long as they accept the fundamental teachings and authority of the Catholic Church.   In terms of the promised fun we can have, I'd like to announce a little side project, a game where I share a story of someone spreading Christianity and the next episode we'll discuss whether it's real or made up and what the sources are.   We'll start that at the end of this episode. For now, let's hear about the seventy slash seventy-two:   LUKE 10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.   5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.' 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.   GREGG Someone tell the Jehovah's Witnesses…   LUKE 10 8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.' 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.' 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.   13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.   16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”   17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”   18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.    GREGG That verse is the root of some of the quirky snake-handling churches in Appalachia by the way…   LUKE 10 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”   21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.   22 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”   23 Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”   GREGG   Those last two verses touch on an interesting discussion throughout Church history, namely the fate of those who lived before the time of Christ.   Could they be saved? Observant Jews of the time, yes, certainly. But those who never encountered Christianity or Judaism because of when or where they lived historically has proven a bit of an awkward question for the Church. The “well you better go tell them” impulse has long served to recruit missionaries, but on the other end many did and do argue that it hardly seems fair to expect folks to follow what through no fault of their own they've never been exposed to. Granted it's less of an issue nowadays when very few folks worldwide haven't at least heard of Christ, but the question remains. Certainly the Catholic Church insists that all humans who are saved are saved through Christ, there's no other way. And yet the Church also affirms that God is not bound by time, as evidenced by the defined belief required of all Catholics in the Immaculate Conception, where the Blessed Virgin Mary was preserved from all stain of sin from the moment of her conception. Obviously that took place before the Incarnation, so it's not like the years going from BC to AD is a firm barrier for the saving action of Christ in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Indeed, by implication, the previously mentioned Jews who awaited the grand opening of heaven were able to do so by the work of Christ according to the Church, though given how many horrible things have been done to Jews in the name of Christ through the years that isn't something that tends to be emphasized.   In the end, I think you probably know me well enough by now to correctly guess that I land on the hopeful end of this discussion. By one means or another, all through Christ, I hope for all. But to be very clear, that's my hope, and for what it's worth. Pope Francis' hope as well according to a recent interview, but it's not established Church teaching.   Skipping past the parable of the Good Samaritan, let's go to verse 38 for Martha and Mary, an exchange that's my go-to analogy for the two basic types of service to the Church, with Martha being the “active” type and Mary the “contemplative”.   LUKE 38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”   41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”   GREGG   The first part of Luke 11 covers Luke's take on the Our Father-covered in 0.21b- and the Friend at Midnight covered in our parables roundup. So skip along to Verse 9, which parallels Matthew's Sermon on the Mount, so it will sound familiar:   LUKE 11 9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.   11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”   GREGG Skip ahead again, this time to verse 24, because verses 14-23 were covered under miracles:   LUKE 24 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.' 25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.”   27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.”   28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”   GREGG There's a reminder that relapsing can be worse than the initial lapse, and a nice compliment session preserved only in Luke. But then the tone shifts, and the rest of the chapter has parallels in Matthew:   LUKE 11 29 As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here   GREGG Then there's a comparatively light lamp analogy, which I kind of covered during the Sermon on the Mount commentary, but not in its entirety, so I'm giving it all to you here:   LUKE 11 33 “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”   GREGG And now as we get back to a more challenging tone, and as Jesus targets the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law specifically, I want to give the same general note that I gave for the parallel verses in Matthew: do not take these verses out of context to justify antisemitism, which has no place in the Catholic Church, or really in the world. For one thing, keep in mind Jesus is a Jew speaking to fellow Jews here.   Anyways, let's continue: LUKE   37 When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.   39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.   42 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.   43 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.   44 “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”   45 One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”   46 Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.   47 “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them. 48 So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.' 50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.”   GREGG Let's take a moment to reflect on that last line: “this generation will be held responsible for it all”. It's surprisingly harsh, even for a surprisingly harsh Jesus, for Him to hold the generation he was talking to responsible for all the blood of all the prophets that has been shed from the beginning of the world. But there it is. I can see a case being made for these verses as part of a theological justification for original sin, though really the key verse for that is Romans 5:12, which we'll talk about later. Either way, given the emphasis on “this generation”, I don't think that's what's going on here, as original sin doesn't like, target specific generations.   So, what's up? Why is Jesus focusing in on the present generation, at least the present generation as of His lifetime?   Well, there's the key. It's His generation. Jesus is there, and all of the sin of history, past, present, and future, will be brought to account through Him.   Jesus, as always, is the answer. It's not that the world was especially sinful in the first century AD. But the answer to all sin was walking the earth then. *That* is why it's a generation that deserves a particular singling out.   Of course, that reflection- my own theological musing I should say, which is a dangerous thing to do and I defer to any correction that may come my way– anyways that reflection should not detract from the straightforward fact that Jesus is really taking the Pharisees and Teachers of the law to task here   LUKE 11 52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”   53 When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.   1Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy   2There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.   3What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs   GREGG Fortunately no one in our day falls into religious hypocrisy anymore, right? …right?   Anyways, the next few verses, once again paralleled with Matthew, put things into context, while weaving in hints of future persecution:   LUKE 12 4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 8 “I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. 9 But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” GREGG After a break for a parable, the overall theme resumes in verse 22:   LUKE 12 22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?   27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.   32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.   GREGG Did you catch one of the most challenging things Jesus says?   “Sell your possessions and give to the poor”   This isn't the only place Jesus says that, but it hits a little harder when he's giving it as general counsel rather than as specific advice to a rich young man looking for specific advice on how to live well. If you have more than you need, your excess needs to go to those who lack. You will ultimately have to account not only for what you did, but what you didn't do. If you've seen Schindler's List, think of his regret after all he's done, that he didn't sell the car to do more. When your life is done, what regrets will You have?   I know I need to do more, part of this project is to remind myself of that and to embarrass myself publicly for my shortcomings. Listen to Jesus' message, don't get hung up on the messenger.   A few parables take us forward to verse 49, a source of top notch dad jokes about our matchless king. But Jesus goes beyond that, preaching division. His message is hard, it will not be universally popular.   LUKE 12 49 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”   54 He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It's going to rain,' and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It's going to be hot,' and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?   57 “Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”   LUKE 13 13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”   GREGG That excerpt took us into Luke 13, which continues with parables and a miracle until verse 23, which is, frankly, basically the start of another parable, but not one I covered in the parables roundup so we'll do it here.   LUKE 13 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”   He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.'   “But he will answer, ‘I don't know you or where you come from.'   26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'   27 “But he will reply, ‘I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'   28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”   GREGG I recently saw one of the first verses in that passage cited as pointing towards the idea of Hell being full. After all,   “many I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.”   Is fairly clear, and even accounting for Jesus' action as the owner of the house, in this and elsewhere ultimately those who are out on the cold are truly out in the cold. As much as I freely admit I don't get the logic of hell being populated, I also freely admit that the idea of it being empty is an exegetical stretch given passages like this. In the end, God reigns and I do not. I know what God asks of me, and I do it. As much as I like to know and to talk, I accept that I don't have and cannot have all knowledge.   Anyways, Jesus continues with a lament over Jerusalem we saw in Matthew, which Luke supplies with a little more context:   LUKE 13 31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”   32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' 33 In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!   34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”   GREGG And now with that note looking to Jesus' future- something he definitely keeps doing throughout the Gospels- we have something of an intermission, because Luke 14, 15, and 16 are all so full of parables that we've already covered along with all of Jesus' words from those chapters. Luke 17 opens with yet another parable, and then a miracle, so we're actually regrouping at Luke 17:20, where Jesus talks about the upcoming kingdom and talks about the end times, always fuel for a discussion, though I am skeptical about how productive such discussions are, given how Jesus opens the discussion by noting that the coming of the kingdom cannot be observed. And really, if there's something you'd be doing differently if you knew the world was ending--honestly that's probably something you should be doing *now*, because your life will end very soon in the grand scheme of things, and you can't rule out today.   Anyways, let's resume:   LUKE 17 20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,' or ‘There it is,' because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”   22 Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 People will tell you, ‘There he is!' or ‘Here he is!' Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.   26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.   28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.   30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot's wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” [36]   [KJV] 36Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.   37 “Where, Lord?” they asked.   He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”   GREGG Oh, hope you don't mind me throwing in a little bit more KJV there. I would have announced it in advance but I was kind of on a roll with that transition and didn't want to kill the vibe. I'm no scripture scholar but my guess is the reason the KJV keep having verses the NIV is skipping is because back in the day folks were more reluctant to identify a passage as an addition due to manuscript evidence, you know, just in case. Better safe than sorry. But again, I'm no expert. Now, if I ever do get a budget for this beyond basic hosting fees I do have an expert in mind, so periodic reminder I do have a Popeular Patreon kicking around somewhere.   In any event, that's it for Luke 17, and we can basically skip the first half of Luke 18, since that's a couple parables and related stuff we've already addressed.   In Luke 18 verse 18, we've got a familiar question, not only familiar because it already came up in both Matthew and Mark, but it's actually already come up in Luke as well, as part of the runup to the parable of the Good Samaritan. That parable was split off from the other synoptics, being present only in Luke despite being extremely famous. But this time around, the passage is a close parallel to both Matthew and Mark. Let's go!   LUKE 18 18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'” 21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” 27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” 28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” 29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.” GREGG We treated the “eye of the needle” thing almost embarrassingly thoroughly last episode, so refer back to my Mark commentary for detail on that. The ending simply promising a much greater reward for giving things up to follow Jesus is a mild tweak of the “first shall be last” thing we saw concluding this passage in Matthew and Mark, for what it's worth.   Next up, Jesus gives the third prediction of his death he's given in Luke:   LUKE 18   31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; 33 they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”   34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.   GREGG Jesus predicts his death three times in each of the synoptic Gospels, so that being the third and final prediction is a sign we're getting close.   Chapter 18 finishes with a miracle, so we're on to Chapter 19, which opens with the second account of Jesus calling a tax collector to follow him present in Luke. And unlike the call of Matthew slash Levi, this call of Zaccheus is *only* present in Luke.   LUKE 19 19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.   5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.   7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”   8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”   9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”   GREGG I mentioned a bit ago we were getting close to the end of things for today, and another sign that we're getting close is that the next thing we get to cover, after skipping another parable, is Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, which is liturgically covered in the Palm Sunday observances that kick off Holy Week, aka the week leading up to Easter Sunday. Let's hear what Luke has to say, starting at verse 28:   LUKE 19 28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?' say, ‘The Lord needs it.'”   32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”   34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.”   35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.   37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:   38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”   “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”   39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”   40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”   41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you.”   45 When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. 46 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer'; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.'”   47 Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. 48 Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.   GREGG From the classic handwaive of “the master has need of it” to the admittedly brief account of Jesus driving the moneychangers out of the Temple, there's a lot of good stuff in there, but nothing especially new, all things we basically saw in Matthew and Mark.   Similarly, the opening verses of Luke 20 are also close parallels of the other synoptic gospels. But hey, you know the drill, let's hear Luke tell it:   LUKE 20 One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. 2 “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”   3 He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me: 4 John's baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin?”   5 They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,' he will ask, ‘Why didn't you believe him?' 6 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,' all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”   7 So they answered, “We don't know where it was from.”   8 Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”   GREGG The next few verses are taken up by the Parable of the Talents, so we'll skip that and go on to more close synoptic parallel passages starting in Verse 20. If you're wondering, we're parallelling Matthew 22 and Mark 12 here:   LUKE 20 20 Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21 So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 22 Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”   23 He saw through their duplicity and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”   “Caesar's,” they replied.   25 He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.”   26 They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.   GREGG Yes, as you'll recall, giving God what is God's means giving God everything, but at the same time, like, pay your taxes.   The parallels continue with the next section   LUKE 20 Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 28 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30 The second 31 and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32 Finally, the woman died too. 33 Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”   34 Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection. 37 But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”   39 Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” 40 And no one dared to ask him any more questions. 41 Then Jesus said to them, “Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David? 42 David himself declares in the Book of Psalms: “‘The Lord said to my Lord:     “Sit at my right hand 43 until I make your enemies     a footstool for your feet.”' 44 David calls him ‘Lord.' How then can he be his son?” GREGG   Yes, all closely paralleling Matthew 22 and Mark 12 still, both of which we've discussed. For what it's worth, John is going to be something quite different.   In any event, the last bit of Luke 20 is absent from Matthew, only parallelled in Mark 12:   LUKE 20 45 While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”   GREGG Luke 21 opens with another section we that we didn't see in Matthew but covered in Mark, namely the Widow's Offering:   LUKE 21 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”   GREGG I do love the message there, namely that God sees and accounts for effort when it comes to our actions, including our giving. Like I said, the Widow's Offering was in Mark too so I went into some more detail last episode.   As the chapter continues, the parallels with Matthew resume, now in Matthew Chapter 24, and Mark 14. Overall the theme is the end times, fairly appropriate given the transition to the Passion that will come in the next chapter    LUKE 21 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”   7 “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”   8 He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,' and, ‘The time is near.' Do not follow them. 9 When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”

In this episode, John chats to Luke Burrows who is dedicated to raising consciousness for all, a mission that has driven him to create and become the Founder of Raising Consciousness, a lifestyle brand and podcast that combines passions for personal growth, health, spirituality, sports, and leadership & business to inspire people to reach their goals and live their life to the fullest.  John and Luke talk about how he has made such great strides at such a young age, the skills and knowledge he shares with others to help them follow him on his experience, self-improvement and growth, consciousness in relationships and the service he offers through Raising Consciousness.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Luke hopes for a better tomorrow by raising the consciousness of all to create a more connected and spiritual future generation.   Raising Consciousness offers coaching, consulting and public speaking as well as the podcast. After issues with depression and anxiety and altering and redirecting his life, Luke knew that he could share his knowledge and experience to help others.  Reflection is a powerful tool that can be utilised by everyone to recognise difficulties within their own lives. Daily journaling can be a lifelong habit that will constantly improve and reveal positive changes that can be enacted.  Intention setting to pay attention, perhaps be kinder, more generous, or set boundaries are all part of self-improvement within relationships.  A slow reaction, a delay in response can lead to a more thoughtful interaction that, instead of being driven by emotions of the moment, can be inspired by a more thoughtful response, resulting in better relationships.  Raising Consciousness The Podcast contains in-depth conversations on such topics as health, environmental issues and personal growth. BEST MOMENTS ‘I always knew that I wanted to impact people and help people in a positive way to make progress and move things forward. It was really coming to the realisation of what that is for me  and that I can bring my strengths and skills into the world to serve and help people.' – Luke ‘It's fascinating that you were able to make such a big leap within yourself.' - John ‘For me, consciousness is in everything that we do. It's a part of becoming a better version of ourselves which is the ultimate goal.' – Luke  ‘I keep my circle very small. When I was starting my entrepreneurial journey that was a very challenging time because I was experiencing anxiety as well and I grew up with people who were very much more into the traditional youth stuff.' - Luke  ‘So maybe my family doesn't get what I do; ”go get a normal job”. Beforehand I would feel hurt by that, now I've come to the realisation that they're just operating from their level of consciousness and so I am just going to show gratitude and kindness towards them' – Luke ‘If you're able to be self-aware and be, ok, I can feel what I feel right now but if I can just take a breath, take some time to respond rather than react I think that's an amazing quality to be able to have.' – John GUEST RESOURCES Website: https://lukeburrows.com/ Podcast: https://anchor.fm/raisingconsciousnessshow Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reallukeburrows Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/reallukeburrows Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reallukeburrows VALUABLE RESOURCES links: www.johnkennycoaching.com The Bicycle Affect:  https://youtu.be/oO7XZGvdWno Video Course with 1-2-1 coaching - https://the-relationship-guy.teachable.com/purchase?product_id=3607138 Video Course –  https://the-relationship-guy.teachable.com/purchase?product_id=3607134 Link to my workshop -   https://www.johnkennycoaching.com/5- things-you-need-to-create-a-healthy-loving-relationship/ To get in touch - email –  john@johnkennycoaching.com  or book a complimentary call –  https://calendly.com/johnkennycoaching/30min If people want to order a copy of the book then they can just pay postage of £4.95 (RRP £8.99) - www.johnkennycoaching.com/podcast-book-offer Want to be able to address the relationship issues in your life? - Why not book in for a complimentary call and we can discuss how you can get the new started with some new types of relationships - https://calendly.com/johnkennycoaching/30min The Relationship Guy Podcast - https://omny.fm/shows/the-relationship-guy         ABOUT THE HOST I am John Kenny, Award Winning Relationship Coach.Coaching people to experience healthy loving relationships. Having spent a life choosing unhealthy relationships and self sabotaging my own success, I now coach people to live a life they choose. www.therelationshipguy.co.uk CONTACT METHOD Facebook –  https://www.facebook.com/johnkennycoaching 
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Luke - It's Your Birthday (Devious Mambo Remix) by DJ Devious Remix

I enjoy having meandering conversations. Period. Give me a soul willing and eager to partake in such an explorative undertaking and I am happy. But there's something special in having this type of conversation with someone much younger than me, and Luke is just that. “I think everything can be a portal, a prompt, a door that might open, a seed. There's a signal in everything. Question is, do I want to pick up on it? Do I have the energy to pick up on it? Do I feel any ‘No, that signal doesn't really work right now', or ‘I don't like the vibes of that one'?” ~ Helena And I don't mean to shine a light on the age difference itself, really, but, it does provide extra spice somehow. It adds an edge, in the way that any other type of difference will… and yet, part of the edge of this particular difference, is how there are so many similarities between us, despite me being twice the age of Luke. Perhaps, it's just another type, or flavour, of signal, for me? Me and Luke, we dance a lot in this conversation, right on the heels of me and Özlem, who definitely did the same (danced a lot, I mean) in episode 72. Stuck behind a microphone half a globe apart from each other, dance? Together? Really? “I can intellectually understand something, but to fully integrate and experientially understand it, takes some time.” ~ Luke Yeah. It's possible. Even under these circumstances. And a lot of fun too! Just make sure you don't fall in the very common trap that Luke pinpointed halfway through our conversation. Oh, I should definitely dance more! Oh, I wish I would feel comfortable on the dance floor! Oh, if only I could dance as well as she can! “It's very easy to should/would/could yourself.” ~ Luke It is. And however much I wish it weren't so, it still is. But I do have a choice. And so do you. So, take that piece of tankespjärn and ponder: when do you should/would/could yourself? What would be another way of being, in those moments? Might the walking barefoot, dancing or going with the flow, be ways of shifting from the shoulding/coulding/woulding, into something else? Links: Find Luke Aymon on Twitter

SOME PEOPLE ARE TOO BUSY BUILDING WEALTH WHILE THEY SACRIFICE THEIR HEALTH.Are you fit enough to work on your business? Luke DePron, the host and founder of Live Great Lifestyle is with Jonathan to discuss the ins and outs of getting fit and healthy for a more productive and positive way of running a business. Tune in and learn more about how you can achieve a fit and healthy body while achieving your business goals in this latest episode of The Disruptive Successor podcast.HIGHLIGHTSIntroducing Luke DePronEngaging in the bicycle businessWhy are health and fitness so importantIt's not just about how you look but also how you feelConfidence and energy framework for entrepreneursExercise advice for traveling entrepreneursThere is value in doing the work (exercise)QUOTESLuke - Working to educate about certain confusion over food:“There is a little bit of an educational component in what I do. And I think particularly around the food, there's a lot of confusion, a lot of marketing that unfortunately sets people up for failure.”Luke - It's in buying, not eating:“We now have to get strategic with how we integrate that into our diet, and the strategy is very simple. It's [when] we use moderation as a buying strategy, not an eating strategy.”Luke - The passion to help towards change:“The goal of personal training was always a passion of mine, helping people really make a lifestyle change.”Connect with Luke and learn more about his work:About LukeLiveGreatLifestyle.comIf you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, review and share with a friend who would benefit from the message. If you're interested in picking up a copy of Jonathan Goldhill's book, Disruptive Successor, go to the website at www.DisruptiveSuccessor.com

As the third Covid-impacted school year draws to a close, we sat down with two experienced teachers to get their take on this school year and the importance of cultivating positive relationships with parents and students. It's a heartwarming discussion that highlights the passion and dedication of Florida's teachers and shines a light on the value of experience. Episode 18 Show Notes: Guests Show Resources Transcript Guests Morgan Mousley, English teacher, Creekside High School, St. Augustine Megan Young, English teacher, Tocio Creek High School, St. Augustine Resources Join your local union Future Educators of America FEA's 2022 Legislative Session Report  Transcript Andrew Spar, FEA President: Hi, this is FEA President, Andrew Spar. To stay on top of all the latest news and issues impacting our public schools, be sure to follow FEA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For more information on this podcast, visit FEAweb.org/podcast. Sharon Nesvig: You're listening to Educating from the Heart. Thank you for joining our lively conversations with support professionals, parents and students as they share issues that matter most in our public schools. Here are your hosts, Tina Dunbar and Luke Flynt. Tina Dunbar, Host: Hello, and welcome back to Educating from the Heart. I'm Tina here with my co-host, Luke. Luke Flynt, Host: Hey, Tina. Tina: Well, Luke, you know, May is a very special month for teachers, and I'm not referring to the end of the school year or summer vacation. I'm talking about a special event that encourages us to pause for a moment and reflect on the people who work in our schools and contribute so much to our children's lives. And while that moment is only a week showing teachers and all educators that we appreciate their work is an act that needs to occur throughout the school year. Of course, Luke, we all know that showing a little gratitude and appreciation really goes a long way. Luke: It really does. And showing that appreciation is important, perhaps now more than ever because when you talk with teachers, you will hear that so many of them, especially experienced educators, feel that this year has been the most difficult of their careers. Between the stress of teaching during a global pandemic, the seemingly endless attacks from certain politicians, outrageous testing policies that negatively impact teaching and outside groups trying to form a wedge between parents and teachers, I can certainly understand why this year has been so hard. Tina: And to complicate the situation, some parents who homeschooled their children during the pandemic now believe they know the teaching experience and understand the pressure points and frustrations that classroom teachers face.  Yet during many of our podcasts, Luke, you know our listeners heard from teachers who shared their feelings of being misunderstood, unheard and above all disrespected. Teachers have told us one of the main reasons they walk away is poor working conditions, unreasonable demands, and an unrealistic expectation that they face each and every day. You know, if we really care about our educators, then we ought to recognize working under these conditions could make the job unbearable for even the best teachers. Luke: Oh, absolutely. It is important to remember though, despite all of the loud voices screaming at school board meetings, the rhetoric coming from the governor's office, parents still rate their public schools very highly, and they have respect and admiration for their children's teachers. Tina: And that is so true. As we move through the waning weeks of the school year, we figured this would be the perfect time for our listeners to meet a couple of exceptional educators from St. John's County. And they are on a mission to help their students and parents. Morgan Mousley and Megan Young share their recipe for building positive relationships with parents and the impa...

 Our conversation about testing was so robust that we broke it into two parts. Did you miss the first part of "Assess the Test"? Listen to it here.The impact standardized testing has on students, educators and school communities extends long beyond test day.In Part II of Assess the Test, we move beyond talking about the tests themselves and discuss the overall accountability system.Join us for this exploration of how 20 years of "accountability" in Florida have drained the joy out of teaching and learning. Episode 16 Show Notes: Guests Show Resources Transcript GuestsAnthony Colucci, President Brevard Federation of TeachersVicki Kidwell, President Clay County Education Association Bethany Koch, High school English teacher from Clay CountyMatt Yount, Teacher from Brevard County ResourcesMore information on the legislation that will create the new testsBeyond the Bubble: Americans Want Change on High Stakes Assessments Moving Beyond the Failure of Test-Based AccountabilityFlorida Department of Education: Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (note: many of the promises made on this webpage about the new test are not included in the proposed legislation) TranscriptAndrew Spar, FEA President: Hi, this is FEA president Andrew Spar. To stay on top of all the latest news and issues impacting our public schools, be sure to follow FEA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For more information on this podcast, visit FEAweb.org/podcast.Sharon Nesvig: You're listening to Educating from the Heart. Thank you for joining our lively conversations with support professionals, parents and students as they share issues that matter most in our public schools. Here are your hosts, Tina Dunbar and Luke Flynt.Luke Flynt, Host: Welcome to another episode of Educating from the Heart. I am Luke Flynt, along with my cohost, Tina Dunbar. And Tina, you know, schools are the place where a childhood happens, where students get to explore their creativity, learn to think critically and develop the skills they will need to succeed in life and in the workplace. Or at least that's what they should be.Tina Dunbar, Host: You're so right, Luke. And in our last episode, we chatted with four educators about Florida's transition away from the FSA to a new testing system. While many educators are excited about the shift, many also shared their concern that this might be more of the same, a new name without major changes to the test itself.In the second part of our conversation, we'll focus less on the tests themselves and more on the overall accountability system. Our educators even address how testing has transformed our schools from places of joy and creativity to a place filled with anxiety due to the intense focus on standardized assessments.You know, Luke, you are so right. Life is so much more than knowing the right answers to a series of multiple-choice questions.Luke: It absolutely is. There is so much about our students that cannot be measured but is still very important to know. Part two of Assessing the Test begins with Bethany Koch sharing her love for English and how it can enrich the lives of all students. But she also shares the reality that Florida's fixation on testing has had in her classroom, as well as the classroom of many of her colleagues, where the love for teaching and learning has been replaced with dread.Bethany Koch, HS English teacher: I think one of the most heartbreaking, and someone that loves English, right? Like I went into this because I love English. I love books. But one of the most heartbreaking consequences of the FSA is that it is effectively killing some of the things that students and teachers love about our subject. We've seen the loss of fiction and poetry. And now our new standards are a little bit better on that...

- Press the PLAY button to listen to the catechesis of the day and share if you like - + A reading from the holy Gospel, according to Luke + It happened there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where he was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do will it. Be made clean.” And the leprosy left him immediately. Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but “Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments, but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray. The Gospel of the Lord.

- Press the PLAY button to listen to the catechesis of the day and share if you like -+ A reading from the holy Gospel, according to Luke +It happened there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where he was;   and when he saw Jesus,   he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said,   “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,   “I do will it. Be made clean.”And the leprosy left him immediately.Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but   “Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;   that will be proof for them.”The report about him spread all the more,   and great crowds assembled to listen to him   and to be cured of their ailments,   but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.The Gospel of the Lord.

Luke Knox ’22 speaks with Joe Morgan ‘81 about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, and how his Holy Cross education prepared him to lead with integrity. Recorded on January 28, 2020 --- Transcript Joe: So, the experiences that I had at Holy Cross created tremendous friendships but also expanded my mind and allowed me to get into situations that are uncomfortable for me, but then find a place for me within that circumstance. And I think a lot of times that I see people that don't have that background, they get into a circumstance, they get fixed on their belief, and they can't participate in critical thinking. And critical thinking is the essence of what I believe Jesuit education's all about, is it puts you on a circumstance where you are given the tools, but then almost expected to participate in a broader discussion. And as soon as you get stubborn and dig in, unless of course you're in a debate, you lose the opportunity, I think, to take full advantage of the Holy Cross education. Maura: Welcome to Mission-Driven where we speak with alumni who are leveraging their Holy Cross education to make a meaningful difference in the world around them. I'm your host, Maura Sweeney from the Class of 2007, Director of Alumni Career Development at Holy Cross. I'm delighted to welcome you to today's show. Maura: This episode features Joe Morgan from the Class of 1981, a self-proclaimed poster child of Worcester higher education, Joe is a Worcester native who attended Holy Cross, WPI, and Clark University. After beginning his career as an engineer, he quickly rose through the ranks to serve as President of Sony Chemicals Corporation of America. From there, he pursued corporate roles at numerous private and public companies. At each stage, he used his influence in the C-Suite to lead with the values that he learned in his Jesuit Holy Cross education. Maura: Luke Knox from the Class of 2022 speaks with Joe about his decision to start his own company in November 2016 called siY. Be safe. Be inspired. Be you. As an entrepreneur himself, Luke speaks with Joe about best practices in business and management. Throughout the conversation, Joe touts the importance of leading with empathy in order to transform individuals, teams, and corporations. Luke: Welcome, everyone. I'm Luke Knox, a sophomore economics major. Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Joe Morgan, Holy Cross Class of 1981. Joe, it's great to have you on today. Thank you for coming onto the show. Joe: Thanks for inviting me, Luke. Glad to be here. Luke: No problem. Yeah. Luke: Starting off, you were a chemistry major when you were at Holy Cross, and in addition to receiving a Bachelor of Arts from here, you also earned your Bachelor of Science degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and an MBA from Clark University. It sounds like you've been educated by really the top institutions of Worcester. Joe: Right. So, I often refer to myself as the poster child of higher education in Worcester. There's actually a little bit of extra data on those choices though. I started as a math major at Holy Cross. My dad was a math major, so dutiful son, I wanted to do what my dad did. But then I didn't like it, so I became a chemistry major. And then there was a 3/2 program with WPI, and I like scale, big scale instead of beakers and labs, so I didn't really like the experimental side of chemistry, so I went and got a chemical engineering degree at WPI. And then I needed a business degree in order to do what I do, which I'm sure we're going to talk about. Luke: Yeah, we'll get to that. That's great. Worcester, obviously, grew up in Worcester. Great schools here. It's nice to see that homegrown and experiencing all that Worcester has to offer. And I know that, from being a chemistry major at Holy Cross, now you're getting your MBA and you're running businesses, you're obviously a very highly motivated individual. And in your opinion, what would you say your personal mission is and how does that drive you in the work you do? Joe: Well, I think when I was growing up, my parents focused on a few things. One was faith, certainly, and the other was education. So they invested a lot of time in both of those. And when you have strong faith and then you've spent your time in education, you get exposed to a lot of thought process, honestly. And so what my mission is, and it does reflect back probably to my family, which is the third thing my parents focused on, is giving back to people that don't have the benefit of the things that you've been given. Joe: And so I spent a lot of time thinking about that with kid is really a passion for me. The impoverished is another thing I'm deeply passionate about. Joe: But I would say what's interesting now for me more so than ever before, I've run a lot of bigger companies, and now I have my own company, which we'll chat about. But we're at a time I think in our world and our country where we can't seem to get to a common agenda. And so, I have a mission or a passion now to help people see the possibilities of that. Because leadership is daily providing a platform for hope, but then wrapping it with reality. And that's what I spend my time on each day and more. Joe: There's a thing called The Bridge that I've developed with some folks, and we can chat a little bit about that, but that's the essence of my focus now is to help people see the possibilities, but deep down inside for me, it's the kids. It's just making sure that that next generation can see the possibilities of the future. And I don't think today in every case that is true, so that's something that me and others like me are spending time on. Luke: And that same thought process intertwines right with the Holy Cross mission statement- Joe: Right. Luke: ... men and women for others. Joe: Right. Luke: And could you speak a little more about how that... being at Holy Cross and going by that motto, how that has also affected you and your life decisions? Joe: You know what? I was chatting this morning about this, is I think growing up in a Catholic education is a lot of memorization that takes place. And I think if you don't get stressed about trying to memorize all the things about Jesuit education and the mission and the vision and all, but just live it, let it penetrate you, then I think the possibilities of living what you just said comes to be. Joe: So, the experiences that I had at Holy Cross created tremendous friendships but also expanded my mind and allowed me to get into situations that are uncomfortable for me, but then find a place for me within that circumstance. And I think a lot of times that I see people that don't have that background, they get into a circumstance, they get fixed on their belief, and they can't participate in critical thinking. And critical thinking is the essence of what I believe Jesuit education's all about, is it puts you on a circumstance where you are given the tools, but then almost expected to participate in a broader discussion. And as soon as you get stubborn and dig in, unless of course you're in a debate, you lose the opportunity, I think, to take full advantage of the Holy Cross education. Joe: Now where that's taken me in my career, you mentioned WPI and the 3/2 program, I always say that Holy Cross helped me get every job that I have because I learned communication skills, I learned adaptation. WPI allowed me to advance in technical fields because of the process expertise that I was able to glean through that particular education. And that combination was really powerful for me. Luke: And going back to what you were saying about communication skills, I think when I was thinking about my own choices on where I wanted to go to school, I definitely wanted to go somewhere like Holy Cross where I could learn those crucial communication skills. And I know that being in business, being an entrepreneur, how like you were just saying, how really important being able to present yourself and effectively communicate with others, how important that is to not only sell a product, but to grow a business. I was wondering if you could speak more about that and how you've used your communication skill to further your career? Joe: On the communications side, simplicity is so, so important. I am sure as you've gone through your entrepreneurial journey you probably got way too complex at the start, and people have advised you to make it simple, simple, simple. The one-pager, whatever they've told you, and it's true. Because people can't absorb more than that generally. And as the entrepreneur, as the person with the idea, you know way more than they do, and you're trying to engage them just a little bit in what you do so that they'll help you, whether you want money or you want them to buy the product or you want advocacy, whatever that might me, on the communications side, simple, simple, simple. But then also be really clear on knowing your audience. What is it that you want from them or need from them or desire from them and focus only on that. Don't make it broader because you'll lose them. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs that I'm around, they get so passionate about what they do, they lose sight of why they're in this particular conversation and dialog. So that would be one thing. Joe: The other thing is the issue of courage. You have to be somewhat courageous to be an entrepreneur. That doesn't mean that you're necessarily saving lives or something like that. You might, depending upon what you do, but you really do have to have courage because as I'm sure, you can share this with the group too, the audience, is there's a lot of negative that comes from entrepreneurialism. You get a lot of feedback that hurts. And how fast do you respond to that is going to be important. Your resilience quotient is really, really important because if you get stubborn and say, "I don't really care what you said to me. I'm just going to continue to do what I was doing." Probably shouldn't take that approach. There's some value in every input that you get. Joe: The other, probably the third part of this is trust. Be really careful who you look to for trust. If someone doesn't have your interest in mind, it's really all about them, then you're probably not going to get good advice. So that's the other part. So, you want to focus on being courageous, learn a lot, but then your advice, and then always, always, always be simple. Luke: And I think it's super important as an entrepreneur, and I'm sure that you realize this as well, is that when you receive that, it always happens you're going to receive negative criticism. And I think me personally, in my own experience, I've taken that really, not as an opportunity to be bitter, but to be better and to realize, okay, it's really important to view every single opinion that's coming at me with, whether you have a product or a business or you're offering a service, anything like that, and to use it to every day learn more about yourself, learn more about what you want to do, your product, whatever, and use that to help you out in that business setting the next day. Joe: Right. Luke: Stuff like that. Joe: Well, I think, you're an entrepreneur, so when you start a business, it's probably your money. So- Luke: Yeah, it is. Joe: ... people that are around you, it's not their money. So it's easy to spend someone's money if it's not your money. And then time is all you have. So if you waste your time and waste your money, you're not going to have the opportunity to create something of value from your ideas. So really what's important is keeping it simple, but then taking the input from people that you trust and adapting quickly so that you can use whatever resource you have, which I think for... As I'm an entrepreneur too, you end up just with a little bit of time and a little bit of money, and if you use it right, you can turn it into more time and more money. If you use it badly, then it spirals. So, I'm sure you've experienced that. Joe: I think the other part of entrepreneurialism too is at some point you want whatever you're doing to grow, and at that point you're going to bring in other people. Learning how to trust other people is really a big deal, and I actually think that gets back to your first question about Holy Cross, is you believe in the mission, which I think we do or we wouldn't be sitting here, and you are a good judge of people, you always have to validate, you can bring people in far more easily than people that don't have belief in others. And you'll never be able to get the benefit of what your idea is if you can't eventually bring people into the conversation. Joe: I have been the intrepreneur a number of times working for entrepreneurs early in my career, and I actually never asked the question, but they trusted me enough to let me do the things on their behalf because they knew that they couldn't scale it beyond their own means. But I've also seen entrepreneurs that don't trust anybody, and it's a problem because their idea's great, but who wants to work in an environment where you're not trusted? Where every day you think, "Oh my gosh, you've taken something from me?" That's not helpful. So what happens then is people leave. The really good ones leave and then they get marginalized and the business never really achieves what it set out to do. Joe: So that would be a piece of advice for you because I hope that what you're doing just explodes- Luke: Thank you. Yeah. Joe: ... but you're going to have to bring in other people when you do it, you know? Luke: Yeah. And we're kind of in that process right now where we're really building a team. And I know that one of your skills is being able to do that and build a successful team. And if you just had to list off a couple of big characteristics that every team regardless of what business they're in or whatever, what are those main characteristics that every team kind of needs to have? Joe: I thought you were going to ask me a different question, so I'm going to answer the one I thought you were going to ask me, and then I will answer... Joe: I think the first thing to build a team is you have to know what you are good at. So get a white board and write that down. Don't write it in a notebook. Put it on the wall and then walk past it for a few days and make sure that you're being honest with yourself. Don't put it in a notebook, close it, stick it somewhere that you'll never go retrieve it. Put it on a wall. And then let a couple people that you know that actually care about you look at it and say, "You know what, Luke, I don't agree with that. You think you're really good at that but you're actually not." And so move that to the other one which is, whatever the right term is, deficiency or something that I can improve. But be really clear on the three to five things that you're really great at, but then also compare that to what you're most passionate about. Joe: If you could spend the amount of time that you spend on entrepreneurialism, what part of that do you love the most? And if you could spend all your time doing that, because that's likely to equate to value. Once you get that right, now you can start filling in the spots. And don't think about it so much functionally, although eventually you have to have competency in the functions. Think about it in terms of behaviors and values. You've got to get people with the same values as yourself, and they have to be able to articulate that and then demonstrate it. So that's one. Joe: The second one is the behaviors which are different. Values are aligned in the sand. Integrity, think honesty, things like that. Behaviors are when faced with a pressure situation, I scream and yell. That's a behavior. Luke: Right. Joe: I'm guessing you probably don't want that around. Luke: No. Yeah. Joe: You want somebody that's going to get on the balls of their feet and participate and dig in. That's a behavior that you might want in your business. So I'd be really clear on who you are, where you like to spend your time, get the attitudes and the behaviors and the values right. Joe: Now you can talk about financial. So if you're going to scale your business, you're an economics major so you have some reasonable financial understanding, but you do have to have financial expertise in your business so people can cover your back so you can do all those great things you want to do. Joe: Without sales, we don't have a business, so that may be your strength, but you might be the idea person. You may be the product manager, whatever that strength is. So if you need sales and you need finance, make sure that you've got really strong people in the marketplace that you're in. Now you could have a pure online business in which case you need somebody with e-commerce expertise. Whatever that core thing is, get the best you can, and whatever you think you can afford, pay a little more. Because what tends to happen, I see a lot of times with entrepreneurs is you scale it back just a little bit, and you want people to feel like you do, but they're not going to because it's not their business. Luke: Good point. Yeah. Joe: So, don't ever be misguided by a person's individual passion to be an employee versus an entrepreneur. They're different. They're just different. So I think it's really about who the person is first, and then you get to the acumen. Because I'm on a lot of boards with people and I meet some people that are just misaligned on the behaviors and the values, but they're wicked smart. And I can tell you the wicked smart does not trump values and behaviors ever. Eventually that is going to catch up, and it's I would... that's kind of the pecking order that I would recommend. Luke: Yeah, values and behavior, definitely. Joe: Always. Joe: And it depends on what you need in your business too. I don't know the details of your company, but you have to be clear on what competencies are most critical to you. Luke: Great point. And then being a leader in those teams, I know in one of your most recent articles, you talk about having the ability to really fully understand what's going on in somebody's life and how that might affect them in the workplace and outside of it. Joe: Right. Luke: Being a leader in a team and definitely being a leader in a startup company, how do you think that, myself or you, how do you go about that with being compassionate and empathetic towards your employees, your partners, people in your company? Joe: Well, this gets to curiosity. I was asked recently in an article, what do truly curious people do? It's not questions. It's about answers. So you're asking me questions right now. You're curious about those, I can tell by this conversation. But if you were just asking questions and you don't really care what I say, we're not going to have a very productive conversation. Luke: Right. Joe: And you're not going to demonstrate any compassion. Or interest, actually. Joe: So, I think the most important thing is that first question or two that you ask in any interaction. Demonstrate that you actually about the person. So for example, we've faced some tragedy here at Holy Cross recently and I am quite confident that people that were closest to that, if you tried to have a conversation about something other than that circumstance, it would be very, very difficult for them. And you might have planned for weeks, months, maybe even six months, a year, to have a particular meeting with someone that might have been close to that situation, and you want to talk about your product. And you know what? They don't want to talk about your product. They're dealing with something that is just life changing and devastating to them. And if you have no ability to be sympathetic to that, then how are you possibly ever going to connect with them? Joe: And that's one of the things I've learned in my career is you can plan and prepare as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, for that sale or that interaction, but what happened just before that person walked in the room is going to affect whether that interaction that have been planning for is successful or not. And so we need to draw that out. We need to not take it personally if they're not involved in the meeting. Something awful might have happened. Joe: I'll tell you a small story. My daughter was sick, and she was diagnosed with mono when she was in high school. And I was in a board meeting and my office was attached to the board room. And I had a board member that was very high personality and I'm a high personality too, and so he and I would often get into these challenges of one another. And as CEO, I'm supposed to accept that, and generally I did, and I kind of facilitated it. But when I heard my daughter was sick, my energy and my life is driven by my children and my wife, and so when I heard that I was just really affected by it. And so of course I walked into the board room moments after that, and within 15 minutes he was, not attacking, but he was on me again, and to me that was a game-on moment. And my back went up and I leaned in, and it was one of the most intense interactions of my career. Joe: Did I say anything inappropriate? No. Could I have taken a different track? For sure. Could you have heard a pin drop in the room? Absolutely. And he and I went at it, and then afterward he finally asked me what was different about today, and I said, "Here's why." "So why didn't you tell me that?" I said, "You never asked a question. You've never asked me a question about me ever." Joe: And so that to me is one of the largest demonstrations. You can have tremendous people around you, but if you never ask them anything about them, how you possibly going to get the most out of the relationship? You won't. So that would be most advice is really get the questions right, and really care about the answers. And then once you know the answers, if the meeting that you were going to have isn't possible now, talk about the other thing. Go there. Joe: I will say this though. There's a lot of conversation about empathy right now. I think empathy is one of the most difficult things. Pure definition, I see the world as you do. I think that's really, really hard, but I do think if you listen to people and have the right conversation, you can get closer and closer to their life experiences. But I think empathy is one of the most challenging things in the world. Luke: And it sounds like from what you're saying, a huge part in working with clients or working with your team is having a relationship with them- Joe: Yeah. Sure. Luke: ... and like a pure relationship. And I definitely agree with you that that understanding and that ability to emphasize with people, granted it is very difficult to do that, but putting your effort into that shows and people definitely can appreciate that. Joe: So for you, what is your favorite place on campus here? Luke: My favorite place? Probably Cool Beans. Joe: Cool Beans. Why? Luke: It's just a place where usually I'm studying in the science library or Dinand, and it's just like a place where go back, get a coffee, kind of decompress and just kind of enjoy myself for a little bit before I go back to studying. Joe: So it's comforting to you, right? Luke: Yeah. Definitely. Joe: It allows you... Do you think better there? Luke: Yeah. I do. Joe: So that's really interesting question, isn't it? Luke: Yeah, it is. Joe: So if I want to have a- Luke: It is. Yeah. Joe: ... really interesting conversation with you, that would be the place we should go. Luke: True. Joe: We shouldn't go where I want to go. If I want to have a conversation about you, then I need to find where you're most comfortable. And then let's go there. Joe: So here's an interesting thing. When I was first a manager, there were all these books about management, leadership, and... I had some managers that, "We're going to adopt this book." You know what? That's not really what we should do. Think about Holy Cross. When you read all these books we read, you're only two years in and I was here for four years. I didn't commit to memory everything I read, but I adapted my life to certain principles that I learned, and then I paid attention to the professors who have read far more than I ever would read about a specific topic. I wasn't trying to memorize all of it or have my life guided verbatim with everything I learned. It was really about this will help me shape it. Joe: So there was this thing called manage by walking around. So, okay. We're going to manage by walking around, which was about visibility. People would get feedback that managers weren't visible, so we have to be more visible. So what managers would do... I wasn't a manager. I was becoming a manager. They would just appear. So what would your reaction be if you're in the middle of doing something and a person that you never see suddenly appears? What would your reaction be do you think? Luke: I would probably be first, like if it was my boss or something that came over, I would definitely make sure I was really paying attention to everything I'm doing and doing it the best I can, and then try to get some type of one-on-one interaction with them if I never see them and kind of put a face to their name. Joe: So you're taking the burden of that. It's supposed to be them making you feel good, and you're feeling like you have your change your behaviors- Luke: Work harder and- Joe: Yeah. Exactly. Luke: ... yeah. Yeah. You feel on the spot. Yeah. Joe: Precisely. I was annoyed because I don't... they weren't adding any value to me. So I thought that was really... to be honest with you, I thought that was stupid, a really stupid guiding principle. So I think management by walking together is better. Joe: So what I do and have done is I go get somebody and say, "Let's go take a walk." And it's fascinating what happens when you take a walk with someone versus sitting in a small space with someone. There's a lot going on. You can point out things, say, "Hey." It's just more comforting, more casual, and so that's the way I began doing it. And I learned so much about people getting, again, closer to empathy by walking with them as opposed to walking into their environment and hovering over them and making them feel like I was participating, when in fact, I really wasn't. Joe: I didn't do it but once or twice. I thought it was foolish, and then I did this other thing. It was really great. So that's how I did my one-on-ones and my up-to-speeds and all that stuff with people, which was great. Luke: Because sometimes in my opinion, it can feel like if you have a boss hovering over you, it almost feels like they're micromanaging you. And that kind of makes you feel a little degraded and kind of, "Hey, I can do my job. I don't need him watching over me." Joe: Right. Luke: And I think that's a great idea of walking around with whoever is in your company and really, like I was saying, building that relationship with them. Joe: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah, because it's... You break barriers that way. Joe: I had a guy that worked for me, 6'7", and I used to get feedback that he would be intimidating sometimes. He's the nicest guy, and what he would do is he would walk up to someone when they were sitting at their desk and he'd lean over them. He was like Godzilla. And they would be so intimidated by his size, but he was the nicest guy. And all I told him to do was just sit down. Just sit down with them. And then he... And that barrier went away. It was fine. But he just, he wasn't intimidating, but he... intending to be intimidating. Luke: And building that relationship and how have you as a leader within the company that you're starting right now, siY, how have you adopted those same principles into, hey, now you're the CEO. Now you're running this company. You're at the very top. How have you done that as the head of this company? Joe: The truth of that is when you're running a big company like I've had the fortune of doing, you have a platform. I have employed large numbers of employees that work for me and if there's something that I want to convey, get across, I have resources all over the place. I don't have that now. I have a virtual company essentially. And so, I have a large group of executives that I have great regard for that work as part of my network. I have some other people that subcontract work to me. So my influence has to be demonstrated in a very, very different way. Joe: So I'm on the front end of the business creating demand for what we do at siY, and then engaging these folks as independent people. But they buy into the mission. It goes back to what I said before, we have values in our company, we have behavioral expectations, and then we have a vision to create environments where dialog leads to impact. It's not to create a dialog, but it's actually to have an impact. And everybody agrees with that. Joe: So we go together in our own walks of life, not associated entirely to siY, but when we come together, that's who we are. So it's a very different experience for me, but one that has yielded so many incredible situations that I wouldn't have otherwise been able to do. Luke: At siY, could you tell me a little more about what you do? Joe: Sure. Luke: How you got the name? Joe: Let me tell you the story on the name because I think that really kind of demonstrates my career journey. When I came out of WPI, I was a chemical engineer. That was 1983. Market wasn't so good. Economy was rough. So I ended up taking a job as a buyer. And I figured, my father always said, "You may not be the biggest," which I'm not, "you may not be the smartest," I'm not, "but no one should ever out work you." So I figured if I get a job, I'll just work really, really hard and then I'll create opportunities for myself. Which I was fortunate to do. Joe: And the first big job I got was a safety engineer. So, I was working at a chemical plant focused on safety. And what I found was that the mechanism of creating a safe environment for people was vital to being successful in business, but attitudes and behavior were so important in order for that environment to actually be created. Joe: So the first part of be safe was physical safety. And then I experienced that, and then I also had experiences as a manager, and I realized that emotional safety is also very important. Going back to that conversation we had just a few moments ago, people have stuff going on in their lives. It's actually okay to cry and laugh. Don't judge people because they have emotion. Actually try and help them leverage their emotion in a positive way. So emotional safety was really, really important. I always say every person who's ever worked for me has cried at some point, not because I'm yelling or mean to them, but because they have something going on in their life and they need to express it. Joe: The other one is people are really, really smart and they have a lot of experiences. They may be different experiences, but I respect you, Luke, for what you've done already. And those experiences that you have and your intellect, I need to learn from you just as you're learning from me. But a lot of people don't do that because you don't have my experience. You don't have gray hair yet. So therefore, your experiences aren't really relevant. Not true. Absolutely not true. Luke: Right. Joe: So the other one is intellectual safety. I need to create an environment where you can feel that whatever experience and intellect you have can be applied. So those are three parts. Joe: I started with a triangle, and then I realized cyber safety is very, very important in the world we're in today. Having had my identification stolen, I know that personally. So now I call that the safety diamond. So physical, intellectual, emotional, and cyber safety. So we talk about that. So be safe. Inspired is... I'm not an alarm clock. You have to get out of bed in the morning, but then I'm going to ask you one question. What are you most passionate about? That question I ask you, if you could spend all of your time doing something, what would it be? And once you tell me that, if you're willing to tell me that, let's focus on that and I'll inspire the hell out of you to be able to go after that dream. I will push you in ways that will allow you to live that dream. That's the inspired part. Joe: And then you, in my company it's YOU, there's something about you, maybe more than one thing, that's truly unique. It's not that you're an economics major. There's a lot of economics majors. There's something about you, and let's find out what that is and let's celebrate that. So create a safe environment, find your passion, inspire you to continue to peck away at that every day, and then celebrate what's unique about you, that's be safe; be inspired; be you. Joe: The logo of my company is a wave. I grew up going to Maine in the summer. Surfed a little bit. Always found that the whole surfing thing, you have to work really, really hard. You have to be strategic to choose when to go. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. And if it doesn't work, then you... some people get mad and they leave, but you just go back out until you get that. And when you get that wave, it is the best feeling in the world. Luke: It's great, yeah. Joe: It is absolutely one of the best feelings ever, and that's why the wave's there. And the blue is the eyes of my kids. And so every time I look at it, I see my children, which is the source of a great deal of energy for me. Luke: Totally. Joe: So that's why that's where that is. And my daughter designed it for me. And she's a Holy Cross grad. Luke: Oh nice. Joe: So, be safe; be inspired; be you; that's how that all came together, and where that comes to live is we do advisory work for small to mid-sized companies, and we help them... we bring people with experiences that they normally wouldn't be able to access due to the size of their company, and we help them do things with strategy, culture, and... sometimes it's the finances and the business, but it's always strategy and culture. But everything we do starts with people. And if we are not allowed to interact with the people, we can't do business with them because that's where it all starts. So, that's what we do. Luke: That's nice. Yeah. A consulting firm for- Joe: Yeah, we do advisory consulting. Luke: Yeah, for those small companies who might not be able to access- Joe: That's right. Luke: ... the resources of a large consulting firm like McKinsey or something like that. Joe: Right. With have the skills of companies, the larger companies, but we do it at a point where, price point, and also a participation point that's a little different. Luke: And back to what you were saying about... personal interaction and culture, do you mean the culture within that said company? Joe: Yes. But that's a great question because culture is all about interactions. And so, interactions are not just the employees or the team or whatever the term is for the company; it's really whoever you interact with. So there's a supplier interaction. There's a customer interaction. There's a community interaction. And if it's a privately held business, there's a family interaction. So you have to be concerned and confident in all of those things. Joe: We take an operator's view. So we try and sit on the side of the table of the owner or the leaders, and that's how we come at it every day. We don't come in with a mechanism, we're going to say, "This is how you do it." We're going to adapt our business to... or excuse me, our approach to what is most appropriate for the company that we're doing business with. And we're not for everybody because not everybody wants to share everything about what they do. Luke: Very true. Luke: So essentially, reiterating, you go in. For each different client you work with, do you attack that operation differently? Like so for company X, you might advise them this way, but then for this company, you're doing it in a different way. Do you approach each person you work with the same, or do you kind of take it as a case-by-case scenario? Joe: I would say... That's a great, that's a very good question because I think there has to be somewhat of an approach that's consistent- Luke: Sure. Yeah. Joe: ... or you can never scale it. So there is a... It always starts with an assessment. So, I always meet with the CEO. I would say 9 out of 10 times I interact with the board, if there is one. Most of the time there is. And then I talk to the most senior leaders of the company. And then I walk the business with them, going back to my walking thing. I want to see the business myself. Because sometimes people describe the business to you in a room, and then you go out, and like that is not at all what's going on here. So you get a really good sense right away how people react to people. Joe: So for example, I have had numerous situations where a CEO would tell me, "I am absolutely connected with the employees of the company." And then they walk out there, and everybody turns away as they walk in. And so that's not... So they're missing something there. Joe: So it's really, the assessment is, tell me about your business. Let me talk to some people so that I can balance it. Let's go for a walk. And then let's come back. I'll give you some observations and some thoughts on it. And from there, let's build a plan. What is it that you need to do? Joe: And it could be that we help people kind of restate their vision. We help people understand the value system that actually exists within their business. Have they been consistent there? And spend some time on the truths of the company. What is it that is actually going on here? And then from there, I would say that all the time there's a transformation happening in the business. Joe: If you go back to the first question you asked me about Holy Cross and the Jesuits, that it's evolution. It's about evolution, evolving as people. And that's what happens in companies too. You may have a great idea as an entrepreneur but it's not going to last forever. In fact, in your lifetime- Luke: Very true. Yeah. Joe: ... ideas come and go far more quickly than they did when I was starting at your age. So, we have to be aware of those changes, and we spend a lot of time with preparing the company for a transformative change. Joe: So for example, if you have a product that's been great, you've made money, and then suddenly it's starting to decline, well, it could be that the team that you have around you is really good for that, but where you need to go, it's not. So we come in as a third party and help you see the things that you wouldn't otherwise see. Joe: Because it's hard. Change is very difficult, especially when it becomes personal. Sometimes people aren't the right people and you have to help them see that, and if they can change, great. If they can't, then maybe you need to get someone different. So we do that too. We help people do it. Joe: But we try and work with companies that are probably between 50 million and a billion and a half to two billion in size. And we always work with the most senior people in the company. And we get in early, and then we help create plans, and generally we'll stay for maybe six months, and then if they want us to operate, we will, but generally, they don't. Joe: And then I have a lot of clients personally that I work with the CEO in an advisory capacity and I'm kind of a confidant to them. So we spend time talking about the business and I get to help them. Because CEO jobs are very lonely, and so they don't have anybody to talk to, so I become that person for them. So, that's just Joe Morgan. It's part of siY, but it's not the total focus. Luke: And going back to your Holy Cross education, were there any times when you were at Holy Cross or any other school in Worcester where you thought about wanting to do that in the future? Wanting to be in this line of work that you're currently in? Joe: I'll tell you, my parents were schoolteachers so we didn't talk about business. But if I was honest about it, if I go back to my first job, if I had been aware of what I was actually doing, I think the answer would have been yes, but I wasn't. I worked. I made money. I wanted... My wife and I went to Holy Cross. We got married in 1983. We've been married for 36 years. Love of my life and my best friend. Very, very fortunate. But I thought about I need a job. I'm going to advance. Hopefully as I advance, I'll get more responsibility, but I don't think it was until I got exposed to presidents of companies that I realized there was a better way. And it was at that time when I was in my late 20s where I thought, "I think I can do this better." Joe: Now, I had great mentors that were around me that taught me different things. Like my father-in-law is a finance guy. I remember when I was just out of Holy Cross, my wife Amy and I went down to visit her parents in Washington, DC, and I went to his office. The people loved him. They absolutely loved him. But they would do anything for him too, and they worked incredibly hard. And I thought, "Why aren't all the executives like that?" Luke: Right. Interesting. Joe: Because wouldn't it be great if they were? Luke: Yeah. It would be. Yeah. Joe: And they're not. They're just not. And he was just such a great guy. Joe: And then I worked for an entrepreneur, and he said, "I need you to go do things that I can't do in the role that I'm in, but I have your back." And I thought, "Wow. He trusts me. What a great thing. I'll go do anything now that I know that." I had another mentor, he taught me about people. He said, "It's all about the people, Joe." And he communicated and he... I've told this story before, but when you're interviewed, he'd say, "Cross your legs," which I'm doing right now. And I did. And I had short socks, and you could see skin. The next day... You'll never have this in your career, interoffice envelope. You ever heard of that? Luke: No, I haven't. No. Joe: So it's an envelope that you write someone's name on and then you put it in the mailbox, and it gets delivered. Luke: Okay. Yeah. Joe: And there's a little red string on the back that you put on this little circle thing that's a clasp. Luke: Got it. Joe: So and the next day I get an interoffice envelope from the president. I'm like, "Oh my gosh. Did I do something wrong?" And I open it up and it's... I'll show you right now, long socks. So I've always worn long socks. Joe: So the little things matter. Shine your shoes. Clean your car. It's all the little stuff. Luke: It's all attention to detail, stuff like that. Joe: Exactly. Always. And that was very, very important to me in my development as a career. Joe: But I will say, going back to my first job, I was an ice cream maker in Ogunquit, Maine at the Viking. It's not there anymore. Mrs. Everson was the owner, and to be a cashier was like a big thing because you're holding the money at the company, right? And to get a key to get into the business when the family wasn't there was also a big thing. I got both of those. Luke: Wow. Joe: I got to be a cashier and my sister was a cashier too, but I got to be a cashier, and they gave me the key to make the ice cream. But the thing that I remember absolutely the most was when you give people back change, this is how you do it. So the George Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton, the face is always in the same direction. And how many times... You probably... I don't even know if you use money, but... cash. Luke: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Joe: You may just use a card. Luke: Yeah. Joe: Today, nobody... They just hand the money to you. It's unbelievable. It drives me absolutely crazy. Luke: I never thought about that. Joe: But it's the attention to detail and respecting that it's my money actually. I just bought something from you. It's actually my money. So give it back to me with respect. That's what she taught me. So those are the things... Joe: I wish I had a mentor when I was your age about business that allowed me to kind of coagulate all these experiences because I think I would have been... I think I would have done something on my own earlier, but I also got married when I was 23, so we began a life shortly thereafter together, and so you get in that groove, that swim lane, and it wasn't until about three years ago that I decided to start my own business. Luke: And it's those very small but important attentions to detail that really build your character and really show you how a business should operate and how you should operate in life. But however, you got married at 23, and then you were in jobs. It's definitely a difficult and very courageous decision to step out of that and then go and start your own business. And I was wondering if you could speak a little bit to about the courage that entrepreneurs have to have if they want to succeed? Joe: My courage at this stage is probably different than the courage at your stage possibly. I've got a large network. I've been fortunate in some circumstances. I do fund my own business, so I'm not... I don't have any investors or anything. I don't have any partners per se. Joe: The courage for me was the change. It was less the financial implication, but it was more... But I will say right now, it's a financial implication because what I've learned, I want to address... because I have a couple other things that will become... I'll hire employees to do these other things. So now I have to make a substantial investment to make those happen. So that's going to require some courage on my side to go with it, right? Joe: But I would say that the thing that was the catalyst... This was actually an absolute true story. I was at church on a Sunday, and I was in a situation with a business that I was CEO of. It was a difficult situation, and the priest is fantastic at our church, and... in his homily he told a story about when he was in... being prepared to become a priest. He said that he was walking. He was distraught about something. He was walking in the hills and he found himself in a place where he really wasn't paying attention and suddenly, he can't go back because the crevice was so large. And he doesn't really even know exactly how he got there. And the only thing he could do was go forward. And had he been totally cognizant of the situation, he never would have gotten himself into that particular spot. Joe: So at that moment in church, I decided, I am going to go do this. That was when I decided to do this. Luke: Wow. Joe: And it was because of my faith and it was because- Luke: Your faith. Yeah. Joe: ... of that story, and I said, "This is my moment. I have stepped across. I can't go back so I'm going forward." And I actually went and resigned the next day. Luke: Wow. Joe: Now I had to talk to my wife about it, of course. And that was the courageous part, because it was hard. We were going to eat, we had a house, and all that stuff. It's not like that. But it was a big difference, and our lives changed as a result of that. Joe: And so, I went, and I actually went to Gethsemani in where Thomas Merton was as a monk, and I spent three days there in silence, which is hard to believe. I didn't talk for three days. I went to mass six or seven times a day, and I read a lot of books and I went walking in the woods. And here's what I got from that experience is silence is the loudest experience you'll ever have. And just by being alone in the woods, I heard things that I hadn't heard. And that was tragic to me because I had been working and traveling, and I missed out on so much. And I realized that I had missed a spontaneity in life by traveling and doing all that I had done and my career. I never missed a birthday, I never missed an anniversary, I never missed any of the planned things, but I missed all the things when your son or daughter comes home and someone's mean to them at school, or something happened that was great. I wasn't there. I wasn't there. And I made a vow that if I was able to make this change that I would be more aware of that. Joe: Now I'm not perfect, but I work every day to try and be more in the spontaneity of life. And that's a lesson is to... sometimes you have to step out of what you have to see that there's so much more. Like I wouldn't be doing this today probably if I was in the other situation. My schedule would be too busy. Well, I made this a priority because I love Holy Cross and I want to give back, and if one person walks away from this conversation feeling better about themselves, or they see there's something that they can do now that they might have not really thought possible, then Luke, you and I just spent a good 20, 30 minutes together. And that's the way I would say I feel now. Luke: It's powerful, yeah. Joe: Yeah, it's big. For me it works. Luke: That's amazing about the faith and church. That's... yeah. That's unbelievable. Joe: He's fantastic. Actually the other priest, we have... There's only one Jesuit in Tennessee and he graduated with Father Bruce. He went to Holy Cross, Class of '81. Yeah. So he's great too. Yeah, he's awesome. It wasn't his story though. Luke: Just going back to Worcester, that's a lot to digest. But some more lighthearted stuff now. Grew up in Worcester. Went to school in Worcester. I got to know, best spot, restaurant. What do you think? Joe: Wow. That's a great question. Luke: There's a lot of good ones. Joe: My favorite place is no longer there, which was the Millbrook Diner, which you probably have never heard of. So that's a good question. What's the favorite... There's... I would say where I usually go is either Miss Woo's or The Boy. And then I used to go to the... What's the diner across the street? Part... from the Boulevard. That's where we used to go, but I don't think that- Luke: I know- Joe: You know what I'm talking about? Luke: Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Joe: But I would- Luke: I can't think of the name. Joe: That's a good... I don't know. That's a... I don't know. There's it's many new places here. What the heck? Luke: Yeah, there are. Joe: So, I will tell you this. Kelley Square today, I did go through Kelley Square, which is when I went to St. John's in Shrewsbury, I had a brother, Brother William taught us. He said he used to close his eyes and just drive through. Continues to be the case. The worst place, although with the new baseball stadium, I suppose it's going to be addressed. Very happy that the Sox are coming to Worcester. We're happy about that, yup. Joe: I'm a diner guy, to be honest with you, so I love all the diners. That would be the way I grew up. Luke: Yeah, diners are great. Yeah. Luke: Another kind of just lighthearted question. But as a business executive, obviously you got to be very in-tune with what's going on in society. Are there any new type of trends in social media or in the news that have really caught your eye? Joe: Yeah. So without getting too political, I will say that I have a problem with current leadership. It does matter how you do what you do. It's not just the outcome. So the mechanism, the value system, and how you actually approach leadership matters a lot to me. So, I'm going to add something here that is a little bit of a twist on your question, but I think it'll kind of bring- Luke: Sure. Joe: ... a few things together. Joe: So when I was running a bigger company, I had a platform and I had a responsibility as the CEO of the company, I felt, to talk about the question that you just asked me about. If we're having a bad economic period, 2008 I was CEO of a company, economic crash, I got in front of everybody and said, "Okay, we got problems. Here's what's going to have to happen. We're going to have to freeze... We might have to have some layoffs," but I was honest and transparent with everybody. Very, very difficult. Joe: So macroeconomic trends, I think, if I were running a bigger company, this issue with the virus from China- Luke: Coronavirus. Joe: ... everybody's concerned about that. They should be. Whether it'll be bigger than people think it is at the moment, I don't know. I'm not an expert in that area, but I do think we need to be aware of it. So I think we need to convey these things. Joe: But what's most troubling to me is that we can't seem to get to a common agenda. We can't figure that out. And if the country were a business, we'd go out of business. And so, I believe that some of the business principles can be brought to that conversation. So I started a thing called The Bridge. And The Bridge is bringing people from different perspectives together. And I've done it in Ohio. I've had public forum in Ohio with groups of people, and now I'm doing it in Nashville on the 18th of this month. Joe: And people that are helping me facilitate this are four people. Well, there's three that's going to do this one. There's Troy Smith. He's an African American leader in the city. Great guy. He did some rap stuff when he was a kid. He grew up in the hood as he told me. We couldn't in some ways be any more different, but we're actually found a common platform. Jenn Miller is an inclusion diversity expert. She does this for businesses. She too is African American. Has got seven kids. Absolutely fantastic person. And then Chloe Adams. Chloe Adams is, she's 25. She went to Auburn University as a marketing communications person. And I got to know her because my office is there and she's just a direct communicator and appeals to her generation. Joe: So we're having a meeting where we're bringing people together, about two groups of 40, and we're going to have a conversation about the common platform. And the four of us are going to tell a little story of why this is so important to us, and I want to show people that it's possible to not solve it, but to agree that we can address things together. That we're going to have this conversation. And so we're addressing it through the lens of men and women, black and white, or Asian, what... Indian. Luke: Sure. Joe: Different races, ages, and orientation. Bring people... It doesn't matter. It's the you, YOU. We're trying to bring as much diversity- Joe: ... into that conversation. And then show... These will be people that don't know each other, and they'll be able to sit in a room and have a conversation. And just by virtue of bringing this up, it's amazing how many people want to participate in a conversation. Joe: Now not sure where it's going to go and I don't really care at the moment where it goes, but I think it can be a bit of a movement, and I'm really excited about where we can take it. Joe: So that's probably a part of where my energy is now being focused because I think without figuring this out, it's just not helpful. So that's a big part for me. Luke: It's super important to understand everybody and everyone's background, and like you were saying, that whole empathy and understanding where people are coming from, their beliefs and stuff like that- Joe: Right. Luke: ... instead of shying away from that, embracing everybody and figuring out... or not even figuring out problems in society or whatever, in a company, but just addressing those issues and talking about it and being united, that's huge in my opinion. Yeah. Joe: Think about this conversation. We don't know each other that well, right? Luke: Right. Joe: But we were educated by the same institution, similar principles, many decades apart. But the expectation of us is the same. We're to take this platform and bring it into the world, not pass judgment on people, but bring people together. And then evolve as we learn from others and make an impact that's different tomorrow than it is today because we've evolved. We've learned. That's the part. But you can't dig in too early. And as long as you're willing to listen and learn and talk, we can make a difference. And I will not be dissuaded from that. I will not. And there are people that get angry about these things and they want to dig in on one issue or they disagree, but that's part of this. I'm not right, but I can facilitate a conversation. And I think that's a skillset that I would really recommend continue to let evolve for yourself is be able to facilitate and bring people into the conversation because the most quiet person in the room is maybe the one that's most valuable. Just because people process, you know? Luke: And that's something that I was taught growing up as well. My dad, I always remember him talking to me about listening to everybody in the room. That's what he would say. "Listen to everybody in the room. Everybody can offer something unique and bring something to the table. And comprehend that, understand that, and then use that to move forward." Joe: Right. Luke: And yeah, that's big. Joe: Because if you think about it metaphorically, it's like making a cake or some... I don't know, some meal or whatever. If you look at the people as being the ingredients, you don't put equal amounts of everything. But if every person is an ingredient, you just take the right amounts, oh my gosh, it's like the best cake ever, right? Luke: Yup. Joe: And that's, I think, what I always think about when I'm in a room is, we're trying to bake something. We're try to make something together. And I don't know if I heard someone say this or I made this up myself, but every time we're together, just today, this will never happen again. Luke: True. Joe: Once in history will you and I be sitting in this room at this time of the day under this circumstance. So if we don't walk away... if we can walk away with one thing from that and then tell someone else and do something different, what a great experience. And if you have more people in the room, wow. So let's take full advantage of that. Because we are blessed to be able to do these things. Luke: Completely agree. Yeah. And we'll just wrap it up here briefly. Joe: Sure. Luke: But one last thing about Holy Cross. What was your favorite class? Were there any... I know you're a chemistry major, but were there any other... obviously the liberal arts education, learning more about just the specific major you're in, were there any big classes that jumped out at you and really help you even today? Joe: I think the one that I talk about often is I took a course on, I don't know if it was about atheism, but it was taught by an atheist. And I thought that was really interesting because, of course, being void of faith given how I grew up, I said the rosary every day and went to mass and all that stuff. But I just thought it was really interesting to have someone with such conviction about a totally opposing view, but also being open to the others and being able to teach us about that. And that to me gave great confirmation of what the Jesuit, what I took away from one of the Jesuit pillars was, "We will teach you from those that have depth of understanding and belief as opposed to someone that has a surface level understanding and just expose you to the topic." And I thought that was fantastic. Joe: Now he didn't convert me to atheism obviously, but it really in some ways confirmed my faith. But I would not have thought about that in a way that I have. And I also think that he moved my lack of judgment, how I don't judge people, forward because I might have had a very negative reaction to an atheist. But in that course, I learned that he too is good person. He just has a different viewpoint. And I thought that was fantastic. Joe: I played soccer at Holy Cross so I cannot leave this conversation without saying that the guys that I played soccer with, those stories continue, and we just had a blast. And being a student athlete was fantastic. We had so much fun. We had so much fun. Luke: All right. Joe: Luke, thank you. Luke: Yeah, thank you. Joe: This was great. Luke: Appreciate it. Joe: Awesome. Luke: Definitely. Joe: So much fun. Good luck to you. Luke: Thank you. You as well. Maura: That's our show. I hope you enjoyed hearing about just one of the many ways that Holy Cross alumni have been inspired by the mission to be men and women for and with others. A special thanks to today's guest and everyone at Holy Cross who has contributed to making this podcast a reality. Maura: If you or someone you know would like to be featured on this podcast, please send us an email at alumnicareers@holycross.edu. If you like what you hear, then please leave us a review. This podcast is brought to you by the Office of Alumni Relations at the College of the Holy Cross. You can subscribe for future episodes wherever you find your podcasts. I'm your host, Maura Sweeney, and this is Mission-Driven. In the words of St. Ignatius of Loyola, "Now go forth and set the world on fire." --- Theme music composed by Scott Holmes, courtesy of freemusicarchive.org.

Melba's podcast is back again, this week interviewing the multi-talented multimedia mind Luke. Luke chats volunteering, his recent trip to Japan, and all things design. Listen here! [Episode 2 Transcript: Zulejha: Hi, and welcome to another edition of the Melba Loop. I'm Zulejha, and I'm with one of Melba's volunteers, Luke. Zulejha: So Luke, what do you actually do as a volunteer here at Melba? Luke: I take photos and edit together videos. Zulejha: Fantastic! So how are you finding it so far? What do you like about it? Luke: I love the environment and the opportunity Melba has given me to use my knowledge about design. Because it is something that I studied at university. Zulejha: Awesome! So where did you actually study? Luke: Swinburne University Zulejha: Great! And what course was that? Luke: It was called multimedia. Zulejha: Multimedia, awesome. So it's actually really related to what you studied at uni? Luke: Yes Zulejha: Perfect. And what are you hoping to do after your volunteering experience? Luke: Well, I love the sense of community that I have with Melba, and I love the different types of work with different people. Zulejha: Fantastic. And word on the grapevine is that you recently went on a really cool holiday to Japan. Can you tell us more about your trip to Japan? Luke: Yes, I recently been to Japan, and I went to the TeamLab Borderless museum, which is the only digital museum in the world. Um, and it challenged my ideas of time, space and sound. Zulejha: Oh wow, that sounds awesome! So you would recommend it to other people who would travel to Japan? Luke: Yes! Zulejha: Oh Great! So obviously it's something that sparked your interest as you already have an interest in design. Fantastic. Zulejha: So, when you actually walk into the digital museum, what do you actually hear and see? Luke: It is an overload of information and you are basically set in a position which is borderless; which is the name of the museum. You can't get a sense of the direction, there is no set course to the final destination. So what you see each time you visit might be different, or slightly different. Zulejha: God, that sounds awesome! Something to check out I reckon for anyone who's visiting Japan. Zulejha: So thank you so much for your time today Luke. We really appreciate it. And thanks for listening to this episode of the Melba loop. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, and we look forward to bringing you another episode of the Melba Loop.]

- Press the PLAY button to listen to the catechesis of the day and share if you like -+ A reading from the holy Gospel, according to Luke +It happened there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where he was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do will it. Be made clean.” And the leprosy left him immediately. Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but “Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments, but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.The Gospel of the Lord.

Luke Melia, Aaron Chambers, and Mattia Gheda john Taras and Charles to discuss all things deployment! Luke Melia: Luke has been working with Ember since it was under early development as Sproutcore 2.0. Ember.js powers a SaaS company he co-founded, Yapp, and they funded their business for a couple of years doing Ember consulting under the Yapp Labs moniker. They're full-time on product now, and his engineering team at Yapp (currently 3 people) maintains around 6 Ember apps. Luke helps to maintain a bunch of popular addons, including ember-cli-deploy, ember-modal-dialog, ember-wormhole, ember-tether, and more. He started the Ember NYC meetup in 2012 and continues to co-organize it today. Aaron Chambers: Aaron Chambers: Aaron is the co-author of EmberCLI Deploy and is currently an Engineer at Phorest Salon Software, helping them move their desktop product to the web platform. He's been using Ember for 5 years and maintains a number of plugins in the EmberCLI Deploy ecosystem. Aaron loves trying to work out how we can ship JS apps faster, more reliably and with more confidence. Mattia Gheda: Mattia is a Software Engineer, Ember hacker, Ruby lover and Elixir aficionado. Currently he works as Director of Development for Precision Nutrition where Ember, Ruby and Elixir power several applications. He loves meetups, organizes Ember.js Toronto and co-organizes Elixir Toronto. Resource: Immutable Web Apps Please join us in these conversations! If you or someone you know would be a perfect guest, please get in touch with us at contact@frontside.io. Our goal is to get people thinking on the platform level which includes tooling, internalization, state management, routing, upgrade, and the data layer. This show was produced by Mandy Moore, aka @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. Transcript: CHARLES: Hello and welcome to The Frontside Podcast, a place where we talk about user interfaces and everything that you need to know to build them right. My name is Charles Lowell, a developer here at the Frontside. With me also co-hosting today is Taras Mankovsky. Hey, Taras. TARAS: Hello, everyone. CHARLES: Today, we have three special guests that we're going to be talking to. We have Aaron Chambers, Luke Melia, and Mattia Gheda who originally met collaborating on fantastic open source library that we, at the Frontside, have used many, many times that saved us countless hours, saved our clients hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more. ember-cli-deploy. We're gonna be talking not about that library in particular but around the operations that happen around UI. So, welcome you all. LUKE: Thanks, it's great to be here. CHARLES: Like I said, I actually am really excited to have you all on because when we talk about the platform that you develop your UI on, something that often gets short shrift in communities outside of the Ember community is how do I actually deliver that application into users' hands. Because obviously, we don't want it to be working just on our laptop. We want it to be delivered to our users and there are myriad ways that that can happen and it's only gotten more complex since the last time we talked which must have been like three or four years ago. I kind of just have to ask, I think that what you all were talking about then was cutting edge is still cutting edge now but there must have been some pretty incredible developments like in the last three or four years. What have been kind of the new insights that you all have? LUKE: I think that what we realized as we got started with ember-cli-deploy and a project kind of came together as a combination of a few different open source efforts, something that Aaron was working on, something that our collaborator Mike was working on. We decided to come together under one umbrella, joined forces. And what we realized pretty soon is that deployment needs vary a ton between companies. And so, we are coming from this background in Ember community where we had this attitude where nobody is a special snowflake. We all kind of have the same needs for 90% of what we do. And that's true. I really believe in a lot of that Ember [ethos]. But when it comes to deployment, you know what? A lot of companies are special snowflakes or it's at least is much more fragmented than kind of our needs around on the JavaScript side. And so, what we decided to do was to try to evolve ember-cli-deploy into a platform essentially, an ecosystem that could let people mix and match plug-ins to do in their organization without locking them into an opinion that might simply be a non-starter in their org. CHARLES: It's hard enough to have opinions just around the way that your JavaScript code is structured but when it comes to rolling out your app, it really does encompass the entire scope of your application. So, it has to take account of your server. It has to take account of your user base. It has to take account of all the different processes that might be running all over, distributed around the Internet. Maybe somewhere on AWS, maybe somewhere on Legacy servers but it has to consider that in its entirety. So, it's having opinions that span that scope is particularly difficult. LUKE: Yes. And so, you mentioned a bunch of technical details which are absolutely forcing factors for a lot of words in how they do their deployments but what we found in talking to people that there are also people in political aspects to deployment in many cases. Engineers kind of own the JavaScript code that's running within their app, more or less. But when it comes to pushing the app into the world and a lot of companies, that means they're interacting with sysadmins, ops folks, people who have very strong opinions about what is an allowable and supportable way to get those deployments done and to have that stuff exist in production. And so, we needed to come up with an architecture that was going to support all these kind of varied use cases. And so, we came up with this system of essentially a deployment pipeline and plugins that can work at various stages of that pipeline. And that ecosystem has now grown quite a bit. It's actually, I don't know Aaron if you and Mattia would agree but I think it's probably the best decision that we made in this project because that ecosystem has grown and evolved without us needing to do a ton of work in maintenance. And it's been really great. I think Mattia, you pulled some of the current numbers there. MATTIA: Yeah. I pulled some numbers just yesterday and we have currently 150 different plugins attached to themselves, to different parts of the pipeline. So some of them are about how to build the assets, some of them are about how to compress them, some of them are about shipping. And they allow people to ship it with different ways like we are seeing [inaudible] with just simply Amazon APIs or Azure APIs and some of them even are about just how to visualize data about your deployments or how to give feedback to the user about what was deployed and represent the information. And then this is kind of a bit more detail, probably specific to us but we also added this idea of plugin packs. So, in order to help people define their deployment story, we created this ideal of plugin packs. Plugin packs are simply group of plugins. So, plugins grouped together. As a user, if you want to implement what we call a deploy strategy, you can simply install a plugin pack and that will give you all the plugins that allow you to deploy in a specific way. And that's kind of like an optimization that we added just to make it easier for people to share deployment strategies, share ways of deploying applications. CHARLES: Right. It's almost like an application within the framework. MATTIA: Yeah, exactly. But to stay on the community side, I think that the interesting part about what Luke was saying which was a great success for us is that all we maintain as the core team for this project is the core infrastructure, so the pipeline and a thousand of plugins. Everything else is community-based. And often, even in my day-to-day work, I end up using plugins that I didn't write and that I don't even maintain. But because the underpinning of it were designed especially by Luke and I are flexible enough. It just like has been very, very stable and very, very reliable for many years. So, I will say definitely the idea of like in the spirit of what Ember is, I guess, creating a shared ecosystem where people can add what they want and extend what was provided has been the one single biggest win of this project. CHARLES: One of the things that I'm curious about is we've talked about how you're allowing for and kind of embracing the fragmentation that happens in people's kind of the topology of their infrastructure. What do you see is the common threads that really bind every single good deployment strategy together? MATTIA: My biggest thing here, and we actually have some shared notes about this, but my biggest thing about this is the idea that building and deploying an application for me is divided into three parts. There's building part where you have to decide how to compile your JavaScript application and how to produce some sort of artifact. There is the shipping part where it's about deciding where you're going to put the artifact. And then there is the serving part which is how you show it and deliver it to your users. I think that these three are the underpinnings of any deploy strategy. What we did with this project is just acknowledging that and give each one of these a place. And so, the entirety of what we do in what Luke defined as a pipeline is simply give you a way to customize how you build, customize how you ship, and then customize how you serve. So yeah, I think that that's kind of the root. And the question that everybody that wants to deploy a modern JavaScript application have to ask themselves is how do I want to build it, how do I want to ship it, and how will I serve it to my users. And these things are completely independent one from the order in the sense that you can have something build it, something ship it and something serve it, and that's what we end up doing in most of our deployments, I find. CHARLES: It's good to think about those things as soon as you possibly can and make sure that you have all three of those bases covered really before you start adding a whole ton of features. TARAS: Sprint 0, right? LUKE: In Agile, we call Sprint 0 the phase the thing you do right in the beginning. You've got a skeleton of an app and then you get the deployment infrastructure going, you have the test infrastructure going, so that there is no task within your actual feature development where you have to do those things. And I think that can be a valuable concept to embrace. I would just add to Mattia's three points that for deployments, to me, some very simple qualities of a good deployments are repeatability. You need to be able to reliably and consistently run your deployment process. Sounds simple but there's plenty of operations that have run up way too long on manual deployments. So, we don't want to see those rollback capabilities if you have a deployment that you realize was a mistake right after it gets into production. I'm sure none of us have ever experienced that. CHARLES: That never happens to me. LUKE: You want to have a method to roll that code back. That's something that can be remarkably complex to do. And so, having some guardrails and some support mechanisms to do that like ember-cli-deploy provides can be really useful. But whatever your approach is, I think that's a necessary quality. And then I think we start to step into kind of more advanced capabilities that a good deployment architecture can provide when we start to think about things like personalization, A/B testing, feature flags, these kinds of things. And that requires more sophistication, but you cannot build that on a deployment foundation that's not solid. AARON: I think for me, one of the things I've been really thinking about a lot lately, it's a bit of a mindset shift, I think, to get to where the things Mattia was talking about separating those different parts of deployment. And so, I really start to realize the traditional mindset around deployments like I build some stuff and I ship it to the server and then the users get it. But if we can actually stop and actually split our understanding of deployment into two separate phases. One is the building and the physical shipping of the files; and the other one's actually making them available to people. You open up this whole world of our features that you wouldn't normally have. So to be able to actually physically put stuff in production but not yet have it active, as in users don't see it yet but you can preview those versions in production against production databases. And then at some point after the fact, decide, "Okay, I'm now going to route all my users to this new thing," And to be able to do that really easily is massively, massively powerful. And so, to me, the thing I've been thinking about lately is it is a small mindset shift away from packaging everything up and pushing and overwriting what's currently there to being something, again like Luke said, immutable deployments where everything we build and ship sits next to all the other versions and we just decide which one we want to use to look at it any time which leads into then, I guess, A/B testing, feature flags and things. So I guess deployment really is not so much about the physical shipping, that's one part of it. To me, deployment now is shipping of stuff, as in physical deployment and then the releasing it or enabling it or activating it to users. CHARLES: Or routing it. Sounds like what you're describing is an extraordinarily lightweight process. AARON: It is, yeah. CHARLES: To actually route traffic to those files. AARON: It is. It's incredibly lightweight. That's the amazing thing about it. When you think about it, you're building a few JavaScript files and CSS files and images and putting them on a CDN, and then you just need a tiny web server that basically decides which version of the app you want to serve to people. There's not much to it at all, really. CHARLES: I mean that's absolutely fascinating, though the capability that you have when you have the ability to have these versions, the same versions or different versions of your application sitting along next to each other and being able to route traffic. But it also seems to me like it introduces a little bit of complexity around version matching because only certain versions are going to be compatible with certain versions of your API. You have different versions of your API talking to the -- so the simplicity of having kind of mutable deployments, so to speak, is that everything is in sync and you don't have to worry about those version mismatches. Is that a problem or this could just be me worrying about nothing? But that's kind of the thing that just immediately jumps out to me is like are there any strategies to manage that complexity? LUKE: To me, what you're describing, I kind of think of as a feature not a bug. And what I mean by that is that it is very simple to have a mental model of, "Oh, I have a version of my JavaScript code that works with this version of my API." And as long as I kind of deploy those changes together, I'm good to go. The reality is that that's impossible. The JavaScript apps that we write today, people are using anywhere from two seconds at a time to two days at a time. It's not uncommon these days to have some of these dashboard apps. People literally live-in for their job eight hours a day, nine hours a day, keep the browser tab open and come in the next morning and continue. And so, obviously there are some mechanisms we could use to force them to reload that kind of thing. But at some point in most apps, you're going to have a slightly older version of your JavaScript app talking to a slightly newer version of your API for either the span of a minute or perhaps longer depending on their strategies. So to me, the process of thinking about that and at least being aware of that as an engineer thinking about how your code is going to get from your laptop into the world, I think it's an important step that we not paper over that complexity and that we kind of embrace it and say, "Hey, this is part of life." And so, we need to think about just like we need to think about how your database migrations get into production. That's not something that you can paper over and just have a process that it's going to take care of for you. It requires thought. And I think that this, in the same token, how different versions of your JavaScript app are going to interact with your API requires thought. An exact parallel also had different versions of a native mobile app that go into the app store. How did those interact with different versions of your API? So, I think you're right. There's complexity there. There's ways that we can try to mitigate... CHARLES: Keep repeating ourselves if we think that that [inaudible] actually doesn't exist even in the simple case? MATTIA: Yeah. I think that that's to reiterate what Luke is saying. That's exactly the point. You can pretend it's not there but it is and you have no way to avoid it. Once you ship something to a browser, you have no control over it anymore. And so, you have to assume that somebody is going to be using it. LUKE: Aaron, I think you too, I don't know if you can share it. But you recently told us some stories about kind of what you encountered in your work about this and of how long people were using versions and stuff. AARON: Yeah. Something that we hadn't sort of put a lot of thought into. But the last place I worked at, we had quite a long lived app and we're using feature flags and we're using launch [inaudible] something and it gives you a list of flags and when they were last requested. And there were also flags that we removed from the code and it was just a matter of waiting until all the users had the most current version of the app and weren't requesting the flag anymore. But this one flag just kept getting requested for months and we just could not work out why. It really sort of opened my eyes up to this exact problem that these long lived apps set in the browser and if you have someone that just doesn't reload the browser or restart the machine or anything, your app can live a lot longer than maybe you actually realize it is. So we're shipping bug fixes, we're shipping new features, and we're all patting ourselves in the back. We fixed this bug but have we really? If your users haven't reloaded the app and gotten the latest version, then you haven't actually fixed the bug for some number of people. And it's really hard to tell them as you think about this and put things in place, really hard to tell what versions are out in the world, how many people are using this buggy version still. CHARLES: Yeah, that's an excellent point. I haven't even thought about that. I mean, what is the countermeasure? AARON: We hadn't made it until we came across [crosstalk]. CHARLES: It's nothing quite like getting smacked in the face of the problem to make you aware of it. AARON: That's right. CHARLES: So, what's the strategy to deal with that? AARON: I guess for me, my learnings from that would be from very early on thinking about how we're going to encourage people to reload, to start with, and maybe even have the ability to force a reload and what that means but then that has gotchas as well. You don't want to just reload something when a user is in the middle of writing a big essay or something like that. But definitely thinking about it from the start is one of the things you've got to think about from the start. But I guess something that I'd like to implement and I've kind of thought through but not really explored yet, but the ability to see what versions are out there in the world and there are things I've been thinking about in terms of this little server that serves different versions. Maybe we can start having that kind of tracking what versions are out there and who's using what and being able to see because it would be great to be out to see a live chart or a dashboard or something that sort of shows what versions are out there, which ones we need to be aware of that are still there and even what users are using and what versions they can maybe even move them on, if we need to. But there's definitely a bunch of things that aren't immediately obvious. And I don't know how many people actually think about this early on, but it's critical to actually think about it early on. MATTIA: Yeah. I was going to share what we do which is very similar to what Aaron said just maybe for the listeners to have some context. The first thing you can do is basically what Gmail does, which is every time a web app sends a request, an [inaudible], it will send the version of the app with the request and the backend can check. And the backend can check if you are sending a request from the same version that is the most recent deployed version. And if it's not, this sends back a header and the same way that Gmail does, it will display a pop up that is like, "Hey, we have a new version if you want reload." And on top of that [inaudible] is that we have a dead man's switch. So if we accidentally deploy a broken version, a part of this process, the frontend application tracks in the headers. And if a special header is sent, it force reloads, which is not nice for the user but it's better and sometimes is critical to do so. CHARLES: Right. I remember that was that case where Gmail released something. They were doing something with broken service workers and the app got completely and totally borked. I remember that my Twitter blew up, I don't know, about a year ago I think, and one of the problems I don't think they had was they did not have that capability. MATTIA: I mean, you learned this the hard way sadly. But I think these two things are definitely crucial. And the third one, [inaudible]. I thought, Luke, you had the ability that Aaron was talking about like tracking versions in the world. And I think that's more useful for stats so that you know how often your users update. And then you can make the design decisions based on that and based on how much you want to support in the past. LUKE: Yeah. We haven't implemented that but it reminds me whenever there's a new iOS version, we do a bunch of mobile work in the app and we're always looking at that adoption curve that's published. A few different analytic services publish it and say, "OK. How fast is iOS 12 adoption? How fast are people leaving behind the old versions?" And that helps to inform how much time you're spending doing bug fixes on old version versus just telling people, "Hey, this is fixed in the new OS. Go get it." But if you are able to see that for your own JavaScript apps, I think that would be pretty hot. CHARLES: Yeah. Crazy thought here but it almost makes me wonder if there's something to learn from the Erlang community because this is kind of a similar problem. They solved 20 years ago where you have these very, very long running processes. Some of them there's some telephone servers in Sweden. They've been running for over a decade without the process ever coming down. And yet they're even upgrading the version of Erlang that the VM is running. And they have the capability to even upgrade a function like a recursive function as it's running. And there's just a lot of -- I don't know what the specific lessons are but I wonder if that's an area for study because if there's any community that has locked in on hot upgrade, I feel like it's that one. LUKE: That's a terrific analogy. I bet we could learn a ton. Just hearing that kind of makes me think about how kind of coursed our mental model is about updates to our JavaScript apps. We talked to Aaron, we're talking about kind of this idea of a mutable apps and you have different versions side by side. But the idea of being able to kind of hot upgrade a version with running code in a browser, now that's an ambitious idea. That's something I'd say, "Wow! That kind of thing would be a game changer." CHARLES: Yeah. AARON: Makes me feel like we got a whole bunch of work to do. CHARLES: We welcome them. I'm always happy to give people plenty more work to do. No, but how they manage even being able to do migrations on the memory that's running. I don't know if it's something that's going to be achievable but it sounds kind of like that's the direction that we're heading. LUKE: It does, as these apps get more complex and they continue to live longer. The idea, the work arounds that Mattia mentioned about kind of showing a message and having a dead man's switch, these are all certainly useful. And today, I would say even like the best practice but they were not what you would want to do if you could magically design any system. If you're taking a magical approach, the app will just be upgraded seamlessly as a user was using it. And they would be none the wiser, the bugs would be fixed. End of story. There's no interruption to their workflow. At least for me personally, I don't really think about that as a possibility but I love the Erlang story and analogy and to say maybe that is a possibility, what would it take? I would obviously take a collaboration across your JavaScript framework, perhaps even JavaScript language features and browser runtime features as well as your backend and deployment mechanism. But I think it's a great avenue for some creative thinking. CHARLES: I'm curious because when we're talking about this, I'm imagining the perfect evergreen app but there's also feels like there's maybe even a tension that arises because one of the core principles of good UI is you don't yank the rug out from underneath the user. They need to, at some point and we've all been there when the application does something of its own agency, that feels bad. It feels like, "Nope, this is my workspace. I need to be in control of it." The only way that something should move from one place to the other without me being involved is if it's part of some repeatable process that I kicked off. But obviously, things like upgrading the color of a button or fixing a layout bug, those are things that I'm just going to want to have happen automatically. I'm not going to worry about it. But there is this kind of a gradation of features and at what point do you say, "You know what? Upgrading needs to be something that the user explicitly requires," versus, "This is something that we're just going to push. We're going to make that decision for them." LUKE: Yeah, it's a great question. One of the things that I'm curious what you all think is when you think about the mental model that our users have of working in a browser app, do you think that there is a mental model of, "Oh, when I refresh, I might get a new version." Do people even think about that? Or are they just like your example about a button color changing as kind of a minor thing. I don't even know if I could endure stack. We've all been I think in situations where you do a minor redesign and all of a sudden, all hell breaks loose and users are in revolt. Take the slack icon. So, I think it's a fascinating question. CHARLES: I don't know. What's the answer? Do you always ask for an upgrade just observing? I don't have any data other than observing people around me who use web applications who don't understand how they actually work under the covers. I don't think it's the expectation that this code, this application is living and changing underneath their feet. I think the general perception is that the analogy to the desktop application where you've got the bundled binary and that's the one you're running is that's the perception. AARON: I'd say the difference there is that, and with all these new ways of deploying, we're shipping small things faster in multiple, multiple times a day or even an hour. So it's not the sort of thing you really want time to use. There has been an update, need to upgrade as well. And that's the difference between the desktop mentality. And if that's the mentality they have, it sits quite a bit of a shift, I guess. MATTIA: It makes me think that one of the tools that the users -- if you take a look at the general public, there's probably one tool that everybody can relate to which is Facebook. So, I think if there is a way to say what do people generally expect. There is a business user which I think we are often most familiar with but the general public, probably what they're most familiar with is what happens in Facebook. And I don't use Facebook almost. I haven't used it for a couple of years but I wonder how much of what people experience in Facebook actually impacts the expectations around how applications should behave. LUKE: I think that's a really good question. I do think your underlying point of you have to know your own users I think is an important one also. Obviously, some folks are going to be more technical than others or some audiences will be more technical than others. But I would even question, Charles, your suggestion that people think of it kind of as like a binary that it stays the same until you refresh. I think people have an idea that web apps improve over time or sometimes they get bugs but hopefully that they improve and change over time, and that there is a tradeoff there that means sometimes there's something new to learn but at the same time, you get new features. But I don't know that people necessarily associate that with and it happens when I hit reload or it only happens when I open a new browser, like I don't know that it's that clear for people in their head. CHARLES: Right. I can see that. But the question is if the evolution is too stark, I think people tend to get annoyed. If they're in the middle of a workflow or in the middle of a use case and something changes, then it gives it a feeling of instability and non-determinism which I think can be unsettling. LUKE: Definitely. We all value, as engineers, we value getting into that flow state so much of like, "Oh man, I'm being productive. I don't have any distractions." And you kind of owe that to your users also to be able to let them get into that state with your app and not be throwing up, "Hey, there's new stuff. Reload." "I'm in the middle of something. Sorry." CHARLES: Yeah. I definitely do the same thing. Sometimes, I let iOS be bugging me to upgrade for a month until I finally start to feel guilty about security and actually do the upgrade. LUKE: Right. CHARLES: Although once they started doing it at night, it actually made it a lot better. LUKE: That's an interesting idea, too. I think there's a natural tension between the lower integration risk that we have as the engineering teams of shipping very frequently. Aaron mentioned shipping a dozen times a day. We certainly have been there and done that as well. I would say on average, we ship a few times a day. But the reason that we do that is because we know the faster we get code into production, the faster we can trust it. So it passes all your tests, it passes your [inaudible], but you don't really know if you're being honest. You don't really know until there's thousands of people using it in production. And yet, this conversation makes me think about there is a tension between how frequently you do that versus your users' kind of comfort level and expectations. CHARLES: And maybe there is a thing where you can kind of analyze on a per user basis how often they're active in the application and try to push updates on times that are customized to them. LUKE: Like when a user has been idle for 30 minutes or something like that. CHARLES: Yep. Or even like track trends over months and see when they're most likely to be idle and schedule it for them. LUKE: Good point. CHARLES: Something like that. TARAS: I have an idea. We should introduce screen savers into web apps. And so when the user stops using the app, just turn on screen saver and do the upgrade. LUKE: I can see the VC patch. It's after dark but for the web. CHARLES: Enter install flying toaster. AARON: It does that to open up the idea as well of that automated checking that things are okay well after the fact because it's all right to sit there maybe activate something and sit there even for an hour and make sure there's no bug request coming in. But if no one's actually received your app, then of course it's not going to come in. And it's very easy to kind of move onto the next thing and forget about that. I guess it's not something that I've ever put a lot of time in and I haven't worked anywhere that's had really great automated checking to see is everything still okay. And I guess it's an interesting thing to start thinking about as well an important thing. CHARLES: Like actually bundling in diagnostics in with your application to get really fine grained information about kind of status and availability inside the actual app. AARON: I'm not exactly sure, really. I guess I maybe wasn't thinking about inside the app but I don't know what it looks like exactly. But there is that element of shipping fast and getting stuff out there. But are we really making sure it all works later on when everyone's actually using it. LUKE: Yeah. This by the way, I just wanted to say when we were talking earlier what are the essential qualities around deploying an app. And this reminds me that one thing that we didn't mention but is very simple is your app should have a version. And it should be unique and traceable back to what was the GitHub, git commit that was the origin of that code. It's just a very simple idea but if you're going to be analyzing errors in production when you have multiple different versions of your JavaScript app running, you're going to need to know what version caused this error and then how do I trace it back and make sure that the code that I'm trying to debug is actually the code that was running when this error happened. CHARLES: Do you only use just [inaudible] or do you assign like a build number or using SemVer? What's a good strategy? LUKE: In our case, we use git tags. And so, our CI deployment process for our Ember apps basically looks like this is we work on a PR, we'll merge it to master. If it builds, the master gets deployed into our QA environment automatically using ember-cli-deploy from our CI server. And then once we're happy with how things are on QA, we do git tag or actually I use an ember addon called ember release that does that tagging for me and I'll tag it either in patch minor or major, roughly [inaudible] although it doesn't matter that much in the case of apps. When there is a new tag that builds green on CI, that gets deployed automatically into production by ember-cli-deploy. And so, that's kind of a basic flow. That tagging, just to be clear, the SemVer tag is just going to be number.number.number. You can get more sophisticated than that and I think both Aaron and Mattia have a system where even in the PR stage, there's automatic deployments happening. So maybe one of you want to mention that. AARON: We're slightly different. Every time we push the pull request, that gets deployed to production. We're able to preview up pull requests in production before we even merge into master which we find super useful to send out links to stakeholders and maybe people that have raised bugs just to get them to verify things are fixed. And then at the point that it's all Google merged, the pull request to master which will automatically do another deploy which is the thing we'll ultimately activate, we activate it manually after the fact. We just do a little bit of sanity checking but we could automatically activate that on merge to master as well. But yeah, the being able to preview a pull request in production is super powerful for us. CHARLES: That is definitely a nice capability. It's hard. It's one of those certain workflows or patterns or tools that you remember life before them and then after them and it's very hard to go back to life before. I would definitely say kind of the whole concept of preview applications is one of those. AARON: Absolutely. It's a daunting concept if you're not there, previewing something that's essentially a work in progress and production. And there are some things you want to be careful with, obviously. But for the most part, it's a super valuable thing. As you say, it's a world where once you're there, it's very hard to step back and not be there again. CHARLES: So I had a question about, we talked about I think it was 162 plugins around the ember-cli-deploy community. What for you all has been the most surprising and delightful plugin to arrive that you never imagined? MATTIA: That is a good one. I'm pulling up the list. What I can tell you, for me, it's not about a specific plugin. The surprising part was the sheer amount of different strategies that people use for the shipping part. At least, I found that the build part is similar for most people, like most people want to do the things that you're supposed to do. So, you want to build your application and then you want a minify it in some way. And there's a bunch of options there from gzip to more recent technologies. But the way people deliver it to servers and the difference in the solutions, that I think for me has been the biggest thing, where people that ship [inaudible] are people that ship directly to Fastly, people that use FTP files, people that use old FTP, people that use our sync, people that do it over SSH. We have people that ship stuff directly to a database because some databases actually have great support for large files. So we even use it as a storage. We have people that do it in MySequel, people that do it in [inaudible]. CHARLES: It's actually storing the build artifacts inside of a database? MATTIA: Yes, I've seen them in that. It's kind of interesting like the solutions that people ended up using. And so for me, I think that that's been the most fascinating part. Because as we were saying at the beginning, I'm just seeing now, we even have one for ZooKeeper. I don't have an idea what this does but it's probably related to some sort of registration around the seven-day index. That, to me, I think has been the biggest surprise. Everybody ends up working in a different environment. And so, that flexibility that users need has been by far the most surprising one. AARON: I think that's also been one of the challenging things, one of the enlightening things for me. I think in the Ember ecosystem, addons and even just Ember itself, it's all about convention of configuration and doing a lot of the stuff that you do for you. I think people expect them to see a lot of point to do the same thing. But the key thing here is it just really automates all the things you would do manually and you need to understand exactly what you want your deployment strategy to be before use them to see a lot of [inaudible] could do for you. You need to decide do I want to install my assets on a CDN and do I want to install my index in Redis or in console or in S3 bucket. You need to know all these things and have decided on all these things and then ember-cli-deploy will make that really easy for you. And this is one of the educational things, I think we still haven't even nailed because there are always people that want to know why this doesn't work. But deployments are complex thing and as what you were saying Mattia, there are so many different variables and variations on doing this that there's no sensible configuration ember-cli-deploy could really provide out of the box, I guess. And so, that's why we ended up with a pipeline that gives you the tools to be flexible enough to support your strategy. LUKE: I think the closest that we come to the convention is that if any app is using ember-cli-deploy, you can run ember deployment targets or ember deploy prod and ember deploy QA and you can expect that that's going to work. What you don't know is how has it happened to be configured in this project. Charles, your question about kind of the most surprising thing that's come out of the ecosystem. For me, I would say -- Mattia mentioned plugin packs earlier which are groups of plugins that kind work together well. And so, we've seen some plugin packs like you might expect, like an AWS pack for deploying to AWS. But the more interesting ones to me that we've seen a lot of, companies open source their plugin packs. So what you naturally fall into as a company that's adopting ember-cli-deploy that has multiple ember apps is that you are going to develop your own plugin pack for internal use because generally speaking, companies follow the same deployment pattern for each of their apps. There's usually not any reason to vary that. So then the new thing that happen on top of that is people said, "Why don't I make this open source so other people can kind of see how we do it?" And that's been a really delightful part of the process to kind of get a peek into how other organizations are orchestrating their deployments. And if people are curious about kind of looking at that themselves, you can go on NPM and look for keyword ember-cli-deploy-plugin-pack and pull up all of those. And you can kind of poke around and see what different companies have open source there. CHARLES: I actually love all three of those answers because it really is for me when you have a constellation of people around a particular problem, it's the surprising solutions that emerge that are some of the most exciting that would have lain hidden otherwise. It would have been kind of buried beneath the source of company A or company B or company C but actually having it all out in the open so that you can inspect it and say, "Wow, where has this solution been all my life?" Something that you have never imagined yourself. LUKE: It's so funny that you mentioned that because that actually is the origin story way back, I'm talking like 2013 probably when we were very early Ember adopters and we were trying to figure out how do we deploy this thing. We're deploying it with our Rails app, like literally deploying the Ruby code and the JavaScript code together which took forever which is a disaster. And I heard through the grapevine, just exactly what you're saying Charles, where the good ideas are kind of hidden inside of a company. I heard through the grapevine that Square had this approach that they were using where they would deploy their JavaScript assets and then deploy their index HTML file, the contents of that file, into a database, it's Redis in their case, and serve then it out of there. And it empowered all of these interesting situations of like having multiple versions, being able to preview the release, et cetera. And so we then set out to copy that idea because there was nothing open source. So we had to create it ourselves which we did in Ruby which we made it inaccessible to many JavaScript shops in the first place. Then the evolution of that kind of over time and of Mattia and Aaron and Mike and the rest of the community kind of talking together has now moved this into the open source sphere where these ideas are more accessible and we've created an ecosystem encouraging these ideas to stay out in the open. It's so true that there's just gems of ideas that have been created by really brilliant engineers inside of companies that could be benefiting so many people, they just haven't seen the light of day yet. CHARLES: Yeah, that leads me to my next question. I would say most of the ideas that we've been talking about today really, except for the build part, how Ember specific are they? Obviously, the ember-cli is a great resource and has a lot of great opinions for actually building the JavaScript assets themselves. But the second two phases of the pipeline really can vary freely, if I understand correctly. And so, have you all ever thought about trying to maybe kind of abstract these processes and these plugins so that these same ideas don't remain not just inside of a company but inside a community that spans a set of companies so that it's available for a wider audience? How integrated is it with Ember and what kind of effort would that be? LUKE: That's a great question. Aaron or Mattia, one of you guys wanna talk a little bit about the history here? MATTIA: Yeah, sure. We've been thinking about this as well. In the past, a guy on the ember-cli-deploy team, Pepin, has actually started this effort and it kind of prototyped this very idea of separating the ember-cli-deploy part from Ember CLI itself and make it a bit more generic. And he started a project called Deploy JS which I can give you a link for the show notes later. I don't think that the project is currently maintained but definitely the start of the effort is there. And the funny thing is that it was surprisingly easy. I think that we didn't get there mostly because we just all use Ember at work. As you know, open source is mostly motivated by the needs that an individual or a group of people have. But if any of the listeners were very interested in this, I think they should definitely get in touch and we will be happy to talk to them and see what can be done here. AARON: And also if you look, there's actually a plugin called ember-cli-deploy-create-react-app and there's also ember-cli-build-view. So it can and is being used to deploy non-Ember apps which I think is super interesting because the only real Ember part of it is just using the CLI to discover the addons and plugins. And from then on, it's really out of the hands of Ember. But it sort of leads into a little bit, Luke mentioned this concept of immutable web apps. And I've been thinking a lot about this lately because a deployment strategy that ember-cli-deploy use as an example a lot and it's kind of become [inaudible] ember-cli-deploy in ways, the lightning approach which is this whole idea of splitting or putting your assets in CDN and your index HTML separately maybe in Redis and serving that. I've been trying to work out how I can talk about this to the wider JavaScript community in a non-Ember way and knowing full well that the concept of lightning deployment means nothing to anyone outside of Ember. Just by chance, I was just talking to some people and this terminology of immutable deployments kind of rose. I started searching around and I come across a website called ImmutableWebApps.org which was just scarily the same as what we've been talking about for the last three or four years with ember-cli-deploy. And a way to boil down at a framework-agnostic level, what are the key points that you need to consider when building a JavaScript web app to make it immutable. And it was just really amazing seeing it. This website was put up 3 weeks before I did my Google search coincidentally. And it's basically word for word what we have been talking about the last three or four years, So, someone else in the other side of the world's been coming up with the same ideas in their company like you were talking about earlier and we've reached out to him. I guess that, to me, is sort of the way forward that I want to sort of pursue to try and get these ideas out in a framework-agnostic way to the rest of community and say, "Hey, we thought about deployment in this way. Have you thought about building your app in this way to give you these sorts of capabilities?" CHARLES: I think the wider community could definitely benefit from that because most of the blog posts and talks I've seen that concern themselves with deployment of single page applications, it's still much more of the tutorial phase. Like, "This is how I achieve getting this deployment strategy." Not, "This is how I repeatedly encode it as a program," and leverage it that way. And so, definitely getting that message out to a wider audience, I think it's a -- what's the word? It's an underserved market. LUKE: Yeah. I really like this idea also. I think about this ImmutableWebApps.org, if you look at it. It's sort of a manifesto with conceptual description of what are the qualities that your app has to have to qualify as an immutable web app which I think is kind of a funny idea but one that people can start to get their heads around and compare that description to their own apps and say how do I hit this or fall short. And it reminds me a lot of kind of the idea of Twelve-Factor App which is an idea that I think came out of Heroku originally. And it's an idea of a backend app that is portable to be able to easily move across different hosts and easily be scalable to different instances of [inaudible] if your app obeys all of these things then it's going to do well under those circumstances, that will satisfy those needs. So, I think it's a great way of thinking and probably maybe even a better entree into the conversation with the wider community than a library, this is certainly a library called ember-cli-deploy. CHARLES: This is a fantastic discussion. It's definitely reminded me of some of the best practices that I haven't thought about in a long time and definitely opened my eyes to some new ones and some new developments. So often, we can be focused on how our apps work internally, like how the JavaScript code works that we can just kind of -- what's the saying -- lose sight of the forest through the trees or I can't remember. It's like too busy looking down the end of your nose to see past your face. I've probably mangled both of those adages, but maybe 60% of two mangled adages is at least equal to one. This is something that we need to be thinking about more, that everybody needs to be thinking about more. This is actually a very exciting, very useful problem space and I'm just really grateful that you guys came on to talk to us about it. So, thank you, Mattia. Thank you, Luke. Thank you, Aaron. MATTIA: Thank you so much. It was a great time. AARON: It was a pleasure. Thanks for having us. LUKE: Thanks so much. CHARLES: Thank you for listening. If you or someone you know has something to say about building user interfaces that simply must be heard, please get in touch with us. We can be found on Twitter at @TheFrontside or over just plain old email at contact@frontside.io. Thanks and see you next time.

In this episode of the Health, Fitness and Lifestyle Show Gavin Gillibrand and Luke grainger discuss evening routine following the huge success of the ‘morning routine' episode. Luke -‘It is very important to bookend your day.  It is one thing starting the day well, you have to finish the day well. What makes a wonderful morning, Gav?' Gavin - ‘Strong Evening Routine. 00:24 – Gavin welcomes you to the show. 01: 10 - Luke asks Gavin ‘what makes a wonderful morning?' Strong evening routine. Good nights sleep. 02:03 – Luke gives a snap shot of his day, 05:32 – Luke recommends siting on the floor once you get home. 07: 45 – Luke explains what he will watch before bed. 08:40 – Gavin takes us through his evening. 10:14 - Gavin talks about ‘the perfect day' workshop with Craig Ballantyne and changes that he has made to his routine. (https://perfectlifeworkshop.com) 11:20 – Luke talks about how he can get a bit weird. 11:48 - Luke has portable chin and dip bars. Example of a portable chin and dip bar (https://www.amazon.co.uk/PULLUP-DIP-portable-stainless-exercises/dp/B06WVLF88F) 12:20 - Luke explains his chin and dip routine. Supine - lying face upwards (Palms up) Gravity Boots – (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gravity-Inversion-Abdominal-Therapy-Exerciser/dp/B0131OJR0U) Pronate - turn or hold (a hand, foot, or limb) so that the palm or sole is facing downwards or inwards 16:08 – Luke goes back to his own evening routine following his chin and dip routine. 17:04 – Luke talks about Zeolite powder. What is Zeolite Power (video) – (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-k7EXD2Zg0) 17:41 – Luke talks about Psyllium Husk What is Psyllium (article) (https://www.healthline.com/health/psyllium-health-benefits) 18:45 – Sometimes Luke Journals. 19:15 – Gavin talks about rotating your reading material. Personal Development Fiction Biography 22:01 – Luke talks about what he is reading. Feel the fear and do it anyway – Susan Jeffers (https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=feel+the+fear+and+do+it+anyway&index=aps&tag=googhydr-21&ref=pd_sl_424ds9bbq6_e&adgrpid=56124965507&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=259077578816&hvpos=1t1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14275452316157700908&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006454&hvtargid=aud-487215470776:kwd-300797237744) 24:50 – Luke explains that everything he does works for him and he feels benefit. 25:20 – Gavin has no phone screen time after 6pm and no TV after 9pm. Gavin talks about blue light. 25:39 – Gavin talks about melatonin. What is Melatonin (article) – (https://www.sleep.org/articles/melatonin) 26:48 – Luke talks about circadian rhythms. What is Circadian Rhythm (article) – (https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/what-circadian-rhythm) 27:35 – Luke talks about what happens when we sleep. 28:15 – Luke goes back to his evening routine. 31:10 – Luke and Gavin wrap it up. The Takeaways: Luke's number one tip is to buy a yoga mat and sit on the floor in the evening. Gavin's number one tip is to turn your phone off and have at least an hour without any screen time. Intro Music: Au5 - Closer ft. Danyka Nadeau https://soundcloud.com/nocopyrightsounds/closer Contact us @mrlukegrainger Search Gavin Gillibrand

Follow-up: Two great listeners challenge Gomer's previous assertion that Fr. James Martin is corrupting the faith by falsely accommodating the moral teachings of the Church to win LGBT+ souls for Christ. They assert that he isn't respecting 'gradualism' for the sake of the 'heroic ideal.' Gomer asserts that's Lutheran, not Catholic. Luke vents about the National Dialogue on Young Adult ministries, and how much he hates this stuff. Surveys?! How dare you? Gomer asks Luke then how do you know what people are saying and thinking about this stuff unless you ask, survey, etc.? Luke: "It reaks of 'we have nothing else to do'." If you haven't read through "Rejoice and Be Glad" by Pope Francis, you are truly missing out. Amidst the loud noises of McCarrick-Vigano, etc., we still need to realize that Pope Francis has got some really, really good stuff. [Gaudete et Exsultate](http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apostexhortations/documents/papa-francescoesortazione-ap20180319gaudete-et-exsultate.html#REJOICEANDBEGLAD)_ is some good stuff.

In today's episode, we help Luke grow his audience to get more consistent membership sales.  FULL TRANSCRIPT Jocelyn: Hey, y'all. On today's podcast, we help Luke take his education business to the next level. Shane: Welcome to the Flipped Lifestyle Podcast, where life always comes before work. We're your hosts, Shane and Jocelyn Sams. We're a real family that figured out how to make our entire living online. Now we help other families do the same. Are you ready to Flip Your Life? All right. Let's get started. Shane: What's going on everybody? And welcome back to the Flipped Lifestyle Podcast. It is great to be back with you again today. We are super excited to have another member of the Flip Your Life community on today's podcast, on today's show. And we're going to celebrate some big wins with them and help them take their business to the next level. Our guest today is Flip Your Life community member Luke Reed. Luke, welcome to the show. Luke: Hey. Thanks for having me. Jocelyn: It is great to have you today, Luke. And we are super excited because just a few minutes ago before the show started, I heard some gentle mooing in the background. And we determined that this is the first ever cow appearance on the Flipped Lifestyle Podcast. Shane: Yeah. [inaudible 00:01:08]. As we talk to Luke, and he is standing outside in a cow pasture apparently, right now. You're going to hear some mooing. Our dogs are in the house. They may come in and start barking at the cows mooing through the microphones. Jocelyn: And you know what, it kind of surprised it's taken us over 200 episodes to get cows on the podcast because- Shane: I know. Right? We lived out in the country. Jocelyn: Kentucky. Shane: We have a cow pasture. We should go out, Jocelyn, to the cow pasture next door. And maybe our cows could talk to Luke's cows. That would be amazing. Jocelyn: You can never have too many cows on a podcast. Right? Luke: Why don't we try it, see? Shane: Where are you and why do you have so many cows surrounding you right now? And should we be worried for your safety? Luke: No, I am perfectly safe. But I'm in the middle of a cattle ranch, so there are cows about 200 yards away from me right now. Shane: Nice. Okay. Well, if they charge, you let us know and we'll pause the recording. And we'll edit out any trampling that happens. Okay? Jocelyn: If this whole cow thing doesn't work out for you, we need to know a little bit more about what you're doing online, so tell us a little bit about you, your family, your background, and your online business. Luke: My online business started as many of your members, after listening to Pat Flynn and hearing your story on Pat Flynn's podcast. And I heard your story, and it just sounded so real. It really resonated with what I wanted to do and the freedom that I wanted to try and build for my family. I really took off after listening to that. I'm in the education business, so I was able to model a lot of what I've done after what you started with, with Elementary Librarian and US History Teachers. And it's gone pretty well. In, let's see, it's been just about exactly one year, I found a business partner to do the curriculum side of the business. And we built the website and put together the curriculum. Now we've got our first few sales already, so it's gone pretty quickly. Shane: Tell us a little bit about your family and where you're from. Where are you at? What is your background? Like you said, you're in the education field. Tell us a little bit more about that. Tell us about your wife, kids, stuff like that. Luke: Okay. I'm in Central California. I was born and raised in a little town smack dab in the middle of California. Grew up here and went to school here. Got my degree at the most recent University of California campus, which opened just as I finished my bachelor's, so I went on and got graduate degrees done. My wife is the reason that I'm now renting a house in the middle of a cattle ranch. Her father is a rancher, so she grew up raising cows, working cows. And it turns out that her dad and herself, they have a genetic mutation that causes heart failure, early onset heart failure, so part of my reason for wanting to do the online business is that. I want to be able to have freedom to spend more time as my wife goes through the health problems that she's dealing with. Luke: And we've got two little boys. Our older son is our biological son. And then our younger son is adopted, so we just recently finished that adoption process, so got two boys now. We really like the bigger family. Two kids is just so different than just one. Shane: Oh, yeah. My father-in-law always used to tell me, and I'm sure this is going to offend someone out there who only has one kid. My father-in-law used to tell me when we had our first kid. I was like, "Yeah. I'm a parent now. I'm a real grown up." Right? That's how I felt. He'd just laugh at me. And he would go, "You've got one kid. You're not a real parent until you have at least two." And I used to get so mad at him for saying that. Jocelyn: But then after we had two we're like, "Oh, he's kind of right." Shane: We were like, "You were right, bro. Pops, come on, man. You were right." It's hard. Jocelyn: It's true. Shane: I can't imagine going to three or four. I can't even fathom that. Jocelyn: I can't either. Two is good. Shane: I'm not tough enough for that. I know I'm not. I am not man enough to go. I'm running man to man coverage right now. I do not want to have to go to zone. You know what I'm saying? Jocelyn: A couple of things kind of struck me about what you were talking about. First of all, that you live in a cow pasture in the middle of California. People probably weren't expecting that. Shane: People are like, "Wait. There's cows in California?" Jocelyn: There are because I've seen those commercials about cheese. Luke: Yeah. The happy cows. Jocelyn: That's right. Happy cows in California, so Luke's cows are happy I guess. Another thing that you said that kind of struck me was that you are in California, which means that it's like 6:00 AM there. Right? Luke: Yes. Well, 6:20 now, but yeah. Shane: You're doing what it takes to get up and make this online business thing happen. That's why we love you, Luke. That's why we wanted to bring you on the show too, just because I know you're doing the work. And I know you're dedicated. And your why is so powerful because you've got this really real threat in your life to the health of the person that you love. And to be able to say, "Hey. It would be really cool not to go to work," and be able to come home, and to be able to work with your wife, around your wife, and spend more time with your wife as she deals with these health problems. That's a really, really powerful way. Jocelyn: Right now you're still working. Right? Tell us a little bit about that. Luke: Right. I have a job as a lab coordinator, instructional lab coordinator, actually at the school where I got my degree. I finished- Shane: What's your degree in? What is your degree in? Luke: My degree's in chemistry. Shane: Chemistry. That's right. Luke: I work as lab coordinator there. And it's actually a really good job. It's very flexible. Working at a university is pretty friendly towards the workers. There's not a lot of hostile environment of get more work done and make us more money. But it is still a job and you have to go there. You have to be there. You have to do what other people want you to do. If I can move on from that at some point, I would really like to. And that's the goal. Shane: Awesome. Jocelyn: Lately we have been making some changes to our podcast. And what I mean by that is that when we started the free trial in our membership, our members started growing, so we have a lot of people in the membership now. And when we first started out, it was sort of just like a perk for being a member for so long that you got to be on the podcast. But now that we have so many members, we can't really do that anymore. So what we've decided to do is, we look for people who are posting success stories regularly. And the reason that we do that is because we know that those people are doing the work. One of the ways that we know Luke is doing the work is because he is posting regularly in that success stories thread. And recently you told a success story to us that I would like for you to share with the listeners. Shane: It blew our mind when we read this because this was like the epitome of online business. Right? This is why you do it. Tell us a little bit more about that success story that you shared. Luke: Yeah. It was my first online sale. And it was for an annual subscription to the lesson plans that I've made with my business partner. And it actually happened while my wife was in the hospital recovering from a blood clot that lodged in her kidney. So we had been there. Let's see, we got there on a Thursday. And they got her in, they got her into her room. Got her pain under control. She was there for four days. And on that fourth day, I had gone to my parents to see my kids, take a little break from the hospital environment. And as I was there relaxing, I heard notification come through on my phone. I went and checked it. Thought it was just going to be another email. And I pulled it up, and it says, "You just received a payment, $397 for an annual subscription." Jocelyn: Yay. There was a celebratory moo. Shane: Instead of celebratory mood. [crosstalk 00:09:44]. The cow is happy. You're happy. We're happy. The listeners are happy. This is the best podcast we've done in weeks. Amazing. Yeah. When you saw that, did you feel like the magnitude of, I have spent the last four days taking care of my wife in the hospital, and in the background my marketing, my website, my social media, everything kept working for me? Even though I couldn't pay total attention to it, even though I could only check it here and there from the hospital room, did it hit you? Like man, if you could make your whole living like this, then all of these things, your kids getting sick, your spouse getting sick, you would be able to deal with those things instead of business. Luke: Honestly, it didn't hit me. That was the reality. But what actually hit me was pretty much complete freak out moment. This can't be right. I don't know what's going on. I think I need to contact this guy. And he probably wants- Jocelyn: Somebody accidentally typed in their credit card numbers. Luke: Yeah. Yeah. I think what I really realized instantly was that, oh my goodness, I've got a horrible problem with fear of success. And it took me another day and a half to settle down and be okay with the fact that somebody sent me money. And then it started to sink in. Oh, this works no matter what you're doing. Shane: Did you tell your wife? Did you call her immediately and like, "I just made a sale"? What was that? Luke: No, actually I waited until I was ... I processed it and I was over the initial reaction of this had to have been a mistake. And I told her a couple days later, and she was feeling a bit better. She could handle some news at that point. So it wasn't until a couple days after it happened that I told anybody. And then she just kind of looked at me like, "Okay. Well, you've been working on it, so there you go. What's the big deal?" Shane: Right. Exactly. You know? Jocelyn: I'm reading through some of the things that you wrote here. And I love what you said. It says, "Anyone who says they don't have time for online business doesn't want it badly enough. If I can use the time waiting for my wife to be out of surgery to answer questions and work on blog posts, anyone can find some time." Shane: Wow. That's deep, man. Jocelyn: That's very profound. Shane: And it's also powerful because we've had family members get sick. And their spouse had to go to work to be able to pay for their bills, to be able to do ... And they literally, someone has to go and sit with the spouse while their husband or wife had to go to work. Right? And it's just incredible to hear that I can sit in the hospital, in the room, and work on my business while taking care of my spouse. My family member can go to surgery. I can take care of my things, but be there when they wake up for surgery. And these opportunities that we have to take control of our lives are just amazing. And we have to take advantage of them because 20 years ago, people didn't have that opportunity. Right? Luke: Yeah. Yeah, it is quite an opportunity. You can do it anywhere, whatever's going on. If you can sit down and focus for a few minutes, you can get something done. It's quite an opportunity. And it would be a shame to just let it go by. Jocelyn: I totally agree. You clearly don't struggle with time. That's something that a lot of people say that they struggle with, so that is really cool. Shane: Well, first of all, congratulations for everything that's got you to this point, and on getting that first sale, especially such a big sale. I think back at our 11 cent moment. The first money we ever made online was 11 cents on an ad click, and I thought that was the greatest thing ever. And you're dropping $400 bones in your back account like nothing. Right? But I want to go back and just point out you have been an active member in the Flip Your Life community. You post your success forums. You post your action plan posts. You go in there and ask questions. You did a workshop with us. You worked with us. We worked with you one on one a little bit in coaching and call environment. And you've really put in the effort and the investment to get to that point of that first sale, because I don't want anyone out there to listen and say, "Well, he started a website, and someone found it. And he got lucky." Right? Shane: Because Luke did not get lucky. Luke put in the work. He put himself in the right place at the right time so that someone could find that product and make that purchase. You need to just look in the mirror and say, "I deserve success," because you're putting in the work. And some people get really overwhelmed when people send them that money and think, "Wow. Do I deserve this? Am I expert enough? Is this really me?" And then imposter syndrome kicks in. And we've got to kick that to the side right now because if you can get one person to give you $400, then you can find 100 people to do it. You can find 1000 people to do it because there's more people out there just like that buyer. And it's just amazing watching your journey. And when we see these success stories in the Flip Your Life community because Jocelyn and I know all the background. And I just wanted to really bring that up because the listener may not know that, that you've done the work. And you deserve this, and you deserve everything that's about to happen in your business going forward. Luke: Thank you. Yeah. It's definitely a lot of work. Everybody hears the polished side and sees the stories. But yeah, there's a lot of work that goes into it behind the scenes. Jocelyn: Definitely. For sure. All right. Well, let's talk a little bit. You've already overcome so many things to get to where you are now. But let's talk about what is going on inside your head, or maybe something else that's holding you back right now. Do you have any fears or mindset issues, maybe something else that you think is keeping you from reaching the next level? Luke: You know, I think there is some of the imposter syndrome. Every time I sit down to send an email out to the list, I struggle with that because my business partner is actually the one who does all the teaching and does all the curriculum. She's the one with the experience. And when I send the emails, it's hard because I feel like I'm saying things that aren't really from my background, so I feel that imposter syndrome. That's a challenge. Communicating to these people, I have about 300 people on the email list now. Sending emails to them, I get so nervous every time I sit down to do that. Shane: Interesting. What are you sending? And this is really good because a lot of people pick a niche where they're not necessarily an educated degreed person and you get to do this. I have a master's degree in that subject. That's not what's happening. A lot of people pick a niche because they know a little bit about it. They do research. They learn more about it and they become a teacher in it. Right? What are you sending people? Just like, hey, here's a cool resource. Are you just relaying information from your business partner? What's in these emails that's making you so nervous? Luke: It's just relaying resources for the teachers to use. And of course I've got high school teachers that are signing up for the emails. Sharing resources, sharing stories from my business partner's past and experience, sharing blog posts that we put up, just things like that. And I can't tell you why, but it just really feels like it shouldn't be me sending the email. I think that's what it is. Shane: Basically because you're not the teacher when you send the teacher stuff. Even though you're just literally relaying information from someone else, that freaks you out a little bit because you're afraid people are going to be like, "Well, the person that hit send is not the actual expert." Right? Luke: That's correct. Yeah. Shane: This reminds me. Okay. Let's say you're walking down the street. Right? And I see you. I'm new in town and I'm lost. So I pull over, I'm like, "Hey, buddy. How're you doing?" You walk over and say, "Hey, man. I'm just out walking my cows. Moo." And I'm like, "Hey. Can you tell me how to get to the next town?" And you're like, "Sure. All you've got to do is go down this road, take a right, and go this way." Right? Or maybe you don't know where it is, so you pull out your phone. And I don't have a GPS, so you pull up your map. And you're like, "Okay. Here's a map I got for you. So you go down this road, you go left, and you go straight." So you give me those directions. Right? Shane: Wouldn't it be ridiculous if I looked up at you and said, "That's great. But are you a cartographer? Did you make that map? Did you literally draw that map that you just showed me? Are you a member of the Army Corps of Engineers that built these roads that get me to the next town? Are you really an expert at that?" That would be ridiculous. Right? But that's what you're doing. You're like, "I'm not the guy that drew the map, so I can't show anyone how to use the map," and you're not even involved in the expert enough. And you can even be honest with this and be like, "Hey, this is Luke. Here's my business partner," whatever. You could even make up a persona if she doesn't want to identify herself. And be like, "She wanted me to send you this thing." You could even put a buffer zone in between. But don't ever be afraid to relay information, to curate things and give it to people because nobody cares. They just want the answers. They just want the solutions. Jocelyn: And I think probably the story that you're telling yourself is that somebody's going to ask you a question you don't know how to answer. Shane: Ooh, that's deep. Jocelyn: Or somebody is going to say, "Hey. Who are you to say this to me? You're not even a teacher. You've never even been a teacher." Is that part of it, do you think? Luke: Oh, yeah. It is. Definitely. Jocelyn: Yeah. Sometimes you have to kind of dig underneath the surface and figure out what's really going on. And I think that might be what it is. What you have to do is, you have to rewrite that story and say, "If I don't know the answer to a question, or if someone says, 'Hey, you're not a teacher,' then you're going to tell them." Hey. I don't know the answer to that question, but I'm going to find it for you. Or no, I'm not a teacher. But my partner, who works with me, is and she's an expert in this area. Shane: Yeah. That's also, we invent problems before they happen. And then our mind has to deal with them. And that's a problem, and that's something that me and Jocelyn really fight against is what ifs. What if someone sends me a question that I don't know? What if someone calls me out? They send me a reply and they're like, "You're not even a teacher. I can tell"? What if? What if? But until it happens, it's not really a problem. We can prepare for that. Like Jocelyn said, you can have the script ready. You can rewrite it in your brain. But until it's a problem, don't make it a problem because we have enough problems to deal with in online business and any kind of venture, that are real, that we have to deal with today, to invent problems that may never even exist. Jocelyn: And that's something that is really effective for me. I was just saying to go ahead and prepare for that. It's something that I've done a lot. When I was doing Elementary Librarian years ago and I was raising my prices, I was raising them from $89 for the full year, which is insane, to $400 and something for the full year. And I knew that when I did that people were going to be upset, that they weren't going to like that because they're used to paying this price. And now they're going to have to pay a new price. Jocelyn: One of the things that I did is, I wrote a response because I knew I was going to have people say, "Hey. Why did you change this price? This is bad. I don't like this." I went ahead and wrote a response to those people. I had not even increased the price yet. But I knew that I was going to have a problem with doing it because I perceived that people were going to be upset. And how many times did I have to use that script? Maybe two or three, maybe. But it made me feel better to know that I was prepared if someone had that response. Shane: Your brain kind of dealt with it. You just kind of dealt with it. So maybe you could write down the four things you think someone ... What are you afraid of that people are going to send to you? Like, hey, are you even really a teacher? What's your response to that? And then categorically like: Why should I pay for these things? You just write a response for that. Maybe if you just do two or three of those, you've got them in your back pocket, and then you can say, "Now forget about any other ghosts that I'm imagining. I'll deal with them as they come." Right? But at least you'll have a couple responses to the big one. And you can just kind of move on. Luke: That's a good idea. I like that. I had not thought of doing that. Shane: Yeah. From talking to you so much in the community and on member calls and in our workshops and stuff, I feel like you and Jocelyn are kind of on the same wavelength. You know? Jocelyn: I'm sorry, Luke. Shane: Yeah, right. Yeah. But I don't deal with things like Jocelyn does. I'm kind of just like, "I don't care. I'll just deal with it when it comes." Like that, but that's how I mentally deal with, because I have the same struggles. I worry about people doing this. I worry about people thinking that. My solution is just ignore it until it becomes a problem, and then fight it then. But I think you're more of the, hey, I want to be prepared for this. I want to dot my Is, cross my Ts. So maybe think of the four big things you are afraid of, that you think people are going to call you out for in that imposter syndrome. Go ahead and write a quick two paragraph email for each one of them and have it ready. And then forget about the rest until you move on. Luke: Okay. I will do that. Jocelyn: Okay, Luke. We talked about some fears and obstacles that you're having in your business right now. Let's talk about how we can help you grow more. What is your question for us today? Luke: I think my question kind of centers around sales. I had the first annual sale. And then there was a bit of a pause. And then a few more sales came in. Now I've got actually three annual members and five monthly members, so it's growing and it's moving. But it's not as quick as I'd like it to be. And I'm struggling with knowing what's next. What lever do I pull next to get things flowing more effectively? Do I do more ads? Do I send more emails? Do I do a bit more of everything? What should my focus be? Where should I put my efforts? Shane: What a great question from today's guest. We'll get to the answer of that in just a moment. But first, did you know that you can get the answers you need to start, build, and grow your online business too? All you have to do is join me and Jocelyn and Luke and all of our other members inside of the Flip Your Life community. You can get all the training, coaching, and support that you need to build and grow your own online business. The best part, you can get started today for free, absolutely no cost to you. Shane: All you have to do is go to flippedlifestyle.com/free, and you can start your one month free trial right away. Join hundreds of other family focused entrepreneurs from all over the world inside of the Flip Your Life community. You can learn how we started an online business, replaced our income, quit our full-time jobs, and now we get to work from home. You can build a life that you want, and you can get started today at no cost. Just go to flippedlifestyle.com/free and start your free month today. Now let's get back to our show and back to our guest's question. Shane: All right. The interesting thing about your story, Luke, is where you're at because you've been doing this now for a while. You finally made the first sale. You finally made the second, the third, the fourth sale. You're getting some traction. You're getting that monthly recurring revenue going. And even though you feel like you've been in the game for a while, and you want things to accelerate so fast, you're just at the beginning. Everybody thinks the beginning is the day that they sign up for the Flip Your Life community, or start their website, or make their first product. But all of that other stuff is just preparing you for the beginning. I kind of think of it like an athlete. An athlete start ... Our kids play sports. Anna Jo does gymnastics and cheerleading. Issac does basketball. They're both really young right now. They're just in lessons to learn how to do the flips and learn how to shoot the free throws and learn how to do the lay ups. They're just starting to play in their first games and do things like that. Shane: And then they're going to go to middle school. Then they're going to go to high school. And let's say that some day they get to go and play in college. Right? Well, really the first day of your career as an athlete starts there. All that other stuff has been leading up to that moment to get you ready for your actual career. And that's kind of where you are now. But the problem is we want it to happen now fast. You want to go straight to the NBA. Right? You're like, "I'm ready. Let's go pro, coach." But it's like, it can't happen that way. You've got to kind of look at yourself and say, "No. I'm still in ... This is the beginning. This is the true beginning, the foundation of my business." Shane: It's not like you're going to be able to pull a lever and just wow, 500 members in the next three months. What we've got to do is, we've got to figure out a progression. We've got to figure out drills, those everyday things that you do to start adding this thing brick by brick. And I say that only to get you ready for this mental shift of, I've got to be happy with being the glacier and not the forest fire. I want to be a slow moving thing that adds something every day to my membership. Maybe it's a little bit of ads. Maybe it's a little bit of promotion. Maybe it's a Facebook Live. Maybe it's an email, whatever it is. But we've got to get you mentally shifted to now growing slowly because the turtle always wins the race every time you read the book. Shane: We don't want to burn out. We don't want to get 50 members and then it dies. We want to build an everlasting, long running, stable, successful business. That's what I want you to be really focused on first is that mental shift of, it doesn't have to happen fast. It doesn't have to accelerate, especially now because this is really your first step, is getting these first few members. Next year is where you might make a 10X growth. You know what I'm saying? That's what we found. We were steady Eddie for the first year. And then month 13 is where we accelerated. Right? And I don't want you to go into this thinking, "Why do I not have 100 members? I'm a failure. Why didn't everything grow? Why didn't everything happen?" It's because this is really just the first step. Jocelyn: With that being said, there are definitely some things that you can do right now to grow this thing already. And I imagine that you're already doing some. You're clearly ... You said you have ads on Google. You have Facebook. You have Pinterest, which is great. But I think right now what you need to do is figure out a way for the people who are already at your website to kind of spread the word for you. And the way that you do that, especially in this education field, is to find a way for them to share you without, first of all, blatantly asking for it because nobody likes that. And second of all, a way for them to increase their status. Jocelyn: The way that I used to do this on Elementary Librarian is that I would offer free trainings. It would be something that they wanted. For instance, right now is back to school time, so for librarians, I made a webinar about open house, some tips for open house, things that you can do. It's very timely. It's relevant. They want to share it with another librarian. It's totally free. It's something cool. It's something that everyone needs, so right now is the perfect time to do that. I'm not saying that open house is the right answer for your audience. I'm just saying find something that they would think is really cool and they would want to tell their friends about it. Shane: We grew our history business Facebook page to almost 5000 people, not by sharing cool lesson plans, not by running ads to sell them things, but we developed a strategy about two years ago. And we just made a commitment to we are going to share a funny meme every day that only a history teacher would really get. Right? And the result wasn't, hey, I want to grow my Facebook page to 5000 teachers. It was: Hey, what can we do to get people to share this page that are probably US History teachers? You have to focus on the steps and not the result. Everybody gets so into goal setting. And everybody writes their goals and puts their post-it notes on their mirrors and all this crap. Nobody ever does anything because they say, "I want to quit my job," instead of saying, "Hey, if I did X, Y, and Z every day, I would eventually get to quit my job." Everybody says, "I want to lose 50 pounds," instead of making a commitment to working out and eating healthy every day. Right? Shane: I'm going to eat ... I'm going to only drink water every day. If you did that, a year from now, you would look very different. Right? Same thing here. If you make a commitment to two or three actions to grow your page, to grow your site, to do what Jocelyn said, to give people status. The reason we picked memes is because people love to share funny stuff because then someone says, "Hey Bob, thanks for being funny and sharing that meme with me." They get the credit for it. Right? You've got to think outside the box and quit thinking about your content. And think, "How can we share? How can we grow? How can we do what it takes to get more eyeballs?" Because more eyeballs equal more money. Right? And then put the daily things in place and say, "I'm going to share a meme every day. I'm going to do like Jocelyn said. Maybe we'll do a free training once a month." How involved is your partner? Is she doing things live, or is she just making content? She doesn't want to be on camera, or what does she want to do? Luke: Primarily she just makes content. I don't think she really wants to be on camera. Shane: Okay. Then what you want to focus on is stuff like blog posts. That could be very interesting for teachers. So instead of a live video training, maybe you get her. Say, "Hey. Would you write me a blog post? Five tips for blank." Jocelyn: Maybe it's about new standards come out all the time. I don't know for sure if there are any new science standards right now. But maybe it's a guide to new science standards, something that people need and something that they would feel good about telling their friends about. Shane: And then maybe you could have her send you funny things that she sees about teaching because I'm sure she's in teacher circles. Your business partner's around people. They're probably sharing stuff with her. Just be like, "Hey, if anyone sends you anything hilarious, send it to me." And then what you do is, you take it and you kind of fudge it to whatever your people are. What we do is, one of the big things is, I can't wait until back to school, said no teacher ever. Right? What we do is, we say, we just take that same meme and we'll change the picture of it a little bit. And then we'll put, "Said no US History teacher ever." Or we'll just kind of bend it a little bit over to our thing to kind of focus our message in, and make sure that it's history teachers [inaudible 00:32:58]. Shane: One of the things I shared this summer was we had Independence Day, July 4th. Right? People share American flags and something like that. And I put a British teacher sent me this, and it was a British flag. And it said, "Happy Traitor's Day," or something. I don't remember what it was. But it was just like something that only a history teacher would actually laugh at and share. Think of things outside the box. You've done so much content work now. And you guys are really focused on education and curriculum. Now you have to build a tribe. If you sent a thing to all these email lists, you've got 300 emails. Right? Are they all biology teachers, chemistry teachers, science teachers? What are they? Luke: High school biology teachers. Shane: Right. Send them an email that's funny. If you see one of these memes about biology teachers or something. I'm sure there's something funny about a dinosaur or something you can figure out and find. Right? Don't be afraid even to email all 300 of those people this funny picture just to brighten your day. And it says something funny. And then put, "Forward this to all of your teacher friends," because there's probably more than one science teacher in the building. Do the same thing on social media. Find a strategy that lets people want to share your stuff, and not just, hey, I have a lesson plan for tomorrow. Jocelyn: But the big key for me is to do it in a natural way. You don't want to say, "Share this with all your friends." Don't do that. Luke: Especially on social media. Jocelyn: You want it to be something that they're going to share on their own without being asked to do it. Shane: Yeah. Jocelyn: All right. I would start there. I think that is a great way to grow your audience, mostly just by serving them. Think about what they want, what they need, and what they would be willing to tell their friends about. Shane: What ideas have you guys had, have you had, to grow your audience? Forget about sales right now because if you focus on audience growth, the sales will come. Right? Forget all the ads. Forget all the promotions. And forget all the flash sales and Black Fridays and all that stuff. How have you thought to grow your audience in this space based on what you've learned about them in the last year? Luke: You know, honestly, I don't think there's been a real focus on how to grow the audience. It's been on content creation and ring ads and the technical side of the website and some blog posts, but no real focus on: How do we grow an audience of high school biology teachers? Shane: Right. And that's what you've got to figure out next because if you don't get more eyeballs, then you can't possibly have hands attached to them that can reach for their wallet. Right? Luke: Right. Shane: Ads can be a part of the strategy. There's nothing wrong sometimes with promoting stuff that's not necessarily sales related like a good blog post that only a biology teacher would care. Those are things you can promote to create awareness, to get more people on your list. And then once you get people on your list, you can sell to them. But no audience, no growth, no business. Jocelyn: Just knowing you like we do, because you've been part of our community for a while, you're willing to do the work. You just need to focus on promotion now. Shane: Yeah. I think the main thing here is, and this is the lesson to take away. What could you do every day and every week and every month? And if you just did it consistently, you would have no choice but to grow your audience. Things that we've chosen in the past, like our daily thing was a meme. Our weekly thing was a piece of content. And our monthly thing was an ad campaign or a webinar. That's something we've done in the past. And it's like if you just do that every day, every week, every month, and you just say, "Hey. This is the path. I'm just going to do this. My business can't help but grow." Six months from now it's going to look really different. You're going to have 3000 people on your list instead of 300 because you did those things. Shane: Think about: How can I get more people to like our Facebook page? How can I get more people then to click something to give me an opt in? And how can I do that every day, every week, moving forward through this year to build this audience that will create explosive growth next summer, or as we go along? Right? Luke: Okay. Consistent, steady growth of audience and a little less focus on making more courses and more material and more content. Shane: Yes. That's always. Anytime anyone says, "Should I make another course?" We usually nine times out of 10 say no because you've got tons of curriculum. And also too, she's making the curriculum, your business partner. You know what I'm saying? You don't even have to worry about that. You just need her input so that you can get creative and say, "How could I do X every day?" And maybe it's a five minute thing. Maybe if you schedule it on Sunday night and just something happens every day. But every day, your biology teacher audience has an opportunity to share something. Because if you don't give them the opportunity, they can't do it. If you're not doing something every day, they can't do it. That's why I email my list every day, because if I email my list every day, and I give them value, and then I give them a link to click and make them pitch something ... Or to pitch something, they then have an opportunity to go join the free trial or buy something from us. Shane: If I don't do it that day, I did not give anyone an opportunity to buy something from me. If we share a meme every day on our history site, well, every single day all those history teachers have the opportunity to share that. I think one of our last posts got like 1000 shares. And it's because we gave them the opportunity to. Really, you've just got to give people an opportunity to become a member of your audience. And then you can give them an opportunity to buy your product. Luke: Okay. Seems so straightforward when you put it out there for me. Shane: It usually is. People want the magic button. They want the magic tool. They want the magic whatever. But really, it's like if you just did these things consistently and prolifically every single day, your business couldn't help but grow. You couldn't help but lose the weight. You would overcome the obstacle if you just did it step by step over and over. And also, that mindset shift of be patient. It's not time yet for that growth. That growth usually happens at a tipping point. You get the snowball. You roll it down the hill. It looks like a snowball. It looks like a snowball. Whoa, it's getting bigger. Whoa. What happened? All of a sudden, now it's like 2X, 10X. It's an avalanche. That's kind of what online business has to do to run its natural course. Luke: Huh. Okay. I'll stop looking for the avalanche. Jocelyn: Exactly. Shane: Yes. Jocelyn: Well, you can look for it, just not right this second. Shane: Yeah. The avalanche isn't caused by the avalanche. The avalanche is caused by the gust of wind that blew the first snowflake into the snowball. Right? And that's how the avalanche starts. Or it's the guy that yelled, and it echoed and it rumbled. And then it all came down the mountain. That's what you're trying to do right now. Jocelyn: But keep doing what you're doing because I think sometimes people are constantly looking for something new to do. But you're doing a lot of the right things. You just need to do more of the right things. Luke: Okay. Yeah. That's been another one of the shiny object syndrome. It's like, okay. Check mark. Got that one. Sale made. What's next? Shane: Yes. And like really, that's usually where most entrepreneurs fail because what you should say is, "I got the first sale." And then you got three more. What caused those sales? Do that every day for a year. That's all you've got to do. That's why we switched our business model to this free trial thing because we were like, "Okay. What if people got in our membership? They would see how awesome it is and they would stay." Right? The answer was let's just let everyone into our membership for free for a month. And then they'll see how awesome it is, and they'll stay. And that's what happened. Shane: But now it's commitment though. You can't ... If you're going to do one thing, you've got to do one thing. We've got a sales page up, but you can go in there for free and you'll see what it's going to cost the next month. But everything's free. Everything points to the free. Everything does that. Whatever caused that thing, hey, I ran an ad that got this, that did this. I shared something that got shared that did this. Just do more of that. Find what works, find the nail and just hammer it until it stops working. And then you find something new. Shiny object syndrome says, "That thing worked. I wonder if something else will work too." [crosstalk 00:41:22]. Jocelyn: And we deal with this too. We were just talking about this the other day. Shane: All the time. Jocelyn: Shane's like, "What about these 18 things?" And I'm like, "Well, the business is not broken right now. Let's just do more of what we're already doing." He's like, "Oh, yeah." Shane: Right. I'm just passing on Jocelyn bombs. She told me that two days ago. Right? Jocelyn: Yeah. Sometimes I think we try to invent problems, even though we really don't have any problems. You're getting members. You're getting paid members. You don't have problems. You just need to keep it going, grow more. Shane: And also too, it's like a mentality of it's now or never. It always feels like that, doesn't it? In your online business, it's like, if I don't do it in August, I'll never do it. If I don't do it in July, I'll never do it. If I don't do it in September, I'll never do it. I'm getting sales now. I need more sales now, or it's going to all fail and go away. And it always feels now or never. But that's not really it. It's just like: What's the strategy this month? It might change a little next month, but it's going to be the same things with different content. Right? You've just got to get that mentality of one step at a time, baby step it, keep going forward. Okay? Luke: Okay. Jocelyn: All right, Luke. It has been a fun conversation today. I have loved the mooing especially. Before we go, we always ask our guest: What is one thing that you plan to take action on in the next day or so based on what we talked about here today? Luke: I think what I'm going to go and do is sit down and face my imposter syndrome and find out. Make some templates. Make some emails, some responses to questions that I'm afraid of having in my inbox. And just let my mind be okay with the fact that they may come, but if they do, I'm ready. Jocelyn: Exactly. I love that. I think it is a really important strategy even if no one ever asks the question. And they might not. At least you're prepared. It just makes you feel like you have a mental check box that you've checked off. Luke: Yeah. It sure does, so I like that plan. Shane: All right, man. Jocelyn: All right. Thank you for [crosstalk 00:43:14]. Shane: We've got another call. And I've got one at my door, so we're going to jet. You take care of those cows, and we'll talk to you soon, brother. Jocelyn: Bye. Luke: Thank you. Bye now. Shane: All right, guys. That was another great interview with one of our Flip Your Life community members. Before we go, Jocelyn, I always like to share a Bible verse at the end of all of our podcasts. Today's Bible verse comes from Proverbs chapter 13, verse 11. And in the Bible it says, "Wealth from get rich quick schemes quickly disappear. Wealth from hard work grows over time," so do what it takes to build a stable, successful, growing business. Put in the work. Make the investment. Don't look for the get rich quick schemes. Don't listen to all those people out there that tell you, you can do it fast. Build your business so it will be there for you and for your family in years to come. Until next time, do whatever it takes to get out there and take action. Jocelyn: Bye. I hear some gentle mooing in the background. Shane: I do hear gentle mooing. Are you near a cow pasture by any chance, Luke? Luke: I live in a cow pasture. Jocelyn: That's fantastic. Shane: I think that's a first on the Flipped Lifestyle Podcast. Mooing. We've had dogs barking. We've had kids walking in eating bags of chicken. We've never had a cow. Never had a live cow on the show. Good job, Luke. Links and resources mentioned on today's show: Luke's website Flip Your Life community 30-day trial Enjoy the podcast; we hope it inspires you to explore what's possible for your family! Get your FREE 30-DAY Membership in the Flip Your Life Community NOW! – https://flippedlifestyle.com/free You can connect with S&J on social media too! You can connect with S&J on social media too!   Thanks again for listening to the show! If you liked it, make sure you share it with your friends and family! Our goal is to help as many families as possible change their lives through online business. Help us by sharing the show! If you have comments or questions, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post.

Mike: Welcome back, server nation, to Process Server Daily, the number-one podcast for legal support professionals. I am your host, Mighty Mike, the podcast server. I'm excited about today's episode, and I look forward to knocking your socks off. Let's get right to it. Mike: Welcome back to the show, server nation. We are joined by the owner of Alaska Investigation Agency, located in Palmer, Alaska. He started out his career in the Army Reserves and transitioned into private investigation in 2001. Since then, he has owned and operated numerous investigative agencies across the country. Luke Smith, welcome to the show. Luke: Thank you, Michael. Glad to be here. Mike: Thanks. So Luke, tell us a little bit about how you got started in the industry. Luke: About 15 years ago, 16, 17 years ago, a friend of mine was a police officer in Mississippi. He invited me to go do some surveillance with him on some private cases that he was doing, and I fell in love with it. The investigations morphed into process serving, and so now I do both. Mike: That's excellent. Do you remember your first job, your first investigation job? Luke: My first investigation job, I remember it very well. It was a cheating spouse, and I lost the husband in, like, the first block of trying to follow him. Mike: But you've learned a lot since then, right? Luke: I have learned so much since then. I haven't been burned in quite a while. Knock on wood. And I like to think that I'm pretty good at what I do now. Mike: That's awesome. So we don't like to focus on the negative stuff. As humans, we get a lot out of the negative and rising out of the negative and going into the positive, like finding your path in life. And so my first question always starts out with, tell us about your worst experience working in the field. Luke: My absolute worst experience, I was working a child custody case one time, and I was part of the team that located a mother, and I helped the troopers physically take the child away from the mom. Although it was what was best for the child, it absolutely broke my heart, and I realized then that child custody was not for me. Mike: How do you deal with that, Luke? Luke: You go home, and you hug your kids a little bit tighter and a little bit longer, and you move forward. I know it was what was best for the child, but it still was just heartbreaking, and I even tear up now sometimes when I think back to that child screaming and yelling and wanting his mommy. Mike: Yeah, as a parent we always relate it to our own relationships, and you want to be able to help them. But like you said, it was probably what was best. If the mom spends a few weeks without her kid, a few months without her kid, she might turn things around. You know? Luke: Absolutely. Mike: Luke, what do you want server nation to take from your story? Luke: What I want server nation to take from that particular story is just do right by your kids. Yeah, just be good parents. Mike: That's awesome. Yeah, being good parents is a great thing, and so you can ... Being in this job, one of the beautiful things about this job is you get to see the worst of the worst and you know where things could go. I don't know. In some respects, it makes you happier. You know? Luke: It does. Mike: Let's go to the positive now, Luke. Tell me about your greatest experience working in the field. Luke: I tell you what. I did a job a couple of weeks ago, and I followed a gentleman to a restaurant, and I sat down at the bar two people away from him, and I videoed him eating lunch. And then I followed him to his hotel. Six hours later, I followed him to another restaurant, where I sat right next to him at the bar, and we had dinner together. Mike: Wow. Luke: And then I followed him back to the hotel, and I rode up the elevator with him to find out which room he was in in the hotel. In that particular job, I think I pushed it to the limits just to see how far I could go, and it was such a satisfying feeling because he never had a clue I was even there watching him. Mike: So I'm going to sound like a total new, but did you feel like a CIA agent or something? Luke: Every day. Mike: Oh, that's awesome. Luke: No, I feel that way every day. Mike: What I take most from your story is enjoy what you're doing and go after it. What do you want server nation to take from your greatest experience? Luke: Take a few risks, ask that person that you're following to hold the elevator for you, and if you're trying to find someone and serve someone, ask questions. People love to talk, and they will give you just about all the information you need if you sound like you are supposed to have that information. Mike: Interesting. So I've heard it said before that you ask a question, not a direct question, but a related question that some stranger might actually ask. Luke: Absolutely. Mike: That's a pretty cool ... Do you guys still call that sub rosa? Luke: Yes. Mike: Okay, cool. Look at me knowing all the terms. Okay. So Luke, tell me what you're working on right now that you're most excited about. Luke: I guess probably one thing that I love that I have coming up is I'm adding a canine unit to my business. Mike: That's definitely something worth being excited about. Are you getting German shepherds or ... Luke: I'm getting Belgian Malinois. And actually, I have the opportunity to hire a handler that already has two Mals that are already trained. Mike: Wow. Luke: So I'm super excited about that. Mike: So Luke, tell me, why would you need a canine unit? And I think I know the answer, but could you just tell the audience, as a private investigator, what would you use a canine unit for? Luke: There's so many different uses for a canine. Here recently, Alaska has become one of the states that marijuana is now legal. However, you have a lot of corporations up here that it's still against company policy. So we can run the dogs through the companies to ensure that the employees are not breaking policy. There's no law enforcement side to it, but we are not law enforcement officers, so that's okay. The other area is we found that there are a lot of real estate agents that will have us run the dog through a house to make sure that there's no drugs in the house or there was no meth lab in the house or anything like that, just to limit their liability. Mike: Oh, I never thought about that perspective. Just the civil service. Luke: Sure, yeah, absolutely. So we're really excited to get that up and running. We've already nailed down a few contracts, and so we're really excited about that being a part of our business. Mike: Well, that's definitely worth being excited about. I am excited to hear about how you go and serve people on a snowmobile. How does that happen? Luke: Yeah. So Alaska offers unique challenges to the lower 48. Where are you from, Michael? Mike: I'm from New Mexico, but I'm based in Chico right now, in Chico, California. Luke: We're the largest ... obviously, the largest state in the United States. Here's a good comparison. Denver, Colorado, has one and a half million people. Alaska, there's 700,000 people. So we're the largest state in America, but we have the fewest people per acre or per square mile even of any other state. And so of course, if you call me and say, "Hey, what counties do you serve?" we don't have counties. We have boroughs. And we're statewide, but let's say, for instance, I serve the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough is the size of West Virginia, so we have maybe 300,000 people that live in the borough. And so if you could imagine West Virginia and 300,000 people, they're pretty spread out. Mike: Wow. Luke: So there are tons, I mean, hundreds of villages across Alaska that are only accessible in the summertime via plane or boat or a four-wheeler. In the wintertime, you either take a plane or a dog sled or a snow machine. I mean, that's just part of what we do, and we have planes and snow machines and four-wheelers all at our disposal for serving papers and working cases. Mike: That's why you feel like a CIA agent when you're out there because you're in planes and ... You ever jump out of a plane to go serve someone? Luke: No. Mike: Come on! Luke: No. I did jump off of a four-wheeler once. Mike: Wow! And then I heard something about a moose chasing you. Luke: We have wildlife scattered across Alaska. And inside the city of Anchorage, there's a very large population of moose. I've been chased by moose. I've turned corners and been staring a moose face to face, and you just slowly back away. You don't need that 1,800-pound animal trying to trample you. We have bears that you have to deal with sometimes. Luke: So obviously, everywhere we go, we're armed to the teeth, ready for really the wildlife, not the people. But yeah, I've been chased by moose. I've never been chased by wolves, but I've felt them kind of breathing down my neck, if you will. That one was interesting, a little bit scary. The moose aren't really scary. You just know what to expect from them, and you respect them. This was their land first, so we're just visitors on their land anyway, and they believe that. Mike: It's the truth. Luke: Yes. I have video of moose walking down the street in Anchorage in the middle of traffic, and they just do not care. Mike: That is awesome. Server nation, Luke has been dropping some major value bombs on us today, telling us all about Alaska and the crazy private investigation stuff that he's got going on, from the canines to the planes and the quads, you name it. But prepare yourself, because we're headed into the rapid-fire round right after a word from our sponsors. Recording: Server nation, I know you're with the times, and you want to do whatever you can to have all of the resources for your client. That is why I created 123efile.com. As a process server, attorney, or even an [inaudible 00:10:59], you can visit the website and file your documents in any of the Tyler courts in California. With its easy-to-use, one-page operation, you can have your e-filing done in a matter of minutes and get back to what really matters. If your time is important to you, visit 123efile.com. Mike: Okay. Welcome back to the show. Luke, are you ready for the rapid-fire round? Luke: I am, Michael. Mike: What is your favorite skip-trace tactic? I imagine it's got to be a little bit different in Alaska. Luke: My favorite skip-trace tactic is going and asking the wildlife if they've seen my skip. Mike: You said asking the wildlife? I had to think about that for a minute. I was like, did you just say ask the wildlife? Luke: All right. You know, my favorite skip-trace tactic, I think, pretending to be a guide because there's so many fishing and hunting guides in Alaska that you can call just about anyone up and say, "Hey, I'm a guide, and I'm looking for this person. They booked a thing with me, and I'm just trying to confirm," and they will tell you where they're at, where their mom and dad are at, how to get in touch with them, what they drive, when they come home. They'll give you everything because, up here, hunting and fishing is a big business, and it's a big deal. Mike: So who do you call for that? Luke: The skip that I'm looking for. Mike: Oh, you call the person. Oh, wow! Luke: Or their family members. Mike: Oh, wow! So they're like, "Yeah. Oh, you're a guide. Yeah, let me get him over here." What's the incentive for them to help you, though? They're like ... because it's their friend or family, and they want to connect them to the guide? Luke: So many people up here need to hunt and fish just to feed their family. It's the sustenance thing. So maybe this isn't the best wording, but I prey on that a little bit, if you will. Mike: No, yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, we manipulate things all the time. People say, "Hey, what are you doing stalking that girl?" I go, "Oh, that's my job. That's what I do." What is your favorite tool for defense? I know you said you're armed to the teeth. What does that entail? Luke: You know, my favorite tool for defense depends really on where I'm going and what I'm doing. I always carry a firearm everywhere I go. I am a certified firearms instructor. But if I'm going out to some of the remote locations, I'll carry a shotgun along with my sidearm. I do carry concealed when I'm in most areas because I don't want to approach people looking like law enforcement. Mike: Yeah. Luke: And in Alaska, everybody carries a gun. It's legal to carry a gun here concealed or otherwise, and so everybody has one. So even people walking around showing their sidearms, it's not really that big of a deal. My personal preference is to keep it concealed, though. But if I'm going, like I say, out to remote locations, I'll carry a shotgun mainly for bear protection. Mike: Well, that's awesome. That's some cool defense. What kind of pistol do you carry? Luke: I carry a Glock 19-9 millimeter. Mike: Luke, what book would you recommend? Luke: What book would I recommend? Mike: From guns to books. Luke: I know a couple of different people that have written books, and one is a skip-trace queen. Her name is Valerie. She wrote a book, "Skip Trace Secrets." That's a very, very good book. And then also another friend of mine, Kimberly, wrote a book about process serving and mayhem, and she's got tons of funny stories in those. I can't remember the exact name of that book, though. Mike: That's okay. I'll look them up, and I'll link them in the show notes. Anybody who's interested can go to processserverdaily.com/Luke, and they'll see all the show notes word for word and the links and everything. Luke: Perfect. Mike: Luke, what is the greatest advice you've ever received? Luke: I think the greatest advice that I ever received was be professional, be respectful, and be ready to take care of business regardless of what that is. Mike: To close this awesome episode, can you tell me what parting piece of advice would you give the servers out there that are ... Maybe they're struggling. Maybe they're new. Maybe their business is circling the drain, and they don't know what they're doing wrong. What advice would you give them? Luke: My advice to all the servers out there across the board is be professional, do not be judgmental. We don't know what people's stories are. Do what you say you're going to do in a timely fashion, and hang in there and just keep pounding the pavement. Mike: That's awesome. So if you had to start your business over again, Luke, how would you ... What would be the first thing you would do? Luke: I would go get a job somewhere. Mike: So you would work for another company? Luke: If I had to start my business all over again, I think I would probably have made a lot of contacts prior to opening my business because, in this business, that's what is very, very important, is your contacts. Mike: That's perfect. They say your net worth is your network. Build your network, and you'll grow your business. Luke: Absolutely. Mike: Luke, what is the best way that we can connect with you? And then we can say good-bye. Luke: You can connect with me through Facebook or my website, alaskaaia.com. Mike: So Luke, I want to personally thank you for coming on this show, man. This has been really cool. I'm excited to share it with the world. Luke: Thanks for having me, Michael. Mike: Well, I'm going to have to come visit one day. Luke: You do that, buddy. Mike: All right, partner. Well, until next time, server nation, you've been served up some awesomeness by Alaska Luke and Mighty Mike, the podcast server. Server nation, I want to personally thank you for listening to today's episode and ask you a question. Do you or your staff need additional training? Can you handle more clients, but you're not sure where to get them? I've developed a solution. Psduniversity.com offers a step-by-step online training by the top legal support professionals in the industry. Visit psduniversity.com.

The Legends Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director SP, Agent Haley, Agent Lauren and Consultant Michelle discuss the eighth and final The Defenders episode “The Defenders.” The Agents debrief you on the good enjoyable fight choreography that ends up with everyone kung fu fighting, how Haley changes Lauren’s life while helping out Jessica Jones, why K’un Lun is like the Vatican, why Luke is Team Dad, why Iron Fist is like broccoli, a Defenders series review and a whole lot more in the post credit scenes.   THIS TIME ON LEGENDS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.:   The Defenders “The Defenders” Weekly Marvel News And YOUR Feedback    THE DEFENDERS “THE DEFENDERS” [4:11]   DEFENDERS “THE DEFENDERS”   The Defenders ShowRunners: Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez   Douglas Petrie (“Marvel’s Daredevil,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) Marco Ramirez (“Marvel’s Daredevil,” “Orange is the New Black”)   Executive Producer: Drew Goddard (“The Martian,” “Lost,” “Alias”, “Marvel’s Daredevil”)   Netflix made all 13 episodes of The Defenders available on Friday August 18th, 2017.   Directed By: Farren Blackburn http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1879225/?ref_=tt_ov_dr#director 4th Discussion Appearance on Legends Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Previous Discussions Included: Episode #79 Daredevil 1x05 “World On Fire” (Director) Episode #85 Daredevil 1x10 “Nelson v Murdock” (Director) Episode #197 Iron Fist 1x07 “Felling Tree With Roots” (Director) 25 Directing Credits spanning back to 2000 that include: 2 x Doctor Who 2 x The Musketeers 2 x Daredevil 1 x The Defenders 1 x Iron Fist   Written By: Marco Ramirez (The Defenders co-Showrunner) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3059675/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr4#writer 15th Discussion Appearance on Legends Of S.H.I.E.L.D.! Previous appearances: Episode #77 Daredevil 1x03 "Rabbit in a Snow Storm" Episode #80 Daredevil 1x6 “Condemned” Episode #113 Daredevil Season 2 First Impressions (Showrunner) Episode #117 News Story: Showrunners for The Defenders announced Episode #130 Daredevil 2x1 “Bang” Episode #131 Daredevil 2x2 “Dogs To A Gunflight” Episode #140 Daredevil 2x09 “Seven Minutes in Heaven” Episode #143 Daredevil 2x13 "A Cold Day in Hell's Kitchen" Episode #206 The Defenders 1x01 "The H Word" Episode #208 The Defenders 1x02 "Mean Right Hook" Episode #212 The Defenders 1x04 "Royal Dragon" Episode #214 The Defenders 1x05 "Take Shelter" Episode #216 The Defenders 1x06 "Ashes, Ashes" Episode #219 The Defenders 1x07 “Fish In The Jailhouse” 8 writing credits since 2007 3 x Sons Of Anarchy 2 x Orange Is The New Black 6 x Da Vinci’s Demons 1 x Fear The Walking Dead 6 x Daredevil 7 x The Defenders ALSO PRODUCED: Da Vinci’s Demons, Fear The Walking Dead, and Daredevil   Written By: Lauren Schmidt http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1274355/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1#writer 8 Total Writing Credits since 2004 This is Lauren’s 8th Legends Of S.H.I.E.L.D. discussion appearance. Previously: Episode #136 Daredevil 2x5 “Kinbaku” Episode #140 Daredevil 2x9 “Seven Minutes In Heaven” Episode #143 Daredevil 2x12 “The Dark at the End Of The Tunnel” Episode #208 The Defenders 1x02 "Mean Right Hook" Episode #210 The Defenders 1x03 "Worst Behavior" Episode #214 The Defenders 1x05 "Take Shelter" Episode #219 The Defenders 1x07 “Fish In The Jailhouse” 3 x Daredevil 20 x The West Wing 4 x Private Practice ALSO PRODUCED: Private Practice, Parenthood, Do No Harm, Power, Daredevil, The Defenders   “THE DEFENDERS”   The Defenders In The Midland Circle Lobby What will we do? Sweet Sister - Claire reasons Not one single innocent person gets hurt Let’s Go Do Something Crazy   Elektra Walks Through A Dragon Skull Gao wants the substance It’s just a city. They Rise, They Fall. You’ll see many more   The Defenders The Plan   Misty Knight And The Cops Outside C-4 is missing Misty vouched ESU and Bomb Squad   Karen and Trish Reporting What’s Matt’s deal? Real Stuff Midland Circle is the epicenter. (Foggy and Malcolm)   The Defenders Deep Elevator You guys ready or what?   Claire and Colleen Set Charges Bakuto Claire and Misty’s Phone Call while Colleen and Bakuto sword fight Misty shoots her way in   Danny And Gao Elektra captures Danny   The Defenders In The Elevator Luke has an idea Let’s go Iron Clad   Bakuto And Colleen ...and Misty   Cave Fight The Defenders … and Elektra The only way out of here is together Light It Up   Misty loses her arm Bakuto loses his head Bombs are armed - 10 minutes (29 minutes left in the show)   Elektra versus The Defenders Matt lets them leave Elevator fight starts   Elektra and Matthew Before you let me die? I know when you are lying   Jessica holds the elevator   Elektra hasn’t killed Matt yet The Game is fun   Luke - I can’t let this happen 10-33 all officers evacuate   Murakami impaled   Bombs go off   Matt and Elektra kiss while building comes down   “Protect my city”   Matt’s dead   Trish’s radio show News on Quakes and Midland Circle Jessica and Trish   Foggy, Claire and Luke It never happened Claire walks Foggy out   Colleen and Misty Misty’s arm is gone Danny owns a hospital   Jessica and Luke at the bar It’s been a hell of a week Try stayin in touch Maybe we’ll grab a coffee?   Danny In The Dojo Colleen New York is starting to feel like home   Malcolm covers up Bullet Holes Alias Investigations Is Open for business   Karen and Foggy at church   Iron Fist on the rooftop   Matt Murdock is awake? Who’s Maggie?   NEWS [44:05]   HIGHLIGHT STORY OF THE WEEK   Avengers: Infinity War trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZfuNTqbHE8   Marvel’s new Editor-in-chief wrote as “Akira Yoshida” https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/11/28/marvel-eic-c-b-cebulski-akira-yoshida/   AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.   First 17 minutes of Agents of SHIELD premiere online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDBwsMIXlMk   BLACK PANTHER & BEYOND   Jude Law cast as Mar-Vell in Captain Marvel http://variety.com/2017/film/news/jude-law-captain-marvel-brie-larson-1202621673/   Sebastian Stan leaves a message for his dad on GMA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyRECFEfz7g (Starts at 4:00)   AWWWWWW /COOL STUFF   Marvel’s Runaways now streaming on Hulu https://twitter.com/runaways/status/933017192953659393   FEEDBACK [62:47]   TWITTER   https://twitter.com/adanagirl/status/936000614294872065 Christy‏ @adanagirl FollowingFollowing @adanagirl More Christy Retweeted ComicBook NOW! Is that the same eye Odin lost? @LegendsofSHIELD Christy added,   0:05 ComicBook NOW!Verified account @ComicBookNOW Oops..#InfinityWarTrailer 4:35 PM - 29 Nov 2017   https://twitter.com/MrParacletes/status/935326667584700416   Dr. Gnome to you‏ @MrParacletes FollowFollow @MrParacletes More Dr. Gnome to you Retweeted Elizabeth Henstridge @LegendsofSHIELD #Skimmons Dr. Gnome to you added, Elizabeth HenstridgeVerified account @Lil_Henstridge Happy 100th episode @agentsofshield ! But also, it’s our wedding so.  #skimmons #saisy (?) #suake @ChloeBennet4 7:57 PM - 27 Nov 2017   https://twitter.com/andiminga/status/934147987294519297 andiminga‏ @andiminga FollowingFollowing @andiminga More @LegendsofSHIELD https://photos.app.goo.gl/MSVZGNcfSiIsstbG2 … Found Stan Lee in Bulgaria 1:53 PM - 24 Nov 2017   OUTRO [66:43]   Haley, Lauren and Stargate Pioneer love to hear back from you about your top 5 Marvel character lists, your science of Marvel questions, who would you pick in an all-female Avenger team, or who’s Marvel abs you would like to see. Call the voicemail line at 1-844-THE-BUS1 or 844-843-2871.                    Join Legends Of S.H.I.E.L.D. next time as the hosts discuss the Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. season five episodes one and two “Orientation” on Sunday December 3rd, 2017. You can listen in live when we record Sunday Afternoons at 1:00 PM Eastern time or Thursday Evenings at 9:00 PM ET at Geeks.live (Also streamed live on Spreaker.com). Contact Info: Please see http://www.legendsofshield.com for all of our contact information or call our voicemail line at 1-844-THE-BUS1 or 844-843-2871   Don’t forget to go check out our spin-off podcast, Legends Of S.H.I.E.L.D..: Longbox Edition for your weekly Marvel comic book release run-down with segments by Black Adam on S.H.I.E.L.D. comics, Lauren on Mutant Comics and Anthony with his Spider-Man web down. Legends Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Longbox Edition is also available on the GonnaGeek.com podcast network.   Legends Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Is a Proud Member Of The GonnaGeek Network (gonnageek.com).   This podcast was recorded on Sunday November 30th, 2017.   Standby for your S.H.I.E.L.D. debriefing ---   Audio and Video Production by Stargate Pioneer of GonnaGeek.com.

The Legends Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Stargate Pioneer, Agent Haley, Agent Lauren and Consultant Michelle discuss the premiere The Defenders episode “The H Word,” highlight some recent Marvel news and respond to listener feedback. The Agents debrief you on why Hero is a bad H word, where all the Defenders are at the start of the series, the intrigue and command surrounding Sigourney Weaver’s character, what exactly Sigourney Weaver’s relationship with Elektra might be, and each Defender gets their own Cinematography.   THIS TIME ON LEGENDS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.:   The Defenders “The H Word” Marvel News Roundup Listener Feedback     THE DEFENDERS “THE H WORD” [3:36]   DEFENDERS THE H WORD   The Defenders ShowRunners: Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez   Douglas Petrie (“Marvel’s Daredevil,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) Marco Ramirez (“Marvel’s Daredevil,” “Orange is the New Black”)   Executive Producer: Drew Goddard (“The Martian,” “Lost,” “Alias”, “Marvel’s Daredevil”)   Netflix made all 13 episodes of The Defenders available on Friday August 18th, 2017.   Directed By: S.J. Clarkson http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1237416/?ref_=tt_ov_dr#director 29 Credits Since 2002 2 x Hustle 6 x Life On Mars 2 x Heroes 1 x House 3 x Dexter 1 x The Bridge 1 x TURN: Washington’s Spies 1 x Orange Is The New Black 2 x Jessica Jones 2 x The Defenders - The H Word (2017) - Mean Right Hook (2017)   Written By: Douglas Petrie http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0677956/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr3#writer 17 Writing Credits from 1992 1 x Rugrats 2 x Angel 59 x Buffy The Vampire Slayer 2 x Tru Calling 2 x The 4400 2 x The Batman 2 x Charlie’s Angels 2 x American Horror Story 7 x Daredevil 4 x The Defenders ALSO PRODUCED: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Tru Calling, The Robinsons: Lost In Space, CSI, Pushing Daisies, Charlie’s Angels, American Horror Story And Daredevil   Written By: Marco Ramirez http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3059675/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr4#writer 8 credits since 2007 3 x Sons Of Anarchy 2 x Orange Is The New Black 6 x Da Vinci’s Demons 1 x Fear The Walking Dead 6 x Daredevil 7 x The Defenders ALSO PRODUCED: Da Vinci’s Demons, Fear The Walking Dead, and Daredevil   “THE H WORD”   Cold Opening Fight in the sewers with Danny Rand and …. Colleen comes in War you fight is in New York City   Closing Time Jessica Jones in a bar Trish ‘s car is being towed Is there whiskey in this?   Seagate Luke Cage back in jail Luke Cage released Foggy Nelson!!! Hogarth’s Law Firm Luke Cage is moving forward   Murdock Endoxopreme Matt wins $11M Personal talk with Aaron James Karen Page comes to talk to Matt to get a statement   Danny Rand on the Corporate jet Weird dream Danny won’t talk to Colleen   Sigourney Weaver New York cancer treatment She’s dying Months to weeks   Michelle Raymond My husband is missing Don’t look for John Raymond - distorted voice phone call   Luke Cage meets up with Claire Coffee? He has potential Something is up in Harlem Misty Knight comes to the door   Karen and Matt Do you miss it? The city is better off without Daredevil and better off with Matt Murdock   Malcolm Comes In To See Jessica Jones Jessica took a case Researching John Raymond 11th and 49th - track the phone call   Misty’s Task Force 20 somethings Candace murder unsolved Be Pop and help this young man   Matt Murdock In confession Lied   Gao meets Sigourney Weaver Need to move faster Sigourney gives Gao orders   Luke Cage looking for Cole Come to pay respects It’s too late to trust Luke It’s too late for heros   Jessica Jones Goes To The Building Holy Shit - lots of explosives   Gao and Sigourney on the garden rooftop Are you sure?   Danny and Colleen chopper in   Daredevil pauses   Earthquake   It’s just a city. You’ll get used to watching them fall   NEWS [32:19]   HIGHLIGHT STORY OF THE WEEK   Upcoming Marvel TV   Fox The Gifted - Fox - October 2, 2017 Legion s02 - FX - February 2018   MCU The Punisher - Netflix - 2017? Runaways - Hulu - November 21, 2017 Cloak & Dagger - Freeform - 2018 New Warriors - Freeform - 2018   NETFLIX SERIES   NYCC Punisher panel canceled https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-punisher-pulls-its-panel-from-new-york-comic-con-af-1819157690   Punisher release delayed   Danny Rand will be in at least 1 episode of Luke Cage season 2 https://io9.gizmodo.com/iron-fist-will-be-stopping-by-luke-cage-season-two-1819170416   X-MEN   Gore Verbinski directing Gambit movie with Channing Tatum http://deadline.com/2017/10/gambit-gore-verbinski-channing-tatum-x-men-spinoff-1202182926/   The Gifted’s practical effects are its not-so-secret superpower https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-gifteds-practical-effects-are-its-not-so-secret-sup-1819116604   FEEDBACK [44:33]   https://twitter.com/BornToEatBacon/status/914659091359944704 @LegendsofSHIELD Listened to the latest episode. Must say I was a bit taken back by the level of hatred and vitriol towards The Inhumans.   https://twitter.com/adanagirl/status/915095957213237250 @LegendsofSHIELD Christy added,   Whedonesque @whedonesque Agents of SHIELD NYCC poster 1:07 AM - 3 Oct 2017   OUTRO [50:41]   Haley, Lauren and Stargate Pioneer love to hear back from you about your top 5 Marvel character lists, your science of Marvel questions, who would you pick in an all-female Avenger team, or who’s Marvel abs you would like to see. Call the voicemail line at 1-844-THE-BUS1 or 844-843-2871.                    Join Legends Of S.H.I.E.L.D. next time as the hosts discuss The Inhumans third episode “Divide And Conquer” on Sunday October 8th, 2017. You can listen in live when we record Sunday Afternoons at 1:00 PM Eastern time or Thursday Evenings at 9:00 PM ET at Geeks.live (Also streamed live on Spreaker.com). Contact Info: Please see http://www.legendsofshield.com for all of our contact information or call our voicemail line at 1-844-THE-BUS1 or 844-843-2871   Don’t forget to go check out our spin-off podcast, Legends Of S.H.I.E.L.D..: Longbox Edition for your weekly Marvel comic book release run-down with segments by Black Adam on S.H.I.E.L.D. comics, Lauren on Mutant Comics and Anthony with his Spider-Man web down. Legends Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Longbox Edition is also available on the GonnaGeek.com podcast network.   Legends Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Is a Proud Member Of The GonnaGeek Network (gonnageek.com).   This podcast was recorded on Thursday October 5th, 2017.   Standby for your S.H.I.E.L.D. debriefing ---   Audio and Video Production by Stargate Pioneer of GonnaGeek.com.

SAM: It is of supreme importance -- Luke: that we get our image of Jesus -- BOTH: RIGHT! SAM: There are too many blithering idiots - LUKE: Well meaning people! SAM: Religious nuts! LUKE: Church leaders – denominational and institutional hierarchies! SAM: Conservatives & Literalists! LUKE: Bleeding Heart Liberals and Socialists SAM: Political Elitists LUKE: Wacko revolutionaries! ALL: Who are leading people ASTRAY!! SAM: So listen carefully – JESUS ALL: As we ALL know LUKE: Came from a model family -- SAM: What?! His mother was pregnant when she got married! LUKE: And lived in a secure and loving home. SAM: They were refugees – his parents had an arranged marriage! LUKE: He had a wondrous childhood… SAM: About which we know nothing! LUKE: He was mild and obedient – a holy child! SAM: He ran away when he was 12… was gone for 3 days – and didn’t feel much remorse! LUKE: He spoke with love and compassion to all. SAM: He was rude to his mother more than once – and said “You’re not my father” to his step-father. LUKE: Jesus was the model working man. SAM: Doing what? He was impoverished, never held a job that we know of. Ran around with the wrong crowd and kept company with sinners and criminals! LUKE: He was a model capitalist and encouraged entrepreneurship in others. SAM: He told Peter, Andrew, James, John and Matthew to give up their jobs and leave their families. LUKE: He kept good company SAM: I think we’ve been around this bend! LUKE: He had a good word for everybody. SAM: If you think “vipers, blind guides and “hypocrites” are compliments! LUKE: His conversation was deep and centered on the finer things in life, SAM: bread and dough, sheep, pig farming, prostitutes for dinner, tax collectors for lunch. LUKE: He never dabbled with controversy. SAM: He just claimed to be the Son of God – and urged people not to support their government or obey their parents or their religious leaders! LUKE: Jesus never upset anyone! SAM: with the simple exception of priests, Pharisees, pigeon sellers, the wealthy, the religious, the Roman government, and anyone who suggested that they might know how to live a pious life! LUKE: He was respected in religious circles SAM: Which must be why they plotted to have him arrested and killed! LUKE: Jesus was a man among men SAM: And women! LUKE: He was a man of God. SAM: He was a man who called himself the Son of Humanity! LUKE: In his majesty we see God at work SAM: In his humility we see God in person! LUKE: That’s why he was worshipped and adored! SAM: That’s why he was tortured and crucified! LUKE: Jesus isn’t here now SAM: He rose on the third day. LUKE: So we have to wait until he comes again. SAM: But he sent his example to guide us. LUKE: He will bring the Kingdom of God with him. SAM: We have to celebrate his love and acceptance! LUKE: We have to save souls and tell people where they are sinning! SAM: We need to look at our own lives and find the path to good and grace. LUKE: We need to be religious leaders! SAM: We need to be faithful followers! LUKE: We need to stand up and be counted! SAM: Humbly! LUKE: Onward – Christian soldiers! SAM: Onward – Peaceful servants! LUKE: We are a mighty army! SAM: We are the Body of Christ! LUKE: It is of supreme importance -- SAM: That we get our image of Jesus – ALL: RIGHT

Social researcher and author Mark McCrindle tells us why the Census is actually important. Timeline featuring the main topic changes 0-2:57 minute mark - Luke and Susie intro and commercials 2:58 – 5:00 minute mark - Dodgy World of Sports 5:01 minute mark – Luke and Susie and guest Mark McCrindle. They talked about census (done every five years). 6:00 minute mark - Luke and Mark talked about the difference census make in the government level of Australia. Government access census, planning for transportation, infrastructure, etc., funding depends on population. 9:10 minute mark – Luke and Mark talk about religion stats. Mark said it's fundamental that we know who are from a religious perspective. The no-religion box went to the top from the bottom. 11:04 minute mark - Why hasn't the no-religion box changed (despite of the controversy that it is in)? 12:19 minute mark – Susie asked if it's that one of the answers that Mark is particularly interested in when the results come out? Mark answered yes, and explained that the religion question is the only part that is optional in the census they conduct. Majority of Australians tick the religion box. 13 minute mark – Luke: It seems to me that demographic become less reliable nowadays due data adjustments. 14:10 minute mark – Sample of demographic: parents with first born child/children at school. Mark said generations change over time. 16:00 minute mark – the changes on career on this generation. Mark said that the average Australian stay 3 years in a job/career. 18:00 minute mark – The number of students going to a university that campuses. Mark said its more about accessibility and number of courses offered in the university. 19:00 minute mark – How long to fill out a census form? Mark said it depends on how diligent one goes and how many kids one got and how many households living in one roof. 20:00 minute mark - Can we do it on facebook? (answer the census through facebook). Mark answered no, it can only be done through the official website. 21 minute mark – Chuck Norris joke J 21:51 minute mark – Susie asked Mark when will he do the census and what does he do once he is done with it. Mark answered he will do his census on a Tuesday night and it takes 8 months for the census results, after analyzing 24 million people. 23:01 minute mark – Why not host a census party? Mark thinking of doing a census party too. 23:47 minute mark - Will you have a census party once the census results come out? 24:07 minute mark – Luke imagining Mark a horrible to have a domestic argument with (humorous, for laughs). 25:09 minute mark – Luke talk about the church in Australia. What is happening in the Australian church and why are we struggling to connect with the people in our community? That 8% of Australian population are coming to church service on a standard month. Mark said that there's a disconnection between the people and the church and the factors contributing to how people feel about the church and how the church should respond to it. 27:00 minute mark - The public's view of the church. 29:00 minute mark – Luke asking Mark's thoughts based on census results on how the church engaging with people. 31:00 minute mark – Mark's thoughts based on census results on the number of christians listening to Christian radio stations. 32:50 minute mark – Closing part. 34:28 minute mark – Guest: Dr. Jenny Brockis refueling right! Food matters, take a break after working 4-5 hours and eat. Our choice of food affects how well we think and how healthy we stay. 35:45 minute mark – Luke: for our ability to think and to stay focused, is there a particular food for that? Dr. Jenny said that the best food for that are the leafy greens/vegetables, fruits like berries (helps on memory), lean proteins. 36:50 minute mark – Not all guys who eat those leafy greens, berries and lean proteins are the brightest ones. Dr. Jenny agreed it's a matter of choice too, brains or brawn, we cannot have both.  She said make a conscious choice on what food we eat instead of grabbing fast processed foods. Processed foods are terrible for brains. 39 minute mark – Closing part.   Add all sponsors links: Christian Connection: christianconnection.com Christian Super: http://www.christiansuper.com.au/ Add links to the guests websites/products: Dr. Jenny Brockis website: http://www.drjennybrockis.com/ Mark McCrindle of McCrindle Research: http://www.mccrindle.com.au/ 

In the New Testament we're not given just one Gospel witness to Jesus, but four. Each of the four Gospels introduce Jesus' public ministry in a different way and from a different location.Matthew: Reissuing the Torah as the Sermon on the Mount.Mark: Casting out a demon in the synagogue in Capernaum.Luke: Announcing the Lord's favor in the synagogue in Nazareth.John: Turning water to wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee.In each case this establishes a particular emphasis of that Gospel.Matthew: It's time for a New Torah.Mark: It's time for the overthrow of Satan's kingdom.Luke: It's time for God's favor upon the world.John: It's time for the everlasting feast to begin.