Podcasts about maybe god

1 Timothy 4:8 NIV “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”   *Transcription Below*   Brian Smith, author of The Christian Athlete: Glorifying God in Sports, is a staff member with Athletes in Action and a cross-country coach at Lowell High School. A former collegiate runner at Wake Forest University, he earned a BA in Communications and Journalism before completing his MA in Theology and Sports Studies at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary. Brian lives in Lowell, MI with his wife and three children. You can find him on Twitter @BrianSmithAIA.   Ed Uszynski is an author, speaker, and sports minister with over three decades' experience discipling college and professional athletes. With a heart for reconciliation and justice, he also works as a racial literacy consultant and marriage conference speaker, blending Biblical wisdom with practical living in the midst of complex cultural realities. He has two theological degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a PhD in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. He and his wife Amy have four children and live in Xenia, Ohio.   The Christian Athlete Website   Thank You to Our Sponsor:  Sam Leman Eureka   Questions and Topics We Cover: What is one of kids' greatest game day complaints?  Is it true that young athletic success is a predictor of adult athletic success? What are a few tips for instilling a heart of gratitude in our young athlete, rather than entitlement?   Related Savvy Sauce Episode: 230 Intentional Parenting in All The Stages with Dr. Rob Rienow   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:11)   Laura Dugger: (0:12 - 1:51) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.   The principles of honesty and integrity that Sam Leman founded his business on continue today, over 55 years later, at Sam Leman Chevrolet Eureka.   Owned and operated by the Bertschi family, Sam Leman and Eureka appreciates the support they've received from their customers all over Central Illinois and beyond. Visit them today at lemangm.com.   Brian Smith and Ed Uszynski are my guests for today.   They are co-authors of this recent amazing book entitled, A Way Game, A Christian Parents Guide to Navigating Youth Sports. And from the very beginning, I was captivated, even with one of the endorsements from Matt Martens, who's the president and CEO of Awana, and he summed it up this way, A Way Game provides a much needed perspective shift on one of the most sacred idols in our culture, youth sports. So, Brian and Ed are all for youth sports, and yet you're going to hear there's a different way to approach it than what we've been trained in culture.   And they're going to share some wonderful and very practical insights. I can't wait to share this with you. Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Ed and Brian.   Ed Uszynski & Brian Smith: (1:51 - 1:54) Thanks for having us, Laura. Yeah, good to be here, Laura.   Laura Dugger: (1:54 - 2:04) So, excited about this chat. And will the two of you just start us off by sharing your family's stage of life and your involvement in sports?   Brian Smith: (2:05 - 3:29) Yeah, there could be a lot on the back end of that question. I'll start with sports, then get into family. I've been involved in sports my entire life, played every sport imaginable growing up, got cut from just about every single sport my freshman year of high school, ended up running track and cross country because it was the only sports that you could not get cut from at my high school.   And I ended up being pretty good at it by the time I was a senior, won some state championships, ended up getting a scholarship to run at Wake Forest University. So, I did that for four years right out of college. I coached a little bit collegiately.   Soon after that, I joined staff with a sports ministry called Athletes in Action that Ed and I have a combined 50 years with Athletes in Action. And really, that's been my life ever since. I've been ministering to college and pro athletes, discipling them, helping them figure out what does that actually look like to integrate faith in sport.   Even today, I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I coach high school cross country while I'm still on staff with Athletes in Action. I have a middle school Bible study that I run on Wednesday mornings.   Been married to my wife, who I actually met in high school. She was a distance runner too, and she ran at Wisconsin. So, we've been married for 20 years.   We have three kids, a high schooler, a middle schooler, and an elementary schooler who are all involved in sport at some level, some way, shape, or form.   Laura Dugger: (3:30 - 3:34) Wow, that's incredible. Thank you, Brian. And Ed, what about you?   Ed Uszynski: (3:34 - 5:04) Well, my story is very parallel to Brian's, just different sports and some different numbers. Just tack on 15 years. Yeah, I was a basketball player.   Grew up on the west side of Cleveland with a high school football coach. My dad was, but I was a basketball player. I played at high levels all the way through my 20s, got to play overseas.   I mean, this was a long time ago, but I got everything I could out of that sport. And as soon as I graduated from college, though, I started to work with that Athletes in Action ministry that Brian mentioned. So, I've been working with college and professional athletes for 34 years now.   And same, coached at different levels, have four kids. Amy and I have been married for 26 years. We have four kids, three are in college, and one's in ninth grade, who has a game this afternoon, actually.   So, we've just been going to games and have been involved in going to sports stuff for the last 20 years with our kids. And really what happened with Brian, and I is that we looked up a decade ago and realized this youth sports thing was a fast train that was moving in directions that we weren't used to ourselves, even though we've been around sports our whole life. It's like, there's something different happening now.   And then thinking about it as Christians, like, how do we do this well as Christ followers? We don't want to separate from it. We don't want to just go for the ride. How do we do this as Christian people? And that's what got us talking about it and eventually led to this book.   Laura Dugger: (5:05 - 5:23) Well, the book was easy to read and incredible. And I'd like to start there where you begin, even where you go back before going forward. So, when you're looking back, what are the factors at play that changed youth sports over time?   Ed Uszynski: (5:26 - 6:17) Well, I'll say this and then Brian, maybe you jump in and throw a couple of them out there. I mean, youth sports is a $40 billion industry today, which is wild to think about. It's four times how much money gets spent on the NFL, which is just staggering.   I can't even hardly believe that that's true, but it is. And it's really just in the last 20 years that that's happened. I mean, 50 years ago, you couldn't have had the youth sport industrial complex, as we refer to it.   You couldn't have had it. There were a bunch of things that had to happen culturally, as is true with any new movement or any paradigm shift that happens in culture. You've got to have certain things be true all at the same time that make it possible.   So, Brian, what were a couple of those? Again, I'll throw it over to you. There's six of them that we talk about in the book. And I think it's really fascinating because I'm a history guy.   Brian Smith: (6:18 - 8:40) Yeah. And we can obviously double click on any of these, Laura, that you want to, but we talk about how the college admissions process became an avenue where youth sports parents saw, man, if we can get our kids involved in some extracurriculars and kind of tag on high level athlete to their resume, it actually helps with the college admissions process. And so even the idea of college scholarships became an opportunity for youth sports parents to get their kids involved.   And then, yeah, maybe sports can actually get them into college. We talk about the economic shifts that happen, the rise of safetyism and helicopter parenting. ESPN was a massive one in 1979.   This thing called ESPN starts, and we get 24-7 coverage of sports, which they started exploring even early on. What does it look like to give coverage to something like Little League World Series and saw that it didn't really matter how young the sport was, it's going to draw a national audience. And so, we've almost been discipled by ESPN really over the last 50 years with this consistent coverage.   We talk about the rise of the sports complex. This one to me is like the most fascinating out of all of them. In 1997, Disney decided to try to get more people to come to their parks.   They built a sports complex, just a massive sports complex. The idea was, are the older kids getting sick of the Buzz Lightyear ride and the Disney princesses? So, let's build a sports complex and maybe it'll be something else that will draw this older crowd too.   And what happened was, I mean, a lot of people started coming to it, but kind of the stake in the ground game changer was when 9-11 hit. In the months and years after that, they saw a lot less people go to their parks, but population actually doubled going to the sports complex, which is wild to think that people were afraid to go to theme parks for a vacation, but they were willing to travel across state lines to play sports at the Disney complex. So other cities and municipalities took notice of that.   Today, there's over 30,000 sports complexes like Disney's, which again, this is all adding to the system of the youth sports industrial complex. Did I miss any, Ed?   Ed Uszynski: (8:41 - 10:47) Well, no, and that's good. And the reason why we even put all that on the table, again, everybody kind of intuitively knows if you're involved, you know, something's not right. But I think it's important to say this is not normal what's happening.   It's a new normal that's been manufactured by a bunch of cultural trends, by a bunch of entrepreneurs that are doing what entrepreneurs do, and they're taking advantage of the moment, and they are generating lots of money around it. So, it should be encouraging. If it's not normal, that means actually there's a counter way of going about this.   There really can be reformation. But when all this money gets involved, the two biggest consequences that come out of that is our kids start getting treated like commodities, which they are, and we could talk the whole time even just about what that means. But maybe even more importantly, or what comes out of that is that beyond their physical development, most coaches and clubs are not paying any attention to their emotional development, their psychological development, their spiritual development, all the different aspects of what it means to be human that, frankly, used to be paid quite a bit more attention to in youth leagues when I was growing up.   I'm 58 now, so I was playing in the 70s and the 80s. And it used to be expected, at least at some level, even among non-Christian people, that you would take those aspects of a kid's life seriously. And now those just aren't prioritized.   And so, what do we do about that? Again, that's kind of our whole point is, well, as Christian people, we're really supposed to be our kid's first discipler anyways. And part of that role and part of taking on that identity is that we would be asking, what is God trying to do in the wholeness of their life, the entirety of their life, even in the context of sports?   So again, I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but that's why we're trying to poke into that to say, oh, we could actually make change. We may not change the whole system. In fact, we won't. Most of us won't be expected to do that, but we can make significant change in our corner of the bleachers and what happens with our kids.   Laura Dugger: (10:48 - 11:05) That's good. And just like you said, to double-click on a few places, first of all, real quick, the 30,000 number, I remember that shocking me in the book, but I'm forgetting now, is that worldwide, the amount of sports complexes or is that just in America?   Brian Smith: (11:05 - 11:06) That's domestically in the US.   Laura Dugger: (11:07 - 11:52) Yeah. That is staggering. And then one other piece, all of this history was new to me as you brought it all together, but it was also fascinated.   This is from page 32. I'll just read your quote. The American youth sports ball began rolling when a British movement fusing spiritual development with physical activity made its way across the Atlantic Ocean at the turn of the last century.   And Ed, that's kind of what you were touching on, that they were mixing, I'm sure, spiritual, psychological discipleship, physical. Can you elaborate more on what was happening and where it originated? Because we've come very far from our origins.   Ed Uszynski: (11:53 - 13:18) Yeah. And there's been a bunch of really great books written about this topic called muscular Christianity. This idea, like you just said, Laura, of wedding physical activity through sports with our spiritual development and expecting and anticipating that somebody that was taking care of their body and that was engaging in sport activity, that was the closest thing to godliness.   That opened up the door for you to also be developing spiritually. And there was an expectation that both of those are going on at the same time. A bunch of criticism about that movement, but it was taken seriously.   The YMCA is actually a huge byproduct of the muscular Christianity movement. The Young Men's Christian Association created space for sports and for athletic activity to take place under the banner of you're also going to grow spiritually as you're doing this. So again, that was a hundred years ago.   And that's not really what AAU stands for today. The different clubs and leagues that we get involved in just don't talk that way anymore. Of course, culture just in general has shifted away from sort of a Judeo-Christian ethic guiding a North Star for us.   Even if we're not Christian people, that used to be more of a North Star. That's gone now. And so, it really is not expected in sports anymore.   Brian Smith: (13:18 - 13:55) And what we're saying is we cannot expect organizations to own that process for our kids. We can't outsource the discipleship of our kids to the youth sports industrial complex or the YMCA or the AAU. It really does start with us as Christian parents to be the primary discipler of our kids.   And there is a way to take what's happening on the field or the court or the pool and turn it into really amazing discipleship opportunities. But it means, and Ed is starting to tease this out, it means we need to change our perspective as parents when we sit in the bleachers or on the sidelines of what we're looking for and even the conversations we have with our kids on the back end.   Laura Dugger: (13:57 - 15:29) And now a brief message from our sponsor.   Sam Leman Chevrolet Eureka has been owned and operated by the Bertschi family for over 25 years. A lot has changed in the car business since Sam and Stephen's grandfather, Sam Leman, opened his first Chevrolet dealership over 55 years ago.   If you visit their dealership today though, you'll find that not everything has changed. They still operate their dealership like their grandfather did, with honesty and integrity. Sam and Stephen understand that you have many different choices in where you buy or service your vehicle.   This is why they do everything they can to make the car buying process as easy and hassle-free as possible. They are thankful for the many lasting friendships that began with a simple welcome to Sam Leman's. Their customers keep coming back because they experience something different.   I've known Sam and Stephen and their wives my entire life and I can vouch for their character and integrity, which makes it easy to highly recommend you check them out today. Your car buying process doesn't have to be something you dread, so come see for yourself at Sam Leman Chevrolet in Eureka. Sam and Stephen would love to see you and they appreciate your business.   Learn more at their website, LemanEureka.com or visit them on Facebook by searching for Sam Leman Eureka. You can also call them on 309-467-2351. Thanks for your sponsorship.   Laura Dugger: (15:30 - 15:31) And I want to continue getting into more of those practicals. Do you want to give us just a taste or an example or story of what that might look like?   Brian Smith: (15:32 - 16:54) We keep saying, we keep talking about the importance of the car ride home that it's tempting for us and not us broadly in the U.S., tempting for us, Ed and I, as people who have done this for 50 plus years and who should know better, it's tempting for us as discipled by an ESPN over analyzing everything culture and want to talk about sports to get in the car ride home with our kids and all we want to talk about is how game went, what they did right, what they did wrong, what they could fix next time.   Maybe instead of passing to Tim, they should take the shot next time because they're wide open. They just hit three in a row. So, and what our kids need from us in those moments is less coaching, less criticizing, less critiquing, and they just need us to connect with them.   The stats on kids quitting youth sports is crazy right now. Its 70 percent are quitting before the age of 13, in large part because it's not fun, and a lot of kids are attaching this idea of it not being fun to the car ride home with their parents who, let's say this too, most of us are well-intentioned parents. We're not trying to screw our kids up.   We want what's best for our kids, but the data and the research and the lived experience continues to tell us what our kids need from us is just to take a deep breath, connect with them, less coaching. Ed keeps saying less coaching, more slurpees.   Laura Dugger: (16:55 - 17:07) I like that. And that ties in. Is it called the peak-end principle that you discovered why kids are resisting that critique on the way home?   Brian Smith: (17:07 - 18:17) Yeah, absolutely. The peak-end rule in psychology is known as this: we, just as humans in general, not just kids, we largely remember things in our lives based on the peak moment of that event, but also how the event ends. And so, the peak moment in sport can be anything from something that goes really well, like they scored a goal or made a basket or something that did not go well, just like a massive event that took place that they're going to remember.   But then it's also married to how that event ends. So, if you think for kids, how does every youth sport experience end? It ends with the car ride home.   So, if they're experiencing the car ride home as I did not live up to mom and dad's standards, or there's fear getting into the car because they don't know what their parents are going to say, how are they remembering the totality of their youth sport experience? It is, I didn't, I didn't measure up. I wasn't enough.   It felt like sports was a place that I needed to perform for my parents or my coach. And I always feel a little bit short. We want to help parents see like there's a different path forward that can be more joyful for you, but hopefully more joyful for your kid as well.   Ed Uszynski: (18:17 - 21:37) Well, and, and I'll just, let me keep going with that, Brian. I thought you really articulated all that so well. I can just imagine a parent maybe thinking, was there never a time to correct?   Is there never a time to give input? And we would say, well, of course there, there is, they need far less of it from us than we think they need when it comes to their sport. And again, we can talk about that.   They need far less of that from us. They need us to be their parents, not to be their coaches. Even if we are their coach, they need us to be more their parents.   But there is a time to do it. We're just saying the car ride home is the worst time to do it. And that's usually the time that most of us, you know, we've got two hours of stuff to download with them.   And that's just, it's not a good time. But the other thing that Brian and I keep talking about is how about, what if we had some different metrics that we were even trying to measure? So, most of the time our metrics have to do with their performance.   Like what, what are we grading them on? Again, depending on what the sport is, there's these different things that we're looking for to say, how you did today is based on whether you did this or you didn't do that and whatnot. And we're saying as parents, and again, starting with us, we needed some other metrics that were actually more concerned about what was going on in their soul.   So again, I'm sure we'll talk more about this, but the virtues, how did love show up in the way they competed today? Where that usually is tied to them noticing somebody else. Do I, am I even asking them any questions about that?   Are they experiencing peace in the midst of all this chaos and anxiety that shows up at every game? How do we teach them to experience peace? How do they become other-centered instead of just self-centered all the time in a culture, a sport culture that's teaching them to always be the center of attention and try to be?   So, we just have needed to exchange some of what we had on that performance list, like tamper that down a little bit and maybe expand the list of categories that we're looking for that actually will matter when they're 25. And we keep saying this, our goal is that they'd come home for Thanksgiving when they're 25. And so, we need to stay relationally connected to them and how we act on the car ride home day after day after day after day, year after year is doing something to our relationship.   But we also are recognizing that it's really not going to matter whether Trey finishes with his left hand at the game today when he's 25, it's not going to matter. It's not going to matter probably a year from now, but how he goes through the handshake line after the game and the way he addresses other people, and whether or not he's learning to submit to authority, whether or not he's learning to embrace other people's humanity. Yes, even in the context of sports, that's really going to matter when he's 25.   It's going to matter when he's married. Those are the things that will matter. And we say that as people who are older and have been involved in ministry and have worked with college athletes and see what happens in their lives even after they're finished, and they have no idea who they are anymore.   And this thing that's dominated their life has not actually prepared them well to do life. And that's a problem that we say, let's start changing that when they're six and not hope they're figuring it out when they're 22.   Laura Dugger: (21:38 - 22:11) I love that because that's such a theme throughout those virtues that you talked about, but discipleship and sports are a tool or a way that we can disciple our kids. I also love that you give various questions throughout the book and even quick phrases. So to close that conversation on the car ride home, if we say, okay, that's what I've been coaching the whole way home, what is a question we could ask our child afterwards and a statement we could say and leave it at that and do it a better way?   Brian Smith: (22:12 - 23:56) The question I have consistently asked my kids after learning that I've been doing this the wrong way for a long time, I tweet my question to they get in the car and I say, is there anything that happened today from the game that you want to talk about? And it's frustrating to me because 99% of the time they say, no, can we listen to the radio? And we listen to the radio, or they play a on my phone, but I'm respecting their desire that they're done with what just happened and they're ready to move on to the next thing, even though I really want to talk about what just happened.   And then the statement that I want to make sure that I'm consistently saying that they're hearing is I love you and I'm proud of you. So, game didn't go well. Yeah, you did play well today.   That's okay. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you. Game went well today.   Awesome. Great job. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you.   So I want that to be the consistent theme that they're hearing for me, which is hopefully going to help them better understand the gospel later in life, that as they get older and older, hopefully they'll begin to realize it seemed like the way that my mom and dad interacted with me when I was performing in sport, but their love was not attached to my performance. That seems really similar to what I'm learning more and more that Jesus does for me, that I'm trying to do all these things that are good. But from what I'm understanding about the gospel, it seems like Jesus loves me in spite of what I do.   He loves me just because He's connected to me, that God loves me because I'm a son or daughter, not because I'm performing as a son or a daughter. So, in a very real way, I really am hoping that I'm giving a good teaser for my kids now for when they fully experience the gospel as they go through the life.   Ed Uszynski: (23:56 - 24:47) Another really good connecting question. I love how you said all that, Brian, is if they don't want to talk about the game, is it okay, did you have fun today? And they can only go in one of two directions.   No. Well, tell me about that. Why not?   And it opens up the door to talk about, well, because I didn't get to play or because something bad happened. And again, tell me more about that. Tell me more about that.   Or they say, yes, great. What happened that was fun? And it creates a very different conversation in the car.   And it opens up, again, relational possibilities that go way beyond, why do you keep passing it when you should be shooting it? Wow. And just all the different ways that that comes out of us, depending on sport, depending on their age.   But those are great questions. Go ahead, Brian.   Brian Smith: (24:47 - 25:41) I just asked my son this morning. He's a freshman. His wrestling season is almost done.   And I just asked, like, what has been most fun for you in wrestling this year? And his first thing was, I feel like I'm learning a lot. And that's really fun for me, which he's on a really good team.   He's had a lot of success. He's made a lot of good friends. But even that gave me a window into his characters.   My son enjoys and I knew this is true about him. But my son enjoys learning, which means he enjoys the process of getting better and better and better, which can happen in school, it can happen doing stuff in the yard, it can it can also happen in sport. But for me to remember moving forward, yeah, he he's probably going to have a different metric for what's fun in sport than I often do for him.   Yeah, like I wanted to learn. I want him to win though, too. He's happy with learning right now.   So, I need to be happy with that for him.   Ed Uszynski: (25:41 - 26:34) If I can say this, too, again, I don't want to be vulnerable on your behalf. But then knowing this, he's lost a lot this year to really good kids. Yeah.   And so much of the learning has been in the context of losing. So, you as a dad, actually, you could be crushing him because of those losses and what he needs to do to fix that and what he needs to do so that that doesn't happen again. And it's like he's already committed to learning.   How do you just how do you celebrate the loss? Like he took the risk to try something new in this movie. He tried to survive an extra period.   That's a process when and it's we just need to get better at that. Like you genuinely can celebrate that. That's not just a that's not like a participation trophy.   It's acknowledging now, do you're taking you're taking the right steps that are actually making you a winner, even if you don't have more points at the end of the game right now.   Laura Dugger: (26:34 - 26:54) Yeah. Yeah. And that long term win that you're talking about, even with character and you've talked about fun and asking them about fun.   Is it true that that's the main reason kids are dropping out of sports at such a rapid rate before age 13 is that it's just not fun anymore?   Ed Uszynski: (26:55 - 28:58) Yeah. Yeah. And why is it not fun?   And again, this is where Brian and I are always getting in each other's business. And we know that this conversation gets in all of our business as adults. But why is it not fun?   It's not fun because of the coaches and it's not fun because of the parents. We are creating stress. We are creating again collectively because we're all in different places on the on the spectrum on this in terms of what we're actually doing when we show up at games.   But if you even just go to any soccer game and you be quiet and just listen to what's happening and everybody's shouting and screaming things and there's contradictory messages being sent and there's angst at every turn and there's an incredible celebration because this eight year old was able to get the ball to go across the line for another goal. And what that's doing inside the kids is it is creating a not fun atmosphere. Let's just say it like that.   That's a not fun atmosphere when you're eight, when you're 10, when you're trying to figure out how to make your body work. You're trying to learn the game that you're unfamiliar with and you're trying to do what this coach is telling you to do. And you're also trying to do what all the parents are telling you what to do.   And if it's a team sport, you're trying to interact and play with other kids who are all in that same state of disarray, which is very stressful and frustrating. And we're just adding to it. So instead of removing it, instead of playing a role that says, we're going to keep diffusing that stress.   And again, I'll speak for myself. Too often, I have been the one that's actually adding to it. And so, kids are just like, why would I do this?   Why would I want to get in that car again with you? It's not fun. This is a game.   And so, there's a million other things that I can do with my time where I don't have everybody yelling at me and I don't have to listen to you correct me for two hours.   Laura Dugger: (29:00 - 29:21) Well, and one other thing that surprised me, maybe why kids are dropping out, you share on page 47, a quote that research reveals a strange correlation. The more we spend, the less our kids actually enjoy their sport. So, did you have any more insight into that?   Brian Smith: (29:21 - 30:50) Yeah, this was a real study that was done at Utah State. Researchers found that the more money parents are spending, again, let's say well-intentioned parents, the more we're spending in sports, the less our kids are enjoying. And the more they have dug into it, they're finding, and intuitively it makes sense.   If you buy your kid a $600 baseball bat, what's the expectation that they're supposed to do with this really expensive bat? When they swing, they better hit the ball, and they better get on base. If we're going to buy you this expensive of a bat, you can't just have process goals with it.   You better swing and hit it. And that's causing stress for kids. If you travel across state lines and you go to Disney to play at their sports complex, you're not there for vacation.   You're there to perform. So even if parents are saying we're trying to have fun, kids know when you're traveling and you're getting all this good equipment and you're on the elite team and you're receiving the best of the best stuff, they know it comes with some sort of an expectation. College athletes can barely handle that type of pressure and expectations, but we've placed this professional on youth sports from fifth five-year-olds to 15-year-olds, and it's just crushing them.   It's crushing them. Again, college athletes and professional athletes can barely handle it. They need mental health coaches for sports, but we're expecting that our five-year-olds can handle it, and they can't.   Ed Uszynski: (30:51 - 31:19) And they may not even be able to articulate it. So that's the other thing. They may not be able to identify what's actually going on inside and put it into words.   So again, that's why we're trying to sound the alarm for ourselves and for others who are listening, because we can do it different. Again, just to even keep spinning it back in an encouraging direction, we can do this different. We can change this this week in our corner of the bleachers.   We can start over again.   Laura Dugger: (31:21 - 31:48) Absolutely and make a difference. And before we talk about even more of the pros with sports, I think it's also necessary to reflect and maybe even grieve a few things. So, what would you say are some things families are missing out on when they choose youth sports to overfill their calendar, that that's all that they make time for?   What do you think they're missing out on?   Brian Smith: (31:51 - 33:16) Yeah, I think a couple that come to mind are family dinners are a big one. That's big for us in the Smith house, is just having the ability after a long day to sit at the dinner table together, to eat food together, and to process the day and be with one another. But when my kids' practice goes late, it means we're either eating almost towards bedtime or we're eating in different shifts.   And so that's something that we grieve. I think for me, when my schedule is full, I'm tempted to adopt the mindset that what's happening on the wrestling mat or on the track matters more than it actually does. And it robs me of the ability to just take a deep breath and smile and enjoy watching my kids play sports.   That without an intervention or a pregame devotional in the car for myself, I risk sitting in the stands or being on the sidelines, being stressed out and putting pressure on myself and pressure on my kids and gossiping about why the coach didn't put this kid into the people next to me, instead of just enjoying the gift that is sports and watching my kid try and succeed and try and fail. That is a gift available to me as a dad to watch my kid do that. But the busyness often robs me of that perspective.   Ed Uszynski: (33:17 - 36:06) Well, and the busyness robs, again, if you're married, that busyness eventually wears away at your relationship. And it's not just sports. I mean, busyness, we can fill our schedule, overfill our schedules with any number of things.   We can overfill our schedules with church stuff to a point where it becomes detrimental to our relationship. If we don't set boundaries so that we're making sure we're doing what we need to do to be face-to-face and to be going to areas beneath the surface with each other in our relationship and being able to do that with our kids as well, eventually there's negative consequences to that. It may not happen right away, but I've definitely experienced that.   We've experienced that in our home where it's easy to maybe chase one kid around for a while, but what happens when you add three into the mix and you haven't really done a time budget or paid attention to the fact that when we sign up for all these things, you get a month into it and you realize, oh, we have to be in different places at the same time. So, we're not even watching stuff together anymore. We're just running.   I can endure anything for a season, but what youth sports wants now in every sport from the youngest ages is that it becomes a year-round commitment. So, you're not even signing up to play a season anymore. You're signing up for a year in most cases because after the games, then they're going to have training.   They're going to have this other thing going on. And so again, can we say, well, we'll play the actual season, but then we're not going to do the additional training over these next three months. Again, we want to give parents' permission that you can say no to that.   Well, we paid for it. Well, it's okay. If you want your kid to be on that team and you like this club or whatever, then you pay the money and you just say, we're going to sit those three months out and we're going to use those three months actually to have people over our house for dinner.   Again, whatever's on the list, Laura, that you said about being more holistic and not letting sport operate like an idol in our life where it's taken on, it's washed out everything else in our life. We can get back in control of that by just saying no a little bit. You can go to church on Sunday.   Even if there's tournament games going on on Sunday, you can go to the coach early and say, hey, we just, in our family, we just don't want to be available before 12. Are you okay with that? And most of the time coaches will be.   The kid might have to sit extra maybe for not being, whatever. Okay. That's not going to be the end of the world that they had to sit out an extra game or had to sit out a half because they weren't available on Sunday morning.   It might actually make a huge difference that they weren't at church for two and a half years in the most formative time of their life.   Laura Dugger: (36:07 - 37:36) And a lot of times the way of wisdom includes reflection, getting alone with the Lord and asking, have we overstuffed our schedule this conversation today? Let's talk specifically with youth sports. Is that trumping everything else?   Because what if we're putting it in a place it was never intended to be as an idol where we sacrifice hospitality or discipleship or community or even just a more biblical way of life? I think we have to bring wisdom into the conversation for what you've mentioned. Whether it's worth it, if they're even enjoying it, how much we're spending on it, and do we have the budget to allocate our finances that way and evaluating the time just to see and make sure that it's rightly ordered.   Did you know you could receive a free email with monthly encouragement, practical tips, and plenty of questions to ask to take your conversation a level deeper, whether that's in parenting or on date nights? Make sure you access all of this at thesavvysauce.com by clicking the button that says join our email list so that you can follow the prompts and begin receiving these emails at the beginning of each month. Enjoy!   But if we flip that to if youth sports are rightly ordered, then what are some things that we can celebrate or reasons that you would want families to give this a try?   Brian Smith: (37:37 - 40:09) The massive positive that we keep coming back to is we have a front row seat to see our kids go through every possible emotion in sport, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. And then if we have the right perspective, we are armed with awesome opportunities and awesome information that we're seeing. We get to see what our kids are really good at.   We get to see their character gaps. And then we get to be the ones who, again, who are their primary response, primary disciplers. It really goes back to like, are we trusting youth sports for too little in our kids' lives?   Like many of us are trusting that our investment is going to get them a spot on a team, or maybe they get an opportunity in high school, maybe in college. And what we're saying is, yeah, that maybe. And that's not a bad end goal.   But if that's everything that you're investing into youth sports, it's not enough. Like what you have available to you every single day is to ask your kid if they showed somebody else's dignity on the field. You don't know if your kid's going to hit a home run today.   That may not be available to them their entire life. What's available to them every single day is to ask a question to their teammate, to see somebody and show dignity to them. And that's really, it's like, it's almost the opportunity of a lifetime for us as parents who, when our kids get home from school, we really don't know what happened most of the day.   We asked them how it went and we get the one-word answer. In sports, we don't have to guess. We get to see everything that happens.   And again, if we are actually trusting youth sports for discipleship investment, that's a good ROI. That's a good return on our investment. But we need a consistent intervention almost daily to say, no, this is why they're in sports.   Yes, I want to see them get better. I want to see them have fun, but Holy Spirit, would you help me see things today that I normally don't see? Holy Spirit, would you put them in circumstances and relationships today and in the season that's going to help them look more and more like Jesus by the time the season's done?   Holy Spirit, would you convict me in the moment when I am being a little too mouthy and saying things that I shouldn't? Would you help me to repent? And God, in those moments where I'm actually doing wrong on behalf of my kid, would you help me to humble myself and apologize to them?   And God, would you repair our relationship that way? So again, all of these options are available just because our kid's shooting a ball or they're on the field with somebody else tackling other people. We're trusting youth sports for too little.   Ed Uszynski: (40:10 - 41:10) That's all big boy and big girl stuff. It just is. I don't normally naturally do any of that.   I have to be coached into that. I have to be discipled myself. I have to work through my own issues, my own baggage, my own fears about the future, my own idolatrous holding onto this imagined future that I have for my kid, irrespective of what God may or may not want.   I've got my own resentment. I've got my own regrets from the past. I wish things had gone differently for me, so I'm going to make sure they go different for you when it comes to sports.   And it's hard to look in the mirror and admit that I have anger issues. I mean, youth sports create a great opportunity for me to get up all my pent-up frustration from the day. We've given ourselves permission to do that, in most cases, to just yell and yell at refs and gripe about coaches and yell at kids.   Brian Smith: (41:10 - 41:31) Because that's what we do at the TV, right? When our favorite team is playing, we've conditioned ourselves to say, awful call, that was terrible. Then we get on social media and we complain about it.   We are discipling ourselves to this is how it's normative to respond within the context of sports. Then we carry all that baggage to our six-year-old soccer game.   Laura Dugger: (41:33 - 42:02) Well, I love how you keep pointing it back toward character and discipleship. You clearly state throughout the book, sports don't develop character, people do. But could you maybe elaborate on that a little bit more and share more now that we've listed pros and cons, you still list a completely different way that we can meaningfully participate while also pushing back?   Brian Smith: (42:04 - 43:49) I'll start with the first part, and then you can answer the second. We use the handshake line as a great example of why character needs to be taught to our kids. If you just watch a normal handshake line left without coaching, the kids are going through it, especially the ones who lose with their head down, they have limp hands, there's no eye contact, and they're mumbling good game, good game.   Sometimes they don't even say it, they'll say GG stands for good game. They don't just learn character by going through the handshake line. If anything, that's going through it like that without any sort of intervention or coaching, that's malforming their character.   That's teaching them when things don't go well, that it's okay for them not to be a big boy or a big girl and look somebody in the eye and congratulate them. What needs to happen? An adult needs to step in and say, hey, as we go through the handshake line, whether you win or lose, here's how we do it with class.   We shake somebody's hand, we look them in the eye, and we say good game. Even if in those moments we don't actually mean it, we still show them dignity and honor. And then when we're done going through the handshake line, guess what we're going to do?   We're going to run down the refs who are trying to get in their car and get out of here, and we're going to give them a high five and say, thank you so much for reffing today. That stuff needs to be taught. Our kids don't just come out of the womb knowing how to do that.   We have to teach them how to do it. Sometimes good coaches will do that, but the more and more we get sucked up into the sports industrial complex, we're getting well-intentioned coaches, but we're getting coaches who care more about the big W, the win, than the character formation stuff that happens.   Ed Uszynski: (43:49 - 45:27) They need to keep hearing it over and over again. I have a ninth grade Bible study in my house the other day with athletes and a whole bunch of my son's basketball team. Exactly what Brian just said, I actually was like, wow, I've got them here.   There was a big blow up at a game the other day, and we wound up talking about it. I said, I'm going to take this opportunity actually to say what Brian just said. When you go through a handshake line, this is how you go through it.   I watched what happened in the game a couple days later. Basically, they did the exact opposite of what I told them to do, and they lost. It was just what Brian said.   They went through limp handed. They didn't look anybody in the face, and they weren't even saying anything. I just chuckled to myself, and you know how this is as a parent.   They may or may not do it. Of course, those aren't my kids. I have more stewardship over my child, who actually, he is doing what I've asked him to do because I've re-emphasized it across time now.   It's not a failure because they didn't do what I said. Again, the pouty side of me wants to be like, forget it. I'm just not even going to try anymore.   It's like, no, they're kids. That was the first time they've heard that. They're going to do what their patterns have, the muscle memory that's been created by their patterns, just like we do as adults.   The next time I have a chance to bring that up again, I'm not going to shame them. I'm just going to go over it again with them. Here's how we do it.   It's super hard to do this, guys, when you just want to be violent with people or you want to cry. You got to pull yourself together. That's what big men do.   That's what big women do in life. They pull themselves together in those moments and do the right thing.   Brian Smith: (45:28 - 46:01) You don't know whether the fifth time you say it is going to stick or the 50th time. Your responsibility as the Christ-following parent is to do it the sixth time and the seventh time and the seventh time and trust that God is going to take those moments and do what he does. We're ultimately not responsible for our kids' behavior.   We're responsible for pointing them in the right direction, and then hopefully, yeah, the Holy Spirit steps in and transforms and changes and convicts in those moments, but it might take some time.   Ed Uszynski: (46:02 - 47:47) Tom Bilyeu So that's how you push back, Laura. You were asking that. How do we push back without being just completely involved in it or going for the same ride that everybody else is going for?   There's just little moments like that scattered throughout. Literally, every day that my kids are involved in youth sports, the car ride over, what happens on the way home, how we talk about it, what happens during the game and what we wind up talking about out of that, the side conversations that happen that just get brought up apart from games of how we interact with people and so-and-so looks like they're struggling. What do you know about that?   That's how we push back, that in our corner of the bleachers, oh, how we interact with other parents. We haven't even talked about that yet, that I can take an interest in more than just my own kid in the bleachers and spend way more energy actually in cheering for other kids and just trying to give them confidence and spend way less time trying to direct that at my own child who knows that I'm there. In fact, my side kid has said he doesn't want to hear my voice during the game.   It distracts him. He's like, I'd much rather that you cheer for other people. It's like, okay.   Having questions ready for other parents during timeouts and as you sit there for hours together, what do you talk about? Well, I could be the one that actually initiates substantive conversations over time with them and asks them about what's going on in different parts of their life. And in having done that, people want to talk.   They want a safe place actually to share what's going on in their So let me be the sports minister. Let me take on that identity and actually care about other people.   Laura Dugger: (47:49 - 49:47) I love that. Even that practical idea of just coming to each game, maybe with a different question, ready to open up those conversations. And I'll share a quick story as well.   Our two oldest daughters recently just gave cheerleading a try at a local Christian school that allows homeschool kids to participate. And this is an overt way that somebody chooses the different way. So, it's the coach of the basketball team.   His name is Cole. And at the end of every game, we saw him consistently throughout this season when it was a home game, whether their team won or lost, he would ask them, okay, shut off the scoreboard. It's all blank.   He gathers both teams. As soon as the game is over teams, cheerleaders, the stands stay filled with all the parents. And he says, this is not our identity.   The world and Satan, our enemy, who's very real. He wants us to put our identity here, but it's not here. You made us better tonight by the way that you played and you were able to shine Jesus.   And we're going to go a step further and we're going to do what we call attaways. So, he's like, all right, boys, you open it up. And his team is trained.   They say to the other team, Hey, number 23, what's your name? I loved how you pushed me so much harder tonight and says, my name's Ben. And so, their Attaway is, Hey, Ben.   And everybody goes, Hey, Ben. Yeah, Ben. Yeah, Ben Attaway.   And everybody just erupts in clapping. And the other team is always blown away and they are just grinning, whether they just lost. So, the boys go through that for a while and then they open it up to the other team and they start sharing Attaways.   And then they open it up to the crowd and the parents are able to say, I see the way you modeled Jesus by being selfless with the ball or whatever it is. So, Cole said that his college coach did that many years ago and he's passed that on. And I love that's one way to redeem the game.   Ed Uszynski: (49:47 - 51:39) Wow. Beautiful. Beautiful.   Yeah. That's amazing. And, you know, I, so Brian and I talk about this too.   And I coached at a Christian school. So, we, we think that it's really important if you're going to play sports and you're going to be a Christian coach that you actually take the game seriously. And that we actually are here to compete and we are here to try to win.   There's nothing wrong with that. And we're going to pursue excellence when we show up with our bodies, and we train for this sport and we're going to try to win. Cause I think sometimes we end up kind of going all or nothing, especially within our Christian circles.   We're uncomfortable with that. And it's like, yes, do that. And on the backside of that to do what that coach did is amazing.   It's that, that is, that is exactly what we're saying. We're also going to try to form our souls in the midst of this. We're going to try to win on the scoreboard.   Okay. The game's over, we lost, we won, whatever. There's more going on here than just that. And can we access that together? And again, that's so rare. Probably everybody listening has never even heard of anything like what you just said.   It would be amazing if a bunch of people did, but that's what we're saying. Let's do more of that. Let's find ways to have more of those conversations in our sphere of influence.   Maybe we're not the coach, but we can do that in our car. We can do that when we're at dinners with the other, with other players and other team, you know, we, we can do that. We can take that kind of initiative.   If we have those categories in our mind, instead of just being frustrated that my kid didn't get to play as much tonight. And I'm that bugs me. It's like, okay, it can bug you.   And now I gotta, I gotta be a big boy and get more out of this than just being frustrated that he or she didn't get to play as much. It's hard.   Laura Dugger: (51:40 - 52:11) Absolutely. Well, and like you guys are doing having Bible studies outside of the, the team that you can instill values in that way and share scripture that they're memorizing to go out there with excellence for the Lord. So, I love all of that.   And I've got just a few quick questions, just kind of for perspective. I want to draw out something from the book. Is it true that young athletic success predicts adult athletic success?   Brian Smith: (52:13 - 53:51) It is not true. This is, this is not a hot take. This is researched back more and more research they're doing on this.   And they're finding that there's not a direct correlation between a young elite athlete and them continuing that up into the right trajectory and being an elite athlete later in life in large part, because when puberty hits, like everything is a game changer. So, this is, I found this fascinating and this is probably going to be new to you too. This just came out today.   At the time we're doing this podcast, the winter Olympics is going on in Norway. It's just like, they're killing it. Nor Norway's youth sports system.   This is wild. They give participation trophies for all the kids. They don't keep score until 13 years old.   They don't do any national travel competitions, no posting youth sports results online. So, there's no online presence of youth sport results. And their country motto is joy of sport for all.   And they're, they're killing it right now in the Olympics. So, like, that's not to say, like you got to follow their model and then you're going to win all these gold medals, but it is, there is something to just let the kids have fun. And the longer they play sport, because it's fun, the better opportunity you're actually going to have to see them blossom and develop some of these God-given gifts that they might have.   Don't expect it to come out before they're 13. Even if it does, there's no guarantee that it's going to continue on until they're 23. Just let them have fun.   Ed Uszynski: (53:52 - 55:55) Brian, we, Brian and I got to speak at a church the other day about this topic. And there was a couple that came up afterwards and they asked the question of what, so when do you think we should let our kids play organized sports or structured sports? And so again, Brian and I are careful.   Like I, there's no, there's no one size fits all answer to that. We would suggest as late as possible, wait as long as possible. Because once you start doing structured sport where there's a coach and you have to be at practices and the games are structured and there's reps, it just cuts away all the possibility they have to just play and just to go up to the YMCA and just play for three hours at whatever it is that they like to do.   And they said, well, it's encouraging to hear that they said, because we, we actually are way more into just developing their bodies physically. And so, we do dance with them, and we do rock climbing and they were kind of outdoorsy people, and they just started listing off all these things they do because we want them to become strong in their bodies, and learn to love activity like that. And I just thought, again, that's, that probably would cause a lot of people to freak out to hear that, that they have eight, nine-year-olds that aren't on teams yet.   They're just, they're training their bodies to appreciate physicality and to become coordinated and to, you know, to get better at movement. And it's like, what sport is that not going to be super helpful in five years from now, even when they're 12, 13 years old. And now they really do want to play one sport, and they do want to be on a team.   They're going to be way ahead of the kids actually that just sat on benches or stood in the outfield, you know, day after day after day at practices. Again, that's maybe hard to hear, but maybe there's some adjustments that need to be made again; to give ourselves permission to say, we don't have to get on that train right now. You don't have to, your kid's not going to be behind.   They actually could be ahead. If you do the kinds of things we just talked about.   Laura Dugger: (55:56 - 56:11) I love that. And even that example with what it looks like played out with Norway and also, do you have any other quick tips just for instilling and cultivating a heart of gratitude and youth sports rather than entitlement?   Brian Smith: (56:13 - 57:33) I'm a high school cross country and track coach, and I have kids on my team who want to get faster at running, but instead of running, they want to lift weights and they want to do plier metrics. So, there's, yes, there's a spot for that. But the way you get better at running is to run.   You got to run more miles and more miles. And I think gratitude is similar. That gratitude, part of it is a, it's a feeling, but it's also a muscle that we can flex even if we don't feel it.   And so, I would encourage parents who are trying to instill gratitude into their kids to give them practical things like, hey, after practice, just go shake your coach's hand or give them a fist bump and tell them, thanks for practice today, coach. That that's a disciplined way to practice gratitude that will hopefully build the muscle where they're, they're using it later in life. After a game, I taught my kids this when they were young and they still do it today.   Go shake a ref's hand. I mentioned this earlier, just a really, really practical way to show thankfulness and gratitude to somebody who really doesn't get a whole lot of gratitude pointed at them during a game or after a game. If anything, they have people chasing them through the parking lot for other reasons.   I want my kids to be chasing them down to give them a fist bump or a high five. And so, gratitude is something that we can just practice practically. And hopefully the discipline practice will lead to a delight and actually doing it.   Ed Uszynski: (57:34 - 59:39) And how do we cultivate an inner posture? Cause I tend to be a cup half empty type person. I'm a, I'm a whiner by nature and a continuous improvement.   There's always something wrong. And I'm, it's easy for me to find those things just as a person. I'm not even saying that as a dad or a coach or anything.   And it's been super helpful to me in the last decade, even to just like, I can choose to shift that. There, there is, there's a list of things that are broke, but there is always a list of things that are good. There's always something good here to be found.   And even as I've tried to like, again, tip the scales more in that direction, I can keep pushing that out of my kids. So, so this, you know, my ninth-grade son tends to just like, he doesn't like a whole bunch of what's going on in basketball right now. So, I keep asking him if he's having fun.   He says, no, like, why not? Or like, who did, why did you not have fun today? So, it's just the same thing every day.   I'm like, okay, who did you enjoy even being with today? Nobody. And I'm like, dude, I don't believe that actually.   I just, I don't believe that. There was somebody that you had some moment with today that you enjoyed, or you wouldn't want to keep going back up there because, and he does. So, give me a name.   Okay. Lenny. What happened with Lenny that was fun? And I make him name it. Like I'm, I'm, I'm trying to coach him through it. And sure enough, he does have some sentences of what was fun today.   And it's like, good, let's, let's at least hold onto that in the midst of all the other stuff that's not right. Let's choose to see the thing that was good and that you enjoyed and that we could be thankful for. Not everybody got to have that today.   Again, I have to have my, I have to be the parent. I have to be the discipler. I have to be in, you know, in charge of my own soul that wants to be negative all the time and say, nope, we're going to, we're going to choose gratitude today because the Bible tells us to do that.   There's something about that posture that opens the door for the gospel to be expressed through us. So, let's practice.   Laura Dugger: (59:40 - 59:50) Well said, and there's so much we could continue learning from both of you. Where can we go after this chat to learn more from each one of you?   Brian Smith: (59:52 - 1:00:14) Yeah, we do a lot of our writing online at thechristianathlete.com. And so, if you go there, you can see articles that are specifically written for parents, for coaches, for athletes, all around this idea of what does it look like to integrate faith and sport together? So, the

IL – Father Tom McCarthy joins Patrick to discuss Listening During Lent As an Augustinian what was Pope Leo trying to say with his letter? (5:10) What prevents us from listening to God during Lent? How can we combat temptations to distractions when trying to listen to God? (13:41) what does it mean that Pope Leo says Docility is at the core of conversion? (17:02) Carol - I didn't have a way of listening, but I have one now...with Fr. McCarthy. I'm listening to him and he is phenomenal. He's humble, sort of quiet, and he's just phenomenal. So blessed in my spirit right now. Just want to say thanks for being there. (20:08) Break 1 Judy - I'm 83. Got married a long time ago. We got back from our honeymoon, and I said, 'Let's go to church.' He said we weren't going to do that. Felt cut off for the longest time. Needed a spiritual meeting and went to a Quaker meeting which is silent. Had liturgical dreams...would be in the church and dreamed in procession. Couldn't make the dream go away. Went back to episcopal church for a while and husband said we should go to Catholic church. It's been wonderful. (27:55) Leo - Listening now and my whole life. 81 and don't know what to do with the rest of my life. Talked to priests and they tell me to pray, and don't seem to get anything from it. (31:12) How does Fasting help us listen to God? (35:48) Break 2 (40:09) Fasting from Gossip? (42:32) Beth - Discerning God's will. Something I've always struggled with and felt I never got an answer. Sometimes no answer is THE answer and we expect something specific. Maybe God doesn't have that planned for us. Why doesn’t God always speak to us more clearly? Resources Listening and Fasting: Lent as a Time of Conversion https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2026/02/13/260213d.html

Amanda Holmes reads Nelly Sachs's “But Maybe God Needs Our Longing,” translated from the German by Stephanie Bastek. Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you'll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman. This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Longtime Catholic writer Mary DeTurris Poust is our guest on this episode of Deacons Pod. A former Director of Communications for the Diocese of Albany, NY, Mary has been a reporter, editor, and columnist for multiple diocesan newspapers. She also is author of several books on spiritual topics, leads retreats, and serves as a spiritual director. Her blog and website are called "Not Strictly Spiritual." "Life Lines" is the name of her column and podcast. In this episode, Deacon Mike Hayes (one of the Paulist Deacon Affiliates) speaks with Mary about several topics, including a column and retreat day she created called "You Can't Fail Lent." "Sometimes, maybe where we are being called to go in our Lent is somewhere different than what our agenda was. Maybe God has a different plan for us," says Mary.

Hey friends, Joe Barlow here — welcome back to the Joseph Barlow Podcast, also known as Dads & Fathers.Today is Episode 11, and I'm genuinely excited because I'm bringing you an interview that I believe is going to strengthen you. I sat down with my new friend Reagan Givhan — and listen… this brother and his wife have twelve kids. Twelve. And what you're going to hear isn't just a “big family story”… it's a testimony of grace, faith, and the way God supplies when you say yes to Him.Reagan leads a ministry called Holy Temple Fitness, and it's not just about working out — it's about being fit in every area: spiritually, mentally, physically, financially, and relationally. But the heartbeat you're going to feel in this conversation is his passion for holiness, purity, and building a family on purpose — not by accident, not by pressure, but by hearing God and obeying Him.And we go deep — we talk about fatherhood identity, the grace to parent, the power of an open-heart relationship with your kids, and why that little question “why?” is so important… because it builds strength on the inside of your children, so they can stand when the world pushes back.Now quick heads-up: I'm probably moving to one episode a week for a season instead of daily — and that's okay. We're going to keep flowing, keep building, and keep bringing you something that helps you become the man God made you to be.Alright—before we jump in, let's pray.Father, I ask You to bless this time with my brother Reagan. We love You with all our heart. Flow by Your Spirit, say what You want to say, do what You want to do. We commit this time to You. In Jesus' name, amen.Alright my friend — you're going to love this interview. Let's get into it.Maybe God's Calling You To Partner With Us:This podcast is paid for by my partners. Please consider becoming a partner with us ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and help us keep the ministry producing more and more content that changes lives.Have You Considered Coaching:This podcast might inspire you to spend more time one on one with Joe. ⁠Coaching⁠ might be what you need for a time?Check out Joe's books & music:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠For the Healing of the Nations/Healing Leaves⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ an e-book that will make receiving divine healing so easy.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Healing Is Yours⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ an instrumental album with my voice speaking scriptures, prayer and prophetic word. Excellent for those battling physical illness.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Come Up For Air/The Secret of the Whale, my first⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ children's book. I did the pictures myself using AI. The Lord gave me the message. A simple profound truth and glorious illustrations.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Read it⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ free ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Watch it⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy it⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Change Is For The Brave: Potential Is A Promise, a revision⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and re-write of my first book. Deep, thought-provoking sayings along with many stories about how change happens in one's life.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Prayer Is…⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ sayings and prophetic words about prayer. A real favorite.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Texting Through the Clouds: Your Quest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ an evangelistic book, that has Jesus leading someone to know Him through a text message conversation.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Words From God: A Year of Conversations⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ similar to God Calling. A 365 day devotional with a prophetic word for each day.We appreciate all the help and support. This podcast was provided to you through the support of our partners. 

We deal with people being in our business every day, Facebook comments and opinions about our lives. Maybe God has something to say about these things. Watch as Pastor Andrew Strand takes us through the book of James in our new sermon series, All Up in Your Business!

Ever feel like everyone else is ahead of you?   Like you missed your moment, took a wrong turn, or somehow ended up in the “waiting room” of life while everyone else is moving forward?   In this episode of Y'all… Listen Here, Barbie Bassett, Therese Apel, and Traci Lee have an honest, heart level conversation about the truth we often forget, every phase of life carries an assignment.   The mountaintops.   The messy middle.   The quiet seasons that feel unseen.   All of it matters.   Together, they unpack what it means to trust God when you feel behind, overlooked, or forgotten, and wrestle with the question so many of us ask but rarely say out loud, does God's faithfulness depend on the season we're in?   You'll hear stories, laughter, perspective shifts, and the gentle reminder that maybe you're not behind at all. Maybe God is doing deeper work than you can see.   If you're in a season of waiting, rebuilding, starting over, or simply wondering what's next, this conversation will feel like three friends sitting across the table saying, “Y'all… you're going to be okay.”   Because God hasn't forgotten you. Not for a second.    #YallListenHere #FaithPodcast #TrustGod #SeasonsOfLife #ChristianWomen #Encouragement #FaithJourney #NotBehind #GodsTiming #HopeAndHealing #RealTalkFaith #MississippiVoices #PodcastLife   This episode is produced by Daniel Anderson at Audio Alchemy Productions. 

Today's episode with Halley Kim explores the intersection of birth, power, and the Divine. Moving away from the "God in control" narrative, we dive into feminist theology, spiritual trauma, and the midwifery model of "power with." It's time to stop waiting to be saved and start realizing that the power to bring forth new life—and a new world—has been within us all along.

Peter denied Jesus three times, rebuked the Son of God, and walked away weeping bitterly. Yet God used him to start the New Testament Church and lead 3,000 people to salvation. If you've ever felt disqualified by your failures, shame, or mistakes, this powerful message will transform how you see yourself and your calling as a leader.In this episode, you'll discover:✅ Why Peter's biggest failures uniquely qualified him to lead the early church with compassion and understanding✅ The common lies Christian moms believe (I'm not doing enough, my kids won't turn out okay, I'm all alone) and the biblical truths that replace them✅ How to identify the enemy's attacks in your own thought life and respond with God's truth instead✅ Why accepting God's forgiveness—and forgiving yourself—is essential to stepping into your leadership calling✅ The surprising truth about rest, busyness, and why filling every moment doesn't make you enough for GodReady to replace lies with truth? Leaders aren't born perfect—they're made through failure, forgiveness, and faith. Discover your calling today.Resources Mentioned:Get your FREE Basic Pass to Life Skills Leadership Summit 2026 to give you confidence that your kids will be ready for adult life Living Fearless by Jamie Winship - Finding your identity and calling in God, identifying lies you believe, and replacing them with truthUnbound - Fighting Human Trafficking - Learn more about this important ministry and how to keep your students safeShow Notes:Hey everyone, Kerry Beck here with Life Skills Leadership Summit. Oh my goodness, it is finally here. It is Sunday night, five o'clock. We are going to have an awesome week.We get such great response from the Life Skills Leadership Summit. And I think one reason we have many homeschoolers here, but this is not just homeschooling, how to homeschool or homeschool curriculum. This has something that has some purpose and intention and that is to raise our kids to be ready for adult life, to raise our kids to walk in Jesus and lead and influence for Jesus.We have some people that homeschool, some people that don't. I would say most people do. But tonight, what I want to do is do a few things.Before I tell you this, I want to introduce my friend Meredith Curtis. She is our prayer coordinator. Let me tell you, we need a lot of prayer for this. I just got home from Dallas. My granddaughter, who's not even two months old, was dedicated. So I drove in and I just bounced right into this.I was praying on the way over here from Dallas. It's a three-hour drive just that y'all would be blessed. I really hope that God speaks through you. It may not be tonight, but I pray that he speaks to you sometime during the week, gives you encouragement, gives you motivation, helps you to finish strong, gives you wisdom in what you're doing, whether you're homeschooling or whether you're just raising your kids to follow God.What Is Leadership?Tonight is our Sunday kickoff. I am going to begin a series on Peter—Peter's leadership journey from failure to faith. And we're going to talk about the failures tonight. And we will expand it through the week.Let me tell you, sometimes I think Peter a leader. And we'll talk about that because you're like he denied Jesus. How could you be a leader? And yet God works so many things through him. So I'm super excited about that series.Before we get started, I would love for you to put something in the chat and tell me what is a leader. Let me just talk to you a little bit about a man named John Maxwell. He is a guru in leadership. And here's what he says: Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.Think about that. Leadership is influence. If you are being salt and light as Jesus commanded, then you have begun to obey God's call to leadership. It is influence.Too often we think my kid's not going to be president of the United States or CEO. But almost all of our kids will lead their families. They will be husbands and wives. They will have sons and daughters that they will need to lead. And so that is what leadership is.Another quote from John Maxwell is this: Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less. How do you gain influence from people? You invest in them. How do you invest in them? It starts with giving them time.Peter: From Bold Declaration to Immediate FailureWe are going to look at Peter today. Yes, we're going to look more at his failures, but then we're going to move forward and look at the way that he influenced people. Again, I said 3,000 people trusted Jesus as their savior when he gave his first sermon.When we look at Peter and we look at Mark 8, Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked, "Who do people say that I am?" Well, they replied, "Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets."Then he asked them, "Who do you say I am?" Peter replied, "You are the Messiah. You are the son of God." He gives this great answer. He tells them truth. Peter grasps and he boldly declares exactly who Jesus is. Jesus commends them for that.But then immediately after that, Jesus starts talking. Jesus began to tell them that the son of man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law, that he would be killed. But three days later he would rise from the dead.As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. He just said he's the son of God. And then he's like, "Oh, let me reprimand you. Let me tell God what's going on."Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples and he reprimanded Peter, "Get behind me, Satan. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's."The Lies We BelieveIn the same conversation, Peter is praising him. And then the enemy is saying, "Oh, go tell Jesus this, that you need to rebuke him." Those are lies from the enemy. Peter makes a serious error in judgment. And Jesus corrects him.Can you relate? I can. I will tell you my personal story. For years, I've been doing this. I will be praying in the morning. I love to prayer walk. And I am praying for our family. And I'm praying to cling to Jesus, to walk in righteousness.And by the afternoon, I'm sinning and doing something that I shouldn't. I pray every morning that we will abide in Christ and cling to the vine and Jesus' fruit will pour out of us. That we will put on the armor of God, that we will love. And I go through all 1 Corinthians 13, and the other one is that we will forgive because God forgave us.And then something happens in the middle of my day and then all of a sudden I'm sinning again and I am not trusting God. And that's sort of what Peter did. God exposes that I have wrong thoughts that need to be replaced with truth.What are some of the lies that you believe? Peter believed a lie. He believed that he needed to tell Jesus that is wrong. Don't say you're going to die and raise up in three days.One of the things I heard several years ago is that I need to yield my right to be right. I need to be humble. I need to yield my right to be right. I have begun praying that for my family mostly and then all of a sudden I was like Kerry, you're not praying this for yourself very much. You are not always the right person.I lead the leaders at our Bible study at church. I had one leader say, "Hey, before you divide into groups, could you just give me a call?" So I did. And she gave me some concerns, but she goes, "But Kerry, if you need to do this the way y'all have it planned, that's fine. Maybe God's teaching me."That was humility. She was admitting that maybe I don't have the right idea about this. I'm just going to share it with you.Some of you might be thinking, I'm not doing enough. And yet, God says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And he has made you exactly like you are because you are who you need to be for your kids.I'm not a good mom. Oh, but our identity is in Jesus, not in being a good mom. And again, he has given you everything for life and righteousness.All other moms are homeschooling better than me. That's not true.I don't have time to spend with God. Oh, but if you have time for an hour of social media, maybe you do have time to be with God.I need to fill every moment of my day so I can be enough for God. I want to make sure when I get to heaven, I've done enough. No, that's a works mentality. We need to rely on our faith and grace from Jesus.I don't have what it takes for my kids to grow up and follow God well or to homeschool. Actually, that's not true. God has given you everything you need for your children. He may not have given you everything you need to homeschool the people down the street. But he made you like you are and your kids like you are. And he supplies all your needs in Christ Jesus.God calls us to a time of quiet. He calls us to rest in him. And we don't need to fill every second of the day with activity. I personally believe we need rest. We need sleep, but we need to rest in God to trust, but we also need to rest. We need to be quiet.I'm all alone. That may be the lie that you're listening. You know what? First of all, you're not alone. You can get support. You can get support in our community group.Speaking Truth Over OurselvesSeveral years ago, I was driving home from Dallas and that week I actually sat down and wrote out some truths for me to recite to myself to pour into my soul. So I'm going to read these to you.Like Jesus, I am chosen by God to be holy. I am chosen by God for great honor. I trust in Jesus. Therefore, I am not put to shame. God loves me and always takes care of me.I am precious to God because he bought me with his son's blood. I am a daughter of the king, a princess. I live in the light, shining for Jesus all day long.I control my thoughts, my words, my food, my drink. I receive God's mercy and grace. So I give grace, mercy, and forgiveness to others.I leave my case in the hands of God who always judges fairly. I speak with pure and reverent behavior and a quiet and gentle spirit.I wait quietly on God. I am patient. I am kind. I always forgive. I forget offenses against me.The Holy Spirit renews my mind, my attitudes every day. God never leaves me, abandons me, or fails me. I listen well. I trust in God to fight my battles. He wins my battles.The one about I listen well, I realized I was interrupting my son on a regular basis. I was like, I changed that. That's a lie to interrupt people. And so I added that.Those are just some truths and most of them are very biblically based that I have to say to myself. Peter needed truth to replace the lies that he was believing.Peter's Greatest Failure: Denying JesusLet's talk about the biggest thing, the most obvious thing Peter did. He denied Jesus three times.They arrested him and led him to the high priest's home. And Peter followed from a distance. The guards lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it. And Peter joined them there.A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. "This man was one of Jesus's followers." But Peter denied it. "Woman, I don't even know him."After a while, someone else looked at him and said, "He must be one of them." Peter says, "No, man. I'm not."About an hour later, someone else insisted, "This must be one of them because he is a Galilean." But Peter said, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about."And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. At that moment, the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord's words flashed through Peter's mind. "Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny me three times."And Peter left the courtyard weeping bitterly.There was a time he was like, "Deny you? I would never deny you." And yet he didn't think he would, just like we don't think we're going to deny him, but he did. Can you imagine the shame and the guilt that he was walking with? He walks away weeping bitterly.I did not do this in my younger years or when my kids were home, but I actually truly feel badly about my sins. And I have wept over them. Some of the things that I will say, some of the things that I will do, and even some of the things that I think.If I were Peter and I denied Jesus three times, I would feel shame and guilt. Shame is a powerful thing. It can just bury us. And we don't want that to happen. And we need to get over that.God's Bigger Plans for PeterWe do that by accepting God's forgiveness. Most people that live in shame cannot truly believe that God will forgive them. There are times I have walked in shame. And yet if I pray in the morning and I'm sinning in the afternoon, I have to realize God forgives me and I just need to move on and say, "Okay, God, you are faithful. You are forgiving. I'm going to accept that and I'm going to move on because you have greater things for me. You want me to live a life of influence and a life of leadership."God had bigger plans for Peter. He used his sin to actually grow him, eventually to lead the New Testament church.Don't you think that as Peter was leading all these people, he could relate to man's shortcomings? He was dealing with people that were maybe walking in shame themselves. And he could understand that.Just like Paul, Paul persecuted the church. I mean like kill people because they trusted Jesus. And God uses those experiences for us to relate. In second Corinthians 1, God talks about our sufferings and our trials and he takes us through those things so one, we can grow closer to him, but also so we can encourage others that are walking through something similar as well.Leaders will make mistakes. Peter did. I do. You will, and your kids will. And we need to all accept God's forgiveness. We need to forgive ourselves or teach our kids to accept God's forgiveness and forgive ourselves and forgive those around us, but also learn from our mistakes.Finding Your CallingThe biggest thing I really want you to think about is we make mistakes. God forgives. Are we going to learn from that? But God has a calling for Peter. He has a calling for Peter to lead the New Testament church. He has a calling for you and he has a calling for your children.More than likely if you're here, God's calling is to homeschool your kids, to raise them to influence and to follow Jesus. But your children may have a different calling than you.Maybe your child is called to go be a missionary in Africa. We had some friends. I could not imagine now as a parent letting your kids go off to Africa or South America or wherever to be a missionary. And yet God calls us to do things like that.We need to look at our kids as they are growing up and pray for them and help them discern what God's calling for their life is. And we want to raise them to be a leader.What's a leader? It's an influencer. Peter did influence others. He started as a fisherman, but he turned into a fisher of men. 3,000 people were saved on the day of Pentecost.That is a great calling. God took his failures, put them into faith, and then continues to use them.Ready to dive deeper into raising leaders who influence for Jesus? Join us at the Life Skills Leadership Summit where we equip parents to raise kids with purpose, intention, and eternal impact. Visit lifeskillsleadershipsummit.com to learn more!

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19–20 NLT) As Christians, we need to not only seek to win people to Jesus Christ, but also help them get on their feet spiritually so that they can move on in their relationship with Him. We are called not just to convert but also to make disciples. Jesus said, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19–20 NLT). Somewhere along the line, we have separated evangelism from discipleship. But God wants us to not only lead people to Christ but also to help them get on their feet spiritually. I am so thankful that God brought a person like this to me. Shortly after my commitment to Christ, I didn’t know a lot of Christians. I wasn’t acclimating very well. I was in that awkward stage where I didn’t feel totally comfortable with Christians, but I didn’t want to hang out with my old friends either. Then one day a guy named Mark came up to me and introduced himself. He brought me to church and introduced me to other Christians. He told me what to read and what it meant. I had so many questions, and he patiently explained things to me. He helped me make that transition. He made a difference in my life. Every Christian can fill a similar role in the life of a new believer. That prospect may seem daunting to some people because they don’t feel equipped to disciple others. They convince themselves that it’s a job for “experts,” little realizing that they are the experts whom God has equipped to fulfill that responsibility. Transparency is the key. You can introduce a new believer to the realities of the Christian life, as opposed to certain idealized (and unrealistic) portrayals of it. You can show a new believer the struggles, setbacks, and victories—big and small—that come from spending time in God’s Word, engaging in regular prayer, sharing your faith with others, and making daily choices that honor God. Maybe God hasn’t called you to be a preacher or to lead worship, but you can be a friend to someone who has recently made a commitment to Christ. You can hang out with them. You can show them what a real Christian is like in the real world. Reflection question: How can you help a new believer understand what it means to live for Christ? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known." All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Humility creates space for God to work powerfully in and through our lives. In Luke 1:46–52, Mary’s response to God’s calling shows how choosing worship over worry allows fear to shrink and faith to grow, making room for God’s strength to shine through human weakness. Highlights God notices and honors a humble heart. Mary’s worship shifted her focus from fear to God’s greatness. Humility helps us trust God with outcomes we can’t control. Fear keeps us focused on limitations; humility lifts our eyes to God’s power. God often calls people forward through blessings that feel both exciting and scary. Choosing worship over worry positions us to receive God’s plans with faith. God looks for humility when He wants to accomplish great things through someone. Do you want to listen ad-free? When you join Crosswalk Plus, you gain access to exclusive, in-depth Bible study guides, devotionals, sound biblical advice, and daily encouragement from trusted pastors and authors—resources designed to strengthen your faith and equip you to live it out boldly. PLUS ad free podcasts! Sign Up Today! Full Transcript Below: God Looks for HumilityBy: Whitney Hopler Bible Reading:“And Mary said: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.” – Luke 1:46-52, NIV Mary had just received news that would completely turn her life upside down: an angel announced she would give birth to the Son of God. The news was wonderful, but also terrifying. Mary was a young, unmarried woman in a society where a pregnancy outside of marriage led to shame and even danger. The angel’s message was the best news possible for the world, but for Mary herself, it must have brought up feelings of fear about what her future would be like. Still, Mary responds with faith, despite her fear. She focuses on God’s greatness and she celebrates that God has blessed her because God has been mindful of her humility. Mary overcomes her very real fears by changing her perspective. She moves her focus off her humble state and onto God, the Mighty One who is greater than her problems, and who can work through her in powerful ways. Mary’s song of praise is about God, rather than herself. She realizes that if God is powerful enough to save the world through the Messiah, he is certainly powerful enough to take care of her reputation and her safety. God sees humble people like Mary and acts through their lives with great power. When have you heard some good news from God that’s a blessing, but also scary? Maybe God is calling you to start working toward making a dream a reality, but you’re afraid that you won’t be able to accomplish that goal, so you’re considering letting that dream go to stay in your comfort zone. Or, maybe God is encouraging you to forgive someone and restore a relationship, but you fear getting hurt again, so you’re neglecting God’s guidance because you want to protect yourself. Fear can cause you to miss out on making the decisions God wants you to make, because it directs your attention to only your own circumstances and limitations. When fear is in control, you only perceive the threat and miss the miracle. God’s good news is right there, but you can’t fully receive it because you’re so busy listening to worries in your mind. In order to fully hear and embrace the good news God sends you, you must make the same choice Mary did: Choose worship over worry. You can do that when you’re humble, because humility helps you see beyond yourself to God, which inspires you with reverence and awe for God. When you can see how big God really is, your fear shrinks, and you can step into the great plans God has for you because you can trust that God will empower you. God looks for humility when he looks for people to serve in great ways. Don't let the fear of what might happen in the future stop you from embracing the blessings God wants to send you. Like Mary, be in a humble state that’s ready to serve God. Then look forward to what God will do through your life! Intersecting Faith & Life: As you consider why it’s important to be humble for God to work in great ways through your life, reflect on these questions: What “good news” has God given you recently that’s both exciting and scary for you? What worries you about moving forward with how God is leading you, and what specific truth about God’s character (like his power or his love) can you remind yourself of to move past your fear? Like Mary, how can you focus on God’s unlimited strength rather than on your own limitations? In what areas of your life do you struggle to be humble, and how can you choose humility more so you can better hear and obey God’s messages? How does Mary’s celebration of God’s strength inspire you to choose worship over worry? Further Reading:Isaiah 41:102 Timothy 1:71 John 4:18Psalm 56:3Philippians 4:6-7 Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In this episode of the DecaMillionaire Decoded podcast, host Justin Goodbread explores the intersection of faith and business success, challenging the common frustration entrepreneurs feel when their financial results do not match their effort. Justin observes that many hard-working Christian business owners feel stuck despite their dedication to their faith and work. He argues that achieving a higher level of success requires more than just "doing everything you know to do"; it requires a relentless pursuit of a specific calling. Learn more about Relentless Value Coaching:  https://www.justingoodbread.com/coaching/

I used to pray like it was 50/50. Maybe God answers, maybe he doesn't. Really hoping he does. Then I discovered what "ask" actually means in the Greek - and it destroyed everything I thought I knew about prayer. The word is AITEO. And it doesn't mean "beg" or "hope" or "let me see if I can get permission." It means: to demand something that is DUE to you because of family and redemptive rights. It's like a pre-approved purchase order. The answer is already YES - you're just turning in the paperwork. In this video I break down: → What AITEO actually means (and why "ask" waters it down) → The difference between wishing and asking → Why unanswered prayer is NEVER about God's will → How to pray with certainty instead of hope

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Genesis 1-2; Luke 1 Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible! In this very first episode of 2026, Hunter invites us to embark on a year-long journey through the Scriptures, reading the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice. Whether you're here for the first time or returning as part of this global community, you'll find encouragement and reflection as we dive into Genesis 1–2 and Luke 1. Together, we explore the story's beginnings—from creation, the beauty of living without shame, and God's promise of redemption, to the miraculous births of John and Jesus. Through Scripture, short devotionals, and heartfelt prayer, Hunter reminds us that this year is full of fresh hope. No matter where you're starting from, you're invited to approach God with honesty, open your heart to Christ's presence, and say "yes" to a life free from shame—a life transformed by God's love. So, settle in for today's reading and reflection, and let's begin this new year seeking Jesus and experiencing the power of God's Word together. TODAY'S DEVOTION: Shame-free living. That's how the story begins. God created man and woman, and they were without shame. But in the chapters ahead, we are going to see that they have been robbed of a life without shame. We'll soon read all about it. We'll also read about the devastation that ensues. But as we read through the whole story of God, we're going to find that it doesn't end there. No, that would be bad news. But this is good news. And the good news is that God has sent his one and only Son. The second Adam. He's going to do everything necessary for us to get back to a life without shame, a life lived with God. That's the whole point of this amazing story of the Bible—that this has been given to us. God has come to us at our lowest, the most shame-filled places of our lives. Christ has come to meet us there. And he offers us there a real, abundant, shame-free life. Some of you went through this last year carrying a lot of shame. But this year can be different. This year you can come to him—not just pages in a book, but to Christ himself, who is present with you and in you. And you can begin to open up your heart to him so that he might set you free from all the ways that shame has crippled your life. The prayer that I have for my own soul today is that you and I would have the same spirit and heart that Mary had when she heard the good news. She said yes to it. She said yes. May it be unto me as you have just said. Maybe she didn't understand all of it—no doubt she didn't. But she was ready to say yes to God. And maybe that's something that you can do today, even though you don't understand all things. You can say yes to him who does. You can say yes. If you've heard, like I heard today in the reading, that God intends for us to live without shame, then say yes to that. If you have heard, as I have heard today, that Jesus has come to take that shame away, to take away any barrier that would keep us from a life with him, then maybe you and I can both say yes to that. Let me encourage you to say it even in your unbelief. Go ahead and say it now. Yes, God, I believe. Help me in my unbelief. I say yes to your presence in my life. I say yes to your forgiveness. I say yes to the hope that I can live without shame and in your strength. Maybe you just need to whisper it to yourself. Maybe you need to shout it out loud. It's important that we begin wherever we can. And maybe today that beginning is simply a whisper, a faint hope that maybe it's true, that maybe we can be free. Maybe God really is with us. Maybe Christ really does live in you. Maybe you really are loved by God. Maybe there's a way to live without shame. And to that I say yes. That's a prayer that I have for my own soul. That's a prayer that I have for my family, for my wife, my daughters, my son. And that's the prayer that I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose  through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen.   Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.   And now Lord,  make me an instrument of your peace.  Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon.  Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope.  Where there is darkness, light.  And where there is sadness,  Joy.  Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.  For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life.  Amen And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ.  Amen.  OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation.   Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL  

Have you ever felt like waiting is taking too long—or that dating should be easier by now? Have you caught yourself comparing your love story to others and feeling disappointed?In this episode, Rachel Awtry shares powerful insights from her new book on why we can—and should—be cultivators of joy in every season of life. We talk about how choosing joy, even in the waiting, can transform not only our outlook but our outcomes.Whether you're single, dating, or simply wrestling with unmet expectations, this conversation offers encouragement, perspective, and hope for wherever you are right now.Get Rachel's book, "Love Your Life (Even When You Don't Like It All the Time)" here: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Your-Life-Even-When/dp/B0DJY765XFPray while you wait with Future Husband, Present Prayers and trust God with your love story with the Dear Future Husband Prayer Journal. Pre-order both at www.christianbevere.com

Praise Series #15 God Has A PlanActs 16:25-28 “About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly, there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once, all the prison doors flew open, and everyone's chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don't harm yourself! We are all here!”This story actually begins a few verses before this. In Acts 16:16-24, it says, “Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”  She kept this up for many days. Finally, Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her!” At that moment, the spirit left her.  When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.  They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar  by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.  After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.  When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.”This is where our verse takes place.  They have been beaten with rods and are now chained up in prison.  You would think after a day like that, they would feel defeated.  You would think that they would be questioning God and asking Him why they have to suffer so much when they are just doing what He asked them to do.  You might also think that they were passed out in pain and sleeping.  Is this what they were doing?  No, the verse says it was midnight, and they were still praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.  This is something that always amazes me about the apostles and other believers in the faith, such as the Saints.  I am always amazed by their strength.  I know that God underwent extreme suffering in the 24 hours before He was crucified.  He sweats drops of blood. If that is not suffering, I don't know what is.  And yet, I think we can downplay it sometimes and think, well, He is fully God and fully human, so of course He can withstand it; he is God.  However, countless other Saints have gone through extreme suffering and have done it with joy.  Paul & Silas had just been beaten with rods, and yet they were not questioning God. They were praising and singing to Him.  This is something that I think we can hear sometimes and not pause and think about how truly amazing it is.  I don't know if we glaze over it because we don't understand it or because we don't think we are capable of it.  I don't know the reason, but I wanted to pause and take a moment to recognize how remarkable these two are for how they endured their suffering.  We could all learn a lot from them and how they lived, not only when times were good but also when times were tough.  The verse says that at midnight, while they were praying and praising, they were set free.  The door opened, and their chains came loose.  What strikes me about this verse is that they were set free yet did not leave.  They stayed there until morning, when the guard woke up.  What I hear the Lord saying to me about this verse is that everything He does is for His glory and the good of His kingdom.  If Paul & Silas had left at midnight, they could have escaped.  However, it would not have been known how they escaped.  People could have said that someone broke in and freed them.  God would not have gotten the Glory.  However, by waiting until morning, they not only converted the guard and his whole house to believers, but they were also set free and did not have to worry about being caught for escaping.Sometimes, the things we are going through or the things others are going through make no sense to us.  If we had been there in that jail cell, it would have made no sense to us that when they were freed, they didn't leave the cell.  I can't imagine sitting in that cell and just waiting for the jailer to wake up when we could have escaped and been hours away by the time the jailer woke up.  Luckily, Paul and Silas were good at listening to the Lord and trusting in Him.  They were not scared in that jail cell.  They praised the Lord and trusted that the Lord would get them out of the situation.  They were patient and waited on the Lord's timing, and by doing so, they saved the jailer and his whole family.  Do you see how if the apostles had left at midnight, they would have escaped and would have been free?  Do you also see that they did not leave at midnight, yet they were still free?  We never know how God will work things out for us.  Sometimes, we can only see things in black and white.  We can see only two choices.  For instance, we could see that if we left the cell when the door was open, then we would be free.  However, if we stay there, then we would be stuck in jail forever.  Sometimes, we are so angry, upset, scared, and afraid that we can't see all the possibilities.  We only see the two.  Sometimes, we may not see all the options because we have limited information, whereas God has all the information He would ever need.  It seems as though the apostles waited for God to tell them what to do next.  They trusted that God would take care of it even though they didn't know what would happen next.  This may be the same in some circumstances in our lives, too.  We may not understand why God asks us to wait a little longer.  We know God can save us now, but we don't understand why He isn't.  We don't understand why we are going through all of this in the first place.  Maybe God is using this thing you are going through to save someone else.  Maybe by watching your strength in the face of your situation, someone will decide to give God a try.  Maybe after watching how you were saved from your circumstances, someone else has also decided to be saved.  We don't know what God's plan is or why He does what He does.  There is one thing that we can be sure of, and that is that God has a plan, and He has a reason for everything.  God can use all things for His glory.  We may think that some things are a coincidence.  However, if you look back over the last 5 or 10 years of your life, I bet you will see how those things you felt were coincidences were actually things that God timed out perfectly for a specific reason.  It is amazing to me how detailed God's plan is.  He has every tiny detail planned out.  The next time we get tired of waiting for our suffering to end, maybe we can remember this verse, pray, and praise him even when we are struggling.  We can remember that if He has not saved us yet, it is for a reason, and that a greater good will come from our situation.  I know that doesn't always make it easier for us when we are in the moment.  However, I felt God wanted me to share with you that even when we don't know His plan and don't understand it, we should still know that He has a plan, and it is for our good and the good of his whole church.  Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  We ask that you give us the strength of Paul and Silas when we suffer.  Lord, we ask that you give us the strength and the wisdom to pray and sing praises to you when we are suffering.  Help us know that you have a plan even when we don't see or understand it.  Help us to know that we are never suffering in vain.  You will always use our suffering for your glory.  We love you, Lord, and thank you for all you do for us.  You are amazing, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and Jesus' holy name. Amen.  Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend.Today's Word from the Lord was received in August 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “Don't let the negativity slip in. Remove it. Rejoice in me. Pray to me so that your joy may return.”  www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Topics:  Character Change, Charlie Brown, The Will Of God, Hot-Take Christmas Village, Blessing/Cursing, Shock Jock, Learn Vs. Practice BONUS CONTENT: David Movie, Tom Bombadill   Quotes: "He can take your missteps and create a story that's beautiful." "Maybe God's will is a wide field." "I take my 2 cents and act like it's a dollar." "This is all coming to a great spiritual point." "Jesus Trusts His Father."

Maybe God sometimes allows trials to remind us not to stay comfortable in our sin.

Daily Dose of Hope December 9, 2025   Scripture – Acts 13   Prayer:  Dear Heavenly Father, I come before you today with humility.  You are holy, you are perfect, and I am painfully flawed.  Forgive me, Lord, for the way I fall short over and over again.  Forgive me for not being loving, patient, and kind.  Jesus, I want to follow your example.  I want to have a clean and pure heart.  How I need you.  Create in me a pure heart, Lord, and renew a right spirit within me.  I love you.  Amen.   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the daily Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  We have been walking through the Gospels over the last few months and now we are mid-way through the book of Acts.  Today, we are walking through Acts 13.   In today's passage, we read about the first missionary journeys.  The believers feel the Holy Spirit calling them to go, so they go.  Paul and Barnabas, especially, feel called to be missionaries and go to new places with the Gospel message.    In Cyprus, the disciples encounter a Jewish sorcerer (seems like an oxymoron) and false prophet who was getting in the way of the proconsul, or governor, coming to belief in Jesus.  Maybe the sorcerer sees Paul as a threat to his own power, we really can't tell.  But Paul doesn't stand for it.  Filled with the Holy Spirit, he speaks boldly and tells the sorcerer that he is a child of the devil.  The man actually becomes blind.  Seeing the power of God at work, the proconsul accepts Christ.    This particular incident is worth mentioning because it doesn't take long for Paul and Barnabas to encounter opposition.  They know they are sent by the Holy Spirit, they are sharing the Gospel, and there are forces that aren't happy about it!  But Paul and Barnabas are undeterred.  They take care of the sorcerer and keep on going.  I think too often when we encounter resistance, we consider giving up.  We think, "Maybe God isn't calling me to do this ministry or maybe God isn't calling me to share my story with this group."  It's possible, at times, that resistance can mean we are doing the wrong thing IF that resistance comes from godly people.  However, more often, I think resistance means we're pushing against powers that need to be brought down.  Keep going and DO NOT COMPROMISE.  Stay the course.   Back to our passage - notice that wherever Paul and Barnabas go, they stop in the synagogue first and preach to the Jews.  Some follow and believe which simply angers the Jewish leaders and they cause trouble.  It's then that Paul basically says, "Look, we tried to offer you salvation in Jesus.  You reject us so we are moving on to the Gentiles!"  The Gentiles are very pleased.  And the word spreads and many people believed.  This is a pattern we will see repeated again and again.   I think sometimes we keep trying to do something, over and over and over again, without a lot of success because we feel like God has called us to do so.  Sometimes, as in this passage, that is simply a door we need to close so that we can open up a more productive one.  It's okay to say no to good to do what's great for God's Kingdom.    Blessings, Pastor Vicki  

Luke 1:37- For with God nothing shall be impossible. !!!!!!!!! This episode dives into positive phrases, and one of them will surely unlock something with in you. Happy day! How to be willing to let go of the story you love to tell yourself keeping you from growth.  Maybe just maybe it will all work out better than I possibly could have dreamed. Maybe God can help me with this one. Maybe change is just around the riverbend. I decided it won't be so dramatic this time.  https://www.instagram.com/anniecowden/

“The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.” (John 15:19 NLT) God is faithful. As with some of His other attributes, His faithfulness isn’t always apparent to us. Sometimes His ways seem harsh, but if we trust in Him, eventually, we will recognize the unshakable faithfulness behind them. “‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the Lord. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8–9 NLT). We can’t always trust our feelings when it comes to God’s faithfulness. What seems like callousness may in fact be evidence of God’s commitment to us and to our spiritual well-being. God doesn’t promise to make our lives free from pain and struggle. He promises to make our lives spiritually fruitful if we remain faithful to Him. I heard a story about some fish suppliers who were having problems shipping cod from the East Coast. By the time it reached the West, it was spoiled. They froze it, but by the time it arrived, it was mushy. So, they decided to send it alive, but it arrived dead. They tried sending it alive again, but with one difference: They included a catfish in each tank. You see, catfish are the natural enemies of cod. By the time the cod arrived, they were alive and well because they had spent their trip fleeing the catfish. Maybe God has put a catfish in your tank to keep you alive and well spiritually. He’s faithful that way. Maybe there’s a person at work who always has eight hard questions for you every morning regarding spiritual things. Maybe it’s that neighbor who is giving you a hard time for your faith in Jesus. Maybe it’s a spouse or a family member who doesn’t believe. You are wondering why this is happening. It’s like that catfish. That person is keeping you alert. Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus told the disciples, “The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you” (John 15:19 NLT). God will allow persecution in the life of a believer. If you’re experiencing persecution, here are two things to remember: First, persecution confirms that you are a child of God. Second, persecution causes you to cling more tightly to Jesus. That’s God’s faithfulness at work. Embrace it. Give thanks for it. And when you’re suffering persecution for your faith, remember, this world isn’t your real home anyway. If you persevere with a steady, peaceful spirit, trusting in Jesus to help you, your welcome into Heaven will be more glorious than you can imagine. You can depend on it because God is faithful. Reflection question: When have you experienced God’s faithfulness in your life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known." All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Healing Through Laughter: Dave Ebert on Comedy, Faith, and Overcoming Trauma In this episode, Diana rebroadcasts the interview of the late Dave Ebert, who passed away unexpectedly July 2, 2024. He discusses his journey from struggling with depression and contemplating suicide to becoming a renowned improv coach, pastor, and comedian. Dave, who founded Gifts for Glory Ministries, shares his early love for entertaining, the personal struggles he faced, and how faith and comedy became his tools for healing and helping others. He also explores his work with the Salt and Light Coalition, helping survivors of sex trafficking through improv, which aids in their communication skills and self-esteem. The episode delves into the importance of connection, trust, and the transformative power of laughter in overcoming trauma and finding hope. We hope you enjoy hearing Dave's legacy and timeless advice.  You will hear the second interview of Dave and his wife's missionary work next episode. 00:00 Introduction and Sponsor Message 00:47 Meet Your Host, Diana 01:34 Introducing Dave Ebert 02:51 Dave's Childhood and Early Love for Comedy 03:45 Struggles with Family and Faith 07:30 Turning Point: Finding Faith and Purpose 10:57 Battling Depression and Suicidal Thoughts 21:04 The Power of Presence and Support 24:25 A New Beginning in Chicago 26:32 Starting a Faith-Based Improv Team 27:32 Creating Clean Comedy for All Ages 29:10 Using Comedy as a Ministry Tool 31:50 Connecting with Salt and Light Coalition 33:12 Teaching Improv to Trafficking Survivors 36:20 Stories of Transformation Through Improv 44:18 Current Projects and Online Improv Shows 47:16 Offering Support and Contact Information 50:47 Final Thoughts and Podcast Information   Website: https://dswministries.org Subscribe to the podcast: https://dswministries.org/subscribe-to-podcast/ Social media links: Join our Private Wounds of the Faithful FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1603903730020136 Twitter: https://twitter.com/DswMinistries YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxgIpWVQCmjqog0PMK4khDw/playlists Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dswministries/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DSW-Ministries-230135337033879 Keep in touch with me! Email subscribe to get my handpicked list of the best resources for abuse survivors! https://thoughtful-composer-4268.ck.page #abuse #trauma Affiliate links: Our Sponsor: 753 Academy: https://www.753academy.com/ Can't travel to The Holy Land right now? The next best thing is Walking The Bible Lands! Get a free video sample of the Bible lands here! https://www.walkingthebiblelands.com/a/18410/hN8u6LQP An easy way to help my ministry: https://dswministries.org/product/buy-me-a-cup-of-tea/ A donation link: https://dswministries.org/donate/   Dave Ebert  [00:00:00] Special thanks to 7 5 3 Academy for sponsoring this episode. No matter where you are in your fitness and health journey, they've got you covered. They specialize in helping you exceed your health and fitness goals, whether that is losing body fat, gaining muscle, or nutritional coaching to match your fitness levels. They do it all with a written guarantee for results so you don't waste time and money on a program that doesn't exceed your goals. There are martial arts programs. Specialize in anti-bullying programs for kids to combat proven Filipino martial arts. They take a holistic, fun, and innovative approach that simply works. Sign up for your free class now. It's 7 5 3 academy.com. Find the link in the show notes. Welcome to the Wounds of the Faithful Podcast, brought to you by DSW Ministries. Your host is singer songwriter, speaker and domestic violence advocate, [00:01:00] Diana . She is passionate about helping survivors in the church heal from domestic violence and abuse and trauma. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counseling or qualified medical help. Now here is Diana. Hello everyone. Thanks for joining us today. You know, I've been telling you there are many paths and tools for healing and comedy is one of them. I think you'll enjoy our podcast today, friends. Our guest, Dave Ebert is the founder of Gifts for Glory Ministries. Dave is an improv coach, speaker, pastor, actor, and improv performer with his wife Bobby, residing in Chicago, Illinois. Gifts for Glory is ready to provide high quality, clean family friendly entertainment and professional [00:02:00] improv coaching to survivors of sex trafficking. Hey, welcome to the show Dave. Hey, thanks so much for having me. I'm, uh, really looking forward to having our conversation. Your bio is so impressive. I had trouble. Uh, shortening it for the intro. I'm sorry, I, I try to provide enough information, but, uh, I, I could have probably shortened it, but maybe it's because I'm a pastor. I just like to embellish and go on for a long, long period of time. So we're gonna fill in the blanks here and throughout our time together, and I can't wait to hear some good jokes. We will. We'll see what comes up. I'm an improviser, so nothing's ever planned. So if there's a moment of funny, yeah, I just give God the credit and if there's not, it's just, I don't know. We'll see. So tell us about your childhood. Were you always funny or into comedy? I really [00:03:00] was, uh, one of the earliest pictures of me other than, you know, baby pictures, uh, was a old Polaroid of, uh, me flexing, like I was in a bodybuilding contest because we we're at the city pool. There was an actual, like a swimsuit or bodybuilding competition going on on the other side. And my parents and their friends were just there at the pool and I was like, no, they're not gonna get the attention. I'm gonna get the attention. So there's this picture of me flexing my little chubby 2-year-old arms and it was like, I, I love to entertain and I love the attention and trying to, uh, get people an opportunity to laugh. So yeah, pretty much my entire life, um. Uh, I, I just liked it. I enjoyed, and I lived off of people's laughter. Now, did you experience any trauma in your life? There were, um, there wasn't any like one singular event, like a, a massive. You know, tragedy. But my dad was in Vietnam. He was in the [00:04:00] Vietnam War, and he got in contact with that chemical agent Orange that, uh, I've heard about. And, uh, that just ravaged his body. You know, when he hit 30, he was, you know, a healthy, strong 30-year-old guy working in the trades, and he was disabled by the time he was. 37, 38, um, from heart attacks, from just loss of, uh, dexterity in his hands and uh, and losing his ability to even walk. And it was all, uh, just complications and, and complications from the agent Orange. And so we were living in Chicago at that. You know, when I was first born and then when he'd had his third heart attack, we had to move out of the city and get away from the fast pace of Chicago and went down to Virginia where it's a lot slower lifestyle, a little bit easier for him to handle that kind of stress. But over the next 20 or so years as his health failed, there were a lot of conflicts in the home [00:05:00] between he and mom, between he and myself, and, um, so it was. It wasn't a tragic event, it was just this long period of watching my dad lose his ability to do the things that men do, like work with their hands, play with their son, hang out with their son, things like that. And, uh, you're not able to handle that because we really didn't have a strong faith. Base. So there was nothing kind of anchoring us in that storm. Mm-hmm. And so it was over, you know, two decades that, you know, there's just a lot of little traumas. Little fights, uh, big fights and, and things like that. We said we were Christian and we went to church. Um. Uh, fairly regularly, uh, mostly for holidays and potlucks. Uh, but um, we, uh, we said we were Christian, but it kind of [00:06:00] only existed from 11 to 12 on, on Sundays. Uh, we lived decently. We weren't out killing people. We weren't doing drugs and like that, but, um, but we weren't really like practicing. We didn't say, you know, grace at meals. We didn't pray together. We, I don't think I ever saw an either of my parents actually open a Bible. So we were kind of Christians in name only. Um, we had the, the membership card went to the meetings, but we didn't actually do a lot of practicing outside of church. So kinda like Chris and dumb. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kind of, kind of creases with a little bit more regular attendance because the church I grew up in, uh, or at least as a kid, they had a lot of potlucks. It, it was almost like the one way to guarantee people would come. It was like, yeah, we're gonna have a potluck to celebrate this this weekend. And I love the potlucks because there's always at least five to sometimes six, uh, different varieties of mac and cheese, and that's my favorite. Favorite. Yes. [00:07:00] Yes. Mac and cheese. Yes. Mashed potatoes. Mm-hmm. Mashed potatoes, uh, all sorts of desserts. And, uh, for your, your listeners, they won't know this, but if they see, you know, my headshot or whatnot, I, I'm not a small individual and I will put the blame firmly on that church. Where all the potlucks, oh, they fed me, but not spiritually. Oh. That's funny. So when did you meet the Lord for real? Well, my story's kind of unique or maybe it's not. Um, but for me it depends on what your personal theology is to interpret it. I. Going into my sixth grade year, uh, that, that summer before my sixth grade year, I went to a summer camp and I, uh, went, you know, we had devotions each night at a campfire. And I remember on Thursday night, the day before, the night before we're leaving. [00:08:00] Something at the devotion spoke to me and I said, on my way by myself, said That little sinners prayer of Jesus coming to my heart. I want to make you Lord. Um, and you know, I remember the prayer, I remember walking up that gravel driveway up towards the cabin. And, but like I said, it kind of hinted at there wasn't a lot of discipleship for young believers at my church. So. It was like, oh, I accepted Christ. What does that mean? What do I do with it? And so from that year. For many years after, I never really got truly discipled to understand what it meant to be a Christ follower. And through my depression and the, you know, just some of the choices I made, I kind of walked away from that. So if you believe that you can walk away from salvation, then you could say that I walked away from it. Uh, some believe once saved, always saved. So you can either choose that summer or you can look to, uh, January, 2013 when. Uh, [00:09:00] still wrestling, depression, still looking for purpose in life. I was walking to work, uh, on a Saturday morning and. There were these two kids from a local Bible college out there looking for people to witness to, uh, they had the, uh, tract, which, uh, for anybody that doesn't know tract is a small graphic novel that, uh, kind of tells the gospel story. And, um, so they were out there and there's really no reason for them to be there 'cause it wasn't a very populated area. Um, so there really wouldn't be a lot of people out there on a Saturday morning. So it was obviously a divine appointment. They gave me the track and they offered to pray for me, but I didn't, you know, I kind of blew them off. Said, yeah, I'm a Christian, I'm saved. Yeah, I'm good, but I gotta get to work. But because they were there, they passed out the track and because of a lot of stuff that was leading up to that moment, it was like, okay, God, I'm ready to submit. I'm, I'm ready. So that night I, uh, opened up my, uh, Rick Warren, purpose Driven Life. I started reading [00:10:00] my, uh, dollar General, uh, king James version Bible got all the way through Deuteronomy before. I was like, I need something simpler. Uh, yeah. But, uh, yeah. Um, those two kids, I don't know if I'll ever see them again, at least not in this life, but they were kind of the straw that broke the camel's back to where I made the decision because I was still wrestling with depression and I was literally at this place where I was on top of, I, I described it as I was on a peak of a mountaintop where. I was still considering, you know, taking my life so I could either go left and just take my life and, and end it once and for all, or I could go right and give my life and fully submit to God. And that was kind of the moment that kind of clenched it for me to take that step towards God and really for the first time, pursue a relationship with him. So that was in, uh, January of, uh, 2013. So let's unpack the. Part where you talked about you wanted to end [00:11:00] your life. What happened there? It was a, a culmination of a lot of things. I, I had a lot of dreams and ideals of what life should look like, and this started in, uh, junior high and high school. Um, and then, uh, you know, combine that with, uh, this struggle with my relationship with my dad. Um, you know, not ever quite being good enough because he always had, sometimes these. Surreal expectations and, and when I didn't meet them, I felt like a failure and, you know, just all these different things. Um, it just added up to one night. I remember, um, I was pursuing this, this young lady to date her in high school and you know, for the first time I was like, this might be the one that I actually get her to date me. And then, um. Afternoon, after I talked to her in the morning, I saw her walking, holding hands with somebody else, and that was. [00:12:00] Kind of the straw that broke the camel's back the other way, uh, to where I entered into that depression. And, uh, it just kept getting deeper. The more my dad and I fought, the more my mom and dad fought. You know, it just got deeper and through, um, my junior year, senior year high school, all through college, after college for many years, uh, through my first marriage, you know, just. That voice was always in the back of my head, you're not worthy. Um, no one's gonna truly love you. Um, might as well end the pain now. And so I just, I really wrestled with the idea of suicide. There were times that I was ready to do it, but I cursed myself for being too weak or too afraid to commit. But looking back, it was that, as the Bible calls it, the still small voice. That was, you know, just kind of coaxing me to don't give in just yet. Don't give in just yet. So looking back, obviously God was [00:13:00] there with me the entire time. It's just I didn't realize who that voice was or why I was not able to fully take that next step. It was because God was there trying to yank and pull me back from the edge. Wow. I'm sure a lot of our listeners can relate to, um, the things that you're saying right now about wanting to end it all. Now, did you cover up your depression, your feelings? Did anybody else know about that? I covered it. Um, as I mentioned, I love to entertain people, make people laugh. So it started off very, when I was very young. It was just this pure thing of enjoying the laughter and enjoying giving that gift to people. But when I entered the Depression, it became a defense mechanism where I would keep people from seeing what I was feeling and also try to prevent them from feeling the darkness I felt. If I could do that, if I could make somebody laugh, if I could [00:14:00] entertain somebody, if I could make somebody feel better, then I was able to justify living for the next week or the next day or what have you. And so comedy or making people laugh was where I found my worth and my value. And if I went too far and I offended somebody, if I hurt somebody's feelings, uh, or if I said something that just kind of embarrassed me. It went into the spiral where it was like, see, even the one thing you count on for value you fail at. And so it would spiral me and it was like, man, I just, I need to drive my truck off this cliff, or I need to, um, do this or that other thing to myself just, and I always wanted to leave it as an ac, you know, make it look like it was an accident. Um, whenever I really contemplated, uh, suicide because I didn't want the embarrassment. I didn't want people to judge me and say things about me, and I also didn't want the judgment to follow my [00:15:00] parents or anybody else because I didn't want them to be punished for what I was going through. So I always tried to make it or plan out to look like an accident. Um, one night I in particular, I remember driving home late at night through the mountain roads. It was maybe three or four in the morning, and I just was at this breaking point and I prayed. I said, God, if you don't want me to do this, gimme a sign. Do something. And if you think about Pure Flix movies or a Hallmark movie, you know, you think in that moment, all of a sudden the sky opens and the lights shines, and the angels come down. And, but in that moment, it felt like it got darker. It almost, it felt like, like God actually got quieter. Than, than I felt he had been. And so I got mad and I got angry at God. And I, I think I probably said a few curse words at him and, and said, you know, whatever. And I got mad and I drove [00:16:00] home. But here's the, the thing about it, I drove home. I didn't drive to the left off that cliff and. I, I say that that was a moment where God knew what I needed. It's not conventional, it's not what you would expect, but it's what I needed. 'cause he knew I'd go mad or I would get mad, and he knew that he would have to take some barbs from me in that anger. But it was God laying himself down for me in that moment so that I would go home instead of, you know, take my life. And that's just another thing that I look back on and say, wow, God was there this whole time. Wow. I've never contemplated suicide myself. I've had some really dark times with my, abuse history. Mm-hmm. Now I've had depression before. Mm-hmm. But it wasn't so much that I needed to take medication. Um, it was just this cloud of darkness and like [00:17:00] sitting in a pit. Yeah. That you can't get out of and it's no amount of positive thinking is going to do it. Right. It just took a long time to crawl out of that. These brilliant people, you know, we're talking about comedy and the most brilliant comedian was Robin Williams. Sure. And he was so funny. And, yeah. When he took his own life after battling depression, um, I really mourned his death. 'cause Yeah. Yeah. It, and that's one of the things where it shows that fame, fortune, having everything at, at your fingertips, it's not a substitute for. Anything because you look at Rob Williams, you think about even, you know, they don't classify necessarily as a suicide. You look, but you look at somebody like Chris Farley, uh, John Belushi, um, the lifestyle that those two guys [00:18:00] chose and the way that they treated their bodies was kind of a long term suicide because they did not take care of their bodies. And I'm not talking about being heavy. I'm talking about the drugs, the drinking, the things like the partying. For hours upon hours on end, it was they were trying to fill something in their soul that they couldn't fill. Um, so for, and I don't say these things as judgment. Mm-hmm. I say these things as warnings. Um, heads up. If you see somebody that is trying to fill their life with partying, find the time when they're sober and talk to them. See if there's something going on. Uh, and like you look at somebody like Robin Williams. It's a very hard thing to know how to handle that because you don't know what his family life was like. Did he have somebody in his, in his corner that knew what he is wrestling with and they were just happened to be gone in an, in the instant that he was the weakest? Um, [00:19:00] for me, I think one of the, the biggest things is if you see somebody or know somebody that could potentially be similar to where Robin Williams was at. Pray and ask for God to show you how to reach them, um, and be willing to pursue it. Um, it's, no, no two depressions are the same because no two people are the same. There's no blanket there, a, b, c methodology that's going to, like, if I do these three or four things, I'm gonna pull my friend out of what they're at. Because there's different triggers, there's different experiences, there's different chemical imbalances in the mind. So don't ever feel like a failure if you try to help somebody and you can't see results. Because some people, it takes time, some people it takes the miracle of God flipping a switch and healing whatever chemical imbalance is in the mind. Um, so my advice is always just keep [00:20:00] pursuing, um, because. Eventually there's gonna be a breakthrough it because somebody that's in that mode is going to see that they're not gonna give up and that's going to fly directly in the face of so many of the inner voices or, or the self-talk of, I'm not worth it, nobody's gonna really care. Or I, I'm a burden. But when you're continually pursuing, you are speaking against all that and you're giving evidence against that case. And we all know, especially, uh, as Christians, that those voices are of the enemy. So they're all mm-hmm. Of the king of lies. Yes. And when you can step in and bring the truth and bring the light, the enemy has no footing left. So that's always my advice, is just to keep pursuing him. It's worth it. It's worth being able to pursue somebody and give them [00:21:00] a chance to hope and a chance to fight against the lies of the enemy. Um, I never know what to say to somebody that's struggling with depression. I'm always afraid that I'm gonna say the wrong thing. Right. Um, so those, those suggestions are really, valuable because. I don't wanna push them too far, but I want them to know that I care. So, yeah. And, and here's the thing, and this is something that I, whenever I talk to people, I, I try to take this burden off your shoulders. It's not your job to save them. It's not your job to rescue them. It's your job to be there and let God do the saving. It is not, it's not your job. So whatever words you say, whatever things you say, it's not gonna matter because it's not gonna be really remembered. The mistakes or, or the, the bad choice words or whatever you say that doesn't [00:22:00] work, quote unquote work, it's not gonna matter. What's gonna matter is that person that you're pursuing, that you're fighting for is gonna remember that you were there. They're gonna remember your presence, not so much your words. Now, there'll be some times where God will give you wisdom and they'll remember those words of wisdom, but for the most part, part, they're gonna remember that you were there. Just like when you go to a funeral and you talk to the people that are grieving, uh, whether it's the widow or the widower, or maybe it's, uh, the child that lost their parent, whatever the case may be. They don't remember the words that you said as you go in the line. They remember your face, they remember the, the calming touch on the shoulder, on the hands. They remember that you were there and it was, it is very much the same for somebody that's in the dark pit of, of depression. If you're there constantly showing them love, willing to let them have [00:23:00] what I call verbal diarrhea and just get whatever they're wrestling without. They're gonna remember that you were there and they're gonna remember that, and it's going be that evidence to say, Satan, shut up. Amen. You're not telling the truth. This person is here. They see me as valuable enough to fight through this. So you're lies of I'm not worthy. Nobody loves me, nobody will miss me. Those are lies straight from the pit of hell, and that's where you belong. That's right. Wow. No, that's, that's really helpful comparing it to, um, a funeral. 'cause, uh, I just lost my brother December 5th and, yeah, and some people, they don't know the right things to say and, but you're right. I remember that. They cared about me. But yes. The fact that they took time to say, I'm praying for you, or let us know if there's anything we can do to help you meant a lot. So I appreciate that [00:24:00] advice for sure. Let's switch over something a little funnier. Sure. Okay. Than a funeral. Um, so speaking of Robin Williams, he was a guest on. Whose line is it anyway, and it was my favorite episode ever. And you started a Christian version of that show. Tell me more about that. Absolutely. So when I, uh, rededicated my life to the Lord in January of 2013, I knew that performing and being on stage was my calling. God was going to. Keep me in front of people, keep me entertaining people, but he's changing and he changed the reason why, instead of trying to hide how I felt and hide myself, I was now gonna use comedy as a way to reveal who he is. And I had no real opportunities, uh, in Beckley, West Virginia. Nothing against West Virginia. Uh, [00:25:00] I have a lot of friends back there. I had a lot of great experiences, but it wasn't where God wanted me. And so I was like, so God, where do I go? Do I go to Roanoke, Virginia, which is about three hours west in, uh, west in, in west in Virginia. Excuse me. And, uh, that's where my mom lived. Do I just move in with her and start over? And it was kind of like. You could, but that's not really where you belong. So I kept, like reading Rick Warren's book, I kept reading the Bible and finally in a, in a conversation, my sister, who doesn't really have a relationship with the Lord, but he used her. She said, well, if you want to, you can move up here to Chicago in, in, uh, start over here. And I said, are you sure? 'cause she was going to college at the time and I would be moving in on staying on her couch in her studio apartment. And I was like, are you sure? She's like, yeah, if, if you need. A new, you know, new start. And so six weeks later I left, uh, [00:26:00] West Virginia, everything I could pack in my truck I brought up. And I started completely over in, um, in March of 2013. And it was shortly thereafter, I started pursuing acting opportunities and opportunities to be in front of people. A couple of mo short films I got into, I realized after accepting the part, I shouldn't have done this role. Uh, this will be something that if I ever become famous, will be one of those things that they play to, to tease you when you get like a lifetime achievement award. Oh, yeah. Um, and then through Craigslist I connected with a, a, a guy, um, named Ryan McChesney. And he and I, uh, discussed, you know, doing, uh, movies together or something like that, uh, faith-based, and we said, well, we both like improv. He had gone through the second 30. Second City, Chicago Conservatory. I had, um, done a few classes at Second City, but uh, most of my acting and performing training [00:27:00] came from eight years of, uh, pro wrestling in, uh, West Virginia and Virginia. Um, so we thought, well, what if we started a faith-based improv team? There's nothing like that in Chicago. And we thought that there was almost nothing like that in the rest of the world. So, uh, we decided to start trying to cast and we, uh, brought two more people on. And my church at that time was, uh, very, uh, gracious in allow, allowing us free reign to use a building for rehearsals or anything else we wanted to do. And so we just started, uh. Creating an improv team and for anybody that's not really familiar with improv, uh, uh, Diana, as you mentioned, uh, whose line is it anyway, is kind of the same kind of improv that we do where it's, uh, game base where they'll give us a game with a scenario and certain rules within that game to follow, and the rest we make up. We make up the characters. The dialogue is completely made up. And the idea is not to try to be funny, but just to [00:28:00] try to respond in the moment because that's where the funny's gonna come from, is that just that creative mind that we have. It's going to find things that are funny in our natural reactions. And so what we do is we just create scenarios. It's basically like. A more organized way to play, pretend. Uh, we create characters, voices, points of view. And so we, and we don't do it based on the Bible because we don't want to ever. Get careless and misrepresent the Bible or say something. Oh, okay. That's fair. Uh, we don't wanna ever come across as a Christian improv team that is, uh, disrespecting the Bible. So we just do clean comedy that's accessible for all ages, whether you're five or 105. Um, we want you to be able to come and enjoy and laugh. And, um, we kind of filter it through [00:29:00] Philippians four, eight, whatever's pure and lovely and praiseworthy. If it kind of fits along that, then, uh, then we're good. Um, and we just, um. We go out and use it as a ministry tool. Uh, either we open for a speaker and use laughter as a way to tear down some walls and, and make people comfortable enough that they can hear it. Mm-hmm. Or we just do pure comedy with the love and the joy of Christ and allow our presence and the fact that Christ is coming in with us to somehow reach them on a spiritual level to where they'll either ask us, why are you guys clean? Why don't you curse? Or Why don't you do innuendo or blue? Right. Or they track us down on social media and they're like, oh, they're Christian, and they're funny and they're creative. Maybe God is more than I thought he was. I'm not naturally funny. Um, my husband is, and that's the, the thing [00:30:00] is. You don't have to be funny to be good at improv, you just have to be willing to listen and respond naturally. 'cause most of what's funny in our improv at least, is that people recognize either weird quirks, uh, about themselves or about people that they know or they recognize weird characters that they're like, that's Samantha from work. Oh my gosh. Um, and, and it's that recognition of, of the human experience because. We are so much alike. There we're, we are all more alike than we are different. Mm-hmm. And when we share those experiences, we realize that we're not alone. That we're not this weird thing in the middle of the world that has no connection. When we get a room with people laughing together, even if none of them know each other. They connect, uh, on this really interesting level. When they laugh together, they don't feel alone in that room. And that's why comedy is so important and effective in [00:31:00] speaking and in ministry. If you can get, get them to laugh, there's a wall that comes down to where now they're able to receive, uh, some information or receive the word or receive the message. And, uh, you know, that's what we love to do is to either. Set the ground for, uh, the speaker to bring the word, or to just simply be a light in that room to where there's a question, why, why are they different? And, um, that's what we do now. Uh, we've been, uh, this team has been running since, uh, July of 2013. Um, we've had a lot of changes, a lot of turnover, but the, the mission has always been the same is to just use comedy to bring people closer to God. So you can, definitely use comedy to heal people in their pain. And you got connected with, salt and Light Coalition. So tell us more about that. Sure. Uh, Salton Lake Coalition [00:32:00] is an organization that works with, uh, women who have survived sex trafficking. Um, many of the women that they serve, uh, were sold into trafficking by their parents at a young age. So many of them either have a very short, if. Or maybe a non-existent childhood to, uh, draw from. So they're very stunted in ma many areas as far as emotions, uh, uh, especially the ability now to trust people. And so, and most of them obviously have been hurt. Used and abused by men. Mm-hmm. So the fact that me as a guy was asked to come in and serve the weight of that is not lost on me. But I also see absolutely see benefit because here is a man in a healthy relationship with his wife, who is in a healthy relationship with the Lord, who can come in and bring that. As a model for these women to show that it is possible that [00:33:00] not every single man is a creep that's going to hurt you. Right? So, and I, I value that ability to, and that opportunity to bring that example, uh, to them. And I teach improv as a way to improve their communication because, uh, many of them, like I said, had, are stunted either, um. Educationally, either they were, they had to drop outta school because they were doing what their handlers or pimp or whatever you wanna call 'em, were making them do. And so I go and help them improve communication. Uh. Find and develop their self-esteem. Because when you're learning improv and you're creating stuff together, you're starting to realize, wait, I have a voice. I have something to say, and the things that I say can be valuable, and that only helps to improve the self-esteem. So they start realizing that all the stuff that I've been through in the past is my past and all the work that I'm doing [00:34:00] now to get back on my feet and rebuild my life. I'm worth it because I have something to say. I have something to contribute. So we do that through improv and, and at the end of the day, they get an hour where they can laugh like kids either for the first time or laugh like kids again because. And, and it, I don't say these things to brag on me. Mm-hmm. God put me in this position. There was, there's been several times where the women have, or a couple of the women have come in and you could see that they are literally carrying their world on their back. The burdens are there, the brow was furrowed. The, you could see in their eyes that they're waiting for somebody to say that one word so that they can explode on them. Mm-hmm. And part of what they have to do is they have to participate even if they're not feeling it. So they, they still get in the circle, they still participate in the games, and you can see literally. The, [00:35:00] that facade, crack and fall, you literally see them crack up and within five minutes of participating, the burden is gone. The, the fierceness in their eyes, the the anger or the frustration, or the hurt. It fades away. And they get to forget that and realize that there's hope, that there's something bigger than what they're wrestling with in that moment. And that has been such a huge blessing for me to be a part of that for the last couple of years. And, um, and like I said, it's, it's such a blessing to, to be a man in that position, to kind of be an ambassador, literally an ambassador for Christ, to show that it's okay to. To trust again. And I, and I love doing that. That is incredible. You know, I've had some training in sex trafficking, with Mending the Soul We have a program called Princess Lost. [00:36:00] Princess Found. Oh, okay. And I didn't know anything about sex trafficking before that, or at least I thought I did know. Mm-hmm. I, I thought of what the rest of the world thinks about, you know, prostitutes or sex workers, but it really, that training had opened my eyes. Do you have a story of one of those tough nuts that crack open with your comedy improv class? Yeah. Um. Specific, I can't mention names, obviously. No. Yeah. But, uh, the one lady I think of in particular, she's a single mom. She was, uh, sold by her mom into trafficking, for sex because her mom needed a. She needed a, a fix. And so she gets involved and then she gets traded, bought, and sold. Um, and the thing wa the thing that a lot of people don't realize is [00:37:00] people who are in that life, who are stuck, who are, who are trapped, they're not always stuck in some shady building off in the corner of, of the city, right? They're, they're still out walking around, they're going to the store, but. They're in such a way that they don't think they can escape and they don't know who they can trust. Mm-hmm. They don't know if the person that they're gonna talk to to say, Hey, I need help, is connected to this person that they're, that they're, uh, enslaved by. So they feel like they can't trust anybody. Even though that they're out walking around, they're, they're stuck. And they're also, many times they're forced to take drugs. Yes. So people will dismiss them when they see 'em. Like, oh, she's just a junkie. There are a lot of junkies, but there's also a lot of women and, and some men that are on drugs, either because they're trying to cope with what they're being forced to do, or it's part of what they're required to do in [00:38:00] order to survive. Um, and, and the, the, the pimps know that when they're on drugs and they're high people will dismiss them and won't really give them two looks. So all that to say is this, this young lady, she's, I think she's in her mid twenties now. Mm-hmm. Uh, single mom struggling to get her kids back because in, in the eyes of the court system, she's just a junkie. She, it, it doesn't matter why she was on drugs, it doesn't matter what caused her to be arrested for these different things. All that matters to them is that she, you know, you were high, you were on drugs, you have this in your system, you're not fit to be a mom. So she's trying to rebuild her life, trying to get her kids back and one day, I don't know, I don't know the details 'cause I don't really talk to get to know them much, just because they're trying. You don't wanna protect them. 'cause the fewer people that know the stories, know where they are, where they're [00:39:00] from, the better for them so that they can avoid getting. Found by the people that are looking for them. Mm-hmm. Because when a woman, escapes sex trafficking, that's property in the minds of the people that quote unquote own them. Yes. And they don't like to lose property because they're losing profit. So. You know, I know very little about them. I know their, I know their first name. I know a little bit about their story. Some of their stories come out as, you know, part of the improv, but she's trying to get her life back together. She comes in and she's the one that I always envision when I talk about the cracking up. She came in and I swear, I I, there was a moment where I was worried, it was like, is she gonna fly off on me if I say the wrong thing? 'cause she just looked angry at the world. Mm-hmm. And, uh, fortunately, and obviously they're not gonna leave me in the room alone, so there's a couple of the Salton light [00:40:00] volunteers there just to supervise and to coach and say, Hey, you need to go ahead and get in a circle and, and participate. You know, this is part of the program. And so. She came in, arms are crossed and she's just looking down at the ground. And so I just changed my plan and I opened up with, uh, a warmup that I knew everyone enjoyed. Um, and it's a silly game. It's called Bippity bippity bop. And, and so this game, uh, somebody's in the middle of the circle, they go around the circle and it's, it's a quick response game. I'll look at you and, and if I say Bippity bty bop, you just have to say the word bop before I get to bop. And then there's other layers to that game. So I start the game and say, all right, so we're gonna warm up with bip bippity bop. So I go around the circle and there are a couple times where like, as I'm going around the circle, I look at her like, I'm gonna give her the, you know, [00:41:00] the, the, uh, interaction. But then I go past and then I come back, and then I get her the first time it's like pip bop. She, you know, obviously wasn't ready 'cause she's not. Fully into it. So she goes, all right, un crosses her arms, walks in the circle, starts doing it, and as soon as she starts participating you, that's when it starts cracking up. And she starts laughing and, and having fun. And she became, she was two people. The first five minutes, she was one person. And then once she started to laugh, she was a completely different person. And it's like. God, this is why, this is why I'm here. And again, it's not, Hey, Dave Ebert's wonderful. You know, toot the horns. It's like, God put me in this position to use my testimony, my story to, and my experiences to try to help in the healing process of, of some women that desperately need healing and desperately need to know the love of [00:42:00] Jesus. I love that story. You know, the biggest thing I learned in, in my training that I went through was a lot of these women are in this predicament. At no fault of their own, they were mm-hmm. They were groomed or they were kidnapped, or they were, you know, trafficked by somebody that they trusted. Mm-hmm. Or they should have been able to trust and that these, these ladies and some gentlemen, by the way, are people. Valuable people, loved by God. They're not trash and not somebody that we throw away or toss aside, they are, they are children of God and they need Jesus too. Yeah. And, and these are all people that, and I, I don't like think, or in my heart, I don't believe that Jesus means this. In his language, but he's talking to us in our language when he talks about the least of these. Mm-hmm. Because he loves us and [00:43:00] God loves us equally. And there is no true least in God's kingdom. But I think it's, it's Jesus dumbing down the language so that we would understand. And that's why he is like what you do to the least of these you do to me. So yeah, there are people who. Are out there who are high on their own accord, doing their own thing, that are just throwing their lives away because they think it's fun. But you don't know until you know. So don't, I would just ask, never dismiss somebody because they look like a junkie. Mm-hmm. Or they look like they've made some bad choices. 'cause maybe they have, or maybe they're stuck in a situation. And I would always encourage, if nothing else, pray for them. Mm-hmm. And maybe in that prayer time, God's like, Hey, that that's somebody that needs you. But if you're willing to just dismiss everybody 'cause they look like they're scarred from injections or they, their face is broken out from different [00:44:00] things, if you just dismiss 'em automatically, then you're blocking God from reaching you to tell you, hey, they need your help, and God's just gonna have to find somebody else. And you're gonna miss the blessed opportunity to reach somebody that needs the love of Christ. Amen. What are you up to now? You have any new projects in the works coming down the pike? When you said, what are you up to now? I was gonna say six foot two. Um, yeah. Right now, uh, because of, uh, the global thing that's going on and I'm in Illinois, so. Theaters aren't open. We're not doing much as far as the comedy. Um, you know, so everybody's kind of focusing on their family. One of the things I have been doing is connecting with other Christian improvisers and, uh, we're, uh, doing. Semi, uh, maybe once a month. Uh, comedy shows where we just get together and we've never practiced before. We've never rehearsed, but we're gonna [00:45:00] put out, uh, some shows where people can just watch online, watch us improvise and participate. Uh, those, uh, will broadcast live on my Facebook page, and I'll advertise those that you know about a week in advance once we get people able to commit to a date. Um. And the, our first one that we did, we had somebody from West Virginia, somebody from Arkansas, two people from Texas, and Oh, had one person, uh, from Ohio, I believe. So we had like a conglomerate of people from all over the, the nation coming in. Uh, we've never practiced before, but we did improv and. Improv and Christianity are so much alike because to do good improv and to be a good Christian, quote unquote good Christian, you need humility. You need to be willing to support the other person, and you need to be willing to love the other person so that they're successful. Um, so when you come into an improv stage as a Christian [00:46:00] improviser. I mean, you've got all the tools just built in. And so we go, we perform online, we're willing to support each other and it makes it really fun. Now, the way we do it, we don't have crowd, you know, reaction, but because we're together, we kind of know what's funny and we're like, okay, this is, you know, we can laugh at each other. And, uh, just really a lot of fun. It's nothing like the real improv of being on stage and no. Intimate experience, but it's a good substitute. It, it's a good gap filler until we can get past all of what's going on. Yeah. Saw your, your post on, Christian Creatives are on the same group. Yeah. And I'm gonna see if I can try and watch that. That'll be fun. This has been great. I, I so appreciate you coming on the show today and putting up with the, uh, the Zoom demons earlier, and I know you don't do this for, [00:47:00] reward or pat's on the back, but. From me to you, thank you so much for what you do for the Lord and what you do for these ladies, because you are changing people's lives and making a difference. So thank you very much. Thank you. So tell the folks how they can connect with you if they wanna know more information about your ministry. Sure. Well, I actually have three primary things that I'm involved with. GIF for Glory is the kind of the umbrella over everything. Uh, you can find us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook at gifts, the number four, glory. And uh, that's where my podcast is. That's, uh, kind of the over um. Corp corporate umbrella over, um, my personal, uh, speaking in improv coaching where you can find me at, real Dave Ebert. Um, there's actually another comedian who's also from the Midwest, uh, not a Christian, [00:48:00] uh, who's, his name is, uh, Dave or David Ebert. So, uh, so I beat him to the punch and I took the real Dave Ebert. Oh, glad you mentioned that. Um, which is hilarious. 'cause on Twitter I'll often get tagged in things that. I have nothing to do with Christianity or ministry, and it's like kind of embarrassing. Totally. And so I'll respond and I'll be like, Hey, I think you meant this guy. Um, but uh, thanks so much for the shout out. You don't want the credit for some dirty joke. Right, right. Yeah. I mean, I, I. Unfortunately, before Christ really took over my life there, I did say quite a few dirty jokes, especially in wrestling locking rooms. Um, but uh, that's washed by the blood and forgiven and mm-hmm. Um, but yeah. Uh, so at real, Dave Ebert is how you can find me. And there is one thing I do like to, uh, share on any every interview. Is, um, if there's somebody out there that hears this podcast and you're [00:49:00] somebody that's wrestling with depression or considering suicide, uh, my email box is open to you, uh, 24 hours a day. Uh, it goes directly to my phone, and this is an email address. I'll always keep active. So if in 2035 somebody picks up this podcast, that email will be available barring rapture. Um. Yeah, and I say that tongue in cheek, but, uh, if you're somebody that's wrestling, I really want to hear from you and wanna walk you through it. Uh, my email address is Dave at gifts, the number four glory.com. dave@giftsforglory.com. And, uh, I'm not gonna preach at you. I'm not gonna just copy and paste a bunch of scripture. I just want to hear what your story is and I wanna walk with you through it. I know that. In my depression. For me, I feel like had somebody had that option where I could talk to somebody that didn't know me, that didn't have preconceived ideas, that I'm, I would've been willing to just open up. And I'm [00:50:00] hoping that, uh, even one person, if you need that and you just, and I refer to it earlier, that verbal diarrhea, just like, let let it pour out. Uh, my dad was a military man. I was in wrestling for eight years. There's not a curse word I haven't heard. So if you need to curse in your email, don't feel like, oh, he's a pastor. I gotta edit. No, don't worry about that. Just tell me what you're want. A safe person, uh, yeah, and I wanna be there and I want to help in any way I can. If it's just listening and reading your email and just sending a few words back, that's what I wanna do. So that's open for you for, and if you're somebody that knows somebody that's not able to ask for help, uh, you know, contact me and I'll be happy to, uh, to do what I can. That is so awesome. Thank you so much for, for being a resource for, for the listeners, and I hope those that are listening will take advantage of that opportunity. And I love your podcast. [00:51:00] I listen to your podcast every week and you have some great guests on there. And we seem to agree on a lot of, um, things that I won't mention. I don't talk about politics on the show, but yeah. We seem to be on the same page on a lot of things. So thanks again for, for coming on the show tonight. Thank you so much. You as well. And, uh, I hope that, uh, uh, DSW Ministries takes off in the new year and that, uh, you meet every goal that, you've, that you've set forth. God bless you, Dave. Now I'll put all of his information in the show notes for everybody. You are never a victim when you choose to take action. Remember that friends, so we will see you all next week. God bless. Thank you for listening to the Wounds of the Faithful Podcast. If this episode has been helpful to you, please [00:52:00] hit the subscribe button and tell a friend. You could connect with us at DSW Ministries dot org where you'll find our blog, along with our Facebook, Twitter, and our YouTube channel links. Hope to see you next week.

Though We Stumble, We Shall Not FallPsalm 37:23-24 “Our steps are made firm by the Lord, when he delights in our way;  though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand.”I have read that verse several times today and yet this time when I read it I got the image of toddler walking along the sidewalk while he is holding his daddy's hand.  When we are just learning to walk we definitely stumble and sometimes we even fall.  We fall because we are learning something new.  We fall because we are letting go of the safety of the wall, couch, or coffee table and venture out on our own.  It is not a bad thing when we fall as long as we get back up and try again.  It is expected to take time to learn something new.  It is part of the journey.  If we never let go of that safety net we will never learn what we are capable of.  What I love about this verse though is that it says we will stumble, but we will not fall because God hold us by the hand.  God allows us to venture out into the unknown, but we are not alone.  He doesn't send us out alone, he holds our hand.  He allows us to stumble, but we don't fall headfirst into the ground.  We stumble and He steadies us.  To me that is a great image.  The beginning line of this verse says, “Our steps are made firm by the Lord, when he delights in our way.”  I found the word “when” an interesting addition to this sentence.  I was wondering why it was there.  I know the words in the Bible are chosen carefully so what does that first sentence mean?  The first thought that came to me was maybe when our steps are unsteady and weak, we aren't doing what the Lord wants us to do.  Maybe we are like a child venturing out on our own.  We aren't waiting for the Lord to hold our hand, we are just heading out without him.  Have you ever done this? Saw something you wanted and went after it.  You didn't stop to ask God if it was right for you?  You didn't stop to weigh the pros and cons, you didn't really give it much thought at all.  It all seemed too good to be true and so you ran after it.  Yep, me too.  How did it work out for you?  Was it all you thought it would be?  The thought that keeps coming up in my mind is, “Not every opportunity is from God.”  If something feels too good to be true, this is a great time to pause and examine the situation.    I am definitely an optimist so you won't find me raining on your parade.  Maybe it is exactly what you have been praying for.  Maybe God gave this opportunity to you as an answer to your prayers.  God does do amazing things.  Often times God's plan do seem too good to be true.  This is not me telling you if it seems too good to be true it probably is.  What I am saying is if the opportunity is from God He won't mind if you pause to consult Him about it.  He will like it if you take time to pray about it.  Even if that time is 5 minutes.  A job may come up and you may not have a lot of time to consider it, that's ok.  Take a few minutes, catch your breath and ask God what He thinks.  Ask Him for guidance and see what he says, or how you feel about the job after you have talked to God about it.  Have you ever rushed into the perfect opportunity because you thought it was the answer to your prayers and it wasn't?  This can happen when we don't stop and invite God into our decision making.  For instance, we have been praying for more money and then a promotion becomes available.  We decide, without talking to God, this promotion is the answer to all of our prayers.  However, when we get the promotion we find out it has a lot of travel attached to it, or longer hours and now we never get to spend time with our family.  Not every opportunity is from God.  Sometimes the enemy offers us things that seem like what we want but aren't actually good for us.  For instance we want to be rich and powerful and we achieve it and yet we are not happy.  These opportunities, or maybe the desires, might be from the enemy.  We live in a fast paced world and sometimes it seems like we have to do everything so quickly.  We feel as though we don't have 5 minutes to stop and think.  If you don't have time to pause and consult the Lord then I don't believe that opportunity is from the Lord.  I think that is the enemy trying to get you to make decisions based on your feelings instead of your thoughts.  Our feelings can betray us.  When we are acting solely upon our feelings we are letting go of God's hand and telling Him we can walk on our own.  We are telling God we don't need Him.  Our feelings don't have our overall best interest at heart.  Our feelings are based on our temporary happiness.  Their goal is to make us feel good in the moment.  For instance, we might eat some macaroni and cheese for dinner because are feeling sad today and want to feel happy.  However, how is that macaroni and cheese going to make you feel when you no longer fit into your clothing.  We might take a job that seems good and pays a lot of money because we feel scared that we won't have enough money to pay the bills.  However, how much are you going to enjoy that job when you find out you never get to see your family.  Do you see how your feeling can betray you.  The verse says, “Our steps are made firm by the Lord, when he delights in our way;  though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand.”  When we stop and consult God, ask Him what He wants us to do, invite Him into the situation, our steps are made firm.  When we pause and grab hold of God's hand He will lead us.  This doesn't mean everything will be perfect.  We will still stumble, but we won't fall.  God hold's tight to our hand.  Yes, he allows us to stumble, and that is because when we stumble we learn, when we stumble we become more resilient, when we stumble we learn to lean on Him  more.  However, He does not allow us to fall headlong.  He catches us and sets us on solid ground once again.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we are so grateful that you make firm our steps.  We are grateful you allow us to stumble because that is where we grow and yet you don't allow us to fall.  You are there to catch us.  You hold our hand gently guiding through these uncharted waters.  Lord, we are sorry for all those times when we run off without you and do the things we want to do.  We are sorry for the times when we don't consult you.  We know you know better than we do.  We know your ways are higher than our ways.  Help give us the strength to pause and invite you into our decisions.  Help give us the patience to wait on your timing.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen.  Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Send us a textHave you ever found yourself standing at the edge of what God is asking — hesitant to step deeper?In Ezekiel 47, the prophet sees a river flowing from the temple — ankle-deep, knee-deep, waist-deep — until it becomes a river so deep it can only be swum in. That river represents the Spirit of God, flowing with healing, life, and restoration.In this episode, I'm sharing what it's looked like in my own life to let go of control and trust God enough to step where I can no longer touch the ground. Because the truth is — full surrender isn't just about faith; it's about healing.Maybe God is inviting you, too, to take one more step. To move from standing in safe, shallow waters to being fully immersed in His presence — where healing begins and life flows again.Let's walk together into the river that makes everything come alive.

We are now in the middle of our series, No Longer Strangers. Talk 3, God Has a Family, affirms that we are not strangers from one another. Every single human being has equal dignity, equal identity, and equal inheritance—because we're all children of God. No exception. Even if we look at the world today, there is so much painful inequality. Which makes us think: “Maybe God loves some more than others.” Sadly, inequality is the undeniable mark of the world around us. But Ephesians says this is not God's Plan. In Ephesians 3, Paul gives a summary of everything he's talked about so far and then prays that we'll be able to understand—just a bit more—the greatest mystery of all— God's awesome Love for us. The key message of Talk 3: We are equally loved.

Why do Christians have to go through hardship? Well, trials are like God’s gym. In them, we're broken down so we can be built up. Pastor Greg Laurie shares more in his message focused on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Notes: Focus verse - Daniel 3 / James 1 Jesus walking with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego through the fiery furnace. Do not despair! You are not alone in your hardship! 1 Peter 4:12Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through,as if something strange were happening to you. 1 Peter 4:14Be happy if you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God will come upon you. There are different kinds of trials and testings in the life of the Christian.The devil tempts us to destroy our faith, but God tests us to develop our faith. A faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted.This is clearly shown in the story before us of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego stood up for what was right, even at the risk of losing their own lives. The stand you make today will determine what kind of stand you will make tomorrow. The most important time of our life is the time of our youth.It is when we set our course and habits are developed. The evening of our life is determined by the morning of it,the end from the beginning. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego made a stand in a small area.This is why they had the character and strength to make their stand in a larger one. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego were captured along with Daniel and placed as counselors to the king. One night King Nebuchadnezzar had a troubling dream.When he awoke, he called in all the astrologers and magicians. The prophet, Daniel, humbly gave glory to God, and told the king he had dreamed of a giant statue. Daniel 2:47 (NLT)The King said to Daniel, "Truly, your God is the God of gods, the Lord over kings, a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this secret." As chapter 3 opens, around 16–20 years have passed.King Nebuchadnezzar has a 90-foot-tall statue erected, covered in gold of himself! The King ordered that everyone gather for a big celebration.They had an orchestra in place and when they played you better bow, or else! The Lord was very clear about that in the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:4–5"Do not make idols of any kind; you must never worship or bow down to them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not share your affection with any.” Thousands of Israelites apparently bowed, but not these three.Someone estimated 300,000 people were present. Read Daniel 3:14–18 King Nebuchadnezzar was choosing off God, when he asks,“What god will be able to rescue you?” Nebuchadnezzar had quickly forgotten the God who gave him a dream. Because of his pride, Nebuchadnezzar would soon be brought to his knees. Everybody is a worshipper. The question is not if we worship or not.It’s who we worship. Because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego worshipped God, they could not worship the statue. You will end up serving who you worship. Daniel 3:18”Your Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up." A moment at the altar of sexual experimentation can lead to a lifetime of regret. Moments spent worshipping God can lead to a lifetime of service. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were adamant, they were not going to bow. This will happen in the life of every Christian.Sooner or later, you too will be asked to bow before some idol. These boys were facing peer pressure on an epic scale. Despite the fact that everyone in Babylon bowed,Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego stood up straight. They figured, "Better to burn on earth and bow in Heaven, than to bow on earth, and burn in Hell!” One day, the Disciples came to Jesus, excited that they could cast out demons. Luke 10:20 (NLT)“But don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven." Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were not sure they would survive this, but they were sure of God’s promises.Daniel 3:17–18 Either God would preserve them, or He would be waiting on the other side. Upon hearing of this insubordination on the part of these three teens, the King flies into a rage. Read Daniel 3:19–25 Nebuchadnezzar said the fourth man looked “like the Son of God!” In this Christophany, Jesus walked with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego through this fiery furnace. Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Jesus is there with you, each step of the way. Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you, even until the end of the world." James 1:2–4When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don't treat them as intruders but friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on, until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character, men of integrity with no weak spots. Staying cool, when things get hot. How do you do that? It’s similar to going to the gym and working out. A lot of folks find themselves getting tired and lethargic and say, “I’m just getting old!”Yes, and it maybe you are just out of shape too. Maybe you need to get busy and do something with your faith. Jesus said, “Give and it shall be given unto you.” Trials take our faith from the realm of theory to reality. James 1:3 (NKJV)Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Perseverance! (Greek: Hypomonē) We know about the suffering of Joseph. Psalm 105:18 (NLT)They bruised his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar. “As he was laid in iron, iron entered his soul.” The very thing you want out of your life may be the thing you need in your life. If you want to grow spiritually, iron must enter your soul. James 1:4 (NKJV)Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. We may pray, “Lord, use me for Your glory! Bless me, Lord!”Then a trial comes. James 1:2 (NKJV)My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,No two experiences are alike. How did they do this?By the decisions and commitments they made years earlier. An idol is anyone or anything that takes God’s place in our life. 1 John 5:21 (NKJV)Little children, keep yourselves from idols. One day another world leader will come along and demand worship.The bible calls him Antichrist. He too will erect an image and demand worship, placing the image in the temple. Jesus promises to deliver us from this time of tribulation. Revelation 3:10 (NKJV)"Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” Revelation 3:11 (NKJV)"Behold, I am coming quickly! Jesus says, ”Behold, I am coming quickly!”Revelation 3:11 Nebuchadnezzar saw God work. Maybe God is trying to get your attention today! Jesus died on the cross for your sin so you could know God. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ.Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why do Christians have to go through hardship? Well, trials are like God’s gym. In them, we're broken down so we can be built up. Pastor Greg Laurie shares more in his message focused on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Notes: Focus verse - Daniel 3 / James 1 Jesus walking with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego through the fiery furnace. Do not despair! You are not alone in your hardship! 1 Peter 4:12Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through,as if something strange were happening to you. 1 Peter 4:14Be happy if you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God will come upon you. There are different kinds of trials and testings in the life of the Christian.The devil tempts us to destroy our faith, but God tests us to develop our faith. A faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted.This is clearly shown in the story before us of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego stood up for what was right, even at the risk of losing their own lives. The stand you make today will determine what kind of stand you will make tomorrow. The most important time of our life is the time of our youth.It is when we set our course and habits are developed. The evening of our life is determined by the morning of it,the end from the beginning. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego made a stand in a small area.This is why they had the character and strength to make their stand in a larger one. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego were captured along with Daniel and placed as counselors to the king. One night King Nebuchadnezzar had a troubling dream.When he awoke, he called in all the astrologers and magicians. The prophet, Daniel, humbly gave glory to God, and told the king he had dreamed of a giant statue. Daniel 2:47 (NLT)The King said to Daniel, "Truly, your God is the God of gods, the Lord over kings, a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this secret." As chapter 3 opens, around 16–20 years have passed.King Nebuchadnezzar has a 90-foot-tall statue erected, covered in gold of himself! The King ordered that everyone gather for a big celebration.They had an orchestra in place and when they played you better bow, or else! The Lord was very clear about that in the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:4–5"Do not make idols of any kind; you must never worship or bow down to them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not share your affection with any.” Thousands of Israelites apparently bowed, but not these three.Someone estimated 300,000 people were present. Read Daniel 3:14–18 King Nebuchadnezzar was choosing off God, when he asks,“What god will be able to rescue you?” Nebuchadnezzar had quickly forgotten the God who gave him a dream. Because of his pride, Nebuchadnezzar would soon be brought to his knees. Everybody is a worshipper. The question is not if we worship or not.It’s who we worship. Because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego worshipped God, they could not worship the statue. You will end up serving who you worship. Daniel 3:18”Your Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up." A moment at the altar of sexual experimentation can lead to a lifetime of regret. Moments spent worshipping God can lead to a lifetime of service. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were adamant, they were not going to bow. This will happen in the life of every Christian.Sooner or later, you too will be asked to bow before some idol. These boys were facing peer pressure on an epic scale. Despite the fact that everyone in Babylon bowed,Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego stood up straight. They figured, "Better to burn on earth and bow in Heaven, than to bow on earth, and burn in Hell!” One day, the Disciples came to Jesus, excited that they could cast out demons. Luke 10:20 (NLT)“But don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven." Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were not sure they would survive this, but they were sure of God’s promises.Daniel 3:17–18 Either God would preserve them, or He would be waiting on the other side. Upon hearing of this insubordination on the part of these three teens, the King flies into a rage. Read Daniel 3:19–25 Nebuchadnezzar said the fourth man looked “like the Son of God!” In this Christophany, Jesus walked with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego through this fiery furnace. Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Jesus is there with you, each step of the way. Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you, even until the end of the world." James 1:2–4When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don't treat them as intruders but friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on, until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character, men of integrity with no weak spots. Staying cool, when things get hot. How do you do that? It’s similar to going to the gym and working out. A lot of folks find themselves getting tired and lethargic and say, “I’m just getting old!”Yes, and it maybe you are just out of shape too. Maybe you need to get busy and do something with your faith. Jesus said, “Give and it shall be given unto you.” Trials take our faith from the realm of theory to reality. James 1:3 (NKJV)Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Perseverance! (Greek: Hypomonē) We know about the suffering of Joseph. Psalm 105:18 (NLT)They bruised his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar. “As he was laid in iron, iron entered his soul.” The very thing you want out of your life may be the thing you need in your life. If you want to grow spiritually, iron must enter your soul. James 1:4 (NKJV)Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. We may pray, “Lord, use me for Your glory! Bless me, Lord!”Then a trial comes. James 1:2 (NKJV)My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,No two experiences are alike. How did they do this?By the decisions and commitments they made years earlier. An idol is anyone or anything that takes God’s place in our life. 1 John 5:21 (NKJV)Little children, keep yourselves from idols. One day another world leader will come along and demand worship.The bible calls him Antichrist. He too will erect an image and demand worship, placing the image in the temple. Jesus promises to deliver us from this time of tribulation. Revelation 3:10 (NKJV)"Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” Revelation 3:11 (NKJV)"Behold, I am coming quickly! Jesus says, ”Behold, I am coming quickly!”Revelation 3:11 Nebuchadnezzar saw God work. Maybe God is trying to get your attention today! Jesus died on the cross for your sin so you could know God. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ.Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Petia invites you into a deeply honest and vulnerable conversation about purpose, calling, and the way God gently unfolds what we're meant to do. If you've been wrestling with the question “What's my purpose?” — this one is for you. It's not about hustle, performance or having all the answers. It's about resting in what God is already doing, recognising what He's placed in your path, and trusting that He has written the story long before you arrived. Petia shares her own journey—shifting from business coaching to leaning into motherhood, the “aha” moments she's been given, and how what once felt too simple is exactly the gift to step into.   What You'll Learn Why we often over‑complicate our calling when the Bible shows it's simple (James 4:8, Matthew 7:7). What it looks like to let go of control and allow God to guide the next step rather than you trying to piece everything together. How to recognise when something lights you up and flows easily—this is a clue to your gift and calling. Encouragement to ask: “What am I pretending I'm not seeing?” and “What's so obvious I'm overlooking it?” A fresh perspective: your purpose may be big or small right now—but it will feel life‑giving and God‑led. Practical next steps: Listen for the gentle nudges. Trust the timing. Walk with God one step at a time.   Key Verses “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” — James 4:8 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” — Matthew 7:7     Why This Matters In a culture of doing, performance and comparison, this conversation offers a breath of fresh faith: God doesn't need our striving. He needs our surrender. He already knows the before, the now and the later. When we partner with Him instead of trying to manufacture everything ourselves, our path becomes clearer—even if the full picture hasn't yet been revealed.     Personal Story Petia was reflecting one morning after her Bible reading and realised: “My coaching background has given me business strategy—but it never felt right for my soul. Now that I'm pregnant and walking through motherhood again, I see what lights me up: helping other women who are walking into motherhood, non‑toxic living, holistic nutrition, podcasting…” She shares how she discovered a “common thread” among her clients: pregnant women, women planning for pregnancy, women wanting to live holistically as mamas. And how that thread felt like God saying: ‘Here. This is it.' She also recounts how at a local church conference she connected with a company helping women with unplanned pregnancies—a clear sign that her path, calling and gifting are aligning.     Action Steps for You Sit quietly today and ask: “What's so obvious in my path I'm ignoring?” Write down what lights you up—what you do easily, what you talk about without being asked. Ask a trusted friend: “What gift do you see in me that I don't recognise yet?” Choose one small step: maybe a short Instagram reel, a reflection prompt, a prayer asking God for clarity. Remember: if all the blessings came right now, could you handle them? Maybe God is saying: “Not yet—let me prepare you.”   Connect With Me Instagram: @Petia or @Made4Impact_Podcast If this episode gave you hope or fresh insight, please share with other women—whether they're believers or exploring faith—so we can bring light and encouragement together.     Leave a Review Your review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify matters! It helps more people find this show and be encouraged. Thank you so much.     Until then, remember: you're not alone. God's with you. He's guiding every step. And your calling is unfolding beautifully. Blessings, Petia Kolibova Burns

Welcome to The Daily, where we study the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, every day. Check out our mission to teach every verse of the Bible on video in what we call Project23. Our text today is Judges 10:3-5. After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died and was buried in Kamon. — Judges 10:3-5 Jair's life doesn't read like an action movie. No armies were defeated. No fiery speeches. Just thirty sons riding thirty donkeys, each governing their town. Honestly? It feels… uneventful and ordinary. But that's the beauty. After Abimelech's bloody chaos, Jair brought something Israel desperately needed—ordinary life. Families could grow. Communities could thrive. Stability took root. That was his legacy. Sometimes the absence of headlines, "ordinary," is the greatest headline of all. We are so addicted to the spectacular. We want to live like our lives are highlight reels. Big promotions. Viral moments. Spiritual mountaintops. But God does some of his best work in the grind of the ordinary. Steady dads who show up after long days of work. Moms who faithfully pray with their kids at bedtime. Men and women who stay the course in marriage, integrity, and worship—when nobody is watching or praising them. That's Jair's story. Faithfulness that never trends, but always lasts. Drama is exciting, but it rarely builds anything lasting. Stability feels boring, but it gives time and space for generations to build and flourish. Maybe God's calling you not to chase that next “big moment,” but to keep showing up faithfully in the small ones. Grinding it out in faithful obedience. So keep grinding, with your family, church, and in your time. Do something "ordinary" today. ASK THIS: Do I crave dramatic moments more than daily faithfulness? Where has God called me to show up steadily, even when it feels unnoticed? How can I reframe “ordinary” as holy ground? Who in my life models Jair-like stability, and how can I thank them? DO THIS: Choose one “ordinary” act of faithfulness today—pray with your kids, send an encouraging text, or serve without credit. Do it as worship, not for applause. PRAY THIS: Lord, thank You for the gift of ordinary days. Teach me to embrace faithfulness over flash, stability over spectacle, and obedience that honors You even when no one notices. Amen. PLAY THIS: "Faithful."

✨ Join our free masterclass! If you've been working hard, eating “right,” and still feel stuck — join us for the Her Roadmap to Lasting Weight Loss Masterclass on October 28th at 6:00 PM EST. You'll learn how to reframe your why, create balance, and honor God with your health so you can finally see progress that lasts.

Topics: Moses, Coffee Pumpkin, Parent Reminder, Shock Jock, Contentment, Wisdom, Squeaky Shoes BONUS CONTENT: Relationships   Quotes: “You're not going to see a major repentance story by May.” “Maybe God's waiting for us to be weak.” “Time is finite with your kids.”

Did you ever notice this little law of life? Just about the time you get comfortable in a place, the scenery changes. You're all comfy at home as a little child, and you think this is a world you can handle. You just figured out your house and the yard, and suddenly somebody plunges you into this unfamiliar jungle of kindergarten with all these crazy kids in this classroom. And then you get pretty comfortable in elementary school. You say, "Hey, I've got this figured out. I know how to handle this place." And no sooner do you get on top of that, and they plunge you into the middle school or junior high. Then there's high school. Just about the time you're really confident in junior high, boom, you're in the huge world of high school. And then after that you're plunged into college or the working world, and you think, "Well, I think I've got college figured out." Hello? Now you are plunged into life! Of course, parents get to go through all those new beginnings with their kids. Being grown up doesn't mean you're beyond those "shake ups" that are caused by new beginnings. No, you might be staring at a new beginning right now. Well, I've got news for you! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You're Moving From Rest to Risk." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Exodus 33. Let me set the stage for you a little bit. Moses and his people are at Sinai. At one point, this very imposing mountain out in the wilderness had been a new beginning place for them. They left Egypt, and this is where God asks them to park for a while. They've met the Lord there. But by now Sinai, which maybe once looked new and dangerous, has become the easy, familiar, comfortable place. It's the place where they've had a lot of encounters with the Lord actually. In chapter 33 verse 1, it comes as a shock perhaps when the Lord says to Moses, "Leave this place, you and the people you brought out of Egypt, and go to the land I promised you." Leave this place, this safe place, this familiar place? To something better, but it's something different, something unknown, something risky. Can you relate at all? Maybe God seems to be saying to you, "It's time to move on. You're on the edge of change right now in your life." A new beginning can be triggered by a lot of things - maybe a change at work, a change in your family, maybe in your health, a graduation, retirement, an accident. Well, here's Moses on the edge of something new. He's nervous...and maybe so are you. And God has a word for him. In fact when Moses says, "Teach me Your ways" in Exodus 33:13, we then get God's answer to him. And our word for today from the Word of God, Exodus 33:14 - "The Lord replied, 'My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'" The scenery changes, the cast changes, the location changes, the script changes, but the Director is the same. The presence is what makes the risk not really risky. His presence is what made this place bearable and beautiful. It's the same in the next place. He's the same in the next stage of your life - in the next season. That's the important thing. He will not change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I want you to imagine Jesus now, standing in front of you, looking you in the eye, and you're standing together in front of that new thing. He puts a hand on your shoulders, grips you tightly and He says these words, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." No matter what the risk, no matter what the change you're facing, isn't that enough to go on?

Have you ever looked back and felt the sting of a missed opportunity? In Missed Opportunities and Growth, Vivian Bricker reflects on Ephesians 5:15-17 and reminds us that while fear can cause us to step back from God-given opportunities, His grace still leads us to growth. Even when we stumble, God redeems our regrets and uses them to strengthen our walk with Him. Highlights Ephesians 5:15-17 calls us to live wisely and make the most of every opportunity. Fear often blocks us from stepping into new seasons of growth. Missed opportunities can lead to regret—but also reflection and transformation. God provides continual chances to grow in wisdom, courage, and faith. Learning from setbacks prepares us for future opportunities aligned with His will. Join the Conversation Have you missed an opportunity God placed in your path? How did He use that moment to help you grow? Share your story and encourage others to walk in wisdom and courage. Tag @LifeAudioNetwork and use #FaithAndOpportunities #GodRedeemsRegret #WalkInWisdom to join the conversation.

Send me a Text Message- please include your contact information so I can respondThis episode is different. It's tender. It's raw. And it's something I feel deeply called to share.A grieving parent recently whispered to me, “Maybe God took my child because I strayed.” That sentence — that pain — has echoed in my heart ever since.In this special episode, I speak directly to that voice inside so many of us… the one shaped by fear-based theology, wondering if loss is somehow our fault. Wondering if we're being punished. Wondering if God is angry.We explore the lies that grief can trigger — and the deeper truths that can begin to set us free.You'll hear about soul paths, spiritual guilt, parental love, and what it really means to believe in a loving God. If you've ever carried the weight of “what if” in your loss — or walked beside someone who has — this is for you.

Maybe God is exaggerating about Heaven....Support the show

In business and in life, sometimes things don't go as we planned. Sometimes, our plans are completely derailed. In this episode of the #DoorGrowShow, property management growth experts Jason and Sarah Hull share a recent experience where they ended up in the right place at the right time and discuss the importance of being able to trust the process. You'll Learn [01:27] A Sudden Vet Visit Becomes An Unexpected Lesson [08:20] When the Plan is Derailed [16:30] Being in The Right Place at the Right Time [23:21] Trusting the Process When Things Don't Go as Planned Quotables “In business, things are always changing.” “Things might derail us, but that doesn't mean that it has to be a worse outcome just because it didn't go the way that you wanted.” “A lot of times it's not the business stuff that derails us. It's everything else outside of business.” Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript Jason & Sarah Hull (00:00) In business, things are always changing. Things might derail us, but that doesn't mean that it's going to has to be a worse outcome just because it didn't go the way that you wanted.   All right, we are Jason and Sarah Hull, the owners of DoorGrow, the world's leading and most comprehensive coaching and consulting firm for long-term residential property management entrepreneurs. For over a decade and a half, we have brought innovative strategies and optimization to the property management industry. At DoorGrow, we have spoken to thousands of property management business owners, coached, consulted, and cleaned up hundreds of businesses.   helping them add doors, improve pricing, increase profit, simplify operations, and build and replace teams. We are like Bar Rescue for property managers. In fact, we have cleaned up and rebranded over 300 businesses, and we run the leading property management mastermind with more video testimonials and reviews than any other coach or consultant in the industry. At DoorGrow, we believe that good property managers can change the world.   and that property management is the ultimate high trust gateway to real estate deals, relationships and residual income at DoorGrow. We are on a mission to transform property management, business owners and their businesses. We want to transform the industry, eliminate the BS, build awareness, change perception, expand the market and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. now let's get into the show. OK, so we were up way too late last night.   And it wasn't for any really exciting reason. It was because of dogs. So. Do you want to tell the story? Yeah, sure. So you start last night, we were about to settle down and we were going to watch something on Netflix and my dog, my biggest dog, Parker, he is he's our pit bull. Well, he's our pure red pit bull. And he's kind of scratching and pawing at the couch.   telling Jason he wants something. So Jason goes over, pulls it out. And we have these, they're water buffalo horns. Natural, like real water buffalo horns that they chew on. And there was a, how big was it? Like this big? Yeah, I don't know. Maybe like two by three inches kind of a thing. So little last piece of it and Parker wanted it. I got up.   Went to the bathroom. I come out. It's in pieces on the floor. So I did not want him to eat that. So I said, no, no, no, give me that. And he did not want to give it to me. So I took the remaining pieces off of the floor and I figured I would bribe him with a treat. I was pretty sure he swallowed. And at least some of it was kind of dark. Yeah. So pretty sure he swallowed some of it.   And I went, okay, I don't wanna play this game. I've played this game several times. It's not fun. I'm just gonna induce vomiting and then we'll get it out of him and we'll go on with our night. So we do this mixture of hydrogen peroxide and I some vanilla ice cream.   No vomit. So I did another batch of that. No vomit. I did a third batch of that. No vomit. And now I'm starting to panic because it's been about what? 15 minutes at that point. Maybe 20. Maybe 20. And I'm going, I'm panicking. I'm going, I have never given a dog hydrogen peroxide and they didn't vomit. I don't understand what to do. So he had looked up online and he said, okay, well.   Walking I guess will help stimulate that so I went okay. So we walked him down to the end of the block. We came back. No vomit we got into the house as soon as we got into the house, then he vomited twice And some of the pieces had come out, but I was quite large. Yeah. Yeah, I know I don't think they would have passed through a system. So it was a good thing that we did that. Yeah, I know so then I I felt like what if there's more in there because I just don't I don't know   And I get, I get really nervous about that. So we were thinking that most of it kind of came out. I thought maybe there was a little bit left, but wasn't quite sure. Didn't want to induce vomiting again, especially after that much time had passed. It's, it's, it's not going to be good at that point. So we were sitting on the couch. We were kind of keeping an eye on him. He was drinking some water, but then he started kind of drooling.   and that's not a good sign, I went, okay, we're going to the vet. So we went to the emergency room vet. We got there around 11 o'clock.   Okay. Thinking they would get him right in because it's an emergency. Yeah. And they just had a crazy night at this place. Such a sad night for them. So we got there. We drove my Chevy Tahoe, not my cyber truck. Yeah. Because that's the vehicle we usually drive if we're putting the dogs in it, because, know, who knows, maybe the dogs scratch stuff or puke or whatever. So we drove the Tahoe and   We get there and they wouldn't see us. And there's kind of a timeline in Sarah's mind. Well, no, you look it It says pretty much about two hours from when it goes to the stomach into, I think it's called the pyloric valve. You can quote me on that. But then it goes into the intestine. If it goes into the intestine, we're F'd because it's not going to pass through the intestine. I can tell you that for sure.   And once it's in there, you can't get it. It's not like it can regurgitate back out into the stomach. It's in there, it's done. So now your option is surgery or death. Ask me how I know. Been there, done that. Yeah, you had a dog have this issue. Two dogs. Two. Two dogs eating things they shouldn't eat. Yeah. So I'm trying to make sure we can get, if there is something in there, I just want to check and see. Don't even know. Maybe there's something in there. Maybe there's not.   But if there's something in there, I want to get it before it gets into the intestine Yeah, so by the time we got there it already been at least what an hour and a half Yeah Since the original incident so we don't know if there's still something in him and we get there and then we're sitting in the waiting room and there's a Lot of stuff happening. I guess there's just a lot of people ahead of us to have some serious Issues with their pets and so we're waiting   Eventually I go up and you were freaking out. You're like, we're nearing the deadline. I'm counting down. I'm going, okay, we have 20 minutes left. So I go up and I just say, is there any way we can rush this along or is there another place we can go? And she hands me a sheet. Here's some other hospitals in the area. This one's 20 minutes away. It's good. This one's 30 minutes away. It's good. And I was like, my gosh, it's another 20 and 30 minutes. That puts us past the two hour mark. So I...   Explain this to you brought you the sheet like and you said we might as well just yeah go home So I said well at that point if they cannot get us in here and then we have to go somewhere else either way We're gonna miss the two-hour deadline. So at that point now, it's a gamble Okay, so if it's moving on to his intestine now, we just go okay We keep an eye on him and he's gonna be fine or we keep an eye on him and we come right back here when we need to so   We talked about it, we thought about it, and then we said, okay, let's just head home because if there's nothing they can do at this point, like we missed the window. So let's just head home. Okay. So the story gets kind of interesting from here. So we go out to the car, we get Parker in and I push the button to start the Tahoe and it sort of turns over, but it doesn't start. So the battery must be low.   like never has happened ever with this vehicle. And so we were stuck. We were stuck. Okay. Could not. Yeah. Couldn't start the vehicle. So forced to stay there, which actually back for jumper cables. Right. I'm digging around, figuring out where I'd hide, hit my jumper cables in this vehicle. He was pissed. He like hit the steering wheel.   Okay, apparently I got violent with the the Tahoe. He was mad. So get it. It was like 11 45 at night. I understand. Okay, so the story gets even more interesting. Well at this point. Well wait. So at this point I had said to Jason I said wait. my god. What if This is god telling us You are supposed to be here like you are exactly where you are supposed to be I thought maybe because this is weird. This is weird All right, so we're tell you the conclusion of this because it does seem like   some little bit of magic happened. So maybe God really did want to stay. So, but I'm going to share our sponsor for this this this episode, Cover Pest. So Cover Pest is the easiest and seamless way to add on demand pest control to your resident benefit package. Residents love the simplicity of submitting a service request and how affordable it is compared to traditional pest control options. Investors love knowing that their property is kept pest free.   And property managers love getting their time back and making more revenue per door. Simply put, Cover Pest is the easiest way to handle pest control issues at all of your properties. To learn more and to get special DoorGrow pricing, visit coverpest.com slash DoorGrow. Okay. Back to the story. All right. So, so then I'm, find the jumper cables and I'm like, cool. I guess I was   and I was like, I don't even know if I have jumper cables, but I do. I had that planned. So from the beginning, I guess a long time ago, I had stashed them in a panel in the backside of the vehicle that had to pop off in plastic. And then I found them. All right, so I had the bag, I had the jumper cables, and then I'm like, I need to find somebody. And like, there's a bunch of cars, but only one was running and there was only one person outside, so I went up to it. I could tell they were pretty upset.   Like I'd seen them walking around. It's two ladies. Turns out one is the friend of the other and had driven her there in her car. And so I went up to the window and I was like, know, I'll let my jumper cables. She rolled down her window and said, hey, could you help us jump our car? Our car won't start. I could really use some help. And I'm thinking.   she's probably thinking I'm some weird creep or gonna do something or I don't know, like in middle of the night, like it's really, it's late and like, you know, but she was like, she said, yeah, I'd be, I'd be happy to help. My dog just died. And then this lady's coming out that works at this center and she's holding a little paper and she said, this lady is bringing me the prints that they took of my dog's paws.   right now. And I was like, my gosh, I am so sorry. Like this is like one of the most awful things ever. And I didn't, I didn't even know what I could say other than I'm so sorry. And she said, but she was willing to help out. So she drove her car over and next to ours and I hooked up the cables and tried getting this thing started. And it like, I think I charged it. Initially, I thought let's do it for like five minutes, then try it.   Then we waited, didn't work, waited another five, 10 minutes, tried again, still didn't work. Somewhere in the middle of trying all this, the same lady comes out and she's like holding her iPad and she's like, are you guys here for Parker? Are you still wanting to be seen? And I was like, well, I guess. And I said, do you want to? It's already been past that time. And Sarah was like, yeah, we might as well.   Yeah, so I explained to her the issue and she said well It might not hurt to have them looked at and she said it's not a hard and fast two-hour rule sometimes it's closer to two to four so you might still have some time and You know, do you want us to at least check him out and you know? Do an exam like, know, we can kind of feel around in the stomach. Maybe do an ultrasound or an x-ray I said, okay, let's get him in so I went brought Parker in and Jason stayed outside   Trying to jump the car. So this lady said, you know, I told her, you know, I could when I had got offered like asked for help, I had said, well, only, you know, I could give you a hug, you know, was the thing I could offer because she was so sad and I didn't know what to do. And she then told me I started talking with her. She told me that she was she just opened up.   I think she could tell I was probably a safe person to talk to. She just opened up and said, hey, I'm just really debating right now whether I should go see her, go see my dead dog. Like whether I should go see her, because I didn't see her. Like she went in and she passed away and I didn't see her. so I could tell, you know, if she's asking the question, there's probably, it's probably, yeah, you probably should. And I said, well,   I just was thinking, what does she think around and, you know, trying to be empathetic. And I was like, she's, why would she not want to? Well, I was like, are you concerned that if you go see your dog, that that's the image you'll have of her forever? And she said, yeah. And she starts crying. She said, yes. I said, you have a lifetime of experiences with this dog to remember, you know, with her to remember her by.   This will not be the defining thing, but I think if you don't go and get full closure on this and you know, there's going to be an emotional thing that just doesn't happen. You know, you need, you need to get that closure and that would be my, my guess, but this is for you to decide. And, I guess based on that conversation, she decided to go, to go, to go do it. So she.   like I'm gonna go do it and so she goes get in my car still her car still running I'm still trying to charge my car figure out well now I guess I'll just let it run for a while and I let it run for a good another 10 15 another 15 minutes at a timer still wouldn't start car just would not start it wouldn't turn over   So she goes in and then eventually she comes back out and she's like, they're making me wait. I think they're trying to get her presentable for me. And I said, well, it's probably a good thing. You know, but she's like, but now I am like, I'm thinking all about it and I'm stressed. And I have to wait. was hoping I'd just walk in and see her and be done with it. And I was like, yeah, I get that. And I guess you were inside with Parker and you had eventually she was.   came out and they were like, you can go in. She, she went in to go, go see, but I had asked her, like, do you mind me asking what happened? She said, my dog was in a car accident. A car hit my dog, not a car accident. My dog hit like I hit by the car and cause she gets out and thinks it's super fun to get out and had gotten out and she was feeling really guilty. Like it was her fault. And so she went in, I guess, to go see the dog and I was outside with the cars, but you had kind of, you were inside.   to share? Yeah well I was inside with Parker just kind of waiting so at this point they had already come and checked a few things preliminarily and then they were sending the doctor in and I think everybody in the building could hear that poor woman she was just absolutely crushed and heartbroken and just wailing and crying and I am not   one to cry and I'm sitting there I've got like tears coming down my face I'm going god this poor woman just because I've been there and I know what that feels like. So then the doctor ends up coming in and she's kind of checking him out and asking me some questions and the fact that it was a water buffalo horn was really confusing for everyone because it's not very common. So she's kind of feeling around on his stomach and she goes he has a full bladder.   She said, he might need a potty break. And she said, OK, and then I'm just going to check a couple things here, and then we're going to take him in the back. We'll do an ultrasound. I said, OK. So as she's doing her heart check on him, she said, hey, did anyone ever tell you that he has a heart murmur? And I said, no. And she said, OK, well, it's not anything serious right now. It's really not bad. But it is something to keep an eye on because.   it could be associated with something like heart disease or a heart failure. So there might be some underlying heart condition. It's you might want to talk to a cardiologist and just kind of have them check it out. I said, okay. So then she took Parker back and I was waiting for them to come back. She comes back at some point with him and she says, well, she said, okay, so here's what I think about the bone. I'm still going to stand by my original statement.   I would not recommend inducing vomiting again. You already did that. Some of the bones came out. She said, if there's anything else in there, I would not recommend inducing vomiting again. Sometimes if you do induce vomiting, then something might get stuck in the esophagus. It might scratch or tear the esophagus. Now you have a critical problem. So she said, I think you already did that. Don't worry about it. I would not do it again. I would not recommend us doing it again. She said, if it's a bone,   Their stomachs are just meant to digest that. Don't give him any sort of anti acid. Just let his stomach do its thing. And at some point it'll disintegrate and it'll pass normally. So I said, okay. And she said, I do however have some bad news. And I said, well, what is it? And she said, well, do you know when I was feeling him and I said, his bladder seems full. Well, that was not his bladder.   And she said, so he has a large mass located right behind his bladder. And she showed me the ultrasound image of it. And it's larger than a grapefruit right now. So it's pretty big. And she doesn't know what it is. She's not sure, you know, is it liquid? Is it some sort of cyst? Is it some sort of like tumor? We don't really know what it is.   She sent me a referral so that I can go and have them do an ultrasound and then have them kind of take a look at it. They of course recommended biopsy, which I'm not going to do. But she said, yeah, I would definitely have this checked out. And she said, I am so, so, so sorry to have to tell you this. But the way she was breaking it to me was almost like she was treating me like the woman who, yeah, who like, whose dog just passed away.   And I'm thinking, okay. So from her point of view, I understand why she was kind of reacting that way. I do understand why she thought I would react that way. But I think the way I feel about it is I don't think we're gonna go the typical normal route of let's go and have somebody poke it and rupture it and then.   release whatever it is out into his body to just float around and that'll kill him in like a year. And in the meantime, we're going to do all kinds of medication and cancer treatments and radiation and chemotherapy and all of the things that then will also kill you. We're not doing any of those things. But yeah, the point is she felt like it was really, really bad news and you felt like you're going to figure out a solution. Well, I felt like it was just a good thing that that was found.   We know because we wouldn't have known otherwise. How would I have ever known that? He's perfectly healthy. There's no it's not like, you know, there's any kind of warning signs. The one thing is he did lose some weight. So at some point that might have been a concern for me. Like, hey, I'm trying to get him to gain weight and he doesn't seem like he's gaining weight. Maybe something would have shown up on blood on a blood test at some point. But I just don't know that they would have.   Maybe eventually they would have found that. Yeah. But I just don't think like right off the bat, they would have found it. But it would have gone on a lot longer if there was an issue. So and we don't know what the issue is fully yet. That's still to be determined. however, yeah, that that that gal came out after viewing her dog. She was just I could tell a mess. So I I couldn't get the car to start. Didn't matter how long I was charging it. So I said.   Let me just unhook this and you just go, go do what you gotta do, go home and close their thing, their hood and let her leave. So there I am with this dead car. I don't know what's going on with Parker and you're in there and I'm so frustrated thinking, do I need to like get an Uber home, go get my cyber truck to come here and try and jump this car or try and get, like, am I gonna need to roadside assistance? So I'm trying to figure out how to get roadside assistance from our insurance and.   It's just, I'm trying to figure it out. And then eventually some other couple came out and they were like, I chatted with them a bit and they're like, yeah, we're here for another hour at least. Our dog's in surgery. It had gotten sliced open through its whole side somehow and they have no idea how it happened. And I'm like, that's crazy. They're like, yeah. And so I chatted with them for a bit and I said, well, could you help me jump my vehicle? And they had a, they had a,   Ford that was kind of similar in size to my Chevy and I thought maybe this one will have a little more juice somehow I don't know alternators only are adding a lecture, you know To on the on the meter there, you know to charge the battery, but I turned off all the everything I went away from it. So nothing was turning on we Charged it up. I tried starting once it didn't take but it sort of did something so I just left it charging a bit longer I said a longer timer   You eventually came out, but right before you came out, I tried, I was almost ready to submit the form to get roadside assistance to have them come out for the battery. And it was that or towing. Those are your two options. It's like, did you already try to jump it? If you did, they would only send towing. So I had to say no, like come out and help me jump it. And so I asked him if he could help me try one more time and.   He was really nice guy and they were stuck there for a while. So we just charged it for like 15, 20 minutes. And then you came out right after I had tested it and it started. And so now the car was ready. It was ready to go. And I'd already tried for like 20 minutes plus of charging before, maybe a half hour, trying to get this thing to work. Couldn't get it to start. And now it started. What's weird is that the car was having more issues than   like with the second thing, like things weren't turning on the second vehicle I was charging it off of than the first. So I was really surprised, but it just started. And then you came out and the car was ready. And so I really kind of feel like maybe you were right. Maybe God was like, you need to be kind of a little angel to this lady that is struggling. I gave her a hug, like I chatted with her a bit, told her she should go see her dog.   She was able to have some big sounds like cathartic sort of release in there. And which, you know, that would have been just stuck inside her, you know, and there always would have been this question of doubt, like what, what, you know, she wouldn't have gotten maybe that closure. And then we never would have found out if there was an issue with Parker, if we hadn't, if the car had worked, we just would have went home. We never would have known that he had a couple of health issues as one of which might be really serious. And we would have just never known and never.   dealt with it probably as effectively as we're able to now. So God works in mysterious ways, I guess. so moral of story is what? Our plan for the evening was we were gonna sit down and watch a show on Netflix. That was what we were gonna do. were gonna do that. Little cuddling, little Netflix and watching. had in mind for us. He's like, no, no, we need you at the Central Texas Emergency Veterinary Clinic.   Their name is so long. I don't know but yeah, no, no, we need you to be right here. So I'm gonna just make things happen to get you there and it's so funny because we we had decided to leave Yeah, we were done. I was like, okay. Well, there's no point in sitting here. I Don't want to sit here for two hours To find out if we have a problem where if we have a problem, we'll just come back   but I don't need to be here in the meantime. So let's just go. And if he has a problem, we will come back. And if he's fine, then great, we'll at least be home. And then the card ends, sorry. So I think what you plan for is not always what you get, but I think what you get is exactly what you need. And sometimes, know, plans may change. Our original plan, the thing that we want doesn't happen, but.   Sometimes there's a better outcome. finding out, is it worth losing a little sleep to find out that a dog that we really love and care about has maybe a potentially serious health issue that we can now nip in the bud and take care of early on? Absolutely. There's no other scenario in which we would have just gone and gotten this checked or that they would have been feeling this pit bull's body to find this out.   It was only because he had eaten that crazy bone that we were and Sarah was nervous enough about it that we went and got got him there and it like it was this whole cascade of magical events to make sure that this happened and so yeah, so it's really mind-blowing how everything kind of can work out and Yeah, the car drove home just fine. I probably was startup fine right now. I don't know. I probably should charge the battery a little bit more but   Yeah, but everything in the end worked out. We're a little tired. But and I think this is a good lesson and we wanted to share because this is real for us is what happened. And you you care about pets like family. You know, a lot of times it's not the business stuff that derails us. It's everything else outside of business. That's one lesson you can take away from it. Like, you know, making sure that your family's good, including pets are taken care of, getting those things checked out.   And then also just trusting that, you know, there's there's I believe and trust that there's a higher power that's watching out for you that has a plan. And if nothing else, it could just be those of you that aren't into that. It could be that you are intuitive enough and magical enough and a creator enough that based on quantum physics or whatever you're into that, you know, things get taken care of and positive outcomes come if you believe in.   in that sort of thing. so I think that's the thing is, you know, In business, things are always changing. Things might derail us, but that doesn't mean that it's going to has to be a worse outcome just because it didn't go the way that you wanted.   That's my two cents. You have anything, to add?   Okay, I'm tired. Can we go? We're gonna we're gonna wrap this up and go take it easy. I'm maybe gonna go take a nap. Yeah. When did we go to bed? Like take a nap. o'clock. Yeah. Take a nap right here. He's gonna nap right here. All right. So hopefully this was beneficial to see a little bit of flavor of our life. I don't know. It's not super property management oriented today, but   If you have ever felt stagnant or stuck in your business or you just don't feel like you're growing big enough, my guess is you don't have big enough goals. And we've seen this a lot with clients. And if you don't have big enough goals, the business is not fun. It's not exciting. So reach out to us at doorgrow.com. We'd love to help you out. Also join our free Facebook group community. It's just for property management business owners at doorgrowclub.com.   And if you found this even a little bit helpful, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review to really appreciate it. Helps us out, helps us be able to help more people like you. And until next time, remember the slowest path to growth is to do it alone. So let's grow together. Bye everyone.

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Is science really a barrier to belief in the Bible and Christianity? Why does science remain one of the primary reasons why people are rejecting Christianity? This week we dig into that topic and wrap up our conversation about the state of the Atheist and Christian dialogue with author, speaker, and podcaster, Justin Brierley. From http://justinbrierley.com/about/ Justin is a freelance writer, speaker and broadcaster who has become known for creating dialogues between Christians and non-Christians. Justin is passionate about creating conversations around faith, science, theology and culture. Through creative use of podcast, radio, print, video and social media, he aims to showcase an intellectually compelling case for Christianity, while taking seriously the questions and objections of sceptics.Justin's first book 'Unbelievable? Why, after ten years of talking with atheists, I'm still a Christian' (SPCK) was published in 2017. His new book 'The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God' (Tyndale) was published in Sep 2023.Justin currently co-hosts the Re-Enchanting podcast for Seen & Unseen, and is a guest presenter for the Maybe God podcast. He has also recently launched The Surprising Rebirth Of Belief in God podcast documentary series. Contact Justin at  justin@justinbrierley.com.Free Resources from Watchman Fellowship:  Atheism by Dr. Robert Bowman: watchman.org/Atheism  Agnosticism by W. Russell Crawford: watchman.orgAgnostic  Naturalism by Daniel Ray: watchman.org/Naturalism  Richard Dawkins by Rhyne Putman https://www.watchman.org/Dawkins.pdf Featured clips on this broadcast from YouTubehttps://youtu.be/3mKXYI1d8-8?si=KRSSsJ2GjsBQJ47Phttps://youtu.be/IEjB3OX0JME?si=cla3xrquzTyl8eL1https://youtu.be/AvwGhlBI1hA?si=ZnMtXui0FXY8LYtVhttps://youtu.be/OVEuQg_Mglw?si=YsdypJcSZgRZi7gHDembski interview Luskin interviewAdditional ResourcesFREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/Free.PROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (over 600 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: watchman.org/notebook. SUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/give.Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2025 Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

One of the most painful experiences anyone can endure is that of being rejected by someone who is special in your life. Maybe a spouse, a child, a parent, a close friend or anyone whose approval we desire. In our Bible passage for today, the apostle Peter wrote to some people who has been utterly rejected. The reference for our text in the Scripture today is First Peter Chapter Two. Let's look at this together for the next few minutes. Maybe God has a message for YOU today!  For more information on the Campground, insider tips and FAQ's, listen to our General Ocean Lakes Podcast, Campground Conversations. 

New Atheism is in decline but atheism in general still persists. But so too does Christianity. What are the current trends today in the Atheist and Christian dialogue? Is Christianity also declining or is there a general resurgence of interest in the Bible and the Person of Christ? Or is it a little of both? This week and next on the Profile we talk with author, speaker, and podcaster from the U.K. Justin Brierley and get his insights on these and other topics from over twenty years of engaging believers and nonbelievers. From http://justinbrierley.com/about/ Justin is a freelance writer, speaker and broadcaster who has become known for creating dialogues between Christians and non-Christians. Justin is passionate about creating conversations around faith, science, theology and culture. Through creative use of podcast, radio, print, video and social media, he aims to showcase an intellectually compelling case for Christianity, while taking seriously the questions and objections of sceptics.Justin's first book 'Unbelievable? Why, after ten years of talking with atheists, I'm still a Christian' (SPCK) was published in 2017. His new book 'The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God' (Tyndale) was published in Sep 2023.Justin currently co-hosts the Re-Enchanting podcast for Seen & Unseen, and is a guest presenter for the Maybe God podcast. He has also recently launched The Surprising Rebirth Of Belief in God podcast documentary series. Contact Justin at  justin@justinbrierley.com.Free Resources from Watchman Fellowship:  Atheism by Dr. Robert Bowman: watchman.org/Atheism  Agnosticism by W. Russell Crawford: watchman.orgAgnostic  Naturalism by Daniel Ray: watchman.org/Naturalism  Richard Dawkins by Rhyne Putman https://www.watchman.org/Dawkins.pdf Featured clips on this broadcast from YouTubehttps://youtu.be/3mKXYI1d8-8?si=KRSSsJ2GjsBQJ47Phttps://youtu.be/IEjB3OX0JME?si=cla3xrquzTyl8eL1https://youtu.be/AvwGhlBI1hA?si=ZnMtXui0FXY8LYtVhttps://youtu.be/OVEuQg_Mglw?si=YsdypJcSZgRZi7gHAdditional ResourcesFREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/Free.PROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (over 600 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: watchman.org/notebook. SUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/give.Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2025 Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

Some years ago our family was vacationing on the eastern end of Long Island near a little village called Sag Harbor. It was amazing how much that village changed, though, over a period of just 24 hours. One day it was a sleepy little town of tourists kind of strolling from store to store. The next day it was a chaotic beehive with snarled traffic and anxious people rushing from store to store. Do you know what made the difference? A hurricane warning! Yes, a powerful storm was moving up the East Coast and it was expected to hit that part of Long Island. So people were rushing everywhere to get prepared. Batteries and candles suddenly appeared by every cash register in every store. And they quickly disappeared. People were suddenly living differently when there was a major storm. I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Year That Everything Changed." You might be living in a year like that right now; a year when a lot of things have changed. And times like these (hurricane times) can really change your perspective on what's important and how you should be living. In our word for today from the Word of God beginning with Isaiah 6:1, Isaiah says, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord." Now, you're probably not all broken up over Uzziah dying, but he had been king for 52 years. So if you were 52 or under, King Uzziah was the only ruler you had ever known. And he had brought his nation to an unparalleled level of prosperity and power. And suddenly he was gone. It was one of those years when everything changed. So let's think of these words in this way, "In the year that everything changed." That's when Isaiah says, "I saw the Lord." That's when you usually do - when everything is changing - when the hurricane is blowing you around. Maybe God has shaken your world recently so you'll see Him as you've never seen Him before and so you'll live differently. Now there are three perspectives God wants you to live by in a season when everything is changing. First, Isaiah says, "I saw the Lord, seated on a throne, high and exalted." Isaiah describes powerful angelic beings he sees "calling to one another, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.'" Perspective #1 when everything is changing; "Lord, You are awesome." God wants you to enter His Throne Room as Isaiah did - by prayer. He wants you to see His majesty; to realize that, by praying, you are entering the Throne Room from which billions of galaxies are governed and bringing your life and your needs to the One who rules it all. When everything's changing, you need to dwell on the awesomeness of your God. Then Isaiah tells us he cried, "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." Then he describes how one of the angels touches his lips with a live coal from the altar and says, "Your guilt is taken away." Perspective #2 - "Lord, I'm a mess." See, God wants all this change to be a wakeup call that shows you the sin that you haven't dealt with and to let Him touch it with His forgiveness and His cleansing. Then God asks, "Whom shall I send?" And Isaiah says, "Here am I. Send me!" God wants you to look at His awesomeness, then at your sinfulness, and then at the lostness of the people around you. Perspective #3 - "They are dying." You've seen the King; they never have. And God has sent the storm to refocus your attention on the mission of rescuing the dying people around you. With all that's changing in our world, the things that really matter haven't changed. In fact, the changes make the important things more important than ever. Make frequent visits to God's Throne Room, go off and to Jesus' cross to get clean, and go on frequent missions to take some people to heaven with you. With the storm intensifying, focus on the things that really matter so this can be the time when you really see the Lord.

The Unlikely Missionary #RTTBROS #Nightlight The Unlikely Missionary God:uses ordinary people"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." (1 Corinthians 1:27William Carey was just a shoemaker. He had little education, came from a poor family, and worked with his hands for a living. But he had a heart for the lost and a desire to take the gospel to places where it had never been heard.When Carey shared his burden for missions with his fellow ministers, one of them famously said, "Young man, sit down. When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine." But Carey wouldn't sit down. He kept studying, kept praying, and kept preparing.In 1793, Carey sailed for India where he would spend the next 41 years without ever returning home. He translated the Bible into Bengali, Sanskrit, and parts of 35 other languages. He started schools, fought against the practice of widow burning, and saw thousands come to Christ. He became known as the "Father of Modern Missions."But it all started with a shoemaker who believed God could use him.I love Carey's story because it reminds me that God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called. He doesn't look for the smartest, the most talented, or the most educated. He looks for the willing.Think about it: God used a shepherd boy named David to defeat a giant. He used a teenage girl named Mary to bring the Savior into the world. He used fishermen to become apostles. He used a former persecutor of the church named Paul to become the greatest missionary who ever lived.And He wants to use you too, right where you are, with whatever skills and abilities you have.Carey's motto was "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God." He expected God to work through an ordinary shoemaker, and God did extraordinary things.What's God calling you to attempt for Him? What burden has He placed on your heart? What need have you seen that you keep thinking someone should do something about?Maybe that someone is you. Maybe God wants to use your ordinary life to do something extraordinary for His kingdom. Don't disqualify yourself because you feel unworthy or unqualified. God specializes in using unlikely people to do impossible things.After all, history is just HIS story, and He's looking for ordinary people who are willing to let Him write their chapter.Be sure to Like, Share, Follow and subscribe it helps get the word out.https://linktr.ee/rttbros

Bible Reading: Romans 12:3-5"I want to play first base this year, and Coach Nichols won't let me!" said Quincy. "He says I'll help the team more if I play right field." He frowned. "The guys have a saying about right field. They say, 'right field equals left out,' because the ball never gets hit to that side of the outfield.""Now, hold on! That's just not true!" said Dad. "A good right fielder often makes important plays--and I know you'll be a good one." But nothing Dad said could convince Quincy that right field was a good position for him.The next day, Quincy helped his father plant geraniums in the front yard. "Maybe we could get some of those bushes with white flowers we saw when we hiked up Mount Major," said Quincy. "They'd look nice here with the geraniums."Dad shook his head. "Those plants grow well in higher elevations, but I don't think they'd do well down here. God didn't intend for all plants to thrive in the same location. Each species has its own spot in the plant kingdom. That principle applies to people too. God has blessed every one of us with the talents we need to do the best job in the special spot He's put us in."Dad smiled at Quincy. "For example, God gave you one of the strongest throwing arms on your baseball team. That's important for a right fielder, so give it a chance. Perhaps God has a special lesson He wants you to learn by playing right field on your ball team.""What lesson could there be in that?" asked Quincy. "Maybe God wants you to see that every person on a team is important," said Dad. "That's true for baseball, and it's also true for another team you're on--Jesus's team of all those who trust in Him. God gave every Christian an important part to play in caring for other members of Christ's team and sharing His love with those who don't know Him. Without each person's important role, the whole team suffers--just like your baseball team won't do as well if you refuse to play right field."Quincy sighed. "Okay," he said after a moment. "Right field, here I come!" –Linda M. MagoonHow About You?Do you get upset when you don't get the position you want--whether it's on a sports team or within Christ's team of believers? Jesus gave you the gifts and abilities He did so you could fill an important role and serve Him with other Christians. So no matter where He places you, be a team player and use your gifts to help the body of Christ share His love with the world. Today's Key Verse:Those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. (NKJV) (1 Corinthians 12:22)Today's Key Thought:Each team member is important

It is almost as if God had sent us an angel. We were coming back from a Christmas party years ago. All five members of the Hutchcraft family together with the families of the youth ministry I worked for had been there for the annual Christmas party. Now, Joe, one of our dearest friends - our greatest helpers, helped us load up all of our equipment into the back of the car and we headed home. Well, we had only driven just a few miles when a drunk driver crossed the centerline, plowed into our car and totaled it! Well, here we were sitting there dazed with the kids crying. I couldn't even see the car that had hit us! It had spun off behind me. I just sat there going, "What happened? What happened?" Well it became an even longer night with police reports, x-rays, emergency room vigils, and trying to rearrange schedules for the next few days. As we sat there in this total confusion in our totaled car, I suddenly saw a familiar face at the window. There was Joe, our dear friend. He had decided (without telling us) that he would follow us to help us unload when we got home. There he was, right there when the accident happened; right there to bring us comfort and to bring us help all night long. On one of the toughest, longest nights we'd ever had, Joe was the angel we needed. He was just the right man at just the right place at just the right time. So are you. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Positioned to Make a Difference." Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from the book of Esther 4:14. Let me review for you the life of Esther up to the point where we'll begin reading. She was a young, Jewish maiden. She was approached to be the new queen of Persia. Nobody knew she was Jewish. Well, after all of the possible candidates that could have become queen, she is selected to become the new Queen of Persia. And now we are at a point where an evil man named Haman was plotting and prodding the king to give a decree that will cause the deaths of all of the Jews. Now, if Esther reveals herself and goes before the king, she may lose her life. But if she doesn't, it may cost the lives of her people. She's in a position to talk to the King Xerxes. And here's a statement from God's Word, "Who knows whether you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this." In other words, "Esther, it's no accident you are where you are. God put you here to be the right person at just the right place at just the right time." You know, God is very good at this business of positioning people to make a difference. He's done it with you. You say, "Well, I just go to this school. I just play on that team. I just work at this office. I'm just involved in this club. I just work at that plant. I just live in this neighborhood. Oh, come on! You know what? You are divinely, uniquely positioned by God. There is someone near you that God knows you can help with what you know; with who you are; with your biographical credentials. Maybe you're in a position where you can open a door for some ministry need. There was such a man like that in a key position to dispose of the vans his company was getting rid of, and he saw our need in our ministry at just the point when we desperately needed them. He came into the job at just the right moment and provided those vans. See, just an example of divine positioning. Above all else, God knows who around you needs to hear about your Jesus. He's divinely positioned you, like He did Esther; to be in a spot where you can save lives because of the influence He's given you; because of the shared life experiences you have with that person. They will listen to you, because you're one of them. Wherever God has put you, you can be sure it is to accomplish His divine purposes. God has a mission for you where you are. Be the best you can be, so you'll have people's respect, and know that you're where God wants you to assist Him at this place, at this time. Who knows? Maybe God has you there for such a time as this. So, use what He's given you to make a difference for Him.

Send us a textThis episode is one that will touch you soul deeply if you are in a place that seems like God is fighting against what you are asking Him to do. Maybe God is trying to bring you to the place of COMPLETE COMPLIANCE to His will instead of your will?Feel free to give thru CASHAPP. $JesseECantyAnything you give will be appreciated. Be blessed and thank you. Email me at JesseCantyPodcast@yahoo.comI would love to hear from you! Get your Noni Juice today! Can be shipped worldwide!Contact Kimberly A. Canty 8649212653MrsKimberlyCanty@gmail.comNoni-Wellness.com Support the show

Are you tired of living life scared or following the status quo? Maybe it’s time we remembered what it felt like to believe in ourselves before the world told us who we should be and what we should do. In today’s conversation, we will explore the chasm between the dreams we once had and the reality in which we are now living. Speaking from personal experience, renowned speaker, best-selling author, and today’s guest, Dr. Heather Thompson Day dives deep into her newest book titled, What If I’m Wrong?, to help us better understand what makes us feel overwhelmed or defeated by the hopes we once had, the disappointments we should have overcome, the goals we expected to accomplish, and the person we wanted to be. Somehow and somewhere along the way, we stopped following our heart and started listening to the lies in our head: It’s time you gave up on that childish dream. What makes you think you could accomplish that? Others see who you really are, so stop trying to be someone else. So we decided to play it safe and just accept our lot in life. And instead of feeling alive every day, we walk through our days numb and uninspired. But today’s conversation will help you understand that pursuing a painless passion means you have an insignificant dream, living a “normal” life is scarier than taking risks and embracing the unknown, being vulnerable and admitting mistakes can lead to success quicker, embracing failure might be the best thing that ever happens to you, staying motivated and confident when things go wrong gets easier with practice, and the person God made you to be is waiting to live life to the fullest! As Dr. Heather says, “Have you ever considered that the hardest things in life might be our greatest areas of passion, through which we find fulfillment in everything we do, from work to play to relationships to our faith? Fears and failures come upon us like relentless waves, pulling us to deeper water. Panicked, we believe we are going to drown. But what if we’re wrong? Maybe God is teaching us how to swim stronger, to pursue greater adventures, and to learn how to really live!” Find Out More About Dr. Heather: https://www.heatherthompsonday.com/ Purchase Your Copy of What If I’m Wrong?: https://www.amazon.com/What-If-Im-Wrong-Navigating/dp/1400341574 Link to Cross Communication: https://www.crosscommunication.com/ Check out Dr. Heather’s ‘What If I’m Wrong Podcast’: https://www.heatherthompsonday.com/podcast Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. Legal correspondent Jeremy Sharon and health editor Diana Bletter join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode. The controversy over the appointment of a Shin Bet chief continues, says Sharon, discussing the implications of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara's instructions to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he continues to disregard the instructions about appointing a new Shin Bet chief. Sharon reviews the potential for a constitutional crisis as the situation comes to a head. Sharon also reviews some of the statements made by the attorney general and President of the Supreme Court Isaac Amit during Monday's Bar Association conference, as they both accused the government of quietly advancing far-reaching changes to Israel’s form of government. Bletter speaks about several Israeli medical centers and how hospitals prepared for and responded to the needs of returning hostages in the earlier stages of the war and more recently. She discusses the particular care given to children and the expectation that hospitals will care for released hostages and their families for months and years to come. The Druze community in Israel is in touch with and actively supports relatives in Syria, reports Bletter, with concerns over the future of Druze in Syria, given the new government in place. They're also questioning the strength of their own Druze identity in Israel. Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates. For further reading: AG tells Netanyahu that choosing Zini to head Shin Bet ‘invalid and unlawful’ AG: ‘Not a warning, but reality – under cover of war, regime change has sped up greatly’ Netanyahu’s appointment of David Zini as Shin Bet chief is fraught with obstacles Facing a hostage situation without precedent, Israeli hospitals innovate to rehabilitate ‘Maybe God put Druze in Israel to save the Druze there’: Minority fights for Syrian cousins Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. IMAGE: A billboard showing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, 'The judicial seamstress to the government! in Tel Aviv on December 6, 2024 (Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash90)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you ever sit in your car with the engine running but haven’t yet put it in drive? You can pray for direction all day, but at some point, you’ve got to step on the gas. Pastor Greg Laurie says our Christian walk is like that. There’s a time to be still and trust, but there’s also a time to move. Maybe God is calling you to take action, just like He did with Nehemiah. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, good encouragement about stepping up and moving forward in our walk of faith. Listen on harvest.org --- Learn more and subscribe to Harvest updates at harvest.org A New Beginning is the daily half-hour program hosted by Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California. For over 30 years, Pastor Greg and Harvest Ministries have endeavored to know God and make Him known through media and large-scale evangelism. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners.Support the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you ever sit in your car with the engine running but haven’t yet put it in drive? You can pray for direction all day, but at some point, you’ve got to step on the gas. Pastor Greg Laurie says our Christian walk is like that. There’s a time to be still and trust, but there’s also a time to move. Maybe God is calling you to take action, just like He did with Nehemiah. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, good encouragement about stepping up and moving forward in our walk of faith. Listen on harvest.org --- Learn more and subscribe to Harvest updates at harvest.org A New Beginning is the daily half-hour program hosted by Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California. For over 30 years, Pastor Greg and Harvest Ministries have endeavored to know God and make Him known through media and large-scale evangelism. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners.Support the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.