Podcasts about Wakefulness

In this message, Pastor Ben Kaempfer teaches through Romans 13:8–14, where the apostle Paul reminds believers that the debt we never finish paying is the debt of love. From Paul's command to love our neighbor to his urgent call to wake from spiritual sleep and “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” this sermon presses us to see that Christian faith is not passive, private, or sleepy. It is a life of active love, growing holiness, and daily repentance before God. This sermon shows how love fulfills the law, how spiritual apathy dulls obedience, and how the gospel calls us to walk in the light rather than keep making room for the flesh. If you have felt spiritually distracted, weary, or half-awake, this message is a timely invitation to return to Christ with sincerity and fresh obedience. Listen in, be encouraged by God's Word, and consider how the Lord may be calling you to love more faithfully and follow Jesus more wholeheartedly today. Subscribe, share this episode, and pass it along to someone who needs a wake-up call from Scripture.Support the show

Weaving together the koan anecdotes, the awakening poems of early Buddhist women, and the living support of sangha, in this talk Kisei invites practitioners who feel stuck or afraid to ask for help — from the ancestors, from each other, and from the mystery itself. ★ Support this podcast ★

In this follow-up to their discussion of the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Jesse and Tony make a critical discovery about Matthew 25:13 that fundamentally changes how we should read Christ's eschatological parables. The command to "watch therefore" isn't primarily about staying awake—it's about preparedness for Christ's return. This episode explores the grammatical and theological connections between the Parable of the Ten Virgins and the Parable of the Talents, revealing how Matthew 25:13 functions as a hinge verse that binds these parables into a unified teaching on eschatological readiness. The hosts demonstrate how modern chapter divisions and translation choices can sometimes obscure the organic flow of Christ's teaching, and why understanding these connections matters for Christian living today. Key Takeaways Matthew 25:13 is a hinge verse, not an endpoint. The Greek grammatical structure (using post-positive connectors "therefore" and "for") links verses 1-13 forward to the Parable of the Talents, not just backward to the Ten Virgins. Sleep wasn't the problem in the parable. Both the wise and foolish virgins fell asleep. The issue was preparedness—having oil ready before the bridegroom's arrival, not staying physically awake. "Watch" means preparedness, not wakefulness. The better translation of the Greek word emphasizes alert readiness and preparation rather than literal sleeplessness. The Parable of the Talents explains what preparedness looks like. Christ intentionally connected these parables to show that watchfulness manifests in faithful stewardship and fruitful living. Christ himself made these connections. This isn't just Matthew's editorial arrangement—Jesus deliberately taught these parables together as a unified discourse on eschatological readiness. Sanctifying grace is non-transferable. The wise virgins couldn't share their oil because saving grace and the Spirit's indwelling cannot be borrowed or transferred between people. Eschatological ignorance is divinely ordained. Not knowing the day or hour prevents us from delaying obedience until the last moment, which was precisely the foolish virgins' error. Key Concepts The Grammatical Evidence for Connection The discovery that transformed this discussion centers on how Greek post-positive particles function. Both "therefore" (οὖν) in verse 13 and "for" (γάρ) in verse 14 cannot grammatically stand as the first word in a Greek sentence—they must connect to what precedes them. This means verse 13 isn't simply concluding the parable of the virgins; it's simultaneously introducing the parable of the talents. English translations that insert paragraph breaks between these verses may inadvertently suggest a harder separation than exists in the original text. When Christ says "watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour, for it will be like a man going on a journey," He's creating a seamless logical progression: the reason for watchfulness is eschatological uncertainty, and the nature of that watchfulness is illustrated by what follows in the talents parable. Preparedness vs. Wakefulness in Translation Some English translations render Matthew 25:13 as "stay awake" or "keep alert," emphasizing the sleep imagery from the preceding parable. However, this creates a logical problem: if falling asleep was the sin, then both groups of virgins sinned, since the text explicitly states "they all became drowsy and slept" (v. 5). The better understanding recognizes that the Greek word (γρηγορέω) encompasses a broader semantic range including vigilance, preparedness, and readiness—not just physical wakefulness. The wise virgins weren't praised for staying awake; they were praised for having secured oil before the bridegroom's arrival. This preparedness enabled them to respond appropriately when the moment came, regardless of whether they had been sleeping. Translating with an emphasis on sleep therefore misses Christ's point and artificially seals verse 13 off from the explanation that follows. The Perseverance of the Saints in Action This parable sequence reveals an often-overlooked dimension of the doctrine of perseverance: believers must actually do the persevering. While the Holy Spirit enables, empowers, and ordains our perseverance, He doesn't persevere instead of us—He causes us to persevere. The wise virgins' preparedness wasn't passive; they actively obtained oil before it was needed. They prepared for both the bridegroom's arrival and the potential delay. This illustrates that Christian preparedness isn't anxious vigilance or frantic last-minute effort, but the steady, Spirit-enabled work of sanctification, growing in grace, abiding in Christ, and maintaining readiness over the long haul. The Parable of the Talents then unpacks what this looks like practically: faithful stewardship, productive kingdom work, and diligent use of what God has entrusted to us during the time of waiting. Memorable Quotes The difference between foolishness and wisdom in the first parable is not whether or not the virgins fell asleep. It's whether or not they were prepared for the eventual coming of the bridegroom. - Tony Arsenal When God's people take to see and request his eminent and transcendent power in the lives of somebody else through intercessory prayer, a special bond is created that is very real. - Jesse Schwamb Christ himself has strung these different parables together... Christ was the one who decided that the parable of the talents was a proper explainer for the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. - Tony Arsenal Full Transcript [00:00:08] Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 495 of the Reformed to Brotherhood. I'm Jesse.  [00:00:14] Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey brother.  [00:00:18] Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother. So sometimes the episodes just seem to write themselves, and I say that of course, tongue in cheek from my full providential register. But in the last episode, we went over with great detail, the parable of the 10 virgins, or the 10 bridesmaids found in Matthew 25. And I think we did all the things that we were supposed to do, like contractually. We made really good oil puns. We talked about Petras song, midnight Oil. We talked about 10 bridesmaids, five Ys, five foolish. They're all waiting for the bridegroom who is late because he operates on divine timing. The foolish five run out of oil and begged the five whys to share theirs. The five whys decline, because sanctifying grace is non-transferrable. This is not a potluck. We went through all of that stuff and then what happened is we turned off the microphones and somehow you and I started a, a new conversation about this thing still. And we thought there's more to say and we didn't even expect it. And incidentally, it all hinges on a single word. Yeah. So we're gonna come back to that on this episode because we couldn't help ourselves. And I say that because we couldn't help ourselves. We literally kept talking about this long after the episode had ended. So we wanted to bring it back and it's something new. I think that you and I were really pondering that's gonna be really, really, really good. Yeah. But the other thing that's really good is either affirming with something or denying against something that's the part of the conversation where we either affirm with something that we think is underrated, really exceptional, that we wanna recommend or we deny against something that's just not that great. So Tony, what have you got for us today?  [00:02:04] Tony Arsenal: I'm gonna phrase this in a very particular way, of course, and then I'll explain why I'm phrasing it that way. I'm starting. Great. Um, I am affirming adult baptism upon a profession of faith, and I say it in that particular way. Sure, of course. Um, because I often hear, and I've heard, I mean, I've heard Presbyterian pastors say this, um, I've heard, heard it said that Presbyterians do cradle baptism too. And, uh, and sort of like, sometimes it's kind of in like a, I'm trying to like build a bridge with a, a cradle Baptist. Sure. Um, I actually object to that because the, the basis on which an adult is baptized in a Westminster covenant theology framework is different than the basis, uh, on which a believer is baptized under a traditional Baptist credo, Baptist position. Right. So I'm affirming adult. Profession of faith, baptism or adult baptism upon a profession of faith. Um, and the reason I'm saying that is because my wife and I had this opportunity this morning to go to another church to visit, uh, a friend of ours. It's actually a friend of our son's, which is crazy to say. He's four years old. A friend of our son's from school, his mother, um, who is a Christian, um, but had never been baptized, was being baptized at her church today. And so we got an opportunity to go to their church. It's a church we've been to before. It was not like a brand new church or any, like, super far away. It's a church we've been to before. Um, so we got to go to church and then we went over to the local sort of like swimming hole. Uh, like there's this little, uh, like recreational area called stores pond, I'm sure. Just I know you're familiar with it. Oh,  [00:03:38] Jesse Schwamb: yeah.  [00:03:39] Tony Arsenal: Um, and they did sort of like a testimony ceremony and, uh, all of the baptizes, I don't know if that's the right word, but all of those being baptized. Uh, I would normally call them catechumens, but I don't think that actually that applies here. But all of those being baptized, uh, got up and gave their testimony. There was eight people being baptized, which was fun to see. Um, of course all adults. This is a Baptist, um, a Baptist church that we were visiting. And then we walked over to the, over to the lake and they dunked him in there. And, uh, it was really great to see. And the reason that I'm affirming adult baptism upon a profession of faith, um, uh, is because it's really quite beautiful, right? I think we've, we just recently talked about this, um, and I'm sure we'll talk about it again at some point in the future, but we just recently talked about a baby baptism at my church that, uh, is beautiful in its own right for its own reasons, and it's got its own theological, uh, underpinnings and theological elegance to it. But there's also something just very beautiful about an adult who either has come to faith, um, and I don't, I don't know, um, this woman very well, like I, she's another mom at, um, at Agie school. And so our kids go to school together and so we interact with her periodically at like drop off and other times and they've been over to the house. I don't know her, well, I heard enough of her testimony today to know that she was kind of a nominal Christian. Uh, and they actually started going to church because in order to bring their son to the school that, um, they wanted to go to, which is, uh, the school that my son goes to, the school that your father teaches at, um. You have to have at least one parent needs to be a Christian, needs to be a regular attender, a regular member of a church. And so they, they joined a church, um, to be able to fulfill that requirement. And either, and, and again, I wasn't, I was watching the kids, um, including her son while she was doing this. So I was only kind of hearing with one ear. So either she was a nominal Christian and was kind of like renewing her faith or she was coming to faith for the first time. I'm not sure. But in either case, she had not been baptized previously that I know of. I didn't, I mean, I guess maybe she was baptized as a baby or something, I don't know. But, um, she was being baptized today upon a sort of a new profession of faith or renewal of faith, and it's just very sweet to see. The emotional investment that occurs when someone is recognizing that God's promise is being sealed on them. Right. And I don't know that, I don't know that a lot of traditional Baptist, and this is a pretty like plain Jane Evangelical church. I'm not sure that a lot of evangelicals would really recognize or use that language. But I also think there's an intuitiveness to it that like this is a sign that God gives us. It's gotta be a sign of something. Right. Um, it's not, this was a church that brought sort of broadly Calvinistic part, the baptism of house was actually adopted or adapted from, uh, a modification of question, one of the Heidelberg catechism. So I warned my Presbyterian heart, um. So they're in a context where like covenantal language is not foreign to them, even if it's not the primary structure that they're using. But it was just very sweet and kind and a, a really encouraging, uh, opportunity for the body of Christ to gather. Uh, it was a little bit chilly. It was raining actually, and people, anybody, like everybody was out there and, and in the rain, most people didn't have umbrellas. And you know, people's hair is wet and their clothes are getting wet and nobody cares. Nobody is bothered by it because there is some baptism going on. There's some, uh, some new birth in a roundabout sense and some yes, uh, some, some signification of that new birth in a very direct sense. So that's what I'm affirming today. Adult baptism upon a profession of faith, uh, with an asterisk in a covenantal mode. That's, that's my very specific, very technical affirmation today.  [00:07:19] Jesse Schwamb: There's also something about that's just special. Again, it's not prescriptive, but there's something special about those open water baptisms too. Oh  [00:07:27] Tony Arsenal: yeah.  [00:07:28] Jesse Schwamb: I mean,  [00:07:29] Tony Arsenal: yeah, it was like super picturesque. It was like, I felt like I was on the Jordan with Town of Baptist, like the, like, it was like a, that classic like Baptist minister standing in the water, like it was very right. Very, uh, it looked staged, but I don't think it was, I think it just was actually this, that genuine scenario. [00:07:44] Jesse Schwamb: Right. So, yeah. Yeah. And that's like a beautiful thing. Like we're saying, oh, we're not trying to get into the particulars. It's just to appreciate, I think all of those details. I myself was baptized by my father in a pond and it was glorious. That was, that was special. And there was something about the occasion and the environment as well that was special to me in that. But you're right, like in that Baptist mode, I, I think when it's like properly administered, when it's really appreciated and the theology is rich and richly exemplified in what's happening there to, it's hard not to be moved, I think in the Christian heart, not to be warned by seeing somebody go down into the water to come up into this representation of new life in Christ. I think regardless of your convictions on this, it's hard not to be moved by the power of the spirits.  [00:08:25] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:08:26] Jesse Schwamb: And the sign and seal being delivered to God's people. In a profound way. So whether you're a Pado or Cradle Baptist, I think it really is difficult not to be moved. And especially in an environment like that, you love to see it, right? I mean, this idea of of, um, being able to come to the Lord because he's called you and whatever season of life that is, and then to follow an obedience into baptism is a glorious thing that we should all celebrate. So I love this idea of people on a chilly day in New Hampshire standing in the rain saying, give us the baptism. Like let, let us see the Holy Spirits working through the lives of the people in our midst. Let, we wanna be a part of that. We wanna celebrate that we're here for that.  [00:09:07] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. It was just a, it was just a very, very sweet, like, I, like I said with, when we were talking about the, the baby baptism at my church, it's, there's just a, there's a sweetness to it. It's, yes. It's almost like, um, I've never been present for the birth of someone's child other than my own. Um, I've been at the hospital, uh, so meeting the family and the, the baby like very shortly after birth, but I've never been actually there. But there's something reminiscent to that, whether it's a baby being baptized or an adult being baptized where it's, it's just this sort of sweet moment of introduction to yes, this person with, um. To varying degrees depending on the theology, underlying baptism. But this person with a very real new identity that they have been given, yes, it's, it's, the old has gone, the new has come new creation in Christ. Um, whether, you know, I, I don't affirm baptism or regeneration, right? That's not a reformed position. But whether you have a, a position of some form of baptismal regeneration or baptismal efficacy, which is where kind of the, the reform tradition tends to fall, or even just, uh, I say just, I don't mean just in a peor sense, but like, even if, if what's going on is, is entirely a symbol that you know, is being applied to a person, there is a new sense of identity. There's a, there's a, a mark, a, a physical mark that it isn't persistent like circumcision, but it's a physical mark being applied, a visible mark being applied to, to the person claiming them as God's child. Um, and, and there's something very sweet and genuine. And, and to see, like, just to see, like I said, the, just the emotionality. And not a crass like emotionalism, but a genuine, heartfelt, emotional moment that someone is going through like a real, genuine emotion, um, is also not something we actually see that much in the world anymore, which is, it was nice to see. Anyway, I could, I could blather on about baptism and, and adult baptism and baby baptism and how great it is. Uh, God knew what he was doing and he, he gave us this beautiful symbol. So next time you have an opportunity to experience a adult baptism upon a profession of faith in a covenantal mode, uh, than you make sure you take advantage of that.  [00:11:14] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. You know what it's like for me and certainly I, baptism is way more profound, uh, than this example I'm about to give. But there's something within me that feels similarly or appreciates in a similar way when you're participating or just viewing a wedding. Yeah. Isn't there? There's that new identity. There's the vows and the covenants being made and promises being given and that that's just like a really meaningful, profound thing. And then like, you know, a thousand times, a million times, that is to participate or to witness again, baptism. And in my own church, which is Cradle Baptist, the one I attend, baptism, I'll say it this way in like this most trite way again, is like a super big deal. And one of the things I really appreciate is when that person, after they've given their testimony and they've gone down into the water and they come back up, our congregation goes like wild. Like just wild in celebration. Yeah. And at first I was like, wow, this. This seems like too much. Guys, can we take, can we take it down now? Just the Lord's day after all. And then I was with you in the sense of like, really, it's like we, you and I have talked so much about like the, the way in which you're trying to sometimes manufacture or theologians try to bring in some sense of emotionalism to kind of convey some kind of like, really, so I can demonstrate that I have a heartfelt and genuine commitment and love for God and Christ and you know, we can leave that as it is right now. Here is a place where I think that celebration is like just wholly and totally appropriate.  [00:12:36] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:12:36] Jesse Schwamb: And so I love that there's genuine enthusiasm and excitement over those things. And you're genuinely gonna get that more in the kind of traditional Baptist mode of this thing. I'm just saying celebrate where you celebrate, you know, get in where you fit in. Yeah. And so I think that your admonishment to us and affirmation there is really good. Um, totally about that. And all the better if you can do it in a, on a rainy day in a pond in New Hampshire. That sounds like a glorious spot.  [00:13:02] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, it's, it was interesting. It was good. It was a good time. Jesse, what do you got for us tonight? [00:13:07] Jesse Schwamb: I'm also gonna go affirmation, and I think we can file this one for me, under seeing the power of God in his, that power demonstrated in his transcendence and in his eminence. All our timing is gonna be off on this, but there's a certain compulsion I have to report back to everybody. And that reporting is really on my wife who did undergo some surgery this week. And I'm about to say a bunch of things medically so you can, I mean, there's nothing in here like grotesque, but I say that because somebody might be like, wow, you're seeing a lot of personal things. I have her permission to share all this. But of course some of you may remember, she spoke on the podcast, I dunno, like a half dozen episodes ago. Go back and listen to that. She talks about her medical journey, but she just had this big surgery. And here's the reason why I want to report back. I sense that when God's people take to see and request his eminent and transcendent power in the lives of somebody else through intercessory prayer, that like a special bond is created that is very real. So I think when somebody comes to their brothers and sisters and says. Would you pray for us? Would you pray for me? That's not just an act. I think of vulnerability. It's one of of truly seeking after what God desires for his people to help and to intercede for one another. And there's something special about that. And then equally special, and I think binding is when people say, yes, I will pray. And they make themselves committed to doing that. When that relationship is established, what I think is like mutual accountability, mutual yielding to one another, mutual submission. The lovely thing about that is I think there ought to be a reporting back. I really feel highly convicted about that because so many people, including those in the from Brotherhood hanging out in the Telegram, TT Me Reform Brotherhood, they have prayed for us. My church has prayed, my parents have prayed. You have prayed. So many people have prayed. And so my wife did go undergo an 11 hour surgery just two days ago. And uh, I can say that that surgery, the doctors, the three surgeons who are working as part of this interdisciplinary team, this multifactorial, multidisciplinary team, were able to accomplish everything that they wanted to do, which was a wild accomplishment. And it was more intense than they thought it was going to be. But I can say to you very, very clearly, very cogently that, uh, God was in the midst of all of these things in a mighty and powerful way. Now, I know people are prone to say that kind of thing. I'm saying it because it was all exceptionally real. Not only as I sat there waiting for the next updates in the waiting room, did I really sense a peace of God that I haven't felt before, even in all of my wife's previous surgeries, when this was the most uncertain, this was the biggest, the highest risk that was all real. But at the very end, and I'll, I'll spare a lot of the details, uh, but at the very, very end when the surgeon reported back to me all the things that they did, which included having to take out a portion of her bowel and stitch it back together again, because she had some endometriosis that had embedded itself in there and that was unknown to them. You can't see that stuff in an MRI and yet God ordained that the right surgeon, the right preparation would be in the room and ready to go if something like that occurred and it did. That she had a full hysterectomy, which we were praying that it would be lack laparoscopic because they were concerned they would not be able to do it that way. And God answered that prayer that she needed to have her ureter, the thing that connects your kidney to your bladder, that also was filled with endometriosis. It had to be resectioned and repaired. And it was that the end of all of this, what the main doctor kept saying to me was, we wanted to put your wife in a position where her anatomy would determine the outcome and that you would have all of the skilled persons in the room to provide the best care, the best expertise possible. And what he said to me at the end is, it's strange things just kept breaking her way. And I said, well, I can tell you why that is. That's because God was answering the prayers of so many people who are praying for her. And so I'm so thankful for everybody who's prayed. She's in a critical time of healing right now. Our prayers now are turning to just that God would solidify the work that he has already accomplished, that there'd be no complications, that all the things that they did, and they did a lot of things. The surgeon in fact said to me at the end, it's gonna feel like she got hit by a truck. And that's actually not a bad description of what we did to her. And so the next days are the ones where we're really pleading for God to do this kind of miraculous healing that he started by providing all the things that he's, he's already done. I, as a husband, cannot be more thankful, more grateful, without words for everybody who has prayed. Uh, for my parents, for you guys, Tony, for all of our friends who reached out for so many people, I've realized I have a part-time job now just answering text messages, uh, on behalf of my wife for those who desperately are loving her through prayer. And again, I think I'd affirmed before. I'll say this very quickly, about the elders praying over her. About what a sweet time that was. Not only did that happen, but uh, unbeknownst to me until a little bit later on in that day did I learn that a bunch of women in the church had taken it upon themselves to schedule an 11 hour block where there was gonna be somebody praying every hour for my wife. And, um. Man, if, if, if this is not what the family of God does for one another, I don't know what they do.  [00:18:35] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:18:35] Jesse Schwamb: So I'm so grateful. Thank you for everybody who has prayed. I also don't want to testify. That's the power of God and his eminence. And his transcendence is just unreal loved ones. It's unreal, it's otherworldly and he comes in power when his people pray. He does good work and it's very James one. There's a lot that even as I'm worried now about the outcome of this surgery and how it will play out, that I can still somehow truly count it all joy, because it is God who does these things in our lives to test and to prove out our faith and our love towards him, because he's in fact good. And I'm just testifying to that goodness in the midst of this difficulty. So wherever you are at. For whatever it's worth. And I think it's worth a lot. God is faithful. He will do the work that he began, and he will meet us when we need him, where we are at in his loving kindness because of his great mercy. So be encouraged by that. And again, my sincere gratitude.  [00:19:36] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I don't, I don't have much that I can add to that. I mean, I, I, I think, um, prayer is an undervalued commodity in the church.  [00:19:48] Jesse Schwamb: Yes.  [00:19:49] Tony Arsenal: And. As good and right as it is for us, uh, to pray when there's some big, um, big need like this. Um, and, and there's no, there's no, uh, dishonor or shame in asking for prayer in the big situations. I think sometimes too, like we forget that prayer is just as vital and just as important and just as powerful and just as meaningful and just as everything in the small things. Amen. Um, and, and I also think, you know, sometimes we, maybe this is just me, but like sometimes we go into, we go into a, a scenario like what you and your wife are going in and we sort of like prepare ourselves for. The hard providence to come. Like, I don't know if, if that's where you've been at, but I know when I'm facing things like this, um, I'm, I'm kind of like asking people to pray, expecting God to bring the hard providence.  [00:20:43] Jesse Schwamb: Yes.  [00:20:44] Tony Arsenal: Um, and maybe that's just a coping mechanism to sort of like get out in front of it in case he does. Um, but like that God, God doesn't, uh, how do I wanna say this? I don't think that God takes any particular joy in bringing the par, the hard providences. Mm-hmm. And I actually think he does take a particular joy in answering the prayers of his people unto good effect. Um, I think there's a particular joy that God brings when he, God has in his own divine accommodated, anthropo, pathic way, um, when he can make sure that everything just breaks the right way for his children. Right. In a really difficult, complex, long surgery. Um, and all of the butterfly effect elements of, of how all of those different things are gonna, you know, spread out. Right. I don't know if this surgeon's gonna come to faith because you attributed his success in this surgery to, you know, to, to God. I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. Um, but, but either way, there are a thousand, a million imperceptible little ways that God's providence flows out of these kinds of situations that we will never know. Um, and he, he takes great joy in answering the prayers of his people and. Yes, it's true that when God, when we ask God for bread, he does not give us a stone even when he gives us the hard providences, right? The hard providences are not a stone, but he likes to give us really good bread.  [00:22:10] Jesse Schwamb: Amen.  [00:22:10] Tony Arsenal: And I think at times, um, we, we sort of almost doubt that he is able and willing and joyful to do so. So that's more, I think, more a reminder for me than it is for anyone else. 'cause I, I have a tendency to prep myself for the hard providences, um, before they come and, and pray to that effect that God would comfort me in the midst of whatever trials is coming. Um, maybe I need to show a little bit more faith in a good God who gives good gifts, um, to pray and thank him in advance for the good providence is the, the easier the soft providence is that he has in store for his people as well.  [00:22:46] Jesse Schwamb: Well, I think we all need that reminder from time to time and I, again, I like where you've taken that. It is a good reminder to pray for the people that you love around you all the time, or just ask. What's something that you would like some prayer for, especially maybe something that you can't pray for yourselves through this time? I can't tell you how many times somebody has asked to pray with me or for me, and they pray in ways that just astound me. I dunno if that makes sense. Yeah. Like just, I get off the phone and I think, well, that was spirit filled because I didn't know that I needed to hear those words. I didn't know exactly like what needed to be stitched together in terms of the requests that would really minister to my heart and provide me encouragement. But course the Lord knows, and even in prayer as you're saying, he's giving that good gift to each other.  [00:23:35] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:23:35] Jesse Schwamb: When we pray with one another, when we pray for one another, it's just a remarkable thing that I fail to understand and I definitely fail to appreciate. So in this season of being able to see it very clearly as if like the clouds. Parted and I could see some of this power of prayer and what God does in prayer, what God does to us in the prayer of others. I can't help but testify again. I feel it is my duty to do so, actually. So be encouraged, loved ones that this is a powerful weapon that God gives us. I think you and I have said before, Tony, maybe we can also partly this into like another reform. A brotherhood bumper sticker. I said another, like, we have bumper stickers. We don't, we definitely should. At some point  [00:24:17] Tony Arsenal: we do have at least one cross stitch pillow floating around out there  [00:24:20] Jesse Schwamb: somewhere. That's true. Yes. We need to get our hands on that. And maybe here's something else we could add to it, which is of course, when, when we work, we work, but when we pray, God works. And so I've just been reminded of that over and over and over again. The situation, like you said in the big times and the small times, what a blessing, what God is like this, who cares. Who again, is what I've been thinking about is how high and lifted and transcendent God is, so that like he's not moved in, uh, in a dis, like a passionate way by this nonsense of our world. He's steady and steadfast. You know, Isaiah 26, like our God is an everlasting rock, and yet he's eminent in sending his son to identify with the kind of pain even my wife is in right now. In her time of trial and struggle. He is there and yet separated and so powerful that he orchestrates all the details himself. I mean, what God is like this.  [00:25:11] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:25:11] Jesse Schwamb: So this is the one to whom we get to bend his ear, as it were, and we'll avail ourselves of that opportunity. Always. You're gonna have to stop it, Tony. Otherwise, I'm, this whole episode is just gonna be me talking about, which would not be bad, I suppose, but me talking about how good our God is, I suppose we can talk about that actually in the context of Matthew 25. [00:25:30] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. You better watch yourself before you wreck yourself. Is that how it goes? But I did that, that took a month off of podcasting. I forgot how to do transitions. Not that we were ever great at transitions. It's just slamming into gear  [00:25:43] Jesse Schwamb: now. That loved one's a segue that you, you don't even know about yet. You didn't even get it. So let me help you try to get it. 'cause I, I wanna do this quickly, but of course it's always the best part of our conversations where we can get to the scripture. Let me read just the first, uh, 13 verses Matthew 25, and I'm gonna read them from the version that I read on the last episode because part of the fun of this conversation that Tony I had had subsequently was, do you remember what you said to me, Tony, about, about the, this, I don't wanna say the word yet, but this word. [00:26:10] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. I, what I remember is, um, feeling confused because I, I said, I thought this was like a Mandela effect kind of thing. Yes. We might have to, I'll explain briefly what that is in that I could have swore this word was in the, in the Bible. Like I was, it was so ingrained in my head that this was there. And then I'm trying to find it in my, my version that I'm bringing in. It's not there. And the obvious answer is it actually was there in the version that Jesse was reading and is there in many translations. Um, so we'll, we'll read the translation, uh, Jesse read, and then we'll talk about why not only why this is, uh, important in the light of our last conversation, but actually how it's important in light of what will likely now be the beginning of our conversation on the next parable, and in the next week or maybe two of, of the discussion of the parable of the talents here, or one of the parable and talents. [00:26:57] Jesse Schwamb: So this is Matthew 25, beginning in verse one. Then the kingdom of heaven may be compared to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the body groom. Now five of them were foolish and five are prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. Now, while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout. Behold the bridegroom come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the prudent, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the prudent answered saying, no, there will not be enough for us. And you go to and instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast and the door was shut. And later the other virgins also came saying, Lord, Lord, open for us. But he answered and said, truly, I say to you, I do not know you. Therefore, stay awake for you. Do not know the day nor the hour.  [00:28:02] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. So the part of this, uh, passage that I was having, like a brain cramp on and couldn't figure out is actually verse 13 and, um. The reason this is important and ties in, and this is part of why Jesse and I after we sort of had like a second, the beginning of a second episode, following the last episode, um, wanted to come back, is that this, this verse in verse 13 actually makes, um, in effect it makes the second parable that we're gonna talk about the parable of the talent here. It actually makes that parable like an extension of the first one or maybe an explanation of the first one, or further clarification. I'm not sure. It, it links the two together in a way that's really significant. So we need to make sure we really understand. Verse 13, and I'm gonna read verse 13 in my translation to demonstrate kind of where I think the, the question starts and says, watch therefore for, you know, neither the day nor the hour. And what Jesse and I kind of like marveled at is, um, the word for watch, uh, it's actually the same word we get the name Gregory, for, uh, from, um, the, the idea of being wakeful or alert or not falling asleep. That's that's there in the word. Um, and, and I don't think it's a bad translation. I don't. I always, um, wanna be really hesitant to sort of like make an argument that you wanna like build an entire theological point on a translation or a mistranslation. I think those are really shaky arguments, and even more than that, I don't ever wanna make an argument that makes it so people feel like they can't trust their English bibles. So the, the difference between the version that Jesse read with, you know, statements of being awake or stay awake or be alert versus watch, or more generalized alertness language, which is I think probably a better, not, not that the other one's bad, but this is probably a better translation. And it's a translation decision that's trying to connect that verb back to something that was said about the virgins. Right, right. The, the virgins, um, and this is, this is where our conversation went, is actually the, the sort of like real time epiphany that Jesse and I had, maybe I just had Jesse new, the, the sort of like real time epiphany that both, both groups of virgins fell asleep. Right. And so being asleep is not the necessary, it's not the thing that makes the virgins foolish.  [00:30:35] Jesse Schwamb: Exactly.  [00:30:36] Tony Arsenal: The, the translation, I think, I mean, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, not like a mind reader and I haven't read anything from the translation committees that explain that this is why they did it. But I'm, I'm, I think it's reasonable to think they translated in light of that wakefulness element of being alert because of the fact that the virgins fell asleep and they were sort of caught off guard when the bridegroom came. But the reason I think that's an over translation is exactly the dynamic we pointed out last week, falling asleep was not the problem,  [00:31:04] Jesse Schwamb: right?  [00:31:05] Tony Arsenal: What was, what was the problem was not being prepared. And so this concept of watch, therefore is more, I think is more about preparedness because of the fact that the parable is about preparedness, not about wakefulness. So when we wanna think about translations, yes, verse 13 comes after verses one through 12, but there's this little word therefore that connects this one with the next one, right? And so it's watch therefore for, you know, neither the day nor the hour. If that was the end of, end of the book of Matthew, right, right there, then that therefore would be like, because of what I just said, watch for, you neither know the day nor the hour, you know, neither the day nor the hour. But then in verse 14, it starts with four. It will be like a man going on a journey who called his servant and entrusted them through his property. That word for, that's another connecting logic word. So it's watch therefore, so like, because of what I just said, be alert, watch, be wakeful, be mindful, be prepared for, you know, neither the day or the hour. Four, because it will be like a man going on a journey, right? The reason you have to watch is partially, or the reason you have to watch is that you will neither know the day nor the hour. And the reason you will neither know the day nor the hour is because it will be like a man who's going on a journey called his servants and entrusted them to his property, right? So these two parables are connected and we have to sort of like understand what that watch word means and how it relates to the previous parable to understand now what it is that the next parable is trying to say and how the two relate to each other.  [00:32:45] Jesse Schwamb: I think that's right. It's like you said before, we talked about last time, it's not that sleep was the problem. That's not where the condemn nation comes in. It's merely that sleep revealed the lack of preparedness. Right. Like I suppose if you wanted to change it up, you could be like, and then they all played Uno for a while and the lambs were going strong and then suddenly the bride coon came out and it was like, okay, well it was the fact that all the lamps were still burning. Yeah. But as they were still burning and that time was passing and the bridegroom delayed, providentially, then it was only those imbued with that grace who already I prepared for that moment in time. Not that they were all playing Uno itself. So, which, which I know this is like my own translation, which is horrible, but. It is important if somebody thinks like we're overworking this.  [00:33:26] Tony Arsenal: Right?  [00:33:26] Jesse Schwamb: It's important, I think, because it, it's gonna set up the next stuff, which we're gonna get to, uh, I presume in the next episode. But this verse is, is like a, is like kind of like the keystone. It's, it constitutes like the entire moral conclusion of both this parable, but the other two that are just like it, that come before it in different ways. And of course it's like structurally parallel to a bunch of like mark and stuff that we may or may not get to. And then it echoes like the broader, all that discourse as well. So I was just looking up quickly, mark 13, in other words like where do we hear this same type of language? Where does it almost rhyme in our minds? And so if you go over just to mark 1333, and this is the parable of the fig tree. So we won't get into that there, but you'll see kind of like the same conclusion, the same, I kind of high and lifted point at the end. And this is where Jesus says, see to it, keep on the alert. For you do not know when the appointed time will come. So instead, really what we're getting at is there's all this language about watchfulness, like the, the present imperative in Greek. Keep on watching, be continuously a work, uh, alert, but it's not like watchfulness in this like anxious, vigilant, kind of nervous energy uncertainty, but it's the prepared readiness of one who has oil in the vessel and knows that the bridegroom is coming regardless of whether you fall asleep. [00:34:46] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And again, you know, the, the way that, um, the way that English translations are broken up into paragraphs and into, with headings and editorial content and chapter divisions and verse divisions, um, those things are all helpful and they're all really useful and I'm glad they're there. Uh, they're not inspired though, right? They're not the word of God. The, the, for the little, the little super script 14 before the word four and the little super script 13 before the word watch. Is not, it's not inspired and neither is the little, at least in the version I'm looking at on logs Bible start, neither is the little paragraph break that separates these two. So we, we can equally read and again, like I haven't done a full Greek exo treatment of this and maybe I should to, to know whether there is actually some real specific grammatical reasons why we would break these. There probably is, but we could equally read it saying, but he answered truly I say to you, I do not know you watch therefore for, you know, neither the hour or the day nor the hour. For it will be like a man going on a journey who called his sermon or we could read it, watch therefore for, you know, neither the day nor the hour for it will be like a man going on a journey. Right, right. We can, we can, the way that we read it, we can, we can clump verse 13 with what comes before it and sort of imply a full break or we can clump it with what comes after it and imply a full break before it. In reality, we shouldn't do either of those. Right. This is in, this is linked together in the, the Bible specifically to take these two parables. And pull them together. Right. Thematically, they're the same. They match, they, they have kind of this rhyming nature that like, there's, there's this theme of like, these people who have a specific task and they accomplish it to greater or lesser degree. And the ones who do it, right, the ones who do it well are rewarded in some sense because of their preparedness and their diligence. And again, I, I don't, um, I know that we can't overemphasize this because this is God's word, right? Right. The, the difference between foolishness and wisdom in the first parable is not whether or not the virgins fell asleep. It's, it's whether or not they were prepared for the eventual coming of the bridegroom, meaning that they had everything they need, not only to, um, and this is a, a real time realization I'm having here, not only to be ready when the bridegroom came, but to be prepared for the long haul until he came. Right. I think that's actually probably another big part of this pearl that we didn't even really talk about is that there's a, there's a, um. There's an implied statement here about the, the, um, perseverance of the saints in the fact that the saints have to persevere. Right? That's a corollary of the doctrine, of the perseverance of the saints, is that we actually have to do the persevering, right? Empowered by the spirit. Enabled by the spirit. Ordained by the spirit, of course, but that doesn't mean the spirit is the one who's persevering, right? Right. The spirit is not persevering for us. The spirit is causing us to persevere, but it's still us that he's causing to persevere. That's a major part of that. This next parable and, and we'll read, we'll read the parable here and then we'll get into some of the beginning part. I think this next parable here is really about like what does that perseverance look like? What does that diligence until the master comes, looks like. It's kind of like taking this, this period of time where the bride groom is delaying and the virgins all are becoming drowsy and sleeping. Well, what does that actually look like? What does it look like for the virgins who have gotten the oil ahead of time versus the virgins who waited and then had to go buy it? Well, the parable of the talents in this next passage shows us what it means to be prepared. And part of what it means to be prepared is to be diligently working to advance the kingdom of God diligently working to pursue and excel in righteousness, insofar as it depends on us, and insofar as we're empowered by the Holy Spirit. So these two, these two parables are linked together and um. Maybe we're falling into this trap a little bit, although I think because of the way we're kind of doing these, these passages in sort of organic fashion, rather than really insisting on sort of hermetically sealing off each parable, we have a tendency, I think to say like, this parable is this right? This parable is that. And we don't really ever talk about them unless you're in like a parables of Christ Seminary class or like you're reading a book on the parables of Christ. Um, if you're just sort of looking at popular teaching on parables or you're. Like a sermon series through the parables. I don't think you're gonna run into a lot that's gonna show these connections and relationships between the parables in the way that I think we're, I'm stumbling upon is maybe not right. But that's what it feels like. We're sort of like discovering in real time together that these parables are so organically linked to each other that we really can't seal them off from each other or we do some violence to the text.  [00:39:36] Jesse Schwamb: Right on. Yeah. And speaking of that whole life, whole preparedness, whole watchfulness, John Owen writes, in the mortification of sin, the whole of Christian living may be described as a preparation for eternity, mortifying sin, growing in grace, abiding in Christ, waiting for his appearing, which really strikes me as maybe a summary of like an umbrella of all of these parables of ones that we've just seen most recently and the ones that we're about to go into because. The ground for the watchfulness here is that like legitimate eschatological ignorance. This is like a deliberate, divinely ordained uncertainty. So of course, like knowing the precise moment would just tempt the flesh to delay until the last possible moment, which is precisely the error of the foolish virgins who assume that there was enough time to obtain the oil after that midnight cry. So all of this is happening right now. Like I, I do think this verse is just so critical now. It's like really a weird linchpin. It is like the capstone in a strange way of like the three parable sequence in the olive discourse, which we already talked about, the 10 virgins, the talents, and the sheep and the goats. Because it strikes me as you were speaking, Tony, what was coming to my mind is like each is almost escalating from, as it were, like a watchfulness to like a fruitfulness, to like a final judgment. And each of those are kind of building on each other. In other words, like there is a logical consistency and chronology to those things that Christ is leading us through. And the verse therefore doesn't stand alone. It's like this hinge between the eschatological warning of the virgin narrative and the productive stewardship demanded in the parable of the talents. And I think unless you see that here, it's like saying, listen, the watchful person does this. You know, why should you be watchful because of this example I've just given to you. So within that Oliver discourse, there's the exhortation to watchfulness, which occurs with that striking force. Stay awake, be ready, watch. And of course, I think we're just joining in all the reform exe and the pros who had this instinct of reading those with a unity. Yeah. The whole discourse is like the L, the Lord's own like pastoral Herman Hermeneutic, I guess on like Daniel nine or whatever. So like it is important, and I think it is maybe a bridge that, at least in my mind, I often didn't build or didn't seem necessarily because you're like, well this, this ends one. And the warning is to be watchful. And now here's something else. That's something interesting you should consider. Yeah. But really this is all one and the same, all, all. Maybe one like well like parable to rule all parables, like it's a single parable told in many sequential pieces.  [00:42:06] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Which is something we saw before, right? Yes. And maybe, maybe not to belabor the point and, and again taking, take this in the context of me saying I never want to try to make an argument that you must be able to read Greek in order to profit from the scriptures. [00:42:20] Jesse Schwamb: Sure.  [00:42:20] Tony Arsenal: All of that said, it's very helpful to understand a little bit about how Greek works, even if you don't actually learn Greek. So for example, and here's, I promise you that this is not just me being nerdy about Greek. I'm looking at the ESV and verse 13 says, watch therefore for, you know, neither the day nor the hour. Right? So the, the command comes, uh, before the logical connector that sort of like, is explaining why, right? Because of, because of something. Right? When it's the thing that comes before, maybe it's the thing that comes after, usually it's probably before, but because of this thing, watch therefore for, you know, neither they or the hour, right? And then in verse 14 it says four. It will be like a man going on a journey. This is where I think understanding how Greek works a little bit is important. Both the word therefore and the word for. In Greek, which it's, it's therefore it's un OUN or omega upsilon new un and gar for four. Both of those are what's called post positive, and what that means is that it cannot be the first word in a sentence. So, um, verse 13 is translated very word order, literal watch. Therefore that ma matches the Greek very closely. Verse 14 is not right, right. Verse 14, if you translated it very literally would be like, uh, let's see. Would be. Just as for a man, and I get like, you can hear there, right there, why we don't translate it that way is 'cause it's really awkward, but it's just as for a man, uh, a man went on a journey or a man, um, going on a journey who called his servants. Right. The, the point of what I'm trying to say here though is that that subtle variation in the verb, the command coming first versus this post positive, logical connector coming first, that that sort of like gears your brain towards a certain conclusion. Right? Right. Watch, therefore we, we have a tendency to think like watch connects to the previous one. Right? This verb must connect us to the previous one, where the next one we see four being the beginning of a word, beginning of a sentence. We feel like that's the beginning of a new thought, right? This logical connector at the be very beginning of a sentence is like starting a new thought. The problem with that is, one, it doesn't actually match the Greek word order in both cases. Neither of these is the first word of the sentence, but let's just think of it in as a post positive and say that it should have been the first word of the sentence, but the Greek grammar won't allow it to be.  [00:45:00] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:45:01] Tony Arsenal: That connector in both cases is linking us to the previous sentence, and that means both of these sentences are linking us to the previous sentence, meaning both segments of thought are linked to other together. Verse 14 is linked to verse 13, and verse 13 is linked to verse 12. There's no good grammatical reason that I can see with the 30 seconds of looking at it and the five semesters of Greek, right? Keep that in mind. I'm not an expert, but there's no good reason I see immediately from the Greek text, right? There are certain phrases and indicators in Greek that tell you like, this is a new segment of thought. I don't see those here. What I see is a very strong, strong, logical sequence of connection between 13 and 14, right? Therefore, watch for, you know, neither the day nor the hour. Well. Going back to our discussion about translating that in terms of sort of general watchfulness or preparedness or translating it in light of sleep. These are the things that are important for us to think about when we're reading English translations. 'cause this keys us off to what the, what the translators thought in terms of what belongs with what translators. Even though there's a paragraph break here in the ESV, the translation that says be awake or be, you know, uh, do not sleep like this language that's specifically connected to this, like not falling asleep aspect of watchfulness, they're signaling to you that this sentence belongs with the parable above it. Right. Almost exclusively. Right. Because there's nothing in the next parable that has anything to do with being awake or sleeping.  [00:46:35] Jesse Schwamb: Right?  [00:46:36] Tony Arsenal: Right. So, so by translating it as sleep language or do not sleep language, they're sealing it off from the parable that follows and they're kind of like making it this firm break in the text. That's not there in the Greek. That language is not there in the Greek. And it's, um, again, I think the sleep language, that's certainly a part of this word and it's, it's fine for us to interpret this word in light of the parable that came before it, as long as we're not letting that interpretation of it in light of the word that came before it seal it off from the next parable. And I, I worry that if we, if we think about it in terms of the sleepiness aspect of it, which again, there's already some contextual reasons why that doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would, why would Christ command to the people that are listening to him be about not falling asleep when falling asleep was not the problem in the, in the bearable He's told. Right, right. But the problem was, was be prepared. And it actually may be, this is also maybe an overt translation. A better translation might be, be prepared, therefore, right. Be alert, be wakeful, be be mindful, be uh, be on top of things. Right. Be ready for anything. Might be a good way to look at this. Be ready for anything for you. Neither know the day nor the hour. Four. It will be like a man going on a journey and called his servants and entrusted them to his property. So he tells the parable of the virgins, which is, is all about being prepared for the sudden, unexpected coming of the Lord after a delay, after he tarries. And then he says, for it will be like a man going on a journey. Well, what will be like a man going on a journey? The coming of the Lord, the coming of the bridegroom, the coming of the one, the promised one from the previous parable, the bride groom. For that will be like a man going on a journey for the day on the hour, which you do not know. That will be like a man going on a journey, I think. Um, and this will be the last thing I say before I, I let you jump in and, and we're getting close to ending anyways here. I think that, um, these parables are so often, uh, this parable about the talents and the parallels. I mean, there's several different par uh, parables that have to do with this theory. This sort of like scenario of like a master is giving some, some funds to his servants, or a man going on a journey. He's giving some funds to his servants and he expects them to make a return. Right? That's a, there's multiple parables that tell that same basic principle. This one here. Is an eschatological one, but I think it gets clumped in with the others in sort of this idea. And it doesn't hurt that the word talents has a meaning in English, right? It gets clumped in with these sort of like way of teaching this that's like Christ has given you some special abilities and some gifts, you better use it for his glory. Or you're all done. That's not really at all what this is talking about, at least this version of it. You might be able to make an argument for some of the others that that is about kingdom fruitfulness and, and to much is given, much is expected, right? That's the output of those parables. This one is really, it's explicitly about being prepared for this sudden arrival of the bridegroom, uh, after he delays, after he tarries. So that's all I'll say for now on that. I just, this is. This is why we had to do another episode, right? Like, because we couldn't do all of this Last week we started and we were like, we gotta push pause, save something for next week. This is one of those like realtime discoveries, realtime uh, epiphanies that I'm just like, I cannot believe I didn't see this in the text before, but I'm so glad that we're doing this deep dive. This sort of like long running slow burns through these parables because these are the kinds of things we're able to see when we really slow down and take our time.  [00:50:17] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, it's that good old like crockpot theology. I'm with you. There is like in the next par we'll see a kind of manifest fruitfulness that comes from a preparedness and if, if we divorce that we're gonna get to the end of the next parable. And I think what we'd find is that, wow, the master seems super harsh here. Why is he so ticked off that the people with whom he entrusted all of these resources didn't do anything with them? It just seems like he's overzealous in saying, well, you just wasted a lot of things until you see like that full emphasis that comes all the way through these other parables in terms of the reason why. Then I think it starts to make more sense. So I did have to look it up like you're right, that the NIV has therefore keep watch. The King James version also is using watch, therefore. So if that's the emphasis, in other words, if the thrust is you ought to be watchful and prepared in all of your life for all the things preparing for Christ, doing the things in the work of Christ. Now it makes sense that to go away again and to have this time of not knowing when the perusia happens and being unprepared and unfruitful because you were not watchful, because you did not do the things you ought to have done and be making yourself again aware and vigilant in that awareness, then there's a problem. And that's like gonna be, I think, the full thrust of what's gonna happen that we're gonna see next when we look into this parable. I think it's important to remember that this parable is not as it sometimes is presented like an allegorize timeless moral maxim that's divorced from its eschatological referring. Yeah, the 10 virgins are figures of those awaiting Christ perusia. The oil is not some kind like vague symbol of like good works in a ian sense, but I think it's best understood as the reality of saving grace and the spirits in dwelling, which cannot be borrowed or transferred. If all of that is true. Then how does that manifest in daily living? What does that look like? And then what does that lead to on the day of judgment? All of that is to come for us, but it actually starts in this verse here in verse 13, just with the simple, very direct, but e expressly articulated phrase, be watchful or be prepared. Maybe like a better incidentally, like contemporary treatment would be like, don't sleep on this. Like, I like the word sleep in that context. Yeah. Which of course, when somebody says that to you, they're not actually meaning like, don't fall asleep now. But make sure that you're paying attention to this thing. Get after this thing, go and grab this thing, get a hold of this very thing. Make it your priority. And I think really that is what is Christ is after here as he moves us from one example into another. That's almost, again, to me like the manifestation or the outworking 'cause because one might ask, and maybe this is like a good question, he was anticipating, you hear that story and we're just used to like things moving, or like you said, like discreet chunks of text, which we appropriate for ourselves. We take out, it's almost as they have little boxes on the shelf and we remove that box. We look at it, we study it, we turn over, we put it back, and it's a little compartment place. And instead you can imagine, uh, as I could, I think if you were hearing this in the context of conversation, of teaching in this way, that you might say like, so what? Like be prepared for what, how do we get prepared? What does preparedness look like? And so that's what's coming for us next.  [00:53:34] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And you know, the other thing I think that's, um, important for this parable, um, there are some places in the scripture in the, uh, in the gospels where Christ's teaching and nothing specific comes to mind. So this is. Hypothetical, but I know there are actual places. I just can't think of anything right off the top of my head. There are some places where sort of like discrete chunks of Christ's teaching are juxtaposed next to other discreet chunks. Sure. That's an editorial decision by the gospel author. Right. Matthew makes a decision to put this story next to this story, and we might see in Luke actually, it's slightly different. A good, a good example would be like in the temptation narratives, um, the order of the Temptations is different I think between Matthew and Luke. Right. And there's, there's an editorial decision that's made there and there's a theological reason. I don't know off the top of my head what it is. I'm sure I studied it in, you know, like gospels class in seminary. Um, that's not what's happening here, right? These are not two discreet chunks of text. That Matthew has decided to put together, right? Right. Christ is the one that says, watch therefore for you. Neither know the day nor the hour for it will be like a man going on a journey. Christ is the one who has decided, and this is one chunk of teaching. There's, um, like the Sermo

April 23, 2026 Daily Devotional:  “The Call to Wakefulness”Mark 13:33 ​"Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come." ​Life has a funny way of lulling us into a spiritual "autopilot." We get caught up in the rhythm of commutes, deadlines, and scrolling through feeds,often assuming that the "big moments" of faith are reserved for a distant future or a specific Sunday morning. In Mark 13, Jesus is speaking about his return and the culmination of all things. But His command isn't just about end-times theology; it's about a posture of the heart. To "be on guard" doesn't mean living in a state of anxiety or looking for monsters under the bed. It means living with intentionality. ​Think about a night watchman. Their job isn't to make the sun rise; it's to be awake when it does. If they fall asleep, they miss the transition from darkness to light. ​When we are spiritually "asleep," we miss the subtle ways God is moving in our lives right now. We miss the promptings to be kind, the opportunities to pray, and the quiet whispers of the Holy Spirit. Jesus warns us to stay alert because the most important things in life rarely arrive with a loud siren—they arrive in the quiet faithfulness of the present moment. ​In living with our eyes wide open, staying alert is an active choice. It's the difference between drifting through your day and driving through it. It requires us to ​clear the fog by identifying the distractions of habitual sins, digital noise, or busyness that numb your spiritual senses. ​Watch the horizon and keep your perspective eternal. Remind yourself that this world is temporary and His Kingdom is the goal. Stay at the post and do the workGod has put in front of you today with the excellence of someone who expects their Master to walk through the door at any second. ​What is currently "lulling you to sleep" or distracting you from your relationship with God? If you knew for certain that Jesus was returning this evening, how would that change your priorities for the next few hours? The bottom line is Mark 13:33 is a call to live in the present with an eye on eternity. It teaches that while the end of the world is certain, its timing is a secret intended to keep us perpetually faithful.

Dr. Richard Davidson, PhD, is a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a pioneer in the scientific study of meditation. We discuss how meditation changes your brain and body, how just 5 minutes daily can improve focus, stress resilience and your overall health, and we cover different types of meditation. We also address common myths such as the idea that meditation is to "clear your mind." And we discuss common challenges with meditation and how to overcome them. This episode offers both the science and the practical tools to build a consistent meditation practice to improve your mental and physical health and help you flourish. The episode show notes are available at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman David: https://davidprotein.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman Joovv: https://joovv.com/huberman Waking Up: https://wakingup.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Richard "Richie" Davidson (00:03:33) States of Mind vs Traits (00:09:06) Wakeful Brain Activity vs Deep Sleep (00:11:55) Sponsors: David & Eight Sleep (00:14:31) Brain Activity Across Sleep, Wakefulness, Meditation & Insight (00:19:27) Mediation & Sleep Compensation?; Meditation Timing & Liminal States (00:23:05) Types of Mediation, Shifting from Thinking to Being (00:28:32) Self-Monitoring, Undistracted Non-Mediation, "Stickiness" (00:35:30) Tool: Beginning Daily Meditation, "Richie's 5 Meditation"; Health Benefits (00:39:39) Meditation Practice History, Kindness & Nurturing Goodness (00:45:07) Sponsor: AG1 (00:46:31) Beginners, Expect Chaos in Mind, Exercise & Lactate Analogy (00:52:47) Tool: Beginning Mediation, Embrace Anxiety; Meta-Awareness, Flow (00:57:51) Creativity; Capturing Thoughts, Unconscious Mind (01:03:03) Meditation for Kids; Flourishing, Tool: Parent & Teacher Meditation (01:10:12) Sponsor: Joovv (01:11:34) Beyond Stimulus & Response (01:14:22) Meditation Need; Gaining Insight Into Mind, Transcendence (01:18:00) Contemplating Death, Long-Term Meditation (01:21:33) Richie's Meditation Practice; Tools: Pairing Meditation, Appreciation Practice (01:26:07) Consistency, Balancing Discipline vs Surrender (01:29:52) Social Media & Validating Existence, Digital Hygiene (01:37:31) Meditation & Impulsivity; Discipline & "No Go's", Phone (01:42:08) Physical Discomfort & Pain During Meditation; Retreat Practice (01:46:50) Phone Detox, Self-Control (01:52:07) Sponsor: Waking Up (01:53:29) Overcoming Resistance, Making Peace With Your Mind (01:58:37) Meditation & Connectivity; Consistency, Prayer; Sleepiness; Meta-Awareness (02:05:49) Tools: Pillars of Flourishing; Appreciation Practice, Loving-Kindness Practice (02:15:39) Awareness & Insight, Tools: Outside View; Task Connection (02:19:43) Cultivating Flourishing, Familiarity with Resistance (02:25:23) Psychedelics, Guides, Clinical vs Non-Clinical Use (02:32:15) Neuromodulation & Meditation, Sleep; Tool: Pre-Sleep Meditation (02:37:25) Open Monitoring Meditation & Creativity (02:41:12) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow, Reviews & Feedback, Sponsors, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

En este episodio exploramos un fenómeno clínico sorprendente que algunos terapeutas han observado en pacientes con daño cerebral: personas que durante el día no pueden abrir la mano voluntariamente, pero que, justo al despertarse, sí consiguen hacerlo durante unos segundos o minutos. A partir de un caso real, analizamos qué podría estar ocurriendo en el sistema nervioso para que aparezca esta “ventana motora” transitoria. El episodio revisa cómo las alteraciones del equilibrio entre el tracto corticoespinal y las vías cortico-reticuloespinales pueden favorecer patrones globales como la sinergia flexora, que terminan “secuestrando” la apertura de la mano durante la actividad diaria. A lo largo del episodio se propone una explicación integradora basada en tres factores clave: el estado de activación del sistema nervioso al despertar, la neuromodulación monoaminérgica que regula la excitabilidad de las motoneuronas y las corrientes internas (PICs), y el papel crucial de la biomecánica y la postura del miembro superior. Esta combinación podría generar una breve fase de menor hiperactividad flexora que permite emerger al movimiento. Más allá de la curiosidad clínica, el episodio plantea una pregunta terapéutica fundamental: si entendemos por qué aparece esa ventana, ¿podemos reproducirla y utilizarla en rehabilitación para entrenar la apertura de la mano? Referencias del episodio: 1.     Bertini, M., Ferrara, M., De Gennaro, L., Curcio, G., Fratello, F., Romei, V., Pauri, F., & Rossini, P. M. (2004). Corticospinal excitability and sleep: a motor threshold assessment by transcranial magnetic stimulation after awakenings from REM and NREM sleep. Journal of sleep research, 13(1), 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2869.2003.00379.x (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14996032/). 2.     De Gennaro, L., Bertini, M., Ferrara, M., Curcio, G., Cristiani, R., Romei, V., Fratello, F., Pauri, F., & Rossini, P. M. (2004). Intracortical inhibition and facilitation upon awakening from different sleep stages: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study. The European journal of neuroscience, 19(11), 3099–3104. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0953-816X.2004.03411.x (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15182318/). 3.     Dewald, J. P., & Beer, R. F. (2001). Abnormal joint torque patterns in the paretic upper limb of subjects with hemiparesis. Muscle & nerve, 24(2), 273–283. https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-4598(200102)24:23.0.co;2-z (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11180211/). 4.     Ferrara, M., & De Gennaro, L. (2000). The sleep inertia phenomenon during the sleep-wake transition: theoretical and operational issues. Aviation, space, and environmental medicine, 71(8), 843–848 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10954363/). 5.     Heckman, C. J., Mottram, C., Quinlan, K., Theiss, R., & Schuster, J. (2009). Motoneuron excitability: the importance of neuromodulatory inputs. Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology, 120(12), 2040–2054. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2009.08.009 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19783207/). 6.     Heckman, C. J., Johnson, M., Mottram, C., & Schuster, J. (2008). Persistent inward currents in spinal motoneurons and their influence on human motoneuron firing patterns. The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry, 14(3), 264–275. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073858408314986 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18381974/). 7.     Huber, R., Mäki, H., Rosanova, M., Casarotto, S., Canali, P., Casali, A. G., Tononi, G., & Massimini, M. (2013). Human cortical excitability increases with time awake. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 23(2), 332–338. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhs014 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22314045/). 8.     Lan, Y., Yao, J., & Dewald, J. P. A. (2017). The Impact of Shoulder Abduction Loading on Volitional Hand Opening and Grasping in Chronic Hemiparetic Stroke. Neurorehabilitation and neural repair, 31(6), 521–529. https://doi.org/10.1177/1545968317697033 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28506146/). 9.     Li, S., & Francisco, G. E. (2015). New insights into the pathophysiology of post-stroke spasticity. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 9, 192. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00192 (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4392691/). 10.  Manganotti, P., Fuggetta, G., & Fiaschi, A. (2004). Changes of motor cortical excitability in human subjects from wakefulness to early stages of sleep: a combined transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalographic study. Neuroscience letters, 362(1), 31–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2004.01.081 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15147774/). 11.  McPherson, J. G., Chen, A., Ellis, M. D., Yao, J., Heckman, C. J., & Dewald, J. P. A. (2018). Progressive recruitment of contralesional cortico-reticulospinal pathways drives motor impairment post stroke. The Journal of physiology, 596(7), 1211–1225. https://doi.org/10.1113/JP274968 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29457651/). 12.  Menon, J. M. L., Nolten, C., Achterberg, E. J. M., Joosten, R. N. J. M. A., Dematteis, M., Feenstra, M. G. P., Drinkenburg, W. H. P., & Leenaars, C. H. C. (2019). Brain Microdialysate Monoamines in Relation to Circadian Rhythms, Sleep, and Sleep Deprivation - a Systematic Review, Network Meta-analysis, and New Primary Data. Journal of circadian rhythms, 17, 1. https://doi.org/10.5334/jcr.174 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30671123/). 13.  Monti J. M. (2011). Serotonin control of sleep-wake behavior. Sleep medicine reviews, 15(4), 269–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2010.11.003 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21459634/). 14.  Siegel J. M. (2004). The neurotransmitters of sleep. The Journal of clinical psychiatry, 65 Suppl 16(Suppl 16), 4–7 (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8761080/). 15.  Tauber, E. S., Coleman, R. M., & Weitzman, E. D. (1977). Absence of tonic electromyographic activity during sleep in normal and spastic nonmimetic skeletal muscles in man. Annals of neurology, 2(1), 66–68. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.410020112 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/900909/). 16.  Vyazovskiy, V. V., & Delogu, A. (2014). NREM and REM Sleep: Complementary Roles in Recovery after Wakefulness. The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry, 20(3), 203–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073858413518152 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24598308/). 17.  Walusinski, O., Neau, J. P., & Bogousslavsky, J. (2010). Hand up! Yawn and raise your arm. International journal of stroke : official journal of the International Stroke Society, 5(1), 21–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-4949.2009.00394.x (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20088989/).

Send a textIn this powerful and deeply human conversation, Joey Pinz sits down with therapist, author, and conscious living guide Katherine Jansen-Byrkit to explore what it truly means to move from surviving life to living awake.Katherine shares her personal journey—from childhood trauma and a suicide attempt at 16 to a lifetime devoted to healing, meditation, and helping others reclaim their inner world. Drawing from her book River to Ocean: Living in the Flow of Wakefulness, she explains how our thoughts, bodies, relationships, and spiritual paths are deeply interconnected—and how ignoring any one of them keeps us stuck.This episode dives into meditation as a practical tool (not an escape), why most suffering comes after thought, how intrinsic worth differs from external success, and why true change requires integration—not just motivation. Joey and Katherine also unpack conscious relationships, healing trauma without labels defining us, and why curiosity may be the most underused skill in modern life.If you're searching for peace, clarity, or a deeper connection to yourself and others, this conversation offers grounded wisdom you can actually live. 

Ajahn Dhammasiha talks about steps in the Buddha's 'Gradual Training' that lead on from fully established virtue to the develpment of samādhi. Sense Restraint / Indriya-saṃvara Contentment / Santuṭṭhi Maintaining full awareness of all bodily movements / Sampajāna-kārī Wakefulness / Jāgariyam-anuyutta Knowing the right measure when eating food / Bhojanasmiṃ Mattaññutā These steps form the necessary foundation for the next stage in the gradual training: Abandoning the five hindrances to develop samādhi in solitude. If we struggle to unify our mind in samādhi, we should give more attention to these five.⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Spotify Playlists⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dhammagiri Youtube Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pics⁠#buddhism #dhammatalk #contentment #wakefulness #awareness #buddhistwisdom #buddhistteachings #insight

An Advent Journey for the Discerning Heart: Prepare your heart for Christ through Scripture, the saints, and the gentle practice of daily listening. Week One: Awakening the Listening Heart DAY 1 – Wakefulness “Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation ... Read more The post Day 1 – Wakefulness – An Advent Journey for the Discerning Heart – Discerning Hearts Podcasts appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.

A call to spiritual wakefulness in Advent by shedding old identities, putting on Christ, and living alert to God's arriving future.

Watch this inspiring Sunday Service talk with Naya...

Watch this inspiring Sunday Service talk with Naya...

Christian College Sex Comedy: Part 10 Interrogated Until Dawn In 30 parts, By FinalStand. Listen to the podcast at Explicit Novels.             Wakefulness is a race we cannot not win; Sleep is remorseless as all salvation should be           "Are you his real girlfriends?" Gerry, a shorter, stout girl with short black hair inquired. "It doesn't work that way," Chastity confessed. "Zane is our property and we rent him out for social functions." "No you don't," I laughed. "Chastity and Hope are good friends and we came out for dinner and a movie." "If you aren't dating anyone in particular there is going to be a party next Saturday. It is by special invitation only, it is a block party but we could call you when we find out," Erin offered. "Hey, babes," this guy greeted us, or more appropriately, the ladies around me. He was rather average looking; perhaps he would have looked better if his face wasn't constantly burned by the Sun and he avoided smoking joints and drinking so much. I figured he was about twenty or so. He was unlikely to have anything resembling a regular girlfriend or even regular sex because he paid little heed to his looks or his wardrobe. His chief companion was a weasely guy; not the shifty sort, but the blood-thirsty feral kind. He was short and wiry with an anger that came from unrealized ambition and recognition; probably a vicious fighter but used to striking from the blind side. The final guy was tall and skinny, suffering from shyness exacerbated by the presence of women. Erin and Gerry looked at the new guy, snorted derisively and turned back to me. "Here's our number," Erin said as she took out a pen and wrote her digits on my palm. "Call on Thursday and we'll tell you where we can meet." I nodded because I was grappling with the rudeness these girls were showing this guy and his buddies. "What, going to be a party?" the guy leered. "By invitation," Erin responded, "College students only." I was starting to feel for this guy. "What, is Zane boy and his Kappa Sig whores good enough for you sluts, but real working men are not?" he taunted us. "Don't do that," I warned him, putting a hand to his chest as he stepped forward and tried to put his hands on Erin's and Hope's asses. I'm not sure what Erin would do but Hope was likely to dislocate his jaw. "Take your hand off me, jack ass," he growled. His weasely buddy looked ready to pounce. "We should call it a night," I told the ladies. "Erin, Gerry, I'll call later. Ladies, let's get out of here." Erin and Gerry tossed a worried look dumbass's way, then smiled to me and left. My companions and I left by a different way. Since we were heading out the easiest way to the parking lot, the three guys followed us. "Hey, you sissy bastard, why are you afraid to share?" he mocked me, but really, was sissy bastard the best he could do? I sensed him coming up behind us as we exited the mall so I spun around, as did the girls. "So how much do these Kappa Sigs cost?" he chuckled. "It can't be that much if you are buying these whores two at a time. I'll give you twenty for them both." "Walk away, Zane," Chastity urged me quietly. "Let it go." "You are right," I bit down my anger, "not only does he not have the money, he couldn't satisfy a woman even if he could convince one to accept payment." "Mother fucker," he snarled, and shoved me back. I had had enough. "Go back to your playmates," I warned him calmly, "I'm not someone you want to be badmouthing ladies around." "Whatchya gonna do, Fucker?" he shot back. "How about when I finish kicking your ass, I'm gonna bang both the bitches you brought tonight? Then I'm going to ride those whores you were on the video with." "Oh, you shouldn't have said that," breathed Hope. I was not the one she was admonishing, either. "Apologize to these two ladies right now and pledge to never go near the Kappa Sigs and I'll let you leave here under your own power," I responded. "I was afraid this shit-hole would never fight," the weasel guy sneered. I looked to the third guy. "Do you know the number for the hospital?" I asked him. He nodded. "Good." The main talker started to shift his body into an aggressive stance but had the nerves of a bully, not a fighter. My first strike rocked him back on his feet and gave me the time I needed for his buddy. The buddy got a quick but unskilled jab off. I blocked it and popped him hard, nearly knocking him over. I spun back to the Talker, set him up with a strike, and then kicked him so hard that I sent him flying out of the fight. The Weasel lashed out again; I caught his arm and drove my knee into his stomach. I kept that up for eight more knee-strikes until he ceased struggling and slumped to the ground. "Make that call," I told the third guy, then grabbed my girls and ran for the car. "Why are we running?" Hope asked as we got into my car. "They already know who I am but you two are unknown. Face it," I reasoned with them, "if you two get dragged down to the police station, that could be big trouble." "And since you are already known, you are screwed," Chastity muttered. "Yes, basically. Once I get you two safely back to your dorm, I'll turn myself in and deal with the consequences," I informed them. "We'll talk to Gorman when we get back," Hope said. "That kind of voids the reason for fleeing the scene," I pointed out. "What is it about you, dates, and the police?" Chastity chided me. "Hey, now, only half my dates have ended with police involvement," I complained. "Zane, do you realize how horrible those odds are?" Hope noted. "Does this mean no second date?" I joked. "I think we want a do-over on this one," Hope grinned. "I think we were all hoping for a different kind of excitement when we got back to your place." "Groan, it would sort of suck for you two to be in my room when the cops come for me," I sighed. That was the end of our conversation, because it would suck and we had no choice. Once I had Hope and Chastity back to their dorm, I made my way back to my place and changed. Since we were normally required to be in uniform, we had gone to Aunt Jill's to change into 'normal' attire, but I had decided we didn't have the time for it on the way back. I gave Coach Gorman a call and explained the events, minus my two friends. She told me to stay put. It was past midnight when I received a call from the Coach. "Zane, please come to my office," she told me. "I'll be right there," I responded, as I slipped off my bed. The campus was still and dark as I made my way to the Security Center. There were only two offices with lights on, that of the night officer and Gorman's office. Inside, I found Gorman behind her desk and a Sheriff's Deputy sitting in a chair opposite her and angled to look at me and the door. "I told you he would come," Gorman reprimanded the officer. "He ran once; I had reason to believe he would rabbit again," the man answered. "Cowardice is not a trait I attribute to Mr. Braxton," Gorman commented dryly. "That may be the case," he replied. "Mr. Braxton, I want to ask you some questions about what happened at the mall this evening around 9:30." "I went to see a movie. When I came out, I was accosted by three men, and when I attempted to leave, they followed me to the parking lot where I proceeded to beat the crap out of them," I confessed. "So you admit putting two men in the hospital?" the Sheriff's Deputy inquired. "Yes, sir. I struck the taller one in the face, pivoted and did a downward block to the smaller guy, following through with an uppercut to his jaw. I did another strike to the first guy, then did a jump kick, sorry Coach, to his sternum, putting him out of the fight. The smaller guy righted himself, struck, and I caught him in an arm bar. I then brought my knee to his stomach, sorry Coach, and struck him repeatedly with it, sorry Coach," I outlined the fight. "Thank you. But why are you apologizing to Coach Gorman?" the Deputy asked. "He's apologizing for not using Karate moves," Dana informed him. "I'm his Karate Coach as well as Head of Security." "And a hell of a soccer coach, or so I'm told," I grinned sadly. "That is nice. Now, there was a report of two women being with you," the officer said. "Who were they? I need to interview them." "I'm not going to deny there were other women there but I won't name names. There could be academic consequences for fighting and I want to spare them that," I explained. "Son, I could tack on a charge of obstruction of justice to go with your two counts of assault and one of fleeing the scene of a crime," he related. "Okay. Do what you have to do," I declared. "I will not turn on my friends." "In that case, I am placing you under arrest," the Deputy stated, as he stood up and Mirandized me. He brought out the cuffs and led me away. Back at the Sheriff's Office, I sat down with SD Burrows, my arresting officer, and we worked on his report. It turned out I could type and he could peck, so I convinced him to dictate the report for him because I desperately needed some sleep. A female Sheriff's Deputy gave our case, and me, a double-take. "What have you got here?" the woman asked. "Two counts of Assault, fleeing the scene, and obstruction of justice," Burrows said. "Zane Braxton?" she inquired. "Yeah. We have him in a report for that fight at the Kappa Sigma House last Saturday, though no charges were filed," he informed her. "I went to the University, that's Freedom Fellowship, and he turned himself in." "Why did you run?" She turned to me. I groaned and lowered my head. "Apparently, he was protecting the identity of the two women he was with; most likely fellow FFU students," Barrows filled her in. She nodded and went on her way. "Okay," he said when we finished, "let's get you processed and put you into the general holding cell. Do you want to call your lawyer?" "I'd rather get some sleep," I confided in him. "You will be arraigned tomorrow morning at 9:00 so have someone by then," he advised me. After that was the tedious process of fingerprints and the pictures before they finally moved me to the 'overnight' holding cell. Inside were two benches and nine guys. Five crowded onto one bench, two biker-type guys lounged on the second bench, and two were left to stand against the bars. I was really tired. "I'm really tired," I explained to the more tattooed and bald biker-guy, "get off my God-damn bench." There was a hush in the cell. "What did you say, Pussy?" the guy said as he stood up. He had an inch on me and fifty pounds or so. His buddy was standing as well. "I've put two guys in the hospital tonight already. I'm more than willing to put your heads through the bars, Asshole. Now get off my God-damn bench," I growled. "Braxton, I don't want any trouble from you," a passing Deputy commented. "What's he in for?" the lead biker asked the Deputy. "He put two guys in the hospital for talking to his ladies, as best as we can figure," the officer stated. "What are these two in for?" I inquired, while keeping my eyes on the bikers. "Misdemeanor drug possession," the Deputy answered. I smiled evilly at the bikers. "Get off my God-damn bench. I need a nap," I seethed and they back-side-stepped out of my way. As I said, I was really cranky. For whatever reason, no one attacked me in my sleep, and I was definitely dead to the world within five minutes of my head hitting the hard surface of my contested bench. I dreamed of ice cream and pizza, and scantily clad babes bringing me ice cream and pizza, confirming that while exhausted, I was not dead. "Mr. Braxton," a strange yet not totally unfamiliar voice said as she shook me awake. I looked up into the deep, earthy brown eyes of the female Deputy that I'd seen earlier. "They need you in Interrogation Room One." I sat up and rubbed my eyes, realized I didn't have a watch, so I inquired as to the time, a little past 2:00. "Okay, but I've already confessed," I mumbled as I stood up. "I'm not sure what more I can say." She turned and walked out of the cell, where a second female officer was holding the door. Alarm bells were going off. While I've never been to a US jail before, I'd seen enough police procedural shows to know the cops never let the convict get behind them. Girls do it all the time, when they want to show off their ass, and I stupidly was caught doing just that, as her smirk over her shoulder revealed. She shut the door when I left and walked down the hall with one in front of me and one behind. Sure enough, they took me into an interrogation room, and the unknown one took a seat opposite me while the slightly more familiar one stood behind my chair. "Mr. Braxton, we understand you have refused your right to counsel; is that correct?" the one with Urquhart on her name tag said. "Technically, no. I have refused to call for a lawyer but I plan to engage one in the morning," I admitted. "We would like to ask you some questions, if that is okay?" Deputy Urquhart said. "Sure," I leaned back. The other officer put her hands on my shoulders. Without really thinking about it, I reached across my chest to the opposite shoulder and ran my fingertips along the fingertips of the woman's hand. My interrogator noted the gesture. "You were in an altercation at the Kappa Sigma House last weekend. What can you tell us about that?" she asked. "I imagine saying things like 'it wasn't official' and 'it was within city limits' is pointless, so I guess I was shoved into the girls' bathroom by five guys and got my ass kicked," I explained. "Five guys decided to beat you up? Was there a reason?" she persisted. The other officer began rubbing her fingers along with mine. "Short story, none of your business; longer version, these frat boys were messing with some of the ladies I came to the party with and I got the ladies away. Later, they came for payback and a fight ensued. I got my ladies out, then went back to the Kappa Sigs to see if everything was okay." "But neither the FFU girls nor the Sorority pressed charges so we don't know who they are, and now you are in another fight, women are involved, but you won't tell us who they are either," she outlined. "Basically, yes," I replied. "You are looking at some very serious trouble if these girls don't step forward or you don't tell us who they are," she explained. I took the time to move my free hand behind me and onto the thigh of the officer there. In seconds, I had spider-climbed my hand to her crotch. She tensed up, pushed away from me, then rocked forward until her breasts bracketed my head. "Well, since that's not going to happen, how about we get something to eat?" I sighed. I figured that sleep wasn't likely so I might as well toss around some sexual innuendo to lighten the mood. "You are looking at serious jail time and your first thought is to order out?" the interrogator questioned. "I was hoping to eat in, actually," I grinned. "Oh, and what makes you think that is going to happen?" she questioned me with a sexual undertone. "Two female officers, you are not taking notes, and I've been frigging your partner behind my back for nearly a minute now without her putting my head through the table," I explained. She stared at me for a second, not sure if I was exhibiting bravado or I was really playing into their game. Apparently her partner expressed to her visually that I was indeed playing with her. "Well, what do you have in mind?" she gave a lopsided grin. "I'm Haley and she's Tara." "First off," I stood up, moved the chair away, and turned to Tara, "I'd like to do this." I ran my hands down her sides, around to cup the ass she'd shown me in the cell while I kissed her. Tara pulled my lips down to her ear and neck while I raised her leg up until her knee was at my hip level. When I began working on her belt buckle, her hands came around and helped me until it swung loose and she lowered it to the ground. A rapid mutual stripping off of the clothes followed. "You two want to slow down?" Haley joked as she came up behind me. "Fuck, this thing is huge," Tara gasped past me to her partner. Since her hand had surrounded my cock, I had to imagine she had a flair for the dramatic. "He's twice as big as my husband." Oh, Hell! Husband? I guess if I was a better guy, I'd end things right now, but I'm an okay guy, not a saint. "If he complains, remind him that he's sleeping with that tramp of a sister you have," Haley teased. "God, yes," Tara moaned happily, "Let's get a condom on this bad boy and see if he performs as advertised. If he's anything like his video, I can't wait to show this to Bill and let's see how he likes it." "Whoa," I interjected. "Who is your husband, Bill, and is he going to want to kill me?" Tara slid down my body, licking my shaft and balls as she went, retrieved a condom from her pants, and came back up along the same path. "Don't you worry, Zane; he's a bouncer at the Fallout Shelter," Tara assured me. Clearly I had no idea what that was so Tara enlightened me. "It's a popular college club. You can't get in there legally anyway." "Your sister?" I questioned. As for the club, was an ID the only thing in the way? Simple. "She's a bartender there, the slut. She's still pissed that I put her husband away," Haley explained. "What'd he go in for?" This was getting more and more twisted. Haley began rubbing her nearly naked body against mine from behind. "Arms trafficking. He was sentenced to twelve years down in Fairview," Haley murmured, "Now, let's put that tongue to better use." Arms trafficking, at least I'm learning about firearms at school. I turned Tara around and pushed her up against the table next to Haley. "How are we going to do this?" Haley asked. "You both get up on the table and I'll give it a shot," I told them. "I am so far past exhausted that I feel invincible." I crouched down, placing Haley's left and Tara's right between my legs, and began to massage their cunts in tandem. I moved up to Haley first, kissing her cunt lips, then making three passes with my tongue, parting her lips and tasting her fluids as they began to flow. I then transferred my attention to Tara, this time sucking on her already excited clit. "Make out," I suggested to the objects of my affections. "We are not like that," Tara told me. Well, that sucked, or more like, I was going to be the only one sucking, which made my job a lot harder. Now I had to increase the activities of my fingers to keep them boiling, and finally I sent Tara over the edge with clitoral stimulation with my lips and teeth. "Oh, God!" she cried out shrilly. Her legs wrapped around my shoulders and squeezed me tightly to her, temporarily pulling my hand away from Haley's honey trap. The second I could pry myself free of Tara's legs, I stood over Haley and began sliding my cock into her hot, steamy cunt. "Ah," she moaned, "give it to me just like that, oh, yeah." I pushed in slowly. By her tightness, I figured it had been some time since she'd had sex. "Oh, fuck, she went on. "Bigger than Chris?" Tara chuckled, somewhat breathless. Chris? Who the fuck was Chris? If I had to deal with another husband, I was going to seek out a non-extradition country. "Chris?" I ground out, as I picked up my pounding of Haley. "My, ugh, ex, ugh, damn, you are , ugh, good," Haley grunted. "Caught, oh, yeah, him, banging a, ugh, co-ed, ugh, divorced his, ass." What the hell? Could no one in this town keep it in their pants? Had I come home to where I truly belonged? "How is he?" Tara asked. "I'm, hmm, plotting out, yeah, baby, that, ugh, mile, oh, good, between his, hmm, school and, fuck, yeah, his home." Haley urged me on harder with her thighs on my ass and her fingernails on my shoulders and back. Lucky me; Lancaster city limits end right past the Kappa Sigma house, then it's all county up to the campus gates. I already had a city cop waiting for second round and now I was adding to frustrated Sheriff's Deputies figuring out how to commit legal malfeasance on my ass. I was so distracted, I literally collided with Haley's face as she grabbed the back of my head and pulled me down. Kissing, I understood; the licking of Tara's juices off my face is somewhat unexpected. I caught Tara mesmerized by the show, though I was really not in a position to push them together because Haley started going off. "You bastard," she growled, "bastard, bastard, fuck, fuck, you Bastard!!" She bucked up against me with powerful jabs that rotated and lifted her hips into my downward thrusts. She made this hissing noise through her clenched teeth as her orgasm gripped her body in one massive seizure. How exactly do you explain fucking a female officer to death? "Did, is she going to be okay?" Tara worried. How in the Hell am I supposed to know? "Oh, Gawd," Haley finally gasped. "Do you date older women?" "Ah, I don't know, since I may be going to prison soon," I responded cautiously. "That's not going to be a problem," Tara said seductively as she tilted my sweaty face her way. "Those guys dropped the charges. Your lawyers are processing you out right now." "A less deviant personality would be upset by what you two just did," I groaned, "but since the sex has been really good and I haven't cum yet, all I really want to know is, do we have to stop now or can we keep going?" They exchanged glances, then turned on me with a hunger worthy of she-wolves. Fortunately, I was feeling pretty damn Alpha wolf right then too. Yes, I'm an idiot. An hour later we were all finishing getting dressed when I slumped back on the table and put an arm over my eyes to shield me from the overhead florescent lights. "You okay, Zane?" Tara asked. "Nothing wrong here, but I did have this fantasy that I'd get a good night's sleep tonight. I'm not sure how I'm going to get through classes," I relayed to them. "The weekend is almost here," Haley said as she pulled me up and off the table. I stumbled into her arms and she gave me one more saucy kiss. "Now we better produce your body before too many questions are asked." "Don't worry, we'll keep in touch with you to make sure those guys don't cause you any trouble," Tara grinned. "Which guys?" I asked for clarification. "Exactly," Haley smiled. Translation: whatever excuse works. "Let's go." We three had all made it out the door and about fifteen steps down the hall when a voice called out behind us. "Zane." It was Hudson Lane, the school's lawyer. My two new friends and I turned around and I didn't have to be told how bad things were. Lane and another woman had come out of the door next to the interrogation room I'd just left. That would be the room on the other side of the one-way glass. "Hey, Ms. Lane," I grinned, even as the blood drained out of my face. "Been here long?" "About an hour," she smiled knowingly. "I can explain," I gulped. My two cop buddies were very silent on the matter. "This is going to be good," Lane told the woman standing next to her. The stranger looked intrigued. "See, I ended up in a cell with some drug smugglers and it necessitated a full-body cavity search," I offered hopefully. "While that is a possibility, far-fetched perhaps, why were the officers required to also be without their clothing?" the unnamed lawyer asked. I stared at her. "That's Zane's way of asking who you are," Hudson smiled. "Oh, my apology. I'm Sophia Brigitte Messier. I was hired to represent you in this matter," the lawyer answered. "Oh, okay. The officers discovered that they might have had drug residue on their uniforms and had to remove them before the drugs could take effect," I lied. "And the physical Olympics that ensued?" Brigitte smirked. "CPR, I was having a bad reaction to, something," I groaned. "For an hour? You are lucky to be alive," she said with a straight face. "I often feel that way too, lucky to be alive, that is," I clarified. "Officers, I think we are done here tonight," Lane told my female Deputies. They both took a deep breath, Tara smirked at me, then they both departed down the hall. "Let's go, Zane; it is time to get you home." I moved aside so that Lane and Messier could walk past me, but Lane put her hand to my back and moved me forward. "No, you don't," she laughed. "You need to get to campus before daylight." "Couldn't you stash me in a motel room for twenty-four hours?" I stifled a yawn. Lane shook her head and steered me out. As I was leaving the station, a short, burly Deputy brushed past me. His name tag read Chris Urquhart. Well, fuck a duck, Haley's ex is a Sheriff's Deputy too. "Zane, are you okay?" Lane asked with some concern. "Let's get out of here before that guy figures out I just nailed his ex-wife," I whispered to her. "My car is this way," Brigitte motioned to us, and we hastily made to her car and sped away. "Just so I have this straight," Brigitte turned to Lane, "you let this guy live among an entire school of young ladies?" "I'd trust my daughter if I had one," Hudson declared. "Zane's reliable and loyal, if sexually, " "Promiscuous, aggressive, dynamic, Brigitte added. "I can only imagine how this story is going to be received around the bar where I hang out. I'm not sure anyone will believe me." "This has never happened to you before?" Lane teased us both. "Going to a hospital and intimidating witnesses, happens all the time. Going to the station to retrieve my client, only to find him, I don't even know how to describe all those sexual acts he perpetrated on those two female officers, still having sex with two of his arresting officers, how does this happen to someone?" Brigitte wondered. "That's Zane," Lane answered. "Zane, have you ever turned down an offer of sex?" "Recently," I thought about it, "technically, yes I have." "Really?" Lane sounded surprised. "Well, she said I could do anything to her, and I told her I wanted to cuddle," I told them. "Does that count?" "A girl throws herself at you and all you want to do is cuddle?" Brigitte said. "If it wasn't for what I witnessed over the past hour, I might think you were gay." "She is a really nice girl who is worried about the nature of our relationship. She didn't really want to have sex, she wanted to be appreciated, so I held her and talked to her and we fell asleep in each other's arms," I explained. "Is this the guy you think is a threat to our girls at Freedom Fellowship?" Lane questioned. "I actually wish my boyfriend had felt that way. He was all about quick sex and rolling over, and private time was spending the night at a club with his friends," Brigitte mulled it over, then, "Oh, God, I unloaded on the two of you. I don't even know either one of you." "Zane makes women around him do all kinds of crazy things," Lane chuckled. "Blame him." "Honestly, Ms. Messier, you need to take a good swim to unwind," I noted. "Not power-laps either, but diving and swimming deep, fun stuff." Silence followed. "How did you know I was a swimmer? I competed in college," Brigitte inquired. "You have that kind of body, plus the way your roll your shoulders and hips," I responded. "I thought you would say something like my breasts were small," she stated. "What do you mean? You have great breasts. That green half-cup is a really good choice for you, too," I told her. "How, Brigitte stammered. "I notice women," I explained. "Brown eyes, set tight on an aquiline nose, shoulder length black hair, but you probably feel you need a haircut, fine bone structure, five foot ten, and maybe 115 pounds, slender, and you regularly wax." More silence followed. "How old is he, again?" Brigitte asked Hudson. "I swear he's only eighteen; we checked. All we can figure is that it is genetic. Apparently his father was a real hellion," Lane related. "We are lucky there aren't dozens of little Zane s out there." "Maybe that is why my Dad told me to never use my real name when I first asked him for dating advice," I mused. "I thought your parents died when you were fifteen," Brigitte asked. "They did, but I started dating when I was twelve," I enlightened her. "You were dating when you were twelve?" Hudson gawked. "If it is any consolation, she was sixteen," I offered. "How do you date a sixteen-year-old when you are twelve?" Brigitte wondered. "She was upset because some other girls were bothering her. I started up a conversation and then I asked her out and she said yes," I stated what was obvious to me. "Tell me you didn't have sex," Lane said. "No, I didn't have sex. I was a virgin until I went to Thailand," I filled them in. "No sex of any kind?" Brigitte asked. "I didn't say that. I mean, she was gorgeous and, filled out so much more than girls in my class, and she wanted to show me stuff," I continued. Silence followed us into the campus parking lot. "We'll see you up to your room," Hudson told me as we got out of the car. At this point, I figured I could make a run for it, but then Gorman would probably let them into my room eventually anyway. I considered leaving the campus forever but I couldn't leave Rio behind. Finally, I surrendered to the inevitable. Not because I'm egotistical or believe I'm sexually irresistible but because all I want to do is sleep, and that seems to draw women to me like nails to a magnet. My life would have been so much easier if I'd lied and told Brigitte she was a stick and claimed Hudson was unremarkable. Of course, my hell-bound mind referenced that Hudson was definitely bi-sexual and Brigitte was lonely. "I need you to sign some papers," Brigitte told me as we entered the dorm. "Can I grab a shower first?" I responded. Ms. Messier and Lane exchanged looks. "Of course, Zane," Lane replied. "We'll go over our notes until you get back." In reality, lawyers are struggling guys in cheap suits with bad diets and an under-developed sense of humor. In my world, they are leggy babes with overcharged libidos and a penchant for mixing business with pleasure. I fully expected a lesbian love fest when I got back to my room from my shower so I was a bit surprised when I got back and found them sitting on opposite ends of the bed in awkward conversation. I'm standing there with a white towel around my waist and my flesh covered in a sheen of steam-borne water. Brigitte couldn't take her eyes off me and licked her lips like I was a piece of prime rib. Hudson looked at her and visually teased me seductively; she had used me as bait to get at her newfound colleague. I'd hate her if she wasn't so damn hot. I'm going to have to add Nuvigil to the Viagra I need to start taking. "Zane, why don't you sit down next to Brigitte and we can conclude our business," Hudson smiled and gave me a wink. Great, I've gone from her sex toy to her accomplice. I sat down next to Brigitte, our thighs rubbing against each other. She nervously pulled out some papers and a notepad from her briefcase and held them up for me to look over. At the same time, Hudson scooted down the bed until she was wedged in on my other side. "Here is the itinerary I followed," she began. "Okay, good," I nodded. I would have paid more attention except Hudson touched my jaw and pulled my head away from Brigitte and my lips into hers. "My interview, maybe I should, Brigitte stuttered, then fell totally quiet when I rested a hand on her thigh right above the knee. Hudson and I kept making out, even after she pushed me back on the bed and hovered over me. I kept a hand resting on Brigitte's hip and I felt her shift so she was closer to facing the two of us. "Keep him busy," Hudson suddenly told Brigitte as she pulled up and away and began taking her shirt off. She looked back and forth between me and Lane for three seconds before leaning in on me. "Are you okay with this?" she said in a throaty growl. I figured less was more so I simply nodded. She started kissing me tentatively so I ran my hand through her hair and pulled her closer. Her position was ungainly so I figured she'd turn on her side and lay beside me. Instead, she vaulted me and straddled my hips. "Are you really sure you are okay with this?" she panted. "If you are asking me if I want to have sex with you, then yes, I have been fantasizing about having sex with you since I first saw you, Brigitte." Not really the truth, but she did have a nice, firm, athletic body and I did want to know it better. On my tombstone I want these words transcribed: He was just curious. "Thank God," she confessed, as her eyes lit up with passion, "because I haven't had sex in nine months and watching you for the past hour and a half has been murder." "Are you going to make love to him with your clothes on?" Hudson teased Brigitte. "Oh, right," Brigitte admitted. She rolled off toward Hudson and began hiking up her skirt and working down her pantyhose and panties. "Don't go anywhere," she demanded of me. "This is my room; I'm hardly going to make a run for the door," I joked back. I pulled off my towel, rolled onto my side, and returned to kissing Brigitte. Every time she revealed a new portion of her body, I dove on it, tasting, kissing, and nibbling every inch. Hudson finished getting undressed first despite Brigitte's frantic efforts. She was content to watch me and the new lawyer go at it. When Brigitte finished stripping she pulled me on top of her with her legs pinning my hips to her. I reached between her legs and stroked her kitty. "Is there anything you want me to do first?" I questioned her with a husky tone. She let me rub my fingers over her cunt several times before she nodded vigorously. "Scoot to the top of the bed," I requested. Brigitte crab-walked to the head of the bed while Hudson let her move past, then shot me a 'clever boy' look. I crawled forth on all fours between Brigitte's legs and gave her a famished look before lowering my lips to her muff. "Umm," she moaned as I rested my upper lip against her clit while I inserted my tongue deep into her liquid folds, already dripping with her need. I worked her over for over a minute before I noted Hudson poised right above my head. I parted Brigitte's legs farther apart and began kissing down her thighs toward the underside of her knees. "No, Brigitte pleaded. "Close your eyes and concentrate on my lips," I instructed her. When she did so, I exchanged another quick look to Hudson, then went lower on Brigitte's thighs. Hudson's arms straddled Brigitte's body and she lowered her face onto Brigitte's cunt. "Yeah," Brigitte purred, as Hudson slowly sucked on her clit. We kept up the pressure on our latest friend for several minutes before she finally clued in that there were two sets of lips engaging her body's erogenous zones. "Ms. Lane, Hudson, I don't think, oh, Brigitte's protest was stifled by Hudson's vigorous suction of her clit. I gave Ms. Messier about fifteen seconds to decide whether or not she wanted to fight Hudson off but when her hands quested down to gently hold Hudson's head in place, I was sure we were okay. I moved outside of Brigitte's legs and slowly forced her onto her side. Hudson responded expertly and soon I was kissing her ass cheeks and Hudson was lapping her cunt. Hudson was tuning up her cunt while I teased and penetrated her anus with the occasional sojourn lower so that Hudson and I could kiss between her legs. That intensified Brigitte's arousal and within a minute, she began trembling. "You two, are incredible," she gasped out desperately. "I'm going, going to cum!" She bucked a few times, then went off. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, Yes, Yes!" she growled. Brigitte wasn't a screamer but her orgasm carried a subsonic undercurrent that made the skin tingle and the blood pump faster. As she came down we positioned ourselves farther up Brigitte's body, sandwiching her between us. "How do you want to handle this?" Hudson threw out there. "I still need a stiff, hard cock," Brigitte pleaded. "Okay," Hudson grinned wickedly. "Brigitte, we will '69' with you on top and Zane will mount you doggy style." "I'm not really into girls, sorry," Brigitte apologized. "You don't have to do anything to me," Hudson lied to her" "but I want another shot at your clit while Zane bangs you." Brigitte gulped, then nodded, and the ladies positioned themselves quickly enough. Several things ensued, primarily the exposure of Hudson Lane as a persistent witch who usually gets her way. Just as important, Brigitte isn't a 'slammer', she's a 'slow stroke' kind of girl. She likes the feel of a strong rod slowly pushing in and out of her as it rubs against her vaginal walls. She's not about friction but sensitivity. Another little trick was, every fifth stroke into Brigitte, Hudson would pull me out and insert nearly two-thirds of my meat down her throat, then reinsert me back into Brigitte, which is pretty freaking Awesome. That last bit of Ms. Lane's plan was a combination of stamina, curiosity, and lustful arousal. For the first minute or so, Brigitte kept her head up and avoided looking down at Hudson's inviting spread. Hudson would ungulate her hips and moan occasionally but wouldn't play with herself. Eventually, Brigitte was drawn to look at Hudson's glistening lips and finally touch them. A few cautious, coaxing strokes turned into a finger dipping in and an excited squeal from Hudson. Brigitte took the encouragement for what it was and began to seriously work Hudson's lips over with the first and third fingers while finger-fucking with the middle. Hudson hungrily sought out more attention and before I knew it, Brigitte had lowered her lips to Lane's engorged clitoris. To remind Lane she wasn't getting away with murder, I reached under Brigitte and tortured Hudson's nipples with a vengeance. Maybe that wasn't the best way to teach Hudson a lesson because she began exploding all over the place seconds later, it is that whole seduction thing, no doubt. That left me with nearly a minute to concentrate solely on Brigitte and I did so by leaning over her body, reaching around and massaging each breast lovingly, from tender flesh to rigid nipple. Her climax had the unintended consequence of Brigitte biting Lane on the inner thigh hard enough to leave visible teeth marks and elicit a loud squeal from Hudson. Brigitte tumbled to the side in a jumble of arms and legs with Hudson. I crashed backwards, sprawling over the foot of my bed. I lay there, exhausted, wasted, broken, and spent physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Lane appeared like some hazy spirit over me and smiled. "Now it is my turn," she demanded. Rio loves me. I'm sure if I begged her to put a knife through my heart she would do it. I put that suggestion on my 'To Do' list. Relationships, consequences, and women in need. "Zane," Barbie Lynn whispered to me as she shook my shoulder. I swear I only got to sleep ten minutes ago. I blearily looked around me. Brigitte was face down on my left snoring softly, her black hair splayed everywhere. Hudson was asleep on my right, an innocent smile on her lips visible because her head was turned toward me. Then there was Barbie Lynn who looked both amused and nervous as she was trying to wake me up without disturbing the two professional women to either side. "You need to get up," she continued to hiss. "I don't want you to miss your shower." Yes, I had already had a shower recently, but I'd also been milked of every last ounce of energy in the interim. Gingerly I climbed over Hudson, but half way there she stirred and started to wake. "Go back to sleep," I murmured to her. I kissed her on the cheek; she grinned, wiggled beneath me and then went still. My cock had been resting on her ass when this happened and sprang to life in one last suicidal effort at manhood. Barbie Lynn grabbed a towel and my shower kit and led me by the hand down the stairs. When we stepped out into the hall she wrapped the towel around me, stroking my hard-on. "If you like," she purred, "I'll take care of that for you." She had no idea why I started to sob uncontrollably. She put an arm around my shoulder and led me to the showers in silence. My cadre of shower-buddies was already there when I arrived. I nodded a few greetings then walked straight into a cold spray of water, hanging my head and letting the chill push me back toward consciousness. "What's wrong with him?" Opal asked Barbie Lynn. "He was arrested last night," she told the assembled group. "You go, Boy!" Rio exulted. She's a freak. "He was on a date with Hope and Chastity," Iona spoke up. "I'll find out what they know." "Anyway, I went up to find him and there he was with all those bites and scratches all over his body, plus he had Ms. Lane and some other woman I don't know in bed with him, asleep." "Ms. Lane, the school lawyer?" Brandi babbled. "The very one," Barbie Lynn affirmed. "I suppose it is too much to hope for that they had clothes on?" Iona sighed. "Sorry, no. Naked as the day they were born with that freshly and thoroughly fucked glow all about them," Barbie Lynn giggled. "Well, who is going to ask him what happened?" Opal demanded. "I don't know," Brandi intervened. "He looks like he's about to die." "Nah, I know that look," Rio snickered. "He's past the 'about to die' phase. Right now, he's at the 'praying for death' phase." The water warmed up and I decided it was time to actually get clean so I poured out some shampoo and worked it in. Signs of life on my part quieted the conversation and quickened the girls to finish up their own cleaning functions. Later Opal insisted on shaving me while Brandi began cataloging the sexual details the women had left on my body. "Whoa, the bite marks on his shoulders are smaller than the ones on his ass," Brandi enlightened the remaining girls. Iona and Rio had already beaten a hasty exit and had I been more alert, I would have been terribly worried. As it was, Barbie Lynn guided me back to my door and let me go up alone. "Umm, hey, Zane," murmured Hudson as I began getting dressed. She had rolled over and was looking at me as I zipped up my pants. "Good Morning, Hudson. Barbie Lynn Masters was up here earlier, reminding me to use the shower, and she saw both of you," I informed her. "Oh, God, where am I? Oh, God, what have I done?" moaned Brigitte into her pillow. I walked to her side of the bed and sat down. I let my hand rub her shoulder blades and brushed her hair away from her neck. "You didn't do anything immoral or illegal," Hudson said. "Technically, Zane was never your client but a person of interest to your client. We are all of legal age." "I'm in some teenage boy's dorm room," she muttered. "I had hopes of making partner one day too." "How do you feel?" I asked. "I'm beat," she sighed. I kissed her on the back of the neck. "Don't." I kissed her lower, where the neck flows into the shoulders. "Don't, Another kiss along the top of the left shoulder blade, "Oh, a final kiss to the top of the shoulder. "Damn," she moaned. "I hope you had a good time because I certainly did," I whispered into her ear. "I did," she admitted. "I'm, still thrumming inside. That last orgasm, she couldn't put it into words, though I was sure Hudson was feeling very self-satisfied right then. "Don't worry about anything. Stay in my room until 9:00 then slip over to Ms. Lane's office while we are at Assembly, then make a public showing of leaving from there and heading out. Everything will be okay," I assured her. "I'll look after her, Zane," Hudson Lane told me. "How about I set the alarm clock and you two get some sleep?" I suggested. Hudson pouted, then let it turn into a knowing grin. "Okay, but what about you?" Hudson noted. "You look like Death warmed over." "Thanks," I joked through the fatigue. "How come only women are allowed to look even more desirable after sex, while men simply look worn out?" Brigitte rolled onto her side and stared at me. "Is he for real?" she wondered to Hudson. "Absolutely," she chuckled back. "Look at his pants if you don't believe me." Damn it, I was hard again. "Zane, have you ever thought about interning at a law firm?" Brigitte asked. "I'm in Pre-Med," I answered. "Change majors," she commanded. Hudson laughed. "Be careful, Sophia Brigitte Messier, there are at least a dozen young ladies on this campus who will deeply resent you poaching their favorite freshman," Hudson snickered. Brigitte looked at me with a twinge of sadness and regret. "Hudson knows how to reach me if you ever have need of me," I told her. "Please understand that while what we did was very pleasurable, I am here to graduate with a degree in something." "Yes, that whole being eighteen and all," Brigitte sighed. "I understand." "Zane," Hudson huffed, "do you want to see Brigitte again?" "Absolutely; there is something to be said for her tight swimmer's body," I replied," and she's definitely got spirit." "I'm not another one of your college co-eds," she chastised me, but with a smile on her face. "Why not? You are as wild and vigorous as any eighteen-year-old I know," I responded. Brigitte's mouth fell open in shock. "I, well, because I'm a graduate of Georgetown Law School; third in my class," she stammered. "One never stops being young; you merely forget how," I quoted someone from somewhere, but I was too tired to remember the specifics. "I hope that if any job opportunity every stops you from being as sexy as you are now, you turn it down." "Imagine what he's like when he's actually trying to seduce you," Hudson smiled. "I repeat my earlier question: are you sure you want to unleash this boy, man on an all-girls campus?" Brigitte grinned. "I swear, the next girl I get to seduce here will be the first," I groaned. "They rarely give me the chance or the time before, well, things happen. Frankly, I've only romanced one girl here and she's not too interested." "Who is that?" Hudson inquired. "Christina Buchanan," I shrugged, "a beautiful, intelligent senior who seems to have enough sense to not get too involved with me." Brigitte shook her head and chuckled. "She's my employer. She hired me to get you out of jail." I wasn't sure how long I stood there digesting that news because the next thing I recalled was Hudson calling my name. "Zane? Zane? Are you okay?" "Huh?" I muttered. "You zoned out there for a minute. You really need some sleep," she observed. "I won't argue with that, but it doesn't seem likely," I noted. "I am going to call Ms. Goodswell and ask her to get you half the day off," Hudson stated. "You aren't going to hear me argue," I grinned as I flopped down on the bed. I assumed she called but I was out before she reached her phone. Getting Through The Day I slept through a nice little struggle between Rhaine and Barbie Lynn. Rhaine had been sent promptly at 7:00 to deliver me to the Chancellor. Barbie Lynn had been warned of the visit, and my condition, by Virginia Goodswell, and held her off long enough for Doctor Larson to get there and defuse the situation. By the time the Chancellor made a second run at me, Hudson and Brigitte had made their exit and Ms. Lane was able to cover for me and my 'condition'. At 11:30 I received a call from Lane to 'remind' me that I had to bring by the papers she'd 'left' with me when she escorted me from the jail the night before. I found the paperwork that Brigitte had wanted me to sign last night, read it over, and then signed them. After that, I grabbed my stuff and headed for the Dining Hall. For a nice change, I was one of the early arrivals, getting my food and grabbing my spot in peace. I had started working on my salad when I spotted Iona running right at me. "Zane!" she cried out as she hugged me. "I was so worried about you." "I was a little exhausted, Iona," I squeezed her back. "There was nothing to worry about." "You were in jail, Silly," she lectured me. "A really prisoner could have hurt you." Iona was missing the fact that I put two people in the hospital. Mentioning that I threatened two bikers over a bench to sleep on would definitely be unwise. "I was in no real danger. They didn't put me in with any bad people; mainly drunks and minor drug charges," I embellished the facts. She rested her head on my shoulder (I was still sitting) and sighed. "Well, Rio and I were still worried," she murmured. No sooner had Iona headed off to get food than Rio came up. "Hey, little brother, we have got to get you a prison tattoo now," she laughed. "Rio, I was in County lock-up for four hours. I didn't even get to use the communal toilet," I joked back. "So, how many hotties did you bang? Quick, tell me before Iona gets back," Rio grinned. "They don't house men and women together," I pointed out. "Oh, like concrete walls and iron bars are going to slow you down," she teased. "Fine, I swear I did not have sex with any female, or male, inmates," I pledged. "Damn, she frowned for a second, then she brightened up. "You nailed a cop!" I lowered my head with embarrassment. "Well, fuck," she crowed, "you nailed two? More?" I pointed to the lunch line. "Go get some food, damn it!" I growled. She skipped off, overly pleased with herself, and all I could do was shake my head. Before Iona returned, a dozen more of my friends stopped by to see if I was okay, if I was molested in prison (they are weird friends), and to confirm that I'd really put two guys in the hospital for threatening two FFU girls. Iona and Rio were sitting down with me when Raven came up, looking conflicted. "Well, I don't imagine you made any progress on our project," she asked. "No. I said I'd get stuff this weekend so we could start Monday," I assured her. "Fine; try to stay out of jail and not fight anybody, and get some sleep," she stated. Raven gave me a curt nod, turned and left. "Zane," Rio sighed, "you've gotten another one into your orbit." "No," I insisted, "we are studying together; that's all." "So she came over here to ask totally irrelevant questions she already knew the answers too?" Iona mused. God is laughing at me and trying to drive me crazy. Chastity and Hope came walking up next, looking less pleased than I hoped they would. "We need a moment outside," Chastity cautioned me. I stuffed as much food as possible into my cheeks before getting up and following them out; I'd missed breakfast after all. The trail led outside where Christina, Faith, and Heaven waited. In a strange reversal of events, Heaven looked fearful for me and Christina looked like she wanted to bite my head off. Even Faith held some sympathy toward me. I got to them, tried to smile, but Christina cut me off. "Can you try to not fuck everyone in sight?" Christina snarled. "Honestly, all I wanted to do was get back to my room and get some sleep," I swore. "What did he d

When we stop outsourcing our power, reclaim it, and start generating power from within, we can fully feel our relationship to the world around us and transform our dreams into reality.  When we stop getting lost in our pain and move it into presence, we can find neutral, compassionate appreciation in situations and relationships. Feeling sensation fully and embracing the power of appreciation benefits the macro and microcosms of our reality.Practice with Guru Singh https://the13moons.studio/

The river of life in determination sees obstacles not as blockages, but as diversions. And then, through the activity of that diversion, other things occur that would never have occurred. If the river of life flowed straight to the ocean, without diversions, we wouldn't experience the other aspects of life that we are not focused on…

In this thought-provoking episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon sits down with Maggie Jackson, acclaimed journalist and author of "Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure." Together, they delve into the emerging science of uncertainty, discussing how our discomfort with not knowing can actually be a source of growth, creativity, and resilience. Maggie shares practical strategies for cultivating a healthy tolerance for uncertainty, explains the difference between fear and uncertainty, and highlights the power of curiosity, mindfulness, and adaptive expertise in navigating today's unpredictable world. Whether you struggle with anxiety about the unknown or want to harness uncertainty as a tool for personal and professional development, this conversation offers wisdom and actionable insights for embracing life's many mysteries. Note: This interview originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this thought-provoking episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon sits down with Maggie Jackson, acclaimed journalist and author of "Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure." Together, they delve into the emerging science of uncertainty, discussing how our discomfort with not knowing can actually be a source of growth, creativity, and resilience. Maggie shares practical strategies for cultivating a healthy tolerance for uncertainty, explains the difference between fear and uncertainty, and highlights the power of curiosity, mindfulness, and adaptive expertise in navigating today's unpredictable world. Whether you struggle with anxiety about the unknown or want to harness uncertainty as a tool for personal and professional development, this conversation offers wisdom and actionable insights for embracing life's many mysteries. Note: This interview originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com. 

In this thought-provoking episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon sits down with Maggie Jackson, acclaimed journalist and author of "Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure." Together, they delve into the emerging science of uncertainty, discussing how our discomfort with not knowing can actually be a source of growth, creativity, and resilience. Maggie shares practical strategies for cultivating a healthy tolerance for uncertainty, explains the difference between fear and uncertainty, and highlights the power of curiosity, mindfulness, and adaptive expertise in navigating today's unpredictable world. Whether you struggle with anxiety about the unknown or want to harness uncertainty as a tool for personal and professional development, this conversation offers wisdom and actionable insights for embracing life's many mysteries. Note: This interview originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com. 

Today's sermon explored Paul's call in Ephesians 5:8-14 to “walk as children of light.” Using vivid comparisons between darkness and light, the message unpacked what it means to move from a life defined by fear, selfishness, and chaos to one marked by purpose, fruitfulness, and the radiance of Christ. The sermon challenged the idea that Christians are merely passive reflectors of Christ's light, instead affirming that, in Christ, we become light ourselves. It also addressed the tension between striving to please God and the mystery of His will, encouraging a life of intentional, Spirit-empowered action rather than paralyzing over-analysis. Finally, the sermon called for an “awake” life—one that expects God's abundance daily and is alert to opportunities for good works, both big and small.

My guest is Dr. Marc Berman, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago whose research explores how different physical environments—particularly nature and patterns found in nature—can positively impact our ability to focus, our cognitive performance and our mental and physical health. We discuss how our physical environment influences our attention, stress levels and brain and heart health. He explains how even brief periods in nature and exposure to natural images and sounds can restore and improve attentional capacity, reduce mental fatigue and help combat rumination and depression. Whether you live in a city, suburb or rural area, this episode offers simple science-backed strategies for incorporating nature and natural elements into your daily life to positively transform your cognitive ability and mental and physical health. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Helix Sleep: https://helixsleep.com/huberman BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/huberman Our Place: https://fromourplace.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Timestamps 00:00:00 Marc Berman 00:02:14 Direct vs Involuntary Attention, Mental Fatigue, Attention Restoration Theory 00:06:59 Attention Fatigue, Focus & Vision, Tool: Restoring Attention in Nature 00:11:26 Sponsors: Helix Sleep & BetterHelp 00:13:50 Focused Work, Tool: Pre-Work Nature Breaks to Enhance Focus 00:15:54 Nature Walks & Cognitive Benefits, Comparing Nature vs Urban Environments 00:21:31 Nature, “Softly Fascinating Stimulation”, Fractals 00:27:12 Nature Images & Sounds, Cognitive Benefits 00:30:03 Urban vs Nature Images, Complexity & Image Compression; Semantics 00:40:44 Time Perception & Nature; Art Galleries 00:45:32 Tools: Resetting Attention & Nature Break; Features of a Restorative Nature Environments vs Focused Workspace; Length of Time in Nature 00:52:47 Sponsors: AG1 & Our Place 00:55:59 Nature, Time & Widening Attention; Fractals & Nature 01:02:21 Nature vs Urban Environments & Brain, Social Media & Attention 01:09:44 Depression & Rumination, Mental Well-Being, Attention & Nature 01:14:56 Sleep vs Wakefulness; Protecting Attention, Social Media 01:24:44 Sponsor: LMNT 01:26:19 Impulsivity, Texting & Attention, Meditation vs Nature Restoration 01:33:10 Passive Restorative vs Passive Depleting Activities, “Mental Obesity”, Shrinking Attention Span 01:37:31 Kids, Phones, Tool: Nature Free Play; Social Happy Hour, Tool: Solitary Nature Breaks 01:45:30 Physical Health Benefits of Nature, Trees & Indoor Greenery; Aquariums 01:53:26 Thoughts, Feelings & Physical Spaces, Biophilic Design, Bringing Nature Indoors 02:01:03 Nature Breaks, Incorporating Nature into Schools, Work, Home & Cities; Forest Bathing 02:09:18 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow & Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Blessed Wakefulness" (Luke 12:35-48) by Edgington EPC

Have you ever wondered what actually makes insomnia recovery possible? In this episode, I'm going to talk about exactly that. We'll explore one of the most hopeful principles of neuroplasticity — and why it's the reason getting beyond insomnia isn't just possible… but inevitable when you understand how the brain works.You see, the human brain has the amazing capacity to change associations and shift links.And truly, is there anything more miraculous than that?In this episode, you'll learn how:Your responses play a key role in rewiring the brainInsomnia isn't a sign that something is broken, but a conditioned pattern rooted in hyperarousalChanging your brain's association with wakefulness can be a turning point in recoveryI also share a personal story that illustrates how learned fear responses can shift, and why that same shift is completely possible for you, too.Enjoy!Mentioned Resources:Ep 32: “Neurons that fire together, wire together.”Connect with Beth: 

Welcome to another powerful episode of The George Peterson Podcast!In this solo episode, I explore a phrase that recently landed deeply in my meditation: “Knowledge seeks wakefulness.”What does this really mean—and how does it impact the way we live, grow, and evolve?Together, we'll unpack how being more awake allows deeper wisdom and intuitive guidance to flow through us. You'll learn why practices like meditation, breathwork, and conscious living help clear the static of old conditioning and open us to synchronicities, creative insight, and a greater sense of life's guidance.We'll explore how true knowledge—beyond books and information—seeks an awake vessel: a mind and heart that are clear, present, and aligned.I'll also share stories, reflections, and practical ways you can cultivate wakefulness in your everyday life—whether you're a meditator, breathwork practitioner, entrepreneur, healer, or simply someone wanting to live in greater alignment. This is an invitation to clear the noise, trust your inner knowing, and let life move through you in unexpected and beautiful ways.

Nic Higham nonduality informed counselling and coaching - http://nisargayoga.org

Moderator: James P. Rathmell, M.D. Participants: Rebecca L. Wu, M.D. and Max B. Kelz, M.D., Ph.D. Articles Discussed: TAK-925 (danavorexton), an Orexin Receptor 2 Agonist, Reduces Opioid-Induced Respiratory Depression and Sedation Without Affecting Analgesia in Healthy Adult Males Alluring Potential to Accelerate Emergence and Ameliorate Opioid-induced Respiratory Depression without Antagonizing Analgesia: Danavorexton Enters the Anesthetic Landscape Transcript

Coach Cristian revisits befriending wakefulness to help those with insomnia. By addressing viewer questions and sharing personal anecdotes, he explains how understanding and reframing wakefulness as non-threatening can reduce fear and anxiety, promoting restful sleep. If you're new here and like what you've seen so far, you'll want to download our FREE 'Off-to-Dreamland' e-booklet. Simply head over to https://www.thesleepcoachschool.com and click the link at the tippy top. Happy reading!  If you're ready to leave insomnia for good, check out our coaching options. Head over to www.thesleepcoachschool.com and click on GET SLEEP in the menu. The Insomnia Immunity program is perfect if you like learning through video and want to join a group on your journey towards sleeping well. BedTyme is ideal if you like to learn via text and have a sleep coach in your pocket. The 1:1 Zoom based program is for you if you like to connect one on one with someone who has been where you are now.  Do you like learning by reading? If so, here are two books that offer breakthroughs! Tales of Courage by Daniel Erichsen https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Courage Twenty-six-accounts-insomnia/dp/B09YDKJ3KX Set it & Forget it by Daniel Erichsen https://www.amazon.com/Set-Forget-ready-transform-sleep/dp/B08BW8KWDJ  Would you like to become a Sleep Hero by supporting the Natto movement on Patreon? If so, that's incredibly nice of you

A clip from the monthly nonduality Zoom group - https://nisargayoga.org/group/Dr Daniel H Shapiro - https://yourinherentgoodness.com

Not the welcome we expectedWhen your tour guide is an assassin, what can go wrong?By FinalStand. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.You can do wrong while trying to do right.FlashbackAlal's 'milk of human kindness' had finally run dry as the Visigoths sacked his Roman villa. While looters ran off with his latest trappings of wealth, and deserted by his servants and his slaves, Grandpa decided that he was tired of fucking around with the Human Race. He felt they were simply too stupid, venal and weak to make any positive, lasting changes in the world.Alal decided that he was going to make the key choices for them. Fuck free will. Fuck letting the vermin that floated to the top of the cesspool destroy everything good in the world, as he had witnessed them doing time and time again. He had lost count of the monuments destroyed, histories of peoples forgotten and benefits to mankind burned away by barbarism and ignorance.By the fading light of August the 26th, 410 CE, Alal found himself sitting back in the pergola (a sort of mini-gazebo) in his rear gardens, drinking through several amphora of wine all the while having a deep philosophical debate with the several dozen very dead Goths decorating his environs.As three or four looters would enter the garden, he would kill them. And then three or four more would show up looking for the earlier group,, on and on. This reinforced Alal's belief that something drastic had to be done. He seriously considered going to the coast, getting a ship and five solid stone anchors. He'd sail out two days, maybe three, wrap himself in the anchors and jump overboard.The problem, as he saw it, was that given a few decades, the ropes would rot and he'd bob to the surface to see again that none of the fundamentals had changed. Further complicating his current thinking was that every time he came close to throwing in the cosmic towel, some more GOD DAMN GOTHS would come around, calling for their buddies, the dead ones. Somewhere around noon on August the 27th, Alal vowed that he was tired of this shit.Right on cue, around twenty Goths came strolling through the rear of his villa and soaked up the carnage out back. Fifty-two of their brethren were in various states of dismemberment and defilement (Alal had been, as usual, angry). They saw this dark-skinned Roman and rightly asked 'where's the army that killed these fellows?' He walked up to them in his wine-splashed toga."Are you the one in charge?" he asked the meanest looking Visigoth in passible Goth."I am," the leader responded. With lightning speed, he killed the man with his own sword. The Germans weren't sure what to make of that, it had happened so fast."You can join me," Alal indicated himself, "or you can join him," he indicated the corpse of their former leader. He had his new band of followers and the rest was Illuminati history.End FlashbackFor me, this meant more to me than living with the memories of a very bitter, driven and pitiless man. Alal was essentially the anti-me. It gave me chills to realize that all of Alal's gifts were bestowed on me with a purpose. I knew it was part of his greater plan. Normally, to end-run an evil genius, you just find him and kill him. Not only would Alal not stay dead, I now knew how well he could fight.I knew only four people who might be in his league, and I wasn't one of them. Of the four, Sakuniyas wasn't likely to help Pamela, Saint Marie and Elsa get the job done. That meant I had to rev up the deception engine to comfort my Aunts with hope, while dispelling the knowledge of how little they mattered to their sire. Almost as bad, I had to ignore what horribly people they were while extending that portion of my soul.It was with some relief that I hugged, kissed, and forcefully separated myself from the Aunts in Dublin. We were going on to Budapest's Ferenc Liszt International Airport. My next action was to make my request to Selena for a contract with the Ghost Tigers to defend Hana when she arrived in Russia. (Of the three 9 Clan Assassin-Babes, Selena was the least impressed with me.) She informed me that the Ghost Tigers didn't do bodyguard work. I still wanted her to relay my request, so she relented. After that, I passed out.We left Dublin around 9:30 am Friday morning and landed in Budapest at 1:45 pm., still Friday. As Rachel rousted me so I could grab a quick shower before touchdown, I was gifted with the misconceptions of my fellow travelers:To put it nicely, Riki thought I was somewhat revolting, Virginia was disturbed and Chaz had lowered his opinion of my moral character. It was the incest thing. Vincent being polite was a pleasant surprise, Delilah's camaraderie less so and Odette was peaches with my most recent sexcapades. She was far too good to me. The Amazons uniformly didn't give a crap."So, is there going to be any other bizarre behavior we should be prepared for?" Riki sat down next to me as I was drying my hair. I was back to my 'jeans, t-shirt and wind-breaker' style."Fine, " I said loudly. "It is really none of your business what I did with and to my mother's clones. Yes, they are all clones of my mother, who died when I was seven." A lie."They are also the genetic creations of my grandfather, also known by many as Cáel O'Shea. They are sterile, they are wickedly evil, and two weeks ago I didn't know they existed. I do have a real aunt in Maryland. She's my Father's sister and is not part of the menagerie. Oh yeah, my grandpa is currently a disembodied spirit, back from the Netherworld and looking for a body to take over, if he hasn't found one already," I added."He was born roughly five thousand years ago, was cursed by an ancient Sumerian Goddess such that he can never just die and stay dead. I have his memories running around my head, which, along with denying me a good night's sleep, allows me to speak an assortment of languages, use virtually every weapon built before 1970 and know that he is a vicious criminal mastermind the likes of which you've never imagined outside of fiction.How does that sound, Riki? Shall I get more bizarre? Trust me, I can," I regarded her evenly. She was speechless, but not out of awe. No, she was certain that I was completely unhinged."Everyone who believes Cáel, raise their hand," Odette demanded. Her hand went up. Odette and the Amazons agreeing was expected by the outsiders. Delilah and Virginia joining in was not."Captain Fairchild?" Colour Sgt. Chaz Tomorrow requested clarification."You've all seen those five O'Shea's that left the plane in Ireland. Barring some cosmetic changes, they were the exact same woman. You can either go with Sean Connery's Tak-ne creating a female clone army, or you can believe there is an otherworldly plastic surgeon altering a cadre of super-rich bitches to all look alike," Delilah, who was a captain of something, put out there."Who in the Hell is Tak-ne?" Riki mumbled."Duh," I poked the State Department lassie. "Connor MacLeod's Egyptian mentor in Highlander, the original movie and in the less than stellar sequel, Highlander: The Quickening"."You are mistaken. Connery was that Spanish guy," Riki poked me back."Actually, the relevant quote is: 'I am Juan Sánchez Villalobos Ramírez, Chief metallurgist to King Charles V of Spain. And I'm at your service'," Vincent regaled us with his movie trivia. "He later reveals that he was born Tak-ne in Egypt in the 9th century BCE. Also, his Spanish name makes no sense, he has one too many surnames.""Agent Loire, I am beginning to find intelligent men to be attractive," Charlotte said."Umm, thank you," Vincent responded warily."This might be a good point to get something clear," Chaz inquired. "Mr. Nyilas, whose side are you on? It appears to be rather complicated.""Okay, Chaz, call me Cáel. Calling me Mr. Nyilas makes me miss my dad. I can also be addressed as Cáel 'Wakko' Ishara, Head of House Ishara of the First Twenty Houses of the Amazon Host. Or, you can call me what the Great Khan does, Magyarorszag es Erdely Hercege. Finally, those who love me, or find me amusing, may call me Fehér mén."Selena's snort indicated she'd failed to hide her amusement at my presumptiveness, both titular and physically."Do you want to explain what's so amusing?" Riki looked over to the Black Hand assassin."Your job should be exceptionally easy now," Selena mocked me, "Prince of Hungry and Transylvania, or do you prefer 'White Stud'?""Laugh while you can, Monkey-Girl," I sneered. "The guy currently making a run at erasing seven hundred years of Asian history gave me that title. As for Fehér mén, that means 'White Stallion' and is symbolic of my ties to House Epona, not a phallic reference." Riki's look had gone from disgust, to anger (because she thought she was being played) and lastly, to shock."No," I interpreted her fear. "I am not here as some vanguard to unite the Magyar people to their cultural kinfolk in Central Asia. If you know your Central European history, you might recall that the Mongols devastated my homeland. For the next 450 years, the Turks were unwelcome visitors, conquerors and overlords. My princely status is a pat on the head for a job well done and nothing more.""What job did you do?" Riki prodded."I saved a man's life," I looked pained to admit. She didn't get it."It must have been a major VIPs life," Chaz suggested."You can say that," Pamela nodded. "End of discussion time too."At Ferenc Liszt International, we were diverted to a private hangar once more, courtesy of the Republic of Ireland's diplomatic umbrella. Three grey Ford Focuses and a white panel truck advertising a furniture repair store awaited us. Security issues were immediately obvious. They wanted to separate us (in the Fords) from most of our luggage (in the truck).The five guy welcoming party hid under the cloak of 'don't speak any language you claim to speak' and Selena was of zip help. So, I spoke to them in Hungarian. They glanced my way, but didn't respond. Serbian? Nope. Romanian? Nope."Bows and doves," I commanded.That translated rather logically as 'guns/bows' and 'phones/doves'. Out came our pistols. The only Black Hand to react fast enough was Selena and Pamela had her covered. The Amazons were aiming at the locals while Delilah and Chaz had their weapons out and scanning. Vincent and Virginia hadn't been fast enough, this time. They also didn't have guns pointed at them.The lead BH flunky began talking calmly in German, heavily Slavic accented German."What do you think you are doing?" he inquired of me, in German."Disarming you, ya Moron," I grumbled. Then added in Hittite; "Go", and in my Amazons went to very roughly search, disarm and de-phone our not so friendly friends."Alright, gather up your luggage," I called out to my group. "We are walking to town." That wasn't truly accurate. There was a metro associated with the airport, a kilometer away max. Our guides didn't speak English so they were rather surprised when the bags came out of the truck and were distributed to their owners. Riki Martin and Odette were in some trouble.Girls and 'only packing the necessities', Well, we had some diplomatic lumber to toss at the security services, Vincent had web-searched our location and the route we needed to take to the metro, and Delilah had purchased week-long public transport passes for the group. Only when we started marching out of the hangar did the BH comprehend the totality of their error.The five guys in the hangar were chattering away, in Hungarian, and Selena was peeved."You are upsetting my superiors by blatantly disrespecting their courtesy," she reminded me. "They have guaranteed your safety.""Less than a day has passed since the shootout in London, Selena," I countered."This is the Black Hand's backyard," Selena persisted, "not London.""So, you are only going to help us if we do stupid shit we wouldn't do, even on our own home ground, is that it?" I chuckled. "Sweet," then, to my people, "I guess we are on our own."The airport security guards didn't know what to make of our group of over-worked Sherpa, but the US State department and the RoI (Republic of Ireland) vouched for us, so they let us pass.We hadn't taken the cars and the truck because that would have been theft. The confiscated guns and phones had been disassembled and tossed into a large iron drum of used aviation lubricant. Odette began shopping around for hotel reservations (I was carrying most of her gear). She was the logical choice because she sounded the most human of the bunch.Selena called her people back, explained the fuck up and engaged in a mutual ass-chewing that spilled over a half-dozen languages and ended up with Dick-head, the local BH chieftain providing us with quarters that would turn a blind eye to our arsenal. With that address in mind, we made for the bowels of modern Budapest.Dutifully, Riki contacted the US Embassy to Hungary's CIA mission head and Chargé D' Affaires, a.i., updating them on our arrival and movements. At the last moment, I had Riki relay the wrong address, on a paranoid hunch. I was right to be paranoid except I was looking in the wrong direction.We had just disembarked at the Kőbánya-Kispest M3 station when we walked into the rolling ambush. A 'rolling ambush' is like a meeting engagement, the difference being that one side (ours) is on the move, not knowing it is being hunted while the other side (our attackers) was rushing to catch up with us, not knowing where along the path they would find us.As we preparing to transition from the station to the attached terminal, looking for the bus line that would connect us to the BH safe house in the Kőbánya (X) District, our attackers were dismounting their vehicles from across the street as well as to our left and right. They were dressed like cops. Had they been armed like cops,"Oh look," I snickered to Pamela, "I see a whole bunch of heavily armed people coming our way.""Good for you," Pamela muttered. "Your eyes are still working.""Do you think they are here to raise me up on their shields and proclaim me 'Prince'?" I joked."I think they are here to kill us," Pamela grinned."I prefer to think positively," I grinned back."I am positive they are here to kill us," Pamela laughed. It had to be our relaxed demeanor that confused them.Had we been the droids they were looking for, we wouldn't have been chatting in the open with our bags in our hands. That would have made us crazy, and they would have been right. We were crazy alright and there was a method to our madness. It was mid-afternoon, yet there were plenty of average Hungarians wandering about.Sure, they saw the 'special cops' closing in. They didn't see the upcoming shoot-out because that was plain nuts. A gun battle in a modern metropolis in broad daylight? London yesterday was an aberration, not the new normal. Our impromptu plan was to let the killers get as close as possible to limit the collateral damage.This wasn't classic Amazon training. It was a concession to allies who did care about civilians killed in the cross-fire. The oncoming hit squad was finally putting faces to targets when Odette broke the calm before the storm. All she did was squeak when Vincent pushed her behind a kiosk. Riki took Virginia shifting her to cover in silence.Delilah took off at a dead-run to the south-east. They were raising their shotguns and assault rifles. We were drawing our pistols. Normally this would have been an unequal match, except that in the time period where, in their eyes, we had gone from bystanders to targets, they'd also covered a good deal of ground, to the point that they were out in the open while my fighting band was in close proximity to all kinds of cover.It started out as eighteen to twelve. Pamela, Chaz and Selena quickly cut down those odd by five. Me? I didn't try to shoot and run at the same time, so I made it to cover and was stuck there by our opponents use of fully-automatic fire.My lack of martial prowess could be forgiven by the reality I was the one they were trying to off. My greatest contribution to this skirmish was tossing my SPAS-12 to Chaz so he could use something more than his standard military issue Glock-17. I had barely gotten Chaz's appreciative nod when two grenades went off in close proximity to me.At first, I heard and felt nothing. My eyes were having trouble focusing. When my limbs began to orient themselves, I had to fight down the instinct to move. I was lying down, which was far safer than staggering around in the middle of this hail of lead. The twin grenades turned out to be their second and very fatal mistake on this mission.The first had been their delay in identifying my group. The second, using the stun grenades, did put me, Pamela and Selena out of commission temporarily. But their mistake was having misplaced my six Amazons in this mess they had created. They did have thirteen shooters versus Chaz, Virginia and Vincent. They rushed our position using the classic advance while firing rote.Two meters from me, the six Amazons revealed themselves with five P-90's and one big-ass bow. Four escaped the kill zone only to find themselves flanked by Delilah. Her .480, combined with their confusion, finished off the survivors. That wasn't the end of it. We still had to effect our get-away.I was still getting my head on straight as the ladies decided to hotwire some of the deceased men's rides and get us the heck out of Dodge. Recovery brought with it the knowledge that Virginia and Chaz had been shot. Pamela, Selena and me, we had some scrapes and bruises. Everyone else checked out. Mona let us know that she could handle the wounded. They wouldn't be doing jumping jacks for a week or two, but a hospital was not required. On the downside, no one believed that eighteen killers dressed as cops randomly rolled up on our transit point by accident. The only people who knew about our change in travel plans had been the Black Hand. We'd lied to the US.We broke into an abandoned factory to stash the vehicles and make our next plan. Selena was coldly furious. Not only did she come to the same conclusion we had, the Black Hand had set us up to be murdered, we weren't letting her call in. Wiesława and Charlotte kept their guns pointed at her, so low was our level of trust.Chaz was pretty much of the opinion that Selena should be coerced to provide us with the names and locations of the Black Hand involved so that we could do our own 'fact finding tour'. Oddly, none of the Americans asked to be pulled out. Vincent and Riki wanted to let the US Embassy know what had happened, yet were willing to wait until we were secure somewhere first.Rachel was on board with Chaz's idea, with the addendum that they kill every Black Hand they could get their hands on before fleeing the city. They had tried to kill ME after all. I was touched. It was Pamela who put things in perspective.1) The attackers were not Black Hand, they were mercenaries and that pointed a bloody finger at the Condottieri.2) Selena wasn't a fanatic and her life had been in as much danger as anyone else's. She wasn't part of our ambush. Her buddies had tossed her under the bus.3) It would have been far easier to catch us in that convoy they'd tried to stick us with. Caught in pre-planned crossfires and without our heavier weapons, we would have all died.4) Having failed to deliver us to the pre-planned ambush site, the Condottieri had to rush to our metro stop because, the safe house they had prepared for us wouldn't have worked. We had the numbers to allow us take total charge of our security once we were in place. No, gauging our numbers, this traitor had sent the mercs into a straight-up fight they'd just lost.

Gyokei takes an honest historical look at the tough love of monastic training, and the rebels and reformers who tried to improve it along the way. What kind of people are we trying to cultivate, and what kind of monks are we actually making? What does it take for a monk to be so bad even Dogen won't sit with them? And does meeting the great matter of life and death actually require risking your life? Find out here!

Watch the full episode with Igor Kufayev here: https://youtu.be/isK6matSqPESTAY INSPIRED & KEEP EVOLVINGYEWSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WAKE UP with National Sleep Foundation's Proven Strategies! #sleephygiene #NationalSleepFoundation #wakefulness #circadianrhythm #alertnesstips Want to wake up feeling refreshed and energized? Learn the proven strategies from the National Sleep Foundation to improve your sleep quality and start your day off right! In this episode, we'll dive into the expert-approved tips and techniques from Joseph Dzierzeski and Tom DiSalvi to help you wake up feeling more alert, focused, and ready to take on the day. From establishing a consistent sleep schedule to creating a sleep-conducive environment, we'll cover it all. Say goodbye to groggy mornings and hello to a more energized you! Learn more about the National Sleep Foundation at www.nationalsleepfoundation.org  Previous episodes: https://theleadpedalpodcast.com/lp1132-combat-drowsy-driving-with-joe-dzierzewski https://theleadpedalpodcast.com/lp873-tips-for-avoiding-falling-a-sleep-at-the-wheel-for-truckers This episode is sponsored by Bison Transport with many opportunities for truck drivers in their fleet across Canada. At Bison – they put Safety First Bison's “Right to Decide” Policy gives every Driver their ultimate protection. Drivers make the final decision if it is safe to drive and Bison actively encourages Driver's use of this policy.    You can learn more about Bison and the opportunities available at www.bisondriving.com   or call 1-800-527-5781 @BisonTransport #bisontransport   DriverCheck is a leader in drug and alcohol, cognitive, and workplace testing helping employers have a safe workplace for their staff. Learn how DriverCheck can help you be safe at www.drivercheck.ca   About the Show LISTEN TO THE PODCAST- The show is available at www.theleadpedalpodcast.com  , ITunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Tunein, iHeartradio, SoundCloud, and other popular podcast platforms. Thanks for listening JOIN THE LEAD PEDAL PODCAST FAN CLUB  www.TheLeadPedalPodcastFanClub.com  LISTEN TO LEAD PEDAL RADIO at www.LeadPedalRadio.com  The Lead Pedal Podcast for Truck Drivers talks all things trucking for people in the transportation industry helping them improve their business and careers. Interviews with industry professionals and truck drivers, trucking information, and other features on the industry are meant to be helpful for truck drivers and those in transportation. The Lead Pedal Podcast for Truck Drivers has main episodes released every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with bonus material on other days. You can learn more about the host and show on our website and make sure to SUBSCRIBE to the show on your favourite podcast platform. www.theleadpedalpodcast.com  What does The Lead Pedal Podcast mean? The Lead (pronounced - Led) stands for acceleration or fast-track of your career or business. It is a play on words and we certainly are not here promoting speeding in the industry. We are hoping this information will help you become a professional driver faster than if you didn't know about many of these topics. Are you enjoying the show? If so we would appreciate you leaving us a rating and review on iTunes or on your favourite podcast platform. www.theleadpedalpodcast.com  Join The Lead Pedal Podcast Fan Club where are loyal fans get first chance at specials, discounts on merchandise and much more.The club is free to join and you can learn more at www.theleadpedalpodcastfanclub.com   

Welcome to this special episode of the NeurologyLive® Mind Moments® podcast. Tune in to hear leaders in neurology sound off on topics that impact your clinical practice. For major FDA decisions in the field of neurology, we release short special episodes to offer a snapshot of the news, including the main takeaways for the clinical community, as well as highlights of the efficacy and safety profile of the agent in question. In this episode, we cover the recent approval of Avadel's sodium oxybate formulation (Lumryz) as a treatment for pediatric patients with narcolepsy aged 7 years and older. The new indication expands on its previous one, granted in May 2023, which included the the treatment of cataplexy or excessive daytime sleepiness in adults with narcolepsy. It's initial approval was based on data from the phase 3 REST-ON trial (NCT02720744), a large-scale study in which the therapy met all 3 of its primary end points of change from baseline in mean sleep latency on the Maintenance of Wakefulness test, Clinical Global Impression Improvement, and weekly cataplexy attacks. Following its new indication, NeurologyLive sat down with Anne Marie Morse, DO, FAASM, a pediatric sleep disorders expert, to discuss the significance of the new approval. Morse, director of Child Neurology and Pediatric Sleep Medicine at Geisinger Janet Weis Children's Hospital as well as the program director for Child Neurology Residency Program, provided commentary on the clinical considerations behind this once-nightly formulation of sodium oxybate, and how it should be used going forward. For more of NeurologyLive's coverage of sodium oxybate's (Lumryz) expanded indication, head here: FDA Approves Avadel's Sodium Oxybate for Cataplexy or Excessive Daytime Sleepiness in Pedatric Narcolepsy Episode Breakdown: 2:10 – Immediate reaction and significance  4:10 – Considerations and caution with prescribing sodium oxybate 8:20 – Closing remarks and the need to utilize highly effective treatments for narcolepsy Thanks for listening to the NeurologyLive Mind Moments podcast. To support the show, be sure to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. For more neurology news and expert-driven content, visit neurologylive.com.

A new MP3 sermon from Providence Gospel Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Mournful Sleepiness/ Hopeful Wakefulness Subtitle: Morning and Evening Speaker: C. H. Spurgeon Broadcaster: Providence Gospel Church Event: Devotional Date: 9/24/2024 Bible: Song of Solomon 5:2 Length: 2 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Providence Gospel Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Mournful Sleepiness/ Hopeful Wakefulness Subtitle: Morning and Evening Speaker: C. H. Spurgeon Broadcaster: Providence Gospel Church Event: Devotional Date: 9/24/2024 Bible: Song of Solomon 5:2 Length: 2 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Providence Gospel Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Mournful Sleepiness/ Hopeful Wakefulness Subtitle: Morning and Evening Speaker: C. H. Spurgeon Broadcaster: Providence Gospel Church Event: Devotional Date: 9/24/2024 Bible: Song of Solomon 5:2 Length: 2 min.

Today, Craig and Arielle unpack the often mystifying world of newborn sleep—those crucial first three months. The inspiration for this episode was Craig's new niece, who was 2 weeks old at the time of recording. Whether you're navigating the unpredictable waters of infant sleep or just curious about what's normal, this episode promises to arm you with the insights you need to feel a bit more in control—or at least to understand that sometimes, chaos is just part of the parenting package. [00:00:00] Introduction and disclaimer [00:01:09] Welcoming listeners back and introducing the episode's focus on newborn sleep [00:02:12] Discussion on the erratic nature of newborn sleep [00:03:22] Personal story about sleep expectations with a newborn [00:08:21] Explanation of active sleep in newborns and advice for parents [00:10:41] Impact of external factors like maternity and paternity leave on sleep [00:14:26] Transition to detailed discussion on sleep cues and signs of tiredness in newborns [00:21:08] Exploring the science of sleep cycles and the development of circadian rhythms [00:26:35] Discussion on the "witching hour" and strategies to cope with it [00:32:23] Month-by-month sleep development and expectations [00:37:38] Review of sleep tools and technologies affecting newborn sleep [00:42:35] Closing remarks and where to find more resources Notable Quotes: Craig Canapari MD: "Things will get better with time, even if you're really struggling. It's funny, my older son was one of those babies that we took him home from the hospital. My wife had a c-section the first night. And he slept six hours overnight." Arielle Greenleaf: "I think one of the biggest things I wish I had known back in the day was I didn't know really about active sleep. And so I think when she was coming, she's going through that, what did you call it?" Arielle Greenleaf: "I always tell newborn parents, don't rush. They will tell you if they need you. They will, they have lungs and they can scream." Craig Canapari MD: "A newborn, that could be anywhere from 13 to 14 hours per or 20 hours within a 24 hour period. So if you have a baby who's natural sleep needs at that point is 20 hours a day, you are gonna feel like a parenting genius." Links and Resources: Sleep and Wakefulness by Nathaniel Kleitman Why room sharing is important for safe sleep AAP Safe Sleep Guidelines Period of purple crying How many wet diapers per day Happiest Baby on the Block Bringing up Bebe- and Le Pause Wirecutter article on the SNOO Connect with Us! Send us an email about questions, feedback, or ideas for future topics.

Cameron is back, and he has some questions about the Olivet Discourse, particularly the way that Jesus calls us to “stay awake.” In this episode, he and Mark unpack the meaning of that term, and explore the new perspective it lends to how we should wait for Christ's return. Instead of being passively attentive, what if Jesus is calling us to a more active form of wakefulness?

Its okay to be a dented can / de-mything the sacred texts / in whatever you shine in, you become an influencer / our karma gives us a recipe for future experiences / as changing aromas are evidence of the air that carries them, changing states of awareness are evidence of the soul that experiences them / just as one knows all things made of clay by knowing a piece of clay, one can know everything by knowing Krishna / our material experience is like a bad dream (unwanted and temporary) SB 7.7.25-27

Its okay to be a dented can / de-mything the sacred texts / in whatever you shine in, you become an influencer / our karma gives us a recipe for future experiences / as changing aromas are evidence of the air that carries them, changing states of awareness are evidence of the soul that experiences them / just as one knows all things made of clay by knowing a piece of clay, one can know everything by knowing Krishna / our material experience is like a bad dream (unwanted and temporary) SB 7.7.25-27

In this edition of Insomnia Insight, Coach Daniel reveals a new way of explaining a level of struggles that truly matter. We also look at three levels of meeting struggles to set yourself up for peaceful sleep.  Would you like to take our FREE 'Ready-to-Sleep in 5 days' mini-course? If you said "Duh" then simply tap this link: https://www.thesleepcoachschool.com/r... Would you like to work with one of our certified sleep coach? Awesome! Here are some great options: The Insomnia Immunity Group Coaching Program. BedTyme, a sleep coaching app for iOS and Android offering 1:1 text based coaching.  Zoom based 1:1 coaching with Coach Michelle or Coach Daniel. The Insomnia Immunity program is perfect if you like learning through video and want to join a group on your journey towards sleeping well. BedTyme is ideal if you like to learn via text and have a sleep coach in your pocket. The 1:1 Zoom based program is for you if you like to connect one on one with someone who has been where you are now. Find out more about these programs here: https://www.thesleepcoachschool.com/  Do you like learning by reading? If so, here are two books that offer breakthroughs! Tales of Courage by Daniel Erichsen https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Courage-... Set it & Forget it by Daniel Erichsen https://www.amazon.com/Set-Forget-rea... — Would you like to become a Sleep Hero by supporting the Natto movement on Patreon? If so, that's incredibly nice of you

When Nina fell pregnant she could no longer use the medication she relied upon to get her through occasional periods of insomnia. Her sleep got worse and insomnia seemed to take over her life. Nothing seemed to work and Nina felt stuck. After discovering the Insomnia Coach podcast, Nina realized she wasn't alone. She felt hope. When she enrolled as a client, she started to make change happen. She changed her approach to sleep. She stopped trying to make sleep happen. She changed her response to insomnia. She did things that mattered every day, independently of sleep. The journey wasn't easy — but today, Nina enjoys her bed again. She is being the mom she wants to be. She is doing the work she loves. She has her life back from insomnia. Watch/listen to this episode

Join Premium! Ready for an ad-free meditation experience? Join Premium now and get every episode from ALL of our podcasts completely ad-free now! Just a few clicks makes it easy for you to listen on your favorite podcast player.  Become a PREMIUM member today by going to --> https://WomensMeditationNetwork.com/premium Once upon a time, in a world far removed from the hustle and bustle of our own, there existed a realm known as the Land of Sleepy Magic. This enchanting place was a world where dreams merged seamlessly with reality, where the borders between what was and what could be blurred into a shimmering, twilight existence. It was a realm where imagination had no limits and the night was more than just a void of darkness; it was a canvas for creation, a playground for the subconscious mind. In this wondrous land, a gentle breeze carried the softest lullabies, and the moon, a radiant pearl, cast its soothing glow upon the earth. The air was sweet with the scent of lavender and jasmine, and the grass underfoot was the softest, most inviting carpet. It was a place that beckoned you to close your eyes and drift away into a world of dreams, where the line between waking and slumber was tantalizingly thin. Raja, a weary traveler from the bustling city of Wakefulness, found himself wandering through this mystical realm one serene evening. He had grown tired of the noise and chaos of his waking life and yearned for a respite, a place where the cacophony of thoughts and responsibilities could be hushed, if only for a while.

The Zamzam of Spiritual Knowledge. Excerpts from the teachings of Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari (qs).

Welcome to this insightful interview with the lovely Lauren Meikle joining us all the way from South Africa. Lauren opens up about her unexpected journey through insomnia.It all started when she started teaching K-Pop dance classes…In this powerful conversation, Lauren reveals:How her relationship to sleep started to changeWhy she had to step back from teaching dance The resurgence of insomnia and its toll on her lifeWhy she felt like she was losing her mindHow chasing more things to sleep ultimately failed herWhat made insomnia the most challengingHow a single word explained the whole thingWhat the path out of insomnia looked likeLauren shares her story to provide hope for others going through insomnia.You can check out even more gems from her in this wonderful interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPerp34TR9oSubscribe to The Mind. Body. Sleep.™ Podcast:Apple | Spotify | GoogleWork with Beth:

Meghan is joined by Tom Holton, of the Words of Wonder Podcast, to discuss becoming spiritually awake. Topics include: - Laying a foundation of faith- Two things that keep us spiritually asleep- Raising the flag for Christ- Sacrifice and service- What it really means to keep our covenants Thomas Holton lives in Ireland. His University education is in the Social Sciences and in Financial Administration. He has tutored students in English/Mathematics/Writing and Taxation. He has worked as a manager in financial and legal administration for 24 years.His Church service includes a two-year mission in England, Temple Ordinance Worker, adult Sunday School teacher 4 times, Ward mission leader twice, Branch/District/Stake Sunday School president, Elders Quorum president twice, Branch young men president, first counselor to a Bishop, Branch president for ten years and Stake High Councilor. He presently serves as first counselor to a Branch president and the Church History Specialist for the island of Ireland.His health challenges over 26 years have taught him to appreciate life.He is the author of three books - “Alive in Christ” and “Cultivated in Christ” and “Perfected in Christ”.He and his wife, Veronica, are the grateful parents of one adult son. Register NOW for Awake and Ascend: The Mountain of the Lord, our virtual conference being held on November 3-4. The purpose of this event is to explore ancient and modern temple types and their patterns, to more deeply understand the significance of temple worship, and the application of temple living in our mortal journeys. Also, we have an EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT, which we will share during the Saturday session. You won't want to miss it!

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Meditation: Relaxing Back into Open Wakefulness - This meditation begins by relaxing through the body and connecting with inner aliveness and space. We then include sounds and sense the openness to life. At the center of the practice is a relaxing back and inhabiting spacious awareness. The meditation ends as we experience the heart from the vantage of spacious awareness and offer prayers to our inner life and all life.