Growing Together

Christ in Crisis

• Organic Church • Season 3 • Episode 42

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We look at crisis through faith—what it is, how it feels, and how putting Christ at the center changes our choices. Real stories of work stress, grief, gratitude, and prayer show a practical path from impulse to peace.

• defining crisis across daily stress and deep loss
• boundaries, work ethic, and being the “go‑to” person
• doing hard tasks for God’s glory instead of approval
• why anger isn’t a tool that builds anything
• praying first and trusting God over impulse
• Exodus, gratitude, and spiritual amnesia
• grief, community support, and surrender
• money’s limits versus God’s comfort
• perspective on reach, impact, and faithful service

You can always send a text in if you’re listening from Buzzsprout, or message us on Facebook, comment on Facebook, call us, email us, whatever


unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello, hello.

SPEAKER_04:

Now she's got her headphones on. She can't put her glasses on. She can't see her headphones. I can't.

SPEAKER_01:

I can't see my phone. I can't her glasses are like match her Bible to a T.

SPEAKER_05:

Did you do that on purpose? No, these are Dollar Tree specials.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_05:

They're laying all over my house in case I can't find them.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

We're on.

SPEAKER_00:

Well. Well, how's everybody's week?

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, lovely. Lovely. Lovely. Yeah. I actually got to mow almost all my yard.

SPEAKER_01:

Today or all week?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, yesterday. It seemed like it took me, it only took me like uh four hours. And I didn't even trim. And I didn't even mow it all. Of course I haven't mowed for oh I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

Like back in July. For a while there. I mean, nobody needed them. Everything was dead. And then we got a few rain showers and everything just came right back. Do do what?

SPEAKER_05:

You sure you weren't cutting hay?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, I was gonna take and call uh uh what's his name? Uh uh uh uh uh uh Mr. Edwards.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh Edward Scissor Hands?

SPEAKER_04:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

Well you went like this.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, I was trying to collect the fingers. I can't do that either. Call him to see if you wanted to make hay. But yeah, yeah, because I I went through a whole tank of gas. Usually I can mow my home yard and still have gas left over. Not much, but a little bit. And I ran out and I didn't have any more with me at home. So So you had to finish whether you like that's that's tomorrow's on tomorrow's agenda. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I took my grandma to see Brandon Leake.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh did she have a good time?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, it was so fun. It was I mean, he puts on a good show. Like it's obviously, you know, what we listen to and hear a lot, and times ten, and yeah. And she she's not used to like and honestly, I I don't think I've ever been to a concert um where they have like the wristbands, and then they'll just randomly blink different colors, like dig, you know, and okay, so Mallory and her boyfriend, they had bought their tickets, oh gosh, back in last year, I think. And then back in June, she asked me if I would want to buy um some tickets, you know, for my grandma's birthday. I'm like, Yeah, and you know, we could split it. So they took us to our seats and then they left because they went, they were like on level one or something. We were level three. And whenever she sat down, she was like, Hey, I uh did you guys get like little um wristlets? And I'm like, no. And she's like, Oh, you should see if you can get some. So I went out and was looking, and I found someone who had one on. I'm like, hey, where did you get this? And she's like, Well, where we came in at, you know, we got those. I'm like, oh man. But you know, as soon as I I don't know, it might have been the first song or something, and then all of a sudden the stadium goes black or the arena goes black, and all these lights just start like fluorescent, and obviously when people have their hands up worshiping, you can see the lights, and it was really neat. Yeah, it was so neat. And then there was one towards the end of the night, he was, you know, asking if anyone had rededicated their lives or um you know been saved for the first time that night. And all of the hands that had the bracelets on, like there were a lot, but I'm sure that there was obviously more that people that didn't have bracelets like I did that were also had their hands up. So there was a lot. I mean, hundreds I would say that you know held their hand up. So it was really neat though. I mean where was that at? Um, the Schottenstein Center in Columbus. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

So grandma likes it, uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And we got the me and her stayed in a hotel, so that was fun. Except we couldn't sleep well. And honestly, I never realized it, but hotel rooms are apparently more dry. Did you know that? Because the cold air, like it's always set at a low temperature. And she woke up in the middle of the night, and then I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't really fall, you know, fall back asleep. And she's like, Man, my mouth is just so dry. I'm like, well, my nose is dry, you know. And um, I looked it up and sure enough, it's it's a hotel thing. So but yeah, we got the we did that and then we stopped like at Shoemaker Foods in West Lafayette on the way home because she went to a wedding. Um, was it the day before that? Yeah, day before that, she went to a wedding and they had that catered there, and she's like, Oh, that you know, the barbecue sauce was to die for. So we we stopped there and got some. So it was a good weekend.

SPEAKER_00:

Good.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You got to take your own pillow to the hotel.

SPEAKER_01:

See, I love the sheets and pillows at hotel room. I don't know. Oh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

I love I don't bring my own pillow.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, can't sleep. Done deal.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I I can see that. I'm I'm kind of the opposite, and I don't know why.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, sometimes they give you like eight pillows. They do, not a one of them is the right, you know, firmness or size.

SPEAKER_01:

Seems like they're all kind of the same consistency or whatever.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, if you try to double them up, it just doesn't work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Beth, you got anything? I do not. No. It's been a busy week. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Actually, it's been a busy year. I was just thinking about that today. This has probably been the busiest year of my life. You think? I think so. Just I I just think back to beginning of the year and everything that's happened and everything that we've tried to accomplish, and yeah, of course, everything else that life throws in there while you're trying to, you know, do it. Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. It starts tripping.

SPEAKER_00:

It's just, you know. Yeah. I I think the last time I've like sat down and watched TV was like back in July. I might have watched a Reds game or something. But yeah, I haven't even like sat down to watch TV. Uh which might not be a bad thing, but you know, just I haven't sat still very long.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, how long have you been putting the uh not Christmas lights, the Halloween lights up?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, generally I start that Labor Day weekend and it takes me till the first of October. So yeah, three, four weeks. Yeah. I'm busy doing that. And then of course in two and a half weeks, everything will come down. I'll be getting ready for Christmas. And that'll be all through November.

SPEAKER_02:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

Until hopefully I always try to have it all done by Thanksgiving night. That's usually the first time I light it all up.

SPEAKER_02:

Ah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, so that's the goal. Um, but yeah, so it's and it gets bigger every year. You know.

SPEAKER_04:

Whose fold's that?

SPEAKER_00:

It's mine. Okay. Because uh, you know, everybody enjoys it so much, but now I feel the expectation. And of course I want to keep people coming back. So it's like I've got to have something new for them. It can't be the same old, same old.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, and then you just you start going to Lowe's and Home Depot, and before you know it, you're in trouble. Because you're like, we're not gonna buy anything this year. And then there's always something it's like we gotta have that. It's new, it's new, yeah, new and improved. But then once you get it home, you're like, where am I gonna put them?

SPEAKER_01:

Listen, I was we were on our way back from Columbus and we took Trenton Avenue just to go to my house, and I we passed, you know, somewhat past your house, and I was like, Oh, geez, Nick, because you've got those huge blow-up things.

SPEAKER_00:

Like, how tall are those things? Those are 20 foot. Oh my god. So there's three of them at 20 foot. Uh and of course that's in the neighbor's yard, mine. That's what I thought. That's what I thought.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, she likes it, she enjoys it. So she's like, Yeah, go ahead, use as much of the yard as you want, which was probably the worst thing she could have said. Oh, yeah. Yeah, green light, go.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I I was telling my grandma, I'm like, Yeah, he, you know, I think she might have said something about adding every year or something. And I'm like, Yeah, not like my dad. My dad will he never used to put out Christmas lights, but now he he's started. But it's literally he'll buy like one strand a year. He's like, Oh, I'm gonna add another strand to go, you know, around the gutters. I'm like, well, Nick's going like I'm gonna get, yeah, sure, he might do one thing a year, but your one thing a year was 20 feet. Yeah, 20 feet high.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Well, the one this year was the it's a skeleton, and he's we saw him at Lowe's, and he's 20 foot and he's waving. I said, I gotta have that for the end of the display because he's waving to everybody goodbye.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, yeah, again. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Does he actually move? Well, you know, when the wind blows, then his little hand will go. Oh. So it really does look like he's waving. Is it a blow up? It's a big blow-up, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

I thought maybe it was one of them solid uh solid boned uh Amazon.

SPEAKER_00:

We have one of those.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, do you?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Um I think you you need a whole family of them. Yeah, some people. There's a place over here in Denison, I don't know if you've seen it, but it's all skeletons. And it it's crazy how many they have. And it gets bigger every year. They keep adding more.

SPEAKER_01:

Are they blow ups?

SPEAKER_00:

No, they're the like he's talking about, the hard body, you know, poseable.

SPEAKER_01:

Mm-hmm. There was a house in West Lafayette when we stopped at that store that was like that, it was like in a carriage. There was one in a like a horse and buggy carriage.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so yeah. So that's neat.

SPEAKER_01:

Here Paige is flipping. I'm flipping too. Yeah, you're flipping. I'm trying to find there it is. All right. Um, Nick, do you want to?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so we're gonna talk about putting Christ in crisis. So let me ask a question. So when you think of the word crisis, well in your mind, what's a crisis to you? Because obviously I think for there's different levels of crisis. What might be crisis to you? Could be something I might look at and go, that's not really that. Yeah, not really. What are you getting so excited about?

SPEAKER_01:

Right. I feel like it's almost like life-altering or like almost makes you I don't know, like makes your life harder for a I don't know, good amount of time, you know, a couple months or something, or just stops you in your tracks. Like, I I mean, I don't think a crisis is, you know, going to McDonald's and they put onions on my Big Mac and I said no onions. You know what I mean? Like, that's definitely not a crisis.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but that's a crisis to someone. That's what I'm saying. That's yeah, exactly. Yes, to somebody that could completely ruin their day. Yeah, yeah, they're yeah, set off a chain of events that they can't control.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

All over onions.

SPEAKER_00:

And then again, there's people who they could lose their job. Yeah. And they might be go, oh well, I'll find another one. Yeah, and before you're not going to be able to be somebody else that just like that's gonna just destroy their whole world.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I mean, yeah, if I lost my job like unexpectedly, yeah, I'd probably consider that. That could cause a crisis, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But some people that don't have a good work ethic or don't care for vacations. Yeah, or you know, I don't know, don't care about yeah, certain things or just take advantage of the systems, like they're just gonna be like, oh, there's some free unemployment, and then you get denied, and now what, you know?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Like then it's a crisis.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, what's a crisis to you, Beth?

SPEAKER_05:

Something that can't be fixed. I mean a loss of a loved one.

SPEAKER_00:

Can't be fixed with money.

SPEAKER_05:

Can't be fixed with money. That's Jarvis thing. Yeah. It's not a problem if money can fix it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes for me a crisis can just feel like, yeah, something that's happened unexpectedly, but also it's something that has to be resolved quickly.

SPEAKER_02:

Mm-hmm.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So you didn't see it coming, but now you have the responsibility, you have to handle it, and you have to handle it quickly.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Like you don't have time to meditate and think and ask.

SPEAKER_00:

Like you have to you have to come up with an answer. Right. And you have to figure it out.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, because you got a lot right, either it's in your job or something personal. Um, everybody's looking to you to solve it. You know, sometimes you're on your own with those things. Oh yeah. Like it's whatever the crisis is, it's been put on you, and you gotta be the one to figure it out. And people have expectations. So, and you don't want to let anybody down. You know, you don't wanna, you don't for me, it's like I never want to look like I failed. So that can feel like a crisis.

SPEAKER_01:

And whether they like whether someone wants to admit it or not that they have expectations on you, you you can feel it and you know it. Like they can say, Oh, I wasn't expecting you to, you know, do that or find that, find a new job right away. Or you know what I mean? Like, yeah, I mean you don't have to say it, but like, you know, I know your demeanor.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you know, and it can be like people can have all the faith in you in the world, but they still are like, Oh man, are you gonna get it done? You bring it up. Are you gonna are you gonna come up with an answer for this? So even though you might have solved a crisis a hundred times, each crisis is like, you know, it's brand new. Like people are looking to you again to see, like, okay, can you fix this one too? Is he gonna do it again?

SPEAKER_01:

It's funny that you're bringing this up because I was kind of talking to my therapist about I know I was fully talking to my therapist about this the other day. Um, because it's like I have such an attitude about stuff that, like, okay, whatever, I'll do it. Like, to where now I think there's certain people that might be using that against me, or not even using it against me, but like you know, it's if something's yes, taking advantage. Like, if something's not a big deal for me, I don't care.

SPEAKER_00:

But it's rather than give it to somebody who doesn't have a full plate, yeah, may have the time to do it, they're still gonna give it to you.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Even though you might be juggling these five other things.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. Just because I don't want to give it to Sid because Sid's done it before and she has an attitude, and it's like it's not even work-related, like it's just like a relationship I have with someone, and I'm like, man, you know, I never really realized that. So it's like I have to kind of set boundaries. I can even set those boundaries in a playful way, but I need to set those boundaries that way I'm not getting offended myself or upset. And it's like, I don't know, just it was eye-opening, and it was kind of crazy that you said that. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, that's how I feel a lot of the time. Yeah, it's just like, yep. I if somebody gives me a responsibility, then I'm like, oh, it's my responsibility.

SPEAKER_01:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I'll do it. I had no desire or intention to do it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Like once it's been placed on me, it's like, well, I guess it's mine. And I don't, you know, I don't want to fail. It's just when I first started working, and this is what drives me crazy about a lot of young kids, and when I first started working, one of my main motivations was I never wanted anybody to say that I couldn't do something, or that I wasn't capable, or I was, you know, afraid to do it, or just wasn't, you know, just that I failed. I didn't want anybody to say, well, yep, yeah, you can do that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And a lot of times with these young kids, they're like, I don't think they care. Like, I watch a lot of young people who who work with me, and it's like they they couldn't care less if somebody has something negative to say about their work ethic.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'm like, I just can't complain. I can't understand that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, especially because like if if someone doesn't have anything bad to say about my work ethic, and particularly maybe they have good things to say about my work ethic, that only means that it's only up from there, and you know, maybe I'll get a raise and then maybe or a promotion and then a raise and so on and so forth. Like that that's just my way of thinking. Not I don't know, not like, oh, I don't care what this person thinks. Cause yeah, sometimes I wish I had that mentality of I don't care what this person thinks.

SPEAKER_00:

But when it comes into the workplace, like I've even tried it because there's certain things that I know are not particularly my job. Like if you if you look at my job description, what's been written out for me, what I've been hired to do, there are certain things that I go out of bounds to do, not only to help the company, but also because I know any end, it's all coming back to me anyway. So if I don't do it, it's probably gonna make my end of things harder. Yep. Um so a lot of times it's like I'll go above and beyond. But you know, there's times when I've been frustrated and be like, you know what, I'm not gonna do that anymore.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

If they don't appreciate it or if they're not willing to work with me also, yeah, then I'm just not gonna do that anymore. And I'll sit back. Yes, but you have pride in what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01:

And then you'll see the fire starting.

SPEAKER_00:

And no one's like already taking it out. Yeah. I'm anxious. Like, yeah, I can't do it. It's I'm not capable of just saying, hey, let them figure it out. Hey, let let the house fall down on them. I don't care. Yep. I just I can't do it. Just it's not how I'm built. So it makes it can make anxiety and crisis, you know, elevate sometimes to a point where it's I'm putting more on myself than than perhaps other people are. Like I expect more out of myself than anybody else would. Yeah. So it's like I can I won't say I fall into crisis more, but maybe I do because I trip into it because you're still kind of being careful, but then it's it happens. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_05:

I think when it's work related, we all have our work ethic and we know what we want done and how we want it done, and then when we have good work ethic, people expect that out of us all the time. And then you know, like you said, that they're not gonna do it, but it's just gonna mess up my day if it does if I it's not done. So I'll just step in and do it. And then they just become dependent.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and they think, oh, he'll do it again.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah. And sometimes you think, eventually, I'm gonna be a good example, and somebody's gonna catch on and see, well, this is what he does, so I'm gonna do that too. That rarely happens, if that works. Yeah. But sometimes that I think that way, like, well, eventually, you know, these younger kids they'll they'll look up to me. They'll be like, hey, he's got the right idea.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but then there's there's some that you're like, okay, they've been here for four years and they still haven't seen any progress.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, right. Yeah, they have not they have not advanced at all.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's frustrating.

SPEAKER_02:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

Because then you know, yes, you do have to take on more crisis than anybody else.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

So big thing for me is just, you know, no matter what I'm doing, it's I'm trying, I'm trying to find Jesus in it.

SPEAKER_01:

Or showing Jesus in it.

SPEAKER_00:

Showing Jesus in it. And um instead of saying, instead of focusing on, oh, I gotta do this for this human being or for this company or for this, you know, earthly reason. The only thing that I really should be doing it for is for the glory of God.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

And that helps me a lot. Just you know, because there's just a lot of people who are like, ah, don't do that, don't you know. There's just a lot of people who discourage you to to handle handle a problem or take on something. And sometimes it's very easy then to take that in and say, Yep, they're right, you know, I'm just I'm just gonna sit back too and uh not not give a hundred percent. But when I look at it through that lens, through, well, how is what is God gonna think of my effort? And if I'm giving it all my effort to Him to glorify Him, then whatever I'm doing, it makes it makes that crisis uh gives it meaning, I suppose. Um and it just it gives me a sense of uh you know peace or peace and pride and um that that yeah, I I can do this through Christ. And I I'm not doing it for any other reason. Um so that that's how that's how I tackle a lot of that's how I talk tackle a lot of mundane things that I do and this is and this is you know, raise my hand being honest. There's just a lot of things I don't want to do.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, mm-hmm for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

There's just a lot of things you have to do on a daily basis. I'm like, I just really don't want to do this.

SPEAKER_01:

And I mean, I think that's our flesh in us, or even just you know yeah. I mean Yeah, I think we're all like that more times than not. Even whenever we don't want to be, like you said, like we're trying to give it all to him and the glory to God, but yeah. I mean it's easier said than done. I was kind of looking at it um when you brought up this subject about putting Christ in crisis, about like the world right now, and it just seems like how there's kind of revivals going right now, or or hopefully, you know, and I don't know. That's kind of where my mind went whenever you were bringing it up. Just even like you know, Charlie Kirk, like I feel like with that, you know, that kind of sparks something, and I don't know, but then it sparked something, but then it kind of died down, like you said last week.

SPEAKER_00:

So Yep, and that's you know, and that's that's the basic, you know, understanding we all have to have is yeah, passions you know rise when something like this happens. But eventually we all have to go back to living our lives.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, emotions get upset.

SPEAKER_00:

Back down to business, and that's when you're really truly sorting out who you are with God.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Is because yeah, you you can't you can't hang on to that moment or that passion forever. You just you know, that's to me that's not healthy. You know, you you can't be on fire in in that sense all the time. Yeah. You know, because most of the time that means to me, uh that tells me like you're either angry or um consumed, and you you don't know how to find the peace in the things that have happened in the world in reality. And and then you really do have to sort out where you are with gl God for everything that's happened. Like, you know, I think you can read through everything that's happened with that, I think you can read where people are with the Lord.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I agree.

SPEAKER_00:

Um because a lot of people mean well when they're when they're angry.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, compassionate, you know, they mean well.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, they're they're there's a they're they're I mean, clearly a hundred percent they're behind God.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

They're they're they're on that side. But you could tell there's a lot of things perhaps they haven't figured out yet, like anger, like they haven't learned to control their self-control, you know, and um and they think that's that's a way to solve things is to attack the other side. And they're going to that's the way that they're going to go about this, um until until they grow more with the Lord and really get more in the word and figure out that okay, anger is not one of the Lord's weapons. That's not one of, you know, it's not that's that's not in our as we've talked about before when we talk about our our tool belt, you know, that that's not in it. Um that's not gonna help us grow, and it's not gonna help us grow our relationship with Him. So you know, pe people have to um eventually you do have to sit back after something like this and be like, okay, you know, I I need to really sit back and say, okay, what have I learned from this? Um and where do I need to improve?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um and that's obviously not the what we're taught our subject tonight, but um, I think if you do that, then you might not be in so much crisis all the time.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Because I think we can be we can create our own crisis.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And um like if you're constantly going to him in prayer, or even yeah, just having that dialogue.

SPEAKER_00:

Or just having an understanding in the moment that, you know, um you have to you know, you have to trust God. You have to trust God with the moment. You can't try to control it all yourself.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, you can't try to throw anger at somebody and think that's gonna most of the time, you know, that that's not the way we're gonna bring people to our side. You know, and that's what we should be that's what we should be interested in bringing about. Not trying to drive them farther away from us because of who they are or they don't quite agree with us. No, we should still be trying to find a way to bring them closer to us so we can get them to the other side. Yeah, like the goal.

SPEAKER_01:

Like Jason DeFord, do you know who that is?

SPEAKER_00:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

That's jelly roll. Oh, okay. But he said they've heard of Jesus. Now you need to show them Jesus, you know?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, everybody's heard of Jesus.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, he's a stranger to nobody. No, no, uh do they know him.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

No, very few people, excuse me, very few people do. Um and that's I really got into Exodus, and of course, we all know the story of you know, uh, Moses and parting the Red Sea. And of course, you know, um just people were full of doubt. You know, no matter uh how far he took them and how many miracles, you know, God was willing to show them and how many trials he he had got them through, they they get to that point, you know, where the Egyptians are on their heels. And of course, what do they do? They start complaining again and doubting the Lord and doubting Moses and thinking, is this why you brought us all the way out here? You should have just left us back here so they could kill us all. That would have been easier than what you're putting us through now. Um and so if you're looking at it from God's perspective, it's always like how many more times can I show you? Yeah, you know, that if you have faith in me, no, yeah, you're still gonna. I never told you your trials were gonna come to an end. But what I have tried to show you is when you do have trial, when you are in crisis, I'm gonna be here.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

If you allow me to, if you make me part of it, if if you you have faith in me, then I'll lead the way. I'll show you the way. Even it meant, you know, parting of the sea.

SPEAKER_02:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, we'll get it done. Even take something miraculous, if you truly believe in me, if you have total faith in me and willing to trust me, yeah, then your crisis will will not be in vain. It won't be something you just have to go through uh and all you experience is pain and loss and confusion. No, you will come out of it come out of it uh, you know, uh a better person. You'll you'll come out of it with more knowledge, more wisdom, more discernment.

SPEAKER_01:

I have something to say about I've I have 1 Thessalonians 5, 18 that I've had, you know, was on the topic or just on my mind for this topic. It says, and everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. So it's like with Moses, all the Israelites, like countless times, you know, them turning their back and all the things like and just moseying around and complaining, like they should have been giving thanks. And it's like, nope, here they were, just me. And like, no, they should have been given thanks, just like we should be giving thanks whenever we're in these crises. And it's again easier said than done, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

But well, and think about it, Exodus is pretty early on in the early stages. Uh and I'm sure, you know, a lot of those Israelites personally witnessed the parting of the Red Sea, had been through it, had watched the walls of the sea rise up above them and they walk straight through it. And then you get to the other chapters in the Bible with the Israelites, and it's like, did you not see that? Like, what more proof would you need?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that they just moan and groan. And that he's going to do it again.

SPEAKER_00:

Like I mean, but you know, and but that's that's the important thing, is like people are still that way. People have not changed since biblical times when it comes to yeah, God can get you through so many things, and then when you get to the next bump in the road, it's like you just have amnesia. You've you've totally forgotten.

SPEAKER_04:

You forgot what happened the last time when you were in this crisis. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So I think sometimes, you know, it's like, yeah, you'll go through crisis, whether of your own free will, or sometimes maybe, yeah, I am trying to put you some through something to give you pain to help you grow. And and it's up to us the next time that we face that to go, okay, I'm gonna show my growth here through this crisis. And instead of it being a nine or a ten, you know, this one's only gonna be a three or four because I'm gonna be able to handle it. I'm gonna be able to take what I learned. What I've learned uh you know, I've and applied. I've learned to trust the Lord more from what he's done in my life. Yep. And so when other things come up, I'm gonna put him first. Yep. Before I start complaining to my friends, before I start complaining to my family, before I start cussing to myself, you know, about whatever it is, it's like, no, you should be directly talking to the Lord.

SPEAKER_05:

Yes. Shift our focus on Christ. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, that's what we have to do. It has to be almost has to be on autopilot. That's the way I look at it. It has to be, you know, it's like you're riding the motorcycle and Jesus is in that funny cart with you.

SPEAKER_01:

With his robes blowing in the wind.

SPEAKER_00:

Like you just you can't, you know, American Express. Use your American Express card. Don't leave home without him.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh that's the way it has to be. It has to be autopilot. And that doesn't mean people can hear me say that and go, Oh, well, I guess that means you never get angry. That means you never get worried. Oh, that means you never, you know, have a bad day. No, that doesn't that is not what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01:

No, not at all. But when you do have those bad days, you have him to lean on. You do, yes.

SPEAKER_00:

And and you and you you get wisdom out of it. Yes. You just do. You you just learn that, you know. It it I think it really means something when you show God your strength and what you've learned and how you've grown. And because then he knows, like, yeah, you you're getting it. You have faith, you appreciate it, you know, uh, and you're giving the glory back to me. You know, you're not, like I said, you're not uh calling your girlfriends up on the phone and telling them, you know.

SPEAKER_05:

She hears it usually first. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

I might talk to him be like, dude, can you believe this? And then uh it's like as you're dialing Dawn, all right, God, hear me out. I'm gonna talk to both of you now.

SPEAKER_05:

We'll put you on uh three-way both she grounds me pretty quick.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and that's and that's okay, yeah, because in your case, you're going to the right person.

SPEAKER_05:

But not all those ones that you don't, though. Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah, right. But in your case, I mean you can say like, okay, yeah, I know I'm gonna vent to her, but at the end of this, she's the right if I'm gonna vent anybody, you know, on earth, you know, you're you're you know. Yep. I think because of your wisdom and because of your face, you know who to talk to.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Like your your default choice is Beth, but it's not Beth. Dawn, but you know, I almost feel like it is default because you know that that's what you need, and you know that she does give you only good wisdom, you know. Yeah, like you're not going to someone else who's just going to spew it all over the place and tell you what you want to hear. Like because yeah, that's a lot easier sometimes. Oh, she doesn't. Yeah. I believe you.

SPEAKER_05:

Sometimes she just, I mean, she just she makes you stop and reevaluate it and that's gonna we're gonna pray about this. And you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we had a guy at work that I mean he was just uh we would talk a little bit. And after Charlie Kirk was killed, he's like, you know, I really need to get my family in church, and as a lot of people have been doing. But he was just very unhappy with his job, and some of it I could see he's probably justified in, some of it not. There's some things that I believe that he would do to kind of create his own problems, sure. Right. Um because believe it or not, that but like I would just I would just try to have a positive conversation with him, and he was just always threatening to quit, just you know. Well, I went on vacation and it was three days I was gone. And he quit and uh my uh uh nephew Samuel he went with us. Well, he works with me, and uh he gets a text, he's like, hey, you know, so and so just quit, and I'm like, I'm thinking, I wasn't there to talk him from the ledge, you know. Uh but that's but that's not on you. No, it's not on me. But but again, I'm gonna guess that maybe, and I had heard like he had talked to some other people, and they said, Well, if you're gonna quit, just quit. No, if you feel like that's what you need to do, whereas you wouldn't have and just got him in that right mindset to where he's like, Okay, yep, I'm gonna give him my keys and I'm walking out of here today. They that got him revved up, going in the wrong direction. Instead of having somebody say, I realize you're not happy, yeah, and you have every reason to feel that way, and you have all the right in the world to go find another job if you're not happy. But the last thing you want to do is just up and quit.

SPEAKER_02:

Be job.

SPEAKER_00:

Because because there's yeah, there's so many consequences to that. Um if if you're trying to get that next job and somebody sees that you just up and quit, if they call the company for a reference, they're like, Well, you just never came back the next day.

SPEAKER_01:

They're gonna have questions. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

They're gonna have questions about that. Um, yeah, you've got a family, all of a sudden you don't have a job. You know, that that's yeah, you know, what are you gonna do? What's your answer to that? So a lot of times in crisis, people can make these very quick decisions, thinking and feeling and being led to make a decision that feels right in that moment. Because I'm sure when he handed the keys in, it felt good to finally say, I've had enough, I'm not taking your Yeah, I'm sure it did, but then you get in the truck and you're like, Oh, but that's only gonna Yeah, that's only gonna last so long. As as I said, the passion, the anger, all that, you cannot hang on to that. That is not going to carry you through a situation. Nope. You have to gonna come back down to reality and face what you've done. And a lot of times you're like, oh, yeah, felt good for a few seconds, but now what am I gonna do? Unless you can like I think we said it last week, unless you can be like George Costanza and just walk back into work today like you didn't quit and hope everybody didn't notice didn't take you seriously, gonna have bad consequences.

SPEAKER_05:

Yep. That kind of takes me to maybe I'm not understanding this verse completely, but Proverbs where am I at? Three, five, and six. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. If we depend on our own understanding, we do things like that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

We're always on we're always on the wrong path.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, we'll we'll make that because I think a decision because it's based on emotion, I feel a lot of times. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. And that's just and it's it's very human, it's easy to do. And without the Lord, that's what we're gonna do. Yep. We're gonna, you know, if you have him on autopilot, okay. You more often than not, you're gonna counsel him before you do something. When you're out of relationship, then all you have to fall back on is all your human traits. And most of the time, let's face it, our human traits just don't get us through much.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, it just doesn't. You know, and maybe somebody say, Well, we have the natural ability to be happy, um, to to go to work, you know, to labor. Yeah, we do, we do have those natural abilities. But I can personally say, like as I said, there's a lot of things if I just if I just went with who I am, I'd be like, there'd be a lot of stuff I just wouldn't do. I just wouldn't. Because I don't want to do it. Like if if I just went on my own selfish, you know, urges and what I want to do, it'd be like, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't, you know, why would I, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

That'd be like me buying paper plates and not even having any other plates, but I know it's bad for the economy. Not the economy, for the world, for the earth, the environment. So I guess I'll just and it's like, wow, silly me. Have a dishwasher, put them in the dishwasher, you know?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But yeah, it'd be like that.

SPEAKER_04:

Just like our Do you ever see what paper plates look like when you put them in a dishwasher?

SPEAKER_01:

No, did you do that? No, but No, no, it wouldn't be a pretty sight.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I no, I'm just saying, like, you know, a normal reuse these paper plates. Well, that wasn't a good idea.

SPEAKER_01:

Maybe styrofoam will do the trick. I bet's worse than that.

SPEAKER_00:

I bet you there's people out there that wash paper plates.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, I thought.

SPEAKER_05:

There's gotta be people out there who's my grandmother used to hang her paper towels up to dry to reuse. Oh, really? Yeah, oh no.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Well plastic silverware. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05:

My best one when she would offer you a cup of tea. I'd say. Got any new tea bags? Oh. She believed in using them a good many a times. But she grew up in the defense, that's what I was about to say.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Well, they have a good excuse. We'll let those people slide. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, honestly.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Talk about crisis.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And that's the thing. You know, a lot of things that we think about is a crisis. We have no idea. Yeah. You know. No. I can't, you know. Can you imagine living through the depression? Mm-mm. If you were, you know.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

No. I mean, like I said, we we think so many things are a crisis. So many things like, what am I gonna do now? Or even like thinking feel so inconvenienced.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, like thinking about like my grandma, not not the one you guys know, but my other one. I think she walked half mile to the school bus and then half mile back. Like that was just their everyday thing. Like if you gave that to a kid now, oh my god.

SPEAKER_04:

I gotta walk through the corner.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, yeah, yeah. Like, or I have to ride the bus. Like that's a crisis to them, you know?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Like just baffling.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, and you you don't you don't want anybody to like uh you don't want your kids to go through anything like that.

SPEAKER_01:

Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_00:

And you don't want anybody ever placed in one of those situations. Like so maybe they'll know the difference. But you know, and but I've always said and I look at kids like, you know, adversity is is not a bad word. Today it's such a bad word. You say adversity, it's like it builds character. It does. Yeah. But you know, you put kids, you know, you put people through anything nowadays. It's like, oh, you know, just how dare you? Yeah, this isn't healthy. It's just like, no, you you you've gotta have you've gotta have crisis in your life in order to be able to grow and handle things and have perspective and and the ability to help others.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and like to grow, I sh I strongly think like it helps certain people grow their relationship with Christ because you that's when you're leaning on him the most and that's when you start to trust him because you're like, all right, God, this is I don't know what to do from here.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, or I'm I'm giving it down to you on your own.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, I just can't do it on my own anymore. That's a big thing I hear how a lot of people I've heard a lot of people when they finally pray and shout out to the Lord that a lot of times they'll say, I can't do this on my own anymore.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And people just realize, like, yeah, you just it's it's too much of a burden to bear without the Lord to lean on. Yeah. You know, I've tried it my way a dozen different times and a dozen different ways, and it all comes back to the same.

SPEAKER_05:

I think the crisis when uh my stepson was killed, Jarvey and I weren't married yet, um was a big time. Well, it was a big time. He got saved, and I, you know, dedicated my life back to the Lord. But I I can remember it was December 30th, and I had a gas furnace, and I was freezing, and I wrapped my blanket around me and sat down on that register. So I was holding all that heat in and just crying out to him, God help me. Yep. I don't know what to do to fix this. I don't know. Yeah. And he gave me the strength to be strong because Jarve needed to be strong. You know, yeah. Eleven years prior to that, he'd buried his wife. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, that's hard. And and then, you know, then through everything and the people from the church in Port Washington that we didn't know those people. But Jarve's um Tyler's aunt on his mom's side of the family went to that church and Dawn, I think Dawn was gone at that time too, down there. They all came to the funeral home and were really there and prayed with us, and and that's what got us in church. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, because I mean they didn't have to do that.

SPEAKER_05:

They didn't know you, you know, and not at all. Yep.

unknown:

No.

SPEAKER_05:

And Tyler hadn't been in that church. He went when he was little, but he hadn't been in there for years.

SPEAKER_01:

Now, how old was Tyler when his brother had passed? 13. Yeah, so you you know, then you got, you know, you lost a brother, lost mom, and like Jarve's like got I mean, you were in his life, but you're like, ah, still kind of getting your feet wet. Yeah, I'm like, oh, how do I Yeah, I don't want to overstep, but I want to be there for both of them.

SPEAKER_05:

And yeah, that's that's hard. Yeah. And then just and Jarve drank a lot then. So that was his only coping meth mechanism. And I'm like, God, we gotta do something here. You know, and that came to a stop after he got saved. But it was one of those when you say cry out, that's that's I mean, I remember it. I remember it clearly. I can even tell you what blanket I had wrapped around me. But I couldn't fix it and I didn't know how to fix it.

SPEAKER_04:

But you had to be the instrument that started the repair.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. Yeah. And that's a that and that's a good point. Is sometimes we're not supposed to we're not supposed to be the ones that repair it. Now, yes, you're supposed to be an instrument in that.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. But yeah, it's not all lean, it's not all the you know Yeah, like you weren't asking to be the fixer, you just wanted to start something. Yeah, you know what I mean. You just wanted to save him somehow.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you just want to be in the band, you want to be the lead singer, you just want to be in the band. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And uh, you know, God is the lead singer. Yeah. Um you always want to be an instrument, anything, but still at the end of the day, you st it still starts with him. Like you said, you had to you had to cry out to him.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you gotta give it up to him.

SPEAKER_05:

And I think at that point in life when Jarve come to the concl that's where his little saying comes from. If money can fix it, it's not a problem. Whether you have a money or not.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

It is true.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

You know, even if you don't have the money to fix it.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Yeah. Cause money in itself can just feel money is a constant crisis.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00:

It really is. Even when you're doing well, then you're then you're thinking about, well, now what can we do? Because we got more money. And then most most human beings will be like, okay, well, yeah, well then let's buy a new car. Let's uh let's uh let's remodel. Let's if we know it, then you got another loan. You got stressors with that. And it creates another crisis uh that you stress about. Um so money never solves anything. No. I mean, yeah, it's not bad to have it uh if used in the right way.

SPEAKER_05:

Um but it's again, you should never lean on a death, a a terminal illness. Those are crisis because it doesn't matter how much money you have in the change. Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. And something like that generally takes all the money that you have, anything that you saved. Yeah, yep. Um like in our case when you know my mom got sick, it was like uh my brother, my sister, and I, we all had a small college fund started, thanks to you know, my mom's brother and just you know trying to get us off on the right foot. And all that was gone. You know, because they had you know so many bills for the Cleveland Clinic and things like that. And then, you know, my mom, along with her brother, they owned a lot of land over by the bowling alley. That was gone because they had to sell it so she could keep we could keep paying the bills. Uh the the home we lived in, gone. Yeah, you know, uh they couldn't keep up with the payments anymore, so they had to move into a small double white on land that belonged to a family member so so that they could, you know, save money. And and so, yeah, so you know, a sickness like that, you know, can destroy your whole world. Everything that you know, you know, everything that you've planned on. Yeah. Uh I can do that. Um, and the only thing you're gonna have left is just Christ.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_00:

That's all you're gonna have. Yep. Because any any earthly gain or you know, property, money, anything like that's not no, it's not gonna that stuff's not gonna comfort you in a time like that. It just doesn't. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

It gives you and for the people that are like, oh yeah, well, you know, I'm too strong for that, and I I'm never gonna give in because that's just uh give in to Jesus or give in to the Christian life because I'm you know I'm mentally stronger than that, and this and that, it's like okay. I don't know why you have that attitude because if I'm if I'm wrong, I'm in a a box six feet under. But if I'm right, yeah, if I am right, and like what do you what do you lose? Your your self, like I don't know, your self-pride that you're not strong enough or something, like perhaps and you're out your outward image too. Yeah, but then once you do, you know, turn over your life and realize wow, you know, this is this is what I've been missing out on. Like, well, thank God I turned it over. Like then that self-pride's gone, you know? Like yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the older you get, no, like I said, I was fairly after my mom got sick, I was a teenager when I bought my first Bible, you know, and I'm reading it. And it and it's that time I thought I understood it, you know. But now that I'm 45, man, that's a completely different perspective of when it was when I first started reading it. Um and I assume that it will continue to be that way. When I'm 60, I expect it to be even greater, a greater understanding. Um and it's not, yeah, and it's not a I guess it's hard to explain, it's hard not to define it as a crutch. And maybe that's to your point where people's like, oh, I'm too strong for that. I don't need the Lord in my life because I don't want to be able to do that. Well, I'm gonna guess most of the time that's somebody who has not I don't want to say been tested yet, but who has been lucky enough not to really experience anything that hard in their life that you know that that money couldn't solve. Right. Or, you know, that their own physical body couldn't solve. Um but I think most people, you know, you get far enough down the road, you know, your loved ones are gonna start passing away. Everything else that you have is going to pass away.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Through one experience or another, whatever you think you have on this earth of great importance. It's it's it's it's going behind you. At some point, you're gonna lose it. Yep. That's just the way it is. And there's only one thing that you're not gonna lose, and that's your faith in God. Yeah, it's the only thing you can hold on to from start to finish.

SPEAKER_05:

Exactly. Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, yeah, and you can you can hold on to good memories, but even I think even your memories after a while, you're gonna start to forget. Oh, yeah. You know, you're gonna start to forget. Oh yeah. Um, I mean, for me, a lot of times, yeah, if I see something, it will trigger a memory that I perhaps had forgotten about that 20 years ago. But if that doesn't happen, I mean you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna forget those things. Um so all you can hope to have is that is that faith in the Lord and that eternal life. Yep. I mean, because what's just I mean, I will tell anybody, there is no way, shape, or form that if somebody offered me eternal life on this planet and this world, that I would take it.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I would not no way. Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_00:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, honestly, even if it was back in like, I don't know, the roaring twenties, or I don't just like think of your your favorite decade or something. Still, no.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah. Even if somebody said, Well, yeah, you can go back to when you were 10.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. Not didn't have a care in the world or anything.

SPEAKER_00:

You can start if somebody said you can start over and you can be ten again, and that's a great uh temptation to be like, oh it'd be great to be ten years old again.

SPEAKER_05:

And but I'd want to know what I know now.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but right. But I would still be like, No thanks. Because everything that I've been through again, whether through my own free will or what how the Lord the things he's yeah, you know, no, this is this is where I'm supposed to be. This is the race I'm running. You know, you can you can't go back and you know, start over.

SPEAKER_01:

Start over.

SPEAKER_00:

No, yeah, no. So it's like that kid, you know, just no, I'm gonna go start over.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's what I that's exactly what I was thinking.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, everybody hates that kid.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's like no, you know, we're just because you had a false start or something, no.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So my shoelace wasn't time. All the excuses in the world, yeah. But uh no, it just uh I don't know. So life is I guess life, I almost say it's supposed to be hard, but I don't think there's anybody that's really escaped a hard life yet. Even like I said, even if they've got fame, they've got money, they've got you know, life is still hard.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's always been. I mean, even like who who wrote a lot of the Psalms? David? You know, he there were a lot of like, you know, hear my cries, you know, like it it's always been hard for everyone, you know?

SPEAKER_00:

Like well, yeah, because I said we we talked about you know David and King Solomon, and you think these are people that uh are in direct line with the genealogy of Jesus Christ. And you think, how is How do they have hard times? How does that well no, but you're you're thinking, like, shouldn't all shouldn't this family lineage be perfect?

SPEAKER_01:

Perfect.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, so it gets to the Holy One, right? Does it doesn't it doesn't it have to be perfect in order?

SPEAKER_02:

No, it doesn't.

SPEAKER_00:

And you look at their lives, and the more you study their lives, you're like I'm on the same footing with this great king.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

I've made the same mistakes that he's made. And he was chosen by God to fulfill. To have and you know, and they and they could actually speak to God. You know, some of them have actually heard, you know, the voice of God, and they still imagine that, like you actually hear the voice of God, and then you still go out and do something that is against the will of God. That that's to me, that's like that's hard to believe, but then again, it's not.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, like it's kind of baffling, but then again, no, it's not.

SPEAKER_00:

Because I know sometimes I hear God talking to me and I don't do it, but I don't actually hear his voice. Right, right. I mean, you know, I haven't heard Morgan Freeman yet, but but but you know, but but there's no doubt, it's like I know when God's talking to me.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And most of the time I go along, yeah, sometimes I don't go along. But again, imagine actually hearing the voice of God and saying, Yeah, but let me do it my way.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Plenty of people in this book have done it.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And yet still, God's like, Yep, but there's still a plan. We still we still we still have to get to the end point. We still we still have to get to the crucifixion and the resurrection. And you're still the right person to use, even though you're not perfect. Yep. Even though you haven't faced every crisis with, you know, just yeah, with no error whatsoever, you're you're still you're still what I've called you to be. You still have the ability to do that. Yeah. So and that's a big part of it. It's just, you know, you have to understand that when you're in crisis, that it doesn't define you, you know, but but if handled correctly, uh your definition in the end will be you know, it it will be made clear.

SPEAKER_01:

And it can feel like it could define you. And it can. I mean, if you let it, if you let it say but you can't let it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. If if if you like you said, if you want to do it on your own, yeah, then maybe it will.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Because there's a lot of people that you know, you hear about people that something will happen to them when they're when they're young and they'll spend the rest of their life in an apartment, never go outside.

SPEAKER_02:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, never, you know, never uh have a relationship with somebody. They live they'll live their whole life that way because that that crisis just affected them so badly that they can never let it go. And it completely changes the direction of their life. Um can Christ change that? Sure, sure it can. You know.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and I know there's people that have, you know, experienced a lot of terrible things. You know, when we had your son on, as we talked about, like, yeah, I can I can study history and more all I want and think that I understand it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Because I've read. Yeah. But there's some things that until you've actually done it, you cannot possibly understand. Yeah. So there are people that have experienced really terrible things that I hope I never have to experience. But I but I still think that in any situation God can heal it and God can lead that person in a new direction. But uh no, it's just it's all about that relationship.

SPEAKER_05:

I thought of your son the other day. My aunt, my uncle passed away, and uh we had his service on Sunday afternoon and he was ninety-three and he had served in the front lines of the Korean War. And my aunt talked about how he used to go hunting with her dad and my grandpa before he when he was young. And then when he went to war, and when he came back, he never ever picked up a gun to go hunting again. Ever. And I thought because your son had mentioned that too. Yeah. Just damn.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and you know, maybe there are more listening now. Um, hopefully your son's listening to this right now. I'm sure he is. Um but you never know. Yeah, yeah. But you know, I I sent Roger a picture of my stud study Bible. Um, I was in the book of Lamentations. Is that how you say that?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Yeah. Close enough.

SPEAKER_01:

But, you know, and before every book, it'll kind of give you a summary. And I think it's just like two sentences it says for this book. Um, it was based in about 586 BC. But it says there are people in our world who have experienced total devastation as their cities or nations have been destroyed by wars, earthquakes, tsunamis, or hurricanes. Reading the book of Lamentations can give us a point of entry into those experiences. It can help us to face the deepest aspects of human existence. So it's like again, it's been it's been going on since day one on the year. You know, like it's terrible, you know. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, when you I don't know. I mean, can we calculate the number of human beings that have lived on this earth?

SPEAKER_04:

No. I don't think. Uh no.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't think so. And to me, when I try to think about that, yeah. Uh and you think, well, how because I can take you can just say, well, how meaningful was that person's life?

SPEAKER_02:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, that maybe there's there's human beings who have lived and died who people will never think of again. And think about how many millions of people have lived that nobody ever thinks about them ever again.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And then you can get up to people like Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, you know, really, you know, people that we all know. Yeah. But Jesus himself. And even those people, it's like how many people actually think about those people every day.

SPEAKER_02:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

So I mean, just just that that that's just uh I don't I don't know. It's it's hard to fathom that There were a lot of people in this world that maybe never knew Jesus. Or, hey, let's say there's a lot of people that didn't know Jesus. And their stories, their challenges, their crisis are pretty much lost to history. But is it all important in the end to the kingdom? Kingdom? It sure is. Yep. You know, and we'll see it at the end how, you know, every all these lives you know in the book of life, we'll see it at the end. And it's going to blow our mind when we, you know, there'll probably be people that we thought were going to be there and they're not. And there might be people that we thought there ain't no way you're getting. Yep. It's going to be the opposite. Yep. Um, and it just, I mean, how big is that book of life? Right. Yeah. Right. Uh it'd probably just be a mind-blowing thing to actually, you know, to see that because yeah, there's just millions of people that have lived and died and believed in faith, and just the same who never have given the Lord a thought.

SPEAKER_01:

You know who I think a lot of them could be? I think they could be Canadians. Like I'm looking at that map and I'm like, my gosh, canadian like Canada is big. Yeah. I mean, and I mean, look at Russia, you know. Yeah. Yeah. But even just like since Canada's, you know, butt up against us, like man.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

We haven't put any pins up in a while.

SPEAKER_01:

No, we haven't. I can't every now and then I'll think that we need to. And gosh, I I couldn't tell you since like last summer, maybe was the last time. Yeah, we probably need to update it on the city. Yeah, actually. I checked the other day and we are in over 300 cities. Um, so that's kind of cool. Um, what was it? 300 cities and how many countries was it?

SPEAKER_04:

Before that was like 11 countries?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Um countries we are in 37.

SPEAKER_04:

No. Praise God.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's 305 cities. Um 80, you know, like you would think a hundred percent of our listeners would be United States. 85. 85%. So that means the rest of them are a different country. That's kind of crazy. Yeah. Singapore, we've got five percent listeners. Canada, two percent, Philippines one percent. But then like the rest of them, it says zero percent, but there's still like one episode, two, three, but it's not enough to make it a percentage. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Pretty neat.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. And the only thing I would say as a caution is, you know, you you can get really wrapped up in, you know, of course, you know, turning point USA, how many millions of people and how many, you know, like in comparison. Yeah, yeah. You think, well, what difference then am I making? Who's listening to us? But we're still hitting 300 cities, 37 countries.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And like Yeah, that it's just as important.

SPEAKER_01:

Like our second, our first um city is New Philly because we all like a lot of our cell phones here, they have like a Philly zip code or you know, something attached to it. But like our second city is Singapore. Third city is Greensburg, Pennsylvania. So I mean, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, we've had 90 downloads from them. Singapore, we've had 100, you know, so you know for sure there's a couple people from those cities at least listening.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Los Angeles, 42 downloads. Irwin, Pennsylvania, 42, Pittsburgh, 26, Cleveland, 49, Columbus, 50. Uh just so you know we're we're out there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and it's just as important.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's hard sometimes, you know, with social media. You think that like I said, what who's listening to us? What difference are we making? You know, who's following us? But if there's only ten people out there that are, it's still ten more than it's part of the plan.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

Part of the plan.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So it would be neat if God if God wants us to make us greater, He will. Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, that's the way I always look at it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, for sure. It would be neat if we could hear from some of these listeners. It would be. Yeah. Yeah. You can always I think they can send a text in if they're listening from Buzz Sprout. Um, or you know, they can message us on Facebook, comment on Facebook, call us, email us, whatever. All the things. It would be neat.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. Well, you know, and you can always spend the money to boost your audience.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but we're not doing that. No, we're not. No. Right.

SPEAKER_00:

We're doing this clearly on just sitting here in this room every week. Yep. And just, you know, say winging it.

SPEAKER_01:

But yeah. Yeah. Kinda. Yeah. But uh I mean, honestly, like if if people would hear what we like, we need to just stay on air one time whenever we're leaving, like, okay, so what's next week's subject? Like that. That's exactly how it goes down.

SPEAKER_00:

But I'm always but I am always so impressed with um how everything ends up like coming together. Yeah. And uh like, you know, if we're doing two episodes in one night, somehow they intersect. Somehow they they become complete.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, like tonight.

SPEAKER_00:

And yeah. And it could be just been two rant I had an idea, Beth had an idea, you had an idea.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. And yeah, well, this, you know, tonight's topics, it was your idea and then my idea, and then you guys came in this morning, or this morning, gosh, earlier and said you one was gonna be an exodus for one, the other one was also gonna be an exodus for the other. So it's just neat.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, I I've got uh Psalms 46, 1. Maybe it'd be our closing verse. Sure. God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in the time of trouble.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Yes, he is. Thank goodness. Yes. He's always there.

SPEAKER_04:

That's right. All you gotta do is dial him up.

SPEAKER_01:

That's something that phone call away. That's right. Beth, is it your turn to pray? It is. Okay, let me get you all let me get you squared away here. Okay.

SPEAKER_05:

Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you for the opportunity to come together and and just talk among each other and and share your word, dear Lord. And we we thank you, dear Father God, that you are always there for us, dear Father God. And we we're so thankful that you still love us, even though sometimes we can be hard-headed and we don't always come to you first that we try to fix our own problems. In the end, we know that we have to surrender them all to you because you're gonna be the one that's gonna get us through. Dear Father God, we ask that you just put a hedge of protection around us all as we travel home tonight, dear Father God, and be with us and bring us back until we are scheduled to meet again. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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Michael Brindley

Host
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Beth Jarvis

Co-host
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Dawn Reed-Enochs

Co-host
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Nic Affolter

Co-host
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Roger Deardorff

Co-host
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Sydney Erickson

Co-host

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