New Beginnings

The room feels different this season—and that’s exactly the point. We’re stepping into a new format with Dale joining the mic, trading comfort for curiosity, and turning the page toward a year of intentional faith. From small-town Ohio to ancient Mesopotamia, we draw a straight line between everyday choices and one of Scripture’s boldest acts of trust: Noah building a massive ark on dry land because God said so.

We start with the practical—goals over resolutions, water over soda, the kind of health and habit shifts that last longer than January. That sets the stage for a deeper dive into obedience. Noah wasn’t perfect; he was responsive. Over and over, the text repeats a simple pattern: God commands, Noah acts. We explore how that pattern translates into modern spiritual life: sustainable disciplines, courage under ridicule, and the quiet work of perseverance when no one is clapping. Along the way, we connect Jesus’ words in Matthew 24 about staying ready with the urgency to act today, not “someday,” when it comes to faith, family, and character.

There’s more here than ancient history. We talk about the flood as both judgment and mercy, a kind of baptism that cleanses while God’s rainbow seals a promise. We tackle generational patterns—how families pass down scripts and how anyone can break a harmful cycle with truth, boundaries, and a God-first direction. Dale shares a formative boot camp story where fear met structure and brotherhood, echoing the way spiritual practices rebuild confidence over time. And we circle back to community: small-town life, shared traditions like Christmas lights, the simple ways we can pull people out of their phones and into each other’s presence.

If you’re craving real change, this is your invitation to act on the nudge you already feel. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs encouragement, and leave a review telling us the one step you’re taking this week. Let’s aim our lives at God and build before the rain.

Chapters

• 0:00 Season Four And New Format
• 3:17 Introducing Dale And Studio Shift
• 6:27 Goals Over Resolutions
• 9:57 Health, Healing, And Habits
• 12:47 Dale’s Story And Church Roots
• 16:57 Small-Town Life And Connection
• 20:07 Family, Phones, And Holiday Lights
• 25:57 New Beginnings And Missing The Crew
• 27:17 Noah’s World And Radical Obedience
• 32:17 Faith Under Ridicule And The Flood
• 37:17 Doing As God Commands
• 40:57 Life Turning Points And Marine Boot Camp
• 47:17 Daily New Beginnings And Mortality
• 51:17 Watchfulness: Matthew 24 And Urgency

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:42

All right, welcome back everybody. It is season four of Growing Together, Organic Church. We are back. Hope everybody had a great holiday. It just seems like it went by pretty quick. Now, I got a I got a few things that I need to I'll clear the room because the room has cleared. So if I look to my left, I don't see Sid over there. If I look right over my shoulder, Roger isn't there. And if I look to my right, Beth isn't there. So for all the listeners that are used to tuning in every week, we got a new format coming up this year. And Sid has moved on. She's taking a new position in the church. So she won't be here with us every week. Roger, he's been staying pretty busy getting things done in the church, making things happen. So he's going to take some time off from the podcast as well. And uh Beth, she had back surgery, so she's recovering from that. And so uh we're praying for her. We wish her the best. We hope she gets well soon. So in the meantime, I'm looking to my right here, and and we've got it, we've got somebody new on the show, and I'm very happy to have them. It's uh Dale Walker, and I believe, Dale, you've been on the show on the phone once, correct? Yeah, so you joined us one time. But yeah, it's very exciting. We've actually moved to a new room, so it may sound a little bit different to you. I can tell you it sounds a little bit different coming out of my headphones. A little more echo right now. So hopefully it sounds good to everybody. But yeah, so we we're on to new beginnings, Dale. So I'm very excited about this year. I think, like I said, we'll have a new format. We might not always have the same four-man team. Might just be a two-man team sometimes. Might be we might bring some of the old guests back. I'm gonna try really hard to get Pastor Michael back in here, get Sid back in here, Roger, maybe Beth for some episodes. And we even talked, who knows? We might even get the whole group back together at some point for a little maybe anniversary episode. Yeah, so we'll just kind of see how the year goes, we'll see where it takes us. But I'm excited about it. Kind of gives us kind of a fresh start, kind of maybe give us some fresh perspectives, just to kind of keep everything, you know, keep everything exciting and keep listeners tuning in. So yeah, Dale, new beginnings. So I guess my first question for you is so are you a New Year's resolution type of guy? Do you set New Year's resolutions?

SPEAKER_00: 3:14

Or I I don't do resolutions, I do goals. And so uh because like resolutions are in my mind, they're doomed to fail. They're just set up set up to fail. I pre I prefer goals, but I do have a few goals. I do wanna I started trying to read the entire Bible this year, and I don't want to read it, you know, how they have those read the Bible in a year thing. I I wanna try and do uh a book, possibly like a book a month. And or you know, just try and try and rip through it as best I can and then restart. So far that's not going real well. I've done Lamentations, I did James, Joel, and I'm gonna say that to probably extent. So I'm a little bit behind where I want to be, but to your to your question, I don't do so.

SPEAKER_01: 4:20

You're just picking like random books right now and just kind of whatever feels right to you at the time or whatever kind of inspires you.

SPEAKER_00: 4:26

Well, I have a I have a method to my madness, supposedly. I'm going to do ten books, ten books that I don't normally read, and then I'm going to get into Paul's letters to the churches, and then I'm going to go into the gospels. And so I I have a I have a path. We'll see how it works out, but so far, so good.

SPEAKER_01: 4:52

Well, good.

SPEAKER_00: 4:54

Good.

SPEAKER_01: 4:54

I'm the same way. I'm not typically setting a new year's resolution, you know. Yeah, I'm not looking to. I mean, there'd be some things like every beginning of the year, I'm thinking, yeah, I probably should uh start drinking more water. Like I'm getting to the age where I know I gotta start drinking more water, and I'll kind of start the year off like, yep, I'm gonna drink more water and drink less Pepsi at work, you know. But you're right, it only lasts so long, and then before you know it, I'm back on the daily Pepsi.

SPEAKER_00: 5:22

See, now I am drinking more water, but that's only because my doctors, when I had the had the prosthetic cancer diagnosis, they told me, you know, drink water and less sugar and all that stuff. And so I started doing that. Then God cured me of it. And so I kinda slipped off of it, but I still I still drink water, a lot of water, because I kind of need to. Yeah. I well, just everybody needs to, but yeah, I kind of feel like I have to. Right.

SPEAKER_01: 5:59

So yeah. Okay. Well, I guess since this is you know your your first true episode with us. My maiden voyage. Your main voyage. So just tell the listeners a little bit about yourself, what you do, you know, tell us a little bit about your family, you know, what's important to you. Just well just a little bit of Dale.

SPEAKER_00: 6:19

Well, a little bit, maybe too much. But I'm 64. I'm the youngest of ten. I had five sisters and four brothers. My sisters have passed away. I am a husband to a wonderful, wonderful wife. Her name is Connie. I have six kids. One is our custodial child, and she's kind of a handful. I attend organic church. And how long have you been with the church, Dale? I have been in a literal sense, probably about 14 years. Because like I was here, then we moved to Columbus, but this has always been my church. So when I came back, we started going back here. So about 14 years. Before that, I was part of St. John Worship and Praise Community Church. And I was in that church for I want to say 45 plus years. And then I just I just decided that me and my boys needed needed something else. It wasn't having the same pool as I thought it would have. And so no offense to that church because it's a great church, it really is. And it just I was pulled in a different direction. But yeah, six kids. Uh, I work at Battle Motors in New Philadelphia. That place has had its ups and downs, much like my, much like myself, but I enjoy working there. Bunch of a bunch of really good people. So great. Yeah. That's Dale in a nutshell. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01: 8:05

Yeah, I don't know if we've ever explained to listeners exactly where we are in the world. You know, you say you work at Battle Motors in New Philadelphia, Ohio. I'm sure most listeners, unless you're local, have never heard of New Philadelphia, Ohio. Exactly. So we are just south of Canton, Ohio, home of the National Football Hall of Fame. It's about two hours south of Cleveland, more or less. So, yeah, so we're kind of just nestled right in there in Tuscarales County and snug as a butt. Yeah, and not a whole lot going on in this town, so maybe that's a good thing. But uh, but yeah, that's where we are.

SPEAKER_00: 8:41

And uh gives you a good perspective on the world because you see things from small town view, like a lot of people being from say larger cities. Small town view is is different, it's unique. There's nothing like being from a small town. When you're from a bigger city, you don't really take people and things into account. You kinda everything's the flow of everything is so rush rush. Small small town, you have more opportunity. It's it's getting away from that. You have more opportunity to kind of relax, kick back, you know, take a breath. But like I said, it's starting to get away from that because of the things that that enter in that you're not able to do that like you used to. Like our family used to sit around and watch Andy Griffith, you know, the Jeffersons and all that. We sat around and watched now, everybody is on their phone, and that connection is not quite what it used to be. Maybe at the dinner table, but other than that, a little shaky.

SPEAKER_01: 9:52

Yeah. You know, and my Christmas display, uh, it keeps getting bigger and bigger every year. And and I I was always inspired by Jeff Cady, which is the guy that used to do it out in Newport. And that's some of my best memories as a kid, is is just remembering riding in the car with my family, looking at those lights, but I could see it from my bedroom window. So it was kind of really cool for me. But you know, a lot of people ask me, like, well, you know, isn't that a lot of work? And I'm like, Yes, it is a lot of work. It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of efforts. I haven't even started taking it down yet. So that just that in itself is is quite a bit of work. But I always tell people, I said, you know, I said, but a lot of times I'll see like young kids, and you can tell like they're even with their grandparents, maybe in the back seat, and they both got their head out the window, and the grandparents got his head out the window like he's a little kid too.

SPEAKER_00: 10:46

It's like the most unsafe situation.

SPEAKER_01: 10:48

And I just like you're driving. If that's all I'm doing is getting family to put down their phones for 10 minutes and actually spend time together in the moment, you know, it's worth it. Yeah. You know, because it's so hard to find those things these days, you know, to where it's something everybody will do. We were talking before we went on the air, like, you know, you you reach a certain age and your kids, you go from being hero to zero. Like, you know, you just like they now they, you know, once you're a certain age, they question everything, they think they're smarter than you. They, you know, it's just like I said, you know, when our stepdaughter turned 14, I'm like, who's a stranger living with us in this house? Like all of a sudden they just change. And I think that's true for everybody. So so you're always looking for those things that can kind of keep keep people connected with their family, not connected to social media and all those types of things. Absolutely. Yeah, so so that's that's why it's worth it to me. And and I think that's um I will do it as long as I can. I always tell people that. I said, I will do it as long as I'm physically able to do that.

SPEAKER_00: 11:57

And I think you should, to be honest, because that's that's a nostalgic tie for people. Yeah. Because somebody is always going to be able to say, We're going over to to the all folders and and look at their light, and it's it's it's a tradition building type thing.

SPEAKER_01: 12:15

So and it does it it uh closes that generational gap because the old people will go, the youngest people will go. It's like they they it's the one thing they'll do together. Yeah, that's very hard to do these days, is find something that you know the the old and the young will do together. So yeah. Well, so like I said, it's uh all about new beginnings tonight. So I can definitely tell you it, you know, it feels different in here without you know the regular crew. And I want to let them know if they're all listening, I do missing them, and I really enjoyed our time together.

SPEAKER_00: 12:52

Get back in here.

SPEAKER_01: 12:55

But uh I'm very happy, you know, that they're they're finding their you know, their place with God and doing what they feel led to do. They're doing what you know God is leading them to do. And that kind of ties into what I wanted to talk about because when you talk about new beginnings, I don't think there was anybody who faced more of a new beginning than Noah. If you're into the Bible, we're in Genesis, and it's only chapter six. So this is really early in the Bible, and right from the get-go, he's gonna experience a new beginning like no other human being on the face of the earth will ever experience. Because God is gonna make the decision because he is so anguished at the fact that if you if you read into the Bible, it is clear that it's not just that the amount of people believing is dwindling. It is a fact that Noah and his family are the only people left that are observing God, that are worshiping God, that are, you know, claiming claiming God to be the center of their life. So pretty much every other human being on earth has turned their back on the Lord, and they're not even it's not even like they're lukewarm. It's it's not like they went from being on fire to kind of lukewarm. They are completely like have forgotten about God, total shutdown. So Noah is chosen because he is the only man left, him and his family, that are worshiping God. And think about that. And and it's hard to who knows how many people actually populated the earth at that time. I certainly don't know the number. And of course, people lived, if you want to read, you know, people are living over 900 years at that point, and you can read into a lot of things to explain why people back then lived so long. But it's clear though that you know, God, I think it's the first time that it might be the first time that God is his emotions are revealed. Like it's for the first time we can tell that God shares the same type of emotions that we do, like he is anguished over the fact that his people, the people that he has created, have completely turned their back on him and have they find no value in a relationship with him at all. And so he makes the decision to completely destroy the earth, and he's gonna leave it to Noah to build, to tell Noah to build this ark and save not only himself but his family, and of course, all the animals two by two that are commanded by God. So that that in itself that's hard to fathom. And one of the interesting things that reading it again, you always you just you think flood, and then you hear that it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, and but it also says that it wasn't just the rain, but all the floodgates were opened. Every body of water that was being held in, you know, by a stream, you know, by a lake, by an ocean, whatever body of water it is, all of a sudden it's opened up. And that's what you know really starts to flood this earth over. Yep. And it'll say that this flood will cover the entire earth, and it will be almost 20 feet over the mountains, and the ark is actually going to ride on top of the earth at its highest point. And so people think, okay, you know, that's that's just not possible. But it happened. It happened. It happened and and so if you're Noah, you know, it's it's one of those things that the other thing that really strikes me about it, yes, it says that Noah is a believing man, is a true man. But the thing that strikes me is what it will say over and over, is that Noah does as the Lord commands him to do. Whatever the Lord asks him to do, whatever he's commanded to do, Noah does. So it's not so much that it's saying that Noah is without sin or without fault, because we will find out later that you know he's not perfect. You know, we'll find, you know, he, you know, he'll we'll get to the point where, you know, he does get drunk and his son finds him, and you know, we can go into that a little bit. But so so we know that he's not perfect. He wasn't chosen because he was without blemish, because it even explains that even when we walk in faith and and we believe in God and we have total faith in him, our sin as being human follows us all the days of our lives. It's a constant challenge.

SPEAKER_00: 18:27

Always.

SPEAKER_01: 18:29

So, you know, there's Noah, who I think the biggest favor with God is that when God talks, Noah listens. He does what he's told to do. And so countless times in the Bible it will say Noah did as the Lord commanded him to do. And and and I and that struck me because it's a phrase that cu keeps coming up at the end of the verses, is that Noah, you know, does what the Lord commands.

SPEAKER_00: 18:55

And it's because there's value in that, because no one else was doing as the Lord commanded, except for Noah. Right. And he was leading his family in that very same direction. And so that's why he chose, you know, to go with Noah, even though Noah is not perfect. He's like, he's not perfect, but he listens, he's listening to me. So I'm going to spare him because he does as I command, which is all I ask anyone.

SPEAKER_01: 19:31

Yeah, he's Noah makes God a priority. You know, a lot of times when God talks, we hear him. And I can speak for myself. There's plenty of times in my life where I'm like, I heard you, Lord, but I thought, well, not yet. Hold on. Let me try my way first. This might in a minute. Yeah. I'll get to it. And then you find out, like, wow, yep. Should have listened well. And what he spoke to me.

SPEAKER_00: 20:00

I should have listened. As soon as you said it. Yeah. It's not just that I should have listened. The minute you said do this, I probably should have done it. Because I go around and years later I come back and I'm like, wow, if I'd have done that years ago when he first said, do it this way, save myself a lot of heartache.

SPEAKER_02: 20:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 20:25

But now do you have is there, can you is there a moment in your life where well let me ask you this. Since we're talking about new beginnings, I mean, is it was there ever a moment in your life Where you knew, like, okay, things are changing, things are happening that it's gonna push me in a different direction from where I've been. And it's it's pretty clear cut that, yeah, from this point forward, my life's gonna be different. You know, like things have happened in my life that are gonna change the structure that's gonna change the direction. And so is there a point in your life where you can look to be like, yep, that's I've had several points like that.

SPEAKER_00: 21:10

As obviously since I'm 64, I've had a lot of points like that. But to be specific, I mentioned a story earlier about trying to join the Marines. And I'm a shy small town kid at the time. I'm not I'm not shy now, but at at that moment I was a a shy kid. I was everything intimidated me. And so I went into the service, we went to California and in San Diego, and I got there with with a friend of mine, and everything was scary. Everything. And grown men yelling at us at the top of their lungs and get on and just just chaos. And so me being 17 at the time, I was unprepared. And so I was bawling. I I came off the bus. I'm I'm bawling. I'm like, I I I'm unfit for this. I'm not prepared.

SPEAKER_01: 22:27

I'm I'm so the so the sergeants can can see you crying getting off the bus. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 22:34

And then they're they're like right for you. Yeah. They're tears are blood in the water. So needless to say, I got two or three of them like, what are you, you maggot? And calling you all the names that they called you back.

SPEAKER_01: 22:49

So this is not just stuff you see in the movies. This is the case.

SPEAKER_00: 22:52

Oh no, it's it's it at that time that's how it worked. I don't know how it works now, but at that time, if you're a little weak or a little you look like you're homesick, or you come in, you have too your hair's too long, you're shark bait. You are shark bait, and they come after you. And so all that did was reinforce I I'm no good, I'm worthless. And to get to the turning point was I had friends in there, and I didn't have a lot of friends when I was when I was younger. And so I had friends in there who would do things for me. You know, shine your buckle if it wasn't if it wasn't shiny enough, teach you how to hold your your your M16, teach you the right form to do a push-up. Things that seem tiny, like right form to do a push-up. How's that, you know, build your character or whatever? When they wanted a push-up done, they wanted it done the right way. You would do 50 push-ups, and they would turn around and say one. So you would start from 50 doing one. And so form was important to them. Every detail was very important to them. So to have a guy that says, This is how you do a push-up, and this is how you do this, and this is, you know, people guiding you through. And I grew from that experience. I mean, like I said, there have been others, but I grew from that. And I I realized I'm not different. I'm different to an extent, but not so different that I that I can't fit in. Not so different that no one's going to appreciate my opinion, not so different that I don't have value. And so I realize all those things. And it wasn't just the service. There's there's a lot of situations, but if I point to something specifically that I can think of at the top of my head, that would be it. But yeah, I've I've had a lot of excuse me, I've had a lot of experiences that build character. I've had people insult me, obviously, for my race. I've had I've had girls reject me. We've all been there. I've had, you know, I've had I've had a lot of life experiences that build and tear down your self-esteem. So all of that God is God has used to make me who I am now. He's made me clear enough visioned that I can see my wife with with love and admiration, which I don't think I always had for women. I can I can look at kids as the blessing they are because every every kid is just like they that they are like snowflakes. And they're like you really think it's kind of an odd thing to say, but they are like snowflakes. Each and every one of them is different, but each and every one of them is so valuable, so valuable. I I know a little kid that oddly enough goes to our church now. He had a little uh had a little incident in our church, but there was a shot that we were gonna raise him because he was special needs. But he's grown into an awesome young man. And just just a lot of life lessons that I've learned, and I've had countless new beginnings and not just, you know, on a year-to-year basis or anything. Because that's one thing I think about when you made the topic New Beginnings, I was like every morning is a new beginning because they are not none of them are ever guaranteed to us because we can we can leave here and car hits us, no more new beginnings. So there's just so much value in new beginnings daily, and not and not just to take it for granted that you're going to make it to 26 or 27 or whatever.

SPEAKER_01: 27:27

Well, I'm glad you said that because one of the scriptures that I marked here that mentions Noah is in Matthew 24, 36, and Jesus is talking about remaining remaining watchful. And he says, No one knows about the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the coming of the Son of Man. From the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. And then they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a handmill, one will be taken and the other left. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this if the owner of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you must also be ready, because the Son of Man will come in an hour when you do not expect him. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household, to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, My master is staying away a long time, and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So I'm sure that, you know, all of those people, you know, there was no warning signs for the flood. You know, there was, you know, God, God didn't send out a message to everybody saying, okay, you know, on this on there was no weather forecast to get these people ready. So it just happens, and that's what Jesus is trying to explain to us is that, yeah, as you just said, made a great point that sometimes we wait for, we'll almost we'll wait for New Year's. Like I'll start this resolution first of January, you know, and it could be it could be November, and you'll be like, Yeah, yeah, first of the year, I'll start doing this, I'll start doing that. But as Jesus said, that's that's not the way to go about things. If you if you see something that needs corrected in your life, change it while you know it. Yeah, yeah. Do so right now. Look to me and and and make that change right now. So yeah, it it had to be, it had to be. I wonder, I mean, because Noah, Noah builds this ark with such great faith. That maybe that's the other thing to talk about, is the fact that he's he's not he's not building this boat close to water. He's he's building he's building it on dry land. Yeah. And and I and I don't know if people can where is it here? I'll try to find it real quick.

SPEAKER_00: 30:46

And I I always find it odd that I I think about the people that were trying to get in when the waters do come, and how many of those were like probably were like friends of his and you know, people he knew well, and maybe some of the ones that have been making fun of him were, you know, like close friends, and they're like, We're wrong, but you know, let us know.

SPEAKER_01: 31:17

Yeah, there's no accounts of that, but maybe that maybe that was something that did happen.

SPEAKER_00: 31:20

It was like once they did see that Yeah, and I I would just assume, just like I said, I I take the Bible as as actual literal account. And I know if I had been one of those people that's like, nah, it's not gonna rain, and then all of a sudden the train and this guy's got this humongous boat. Yeah, I'm gonna run up to his door and go, dude, let me hear. I'm you're a psychic, you're one of the best, let me, you know, whatever it would take to get me on there, and he's sitting in there, you know, maybe knows some of them, maybe he doesn't, but he's like, he's gotta hear that and and be obedient to God. Yeah, and that's that's what we were talking about. Noah listened to God. Noah did as God commanded.

SPEAKER_01: 32:11

Yeah. Like I said, that's the thing that strikes me because the story of Noah is not very long. We don't know too much about the man. You know, his story doesn't go much farther than what we read in Genesis. So it it's just, you know, you only get a little bit, but that's the one thing that stands out, is it keeps being said over and over that, you know, God commands Noah and Noah listens. Noah follows the Lord's commands, and which I'm sure, you know, that's the reason he's being chosen, is because he's the only one left of the entire human race that that is still that is still you know listening to God and doing as he commands to do. So yeah, and I just wanted to I just wanted to read the dimensions. So the ark was to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. So this wasn't no canoe or you know, pontoon boat that you know to yeah, it's amazing, it's amazing to think about. And and and they I I think another point that I that I read and I found interesting, you know, because Noah, he's 600 and something years old, I believe, at the time. But it takes I for how many years did it take him? Like a hundred and somebody was trying to make the point that oh, somebody made the point that the time it took him to build the ark and to do this was over like one of our lifetimes. So think about so think about the discipline that he had to follow through on, and of course the ridicule and everything else that goes with it, that he had to stick to this for a lifespan as we know it. And we have such a hard time on a daily basis. You can't stick to it. Yeah, we we have a hard time with these New Year's resolutions. We have a hard time sticking to, you know, clearly reading the word and and knowing what we're supposed to follow through with and getting it right and doing what we're supposed to be doing. So you can really appreciate you know his discipline, his spiritual discipline that he was able to stick to it and finish it out and actually make that happen. It was incredible. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_00: 34:39

Yeah, and we owe him a lot to be honest, because without him being the person he was, yeah, our story is kind of over. Yeah, he's like, yeah, this didn't work out the way I thought.

SPEAKER_01: 34:55

So you got any other perspectives that you wrote down about?

SPEAKER_02: 35:03

Well, yeah, you got any.

SPEAKER_00: 35:04

I wrote one down that was kind of silly. I also thought about the calling he had, and it where he has to take all these animals like two by two. I mean like all of them. I'm like, how long does it take him? Because I'm pretty sure all the animals don't just like like you always have the picture of them all just wandering in two by two. But I don't feel like they did just wander in. Like I feel like he kind of had to corral some of them.

SPEAKER_01: 35:37

I I kind of read into that a little bit too, and some of the perspectives I got was, well, no, I mean the animals Well, yeah, animals wouldn't God commanded them. Yeah. And the animals did exactly as they were supposed to do as well. So I don't I don't know, it'd be hard to see maybe uh Noah out there rang actually wrangling all these animals up two by two.

SPEAKER_00: 35:59

And maybe some of them he did, but um Well, most of the animals that have ever been mentioned in the Bible have always done as they're created.

SPEAKER_01: 36:09

They're created to, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 36:11

They obey.

SPEAKER_01: 36:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 36:14

But yeah, I just I don't know. I just always thought that was funny. Excuse me.

SPEAKER_01: 36:20

But that was like just kind of like an odd thing, I always thought about it I had something else that I thought was interesting is is the Bible, I believe this is in Peter. Let me get to it here. Yeah, in First Peter 3, 18 through 22, it actually talks about the flood as if it's as as if it were a baptism. And I'll read that to you when I get there. And I never really I never really thought about it that way. Yeah, but yeah, it was kind of so yeah, first Peter three, and I'll start at 18. So for Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body, but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits of prison, who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight and all, were saved through water, and the this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also, not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand, with angels, authorities, and powers in submission to Him. So, in one way, you you know, yes, God destroys the earth in essence. He he destroys every living thing all across the earth from top to bottom. But as we know, the floods will recede, you know, the land will dry. Noah's going to send out his dove, what, three times? Finally, on the third time, it won't come back. So Noah's finally convinced that yes, everything has been dried up. So the earth is still there. So it's not as if the earth was destroyed and had to be rebuilt. But if you think about it, you know, the earth is baptized by this flood, you know, and in that baptism, of course, God has his promise that he will never again bring a flood onto the earth to destroy, to destroy all living things. So God makes a promise, you know, He He lets everybody know, you know, every time we see a rainbow, which is a beautiful thing to think about. Even now, if we see that rainbow, we should always think about that promise, that you know, the promise to his people that he will never, you know, destroy the earth by flood.

SPEAKER_00: 39:23

Yeah, and I don't think it's uh a coincidence that when we do see a rainbow, that you kind of get like a a good feeling in your heart when you when you see one in the sky and it's just up there and you're like there's there's something to it because you know that it it means something. Even if you're even if you're not a believer, you you see a rainbow in the sky and it it touches you somehow. I mean it's not just like oh a bunch of colors in the sky. It means something. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 40:15

Yeah, and so we're getting towards the end of this one, I think, but uh maybe the last thing to talk about is of course, you know, new beginnings, you know, Noah is going to have this responsibility of of course him, his wife, his sons, their wives, like eight people in all are now going to have the responsibility. Of not only having command of the earth, you know, taking care of the earth, but of course spreading their seed across the earth to create a new human race. But it is important to note that it's not created as a new paradise per se, because sin is still persistent. You know, as long as humans, you know, roam the earth, that that sin is going to be there. And of course, you know, Noah's son puts Noah in a bad light. Right? So we again, we don't have much backstory on Noah. You know, uh we don't know the circumstances of why he got drunk. All we're told is that he got drunk. And then for some reason, you know, he was, you know, he was naked in his house or his shelter, whatever it was. And of course, his son stumbles upon this, and instead of protecting his father's dignity, he runs and pretty much tells everybody, tells his other brothers. Oh, yeah. And and so, and then they, as almost a form of shame, they go in walking backwards, cover him up, and when no one finds out about it, he's he's he's pretty upset. And so he's gonna curse that son, you know, to be you know, the uh kind of the head of the Canaanites and and take it from there. And then of course those will be the people that are going to be more or less cursed as we go on. So and and that's and that's um for me, that's you know, I can have a lot of questions about that. You know, that and this is where sometimes, you know, this whole topic of growing together, and we're always trying to, you know, get a better perspective on on the Bible and you know, some of these stories again, like Noah, of course, has to be in the top five stories we all learn as a kid. Oh, yeah, and you don't really think that deep into it. But it is curious to me, you know, so we get this new beginning, this fresh start, and there's gonna be things that, of course, you know, as humans, that we still can't get quite right, you know, and as maybe as hard as Noah's gonna try to not only raise, you know, his sons up and of course his family, that problems are gonna occur. But of course, it is all part of prophecy. It is all part of getting us to Jesus Christ and being our Lord and Savior. But it but it's interesting that you know it's again, I don't know how many years it's gonna take from the time that you know they walk out of the ark and they get back to business to the point where, okay, now things are gonna kind of start going the other way again and we're gonna start having problems. So it's to me, it's just it's sometimes when you read the Bible, it's so quick that you think everything happens quick.

SPEAKER_00: 43:36

You think it's like a brief period of time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 43:43

So it's a generational curse, you know, that and and that's something else I started to say generational curses.

SPEAKER_00: 43:50

People don't believe in that kind of thing sometimes, and they don't, you know, they're skeptical of this, you know, when people say you can break generational, oh that's that's there's no such thing. You you know, if you want to do something, you can do it. And the word, if you believe it, the word will let you know that there are generational curses. A family can, you know, you can have difficulty. That's why it's you hear certain people's names, last name, and you're like, oh, and you have an opinion of who that person is just based on their last name, because they've carried this generational thing of, oh, they always behave this way, they always or your dad knew his dad in school, and those are parkers, yeah, those are parkers, they always act like that. They're in and out of jail, and you know, yeah, those things are yeah, so there are generational curses, and it takes that that one person that says, you know, I believe this, and in the name of and in the name of Jesus, I won't follow that path to break those kind of things. And it's sometimes it's a a a quick thing, and sometimes it's like generations before somebody actually comes through.

SPEAKER_01: 45:16

And I've seen that. I I've seen that where I have too. You know, I'm I'm not gonna name any names, but there are certain people even in this community that that I knew their family grew up and I had close ties with them, and it just like every single it it didn't matter male or female, they just had so many problems and and they all kind of just go down the wrong path and just struggle in life. And you know, but then there was one one that comes along that now I can think like I am so proud of him that he was able to pull himself away from from that from from that situation from that culture that he was in, from from just all his surroundings, to be just a really tremendous young man and and just be uh and I don't want to say the complete opposite of of all that, but but really, I mean it just it's like you just it feels like you just it feels good to see somebody you can get it right.

SPEAKER_00: 46:15

He's changed from what people expect to actually being a role model, yeah, because I'm sure he had a lot of pushback from that family because I see that all the time.

SPEAKER_01: 46:26

And I think in my family, in the off older family, you know, of course, my grandma had let's see, nine, I think nine girls and seven boys. And you know, it was very deep German descent. So drinking was just it came second nature. They all started. I mean, I hear stories like my aunt and uncles, they're smoking by the time they're 10, 11 years old and had their first beer around the same age, and you're thinking, Oh, yes, yeah, like and and I can speak from personal experience that when you push back against that, you get a lot of negative reproach from your family because what you think you're too good for us, you don't have time for us, you're you're not willing to engage in what we do. So then all of a sudden you you're not you're not a favorite, you know, you're not you know, they think that you're looking down on, you know, and and that's not the case, you know. I love them all to death, but it's like, but that's not what I want for me. And a lot of times you think your family would be happy to see you flourish and yeah, but some but some people don't. You know, they have a hard time accepting that somebody wants to break from the pack and you know do something different. And and I I I've experienced that personally. So again, for Noah, it must have been hard to be like to again stick with it because you know he's he's doing what every other person on the earth, never mind just his family, every other person on the earth is is not willing to do.

SPEAKER_02: 48:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 48:08

So so what I guess do you have any so what would for you be the moral of this story of this topic?

SPEAKER_00: 48:17

That if there's any kind of moral to it, I would I would say that not be like Noah, but live your life as though God is the direction. Everything everything you do should be so that you are pointed toward God. Because in my mind, that's what Noah was. I might make this mistake, I might be, you know, standing on the wrong side of fence, but I'm hoping that God sees that I'm I'm with him. So you should always your whole life direction should be pointed toward God. And if it's not, He is He is fully capable of pointing your compass back toward Him. And so as long as you know those two things, I'm trying to get to you, I might stray off, but I have faith that you're going to put me back on course. And so that's that's what I would say. Just for this new year, people should just try to go in his direction.

unknown: 49:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 49:32

For a while.

unknown: 49:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 49:34

Worrying about going on a diet.

SPEAKER_00: 49:36

Oh, yeah. For for and all of that stuff is all those resolutions and goals that you make are usually selfish. They're usually, I want to lose weight, I want to do this, I want to do that. We need or at least I need to directionalize. I need Jesus, I need God every day. I may do an okay job of you know, saying, Lord, here's my heart. This is this is me turning it all over to you. But then there's also those times where he's like, You're turning it all over, huh, Dale? So what about this situation? And I'm shy from it. And as as people in general, step into it. Step into whatever you feel like he's calling you to. This year, just say, You said it, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try it. There is taste and see that the Lord is good. That's all that's that's all I can that's all I can say.

SPEAKER_01: 50:49

And I and I agree, I was I was gonna make a similar remark that you know we can find ourselves doing a lot of things that feel positive, that feel like it's gonna have growth in our lives. And you can tell yourself, like, yeah, this is what God wants me to do. God would want me to do this. But there may be something in particular that God is telling you to do, or perhaps not to do. And you use all these other resolutions and things to distract from your true purpose. Like, well, I'm still doing these good things over here. I'm still, you know, I'm still being productive and trying to be a better person. But if if but if you don't have God in that plan, then all those things are gonna come for naught. You know, they're not, you know, they're not gonna work out. So it's putting God first and then seeing what trying to figure out what God wants in your life and and putting your energy towards that, and then I think you will see all those fruits come to pass. I think all those things will happen for you.

SPEAKER_00: 51:53

Yeah, I think if you start with God first, more beneficial if you do that. If you're if you put him as the focus, and then anything else you want to do after that, you know, the the health things become easier because you're rooted in him first.

SPEAKER_01: 52:15

I agree. All right, I think that'll do it for this one, Dale. You did a great job. So like you've been sitting in for years, so it's awesome.

SPEAKER_00: 52:26

Uh well, I enjoyed myself. It was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01: 52:29

So yeah, he's glad to have you. Yep. Well, since you're the guest, do you want to pray us out?

SPEAKER_00: 52:34

Well, sure. I can do I have to wait for you to do anything because I know you guys like push a button or something. You know what?

SPEAKER_01: 52:43

I'm going to be completely honest, Michael is sitting right over in that corner and I forget what color button it is. So green. How can I forget green? Wow, go right, yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_00: 52:54

Right. All right, Dale. Most merciful Father God, I just want to thank you for allowing me this opportunity to to join my brother today and and talk about Noah and his new year and his new beginnings and to express that we also are looking for a new beginning. We have new opportunities every day, Father God, not just not just in January, every day, and for us to wake up and just realize that today is our new year. Whether it's in February or September, today is our new year, and we can always do something, Father God, if our direction is you that that glorifies you. Thank you once again, Father God, for putting me in this situation where I can hopefully bless somebody, but where I'm more blessed than than anything. Give us traveling mercies as we leave. Once again, take care of my my my brother and his family and have him continue the the Christmas tradition that leads us into these new years. We love you, Father God, and we use this platform to continually serve you and may it go on for many years if that's your desire. In the name of your son Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_01: 54:28

Amen.