Faith In The Squared Circle

Nic & Dale are back in the studio this week after taking a short breath.  The Growing Together Podcast has covered a lot of ground this year and we look forward to finishing the year strong.  If there are any topics you would like Nic & Dale to cover, send us fan mail or leave it in the comments!  

On this weeks episode we will be taking a look inward, asking a simple question we all can relate to:  What are you wrestling with?  Everyone has something they wrestle with on the daily.  For many of us, there is that one opponent we square up with time and time again.  It can be addiction, jealousy, personal abuse, our tongue, unforgiveness, etc.  Self-pity and shame can be two daunting opponents, like two 500 pound wrestlers seething and chomping at the bit to keep you in the middle of the squared circle with no way of escape.  Many times, we think we can grapple with these opponents on our own, never looking to our own corner.  Jesus is always there with his hand stretched out, waiting for that tag, ready to relieve us of our burden and finish the enemy off with his signature move.  

Christians know better than anyone that personal battles do not have to be fought alone.  Nic has a deep and personal empathy for those that are facing the prospect of suicide without the proper Christian guidance and support; without a true relationship with Christ to lean on.  The world is a scary place to be left alone and without Jesus it can be hard to find hope and assurance in life situations that can be overcome without giving in to fear and defeat.  Jesus is the only one who will not abandon us in the middle of the match, he is always steadfast in his desire to help us achieve victory.  We have to choose to be in relationship with him.  It really is that simple.

Take a look at at your struggles.  Are you holding your own, or do you need something greater to hulk up and put your enemy on its back for the three count?  Ask yourself, am I achieving victory over my adversary or just waiting to be counted out so I can breathe again?  There is a very fine line between victory and defeat in this world, but there doesn't have to be.  Lock hands with the one that will walk down that aisle with you every time, no matter the dangers ahead.  Put that gold around your waist, raise that crown to your head,  but do it with Jesus at your side.  Diamonds are forever, and so is Jesus Christ!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Okay, Dale. How are we doing this week, buddy?

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Oh, it's it's been a little bit crazy, but you don't say.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Yes. You don't say.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

You know all about that right now, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Yeah. Yes. My life has turned into a complete whirlwind.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

I find it kind of amusing. I do. I'm sorry, but I do find because I'm like, I'm almost in a better, better him than me kind of situation. Because I'm like, I know what that's like for one thing to be uh planning to move, but it's a lot, it's a lot more when you're like, that wasn't the plan. The plan was to renovate, yeah, and then all of a sudden it's like switch. You're like, uh, okay, and now now it's like a a race to kind of do do the other thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

The problem is, you know, I'm getting older, Dale. Like in my 20s, I think I could have handled this better. Like, you know, just now it's just, you know, it's all, you know, we're just moving every single day and trying to do as much as we can on the weekends. And you know, I get up at 4 30 for work, and so you just wear down a lot quicker. You know, it's more moving. It's moving, it's clean, and it's moving it, it's yeah, because not only, you know, are we well part of the problem, which I shouldn't call it a problem, but part of the scenario is that you know, my wife wants to be able to start moving into the new house even before we have sold our house. Because, you know, we have the animals, um we have certain things that we need to do to to the existing house where we live in now to get it ready to sell. So we don't really want to have the animals in there, and we don't really want to be living in there any more than we have to. Yeah. So it's just, yeah, we're putting in all this effort to uh get our house ready to sell. Yeah, to be livable and plus we're trying to make that transition to get the other house so so we can do those things. And as you know, when you involve lawyers and bankers, sorry, Michael. No offense here. But when you when you start, you know, involving legal, you know, authority and paperwork and all that kind of stuff, it really bogs the process down and you have to wait. And Margie is not about waiting, like she just wants things to just fall in right into place day after day, and she's getting well. I told her today on the phone because she was a little heated that the lady from the bank didn't get back to her. Like, I turned in the purchase agreement to uh the bank today and then took it over to the lawyers afterwards. Uh, well, the the lady at the bank was off today, so she didn't review it. And of course, the next step after review is to get the new house appraised, and that can finish up uh the purchase agreement. So she's just you know beside herself because that's not gonna move forward today. Like she wants it to move forward today. Because if not, it's gonna push all this other stuff farther back. And you know, I'm like, it's gonna be all right, everything's gonna fall into place. You know, I'm just trying to be calm and take it one step at a time as it comes. And she doesn't want to hear my positivity. She's like, you know, and I and I said to her, Don't tell me that. Yeah, I said to her, I said, I know you're not in the mood for my positivity today. I said, but I'm not in the mood for your negativity. I said, or I said, I can't handle your negativity. I said, because I'm teetering right now on staying positive. And when I say that, I just mean I'm teetering on keeping up. Yeah. Like, because you know, it's wearing me down. And I'm and I'm trying to just stay focused, say, like, okay, these are the things I have to do today to keep this process going forward. And if I accomplish all those things, then to me it's like, okay, it's a win. Yeah. So if everything doesn't happen, it's okay, because there's other things that are moving forward. Where if right now, if Margie, if this, you know, it's just she's, you know, she's getting very excited and she she wants things to move forward, and I get it. But uh, I just, you know, I was like, I know you're not in the mood for my positivity, but I can't handle your negativity. So we gotta meet in the middle somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Absolutely. And and the thing about uh positivity, especially in a situation like that, when you're uh dealing with a uh I'll call it a grind situation where it's like this gets pushed.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

That's exactly what it is.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

It's like this gets pushed back. Now I gotta go to work. And then this happens. You know, you have so many irons in the fire trying to get two things, two separate things to occur. You're trying to get moved in and moved out. And uh it's just it's not easy. And to maintain positivity while somebody is somebody else is being, you know, negative for lack of a better word, it's it's it's hard to maintain.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

And so I think.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Well, it gets a certain level of expectation, and I you know, I want to, you know, I want to be able to I want to keep my end of the bargain for the day. Well, you want to keep my bargain. So because she'll be like, well, can you call this person and can you set this up and you can you drop this off? And I'm like, yep, yep, yep, okay, I got my things I gotta do, and I'll do all those things. You know, but then if one thing doesn't happen, then it's like, oh, you know, this is gonna be a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

And it's through no fault of your own.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Yeah, so it's just like it's gonna work out. Like, you know, the house isn't going anywhere, you know, we're buying it from a friend, so it's not on the market, you know.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

But but you know, right now she's just like Yeah, and it's a little bit no less than no, and she is I I said this over and over again, she's just Connie 2.0. Yeah. Because her and Connie are the same way. Connie is like um, she stacks things in an order.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

And if it's almost like Jenga, if you pull one thing out of there and it's not and it's not in its proper place or happening at the time she wants it to, it's a house of cards all of a sudden.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

And it sounds like I'm throwing criticism her way and I'm not kind of pointing out uh the difficulties. But here, I'll put one in her basket. Uh you know, if it wasn't for her, like I wouldn't be successful. No, I wouldn't, I would still be living over in that house where I live now. It wouldn't be remodeled, it would be just the way it is, probably that I would have bought seven years ago. Uh yeah. So without her, I'm not where I am right now, and I'm not successful. And it is because the way she pushes. Yeah. Like I don't put I don't push myself that hard.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

No. And and you wouldn't, and it's the like I said, it's the same with Connie. I I am motivated by her motivation. It's not like if you left me to my own devices.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Sometimes I want to plant her under a lettuce patch. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

But you, you know, you leave me to my own devices, and it's a whole different situation. Yeah. But because she's sitting there, did you do this? Can we do that? You know, and and lining things up for me to where I'm like, yeah, I gotta get this done because you know, there's no reason not to. That's because of her. It's not because Dale's doing that. And it's and I assume it's pretty much the same with you. It's like, it's like, I have, you know, I have drive, but not to the degree I would have it if she wasn't behind me. Right. So because it's like I always I always tell her, like, when I got this job, I said, if I get an interview, I got the job. And that's that's just the way I feel. But to get to that situation where I have an interview to go to, those things are based on her saying, you know, you really need to fill out an application for this place and fill one out for that place. And I'm like, oh well, you know, and and him and hon about things. But then when I finally get it going, it's because of her.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

I mean, I have my own my own drive, which is when I say, if I get the interview, I got the job. But the additional drive comes from her. And that's when you know you have you have the one. You have you have the one because no other no other woman's gonna drive me like she does. No one else, no one else, male or female, is going to care whether Dale gets it done. But my wife and your wife are those people that are like, no, you're not gonna lay around on my watch. You're not gonna accept less than you're capable of on my watch.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Right. Oh, you couldn't have said it better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

But yeah, just so they know they are appreciated. We appreciate we appreciate what appears to be hard character on our part. We're saying, well, they're difficult. It's what makes them lovable to us. Because you're doing this. I know you love me because you're doing what you do. And so don't think we don't appreciate it because no matter what we say, we're just guys and we can't say it correctly. So don't think we're not appreciative of what you do for us. We know full well what you do for us. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Just chill out a little bit. That's all. Don't forget to enjoy life. That's all. He's into it, ladies. He's into it. Uh so it's all right. So uh tonight's topic. Uh I guess since we're talking about women and we're talking about what are we talking about tonight, Dale? Wrestling. So you you explain this topic to me because it's this was your idea.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

I I felt that um we all wrestle. We all wrestle with different things. But I also realized that Nick and I both enjoy wrestling. So So I said, we're just gonna we're gonna make that a topic. Because in in the Christian life, we wrestle, and and and everybody knows the verse, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and spiritual wickedness in high places. That's I said, we're just we're just gonna play around with that for a while because I may I I suggested that we talk about what are you wrestling with? Because there's more than just there's more than just the spiritual stuff. We wrestle with stuff all the day like, oh, I don't want to be late for work, or you know, I'm I'm tired of my alarm clock, tired of my kids. I wrestle with, you know, wrestle with my boss, my my spouse, my my kids. We wrestle with things all the day, my, you know, my anxiety, my all kinds of things. And so I've I felt like this was a a good topic to try and get people to understand or to to look a little bit about what are you wrestling with? What and how do you how do you cope with it? Because yes, we wrestle, but what do I do? When I'm when I'm wrestling with something, how do I yeah, how do I deal with it? How do I handle it? And it's like, you know, Jacob wrestled with an angel, I'm like, I don't ever want to be in that position because I'm for one, I can't wrestle very well, and you're not displacing my hip trick. I but um in all seriousness, everybody has uh has something that um they need to conquer, that they need to feel in control of. But um we have to take it and put God at the front of it because he's the one who actually should be doing the wrestling for us, not ourselves because he's the one that puts um all the what do I want to say? Uh he's the one that puts the importance, he's the one that puts the importance of what we wrestle for out there because the it it's important to make sure that we understand in all our wrestling, we're wrestling for him. We're we're wrestling to show show him that we are striving for him. It it's we're not wrestling for ourselves, we're not trying to to move mountains for ourselves. We are trying to show God we love you so much that that this is important to me, and I I'm struggling with this in an effort to show you what's in that you're important to me, that you're that I know the sacrifice that you made. You sent your one and only son to save me, and so I wrestle with being worthy.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

I yeah, and and well, you know, I'm I'm a natural-born introvert myself. Like I I can spend a lot of time alone, and it doesn't bother me whatsoever. And one of the main reasons is for that is because and I I hate to use the word selfish, but in some ways I can be a very selfish person. What I mean by, and most of the time when you say you're selfish, it kind of means you're spoiled or whatever. But what I mean by that is I have all these interests, all these goals that are a self-interest, things that I want to do, things that I want to experience. And I don't want anything to get in the way of that. So just by nature, I can admit that I'm a very introverted person. That, yeah, I can spend a lot of time alone. I don't need others to entertain me, and I've always got things that out on the horizon that I want to do, that I want to accomplish. And a lot of the a lot of those things require being alone. Yeah. Um but saying that, I know that being tied to my Christian faith, um I struggle with that responsibility that you just mentioned, that everything in my life, whether it's my job, whether it's my family, uh, whether you know it's just doing household chores. I mean, even doing this podcast, um, I wrestle with feeling the responsibility of that's why I'm doing it. Is because it's I can be I'll be 100% honest. It's not always because I want to do these things, because a lot of the times I don't want to do these things. And it all goes back to um you know, that line of scripture, like the things that I want to do, I do not do, and the things I do not want to do, there's the things I do. Yep. Um so it's kind of that it's that conflict within myself that there's a lot of things that I would rather do, and if I was not tied to my Christian faith, I probably wouldn't do them. Like because I wrestle with I wrestle with myself as what I want to do versus what I feel God expects me to do. Like having the responsibility of spreading God's word, whether it's just on this podcast or wherever it might take me in life, I feel like that has become a responsibility. So there are times where I'm like, you know what, I'm kind of tired. I think the last thing I want to do is go to the studio for three hours when really all I want to do is maybe sit down, relax, listen to some music, or read a book, and then be in bed by 8:30. Because that's what my body wants to do. That's what I want to do. That's my own selfish interest. But there's always that, you know, voice in my head that's like, yeah, but you have a responsibility. You know, you're not, and I don't want this to sound condescending, but not everybody, let's face it, not everybody is gifted with that responsibility. As I said, I'm tied to my Christian faith. And has it has kind of, you know, bounded me to those things where other people who are not bound by that Christian faith, they don't have that struggle. If they, you know, if they want to crack a beer right after work and sit down on the you know, lazy boy and watch TV all night until there it's time for bed, they don't think any more of it.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

No, absolutely not. And an uh thing about you and I is you are very introverted. And I got no doubt about that because we didn't uh aren't considered friends. We are now. Yeah. But I I joked, I joked about like not, you know, not being able to spend time with you or anything like that. Whereas me, I I like people, I like interaction, I like to be goofy, I like, I like attention. And I don't want to make it sound like like in a bad way, like look at me, look at me, look at me. It's just that I like to be like my wife will tell you, I like to be surrounded by people. I'm always inviting people to, you know, come to the house, we'll play games, and we'll make dinner for you, and blah, blah, blah. Because I like socialization. And so I think that connects us a lot better because you are. I try to respect your um intro introverted tendencies, and you try to try to respect the the part of me that's very social because we have good conversations. I mean, even outside the podcast, we have good conversations. Um, we'll we'll share text with each other about something we think is going on, and we have good conversation about that. And um it's because we don't we don't necessarily wrestle with each other about what what needs to be done. God, God does what God does when we're we're giving him the full glory and full praise for what we want to accomplish in him and through him. And so, like you said, when you don't have that kind of obligation on your heart where you're like, well, this is what God wants of me or whatever, and you can just come home and throw the shoes off and put your feet on the ottoman and just kind of stare into the oblivion, whatever, whatever interests you it's it's different. But when you feel that you have God behind you saying, you know, this is what you need to get out there, this is this is what needs to be happening to move my kingdom forward. I mean, we have we have his love and we have his authority in the same space. So we have things that he requires of us, you know. And when you don't have a requirement on your life, a spiritual requirement on your life, because that's the important thing, is that we feel we have a spiritual requirement on our life that we are trying to enlighten and and help people to realize that you're not going through this life alone. And that person that's throwing their feet up on the ottoman or whatever, you're not going through this life alone. There is there is the spirit of God that wants to be close to you. And we we feel it on the daily, and so we're like, yeah, I I I need to be doing this, I need to be doing that. And uh it's a lot to wrestle with. It's um when you have your natural life, your I'm moving, I'm working a new job, I'm getting a second job, whatever it is, on top of what must I do to be safe? What must you know what to call me?

SPEAKER_00 21:31

There's an expectation from all the other people around you, you know, from your employer to your family, you know, that surrounds you every single day, and there's certain things that you just have to do. Like you have, especially as a man, you have those expectations to fulfill. Um, and there, I mean, there is a sense of joy in it. There is a real sense of joy in serving the Lord. And and that's why, you know, for me, even though, yes, I and I think that's that's sometimes just a problem, is that my mind will tell me you you just need to stay home tonight. You just need you need to relax. And don't get me wrong, I I think everybody does need time to recharge, to reboot. Absolutely. You know, I believe I do believe in that. But you can get yourself in the trap of always saying it, you know, and never doing anything. Um because it's just like this podcast, I can say that to myself, like, oh gee, we're moving, I got all this stuff going on. How do I have time to go down there and record two episodes tonight and get home at nine, nine thirty and And get another five hours sleep. How can I? I can't keep doing that to myself. But then there, but the part that is bound by my Christian faith will say, you know that yeah, you're gonna be a little tired, but it's gonna do you so much good to step back for a little bit from everything else you got going on. And just focus on and go down there and focus on us and focus on the Lord and try to spread spread that joy of his word and his testimony, and just doing what God would have you do. He'll give you rest. Don't worry about it. Yep. And it's you need this more than you think you do. You need it more than than you need a couple hours of extra sleep.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Absolutely. And it's its own form of recharging in a way. Yeah, I think, because we come in here, um, we have one mindset and one, you know, one topic. We come in and we, you know, not counting the side chatter and the the different things we discuss, the the general focus, we we go, we go for that, and we do what we you know, we do what God's called us to do. And it's it's recharging in a way because it comes back to us, because we're sitting here and we're uh communion with each other and the audience, and it's it's uplifting. And so it's its own kind of rest. Even though we're we're doing what God's called us to do, it's its own kind of rest. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Yeah. And you know, and I think people need to uh take that into consideration when, you know, like you said, the guy that just gets to come home and sit down on the couch, and you you're missing out on that uh joy, and you're and you're mess missing out on that part of the Lord that will give you rest because you can only find rest in him. I truly believe that. Like you can you can try and find solace in so many different things, you know, but really it is only through him that you can find that true rest. And sometimes it just comes down to the fact that if you if you do accomplish everything that you feel that he set out for you to do, it's a so much better rest to be had when you do get it. Oh. As opposed to, yeah, I sat on the couch every single night and I resisted the things that I was supposed to do. You're probably in the back of your mind, it's probably always sitting back there like, I should have done that. Yeah. Shoulda pushed a little harder, should've because yeah, even though I laid it in. Should have had a clone and a margie behind and they just when you really start wrestling with yourself, is when you know you you just don't have I don't know. It I always say every good human being needs purpose. You know, the worst human beings in the world are those that do not have purpose. I truly believe that. You know, it just you know, if you don't have purpose, you're you're probably doing things that are doing you or you know anybody else around you no good. I mean, it's it's just really hard to find peace and progress and uh you know just love if you don't have you know something to strive for.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

Yeah. And uh going back to the person on the couch, uh couch, we're kind of beaten up on you. Yeah, we're not beating up on you. But uh sometimes even though you're doing that, you have your feet propped up, your mind is racing. And you're still thinking about, well, I get up tomorrow at eight. I got, you know, I good, and it's still not the rest that you're looking for.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

You look over, oh, where did this night go? It's already nine o'clock and all I've done.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

Exactly, especially like here it is, you know, summertime and uh the days are longer, yeah, and then you're you're sitting there and you're doing whatever, and it just there's no relaxing. There's a there's a a mental schedule still in your head that's just kind of like running around. I got this to do, I gotta pick up the kids, we got soccer, we got, you know, and so even though you may be sitting there reading a book, your mind is not relaxed. Yeah. And so sometimes you need to, it's gonna sound weird, put down that book and go do go do something for the Lord. Go um whether it's kneel in his presence for that that little bit of time that you're home alone, don't, you know, don't leave it to yourself and be selfish. Just take that time and say, you know, God, I appreciate that you've given me this opportunity to to come home, read this book, to be in your word for 15 minutes, to do, do like a little self-uh devotional, if you will, just where you're giving him 15 minutes out of your day and saying, Slow me down. I appreciate that I'm in your presence, Father God, and just you know, give him credit for where he's brought you in that day. And then just after that, get into your book and whatever, your TV show, whatever you're doing, but you have given him his time and his praise. And I think that's really important to show him in the middle of your day that he is still first. This rest is important, but you are first. I'm going to turn my day over to you and let you know that what I've been doing today, I would not have gotten this far in my day were it not for you. And I don't know. I just we can we continue to wrestle with things we don't need to wrestle with. No.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

You know, and he's you know, he's the perfect tag team partner. Absolutely. You know, uh you know, anyway.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Anyone can drop the people's elbows.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

Well, you know, if you watch any wrestling, and you know, you always have that situation where the one guy's in the ring, he's been in the ring too long. And somehow, no matter how close no matter how close he gets to the corner, they drag him back in for more, and he just, you know, he's just getting his butt kicked by by the other team, and you just just can't get away from him. And that's kind of how it is, like if you're on your own and if you do look in your corner and there's nobody there with a hand extended. And there's plenty of those matches where you know they turn around and their partner has left, like for some selfish reason, or you know, and then they're you know, they're reaching their hand out and there's nobody there, and then they're just at the mercy of two 500-pound guys that are just gonna pumble them. Um, and that's how it can be, you know, when you don't when you don't have Jesus in your life and you're wrestling with things is yeah, you can go in the ring for a while and you can go in with a full head of steam and hold your own for a little while, but eventually you're gonna get worn down, and eventually you're gonna be on two knees, and then eventually you're gonna be on your back in the middle of the ring. And like I said, if if you're reaching out and there's nobody in that corner, ring the bell because you are gonna get penned. Yeah, it's just no so that's kind of how it is, is because just some there's just days where you think like I cannot do anymore, I cannot think anymore. And like I said, my positivity is holding on by a thread, and if one more thing happens, you know, I'm done. Some somebody's gonna get you know a different side of me, the you know, the human side of me. And it's in those moments where you're like, okay, that would be very foolish. Like you've made it this far. You know, you you've accomplished a lot today. So just look to the Lord to finish it off. You know, tag him in and let him finish it. Yeah, don't don't start you know getting upset with people. Don't don't lose everything that you gain for the day by losing your temper or taking it out on somebody.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

Yeah, don't fall out of character.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

Yeah, yeah. Because just don't leave it up to your own devices because again, myself, I I know myself. Like if I left a lot of things to my own devices, I'd be a mess. And there's been times in my life where I did do that, where I thought, you know what, I said, Lord, I said, I appreciate you being in my corner. But I'm gonna dig it. But I'm gonna go, I'm gonna do some singles matches for a while. You know, I'm gonna break this tag team and those never work out. And it didn't, and it didn't. Like again, held my own for a while, could hold my own at times, yeah, but no.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

I'll be like in the ring and you're fighting boredom or you're fighting loneliness or alcoholism or whatever. You're never gonna win those fights alone. You're never gonna win those. You need that tag team partner of the Lord because he's just he will he'll he'll give you for one thing, he gives you purpose. Yeah. Because a lot of times all of those situations can be handled with purpose. You're like, okay, I I feel this way, but if I do this, do this thing that takes my mind off of that that that situation that I thought was so un you know, so untenable, there's no way that I could um get out of it, or there's no way there's a good benefit to come from it. But if I turn around and I do this, all of a sudden that situation doesn't seem so bad. Plus, the people that I'm dealing with, those Christian voices that talk to me, help me weave my way through whatever I thought was a difficult and impossible situation. Next thing I know, I'm on top.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:32

And I'm on top because my partner has come in and he's laid the groundwork by dropping, you know, dropping a few people or making enemies into footstools.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Well, you know, and the worst opponents are like self-pity and shame. Oh, absolutely. You know, if you're facing those two by yourself, then it just can lead to a lot of people. They're relentless. They're relentless.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

They do not, they do not stop, and they're yeah, they're in your face every day. And it's like for the entirety of the match, you had their they're like right there. They don't run out of speed. No, they don't. It's like they are constantly tagged back.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

Yeah, they're tagging in and out, and just yeah, they got it going on.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Sometimes they're just in there both together now, like laying you out.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

They got the ref attracted stuff, you know, all those things.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

It is it's just, you know, you get in those situations, and we have a we have a partner who they can both be in the ring at the same time with it with him, and they're not gonna win. No. Because he has he has that skill set that we could we can sit there and be ready to be tagged in, and he's like, nah, I got this. And he's just flying off the ropes, or he's doing whatever needs to be done to ease our situation. It's like, wow, I should let him start the match, and that's what we forget is he should start our matches, but so many times we're like we want to go in first and try to handle it. Exactly. Like, let me wrestle it for a while. I got it, and then we're like, oh, I I I don't got it. Uh-huh. So I I think that uh a lot of times we get we get overconfident. It's like, and for the the wrestling people who are following us, following along with us, it's like when you first jump into the ring and you're like that guy that's smacking elbows off people's heads, and you're two people are trying to get you, and you turn it and nail the other one, and then the other guy comes back and you head butt him, and you dropkick the other one, you're so far ahead, and you look like you have everything handled, and then all of a sudden, one of them pokes you in the eye. A thumb in the eye. You got a thumb in the eye, and then next thing you know, you are in trouble. Yep. And you're in a situation you did not think you're gonna be in. And it's the same way in our Christian walk. We're we're running on, we're, you know, I got this job going, and I'm doing everything, and I'm, you know, my family's happy, and just everything's going good. I don't need God. And then all of a sudden, boom, thumb in the eye. I lost my job. My wife is upset with me. What whatever whatever happens, it's that thumb in the eye situation. And now you're looking for him. And he's that the only tag team partner that is not walking away the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so when you turn around and you're like, okay, I got that thumb in the eye, the situation is unbearable. And you reach out, he's right there. He's gonna take it. He's right there. He's not distracted by the manager of the other team or by, you know, the ref getting thrown out of the ring. He's he's always right there, and we just have to remember that no matter what the battle is, no matter who's who's in the ring against us, anxiety, you know, lust, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Well, you know, we were talking about uh suicide at home a couple days ago, and because we you know, it's one of those things like we heard so-and-so, and and then another person we got talking about, and some of these people we knew pretty well, and um and someone we knew had gone to a certain church, certain denomination, whatever. And I'm not trying to get into all that, but anyway, um, you know, one of my friends was saying, like, you know, they don't realize how selfish they're being, you know, and what they're leaving behind, or you know, somebody has to find them when they decide to do something like that. So they don't realize what they're doing. And and I agree with all that, but at the same time, I said, you know, I I do have a lot of empathy for people who find themselves in that situation. I said, Because I can't imagine again being in that situation and not being able to turn look over your shoulder and not see Jesus, not see God to say, hey, you know. Yeah, it adds a hopelessness to you. Yeah, so it's like I I some of you are like, I just can't understand how somebody could do that. And I'm like, I can understand how somebody would do that. Easily because I I can understand how lost somebody can be by they've fought, they've fought this battle, whether it's depression or whether it's some form of abuse that has been inflicted upon them. You know, whatever, whatever battle, whatever they're wrestling with, they've chosen to do it alone. And they've chosen to do it outside of the uh Christian faith, or in some cases, the right, you know, Christian guidance. And they get so low that they can't they don't see God. So so they don't see any way out. And I I have a lot of you know empathy for those people. You know, I I just I can't imagine feeling that lost and hopeless. Because I've I've felt what I feel is lost and hopeless before. I felt like nothing's gonna change, like how could things get any worse? I've I've said all those things to myself at times in my life, but I've never felt that black hole of hopelessness, like God wasn't there. Even when some of the worst things were happening to me, I was mad at God. But guess what? His presence was still there. I still had somebody to be mad at, just like I would be mad at my father. Yeah. Like, like, why aren't you stepping in to solve this? Like, why aren't you doing it when I need you to? But at least I was still having that dialogue. Yeah. I can't imagine people that are not having that dialogue.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

Well, I always feel uh feel bad for like uh battered spouses. And I'm I've known a couple of friends of mine that have had relationships like for decades with with different with different people and uh gone through abuse after abuse after abuse, and then you're like in your head, you're like why don't they just walk away? Like what's the problem? Why don't you just say you know I've had enough and and you you know you treat me this way and and I'm done. And and you there is a point where some people are like, I don't get it. But being being who I am, I've seen my own personal like disappointment grow into something like that where I feel like this is what I deserve, this is who I am, this is you know, I can't get any better than this. This is you know, this is the road I chose to go to. So wherever it leads, that's what that's I can't I can't get out of it. Yeah, and it wasn't until you you figure out that you always have an out. You all it it it's never, you know. You're looking at that a lot of people, and I'm not belittle in anybody's situation, you're looking at that as the world needs to help you, that you can't you can't get out of it because this is what the world expects, or you don't have enough friends in your corner to escape something like that. And that's just not the case. The case is this uh if you are going through anything, depression, abuse, um, alcoholism, fall on your knees. I mean, it it sounds it sounds simple, fall on your knees and cry out to him. I mean, you're gonna get to that point no matter what your situation is where you feel hopeless. But he is he's the he's the author of hope. And so fall on your knees and cry out to him with all your heart. I mean, with with everything you got, and let him know that you you know he's still there and you know that there's a purpose for what you're going through, because everything you go through is just a storm to get to the sunshine. And if you if you drowned in the storm, you're never you're not gonna see the sunshine. So you you fight through with God. You're like, God, whatever this is, whatever this is for me, I'm gonna go through it just to see what you have for me. Because I guarantee you, when you get through it, it's uh it's a hundred times better than you ever thought it was gonna be anyway. I mean, I've met I've met so many friends because I finally said I'm gonna I'm gonna go through this. And then whatever's whatever's on the other side, that's what you have for me. And I've been blessed. I you Pastor Michael and Sissy, and I can I can name tons of people that not just in this church, but just people that in my life I would never have met if I gave up. If I did not turn to God and say, Whatever you have for me, that's what I have. My my wife would not would not be in my life if I just gave up and didn't didn't give it to God. She specifically said, You put me back on track to be with be with God. And if I had dropped my Christian values, if I had dropped what God has been doing for me, I would never have gotten her. I would never have had who I have. And I know that she's a gold in my life that and I I wouldn't I would be I would be filthy rags without her, you know, pushing me. And that's all God.

SPEAKER_00 43:06

And so that's why I say just want to see how we come full circle with that. You know, we that's how we started this conversation. Absolutely. That's how we're you know, we're getting towards the end of the conversation. We're circling right back to that.

SPEAKER_02 43:20

Yeah. Uh that's the value of God, is that He can He can see what Nick needs. He's like, Nick, you're not gonna be able to accomplish the things you need to accomplish unless you have a Margie. Dale, you're not gonna be able to accomplish some of the things you need to accomplish unless you have a Connie. Because a Connie is going to welcome things into your life that you never thought you were gonna have. I never thought I was gonna have six kids. And uh each and every one of them so valuable to me. And I never thought that I would go on cruises or you know, have relationships with people and to the degree I do. And and it's all it's like. I wouldn't be I wouldn't be in this church if it wasn't for my and it's and it's all because of her. It's all because God said, You're done, you're done fooling around. I'm like, Yeah, God, I'm done fooling around. I'm tagging you in. It's like, okay, well, I'm dropping this tag team partner in your life. And it's been at times it's been a real wrestling match, but it's it's always been a joy. And that's that's because. God knows us better than we know it. And I just, you know. It's I I'm happy to be what God and who God has called me to be. And no matter no matter what that turns out to be. If I'm famous tomorrow or broke tomorrow, it it's all it's all to his purpose. And there's always gonna be something great to come out of it.

SPEAKER_00 45:06

Yeah. You know, and you can't you can't have everything in this world. No. You know, there's so many things that we wrestle with as human beings, and you know, ambition has always been one of mine that I've always tried to curb is just this personal ambition to do this, do that, and you just think you can do all these things, and it's great to accomplish, to have you know, personal ambition and have goals and accomplish those goals. There's nothing wrong with that. But you can't at the end of the day, at the end of your life, you can't do it all. And and if you do accomplish all those things, and you do but you do it without God, I don't see how you can find find the real reward in that. I I just think all those things feel empty because eventually, and it's the old saying, you know, beauty fades, you know, physical strength fades, you know, your eyesight goes, some days you won't be able to walk anymore. Um you know, all the you know, all the things that you rely on on a daily basis that you think are so important, it's gonna leave you. You know, it's gonna every single day it diminishes. Yeah. You know, and I've said before that everything you do in this world takes from you. Even if it looks good on paper, it's still taking from you. Oh, yeah. The only thing that doesn't take from you is God's word, is your relationship with God. It's the only thing that can add to, you know, you you can be, yes, you can find yourself in a wheelchair and still find God. Absolutely. But if you find yourself in a wheelchair, unfortunately, yeah, you can't play basketball no more. You can't go on hikes no more, you can't do all these things that perhaps that you coveted and you enjoyed. But in a wheelchair, you can still find God. It's the one thing that it does not matter, you know, to you up until your final day, as long as long as you're conscious, you can find God. And that's you know, the only thing I know for sure. Everything else in this world I can say, the only thing that's for sure is nothing's for sure. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 47:18

But but that's just death and taxes.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

Yeah, but it's just yeah, that's the one thing that I know is for sure. And the older I get, the more sure I am. The more sure I am. And you know, you I used to hear people talk like that when I was in my teens, my twenties, and you kind of think, yeah, okay. Yeah, I are. Yeah. But it's true, it's just one of the things you hear everybody say, but there's a reason why everybody says it. Yeah, because it's true.

SPEAKER_02 47:47

Yeah, and you kind of wish that when they had said it when you were younger, that they would have emphasized it. I mean, they may have, yeah, but not to the degree I wish that that they had, because it should be ground into your heart every day that God is who you need. And that, you know, everything else, eventually, Dale, you're gonna you're gonna slow down. Eventually you're gonna get tired, eventually everything is going to hurt. And eventually you will start to lose things that you didn't think you were gonna lose. Your youth, your, you know, other people, your smart, other people. It absolutely, you know, wealth, what you know, because you take it like um Elon Musk just became a trillionaire. And in my mind means absolutely nothing. It means nothing. Because okay, you you can you can buy this, you can buy that, but when you die, where's it at? It it's not you can't take it with you.

SPEAKER_03 48:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:52

And so the only thing that you can take with you from this life to the next, from moment to moment, is God. It's the only thing, and your relationship with him. And so you make the you make that choice to uh to tag up with him more or less. And it's not a mistake. It's not a mistake. I I know so many people is like, oh, if he was this and if he was that, uh, he is this and he is that. We are not. We we fail him. It's not the other way around. We are the we're using it.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

Well, and it is a tag team. It's like I think a lot of people miss that. It's like, oh, I asked God to come into my life, or I prayed for this and nothing happened. He he's never done anything for me. Well, God's not just gonna walk in here and like, yeah, you're absolutely right. He's not just gonna walk through the door and heal you or remove you from a situation or make you quit smoking or make you quit drinking or whatever you want him to release you from. No, he's not gonna just walk in and do it because it's a relationship. I think that's the main thing that people miss is that it starts with a relationship. Until there was until there's a relationship, I don't think anything's gonna happen. I'm sorry, but I don't. That might be that might be off base, but I just feel like yes, you can accept Christ into your life at any given moment. You know, you can walk into a church, you can say that today's the day, you know, you can go to the altar, you can profess your life to Jesus Christ, and that's great. That is the first step. But after that, it ha you have to form a relationship. Absolutely. And if you don't, I don't believe that things will happen. I just I don't.

SPEAKER_02 50:45

And you have to consider God is our father. And so taking a fatherly relationship, when you ask your father for something, and he always gives it to you, and always gives it to you, and always gives it to you, what happens to you? You become spoiled. Yeah, you don't appreciate what's been given to you. Yeah, it's like, okay, dad, I I I want to I want a car, okay? Dad, I want a Lamborghini. Okay, you know, I want to know who's giving their kid a Lamborghini, but um There's somebody out there. Yeah. But the thing is, if you're constantly receiving, receiving, receiving, and you've done nothing to earn that reception, you become spoiled. And it's no different in the in the realm of God. It's no different in our spiritual life. If God were to give us all of our heart's desires every time we ask for them, we'd we're like, what why why follow you? Why, why, you know, pour out our heart to you if every answer is yes.

SPEAKER_00 51:58

And it's no different to me than a human relationship in many ways. Like, I have a son who I have not seen in years. So I am in a position where I am the father, and I have a son who has not communicated with me in years. So let's look look at the reality of that situation. There is nothing I can do with that relationship. There's nothing I can do for him. Now, he he knows I'm always there. At any given point, he knows where I live, you know, he knows where I am. And I've never and I've never ended a conversation without telling him that I love him. So he knows in the bottom of his heart, all he has to do is just start communicating. And there could be a relationship. But until he does, as the father, there is nothing. I I mean, he's a grown adult, and there is nothing I can do to lead him. I mean, I can I can pray for him, I I can do all those things. But until he decides that he is ready to have a relationship, he may be sitting there right now going, geez, I really do miss my dad. Yeah. Really, but but until he's ready to have a relationship and realize a few things, there's nothing I can do about it. Absolutely. And and a lot of times that's we have those human relations where you know family's just stupid. If you think about it, a lot of family dynamics are just stupid. The things that family members will not let go that completely destroy or forestall a relationship is just I I don't understand. I don't understand it. To me, I mean, I don't know. I I've always been I've always found it easy to forgive.

SPEAKER_02 53:43

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 53:44

It's one of my better qualities that, you know, and some people say, oh, well, you just let everybody walk all over you. No, I don't think I do. Uh, but I've always found it easy to forgive. So sometimes I take for granted that maybe it is a really hard thing to forgive people. Um, but just the family dynamics, like there's just plenty of like, you know, uh fathers and sons that don't speak, and mothers and daughters, and you think, over what?

SPEAKER_03 54:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:13

And usually over something silly. Yeah. Something that just and and usually something that happened years ago.

SPEAKER_00 54:20

Yeah, a small offense, or just you know, you it it just I I can't understand it.

SPEAKER_02 54:25

Well, me and me and one of my brothers do not get along. And uh I'll be honest, it's not because of me, because I've I've apologized even though in my mind I don't feel like I need to apologize. I've apologized. I've also said, I, you know, I forgive you if you're you're ready to resume the relationship. Yeah, exactly. So I've I've done both. I've said, you know, I'm sorry if whatever I said hurt you, and I forgive you if you think anything that you've done hurt me. So I'm ready for an open relationship. You you can do whatever you need to do to patch this. Like if you just walked up to me tomorrow and said, hey, you know, we're good. I'm like, okay, let's go. You know.

SPEAKER_00 55:12

But I think that's the thing is human beings wrestle with the stipulations involved in forgiveness.

SPEAKER_02 55:19

You you assume, I I think they assume that one, you know, what strings are attached to this, you know, this thing you're telling me. And oh, I have to let it all go. Like, yeah. I can't I can't ever bring this up again. It's like, and you know, can I can I not be bitter when I see you next time? Because that's one thing. We like to hold on to our emotion. We like to be able to hold on to that thing that that made us feel like we had a little bit of control of whatever whatever happens. Like, I wasn't wrong. They were wrong. And like, who is he to forgive me? Or who is he to, you know, you know, that's not the way we need to look at it, but that's the way a lot of people look at their situation, is like, I'll let go of it when I'm ready. You don't you don't tell me you're not gonna be the bigger man when in fact what you're showing me is I am being the bigger man. So so you need to like, as if you're the one who feels like you've been offended, turn it over to God. Because that's that's the problem, is that we don't turn it over. We like, you know, like like treat it like a personal altar call. And it's like because when you're in church and you bring it to the altar and you're supposed to let it go at the altar. Whatever you're whatever you have on your heart, you let it go at the altar. It's the same, and once you're outside of church, church doesn't stop inside the church. We take we take church with us. So if you have a family situation that ain't right, that something's going wrong and whatever, you take it to the altar, you say, God, whatever is whatever's supposed to be happening, they said they forgive me, I forgive them. Help me to move forward. And then you let it go and you move forward. And and some for some odd reason, families can't do that. It's like I gotta hold on to a little bit of this. So you're that person that like lays it down at the altar, gets up, and takes it right back to the seat with them.

SPEAKER_00 57:28

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 57:29

And I I I never will understand that because I love my family. I want my family to be, you know, whole together and you know joined together in heaven.

SPEAKER_00 57:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:41

And that can't happen if you hold any kind of resentment.

SPEAKER_00 57:45

Both my parents are gone. You know, they both died young. I mean, my mom was in her 50s, my dad was in his late 60s. So my perspective is very different. Like, I know I'm 46. So I can look at that, I can look forward and go, okay, if I'm a mom, I've only got eight years left. And my dad, I've only got 20 years left. And when you put that in perspective and think I could be gone from anywhere between eight and twenty years from now.

SPEAKER_02 58:12

That that should like that should wake anybody up. Yeah. That should, that should get the gears turning to um, how do I make my personal situations the best they can possibly be? How do I, how do I let people know that I care about them? How do I, you know, how do I lay the groundwork for the people behind me? Yeah, my my kids, my my nieces, my nephews, how do I lay the groundwork for them to see we need to get why wrestle, why wrestle with these things?

SPEAKER_00 58:45

Like, I I can I can look at anybody in my family and be like, you know what, I'm not perfect. I know you're not perfect, but it's okay. Like, I can I the love I have for you, I can look past your imperfection. Now, yeah, I mean you can't allow somebody just to be completely reckless or hurt for or whatever, but there's a lot of things that I think as human beings, like you said, like you could just let it go. Like you could just you can look past people's faults and realize, like, yep, sometimes he blows off at the mouth, you know. Sometimes he just says things he shouldn't say.

unknown 59:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:20

And then just some people just can't deal with that. Like they can't get past it. And I'm just like, I just I just see the writing on the wall. I'm just like, we ain't got much time here, guys.

SPEAKER_02 59:34

And and what are you what are you what are you after in that situation? What are you after what's the end game then? Yeah. It's like so I can be upset with this person until until the end. And then I'm like, and why?

SPEAKER_03 59:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:48

Why? I'm like, is there a there's no gain to it? Oh, there's no trophy at the end that said that you're like uh to the most angry person. No, so what are you what are you hoping to gain? Are you trying to show dominance of some kind? It's like, look, I I win because I stayed angry. What kind of win is that? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:10

You need to look at your priorities.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:12

Yeah, because my goal is always to live a happy life. Yeah. Can I live a happy life if my brother is upset with me? Yeah, with bitterness every single day. Can I, you know, can I be who God's called me to be? Because that's ultimately my goal is for God to look at me and say, Well done, thy good and faithful servant. Is he gonna say that if when I get in front of him and he says, Well, how was that relationship with him?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:40

You had so many opportunities to to amend that. And you just and fix it and out of pride, you said no.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:46

Yeah, and it yeah, out of pride, out of selfishness, out of, you know, I want to be the one that's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:53

They they should have told me I'm sorry first.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:56

Yeah, yeah. Whatever whatever reasoning we use, and I'm not, you know, sticking to my family or anything, but I'd say my family knowing that all families have these issues. They do. And so just the inability of us to to put down whatever hurt us, yeah and and pick up and pick up joy and say, you know what, that that hurt me, but that's in the past. I love you. Let me know.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:25

I look at what you have to gain from that.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:27

And and the just just saying that myself, just like right now, uplifts me to say, you know, I know you hurt me. And I know I hurt you, but that's in the past. Let it go. Is it's it's up to you. And there is a reward in that. Yeah. And I mean you can eat feel it. You can feel it when you are able to let go of something like that and and get your s shoulders off the mat, so to speak, and say, look, I get it. I get it. We we did this, and there may have been hurt feelings of that. I ate the last pork chop, whatever. I'm you know, I'm sorry, I'm I'm hurt my feelings a little bit. I'm a greedy person. You know, I understand that, but that's in the past. Let's move forward, let's realize the kind of person I am, the kind of person you are, and still love each other. And still just and and that would be to me so uplifting just to both parties. And and just just try it. Just try to let it go. And even if that's not generally in your character, because there are some people that's not in their character. They're like, I I don't care what anybody says. If I feel like I'm right, I'm right, you know. Try and just go the opposite way. One time. Just say, like, you know, I I do feel like I'm right, but I'm I'm gonna put it down and I'm gonna I'm gonna just let this go and I'm gonna move forward from that. And just see what see what happens. You'll be first of all, that other person's gonna be amazed. Yeah. Because they're gonna be like, what? You you you wanna you wanna drop the, you know, drop the axe, bury the hatchet, or so to speak, and it it it will create a huge turnaround. Just do it. Yeah, I mean, not to borrow Nike or anything, but just just do it one day. Just you know, just try to go the opposite way. Because going the way you're going is not hasn't been getting it done. Yeah. To just just one day, just just flip the switch on somebody. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:42

Sometimes you got that guy in the middle of the ring, they're like, You're gonna have to break my arm before I give up. Yeah. Like what?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:48

Yeah, they have to tap there like like and they put them in that arm bar or something, and they're gonna have to break my arm. It's like, no, no, not gonna do it. And yeah, like, no, no, tap out something, tap out one time. Just it's not gonna kill you. There's other matches. Yeah, there's other matches.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:04

Tap you can't wrestle no more if you break your arm.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:07

Exactly. You know, you're gonna be laid up, and it's like, oh, he's he's in retirement now. No, just yeah, tap out once or twice. It's not it's not gonna kill you. Yeah, but I think we melt the the wrestling metaphors. Yeah, but we will come back to it because that's just how we are.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:27

That's how we are. Yep. I was gonna say in the beginning, we were talking about the women, and I was gonna bring up Macho May and Randy Savage, and I said, I was gonna ask you, do you think he would have been as successful if he wouldn't have had Miss Elizabeth in his corner?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:39

Oh, I don't think so. I don't think so either. I think she made a lot of his matches because do you watch like some of the some of the sketches they did where he was protective of her and she drove the storyline of who he is.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:53

Yeah. Well, and well, in the beginning, he was really mean to her. Yeah, yeah, like really disrespectful to her. And I think fans really took to that, like they really loved her because she was just this real quiet, you know. Yeah, like because she wasn't one of those female managers like you see now where like she'd be up in somebody's face, or she wasn't throwing powder in people's eyes or something. She was Nanny Damsel and she was like, she was like the first lady of wrestling. Yep, yeah, she was just always prim and proper, and she always had this look on her face like she was so worried about Randy getting hurt. Yep, absolutely so she was just a sweetheart in every way, and fans just loved her. Uh and and I don't, yeah, I don't as great as he was, I I don't think he would have got as far without that woman behind him in that special dynamic. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:42

I mean, she she kind of made him who he is.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:45

Yeah. So yeah, there's no there's no to me, there's no Randy Savage without Miss Elizabeth. You know. Yeah. So yeah, that was that's a perfect example there. So all right, so that's enough. That's enough of that. Yep, I think we covered it. I think that uh I think somebody should get something out of that. Oh yeah. It was very enjoyable. I I liked it.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:08

I I thought we could uh kind of get a lot of mileage out of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:13

So there's always there's always just a little insider, you know, if you wonder about how people do this, you know, there's always that worry week to week. Like you got your topic, and again, we talk about being busy and all the things you have to do, and you're like, I haven't studied for this at all. Like I haven't looked into this, I haven't thought about this topic at all. Yeah, and then you know, so there's such a satisfaction out of coming in and just seeing it kind of like all fall together. Yeah, like it just it just does. And that's God.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:44

That's God because we come in and sometimes we're prepared and sometimes we're not, but it doesn't matter because we're doing it to the glory of God, and so it always falls in place. All it and it's like, well, this this might be good for 15 minutes, and then next thing you know, you've gone an hour. Yeah, and so yeah, and that's all God because he says someone needs this, and then we start going that way, and someone needs to hear something else, and it just snowballs, and that is that is always, always the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:19

Yep. All right, sir. You want to pray us out? I can do that. All right, let me hit the green button.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:33

Father God, I thank you for allowing us to get together today. It's been uh difficult to find the time, and there's things that are always in our way. Always obstacles. But there's obstacles in everyone's life, and Father God, we thank you for removing those obstacles and making uh an opportunity for us to do those things that you called us to do. I thank you for the blessing of my brother Nick because uh he is a great person, and you you dropped him into my path, and I appreciate all that he does for my emotional well-being as well as um being just the kind of person he is. We pray, Father God, traveling mercies on the both of us as we leave this place, but not your presence. And all these things we pray in the precious name of your son Jesus Christ. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:34

Amen.