Not Finished With You Yet!

0:00 Hey, what keeps you chasing your dream knowing that the odds are against you? You know, I don't have a lot of time left on this earth. None of us do. No matter what happens today, tomorrow was never promised. Roughly 25 ,000 to 45 ,000 people die every day in their sleep. And we always think it could never happen to us. But the thing is, it still happens. It's not impossible. And that got me thinking. Why is it so easy for us to believe something unlikely and terrible could happen to us? But when it comes to our dreams, we suddenly start talking about odds. We start saying things like, oh, that'll never happen.

0:41 I'll never make it. What are the chances? But what are the chances you go to sleep tonight and never wake up? It's unlikely, but it's possible too. So why can't your dream be possible? The difference is I can't work towards dying in my sleep, but I can work towards my dream. And every day I wake up, that's another chance to move closer. So if I can unexpectedly go to sleep and never wake up, then maybe one morning I can unexpectedly wake up to the life I've been working for. Both are possible, but only one of them I can work towards. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Welcome to Bumper Sticker Wisdom. I am John. I am Terry. We are back again. I will say a quick prayer and then we will get going. Heavenly Father, we thank

2:11 you for this time, this opportunity. Father, we just ask that we lift up anybody who may be listening right now, that we give them something, some sort of hope or peace or joy or maybe a little quick laughter. Father, we just commit our time to you, commit our tongues to you, ask that you work through us, Father, to be an evidence. Of your love and hope, Father. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. So, these are weird. I always like them because in the post -production part with the editing and all that kind of stuff, I like it because I get more time and it kind of frees me up a little bit. I like weeks like that. But I am a creature of habit. You are. And so when the routine is off, it kind of messes with you a little bit. So it does. It kind of plays with my head a little bit. So I know I started the show with someone else's video today, but when I saw it yesterday, it kind of gets me emotional just thinking about it just because people are so discouraging of other people's dreams and goals. And I love the concept that, you know, I can't – either one could happen.

3:20 I could go to sleep tonight and not wake up tomorrow, right? But I can't work towards that. Right. I have control over this. I have an opportunity to chase my dream. And maybe I will and maybe I won't. Who knows, right? But at the end of the day, I can spend my time and devotion working toward that dream. And maybe, just maybe someday, I'll accomplish the dream, right? Or like he said, I'll wake up and here I am. And, you know, I just think that we as people, Need to do a far better job of. I don't know why I did this. I'm over here going, why is this on my neck?

4:03 You didn't put it on right. That's a way to derail a conversation. I'm good at that. You are good at that. I just feel like the reason I brought that up is a couple of things. Number one. We as people should be far more willing to support people's dreams, regardless of how outlandish they sound to us. Oh, yeah. You know, kids, I work with kids at the church a lot, and a lot of them dream big dreams. They think they're going to play in the NFL or, you know, whatever the case may be, be a singer, whatever the case may be. And I, from experience, know how parents can be. Well, you need a realistic goal. Yeah.

4:54 You need a realistic dream. Well, the thing about a dream is you can't tell me what's realistic, right? I love to watch my kids pretend. Yeah. And it's like I've been out of work for, excuse me, three weeks, and it's like one of the teachers let them watch TV. No. Dude, go pretend. Go play. Go. I love just to watch them pretend, which they like to play guns. I'm not okay with that. Which I don't mind them playing guns, but they like to shoot each other. And I'm like, no, I'm not okay with that. But I get it. And I'm like, you know, if we can pretend play like, you know, cups and rubbers, that's cool. But no, they have to, you know, the way our world's going right now with the shootings, and I don't want to see that. It's not something we want to even think about. I don't want them to think that's okay.

5:41 But kids have been playing that game for... Yeah. You know what I mean? And don't think that there's a correlation between playing that game and ending up with a violent person. Yeah. You know what I mean? A lot of other factors come into play when it comes to that kind of stuff. But, you know, I work with two -year -olds. Yeah. So their minds are so innocent at this point, you know. So I like to watch, pretend. And then they get older. Well, I'm going to be a fireman. Two kids go to school just this year. And one of them wants to be a fireman, which I'm super excited for. I'm excited. I said, be healthy, eat right. You know, you give them the good encouragements, eat your vegetables. They're like, Ooh, you know?

6:24 So, you know, you try to help them with their goals too. So, you know, at the end of the day, what's the cost, right? Like, I think that that's something that, um, okay. So I think sometimes people specifically in this walk of life and Christianity or just in a relationship with Christ, think that, chasing after something like that or having a dream or a financial goal or something like that can be is negative but it's really it's really about where your heart's centered yes right i want to accomplish big purpose and big things i'm sorry i want to accomplish big things for a big purpose yes not just to line my pockets right absolutely if that's a part of it. That's a part of it. Right. And I'm not going to complain about adding a little extra money to the pocket, but that's not where my heart is. My heart is for people to love people, to help people. And listen, I am messed up. I make so many mistakes. You know what I mean?

7:21 I'm not, I'm not good. I'm the poster child of who needs Christ. Right. You know what I'm saying? And the only difference between me and someone else that's just like me that doesn't have christ is that i have christ that's the only difference right it's not it's not because i'm better it's only because i've been saved through the blood of christ that's it that's the only difference and if being in relationship with him makes you want to be better right and so it's not and it's not about uh it's not about uh checking boxes it's not about uh trying to achieve God's grace or achieve God's love. It's already there. It's not about chasing his forgiveness and following law and all that. It's about, it's not behavior modification. It's literally life change. Right.

8:16 You know what I mean? It's, you modify your behavior because you know that's not right and you want to do better than that, right? Right. That's what it is. It's not about. trying to uphold something you don't have to uphold anything christ has already done it right right that's the whole point and i don't know i don't know i just don't know why we can't as a people be more supportive of of each other's goals and dreams you know what i mean look i i'm not asking to get rich i don't care about that right you know what i mean i just love to do this and i love to talk about christ and i love to to share that love and hope with people I'm not good at doing it out on the street. I'm just not. I'm shy. You know what I mean? Even doing this is weird for me. I was part of you the other day. We were talking about the guy behind us. You actually started a conversation with the guy behind us.

9:11 You're doing better about interacting with other people. But it's always something that you enjoy. Yeah, it has to be common ground, right? That's the thing. And I'm not real good at seeking common ground out there. I think you can get better at it. Sure, sure. And I'm not saying I can't. I'm just saying that that's just the idea of doing this, for whatever reason, as shy as I am, doing this is easier for me. Because you're not around a bunch of people. Exactly. I'm just having a conversation, right, with somebody. You know, primarily the conversation has been with Jason and with you. And, you know, I love to have other people in here, but more people have to get involved in order for that to happen.

9:55 You know what I mean? But at the end of the day, I'm just, I think we should support each other's dreams. And we also should remember, like the scripture, opening scripture said is, you know, we make our plans, but he directs our steps. And it's all about where's your motivation. I'm going to lean into what God has for me and let him guide the path. Right. I can, it's just, this thing is such a, this thing right now, bumper sticker wisdom is such a metaphor for my life in general. It's like the difference of where it was when it started and where it's at now. It's the same thing with me and my Christ walk, right? It's so much different than when I started compared to where I am now. Am I still messed up? Yes. I'm just not quite as messed up as I once was, right? So, and I'm able to process things better. I don't know. I think the thing that Christ has changed in me the most is he's just given me the ability to forgive people.

10:57 I guess I've really, in my mind, I've taken it to heart that, you know, knowing what he's done for me, you know what I mean? Like, there's really not much anybody can do to me that I can't forgive. I know. So this is a question for you. Have you forgive yourself? Yeah. For me, it's hard to do for myself. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Both. Part. Getting there. Getting there. Getting there. So while we're talking about it, so how is everything going with, do you feel like you're getting better with your health -wise? My mental health stuff?

11:45 Yes. So with it, everybody can remember two months ago I was having a pretty bad struggle. It was right around the time when Jason was starting to decide to step away. And I was, I wouldn't say I was backslidden. I wasn't. But my behavior, my mental state, my anger, I honestly felt like I was going. way backwards. Like I was back where I was 15, 16 years old, where it was just very volatile and explosive and anything can happen to that person. Anything can happen. Right. You know? And so I remember just, I need help. I need help. You know what I mean? I don't know what to do. Yeah. I need help. And so, uh, flash forward two months later, uh, I have, I spoke to our pastor. The first time, and then I got to speak to a counselor. So it's probably actually been about three months. It took a minute to get in to the counselor. I see him every two weeks. I've been doing that for a couple months.

12:50 I do feel as though I'm in a much better place. Good. I'm in a much better place to process my emotions. I'm still, look, I'm still a person. Right? I'm still going to fail. Occasionally. But I'm so much more aware of it now, it seems like. It seems like I'm much more. So if someone came to you, you think you can help them with this? Some. Okay. If they want help. Yeah. But that's the hard part. They got to want it. That's the hard part to say, hey, counseling. Because most people, to ask for counseling, they're like, I don't need counseling. Yeah. But, you know, so. Well, listen. I've been a loner my whole life. I've done a pretty good job of saying I don't need anybody's help. Yeah, you do. I can see the difference in you. I think you have gotten – I see a difference in you. You've gotten better.

13:51 I'm not saying it's better, but I'm saying I can see a difference in you. Right. I'll give you a good example. Yesterday, right, for whatever reason, I don't know what was going on. I don't know why. But for whatever reason, I was getting very frustrated for nothing. I was just irritated. I could feel it. I could feel like I'm about to get pissed off, and nothing's happening. Nobody's doing anything to me. Nothing's happening. And just taking the step to say, I'm really irritable for some reason. Just doing that helped me to keep from staying there. You know what I'm saying?

14:33 That's good, though. I was able to move past it. quicker. And so the thing that the counselor is not giving me any magic bullets of health or healing, right? He's not giving me the answers. You know what I mean? You give your own answers. I truly believe and understand that now that you don't pay a counselor to give you the answers. You pay the counselor to ask you the questions that get the answers that you already have. That's all it is. That's awesome though. And they just know how to ask the questions. Right. And so, um, yeah, I feel like he, the things that I have learned have made me more cognizant or aware of what's going on with my biological brain and my emotional brain. Right. It's just like, they kind of, those two things fight with each other sometimes and it causes things to get loopy.

15:20 You know what I mean? And so I'm able to better process. Do I still get mad sometimes? And I lash out because I have, yeah, I do. Sometimes I do. I don't think that's ever going to go away completely. Good. I hope. goes the way to the point where I don't hurt anybody anymore. You know what I mean? Like, I don't hurt people. I don't like hurting your feelings. But that's normal. We both do it. People do do it, you know. Do do it. Do do do it. Yeah. But that's good. I'm glad you're doing it. I just wanted to touch on that, though. Well, I have brought up a couple. I'm sorry. It's still in the morning. I still get those, you know. You sound like a smoker right now. I do. And I don't smoke. It's terrible.

16:10 You know, I love leaving that stuff in. I love leaving that stuff into the podcast. I love doing that because I just want people to understand this is just regular ass people, man. We're not professionals at this. Insofar as doing it, I was about as professional as I can get without any training, without any, you know what I mean? Trust me, there's plenty of people that are far better at what we do than what I do. But at the end of the day, I just love to be relatable to people and make them understand that, yes, we're on the other side of the camera right now, but we're just regular people. We're just human. And we make mistakes, and sometimes you forget. I'm on a freaking microphone right now. Hey, I'm not tooting, so we're good. Oh, you don't want that right now. No. We're in a closed room together. Please do not do that. Goodness gracious.

17:03 All right, bodily functions. But yes, so I get to go to work tomorrow. She gets to go back to work. So excited. I'm super excited about this. I had to get on her at church yesterday, though. I know. She's not supposed to lift over 10 pounds. And one of her babies came up to her while we were at church on the front row during worship. I sat down. You were sitting down. Yeah. When you touched me, I was like, oh, I had to sit down because I knew she was going to come to me. And then I picked her up and I was like. I had my eyes closed. I didn't see you pick her up. And you went, you knew I picked her up because you were like, did you pick her up? I was like, you're not supposed to pick her up. I know. Well, yeah, because I opened my eyes and she's in your lap. She didn't crawl up there. Yeah, she did. You're a liar. No, she didn't. She didn't. That's going to be the hard part, right? I'm going to have to be like sit in on the floor with them and stuff like that. But I got new kid, new kid starting. Well, I have two new kids. Right. but one of my kids that doesn't want to start until I start. So I'm super excited about it. She's a little girl, and I'm excited. Another little girl. It's Hayden's youngest daughter, so I'm super excited. I had her older brother, so she has some counselings. speech therapists and stuff like that coming. So that's cool. I'm excited.

18:21 I'm so excited. She's excited too. She goes, I said, are you going to come see me on Tuesday? She's like, I'm so excited. That's cool. I'm excited. So we'll see. I've been back. Speaking of that, I've been back into regular serving at the church again. I took about two months. And how's that going? Are you going to do first or are you going to do the second service? I'll do either one. Okay. Really at random, but I'll do at least twice a month. Not every Sunday. Not every Sunday. Okay. I haven't stepped up to the altar. I almost did yesterday because, like, they filled up the altar yesterday. And basically what that is is at the end of service we like to do an altar ministry. And so it gives people an opportunity to come up and receive prayer if they want prayer or whatever. And people just line the stage. You can come up there and get prayer. And everybody had somebody, and then Brooke stepped up, and somebody stepped up to her. I was about to go up there, and somebody walked away. So I was like, well, there's an open body. If it kept getting full, I would have gone up there. I walked over to pray over two people yesterday and left. But I told Lori, I said, I will do it. I said, I don't mind doing it, but if you have enough, you know. But I walked over and talked to my little couple. little boy's mom and dad that are going through some stuff.

19:40 I went and prayed over him. He did not want to look at me, but I'm like, I'm not ready to look at you either, but I need you to look at me. So actually thinking about this brings up that point we were talking about yesterday when Pastor Richie was talking about prayer and about how, I don't know why we do that to ourselves. Why we judge ourselves. Some of these. It was so good yesterday. It was actually really very good yesterday. What about prayer? Can I see your notes? I don't know very well, but yeah. Right. So, yeah, why don't we judge ourselves on our prayer? Yeah. We feel like we're supposed to say something very specific, and we have to say these big words or whatever. Okay, like he said, God is judging. Okay, let's judge you. Yeah, like, he's got a scorecard. Scorecard, like, no. I give a C for delivery. Yeah. An A for passion, a B for. Yeah, he's not doing that. You know, like I said, like you say, we always pray for everybody that comes in that gym because 90 % of the time, you know, you don't want people to hurt themselves. You don't want someone to pull a muscle because one of my kids' dad hurt themselves, and he was almost septic, I think.

20:58 Oh, wow. I mean, so if you ever pee brown, that's not normal. That is not normal. If you don't already know that, you should know that. If you're peeing brown, you have a pulled muscle or something's in your kidneys. That is not good at all. So that's why I pray for everybody that goes in and out of the gym, you know, just because of that. But just praying is just go, just pray. And it's just a conversation. That's all it is. Yeah. I talk to God regularly. I don't know that. I think one of the things that he was talking about yesterday when he was breaking down by prayer and petition and everything and all things by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, he was talking about quiet or still. I think I struggle with that part of it, right? Like it's one of my favorites. Silence. Pray in the silence. No one ever prays for the good. We always pray for the bad. But he said pray for the good, pray in silence. That was another one. Right. And pray for the bad. He was talking about meditation is what it was. Yes. He was talking about it and how. He got a little bit passionate about how the world has stolen concepts, right? And that they've made it about, you know, the word

22:29 meditation to be something that it's not. Yes. And really the word is, it essentially, whenever he says by prayer and meditation, meditate on these things daily, it's to think about, to quiet yourself and to think on these things, right? And he gave eight things that were, These are good things to think of. These are the things you should be thinking of. Right? And I don't know, man. My first response to God is always thank you. Oh, absolutely. Always. Thanks for giving me another day. Thanks for letting me, like we talked about, the dreams. Thanks for letting me wake up today. You know? Because I dream, some of my dreams sometimes are crazy.

23:12 Your sleeping dreams. Yes. My sleeping dreams are sometimes. Crazy. Yeah. I am 54, and I'm telling you, I still have nightmares. I seriously still have nightmares. Like, if we watch some things that are crazy or just off -the -wall stuff, I can go in there and dream. Nightmares. I don't like that. I don't like getting up because it makes me anxious. You know what the crazy stuff for me is? Most of my nightmares are very plausible. They could literally happen. Plausible? Plausible. It means it's something that could literally happen. Not necessarily that it's going to, but it could. So my worst dreams, the dreams that scare me the most, are the ones where you leave me. Or, you know what I mean? Something like that. It's never bombastic, murderous stuff.

24:09 You know what I mean? It's not usually like that. It was like that when I was a kid. I used to dream of monsters. I have a very vivid dream that I still remember very clearly. I have one dream that I used to dream of all the time when I was a kid. Yeah. And it was the devil. Remember shooting ladders? Yep, yep, yep. The devil would just chase me up and down. Ladders. Ladders. And I would have to have, I don't know if you, I'd had to learn to control my dreams. My mom would be like, you're fine, stop it, stop it. Yeah, she gave you a remote. Anything. I had to do that for myself. I'd have to be like, oh, I need to find something. I would pick anything up, a toy or something, remote, okay, change the channel. Oh, nope, that's the wrong channel.

24:55 And for some reason, I'd go back to that, change, no, no, no, no, change the channel. And I would have to change the channel, and it was crazy. I just had to learn to control my dreams because that was just who I was when I was a kid. Do you think that's a concept of taking your thoughts captive? Yes. Yeah. And it's funny because I never thought of it like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Till me and you were talking like that. I'm like, oh, that makes sense. There is a, you've heard of Jacob's Ladder? Yes. Right? And there's a, it, I. I don't remember this very well, but there's a concept in Jacob's ladder that he sees a ladder and he sees angels ascending and descending upon it. The ladder is Jesus, right? So that's where, you know, but I think in a way that might be kind of what was going on in your dream. You know what I mean? It's hard to examine dreams.

25:54 I don't know enough about any of that symbolism. Mine was a werewolf. I know you don't like these movies. I don't even like bringing them up. Set the scene of the Jason movies. It's like being at camp. That's how that movie is. It's like kids at camp. But I'm by myself for some god -awful reason. And I have a vivid, vivid memory of... a full -bodied werewolf like coming at me and he's jumping at me like that arms out and like and then i wake up that's the last image is that face coming at me and now it is at this point i'm seeing a lot of on my on our face i know it's almost how it's not almost halloween but it's coming everybody's putting on there and i'm like please just don't send that stuff from my facebook i need you to i start monitoring her social medias When it gets close to time for Halloween. Because everybody thinks it's funny. I don't find it funny. I mean. I don't.

27:02 I'm like. It's a little bit. I'm getting a little better. But I'm like, who? Casey sent me a TikTok. Facebook. And guess who's wearing the mask? My grandson. And I'm like, Casey, I'm going to punch you in your face. Yeah. So, please don't share that stuff with me. Don't send it to her TikTok. Don't send it. Because you don't have to live with it. I do. And she's terrified. Please leave her alone. Please. I hate that. I really hate that. I almost fought a guy at work because of that, putting a mask on. I remember that. I do remember that. And he's like, I didn't know. I'm like, dude. Yeah. You know, I'm very defensive.

27:45 Trust me. People I care about, please stop. Christian did it. And he's like, I didn't know, Terry. I said, I'm telling you right now. Christian. I don't play. I do not play. I watch your kids. You want me to be mean to your kids? Because you already are. I said, no. I can be mean. And he's like, oh, oh. I was like, I ain't playing with you. It be like that, too. It is like that. She's 100%. She's not lying. Yeah. Oh, man. I don't know how we're here right now talking about nightmares. Well, we were talking about dreams and stuff. I think that understanding that goals and dreams are like, you know, God gives those to you too, right? I think that the reason that we start to be kind of discouraging of ourselves and of others about dreams is that we feel like dreams are selfish. Having a goal is selfish.

28:41 Wanting this thing to be something bigger than it actually is. is is coming from a selfish perspective yeah and fair enough i mean on some levels yeah there is some selfishness to it because yeah i want that for selfish reasons but my main priority and my main goal is for god yeah i don't know that that's i think that that's what the point is right uh what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul right this is for my soul this is for other people's soul yeah all at the same time and If something in this world, if it provides something for me while I'm here that I can help others and expand the ministry and get, you know what I mean? And get better, better equipment, better, you know, and make the product better for people to see, to enjoy, to get something out of, man, you have no idea how much I just, and I will never, not never. We don't ever. usually get to see the evidence of the work we do right you know you don't get to see like oh that kid at church right that Wyatt had did his testimony or whatever yeah like I worked with him in youth yeah and now he's grown he's married he works with kids in elementary school and talking he didn't mention anybody specifically by name but you knew any I don't even think he was talking about me specifically but I just know that I was a part of the story right and so Knowing that I was a part of the

30:12 story is encouraging, right? It feels good to be a part of a positive story. Like I helped that person. I'm not the cause. God is the cause. Right. But I helped steward that relationship, right? That's huge. That feels so good. You know what I mean? And like, I want to do that for as many people as I can. You know what I mean? Not for me. Yeah, for me in a selfish way. Yes, there's some of it is for me. Right. But it's about doing it for God. You know what I mean? And I don't think God's up there. Like I said, I don't think he's up there keeping score. He's not. You know what I mean? I don't think he's looking down on me and go, oh, John said help somebody. As my mom said, oh, you're running point. No, I don't believe in that. I don't believe in that either. You know, I haven't heard that concept in a long time. My mom used to say that stuff too. The brownie points and stuff like that. That's called condition, guys. We don't love with condition. God does not love with condition.

31:13 It's unconditional. He loves you simply because he does. Yes, absolutely. That's all it is. You know what I mean? If we can grab hold of that, truly grasp it, understand it, believe it. It's just like, you know, Kelly, you know, it's like. He cries all the time. It's just like Brittany was telling me the other day. He's taken so many showers in the last three days that he's taken in forever. I mean, he's never really gotten to take his own shower. Right. So just to kind of give everybody who doesn't know a context, it's just a gentleman that he really has nothing, hasn't had anything for a long time. He's been sleeping in his vehicle for. I don't know how long. I don't know how long, but yeah. Long enough.

32:03 Through people caring and loving, helped him finally to get his own apartment. We've donated some things. We've donated time and energy to try to help him. More Terry than me. I haven't really done anything. She's just taking my stuff. Which is fine. It's cool. It doesn't bother me at all. That's what you call the hands and feet and seeing the hands and feet and seeing the joy that it brings him for such a simple thing. It is a simple thing. Things that we take for granted. He hasn't. He's just, he didn't realize.

32:44 I mean, the first time I ever met this man, Brittany says, you're going to love him. And I didn't know. I was like, okay, you're right. Probably. I'm a good judge of character. I don't like you. I'm sorry. You're there. You're there. If you don't, I'm like, mm -mm -mm. And one day I went up there with Brittany to do something. She needed a ride or something. And he was there. And I don't know what it was. I went back to the church and I mowed. And I was mowing. And God kept saying, tell him, Terry, tell him. Tell him he's worthy enough. Tell him that there's something coming for him. Tell him to be patient. Be awake because something bigger is coming for him, and I did.

33:25 And he just looked at me like, I said, just be patient. God said something bigger is coming for you. Something's coming and going. Let people help you. Let people love on you. And he just looked at me like, really? Yeah. And you know what? He keeps telling me, he goes, thank you. He tells me all the time with tears in his face, thanks. Yeah. You did tell me. You told me to wait. You told me to be patient. You told me to be still. And he goes, I am. This is thanks. Thank you. I needed this. And I'm like, Kelly. And he tells me all the time. I'm praying. I'm praying for you. And I'm like, no, I'm praying for you. We always give each other a hard time.

34:10 He's a great man. He was addicted to drugs. Got off of that. You know, he was telling me the other day, I'm going to get a warehouse job. He's on disability. And I said, if you get a job, you're not going to be able to get disability. Oh, I can't do that. I said, don't ruin that, you know. And he's like, okay. He can do something part -time probably. There's levels. You can make a certain level before they'll take away your disability. So he's such a good man. He really honestly has a good heart. And, you know, when people just use you for that, you know. Yeah. And he's awesome. I love him. So local community -wise, there's a couple of places that we have some direct contact with and help with a little bit. And it's places that, one is the park, which is a panhandle adult resource center.

35:06 And it's there for people that are homeless and things like that to try to help them, give them a place to be, a place to, you know. And give them resources, you know what I mean, to try to do something better. They're awesome people. They're very good people. I don't know the lady. I don't remember her name. She's very awesome. She helps. She helps the community. They go there to paint, read. They read the Bible and stuff like that. They're very good to the community. The other one that we have direct contact with is The Place, which is a refugee center. And they are fixing to up. They're friends of ours that we go to church with. I play guitar, or I haven't in quite some time now, but I play guitar with her husband, just a hobbyist kind of thing. And her, her husband, and son are going to Jordan for three months to help establish two centers there. Just really praying for doors to be open for them and things like that. But those are things that we would like to be more involved with, but we don't have the resources to put much into it. We put some into it, but we don't have enough resources. That's what things like this can do, right? It can help us help them, right? Because they're always looking for stuff like food, clothing, anything like that that we can just donate to them. that we can just give out to them. So that's what the whole point is, right? It's a matter of helping each other, right? And, yeah, my dream is to do something.

36:41 My dream, honestly, right now, my dream is this thing to be, to generate enough revenue where I don't have to have it at my house, where I have an office. with a studio that i can use the studio for more than just my podcast i can use it for other things for other people who want to do similar similar things um you know that's that's my dream to make it a legitimate business right with my purpose being to serve others for christ yeah right and why not shoot i've learned a ton yeah and i'm getting better all the time And trying to do more, do more, change things, make things a little bit better.

37:25 You know what I mean? We use phones for cameras. That's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. You know what I mean? But there's better. You know what I mean? The room is awesome, but it could be better. You know what I mean? Like, why would you not want to chase better? Like we said last week, I was getting irritated because your microphone. And you were like, I know you expect perfection. I was like, no, it's not perfection. But if we can do it better, why not do it better? Right? That's the whole point. So I've been really hung up on that idea since I saw that video. The chances of my dreams coming true may be slim. But you know what? But there's a chance. So you're saying there's a chance. You're saying there's a chance. So I'm going to keep on chasing it.

38:11 And you should. Because if you're not chasing something, what are you chasing? Yeah. I mean, you've got to be chasing something. Why not? Why not me? Why not you? Why not you? Yep, 100%. That's exactly where that whole thought came from. Yeah. That's why I brought it up. Not because of the negative part of it, because we like to ask God, why me, why me, when something bad's happening. Yeah. And that was his response to Job. But it's also the other way around. Why should my dreams come true? Why not? Why not? At least I can work towards it. Exactly. I love that way he said that. I can't work towards dying in my sleep. But I can work towards accomplishing my dream. Exactly. But that's such a good point, though. It's a great point. It's a great point.

39:02 I was thinking about Pastor. Pastor Richie's message really on joy. Such a struggle, too, like for me. How do you know to have joy? He gave lots of points. I mean, what, Philippians 4 -4? 4 -4 through 8, right? 4 -4 through 9. Yeah, it was 6, it was 4, 6, 8, and 9. I love these two because... It's the idea, too, remembering that Paul is writing these things from prison. What would you want to be doing in prison? I wouldn't be writing in prison. Would you? What are you thinking in prison? I wouldn't be real happy. No, I wouldn't be either. But he was always such a joyful person. So I'll read the Scripture to you, and we can kind of talk through it again.

39:57 So he says, Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. I remember him talking about that too, like how we kind of gloss over that part of it. We go into the next part, but let your gentleness be evident to all, right? We're not really a gentle society. We don't want to be gentle at all. He even mentioned like how we just kind of want to have this macho behavior. We want to present ourselves as something that's dangerous, right? That you can't, that you don't want to mess with. But the reality is, is we're yet as a man, you should be capable. Right. To protect yourself, to protect your family. But you should know that you don't have to. Right. Right. Or that you don't. It's good to know that you're capable, but know that you don't need to. Right.

40:47 And like be able to be gentle and loving. Now, if someone makes you, puts you in a position where you have no other choice, you better be able to, you know, be not so gentle. Let your attention on this be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanks, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, Think about such things. It says meditate on these things in a different translation. Whatever you learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice and the God of peace will be with you. The idea there, those things in verse 8, true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy. Those are the things that we should be meditating on.

41:57 These are the things that should be in our mind. All the time. at all times, as much as possible. You know what I mean? It's hard. I mean, to me, those type things that, you know, you don't think about those things every time. I have to write, like, on our mirror, I'm enough. I'm enough. Those things I need to write down, you know, to meditate on those things. You know what I'm saying? You have to just, you know. Some people, like he said, our mind is critical. Our mind is dangerous. And if we don't meditate and clear our mind and put these things in our mind, then they just drop out. I saw somebody, I don't know who quoted it. Somebody said something to the effect of, as soon as I open my eyes, I go to God because I want him to be in my mind. To fill my mind with him before the world does fills me. Because that's what's going to happen. I'm not a morning person, so I don't operate real well in the morning. The fact that we go to the gym in the morning is crazy. My mind is not really functional in the morning. It takes a while for my brain to get moving. But really to try to

43:28 be more intentional with that timeframe, right? Like as soon as I wake up, being able to go, okay, God, fill me with you. Fill me with your love. What is the first thing that people do when they get up? Grab their phone? What are they doing? What happened on Facebook last night? Yeah. Or whatever. Whatever. What is the first thing on Snapchat? Yeah. The first thing. Thirst traps. Yeah. Do you see what I'm saying? I mean, what is this? Ooh, what is it? What is the gossip today? Yeah. And you already start with that. You already feel in your mind full of crap. Yeah. Yeah. Open your Bible first. What is the first of the day? What is the first of the day? That's when I get to church. That's when I get to the gym. And one person has told me, you need, you're sending that way too early in the morning. Okay.

44:19 I want someone. Ding. Ding. I want someone to get my first of the day. First. I want to be the first thing they see early in the morning. Yeah. I'm sorry it's early. Yeah. I want them to see that first instead of everything else. I'm sorry. Is that wrong of me? Maybe. I don't care what you think because you're not going to be. I want it to be my glory. You know, if you don't, if you don't get, if I don't get thumbs up or whatever, I still want it to be someone's. I don't ever respond to those. And it's fine. I don't respond sometimes. Sometimes I just wanted to impact someone. I wanted to give someone something, you know? Yeah. Don't care. Yeah. You know? Well, giving people an, uh, uh, what do you call it?

45:10 An outlet to start with. You know, to start with some positivity, to start with some of God's word. I mean, I don't know that there's a better thing that you can do. I mean, based on what we're talking about right now, like I got to protecting your mind, protecting our minds from the world is kind of the gig, right? Darn it. Stupid thing. Sorry. You're good. protecting our hearts, protecting our minds. It says guard your heart. You know what I mean? It's protect your mind. Why do you have a helmet? To protect your head, to protect your mind, right? And I find it interesting that the helmet is salvation, right? Your mind is protected by your salvation, by the knowledge of your being saved, right?

46:04 And so when the enemy attacks you with the BS of life, with all your failures, because that's exactly what he's going to do. I am saved. Yeah. I am saved. I am saved. You know what I mean? I repeat it. Mark it down. Write it on your forehead. I don't know what you got to do. God's word says to scratch it into the bedpost. You know what I mean? So that you'll never depart from it. We need his word. Last week's group of... The clips that I use, I make peeks into the upcoming episode that come out all week on TikTok and YouTube. And we share those things on Facebook and Instagram and all that kind of stuff. And the biggest video we've ever had so far was last week. And it was our discussion on what the Bible really is. Oh, really? And it had like 35 ,000 views. A whole bunch of likes, a bunch of comments, a lot of not good comments. And I find it real interesting that that's the controversy is about that word. And people instantly go to the hardest parts, the most difficult to understand, the most, what do you want to say? angry sounding.

47:41 They instantly go to the Bible condones slavery, this and that of women. It's like, you got to know when the Bible's actually saying this is what you should do. You should have slaves. It never says that. It doesn't condone the behavior. It's a reality. And so they talk about things in context for people to understand. Were there slaves? Yes. And insofar as if you are a slave, obey your master. Okay, so you take the Bible out of it and you go to Westerns. Or you go in, you know, to everything else. Yeah. We fought over slavery. Yeah. You just don't put the Bible in that. Yeah. But you put the Bible in that.

48:30 Oh, my God. Oh, yeah. It's biblical. My thing is, is the more... I mean, you throw the Bible in there, then it's like, oh my gosh. We don't talk about nothing else. The thing about it to me, strictly about the Bible, is... Look, I won't sit here and pretend that there aren't things that are hard to understand. Right. And that there aren't things that are like, man, I don't know. You know, there's some crazy things that happened in the Old Testament. There's a lot of crazy things that happened in the name of God. There are a lot of crazy things that are not recorded in the Bible that happened in the name of God by Christian people. Trust me. I know that. Those are not people that were, I mean, in my mind, those are not people that were truly in relationship with him. Right. That's just my opinion. I could be wrong. I'm very wrong.

49:22 Look at David, man. David did a lot of messed up things. Just like what you said when we first stood on stage. Stand on the word. Stand on the word. Stand on the word. If you stand on the word, then that's who you are. Right. If you slide into our videos and leave comments hating. Hey, you know what? I've responded a couple times. Can I tell you something? I'm going to be ugly. You're commenting. You're listening. You're getting something out of it. You know what? It's okay. You're getting something out of it. That's a fair point. That's a fair point. You commented a hateful comment, but you listened to the whole thing. You sure did. Hey, thanks for listening.

50:03 We appreciate your view. It's true. It's very true. It's a good way to look at it, too. Hey, I got a view. I got a view and a comment. That's right. You know the little thing on TikTok, the little flag, when you flag it, it goes to your, like it's a saved video or whatever. That's the biggest one we've ever had. Hey. There was a bunch of people that saved it. That's okay. I'm good with that. Cool. I need to, I will say this too. I was proud. There were a lot more people that are of the same opinion as us that commented on that too, like in positive ways, which. I'm glad for that. It's good. We have some people on our side. It's all that matters. I think that the biggest point of this is to understand, if you walk into any Christian person or person that says they're a Christian, expecting them to be perfect, you're going to get let down real fast. So if you examine what we do and are like, You know, you hear me cuss in a video or you see me take a drink out of my glass or whatever.

51:17 Your opinion is fine. You can do whatever you want with your opinion. But the reality is I don't rely on John. I rely on Jesus. That's it. You know what I'm saying? I don't rely on me to uphold God's law. I truly trust Jesus to do that. It says that God is faithful and just. to forgive right he already paid the price and he is allowing christ to pay it does that make sense for us yeah so i'm gonna let him do it too yeah i'm gonna let him pay it because that's what he did it for he didn't do it so i could go out and do outlandish things and hurt people and all that kind of stuff or hurt myself but he did it to protect me from the ways that i can't stop myself absolutely You know what I mean? In the way it's the broken pieces of me that need to be put back together. That's what he did it for. I believe that with all of my heart. Absolutely. So I don't care what you think.

52:21 I don't care. You can tell me to stop all you want. I'm not going to. Respectfully move around. Listen to us. It's okay. I don't want you to listen to us. That's cool. I want you to. You can comment what you want. I don't care. Don't hurt me. I'll read it, but you're not going to get a response from me. Yeah. I have commented a few times back. Usually, I'm never combative. I'm always just like, well. Well, you never are. You never are. And that's good because you're not the person you used to be. And we all are never. I mean, dude, if I was that, you would have caught me 10 years ago? Yeah. I wouldn't be doing this 10 years ago. Don't catch me in public. That's all I got to say 10 years ago. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. That's funny.

53:03 But yes. Well. I think we can land this plane. Oh, right. Leslie gave me a joke yesterday. Our niece Leslie gave us a joke. She gave me a joke yesterday. They're the ones off those little Laffy Taffy jokes. Yes. So, yes, I'm going to give her the joke she gave me yesterday. Why don't trees use the train? Why don't trees use the train? I thought you were going to give me the answer first. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Sorry. Sorry. It's okay. Go ahead. They can never. They can never. It's crinkled up. They can never decide on the route. That was cute. That's pretty tough.

53:59 Yeah. All right. Too deep. I'll go with one that's a little bit. I got two. One's lighthearted. Okay. Serious, but kind of funny ones. Just sweet. Which one do you want? Not the sweet one. Okay. Benjamin Franklin. We are all born ignorant. But one must work hard to remain stupid. Oh, my favorite word, stupid. It takes effort to stay there. Oh, yeah. We got a lot of stupid people in this world. Heck, yeah. And you know what? At times in my life, I am one of those people. Me too. Me too. I don't judge people for their behavior. I don't judge people for...

54:57 uh their their hateful ideals or their hate towards me christ's word god's word actually says that that's going to happen be ready for it you might as well just accept that you just can't help stupid sometimes you just can't fix it man no there's no pill for it and we got some of those stupid people but keep listening come on come on i mean like you said that's another person watching it regardless you can listen and let me let me revert real fast and divert Because I think that's an important thing, what you just stated a couple of minutes ago about that. That's exactly who we're trying to reach. Absolutely. That's exactly who I want to listen. That's exactly who I want to join the conversation. I don't want to fight with you and argue with you. I'm going to tell you I love you. It's okay. We don't have to agree. I agree. We don't have to. You can keep listening. Like I told you. Like I told you. One of my words or one of my messages or what. Something that I say is going to catch your attention. And you know what? It's okay.

55:55 If you don't like all of it, if this one sentence gets you, I'm okay with that. Yep. I think that's exactly where our head space needs to be whenever we see things like that. And, you know, you can't insult my intelligence just because you find this part of it stupid. Absolutely. I choose Christ. I choose relationship with Christ. Yep. For good reason. And I've been through a lot of things in life, guys. So have I. I found him and I found God in the right moment and the right time in my life. And I found those right things in the right time in my life. They all actually, it's just like a wheel. It's a cog in a wheel.

56:41 It fits right in. It fits right in at the right time and the right moment. So you know what? God is good. All the time. And all the time. God is good. Amen. You guys, come along. Keep joining us. Check out the full podcast. I love the clips and stuff. They do give you quick bullets, and there's usually something good coming out of all those, but there's a lot more conversation than just those little. I share roughly three to six minutes worth of the show on our socials and TikTok throughout the week, and that's. Check us out. That's only 1%. We stream everywhere. That's like 10 % of the episode, guys. Come on. Listen to the whole thing. Listen to the whole thing. We need it. We need it. We need some more stupid people. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

57:31 I'm just kidding. I think what she's trying to say is we're all stupid. Yes, we are. Anyway, we love you. Thank you for coming. Thank you for being here. If you like it, share it. Check us out. We'll see you later.