Who Holds Your Arms Up!

0:00 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple braided cord is not easily broken. Hello everyone, welcome to our small group bumper sticker wisdom, I am John I'm Terry so nice to have you. I will say a quick prayer and then we will get started Heavenly father we as always thank you for this opportunity for this time for the means and the The motive to do it, Father God, we just want to uplift anybody who's listening right now, Father God, and anybody who's not listening, that they be guided to a place where they can come into relationship with you, Father God, because we stand firm and confident knowing that relationship with you is the only way, Father God. We love you, we

1:32 thank you for your purpose, and it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. How you doing? Good, you? I was pretty good up until about three minutes before we started. She's mean to me, y 'all. I quit. No, you don't. I will never quit. I am far too stubborn for all of that. You are. And I like to call it stubborn willed. Stubborn willed. I was trying to not put such a negative connotation. Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. I don't give up easy. I would say that. No, you do not. I've had my ass kicked many many times in life and Still you are still here cat cat Williams said you know All the all the things in your life that you didn't think you were gonna get through and here you are today All those things if you think back you look at them and you examine it and think about all the things Those are the things that make you just like every superhero that you know Every hero in your life every every person that you or a character that you look at as a hero You're just like them in that way because they've all overcome Is your favorite superhero Oh good question, uh Man, I have that's tough If I were being straight honest, I love a lot of different superheroes. I love Wolverine

3:05 Hulk spider -man I love all those but my very first hero was Superman When I was a kid, I loved Superman He was a man. It's funny cuz like cars. They care to be good because Superman have powers He has all the powers man. Yes. He's got lasers. He has strong he's fast and he was like Okay, I want to be Superman So there are there are entities in the comic book universe not in the real world obviously there are Characters and entities that are more powerful than Superman, but only but only a few they're not many and this this is coming from people who are true, true comic book nerds, like they know all the stories. They know it all. Scott McFarland, I think Scott McFarland. Yeah, Scott McFarland was an animator. Todd McFarland, not Scott McFarland, Todd McFarland. He is the creator of Deadpool.

4:07 He's also was an animator for for Stan Lee as Spider -Man. He he. I know, but one of the most I can't. iconic come on dude freaking nature uh iconic covers to a comic book was and uh drawn drawn by todd mcfarland uh it aiden actually has the t -shirt it's the one where there's all the spider webs on and spiders and stuff it's one of the most iconic comic book covers in history a great animator but anyway at the end of the day that's the kind of people i'm talking about that would know like comic book character versus comic book character yeah we love big bang theory right so like we we love we listen to them debate and like the people really live like you know girls go oh what they walk into the comic store and they're like oh yeah do they like about comment Books and they're like this and they're like, oh no, no, no, don't wait. Yeah, it makes you laugh They turned into them by the end of the episode, right and uh Yeah, I think it's a fun thing to do. Um At the end of the conversation none of those compared to what a true god is right and our true god can overtake any one of them absolutely, so I Think it's fun to talk about. You know what I mean? And it's I like

5:38 working with kids and as a matter of fact This Sunday was the first time I've been in there. I've been in it with elementary kids in at least a month. And I think it went well. I thought it went well. Good. Did my angel help you? Which one? My little pocket angel. I think I was going to be good without it. I know you were, but I wanted you to have some more, you know, I prayed over it before I handed it to you. Maybe. I don't know. Ask Lacey Huddleston how it went. OK, I will text her and ask her. So, I don't know, I got, I talked about, it was easy to relate, easily relatable for me to relate to kids because it was about Jesus when he was 12 and he got left in the temple and his parents left him behind.

6:25 Oh, yes. Right? And one of the things I said, which kind of got their interest was, okay, so we all know who Jesus is, right? We all know he lives a perfect life, blah, blah, blah, blah. Do you think his parents were ever upset with him? And they're all like No, it's perfect. No. Yes, they were upset with him They were very upset in that moment, right? Because, and look, it's not described biblically, but I'm a parent, you're a parent. I told the story to these kids about when my oldest disappeared in a store while we were on the road, like we weren't at home, and he disappeared. Do you remember the clothes racks? Yes, I remember those clothes racks. He disappeared into the clothes rack, and we had no clue, and there was this really, this is so not right, and it was so judgmental of me. There's a very weird couple There and they felt like they took an interest right and like next thing I know he's gone and then their vehicle is gone.

7:23 They were in a camper, right? So I'm like, oh we're on I -40 like yeah, I felt like gone. He's gone. He's gone You know, I mean and then I hear a little I Recognize that oh, dude I didn't I was so angry. I didn't touch him. He, he is probably one of the most emotional things ever happened. I'm looking at him in the rear view mirror and he's just got one tear coming down his eyes. Like when I pulled up, he was in that clothes rack. I go, and he's just like, I was like, I'm going to murder this child. Think about that though and then think on top of the fact that it wasn't just a few this was ten minutes You know what I mean? Jesus had been missing for three days you know what I mean, and That was one part of it right so clearly his parents were unhappy his mom specifically was unhappy She's the only one that's quoted and then I said you know It's obvious that Jesus knew who he was at this point because he said didn't you know I would be in my father's house so Clearly at 12, Jesus knows who he is. And then I compared that to them. I was like, look, don't you ever feel like maybe you're underestimated because you're a kid? Maybe do you ever feel like you underestimate yourself because you're like, well, I'm just a kid, right? And that's how I contrasted

8:55 those two things for them and talked about how the Pharisee or the religious leaders were like amazed by him like Who is this kid? How does he know so much? Why is he so wise, right? You know what I mean? And I was like Hey, man, you don't get to you don't get to allow yourself to underestimate yourself Because you are still made in the image of God at your age now Right. He put something in you in you that you have access to right now Yeah, if you let him exactly So that was what it was good and it felt good. That's good. I'll be honest. It felt good It made me feel good because you know, of course, you know me we talked about this last week about me leaving the altar and writing over people I prayed over Otis and stuff like that. And then of course I prayed over my brother and my sister -in -law and People were sat next to us which a lady and her three kids sat next to Kevin in them And they saw me pray over Otis which sat in front of us and that prayed over my brother We sat next to them And which course I was on the end, you know, and she's like, I saw you playing over everybody knows No me I leave I leave the altar and she's like what he wants to be baptized You know what? She's been teaching this kid I said you're doing what you're supposed to be doing as a parent goes well I don't know if I'm teaching the right way what she said to him. I said you're doing what you're supposed to be done. He already knows What he wants to be he wants to be baptized This kid wants to

10:25 be about us. I said, listen, I was going to say, of course you always second guess yourself, right? So you brought them to me, which thank you for even thinking about doing that. But now I look back at what I told him, what I said to him and I'm like, man, did I say the right thing? Did I do the right thing? I actually feel like I missed an opportunity though, because I did. He wanted to know what do I do? And I didn't give him an answer, really. I was like, well, I just kind of gave him some direction, but I didn't give him an answer. First of all, I didn't ask the right question. I didn't ask him, have you given your life to Christ? Like, have you made that decision that you want Christ to be the Lord of your life? I didn't ask him that question. He did say that, because I asked him, I said, do you know what this means? He goes, yes. I said, what does it mean to you? I'm giving my crisis that you know, you're making yourself new he goes. Yes I said, you know, you're leaving that old self behind right and you're making yourself musical kid So I want to see him again.

11:23 I don't coming next Sunday and I said hey come find me I'm over I said me and my husband we're kind the new new booth he's in kids I said you'll see us again I said if you have any more questions you your dad your parents dude pray about it read about it you know here you are you are no you know this step is your next step right you know this is making new and you're you're you're stepping out of your old life and into a new life and he goes yes and I did pray with him there at the altar yeah I should have prayed with him too honestly what I should have done was separate him from the herd Yeah, right y 'all were all huddled over and I should have said hey Why don't you come over here and let me talk to you for a second? Yeah without y 'all.

12:06 Yeah without mom He was like, okay now I'm on the spot. Yeah, that's what I should have but see in the moment I wasn't thinking I was just like trying to react and react in the right way and I don't think I did anything wrong Well, we gave him a Bible and you told me to read Matthew Mark Luke John I told him to start with Jesus start with Jesus go there Start there. It'll help you. Do you have a Bible? Yeah, he has a kids bubble dude. He could answer himself You know do this Bible was it that's a hard thing for parents, right? This is a kids Bible, but it's a little bit more of a more of a journey. You can still go scripture for scripture. You can still go 32 I would rather read a kids Bible because for sure it's more Cut and dry, right?

12:50 It's real narrow and it shows you the point. You don't see the end day and I mean, that's that's for the King James version. I can't read the King. I can now. I will say this for me, like having read the NLT version and like read it so many times. I haven't read the whole thing, but maybe twice, maybe twice. I read the whole thing, but I've read several books many times. Yeah. And I can now. going back, I can read the KJV, the King James Version, and it makes better sense to me today. But a young mind now cannot comprehend that. It's too much. And even an adult mind who hasn't been in it, look, it's not. It's not it's not gonna happen man. It's hard to comprehend It's hard to understand you can go even further back my dad has a couple of the older versions like the geneva bible and the the um, not he doesn't have the ethiopian but The puritan bible that's supposedly what was brought over On the nina the pinta and the santa maria to the united or to the americas or whatever It's so freaking hard to understand like we don't talk like that We went to a thrift store one time and it was a bunch of whole bunch of these books over here And it was like you picked up this one book and it was like picked up It wasn't it was a dictionary of Was it was it are you talking about the that

14:24 Haley's handbook? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I thought that was cool. It was free It's free, nobody's gonna buy it. I like it, because it's a reference. It's basically a reference. It's helpful in helping to break down small blocks of scripture to give you kind of a base understanding of what's going on, right? So I think the thing that stands out to me the most is one thing that I said to him, which is kind of along the lines of what I felt like we were gonna talk about today, is I was like, man, you need to surround yourself with people. who are going to support and teach you. And that you can also support and teach. I love that he said my uncle. He did.

15:06 He said I have some great uncles, though. I don't know if that meant he has great uncles or great, great uncles. That was good, though, that he has, you know, as he has some people surround him that are going to teach him and I guess they are don't didn't live here and they just moved here a year. And that was awesome. I love that. You know, that was great. I loved, I love to see young people, young people, this new generation that want to come here. What I like, cause I treat all kids the same. Every kid I see is exactly the same to me. The ones who connect with me, obviously I'll treat them a little bit different because they're more comfortable with me. But like the dudes that were behind the little kids that were with them, they were like just standing kind of in the back. Hey, what's up, dude. You know, give me a shake my hand or give me a I don't make them shake my hands I know it's weird nowadays for people to shake hands. So at least at least just Tap me up man. You're good. Give me a little back Give me a fist bump something, you know, but I always make sure I acknowledge them as well that I think that's very important not just with kids but with people people wanna be seen They want to feel like they're known.

16:18 It's like, you know when you go talk to you like, you know women talk to men You acknowledge The women that are with them. You don't just talk just to them in hi. Is this your wife? Hi, I'm Terry Nice to meet you. Do that. Don't do not disclude anybody that are with them or surround them. I would never Okay, let's just say Because I work with women that I don't know their husbands, right? Right and If I see them in public, I'm gonna be like, hey, how are you? But I'm instantly gonna be like, hey, I'm John, you know what I mean? To the husband, if they're with their significant other or whatever. Because that's a matter of treating it with respect, you know what I mean?

17:06 This is not some kind of weird thing. I'm not trying to do anything. I'm just acknowledging your presence because we know who each other is and it would be very rude of me to just wander on by like. You know what I mean? That's not nice. Come on. You're supposed to acknowledge each other's presence. And so I feel like feeling Seen is important right and I think that's why some people really really shy away from bigger church communities Right. I know I do Yeah, right, but too small is too small Right, right. So it I don't know that there's no such thing as too small I guess in a grand scheme of things as long as somebody's being helped that's good, but right And that's foundational, right? You're building on something and you're hoping to grow it to be bigger. So no disrespect, but I like the dynamic our church has. I know their goal and their aspirations are to be much bigger, and I get that. I understand why. But I today can walk up to our pastor and just talk to him, and he knows me. He knows who I am. Well, it's funny because we had a Sisterhood one time and it's funny because some people came from another church not gonna make comment on churches But some people came from another church to our church and they're like, oh Your pastor actually comes off and talks to y 'all and says hi. How are y 'all and she interacts with y 'all she was

18:36 Ours does not do that or doesn't ours doesn't come off and says how y 'all or doesn't greet us. Does it nothing? Yeah, you know and which is nice because Pastor Payne does try to do that to a lot. She tries to greet and hi. How are you? She's really good about that. I love that She's really just very friendly to everybody, you know, cuz one time It's funny. She came to me. She was hey, do you know so and so I'm like, oh, I'm not very good with names She said well, they said that you invited them So they invited this and they said, you know you and I was like show me she's like Which was so funny, which was her cousin. Oh, well, which was one of her cousins, which was payment and Lori's cousin that we invited that went to their gym. Oh, wow.

19:30 You know, and I was like, oh, yeah, we invited them, you know, because it was Laura's friend. OK. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So they went to their gym and came to our church and she was and that's her cousin. Yeah. She was reading those your church. And now they go to our church. So it was funny, you know. Small world, you know, the world is so small. It's crazy. I said yes, and it's funny cuz Pam was like yes She works here. She's staff and I said we're not staff for family and Pam goes Touche you're right Terry. We're family Absolutely. She says this is our y 'all y 'all and I was like you're right. This is y 'all It's like the opening scripture right the Ecclesiastes scripture. It's great for weddings people use it mostly for weddings, but it's if you really Just take away the pressure of that kind of a relationship and think about just relationships, right? Look We cannot look we just come off of an episode where we spent talking about it turns out fighting is a full -time job And we're talking about the spiritual fight the fight the fight and look not just that fight Sometimes going to work every day is a fight. It's a struggle every different avenue in your life that's good for you sometimes gets to be a struggle. Going to the gym every morning is a struggle. It's a fight. And there are so many times when it's like, I would just rather not. I would rather not too. But the outcome is so much better if

21:00 I do. It is so much better. So the way that that scripture lines out, it's like, look, one person on their own, they're going to have a hard time. At least two back to back can fight off a coming attack, a coming wave. But three is better. And then you expand on that. Four is even better than that. Five is even better than that. Six is even better than that. Your strength gets bigger and better as you go. I don't think, based on what I understand, that we are meant to just fight this alone. And this is where the whole church thing is important. This is why God had Change of heart for me or helped me have a change of heart. You helped God deliver a message to me to change my heart You can't do you can I Mean look God's gonna let you do whatever right right you can do it alone you can It's cuz you won't win. Did you do your mind being your mind by yourself? Being alone is never good for you.

22:05 You're going to have to have Someone to be able to pull you out of that and be able to help you out of that loneliness and that darkness and You're gonna have to have someone pull you out. You can't do by yourself You're gonna have to help someone help you this world. It's gonna have to be two hands This world will truly grind you into dust. Absolutely I'm 46 years old Yes 46 Yes, 2026 46 I'm 46 years old. I spent the first 40 35 of it 38 of it 30 somewhere in there doing it by myself thinking I can do it by myself and begrudgingly I Started attending church and my mind has been changed, right? It's only over the last Five ish six ish years that I've truly started to understand the power of community, right? Right. It's it's the reason Look, if you want to look at my history if you want to know me personally and understand my history You'll understand why I'm very standoffish with relationships friendships and and things like that like You understand you will understand why I am so finicky about forging relationships. However, over the

23:41 last six years, five or six years, I have been more willing to step out and be involved in relationships and create and forge relationships. That's how this podcast even started truly growing my relationship with Brittany and Eric, growing my relationship with Jason and Kevin. And you know what I'm saying? Like that's how this even exists, is because God has given me a change of heart through going to and committing to a church. And you want to know the best thing about our church? I mean, it's not an advertisement for that. They're not listening either, but it's not an advertisement for our church. But I just love how real they are. They're just people. They speak to me from the pulpit Like we're just having a conversation.

24:39 Yeah You know what I'm saying and they say real shit to me. I Like I love my church. I just I love Christians messages Sunday was I Loved it and it's in here's a message was great keeping receipts quit keeping receipts So good unless we're talking about taxes Was funny don't keep your receipt it was funny because some of the stuff he commented I was just like and It was like being rooted Being rude where you are. Just keep being rooted in just you know Grabbing on the stuff you needed to that reminds me because people like to bounce around in churches They're like, ah, I don't like this about that church.

25:27 You're never going to be satisfied. Just so you know, you're never going to be fully satisfied with the church itself. Ever. Ever. You know why? People are involved. Yes. Yes. And it was funny because he talked about faith. Walking, walking with you in like your next step in those steps. And then you're going to have to do your faith with The steps you're gonna have to go through the storms Your faith has to be bigger even through the storm look Your boat don't get bigger without being built exactly right you got to add to it and you got to be We've talked about this before Jason and I have talked about forging relationships and like what happens in a forge it's heat and beat Life and character are the same thing It's a you have to go through the heat and the pressure. Yeah to grow into something different You know what I'm saying?

26:30 You don't change by having no challenge, right? Yeah It's not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen. You won't change because you haven't been challenged Yeah, you have to go through the storms. You have to go through the challenging things in life It's what makes you better. James says it, Roman says it. Like, hey, we can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials because they help us develop endurance. They help us grow. They help us get better. And we're reminded that our hope is not in us. It's in him. Thank God. The challenge is the challenge, but it doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme. The challenge makes us better so we can help others come to him. Because he is all that matters. Absolutely.

27:19 Right? That's the whole point of everything that we're trying to do, right? And so, yeah, my definition has changed. My approach to things has changed. I'm still finicky. I'm still slow, slow, slow. I'm like the Grinch in that way. Too much, too fast. Too much, too fast. Too much, too fast. He's like, oh my, I love ya. He's all licking his face. Get off of me. Too much too fast. Too much too fast. One step at a time. One step at a time. That's how I feel sometimes. It's like, okay, you're pushing me too far. That's enough. And it's okay to set boundaries, right? I want to make sure it's safe for people to set boundaries because you should. You should be able to say, okay, I'm not okay with that. Maybe I will be eventually, but I'm not today. So don't push on that guardrail. You know what I mean? Just leave me alone in that respect. And you know me well enough like you didn't I give you tons of credit for me being In church and being involved because of you allowing me to have the space right? I really do because It's probably one of the best ways you ever communicated with me is like hey this is I need this I want this I'm gonna do I need the fellowship I need the fellowship right right and and that was What I'm gonna say no I don't allow that. I can't call myself a cross follower and say that. I'm out. But you

28:50 know what I'm saying. I can't do that, right? So in the big picture, you know me. If you push me, I will do exactly the opposite of what you want. You want me to go to church, leave me alone. I never pushed you. You never once did. Did not. You never even asked. Nope. Casey asked you hey, we're doing baby dedication. Yeah, I would like for you to go and I said And he you went hmm Yeah, and it took that was the first time I went and it took a couple more weeks Before I finally took the step We said all that to kind of preface not preface but to to talk about you know again, we've been talking about fighting the good fight, right and how that fight really is a full -time gig. It's not something that you don't get to shy away from it because you're tired. But sometimes we get weary, we get worn. And I found out, not I didn't find out, but I haven't, I related this to a story that I had heard before, but I didn't see it in the way that I see it now. in in exodus with moses right and you know it's funny because i've never heard of this story you've never heard this story really i haven't yeah i've never heard this story when you said i was like i'm gonna have to like really so i feel like i would say

30:23 that i have not read the book of exodus in a very long time i should probably go back and read the entire book uh but i remembered this specific story i remembered it I don't know why I remembered it, but, so, when we get in this battle, we've said, you can't do this by yourself. You need to, at least. Three's better, four's better, five's better than that, six's better than that, seven's better than that. And look, God being at the center of everything. But in Exodus chapter 17, i don't remember the entire context of what's happening i know that the the israel so one thing i know for a fact about moses is he did not reach the promised land okay whenever they left egypt and they crossed the red sea right when they crossed the red sea they were on their way to what is the promised land yeah but they through bitterness and all that kind of stuff they And pissing off God they wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years Yeah, and Moses never actually entered into the promised land But he was with them for a very long time and they battled and they fought and they kept expanding and trying to figure out how to get to the promised land and at one point The Israel Israelite people come into contact with a fight

31:55 the Amalekites I Don't even know who that would be And so Moses had compatriots, he had Aaron was kind of like his right hand, and there was another person, there was a female that was actually, I don't remember her name, I always forget her name, shame on me. Shame on you. I know, dude. Woman. I'm just kidding. Shout out to the women in the world, they are far more intelligent than men and far more emotionally intelligent than men. So anyway though, the thing is is what I noticed is it's kind of a three pronged kind of situation. Number one, Moses or the Israelite people come into contact with this battle that they have to face and they proceed, right? They proceed to this battle and I don't know the circumstances behind it. We would have to go and reread that, the circumstances behind why Moses is lifting the staff. I don't know that part of it, right?

33:02 But anyway, the whole point is, let me just read the part of it, right? Get to the point. Yeah, sorry, sorry. I'm rambling. I'm rambling. Come on. Like you would say, get to the point. Wow. Okay. As long as Mel... That's Moses. Not Mel. That would be Moses. Take two. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning. But whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and sat on it. He sat on it. Aaron and her, H -U -R, held his hands up, one on one side, one on the other, so that his hands remained steady until sunset.

33:54 So Joshua, who was leading the battle, overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. So what I hear is that, okay, as long as Moses can keep his hands up, this just now occurred to me. What do we ask for in praise? Our hands up. Right? That's funny, yes. It just now occurred to me, just now, as I'm thinking about it. It's like... As Moses hands are up he has a staff to one staff is always in one hand The other hand is up and as long as his hands are up. The advantage is the Israelite army Right there winning as long as his hands are up But let me tell you something just keep your hands here. That's hard for a couple of minutes. That's I promise you your hands will start drifting. Mm -hmm down Right and it says as his hands drifted the Amalekite army would start to win, right? So it's like, okay, I can't keep my hands up, guys. And then here comes Erin and her, H -U -R -her, a person, another person, who's like, okay, sit down, and we're gonna hold your hands up for you, right?

35:13 The community has had to be there, or else they would lose. Because Moses was never going to be strong enough to hold his hands up the entire length of the battle. It's funny because we were we've been talking about this with you. I've been talking to you about this about having those kind of friends and having those true friends to you know, the battle that you're going through and you know, for us to be there for you. I know I'm not. I know. I'm your greatest friend. And I know that but you know 100 % um, you know i'm your wife too, but you can have to have a best friend and your wife and I don't know a better place to have a best friend than your wife i'm sorry, but like I said having those friends and your good your greatest friends and your best friends and But you have to have those people, you know, sometimes best friends are not always going to be your friends like that either but okay, so Yeah, and you're kind of talking about like true best friends. It's funny. I just wrote this on my paper True friends. We have been in situations throughout life and had relationships Right that didn't make it people that we used to call best friends that are no longer even acquaintances I have multiple people that I could say that about right? So I think the point being you have to have the true Friends, right the people who have been in your corner and will be in your corner right wrong and different Not

36:44 that they're gonna support your bad decisions. They'll support you in the moment. But when that moment's over, they're gonna be like, hey, bro, listen here. Don't you ever put me in a situation like that ever again. It's so funny. Maybe my mom, we're talking about this today. She made me laugh. She's like, you were talking about business, being in people's business. She was like, am I in your business? I said, mom. Only always. Yes. you are I said but you know what you mean well you you're my mom and you mean well on things I said you I said but you know what I know that you mean well and you're trying to just be my mom I know I'm old but I love you and I know she is just trying to be there and it's funny because my siblings I said that's your best friend got a best friend you know what I will take it sure I will take it if you're gonna hand it to me I will take it So another thing first that occurred to me is like hey worship is sacrifice absolutely, right? It's physically sacrificing. It's emotionally sacrificing. It's spiritually second part is you have to have those people to support you absolutely support is the other thing that doesn't really kind of come out in this is like There's there's people that are on the battlefield and there's your cheerleaders on the sidelines Right, that's good. So Joshua is out here putting his life on the line. Moses is an old, withered man, obviously not gonna be putting his life on the line, but he's over here cheerleading, baby. You got this, Joshua!

38:16 God, you got him, God. You got him, God. You got him, God. You know what I'm saying? It's so layered and so many things happening here. It's so important and so much more important than I ever knew until today. Or until now does that make sense? I didn't think Because i'm i'm a lone wolf man. I'm a lone dude. I I don't need you You do need us. I absolutely do but you know what i'm you This is my psyche, right? I'm that guy and trust me if you put me in the right position right now i'll still go i'll revert back to that right i'll still revert back to Don't need you You know what I mean? But that hurts It really does that really hurts to say and to feel because I do need you. Yeah, I need people who support me I need people that believe that I'm capable of doing This mission that I feel like God has called me to do. Yeah, you got this You've been working really hard on some stuff that you've been just working really hard on chat GPT on some stuff and you ain't working really hard and you know, just putting your mind to things and spending a lot of time and I'm just like,

39:47 you're making me emotionally drained. I'm like, chat GPT is a tool, not the answer, but I'm using The tools I have to help you Yeah guidelines those type things but it's your ideas and that you're putting on there And it's just guiding you where you want to be guided. That's all it is It's not like it's not setting you. It's not set in stone is your stuff. You're putting your stuff In line where you want to hundred percent. So you are doing a great job. I want you to know I want you to take the praise for all of this. You're doing a very great job. You really are.

40:29 Thank you. Thank you. Welcome. My counselor said I should just accept it and move on, and I don't know how to do that. You did a good job. So I'm trying. I'm trying really hard. But, you know, at the end of the day, I think the entire conversation really revolves around that idea, like, man, you're not meant to do this by yourself. Absolutely not. And if you think you can, You can I want to see it, but you won't survive it. That's how I know it's too much this thing is too Much life is too much It's too heavy this world right now will beat you up and spit you out It literally like you said like I said, it will grind you into dust. It will just I mean it's just and if you survive I applaud you. I applaud you because so okay, so survived it to get to the end of it to say what I did it by myself with no one around you. Who wants to die alone? I mean, I don't. I mean, like, don't remarry. No. Do I have friends yes, yes, I I just say it I mean, I'm not saying I'm divorcing you That's what you want, but I ain't going no hey If I get a divorce I'm getting back with my ex Who's my

42:02 ex if we get a divorce? I'm just gonna follow my ex wherever she goes I am not I don't know and you know what we have made it a point that we don't talk like that no we do not because we're not speaking that we're not talking that we're not because we're not putting that anywhere near us because then if you do that we speak it in existence right even joking about it we don't even joke about it anymore there's still the occasional sly your girlfriend your boyfriend's calling or whatever like and I just always say I'm going to gents house yeah I should say I'm going to Britney's house. No, you don't get to do that. Yes. Yeah, I think that I think that there's a definition that's been created through thinking about how do we fight that fight? How do OK, so if fighting is a full time job, what does that look like? How do we do that? How do we persevere through that? There's parts of it that you can do alone, right? So i'll tell you the scripture um, uh from the bible roulette No, this is what um, it's it's a we've done this one before. Um, i'll show it to you if you'll bring it up. It's um Oh, it's on my phone. I don't want my tablet. Sorry. Come on man wasting time Is it Philippians? It's C O R I Corinthians

43:38 13 4 through 8 This is a good one, I mean honestly, it's really good Which is it's talks about love what you're gonna put oh Every word that says love you're gonna put yeah Okay, so yeah, we've talked about this before. Yeah, not you and me specifically But yeah, but instead of so when I read the scripture take the word love out and replace it with your name Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud It does not dishonor others.

44:19 It is not self -seeking. It's not easily angered Oops, it keeps no record of wrongs. Oops. We all got receipts Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, it always trusts, it always hopes, it always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. So good, though, because I mean, it's just like, seriously, I mean, like. Well, if you want to examine where you are. In loving people. Yeah. That's how you decide. That's how you determine it, right? Do you have patience? I know I don't. Sometimes I do. No, I don't. I mean, I'm telling you right now, I ask the Lord, God, give me patience. Never, never, Jesus, no, no, no. Give me something else because I will never ask for patience. Just give me the guidance to get me through this. God will never rebuke you for asking for wisdom, right?

45:24 He wants you to ask for his knowledge. And look, if you want to become more patient, which even though you don't ask for it, he knows in your heart that you need it, and so he's gonna give you reasons to be patient, right? God, give me courage. Is he gonna? Is he gonna keep you from conflict? No, he's gonna put you in the middle of conflict so that you can be courageous because you can't It's it comes with an action. Yeah, everything comes with an action. You don't get to just say i'm i'm courageous without doing anything Well, there's that question said today. What is love? action Love is an action, but you know what? Love is action, but you know what? It's so funny because you have to have love to be able to you know Your friends you have you have to love people you have to be there for people and you have to have that yeah Yeah, you can't love other there's I think you shared it recently on It probably wasn't on on our Facebook or anything, but it was on your when you send out scripture to people And I think I know we've talked about it before on here being you maybe not but I know I've talked about it before about there's part of one of the books of John or Peter.

46:39 I don't remember which one where it says, don't just pretend to love people. Really love them. You have to learn to love people. You can't, you can't pretend man. This whole thing can't be lip service. It's just like a, Oh, I don't love him no more. How do you just fall out of love? You just can't do that. You can't tell me, you know, you love this one person one day and then you don't love another person. You touching a hot button topic. These people out here on these streets might argue with you. I just don't. Bring it because I don't believe in that. Come on. Hey, you and I both, you and I both have been in a situation where the opposing or the opposing, the spouse of the other side from our previous marriages said something similar to us both. I love you, but I'm not in love with you. Let me tell you something. Get off that.

47:32 In love, in love is a crock of crap. End of discussion. It's something that happens early on. That's what they call the honeymoon phase It's everything's good at that point. Everything's glorious. Everything's fun. Everything's funny. Everything's Sex is great. Everything's good and then I might love you for this and I'm not living for that I might hate you for that but did I still love you for you in for everything? Yeah At the end of the day. You just don't fall out of love of people. I just don't understand that. To love someone in the way that we're talking about, it takes sacrifice. It takes an effort. You have to choose love. Yes. We piss each other off pretty frequently.

48:18 Quite often. You know what's crazy? As much as we piss each other off, we don't fight all that much. No. But I know we get on each other's nerves a lot. Listen when you spend as much time as you do with another person you're gonna get on each other's nerves It just is a part of the situation it's like I said all the time if you don't if you're not fighting you're not growing Sorry everything requires you have to grow you have to grow Yep You gotta do how you gonna do that water it fighting you get you just it is what it is it takes some it takes some heat It takes some water It takes some love. It takes some patience. It takes a little, you know, some bugs nipping on you. It takes a little pruning.

49:04 A little bit of dirt. All different types of ways that plants and things grow. And we are... Do you think plants aren't important? How many times did Christ compare himself to being a vine? Look at this tree. Look at that lily of the field. Look at the bird. Look, nature's important. It's an example to you. It's how you know this is true. Gotta be rooted somewhere. Gotta be rooted somewhere. And I'm rooted with you, baby. Okay. You need a joke? Yes. I got a good one. You should have a good one at this point. Yeah, I thought there was lots of them. You suck at this, man. You need to. I'm totally messing with you. I suck on my toes. Bear and share it, baby. Bear and share it. Okay, here we go with an answer first. Okay. They can find anything on the web Why are spiders so smart you stupid You can't call me stupid bro, I did you just did you Call me stupid bro. I did do that doesn't like used to be my favorite word dudes dudes Dudes. Oh my gosh. I can't believe I said that. Dudes and dudettes, huh? Yeah, Bonnie hates when I call her a dude. You're just mad that I got it. I am. It's because we all think intelligence comes

50:39 from the internet. Yes. You got another one? Yes. Give me a minute. Oh. Too easy for you. I gotta give you this stuff. That's not true. I get my miss a lot Okay, here we go It was barking at the wrong tree the dude that was messing with me earlier No, oh Why don't why didn't the dog find the squirrel? Your dog Our oldest dog, he spends so much time barking up the wrong tree.

51:23 I instantly pictured him at the back fence, barking at that up that cedar tree. I just want you to know, oh my dogs, they, I'm using the P word, they piss me off. Oh. In the mornings. Yeah. I'm not, I'm not half, I'm half awake and I'm like, dude, they all want to rush out the door and our door is not very big. It's like, it's like, like. It's a standard doors about three foot wide It's only Murphy it's only Murphy and he will hit Beltrae punch. It's like He's a pinball. Yeah. Yeah, and it's a back corner. They go to I don't know if that squirrel Knows what time we get it, but I don't know if he's waiting out that back fence going There's also cats roaming around out there just so you know and Beltrae Hates cats dude cat squirrels foxes anything that can be within his vicinity that he can't catch he hates them. I don't remember that When we live in Canyon he cut that cat right out of that tree And that guy goes you're paying the vet bill and that that dog pound told him he says Cats have to be on a leash to do and ours was but he just ripped it up out of the ground He showed in they tell you something So I was roughly 30 yards away, and seeing this happen when he went to snatch that cat off that tree,

52:54 that was when I realized how big his damn teeth are. I was like, holy crap. And I told him, I said, drop it. And he did, and that cat was still going. Scratching the entire crap out of him. What am I supposed to do? He is scratching me. What? I'm like, well, back up, dummy. Go back over there That cat went up to the top of that telephone pole and didn't come down for two days two days and his owner was digged off I was like, ooh, savvy Put your cats on a leash, dork So if you ever have a big dog and you have those little screw things that go in the ground Yeah, don't use those for a big dog. It doesn't work.

53:36 They might work for little dog not for What was he? 60 pounds he was probably about 60 or 70 pounds at time and they were supposedly waited for him, but he snapped it quick Do you know don't and if you have it all do not use the wire ones get him a chain? Not a wire one that doesn't work those wire. He's This isn't exactly about community and stuff like that, which I know our conversation centered on, but it does kind of encircle some of the other things that we talked about. Anton, check off. Check it off. Check it off. Only during hard times do people come to understand how difficult it is. to be the master of their feelings and thoughts. Oh, that's good. Yes, people don't care. Some people don't care about other people's feelings and thinking about what we've been talking about. And you said how we can't do it alone. Right. How difficult is it to is it to master those emotions and those thoughts by yourself? Not right. It's not. And you don't even really understand it until you're there. Right and you're trying to overcome this

55:07 difficulty Yeah, you got to have support guys. We got to have support and that's why we firmly believe that this is our small group, right and we invite everyone in the world who wants to to be involved with it to talk with us to Argue with us or not argue a debate with us to be a part of it Give us questions. Give us things to talk about. Give us jokes. Give us wise sayings. We're open to everything. We know and we believe that relationship with Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and that is what we're going to talk about. Absolutely. 100 % most recent, one of our most, the biggest, Video on tik -tok that we've ever had had 24 ,000 views. It was recent. It was me and you recently and a bunch of comments One said just stop already No We're not gonna stop We are here because we love Jesus and we love each other and that's where we're going and we want you to be with us Come on, if you want to argue with it cool Okay, you want to hate me? I don't care I really don't care.

56:27 I like haters though. Feel free to hate on me. Let me tell you something. It's gonna be just fine. We love you guys. We want you to come along. Follow us everywhere. Go talk to us on any platform you want to. Go to our website. Communicate with us. Put your email in there. Let us communicate with you. Email us whatever it is. We love you. Peace out.