Plugged In Podcast
Plugged In Podcast
Episode 23 - March Fatness
What happens when three ministry leaders confront their own relationship with hurry? In this soul-searching episode, we wrap up our study of John Mark Comer's "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry" while candidly sharing our struggles with traffic rage, creative burnout, and the pressure to constantly produce.
The contrast couldn't be more striking—discussing slowness while planning our March Fatness bracket (a food establishment tournament that has us debating whether Chick-fil-A's Sabbath observance gives their chicken divine blessing). Yet this juxtaposition perfectly captures our modern dilemma: we understand the value of rest intellectually while struggling to embody it practically.
Our exploration of Sabbath reveals how this biblical practice isn't just religious obligation but revolutionary resistance against the Pharaohs of our time—those forces driving us toward perpetual productivity. We unpack how simplicity creates both physical and mental space, with one host sharing how decluttering their home led to unexpected clarity and peace. The conversation peaks with twenty practical suggestions for slowing down, from driving in the slow lane to putting your phone "to bed" before you sleep.
Most powerfully, we confront how difficult it is to untangle our identities from achievement, especially in ministry where work, faith, and relationships blend together. "I have blurred the line between what I think the Salvation Army expects of me and what I expect of myself," one host confesses, revealing how deeply internalized hurry becomes.
Join us for this transformative conversation that might just help you recognize that life's greatest regret isn't lacking time—it's failing to be present in the time we have. How might your relationship with God change if you followed Jesus not just in what He did, but in how He lived?
All right, everyone. Welcome back to the Plugged In Podcast. This is episode number 23. We are two years old and, if you've never joined us before, this is the Plugged In Podcast. A ministry of the Salvation Army here in Massachusetts, if you've never joined us before. The Salvation Army of Massachusetts. Its message is based on the Bible ministry. Motivated by the love of God, its mission to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in his name without discrimination.
Speaker 3:There we go. I was impressed by that. How are you guys doing? I'm good. How are you? It's good to be back, it's been a long time.
Speaker 1:You know, it's been so long that when I set up our podcast recorder, the board that we work on, there was physical dust on it and I had to kind of blow the dust away. Had to wipe that away, so we're ready to go. But if you've never joined us before, welcome into the podcast. My name is Matt. I am the director of music here in the Massachusetts division. You guys want to introduce yourselves.
Speaker 2:Sure, my name is Loretta and I am the divisional candidate secretary and associate youth secretary.
Speaker 3:My name is Nate Heinsman and I am the divisional youth secretary and also work with Loretta on candidates, all right.
Speaker 1:I don't know if that answers any question as to what that is. No, it answers all the questions. The Plugged In Podcast exists because we like to connect people Well, first of all here in Massachusetts, to our events, things that are going on, but the people outside of Massachusetts, if you just want to join us for a good time, and at some point in the podcast we always have a Bible application. That's what we're here for.
Speaker 2:That's right. Sorry, I'm going to be eating my lollipops to try and not cough the whole time. So if anyone wants a lollipop, I've got some for you, that's all right.
Speaker 1:You know who would love one my son, caleb.
Speaker 2:He asks about them every single day. I will supply.
Speaker 3:Those blue raspberry ones are pretty good.
Speaker 1:Well, that's next on deck, it's tropical freeze here, because he always asks for that one.
Speaker 2:I'm going to raid my cabinet and get him some tropical freeze tonight when we go to Quincy.
Speaker 1:So my opening thought today it's kind of more on the rant side but it has to do with later on we're going to wrap up our study of the book that we've been the book club or book pod club or whatever that word was. It's been so long Hopefully you've finished that book and you've put it on the shelf, but today is we're just going to wrap it up for ourselves.
Speaker 1:Today's the day we're going to wrap the book, but my opening rant has to do with a thought that I'll expand upon later, but I don't know what it is, but the last couple of weeks I have just traffic has like gotten to me more so than I've ever let it before. Yeah, like it has just been like soul sucking. Yeah, let it before. Yeah, like it has just been like soul sucking. Yeah, I can't like it just absolutely blows my mind.
Speaker 1:A drive that should take 15 minutes and I'm there for like an hour and five. Like I don't, that's awful, no, but that's terrible. But that's been pretty routine. I cannot leave dhq and go to my house during like rush hour time without it taking close to an hour. Right now you are not far enough for it to take an hour. No, I know the the 93, 95, like it has been insane and I find myself like every single day I mean this sounds terrible, but I like feel like getting closer to like whatever edge is on the edge of like road rage or like I can just feel like anger, like boiling up and I don't know what to do with it because you can't.
Speaker 1:You can't escape it.
Speaker 2:No you can't do anything about it.
Speaker 3:No, I get really annoyed by the people who won't sit in the traffic, like me, and go into the shoulder and have to like, yeah, make their own lanes, and then they end up just causing more confusion because there's a reason why it's backed up in the first place.
Speaker 1:I'm getting closer to being that guy Cause I just like I need out.
Speaker 2:I don't know what to do I'm done we?
Speaker 1:um, we just went on a weekend trip to Atlanta to visit my uh, my brother Mason, his son just turned, asher just turned one year old. And on the drive from our house to the airport, like once you get in the tunnel underneath Boston. I mean there is no escape. No, you're stuck. You are there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's like we were pushing the boundaries of making our flight on time and we left like two and a half hours before the scheduled departure time and it probably took an hour and a half.
Speaker 1:That's terrible To get from our house to the airport and it wasn't even like we were going the opposite way of rush hour, so I just like I saw on social media they are, uh, I'm not going to weigh into like politics of the of the boston, like mayoral candidate race, but I did like see that a friend of the salvation army, josh craft, yeah, yeah, has decided to run for mayor of boston. And I just like I see a lot on social media and I just want to write like, please, what is the plan?
Speaker 1:yeah for traffic because it can't. Here's where my vote will go. It can't just be to incentivize taking trains and buses more. There has to be a physical plan.
Speaker 2:No, we're past that yeah.
Speaker 1:And if you want Boston to be in the conversation for NBA All-Star Games or World Cup hosting or perhaps the Super Bowl, 0% chance. We do not have the infrastructure to handle all the people.
Speaker 3:Did you see the video of the tunnel roof that?
Speaker 1:collapsed. Wait what happened? So people were driving into the tunnel underneath Boston and I don't think it hit anybody. But in between cars going by at 50 miles an hour, a section of concrete just fell from the ceiling Stop and smashed on the ground. But I mean, if that had hit a car, someone's dead, Stop, Smashed on the ground. But I mean like if, if that had hit a car someone's dead.
Speaker 2:Yeah Like that, yeah Concrete.
Speaker 3:That's crazy what does that say about the greater stability of that tunnel in general?
Speaker 1:Like yeah that's scary, is it?
Speaker 3:going to implode? Who?
Speaker 1:knows, that is scary. That's the whole big dig. I haven't lived here long enough to be in. Whoever is a curmudgeon about that project from 30 years ago that's not me, but it's real, it's wild, all right. Anyways, after all that negativity, after all that, yeah, I had to release that Well good.
Speaker 2:I hope you feel better now. I don't know Until he goes home from work today and then it's all going to be back.
Speaker 1:Retriggered. I've triggered. I've been in a little rut like I don't know, outside the traffic, like I just kind of like I don't know I felt, like in a creative rut yeah, I feel like whatever exhaustion. Whatever I'm making, I feel like it sucks it just like. No, I'm just. I'm serious, though, because like you can get um when you're creating things and you're doing projects, like you can get compliments from other people all day yeah but until you believe that, like you're doing quality work or you like, are really proud of what you're doing it's hard to like.
Speaker 1:It's hard to get out of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I just kind of feel like in this like yeah, I've too many times like I've made something and the person who I've made it for is like, oh, this is great, and I'm like I hate this, like I don't want my name attached to this.
Speaker 3:But there's also the internal pressure to kind of up it every time.
Speaker 2:Oh, I've done this before.
Speaker 3:How can I elevate this, in a way? And so I think we're our own biggest critics and we're the ones who put the pressure on ourselves. It's not necessarily coming from anybody else, but I think that that's a natural thing that we're always like how can I make this bigger and better this time around?
Speaker 1:I feel like these jobs are that. It's like how do you top youth councils from last year, or how has Music Conservatory made me better, or this is episode 23 of the Plugged In Podcast. How is it better than the first 22?
Speaker 2:How is it better than episode one?
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, the old days, the good old days, the good old days. And we are past two years old.
Speaker 2:And the clock on that is.
Speaker 1:Mackenzie yeah, Mackenzie just had her second birthday. Man, the last couple of days she's got all the attitude in the world she's bringing it. I love her so much I do want to freeze her in time right now, because the way she interacts with Caleb, the way she speaks her language right now, it is like a pretty precious time. That's awesome. So I'm trying to get past my own like, well, the hurry that we're going to talk about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. No, I feel that way with Jackson too. I'm like he's just in the past couple of days he's been really sweet. I don't know what's happening.
Speaker 3:I don't know who God is, oh, and how. He said to them well, god created you and was witnessing to the five-year-old kid, he said.
Speaker 2:one of his friends said something said a bad word, and he said oh, god created you. He wouldn't like that. You said that. And then he said my friend said who is God? And I said, well, what did you say? And he said I don't know. But I was like, okay, little guy, it was really sweet yeah.
Speaker 1:That reminds me. I just got to tell one thing, Okay.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:So Heather had a conversation with Caleb the other day and Caleb was asking like where does Jesus live? And so Heather's trying to you know, talk through this one. To you know, talk through this one. And caleb said oh, I get it. So so we just go to church and pretend that jesus is real? Um, it was like something along those lines. Heather tells me this and I was like whoa that lollipop was not holding back
Speaker 1:that laughter cough. That's crazy, he's like he said something like oh so we can't see jesus, but we go to church so that we can pretend that he's real or like something like that, and I was just like it's so hard to explain to kids and he was very innocent about it but yeah, because he's, he's genuinely trying to trying to process. He's genuinely trying to process it yeah, so, but that was like heather told me that I was like what?
Speaker 1:but that's amazing anyways, uh, we want to highlight, uh, some events that have been in our past. Now and then we have some events coming up, but I know that in the Massachusetts division we recently just flipped the calendar on the Young Adult Retreat. Can you? Tell us a little bit about that event, sure.
Speaker 2:Take it away, Nate.
Speaker 3:So the very first weekend of February, we had a Young Adult Retreat at the conference center Camp Wonderland, or the Wonderland Conference Center, and had a great turnout. We had 52, 53 people join us from across the division, had an amazing speaker, stuart Hall, who's been here before. He's really passionate about engaging this generation and really believes in the power and potential of leaders today, and so he brought a great word. The theme for the weekend was the space between, and talking about how Jesus's words fall on deaf ears if we're not living them out in the margins. Living them out like living the words that are on the page, the space in between. There is our opportunity to carry it out into the world, and so it was a really, really challenging time of worship. And so it was a really, really challenging time of worship. We had a great worship leaders in Shaggy and his wife Becca, who were just phenomenal and just leading us in worship Andrew Piercy.
Speaker 2:for those who don't know who Shaggy is. Shaggy but don't call him Andrew, because he will say who is that I?
Speaker 3:texted him. I said hey, andrew, just wondering if you wanted to help us out. He's like first of all, don't ever call me Andrew again, and only the way he can.
Speaker 3:But no, they were phenomenal. We went deep. We had great conversation as well, and then we had a great time at level 99, which, if you've never been to level 99, there are two locations, and I feel like I'm giving you a promo, but you need to check it out, I can't really explain it. There's one in Providence and there's one in Natick. We went down to Providence and it's best described as like an immersive challenge arena. So you go into different rooms and you participate in different challenges. Some are physical challenges, some are very like mental based challenge and some require a lot of teamwork. But you go into these rooms and you're timed and you have to complete these challenges, and there's maybe like 60 different challenges across the facility, so there's always something new and unique to do. Nice, and so our group had a great time with that and just really enjoyed the opportunity to fellowship and spend time together in community. That's great.
Speaker 1:If you are listening to the podcast today, just on well, spotify or Apple Music, or however you listen to the podcast, know that there are full videos of the podcast on the YouTube channel and I only bring that up because Loretta made a brilliant highlight reel of the Young Adult Retreat. So on our YouTube channel that's Essay Mass Music on YouTube. On this episode of the podcast, we'll have that highlight reel playing while Nate was just explaining it.
Speaker 1:So, make sure you hop over to the YouTube channel Essay Mass Music. All of the episodes of the Plugged In Podcast, or I shouldn't say all, but most of them.
Speaker 2:The early ones are spotty, most.
Speaker 1:of them are there. Yeah, we had to kind of find our way. The events that are coming up, and I have these kind of in order. We have our YAM Overnighter, Youth Arts Ministry, After that Star Search and then Youth Councils. I'll just speak briefly about the YAM Overnighter that's coming up on April 4 and 5. The finale concert is going to be at the Boston Croc.
Speaker 2:Center, that's crazy.
Speaker 1:I know it's already here. It's already here. That's wild. The finale concert is going to be at the Boston Croc Center on April 5. That's 3.30. We hope everyone in the division comes out to support our young people Youth Arts Ministry. We've got about 70 young people and a volunteer faculty, probably north of 30.
Speaker 1:A lot of young adults are helping out and Youth Arts Ministry basically is split into two tracks. You've got a 13-plus track and you've got a 9-to-12 track. The kids get to study a whole bunch of different kinds of things. Very briefly, the people I want to shout out. So in my Yam band at Yam we have three maybe four different levels of brass. We've got beginners and then we have kind of two intermediate bands and then we have the Yam band. I want to shout out my horn players, phoebe and Rihanna. So if anyone's like been around my bands in the past decade, there's kind of one piece that keeps circulating amongst the young people and it's called dance like david.
Speaker 2:it's a hot. Yeah, I don't get topic. I don't, I don't get it.
Speaker 1:It's fun, I love it it's a fun piece, um, but like every they and I say they I mean like literally a generation worth of young people right all the time are like can we play dance like david? Can we play dance like david, dance like david. But it does take like a certain ability. So we're not always like.
Speaker 1:I always say like every two to three years, we kind of cycle through like okay, now we can play it but, anyways, it features a prominent horn part and I know that phoebe and rihanna have been practicing very hard and they are representing horn players everywhere in dance like david. So that's the yamighter, April 4 and 5 finale at the Boston Kroc Center.
Speaker 2:It's funny. You know that like they're playing it in Yam Band, because if you're here during Yam they're all humming it around the building like practicing their part or just like yeah exactly. I'm like oh, tell me what you're playing in Yam Band. It's just so cute. They love it.
Speaker 1:No, they're into it. After that we'll have Star Search. Star Search this isn't totally confirmed yet, but we are about 99% sure that we're going to be at an off-site, non-army location. So that will be announced very shortly, but we're in the final stages of kind of dotting the I's crossing the T's. I'm moving to a larger space for that event, so hopefully everyone listening is working on their star search pieces. That's a obviously a great event coming up. If you have any questions about that, you can email chris molinaro or myself in the music department. And then, after star search, we're in the thick of may and youth, youth councils. It's almost here.
Speaker 2:Take it away, I was going through my calendar and putting things in and I was like oh my gosh we are so close Yep. So youth councils. This year the theme is everything and we have a guest from the Echo Group, Samir Massad, and he's going to be our speaker for the weekend. He came very highly recommended by the previous people that we've had. We always ask our previous speakers now that you know our kids, who would you recommend within your sphere? Sure, and they recommend the smart.
Speaker 1:The smart.
Speaker 2:The first year we had Stuart Hall. The first night he gave the message and then rewrote everything the next day, because he's like now that I know the crowd, so it's worked out well, so it's going to be a good time. We had our first youth commission meeting to kind of start the planning process Off and running, off and running, and yeah.
Speaker 3:We also have Unbound is coming from the Territory. It's the Territory's worship band and they are phenomenal have you heard them live lately.
Speaker 1:I mean like yeah, they're great. I'm not trying to be biased. I think like Unbound could like open like a stadium concert yeah, for lauren daigle or like I think they could, like they could, play a stadium christian concert. They're incredible, I mean, they really, really are, and they have all these interchangeable pieces and voices and like I always like, every time there's a new singer comes up and leads a song, I'm just like oh, there's no way that they're.
Speaker 2:And then it's like it's like unbelievable, unique voice like it's just, it's really impressive and the ability to tap into so many people from throughout the territory. I think that's what I love. It's like it's it's kind of a very wide reaching group. And so it's going to be good.
Speaker 3:And there's such authenticity when they're leading in worship. It's not like you know, it's not a performance that it's. It's really like we want to usher you into the presence of God and we're worshiping alongside you. Just wanted to speak to that theme. Everything it comes from Matthew, chapter 22, which is love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. And so in everything that we do, we have an opportunity to give God glory in the ways that we love him and serve others.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, that's going to be a wrap for our event coverage here in the Massachusetts division of the Salvation Army. We're going to take a quick break on episode number 23 of the Plugged In Podcast. Before we do, though, Nate just give us a tiny teaser of what's coming up next.
Speaker 3:All right, it is March. It's crazy, but along with March comes March Madness, and so we have this year a new March Madness bracket challenge. I'm going to refer to it as March Fatness, yes, but if that's too offensive, we can call it the Hunger Games.
Speaker 2:Well, let's put it up to a vote. Let's put it on our socials and we'll see what the Hold on.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to speak for my people. I'm not offended, bro, bro.
Speaker 3:So I'm fine with March Fatness. I'm fine with march fatness as long as the public is fine with march fatness. That's what we'll roll with.
Speaker 2:But it could be so funny could be called the hunger games tournament, who knows?
Speaker 3:but what we're going to do? We have a 32 teams single elimination bracket style with four different regions, uh, and we're going to be uh voting on which uh in each region is going to move on. So we have a fast food region, uh. We have a fast casual region, we have a sit restaurant region and then we have a dessert slash coffee region. So these are all different food establishments that you've been to many times, and so we're going to need your help to move these people on in our tournament.
Speaker 1:All right. So after our break here on the Plugged In Podcast, we will have that March fatness and then to wrap our podcast today if you're looking towards the end of the episode, we are wrapping our study of the book the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer, if you haven't been with us for this review of this book. Essentially the idea is if you truly want to follow Jesus, then you need to embrace his lifestyle, and if you study his lifestyle, jesus was not in a hurry to do anything.
Speaker 2:He was busy. He was busy. Right, he was busy, but there's a difference, there's a difference between busy and hurried.
Speaker 1:All right, we're going to take a quick break on the Plugged In Podcast and we will be right back. All right, and welcome back to episode number 23 of the Plugged In Podcast. Nate, throw it your way, sorry, captain Nate.
Speaker 3:Captain, just call me Nate. Okay, bro, bro, all right, go ahead. All right. So into our March fatness bracket. Yeah. So Loretta does a phenomenal job putting graphic content together for our socials, and so in the next few days or so, you'll see that showing up on the socials and you can help us vote and move these seeds along as we try to get down to the champion of the March fatness bracket. I'm going to say it as many times as I can yeah, yeah, march fatness.
Speaker 1:Do we need our own socials? We've never done that, I don't know. Is that too?
Speaker 2:splintered off. I feel like it would be beneficial.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, it could be useful, but I don't want to be like, hmm, the plugged in podcast.
Speaker 2:Like you know, I don't.
Speaker 3:Snooty Nah. One army bro, one army podcast.
Speaker 1:That's the unblogged podcast.
Speaker 3:Take it away, Nate, but anyways we're going to look at our first region. We're going to go as quickly as possible through these seeds and if you have some comments about these establishments, you're more than welcome.
Speaker 1:So we're going to all weigh in on them, but then the real vote is happening on social media. So let's just say MassYouth. I'll share it on MassMusic as well but, I, think the primary voting will happen on Mass.
Speaker 3:Youth yeah, this is a democratic process and Instagram.
Speaker 1:that's the primary way to vote. Instagram Mass Youth At Mass Youth.
Speaker 2:Is it underscored? I think so. Mass underscore youth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, boom.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:All right, so we're looking at our fast food region, okay, and so our number one seed is Chick-fil-A oh, facing off against number Number eight seed Arby's oh okay, that's a hard one.
Speaker 1:No, it's not, it's so different.
Speaker 2:No, I mean it's good, but no Chick-fil-A wins. But like I like Arby's curly fries.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but you can like aspects and just recognize that Chick-fil-A is dominant.
Speaker 1:Okay, If I had to pick between. Does Chick-fil-A even have commercials? I don't think so yeah.
Speaker 2:It's an aggressive Arby's commercial.
Speaker 3:My chapter from today is about Sabbath, and Chick-fil-A is closed on Sunday, so the Lord is blessing their chicken. So here we go. Okay, what's the next one?
Speaker 1:Seed two McDonald's versus seed number seven Burger King. Okay, yeah, I don't really have a way in on that If I had to choose a burger, I might I mean, I think, the fries I'd go McDonald's. Yeah, true, Burger. I like Burger King. I feel like it's a A better burger. Yeah, the Whopper's got mayo, which is I'm not even about the Whopper, I'm about the Bacon King. Oh okay, when I go to Burger King, whatever's on the menu that says 1,500 calories that's the sandwich I'm getting.
Speaker 3:That calories? Yeah, that's the sandwich I'm getting. That's the one. All right, give me that. Here's number three on the bracket, but number one in matt's heart uh, taco bell, oh yeah, versus number six subway. Oh, that's tough. That is tough, yeah, because I feel like with many of these, it depends on what you're in the mood for?
Speaker 1:yeah, they're for different times. They're for different times. There's like uh, would you call the subway and taco bell equidistant from Camp Wonderland, or is Subway closer Because there's that one in Cobb Corner?
Speaker 3:I'd say Subway's a little closer, maybe what do you get at? Subway. What's your go-to? Oh, I'm the spicy Italian. Yeah, we're too similar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you two are way too similar, although I do like the flatbread Flatbread spicy Italian.
Speaker 1:A little Chipotle sauce go on.
Speaker 3:I also like the sun chips that they have. Anyways, number four Wendy's versus number five Popeye's, which, again, I feel like it depends on what you're in the mood for it's interesting.
Speaker 1:I don't feel like I've had either one of those in a long time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wendy's is usually our like when we're driving. We'll get Wendy's, but we don't do it.
Speaker 1:The.
Speaker 2:Baconator.
Speaker 3:That's him. Yeah, chocolate frosty, though come on, man, junior bacon cheeseburger. We're the same person, I'm just a foot taller, but we're the same person exactly alright, and then. So that rounds out the fast food region, the fast casual region. Okay, define that fast casual. You could sit down and eat it or you could take it home. Okay, I mean, you could sit down in a fast food restaurant, but it's fast casual is a little elevated in terms fast food restaurant. But it's, it's fast casual is a little elevated in terms of quality of food.
Speaker 2:It's a little fence and you'll kind of you'll kind of understand that by the establishment.
Speaker 3:So I'm saying here okay, uh, number one chipotle yep versus number eight domino's pizza.
Speaker 2:Oh no, oh no, yeah oh, domino's is like our sunday meal.
Speaker 1:I like instantly got hungry thinking about both of those things.
Speaker 2:Why aren't we eating these foods?
Speaker 1:as we're talking about them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we need to fix this for next time. Make a true fatness bracket.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you saw this. Yeah, it's sad that I saw this online, but I did so. Domino's just introduced, for the first time ever in the history of their chain, a stuffed crust pizza. Really, yeah, they had some sort of like that's crazy Corporate call that said like their sales were a little bit down throughout the year or whatever, and so to regain customers, specifically in our age bracket they decided to make the stuffed crust that unlocks a nostalgic memory right there.
Speaker 2:That stuffed crust, that's tough though. I thought they had stuffed there.
Speaker 3:That's stuff. Crust. That's tough, though I thought they had stuff crust?
Speaker 2:That's crazy. No, Pizza Hut man. Pizza Hut, Pizza Papa, John's Papa.
Speaker 3:John's, that's what.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking of.
Speaker 1:There's not a lot of Papa John's out here. No I do miss some Papa John's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a ton in Ohio.
Speaker 3:That's a tough one, the arteries Literal pain happening Number two fast casual seed is Panera versus number seven, panda Express. I like both of these establishments.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's a pretty easy one for me, but I won't.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean Panda Express's prices are pretty good. Yeah, pretty solid. Number three Raising Cane's versus number six Shake Shack.
Speaker 1:Ooh, Is Raising Cane's? Is that a here thing? I don't really know.
Speaker 2:There's one. They just built one in Boston. Well, right next to the Chick-fil-A, I think, boylston.
Speaker 1:Well then, they used to have another one, because when I first moved here and I lived in Brighton and I was taking the Green Line in every day, they had one around not quite BU, but it was like the Alston area. Yeah, I don't know. But anyways, I didn't know if that's a here thing or if it's it's not really.
Speaker 3:No, the first one I had been to was in Columbus, ohio, so I don't know where it originates from. They got good chicken.
Speaker 1:What was it even facing?
Speaker 3:I'm sorry, five guys versus number five, jersey Mike's Ooh.
Speaker 2:Ooh.
Speaker 3:That's a toughie as a cheapskate.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was just about to say this Five guys Like it's ridiculous. I need to split you two up. It's like $14 for a burger. Like it's insane If you get like even the junior burgers. Yeah, that's what I get If you get a junior burger, a small fry and a drink. That's like $20. I don't think you can go there for less than $20.
Speaker 2:We made the mistake one time of getting Jackson a hot dog and it was like $9. And I was like no kid ever.
Speaker 1:You want to talk about mistakes. I took the entire music conservatory to Five Guys when we were on our field trip we went to a water park and I was just like Five Guys was across the street I and I was just like five guys was like across the street I was like oh they're going to love this Can't be that bad.
Speaker 1:And then, like I was sitting there and that cash register was just like I was like oh man, I'm going to get in trouble from someone. But I mean, once you're in it, like no, you can't back out.
Speaker 3:Yeah. They probably put so many fries in those bags. It's good though it delicious, it's just really expensive.
Speaker 1:Very expensive.
Speaker 3:So now we move on to our sit-down restaurants. Number one seed Cheesecake Factory versus number eight, applebee's Now Applebee's for me. When I was in college they had half-price apps. I don't know if they still do this. I went probably three or four times a week. Wow.
Speaker 1:That's a lot.
Speaker 2:That's a lot.
Speaker 3:What's your go-to app? I was going to ask the boneless barbecue wings. Okay, yep, all right, those are solid. Three times a week. Three times a week is crazy. Yeah, I don't even think I've been to Applebee's three times in the past 10 years.
Speaker 1:I feel like it's become an annual tradition at family camp every year, I think, usually after the first night. Yeah, the lead up into family camp is usually so insane the setup and like you're just like so dog tired. And then that first night the tech team has been like, yeah, there's going to be no shame tonight. We're going to Applebee's but yeah it's so true, if you were to like take a picture of the table on that night each year. It's pretty embarrassing. Yeah, no shame. Anyways.
Speaker 2:Fatness bracket.
Speaker 1:Yeah, march fatness.
Speaker 2:I'm noticing a trend, a lot of food.
Speaker 3:Okay, number two seed Olive Garden versus number seven seed Buffalo Wild Wings.
Speaker 2:Very different again.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I've got a good first date story at Olive Garden, but I'll save that for another time.
Speaker 3:I'm a big fan of the salad.
Speaker 2:Breadsticks and salad.
Speaker 3:At Algern yeah, Salad's great. And when they just go with the cheese and they say, say when. And I just never want to say when, but then I feel like I have to say when you know, it's a lot of pressure, anyways Social pressure yeah. Number three seed Texas Roadhouse versus number six seed Red Lobster. Oh very, different.
Speaker 1:Yeah, lobster, oh, very different, very different. Wait, red Lobster's done right. Are they even around anymore? I thought they were bankrupt, closing up shop. I don't know, because they did that all-you-can-eat shrimp meal.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's true, they put them out of business. Anyways, I don't know. I haven't been to one in a long time. I guess I've been reading articles about food.
Speaker 1:Matt's algorithm is phenomenal.
Speaker 3:Those Cheddar Bay Biscuits, though, are incredible. I'm not proud to admit this, but when I was in college, I saved a Cheddar Bay Biscuit, put it in my dash of my car and forgot about it, and then, when I realized it was there, it became a challenge to see how long I could keep it. Please tell me that if this ends with you ate it. I did not eat it but it was in the dash of my car for maybe seven or eight years and it looked exactly the same.
Speaker 1:Seven or eight years. Yeah, some people's cars don't last that long.
Speaker 3:Anyways, let's move on.
Speaker 1:Number four. Dear lord, what did you finally do with it? I just threw it out.
Speaker 2:When did you throw it away After all that it looked?
Speaker 3:exactly the same, but it was rock hard. It was like what made you throw it out, though I don't know what am I going to?
Speaker 1:do with it. You just woke up one day and it's like well, it's been eight years Today's the day.
Speaker 3:No, I think what happened was I was trading in my car for another car and I was just cleaning it out.
Speaker 2:Was that the Dodge?
Speaker 3:Dart, it was a Dodge Stratus, oh Will.
Speaker 1:Ferrell, yeah, I drive a Dodge.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that one. It was black and it was rusted out and you could see the road while you were driving. It was incredible. Nice, ohio, does not require inspections, apparently not. I keep going. Number four Outback versus number five Chili's this one's tough, oh yeah, that is tough.
Speaker 2:I, when I was pregnant with Jackson, my craving was Outback wings. That was like I could have that every day of the week, the Kookaburra wings.
Speaker 1:Is it Outback or Texas Roadhouse with like the peanuts, or is that both? That's Texas.
Speaker 3:Roadhouse.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, yep, yeah, I uh, you said Chili's right. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty, that's like Applebee's. Yeah, yeah, I mean, the Bloomin' Onion at Outback is pretty spectacular, I agree.
Speaker 3:And now we move into our coffee and desserts region Number one, dunkin'.
Speaker 2:New England runs on Dunkin'.
Speaker 3:I feel like there's no place that I spend money more often at than Dunkin'. If you look at my average transactions per month, it's probably more at Dunkin' than any other store.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just the frequency.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so they're facing off against number eight. Crumble Cookie, You're on the rewards right for Dunkin'.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, best thing Just making sure Best thing, best decision we ever made.
Speaker 3:So Crumble Cookie. It's pretty good Okay.
Speaker 2:That was a hotspot at camp this summer yeah, I'm a little cookie.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's good. Number two Starbucks yeah, versus number seven Rita's Italian ice.
Speaker 2:That's tough, that is tough. Is it, I love.
Speaker 3:Rita's Starbucks is pretty versatile. I'd probably vote for Rita's over.
Speaker 1:Starbucks just because I'm cheap.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I don't want to spend that much on coffee. Number three Krispy Kreme versus number six Ben Jerry's.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you who loves Krispy Kreme, if they're listening. My dad.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he will get that look in his eye talking about Krispy Kreme. He's the guy that will wake up when the sun comes up. To make sure that he gets to. Krispy Kreme. Those donuts are coming off the conveyor belt when the hot and ready sign is on.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, my dad's there.
Speaker 1:Every like family vacation we were on that. A Krispy Kreme was in that town. Like he'd like sneak out of the hotel room at like 6am. That's amazing and we'll come back with like a dozen donuts.
Speaker 2:What a champion father. Yeah, it was. Yeah, we had a Krispy Kreme literally behind our house in Columbus. It was bad, sorry, keep going.
Speaker 3:And then number four, cinnabon, versus number five Dairy Queen. I think the problem with Cinnabon is there's not like many of them, they're like in a mall somewhere or at a rest stop somewhere.
Speaker 2:I'm also learning. You say Cinnabon, cinnabon, bon Bon, it's Cinnabon or Cinnabon.
Speaker 3:Cinnabon. Bon Bon, it's Cinnabon or.
Speaker 1:Cinnabon, cinnabon, it's B-O-N Cinnabon. Oh, I've always said Bon. I've always said Bon B-O-N.
Speaker 3:Cinnabon.
Speaker 1:C-I-N-N-A-B-O-N. Yeah, I didn't eat it, I got a weird uh, uh. My brain is tracking a weird way on this one. So I can't think of Cinnabon anymore without thinking about breaking bad because my word listen. So but this also tracks further. I made like the worst, most inappropriate reference maybe of my, like, teaching career. I didn't say anything specific, but I'm teaching the yam band of like 13, 14 and 15-year-olds.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're right in that bracket. My brain was just like guys, do you remember in Breaking Bad? And then I was just like, wait, no.
Speaker 2:What did I just?
Speaker 3:do Don't ever watch it.
Speaker 1:No, breaking Bad is terrible, do not watch this show.
Speaker 2:Don't watch it, it's highly inappropriate.
Speaker 1:They're going to go home and say Matt said I need to watch this so I can understand. I was like stunned, I was just like I cannot believe.
Speaker 2:I just said that out loud to teenagers.
Speaker 1:But no, I didn't say anything specific, but I referenced the show which I clearly love just enough, yeah, but anyways that's my Cinnabon. You know, saul Goodman ends up. I don't know. Spoiler alert you should have. I'll just stop. Yeah, never mind, this is not plugged in podcast topic all right, so yeah, that'll be.
Speaker 3:that'll be coming up on the socials, so vote and see if your favorite moves on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we talked about this. So I think this is going to extend three episodes, so we'll have some multiple rounds of online voting Between episodes. Yeah, so the next time that we talk about this on air, in episode 24, we're going to be introducing the final four. Right, it'll either be the Elite Eight or the Final Four Right, one of those, and then the episode after that episode 25, we'll be announcing the winners, right. The aim is for that to drop in early April. Yeah, right, after the bracket kind of season wraps up.
Speaker 3:And I think whoever is the winner, we should have that on the show to announce it that sounds awesome yeah.
Speaker 2:I think so.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm down, let's do it.
Speaker 2:Here's to hoping it's a sit-down restaurant we should podcast from the restaurant. We podcast from Cheesecake Factory.
Speaker 1:I mean, it would be borderline sad if it's Duncan, because we have that almost every episode of the show Every day. I'm hoping for dominoes.
Speaker 3:So here's the pizza. Can we test out the new? The eighth seed runs the table.
Speaker 2:Eighth seed.
Speaker 1:Let's test out the new pizza. Yeah, right, I would love it. Okay, okay, one more, blake, blake, one more Blake, one more Blake here on the Plugged In Podcast. Come back from our break. We'll finish up our book, the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. We'll be right back. All right, we are back. This is part three today of the Plugged In Podcast, episode number 23. 23, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yes, 23. I get confused in there. I said this the other day because we did the. Because the episode with Chris was a two-parter, we split it. Yeah, it got released in two parts, but now I'm like slightly confused about the exact number. Anyways, all right, part three Plugged In Podcast. We're wrapping our study today of the ruthless elimination of hurry by John Mark Comer. We're in the part of the book, if you're following along. So it's broken into three sections. This is part three and the finale is basically practical ways to kind of unhurry your life. So today we're looking at Sabbath, simplicity and slowing. Each one of us took a different chapter to kind of tackle and talk about today, so let's start with Sabbath.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So in this chapter we're exploring the biblical concept of Sabbath as a gift from God, right that we were created, that literally created into our DNA. We were created to rest because we were created in the image of God and God himself rested after creating the world. And so Sabbath just talking about how countercultural it really is in our culture, our fast-paced culture of busyness where we have to be all things at all times. He starts the chapter by talking about desire and how desire is the great motivator in our lives, what we desire we pursue. Motivator in our lives, what we desire we pursue. But because of our humanness and our brokenness, our desires are never fulfilled by all the other things in this world, and so we're constantly chasing after things to fulfill the desire. And the one desire that we can't fulfill on our own is this desire to rest and delight in God, unless we're being intentional about creating space to do that. And so he talks about, from a scriptural standpoint, Jesus and his interactions with the Pharisees, and how the Pharisees were very legalistic and when they saw Jesus healing and performing miracles on the Sabbath, how they would condemn him for that and how Jesus responded by saying the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, that this was literally a gift that God created for you to stop. The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word Shabbat, which means to stop, but it also means to delight, and so we need to create space to not just stop the busyness of our life, but also to find opportunities to delight in God. And so it just kind of unpacks this concept of if we're going to truly work hard, then we need to learn to rest well.
Speaker 3:And so, as he goes throughout the chapter, it really brings it home to us. You know, thinking about the craziness of life and our responsibilities and our roles, and how it's always the next thing on the calendar and how Sabbath is always the first thing to go because we have to justify. You know, how many times have you heard? Well, Satan doesn't take a day off, and we kind of like elevate or kind of like I don't know where our busyness has a badge of honor. You know Satan doesn't take a day off, so why should I? But when you come to grips with the fact that the God who created heaven and earth rested and that Jesus himself modeled the opportunity to rest and delight and dwell in the presence of his Father to step away, to be renewed, to be recharged, to have life so that he could do the work, that which he had been called to do. It's a humbling experience to know that if we're going to walk in the way of the master, then we need to be intentional.
Speaker 3:And so there's some, just some, powerful quotes that I wanted to share in this chapter. It says we love God deeply, and it's shown in the, in the busyness and the way that we extend ourselves to others, but oftentimes we just do not know how to sit with God anymore. And so just this challenge to not just be spiritually busy and, you know, check the boxes and do what is expected of us, but to also sit with God and delight in Him and to find real life-giving rest in Him. And so then they just take it through.
Speaker 3:You know, Sabbath was not just a suggestion, but Sabbath was a command, Sabbath as rest and as worship. You know, the Sabbath was one of the it's in the 10 commandments to keep the Sabbath day holy, and so it's a command to rest. And then Sabbath viewed as an opportunity to rest and to worship. But then he also has this beautiful imagery of Sabbath as an act of resistance. An act of resistance when God's people were set free from Egypt and Moses, you know, took them out of bondage and they're in the wilderness. This concept of Sabbath, for the first time for a liberated people who had spent so much time in slavery and bondage, Sabbath became an act of resistance, an act of rebellion against Pharaoh and his empire. And so, if you equate that to today's modern day life, who are the Pharaohs in your life, or what are the Pharaohs in your life?
Speaker 2:that are keeping you what are?
Speaker 3:the pharaohs in your life or what are the pharaohs in your life that are keeping you? What are the pharaohs keeping you enslaved and preventing you from really delighting in the presence of God? I?
Speaker 1:don't think I can say I don't know yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, we don't have to say people no-transcript and so all throughout this text, it's really just Sabbath is not just okay, we go to church on Sunday, but it's reframing, reorienting, reposturing our hearts and our lives in a way, so that because we keep Sabbath, we observe Sabbath and because we we live Sabbath, All the rest of the days of our week are different. And so Sabbath as a way to reframe it up in mind, and I just like I keep coming back.
Speaker 1:A central theme in this book is like there's data out there that tells us that our phones are bad for us, like unhealthy bad. But anyways, I was just curious. But thanks for that, nate. Thank you.
Speaker 2:I do not have as comprehensive of an overview, as Nate does.
Speaker 1:Yes, you do.
Speaker 2:So my chapter was simplicity and he just emphasizes the importance of simplicity as a spiritual discipline. And it's really interesting because Nate and I we just had an annual quarters inspection. So the division does inspection on the quarters, basically for property needs, to make sure everything's working. Okay, no major projects, but we really took it as an opportunity to declutter our house. So we went through. We had like four or five bags of of donation stuff, probably three bags of four bags of trash, like just stuff that we were like where did this live? Um, but he's just talking about like this material excess and this clutter and the physical and the mental um clutter that lives in our, in our lives and how it it contributes to a hurried lifestyle. Um, and he mentions Amazon. He says Amazon is the new temple and I was like oh shoot.
Speaker 1:Oh, interesting.
Speaker 2:And I was just like. It's true, though, and Amazon has made it easier to add clutter to our lives and anything really web-based it's just so easy. You need this, you buy it. You need this, you buy it. But he talks about a few specific things and he says that simplicity is about freedom. It's about less stress, less clutter, clearer focus on what really matters. It's about less stress, less clutter, clearer focus on what really matters. And then he talks all about consumerism and how consumerism leads to a dissatisfaction and the pursuit of more and more and more and more.
Speaker 2:And then he links the ability to have more with, also, a generation of people who are unhappy, and so it's like more doesn't lead to happiness or joy and it's just, it's just stuff, um. And then he talks about how Jesus modeled simplicity. Um, and I love. He's a couple of quotes that he said that I really loved. Um, he said the most important things in our life aren't things at all're relationships, and it's just good to read that as a reminder, because we know that, I'd say we, we would say that we know that as a truth and we want to live that. But we, how often do we forget that? Sure, um. But then he also said that he said this jesus lived simply not because he had to, but because he knew the weight of excess, and so it just kind of.
Speaker 2:It just kind of leads you to think about the things in our life that are amaterialistic, the things in our life that we have bought for. You know, as an impulse and I'm a terrible impulse buyer I just said to me the other day, like I got a notification from old navy that they're having a sale, and I was like what do you need and he's like nothing. So but I was like searching old navy do we need it? No, but just the idea of like impulse and the ease of access to, um, to these things, um, but since we have really decluttered our home a lot, we went through all of our drawers, went through jackson's stuff, we went through the laundry room, um, his toys, like we went through so much stuff.
Speaker 2:But the last two days is really well, three days every morning like we've gotten up, we've made our bed and it's just kind of framed my day. I'm like I'm proud of the house because it feels I can breathe easier and I feel like it's led to even at the office being more productive and being like there's just a desire to prioritize, I guess. So it's just even a mental space, but just the way that living in simplicity is not just less stuff but it's freedom to pursue the things that really matter most, I'd say. But it was. I was like, are you talking straight to me after the weekend that we had of just cluttering, decluttering our life? But it was really. It was again one of those nail on the head moments where it just spoke right to me.
Speaker 1:yeah, I mean the book in general. I've just found like so many things have just I don't know. It just speaks right to you, yeah, yeah. So my chapter was called Slowing and this chapter was less about it, didn't have as much scripture in it, but it had 20 practical suggestions to slow down your life. So he talks about us as a society being obsessed with speed and efficiency and just about everything we're doing. And it's not that efficiency or productivity again is a bad thing. I can't help.
Speaker 2:but think of your traffic. It's coming up, okay, it's literally coming up. I'm like no, okay, go.
Speaker 1:No. So I just like it's productivity efficiency are not bad things, right. But it's productivity efficiency are not bad things, right. But when it's prioritized above everything else, right. I keep seeing. I mean, my algorithm is crazy in tune with me because I see stuff all the time that's like here's an AI planner for your day, yeah, to efficiently make your schedule, and like it's going to do it all for you, and stuff like that, and it's just like this hyper, hyper efficiency model.
Speaker 1:But one quote I did want to share. He said again the truism we achieve inner peace when our schedules are aligned with our values. To translate to our apprenticeships to Jesus. If our values are life with Jesus and a growing in maturity toward love, joy and peace, then our schedules and the set of practices that make up our days and weeks, which together essentially constitute our rules of life, are the ways we achieve inner peace. So I talk with my students about this all the time. But it's that idea of it's fine to start with big overarching goals, long-term goals. Maybe you want to play in the New York staff band someday, but then how do you fill in the?
Speaker 2:five years that it takes to do that.
Speaker 1:Well, you probably need to practice every single day. You've got to do basic things. You probably need to audition and get into future all-stars. You need to be in that crowd. You probably need to attend Star Lake. You need to get into the Star Lake band. Okay, practical things. You probably need to move to New york, like. You want to play in the band you probably gotta like so I break that down my students all the time anyways goals this chapter is kind of it for me in this book, so here's I'm gonna go through quickly.
Speaker 1:Um, here are 20 suggestions to slow your life down on purpose. Number one drive the speed limit. Number two drive purposely in the slow lane and stay there. Double driving yeah. Hov for you. He says just rock it with grandma in the Oldsmobile.
Speaker 2:That's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he wants you to watch the scenery, yeah.
Speaker 2:Like see things that are passing you by, be present yeah.
Speaker 1:Number three come to a full stop at stop signs. No rolling stops.
Speaker 2:These are so practical. I really love this.
Speaker 1:I really love this. Number four I'm bad at this one and it's illegal. But don't text and drive, put your phone down. Number five show up 10 minutes early for an appointment without your phone. Get there early. Read the magazines in the lobby, Number six, and this would drive me crazy. Get in the longest checkout line at the grocery store.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 3:So any lane at Walmart?
Speaker 2:I move based on which one's moving faster. I know, I know, that's crazy.
Speaker 1:Here's what he says. Well, here's why I do it, and sometimes, not always. It's a way to slow down my life and deal with the hurry in my soul. It gives me a few minutes to come off the drug of speed. Here's something to pray, okay. Number seven Turn your smartphone into a dumb phone, he says. Take email off your phone, take social media off your phone, or, if you can't take those things off, set a certain time in your schedule where that's the only time you do those things. Number eight Get a flip phone. Okay.
Speaker 3:Yes, motorola Razr, let's go.
Speaker 1:Oh, I did those Razrs. Number nine parent your phone. Put it to bed before you go to bed and make it sleep in. Okay, so if you're going to bed at 11 o'clock that night, why don't you put that phone to bed at nine?
Speaker 3:Nice.
Speaker 1:Number 10, keep your phone off until after your morning quiet time. A lot of us use our phones for alarms, and then the first thing we do when we wake up is we check our phones, first thing, and if you're getting an email or a text message from work that you don't want to see. You're seeing it at 7 am yeah.
Speaker 1:Number 11, set times for your email. Number 12, set a time and a time limit for social media, or just get off of it. Number 13, this is interesting kill your TV and it kind of speaks to what I was just saying earlier. But TV is filled with a lot of garbage, a lot of uh lust, a lot of prioritizing of things that are not fulfilling to our lives, yep.
Speaker 1:Number 14, stop multitasking and instead single task. Okay, single task. Number 15, walk slower. I said just walk slower. Enjoy your surroundings, you don't need to hurry, walk everywhere. Number 16, take a regular day alone for silence and solitude. I think that speaks into making time for the Sabbath. 17, take up journaling. Number 18, experiment with mindfulness and meditation. Number 19, if you can, take long vacations, amen, said. We've kind of all gotten in the habit of and I literally just did this again like we just went to Atlanta for the weekend. So he says a lot of us go on weekend trips or we head down to the beach for a day or two, but this says take a long vacation if you can. And then, number 20, cook your own food and eat in.
Speaker 2:Timely for our fatness bracket yeah no, I just those.
Speaker 1:A lot of those suggestions again were uh practical things to slowly add up to a life that more resembles, yeah, jesus's pace, yeah, yeah, um, you guys have any like broad thoughts about this book in general?
Speaker 2:I think, just I have appreciated the approaches to practical ways to eliminate hurry, especially with the comparison between hurry and busy, like there's a difference. Um and how? Those eliminating some of those things and then adding things silence, solitude, sabbath, simplicity, how those things can cultivate deeper relationships, greater joys, more meaningful connections with the people and the situations around us. I think my inclination is walk fast and look like you have a purpose, so that you don't get stopped to do something else. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah but it's like that's kind of the opposite of what Jesus did.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think the thing that constantly resonates with me is that oh, I just lost it.
Speaker 1:I can go. If you want to try to grab it. Yeah, no, go ahead. So I've lost it. I can go. If you want to try to grab it. Yeah, no, go ahead. So I've read it, Like I said I think I've said in previous episodes like a lightning bolt of conviction.
Speaker 1:I felt that for the whole book, Same what. I have had trouble not I've had trouble putting anything into practice. I mean, we've been reading this book and so I guess I've kind of we all work for the Salvation Army. People out there listening may not work for the Salvation Army, I think in our work culture I guess I'm speaking for myself, but maybe you guys find similar themes I have blurred the line, I guess, between what I think the Salvation Army expects of me and what I expect of myself. So that line is pretty blurred and I can't tell anymore if it's my career that drives me to hyper prioritize efficiency and productivity and doing the biggest and best and the greatest, or if that's not what my job is asking of me and I'm just, that's just me, Right. That line has blurred for me and it's hard to untangle that Indistinguishable.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I think one of the things that we kind of talk off air a lot is like part of that entanglement is this idea of, like, when you're in these jobs in the army, whether it's an officer or an employee, like I mean, that's a whole lot of things in one, it's your, it's your friendships, it's your faith, it's your church, it's your career, so that kind of blurred line between who you are, what you're doing, yeah, the identity, who you're doing it for, like that, yeah, the identity kind of the whole thing, yeah, um, so anyways, that's a little bit off topic, but uh, I appreciate this book because I think it has put to paper a whole lot of things that we think about in scattered ways, and here's's like a very practical outline of like here's some issues with how we live our lives, and I think it at least is setting the goalposts that like it's kind of opened my eyes to. I guess I hadn't really thought about Jesus's life in this term, these terms, before an unhurried life. He was busy, but he wasn't in a hurry.
Speaker 1:He took time constantly to rest and to pray. And then that idea of what does it mean when he says follow me. What does that mean? Because you can do the things he does, but are you living like he lived? So that idea, follow me, follow me, follow me. I think that's been kind of an awakening for me. Yeah, I think that has kind of that's been a kind of awakening for me yeah, I was.
Speaker 3:I had watched a video and it was. It was based on a study that they had done of people who were, you know, nearing the end of their life and asking them, you know what are, what's the biggest regret? What's the biggest regret from your life?
Speaker 3:people that were responding were saying I just wish I had more time more time to be present with my family, more time to enjoy the beauty of nature and sunset, more time to pursue passions and things that I enjoy to do.
Speaker 3:And in reading this book, it's a reminder to me that the problem is not the lack of time there's plenty of time in my given day. But the problem is am I using my time well? And so how can I reprioritize, how can I reframe, how can I declutter and how can I make the most of those moments to be present with the things that matter, to be present in relationship with others, but first and foremost, to be present in relationship with the Lord. And I think that if we can get that into alignment, then everything kind of just falls into place. And so the challenge for me is not to beat myself up over how often I fall short, because this is a human problem, this is a problem with humanity, this is war with our flesh. But it's an encouragement and it's a challenge that it is possible. It is possible to live an unhurried life if we make the most of the time that we've been given, by centering it and posturing it in what matters most.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as soon as you said that life regrets. At the end, during our Halloween episode, I think I said my biggest fear is the passage of time and how you're using it, but yeah well. I've enjoyed're using it, but yeah, well, I've enjoyed this. Yeah, I have too. It's been good. It took us way too long to finish. Tiny book.
Speaker 3:Hey, we didn't want to hurry through it, we wanted to get slowing, slowing.
Speaker 1:Let's go. He got it. Good job, neen, he got it. If you've enjoyed following along with us, uh, in this book and, uh, we have had, um, several people let us know that they've been reading along um, just let us know. We like hearing from the people I almost said fans, but the people who are the listeners. If you're listening to the show and you've enjoyed, uh, reading this book with us, just let us us know. I think that, coming into the Easter season, we'll probably have some more material that we can go through together, and I think it's a helpful exercise for the three of us, let alone anyone else who's listening. I've just kind of enjoyed chatting with you guys about this. So, anyways, that is, that's a wrap. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer.
Speaker 2:Nice, well done, it was good. I don't think I'll ever look at a grocery line the same I know I'm going to think about it all the time. Yeah, If nothing else, I will take those things away from it. Oh man.
Speaker 3:So our Walmart side note, side note let's go for it. Our Walmart. They got rid self-checkout being like an unlimited amount. And so every self-checkout is now 15 items or less, and of course they have, you know, like three lanes that are open with people and like 25 self-checkout lanes, and so I'm always trying to sneak full carts into the self-checkout lane even knowing that it's 15 or less, and every time, every time they have like a bouncer who's like Nope, you got to go to that line and wait in line for 40 minutes.
Speaker 1:I was just about to say who goes to the self-checkout line with a full cart. That's never me.
Speaker 3:No, because I know that I can be astronomically faster than waiting in line. I would rather just bag my billions of groceries over waiting in line, Nate why don't you pray?
Speaker 1:Why don't?
Speaker 2:you stand in line and pray now. Now, you better choose the line that's all the way back through the women's clothing.
Speaker 3:I'm just going to wait in line and I'm just going to, hey, you know what, go ahead of me and I'm just going to see how long I can stay there. Can you get?
Speaker 1:video footage of this. I'm going to stick a GoPro on him.
Speaker 3:I'd really like to see you do that, let's do it. Anyways that's my tangent, that's my rant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I mean self-checkout lanes. There's an issue with that whole thing. In the stores there's not enough employees, there's not like it's a whole thing. Yeah, that's a whole other episode about how are any of us going to have jobs in 50 years, or is AI just going to do everything, everything. So, yeah, that's another episode we had of the plugged in podcast we had, like nate versus chat gpt yes, how much has chat?
Speaker 3:gpt grown since that episode. I bet now, now, that we should do it again, and this time would be way better because we played what 20 questions yeah and we like, but it was like pretty brand new and I don't think that you had like really done much in chat gpt to have it know you?
Speaker 1:yeah, now ChatGPT is like planning youth council. No, I'm just kidding, don't tell them.
Speaker 2:Our guest is actually AI, just kidding.
Speaker 1:Very good, alright. Well, this has been the PluggedIn Podcast, episode number 23. Great to have all of you with us today listening. Join us next time, episode 24. We're going to go through our March fatness bracket. Make sure you visit mass youth on Instagram to vote for those winners and it'll be a good time. So until next time, everyone wait, that wasn't my tagline it's been a while.
Speaker 2:We'll see you. That's what it is.
Speaker 1:We'll see you next time, get it.