You're Not The Boss of Me - Week 4 Discussion - Overcoming!

What does it look like to overcome? Today's discussion features conversation around what it looks like to overcome and how God can use that in our lives and the lives of those around us. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Welcome to Navigate, a podcast discussion from Tower Life Center, where we talk about how to navigate life, living as a follower of Jesus in a fallen and ever-changing world. Let's join the discussion.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Yo, how are we, team? Good morning. Yeah, we're here rocking. Down two crew members, but we do have a special guest in the house that gave the word yesterday as we ended our You're Not the Boss of Me part or week four in our series. One of my best friends, Mr. Sev Baxter, is in the house with us today.

SPEAKER_03 0:58

What a privilege it is to be here.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

I appreciate you guys having me on. Yeah, it's awesome to have you join us. And so we're down. Kyle and Amanda aren't able to join us this morning, but uh we're thankful that you're on and with us. So um you you got to share your a little bit of your testimony yesterday, which was awesome, as we kind of have been talking about um like current circumstances, our past, just um what how the Lord is working in these things, but ultimately, like whether it's emotions or um things that have um brought stuff into our life, they're not they're not the boss of us. And um I got the privilege of talking last week, and it was, you know, Jesus is the boss, the circumstances aren't the boss, but the circumstances hopefully can help lead us to the boss, and how God doesn't let anything, you know, he doesn't want bad things to happen to us, but he may he doesn't use anything um as a lost opportunity for us to just seek him and hopefully uh feel him. And you've had a lot of those experiences in your life um that have led you to um ultimately Jesus led you to being here today, um, which has been so cool to see that journey that the Lord has had you on and just the the things that he's used, uh the things that he continues to do in your life. Um so yeah, I'm looking forward to just diving in a little deeper and you talking about that. But yesterday when Seb started, there was a uh scenario where he asked six questions and to see like, hey, how do you actually do you know me? And um I feel like there's probably a lot of people that got maybe all six wrong. Yeah. Uh there's a lot of people maybe got half. I got five out of the six. Uh I think that'd be common, yeah. Yeah. And uh yeah, as you if you know seven, and seven's so intentional that like um it's awesome, like just to hear the story. But um the the one I got did not know was first Game Boy, or I just said it. The first council, uh portable like council. I was thinking maybe if I had to guess, I was gonna go either Nintendo or PlayStation. Mine was PlayStation. PlayStation 1? PlayStation 1. Never had the PS2 because then I remember it went from PlayStation and then I got a GameCube, which was sick. Love the GameCube growing up. See that startup screen with rolling around? Yeah, yeah. It was good. Um so tell us, like, we you shared this a little bit yesterday, but um the Game Boy scenario, like how that played a big kind of role in that part of your life.

SPEAKER_03 4:00

Yeah, I mean, I think of especially as a little kid, right? Like, what things hold the most value to you? Um, you know, usually it's your family dynamic at home, is the things that are consistent for you. Um, but I think the value is probably entertainment and like safety at that age. Um, and so for me, like that entertainment definitely came from that that Game Boy, right? Like I went outside and I played and all that stuff, but when I wasn't, like it was the reliable form of an entertainment that you could take anywhere, right? Like if it's a rainy day, I'm not going outside. Um, but I can always be inside playing my Game Boy. And so it was that reliable, safe thing that I knew I could rely on, and it provided yeah, it was fun.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Yeah, for sure. It was fun, and then you found out one day, like you're looking for this, it's gone, you can't find it. And that's when that first, like maybe a emotional roller coaster that you experienced in your life of like, hey, I thought this was safe, and now maybe like, oh man, this is gone.

SPEAKER_05 4:58

And uh, yeah, what do I do? Type thing.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

Again, just again, unexpected, right? Like uh, I'm sure I had emotional meltdowns that I can't remember from earlier on, but um, for whatever reason, that's the one that kind of stuck with me. I think because it was something that um led to you know this chain of events. Um and so yeah, when that was when I was gone, I just confused, not sure what's really going on. And then like I said yesterday on on stage on Sunday, it was like it it started this like stage of like, okay, I don't really know what's safe or who I can trust in the situation because these were the people that knew where this was and it no longer is. And so um it kind of rem or made me even at that point, I think, start relying on myself a little bit more. You know, again, I can't do too much as a six-year-old. Yeah. Um, but at that point it was like, okay, well, I don't know who to trust.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

For sure. And there's a lot of things that can play into that, and you you kind of talked. Um, so also fun fact, like Seb is a um guidance counselor uh now, and how the Lord has just like once again used his past and using it now to help others um navigate these different emotions. But you talked about aces, the adverse childhood experiences. And uh you want to talk through just some of those? Because as I was looking at that list, I was kind of like thinking, is how many were there? Is there nine? There's ten. Ten. Okay. And as you're like kind of looking at those ten, if you want to mention those, like I'm I was just thinking of like my own life, obviously. And then um we have our oldest daughter, um, she's been with us for almost three years, but I'm thinking about like um she's nine, so her first six years of life, I'm thinking about all the things that maybe she saw um or experienced in those six years of life that's I can tell like have an impact on her. So if you want to mention those and just kind of like um talk about like what the effects are of kind of those things as well. And we all like, you know, there's ten of them, and I think most people can relate with a lot of them, unfortunately, um, in today's world that we're in.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

Yeah, so I mean ACEs come from this study out in California. It's actually recent information in the last, you know, 15 years or so um where they they saw these problems coming up in these units, and it wasn't specific to um certain ethnic groups, it wasn't certain or specific to certain SES classes. Um, and so they they they investigated a little bit to try to see what they could do to help. And that investigation led them to discovering and uh you know, eventually naming these adverse childhood experiences and saying like these things have this strong detrimental impact towards health, um, specifically uh just different physical health factors. And you know, it's wild when we think about how prevalent it is, right? Like one in you know, what I say, two in every three people experience at least one of them in their in their life, and it's you know, two or one out of every six experience four or more, which four or more is again like that extra limit. It's like it's nothing else matters past that. Um, but uh it it it creates a different framework for how we people. I was talking to my wife on the way home yesterday, and she goes, you know, because I am familiar with it, she's like, I'm familiar with her, but it's she's like, I'm always reminded in situations like that how many people don't know about aces, right? Like how much it's like it's new information because they're not forced to understand relational dynamics the way that I am as a school counselor, or maybe you know, we are as in ministry, where we're always thinking through that framework. People don't think that same way. And so for this to be new information to people is sometimes surprising to me, but I I think about like how good it is for them to be exposed to that, to know that people are going through this, and then to start to go through a path of what can we do to help people in these situations that have experienced ACES to help reduce some of those um negative outcomes. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

That's good. Um, yeah, so I I love the getting some more knowledge on that because like you would you'd say uh most people have experienced at least four uh of those.

SPEAKER_03 9:24

So uh two out of every three experience one and then one in every six experience four or more. Yeah, that's wild.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

I mean, think about a room of you know, two hundred people that's a lot of people that experience you know, four or more of those. So yeah, that's that's crazy. But yeah, and then just this idea though, like I love um we're gonna talk a little bit about something that you mentioned about man, like how how we use just these different scenarios that the Lord um gives us, and instead of they they shape us, but ultimately they they form us to hopefully um draw near to him and and grow closer to him about this um acronym of tables. And we'll talk about that later on. But um before like I just want to thank you for opening up and and sharing yesterday um just the vulnerable side of what it can you know feel like in that. But I'm reminded of Revelation 12 and in verse um it's in 11. Um but actually I want to start in verse 10. It says, Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, it has come at last, salvation and power uh and the kingdom of God, the authority of his is Christ, and the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth, and the one who accuses them before our God day and night, they have defeated him by what we know is the blood of Jesus Christ, and then it says, and by the power of their testimony. And it's so cool to see how like once again, only through Jesus that I feel like you know, we can just have this vulnerability of sharing our testimony and and knowing just like how there's power in that. And um if you want to um, you know, uh just kind of share too about like um maybe this you you shared the verse, um Isaiah 64, verse 8, which is one that I love, and I think it paints this picture of how you know we like to um maybe have this perfect plan and how sometimes you know we want to be the um the potter per se. But um I know you mentioned it yesterday, you've got this um vase tattoo on your on your arm as kind of reminder of this. You want to share kind of about that? Because I think it goes into just this um imagery of what we like to control, but ultimately we know once again Jesus, Jesus is the boss.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

Yeah, I think it's right, like we're we're told all of our life, especially you know, me in a high school, but I think even before that, of like, what do you want to be when you grow up? We're we're we're s supposed to start these creative outlets, these ideas of perception of self, you know, in the world of psychology, it's um, you know, like they they literally define a period in your life of like this who am I question? Because, you know, that's important to start to discover those things. Um, but if they're not defined within boundaries, I think sometimes it gets too creative and too worldly in the way that we want to, you know, make our vase. We want to make it out of things that maybe vases shouldn't be a part of. Um we want to make it, you know, in a way that maybe is not the the most sustainable. And I think, again, like if if I'm not defining that on truth, on God's word, I think we get back to or I got back to a spot where I was trying to define my life on like who I wanted to be, not my past, and um wasn't looking forward, you know. I I think in this day and age you would say I'm I I didn't find the right YouTube video to to show me the the way to make this uh this vase, you know, to to throw the clay on the on the on the wheel and um you know make my pot. Um because it's yeah, I just I just didn't read the instructions and tried to do it by myself and it it ended up as a mess, and it took me a while to see that. You know, it's like when you come home as a as a little kid and you have this like wild art thing, and you know, I haven't seen it as a parent perspective, but it's like that's not really good art. Yeah. Um and the the parents like, oh, great job. Yeah. And it's like, you know, I feel like I was like with my vase. Exactly. Oh yeah. But I feel like I was like, oh, like, you know, my you know, my vase looks so great, and I and I question, I'm like, how many people saw my vase? And like, like it's not that's not awesome. You know, you know, maybe on the again on the on the outside, I think it could look okay. But um and I wish I would have gotten I wish I would have had more guidance, I think, growing up for people to inform me how to create that vase, or you know, people to uh fill me with God's word earlier on to help me define what that's supposed to look like because again, yeah, I was doing a lot by myself. Sure. Um, because that's what I trusted at the time.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Yeah. And school because like you've committed your life to like helping uh, you know, especially adolescents, like helping them process those decisions, emotions, next steps. Even as like a high school guidance counselor, it's a lot of like, okay, what do you want to um do as an air quotes like be when you're older, or what's the next step? But ultimately, I think it's like it's hard to know that if you don't understand truly who you are. And so the ps like the the point that you are, you know, in awareness of that is just like, man, what a blessing, right?

SPEAKER_03 15:11

I don't know if I said it yesterday, but I I think it's even less about knowing who you are, but more about knowing whose you are.

SPEAKER_05 15:17

Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_03 15:18

It's not about you know what you can do with your gifts and talents about where it's where God's going to use you the most. I was just talking to a high schooler this week as he's trying to figure out some college plans and he's like, I don't I don't know which one which place I should go. Well, you know, what's the what's the best choice for me? I was like, where are you gonna have some influence? Right? Where are you gonna be able to use God's word and where you can be able to speak up about that? Because God's gonna use you wherever you need to go. But for sure. Um, where are you gonna be able to have that influence to to be to be able to proclaim whose you are?

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Mm-hmm. For sure. Kind of reminds me of what we've been what we were talking about in youth, like this this idea of like, man, God wants to do these things with you. And it's not so many times we like, oh, I want to do this for God, or I, you know, want to do this like under God, but it's it's like this idea of like, no, he wants to do these things with you, and when you do them with him, if you have him at the center, like you'll you'll be good, and I I believe they will be fruitful uh in that. And it kind of reminds me of the question that you asked yesterday. Um, it was so good, and I think we can all kind of relate to this, but the the fact that man, it's difficult to commit your life to Jesus when your primary goal isn't actually to commit your life to Jesus. So, like, I think so many times, like, you know, it it sounds cute, like man, I want to follow Jesus, I'm gonna commit my life to Jesus, but then we have to look at our life and think, like, what are we actually committing to? And if we're not, then what how do we have to reevaluate that? So the question was like, so what else have you committed your life to? I'm gonna read that one more time. It says, it is difficult to commit your life to Jesus when your primary goal isn't actually to commit your life to Jesus. So, what else have you committed your life to? And I think that's just something that like hopefully as listeners, as you know, I'm listening to that question as well, that we can just kind of soak in and think like, man, what what is it that I'm like choosing to almost like make more of a priority um than not to say like once again I'm going back to that youth analogy of our um series with that we were in, not to say like um we have to do something for him because he wants to do it with us, but essentially like there is like um a cost with anything we do in life.

SPEAKER_03 17:59

I think there's something to add to this of like it can be difficult to identify this, even if after you've spent some time kind of thinking through it. Yeah, it's like identify the you know two or three people that know you the best and then ask them this question, right? Like, hey, you know what I've gone through in my life, what does it seem like I've committed my life to? Like where am I spending my time and my priorities, and um have them identify those things for you and then take a minute to not be defensive about their answers.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

That's the hardest part, yeah. Because even if it is someone that you give that space to, like, we have to, you know, truly be unoffendable of like this, and like it doesn't even like define our relationship. Like, I don't want you to think like, yeah, I'm gonna think any less of you as you you say that, but truly let it be something that man, you know that the Lord once again, Isaiah 64, that he's forming that that beautiful pot, that that imagery of um just what he is wanting to make. And I think sometimes that's the best way to do it, obviously, is we know like life with others and a Christ-centered community is so key to spiritual growth. Right. Um but man, that can be tough.

SPEAKER_03 19:21

Yeah, yeah, that community is super important. I don't think that you could really identify a lot of these things by yourself.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Yeah. Yeah. So I read that and it was like, well, of course, my primary goal is to have a relationship with Jesus, but where are my priorities? And I think it's a great idea what you said. Like, what would my friends say my priorities are? Or what would a coworker say my priorities are? Yeah. And might not like that answer. Yeah. Wow. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it's a journey. It's not gonna be easy all the time. It is.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

That's for sure. It is. Yeah. Even like putting yourself in that scenario right now of you creating that safe space for somebody to answer that question, I feel like just makes me a little uncomfortable. Yeah. Like, um, I I want that and I want that positive feedback because I know it's gonna um help me become a better individual or more importantly, follower of Jesus Christ. And but I think when you like hear those words, like so many times you're just like, oh man, what is it? Like, is it gonna be something that I'm not even aware of? And like, ooh, it kind of just like makes you feel a little gross. But I think um it reminds me of like the analogy you shared yesterday with um sub said, like, and when he'll talk to high school students, he'll be like, Um, you know, say I made a ham sandwich for lunch and I left it, left it on my desk um for four hours before I eat it. Is it safe to eat it still? Does it have mayonnaise? Question number one, is there mayonnaise? And and some students he said will be like, ew, no, gross. And then others are like, yeah, that's completely fine. And he's like, well, good, because that's my game plan. I'm gonna eat it. But you know, say he's having that same conversation, but instead of four hours later, it's a day later, um, you are now like, hey, I'm that sandwich has been in my drawer from yesterday. Is it safe to eat? Once again, high school students, maybe 50%, are like, it's cool. Yeah, step slinging. Probably not, especially if there's mayonnaise involved.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Faminella sandwiches.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

Yeah, we don't need Sal. Sal and his friend Manila coming in. But then on top of it, uh, maybe he puts it into an analogy of like, okay, a week goes by, then maybe we'll let about a month, and um, and then you know, it just gets nasty, and maybe it's it's continues to just like smell in there. And the analogy was it's just You can't just um close the drawer and expect the smell to go away. Um you can't even just like take it out of the drawer and throw it in the trash can. And you can't even necessarily take out of the drawer, throw it in a dumpster outside. There still has some work to be done in the drawer of cleaning and disinfecting it. And that's what I think about when we talk about that question of just like allowing this people to speak life into us.

SPEAKER_05 22:31

Um to call out what is what is necessary.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

And if we don't have that, like there there might be a little stink, you know, that naturally just is around. Um and I think the only way to truly answer this question is like you said, um, reflect on it on your own, but then also like man, have some have some people that speak life into that and be ready to receive that criticism well.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

Yeah. I know I did I I gave the analogy uh yesterday quickly with that example of you know you go into grand grandma's house, grandpa's house, and like it smells in there and they have no idea. Like, one, does your nose not work? Yeah, uh, but two, it's like, yeah, you you sit in something for so long you don't see the problem anymore. You don't see the issue and you get comfortable with it. And it, you know, I think then at maybe at some point you do see an issue and then it gets overwhelming to think about changing it, and so you learn to live with it, right? Instead of trying to make a difficult decision, like I said, of you know, in the drawer, it probably doesn't smell as bad. You know, right right now I'm you know, with the twins, like in the diaper pail, it doesn't smell so bad, but when we open that thing up, come on, somehow uh yeah, we're feeling it. So, um, but I I know that I have to open that up. I know that I have to have the right tools, I know that I need to act, you know, in some way kind of quickly um to be able to effectively clean things and get back to a spot where I can be healthy and grow or I can use that drawer again, right? Like I don't want to, I was probably taking up space in other areas because I wasn't using that drawer for its purpose. Right. How true is that of our life though, when you know we have this hurt in the way we see relationships, and instead of dealing with that, we put relationships into other things, or we put um, you know, a relationship with you know, the this relationship we're probably wanting from God, we put it into worldly things, we put it into people, we put it into this these other areas because we've filled our drawer of relationship with you know something we need to clean out. Yeah, I'm sure. But we're we're not wanting to, we're not we don't have the tools to um to to do that effectively, for sure.

SPEAKER_05 24:47

And just like I think about even two, sometimes we just have this space in our life and maybe it's not something that is bad that we're putting in there, but there's a better thing.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

You know, like maybe the sandwich shouldn't go in the drawer in the first place. Like fill it with something that is going to be better. Maybe you have a little downtime in your day instead of just, you know, spending it you're doing something, but maybe you're filling time around it. Like, man, is there is there a better way that you could spend that little time um that's allowing you to just like um help yourself like process your own things, spend time with the Lord. And when I say spend time with the Lord, maybe it's not even just like maybe it's not opening your Bible or sitting silently by yourself, but maybe you're doing something, and as you're doing it, you're just talking to God about it and like just a a space that is just um sacred no matter what you're doing. And that's what kind of going to this last part here of um, you know, obviously the whole series has been you're not the boss of me. And hopefully we realize like, hey, Jesus is the boss, he is the only one who can save us from this six-foot hole that we're all going to experience death one day. He's the only one that can offer eternal life, he's the only one that took the beatings and lashings for us, went to the grave, rose. So he is the boss. Um, and hopefully, hopefully we recognize that. But and and through that, he has saved us, but yet, like, just like any scenario, like we go, we go to work and we work for the boss. And uh in this special scenario, too, we get to it's kind of cool. We get to, like I mentioned, we get to work with the boss, you know, and what an what an honor that is. So talk to us about um, I mentioned it at the beginning, but this uh acronym of tables and how we get to go to work for the boss with the boss and serve with him.

SPEAKER_03 26:58

Yeah, I mean, even before that, right? Like, you know, we get to work with the boss, but like biblically we were called to be a servant, right? Like if we if we want to be, if we want to, you know, whoever wants to be first wants to be last. Yeah, we're called to be last, but we're also called to serve just as the man of God uh came to serve, right? He didn't come to be served. Um, and we're called for that same life to put ourselves in that second scenario where it's not about our priorities, but instead of like what we can do for others. Um and so yeah, I think that table analogy does an incredible job to remind us, okay, like, or not even just remind us, but like help us check in with ourselves. Right. That's where where I think some of the giftings of some of these analogies are is like, okay, like they're easy things to think about. Um, when I read this the first time, it was during like Thanksgiving time about going into some family situations that are not always the best thing. And it's like, okay, well, I'm when I sit down at a table, hopefully I think of this table analogy, right? It's like, how can I spark my mind to think about I don't just want to go and sit in the other room and watch football, you know, which is sometimes what I can do. Yeah. Um, but instead I need to try to be intentional with it. If the purpose is to commit commit myself to Jesus, commit my life to Jesus, to follow him, that way ultimately I can share my testimony or you know, uh use that as a resource to help people get to know Jesus better too. Right. You know, it allows us to be in deeper, vulner more vulnerable, but deeper honest relationships with people too.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

Yeah. Um, which fosters good environments. Yeah, and fostering or having some like uh awareness around that too. Like just like my energy is a little depleted right now. I don't want to have this conversation or I don't want to do this thing. Like I think inviting the Holy Spirit into that, like, Lord, what what needs to happen here and just guide this moment as maybe I am just I want to go sit in the other room and just absorb my own, you know, whether it's football, whatever it might be, but do I need to have time with others? Man, what questions do I need to ask? How do I how do I bless this person with hopefully words that are not just dry breadcrumbs from Brad, but like living, breathing words of of God that is in his word and promise throughout scripture, or you know, uh, I don't know, and just or sharing your testimony, like those are the the table aspects. But um, and I think when we try to do it on our own, that's what that's when it becomes really exhausting.

SPEAKER_05 29:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:34

Um, I mean, like Jesus gave us the gave us the example that we're not supposed to be at the table by ourselves. Yeah. Right. Right? You know, that's we're right. He invited the people in to sit at the table. That's why he invited or he went to eat dinner, to eat meals, to be with people um at those tables rather than just, you know, going home. He didn't say, Hey, we had a good day at work, I'm gonna go home and you know, eat dinner by myself. Right? Like he went out and was like engaged in things. Um, but so often again, I think our culture can say, I had a hard day at work, I just need to sit home and and be by myself and turn everything off. And it's like our fulfillments are um energy levels, you know, obviously it's a little bit different, but our energy levels are not supposed to be made to be filled up by being by ourself. It's like the opposite, but our culture has like ruined that for us. Um, and so like getting back to the root of okay, like let's use this opportunity to be with people as a way to encourage them, but like encourage ourselves too. Right?

SPEAKER_02 30:34

Like, yeah, it's almost just like once again, another scheme from the enemy, like this counterfeit. It's like we're watching people maybe on our device, or like even we're watching people who like are in our life, and for a short time we're like enjoying it, but then it like sucks the life out of us when we like whether it's compare or um I don't know, it is just a wild like we're we're constantly like watching people, whether it's on TV or on our phones or on our social media, and it's like we think it's filling us up, and then it just leaves us like empty. But I guarantee you, like, you know, if we were just around those people and not watching the people, it would bring us more truly like dissatisfaction. Um not to say we have to go do do do do do, like, you know, it's there's there's a balance to it, but not just absorbing just these things around us to try and bring us satisfaction.

SPEAKER_05 31:38

Um that's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

Um when I think about this analogy to um you mentioned um yesterday a little bit of this, but I got the privilege of meeting your youth pastor through the the church camp we've been going to now. Um shout out Impact Next Gen coming at you July 13th through the 16th. Can't wait for that. Um but I got to meet Jeremy um in this you know journey here uh with with those things and uh you shared one time with me of just like him just like holding on to like maybe this analogy of like the thread of your shirt, even like when it'd be easy to just like let go or like when you um didn't even maybe acknowledge the fact that I don't care if he's here or not, maybe um like he made an impact by just spending time with you. Um maybe asking some questions that no one ever has asked you before. Um maybe it was just like him being a good listener, um, blessing you with God's word, whatever. And you want to speak kind of into that just a little bit on what that looked like firsthand when somebody has just like showed up, even when you expected them not to.

SPEAKER_03 33:03

Yeah, I think there's there's two points to this. Um I think to start with it, right? Like to continue with a little bit of the testimony from yesterday of No, I I left the juvenile detention center and I lived with my mom. And um, when we did that, we moved into a different city, I went to a different school. And so like the little bit of community and and friends that I felt like I had in those places was then ripped out and taken away. And, you know, even this relationship that I started to develop with my youth pastor at that point was, you know, I I wasn't able, I was I lived an hour and a half from that church now. And so, you know, I wasn't going to youth, but I would still get some text from Jeremy, right? He would still check in to see how things were going on. He'd still encourage me to come to camp. He would still like it was like those extra small things. And it's not like he was doing it every day or every week. Um, you know, sometimes it'd be a little while before he'd reach out and say something again. And I think that's fine. I think sometimes we can put pressure on ourselves, like, well, if I'm investing, I gotta be, you know, everything. Yeah. And it's like it's it wasn't that it was like this consistent of like, you have no, like I'm not even a part of your youth group right now. Like, why are you still like reaching out and like checking in on me? Um, and I think that like that followed up with like, yeah, then it was I would go to youth group on a Wednesday night and then it would be like, Hey, do you want to go play disc golf? And like he would text me, be like, I'm getting a group group of guys together just to go play disc golf together. And it's like, again, it was just engaging and like being part of our life. It wasn't like, hey, we need to go have the have this like tough conversation, or we need to go like go to this Bible study. It's like, let's just go do life together. Um and like that's the whole premise. I think of like tables, but like that's the whole reason I think I got to have a better idea of who Jesus was, was because I think he displayed that so well. And just I think of like clips from the chosen where like Jesus is like hanging and like playing games with the kids. Right? It's like it's in those moments where it's just seems like this is how life should be, because I think it's like that's how life should be. But we try to manipulate those things into being so much so much pressure. Um I think the the flip side of that one I want to show, I want to make sure that I mention is it took me a little while after I went into college, you know, I still checked in with Jeremy, he still checked in with me, those types of things, but I still had to separate this idea of man and and God, right? Like, not that I saw Jeremy in that way, um, but I think it was really easy too, because like that was the most consistent thing for me. And so knowing that like, hey, he's he's super important towards me developing my relationship with Jesus, but it's about my relationship with Jesus that like man will still fail. That like people that I put my hope and trust to into things of this world will still fail. Yeah um, but that's not it's not about that, it's about trying to then forgive and to love and to ultimately again be rooted back in Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

It's so good. I love it. Yeah. Well, as we kind of anything that we want to add before we kind of I love um, I want to end with these uh questions that you kind of challenged us with at the the end, but anything to add to the conversation that wasn't mentioned or anything along those lines?

SPEAKER_01 36:19

No, I thought it was interesting when you talked about Jeremy reaching back out and that it wasn't always every day. You know, sometimes I feel like God puts a name on my heart or like somebody I haven't talked to for a long time. It's like, I should see what's going on with them.

SPEAKER_06 36:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

And a lot of times I don't. And I don't know, is that is that the word of God that I just miss? Like, is that him trying to use me to get in touch with somebody that probably needed it?

SPEAKER_03 36:45

Yeah, at the end of the day, like why? Yeah, you know, what's the worst that could happen if you didn't?

SPEAKER_02 36:49

Right. Because I think so much too is and what I understand more as I grow in my relationship with Jesus and my faith is like so much like he wants to use his children to talk to his children. Yep. And maybe it's his children that don't even yet know him, you know. Um he he's working in us through us to show this love. And whether it's through Jeremy and now it's now it's of it's through you to different high school or middle school students. And you know, so I think I want to challenge us, like uh and myself included in this. Um man, when God puts someone on your mind, like I want to do a better job at just like it's man, it's been it's been a year or two. Yeah. So what? Yeah, like send the message. Send the message, make the phone. Yeah, exactly. Yep. Send, yeah, whatever it is, a voicemail, a phone call, a text message, an audio text. I think that's I think that's intentional and uh how the Lord wants to use us in those regards.

SPEAKER_03 37:56

But yeah. Um before you end, Brad, here, I think that the only thing I want to add to it, right? The end of that table is like share your own testimony. And I think sometimes, again, you can it can almost be easy to do this other thing, and it's like I just don't know if I want to approach that that conversation. I don't know how to. I don't I I feel like they may reject me here. Um I struggle, I struggle with this. I think I struggled with it for a while. Um, I think finding a way to bring those things into conversation, it's like I don't know how to start this, but once we start it, then it feels a little bit more natural. Um, and I think for me personally, like that was a lot of my reasons for some of my tattoos, right? Is like, let me get these tattoos to spark conversation.

SPEAKER_04 38:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:37

Let me, you know, people are feel comfortable asking, oh, did cool six sleeve, like cool tattoos there. And then it's like, okay, here's a stepping stone. It's like I wired in my brain of like, okay, people talk about my tattoos. Let me then take the step to um, you know, talk about why I have them or what they mean or like what they are to me or or how that could relate to their life. And so, you know, sharing a testimony or or talking about Jesus doesn't have to be like, okay, like here, let me open up the Bible and and and show you this and you know, give you all the rules and and what this says. It's you know, it's doing the rest of tables, but it can be through different ways that you share that testimony and you you talk about Jesus as well.

SPEAKER_02 39:17

For sure. And so good. I think you saying that just reminds me too of like how powerful it is for us to reflect on our own testimony, like seeing where God where you were and where God has led you or all of us like in our own testimonies is so powerful, like reflecting back on what he has done and what he's continuing to do. And then like, you know, to think to think like, you know, we're you know, roughly 30-ish here, Seb and I. And same with yeah, and then sure, yeah, and then Zach's got some a couple of years on us, but like just looking back though, like where he had you, where he's taken you, and then like how the next 20 years there's gonna almost be like there's still the testimony, but like almost this new man, look what God has done, and look what he's continuing to do is kind of awesome. You know, so um he's always teaching us something, is what I'm learning. Um, so you want to just share like with the crew, the listening, um, just kind of those questions that um we need to do in order to work for the boss.

SPEAKER_03 40:40

Yeah, and again, like I think where you're at in your life right now, it may not be an answer to all these questions. I think sometimes that can feel like a lot as well. And so maybe it's just identifying one of them, maybe it's a few, maybe it's all of them, kind of depending where you're at in your life. But you know, question number one, what emotion do you need to submit? You know, identify that emotion, get help identifying that emotion, and then submit to it and just get an idea of where where you're at with that, uh, and if it needs to be redefined with what Jesus says is the truth. What past experience do you need to stop letting define you? What current experiences do you need to armor up for? What what what truth do you need to help get you through the things that you're going through right now? And then what tables can you serve at? Where can you go and spend your time and be intentional and have an opportunity to share it about Jesus with someone else?

SPEAKER_02 41:32

Yeah. So good. So good. Well, hey, thanks for tuning in. Uh let's pray together. And um we just, God, we thank you so much for just the power of the blood of Jesus Christ that we get to have a relationship with you um in the midst of this life and in the midst of the trials that come or the troubles we might feel like we're in. Father, we know that you are the boss. And uh I just am so thankful that we have that power, we have the power of your blood, but then also, Lord, that you want to use the power of our testimony to help just speak life and and share what you're doing in the midst of um these battles or these things that uh happen in life. So, Father, we're just so thankful. And we know that life with you, Lord, is filled with peace. We can have a joy that doesn't make sense at times, even in the midst of um the uncircum or just the uncertainties of this of this scenario. But um, and we love you and we just thank you, and we pray this in your name. Amen. Amen. Awesome. Have a great week, guys. See you next week.