Growing Together
Step into a virtual garden of spiritual growth and community connection with the "Growing Together" podcast. This podcast is a nurturing space for individuals seeking to deepen their faith, cultivate relationships, and explore the boundless beauty of a shared spiritual journey.
Each episode of "Growing Together" is a breath of fresh air, where Pastor Michael, Syd, Nic, Pastor Holly, and Pastor Roger try to navigate the twists and turns of life while staying rooted in faith. Their warm and inviting presence makes you feel like you're sitting in a cozy living room, engaged in a heartfelt conversation with old friends.
Diving into topics ranging from personal growth and self-care to building resilient relationships and fostering a sense of community, the podcast aims to equip listeners with the tools to nurture their faith in all aspects of life. Through scripture readings, open discussions, and interviews with experts in various fields, "Growing Together" provides a holistic approach to spiritual development.
Whether you're a lifelong believer, a seeker on the spiritual path, or simply someone curious about how faith can shape lives, "Growing Together" offers a welcoming haven for everyone. Tune in during your morning routine, while taking a leisurely stroll, or even during a quiet moment of reflection – the podcast fits seamlessly into your daily life.
Join the "Growing Together" community and embark on a journey of discovery, growth, and genuine connection. In a world that can sometimes feel disconnected, this podcast reminds us that nurturing our faith and cultivating meaningful relationships can lead to a life that's deeply fulfilling and spiritually abundant. Subscribe now to start your journey of growing together in faith and fellowship.
Growing Together
Can You Continue to Pour Out From an Empty Well?
Okay, so wife and I were supposed to go away this past weekend, but we got.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I we booked it through bookingcom.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Bookingcom. So I had to change the dates. Plain time to do it. I did it, everything looks good, and then all of a sudden I got charged like $167. Like okay. So I called the hotel and right away I mean these—.
Speaker 3:Nope, the hotel can't help you.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's what they said, but they were very rude.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, we hate third-party booking. Because here's the problem with third-party booking we don't control their policy, we can't help you, so they will call us and say so, go ahead yeah.
Speaker 1:So on bookingcom, it tells you okay, message the property.
Speaker 3:So I messaged them like three or four times and they'll yeah, that's pretty common too, because we don't actually get those messages so you have to go look for them so. So if somebody is on their A game and they may log into Expedia or booking regularly, then they would see those, but if you're not logged in you don't see them. When I was the GM at my current property, I was logged in on my phone, so it was like a text message almost, and so the app had a messaging platform inside of it and you could message there. Most properties like if it's a Choice property, a Hyatt property, a Wyndham property those are all managed by a call center, typically not directly through the property. Most chain hotels don't manage that at a hotel level, usually somewhere at a corporate level.
Speaker 1:So long story short, it was a very painful problem.
Speaker 3:Did you get your money back?
Speaker 1:They've sent me a receipt for, but it's still not in my bank account, okay, so I'm just waiting. Yeah, but the other part of it was because I got so which I kept my cool good for you I didn't yell at anybody, didn't? You know, wasn't unchristian. Believe me, I had to or mark there was plenty of times I just wanted to lose it Because they were just like. I couldn't even get like an apology from them. No, exactly, they did not care at all.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So it got to the point where I told Bookingcom because I was on the phone with them.
Speaker 3:I'm going to charge it back.
Speaker 1:I said I want to cancel the new dates because I do not want to stay at that hotel. I said they haven't been able to help me at all. They don't want to help me, just the whole experience has been bad. Therefore, I don't want to stay there. So what I want to see happen is I want you to cancel the new dates and I do not want to be charged a cancellation fee. Well, to get that all straightened out, I don't know how many times I've bing-bonged between Bookingcom and the hotel, but I finally talked to the manager today and that was the thing.
Speaker 3:I'm leaving her messages on her on her, but she knows you're going to yell at her. She assumes you're going to yell at her. Anytime somebody from Bookingcom calls you, put on your boxing gloves before you even answer the phone.
Speaker 1:Seriously, and I was really nice with her. Yeah, and finally, you know she, you know she finally answered the phone and I just explained to her what happened and she just said, yeah, she goes. Uh, if you end up getting the cancellation, can you just call us and we'll straighten it out, but it's just been a horrible five-day experience trying to get my money back.
Speaker 3:Book direct, always book direct.
Speaker 1:But I've used Bookingcom for years.
Speaker 3:Never had a problem. But here's the challenge, though, is if a hotel has a different cancellation policy because they run off of our cancellation policy. We have a 24-hour cancellation policy, but we have a new rate that is nonrefundable. So let's say you know you're coming this weekend and that is non-refundable. So let's say you know you're coming this weekend and you book a non-refundable rate with me. It is less expensive than booking a refundable rate, right, okay? And the reason we do that is we collect your money up front and it's ours whether you show up or not. Okay. So let's say you do that, but then you get sick and can't come. That money's still mine, right?
Speaker 3:So some hotels have policies where you only have 72 hours to cancel, or 48 hours to cancel, whatever. If you're outside of that and some of them are seven days. If you're outside of that, they take the first night regardless. They get that first night regardless, and it's because they've held the room and they need to be able to sell it to somebody else and likely that first night they're not selling to somebody else. So when you stay in one of our cabins, when you pay us, you get nothing back ever. Cancel, don't show up, we don't care, and the reason is is they're unique, so it's one of a kind. You're not like if you book a stay in a tree house and you want to cancel it the day before your arrival, it's hard to sell that stay to somebody else in less than 24 hours. So we're just like, even if you call within 14 days, we're no go. Sorry, gift it to somebody and we will offer you a gift certificate, but you're not getting your money back, right?
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, it is a nightmare. Third, but you're not getting your money back, right? So yeah, oh yeah, it is a nightmare.
Speaker 3:Third-party booking is always really bad, though. From a hotel standpoint, we hate it. We hate it. Okay, hate it Because a lot of times people will book through bookingcom or Expedia and they'll say want a room facing the pond. At my current hotel that would be the backside of the building, but the room type that they booked there isn't one of those on the backside of the building anywhere. The only thing I can give you is the front side. Now, I could have told you that had you called me directly, but I can't tell you that through bookingcom. I have no way of giving you the request. And a lot of times people get on bookingcom, book two rooms and say I want my rooms adjoining.
Speaker 4:But you don't have.
Speaker 3:Well, if that, if those two room types don't have adjoining doors, I can't do that. So, like in our hotel, it's our encore suite. So the biggest room that we have, which is on the far right end of the hallway, and it's a two queen deluxe room which is right next to it, they have a door that connects the two. We have that on floor seven, six, five and five, four and three, not on two. Okay, so three through seven. So we only have a limited number and it's the only rooms in our hotels that are joined. So if you book two, two queen deluxe rooms, I can't give you a joining rooms and then they get there. Well, I requested a joining rooms. Well, I can't knock a freaking hole in the wall. So I don't know what to tell you. And we've I mean I've told people that I'm like I understand that was a request, but understand that it is simply that yeah it's a request.
Speaker 3:If I can't honor it, I can't honor it.
Speaker 1:So it's crazy, it's always like booking, because most of the time I'm I'm trying, I'm booking a hotel months in, yeah, whether it was gettysburg or when we went to Florida, like we're planning a trip but something could happen. So I like the option that, yeah, you have until like three or four days before you go. You could still cancel it, so it's nice to have that.
Speaker 3:But most hotels will give you that too.
Speaker 1:I've never had a problem. This is the first time I've ever encountered this.
Speaker 3:Most of the hotels will give you that too.
Speaker 1:Will they?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the guest house at Graceland also has non-refundable rates, so you just have to watch what you're booking Like. When I booked my hotel for East Dock, they had non-refundable rates and refundable rates. I picked a refundable rate. I'll pay the extra 15 bucks Because if something happens and I can't go, you know, whatever I want to make sure I can get my money back and they have a 24-hour cancellation policy. As long as they cancel 24 hours before check-in. They don't charge me anything up front, but there's no penalty for it.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I'll just have to go that route for now. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's find your hotel, book it direct.
Speaker 5:I don't know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, always book. What yeah oh?
Speaker 5:yeah, okay, hey, forewarning would be nice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, I don't like to forewarn.
Speaker 5:Oh, no, no, I don't like to forewarn, that takes the fun out of it.
Speaker 1:I can get sponsored by.
Speaker 3:Bookingcom.
Speaker 5:No, Bookingcom.
Speaker 3:Well listen, even if they called and wanted to sponsor us, I'd be like no, that's like making a deal with the devil a lot of patience.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:I also, so Expedia is the same way. Expedia owns hotelcom, like a bunch of the weird ones.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, I did.
Speaker 3:What.
Speaker 4:I laughed at it. Oh, I can't, I can't repeat it oh okay, that's why.
Speaker 3:That's why she asked yeah, yeah, that's why they handed the phone down.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's why they handed the phone down. Today we have a guy that's retiring in 14 days and he has his work email is linked. He has a personal Airbnb it's one room attached to his home but it's on Expedia Well, both of those accounts. When he signs in, he has to sign in under his work email, which he's obviously going to lose when he retires in 14 days. So we were trying to separate it for him. Expedia made that so difficult. I had to send him like six request emails to add him to the account and it was a nightmare. But everything is like that with all third-party booking sites.
Speaker 4:So could your owners like opt out of Expedia? Absolutely, absolutely. Have they thought about it?
Speaker 3:Well, yes, but the only reason that we don't and our bookingcom and Expedia shares are very low, like it's less than 3% of our monthly bookings are Expedia and booking. 90% of ours are direct bookings through our website. And then we offer Google Hotel so you can book through Google. We have booking, expedia and then obviously, hotels and all of those we used to do Groupon. You want to talk about a nightmare? That's worse than doing bookingcom and you knew when a Groupon booking came through, you were in for it every time because they would book on booking and we only offered our standard queen room on Groupon. It was the only room that we offered. But you have pictures of your property on there and so there are pictures of rooms with jacuzzis, there are pictures of rooms with couches, and every time they would come in and they would complain, but their email said you were getting a standard two-queen deluxe. They just they never read it.
Speaker 2:Must be Roger.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, where is the best place to go online? Say I want to book a hotel in Jacksonville Florida?
Speaker 4:Google, google. I was going to say Google it.
Speaker 3:Dr Google, google it and find out. So let's say you want to go to Jacksonville, you Google hotels in Jacksonville, it'll bring you up the map, you figure out where you want to be and how close you want to stay and you can click on them and it'll show you their rates for Expedia Booking and, a lot of times, direct.
Speaker 3:And then you just go to their actual website and book your stay. I have, and all the times, and I'm sure at some point we have used Bookingcom before we knew any better. But once I've learned how hard it is because you just don't know what you're going to get there's no guarantee You're going to get a bid.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's about it.
Speaker 1:yeah, it could be in the basement I never had a problem before this first time.
Speaker 4:I ever had a problem maybe I was gonna say maybe even look into either, like doing all hotels of like either marriott or the holiday inn express like points, you can get points that way I had marriott for a while and then we just got a credit card to like pay. I know I know it was to pay. Actually it was to pay my sister's bachelorette thing. And then I'm having all the girls pay me back and I'm like, but I get points yeah, so now I get free nights from the points yeah, now listen, I get points that I'll never use and they'll expire.
Speaker 4:I've already booked two of those nights though, so it's kind of paying for itself anyway.
Speaker 3:Just as a fun dose of fact for you guys, my wife and I are officially debt free, with the exception of our house. We paid off our car today, made the final payment today. It was $7,651. It was the hardest button to ever push in my life, I bet, because we moved that from our savings account to pay it off because we were realizing that we only had a year left on it but we were going to pay over $1,000 in interest over that year. Well, if I'm sitting on the money in the savings account, why don't I save the interest and just knock the thing out? So that's what we did. But man, it feels good, feels good. I think our car payment was. It was under $500, but we always paid 525 and the extra went to the principal. So we were already going to pay it off early. But yeah, and now that extra money is going to the savings account to build back up our three to six months and then, once that's done, we're going to start putting that extra 550 a month on the principal of the house.
Speaker 4:There you go.
Speaker 3:I'm going to pay off my house in half the time 15 years, paying it off in 15 years.
Speaker 4:You just paid off your car, and then I just got a new car today.
Speaker 3:A new one today.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the Ford Bronco was too small for Cooper.
Speaker 3:Really.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:What'd you get?
Speaker 4:I was hoping a CRV, it's a 2019.
Speaker 3:Of course you did.
Speaker 5:It's not. It's bigger than the yeah, it's that the white one.
Speaker 4:No, it's clear down there it's like a sandstorm color, okay, um, but it's mainly like the door space, like oh yeah opening up the door and actually, like the, the passenger um seat was all the way, like all the way back as it could, and when I put cooper in there, he still I had no problem, like, whereas the bronco I had to like, pull that forward, my knees were like, like.
Speaker 3:I'll be honest, my Jeep was the same, really. Yeah, my Jeep Overland, I mean even like a regular car seat or a booster seat Once you put the seat in and the kid got in, their knees were hitting the back of whatever seat they were behind.
Speaker 2:Like it. Yeah, and they were kicking it.
Speaker 3:Well, my kids never kick the seats, but Adeline will put her feet on and then push, so that's yeah, she can't now, her legs are too long, but she used to do that a lot. All right, nick, I have to kick it over to you because I don't exactly remember how to word this topic, because we tossed a lot of ideas back and forth on what do we call this, how do we?
Speaker 1:Here's how I came up with this topic. I was listening to Johnny Cash talk about just his whole process of songwriting and he says you know, songwriting is not like, it's an occupation, unlike anything else. You know you can't say when I go, you know most people can say well, when I go to work on Tuesday, I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that, you know, I'm going to accomplish this. He said, now, with songwriting, you can't say on Tuesday, I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that, and you know I'm going to accomplish this. He said now, with songwriting, you can't say on Tuesday, I'm going to go in and write five songs. Right, it doesn't work that way.
Speaker 1:He says, and a lot of times he says I have to I have to be filled up, my cup has to be full, I have to be inspired in order to do it. I can't do it when you know my cup's not full. And I thought oh, you know, that's an interesting idea, because I wonder, you know, for a lot of people, you know, how can you be an inspired person? How can you be productive, how can you be positive if your cup's empty? How can a lot of people go through life with an empty cup?
Speaker 5:And so many do how is that possible?
Speaker 1:Because I can't, you know. I'll admit that since I've taken that test, I feel like I emptied my cup and I'm kind of in a place right now where I'm like okay, gotta, I gotta fill it back up, and it hasn't been so easy like I guess I'm waiting until the cup's full again, because right now I'm like I really don't want to it's disheartening. I don't want to study gettysburg right now and I really don't know what I'm supposed to do with it.
Speaker 1:And you know you start questioning what do I want to do it again? You know. You know you start questioning well, do I want to do it again? You know. And it's not so much like oh well, I failed, so I failed, I'm not going to try again. It's not like a negative attitude, but it's just kind of like I'm stepping back to just you know, I don't know if I just worked so hard for that that.
Speaker 1:You know, I emptied my cup and now it's like okay, that's going to take a while to fill it back up before I kind of think, okay, what do I want to do next?
Speaker 3:So it's funny that you say that, because I keep saying about the Elvis competition if I lose, I'll never do another one. It's hard for me to think that I'm going to go there, and I'm fully aware that there are people much better than me and that there might even be some of those in that group. It is really hard to process going there and not being able to be the best Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I would say, it's humbled me a little bit to the point where I thought, like you know, I mean my overall. I thought I have a 50-50 chance. I wasn't overconfident, I was going to pass it, but at the same time I thought you know, I just felt you thought you would score higher maybe.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I just, you know, I just thought like because you know, ambition is such a bad thing for me and it's like I want to be part of that so bad, Like I want to contribute something to it so badly, and then it kind of makes me think, well, maybe I'm not qualified to contribute to it, you know like maybe I should just step back.
Speaker 3:It's imposter syndrome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Maybe I should just step back, because you know I can't really. I didn't move forward with that, so maybe I shouldn't be contributing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know there's plenty of other people that are more qualified than me to do that.
Speaker 3:Well, as soon as you sent the text, here was my first thought Nobody's cup is empty Ever, yeah, ever. It's just filled with the wrong things. Yeah, it's just filled with the wrong things. So, like when I come to church on Sunday, my hope is that when I deliver a message that I can fill somebody's cup that they can go and pour out. That's the concept, right, that's the idea. Your cup is filled for the week and maybe you come in for a midweek fill up on Wednesday nights. Maybe you listen to the podcast, maybe you listen to something else through the week, but whatever, the idea is that you're getting filled up on Sunday to get you started for the week.
Speaker 3:You guys cough a lot. Poor Dawn's just over there choking to death. She's been chugging water. But the people who come in and sit on Sunday morning and they're playing on their phone or they're you know, whatever you know worrying about the person sitting next to them talking during the message, whatever you know, worrying about the person sitting next to them talking during the message, whatever they're still leaving filled up, they're just filled up with the wrong thing. A lot of times it can be cynicism. A lot of times it can be religious spirits. A lot of times it can be there's just it's always something.
Speaker 3:There's always a negative thing that you can put in the cup instead. What's fascinating to me is that that gunky stuff gets packed down into the bottom of the cup and then you pour some good stuff on top of it, right? And then you think, oh my gosh, I feel so good, yeah, and then bad stuff still there, right, all that junk is still in the bottom. And then you go and you pour out just a tiny little bit. You have somebody call you and they want to talk to you and you spend a couple of hours or maybe even a couple of minutes talking to them and you realize, sitting there, like I hate this person.
Speaker 3:I don't want to talk to them. Do they realize how ugly they are? Do you know what I mean? I'm being sarcastic, obviously to some degree. But then that stuff starts to bubble up and you realize, man, I wasn't nearly as full as I thought I was. But I think that that's the problem is, we always pretend like we're so full because on the surface we want people to think that, man, I love life and everything is going great. But really just below the surface is all of the gross stuff. I wish I could be there.
Speaker 1:Well listen. I don't ever want to knock anybody's positivity. Sure Because a lot of people you know, you hear a lot about. You got to stay positive, you got to have positive energy and I agree with all that stuff. But I don't think the idea of positivity alone is enough.
Speaker 3:I can't walk around the world every day and go. You know what? I'm going to remain positive today. I'm going to think positive things. I'm going to say positive things. I'm only going to uplift and edify. I can say that. But that's BS. Yeah Right, Because I'm going to sit down with somebody who's going to say something stupid and I'm going to respond with something stupid, or I'm going to make a joke that might hurt somebody's feelings, or even if it's not my intention. It's almost impossible to just be positive all the time. You have to walk into that going. I'm going to do better today than I did yesterday. I want to be a beacon of light. I want to be helpful. I want to provide hope for those who are hopeless. That's a lot harder. It's a lot easier to do that and it's a lot harder to just say I'm going to be positive all the time Because, let's be honest, the world makes that a little difficult.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and be able to say, even in my down and worst of times, even when I'm down, even when I'm not feeling so good and when I'm not feeling so positive, when maybe everything in my life's not going the way that I want it to, you're still spiritually. When you're filled up, it moves you through those things. When you're filled up, it moves you through those things and it helps you to maintain that level of it's maybe not called positivity, but you maintain that level of being a good Christian and still treating people, you know, with kindness and with love and understanding. And you still go about, you know you still go about your job with purpose and energy because you're relying on that.
Speaker 4:Holy Spirit, yeah On the Holy.
Speaker 1:Spirit on being full, even though, like I said, you know, no, nobody's life's perfect.
Speaker 1:You're never going to be, no matter how many positive thoughts you think. Yeah, just not every day is going to. You're not just going to have everything going your way, you know, no matter how hard you try. So that's, you know. Having a full cup is, spiritually I think, it's very important because it gets you through all the highest of the highs, the lowest of the lows, everything in between. So I guess for me, you know what are ways that we, when we feel like we have poured out mm-hmm, you know, and we had to fill back up again, what are some of the best ways that we can fill ourselves up?
Speaker 5:Pray, spend time with God.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was going to say, spend alone time and really just meditate on His Word. I don't know. I think we get distracted a lot and like we kind of forget to focus on that relationship of just us two. You know what I mean. And and I think, like going back to like oh, just think positive in this and that, Like, yeah, I think honestly, if we didn't live in the fallen world, like you know, before Adam and Eve, maybe it would have been easier for us to do that, but I think, since we are in the fallen world, that it's just impossible to do it that way.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so, whether we like it or not, you know, because we are the minority of this world.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, you know, we've had a truck driver coming into the shop last couple days and as soon as he gets out of the truck he starts talking politics, which to me is always like that's a date, it's like buddy. That's a dangerous thing, because let alone you don't know who you're talking to right what their political views are yeah and you just start spouting off about politics, so you better be prepared for yeah because the one guy next to me he kind of argued with him got so mad he walked away.
Speaker 1:Um, but me being who I am, I thought okay, he's. He's spitting out a lot of facts. Now I may not be as knowledgeable as him yeah uh, about government and what's going on and you know, and he's like oh, I have, you know, I I graduated with uh. You know a degree in economics, so I know what I'm talking about and why is he a truck driver?
Speaker 1:that's what my, that's what my co-worker said too I mean you know? Um, but for me I'm like okay in those situations when I don't understand something, I don't get mad, I start asking questions right, yeah and I usually think that's the sign of an intelligent person. Like if you don't know something, don't criticize the person who's telling you.
Speaker 4:Don't get angry.
Speaker 1:We'll ask questions. That makes him elaborate his point.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 1:So that then you can have kind of a a rebuttal based on what he says yeah, but where's?
Speaker 2:he getting his facts at? Is he getting them off Facebook?
Speaker 1:Yeah, facts at you.
Speaker 5:Getting them off facebook, yeah who knows, I have, I have no idea you know, there's.
Speaker 2:There's so much garbage on on facebook that yeah I mean, people just put stuff on there and they have no idea what they're even talking about yeah, people will read one thing and then they take it and they don't.
Speaker 4:They don't look at it, they don't do their own research, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, my point is I didn't say it to him, but I wanted to say you know, if everybody would put that kind of energy into Jesus Christ, we wouldn't have half the problems that we do. Yes, that's true If everybody could get just as excited about Jesus Christ as we do about worrying about what all these politicians are doing?
Speaker 1:For sure, then we probably wouldn't have all these problems. No, but we won't do that, you know. Well, we'll just. It's like the blind leading the blind. Most of the time it's like you know, oh, you know, because he's just like they say they're going to do this, this and this, and they're not going to do any of these things. And here's why and I'm just thinking like well, I mean worst case scenario, in four years we vote somebody else in. Yeah, it's not, you know, but where are you at spiritually?
Speaker 4:right, like that's.
Speaker 1:You know you can't hang your hat on everything that these politicians are doing, especially when it comes to. I'm sure that empties a lot of people's cup every day.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah because, because of whoever got elected or what's going on in government, some people, it's like they let that ruin their uh-huh, you know, let that ruin their life and it consumes them. And, like you said, they're posted all this stuff on facebook and you know they just kept spitting stuff out and then, of course, everybody gets yeah, everybody jumps on the bandwagon, and it may be.
Speaker 2:The grass is green right here and by the time it gets done, we've got weeds and nothing but dirt over here. Yeah, you know. So I mean it. Just I don't even, I don't even look at facebook. I. I can care less, you know, because it's just social garbage.
Speaker 5:Oh, sometimes you just got to know that.
Speaker 2:No, you don't have to know that garbage. It's not. Is it necessary for your life for you to know that Johnny over here went to school and got in trouble with the teacher? No, Okay.
Speaker 5:I just might need to know that I might run into Johnny down the road.
Speaker 4:You might see Johnny down the road Down at the Janine Post Office Right alongside the head Family dollar.
Speaker 3:Yeah, family dollar, family dollar.
Speaker 2:You know, that's just my opinion and I'm allowed to have it.
Speaker 5:But you know what they say about opinions.
Speaker 4:Everyone's allowed to have one.
Speaker 2:And everybody puts it on Facebook.
Speaker 3:Oh yes, they do so everybody else can see their opinion.
Speaker 5:I don't think I post that much anymore, I just dig.
Speaker 4:I'm a digger when I can't sleep.
Speaker 5:Hey, what's going on in this person's world? Because basically all I post that much anymore, I just dig. I'm a digger when I can't sleep. Hey, what's going on in this person's world? Because basically all I have is advertisements anymore.
Speaker 4:I think that means you shop a lot. I said I think that means you shop a lot.
Speaker 2:I'm just kidding, no you're not Facebook.
Speaker 5:all you have to do is say something buddy, it's going to be not. All you have to do is say something buddy, it's going to pop up.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, all you have to do is think something. I'm telling you.
Speaker 2:We'd be talking about something at lunch, you know, and then guys, then they'd be on their phone. You know we'd be talking and then all of a sudden, oh we were just talking about this. You know they're talking about dirt bike racing and four-wheeler racing. And then just five minutes later, it pops up oh yeah, this race here, this was here, this guy here.
Speaker 5:I said, don and I, we were walking. My phone wasn't even out, it was in my pocket.
Speaker 4:It doesn't have to be out. It doesn't have to be, and we no, it doesn't have to be.
Speaker 5:And we were talking about those razors that you know like your super-.
Speaker 2:Oh, the kind you-.
Speaker 5:Four-wheelers. No oh yeah, get home. It's like all these different places that have them.
Speaker 2:You know, Maybe Jarvie's going to buy one.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Give, because he already had one picked out with heat and the whole world. Man, he's gonna. He's gonna buy a razor, get another job get another job or put retirement out well, you're still working that's mine she says she's gonna work for another 20 years too. She's excited about it not, I says the little redhead alright do we lose the conversation cause I?
Speaker 4:had to excuse myself for a minute. Yeah, you walked in and were like well, I asked him. I said when you?
Speaker 1:walked in and were like oh man. Well, I asked him. I said when you've filled up and you pour out and then you're empty? I said so you know, what do you do? What's some good ideas? To start, you know, filling yourself back up again. What do you guys do to, you know, start filling up again.
Speaker 3:Well, the question is is what cup are we filling?
Speaker 4:Your coffee cup, because we have lots of cups.
Speaker 3:We have lots of cups Spiritual, spiritual coffee cup. So if my spiritual coffee cup mine has a Grinch on it, if we're trying to fill our spiritual cup, the first thing that we should be doing is seeking fellowship with like-minded people, because it is easy for me to fill my cup when I'm having fun and talking to people who are Christians and who believe the same thing that I do, because I know that I'm in a safe place, that I can talk about most anything and not feel like I'm being judged or hurt.
Speaker 4:Now, would you say that before, kind of focusing and rebuilding your relationship with Christ?
Speaker 3:Well, my cup isn't empty because I've stopped believing in God. My cup is empty because I've poured out everything that I have in it, meaning I came to church, I got a great word. I did all of this work and, you know, did all and I went out into the community and went to work and told people about Jesus and just really tried to give everybody. So I don't think that rebuilding that relationship is really the idea. What I'm trying to do is make myself whole again so that I can then go out. So I want to fellowship with people. Then I want to attend whatever service I can get my hands on and again, sometimes for me that's listening to a podcast or listening Marcus McVeigh.
Speaker 3:If he's listening, this dude needs a super awesome shout out right now. He and I had breakfast the other morning. We had coffee the other morning and he said to me um, he's like hey, you have to listen to this. And then he sends me a link to a youtube video. Dude, like I won't share it with anybody yet because I haven't listened to all four parts to like whether I can condemn or condone. But, dude, it is powerful stuff.
Speaker 3:That's what I go looking for, because I need that fill up again, right. And then obviously, it's always the word, and that means, though, I can't read the word in the middle of the day. Sometimes that's a little more challenging. So I just try to. All of those things have to work at the same time for me. Now, if it's like, if I'm emotionally drained, I've poured myself out emotionally. Whether it's a like, if I'm emotionally drained, I've poured myself out emotionally, whether it's meeting with somebody who's going through something or, you know, just performed a funeral or whatever, then I find that emotional fill up in my wife most of the time, like I just want to be around her, spend time with her, because then she makes me feel like okay, yeah, you went through that, but it's really okay.
Speaker 1:So yeah, well, that's you know. That's why I sent that video yesterday about lex luger and sting, because lex luger, he's been in that wheelchair a long time and he had a stroke and that's how he ended up in the wheelchair and he's he's done a lot of things wrong in his life, he's had some major challenges and and, of course, as in the video Sting, he was saved back in like 98. We're not talking like every breath you take. Not that.
Speaker 3:Sting.
Speaker 5:We're talking wrestling I just needed to clarify.
Speaker 3:Actually, I just wanted to sing on the podcast that was all I wanted.
Speaker 1:There's no competition.
Speaker 3:I know I couldn't help it, then Give me a microphone and I just do it.
Speaker 1:You know, and like Lex Luger was saying he goes, he thought he lost his best friend when Sting got saved, because Sting didn't go out anymore didn't hang out, didn't drink, not doing lines of cocaine, didn't do all those things. Like you know, and so it took him a long time to understand and finally get saved himself and, of course, another wrestler, Diamond Dallas Page.
Speaker 1:DDP, ddp, ddp, yoga, he's changed a lot of people's lives, a lot of ex-wrestlers who have really done major damage to their body, whether through wrestling or drugs, alcohol, one namely being Jake the Snake Roberts.
Speaker 1:That guy has completely turned his life around because he's still alive yeah okay and he, but he was on the brink of death before ddp got a hold of him and started working with him. And now lex luger um, like I said, he's been in that wheelchair a long time and he's never even been able to stand up himself and get out of it. And now he's to the point where he is almost standing up on his own and going through this process.
Speaker 1:Like I said, ddp is working him through this and you just hear Lex Luger talk about his newfound faith and how much that's driven him to do what he's doing, and he's basically saying I probably wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for that. So for me that's like. That fills my cup a little bit to see somebody who for a long time rejected the word, rejected his friend because he'd been saved, and then to come all that way to realize like, okay, yeah, this is this is what's going to make me walk again so.
Speaker 3:I'm going to. I've got to. I will share the podcast with this group, or the thing that I'm listening to. It's not a podcast, it's actually a YouTube video, but it's a pastor preaching a message at a church and listen, he's super real, he's like listen. I'm going to go long today. If you feel like you need to leave, leave, but I got to do this, like we're going to, we got to do that and it's.
Speaker 3:He did it over four weeks. He delivered this entire message over four weeks, can you imagine? And each of the episodes are about an hour. So four hour message. Okay, and here's what he talks about.
Speaker 3:He talks about things that are hidden in plain sight. That's what he calls it hidden in plain sight. And he said the thing is is there are battles waging all around us that we're not even aware of, that we are completely incapable of comprehending. Now there are some people who can, but most of the time we don't even realize it's happening, and a lot of times those are curses set upon us by generations before us.
Speaker 3:And he had a scripture about David and Saul and I can't remember it, but I'm going to go back and listen to it again because I was driving so I couldn't take notes, but that, basically, god tells David that the reason you're experiencing these struggles, this famine that you're experiencing, is not because of you. It's because of Saul. Saul promised these people he would protect them and instead he tried to destroy them. And so David went to those people and made it right with them, and then the famine ended, and that's exactly like that story that you just said. It's exactly what it is. I've been drinking and I'm a drug addict and I've done all of these things, but something has happened in my life that has created this chaos, and when I realize what it is and I'm willing to accept it, call it what it is a mistake, make it right my life will change. And the next thing, you know, the dude's standing up. Yeah, he's standing up when he starts running marathons.
Speaker 1:Let's talk, and I'm convinced he's going to walk again. Well, just because they told him he'll never walk again.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, and he just, and I think for a while he just like gave up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he believed that. You told us that that, so I'm gonna be okay with it. Yeah, I'm gonna live in this like almost afraid to try to get out so yeah, it's pretty.
Speaker 1:Uh, yeah, it's pretty awesome. So I kind of keep following that, just to follow in his progress yeah because now I think they've talked about trying to getting to go up a couple steps. They're going to start working on steps and stuff oh yeah. So you know, like I said, they're uh. And then going back to the positivity, which that is is a big thing for DDP to talk about positivity and stuff like that, but they do talk about God too, and how important.
Speaker 1:You know that plays in to, you know, to somebody's recovery, to somebody changing their life. So it's pretty neat. So I give a lot of praise to him for doing what he's doing. Pretty neat, so I give a lot of praise to him for doing what he's doing. And, like I said, and it's uh, he's proven that he's been able to take people that have pretty much given up on their life and and, and they've turned it around.
Speaker 5:So, yeah, pretty cool well, that's the episode for today, folks, I think that when your cup's empty and you can have that phone a friend you know like, like Holly Dawn. Now, sometimes Dawn just smacks me with reality and I don't like it sometimes.
Speaker 3:So I was thinking about that. I was thinking about that and I, so I'm just going to let the cat out of the bag on a lot of things tonight. Okay, I have been, and I said this to my wife last night and she was like, oh man, she's like you got to be careful with that last night. And she was like, oh man, she's like you got to be careful with that. I said to her and I'm going to, I'm going to. So you need to understand my heart. Right now.
Speaker 3:I've been spending a lot of time with not just the men of this church, but men of faith generally speaking, and this doesn't go for every man that I know or every person that I interact with but what I'm learning is that a lot of men have been emasculated by their wives or the women in their lives, whether it's their mom or whomever. Right, ok, and what I mean by that is that I experienced this one personally. I watched it happen in front of my eyes, said to a guy, I was like, hey, we should get together and do X. And his wife said you don't want to do that with him. He's terrible at it. His next words to me were yeah, I don't know if I want to do that or not. Emasculated men are living outside of the will of God.
Speaker 5:They're not their heads of the house, correct?
Speaker 3:Okay, and here's the thing we like to pretend like that's not a problem for us, but in fact it is a problem for us, it's a problem for our house, it's a problem for our children, it's a problem for our children's children, because those curses are generational, and when we say those things about one another or about the people that we love, we create this chaos around us. And so you said that sometimes Don just smacks you upside of the head. Well, guess what?
Speaker 5:Sometimes I need that A good, a good um.
Speaker 3:What's the word that I'm looking for here?
Speaker 4:Mentor, mediator.
Speaker 3:Mentor is the exact word that I'm looking for. A good mentor will always let you complain and say are you finished?
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And when you're done, they're going to make sure that you understand that everything that you have just said and I'm not trying to discredit, like if you're going through something, like we all go through stuff but they will tell you you are being a victim, you are living in a victim mentality, you are not allowing yourself to thrive because you want to be miserable. If what you want from me is to commiserate with you, you've come to the wrong person. A good mentor will correct it. A bad mentor?
Speaker 3:will just sit there and commiserate with you.
Speaker 1:My wife watches the teen moms, oh geez. And she asked me yesterday she's like do you think you know well, her dad left when she was 13 or this or that. So do you think that's why you know she started sleeping with men when she was really young and that's why. And I said, well, I said I'll give her that. I said, ultimately, I said I'll give her that. I said ultimately, I said yes, there are things like that that can affect somebody to make a bad decision. I said, but she's not 15 anymore, she's 30. And, like you said, they're still sitting around 15 years later, still pretty much in that drama.
Speaker 3:Because they're not willing to call it what it is.
Speaker 1:And I'm like at this point they don't have an excuse.
Speaker 3:Nope, you can only blame your parents for so long, you can only blame the people in your lives for so long, and then, at some point, it's your responsibility to fix it.
Speaker 1:Like I said, I'll give anybody you know like yeah, there's things that happen in your life that make you make bad decisions.
Speaker 3:And again generational life that make you make bad decisions and you know and again, generational curses that we don't want to deal with.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, but at some point, once you're, you recognize those, you better get.
Speaker 3:You've got to call them what they are. You have to be able to look at it like listen, um, you know, I think back to to my childhood and you know, if my dad's listening to this he's gonna be like, really, you just put me on blast, like that. But they were were in the bar every weekend, he and my mom. He ran sound for a band and they were in the bar every weekend drinking and hanging out. I remember vividly photos from that time period of our lives and my dad has a picture of one of his buddies and his head's sideways and he is actively in the photo throwing up down his arm. Like you, like, it's one of those photos. Like you're, like, how could you have perfectly timed that?
Speaker 3:And at the time, especially in those days right, yes, cause it's like seriously, it's like a disposable camera.
Speaker 3:I remember laughing about it and now I think to myself if I'm okay with that, then my I can end up that way, my children can end up that way, my children's children can end up that way. We have to be able to say it is wrong and it's not okay. Now, am I going to judge you if you go have a beer? Absolutely not. Am I going to judge you if you have a glass of wine? Absolutely not. But when you decide that that is more important to you than being in control of your body and having a happy and healthy lifestyle, a happy and healthy home, you're in trouble Because you are setting your children up for failure. Even if you don't have kids right now, even if you haven't produced offspring.
Speaker 4:You're already starting that bad, correct.
Speaker 3:You're accepting that as part of life, this is normal and it's acceptable, and you never teach your kids otherwise. Yeah, and I think you saying like the whole what was the man? How did you quote it?
Speaker 4:A man who is emasculated, An emasculated man is living outside of the will of God. Yes, I think a lot Honestly. I think a lot of like the oh well, a happy wife is a happy life. I think that just piggybacks off.
Speaker 3:You must not have listened to Sunday's message because I stepped into the pulpit before we started on Sunday and I said I have been known to say I am the head of my house, but my wife is the neck that makes the head turn and what I should be saying is hi, I'm Ahab, meet my wife Jezebel. Because I'm saying that I will give my wife whatever she wants, whenever she wants it, however she wants, whatever she says. That's what we do. That is not true in my house. I've always said it as a joke, but people look at it and go.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, that's the way we are too, but they are experiencing the Ahab and Jezebel situation and they don't fight it because, well, my pastor says it, so it's got to be okay. It's just funny, right, it's not funny, it is not funny. So here's I say all of that to say this I have partnered with two other pastors not local pastors, people that you guys would know and we are going to do a full-on men's night. I mean, I'm talking, we're going to go hard for men and, whether they show up or not, we are planning to be prepared to pray for them. We are being prepared to bring a strong word, a heavy word, an anointed word.
Speaker 3:And I'll be honest with you, pastor Valerie, at the Tutu Party, just watching that thing unfold, a heavy word, an anointed word. And I'll be honest with you, pastor Valerie, at the Tutu party, like just watching that thing unfold, I'm like men won't do this. We won't because we are afraid of being in relationship with one another and we are afraid of being vulnerable in front of one another. And it can't be that way. It absolutely cannot be that way, because if you're not willing to go to the altar and cry, what are you doing with your life Right, especially like if you're not willing to go to the altar and cry what are you?
Speaker 3:doing with your life Right.
Speaker 4:Especially like if you're a seasoned Christian too, of all things.
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. I'll tell you this Anytime I see Ed get up from his seat and go to the altar, I'm like man of God I don't ever think what a wimp Right, yeah, right.
Speaker 3:Man of God. Mike, almost every Sunday you get to a certain part of worship. Mike's at the altar man of God. Do we have it all figured out? Absolutely not. But I'm telling you, when they go there, I trust that they are genuine men of God and they are trying to get right with the Lord. They're not sitting in their seat pretending like they don't have any struggles.
Speaker 3:When we do prayer for people, when we are laying hands on people, when we have ministry time, do the math, just look at it. How many of those people are men Next to none? I'd say like 4%. Oh, that's probably a high percentage 1%. A lot of times what happens is like Jenny and Marcus might come up front, but Marcus might be there with Jenny, but then Holly ends up praying for him. Pray for Pastor Roger. We pray for Dale be there with Jenny, but then Holly ends up praying for him. Pray for Pastor Roger. We pray for Dale. People who we know might be going through something. We will call them up, but not often are the men willingly coming to that space.
Speaker 5:Do you imagine the breakthrough that you would see in the? Families if men started stepping up? I don't mean that.
Speaker 3:No, but that's the exact statement that needs to be made, because men will sit at home and pretend like, well, I don't need to go to church as long as my wife goes to church, my children are covered in prayer. Right, that is not untrue. But if your butt isn't in church, your wife is covering you in prayer. Your wife is covering your children in prayer. Her parents, your parents, everybody around she's working. Your parents, everybody around she needs, she needs. No marriage will work if you are unevenly yoked. You have got to both be in church, be true believers and actually be co-laboring in Christ in all things, in all things. And I'm not talking like, oh well, I get up and I change the baby at night and we trade off nights. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm asking you are you praying for your wife? I'm asking you are you praying for your children? Are you praying for your coworkers? What are you doing to make your wife's life easier and what is she doing to make your life easier? That's what I'm talking about, because, men, we want moms. That's what we want. We want somebody that will cook for us, clean for us, take care of us, change us, make sure we're fed. You know it's the truth, right? I don't care what anybody says, I don't care who, I make mad saying that it's true. And then our wives' cups are empty by Wednesday night, right, and they can't get filled up anywhere because they're too busy taking care of you.
Speaker 3:My wife called me and she said hey, I want to go. I think it was Saturday. Is it Judy Merrick's going to be at Roswell on Saturday? My wife loves Judy Merrick, so I never remember for sure if this is the one Tall, skinny lady, black hair. Is that Judy? Okay, so every Perfect black hair? Yes, and her hair is like just yes, it's always so. She's introduced herself to me a dozen times and I always know who she is when I see her, but the name always eludes me. Anyhow, my wife loves her. And she said to me she said hey, what do you got going on on Saturday and I said I don't know why. She's like well, I want to go to the women's meeting. Judy's going to be there and I really want to go here. And my first thought is well, I really don't want to have to be tied down at the house with the kids on Saturday morning. And then I think to myself, I get up and go to work. Every single day I'm out of the house, away from the kids all day, every day.
Speaker 3:Not going to feel good. Okay, why do you think Easton behaves the way that he behaves? Because you're not there, because I'm not there, he doesn't treat. He doesn't do that when I'm at home so he can get away with certain things. So maybe I need to be there more. Maybe the focus should okay God family church, not God church family. God family church.
Speaker 4:Especially with you Right as a pastor, as a senior pastor.
Speaker 3:Yes, Senior pastor, chief cook and bottle wash maintenance engineer. You know what I mean. Like we do literally. The expectation is that we do it all, and that's not easy.
Speaker 5:You can take the kids and join Jarby with Roslyn and go to Denny's for breakfast.
Speaker 3:Hey, I'd jump all over that. I love Denny's. I can't do that, though, because it's not in the budget, and so those words speak true to me just the same as they do to anybody else. How is it fair of me to tell my wife she can't go get filled up so that she can continue to pour out into my children because I want to be selfish with my time? That's right.
Speaker 4:Well, and I think society makes us look at it as not like the way you just said. It's good that you're looking at it as I get to go to work and get away, but I think society I have to go to work every day, to work and I have to put this all on my back. Okay, well, she's just doing just as much, if not more. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I agree.
Speaker 4:And I think, but I think society really makes us look at it that way, instead of you being privileged.
Speaker 3:The problem is, is the I have to versus I get to in everything that we do. And again I will say this and, man, I'm sorry but I'm being hard on you tonight, but it's the truth. Us men, that's how we look at life in general. Well, I have to go to the basketball game, and I have to go to this, and I have to go to that, and you know I never get a break. I come home from work and the first thing I have to do is go take the trash out, and I take the trash out, and then I have to change the oil in the car and then I have to do yada, yada, yada. And then we blame our wives for nagging. But really it's our fault because we have set the standard for what we expect we should have to do much lower than the reality of the things that have to be done in our lives?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but isn't a Murray 50-50? Well, yeah, but do you want your wife changing the oil in?
Speaker 3:your car no.
Speaker 4:Listen, my grandma thought it was absolutely insane that I didn't have Chase going to look at the car with me, because the last time I went with him I was asking more questions, I was more knowledgeable.
Speaker 3:That's not what he enjoys doing Right and he, he enjoys and he told me he's like listen, you'd be better off going yourself. You have a better negotiating stance. They turn around and start talking to Chase. Chase is like we'll pay 500 over asking Take the floor mats out, knock the windshield out, take the battery, we don't care, just can we leave?
Speaker 4:please.
Speaker 1:Take some oil out. I don't care, just get me out of this. But that's an uncomfortable situation for him, exactly, exactly. We all have our strengths. Argie would probably be better changing the oil than I would be.
Speaker 3:I'm just being honest, but that's okay, and so what we have learned, though, is that I value our time together more than I value money, right, and so we got a.
Speaker 1:We got a new cat, by the way. Oh geez we'll come back to the cat if we she says you know she's trying to get rid of it. Yeah, she's not yeah, she's.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, she's already named it. It's been to the vet three times. Yeah, she's trying to get it was inside her shirt. Yes, oh, you're done. You're done, it's yours. Have you named it yet?
Speaker 1:not yet it's it's. It's a baby snickers, so that's all I need snickers.
Speaker 4:We've named it for that's all I need to hear Snickers. We've named it for you.
Speaker 1:That's all I need to hear. It's only a baby, it's just a baby.
Speaker 3:Well, we've named it for you.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's name is now Snickers.
Speaker 3:We've named it.
Speaker 5:We'll wait until you get a few more babies.
Speaker 3:I thought it was spring, yet Beth has one that's pregnant I think pregnant and I said just drop them off at Nick and Margie's.
Speaker 1:It's fine, margie can take care of them. We'll drop off a bag of food every once in a while. Oh boy, poor thing did look pretty rough. I don't know where it came from.
Speaker 3:I had a Margie moment the other day. I hate to admit it because I always pretend to be tough. I was driving to work and just as you round the corner where Red Hill Road comes on to was that 36?
Speaker 4:39. Dover, yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:So, just coming around that turn and somebody had hit a cat and I mean it was dead. But it was laying there in all of its dead glory and I was like I want to get out and move it because I felt bad for it, because like cars kept hitting it and I was like like it's so gross, it's like it just felt really bad. But then I was thinking like those kimball semis come through there really fast and I don't want to be next. So I did decide that I was not going to take the risk yeah, yeah and because it was around the turn, they would have never seen me like.
Speaker 3:It would have been game over. So I saw today and I lord, I hope that this person was okay. I was getting on the on-ramp from 39 yes, 39 to come home at Dover, okay, and lights and traffic is backed up and I get on. Somebody had driven their car off the side of the interstate, flown through the air over that fence, that's down over the embankment and stuck in the trees.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I saw it.
Speaker 3:The car didn't look that badly damaged, but I'm talking like they had to have been going fast. Yeah, because I mean they shot off the side of the road. It was crazy. No damage to the fence. They went over the fence and caught in the trees.
Speaker 1:It was. They were pulling it out when I was Were they?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the wrecker had just gotten there. But I'm talking, it was a mess, yeah, it was.
Speaker 1:Wow, it's like how do these people do?
Speaker 4:this. I know that was yesterday or today, that was today.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was today, wow yeah.
Speaker 5:So I have to tell you.
Speaker 3:I went yesterday at lunchtime to Mako's, mako's Market and Pharmacy. This message is brought to you by Makos.
Speaker 5:A Murph moment, because I'm walking out to get in my car, here comes this. It's where they mix the sheep, dog and the poo. Well, I don't know where his owner was, but he was on the leash and he was just as happy as could be and that hair was flopping and he's running down the road, comes up through the parking lot, comes up by the doors, the doors open. He's like oh yeah, Off, he went.
Speaker 4:I wonder if it came from the vet that vet back there.
Speaker 5:Oh, my dad, I bet he did, and then you could hear people in there. Come here, doggie, come here, doggie, and I'm like looking Jesus Going all over him.
Speaker 3:I'm like, oh, that would so be my dog. So we're leaving for vacation next week, which, by the way, I'll just tell you guys while we're all on podcast live right now, I won't be here next Wednesday. We're going to stay Wednesday night as well, we think.
Speaker 4:Where are you going?
Speaker 3:We're going to go to Great Wolf Lodge. Oh, yeah, and just spend a couple of days unwinding hanging out at the pool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Okay, yeah. And then I think on our way home we're going to swing through Mansfield. There's a I guess there's like some sort of kids museum there.
Speaker 3:I've heard of that and the second floor is like lots of science-y, tech-y stuff for like tweens, so Emmett would really enjoy that. So we think we're going to swing by and check that out. What are you doing with your puppies, milo? Because we took him to that board and train. They will take him and do a training session with him while we're gone. We're dropping him off there. What about Lucy? Lucy is probably going to go stay with my grandma because she loves staying at my grandma's. My grandma loves having her stay.
Speaker 4:There you go.
Speaker 3:Although I did forget to ask her. Just show up on Monday, drop the dog off.
Speaker 2:Here you go, Grandma.
Speaker 5:Grandma, this is me asking. Milo can have bring a buddy day.
Speaker 3:No, no, I want them to let Milo back. It is funny, I got Lucy a shot caller too. So if anybody doesn't know my dog, she's three and a half pounds tops, tiny little dog, but she won't stop barking. Now she's 135 years old. She's just ridiculous. She's mostly blind. She's mostly blind. She can see shapes, she can see Colors. No well, it's just blobs.
Speaker 4:Figures Blobs at this point.
Speaker 3:And we don't know that, but we assume that because she doesn't know it's me until she's on me and can smell me. So she can't see, she can hardly hear, she has no teeth. She has no teeth. Okay, so this dog is just in a rough way, but she is as healthy as a dog can be. She can stand on her back paws and shake her front paws out. Yeah, she can jump up on the couch. She can almost get on our bed, which is stupid high. But anyhow, when we were having the work done in the basement praise Jesus, it's done Every time one of the contractors would come in, she would start to bark, and so I got her a shock collar because the vibration worked for a couple of days and then she was like nah, it doesn't work anymore and I only had to shock her once.
Speaker 3:And then we used the tone button, which is just it beeps and she knows I'm not allowed to do this and she walks away. Beth, if you can't get your dog to do that, this is literally teaching an old dog new tricks. Okay, I'm like, how can Beth not get her dog to listen, but hers is. She's afraid to push the button.
Speaker 5:I don't even have. I just have the vibrating shot collar. I won't even get the other one on him.
Speaker 3:No, Milo dude goes outside, that collar's on and I hear him bark. He knows it too and he knows when that collar's on, he can feel it on his neck and he does not bark. He won't you take that collar off. Barks like an idiot, he knows.
Speaker 5:Well, that goofy thing of mine. It took me three times to show him how to get five, Three times. So it's a behavioral, it's not stupid.
Speaker 3:Absolutely Well, but poodles and golden doodles, like that lady told us, the lady that did our board and train. She told us doodles are the number one breed, whether it's just a poodle or a golden doodle or a you know, burn a doodle, doodle, burn a doodle, Whatever they are, whatever they are, they're the dogs that they train the most of because they're hard-headed and they are just, they don't care, do whatever they want.
Speaker 5:Well, especially when you do the Labradoodles because, you've got the stubbornness of the lab and the brain of the poodles and you've created a monster.
Speaker 3:I'll tell you Milo and my wife hates that dog. Let me just tell you the story on how we got that dog. We're not talking about filling up cups here, but we are talking about how bad my wife hates me sometimes. So I was at work on a land cruise and a lady who does interior design for us she texts me, she breeds golden doodles and she texts me for service animals, by the way. She texts me and she said hey, how soon will you be ready for a puppy? And I said, ah, my wife's never going to say okay to a puppy. She's like well, I've got two that need homes right away because I have another litter coming, and I've got two that haven't been picked up yet. So she sends me pictures of Marlo and another dog, and I don't remember that dog's name Goldie, Maybe it was Goldie.
Speaker 3:She sends me a picture and I'm like, oh my gosh, Marlo is so cute, I have to have him. He's so adorable, I wanted him so bad. So I sent it to my wife and I was like hey, any interest? And she's like absolutely not. So I went home and we talked about it and she told me no again and I said here's the deal. I said I feel like you treat me like a child and every time I ask for something, you tell me no, Right, Like I have to ask permission in order to give, which. I understand. It has to be a joy and she said okay, fine, you can get the dog.
Speaker 1:That was unfair of me.
Speaker 3:Let me say that, first of all, like that, and while I felt that way, it wasn't because of the dog. It felt that way because of other things in the past, had nothing to do with the dog. But she gave in on the dog because I used that right. So I held on to that and I used it at the opportune time in order to get said dog. So she told us he will be practically free. I'm like well, you're practically free and my practically free are two very different things.
Speaker 3:Like she does custom homes, and so she spent a million dollars furnishing a home without even blinking, what is practically free. The dog was 100% free, microchipped, up to date on all of his shots. She gave us a cage for him, literally completely free. So Marlo comes home with me, his name changes to Milo and about three weeks in, my wife says he has to go to board and train or he has to go. He can't stay here.
Speaker 3:He chewed a hole in the middle of our carpet brand new carpet. We had just put it in. I feel your pain, just put it in. And so we put a rug over it for a little while because we're like we're not going to have it fixed until the dog stops chewing the carpet. Right, and he would like lick the carpet. We're like he's going to start chewing. He went to board and train.
Speaker 3:That dog is completely different, but my wife still hates that dog to this day. Like she doesn't he, she doesn't want. He follows you right behind her, specifically like back, his nose, touching the back of her leg the whole time. She's walking anywhere, but it has made such a difference for me. When I go to bed at night he usually comes in and he lays on me and there's just some comfort in that for me because like I need that at the end of the day, like I just need that, like I just lay there and I pet him and I love on him. The only thing I don't like about him is he always he does this.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And he's not licking anything, he just makes the noise. I'm like dude, like go get a drink or something Like driving me nuts. But I love that dog and it's so funny how those little things like that that fills me up. It really does Like when I go to bed and then I hear her come in and go Milo here Because she wants to put him in his cage so she can go to bed, and I'm like can he just sleep with us? And she's like absolutely not.
Speaker 5:See, I'd love for Murphy to sleep with us. Oh, I would We've tried a couple of times.
Speaker 3:And just as Jarvie falls off to sleep, until you roll over and she starts growling at you because you've disturbed her sleep. So yeah, I keep. I was telling Alyssa. I was like if something doesn't change with her, she's going to have to go to the vet and she's going to have to take a nap.
Speaker 4:Didn't you try that already?
Speaker 3:Well, no, I didn't try that. She had cancer on her toe, on her one paw pad, and so when we took her to the vet, the vet's like, yeah, we're going to have to take it off. So we're like, all right, let's take it. I'm like, well, how long is she gonna live, like at 1500 bucks? Like are we talking two years? Are we talking six months?
Speaker 4:like it's like the king of queens episode with when he, arthur, wants the braces and they're like it's gonna be negative equity. Yes, we can't even get you the.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, shampoo from cost yeah right, yeah, we can't buy you any like value pack because chances are it's gonna out survive you. So I said that to the vet and she goes oh, she's going to live forever. She's like these little dogs just tend to live forever. They were like, oh, let's get her fixed so she doesn't get cervical cancer. I'm like she's 182 years old At this point it's a little late for that, but anyhow. So yeah, people and their pets, people and their pets and listen, anything happens to that dog, I'm going to be a mess, I'm going to be an absolute mess.
Speaker 3:She ran away one time and this was so when Alyssa and I moved. We couldn't keep her. At one of the houses that we moved to, we had a good friend who was like we'll keep her for you until you find somewhere where you can have her. So she went to stay with them for a little while. She got out of their house, ran away, could not be found. I was devastated. They called and told us like it's been three days, she hasn't come back, she's dead Because they lived in the country. She's certainly been eaten by a coyote or a hawk has gotten her, but there's no way she, after three days, she's still alive Son of a gun. That dog came back and I was devastated. When I thought she was dead. She came back and then I was all of a sudden like okay, wait, do I really want her back?
Speaker 3:let's think this through again yeah, yeah and so I just but I will be a mess when something happens to her.
Speaker 5:I yell at her all the time lucy, stop it, but I think it's hilarious when she hangs on milo, oh yes so she does not like Milo either.
Speaker 3:As a matter of fact, she ran away twice like legitimately ran away twice after we got Milo. But when he gets too close to her, when he gets in her space which, by the way, it's funny, we have a double cage, so it's a big cage. She has a huge side of her cage. She goes and gets in his cage and makes him get in hers. She's the queen, she's. She runs that thing like, and he knows it. He doesn't even fight with her. Um, but when she gets, when he gets rowdy and it gets too close to her, she'll jump up and grab a hold of fur wherever she can get it and she just hangs there and growls at it and he just takes it too.
Speaker 2:He's like whatever yeah, you don't have any teeth, you're yeah, she can't hurt him.
Speaker 5:Yeah, she can't hurt him but so next get more kittens.
Speaker 3:You're getting another dog, I'm not getting another dog. Not right now. I said to my wife, when something happens to Milo, when he gets to that point where he, you know, crosses the rainbow bridge and goes to be with Jesus in doggy heaven, I think I'm good for no pets for a little while, but my next pet has already been selected. No pets for a little while, but my next pet has already been selected.
Speaker 4:So alligator, no frog chinchilla.
Speaker 3:Speaking of frogs, I know you guys haven't seen brit or derrick for a little while, but alissa and I had dinner with him not long ago. Kermit, their frog, the really gross frog that they have, that bullfrog it's big old african bullfrog brady, let it out in their house.
Speaker 3:no, and I told Brittany I would have burnt the house down. I would have stayed in the hotel until it was found. It was, I think she said, maybe two weeks before they finally found him, why he had gotten under the couch in their upstairs and died under the couch because he couldn't get out.
Speaker 3:Oh, I mean, that thing was like the size of a dinner plate. He was cute. Oh my gosh, was it big and disgusting, so gross. It was like that, picture perfect. It had like yellow and green and like he was yeah, I still would have moved out. Yeah, I still would have been out. But no, I've decided I'm going to get a Russian Tortoise why, a Russian Tortoise do? They live a while yeah, I would have to will it to somebody that turtle will live 100 years.
Speaker 1:How big does a Russian tortoise get?
Speaker 3:Russian tortoise can get the size of a dinner plate, typically when they outgrow the terrarium. When they get slightly bigger, they're house pets. You just let it walk around the house. You feed it strawberries and tomatoes and whatever.
Speaker 4:Does it hiss? No, like a snapping turtle. No, no, no, no, no, that's good.
Speaker 3:Super docile, but they're not afraid of people. Like a box turtle is generally afraid of people.
Speaker 4:These ones aren't Put their necks back in? Yeah, hmm.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:How did you discover this?
Speaker 4:So I've always wanted a tortoise, but a friend of mine, isabel she has one Guess what.
Speaker 3:His name is Mike. Mike, close enough, his name is Mike and I. Every time I see pictures of him, I'm like I want one.
Speaker 4:Can you name yours Sheldon, because I always thought Sheldon the turtle would be a perfect name. Yeah, but it's gotta be double L S-H-E-L-L-D-O-N.
Speaker 3:Sheldon yes, yeah, but that's my next pet, but not until all other pets have expired. Expired yes.
Speaker 2:Yes so.
Speaker 5:You talk about her going to heaven. I don't know where Murphy's going.
Speaker 3:Murphy, you better ask Jesus into your heart soon buddy. Your destination is questionable.
Speaker 4:That's funny. My friend has Bernadoodlesoodles one is dexter and like dexter from dexter, the show yeah, and then one is murphy, so are they good? No, no, I mean they are to an extent because they they've spent good money on them, like boarding them and everything. But, before that man? Yeah, they were not.
Speaker 3:Well, it cost me $3,500 to board Milo, but he was there for a week, and I mean different dog.
Speaker 5:They took him back then too. Yes, we had.
Speaker 3:We took him back for a couple of days for something I don't remember what, I don't remember what he was doing Didn't cost us a dime to take him back for a couple of days for something. I don't remember what he was doing, Didn't cost us a dime to take him back. They're like nope, we don't like that, Bring him back. We're going to do it again.
Speaker 5:They didn't even bother to respond to my email.
Speaker 3:You know what's funny? Alyssa messaged them about the boarding and they were like, yeah, bring him Happy to have him. It was that easy. So, yeah, it must be your dog. They like looked on facebook and they're like no we can't say that can't fix that one then now he'll listen to you pretty good hey, I bet he'd listen to me too, probably because I'd put shot collar on him.
Speaker 5:I'm telling you I accidentally hit him in the head one time yeah with a lead pipe.
Speaker 2:Doink, listen, I got this stick.
Speaker 3:Just walking around seeing Star.
Speaker 5:By the door when you let him out or whatever. So when you let him in you got that stick and he knows not to jump on you.
Speaker 3:So you know what's funny? Milo does not jump. He will never jump on me. He will not jump on me but he'll do it to other people. But he knows, he knows he stops and goes back to the ground because he knows he's not allowed. But he's not supposed to jump on anybody.
Speaker 5:He won't do. Murphy won't to Jarvie either, but he will everybody else. Yeah, oh, my dad, he wouldn't even. My dad walks in the door and he sits.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when my dad walks in the door, milo loses his mind. It's like every other grandkid.
Speaker 5:They're like Papa's here.
Speaker 3:Dude goes I'm talking nuts, nuts. So when I know that my dad is coming over, I put his collar on him and I put him on place. When my dad comes in he's not allowed to move, he has to stay there. And then, once everybody's done their stuff because it gets chaotic in that first couple of minutes Everybody's calmed down. Then I let him go. But dude, 100 miles an hour, his butt's like it is nuts how fast he will go.
Speaker 3:So we covered the fill up your cup, but we also covered pets. We also covered men and life. Yeah, so lots of stuff. But be on the lookout for anybody who's interested in the men's conference. Be on the lookout for that, because we are going to do it and we're going to do it big. Like it's going to go hard, like I want to do a saturday start in the morning, have lunch, go in the afternoon. Um, but just to preface who, I've started to work with andrew bun and my thought oh oh, yeah, my thought with that is young guy, yeah, not yet married, has studied, has gone to school to be a pastor.
Speaker 4:Like gets the like I was still in school.
Speaker 3:Yes, he will graduate end of may okay yes, so like when I go to chicago for that, he'll be graduating in chicago about that same time oh really yeah, and then the other, uh, somebody who is older than me, mark Fowler.
Speaker 3:Do any of you remember when he was here? It's been a little while ago, he was only here once, I think. So friend of mine, guy I used to work with. But you want to talk about prophetic? That's the guy. So I really wanted to have a strong presence of the prophetic in the room because I, like, I know something's going to happen. I don't know what it is yet, but I know something's going to happen, so cause it. I mean, it happened for me fast, like it all, all of it started to run through my brain, that one conversation I had with the one guy, and then, you know, having breakfast or having coffee with Marcus in the morning, like you just realized that there are so many things that we so desperately need that we can't find outside of being in fellowship with other men, and so like we just have to learn that that's what we're going to do.
Speaker 3:Men's breakfast was always a flop, but men's breakfast wasn't a flop because it was men's breakfast. Men's breakfast was a flop because men don't want to come and fellowship together. Generally speaking, right it lot because men don't want to come and fellowship together. Generally speaking, it's the truth. And the men who do come, they're there for breakfast and I'm not saying they don't want a word. They don't want to chit chat and hang out, but it's definitely not the same. So, yeah, I'm being very intentional about the time that I pour into the men around me and the men I let pour into me. So because I'll be honest, some of the guys in this church wear me out as he's looking at Roger, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh listen, roger. By the way, in our young adult group everybody started blaming me for what was. Oh, I said that my wife is always surprised with how handy I am. There's not much I can't fix Washer breaks. Tell me what it's doing. I can usually figure it out right Now. I learned that from my grandpa, my dad and Roger. There's always something. Like Ashley Johnson said her washer stopped working. I was like oh, what did it do? It can probably be fixed. And she's like well, andrew already went and bought a new one, but it won't pump water out. I'm like needs a new pump, like that's the only thing it can be. There's nothing else that it can be, unless it's an electrical issue, which is a whole nother problem. But let's try the pump right too late. Anyhow, I was like my wife is always really surprised by the stuff I can fix. Freaking tyler gets on there and be like roger would beg to differ. I was like roger's usually the problem that's always my fault.
Speaker 2:That came up too, but Poor Roger.
Speaker 4:And then I said poor Roger, yes, and.
Speaker 3:Sid did say poor Roger. Thanks, Sid, At least you got her looking out for you.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, but she's been, she's ragged on me.
Speaker 3:I know she's gotten you a couple of times.
Speaker 2:I've never had that's not true.
Speaker 3:That's not true. That is not true. Watch out, you know what they say there's no room in heaven for a liar Beth.
Speaker 2:That ceiling's going to fall.
Speaker 3:You said that ceiling's going to fall. Why am I in the attic?
Speaker 4:Roger will be in a few days. He's going to make our soft spot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, roger will be in a few days and he's going to make a soft spot. I don't know what happened, oh goodness. Anything else we want to share before we pray. I don't know whose turn it is to pray. It's Sid's. Oh look, everybody pointed at you. They're like nope, it's you, yeah because Dawn took her place.
Speaker 3:Oh yes, so we've got to bounce back. But then next week it's Beth, so make sure you remember. Next week it's Beth. Alright, you ready, alright, dear heavenly father. Then next week it's Beth, so make sure you remember next week it's Beth.
Speaker 4:Okay, all right.
Speaker 3:You ready, all right.
Speaker 4:Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this evening that we've all shared together. I thank you that we're all back in at least one place and one piece and pretty fairly good about our health. Lord, I thank you for the topic that Nick had brought upon us and, you know, allowed us to dissect and just kind of get everyone's different thoughts. I just pray that you know someone just grasps onto this, whether their cup is full right now or empty, and I pray for travel. Mercies and in your name, amen.
