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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
He Said, She Said- GOSSIP
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Gossip and drama are spiritually corrosive forces that pull people away from unity, love, and truth – the very things Christ calls his followers to embody. When we share information that isn't glorifying to God or edifying to others, we sow discord and damage relationships.
• The common justification "it's not gossip if it's true" is a dangerous misconception
• Taking information out of context leads to weaponizing words against others
• Prayer requests often become thinly veiled opportunities to share private information
• Gossiping stems from insecurity and a desire for belonging at others' expense
• Spiritually mature people can walk away from toxic conversations
• Social media amplifies gossip problems through screenshots and public drama
• Filter conversations by asking if they glorify God, edify others, and won't cause regret
Before speaking about others, consider these three questions: Is it glorifying to God? Is it glorifying to the person I'm going to say it about? Will I regret this? If any answer is no, choose silence.
Personal Conversations and Foot Peels
Speaker 1there now we're on now we're on.
Speaker 3That's better on there, okay. Well, it sounds better for you. It does sound better for me. It feels better for me.
Speaker 2Well, that's good I'm glad, I'm glad yeah, are you comfortable?
Speaker 3I am comfortable. Actually I'm not comfortable, but it's a whole well, you take your shoes off no it's not that you don't want me to take my shoes off oh okay, well listen so somebody got me started on those foot detox things, courtney. Yes, so the actual like bath thing.
Speaker 4So I okay, I'll explain it, because Nick's looking at me like I've got six heads.
Speaker 3So it is basically. It's a. Have you ever seen those like used to buy them in?
Speaker 1all the Pedicures yeah.
Speaker 3You put your foot in the little basket and it would vibrate and like massage your feet. So it's not like a bath, no, okay. So it's very similar to that. It's just like a little, almost like a little bucket type thing and you have this uh metal thing you put in there and it's supposed to draw the metals out of your body and toxins and things like that. So courtney brought it over to my house one time. I used it, fell in, fell in love with it. I didn't think I would. I was like this isn't really doing anything. The water stinks, it's like it's nasty color.
Speaker 3Like it's like this reddish orange color depending on what depending? On what toxins are in the air Exactly. So I asked her if I could use hers again and she's like, yeah, Saturday.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 3And I was like I can't wait till Saturday. So I just got on Amazon and ordered one for myself. So I use it two, three times a week. And the other day I was like you know what? I haven't done a foot peel in a while, so let's peel my feet too.
Speaker 2Are you more high maintenance than your wife? Oh, for sure.
Speaker 3My wife hasn't had her hair cut in probably two years. I get mine cut once a month. Guaranteed now, mind you, to get her haircut is 150.
Speaker 1Mine is 30, but that is like that's not too bad.
Speaker 3100 well, not for hers, because hers is um, hers is curly, so she has curly hair, so they have to. Usually they either straighten it or they. If they don't often cut it curly, usually they straighten it, so you've got the straightening, all of the product for the straightening, then the cut, then the style and yeah, so it's. It can be quite expensive, but I get mine cut every month, so, a matter of fact, I got one today yeah, looks good, nice and fresh fresh cut.
Speaker 1Who this?
Speaker 3fresh cut. Who this Fresh cut? Who this?
Speaker 1So, but why were you talking about that?
Speaker 3Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So the foot peel. So you don't want me to take my shoes off, because if I take my shoes off, like there's foot flakes everywhere. It is disgusting. My kids won't even come close to me right now. I wouldn't either. You're probably happy. Yeah, oh yeah, you just leave me alone. But seriously, I take my socks off and like the flakes fall out of my sock when I'm pulling it off.
Speaker 1There's just it's, and I can peel off pieces of skin like it, just you don't keep the peel on, do you Like? Keep it on, do you what? The peel, the peel. Didn't you say that you put a peel on your feet?
Speaker 3Well, I put the. It's like a little sock that you put on yes, and it's like moisturized yeah and so you take it off and about four to five days later your feet start to peel. So all of like the first layer of skin, all the dead stuff, it'll start to come off and it softens your feet. So you know we're at about.
Speaker 3Day five, right now Day five or six and it is nasty and they say it helps them to heal faster if you soak them and so I'm I love to like use that foot bath so hot water as hot as I can get it like I want it to feel like hellfire and I will I'm serious, I want hot water and I'll sit my feet in there and just and then like when you take them out, like you can just peel off pieces of that skin just because it's so, it's all like yeah, yeah, buddy now the stuff that you put in the bath, the foot bath do.
Speaker 1Did you get it on Amazon or did you get it somewhere local?
Speaker 3I got it on Amazon.
Speaker 1Okay, Because I know the one place sells it locally but it's kind of expensive. Do you know where I'm talking about?
Speaker 4No.
Speaker 1Command Wellness, I think.
Speaker 4Oh.
Speaker 1I only did one, the.
Speaker 3Radiant does the foot um baths. But I've never done that before, I've never gone to one. I've never done like courtney did the first one and I'm telling you the smell I cannot describe to you. So the first time I did it it didn't really smell. I didn't feel like it was like stinky or anything like that. I the second one that I did, I was sitting in the chair with my feet in the back and I'm like this smell is so bad it was gross.
Speaker 1Maybe get a doggy door so you can stick your feet out, put it outside there you go yeah
Speaker 4this summer, this summer I'll have to use it outside I'm not bragging, but I've I been blessed with. For a 45-year-old man, I have very nice feet.
Speaker 3So do I.
Speaker 4I've never had foot odor. I have really nice toenails, you guys, so now I've just been blessed with it. Even so, I had a woman in Nashville one time when we were on vacation. We were at a hotel and she commented she wanted your feet. Yeah, she did.
Speaker 3I am the same, other than my toe knuckles are really hairy for whatever reason. But oh, also I saw like this metal.
Speaker 4Why are?
Speaker 3you peeling them because it's. It's like there's some weird comfort.
Speaker 4You see them ones like where people are like we're like oh yeah, no, no, no, mine aren't like yeah it's not like zesting a lemon neither.
Speaker 2No, mine aren't that bad.
Speaker 3No, and my feet mine my feet are really soft for the most part, but it's that like I, I like get that first layer off and then soak them in that that foot bath, and oh man, I'm telling you, there's just something about it. It's just something about it I can't see anyone I love yeah, I know that one's weird. I love a good pedicure too.
Speaker 1Yeah I love a good pedicure too. Oh yeah, I love a good pedicure.
Speaker 3But, I don't often get to do that, so my wife hates them. She thinks they're disgusting.
Speaker 1I think they just tickle and then I'm like I can't even enjoy it.
Speaker 3Yeah, I don't have that problem.
Speaker 5I've had two and I did enjoy them.
Speaker 1I didn't think that particularly either, but well, yeah, but the little korean lady that's doing it, I'm like she doesn't like you have boyfriend?
Speaker 4yeah, you don't have boyfriend so, yeah, usually you come out feeling like you're walking on air that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3Things, yeah, yeah, they're nice.
Speaker 1It is true, that's the kind of stuff that they ask you yeah, and then they start speaking like to one another in china oh yeah, and you know they're talking about you, you know they're talking about. You're like I'm paying 75 for this they're talking about your nasty feet.
Speaker 3That's what they're doing did you see her toenails, yeah I have my dad's feet and oh no, it's just like it's not cute uh, I just recently saw um that they make a thing called a knuckle shaver and it's a piece of metal that's sharp, so it looks like the end of a toenail clipper, so you know how it's like kind of rounded and you're like you're supposed to drag it across your knuckle and it'll like take why that just seems dangerous, like the guy's holding it and he uses it and he cuts through a piece of paper.
Speaker 3Uh, no, thanks. The last time I did that I ended up with this awesome cut on my wrist right there.
Speaker 5So you know everything that has hair.
Speaker 3It's there for a reason exactly, exactly when you think about your ears, your nose, your oh those hairs are there for that was a funny one, I so when I got my haircut today he always like shaves the back of my ear and, you know, puts the little thing inside of me. It just uses his regular thing. And he said he did that to a guy one time and the guy popped up out of the chair. He was so mad at him. I don't have hair in my ears, I'm like dude, mine looks like a strawberry patch.
Speaker 5I took a picture of my dad on vacation. I said we need to do something about this.
Speaker 3Hey, tell him I got one of those waxing kits. We'll stick them in there and just pop them out.
Speaker 1I've done that with my nose before.
Speaker 3Oh, I do it all the time and it broke Like the girl was like well.
Speaker 1I've never had it break before, but I was also pregnant and like I had more hair than usual. Like how embarrassing.
Speaker 3Alright, so.
Speaker 1Now that we Know all about your feet.
Speaker 3Is there any other weird high maintenance stuff that I do Not really? I don't think so, you don't think so, I don't think so.
Speaker 1What do you think is? You know, you've got one stirring in your brain.
Speaker 5What.
Speaker 1About him.
Speaker 3Gossip gossip.
Speaker 5No comment, I don't think I have anything. I think that's it. I don't know if it's really gossip, if you're saying it right in front of me, yeah definitely.
Speaker 3I don't think that's gossip, that's just being mean, yes, and that's not my nature. Okay, roger.
Speaker 1No, not being mean being straightforward to a friend who needs it.
Speaker 3Being direct iron sharpens iron.
Speaker 4If I tell you your toes are hairy and gross, don't show them to me then as my mom used to say, she'd be like somebody that loves them needs to tell them that's a good point, that's a good point yeah, that is good point.
Speaker 3Hey, so don't tell my wife, but I am on MacBit again. What are you buying now? Well, I'm trying to buy the last piece of pipe for a pipe and drape, the horizontal piece for a pipe and drape. It's right now at $2. How many pieces? It's just one, it's just the one bar that goes straight across.
Speaker 1Just one.
Speaker 3Yeah Well, I already bought the second one, so we needed two more. I already bought one, so now I'm just trying to get the other one. That's how it starts.
Speaker 2Trust me I know, Kind of like buying purses.
Speaker 3Do they have purses on Mac babe? I'm sure they probably do, but I won't tell Beth that.
Speaker 1I'm sure I just got shutters on there. Shutters, mm-hmm, I spray painted them the other day, mm yeah.
Speaker 2Metal or wood.
Speaker 1Neither.
Speaker 5Plastic.
Speaker 1Yeah, oh, vinyl Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3Okay, apparently, roger has passionate feelings about vinyl shutters Artificial.
Speaker 1I did really want to do the wood, but then I was like, well then, I'm going to have to stain them every few years.
Speaker 5Well, yeah, that's true, I really like that?
Speaker 2Alright. Well, I'll give you that.
Speaker 1I try to think smarter, not harder. Doesn't always work.
Speaker 3Did you guys see Vicky Hickey's yellow sweater on Sunday? Isn't that the ugliest sweater you've ever seen?
Speaker 2I was in the nursery. I was just trying to get us into the topic.
Speaker 5I was just trying to get us into the topic. I would ask Pastor Roger about his vision before we got into the topic.
Speaker 3Oh okay.
Speaker 5What vision, everything good.
Speaker 1He was thinking like a spiritual vision.
Speaker 5Yeah, I was going to say he didn't know he had a vision. Well, I still don't. I heard he had a vision. I still don't.
Speaker 3I heard you had a vision. We've been on for 10 minutes and it has gone off the rails already, if you're still here. Thank, you If you're still listening. We appreciate you getting through the banter. He can see out of one eye but not the other eye.
Speaker 1And not very well.
Speaker 3And he needs to wear an eye patch on the bad eyes, but then he doesn't want to look like a pirate.
Speaker 1I could have told you that was going to happen.
Speaker 3Because of my grandma.
Speaker 1It happened with her, but I didn't realize that you were getting the same procedure, not the grandma. You know my other grandma who died.
Speaker 5You need to go buy those sweaters for Vicky.
Speaker 4Yes, grandma who died, you need to find those sweaters for vicky. Whoever's buying those sweaters just needs to. Oh, poor vicky. So I was you know, that did you know that all mr rogers sweaters his mom knitted them. I did for him every christmas. Everybody in the family would. She would knit them a sweater, a piece of clothing, something. That's how he got all those different sweaters. I didn't know that.
Speaker 3Blew my mind. It's fascinating. Yeah, that is fascinating. Some more useless information.
Speaker 1Yeah, hey, it's what we're known for.
Speaker 3It is what we're known for.
Speaker 1Does anyone else know Daniel the Tiger?
Speaker 3Yes, you do. Yes, did you know? That's Mr Rogers? Because they're in the neighborhood. They're in the neighborhood that they go to on the train where the king lives, the trolley.
Speaker 5Yeah, the trolley.
Speaker 3So that's like Daniel Tiger is based on that.
Speaker 2I'm so lost.
Speaker 4Everybody that's listening is lost.
Speaker 5Our demographic right now is just like ping pong.
Speaker 3We've covered a gamut of things in under 10 minutes, so it has been, and none of them is worth anything. It has been an interesting episode and that's how seinfeld got big.
Speaker 4Oh yeah, talked about nothing, yep.
Speaker 3A show about nothing. Literally none of the episodes were connected in any way. I'm told that in every episode of seinfeld that there is a superman reference some way somehow. Sometimes it's an actual Superman action figure or sticker or whatever. You'll spot Superman in one of the scenes or there's a Superman reference. They'll reference a character.
Speaker 4Yeah, there's a lot of Superman, yeah.
Speaker 3And I think it's the very first episode when you watch it there's a Superman action figure standing on Jerry's bookshelf in the background. So that was the very first episode when you watch it there's a Superman action figure standing on Jerry's bookshelf in the background. So like that was the start of it and every episode had a Superman.
Speaker 4Yeah, he's got like a magnet on his fridge and I think he's got like a drawing that some kid made for him.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 2You can see in the background, yeah, I'm going to have to pay closer attention.
Speaker 3I have tried but because they're not all like obvious Superman references. They like I don't know the characters from the movies. You would have to like really know. Yeah, let's ask. Chat GPT.
Speaker 5I don't pay attention when I watch TV, so the TV's on, but I'm charting or doing something else, so I'm not really paying attention.
Speaker 2You just like the extra noise. The noise.
Speaker 5The kids will say you've seen that and I'll be like, no, I haven't.
Speaker 1I might have heard it but not seen it.
Speaker 5And then there'll be a scene. I've seen this.
Speaker 3I watched the whole show one time without realizing that I'd watched it already.
Speaker 2Now you and your dad watch a show together every week. Oh, we have to watch Survivor.
Speaker 5Oh I can't do that. My dad has watched that show since it started. My son watched it. So everybody watches it, everybody talks about it. So it plays every Wednesday night and if I don't watch it, I have to catch up because it's taped or recorded so I can watch it.
Speaker 2But it's cute, don't you guys do a live talk on the phone while you're watching it together.
Speaker 3Who do you?
Speaker 5think is going to get voted off?
Gossip: Context and Consequences
Speaker 3I don't know because I don't know any of their names when alissa's mom was alive, they used to facetime each other every morning her, her sister and her mom. They would facetime each other every morning. She would just prop the phone up on the counter while she was in the kitchen making kids breakfast or whatever, and they would just talk and like whatever television show they were all watching or whatever.
Speaker 1I'm like you guys are bizarre so mal and her friends do that now kind of, but it's, they don't, it's not live, like she'll send a video of her talking for like three minutes, yeah, and then they'll send one back to her, but like as she's getting ready or, you know, making breakfast or something. They're not texting, it's just record and talk, yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah, marco Polo was a big app for that back in kind of handy, so I lied to you. It is. That is a myth, and the myth exists because of Jerry Seinfeld's known love of Superman. It's frequent but not universal. So it is frequent, but not in every episode. So there you go, I lied, I apologize.
Speaker 2You and I talk about it every morning. You're waiting for your little friend to go to school Bowel movements. I'll say wait a minute, I've got to blow dry my hair, Except when I was on vacation.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 2She took a vacation from me too.
Speaker 3Get her all worked up.
Speaker 2It was stressful.
Speaker 1That sounds like sarcasm.
Speaker 5It wasn't intentional. I said to her I can't talk right now. What's up? That meant she could text me but she never did.
Speaker 3No, no, no.
Speaker 2I do not like to text.
Speaker 3Well, just do voice to text.
Speaker 2No, I've seen some of that stuff. I was going to say Some of that stuff, Do you oh?
Speaker 3boy, it really gets. I know that you will remember this. You may remember this. I don't know if you would have been around at this time. So at one point we had a congregant in the church who was deaf.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 4And.
Speaker 3Florence had they had a program in the computer that when she would preach it would go right into the computer and then it would put it up on the screen behind her into like Microsoft Word. So it would just like dictate her voice. It was terrible. It would put up swear words. It was bad. And she would say, like everybody would start to giggle She'd be like don't pay attention to the words behind me and keep going.
Speaker 4It was rough. It was rough. Every time I text tomorrow on my phone, it automatically puts Tom Fullery. Why I've never used that once. Put that into a sentence.
Speaker 1Well, my name's Sid Changes to STD. So there's that, I'm like no.
Speaker 3I think the word there in my phone, like T-H-E-R-E, always correct to Teresa. Why would it do that?
Speaker 5What I type is what I want.
Speaker 3Yes, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 5Especially when I'm typing medical words.
Speaker 3Yes.
Speaker 5But it will always change those words something else there was a.
Speaker 2My mom, jarvee, couldn't get a hold of me you know how he gets in panic mode when he can't I don't answer my phone, or whatever and so he had called my mom and she had done a voice text oh boy something.
Speaker 2When jarvee's like you have got to read this and I'm like I said I'm going to screenshot that and send it to her. She's like I did not say that she was so mad, but by that time Jeremy's sending it to my sister. We told her we was going to put it in a Christmas card. It was bad.
Speaker 3Pastor Holly did that to me not long ago and typically I can read between the lines and I don't like make a big deal out of it.
Speaker 4I just figure out what it was supposed to say and I read it and I move on.
Speaker 3And I had to respond. I'm like I don't know what the first half of that meant, but here's my response to the second half. I couldn't figure it out and I even showed it to Alyssa and she's like I, even based on context for what we were texting about, could not figure it out. She never told me, so I just and that's how gossip starts.
Speaker 1Yes, exactly, exactly yes, sid apparently.
Speaker 4They're trying to pull us in here, sid, apparently has STDs, I don't know Well the world knows that.
Speaker 1Now that's going to be in the caption. I know chat GBT is going to chat gbt.
Speaker 3That will be amazing if it grabs that and puts it in the title somehow, or in the I'm gonna bet money oh that's good stuff, it's uh so who's who's um idea?
Speaker 1was it for gossip? Was it yours?
Speaker 4um, I don't, I think it was yours was, was it, I think?
Speaker 3so, okay, pretty passionate about that topic right about now. Yeah, pretty passionate about that.
Speaker 2What? Because of the STD.
Speaker 3So, if I can be honest, I think that sometimes things are taken out of contact, yeah, and so just to start just from a base level, I think that sometimes we even do it with Scripture.
Speaker 3So, we want somebody to believe something that we believe, and so we'll give you a passage of Scripture to convince you that we're right. But you don't get it in context, like when people talk about women not being allowed to preach. We like to go to Corinthians, which? 2 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, it doesn't matter, but they talk about the women are to be silent and sit and yada, yada. But the context of that, if you read it, is that the women are so hungry for the word that they're pressing against the veil that they're forced to sit behind asking questions. And the apostle Paul is like you need to stop, because we can't preach, we can't teach anybody because you keep asking questions. So stop, listen and then ask your questions when we're done was really the context, but because it says that people will take that out of context.
Speaker 3And that's, I think, how gossip truly starts setting. And even if I say something that could be, on its own merit, maybe hurtful to one person, or to be deemed as hurtful to one person, you take it out of context and then you use that as a well, they said this and can you believe that they're doing this or they're doing that? And now we're weaponizing that one particular sentence or one particular phrase against somebody, and then we turn into an angry mob and we're trying to. You know, we're lighting our torches and grabbing our pitchforks and we're going to stab the pastor.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 4Sometimes I just think it's how it's rooted in, just how insecure people.
Speaker 1Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4Because you want to. You want to get in a group of people that think the same way and that you can agree with people on a subject, and you're talking about things you probably know you shouldn't be talking about or sharing information you shouldn't be sharing. But you just can't help it because then it makes you feel part of a group.
Speaker 3Yeah, well, you're included.
Speaker 4It's comfort in a way to be included and do those things. It's comfort in a way to be included and and do those things. And a lot of times you go back you're like, yeah, I regret that now, but felt good at the time.
Speaker 3It always does. And can we agree that when we do that, oftentimes what we're doing is we're looking for agreement on something we, like you, said we know it's not right, it's worldly, it's fleshly not even?
Speaker 4that a lot of times it doesn't even matter, right?
Speaker 3that's what I was, yeah it is something that is so minute and has so little bearing on your day-to-day life, but you want somebody to agree with you on it.
Speaker 3You want something to laugh about to it. She's shopping for sweaters at this point she's looking for new sweaters. But when I make a joke well and that's even if somebody listens to my sermon and they hear me pick on Vicki's sweater that's the only part that they hear. That guy's terrible. Can you believe what he would say about somebody's sweater sitting in the building? But they don't have the context behind said statement and so we're talking about it and then it becomes the identifying characteristic of whatever conversation and we just want people to agree. So when I tell you that Vicky's sweater is ugly, I want you to agree with me, whether you believe it or not, and my hope is that because you agree with me, then I've got I feel like I've got people on my side. What's interesting is oftentimes you'll go oh, on my side. What's interesting is oftentimes you'll go.
Speaker 2oh yeah, that sweater, it's something else, but then you're going to go over to Vicky and you're going to.
Speaker 3He always talks about your sweater and your sweaters are beautiful, Right, Because we want to be in the know. It's FOMO, it's fear of missing out.
Speaker 3We want to be in the group that, like all the gossip happens in, because we don't want to miss any of the details, the fun, juicy stuff, but we don't necessarily believe it enough to say that I'm going to stand with that person because I'm going to go back over here and try to build a bridge so that I don't get left behind, if this is the best way to go yeah, and you could be standing there thinking I don't agree with what people are saying, but you won't.
Speaker 4Very few people will actually be like now, come on, we probably shouldn't be oh, talking about her that way, or? Talk about her sweaters that way so, guys, the, the?
Speaker 3the favorite line that I've been hearing is uh well, it's not gossip. If it's true, yes it is yeah if you're saying in the presence of people that you're attempting to influence.
Speaker 4It is still gossip yeah, and I mean if you, I mean everybody, can know like, yeah, this guy over here has a drinking problem, it's, you know, but that doesn't give you the right to stand around and talk about it.
Speaker 3Yes, because now, if we're standing, there saying well, he's got a drinking problem and because he has a drinking problem, he doesn't take care of his kids, and you know this that and the other yeah. We haven't. We haven't gained. I feel like this is not exclusively a young people's game either.
Speaker 3No, it's very much so not a young people's. I think gossip is probably one of the Okay, it's not just gossip either, it's mean spirited A lot of times that gossip is rooted in that mean spirited Like I'm upset and we talked about this last week I'm not angry because I'm mad. Angry is a byproduct of whatever other emotion that I'm feeling.
Speaker 3I'm feeling angry because I'm hurt. I'm feeling angry because I'm sad, I'm feeling angry because all of these other things, and so I think, out of that anger, it's easy to just start to gossip and pretend like this is acceptable.
Speaker 3Well, I don't gossip, I vent Well that's true, and as a pastor, I never gossip. No, we don't gossip. We just ask you to pray for the person who's sinning and we tell you why we're praying for them. Right, listen, that's a normal thing in church world, right? So if Nick, if you say to me hey, you know, margie and I, you know we're really struggling with this, that or the other thing in our marriage, please don't tell anybody, because I don't want anybody to know. Oh, I won't say a word. I won't say a word. Call Pastor Holly. Hey, pastor Holly, can you pray for Nick and Margie? They're having some struggles. It sounds like Nick is. And then I go into it.
Speaker 3Right, right, it's still gossip. Even if I'm asking you to pray for that person, all I've done was I've guys you made it pretty sprinkles on top, shrouded it as a prayer request.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3Let me tell you a secret. God doesn't need he doesn't need me to say it out loud to know what it is that we're praying for, Right. And so Pastor Holly doesn't have to know every intimate detail. I'm going to tell you something I don't want to know every intimate detail.
Speaker 3I don't, I do not want to know every intimate detail, because there are times that people will tell you things about their personal lives that you have no business knowing. You have no business. I don't care if I'm your pastor. I may be your pastor, I'm not your therapist. Right, listen, there's a difference. I Right, listen, there's a difference. I can give you good counsel. I can say scripturally here's what the Bible says, this is what the Word says, this is what I believe, this is what our church believes. But if you're sinning in some way, that is none of my please don't tell me. And I don't look differently at you because of it. I can look at it and go okay, they probably shouldn't have told me that I'm still going to give you grace and mercy and all the things. But you've got to remember that doesn't come out of here, it's stuck in there right.
Speaker 3It is stuck in there forever. Ever I could curl your guys' toes with the things I know about the people of this church.
Speaker 3No, please don't, I wouldn't. The scary part is when you know it and you're like I have to live with this forever, and there are some things that I don't even tell my wife because I would be too embarrassed to have that conversation with my wife. Yep, I have such a great deal of respect for my wife. There are things that I could not say to her, that other people have said to me.
Speaker 1That's scary yeah.
Speaker 3The phrase that I had jotted down both gossip and drama, because drama is a big part of gossip, Big part of gossip Because when we gossip, we create drama right, right, right and so they are both spiritually corrosive In and of their own right. They won't send you to hell directly, but they will eat away at your spirit, man they will eat away at that spirit man so quickly that you find yourself just living in sin all the time, because you can't stop talking about people, you can't stop living in the drama.
Speaker 3You can't stop creating it for other people.
Speaker 1And you look at it as oh well, I'm not doing anything I'm being helpful. I'm just telling, or I'm relaying a message, and at least I'm not going out and doing this and that, yes, okay, well, your sin isn't better than their sin. Like actually, the devil's eating you alive because of that drama and gossip.
Speaker 4Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5Oh, and you got to think too.
Speaker 4You can't trust the people that you gossip with.
Speaker 3Because they're gossiping with other people About you. Whatever you're saying is going to stay in that little group, Guaranteed. They are talking about you when you walk out the room.
Speaker 4Or they're going to take that information and tell the very person that you're gossiping about.
Speaker 1And then everything that you said. Sometimes it's kind of unintentional about that way too.
Speaker 4Because I just had it happen Especially in the workplace. Yeah, you won't be around gossiping about management or about the ownership or whatever. You better be careful about who you say things to, because somebody in that group might be the first one to run up there and say hey, just so you know it's interesting. So I was talking about you know.
Speaker 3I think as teenagers we experience it a lot more than we do as adults. I mean, I think it still exists, but when we're teenagers we haven't gotten good at lying yet, so that part of our brain hasn't developed.
Speaker 1I was going to bring that up. There was one instance in high school and I told my grandma my mom's side that mom and I said man, I just can't wait to get out of high school. I don't know why this even happened, just something stupid. Someone like making fun of my hair because I put it behind my ear or something. She was just jealous because I was friends with someone that she really liked, all that stuff. And she's like Sid hate to tell you, but it might get worse because the workforce isn't.
Spiritual Corrosion: Gossip vs. Truth
Speaker 1Yeah, it's not, you know it's, it's basically just mean mean people, but it's in a workforce, Just mean girls 2.0. Yeah.
Speaker 3We? Well, the reason I was talking about it is I had an experience with my oldest son, so he was in the spring musical at the high school and he's got a girlfriend. They're I would say they're semi-serious. I mean, they've been together for almost a year at this point, but they're teenagers Do you know what I mean. So like, how serious can a high school relationship be? Now, when you're in high school, you think they're serious, so I don't want to take away from the emotion that comes with that.
Speaker 3But there was another girl who allegedly liked him and was trying to talk to him and the girlfriend was like no, don't talk to her, but they're all three in the musical together. And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3And so he got on social media and he posted something like well, I guess I'm not allowed to talk to anybody else now, because that's what immature people do right right, and the girl who allegedly liked him immediately called him and he talked on the phone with her for an hour and, I'm sure, explaining why he couldn't talk to her and what felt innocent, but certainly was not innocent. If you don't think that girl called for a reason, yeah, you're a fool do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1and then you stayed on the phone with her.
Speaker 3Yes, exactly, and so, then, this level of drama gets created and now we're talking about one another because she's trying to break these people up and but she says he's not allowed to talk to anybody and he's talking to both of them. So can you believe, like there's this? I don't understand that. I don't have the emotional energy to invest in that like I'm burnt out.
Speaker 3I don't want to talk about who's dating who and who's seeing what and who's doing this, and I just I don't have it in me anymore. I got too much stuff going on in my life, right Like I've got too much good stuff going on in my life. This is a. I said this last night in the group chat and not everybody thinks I'm as funny as I think I am just to be clear.
Speaker 3When our power came back on. We have a young adult group chat and I was like, hey, our power's back on, yay. And somebody said it was Ashley. Johnson said, oh, aren't you lucky? And I said, no, I'm not lucky, I'm favored. And I genuinely believe that Not just because my power came back on, it did come back on, just so we're all clear. No one else is dead.
Speaker 1Mine never went off.
Speaker 2So, you got a little more favor. Touche, touche, touche, good job.
Speaker 1But I had to level him. Finally, Yerkesville was the place to be Right.
Speaker 3I know that I am favored because I don't make time for that.
Speaker 1Yes.
Speaker 3I don't like my my mind doesn't make time for that, my body doesn't make time for that, and that's God saying.
Speaker 1It's easy to get stuck in this and I'm not going to let you pull you away from them, and it is easy in the church to get wrapped up in that. Oh yeah, so easy. See, I've been working on that and like better, like just trying to keep into account like my emotions, my feelings, and it's almost like okay. Like I said that I didn't want to go to a certain place because someone would be there and I just don't particularly care for this person, I don't like just the, the personality, like I know what goes on behind closed doors and then they act like they're somebody else and I don't want to be annoyed the whole time. So I said, hey, nothing on you guys, but if so, and so does go, just count me out like chase can still go, just count me out.
Speaker 1Well, nonchalantly got back to this oh and I'm like here.
Speaker 3I am trying to better myself oh, brother, yeah, brother, yeah, been there, done that, been there, done that. Okay, proverbs 6, 16 through 19. I'm only going to give you a small portion of this, but it's there are six things that the Lord hates A person who sows discord in a family. That's the portion that I want to talk about because, quite frankly, sowing discord is creating drama inside Now it uses the word family, but that could be a church family.
Speaker 3That could be a friend circle In my opinion, anyone if the Lord hates somebody who sows discord.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, I mean Not just in a family, but yeah, that's a big word Hate.
Speaker 3The Lord detests somebody who sows discord. I'm not looking to be hated, I'm not looking for my actions to be frowned upon, and so I have to use the filter. Is this glorifying to the person I'm going to say it about? Is it glorifying to God, or am I going to regret this Now? Listen, sometimes I'll have a conversation with somebody and I'll be like listen, I'm going to tell you the truth, but if you repeat this, I'm going to call you a liar, because sometimes I need to tell you directly what you need to hear. But you need to understand that this is between you and I. Right, like, listen, there are ministries that I won't support in our community. I won't support them because I know the backstory to the ministry. Now, that's insider knowledge, right, like that's being in Congress and buying stock. You have knowledge you probably shouldn't have right, yeah.
Speaker 3So sorry, and so I don't want to. I'm going to tell you the truth. But if you go back and tell that person that I said that I'm going to be like, not quite like that, Well and chances are they probably they're going to manipulate it, spun it like that.
Speaker 1well, and chances are they, probably, they're gonna, they're gonna manipulate around, right, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3So I I need people to understand that there are some things, that when you have a conversation with somebody, that you have to be truthful because, again, iron sharpens iron and that does cause sparks. That you need to be able to do that in a trusted environment where you're doing it with love and not to sow discord right I'm not telling you so that you don't love those people. I'm telling you so that you protect your heart when you're with those people yeah right, like there's a difference there.
Speaker 3Okay, so, um, I use chat gpt to make this for me. I'm gonna find it real quick. Where's it at? Where's it?
Speaker 2at okay maybe.
Speaker 3Oh, now chat gpt is not gonna work for me. I love chat gpt because it'll make um diagrams for me, like I'll put in my thoughts, and then it makes these little bar charts. Listen, I have a guy at work who's super good with chat gpt and he can make it like read hotel rates from local competitors and tell him what our rates should be oh, that's, that's cool. He's like super talented with chat GPT.
Speaker 1Do you pay for, like the premium? We have a business subscription.
Speaker 3Okay. So anger and gossip really run together? Because when you gossip about somebody, it creates anger, and so when you're gossiping, you're sowing discord. Okay. So when you're saying something to somebody, you should be saying out of the love for God, the love of others and the truth, right? And so when you're doing that, you don't have room for your ego or your selfishness, right? We're only talking about things that are truthful, things that are about the love of God and the things that are edifying or glorifying to other people. Because if we're doing the opposite of that, we're sowing discord. We're allowing ourselves to be flesh more than we are spirit, and I think that people get wrapped up in the idea that I can say this with all due respect right, with all due respect, vicky's sweaters are ugly. What does that mean? You just called her sweaters ugly. You can't say with all due respect and then say whatever you want. I don't mean to be mean.
Speaker 3But, Vicky's sweaters are ugly.
Speaker 5Right.
Speaker 1No, you meant to be mean. I'm not trying to cause drama, but yeah, I'm not trying to cause drama, but did you see?
Speaker 3Yeah, did you hear? Did you watch drama? But did you see? Yeah, did you hear? Did you watch? Shut up, if it's not glorifying to god, it's not glorifying to the person you're going to say it about, or you might regret it. Keep your mouth shut. Just don't say it. Yeah, because chances are there's no reason to have said it I love that.
Speaker 5My brain, for the most part, doesn't retain any of that stuff. How? You remember everything oh my gosh, yes if it doesn't pertain to me, don't worry about me repeating it, because I've done lost it.
Speaker 3But there's some things that you don't unsee in your brain. But you're a nurse too, so maybe there's a little bit of like you see, but she's used to it Physically see a lot more than I see so, yeah yeah, what you're talking about is it scriptural? Is it scriptural, scripturally aligned with God, right? So if listen, I don't want to know about your bedroom habits. None of my business. None of my business.
Speaker 3However there are a handful of people in the church that I know about their stuff I don't want to know. There's no reason at any point in my life that I will ever need to go. You know what? I bet that's going to be on Jeopardy. Don't need to hear it. Don't need to hear it.
Speaker 5And if we could only disconnect ourself from those conversations? Just step away.
Speaker 3Here's what I've started to do and I'll be honest with you. This is like a something that pastor holly had to teach me. I always use the same phrase hey listen, I want to be able to give you the best counsel possible, but I am not qualified to be a therapist. That simple statement says the conversation that we are having should stop. Should stop, that needs to go to somebody else. I love you and I want to support you, but I don't need to know that there's no reason, and oftentimes I don't do post-marriage counseling because, again, I'm not qualified for that. Now I'll, I'll meet with people, we'll have dinner and we'll talk through things, but, like a lot of times, when you get into those conversations, it becomes intimacy conversations and well, he this and he that, and he this and he that or she this and she that I can't fix that for you.
Speaker 3I don't I don't want to know.
Speaker 3Yeah, I can't fix that for you. I don't, I don't want to know Now, don't get me wrong Like, if you genuinely need me to pray for something in your life, I want to be able to pray for it. But there are things you can say like hey, hey, I'm struggling with you know my relationship with this person, can you pray about that? Yep, I sure can, and I can pray in that very vague way. But God pray in that very vague way but god knows what you've asked. Yeah, we can.
Speaker 1We can be in agreement on whatever god is going to do in your life.
Speaker 1And not to mention like I'm not taking credentials from you, but we are so like resourceful now yes like they can do it online they can go in you know there's a place 10-15 minutes away, like as like if you put your foot down and say, hey, you know, I love you, but I I don't want to have this conversation anymore. Like there's other places for them to go to, like it shouldn't feel bad about that or anything yeah, you're supposed to be there for people's spiritual growth right exactly not uh, not for them to break your spirit yeah yeah, yes, yeah, yeah all right, hold on real quick.
Speaker 3I just got a text. He's gossiping. Uh, I just got a text from jenny I love. I get these a lot, by the way, why did the pen fall in love? I'm really good at riddles, so people like to ask me to see if I know them. Why did the pen fall in love?
Speaker 3the cap was scripted I don't know let's see, I'm gonna ask her what and let her give me the answer, so that we don't sit here on this for a long time. However, dale asked one in like, we have a men's group chat that we talk in um, like early in the morning, pray for each other and whatnot. And uh, it was what's 5q plus 5Q 10 cuties. The answer is 10Q, and when you say 10Q, I say you're welcome.
Speaker 1Oh.
Speaker 3That is a terrible joke.
Speaker 1That might be the worst joke I've heard. Sorry, Dale.
Speaker 3This was a really bad one too. It just felt right Like felt tip right.
Speaker 2Yeah, that was bad. Boo felt right, like felt tip right.
Speaker 3That was bad. Boo, wah wah wah. Those are the ones I don't get. I like the ones that are like you. It's very obvious.
Speaker 5I don't want to say very obvious, but they're clever.
Speaker 3That was a little dry, but it was a good attempt.
Speaker 1That was a dad joke for sure, yeah, but it was a good attempt. That was a dad joke for sure, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3Yeah, that one ran out of ink.
Speaker 2Wow.
Speaker 3Did we talk last week about peacemakers and peacekeepers in our anger conversation?
Speaker 3I think that runs into this gossip conversation too. These two really do tie nicely together because I think when you're in a friend group or you're in a group of just like-minded people, you always have that peacemaker or that peacekeeper and they do genuinely try to remove themselves from the drama, but they have a hard time differentiating themselves or differentiating the truth from the lie, because they want to believe everybody and they want everybody to get along. So they, like me, are compartmentalizing all of this information and trying to figure out who's right and who's wrong. That can be a real challenge. That can be a real challenge. I've also learned this that I will give everybody the benefit of the doubt. I will trust just about anybody for a length of time. But if you've proven to me that I can't trust you now and I will say it in several ways if I. But if you've proven to me that I can't trust you now and I will say it in several ways If I can't trust you to complete the task you've, promised me you would complete.
Speaker 3You've lost my trust and I'm not going to ask you to do anything else. The second is if I trust you with information, that then you use against it not against me but in an inappropriate way.
Speaker 3So like, let's say that Beth and I are talking about somebody who came in to get food and you know Roger sitting in the room and Roger hears it. If Roger takes that information and goes back to the community and he says, well, that person's been coming to our food pantry to get food and they're telling us this, and they're telling us that, I lose trust because that information was not for public consumption. That was happening in-house, that was a private conversation and I'll tell you that's worse than not following through on a task.
Speaker 3Oh yeah, it's far worse, because now everything I say I feel like it has to be guarded.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3And if I can't just speak, I don't want to be involved in the conversation, because now I have to script every conversation that I have with you or around you. I don't like that. I don't like that. I especially don't like to have to think about what I'm about to say. Do you know what I mean? I want to be able to have an honest conversation with somebody. If you called me and you said, hey, why don't you like me? Right, because people have asked me that. Why did one lady ask me? Why did you unfriend me? Well, do you want the truth? Because I'll tell you. And it's not because I don't like you, it's because on Facebook, if we're not friends in real life, I don't need you to be my friend on Facebook. There's nothing in my life that you need to see or would you care about if we're not friends in real life. Right, like? That's just the cold, hard truth. Well, that's hurtful. I'm sorry that that's hurtful, but you've picked up that offense laying out that's your emotion. I'm not in charge of your emotion.
Speaker 3I can't be responsible for how you feel about me not being friends with you on social media, but we also have to look at that from the flip side. We are we are responsible for how we treat people.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3And so when we're in a conversation with somebody who is easily offended or easily hurt, we do have to walk on eggshells a little bit, because if you don't't, you risk offending, and we don't want to offend the flesh, we want to um, lift up the spirit. No, no, what's the word I'm looking?
The Trust Dilemma and Discretion
Speaker 3for we don't want to offend the flesh, we want to convict the spirit, right. So when we, if you're doing something wrong, and I tell you like hey, nick, you, I heard you were at the bar the other night and you were silly drunk I'm not having a conversation with Nick to offend his flesh, I'm hoping to convict his spirit. I'm hoping that the spirit man goes. You know what that?
Speaker 4was right, he's right.
Speaker 3I shouldn't have been there, but if I come in guns a blazing Nick, I'll tell you what you know. You're on podcast, you've been on council and here you are at the bar drinking. What in the world is wrong with you? That is the dumbest thing that you could do. What am I doing?
Speaker 4I'm offending the flesh.
Speaker 3My intention is to make him feel bad, not to get his spirit to go. Oh, wake up. Wake up, and so I think we have to be able to differentiate that and I think if we can get really good at that, we can stop the gossip, because we'll know how to stop the conversation when we walk into a room and somebody said, hey, did you hear what Nick was doing last night? And I say you know what? I don't know what Nick was doing, unless it was glorifying God. I don't want to know.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3Because they go what? No, seriously, unless he was amazing, did he lay hands on somebody and bring them back from the dead? No, I don't want to know about it. And then they're like well, but shouldn't you want to know if your congregant is doing X? No, again, I am not responsible for your entry into heaven, believe it or not. I'm not responsible for anybody at this table. I'm responsible for my own.
Speaker 3Right, and so I want to stay in alignment with God and I don't want to be doing things that will send me to the pits of hell. It's my responsibility to lead you down that same path. The best way to lead you is to live by example, and if I can stop gossip dead in its track, then you can stop gossip dead in its track because I'm not going to come to you with it, right? So you will know not to come to me with it, yeah and the room goes silent.
Speaker 2And just let everybody know we're never sure when we're going to stop.
Speaker 3Nick doesn't go to the bar, not that I'm aware of at least, and we're going to keep it that way. No, yeah, those days are over, for sure.
Speaker 4I don't think I could handle that.
Speaker 3I know I couldn't.
Speaker 4I don't think I could if I wanted to yeah, I know I couldn't.
Speaker 3I don't think I could if I wanted to.
Speaker 2I know I couldn't no, if they close at 8.30,.
Speaker 1I might be that's bedtime.
Speaker 3Listen we have a railroad festival meeting tomorrow night at 8 o'clock at night.
Speaker 1Who came up with that time?
Speaker 3anyway, I don't know, but Aaron even had it in his calendar at 8, and then Beth texted me and said that it was Thursday at 8. What were we thinking? 8 o'clock is bedtime, yeah, and they like to run for two hours. No, well, maybe it'll be short. Well, it's going to have to be short. I'll be asleep at the table.
Speaker 1That, or you'll be chugging coffee and won't be able to fall asleep.
Speaker 3I know Coffee doesn't keep me awake.
Speaker 1I see now and I thought what in the world?
Speaker 2Who was the person to come up with that?
Speaker 3Well, I think we agreed that because it was a work night, we needed to be later so everybody could go home and eat and whatnot before we but that late. Well, but, like even myself, I have that's National Day of Prayer. So we've got prayer at the gazebo starting at six. That'll run for an hour, so seven o'clock, and then I'll have to come back here and prep the building for everybody to be here. So, yeah, I'll need every bit of that time.
Speaker 3Discretion, I think, is another important word when we're talking about gossip, because you can be discreet about conversations that you're having. Right, pastor Holly was sitting in here with me today and she said very, she asked me a question very discreetly. There were other people in the room. They had no idea, not necessarily no idea what she was talking about, but it wasn't like oh my gosh, they're going to be so upset if you do X, or that person is going to get wildly crazy. It was a hey, emotions in check for X and I was like perfect way to have this conversation.
Speaker 3But there are some people who can't do that and discretion is important, especially whenever you're talking about sensitive subjects. So if we're talking about somebody who's attending the church, who we know isn't necessarily know. Maybe they're living at the bar or whatever. We aren't standing in the pulpit. Listen, I offended somebody, I offended my own family a couple of Sundays ago because I was talking about you know, how can you sit in church and be saved and then go out and drink in the evenings? But it wasn't just drinking, it was about several things and they thought that I was talking directly about them. I'm like listen, that's called conviction.
Speaker 3First of all, like let's just put that on the table. That's called conviction, but I would never intentionally do that. When I write a message about something that's in interaction, I would never make it so personal that that person will be like, oh, he's definitely talking about me. Now, if you can read between the lines again, that's called conviction. And you're going oh wait, yeah, I've done that. I've done that.
Speaker 1Because I said things like I don't ever want to hear somebody say this is probably the most painful thing that people will do to me is oh, if you were talking to the old me, right, let people say to you.
Speaker 3Yes, people will say that to me. Oh, listen, the old me would have never gotten along with you. Oh, the old me would have never. Because the minute that you have to say that, I'm led to believe that that old person still lives in there. Yeah, right and that you like that old person better and like why almost that you want me to know that at any point you could fight me right I'm like listen, yeah, yeah I don't care if you like me or not.
Speaker 3I'm not here to be liked by you. I am here to be acceptable in the eyes of Christ. That's what I'm here for. I want to be liked by people because I want to be a good leader, I want to be valued, I want to stand up for what's right in my community All of those things. But at the end of the day, if nobody in this world likes me but I am acceptable in the eyes of Christ have done everything I needed to do.
Speaker 4Yep.
Speaker 3I didn't need anything else.
Speaker 4But, as you know, doing that will get you a lot of enemies.
Speaker 3Oh, and then those people like to gossip about you.
Speaker 1Yeah, because you're actually sticking up for yourself and you're actually being different, and people don't like different.
Speaker 3We had somebody leave the church and they started attending another church and they called at the time my supervisor and told them that I was planning to perform a gay wedding. My supervisor called me. He's like is that true? I'm like dude. First of all, even if it were, I wouldn't tell you because I know that you wouldn't let me do it. But second of all, no, it ain't true. And how they would jump to that assumption is far beyond me, far beyond me.
Speaker 1And why Like? Why waste your time doing?
Speaker 3that, and the purpose was to just create chaos. It was just to create chaos, and it didn't slow me down, it didn't stop me. It wasn't like there was an investigation or anything like that, but it created an uncomfortable conversation. That's really all that. It was an investigation or anything like that, but it created an uncomfortable conversation. That's really all that it was.
Speaker 1I just don't understand why people even like have time to even create this chaos, especially like I'm thinking of something going on right now not with me, but something else going on. And I'm like this girl has two kids, she's pregnant with another one and she's starting things with someone else. And I'm like, why are you bringing this upon yourself? Your life seems so chaotic as it is. Like, do you just want the attention? Do you want the drama? Like I don't know, you know, and she claims to be a Christian woman too. I'm like, oh no, and for reference, she does not go here.
Speaker 3Not even from this same county, are you sure? I promise? Okay, strife, or creating strife, or creating chaos or sowing drama, any of those things is a sign of spiritual immaturity.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, I think it's just a sign of immaturity altogether.
Speaker 3Certainly Like fleshly immaturity always, but there's a point in life, when you become spiritually mature, that you can look at that and go. Not worth my time.
Speaker 4Yeah, that is not healthy it is not that's.
Speaker 3I'm gonna glean nothing from this interaction. I'm not going to gain anything. Life is not going to get better. I'm not going to get rich from this, spiritually or physically. Why would I be involved in that? And you can look at it, shake your head and walk away, but when you are spiritually immature?
Speaker 4you, you live for it.
Speaker 3You sit on the front row with the church because you want to see all the people go down in the spirit. When Pastor Holly leans in, and what can I pray for?
Speaker 1and they tell her all of their secrets.
Speaker 3I want to hear this one, you know what I mean. That's what people do whenever they're spiritually immature. They're looking for gossip or they're looking for drama. Either they can become part of or they can create, because that's their identity.
Speaker 1That is their identity and they get bored with their identity.
Speaker 3Yes, then they've got to jump onto something else.
Speaker 4One of the main things I pray for every morning is that God will have control of my day, that it will be peaceful, that I will do everything I can to make everything go the way it's supposed to with no strife with no drama, because it's like, yeah, I have all these responsibilities, you have all these things that you have to commit to, and it's like there is absolutely no room for any type of negativity.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 4There's just no room for it Agreed and it's just I'll do anything. Not that I want to be passive, but it's just.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 4There's no way I want to go out of my way to make my day harder. Right, right or do anything that God will go really.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 3Like this is how you want to. You know, this is how you want to go about your day. Yeah, okay, well, because then you so again stuck on Noah. I keep getting stuck on Noah. But I'm fascinated by the fact and if nobody else is fascinated with this, I just can't understand it. God has decided to destroy the whole world. Right, like that's his decision that the flesh is sinful and I'm just going to destroy the whole thing. But decision that the flesh is sinful and I'm just going to destroy the whole thing, but Noah found favor. Right, that's what I want in my life If God were to say, sodom and Gomorrah style this place is going to hell in a handbasket and we're just going to burn it down.
Speaker 3I want to find favor, like Noah found building the ark. I want to find that same type of favor and I guarantee you, if my life is nothing but gossip and drama, I will not find favor. I'm not gonna. Titus 3, 10 and 11, it says if people are causing division among you, give a first and second warning. After that, have nothing more to do with them. You ever met somebody that all they do is create trouble? Every time you talk to them, they're making some sort of trouble for somebody somewhere, and sometimes they're braggadocious about it, like they like to tell everybody oh my God.
Speaker 3I'll tell you what so-and-so was doing this and so-and-so was doing that. So I told both of them what they were doing. And then they ended up seeing each other doing it, and then they ended up seeing each other doing it and, oh man, they won't even speak to one another. Now why are you telling people?
Speaker 4that, yeah, they could see somebody just minding their own business, going about their day and they're like watch this. I'm going to just totally get him riled up and upset him.
Speaker 5Yeah, Proverbs 16, 28 says a perverse person stirs up conflict and the gossip separates close friends.
Speaker 4Yeah. Or instead of seeing somebody struggling, say you know what, I'm going to try to help him out. Right, They'll stand back and watch him struggle.
Speaker 3Watch it burn. Watch it burn yeah.
Speaker 4A lot of those too. They lit the fire, Mm-hmm. Yep. Break your fingers off, but no, I don't want to be a piece of yellow legal paper at the bottom of a wastebasket right right, that's a good way to look at it just like your whole how god looks at you, your whole life plan, if he's if you're supposed to be, written in the book of life and all that, and he's just gonna look at it and it and go there's white out over your name.
Speaker 3He wrote it too early.
Speaker 4Crumble and free pointer Kobe it's like no, but yeah, gossip is like I said it's probably the hardest one to because it's so easy. At the end of the day, it's just so easy, even for the most well-meaning person.
Speaker 3It's so easy I know I blame social media for a lot of things, but that's the one right. Have you ever seen something on social media that you immediately screenshot and send to somebody? Can you believe they said this? Listen, we have my wife and I have a couple who are not married, but they're in a serious really. I mean, they've been together forever in a relationship.
Speaker 3They live together, but about every six, eight months they're getting a divorce or separating right and they'll like each of them will air their dirty laundry on social media and then like and then, 20 minutes later, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone, so my wife and I have gotten really good about screenshotting before it's gone so we can still read it now I want to just explain that, as I'm consuming that.
Speaker 3I'm consuming that, thinking there is something wrong here and they need a whole lot of prayer because they have been together for so long, they have children together, and so they will on occasion ask, alyssa and I, if we want to have dinner together. And we don't, because we know that we can't insert ourselves in that because, they are not Christians. I will also say this, though we also can't just say no because they're not Christians, because the gospel has to be preached at some point.
Speaker 3And sometimes that's the way that it happens. I believe that, for if you have a neighbor that's, or a friend, or somebody in your friend circle or somebody that you know that's homosexual or living in known sin, the best thing that you can do is preach the gospel. You can love them all you want, but unless you tell them the truth, they're not going to know what the truth is, and so we are very cautious about how we interact with them, because we don't want to get pulled into that cycle.
Speaker 3of abuse is what we would call it because there's really nothing better to call it, but that emotional manipulation, that emotional abuse, and it's really hard to understand how they've ever gotten to that point in their relationship where you know, just stop. Not that they'll ever listen to this, but I'm just going to stop. What are you doing? No, I'm using it as an example. I don't think is gossip, because I wasn't talking specifically but as an example. You're looking at the problem, not the people. And the problem is that oftentimes we have adapted our mindset to think that walking away is easier. To just say I'm not going to do this, or I don't want this, or I don't like this, I'm going to walk away, versus we need to fix this is the easiest thing to do, because when the flesh walks away, the flesh gets mean, it gets ugly, it gets filled with anger because, whether or not it's hurt or upset, it becomes filled with this anger that then turns into gossip and drama and deception and all of the things, and it's hard to take that back.
Speaker 4And you think yeah, yeah it's satan's very first tactic and it's with eve yeah he's like you know. They know exactly what god's laws are you know, and, of course, what's the serpent do? Starts more or less deceiving and gossiping like, oh, he just doesn't want you to know he doesn't want you to be as smart as he is. He doesn't want you to know all the things, yeah and and I'm sure he said even more than what's in the Bible. Right so it's almost your first form of gossip and deception.
Speaker 4And you can see what that created in itself. So maybe that's why it's the hardest, because maybe it's one of the original sins.
Speaker 3You know I always think about again. There are weird scriptures that I love just so very much, and one of the ones that it always sticks out in my mind is that Adam and Eve, after they realized that they were naked because they didn't know that initially when they fell into sin they realized they were naked and they felt shame for the first time they went and they hid in the trees so that God wouldn't be able to see them and see that they were naked. Think about the logic behind that. You've always been naked, he's always known that you were naked.
Speaker 3That sin that you are carrying is a choice. You carry that because you choose to carry it. God doesn't look at that. He's not looking at the fact that you're naked. He's not looking at the fact that you've sinned or you've done wrong. That's your burden and you just keep carrying it around like it's a backpack that's going to at some point give you riches and glory, and I think we like to treat that. It makes us humble, right? Well, I've been through all of these things in life.
Speaker 4I've seen it, I've lived through it.
Spiritual Maturity and Social Media Impact
Speaker 3You know, I was a drug addict and I went to jail and I've all of these things. It doesn't define who you are. All that is is something that you're carrying around as a badge of honor. That means nothing in the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1But like a badge of honor that you feel shameful about anyway.
Speaker 3Well, I don't even think that. Shame to me. Shame is also a really nice way of if I say that I'm ashamed of my past. I want you to ask me about my past. My testimony is my testimony, and there's a difference between sharing the story and sharing my testimony because, my story is very one-sided right.
Speaker 3My testimony is as neutral as I can humanly make it and I always ask do you tell a story from your point of view, the way that you saw it, the way that you remember, or do you tell it like it actually happened? None of us sitting in this room tell a story like it actually happened. You have a perspective on how it happened, you believe how it happened and that's what creates gossip, because you could be sitting in a room full of 10 other people. Everybody hears or observes or experiences something slightly different in that conversation.
Speaker 3Yeah, you know, if Roger and Nick are talking and it gets heated, even if they're like no, I just simply don't agree with that. I'm like man, nick got really upset for no reason and then Sid's like well, roger was being really passive, that was like he should have asserted himself more. And when we go out and we tell that story, I've got a story that Nick was being really mean and really aggressive and Sid's got a story that that Roger was. He was just like he was just laying down and just taking it.
Speaker 1And then they're in the parking lot Like, yeah, whatever, dude, I'll see you next Wednesday, right.
Speaker 3And they've already walked away from it. But now the world thinks that the two of them hate each other. Right, like that's understanding to have that. You cannot objectively tell a story. History is always told from the side of the winner. Yep, always. They're the ones that get to write the books, they're the ones that get to tell the story. If you go to I think we were talking about this man what? What country was it? I can't remember. It's not a super important point, but there are countries who have been at war with the United States and, like, we call it, um, the Vietnam conflict or the Vietnam war, and they call it the American war because we were the instigators. Right, like, that's how they view it. But we're telling the story to the people.
Speaker 4Well, it's kind of like our own civil war at the time of the people. Well, it's kind of like our own civil war at the time. They called it. You either call it the war of the rebellion if you were from the north right and a lot of people in the south called it the second war of independence yes because they believed that they were fighting for independence.
Speaker 3Yeah, yes, that's what I'm saying. It's, it's.
Speaker 1We can't ever tell a story objectively that sounds like a lot of today's politics yeah, for sure for sure nothing has changed yeah, no, nothing has changed.
Speaker 3I think we've gotten more vocal about it in like a much more like again. We say this a lot too, but there are people who say stuff online who just obviously have never been punched in the face for the things that they've said.
Speaker 3Right, like back when I was a kid, if you said something to somebody and they heard you, you got blasted in the mouth and you didn't say it again. Now we just sit behind our computer and we can say stuff about people in California or New York or whatever. We know they're never going to come find us, yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah, unless they have your IP address.
Speaker 3Yeah, but how many of them are going to come find you? Most of the ones that can find your IP address probably don't want to fight you. Yeah, true, have you guys heard of swatting? Anybody heard of swatting? Yeah, flies. Anybody heard of swatting? Yeah, flies, no, okay, so swatting is a form of we'll call it harassment, but it's almost deemed to be terrorism. Now, okay, so let's say that you know Nancy Pelosi's address.
Speaker 1Didn't they make this illegal?
Speaker 3It is illegal. It's always been illegal, but now it's going to be like federal crime rather than a local crime.
Speaker 3So you know Nancy Pelosi's address, you know that she's home on Thanksgiving break and you call the police and say that there's a sexual assault happening or there is some domestic. There's some domestic, there's a gunman in the house. Whatever they send the SWAT team out, they kick in the door, everybody gets arrested, handcuffed, thrown on the floor. It becomes a big production because the SWAT team out, they kick in the door, everybody gets arrested, handcuffed, thrown on the floor. It becomes a big production because the SWAT team thinks that something is actually happening inside of the home.
Speaker 5But it's been a lie all along.
Speaker 3That is normal, that's common. It happens all the time now.
Speaker 2Really.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, to very famous people. It happens regularly. Didn't that actually happen to Nancyancy pelosi? I don't know if it happened to nancy pelosi. I think it might have. Yeah, let's look. But that's a new form of what they're calling domestic terrorism, basically. And I think about, like again, sowing discord just because you don't like somebody doesn't mean you should ruin their lives yeah, yeah like.
Speaker 3I think that it's really crummy of somebody to go and leave a negative review of a business because they don't like the owner. Right, have you ever done business with that place If you haven't stay out of it? Right?
Speaker 1Did you hear of the draft pick? Who is?
Speaker 3Oh yes, I just heard about that today at the barbershop.
Speaker 1They were so prank called like who.
Speaker 4Oh, dion, sanders, yes, uh huh yes.
Speaker 3Like, called and said that this team was going to draft him in the next round and he was actually projected to be drafted a while before. So he was waiting.
Speaker 1He was waiting any minute for it anyway, and then people just prank, called him.
Speaker 3It was somebody sitting at a table at the draft. One of the guys got up and left and went to the bathroom and all of his notes were there and they had the phone number for this kid and whoever was sitting next to him picked up the phone, called him and said hey, you're going to be drafted, we're going to draft you, and so he's excited and I don't remember the teams or whatnot. He was excited well, this says.
Speaker 1I just tried to figure out who it was and it said nfl finds the falcons yes, the atlanta Falcons. Dc over Sanders prank call. So it was the Falcons.
Speaker 3And they find the offensive coordinator, defensive the defensive coordinator, because he left his, the notes lay there, $100,000 and the team $250,000, something like that. For that, prank call.
Speaker 2Oh, the team made it.
Speaker 3It was somebody who was working with the team, actually worked for the Falcons, actually worked for the Falcons. Now, he may have been an intern or whatever, but he was sitting at the draft table. He was sitting there when he did it. Wow, how dirty. Yeah, how dirty.
Speaker 1But like, would that be squatting? That wouldn't be squatting, would it? Or swatting, swatting or squatting. No, that was swatting, swatting, swatting, because you send the swat team to their house.
Speaker 3No that would not be swatting, but that would still be really messed up.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3Huh, so People need to get a life.
Speaker 5Yeah, they do. Indeed.
Speaker 3Yes, yes, they do, but we again, because we can't do anything else. There's a netflix documentary I'm not gonna. It's don't mess with cats, but take the word mess out and replace it with an expletive okay, um, it is about internet vigilantes. There's a guy on the internet who posts videos and photos of him harming cats, and this group of internet sleuths do everything that they can to track this man down. They find him.
Speaker 4Let's stop talking about this right now. Margie's listening.
Speaker 3Margie, don't watch it, don't watch it, Don't watch it. But well, she might like the ending.
Speaker 1Margie's going to swat.
Speaker 3She might like the ending. Well, you can't swat him because I think he's dead. I him what? All the cats? No, the vigilantes. The internet sleuths found the guy. They were able to determine his apartment number in this building. It was a whole thing. It was crazy, but that's life right now. People can find anything if they truly, truly want it, oh yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1Scary.
Speaker 3It is Alright, you want my last thought? Gossip and drama are spiritually corrosive. They pull people away from unity, love and truth, the very thing that Christ calls his followers to embody. So when we talk about people who are engaging in gossip, people who are engaging in drama, all of those things, they are being spiritually corrosive to the people around them and to themselves. They're ruining their own family, because when you're spewing that vial all the time, the people who are around you will also continue to spew that vial.
Speaker 3And then you're just wrecking everything around you. You know, I maybe in my message, I can't remember but when you step into a ministry that you are not prepared for, you can wreck that ministry Must've been my Sunday message. You can wreck that ministry, must've been my Sunday message. You can wreck that ministry. And so many people just cannot understand that. And that's why, because they are spiritually corrosive but they don't even realize it.
Speaker 4Whose phone is that? It's so easy to feel?
Speaker 2It's not mine.
Speaker 3It is loud.
Speaker 2It's probably Roger's.
Speaker 4It probably is Huh.
Speaker 3He doesn't even know what's going on.
Speaker 4It's so easy to feel justified in the moment. Well, it's not gossip. This isn't gossip.
Speaker 3I'm not gossiping. I'm just telling you the truth. It's not gossip. If it's true, well, how do?
Speaker 2you know it's true. Well, so-and-so told me. I heard it third-hand. It's got to be true.
Speaker 3I read it on. Facebook. I read it on social media.
Speaker 1Oh it's gotta be true if it's on Facebook, and that's why Alva Mackey hates Facebook.
Speaker 3We were Alyssa and I were talking. The other day. Florence used to call it to Facebook. Yeah, right Because when you're looking at Facebook, you're seeing the picture perfect families with all of the beautiful, their Easter their Easter and their Christmas standing at church with their Bibles in hand and doing all of the things.
Speaker 3And what you're not seeing is the fight that they had right before they took that picture, because all the kids were untucked their shirts and were messing up their hair and kick their shoes off and had grass stains on there. You aren't seeing any of that.
Speaker 1Wouldn't get out of the car to go into the church, wouldn't take the picture.
Speaker 3Only seeing the pretty, you're only seeing the positive, and that is what has created this false sense of um life. I guess, just truthfully, in the world you know it also causes so much depression because oh, that's what I'm saying, oh yeah well, my life's not that good.
Speaker 2Why is their life good and mine's not? I get that a lot.
Speaker 3I get that a lot. Well, you drive, you drive a brand new tesla, or you have this, or you just bought a brand new house, or whatever. People say those things to me all the time, like, right, I work hard for those things, that's not, those aren't given to me. No, I work hard for those things, but God has also blessed me. Okay. So this is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world.
Speaker 3Have any of you ever seen my wedding ring? No, so super beautiful wedding ring. I'll just show that one to you, just pass it around.
Speaker 4Yeah, just pass it around, get a good look at it, don't drop it, don't hurt it.
Speaker 3I don't want any damage to it. I can see it's round. Okay, I can see that it's round, so what's interesting about that is I wear that regularly. How old is this? That is well, that's almost OG to Alyssa and I's marriage 13?.
Speaker 4It just looks like something from the 1950s yeah okay.
Speaker 3Well, that was why I liked it, because I wanted something that embodied how I feel about myself. I'm much older than I look. That's my feeling, and so I will beat you right now, Roger. So Alyssa had gotten a wedding ring upgrade a couple of years into our marriage, and so then I got one. Here's the thing when you look at that, you're like man, he's got it together right.
Speaker 3All of that is fake. That is sterling silver and cubic zirconia. None of it is real. But people all the time like man, you got it like that. I'm like nope, sure don't. But ain't it purdy? I don't have to have everything genuine, right? And now they're selling cubic zirconia as lab-created diamonds and they're trying to convince you that it's not the exact same thing I can get on Amazon for $12. I think this ring costs $22. I'm not kidding, I think it was $22. No, Alyssa's is real and it was a lot more than that. But I don't need everything. But people assume that because I have nice things and I live a certain way, that we have all of these means and that, oh, whatever. When you say that to somebody else, though, when you take that information, we pay our pastor too much. That's one that we have heard Council members know. No, you don't.
Speaker 1I know you don't, and then if we don't pay you enough, that means you're doing a poor job?
Speaker 3Yes, exactly, there's always this reflection of how a pastor appears and dresses and shows up and whether they have to work or whether they don't have to work. It's just sick. It is really disgusting that people would be that way because you don't know the truth. You don't have all of the facts. We prioritize different things than other families do.
Speaker 3We prioritize our soccer games, our dance recitals our like the things that Alyssa and I didn't get to have as kids. We embrace that for our kids and sometimes that means yes, I have to pay somebody to come help us clean our house. I'm sorry if you think I've got too much money because I can do that, but that's not the case. But you hear that you assume it. You make it into a much bigger story.
Speaker 2And it's just not true.
Speaker 3It's just simply not true.
Speaker 2I'm just hoping that my best friend cleaned mine when she went and got hot dogs today.
Speaker 3She goes didn't happen, Didn't happen.
Speaker 5I was out in my yard pulling some weeds before I went.
Speaker 3Hey, if you want to stop by my house. You can pull weeds in mine too. Listen, we had the flower beds edged and we've got all the grass. That was like cause. We had them widened a little bit but there was still grass in where the edge and we didn't pay to have it pulled, Cause you know I ain't got it like that.
Speaker 1I got it, but not like that. Yeah, I got it, I got it, but not like that.
Speaker 3And so all of those weeds were there. So we pulled one whole side. It was 10 lawn bags, those paper lawn bag 10. And so then the garbage men had to lift those up and they were so stinking heavy. So then the next week we had six more from the other side of the house and I went out and helped them lift them because I felt terrible, we've still got the back, we've probably got another six off the backside of the house. So crazy.
Speaker 1I hate weeds.
Speaker 2My flower bed still has fall leaves in them.
Speaker 1I just pulled out. Leaves in my flock like the creeping one, oh yeah.
Speaker 2I tend to. I leave them there, you know, all winter, and pull them out.
Finding Favor and Final Thoughts
Speaker 3Yeah, because the bees are still living in there, the bugs are still living in there. You're supposed to wait until spring is really spring before you start doing that, but I don't really care.
Speaker 2But, like I said, by the time I get home, oh yeah, I agree. Well, not just that, but I told Dawn. I said I swear there's a wind tunnel in that driveway in the evening. If I do it in the evening, as fast as I'm raking them out, they're blowing back in.
Speaker 3I cleaned out the garage the other day. We took everything out, we reorganized, we put some hooks up to hang up the shovels and whatnot on the back of the garage. So we swept out the garage by hand with the broom and then, once we got it out, to the driveway, used the leaf blower out, the wind started blowing and blew it all back in the garage. Every bit of it back in the garage.
Speaker 2Welcome to Jaday.
Speaker 3I'm like what, why, why did it have to be that way? Why did it have to be that way? And I'm talking? It was a lot of leaves from the fall and since we didn't have power yesterday, I had to manually Uppy Downy. That's a technical term For those of you who aren't in garage door business, it is the.
Speaker 1Uppy.
Speaker 3Downy. What is an Uppy Downy? It's the Uppy Downy. It's the thing that makes the door go, uppy Downy. So I didn't reconnect it to the Uppy Downy, and so when I backed out this morning I pushed the button to make it go Downy and it didn't go Downy because it's not connected to the Uppy. So I'm thinking I've been gone all day. You know, all that stuff is in the garage at this point like everything is in the garage.
Speaker 1No, not against the upy downy. No, the upy downy is on the ceiling, yeah.
Speaker 3I had to fix our upy downy like three days after we moved in. The garage door wouldn't go all the way down. We couldn't figure out why. Apparently, whoever installed the garage door forgot to tighten the bolts in the arm that.
Speaker 3L arm that holds it in there. And so the bolt had popped out. It was laying in the driveway and the nut was laying on the inside of the garage and I was like why does this thing? Why is it acting like that? So I just looked at a picture of one installed properly and I'm like a bolt definitely fell out. So I grab the flashlight and I walk out in the driveway, find the bolt, I put it back in. I have to get it reconnected to the upy downy because we were manually using it at that point because we didn't really have a choice. So I get it reattached and then you have to reset, like how far it goes down how far it comes up.
Speaker 3I was like this is complicated. So we bought our house. We moved in a couple of weeks before the people who bought the one right behind us, about four days in their garage door, did the exact same thing. Did you help him with his up and downing? So listen, so before I realized that he was already fixing it, because I knew exactly what was wrong with it, I was like you just need to find the bolt, just find the bolt.
Speaker 4But yeah, so his upy downy was broke too.
Speaker 3I'm a professional up and down. Yeah, I should go get a job at Wayne Garage Door because I obviously know a lot about garage doors.
Speaker 5Uppy downy.
Speaker 1Put that on your resume. Yeah, certainly, uppy downy expert Operates. Upy downy, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3I know how to fix an upy downy.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2I know how to fix a little flappy arm.
Speaker 3Yeah, Flappy arm. Yeah. Well, that got sideways, I think.
Speaker 2Roger's going to die.
Speaker 3Oh boy, oh boy. So if you've made it, this far on the podcast.
Speaker 1Again, thank you for listening.
Speaker 5Wait for the gossip to come out.
Speaker 3Downey fixed, just call Pastor his teeth are gonna fall out. His chest is red. He's crying you wait.
Speaker 1Now we'll be able to really tell who listens you. Wait Now, we'll be able to really tell who listens If anybody says Uppy Downy in the next week You're like, you're the real MVP.
Speaker 4How are you feeling today? I'm a little up Uppy Downy.
Speaker 3You know Uppy Downy. Hey, for those who are listening for those who are listening. For those who are listening, I will work that into my sermon for you on.
Speaker 1Sunday. I was about to ask if you could Uppy Downy will happen in my sermon this Sunday, but it can't be like. It has to be like a.
Speaker 3It'll be subtle, it can't be something about the Uppy Downy. No, no, no, no, it'll be subtle how is everyone this week.
Speaker 1Are we upy downy Nope.
Speaker 3I'm going to actually use it in the sermon, like in the message. I've got the perfect spot for it already in my mind. He already knows.
Speaker 1I've already got a spot in my mind for it. It'll be perfect.
Speaker 4See how many people.
Speaker 1That is perfect. That's a true sign of an upy downy expert.
Speaker 3Yes, I know exactly how to talk about an Uppy Downy, where to put an Uppy Downy, how to put a bolt in the Uppy Downy. Oh, it's turning to bright, oh, oh.
Speaker 1I need a paper bed. Oh Lord, someone might have to take Roger home tonight. Follow him home, he needs some nitrous oxide or something.
Speaker 4He's going to be breathing in reality.
Speaker 1Make it even more funny.
Speaker 5Bring your round paper bag on Sunday.
Speaker 1Just don't give me a black plastic one, alright, so. I thought you were going to say a black body bag.
Speaker 5Well, that'll be, that's last.
Speaker 3Okay, so it's actually. Don's turn to pray, yeah, because there's been this whole Skippy game.
Speaker 5Yes, because I was on vacation.
Speaker 1Skippy, skippy, this whole upy-downy game Skippy duty Skippy around, skippity, skippity hey.
Speaker 3Oh Jesus.
Speaker 2Oh Jesus. All right, roger can't read.
Speaker 1B.
Speaker 4One Green.
Speaker 1There's not a one, there's an, a Green, okay.
Speaker 2Are we ready, ready? Okay, it's the Uppy Downy. It's ready Like handy.
Speaker 3Don't forget to slide the Uppy Downy.
Speaker 5Get the Uppy Downy, are we?
Speaker 3ready. I think that's the wrong one.
Speaker 1I don't hear no music.
Speaker 5Lord, get us out of here. Oh, dear precious Heavenly Father, we come to you, dear Lord. Thank you, lord, that we can come around this table and we can have this great belly laugh. Lord Jesus and Lord God, I just pray that you know, gossip betrays confidence. Lord, god, let us not criticize each other. Lord, let us not judge. Let us obey your laws. Lord Jesus, let us walk away when we are in those situations. Lord, lord, let us show grace. Let us give your mercy and grace, lord Jesus. Lord, let us seek your will in your way. Give us the discernment, lord, to know when we need to walk away. Don't let us bear false witness to our neighbors. Lord Jesus, let us show your love. Lord, lord, I just thank you again for this platform. Lord Jesus and Lord, I pray that we all have traveling graces home and that you bring us back at the next appointed time. Lord Jesus, in all these things, we ask and pray in your son's most precious and holy name.
Speaker 2Amen.
Michael Brindley
Host
Beth Jarvis
Co-host
Dawn Reed-Enochs
Co-host
Nic Affolter
Co-host
Roger Deardorff
Co-host
Sydney Erickson
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