74 | The Barge

A quiet afternoon on a park bench overlooking the Hudson River became an unforgettable lesson about the power of our choices. 

In this episode, Richard takes us back to his days in Poughkeepsie, New York, where he watched one of the largest barges he'd ever seen make its way down the Hudson River. Within minutes, it had disappeared around the bend and out of sight. But the story wasn't over. 

Long after the barge was gone, the shoreline began to change. Small ripples became rolling waves. Calm water became restless. The greatest impact came after the vessel could no longer be seen. 

It's a powerful picture of our own lives. Every decision we make - whether rooted in faith or selfishness, obedience or compromise - creates a wake that extends far beyond what we can see. Our actions influence our families, our friendships, our churches, and generations to come, often in ways we'll never fully realize this side of eternity. 

Together, Brad and Richard explore the lasting consequences of everyday choices, the invitation to faithfully obey God regardless of immediate results, and the challenge found in Revelation 3:2 to "strengthen what remains." Whether you're walking through a season of discouragement, wondering if your faithfulness matters, or reflecting on the legacy you're leaving behind, this conversation is a reminder that God is at work - even in the wakes we cannot see.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:01

Welcome to Sermons on the Side. I'm Brad. And I'm Richard. And life can move pretty fast. So we're here to slow down, dig deep, and find the story hidden in everyday moments.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

With years spent in ministry, friendship, and navigating real life together, we're all about blending humor, honesty, and faith into conversations that meet you right where you are.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

So whether you're brand new or you're back for more, we are so glad you are here.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

So relax, listen in, and let's discover meaning together.

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In the ordinary, the messy, and everything in between.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Sermons on the side. Finding meaning in the everyday.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

They start running. They start getting them hips moving. Watch out. They get some speed. They might not, they might fall over. It might be a while before they get back up again.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Oh, that's good. I love it. I'm there. I am totally there.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

What a wild way to start a sermon on the side. This is awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

You know what? Our listeners may never know what's gonna hit them.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

Brother, we don't know what's gonna happen. What are we talking about?

SPEAKER_02 1:31

And the home of the happy sermons on the side on Thursday before for the fourth of the weekend.

SPEAKER_03 1:46

Oh my goodness, I'm so pumped.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Hey, how did you feel about our fireworks sound effect?

SPEAKER_03 1:53

The production value is second to none. Richard, how are you, sir?

SPEAKER_01 1:58

I'm doing good. Do you know what I think about when I think about the 4th of July, this 250th, uh, and uh the Declaration of Independence? Guess who I guess what I think of.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

What you think of? I'm gonna guess the uh the MLB All-Star game.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Well, I do I do think of that. But when I think about the Declaration of Independence, I think of National Treasure and Nicolas Cage stealing the Declaration of Independence, but for a good reason.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

Borrowing it.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Borrowing it. I'm gonna steal the Declaration of Independence.

SPEAKER_03 2:29

It's a great, it's an underrated movie, and if you have it. Watch it this weekend. Yes, did you know?

SPEAKER_01 2:35

National Treasure. Now they made two of them, loved them both, by the way. But the first one, best of all, and it is the first non-kid movie that I ever took my daughter Carly to see in the movie theater. You know what I'm saying? But so like before uh because prior to that it was all Disney or cartoons and whatever. That was her.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

And so now the real reason of why it's sentimental comes out. You know, yes, I love it. Okay, so I need to know what uh what is on deck this weekend? What 4th of July plans do you have uh you know, Saturday?

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Hey, listen, everybody loves her. Her name's Kendall Nipper, she's my stepdaughter. She was an interviewee. You remember one of our top listened to interviews, and uh what a lot of people don't know is she was uh born on the 4th of July.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

Oh, I did not know that. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

As a family, we are going down to PCB, Panama City Beach, for going to the beach again?

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Yes, you just got back from the beach. You know, it's been a couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

It's been 10 days. I mean has it been double-digit days since you've been back from the beach.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

Toes in the sand, baby. Hey, and how special that the rest of the uh the nation will be celebrating Kendall's birthday along with me.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

They do fireworks in her honor. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 4:07

Well, happy birthday, Kendall.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

There's sales at stores, yes, just her honor. Red, white, and blue sales. Yeah, so that's tell us about uh Casa Day Williams, uh, the Williams gang. What's up?

SPEAKER_03 4:22

Yeah, it would be well, it's more like Casa De Anders because we're gonna go over to uh Lisa's parents' house and we're gonna have a pretty pretty nice gathering of family. And uh there's gonna be pool, there's gonna be watermelon, there's gonna be uh SPF 5000 uh sunscreen.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Fair skinned, are we?

SPEAKER_03 4:43

Yeah, dude. I've got two shades in the summer, burnt and not burnt. Uh my SPF needs to come in like batches. Uh but no, we're gonna yeah, no, we're gonna have fun uh by the pool.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Oh, that's outstanding. Well, I hope all of our listeners are looking at some good weather for this holiday weekend. Yeah, I hope everybody gets to eat some hot dogs or hamburgers or whatever you do. Whatever's firing up on the grill. Celebrate the nation's birthday.

SPEAKER_03 5:10

I have a random question for you.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

I love random questions.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

This is just out of left field, and there's no reason that I'm asking this other than my sheer curiosity.

unknown 5:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 5:20

If you could be any animal, what what would you be?

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Whoa. Okay, I like the question. All right, I might I'm I'm curious, can it be what I wish I could be like? You know, because I I'm I'm much better at being aspirational than self-aware.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Because if I say, you know what, I see myself as no, this is totally wishful thinking.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Okay, um, I'm gonna go with the uh African jungle vibe. Okay, right? And so I'm going with the uh the the leopard.

SPEAKER_03 5:53

The leopard?

SPEAKER_01 5:53

The leopard. Okay, you know, I I just they're you know, they're they're cool, they're smooth. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, they're just kind of moving around, they're not like freaking but boy, when it's time to pounce, they can pounce, they got a little speed on them. They're just they're cool, yeah, and smooth, and they can handle things. And they anyway, that's just uh I love it.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

There you go. He's a leopard. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

What if I were to ask Brad Williams that question? What pray tell?

SPEAKER_03 6:22

Well, I might I might go the African theme as well and go giraffe.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Boom.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

Tall, lanky, you know, but hey, they start running, they start getting them hips moving. Watch out, they get some speed. They might not, they might fall over. It might be a while before they get back up again.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

But oh, that's good. Uh I I love it. I'm I'm I'm there. I am totally there.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

Wild way to start a sermon on the side. This is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

You know what? Our listeners, they never know what's gonna hit them.

SPEAKER_03 6:55

Brother, we don't know what's gonna hit us. What are we talking about?

SPEAKER_00 7:00

No doubt. Uh speaking of which of what's gonna hit us.

SPEAKER_03 7:04

Oh, dude, we're T minus seven days away. Six days? I don't know. What how did how did you think about that? So today's Thursday.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Yeah, one week from today.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

We have an awesome interview. Uh we're not gonna even, we're just that's all we're gonna say.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Yeah, I think a special surprise guest on our next uh our episode next week, that story.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

Oh man, you guys want to make sure that you come back for episode 75 of Sermon Side. Whoa.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Okay, pause it. Whoa, wait a minute. 75. You remember that in that that little short of that meeting. Episodes are drawing social security with Kevin Hart and he's like, wait a minute, wait a minute. I don't know that we ain't gonna just blow by that like you didn't just say what you said. Yeah, 75. Wow. I mean, hey, God is good.

SPEAKER_03 7:54

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

And when we started our uh Sermons on the side podcast, boy, we didn't, we didn't, we had no idea what that the Lord would keep us going to 75.

SPEAKER_03 8:06

You talk about aspirational instead of self-aware. I think 75 was was wishful thinking at best, but uh by God's grace, here we are. Um cheers to another 75 after this one. But hey, I'm excited about this one for more re for more reasons than one. Uh, but you've you've got an awesome sermon on the side over there. So so let's dive straight into it.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Let's go to hey, we're gonna hit the way back machine again, and we're gonna be back to summer of 2009.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

So if I am doing math correctly, and you know I always do math correctly. Well, oh gosh, anyway, we're talking about 17 years ago. 17 years ago, uh, in July of uh 2009, I had a really interesting experience when I was having lunch one day at a picnic table in a in a uh in a park, right? So I lived up in New York State, a little town called Poughkeepsie, New York.

SPEAKER_05 9:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

And so there was this one cool little park that I like to go to every once in a while, and it was right on the bank of the Hudson River, one of the most significant, a lot of historical significance, and it's just one of the most awesome rivers in these great United States of America that are that happens to be celebrating its 250th birthday. Uh seriously, I used to go down to that park, and on this particular day off, I had a bag lunch, I had my Bible, I had my journal, I had a little uh speaker to play some music on. And I went to this uh this park bench and the view of the Hudson River was beautiful. I mean, it was just right on the level of the of the riverbank, and I'm telling you, the bank of the Hudson River was no more than 25 feet away from me where I was and it was just a wonderful summer day, and so I'm chilling, having having a good day. Now, that's the setting for this thing that happened that was that God ended up speaking to me. So God was speaking sermons on the side to me long time ago, yeah, and uh, and I journaled about it, and and so, but here we are now sharing it with our listeners all these years later. But it's important to note that this took place in the early days of what I call my uh addiction recovery journey. I was just a few months in, and this was an important shift and change in my life. God had begun to do some super critical changes and work on me on the on the inside, but it was also a pretty tough time in my life because coming uh to grips or finally admitting that I had this uh this addiction, I mean, it had it had been a it had rocked my world. And so it was a very difficult time for me and my family. But on this particular day, I was off work, I was able to go and enjoy this little picnic. So it it and God is being good. It's just one of those days where you know how it is if you if you're going through some difficulties and God just gives you a breath of fresh air, it's a it's a it's a gift. I love that. And so it was one of those type of moods. So I'm sitting there enjoying my time, and at some point I look up and I'm I'm staring at the Hudson River, and about halfway across the Hudson River, I see the biggest barge that I've ever seen in my life, like in person.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Okay, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

And it's just chugging its way down the Hudson River on its way to New York City, where I lived and and where I was on that day, about 70 miles north of the city. And Hudson River, of course, is this main thoroughfare. And here's this huge barge with just row upon row of big shipping containers. Wow. And I'm like, and nobody else is in, you know, in this little park, and I'm like, nobody else is seeing this. This is remarkable. I had maybe maybe from a bridge, like crossing the Hudson or something on a bridge, looked down and seen boats in the water. But this was just different because you're sitting there going, whoa, that is huge, and and it wasn't wasn't making a lot of noise or anything like that. It was just pitter putting its way down. Because you know, big barges like that are actually pushed by small tugboats. You know how that that's how that works. It's a it's a I did not know that.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

It's wild, but anyway, so this tugboat is just kind of pushing this barge along, and I thought, I can't wait to tell my kids about this. This is fascinating, just an interesting sight, not something you see every day. So I'm like, oh, what do you know? Wow, that's really cool. And then yeah, I just I watch it for a few minutes and it's just inching its way down the river. And then I go back to, you know, reading or eating my sandwich or whatever it is. And every once in a while I look up and it's a little farther down the river and and go back to my stuff and then look up again. Now it's now it's much farther down. I can still see it, but it's it's almost, you know, turning to to leave. Last time I glanced up, it was kind of going around the bend.

SPEAKER_05 13:34

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

On its way, and I thought, oh, how cool is this? But very shortly after it I lost it in my line of sight, I'm I'm just kind of tooling around, reading, and then I hear something. Now, the banks of the Hudson River, it's not like a sandy riverbank, they're like big rocks, boulder type big rocks that are along the side of the river at this particular spot. And as I'm the barge is almost out of my, or it's just kind of turned around the bend, so I can't see it anymore, and then I hear water rushing up against the rocks. Just kind of gently kind of lapping up against the rocks. And I glance up and there I see it. It's like a little wave is hitting the rocks.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

It had not previously been there.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

No, no, it had been just a very still river up until that point, and all of a sudden, you know, the wave is kind of slapping up against the rock. And I'm like, oh, and then I understood what it was. That was the wake of the barge. Oh, okay. That had because the Hudson River is come on big time wide. And that barge was in a slap uh right, smack dab middle as it went by, and so it took a while for the for the wake to kind of, and I thought, oh yeah, that makes sense. And then a few moments later, the water keeps the wake keeps uh slapping up against the rocks, and it gets a little louder. And and in a couple of minutes, it's it's even stronger. This this wake is starting to hit the rocks with a little more force, which is like, oh, okay, yeah, and I done but and I understood what was happening. It was the wake of the barge that now was out of sight, but now the water, that wake is finally getting to the shore and it's smacking up against those rocks. But I mean, just increasingly every 20, 30 seconds or so, I it got louder and louder. I mean, it was like it started distracting me. I'm like, dang, that's just that's pretty that's significantly the sound it's making. And then it was like really disruptive. It just kept getting louder and louder to the point at one time, I was it was unnerving because it was getting, now I wasn't in danger of it coming up on the shore and washing out my my picnic table. That's not what it was, but it was freaky because it got so loud, and those waves are hitting the rocks and it's like smashing. It's not just that little lapping up against them, and it started it the what that wake is just crashing against the rocks to the point where it got so loud I I was a little scared. I I was just sitting there watching it, and it's just crashing and crashing. And it was it was just an odd thing because all of this is happening, and you can't even see the barge anymore from where I was sitting, you can't even see it, and yet the wake that it left behind is kind of freaking me out. It's so loud, and I was just like, no, eventually that subsided and it went away and it was back. But I was just like, that was wild to have that kind of noise in a really peaceful, serene setting like that. And as I and as it calmed down, and I just went, whoa, that that is such a trip. Then it's like my mind started firing off, and I feel like it was the Holy Spirit, I think I feel like it was the Lord revealing and showing me that that's how life works, that that's how life is. The things that take place in our lives, the way our lives play out, the decisions that we make, stuff that we do or don't do, it can it can be as if different parts of our lives happen, but there's not that much of an effect that our lives have. Kind of like that barge. I'm sitting there at the picnic table. I look up, I see this thing. It is very interesting to me. I watch it go away, but it was just it really wasn't impacting me. Yeah, life was normal, it was a normal moment until the actual effect of that barge started hitting those rocks that were not that far from me. And I thought, that's life. Our lives have an impact even if we don't see it at the moment. The things that are going on, and I said before, the things that happen to us, the things that we do, the choices we make, the stuff we do, the stuff we don't do, has an impact, even if it doesn't seem like it at the moment. That impact is going to be felt and heard and seen, and it's going to make itself known. And in that moment, remember, you think, remember, I'm a few months into my recovery journey. So I am just now starting to live honestly, and I'm starting to live with the realities of all the choices that I'd made for many years in my addiction. And I thought to myself, I'm the barge. I'm that barge. Because I just tooled my way down the Hudson River having a good time. Maybe somebody noticed me, somebody didn't, I don't know, whatever, but my life was going along, and I was deceived to think that the decisions that I had been making, the but the just the foolishness, the sin, the the addiction, the regretful stuff of my life, I was deceived into thinking, hey, it's just it's no big deal. It's no big deal. I'll I'll just I'll I'll try to be good, I'll try to deal with it, I'll try to keep it secret. I'll say I I'm not gonna ever tell anybody, maybe it'll get better. Plus, it doesn't seem to be messing anything up right now. This is what I was deceived by. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_05 20:22

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

And then that's why that day I was like, I'm the barge because I'm doing this stuff or had done all this stuff, and it wasn't making a measurable impact, and so I was deceived into make thinking it wasn't a problem, or that the problem wasn't as bad as it really was. So in that moment, I realized, okay, God, you're trying to show me something here that I'm starting to deal with the disruptive, unnerving, and scary consequences of the decisions I've made in my life. And it really broke me in a in a very special way, I think, in my heart and in my mind. And I just it made for some really intense and very helpful prayer time with God, and some good things I got to write down in my journal and stuff I started to realize, and that those truths helped to humble me. They they really helped to make me humble and realize look, I've made decisions that have brought disruptive impact to people that I love and and to me, myself, and and most importantly, between me and God. And so I I humbled myself in that moment in that park, under the you know, under the shade tree, and then on this beautiful sunny day, I said, God, you've shown me something important about how our lives impact things, even if it doesn't look like it at The moment.

SPEAKER_03 22:01

Or even if we're completely unaware of it. Yes. Because we might be down and around the corner and out of sight, you know. Right. But the decisions, right? Those effects of those decisions linger in the path that we we chose to walk in. Yeah, it's a that's a very, very powerful uh moment. And I can I can just imagine that reality of that day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

And it was hard, right? Uh the way the first thing the Lord showed me about that in that moment, that was hard because it was one of those face reality moments. But it showed me also, it's like, God, you know, I just thanked God for revealing himself to me that way. Because it showed me that he's with me and he's walking this journey alongside me. He wasn't distant. I felt so close to the Lord, even in that that pretty heavy moment. And then I started thinking about that truth, and that truth that I just explained about our the impact of our lives, you know, that also applies to positive things as well.

SPEAKER_03 23:20

That's right. That's right. Do you feel that? I absolutely do. Because the seeds that we sow, the decisions that we make that are that are good, those also have incredible, lasting, generational possible, right? Possibly that it could be generational impacting decisions that we might not ever see the effects of, but that discipline of deciding that, hey, I'm gonna be somebody that that goes to church, I'm gonna be somebody that has a quiet time every day. I'm gonna be somebody that that tells other people about Jesus. I'm gonna be somebody that fully dedicates, fully surrenders, and fully gives my life over to Jesus. That has lasting impacts. And there might be times where we look around and go, man, I feel like I'm a huge barge, but I don't see anything going on. Well, that might be the case, but we've got to release everything over to the Lord, including the results of our obedience. God doesn't promise to show us the results of our obedience, right? That's a big deal. That's a big deal for me, you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

And you've said that on this podcast before, and that's that's just important for us to note. I and I think that yeah, it it brings to mind, I mean, as as the Lord showed me both sides of that coin, both sides, well, let's call it both sides of the barge story coin.

SPEAKER_03 24:41

Okay, both sides of the shore. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

But I when as he showed me that, it made me think of this verse in in Galatians chapter six, where it says, Do not be deceived. Whatever one a person sows, that he will also reap. Now it's this catchphrase, you reap what you sow, but it originated in the scripture. And that's basically farm talk saying whatever seeds we plant in the ground, that's what's gonna grow up through the ground of our lives. So if you sow or if you plant uh ridiculous, foolish seed, sinful seed, that's the kind of harvest you're gonna end up getting. That's one of the things I was dealing with that day while I watched the barge go. I was dealing, starting to deal with uh the harvest I was getting of all the all the bad uh seeds that I was uh planting. All right. So he showed me that, but he also showed me, and the the interesting thing is, right after the scripture says, Whatever you plant, you're going to harvest, it says, Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in good season we will reap a good harvest if we don't give up. And so it was like God was helping me to face the reality of my my issues in that day with the bar the day the barge showed up in my life. But he was also saying to me, Don't give up. That's right, don't get weary of planting good seeds, especially for sometimes for people like me, we say, Well, we've messed it up so much, why even try? But God was able to keep me on the path. And and in recovery, we say, just trying to go and do the next right thing. And God was able to keep me on that path, low these 17 years, and God is is strengthening me to not give up and not grow weary of doing good. And so I wanted to put that out there to our listeners that what maybe you're in a season like I was in that day where you're facing some harsh realities. Don't give up.

SPEAKER_03 27:15

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Don't give up, don't run from it, humble yourself, own it, admit it, and keep moving forward. Like my mentor Trey Lovern says, keep moving towards the the Heavenly Father, keep moving towards the Father, don't give up because if because we'll reap if we just don't quit.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

Yes. We don't get weary. It's so good, man. I love this because it doesn't matter which shore that you're on, there's something here for everybody. Right?

SPEAKER_05 27:48

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 27:48

You know, like keep like keep doing the good things, trust that the the effects of our decisions for Christ are multiplying for the kingdom of God. Amen and amen. Right. Yes, yes, yes. But like you said, to your point, if if somebody's in that 2009 all by themselves, sitting at a picnic table season, yeah, right. One of the verses that came to mind for me was is super impactful for me on my own recovery journey, um, is Revelation 3 verse 2. It says, wake up and strengthen what remains. And so, yeah, maybe maybe you're not on that happy side of the shore. Maybe there's maybe there's some things that you're wrestling with and going, man, man, there's some decisions that I've made that have left a wake. Our encouragement is wake up and strengthen what remains. Our encouragement is found in Galatians, what Richard just said. A promise from God that says, if we will sow good seed, God will reap good fruit in our life. We believe that. It's not something we're just saying, we believe that. And not only because we believe the Bible, but because we've experienced that in our own lives. And I just I believe that God is a God that can do what he says he's gonna do. And I just do.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Oh, thank you. And that wake up and strengthen the things that remain. Yeah. Oh, that is to me, I hear hope in that. I I hear that, hey, if if you're being told to wake up, it means you've been snoozing through something. So there's a there's a one of those dose of reality, hard-hitting vibe to that verse, but then it says, strengthen the things that remain. Also, the the obvious meaning of that is that a lot have a lot of things have been lost. But strengthen what remains and then just watch what God can do. And I want to tell you just one one other thing that comes to my mind when I think about the barge story and the wake, you know, those waves that eventually hit hit the shore. And I just think it's beautiful because we get to decide. We get to decide what kind of impact we want to have. Like you said, we we don't we're not promised that we'll get to see all the results of our obedience. But if we choose to obey and we don't grow weary in doing good, then you know what's gonna happen? It's not it's like the difference between just making a splash and making a real impact. Look, you could I I could live my life in such a way that somebody notices, oh, that's interesting, for a moment. Something that's odd or attention grabbing for a second, but that's not what I'm looking for. I want barge-like wake to be left from my life. And I want, and I do believe that God can take when we wake up and strengthen what remains, the impact that we have, what we leave in our wake, will be more than just a splash. It'll be deep and lasting God kind of impact that will help people in their lives. What do we say? What do we read in our group every Tuesday night? We say, no matter how far down the scale we have gone.

SPEAKER_03 31:25

We will see how our experience can benefit others.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

That's the kind of wake that we could all leave. So let's do it. Sermons on the side, listeners. Woo! Let's go for it. Let's believe God can do that through our lives.

SPEAKER_03 31:41

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Woo! God is great, man.

SPEAKER_03 31:43

That was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

I just love it. This has been a fun time.

SPEAKER_03 31:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Together.

SPEAKER_03 31:49

All right, now. Yeah. We always just whiplash our listeners from uh sermon to sis to serious to segment. That's what I was trying to say. And it just serious to segment. Serious to segment. But alas, here we are.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

Yeah, we're gonna do it again. We're gonna do it again. Okay, so this came from a conversation that Rhonda and I had with a a work friend, a friend of hers that she works with. And uh we, I don't know how we got on this subject, but we were all talking about how if you drive, like if you're married or you have family members who drive a different car than you do, yes, regularly, then sometimes you need to drive their car, they need to drive yours. It just stuff comes up, right? Oh, yeah, things happen.

SPEAKER_04 32:45

Kids, this, that, and the other.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Yeah, schedules, yeah, podcasts, hello, recording sessions, um, cars get breaked down, blah, blah, blah, whatever the situation might be. Well, we got to talking about how that happens and then how you you should take the responsibility that if you get in your family member's car and you have to adjust the seat or the mirrors, then when you're done, you need to reset and put everything back the way you found it. Am I right? Or am I am I bothering? No, oh no, you are so right.

SPEAKER_03 33:24

I'm just deciding how deeply I want to cut into this real quick. Come on. I've broken kneecaps getting into my car. I've got permanent back issues because I attempted to get into this car without first measuring.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

You guys gotta, you guys gotta know that Brad is not uh he's not like me, where I'm 5'8 on a good day. Brad is what what is your hype, bro?

SPEAKER_03 33:52

With shoes, dog? I'm I'm all a six, three and a half, six, four. I'm a big boy. Giraffe, baby. That's right. So my sweet wife is not, uh-uh. You know, uh-uh. She's just a little short princess.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

She is. I'm telling you. And so, yeah, I feel you.

SPEAKER_03 34:11

I mean, I mean, no lie. When she gets into the car and and adjusts the seat, and then and then I try to get into the car, the steering wheel is in my sternum. I mean, I can't breathe. I mean, I if I could, I'd have to reach inside my shirt to get to the steering wheel. I mean, it's so bad.

unknown 34:34

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 34:35

I hand to God, I cannot get my knees in there. I will attempt and then I'm oh goodness gracious.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

Well, let me tell you, and and Rhonda's friend um would told the story of how, and she herself is married to more of the giraffe type dude, very six plus feet tall.

SPEAKER_05 34:55

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

And uh, and that she was uh expecting their first child in this story, right?

SPEAKER_05 35:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

So so they realize that the car that they have, and it's just this little sedan, you know, two-door, that they're like, we gotta, they're just about to trade it in for whatever, you know, a better vehicle for the little fit-the-car seat in there. But they hadn't done it yet. And so she found herself in one of those situations where she needed to get in the vehicle. Her husband, her tall husband, had driven it just before that and had not reset the seats. So she gets in and she falls in to the driver's seat. Because remember, he's six foot plus.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

Oh, heaven forbid there's more room.

SPEAKER_00 35:49

But she falls in, she can't reach anything with arms or legs. She's she's kicking her legs trying to reach she can't reach, she said, and these were her words. I was like a bug on his back. You know, trying just flailing arms and like trying to, you know, trying to get a cockroach.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

So anyway, that that mental image um has been in my mind, and I thought we need to talk about this in a segment. Uh people, reset the car seat and mirrors after you use your family members' car. That's that's how we solve this problem. That's how we find peace on earth. That's right. If you could just, if we could just remember to reset the car, you know, save Brad's knees and stern them. Well, yeah, help our short uh friends who can't reach anything if they fall into that.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

Okay, well, one of those scenarios is an injury, and one of those is an inconvenience. So this is a little lopsided here. The injustices. We're not bitter, are we?

SPEAKER_00 37:03

I couldn't reach the steering wheel.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

I had to oh, I broke my kneecap and I can't walk straight for the rest of the week.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

Oh my word. Okay, so in the aftermath of this Sermons on the side episode, we need to hear from our listeners on multiple things. Number one, we need to hear from them about what animal they would be if they could choose, because that's something we talked about before.

SPEAKER_03 37:25

Leopards, giraffes.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

Yes. What else? And and then B, we need to hear Oh, see, you did the one and the B.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

C.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

The second thing we need to hear from you on. You get we'd love to hear some of these scenarios. Maybe you've been in that situation where you're either the victim or the guilty party of the car seat and mirrors not be not being reset. Right. And you're sitting there talking to the officer after you've broken the law. Well, I couldn't see out the side mirrors or the rear view mirror because my husband didn't anyway. Whatever the we want to hear your stories, and we really uh want to hear your feedback on this uh barge story and maybe how that has helped you and hopefully encourage just us all to not grow weary in doing good.

SPEAKER_03 38:18

Man, that was awesome. And you guys also have an incredible long holiday weekend. We hope you have an incredible time with your friends and your family. And hey, we weren't just joking about it, we have an incredible interview next week. So make sure that you come back and join us next Thursday for another episode of Sermons on the Side. Talk to me. One time I got into a car. Now, I we haven't had this issue. All of our cars are dumb cars, you know, that I've ever owned. You know, just analog, just you know, whatever. There's levers and there's you gotta pull this and slide it, no buttons and no like automatic couch, you know, stuff like that, whatever. Well, I got into one of them new cars. And I forget whose car it was, I forget why it was, but I was just like moving it. Maybe I was just moving a car real quick or whatever it was. But it was one of those where I got in it and I'm there's plenty of room. Oh, so much room. Yeah, unbelievable room. You're thinking this is made for I don't have to adjust anything. I mean, you know what I'm saying? This is easy. Turn the car on. This is one of those, this is one of those cars where it like moves. You can set it, you know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_00 39:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:41

I turned the car on, bro. They about sent me to the windshield. I was at one point, I was like, Is this the final destination? Is this back a meeting? Jesus, this is how it is. I mean, every about six inches, and I was like, surely it's going to stop right now. Oh god, is this honey's car?

SPEAKER_01 40:01

You're not gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_03 40:02

Oh, I I don't know. I don't think so. I forget whose car it was. This might have been back in the like college industry days, but honey. Oh my word. I thought I was dying that day. Never against it.