Running on Coffee and Christ
We are an energetic couple, focused on building a community that is able to impact their families, friends, and their world by; Growing their Faith, Improving their Fitness, and Pursuing their Future.
The topics we discuss, revolve around the hopes that YOU are inspired to better yourself and that you could dare to dream above and beyond all that you have ever imagined for yourself.
Running on Coffee and Christ
Episode 8: I Chewed a Christmas Tree Cake and Spit It Out (And Other Tales of Self-Denial)
Saying "no" might be one of the hardest yet most transformative disciplines we can practice as followers of Jesus. When Christ commanded us to "deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him," He wasn't introducing a spiritual punishment system but rather offering a pathway to freedom.
In this deeply reflective conversation, we unpack how self-denial touches every area of our lives – from the Christmas tree cakes we crave to our social media habits that steal our attention. We share vulnerable stories about our own struggles with saying "no," including a particularly memorable experience with the temptation of a Little Debbie treat that ended with "chew and spit" tactics! Beyond the humorous moments, we explore how our eating patterns often reveal deeper spiritual issues about comfort, control, and what truly satisfies us.
The discussion moves beyond food to examine our relationship with money, time, and family priorities. We challenge the notion that "having no time" for spiritual disciplines is a legitimate excuse when we somehow find hours for mindless scrolling. Through personal examples of parenting decisions and running competitions, we illustrate how denying immediate desires often leads to unexpected blessings and alignment with God's purposes.
What makes this episode particularly powerful is the practical framework it provides for understanding Jesus's call to self-denial. This isn't about punishment or deprivation – it's about creating space for something greater. As the old hymn reminds us, when we "turn our eyes upon Jesus," the things of earth grow "strangely dim" in comparison to the glory and wonder of following Him. Join us for this challenging yet encouraging conversation about finding freedom through the counterintuitive practice of saying "no" to ourselves.
SHARECROPPERS COFFEE ON FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072208428425
Music from #InAudio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5NgiN3KLb4
Hi everyone and welcome to episode 8 of our podcast. We are excited to be here. We always are excited to be here. I'm a little tired.
Speaker 2:I'm a little tired too.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to lie, it's been a long day. It's been a blessed day, thankful. I still have my workout clothes on from running and doing the exercise class this evening.
Speaker 2:I've had three changes of clothes today because I sweat pretty good in my running clothes, so I had to change out. I couldn't go around. I stink more when I run than you do.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't know if it's a men thing or if it's a me thing, because I sweat a whole lot more than you do.
Speaker 1:But you ran with me today and I'm thankful for that. It was good we did. We ran all over Sneed we did. And you've done that before, but I haven't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I knew what to expect Most of the time when we run. You're not a fan of the unexpected. You're not a fan of going down roads less traveled?
Speaker 1:I'm not, but why is that?
Speaker 2:Because you don't know where the dogs are and you don't know where the dangers are, and I run off with this confident, bolstered attitude. And you're a little timid, I was slowly unaware. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then I'm like overanalyzing it all and then I can't enjoy the run. But anyway it ended up being good, a good run, a great day.
Speaker 2:It was a perfect run. Like where we ran, we ended at the exact amount of mileage that we needed, without even really having to run a couple laps here and there. At the end it was really unique.
Speaker 1:It was good, but, yeah, episode 8. So I don't really. 8 is the number of a new beginning, I believe.
Speaker 2:New beginning. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:And I guess this topic that we're going to talk about today maybe it could, maybe it will start a new beginning for you. I feel like it can for me too.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We're going to talk about denying ourselves today and saying, no, that is. It could be a touchy subject for you, or?
Speaker 2:You know, just saying no in general, it affects every area of your life. You know, any aspect that you are trying to do as a human, saying no to things it it either has to be a part of your, your vocabulary, or you will say yes to everything, like that show, yes man, or whatever that movie is.
Speaker 2:I never watched it, but like he said yes to everything and wound up doing all kinds of weird things, um, but saying no a lot of times is is one of the harder things to do in life, I think it is, You'll feel like you're letting people down If you say no.
Speaker 1:You may take on too many things, but a lot of times are like what we're talking about today is never telling ourselves no, because we're spoiling ourselves rotten.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Um, but our cups. Today. I chose um for this topic that we're talking about is the Christmas tree cake, because this is my Christmas tree cake cup. I think I had this made by Christy Beasley several Christmases ago. I love this cup. I absolutely love Christmas tree cakes. They are not a part of my diet anymore, not at all, but I love them always have.
Speaker 1:I love that little crunch on it. I've always loved them since I was a kid and, like to me, it's not Christmas without the Christmas tree cake. Um and so when I was pregnant with Jude, I could eat these by. I could eat these by the box at a time just thinking about that now.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, thank you, god, that he was a healthy baby boy maybe that's the reason why he has so many little Debbie wrappers in his bedroom all the time no, we don't really even buy those anymore but anyway, this Christmas I denied myself Christmas tree cakes.
Speaker 1:Wait, you didn't have a single Christmas tree cake. I didn't.
Speaker 2:Because we had some cheat. Well, that's one of the things that I was going to talk about with my cup.
Speaker 1:Okay, I have a little confession to make. I chewed one and I spit it out.
Speaker 2:Oh no, I remember that.
Speaker 1:And I know that sounds gross to people, but I was just like but it also didn't hit the same way anymore, and it's not because I'm sitting here like trying to weigh a certain amount. I don't. I don't even weigh, I don't. I don't care about that. It. We really have just been a lot more conscious about the ingredients that we're putting in our body because I I want to try to prevent any diseases that I possibly can.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't prevent anything, and I'm not.
Speaker 1:God, he knows when it's my time. I don't, but I do want to try to take care of myself in the time that he's given me.
Speaker 2:But the chewing up thing. I'm going to go back to that because it sounds gross but it's funny. But really a lot of the sugary things that we eat and the things that generally are not the best for you, that taste really really good. The only time it actually does anything for you is when it's in your mouth that's what I.
Speaker 1:That's what I discovered I was like you know, once I've swallowed it, it's not really doing anything for me anymore. So I was like, well, I'm just gonna chew it, because that's I'm just wanting that taste and that feel.
Speaker 2:They need a Christmas tree bubble gum, christmas tree cake gum.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't think the gum is really that good either. You're still swallowing stuff Anyway. Oh, here we go.
Speaker 2:So my cup's the Apple Barn, and this was a time. Everyone loves the Apple Barn that goes to Gatlinburg. We love the Apple Barn and that was one of the times where that we did not deny ourself on this last Gatlinburg trip. We went to Apple Barn and we ate. We ate Apple Barn. We enjoyed it. We ate the fritters, we ate everything that was there.
Speaker 1:I didn't deny myself anything that I wanted there, we didn't deny ourselves. And then, you know, we've already talked about it. We paid for it.
Speaker 2:We paid for it, like because our body wasn't used to dig those chemicals or those products, and and when it, when it hit, it hit hard yeah, and it not in like explosive diarrhea.
Speaker 1:I'm not afraid to use that word, it doesn't embarrass me it didn't hit that way. It hit in, it pain lag pain in my legs fog I just, I can't even explain how I felt, but it it was like the flu this is yes yeah, like the flu yeah's like when. I guess maybe when you get off of carbs and you go through that carb flu, it was like going through that again.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But worse.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no bueno, I don't know, uh, so anyway. So we're going up with the cups. Denying herself yes.
Speaker 1:Denying ourselves. Uh, so in the, in the, the what? The torah no, no new testament. Oh my goodness, I was thinking old new testament um, it's the, the gospel, the gospel which is the story of jesus, basically his ministry here on earth, and we have basically four different accounts of it. We have matthews, marks, luke's john's so they all I. I love it that we do get to see those perspectives, because if you and I are at the same place, we will see things differently.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:Because we're going to pay attention to things differently. So I love how there are stories and I call them stories. They really did happen the facts of Jesus's ministry, but I love that a lot of them are paralleled. You know like they'll all have the same thing, but then you'll have like maybe Mark says something that nobody else does mention.
Speaker 2:You know, I heard someone along that same line, like that Mark says something that someone else doesn't. But there was a study done where they actually um, compared the amount of variance in the gospel stories to like four random people that experienced the same situation like a shooting or or a robbery or something like that. The amount of differences in opinions, the percentages of it parallel matthew, martin, luke and john, like the percentages of difference in those because so. So it proves it, furthermore, that those variances in their stories actually legitimizes their stories exactly.
Speaker 1:um well, this particular the verse of denying yourself um, matthew, mark and luke all have the same when he when jesus was talking to. So we obviously know that all three of them were present when he was saying this and it was pivotal enough to them that these three people wrote it down, that it needed to be logged, that we needed to hear it.
Speaker 1:And the verse goes and it basically all says the same thing, but I'm going to read it from each of them how they wrote it down. So Matthew 16, 24, if anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Luke 9, 23 says Whoever wants to be my disciple must, must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. And then Mark says Whoever wants to come after me and I imagine that like just going after Jesus.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Let them deny themselves. Take up his cross and follow me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just slight variances in it, but Definitely the same message.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Okay so in all that, what does it mean to deny yourself like, from your perspective, cow? And if? I said what does it mean to deny yourself? What would you say?
Speaker 2:um put someone else's priorities above mine, or um take the thing that I desire and compare it to what's best.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure, sometimes we don't know what's best.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:That was a face.
Speaker 2:Whenever y'all see that on. Youtube my face goes weird. That's going to be a short. Here comes Instagram reels.
Speaker 1:Okay, Well, and obviously yes. I do think that is what denying yourself mean, and it can just mean the simple word of no, no, no saying no no, okay, yeah and uh.
Speaker 1:No does not have to be a negative word, it can be very positive. So I, I was like, okay, so what does it mean to deny ourselves? It means saying no, well, what do we deny ourselves of? Like, what are we needing to deny Our own will? Obviously Okay. Like we are, we're selfish. I have always said, no matter what sin it is, no, you could name any sin yeah adultery, fornication, murder, covetousness, any of it and it's all goes back to being selfish self.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have a self problem.
Speaker 1:Uh, every single one of us deal with this, uh, on a daily basis, and so I think it's so important for us to understand that, when we wake up every morning, the first thing that we probably need to do is deny ourselves, deny ourselves automatically you're had.
Speaker 1:Okay, like and let's say your job is so important, like, first of all, you need the income, correct, people are expecting you there. You're going to get fired if you don't go eventually. You might get a couple of chances, depending on what it is, but you deny yourself from getting out of that bed because nobody wants to get out of bed in the morning. I am a morning person.
Speaker 1:I love getting up in the morning, but I still want to lay there and sleep more yeah so you automatically the you're having to deny yourself of laying there because something is expected of you, right?
Speaker 2:yeah okay I hit the snooze button, but there's only so many times you can do that before you got to say no, I gotta, I gotta get, the shop has to open yeah right, like the beans have to get put into the grinder, the espresso machine has to be turned on, or later on in the day it's going to mess everything up, right when it's when six o'clock hits.
Speaker 1:Sharecroppers is not ready to open because you didn't deny yourself and you laid in the bed for longer than you should have right, right, right.
Speaker 2:That doesn't happen.
Speaker 1:But um, that's just one scenario that I was thinking about. Okay, but let's so. I brought this down into some things that we need to deny ourselves on. Okay, and so the first thing I wrote down was food.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, Food like that consumes. We've talked about it before, you know, in one of our recent episodes previous episodes we talked about our diet, but like food in general, like it consumes so much of our human mind because it's like one of the main necessities, you know, like what are?
Speaker 2:the three Food, shelter, clothing right? You, basically, as a human, you need those in order to survive. So, that being one of the main necessities, it's the one that we burn through the most. Your shelter, once you build it, you establish it, it's there. Your clothing, once you find them and attain them, they're there until they get worn out. Food it's a constant variable in your life. It's a constant variable in your life. It's a constant variable in your existence. So, when we put such a big emphasis on it, you know it, it makes it to where, like, that is the thing that you most need that day. And you're going to be like, you're like, you're going to go hunt it, you're going to gather it, you're going to find it and you're going to try to figure it out. And in our society, just in general, like humans have like one in the world of struggle, like when it comes to like how many advancements we have in our society, life is really easy now, compared to most, almost any other generation.
Speaker 2:You know it's very easy, it's very lax, so it's not necessarily. If we're going to eat, it's how much?
Speaker 1:and what, and a lot of times when we've eaten a meal, we're already thinking about what the next meal is going to be yeah because food has become one of those things that gives us, it gives us pleasure, like, or it gives us comfort, and food has really turned from it's not giving us fuel to our body, it's, it's satisfying some kind of need inside of us, um, and so a lot of times we just we don't deny ourselves that we're like I'm gonna eat all of the wrong things that that are really bad for me. Yeah, and you know, even to the point of, let's say that you have a. I've never understood this, like when it's easy to judge a situation that you don't struggle with. Okay.
Speaker 1:So let's say, like smoking cigarettes. That's always been one of those things that I've never understood, because you know it's bad for you.
Speaker 2:I don't think anyone. I've heard a few people that I've worked around in like industrial environments that like you know the chemicals and the smoke and the dust and that we're exposed to, and then there's there's smoking cigarettes, like there's only been a few people that have said I know what it's doing to me, but my grandmother lived to be 90 and she smoked two packs a day, right, so like they say things like that, but I don't think there's anyone that's genuinely smokes that says I believe this is a good thing for me no, you know they don't say this is a good thing, but but they don't, I don't.
Speaker 2:But but me, from someone who's never smoked or been addicted to anything like that, it's hard for me to like and I want to say just stop, just stop, just stop.
Speaker 1:But I don't know what their struggle is you know, yes, but when you turn that over to I'm a sugar addict like little debbie.
Speaker 2:Christmas tree cakes yeah, what's the difference?
Speaker 1:and not wanting to deny myself that, or knowing, like, let's say that I'm a diabetic and you continually eat the things that are going to make your blood sugar rise or fall, however that that works, you know, or whatever, or you're going to eat this and take a shot later, but so you can have it, and I don't mean this in a judgmental way, because I don't struggle with that. I did struggle with wanting that kind of food all the time, and it had consequences on my body. No, I was not a diabetic, but it made me feel really bad. I was sluggish, I was. I was not meeting my potential in my body. No, I was not a diabetic, but it made me feel really bad. I was sluggish, I was.
Speaker 2:I was not meeting my potential in my body, you know do you want to know something when it comes, when we're talking about with our body? But I was just thinking about this. You know, I had my wreck. I fell asleep.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And there's been a lot of times where I would like pull over and take naps on the way home from work on late nights and things like that. Like just stop at a gas station because I couldn't hold my eyes open. You know, since we've been really focused on our diet, I have not struggled with being tired behind the wheel.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that I mentioned that I don't know if it was to you or if it was somebody else. I had a really hard time falling asleep at the wheel when I would go to get the kids because, honestly, we're up at 3 30 in the morning and obviously, look, it's 11 0, 5 right now and we're recording, so we don't get a lot of sleep, and it is something that we need to work on, because that's not healthy to do that, and we're getting better at it.
Speaker 1:We're not doing every single night, but we do have times that we're doing this, and so our sleep is we just don't get a lot of it so before the diet, though before we changed what we were eating, I was having a very hard time of staying awake at the wheel to.
Speaker 1:It was really scary, and so I started. I picked up the habit of chewing gum. I was just trying to keep myself alert, but then I was like, hey, I'm not really having to do that anymore. I'm not feeling like I'm going to fall asleep at the wheel anymore, and I think it's because of the better things that we're putting in our body.
Speaker 2:It probably has something to do with the quality of sleep too, not necessarily the amount we do sleep so much better.
Speaker 1:Like when I go to bed, when my head hits the pillow gone, I'm out, yeah it's, it's a wonderful thing, but denying yourself, uh, the think about the things that you're eating and think about the why you're eating it, you know, um, is it giving you some kind of comfort? Is or we really should only eat for fuel? That's it. It's just like when you you're not going to go and put gas in your car if the tank is full it doesn't make sense to do that, right and you're also not going to go up to the gas station and fill it with diesel if it's not a diesel right, yeah and so we have to fuel our bodies with the right things, and I think that's important.
Speaker 1:And fasting comes in that. You know as well. That's a great way to deny yourself, just not eating at all.
Speaker 2:You know, we've got a couple of customers and some employees that are participating in Lent this year and they're denying themselves certain things sure um, I know one of them is sugars. Um, two of them actually that I know of are denying themselves any sweets and people deny themselves, uh, during lent. It's like I think it's a 40-day fast of something that you give up, not necessarily a food fast, but it could be anything, playstation, whatever you know. Uh, and and and it know, and it's a denial. That's basically all that is.
Speaker 1:Yes, and it's basically just to get your focus off of yourself and that thing that you're wanting and focusing it all on who?
Speaker 2:God.
Speaker 1:God. Okay, that's the whole point. When he says deny himself, take up his cross and follow me, it's like don't be thinking about the food's, like don't be thinking about the food anymore, don't be thinking about the playstation anymore, don't be thinking about opening up your social media apps all the time you know it's follow me. Um, all right. Another thing is I put down was denying ourselves with how we spend our money.
Speaker 2:That's a hard one yeah, yeah, that we've been in all kinds of different faces in our marriage, from, uh, the the smallest paychecks to the largest overtime paychecks and and in every single one of those, it doesn't matter how much money you have, it's very easy to spend it unwisely, it's very easy to just to blow it or very easy for it to be like gone, like the next day, and once again feeling like you deserve something, because you have worked so hard for it.
Speaker 1:And once again, I'm not saying that you're not supposed to enjoy life or enjoy the money that you have, you know. But a lot of times we're not denying ourselves that. A lot of times we're not denying ourselves that we constantly feel like we've got to eat out all the time, or that we've got to have this type of clothing or this type of car or this type of house, and it's like we're storing up treasures for ourselves here and this place really doesn't matter, like this earth is going to burn up one day and all of those things with it.
Speaker 2:I think that, yes, exactly that. This earth is going to burn up and everything in it, and everyone's. I've heard it so many times where people say, well, I can't take it with me, so I might as well spend it now. Well, here's the thing, that very verse that he's talking about saying deny yourself, take up his cross daily and follow me. When you deny yourself of spending the resources or using the talents that God has given you and you don't use them for yourself, you're able to use them for the cause of the cross. You're able to actually use them for something that's going to advance God's purpose for you in your life. You want to do something for God and intentionally do things on purpose to reach other people or to minister to your family, your kids, your husband, spouse whatever it is.
Speaker 2:Deny yourself what you want? Yes, spend it on things that's gonna allow your family to experience things. Spend it on things that's gonna give your self the ability to be able to uh, enjoy life with your family and with your community and impact people's lives and we're preaching to the choir.
Speaker 2:We are 100 but, um, so I've looked for like, like, how, how, how can we with sharecroppers, you know, like with, with our business, when we try to help things in the community? Sometimes it doesn't necessarily come off that we can support something all the way, but we try to collaborate, we try to do things where we do fundraisers, we try to do things where we have awareness campaigns, where we'll at least, you know, like, post or share or talk about, you know about some of our resources that we have to be able to help people accomplish things or do things, and it's always a blessing, it blesses our hearts so much to use what God has given us for other people. This platform in general, even the podcast, it's not for us.
Speaker 1:It's not. I mean, we would really like to be asleep right now. I'm not lying.
Speaker 1:No, not at all, it's true, I would like to be asleep, but I love the opportunity of getting to do this. I just told you today I was like I love doing the podcast. I truly love it. God's put a love in my heart for it. But you know, we do have to deny ourselves when it comes to how we spend our money, and it can be difficult, especially usually in a relationship. There's the spender and there's the saver, and so for that spender it's going to be really difficult to deny themselves. And I will also say this too, though the saver sometimes needs to deny themselves and they need to spend the money.
Speaker 2:Yeah Right, that's another flip side of it. It's easy to hold on to it too long and not use it for what God's? I mean burying it in the sand, and when the master comes back you ain't done nothing with it. It's just as bad as spending it on something wasteful.
Speaker 1:So something that God laid on my heart, and I haven't even shared this with you Ooh juicy.
Speaker 1:Okay, and I mentioned this I don't know if it was the last episode it was the episode where we talked about excess. Okay, was that last week or the week before, anyway, and I was talking about I had an obsession with clothes and I had so many clothes and I would be so dogmatic and so focused on what I was going to wear for Easter and and uh, and so I was thinking about Easter's coming up, you know, and so I could feel that same feeling coming back, like I'm already thinking about it, like what am I going to wear for Easter? And once again, here was that little devil on my shoulder. You know, I don't know, but it needs to be slam bam, devil on my shoulder, you know, I don't know, but it needs to be slam bam, okay.
Speaker 2:So I was thinking and I was like I know that I have clothes in there.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right and I was like I know a specific dress that I've had probably four or five years ago for Easter, and I've probably worn it twice and it was a really nice dress that I spent some money on and I was like that's your Easter dress. I was like I'm going to deny.
Speaker 2:Get it. You're shocked right now. No, that's good.
Speaker 1:I was like I'm going to deny myself going and shopping for that, like I don't even want that to have my focus, like when it. When it comes to easter sunday, I do not want my focus to be on what we're wearing oh no, it can't be.
Speaker 2:That's the entire reason why easter, I think, is just so overlooked um and passed by in by in a lot of our kids' eyes and our eyes. We get so wrapped up in the holiday of Easter and not necessarily the worship service of Easter.
Speaker 2:I think, we really have got to bring it back and deny ourselves the fun side of Easter as a worldly thing, even if you want to disagree and say it's a pagan holiday thing. Even if you want to disagree and say it's a pagan holiday, and even if you want to throw all these past history things and say it was all incorporated and America did this and all that, okay, pause, take a day just to focus on the resurrection. You don't even have to call it Easter. It's an opportunity for us to come together in our faith and celebrate what Christ did for us.
Speaker 1:Period that not only was he willing to die, but he got back up again.
Speaker 2:You want to talk about ultimate denying yourself.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness. You know, yeah, and then we have watered it down so much that we care about the Easter outfits that we're going to wear. I promise guys I'm not hating on any of you.
Speaker 1:We do Easter baskets, my dream was to open up this amazing boutique and everything, and I was going to style people and everything. I love fashion I really do when I played with my Barbies growing up. That's how I played with them was fashion shows and things like that. So I'm really not against that. What I'm saying is I was excessive with it. It had become my identity and I've had to learn to deny myself when it comes to that, and I'm needing to deny myself in a lot of things. So I have no need to go Easter dress shopping.
Speaker 2:Awesome.
Speaker 1:I will have to shop for my children because they've grown.
Speaker 2:That's just, that's just, it is what it is, yeah, yeah, and they but now if we can find something, if someone's got something in a size uh, I'm not worried about whether it's used or new or anything like that.
Speaker 1:I'm just talking about that feeling that I want to have a certain look for. Easter. It's just completely, it's stupid I don't know another word to say for it and it's just stupid, and I think that Satan loves it. It keeps the focus off of what we're actually there for, and that's him. So, um, I don't know if that's a problem for you guys, and it's okay to look nice on Easter and want to dress nice for church. I'm not hating on that. I'm just saying what it was becoming for me.
Speaker 2:Anything that you spend your time on like thinking about something of yourself. It occupies that part of your life.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:The amount of time you spend thinking about the clothes, the amount of time you spend thinking about what you're going to spend your money, on the amount of time that you spend thinking about food and planning and prepping and doing all this stuff. It takes energy. It takes part of your life. It takes the opportunity for you to use your time wisely, right, right.
Speaker 1:And that brings us to our next one. That I wrote down was time, like denying ourselves with how we're spending our time. We do not get time back.
Speaker 2:What's the phrase?
Speaker 1:Netflix and chill.
Speaker 2:Yeah, doom scrolling. That was another one that I said.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and I was like what's doom scrolling?
Speaker 2:The tendency to open up an app, a social media platform, and as soon as you're hooked to it, you begin scrolling, and you're doomed to scroll for forever.
Speaker 1:I'm sure that all of us can raise our hands that we have all fell victim to doom scrolling. If we added up those minutes or the time, it would probably be quite embarrassing how much we've done that, because we were talking about it today and we doom scroll and yet we're like don't have time to pray.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah, yes, you do. You're just not denying yourself, because satan wants you to think that taking time to pray is a huge deal. It's not. I mean, it is like you're talking to god. It's a big deal talking to God, but he will make you feel like you don't have time for that. You've worked all day. You've put all this energy into this.
Speaker 1:You deserve to just not think and to just mindlessly surf or to scroll the social media or to watch this show, and maybe I can hit you where it hurts here too. Really think about what you're watching on TV as well what you're allowing to enter your mind. It goes back to that little song that we heard when we were kids oh be careful, little eyes, what you see.
Speaker 2:and ears what you hear.
Speaker 1:There's so much truth to that, you know. But we don't deny ourselves. We want to be entertained at no matter what cost it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my mom had a phrase garbage in, garbage out. What you put into your life, what you put into your family's household, is what's going to come out of your life and out of your household.
Speaker 1:Same with food.
Speaker 2:Food yeah.
Speaker 1:Same with the money. Yep, yes, it all goes back to.
Speaker 2:And this isn't to like, obviously not to like criticize anyone.
Speaker 1:We are preaching to ourselves.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for like you can't do social media or nothing like that, but it's like what's your intention behind it and how much time are you spending with it? Yes, is it something that's occupying your time to the point that you're being inactive for Christ, inactive for your purpose? For?
Speaker 1:your role in this life. When I talk to people about um, they're telling me that they're wanting to get into fitness, or that they're wanting to read their Bible or they're wanting to go to church more faithfully. A lot of times, the excuse that comes up is I just don't have time, and I just I don't believe it. I believe that we all do have time. We make time for the things that we want to do.
Speaker 2:It's just.
Speaker 1:We lack the ability of denying ourselves.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:When we deny ourselves, he raises it. It goes back to the verse of I must decrease and he will increase right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I want him to increase. I definitely want myself to decrease because I don't know what the heck I'm doing in this life. Yeah, it's a scale I'm messing it up all the time.
Speaker 2:Your dad has that analogy of um, your, your flesh and your spirit are like two dogs fighting. Um, the one that's going to win is the one that you feed the most. That's right. If you've got of your flesh and your spirit are like two dogs fighting, the one that's going to win is the one that you feed the most. That's right. If you've got a scrawny spirit and you've got a hardy, fleshly dog, the fleshly dog is going to win. You've got to feed your spirit, you've got to spend the time and you've got to deny your flesh and allow your spirit to get strong. That way, when you do go into those battles and you are in those fights, it has a better chance of winning.
Speaker 1:Yes, and this might step on some toes, but you know what we're doing with our children being so involved in this activity and that activity that we're so worn down that we're too tired to go to church and so we're not being as devoted to it because we're tired, because we've been at this ball practice or that ball practice or this dance recital or this dance practice, and it's like we're striving in all these activities that our kids are involved in. We're never having dinner at the table anymore and we wonder why the family unit is collapsing or why our churches are getting slimmer and slimmer. It's because we are not denying ourselves, we are. We're spending it all of our time and energy on these activities that we think are going to get our kids ahead in life, because we want them to be the best baseball player or the best dancer or the best piano player or whatever, and we're really. Are we doing that for them? Are we doing it for us because we get such pride in seeing them do that?
Speaker 2:well, like when jude's playing his piano and I'm like I'm in awe, you know, very easily I could. I could want to be like, okay, we're just we're going to invest in you know lessons every day. I could, I could want to be like, okay, we're just we're going to invest in you know lessons every day. We're going to invest in, uh, putting you in in places to be seen, you know and and it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2:It's not just you know about sports and stuff, but it's anything that you take pride in, the you know worldly things. Um, above and beyond, um, something that's healthy. You know that requires more of your time that should be spent elsewhere, Because you know there's not. He's not going to be playing his keyboard. You know when he dies.
Speaker 1:No, he's not and he can. You can look at anything as a. Everything you do in life can be a ministry. Everything.
Speaker 2:Everything.
Speaker 1:Everything. But it doesn't mean that it takes the place of us actually worshiping God or being in His house or just being together as a family, where you're not like I don't know, just being together, like if you're a family of four, just sitting together as a family of four and having that precious time together because your kids you blink and they're going to be older and they're going to be out of the house and you might be like I'm going to miss those days at the ball field or whatever. You probably won't. You probably won't. You'll miss the times of when you were snuggled up on the couch together.
Speaker 2:Those are the times that you're going to miss. We've talked about being more intentional with our time that we do have at home with our family and with our kids and actually really being intentional about the amount of time that we spend with them.
Speaker 1:Well, there was a time when we were going here and going there and we basically told our kids that they had to pick things that that they wanted to do, and so, you know, you, you tried a few things there and there was a time there where he was playing football and in band at the same time. It was horrendous. Yeah, that was hard on our family, like we weren't happy family because we were run ragged. Yeah, like, and then you're going to, you're going to church or you're missing church because you literally have such a lack of sleep because you can't get everything done. That's not living, that, and and I'm like who's benefiting in all of this? So, you know, we got to where we told our kids, you know you got to pick something like so when judah's in cross country, that's all he's doing is cross country and and he's training for that, like it should, it should dominate his time. You know that one sport he does do piano, but that's one time a week, you know yeah, but um, and then he uses that for worship too.
Speaker 1:And then he's in tennis right now. But I will say, even with that, it's like you have the tennis and you have the cross country. There's still only one that you're going to be able to completely focus on. Like Jude plays tennis for fun, like he loves tennis, he really trains hard in the running aspect of it we don't have time for him to train in both and it's okay yeah, because you can't.
Speaker 2:You can't, like, have a two-hour run session one day and then you have tennis lessons with a professional that you paid for to go to for two hours that same day and expect to get any good results from one or the other. Yes, you're going to have to focus on one thing, and I guess that's the thing about, like, when we're talking about denying ourselves our time is like, where's your focus at? You have to be able to focus on one thing at a time. Um, multitasking I think that phrase is bunk Um, what, what? Instead of multitasking, what it is, what it means is splitting your attention and not giving enough focus on either thing.
Speaker 1:I agree.
Speaker 2:I used to think about when Jews started driving this week. That's a big change in our family. And when I came up to the four-way for the first time in Snead, where we live, there's a crazy four-way stop that it's got turn lanes, merge lanes and nobody ever really thinks about it until they get there, unless you're a local and you know you've got to be on top of it and everyone gets confused when they go through there and a lot of anger has happened at that four-way. So going through there with Jude, I was telling him, you know, like at his age, with some of the things he does, you have to split your attention to be able to focus on so many aspects, to go through this four-way, stop and not hit someone or not make anyone mad, you know, and get the bird right. So you've got to focus on so many things. And really, can we focus on that many things?
Speaker 2:We actually only focus on one thing at a time and try to compile it as the best possible scenario, right, um, and then you go, you know, and you hope that everything you didn't miss something yes but when it comes to how much attention we have in our life to give to people and to give to god, and to give to the world and give to our flesh, you've got to understand that your priority of what you focus on, if it's not god, first, and if it's not your family, second, and if it's not your, you know, and if it's not your family, second, and if it's not your, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Like your, your, your, your priorities will get mixed up. And it's very easy to mix them up because our flesh is selfish.
Speaker 1:Yes, and we need to crucify it every single day, because our self is selfish and it does not know what's best for us. It thinks it knows what's best for us, like it's going to tell me the Christmas tree cake is good for you. It's not, it's not good for me and I need to deny myself that part. And it's you know. I did a run Saturday and I'm in training for that half marathon, so I have specific things that I'm having to do each day. Well, on Saturday, I was supposed to do an easy eight miles. It's a longer run, but I also had this 5K that I was registered for.
Speaker 1:I registered for the 5K before I really started this training and I wanted to be at the 5k because I wanted to support the cause yeah, the people that had organized it. I just really wanted to be there for support yeah, good people, good reason so I'm extremely competitive person, would you you say that I am?
Speaker 2:That's the entire 100%. I was talking with someone the other day. That's the reason why you ever, ever fell in love with running is because you saw the competitive side of it.
Speaker 1:Probably that is true, and I have said so many times when I've been doing this half marathon training and vlogging it, which I'm still like, times when I've been doing this half marathon training and vlogging it, which I'm still like why am I doing this? Why am I making these videos every day and telling what I'm doing? But I see things that he keeps teaching me in each of these runs that I'm doing, because some of them are extremely difficult and then some are just so easy. But on this particular day, it everything inside of me wants to win, and when I mean when, I mean like doing my best, okay so, and I would like to place in my age group now being overall woman winner. That would be like amazing, amazing. That is much more difficult to achieve. I have achieved it like twice in my whole life winning an overall woman. So when I went though I had actually even told you I said I'm not going to race it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I had my doubts and I felt like I needed to vocalize that to you as an accountability that I was like I'm not going to race it, I'm going to run the three miles, because that's what a 5K is is 3.1 miles, and when I cross to the finish line I'm just going to keep running and do my. Oh, actually, I think I had to run seven miles and run four more I'll, just because it was going to be at appalachian high school and I was like I'll find somewhere around there that I can run around a football field or something. I'll just keep running. And so we're there and the energy is up, okay, and I have some of my. The. The running community is just so loving and we're all supportive of one another and they saw some of the things that I'm doing and some of them were like, oh, she's going to beat us all, okay, and so then when you have that talk happening, you're like, oh, I want a race.
Speaker 1:I want a race, I want a race. And I thought that I had it in me too, you know, like I wasn't like sore or anything like don't do it, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it and it's like I felt like something was really just having to hold me back. And then I was just like deny yourself this. No, you're not going to race it, you're going to hang at the back. I've never done that, I've never just easy ran a race. And so when it got time for the start, um, I wasn't up closer to the front, I was at the back, you know, and even then, even I even at the back, I was like, okay, I'm gonna start out slow, but if I think I can do this, I'm gonna pass people okay, and so there was one, uh, one other person there and she was motioning me to come up there to the front where she was, and I was like, no, I'm good you know back here, and so I did.
Speaker 1:I ran the whole thing at a very easy pace and I had so much fun and I was like, but I did have to deny myself that. Um, I guess the pride honestly laying down the selfish pride of wanting to place or anything like that.
Speaker 1:Proof to yourself that you could yes and your brother was running and he's definitely working on getting his time down and every race he runs he gets better and better. So I eventually started coming up on him, you know, or whatever, and I think it took him by surprise that you were behind him. Yeah, he's like whoa like, where did you come from? You know? You're just so fast, caleb and see, and then, even then, like he was pushing himself yeah so his pushing himself pace was my easy pace, but was that neat to.
Speaker 2:was that neat to be able to see him pushing himself like that, though like in the middle of the run, because it's not like he's running by you, you're running with him. Yes.
Speaker 1:And he's sitting there and he's pushing with everything that he has, and that's exactly how I feel when I'm running my race pace.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, but I do remember a time when that was my race pace too. Yeah do remember a time when that was my race pace too. Yeah, you know, so you just you advance, so it takes. It takes years, it takes time. But I did have to deny myself trying to, uh, win that race or win an age group or whatever, just just running my best. But I realized that even running slower, I was running my best. That was that's what I needed to do that day.
Speaker 1:And I was being obedient to the training you know, Um, and I think a lot of denying herself does come down to humbling ourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know because you're, because God knows what's best for you. He knows what you need, he knows what provisions you need on this earth. He knows exactly what you're going to need to get you through physically, mentally, spiritually. You know the whole kit and caboodle. You can't get any better than god's knowledge of who you are, because he created you and you know. And denying your yourself, uh, the things that are gonna that you like. You think if I deny myself something, it's an, it's a denial of something, that is, I would rather do something. So I'm going to deny myself what I would rather do yes but in your situation, you're denying.
Speaker 2:You're denying yourself what you thought was best for you.
Speaker 1:But what was really best for you was exactly what you were doing yes, and I thought about it when, because that was my slow and easier pace long run, which was seven miles, um, and I'm so glad that I did that, because I was like if I had thrown out that, thrown out that training that I was supposed to do and just went, pushed it really hard when I had to do my hard run on Monday, I would not have been able to do it because I would have been sore from pushing myself on that Saturday.
Speaker 2:It was hard enough.
Speaker 1:It was really hard run and I did it. I was able to do it, but I was like God. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful that I was obedient to that and that I did deny myself. You know, it's even in the model prayer like denying yourself and searching for his will is so important that he put it in the model prayer for us when it comes to, because the disciples says how do we pray? How do we pray? And he said pray like this our father in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Speaker 1:So immediately you are acknowledging God and who he is and how amazing he is, how holy he is that there is none like him. Your kingdom come, your will be done. God. I know that Jesus put that in there, because Jesus knows that we are needing to pray for his will every single day.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because we're having to fight against our own will.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it's a. He says you have to submit to me. You know you have. It's not necessarily 100% that you're denying yourself, but more that you are submitting to him and saying that all the desires I have come second. What do you desire he?
Speaker 1:says there is none good. No, not one. We are not good, we are not able to be good. If there's any good that comes out of us, it's Him, and so that's why we are constantly needing to deny ourselves and yield ourselves to His will. It says your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So it's like what His will is up there. I want it here we were talking about that and I'm fighting for it.
Speaker 1:I will beat myself up If I need to punch myself in the face to have his will be done. That's what I want.
Speaker 2:So think about this If his will okay, talking about his will in heaven is his will on earth. And if we look at what his word says, these promises of what God said to us, like he said, I would not have you be ignorant, my brethren. All right, you know, it's like. You know, like, take it to the bank. That's his will. He doesn't want you to be ignorant, he wants you to know the truth. He wants you to know that he is the way, the truth and the life. So if you know that it's like you're not ignorant anymore, his will, the way, the truth and the life. So if you know that it's like you're not ignorant anymore, his will is that you would know him. As well as that, you would have a life that is, uh, blessed beyond measure. You know that is a peace that passes understanding. You know, like my goodness, we can go deep on this oh yeah, you can't and it gets me excited too
Speaker 1:yeah I just think about all the ways that satan just distracts us. He distracts us with with. He can distract us with our own hopes and dreams. I want my hopes and dreams to be his hopes and dreams, Because I can be really short-sighted, meaning I can be so short-sighted that I'm like I want this certain kind of house. He's like well, God might have something a thousand times better for you, and it may be.
Speaker 2:There's a purpose behind it that you don't know.
Speaker 1:And it may not be what you ever thought it was going to be. I've realized that my desires have changed. Like I just don't have to have certain things anymore, the things of earth have grown strangely dim.
Speaker 2:What song is that? Turn your eyes upon Jesus? Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's truly what I want. I want to deny myself and turn my eyes to him, and I hope that's what you all want.
Speaker 2:That's our desire for you.
Speaker 1:I don't, I don't know't know if, um, I hope that there was somebody out there that needed to hear this. We needed to hear it, I think, um, because you know the things that we're trying to accomplish and you know god. God has given you all a ministry, he's given you all a purpose, and I want to see that happen. I, you know, believe that he has enough blessings for all of us. Yeah, right, like you being blessed, doesn't take away from my blessing.
Speaker 2:No, right, it doesn't.
Speaker 1:Because he has a will and a perfect plan for every single one of us, and if you want to know what it is, I think you need to start with denying yourself.
Speaker 2:Seek his face.
Speaker 1:And we love you and we're so glad that you joined with us again and we hope that you will share this, share the podcast with others so that we can have more. Join in.
Speaker 2:And the.
Speaker 1:Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you, and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 2:Amen.