Santa, NASA, And A Fish Expert Walk Into A Sermon

A cold Georgia morning set the mood, but the heart of our time together goes straight into the fire: how do you face trials without losing your joy? We start with playful riffs about Santa, NASA, and the way words can mess with our heads, then pivot into a grounded reflection on James 1:2–3. That short passage asks something daring of us—consider it joy when life gets hard—not because pain is good, but because perseverance is born in the heat. We talk about the difference between pretending and persevering, and why honest lament plus steady trust builds a faith that lasts.

From there we trace a thread through the most repeated command across ancient texts: do not fear. Fear narrows our view and edits God out of the scene; courage acknowledges the storm and keeps rowing. To make it concrete, we revisit Y2K as a modern parable of collective panic, waste, and hindsight. The lesson isn’t to mock caution—it’s to show how fear without faith spirals into noise, while thoughtful preparation anchored in trust produces peace. A quick aquarium story lightens the mood and reminds us we all have limits, even experts, and that good questions can open doors.

We close with Matthew 9:29, where Jesus says, “According to your faith, let it be done to you.” Faith doesn’t manufacture miracles; it aligns us with God’s work. If you’re carrying something heavy, this conversation offers perspective, language for your prayers, and a practical next step: lean on God, expect Him to move, and let perseverance take shape in you. If this speaks to you, share it with a friend, leave a review, and hit follow so you never miss what’s next. Your story might be the encouragement someone needs today.

Chapters

• 0:00 Cold Morning And Small Talk
• 3:10 Santa, NASA, And Skeptic Takes
• 6:42 James 1:2–3 And Purpose In Pain
• 14:34 Do Not Fear Across Ancient Texts
• 16:52 Y2K: Panic, Prep, And Perspective
• 19:31 Aquarium Humor And A Fish Expert
• 20:26 Matthew 9:29 And Active Faith

Transcript

SPEAKER_04: 1:06

Hey guys, it's B Rob, it's the Food for Thought Faithcast, and it is another lovely day. Very cold for this time of year. I'm in um Evans, Georgia. Down here in the south in Georgia, you know what I'm saying? I'm down here in the 30809 down here.

SPEAKER_02: 1:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 1:36

Um ghetto in for a minute. But it's like 40 something degrees down here, and it we use usually it's in the 60s. So I think we a little off. It could be me though. Normally we don't get the cold, cold like that till January, February. Normally I'm still wearing shorts right about now. That's that's all I'm I was trying to say. You know what I'm saying? I mean, out of all the topics we could be talking about, we talking about some weather. But it is kind of cold. I got like three jackets on which is wild. But anyway. Anyway, what what y'all what y'all think about Christmas? Christmas. Christmas and Santa Claus. There's one of these parts where my one of my daughters would be like, Dad, just shut up. You're gonna ruin it for everybody. Well, I mean Santa, Satan. All you gotta do is take the numbers and but I'm one of those NASA guys. You know what I'm saying? I don't I don't think we went to the moon in a uh phone boot. That's just me. I just don't I ain't buying it, man. I ain't buying the fact that we w went and sent people to the moon or in space like in phone booth technology. It ain't happening. No, sorry. And NASA. NASA. You ever wonder why before a countdown they say T minus? Well, if you put the T in NASA, you get what? Satan? And it's backwards? Inverted. Yeah. Y'all ain't thought about that, did you, huh? Yep, that's yep. That's why my daughters be like, Dad, Dad, quit talking about that. Yep, yep. Just like uh Santa, Satan, Santa, Satan, Santa, Satan. You know them, you you notice that um crimin, crimin. Crimin ain't about giving at all. Crimin, it is about receiving and what the little kid's gonna get. And Chris ain't got nothing to do with Jesus. Humans and pagans done hijacked that Satan, I mean Santa, I mean Satan, you know. It it be like that. And be be rob be making you think, you know, it is what it is. B Rob just, I'm out there, you know. I'm out there, and I got Frenchies like uh like gargirls all over the place. Whatever. Whatever, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I'm one of those guys that can ruin dinner, I can ruin any kind of holiday just by changing the conversation or asking a simple question. I ain't trying to be that way though. I'm just making it fun. You know. But anyway, anyway, it's still a beautiful day even though it's cold outside. It's still a beautiful day, even though it's cold outside. And with the beautiful day comes the beautiful verse of the day. And we got James chapter one, verses two and three. It says, Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that testing of your faith produces perseverance. The verse right there is often quoted because it flips perspectives. And what I mean by that, it flips perspectives on hardship. So instead of trials being meaningless, James here says they are actually shape us into stronger, more resilient people who persevere.

SPEAKER_02: 7:14

It's a flip of a perspective on hardship.

SPEAKER_04: 7:23

So he is basically rejoicing in trials because he knows that it's going to make make us stronger. He's obviously writing to people who are suffering, correct? And his advice, as stern as it is, sounds surprising. Consider it joy when life gets hard. Hope, hold on, pain ends. So basically, he wasn't saying we should enjoy pain or pretend the pain doesn't hurt. Instead, he was pointing out that trials can do something in you, me, every one of us. That's positive. They can help us grow, they can help us persevere, they can help us deepen our trust in God, and they can help us become people who are steadfast and strong. In the moment, pain usually feels pointless, right? Or it hurts really bad. But here, James just insists on the purpose in the pain. We choose to lean on God during our struggles, and during those struggles, and during those struggles, we discover comfort, strength, joy, not because the trial is good, but because God is with us through the trial. So let me say that again. When we choose to lean on God during our struggles, we can discover comfort, we can discover strength, we can even discover joy, not because the trial's good, but because God is with us through the trial. So if you or somebody you know that's walking through something that's really hard, a trial, let them know you don't have to fake that smile. That pain is not wasted. It comes from a place. That's an amazing place. A place only where your faith grows deep and even more deeper, and where you find God. So pony up. The trials are there for a reason. Without the trials and the struggles, you would not be ready for what God has in store for you in your future. But just know that the message is clear. That God is here with you through those struggles, through those trials, through everything today has to offer to get you one step closer to tomorrow and your future blessing. Guys, it's food for thought. My name's B. Rob, I'm your host. I love you. Jesus loves you, Jesus is the only way. God bless you. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

SPEAKER_03: 12:09

This is gonna be corny, uh, but I think it's the most powerful thing in the world. If you read every ancient text, uh whatever religion, the Nagamadi, the Torah, the Bhagavad Gita, uh, whatever you read. The most common phrase, including the Bible, the New Testament, the Old Testament, the most common phrase ever repeated in all of those texts. You know what it is? Do not fear. In every single ancient religious text is fear not or do not fear, or some variation of that. Funny enough, the King James Version of the Bible says, do not fear 365 times.

SPEAKER_04: 12:56

It's uh time for the stupid American history moment in culture. So not real proud of this one, but um back in 1999, you know, in December 31st, uh, 1999, we wasn't just partying like it was 1999, you know, like the Prince song, the goat song, party like it's 1999. You know, that song, uh, we wasn't just doing that. Um we had uh the whole world convinced that the Y2K bug was uh an apocalypse. It was uh basically the apocalypse that was not um millions of people all across the globe were convinced, one hundred percent convinced that when the clock hit midnight, December 31st, 1999, that every computer on Earth would think it was 1900, planes would fall out of the sky, nuclear missiles would auto-launch, ATMs would spew cash, whatever your imagination back in the 90s could think of going into the 2000s, that's what was coming out, and society would just collapse into a real life Mad Max movie or sequel. But what actually happened, this is what actually happened, people spent 300 to 600 billion worldwide fixing a two-digit date bug that mostly affected COBOL programs written in the 1960s. That was the first thing that happened. The second thing that happened was survivalist stock bunkers with spam, Vienna sausages, ammo, gold and silver coins. The third thing that happened were preppers in Idaho wielded uh shipping containers, welded shipping containers together and filmed them with 10,000 rolls of toilet paper. Again, here we go with the toilet paper. The fourth thing, one guy in Ohio legally changed his name to Y2K. And the fifth thing, churches held end time services. Yeah, let me say that again. Churches held in time services. Guns hit record highs, gun sales hit record highs. One lady in Florida sold her house to buy a year's supply of beanie babies because she said they'll be worth more when money is worthless. So all that happened, all those people did all that stuff in society. Here comes December thirty first, nineteen ninety nine, midnight knocking on the door, right? Midnight creeping on in, midnight comes. Nothing. Nothing happened. Nada. Zilch. A digital clock in France blinked wrong for about thirty seconds. One US nuclear lab computer printed the year as nineteen hundred on a report that nobody read. A single slot machine in Delaware paid out an extra jackpot because it was confused. It was literally confused. By twelve oh three AM two thousand, Times Square was still full of drunk people kissing, and the only thing that actually crashed was the bar that was open down the street. The next morning, news anchors looked like they just survived the rapture and realized they still had to go to work on Monday. All the survivalist forums filled with posts like, well, the real collapse is probably coming in 2003 when they stopped pretending they fixed it. Yep, we spent the GDP of a medium-sized country because programmers in 1972 were too cheap to buy two extra digits. It doesn't get any more stupid. It's absolutely majestic. Stupid American history brought to you by the Food for Thought Faith Cast and your hopes. Be Rob.

SPEAKER_00: 18:51

Yeah yeah. And then I went to the main aquarium and I'm looking at the fish tank, right? And there's a lot of fish in there. And this girl comes up to me and she has a name tag on, and the name tag has her name, and then it says fish expert. I was like, all right, that's what I'm talking about. You know what I mean? I don't run into a lot of fish experts out here in the world, and I thought this is a great time to get some answers to some of the fish questions that I have. So I started asking her some stuff, you know, stuff I can Google, but I thought, hey, let's have a real human experience here. So I started asking her stuff, and then I say, oh, you know what? I got a good one. This is a good question. You're gonna like this. That's what I said to her. I go, let me ask you this. Do fish sleep? That's what I said to her. I said, do fish sleep? And she looked me straight in the face and she goes, I don't know, because I don't work here at night.

SPEAKER_01: 19:50

The Bible says in Matthew 9, 29, then he touched their eyes and said, According to your faith, let it be done to you. This verse is a powerful reminder that faith is the key that unlocks the miraculous. Jesus spoke these words to two blind men who believed he could heal them. And because of their faith, their sight was restored. Let this truth fill your heart today. Your faith determines your breakthrough. When you trust in God's power, when you believe without doubting, he moves in a ways beyond imagination. Whether you're facing uncertainty or hardship. Hold on to faith. Because Jesus is still in the business of opening blind eyes, healing broken hearts, and making the impossible possible. Doubt may whisper, fear may rise, but stand firm in faith. God sees your belief, and according to your faith, he will act. So walk boldly, pray confidently, and expect his power to move in your life today.