Anchormen Ep36 Enjoying God w/Charles Wodetski

DO YOU ENJOY GOD? 

DOES GOD ENJOY YOU?

That's a question that many wrestle with. Am I good enough or have I done enough for God to be pleased with me, enough to enjoy me or more importantly, would God allow me to enjoy Him.

So many times we have a hard time just understanding what it means to enjoy God and in today's episode, the Anchormen have a roundtable discussion with Charles Wodetski about that very topic. 

What do we mean when we say "ENJOY GOD".

Words we say, things we do, people we hang around with or surround ourselves with all have a role in how we as new covenant Christians enjoy God. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Welcome to Anchorman Anchored by Grace, another podcast. Today we got Bob and I here today, and this is John, and we've got Charles Wadetskys with us today. Welcome, Charles. Glad to have you. Let me ask a question around the table. What do you do as a hobby, Charles? For hobbies? For hobbies, uh, we raise chickens. You raise so you consider that a hobby? I do. You do. Is it become a hobby or is it something that you just enjoy doing, or is it just kind of become a hobby now?

SPEAKER_03 1:36

It's more about uh trying to uh take work and make it more enjoyable. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Well that's not that's nothing wrong with that. How about you, Bob? Um probably I'm not a big hobby guy. My my closest is probably reading. Okay. Um, you know, I don't do uh woodcrafting or anything like that. I volunteer and and and uh I like to paint and do drywall and stuff like that, but I'd say it's a hobby, probably reading.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Reading. And I and you guys know me well enough to know I've got kind of two hobbies. You know, like I like to just go out and be in in God's creation and ride my bike. Yeah. And and my music. I like to listen to music. And and I do both a lot. I get out on the bike and listen to music while I'm out there.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

You're a former DJ, so well, not really.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

That was one of those dreams that came true for me. And it was just like, even though it was a short time, it was like all it didn't, I didn't care. I didn't need to have a big audience. I got to do it and I enjoyed it, I had fun. If I could afford it, I'd do it again. You just need to see one beautiful sunrise. That's all I had to do. And you know that you've seen it. Exactly right. And and the the reason I bring that up is is because a lot of times we put a lot of um a lot of effort and time into our hobbies. And sometimes, let me let me ask this question can our hobbies can uh can we delight in our hobbies? Sure. Right. That's why we do them, right? Because we delight in them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Uh and it's one of the things you choose to do as a butt, mean you choose to work, but you pretty much have to work and you have to do certain things. But right, it's in your quote unquote leisure time where you look for hobbies. Yeah. And try to find something that makes you peaceful or that you enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Yeah. And then and which brings up the subject of enjoying our relationship, enjoying God. And our how how do we enjoy God? What does it mean to enjoy God or to delight in God? And uh I'm just throwing a question out there: what does it mean to you, Bob, to delight in God?

SPEAKER_02 3:47

You know, I I guess it's to try to grasp as best I can the immenseness and uh the reality of a God who is, as the Bible describes, so amazing, Father of Christ, uh, Father of Jesus Christ, triune God. And for me, most of my reading is is religious uh writings on different scripture and things like that just to better understand the word or get another take on the world word. But you know, when I think of God, I think of you know the creator of the universe, and uh I guess the other thing I always think is timeless, you know, he was here before time and he'll be here forever. Yeah, those are two qualities that I always think of the vastness.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

And I find that sometimes it's hard to grasp the vastness of God. Sure. Like you and I were talking earlier, Charles, how he's done so much, but we can't uh it's hard to grasp and understand what he's done and and why he did it. So uh about you, Charles, how about how about you about delighting and enjoying God? What do you what comes to mind when you delight in enjoying God?

SPEAKER_03 5:02

I think uh when I delight in God, I think it's like wanting to be places like here with the anchored man and going to church. And you like you guys were saying, I listen to a lot of sermons. I'm not very much on reading, but uh I do listen to sermons and I love listening to Christian music because it keeps my heart or my mind focused on him.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Excellent, that's very good, and it's true. Uh I I will admit, you know, I don't always listen to Christian music, but I listen to music so much. I I listen to a mix of everything, and I just delight in the instrumentation, the talent that God has given people, and and I don't do it just to be yeah, I don't know, I don't I guess I do it to be entertained, but I I listen to my music just because I just enjoy the gifts that God has given people. Play a guitar to make everybody happy, to make people happy. And it's just like, wow, it's just relaxing. It it really is relaxing.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

What's interesting for me is maybe 20 years ago, in 2003 or four, I discovered Christian music for the first time. I didn't know there was such a thing, Christian rock or Christian music, you know, and uh so for a pretty long period of time, that's all I listened to because it was it was like hearing or saying prayers in in a way, but you know, just hearing Christian music, as Charles said, keep your mind on focused on on the truths of the God of the Bible and all that. So um, but yeah, I remember talking to you and you were naming bands from the 80s and 90s that were uh Christian bands that I'd never even heard of or listened to. Right. So um, you know, our awareness of stuff like that comes over time and usually from somebody sharing it. Right. And I I don't remember who shared it with me. I think it was Fight Club around that time. Okay. It was listening to Christian music or something attached that we had during the Fight Club thing. Right. The Fight Club is basically uh uh was it 12 week, 16 weeks? Well, it's 10 weeks now, but it used to be 12 weeks. Okay, 12 weeks of different um activities that you're doing across each day out of the week and focusing on different aspects of your family, your own, your own faith, community, community, uh exercise. So, you know, as part of that whole process, your focus on being courageous and being a better father and a better husband and a better man in our society, right? And so, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

So getting back to um delighting in God, you know, there's so many things we can delight in, and like I said, our hobbies. Um, people delight in the kind of food they eat, no matter what. If it I don't know, it could be just pizza, but it could be anything. Sure. Just people that worship the food that they eat, or they just look forward, like they call them foodies. And and I think our buddy Todd is a food. Yeah, Todd's. He loves the he loves his food, you know. But it could be, you know, it could be football, it could be sex, it could be music. Uh one of these things we've we've whenever we experience these things, we share that experience with others. When was the last time you actually were you were so delighted in what God is doing or are delighting in God so much that you're eager to share? That's why I always share those grandbabies.

SPEAKER_03 8:38

Yeah. What a blessing.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah. And that brings up another one. We're all all of us are grandkids, grandfathers now, we have grandkids. Sharing that joy that we have with Christ with our grandkids. And sometimes we don't we didn't get the opportunity to share it too much with our kids because we were busy working, we were never, we're not never home, but we were home very little. We didn't get an opportunity to share it with our kids. But now we can share it with our grandkids.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

And our kids. I mean, I think that the more we encourage our our children as parents to be good parents and to, you know, be tolerant of things that happen with their kids, the reminders that we need it, you know. It's important. Um, we love our grandkids because they're you know, they're just there to play with, they're there to talk to, and and you don't have any real responsibility role over them as you would your children. It's important to encourage our children in their parenting too. I think that's a big part of um, you know, the more love we show our kids, the more they're gonna show it to their kids.

SPEAKER_03 9:44

So and that was the one thing that thinking about this was the uh the love part of it. You know, it's always been hard for me, because I wasn't raised in a very loving family, but to understand why God would do for us what he did.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

You know, that's a that's a good point. That's a good point. You mentioned that before we got on the air here. You mentioned that, and it's hard to grasp, right? It really is. Yeah, it's hard to grasp. Really?

SPEAKER_03 10:12

You would give your son for us? Yeah, and that's just like wow. So the the love he has is beyond my comprehension. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

And even the the love that Christ had for us, he did it willingly did it for us.

SPEAKER_03 10:29

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

And the glut that God had has for us, knowing we are fallen men who believe in the you know death and resurrection of his son, but you know, I would think that a lot of our actions and thoughts would disappoint a God. But he delights in us and he sees us as the righteousness of Christ, and we're Christ Christ in us. And so uh I as I understand it, he sees when he looks down, he sees us, he sees his son, as opposed to seeing me or seeing you, or seeing, you know, he sees this his son in you, and he sees his son in Charles. Right. And so, I mean, what an amazing, you know, to be the creator of the universe and to love that many people, and to, you know, I believe he truly cares about us, and that's uh as a father would his family, and that's uh that's a big responsibility and a big role. Well, even with all our flaws, right? He still loves us. That's probably the best answer for us when we're thinking about our kids and we're looking at the things they do wrong or the mistakes they make or whatever. Look at how our Heavenly Father looks at us and he loves us despite all that, you know. He he's not surprised by those things, but he still loves us because at our core, you know, we we have uh Christ in us.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Yeah. One of the things that Charles and I were talking about before you got here, Bob, was um a message that we had listened to about Job. And uh in the Old Testament, Job was he was criticized by his friends. Think about would Satan approach God and he said, Lord, you're taking care of Job. Of course he's gonna love you because you're giving him everything. You're giving him everything, you'd give him all his family, his his wealth, you've given everything, and you put a hedge around him, you know. You put a hedge around him, yeah. Yeah. Protect him. You protected him. And he says, You take that hedge away, I'll bet you he's gonna walk away. And God allowed him to do that because he knew Job's faith. And we were talking about that before, and you had mentioned something what his friend said to him. What was it his friend told him? Negative things. Negative things, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Because oh, didn't he say something like Your God doesn't love you, he wouldn't let all this happen to you if if if you were really loved?

SPEAKER_01 12:58

I think that's yeah, you must be done, you must have been doing something wrong for for God to make this happen around you. And I think Job retaliated and said, you know, oh, and he didn't really retaliate. Job didn't say anything. He he kind of just God is the God gives and God takes away. That's he said that. That is what he said. Yeah, yeah. Do we love God and treasure and delight in God because of all he gives us? In part?

SPEAKER_03 13:28

In part say yes.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:30

Because he does bless us every day.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Yeah, yeah. We we have some notes, you know, he's the kindest person we know, the most loving person we know, the wisest person we know, the most patient, you know, the strongest, the most tenderhearted, all these amazing qualities, right? It's nice to be around or with someone like that, you know what I mean? So I think part of our longing to be with God is the fact that, you know, He has all those qualities and He's not judging us and He's not looking down on us angrily. And so, as we as you think of who you would want to spend time with, you know, Jesus and God are at the top for me, and I'm not in any hurry to leave this earth, but I'm not afraid of it either because we're going to something much more amazing and and and beautiful than where we are.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

For sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

And I think we can get caught up in we love God because of this. But what happens if it gets taken away? All the blessings we have. What happens if those blessings get taken away? Like they did for Job, right? Why? What what how would you feel? I mean, how much tragedy has you have you faced in your life, Charles? Not very much. See?

SPEAKER_02 14:40

I'd say a fair amount. I remember you shared your witness. I mean, yeah. You know, life's hard. Life's hard. How long have you been a Christian?

SPEAKER_03 14:49

Well, how do you put your faith in that? I was actually uh baptized the first time when I was seven. But then by the time I was in uh junior high, uh for some reason my parents and nobody was going to church much after that. So between the junior high and like say about 25, I was living my own reckless life.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

So you've had your your share of hits, right?

SPEAKER_03 15:18

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Yeah. And and we all have. We've all had our share of hits. At the time when you were going through your share of hits, so to speak, how did you feel? Where where were you at with God?

SPEAKER_03 15:32

You know, I was more worried about me. And living for Charles. Yeah. Not not caring about God or anything. And that's why that one day it just really got me. I mean, I was there, and then all of a sudden, to hear his voice, it was like it was amazing. That's awesome. Yeah. See, I changed my life.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Yeah. Isn't it amazing? It is. It's amazing how he talks to us. Life changing for sure. Yeah, yeah. And then it it's amazing that just even think about what he's done in my life, too. All the bad that things have happened. Well, there's been so many good things, too. So it's uh it's a blessing. Everything is a blessing, always gives us.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

You know, I think back on uh I was born and raised Catholic, so I went to church from being an infant on uh with my family, and then uh took my family to church until I was 40. And so I was a believer in the Catholic faith, and so I wasn't a Bible reader, and so I I'd heard the homilies and the and the gospel and different things, but to understand the completeness of the Bible, I didn't have that understanding until I was in my 40s. But I saw God working in my life throughout, you know. I I I attribute a lot of things that changes and opportunities and all those blessings to God from early on because I believe there was a God from early on. Um now that I understand more of what his plan was and how how the Bible you know explains uh what's what's happened and what's to come. Now, if I see something that's a struggle, you know, I don't know if it's from God or not, but I know that God's gonna stay with me during that struggle. And so I'm less worried about who or what caused it, and much more excited about the fact that I'm not going through it alone. You know, I have my wife and my friends and my kids and all that to to shoulder some, you know, when you're feeling struggle, but uh to have God and know that he's there is is immeasurable, you know, I can't measure that. Yeah. That peace that that gives you and uh and the love that that gives you to know that he's with us like that.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Right, right. Yeah, I was just looking at some of the references I had for uh in our in our scriptures. And uh Philippians 4 says, Rejoice in the Lord. Psalm 37 says, Delight in the Lord. Psalm 32, be glad in the Lord. Psalm 16, in your presence there is joy. I think it's just we can open up our scriptures and our Bibles every day and see the love that He has for us and what He means in our life. Uh the Lord is my is my chosen portion. Psalm 32 is a deer pants for water, my soul pants for you. How do we put ourselves in these in these situations to think about do we pant for God? At times. What does that look like? What is in there?

SPEAKER_02 18:32

I I think when you're really under a burden or a stress or confusion or uh something's just not sitting right with you. I I know that I pant for God to kind of give me a little guidance and a little peace. Just knowing that he's there is a reminder that this is temporary, whatever going on here. And so when you look at that at God like that, I think it gives you a peace that otherwise people in the world that don't have God don't see that, don't feel that peace. And I I I don't know how I'd live without it. No, once I have it and how powerful it is, um, the people that don't have the peace of God in their lives and don't believe in God or just aren't sure what kind of God is He, you know, one who punishes or whatever He does, you know, they don't have a concept of the loving Father, that's tough because I I don't know what my life would be, how it would be different, but I know it'd be a lot different and a lot scarier and a lot more hard knocks if I didn't know that God was there.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Well, Charles, what about uh you with all the people that you come in contact with every day at work? I'm sure there's a blend of Christians and there's a blend of non-Christians there. Yes. How do you recognize and how do you speak to non-Christians as a Christian? How do you speak to them? I mean, how do you approach them to show Jesus in you?

SPEAKER_03 20:04

Just do try and have respect for them, you know, but then if you get a chance to uh speak it, speak Jesus, do it.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Yeah. Yeah, what was can you think of an incident where you were able to?

SPEAKER_03 20:18

Yeah, I've uh I've had some times when I was in there with some drivers and actually was talking to a guy about hey, do you believe God created this wonderful world we live in? You know, and a lot of people still believe that lie of evolution.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

That's it's amazing. Yeah, I know. And to imagine that you know there's not never nothing comes from nothing. Nothing doesn't something doesn't come from nothing. Something always comes from something. And in our case, something comes from someone. Uh before there was time, God was, right? Yeah, and that's hard to grasp. So I I find myself delighting in the Lord when I look just step outside. I see the sunshine, I feel the fresh air outside. And in northwest Indiana it's sometimes not so fresh, but but uh it's just a blessing to go out and see what God has created at at night to see the stars. Uh we live close to the dunes. That does, you know, you can't make the dunes. God makes the dunes. So you can't make that. Uh you might manipulate it somehow, but you don't make it. God made it.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

You know what's pretty amazing is when you have known somebody, maybe you went to grade school with them or high school with them or knew them over time, and they see you in one like in a worldly view, and then they come across you as a believer, and they're like, something's different about you. You know, and that that's the you know, that's the opportunity to say, you know, it's nothing I did, you know, it's it's Christ. You know, has been a uh availed to me and I've accepted him. But you know, that's uh that's a change in us, internal change that people can see a little brighter smile, a little bit more peaceful, a little bit more positive. And I've had that happen where people are like, What you what do you go to church now, or you know, whatever it might be, some question about I can tell that you they see a difference, they see a difference, and it's again nothing that I intentionally project, but at the same time, when you have Christ in you, you can't help but project it, right? Right, and so um it's just what's the change in you? I say, Christ in me. What's that mean?

SPEAKER_01 22:41

And I say, Well, Christ loves me, and uh you know it's it's kind of cool because because God pours all his love into us, the love that we give to others is overflowing from the love that he gives us. Hard to grasp that, right? It's hard to really make put your hand around what that really means, especially to a non-believer. How can you love somebody that it doesn't believe God? But we should and we have to, right? Yeah out of the love that he gives us, we pour it out to others.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Yeah, I mean the truth is I would want everyone to know. And as Charles said, you know, to try to convince them as much as you can that there's a loving God who created all this, and you know, and you could have a relationship with them. Yep. And they say, Well, what would that look like? You know, or they just say, No, I'm not, that's not my thing. I say, okay, but you laid a seed, you know, you planted a seed, you gave encouragement, you gave the opportunity for that conversation to to expand. And, you know, maybe a couple years from then you get a call and they say, Hey, I remember one day when we were walking, and you said, you know, I'm now a believer and I really appreciate you, you know, so that happens in life. And somebody encouraged us, you know, along the way. Somebody took some time to speak God into our lives or to re reaffirm God when we were saying, Is there really a God? Someone else says, Yeah. Yeah. You know, there's kind of a a sense of community in that, and there's also uh encouragement that goes a long way.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

Yeah, absolutely. And he knitted us together in our mother's womb.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Ain't it amazing? It is. That is so cool. We have no say-so in that. And we we're loved because he first loved us, right? Amen. So, brothers, it's been a pleasure to be here with you guys. Thank you so much. And uh thank you, everybody, for listening to the Anchorman Anchored by Grace. Charles, thanks for visiting and stopping by. God, thanks for loving us. And even Matt, you've got that right out there. All right, thanks guys. Have a good afternoon. Thank you for listening to Anchorman Anchored by Grace Podcast. Please share, like, and listen each week right here on our website or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Subscribe to our podcast and never miss a new episode. Reach out to us at anchoredbygrace at duck.com. Thank you again from John, Bob, and Todd, your anchormen at Anchored by Grace.