The Message in the Music

Today, Andrew and Luke introduce a new way to present new music.  The segment is called Artist of the Week and today’s episode uses this format to have some significant discussions based on the messages in the songs.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Ladies and gentlemen, we back! What do you mean you're back? We just turned the podcast on. Well, apparently I blew out the sound system from the last intro seems. What's up, ladies and gentlemen? Ha ha!

SPEAKER_04 0:13

Eternal preachers! Luke, how you doing? I'm good. How you feeling? I feel great. That's good, cause Liz ain't here, so we're in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Yeah, we are in trouble.

SPEAKER_05 0:21

We are in trouble once again. But ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome back. Just vibe with us for a little bit. Shout out to worshipstart.com. If you need free Christian music, man, go check them out. And welcome back to the Eternal Creatures Podcast, brought to you as always by Abidin God Studios, the podcast for people who view the world just a little bit different. And today's episode is dedicated to pastors who uh make the congregation talk to each other during their sermons. Listen.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 0:52

I'm sick of y'all. Alright. As a fellow introvert, I you extroverts might like it. And no, I am not talking about that little 15 minutes where, well, it's not supposed to be 15 minutes, but that little couple minutes that they let like the congregation talk to each other. That's the best part. Yeah. Um also, speaking of which, shout out to churches who do not listen to the pastor when he tries to get y'all to stop that portion. Y'all Yeah, that's me. They love that. Like I'll walk across the sanctuary to go say hi to my friends. Oh, yeah. And and the pastor gets up there. Y'all know he's trying to get the sermon started. You don't care. You're like, um, sir, I am talking. Yeah. Y'all do not give a rip.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Me and my buddy Jake will be standing in the aisle after everyone's already sat down, still chit-chatting.

SPEAKER_05 1:41

Yeah, it takes him five minutes to quiet everyone down. But I'm not talking about that guy. I am talking about the pastor that says, look to your neighbor. And as an introvert, my little heart sinks. I'm like, oh Jesus. Lord, please no. Look to your neighbor. And he always wants to make you tell the most awkward thing. Look your neighbor in the eye and tell him God loves you and wants to hold you real quick.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

I'm like, what? Why would I say that?

SPEAKER_03 2:07

Turn to your neighbor and say atonement.

SPEAKER_04 2:10

I'm like, I don't even know what that means. I came here to learn.

SPEAKER_05 2:19

I'm like, hey. Turn to your neighbor and tell him, if God was here, he'd hug you right now. No, I'm not doing that, Pastor. And so now I just gotta sit there looking at staring at the front like a serial killer, trying to be like, please don't look at me.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

In those non-denomed churches, I bet the pastor is like, God wants to give you a sloppy wet kiss. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

No. No.

SPEAKER_03 2:45

No.

SPEAKER_04 2:45

No.

SPEAKER_05 2:46

So y'all pastors, stop. Please. I can't stand that. I have churches I love too that do that. Yeah. And yeah, nah, it's not, it's not there. Listen, man. If you are a pastor that does that, we love y'all. We appreciate y'all. You're welcome at the Eternal Creatures Podcast, but. Please stop. Please. Please. For the love of God. For the love of me. Help me. Help me out. That might be arrogant, but for the love of me. I'm an extrovert and I still hate it.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

Good. Good. Okay, good. So there's a consensus. No one likes this except you.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Unless it's something like if it's truly crazy and I'm sitting next to like one of my friends that I know is gonna laugh with me, then I'll do it. Like Tabby. If I'm sitting next to Tabby, anything funny, we're chuckling the whole service. That's fair. Shout out, Tabby. Yeah, shout out Tabby.

SPEAKER_05 3:35

Alright, man. What you up to, man?

SPEAKER_03 3:38

Me?

SPEAKER_05 3:38

Yeah, how you been?

SPEAKER_03 3:40

Oh, you know. I do know. Which is which is where the silence comes in. Um, yeah, I'm I'm doing alright.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Um got a lot going on, which is good. But work, work's going good, life's going good. Been hanging out with a lot of my friends, which is pretty standard issue, but yeah, my hangs recently have been really fun.

SPEAKER_05 4:01

So yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, by by the time you're listening to this, it is the day after Easter. And I'm gonna be honest, one of the most fun Easters I've had in a long time. Yeah, I had a great time yesterday. Yeah, just hanging with friends, going to church, church hopping. I will be honest though, I am a menace if I go to another church I I that I know people, but I'm not there for the sermon. So the first church I went to is my church, and I went there, you know, to see my people, but also to yeah, to to worship the Lord. Yeah. The second church, yeah. I went to another church just to see people. I walk into the exactly. I walk into those churches like I went to my old high school. Yeah, yeah, you could get rid of me. I'm leaning on the wall. I'm not even in the pews. I'm kicking in. It's like, what's going on? I hit Josh. Josh hit him with the deuces. What's up? Yeah, I'm in the volunteer fridge grabbing the sparkling water.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

I didn't even know you showed up. So when service ended and everyone stood up to leave, there was like a sea of people and they parted, and I looked, and you were just sitting there looking at me, and I'm like, this guy. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

Right in the front. Right in the front.

SPEAKER_05 5:14

No business being in the front. Not listening. I don't know what he talked about. He said something about Jesus. It is what it is. Yeah, no. I texted, I don't, that's the other thing. I don't tell people because I just like to surprise people. You know what? This is sounding more and more heretical the way I sound. It's sounding like I'm making church all about me. And it's not. It's not like I'm talking during the sermon, but I am, you know, I'm hitting my friends like, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

You're making your presence. Yeah, the kid is here. Church can begin.

SPEAKER_05 5:41

All right, let's go before we get canceled. Uh all right. So uh you know what? I want to start with a question that you asked, and uh you asked us yesterday, and you wanted to bring to the pod. Now, Liz is not here to to talk about it, but I'm interested in still having this discussion with you. Yeah. Of uh Well, why don't you why don't you present the question?

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Yeah, the question. So after church yesterday, me, Liz, Andrew, and our friend Elijah went and got uh lunch. And um and I was thinking about this while we were sitting there, and I asked them the question, who is like your dream um like interview or just like guest star on the podcast. Like not necessarily like an interview, but if I mean it could be an interview, but like who if you could have anybody on the podcast, who would you have? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:38

You gave a you gave a good one yesterday. I said Cody Johnson. Oh, you did say Cody Johnson. Liz spoke for me. Liz but Liz said Josh Nadeau. Yeah. And that's a good one. Yeah, that one was really good. That's a good one. I'm not gonna use that one, but uh Yeah, no, that would be a good one. Um I had a hard time with this because I just want to interview I want to interview all of the indie artists that we listen to because I just like people who make who make life about like living or music about living real Christian life. And, you know, it's not the I'll say it's not just it's not just worship music, which while I think is it it is obviously so important, at the same time sometimes music. Yeah, sometimes I need someone to just like speak to where I am right now, and it's not always holy, holy, holy. It's always it's sometimes what the holy like it's that kind of thing. Why I ought to holy you. It's that kind of music. Like music that really addresses where I am right this second, and I'll get to the holy holy afterwards. But um uh so Jonathan Nogden, I mean, he he's seems really thoughtful i i in that way. I also I would like to talk to Christians who don't make Christian stuff. Yeah. Like they just make stuff. Like um, I mean, from the artist's point of view, like a John Bellion um He's a Christian? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

Really?

SPEAKER_05 8:07

Yeah, yeah. I didn't know that. And I think uh he's got some good tunes. You mentioned that about Ella Langley, I think. Yeah. Like those kind of people. Did you see her story that I sent you yesterday? Oh, not yesterday, but I saw that you sent a story, so I have to look at it.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Okay. If it's if it's down, I have it. Um I didn't screen record it. That's crazy. I wouldn't do that. But yeah, she I wouldn't do that for that angel. Yeah. Um, but she has this whole like caption about her following the Lord and all sorts of stuff like that. And she's playing piano and singing some um I can't remember if it's a hymn or something.

SPEAKER_05 8:41

Yeah. Yeah, it was sweet. That kind of stuff, like those kind of people, especially her, because I've been listening to her a lot right recently at the garden shop. I work at a garden market uh as a second job, and so um for some reason outside work is is country music time for me. It's working. And I'm not doing anything. Like they're talking about real work, and I'm over here carrying flower baskets, like yep, doing real stuff. Yep, hard working hard, hardly working. No, you're not, Andrew. You're you're carrying petunias. That's a word. That's work. Yeah, yourself short.

SPEAKER_03 9:12

They're talking about tractors. I've worked a tractor. That is not work. It's really fun.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:19

You just sit there and plow. But uh yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I would I would like to I would like to talk to artists like that. Because I I would like to see how they process the stuff they're talking about. Um Yeah, and and and and like how their faith really influences how they talk about something, what they talk about, especially because they're they're singing about the same stuff that most non-Christian artists do. Right. And so if it's not religious music, I'm interested in like where they come from with that. So yeah, I'm I'm interested. And and even how they process like the industry, like, especially when they're mainstream like that, yeah. The industry, award time, like all this stuff that really matters in the art world. Um yeah, I wanna I want to hear all that.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

Yeah, so that'd be sick. I know I I just said Cody Johnson. Obviously, he's a Christian, he's got some um some Christian songs, and then some songs that like if you if you don't know it's about Jesus, then you you just won't know.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Um Shout Out The Mustang by Cody Johnson, that one's sick. Um I'd interview Cody Johnson just because he's the man.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

But I think I probably should have thought about this a little bit deeper. But um Yeah. I I think that Josh Nadell one would be sick. I listened to um an interview podcast thing he did with uh the Lord's Giant. Um he started talking about how he's uh joining the the Orthodox Church and whatnot, and they talked about some other things. Have you seen that one? I'll send it to you. It's like an hour, 12 minutes, but it it's really good.

SPEAKER_05 11:02

Um I think it's only on YouTube, but I'm going to Richmond tomorrow, so I have to uh uh I'm probably gonna go to the coffee shop and oh that one? He's a coffee shop artist. That that coffee shop, the one you know about? Yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Shout out paid coffee in Richmond.

SPEAKER_05 11:19

If you're ever in Richmond, P-A-I-X.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

Good stuff. Let me know when you're up there, because I'm gonna be up there. I'm going tomorrow. Yeah, let me let me know when you when you go to the uh yeah, let me know when you go to the coffee shop because I'll uh I'll see if I'm in the area and I'll come through. Alright. Sounds good. That'd be sick, that'd be sick. Sounds good. Um yeah, so Cody Johnson Cody Johnson, Josh Nadell, and I think that I mean, unless I get like super corny and say like C.S. Lewis or something.

SPEAKER_05 11:49

Oh, you're going anybody.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

Yeah, yeah. I don't I don't know. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, no, I think uh I'll say this is total pivot. A show I would want to be on. We can get into this later. I'll just say it now. The Sean Ryan show. I want to be on that podcast so bad. Really? Yeah. Why? Um so I followed that guy for a long time before that he even started a podcast when he was just teaching people how to shoot guns. And uh I remember I remember just watching him and listening to him talk, and I'm like, man, this guy needs Jesus. This guy needs Jesus back. So I I like legit used to pray for that dude. And then what, three, three or four years ago, he gave his life to the Lord and got baptized. Oh really? Yeah. And he's got uh his most recent interview was with this guy, I think his name is Jeremiah Johnston. He's a theologian or something like that. Um and he talks about the Shroud of Torin and uh the resurrection and the crucifixion and fascinating. Like so cool. Highly recommend if you haven't listened to it. Sean Ryan show Jeremiah Johnston, I think that's his name.

SPEAKER_05 12:59

Fair, man. Fair. Yeah. Kind of on that uh on that front, I think about wanting to be on secular podcasts all the time. Yeah. Like I would love to get to a point, and I hope this is like ten years into the future. Like, because I don't I don't want to do this at this level of of faith and in this level of intelligence with um as regarding my faith, but I do I would love to go on secular podcasts and make Christianity sound like just the most logical thing in the world. Yeah. Like just talk about Christian life as like, yeah, no, y'all are making a big deal out of something that is just a better life. Like I don't even know what to tell you. Like, yeah, y'all think it's the super high churchy real and it sure, but be uptight about everything and whatnot.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

It's like no.

SPEAKER_05 13:49

Yeah, I just you know what I'm saying. I just want I I want to go there and make Christianity feel attainable. Like, and make them think about it in a different way. Like, oh, is that what y'all is that is that how it is? And it's like, is that what God is that what the Bible is that the story that the Bible is telling about God? Interesting. I didn't even think about that. That'd be cool as yeah. So like I would love to do like Rogan or something like that. Oh, yeah. Do that kind of stuff. He had not to get in the weeds, he had Wes Huff on one time.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

I heard it was good. That interview was sweet. I heard it was good. Yeah, he started going to church.

SPEAKER_05 14:21

I heard that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. There's a few of those. There's a few of those big secular uh guys that are starting to look at church a little bit different.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

So yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's our that's our kind of like intro.

SPEAKER_05 14:35

Well, listen, man, you brought up uh Cody Johnson, so I think it's only right that we bring up our new music segment. Oh, yeah now. I'm stoked. The new new music segment, because I'm gonna be very honest with y'all. The new music segment was too long.

SPEAKER_04 14:49

I'm gonna be real.

SPEAKER_05 14:50

When I listen to the podcast, I skip the new music segment. Not just because I'm on there, but because I'm like, I don't need to listen to these guys ramble. So, I am trying a new format, and that is the artist of the week. It is very difficult because sometimes you get a lot of good stuff. And then sometimes it's difficult because you're like, man, I ain't got anybody, nobody's my artist of the week. But it doesn't matter. So each of us are going to give our artist of the week and explain for a brief moment why. And it just allows us to get a little deeper on just one project, one single, how it made us feel, what it talked about, our favorite songs, all that kind of stuff. Um and it just it it just makes it a bit more concise, and we get to give a little bit more love to the individuals that really impacted our time between the podcasts. So, Luke!

SPEAKER_02 15:38

Who is your artist of the week? You guys already know it's Cody Johnson, of course. And this one came out of the blue. I just I think this guy's a great, a great guy, great message. He's a cowboy, sings great. He dropped a single today. It's a cover of Footlights by Merle Haggard, and I was telling you off pod, but I have he played it at a concert a few years ago, and I found a TikTok of it, so I saved it, and I'll just play it on repeat in my truck because it's so good. Um and he released it today. Like, didn't know that was happening, didn't know that was coming down the pipe, and I was driving to go meet some friends for coffee, and just boom, it was there. And it it's so good that I I don't even know. I don't have words for it. Nothing's better than your faves just dropping a random just out of the blue, yeah. And this isn't the first single he's dropped or just a random single. He dropped one a couple weeks ago called Uh Blame Texas. So I'm sitting here like he's getting ready to release an album. I'm so stoked. Yeah, but to kind of get into the song uh kind of briefly, um the opening line is I've lived the kind of life most men only dream of. And every time I listen to that, I get the biggest smile on my face because I I believe I have. And I'm only 28. And I've had people say that to me over the years. And for those of you that don't know, I I was a missionary for a few years and I traveled around the world and I've done some really cool things. Yeah, I've been blessed to do just to have absolutely sick adventures, and I'm not even 30. Um and I've had people come up and they're like, Man, you've lived a life like people your age wouldn't like couldn't ever dream of. And I don't hold that lightly because I'm like, I love life. Couldn't always say that, but I love life and I want to be thankful and remember the things that the Lord has blessed me to do. So that opening line of I've lived the kind of life that most men only dream of. I'm like, yeah. I haven't even seen the pyramids yet, dog. So we're getting into it. We're getting into it.

SPEAKER_05 18:09

Dude, I actually totally agree with that with you. Yeah. I've I've thought about I thought about that today. I was like, yo, Luke is one of the most interesting people I know, and he is my age. Like, that's so that's so true.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:21

Thank you. I get blustered. I get blustered.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

But yeah, man. I I'm not gonna go through the rap sheet, but again, let people know. Footlights by Cody Johnson. It's a cover of Merle Hackard's, and Merle's uh Merle's um song is really good, even the original one.

SPEAKER_05 18:43

So Alright, well, congrats, Cody Johnson. You have won the Eternal Creatures Artist of the Week. You get absolutely nothing but a little bit of props and a pat on the back. Well done, Pally. Um He's not gonna hear this until like 2038, either. He's like, huh, some podcast with 150 listeners just shouting me out. Thanks, y'all. Um, so I'm gonna be very honest. There's been lots of good music out. This is a really tough one for me. But I have to give it, because there have been whole albums that have dropped, new singles that I love. But this one goes to an EP. Okay. It goes to an E P by Hunter Plake, P-L-A-K- P-L-A-K-E. Um, it is Bloom. It is five songs, 17 minutes. I do not know why, but I absolutely love this project. It's the genre is considered Christian pop or whatever that is. It's kind of like an old pop kind of thing. It is really about the first single Bloom is kind of talking about how last summer he kind of a part of him kind of died and how he thinks it's time to let his soul bloom.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:07

And that alone, that alone just kind of took me. But the rest of the I mean the rest of it is just a nice vibey project, pretty short, easy listening. But yeah, that whole that whole concept, especially around the spring, right? I think seasons are really important in music, right? Oh, for sure. Um They're important to Christians as well, but there are certain seasons that apply to certain concepts. And so I think, you know, a lot of people, you know, their winter is like a time where they're dormant and but they f they still feel like they're growing. Maybe they're not moving, but they're they're growing. What so if it's a uh if it's like their uh what is it, symbolic winter. Right. And so this concept of spring, I think is very valid. Um both in my life, because I think I'm in a place right. I really didn't tell you about how my my uh my week has been. My week has been crap. Yeah, I should have asked, my bad. No, no, no. I no, I I asked you, and I forgot to even say it for myself. Yeah. No, my week has been pants. Uh it's absolutely stunk. Lot of lot of tears and humbling and just everything. But I'll be I'll be real, and I I didn't really say this during my uh during my testimony portion. There is a lot of growth that is going on right now, and it comes with a lot of destruction. It's because it's it's it's destruction in the way of like if you have an old house and it's just been abandoned, decrepit, and you're cleaning it out cleaning it out to make it a home. And I feel like for the past two years, I've been making up for three years of just kind of I'm kind of hovering over a life that I'm not really proud of.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:04

You know, having a good face. You know what I'm saying? Saving. But I knew that, you know, I'm not the worker I want to be. I'm not good with finances the way I want to be. People don't know. I'm holding this together. I look, you know, I'm I'm looking cute. I'm buying stuff. I'm not, but I'm if anything happened in my life, it's all falling apart. And so I was just not a person that I was proud that I was proud to say that I am. Like I was like, if anyone really saw how I'm living at home, addicted to vices and you know, just kind of just you know, lonely, but not dealing with it, quick to get angry, not really reaching out to my family or anything like that, just selfish. Um a lot of that over the past couple years has been addressed. And this last week, this last couple weeks has been a big one.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:04

A big one of those has come down. And I can't out of respect for the for the situation, I'm not gonna go too in go into it, but it it's had it's taken a lot out of me. It's taken a lot out of me. But in that, I have just dug deeper into prayer. Y'all know I'm going through the solitude practice right now. And so the solitude, like, to have this happen at the same time as I'm practicing solitude and sitting with my thoughts and my feelings and letting God really address that.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

So you start to realize how much you're holding it together by duct tape and bubblegum.

SPEAKER_05 23:45

Yes, yes. That's that's it. I'm I'm realizing so much, like, as I really start understanding the depths of sin, the depths of my sinful choices, the depths of the decisions I made prior to actually caring about Jesus being the Lord over my life, I now look at all the messes I've made, and I'm like, God, I can't hold this all together. And so I've had to sit with him saying, I know. You can't. You weren't supposed to. Yeah. You never were. So stick with me, and I'll make your life blue. And so this whole concept of sort of coming out of a sort of coming out of the darkness, coming out of the dirt, and letting God turn your messy life into something beautiful, um, it just struck me. Stuck with me.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

I don't know how you feel, man. And I don't know how d I don't know how off script this is gonna go. Alright. Go for it. Yeah. I um I don't know how you feel, but I know I know the stuff you got going on. You know the stuff I got going on, but for me, even and this is crazy to even say this based off of the conversation we had before we hit record. Yeah. Like all of this stuff, I look at it and I'm looking ahead and I'm like I'm hopeful. Yeah. I'm hopeful something something's gonna work. Something not even like I'm it's not even like this future hope of like, oh, I'll find the light at the end of the tunnel. It it's because I used to say there's a light at the end of the tunnel, it might be a train, but it's a light. I don't believe that anymore. Right. I mean sometimes it's a train. But but I'm it's like I'm looking at the end of the tunnel and it's like, no, I can see mountains, I can see trees, I can see the sun, I can hear the birds chirping. Yeah. Like that's how close, you know. I don't know how far away it is, but I can see it. You know. Even though it sucks right now, it there it it it's coming down.

SPEAKER_05 26:10

Yeah, you know. That's that's a God, that's a God perspective. Yeah. Like I can't, I'm not gonna build that perspective by myself. Yeah. Me neither. I'm just gonna get cynical about life on my own and just try and be like, alright, I'm protecting me and myself. This is what life is. Alright, cool. Yeah, we're we're running over people. We're doing what we have to do out here. Or we're you know, trying to escape by however we can, and I don't want to live like that.

SPEAKER_02 26:37

Yeah. It's almost I just like had this thought right now, like what with the solitude thing. It's like when when it goes wrong, when things are going wrong, and you internalize all that stuff, yeah, that's isolation. That's the I Yo dude. Yeah. It's like that's the isolation. When you turn inward, when you when I I think I heard that said one time when when we stare too longly at ourselves, we we we basically go into our our own shadow, you know. And solitude is like getting alone with God. Not with yourself, but with God. Yeah. And isolation is just because I can self-isolate really well and still be around people. You know. Everyone knows it because I wear my heart on my sleeve, unfortunately. I mean, fortunate and unfortunate. Fortunately, because my homies can be like, hey, what's going on? You're right. But unfortunately, because it's like I don't I don't know what to do. So I turn inward and I I'm it it it turns into that reflection of self in not a good way. You know? Yeah. If I if I turn inward and I find the the Holy Spirit inside of me, which is where he is, then then that's where the solitude comes, that's where the the growth comes, that's where you start to realize that there's something at the end of the tunnel, you know.

SPEAKER_05 28:08

Um let's take uh can we uh I l I like this conversation that started. Let's take some of the um let's put some some some actions to it. Yeah. What are we doing in that time? Yeah. Because I think I like the I like the churchy words. The churchy words are good when you understand the concept. Right. But if you don't understand the concept, it's like how do you do it? Well, yeah, what are we doing?

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

I love that. I I'm I've always been, you guys have heard me say it. I hate the whole, oh, you're a Christian, so you just get to be. It's like, no, you gotta do some stuff. For me, what it's looked like is um instead of just praying throughout the day just at random, there's a I have a it's not like a specific window, but when I get home at night and I'm getting ready to to go to bed, sometimes I'll I'll think of it, I'll think of it right before I go to sleep or in the middle of doom scrolling. I roll out of bed and I lay on my face and I just start praying. And for me, me specifically, you don't have to pray this way, but this helps me. Um I start with the Jesus prayer, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. And then I pray the Lord's Prayer, um and then I get into my stuff. Because I think that helps me, and I've said this before, the Jesus prayer is really good to meditate on, you know, because it's drawing us back to the Lord, it's drawing us back to the author and perfecter of our faith and our salvation with the with the understanding of my need for that. You know, I've had people say, like, oh, we're we're not sinners, you know, we're we're blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, no, that's heresy. Anyways. Um I know what you mean, and you're not wrong, but it's both and. And then the Lord's Prayer is, I think for me, a really good way of um not checking the boxes, because I pray it intentionally, but it's a really good way to align myself with the Lord. Yeah and just kind of not instantly start with, oh God, this is going wrong, or that's going wrong, or this person's yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like because it it it starts, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. It's your will, you your kingdom come, your will be done. What you want to do, what you want to happen, let that happen. Yeah. And then save me from myself and help me forgive others. Deliver me from my temptations, deliver me from unforgiveness, and then provide me the things that I need to do so, you know.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

Um, give us a day or daily bread, you know, that that whole thing. Yeah, yeah. And then I get into it, and it's been really good. It's been tough sometimes, though. I'll be there, I'll be on my face getting mad, dude. Um, but that that's been the biggest thing for me. Um, which I hadn't done before. But I think getting in a place like that of being on your knees or being on your face is powerful. Yeah. Because it we worship with our bodies. You know. We it's not just a song we sing. We have to worship with our bodies. And I that that is a form of worship. It's it's it's humbling yourself before an almighty God. Getting on your face and being like, hey, I don't have the answers.

SPEAKER_05 31:54

Please help me. You said like three important, like really important things there that one is bodies, um, the other one is emotions, and the other one is getting out of yourself.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:10

Is in other words direction.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:13

Um, bodies, for me, I gotta get out of the situation. Yeah. I can't always get out of the situation immediately, right? If I'm if you're in a work meeting, you can't leave. You can, you just have a job. And sometimes, depending on the job, you can't leave. Yeah, right. If you're working drive-thru, you don't have all that much time to get out of there. But when you have those moments, it's kind of like how Jesus always would like peel away, even from his like really important holy work, yeah, he would peel away and go talk to God.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:42

I sometimes I find I'm I find the moments where I'm like, okay, now I can get alone and address where I am right now.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:50

Um and that for me, taking yourself physically into a different space, taking yourself physically into solitude, physically like it it it addressing the fact that you are dealing with this in real time. Yeah. Like this is real. Exactly. It's not just spiritual, oh, I can just pray it away, or I can listen to the right song, or just I can listen to any song and just let it go. Like, nah, I can't.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:18

And part of that is emotions, right? And I think it's so important not to judge the fact that I'm sinful and that maybe my emotions are based on a wrong belief. It doesn't matter, I'm feeling it, so let me give it to God. Right. And that's the last thing of like getting out of yourself at some point, because uh sometimes I've spent solitude just stewing, and sometimes I spend prayer just going in a circle of how I feel. And there's nothing wrong with confession. I think confession and like just saying how I feel to God without without judging it, without trying to find the right, I can't make myself righteous anyway. That's his point. So if I open like all of me to him, then he's and just say it however I feel it to him and just let it be, and just not judge that, oh, I'm not having the Christian answer. No, I'm having the human answer, and he'll give me the righteous answer. Exactly. Um, but at some point I gotta go back to him. And so for me, sometimes that is like it's God will often he'll often have songs come to mind. And sometimes it's a song that addresses how I feel, and I I often use music to process how I feel, but sometimes he'll give me a song by s by someone who's really speaking the way that I feel um and let me see it from a different perspective. It's like, oh, is that what I'm thinking? That's exactly and usually I can tell because I'll start crying if I'm in a bad place.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:45

Usually I'll tell, like, oh yeah, there it is. But then tears mean something. But then he may also bring me to either a song or scripture or something that addresses how he feels about what I feel. Yeah. And then shift my whole worldview and be like, oh, okay. Yeah. That's what you're thinking? Okay. Can I let me try having that? Yeah. Or, you know, let me show you this. Or let me be changed by it. Yeah. I'll read something or I'll listen to a song that comes from a scriptural perspective, and then I'm crying in a different way. Yeah, exactly. Because I'm like, oh, I was holding this, but you actually feel this way, and I don't and now I'm addressing all the emotions that come with that. But like being real, like just being in solitude and saying what you feel, journaling what you feel, but then eventually pulling yourself back to what does God feel about where I am right now? I mean, that's that's the that's the that's the trick. At some point getting that other perspective that is holier than yours. Yeah. Um that's what's helped me, I'll say.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

I've got um I've got two things I want to say. I was just reminded of this as I was listening to you. Um let me see if I can find it. Oh, here it is. Perfect. Thank you, God. Um so my buddy reposted this on Instagram yesterday. Yesterday was Easter. Um it's from an Orthodox saint. Um I don't know how to say his name, so I'm not even gonna try it. But um he says this This is the way we should see Christ. He is our friend, our brother, he is whatever is good and beautiful, he is everything. And I was thinking, before I remembered that, I was thinking about uh um that homily that Jacob Winenson shared. He says, um, what is not assumed cannot be healed, and Jesus assumes our humanity. He he's God and He comes as man, right? Fully man, fully God. And he goes through the same things that we can go through. I don't know about you, but my my big brother and then other other guys that are big brother like figures in my life, yeah. I can go and talk to them and be like, hey, what do you think about this? Or hey, I don't feel I don't feel right about this, or you know, I'm having a hard time with whatever, fill in the blank. And that was a good reset for me. That that phrase, he is our friend, he is our brother. It's like to partner that with him assuming our humanity and taking that upon himself, humbling himself to come down as a man and to and to go through what he went through. Man, I I think I'm in a really good spot with with the the company that I that I keep in my life, and what I mean by that is is is Jesus, you know, yeah staying with him and working through all that kind of stuff with him because he can that's the crazy thing that I think that's a the mo one of the most beautiful things about the gospel is that uh he uh above uh all other lowercase G gods, he came and he gets it. Yeah. He's a part of it, he's been through it, so he knows how I feel. When I'm grieving, he knows how I feel. When I feel betrayed, he knows how I feel. When I feel happy, he knows how I feel. And he can he can well not he can, I can. I can take that and participate in that d divine nature that Peter talks about, and it's like, oh my gosh, you like Jesus made this palatable for humanity. He's like, hey, you can do it because I did it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:04

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude. And the the funny thing about like what you said there is He didn't even have to. Yeah. Like, he made us, he gets it. Yeah. But he just He humbled himself to show us that he gets it. Right. And that he's willing to He's willing to walk with us. Yeah, that's no other God like him. No other God. I mean, no other God in general, but no other God like him. Yeah. But um I I I I love what we are, which I feel like what we're saying is just kind of inspiring different things. I want to. This isn't part of the new music segment, but this is just in the sense of like the EP friendship by Bailey Hager talks about it, it's like four songs, 23 minutes. It's all like I use that today to meditate on the friendship that we have with Jesus, and just I would go check it out. It's really sweet, just acoustic uh music, but um yeah, yeah, yeah. To get us to kind of end the the mute the music segment, and trust me, not all new music segments. I just said, hey, the new music segment is way too long, and we just made it 10 times long as the longest music segment. But it's okay. This I'm okay with. It's unraveling off random seconds for 14 minutes, and then I'm like, y'all!

SPEAKER_03 40:25

We can get deep into a podcast. Let's do it. That's a podcast. That's what we're here for.

SPEAKER_05 40:31

Yeah, the other crap is radio.

SPEAKER_03 40:33

I don't know what that is. This is radio. This is a modern-day talk show. This is possible radio.

SPEAKER_05 40:41

This is the radio that once you get tired of the house and be like, ah, enough already.

SPEAKER_03 40:46

Andrew, shut up. If somebody says that to Andrew, I'm coming to your house. You're gonna wake up and I'm gonna be under your bed. Yeah, but Liz is gonna choppy or something. Yeah, uh that's worse. We'll move along.

SPEAKER_05 41:00

Love you, Lizzie. Um, Bloom is the EP by Hunter Plake. I'm gonna read one more because Liz gave us an artist of the week, despite not being here. Uh, member, you know, Potter of the Month. Um, I'm just gonna read what she gave us because obviously I can't speak for her. I'm still listening to the project, but uh Need to Breathe created uh an album, The Long Surrender, which is an indie folk album. It's listed as country, um, and it is talking about the surrender we have throughout our Christian walk from salvation until death. And a song that she um so suggested to listen to is The Door. So, if you're not sure about the project, go check out the door. Yeah. But um, that's all I got. She just wanted us to share that if she is not here and she is not here. So love you, Liz. Thank you. Uh, we can't wait for you to come back. But uh, ladies and gentlemen, those are our artists of the week. Love the Gen Journal Creatures Podcast. Time to begin the pod. 37 minutes in, time to begin the pod. Um, I actually have a question for you. And um, this will just stay in the new in the new music realm. Okay. Because um there is an uh a single.

SPEAKER_03 42:13

I'm having a great time. I'm laughing because it's like we need to shorten the music part. We're gonna make this shorter. We're gonna make this Let's talk about music.

SPEAKER_05 42:26

Yeah, we need to shorten it to just one episode instead of two part episodes. Um so Brandon Lake. If if y'all been following Brandon Lake, you know he's kind of on this country tech. Don't get me started. He made a song with Cody Johnson.

SPEAKER_03 42:42

Listen, not everyone's a fan of it. I didn't like it. I love Cody Johnson, but I didn't like it.

SPEAKER_05 42:47

You made a song with Cody Johnson, Thomas Rhett. I like the Thomas Rhett one. I think it's that one. What's it uh what's it called? The prayer? I'll look it up. Um, Thomas Rhett. He just recently dropped a project with Lainey Wilson. One of my friends is talking about that this morning. She said it was really good. It's called The Jesus I Know Now. And so it's I love it. I've played it several times. I love the concept. It is just them talking about how their perspective of Jesus has changed from when they were younger to where they are now. And it's a very sweet song of like understanding Jesus. And so I just thought, oh, this is an obvious question that comes out of this. Yeah. It's a two-parter. Number one, what has changed in your understanding about Jesus from prior years to now? And mostly recent years, right? Obviously, we're all you know, we're all growing as our Christian faith, but in the past year or so, like how has your understanding for of Jesus changed? Right. And then two, what are you still wrestling with to understand about Jesus in the future? Or what can you tell? I'll understand this a little bit later.

SPEAKER_02 43:53

I think the first to answer the first question, I think. I think a lot of my perspective has changed in the last year just based off of the the kind of reading I've been doing about the um the apostolic faiths. Um and I think the perspective shift in the last year has has been bringing me back to um how holy he is and that he's God. You know, I always knew that. Yeah. But the idea that he he's not just man and he's not just God, but he's both, and he's holy. I think that's been a really big thing. Um and to kind of go back to kind of that application we just did about um, you know, what do you do to find solitude and you know what we were talking about, the one of the reasons why I start with the Jesus prayer and I start with the Lord's Prayer is because he's holy. And the I heard, do I say his name? Yeah, who cares? Um I'm not a big uh what's his name? Johnny Chang. I'm not a big Johnny Chang guy. He says some pretty heretical stuff. And one of the things he said is that you shouldn't pray the Lord's Prayer. And I'm like, hmm. What? That's interesting. Yeah. And I'm like Wasn't that from Jesus teaching how to pray? Yeah. But they asked God how to pray, and he said, pray like this.

SPEAKER_05 45:38

So one of the clearer parts of the circumscription. Although I I may understand where he's coming from, but uh yeah, I I I'm with you.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

Yeah. Um but he said that, and I was like, no way, dog. I'm not listening to a word you say. I mean, there's some other stuff. Uh we're not getting into that. But um that it just like you said, it's like, okay, God told me to pray this way. So that means he likes it when I pray this way, and he appreciates it when I pray this way. Because that's how he asked me, or that's how he taught us to pray. So I'm gonna do that. Um and I think, you know, that that beginning bit, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. It's like it it starts off like you are our father, I am your child. Hallowed be your name. You are holy and magnificent and wonderful and all of these things. It it's like I said, it draws us back into who God is and how we ought to see him and how we ought to view him, and how we ought to, you know, use some churchy words like co-labor and participate with him. And what I mean by that is uh like uh just uh being a human with him, you know, being me, I gotta do these things. Yeah. Um so I think yeah, I think the the biggest perspective is just a uh uh reminding of his holiness and a reminding of how mighty he is. I think the biggest one though, the first thing that came to mind when you were asking the question before you said in the last year was I always saw Jesus through that um what is that like the Renaissance paintings and like the the little hippie guy that's preaching peace and love and blah blah blah. He's holding the lambs and the kids are laughing with him, and those are all I don't know about the hippie part. He's like dirty blonde for some reason. Yeah, he's a white guy, no um, no beard, that dude had a beard. But it my the biggest perspective shift was from that to this guy's a warrior. Yeah, this guy's a king, he's God, you know, and the biggest kind of revelation of that was I was reading Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldridge, and he talks about when he goes into the temple courts and he starts flipping the tables and whatnot. He hones in on the fact that Jesus m made a cord or a whip out of cords. Like he fashioned himself a weapon and went in there, and it says he drove all out. Yeah, that's so and he he paints this picture of the the type of floor that the temple had, and you can imagine cattle and sheep and all kinds of animals slipping and sliding as they're like startled, running out of this place. It's absolute chaos. And he came in and he's like, This is my father's house. You will not do this. And then even further, when he returns, as it's described, you know, the sky is ripped open and he's coming in on a horse. He's got his name written on his thigh, his eyes are blazing like fire, and there's a sword coming out of his mouth.

SPEAKER_03 49:29

I don't know any kids that are gonna see them and go, let's go sit with him.

SPEAKER_05 49:33

They don't it's like they don't paint that on the Sunday school walls. Yeah, exactly. It's like whoa.

SPEAKER_02 49:40

This guy's here for business. Yeah. This guy, yeah. Just and then marrying those two things about the peacefulness and the ferocity of Jesus, you know.

SPEAKER_05 49:54

So that strikes me as uh what you would be um into. Because I think I think that's what you desire to embody. Yeah. I just hear it in how you talk. Like that's the that warrior aspect, that always ready to go. But then also having that like peaceful wisdom and not, you know, caring.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

My buddy uh Caleb calls me uh uh a warrior hippie. Maybe that's why Jesus is painted that way. He's a warrior hippie. Yeah, he's awesome. Or uh he calls me a hippie warrior. He's like, bro, you're just a hippie warrior. For those of you that don't know, I got long hippie hair. He does. He does.

SPEAKER_05 50:30

Uh hashtag sick flow. Um yeah, uh, what's the thing that you are currently wrestling with understanding about him?

SPEAKER_02 50:42

As even though I just said it, I wrestle with him being able to understand how I feel and being to being able to um sympathize with me. You know, and I have to remind myself of that. And I'll and when I say I remind myself of it, it's not like, oh yeah, remember this, and then I feel some type of way. It's hey, even though you don't feel this, he says that he can. He says that that he's understanding, he says that he can resonate with how we feel because he's been through it. So I have to remind my mind of that. My heart will catch up eventually, but I have to keep that at my mind at the forefront of my mind. Yeah. That he's been through this, he's felt this way, he's he's been hurt, he's been happy, he's all these things. Um and it's tough for me to wrap my brain around, but yeah. That's tough for all of us.

SPEAKER_05 51:38

I our lives are a lot more detailed and minute than the Bible gives of us, gives us of his life. Yeah. Because we wouldn't read a minute-to-minute transcript of his life, but it it gives us enough to understand him, it gives us enough to draw us to him. Right. But yeah, I think it is hard to create that connection. I would actually say that's the thing that I've that's the thing I understand about him more now than I ever have, is that he actually cares. Right. And that I can actually talk to him. Right. And, you know, I think I always viewed him as sort of a concept and an idea. I think, you know, kid growing up in church, you understand Jesus to the degree that you can. But as the more that I've the more that I've read scripture and the more that I've seen the promises, I'm like, oh, this like it's drawing you to a person that is that exists now and that wants to talk to you now, and that wants to care about you now, and not church you. Yeah. He wants to care about real you. Like the you that he walked around and lived as, like that person. He wants to address that. How are you dealing with life? Not what you you think I want to hear because you you got the right theme from the 17th preaching of David and Goliath. Like what are you like what are you feeling today? Yeah. And uh I think knowing that he cares about that is it's it's good. And it's changed a lot of how I kind of view him. Yeah. And uh, you know, it and it's changed how close I feel like I can get to him. It's changed how I pray, you know. I don't I sometimes have to remind myself, oh, I don't have to make my prayer sound poetic in front of you. I can just say what I'm thinking. Yeah. And, you know, I know you want the Our Father way, that Our in Heaven way. I know that's how you taught me, but right now I'm just want to complain. And I'll let you draw me back to yourself. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_02 53:50

Once I get tired of it. I remember my buddy, uh my buddy posted this a few years ago, and it said, I be cussin' in my prayers.

SPEAKER_00 53:58

Yeah.

unknown 54:00

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:02

I was like, all right, bro.

SPEAKER_05 54:03

But he let me call you real quick. But that's what he wants. He wants us to be honest with him and let him shift us. And but that's a that's a hard thing to understand because there's definitely times, and this is I guess where I struggle. I the way I wrote it is that I struggle with feeling like seeking him is wasting my time. Sometimes I when the doubt creeps in, I'm like, am I just yelling at the sky? Am I just trying to like say things that make me feel better about how what a mess I am? Right. Am I wasting time sitting here trying to read the Bible and then read something that helps me understand what I just read and then praying and writing down my prayers and journaling and spending hours on this when I really should be focusing on the thing that I really am concerned about.

unknown 55:16

Right?

SPEAKER_05 55:16

You say seek first the kingdom of God, but it kind of feels like I'm wasting time pursuing the things that are actually my issue. Maybe I shouldn't be praying, maybe I should just be putting in more resumes, maybe I shouldn't be praying, maybe I should just be asking her out, maybe I shouldn't be like and it's not it's not saying I have a hard time sometimes believing that his love will move me to action. And that his instruction will move me to action. Yeah. And that I'm not just being Mr. Hippie in the grass and like Jesus loves us all, man.

SPEAKER_03 55:52

Jesus loves us, bro.

SPEAKER_05 55:53

It makes me feel so much better to like r talk about Jesus than to actually address my issues. Yeah. But I I I don't think that's what he's calling me to, but it's it's hard but the more complex the ideas get, it it is hard sometimes to wrestle with that.

SPEAKER_01 56:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:11

So Yeah, I remember I heard this guy say it one time um about that uh what is it, Matthew 6 33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given unto you. I remember somebody was like, What is the kingdom of God? How do you seek the kingdom of God? And he said, The kingdom of God, Paul says this. I don't remember where, but Paul says it. Um He says, The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. So it's like, okay, I gotta seek some righteousness, I gotta seek some peace. And I think that's like I think for you and me, especially, that peace thing. Yeah, that's like forefront of our mind. Okay, we're supposed to have peace. That's classes understanding. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can read my uh shout out my Substack uh Deacons Well, put that in your peace pipe and smoke it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's like, okay, I'm supposed to be feeling this peace. Where is it? Exactly. Why do I not feel it? And then the tires start spinning a little bit, like, okay. I'm doing the things. I feel like my prayers are hitting the ceiling. And now what do I do? Yeah. I know me, I try to take things into my own hands. And it usually blows up. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 57:36

I I think you bring up such an important thing, and I want to really nail this home. I don't want you to pick up a single book that we've suggested until you go to the word and ask a question about God. Yeah. Ask a question about God, check the word, check the Bible, if you're not Christian and don't know what the word means. But like, what word? The bird? The pamphlet is the word. The little booklet I get before I got the It's just like a couple bullet points, the words blank.

SPEAKER_04 58:29

That's another thing. That's another day.

SPEAKER_05 58:36

But I think the reason the reason I say that is because we can get so overwhelmed with knowledge so quickly and forget what the point of all this is. Right. Um when we when I and I I've the reason I'm saying this is because I deal with it all the time.

SPEAKER_01 58:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 58:57

Trying to learn without recognizing who I'm trying to learn about.

SPEAKER_01 59:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 59:03

And it's far better for you to read your Bible. Well, ask a question. If you're trying to learn about God, ask a question. Read your Bible. Or the other way. You might get a question from just reading it. You will. Read your Bible, ask a question, ask a question, read the Bible, pray, and then let Him bring you to, and then let Him inspire you to learn more and figure out where you can learn more. And this is where community can help in suggesting the things that you that you learn. But I I want to always make sure it goes back down to scripture and prayer. God can do so much with just those two things. This other stuff can become fluff quick.

SPEAKER_02 59:48

Very quick. Yeah, I was gonna say, just like what you said right then. Um I know we gotta wrap up, but like when you go and ask, and when you go and seek, going back to David, Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. It's like seeking him and knowing he's a good shepherd will bring you back to that. And if you if you're a new Christian, or even if even if you're a seasoned, you know, you've been around, and you're struggling and you just dive into a book, I challenge you to ask yourself if your faith is your own. I'm not saying books are bad. Books are really good. I I read books, but ask yourself that. Who who is shaping my faith right now? Is it this guy that I'm reading, or is it because I'm putting in the work to seek God? There we go.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:49

There you go. Thanks again for listening. As always, remember, eternity is for the beautiful, eternity is for the timeless, eternity is for those who walk with God. And everyone's welcome. Play the music, Keith.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:03

Liz, we did okay! We we didn't get canceled! We did it! We did the thing! Bye y'all! Bye.