The Joy of Podding and Catfish

In today’s episode, Andrew B., Lukie P., and Lizzie A. come together for more riveting discussion.  Starting with Andrew promoting  the new book by producer and Abide in God Studios owner, Keith McMinn called “No One Like Him” and sharing his time at the book signing.  Then the cast try to figure out if they care about current events involving Meg Thee Stallion and Klay Thompson, Russell Brand, and Forrest Frank.  After, they give their new music suggestions.  Finally, Andrew asks the cast about what it really means to rest in difficult times leading to a discussion about the importance of play.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

What's up, y'all? Welcome back to the Eternal Creatures Podcast. How y'all doing, everybody? Just vibe with us for a second. Welcome back, as always, to the Eternal Creatures Podcast, the podcast for people who view the world just a little bit different. Brought to you as always by the lovely Abiding God Studios. And it's listen, it's Andy B. You know what it is. It's always me. We also got to my right, Lukey P. Hold up. To his right, Liz. Hello. Lizzie A. Liz is pissed. Liz wanted to be in the three-syllable group group with us.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Give her to her. Give her the three syllables.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Ladies and gentlemen, though, to his right, it's Lizzie A. Thank you. Thank you. We are here as a part of the cast.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

So you have earned your third syllable. That is right.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

You have earned Thank you, good sir.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Because you're awesome. You didn't have to earn your third syllable.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

We made it sound like she was in training. I'm the most expensive and I need training. Interesting. Oh.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

In the way of the samurai.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Alright. Well, today's episode is dedicated. As we swiftly move along. Today's episode is dedicated to uh noodling catfish women. Listen.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

Hannah Barron.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

If you don't know what this means, clearly you know. Yeah. If you don't know what this means. Let me explain it to you slowly. I love it. So here's what happens. Uh you may have run across these videos in YouTube, Instagram, something else. Essentially, it is this woman, this normal-looking woman, this Brooklyn-looking woman. This is somebody's daughter, okay? This isn't some beefy, like mountain of a woman. This is a no, this is somebody's daughter, all right? She just she goes into the murkiest water you have ever seen, plunges her arm and dang near her body into the water, and you're just watching her like, okay, maybe she dropped her keys or her earring or something. What the heck is she looking for? All of a sudden you just see a jolt. And what she's doing is wrestling this thing. Now, while you're sitting there nervous, like, what the heck has grabbed this woman? Out comes this catfish. Now, listen, this is not a normal, this is not like a Trader Joe's catfish. This is like river monsters, okay? Out, like as she's wrestling, she lifts her arm and engulfing her entire right arm or whatever arm she's using is this monstrous catfish that she pulls out of the water. It is terrifying. There is a reason that I'm bringing up these women, okay? It's not because of that, because honestly, I think that's kind of weird. Here is Luca showing Liz now. The reason I'm bringing this up, and I'm giving you women the credit you deserve, is because I believe you are the great unifiers of America. Here's what I mean. For anybody who has been on the internet, you know that internet men hate nothing in this world more than internet women. Oh, they cannot stand internet women. Everything, everything internet women say, internet men are in the comments just chopping them down, calling them all kinds of names. Except in this small corner of the internet. If you have ever seen the internet comments of these noodling catfish women who fish in this way, it is nothing but men who have gotten off of Truth Social, put their red hats to their hearts as they just fill these women's comments with compliments. Now that's a real woman right there. That it that is somebody's wife right there. She is a mother and a provider. They don't make women like them anymore. They they stopped making them back in '92. They don't make it.

SPEAKER_03 4:00

You want me to read a couple of these dudes?

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Um, well no, no, these are fun.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

All right.

SPEAKER_03 4:07

It's a lot of fire emojis, heart emojis.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Uh very good deer. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Yeah, no, these are this one says the best girlfriend.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Exactly. She's a caper. That they like saying that one. She's a caper.

SPEAKER_03 4:21

This one is wedding ring, fire emoji, fire emoji, fire emoji, heart, fire emoji, fire emoji, fire emoji, wedding ring.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

There you go. So credit to y'all as you and I hope uh that as you are eating your fried catfish and uh bandaging up that arm of yours that you got the Eternal Creatures podcast playing. Thank you for the work you do with unifying one like 1% of the internet. You guys are amazing, and I'm shouting you out right here on EC. Uh so how's it going, y'all? What's up? What's up? Hey. Riveting cast way up today.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Um riveting cast.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Oh, is that your comeback?

unknown 5:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Okay, great. Very small.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

I I don't think I would want to noodle catfish if I'm being completely honest. Dude, it looks terrifying. It looks absolutely terrifying. Like you gotta go underwater, shove your arm in its mouth, and then hope it doesn't kill you.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

I don't get it.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

No.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

They say it's not painful because it's like, oh, they don't have to be.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

Have you seen Hannah racing teeth? It looks insane. Yeah, her arm is shredded. No. And like muscular, but also like tore up. Yeah. I'm good, man.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Yeah, I'll I'll skip. I got chased by a shark one time and that was that's it. I'm good. Liz, what did you think of the video?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Um, I thought it was gonna be a jump scare video because I saw nothing at first and I didn't realize she had to go underwater to go get this thing.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

I thought it was like they have to swim into the hole. There's there's one that's done it before. I've seen I've seen someone be put underwater for this.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

It was um not what I not what I was expecting. Uh I don't want to try it. No. I think if it's your thing, congratulations. Hope you catch a PR this weekend.

SPEAKER_03 6:12

Yeah, nah, I'll I'll skip. I think the only way I'd do it is if I was with a bunch of my mates and they called me a wuss for not doing it.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

See, I'll be a wuss. I'm different. I'll I'll stay a wuss. Um, all right, we're gonna talk about our lives a lot today, but uh did you did you guys do anything fun this week? Anything Luki, Lukey P got back from uh from his work trip.

SPEAKER_03 6:35

Yeah, I was out of town for 11 days.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

He was stuck with Hammy for a while because they worked together. My God.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Um Yeah, no, I I was gone for 11 days. Um the beginning of the trip was kind of rough. I got placed into a um into a different role that I don't normally or that I had never worked on a trip. Um and I I didn't want to do it because my skill set is more um more beneficial elsewhere. Um so at the beginning when they put me in this uh support supporting role, um I was uh not a happy camper, but then once I started working that support role in the context of what I do, um I found my groove and I loved it. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

So nice, nice. Liz, what anything you fun you do?

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Um I actually got to visit or hang out with two of my friends who don't really live in this area. On Friday, one of my good friends that I did life with in the last season before moving to Williamsburg, she and I were in the same small group for about two and a half years. I moved to Williamsburg about four months afterwards, she moved to New Hampshire. Haven't seen her in person since her wedding, and then she was coming down to Richmond for a wedding, so I spent all day Friday with her and her husband, who I went to college with, which was really fun to like re like introduce and meet everyone when we all went to church together, so that was great. And then on Saturday, um, one of my good friends who moved away from Williamsburg, uh, Andrew got to meet her with one of our other friends, and we all just hung out at a coffee shop and got sushi. Yeah, it was a good time. Nice. Did you go to friends? Is what Elisha and Andrew realized. I my friends are real.

SPEAKER_03 8:29

Did you guys not believe her?

SPEAKER_02 8:31

You know what? It you always have like Gio, for example, is your friend that like you always, but like very few we never see. What up? And so one day when he appears, it'll be like, holy crap, he actually is real.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

Yeah, he is real.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Crazy work.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

He's the realist.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

When you went with your friends to Richmond, did you guys go to uh pay?

SPEAKER_00 8:52

We we couldn't because it closed at two. Yeah, it does close at two. I didn't know that. It was 147 and it was a 20-minute walk away, and we were like, not gonna make it.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

Where'd you guys park the Whole Foods?

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Uh no, we parked off one of the really small side streets and then walked about two blocks to Carrie.

SPEAKER_03 9:11

Oh, okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Yeah, one of the really narrow streets. A one-way or we got crepes. Nice were really good. Sweet. Got a a chicken carbonara crepe out here.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

Where did you get where in Carytown? Yeah. Where in Carrytown? Really? Yeah. I never heard of that place.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

It's like savory crepes. My friend got a cheeseburger crepe.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

What?

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

I gotta try this. Was it like a Smash Burger style?

SPEAKER_00 9:35

No, it was like thick.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

Really? Yeah. Alright, I gotta go try this place.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Anyway, go to Richmond.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

That sounds really good.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

It's really fun. And then I ate Cheesecake Factory afterwards too, so I was just eating it up.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

Sweet. I love Cheesecake Factory. I'm not allowed to go there, but I love it.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

Andrew, how are you?

SPEAKER_03 9:52

Is this a legal issue? What's going on? Nah, I just always spend too much money. Oh, okay. Gotcha, gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Your wallet.

SPEAKER_03 9:59

All right.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Well I was about to say. I was like, is this something we need to know?

SPEAKER_03 10:04

I stole a cheesecake.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

But the question is, which one? Which one would you steal?

SPEAKER_03 10:13

Don't hate me. I actually do not like cheesecake at all.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Moving along. So uh one of the fun things that I did this week is I went to our producer Keith, who's upstairs producing.

SPEAKER_03 10:31

He is directly above us. Producing.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

So I know what that means.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

I heard a little tap on the ceiling.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

Our producer Keith McMahon, owner of Abide and God Studios, he released a book. And I went to his book opening. He released a new book called Uh No One Like Him. It's from his Be Still and No series, and it is about beholding the beauty of God. So I'm just going to read a little bit of the back just to Dude.

SPEAKER_03 11:01

The cover is sweet.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

I voted for this graphic. I'm so happy about this one.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

Yeah, we love this cover, dude.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Yeah, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

We love this author.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

This book is the back of the book, uh, just kind of describes a little bit as in a world filled with noise, hurry, and surface-level faith. Awful. Yes. Believers are longing for something deeper, a clearer vision of who God truly is. No one like him invites readers to slow down and behold the unmatched greatness of God through a thoughtful exploration of his attributes. Now, if you want to know a little bit about the writer, Keith McMahon is a pastor. Come on, worship leader. Wow. Academy director and theologian who is passionate about helping the church recover a deep reverence for God with training from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. So this guy's legit. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So his book is up on uh Amazon now. You should go check it out. And if you want to know a little bit more about his theology, I know bunches of people write books. You can go check out his podcast, uh of which his name I Moments of Worship. Moments of Worship, yes! Got you. I was so close to failing. You can go listen to Morsch. That's why we have friends. Yes, friends. Uh you can go listen to Moments of Worship, uh, which he's on like episode 402 or something like that. I can't believe I forgot the name of the podcast, but remembered how many podcasts he's on.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Anyway, it's a little like five-minute devo in the morning he does. So it's really fun to when you're just brushing your teeth, maybe doing like making a coffee in the morning on your way out. Super easy, super light, truthful.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

Absolutely. It was a I'm I'm gonna be honest, it was a special event. I walked in and listen, I didn't know what to expect, but when I saw it, I was like, I should have known. White room, chandeliers, saxophone, saxophone playing, abiding God, like just the presence everywhere, the studio presence. I was like, holy, this is amazing! I was like, no one doesn't quite like Keith. So yeah, it was a it was a beautiful event, lots of people, and I was just proud. They know half the event, I was just sending pictures of Keith uh for all the pod people who couldn't make it, and so uh yeah, no, I I was blessed to be there. He read a portion of the book. I can't wait to get into it myself. I'll probably post about it when I once I do, but uh for the time being, and he said he's already sold like 170 of these books. Let's go. Come on, man. Uh blessed to be working uh under a Biden God Studios. Uh just Keith does great work. We're happy to work with him. So thank you, Keith. Uh go check out No One Like Him. Go uh buy Keith McMinn. Go see go uh buy it on Amazon. Have a good time.

unknown 13:42

All right.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

So we're gonna talk about some stuff. As podcasters do.

SPEAKER_03 13:50

That's what we do.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

So I'm gonna get y'all into a little bit of warm-up with a segment that we haven't done in a second called Do We Care? Care Care Care Care Care. Alright, uh moving along. So uh I'm gonna bring up a couple topics, give a little bit of description, and I'm gonna see what y'all if y'all care about them or not and why. So, do you care at all? I kind of asked about this a little bit yesterday. Uh, Megan the Stallion, rapper and basketball player Clay Thompson have broken up. Oh my gosh. And the internet went into a full-on gender war. Uh Distinguished panel.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

I don't know any of these names.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Yeah, that's the issue.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

Nah, I have personal beef with Clay Thompson, so I don't care.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Why do you have personal beef with Clay Thompson?

SPEAKER_03 14:36

So I asked for his autograph and he went just like this. I'm not kidding.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

No. And I was like, all right, dog. Well, then who did you get you?

SPEAKER_03 14:46

And then and then Steph Curry came out and he signed my hat. So shout out Steph. Come on now.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

Alright, so clearly we don't care.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Andrew, do you care?

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Not really. I did at first because it the gender war aspect was interesting.

SPEAKER_03 15:01

But what uh how did it start a gender war? People break up all the time.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

The problem is you kind of have to know a little bit, and this is why this is why ultimately I don't care. There's way too much background on Meg the Stallion to uh explain. But basically, she shouldn't like someone who's like successful and rich, like Clay. Shouldn't shouldn't be dating someone who presents herself in the uh, let's just say, uh less than uh what's what's what's it called? Uh less than pure uh means that Meg the Stallion does. Her name doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

Stallions are males.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

I'm not gonna lie, even describing it on board. Uh let's move on. I thought I cared for half a song. I couldn't even name one of her songs. Yeah, I can I can name like one. That's about it.

SPEAKER_03 15:47

Uh but I can I can name uh Clay Thompson's Achilles Broken.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

All right. Well this has just gotten vindictive. All right. This one might hit a little closer at home because we are Christians. Do we care that Russell Brand might be a fraud Christian?

SPEAKER_03 16:08

I I am like right in the middle of this one because I don't I see stuff about him being a Christian pop up in my feed every now and then, and he said some stuff where I'm like, man, good for you. Awesome, that's great. And then like stuff will come out about him, and I'm like, ooh, we all make mistakes, man. But I I just don't know enough about his walk with the Lord to be able to say if I care or not. My f when I when I was reading the notes going into it, my first thought was um back to Philippians. Paul is in prison and he's saying um that there are other people preaching the gospel uh that may not have the best intentions or whatever. And Paul says whether good motives or or uh whether yeah, whether the the gospel is being preached for for the right reasons or the wrong reasons, I don't care as long as the gospel is being preached. Um so I don't know enough about uh his theology to to like really say. Like for me, when I hear fraud, wow man, I I I can't that would actually be judgmental. I'm not gonna get into that part either.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

So, Russell, uh just to kind of describe why he's being like so criticized now. Russell Brand's gone through a lot as far as like he was at first a very wild celebrity. If you don't know who this guy is, British comedian celebrity, wild guy, about as like hedonistic as possible, used to criticize God. He eventually became like a liberal political commentator and then became a conservative political commentator and then became a Christian. Or and he seemingly was really into it, um, got a lot of popularity for it, but he still has a lot of baggage from his past and um just questionable behavior. So recently, some of the stuff that he's been criticized for, one, he's in a sexual assault uh like case with like multiple women. Um he recently expressed on a podcast that when he was 30, I think he's in his 40s or 50s now. When he was 30, he's he was had sex with a 16-year-old because apparently that's the age of consent in England wherever he was. Um I don't think he justified it. He mentioned it as an issue, but it's still not looking good when you already have these cases here. And then um, and then he also on Pierce Morgan, who's a British uh daytime television show person, he was asked about like a favorite Bible verse of his, something that he was supposed to present, because he wrote a book recently on how to be a Christian, um, which is also not a great look for him. And it took him like 90 seconds to say anything. And then when Pierce kind of called him out on people saying he was a grifter, not even necessarily calling him a grifter, uh, he gave a lot of pushback. And so it recently, I think the hope that Christians maybe had for him earlier in his walk has kind of waned a lot as he seems to look more like a questionable person.

SPEAKER_03 19:13

Yeah. Well, I think I don't know, I look at it and I'm like, okay, he's uh he's a celebrity that just got saved. Like I couldn't pull pull Bible verses out of my hat when I got freshly saved, you know? And especially like still where he's at in life, of like he's still very much a celebrity, very much in that scene. It's like pardon me. I don't expect him to be at some high level of understanding this religion, you know. Like even for me, if like I I don't I don't look at him and go, oh man, you got all this stuff going on? You can't be a Christian. I'm like, you got all this stuff going on? Keep following Jesus. Because that's that's actually where you need to be. You know, with all these issues, with all these mistakes you've made, this is where you need to be. You need to be going to church, you need to be following the Lord in your Bible, you know, surround yourself with people that will elevate you higher to be more Christ-like. You know? I don't know if he's doing that, he's not my homie, but yeah. I look at the mistakes and I'm like, cool. Paul made mistakes, Peter made mistakes, I make mistakes. Okay. Mine just might be different. So Liz, any thoughts on this?

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Um, I think it's really hard to judge someone like Luke said who's in like celebrity culture where there's like a lot of external pressures and um there is a lot of fallout once you call yourself a Christian in the limelight, and then you're kind of like a spotlight where everyone's like judging you. I don't condone well you are you can know like a tree by its fruit, but also like you should probably take the log out of your own eye before you take the speck out of someone else's. It's not to say you can never call it out, but having the Lord really do your own work on your own heart and then with the the posture of bettering the other person and loving them to take the speck out, not just to take the speck out to be ha, I was right, there was a speck in your eye. I think that's hard, and it's hard for us to comment on it because again, we're not in like personal like community relationship with this guy. But um, I hope it's genuine. I hope the Lord convicts him on whatever he needs to be convicted on, and I hope he that lives in a manner worthy calling of um being called a Christian and that he does repent and he doesn't sin anymore, and like I have to do the same in my own life and trust that my friends will call me out when I need to be called out.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

I think even to that point. There's a lot of celebrities or like well-known people these days that are becoming Christians, and then they're immediately using their platform to talk about it, but to go back to Paul. Paul got saved on the road to Damascus. He went to Jerusalem and then he disappeared. He went I I think like historians kind of agree that he went back to Tarsus, where he's from, for 10 years before he stepped back into ministry, you know. Um yeah. So I think there's there's this thing where it's like, hey, you have a platform, but maybe don't don't talk uh how do you say it? Don't talk smarter than your audience, you know, don't be tr don't try to be smarter than your audience. Because yeah, you you may have had this incredible experience, this incredible transformation with the Lord, but like there's training that's involved in this. There there is growth that's involved in this. Like you look at Shia LaBeouf. Everyone, anytime Shia LaBeouf says anything about Jesus, it's in string with 12 swear words. And everyone's like, man, look how look how awesome this guy is. You don't have to be a perfect Christian. But then you look at Russell Brandon and everyone's like blown this dude up because he made mistakes. And I'm like, there's a there's a clip that Andrew and I were watching like three weeks ago about Shia LaBeouf. Probably yeah, and we were both like, dude, this is this is awesome, you know. I look at Russell Brandon the same way, I'm like, man, there you go. Keep trying. Maybe don't be all out there like you've got it all figured out now, but like there you go. Like you're at least on the right path, it it appears. You know, I can't, I can't, again, I can't say if he is or not. But I mean, if we're gonna do what we're doing to Russell Brand, then we gotta do it to everybody else too. And in saying that, I don't think we should be blowing these dudes up at all, you know.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

Listen, man, I I agree with what y'all are saying. I hope someone's in this corner saying, hey, you gotta deal with your crap. Yeah, exactly. 100%. You did some jacked up stuff when you were younger, and my thing is let justice be served. And if you're really following Jesus, we'll see it.

SPEAKER_03 24:21

100%. We'll see it.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

Nothing's gonna test that's gonna test you. So that's all I pray for in this situation. I pray that justice is served however is fit for the women that were affected by him and for him with whatever is true in the situation, and I pray that he truly is following Jesus because it's going to make this situation so worth so much more once he's out on the other end. But yeah, you got to do what you stuff.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

Um, to lighten it up uh just a little bit, and kind of the last thing, uh, have y'all seen Forrest Frank's kind of song challenge?

SPEAKER_03 24:56

I don't know anything about Forrest Frank.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

Lizing. So he's releasing a song and he put out a challenge to uh uh to find essentially someone who will rap a verse or sing a verse that can go on the track. And so this thing has blown up across Christian music socials. It is everywhere. I do want to I do want to give a couple shout-outs to uh Josh Benson, uh who did a very funny little skit off of it, and uh The Lord's Giant, who also made a funny. I love the Lord's Giant. That was my dude. He made a hilarious video off of it. So funny. Uh Liz, since you've seen it, any thoughts on it?

SPEAKER_00 25:35

I think it gives a chance for like content artists and anyone who wants to get their foot into producing like a little foot in the door. So highly recommend it. I haven't done it yet. I'm not really great at rapping.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

I would love to see you do it. I would reshare everything. Lizie A. Lizzie, Liz A.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

They want to shrink my name back to two syllables.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

I'm not gonna lie, I kinda like Liz A because it sounds like your RB name, but I just don't want to be a sort of side.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

I need to be with anyone else.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Lizzie A is your rap name. Yeah, Lizzie is your rap name. All right. Uh we'll move along before we make Liz mad again. Um, all right.

SPEAKER_03 26:15

We believe in you. That's what this is.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Thank you. I love the pep talks.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

All right. Well, those are the things that we do and do not care about. That was a good section, uh, y'all. I think I thought we had a nice little discussion there. Um, any artists of the week for y'all?

SPEAKER_00 26:30

I like Mitch Wong. He's cool. He released an album in 25 called It Needs to Be Said or It Must Be Said. And he's releasing a few singles to his deluxe album of it. And I really appreciate the one that just came out at the beginning of May called Appetite. Basically losing the appetite for the things of the world and the devil and really uh hankering on the uh verse, Psalm 34, like, oh taste and see that the Lord is good, and like asking the Lord to give him like a heavenly appetite for the things above. So I really like that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

Valid. Shout out Mitch Wong. Luke, you got any artist of the week?

SPEAKER_03 27:10

Um I just have the classic Cody Johnson. He released two songs um for his new album, Banks of the Trinity, or something like that. Um they're good. That that's about it. I don't have anything deep. That's valid. I like them.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

I don't have anything deep for mine either. Um, I really I know people have released stuff I haven't really been listening to all that much, so there's just one song that's been stuck on repeat for me. Um, The Author by Brandon Lake and Nick Jonas. I really like it, especially after the discussion we had about Nick Jonas and him kind of rediscovering his faith and um or rediscovering his relationship with God after, you know, a tumultuous childhood with it.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

So And his wife is of a different religion background. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

So is she like Eastern religion or something like that?

SPEAKER_00 27:57

I think she's either Hindu or Buddhist.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

Yeah, so you can tell when you listen to him talk about religion that he's still kind of wrestling with, you know, sort of a where Christianity lies in the realm of religion in general, and that's probably a lot inspired by her. But um just the the chorus and the question of like, am I just a poor preacher's prodigal son? I'm like, for some reason I just relate to that. Maybe I'm just at that place in my faith where I'm kind of figuring out who am I, you know, in this realm of the world you created, Lord. But uh yeah, no, I like it. Good, good single, good project.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

I know the only commentary that I've heard from people is actually not about Nick Jonas, but it's actually there are some people who say that Brandon Lake did a far outreach collab with this one, and I think it's actually one great artistry and marketing from a business standpoint, but two, like I think to include various like people to collaborate on like singles and albums to tell their perspective of faith. Like, I think that just shows one, like an artist's ability to work with anyone, but two, a Christian's ability to really relate with anyone and to trust the Lord with other people's stories while also like celebrating what the Lord's done in your own life as well.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

Yeah, I like that. That's a good uh that's a good way of kind of summarizing that as well. Because I know that's always a conversation when Christian artists mesh with secular artists, and I'm sure there's you know more to be had. It kind of changes depending on the artist, but yeah, I thought I agree. I thought this was a good uh example of that ability, especially if you're gonna bring him into your world, right? It's not like he's uh Brandon's going out to make a secular song necessarily that isn't in that isn't in line with Christ. Like he's just he's kind of discussing God with Nick and that and like you said, trusting him, trusting God with Nick's story. And I I I'm with that. I I like those kind of collabs too, especially when done well, and I thought this was done really well. So shout out to y'all, check out the author. Uh, good single. All right. So y'all, what are you laughing about?

SPEAKER_00 30:09

Uh I'm gonna make a joke about myself. It was like it better not be self-deprecating. No, no, no, no, no. He was like, ah, that's a good single, and I'm like, ah, I'm a good single. And then I chuckled to myself, it was so good. Well, nothing has clearly changed since the first episode of this podcast.

SPEAKER_03 30:44

What did you say on the first episode?

SPEAKER_00 30:47

I don't think I said anything. Maybe it was the second or third one, but either you guys or Keith shouted me out. Maybe it was an episode where it was you thinking it was Keith and Yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_02 31:00

Funny ass. Yeah, that was funny. That was funny. There are dogs outside doing dog food.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

Hi, Molly. Hi, Carly. What's up, dogs?

SPEAKER_02 31:07

And and let's let's move along. Anywho. So, um, so I've been thinking, y'all. Um I I wrote so I wrote this out as, and it might sound a little dramatic, but I wrote it out as rest in turmoil. Um sounds a little dramatic, but basically, the question is what does it look like to rest in a life you don't want? So uh the reason I I've been thinking about this is because I think this is just in general what I've been thinking about with my life. You know, you all know I've been practicing some of the silence and solitude if you've been listening to past episodes. And what that one of the things that that gives you the ability to is to do, especially when you're early in the process and you know, in and not maybe used to kind of sitting in the presence of God and understanding like that dynamic, is you get to take a genuine look at your life and say what you think. And I think for me, this is an issue that I've that's not just on me, but I've heard aspects of it in multiple people's lives, in um in you all's lives here, in friends up in Nova and Richmond. Like, there's all kinds of people who are who kind of feel like they're waiting. And I know in Christianity we talk a lot about like waiting seasons and all that kind of stuff, but I've been realizing I don't really know what that means. And I don't really know what it means to like rest in the Lord or like wait on the Lord in those seasons, because it's like what is the balance between waiting and moving, or you know, what do I do when I feel when I've made a move, but I'm waiting for the results. So I just wanted to kind of bring that to you all and I don't know, discuss it. I know we've all been dealing with versions of that, and so you know, what are things you all do? Like, what does that mean to you? And then what are things that you all do in um in the process of waiting for your life to get to a place that maybe you would prefer it to be, whether it's in career, relationship, all of the above, community, who knows? Like what are the steps that we take, even steps, what is like yeah, like I don't know. What are your thoughts on that concept? Um, I know Liz has got the word open, so I'm probably gonna head to you first because we want to start there.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

In the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

In the beginning. Let's go, Lizzie.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

I'm actually in the middle of the Bible, so that would be incorrect. I'm in Psalm 42, which is a Psalm that I rested in a lot my junior year. We had a worship program for a capstone project, and we decided to focus on the word seek, and one of the songs was shoot, I think it's called the Sing Project. Um, they're like a Folky band, sing band project. Anyway, it was Psalm 42, song-based, and I really appreciated the the time that we did to incorporate that song and this psalm because what is it like to seek the Lord in a really dry season or in a weary season? We were talking about this with our youth kids recently, um, like to feel spiritually empty or dry, and what do you do in those seasons? And David writes, I think David, it's 42, it doesn't really say it says, Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me, therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan to Hermon from Mount Mizar. And what's really interesting is Hermon is about 900 feet elevation, and then Mount Mizar is like a little, I think it translates to little hill. Uh deep calls to deep, and at the at the roar of your waterfalls, all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. Um, I realized I skipped the part that I wanted to reference, which is before all that. So I'm gonna go to verse 4, which is uh these things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I would go with the throng and lead them into the procession of the house of God with shouts, glad shouts and songs of praise, a multi multitude keeping festival. And it just in the times that you feel the most weary, like it's okay to remember about times when you felt like you were leading yourself into the times of worship the Lord where it was easier to worship him. Like it's not like a grievance, it's not like, oh, it'll never be like that again, but it's like, hey, that's where it goes into hope in God. Like he is your salvation salvation and your God. Um, and I think it's just really important to make sure that your hope and your praising in God is not based on feelings, because feelings are indicators of where you're at, but they're not truth ultimately. So, like recognize where you're at, have the Lord lead you in that, but then remember that he's still worthy of your praise and your adoration, um, regardless if you feel like it or not, and that's not to do it without heart, but it's to do it honestly before the Lord, and he recognizes that it's hard in those times to give a sacrifice of praise. That's the beginning of my thoughts on these things. Um, but I want to give Luke a chance to speak.

SPEAKER_03 36:38

I think like the I can only speak to my my own experience. Um When I first moved here in 2020, um I didn't have anybody. I didn't have any friends. Um I was working, I was selling uh guns at Bass Pro Shop, and that was fun. I love guns, but it wasn't fulfilling. I'd moved out here for a job uh that I was really excited about. Um it was a transition from being in full-time ministry uh in missions um to something more uh just different, more exciting in a different way. Um and yeah, and I I moved out here for uh another reason. I'm not gonna get into that, but um nothing worked out. You know, I wasn't going to church, I didn't have friends, I didn't have the job I wanted. It took it ended up taking three years of paperwork and um a lot of waiting to get the job that I have. Um and in that process, I like I actually walked away from the Lord. Um I felt that He'd asked me to move here and uh seek this job. Um and then it none of it panned out immediately, you know. Um a couple of the other things didn't pan out at all. Uh so I had to wrestle through the the pain of that. Um but in the midst of all that, I actually moved back to Hawaii. Um I initially moved to the West Coast for a little bit and then I ended up moving back to Hawaii um for four months and joined YWAM again and staffed a Bible school. Um and that's where like the Lord got a hold of me and changed my life again, and you know, now I'm here and things are you know going well. But in the midst of that really difficult three years um and me walking away from the Lord, I still prayed when I could, and I still read the word. Um well, really listened to it. I'm an audio Bible kind of guy. Um and I I would listen to the word every night, and uh and I think that's what did it is just the consistency of dedication. Um even when I don't believe it and even when I don't feel it, my I think my spirit just knew it was the right thing to do. Um so I remained consistent in that. Um even when I was at my lowest point, there was still part of my my spirit, my soul, whatever you want to call it, that would that would ask the Lord for mercy, I would ask the Lord for help. Um even when I said nasty things to him about, man, I don't trust you, I don't like you, you know, get away from me, like all that kind of stuff, my my soul would like grieve in that moment. I could feel it. And it would be like, I don't mean that. I'm just hurt. Like help me, you know. So in the midst of like really difficult seasons or waiting seasons, just like I I can't offer anything encouraging other than the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train, like the light is the end of the tunnel, there's sunshine and trees and birds and all the really great things. But that could be really far away, and uh and I I can't tell you how close it is. I can't tell you how long it's gonna be, but just stay consistent because it it'll something will work out.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

What is um before I kind of pass it back to Liz because she seemed to pull up something that was interesting? Because as a new as a young Christian, even though I grew up in this in the in the church, as a young Christian, I I I'm still waiting for that understanding of prayer. Like I still get lost in like trying to pray a lot. I still and I'm still waiting for that enthusiasm to read scripture. Like I don't love scripture like some Christians seem to present as they do or seem to genuinely do. What did in that time when you're barely hanging on to who the concept of him in general, what did that do for you sticking with listening to the word and praying?

SPEAKER_03 41:26

In the moment, it I I'll just speak from like being in that moment, yeah. It didn't do anything. It I I would listen to the Bible every single night, um, and I would pray. And sometimes it was so hard to pray that I would just get out, Jesus, and that's it, and like everything would stop, like writer's block level of like I have nothing else. Um there was no encouragement, there was no moment of like yes, I love this. It was like I I don't know what else to do. This is the only thing I have left. Like without this, oh no. What without this, I'm I'm that that's it. Yeah, you know. Um so even even now, man, I you know, I don't have this huge buzz to read my Bible or anything like that. Like it's not it's not an exciting thing for me. You know. Um I I'm working on it to stay consistent. And my the the reason for it is that I know it's the right thing to do, you know. And for me, that's enough. You know, I I know that it's the right thing to do, I know it's good for me, I know it um you will build me up in some way. Um but it it it's not anything deeper than I know it's the right thing to do. And I have my moments where I'm like, oh yeah, dude, I love this part. This is super encouraging. But in that season I had nothing.

SPEAKER_02 43:04

Do you think there's a part of you that maybe hopes in the outcome more than enough to like drive you where? Or or maybe even like a maybe a mix of hopes in the outcome beyond this this time of your life, this season, um, and believes in maybe what you've currently seen um where the Bible does prove itself to be true in the short term.

SPEAKER_03 43:35

Um I think in the short term it for me, I I would say like it depends on what you're reading, you know? Right. Because in the in that really difficult season, all I listened to was Job and the Psalms. I I actually I was so I was so like not right with the Lord that I didn't read the New Testament. Because I I was genuinely afraid of Jesus. Like like I that we were. I wasn't cool with the thought of Jesus. It was like every time I try to get near you, I get smacked. I'm afraid of you. Yeah. Like I so I'm gonna go to the Old Testament. I know you're there. I know you're in the Old Testament. Right. But not that way. You know, you're not incarnate here. So I would listen to Job because that's what I felt like. I felt that everything had gotten stripped away, and and I didn't know what to do. So I'm like, okay, I know that's in there somewhere. Let's go to Job. And you know, my story didn't exactly parallel to Job, thank God. Right. But but um yeah. And then Psalm 23. Yeah. So that's a good one. Yeah. Just just trying to find the nuggets where I could resonate um with where I was currently.

SPEAKER_02 44:54

Liz, what you got over there?

SPEAKER_00 44:57

There's a choral song that we did in high school. Um, it's based off of Saint Augustine and Psalm 90, which is um composed by Bernadette Farrell in 1989 called Restless is the Heart, and it comes from the Saints famous line, Restless is the Heart until it finds its rest in you. And I really think it's applicable for not just seasons that you're not enjoying, but it has to be in seasons where you're excelling or you're doing like the everyday ordinary days as well. I was thinking about that today as I was, I don't know if I was driving from home from work or to work, but I was like, man, I am feeling really low at this point in my career, and there's gonna be a day where like the Lord does provide a shift, or maybe there's a milestone in my next career, and I'm like, am I gonna realize how much I need to rest in God just as much in those victories in the times of provision or just as much as the like the next ordinary moments? And so I think it's really important um to one remember that true rest comes from the Lord. I think our culture has a lot of different counterfeit examples of rest to offer. Like we are so good at self-subing ourselves, we're so good at distracting ourselves, we're really good at um maybe just stop working and we'll just like veg on the couch after and we'll like stream or go on our phone for like four hours. Like I do that all the time. And that's not really restful, like we're craving comfort instead of rest. But like what the Lord wants to give us, and I'm I'm just reading from some notes that I was like doing a few months ago about like biblical rest. When the Lord like put it on my heart, it was you know, like we want things that'll soothe us, but the Lord really designed our souls for true comfort that comes from his spirit and his word. We want to be validated in our flesh, but true rest can actually convict us and he'll discipline us in his love according to his like spirit. Uh, we wanted to like disengage, but true rest actually demands that we become vulnerable with the Lord and actually engage more more in some of the parts that actually scare us. And instead of self-protecting, we actually like self-like make ourselves aware, but also let the Lord do his renovation in our hearts, as Dallas Willard would say. So I could go on. There's a lot of things in Matthew 11 that everyone loves to quote about come to me. I think we cheapen that, and there's a deeper, richer word about like recreation and rip like reviving of the soul. He talks about um giving rest for our souls, and he'll find we'll find rest. Um just some deeper things if you go study the Greek, and I think we really just have cheapened the value of rest in the Western American culture.

SPEAKER_02 47:58

I agree. And actually what you talked about there, especially toward the end, um, relating to recreation, that's kind of been, I'm realizing, the worst part of that's been the worst part of my process. I um so uh the things I've been working on recently that kind of are threefold, right? The first one is filling finding time for the spirit because and finding time for the spiritual disciplines because the reality is in my situation, because my situation is with work, my situation is relationally, my situation is even with change. I never intended on coming to Williamsburg. And even the church I go to, when I went to my first church, I never intended on changing churches. And so while I like the church I'm going to now, I'm still kind of waiting to get ingrained with the community a little bit tighter. And that leaves a very weird space in life, and so a lot of it for me, there is a temptation to kind of fall into this place of just constantly wanting to change, constantly, especially once you get tired of maybe the depression cycle, because there's a place in difficult seasons where you can kind of just fall into a depression, and maybe you're not emotionally in a good enough place to do much of anything. But as you get to that, but as you start recognizing that and getting tired of it, or at least as I did, I start wanting to get out. Just get out, get out, and make any changes possible to get out. And in earlier seasons of my life, I I that's what I did. I was like, I want to please God with my life. I'm just gonna get out, get out, get out. And what's changed now is that I realize no significant change is going to be made without the spirit. It's just not in humans. Like we can make a lot of changes. It's not that we can't improve our life, but when I'm in the church and I'm constantly seeing Christ as the example, the changes I want to get to aren't gonna be made by myself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:13

Or instant.

SPEAKER_02 50:14

Well, that's the that's the other part. So it, you're right. It's it's not instant, it's not gonna be made by me. And so what do I do every day try and open myself up to the spirit? And that is by through the spiritual disciplines, right? It's through the prayer, it's through scripture, and it's not trying to do it's for me. I'm trying to build consistency as opposed to perfection. Allow myself to do it imperfectly a little bit. I'd rather read a page every day than read a chapter once a month. And so that's the first part. The second part for me is like time is taking inventory of the time I have and well, not just time, space. Making space in my life, making space in my brain, making space in like my actions, like recognizing that I often like fill my life up with either activities trying to get better, or you know, I'm my head is full of thoughts. I can't even spend time with the Lord really because I'm constantly spent worrying about things. And so that's where the solitude kind of kicks in. That's where taking that time to just sit and exist with him and and pray, like, but also practical things like time management. Like, I don't realize how jacked my time management is until things at work aren't going well. I don't realize how uh how little sleep I get until every day I wake up tired, and by the end of the day, I can't do anything. But now I'm living in the anxiety of, well, I didn't get anything done that progresses me out of this season. What do I do? Dude, you're not taking care of yourself. You're not looking at your life as a set of time that you can that you can fill.

SPEAKER_00 52:15

You have to use it wisely, you gotta use it wisely.

SPEAKER_02 52:19

But the last thing, and this might be the thing I'm the worst at is delight. I'm terrible at delight. Especially in a season where I'm constantly wanting to change. I'm like, every moment that's not used to take care of my necessities should be used to improve something. Or to hang with friends. Uh, Christianity today, in a couple magazines back, uh, did an article about play. Um, the article is called Blessed Are the Pickleball Players, which is very relevant for Williamsburg, because that's all we do.

SPEAKER_03 53:01

Yeah, it's all we can do.

SPEAKER_00 53:02

Let's go pickle and praise shout out. And so I wanna is that that group chat's name? Yeah. I'm gonna pick.

SPEAKER_02 53:11

I want to read a couple of the thoughts that they had because they have essentially laid out a like theology of play in a sense. So I'm just gonna read out, I I suggest people go read the full article. One of the quotes play describes a way of being in the world that divine grace makes possible. A way that is dynamic and delight filled, outward oriented yet faithful. Uh another one is indeed the opposite of play is not work but depression. Real. I want and then they present this really interesting question. And this is where I'm trying to get in more gut level terms, the key question of the Christian life becomes one of freedom. What would you do? What risk would you take? What would you say if you weren't afraid? What would you do if you truly believed your standing with God was secure? The ultimate threat of judgment was removed, and you didn't have to do anything. How would you spend your time and energy if you could undertake something for the sheer joy of doing it rather than any outcome it might produce? These are scary questions, but I suspect their answers have something to do with exercising the unique gifts God has given each of us. We may even find ourselves free to think of others and their well-being rather than anxiously safeguarding our own. Dude, play is so important. This thing gives uh this article gives like three words that they use to define or three words, three like defining aspects of play that are necessary to make play a thing. First, something can be considered play if it does not immediately serve our need to survive. Second, play is voluntary and not a response to some external influence. And then third, play occurs when and only when the animal or the person is well fed, safe, and healthy. And so for me, I really think that sometimes my inability to delight shows my inability to let go of the issue. I can only do so much in a day. What am I gonna do with the rest of my day? Delight. Enjoy what I've been given. I'm the kind of person, right? I'll shop as a means of coping.

SPEAKER_01 55:55

Same.

SPEAKER_02 55:56

And I shouldn't. I know it's wrong, but I'm also the kind of person who will shop anyway and worry about the fact that I'm shopping to cope with something instead of actually read the thing I shopped for. Just read. You got the thing, read it. See if it was worth it. You can take it back. What you doing? It's not the end of the world. Like enjoy the stuff. Yeah, we're gonna jack up. But sometimes in those seasons where you just feel like I'll just talk to myself. In the season where I feel like I need to improve everything, where nothing I do is good enough, believe that you can only do so much. That I'm I can only go so far. Do what I can to take care of my needs right now. Whatever I get to, I get to. Whatever I don't, God's got will work on it tomorrow. In the meantime, in the middle of that time, in the meantime, enjoy yourself. Enjoy what I've given you. There was a video I sent you, and I'll let you all respond. There was a video I sent you that talked uh where the guy the the concept of the video was I prayed for this, God said no, and actually showed me like I gave you this, you it's your choice to do this. Kind of breaking down his what his choice versus God's place. One of the things he said is, God make me happy. And his and the video was like in the video, he presented God as saying to him, No, I've given you blessings, it's your decision to be happy.

SPEAKER_00 57:38

Oh, you sent this to me.

SPEAKER_02 57:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:40

I watched it last night.

SPEAKER_02 57:41

I thought it was such a cool concept. So yeah, man, I I think that inability, like me, I'm working on the ability to let go. And and I think the ability to like not read that extra devotional, not take that extra word, like not read that extra passage. You already read some scripture, not read that extra passage, and take a moment to do the thing that I haven't done at all today, which is delight in the Lord and delight in his blessings.

SPEAKER_00 58:22

I think it's important because if you go even all the way back to like the creation story, like God sits back and he says it is good, um, is that synonymous with him delighting in it? I would like to think so. And then if so, if we are created in his image, like he has designed and wired us to delight in him and delight in things in their proper relation to him. Um, not like putting them as like idols above him, but like I imagine like when I'm a mom, like I'm gonna want my kids to enjoy the things that I build for them, whether that's like um things for their backyard. I've loved following this one girl on Instagram. She collects like the old playhouses. She'll completely like spray paint them and make them like one a bookshop, one a bakery, one like um like a mechanic shop. And as much as the kids are delighting in that, I think, and she loves that. I think they also love know or she loves knowing that they love it because she made it for them and gave it to them. So I imagine like that's a small glimpse of what I'll feel, and hopefully, like I can learn that lesson better with God. Um I think it also like I just found one small passage in Ecclesiastes, which is like, enjoy life with the one you love. It says in chapter 9, it says, Go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments always be white, let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that He has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at um at which you toil under the sun the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom and shield to which you are going. And so it's kind of like that similar like eat, drink, be merry, have wine, like for these are the days that the Lord has ordained for you. And we know that life under the sun is only part of the transient, but the intransient that what we're preparing for later is much greater. And there's confidence, like what you said, like restedness in like who God is, like why don't we take time to delight in things?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:36

So Luke, any closing words? Not really.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:50

I'm kind of in the same place as you. Like I really suck at the lighting. You know, I don't um I think I'm I do a pretty decent job of being thankful, but I don't walk around with this awe of like, oh my gosh. Like most of the time it's like and this is something I gotta work on and like wrestle through. But for me, I'm like, oh cool, you still like me. Like when something good happens, I'm like, like, thank you, Lord. But in my heart, what I'm saying is, oh man, cool, he still likes me. Sweet. And it's not a it's it's not a positive. Yeah, like that feeling isn't a positive, it's like a fear where it's like, okay, cool, he still likes me. Might jack this up tomorrow and then he won't. Even though no, that's not that's not true, you know. Um so, and I it's that's probably one of the biggest struggles I have right now. And there's no there's no remedy for it. That's the hard part for me. There's not like a Bible verse I can go read and it just fixes it. Yeah, you know, there's not a prayer I can pray that all of a sudden I'm good, you know. And for me, then it raises the question of am I not dedicated enough? You know, am I not doing enough? And then I fight that with you don't have to do anything to be loved. Yeah, so where's my where's my disconnect? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:47

Letting ourselves be loved. Yeah. I don't know how to do that. Me neither. But uh but I I'll be real, and I'll I'll close with this, and I know we're at time, but there was a Bible study I went to, and there was an icebreaker. And the icebreaker was, what book are you reading? Almost every person answered some theology book. And I was sad. Because I was like, nobody's reading a story, nobody's just reading some. Listen, man, if you listen to sports fans, they're complaining about sports all the time. I think a big portion of it, part of it's injuries, but I think part of it's just is not fun anymore. It seems like a bunch of kids that were trained for a purpose, and now they're adults, and they just go out and fulfill a purpose. Whereas when they were growing up, people became good by playing on their school teams against their against their peers in the neighborhood because that they played at the basketball court. People played football or soccer in the in the yard. They played Sunday League. Like they played. And so when you watch the sport, it was a bunch of people who enjoyed a game. They weren't just out there. Like, y'all, I think Christians, we need to delight. One, because the world burdens people a lot, including ourselves, but also because we have to be able to live with the true belief that God's got us. And I think sometimes that means being brave and moving forward when you don't always have the answers, and sometimes it means sitting the heck down and painting something. Sometimes it means putting a plant up, even though this is your apartment for a month. Like, like sometimes, yo, we can enjoy this thing, man. Yeah. And so I encourage you all to just find something you enjoy. And try doing something that's not on the phone. Like, doing things, making things, reading things is really fun. You don't have to be a sport, a sporty person. You can make a puzzle. There's all kinds of stuff. But I really want us to add delight back into our life because I think we really can't be the love of God without some joy. We just can't. So, y'all. Great conversation. Yeah, it was good. I enjoyed this. Uh y'all, y'all, y'all come do something with your mind. We'll see y'all in a loop, mom. Um, we'll see y'all in a couple of weeks. Um and remember, man's always eternity is for the beautiful, eternity is for the timeless. Eternity is for those who walk with God. Be blessed, make a puzzle, y'all have a good time.