The New Life Podcast
The New Life Podcast is hosted by Pastors Devon Patton and Luke Evans. Two pastors. One decade apart. Both Pastor's kids who grew up together and now serve side by side - one as a youth pastor, the other an associate pastor. Each episode they dig into Scripture, share real ministry experiences, and teach to help others grow in their daily walk with God.
Affiliated with New Life Church in Trumbull, CT
The New Life Podcast
Godly Friendships (Ep. 32)
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In this episode, Pastors Luke Evans and Devon Patton talk about godly friendships, how to recognize the people who positively influence your walk with God, and the importance of surrounding yourself with the right relationships.
He didn't say one, so I didn't know we were starting to get it.
SPEAKER_00He went back three, two, he three, two. I can't wait to check the footage because I've never said one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you definitely this guy doesn't know. No, he's they just want to get proved wrong again. He just says it. We're so glad that you are here with us today. Welcome to the New Life Podcast for another introduced episode with Pastor Devin and Pastor Luke. Nice. And Mateo. And Mateo's here. And Spence. Welcome, Spencer. Welcome. Hut up, dude. Just kidding, he's not here today. He had work to do. Too much work to do. Even though this is work. It was wedding planning. Yeah. Picking out napkins for the reception, probably. Yeah. Doilies. Yeah. Trying on suits and whatnot.
SPEAKER_00We didn't ask him. Uh, what was the commercial you were talking about?
SPEAKER_01Oh, dude, have you ever heard of uh canine advancs?
SPEAKER_00That sounds familiar. Wow. Alright. What is it? I swore you're gonna remember this like super niche commercial from 2005. No.
SPEAKER_01Hello, father. Please six mosquitoes. Yeah. Really bothered? Yeah, dude, that's good. Thanks for the package. Dude, nothing like a good jingle gets stuck right now. K9s really stops all the biting. Like cars for kids. K-A-R-S cars for kids. Yeah. Dude, I heard they got in trouble because they weren't actually using the money for cars. Shock shocker. Shocker. Who knew? They're just buying up these cars, dude. What are we doing? That's insane. Yeah, so I like for some reason I got stuck in my head and I like came in and sang the whole thing. And then I was like, I can't remember lyrics. Nothing like a good jingle. That jingle that just gets stuck in your head, man. By menin. So many. I don't know that one. Come on. That's a that's a throwback. I don't uh co stand it. I don't think if I knew another one. Nah, I don't know if I know any of that. Of course you do one. The quilted quicker picker upper. Dude, I've never heard that before in my life.
SPEAKER_02Bounty.
SPEAKER_01You never heard that? No. Come on, dude. The paper towels. Nah. Jingles are kind of a lost art. When I was growing up and we actually had to watch commercials, you watched them and all of them had a jingle. Emoo emo and duh. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. What's the like the tile one where it's like 800 588 to 300 MP? I'm telling you. They get right up in there. That is so funny. And you can never let them go.
SPEAKER_01That is hilarious. It's locked in. I'm sure if you Googled how like how those get into your brain and stay there, that would end up being a fun fact. A lot of science. Yeah. A lot of science behind that. A lot of science behind it. Do we have I have a fun fact today? Give us your I got a couple, but they're all about the same topic, which is Trumbull, Connecticut. You know, I was like, let me just learn a little bit about our area and like this and what's going on. So listen to this. Monitor Hill, or Toshua Hill, it's it's sometimes called, sits at 615 feet above sea level. Which doesn't seem like that too much. I don't even know what that is. But it is recognized as the highest coastal point on the east coast of the United States. What? Get out of here, dude. That's what it says on Google. I was blown away, dude. I was like, get out of here. Are we going there right after this? We should go there right after this. We're going to do that. Tasha Hill? What is it called? That's the road called Monitor Hill. I've had to go. That's gotta be up by Like when you go to the golf court? Like when you're heading to Tasha going up. I don't know. We're gonna have to go. We're gonna have to go. If you live on Monitor Hill, let us know. Um the other second one was Merritt Parkway milestone. The iconic Merrick Parkway runs straight through the town of Trumbull, and Trumbull holds the title for having the parkway's oldest overpass, which is White Plains Road, built in 1934. And the newest original underpass, which is French Road, built in 1942. Um and then the last one. Uh did you guys know that in Trumbull we have a mini Native American reservation? Have you guys seen this before? Where over when you're going to, right? We're using these landmarks, right? We take the park and we're going towards Shelton, right? That Boston Post Road or whatever. It's right there on the left before you cross over into Shelton. Like at that light. I did know that. Yeah. Now that you're saying that. Um there's a reservation for the sign up there. For the Golden Hill, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Pagusset Indian Nation. It's widely considered the oldest continuing reservation in Connecticut, and it's also the smallest Indian reservation in the United States. That's crazy. Isn't that wild, dude? Full of rich history. Smallest Trumbull.
SPEAKER_00Smallest Indian reservation. Shout out, John. John Trumbull? Is that who founded this town? The guy at the statue outside of Tunnel.
SPEAKER_01Oh. I thought it was all learning. I thought it was the bunnies on the bunnies in Franklin. Wow. That's great, right? Yeah, just so many facts that we're learning today. I loved it. I was blown away by that highest point on the eastern seaboard. Yeah, that we're gonna need to fact check that. And then we're going there today. I don't know about that. That's crazy. Uh my fun fact is based on your love for spicy foods. Mmm, do love. Know how much you love the spicy food. Devin does not cannot handle spicy foods. Likes the taste. I can handle it. His body does not like it. You can't. You're doing fine after that hot oil. Bro, you had that hot oil pizza yesterday and you were like, Yeah, and then you got the crust, dude, and I was like, oh man, that was the bread. Or we had those uh nachos the other day and the little jalapeno bite. Just pickled jalapenos. Those are not even spicy. Just a little bit of a spice on it. Oh, baby. I love it. Adab, if you will. Yeah, it's so good. Hot sauce necessary on Facebook. Speaking of hot sauce, speaking of a dab, speaking of hot ones, you know that the highest the highest like scoval. Yeah, do you know what the highest pepper, the hot the hottest pepper, what it's scovile is? 3.2 million. I don't even know what a scovile is. It's like the it's how they measure. It's how they measure the spiciest thing. It's scovile scale. Well, you guessed like goofy, but it actually is the cat the Carolina Reaper. Why was my answer not good? Because you because you you ruined it. But the Carolina Reaper. You do that all the time. Because he was trying to be stupid and he actually was like, you were like 3.2 million.
SPEAKER_00What did they hate doing that with Devin?
SPEAKER_01Carolina Reaper, 2.2 million. That's what could you ruin that next week? We're bringing one in for you to try. That would be so funnier. The one chip thing, I'd do it. Would you? I'd yeah. You heard it here. Ordered. Bro. The death chip. That will destroy you. Yeah, dude. You'll be messed up for like a week. Can I just make myself throw up afterwards? Or milk. You gotta drink milk. Just a whole gallon. Did you see that? I saw the clip from Hot Ones. One of the guys on there was like, You told us to replace the milk with hot sauce. And he was like, Yeah, I thought I'd fight fire with fire. I was like, that's crazy. What's who was it that was on their uh now? We're just talking about another podcast. Yeah, no, that's a show. It's a show. It's a show. Ours is a show. It's a YouTube show. Um she put I can't remember who it was. Somebody super famous, or maybe not. She put salt on the she's like, if you pour salt on the on the hot wing and then bite it, and it like actually helped.
SPEAKER_00Never would have got it takes away the flavor though.
SPEAKER_01I don't know if it like coats your lips or whatever.
SPEAKER_00I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Mine put that. Oh. No. What are you doing? Like when you put too much salt in something, how you cut it with like milk or like a zest or something, right? What? I've been watching a lot of Food Network. This guy's super zest. Okay. Alright. He loves the zest. Big fan of the zest. You're not fully clean unless you're zest fully clean. Dude, how about that? Soap. That's a jingle. Soap. Zest. Just for soap. Zest. That's it, dude. Just soap. Big stop. All across the board.
SPEAKER_00Soap is taking over.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, that's hilarious. Alright, go ahead, Matthias. What's your fun fact? We always know yours are great. We should let him open normally. Yeah, I know. I don't know why they're gonna be able to do it.
SPEAKER_00Takes a nose. Not this one. Not this one.
SPEAKER_01This one's gonna be epic. Come on. Yeah, come on. Horses. Oh boy.
SPEAKER_00Not a good start. Can't breathe through their mouth, only their nose.
SPEAKER_01Dude, what? That is a good one. That is a good one. What if they're congested? I begs the question. Judah's battling allergies today, dude. Really? Oh man. Guy could hardly breathe when he woke up. He sounds like he's battling allergies. He's like everywhere. That's because he's overweight. No, he's not anymore. He lost all weight. So they can't breathe through their mouth, their nose? No. No, they can't breathe through their mouth. Yep. Through their mouth. So even when they're like. They're running full speed, they're only inhaling through their nose. And exhaling. And maybe their hooves. That's probably why they're just. Do we know if that's horses are awesome, dude. Just solid muscles. I can't. I'm not a big horse. It's a terrifying animal. I'd never get on one. One. Two, I'm like not impressed. Also, funny.
SPEAKER_00You can wrap a snake around your neck, but you wouldn't get on a horse.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely not. Those things are known to kill people. Also, you ever think of like people back whenever, like whoever the first person was was like, that was like, I'm gonna ride this. Like you looked at all the animals, and like that's a horse is a big animal. And you looked at all the animals out there, like deer and this and that, and you were like, I'm gonna sit on that and ride it. I mean, what's to say they didn't try the other animals and died? That's weird. Yeah, maybe. I just crazy. That's possible, I guess, but um so to piggyback off, so Nicole. To horseback off of it. Oh, it's a horseback, to pony back. Um, not of I don't like that. Not of pony up and get Chaco Cone. It's his first. Um Nicole was telling me that she had a friend, or like her sister had a friend when they were in high school that they had a python like that, and she would like let it sleep in the bed with her, dude, and it would and she would like I would immediately tell that person. And it would be stretching out like the length like next to her, and so like never like move, like it would just be there and it was warm for the python, so like it was okay to stay in the bed. And so they went to the vet or like brought it to the vet, and they were like, Yeah, I've been letting it like lay in my bed, like with me. And the vet was like, Never do that, like, don't do that again. Yeah, no, and she was like, She's like, one, it's a snake, it could get out, like it could harm you, and she was like, No, it's so friendly. And she was like, The reason it's stretching out next to you is to see how big you are, to see if it could eat you, yeah. So it's like sizing you up, dude. I was like, that's why people shouldn't own snakes. Like, why are we owning pets that don't show us affection back? You're just like the thing uh every time I lay down next to it, it stretches out and there's lots of colour with it. I can't yeah, I I don't even have sympathy. The snake should have ate her. I don't even have sympathy for that wild dude.
SPEAKER_00Is there an animal you wish you could domesticate?
SPEAKER_01There's like a million for me.
SPEAKER_00Well, like number one for me would be like a bear. Yeah, and just have it like be your friend.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that'd be awesome. Dude, grizzly bears are wild, dude. No, maybe not like a like a massive.
SPEAKER_00I mean, eventually it would get there, I guess.
SPEAKER_01But like a little black bear. I mean or polar bears, dude. If it's white mortifying, yeah. Not in the wild. Um, I think I'd like if I could just have any animal as a pet. No, like domesticated. So like it loves red. Red panda. Red panda. So it's not like a snake. Like a snake doesn't love you back. Like you should we shouldn't be owning pets that don't have any feelings back towards us. Right. Red wings. It should just be dogs. It should we shouldn't be allowed to have dogs. They're like a little raccoon. Red panda. Kind of a bear. Are they a bear? Are they like a squirrel? I believe a red panda is squirrel family. I believe a red panda is like a marsupial family, like the koala. Like it's rated to koalas and stuff. Marsupials? Isn't that oh that's an amphibian?
SPEAKER_00I was like, that's a frog.
SPEAKER_01Unless I'm just totally making that up. What classification of animal are they? I think they're closer to like a fox, too, like a dog than a bear, than an animal. Also, you guys know, right? Like, we're just talking about animals because we did this last time, but like mountain lions and pumas and cougars are all the same animal. Yeah. Yeah. So somebody and they were like, what? Wait, what do you mean? Mountain lions, mountain lines, pumas, cougars. It's all different. It's all the same animal. It's just depending on where you're from, that's what you call them. They all call them something different. Yeah. So like dude, I told you, yeah. So like a puma, like in South A like in South America, they call a puma a puma, like in Argentina or whatever, it's like, oh, a puma. Or if you're watching David Attenborough, it's a puma. Puma. Um, but it's just a mountain lion. Yeah. Like all the same. If you lived in Colorado, like if you look up a picture of a cougar and a picture of a mountain line. A puma. No. Cougar. Cougar. Puma. Puma. Puma? Puma. Puma. Red Batsgabo. Pooh. Poo batsbo. You have not stopped saying that. Dude, the other thing I was going to ask you as I thought about this once. Alright. I don't know why I start sentences. What? Were you going to share something else? Say it. What were you going to say? What were you going to say? Oh, say say your animal first and then I'll share what I need to share. Uh to domestic. I really love those videos when the like the guys that like grew up with the lion cubs go back to visit them and they like jump on them. I think it's the coolest thing ever. Dude, I saw one the other day that's still not smart. Oh, maybe she comes. And all of a sudden I was like, I don't know what it's going to be. And it was just a massive lioness. They know that's some cuddles. Or a dolphin or something. That would be cool. Just keep it in dad's pool. Dude, an orca apex predator. Dude, apex is right, dude. Top one off the coast of Massachusetts. They've been sighting some. There was a great white in the Long Island Sound last week. No thanks on sharks. Making his rounds, dude. Oh, I was gonna say if there was like something you could turn into like a like sidekick that you could bring with you. Like it has to be like small. Like what would you bring? Like turn it into a few more. Like it has to be able to sit on your shoulder. And it's it could be any object object. Like that like Lego thing could be like a little transformer. Like show the camera, show the camera.
SPEAKER_00I think it's on there.
SPEAKER_01And it can like talk to you and stuff. Like it's a lot of things. Mine would be mine would be uh Harper's stuffed animal Oreo. Oh, that's a good one. For sure. Yeah, yeah. Just seen some stuff. I don't know what mine would be. Maybe like a mug. A talking mug. That's that that he's that guy, dude. Just fill it up. You could literally bring make anything come to life and bring it as your sidekick, and you're like, probably a mug. I always thought about it. I'm like my tumbler. Then you got a drink out of it. It's weird. Yeah. That's you made it weird. It wasn't weird before. It would be cool to have a basketball, like just basketball and it's just psycho. This is Bali. Would it hurt? That's what Sai would name it. This is Bali. Yeah, he told me all about Red Z yesterday. And your dad gave him a toy of a car and it has a dog in it. And he was like, oh, it's like a dog car. I was like, oh, cool. He's like, I'm gonna name him dog car. Dog car. Yeah. Straight up. I was like, oh gosh.
SPEAKER_00He was having the time of his life with that car, dude. Dude, he really he loves it.
SPEAKER_01Dog car. Dog car. Red Z and dog car. Yeah. Alright. Sorry. I just thought of that the other day. Speaking of friends, friend, you got a little friend to go with you. Little mug. We're talking about friendship today. We're talking about specifically though. We get a lot of people asking us sometimes because we have a lot of new, newer Christians coming to church. And what we have been seeing throughout church and even locally throughout the what I would consider to be the young adult community, but even even more so, with just new believers, is wanting community, wanting fellowship, wanting to hang out with people of like the Bible calls like precious faith, right? Of not forsaking the assembly of themselves together and hanging out with people who believe the same thing that you do, and how and so today what we want to do is kind of walk people through or maybe just talk and have a little discussion about how important that is and how we go about doing that. Yeah. And one of the things to just like jump right into it was I think for me, I didn't I grew up here similar. Like we grew up here, went to a Christian school, like wasn't surrounded by a ton of non-believers growing up myself. Like a lot of the people if they were non-believers, it was they were still really good kids or good people, and it was they just their families didn't attend church or didn't do anything like that, and they wouldn't I wouldn't say they had a personal relationship with Jesus. But it wasn't like a super like again, if you wanted to find friends that were a super bad influence on you, you could find it, but there was not. For the most part everybody was until I think I got to college and then it was like and so I'm saying all of this is like I didn't realize how important that stuff was or like how how much of a benefit it was until it wasn't there. Yeah. And so like I understand now on the other side of things, seeing people like crave that so much because of their upbringing and because their lives are different. Like if you're surrounded by it constantly at school, at work, um, in your household, you're the only Christian, whatever it is, like I can see why that's something that you'd be like searching after heavily. Well, if you're someone like you're saying, if you went through high school and college and everything, like we're seeing, like I've already said, this this yeah, this influx of young adults that are like, oh, you guys are having a movie night, you guys are having a game night, there's we're having a beach night, there's a hundred and twenty young adults at it because again, the things of this world are so fleeting and don't fill us up. We think that they are because that's what the world tells us, social media tells us. And so when we're in our teens and our 20s, we think, we think to ourselves, this is what I need because that's what everybody's pointing me towards. And that's what I need. But then we go and we participate in that and we feel empty, we feel gross, we feel, oh, I gotta go out and do this again tonight. Like I got like we it wears us down because that's not how we were meant to live. It's not how God designed us to live. We were meant to live in community with people that believe the same things that we believe, that have the same moral compass, the same values, all of that type of thing, which is why the Bible consistently tells us, whether it's whoever you're gonna be married to, whether you're gonna be friends with, to not be unequally yoked, right? When I marry, when you marry somebody, you want to make sure they have the same moral compass, believe the same things that you do. And you know, we see Jesus modeling this for us in that it's okay to have friends or people in your life who aren't Christians. Yeah, you don't need to be a weirdo Christian, like, oh, I only listen to Christian music and I only have Christian friends and I only go to church and work, and that's it. Like, relax. Yeah. Because we see Jesus interacting with people, eating with them, talking with them who aren't believers, but we don't see him spending the most time with them, right? Like, and I think there's a balance here. You always used to say when we were in high school, um I used to say that yeah, when you were preaching in youth, you never know right now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was a wild stuff.
SPEAKER_01Um, no, you'd be like, Jesus would interact with those people, but they were the ones that left changed. Jesus didn't leave changed, yeah, because he wasn't influenced by their lives and what they did instead. He was the one influencing. So I thought that that was well it's one of the like there's a ton of examples, obviously, right? Of like Zacchaeus, or you know, you go read the story, the woman at the well, right? Like Jesus interacts with people and they leave him, and now their their lives are forever changed. Just like how when we met Jesus and he found us, we were forever changed. But then there are other people that Jesus interacts with that we sometimes don't talk about, of like, you know, the rich young ruler, like, hey, go sell everything they have and come follow me. He's like, nah. And he's like, nah, I'm good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then we don't see Jesus like go into his house now the next day, like, hey, you rejected me. You want to get lunch? Like, no, he's like, hey, listen, we we hung out.
SPEAKER_01I told you how I I you know who I am, and I know who you are, and and that's it. Like, I I think that we we have to understand that when God's word says something, it it's there for a reason and it's there on purpose. And so when God says through through the writers of the New Testament and through the whole Bible, but certainly through the writers of the New Testament, like, hey, do not forsake the assemblies of yourselves together. Like, be in community, strengthen each other, push each other towards love, towards you know, good deeds, towards self control, like push each other towards those things. And you then begin to build yourself up. And so if you're a new Christian and you're thinking to yourself, Man, I need I want God to pour more self-control in my life, or I want God to pour peace into my life, but then I go hang out with someone that has no self-control. Yeah. How is God then gonna bless me with self-control? If I want peace and I go hang out with somebody that everywhere they go, it's chaos and there's never peace, and how am I ever gonna get that peace? Like it's the correlation. That's one of the things I thought about while you're talking was the like when it comes to our lives, we're trying to cater to the needs, like our needs, right? Of like what's gonna best suit me, what's gonna make me feel the most comfortable, what's a job that I wouldn't want to be excited about that's gonna give me a good steady paycheck. Wouldn't like I feel like we don't do that a lot with our friendships though. Like you know what I mean? I I don't know if that makes sense. Like it's like we're not we don't take it how even though it's very serious, like your relationships, the influences that you let inside like and let influence you, you're like not really doing a lot of like auditing of that, of like, alright, maybe I'm still friends with this person because of like we have a common interest or there's a history there or something like that. But I don't think we're doing a lot of that of like, oh, this person's going to help me when it comes to like when I need peace, like are these people that I'm surrounding myself with, like, are they gonna help me find peace or are they just gonna add to the chaos? Yeah, but that's kind of wild. Well, and I think that part of it is our culture has made finding new friends like a like a weird thing. Like if I just meet like a guy and I'm like, dude, this guy's awesome, like we have so much in common. I'm not gonna be like, hey bro, you want to hang out? Like I don't know. I ask people to coffee and lunch all the time. Yeah, yeah. No, but that's what I but I'm saying, you have over time you have worked at that and now you become good at that interpersonal relationship. I think a lot of people out there It'd be very strange. It'd be super awkward for them to like, oh, I've been coming to church for six weeks, and every week I walk in, you know, I see that you know, if some dude's been coming to church for six weeks and he sees the same guy in the parking lot every week and he's like, What's up? Welcome to church, and that's their only interaction like for like weeks or weeks, seven.
SPEAKER_02I'm like, hey, you want to hang out this week? Like, I think that's really hard. Like, yeah, I don't think true.
SPEAKER_01I don't think people would say no, and I think a lot of relationships would would be built from interaction like that. But I think for people to actually get over that hump and be like, all right, I'm gonna I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. Yeah, I'm gonna call yeah, no. I think that that's a hard thing to do for some people. Social media plays a big part sure, especially with the with a new generation, social media plays a big part of like oh, you want to do more than just follow me back?
SPEAKER_00Like, I thought that was friendship, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like you want to get coffee, we can't just DM about whatever it is that we want to talk about.
SPEAKER_01Like, well, yeah, that's true. Like there's people, yeah, or like friends that I have that yeah, I wouldn't say they're my friends necessarily. Like, I wouldn't hang out with them, but yeah, we have like shared common interests or like online, yeah. There's like different people that like you interact with, and it's like I mean, I have some friends on Instagram, I don't even know what they look like. Like if I walked by them at the store, I wouldn't be able to recognize it. We were talking about COVID the other day, like um, and playing video games. We used to play like Call of Duty and Fortnite and these different video games like for hours. And that was the thing. Like, I had a buddy, and he would have his friends from college or like friends that he knew from somebody else, and we played so often that it was like I knew their kids' names, I knew their wife's name. Like, I like we'd talk about life, we'd get on to the point where like my our friend was my friend wasn't even there anymore. Like it was just like, hey, now you two were friends. You want to play? And it's like I don't know what they look like. Like they live in Connecticut somewhere, and I don't know what they look like. Like, I could be standing next to them at the bank, like and would have no clue. And it's like, yeah, dude, we just spent 40 hours last week playing Call of Duty together. Like, yeah, that's why I think sometimes you just gotta step out of our comfort zone, and you need to be, like you just said, you gotta be careful with you know who who you hang around with obviously influences you. All of our mothers have told us at one point or another, you know, you are who you hang out with, yeah. But the principle is true and it's biblical. Um, and I think when we surround ourselves with people that have the same moral compass and the same understanding of life and how it works and that God's in control and all these things, it will develop us into the people that we want to be. And if you're a newer Christian, I know it's hard, but you ought to put yourself out there and you know, get involved in something, be a volunteer, be a greeter, be a parking lot person, get work in kids' own, work in, you'd like get connected with with other people. And you know, we keep talking about young adults, teenagers, stuff like that, because that's kind of where we see this huge, you know, people gravitating towards, especially in our community. But even if you're like, you know, a a young married couple or like in your 30s or 40s, like you ought to be careful who you hang out with because then that's who your kids are gonna be hanging out with, or who your kids are hanging out with because now that's who you're gonna be hanging out with, you know. Every every aspect of life, it doesn't matter the stage, right? Is we have to be careful to surround ourselves with the right people. Yeah. And I think, like Mateo put on his notes over there, like, is it like, are we okay to have friends who are not Christians? Like you said, yes, of course. But if it's a friendship that's always gonna be dragging you to a place you don't want to go to or going to be pressuring you to do something you know you shouldn't be doing or want to be doing, then yeah, absolutely not. Like when I was in college, my senior year of college, like I was rooted in my faith. I had just gotten back from serving here on a summer internship, like I was on fire, forgot I was going to church, I was serving at a church. Like the majority of my friends my senior year in college were not believers. Like, I would say, I'm just being honest, like they were like a group of guys that I hung out with previously, like when I wasn't like committed to my faith, but they were solid dudes who understood, like, no, Devin's not coming out with us anymore, but that's still our friend, like that's still my boy, like his friend's journey, yeah. Like, all right, dude, it's great. And it what turned out ha after that? There was a few times where they were going out, and a couple of them would be like, you know what, Dev's staying here? Let's just chill, we'll go do something else. We're gonna go do and it's like, did I intend for that to be? Like, was I ever like you guys are going to hell, you're leaving the dorms right now, and you're going out? It's like, no, it's like, but I just lived my life the way that I thought I was supposed to, and I think it turned into a a witnessing opportunity. But at the same time, they hung out, I hung out with them. I always tell our kids, I've said it on this podcast before, like, on my own terms, and so it was like whatever was working best for me at the time is is and in my life that I wasn't gonna put myself in that situation, and it turned out to be so it's like you can, but if you if you're constantly gonna be put in a position where you're gonna be tempted or to to follow along because everybody else is peer pressure, like then you have to know those are not those are not good relationships.
SPEAKER_02You have to have some self-awareness and you have to have boundaries, but you also have to know I can't just have boundaries, I have to know myself and know because you could say till you're blue in the face, oh I'm I I could go there, I'm not gonna do that. Like, I have boundaries, I'm not gonna do it, but if you don't truly examine yourself and know, like, yeah, if I go there, I'm probably gonna partake of that, or I'm probably gonna do that, or I'm probably gonna watch that, or whatever, like you you have to it has to you have to drink a big glass of uh of self-reflection and say, like, they make that.
SPEAKER_01I don't know if you knew if he has had it, it's delicious, and and you you know you drink it down cold and smooth, and all of a sudden you you become aware of like man, this is this is the thing that always used to get me in trouble, or this is the vice that I always used to have issues with, and so you you know you create those boundaries like you're talking about, and uh, and all now you can kind of you know compartmentalize things a little bit better. Yeah. Oh, go ahead, Matt. I have a verse, but I'll if you had something to share.
SPEAKER_00No, I was just gonna say, like, I think you know, we're we've said it, but the underlying foundation that comes with that is just being authentic. Yeah, you know what I mean. Like if your friends don't know what you're going through spiritually, or you know, even if they're worldly friends, they can't help you or be there. Like you said, like if they didn't know that you were trying to get your act together and coming back from a summer internship and you're being on fire for God, like can't really help you. If they ask you and then you fold, it's like exactly not their fault.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and they're not really your friends, right? Like we we've all heard that a million times. It's like if you can't be real, these were my friends, and now I just got saved and Jesus radically changed my life, and now I've gone to my friends and said, Hey, Jesus radically changed my life. You guys might not believe me, but I'm just telling you, I can't go there, I can't do if they're gonna give you a hard time about it or not want to be your friend anymore, then they weren't your friend to begin with. So I agree. Deuces. I would say so. The verse that I have again, it piggybacks perfectly off what you guys are talking about. Um, Galatians 6, 1 and 2. Um, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself lest you two be tempted, but bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. So it's like that. It's like true friendships. Like, if I'm going through something, I know that I can come to you guys and be authentic and real and know okay, you guys are gonna help me through this and pray with me through this. Because of that, what it says is bearing one another's burdens and helping each other along with that. And it's like shallow friendships will never be able to do that for you. Like they'll never be able to be like, yeah, no, you know what, you're dealing with this. I'm gonna keep you accountable, I'm gonna keep you in check, but I'm also gonna pray with you, I'm gonna be there for you if you need something. It's like shallow friendships would never, if there was something serious that you were going through or dealing with, that they would be there for you. So can't swim in ankle deep water, am I right? It's like my dad was talking about in the podcast a couple weeks ago with that whole law of the lid thing, right? Like I think when you have to just come to terms with, you know, some of the friends that are gonna build you up in Christ and and help you with that, right? They're they're gonna be a little bit higher on the scale, you know, they might be fives, sixes, sevens or eights, you know, and your friends that don't believe the same thing as you anymore, or maybe the ones that that do dri drift and make you drift the wrong way, you know, you gotta just realize, all right, that guy's, you know, that guy's a four. Like I, you know, what yeah, if he wants to give his life to Jesus because of the example that I set, then here we go. Let's do this. But if he just wants to continue being who he is and being kind of an idiot sometimes, then probably gonna stay at a four. That and I think like you put it up on your Instagram a couple days ago, like people think that Christians can't be have fun or something like that, or like Christianity can't be fun. Like, like whenever we all go out, like it's a blast. Like we're dying last time, like we're just doing it. Look at this stupid podcast exactly. Like, it's just like so. If that, like, one, find a group of Christians that you can again keep coming to young adults, keep coming to church, keep get involved somewhere, like find a group of other parents with young kids, like where you can have fun, you can do these type of things, like you could have a good time, like and enjoy it. But also, if you are the person and you're be that you are witnessing and you're be a friend that is still like you still have fun conversations, you're not constantly just judging people or putting people down because they're not doing what you it's like no, continue to be a good person, continue to spend time with them, continue to have fun, like be a fun person to be around, like, and that will that will help. Yes.
SPEAKER_00So that's it. I think that's one of the you said, like because you tell our students all the time, uh what you just said to on your own terms, yeah. And you had given me advice, which it was family related, but friends it applies very well too, um to keep them at arm's reach, right? It's like you set the boundaries, you do that stuff. So it's like you're gonna attract people who like if you want a fun friendship like we have, like it's like okay, you're gonna be like the person that leaves church immediately as soon as service is over, or not say hi to anybody, or not get involved, it's like alright, then not gonna change it. Yeah, true. Nothing changes if nothing changes.
SPEAKER_01This guy's got him today, dude. Spit bars. Man. Yeah. Well, again, I hope that everybody in here has at least one friend who's a believer who can help carry the burdens, but also again, if you're not or if you're the only Christian that you because you're brand new and you just got saved, like find yourselves the community, hear a new life, find yourself or whatever church you attend or go to. Um, but be the person that other people still want to be around. I think that's huge. I think that's crucial. It's like be a good friend, be reliable. And don't be afraid to you know, jump in, like, you know, scary. But it's scary. Test the waters. Like not everybody you hang out with is gonna be it's not gonna click all the time. Like me and my wife, we've gone out to dinner with people, or like we have met people, and it's like, this isn't this in the best fit. Like it is what it is, like oh they're nice, they're nice, they're great, but it's like I'm never gonna and then there's other people, and it's like you meet them, and it's like, oh, this is because it's also becomes a life world. It's also good to have you know, obviously, Jesus is the linchpin, but it's good to have other commonalities with people, right? Like I, you know, yeah, that the majority of the people that I'm friends with, like, you know, we like talking about sports or we like talking about movies or the office. Oh, they're the office, you know, or like, you know, we like to eat eat the same chili to eat. Oh, baby, did we rip up some chilies this past weekend, huh? That's for another time. But those fajitas were something else. Talk about friendships. I've never had them before, sorry. Devin's never had fajitas, and fajitas is like my favorite food. So we went to the fajitas. Say what you want about chilies, but their fajitas slapped. Dude, it was unbelievable.
SPEAKER_00How about the thing with the chips, dude?
SPEAKER_01Luke, dude, we're standing there, right? Luke, I get to rebuttal chips and salsa. And so we ate most of the chips and the salsa, and delicious. And the waitress comes up and she's like, Oh, would you like more chips and salsa? And you're like, Yeah, I thought you just brought it. Like, that's like it, right? He's like, I thought you just bring it, right? Don't you just bring it? Oh, she's like, Oh, she's like, I'll take the thing from you. And you're like, I thought you just brought it. I haven't took a picture of an actual chili's in a really long time. But every single restaurant that you go to that has chips and salsa Mexican restaurants, obviously. They bring your chips are running low, they bring you more chips. And so I'm so I'll just take it and bring them back. And you were like, No, but like I thought you just brought them. I thought you was like, I thought you were asking me if I wanted to order another thing that you were just trying not to get it. Because I knew you clowns weren't gonna pay for it. Uh so I send you money. He's not wrong. Um, but yeah, and then I'm not even gonna say what Spencer said. I don't remember the either. I don't remember what he said. He was like, he's like, Oh, I'll go back there and with you and get it. And put back down, we were like, why'd you even say that? That's when she came to get the rule. That's when she came to get the empty plates. And he had two, and her hands were all full. And he's like, You want me to carry them back with you? I'll carry him back. Like, we're like guy's looking for a part-time job, dude. He can't even handle the work he's gotta do here. Okay. He's gonna be editing. Everybody that listens to it's gonna be like, You guys pick on Spencer so bad all the time. Yes, we do. But that's a friendship pick on each other all the time. It's a friendship. Everybody picks on everybody. Yeah. Like we went golfing at the simulator the other day, and it's just like you're just trapped. Yeah, you're gonna be waiting for somebody to do something. It was getting lit on fire for something that was not my fault. This guy's golf ball hit every wall in the building. Dude, it was unbelievable.
SPEAKER_00It was off my game. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It was great though. That's what friendships are. This guy was playing ping pong am I right? And to test our friendship today, we're gonna play a friendship game with a little help from our friends. What's this game called? Wavelength? Wavelength. Oh, baby. This looks like it's wavelength. Oh, we're on the same. We're gonna try.
SPEAKER_00We're gonna try to be. So for the viewers at home, listeners, listeners will probably have a good time. Um so you pull a card, so this one says hot or cold, and person A spins, looks at where on the spectrum it will land, it'll close it up, and then the other person has to say, or you say like, if it's in the middle, hot and cold, I'd say like uh I don't know, a room temperature water. Right. So they gotta put the dial where they think if they're on the same wavelength. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well you wouldn't say room temperature, because that's gonna give it away, but you'd say what you could say water because that could be hot. That could be hot, hot water. No, room temperature, there's no way you can use that adjective. No, room temperature is an animal, you're like an extremely large gorilla. Yeah, exactly. That's not all enough. All right, let the professionals handle it. I'm real bad at this here. I'm just letting it.
SPEAKER_02Give it here, I'll go. Alright.
SPEAKER_01You ready? I'm ready. Um ready. Um Spencer just said that he hates us for bringing it up.
SPEAKER_00That's so funny. Oh, man. Alright.
SPEAKER_01We're trying to watch Star Wars, me and Spence putting on basketball years. Alright, ready? It was a bad Star Wars. Worst chore? Best chore. Okay. Yeah, because I'm not supposed to look at him, right? I was looking at the camera. Wait. Did you see it? I mean, how long do you need to look at it? It was a good one. Wait, this was confusing. Alright. This is a trial one. Just see. So now you you tell me what it is, and then I have to give it to you. I don't touch this red. No, no, no. He's so you give me a thing. Worst sure, best shore. Okay, let me hold it. Let me hold it. I don't think it's gonna work because I think something happened to it. But okay. Okay, you gotta for the camera.
SPEAKER_03Oh.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Worst shore to your right, best shore to your left. Tell me what's going on. Cleaning cleaning toilets. Oh man. Worse? This is towards worse. Yeah. I'd say it's like this is a good starter one. Like it's like cleaning up like Pew could be way worse. Okay.
SPEAKER_00There's there's worse worse for sure.
SPEAKER_01I'll go like here.
SPEAKER_00I'd say a little more worse. Yeah. It makes a difference. Okay, ready?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, but see how that's why I said something's wrong. It did the three and two were on both sides. Oh, yeah, so you have like an option. Oh, all right.
SPEAKER_00So that was the worst chore you can think of? Best chore.
SPEAKER_01Brushing your teeth. I don't know what the best chore would be. Best chore? Like walking the dog? Yeah, that's pretty good. Taking taking fresh laundry. That was a good that was a good test. Nah, folding clothes. Oh, dude, I can't fold the clothes because I can't touch them. There's sensory issues. I have to lick my fingers constantly while I'm folding laundry.
SPEAKER_00Do you remember when it shocks?
SPEAKER_01No, because I don't like the way it feels, so I have to constantly because I feel like my hair and hands out. No.
SPEAKER_00Do you remember we're like airing everybody out when you were, I forget what the context was, but you were wearing a necklace and you're like, ah, I just don't like it. Like I don't like the way it feels. And I think Jake was like, or Evan was like, ah, he has like a sensory issue, like he just doesn't like the way it feels. And Jake's like, no, no, no, you don't understand. Like, he just doesn't like how it sits on his neck. He's like, You're like, yeah, that's what it is.
SPEAKER_01Turn it a little that way because I can kind of I'm trying to find a good prompt. I can kind of see it. Just don't let him see the spin. Alright. Spin doctor. Overrated game, underrated game. I'll do uh like like this type of game, like board games and stuff. Okay, board games, got it. Overrated, underrated, board games. Yeah, I'll show you the thing. Look away, guys, look away. How many times are you gonna spin that thing? Look away. Both of you. I can't see through it. Alright. Okay. Alright. So, overrated, underrated. Underrated's over here, overrated's over here. Um go with GoFish.
SPEAKER_00That's a tough one.
SPEAKER_01Overrated, underrated, properly rated. What do we think? I'm gonna say overrated. That game's trash.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'd go, I'd go a notch to the I mean, have you ever played with him? Because this is also a kind of thing. Have I ever played GoFish with Devin?
SPEAKER_01No, not three years old. Uh my son did play GoFish with me. Yeah, I'm sure he did. So we're going like. That's aggressive. What you think it's more this way?
SPEAKER_00A little bit. It's your wavelength. It's good. Lock it in with Dev. Lock it in.
SPEAKER_01Oh. Are you kidding me? Chat? I don't think that means you're goaded. I think that means we're goaded. No, that means I did a great job of describing what would be an overrated or underrated musician. These are we're on the same team. Yeah. Oh, this is a good one. I'm just hungry. Overrated, underrated musician. Mmm. Christine Aguilera.
SPEAKER_00Why is that over?
SPEAKER_01Okay. Just threw that out there. Alright. Alright. Overrated towards you. Underrated that way. Are we so are we saying like musician like play an instrument or just singing to it could be a singing? It could be any musical artist. It could be even a DJ. Okay. Marshmallow in there. Um Khalid Khalid. Khalid. How do you say his name? Under uh I think I'm going to I'd say slightly underrated. I would say, yeah, like here, right?
SPEAKER_00I feel like Luke would want more. Yeah. Like there? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Dang, dude. He's that underrated?
SPEAKER_00I don't think people know him as much as they should. Because he was really underrated, and then he dropped an album that was so awful. Yeah. Sus. Alright, we'll do one more.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, one more. Let's go. Sus. Alright, let me find a really good one. This game would be fun with a group of people. Ooh. Yes. Optional. Mandatory. Okay. He's like brushing your teeth. Yo, don't you? Totally optional. Don't get me started on the human mouth, dude. Brushing your teeth? Oh my god. Dentistry's a scam. Alright. Optional. Mandatory. Okay. Um optional, mandatory. Got it. You could offer us. Don't look at me, guys. Too much pressure. Uh wearing a belt. That's totally optional.
SPEAKER_00You're saying that to the wrong person, unless you're kidding me. He does like wearing a belt. Because you love it.
SPEAKER_02You have a belt on right now? I do.
SPEAKER_00Never know when you need a tuck. You never know.
SPEAKER_01Even if you need to tuck. Your butt holds your pants up, guys, if they fit properly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's the new look. No, excuse me. Who? Look up men's fashion. You'll be very surprised. Alright, so we're gonna go. What do we think? Right down here.
SPEAKER_00I can't help you. You're you're gonna be able to do that.
SPEAKER_01It's Devin, so it's over here because it's gonna be. I'm going here.
SPEAKER_00I'm going here.
SPEAKER_01Am I right? What do you think?
SPEAKER_00Oh, no, I'd put a dead center. He wears one every day. I think he's putting into account your body. But it's definitely optional.
SPEAKER_01I don't ever wear a belt. Alright. Ready? Right where you had it. That's crazy. That was a good one. Yeah. It's a fun game, man. I can do this for the rest of the day. Some of these uh topics are crazy, though. What does unsexy Pokemon versus sexy Pokemon mean? I have no idea what's going on. What's a sexy Pokemon? Yeah, what's Pokemon? Or Dave. Oh, bad Disney character, good Disney character. Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it. Do it right. What else do we do? Yeah, what else are we doing today? We're gonna turn the cameras off and then just. Nothing going on. Alright, bad Disney character, good Disney character. In terms of evilness or annoyingness? Like annoying, like bad. Okay, I like that. I like how you can cater it to what you want to. Alright, I'm ready. Alright, bad. Good. Hold on. Give me give me a second here. Give me one second. Alright. I don't know how many Disney movies you've seen, though. Enough. Can I the like animated? Like Pixar is fine. Like the oh, so like the newer ones. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright. Um The The Daughter from The Incredibles. Oh gosh. Violet Parr. I'm going like whoa. Like here, dude.
SPEAKER_00That's how you feel. She's so annoying. She's just miserable. I haven't seen that movie in a while. I'm going like like there. I trust you. Come on.
SPEAKER_03Come on.
SPEAKER_01God, she's so annoying. When they go to that ready board. Yeah, dude, she's so annoying. Alright. She's like, dad, leave me alone. I'm with me. Leave me alone. I'm on a dude. Easy to do, hard to do. This would be fun. Superhero. What are we doing right now? Don't look. What is it? Easy to do, hard to do? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's like the what?
SPEAKER_01You want me to pick another? No, no, no, no, no. Do it. Do it. Do it. People just want to hear what you're going to say at this point. He's like, put on water shoes. How hard is putting on watershoes in the water, though, huh? Probably difficult. Wait, I don't remember what you're talking about. Wait, probably. Have you never owned watershoes? Not myself, no. You changed it. I know. Now I gotta rip again. Oh gosh. Alright, here we go.
SPEAKER_02Easy or why are you we haven't seen it? Why are you spinning?
SPEAKER_00What's easy to do? Or hard to do. Easy to do.
SPEAKER_01That's exactly what I was doing. It did the thing Luke did. Oh. Alright, here we go. I got it, I got it, I got it. Alright. Alright. Hard to do, easy to do. Um so the camera. For you, Luke. Okay. Make a hundred free throws in a row.
SPEAKER_00I think I would be a little oh in a row. In a row. A hundred free throws in a row. Gotta lock in, bro. A hundred free throws in a row.
SPEAKER_01Gotta lock in. We're gonna see. Could literally make a thousand of them. I should have said something else.
SPEAKER_02And that's it for the podcast. Join us next time to watch me make a hundred throws in a row.
SPEAKER_01For Speed the Let. I was like, he's gonna think it's easy. Like And so I was like, oh well, I guess it's a little bit hard to make a hundred in a row. Well, that wasn't a little hard. You had it all the way. It was right here. Nah that's a little hard. It's way easier than that. It's got a lock in. How many tries am I getting? Like that's what I would say. I'm like, a little bit. Okay, fine. I'm human. I thought you meant in the pool. Oh, no. I meant in real life. Alright, my bad. Alright, that's it for our podcast. Go buy Wavelength. Not a sponsor. Not a sponsor, but if you're watching Wavelength, it's very fun. Hit us up. Who makes it Hansborough or whatever? Handsboro. Hansbrough or Hansborough. Shout out UNC dude. Oh man. Alright, here we go. All right, that's it.