Episode 16: All Things Soccer, Two Different Americas, & Contentment: Philippians 4:11-13

In Episode 16, we look at the ongoing World Cup, America’s relationship to soccer, and what it takes to win. We consider the recent celebration of America’s founding, two differing views of the USA, and what it will be like at our 300th. And Tim considers Philippians 4:11-13, as the three discuss contentment, especially as they look back on life. Listen for the surprise song at the end!

Music credit thanks to SunSmileMusic. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:15

Welcome to Encore where guys hope gets the spot. Wait, what? Where hope gets the spot?

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Somebody's tired. Somebody's tired.

SPEAKER_04 0:30

Can we start over again again? Welcome to Encore. Where Hope gets the spot left.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Where someone watched the World Cup too late.

SPEAKER_04 0:40

Around here, nothing is off limits. Oh gosh. Scripture, culture, world events, the everyday mess and beauty of our lives. But we do look at it in the lens of scripture. That is true. Um, we try anyway, right? With one conviction, God always has more grace and clarity and purpose and life, filtering it through the lens of truth, hopefully. So, ladies and gentlemen, lean in with us.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

If we haven't lost you already.

SPEAKER_04 1:05

Lean in with us. Because with God, the encore is always better than the opening act. Encore. Do you guys know this by now? Yes. The best is still to come. And I am tired. And I was uh I was watching that dopey game last night.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

US and and uh It wouldn't be dopey if we won.

SPEAKER_04 1:25

Yeah, it's just you know, I was really looking forward to it because I am not a soccer fan. But anyway, um uh but I was getting into it. I've been into it, Dave. I mean, the the whole World Cup thing, it's uh uh how long has this been going on already?

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Oh, weeks.

SPEAKER_04 1:40

Yeah, it has been weeks. It's a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

A couple more when this drops, then we have three more days, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:48

It's it's longer than the Olympics. I mean, uh uh you really uh uh and I was uh I I was reading that the uh the ratings on uh on on Fox have been astronomical. They've been off the scales. Uh first game.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

I understand that at the very first game, David, I'm sure you know this, they estimate that a billion watched.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

A billion.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

A billion people watched the they won't give the final I guess the FIFO or the powers that be won't give the final stats till it's all the way over. But can you imagine?

SPEAKER_04 2:23

This is this is it's it's the worst it's really the worst.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Football unites the world, except here where we don't call it football, but well, and think of it, we're in the Western Hemisphere.

SPEAKER_03 2:32

We're making them watch in the middle of the night. Yes, two million.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Oh yeah, Belgium watching, it was like when it was over. I mean, they were happy, but it looked the watch party looked like there were about 25 people. No, I'm sure there were millions excited.

SPEAKER_03 2:46

Well, excited. How excited am I? I you know, the the night the New York Knicks won the NBA championship, yeah, with like seconds left in that game. No, that was some game. My my phone my phone starts blowing up, so I think it's you guys. I think it's my New York New Jersey. Right, all excited. And so I I I look from the screen down to my phone, and it's my WhatsApp crew, Australians that I've traveled with, for instance, serious Turkey in Egypt. So while I'm watching the Knicks game and looking for some reinforcement, some love, they're texting me because Australia was about to play Turkey.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

No.

SPEAKER_03 3:26

Yes. Oh geah. Should have nothing to do with the Knicks. So that resparted.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

We let you down.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

Yeah, well, that resparked the relationship with all these Aussies and my Turkish guide. And we all started talking again and when are we gonna travel together?

SPEAKER_01 3:40

When there's not a war, you know. Let's start with that criteria.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

It's actually pretty cool. I mean, you know, the whole like you said, a billion, uh billion, it's probably gonna be I I can I can't imagine what the final what the ratings for the final is gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Yeah. Um and Trump will hand a hand the trophy over in America.

SPEAKER_04 3:57

I'm sure the world is gonna be thrilled with that.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

It's it's well, you know what? They celebrated 250, a lot of places celebrated 250. That is true.

SPEAKER_04 4:04

That is true. We did.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

In Japan, I actually learned how to say her name. Sanaik Takaichi, the first woman prime minister. This is a country we bombed them twice, and we have people alive who remember it. And for America 250, the drones in the sky illustrated Trump and the first woman prime minister, Brandenburg Gate, stars and stripes lit up. I mean, the world celebrated. But anyway, getting back to the World Cup, it's been amazing. Driving around here out on the highway, you know, the whatever you call it, the banner thing across the highway. It's all about the traffic because we're now, you know, uh what's it called now? The New York, New Jersey Stadium. The name keeps changing. But the traffic just for the games has been kind of wild to see. We're we're New York.

SPEAKER_04 4:56

Everybody's talking about it. Everybody's talking about it right there. I mean, I I around here they are.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

You were talking to your friend at Wawa, right?

SPEAKER_04 5:03

Oh gosh, for 20 minutes this guy I stopped for a cup of coffee, and one of the kids that works there, his parents are from Ecuador, and he speaks better English than me. Not a trace of an accent. He was raised here. And you know, he he schooled me on soccer, on football. Uh in 20. I found it absolutely fascinating how much this kid knew. Uh it it was inc it was incredible. I mean, he was so animated and enthusiastic. It was it was a blast. I had I had fun talking to the kid. Anyway.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

You know, and and awaiting the World Cup, there was a couple preliminaries. Uh one was against uh Senegal, I think, and the other one was against Germany. And I thought before the World Cup, I thought the men looked as good as they've ever looked. I thought it was the best American team ever. And then with Paraguay, that showed up. And then Australia was a tough game. Turkey, we played our subs. Still players looked good. But we were exposed last night. We we really we're not top ten in the world. And that's not imminent. And so we were exposed last night by a Belgian team who hadn't been looking good but raised their game to where they usually play yesterday. So we got some work to do. You know, you know, Mark uh Mark Twain, Mark Twain, let's have him weigh in. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

We we we we say that he had this following quote about soccer, but I found out it's apocryphal. Okay. Um it's a true quote, but we have there's no evidence that Twain said it. But it's just it's ascribed to him because it sounds like something he'd say. And the quote is God created war so that Americans would learn geography. Of course. So so I what uh what what I would say today is God created soccer so that Americans would learn geography. There you go. That's pretty much it.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Like, where is this? What? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

Well, like like Cape Verde. I know. Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Right? I had no clue.

SPEAKER_03 7:08

Okay, I think I know where it was, but I looked. I did look.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Yeah, we did.

unknown 7:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

We did. Yeah, but just think, you know, that that's basically their accomplishment. That's the size of like a Midwestern city like Lincoln, Nebraska, bringing their all-stars together and playing the best teams in the world.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Yes, which is wonderful. That was so exciting.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

That would have been so cool if they won. It's very cool. You know, but so uh the the geography about this is fascinating. Of course, they come the the world comes here and you know get get to know us as we really are and fall in love with us. But yeah, but think how small these countries are. And we still can't compete at the highest level. No. But like do you know, like not just England, the United Kingdom, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland is about the size of a little bit bigger than Alabama.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 8:06

But we we can't touch them in this. No, we can't. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

And it's not our passion and not our priority. We funnel our youth into the big three, you know, football, basketball, baseball. That's our heart, that's our passion. But you know what? Can I tell you something? That's our talent.

SPEAKER_04 8:22

This is why I I I was reminded, I was getting into this whole thing. I was really, I was watching the American team. I was I was even watching games that the American team involved in, which is unbelievable. I'm not a soccer fan. Boom, boom. And then I realized the other day why I'm not a soccer fan. One of the reasons. When they did that stupid red card against our guy, and I'm looking at it and I'm going, what are they crazy? I mean, the guy for the ball.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

We move on. We move on.

SPEAKER_04 8:53

And then they they're explaining the red card, and he's not playing the next game. I said, that's that's it. That's it. This is why this is one of the reasons why I'm not a soccer fan. It's because of that stupidity. What are you kidding me? The guy stepped on him, and the guy goes down like he was shot in the back.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

I I feel like I'm being blasphemous here. I I have a nostalgic love for soccer because the first sport I ever saw is a little girl at my grandparents' house looking across the street at this tiny country lane, and you both can picture it. Northeastern Bible College's field was across the street from my grandparents, and I watched soccer as a little girl. But this, I don't want to slam a whole sport because I understand so little. We can just came off of the Olympics, and the United States men's hockey team won with Jack Hughes leaving his teeth on the ice, blood pouring off, and we win in this moment. And then I look at someone, forgive me, I'm sorry. If if either one of you showed that level of pain, we'd have an ambulance here.

SPEAKER_04 10:01

They'd be carried over to the phone.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

If one of my children ever pulled that off of like I, you know, this dying, and then they're fine, that would be the last time. Like there better be something broken, there better be blood. Yeah. I I don't honestly understand. I love the passion, but I'm is there is there's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_04 10:20

They're stretched out, and then 20 seconds later they're up, they're running down the field. I'm like, could you stop? Could you just stop?

SPEAKER_00 10:27

Is that to get all those extra? I know I'm gonna sound like such an American woman who doesn't understand soccer. Is that so they get all those extra points? Which to me in the beginning I know they do it, but I keep feeling extra time. I'm sorry. No. It feels like it's St. Louis and and the election is over, and now the extra ballots have come in.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

And now we're gonna change everything. You know, it's just very that's wild. So please explain this to me, Dave, because I'm confused.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

I think we should change the VAR, you know, the video review. Yes. The prolonged the games and added stoppage time. I think we'd we'd exchange that for actual on the field x-rays. So like if you if you roll on the ground.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

A drone could be the x-ray, right?

SPEAKER_03 11:14

If you if you roll on the roll on the ground, a drone comes over, takes it takes a body image, if there's if there's no uh structural damage, you get a yellow card for rolling. Yes. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

And they do that in the NFL and an award for acting.

SPEAKER_04 11:28

The NFL, if they think you're fake in like an Alaska, is it the last couple minutes of the shop? Yeah, oh yeah. You get penalized. It's it's like, you know, no, we don't we don't do that. We don't do that here. It's just you know, it's just like, oh my gosh, give me a break.

SPEAKER_03 11:42

Yeah, I I love the rolling, like life has come to an end as I know it. Do you want to leave the game? No, I'm fine.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

I'm fine.

SPEAKER_04 11:50

Slapping the ground with their hand, like with like his bone, his bone must have come through the skin. I mean, it's just it's it's nothing would would elicit that reaction.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

Oh it's there he goes running down the field. It's the whole game. It's not like one team, it's not one country. It's a culture, it's the culture of this. Yeah, no matter what.

SPEAKER_04 12:10

It's the sicom of the male. I didn't say it.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

I didn't say it. I mean, there's some epic looking guys. The the Viking, that's like a moose coming at you. Yeah. That that that one Norwegian player was just six foot five charging. It it's been fun to watch so much of it, but yeah, it has it has but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:35

You know, it's funny because uh you referenced uh Northeastern where we went to college together. Yeah. And uh, you know, and by the way, listeners, all twelve of you need to know that Ernie from weeks, yes, you know, who we had on one of our first episodes needed a heart transplant. He's got it and he's home and he's doing great. He's home. He was one of our soccer stars.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

He was, especially the year we won the championship.

SPEAKER_03 12:57

So national championship. You know why that was.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

You know why we were good. Is back then again. That's right. Missionary kids. Missionary kids grew up on the field and international students, you know, so we could compete.

SPEAKER_03 13:11

Yeah, yeah, it really is on the Christian college level. It really was missionary kids who came home for college that had played overseas. So that's kind of the dynamic of going this whole Mark Twain, you know. I I would twist the the supposed Mark Twain qu quote into this. God uh God created uh well what what am I I'll just say it this way. What does America what does America need to do to learn the lessons of geography so that they can learn soccer? Because you you know, in that uh when we went to college, the same era we're talking about, um Palay had just come to America. That's right. I remember in America soccer soccer when before Pillet came used to be played on dirt fields with hardly any grass, with no attendance. He came, his first year, the home attendance was 10,000. He only played her three seasons. His third season was all the way up to 43,000. Wow. And Giant Stadium was sometimes almost 80,000 in games he played at. Well, see that so he leaves in seven after 77. So you might remember uh in 79 we're in school together. It was the only time in my life I ever purchased season tickets for a team. And Cisco, God rest the skull.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Yes, of course.

SPEAKER_03 14:30

Carlos, shout out, shout out Carlos.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Hey Carlos.

SPEAKER_03 14:33

And and Cisco Carlos and I went and sat in the low, like a low level. Did you really the whole season? And like the whole season was like $160. Oh my gosh. Unbelievable. And I remember one night in the rain, I took there was a girl in Donatine, don't let this there was a girl in Northeastern had a crush on. I won't say her her name might have been Elizabeth when she went.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

And I might have known who you're talking about, but we'll we'll carry on.

SPEAKER_03 15:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Hey, I know I know she's listening, so there you go.

SPEAKER_03 15:05

I I got over that, well, for the most part.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

But but you just made her day, I bet.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

No, I'm sure I'm sure she just we just lost another customer. But no, um but I got seasoned tickets because you were sure to get a seat because that the stadium was over 70,000 for home games. So can can America do this? They've had starts and fits and stops and fits and starts, and Messi coming here helps.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

But think of it this way. Even today, with all of our enthusiasm, I think it's gonna ebb again. I think when the World Cup's over, we're back to not being soccer fans. Do you know annually in America, more um much more Americans watch the Premier League from England more than they watch we have our own national majority? That's true. We don't even watch our own American League.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:59

So I just you know, I I I don't think there's a couple of things. I number one, um baseball is run so poorly in my estimation. They'll say no because they're making more money and stuff, but kids aren't playing baseball. It's it's a matter of time before you know it could be Sagra overtakes it because there were more internationals coming, blah, blah, blah the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

So a generational shift might happen to the case.

SPEAKER_04 16:19

I think it it could it could supplant baseball. So I gotta supplant uh uh basketball or football is not what um anyway, so uh but but I this kid was very the kid I was talking to at Wawa, he said the problem with America is that you you don't have the infrastructure that the that Europe has and other parts of the world have. In other words, uh your guys are all in a sense imported. And you know can a small college, you know, years ago offer scholarships to guys, you know, in let's say, like even in the inner city who are who are great b-ball players, and right this little college gets on the map. Yes, you can if you're if you're important importing players, you you can do that. But we don't have the infrastructure anyway. That's what he was telling me. I don't I don't know what you think about that, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:09

So on the United States roster right now, there's 26 players. Well, three are goalies, all the goalies play in America. Because think about it, you can use your hands, you can use uh skill skills that we understand that that transcend sports boundaries. That's gonna be more of the American athlete. So take the field players, but the goalkeeper side. Uh there's 23 field players, only five of them play club level in the United States. Really? See what we so what we do, uh a couple things. To ever fix this, and and it's not i imminent at all, to ever fix this, we have to do a couple things. One is, and they're ironic. One is we have to get the money out of early childhood soccer. See, right now you you you play soccer and you join these really expensive elite teams that travel, uniforms, you go to different like my my granddaughters, just in the last few weeks, have gone from the Minneapolis area to Kansas City and Chicago for away tournaments for weekends. Wow. It's hotel costs, it's travel costs, it's playing costs.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

So wait, you're saying we don't do that? We shouldn't do that?

SPEAKER_03 18:16

No, well, the irony is is think about the Afric the African countries. One of the big stories of this World Cup is the at the explosion of the credibility and merit of African country.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

You've just seen how far Congo went. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

And it's really the African players on the European teams. You know, get citizenship or the player was born there. So there's an African influx. Now, North think about the United States can't even keep up with a small African development of soccer country.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Right.

SPEAKER_03 18:45

So one is Tim, you know, you and I when we were little, we played little league that anybody could go down to. Get a glove and come on down. Right. But now sports in America are pay thousands of dollars to advance.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

It's insane.

SPEAKER_03 18:58

So the way you continue in soccer in the United States now is not based on merit. Like over over in these other countries, when you start playing, they put their finger on you and they go, look out for him. Yes, send him to Europe, put him in a developmental program, he'll grow up in Europe and he'll be worth like Messi was sent to Europe when he was a small boy.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:16

So in America, we we do this, we do this luxury item thing instead of merit, and we don't go into the inner cities and find, you know, people that you know and find a way for to get them to be able to play. Yeah. So, you know, first so it's it's ironic that it's it's almost like money is debilitating us.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 19:35

Yeah. And then the other thing is what I said about our only five field players play club level in the United States, which means all the rest of them play in Europe. And that makes us good. So the other irony is how are we ever going to be good? Because I just said um it should be based on merit, which means then they would, but we'd have to home grown them still. That's the infrastructure. Because right now, when we find a great American player like in college or or like 18 years old, he's gonna want to aspire to go to Europe, and then we only get him back for national games, but not for club level games. So, how do we develop our professional league? That makes sense. Yeah, so there's some irony to it. It's really gonna be a challenge. So yeah, lastly, I would say think of it this way. You know, it's it's the inverse of what America's done to sports for the rest of the world. In the rest of the world, in major league baseball, and it's particularly the NBA, your national sports hero comes here. Right. Right. But in soccer, we go to you. Yeah, yeah. So just think out Serbia is never gonna catch up with us in basketball because they don't have the league. Right. And so we'll never catch up with Europe because Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:44

Well, having said all that, what do you uh who do you think's gonna win?

SPEAKER_03 20:48

Uh I think it's gonna be, I think France is clearly playing the best. Okay. And uh, but of course I'm an I'm an Anglophile. Well, Spain has not given up a goal yet.

SPEAKER_04 20:57

Yeah, they've been pretty playing pretty well.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

Yeah, it's hard to lose if you do that. But I'm an Anglophile, so I I thought the England-Mexico game the other night was as good a game as Jill ever seen. It was a great game. That was a great game.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

And that was quite a crowd to play. Yeah, quite a place to play.

SPEAKER_04 21:14

Gene, who do you who do you predict, real quick? We'll close out this section.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

I just want to I just want to see it.

SPEAKER_04 21:21

I just want to see the whole stadium rowing. That would be it's just something about that. That's it it's a hoof, man. You talk about identity fusion, get the drum out. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

It's a it's they've done it everywhere. You know, you see memes of them. And also, I don't know if you've seen the I'm sure it's AI generated, but picture of the team as Vikings on ships. Yeah. It's just it's a lot of fun to watch.

SPEAKER_04 21:43

Well, it's you know, it's this this World Cup is coming just when uh the United States is celebrating 250. Uh 250 years, hard to believe. And uh uh it's lots been going on. My goodness, it's uh it's been quite a summer so far, Donna Jean.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

We three, because we're old, can remember, not just as tiny children, but we can remember the bicentennial. I do.

SPEAKER_03 22:08

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Yep. 1976. We were alive for that. And there's a man named Michael Smith. He's a he's uh well known in homeschool circles, but also in freedom. He's been associated recently with Alliance Defending Freedom, constitutional attorney. And he wrote something fascinating on Facebook the other day, and it sort of hit me where he he re referenced just what we said just now, 200, 250th, and he said, I won't be here for the 300th. We're all going, yeah, of course. And I'd be what, 118 going on 119? That's not happening. But he said, But my children and grandchildren will be. And somehow that's really kind of stuck with me. On the 4th of July, we sat around, and you know, because I'm I do this to my family, my poor family. I had out the uh copy of the Declaration of Independence, and we're talking about the first lines and the last lines and talking about they're gonna be here for that and telling them I won't be. But what will America be like? You know, is is our best still to come. And you know, one of the things that has concerned a lot of people is the recent rise in um Democratic Socialist of America candidates, not just running, but winning. You know, we've had uh in a recent primary, someone won in Colorado against an incumbent Democrat in New York City, Claire Valdez, uh Daria Lisa Avila Chevalier, and I worked on saying her name, one Brad Lander in D.C., the next mayor, uh, Janice Lewis George is going to be a Democratic Socialist. They're calling it the Mam Dani effect. And that was most evident, I think, over Fourth of July weekend in three speeches. And just to touch on the three, Mam Dani spoke the night before Fourth of July, and he was surrounded by people who had just become American citizens. His second sentence sounded like a land acknowledgement. In the second sentence, the mayor of this most incredible city, he himself, an immigrant, referenced the Lenape. And by the by the second paragraph, he talked about people who came to America and he says, and what did they see? Men waiting at the docks to take them into bondage and to tenements rife with squalor. This is his view of America. This is what he took that moment to talk about. He talked about talked about um immigrants fleeing, seeking, escaping, despite laws enacted by the federal government to bar their entry, despite sweatshop fires that killed hundreds of women, despite riots. He is ex especially he challenged the idea of American exceptionalism. And he he basically called us uh an area of of supremacy. He talked about children going to sleep hungry while the world's first trillionaire hungers for more. He talked about ice invading our neighborhoods, and in the next sentence, talked about these young and old. Well, the context was people here illegally and said casting their ballots. It was it was an intense um speech. So the next day, uh Vice President J.D. Vance, he was on the USS Kearsarge in New York Harbor for the sail forth. I wish I could have seen it. Those ships were incredible. The tall ships and then the flyovers. They were just gorgeous. But he talked about celebrating 250 years of what a free people can achieve by the providence of our Almighty Creator. And I don't know if he was exactly referencing Mam Dami Mamdani, but it was like it. He said, You're gonna hear a couple of small but loud voices today speak obsessively, not of our national greatness, but of our national imperfections. They will speak of the powerless and the dispossessed. They will tell you that America is just another country where the weak struggle against the strong. And if they acknowledge that there's anything to be proud of in our history, they'll say it's the fact that sometimes the powerless have won a battle. And then he went on to say, our history is one of people carving a great civilization out of wilderness. Reject the view of your nation that sees only its sins, but not its grace and its greatness. Um, but that night, Fourth of July, uh President Trump was on the National Mall, and we had this salute America thing that's obviously been planned for so long, and it was hot. I don't know how it was in Florida, Dave, but here it was super hot. In fact, I heard that I heard that DC was one of like the four hottest places on earth on the 4th of July. Like the Gobi Desert, the Sahara, and DC. So then that night there's this storm and then there's lightning. So you had upwards of 350 some thousand people, and they were told to evacuate right before the biggest fireworks in the history of the world and Trump's big speech. Well, he determines, of course, as as he does, that we're not canceling anything. And good for him, he said we're just gonna postpone it. Well, you know, a little before midnight, there's Trump. And 150,000 people came back in and he gave this speech that I think is worth going back and and viewing if for nothing else but the history. So he went through point by and and there were Trumpisms, you know, there's never been anything like, you know, all of it his way. He's never gonna do a straight speech. But you know how during like the State of the Union he has heroes that are brought out. Reagan started this. He did it, but he did more. There was a wall there with flags, and you know, that the set was amazing. But he starts bringing people out and starts talking about the flag. And I won't get into every one, but he had the first American flag that ever existed from 1777, 13 stars and stripes that flew over Saratoga, and you could see it next to him. And next thing you know, he starts talking about the first African American who won a Congressional Medal of Honor, that was after the Civil War, and he brings out Colonel Paris Davis, who showed courage against a hundred enemy combatants in Vietnam. And this guy walks out, this African American, and salutes the flag from the Revolutionary War. Well, this went on. He had a flag that was draped over Lincoln's casket and had uh other people coming out saluting it. He had the flag from Iwo Jima, and out comes centenarians. One of them was walking. A guy was 104, another man was a hundred and seven, another guy 101 to salute these flags. And in it, Trump says, America will never be a communist country. The communist system is the opposite of the American system, and the communist system has never worked. Our warriors did not fight communism on battlefields across the world, only to have that menace rear its ugly head right back here in America. He had up there Artemis II, the astronauts, and he also had the man who's the last man to walk on the moon, Apollo 17 astronaut Jack Schmidt. And they're standing by the flag, we're looking at this, that was flown by the Wright brothers. I mean, only Trump can bring this visual together, but then he gives them a flag that he says will be presented and put on the moon on our next trip. And then of course he has out 11 gold star families holding those flags. It was just it was a stunning sight, but I couldn't help thinking we have two Americas. You know, this woman who's run who just uh won the primary in New York, um, Chevalier, she talked um, she talked she talked about it's it's deleted, but the internet forgets nothing. The tweet that said, Well, I forgot a napkin, so I wiped my hand on the American flag that was behind me. Or Sunny um Sonny Huston on The View, who just said there are times I walk into a community and I see American flags and I suddenly feel unsafe. We're living in a really different kind of a time. And so my question, after all of that preamble about the speeches, is Is it hopeless? Is there hope? Is Trump right that the best is still to come? What will the three hundredth be like? And is there anything we can do now ourselves to ensure that this republic, if you can keep it, is gonna last beyond 250 years? And that's what I've been thinking about, and that's what I just wanted to hear what you guys think about where we are, where we're headed, and what are we leaving behind.

SPEAKER_04 31:16

Well, I think look, uh this is not you you don't have to be a rocket scientist to to to see why we have what we have now. Uh it's it's it's from ed it's uh from the earliest education. Yes. Uh you you you know, you were just saying uh I just jotted it down that Vance uh said in his speech, uh we have people who see only America's sins and now its greatness. If you if you if all you talk about is the sins of people, I think I mentioned in our last uh podcast that were you at one time you said that you know people people have a colossal failure and like this is who they are. Well, that's a chapter. We have shameful chapters in our history. Um but if you if you stack that up against uh other countries and and you know how how the United States has led in in so many different areas and really has uh you know, if historically, I think a couple of times, literally came to the rescue of the world. Exactly. And uh it it's but it the educational system is really that's where everything is decided. From I think that's huge. I really do. Yeah, it determines on what we consider true, it shapes our moral values, it influences who we think we are, our our identity. It established, you mentioned it, heroes and role models. Heroes. Uh if our heroes and role models are people that hate uh the history, uh that you know, that's that's gonna steer you down a direction. It form our education, what these little kids from you know kindergarten and on, it it forms habits of thinking. If you why do you have four-year-olds uh uh in in Gaza with a stick, um, you know, pointing it towards Israel and when and and saying death to Israel, death to the Jews. I mean, why do you say is is a four-year-old are they reading books? They're being taught this. This is this is this is from the earliest, their earliest remembrances. When you are taught things, it's it forms you, it stays with you. Uh kids who are brought up in in church, you know, my kids, you guys, you your worldview was largely formed by, you know, Proverbs 1.7, the fear of the Lord is beginning of knowledge, beginning of wisdom. I mean, that that that was a bedrock formational type of teaching. And so when you have a generation now and they're not teaching history because they're teaching to the uh to the testing, and and history isn't part of a lot of these you know testings that they have to go through. When you're my kids, I I was appalled in the public school, uh, my first two, at you know, uh the little bit of history that they would that they were learning. They were still learning history back then, but still a little bit of history. If if you're not reading about the greatness of anything, whether it's this nation or anything at all, you're gonna be formed by what go in what goes in is gonna come out, and it's gonna it's gonna form who you are. And so I think that you know you're talking about, well, how's it gonna change? That has to change. I mean, that has to change the educational system, uh, you know, and and how they speak uh of the United States, and at least be even-handed. I'm not saying ignore the sins of the nation, but my goodness, yeah, when when when that's all you hear, and I think uh I can make a case for that's that's by and large what a lot a lot of our our kids are hearing now. Okay, you go a generation later, what do you expect? What are we doing? You expect this? You expect this? I don't know what you think about that, Dave.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

Well, um uh let me be super spiritual for just one moment because of the three of us, that's how I'm known to be. Yes, yes. Our sense of the city. Our sort of science. Let me just make it let me just make a spiritual point just to make sure it gets in there and then I'll I'll go back to what we were actually talking about. You know, as you're talking about sin and grace, you know, uh we need to tell the truth. Uh America's has some failings and some mighty big failings. Sure. But with with the gospel, and I know I'm this is just an anecdote. Uh this is not don't take what I'm saying theologically into the political realm. But I just want to make the theological point. The person the the the entity that reminds you continually of your past sins is Satan.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

Yes, that's right. There's no condemnation in Christ Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 35:42

The Holy Spirit is a gentleman. The Holy Spirit tells you once, nicely, politely, whispers in your ear, doesn't tell all your family and friends, and then asks you, just apologize, we'll be good.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 35:54

So you know, so now politically, you know, it's funny you're referencing like a a lot of this the socialist people running, and that particularly this this next generation is particularly socialist bent because they're entitled.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 36:08

You know, George Orwell said uh socialism's the desire to re redistribute wealth is not fairness, it's envy. He said the socialist doesn't love the poor, they merely merely hate the rich. Right. And so I I think uh as America approaches you know projecting forward as 300th, you know, we've got red versus blue, we've got whites versus non-whites, we've got states versus states. I think we're gonna increasingly see the exasper exacerbation of something we've already seen the first hints at. Where where there was a Tea Party on one side and Occupy Wall Street on the other. I think we're gonna see a growing divide and uh real uh rancor between this uh incredibly escalating super rich and the dwindling middle class and particularly the poor. You know, uh I just quoted Orwell. I think we'd be re need to be reminded uh of Plato's Republic, those very different times. You know, Plato said in the republic, he said that if one citizen had four times the wealth of the poorest citizen, he had to make a contribution to the city. Now obviously we we'll never that's not what I'm aspir aspiring to. That's we can never go back to that. As we've seen, capitalism does employ the unemployed and it does raise the b the water level. But I think America is two two human constructs are basically involved in the human exp the the American experiment. To me, the two great ideas of the American experiment are the wedding of democracy and capitalism. They naturally go together. But I'm wondering in our lifetime if we'll see the fracturing of that. Democracy is to be led by the people, and capitalism is the the free the economy up for you to gain the capital so that your capital employs people and the capital your money makes money, not your labor makes money, other people's labor makes money for you, your money makes money. There's a disparity in America now where the the the point one, not one percent, the point one of one percent owns more than 50% of the stock wealth in the whole United States. And Elon Musk has his personal wealth is equivalent to five million American households. And and I think increasingly, and particularly with AI, these super tech companies are gonna own so much, and and we've already seen the creation of the first trillionaire. I think we're gonna see that that you can now leverage your money into politics where you can buy congressional seats so so that your data center can be put into that area, so that the super rich have bought a seat so they can make more money. I think America's gonna start getting very angry. Yeah. I'm a capitalist and I'm a into democracy, but I think there's something here we need to do.

SPEAKER_04 39:22

No, I I and I I I don't I don't uh disagree with what you're saying. Listen, my father was a bus driver. You can't get more blu blue collar than that. He bought a house to house his children in. Do you think our kids can't afford houses?

SPEAKER_03 39:37

Well, we're not gonna build a way to start building data centers.

SPEAKER_04 39:40

Well, listen, it's things um and but but you know who you know is I think Trump is addressing it. I mean, even with the the uh uh I I read an article this morning about the Trump accounts. He's uh they're trying to emphasize not just for babies. Here's seed, here we need to we need to become more of a saving uh uh community. He's trying to teach the idea of financial stability. I mean, that's basic stuff. That's basic stuff. Uh uh saving, investing, Dave, to your point, that's basic. I mean, and and we we we we've kind of we've kind of lost that. Uh we didn't we haven't taught our children that. We haven't taught you know them uh the greatness really uh look, capitalism, they say, is is a terrible system, except for all the others. Yeah, yeah, all the others are much worse. Uh which we could talk which we could talk about. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

And the idea of someone can't afford something, I hear that and I know that and I see it. I think we also have to put some context to that. Your father did not have a half a million dollars or a quarter of a million dollars in school debt. Um we have taught children that it's worth going to a school to pursue a degree for a job that does not exist for money they will never get back. To paraphrase Mike Rowe. That's part of why they can't afford anything. And less than 30 percent of that.

SPEAKER_04 41:03

Less than 30 percent of these kids coming out with the degree and them working in their field of study. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

So this is they've been indoctrinated. They've been indoctrinated. So that's a shift too. It's not just affordability, it's that we're we're lying. We're lying, and we're making people think that the house they have to buy, or the house they should buy, should be equivalent to the house they're living in now. I mean, there is some entitlement going on. So but morally, I mean, the quote that's that I think the hope for the future, what did John Adams say? Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. So I think our prayers and our our teaching, the young people and us still caring, you know, we can feel like, oh well, that's for another time. We need to still care, still vote, still pray, still talk, still teach, still write, still be present so that everything that's been fought for isn't lost.

SPEAKER_04 42:01

Yeah, good, good word, good and and uh yeah. Uh America 300, our kids, uh, you know, if God is gracious will see it, and uh we hope uh uh they will have taken a step forward. But you know what? I want to shift right now, and uh we've been having this uh last section reserved for uh you know, opening up a portion of scripture. And let me let me ask you this. Uh I'm I'm I'm not gonna I'm not gonna ask Donna Jean if she's seen it because uh the answer I already know is no. But Dave, did you have you ever seen the movie The Natural?

SPEAKER_03 42:37

Oh yeah, Robert Redford. Absolutely. Robert Redford, Robert Redford. It's from a I think it's from a Malamude novel. Yeah, yeah, anyways. Yeah, very good. I loved it.

SPEAKER_04 42:46

And you know what? When I went to see that, I was so ticked off when it came out of the theater initially, because I went, I thought I was going to see a baseball movie. And it really, it wasn't not really. It was not a baseball movie, it was kind of a love story, and it was the other things, and and uh, but but then but then I I went and saw it again, and I said, Oh, you know what? I kind of liked it. And then it became like uh probably a top ten, top ten of my uh you know, uh movie for me. But it's the best baseball movie.

SPEAKER_03 43:16

Which one? Best baseball. For me? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:19

Prior to the Yankees. Really? Yeah, Field of Dreams. Field of Dreams is good too. Field of Dreams is good too. But anyway, I'm an old, I'm I'm I'm an old uh guy. Anyway, uh look, the uh the the natural is about this gifted ball player. You know, you know it a little bit. Uh uh he's mysteriously his career's derailed. He has this violent encounter. We won't get into it. But years l years later, he's like, I think he's like 35, and he becomes a rookie and he starts playing for the struggling New York Knights, and he begins begins this unbelievable near mythic rise to greatness. Dave, do you remember the name of the carved bat he had? No, but it had a lightning bolt on it. It had a lightning bolt. It was called the name of it. Wonderboy. And that really became a symbol of the movie of uh you know hope. And uh, you know, this guy who wasn't battling just uh you know the competition, but corruption and temptation and even his own past. And the movie is really about him trying to reclaim the life he once dreamed of. And there is a moment in the film, uh, it happens later on in the story, when uh Roy Roy Hobbes, uh Robert Redford, he reconnects with uh with Iris, his girlfriend, his love from many, many years before, before this violent thing happened. And they're speaking very quietly and they're away from the spotlight of the game. And uh he's reflecting on how life didn't unfold. Both of them uh are reflecting on how life didn't didn't end up the way they had expected. And and very quietly, uh it was Glenn Close. Glenn Close plays the part of uh Iris, and she looks at Roy, she says, you know, I believe that we have two lives. And Roy shakes his head, he goes, What what do you mean? And she says, We have the life we learn with and the life we live with after that. And it's not delivered as a dramatic speech in a big crowd. It said it's this very intimate, very reflective, almost it was almost a confessional of two people measuring what might have been against what actually is. It's it's one of the film's uh emotional anchors. Uh again, less about baseball, more about regret and uh whether redemption is still possible late in the game. Now I have a question for you two. Um if you could go back to your 25-year-old self, what would surprise young Donna Jean or Dave most about life today? And not just technologically, if if you handed them a phone, uh, you know, uh we would if our 24-year-old five-year-old self would freak out, obviously. But I mean, where you ended up, how things turned out, what worked, what didn't. What what would what would surprise young Donna Gina, Dave?

SPEAKER_00 46:19

Gee, thank you. You're gonna let me go first, Dave. Um well, uh all of it would surprise me. This is uh there's really very little here that's the script I would have written. Um that said, I think what would have um if I could see it play out, uh I'm sure it would have frightened me a lot of it, because there's a lot of hard parts. Um there's a lot of wonderful parts. I think the part that would have given me hope is that God took care of me in all of it. And that's the part I would, you know, I don't know what the surprise is, all of it. It's that um I I that God still gave me and is still giving me my dreams. I think that part is is surprising to me, um, and I still am living them out, and that is kind of a big deal. But I don't know, it always surprised me in good and bad ways, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 47:21

What would surprise young 25-year-old David Churchill?

SPEAKER_03 47:24

Well, my immediate reaction is what surprised me is how fast it went by. How fast it went by, and then uh but also but also in relation particularly to this context, this text you're looking at. Um I've recently done a thought experiment. Uh had reason to reflect and wrote down the ten most difficult things that ever happened to me. And I glory in all ten of them. They they made me. Well actually they didn't much as much change me, it divulged that what I thought was in me really was in me. And um I I'm proud of the the uh the opportunity to overcome. But no, I I um the the difficulties um but that they don't have to crush you.

SPEAKER_04 48:12

Well, here's here here's my contention. You can say yay, nay, whatever. Um I think if we are you know nakedly honest, very few, very few people would say, yeah, it all went exactly according to plan.

SPEAKER_00 48:27

No, no.

SPEAKER_04 48:28

I mean, when you're 25, you got this series of five-year plans, whether it's written down or or in your brain, by this age I'm gonna do this, by this age I will have become that. Um but then but then something happens, and there are things, you know, that you hope for that were gonna happen that never ever did. Uh things you never expected. We've all experienced that, that did, and a lot of them were tragic. Um there are chapters that you'd write if you could. I always love people who go, I wouldn't change a single thing. I'm going, what are you? What are you, an idiot? I mean, what are you what is wrong with you? If there's nothing in your life that you would ever change, you gotta be kidding me. And and what happens is what what quietly happens um is that uh uh at this stage, uh little not loud, but bitterness and and some some low-grade anger, uh low-grade discontentment starts to uh seep in. You know, I thought there'd be more. I didn't expect uh I didn't expect it to turn out like this. This isn't what I had in mind. And if we are not careful, we spend, I think the later the years that we're in right now, the encore years, we could spend the later years of our life looking backwards and stuck backwards instead of living and looking faithfully forward. I mean, and and and someone who could have done that uh to our passage is uh is the apostle Paul. And he and he said in Philippians 4, and listen, Philippians is a thank you letter for a gift, for a financial gift, and and he sums it up in chapter 4, but he's talking more about financial, you know, a financial gift here. He said, I'm not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content in whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, I can do all things through him who gives me strength. And I think in this passage, he gives us three anchors uh to hold on to. And the first one that just blared at me, uh he said, I have learned to be content, which says to me that contentment is not automatic. You know, he didn't say I discovered it, I felt content, I woke up one day, everything made sense. He said, I have learned it, which And work on it. Well, when you're learning something, what are the elements in learning something? There's time, there's experience, and there's a whole lot of wrestling. And you know, let's not forget, you know, the this Paul's life didn't exactly go according to plan. I mean, uh, you know, if you look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11, um the unfiltered, unglossed over, no exaggeration reality of his life about prisons and beatings and delays and limitations. Um the apostle Paul, as much as anybody who maybe ever lived, could have said, this is not what I signed up for. Um uh, but instead, you know what he said? I have learned contentment. It's it's it's it seems to be something that doesn't happen to you, it's something that's formed in you. Um what do you agree, disagree? What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_00 52:12

It also sounds like there was a time when he wasn't. It sounds like a change that he's learned to be content. And I sometimes I call things I deal with my daily workout, and I and I'm not talking about exercise. It's sometimes there are daily things that you have to still battle and being thankful, um, being hopeful, trusting God, believing all things, you know, and and this, you know, what does the Bible say? Godliness with contentment is great gain. The to be content, to still strive and still pursue, but also be thankful. I mean, this is and especially to your point before, we can feel like, oh, we've done all that already. We don't want to work on our lives or the Christian life or anything. We're still in this, and we can't be like, oh well, we're done. We're not done, or we wouldn't be here. God apparently still has us here. So that everything like this contentment, that's an interesting point of of what he battled himself and was working on. I think that's that's really interesting to think about.

SPEAKER_03 53:22

Well it it's the simple language that Paul always or most most likely uses, the the verbs are so simple. I I've learned know can do. But but what what the secret is, uh by the way, what how is it a secret? He just told us.

SPEAKER_00 53:41

Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 53:42

What is what he's declaring is a secret is uh it's him who gives me strength. Yes, so the verbs what he learns, what he knows, what he can do is all predicated on that God through Jesus Christ gives strength. It's it's it's God's gift. So interesting here, he says he's content. What's the what's the content of the word content here? By content he doesn't mean need he doesn't mean the midpoint between hunger and gluttony. He doesn't mean the midpoint between low class and high class. The content of being content is obviously he's happy with his God.

SPEAKER_01 54:23

Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 54:24

All he sees God doing is giving him goods and being providing. And how would you not be content if you had an inner reality, a spiritual high point, which the that there was Christ was activated inside of you? You know, th that's the controlling factor here is he he was content, and the content of that is the Christ was in him.

SPEAKER_04 54:46

And it's formed. You know, I think you're talking about look, contentment it seems to be saying it's not something that happens to you, it's something that's formed in you. And and that's and that means a deliberate pushback, Donna Jean, to your point. You know, to say, you know, if my circumstances improve, I'll feel at peace. Or, you know, essentially, Paul was saying, I I've had good seasons, I've had hard seasons, and contentment, my contentment eventually, I realized it didn't come from either one of them. It came, Dave, from what God was doing inside of me. So it's not contentment, according to Paul, is not a result of a better life. It's a result of a transformed heart. And that's that's something that is learned and experienced. It's not automatic. And I think that's one of the anchors that uh Paul was talking about. And then he he said, circumstances, and Donald Jean, you're great at this. You you really are. Circumstances don't have the final say. I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances. That is an absolutely bold statement. My circumstances don't decide whether I have peace on a Tuesday morning. Right. And look, let's not let's not let the listeners think we have perfect health and family and finances. And that that is absolutely not true. And and if we're gonna sit here and say when things settle down, when things get fixed, when that works out, Paul cuts right through that. And he says, contentment is not found in the life you expected. It is found, to Dave's point, in the God who is present in the life that you actually have. And they are not the same thing. It's the same thing as a thermostat and a thermometer. What's a thermometer? Thermometer is just reading the environment. If things are good, it goes up, the temperature goes up, down, it goes down, has no control, it's reflecting of what's happening around it. But a thermostat is different. Thermostat doesn't just react, it's actually setting the temperature. It has something internal that regulates the environment around it. And I think Paul is saying I've learned not to be a thermometer, constantly rising and falling with circumstances, but a thermostat, because, to Dave's point, Christ is doing something steady inside of me.

SPEAKER_03 57:10

That's a great analogy. You know, it's interesting. If you have contentment and it's in disregard of your circumstances, then your contentment isn't lost when you have loss. But then also, is it true that contentment isn't lost when you gain more?

SPEAKER_00 57:28

Right.

SPEAKER_03 57:29

Or contentment isn't added to. Contentment is uh is a transcendent level level of spiritual existence because of who your partner is. I I just think of the Buddhist comparison. They deny suffering. Close your eyes, it doesn't really exist, it's all mirage. Right. Where Paul has a contentment in the midst of it. In the midst of it.

SPEAKER_00 57:50

Yeah, he sang at midnight while in stocks in a prison, you know, in this same town. So the the the recipients of this letter knew his story, right? It was in the Philippian jail. They knew what he that he had something to talk about. They knew his testimony in this area. So he could say it and you know, as you said, say it in a simple way, but his life was backing it up. And that was he had that example before that.

SPEAKER_04 58:18

God doesn't change the situ your situation always. Um but he will always have the situation. Those who are in Christ change you, and we become different. And Christ, the last anchor, is the source, and he's he's not the backup plan. And uh I think that's uh you know, so it's it's uh uh you know, we need to acknowledge we need to acknowledge the the gap honesty. You know, everything isn't perfect, it doesn't turn out it's not God's not asking us to rewrite our story. Or to pretend everything's okay when it's absolutely and and we need to stop living backwards, if only what if. And uh uh, you know, when practice.

SPEAKER_00 59:02

Because Paul could have done that, right? I mean, I often think of what haunted him when he went to sleep, the the people he caused to die, the the Christians. I I wonder if he lived his life remembering what he had done. Oh. You know? And and that could have haunted him. And and someone wrote something on the other day and I saw it. It said that when he got to heaven, the ones that welcomed him were the ones whose lives he destroyed. And that that's really what God does. He turns things around. But we're we're not we're not defined by all the wrong, we're defined by Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 59:36

One guy wrote this Am I going to spend the rest of my life wistfully lamenting that the story had turned out differently or begin living the story God still has a head for me? Will I start living, you know, my encore? I think you know, practicing daily contentment and thanking God for what is and not what isn't, and choosing the trust when you don't understand and refusing to compare my life to all the other lives uh around me. It's it's quiet, it's steady, but it's it's powerful. That's uh Philippians chapter four. So thanks for that, Tim. Yeah. Well, that's it. Here we are. We've we've exhausted our time.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:21

We've come to the end.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:22

We've we've we've come to the end of our happy travel. We've traveled to the world.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:28

That's right. There we go.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:36

West Virginia.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:42

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:47

When they say that the last game, the last game that they won, I I got use bumps, man. It was cool. It was use bumps. But good way to end, David. Thank you for that. And thanks guys for joining us for uh this uh edition of uh Encore. And uh we look forward to spending some more time with you in a couple of Thursdays from now.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:08

See you in two weeks.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:08

God bless you guys. Take care. Thanks again.