Growing Up: Faith, Upbringing, and Catholic Roots

This week’s podcast took an unexpected turn! We were originally planning to feature an atheist-turned-Christian, but when he couldn’t make it, we shifted gears and put Gia in the hot seat.

Gia shared more about her upbringing, what it was like growing up Catholic, and how those experiences shaped the way she views faith, life, and Christianity today. It was a fun, honest conversation filled with questions, laughter, and a chance to learn more about Gia’s story.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hello, my people. It's Robert the Realist back today for another podcast. I still don't know if I like the camera angle. I mean, you guys can find it.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

I can't see the viewfinder.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Well, I can't see that far anyway, but the actual, you know, the part of the camera that sticks out, what's that?

SPEAKER_03 0:21

The lens?

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Yeah, the lens kind of like sticks out and oh well, it's fine. Maybe we need to. Maybe we need to have it on the on the TV.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Maybe.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

So you can see it. Really freaky.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

No way.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

We'll have to screen mirroring. We could definitely do that. We can do that. Oh, I'm doing that.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Well, we have to let you all down today. We were supposed to have a special guest. And he had it at 4 30, so we're trying to get him back next Tuesday to come in. Other than that, it'll be probably about a month out. Because I've got a scheduled for three weeks after that, as far as for people. So today we are here with our co-host Madison.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Hello.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

And J Gia.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Hey.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

So today we're going to talk about Gia.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

We are going to talk about Gia. I love talking about Gia.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Now in her defense, uh, she just found out we're talking about her about seven minutes ago.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Roughly. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Roughly. But that'd be a lot, probably four minutes ago, actually. Three or four minutes.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

Seven minutes is real generous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Um, and so she's like, Well, I don't know what to talk about. And I said, Well, we'll we'll pull it out of you. So I want to know from Gia when you think you first encountered Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

Ooh. That's I don't know. That's kind of a loaded question. Because in my lifetime, whenever I was born, I grew up Catholic back in the early 2000s. Back in the early 2000s.

SPEAKER_05 1:55

Not 1900s.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

Not 1900s. Not 1900s. I'm not quite that old, okay. But I whenever I was born, I got baptized Catholic. So I always kind of grew up in the church setting.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Like at what age?

SPEAKER_03 2:07

Newborn. Like a month or two after. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Got the headache dunk, everything. The whole oh yeah. The whole nine yards I was there. But so I was baptized Catholic, grew up Catholic majority of my life until I moved here to Mowberly, but I never really had a connection with God or with Jesus in any capacity. Like I was just kind of existing in the Catholic world and going through the emotions of being a Catholic, but never actually had a full-on connection or interaction or anything of the sort with him. And I don't know if it was because maybe I knew that that's not where I was meant to be in that moment. And I knew that I would meet him later on down the line. I don't know why I didn't get that connection with him whenever I was younger, but it just was not there. And nor did I really strive for it because I was like, who's this guy? Like, why is he important? Why do I learn about him three days a week? Because I went to a Catholic school. So I was I went to church all the time. I was I basically lived Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, the whole nine yards every day of the week, it felt like. But so that's kind of where it started. But I didn't actually have an interaction with Jesus until I went to FLF for the first time. And the weekend before I went, Alex actually went to church there by himself, just completely by himself on his own. And then that week was like, No, you're going. You're gonna go next week with me, and you're also gonna bring your family, and I'm gonna bring my family, and we're gonna try it out. And I was like, Okay, sounds good. And then I literally just never left. So I've been there ever since. Thank you, Alex. Yeah, thank you, Alex. It's just a part of the theme. Okay, I gotta keep it going. It is, but my first real, real interaction was that day, whenever I walked in and like feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit, it was absolutely nothing that I had felt at the Catholic Church. It's a completely different atmosphere. Completely different. So it was just kind of weird at first, real weird.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Okay. How long have you been going to FLA?

SPEAKER_03 4:12

A little over two years. I started in November of 22.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

I want to say.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

So wait, no, no, no. November of hold on, big brain. Two years ago. And then I started my internship in 25, and then so 23. 23. I came back around the same third years.

SPEAKER_05 4:29

Oh, it's so exciting. My full system.

SPEAKER_04 4:33

Okay, sorry, throw a moment.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

As you can tell, they're friends. Really good. Who's your best friend? Growing up Catholic. A question that I always want to ask people who've my daughter went to Catholic school for a while, so I understand the method of how they go to church and how often they go to church and their beliefs, etc. Yes. Do you think that they go to church too much?

SPEAKER_03 4:59

I don't know, because that's a slippery slope. I don't think that you can go to church too much, but I think that you can go to the and I have to be careful with my words, the not the greatest church too much. Okay. And that's kind of what position I was in. I didn't feel like a lot of the teachings that I was learning about, and I don't know if this is every Catholic church or if this was just specific to the one that I went to, but it felt like a lot of the information I was getting was not straight from the Bible. And it was more of like a well, this is the way that we do it, not the way that the Bible describes us to do it.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Right.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

So it There's a difference. Yeah, that's a slippery slope. Like I could go to FLF every single day.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

And I would have fun every single time. But if it was that church, it would probably be too much because then I would feel like I'm getting wrong information.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

I feel like FLF is more Holy Spirit-led Catholic. Or being Catholic is more sh like this way high ways.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

And I don't I'm not saying I'm not against any religion. No, me neither.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

No, me neither.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

And I don't care how often people want to go. I just it's kind of to me, I think it would you're right where you don't want to say you you can't go to church too much. I mean because you could go to church every day. But the way they go about it, I myself personally maybe would would feel like a burnout would happen. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:26

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Because like when I go to church on Sundays, I'm like this is con you know, this is like concert. This is one, you know, the it's built up, I've been waiting for it all week, etc. So I think you know, going all the time isn't it would it would burn you out essentially over time.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

It really would. If it especially if it was the same thing on repeat every single time.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

If not, our pastors would be working seven days a week and they still need a break.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

Yeah, that is true. That is true.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

I mean, and and then you also look at you know the the pastors bel you know, below like you know, Pastor Vic and Pastor Brad, the the I don't know what you would call them, the worship pastors. And the if you watch them, I mean, as long as I've been there, you know, five, six years, they're either gone or doing something else again because and they're doing it what five days a week. Oh, yeah. So I'm just saying churching is not bad, but I always feel like I look from the outside looking in at you know how often they go, and I think, man, I don't know if I would have the hunger and the excitement. I feel like it would just be mundane, mundane, just you know, and it's I'm not against it. Um that's not what I'm talking about. I'm just being real.

SPEAKER_03 7:31

Yeah, it's a personal preference. It really is a personal preference because there are people out there that could very well go seven days a week, and I I don't think that they would waver. But there's including me, I just get so burnt out. I'm just oh my gosh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Well, I just seen in so I mean our church does the same thing, right? We we come in and and we worship and we do tithes and offerings and then the message, you know. I get that same thing over and over and over again, but I think you know the what how do you Catholic what is it?

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Catholic Catholicism. Catholicism.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

I knew it like mixed the word up a little bit and made it a little a little different. But how you know they do things, it's you know, yes, sit up, sit down, Neil, yeah, and again, my great grandmother died. Some people like that. Like and I think it's I would say a generational thing, but it very much is.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

And I will say my grandma is a very hardcore to the bone Italian Catholic. She's 100% Italian, she came over here from Italy, like very much Italian Catholic woman, rooted in her ways. Like whenever she found out that we started going to FLF, she was mad. She did not like that at all. And whenever I she found out that I was working for the church, she did not like that at all.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Yeah, and it shouldn't be like that. Just if if if we're all speaking to and worshiping the same person, then it shouldn't matter where it's at. And that's that's what I I'm not like bashing Catholics whatsoever. That's right. Like I I have really good friends that went to FLF five or ten years ago, and we were so good of friends, and we had such a good relationship, they came to me before they went decided to go to another church.

SPEAKER_05 9:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

A couple of them and said, I'm you know, I don't want to offend you. Or I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, how you're not gonna offend me. We're all worshiping the same God. As long as you're in church worshiping God, I don't care where you do it at.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

Catholicism.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Why can't it be Catholicism or something? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

It's kind of odd.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

And again, you're j I'm just bringing that up because you experienced it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

I very much lived it.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Yeah, my daughter went and we would go with her and stuff like that. Like I said, my great grandmother, we would go to their services on Christmas. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 9:39

I mean, the services and everything. Oh, they're so pretty.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

That's the one thing they're they are locked in on and things. Absolutely beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 9:51

I actually got in the cathedral in St. Louis, underneath St. Jim.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Yeah. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

I don't know who that is, but yeah, that's she's so underground, and that's the reason I chose her. I specifically I wasn't like underground, like she's not known about very much. And she's even a lot of people who know about her.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Underground, and like what I'm thinking is like she's go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 10:13

It's Gen Z terminology. I know I do.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

So I'm I don't have you. I have okay, she's dead now. All right, I got that.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

I mean, she's that too, but whatever, whatever. But I whenever I was getting ordained or whatever, like ordained, I don't I don't even know if that's what it's called at this point. But whenever I was going through the research of finding the saint that I wanted to choose, I specifically was that kid that like looked for the most unknown saint because I wanted the pitch-up to be like, who's that?

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Underground.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

That's awesome. And I did. And he did. He had no idea what I was talking about.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

I was like, oh, I gotta back up because I don't know. I've heard this phrase, seen it on social media of people being ordained. Is it just baptized?

SPEAKER_03 11:00

I mean, why do you have to choose ordained?

SPEAKER_01 11:02

I can't remember the word for it. If it's not the word for it, I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

But it is a process where you go to a cathedral and you meet the bishop, whoever the bishop is in that area, and you basically get it's confirmed. It's confirmed, it's confirmed.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Ordained, isn't that ball?

SPEAKER_03 11:22

Light bulb.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

I was gonna say when I was like no, yeah, when I was in uh Moldova, pastor got ordained there. I knew that word was confirmed.

SPEAKER_03 11:31

Yeah, it was not that that's a whole different ballgame. It's confirmed. Confirmed, yeah. It's confirmation. That's what it is. Oh my gosh. Okay, no, it's fine. Good thing she edits this. I'm just gonna edit out every single thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

Just like an over, like a right talk over it every time it's ordained. Confirmation. Confirmation.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

I will do that. I will do that. Just censor it. Anyways, basically. But it's basically a process where you pick out a saint and like whatever saint you feel most connected to, and you go to the bishop and you're like, hey, like this is the saint I choose for guidance and like for like I don't know, to be there for me, basically, is what it is. And then the bishop is like, okay, like let me make sure that you know your facts. So he'll ask you questions about the saint, and then he'll send you on your way. And like you get like blessed with oil and holy water and all of the things, and then woo, big celebration. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

So is that where's that in relation to being baptized?

SPEAKER_03 12:30

Like, is that the um it's the second step. So it's like right after you're baptized, when you're baptized basically as soon as you can.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Okay, yeah. So you're baptized.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

Catholicism is one of the religions that's like you cannot go to heaven if you are not baptized. So basically, as soon as you are cleared from the hospital and you go to the church, like you're immediately setting up your baptism. And so I got baptized a month or two after I was born, and then the confirmation is basically just like um like a rebaptism in a way, because they also don't believe in multiple baptisms, so it would it's almost like a like a renewing your vows to the Lord, basically, is what it is. It's kind of odd.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

But you can be baptized, like let's say I wanted to convert over to Catholicism. Um I could then be baptized and then be confirmed. That can happen at any age. It's just typical when you're gonna be able to do it. It's typical for kids.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

Yeah, it's it's more common for kids, but they're it's not limited to an age. Like I had people in my confirmation class that were in their forties, just because it depends on whenever you come to Catholicism. So baptism, whenever I was a baby, I was confirmed whenever I think I was twelve. And then there's some people that do it way later in life just because that's whenever they decide to go there.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 13:57

It's very yeah, there's a lot, there's a lot of lore to Catholicism.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Yeah, no, that's why I'm like I'm asking all the questions to I didn't know that you grew up Catholic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:06

Yeah, me neither. For a long time.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

You didn't.

SPEAKER_04 14:08

I didn't.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

What kind of friend are you?

SPEAKER_04 14:11

A friend that's learning about my keeping. I keep it like in. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

I don't really talk about it much, okay?

SPEAKER_01 14:17

So when so so then, okay, so you grew up Catholic. Now you're FLF. Um FLF for life.

SPEAKER_04 14:25

What was your first Holy Spirit moment that you knew was the Holy Spirit?

SPEAKER_03 14:30

Whenever I went to student camp last year. Student camp last year during the summertime. It was my first time ever going to camp or being around like that kind of atmosphere. It was at Nomo, and it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever seen in my entire life. And it was whenever on Wednesdays, every Wednesday, they have a moment where kids can go up to the platform and be prayed for to receive the tongues, like Holy Spirit, the gift of tongues, that kind of stuff. And I watched it can literally receive the gift of tongues in front of me. And it was like electric. In there, it was electric. And it was just one of those moments where it's like, you can't, you can't deny it. You can't deny it. You can't deny it. Like it's it's there, it's there, and it's just fun. Because that was my first time ever experiencing that ever. The first time I even heard like the Holy Spirit being its own, not really its own entity, but like three and one, and of them all being the same was during that time period, too. So it was like I was learning about everything all at once. Because in Catholicism, yes, you have like the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, you still hear about the Holy Spirit, but it's not as talked about. Like they're they don't talk about it. They don't talk about it, they just talk about God and Jesus, which is fine, and that's how I'm just saying. No, it's not, it's not like at all. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:56

Like I don't know if they believe in like divine connection and I don't know either. I don't know either. My grandma was Catholic. I went to St. Pious too, and I went to St.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

Pius my eighth grade year. Yeah, London. They wanted me to finish it out because I moved here my seventh grade year, and they wanted me to finish out Catholic school. So I went to St. Pious for a singular year.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

So I think Kaylee went for like four years.

SPEAKER_03 16:20

It wasn't that stopped. It wasn't bad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

No.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

It's not horrible. It's not horrible.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Well, we were hoping that we would it would fill her with Jesus, right? And and that that she would be a person of God or whatever, you know, and probably we were setting the bar way too high for what we were expecting out of her.

SPEAKER_05 16:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

But what we found was I mean, not that they don't they don't do their part of it, yeah, but she wasn't grasping and catching on, and it's it's a lot.

SPEAKER_03 16:51

Yeah, and it can almost feel forced at the beginning, which is what I experienced. I experienced major religious trauma, major religious trauma from going to Catholic school for so long. Not to mention I was hellaciously bullied whenever I was in Catholic school, but that's a whole nother story.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Well, yeah, that's we ran we ran across the same thing too. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 17:11

It's it was very clique is and it's like it's like I remember that if you weren't in this clique, you were done.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Well, so my thing is, and I'm just gonna be real, our our biggest issue was I wouldn't say like the outsider, but we weren't Catholic, so we paid for her to go there, and there was definitely a difference between those who go to Catholic Church and kids that their kids go and they tithe and do all those things, versus those who do not go to Catholic church and just pay the tuition to go. Yeah. And we started seeing that come out pretty bad. And and I don't have to say anything. I mean, you can go on social media and find it. It's just some some stuff was going down not too long ago, you know. And I yeah, I liked the people there and and all the things, and it was fine. I just we just had enough, and I was like, let's just like there's some really great teachers in the world.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

Absolutely. It just wasn't for good people. It wasn't for me, it wasn't for my brother. We pulled my brother out of that school as well, like the year after I graduated. They tried to hold him back for something that was really stupid, and we ended up transferring him to GBE just because it was just it was not the right fit for him.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Yeah, that's you know, and we uh again, it was it was a god intervention because we got she got bullied there, and I don't like I don't use that term lightly. I mean when I say somebody gets bullied, I mean they're not just getting verbally attacked, right? We're talking physical. Oh yeah, it is what it is, and it's now it's out there, so I don't really care. But uh but the intervention side of it was that I finally convinced my wife that let's try public school, let's try Rennick.

SPEAKER_05 18:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

And when she got to Rennick, but what is that? I want to mess this up. I think she was in fourth or fifth grade, but like her reading level was below where she should have been.

SPEAKER_05 18:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

And so with Rennick being so small, you know, her class sizes being a fraction, a third of the size that had more one on one. And like she this year she finished above her actual grade level in reading and everything within two years. And so at the end of the day, that's what I'm about. I'm about the education. I I I don't want to say I don't care about you know the the godly part of it, but you know, they still have uh they still have worship at Rennick.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

Do they?

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Yeah, they have worship at Rennick, like that's cool. I don't remember what days it was on, but they were having worship at Rennick in the mornings and it was voluntary. That's cool. And they could come in and some guy would come in and sing and you know, play music and stuff. So again, getting that, going to church, going to you know, FLF Kids Live and all that stuff too. So it's been it's been helpful too. So yeah, I it is what it is.

SPEAKER_04 19:48

Um lead worship Rennick.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Yeah, Renick go.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

I would love that.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

There you go. I need to find out if they're still doing it. I'll ask them Kaylee if they're still doing it. I remember because they used to like if they brought their Bible, they would, you know.

SPEAKER_04 20:01

I love that. That is so cool. Yeah, shout out to Rennick. Yeah, shout out to Ren.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Yeah, Rennick's pretty old. Rennick is the best school that I can I've can remember ever being part of. Now I want her to go to Higbee, and I think Higbee's come a long way too. But I mean we we s again it's and they've done a lot. Just Mindy's like, no, I uh uh you know, I'd just rather go to Rennick, and that's fine. And she because she already had friends in Rennick. Yeah, yeah. So that helped out a lot too. But yeah, it's been a it's been a great that uh that's really cool. That's how she made that transition.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

I know that's how my brother was too, because he was below on everything whenever he was there, and then as soon as he transferred to GBE, he has now been on the arm roll two years in a row in high school. That's where she's been, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Like she made it up to the AR roll. Yeah, it's he's insane. I think it's I I just think it's you you'd we're just trying to do they're trying to do too much of one and not the other. That it's not a healthy bowl. Yeah, right? Yeah. So if if she goes to Rennick for, you know, six, seven, eight hours a day. Um gosh, why did I think seven that that's if you divide that time up at you know, and going to church half of that time that we're in there, you're missing the education part. So that I think, you know, again, that's just just the the default setting of going to Catholic school is that you're gonna spend a third of your time in church learning about God, and that's that's okay. That's what I want. But I think at the same time it kind of hurts the the education side of it.

SPEAKER_04 21:35

I think it's good if you know that someone's gonna be Catholic their whole life. You know what I mean? Like it's not bad. I'm not saying it's bad like not to do it, but people who realistically, yeah, cool, good for you.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

It's not like it's a wrong answer.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

No, yeah, it's not a wrong answer at all. Got a lot of good friends that are go to Catholic Church or Catholic. I and I and I still like them, you know.

SPEAKER_04 21:54

I guess that was the wrong, I guess it's more beneficial if someone's going to be Catholic there, but it's still beneficial because you're

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Still getting a seed planted and it's just I really think, yeah, I mean the the the that part of it I think is helpful if it is day one. Yeah. But again, you know, she was day one and I was day basically zero.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

Day before one. Uh yeah, and it just the only thing it did was burn me out. Just because that's not where I belonged. And that's not where God wanted me to be. I think God just shows you Himself when Like we all have a a point in our life. Mine is very much the religious trauma because it also made me walk away from the church entirely for seven years.

SPEAKER_04 22:33

And sometimes it has to happen, so we're not blaming God. Yeah. And I wanna learn to blame people. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 22:39

You can say, you can go back and say when I grew up I was in the Baptist church.

SPEAKER_04 22:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

And I did not like going to church.

SPEAKER_04 22:47

Every church can church hurt someone. Yeah. And I wasn't hurt unintentionally.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

I think, and that's you know, when I was talking to the therapist girls about that, kind of what age do you think it's an age that their brain will actually absorb Christianity? Because that may be the problem with me when I was going to Baptist church. Like, I don't want to read these hymnals. I can't believe that old grandma behind me singing in my ears. She can't carry a tune in a five-gallon bucket. My mom can't sing, she's singing right next to me, you know. And I'm just like, I I don't I didn't like it. It wasn't for me.

SPEAKER_05 23:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

In Sunday school, I got kicked out of. It probably was for me. I just didn't want to do it. And so again, I think it's just uh a maybe a maturity thing.

SPEAKER_04 23:35

I think so. I think it's also part about being a kid, like to to physically like mentally grasp reality, like what reality actually is, like what what is after this is so little, like you know, and they're and I also think that kids are closer to the spiritual side, though, also. But there's something like that, that gap.

SPEAKER_03 23:56

There's that gap in our lives where well you're just so focused on what you know and what you can see and what your parents have told you because that's all you've ever known. So once you get to a certain age where you're able to even fathom that there is stuff beyond that, right? That's whenever you start really grasping, like, holy crap, like there's so much more to this life than just living day by day.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

I'm 47 and still figuring it out. Yes, and I got and I know a lot.

SPEAKER_04 24:21

I remember laying in bed. I had to be like eight or nine and just laying there and like, what if there was nothing? And my brain could not fathom it. Like if there was like nothing. You know what I mean? Nothing.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

So you say you say that. What is what is nothing? What do you what do you mean?

SPEAKER_04 24:36

I I mean like nothing existed. Or not you know what I mean? Like after you die, nothing, yeah, nothing's existed.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Oh, you're talking about when you when you die, where there's nothing.

SPEAKER_04 24:44

No, just in general. Well, that's what I'm saying. So you've never anything.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

You gotta you gotta elaborate on this. It's all minimum.

SPEAKER_04 24:50

Yeah, like I'm I don't know. Like we were The Matrix.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

Yeah, like no, but like I can't even explain it. It's so weird. It's just like No, I know exactly what you mean because been there. I don't. I do.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

It's like just where you're gonna act like just you almost feel like everything is fabricated. Everything is fabricated, and the government does things for certain reasons.

SPEAKER_04 25:10

Oh, I'm saying existence doesn't exist.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

That's what I'm saying. I at all I can't wrap my head around it. I'm trying to explain. I'm trying to just give me like a I used to trip myself out.

SPEAKER_04 25:20

I was like, what? Like, I'm not kidding. I was like, it's just weird. Just think about it. If there and there was no existence, nothing.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

I can't think about it.

SPEAKER_04 25:28

Exactly. It's weird, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 25:31

There's nothing to wrap your head around if there's nothing there.

SPEAKER_04 25:34

I know.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

I thought you were saying like maybe after life, and I was saying that's a risk you're gonna take, but you're probably better off, you know, sticking to the part of there is something. Yeah, there's not nothing. Worst case scenario, there is nothing, and that's okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:47

I'd rather believe and find out nothing was there than not believe and find out he is there. Exactly. I would rather then I get absolutely the short end of the stick at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

I've never really told people this, but my belief in God is because I believe Jesus walked on this earth.

SPEAKER_05 26:08

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

And and I believe that if you you know, I I think I've posted it before the statistics behind the Bible. It is absolutely 100% without a doubt, there's no way that could be made up. There's too many cross-references, too many stories that match up, etc. etc. Right? We didn't see it, so but that just goes back on to what you were saying where you said I was a kid.

SPEAKER_04 26:32

I was a kid.

SPEAKER_03 26:33

Like just like what if also the historical like part of it where it's like each book is written in completely different times in history, and then they somehow all interlink like half of them didn't even know each other.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

In different versions, and they talk about the same thing. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

Like, make it make sense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

I can't remember the statistics, I'm not smart enough to remember it, but it was I was listening to a d another podcast, one of the you know, people that I really just is probably the best podcaster on the planet earth, but by saying that they'll know who it is. He's not gonna listen to my podcast anyways. But he was he was he is somebody that I follow quite hard as far as as as far as what I listen and believe and what he says. And he's the one that brought up that statistic. And he just kind of surprised me when he brought it up. Look, she's a believer. Every other word out of his mouth's an F-word, you know, it's the F bomb, but that's just who he is.

SPEAKER_04 27:26

Oh, you know, yeah. I struggle with that sometimes. That's GM.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Get me on the golf course. Get me on the golf course. Give me on the golf course.

SPEAKER_03 27:33

Yeah, that's about right.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

But that I I I should chat GPT, that statistic, just just because uh I probably still have it in my saved, but to hear the cross-references of the Bible was absolutely to me mind blowing. I know I'll probably say that. Oh, Harry, here it is, right here. It was written over fifteen hundred years ago by forty different authors, made up of sixty-six books, written in three languages Hebrew, Aramaic, Aram, Aramaic, and Greek, written between twelve hundred BC and a hundred AD, but it contains sixty-three thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine cross references connecting scriptures together. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_04 28:14

That's insane. That's just insane. Well, God's gonna make sure it's undeniable.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

The kings wrote it, shepherds wrote it, fishermen wrote it, doctors wrote it, prophets wrote it. And it says, and through the years, wars, translations, and hand-copied manuscripts, it remains the most read and distributed book in history. Whether you read it for faith, history, and wisdom, or understanding, there's nothing else like it. So like those statistics are just they're undeniable. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 28:39

They're just undeniable. There's nothing else to say.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Either you you can't say that that isn't true. Yeah. You can just decide not to believe. Yeah. But you just can't say that's not true.

SPEAKER_04 28:52

It's when you yeah, when people start to argue it, I'm like, why? Just like I get it. There's so much statistical arguments where it's like I'm not gonna go away. Yeah, like I don't research.

SPEAKER_03 29:01

I'll pray for you all the time. I'll be like, do your own. I'm not mad at you.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

I got nothing but love for you, but let's just talk about something else. Go away. Like, I don't, I don't, I just because I don't is what it is. It is what it is.

SPEAKER_04 29:13

My homies Jesus Christ. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

What else what else is something we don't know about uh Gia?

SPEAKER_04 29:18

What's your favorite color? Girl pink, pink. Everything I knew, I knew that pink.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

I was gonna say, yeah, I think I was I was like going in. I was just zoning in on that.

SPEAKER_03 29:26

My gosh, everything. She's gonna have a pink car. Oh, yes. She already I almost got one off our Facebook marketplace. I was this close. But I did not. I did not know.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Okay, something that we don't know, because obviously we know everything.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

My biggest I guess this is good. My biggest piece of church hurt is whenever I went to confession one time, whenever I was a kid, and I told the priest that was behind the little wall, the little wall, that I said the F-word, and he told me that I was going to hell. Oh no!

SPEAKER_04 29:59

As well as saying ten pound marriage. That's like what's the one thing you can say to a kid right now is no one can be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 30:05

I was six years old. I was six years old, six or seven, maybe. That's terrible. Yeah, that was one of my biggest pieces of church art for me.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

Okay, so let's let's talk about because I must be confused because I thought that confession, and that was one of the things that was kind of odd to me, was confession. Like that was you go in there to confess, and then when you walk out that thing, you're good to go.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Like No, actually, it's actually not like that. I didn't know they said anything about it.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

Well, it's six, you're going to hell.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

Like I what they do is it's so God, not this one, he says.

SPEAKER_05 30:44

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_03 30:45

It's so complex. There's so many different ways that they do it. But the way that my church used to do it was once a month, roughly, you would go into this little room with just you and the priest, and then you would tell him all of the sins right after you said an act of contrition. You had to say it out loud to him, and then you repeated to him all of the sins that you had done that month that you were ashamed of, or whatever you wanted to talk about. And then he would go on to give you the assignment you needed to do to be forgiven. So saying 10 active contritions, going around and saying the rosary four times, doing like you have to say five Hell Marys and two like our fathers, like that kind of stuff is what ours used to be like. So that one that that was not a very good time in my life.

SPEAKER_04 31:35

Yeah, I remember sorry St. Pius for saying this, but I remember getting bullied at St. Pius and writing St. Pius sucks in my religion book when I got Yeah, I'm sorry, God. But God knows my heart. Yes, he knows our heart. I was young, I was like second grade young. Like I mean, at least y'all were in some type of church and no, yeah, it wasn't my best moment, but I you know I would never do that again. But yeah, I did. Well, I just thought I'm a rebel.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

I just thought confession was a little different than that. I thought it was like I could basically I I don't know that you would I would say that you could do what you want, but if and what you were doing was a sin, then you would go into confession and make everything right.

SPEAKER_03 32:12

Which essentially is what happens, but it's almost like I was telling you we're going to hell, sick, saying that for you. I don't know if he was trying to use like a scare tactic on me just to like kind of like fear fear-monger me into making me a hundred percent follow Jesus, which I don't agree with doing. I think everybody kind of has their own path and their own ways to getting to Jesus, and it's the seeds are planted when they're planted. But right, it was just it was a lot as a kid. It was a lot as a kid.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

I've never had nobody tell me I'm going to hell, even for all the things that I've done.

SPEAKER_03 32:44

Is that a in F I said once F word? And I thought we don't make that decision.

SPEAKER_04 32:51

We don't put people in hell, we do not tell people. No, because that's not our job.

SPEAKER_03 32:56

And that's another reason why I was so turned off by the Catholic Church. Like I didn't I wanted nothing to do with it. That's why I stepped away from anything having to do with faith and religion for seven years all throughout high school, and I did my big one while I was in high school. Like partying every weekend, I did my big one. Yeah, and then afterwards, I was started going to FLF whenever I was like 20 party or one. Oh yeah. So here's a here's a here's a question. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

I can Yeah I hate to say I can I can see that that probably was it. Sorry.

SPEAKER_05 33:26

I think we all did.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

So here's here as a parent of a kid that's your age and one older. Does your parents know everything that you did?

SPEAKER_03 33:39

Just about. They know just about everything. I was an open book with my dad. Um that's what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

A parent parents or whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:46

My dad is. I'm still finding stuff out for him. That's the funny thing to do.

SPEAKER_04 33:49

You will for a while because there's a lot of stuff my dad doesn't know.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

Like, oh gosh.

SPEAKER_04 33:54

Remember that time you took me to this house?

SPEAKER_01 33:56

I got I got two kids in there. I'm still finding stuff out today.

SPEAKER_03 34:00

I guess I can talk about it. It's fine. We'll have that talk later. He's not gonna be back in the house.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

We're gonna check and see if dad's watching movie.

SPEAKER_03 34:07

She's a different woman now. I am. I am a I am a changed woman.

SPEAKER_05 34:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

And I back in the day, I went to the lake that's kind of out by Cairo. I think it's Sugar Creek. I think that one's Sugar Creek. But went out there and I was with a whole group of friends. It was my ex-boyfriend, boyfriend at the time, and a couple of his friends and a couple of my friends. We took two separate vehicles, and a lot of my friends were in the other vehicle. So on the way back home to from the lake, my ex was driving my car and smacked a deer going 60 miles an hour. Oh yeah. It told the actually same car I drive now. I don't know how it survived. What a rebel. It looked terrible. He ended up hitting the deer whenever I was in the other car. Like I was not with him. I was with my other friends. And he was on his way to K Row to go drop off some of his friends while I was on my way back to Moberly to meet up with him at one of our mutual friends' house. And he called me and I thought he was joking. And then I told my dad that it was me. No, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:15

I'm sorry, dad.

SPEAKER_03 35:16

That one was one of them. But they know most of the times that I went out and partied. Like I can see your dad punching the air right now. My my dad, my dad was very much like uh I knew it. I knew it wasn't a good one. I knew it. I knew it. He he knew it. I guarantee you he did. This is just gonna be confirmation. Yeah. But he always knew whenever I went out and partied too, because back in the day, like my parents didn't really care about that kind of stuff. Like they would rather meet them drop me off and know that I'm safe and know that I'm gonna not gonna drunk drive than them just be oblivious and act like they don't know what's going on, but then know that I'm there because parents always know. Parents always know. Parents always know.

SPEAKER_04 35:54

And and and sadly, parents or kids go behind parents' back.

SPEAKER_03 35:57

Yeah, all the time. All the time. And it I never really went much behind their back. Well, that's because they were really transparent with me. And it was mainly like me and my dad. We like this. We've been like that for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

So I got a question to kind of segue off of what we discussed last night at Mr. Gwenner's round table discussion, his his small group. Do you believe drinking alcohol is a sin? I'll ask each one of you.

SPEAKER_03 36:22

If you get drunk.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 36:24

If you get drunk, I believe that that is a sin. I think if you have a drink personally, this is my opinion. My opinion, discretion. If you have other drinking.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

There's nothing in the Bible that says that if you drink it's a sin. I'm just Yes.

SPEAKER_03 36:39

It specifically says stuff about getting drunken and belligerent. It doesn't say anything about having a drink or even two drinks. If you stay within that field, that limit, then I think, in my opinion, it's fine. There's a difference between the five. I love an espresso martini. I can't help it.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

See?

SPEAKER_03 36:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

I'm not planned to be against it. I don't I I believe with what you said because I have been in alcohol trouble like driving while intoxicated. So I've I see the side of I see the side both sides. I see the side of I don't think it's a sin uh to have a drink.

SPEAKER_04 37:20

The Bible does say stay sober.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

Yeah. Right. That's the only thing. But if you're not drunk clear-minded, if you're not drinking, no, yeah, yeah, no, I'm not saying don't drink.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

I'm not saying so so give me 30 seconds here. No, no, you're fine. Because I want to I want to go back on that what you just said, because I don't want people to think it's one way or the other. I think it is a personal preference, I think it's a personal conviction. Because the funny thing that I I think is funny about the alcohol part of it and people trying to say it's a sin or not good for you. Okay, that's fine. But your body is a temple.

SPEAKER_03 37:55

Yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

So why are you not taking care of it?

SPEAKER_03 37:59

Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Why are you eating the things that you shouldn't myself? I love ice cream of cookies. I'm not blaming anybody. I love ice cream McDonald's. Why are you not okay? So so we don't get to pick and choose to call a sin or what's right or wrong.

SPEAKER_03 38:14

Right, because at the end of the day, it's not up to us.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

Exactly. So I was just I'm not I'm not saying your answer's right or wrong, your answer's right or wrong. No, yeah. I agree. I agree. I also like I said, but then I see both sides of I can't it's like Dave Ramsey talking about having a credit card.

SPEAKER_05 38:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:32

I've taught Financial Peace University, probably five or six classes. I budget. I just got done, I budget every week. I budget, I do all the things. But he has to it has to be black and white for some people. Yeah, it would be very much. Meaning have I taught Financial Peace University and do I have a credit card? I absolutely do. I have multiple credit cards.

SPEAKER_04 38:51

It's all about self-control.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

But I pay them off every single month. But Dave couldn't say Gia, you can't have a credit card. Right now I don't think I should. Robert, you can have a credit card. You because you you know you can't do that. So it's kind of the I kind of see it the same way with alcohol, which is well Gia, since you're just gonna have uh espresso martini next year while you're in Chicago.

SPEAKER_05 39:14

How dare you?

SPEAKER_01 39:15

That's not a sin. But if I want to go out and have eight beers and get drunk and dry, that's a sin. It's it's just a really hard fine line. And I think you're right. I think it's to me personally, I mean, I know our our pastors may or may not listen to this. I know one of them probably will listen to it, and they're both wholeheartedly against it, and I respect it um a hundred percent. But we were just talking about it last night in a small group, and it's like the most debated thing, and it's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 39:44

I think it's also because what uh what comes along with that is the atmosphere.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

Yeah, because that is very true.

SPEAKER_04 39:50

I used to go to the bar to sing karaoke, I don't do that anymore.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

I used to DJ and watch people just get drunk.

SPEAKER_04 39:57

Because I know that if I walk into a bar, I'm gonna be around other people's demons flying around because you have to protect yourself. Yes, because when I it's and I'm not judging anyone because I used to party and drink and all that. I don't drink anymore. I might have a drink like like you said, or whatever next year while you're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_03 40:16

And then I'll take a drink and be like, uh, I have one drink once a year, and that's about it. We all have we all have our different vice.

SPEAKER_04 40:24

We all have our different vices. So I'm not gonna sit here and say that someone drinking is a bad person or anything.

SPEAKER_03 40:28

Yeah, it just it really honestly depends on the person. And I very much foolish.

SPEAKER_04 40:32

It depends on how you use if you're gonna sit and drink one beer and that's gonna be it, or you're gonna sit there and drink 80.

SPEAKER_03 40:39

Yeah, you're gonna drink twelve silly things. Exactly. Are you going to relapse or do something like that if you were an alcoholic? Like, is this one drink going to push you over the edge?

SPEAKER_01 40:49

The problem with alcohol is the honest truth about alcohol, there is absolutely positively nothing that good comes from it.

SPEAKER_04 40:55

No, I think it's with I think that's with any addiction and anything you use too much, is you're allowing the enemy space in your brain.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

100% because I went 100%, I think almost a year without drinking, then I went another nine months.

SPEAKER_04 41:09

Because I know my thoughts when I drink are different. Like if I if I was drunk right now, my thoughts would be completely different.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

This would be a whole different podcast.

SPEAKER_04 41:15

Yeah, like my my yeah, exactly. Like I that's what I'm saying is like my thoughts would be different. I would say dumber thing. Like it's just no, I get it.

SPEAKER_01 41:23

I just and and again, it's just they they brought it up last night. You you you talked about, you know, I figured I ain't gonna lie, I thought your story would be a little wilder than it was.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

Well, I mean, I think wild, but it's more of like a well when you said dad didn't know, I was sitting there going, Oh, I might have just opened Pandora's box. No, you just it's so minimal because my dad and I are so close. Like he knows so much and he knows basically everything about me. So it's never really been bad. And I whenever I was in high school, I did some crazy things, but it wasn't really anything that got me in any trouble. I did things ever got a problem.

SPEAKER_02 42:02

Yeah, you know, I didn't get caught. I did get caught up for stealing. Yeah, I did that too.

SPEAKER_03 42:06

That was rough.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

I think crazy has different levels.

SPEAKER_03 42:09

Very much, and I have very much chilled out like ever since a little bit before I got my internship at the church, I would say I leveled out very much. I don't I like just I go to bed at like nine and I read.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

I read I read like 8 30.

SPEAKER_03 42:25

I was just telling her this before you got in here.

SPEAKER_02 42:28

I on Saturday, I lay down in my bed at one, one o'clock in the afternoon and read until one o'clock in the morning, Bobby. 12 hours straight. I stopped for a little bit to eat.

SPEAKER_01 42:39

You do not have to eat. No, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

I used to. I don't know what happened to me.

SPEAKER_01 42:43

You don't have it. I'm cured.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

I'm cured. Well, I also listened to the audiobook at the same time, so I think that might make a little bit of a lot of things. Yes, I'd be so smart for it.

SPEAKER_03 42:53

I'd be so smart. And the the book that I'm reading right now, they have one that's like it has the atmosphere in the background too. So it's about dragons and stuff. So you can read like the tracking point. And it's really dragons.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

It's even worse.

SPEAKER_03 43:06

It's like I'm actually really old. My brother never feels to remind me every day that I'm getting old.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

So Yeah, my wife doesn't have a problem reminding me either, so it's fine. Anything else that you think that uh we don't know about Gio or that we should know about Gia? I mean, you already work here, so it's too late for me to ask the question.

SPEAKER_02 43:27

Um psychopath or something.

SPEAKER_01 43:30

Murderer on the weekends.

SPEAKER_03 43:32

No, I'm just not a reader. I'm a heavy reader, heavy reader.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

That's the worst thing I'm I think we can handle. Because I read every single day.

SPEAKER_03 43:41

Now that I say this, you're gonna start noticing it. Every single day I'm here. My Kindle sits out on my desk. I never touch it, but it sits out and stares at me all day. And I like it. I like it. It's motivation.

SPEAKER_01 43:51

Kindle has its own brain and me every single day.

SPEAKER_03 43:57

And I love it. Because I love the case that I have on it, and I also love the cover of the book. That's all I need to say. I'm done for the day.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

Ted talk over. Ted Talk over. Alright. Well, anything else you got, Madison?

SPEAKER_04 44:10

No, except for I'm her best friend. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 44:12

She's a best friend, but she still asked her what her favorite color was.

SPEAKER_04 44:15

You stop. We are newly. I knew that was we are getting to know each other.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

We've been doing this podcast for a couple months now, and you guys are loud and obnoxious.

SPEAKER_04 44:26

We get closer every week.

SPEAKER_01 44:28

When day one.

SPEAKER_04 44:30

Every week.

unknown 44:31

Every week.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

A lot of obnoxious weeks.

SPEAKER_03 44:34

Yes, obnoxious on day one. I'm good.

SPEAKER_04 44:36

We were close beforehand, but not as much as we are now, I fear. It was like bathroom conversations. Oh, a lot of no. And now I go annoy her as soon as I see her, I'm like, okay, well.

SPEAKER_01 44:45

Uh before we get into bathroom conversations, we probably did you have something?

SPEAKER_04 44:50

No, that's where I said my first naughty word at church. In front of Gia. It was kind of and I had to immediately repent and in the bathroom. It was kind of funny. It was kind of funny. That was where our friendship became. It was it was real from that point forward. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

All right, guys. Well, I appreciate you uh tuning in and we'll finish off with bathroom conversations. I don't know what those are.

SPEAKER_04 45:13

I'm gonna have a conversation on Sunday now.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

Maybe I'm gonna be watching and be like, they both went in the bathroom.

SPEAKER_03 45:20

Oh, yeah, and you know that the best conversations happen in there.

SPEAKER_01 45:23

So just I would say the best thinking.

SPEAKER_03 45:26

They really do, though. It does. It does.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

But I've I I know it's a woman thing. Yeah, it is. It's a woman thing. It is if you guys have bathroom conversations, please let us know in the comment section or something, wherever this is at. I need to I need to know if you're having it's not comment. It's not a manly thing if you're having bathroom conversations. We need to talk in the shop, in my shop. Talking shop. We're not talking in the bathroom.

SPEAKER_02 45:48

Okay, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Wow. All right. So, Gia, thank you. You're welcome for telling us about you. And Madison, thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_04 45:57

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

And next week, uh confirmed for the second time, is the uh atheist turned Christian. It's been a transfer. And it just ha it God's doing it for a reason.

SPEAKER_03 46:08

Yes, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

I looked and I looked and next week's open. The next three weeks after that is not. So I was thinking we'll have to push him off a month. I looked and I'm like, the 23rd work, he's like, I'll be there, I promise. I'm sorry. Like, that's awesome. There's a reason.

SPEAKER_05 46:22

It's cool.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

There's a reason. He gives him another week to have his stories even gonna be built up even more. Because I had some people tuning in this podcast, and then they're they're gonna turn it on and be like, oh, we're hearing about Gia.

SPEAKER_03 46:32

No, thank you. It's worth every second of your time. That's my baby.

SPEAKER_01 46:37

Yeah, I hit the right button. That was awesome. I was like, I'm going for it. I'm going to go for the drums or the cheer.

SPEAKER_03 46:43

Hey, you had a 25% chance and you hit it. I hit it. You hit it.

SPEAKER_01 46:47

All right, guys. Appreciate you. Love ya. Robert the Realists out.

unknown 46:51

Woo.