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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Hey friend, do you ever feel like the busyness of

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Speaker 2: life makes it hard to slow down and truly connect

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Speaker 2: with Jesus. Do your priorities and passions feel jumbled and

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Speaker 2: out of whack? Then join me this summer on my

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Speaker 2: podcast how to Study the Bible as we Dive into

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Speaker 2: Spiritual Rhythms, a six week series that will lead us

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Speaker 2: through six spiritual rhythms to help us slow down and

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Speaker 2: make space for Jesus in the busyness of everyday life.

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Speaker 3: To guide us, I've.

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Speaker 2: Put together a free downloadable six week study available at

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Speaker 2: nicoleunis dot com slash Spiritual Practices. The study will walk

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Speaker 2: us through God's word as we learn to embrace daily

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Speaker 2: practices that draw us closer to Jesus. Each week on

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Speaker 2: the podcast, we'll walk through one spiritual rhythm that helps

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Speaker 2: us discover how to spend intentional time with God, align

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Speaker 2: our passions and balance our priorities, and make time and

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Speaker 2: space for restfulness and celebration. Download Spiritual Rhythms for free

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Speaker 2: today at nicoleunics dot com slash Spiritual Practices, and I'll

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Speaker 2: see you on how to Say the Bible. Okay, welcome

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Speaker 2: back to How to Say the Bible. I'm your host Nicole,

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Speaker 2: joined by Rev.

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Speaker 3: Rachel once again.

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Speaker 4: Hey, everybody, good night.

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Speaker 2: I want you guys to know that Rachel is up

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Speaker 2: at a very early hour on the West coast right

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Speaker 2: now while we're recording.

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Speaker 3: And that's how much she loves you, guys, because this

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Speaker 3: isn't that much. Yeah, sacrifice loved all.

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Speaker 4: Not a morning person, but I love you and Jesus So.

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Speaker 2: If you're a p so we're going to ask God

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Speaker 2: to really make this time very fruitful for the fact

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Speaker 2: that you're not in your bed anymore. So, guys, we

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Speaker 2: are in this series on spiritual rhythms, and we're building

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Speaker 2: this whole concept around the idea that as human beings,

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Speaker 2: the right pace creates the right perspective, and that right

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Speaker 2: perspective leads us to wisdom and peace. When we're connected

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Speaker 2: to Christ, we can live out the Christian life. So

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Speaker 2: we're examining our lives for ways that we can create

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Speaker 2: rhythms that help us connect with Christ, but also to

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Speaker 2: look at rhythms that are already in our life that

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Speaker 2: might be distracting or pulling us away from becoming the

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Speaker 2: kind of people that we want to be as followers

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Speaker 2: of Jesus. So we're going to do that today, but

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Speaker 2: we're going to get into it because we always do.

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Speaker 2: We're going to start from scripture, and then we're going

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Speaker 2: to use that scripture to look at ways that this

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Speaker 2: applies to our everyday life. So we're going to be

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Speaker 2: in Mark chapter four today looking at a story of

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Speaker 2: Jesus and his disciples, and then we're going to go

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Speaker 2: on a wild ride of connecting this story to our

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Speaker 2: modern life today.

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Speaker 3: If you guys are ready, so Rev.

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Speaker 2: Rachel, will you read Mark four this passage to us,

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Speaker 2: and then we will get into our bibble study together.

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Speaker 3: All r I'd be happy to wow.

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Speaker 4: Let's do it. So this Mark four versus that day,

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Speaker 4: when evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, let us

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Speaker 4: go over to the other side. Leaving the crowd behind.

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Speaker 4: It took him along. Just as he was in the boat,

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Speaker 4: there were also other boats with him. A furious squaw

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Speaker 4: came up, and the waves broke over the boats that

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Speaker 4: it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping

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Speaker 4: on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, teacher,

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Speaker 4: don't you care if we drown? He got up, rebuked

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Speaker 4: the winds and said to the waves quiet, be still.

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Speaker 3: Then the winds died down.

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Speaker 4: And it was completely calm. He said to his disciples,

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Speaker 4: why are you so great?

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Speaker 3: Do you still have no faith?

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Speaker 4: And they were terrified and asked each other, who is this?

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Speaker 4: Even the winds and the waves obey here?

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Speaker 2: Okay, So guys, like we always do, and we're just

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Speaker 2: inviting you into this practice, we're going to ask the question,

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Speaker 2: what does it say?

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Speaker 3: We really want to know, like we want to be

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Speaker 3: able to.

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Speaker 2: Repeat in our mind or sort of see the movie

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Speaker 2: play out and look at the movie from different perspectives

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Speaker 2: in different angles for what we see here. So we've

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Speaker 2: got this moment, right, We've got Jesus with his friends.

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Speaker 2: Jesus and his friends are in a boat. There's a squall,

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Speaker 2: which I don't know if any of us have ever

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Speaker 2: been in a squall. I mean I've been in a

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Speaker 2: boat where it's really just like two foot waves that

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Speaker 2: I'm already feeling it like you you know, you get going,

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Speaker 2: you maybe just get swinging and you're like, wow, this,

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Speaker 2: I feel like we could go over, you know. So

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Speaker 2: we've got this big squall that comes and these waves

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Speaker 2: are going over the boat. That's how like dramatically scary.

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Speaker 2: This is right, And somehow Jesus is still sleeping through

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Speaker 2: this time. So the disciples are like, get involved.

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Speaker 3: Like help us out. How have you not here? Yeah, Like,

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Speaker 3: how do you not feel this? This is crazy?

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Speaker 2: So we've got all this going on, right, So I

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Speaker 2: want you to engage and invite yourself into this moment.

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Speaker 2: Imagine yourself as a disciple as this plays out. And

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Speaker 2: it's always been interesting to me that a lot of

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Speaker 2: these disciples were fishermen, so they're out on boats.

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Speaker 3: It's not like they're whips.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, They're not like boat novices who are like not

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Speaker 2: sure what's happening. So, I mean what that tells me

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Speaker 2: is that it must have been like a really big storm,

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Speaker 2: like not a small storm, right, oh yeah yeah.

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Speaker 4: And actually even the language, I love the Gospel of Mark.

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Speaker 4: It might be my favorite. Probably not supposed to have

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Speaker 4: favorites in the gospels, but it's mine.

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Speaker 2: It's so take children, They're all your favorites for different peas.

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Speaker 3: It's totally fine. Yeah, I say on this podcast all

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Speaker 3: the time.

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Speaker 2: Now, this is really my favorite passage, and anyone who's

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Speaker 2: been listening for a while is like Nicole, You've said

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Speaker 2: that one hundred and.

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Speaker 4: But the lake, So what's going to happen? You know,

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Speaker 4: we talk about backstory in context for a passage. The

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Speaker 4: very next scene is going to be the Jerresine Demoniac

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Speaker 4: where the demoniac runs Jesus. Jesus sent the legion of

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Speaker 4: demons out of him. And this is very deliberately teeing

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Speaker 4: that up because it was that Jesus got up and

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Speaker 4: rebuked the wind. That's actually the same word that Jesus

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Speaker 4: uses to handle demonic forces. And so I love this

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Speaker 4: passage because what we're going to see, author of Mark,

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Speaker 4: is that Jesus brings peace out of chaos. Jesus brings

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Speaker 4: peace out of chaos. And as we all say it

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Speaker 4: the whole time, like this is how God has works

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Speaker 4: the whole time. God is continuing to move to bring

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Speaker 4: peace out of chaos. But this is a very a

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Speaker 4: very exciting, very nerve wracking moment in the lives of

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Speaker 4: the disciples. They're losing their ever loving minds.

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Speaker 3: And I love that Jesus just does what he does.

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Speaker 2: I love that it says, don't you care if we drown?

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Speaker 2: It wasn't even like Hey, can you help us out?

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Speaker 2: Or like, excuse me, tap tap Jesus, do you feel

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Speaker 2: what's happening right now? No, it was like this like

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Speaker 2: panic right, like talk about chaos there obviously got to

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Speaker 2: that panic point. And anyone who's listening to this podcast, man,

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Speaker 2: have you experienced that panic point in your life where

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Speaker 2: you're like, Oh my gosh, I am so overwhelmed, I'm

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Speaker 2: so stressed, I'm so panicked. I don't know what's going

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Speaker 2: to happen right now, and you're asking the question, Jesus.

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Speaker 3: Do you care? Do you care about where I am?

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Speaker 1: Right?

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Speaker 2: And we're engaging in this sort of view into the

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Speaker 2: fact that Jesus has complete command over even the things

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Speaker 2: that seem completely out of control, right, command over the wind,

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Speaker 2: command over the waves. And then we see in the

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Speaker 2: next passage command over the spiritual realm, right, like the

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Speaker 2: earthly realm, the spiritual realm.

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Speaker 3: So Mark builds this idea all the way.

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Speaker 2: Through that Jesus has command over all of these things, right,

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Speaker 2: and then of course, like that's kind of the backstory

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Speaker 2: of what's happening. Right, So we finished the thing and

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Speaker 2: Jesus is like, hey, do you have no faith?

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Speaker 3: Right, which what do you think about that?

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Speaker 2: Like it feels harsh, you know when you read it,

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Speaker 2: you're like, well, marsh boat, but the boat almost dropped,

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Speaker 2: like he was sleepy in the boat, you know, like

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Speaker 2: it's like, why are you so afraid? Do you still

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Speaker 2: have no faith? I mean, how do you read that

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Speaker 2: that Jesus says that back to the disciples.

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Speaker 4: It does feel LEAs ull savage. But I think what

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Speaker 4: we see, and we see throughout the Gospel of Mark,

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Speaker 4: is that the disciples don't get it, and they they're

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Speaker 4: not going to until the.

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Speaker 3: Cross and the resurrection.

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Speaker 4: And so Jesus has already been doing a bunch of

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Speaker 4: cool stuff. It's not like this was his first miracle, right,

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Speaker 4: this is not his first rodeo. Sure, but but the

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Speaker 4: disciples respond the way that we always respond, which is, yeah,

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Speaker 4: God could do God did it back then, But that

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Speaker 4: does mean he's going to do it again. So what

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Speaker 4: if he doesn't do it again? Right? What if people's

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Speaker 4: behaving at this time? And I think the disciples feel

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Speaker 4: that and then we feel that, and that's what Jesus

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Speaker 4: calls attention to.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, and also it's like so interesting to me

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Speaker 3: the time.

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Speaker 2: This is why I love digging into Bible study together

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Speaker 2: and asking the question, what does it say, because listen

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Speaker 2: to what it says, like they experience Jesus, they're they're terrified, right,

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Speaker 2: obviously they're terrified. They asked Jesus to help, right, he

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Speaker 2: quiets the wind and the waves. And then in verse

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Speaker 2: forty one, it says they were terrified because of what

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Speaker 2: Jesus did. So they went from being scared of the world, right,

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Speaker 2: scared of what's out there, to actually this like reverent

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Speaker 2: like understanding of Jesus's power. And I think a lot

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Speaker 2: of times we try to make fear go away when

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Speaker 2: in reality we need to place ourselves under the right control. Right, Like,

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Speaker 2: if Jesus has this kind of control, it's almost like

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Speaker 2: they're so taken aback by what he can actually do.

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Speaker 2: And I think that sometimes is even missing in our

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Speaker 2: lives right now. It's like we see Jesus as a friend.

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Speaker 2: He's like our homeboy, you know, he's wise. We sometimes

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Speaker 2: can miss his power and the fact that like he's

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Speaker 2: got it and you can you can have reverent like

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Speaker 2: awe of who Jesus is. Because that's what happened to

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Speaker 2: the disciples, is like they were like, oh my gosh, like,

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Speaker 2: who is this guy? You know, I don't know if

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Speaker 2: you've experienced that in your world, Rachel, where you have

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Speaker 2: this moment of awe, But I think it's a little

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Speaker 2: harder to come by. We're just going to get us

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Speaker 2: into our practice of the week. Yeah, yeah, So what

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Speaker 2: is it for you?

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Speaker 3: Like when? When do you have that awe?

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Speaker 2: Or can you think of a time for yourself that

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Speaker 2: you've experienced that sort of reverent like God is in control.

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Speaker 4: I think probably two places really happens. One is part

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Speaker 4: of why it is so healthy for human beings to

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Speaker 4: be in nature is because there are a few things

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Speaker 4: that really reorient our perspective, like being a small, tiny

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Speaker 4: human and an expansive space of nature and recognizing how

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Speaker 4: vulnerable and powers really are, contrary to what our modern

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Speaker 4: world has really tried to convince us that we are

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Speaker 4: in fact all power for ourselves. It doesn't take very

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Speaker 4: long on the top of a mountain to recognize, oh,

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Speaker 4: if I don't get down here in eighteen minutes, I've

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Speaker 4: be struck by lightning and die. So that that's an

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Speaker 4: old story or anything. So that's I think that's one

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Speaker 4: space where I experience that the honestly, the other space

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Speaker 4: where I've really felt that sense is in times of

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Speaker 4: real crisis, because I think there's something about vulnerability and

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Speaker 4: crisis and danger where you recognize, oh, my goodness, if

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Speaker 4: Jesus does not do something, we are in big trouble.

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Speaker 4: And then when he does and you're like, oh my

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Speaker 4: goodness am I dealing with You're almost a little more

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Speaker 4: for death than you were before.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean really, you know, all through scripture

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Speaker 2: when people have encounters with God or God's angels or

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Speaker 2: Jesus in his majesty, they're terrified.

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Speaker 3: They like are overwhelmed.

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Speaker 2: And I think part of like really flourishing as a

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Speaker 2: human is understanding our size. That sounds counterintuitive, but to

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Speaker 2: really flourish as a human is to have the humility

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Speaker 2: to understand where we really belong in the world. And

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Speaker 2: that opens us up, I think, to wonder and to

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Speaker 2: awe and to the ability to be experiencing who.

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Speaker 3: God really is.

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Speaker 2: Right, So let's talk a little bit about like what

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Speaker 2: does this mean for us? Like, Okay, we have Jesus

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Speaker 2: calming the storm. We're not in boats, we're not in squalls.

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Speaker 2: Jesus isn't sleeping on a cushion. So how do we

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Speaker 2: take this into modern life? And we are some practices

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Speaker 2: that we could sort of apply coming out of this.

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Speaker 4: Well, there's a lot you can take out of this

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Speaker 4: passage even if we're not in the boats. But for

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Speaker 4: our purposes and what we're talking about this summer, I

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Speaker 4: think that the same principle of this passage is what

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Speaker 4: we deeply need in a particular corner of our lives

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Speaker 4: that we're going to talk about, and that's that Jesus

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Speaker 4: brings peace out of chaos. Jesus being brings quiet and

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Speaker 4: stillness that's powerful and substantive. But Jesus calms storms metaphorical

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Speaker 4: and spiritual and physical and all the storms, and especially

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Speaker 4: in our digital lives. I think we could use a

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Speaker 4: little bit of quiet and stillness and peace in a

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Speaker 4: very very chaosic digital world.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so we're going to actually give you that invitation

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Speaker 2: to this week, So if that sounds good to you, Oh,

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Speaker 2: Jesus bringing peaces out of chaos, Jesus calming the storm.

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Speaker 2: One of the ways that we can engage with am

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Speaker 2: I setting myself up to experience Jesus's peace, is to

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Speaker 2: ask ourselves, well, what does my everyday life look like,

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Speaker 2: particularly when it comes to my rhythms.

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Speaker 3: So we're inviting you right into the.

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Speaker 2: Place where it hurts and asking the question, how much

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Speaker 2: are you scrolling? How much are you on your screens,

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Speaker 2: any screens of any kind. And it's not because technology

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Speaker 2: in it of itself is a bad thing. We know

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Speaker 2: that technology is what's connecting us. Right now, Rachel and

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Speaker 2: I are on a video call, connecting with you guys,

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Speaker 2: all thirty thousand of you, all of you.

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Speaker 3: We're connecting right. There's some beautiful things about it.

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Speaker 2: But what the digital age has done is like numb

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Speaker 2: us into a place of constant distraction where distraction is

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Speaker 2: actually what feels like the norm, and we start losing

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Speaker 2: the ability to not be distracted, like and you see

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Speaker 2: it all the time.

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Speaker 3: I mean, walk through an airport.

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Speaker 2: It's bizarre, like if you walk through an airport twenty

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Speaker 2: five years ago and today and the phone like just

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Speaker 2: people are not connecting with one another, They're not connecting

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Speaker 2: with the world around them, and we are We all

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Speaker 2: fall prey to that. This isn't us like shaking our

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Speaker 2: fingers at anybody who's listening right now, nor should you

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Speaker 2: be doing that.

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Speaker 3: To anyone else.

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Speaker 2: This is more about like, hey, this is the world

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Speaker 2: we live in and the world is rapidly changing, especially

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Speaker 2: in this area. So you are as susceptible as anyone

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Speaker 2: else to finding yourself numbed into distraction in a way

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Speaker 2: that makes you continue to have a chaotic soul without

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Speaker 2: the space to allow Jesus to come in and bring

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Speaker 2: the kind of peace that he can.

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Speaker 3: Now, it's not that Jesus can't.

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Speaker 2: Master over anything, we know that, right, But Jesus is

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Speaker 2: a gentleman. I mean, God is very invitational in nature,

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Speaker 2: and that means that we have to place ourselves in

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Speaker 2: a position to hear from him, and to do so

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Speaker 2: often means looking at where are there spaces in my

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Speaker 2: life where there is quiet or stillness of any kind?

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Speaker 2: And how do I actually do that with my digital rhythm?

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Speaker 2: Like understanding my digital rhythms? So talk to us a

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Speaker 2: little bit about what this looks like in college, you know,

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Speaker 2: like and how you kind of set this up?

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Speaker 3: How did you kind of set this up with your students?

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Speaker 4: Well, interesting is I didn't need to sell them on this.

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Speaker 4: They already know how destructive vice and grip that technology

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Speaker 4: has in their lives.

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Speaker 2: In many ways.

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Speaker 4: And again it's not necessarily the technology itself that's the issue,

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Speaker 4: but it's human beings that's always been the issue, right,

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Speaker 4: And so so students recognized this, and I've often said, actually,

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Speaker 4: i feel like for most of my pastoral ministry, I'm

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Speaker 4: just trying to teach people how to be Christian with

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Speaker 4: an iPhone, which is actually very hard to do behind

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Speaker 4: Christy with an iPhone. Like, So, what's one of the

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Speaker 4: most wonderful things about ROLL students is that when they

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Speaker 4: decide they're going to go for something, they're all in.

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Speaker 4: And so they really embrace this and said, we actually

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Speaker 4: don't want this dictating our lives for a lot of reasons.

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Speaker 4: For one thing, we know anxiety has gone out for

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Speaker 4: a lot of reasons, right, the digital stimulation in your brand,

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Speaker 4: the content you're absorbing, I mean, there's so many, so

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Speaker 4: many things or this really just needs to be put

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Speaker 4: in its place.

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Speaker 3: And Annie Dillard, who's a really.

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Speaker 4: Wonderful American writer, she has this very indiceting line she says,

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Speaker 4: of how we spend our days is of course how

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Speaker 4: we spend our lives. And if you bring up your

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Speaker 4: screen time on your phone, of what the last day

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Speaker 4: was that should be a reality check for me, which

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Speaker 4: it is, yeah, for everybody. Oh my gosh, I spent

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Speaker 4: four hours, five hours, six hours, look at my phone today.

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Speaker 4: This is how I'm spending my life. And how do

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Speaker 4: I want to invite Jesus into this space and to

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Speaker 4: let him be lord over this realm of my life too,

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Speaker 4: of my digital lives and my social media life, and

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Speaker 4: let that be a corner of the Kingdom of God

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Speaker 4: and not something that just consumes my time and my

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Speaker 4: energy and my attention and my anxiety.

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Speaker 3: Here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, very good. And you know, you know obviously,

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Speaker 2: like I'll put on my therapist's hat right now. I

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Speaker 2: just invite everyone to the question, as you raise your

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Speaker 2: awareness about what you're doing with your screens, ask yourself

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Speaker 2: the question, what am I avoiding right now? A lot

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Speaker 2: of what people use technology for, outside of the goodness

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Speaker 2: of whatever you're doing using your work, whatever is to avoid.

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Speaker 2: And we are taking what only Jesus can calm, what

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Speaker 2: only he can heal, what only he can renovate, and

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Speaker 2: we're actually avoiding it by distracting ourselves. So the place

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Speaker 2: where Jesus could do the greatest work in your life,

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Speaker 2: where you could experience the biggest miracles in your soul,

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Speaker 2: the places of unforgiveness, the places of anxiety, a fear

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Speaker 2: of lack of purpose, whatever that thing is for you

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Speaker 2: right now, that thing that Jesus has command over is

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Speaker 2: not commanded by your screen.

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Speaker 3: And yet that's the thing we often use. So step one.

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Speaker 2: I mean, certainly there are and we put it in

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Speaker 2: the download, lots of options and kind of ways to

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Speaker 2: consider small changes that you can make. My friend Justin

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Speaker 2: Early who wrote the book The Common Rule, he talks

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Speaker 2: about scripture before phone, Like what if you just said

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Speaker 2: I'm going to read the Bible before I pick up

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Speaker 2: my phone. That's an example of a very and you

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Speaker 2: will see how difficult that is for you to do,

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Speaker 2: you know, and engage with that. But I think asking

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Speaker 2: yourself the question, Okay, I'm becoming more aware of what

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Speaker 2: I'm doing. What do I tend to avoid? And this

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Speaker 2: is a whole different podcast, which we will do some

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Speaker 2: other times. But we have lost the ability to be sad,

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Speaker 2: to lament, to grieve as part of our human experience.

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Speaker 2: I think that's one of the things we try to avoid.

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Speaker 2: So just pay attention what am I avoiding? What is

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Speaker 2: this doing for me while I'm avoiding being bored, I'm

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Speaker 2: avoiding being lonely, I'm avoiding Well, those are the places

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Speaker 2: that the Holy Spirit can heal you and lead you.

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Speaker 2: But you have to allow yourself to get uncomfortable. So

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Speaker 2: that's the invitation is to really examine what that is.

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Speaker 2: We give you some great guidelines in the download Nicole

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Speaker 2: Unis dot com Spiritual Practices.

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Speaker 3: You can go check that out.

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Speaker 2: But Rachel, give us just a final word. Let's have

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Speaker 2: a final word of encouragement as we think about this

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Speaker 2: idea of Jesus brings peace to chaos. I'm going to

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Speaker 2: engage my digital rhythm. I'm going to make space. What

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Speaker 2: am I going to find? What have you found in

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Speaker 2: your own story?

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Speaker 4: I've found that God really does what we create.

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Speaker 5: Space receives that invitation, and not only in my own life,

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Speaker 5: but we talked about in our first podcast about the

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Speaker 5: desert Prope's mother who kind of got this whole, this

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Speaker 5: whole spiritual rhythm thing going back in the fourth century,

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Speaker 5: and they would.

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Speaker 4: Go and hide out in the desert, which I'm not

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Speaker 4: saying we should all do. I'm not saying we need

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Speaker 4: to burn your iPhone, but the reason they did that.

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Speaker 4: It wasn't because they couldn't find God in the suburb

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Speaker 4: and the city. That wasn't the point. It's they just

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Speaker 4: needed enough quiet to be able to hear hint themselves.

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Speaker 4: In addition to listening for the voice that would change everything.

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Speaker 4: They just needed a minute. And man, what God can

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Speaker 4: do a lot with a little bit. He can do

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Speaker 4: a lot with five minutes. And if if you I

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Speaker 4: think just a rhythm of five minutes and quiet and

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Speaker 4: peace in your life unstimulated, God will multiply and bless

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Speaker 4: that and a really meaningful but.

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Speaker 2: God can do a little with Uh, he can do

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Speaker 2: a lot with a little I love that and wonderful takeaway.

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Speaker 3: Thanks Raach for being with us again.

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Speaker 2: We would talk with you guys next week for Week three.

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Speaker 1: How to Study the Bible with Nicole Unis is a

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