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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, thank you for listening to your Daily

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Speaker 1: Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each day

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Speaker 1: to learn more about God and his will for us.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Carol McCracken, and after a short word

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Speaker 1: from our sponsor, will dive into today's Bible verse, Job

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Speaker 1: six fourteen. Today's Bible versus Job six fourteen. Anyone who

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Speaker 1: withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

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Speaker 1: That's not a verse of those people I've hanging on

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Speaker 1: a coffee bug. In fact, it comes from one of

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Speaker 1: the rawest conversations in all of scripture. Job is lost

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Speaker 1: nearly everything, his health, his children, his security, his normal life,

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Speaker 1: and instead of receiving comfort from the sprints, he often

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Speaker 1: received speeches, assumptions, and spiritual explanations that completely missed the moment.

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Speaker 1: And in the middle of all that pain, Job says

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Speaker 1: something deeply honest. When someone's suffering, kindness matters. Not easy

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Speaker 1: answers of polished theology, not inspirational cliches, just kindness. I

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Speaker 1: thought a lot about that verse returning home from Spain.

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Speaker 1: As many of you know, I was on a mission

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Speaker 1: trip serving pilgrims on the Camino when my purse was

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Speaker 1: still in in Madrid on our final night there. Inside

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Speaker 1: it was everything, my passport, wallet, money, credit cards, phone,

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Speaker 1: all of it. Within minutes, I went from feeling completely

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Speaker 1: capable to realizing how vulnerable modern life becomes when you

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Speaker 1: suddenly lose access to everything at once. But honestly, the

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Speaker 1: story that stayed with me most isn't really about theft,

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Speaker 1: about what happened afterward. At first, we thought the color

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Speaker 1: copy of my passport I had back at the airbnb

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Speaker 1: might be enough to get me home, But once we

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Speaker 1: got to the airport, it became clear that because of

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Speaker 1: the current immigration concerns and travel regulations, the copy wasn't

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Speaker 1: going to fully resolve the situation. Once I got back

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Speaker 1: to the States, the TSA agents were kind and professional

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Speaker 1: throughout the process. They were doing exactly what they were

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Speaker 1: supposed to do, and I appreciated that. But at one point,

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Speaker 1: all I really had left was a receipt with my

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Speaker 1: friend's phone number written on it. The TSA agent called her,

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Speaker 1: and although she'd already gone ahead through the airport process,

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Speaker 1: she turned around and came back for me. That moment

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Speaker 1: still gets emotional for me when I think about it

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Speaker 1: because she didn't just offer sympathy from a distance. She

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Speaker 1: stepped back into the mess with me. She scanned a

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Speaker 1: code for me, paid forty five dollars to validate information,

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Speaker 1: showed receipts, answered questions, and stayed beside me while we

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Speaker 1: tried to sort out what to do next. By the

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Speaker 1: time everything was handled, I missed my flight, And because

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Speaker 1: I had no money and no idea, no phone, and

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Speaker 1: honestly no practical way to navigate things independently anymore, she

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Speaker 1: changed your own flight, paid for a hotel room, and

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Speaker 1: stayed with me until we could get home safely. And

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Speaker 1: I think one reason the experience impacted me so deeply

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Speaker 1: is because it forced me to confront how uncomfortable it

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Speaker 1: is to need people. Most of us don't mind helping

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Speaker 1: others nearly as much as we mind needing help ourselves.

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Speaker 1: We liked being capable and prepared, independent and resourceful. We

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Speaker 1: like being the person who can solve problems, rather the

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Speaker 1: person sitting in an airport feeling helpless and unsure what

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Speaker 1: to do next. But life eventually humbles all of us

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Speaker 1: in one way or another. Maybe not. There was still

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Speaker 1: in person Madrid, but through illness and grief, care giving, exhaustion,

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Speaker 1: find mental strain, anxiety, divorce, job loss, or seasons when

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Speaker 1: our normal strength simply isn't enough anymore. And one of

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Speaker 1: the lowliest feelings in the world is believing you have

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Speaker 1: become a burden to other people. That's what makes Job

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Speaker 1: six fourteen so powerful to me. Now. Anyone who withholds

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Speaker 1: kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

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Speaker 1: In other words, the way we treat struggling people matters

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Speaker 1: deeply to God. Job's friends made the mistake many of

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Speaker 1: us still make today. They analyzed him more than they

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Speaker 1: comforted him. They explained more than they loved. They spent

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Speaker 1: more energy trying to figure out why he was suffering

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Speaker 1: than simply carrying the weight of it with him. But

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Speaker 1: suffering people rarely need critics, they rarely need lectures, and

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Speaker 1: they usually do not need someone to immediately explain the

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Speaker 1: deeper meaning of their pain. Often to what they need

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Speaker 1: most is presence, someone who stays and helps, someone willing

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Speaker 1: to absorb inconvenience for the sake of another person. As Christians,

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Speaker 1: we sometimes underestimate how spiritual ordinary kindness really is. Answering

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Speaker 1: the phone is spiritual. Sitting beside someone in the hospital spiritual.

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Speaker 1: Pay for dinner when someone's overwhelmed is spiritual. Changing your

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Speaker 1: plans to help another person through a crisis is spiritual

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Speaker 1: because love almost always calls somebody something. And honestly, I

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Speaker 1: think many people's day are carrying heavy burdens silently because

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Speaker 1: they're afraid of inconveniencing others. They don't want to ask

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Speaker 1: for help, they don't want to admit they're struggling, and

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Speaker 1: they don't want to feel needy. But scripture never presents

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Speaker 1: interdependence if weakness. Galatian sixteen says carry one another's burdens.

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Speaker 1: Romans twelve tells believers to mourn with those who more

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Speaker 1: and again, the New Testament describes faith communities as people

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Speaker 1: who step into one another's hardships instead of standing at

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Speaker 1: a comfortable distance from them. That airport experience reminded me

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Speaker 1: that one of the clearest ways we reflect the heart

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Speaker 1: of Jesus is through faithful presence. Jesus consistently moved for

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Speaker 1: vulnerable people toward frightened people, and greeting people toward overwhelmed people,

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Speaker 1: and he was never irritated by human neediness and I

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Speaker 1: wonder sometimes if one of the reasons kindness impacts us

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Speaker 1: so deeply is because somewhere inside us we recognize the

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Speaker 1: charter Christ in it. Long after the stress of the

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Speaker 1: trip they did, what stayed with me was gratitude. Gratitude

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Speaker 1: for someone who came back and stayed calm, someone who

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Speaker 1: absorbed inconvenience without making me feel ashamed for needing help.

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Speaker 1: And maybe today this episode is not only about receiving

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Speaker 1: that kind of kindness, but becoming that kind a person

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Speaker 1: for someone else, Because eventually, everyone you know walk through

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Speaker 1: a season where life feels heavier than they can carry alone.

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Speaker 1: When that moment comes, people may not remember every word

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Speaker 1: you said, but don't remember whether you stayed Now, if

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Speaker 1: you haven't already done so, I encourage you to subscribe

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Speaker 1: to your daily Bible Verse so you never miss an episode.

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Speaker 1: And if today's episode encourage you, would you share it

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Speaker 1: with a friend until next time. May we become people

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Speaker 1: who reflect the kindness of Christ by carrying one another

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Speaker 1: through difficult seasons with grace, loyalty, and love. Will you

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Speaker 1: pray with me, dear Lord in heaven. It just feels

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Speaker 1: kind of icky to be vulnerable at least to me. Lord.

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Speaker 1: Maybe some others are comfortable with it, but I think

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Speaker 1: there are many of us out there that we would

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Speaker 1: really like to extend the help rather than to receive it.

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Speaker 1: Can you teach us how to do both in the

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Speaker 1: way that you wish us to do so? I had

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Speaker 1: such a wonderful example, Lord, and I really hope that

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Speaker 1: everybody within the sound of my voice has that same

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Speaker 1: type of person that they could call on or be with.

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Speaker 1: We know that you were always with us, Jesus, but

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Speaker 1: sometimes you extend help through people you created in your

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Speaker 1: precious name. We pray omen