WEBVTT - Morning with Thom Brennaman 12/17/2025 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:05.080 Money, money, money smell that fresh money news is being served. 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:10.520 This is the Boomburn money minute on seven hundred WLW. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:14.280 Alrighty, we say good morning to Dan Schwartzman, of course, 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:18.600 a pride of Ohio University and appens Ohio. 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.120 How are you, young man? Hopoll's well with you this morning? 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:24.480 Ah, fantastic, It's great getting up at two forty five 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:24.880 in the morning. 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:28.680 There is no question, a feeling like no other. Meanwhile, 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:31.160 two budget airlines could be merging soon. 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:34.600 That's right, Tom sources telling Bloomberg that Spirit Airlines is 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:38.559 holding talks with rival Frontier about a possible airline merger. 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:41.040 A transaction could be announced as soon as this month, 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:43.960 although discussions could end up without a deal. A merger 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:46.600 with Frontier would mark a significant step for Spirit, which 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.280 is bankrupt for the second time in a year. It 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:52.040 comes as ultra low cost carriers are struggling with rising 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:55.680 costs and fierce competition from larger airlines, and it. 0:00:55.640 --> 0:01:00.480 Looks like Ford will continue its move away from EV's. 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.880 Ford that's right canceling a six and a half billion 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:07.520 dollar agreement to purchase batteries from LG after the automaker 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:10.680 roll back its electric vehicle ambitions. The move comes after 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.880 Ford announced it would take close to twenty billion dollars 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:17.319 in charges tied to a major overhaul of its EV business, 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:19.680 while also saying you would end plans to make an 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:23.119 electric F series truck after struggling for years to make 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:26.479 it profitable. So for it's saying, let's take a step 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:29.160 back from this EV stuff right now, all right, Danny 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.720 in the futures this morning, still in the green down, 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:34.000 not really moving much. It's still up two tenths of 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:36.800 one percent, SMP's up about a third to one percent, 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:39.160 and Nasseak currently is up four tens a one percent 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:42.240 from Bloomberg. Dan Schwartzman on news Radio seven hundred. 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:45.880 WLW already eight oh nine on the morning show seven 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:49.400 hundred WLW for those if you weren't with us earlier. 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:51.680 I was out doing a little Christmas shopping over the 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:55.400 weekend and just happened to run into our guest who 0:01:55.520 --> 0:02:00.200 is a native Buckeye, if you will, Karen Laverty. She 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:04.760 worked in the financial world for a many, many many years, 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:09.080 and she chose to start a financial blog dedicated to women, 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:12.120 which led to writing two financial books for women, and 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:14.600 one is called a woman's place is in the market. 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:18.320 The other called the Little Black Dress of finance, and 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:22.960 Karen Laberty joins us. Now, Karen, good morning, How in 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:27.320 the world what made you decide you wanted to write 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:33.520 books specifically dedicated to women about investments and money. 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:36.200 Good morning, Tom. 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:36.840 How are you doing? 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:38.480 I'm doing great? How you doing? 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:42.120 I do really good? So thanks for having me on. 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:45.840 As far as why did I write the books? I actually, 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:48.760 you know, once again, just like you said, I worked 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:52.800 for Fidelity for over thirteen years. Then I did a 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:55.520 financial blog to help women and so forth. It led 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:59.160 me to writing two books. So why write the books 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.200 and things? I actually they approached it from two different angles. 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:04.639 First of all, we had a daughter at the time 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:09.360 that was graduating college, you know, and you know, herself 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:12.840 and her friends and so forth. They're all graduating, getting 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.040 jobs and things, and I wasn't really sure. You know, 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:17.880 do they know what a four one K is? Do 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.880 they know what a general broker's account is? Do they 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:23.880 know how to get started in life with their finances? 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.960 Getting started, having some knowledge, getting off on the right 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:31.720 track and so forth is incredibly important. Then on the 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:35.120 other end of the spectrum, my mother in law and 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.920 missus celebrity. She was one of the nicest people you'd 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.440 ever meet. I say it all the time that if 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:43.440 she's not in heaven, I don't stand a chance. But 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:49.800 it's so true though. She was an incredibly nice person. 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:53.520 But her husband did all their finances well. He passed 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:56.880 away first. So, you know, being her daughter in law 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.400 and in the business and so forth, I offer to help. 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.760 It's like being a detective, you know, and it really 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:07.680 made me feel protective of her. That left her very vulnerable. 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:10.160 She didn't know where the money was. She didn't know 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:13.000 how she was getting her income, didn't know what it 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:16.600 was invested in, you know, didn't know the rambifications if 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.400 you took it out of one account versus another one. 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:22.559 So both ends of the spectrum, my daughter's just getting 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:25.119 out of school, her and her friends, you know, getting 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:28.359 started in life. And then on the other end, my 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:29.040 mother in law. 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:32.480 You know, I found it, though, in our conversation, very interesting. 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.719 And this is basically in a nutshell, but you found 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:39.400 yourself oftentimes, you know, you might go to a Christmas party, 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.400 you might go to a Fourth of July party and 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.120 the guys are standing around and they're talking about stocks, 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:49.560 all the terminology, money, investments, et cetera, et cetera, and 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:51.440 you notice that a lot of women are just kind 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:52.880 of off to the sidelines. 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.080 Is that accurate, Oh, without a doubt. 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.400 It's the same with you know, I worked at FIDELDI 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:03.200 and a number of different capacities. Started out as a trader, 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:05.800 you know, and at the time the internet, you couldn't 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:08.839 trade on the internet, so everybody was calling in and yeah, 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:11.200 it's all the guys calling in. And it was right 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:14.320 before the dot com bubble burst, so they're all trading 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:16.599 this and that and so forth. And the women seem 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:19.000 very intimidated. 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:19.280 It. 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.760 Even when I met with couples in my office and things, 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:26.599 the women were never involved. They just that I know, 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:30.000 there's a lot of acronyms in this, there's a lot 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:32.640 of you know, is it an EFT or an ATF. 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:37.400 You know, there's a lot of terminology that can seem 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:40.920 very intimidating. You know, they just don't want they're afraid 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:45.080 of things. But really, women actually are very good investors. 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.160 They're a little bit more on the costas side, So 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.120 I would encourage them to take a little bit more 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:55.880 risk than they're comfortable with. But I want to make 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:59.599 sure that women are empowered and they need to know this. 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:02.680 You don't have to be an expert. You don't have 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:06.120 to be you know, writing uncover book contracts or day trading, 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:09.760 but you do need to know a general general knowledge 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:14.720 of investing, different account types, investing types. It's very important. 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.040 You know, what's interesting is and I had a conversation 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:21.640 with a business owner about this, a business owner that 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.719 has to do with people who have a decent amount 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:28.520 of money, and you know, with sharing with me that 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:31.919 in reality, and you've forgotten more about this stuff than 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.480 I'll ever know. But in reality, in most households, not all, 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:39.479 but in most households, the women are the ones that 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:43.240 are either a in charge of the family finances, whether 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:46.640 it's paying bills, et cetera, or they're the ones that 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.240 are making big decisions on how to spend the money. 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:53.440 So it would only make sense that women would get 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.479 more involved in what we're doing with some of these 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:59.800 money and what we're going to need down the road. 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:03.599 Without a doubt. I mean a lot of times women 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.320 are very transactional with it. They're the ones paying the bills, 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:09.640 they have to check book and things and then but 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.880 they kind of delegate the investing part of it, you know, 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.480 whether they have somebody manage their money, or their husband 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:17.200 does it, their dad does it, their brother does it, 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.440 and so forth. But it ain't a different world. Women 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:23.840 make more money, yep, you know, they're out in the workforce. 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:26.920 It's a different world, and it's very important for them 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.640 to have a knowledge of this. Once again, it's okay 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.720 to have somebody else manage your money, but you have 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.000 to know what you own. You have to know what 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:38.960 account types you need to know, you know, take the 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.840 money out of this? Is there a tax contract? Are 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:45.760 there rules on the account? What account benefits me the best? 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:48.400 You know, these are very important things to know. 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:48.880 You know. 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:51.720 What I find interesting is and I wish that you 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:54.360 would have written this book, these books when my mom. 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:56.800 I grew up in a single parent household, my mom 0:07:56.880 --> 0:07:59.720 working two jobs. She didn't know anything about this stuff. 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.000 But like you said, I mean even the most basic things. 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.080 And I'm assuming that in the book you cover basically 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.440 two or three of the most important things that a 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:14.800 woman without a ton of education can simply learn what 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:16.240 to do and how. 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:16.480 To do it. 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:20.760 Oh, definitely, And you know, what I come from kind 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.520 of the same world that I come from a family 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:27.440 full of men. My dad had five boys. There's five 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.400 boys in his family and one girl. And all the 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:32.199 boys are the one all the men are the ones. 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:35.000 They all handle the money. None of my aunts knew 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:39.160 anything about me, which once again, it leaves them very vulnerable. 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:42.880 You know, their husbands, if their fast has passed away, 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.720 they don't know anything. Why is that a good thing? 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:49.120 Why is that's not a good plan? You know? For 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:51.480 all the men that think that you know, I'm helping 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:53.920 my family, I'm doing the planning, I'm doing the investing. 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:56.800 You need to involve your spouse in this as well, 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:00.360 and women, you need to get engaged in it without 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:00.720 a doubt. 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:06.200 And your books can be found on Amazon. The Little 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:10.520 Black Dress of Finance and A Woman's Place is in 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.920 the market. Both of those you can find on Amazon. 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:17.280 And tell me about Karen Laverty And by the way, 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.640 Karen is spelled with a C C A r E 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:25.640 N Laverty l A V E r t y dot com. 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:31.359 What would one expect to find at Karen Laverty dot com? 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:32.040 You know what? 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.880 I tried to make this well? At my blog you 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:38.520 can read little sections of the book and so forth, 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:42.479 and you can also purchase my book on my website. 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:44.439 But the thing that I try to do is make 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:47.680 this very approachable for women. And you will find the 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:51.360 books are not long, very easy to read. There's like 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.640 eighty pages, and you will find that I have a 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:59.719 shoe fetish. I try and use shoes as example a 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:02.480 lot of times in the books. I try to make 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:06.440 this as easy as I possibly could. You know, for women, 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:08.120 it's very approachable. 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:11.719 Well, you're speaking their language, right, I mean, men and 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:13.880 women speak the same language in some ways, but you're 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:18.920 speaking their language specifically, which is a huge, huge plus. 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:22.800 Definitely. I mean my daughter actually helped me write some 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.000 of the passages as well as my son. And you know, 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:28.439 my son is now a wealth advisor at marri Lynch. 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:30.520 But it was fun to go through some of it, 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.480 especially when I use shoes as an example with my daughter, 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:41.480 you know, I go true. Yeah, some examples like dividing 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:47.400 your expenses between essential expenses and discretionary expenses, and you know, 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:53.200 Valentino Rockstead shoes made the essential expenses in her mind exactly. 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:55.840 Well, Karen, I can't thank you enough for your time. 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:57.440 It was a pleasure to meet you the other day. 0:10:57.760 --> 0:10:59.679 A Merry Christmas to you and your family, and I 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:01.960 hope you have a great holiday season. 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.560 Well likewise, and thank you so much for having me on. 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.480 All right, Karen Laverty, you can find her at Karen 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:16.280 with a C. Laberty lavrt y Karenlaberty dot com. All right, 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:18.240 let's check the roadways out there and see how we're 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:21.160 rolling along. Chuck Ingram been pretty busy as you suspected 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:23.559 it might be, Yeah, sir, sure has. 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:25.760 And a couple of places getting a little bit better, 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:28.360 like eastbound two seventy five because they clear of the 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:31.400 wreck above the Reagan Highway, so traffic's clearing out from 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:34.520 seventy four. However, there's a couple of spots that are 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:37.800 now getting heavy once again. This from the UC Help 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:42.040 Traffic Center. U See Cancer Center offers advanced surgical options 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:45.360 for complex liver and pancreatic cancers and clinical trials you 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:48.280 won't find anywhere else. Get a second opinion now called 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.760 five one, three, five eight five U SECC one is 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:54.320 South Bend seventy one. There's a new accident just below 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.720 two seventy five. That's where the break lights start. From 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:01.000 there and continue down to Red Bank and now northbound 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:03.480 seventy one a wreck that blocks the right lane just 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.720 above two seventy five. I'm not seeing a huge delay 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.199 there as of yet. Cruise continue to work with the 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:12.160 wreck outside of Milford on twenty eight at branchil Guiney 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:15.000 hand us a wreck on ready at Gabreth Chuck Ingram 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:18.760 News Radio seven hundred WALW all right. 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:21.920 Our WCPO nine First Warning Forecast presented by Cameron hard 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.200 And It's a beautiful morning, going to be a beautiful day, 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:27.319 sunshine and we're up to forty five degrees tonight, we're 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:30.280 down to thirty three tomorrow fifty four chants of rain 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:32.960 and then tomorrow night coldfront comes through. We're down to 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:37.000 twenty three degrees. High of thirty one on Friday. Should 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:40.480 be dry though over the weekend with temperatures up into 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.559 the mid to upper forties coming up. In the next 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:48.079 half hour, it's plain Glass, Stained Glass with Pastor Chad Hogan, 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:53.199 how Christmas is a season of bringing us all together, 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:56.760 and he'll talk about the documentary that just came out 0:12:57.120 --> 0:13:02.000 with Kevin Kostner eight twenty one WLW. 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:03.560 Any time to. 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:08.680 Jeckob your financial like This is the Bloomberg market menus 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:10.880 on seven hundred WLW. 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:12.480 Good Morning Tom. 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:15.760 This week started with an optimistic take from the homebuilding business, 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:19.040 as the latest industry sentiment index showed an uptick. The 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:21.520 news now, though isn't as rosie as a number two 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:24.720 home builder, Lenar is forecasting fewer homes sold this quarter 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:28.480 than the market was expecting. The company points to affordability 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:31.680 pressures and the weakening job market pushing home buyers to 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:35.320 the sidelines. SpaceX employees have been told to refrain from 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:38.720 commenting on the company's plans for an IPO in accordance 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:41.640 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as a company 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:45.400 enters a regulatory quiet period. SpaceX is looking to raise 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:49.040 significantly more than thirty billion dollars in a transaction that 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.400 would value the company at around one and a half 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:54.679 trillion dollars, which would be the biggest listing of all time. 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:57.480 Oil rally from its lowest closed in almost half a 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:01.760 decade as the US blockades sanctioned ankers off Venezuela and 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:05.160 prepares new measures against Russia. Oil, though remains on track 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:08.400 for a yearly loss from Bloomberg, Dan Schwartzman on news 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:10.200 radio seven hundred. 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:13.800 WLW alrighty eight forty on the morning show here on 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.800 seven hundred WLW. We do it each and every Wednesday 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.960 of this time, playing Glass Stained Glass and our friend 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:24.120 Pastor Chad Hooven from the Horizon Community Church right there 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:27.000 in Newtown along the banks of the Little Miami River. 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:30.000 Pastor Chad, good morning to you, sir. I hope you're well. 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:32.440 Good marn Tom, I'm doing great. 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:33.680 How about so doing great? 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:35.760 No complaints? You know Christmas and you and I have 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:39.120 talked about this. We talked about it right before Thanksgiving 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:44.120 on how holidays can can be very very. 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:45.320 Stressful to people. 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:51.480 But yes, you suggest that actually Christmas time can help 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:55.840 us deal with stress, Well. 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:56.400 Definitely can. 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:58.920 And even if you have a cursory knowledge of Christmas 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:01.880 and the story of you know what God did at Christmas. 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.240 It's a story that God came and adapted himself to us. 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:07.239 So think about God as a multi. 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:10.360 Dimensional being beyond time and space, and he was willing 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:13.000 to come in the form of a child, and just 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:15.640 think if that's true. Right, I believe it's true, But 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.320 if someone doesn't, if it was true that the God 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:20.720 who made all the universe and holds all the planets 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.520 and all the atoms, adapted to you in such a 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:27.120 dramatic way, then you might say, wow. I mean, if 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:30.240 God did that for me, then maybe I could adapt 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:35.160 slightly to my crazy uncle or my cousin or my 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:37.680 relative is driving me crazy. So it's kind of a 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:40.120 call to adapt, which is, if God adapted to me, 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:43.480 maybe I can adapt to others. It's also call for reconciliation, 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:47.920 where you think about what family doesn't need a little 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:51.040 bit more reconciliation. Somebody not to hold some bitterness, somebody 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:54.400 to maybe get over something significantly happened, but it's time 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.040 to move on. Well, the whole story of Christmas is 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.560 the story of reconciliation. God wanted to reconcile with us. Honestly, 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:03.400 we weren't taking the first step, so He took the 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:05.840 first step. I had that I haven't talked to my 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.240 sister in law for fifteen years after a big conflict 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.560 that happened. I'd reconciled with my brother, as we mentioned, 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:14.160 four or five months ago, but not my sister in 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:17.240 law and my wife and I decided, you know what, 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.480 this is the year we're going to do it, and honestly, 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:23.720 because it's the right thing to do, not quite the 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:29.320 motivation we needed. It'll be good for you. Maybe what 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.720 really motivated us to hit FaceTime video and have that 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:36.560 conversation was, you know what, God adapted and God reconciled 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.800 with us when we did a whole lot worse to him. 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:41.000 Let's do it. 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.120 And so after about an hour conversation, for the first 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:45.560 time in fifteen years, you know, we've now got a 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.840 full path for families to get together again for Christmas. 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:49.680 And it was tough. 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:53.200 It was a tough conversation, and yet we felt like 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:55.920 the spirit of Christmas is I want to do unto 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:57.000 others what God did to me. 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:01.480 I want to tackle a couple of well known actors 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.760 that you've talked about recently in some of your sermons 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:08.080 here and around Christmas. Let's start with Jimmy Stewart and 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:12.439 his father who sent him Psalm ninety one when he 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:16.040 went off to war. And then Jimmy Stewart talking about 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:20.280 why he got so cheerful during the filming of Its 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:21.480 Wonderful Life. 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:24.760 Yeah, you know Jimmy Stewart. 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:27.359 We know him often from Its Wonderful Life and of 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:30.560 those other wonderful movies. He was a brigadier general as 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:34.840 well and disembombing in World War Two, and he had 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:38.119 a lot of PTSD, so that you know shows up 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:40.200 in some of the movies. But when he went off 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:43.200 to war, his father was a real strong Christian believer 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:45.480 in God in the Bible, and so he sent a 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:47.359 little personal note that said, Hey, in the middle of 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:49.000 this madness, I want you to know you can trust 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:51.360 God to be your tower, your refuge, and the one 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:52.800 that will guide you in the midst of this. He 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.320 saved the sem a copy of Psalm ninety one as 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:57.080 kind of the source of strength you would have in 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:00.639 the middle of the madness of war. But after his 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.000 filming of its Wonderful Life is that moment he gets 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:05.720 real cheerful. He's crying out God and I need your help. 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:07.840 If you're really up there, I just need you to 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:12.119 step in. And he later Jimmy Stewart said he just 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:15.640 felt in that moment the hearts of so many who 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.080 feel like in life, let alone Christmas time, that they're 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:21.600 having one to turn to, the real sense of emptiness 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:26.520 and real sense of what's meaning, what's purpose, and that 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:29.000 in that moment he felt like he was channeling those 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.480 who didn't have access to that purpose and really felt 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:34.560 that and he realized that's really the call of Christmas, 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:36.760 is that we all are calling out for God to 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:40.199 be with us. And even one of Jesus' nicknames is Immanuel, 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:42.719 which means God with us. If you're going through grieving 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:45.760 this Christmas and you need some comfort, God with us, 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:48.280 He'll be your comfort. If you're looking for someone who 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.720 can take the manure of life, and life certainly throws 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:54.359 a plenty of manure at us and turn into fertilizer 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:55.080 for new growth. 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:56.520 And that's a story of Christmas. 0:18:56.560 --> 0:19:00.080 And he's even born into a cave or an animal's stall. 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:00.880 With the newer everywhere. 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:03.960 And look at the incredible story of purpose and meaning 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:06.240 that he brings out of the manure that he's born into. 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:11.119 You know, recently, Kevin Koshner, he just released a documentary 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:14.159 on Christmas where he talks about his faith and you 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:19.280 can find this on Disney Plus, but basically talk about 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:24.080 how he walked through the entire Christmas story from start 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:26.000 to finish. 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:26.960 Yeah, really interesting. 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.879 He begins, it's a documentary and the Nancy's talking. 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:32.679 There's some scenes that things are acted out and in 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:34.040 general is really good. One. 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:38.359 He begins by talking about his first acting debut. Let's 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:41.280 playing an angel or playing with a wiseman in a 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:44.840 Nativity scene. In one big line, hark, and he missed 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:47.919 it because his turbine kept falling over his head. He 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:51.080 said his love of acting began there. And he kept 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:53.840 just periodically through the play saying hark again again, because 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:55.480 you know, I missed the big moment. 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:57.639 But he kind of walks through that. 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:00.600 Many people have thought that Christmas is a. 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:02.600 Is a miss or is a nice. 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:05.040 Story, like a long time ago in a galaxy far 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:07.320 far away. He kind of roots it in the history 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:10.720 and shows this really happened. It happened in the facts. 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:12.600 He shows you kind of what was going on during 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:15.280 that time period. One of the things he highlights is 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:18.639 King Herod, and King Herod is like a footnote in 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:22.119 the Christmas story, and yet King Herod is probably one 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:24.320 of the most powerful men who've ever lived. They did 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.760 a great job of describing this historic figure. If you've 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:30.800 ever been to Israel or heard of Israel, you know 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.159 the Jewish Temple is built on this giant mount that 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:35.120 was built by King Herod, the guy trying to. 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:36.760 Kill Jesus Masada. 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:39.000 Have you ever heard of or seen pictures of Masada 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:43.120 massive rocket by the dead sea. The guy built eleven 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:47.240 swimming pools and a fully functional sauna in the middle of. 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:48.359 A desert at six pc. 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:53.360