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S1: Broadcasting from Chicago, across North America and beyond. It's Carl

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S1: and crew. Come as you are an experienced guide. Overcome

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S1: what seems impossible and live as you never imagined. Start

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S1: your morning with a laugh.

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S2: Practical from the Bible. Tips and tricks to kill. Not

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S2: tricks but tips and tricks. Tips and tricks to kill.

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S2: Tips and tricks.

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S1: Delivering the truth daily.

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S3: All of my attempts to, you know, prop myself up

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S3: with achievement in good works. Well, God wasn't impressed by that,

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S3: even if other people were.

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S2: The gospel changes everything.

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S4: Freedom in Christ. Man, it's like that backpack of cement

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S4: just falling to the ground.

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S1: Now from the call of Hope Studios, this is Carl

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S1: and Crew.

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S5: So where do you go to do your quiet time?

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S3: Good morning. Kicking off with the question this morning. quiet time.

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S5: Devo.

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S3: Devotional prayer time. People have a lot of different ways

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S3: that they describe the time that they set aside, usually

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S3: to read and study the word to, to pray, to

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S3: hear from God. Yeah. Do you have a place where

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S3: you go in your house? Maybe. Or maybe you sit outside.

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S3: You have a favorite place. Diana. Boy, I.

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S6: Love going to the lakefront. I'm fortunate to live next

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S6: to the lake, Lake Michigan, in the Chicagoland area, and

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S6: I love going there. Of course, it's been winter, so

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S6: that's kind of put a little dent in that time.

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S6: So yeah, managing your, you know, devotional time well, but

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S6: that's my favorite place to go is the water.

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S3: Yeah, I. There's something about sitting in nature. Yes, absolutely.

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S3: And I'm waiting for the weather to warm up because I'm,

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S3: I'm like you, one of my favorite things to do

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S3: is actually to, to walk like to, to do like

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S3: a prayer walk. Oh, yes. I've got a favorite spot

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S3: in Chicago where you. You can see all the skyline,

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S3: but you can also see a lot of nature. And I,

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S3: and I just, I just love that. But it's been

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S3: far too cold for that. So I do have a

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S3: chair in like I have a, in our office, there's

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S3: like a chair that's been repurposed many times over. I

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S3: think I originally bought it when I was pregnant with

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S3: my first child, who's now.

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S6: Oh, it has memory then.

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S3: 16 and so that was the chair that I would

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S3: sit and I would rock her and put her to sleep.

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S3: And now it's become the, the chair that I chair.

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S6: Yes.

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S3: So it's got a lot of history in our house. Oh,

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S3: and you know, when you think about the time that

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S3: you spend with the Lord, that precious sacred time, you

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S3: don't have to have a set spot. There's no there's

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S3: no rule here. There's no legalism here.

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S6: I've used my commute well, often.

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S3: Maybe it's the car, but sometimes it can feel a

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S3: struggle to even get that time at all. You're thinking

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S3: about thinking, well, you're talking about a place. What about

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S3: just the time? Trying to get in in a busy day.

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S3: What is supposed to be most important but can actually

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S3: start to slip down in terms of priority? Yeah, if

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S3: we're just being honest. Coming up, we've got a special

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S3: guest and she's one of our favorites, particularly around this topic,

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S3: building devotional habits, establishing quiet time, finding those rhythms for rest,

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S3: for reflection, for time with the father. As Cherita Chuchu

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S3: joins us, coming up here on Carl and Crew.

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S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.

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S3: Usually pretty soon after you become a follower of Jesus Christ,

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S3: you start to hear some of the terminology that gets

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S3: thrown around. People talk about doing their devos or having

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S3: their quiet time or their devotional life, and maybe you

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S3: didn't know what that meant right away, but you didn't

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S3: really want to ask, what is this thing called quiet time?

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S3: Or it's possible that you've been in Christ for a

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S3: lot of years. You know exactly what people are talking

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S3: about when they say quiet time. But somehow that close

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S3: connection with Jesus in that time carved out to spend

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S3: with him always feels like it's missing something. Like you're there.

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S3: But man, are you meeting with Jesus. I want to

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S3: introduce a special guest, Ashreeta Chuchu. This is such a.

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S3: Your heart is to help people cultivate this quiet time,

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S3: this intimate time with the Lord. Uh, first of all,

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S3: welcome to Carl and Crew. You're one of our absolute favorites.

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S3: Why do you find such joy in talking about this

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S3: topic in particular?

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S7: Because it is just such a mind blowing invitation to

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S7: come into this space of not just knowing about God,

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S7: not just learning facts about him and Bible trivia, but

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S7: actually knowing him and being known by him. A space

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S7: in which your heart is open to the Spirit of God,

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S7: and he searches you and speaks to you and leads

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S7: you in ways that affect your day to day life.

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S7: That is what I am passionate about helping people delight

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S7: in the presence of Jesus. It's so much more than

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S7: what we typically think of when we think of quiet time.

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S3: Ashreeta Chuchu, our guest right now. She is a national speaker,

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S3: best selling author, founder of One Thing Alone Ministries, which

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S3: is an online ministry that helps overwhelmed women find joy

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S3: in Jesus. You mentioned the things that we feel like

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S3: we're supposed to do. So most people would say, okay,

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S3: my quiet time. It should consist of some time reading

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S3: God's Word. So I'm opening my Bible. Maybe I have

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S3: a devotional book to sort of support me in that,

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S3: and then maybe I close my Bible and then, okay,

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S3: it's time to pray. So I close my eyes and

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S3: I sit there and I talk to God, or I

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S3: try to and then after maybe 15, 20 minutes, maybe

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S3: an hour even, I'm on to the next thing. Sometimes

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S3: it can feel like that can become the routine, but

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S3: we don't feel like it's doing anything. And is it

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S3: okay for me to even say that?

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S7: Doesn't it feel kind of like taboo? Like we shouldn't

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S7: talk about being bored with the Bible. We shouldn't talk

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S7: about this unease of, am I missing something here? Right?

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S7: Surely there's got to be something more. And when we

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S7: talk about quiet time, I mean, even the term itself

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S7: is kind of like it's got to be quiet. But

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S7: what if you have toddlers running around the house? What

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S7: if you're charged with caring with an elder parent who

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S7: is in your home and needs your attention? What if

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S7: your life is not quiet? And even when you sit

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S7: down to try to spend time in quiet, it doesn't

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S7: go the way you expect it to or the clouds

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S7: don't part to to this divine revelation. And I think

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S7: we need to be careful even with good practices or

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S7: best practices, right? What you described and what's often prescribed

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S7: to Christians, it's not word of God like there's nowhere

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S7: in the Bible where God says, thou shalt read your

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S7: Bible every day. Thou shalt spend 60 minutes in study

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S7: or prayer. We need to be careful to not turn

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S7: into these legalistic things that we ought to do to

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S7: somehow secure the approval or pleasure of God. If you

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S7: are in Christ. Then when the father looks at you,

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S7: he sees the perfect righteousness of Jesus. You can't add

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S7: anything else to that. So let's stop trying to earn

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S7: God's approval with what we do. That's legalism. That's trying

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S7: to perform for him. Instead, I like to shift the

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S7: perspective and the conversation into what is God's invitation to us.

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S7: And it is always relationship. So if we want to

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S7: talk about reading the Bible, it's not to read the Bible,

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S7: to check something off a list. It is asking God,

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S7: would you open my eyes to understand how you reveal

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S7: yourself here in the word, to delight in the fact

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S7: that God wants us to know him and he does

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S7: that as we read Scripture. If it's prayer, let's delight

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S7: in conversation with God. It's not just running through a

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S7: laundry list of, you know, my kids right now are like, God,

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S7: would you help us go on this trip? And would

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S7: you give us these kinds of neighbors? And would you

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S7: put a chick fil A in our neighborhood? Right. They

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S7: have this wish list about and hey, God wants to

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S7: hear the desires of our hearts, but he wants that conversation.

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S7: He wants us, yes, to share with him. But also,

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S7: do we pause to listen to what he might want

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S7: to say to us? The good Shepherd still speaks, so

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S7: in some ways it might be doing some of the

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S7: same actions. But the heart motivation is different. Jesus says

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S7: to the Pharisees, you read the scriptures and yet you

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S7: miss me. They speak of me. So one of my prayers,

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S7: ally years ago that totally transformed how I approach this

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S7: is God. May I not miss you in Scripture. Would

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S7: you open my eyes to see and savor Jesus in

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S7: all of these things?

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S3: Ashreeta Chuchu, our guest right now. Coming up, I'm going

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S3: to ask her about a pretty big trip her family took.

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S3: And when I say big trip, I mean like months long.

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S3: They were out of their house on a pretty epic adventure,

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S3: and I'm going to ask her about it and how

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S3: it has affected her relationship with God. More coming up

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S3: here on Carl and crew.

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S1: He was running from God, but God's love brought him home.

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S1: Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on

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S1: Moody Radio.

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S3: We've got Ashreeta Chuchu with us right now. National speaker,

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S3: best selling author, founder of One Thing Alone Ministries. Back

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S3: from a pretty epic adventure with your family. Tell me

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S3: about this trip you took.

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S7: Oh my gosh, Ali, it was epic. We spent two

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S7: months in the southwest. Eight weeks of road tripping with

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S7: our camper like travel trailer. And we lived, I think,

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S7: a total of 56 days in a space that is

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S7: about the size of our bathroom and closet put together. Wow.

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S7: And in so many ways, we were like, are we

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S7: crazy for doing this? But it's the culmination of a

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S7: years long years and years of dreaming and planning and

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S7: really just kind of following a hunch that for our

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S7: family in particular, we could use more time together, away

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S7: from our screens, away from our routines together in God's nature,

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S7: adventuring and exploring together. And it was just such a

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S7: good thing for our family.

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S3: As you spent time really outdoors, because obviously you were

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S3: in your camper for some of it, but you got

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S3: to really stop and pause and kind of take in

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S3: the beauty of all that God's created. What did that

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S3: do for your relationship with God?

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S7: Yeah. I mean, how much time do you have it

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S7: part of it, Ali, is just a reminder of how

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S7: small we are. I think of how Scripture says, what

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S7: is man that you are mindful of him? We got

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S7: to hike in the Rocky Mountains. We stood on the

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S7: edge of the Grand Canyon. We got to see just

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S7: ancient cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde, just so many incredible

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S7: natural wonders and also like human made things on this trip.

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S7: And again and again. It was the majesty and beauty

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S7: of God in creation. And even though, you know, just

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S7: kind of to tie this segment with a previous one, my,

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S7: my quiet time, quote unquote, didn't look anything like what

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S7: it is at home. It was a whole lot more

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S7: time hiking outdoors and as a family, we memorized Psalm 121.

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S7: I lift my eyes up to the hills. Where does

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S7: my help come from? And as we would hike down

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S7: into Bryce Canyon and see these different rock formations, telling

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S7: our children, look at the handiwork of God and that

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S7: he would be so good as to give this as

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S7: a gift to us. What does that say about the

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S7: heart of God the Father toward us? So many organic,

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S7: beautiful moments of teaching that would just then boomerang right

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S7: back to my heart. Ali. Yeah, like I was there

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S7: telling my kids something and then it was like God's

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S7: Spirit saying, no, this is for you, too.

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S3: It's so beautiful. You know, you took me there just

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S3: in my mind. And I think about even. I live

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S3: in a big city, I live in Chicago, and I can.

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S3: Sometimes I'll just get to a place and I still

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S3: see skyscrapers, but I'll just go to a place where

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S3: I can see lots of grass and lots of trees

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S3: and some flowers, and I'll just try to look up

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S3: at the sky and look at the trees and look

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S3: at the birds. And it's, you know, it's nowhere near

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S3: the epic adventure that you went on. But there's something

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S3: about just getting outside. Even if you live in an

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S3: urban setting and just taking your eyes up a little

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S3: bit and talk a little bit about this idea of

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S3: having a devotional personality, sometimes we think about devotions as

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S3: kind of one set way, but what do you mean

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S3: by the devotional personality?

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S7: Yeah. So for years now, I've been asking our readers online, like,

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S7: how do you best connect with God? And I was

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S7: intrigued that some people, like you said, it's when they

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S7: stand on the beach and they see the waves coming in,

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S7: or they go out to that urban park and watch

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S7: the birds fly over their heads. That that is when

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S7: they feel closest to God. And other readers were like, no, no, no,

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S7: it's it's when I'm doing an inductive Bible study and

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S7: I learn something new that I didn't know before, like

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S7: that just, oh expands my heart and I feel so

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S7: close to God and others like, no, no, no, it's

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S7: when I'm out. Like serving those in need, serving in

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S7: the soup kitchen, being the hands and feet of Jesus,

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S7: delivering a meal. That is when I feel closest to God.

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S7: And over the years, I was like, I really think

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S7: God has given us different personality types, so to speak,

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S7: like how we connect to him, how we feel close

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S7: to him. And I think we do the church a

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S7: disservice when we compare ourselves to each other, when we say, oh,

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S7: I'm a better Christian because look how much time I

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S7: spend doing X, Y, and Z. And you don't. Instead

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S7: of celebrating the diversity of the body of Christ, that God,

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S7: our creator, made us in different ways to connect with him.

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S7: So we put together a quiz to kind of invite

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S7: people into the freedom of discovering how did God create

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S7: you to connect with him? Is it watching the sunrise?

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S7: Is it doing an inductive study? Is it, you know,

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S7: going out and serving the poor or, uh, putting on

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S7: worship music and singing at the top of your lungs?

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S7: I think we can all do all of these things,

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S7: but especially if you're feeling bored in your quiet time

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S7: or you feel like you're stuck in a spiritual rut. Uh,

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S7: let me just encourage listeners to take that quiz and

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S7: maybe try a new, fresh, creative way to connect with God.

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S3: As a choo choo. One thing alone ministries if you

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S3: want that devotional personality quiz. Other great resources on her website,

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S3: as well as a YouTube channel where she has guided prayers,

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S3: Bible study tips. You can get all of that. Just

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S3: text delight to 800 555 7898. If you want resources

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S3: from Ashreeta, just text delight to 800 555 7898.

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S1: Take your next step with Jesus today. You're listening to

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S1: Carl and Cru.

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S3: You can learn a lot about life from kids. If

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S3: you've ever spent time with kids, whether you have your

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S3: own children or grandchildren or you serve in the nursery.

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S6: I was going to say serving in church.

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S3: You spent any time with children. You learn. Sometimes it's funny,

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S3: sometimes it's profound. You know, I remember when my son,

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S3: he was probably maybe 6 or 7, somewhere in that

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S3: age range. And he had been battling with a lot

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S3: of fear, particularly at night time. And he would get

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S3: really nervous going to bed. And, and so we would

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S3: tell him different Bible stories and different things to try

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S3: to help him manage some of what he was feeling.

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S3: You know, kids can feel in their small little bodies,

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S3: they can experience some pretty big emotions.

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S6: Yes they.

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S3: Can. And so I remember, um, we were driving to

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S3: prayer meeting one night, and he was. I was sitting

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S3: in the passenger seat and my husband was driving and

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S3: we were driving to the church and it was probably

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S3: around dusk. Prayer meeting started at seven, so it was

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S3: starting to get towards being dark at night. And we

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S3: were driving and my son was sitting in the back

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S3: seat diagonal for me and he, he started asking me

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S3: a question that seemed very odd at the moment. He said, mom,

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S3: where are the birds? And I was and you know,

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S3: sometimes when you get a question, it doesn't even hit you.

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S3: You're like, what?

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S6: Yeah.

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S3: I said, well, what do you mean? He's like, where

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S3: are the birds, mom? Where are the birds? And he

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S3: just kept asking me, where are the birds? I said,

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S3: I don't, I don't know, I don't see any birds.

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S3: Maybe they're maybe they flew south. I don't know what

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S3: bird the birds. And I'm looking around and I didn't

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S3: it was in the rush of trying to get us

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S3: into the prayer meeting. I didn't really even totally process

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S3: why he asked the question. I don't even know if

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S3: we ever found a bird. But we got into church

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S3: and we're sitting there and at some point he sort

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S3: of tapped me on the shoulder and I leaned down

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S3: so that he could whisper in my ear. He said, mom,

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S3: I wanted you to show me where the birds was

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S3: were because I was nervous and I thought and it.

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S3: And it hit me. And Matthew 626 was the verse

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S3: that he didn't quote, but it's the one he was

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S3: thinking of. Look at the birds of the air. They

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S3: do not sow or reap or store away in barns,

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S3: and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not

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S3: much more valuable than they? So whatever he saw or felt,

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S3: I don't know if it was emergency vehicles or police lights.

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S3: Something had made him feel afraid. Fearful. Maybe we're not safe.

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S3: Maybe something bad is going to happen or has happened.

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S3: And so in his mind, where are those birds? The

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S3: birds of the air, the ones that don't sow or reap,

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S3: but yet your heavenly father feeds them? And how much

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S3: more valuable and am I right than the birds?

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S6: Are we? Yes, exactly.

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S3: Took my breath away when I when I realized that

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S3: that's the connection that he made, that that simple kind

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S3: of random request. Where are those birds? I need to

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S3: see some birds right now. Was his way of saying

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S3: is I need to be reminded that I'm safe and

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S3: that God cares for me even more than he cares

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S3: for those birds. How much more valuable am I than

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S3: they coming up? When you think about the things that

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S3: make you feel afraid, the things that stress you out,

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S3: the things that get your heart racing quickly. Any number

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S3: of things you know, sometimes it changes when you when

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S3: you grow up a little bit. But we all have

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S3: stressors and things that put us on tilt a little

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S3: bit and rob us of our peace. How do we

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S3: live a life where we stress less? That's what we're

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S3: going to talk about with Doctor Charles Stone coming up

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S3: here on Carl and Crew.

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S1: Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race.

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S1: You're listening to Carl and Crew.

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S8: Stress less nine habits from the Bible and Brain science

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S8: to build resilience and reduce anxiety. What I love. Can

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S8: I say it again? The more we dig archaeology, the

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S8: more you find the truth of God's Word to come alive. Yes,

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S8: the more powerful the telescopes, the more you see the

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S8: wonder of the stars, the more powerful the microscopes, the

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S8: more you see the the God of details. And this

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S8: is why brain science and the Bible do go together.

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S8: We got these crazy little stress balls in our hand

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S8: that actually look like brain. Miniature brain matters to me.

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S3: These are pretty cool.

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S8: They're really cool. Doctor Charles Stone, can we look at

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S8: brain science in the Bible and have some aha moments here?

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S8: My man.

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S1: Absolutely.

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S9: Give us the basic working.

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S3: Definition of stress. We all have felt it. But is

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S3: there something to it that maybe we don't see.

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S10: Basically, it's the way God designed us. He designed our

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S10: body and brain to respond to threats or demands or uncertainty.

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S10: Now the problem comes is when we don't respond well

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S10: or when we perceive things to be true when they're not.

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S10: So that's a simple truth. And then you can also

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S10: kind of imagine a coin. There are two sides to

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S10: the stress coin. On the one side is the event,

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S10: the precipitating event out there or in our mind that's

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S10: one side. The other side is how we respond. And

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S10: that's where our choices come in. And the power of

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S10: the Holy Spirit comes in when we respond in healthy ways.

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S8: It seems like, Doc, that there are, you know, having

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S8: been a pastor now for many decades, one of the

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S8: great maladies in the average life of a believer, a genuine,

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S8: transformed disciple of Christ, who's been rocked by his grace,

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S8: is because of a lack of understanding how to deal

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S8: with stress. We try to avoid it or suppress it.

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S8: But does that ever work? I've never seen it work, doc.

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S10: Not at all, Carl. In fact, there's a term called

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S10: stress avoidance. When we try to structure our lives in

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S10: such a way that we think we don't face an

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S10: experienced stress, it actually is stress in itself. And yeah,

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S10: you know, I was a Christian. I was a smart guy.

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S10: Degrees and stuff like that. And I didn't realize some

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S10: of these biochemical kinds of things going on inside of

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S10: me do profoundly impact how I feel. And it doesn't

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S10: mean I'm less of a Christian because I feel those

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S10: kinds of things.

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S3: Doctor Charles Stone, our guest right now, we gave you

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S3: the title of the book, which includes nine Habits from

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S3: the Bible and Brain Science to build resilience and reduce anxiety.

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S3: Let's get those habits coming up with our guest, doctor

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S3: Charles Stone.

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S1: Your shot of hope to get you through the day.

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S4: You are so, so loved. God does not want you

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S4: to stay in your past, and I want you to

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S4: know and believe that today.

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S1: You're listening to Carl and Crew.

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S3: So how do you overcome stress and anxiety? Nine habits

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S3: from the Bible and Brain Science. A part of the

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S3: title of a book written by our guest, Doctor Charles Stone.

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S3: Give us a couple of them. Let's start with the

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S3: first one that you would start with. Recommend people starting

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S3: with if they're battling stress.

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S10: You bet. Well, this is one that's very, very portable

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S10: at sees and Bri, you know, all through the Bible

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S10: we see the word breath or breathe in like 100 times. Well,

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S10: neuroscience has found that deep breathing. Yeah. Especially on the exhale,

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S10: activates a key nerve, which slows our heart rate and

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S10: dampens the stress response. And so when I say seasoned breeze,

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S10: I mean this. When you're in a stressful situation, do

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S10: what you can to stop. Get away if you can.

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S10: If you're in a heated conversation, take a break. Just

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S10: stop and then take a breath. This is called the

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S10: physiological breath. And I'll just kind of illustrate illustrate it. So,

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S10: you know, we breathe in, we breathe out. We breathe in,

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S10: we breathe out. Here's how that physiological breath happens. You

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S10: breathe in and then breathe in another little bit. Hold

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S10: it for maybe a second and then and have the

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S10: outbreath a little more extended than the in-breath. Well, what

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S10: neuroscience has found is that actually can calm you at

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S10: the moment. It really does work. So that's the physiological sigh,

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S10: so to speak.

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S8: I love this actually. The first time I heard that

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S8: was from my son, who had done a deep dive

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S8: on this deep breathing thing, and he gave me the

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S8: he did the same thing over the phone that you

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S8: just did on air here. Um, how does this work?

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S8: And we aren't going to be able to cover all

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S8: nine of these, but if you had another habit that

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S8: stuck out, what would you say is like just vital?

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S8: And I love that deep breathing because then you can

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S8: gather yourself to, in my estimation, that now we let

446
00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:21,240
S8: God intervene here. Right, Charles.

447
00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,040
S10: Yep, yep. I think a second one that kind of pairs,

448
00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:27,360
S10: that is what I call reveal how you feel. You know,

449
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:30,200
S10: we live in a society now where anxiety is really high.

450
00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:34,940
S10: I mean, we're all kind of in a little heightened anxiousness. Sure. Well,

451
00:23:34,940 --> 00:23:38,940
S10: the place to begin is to acknowledge that name, that

452
00:23:38,940 --> 00:23:42,580
S10: difficult emotion, whether it's anxiety or worry or fear. Name it.

453
00:23:42,580 --> 00:23:45,820
S10: Not stuff it, not push it down. Little phrase is this.

454
00:23:45,820 --> 00:23:49,340
S10: Name it to tame it. And here's the way you

455
00:23:49,340 --> 00:23:52,859
S10: can do it. Distance yourself from it. Have a little conversation.

456
00:23:52,900 --> 00:23:55,020
S10: Don't know if you guys can kind of talk to yourself.

457
00:23:55,380 --> 00:23:57,659
S10: You know, hopefully in private I do. I talk to myself.

458
00:23:57,700 --> 00:24:00,419
S10: It's having a conversation with yourself. Third person. Let's say

459
00:24:00,420 --> 00:24:02,700
S10: I'm mad at my neighbor and his name is Kevin.

460
00:24:02,700 --> 00:24:05,260
S10: Good guy. I'm not mad at him, but here's not

461
00:24:05,260 --> 00:24:09,300
S10: the way to do it. I am so mad at Kevin. Oh,

462
00:24:09,540 --> 00:24:11,460
S10: that's not the way to do it. Here's the way

463
00:24:11,460 --> 00:24:14,780
S10: to do it. Have a conversation with yourself. Okay, Charles,

464
00:24:14,900 --> 00:24:18,460
S10: I see that you are angry at Kevin. What is

465
00:24:18,460 --> 00:24:21,780
S10: the appropriate God honoring step? So that's what I call.

466
00:24:21,820 --> 00:24:25,540
S10: Reveal how you feel. Create a little separation from you

467
00:24:25,740 --> 00:24:27,020
S10: and that emotion.

468
00:24:27,060 --> 00:24:29,770
S8: Well, we find it in scripture. Talking to yourself. Why

469
00:24:29,810 --> 00:24:32,609
S8: so downcast? Oh my soul. Right, Charles?

470
00:24:32,770 --> 00:24:35,770
S10: Oh, absolutely. And of course, King David, you look throughout

471
00:24:35,770 --> 00:24:41,210
S10: the Psalms, he was so radically transparent. And that's, I think,

472
00:24:41,250 --> 00:24:42,730
S10: a huge quality to model.

473
00:24:43,090 --> 00:24:45,410
S3: What's one of the most valuable lessons that you've learned

474
00:24:45,410 --> 00:24:47,690
S3: from your own journey with stress?

475
00:24:48,609 --> 00:24:52,530
S10: I think probably one of the biggest lessons is that

476
00:24:52,570 --> 00:24:57,650
S10: stress opportunities are all around us. We do have control

477
00:24:57,650 --> 00:25:00,970
S10: over what we do in response to that stress. The

478
00:25:00,970 --> 00:25:04,369
S10: problem is when we don't have those tools in our toolbox.

479
00:25:04,770 --> 00:25:09,210
S10: But as I've learned through my stressful life experiences, some

480
00:25:09,330 --> 00:25:11,930
S10: maybe more than others and others have been more stressful.

481
00:25:11,930 --> 00:25:16,410
S10: It's recognizing that stress is. Yet we have one certain

482
00:25:16,410 --> 00:25:21,210
S10: one in that stress that has got himself in His Word,

483
00:25:21,210 --> 00:25:24,570
S10: and we can trust what he says and trust him.

484
00:25:24,770 --> 00:25:27,010
S8: It's interesting when you say that. First off, I got

485
00:25:27,010 --> 00:25:29,030
S8: to tell you it's just your voice Talking seems to

486
00:25:29,030 --> 00:25:30,830
S8: be a stress reliever. So I'm going to get you

487
00:25:30,830 --> 00:25:33,870
S8: on my speed dial to just have a recorded message

488
00:25:33,869 --> 00:25:38,550
S8: that I constantly listen to. Charles. You know, some people though,

489
00:25:38,550 --> 00:25:41,949
S8: go to the word and it's almost too stressful to

490
00:25:41,990 --> 00:25:43,590
S8: get anything out of it.

491
00:25:43,869 --> 00:25:44,429
S10: Mhm.

492
00:25:44,510 --> 00:25:47,630
S8: I'm just I'm just really cutting it straight here. What

493
00:25:47,630 --> 00:25:49,550
S8: do you say to the person that goes, I'm in

494
00:25:49,550 --> 00:25:53,590
S8: the word. There's something going on there where we've got

495
00:25:53,590 --> 00:25:56,510
S8: to slow our heart rate. Even there, isn't there? Charles,

496
00:25:56,510 --> 00:26:00,350
S8: what can we do to let that word be that

497
00:26:00,350 --> 00:26:04,110
S8: drink of water we need when we're parched from our worry?

498
00:26:04,390 --> 00:26:06,910
S10: Yeah. Well, I think one thing that we can do

499
00:26:06,910 --> 00:26:10,030
S10: is recognize we need to be softer and kinder to

500
00:26:10,070 --> 00:26:13,949
S10: ourselves when we read the scripture. If you read the

501
00:26:13,950 --> 00:26:17,710
S10: scripture with open eyes, it's going to the Holy Spirit's

502
00:26:17,790 --> 00:26:18,950
S10: going to bring conviction.

503
00:26:18,990 --> 00:26:19,430
S8: Amen.

504
00:26:19,790 --> 00:26:23,510
S10: And the reality is, we are in process. We're in

505
00:26:23,510 --> 00:26:28,609
S10: a sinful world. We have this brokenness that came from Adam.

506
00:26:29,210 --> 00:26:32,850
S10: And when we are a little easier on ourselves. I

507
00:26:32,850 --> 00:26:35,650
S10: believe the Lord will honor that. And when we are

508
00:26:35,650 --> 00:26:38,810
S10: easier on ourselves, we can think more clearly and we

509
00:26:38,810 --> 00:26:42,050
S10: can kind of hear his gentle promptings in our heart

510
00:26:42,090 --> 00:26:45,250
S10: rather than kind of bearing down on us. And sometimes

511
00:26:45,250 --> 00:26:47,970
S10: we grew up in real difficult, you know, even a

512
00:26:47,970 --> 00:26:51,250
S10: Christian environment, a harsh environment. Yes. That can affect us.

513
00:26:51,690 --> 00:26:54,930
S3: Doctor Charles Stone yeah, this is really good stress. Less

514
00:26:54,930 --> 00:26:57,330
S3: nine habits from the Bible and Brain science to build

515
00:26:57,330 --> 00:27:01,170
S3: resilience and reduce anxiety. If you want the link, just

516
00:27:01,170 --> 00:27:10,169
S3: text stone to (800) 555-7898. Text stone to 800 555 7898

517
00:27:10,210 --> 00:27:13,570
S3: 800 555 7898.

518
00:27:14,290 --> 00:27:18,570
S1: Standing on the rock each and every day. You're listening

519
00:27:18,609 --> 00:27:19,810
S1: to Carl and Crew.

520
00:27:21,170 --> 00:27:25,370
S3: There's something about the month of March that makes you

521
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:29,640
S3: start filling up bags of things that need to get

522
00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:30,840
S3: out of the house.

523
00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:33,120
S6: Yeah. I mean, you've been closed up for the winter.

524
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:35,400
S6: It's that idea of opening the windows, get the fresh

525
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:36,600
S6: air in the.

526
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:38,160
S3: Spring cleaning vibe.

527
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:38,640
S6: Yeah, yeah.

528
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:44,320
S3: You know, this week I took no joke five, like,

529
00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:51,040
S3: contractor sized garbage bags of stuff to the donation center.

530
00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:53,919
S3: And it felt so good to get that stuff out

531
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:55,920
S3: of the house. I had my both of my kids.

532
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,040
S3: I said, okay, we need to like create a create

533
00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:02,760
S3: a assembly line system to get the bags first down

534
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:05,800
S3: the stairs and then from the stair, from one set

535
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:07,760
S3: of stairs to the set of stairs to get to

536
00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:11,520
S3: the garage and then into the back of my SUV.

537
00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:15,280
S3: And it was, I mean, it was totally full. And

538
00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:18,439
S3: I said, okay, the next chance I get, all of

539
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:20,959
S3: this has to come out. And it was, you know,

540
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:25,940
S3: my kids clothes and, and shoes because kids go through,

541
00:28:25,980 --> 00:28:27,140
S3: you know, their growth.

542
00:28:27,340 --> 00:28:27,699
S6: Oh for.

543
00:28:27,700 --> 00:28:30,260
S3: Sure. Wear a pair of shoes fits for a month

544
00:28:30,260 --> 00:28:30,780
S3: or two.

545
00:28:30,980 --> 00:28:31,180
S6: At.

546
00:28:31,180 --> 00:28:33,060
S3: Best. So we just had a bunch of stuff that

547
00:28:33,060 --> 00:28:35,540
S3: had just piled up and it felt good to get

548
00:28:35,540 --> 00:28:38,820
S3: it out. See, you're looking around. You're going, okay, what

549
00:28:38,820 --> 00:28:40,820
S3: can I streamline? What can I.

550
00:28:41,020 --> 00:28:42,060
S6: Bless others with.

551
00:28:42,100 --> 00:28:44,980
S3: Exactly? And I think it's this time of year. It's

552
00:28:44,980 --> 00:28:48,540
S3: the spring cleaning vibe. It's the desire to get ready

553
00:28:48,540 --> 00:28:51,780
S3: for summer, to kind of shed off some layers physically

554
00:28:51,820 --> 00:28:55,620
S3: and metaphorically. So true. I think I just shed off

555
00:28:55,620 --> 00:28:57,820
S3: the excess so that you're running strong. You know, this

556
00:28:57,820 --> 00:29:00,780
S3: week we've been talking about getting it together in a

557
00:29:00,780 --> 00:29:03,740
S3: lot of different ways. There's the physical spaces. We talked

558
00:29:03,740 --> 00:29:06,180
S3: about the emotional hoarding, the kind of the stuff we

559
00:29:06,180 --> 00:29:09,540
S3: can hold on to that we want to shed as well.

560
00:29:09,580 --> 00:29:13,100
S3: Coming up, we're going to talk about redeeming our time.

561
00:29:13,100 --> 00:29:17,740
S3: Sometimes our schedules, our sense of productivity or lack thereof.

562
00:29:18,060 --> 00:29:20,260
S3: We want to take a critical look at. But what

563
00:29:20,260 --> 00:29:25,450
S3: if we've been going about time redemption all wrong. Coming up,

564
00:29:25,450 --> 00:29:28,250
S3: our guest says maybe we're starting from the wrong point.

565
00:29:28,290 --> 00:29:30,930
S3: Maybe we need to reassess our starting point when it

566
00:29:30,930 --> 00:29:33,930
S3: comes to how we manage our day. You're going to

567
00:29:33,930 --> 00:29:35,690
S3: love him coming up here on Carl and Crew.

568
00:29:36,290 --> 00:29:39,290
S1: He was sharing the gospel on the radio and then

569
00:29:39,330 --> 00:29:43,690
S1: he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's Carl

570
00:29:43,690 --> 00:29:45,410
S1: and crew on Moody Radio.

571
00:29:48,170 --> 00:29:51,690
S3: We've been talking about getting it together this week, and

572
00:29:51,690 --> 00:29:54,410
S3: it's easy when you say something like, get it together.

573
00:29:55,050 --> 00:29:57,890
S3: That usually for most people that comes. What comes to

574
00:29:57,930 --> 00:30:00,170
S3: mind is this idea that I need to take a

575
00:30:00,210 --> 00:30:05,170
S3: look at myself, make myself better in some area, wherever

576
00:30:05,170 --> 00:30:09,890
S3: I've been falling short. And that's a very man centered approach. Obviously,

577
00:30:09,890 --> 00:30:13,530
S3: when we are in Christ, the starting point is never

578
00:30:13,570 --> 00:30:17,810
S3: me trying to do something, trying harder, working harder. We've

579
00:30:17,810 --> 00:30:20,890
S3: got a special guest. I want to speak into this topic.

580
00:30:21,010 --> 00:30:24,310
S3: When it comes to time redemption. How we spend our days.

581
00:30:24,310 --> 00:30:27,630
S3: Jordan Raynor, our guest this morning, a leading voice of

582
00:30:27,670 --> 00:30:30,350
S3: of the faith and work movement. He's helped millions of

583
00:30:30,350 --> 00:30:34,190
S3: Christians in every country on earth connect the gospel to

584
00:30:34,230 --> 00:30:38,550
S3: their work. Jordan, glad to have you with us this morning.

585
00:30:38,590 --> 00:30:42,070
S3: When did this become your emphasis, this sort of the

586
00:30:42,070 --> 00:30:45,550
S3: integration of faith and work and helping people. As your

587
00:30:45,550 --> 00:30:48,510
S3: website says, your work matters for eternity. I'm here to

588
00:30:48,510 --> 00:30:50,830
S3: help you see how and what to do about it,

589
00:30:50,830 --> 00:30:53,230
S3: I love that. When did that become your life's mission?

590
00:30:53,830 --> 00:30:56,910
S11: Yeah. Ali. Good morning. So this happened about ten years

591
00:30:56,910 --> 00:30:59,430
S11: ago for me. I was exiting my second company as

592
00:30:59,430 --> 00:31:01,150
S11: an entrepreneur, trying to figure out what I was going

593
00:31:01,150 --> 00:31:02,989
S11: to do next. And what I wanted to do was

594
00:31:02,990 --> 00:31:05,550
S11: start another business, but frankly, didn't feel the freedom to

595
00:31:05,590 --> 00:31:07,870
S11: because I felt like if I really wanted to be

596
00:31:07,870 --> 00:31:10,750
S11: on the varsity team of the Kingdom of God, I

597
00:31:10,750 --> 00:31:13,830
S11: would go move to a mud hut 5000 miles away

598
00:31:13,830 --> 00:31:15,950
S11: from home to make disciples. And it was a mentor

599
00:31:15,950 --> 00:31:17,750
S11: of mine who pulled me aside one day and said, Jordan,

600
00:31:17,750 --> 00:31:20,470
S11: now you're missing it. He said, you're a talented entrepreneur.

601
00:31:20,510 --> 00:31:22,780
S11: You served others with excellence. Why do you think you

602
00:31:22,780 --> 00:31:24,940
S11: have to be a missionary or pastor to do ministry?

603
00:31:24,980 --> 00:31:28,540
S11: Don't you get the work itself? Is ministry and not

604
00:31:28,540 --> 00:31:31,220
S11: just your evangelism in the work? All of it. God

605
00:31:31,220 --> 00:31:33,300
S11: delights in all of the work we do in a

606
00:31:33,300 --> 00:31:36,460
S11: godly way. And so Ali, that blew my mind. I

607
00:31:36,500 --> 00:31:39,500
S11: never heard that before. I never heard that before. God

608
00:31:39,540 --> 00:31:41,500
S11: tells us he is holy. He tells us that he

609
00:31:41,500 --> 00:31:44,060
S11: is a God who creates and works. And long before

610
00:31:44,060 --> 00:31:46,340
S11: the Great Commission in Genesis one, we have the first

611
00:31:46,340 --> 00:31:48,900
S11: commission to create in his image. And so that changed

612
00:31:48,900 --> 00:31:51,460
S11: my life, Ali, and set me on this relentless quest

613
00:31:51,500 --> 00:31:54,420
S11: to understand what God says about our work. And in

614
00:31:54,420 --> 00:31:56,820
S11: response to the fact that our work matters for eternity,

615
00:31:57,060 --> 00:31:58,940
S11: how should we work in light of that? And one

616
00:31:58,940 --> 00:32:02,300
S11: of those responses, as Paul says in Ephesians five, is

617
00:32:02,300 --> 00:32:04,540
S11: to redeem the time because the days are evil.

618
00:32:04,860 --> 00:32:07,219
S3: You know, when we we do a lot of different

619
00:32:07,260 --> 00:32:11,460
S3: topics here on our morning show, and sometimes we will

620
00:32:11,460 --> 00:32:14,380
S3: ask people about the one thing that seems to kind

621
00:32:14,420 --> 00:32:17,220
S3: of get them stuck. Karl, who is, is out today,

622
00:32:17,220 --> 00:32:20,360
S3: but our lead host, he's really passionate about this, about

623
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:24,400
S3: sometimes it's identifying that one thing that has you stuck,

624
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,560
S3: that when that gets unlocked, man, there's real freedom. And

625
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:30,680
S3: a lot of times there's a theme around what comes

626
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:33,840
S3: in and time redemption is big and it comes in

627
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:38,000
S3: with different, different wording. I feel like I failed to

628
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:40,800
S3: be productive or that I waste a lot of time,

629
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:45,240
S3: or I procrastinate. And although that on the surface sounds

630
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:49,440
S3: really kind of mundane, maybe to people like, well, there's

631
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:52,080
S3: not some terrible addiction or something else going on, but

632
00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:57,840
S3: so many people feel like the time slips away. I

633
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,959
S3: have the intent to spend my days a certain way,

634
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:03,600
S3: and boy, I get to the end of days, the

635
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:05,720
S3: end of weeks, the end of years and feel like

636
00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:08,960
S3: I just wasted so much of that. Do you hear

637
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:10,160
S3: that from people?

638
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:12,600
S11: I hear it all the time. The word I hear

639
00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:15,720
S11: a lot is I'm swamped. I you know, I keep

640
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:18,740
S11: trying to get ahead, but I'm swamped. I feel overwhelmed.

641
00:33:18,740 --> 00:33:21,100
S11: And I love that the Bible uses that word to

642
00:33:21,140 --> 00:33:25,180
S11: describe Jesus's disciples some 2000 years ago in Luke eight,

643
00:33:25,180 --> 00:33:27,300
S11: when Jesus in the boat with his disciples, it says

644
00:33:27,300 --> 00:33:30,260
S11: that the boat was being swamped by the wind and

645
00:33:30,260 --> 00:33:32,900
S11: the waves. And we know the rest of that story, right? Ali.

646
00:33:32,900 --> 00:33:35,580
S11: Jesus gets up, rebukes the wind and the waves, and

647
00:33:35,580 --> 00:33:39,940
S11: all is calm. And I would argue that the same

648
00:33:39,940 --> 00:33:44,540
S11: solution to the disciples being swamped by the wind and

649
00:33:44,540 --> 00:33:46,739
S11: the waves is the exact same solution to you and

650
00:33:46,740 --> 00:33:50,220
S11: I being swamped by our never ending to do lists.

651
00:33:50,260 --> 00:33:54,460
S11: The solution is Jesus Christ. It is not a to

652
00:33:54,500 --> 00:33:57,780
S11: do list app. It is not having the right daily planner.

653
00:33:57,820 --> 00:34:02,580
S11: The ultimate source of peace in the midst of being

654
00:34:02,580 --> 00:34:05,780
S11: swamped is Christ alone. Because you guys say it in

655
00:34:05,780 --> 00:34:09,580
S11: the intro of the show, the gospel changes everything and

656
00:34:09,580 --> 00:34:12,459
S11: it changes our approach to time management. I don't do

657
00:34:12,500 --> 00:34:17,210
S11: time management exercises in a wild goose chase to find

658
00:34:17,250 --> 00:34:22,410
S11: peace because I have ultimate peace with God through the death, burial,

659
00:34:22,410 --> 00:34:24,529
S11: and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So I don't do time

660
00:34:24,530 --> 00:34:27,729
S11: management exercises to get peace. I do them as a

661
00:34:27,730 --> 00:34:32,170
S11: worshipful response to the peace that was secure through Christ alone.

662
00:34:32,170 --> 00:34:36,089
S11: And that is a radically different foundation from what the

663
00:34:36,090 --> 00:34:39,730
S11: world says is the path to peace and productivity.

664
00:34:39,969 --> 00:34:42,130
S3: So yeah, let's, let's dig a little deeper there, because

665
00:34:42,130 --> 00:34:43,970
S3: I know that that's a big premise of your book,

666
00:34:44,410 --> 00:34:49,370
S3: The Starting Point. So most of time redemption plans start

667
00:34:49,370 --> 00:34:51,930
S3: with what and why do you feel like it's a

668
00:34:51,930 --> 00:34:53,170
S3: faulty starting point?

669
00:34:53,810 --> 00:34:56,690
S11: A lot of it starts with setting big goals or

670
00:34:56,730 --> 00:35:00,730
S11: getting your to do list in order, right? Or prioritizing

671
00:35:00,730 --> 00:35:02,970
S11: your commitments. Or in the words of the seven Habits

672
00:35:02,969 --> 00:35:05,450
S11: of Highly Effective People, starting with the end in mind.

673
00:35:05,450 --> 00:35:08,049
S11: And all of that is great. All of those can

674
00:35:08,050 --> 00:35:10,810
S11: be very important tools for redeeming our time, but we

675
00:35:10,850 --> 00:35:13,089
S11: got to start at the cross. That has to be

676
00:35:13,090 --> 00:35:17,069
S11: our foundation because it is only when I measure the

677
00:35:17,070 --> 00:35:21,070
S11: cosmic chasm upward between me and God that Christ closed

678
00:35:21,070 --> 00:35:24,549
S11: for me on the cross, realizing that God died for

679
00:35:24,550 --> 00:35:28,190
S11: me when I was his enemy. That I can have

680
00:35:28,190 --> 00:35:31,069
S11: peace regardless of how productive I am. Because if I

681
00:35:31,070 --> 00:35:33,069
S11: can believe that Christ died for me when I was

682
00:35:33,070 --> 00:35:36,870
S11: God's enemy, I could certainly believe that God loves me

683
00:35:36,870 --> 00:35:39,669
S11: on my least and my most productive day when I'm

684
00:35:39,670 --> 00:35:42,790
S11: feeling totally swamped and when I'm feeling on top of

685
00:35:42,790 --> 00:35:46,069
S11: the world. And once I meditate on that, once I

686
00:35:46,070 --> 00:35:51,029
S11: understand and swim laps in the pool of the gospel daily,

687
00:35:51,030 --> 00:35:54,190
S11: if you will. Ironically, it actually makes me more ambitious

688
00:35:54,190 --> 00:35:56,790
S11: for the work. It makes me more ambitious to redeem

689
00:35:56,790 --> 00:36:00,910
S11: my time, because working to earn somebody's favor and love

690
00:36:00,910 --> 00:36:06,950
S11: is exhausting. But working in response to unconditional and unmerited

691
00:36:06,950 --> 00:36:11,590
S11: love and favor from our Heavenly Father. That's intoxicating. I

692
00:36:11,590 --> 00:36:13,830
S11: want to be productive. Not because I need to or

693
00:36:13,830 --> 00:36:16,180
S11: not because I feel like God needs me to, but

694
00:36:16,180 --> 00:36:20,340
S11: because I want to make God's love known through my

695
00:36:20,340 --> 00:36:23,660
S11: life and work. And as I steward this vapor of

696
00:36:23,660 --> 00:36:24,180
S11: a life.

697
00:36:24,420 --> 00:36:26,739
S3: You know, that's such an important distinction because even if

698
00:36:26,739 --> 00:36:29,580
S3: we wouldn't say it out loud, I think many of

699
00:36:29,580 --> 00:36:32,500
S3: us do feel like when we've not been productive, when

700
00:36:32,500 --> 00:36:35,420
S3: we are swamped, as you said, when we have not

701
00:36:35,420 --> 00:36:38,500
S3: accomplished the things that we set out to do, that

702
00:36:38,500 --> 00:36:41,819
S3: we are God's kind of mad at us and that

703
00:36:41,820 --> 00:36:44,860
S3: we want to get back into his good graces by

704
00:36:44,860 --> 00:36:48,980
S3: having a good tomorrow, a good, productive next day. I mean,

705
00:36:49,020 --> 00:36:51,980
S3: that thinking slips in very easily.

706
00:36:52,700 --> 00:36:56,340
S11: Super easily. It's workspace productivity, right? It's like I screwed

707
00:36:56,340 --> 00:36:59,060
S11: up and I've got to clean this mess up in

708
00:36:59,060 --> 00:37:02,700
S11: order to be right with God. That is the antithesis

709
00:37:02,700 --> 00:37:07,500
S11: of the gospel, right? We are productive. We redeem our

710
00:37:07,500 --> 00:37:11,540
S11: time not because we are afraid of the wrath of God.

711
00:37:11,540 --> 00:37:14,600
S11: The wrath of God has been satisfied in Jesus Christ.

712
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:16,960
S11: Praise God. Alan. Right? Yeah. The wrath of God has

713
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:18,880
S11: been satisfied. So I don't do it because I'm afraid

714
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,520
S11: of the Lord. I do it because I'm in love

715
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:24,839
S11: with the Lord who saved me. And I believe that

716
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:27,640
S11: one of my responses to the gospel, again, as Paul

717
00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:31,359
S11: says in Ephesians five, is to redeem the time because

718
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:33,880
S11: the days are evil. Jen Wilkin, one of my favorite

719
00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:37,160
S11: Bible teachers commenting on that verse, says, we are commanded

720
00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:40,760
S11: to be time redeemers, right? Those of us who buy

721
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:43,479
S11: back as much time as we can and employ them

722
00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:45,759
S11: to productive ends for the glory of God and the

723
00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:46,360
S11: good of others.

724
00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:49,600
S3: Amen. Jordan Rayner, our guest this morning coming up. He's

725
00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:51,080
S3: got a book. I want to talk a little bit

726
00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:55,480
S3: more about redeeming your time. Seven Biblical Principles for Being purposeful,

727
00:37:55,480 --> 00:38:02,080
S3: present and wildly productive. Not mildly, not somewhat, but wildly productive.

728
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,560
S3: What does that look like? Practically more with our guest,

729
00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:06,480
S3: Jordan Rayner coming up here on Carling Cru.

730
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:10,319
S1: You're listening to Carl and Cru on Moody Radio.

731
00:38:12,310 --> 00:38:15,230
S3: Well. Did you know that God loves you? No matter

732
00:38:15,230 --> 00:38:20,510
S3: how productive or unproductive your day happens to go. Isn't

733
00:38:20,510 --> 00:38:22,910
S3: that comforting? Jordan Raynor, our guest right now, he's the

734
00:38:22,910 --> 00:38:26,950
S3: author of Redeeming Your Time Seven Biblical Principles for Being Purposeful, present,

735
00:38:26,950 --> 00:38:30,470
S3: and Wildly Productive. He's twice been selected as a Google fellow,

736
00:38:30,469 --> 00:38:33,110
S3: served in the white House under President George W Bush.

737
00:38:33,469 --> 00:38:35,830
S3: I think all of us have a desire to be

738
00:38:35,830 --> 00:38:40,989
S3: productive that's hardwired in us, right? But why? What are

739
00:38:40,989 --> 00:38:43,310
S3: some of these principles? Break down some of the principles

740
00:38:43,310 --> 00:38:45,229
S3: that can help us get there. And from the right

741
00:38:45,230 --> 00:38:46,430
S3: starting point.

742
00:38:46,430 --> 00:38:48,149
S11: I'll just breeze through a couple. Number one, we got

743
00:38:48,150 --> 00:38:50,390
S11: to start with the word right, the Word of God. Listen,

744
00:38:50,390 --> 00:38:53,150
S11: if all you care about is being productive so that

745
00:38:53,150 --> 00:38:55,549
S11: you can earn a promotion or make more money, I'll

746
00:38:55,550 --> 00:38:57,069
S11: be frank. Time in the word doesn't make a whole

747
00:38:57,070 --> 00:39:00,109
S11: lot of sense. But if we care about truly redeeming

748
00:39:00,110 --> 00:39:03,430
S11: our time and spending our life on things that matter

749
00:39:03,430 --> 00:39:06,190
S11: for eternity, we have to know what's on God's heart

750
00:39:06,190 --> 00:39:09,310
S11: for eternity. Principle number three from the book that's been

751
00:39:09,310 --> 00:39:12,090
S11: really helpful for readers. Jesus spent a lot of time

752
00:39:12,090 --> 00:39:16,250
S11: dissenting from the kingdom of noise. We often saw him

753
00:39:16,250 --> 00:39:20,330
S11: in lonely and solitary places, which stands in stark contrast

754
00:39:20,370 --> 00:39:24,370
S11: to our lives today. We are constantly consuming news and

755
00:39:24,370 --> 00:39:27,410
S11: information and social media, and more and more and more

756
00:39:27,410 --> 00:39:31,609
S11: noise and information which blocks our ability to think, to

757
00:39:31,650 --> 00:39:35,169
S11: prioritize our to do list, to be creative, and to

758
00:39:35,170 --> 00:39:38,129
S11: listen to the voice of God. I'll give you one

759
00:39:38,130 --> 00:39:41,090
S11: more principle number seven from the book eliminate all. Hurry.

760
00:39:41,210 --> 00:39:43,250
S11: I'm stealing this phrase from my buddy John Mark comer,

761
00:39:43,250 --> 00:39:46,770
S11: who stole it from a bunch of other people. Uh, listen, Jesus,

762
00:39:46,770 --> 00:39:51,410
S11: all throughout the Gospels was masterful at eliminating hurry. And

763
00:39:51,410 --> 00:39:55,049
S11: yet he was also incredibly busy. I like to think

764
00:39:55,050 --> 00:39:57,969
S11: of busyness as this outward condition of the body, of

765
00:39:57,969 --> 00:40:00,529
S11: having a lot of things to do. But hurry is

766
00:40:00,530 --> 00:40:03,730
S11: this inward condition that you could feel in your bones

767
00:40:03,730 --> 00:40:07,410
S11: and your soul. So Jesus was quote, out of his mind,

768
00:40:07,410 --> 00:40:09,710
S11: end quote. According to his family, busy with the work

769
00:40:09,710 --> 00:40:12,110
S11: of the Lord, but he was never busy in a

770
00:40:12,110 --> 00:40:15,710
S11: way that made him frantic or anxious, or caused them

771
00:40:15,710 --> 00:40:18,750
S11: to snap at other people in his life. He embraced

772
00:40:18,750 --> 00:40:23,870
S11: productive busyness while ruthlessly eliminating hurry from our lives. So

773
00:40:23,870 --> 00:40:26,509
S11: those are just three of the seven principles that I

774
00:40:26,510 --> 00:40:29,310
S11: see in the gospel biographies for how Jesus managed a

775
00:40:29,310 --> 00:40:30,230
S11: 24 hour day.

776
00:40:30,270 --> 00:40:32,990
S3: Well, it's interesting because I don't think we think about

777
00:40:32,989 --> 00:40:35,510
S3: Jesus's time management.

778
00:40:36,030 --> 00:40:38,629
S11: No, because we forget that the Gospels are biographies.

779
00:40:38,950 --> 00:40:43,710
S3: Right? But clearly, there were many, many demands on his time.

780
00:40:43,950 --> 00:40:49,069
S11: Yeah. Jesus was 100% God and 100% man, which means

781
00:40:49,310 --> 00:40:52,710
S11: he had to steward the exact same 24 hour time

782
00:40:52,710 --> 00:40:55,190
S11: constraint that you and I are faced with today. And

783
00:40:55,190 --> 00:40:57,469
S11: I'll be honest, Ali, for the first ten years of

784
00:40:57,469 --> 00:41:00,230
S11: my career as a tech entrepreneur, I look to Jesus

785
00:41:00,230 --> 00:41:03,310
S11: for wisdom about salvation, and I look to the world

786
00:41:03,310 --> 00:41:08,069
S11: for wisdom about productivity. How arrogant of me not to

787
00:41:08,180 --> 00:41:13,060
S11: look to the author of time for wisdom about how

788
00:41:13,060 --> 00:41:17,500
S11: to manage this time that he created and graciously gave me.

789
00:41:17,500 --> 00:41:19,940
S11: And so that's what this book is all about. It's

790
00:41:19,940 --> 00:41:23,460
S11: looking at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as the biographical

791
00:41:23,460 --> 00:41:27,739
S11: documents that they are to study, how Jesus did it,

792
00:41:27,739 --> 00:41:30,299
S11: how he accomplished so much by the world's standards, and

793
00:41:30,300 --> 00:41:34,340
S11: way more importantly, by God's. And how we can practically

794
00:41:34,340 --> 00:41:37,500
S11: redeem our time in the model of our Redeemer here

795
00:41:37,500 --> 00:41:38,700
S11: in the 21st century.

796
00:41:39,140 --> 00:41:41,660
S3: You know, the one of the challenges of the 21st

797
00:41:41,660 --> 00:41:45,779
S3: century is the. You mentioned the distractions. And for many people,

798
00:41:45,780 --> 00:41:49,780
S3: screens in particular tend to be what eats away at

799
00:41:49,780 --> 00:41:53,259
S3: a lot of the time that maybe we, in our

800
00:41:53,260 --> 00:41:55,739
S3: best light, be able to want to spend on doing

801
00:41:55,780 --> 00:41:59,100
S3: other things. I heard someone say, nobody sets out to say,

802
00:41:59,100 --> 00:42:02,580
S3: I think I want to spend 36 hours staring at

803
00:42:02,580 --> 00:42:05,100
S3: my phone this week. But when you when you total

804
00:42:05,100 --> 00:42:09,000
S3: up the numbers, that's usually where a lot of people land.

805
00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:11,720
S3: How do we start to get victory over the things

806
00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:13,360
S3: that pull us in?

807
00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:16,600
S11: Yeah, it's a great, great question. Ali and I got

808
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:18,279
S11: lots of tips for this in the book. I'll give

809
00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:19,920
S11: you one that's not in the book. That's been a

810
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:22,200
S11: game changer for me recently. And I swear I have

811
00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:25,960
S11: no financial relationship with this company. There's a terrific device

812
00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:28,600
S11: out there called The Brick. It's a little two inch

813
00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:31,040
S11: magnet that you could put on your refrigerator wherever you

814
00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:34,520
S11: want and what you do. You physically tap your phone

815
00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:37,919
S11: to the brick to disable whatever apps and websites you

816
00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:40,640
S11: want until you return to the magnet and tap your

817
00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:44,000
S11: phone again. And it's been a game changer for me. Ali,

818
00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:48,440
S11: to be use my phone as a tool rather than

819
00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:52,200
S11: my phone. Being a tyrant that uses me as a tool,

820
00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:56,080
S11: as an endless user, quote unquote and consumer. It allows

821
00:42:56,080 --> 00:42:58,120
S11: me to focus on only the things that help me

822
00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:01,080
S11: create life in my family and my work, and ignore

823
00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:04,160
S11: everything else until I go back to that brick device

824
00:43:04,160 --> 00:43:06,750
S11: and untap it so it's get brick. I think you

825
00:43:06,750 --> 00:43:08,670
S11: could just Google get brick and you can find it

826
00:43:08,670 --> 00:43:11,910
S11: pretty easily, but that helps me turn my phone from

827
00:43:11,950 --> 00:43:14,070
S11: tyrant to tool so that I can redeem my time,

828
00:43:14,070 --> 00:43:16,910
S11: especially at home as I'm discipling my kids.

829
00:43:17,270 --> 00:43:19,870
S3: That's awesome. You know that we've talked a lot about

830
00:43:19,910 --> 00:43:21,549
S3: the kind of the shame you can feel when you

831
00:43:21,550 --> 00:43:25,270
S3: don't redeem your time, but there's also the the pride

832
00:43:25,270 --> 00:43:28,630
S3: you can start to feel. Some people are very, I

833
00:43:28,630 --> 00:43:31,030
S3: don't want to say naturally, because maybe that's not accurate,

834
00:43:31,030 --> 00:43:33,910
S3: but some people do tend to get more victory in

835
00:43:33,950 --> 00:43:37,469
S3: time redemption. They tend to be very, very productive. You

836
00:43:37,469 --> 00:43:40,029
S3: may have a family member or a colleague who, by

837
00:43:40,030 --> 00:43:41,830
S3: the end of the day, they just seem like they've

838
00:43:41,830 --> 00:43:45,630
S3: knocked out more tasks than anybody else in the office place.

839
00:43:45,630 --> 00:43:48,069
S3: And you, if you can just you can slip off

840
00:43:48,070 --> 00:43:50,830
S3: that high ridge on either side of the shame of

841
00:43:50,830 --> 00:43:53,830
S3: feeling like I've not been very productive or a sense

842
00:43:53,830 --> 00:43:59,190
S3: of self pride and self, almost an arrogance. That's that says,

843
00:43:59,190 --> 00:44:01,549
S3: I am man, I, I get so much done. I

844
00:44:01,550 --> 00:44:03,790
S3: get more done in a, in an hour than most

845
00:44:03,790 --> 00:44:05,010
S3: people do in a day.

846
00:44:05,489 --> 00:44:08,649
S11: Yes. And the gospel is the answer to both. Right.

847
00:44:08,690 --> 00:44:10,810
S11: We've talked about how the gospel is answer to the

848
00:44:10,810 --> 00:44:13,770
S11: shame side for the person who feels unproductive. But the

849
00:44:13,810 --> 00:44:16,210
S11: gospel is also the answer to the prideful person. And

850
00:44:16,210 --> 00:44:18,049
S11: by the way, I'm raising my hand right now. This

851
00:44:18,050 --> 00:44:21,410
S11: is where I can default to look how productive I am.

852
00:44:21,410 --> 00:44:24,250
S11: I'm so much more productive than everybody else. Yeah. What arrogance.

853
00:44:24,250 --> 00:44:28,250
S11: I am forgetting that it is only by God's grace

854
00:44:28,410 --> 00:44:31,529
S11: that I have learned these principles and practices. It is

855
00:44:31,530 --> 00:44:34,049
S11: only by God's grace that I have this discipline. It

856
00:44:34,050 --> 00:44:36,250
S11: is only by God's grace that he brought mentors and

857
00:44:36,250 --> 00:44:39,370
S11: books and software into my life to make me productive.

858
00:44:39,410 --> 00:44:43,009
S11: Every good and perfect gift is from above, from the

859
00:44:43,010 --> 00:44:45,649
S11: father of heavenly light. See James one right? So I

860
00:44:45,650 --> 00:44:48,050
S11: can't take any credit for it. I can just receive

861
00:44:48,050 --> 00:44:50,649
S11: it as a gift from God and give him all

862
00:44:50,650 --> 00:44:53,850
S11: the glory. And that allows me to approach my productivity

863
00:44:53,890 --> 00:44:57,170
S11: from a far more humble, God honoring place.

864
00:44:57,370 --> 00:45:00,890
S3: Give us a story as we. My last question for you.

865
00:45:00,930 --> 00:45:03,910
S3: I know you work a lot with Christian leaders helping

866
00:45:03,910 --> 00:45:08,390
S3: them maximize productivity in a Christ honoring way. Give us

867
00:45:08,390 --> 00:45:12,430
S3: a story. Obviously no names, no identifying details, but a

868
00:45:12,430 --> 00:45:14,589
S3: story that kind of motivates you to keep doing what

869
00:45:14,590 --> 00:45:15,270
S3: you're doing.

870
00:45:15,750 --> 00:45:19,030
S11: My motivation? Gosh, I could tell. I could tell hundreds

871
00:45:19,030 --> 00:45:21,509
S11: of stories. The one that's coming to mind. I'm talking.

872
00:45:21,510 --> 00:45:24,270
S11: I'm thinking about a friend who who runs a massive

873
00:45:24,390 --> 00:45:29,630
S11: division of the American Red cross. Um, huge budget, um,

874
00:45:29,989 --> 00:45:33,029
S11: on her team. And, uh, man, this woman is in

875
00:45:33,030 --> 00:45:37,150
S11: a position of great power to serve the very marginalized,

876
00:45:37,150 --> 00:45:40,549
S11: materially poor that Jesus called us to care for in

877
00:45:40,590 --> 00:45:43,629
S11: Matthew 25. And she is just operating. She would tell

878
00:45:43,630 --> 00:45:46,750
S11: you she's operating at an entirely different level in terms

879
00:45:46,750 --> 00:45:49,830
S11: of pure productivity by the world's standards than she ever

880
00:45:49,830 --> 00:45:52,629
S11: was before she encountered these biblical principles from the life

881
00:45:52,630 --> 00:45:55,390
S11: of Christ. But I think what's more important is she's

882
00:45:55,390 --> 00:45:58,509
S11: doing it in a Jesus like way. She's doing it

883
00:45:58,510 --> 00:46:02,460
S11: in a peaceful way where she doesn't feel crushed. her

884
00:46:02,460 --> 00:46:06,260
S11: soul doesn't feel crushed by the heavy burden of responsibility

885
00:46:06,260 --> 00:46:10,380
S11: of not doing everything perfectly. She's able to approach productivity

886
00:46:10,420 --> 00:46:13,540
S11: from a life giving rather than a life sucking way.

887
00:46:13,739 --> 00:46:16,779
S11: Not because of my words in this book, but because

888
00:46:16,780 --> 00:46:20,020
S11: I pointed her to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That

889
00:46:20,020 --> 00:46:23,620
S11: frees us from that soul crushing burden, right? But also

890
00:46:23,820 --> 00:46:26,739
S11: motivates us to abound in the good works that God

891
00:46:26,739 --> 00:46:28,700
S11: has prepared for us to do. So I can call

892
00:46:28,700 --> 00:46:30,299
S11: her out by name. She's a phenomenal leader. Her name

893
00:46:30,300 --> 00:46:33,740
S11: is Doctor Linda Brady, running the Red Cross in North Texas.

894
00:46:33,739 --> 00:46:37,420
S11: She's a phenomenal leader and man, she is redeeming the

895
00:46:37,420 --> 00:46:39,660
S11: time because the days are evil and she's doing it

896
00:46:39,660 --> 00:46:41,779
S11: for the right reasons, for the glory of God and

897
00:46:41,780 --> 00:46:42,540
S11: the good of others.

898
00:46:42,580 --> 00:46:45,060
S3: Great place to land. Jordan Raynor, our guest this morning.

899
00:46:45,060 --> 00:46:48,420
S3: If you want more on his book on resources, text

900
00:46:48,460 --> 00:46:53,860
S3: redeem to 800 555 7898. Just text that one word.

901
00:46:53,860 --> 00:46:59,700
S3: Redeem to 800 555 7898. Thank you Jordan, so much

902
00:46:59,700 --> 00:47:01,040
S3: for your time this morning.

903
00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:05,960
S1: Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl

904
00:47:05,960 --> 00:47:08,160
S1: and crew on Facebook and Instagram.

905
00:47:10,560 --> 00:47:13,520
S3: Tell me I'm not alone with this. Do you have

906
00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:18,959
S3: a task or 2 or 10 that you've been putting off?

907
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:22,759
S3: You've been meaning to get to it, but you haven't.

908
00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:26,839
S3: Sometimes it's like actual things to complete to check off

909
00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:32,000
S3: the box. Sometimes it's that prompting, that nudge toward reach

910
00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:34,359
S3: out to that person. And so you file it away

911
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:36,799
S3: and go, yeah, I do need to reach out to

912
00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:38,799
S3: so and so. I do want to. I owe them

913
00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:41,520
S3: a phone call. Oh, I do want to go visit.

914
00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:44,200
S3: There's somebody who in comes to mind right now who

915
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:47,359
S3: I have been wanting to go visit. She's in a

916
00:47:47,360 --> 00:47:50,759
S3: care facility and I want to go visit. But then

917
00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:54,640
S3: the weeks pass, things get busy, schedules fill up, and

918
00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:57,160
S3: it doesn't happen. I'm just being honest with you about

919
00:47:57,160 --> 00:48:00,589
S3: my own life. Have you experienced this? I want you

920
00:48:00,590 --> 00:48:03,790
S3: to text me the 1 or 2 things that come

921
00:48:03,790 --> 00:48:06,149
S3: to mind for you as we talk about this, that

922
00:48:06,150 --> 00:48:13,149
S3: you had every good intention to do, but haven't. 800

923
00:48:13,150 --> 00:48:19,989
S3: 555 78, 98, 800 555 7898. Coming up, I'm going

924
00:48:20,030 --> 00:48:22,230
S3: to give you a verse that's going to guide you

925
00:48:22,230 --> 00:48:25,430
S3: in how to pray that some of these tasks you'll

926
00:48:25,430 --> 00:48:26,430
S3: get completed.

927
00:48:27,550 --> 00:48:32,070
S1: A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is

928
00:48:32,070 --> 00:48:35,790
S1: in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.

929
00:48:37,390 --> 00:48:41,189
S3: It's Chris Tomlin. How good it is. Well, you've been

930
00:48:41,190 --> 00:48:45,430
S3: putting off organizing photos, cleaning up digital clutter that came

931
00:48:45,430 --> 00:48:49,470
S3: in by text message, cleaning out that bedroom closet. Oh,

932
00:48:49,590 --> 00:48:53,989
S3: some self-care and home organization. A lot of it around

933
00:48:53,989 --> 00:48:56,709
S3: the home stuff. That's sometimes the easiest stuff to put off.

934
00:48:56,710 --> 00:49:00,170
S3: But then there's the visiting the friend calling a relative

935
00:49:00,210 --> 00:49:02,009
S3: that came in as well. I think those are the

936
00:49:02,010 --> 00:49:05,530
S3: ones that maybe hurt the most. When you put off,

937
00:49:05,890 --> 00:49:10,530
S3: you have the Holy Spirit prompting to do something. As

938
00:49:10,530 --> 00:49:14,770
S3: it pertains to to a person and you miss the opportunity,

939
00:49:14,969 --> 00:49:18,650
S3: you don't follow through. The text message that doesn't get sent,

940
00:49:18,650 --> 00:49:21,450
S3: the phone call that doesn't get made, the visit that

941
00:49:21,450 --> 00:49:24,970
S3: doesn't happen. I want to give you a verse. I

942
00:49:25,170 --> 00:49:27,129
S3: came across this verse a couple of years ago and

943
00:49:27,130 --> 00:49:29,290
S3: I said, you know what? I'm going to make this

944
00:49:29,330 --> 00:49:33,049
S3: my verse for the year. Second Thessalonians 111. I'm going

945
00:49:33,090 --> 00:49:35,370
S3: to read it to you in the New Living Translation.

946
00:49:35,370 --> 00:49:38,169
S3: This is Paul. This is his words to the Thessalonians,

947
00:49:38,170 --> 00:49:41,210
S3: his prayer for the Thessalonians. He says, so we keep

948
00:49:41,210 --> 00:49:44,730
S3: on praying for you, asking our God to enable you

949
00:49:44,730 --> 00:49:47,770
S3: to live a life worthy of his call. And then

950
00:49:47,770 --> 00:49:50,450
S3: listen to this next part. May he give you the

951
00:49:50,450 --> 00:49:54,930
S3: power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts

952
00:49:54,930 --> 00:49:57,680
S3: you to do. Let me read that to you one

953
00:49:57,680 --> 00:50:01,360
S3: more time. May he give you the power to accomplish

954
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:04,640
S3: all the good things your faith prompts you to do.

955
00:50:05,080 --> 00:50:09,120
S3: So there's the faith prompt. That's the first part, but

956
00:50:09,120 --> 00:50:14,360
S3: the actual follow through. The accomplishment that happens by God's power.

957
00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:16,319
S3: So I want you to write down this verse. If

958
00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:19,600
S3: you've been struggling with following through with not just the

959
00:50:19,600 --> 00:50:23,040
S3: tasks around the house, but those Holy Spirit promptings to

960
00:50:23,080 --> 00:50:26,520
S3: do something to move in a certain direction, but you

961
00:50:26,520 --> 00:50:30,000
S3: put it off. Second Thessalonians 111. We want to pray

962
00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:32,359
S3: for ourselves, for our children, for our loved ones that

963
00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:37,360
S3: God would give you. Give me the power to accomplish

964
00:50:37,719 --> 00:50:40,520
S3: the good things that my faith prompts me to do,

965
00:50:40,800 --> 00:50:44,520
S3: because the prompting is good. But the follow through is

966
00:50:44,520 --> 00:50:49,400
S3: where the rubber meets meets the road. Second Thessalonians 111.

967
00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:52,040
S3: Check it out today. Coming up, we've got a special guest.

968
00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:56,280
S3: Do you want to stress less? Boy, do we all

969
00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:56,600
S3: coming up.