Speaker 1: You said, I have struggled with quitting and I have
Speaker 1: not been able to yet. That's the problem. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: welcome back to the podcast. This is episode one and
Speaker 1: eighty one, and I'm just glad you're here. I'm glad
Speaker 1: you're listening and watching wherever you're coming from. The format
Speaker 1: of this podcast, what we do is just sit around
Speaker 1: and talk answering your questions could be about any subject,
Speaker 1: anything in the world. Just just email Grangersmith podcast at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com, and we walk through it like we're
Speaker 1: just two people sitting in the cab of a truck
Speaker 1: driving on a long road trip, got the windows down,
Speaker 1: your elbow out. Hey man, I ask you a question,
Speaker 1: something that's been on my mind lately. And then we
Speaker 1: walked through it like we got all the time in
Speaker 1: the world. And I don't have notes in front of me,
Speaker 1: I don't have famous quotes, I don't have books. I
Speaker 1: haven't even read the questions at all. I'm going completely
Speaker 1: blind off of the email Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: Let's get to the first one subject line here says
Speaker 1: Mistakes says, Hey Granger, my name is Duke. I'm from
Speaker 1: southern California. I'm just wondering if you ever make mistakes
Speaker 1: while singing at a concert. I have never been to
Speaker 1: any concert, so I don't even know if that's a
Speaker 1: thing to sometimes mess up. I assume you play a ton,
Speaker 1: so maybe it's hard to mess up. I don't know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever gotten a question like that, Duke.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you shout out to Southern Cali and the answer.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, I'll mess up a lot, mess up
Speaker 1: all the time. I've played thousands of shows in my life.
Speaker 1: It's crazy to think about, but if you think about
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty shows a year for decades, you
Speaker 1: do that enough. You mess up enough. The thing about
Speaker 1: it is the time no one even knows that I
Speaker 1: mess up, except for maybe the hardcore fans and the band.
Speaker 1: The band will always know. We always know when one
Speaker 1: of us messes up, and so we usually will look
Speaker 1: like Toddle do a note he's never done before on guitar,
Speaker 1: and I'll look out of the corner of my eye
Speaker 1: and he's looking back at me because he knows that
Speaker 1: I'm looking at him. We're like brothers, you know, like
Speaker 1: brotherly love. It's like, man, you knew I did that,
Speaker 1: didn't you. Of course, we speak the same language on
Speaker 1: the stage, me and the band. We know each other
Speaker 1: without saying words. We know everything we do. We know
Speaker 1: what the looks, we know the notes, we know the
Speaker 1: drum beats. Everything. We know if someone is doing something
Speaker 1: different because we've done it so many times. Most of
Speaker 1: the time the fans don't know. Sometimes one mistake from
Speaker 1: one band member leads to another mistake from another band
Speaker 1: member because a muscle memory gets messed up. You're used
Speaker 1: to hearing this pattern of events that happen, and it
Speaker 1: triggers something in your brain. You play this because of
Speaker 1: all these things, and when those things don't happen, you stumble.
Speaker 1: It's very strange how that happens if you do it
Speaker 1: so many times in a row. Sometimes the fans do know,
Speaker 1: and sometimes you know. Some mistakes are worse than others.
Speaker 1: Most of the time it revolves around me for getting lyrics.
Speaker 1: Every once in a while, you could start the song
Speaker 1: and the wrong key. That's like a once every ten
Speaker 1: year mistake. But there are a lot of things. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of technical problems. Microphones run out of batteries,
Speaker 1: cables go bad, stages break lights, turn off generators, blow
Speaker 1: power goes out, there's all those kind of things. The
Speaker 1: thing about me is We've played so many shows for
Speaker 1: so many years that I've seen every kind of mistake.
Speaker 1: And that's a great thing because I could say to myself, well,
Speaker 1: I've played bigger shows than this and messed it up.
Speaker 1: You know, I've played bigger shows than this on less sleep.
Speaker 1: I've played bigger shows than this and been sicker than
Speaker 1: I am now, you know. So I've kind of done
Speaker 1: all the all the combinations of bad things I've seen
Speaker 1: it happen, and that that gives me a sense of calm, really,
Speaker 1: and that that could be applied to anyone that's listening
Speaker 1: that has done something enough times you can calm yourself
Speaker 1: by saying I've I've messed up in bigger situations than this.
Speaker 1: I've had my foot in my mouth and bigger conversations
Speaker 1: than this. And there's something very freeing about that. And
Speaker 1: so the best thing to do when I make a
Speaker 1: mistake is just own it instead of trying to act
Speaker 1: like I'm better than a mistake. Man, I'm I make
Speaker 1: mistakes all the time, and I just own it. It's
Speaker 1: a good question, though, dude, next question, septic line says
Speaker 1: Bible question says, Hey Grander. In a previous email, you
Speaker 1: said that you believed all people that are alive on
Speaker 1: the Earth right now will have a human death before
Speaker 1: Jesus returns. Could you make a clarification on why you
Speaker 1: believe this and why you're certain of that. Secondly, could
Speaker 1: you clarify what clarify why you believe most of what
Speaker 1: John the Revelator describes in the Book of Revelation has
Speaker 1: already happened, as well as what could have, as well
Speaker 1: as what could have the animal symbolism that John uses
Speaker 1: could have occurred in recent history. I read that exactly
Speaker 1: like you wrote it, as well of what could have
Speaker 1: the animal animal symbolism that John uses could have occurred
Speaker 1: in reason Answery regards Anonymous. Okay, Anonymous, Yeah, let's dive
Speaker 1: into this. I'm gonna say one thing off the bat.
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't say what I'm uh what I'm
Speaker 1: accused of saying here you said. I heard in a
Speaker 1: previous previous podcast you said that all people that are
Speaker 1: alive on Earth right now will have a human death
Speaker 1: before where Jesus returns. I did not say that because
Speaker 1: it's impossible, and I wouldn't have said something that is
Speaker 1: impossible to know. It's like Napoleon, dynamite Napoleon. How could
Speaker 1: anyone even know that? No one can know that. So
Speaker 1: what I said was probably knowing me. I probably said
Speaker 1: something like most likely ninety nine percent chance or something
Speaker 1: like that, most likely all people that are alive on
Speaker 1: Earth right now will not see Jesus return in the
Speaker 1: way that John describes it in the Book of Revelation. Okay,
Speaker 1: is that so wrong to say that? Is that so
Speaker 1: wrong to say, here's the deal, Jesus. What we're talking
Speaker 1: about here is eschatology. Eschatology is one of the most debated,
Speaker 1: one of the most confusing things in the entire Bible.
Speaker 1: It's the study of end times. And the thing about
Speaker 1: it is is when Jesus came to Earth, right, God
Speaker 1: had the Abrahamic Covenant, then he had the Mosaic Covenant.
Speaker 1: When Jesus came, when when the word became flesh in
Speaker 1: John won right, the Abrahamic Covenant was fulfilled. Jesus fulfilled
Speaker 1: the covenant. He became the new Covenant. The Mosaic covenant
Speaker 1: was to show people who God is and to give
Speaker 1: them the rules on what was expected of them. When
Speaker 1: Jesus came, he fulfilled the law and fulfilled all the law,
Speaker 1: the prophets, including the Abrahamic Covenant. He became. Then he
Speaker 1: became what people needed to turn to instead of themselves.
Speaker 1: Abraham's covenant was based on faith. That's what Jesus fulfilled.
Speaker 1: So here's the deal. The people before that, the people
Speaker 1: of God, were based on genealogy, on the bloodline. When
Speaker 1: Jesus came, the definition of God's people changed. It became new.
Speaker 1: God didn't change. The definition of the people became new.
Speaker 1: And the new definition of the people was how do
Speaker 1: you respond to the sun? It was based on your
Speaker 1: response to the Son of God. Okay, so we're moving
Speaker 1: through this. What happened in that time, here's my point, Anonymous,
Speaker 1: What happened in that time when the Word became flesh,
Speaker 1: the end times dawned, the birth of Christ. When the
Speaker 1: Word became flesh, the end of times dawned. That was
Speaker 1: the beginning of the end of times. We're still living
Speaker 1: in it. It's been two thousand years. So from that
Speaker 1: day everyone thought, at some point, hey, maybe Jesus is
Speaker 1: coming back today. Maybe he's coming back tomorrow. Maybe He's
Speaker 1: coming back in my lifetime. For two thousand years, people
Speaker 1: have said that and thought that there's technically nothing wrong
Speaker 1: with a hopeful eschatology in that way, reading revelation specifically
Speaker 1: looking to the sky for yourself. It's kind of fun, okay,
Speaker 1: But it can become an obsession, and that's a problem.
Speaker 1: That's a big problem. And I got a feeling, brother,
Speaker 1: got to feeling through your email, the tone of your email,
Speaker 1: that this is a problem for you. And that's why
Speaker 1: I speak up about this in this podcast because I
Speaker 1: used to fall in like in high school. I used
Speaker 1: to study this stuff and get really into it and
Speaker 1: look at the signs and be really into the signs
Speaker 1: and thinking Jesus is gonna come back. And I did
Speaker 1: it in a way that's not healthy. You see how
Speaker 1: I said that. It's not that it's unhealthy for you
Speaker 1: or anyone else, but I was doing it in a
Speaker 1: way that becomes unhealthy because you start thinking about all
Speaker 1: that stuff, and you start adding up these signs and
Speaker 1: these prophecies, and you start putting it aligning it with
Speaker 1: like world events and global leaders and things that are
Speaker 1: going on in the culture, and you start trying to
Speaker 1: add it up and like decipher it. When Jesus says,
Speaker 1: no one knows, no one knows, no one will know,
Speaker 1: that's what he says. He didn't say no one will
Speaker 1: know except for the smart people that put all the
Speaker 1: puzzle together. He said, no one's gonna know. It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter if you get the Book of Revelation and the
Speaker 1: Book of Daniel and you put all the prophecies together
Speaker 1: and then line them up with the United States and
Speaker 1: then China and then the new state of Israel in
Speaker 1: nineteen forty six, and you add all this stuff up.
Speaker 1: Jesus said, no one's gonna know. Why does he say
Speaker 1: get ready? Why does he say be ready? Not so
Speaker 1: that you could add up to the date, and so
Speaker 1: you could get you yourself ready, you could be aware, right,
Speaker 1: And so I think you could get lost in eschatology
Speaker 1: and the science of it. If that's a thing, You
Speaker 1: can get lost in that and forget that the whole
Speaker 1: purpose is your response to Jesus through faith in him.
Speaker 1: Because brother, there's a ninety nine point nine percent chance
Speaker 1: you will die on this earth before that happens. How
Speaker 1: do I know that? I don't. But that's just math.
Speaker 1: It's just probability because people have been saying it for
Speaker 1: two thousand years. Oh you say, now's different. Now's different.
Speaker 1: We got COVID, we got AI, we got wars, we
Speaker 1: got earthquakes, we got brother, this has always happened. This
Speaker 1: has been happening for a long time. Don't get caught
Speaker 1: up in it. It can mess you up. It starts,
Speaker 1: it starts deviating you from the truth. Jesus is the truth.
Speaker 1: Trust him. Don't worry about the signs. That's a wicked
Speaker 1: generation that looks after the signs. You'll know in your
Speaker 1: heart because of the fruits that you produce in your life.
Speaker 1: You'll know if you're in right standing then only God
Speaker 1: can do that. Focus on that, focus on loving others,
Speaker 1: serving others, spreading the Great Commission to all the nations.
Speaker 1: Worry about that and not Fox News and seeing in
Speaker 1: and what's happening in Russia. Don't dive into that. It
Speaker 1: becomes unhealthy. I've talked way too much about it. That's
Speaker 1: my point. Appreciate you, brother. Next question here published songwriting.
Speaker 1: Hey Granger, my name is Travis. I'm twenty eight years old,
Speaker 1: single with zero dependence. I live in Georgia. Outside of work,
Speaker 1: I have a passion for creating, writing storytelling that I
Speaker 1: believe God has instilled in me. As of a few
Speaker 1: years ago. I've taken a deep interest in writing traditional
Speaker 1: country songs after they started randomly coming up in my mind.
Speaker 1: I am not a performer, but I've enjoyed fleshing out
Speaker 1: the lyrics and practicing singing with them and with my
Speaker 1: acoustic I soon plan on demoing them to blank disc.
Speaker 1: It's not much, but it's what I could do for now.
Speaker 1: Forgive my ignorance and loaded questions, but there's much about
Speaker 1: the Nashville grind and music grow publishing companies that I
Speaker 1: just don't understand as an outsider, and I'm really ashamed
Speaker 1: to ask, but here goes. Is it possible for writers
Speaker 1: to submit demos that they've made to publishing companies like
Speaker 1: novelists do, or reach out to them in any way
Speaker 1: without being summoned via recommendation? Or all songwriters under contract
Speaker 1: session writers as well, or do the sum work alone
Speaker 1: and continuously submit their finished work whilst under contract. I
Speaker 1: don't intend to sound wishful or disrespectful in any way
Speaker 1: by asking. The waters are rough and chances are minuscule
Speaker 1: to quote everything that glitters is not gold. There's certain
Speaker 1: things a man just doesn't know. If you decide to
Speaker 1: read this, thank you so much for allowing the unique
Speaker 1: opportunity with your personal time. You're the man, christ Is King.
Speaker 1: Thanks for everything. Sorry about the link, all right, brother,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. Man. Travis twenty eight years old. Travis,
Speaker 1: you speak like an older man, like you've got a
Speaker 1: wise soul. To your brother, shout out to Georgia. Love
Speaker 1: that state, and let's dive in here. First thing I'm
Speaker 1: gonna recommend to you is talking with a performance rights organization.
Speaker 1: It's a pro BMI, ASCAP, seasack. You probably heard of those,
Speaker 1: or maybe you've seen the little stickers on a restaurant
Speaker 1: or a music venue. Little sticker says BMI or ASCAP
Speaker 1: or sea sack. Talk to them. What they do is
Speaker 1: they represent the songwriters and they get the songwriters paid
Speaker 1: based on how many times that song has performed worldwide
Speaker 1: in all media. That could be at a music venue
Speaker 1: or a restaurant like we just mentioned, could be on
Speaker 1: the radio, could be in a jukebox. It used to
Speaker 1: be a really big thing, and every other way that
Speaker 1: a song can perform and pay the songwriters. So that's
Speaker 1: their whole job. And they're there for the writers and
Speaker 1: so they they are staffed up to handle people like you,
Speaker 1: to answer your questions. They can be the go between
Speaker 1: between a publisher and the writer. They were for me
Speaker 1: a long, long, long time ago. When I first did this,
Speaker 1: I'd signed with BMI and doesn't There's no requirement, there's
Speaker 1: no test or audition. Anyone could sign with BMI, ASCAP
Speaker 1: or CEASAC and you're then you're a BMI writer and
Speaker 1: you could use the privileges that you get from being
Speaker 1: with that specific pro So I'll start there. And and
Speaker 1: aside from that, you're twenty eight years old. You love songwriting, man,
Speaker 1: just write a lot and put it on YouTube. It's
Speaker 1: an amazing time to be a songwriter because this is
Speaker 1: something I didn't have when I was twenty eight. You
Speaker 1: could just throw it up on the internet on TikTok
Speaker 1: or Twitter or YouTube whatever, Spotify. You can get every
Speaker 1: song up right now through different different platforms. It's super easy.
Speaker 1: It's amazing. You could start getting traction on YouTube right away.
Speaker 1: That's something that you have an advantage on every other
Speaker 1: songwriter that lived in the decades past. So I wouldn't
Speaker 1: worry so much about publishing companies and songwriting contracts. There's
Speaker 1: not much money in that anyway, so I wouldn't think
Speaker 1: about it. What's gonna happen is you get a song
Speaker 1: that goes viral on YouTube because it's just a great song.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have any publishing company in Nashville wanting to
Speaker 1: sign you because of that. So focus on that. Don't
Speaker 1: get the cart in front of the horse. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean. If you go sign with random publishing company,
Speaker 1: which is near impossible to do, Jesus will I'm back
Speaker 1: before you go out and just get randomly get a
Speaker 1: publishing contract. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. That's an extreme. I've
Speaker 1: tying the two questions together here, but it's it's just
Speaker 1: the way it is. It's very, very difficult to get
Speaker 1: a publishing contract if no one knows it and you
Speaker 1: don't know anyone, and you don't even know how to
Speaker 1: get your music on a disc, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: doesn't happen anymore. Don't you don't get music on disc anymore? Brother,
Speaker 1: it didn't happen. They go they go digital on YouTube sots.
Speaker 1: Let's get to let's get to recording. Let's get that
Speaker 1: guitar out. Let's learn a simple recording software like pro Tools,
Speaker 1: like I'm literally using right now staring at the screen
Speaker 1: off camera, looking at pro Tools. I've been using this
Speaker 1: since two thousand and two. I got my first pro
Speaker 1: Tools set up in two thousand and two. That's a
Speaker 1: long time ago. It's like twenty one years ago, right,
Speaker 1: So learn something like that recording software on your computer.
Speaker 1: Get a couple of microphones. You don't have to spend
Speaker 1: a lot of money. Put one on your guitar, one
Speaker 1: on your vocal and record you some songs and get
Speaker 1: them up on social media if one goes viral. Now
Speaker 1: you've got something to talk about. Let's take a break
Speaker 1: and you're at back. Podcast is brought to you all today.
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Speaker 1: If you've got a question from me, email Grangersmith Podcast
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. I'm happy to add it to
Speaker 1: the queue here and pull up an email. I don't
Speaker 1: study these questions beforehand. I don't read them. I don't
Speaker 1: have any notes. We're just going blind. That's what we do. Okay,
Speaker 1: So next question. The subject line here on the next
Speaker 1: queue says Christianity and tobacco. Hey, mister Smith, my name
Speaker 1: is Jeremy Moss. I wanted to email in regard to
Speaker 1: tobacco use. So I've been dipping for about eight years
Speaker 1: and I'm twenty five years old. Now. I have struggled
Speaker 1: quitting and I still have not been able to yet. However,
Speaker 1: I wanted to pick your brain on the topic. Can
Speaker 1: you still serve God and follow God wholeheartedly even if
Speaker 1: using tobacco or alcohol? I don't drink anymore, only dip.
Speaker 1: Side note, love your music, especially the album you did
Speaker 1: for your movie. Greatest Hits by you and Matthew West
Speaker 1: is a great song. I've been listening here lately. Please
Speaker 1: keep up the good work you and Amberdoo. Brother Jeremy,
Speaker 1: thank you so much, and thanks for the question. It's
Speaker 1: a good question. It's a solid question. Let's dive in here.
Speaker 1: Your question is can you still serve God and follow
Speaker 1: God wholeheartedly even if using tobacco or alcohol? Well, the
Speaker 1: short answer is yes, because we are saved by grace
Speaker 1: through faith. This is not our own doing. It is
Speaker 1: the work of God, so that no man may boast.
Speaker 1: That comes out of Ephesians too. And we are not
Speaker 1: saved by anything that we do or don't do, it
Speaker 1: is the work of God through grace and our faith.
Speaker 1: Right essentially, that's it. You can't add anything or subtract
Speaker 1: anything from that. But you're talking about serving Him. So
Speaker 1: if you are in faith and you're believing, and you're trusting,
Speaker 1: and you see the fruits of the spirit, the fruits
Speaker 1: of serving God, what are those fruits? Jesus says it
Speaker 1: many times. You know, you know it's almost lost these
Speaker 1: days in twenty twenty three, that there are many commandments
Speaker 1: in the New Testament. There are commandments, rules, guidelines in
Speaker 1: the New Testament. Can you believe that? We thought that
Speaker 1: was just in the Old Testament, But it's not. And
Speaker 1: we could see the fruits, the greatest of which is love,
Speaker 1: loving others, serving others, the desire to love others, the
Speaker 1: desire to feed the sheep, and the desire to shepherd
Speaker 1: the flock, the desire to take God's people and bring
Speaker 1: the word to them, and hurt for the lost, and
Speaker 1: need need to be able to serve and help, to
Speaker 1: be able to wash someone else's feet. That's what Jesus
Speaker 1: did and we're supposed to model that. That is serving him.
Speaker 1: And you could do that wholeheartedly and also have an addiction,
Speaker 1: but that is not something you want to stay in.
Speaker 1: So this is sanctification now we're talking about as you
Speaker 1: become a believer and things start to shed away, as
Speaker 1: sin starts to peel off of you, you continue to grow.
Speaker 1: You could serve wholeheartedly at the beginning while you still
Speaker 1: are in different scenarios of problems around you. But as
Speaker 1: those things peel off, which they need to, that is
Speaker 1: a sign that you're being sanctified and you're growing in
Speaker 1: your faith. So, for instance, I wouldn't look back on
Speaker 1: you when you first became a Christian, when you were
Speaker 1: let's see, because now you say, I don't drink anymore, right,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't look back on you when you became born
Speaker 1: again and you became alive to Christ and you had
Speaker 1: a beer. I wouldn't say you're not serving him wholeheartedly.
Speaker 1: Yet I would say, in your current state of sanctification,
Speaker 1: you're serving him wholeheartedly. But there's so much more to
Speaker 1: come for you. You just don't know it yet. You're
Speaker 1: a baby. You are drinking milk, right this little Paul says,
Speaker 1: we start with milk, but we need to start eating
Speaker 1: solid foods soon. What Granger, what are you talking about? Okay,
Speaker 1: here's what I'm talking about. I'm diving into your question specifically.
Speaker 1: At the beginning, you said, I have struggled with quitting
Speaker 1: and I have not been able to yet. That's the problem.
Speaker 1: You have an addiction that you cannot shake. That is
Speaker 1: the contradiction you're having right now. That is the stirring
Speaker 1: you're having. That's why you emailed me why. That's why
Speaker 1: you are being sanctified in a way that you might
Speaker 1: not even be able to understand or explain right now.
Speaker 1: But the reason you emailed me is because you know
Speaker 1: there's a problem. You're like, Man, I got something going
Speaker 1: on and I can't shake it. It doesn't mean you're
Speaker 1: not serving God. It just means the spirit is sanctifying you.
Speaker 1: Going time to shed it. I want you to rely
Speaker 1: on me. I want all of you. I don't want
Speaker 1: part of you. I don't want a little sliver of you.
Speaker 1: I want all of you, and I don't have all
Speaker 1: of you while you're addicted to this, so shake it.
Speaker 1: And then you go, oh, why do I feel so convicted?
Speaker 1: That word right? Why do I feel so guilty? We
Speaker 1: could feel that guilt and conviction, and it hurts sometimes.
Speaker 1: And this happens with all kinds of things, and it
Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily have to be written as a sin. Let
Speaker 1: me give you an example. Last fall, I was sitting
Speaker 1: there watching Texas A and M football. I was like, man,
Speaker 1: I get so nervous before a game. I get all
Speaker 1: stirred up and anxious, and then the game starts and
Speaker 1: I get angry. And then as the game's going on,
Speaker 1: I get joyful and then angry again. And the game's
Speaker 1: over and they lose, and I have a bad night
Speaker 1: and I'm affected by it. And it started hitting me.
Speaker 1: This is last fall, guys started hitting me, you got
Speaker 1: a problem. You love college football too much. You're addicted
Speaker 1: to college football in a way that it is affecting
Speaker 1: your emotions. I'm like, really, I recognize that old sanctification feeling.
Speaker 1: And I told my tour manager Chris. I was like, man,
Speaker 1: I think I gotta quit college football. He goes, what, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I'm feeling convicted to quit college football, to
Speaker 1: quit watching it until I could rein it in where
Speaker 1: I could just watch it casually and not be emotionally affected,
Speaker 1: Like where it doesn't just start affecting my daily life.
Speaker 1: And Chris is like, oh you think so, you think
Speaker 1: that I watch college football. So I'm sinning. I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: it's not there's nothing to do with you sinning. This
Speaker 1: sanctification is different. Okay, So you see how I'm wrapping
Speaker 1: this all up. So, buddy, you're addicted to anything, I
Speaker 1: don't care if it's caffeine or, in this case, tobacco.
Speaker 1: This kind of sanctification is up to you. If you're
Speaker 1: addicted to caffeine, that's not against the law. But if
Speaker 1: it's if it's controlling you in a way that you
Speaker 1: you need it you have to function, that's a problem.
Speaker 1: Then you gotta quit it. Tobacco, it's not illegal. You're
Speaker 1: old enough to have it. You're twenty five years old,
Speaker 1: you're old enough to buy it. It's not illegal. It's
Speaker 1: not a problem unless it becomes a problem. I know
Speaker 1: this problem personally, and I had to quit. I no
Speaker 1: longer touch it. I could speak to this personally. I
Speaker 1: had the same conviction you're having now, and I had
Speaker 1: to kick it. You got me. Let's move on. Next question.
Speaker 1: Subject line says talking with girls, Hey Grangeard like to
Speaker 1: stay anonymous. I'm a sophomore in high school. I got
Speaker 1: a girl that I've been talking to for a little
Speaker 1: while now. She's extreme. She likes me, and she wants
Speaker 1: to date me, but it seems like she's rushing into it.
Speaker 1: All my friends think that she's cool, and she thinks
Speaker 1: they are cool, and all trying to get me to
Speaker 1: do stuff with her and ask her out. My main
Speaker 1: problem is I have no idea what to talk about
Speaker 1: with her right now. I don't know if I'm ready
Speaker 1: to date her or not. I'm assuming very young here.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming assuming you're talking. We're talking to a teenager here,
Speaker 1: and you're talking. Oh you said it. You said I'm
Speaker 1: a sophomore in high school. Okay, So what is that
Speaker 1: sophomore in high school? You're sixteen, maybe seventeen. Let me
Speaker 1: hand it to you, straight, sixteen year old. Straight. There's
Speaker 1: a girl you've been talking to. She likes you, she
Speaker 1: wants to date you, she's rushing into it. All your
Speaker 1: friends think you should do it because she's cool. Your
Speaker 1: main problem is you don't know if you're ready or not.
Speaker 1: Answer is you're not ready. That's it. It doesn't matter
Speaker 1: what your friends think is cool. It doesn't matter if
Speaker 1: she likes you a lot. You're not ready. How do
Speaker 1: you know? Because you said it, I don't know if
Speaker 1: I'm ready or not. That is the answer that you're
Speaker 1: not ready. If there's a shadow of a doubt in there,
Speaker 1: then you're not ready. Because the essence of being ready
Speaker 1: is there's no doubt you're ready. There is no reason
Speaker 1: to wonder if you're ready or not. You just are.
Speaker 1: You just know it. You go, man, I like her,
Speaker 1: no red flags. I'm in I want to ask her out.
Speaker 1: I want to talk to her. It doesn't matter if
Speaker 1: I don't know what to talk to her about. I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna go up and say I like you, and
Speaker 1: I don't exactly know how to say it. I don't
Speaker 1: really know how to talk. I'm a little embarrassed because
Speaker 1: you're so pretty. But all I do know is that
Speaker 1: I like you. I'd like to maybe go on a
Speaker 1: date with you. But if you're not ready, you don't
Speaker 1: do that. Brother, You don't say that at all. You
Speaker 1: tell your friends I ain't ready. Come on, man, she's cool.
Speaker 1: I'm not ready. Okay, okay, okay, fine, man, we'll lay off.
Speaker 1: You see her in the hallway. She's talking to you.
Speaker 1: You say, I just want to be up front. If
Speaker 1: you're thinking this is going somewhere like dating, I'm not
Speaker 1: ready for that. It's not It's not something that you're
Speaker 1: doing or not necessarily. I'm just I'm a little young,
Speaker 1: and I'm not ready. Maybe one day I will be.
Speaker 1: This is a different story, you know, if you're like
Speaker 1: thirty years old, twenty five years old, but fifteen, sixteen, seventeen,
Speaker 1: this is different. Okay, you're not ready. Let's grab another question.
Speaker 1: Subject line on this next one straight into the queue
Speaker 1: says tough decision. Hey, Grangel, my name is Ethan. I'm
Speaker 1: twenty two from Colorado. Moved to Colorado a few years
Speaker 1: ago because I felt like it was the right place
Speaker 1: to be at the right time. My time here has
Speaker 1: taught me a whole lot about myself, and I've grown
Speaker 1: on my own these last few years. I'm currently trying
Speaker 1: to decide if I should move back to Tennessee or not.
Speaker 1: I don't have as much family here and not a
Speaker 1: lot of opportunities to go back home and see them. Okay,
Speaker 1: and I don't have a lot of opportunities to go
Speaker 1: back home and see them. Talking about the family like
Speaker 1: I thought I was going to be able to I'm
Speaker 1: really struggling right now, and I don't know if this
Speaker 1: is just a season of life or if I'm really
Speaker 1: starting to dislike it here. I've been praying about it
Speaker 1: and still confused on what to do. Ethan, Ethan, thank
Speaker 1: you brother, appreciate the question, and shout out to Colorado
Speaker 1: and Tennessee, two beautiful places. Listen. The first thing you
Speaker 1: got to establish here, Ethan, is that you make sure
Speaker 1: this isn't just a wondering heart, because twenty two year
Speaker 1: olds have it. It's contagious. At twenty two, I remember
Speaker 1: having it. And what I'm talking about is just being
Speaker 1: in a place where you're just not really content where
Speaker 1: you are. You're searching, and it doesn't matter if it's
Speaker 1: Colorado or Tennessee or Hong Kong, it doesn't matter. You
Speaker 1: are not finding your contentment in the place that you're living.
Speaker 1: I don't know from your email exactly why you moved
Speaker 1: to Colorado. You just says your email just says it
Speaker 1: felt like it was the right place to be at
Speaker 1: the time. I don't know what that means. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that means you had a bad breakup in Tennessee.
Speaker 1: If there was a girl in Colorado you're chasing. I
Speaker 1: don't know. If have you had a buddy that go
Speaker 1: to Colorado and you followed him and now he's not
Speaker 1: there anymore. I don't know. But it doesn't I'm not
Speaker 1: getting a clear picture by you just saying I lived
Speaker 1: in Tennessee and I just moved to Colorado a few
Speaker 1: years ago because it felt like it was the right
Speaker 1: place to be at the time. If we're riding in
Speaker 1: the truck together, I need to know a little bit
Speaker 1: more information, so we'll go by what we have. You
Speaker 1: thought you were going to move to Colorado and be
Speaker 1: able to go back and see your family a lot.
Speaker 1: That's what you said. You haven't had those opportunities. You're
Speaker 1: trying to decide if you should just pack up and
Speaker 1: move back to Tennessee. Now, we make these things, these
Speaker 1: situations into huge problems when it's really not. As I'm
Speaker 1: reading it on the podcast, I'm thinking, this is not
Speaker 1: a huge problem. It is to you because you're in it.
Speaker 1: You're in the middle of it. For me on the outside,
Speaker 1: I'm like, dude, get out of your lease when it ends,
Speaker 1: go stay on a couch in Tennessee or at your
Speaker 1: family's house, whatever, and you don't have to do it
Speaker 1: for ten years. Just go live on a couch for
Speaker 1: a month in Tennessee, get out of your lease in Colorado,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna know you're gonna be back in Tennessee, going, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is right. It feels right to be back here.
Speaker 1: I think through your email, you're leaving it doesn't feel
Speaker 1: like Colorado has anything to offer you anymore. And you
Speaker 1: are saying, I'm struggling right now. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's just a season of life or if I'm really
Speaker 1: starting to dislike it. I'm praying, but I still feel
Speaker 1: very confused. What are you praying for? I always like
Speaker 1: to ask that question. I always like to just at
Speaker 1: least prick you a little bit and ask you what
Speaker 1: you're praying for. God, help me to make a decision,
Speaker 1: help me to follow my dreams. Like what are you saying?
Speaker 1: Because I would recommend it sounds something like God. You
Speaker 1: are sovereign, you are present, you are aware, you are purposing,
Speaker 1: you're planning. You know every hair on my head, you
Speaker 1: know every star in the sky. I will never question you.
Speaker 1: Got it? I feel lost. I feel like I'm searching,
Speaker 1: and I need to put that focus back on you.
Speaker 1: Draw me to you, let me see you for who
Speaker 1: you are. I don't know why I get so confused
Speaker 1: and I get so caught up in this world, and God,
Speaker 1: I don't want to do that anymore. I want to
Speaker 1: look to you. Guide me. Let me open my eyes
Speaker 1: to see what is out that the doors that are
Speaker 1: opened that I could walk through, and the doors that
Speaker 1: are closed I need to turn away from. But wherever
Speaker 1: I go, let it be your will, not mine. If
Speaker 1: there's someone here in Colorado for me to see and
Speaker 1: talk to, let me find them. It's someone back home
Speaker 1: at Tennessee I need to be with, let me go
Speaker 1: to them. But either way, wherever I go, let me
Speaker 1: find contentment in you. Just wondering, Eathan, if it's anything,
Speaker 1: if I am even in the ballpark of the prayers
Speaker 1: that you're praying when you're talking about moving, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I was once your age and I was living in Tennessee.
Speaker 1: I'd moved there from Texas, and after four years I
Speaker 1: felt a little wild heart and I felt like I
Speaker 1: needed to go back to Texas. I like, you didn't
Speaker 1: get to visit my family that much. I thought I
Speaker 1: was gonna get gonna get to see them more, and
Speaker 1: I didn't. I know what you're going through. I feel this.
Speaker 1: Go back to your home state, that's where you belong.
Speaker 1: But pray a prayer of wisdom to God that it's
Speaker 1: not your will, it's his surrender. Give it over to him.
Speaker 1: Things get better, all right, Love you guys, See you
Speaker 1: next Monday. Thanks for joining me on the Grangersmith Podcast.
Speaker 1: I appreciate all of you guys. You could help me
Speaker 1: out by rating this podcast on iTunes. If you're on YouTube,
Speaker 1: subscribe to this channel, hit that little like button and
Speaker 1: notification spell so that you never miss anytime I upload
Speaker 1: a video. If you have a question for me that
Speaker 1: you would like me to answer, email Grangersmith Podcast at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com. YII