All right, get back to men's artwork, Monday, January 6th, and New Year 2025.
So last week, Mike, happened.
Yeah, we talked about, we went the gamut and talking about stuff and, you know, there was,
you know, age issues and stuff like that and just like somebody younger, older, like somebody,
you know, and like 14 years younger, and it was nine years older, I don't know, whatever.
But just talking about being open to whatever is around and, and just, and really just leaving
in 2024, what we didn't want to leave and walk and what we're looking forward to and
look in 2025.
That's good.
Yeah, you know, it's kind of strange.
New Year's for me, in the last several years, has not been like so like exciting and like,
you know, like, didn't really do anything like super epic or anything.
And I don't have that build up, like most of the build up for me is actually to up till
Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
And then you get to Thanksgiving, and it's kind of, you know, like, oh, it's the holiday
season, and you got to get like, coast, you know, a little bit, especially like the school
year.
And that's kind of like what I was used to, because I was so much in the school year.
You know, back in my sort of like vocational years, I was always around, like almost on
a school calendar type thing.
And so I like that Thanksgiving to Christmas, and then you ramp up to Christmas.
And then it's like, all of a sudden, it's like, I don't know, in recent years, it's
been like Christmas, just like drops Christmas.
Not so excited, you know, because like, you're not a kid anymore, like the presents thing
and the whole, you know, like, I guess it's fun when you have kids or you're watching
around kids.
But then it just goes and you're like, all right, now you got another week.
And then there's this other holiday.
And it's almost like just a calendar turning page.
However, this year, even though New Year's Eve, for me, wasn't like spectacular, exciting,
like whatever we were doing.
Yeah, 2025 seems to be definitely turning over a new leaf for us, at least in our lives
personally.
Actually talked to a trainer today, that's kind of exciting, you know, this, getting
that going, you know, put some skin in the game for it, you know, rather than just try
to do it ourselves.
So it's actually a friend of ours.
It's actually a little bit of a full circle, which is kind of like prophetically, right?
2025, we've talked about that in our community, it being a full circle year.
So that's something that probably going to be really, really keying in on to try to see
what God does in that regard, in bringing things around.
And this is a friend that we've had for, I don't know, probably close to 15 years.
And they live back in Ohio, we moved to Texas eight years ago.
But even since then, even since moving or before moving, we kind of lost touch.
He went through some things, but he's a great fitness guy.
And somehow just kind of came back on the radar.
Jackie and I independently, we're like seeing social and like, you know, his name or his
image came to our mind.
And we thought about it.
And then one day Jackie mentioned goes, Hey, what if we reach out to Esteban?
And I was like, I just was thinking about him, you know, and I was like, that's kind
of cool, you know, and he and he's revived his fitness business and he's doing really
well.
And we found out on the call today that he himself over the holidays was driving by a
part of town that we used to live in.
And he mentioned to the person like, this is a person that, you know, we wouldn't be
on the really forefront of his mind or anything.
He mentioned to the person, he goes, yeah, some friends that used to live in that house
right there.
And it was us.
And he drove by the house we used to live in.
That was like a long time ago.
And so he, we were on his mind.
So it's just really cool how that comes around and relationships, it's kind of a small thing.
It's not like that.
Wow.
Of a story, but I think that there's some frill circle things coming and those are just
little indicators.
And so maybe we can talk about some of that tonight and, and get in some things.
So who wants to share?
Anybody want to open up, share anything, comments, questions, concerns?
Hey, this is what I'm doing.
Be excited about the new year.
If you, if you.
joined the prophesy your year session workshop last night maybe there's something on your heart
and mind to talk about that so I'm going to leave the floor open and let anybody that wants to sort
of like vol again though. Hey I may have to jump off the meeting early because I'm running
errands and I've got an engagement. No problem. So I just wanted to check in it's been a few weeks
um I've just been in a very busy season of transition yeah I uh I resigned my position
in my school district due to some uh some circumstances and um you know it's it's it's
in a time where there's a you know a lot of chaos and confusion and you just kind of you know
transition and things are happening you you kind of wonder what's going on and and you sometimes
you shake your fist at the heavens right yeah god and you're like what's going on here but um
but you know I've transitioned I've moved from where I was at um and I've moved back to Portland
and David I don't know how well you or anybody knows Portland Oregon but um I was about close
to an hour um west of Portland out toward the coast and just recently just I mean within the
last week I moved back to Portland um and so I've been in really some transition the last three you
know really the last month but um and all of this though I just got to share that you know it's just
amazing how faithful Jesus is even in these times of of you know transition and we you know we don't
understand at times just things you know why things happen and just you know um but you know
God faithful he has provided I'm already looking at a you know a couple of job opportunities that
will either start later this week or next you know education opportunities right uh you know
it's just it's just amazing to see you know Jesus at work regardless you know and all this and that
just you know it's I it's more of a praise you know this is just um you know we serve a mighty
God and and uh you know and uh but yeah it's just I just wanted to just share that that um
God is faithful every step of the way even when we don't know what's going on and understand
circumstances and you know but uh but yeah it's it's uh you know you're you're talking about you
know it's a full circle year and we're transitioning you know a lot of stuff going on and and I just
posted that you know even last week I reconnected with my old trainer he's out at Beaverton which
is an important area you know a friend of mine I've known for a few years he's like your buddy
he's his life is the fitness industry he owns multiple um um you know um kind of like CrossFit
and gyms in the Portland Vancouver area and so it's just one of those it's a new season
and I already see God at work and and I'm just excited to see what 2025 does because
so a month ago I was just it was just life was in absolute chaos and you know and it's amazing
to see what God's doing yeah I George I really thank you for sharing that you know I'm aware of
a little bit of your situation not in a lot of detail but I'm aware of kind of what happened
there and uh I'm telling you what that's that's actually really encouraging to hear that from you
and showing up tonight and saying that and that um um I'm glad that that you know you you're you're
seeing some turning you're seeing some redemption you're seeing some good things about it um it's
so it's so interesting a lot of my career transitions i.e uh getting fired or or I know
you weren't fired but I'm just like myself like you know getting fired or like unexpected changes
in career or different things that have happened to me all the different moves I've had how just
you know um serendipitous a lot of those were um and uh how um they were opportunities they
ended up being sort of like either a divine rejection sort of situation like kind of like
hey I'm trying to do this trying to make this happen and then so like nah this is not going
to work out for whatever reason it's like a pushback and then for me it was just like um
this is an opportunity to actually step into a very necessary next season which I didn't
understand or didn't really see but then looked back and went oh yeah I could see how that was
actually you know a divine appointment that was definitely a a shifting it got me to where I was
where I am today type of thing so I love that thank you for sharing um yeah thanks for showing
up and no problem if you got a jet uh when you have to so okay who else has got something tonight
Um, on their heart, on their mind, what's going on, what'd you do for the holiday?
Uh, Hey,
quiet tank.
Uh, so I actually got a full out terminated, uh, from my position in,
uh, an elementary school.
Uh, it was stuff that I expected was going to happen anyway.
Uh, but it was specifically something that I was praying about.
It was actually, uh, I was, uh, half reading, uh, discover your God
given gifts by Don and Katie fortune.
And then I would also happen to be listening to, uh, uh, it was one of
the path sessions that Jackie was talking about, and it was just something
that sparked in my head that I've never really quite understood about gifts
before, but it was like, Oh, Hey, if you have a gift of teaching, that does
not mean you should be a teacher.
And I was like, what's this?
There's like the first I'm ever hearing of this.
Uh, and it was, uh, a situation that, uh, in prayer of the Lord, let me know
that I'd, uh, get out of it unscathed.
And I did.
Um, I, uh, restrained, uh, a kid from trying to kick another kid in the
face, told the parent on pickup.
Uh, everyone was very understanding, but because of some of my, uh, injuries
from the army, I forgot to tell my principal.
One of the big insurance things for a school.
So they did a two month investigation.
And during that whole time, they were like, Oh yeah, uh, this was just a
simple, you forgot to tell your superiors.
Uh, but me being a substitute, I don't have as much, uh, leeway
as, uh, a licensed teacher does.
So they, uh, let me know that over the phone, like New Year's Eve or the
day before New Year's Eve, I think.
But it was, uh, it's everything that I've been praying on for
confirmation on what path to take.
And if chiropractic school in the cold, cold Midwest is really the way to go.
Cause who wants to go there?
Obviously, you know, I don't imagine, I don't imagine David
wants to move back to Ohio ever.
Not move back.
I'll visit every once in a while.
But yeah, like a day or two, you know?
Oh, we're, we're having like, you know, old man winter here in Texas right now.
I mean, everybody's freaking out.
I mean, I'm telling you what, like right now it's, it's gotta be a
whole like 38 degrees or something.
Like whatever it is.
I don't even know.
Um, I'll tell you in a second.
It's, uh, it's, uh, maybe 42 degrees.
That's 38 degrees.
I hit it right on the head.
38 degrees in Leander, Texas.
And I tell you what, people around here are clearing the shelves.
They're like, you know, burrowing down and hobbles and little holes in the
ground and acting like it's, you know, the nuclear apocalypse and I've
totally been in the South when it snows.
I'm so happy with that.
I moved to Texas basically to say, I don't want to shovel another snowy
driveway ever in my life if I had to.
So thanks for sharing, David.
DJ, you have your hand raised there.
What do you have there, brother?
Yeah.
Hello.
Um, I just wanted to share, uh, it's already been a full circle moment on the
first, our local singles group, which I have not been very involved with for
like the past three years at a, uh, five event marathon the whole day.
And, um, at the third, fourth and fifth event, um, I basically ran into somebody
that I was introduced to in a group like a few years ago, but at the time I was
involved in another relationship, which I know now is, was just actually
a situation ship, unfortunately.
But it's like a full circle moment.
So I just wanted to share that real quick.
Okay.
Full circle moment.
And I guess just a quick question.
Is there anywhere like resources or a particular video that like helps, um,
even if it doesn't say anything specifically, uh, like appropriate
things to ask on a first date versus, you know, things are, you
know, for level three, et cetera.
You know, I mean, obviously there's some common sense there, but like
there's a difference between the first and second date versus like the fifth
or sixth at level two, you know what I'm saying?
As far as, uh, you know, that's good.
That's a good, um, ask Jackie question.
Um, I think, I think they actually go over that in one of the path
sessions titled relationship levels.
Yeah, there's there.
I was going to also write, yeah.
I was going to reference a video in the past sessions that, um, I haven't seen
in a while, but there's very possible there's.
There's some stuff in there, too.
So I think the PATH sessions, like for instance,
for the programs, again, not outlined like this
for the guys, but for the women, it's
like phase two, which is like basically best practices,
dating, one-on-one type of stuff.
Best practice online, some information there.
So you might want to look at some of those videos
in the PATH sessions.
So good looking out, David.
Thank you.
And then also, what I mentioned before,
I can't remember what it was, the first thing I said.
You have to go back and catch that.
I can't remember what I said the first time.
But yeah, no, oh, Ask Jackie, that's what it was.
So in the resource section on the app,
there's a tab you can push, and it goes to Ask Jackie,
and you submit your question.
And then that's a great Ask Jackie question.
And I will mention it to her when we get off tonight,
say what's a good resource for that.
And then hopefully on the next Ask Jackie,
she'll put that in there.
Good stuff.
What else is going on?
I see Ty's in the house.
Look at you, Ty.
How you doing?
Good to see you.
Matthew Silverman, haven't seen you in a minute.
Clayton, I've seen you in a minute, too.
So good to see you guys.
Thank you.
Zach Allen, is this your first time here or no?
Yes, technically first check-in.
I think I did a Zoom with Watchdog Live with Jackie
earlier in the year, but I just joined the program a week ago.
So just through the first week of the heart work.
I was gone last week, was not on here.
So welcome.
I want to welcome you to the heart check-in.
This is just an opportunity for us to really roundtable a lot
and just kind of share our wins.
Sometimes we share our losses, and we help each other.
And we just kind of sometimes I'll rant for a little bit,
and I try not to do that too much.
But sometimes, hopefully it's good.
But it's just like a God moment that I've got stuff going on.
Abram, thank you for the thumbs up.
I don't know if that's like, yes, you're ranting,
or it's good when you rant.
I don't know what that means.
OK, it's good thumbs up.
All right, I got it.
I got you.
Thank you.
But so Zach, what do you do?
Where are you from?
So I am from Jacksonville, Florida,
currently living here still.
I work in ministry.
I work for a church here in town.
I have been there almost, March will be 10 years for me.
I work in the production side of ministry,
so sound, video, lighting.
I do a lot of coordinating with our ministries.
We're a little bit of a medium-sized church.
So we have an auxiliary room that our youth and young adults
and stuff meet in.
I do a lot of IT infrastructure.
I have a degree in audio engineering, things like that.
So I've been serving in the church
pretty much since I was 12.
And yeah, looking forward to really kind of digging
into some of the deeper things in the hard work
stuff over the next few weeks.
Well, good, good, good.
Welcome, welcome.
It's great to have you.
Are you a Jaguars fan?
By proxy.
This year has not been so good for us.
And then I'm really more of a Florida State fan.
And their year was even worse than the Jaguars was.
So not really a great year for sports all around.
But yeah, I love football.
Oh, it's good, good.
I had an interesting theory presented to me the other day,
actually through an article.
You guys know, some of you that were here that day,
that after the Michigan game, Mike opened up the question
and said, how did you feel about the Buckeyes?
And I was so upset.
I don't even know why.
I was just like unnaturally upset about that game.
But anyway, I actually heard in an article the day,
there's this theory that they actually
lost the game on purpose so that they didn't have
to play Oregon three times and only twice.
And they could just get the revenge,
well-seeking good revenge.
And I'm like, I don't know why you'd lose a game intentionally,
especially that one.
However, I'm like, huh, is that supposed
to be genius level stuff?
And I'm like, sure.
So I don't know if I buy it or not, but that's just out there.
So what else, guys?
Who's got stuff going on?
Everybody.
Well, God blesses you in a weird ways.
Yeah.
I'm praying for a full-time work
and animations that I've ended up with seasonal work.
I was working about 16 hour days
at home goods, unpacking boxes till from 5 a.m. to one,
then jump in the car and go to Six Flags
and work another eight hours to 11 at night.
Oh.
So before that, I was making some good connections
and animation at a few events.
Yeah.
But they all say like March, April, we'll be staffing up.
So just getting through up until then.
Pleased you, man.
That's awesome.
I love that.
Yeah.
Thank you for-
Yeah, I mean, it's providing financially,
but yeah, it's not easy.
Yeah, thank you for sharing about your perseverance
cause you gotta do what you gotta do.
But I honor you and respect you for that, man.
That's awesome.
Thank you.
Yeah.
And I know, man, that industry is like,
when you got people like striking
and you've got this and that going on,
you got the whole politics of the industry.
I don't mean like politics, like in government.
I just mean the industry has its own version of politics
and that's just like craziness.
Well, they did just sign a new contract
at the end of the year
that things should be settled up a little bit
where the animators and the designers and everything
are getting them more money.
And they're kind of got the AI under control
where they're not gonna take their work
and put it into AI and other negotiations
and better medical and everything for them.
It doesn't affect production,
but at least it should affect getting things going.
And if you look at everything that came out last year,
the animation made more money than any other movies and TV.
Yeah, I wouldn't be-
So they know the money's there.
They just don't wanna share it.
Yeah, yeah.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Interesting stuff.
Well, thank you for sharing that.
And I'm glad things are looking up maybe,
hopefully for you.
Yeah, I got some hope.
I got some hope.
I had mentioned in the chat that unfortunately this morning,
I dropped a couch on my foot at HomeGoods,
but I'm resting it right now and it should be okay.
And in the situation I'm in, I couldn't bother saying,
oh, this happened to me
and then go through all the paperwork and workers comp.
So I just kind of toughed it out.
Yeah, man.
I've had that happen.
So I know what it's like.
Yeah.
Thank you for sharing.
Yeah.
I mean, nice to be back
and see what's going on with everybody else.
Get some positive vibes and everything
and what God's doing and for everybody else as well.
Thanks.
Thanks for sharing.
That's good.
What else guys tonight?
I actually have a question, David.
I was in a relationship that ultimately
I ended between a young lady and myself.
We both got to that area where we were living
outside the fear of God
and recognize that that's not where we should have been.
And so we ended that relationship,
prayed about breaking soul ties with her.
But she had asked me like a while back
to like take me out for my birthday.
To like a show, like a comedy show or something
just to do something together as friends,
but still understand that we're not going back
into that relationship.
Is that something that,
I guess, should I avoid that altogether
because that's someone that I used to have a soul tie to?
I mean, I guess it really depends on
typically those situations arise
whether you're in relationship
or you're not in relationship.
Those moments that I'm assuming you're referring to
are very situational in the sense that
when you put yourself in the situation in the moment,
if you haven't made up your mind before the moment,
then it's hard to like navigate that in that moment.
And that's like, people do that
when they're even not in relationship,
you know what I'm saying?
So, I mean, I guess it just really matters like,
is that something that you feel like you and her can,
be platonic about, upfront.
Maintain healthy boundaries.
You can't maintain the health of boundaries
is probably not a good idea.
No, I'm saying I can.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I mean, if you can, then I guess the other thing
is this is like, it's the age old question.
It's like, can guys and girls,
men and women, boys and girls, all that,
whatever you wanna call, can they be friends?
And I'm like, I don't know.
Yeah, I guess so.
It just depends.
It just depends on what the angle is in the relationship.
Usually, when a guy and a girl are friends,
there's usually one or the other, maybe even both,
that are wanting to be in more of a deeper relationship
with the other, right?
That's usually 99% of what's going on there.
So, if she's trying to make that reconnection
in whatever way, making it, oh, it's just no big deal.
It's just, it's your birthday, whatever.
It was your birthday, right?
Something like that, birthday?
Yeah, when she wanted to take you out.
Yeah, like, no, I wanna take you out on your birthday.
We can just be friends, whatever,
even though we were in a relationship at one point.
It's like, well, and I don't know.
I mean, I guess you would have to sort of navigate that
with like, you know, in your own self.
Like, hey, is this girl trying to reconnect with me?
Is it still probably not a good thing
because of, you know, where the relationship went last time?
Now, the question is this, too.
Sounds like you had a level of attraction to each other
where you felt like it went to a place that was unhealthy.
Is that accurate?
Yeah, premarital relations.
Right, right, so the question then is this,
is like, is that the only thing that you were connecting on?
Like, why, like, not saying that that is something
to continue a connection on, but what I'm saying is
is there wasn't any more to the relationship.
You determined like, hey, this isn't going
to be a long-term relationship.
There was a basis for friendship.
We both enjoyed music and met at karaoke.
I actually used to teach her son in school.
But I mean, I'm talking about actual,
like, more to the relationship.
I mean, were you interested in having
a long-term courtship marriage type of relationship
with this person outside of the physical attraction?
I mean, was there more to the relationship
to have been had other than just the attraction?
I was, but we were both, we both had different goals
and we were just heading in different directions.
Like, I wanted to have a family.
She didn't want to have kids ever again.
Okay, so you had some deal breakers
other than just the physical attraction thing?
Yeah.
Okay, got it.
Yeah, I don't really know that, I mean,
there's much to have.
And it's not so much for that, this specific situation,
because it's just like-
In general.
In general, moving forward in life.
Yeah.
Hey, should I avoid these things?
Here, listen, if she's not the one
and then you're looking for someone else who is,
whoever that is, they're not going to probably
be too keen on a relationship with you
and having a friend with another woman.
So probably best practices to move on.
Gotcha.
Short answer.
Too easy.
Yeah. Thank you.
Oh, and then other quick question.
Are these replays able to be watched
by people outside the men's group?
Not typically, no.
Okay, because someone asked me that,
that I was telling them about.
If you're logged in and you're playing it
and you're showing it to somebody, that's one thing.
Well, yeah.
But we don't make them available to share
or we don't invite other people into the group,
access to the group on their own app,
unless they're a man, unless they're part of the group.
Yeah.
It was just something that someone asked me.
They're like, oh, you're sharing all this.
Like it was something I was telling,
hey, you should jump on last year's.
Yeah, no, this is exclusive.
If you want to say it that way,
this is exclusive to the men's community.
Yep.
Okay, cool.
They're like, well,
are you able to see like my private groups?
And it was a lady I was talking to.
I'm like, no, I don't know.
I don't think so, but I'm gonna go with that.
Not in the app.
Okay.
It doesn't come up, no.
Cool.
What else?
What else, guys?
Thanks for shaving, David.
Abram, yeah, you had your hand up, I think.
Or were you clapping earlier,
or did you have your hand up earlier?
Yeah, so I've been kind of wrestling with this thing
for a couple weeks.
So I'm a Catholic guy, right, by origin.
And so being around you guys
and all the other denominations,
I've been hearing different lingo
and different angles and stuff, which is cool.
So one of these things is, and maybe I missed it,
but I've just never really, this whole yolk thing.
And basically my understanding through listening
is you're kind of like on the same level
when it comes to your views on religion
and more or less like practice.
So what you're doing, and this could be, you know,
reading the Bible, going to church,
involvement in church stuff, church life.
And so my concern is that,
because it's almost kind of like,
it's kind of adding up to me almost like infighting
or like, I don't know if they're super good excuses
enough for deal breakers, or maybe I don't want them to be,
but you find somebody, right?
Like let's say I find somebody, okay.
And then because of this community,
I'm going to run into a woman that is, you know,
way, you know, God is way more like thought of
more often on her mind, right?
It's daily, it's either she does or she's thinking stuff
way more than maybe some person that, you know,
maybe atheist or whatever, right?
Which is, I think is great.
But the fear is like, okay, so, you know,
I meet some awesome lady that has this great foundation.
She takes it seriously, she believes.
She wants to pass it on to the kids.
She wants to help me with mine.
She wants me to help her with hers.
So she's up here, okay.
And I'll be honest guys, I am lower than a lot.
And I'm not saying that I'm not, I don't,
I'm not framing it like good or bad, better,
not good enough thing.
I don't, I don't like that.
Cause again, it's like infighting.
It's like, okay, we're both same book.
We both care.
Okay.
I'm willing to fight about it with other people,
but she's up here, I'm here.
Okay.
Abram's off the list.
And so that kind of is a little annoying.
It does motivate me to get a little bit more involved,
you know, fair enough.
Okay. You know, I could always do better.
So this whole yoke thing, it's like,
are we just fighting amongst ourselves?
Cause, okay, my parents,
let's talk about my parents really quick.
My mom's like a super Catholic lady, right?
She's got tons of religious things everywhere.
She's blessed, says the rosary almost nightly.
I don't know if you guys know about the rosary,
but it's like, you know, kind of a prayer,
set of prayers.
Okay. Yeah.
Anyways, my dad over here, quiet as a church mouse,
doesn't say nothing.
You get in trouble growing up.
He gives you baby, not even really scripture,
but it's like kind of scripture, but it's not.
And then my mom, every time she's,
she just talks through religious lands constantly.
But the older I get, the more I feel like my dad,
is like this stoic quiet guy
that was just so cool the whole time I didn't even know it.
And my mom's over here freaking out.
So, you know, again, they're like different levels,
but what's the fruit of it?
And I would say my dad might have some better,
you know, a little bit better fruit,
even though I thank my mom for all the religious input,
you know, cause it was great.
But I'm so, I'm fighting with this idea,
this yoke thing and, you know,
like, okay, I'm willing, if someone's below me,
I'm willing to help them.
And I would like to think that if I find someone
that's above me, let's just, you know, not, you know,
not better than, I'm just saying,
they're willing to help me.
So it's like, I'm willing to pick up the next person.
And this person up here is,
I don't know, I'm gonna stop talking.
Yeah, no, no, no, it's an age old debate.
There's several different contexts that I think,
this is my opinion on this particular topic,
the whole equally, unequally yoked thing.
First of all, the basis of the actual scripture reference
in Corinthians is really referring to believers,
unbelievers, light and darkness, you know,
like the extremes of like this and that, you know,
it really is not contextualized in scripture
to relate to like personal relationships
between a man and a woman in.
a romantic way, i.e., this guy is more spiritual than this woman, or reverse, this woman is
more spiritually astute, more discipled than this guy who just is now coming into some
sort of knowledge of Christ.
And then, that's the difference in Scripture.
So Scripture is not really talking about—so it's a misuse, I think, of the term.
The term itself, unequally yoked, has obviously been famously used to beat up people forever
in religious contexts, i.e., don't go out with those—it's like I make fun sometimes
of uninformed, ill-informed religious leaders who I could hear them saying and confessing
to each other in the back room, like, well, my God, we can't tell them, like Paul said,
we can't tell them that they can do anything they want to, but my God, they'll go out and
do it.
So we just got to tell them not to.
We got to preach at them and tell them that they got to hold back and they got to—and
they can't be unequally yoked, I mean, we got to tell them what to do.
That irritates the crap out of me.
That to me is a religious sort of hierarchy, cultural thing that has gone on for decades
in church.
That's a guilt.
Yeah, guilt stuff.
Yeah, it's like a guilt thing, and I don't think that's at all scriptural, I don't think
it's effective, I don't think it's biblical.
There definitely is, obviously, folks, a difference between light and darkness.
There's a difference between being separate as a believer and an unbeliever.
Does that mean I'm not going to sit down with an unbeliever to have dinner when I have whatever
appropriate opportunity to do that?
No.
But it means I might actually consider having some sort of formal agreement with somebody
because of certain reasons.
Does that mean I can't do business with an unbeliever?
I don't think so.
But I mean, there's definitely some wisdom there.
But the whole religious cultural put on is what I call it, especially as it relates to
relationships between men and women.
What you're dealing with, I think, in my opinion, between men and women is more so not an unequally
yoked, it's a difference between how men and how women process their spirituality, process
their supernatural, process their understanding of theology, process their relationship with God.
Right?
Those are all the same thing.
They're just different ways to look at it.
You know, call it religion, call it your theology, call it your personal belief, call it your
personal relationship with the Lord, whatever you want to call it.
Men and women do it differently.
Men and women are notoriously, famously, the Lord, the scripture, my mom's one of those
people.
You know, she just is.
Every other word is the Lord and every word of the word is the scripture and every one
of the...
But I will tell you, if I want somebody to pray for me and go to the throne of God and
go to the depths in the soul, that's who I want on my team.
Right?
That's my mom.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
So you see the value, you see the irony, the juxtaposition of this, and then you see the
quiet strength of a man who's simply convicted of what he believes and what he knows to be
true.
There's lots of marriages and couples that are just like that.
Old school, kind of like making it work, so forth.
There's even some new school people that are kind of like in that vein.
So I think as a way to say, will it work or not, or is this...
I think the compatibility of relationship is more important to focus on.
Can you make it work?
Will you make it work?
Are you into each other?
Are you into each other enough to make it work as a relationship type thing, rather
than, oh my gosh, are we equally yoked?
Are we unequally yoked?
Does she know too much?
Does he know too much?
Da-da-da-da-da-da.
To me, that...
I love it when, as you're saying, Abram, when somebody is like, hey, you know, help me grow
in my faith.
Help me like...
My wife has definitely helped me grow in my relationship, my spirituality, in my understanding
of who God is, and so forth.
have also helped her, but in totally different ways. You know what I'm saying?
So I don't think, short answer, I don't think the unequally yoke thing
is appropriate language, and especially because of this misuse in preaching in church culture
to talk about in terms of relationships. And case in point, I know a very, very strong,
beautiful Christian woman who is a friend of ours, and not a business partner,
but we know her in business too, and lives actually in proximity to us in our town,
who's married to a guy, and she's like, yeah, he's agnostic. He's not necessarily an atheist,
but he's just not really a believer per se, as we would understand that to be.
And the question then, of course, the religious mindset always goes to, oh, well,
you know, were you not saved when you got married to each other, and he just hasn't come to the
Lord yet, type thing? She's like, no. She goes, don't go there. That's offensive, basically,
just to assume that, oh, we got married when we weren't saved. I have found the Lord. He just
hasn't found the Lord yet, type thing, because that's always the assumption, right? Why would
you marry somebody if you're a believer? Why would you marry somebody who's an unbeliever?
She's like, because I met him, and I had compatibility with him, and I fell in love
with him, and he's a decent guy, and he works hard, and he does good things, and he's a good
human being, and I love him, and he's my husband, and we do great things together. I'm like,
I'm not the judge. I can't comment on that. I mean, that's beautiful, I think.
And what's even more interesting about that is that Scripture actually has a provision for that.
The Scripture actually says that the wife and or the husband can make an unbelieving spouse,
they can bring them into the fold simply on the fact of their own belief. Did you know that?
There's actually Scripture that says that pretty directly, not hard to be interpreted.
And I'm like, wow, that's possible. I'm not saying it's the best situation. I'm not recommending it
as, hey, just go marry anybody you want to. Definitely go through the process of finding
people put the wrong emphasis on the wrong syllable a lot of times in these relational
things. And one of the biggest things I think that we're trying to do in Last Year Single
and our community as at large is trying to deconstruct some of these things that get in our
way. And if we're going to let religious mindset get in our way from just getting married because
we're so afraid of being married, we're going to have to deconstruct some of these things
that get in our way from just getting married because we're so afraid of being, you know,
unequally yoked or connected to the wrong thing. Or, oh, my gosh, what if this? What if that?
Like, man, you're just making this harder than it really needs to be.
You know? Yeah, like I feel like my bar is like pretty low, maybe from like comparable to other
folks. So, you know, like I want someone that if they win the Super Bowl and they get interviewed,
they say, thank God, you know, like first, second or third thing, preferably, you know,
one or two first things they say is I want to thank God. Yeah. After they win the Super
Bowl, the championship. Like, I don't know why these little things. I like them. Yeah,
it feels good. Every time I see some athlete talking about that. Yeah. Some success. It feels
good. Love it. Yeah. So, you know, I don't need the three day a week. I don't need I mean,
you know, I could I mean, I'd be OK with that, you know, but I don't know. They just kind of like
this, you know. This weird this weird thing that I don't want to get, I don't want to get in my way
and I hope that it doesn't get in her way. Yeah. Whoever she is, wherever she's at.
So that just gets a little concerning. I stopped this infighting. I used to be like the Catholic
kid at school that were like, you know, arguing with the, you know, with like the Lutherans and
stuff a little bit, you know, and, you know, I stopped that crap a long time ago. It's like
we're all on the same team here, guys. So I don't know how you guys, but I stopped the
elitist jerk. You know, the Catholics are here. Everyone else. Yeah. Why are we fighting each
other? You know, there's other people to fight together. Yeah. Not to use the word fight,
but like, you know, I don't know exactly.
Oh, yeah, I cut that shit out.
But anyways, yeah, my general disposition is I mean, I've never
you're going to talk about like who's in, who's out, right?
I'm not talking about college football playoffs anymore, but like who's in,
who's out like, you know, like, you know, who's going to heaven?
Who's not or who's a believer?
Who's not a believer?
I've never been the one to, you know.
To argue on that,
I've never been one to even question somebody, you know.
Obviously, we're supposed to be fruit inspectors.
Obviously, we're like like if I have a reason to understand somebody.
Deeper and I can see their fruit, I can understand them more.
I don't think that that inspection is for me to diss them.
Unless it's they're toxic for my life, unless there's a reason to,
you know, like this person's like not good for me, whatever.
I don't you know, they're affecting me in a way
that I don't feel like is healthy for me spiritually.
And they're not the I'm not supposed to be around, whatever.
But other than that.
I don't ever comment on somebody's
belief in the Lord, salvation, whatever you want to call it.
If somebody names the name of Christ or says I'm a believer
or says, you know, Jesus is Lord or, you know, ask directly,
who is the son of God? You know, what do you do?
You know, and they're like, yeah, I guess Jesus is.
And I'm like, yeah, cool.
That's my brother. That's my sister.
I cannot comment either.
Like unless I'm in a deeper relationship with that person,
then we can have more conversation.
But on the surface, it's that like I didn't know for years.
My dad, I've told this in here before.
My dad, I just moved him here to Texas with me a few years ago.
Now he's eighty four.
And because of that proximity, now we can actually
for the first time ever do life together.
We actually like living in proximity.
I see him weekly.
We even go to church and stuff like that.
And I think it's kind of funny because I've taken these churches
he's never been to before.
And I just thought it was interesting to see him react
because he's like old timer World War II or like World War II era.
Not a World War II vet.
He's a Vietnam vet, you know, curmudgeon old dude.
And, you know, he's like, ah, there's a lot of stuff
and says inappropriate things from time to time.
And but at the same time, I bring him into these church service
and he's like, yeah, I really like this.
It's really great. I'm like, you do.
I mean, I just did would not think that he would enjoy this.
I feel like he'd be more of a formal guy, whatever.
He's like, no, I can't.
Yes, I really, really hear, you know, digging with the guy saying up there,
the guy saying some words and he's saying some things and they sound pretty good,
you know, and like the music was OK.
He comments way more than I think he would ever comment.
And for the longest time, I never knew my dad was even saved.
You know, and certainly not a religious man,
certainly not a church going man, if you want to call it that way.
And but everyone once while a joke with him as we go to these church services,
right, I said, well, that's what happened.
Do you like it today?
I said, did you get saved today?
You know, like in church, like they don't even have an altar call.
They don't do that anymore.
But I'm like, hey, did you get saved today?
He goes, well, the Lord's the Lord saved my life so many times over the years.
You know, I just you know, I'm just really pretty.
And he starts crying.
I'm like, oh, wow.
Like.
My dad has some like actual faith.
I didn't know that he wasn't showing me the religious contextual way
I was used to seeing it.
But my dad has had experiences in his life,
moments in his life where he's like, he knows the difference between what is right,
what is wrong, what's righteous, what's unrighteous.
He's got way more.
Spiritual credibility that I was giving him.
That was giving him credit for.
And that means something to me.
That's powerful.
Like, to me, that's more true religion
than somebody who can like quote the Bible all day long
and just be like super spiritual, like head in the clouds.
You know what I'm saying?
At the end of the day.
And so I love to talk about that.
I love to talk about the sort of like the the fringe, the outside sort of like,
you know, true religion that I see going on
in the world today.
So that's just me spouting and commenting, going off on a on a on a rant.
Hope you guys are feeling me.
Anybody want to make a comment on that on Abrams thing?
I like that.
Anybody have anything to say about the sort of, you know, yoke thing?
Unequally yoke?
We all boil at our own temperatures, man.
Yeah.
So I've I've been on.
The good side of situations with it. I've been on the bad side of situations with it
uh, actually a girl I took out in a date said oh, well, you know, we're unequally yoked because I have a job and you
don't I'm like I
Am dodging a bullet here. So I'm just gonna say okay and you have a great day and
Getting away from that
Fascinating. Okay. I hate when they take things out of context, but you know
there's only it's like another biblical verse about
Don't cat was it don't catch your
Diamonds or gold before so right before swine before swine. Yeah, it's things like that. I'm like, yep
Picking my battles. Yeah
I also grew up Catholic Abram and I
Can totally relate on some of the jokes you were saying in there I was laughing off off camera. Okay
that's great, but uh
But yeah, I will tell you Jackie was saying this she's mentioned this a couple times like in our
Like two people that we've been like, you know, just seeing over the holidays stuff like that and it's just that's the statement has come through
You know like prophetically she's like she's she told somebody
Several people last couple issues the Catholics are really having their moment right now
Like there's something happening in the Catholic Church that I know I don't necessarily like hey
Being a better Catholic or being more Catholic whatever like when you get to heaven, it's gonna make hey, are you Catholic a Lutheran bat?
What are you like? Nobody's gonna be asking that and that's not the questions of like entrance into like the afterlife
so
Being a better Catholic being a better
charismatic Pentecostal
Doesn't mean crap
But it's interesting though that there are different groups are associated like the Catholics are really having their moment
There's a lot of people that are like like just pursuing and being put to the front in
Culture who are Catholic by faith, but are like doing with some really awesome righteous stuff in culture today
And it's just really cool to see I love it
God's working through
That group of people as well. So it's like really cool. I just want to say that that's kind of
Interesting to me when you see these things
The
Charismatics and Pentecostals are really having a hard time of right now, especially the last few years
You got all these things coming out and scandals and different things and infighting
You got the like the heresy hunters out there like taking everybody's like a wolves in sheep clothing
You watch the internet boy. You'd think things are
Shaken up. So
If you want to look at it that way you can like that's a certain level of
Understanding. I think the truth is deeper than that
But it's interesting to watch nevertheless
David you didn't finish. What else were you gonna say, dude? Oh
I
Forgot what I was gonna say. Okay, but but ultimately like
Someone in my church actually said it great
She said it doesn't matter
What type of faith you are if you call Jesus Lord?
That's all that matters
Good
Love that
Love that who else has another any any other comments on this guys? I
Don't know if my internet it's gonna work because my internet's been terrible, but my comment is
This is find somebody that's running in it four times a week and there they want to go once
You know that and that's something that's important to you
But if you guys are both cool doing it, you know
and I'm not talking religious because I really could give a rip about religion, you know, I mean, but
Just make sure that you're at the same speed going in the same direction
And I think that's that's really an important thing
Because if you're on fire and they're not then that can provide some issues, which I have experience
So but but if you're both at a similar pace
Go for it
Yeah, it no doubt. It certainly makes things easier. I'll tell you that
It's kind of like
For me personally, they're like I have a deep admiration for people who are
Evangelical that are out on the street
Praising and worshiping and calling people not calling people out. But like they're like, sir, sir
You know like just they're very verbal. I'm like, wow, that's awesome. I can never do that and
Probably don't want to take someone that's doing like it just makes me very uncomfortable
I'm like, yeah, you know, I'll go have a random conversation with people but that's like oh
man, that's like
That's like pro football
I'm I'm down here by like college ball. Yeah, you know, but and the other thing like that same thing
It's like I I love it when people just like all the parts
are valid
Like you say people on the street people one-on-one at dinner people, you know working with their family members
People trying to be in relationship with a woman like all those are all
The parts in the drama, you know, and I love it when people all the people are playing their parts. I love it
Yeah
Anybody band people in here anybody in a band when they were in school
I was in band in school
Uh band and marching band drum line specifically. Nice
The davids keep it rolling. Nice
Any no other band members?
Surprise, oh dj. All right. What'd you play?
Uh played saxophone
Nice
And then there was a shortage of baritone sax. So I
Had to be in the jazz band. So that's cool
Yeah, uh reason I mentioned band is that everybody's got to play their part
You know and band
Everybody's got to play their spot on football team, right?
play your position
And when we all do that everybody the team wins everybody gets it done
Um
All right guys, um, we're up at eight o'clock anybody have anything else that they'd like to share questions comments concerns
Anything that's on your heart and your mind that uh
Like to just kind of get out there nothing
like I do have one it's kind of like, uh
I
So like the way that I I used to date with the whole online dating thing was
Uh stuff that I was trying to get away from and then when I came to last year single
it's just uh
I'm just trying to get out of this mindset of like feeling like i'm window shopping. Yeah
uh
And
I don't know like it it feels like uh
Not falling back into that rhythm because it's just like well
i'm just gonna keep focusing on me and focusing on my artwork and
uh
Polishing up, uh areas of my own life right now, but it's like, uh
When I when I see someone on the app i'm just like oh like how
How are we supposed to uh interact with uh
With folks in the last year single app and not uh, find ourselves falling into that
Rhythm, I guess of just like oh this person looks good or this person looks good. And just
I don't know if i'm conveying that right from what i'm thinking. Yeah, no, um
No, I I will admit the the app is
not the best
technologically
Technologically in terms of the crossover like interactivity
it's challenging because
Believe it or not those of you that are in technology understand this that's extremely difficult
that level of engagement
In within a community, it's not easily programmable
And everybody's like well facebook doesn't i'm like well facebook has like
Thousands of facebook is also a migraine like yeah
Happen
Like it's like it's like, you know
There's thousands of you know people coding all of that interactivity that level of engagement
and so like
It's hard
so
But it's kind of like people, you know, there's eight billion people on planet earth
How do we all connect?
you know
And then someone comes along and said there's there's there's one person for everybody i'm like
Oh, well, so you're saying if I don't find that one person in these eight billion people
I'm, like freaking gonna like mess it all up like no, that's not the way it works
It's a lot more complex than that. So it's just like how do you engage?
um
You know if you want to reach out
To us an email and you're saying hey, i'm really especially on the spotlights. It's one of the things we do
Definitely. I would suggest hey putting in
Admin at jackiedorman.com if you want to be single
Spotlighted on a single spotlight put your name in for that for sure
Like hey, i'm interested in being spotlighted. I'm ready for that
And would like to be sort of like, you know
put on front street in the community and see what
Attention we get and that's how some some of the matchmaking is done
um
If you have somebody in particular you want to reach out to probably the best thing to do is to is to
really trying to find them on Facebook and just reach out
and say, hey, this year's part of last year's single group
too, I am too, blah, blah.
I don't know.
Put your best, not creepy pickup line,
but just like an engagement line on there
and say, hey, like to get to know you better or something.
I don't know.
You're going to have to, I don't know.
I'm not good at pickup lines or engagement lines.
Somebody else got to do that.
Avery's probably good at that way better than I am.
But anyway, reach out.
To know her a little bit and then step back a little bit
and then ping back in and say, hey, how is that,
how is this and such?
Or can I pray for you for this and such?
Yeah.
It's not, don't go once and done.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's time to warm up.
Yeah, give them a little warm up.
And if she drops a hanky, like we talked about that,
we actually encourage the ladies, believe it or not,
guys, we actually encourage the ladies, like, hey,
if there's a guy reaching out to you,
first of all, if you're not initially interested in him,
don't be a jerk and like just cut them off
and like reject them.
Like, you know, try to engage, like same thing.
It's just like, try to re-engage
so that you can practice at the very least,
even if you're not initially interested,
at least act like it and be nice because,
hey, you're in the same community.
Why would you be a jerk to a guy
who's just trying to reach out to you?
Like guys trying to shoot a shot,
you don't got to shut them down just because, you know,
whatever, you know, you don't like his picture
or something like that.
Well, you don't even know him.
Like you don't have the opportunity to like say,
hey, I don't think this is gonna like work
into like a relationship.
You don't have that opportunity in the first five seconds
because that's ridiculous.
You don't even know that person.
It's just, I would say the R word, but you know,
it's like, I'm not supposed to say that.
It's just dumb, you know?
And so that doesn't work.
So we teach the ladies, I look,
hey, if somebody is reaching out to you,
at least be kind, at least be reciprocal in some way,
at least have a conversation, right?
So that's kind of what we're doing.
We're trying to cultivate that.
We're trying to build a culture in this community
for people to actually authentically connect
for good reason and good faith and goodwill.
How's that?
Which is one thing, apps, like the swiping apps,
they don't give you that.
You're just like swipe, swipe, swipe, you know?
And it's all predicated on what you,
from a guy's perspective,
it's all predicated on what you see, you know?
And the girls on there,
whatever they're putting on there for you to see
is trying to get you to see something,
either this or that or whatever, you know,
and get the attention.
And then they've got all these motivations
and then just gets crazy.
So in here, we're just trying to develop a culture.
Hey, just, you know,
everybody's here for the same reason, pretty much.
We're all here for the right reasons.
And those that are here for the wrong reasons,
they usually don't stick around.
Usually don't, the community has a way
of sort of weeding itself out like that.
That's a good thing.
It's a culture that we build to try to have that level of
sort of goodwill and good faith.
So yeah, reach out.
And like I said, if you wanna be on a single spotlight,
definitely reach out to us in email and do that.
And then if there's somebody interested
that actually they themselves have been spotlighted,
every once in a while we do that.
And you see that on the social and you have somebody in mind,
hey, I'd like to be introduced to so-and-so.
You can say that in an email,
depending on Jackie usually is willing to be
that sort of like wing person for you
in a sense of like, hey, if you're asking about so-and-so
and if I think that you guys might be a match
because she's got that woo like that,
she's like, I'll be willing to introduce you.
I'll reach out to them and say,
hey, I've got this guy's asking about you.
I'm willing to introduce you to this person
if they're willing to be introduced to.
That's a real thing.
Make sense?
I can testify that Jackie is really good at that.
And there's some things I love about her.
That she goes out of her way to make connections.
So yeah, I just wanna verify and validate.
And she usually asks me all the time.
She goes, hey, you know this guy, Billy Bob something?
I'm like, nope, never heard of him.
She's like, oh, okay.
Well, then that tells her that.
If I don't know who this guy is, and she doesn't know who he is, then it's like, well, wait
a minute.
We got to get to know this guy, first of all.
But I'm like, hey, do you know a guy named David Van Royen?
I'm like, yeah.
He shows up all the time to the heart check-in.
The man shows up.
Oh, OK.
Instant credibility.
I mean, this is one of the reasons why we have this heart check-in for guys is for guys
to be able to show up and go, hey, I'm a part of this community.
I'm engaged.
I mean, like, I know what's going on.
I talk to the rest of these guys.
Like, I'm here.
I'm doing this thing.
Makes sense, right?
Who are the people that we are going to initially think of when there's somebody to match?
We're going to think of, what, the people we know.
As leaders of this community, I'm like, yeah, I know DJ.
He shows up all the time at the men's heart check-in.
I know Abram.
Like yeah, I think they'd be a good match.
Why don't we introduce them?
Or no, it probably wouldn't be a good match.
Let's find somebody.
Like, he's eager.
He's ready to go.
Like, we need to find this guy a match.
We need to find his introduction.
You know what I'm saying?
So it works both ways.
Good, good?
Yeah.
Thank you much.
Yeah.
Hi, guys.
Yeah, Mike.
Go ahead.
I just wanted to say, don't show up and say that you're engaged and try to ask somebody
out.
Just, you know, like, David.
Oh, yeah.
It's all about, like, how are you engaged?
Yeah.
It's all about, like, how I place those words in a sentence.
Yeah.
I'm engaged.
What are you doing Friday night?
Yeah, I didn't think about that.
Play on words.
That's so true.
It's so good.
Hey, Mike, do us a favor, man.
Will you pray us out?
Yeah.
So, Lord Jesus, I thank you, all the men on this group.
I just pray that, Lord, that we'd walk in the fullness of who you've called us to be
in our divine masculine, where we can be protectors and shelters, but also soft and
tender to all.
And I just pray that every man here would find a lady and a spirit mate.
Lord, there's so many amazing ladies in this group.
I just pray that you would, that Jackie would work overtime, but not, but in a supernatural
way, like, the way for each guy here and flourish and everything.
I pray that you bring people who are equally yoked in whatever season they would be, like,
in the similar seasons, and that you just have great, great relationships that would
glorify you, Jesus.
And I just thank you for David and Jackie.
I pray you protect over them and the whole team, help other new technologies to come
to pass, and just, but like, that they would have peace and a straight path in front of
them.
And Lord, we just stand with them and say, you know, and just, we just say, thank you
guys for all that you do, and we just praise you, Jesus, that you're doing a great thing
in Jesus name.
Amen.
All right, guys.
Have a great, great week.
God bless y'all.
You as well.
Thank you.
Hey, David.
Are you and Jackie still coming out here to Vegas?
I think it's next week for her birthday.
Yes, we are.
Yeah, for just like three short days, real quick.
Yeah, we'll try to connect.
Cool beans.
We'll reach out.
All right.
God bless, guys.