WEBVTT

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what is the efficacious nature of God's Word?

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Like, what are the effects of it that I need?

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Yeah.

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Because we eat good food

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because it has an efficacious nature to strengthen us.

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♪♪♪

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Welcome back to the Steve Holt Podcast.

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I'm Ryan Steyer, the Executive Pastor at The Road.

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I'm here with Dr. Steve Holt,

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and we are discussing the new book, Breakthrough Courage,

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and we're gonna be in habit number five today,

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Eat the Book.

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What an interesting title.

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I just have to open with a quote here

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as we get into habit number five,

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and this is coming from UC Davis,

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Center of Mind and Brain Studies.

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Meditation reduces stress.

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An immediate, long-proven benefit of meditation

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is reduced stress and a decreased level of cortisol

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in our brains and bodies.

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So as we start to get into this,

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it was landing on me that, you know,

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as card-carrying Christians, we hear every week

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that we should be reading the Word of God.

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But now in this one,

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you're unpacking this idea of eating the book.

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Man, unpack that for us.

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Well, there's just so much information now

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about the power of meditation,

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the power of prayer,

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the power of deep thinking for actually healing your brain,

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to release the serotonin that our brain needs,

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to release calming chemicals into our whole body

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through how we focus our mind.

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It's very interesting that the studies have shown

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that whether you close your eyes

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and even imagine you're at a river

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or you're under a tree somewhere

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and you're just trying to calm yourself,

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or you're actually there by a river

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or looking at a beautiful mountain,

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brain doesn't know the difference.

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Doesn't know whether you're really there

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or whether you have programmed your mind

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to think like you're there.

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So isn't that crazy?

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So that's the power of meditation.

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So meditation, you can actually enter into a tranquil world.

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And I'm advocating through scripture,

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using scripture mainly.

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Meditating on truth even convinces the cells of your body

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that they should calm down, that they should rest.

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And it has benefits that just are more

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than just that you feel calm.

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It's actually healing to your bones.

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And the scriptures talk about that.

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We meditate, it's cleansing and healing to our bones.

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And so the power of meditation,

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the idea of eating the book is from Jeremiah,

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it's from Isaiah, it's in the book of Revelation to John.

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So it's all over the place how important that is.

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So I chose that phrase because of the word haggah,

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which is the word for meditate,

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which means actually literally doesn't mean

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to get in a lotus position and hum

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with your palms up in the air.

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It's actually more like gnaw, like gnawing something.

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So Isaiah's lion where he talks about a lion growling

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over a bone is the image actually of meditation.

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It's gnawing on something.

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It's thinking about something deeply.

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As a gymnast, I would go through my routines

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on the bus going to the meet or sitting on the mat,

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warming up, stretching before a big meet.

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I would go through, I'd close my eyes

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and I would just say, Lord, give me,

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you know, a perfect routine in my mind.

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And I would meditate on that and I would see that.

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And even then they call it psycho cybernetics back then.

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Oh, wow.

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Wow.

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The idea of you, you might say,

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oh, he's psyching himself up.

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Well, there's something to that.

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People saying, oh, you're getting psyched up.

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Well, you are.

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It's called psycho cybernetics.

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And it's the idea that your brain has so much power

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that it can tell your body to react

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and respond a certain way.

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Well, now we're throwing scripture on it.

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We're throwing the truth of scripture on it.

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Think about the power of that.

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So you have the layer of the way God

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created our brain to work.

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Then you have a layer of the Holy Spirit.

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Then you have a layer of the word of God.

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If we can bring all that together,

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it's one of the most important habits that we can develop.

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See that.

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And culture, it's funny, even though probably somewhere in the background of the narrative

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of a culture of our day, maybe saying slow down, self-care, whatever that means,

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whatever we define it to mean for ourselves, there's so much contradictory noise and static

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around the movement and pace of our culture, specifically in the Western hemisphere.

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We're just running and gunning. We live on caffeine, you know, we're stressed out,

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we're burned out, we're maxed out. And so this concept is foreign, I would think,

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to a majority of Americans where we, what the Eastern philosophy is, don't just do something,

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stand there, versus like we all grew up, don't just stand there, do something, you know?

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So this really is a benefit as to the DNA of kingdom of God and how he designed us to slow,

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to pause and develop the habit of meditation. And then we, what I hear you saying is that

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through scripture, we 5X the benefits when we meditate on the word of God.

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Yeah. And we see Jesus doing it. So Jesus, in the gospel of Luke is probably the best gospel

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on this, but you see Luke as a physician, obviously looking at Jesus and recounting

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what he thought were the high points of his ministry in his gospel. And he, more than any

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of the other writers, talks about Jesus often going away to the desert, often being alone,

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often being in prayer. So it's like almost every other chapter you see Jesus by himself

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spending time in prayer. So Luke captured it, Jesus lived it. And when we start in Genesis

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and work our way all the way through the Old Testament, we see the saints of old,

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David probably being the best at articulating it in writing about meditation in the Psalms.

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Oh yeah. And it's just all over the place. And this is a really important practice,

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you know, and it's really hard for American Christians, super hard for West, I shouldn't

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say American, I think Western Christians in general struggle with this. And having grown up,

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so many years in Asia myself, Asians understand meditation better. I wouldn't say they're great

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at it, especially in the modern age. But if you look at the code of the Bushido,

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the Bushido code, which would be the samurai code in Japan, meditation is one of their high virtues.

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There's this intrinsic value that our humanity connects with because we can feel it when we

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slow down, we get the medicine from that and learning to do that. And it's funny that even

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some other religions are modeling it better than Christianity today, but we do see that.

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I love that example of Christ pulling away to restore, to refresh, modeling it for us,

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how to do it. Well, that's so good. So Habit 5 lays out... Habit 5 is the act of getting the book,

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the Bible, the word of God into our system. And so there's something about, something that's

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unlocked through one of the kingdom of God's mysteries in us and our DNA, that this is

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nourishing, reading his word, instruction, daily application, daily meditation. We would say PB&J,

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prayer Bible journal at the road, right? And really trying to foster a culture of discipline

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to be in your word daily and practice that. You unpack it because the scriptures do talk

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about eating God's word, the scrolls and eating the scrolls. But we don't, I don't know, growing

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up, I didn't even think of it that way. It was always just like, are you reading the Bible today?

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Is it just reading? And so it became another text to just read versus extracting the nourishment

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from it. And really this pause of meditation on something that you read and you go back over it

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and you simmer with it, you sit with it and you let it bring healing, understanding, wisdom. It's

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bringing light, kingdom of God light to your situation. What would you say where in the

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process and journey, and we talked a little bit about the catalyst to write the book, post COVID

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coming out of it, people either got more drawn into screen time in their home front because they

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weren't having to commute to and from work. They're in the home, home bound, building good

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and bad habits at the house, probably. But I'm thinking for you, was this, did this post COVID

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kind of experiencing some lockdown and whatnot? Was there another level up in you and your walk

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and kind of discovering this eating the book habit? I mean, you've been in ministry a long

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time, brother. So just where you've seen yourself continue to grow in this discipline of meditation.

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Well, I think the metabolizing of the word of God into our system takes time and it takes quite

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it. You've got to have quiet. And that's just not the formula for success today. Everybody

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wants you busy, busy, busy and going, going, going. And the ancient way, the ancient way

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of God is us getting to know him and love him and love our neighbors, ourself. That

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all is, that is all connection, right? So eating, eating the word, gnawing on the word

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in our lives is really about metabolizing the truth of something that's before us on

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that page through a personal, vital relationship with God. It's bringing God down. It's bringing

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God out of the pages of scripture and moving into more of a dialogue, I think, with the Lord.

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You know, the Lord is my shepherd. He's Lord. He's not just Savior, but he's Lord. Thank you

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for being my Lord. You know, the Lord is. So he's not silent. He's here. He's speaking. The

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Lord is. So he's, he's right here with us right now, right here in the studio. The Lord is. My,

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the Lord is my shepherd. And, and so he's, he's shepherding me. I'm his sheep. He's my shepherd.

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Yeah. He's my Lord. He is, he's a self existent one. He, he doesn't need me to acknowledge him

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to exist. He's, he's self existent. He's also, he's also objective truth. So he's outside of

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my subjective experience. So whether I'm experiencing his presence or not, the Lord is

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here. So he's still there. He's right there. And so the Lord is my shepherd. Just an example here.

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All I'm doing is giving an example is powerful in setting our hearts and our minds toward a kingdom

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of God revelation of his presence right here. That's just been so helpful to me. That just,

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it really helped me during my dark, in my darkest times. And even today, Liz, my wife, Liz is better.

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She's actually better at this than me. She, she, man, she can't wait to get out of bed and go spend

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time with the Lord every morning almost. And I'm like, I am not that way. I get up in the morning

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and I'm like, I'm going to pump iron. Okay. So that's what I'm going to do. And I wish I was

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more spiritual, but I'm not. And so I go in there and I'll lift, you know, and drink a lot of water.

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Sure. And then somewhere in there, I start thinking, okay, I want to meet with God now.

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I wish I could just say that that wasn't true. I think that isn't true for Liz. I think Liz wakes

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up and she's pretty excited about the Lord every day. And she's definitely more spiritually in tune

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than I am, but I'm trying to get there, man. You know, I'm trying to get there. I'm working toward

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that. I mean, one, thanks for just the posture of humility and that, and just being honest about

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that because I think we've all felt that. And it's funny because we see people who do in some ways

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model things better than us in the areas that we want to grow in. Oftentimes it's our spouses,

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and hopefully we're giving them things as well, you know, and there is a give and take in that

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arena. You know, the other thing that we're talking about in eating and digesting, metabolizing the

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book, you have, you've touched on it in meditation, but the equal part of that is the solitude. It's

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the stealing away and, and being alone with God and how much of a distraction that the culture's

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again, bringing at us in that. So there's gotta be some disciplines. And, you know,

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on a weekly basis in my house, we're always challenging each other with kind of what's your

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screen time for the week. And we're always trying to see who's got maybe the lower screen time hours

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for the week. And did you beat last week's number? Well, so instead of making it a competition

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between each other, now it's more like, how did you do for your own personal goals, you know,

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to steal away? And are you less hours this week than you were last? And if you are,

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then how did you use that time? Because use your powers for good. Use your time for good.

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You know, how we're using our time and just finding solitude in such a noisy world that

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we live in right now. Yeah. It's really hard. Yeah. I mean, that's a habit in itself.

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It really is a habit. Like even today, so I get up and I work out and I had,

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this is so bad. This is like.

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Confession City and I'm the mayor, right, but so this morning I was having a great

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time with the Lord. Hebrews 4.12. I'm in Hebrews 4.12. I'm meditating on that and

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then and it's my phone and I don't normally bring it in. Normally I leave it

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in the bathroom like it's on the other side of the house, but anyway I

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didn't this time. So there you go. So then I was ruined. Oh. And not in a good way.

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Sure. We sometimes say we're ruined around here. Yeah. And we think, oh I'm ruined for

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God. No, I was ruined for that PB&J and it was just hard. It was hard for me to

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get back into it. I think for any of us it's okay to have bad days. It's okay to

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not have great days and I just think it's normal for that to happen to any

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of us. Well. And so we're growing and learning together on all this stuff.

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That's huge. I mean, one, identifying the distractors and being intentional to

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place them elsewhere. I mean, there's just, when the phone rings or you hear the buzz

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of the text notification, we're conditioned. Yeah. We're just conditioned to

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want to respond and it is a quick, it just starkly pulls us out of where we're

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at. Yeah. You can be in the most tender place with Lord. I mean, I'm raising my

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hand. I'm relating to that and you're like, dang it, you know, and you get frustrated

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with that. I think you've gotten a lot, a lot more mature in this area than when I

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first met you. It seems like with some of the crises you've been through with

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Mandy, some of the stuff that you guys have navigated, don't you have even

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something you do on your phone to remind you of stuff? I mean, I think that's super

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cool. I do joke about that. I don't do that. But you do that. I do. I use the

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powers of the phone for good and not evil. I guess I joke about that as like a

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thing. So yeah, setting reminders and I try and do it twice a day because of the,

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right, the value of what was discovered in those crisis times where the

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nourishment for the day, I mean, you're desperate for getting alone with God

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because of the truth that he's going to speak to you about who you are, reaffirm

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your identity and give you the meat, give you the manna for the day, right? That we

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so desperately need. And I just, it's become a craving. And I noticed when I'm

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out of my rhythms or out of my habits from that, but yeah, it was like 11 o'clock

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am timer and then a 3pm. So I'm kind of getting that mid morning refreshment. And

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then after the long part of the day, I have a 3pm timer go off and it's just a

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reminder to pause. And it's a meditation. It's actually doing that very thing.

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Really? Yeah, it is. And so what is your meditation that you do? So there's a

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meditation that's out there. And I'd have to look at my phone. I normally remember,

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I can't believe I can't remember it, but it's, it's a pause. And basically it's a

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reading of scripture, just what we're talking about here. And the guy takes you

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through it. There's a chill background. He takes you through a process of just

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relaxing about 15 minutes, center yourself, calm your vitals, kind of

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disconnect from the busy, and then goes through a reading of scripture and then

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starts to just really dissect and literally gnaw on every kind of angle of

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that piece of God's word. And then he'll bring in other translations of the same

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scripture, just to give a different perspective. And then he'll pause and

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give you, the listener, an opportunity to, it's called Encounter. There we go.

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Thank you. It's in the Encounter app. And they have a meditation that goes out

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daily, but then he'll ask the listener, give space, give it quiet and say, what

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are you connecting with? What in this, or is your soul responding to? And you get

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into a rhythm, right? And then the first time I did, I'm like, what am I connecting

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to? And then you get in that habit and you're like, oh man, I like, I felt my

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soul kind of like, you know, get excited about that word or that phrase. That's

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really good. And you hang on that, right? Yeah. So it's super fun. And it's

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addictive. Well, I just think what you're doing is great. That's better than

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anything I'm doing. Mine's been more in the morning. Yeah. And then when I get

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into bed at night, I usually try to, I'm reading so many books, you know, I've

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got a stack of them over there, maybe four or five. Cause I go to bed early.

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Like I get into bed probably at eight and then I probably, it lights out by

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nine, 915 right in there. So probably that last 15 minutes, then I try to open

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the word and spend time in the word there. I want to get in a rhythm. We got

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noonday fire. So we got noonday prayer that happens on Wednesday, but I would

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love to get in a three, three times a day, but I'm not there yet. I'd say it's

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only two times a day. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's, that's excellent, but just

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the value of experiencing that. I mean, you're talking about it. I felt it

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personally eating the book habit five. It's just, it's huge. You know, in here

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you're referencing the story of Joshua. We know it opens up kind of the command

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kind of calling out the feel fear for spirit. Do not be afraid, be strong, be

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courageous.

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Tucked in the middle of that, you know, in verse eight, and you write it down here, God's unpacking

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to him, this is how you become strong and courageous. This is how you're going to renew

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your mind and that all the things I'm calling you to do, if you'll sit, and I think it says

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meditate day and night, right? It does. So it's like calling him back. That's right. We spend

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ourselves in our day, bring refreshment in the evening too. That's right. And so there's value.

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I used to say to our kids, create bookends in your day with time with God, open your day with

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him and close it with him. Cause there's nothing that's going to happen on your phone. That's

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going to make you sleep better or rest better than the word of God. Even if that's just listening to

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a prayer at night. So yeah, it's really good. It seems like you're, you're trying to do that.

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You're doing that with this app. You're doing this with probably PB and J fantastic. I just

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think that's super not perfect. I'm not a hundred percent. I'm not seven, seven days out of seven,

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but I'm doing it more than I don't. Yeah. And it's been helpful. Well, it is so healthy to do that.

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I know that when I get anxious, when I find myself getting anxious and nervous about stuff,

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it's usually because I haven't been spending enough time just slowing down and calming my

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mind. I'm not taking care of my soul. My soul care is suffering because I'm too busy. I'm just

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too busy, man. And pastoring is, is crazy. You're always with people. I was telling Liz the other

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day, I'm never alone, except for when I choose to be alone. Everywhere I go, I'm with people.

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Everywhere I go, people are asking questions. Everywhere I go, I'm problem solving. And you

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know what? I'll be honest. I love it. I love it 80% of the time. And so I think that there,

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there's a point in our lives where if you don't set aside the time, somebody's going to come in

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and grab it and they're going to steal it from you. It's, um, that is so, it's so true. And I

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think we just, I think that's worth just even pausing here for a minute on, because if there's

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one thing we all, even our listeners, audience, our camera team, you, when we check in with people,

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they check in with us. We check in with them. Hey, how's it going? How you been? Oh man. Good.

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Just it's a busy season. And next thing you know, it's like the whole, all the seasons are busy.

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Everybody says it's busy season and oh man, I'm looking forward to a slower pace next year,

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next time, next season, whatever that is. But there's always this next thing. And there's

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such a value for trying to create borders in your life for this solitude that is meant to

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nourish us that we have to have. I mean, yeah, you're a people person. I'm a people person. We

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get fed that way, but man, there comes a time in the week. And I know you've shared this too,

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where you're just like, man, I need to retreat. I need to recharge and a little bit of solitude or

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isolation. Um, and, and the opposite is, is, is bad too. So we can be overworked and over-peopled,

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um, and then under solitude or isolated. Well, we're not doing soul care, right? What we're

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doing is we're doing staff care. Okay. Staff care. We've got a big staff team here,

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but we need salt. We need a personal soul care too. And that's where it's not just about getting

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things done. It's also about taking care of your heart. It's huge. I didn't even realize probably

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until maybe the last couple of years, well into my mid forties. And I'm just thinking,

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I wasn't even being honest with myself about that need. I'm thinking I'm a commodity. I'm,

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I can't be exhausted this way. And I need to be available to everybody, my family, you know,

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church staff, and just always on call. Um, and the burn, that's where the burnout happens.

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I think so. So many people get that. Oh, I think that's where you have all these

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controversies now with pastors and leaders where they've gotten into sexual sin,

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they're involved in sexual sin, they're involved in, uh, you know, some kind of weird entertainment

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that they're doing. It's because they're burned out. They're not taking care of their soul.

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So good. So true. And so because of that, they've gotten, they've gotten themselves in trouble.

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I'm meeting with a pastor and his wife, you know, right after we're done here.

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And, um, I bet you your bottom dollar because they're church planters that one of the biggest

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questions they're going to have for me is how do you, how do you maintain some balance between

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family life, personal life and ministry life? Because that's, that's such a big struggle for

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the 21st century Christian and especially for the 21st century pastor. I mean, look at dogs,

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dogs, get it. I mean, dogs really do get it. I've got two dogs and they're really well-trained

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hunting dogs. Okay. And here's what I dig about dogs. It's what I dig about dogs. Dogs like are

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there.

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to just completely give your life pleasure and joy.

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They are wagging their tail.

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They're so excited when you're around,

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even if you had to whack them on the nose an hour ago.

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They're like, they just forgive.

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Short memory.

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I think they forget,

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but whether they forgive or forget, I don't know.

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But all I know is that when they get that bone,

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they know there's something in that bone

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that's good for them by the instinct God put within them.

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And they just go over by the fireplace

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and they just gnaw on the bone and they're just fine.

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And we need to see the word of God as God's bone to us

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to metabolize into our system for our own health

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and our own well-being.

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For sure.

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And I said this, I think in a meeting we were in,

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but I have to just, I think it's worth repeating here

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that I so appreciated your analogy in that

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and the times that I've heard you share it

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because now my dog gives me convictions on two fronts.

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I see her chewing her bone and I'm going,

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I'm not chewing the word.

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And then I'll see her sabbathing.

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I mean, the other thing,

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and I thought that's where you were headed,

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is that how well dogs prioritize rest,

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if they're not chewing or running.

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They sleep like 80% of the time.

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I know.

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And I'm going, okay, there's a balance to be found,

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but man, I walk in a room and I see my dog relaxed

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and I'm just busy about my pace, my list,

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and I'm going, and I'm jealous.

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I'm looking at her, I'm like,

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how do you have time to do this?

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But she does.

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She makes time to do it.

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And wag her little tail.

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And so it's twofold.

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And then I'm reminded of the 10 commandments

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and not to be overly religious

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because I know this gets abused and misinterpreted,

357
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but just that the idea of making the sabbath holy,

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keeping it holy, not as a law to be bound by,

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but to actually refresh us and just making the sabbath holy.

360
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And what was the sabbath?

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It's like manna stopped coming.

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You collected it on the Saturday for the Sunday.

363
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So you didn't even have to, and how much work was that?

364
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It's like you had to go cultivate.

365
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You just walked out and you caught your food.

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But even then, Sunday comes

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and you just eat what you collected Saturday.

368
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You didn't have to get out of your bed

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if you didn't want to.

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So God so prioritizes in our DNA

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and the makeup of us that deep need.

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I mean, I've grown up in the pace of American culture,

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so have you, and we just adjust and we morph into it,

374
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but just developing that habit to pull away.

375
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Yeah, I agree.

376
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If we can just encourage each other, right?

377
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The BSAs in each other.

378
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I had a staff guy in my office last week

379
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and I was asking him

380
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because we get the quarterly days with the Lord.

381
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And I said, dude, how many days with the Lord

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did you take last year if you had four?

383
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He goes, I didn't take one.

384
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I said, okay, so let's make this year different.

385
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So he's like, this week he was going

386
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on his day with the Lord.

387
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As Q1's ending up, it's like ending, so it's huge.

388
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You know, we've got the cabin too up there available

389
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for the pastors and everything.

390
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And I mean, who ever uses it?

391
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You use it, a couple others use it, and that's it.

392
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So people just, I mean, they just go, go, go.

393
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And I'm glad, I mean, I'm glad that we've hired

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really high caliber leaders who go for it.

395
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But I just think we've gotta come and encourage them

396
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to take time to build up their own spirit

397
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and make sure that they're slowing down enough

398
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to find joy in their relationship with God,

399
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not just doing ministry.

400
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Ministry can become such an idol.

401
00:28:39.180 --> 00:28:43.220
It's easy to worship at the altar of ministry

402
00:28:43.260 --> 00:28:46.460
instead of the Lord in our lives.

403
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I'm thinking about my times in the scripture,

404
00:28:48.340 --> 00:28:51.140
and there's days where it's fast food Bible,

405
00:28:51.140 --> 00:28:52.660
because it's on the go, because I'm on the go.

406
00:28:52.660 --> 00:28:53.660
Chick-fil-A.

407
00:28:53.660 --> 00:28:54.500
Totally.

408
00:28:54.500 --> 00:28:55.320
Chick-fil-A Bible.

409
00:28:55.320 --> 00:28:56.160
Chick-fil-A Bible, man.

410
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And it's drive through time.

411
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Chick-fil-A Jesus.

412
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And I just, I'm check marking the box

413
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to be a good boy today.

414
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I'm like, yep, I got my scripture in,

415
00:29:02.440 --> 00:29:03.660
but it was fast food, man.

416
00:29:03.660 --> 00:29:07.420
I didn't sit and I didn't like meditate on it, with it.

417
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And those days are lean.

418
00:29:10.140 --> 00:29:11.620
So here's a question for you.

419
00:29:11.620 --> 00:29:15.060
So how much fast food are you eating these days, bro?

420
00:29:17.700 --> 00:29:19.660
Well, that's a good question.

421
00:29:19.660 --> 00:29:20.940
Because, you know, that's the thing.

422
00:29:20.940 --> 00:29:21.880
That's another thing.

423
00:29:21.880 --> 00:29:24.580
Because you start getting all those chemicals

424
00:29:24.580 --> 00:29:26.980
in your system, that'll,

425
00:29:26.980 --> 00:29:30.380
I mean, I'm being facetiously serious.

426
00:29:30.380 --> 00:29:33.040
Yeah, it's fair.

427
00:29:33.040 --> 00:29:35.820
Yeah, and I know for me that sometimes

428
00:29:35.820 --> 00:29:39.700
that hinders my time in the Word

429
00:29:39.700 --> 00:29:41.100
because I've got a headache.

430
00:29:41.460 --> 00:29:44.020
Or because I've got indigestion.

431
00:29:44.020 --> 00:29:45.220
Or I'm not feeling good

432
00:29:45.220 --> 00:29:47.620
because I've been eating crappy food.

433
00:29:47.620 --> 00:29:49.300
And it's just easy to do.

434
00:29:49.300 --> 00:29:51.580
For sure, it's convenient, it's easy.

435
00:29:51.580 --> 00:29:52.420
Yeah.

436
00:29:52.420 --> 00:29:54.860
Well, yeah, I mean, personally, just less than.

437
00:29:54.860 --> 00:29:57.740
I mean, you and I have talked about alcohol, right?

438
00:29:57.740 --> 00:30:00.180
So you're hardly drinking any alcohol these days.

439
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:09.720
Yeah, I don't drink hardly any alcohol anymore. Yeah. And largely, I think, for you and I is because we've, we've been thinking about our health.

440
00:30:09.800 --> 00:30:20.240
Totally. Just there's no positive thing that comes positive for alcohol. Yeah, used to hear like the red, the red wine thing is probably a red wine company. So one who put that out that idea.

441
00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:28.920
Totally. Yeah. There's no, I mean, whether that helps a little bit of digestion, either way, the consumption of the quantity probably well exceeds the benefits of what people should be taking it in.

442
00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:49.520
And the thing about it is that how many people we know, even here at the road, they're alcoholics. I mean, they are, and they're in wholehearted men, some are on leadership, some are on leadership with us, that they're, they're going to be borderline alcoholics if they're not careful because they're drinking way too much.

443
00:30:49.880 --> 00:31:04.120
That's all that comes into play. And I'll just say yes, on the alcohol. Yeah, we both talked about how just limiting that significantly. Yeah. And then the fast food thing. I mean, yeah, it's convenient, but you know, I try to

444
00:31:04.120 --> 00:31:33.120
Well, you get an appetite for it. You can that's the hardest thing. Yes. Yeah. Oh, man, I would love to get you know, zesty Thai today or I really like to get a Big Mac today or whatever it is. I'll tell you what, man, I can tell you from experience, you can be free from that. And then you never think about it anymore. So I mean, I think about is like I did today in there in the kitchen. I had an apple. Yeah, you know, so it's good. You retrain, you kind of retrain your brain. And I think eating,

445
00:31:33.120 --> 00:32:03.080
eating the book is retraining your mind to get excited about the book. Because that's what I was doing this morning, I was looking at Hebrews 412, that the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, that it's there to judge the thoughts and intentions of your heart. Right. And then it cuts between soul and spirit.

446
00:32:03.560 --> 00:32:04.060
So good.

447
00:32:04.060 --> 00:32:33.060
So to get excited about it, again, that's why I did that. That's why I read like five passages. And I actually wrote it in the, in the front of my, my study Bible, some of these passages. And that's what I was thinking about was, what is the efficacious nature of God's Word? Like, what are the effects of it that I need? Yeah, because we eat good food, because it has an effect on us.

448
00:32:34.060 --> 00:32:37.140
It has an efficacious nature to strengthen us.

449
00:32:37.180 --> 00:32:41.300
Yeah, you know, energy, focus, all the Word of God that way, I think.

450
00:32:41.940 --> 00:33:03.180
Yeah, for the spiritual, for the spiritual digestion system. And even the and even the physiological, all the combination, the way it all comes together. It's awesome. As we're getting close here to wrapping up, I just want to give kind of the six practices of meditation. And this is in the book and the text for our audience.

451
00:33:03.180 --> 00:33:27.180
So if you haven't had a chance to pick up this book yet, Breakthrough Courage, a link to getting it in the description of the video will follow. And I like how you kind of walk us through, here's the, if you're in the supermarket and you have your shopping list on how to get to meditation, step one, find a quiet place. Step two, kind of open your word and choose a passage of scripture.

452
00:33:28.180 --> 00:33:46.660
Starting maybe even in Psalm 23 would be a great place to start. Step three, read the first line and then pause. The Lord is my shepherd. You were modeling that at the beginning. That's super good. And then step four, you are in his presence, acknowledging that God is there with you in that moment.

453
00:33:47.660 --> 00:34:15.739
Step five, in this peaceful state, meditate on a word or phrase. And then step six is this, you know, concept of writing it in your journal, the PB and J, the prayer Bible journal, the J part, write it in your journal, what God is saying. And then, you know, I'm just a big advocate of, you know, if it's not written down, it doesn't exist. And sometimes I've been, I've been disappointed where I got a word or I got revelation.

454
00:34:15.739 --> 00:34:26.739
And I didn't take the time. I didn't take the time to write it down. And then it's been lost, you know, and I missed it. And I'm like, oh man, just the value of writing it down, brother. So thank you.

455
00:34:26.739 --> 00:34:27.739
Thank you, Ryan.

456
00:34:27.739 --> 00:34:32.739
Thanks for this habit. And just as they continue to build us and grow us, man, it's going to be a good year. It's exciting.

457
00:34:32.739 --> 00:34:34.739
It's going to be great.

458
00:34:34.739 --> 00:34:38.739
Thank you guys for tuning in and we will see you next time for habit number six.