1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,840 Hey, I'm Matt Brownell. 2 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:10,480 And I'm Van Owens. 3 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:12,160 And I'm Tim Adams. 4 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:18,120 Welcome to Climbing the Mountain, where we dive into the scriptures and discuss themes, 5 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:21,280 connections, and real life application. 6 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:24,960 We're kicking off a series here where we're going to examine the Sermon on the Mount and 7 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:34,760 discuss implications for this teaching for Christians today. 8 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:36,240 Welcome back. 9 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,400 We are in part two of anxiety. 10 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:45,920 And I want to start off again by just reiterating what we talked about last time and having 11 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:47,520 a little bit of a disclaimer here. 12 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:54,200 So last time we talked about how great God is, that He is a good master that provides 13 00:00:54,200 --> 00:01:01,000 for us, and we can trust Him, and He will take care of our needs. 14 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:06,560 That said, and I want to just say none of us are psychotherapists. 15 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:12,960 And I've even taught on this subject before and afterward people have come up to me and 16 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:18,320 say, told me, hey, you know, I struggle with anxiety. 17 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:26,200 You didn't mean that, what did you mean by this? 18 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:32,160 And I had to apologize basically for saying, oh no, that's not what I meant. 19 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:34,920 If you need to take meds, that's great. 20 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:36,600 You should do that. 21 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,680 Van, we were talking off camera here about this. 22 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:42,400 Do you want to share some of your thoughts? 23 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:47,200 Yeah, I think it's important to realize that when you think about anxiety, you should think 24 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,320 about it on a spectrum. 25 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:57,280 There's on the low end of that spectrum is sort of an everyday kind of anxiety. 26 00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,680 You're driving the work. 27 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:01,360 There's a traffic jam. 28 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:02,760 You're going to be late. 29 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,120 You've got a big meeting and big presentation. 30 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,640 That's sort of on the milder end. 31 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:12,040 That's not sort of a life debilitating kind of anxiety. 32 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:14,520 That's oh no, I'm going to be late for work. 33 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:19,480 That's a kind of daily experience or oh, the kids are out of milk. 34 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:23,800 There's no milk for the cereal or, you know, these are the milder things. 35 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:30,640 And then on the other end of that spectrum is the debilitating kind of anxiety disorder 36 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:33,240 where you feel almost paralyzed. 37 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:35,280 You feel frozen in place. 38 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:41,000 You can't do anything because you're so wrought with anxiety. 39 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:48,000 You're not talking when you're closer to that far and that anxiety disorder thing, you need 40 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,920 to get help. 41 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:53,880 And that help might be psychotherapy. 42 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:54,880 It might be medication. 43 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,520 It might be a combination of those things. 44 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:04,520 What we're talking about here is the stuff that's on sort of the first half of that spectrum. 45 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:13,760 The sort of day to day anxiety, the ones that distract us from our relationship with God 46 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:19,960 and make us start to go in ways that we shouldn't go and, if undoubt with, could lead to that 47 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,600 higher level of anxiety. 48 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,520 It's important to think of it in that way. 49 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:27,520 Yeah, thank you. 50 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:32,600 Definitely, if you are struggling with crippling anxiety, please get help. 51 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:42,000 And we're grateful to now keep looking at Jesus' words because they do make a difference. 52 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:47,600 But if you're not able to hear them because you're so anxious, please get help. 53 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:49,120 There's nothing wrong with that. 54 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,600 There's nothing wrong with you. 55 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:55,680 So let's get back to this. 56 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:58,360 Would you like to read? 57 00:03:58,360 --> 00:03:59,360 Start at the top again. 58 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:00,360 Yeah. 59 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:01,840 All right. 60 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:03,840 Matthew 6, verse 25, 61 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:49,120 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is 62 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:54,600 thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, you of little faith? 63 00:04:54,600 --> 00:05:01,360 So do not worry, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? 64 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:05,480 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need 65 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:06,480 them. 66 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:10,640 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you 67 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:11,640 as well. 68 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:16,400 Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. 69 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,440 Each day has enough trouble of its own. 70 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:20,440 Thank you. 71 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:22,120 All right. 72 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:27,520 In some of our previous episodes, we were talking about treasuring earthly treasure, 73 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:34,600 and I made a point about the wordplay there, and how treasure is used both as a verb and 74 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:38,960 as a noun, like quit treasuring earthly treasure. 75 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:42,680 But there's also this sense that it does mean store up. 76 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:47,040 And we know that for sure, because we can see how Jesus is using it when He's teaching 77 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:48,680 us about the birds. 78 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:52,320 How does looking at birds help us not be anxious? 79 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:57,000 I mean, what do birds teach us about our attitude toward earthly treasure? 80 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:06,920 So as I was thinking about this, one of the things that is fun with birds is that they 81 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:10,720 are always singing. 82 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:15,640 They are singing far more than it seems like they would need to. 83 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:17,400 Especially early in the morning. 84 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:20,080 Especially early in the morning. 85 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:24,320 But there's a freedom with birds. 86 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:29,280 There's a effortlessness that they convey. 87 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:37,640 And I think that's one of the pictures that Jesus gives us. 88 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:44,960 He wants us to look up to see the freedom that they have flying in the air. 89 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:50,560 And there's not this worry that's dragging them down. 90 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:51,560 Wow. 91 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:52,560 Right? 92 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:53,560 You're soaring. 93 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:55,200 Yeah, exactly. 94 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:57,640 And so that's what worry often does for me. 95 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:00,960 It's like an anchor. 96 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:14,480 So I think that's being able to notice that God provides for these creatures. 97 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:20,560 And they can do that living their life, flying around and singing. 98 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:25,440 Okay, well maybe God will provide for me and I don't have to live my whole life, you know, 99 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:27,840 hanging my head and all uptight. 100 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:31,560 Yeah, they're also always eating. 101 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,400 Birds are always, they're looking for food. 102 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,040 You know, not that I'm a, what's a bird person? 103 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:38,760 Is that an ornithologist? 104 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:40,600 I'm not one of those. 105 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:44,320 But I have recently moved from the city to the country. 106 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:50,400 So I get to sit on my porch and listen to and watch birds a lot. 107 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:56,520 And they're always scavenging in my lawn for seeds or insects or whatever they eat. 108 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,760 The food is plentiful for them. 109 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:04,360 And they're always, they're always striving to get it. 110 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,280 But not in the way that I strive. 111 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:09,440 Their striving is different from mine. 112 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:13,800 And I love what you said, Tim, about them always singing. 113 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:22,000 And I equate that to being someone whose mindset is praising God and being thankful to God 114 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:30,320 for, for everything, being thankful for God for the fact that I can watch birds and learn 115 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:32,440 from birds. 116 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:36,560 They, the birds are resourceful and God provides for them. 117 00:08:36,560 --> 00:08:43,880 And they're, you know, we have a, I bought a springtime wreath to go on my front door 118 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:45,640 for Easter time. 119 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:51,200 And the birds have come and taken, there was a little, there were little pieces of hay 120 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:53,120 stuck in the wreath. 121 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,560 And the birds have taken all of the hay out of the wreath. 122 00:08:56,560 --> 00:09:00,680 I caught them one morning when I was going to work, they fly down, they grab the hay 123 00:09:00,680 --> 00:09:03,960 and they take it to make their nests. 124 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:07,800 And you know, the birds are, the birds are working. 125 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:08,800 They are working. 126 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:14,680 They're always working to, to provide for themselves, to provide for their offspring. 127 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:22,280 But they do it in a way that seems stress free from a human perspective. 128 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:28,400 And always singing always seem to be, they're just kind of delightful. 129 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:30,960 They're delightful animals. 130 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:39,040 And you know, and if I could somehow adopt that in my day and be more pleasant as I go 131 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:44,880 through the day, it would, I think, reduce some of the anxiety that I can feel during 132 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:45,880 the day. 133 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:46,880 Yeah. 134 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:52,600 I love what you're saying, both of you, about equating the singing with gratitude. 135 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:58,360 That is something I was, I had not thought about the looking up of the birds or soaring. 136 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:01,480 It's a beautiful image. 137 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:06,600 Well so what I was going to, I do, I love what you guys are saying about how they're 138 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:11,040 carefree and they just kind of go about and they look for food and they get it and they 139 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:17,280 find it and they manage and they've learned how and where to find food. 140 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:24,080 I think it's an oriole that loves whatever's in my yard, whatever dead grass is in my yard. 141 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:30,040 I also had a couple ducks that wanted to sit in my pool and we had to manage that. 142 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:34,360 My son was disappointed they haven't come back, but that's okay. 143 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:39,920 One of the things I think about here is the audience and I think that there's a certain 144 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:46,840 element in this audience where having enough food to eat probably didn't feel guaranteed 145 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:50,680 to a lot of the people listening to this. 146 00:10:50,680 --> 00:10:57,480 It's easy in America where if we don't have food we can go buy more food, we can either 147 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:03,600 walk or drive to the grocery store, buy more food, buy everything we need and a lot of 148 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:07,920 things we don't with minimal effort. 149 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:15,160 I think a lot of these people, I would imagine them going, gee, I don't necessarily see, 150 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:18,560 they didn't have the same kind of grocery store system we did. 151 00:11:18,560 --> 00:11:22,360 They had to actually work for their food. 152 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:28,400 This was in an era where maybe not necessarily in this region of the world, but where famine 153 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:32,160 and starvation was very much on the table. 154 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:35,880 It was not an unheard of thing. 155 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:42,360 I would imagine to most of his audience the idea that I'll have enough to meet my needs 156 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:45,680 didn't actually feel like a guarantee. 157 00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:50,760 It didn't feel as certain as it is, like I'm never going to run out of food living in 21st 158 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:55,600 century America, I hope, unless something changes drastically. 159 00:11:55,600 --> 00:12:01,760 But I think for these people, it was on the table that I might not have enough to be able 160 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:04,680 to provide for all my daily needs. 161 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:09,400 And Jesus is trying to refocus them from being stressed out about that. 162 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:13,760 And I really appreciate what Vance said on the front end, that it gets, that can be very 163 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:14,760 stressful. 164 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:20,800 I mean, that is a being in poverty and not knowing where your next meal is coming from, 165 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:24,280 which thankfully is a situation I've never personally been in. 166 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:32,680 But if I've heard people who have talk about it, it is a stress and anxiety inducing existence. 167 00:12:32,680 --> 00:12:41,800 And it feels to me like Jesus is trying to get them to reframe it and reframe that God 168 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:49,520 is going to provide what you need even if you can't necessarily see it in a similar way 169 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:51,640 to the manna and the bread. 170 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:54,480 I was hoping you'd bring that up. 171 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:55,480 He's going to do it. 172 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:56,480 I bet he is. 173 00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:57,480 I bet he is. 174 00:12:57,480 --> 00:12:58,480 And you strung it out to the very end. 175 00:12:58,480 --> 00:12:59,480 That was very good. 176 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:00,480 I agree. 177 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:03,480 Yeah, this is like the manna. 178 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:09,200 And to me, it feels like he, well, first of all, he's making an argument from a lesser 179 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:10,200 to a greater, right? 180 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:13,440 He's going to take, he's actually saying God is providing for the bird. 181 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:17,720 God feeds the birds, these little creatures, and they're carefree. 182 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:20,560 I love that we were talking about how grateful they can be. 183 00:13:20,560 --> 00:13:26,920 But if God's going to take care of the little birds, aren't you worth more than those things? 184 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:32,440 And so I think it's what he's also doing, which we've talked about a few times now, 185 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:40,760 is getting us to point back to God's character and to trust him and build our faith in God 186 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:44,480 that he will provide for us. 187 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:49,360 So if he's going to take care of all those minor details in the life of birds, providing 188 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:55,240 for them, he's going to take care of us, so we don't have to be anxious. 189 00:13:55,240 --> 00:14:00,920 The next argument that he makes is in the form of a question Jesus asks, can any one 190 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:07,560 of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 191 00:14:07,560 --> 00:14:11,240 There are plenty of studies out there that suggest worrying doesn't add time to your 192 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:14,720 life, rather it subtracts time from your life. 193 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:22,080 What's the argument Jesus is making here that helps us not be anxious? 194 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:29,000 This was a challenging question for me, and I think that what I thought about is, what 195 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:39,200 I thought about is time, as far as the time of, how much time I have in my life. 196 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:44,560 That's something that is an unknown quantity. 197 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:51,000 And because again, I kind of hate that it is, but money is always the thing that my 198 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:53,000 mind goes back to. 199 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:58,600 I imagine the scenario where I have a certain amount of money. 200 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:05,640 So I work and I get a paycheck every month. 201 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:11,040 I know exactly how much that paycheck is going to be, and so I can plan for that. 202 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:18,880 But I imagine the scenario where, what if I worked and got pay, but never knew how much 203 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:25,760 pay they were going to give me, and did not have a way of even recording, not knowing, 204 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:30,440 not having a relationship with my bank, and not knowing how much money was in the bank 205 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:32,080 at any given time. 206 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:39,080 I would know that I have money, some amount of it, to spend on the things that I want 207 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:45,120 and the things that I need, but eventually there won't be anymore. 208 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:48,720 And that's what the time of my life is like. 209 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:59,120 And so if I think about time as something that is limited and that one day I'm going 210 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:08,280 to run out of, then I'm going to use it in a different way. 211 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:16,120 And so if I'm worrying about my life all the time, if I'm worrying about how am I going 212 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:19,720 to get to a place where I'm going to be happy? 213 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:23,800 This is something when I was a younger man that I worried about all the time. 214 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:30,960 And it prevented me from being content or joyful or happy in the moment. 215 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:38,600 And I lost my happiness by worrying about my happiness. 216 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:39,600 Does that make sense? 217 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:41,360 This was really strange to me. 218 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:49,120 It was like, so I'm sitting here concerned about what's going to happen to my life, what's 219 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:51,480 going to happen when I'm all alone? 220 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:53,560 That's sometimes something that I think about. 221 00:16:53,560 --> 00:17:00,240 I would think, God, I hope I die before all the people I love die, so I won't be all alone. 222 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,920 And what will happen to me when I'm all alone? 223 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:05,040 What will happen to me? 224 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:12,280 When I end up spending hours sitting in my room worrying about being all alone when my 225 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:14,280 family and friends are right there. 226 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:16,760 It's a waste of time, huh? 227 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:18,440 It's a waste of time. 228 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:20,440 It just makes you miserable. 229 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:21,440 Exactly. 230 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:24,840 I have a funny anecdote I wrote down here that's a little similar to that. 231 00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:27,480 I was talking at the Memorial Day Parade in town. 232 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:32,120 I was talking to one of my buddies in the town I live in about our kids riding bikes. 233 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:37,560 His daughter is about two years older than mine, his son is about a year older than mine. 234 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,920 And he was saying it took his daughter a long time to learn to ride a bike. 235 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:45,720 And the reason it took her a long time was she was afraid that she would fall off the 236 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:55,160 bike, get a scrape, need a bandaid, and that it would hurt to pull the bandaid off. 237 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:58,440 And we were just looking at each other and we were like, yeah, that sounds like a kid 238 00:17:58,440 --> 00:17:59,940 worry. 239 00:17:59,940 --> 00:18:09,960 Which one of the parents did you get that level of anxiety from and how, and that's 240 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:14,640 going to be unpacked in therapy when you're a little bit older and we'll help you with 241 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:15,640 that. 242 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:21,960 But I do think about there are so many worries that his daughter, she had this worry that 243 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:24,440 was, she was anxious about it. 244 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:27,880 She was like, oh no, about this thing that hasn't even happened yet. 245 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:28,880 Right, yeah. 246 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:30,920 And it kept her from learning to ride a bike. 247 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:34,040 It was somewhat irrational, but not inconceivable. 248 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:41,680 Yeah, it was very plausible, but it was also not guaranteed to happen. 249 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:44,520 And it prevented her from even trying for a while. 250 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:45,960 And she's since learned. 251 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:47,800 I've seen that in my own life. 252 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:50,880 I'm seeing it now play out in my kids. 253 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:55,720 I have one kid who's like, I'm just going to hop in and try it and we'll see what happens. 254 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:57,880 And the other one who's very cautious. 255 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:03,040 And so learning to skate has been like, he still looks like a robot on ice because he's 256 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:04,560 going super slow. 257 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:09,400 The other one, you know, fell down a few times, but like zips around now. 258 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:10,880 Yeah. 259 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:15,560 And I won't say which of us, my wife or I is the super cautious. 260 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:16,560 It's me. 261 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:18,560 It might be me. 262 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:19,560 I wonder. 263 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:20,560 Yeah. 264 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:21,560 Yeah. 265 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:29,480 So this is obviously a rhetorical question, but I've had a long struggle with it over 266 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:32,920 the years because I've always thought, well, I can add an hour to my life. 267 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:39,040 I mean, if I live in a healthy way and I do the right things, then like my life expectancy 268 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:40,040 will go up. 269 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:41,040 But that's the thing. 270 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:42,040 It's like life expectancy. 271 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:45,000 Like it's like a statistical probability. 272 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,880 It's not an actual guarantee. 273 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:58,960 So you know, this whole section is in this context of the, we can only serve one master, 274 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:01,160 God is our master. 275 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:09,400 And I think Jesus is making the point of what will understand your abilities and your limitations 276 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:15,160 and understand God's abilities without limitations and recognize, okay, you can maybe can control 277 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:18,200 some things, but you can't control everything. 278 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:24,480 Give that in the hand of the person who can control it, who is your master, who you are 279 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:27,600 serving, who is going to take care of you. 280 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:33,640 I would also add with the worrying, adding hours to your life, what generally when I'm 281 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:38,320 worrying about things, I'm not actually addressing them. 282 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:42,720 You know, I've mentioned my wife and I's financial situation is challenging right now and I'm 283 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,960 kind of tapped out in terms of how far I can go in my career. 284 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:51,880 And that's part of the reason I chose to go back to grad school because I actually, 285 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:55,600 even though grad school is going to be a lot of time, it's going to be some energy, I'm 286 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:59,480 probably going to sleep a little bit less. 287 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:02,720 When we worry about things, we don't address the things. 288 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:08,920 We don't actually spend any time with God trying to figure out, okay, how can, how does 289 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:10,760 this actually get addressed? 290 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:15,600 Because some of the things we worry about, we do have to allow that some of them are 291 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:17,240 very real. 292 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:22,680 I know if you have health challenges or you have a family member with health challenges, 293 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:30,240 I have some with my dad, I worry about how my mom is going to be able to handle my dad 294 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:31,320 going forward. 295 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:38,320 It's not, I just worry about it because it's not guaranteed and it's hard, but all the 296 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:44,640 time worrying means I don't actually address the things that we can do right now. 297 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:50,280 Both to improve my dad's health and to prepare my mom to be able to care for him better going 298 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:51,280 forward. 299 00:21:51,280 --> 00:22:00,640 Jim, that is so helpful to think about caution and worry and the fact that when you're worrying, 300 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:06,640 for me when I'm worrying, I'm not doing anything else except worrying. 301 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:14,600 And that caution is good and caution is, we're all related, we all are related to some answers 302 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:15,600 to this. 303 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:17,120 I read about anxiety. 304 00:22:17,120 --> 00:22:23,200 In a book that I read about anxiety, I read about, there were two guys living in a cave 305 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:27,800 and outside the cave was a big field and in the field was a lion. 306 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:32,400 And they both knew the lion was there and one guy said, to get water, I'm going around 307 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:37,920 the field to get water, it's twice as long, but I avoid the lion. 308 00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:39,580 That's the guy who was cautious. 309 00:22:39,580 --> 00:22:43,800 The guy who was not cautious said, I'm just going straight through the field, probably 310 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:48,720 won't see the line. Well, the line eventually got that guy. And so we're all related to 311 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:59,040 the guy who went around. So it's in our DNA to be cautious. But the human condition produces 312 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:07,840 in us this desire to always want more and to always be preparing for more. And when 313 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:18,240 we can't get more, it produces worry. And it's helpful to me to hear you say, you know, 314 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:25,160 when I worry, I'm not doing anything. Because my natural mode is worry. 315 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:30,880 Yeah. I could relate to what both of you were saying. I think for me, this question comes 316 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:35,360 down to what's within my control and what's outside of it. It reminded me a little bit 317 00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:41,000 of the thing Jesus was saying about, you can't make a hair white or black. And we talked about 318 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,080 how they probably had a hair dye then. But the truth would come out. Here he goes. It's 319 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:54,120 still gray underneath. And so many things I worry about are outside of my control. And 320 00:23:54,120 --> 00:24:02,480 I mean, I have ulcer of colitis and they don't know exactly, it's multifactorial. They don't 321 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:11,320 know exactly what causes it. But one of the main factors is stress. And I have stressed 322 00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:19,040 out about things so much that I remember a particularly stressful point in life. And 323 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:25,000 that's just a little bit after that was when I had a massive flare up and was in the hospital. 324 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:35,280 So there's like stress worry can lead to shortened life. It can mess you up. It does no good. 325 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:41,800 It's a waste of time. But I like what you're saying to Jim about it. We become unproductive 326 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:46,960 because I think in other times of my life, I've procrastinated too because, oh my gosh, 327 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:53,200 that's insurmountable. I don't think I can ever, I don't know what I can do. I'm going 328 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:58,000 to go watch TV now. I'm going to have a movie marathon. That feels good. But then the stress 329 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:03,400 is still there when I'm done with that and haven't really done anything. 330 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:08,080 Well, and I was going to just on what you said, like, and I've unpacked this in therapy, 331 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:12,840 I'll talk about that a little bit more later. But like, what I talked about taking steps 332 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:17,120 to address some of the shortcomings in my own life, my therapist was like, so how do 333 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:21,840 you feel when you do that? Like, she was like, you know, you're applying to grad schools. 334 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:27,280 How do you feel when you're applying? And I actually I said, I actually feel good when 335 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:34,680 I'm doing that, because I see this potential issue. And instead of just having anxiety, 336 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:41,000 just having anxiety about it, I'm actually taking steps to address it. And I think, and 337 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:46,160 I don't want to hear, I don't want anyone who's listening to this to hear this and go, 338 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:52,440 I got to do a million things to address. Like, I got to work my way out of the anxiety. That's 339 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:57,840 not what we're saying. That's not what any of us are saying. But the more we sit around, 340 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:04,600 we just sit in our worry, the less time we actually do things that could help our worry, 341 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:10,040 whether it's if we're anxious about our final our financial situation, well, if I sit around 342 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:15,120 worrying, I'm not coming up with a way to improve it. Or if we're anxious for those 343 00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:22,760 of us that are parents in here of varying ages, Vance kids are grown ish. And Matt's 344 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:29,840 kids are older than mine. But if I'm anxious and worried about my kids, and I'm just sitting 345 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:33,800 there being anxious, that's time I could spend with them. That's time I could engage with 346 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:40,360 them. That's time I can train them to be who God designed them to be instead of being worried 347 00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:47,160 about it. I like what you're saying too about taking this addressing things with God, because 348 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:51,360 I think that's where the real power comes from. And I think this gets back to the issue 349 00:26:51,360 --> 00:26:57,520 of faith that we were discussing and trusting God and all of this. Yeah, it reminds me of 350 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:07,200 Jacob wrestling with the angel, right? And, and then facing some pretty difficult things. 351 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:14,480 And I think you're right, it might feel tough to go through something. But if you're doing 352 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:20,600 it with God, you can trust that he will carry you through. So there's that too. So we've 353 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:27,920 covered a lot here. We've gotten through a couple of questions. I love the description 354 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:35,280 of birds being so carefree, singing, grateful to God, and how God is so concerned with all 355 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:41,320 the details of their lives. He's even more concerned about our details and that we don't 356 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:46,800 need to worry. We can instead go to him. So we're going to come back to this topic in 357 00:27:46,800 --> 00:28:08,280 another podcast. And thank you very much.