1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,200 Once again, welcome to the laughing matters podcast. 2 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:14,040 And as always, I am WS Walker. 3 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:19,840 And to start things off, I have a little bit of an announcement and an 4 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:23,920 announcement that I am pretty proud of. 5 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:26,360 I am quitting nicotine. 6 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:32,200 Finally, it's an addiction that I spent far too many years partaking in. 7 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:38,720 I, uh, I started smoking cigarettes when I was 14 or 15 and have successfully 8 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:44,640 quit smoking cigarettes I'll have, you know, for several years now, but I took 9 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:52,440 up vaping and while that, that does have a significant decrease in the dangers 10 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:58,320 and medical issues that come from that compared to smoking, still not good. 11 00:00:58,760 --> 00:00:59,680 I'm not, yeah. 12 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:06,680 But I did, uh, I got myself down from 50 milligrams, uh, which is like 5% to 13 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:12,680 three milligrams, which is like 0.3% uh, nicotine levels in the juices I was 14 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:18,000 using, but I was still, you know, I was still cultivating that oral fixation. 15 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:22,120 I mean, I do have an oral fixation to start with, but, but that oral 16 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:28,520 fixation end of the addiction and whatever the aspect of the addiction is 17 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:33,760 that has, you know, breathing something in that has weight to it on your lungs. 18 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:39,880 That's a hard thing to kick, but I defied another way to weigh myself down to zero. 19 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:44,920 And that has been, uh, it's been pretty awesome actually. 20 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:49,920 Uh, I, so what I did was I purchased these metal D and D coins. 21 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,040 It was, it was a toss up between that and some pirate coins. 22 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:55,400 I'll post links for both. 23 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:58,800 You can let me know which one, uh, to help out of a decision I made. 24 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:01,960 And, uh, they're, they're about the size of a quarter. 25 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,400 And I came with this drawstring leather pouch. 26 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:10,040 And so I've started carrying them in my pocket in the pouch. 27 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:15,040 And each one of these coins is worth a drag off the fate. 28 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:21,400 It was a pouch of, I think 50 coins and I just throughout the day, starting on, 29 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:26,920 you know, the next day I woke up and I started paying one coin per drag off of 30 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:32,360 the vape and at the end of the day, I took the rest that was in the bag. 31 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,600 I put that into a drawer and then I emptied, I'm using this little baby 32 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:42,280 Yoda cup as the payout, which makes it a little bit fun because it's a picture 33 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:46,200 of him with the little cup and he kind of looks like a landlord that you're 34 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,000 knocking on his door is like, what's going on? 35 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:55,880 And so it's kind of like paying it out to little baby Yoda who has 36 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:57,240 become my nicotine pimp. 37 00:02:57,800 --> 00:02:59,560 I didn't think of it that way. 38 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:00,040 Okay. 39 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:06,440 Anyways, at the end of that first day, I poured out the baby Yoda cup into the 40 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,400 bag, which was empty just before that. 41 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:11,000 I swear it comes around guys. 42 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:16,840 As I go through the day now, I put, you know, any used coins or spent coins 43 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:23,120 into that cup and it's considered spent for the day and I only have as many 44 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:28,520 coins as I have in the pouch for the day, which means I only have that many drags. 45 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:35,240 And at the end of the night, every couple of days or so I go to the baby Yoda cup 46 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:43,400 and I take one coin out and I set it out into a stack that hopefully will keep 47 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:51,040 growing and I pour the rest of my, into my pouch and one by one, I'm taking them 48 00:03:51,040 --> 00:04:01,880 down and because I've assigned a cost to it, it makes it so much more difficult 49 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:06,880 to justify a cheat. 50 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:13,320 It now has a one-to-one cost that I know that if I devalue it with a cheat, the 51 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:18,960 entire system goes down and plus it makes it feel a bit like I'm shoplifting. 52 00:04:19,280 --> 00:04:23,840 Nevermind that I'm shoplifting from myself, but the, the act of paying it 53 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:28,880 to baby Yoda each time that I'm paying it out to something other than me or my 54 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:33,840 pocket, it gives it just enough flavor of stealing from someone else. 55 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,480 If you've ever seen baby Yoda's eyes, you don't think, ah, come on, man. 56 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:46,480 I'm telling you right now, this idea helps so much and having this idea about 57 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,240 paying out these little pieces of gold for something that's not good for me, 58 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:57,880 got me thinking of another kind of payment from a pouch of sorts, but one 59 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:04,720 that we're not, we're not really allowed to hold the pouch in this pouch. 60 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:14,560 The coins are ours and in this way, I kind of, I kind of love imagining us 61 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:19,640 counting out X amount of coins and slapping them down on whatever nearby 62 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:24,120 surfaces that, uh, you know, where we're going to engage in whatever activity 63 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:26,240 that takes us X amount of hours. 64 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:30,360 It particularly tickles me to think of the imagery of us getting ready to 65 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:35,120 lay down for the night, you know, going to bed, all types, like the clean cut 66 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:40,000 prim guy lying down as a routine, eight coins down to the nice, even stacks 67 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:46,040 showing practiced organization or the guy that is coming in completely trashed 68 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,880 at the end of the night, grabbing a fistful of coins and just tossing them on the bedside 69 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:54,840 table, several of them rolling noisily off the sides onto the floor, but we 70 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:56,880 aren't reaching into the pouch. 71 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:03,760 Now it's, it's more like a disembodied hand reaches out and hands off the 72 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:05,760 requested amount of coins. 73 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:10,080 We're never really allowed to place our hands inside or outside of the 74 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,680 pouches to, to feel around. 75 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:19,120 You know, we have no idea, absolutely no idea how many are left or how 76 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:20,920 close we're getting to its bottom. 77 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:25,480 And since I've had this thought, I've also found myself frequently think 78 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:31,000 about those almost tangible hour coins and how I'm slapping them down for 79 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:35,240 things that would pretty certainly frustrate the owner of the disembodied 80 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,200 hand and the doler outer of those coins. 81 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:45,720 And sometimes the decisions we make in our life, well, they add coins to 82 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:50,560 the purse and sometimes they add coins to the bag, but they're not always 83 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:56,720 the same, but sometimes, sometimes they subtract a much larger numbers than 84 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:57,760 we would assume. 85 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:03,560 You only have a finite number of hours. 86 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:12,320 And yeah, we, we add and subtract from them, but these are the only hours 87 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:18,320 that you have left to spend contributing to the story of this. 88 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:24,560 The story of this right here, not to mention the fact that our lives, it 89 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:29,920 takes like nearly 20 years for us to get really steady on our feet and up and 90 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:36,400 running and the last 20 or 40 years, more or less, they start the process 91 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:38,000 of feebling most of us. 92 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:44,720 And yet we drift from what we know is the most important. 93 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:51,200 And so many of us drift, myself included, take for example, TVs. 94 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:56,960 Now, the majority of us do not use this technology to create or communicate 95 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:00,520 or better someone else's life with it. 96 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:08,800 We don't use it for that as much as we use it to fill time and allow us to be 97 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:11,120 sedentary in the same space. 98 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:16,600 Mobilized and comfortable, or as a way to quote, pass the time. 99 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:20,320 Pass the time. 100 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:26,640 It's a bit more like taking an X amount of those coins, those hours, if you're 101 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:32,400 remaining limited balance and waving your hand at them and going, nothing 102 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:39,200 productive to do here, or I surrender these hours for I have no use of them. 103 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:41,280 For they are useless to me. 104 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:48,680 Now people see these hours as much needed breaks from a busy schedule. 105 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:49,760 I get that. 106 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:55,240 And that you're taking time to recharge while being told stories or what's 107 00:08:55,240 --> 00:09:00,040 happening elsewhere in the world or taking looks inside other people's 108 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:05,120 mostly scripted lives or watching people risk it all for a chance at 109 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:06,200 something better. 110 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:12,360 It's still surrendering usable hours when you could be strengthening an 111 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:18,320 interpersonal connection or giving thanks to God or helping one of the 112 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:23,120 countless people that could use your help right now, or that could just use 113 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:28,600 a couple of nice words or kindness or, you know, would love it if someone 114 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:30,400 checked in with them. 115 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:32,480 Just see how they're doing. 116 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:37,160 Simplest little things can mean so much. 117 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:45,840 It's time that you have that you could use to convey something that is good. 118 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:53,760 It's time where you can research or learn where you can better yourself at 119 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:56,640 whatever your purpose ends up being in this life. 120 00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:05,920 For me, it's more time that I could slash should be writing and filming and 121 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:10,480 editing the shows and working on Kingdom Book Agents so I can go to publish. 122 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:13,040 A little sidebar here. 123 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:17,080 I've had several people ask why I don't just publish the book on Amazon. 124 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:23,160 Well, Amazon has this three year exclusive book that's been published 125 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:29,080 on Amazon for over a year now, which nobody else can publish the book 126 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:30,160 except for Amazon. 127 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:37,200 And I would prefer to have the option to have an agent getting a deal with a 128 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:43,520 publishing house, you know, where there would be some marketing push on the book 129 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:51,040 to get it into more hands instead of me, just me, just me out there 130 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:52,880 printing up flyers. 131 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:55,280 I am not a man of many means guys. 132 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:58,000 I'm going to need some help with this. 133 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:05,520 And I am of the sincerest opinion that if I can just get one of these agents to 134 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:11,520 read it and take it seriously while reading it, I will almost certainly then 135 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:17,640 have someone fighting professionally on the side of me trying to get the book 136 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:19,840 out in their home territory. 137 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:23,920 I mean, if you guys have come with me this far and you're still listening to 138 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:29,360 the show, I've got to think that at least most of you would agree with me when I 139 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:35,880 say that this is a message, bunch of messages that deserve to get out there 140 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:42,280 and that mankind needs to have available to those seeking for answers in the same 141 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:44,760 categories my book lies within. 142 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:50,840 It needs to be an available source of knowledge because this can't 143 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:52,440 tie with me guys. 144 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:56,400 This has to survive past me. 145 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:05,840 It's something that I will definitely have to slap more coins down on. 146 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:11,920 I'm sure that there are things in your life that if you imagine 147 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:16,480 that TV was not an option to fill time with, that there's something that you 148 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:22,600 can think of something that is definitely in the end run when keeping in mind the 149 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:29,640 things that really matter is really, really worth your time. 150 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:31,240 Sure. 151 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:39,120 Take some time to recover, to recoup, to wind down, but try not to surrender it. 152 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:43,800 Try not to surrender it as an activity. 153 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:50,160 I don't know if I talked about this on the show or if you guys know this about 154 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:54,960 me yet, but growing up, I did not have access to cable television. 155 00:12:54,960 --> 00:13:01,680 I was strictly UHF band and we even had the little like dial TV. 156 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,160 So you had to find the bunny ears. 157 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:10,960 But I, until I went to college, I had never really gotten a chance to like sit 158 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:16,560 down and watch some cable TV other than stuff that was taped for by other 159 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:18,960 people that we got to borrow. 160 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:22,680 It was always weird seeing commercials for like HBO. 161 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:27,840 And of course we had VHS tapes of movies, which I grew up on. 162 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:28,960 My goodness. 163 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:37,400 But when I got to college, I found myself getting heavily addicted to cable television. 164 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:39,880 It was included in the dorm room package. 165 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:42,000 You had free cable all over campus. 166 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:46,600 It wasn't that I would like slot times to sit and watch TV. 167 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:51,640 It became something that was on in the background and that would constantly 168 00:13:51,680 --> 00:13:55,080 turn attention away from other things to give attention to that. 169 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:59,760 It was like the things that I had to do during the day were all piled in a 170 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:04,080 bucket that was about the size of the time in which I had to do it. 171 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:10,440 And I'd been pouring concrete, which was cable television on top of it, filling 172 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:16,000 in all the gaps in between the things I had to do and the more sedentary I became. 173 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:19,120 The more that concrete seemed to harden. 174 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:24,160 It took more and more energy to get started on creating something or writing 175 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:28,480 on something or doing all the other things that I could have been doing 176 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:30,280 that would affect others. 177 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:38,800 At this point, the podcast, you can probably pretty easily take a look in your life and 178 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:43,600 see where you sit in your relationship with Surrendering Time to television. 179 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:45,840 Streaming services, YouTube, et cetera. 180 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:52,120 And yes, to answer the question that I'm sure a couple of you thought of, I would 181 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:57,960 not count time spent listening to this podcast or watching could help videos on 182 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:00,680 YouTube or other videos under those categories. 183 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:08,080 Those of you who tune in, you're hearing things that you could use to help 184 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,560 others in their lives, but you're not listening to the podcast. 185 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:16,680 You could use to help shape a better way of thinking and being an 186 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:18,880 acting and your decisions in this world. 187 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:24,480 And that can help you really get the most value out of your time because 188 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:32,520 while your time itself has enormous value, throw it in a bowl, the mix 189 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:34,400 in a little effort and attention. 190 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:38,200 You can turn it into almost anything. 191 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:44,520 So many of our hours are already spoken for by sleep and growing up and 192 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:51,840 working and maintenance and we need to treat those hours that aren't any of those, 193 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:56,960 especially the ones that happen during the crucial middle period of your life 194 00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:59,480 with far more reverence than we do. 195 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:05,720 This as far as we know, it's your one go around in the waters of life 196 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:07,280 and humanity's history. 197 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:16,080 How much of your life, your time here with us shaping the great sculpture 198 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:23,640 called life on earth, how much of that would you prefer to get thrown out? 199 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:28,880 As time spent down the recommended video, YouTube rabbit hole, or 200 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:43,560 binge watching a series, I want you to understand this is your legacy, but I 201 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:47,040 don't want you to think that I'm calling you lazy. 202 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:49,880 I'm not saying that you don't have a life. 203 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:57,800 What I'm saying is it takes you away from the history being made of cause and effect. 204 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:04,320 Binge watching a show easily takes us out of the everyday flow of those 205 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:06,560 interactions that shape our world. 206 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:12,000 All of those things that can be used to change our lives, change our 207 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:14,600 lives, change our lives, change our lives. 208 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:19,560 All of those things that can shape another's life, their mood, and most 209 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:24,000 importantly, influence their decisions are opted out of. 210 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:32,240 And before you say that you've had entire friendships forged over a game or film 211 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:39,440 or television series, or some other fandom media, I'm simply pointing out to 212 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:40,880 you that this exists. 213 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:42,640 I'm not accusing you. 214 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:47,480 Whether or not you yourself fall into these categories or degrees of it, 215 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:50,520 that's going to be up for you to determine. 216 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:57,280 Again, I'm not making any claims that in all cases of everything mentioned, 217 00:17:57,760 --> 00:17:59,800 they're definitely a yes or a no. 218 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:07,240 Though we do love labeling so many things in that way for ease of 219 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:08,920 mental categorization. 220 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:12,240 This is just to help you understand another side of it. 221 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:18,720 It's up to you to determine if this is accurate in your own life. 222 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:28,360 But regardless of where you sit on the spectrum of this, I think that anyone 223 00:18:28,360 --> 00:18:33,680 that does a real honest inventory, I think that they would agree with me. 224 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:41,560 I think we all still need to look those hours that we're spending, those hours 225 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:48,000 that I'm spending, they are far more valuable than I can know. 226 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:56,840 Please be careful what you spend your coins on. 227 00:18:56,840 --> 00:19:01,880 I guess that's a, that's a little bit of a pickup from the previous episode, 228 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:08,080 the fourth dimensional budget, but I got to think of that while I was walking 229 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:12,880 around the yard, I also got to thinking on another subject there. 230 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:16,160 It was, it was really foggy out. 231 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:18,600 It's pontificating. 232 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,080 I'm not going to be able to get into that. 233 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:22,680 I'm not going to be able to get into that. 234 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:24,080 I'm not going to be able to get into that. 235 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:32,080 It's pontificating about what it is that I love so very, very much about fog. 236 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,280 It fills the form of space. 237 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:38,920 If that makes sense. 238 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:46,720 It reminds us that the distance between the next thing we see and us is not just 239 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:55,560 distance, it's an actual volume of oxygen and nitrogen and other particulates. 240 00:19:55,560 --> 00:20:02,480 And it's not empty space, but it's, it's filled up with a few gases and articulates. 241 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:10,360 The idea that the volume filled from me to there and being completely 242 00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:18,040 surrounded on all sides, like being vacuum formed and having there be something real 243 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:25,280 and tangible filling in all of what appears to be empty space is a lot like how I feel 244 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:32,360 about how God exists in all things that we're surrounded by God at all moments. 245 00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:39,920 And that there is nothing that is not made by God or made of God. 246 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:47,600 And those moments, it, it still helps to use the tree for me. 247 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:52,440 People have listened to previous episodes, probably know about the trees and my front 248 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:59,080 yard that I use as kind of a grounding point, a focal point, because it's hard. 249 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:05,680 Like when there isn't anything that isn't God, it's hard to wrap your brain around 250 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:07,720 that and talk to him sometimes. 251 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:13,600 So I find that picking an appendage, so to speak, just as speak to a fingernail. 252 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:20,360 And so I pick a tree and then, but before I do that, I picture the way the tree connects 253 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:26,400 to the earth, the earth connects all of us and the, you know, it's floating out in space, 254 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:31,160 which is also him and, and then I bring it back to the tree. 255 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:39,360 And that just makes it so much easier to have that sense, but to talk to him and give a 256 00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:42,000 focal point where we exist. 257 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,800 We exist in the details as if we can't exist in the all. 258 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:54,520 But the reason I bring all that up is because in those moments, you know, in that fog, it 259 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:59,640 still helps for me to use a tree as a singular focal point. 260 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:08,840 But at the same time, when that fog rolls in, I feel wrapped in his presence and the 261 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:17,200 idea of every particle filling the space between me and that, or this, or that makes me feel 262 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:24,200 far more connected to all of it at every level. 263 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:31,440 And, you know, the idea that all of everything is made of God puts a very interesting light 264 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:39,600 on the statement made in the Bible of God, referring to himself as I am, and I am that 265 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:40,600 I am. 266 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:49,240 I mean, if you are every sentient being in the entire universe's frame of reference, 267 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:53,000 if you are all the frame of reference they will ever have. 268 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:59,280 If there is literally nothing that exists that is not made of you and that is not you, 269 00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:04,280 what would you call yourself rather than simply I am? 270 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:09,120 Nothing is the only thing that isn't you. 271 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:17,920 If literally every thing is a part of you, including every single process involved in 272 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:26,400 naming oneself in a language, what could you possibly name yourself that could even begin 273 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,560 to scratch the surface of what you are? 274 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:38,520 Not to mention every name that we have out there, it already exists and refers to a part 275 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:40,200 of God when you think of it. 276 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:46,400 The only other name I could come up with would be to name oneself All. 277 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:49,000 But that still falls short of it. 278 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:52,960 I mean, it's so, the depth to it. 279 00:23:52,960 --> 00:24:03,600 Anyways, in those moments in the fog, I find myself blessed being able to see and feel 280 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:11,600 that there is no emptiness within God's creations, that even what appears to be empty is filled 281 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:14,720 with Him and things made of Him. 282 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:20,800 There is no emptiness. 283 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:29,280 There is no moment in which I am not wrapped in Him in a very real and physical way. 284 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:38,800 When it fogs, I'm able to suddenly swim within Him and take deep breaths of Him. 285 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:48,080 So the next time a fog rolls in, take some time to stroll out to a streetlight so you 286 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:57,600 can see all the little particulates and have a talk with Him while being wrapped up with 287 00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:58,880 Him on all sides. 288 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:05,440 Oh, if you want to get something for Him, then He'll really help you. 289 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:11,680 Oh, if you want to get something for Him that He'll really like, be good to them. 290 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:14,400 Be good for them. 291 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:18,160 And that gift's gonna be fantastic. 292 00:25:19,360 --> 00:25:20,880 I'm W.S. Walker. 293 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:23,360 You're the fantastic you. 294 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:35,680 Be sweet.