and I'll see you next time.
Thank you.
Don't get down when you're seeing the worst
Cause the last will be the first
What a day I'm telling you
All things will be new
Living up in a down world
Yeah we're living
Living up in a down world
Oh
This is Jimmy and Annette
And of course as always
Mr. Chevy is Jimmy
And as always Mr. Chevy is
Joining us on the lap of
Daymanette of course
Taking his typical position and posture
He is, he got really excited
When I walked in the room
I know he loves, loves doing the podcast
It's odd, I don't understand
Because he's so involved in it
He's already out
He gets comfortable and then he's done
He did his part so to speak
Well we want to welcome you to
Living up in a down world
Number 30
Three decades
That's crazy, I know that's funny
It's just wild that we're already at number 30
Almost half way through the year
It is half way through the year
We've done it
It is over half way through the year
52 weeks in a year
So yeah we blew past that marker
But anyway how are you doing today?
I'm good
I'm happy to be joining by the way
Oh you're so sweet, thank you
I mean that, I really do
Because I put makeup on
I never put makeup on on Mondays
Yes I am cooking, again
You put makeup on to go to the gym today
You just feel better when you do it right?
I do, yes
I needed to today
I needed to
I needed to look a little bit more lively
So yeah
So how are the contacts coming along?
We made a decision a few months ago
To get contacts
After many years of not
And it's been a challenge
It has been because
One is a reading and one is a distance
So your eyes, your brain
Has to conform
That is wild
To this new way of seeing
And it takes its toll on me sometimes
So what is your left?
My left is
For distance and my right
Is for reading
So the idea there
Is that your brain adjusts
Your brain adjusts
She said it takes a good couple of months
How's it going so far?
Well it's going well
I thought I needed a stronger
Right lens
And so we tried it but it didn't work
So I still can't read
Very well
They say nothing can be as good
As your own glasses
But that's okay
I would rather not wear glasses if I can get away from it
So there's a little bit of an unusual thing
With you doing contacts
And that involves me
Right
How so?
I can get them in
Just like that
Sorry I snapped
This dog does not like snaps
He just thinks that means we have to do
He's funny
But I cannot get them out
And I even had
My nails cut down
That didn't help
So how do you get them out of your eyes?
You have to get them out
So we can never be apart
If we go away
By ourself without the other
I won't be able to wear them
You'll be wearing glasses
Well let me just say I'm glad to do that
Sometimes you complain
No I don't complain
The first couple of times was just straight up weird
And you pinched my eyeballs at first
I know it was awful
You don't do that anymore
Now it's pretty easy to get them out
I think you've got it down
I've got it now
I've had them in the past
When I was young
I had no trouble getting them out
I don't know if it's because these are so thick
Because even sometimes
Sometimes when I get them
It's like a suction cup
I know it's crazy
It feels when I try to get them out
So there's the contact saga
What else is going on?
We are 34 days into our
Sabbatical
60 day sabbatical
Mind bending isn't it?
So a little over half way
We did decide
We made a deal if you'll remember
Is that Chevy making all the noise over there?
Ignore the noise
It's Chevy
Being restless
We made a commitment
When we stepped into the sabbatical
For those of you who are new to the show
First of all welcome to Living Up in a Down World
I'm Jimmy and this is Annette
We pastor Bridge Church in Fredericksburg, Texas
In the middle of the hill country
And we decided to start doing a
Podcast because Adam and Tina Curry
Are dear dear friends
Adam is considered
The pod father
He co-invented and developed
Podcasting like 18, 19 years ago
And so he's become one of my
Best friends on the planet and
He was like you guys and
Tina too you should do a podcast
We're like really? Cause I kind of thought about it
No it was you should do
A podcast
Yes not I was not included in that
Conversation Not originally
And then I
Just decided I didn't want to do it
By myself we do everything together
Have you ever noticed that? That's true
And so I thought no I don't want to do it by myself
You're good on the fly
I appreciate that You really are
When you do announcements if someone throws
Something at you you're able to
Talk about it I remember we
Used to do do you remember when we did
Commercials I do remember that we did
It for I think it was Hope for Tomorrow
And they would just ask you questions
Or say here just start
Talking and you could just
Rattle off anything and I'm out there
With my eyes bulging A little star struck
Yeah I can't yeah that's not
One of my gifts Stage fright
That's what it is camera fright Yes
I don't know camera shock or something I do have
That but if I'm speaking
I'm nervous right before but then when I stand
Up after a few seconds
I'm done and I'm
You snapped your fingers again I know I'm sorry
But I can speak and I'm fine
After that but for some reason I just
Have a little bit of stage fright Not only you're fine you're amazing
You're gifted Well I appreciate that I appreciate
That And you're also a gifted
Podcaster Aww
Seriously you have the most soothing
Comfortable voice Here we go with
A voice again No you have a beautiful voice
Well I appreciate that You're a beautiful person
I'm just going to accept that Thank you
Way to go I'm proud of you
Power of your words So I
Power of your thoughts There you go that's
It's true Powerful words Powerful
Thoughts So I deviate just
A hair because I did want to mention
Adam and Tina and just that Adam
He's the executive producer of our show
You've Right but you've
Forgot to say what we were about to do
We made a decision on our sabbatical
Last minute Back to sabbatical
Jumping around a little bit You are
Well I know there are people listening who maybe
Never heard this before Now I know what Tina means when she's talking about
Adam jumping around and then he doesn't
Get back to his original bar We may both
Have ADD I think you do
Adult No it's AADD
Adult Attention Deficit Disorder
Anywho You do
Squirrel Fly whatever
So at the beginning of our sabbatical
We are so blessed our church gifted
This with us our board of directors
Our elders
Coming to us saying go
Enjoy and do not feel guilty
And I needed to hear that Which we don't
We don't feel guilty And they can run it
Because I trust them I'm not worried
About anything And
What teeny bits of things we've heard
Have all been good So we're super proud
Of our team Looking forward to seeing
Them in what 3 plus weeks I mean we still
Got some time but looking forward to
That it will be like a family reunion when we get back
So we're doing this it's a first time
In 38 years I've ever done anything
Like this to take 2 months
To just rest
Recover
Restore and refill
And I'm getting stir crazy
I know you are
So we had made a deal
We said we're not going to make any
Plans in terms of travel
Because some people on their
Sabbaticals will do like a study break
That's not a sabbatical
Let's just work
Or plan a trip
So we were like you know what we have a beautiful
Home we love it we're in the hills
Beautiful green here
Except for the grass because we're in a drought
And we have Mr. Chevy with us
But we said
If we wake up one day
And we just say let's go to the beach
Then we're going to go to the beach And we woke up today
And said let's go to the beach
So we're planning it
And you did you floated it by me
I did and I prayed
I was but I literally floated it
By you because I got an email
In my inbox
That had to do with travel
And I thought I'm just going to click on this
Clicked on it I started doing research
Of an area that we talked about
Going to and then I
Just subtly
Brought it up to you as we were
Driving to the gym
And you didn't say much but yeah
And then I prayed I said
Lord okay if this is of you
And you this is what we should
Do have him bring it back up
And you did you brought it back up
As soon as I got in the car I said you know what
You were talking about going to the beach
Let's do it let's pull the trigger
And I was shocked
You were shocked and I was excited
Because a few days ago you said I don't want to go
Anywhere well we both were just talking
In the pool we kind of said hey we're very
Content here
Quite frankly I can tell you're a little
Stir crazy I am I know you very well
I need beach water I don't need to
Get in the water I'm not a big
Beach bird but I want to hear it
Whether if I'm in a place and I can just
Open up the windows and just
Feel the breeze hear
The waves
That's good enough for me and we can cook
I mean it's going to be easy Well and because kids are back
In school school started
That's what I was waiting for So it worked
Out timing wise where there's availability
So hey we're doing it
We're going to miss Mr. Shebby
But he's going to be kept by his sister
Faith our daughter
Our youngest daughter Faith
Our podcast instrument
So that we can continue that
Taking our equipment it's easy to haul along
I'm going to put it in the Kemper bag
So it's perfect it's like a backpack
And so we'll do our
And carry it on Yeah I'll carry it on
For sure I won't let it out of my sight
But we'll do that and then we're going to
Do our podcast from
The beach Yes
Not out in the water too loud but from
The room so looking forward to that
That'll be next week so just bringing you up to speed
On how things are going
I've had some epiphanies during this
I mean amazing the Lord kind of broke it
Down into three parts for me
First was spirit and my first
Three four weeks were very focused
On the person the spirit
And spiritual depth
And then the next part was body
And so we'd already started
Eating well and doing well
We thought gosh this is the best time to
Really get our eating and
You know diet act together so we've been
Doing that and that's been amazing
We've both lost some weight
I hope when we get back to church
They're going to go oh my gosh you're half
The man you used to be I'm hoping I'm half
The woman I'm working on it
I'm working on it I've lost 10 pounds
So I'm super excited about that even on vacation
I feel like it because we're going to
Go to the store we're going to cook
Go out a couple of times for seafood
You have to have seafood in Florida
So you know
For sure I think
We're going to be fine and we can
Walk along the beach and that burns calories
Absolutely
So yeah this has been great
The whole sabbatical has been
Great couple of things
That have really impacted me
And I heard Bill Johnson say it and I've really
Adopted this into my own life and he said
This I've given up the right to be
Offended and I've actually
Preached on that right before we started
The sabbatical like the same week we
Were starting I really that was on
My heart and it's really
Caught on some people it's helped some people
And had some good feedback on that
But it's really helped me and just
And I mean in the little things
Like driving or walking through a grocery
Store and somebody cutting you off at their basket
You know the stuff that's tedious and annoying
Or sometimes just rude
I've just given up the right to be upset about it
And that happens quite a lot these days
People are angry
Of course the heat
Doesn't help anything here in
Central Texas it is
Burning up hot we're what 102
I think
Oh it's ridiculous 101 here
We have
Record well I don't know if it's record but
Over 100 degrees for
Many many days coming and
That's why I said let's just
Of course Florida's not any
Different it's pretty warm there too
So I think
I think it'll be good but
I think the heat
Is so hard on people that it
Makes you angry you know every time
You get out to go into a place you're
Just burning up hot yeah
You park a car somewhere I don't know how Chris
Does it in Houston oh I don't
Either I don't either because when he was
Here he said this is wonderful
The heat y'all have is so
Dry compared to
The humidity in Houston
And he this is our son
Chris yeah he's a pastor in Houston
And he said I can sit out in
Your backyard and enjoy
The morning but I can't do that at my
House I thought that was pretty sad yeah he really enjoyed
Being here with us and we enjoyed him
So
So another thing but okay
Going off that same premise of
I give up the right to be offended
Well another thing came up
And I really grabbed hold of it from
My own heart and it's this
I've given up the right to withhold
Encouragement you know
In fact
I'll just say what happened last week so
The week before not last week
But the week before we did
A podcast and
For the first time since we started in
And at that time 28 episodes
It was the first time
We got no feedback I mean
Zero like crickets
I even I even kind of said
This is what we heard
It was just crickets
And we were like wow
Did it even go out over the airwaves
Did we say
Did we offend people or did we say something
We shouldn't have and I know we took a little
Different route on that podcast we
Had a little bit of a stronger
Slant on some things
And I felt a little out of my lane in that
Doing that because it's not typically my
Mo at all I'm Mr. Living Up in a Down
World right Living Up
So I felt like I got a nudge
From the Holy Spirit I felt like the Lord
Was nudging me to say that's not your
Lane let other people run in that
Lane and cheer them on but it's
Not yours so we took a step
Back in and did exactly what we were
Called to do we talked about the forgiveness factor
Last week that was powerful
And I have to tell you we
Had a massive outpouring of support
It made up for all
The 27
Episodes before and I'll
Share some of that towards the end of the program
But so thankful
To everybody who took the time
To encourage us and it
Came in in spades I'm just
I'm blown away I'm literally
Just blown away
I mean you even made a comment
It felt like should we even
Continue maybe this isn't our thing
And I wasn't feeling
Quiet I was down but I wasn't that down
But I understand what you're saying because I mean you
Wonder okay if there's
Are we making a difference or is this helping
Anybody because I don't want to do this if we're not making a
Difference me too because you and I can
Talk anytime we want but if we're
Going to talk on air and we're going to share
You know personal stories we're
Going to share about what God's doing
And we say and we want to help
People I mean that's the whole
Point we want it to matter
To people we want them to
Have get some value out of
What we have to say
And if we don't you know
I just I want it
It's got to be meaningful
It's got to be meaningful to people
And I think that's just super
Important super important
And well said there
So I came up with this
I've given up my right to be offended
And I've given up the right to withhold
Encouragement because what happened
Was what I realized
Is that we tend to
Think about encouraging someone but we
Don't do it we think about it
Just by thinking about it we sort of
Think we did it you know what I mean
We feel good but we didn't release
That and share that
With the person that person
That you're thinking
About maybe they need
It and you've missed an opportunity
Like today
At the gym I saw you
Walk by a gentleman on the treadmill
And you've seen him for
Months and months but you
Stopped him because you noticed he had lost
A lot of weight and you
Wanted to acknowledge that
And it was beautiful because he was shocked
That you even noticed
And you don't know him he doesn't
Know you well I know him now his name is Taylor
And I've seen this
Guy for months he came in he
And I asked him I said man I've got to ask you
How much weight did you lose he said
220 no I started at
220 I'm at 180
I went dude that's
Amazing I'm so proud of you
He was just lit up he's
Young and I said well how old are you
And he said because he was saying I eat
Everything I because I asked
Are you doing any dieting or anything with that or
He goes no I eat everything he said
He said I know I shouldn't but and I over
Eat sometimes I said well how old are you he goes I'm 31
I said oh you can eat everything
He can get away with that I'm 61
I can't get away with it and so
We just had a great conversation he
Said well what's your name and we introduced
Each other and I just man it felt so
Good and I told him I said you know I
Walked right by you a minute ago and I
Turned around and came back because
I made a decision and
I've given up my right to withhold
Encouragement from people so
I just wanted to encourage you today and the dude
Made his day the dude was lit up
Like can you imagine how
Many people in our lives
That we walk by that
We call that we talk to
In person that
We don't encourage at all
And what could happen if we would
All take the time to
Encourage one another and really
How much effort does it take
I think as I walked
Away from Taylor and I
Put a thing in my memory so I remember his
Name so the next time I see him I call him by name
And I'm not a
Gym socialite I go to work out
I got my air pods on I'm in
You know I'm just like her so
It kind of broke me out of my
Zone to actually pull him out of my ear and
Stomp somebody and
Talk to them but
I'm just made up my mind
I'm not going to let it go I'm not going to
I'm not going to withhold if
Something comes to mind and too you
Got to think in terms of appropriateness too
Had he been lifting weights
I wouldn't have stopped him I noticed
He didn't have his air pods in
So he wasn't listening to music
And he could keep walking while I talked
To him and so
I'm being wise about that because
I mean you just start suddenly going out
And encouraging every human being because then it can
Turn into just flattery
Or just false compliments and that's
Not what I'm talking about I'm talking about
When the Holy Spirit nudges
That's what I'm talking about
And you know we all get them
We just don't act on them
How many times have you been
Just driving you're driving into the
Office and we're in different cars so you're by
Yourself and maybe you've got music going maybe you
Don't and somebody comes across
Your mind and you think gosh I haven't talked to that
Person well I should probably reach out to them
I believe even
Those kinds of things is a God
Nudge it's a God tap
I agree I agree it's a God moment where
He's saying you need to reach out to that
Person but if you're
Like me and I know you are because we're human right
We're human beings being human
And we just withhold
It because we get we get
Distracted or we move on with our day
And we don't and we forget
And so I'm doing
I'm trying to be very open and sensitive
And say Lord train me
Train my
Spirit to hear those and
And sense those God nudges
Because think about how powerful
It would be I mean we mentioned
In last week's podcast
That words
Matter that our words
Are powerful so when we
Take our words
Of value and appreciation
And encouragement
In fact the word encourage means
To inspire courage
There it is you've got it to inspire
Courage so when we encourage
Someone we're actually inspiring
Courage in them
And name one
Person on this planet that doesn't
Need to be encouraged exactly
Everyone needs to hear it
There is the law of reciprocity
It's kind of amazing because when you
Give it it comes back to you right
And scripture talks about that
Give and it will be given to you
Good measure and that's not about money
By the way. Press down. Yeah shaking
Together and running over when God put
It in your lap and that
That's the law of reciprocity
It means when you sow when you
Give when you extend something
It will come back to you
You don't do it so that it will
That's the wrong motive you do it
Because the Lord told you to do it
So I want to encourage
What got me thinking about that
So strongly by the way we're not going to stay on our topic
This is the topic today
You're looking at the time going whoa
We have another topic we'll say it for next week
This is the topic
Because there's nothing
The issue of forgiveness which we talked about last week
Is so critical and so powerful
But also the issue of encouragement
Well if you think about what
The word says it talks about
We need to love one another
And if
You're not loving
If you're not encouraging them you're not
Loving them so it's
It works together
And so I think that you know we've been
Listening to Bill Johnson
Talking about
Loving one another
And how important that is I listen to
A
Teaching today by Robert
Morse from years ago
While I was at the gym and he was talking about
Preferring people
Putting people you know like you say
Putting people over preferences
It's this he was
Basically saying the same thing
He said that when he started his church
25 years ago
He told the people
That were involved in the plant
We need to prefer
People need to
Come first and they all stopped and said
No no no wait it needs to be God
And he said what do you think
God's purpose is who do you think
What do you think his whole
His whole
Purpose for being God
Is loving people
So if we love people then
We've served what God
Set us here on
This earth to do and so
It really goes along with that
Because I love that
But too many people go oh you're putting
People over the Holy Spirit
No
You know what I'm saying
The Holy Spirit is in that person
And we've got to love that person
Right
Love God love people I mean that's what we do
Listen to this scripture
I just pulled up some scriptures as we're talking
1 Thessalonians 5 11 says this
Therefore encourage one another
And build each other up
And he says just as in fact
You're doing so apparently they were already doing that
There in Thessalonica
That little church that he was at
But he's saying encourage one another
And build each other up
Hebrews chapter 10
24 and let us consider
How we may spur one another on
Toward love and good deeds
Good works
Isn't that beautiful
It's the idea of we're here to inspire
Courage in one another and I love that
To spur one another on it's like cheering
Somebody on right
Beautiful beautiful scripture
Listen to this out of Ephesians 4
Another good one
Do not let any and wholesome talk come out of your mouths
But only what is helpful
For building others up
According to their needs
That it may benefit those who listen
We're here to build
People up to inspire
Courage and to pour life
Into others
And it's hard to pour life into others and encourage
When you're not encouraged yourself
Well I think we're a negative culture so we're always
About putting people down
And I don't want to be
Part of that camp
I want to be a part of the camp
That people say oh my
Goodness she's always
Building me up I never hear
Negative things about people
From her I'm not there
Yet but that is one of my
Goals it's always been one of my goals
In life that I always prefer
People so one of the things about
Preferring people is then you're not
Selfish either
If you put people
First you're putting yourself
Last and I think that's really
Important beautiful we watched
A movie last night it was not the best
Movie we've ever seen but it
Was about had a good message
The message was this young
Girl preferring others she
Was always
Doing for other people and
People were drawn to her because
Of her love her love
For God and her love for people
And I just wow as
We were watching that even though it wasn't
We didn't really care
For the ending so much because it didn't
Have the ending we prefer
But the message was so strong
And sometimes we can watch something
Turn it off because maybe it's not going
Where we want but we miss
The idea
Of what is trying
To come across in a movie and to me
I walked away going wow
I need to be more like that
And I think what's hard for me
On this sabbatical is not being around people
Yeah
So what's happening to me
Now the people that I am coming in contact
With I'm talking to them like the guy
At the hardware store I noticed that
He had this his arm in a
Sling I said man what happened to your
Arm he's so he tells me a story
I'm like man I hope that gets better
And wish you the best I mean
I'm finding myself just enjoying
Talking to people
And see for me I want to talk to
All of my friends from church
And I want to you know
Find out what's going on in their lives
And I can't
And so it's
I think God is just ramping me up
For when I do have
That opportunity in three and a half
Three four weeks to where I can
I can utilize what I'm learning
Now to be a better friend
Because that's what I want is to be
A better friend I am getting to be
That friend with Tatina
Which is great beautiful but
We only allowed one
Couple in our life at this point so
That we could truly have
A sabbatical so
It'll be interesting to see what happens
As time moves on
From the sabbatical you know you just mentioned
That movie about that girl serving listen
This first Peter 410 each
Of you should use whatever gift you have
Received to serve
Others as faithful stewards
Of God's grace in its various forms
And it's that idea
So I'm focusing on
Encouragement right now because
And the reason I am is because of you who are
Listening you inspired
Me because once
We said hey wow
We didn't hear anything are we
Is everything okay did the
Did everybody get you know raptured and we
Got left behind I mean what happened it was
Weird but you just
Responded and I want to say thank you
For that and I want you to know
Not only did it encourage us it
Inspired courage in us
But it also at a deeper
Level inspired me to
Inspire others to encourage others
And that's why I'm sharing the simple
Principle and while we're talking
About this is because I want to invite
You to adopt the same principle
The first principle is this I give
Up the right to be offended
The second principle is this I give up
The right to withhold encouragement
And so when you get that
God tap that nudge
You think oh I should write them oh I
Should text them I should send a note I should
Call I mean whatever that is
Act on it
Because if you procrastinate it that
That immediate impulse
Goes away because we get distracted
And I guarantee you that person needed
What you have at that moment
I have to believe that I know it
Because it's happened so many times in
Our own lives where we've received
Encouragement at the right time
And vice versa
We've had opportunities to share with others
And they were like you have
No idea how much I needed to hear that
Yes we hear it all the time
We know it because
We both have lived that out
So we mentioned the power of words
Last week you mentioned the power of thoughts
As well and all that works together
So when we're thinking
About the person
Of the Lord we're thinking about the person
Of the Holy Spirit who walks with us
He's our counselor our comforter
Our advocate our friend
Our intercessor he's all
Those things when we're
Thinking about him and keeping him in
Mind then it opens
The door for him to bring people
To our mind I woke up
This morning thinking about a lot of people
Just individuals came through
My mind and I was able to call
Them by names about 5 o'clock
I didn't really want to get up at 5 but
I was awake so I
Called just a handful of people
Came to my mind and instead of
Going I wonder why I'm thinking about
I just prayed for them
So I'm trying to train myself
To act on those thoughts
And not just let those
Come and go because they will
They will come and go
Sorry I hit the desk
So I hope we can encourage you to do that
Speaking of mutual encouragement
We had another night out
With the Curry's We did
It was so cool
So there's this new restaurant in town
It's an Italian restaurant they started
Building it during COVID
They had to re-furbish
A whole building that was
Just falling apart and we've been watching them
Work on this building and seeing it going
That thing is going to be nice 3 years
3 years they've been working
On this so what's the name of the place?
Alla Campagna
Now I may be saying it wrong
I probably said it that way
I think it's Alla Campagna
So it is an Italian restaurant
Amazing food
Amazing service
Of course
The chef heard
Adam's voice from afar
And came over
And just almost
Drooled on himself talking to
Adam
Oh my gosh
The food was great
The fellowship was better
It was
It's always great when we get a chance
To go out with them
Going to a winery tomorrow
And then they leave for Italy
They head out and then we're going to head out
So wonderful time
One of the things I wanted to bring up
Is that what I love about our relationship
With Adam and Tina is that
We've had this discovery stage
Because relationships whether it's an individual
A couple, you know, couples
A group or a community
Go through stages or phases
Really begin to think about it
What's happening is that we've gotten
So close
And so we've moved beyond
The discovery stage
So the discovery says, John did some notes down
Tell me if this resonates with you
And you think about as you're listening
About your stages of a relationship
I'll go quickly through these
So the discovery stage
Everything's new and exciting
For example, we say things like
We have so much in common
We're just alike
And then we find out later
We're not that much alike
It's hilarious
But it's a beautiful time because discovery stage is fun
And when somebody falls in love, for example
With another person
That's the discovery stage
That's the everything's amazing stage
Honeymoon stage
Discovery stage where everything's new and fresh
But then you move past it
And this is where most
Individuals, couples, groups
And communities stop
They cease
They never actually fully commit and connect
And so the next stage
Is the this is us stage
So if you remember the show
This is Us, it was just
I loved that show
It was drama upon drama upon
We used to watch it and go, this is so dramatic
But it's a drama
It's ridiculously dramatic
It was one of my favorite shows
I know, and you have most of America
So I called it the this is us stage
And what that is
Is that things can happen
That are not quite as
That are more normal
You drop the mask
You let your guard down
And then you let more of yourself come out
And so when we were at dinner the other night
We had a couple of tense moments
You and I didn't have tense moments
With them, and they didn't have tense moments
With us, but you and I had a couple
Of minor disagreements
You called me out on something
Same thing happened with Adam and Eve
And I laughed about it all night
Because I was like, this is beautiful
We're finally past the discovery stage
We're moving into the this is us
Stage where now you're getting the
Real us, you're getting the human
You're getting the people
And this is the part that most people
Never allow to be seen
Because they want to be seen as
Perfect, and we
Can't be perfect
And this is where most relationships stop
Because if I can't be perfect
Then I know they're not going to love me anymore
Or a new love relationship
So a new, let's just say
A boyfriend and girlfriend
You both have masks on
For God knows how long
And then when you do
A lot of times you have them on up until
The engagement, then after the
Engagement there's a switch
That flips
And you begin to let your guard
Down, I remember a couple
I will not say their names
But I think you know who I'm talking
About, and they were
They had a good courtship, it was a great
Dating relationship, as soon as they got
Engaged all
All the claws came out
And it was
Horrible, we didn't know if they would even make
It to get to the marriage
And then after the marriage
And now they've been married for years and have several
Kids, but it was
Rocky, it was a rocky start
That was the this is us stage
Yes, but they
I think it can be a dangerous place
I remember the
Discovery stage with you
30 years ago, I remember
Putting on this
I think
There were little blue birds flying around
I was like
Poor victim me
But I'm all whole
And healed and
Ready to embark on
A new relationship, no
I was not anything like that
I remember putting this mask on
And I remember thinking
I literally remember thinking to myself
Oh no
I'm going to have to take it off at some point
And he's going to get to know the real me
And it scared me
It scares all of us
All of us have that fear of being known
And yet
Only the relationships that are
Played for the long game and last for the long
Hall are
They've overcome
That stage and they've walked through it
Navigated it and said
I love you no matter what
I don't love you because of that or I don't
Not love you because of that to use a double negative
You know, I love you
Because of you and I'm good
With that and so
I love that we hit that
And it's been fun to navigate
Because
I'm excited because what it means is
That we're moving through, we're maturing
Relationally. We have no
Mask on anymore. No mask, nothing to hide
Nothing to hold back
Unless they don't like me anymore
We're beyond that. So another stage
I just, I jotted these down
I did a little research on this. Of course you did
I know, it's fascinating to me
I've been there a lot of times
So the next stage is
Steady as we grow
Steady as we go, steady as we grow
And that stage means that you're beginning
To lay foundations for longevity
In other words, you see
The potential in a long term relationship
This isn't just for a season
Or they're going to be high and buy
Or oh that was great, we did that together
And now we've gone on
Or they move out of town so you think
I'll never talk to them again. No
We're actually laying foundations for a long
Life. The next stage
Intertwined journeys
I like that, your journeys start to
Really intertwine. I'm actually seeing
Elements of these in our relationship
With Curry's right now and it's really exciting
It is. But intertwined journeys
That means you're doing real life
Together. That means
Things like taking a vacation
Together. Which we are going on
A trip next year. If you're going to test a relationship
Going on a vacation together. Yeah, we're going on a trip
Next month. Sorry, can't say it.
It's not a vacation, but it's a
Needed thing. But it's a few day trip. Although
And we're scheduled next year to go on a vacation
At the Nashville. I'm not sure if Adam is
Flying us or not. He's not, right?
I'm not sure either. I don't know yet. That I'm a little nervous
About. But anyway.
You're going to see
The real everybody when it's done. I know, exactly.
Flying the plane. Exactly. And then
Yeah, adventurous together.
You're doing things together and I love
That. That to me is what
When it gets exciting.
And again, each of these stages have
Their precarious moments
That can be make or break. And you've just
Got to have this mentality
Of commitment. This mentality of
This is a God thing. And continue
To work through it. The next stage, dancing
In the rain. Now it sounds funny.
Where did you get that from? I pulled it up
Somewhere. Some of these were mine. Some of these
I borrowed. And they just fit
For me as I fought through stages.
And that's navigating the storms.
I love that. That's dancing in the rain.
Navigating the storms.
Pain, suffering,
Trauma of life.
Because it's when that diagnosis
Comes. Or when the ball
Drops on something that you didn't see
Coming. Or your best friend
Makes a terrible moral
Mistake or decision.
You know, are you still going to be there for them?
Are you still going to dance in the rain
With them? And I love the picture
Of that. Of course you think about the movie
Dancing in the rain. That's exactly what was going through my mind.
But think about the joy. And yet it's pouring
Down rain. And the dancers
Are oblivious to the rain.
You know, the umbrellas do no good.
You know, they're using them to dance with.
And so to me, that's a beautiful
Stage where you get to walk
Through the heavy stuff. And so
The next one is beyond the horizon.
And that's the idea of exploring
God's endless possibilities
Together. Wow. That's when you're
Seeing destiny in your friend
Or your group or your community.
You're seeing purpose and you actually
Join in cheering them on
As they move into their destiny.
That is something I love about
Adam and his relationship is we cheer
Each other on. We're cheerleaders
For each other. I mean, man
Everything he's doing with the boost scram ball
And all the stuff with podcast 2.0
I'm just like cheering him on.
No agenda. Cheering him on.
Because he's running in his lane
And God's got his destiny.
So I'm with him.
Then the last one is
Are you hearing an alarm or something?
I'm making sure I do have an alarm.
We have a roast on. We had a roast on
Last week during the show. We're eating a lot of roasts right now.
This is becoming a habit. No doubt.
And then the last one is
And it's really not the last. It's just the next one.
I didn't make this into any tremendous
Thing. And it's rooted together.
Rooted together. I love that.
And that means you are playing
The long game. You know
That you're meant to walk together
For life. And if you start
By
Projecting that you're playing
The long game, you will play the long game.
That's right. Again, it starts with
Your mind. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
So anyway, just some thoughts.
Things I'm pinging around in my mind.
And too, again, such a sweet time with our
Friends. And we're excited for them
Getting to take a little break and go do some
Travel. Of which
We would have traveled with them, but you
Did not want to go overseas at this point.
Which is fun. And I didn't want to use my sabbatical
For an extended trip like that.
Right. Right. So anyway, we'll go another time
With them. So
We've got some thank yous.
Boy, do we. And I'm going to move
This around so I can see it and read it.
But we just
Want to say thank you for the
Great response from last week's show.
I mean, I already mentioned this.
You know, we were discouraged.
We were. We did
Not have our
Is it going? Okay. You go take care of the
Roast. I'll take care of this.
So, Friends, I just want to say thank you from the
Bottom of our hearts. You came through with
Notes. You showed up with
Boost-o-grams and comments.
Emails. It was so
Encouraging. And
Again, it was that lesson. I'm not
I give up the right to
Never hold on
To an encouragement again. So thank
You for inspiring me.
And it's a good lesson for us. So here's some kudos
And thanks. I'll just start here with
Some donations. Trinity devil bis.
Thank you, Trinity. You donated
Eleven dollars in
1776. Thank you for doing that.
Every little bit matters. It all
Adds up. And what it does, it allows us to
Keep adding. We've got
Always got new equipment that we want to increase
And improve what we
Do. We want to operate with excellence. And so
All this goes into a fund to really take care
Of the equipment that we're putting together
For the podcast. So thank you for that.
David Wicker. So appreciate you,
Brother. Twenty dollar donation.
And also appreciated your emails.
Just some good back and forth encouragement
Brother to brother. So thank you, David.
Also want to say thanks to Peggy
Laden. Peggy has become just such a
Dear friend of ours.
And such a jewel. She helped us out
At our church. Worked with our team.
Led us through Strength Finders 2.0.
Such a blessing to get
That time with Peggy. And
Donation of 25. So thank you, Peggy
For encouraging us.
Eric Kessler. Another great brother in the Lord.
A hundred dollars.
What? Thank you, Eric.
So encouraging to us. We appreciate
You, brother. Thank you for who you are
And what you're doing, man. And then
We have some boostograms. So I want to
Start with this one.
This is a boostogram.
77,700
Sats from Adam the Podfather Curry.
That is a striper boost.
There it is.
He's also our executive producer.
And he has given up the right
To be offended. That's what he wrote on his note.
Coming in with 25,000
Sats. Another precious new
Friend of ours. Julie Loftgarden.
She says this.
Loved our dinner and getting to know you both.
You're such an encouragement to others.
But let me encourage you.
You both truly are
Fishers of men. The spirit used you
To catch Tina and Adam.
And so many others for the kingdom.
God bless and would love prayer
As we embark on a trip with my
Parents this week.
So we really appreciate
Julie and Ben too.
We had such a sweet time meeting them
Last week over in Dripping Springs
With Currys and hanging out with them.
And it was a beautiful, beautiful time.
Did you enjoy hearing her story? I did.
Amazing. And then also
We got a boostogram. 25,000
Sats from Tina the Keeper Curry.
Of course.
Thank you Tina. You're awesome.
And she writes, love, love, love you too.
Well we love, love, love you too.
So thank you Tina. We so
Appreciate you. And then another
Boostogram. It's kind of a striper
Boost from Sir T.J.
17,777
So we'll go with the
Striper Boost for that.
And he writes this. I could say a lot
But I'll keep it short and just say
I've received a lot of value.
And wanted to send some.
Truly, thank you for your podcast.
KTLD
And FTCO.
So KTLD. Remind people what that means.
Alright, so Adam Curry has this
Amazing, no this intense
Obsession about
Keeping the lid down on the toilet.
Which we have. We're with him on that.
We've been this way all my life.
We're just as obsessed.
He's more vocal about it. I'll just put it that way.
Oh, he wants to have T-shirts made.
Cups, who knows what else.
And so, anyway
I love Sir T.J. Thank you man.
You just made me laugh when I read that.
Keep the lid down and FTCO
Flush the crap out.
So man, we're totally with you my friend.
Both in the toilet and in
Life my friend. So great.
Thanks for the boost.
I love it when you make me laugh. That's good.
And then we've got another Boostogram
For 1234 Sats from
Scott ZC.
He just wrote, bless you both with a
Smiley face. So Scott, thank you
So much and bless you too
Brother. Another 1200
From Shelly
Shelly C
And she sent in
1200 Sats. She writes this, love your show
The power of life and death is
In the tongue. And you all
Bring life to the podcast waves.
I enjoy listening on my morning
Walks. I particularly loved
Hearing about your sabbatical as
I am praying my own pastor is on his now.
Isn't that cool? I'm praying
He experiences the same refreshing you are.
Keep doing what you're doing and sharing
You guys are great.
Shelly, you're great too. And we want to say
Thank you. That means a lot.
Not only for the Sats but just for taking
The time to write an encouraging note.
You're doing it. You've given up your right
To hold back, withhold encouragement.
So thank you. It means a ton.
We have another user, Boostogram
For 100 Sats. He writes this
She writes this
I love the podcast.
Today starts year
38 as a football coach's wife
So I understand being offended.
And I love the message of forgiveness
And being unoffendable.
Does she ever understand?
Being a pastor's wife is really
Very similar.
Thank you so much.
There's not a name attached to her
User handle. But thank you so much
For writing in. And we feel you.
We get it.
But let's together, let's give up the right
To be offended.
And I think God will use us in
Even greater ways.
Also we got this note
From Julie. Now these are emails
That were written in to our website.
So Julie
Writes this. Thank you both for sharing
Your lives with us. You are right.
We are never too old or spiritually
Mature to learn and grow.
I find the older I get, the less I know.
And the more God has for me to learn.
What a gift. Boy that is
The truth. That's wisdom right there.
Julie it's beautiful. Thank you for
Taking the time to write.
And we just want to bless you. Oh there's more.
I forgot. But wait
There's more. She says also
I've noticed a marked difference in your voices.
Especially in the last couple of weeks.
Because we have our new road caster.
Well we've got that. That was helpful
Because Adam tuned our voices.
He's the podcaster master.
But she says you're relaxed.
You are relaxed. She says what a gift
The sabbatical is. I'm almost too relaxed.
I know. I'm feeling super mellow.
I am too. Especially today.
What a gift the sabbatical is for you both.
I teach women weekly through Bible study
Fellowship. September 3rd, May.
It's a wonderful program for women.
Absolutely.
With a schedule similar to a pastor role.
I really enjoy and treasure my
June and July off. August
Is planning for the new year as it gives me pause
and perspective before I dive in again.
She ends with this.
Thank you again for your open and honest look
at life through the lens of Christ.
Blessings to you both.
And blessings to you Julie.
That just means so much.
Peggy wrote us a note. Peggy Layden I mentioned her earlier.
This is beautiful. She says love the message
on forgiveness and
surrendering the right to be offended.
Love you guys. That really has
hit home with people. That's resonated.
Thank you Pastor Bill Johnson. You might need to do a whole new
series on that.
I know. I hear you there.
We love you guys and praying for you both
to go deeper.
Thank you because that's our heart. We want to go deeper.
She says wish we lived closer.
Sometimes I text Annette things but I'm realizing
she may not be getting those texts during your
sabbatical. No I'm getting the
texts. I'm just. No I'm not.
Not from her because we changed our phone numbers.
She can email
me. She can write us right through here.
Or through there. I'm just not
returning it. I'm not.
Not right now. Sabbatical.
Thank you Peggy. We love you.
You are a dear dear friend.
And then the last thing
this is from Sean Maguire.
So Sean wrote this.
He says hi Jimmy and Dame Annette.
I've CC'd Curry and the Keeper on this too
because I think they'd find this interesting as well.
Given Adam's recent decision
to give up on the right to be offended.
You guys have been talking
for a few weeks now about being offended
and the scripture that always comes to mind
is one my dad often brings up.
Luke 17.1.
Then said he unto the
disciples it is impossible
but that offenses will come
but woe unto him through whom they come.
And he says this the whole scripture is
great but the most interesting part about this
scripture is that Jesus says offenses
will come. Not might
come will come. And the interesting
part about offenses will come
is the word offenses. Strong
Concordance. Way to do some study there brother.
Strong Concordance
says that the root word in
Greek it means this
a trap stick
or a bent sapling.
Like a stick that you pull out from under.
A snare.
Literally what we've seen cartoon characters
do for years. Bugs Bunny or
some other character.
The Road Runner. Yeah.
Grabs a tree, bends it down, bends the top
into a loop and waits for Elmer Fudd
to step on it to the loop
and suddenly the tree springs up and they get caught.
Offenses are literally a trap.
The devil sets and waits
for you to step in too. It's true.
So good Sean. Sean thank you for writing
that. Thanks for it. Man I love that that
prompted those thoughts for you.
And that you dove into that.
Well and what I think about with offenses too is
as Christians we need
to look at where the origin of that
offense is. It's not the
person but there is
a controlled being
called Satan. There you go.
That's who brings the trap.
The person, he's just
using the person to do that.
And if we could get our eyes and our thoughts
on that it would change
how we respond to
people. It comes back to seeing
something we've talked about on here before and that's seeing
people in 3D. Exactly.
Realizing there's a look behind the obvious.
Don't look behind what?
Look behind, look beyond.
Because there's something driving that.
And when we do that we can
be unoffendable.
Because we realize you know.
It takes work. It does.
There's effort
and prayer. I mean it really
learning to become dependent upon the Lord.
And the scripture says
this in Corinthians it says
in 2 Corinthians chapter 10
it says, in bringing every thought
into captivity of Christ.
So you can actually take a thought
and capture it.
It's like putting it in jail.
So that it's away from you. It's detached.
It's separated. So bringing
every thought in
bringing into captivity
every thought into the obedience
of Christ. That's a powerful
verse. That's a principle I've had
to lean on many, many,
many times. So guys
the last thing I want to say to you is value for value.
That's what we're talking about. That's what
this is. You guys
are time, talents, treasure.
You've given us value with your
time by writing these encouragements in.
Keep them coming. We want to
dialogue. We want to connect. We
want to hear from you and we want to talk
to you because we're here
to help you live up in a down world.
And you're helping us do the same.
We're all in this thing together. So thank
you so much. Living uppers.
That's what I've been calling folks.
They're living uppers. And you guys are doing
just that. Thank you for the Sats.
For the donations and support.
That's what value for value is all about. If you're
getting value out of what we're bringing
this is helping you. This is
encouraging you. It's inspiring you.
It's motivating you. You're helping you
navigate a difficult season.
Then all we ask is that you give value
back in whatever form
that works for you. And we
want you to know you are loved. You're valued.
You're appreciated. And so
we're going to land the plane with that
because it's been a great time.
We hope you're again encouraged
today. And then any final word?
We so appreciate
you listening and just
keep us on.
Keep us on. We want to
bring value to you and we pray
that you
receive something from every
broadcast.
We'll be coming from the beach next week
so we're looking forward to it. God bless
you. Have an amazing work week
on purpose.