1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,140 Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity Talks. 2 00:00:08,140 --> 00:00:13,640 My name is Kyla and I'm the online engagement director here at Trinity. 3 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:18,000 This winter we are starting a new sermon series called Heroes of Faith. 4 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:22,060 We're going to be talking about some of the stories of people in the Bible and how 5 00:00:22,060 --> 00:00:24,560 their faith shaped their lives. 6 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:29,700 But I also wanted to take a moment to just talk about who are the people in our church 7 00:00:29,700 --> 00:00:32,400 and how has faith shaped their lives. 8 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:37,320 So I'm really happy to have Jordan and Jesse with me here today to talk a little bit more 9 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:39,880 about what faith has looked like in their lives. 10 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:40,880 So welcome to the podcast. 11 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:41,880 Hello, hello. 12 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:42,880 Thanks for having us. 13 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:43,880 Yeah. 14 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:49,760 So I want to start just by asking, how did you first learn about Jesus and then what 15 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,400 made you decide to follow Jesus for yourself? 16 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:53,920 And maybe we'll start with you, Jesse. 17 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:54,920 Yeah, sure. 18 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:56,560 So I'm lucky enough to be raised in a Christian family. 19 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:00,840 So I kind of had it built in me in terms of like the moment I could pretty much understand 20 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:02,280 what Jesus was. 21 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:04,920 That's kind of how I first knew about him. 22 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:09,380 And I think I'm sure Jordan kind of relates to this too, but the double edged sword of 23 00:01:09,380 --> 00:01:12,560 being raised in a Christian household, you kind of take it for granted until I feel like 24 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:15,240 you actually take that first step to actually commit to Christ. 25 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:19,680 I know it's safe for me that moment really happened to me around like tail end of like 26 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:20,680 grade five. 27 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:24,480 Unfortunately, when I moved, sorry, when I went to grade four, I moved to a different 28 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:25,480 school. 29 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:27,480 And by the time I got into bowling and all that other stuff. 30 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,480 And so I didn't do really well in school then. 31 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:32,440 I was really distracted, obviously, because of that. 32 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,880 And so by the end of grade five, I realized I know, while I'm in my own self pity and 33 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:37,520 just not doing well, right. 34 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:41,760 I realized I neglected the big part of like what I could have done to actually address 35 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:43,360 this, which is my faith. 36 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:48,840 And so before I moved into middle school, I kind of took time set aside and started 37 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,800 praying to God, saying like, hey, I'm going to take my faith seriously now. 38 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:56,680 I want you to kind of like help me with me actually how to how do I approach bullying? 39 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:58,840 I want to actually dedicate my life to you. 40 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:00,280 And they basically helped me turn my life around. 41 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,880 Because for me, this is the closest I could get to living a rock bottom as a kid. 42 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,760 And he really answered my prayers because like both through his word and through that 43 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:12,280 like active prayer and kind of starting praying more seriously from that point on. 44 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:15,680 Not only did I know how to actually start approaching like how people like initially 45 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,840 bullied me, but I was able to change my whole mindset around where before I was quite negative 46 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,000 because of that experience, I was able to kind of look more towards the positive side 47 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:28,480 of things and especially like basically helped me reinvent myself entirely for middle school. 48 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:32,960 And especially I think around grade eight, God really made his presence felt known to 49 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:33,960 me. 50 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:34,960 It was kind of random out of nowhere. 51 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:37,640 I had a very visceral experience of the Holy Spirit filling me in. 52 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:39,280 I had no idea what that was. 53 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:40,280 Kind of freaked me out. 54 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:42,200 Talked to my parents like what's going on? 55 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,480 Like I really want to like praise and like write songs for God. 56 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:46,480 I was like, this has never happened before. 57 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:48,240 And my parents are like, Jessica, calm down. 58 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:49,240 That's the Holy Spirit. 59 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:51,840 And that's when I really knew that, yeah, this is real. 60 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:52,840 Yeah. 61 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:53,840 Yeah. 62 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:54,840 That's great. 63 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:55,840 Yeah. 64 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:56,840 What about for you, Jordan? 65 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:57,840 Yeah. 66 00:02:57,840 --> 00:02:58,960 Similar aspects to what Jesse said. 67 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,000 So I was raised in a Christian household as well. 68 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,320 So God was always there. 69 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:05,320 He's always up there. 70 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:06,640 And I was like, yeah, we love him. 71 00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:13,000 But growing up, I think going to church was more of just a cultural exercise of just like, 72 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,760 oh, I'm going to church because my mom goes to church and my family and stuff. 73 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:26,600 So I think for when I really started to take my faith seriously is when actually Jesse 74 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:28,800 is actually was part of this. 75 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:33,720 Jesse and I and Chris Andrews were in a Bible study group years and years ago with Dale 76 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,720 Giesbrecht, Bill Crawford, shout out to them. 77 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:39,680 And we had like a young men's small group. 78 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:45,080 And I just think through that, this was in my, I think, really my early 20s. 79 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:51,000 It's when it became real to me and pursuing an actual relationship with God and not just 80 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:56,640 so that like, oh, I'm going to church to be a good person, but going because I want to 81 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:58,440 and I want to grow in my faith. 82 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:02,360 So that's where for me, it became really real. 83 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:08,600 And I just, yeah, ever since then, it's an ongoing process. 84 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:11,320 Of course, nobody's perfect and stuff. 85 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:19,240 But I'm trying to strive to just be a better, just deepening my faith and just looking to 86 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,200 God more for guidance and what I do in life and stuff. 87 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:23,200 So yeah. 88 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:24,200 Yeah, for sure. 89 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:25,200 Yeah. 90 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:29,960 I think it's, you both mentioned this idea that you grow up in a Christian household, 91 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:32,840 so faith is just sort of taken for granted, right? 92 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:36,640 But we do have to come to a moment in our lives where we decide like, okay, why am I 93 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:37,640 doing this? 94 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:42,840 And the same with any sort of family traditions or any sort of cultural exercise, as you said, 95 00:04:42,840 --> 00:04:43,840 right? 96 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:46,680 We need to say, okay, like, what's the meaning behind this? 97 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:48,160 And do I want to keep doing this? 98 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:53,040 Is this something I want for myself or that I want to pass on to my family and that sort 99 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:54,040 of thing? 100 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:55,040 Yeah. 101 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:59,920 And it's neat to hear like, yeah, for you, Jesse, that it's really a particular moment, 102 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:00,920 right? 103 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:07,040 A particular like experience of things happening and for you, you know, relationships, right? 104 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:09,720 So that that spark can be anything. 105 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,080 Yeah, for sure. 106 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:13,080 Yeah. 107 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:19,680 So if you think about the role of faith in your life, what difference has faith made 108 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:20,680 for you? 109 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:21,680 Yeah, Jordan. 110 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:27,320 For me, for me, faith has shaped so much in my life. 111 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:33,880 And I know, I know basically when before I had more of a personal relationship with God, 112 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:40,240 the way I would respond to certain situations or people would be the way I would do it. 113 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:43,000 And like, you know, it's not perfect. 114 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:50,800 And now now having like a faith centered guide, if you will, in my mind, I'm trying to be 115 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:56,520 more cognizant of like, okay, you know what, before I start to judge this person or before 116 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:03,000 I, you know, decide to do this action, maybe let's just do like a double, double step, 117 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:07,240 like double step to thought there in how God would want me to respond and stuff. 118 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,560 So it's really, it's really helped. 119 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:16,320 It's really helped shape how I respond to a lot of situations that previously I would 120 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:19,600 respond to maybe in a non-so Christian way and stuff. 121 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,960 And of course, you know, even today, it's not perfect. 122 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:28,680 I'm a flawed human being like everyone else here, but you know, at least there, the intention 123 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:35,600 is there and I'm straight every day, it's just a new, a new time to try and strengthen 124 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:36,600 that. 125 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:37,600 Yeah. 126 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:38,600 What about for you, Justin? 127 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:39,600 Now, very similar to him. 128 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:43,400 It's basically the lens of which I interact with everything in daily life. 129 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:47,600 And it's funny specifically for that part, for relationships or just like how you respond 130 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:48,600 to people. 131 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:52,280 I feel like the best part of faith is that there's a lot of this accounting at-buildy 132 00:06:52,280 --> 00:06:53,280 aspect. 133 00:06:53,280 --> 00:06:56,240 I feel that you don't have without it, at least assuming people are mostly on the same 134 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:57,240 page. 135 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:01,760 And so when me and my sister ever get into fights before it can escalate to like pass 136 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,840 a certain point, we usually have to at some point step behind and say like, well, God 137 00:07:05,840 --> 00:07:10,560 actually be happy with what he said or would he actually be behind me being stubborn or 138 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:11,560 angry? 139 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:12,880 And obviously more often than not, the answer is no. 140 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:16,120 And so me and my sister have to kind of like eventually swallow our privacy. 141 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:20,120 We're both sorry, forgive one another and kind of move on, which I think is really helpful 142 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:23,980 in some ways because you can lie to yourself, but you really can't lie to God. 143 00:07:23,980 --> 00:07:28,280 And so I feel like faith really helps a lot in terms of like, not as in making things 144 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:34,660 simple, but there's this kind of structure that I feel people who don't necessarily have 145 00:07:34,660 --> 00:07:38,400 faith can often struggle with, especially when you're dealing with other people or like 146 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:40,920 or certain situations where you're like, oh, how do we resolve this? 147 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:45,360 And Jesus really gives us that blueprint to like at least have that both through the Bible 148 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,960 and also like the larger church community to know how to navigate life in some ways 149 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:50,760 that it can be more complicated than others. 150 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:51,760 Well said. 151 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:52,760 Well said. 152 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:53,760 Yeah. 153 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:57,880 And I was having a conversation with someone else earlier this week and we just like it 154 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:01,240 wasn't someone that I knew very well, but like immediately we started talking about 155 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:06,700 like our values and then we stopped to be like, this is a weird conversation for two 156 00:08:06,700 --> 00:08:10,680 people to have, like if you're not grounded in faith, right? 157 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:14,000 Like you don't just walk up to somebody and be like, yeah, so like what do you value? 158 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,800 Or like, how do you make decisions in your life? 159 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:17,800 That's right. 160 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,120 But like faith gives us the lens to do that. 161 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,440 Faith gives us the motivation to want to do that. 162 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:25,440 Right? 163 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:26,440 Absolutely. 164 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:27,440 Yeah. 165 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:28,440 Totally agree with that. 166 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:29,440 Yeah. 167 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:33,560 What about in some of the sort of darker or more challenging moments of life? 168 00:08:33,560 --> 00:08:37,360 So you mentioned Jesse that like that those challenging moments were what sort of drew 169 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,480 you to faith. 170 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:44,120 And now as we've sort of grown up a little bit, how has faith helped you in some of those 171 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:46,940 challenging moments of your life? 172 00:08:46,940 --> 00:08:55,760 For me, years ago I was having a lot of like issues with like a certain family member and 173 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:58,240 that was, it was really tough. 174 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:05,640 And I actually would say that I, the closest I've ever been to God was through that. 175 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:10,960 And sometimes like when you say it, it kind of sucks to go like, oh, you have to go through 176 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:18,040 this like really hard stuff in order to like really find God, but when I was going through 177 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:24,380 it and I was like longing for him, like the deepest, that's when I felt like the closeness 178 00:09:24,380 --> 00:09:25,380 with him. 179 00:09:25,380 --> 00:09:29,520 And I wish like, even when everything is going great in our lives and everything, I wish 180 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:35,800 that I personally would still have that drive to go, I want that more and more. 181 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:41,360 Because I think sometimes when things are going really well, we just going to go like, 182 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:44,560 hey, thanks God, like that's great, I'll take it from here. 183 00:09:44,560 --> 00:09:51,760 But we want to incorporate him in more aspects of our lives, not just like treating God like 184 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:57,980 a vending machine of like, hey, I'm in trouble, I need this, bleep, boop, boop. 185 00:09:57,980 --> 00:10:02,000 But going like, you know what, God, I want you to be part of everything in my life, regardless 186 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,080 whether it's good or bad. 187 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:12,040 So, yeah, for me that was a time in my life for sure when really the deepness of my faith 188 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:15,440 was like just, yeah, it was very powerful for me. 189 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:16,440 Yeah, for sure. 190 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:17,440 Yeah. 191 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:22,280 Yeah, I really agree with what he mentioned regarding like, it sucks that, but this will 192 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,920 be the consistent theme for a lot of people where like we get closest to God when times 193 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:26,920 are tough. 194 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:27,920 Yeah. 195 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:29,180 When it's good, it's when we get complacent, right? 196 00:10:29,180 --> 00:10:31,180 It's always hard to kind of have that focus on him. 197 00:10:31,180 --> 00:10:36,120 But for me specifically, I think the biggest part for me, at least more recently versus 198 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:40,680 the one I shared earlier, was kind of the patience part when it comes to trusting in 199 00:10:40,680 --> 00:10:46,800 him because when it came to my career, I didn't really know where I was going after university. 200 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:49,240 And for the longest time I was praying like, hey, where do you want me to go? 201 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:53,840 Like I worked at places like Costco, worked at places like a bubble tea shop, and then 202 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:54,840 there's other stuff that's not related. 203 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:56,560 So I was just like in EdTech and all that. 204 00:10:56,560 --> 00:10:58,400 I was like, where am I going? 205 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:02,520 And it's funny because now in hindsight, like all of that stuff was feeding into one another. 206 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:06,400 God was specifically timing certain things so I end up where I am now. 207 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:11,040 Like I would not be where I am in employment services if I had my way. 208 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:15,500 A lot of stuff that happened in hindsight, like it only would have, like that one opportunity 209 00:11:15,500 --> 00:11:19,400 only happened specifically in 2020 or like 2019. 210 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:22,880 So if I didn't end up getting the job then, it would have led to the opportunity I had 211 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:23,880 later on. 212 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:25,180 And then so many other things now. 213 00:11:25,180 --> 00:11:29,340 So especially in hindsight now, and I feel like it helps a lot for maybe any younger 214 00:11:29,340 --> 00:11:32,920 people who might be listening to this podcast right now, especially if you're kind of confused, 215 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:36,040 you're like, man, I really don't know where I'm going. 216 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:37,040 Really trusting God. 217 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:42,000 A lot of things that don't seem related, like all clicks in your head like way later. 218 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:45,920 And I think that's the biggest part for me is like sometimes those tough parts, they 219 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:46,920 can last a long time. 220 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:50,340 It doesn't necessarily mean like, oh, it's like a three month period or something. 221 00:11:50,340 --> 00:11:51,640 It could be years. 222 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:54,720 And sometimes you really have to have that patience and God answers in ways that you 223 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:55,720 really don't expect. 224 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:56,720 Yeah. 225 00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:57,720 Yeah. 226 00:11:57,720 --> 00:11:58,720 Absolutely. 227 00:11:58,720 --> 00:11:59,720 Yeah. 228 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:03,000 And like that for me, patience is like the hard part. 229 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:07,320 I mean, like there's lots of hard parts of faith, but like, I'm just not, I'm not like, 230 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:09,080 I want to see the end kind of person. 231 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:10,080 Yeah. 232 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:11,080 Right. 233 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:12,080 Just give me the answer. 234 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:13,080 Yeah. 235 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:14,080 Just give me all the answers. 236 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:15,080 Spoil it. 237 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:16,080 Spoil it for me. 238 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:17,080 Yeah. 239 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:18,080 Yeah. 240 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:24,120 So yeah, those long periods of waiting in faith can be, as you've sort of both said, 241 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:29,720 like some of the moments where like your faith is sort of bolstered the most, but also at 242 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:33,920 the same time, like some of the places where your faith like can feel like the most shaky. 243 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:34,920 Yeah. 244 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:35,920 Right. 245 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:38,320 Because you're like, I'm, I'm just waiting it out. 246 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:39,640 Yeah. 247 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:47,560 And yeah, I know for me, like it's in those moments that I need some like really solid 248 00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:53,280 habits and practices of like, like there was a moment. 249 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:57,520 I remember having a conversation with a friend during my undergraduate. 250 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:00,160 And I had a lot of friends who were like deconstructing their faith. 251 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,960 I mean, like, what do I really believe and why? 252 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:07,400 And a friend said to me like, okay, we're all doing this thing, but you don't seem to 253 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:09,040 be doing it that. 254 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:13,600 And I was like, no, I am doing that, but I'm showing up anyway. 255 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:14,600 Right. 256 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:17,240 Like I, I'm showing up at church. 257 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:19,120 I'm showing up at Bible study. 258 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:25,040 I'm showing up at these things because I need that habit in order to like help me not just 259 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:26,040 like feel lost. 260 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:27,040 Absolutely. 261 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:28,040 Absolutely. 262 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:29,040 Right. 263 00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:30,040 Yeah. 264 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:31,040 Yeah. 265 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:32,240 I would even, it's funny going off of habits. 266 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:35,040 It is so important to make faith a habit. 267 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:40,360 And like, like you said, showing up to church or just being involved in a church like community 268 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:42,520 or Christian friend group. 269 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:47,880 You know, I mean, people, people watching who are, you know, starting to work out for 270 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:49,360 new years, right? 271 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:51,560 New year's resolutions, new year, new me, all that. 272 00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:56,440 Like, you know, I think the reason why people kind of fall off in February in the gym is 273 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:58,600 because they don't make fitness a habit. 274 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:03,760 And it becomes this monolith of like, oh my gosh, I got to kill myself on a treadmill. 275 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:10,340 But it's, if you just make it a habit and just take it in small baby steps, it becomes, 276 00:14:10,340 --> 00:14:11,440 it becomes real. 277 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:14,560 And I think faith can absolutely apply in that way too. 278 00:14:14,560 --> 00:14:15,560 Yeah. 279 00:14:15,560 --> 00:14:16,560 Yeah. 280 00:14:16,560 --> 00:14:17,560 Definitely. 281 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:22,760 So we're doing this series on heroes of faith and Rob is going to take us through some of 282 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:26,840 the sort of biblical heroes of faith, but I'm wondering in your own lives, who have 283 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:31,680 been some of those heroes, some of those people who have really modeled faith well for you? 284 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:32,680 Yeah. 285 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:33,680 Yeah. 286 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:34,680 So there's two, two parts for me. 287 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,600 One's like more based from home and the one from like church. 288 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:39,200 So home, it's my mom for sure. 289 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:42,720 I feel like even though she doesn't have really like a strong educational background or like 290 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:46,600 really rooted in theology, like she really embodies the selflessness that Christ teaches 291 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:49,720 us because she's always been the person who's like, really tries to help people. 292 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:52,960 Even if she doesn't really know them to like just meet you for the first time, she was 293 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:56,680 willing to give you like financial advice, you know, to help you out with something over 294 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:57,840 the weekend. 295 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:02,080 And one thing that really stuck out to me as a kid was that, so my dad had a grand uncle 296 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:05,800 on his side who had Alzheimer's and we ended up taking him for like a couple of years to 297 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:07,240 take care of him and home. 298 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:08,800 And my mom basically took the brunt of that. 299 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:09,800 And that's kind of crazy. 300 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:10,800 We have like three kids. 301 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:12,680 I was like an elementary at the time on top of that. 302 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:17,280 And so even though, again, she's not directly blood related or anything to him, took care 303 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:18,280 of him and everything. 304 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:22,520 And even after he ended up going back to Hong Kong, he ended up passing there. 305 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:26,800 Like she was the first one who went there to help and handle like Dilipis Estate, all 306 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:28,640 the other stuff for the funeral and everything else. 307 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:30,920 And for me, that always stuck with me just because like the amount of stuff she did. 308 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:34,600 Like she did more than my dad, my dad's the one related. 309 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:38,600 And then on the church side, Jordan already mentioned them, but both Bill Crawford and 310 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:41,080 Dale Giesbrecht, I feel like they've been fantastic. 311 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:45,560 Like I said, when they would lead that young men's small group, that was really the anchor 312 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,240 for me during the time for university, because it was a transitional period of field for 313 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:49,240 both me and Jordan. 314 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:52,920 We're both starting to navigate like school, but also even afterwards when we're starting 315 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:56,240 to do our first jobs, like they were really there to kind of give us their insights, their 316 00:15:56,240 --> 00:16:01,680 experience as we're kind of figuring out like, how do I start adulting basically? 317 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:05,400 And especially for Dale in particular, like even when he ended up disbanding the young 318 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:09,040 men's small group, he told me, like, Jesse, like it doesn't have to end here. 319 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:10,040 Like you can lead a group. 320 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:11,880 Like you have the qualities to do that. 321 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:14,520 And at first I was like, oh man, yeah, I can't lead a group. 322 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:16,480 But that did stick with me for some time. 323 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:20,240 And when I eventually did take the dive to become a life group leader, like basically 324 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:22,660 a lot of I've done is modeled after what Dale showed. 325 00:16:22,660 --> 00:16:27,000 And so I think both Bill and Dale did a fantastic job basically leading that group. 326 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:28,000 Yeah, absolutely. 327 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,800 I totally agree with him about Dale Giesbrecht, Bill Crawford. 328 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:37,720 For me, some of the heroes of faith, for me, I've actually been people like Bob Goff, Bob 329 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:42,680 Goff, who's a Christian author and a kind of a philanthropist as well. 330 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:46,360 And Rick Warren, who's a pastor down in the States. 331 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:52,800 Like I've listened to so many of either Rick Warren's sermons or Bob Goff's teachings and 332 00:16:52,800 --> 00:17:01,560 such and just trying to help people model the way of Christ with the circumstances they 333 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:03,080 have and such. 334 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:11,040 Like Bob Goff, for example, teaching people like me for sure, how to deal with difficult 335 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,000 people in a world full of them. 336 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:20,440 And there's people that maybe you don't get along with very well or they're just kind 337 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:22,480 of just rough around the edges. 338 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:28,360 But trying to model loving those people and giving them guidance. 339 00:17:28,360 --> 00:17:33,600 And Rick Warren's just like some of his sermons have really inspired me that way. 340 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:35,360 And I mean, you know what? 341 00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:41,380 There's so many people here at Trinity, like Jesse said, that have been faith inspirations 342 00:17:41,380 --> 00:17:42,380 to me. 343 00:17:42,380 --> 00:17:48,280 I just can't, I'm just not going to sit here for an hour and just list them all up. 344 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:54,920 But truly there are so many people at this church, specifically that I've grown up with 345 00:17:54,920 --> 00:18:00,880 in faith and coming to church that have really modeled Jesus' teachings and just have been 346 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:03,520 an inspiration to me as well. 347 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:04,560 Yeah. 348 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:08,240 And just sort of hearing you each talk about these different folks, one thing that stands 349 00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:10,960 out to me is there's like different levels of people, right? 350 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:15,440 Like there's your mom, there's the people in our homes that we see every day and interact 351 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:16,440 with. 352 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:20,400 And then there's the people in our church community that we sort of have, they're not 353 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:25,160 in our lives every day, but some of them pretty much a lot, you know? 354 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:30,680 And then there's those other people that we don't know personally, but that do speak into 355 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:32,800 our lives, right? 356 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:34,440 That really shape our faith. 357 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:35,440 Yeah. 358 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:40,960 And I think it's helpful to have somebody at each level, right? 359 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:46,700 Because we need those moms, we need those partners, those people who can be there in 360 00:18:46,700 --> 00:18:49,320 our everyday lives. 361 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:52,760 And then we need those people who come in for seasons, right? 362 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:56,680 And who speak to us and help shape us in different ways. 363 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:57,680 Yeah. 364 00:18:57,680 --> 00:18:58,680 Absolutely. 365 00:18:58,680 --> 00:18:59,680 For sure. 366 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:00,680 Yeah. 367 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:06,520 When you think about some of the heroes of faith in scripture, are there any particular 368 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:10,760 people or characters that sort of stand out to you, stories that you really appreciate 369 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:13,520 or that have shaped your faith in a particular way? 370 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:16,240 For me, I mean, Daniel. 371 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:21,080 Like I think Rob had even done a sermon about it, like Daniel in the lion's den, as we've 372 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:23,080 heard this parable before. 373 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:29,360 And I mean, just the faith that he had to get in the lion's den. 374 00:19:29,360 --> 00:19:33,880 Like if I asked you, go into a lion's den right now and just pray to God quick that 375 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:36,160 the lions won't bite you, you know what I mean? 376 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:37,160 Would you do that? 377 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:38,160 Right? 378 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,900 And I think a lot of people would really, really have second thoughts about doing that. 379 00:19:41,900 --> 00:19:48,760 So that's just one biblical example where it's like, wow, like his faith really was 380 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:54,960 strong because lions are not going to take it easy on you, you know, unless they're friendly 381 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:59,600 zoo lions or something. 382 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:03,600 I think for me, it's, I don't think a lot of people think of this one, but Jonah, because 383 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:08,200 I think he knows God exists and he had the balls to basically tell God, I don't want 384 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:10,000 to see any of it and he ran away. 385 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:11,000 Right. 386 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:14,200 And he showed so much mercy to both him and in a way. 387 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:18,200 And I think if God could choose a prophet like Jonah, there's hope for us. 388 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:19,200 Yeah, that's true. 389 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:25,120 And I think it's just a great example of like just how patient God can be. 390 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:29,560 And that even for someone who like deals with God on a daily basis, like they can act like 391 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:30,560 that. 392 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:31,560 So it's okay. 393 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:34,340 Like I think Doran mentioned many times we have for faults. 394 00:20:34,340 --> 00:20:36,160 If you fall down, you can pick yourself up. 395 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:37,160 God will pick you up again. 396 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:38,160 Right. 397 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:39,160 Right. 398 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:40,160 Absolutely. 399 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:44,080 And I think he's often we talk about Jonah as like the anti-prophet. 400 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:49,360 Like, does the prophet thing, but like really reluctantly. 401 00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:53,120 And then like even in the end, he's like, no, God, burn them all. 402 00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:54,120 Yeah. 403 00:20:54,120 --> 00:20:55,600 I have this nice spot to see them burn. 404 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:57,200 It's like, oh, man, it's hot. 405 00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:58,200 Is this God? 406 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:00,200 Is this really necessary? 407 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:02,200 Can we just telecom? 408 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:03,480 Can we just telephone? 409 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:04,480 I did the job. 410 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:05,480 Do you really have to save? 411 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:06,480 Yeah, that's right. 412 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:08,080 We do a Zoom call with them. 413 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:09,080 Thanks. 414 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:10,080 Yeah. 415 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:14,920 But you're right that he does stand out as someone who at the very least has this faith 416 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:16,240 to be honest with God. 417 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:17,840 It has this faith to. 418 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:18,840 Yeah. 419 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:23,520 To just be like, I don't want to do this job, but God is calling me. 420 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:25,480 So I guess I'm going to do it. 421 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:27,480 And yeah, very relatable. 422 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:29,480 Yeah, for sure. 423 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:30,480 Yeah. 424 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:31,480 Yeah. 425 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:32,480 Yeah. 426 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:38,120 I think for me, when I think about here's a faith and folks in scriptures, I mean, 427 00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:42,160 there's a lot of examples, a lot of stories that stand out. 428 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:48,480 But I think Jeremiah has always been a guy that I relate with. 429 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,520 Yeah, just his story of calling. 430 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:57,280 And when God calls him, God says, you know, go and like speak to the people and you're 431 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:00,040 going to speak words of both comfort and destruction. 432 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,040 And Jeremiah is like, nah. 433 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:03,040 Yeah. 434 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:04,040 Yeah. 435 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:05,040 No thanks. 436 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:06,040 No thanks. 437 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:07,040 I'm too young. 438 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:08,040 I'm too this. 439 00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:10,440 People aren't going to listen to me. 440 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:12,200 But then he goes and does it. 441 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:18,720 And again, his story brings both, yeah, both comfort and destruction and both moments of 442 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:22,560 boldly speaking the truth and moments of weeping. 443 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:25,440 Moments of saying like, God, I don't know what I'm doing. 444 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:27,200 I don't know what you're doing. 445 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:28,200 Yeah. 446 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:29,200 Yeah. 447 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:30,200 But yeah, faith through it all. 448 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:32,200 Through all of the ups and downs. 449 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:33,200 For sure. 450 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:34,200 Absolutely. 451 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:35,200 Yeah. 452 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:36,200 Yeah, for sure. 453 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:41,080 Well, thank you both so much for taking some time to share your stories and your thoughts. 454 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:42,080 Thank you for having us. 455 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:43,080 Yeah, likewise. 456 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:44,080 Yeah. 457 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:49,200 And for those who are listening, I hope that you've been able to pull out some moments of 458 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,240 faith and truth from these stories as well. 459 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:57,280 Moments that maybe resonate with your experiences or moments that challenge you to think more 460 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,040 deeply about your faith. 461 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,080 And I would love to hear your stories of faith as well. 462 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:04,720 So feel free to reach out. 463 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:09,000 You can email us or send us a message and I would love to chat with you more about what 464 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,400 faith looks like in your life. 465 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:18,120 And so now I just hope that you go forth into this week full of faith and trust in God and 466 00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:35,160 we'll see you soon.