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Welcome to the God's Goodness podcast, where our mission is to encourage as well as highlight

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God's Goodness and modern-day miracles.

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We are your hosts, Josh and Shelly Hankins.

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Today we have with us a very special couple.

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With us, they go to our church with us.

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They're actually pastors.

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Both of them are like what an honor.

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How cool is that?

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A couple of pastors.

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And their names are Brianna and Luke Walden.

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And the Holy Spirit led them to be on this episode.

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And they are our first couple guest, which is really exciting to me because we didn't

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know what the Holy Spirit would lead them to share with everyone.

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But what we've been blessed with is they brought a whole outline and they're not going to miss

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a thing that the Holy Spirit wanted to share with you.

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So they are going to be guided by the Holy Spirit and an outline.

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And I just can't wait for their story to be a blessing to others.

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And we're going to have them open us with an opening prayer.

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Sure.

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Well, dear Jesus, we just thank you so much for this day.

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Lord, we thank you for the move of your spirit in our lives.

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And we thank you for the stories that we get to tell because all of it points back to you

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and who you are and your movement in our midst and in the call that you place before us.

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So we thank you for what you're doing.

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We thank you for what you have done.

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And we thank you for what you're going to do.

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In Jesus' name we pray.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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And we thank you for that.

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Of course.

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Yeah.

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I loved your little dance over there at the beginning.

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That was so much fun.

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It's the only dancing I do this in.

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It is.

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It's also the same exact dance she does when she's eating food that she really likes.

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So with that, where did I start your outline?

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Oh, yeah, sure.

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Thanks so much for asking us to come on and do this.

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This is super exciting.

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I know you guys have had some really good guests on here.

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Some who talk very, very well.

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They're really good at articulating what their testimony and their story have been.

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So here's hoping that we can hit the same level that you've had on this.

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Oh, yeah.

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We're just honored to be here.

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So thank you so so much.

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Thank you for being with us.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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So I was thinking, you know, just kind of start up the beginning of like how God kind

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of made his prisons known in each of our lives.

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And this concept that we look at called like the journey and like where Jesus has taken

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us from and where he is kind of like moving us to.

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So for me, I know that so I grew up, I went to private school.

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I went to a Christian school right out of sight of West Mifflin right next to CCAC called

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Wilson Christian Academy.

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And so it wasn't like your normal private school.

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We kind of got the kids that came from the kind of got kicked out of other schools.

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That was just kind of the claim to fame of what it was.

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But in the middle of that, they had all of these kids together and they were trying to

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teach them not just basic education stuff, right, but also like who Jesus was, how to

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follow him and what that looks like.

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So we've had we did stuff like chapel every Fridays and we had speakers come in.

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So it was awesome.

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We had like a little youth group in the middle of our school, which was fun.

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And the one moment for me, which I've told this testimony before, but like the moment

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that hit for me is I was sitting in a chapel and I couldn't remember this guy's face.

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I can't remember his name if you asked me about it, but I do remember what he said.

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And he looked at all of us and he asked us this question.

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And the question was, when are you going to take ownership of your faith and stop writing

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on what your parents believe?

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And that question like knocked me off of my seat for the next like three to six months

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really is like, I just sat there and had to process that because then came the whole

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moment of what is my faith?

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Like what is mine?

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Do I believe this because my parents told it to me to be true?

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Or do I actually take ownership of like who Jesus is and what he's doing?

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Like, is he actually Lord or am I following a checklist that my parents had kind of put

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in front of me to follow him?

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And so after that like wrestling period, I had came around to this conclusion that like,

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no, this is my faith.

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Like I'm going to take ownership of what Jesus is.

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And really at that moment started feeling this like call and burden to ministry wanting

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to be involved in this.

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I remember even since middle school, but in this moment specifically like praying to

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Jesus God, like I'm on worship teams.

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I can play music.

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I can do instruments.

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But like, if you would allow me to be able to do this full time someday, I will devote

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like every moment to what you have.

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And so we got to that point where Jesus really just kind of solidified himself in my life

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after that question that that man asked and coming out of high school.

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It was a little difficult because you would think coming from a like a private Christian

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high school that there would be like a ton of us who believed and I would have all of

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these friends.

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But the reality was, I think it was super interesting is that really only two of us out of my class

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of 21 not crazy huge, right?

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We had 21 in our graduating class compared to I think what?

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Right.

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Not like 700.

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Yeah.

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Not like 700, right?

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I had 33.

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33.

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Yes.

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You see similar.

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You would what?

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You know, like yourself.

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Totally.

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You're like homeschooled all year.

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But because I would be I could see that totally.

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But out of this small class of like 21, 23 of us, only two of us like still follow up

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with like who Jesus is to this day.

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And so coming out of high school, I didn't fully have like friends.

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I didn't have anyone who I could kind of like talk about God with who I could kind of grow

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with.

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Like I'm a higher and sharpening iron piece and like the reality is, is you need people

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to become sharp.

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You need challenge to become like growing and mature and who Jesus is.

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Right?

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Like he can download whatever he needs to in your life.

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But the reality of another person being able to kind of like expedite that process with

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you and kind of hold you accountable and sharpen like the blade of your faith.

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Like so to speak is of the utmost importance in a believer's life.

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Like Christianity is a faith of community.

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Like that's like one of the core tenants of what it is.

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I think especially in your young adult period as well as you're just stepping out into the

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real world.

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So to say, and you need people to surround you and pour into you as you're trying to

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just find yourself stumbling through like, what am I going to pursue?

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Where am I going?

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Who am I?

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So what a hard moment to look around and say, wow, like I really don't have a lot of solid

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Christian friends being able to hold me accountable as I'm trying to just pursue myself into young

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adulthood.

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Yeah, no, absolutely.

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And so that's the dilemma that I found myself in.

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And I ended up joining a youth group over at Journey by Grace Church on 51 and started

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getting real involved there as far as like leading worship at their youth group on Wednesday

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nights and being a part of their Sunday morning services and being brought up as like this

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person who's like, hey, well, it's a lead worship and be a part of that.

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And one of the last churches that I was at, I come in straight out of high school, I didn't

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have any friends.

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So I got really involved in their youth group.

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And it was invited to start leading worship teams.

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And then from there, like started being brought up to being a worship leader in the main service.

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And one of the things that actually ended up happening in the middle of all of that is

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one of the people, the youth leader that I looked up to, we actually found out that he

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was having a relationship with one of my 16 year old friends.

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And so that was this earth shattering moment where someone who is supposed to be this like

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pillar in your life, you watch them fall from grace in a way that I wish that no one ever

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has to watch their leader fall from grace.

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And in the middle of that whole moment, we see that God, I this this kid decided, hey,

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I'm going to take over the youth group.

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Like, and I went to the lead pastor said, let me do it.

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And somehow someway he said, sure.

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And I found myself as this 18 year old kid like trying to teach the gospel to 16 and 15

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year olds, right?

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And I was like, it was this really this scenario that I felt very underprepared for and in

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reality looking back was very underprepared for.

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But that moment sparked something in me to kind of move forward.

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And in that time, I actually met because of because of how everything went down.

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We actually had a man come to my church, his name's Chris, who is really took me under

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his wing and became like my spiritual father for that season.

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And it was actually through him that he goes, hey, why don't you come and join me on a Saturday

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night and like come lead worship with us.

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So I come out and it just so happens that he has like a 21 year old daughter who's my

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age who has like three other friends who are all that.

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And we are all kind of like, we're all kind of like, I don't even know how to put this

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like, we didn't have friends.

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Like we didn't have anybody else that that thing that I had been feeling, which was like,

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I have nobody around me.

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Right?

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And like, I met people.

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And from there, there was like four of us to start with.

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And then we just started like leading worship places.

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And we started like studying the Bible together.

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And we started like doing conferences and the whole shebang, like going out and really trying

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to dive into like, who is God and what are we going to do about it?

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And there was a moment where I remember sitting in my parents' basement and we had about six

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or seven of us at that time.

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And we're like excited on fire, like ready for everything that's like, what is God going

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to do?

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And someone goes, what are we going to do with our faith?

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Not that we have it.

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And so this is like a little side piece of my story, but we said, we're going to open

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a youth and community center.

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We're like, we don't know how we're going to do it, but we're going to open a community

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center.

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And so we end up actually a couple of years down the road, flying out to Philadelphia and

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meeting with this community center called the Grosh.

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And they showed us their facilities and everything.

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And we look at them and we're like, okay, what do we need to do this?

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And they said, you have the people, all you need is a building.

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So we go home and we start looking around in over in West Newton, PA, and we find a

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building, we find a community, we find a town, and we open up this youth center in the middle

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of this city.

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And the first year we had like 60 students, 60 kids from the community come over.

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I think year two was like what, like a hundred, 130 something like that.

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And I think as of this year, and as this is what five years ago that that opened up as

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of this year, they have like 230 plus students that they service on like a daily basis.

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And the reason I'm telling all of this is because like the progression of the person

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I was coming out of high school to God, moving me from place to place to place.

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Like, like I thought I had this in my head that like, I'm going to get out of high school

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and I'm going to have a bunch of awesome friends and we're going to just travel around and

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we're going to tour and we're going to lead worship together.

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And that's just what I'm going to do for the rest of my life.

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Like this is what I want to do.

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And in the middle of that process, right, I found myself in some relationships that really

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I gave too much to that I should have never done romantically.

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And in the middle of that, I was searching so much for this fulfillment out of another

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person that I really should have been looking for in God.

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And so it's this moment where like, I'm sitting back and I'm looking around at my life and

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my first thing is like, God, I need friends.

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I don't have any friends.

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He provides friends, right?

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And then the second thing was just like, God, I really like, I just want to take care of

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someone.

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And in the moment, what I wasn't realizing was is that I wasn't ready.

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Like I wasn't prepared for that kind of back and forth.

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You were willing though.

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I was willing.

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I was willing.

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That's absolutely true.

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Far too eager and willing.

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Far too eager.

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I always had this like want inside of me that like I just, I always wanted to take care

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of someone.

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Like I had that feeling, but that feeling left unchecked, like leads to the places that God

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is like trying to protect you from going.

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And so far too willing in a place that like wasn't mature enough, wasn't ready enough

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yet, but still on fire for Jesus.

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And in the middle of, of this whole, like this young adult stage where you're trying

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to find yourself, you're trying to figure out what's going on.

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I'm sitting back and I'm, I'm looking in my life and I'm like, I'm like, God, like

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I can't do the relationship thing anymore after, after like three relationships that

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didn't go well at all.

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And I'm like, there was this moment that hit me where I was in the midst of all this great

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stuff that God was doing.

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I became unhappy because this one thing wasn't the way that I thought it should have been.

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And so God's like showing up in worship nights and he's like, he's allowing us to minister

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to all of these kids in this neighborhood, in this youth center that we've started.

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And in the middle of all of this, like I'm sitting in this moment of unhappiness because

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of this one particular thing that God was not like, was not doing for me.

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And so it was this moment of like, I sat down and I said, okay, God, like I can't do this

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anymore.

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And he does what he always does.

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And he goes, I know, I've been waiting for you to have that realization.

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And I said, like, Lord, like I want to be fully open and available for you, for what

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you are trying to do in my life.

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And so I said, God, I am not even going to text a female.

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I'm not even going to talk to them unless I hear from you that like this is it.

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I'm like, I cannot do this again.

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Like I cannot be so eager and so invested that I forget the purpose of what you're trying

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to do in my life.

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And when I actually, when I talk to guys, like that seems to be like this common theme

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where we get to this moment where we're like, we just want relationships so bad that we

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forget out of the pureness of relationship with Jesus is what comes that connection,

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like with someone else.

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And I'm not talking like we've got to be attracted to them, right?

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We've got to think like they're funny.

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There's got to be compatibility.

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But the depth of like relationship actually comes from your connection with who God is.

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Because if you understand like who he is and what that nature of relationship is, then

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you can like reflect that to the person who's right next to you.

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But I wasn't ready for that.

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I wasn't fully there.

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So here it was, I'd come out of high school.

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I was serving on worship teams and everything in high school.

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He moves me to a church where again, just this man at Chris had took me under his wing.

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He starts pouring into me.

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The pastors there saw potential in me.

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They put me in a position of worship leading.

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And then we get to this moment where like God opens up that opportunity to open up this

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youth center.

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And so that's like another shift that I didn't see coming that he was doing.

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And he's pouring into that and making that like a new thing in my life.

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And then I thought that was going to be like the end of my story.

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Like I was at a moment where I was like, okay, God, I'm done with relationships.

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I'm focusing on you.

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I'm like, I am going to be running waypoint, which is the name of the youth community center.

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I'm going to be running waypoint.

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I'm going to be leading worship here and I'm going to go to the barn, which is the church

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I was at on Saturday nights.

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I said, this is going to be my life.

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I'm content.

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I'm happy here with you.

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And it was when I got to that moment of not my will, but yours, like it's so easy to just

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say that, but to actually then like to get to that moment where you're like fully released,

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where you're like, nope, like not my will, but yours be done.

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Like it switches something around you.

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And then God's able to actually take you to that next like level that he's trying to

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move you to.

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I always talk about him bringing us from glory to glory to glory, but like that next glory

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only happens when you're like, okay, like I'm humbly content right here where you have

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me.

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The flip side of that of the, of like the contentness of where you're at is then when

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you get so comfortable and then he starts to pull you out of something, you almost have

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this hold on to you.

301
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Like, no, I'm not ready to go yet.

302
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Like this is it.

303
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This is me.

304
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And so I was content.

305
00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:10,440
Like we had this youth center.

306
00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:11,440
It's popping.

307
00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:12,440
It's rolling.

308
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I'm leading worship on Saturdays, doing conferences and all of a sudden one night, I'm leading

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00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:25,480
worship on a Saturday and none other than this beautiful lady walks into the barn that

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we were at on a Saturday night.

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And that's kind of where our stories link up.

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But the thing that I wanted to talk about was is like the plan that we have in our heads

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and what Jesus has for us, it rarely plays out the way that we, we think it's going to

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be.

315
00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:48,080
Like, like what's, what's the phrase that, that man lays his plans and God laughs?

316
00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:49,160
Yes.

317
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And that's like, it's true.

318
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Like I don't mean to say this and it'd be like, it's, it's the truest statement that

319
00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:56,640
we can sit here and we can plan out.

320
00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:00,520
And he's like, you think that you have an idea of what's going to happen and you have

321
00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:02,640
no idea how I'm going to move this for you.

322
00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:03,800
Now I do want to caveat.

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00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:09,240
Like, I also believe in the fact of like prepping and being prepared and using the wisdom and

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00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:13,560
strategy that he's giving you, because when you do put that work in, he then honors it.

325
00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:18,760
But don't be so solidified in what you think needs to happen that you don't leave room

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00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:20,440
for his spirit to move.

327
00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:25,000
You know, as you were speaking, I couldn't help but get the mental image of a blacksmith

328
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:30,560
forging tools, forging a weapon, forging whatever his need is.

329
00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:31,560
Yeah.

330
00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:32,560
Right.

331
00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:35,400
And oftentimes someone may look at it as a finished product.

332
00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:36,920
He throws it right back in the fire.

333
00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:37,920
Yes.

334
00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:38,920
And then calls it out and bangs on it.

335
00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:39,920
He throws it in the water.

336
00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:43,800
Throws it back in the fire and bangs on it, molds it, turns it and tells it's absolutely

337
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:44,800
perfect.

338
00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:45,800
Yes.

339
00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,320
And so many times we think that this is it because we think this is the final product.

340
00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:49,320
Yeah, we think we've arrived.

341
00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:51,640
And he's like, no, no, no, I got some more help to do.

342
00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:52,640
I've got some more tinkering to do.

343
00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,680
I've got, I've got to do this rich inlay that I've got plans for you.

344
00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,960
You have no idea what the product is going to look like, but just wait.

345
00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:01,680
I can't wait to unleash you on the world.

346
00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:03,000
It's so good.

347
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:07,240
One of the verses that comes to mind, especially in this season, and this is something that

348
00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:12,960
I've been like wrestling out for the last couple of months, but that verse that says

349
00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:17,840
he's a lamp into our feet and a light into our paths, right?

350
00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:22,720
Like what I've come to like kind of pull from that is like those are two different seasons.

351
00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:26,440
Like in one moment, he's a lamp to our feet.

352
00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:32,160
Like we can look down and we can see the next three, four steps in front of us.

353
00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:36,960
And he's like, no, you've got to just focus on what I've got for you right here.

354
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So put your head down, keep walking.

355
00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:41,920
I got the next step, right?

356
00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:47,920
And that requires an element and a level of faith that we have to like lay at his feet.

357
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Because like, no, you have to take this because all you're showing me is the next like couple

358
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:53,000
of feet in front of me.

359
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,720
And he says, it's your job just to walk it out.

360
00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:59,120
Like the destinations, my responsibility.

361
00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:04,520
Like you let me handle the end goal and like you just need to be, be obedient in the now.

362
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:09,160
And then the second season of that is sometimes he's the light to our paths where like we

363
00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:13,400
can see like 500 feet, which is all metaphors, right?

364
00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:16,000
We can see 500 feet down the lane.

365
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:20,880
We know where we're going, but we don't have the reality of how to get there right in front

366
00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:21,960
of us yet.

367
00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:26,240
And that season requires a whole nother level of faith.

368
00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:32,000
Like then we have to put our trust in like that he has the end in sight and it may be

369
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:36,560
ours to navigate a little bit of the road that's in front of us, right?

370
00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:41,280
And so that's like one of these things that in my story of my life and I didn't go into

371
00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,800
crazy detail because we'd be here for four hours.

372
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:49,440
If I talked about every single moment that like that was my experience is like, that

373
00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:50,680
will come.

374
00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:51,680
That will come.

375
00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:55,800
But like the reality is, is there moments where I experienced the lamp to my feet and

376
00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:59,600
then there were other moments when I experienced the light to my path.

377
00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:01,640
And it's a different aspect.

378
00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:06,800
It's a different level of trust that you have to have for each and every single one of these.

379
00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:10,520
But the thing that always remains true is that like obedience is always better than

380
00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:12,020
sacrifice.

381
00:20:12,020 --> 00:20:16,840
And so you may be walking in a season of like lamp right now and you're like, I don't know

382
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:18,480
what the end looks like.

383
00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:21,080
Just be obedient to the step in front of you.

384
00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:25,420
Just be obedient to that next place he tells you to put your footing because if it's lit

385
00:20:25,420 --> 00:20:28,080
up by the lamp, it's going to be solid.

386
00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:29,720
It's going to be a firm footing.

387
00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,520
And then on the other side, if you're like, I see what's happening.

388
00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:36,760
I know what's going on in front of me, but I don't know where the next step is.

389
00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:38,440
Like same thing.

390
00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,280
It's a different level of like be obedient.

391
00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:44,800
Don't try to rush ahead too quickly because if you try to rush ahead too quickly, you're

392
00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:46,960
going to end up sacrificing too much.

393
00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:50,040
And this brings me back to the moment where I met you.

394
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:55,880
But like it was because in those relationships that I had, like God put it in me that I've

395
00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:57,480
always wanted to be a dad.

396
00:20:57,480 --> 00:20:59,800
I've always wanted to be a husband.

397
00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:01,000
Like I wanted that.

398
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:06,240
Like I felt that and that was that scenario is a light to my path scenario.

399
00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:07,240
Right?

400
00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:10,040
Like it's not now I'm, I'm 18, 19, 20 years old, right?

401
00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:13,000
And I'm looking around go, no, I had this thing, but like it's not there in front of

402
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:14,080
me.

403
00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:23,040
And what I did was is instead of being obedient, I rushed into it and so many things that were

404
00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:29,080
broken because of that, like me, the people who I was in a relationship with, because

405
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:32,640
it was, I was rushing something before it was time.

406
00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:36,760
I was trying to take the lamp to my feet moment instead of looking down the light to my path

407
00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:38,720
and trusting him with what he had.

408
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:43,440
And it wasn't until I got to that moment where I said, you know what God, like it's not about

409
00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:44,520
me anymore.

410
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:49,480
Like I won't do this until you like give me the prompting.

411
00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:52,840
And so actually, do I, should I tell this part of the, the checklist?

412
00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:54,400
The checklist that I made.

413
00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:58,840
So I totally, this was an ego problem for me this time.

414
00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,000
I said, God, I'm not doing this anymore.

415
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:02,200
I'm done.

416
00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:07,440
And here's how I'm going to know when you tell me that I'm good to go, that I can dive

417
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:09,240
back into a relationship.

418
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:13,200
I said, first things first, I need her to support me in my ministry.

419
00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:14,520
That's the number one checklist.

420
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:18,160
The second thing is, is I want her to also be engaged in ministry.

421
00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:20,960
I want that to be something that's a passion for both of us.

422
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:25,480
And the third thing I said, okay, I also need her to help us pack up.

423
00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:30,360
Cause at the time we had our own sound systems and microphones and pianos and all this stuff.

424
00:22:30,360 --> 00:22:32,200
So we were, you know, traveling.

425
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,720
Worship gigs and conferences pretty often.

426
00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:38,840
So for you to like go to a place, set up, tear down, like that was just the weekend

427
00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:39,840
usual.

428
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:43,680
That was like the weekend, like the Thursday through Saturday usual, wake up at six, go

429
00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,400
to work, get off at four and then go straight somewhere and unload and be ready to lead

430
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:48,880
worship that evening.

431
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:51,280
And so I looked at God and I said, I need her.

432
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:57,000
My third must is I need her to help us pack stuff up.

433
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:58,000
And then I went, you know what?

434
00:22:58,000 --> 00:22:59,840
And then he got really cocky.

435
00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:02,000
I don't just need her to help us pack stuff up.

436
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,000
I need her to wrap up a microphone cable.

437
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:11,680
I specifically said she, I need to see her wrap up a microphone cable.

438
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:17,360
And so one day that night that I was telling about worship at the bar, she walks in the

439
00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:22,760
door and that moment hadn't happened yet, but God was starting something in the middle

440
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:23,760
of all of this.

441
00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,680
So I think that's where I'll leave it to have you tell your story and we'll get back

442
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:27,680
to that.

443
00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:31,080
We'll get back to the microphone cable.

444
00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:32,840
Full circle at the end of this podcast.

445
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:34,800
I'm not going to break that.

446
00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,200
I wanted enough like he flubbed it and he was like, nope, doesn't matter.

447
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,760
Or if you were so flawless, he was a nabber.

448
00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:41,760
I love it.

449
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:45,360
Well, fitting with my character is so flawless.

450
00:23:45,360 --> 00:23:46,360
It's true.

451
00:23:46,360 --> 00:23:47,360
It's true.

452
00:23:47,360 --> 00:23:48,360
It's so, so good.

453
00:23:48,360 --> 00:23:49,360
Yeah.

454
00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:51,800
No, I love to even just like a pause in your story for a second.

455
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:55,800
I love coming back to even waypoint when you got in the middle there, even how you were

456
00:23:55,800 --> 00:24:00,160
talking and came out of high school or no, excuse me, before that you had that moment

457
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:04,560
in high school where the speaker in your chapel had asked, you know, is this your parents'

458
00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:05,920
faith or is this your faith?

459
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:08,800
When are you going to take what your parents believe and make it your own?

460
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:09,800
And you wrestled with that.

461
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:15,720
And so you first had to get to the point of like, do I even believe what is my faith?

462
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:20,640
All through all of that, then you come to the point where God blesses you with the friends,

463
00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:22,600
the people who are pouring into you, mentors.

464
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:26,840
He surrounds you with a strong circle for you to be able to go from the point of, what

465
00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:27,840
is my faith?

466
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:29,480
Do I even have faith?

467
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:33,940
To then the second step of, I do have faith standing strong in it and now going, what

468
00:24:33,940 --> 00:24:35,440
am I going to do with it?

469
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:41,280
And I think that's just so powerful to see that progression of what is my faith solidified.

470
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:46,840
Now what am I going to do with it and just when you leave room for God to just do what

471
00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:47,840
he wants to do?

472
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,120
He's really good at being him.

473
00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:51,120
Yeah, he is.

474
00:24:51,120 --> 00:24:52,120
Right?

475
00:24:52,120 --> 00:24:53,120
I can't imagine it.

476
00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:56,120
It's really a job we should just let him have at all times, right?

477
00:24:56,120 --> 00:24:57,120
Absolutely.

478
00:24:57,120 --> 00:24:59,000
You think we'd remember that more often, yeah?

479
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:03,760
Well, you know, when Jesus said, you have little faith and we've discussed, you know,

480
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:08,240
before that that is the duration of little, that that's just how we think as people.

481
00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:09,520
That's how the flesh rules us.

482
00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:12,640
And so yeah, you think we'd remember, but we forget.

483
00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:14,120
Really quick.

484
00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:15,120
Every day.

485
00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:16,120
Yep, absolutely.

486
00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:17,680
Well, hey, I'll go ahead and dive in.

487
00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:20,120
So thank you for introducing Luke and me.

488
00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:23,640
So I'm Bree on this podcast, of course, and I'll start.

489
00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:27,480
I was talking with someone just a couple of weeks ago and they made the comment to me.

490
00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:31,880
I was sharing my story and my journey and they made the statement, wow, like you really

491
00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:35,120
are just a byproduct of the local church.

492
00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:38,400
Like you are the picture of a byproduct of the local church.

493
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,880
And that just stuck with me and I was thinking about it and I was like, you know what?

494
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:43,920
Like I really, really am.

495
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:49,400
And that is so much of my story is this local church, even of where we are recording this

496
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:50,400
podcast.

497
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:56,400
The people and the place of this church is really what has built me.

498
00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:02,360
I even think so the office that I am in right now, so I am the pastor of discipleship here

499
00:26:02,360 --> 00:26:07,280
at South Hills and so the office that I get to be in is so special to me and brings tears

500
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:13,000
to my eyes because when I was a child, my mom has been on staff here at South Hills for

501
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:14,000
26 years.

502
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:15,000
I'm 27.

503
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:16,320
So almost all of my life.

504
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:20,920
So grew up in this building in the office that I'm in now in my childhood, I would come

505
00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:23,680
here after school and I would go to that office.

506
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:29,760
It used to be the office of our assistant bookkeeper and I would shred paper for hours.

507
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:31,480
They needed help shredding paper.

508
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:36,160
And so I would just sit in there for hours and I would shred paper and I would talk with

509
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:37,440
our assistant bookkeeper.

510
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:42,040
Her name was Sharon and they would just pour into me the receptionist after school.

511
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:46,520
I would come and just sit in the receptionist's office and Carol and all of these women would

512
00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:51,640
just pour into me and let me play in their offices and hang out after school.

513
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:57,200
And I look back at all of those years and think like I am just when he said that you're

514
00:26:57,200 --> 00:26:58,400
the byproduct of the local church.

515
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:04,320
I'm like, I am just so thankful for the people who have just poured into my life.

516
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:09,600
It might not have always looked like a blessing in the moment, but to look back and now especially

517
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:15,000
sitting in that office thinking back of like, wow, when I was seven, eight, nine, I would

518
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:19,120
just sit in here shredding paper for hours while people just poured into me.

519
00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:22,680
And if you would have told me 20 something years later, you're going to be a pastor on

520
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:25,880
staff at this church and this will be your office.

521
00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:28,520
I would have never, ever believed them.

522
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,520
I probably would have told them we'll get into my story, but I would have said like,

523
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:35,200
oh, thank you, I actually want nothing to do with that.

524
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,320
So yeah, so I am pastor's kid grew up here at this church.

525
00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:43,840
My mom has been a pastor pretty much all of my life and I grew up just your normal pastor's

526
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:48,800
kid, nothing crazy, but I think you see the good, the bad and the ugly.

527
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:52,480
I think that's a pretty stereotypical response, but it was true.

528
00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:53,480
You do.

529
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:57,720
You get to see a lot of really high mountain tops, but a lot of really low valleys.

530
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:02,480
And so for me personally, I think I just said like, you know, I'm kind of good.

531
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:06,080
Like I've seen enough to last me a lifetime and I don't want anything to do with this.

532
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,160
Like nothing against Jesus.

533
00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:10,560
He's cool, but I'm good personally.

534
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:13,520
Like to devote my life to that, I'm all right.

535
00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:18,920
And I think from a very young time, I did always feel a call on my life to ministry.

536
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,680
That was something that was pointed out to me multiple times, but I never took it with

537
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:24,440
any serious weight or depth.

538
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,520
I just kind of brushed it off and I was like, hmm, that's, you know, that's nice.

539
00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:28,520
No, thank you.

540
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:29,520
I'm not interested.

541
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:30,520
So yeah, right.

542
00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:32,020
I'll just pass.

543
00:28:32,020 --> 00:28:36,600
So I, you know, put my plans together of course, because I am a planner.

544
00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:44,660
I am a type A and I have a plan C, D and E to my A and B. And so I have got it under control.

545
00:28:44,660 --> 00:28:46,160
So I was very excited.

546
00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:48,000
It looks like I do just want to cut it.

547
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:52,200
She is the queen you said earlier that, oh, you got, you're so organized.

548
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:53,200
You got this.

549
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:57,960
Anything that is organization on my end is strictly because of her involvement in my

550
00:28:57,960 --> 00:28:58,960
life.

551
00:28:58,960 --> 00:28:59,960
She is awesome.

552
00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:00,960
I don't know how you guys do it.

553
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:04,040
Like, you guys are robbing yourself of the joy of shooting from the hip.

554
00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:07,760
Oh, that, that joy is more like the panic attack.

555
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:09,200
Her it's the sheer terror.

556
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:13,240
For me, I embrace it, but yeah, that's, that's like the only way to go shooting from the

557
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,240
hip makes me 20.

558
00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:17,240
You get better at it.

559
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:18,240
The nerve is calm.

560
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:19,240
Yeah.

561
00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:20,880
So I had made my plans.

562
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:24,960
I applied to a bunch of colleges and I wound up going to Grove City for psychology and I

563
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:28,400
thought like, wow, that's a really, you know, it's what a great aspiration for me.

564
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:29,400
Like good for me.

565
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:30,400
Pat myself on the back.

566
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,120
I'm going to really just roll with this.

567
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:38,400
And I did, you know, I had went, but in that I had felt so unfulfilled and I just, the

568
00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:43,440
more I went to classes, the more that I was at Grove City, I actually became incredibly

569
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:48,920
like anxious, depressed and I just felt very unfulfilled like I had said.

570
00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:52,840
And so I came home pretty frequently and I would help in the youth group and be a part

571
00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:54,440
of different things.

572
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:59,920
And one of my youth leaders at the time just stopped me the one time and just looked me

573
00:29:59,920 --> 00:30:03,400
dead in the eyes and said, Brianna, what are you doing?

574
00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:06,240
Like, you know the call in your life.

575
00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:07,240
What are you doing?

576
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:11,720
Why are you just running from it and trying to fulfill something that is not meant for

577
00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:12,720
you?

578
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:13,720
That's not your purpose.

579
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:17,360
And so I went back home to college and I actually, when I checked my mail that night, because

580
00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:20,240
that was the big thing, you know, at college was like, oh, what do I have in my mailbox

581
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:21,240
today?

582
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:23,960
It was like your old me fulfilled not to get you through the day is like, hopefully someone

583
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:25,480
sent me a good package.

584
00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:31,080
But I had someone anonymously, I have no idea who it was, but they had drawn this beautiful

585
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:35,120
picture and it had the scripture verse, be still and know that I am God.

586
00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:39,960
And I just knew, I just knew like, okay, okay.

587
00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:45,520
So I had thought that I was surrendering and that I was coming to terms with like, okay,

588
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:49,000
I know that you're calling me, I understand what that means.

589
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,400
So I'm going to go ahead, like thank you so much for cluing me in.

590
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:53,760
I got it from here though.

591
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,400
So again, like my planner comes back out of like, thank you so much for that tidbit, but

592
00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,640
now I will take this upon myself.

593
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:03,320
So I started researching ministry schools and different things to be a part of.

594
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:07,120
I started touring a couple and I got accepted to a couple, which is great.

595
00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,920
I laugh now because I'm just like, did I even seek the Lord?

596
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,880
Like I, you know, he gives you an inch and I'm like, oh, thank you so much genius.

597
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,040
I will now take that upon myself.

598
00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:19,560
And I did and I got accepted and I had made this plan.

599
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:24,640
I was on my way to James River's leadership college, a great church out in Missouri.

600
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:25,640
And so that was my plan.

601
00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:26,640
I had come home.

602
00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:30,480
I was interning here actually at South Hills for the summer in the children's and youth

603
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:35,960
department and we had gotten the opportunity to go lead worship for the Pendel kids camp.

604
00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:37,120
It was a great time.

605
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:38,120
I loved it.

606
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:40,800
But during that week, the Lord wrecked me.

607
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:42,400
And so this was the middle of July.

608
00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:43,920
I had already had an apartment.

609
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:48,080
I had three roommates waiting for me in Missouri that I was supposed to be moving in the middle

610
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:49,240
of August.

611
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:50,520
This was the end of July.

612
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:52,600
The Lord completely wrecks me.

613
00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:55,680
And it's like, what are you doing?

614
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:57,760
You're not seeking me.

615
00:31:57,760 --> 00:31:59,560
So I came home from that kids camp.

616
00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,840
I had actually wound up going to a Hillsong concert with my friends that night.

617
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:04,360
And again, I am just weeping.

618
00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:06,400
I am sobbing the whole time.

619
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:07,600
I wake up the next morning.

620
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:12,320
It was a Saturday and I had sat down with my parents and I remember they had the same

621
00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:14,240
uneasy feeling that I did.

622
00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:18,440
We came to the conclusion like, OK, this is not right.

623
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:21,360
I'm not supposed to be going to James River.

624
00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:25,880
For me, the planner, I'm supposed to be moving in three weeks.

625
00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:29,680
What am I going to do with my like, I was like, I'm going to have to work at McDonald's

626
00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:31,040
for the rest of my life.

627
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:33,760
I can't get into another school in three weeks.

628
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:35,400
What am I going to do now?

629
00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:39,040
So I am like, Lord, you have got to give me more than that.

630
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:43,120
Which of course, he's just humbling me of like, you didn't even seek me.

631
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:46,600
Like I was so gracious like to bring you to this point.

632
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:47,600
I clenched it in.

633
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:48,600
And then you right.

634
00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:50,160
And then I just cut him out.

635
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:52,800
So at that time, that was a Saturday.

636
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:57,800
And my mutual or my friend had been asking me all summer, come to this church called

637
00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:00,200
the barn, come to this church called the barn.

638
00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:02,360
I play in a worship team over there.

639
00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:05,520
He was a drummer here at South Hills at the time and I had been blowing him off all summer.

640
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:07,200
I was like, I don't have time for that.

641
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:11,040
I'm not going to go, but I had promised him this was the Saturday, the Saturday that my

642
00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:12,600
whole world was falling apart.

643
00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:16,080
The Saturday I thought I'd be at McDonald's the rest of my life.

644
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,320
This was the Saturday night that I told him.

645
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:20,080
Not that there's anything wrong with working in McDonald's.

646
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:21,080
Right.

647
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:22,080
Not that there's anything wrong.

648
00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:24,080
He's typically entry level, not career.

649
00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:27,080
He's a 50 year player.

650
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:31,280
He's a great place.

651
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:32,280
Yeah.

652
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:33,280
We love McDonald's.

653
00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:34,280
The fries are good.

654
00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:35,280
Yes.

655
00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:36,280
Love the fries.

656
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:39,320
So that night I had told him, I'm free.

657
00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:41,880
I'll come check out this place called the barn.

658
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:44,480
So I was the whole day just spent crying.

659
00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:45,960
My eyes were a mess.

660
00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:49,600
Everything was a hot disaster and I told my mom and parents, we're trying to console me

661
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:51,240
and we'll figure this out.

662
00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:53,000
We're going to get you on the right path.

663
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,080
We're going to get you where God wants you to be.

664
00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:56,880
So I said, you know what?

665
00:33:56,880 --> 00:34:00,920
If my life plans just got wrecked, I have to be at this worship night that my friend

666
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:01,920
invited me to.

667
00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:04,080
My mom was like, you can't go to that.

668
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:05,400
It's like over an hour away.

669
00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:06,400
You've been crying all day.

670
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:07,400
You can't see out of your eyes.

671
00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:12,120
I was like, no, please, please, I have to be in the word of God with the worship of the

672
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:13,360
Lord and community.

673
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:18,080
If he has just wrecked my plans, of course, you know, I like I wrecked my own plans.

674
00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:19,440
He didn't wreck them.

675
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:23,960
And so I grabbed my friend and we drove out to this tiny church for me.

676
00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:28,280
I'm like a suburbs girl group in the South Hills my whole life drove out to this tiny

677
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:30,520
barn church, literally a barn, right?

678
00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:31,520
They converted it.

679
00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:36,560
It was a barn that the top where all the hay was that you redid that that was the sanctuary.

680
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:38,600
You could feel like 120 people in there.

681
00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:40,680
The bottom where all the stables were at.

682
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:44,080
They re converted that some bathrooms like a youth room and that's where everyone like

683
00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:46,200
ate and like came together before.

684
00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:49,080
So literally a barn in the middle of nowhere.

685
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:53,960
Yeah, we drove out there over an hour away and my good friend came with me.

686
00:34:53,960 --> 00:35:00,120
We got to this little tiny church and I walked upstairs and for me, it's just backstory.

687
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,720
I am not there are you the opposite of me.

688
00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:07,760
Yes, I was like, hey, so very much so.

689
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:11,760
I was like, hey, like I want this and I want it now.

690
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,120
You on the other hand, you wouldn't see that in like any female.

691
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:17,000
You'd be like, okay, this is potential.

692
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:18,480
This could be like, oh, it was bad.

693
00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:20,560
I'd be like, maybe maybe this way.

694
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:21,920
I maybe else.

695
00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:22,920
Maybe it was bad.

696
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:24,720
I'd go 500 miles down the road.

697
00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:26,280
I was the complete opposite.

698
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:29,280
Like I am not interested in guy.

699
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:34,760
I just it was not even on my radar and at to say the least, like I could not be less

700
00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:36,120
interested.

701
00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:40,120
So it's just not like me to like see someone to be like, oh, that's going to be my husband.

702
00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:41,120
That is just a whole special.

703
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:42,720
Especially after your plans were wrecked.

704
00:35:42,720 --> 00:35:45,760
Well, you're done in an emotional stage to be thinking this is where I'm going to meet

705
00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:46,760
Mr. What?

706
00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:47,760
I was a disaster.

707
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:51,880
And also like that cliche that everyone's like, no, the first second that I laid eyes

708
00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:52,880
on that person.

709
00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:56,160
I know I believe probably for me is was that was everybody.

710
00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:58,960
That was like that cliche hit me every time I looked at someone.

711
00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:02,000
And the problem was for me, I thought like those people are delusional.

712
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,240
Like whoever says that, there's something wrong with them.

713
00:36:04,240 --> 00:36:05,560
So like no, Lord, what did you do?

714
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:06,560
Just has to humble you.

715
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:08,720
So again, I'm at this little tiny church with my friend.

716
00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:14,240
I walk up these steps and the minute the minute I turn the corner, he's the first thing I

717
00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:18,080
see and I, I don't know how else to even explain it.

718
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:22,200
Like I knew in the depths of my soul that was my husband.

719
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:26,480
And I just had this piece come over me of like, okay, like, I guess that's why I didn't

720
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:27,480
go.

721
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:28,480
I guess everything's going to be okay.

722
00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:30,280
And I'm like, I'll wind up marrying him.

723
00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:32,800
And that's, I mean, this is what it's going to be.

724
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:38,560
Like and I just, I instantly had this and anyone who knows me the next day at church,

725
00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:43,280
I saw my other best friend and I was sharing with her and said, like, I just saw, I like

726
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:47,520
I met my husband and like people that know me, I mean, her jaw hit the floor.

727
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:49,200
Like what are you talking about?

728
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,640
I'm like, I guess it's all going to be okay.

729
00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:53,640
And from there, it was okay.

730
00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:56,920
Like the Lord truly, of course we were in our own separate place.

731
00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:57,920
Totally.

732
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:02,120
The Lord was still working in our hearts so deeply and just, I think we're finding our

733
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:05,040
call and we're finding our personhood.

734
00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:08,280
But I then that fall, that September.

735
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:13,760
So again, this was all in end of July, August by September, the church used to have a counseling

736
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:15,360
center associated with it, right?

737
00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:19,080
I went to school for psychology, thought I was going to have this huge aspiration, but

738
00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:20,200
he's so gracious with us.

739
00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:22,000
So he knew like you're not ready.

740
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:26,160
Your heart is not ready to jump into full time pastoral ministry or anything of that

741
00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:31,320
sort, the church had a counseling center and by September, I was working at our faith-based

742
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:33,920
counseling center and I was there for two years.

743
00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:38,240
And what's so funny is I even thought during that time, like maybe I'll go back to school,

744
00:37:38,240 --> 00:37:41,840
maybe I'll do this, even though you know, like I know the Lord is calling me to something

745
00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:44,600
and I'm still like, but maybe, but maybe.

746
00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:48,480
So it was just that two year period where again, he's still just refining and refining.

747
00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:50,240
And so I was their intake coordinator there.

748
00:37:50,240 --> 00:37:55,960
I had a wonderful time and after two years, so 2018, the Lord opened a door and I have

749
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:58,040
been on staff at South Hills ever since.

750
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:02,800
So I'm coming up on six years now, but it's just so cool to see the Lord and how gracious

751
00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:04,640
he is in that journey.

752
00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:05,640
Yeah.

753
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:07,400
Which brings us back to that, that moment, right?

754
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:08,720
That Saturday night.

755
00:38:08,720 --> 00:38:13,680
So what was so funny was as you came up and she had that moment with Jesus where she was

756
00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:15,200
like, no, this is it.

757
00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:16,880
I was not there yet.

758
00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:22,600
Like I was still in my like, my like, nope, I'm not even talking like we're not doing

759
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:23,600
this.

760
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:24,600
We're not touching that with the temple.

761
00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:27,080
We're not having that, right?

762
00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:28,880
And so I'm in process, right?

763
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:29,880
God's working on me.

764
00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:32,480
And that's when it was literally actually three weeks before, like two to three weeks

765
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:36,240
before you walked in that I said my list of demands.

766
00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:37,240
This is my hostage list.

767
00:38:37,240 --> 00:38:40,640
God, this is, I'm not going to say yes until you give me this, right?

768
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:42,480
And so she walks in has this experience.

769
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:43,800
I'm still in process.

770
00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:48,520
God is weeding out like some deeply rooted flaws that I had.

771
00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:53,040
He's getting rid of all of the, I don't even know what to put it, like the things that I

772
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:57,600
was chasing after before he's like kind of pulling those seeds out of me as best as he

773
00:38:57,600 --> 00:38:58,600
could.

774
00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:00,320
Cause if it's a bad seed, we need to remove it, right?

775
00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:02,560
We need to get it out of the soil so it doesn't grow.

776
00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:07,280
And so like I said that I gave him my list of demands.

777
00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:08,280
What was it?

778
00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:09,280
Six months later, eight months later.

779
00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:10,280
About a year actually.

780
00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:11,280
About a year.

781
00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:12,280
A little over a year.

782
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:13,280
So about a year poor you.

783
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:17,160
I feel bad looking back at this story now, but like we would like text, but like nothing

784
00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:18,760
like it was nothing like.

785
00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:20,920
It was just very mutual friends for about a year.

786
00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:21,920
Yeah.

787
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:26,040
And we were at this conference that we got invited to lead worship for and our full gospel

788
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:27,040
church.

789
00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:28,360
It was a full gospel church in Uniontown.

790
00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:31,360
Honestly, the people in the crowd should have been leading worship.

791
00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:34,360
They were better than us just singing from the congregation, but we were just honored

792
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:36,160
to be their leading worship with them.

793
00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:40,240
I remember it was a long day because I was still working construction then had been up

794
00:39:40,240 --> 00:39:41,240
since like six AM.

795
00:39:41,240 --> 00:39:42,920
I didn't even get to change out of my work clothes.

796
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:44,920
Like I'm leading worship in paint shirts.

797
00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:47,040
So it's like looking like a village.

798
00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:48,040
Yeah.

799
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:49,040
Literally.

800
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:50,040
It was, it was bad.

801
00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:51,040
But it was a full gospel church.

802
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:52,040
It went late.

803
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:54,120
So it wasn't like, Hey, we're an hour and we're done.

804
00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:57,280
It was like, no, we're going to sing break every chain for 45 minutes.

805
00:39:57,280 --> 00:39:59,120
Like this is what we're going to do.

806
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:00,240
And so we get to the end of this.

807
00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:01,240
It's late.

808
00:40:01,240 --> 00:40:05,160
I'm exhausted and I'm packing up my keyboard and my electric guitar.

809
00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:08,920
And I'm just so flawless that I stick around because I just want to be of help.

810
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:09,920
Right.

811
00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:12,840
I just want to be a humble servant used by the Lord.

812
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:16,080
And so I'm over here packing up my bags, right.

813
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:21,760
And I look over and what do I hear come out of her mouth, but Hey, Jake, who was one of

814
00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:25,840
my best friends at still is now to this day, but he played in the tea with us.

815
00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:28,440
She walks on and says, Hey, Jake, I want to help you guys pack up.

816
00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:33,480
But I know you musicians are very particular with the way you wrap up your cables.

817
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:39,680
So will you show me how to wrap up this microphone cable verbato from her mouth?

818
00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:40,920
I have a music background.

819
00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:42,400
I know musicians are picky.

820
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:43,600
You don't touch their equipment.

821
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:48,960
There is a specific way that every musician has a wrapping up their cables, putting their

822
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:51,120
guitars away, breaking down their stuff.

823
00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:54,480
So I'm going to follow suit and I'm going to do things the right way.

824
00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:55,480
So she does that.

825
00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:57,120
And the second he goes, sure.

826
00:40:57,120 --> 00:40:58,160
And he shows her how to do it.

827
00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:01,480
And then I'm watching like what I said was, is I need to see her wrap it up.

828
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:03,640
I didn't say she needs to ask.

829
00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:04,640
So he shows her how to do it.

830
00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:07,840
And she goes, all right, thanks, starts wrapping up the cable and a demo when I sat there and

831
00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:11,560
I looked up and I said, okay, all right, you've humbled me again.

832
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:13,320
You've met my list of demands.

833
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:17,760
You didn't have to do it that way, but you've done it and I get it.

834
00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:22,360
And so I think it was still another what six months after that before it was one month,

835
00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:23,360
one month.

836
00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:24,360
That's right.

837
00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:25,360
I'm sorry.

838
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:26,360
Wow.

839
00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:27,360
Six months.

840
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:28,360
I'm sorry.

841
00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:29,360
Because that was the answer for it.

842
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:30,360
I know.

843
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:31,360
I'm so sorry.

844
00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:33,000
The reason is because for me, that was such a jarring process and it was honestly scary

845
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:34,000
for me.

846
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:35,000
Sure.

847
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:40,640
Because of I had jumped in so soon all the times before that I was like, even with God's

848
00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:41,640
confirmation.

849
00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:48,320
Confirmation, I was still like, I'm nervous to do this because it meant like I told him,

850
00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:49,880
I said, the next one's it.

851
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:52,880
Like whatever you say yes on, like that's it.

852
00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:56,680
And so there was an element of me where like I knew that this, that I will go down this

853
00:41:56,680 --> 00:41:58,160
road, like we are getting married.

854
00:41:58,160 --> 00:41:59,280
This is what's happening.

855
00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:02,240
I didn't know that she had already had that conversation with God.

856
00:42:02,240 --> 00:42:05,440
And it was, it was great on her end, but I was still wrestling that out.

857
00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:10,160
So that about a month later on Thanksgiving, we were supposed to go where we're supposed

858
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:12,080
to go to what, elevation concert?

859
00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:13,080
Is that what it was?

860
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:14,080
Or we were supposed to go?

861
00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:15,080
That was in October.

862
00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:16,080
That was in October.

863
00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:19,040
We had already gone on a friend night.

864
00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:20,040
You were just friends.

865
00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:22,440
To an elevation concert as just friends.

866
00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:24,080
But doesn't his timeline kill you?

867
00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:26,160
Our timeline is so messed up.

868
00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:27,160
It's the worst.

869
00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:28,160
Well, it's a typical man.

870
00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:32,320
Like what I say, like the other day, I mean any time from yesterday to last two years

871
00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:33,320
ago.

872
00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:34,320
Yes.

873
00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:35,320
No, for sure.

874
00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:39,760
100% So, but so we had come off of go to see an elevation concert and on Thanksgiving,

875
00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:42,480
we were supposed to go and just hang out as friends.

876
00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:47,640
But I walk her up the driveway and I said, Hey, like, how would you feel about turning

877
00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:50,600
like our hangout tomorrow into a date?

878
00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:53,520
Like it was just super sweet.

879
00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:55,920
I listen, I am not smooth.

880
00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:58,040
Like that is like, I'm gonna go sarcasm.

881
00:42:58,040 --> 00:42:59,040
You're picking up.

882
00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:00,040
That's all my goodness.

883
00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:03,680
Like I'm, I look back to everyone and I'm like, why did you say yes?

884
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:05,520
So the Lord already talked to me.

885
00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:06,520
It's all right.

886
00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:09,880
Like I feel embarrassed for you.

887
00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:11,160
So that was my question.

888
00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:13,040
And then we went on a date the next day.

889
00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:18,280
And what's so funny is this like, I think normal people like they're like, let's go

890
00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:22,600
on a date and let's make sure that like our date was as we started off in the mall at

891
00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:23,880
the village.

892
00:43:23,880 --> 00:43:25,440
We sat down and eat eight food.

893
00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:26,960
I think I got China Max.

894
00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:31,200
I literally had like China Max and we sat in front of the front of each other and we're

895
00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:32,200
like, all right.

896
00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:33,800
So what do you go with?

897
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:35,400
We basically just lifted out.

898
00:43:35,400 --> 00:43:36,400
Yeah.

899
00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:37,440
Like I think it's negotiables for me.

900
00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:38,440
This is what I'll move on.

901
00:43:38,440 --> 00:43:39,440
This is what I want.

902
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:43,680
But like about faith, about values, not about like trivial things or service level things

903
00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:45,680
like deep, like this is what is valued to me.

904
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:46,920
This is what's important to me.

905
00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:48,000
I won't negotiate this.

906
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:49,000
I won't go past this.

907
00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:50,400
Like I won't change my value on this.

908
00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:51,400
How do you feel about this?

909
00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:55,400
And it was literally like a debate bagging forth for 30 minutes and we got to the end

910
00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:56,960
and we were like, okay, so you good?

911
00:43:56,960 --> 00:43:57,960
Yep.

912
00:43:57,960 --> 00:43:58,960
I'm good.

913
00:43:58,960 --> 00:43:59,960
You good?

914
00:43:59,960 --> 00:44:00,960
Okay.

915
00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:01,960
Yep.

916
00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:02,960
I'm good.

917
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:03,960
Okay.

918
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:04,960
Great.

919
00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:05,960
You want to go ice skating now?

920
00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:06,960
No.

921
00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:12,220
Because of how intentional, I know that obviously the Lord's hand was in it from the very, very

922
00:44:12,220 --> 00:44:18,040
beginning, but with the Lord's hand and the Lord's blessing on it mixed with our intentionality,

923
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:22,480
I just think you see really the favor that is our relationship.

924
00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:24,640
It's really important to hash that stuff out.

925
00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:29,920
And I think today's society doesn't understand that, you know, it's all about my happiness

926
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:31,600
and my moment.

927
00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:35,240
And you know, like Shelly and I, we had talked about many things that we had a lot of the

928
00:44:35,240 --> 00:44:40,440
values and it was a whole point of dating from the Christian standpoint. We call it dating,

929
00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:44,040
but really it's courting, right? The whole point is to see if you're compatible. If this is a

930
00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:48,680
person that you can share the rest of your life with, that you can both honor God and honor each

931
00:44:48,680 --> 00:44:54,760
other in this relationship that has nothing to do with if I want to love you more tomorrow than

932
00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:59,160
yesterday because you might make me mad. Right? Has everything to do with that commitment,

933
00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:04,200
everything to do with, I can't hurt you because you are me. And I just think it's great that you

934
00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:08,920
guys had that and I'm beloved that you guys are open about that too. Because I really think people

935
00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:13,080
need to hear that. I think that's a very important aspect, especially for the younger generation that

936
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:17,400
doesn't really understand what marriage is for and more people are getting married because they

937
00:45:17,400 --> 00:45:22,680
don't understand it because it's been so removed through media, social media, TV, you name it,

938
00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:27,640
right? It's not even a romanticized anymore. Right. I think even the biblical aspect of it,

939
00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:32,040
like it is the intentionality piece, but at the end of the day, marriage is a covenant. It's not a

940
00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:37,800
slip of paper. It's not just something for society. Marriage is a biblical command and

941
00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:42,280
something found in the Bible. It's not something that's societal. And so to know again, at the end

942
00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:49,160
of the day, you are entering into a covenant and to take it as such. Yeah. I think sometimes it does

943
00:45:49,160 --> 00:45:53,800
get like, oh, we don't take it too seriously. And it's like, I get that to an extent. You want to

944
00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:58,040
make sure you can have fun with the person. But at the end of the day, there is an element to it

945
00:45:58,040 --> 00:46:03,240
where it's like, no, if we are going to do this, like you said, it's a God-spoken covenant between

946
00:46:03,240 --> 00:46:08,520
two people. Like we see it as this, like, I think actually when we did our wedding, I put it in there,

947
00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:13,960
I was like, it's more than just a piece of paper for tax purposes. Like it's not so that we can

948
00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:18,840
file together or so that we can say like under the state, it's like, no, God has tied this knot

949
00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:23,880
together. And if we're going to honor that covenant, then like, we're going to put cards on the table,

950
00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:27,800
man. Like, what are you okay with? What are you not okay with? How do you believe? What's your faith?

951
00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:32,840
And where are we going from here? I think that was super important. And I think because of the

952
00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:37,560
process that we had both gone through, mostly because of the person that like you were that

953
00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:43,800
God has raised you up to be. But for me, because of I self-inflicted like trauma that I had gone

954
00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:49,000
through from before, like I just got into that point where I'm like, God, I like, we can't do this

955
00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:53,240
again. And so if we are going to do this again, I'm going to make sure I know where you're at,

956
00:46:53,240 --> 00:46:58,280
and we're going to do this going forward. And so that really kind of started in the journey for

957
00:46:58,280 --> 00:47:05,240
us like together, because we got married November 30th, 2019. And then almost four years. So actually

958
00:47:05,240 --> 00:47:10,040
next week, it'll be, well, I don't know when this is going to release, but, but whatever this releases,

959
00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:14,520
two weeks, we will be four years married at that point. Right. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank

960
00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:22,520
you very much. I will post that. That's great. But within three months of us getting married. So

961
00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:27,960
I worked construction. She worked at the church. She had a vehicle. I had a vehicle. I had never

962
00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:32,520
lived, but with my parents, you had gone away to school for a little bit, but we're living with

963
00:47:32,520 --> 00:47:40,120
your parents at the time. So from November of 2019 till February, like our whole lives shifted

964
00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:45,960
when we got married. Like we move in together to the our apartment for the first time. I get hired

965
00:47:45,960 --> 00:47:51,560
on at the church here full time. And my truck that I was driving, my precious truck, I miss it so much.

966
00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:57,960
I went down in a matter of those three months. So in that small amount of time, we were now living

967
00:47:57,960 --> 00:48:04,200
together, driving everywhere in one vehicle together and working at the same place with each other.

968
00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:10,600
And then give it one month more, give it five, six weeks more. COVID shows up. So then the whole

969
00:48:10,600 --> 00:48:16,680
world's changing around us and we're together 24 seven. And so we always do joke like, now we made

970
00:48:16,680 --> 00:48:21,640
it through the first year of driving together in one car, working at the same place, moving in and

971
00:48:21,640 --> 00:48:26,280
COVID like we did the first year, we're going to be great. Like this is rapidly accelerated. We rapidly

972
00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:33,160
accelerated through that process. I would lose my money. I need to be alone to recharge, to fill my cup.

973
00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:41,240
I would be out of it. That was our start is as I got hired on here as worship and youth director.

974
00:48:41,240 --> 00:48:46,520
And then within six weeks, COVID hits and like the pastor who hired me actually joked, he goes,

975
00:48:46,520 --> 00:48:51,640
Luke, you get the award for worst ministry start because within six weeks, we were just

976
00:48:51,640 --> 00:48:55,400
trying to figure out everything again. It was like everyone was trying to reallibrate.

977
00:48:55,400 --> 00:48:59,000
Everyone was trying to recalibrate into what does the new world look like.

978
00:48:59,800 --> 00:49:05,880
And so that started down this road for us of now like, so we're married now, but also we now have

979
00:49:05,880 --> 00:49:10,840
like a ministry call together. So separately, we have our own individual callings that we do.

980
00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:16,120
But now there's this other factor that is we're doing life and ministry together. We're pouring

981
00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:21,240
into people together. And if you look at where we're at now, if you would have asked me five,

982
00:49:21,240 --> 00:49:26,680
six years ago, like, Luke, you're going to be like, are you going to become a pastor? I would have

983
00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:31,800
looked at you and said no. Because where I was coming from was as like, no, I've been doing this.

984
00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:37,160
I've been leading worship. I'm already walking in the gifts that are there for it. Like, why do I

985
00:49:37,160 --> 00:49:41,880
need to go to school to study for like that was my that was my hang up. I think he felt like I can

986
00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:46,600
shepherd and love on people without a title. Why do I have to have a title for something? Can't I

987
00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:51,400
just love people and pour into people without having that? And I look back and of course, for

988
00:49:51,400 --> 00:49:57,480
myself as well, being hired on at the church, I did not necessarily think I was going to be a pastor

989
00:49:57,480 --> 00:50:03,480
either. And so now that we have all of the pieces, I just look back and think the Lord that I see

990
00:50:03,480 --> 00:50:08,440
what he was doing with the both of us. And he was growing our hearts and our passions, but we were

991
00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:13,960
able to then walk that credentialing road together, which is just such a unique story because not

992
00:50:13,960 --> 00:50:19,560
many people have it even while we were in school. So our license, our pastoral license is under

993
00:50:19,560 --> 00:50:24,120
the assemblies of God. And even while we were in school, our instructors and our pastors just go

994
00:50:24,120 --> 00:50:28,600
saying like, this is so odd, we don't typically have couples together. Because you typically see

995
00:50:28,600 --> 00:50:33,400
them, you know, the man go first and then a couple years later or 20 years later, the wife will

996
00:50:33,400 --> 00:50:37,320
finally be like, you know what, I think that's time where they'll each go separately to school.

997
00:50:37,320 --> 00:50:40,680
And so they kept going like, I don't know what they're going to do for your interviews. I don't

998
00:50:40,680 --> 00:50:46,120
know what they're going to do with the both of you. But I am just so thankful. And I see the hand

999
00:50:46,120 --> 00:50:52,360
of the Lord and just so special to our story that we got to walk that journey together. See, I think

1000
00:50:52,360 --> 00:50:57,400
even our ceremony, our own nation ceremony in Philadelphia this past year, like experiencing

1001
00:50:57,400 --> 00:51:03,000
that together, studying together, diving into God's word together has just been so powerful. I

1002
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:08,360
think it's so special to our story. And even the things just prophesied over us that it will be

1003
00:51:08,360 --> 00:51:13,640
a together anointing. There's just something different. We do have an individual call, but

1004
00:51:13,640 --> 00:51:19,080
the call that we have together. Yeah, it's special. And I think I think even a testament to like,

1005
00:51:19,640 --> 00:51:28,920
it took us realizing the together scenario for me to get off of my pill of like, I don't need to go

1006
00:51:28,920 --> 00:51:33,400
through any kind of schooling. I don't need to have a piece like I don't need to prove myself to

1007
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:40,200
anybody. But it switched because at the end of the day, like the Bible tells us to study to prove

1008
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:45,640
ourselves like like study to prove ourselves worthy. Like it literally explains for us to do that.

1009
00:51:45,640 --> 00:51:50,200
And in the middle with both of us, like, I got off of this thing where I don't need that,

1010
00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:56,040
because I saw the fruitfulness of what it looks like for us to be able to study together,

1011
00:51:56,040 --> 00:52:01,880
for us to be able to learn together, for us to be able to have that knowledge of going into the

1012
00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:07,160
season of our lives of like, God totally flipped me around at that point too. And was like, no,

1013
00:52:07,160 --> 00:52:13,000
I want you to do this because you and Bre are going to learn so much in this process together.

1014
00:52:13,000 --> 00:52:18,520
And honestly, I am like blessed. I've told you, I've told you about this, but I'll praise you

1015
00:52:18,520 --> 00:52:23,640
again. Like the fact that I got to do that together with you is something that I will like forever

1016
00:52:23,640 --> 00:52:30,120
treasure. Like sitting in Panera bread for like two hours or more than that, we were there for

1017
00:52:30,120 --> 00:52:34,440
what like six hours a day for like a week, Panera took all our money. And they're just over money.

1018
00:52:34,440 --> 00:52:38,040
How long were we actually there? Because we know he's really bad with time. Oh my goodness. I thought

1019
00:52:38,040 --> 00:52:43,240
it's a limit. Like it was like, at least six hours a day, at least six hours a day, like multiple

1020
00:52:43,240 --> 00:52:47,000
days a week. Just preparing for our exam. Just preparing for our exam. But like, I'm so grateful

1021
00:52:47,000 --> 00:52:53,400
that I got to sit and have you as the partner to be able like to do that together with like it

1022
00:52:53,400 --> 00:53:01,320
wouldn't have been as special as it was if it wasn't with you. And also like because of the nature

1023
00:53:01,320 --> 00:53:09,480
of who you are, like in our opposites, like she actually drives me to be the better like version

1024
00:53:09,480 --> 00:53:14,760
of myself. Because like, which is what's really funny, we talk about the like the shooting from

1025
00:53:14,760 --> 00:53:21,400
the hip scenario, like that's me to a tee. Like I'm always like willing to I stand up and yeah,

1026
00:53:21,400 --> 00:53:26,520
we're good. I don't need a plan. Let's just roll with it. But I've found the beauty in the middle

1027
00:53:26,520 --> 00:53:32,920
of the strategy because of us doing this together because of us talking about this. And this is

1028
00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:37,880
where we really see like the concept that you talked about of like, no, we both have an anointing

1029
00:53:37,880 --> 00:53:43,720
and a calling that are separate. But there is something even that like, I know I feel it fully

1030
00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:49,640
special when we are able to walk this out together because of who Jesus has made us. And because of

1031
00:53:49,640 --> 00:53:54,520
what and how he's allowing us to minister to people. I know I've taught class the last couple

1032
00:53:54,520 --> 00:53:59,320
of weeks by myself. But like, there really is it like without you being there, like there's an

1033
00:53:59,320 --> 00:54:05,720
element of you being there that like it completes me. And if that makes sense, like I am good in

1034
00:54:05,720 --> 00:54:13,400
so many areas, but you are just like so firm and calm and like articulate. And you just like, I

1035
00:54:13,400 --> 00:54:18,440
don't know, we're like peanut butter and jelly. That's enough. Yeah, I'm sorry. That is very kind.

1036
00:54:18,440 --> 00:54:23,960
You guys are both really, really wonderful. I appreciate you guys coming on the podcast

1037
00:54:23,960 --> 00:54:29,800
and sharing your story. You know, we see you often, but we don't really know you. Yeah, right.

1038
00:54:29,800 --> 00:54:35,320
And I mean, we know what you project, but that's not necessarily who you are or what's really

1039
00:54:35,320 --> 00:54:41,960
what you are. You know, I love that you were clued into God, right? But you were so sure of yourself

1040
00:54:42,520 --> 00:54:46,840
that you missed the last part of the message that he says, I'm cluing into my plan, right?

1041
00:54:46,840 --> 00:54:52,360
Not your plan, my plan. And then he kept pounding you for it, but in his special gentle way.

1042
00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:58,840
I love how you guys came together. I love the microphone story. It's tremendous. Like, and

1043
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:02,760
you know, I really would encourage people to see more of you, you know, and so if they would

1044
00:55:03,480 --> 00:55:08,040
South Hills, Assemble You God, right? They're here Sundays. Most of them, sometimes they take

1045
00:55:08,040 --> 00:55:12,840
like sabbaticals and go to Cleveland and what, but they do stuff. They're not just here. They do

1046
00:55:12,840 --> 00:55:17,000
stuff. And you know, it's like, it's like those old monster truck commercials like, you know,

1047
00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:24,120
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, you put people all see what you're only me. I love that you knew that

1048
00:55:26,120 --> 00:55:29,560
I've been a couple months to James and my life. Right. I was there on dig foot with

1049
00:55:29,560 --> 00:55:35,640
introduced and Vegas. They're amazing. Love that. Love that. Well, thank you so much for

1050
00:55:35,640 --> 00:55:41,640
coming prepared and with such an amazing story and testimony. And I love getting to know you

1051
00:55:41,640 --> 00:55:47,400
guys better than just, you know, our class and stuff and Sundays. And what a cool story. Oh my

1052
00:55:47,400 --> 00:55:52,440
goodness. Do you have anything else you want to share? I don't think so. I think we gave you a

1053
00:55:52,440 --> 00:55:59,880
good, we gave you a good first glimpse there. First glimpse painting of us. Yeah. Yeah, we're

1054
00:55:59,880 --> 00:56:06,360
just walking our life continuing and God's goodness. Right. Yeah. Awesome. Well, shameless plug.

1055
00:56:06,360 --> 00:56:11,080
God's goodness. Watch the podcast. It's not shameless if we're doing it. It's not ashamed

1056
00:56:11,080 --> 00:56:15,080
of what we're doing. Very good. Thanks for clarifying up for me. No, but thank you from the

1057
00:56:15,080 --> 00:56:19,640
bottom of our hearts for bringing us on. Yeah. And then everybody can get to know you better too

1058
00:56:19,640 --> 00:56:24,760
when they listen in. Yeah. And, you know, speaking to the listener, if this has been a blessing to

1059
00:56:24,760 --> 00:56:29,240
you or someone came to your mind that you thought maybe you could be blessed by this, we ask that

1060
00:56:29,240 --> 00:56:36,680
you share it with them or any of the episodes. And also we have a fundraising campaign in gipsango.com

1061
00:56:36,680 --> 00:56:42,440
and just look up God's goodness podcast and the funds to help pay for the audio editing because

1062
00:56:42,440 --> 00:57:07,800
I outsource that because that's not our joy. It's not my joy. So with that, we'll talk to you next time.