Well, welcome back everyone to Rising 365. If you're new to this podcast, this podcast
is committed to inspiring and supporting others who embrace the opportunity to rise with each
new day. I'm Mike Penney and I know that Rising Daily can be a challenge for many, including
myself. And it is my hope that what you hear in these episodes will assist you in rising
every day of the year.
Thank you for tuning in for episode 22 entitled Friction. It's been a while since I recorded
a podcast because we had just ended our summer ministry of summer good news clubs here in
central Nebraska. A little backstory for you if this is your first time my family and I
are full time missionaries as we oversee the ministry of child evangelism fellowship here
in central Nebraska. And during the summer, we train teens to go out and lead vacation
Bible goals in the sense all throughout central Nebraska, we go into little communities and
go into the community parks and just have a great time with the local kids they're sharing
Bible lessons and stories and we last Thursday that all concluded and so we're excited to
be transitioning out of the summer straight into the school year where we do good news
clubs which are afternoon clubs for elementary age students and we train. So yeah, our ministry
is year round and it's exciting. So that's the reason for the delay in episodes being
put out. But here in episode 22, we're talking about the importance of friction. Now rising
365 like I shared, it's all about the capability and getting stronger for each new day you're
getting in the only way we can get stronger is if we face friction in our life and friction
is needed. Friction saves lives. We know when it comes to friction, it starts fires. It
helps us stop our vehicles when we are driving. It helps build muscle. If you're out exercising
without putting our bodies underneath friction, there's no growth. There's no increase in
strength. So it's needed. Sadly, in our culture, we try to alleviate all friction that could
possibly encounter in our lives. If a relationship isn't going well, what do people say? Well,
just get a divorce and move on. If a job isn't going well, well, that job is not meant for
you. Go put that job and find another one. But that's not necessarily the case. Not everything
in life is going to be perfect for you. It doesn't take much to see that. What we have
to do is understand that this friction in our life is good. It's strengthening us. It's
giving us the ability to grow each and every day with each thing we face and overcome.
Ecclesiastes says that in chapter four, it talks about the need for friction. When you
look at relationships, we can't go around solo in our lives. We have to have people
in our lives that bring about positive friction. Ecclesiastes four talks about two people are
better than one because two people, when one falls down, the other one can reach down and
come up. When they are cold, they can keep each other warm. It goes on and says that
a three braided rope isn't easily broken because those three braids, friction and tied together
as they are stretched become even stronger. I was always amazed as my time in the United
States Coast Guard when we'd be on these big giant ships and how just a little strand of
rope could hold that big giant ship to its moorings all because of that friction and
the strength that it provides. What are you trying to avoid in your life that you see
as negative friction? We know what happens when friction is taken out of our lives as
here in the Midwest. I'm not afraid of many things, but I am afraid of driving on icy
winter days, especially that black ice that's not easy to see. You'd be driving down the
road and everything seems going perfectly fine. Then all of a sudden during the winter,
you hit this shiny black ice and it doesn't matter if you have a four wheel drive truck,
canes on, black ice does not care. You lose the friction needed to stop, to drive, to
control your vehicle. Accidents happen. That's what it's like when we remove the friction
from our lives. What's meant to make us stronger and keep us going and build us up and stop
us from going a certain direction is meant to strengthen us. So it enables us to rise
each and every new day. So we have to address the friction on our lives, the good things.
That's why they say opposites attract in marriage relationships. If both spouses were like-minded,
there would be no friction in the marriage and everything would always look hunky-dory.
But would there be growth in the marriage? Would the negative personalities of the individuals
be clean? It takes really close relationships in a marriage and a friendship for there to
be positive friction where in this relationship people can say, hey, you know what? You're
not making the best choices here in your life. Drinking the substance abuse you're using,
you know, that's not the friction you want in your life. So they challenge you to be
better than what you are. We can't see ourselves gruelly. That's why it's important to have
those around us who really know us and us to be transparent with them so they can encourage
us when we're embarking on the wrong paths. It's always said the path with least resistance
is the one commonly followed, but the results leave you with nothing. You feel empty when
you don't achieve it because you didn't have to accomplish anything, overcome many obstacles
or hardships or gain new wisdom and skills. So it's a kind of an empty achievement. It's
those achievements that we have to overcome so much friction, so much growth is required
of us. When we look back, when we finally get to the point where we feel satisfied,
you can look back and be really proud of yourself. That's why I'm encouraging you in this episode.
Don't shy away from the friction in your life. Yes, address the negative things that aren't
good for you. Get rid of them, but then look for things that will challenge you, that will
bring about new growth in your life. But you know you're going to have to put some effort
into it because you're going to, in the long run, be proud of yourself. You're going to
see that you're capable of doing more than you thought you were able to ever do because
you weren't afraid of a little friction in your life. And if you need professional help
to see what negative frictions are in your life to help you get rid of that or to see
and set new positive frictions in your life and what those look like, I recommend an online
source called BetterHelp. You know they've helped me when I needed it the most when it
came to counseling and just having some talk therapy of addressing some issues in my life
that I was struggling to face and having a professional help walk you through that is
the best thing. So you know look at your life, take an inventory of it, grab a pen and paper
and make two columns. One column, what's the positive friction in your life? And work towards
those, what will you need to do to get strong in those areas? And the other column, negative
frictions. Frictions that you know if you continue down that path is only going to lead
to hardships and heartbreak and hurt. So like always the choice is up to you. You just got
to take it one day at a time. And in that day you take it one second at a time. And
allow yourself to get overwhelmed. Breathe and know you're capable of more than you've
ever imagined. So thank you for tuning in. I hope each episode brings you inspiration
to embrace every new day. To support this podcast consider booking me as a speaker for
your next conference, school assembly, youth event, Bible study or any special occasion
where I can share the message of Rising 365. To arrange this just simply email me or message
me at rising247365.gmail.com. Additionally, you can support by liking, sharing and rating
the podcast on your preferred listening platform. Again, we are full-time missionaries with
CEF of Central Nebraska so you can go to our website provided in the show notes and you
can support us there. Until we meet again, I'm Mike Pena reminding you to rise and seize
the gift of a new day where you are destined for this moment.