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Well, welcome back everyone to Rising 365, a podcast committed to inspiring and supporting

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others to embrace the opportunity to rise with each new day.

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I'm Mike Penny and I realize that Rising Daily can be a challenge because it has been a challenge

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for myself and I hope what you hear in these episodes will assist you in rising every day

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of the year.

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We're on episode 32 entitled, Maybe God. So in preparing for this episode, it's taken

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me a while to wrap my head around the way I wanted to deliver it.

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And as tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I thought this would be the perfect day to get this

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out to you all.

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So wherever you're at, Happy Thanksgiving Eve.

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You have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow.

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Let's jump into this episode.

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So I'm reading this book.

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It's basically written by an anonymous writer and the author's name is A.Believer.

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And what this writer is doing is he's unpacking the books written by Jordan B. Peterson, which

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are Beyond Order and Maps of Meaning.

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This book is called Jordan B. Peterson's Christ Revealed.

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And in this, the writer shares his journey from growing up Catholic and to becoming a

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Christian, more of a non-denominational believer Christian, wrapped around the gospels and

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the teachings of Jesus.

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Then he went to becoming an agnostic, an atheist.

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Now he's back into a life dedicated to living for Jesus again.

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And in this book, something that jumped out to me and that affected him to leave what

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he once had of faith and an understanding of who God was as a Catholic and then as a

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born and began believer, he read what Nietzsche said, that God is dead.

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And he said, right when he read this and when you go and you study Nietzsche, Nietzsche knew

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the consequences of believing in this kind of mindset.

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It even says in his quote by Nietzsche, it says, how shall we console ourselves when

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we take God out of the picture and God out of our lives and believe that God is no good,

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that God, he doesn't care or there is no God.

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This led to the nihilistic effect, which is the death of God came the death of purpose,

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meaning and hope.

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This is exactly what this writer shares in this book, that his life before grasping onto

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what Nietzsche was saying, he had hope, he had purpose, he had meaning, but then he went

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through some tough things in his life, loss of marriages, loss of kids, loss of career,

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unfulfillment jumped into depression.

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The devil works in those dark places and circumstances in our lives to get us to question if God is

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really good, then why are these bad things that happen?

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And then he presents something to us like Nietzsche's writing and claim that God is

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dead.

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So the writer jumps into a life of agnosticism, of atheist.

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But when he did that, he found himself spiraling into a belief and a feeling that he had no

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purpose and he had no meaning and he had no hope in his life.

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This is the common effect of a life without God.

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You can see in your own life and in the lives of those around you who don't have God, maybe

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their purpose and meaning, they find it in their job and in their relationships and their

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kids, but they're always trying to find different things to bring meaning into their life.

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They never have a fulfillment.

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And in the maps of meaning, the great lie is that meaning doesn't exist or that it is

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impossible to find meaning or that it's not even important.

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When meaning is denied, hatred for life and the wish for its destruction inevitably rules.

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And this happened to me about 10 years ago when I left the military and became a civilian

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here in central Nebraska, I lost meaning in my life.

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Taking off that uniform and I didn't realize I had put so much of myself in wearing that

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uniform and wearing the purpose.

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I was in the Coast Guard and there was something tangible being in the Coast Guard.

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What sets the Coast Guard apart from the other armed forces is that we are a life saving

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organization first.

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Everything we do, we do it in order to preserve life and to save life.

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We go to people who are in need, whose life is literally sinking them down and they need

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rescued.

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We don't shy away from hurricanes and storms.

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We go into them as members of the Coast Guard.

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And then we spend so much time to prevent life.

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And we have a branch of the Coast Guard called AIDS to Navigation where we're dedicated to

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make sure lighthouses work, that when boats are navigating the navigable waters out on

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the ocean and when they come into harbor that things are placed in the water or on the land

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that will keep them safe.

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So each day that ended in the 10 years I was in the Coast Guard, there was something tangibly

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I could grasp onto that night when I laid down that I felt fulfilled, that I felt I

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had a purpose.

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Once that was gone and I left that, I spiraled down.

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Just like this writer said, I had no hope.

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I couldn't see a meaning in my life.

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So what did I do?

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I did what's common for most veterans who leave the service.

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They look for another avenue of service to others.

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And these are called the careers of death or the life giving careers, meaning that when

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we sign up for these careers, we're saying that we're willing to give our lives for others,

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for those who...

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I see a lot of veterans in first responder careers, firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, you

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see them as police officers, state troopers, as they're trying to hold on and we're trying

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to hold onto that purpose, that meaning, trying to be the hope for others.

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And again, I did that.

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I put myself behind the badge and became a police officer.

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That didn't work.

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Once purpose in meaning, it was erased from my life.

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I was still left with hopelessness.

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I was desperate.

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I was in depression.

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And that became my constant companion.

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And this is the same feeling that the writer of this book, Jordan B. Peterson's Christ

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Revealed says when he jumped into believing that there was no God, there was no God to

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live for, that his constant companion was depression and hopelessness and despair.

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But then he said, I'm going to go back to my own way.

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And as he unpacks what Jordan tries to do in his Maps of Meaning book and his Beyond

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Order and even his 12 rules for life, he's saying there's something bigger out there

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to live for.

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Why couldn't it be God?

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You know, Romans 15 13 says, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace.

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So here Paul is saying that God is hope, that God is light.

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When you think of that, if there is no God, then the opposite is true.

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There is no hope and there is no light.

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So when we look to the God of the Christian Bible, Jesus Christ himself, it says our hope

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will fill us with joy and peace.

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Matthew 7 7 says, ask and it will be given to you.

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Seek and you will find.

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Knock and the door will be open to you.

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For everyone who asks, receives and the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks,

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the door will be open.

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What is being said here?

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Jesus himself is saying, world, you are going out and looking for love in all the wrong

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places to quote a cliche in the song.

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You're not going to find it there.

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You're not going to find hope and fulfillment and love and joy and peace in what the world

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provides.

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Getting into the holiday season, we are inundated now with commercials that says this next item

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materialistic thing will bring you hope, will bring you peace, will bring you joy and happiness

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and love, but it won't.

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It leaves you open here.

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So Jesus himself is saying, ask for me, ask and seek after me.

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Knock and I will be on the other side of the door.

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He's waiting to meet you there.

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What do you have if you don't believe in God?

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You don't believe in Jesus, the God of the Bible.

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You have nothing.

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You have what this writer says and you have what Nietzsche says.

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You have no purpose.

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You have no hope.

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You have no joy.

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What do you have if you do believe in God?

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It was a Christian Bible, Jesus.

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You have love, you have hope, you have forgiveness and freedom and peace and joy and purpose.

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And you'll have it to a point that you don't understand it, but you know it's coming for

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the Lord.

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Jordan says that if we have relationships and if we have a job or career and if we have

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a service outside of ourselves, but we miss the point of something bigger than us out

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there to honor and to serve, then we're still going to be left feeling that there's one

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piece missing and maybe it's gone.

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So the past 31 episodes, what have you done with God?

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And again, when I share of God, I mean, what have you done with Jesus, your relationship

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with him?

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Have you denied it and put it off?

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Is it something that you once had before, but due to life circumstances and the things

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you've faced, you've neglected it and let it go because the results of those situations

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didn't lead to what you desired for yourself?

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Maybe give God a chance again.

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Maybe give God a chance for the very first time because I know that if it wasn't for

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me refocusing my life into a relationship with Jesus and opening up the scriptures and

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seeing everything he did for us and their historical facts, you can go and unpack it.

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See, Jesus, man, he laid it all out there.

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He was there at the beginning.

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He, from the very beginning of time when God created this world, he created in such a way

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that he describes it and being very good.

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And in that very goodness, he wanted us to experience so we knew what very good relationship

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with God was like.

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And even in the beginning of the Bible, Genesis tells us that before we chose to find hope

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in something else besides him, our relationship was incredible.

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We walked with him.

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There was no sickness and war and hate, but that everything was very good.

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Since God gave us free will, we desire to seek our hope into something else.

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And since then, mankind, including ourselves, has been fighting this internal battle.

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God is saying, hey, you're not meant to live that way away from me, away from my relationship

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with me that I desire to have with you.

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And I promise you, when you rekindle your relationship with the Lord or you start a

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relationship with Jesus, he says that all of heaven rejoices when we turn from our wicked

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ways.

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When we come out of the darkness and we start walking into the light that is only found

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in God, that is only found in his son, Jesus.

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Amen.

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And everything we were missing is now given to us.

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We have hope.

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We have forgiveness.

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We have freedom.

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We have peace.

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We have joy.

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We have meaning and purpose once again.

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And that purpose is to go and tell others that, hey, God is real and he loves you and

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he has meaning for your life and he wants a relationship with you.

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So wherever you're at, may you give God a chance.

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Maybe God's the missing piece in your life, walking with Jesus to help you rise 365.

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Well, thank you for tuning in.

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I hope each episode brings you inspiration to embrace every new day.

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To support this podcast, consider booking me as a speaker for your next conference,

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school assembly, youth event, Bible study, or any special occasion where I can share

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the message of Rising 365.

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It's simple to arrange this.

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This message me at rising247365 at gmail.com or drop me a DM.

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Additionally, you can support by liking, sharing, and rating the podcast on your preferred listening

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platform.

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Hey, join the Rising 365 Facebook community.

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The link will be provided in the show notes.

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The link to the ministry I'm a part of, of CEF of Central Nebraska is in the show notes.

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The book Jordan B. Peterson's Christ Revealed by a Believer can also be found in the show

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notes.

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I'm so thankful for each and every one of you who took time out of your day and pressed

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play.

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Maybe you just stumbled upon this podcast.

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I hope that what you hear challenges you, but also inspires you to keep going.

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To Rise 365.

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You are meant for this.

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Until we meet again, I'm Mike Pena, reminding you to rise and seize the gift of a new day.

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You are destined for this moment.

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Merry Christmas, everybody.

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Oh, not Merry Christmas.

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Oh yeah.

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Hey, Merry Christmas here shortly in just a couple of weeks.

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But happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you.

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Before I close and depart, yesterday I was at a nearby elementary school just sharing

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with the kids.

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It's a Christian school.

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So every Tuesday they have a chapel and I'm lucky enough to go in every now and then and

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share with the kids.

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One thing I shared with them is during this time of year can be hard for us to be thankful,

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especially those of us who have been through depression and we have anxiety and we're lonely

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even in the midst of crowds and family and friends.

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Maybe it's hard because we don't have family and friends around and you're sick, you're

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in the hospital.

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So I shared them what I did starting five years ago after coming out of attempted suicide.

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It was my thankfulness journey, my thankfulness journal.

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This came from the play of Every Beautiful Thing.

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If you're not familiar about it, it's usually a one man play where the main character shares

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how he went through depression and he wanted to commit suicide but then he was challenged

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to look for one beautiful thing a day and keep going to live.

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In doing that, he challenged himself to find a million beautiful things.

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There's a website, everybeautifulthing.com I think, and I'll find it and put it in the

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show notes, that helps individuals when they're struggling to go access this website to find

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something worthy of living for.

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That's what a thankfulness journal is.

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So may you start a thankfulness journal.

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It can be anything.

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Like I shared with the kids yesterday, McRib is back so I'm thankful for that.

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Maybe you don't like the McRib, but I do, but it can be something as small as that.

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It could be as big as the glory and the love of Jesus Christ that he hasn't for us and

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that he's shown for us.

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So may you start a thankfulness journal.

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Make it easy, accessible for you on the hard days.

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You can open it and find something to keep going.

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May be easy, accessible for when you meet somebody or you've come into a relationship

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with someone who's struggling, you can share your thankfulness journal with them so they

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can find something for themselves to be thankful for.

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And hopefully that will inspire them to keep going and to rise 365.

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Happy Thanksgiving.

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Have a good one.