Father, we honor you this morning that we get
to do this. It's a privilege to do what we do.
And we pray for our listeners, our friends, Lord,
that this community that you're building around
this mentality of we get to do this, we get to
do these things. And so Father, I want to encourage
them today and I pray that you continue to open
their hearts to your goodness, to your mercy
and your grace. And Father, we We just lay everything
we do we consecrate these next few moments to
you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen It's Wednesday,
June 17th 2026 we get to do this. This is episode
number 37 We get to do this. Hello, honey. I
knew you were going to go there. I was going
to go there if you did. It's the elephant in
the room right now. Literally, it's a big fat
elephant right now. So we're chatting just before
we hit record. And I'm apologizing for not being
able to make a lunch. And my brother over here
just throws out a, honey, it's OK. I'm like,
all right, darling, can I give some back story?
Just breathe for brief. So, so once a year we
take off, we take all of our vacation in one
shot. So that's one month. And so we take off
usually July, but we took off June. So Annette
and I have been together 24 seven for several
weeks. And then, you know, ends at the end of
June, going to end with a big trip starting Saturday
out to Florida and just get some beach time.
And, uh, having been with her 24 seven, she's
the only adult I've been talking to for a while.
My response when you made a comment was it's
okay, honey. And as soon as it came out of my
mouth, it was too late. You couldn't block it.
If I could have, I would have caught it before
it got to the end of my mic stand here. I love
that, man. I'm on that level. I love that. Well,
yeah, take it as a compliment. I do. I don't
call any men honey, frankly. They do in the South.
Tina's been traveling. Yeah, big trip. Yeah,
she's on a trip now, but she was in Vegas with
her sister to see... The other big trip. Yes,
Gwen Stefani, which is like the sisters. I mean,
how often do you get, when you're in your 60s,
how often do you get to go to Vegas to a concert
with your sister? That'd be like me and my brother
going to see Fog Hat or something. Well, exactly.
That's pretty much the same thing. I'll meet
you in Vegas for Fog Hat. Great analogy. And
so I also, I've just been home with Phoebe, you
know, so I talked to Phoebe a little bit. Bubba,
Phoebster, you know, that's it. And so honestly,
I hadn't like... showered or shaved for 48 hours
and I'm walking Phoebe and our neighbor Cameron
from Calivans, I learned how to pronounce it,
they have a house right near us. She's like,
Adam, come on in, come on in. Cause they're rarely
ever there. They live in California back and
forth. Come on in. I'm like, I got Phoebe with
me. Yeah, bring her in. She's shedding. Come
on in. You're doing everything you can. Anything
I can do. And I realized my hair was all crazy.
But it was such a sweet time. Oh, that's cool.
They were so, so nice. And those are very busy
people. And Phoebe was adorable. She just like
rubbing up against everybody. Look at me. Phoebe's
turned into a teddy bear. Yeah. I mean, she's
doing pretty well. She's come a long way. Since
when she... Bidinette, yes. Oh man, it was nice
to see. We're here at Bridge Church. It's a Wednesday,
so it's always fun to see who's around, who's
hanging out in the parking lot. You know how
we used to hang out in the parking lot as kids?
Some guys still do that here. Tommy Hayes out
there hanging out in the parking lot. No, it
was Tommy Watson. I'm sorry. Yes, Tommy Watson.
Waving at everybody. We're all trying to rev
our engines on the empty lot. I mean, we flew
through there too. Because I'm not working, I'm
trying to sort of be incognito. So I'm like hauling
through the parking lot to get to the back. I'm
the flash. I'm not here. I mean, I do miss it.
I miss our people, but I try to really protect
that vacation time. It was nice to see Pastor
Brian. He has a great idea for his message that
he's preaching on Sunday. I'm very excited to
see it. Me too. So good news. Good news. Just
positive. And it came off... I'm all about it.
It came off of social media. And I just want
to... Exactly. I just want to stop and I just
want to acknowledge that this is a wonderful
trend. It's something that came out of left field
and I'm just, I brought a couple of clips just
because it's so cool. So we have a lot of people
coming into the United States, Merck right now
for World Cup Soccer. Now I watch World Cup Soccer
because I grew up - Is it FIFA or FIFA? FIFA,
Federation International Football Association.
It should be FISA, but that's something else.
All these fans are coming in, you know, it's
multiple cities, it's in Florida, it's in Texas,
it's going to be, actually USA played in Los
Angeles, 70 ,000 people, and they beat Paraguay.
Not a huge feat, but not bad, but four to one
was stellar. They've got the commercials figured
out, you know, football, soccer was never appropriate
for American television because you couldn't
jam in commercials like basketball and football,
or our football. So now they have the field is
filled with digital, digital screens that wrap
around. Yeah. And they're managing that really
well. It's like, that's working for me. Cool.
And they've, they've added something to this
two times 45 minutes. So there's a halftime.
They've added something, which I call a hydration
break, which is It's totally laughable because
these guys don't need a hydration break. It's
not 120 degrees. That's weird. And these guys
are world -class athletes. But that's for the
commercials. Oh, gotcha. So they jam the commercials
in there. But I'm happy because a lot of people
don't get it, are not interested. But without
a doubt, it's a huge sport. So people from all
over the world, the Dutch. Oh, man. If you see
Orange anywhere in your town, the Dutch are there.
They are super excited. assault of the earth
people who really will travel to see their their
team play and They are posting on every social
network How much they love America how awesome
America is all these fantastic things that we
have beautiful and you know What do you see on
social media? Normally sucks. It sucks. It's
no good. You know, everything's crap, you know,
right? I'm gonna leave the country and I always
say good luck with that. I've lived in a couple
countries. We'll see in a few years. Now a lot
of it is for obvious reasons surrounds food because
we have more fast food restaurants than any other
and franchises and versions in any other country
in the world. But the pure joy of people. So
let's just listen to a couple of snippets here.
So excited about arriving at Bucky's. I want
to put these in my suitcase. So you like shopping
in America a lot better, honey. We've already
got three items. This is fun. So millions of
World Cup fans are in America to cheer on their
teams. And some are going viral as they enjoy
all the unique experiences the US has to offer.
One of those fans is with us now. Sammy Bell
is from England and has been sharing her time
in the States on social media. Sammy, you are
joining us from inside an American staple, a
wing stop. And we want to get you to try the
wing stop for the first time at the end of this
in a couple of minutes. But first, what has surprised
you about America. Just how friendly everyone
is, how welcoming everyone is to the World Cup.
We arrived last week for two games in Florida,
in Tampa and Orlando, and everyone's just been
so nice. Now, this has to be remembered. We are
a nice people. True. The Europeans are always
surprised when they're in a shop and someone
says, have a nice day. That's always a big joke
in Europe. They say, have a nice day. Do they
even mean it? Well, that's not the point, is
it? Right. That's not the point. Because, of
course, to some degree we mean it. Here's another
one. There's a French guy here. I just love this
guy. And now I'm a real country girl and apparently
I know now how to ride horses and to grow potatoes.
People want to talk to me. People want to make
noises at me. I don't know what's that about.
Whee! She went whee! I was like, okay, do whee
to you. Everyone is literally has a heart full
of gold it seems like. That was the nicest thing.
And pockets full of gold. Yeah, and pockets full
of coins. I just had Texas barbecue for the first
time in my life, better than any moment of my
life. And I am married and have two kids. Oh,
but in France you have the crepe, the petit pain
au chocolat, the croissant. I give my life croissant
for a Texas brisket. Don't even get me started
on Costco. Costco is bigger than my village,
where I live. Whatever you want at Costco, it's
there. You just show up and you could buy your
whole life there. We need to start a revolution
just to get Costco in France. I will be the first
one to say I will start a revolution to get Costco.
Les italiennes, les Italians. I'm sorry, but
ranch makes pizza better than anything I've ever
tasted. This car right here is called a Waymo.
Waymo? Is it that? Yeah, Waymo. And for the longest
time I wondered why it was called a Waymo. It
is because Amerique has Waymo than the rest of
the world. Ranch was the big hit, by the way.
Pizza with ranch dressing, everyone's running
away with that one. Gosh, that was so fun. Makes
me happy. There's one more I want to play and
yeah, this is you know, there's a lot of oh my
gosh And what the hell is that? So, please forgive
me for the clip It ends exactly the way and I
didn't make this clip. This was put out there
I mean all of the United States of America. I'm
in America when they say everything America is
big I understand it. Why the hell is this quesadilla
the size of my head? and you take your fingers
and you lift that up and you eat it okay now
with a fork nothing comes close to the USA for
the first time as a family Woman walking alone
with fancy handbags, jewelry on, glasses on,
they're not being harassed, nothing. If they
were South Africa, gosh, first of all, I wouldn't
be able to walk through this blooming park by
myself. Everything just big, ginormous, extra
large. Oh my god. Give it again. I'm telling
you what, that chicken is delicious. Better than
KFC. I'm saying so. I'm saying it's better than
KFC. It's good, it's good. We have Bible verses
on the bottom of their cup. Never. I just feel
like you're so lucky to live here. Everything
in the US simply beats anything I've ever experienced
anywhere in the world. God bless America. This
place is freaking awesome. You can't make this
up. This is too, too wonderful. All glory goes
to God for preserving this wonderful country.
Boom. There it is. There it is. Man, I find myself
getting emotional listening to that. Me too.
Because it seems like anytime you turn on your
newsfeed, it's just, I mean, now, you know, Instagram
just pops up and there's A video of a brawl in
the street or kids beating up another kid or
school bus, you know, out of control. I mean,
just our eyes or whatever. And it just, it's
so disheartening and it, and it makes you it.
It steals your attention into the negative. Steals
your joy, literally. Exactly. Instead of actually
seeing that there's so much more good out there.
And sometimes it takes outsiders coming in to
point out what we take for granted. Costco, that
was awesome. That whole bit on Costco was amazing.
So let me read this in light of what we just
did. Tell me what you think about this. The title
of it is bite your tongue. You complain about
traffic because you have a car. You complain
about laundry because you have clothes. You complain
about dishes because you ate. You complain about
packing because you get to travel. You complain
about taxes because you earned. You complain
about your job because you have one. You complain
about a full inbox because people need you. You
complain about noise because you have a family.
You complain about exercise because your body
moves. You complain about wrinkles because you
lived. You complain about gray hair because you
made it this far. You complain about change because
you're growing. Wow, if that would only fit on
a t -shirt. Man, I read that. Who wrote that?
That is so good. Well, it's a web thing, an Instagram
key to success. key for success mind. So it's
just one of those. Just a reminder, just like
hearing that, that they did the same thing to
me. What it does, it makes me pause and go, take
a step back. What hit me the most is you complain
about dirty dishes because you ate. Like, how
much of the world does not get to eat three a
day? Every one of those carry a lot of weight.
I mean, it's almost unfair to read them all off
that quick. That is so good. But hearing these
precious, I love the world. I love the people
of the world because when you go to their culture,
you're introduced to things and we're just as
wow in their country. We love the croissant.
Absolutely. I'll give my left arm for a croissant.
I'll give my ribs for a croissant or my rib eye.
But that's the beauty of when you get to go to
other places and experience that. But it also
still makes you grateful for what you have. I
mean, even though you're wowed by these things,
you're still grateful. And always come back from
those kinds of trips, whether it's a mission
trip or it's a working trip or pleasure trip,
and then come back just grateful. Because you're
reminded, wow. You're upset you have to pack
because you get to travel. Are you kidding me
now? That is so recognizable and so good. Count
your blessings. That's what it is, just count
your blessings. That's amazing. So welcome everybody
to America. We love having you here for the World
Cup. Not everybody hates soccer. We actually
love, a lot of people love it. Man, I love the
sport. I especially love the drama kings. Oh,
that's the whole, that's part of it. That's hysterical.
They've actually, I think they've ruined it a
little bit because now we have something called
the VAR, the Video Assisted Referee. Oh. So someone
can say, you know, he didn't actually kick him
in the shins and then they can go and check it.
Right. And like, so that happened during the,
that was America Paraguay. One of our guys got
a yellow card, ooh, a yellow card for tripping
a guy they called a VAR. the referee goes over,
the guy didn't even touch him. But of course
the player went down like, oh, oh, oh. And then
he actually gave the yellow card to the other
player, which is something that has never happened
in World Cup history. But it kind of ruins the
game. Yeah. Because the drama of it. Part of
that's the show. You're supposed to be arguing
with your buddy. It's the show. That's bull crap.
He didn't even touch him. And then there's the
off sides monitor too. That's out of bounds basically.
Right. If a player gets behind any other player
before the ball gets there. I didn't know exactly
how it works. Now they have that electronified.
So okay, we'll live with it. Listen, I thought
I was tough playing football like American football,
which it is. I mean, I'm paying for it now, my
body. You complain about your body because you
got to move. Well, rugby, rugby, those guys are
beasts. Hardcore. My gosh. That's hardcore. Sometimes
I'll just watch videos. And I love watching New
Zealand when they do the Hawkeye. You know, that
war dance. You know what I'm talking about? Gosh,
it's intense, man. Those guys are like, for real.
But I do love soccer. I do. It's a great sport.
And by the way, we're allowed to say soccer because
even the Europeans are saying it's okay. Okay.
I don't want to insult. And the reason why. Football
used that's what rugby was it started off with
football in long time ago in the UK and sorry
in England It was football and then this what
we call soccer started They call that association
football and they took the SOCC Oh from association
would call it sock. They call you to go into
sock instead of association. So that's how it
became soccer. And actually they used it in England
for many years. So it's okay. Everyone loves
us. We love having them here. They're good fans.
Come get some barbecue. You haven't lived until
you see the Scots in a bar, Scottish fans, with
a guy standing on the table and an acoustic guitar
singing Country Road. and they're all singing
it. They all know the words. There's nothing
quite like that. That lifted my spirit so much.
This is the spice of life. This is what makes
life joyful. And it's a reminder that it's not
bad everywhere. It's not all bad. And I think
that's what you and I, we keep talking about
social media and it's not that it's legacy media,
it's news media, it's all the different mediums
out there. It's not all bad and people are not
all bad We need to be reminded of that when we
were watching video and doom -scrolling watching
people line up in a protest and yelling in each
other's faces getting physical and it's so easy
to get taken down the hole the rabbit hole of
Humanity is done. You know, they're just we're
screwed. We're all screwed Well, actually it's
not that way that bad I was reading an article
today that my friend Dave Jones shared with me,
and it was about a guy named Justin Jackson.
He wrote an article about that he has a company,
he has a business partner, they're not in the
same state, and they communicate over Slack,
which is basically just another text messaging
app. And they got into a real Disagreement over
something which went on for weeks and weeks and
weeks and until their wives said hey You guys
need to get together to figure this out and they
and they so they figured the thing out within
30 minutes So the person to person thing is incredibly
important, but what struck me about the article
and this comes down to social media So all day
long we are texting you and I text We text with
our wives, our husbands. We're texting, we're
texting. Then we go on social media and we text
back at someone and we're arguing with someone.
And then we switch right back to our spouse.
What can happen there? What could possibly go
wrong? that you're hearing the person on social
media, hearing their words, you don't know what
you're talking about. And then your spouse sends
you something and you hear it in that same voice
because it was only separated by 1 .5 seconds.
Wow. Got to be aware of this. It certainly made
me think, oh, wow, you know, do I sometimes interpret?
Because, you know, text has no context often.
Do I, do I interpret things and vice versa? You
know, do I think so? They must be upset. They
wrote all caps. They're mad. We start to interpret
text and try to give it nuance. Here's something
that's fun to do. Whenever your friend, partner,
spouse says, oh, look at this text I received,
ask them to read it out loud. I guarantee you,
you will start smiling because they will start
acting out the words. They'll add the inflections.
I don't think cha -pa, cha -pa, cha -pa. And
I was like, wow, you're really mimicking that
person's voice. Do you say honey like I did?
Honey, honey. No, I say darling. I throw out
the darling. And I never throw out the babe.
I never do that one. No, that's bad. But it's
just another thing that I'm trying to be more
cognizant and conscious of what I'm actually
doing, man. So anyway, and I think in that regard,
Zoom meetings are probably not a bad thing. Yeah.
At least you can see expressions. Just hope they
don't have to get up and go to the bathroom and
they didn't put their pants on, you know, those
kind of meetings. Well, that only happens with
CNN commentators. So we watched the movie. Yeah.
Wow. This was a movie that, interesting, was
freely available on YouTube. which I guess they
have some kind of deals and they'll put older
movies on YouTube. And I got this from Sir Brian
Lawson. He's a No Agenda listener. And he says,
I was searching for something to watch, found
it on a Christian movie YouTube channel. I'm
a semi atheist. But I thought it was plus one
for entertaining, plus one for fun. And he said,
I think you'd enjoy it. that I happened to be
alone by myself. I'm like, all right. And it
was the afternoon. I'm like, I'll turn this thing
on. It's called The Time Changers. And you want
to, cause I then told you, you should check it
out. And you want to tell me what your impression
was in the summary. Well, because we're on vacation
and we're binge watching When Calls the Heart.
I said, let's take a break. Let's break from
this for a second. There's 14 seasons and we're
on season 10 right now. I'm like, let's take
a break. And I said, Adam sent me a link to a
movie, so let's check it out. She said, okay,
let's do it. And Adam doesn't recommend stuff.
No, no, you don't. And so we watched the movie
and it was a delight, but there was also a lot
of weight and gravity to it. It's one of those
movies. It's made in 2002. It's called Time Changers,
probably mentioned that. And it's a Christian
movie and Christian movies have come a long way,
production in the last couple of years. But even
that one from 2002. Not bad. Captain Stubing
from The Love Boat plays a major role. And it
took me a bit to get over that, but I finally
got there. Gavin McLeod. Yes, that's right. Yeah.
Jennifer O 'Neill. Yes. Yeah, there's several.
Some real actors in there. Yeah. And the movie
was delightful, but it was also, you want me
to just give the premise? Yeah. Basic premise.
People will enjoy it no matter what. Okay. Yeah.
Yeah. So it's set in the 1800s and it's at a
Bible seminary. and all of these very smart deans,
professors, and Bible professors sitting around
a table and they're talking. And one of the guys
comes in, he's very excited because he has just
written a new book. He asked them to review the
book and they all go around the table and everybody
seems real happy about it except for Captain
Stubbe. He comes in and he kind of throws, man,
water on the party, on the fire. But he makes
an observation. the book was written from a Christian
perspective about Christian things and morality
and all that, and yet very little reference,
if any, to Jesus Christ. Actually disconnecting
it. Yeah, it was disconnected. So they were the
biblical principles, but not connected to the
gospel. That was kind of the Captain Stubbig's
thing. I can't remember his name in the movie,
but anyway. So he calls it out. And he's very
firm in his stance. So he's the party pooper
of the whole group. Right. And they needed unanimity
to do all this. Yes, they had to have unanimous
to actually get his book published. And he was
up against a deadline. So what we didn't know
is that Captain Stubbig's father Had invented
something. Yes, that's we can get this all those
spoilers. No, no spoilers Yeah, okay, so but
it but it had to do with you know being able
to be in another culture So to speak there you
go see different things different perspective
So he invites the guy over says we need to talk.
That's I need you to come over my house He's
real resistant long story short. He ends up going
there sees this invention and It puts him on
an adventure That is fascinating. And funny.
There's a lot of funny moments in it. Took me
back to Elf. In that sense. Sort of that innocence.
Being in another place. Yes, where in the world
am I? Yeah, exactly. So anyway, there it is.
And it's a major shocker for the guy. And there's
a lot of just little vignette scenes that just...
really teach some great lessons. What it did
for me coming away was how quickly we can lose
the simplicity of the gospel and the simplicity
of walking with God to where, like all these
Bible professors sitting around making it complicated,
using it very pontificating, having this very
elegant language which nobody can understand,
even themselves sometimes. bringing it back to
just the purity of the simple Christian life.
So let me share a quick story. So in 2005 or
six, Annette and I, we were a part of a movement
of churches and we would do these world conferences.
And so we'd have many nations show up and we'd
be thousands and we'd meet at LA at Anaheim Stadium
or wherever. Huge. At one time, Pastor Brett
Fuller, African -American, brilliant guy, sharp,
classy. He lives up in the Washington DC area,
pastors of great church. Every time he preaches,
he's going to bring something sharp. I mean,
you just go, whoa, every time. He's that guy,
brilliant, classy. He walks up on the stage and
there's a stool up there in a music stand, not
normal, in these big conferences. And he's got
his iPhone, no Bible. He opens up his phone,
sits down. He looks around the crowd and he said,
you know, I wrote a sermon for today, but we
don't need another sermon. He said, we need to
talk. And he sets his phone down. He had left
it open because he had some notes. And he said,
what would the world be like? What would we be
like if we just were good Christians? He spent
the next 30 plus minutes talking about What would
it mean to get back to the simple gospel? Loving
your neighbor, treating others like you want
to be treated, not judging your neighbors, feeding
the poor, taking care of the broken, ministering.
I mean, those conferences are always hype, hype,
hype, glam glitz. It's kind of like... It's kind
of like when Trump comes out on the platform
and there's sparklers going off, kind of like
a TPUSA event or something. Another good example.
Yeah, typical rah rah. He just comes out, he
totally strips all that down and slayed the whole
place. And when he was done, he got a standing
ovation because everybody in that room was going,
we have run too far. We have so convoluted and
complicated this thing. We've got church growth
conferences. We've got missional conferences.
We've got missions conferences. I mean, we've
got all this worship conferences. We've so convoluted
and so complicated things that we don't even
know what we're doing. Christian radio conferences.
We sure do. You'd be surprised. We sure do. And
it's amazing. Sometimes it takes one voice, just
like Captain Stubbe coming in that room and shutting
the room down. It just takes one person going,
wait a minute. Let's get back to the foundations.
Let's get back to a childlike faith. That's what
that movie did for me. It reminded me of that
moment sitting in that room with thousands of
people from all over the world. And you could
have heard a pin drop. Literally, it's like no
one was breathing for a minute. You could hear
the fans running in the auditorium. But because
he, you could tell it landed and that movie did
the same thing for me. I told Annette, I said,
I need to process this movie because it really
spoke to me in some deep places of, you know,
where have I gotten too far out? Too, too complicated,
too clever with messages and titles and where
have we gone too far, you know? And not that
we're going to go start cutting things and throwing
things out. It's just, how can we make sure we're
keeping the message simple and clear? We're competing
with, and when I say we, you and I, you, Pastor
Brian, pastors, church leaders, you're competing
with so much breaking, so many things that have
to grab someone's attention. A new approach is
sometimes really refreshing, but it's not easy.
I mean, the enemy has Just it's interesting that
he put his phone down there because you know
me and I mean, it's John C. Dvorak actually said
the other day on the show I think the smartphone
is the Antichrist Wow, what? Wow, he's convinced
of this. No, he's convinced of it. That's a strong
statement So, you know, there's but I mean just
I observe my own my own mannerisms in usage and
Yeah after seeing that movie I had exactly the
same. Overcomplicated, I think, is a very good
way of describing it. And I have a unique perspective
of having, well, I don't remember much, a little
bit of when I was seven years old, growing up
in Maryland, before moving to Europe. Then coming
back in 86, being in New Jersey, where, and to
me, it's always been the neighbors. And the neighbors
were always like, hey, neighbor, you know, I
don't remember half the neighbor's name, just
say, hey, bro, hey, neighbor. Our next door neighbor,
Dennis Mamsher, was just one of those guys. He
put down poinsettias and Christmas at everyone's
house. You know, one of these larger than like,
he sold Justin's rings, you know, top sales guy.
I think he's still with us. He's been around
for a bit. And then I went back to Europe for
quite a while and then came back and, you know,
saw how much of that was gone, which is why I
was so delightful that my neighbor said, hey,
come on in. Just come on in. Just have a chat.
Yeah. And interesting how I was pushing back.
Right. Like, no, no, no. I'll come up with any
excuse. I'm not prepared for this. Yeah, precisely.
And you know what? I have the right clothes on.
You know what? I'm not presentable. Their hair
wasn't great either, to be honest about it. And
yeah, we have lost. I don't know if it's lost
or what it is, but there's something that I think
is still there. Oh, it's there. We just need
to figure out the triggers to revive it, which
I think can only come through loving your neighbor.
What a crazy, uncomplicated thought. And I'm
always waving. This is what I love about Texas,
man. You've got to wave at everybody, no matter
what. I love, I always gauge waves. You know,
you can rate them. So growing up in Lubbock was,
you know, it was a big enough, you know, city
that people didn't wave there. But when I moved
to post Texas, you had to waver. You'd get in
a fight. Hey, man, why don't you wave at me?
Hey, what do you want some of this? I mean, literally,
I learned real quick, man. I drive with my hand
on the top of the steering wheel and you learn
the bump, whatever. So this morning and our walk
in our neighborhood and. People wave, you know
until they don't and then we're like, what's
wrong with him? I mean literally like it's out
of place. Yeah, it's weird. Yeah, they're driving
a Subaru. So that told me but anyway Rice Burner
the better But you know, I It was funny today
because then though the funniest wave was it
was a like a schoolgirl driving a pickup, but
she was young and she could tell she'd never
waved at anybody because we waved real big at
her and she didn't know what to do. I was laughing.
I said, boy, that was an awkward way. I don't
think she's ever waved at anybody. But that idea
of just that general friendliness, it's still
there. I think we can get so lost in the web
and podcasting and news media to where we think
the whole world is like, that microcosm that
is on that small screen. And it is just that.
It's just that. Yes. And real people are not
like that. No. And I don't know where they get
all these goofballs to go do all these protests.
That's paying them. I know they do that. But
at the end of the day, that's not the majority
of people in the world or in America. And I want
to keep finding those golden hills. We got to
keep finding it and calling it out. and just
be good neighbors. But I love what pastor Brett
Fuller said, just be a good Christian. And you
know, I love the movie, it calls us back to the
gospel though. People need help understanding
what that means, just be a good Christian. What
does that mean? I'm a good person. I'm a moral
person. It's not the same as a good Christian.
That's the thing is we have a basis for our morality
and a basis for our apologies and our Needing
to ask forgiveness for our mistakes. It all comes
back to Jesus Christ Most controversial figure
so controversial you felt like you needed to
dive into this conspiracy theory You know because
I keep hearing about him from people, you know,
what was up with that dude keeps coming up I
better I better do some investigation and three
weeks later. You're like, okay, it's true Okay,
there's a lot of evidence two weeks two weeks.
I got there real quick. But yeah, you're right.
We've got to to try to bring this back down to
the simplicity of the gospel. And it is gospel
-based. It's not just morality -based. If you
just base morality on the season you're in, the
seasons change. Everything changes. But the thing
about the compass, it has to have a true north.
And so that's what scripture is. That's what
belief in Christ is. It's a true north that you
can always go back to. Even if you abandoned
it, even if you failed, even if you messed up,
You can always find true north again. That, you
see my face go, hmm, because you said true north.
Now in aviation, we have a compass, and we have
a magnetic north, and then we have a true north.
They are not the same thing. Interesting. In
fact, you have to calibrate. Every airplane in
the front will have a little deviation chart
to show you how far the magnetic north is. from
true north. Which one do you all drive or fly?
What's your basis? What's your reference point?
It depends if you're dead reckoning. If you want
to go straight up, you want to go north as the
map or you're going towards a coordinate. Oh,
gotcha. It's really there for, oh Lord, I have
no idea where I am, but I have this map. I need
to go true north. versus magnetic north. And
that magnetic north changes regularly. You know
how the poles shift? So they change regularly
and that is always posted in the aircraft. So
the analogy for me is, you know, here's the magnetic
north, which is pulling me towards what I believe
is north, but it's not actually true north. That
just dawned on me. For me, Jesus Christ is that.
That's who and what I come back to. I come back
to the gospel. That's the what. the good news
of who He is. That's the message. The who is
Him. I come back to Him and it's always come
back and say, here I am, Lord, again. Again,
I'm the persistent widow banging on the door.
Lord, I just need to recalibrate. I do that often.
That's an ongoing thing for me. You know, our
grandparents had those old rusty bottom scales,
you know, in the bathrooms. Remember that? Oh,
yeah. You didn't want to stand on it. Yeah. Then
if you had to calibrate it, which they were never
right, you know, you're like, what am I? Crusty
dial. Why is it rusted? There's a visual for
you. Yeah. So, you know, there's that. And so
there's a recalibration that as believers we
have to do. And I think that movie did that for
me. It was like... Take a pause here and go.
Okay. Am I really flying towards true north?
Or am I just moving with magnetic north wherever
it happens to be at the time? I haven't even
considered this one. What an analogy it is Yeah,
so that that's what that movie did for me. It
doesn't made me recalibrate and make sure I'm
I'm on to dead or rights as you said that I'm
on and That's where I'm gonna go. Okay, I'm back.
So it was good for me still good for me. I'm
still really reveling in it a little bit, in
a good way. No, I have to say. And yet the movie
was pretty cheesy. I mean, special effects were
hysterical, but I liked it. I'd say it was five
on the cheese scale. Yeah. I liked it though.
Yeah. And the cheese factor was kind of good,
especially when our subject was going through
his adventure. That kind of made it even more.
It did. It did. Relatable to me. Paul Rodriguez,
another famous act. Paul, he's the comedian.
Yeah, yeah, he was in there. He was Eddie. Eddie.
Fun Eddie. Paul, I just remembered, I want to
mention, just throwing back to World Cup, you
know, the Netherlands is not a very faithful
country anymore, but it was so beautiful to see
a Dutch player who scored a goal. I think Somerville
is his name. I can't remember. And so they have
a close -up of him as he's, you know, and he
goes up, two arms up like this, looking up, pointing
towards heaven, and his whole arm was tattooed
child of God. Wow. And I just love that. Love
to see stuff like that. God is everywhere. He's
all over the world. He's moving. He is moving.
He's even moving in our vice president who wrote
a book about his faith journey. I heard about
this. I always thought like, wow, man, I came
out of the the atheist closet on the Joe Rogan
show. It's a little different when you're vice
president, you know, and you say, hey, by the
way, I'm a believer. Another level. And it's
interesting because he has an interfaith marriage.
His wife is a Hindu. Right. And I just pulled
two clips from this interview they did together
just to hear another believer. And it's wonderful
to just hear how easy he is to speak about it.
This is on CBS. You dedicate this book to Usha.
You write about her extensively in the book.
Sure. Why was she so pivotal to your journey
to faith? Well, because one, she was the person
who encouraged me most to do it. Usha said very
early on that the business of thinking about
my faith, thinking about converting, was good
for me. And so I think that her encouragement
was one of the things that needed to happen because
when I started dating I was sort of a proud atheist.
I was kind of skeptical of religion and skeptical
of religious people. And when I started thinking
to myself, you know, I might want to start going
back to church. One of the big concerns I had
was, well, Usha didn't really sign up for this.
She didn't sign up for church every Sunday. She
didn't sign up for a person who was a very devout
Christian. And so I was worried that you were
going to be not supportive of that journey. But
she was very supportive of the journey in ways
that big and small. She's supportive in the sense
that when we take three little kids to church,
they're always misbehaved. And so, you know,
she's one of the two people, including me, who's
trying to deal with that. But she was supportive
in, I think, more philosophical, almost theological
ways. She just kept on talking about the way
in which thinking about these things fundamentally
made me a better person. This interfaith thing
I thought was really interesting. Yeah. Because
we have in our church, certainly, men and women
whose spouse aren't believers and don't come
to church with them. And I just love hearing
how they support each other. And she doesn't
really talk much about her faith or her beliefs.
It's really his book. But he or she is talking
about that in our second clip. So much of the
Vice President's new book is about his journey
from being this person who was vaguely atheist
to being a practicing Roman Catholic today. We
know him today as he is, as Vice President of
the United States, a practicing Catholic. You
knew him when he was this other person, as he
describes himself. What was he like then, and
how drastic is this change to who he is today
in terms of faith? called himself an atheist
or maybe an agnostic at the time, but he had
been raised in a sort of varied evangelical faith
tradition. So it's not like that wasn't a part
of the way that he thought about the world. In
some ways, being an atheist was kind of a separation
from what had come before, but it still came
through. His past, his background, and the foundation
that he got from his grandmother still came through.
So there are a lot of continuities. That said,
I think he's more reflective at this stage of
life. Some of that just comes with age, with
fatherhood, with maturity and sort of seeing
how the world developed. But some of it comes
with religion and what it demands of him. And
I do think that that is really valuable, both
in our personal relationship, he's maybe more
reflective in our conversations about what's
happening in our marriage, what we think about
things. He's also just more comfortable, I would
say, in himself today than he was then when he
felt like he was searching for something and
didn't know what it was. He feels like he has
found that something in a very meaningful way,
and that's really nice. That's something that
you want for someone that you love. And I thought
this was encouraging because what you don't hear
is... The one spouse saying to the other, you've
got to convert to this. You've got to be like
this. You've got to come to church with me. They're
supportive of each other, but she recognizes
how he's changed. Yeah. And I really like that.
I thought that was encouraging. That was really
well done. And she's sharp. Boy, she's sharp.
I'd seen that in some earlier things. You know,
irregardless of her faith background, I was like...
She's she's I can see how she slayed him. Oh,
yeah. Oh, yeah He's sharp too, but he's a little
more rural colloquial, you know, she's just man
spot -on that was really boy That was a love
her heart and that mm -hmm, you know, she even
tried to drive him towards something She wanted
him to find his way. Yes. Yes, and that's and
that's just a lesson for us all I mean, I'm I'm
so blessed that Tina and I are on this journey
together and we think We thank Jesus every night
for being right in the center of our marriage,
man. We were good, but now we're great. Even
in the hard times. It's amazing how a disagreement
or an argument often can be stopped by saying,
this is the enemy. Do you see what's happening
here? Let's just recognize that and you know
what? It's like that old record skip sound. Okay.
All right. It's abrupt, but you realize, wait
a minute. Okay. Where's it coming from? And we
have to ask ourselves too, what mindset are we
thinking from? Are we defaulting to our upbringing
and where we were informed about that? Or are
we defaulting to who we are now in Christ? 2
.0. Yeah. Am I acting at 1 .0 or am I 2 .0? No,
no, no. Wait. We got to behave like we're 2 .0.
And it's a constant reorientation. Reminder,
reminder, reminder, reminder. Ongoing, because
it is easy to default. I was talking to my son,
who's a pastor of a growing multicultural church
in Houston. Go figure, Houston, right? Six million
people. I mean, you talk about an international
city, and he loves doing it. But he told me yesterday,
he said, Dad, it's hard. And I said, what do
you mean? He said, even though we we've all to
a degree laid down who we were to become who
we are in Christ. I stopped him. I said, so you
mean when the heat and the pressure is on, there's
a tendency to default to our cultural core? And
he said, yeah. He said, that's the struggle.
And I said, but won't that be the struggle the
rest of our lives to fight against the old man
so that we can become the new man, the old woman
so we can become the new woman, the new child
in God? And there's that constant tension. And
I said, Chris, that tension will never go away.
Yeah. It'll always be there. What's hard is when
Tina and I, if we default into something like
that, is to with love say, maybe you want to
look at this from, I've never said it this way,
but from a 2 .0 version. And she's actually much
better at that than I am. And that's always the
challenge when someone is stuck there and like,
well, maybe look at it from this angle. I'm just
saying it's not easy. Let me be real with you.
I mean, you've been at this a little bit less
than I have time -wise, but it's still there.
It's still a struggle. Remember Paul, he says,
I want to do this, but I do this. Then I want
to do this, but I end up doing this. He says,
oh, what a wretch I am. I mean, he's just like
crying out to God. I'm so... conflicted. And
that's when he says, when God says, but his grace
is sufficient. His grace is enough. And that's
when we lean into and go, okay, I'm not a finished
work yet. I'm finished, but I'm being finished.
I'm complete, but I'm being complete. And you
know, this is both. Yeah. At the same time, that's
the Eastern mindset and that's where this all
comes out of. So, yeah, yeah. I have, actually
I had like a four clip series, which I'm not
going to do. And I was kind of going to tie it
to the movie. It's old from 1978. It's a pastor,
Neil Maxwell. And he was kind of talking about,
if you've heard of him, he was predicting what
would happen in the future. So, you know, this
is why it ties into our whole conversation. And
what you just said, I was going to skip it. But
I will play the last clip. Thank you. Please
do. Yeah, you got me going. You can't not do
it now. I think the ending is pertinent to what
you were just saying. If the challenge of the
secular church becomes very real, let us as in
all other human relationships be principled,
but pleasant. Let us be perceptive without being
pompous. Let us have integrity. and not write
checks with our tongues which our conduct cannot
cash. Let us be humble and not try to magnify
our calling by shrinking the calling of others.
Before the ultimate victory of the forces of
righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost.
Even these, however, must leave a record so that
the choices before the people were clear and
let others do as they will in the face of prophetic
counsel. There will also be times, happily, when
a minor defeat seems probable, but others will
step forward, having been rallied to rightness
by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion,
of having awakened a slumbering majority of the
decent people of all races and creeds, a majority
which was, till then, unconscious of itself.
Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth
their leaves, summer is nigh. Thus warned that
summer is upon us. Let us not then complain of
the heat." I love that ending. I love the ending
of that. Man, that is rich. Isn't that good?
He's weighty with his words. I love that. Yeah.
That's called economy of words, where he's thought
through every single one. That's why it survived.
I just loved at the end, you know, the summer's
here. Don't complain about the heat. Yeah, it
kind of goes back to my little thing. Exactly,
exactly, exactly. Rolling it full circle. Yeah,
that's so good. Can I end with a scripture? Please
do. Philippians 1 .27 says this, and this is
Paul speaking to a church and a group of people
that he loved. And it's been called a book of
joy because he says rejoice in it 16 times. So
he says this, just one thing, one thing. Live
your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of
Christ. Just one thing. That's it. There it is.
That's so good. That's right back to where we
started about keeping it simple and getting back
to what matters. And you know what matters is
how we treat one another. It's how we treat our
neighbor. It's how we treat the person on the
road that cuts us off. Yeah. You have a choice
to make. And we have these choices every day
of how we're going to respond and how we're going
to treat people. I think just being a good Christian
starts with that, how we treat one another. When
we can see each other as a child of God, this
is a person for whom Christ died. She's a person
for whom Christ died. They may be standing there
yelling in your face with a picket sign or something,
throwing a bullhorn or something. That's a really
good visual. That is a person for whom Christ
died. And if I can see them that way, what Bill
Loveless called seeing in 3D, I can get past
what's being presented here to see that there's
a human being back there. And when you do that,
don't be surprised when you accidentally call
someone honey or darling. That's right. It's
a term of endearment. All right, brother. That's
it. We'll be back next week because we get to
do this. We get to do this This is a chance we
did not miss This is life We get to do this