What's going on, everybody?

Hello everyone.

Happy New Year.

Happy year of new 2025.

We made it.

Yep, we did.

The world has not yet ended.

Nope, we're still here.

And since we're still here, that means more great programming from the Truth response.

That's right.

Some exciting news.

Yeah.

Patreon kicked off the beginning of the year it is launched.

I want to thank all of you who are already subscribing.

I will probably give you actual shout outs next next week.

So if you're watching and you don't want that to happen, you better let me know.

You have been warned.

So yeah, that'll be happening.

I do want to apologize for missing the last couple of weeks.

It's been really hectic and crazy.

Two weeks ago it was Christmas Eve when we were supposed to record and we had some power issues at the church, which is really the only reason we didn't record that day.

Yeah.

Plus we had Christmas Eve service that night.

We just couldn't have pushed it back.

And it was crazy.

Yeah.

And then last week was nutso too.

I mean our normal recording day would have been on New Year's Day.

And so yeah, basically the last two weeks for me have been bit of a blur.

Just a lot of stuff going on.

End of the year for church people is usually hectic anyway, like church services and stuff.

But like I had, you know, family coming down, I had friends come down through the holidays and it was just, you know, know a lot of stuff going on all the time and you just going to get lost in the sauce.

And then somewhere in there I'm preached.

Sunday and which I gotta, I gotta tell on you cuz like so if you weren't here for it.

He talked about, you know, what chair are you sitting in.

Yeah.

And basically, you know, one chair was, you know, you're basically solid believer.

Another one was you're on the fence.

And then another one was, yeah, I don't need that.

And he had three different chairs up there to represent, you know, the different chairs you're sitting in.

And he took not 1 but 2 of our production chairs and threw them in the baptistry.

And then I don't know if you left him outside to dry or not, but they didn't, they didn't try.

I sat in one.

It's okay.

Just before church, church on Sunday before I went up to play in the worship band.

So it made a good point when I did it.

Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, actually I sat in one of the chairs today and it's still a Little wet.

That was two weeks ago.

Yep.

Or a week and a half ago.

Whatever.

It was a long time ago.

At this point.

It should be there.

Yeah.

Yeah, it should be dry.

It is not.

And so super fun time.

Yeah, it was funny, but, yeah, I.

Love that, you know, it was a lot of fun to do that sermon.

Yeah.

I mean, and I tell people, actually, I got a lot of comments about it, which was surprising, but it wasn't even my original idea.

I said at the beginning of the sermon, it wasn't like my original idea.

It was one that was started a long time ago.

And many pastors have taken it and done it this way or that way.

And I learned it from someone else.

And so I took it and I tweaked it a bit.

But it was a lot of fun to do.

And throwing a chair in a baptizery was a bonus.

Now, do people normally do that or is that just a you thing?

No, I've seen one person do it and I was like, made in mental note.

I want to do that.

And I did it a little different than he did it, but it was.

It was fun.

Yeah.

And then at the end, he was talking about, like, next steps or whatever, basically for each chair or whatever.

And he said for the third.

The third chair, he's like, well, chair two is not here anymore, so guess you can get baptized with it, basically.

It was good.

It was good.

Also, for those of you who are like, what in the world is this podcast that dropped that was two plus hours long?

That is a Patreon exclusive podcast called the Rabbit Hole.

And we're going to be doing it about once a quarter.

And that is just a roundtable discussion where, you know, everybody there just kind of brings something, you know, in their mind to the table and then we just talk and see where the conversation goes.

It doesn't have any kind of, like, theme or anything like that.

It's just going to be us having real conversation sitting at a table.

Yeah, I got to get in on the next one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Super fun.

You'll see.

Well, you won't see because it was before we had video recording, when we actually recorded the first one, or before we were video recording at the very least, and so on.

For YouTube, it if you're like, what is this weird one without actual video?

Well, that's why.

So I'm gonna be dropping that today or tomorrow, which is last week sometime.

So hopefully by the time you guys get it.

Yeah, hopefully it'll already be out.

You can enjoy it.

Yeah.

So that's exciting news once again.

Patreon's up.

It's the truth response.

And we are thankful for our first three people.

We had three subscribers, which blew me away.

One of them for sure blew me away because there's somebody that I know from back home that I had no idea knew anything about it.

In fact, I messaged her daughter and was like.

Or granddaughter, I guess.

Same difference.

It's a weird family dynamic.

It's great.

I love them.

It's basically my sister.

I know.

Real weird, right?

Someday I'll have her on.

And you're from where?

You're from Kansas.

She actually runs our social media, so.

But I asked her, I was like, hey, did she mean to do this?

She's like, yes.

I was like, okay, cool.

So that's cool.

Yeah, it's exciting.

It's cool.

So check that out.

It's got some fun stuff.

You'll get to see the women's and men's podcasts.

Video form.

Yeah, the ones that I still have.

I'm missing one, so we'll have to figure that one out.

Maybe, maybe by the time you guys are seeing this, we will have found those.

But I mean, missing one of each, so that's exciting.

Yeah.

I think we're gonna start getting some footage together from our talks before we get started on the show because.

Okay.

Yeah.

Just to give everyone just.

This is like the peekest of peak behind a curtain.

We often will get and start talking before we actually start the show, just to kind of get into a rhythm.

And it has led to some really interesting conversations, some of which we probably shouldn't put on the air, but some we will.

And so that'll be fun.

And so, yeah, be on the lookout for that.

It'll only be on Patreon.

It will not be on anything else.

Right, right.

So look out for the outtakes.

Also on Patreon, if you're a top tier subscriber, after three months, you get a T shirt.

T shirt.

Who doesn't love a T shirt?

So, yeah, you get some bang for your buck.

Yeah, man.

Anyway, so represent.

That is out of the way now.

Thank you guys for just.

For all of you, for.

For listening and.

And making what we do here matter.

So today we are gonna talk about all of you guys and a guy named Timothy and how they correlate.

How you guys and them and us all correlate.

Yeah, we're not excluded.

We're not.

We're not excluded.

In fact, I'm just gonna go ahead and read the typical Verse that we go to when it comes to setting the example.

Setting, and that is first Timothy 4:12.

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers in example, in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and purity.

So we are going to be talking about pretty much all kinds of stuff today, but all focused around being an example and setting the example.

So we want to start the year off right, get it off good.

And setting the example is the best way to do so.

So welcome to the Truth response.

You want to pray today?

You know what?

I think I will pray today.

All right.

Lord, thank you for today.

Thank you for this podcast, thank you for those who are already subscribing, and thank you for everyone who listens to this show to make it a success.

This is a new year.

We thank you for getting us here and we ask your provision and protection as well as your guidance on not only this episode and but everything to come for all of us.

Please bless us and anyone who listens to this and help us all draw closer to you to become better reflections of you.

It's in Jesus name we pray.

Amen.

I felt like for a second there I was gonna sneeze.

I was getting a little nervous or sneezed in a prayer before.

So.

Man growing up.

I grew up in the church and I was a believer at the age of five, man.

So I mean, I got told this verse a lot.

I got Timothy suggested to me a lot.

But I really did look up to that.

I wanted to set the example and I called other church people to set the example.

I really tried to rally my youth group and everybody that was in my friends group to be the example that we're called to.

They were all called to be.

Right?

Definitely far from perfect because you know, what kid is or adult or whatever.

But that was kind of like, I don't want to say my life verse, but that was something that, like, was very, very much on the forefront of my mind whenever I was growing up was the, you know, look, just because you're young doesn't mean that you can't be the example for the adults and everyone around you.

So that's, that's kind of, I don't know, that's where my mind goes whenever I hear somebody talking about being the example or whatever, is that regardless of who you are, I mean, you don't have to have a Bible degree to be an example for Christ.

You know, you don't have to be 18 just, you know, to be an example for Christ.

You don't even have to be 10 like you.

There's not like a set.

You have to be this in order to be an example.

Set the example for others about who Christ is and who you are because of him.

So that's.

That is.

That's immediately where my mind goes.

So that was your.

You saying this was when your life verse is growing up?

Yeah.

Interesting.

My life verse, I wouldn't say is disconnected from it, but it was a proverb.

When I was.

I can't remember how young I was, I was reading Proverbs, and I read Proverbs 27, 19, and I loved it.

It says, as a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person.

And for me, it's not.

I wasn't focused on, like, the example, so to speak.

I wanted people to see real.

I knew people were gonna see the real me, and I wanted to make sure the real me was something that was worth seeing.

And that drove a lot of what I did in many aspects of my life.

There were times I ignored it for sure, but, yeah, I was often thinking about my heart condition on certain things, like, where am I at with this?

Why am I like this?

You know?

So, yeah, it's kind of interesting, but, yeah, that was the one that I focused on now.

Now, my life verse, my biggest life verse is Proverbs 3, 5, 6, which is Trust in the Lord with all your understanding.

Say it.

Say it.

Let's hear it.

Come on, quote it.

Say it.

Actually, I'm going to mess it up because I'm nervous now.

But it's about trusting the Lord.

Actually, it can be taken down to three letters.

There's a company that I.

I'm going to advertise for them right now.

It's called Trust God, bro.

And that's basically it in a nutshell.

And every translation does this better.

Every time I read it, it starts messing me up again.

I don't know why.

Why can't we just have one English translation?

It's just not a thee and thou.

That would be great.

There we go.

So the.

This one writes it in, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding.

Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

It's not the one I learned originally, but it's the same message.

It's all about trusting Him.

First.

He'll tell you.

He'll show you what to do.

He'll lead you there.

It's been the mantra of mine.

But I love this company that I Found it was accident online.

Trust God, bro.

Trust God, bro.

What are they?

That's their thing.

It was all about taking that message down to its easiest form, which is trust God, bro.

They sell shirts and hats and different things, and they all say, trust God, bro.

I have a shirt.

I do.

Nice.

Maybe I'll wear it tomorrow.

It's washed and clean, but.

Yeah, when no one will see it.

No, not tomorrow.

I wore it to church one day.

I did.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It says, trust good burst.

Small on the front and then big on the back.

Nice.

Nice.

Yeah, man.

My life verse lately has been.

It's the Matthew 7, 21, 22, and 23 or something like that.

And you know, it's funny that that's my.

My life verse.

But, yeah, now I can't remember, like, it off the top of my head.

It's so bad.

I've said it on here before, though.

Basically, it's when you need to quote.

It, it messes you.

I told C.

You too.

Don't make me quote it.

I will do it.

When you're like, hey, go ahead and say it.

You're like, suddenly your brain malfunctions, and it's something that you know perfectly well.

Oh, it's 21 through 23.

Matthew 7.

21, 23.

Not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he, But.

But the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven on that day.

Many will say to me, lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness, and Might sound like a weird, weird life verse, but, man, that's my encouragement to.

To be known by Jesus.

Like, that's.

That's what I get from that, is that, like, my life goal should be to be known by Jesus.

Right?

Because that's what matters in the end, right?

Like, and if I'm.

If I'm working to be known by Jesus, I'm going to do those other things.

But my focus is I want to be known by Jesus, you know, like, whatever that takes.

And so am I living that perfectly.

No, but it's the verse that I look towards as my hope, so know and be known.

Yep.

That's good.

Yeah, it's good stuff.

That's new.

That's the next shirt.

No one be known.

No one be known.

That would be good.

I still want.

I still want to make sure it's that say no Mac.

No Mac.

Yeah.

Why not?

But we haven't talked about it in a long time, so it's unfortunate.

I think no one be known will be good.

Although I will say if anybody for some reason from Trust God bro sees this dude, I would totally rep you all the time.

Like, I love that so much.

Anyway, so being the example.

Yeah.

Shout out, what's up?

I will totally do it.

Yeah.

So setting an example.

Actually it's ironic that we're talking about wearing a shirt that says stuff like this, right?

Life versus shirts.

Because one of the things I told you I wanted to, as soon as we came up with this idea, I have this thought and to me, I wrote something a long time about this on a blog.

I think what Christians need to realize is that we're all wearing a uniform, right?

And the uniform is a God representative.

That's what it is.

We might as well be.

I mean, obviously we're not going to do this, but it's almost as if we're all wearing the same pants, same shirt, with a name, badge, God representative.

And we don't see it that way.

And see, that's the problem.

We need to think about that every day.

And when do we get this uniform?

The second you come into faith.

Because when you say yes to Jesus, you now represent Him.

And for some people, for some people, you're the only Bible they're ever going to read.

They're the only church service they're ever going to be a part of.

You're the only person that's ever going to preach to them.

And as it is, you're the example.

You're going to show what Jesus looks like to people.

It's awesome.

When I, when I pray, I quite frequently will say that I want to become better reflections of him.

And that's what it's all about is want to show people real Jesus.

Not bad Jesus.

If I'm going to be representative for him, then I want to represent well.

And so we got to think about that.

Like every time we get up in the morning, we leave the house, we're repping him.

And we got to take that seriously.

We shouldn't be stressed out about that.

It shouldn't be something like, oh my gosh, I messed up.

No, it should be something where you prepare yourself to go, alright, look, I'm a child of God.

He knows me, I know Him.

Let's go and represent well today and try to go into situations knowing that he's there with you.

And you know, it doesn't have to be scary.

It can just be like comforting.

Especially in hard parts.

Sometimes something bad happens and we tend to get angry.

I am not excused from this.

It happened to me yesterday.

I got really mad about something.

But God's there too.

And if Jesus was with you when this bad thing happens, how differently would you probably have reacted?

It can be actually freeing from feeling like you need to be angry for him to just.

If you can even imagine him going, it's okay, I got this, it's fine.

My wife preached to me yesterday.

She was over the phone, I was like, I'm so mad about this thing that happened.

And she's like, obviously this isn't what God planned, you know, because I was hoping for something and it's not what God planned for us.

And in that she was, I knew what she was.

She was trying to give me comfort.

It's hard when you're not ready to embrace it.

But if we go out ready to, if we're like, alright, let's put Jesus in our everyday lives so that we can represent well.

So that when we're in the shopping store and it's been three hours of waiting in line at Walmart because they only have one register open and or whatever it is that you're doing, you can maintain yourself and represent well.

Hey man, you at least don't have to worry about that at Walmart anymore.

Oh, self checkout.

It's all self checkout.

Well, that's not true.

Mostly self checkout.

I by the way, that's, that's a side.

Yeah, that drives me nuts.

I'm waiting for my W2 from Walmart and a couple other stores for doing the work.

Some of their prices gone back down.

I don't know about that.

Some things I don't think so.

I've been waiting for lots.

If it was much cheaper to do my like if they gave you 10% off, 5% off to do your own stuff, I would have no problem with it.

You want to give me a discount to check myself out and bag my own stuff?

That yeah, yeah.

Otherwise I'm more tempted to just go, no, I don't feel like it.

And then wait for the person to check me out.

Because that's how shopping supposed to work.

Right.

Like I saw, I heard this comedian, his name Bill Burr and he's not a Christian comedian, he's not like a clean comedian.

I just want to put that out there in case somebody starts googling him.

Not endorsing him, not endorsing his comedy.

But I did see A sketch of his.

And he was talking about this very thing.

And he's like, I'm going to clean it up.

The audacity of a store owner to be like, you come into my store, you pick out the stuff, you check yourself out, you get out of my store.

It's like such a wild thing.

Oh, yeah.

And at the door, I'm gonna check your receipt.

Oh, that's the part that.

Dude, that's.

That's the irs.

That's IRS in a nutshell.

Here, let us, let us make you do your taxes that you owe us for you working.

And then we're gonna double check your work on your taxes.

And if you did your taxes wrong, then we're gonna charge you more money for you doing your taxes wrong that we've set up with a bunch of rules.

Yeah.

The thing is, is that like, if I'm going to Walmart, if I'm going to any store and I'm checking myself out and bagging my own groceries, do not stop me on my way out.

That just.

That makes me so irritated.

And here's why.

If you're worried that I might have missed something or that I might be the kind of person that would purposely not scan something, any of those things, go do it yourself, then check out, Go through my cart, Check everything out for me.

Bag it up for me.

Make sure that nothing's missing and I'm not hiding anything.

That's how it used to be.

If you want me to do it.

And if I, and I look, I'm very careful.

All right, we're honest people here.

Let's.

I, I make sure everything's scanned.

And God forbid I would actually miss something, but if I did, man, that's not on me anymore.

That's on you.

Decided to put this in my hands.

I'm getting a little fired up.

Yeah.

But being the example for Christ, what we should do is with a smile on our face, walk up with the receipt in hand and hand it to the person.

Yeah.

Yeah, we should.

And then tell them, have a great day.

Thank you so much for double checking my hard work.

Help me.

Although what's funny is more often than not the greeter when I do that, laughs and says, have a nice day.

They don't even.

They don't, they don't want to check it.

But I really love it when I have a.

When I've like, just checked myself out and I've got a basket full of things and like, somebody's looking at my cart, I'm like, you want to Go through this.

Go ahead.

I have a house of seven.

Go ahead.

Look through our groceries, dude.

BJ Say will do it.

I know they will.

I don't have a.

But then as long as serenity is with us, they'll draw like a little, like, smiley face rabbit ears on it for her and give her.

So that's cool.

At least it makes her happy.

Yeah, I mean, I guess you got to keep it, Keep it, Keep it on the up and up.

Yeah.

So when you said uniform, I wasn't necessarily thinking about name tags, but really, a lot of that, A lot of that is our.

I mean, the way that we set the example is by first knowing our identity and living that.

And I think.

I mean, I think of the song.

There's a song and that I specifically am thinking about when it comes to this.

And, you know, little name tags you get when you write your name in and it says, hello, my name is.

And the song, you know, hello, my name is Child of the One True King.

And it's like, are we living like that's our name?

Like, are we living like that is who we are and how we identify?

I once saw a lady.

She was.

I don't remember.

I don't remember, like, details, but I know that she was speaking at a conference and she was talking about identity.

And she said, I don't identify as a black Christian woman.

I identify as a Christian who happens to be a woman in black.

And I thought that changes everything.

Yeah.

When you put it first.

It does.

Because that other stuff doesn't matter at that point.

You know, not grand scheme.

Because Christian means well, I mean, just.

Like the verse that I brought up earlier, when it comes to trusting God first before everything else, I mean, the Bible speaks elsewhere.

I think it's Matthew 5, 33.

It's about, you know, looking to the kingdom first and then everything else that you need, not just the things you want.

People like to try to use it for.

Want it's not.

But the things that you need will be given to you, the things that you know.

And it's pretty cool.

It's all about putting God first in every aspect of your life.

Your life should permeate that to where?

I mean, it's obvious.

In fact, so obvious.

I heard it many years ago, I thought about it and it made me laugh so hard.

Somebody's like, if Christianity became illegal, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

And I was like, I'm going to jail.

There's plenty of evidence.

There's not even going to be a Trial.

But I mean, that's the thing is like, does your life reflect that you actually follow Jesus or not?

Right.

Yeah, that's the starting point is, do you know how you identify?

Identity is a big, big hot topic in our world today.

And regardless of all of that extra blah that gets everything muddy and chaotic and gross, like, do you identify as a little anointed one?

You know, do you, do you identify as Christ, as your king first and foremost, above all else?

That's where you got to start.

I mean, that's what the word Christian means.

Little Christ, or as you said, little anointed one.

Is that what you look like when you move around?

Right.

I can tell you, I think there's, I can say there's times in my life where I feel like I successfully did that.

Like I walked into a situation or two or even around town and I was, I think I represented well.

And there's times where I'm like, I think I dropped the ball.

Yeah.

You know, I did not do so well.

I had a guy that I did ministry with for a few years and one day he came to me, he's like, I totally messed up yesterday.

And I said, what's up?

And he went to the store, actually, I think obvious, ironically, I think it was Walmart, I'm not sure, but not one down here.

And he said, yeah, I was not having a very good day and I was at Walmart and the line was long and I was waiting and you know, this kid came up to me and he started asking me and I was like, ah, get away.

And like kind of napped on this kid a little bit.

And like, I mean, who knows?

A kid probably just asking if he could like get something or hand something.

And he just kind of randomly, he's like, yeah, I definitely didn't represent wealth there.

I'm like, no, no, thankfully you can be forgiven for that.

But no, you know, but I mean, that's the thing we got to keep.

You never know.

How did that impact that kid?

Yeah, you know.

Because I mean, going the other way, I mean, it's like, shoot, I'll give you an example.

Here's a good example.

I can only draw from myself.

So this isn't me trying to show off.

It's just a way of thinking about things.

Wasn't ironically, I think it was in a Walmart again, man, Walmart is just all over this anyway.

It's because of report.

Yeah, but I was in, I think it was a Walmart.

It was right around holiday season, as my wife And I.

And this lady stops me.

And usually if I get stopped by a random person, it's because something's really high and because I'm 6 foot 4 and reach that for me.

But in this case, it was a woman who.

She had a cane.

And then she couldn't lift this box.

She wanted to buy this vacuum cleaner.

And I was like, oh, yeah, absolutely.

So she wanted me to lift it up and put it in her cart for her.

And then it was weird because, like, we found ourselves wanting to.

I don't know, I felt the need to go further.

So I said to her, you know, this is a corded vacuum.

Like, there's this other one that's just as good and it's not corded.

And if you have a cane, that really might be better for you, like, we have one, it's really good.

And she like decided, oh, that probably makes more sense.

Okay.

And it was weird, like, but I cared in that moment, you know, I didn't just go, oh, yeah, I'll do it, I want another step.

And like I said, it's not me trying to brag.

I just, it was weird to think about it.

After I walked away, I was like, that's not something I do every day, you know?

Yeah.

Jesus says if someone asks you to walk a mile for them, walk too.

I mean, that had a different context where they were forced to go a mile when Romans told them to carry stuff.

But still applies, man.

Like, that's still that same.

The same teaching still applies.

I mean, the same.

Yeah.

I mean, and I did it without even thinking, you know what I mean?

It's like, oh, and I hope it's a blessing to that woman, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I always hope to be that in tune with what's around me and just open to what God's got going on.

I'm not always that in tune, but I do hope to be on a regular basis.

It's been kind of strange.

I've been doing a devotional since the beginning of the year.

It's by Jonathan Cahn.

There's feelings on both sides of the aisle with him.

I don't know if you know who that is at all, but I didn't know who he was until I was introduced to his devotional.

And it's the book of mysteries and it is told each day was a one page devotional each day.

And it, it's pretty cool because it takes the.

This concept of there's a teacher who wants to teach this guy, and it's one Lesson a day for a year and you're good to go.

And it's super awesome because it is super down to earth with everything.

And it started making me just think a little differently, I.

I guess about just how, for example, yesterday's was on the Yud, and the yud in the Hebrew language is the smallest mark that there is.

And it's where we get the idea of the iota from the Greek.

I don't give one iota, whatever, means that I don't care.

The littlest bit, right?

And the whole lesson was like, taking the littlest of steps is where it starts.

And so, like, I don't know, I've just been a lot more in tune with the idea that, like, I gotta start somewhere, so why not here, right?

Like, that's another song.

Song lyric, right?

Gotta start sometime, why not now?

And.

And here and now is the time to set to be the example.

And all I have to do is think about one thing to be the example in.

When it comes to Christ, what one thing do I need to work on?

Could be the smallest thing, and then the next step will come.

We're also at the beginning of a new year.

So what resolutions are you not holding up now?

Right?

Like, that's.

That's the big joke.

And I mean, there's so much good with that one.

You know, I.

Small steps.

You can get through some pretty crazy things in life.

You can turn some pretty crazy things around and just take small steps.

And.

Yeah, when I was in my early 20s, I went through a foolish marriage and a divorce.

And I remember being just completely broken by it to the point where I didn't know what I wanted to do with myself.

And I realized I just got to take this next.

Whatever the next step.

I couldn't think too big back then.

It was like, all right, well, what do I got to do right now?

What's the step right now?

What's the thing I got to do right now?

And I told people for years after that, you know, that's what it took, one thing.

And then eventually I was able to think a couple steps ahead and then a little bit more down the road and to the point where, you know, I was next.

You know, I was past it, out of it.

And, you know, that's just one example.

There's so many things like whether it's a situation you're in or a habit you need to break or just something new you want to start, just start just whatever that first step is, then do that, and then do the next one.

Yeah, I didn't make any resolutions this year.

I think they're foolish because I can't guarantee that I'm going to do them.

So I'm just gonna try to live life right instead.

And so I'm just gonna live new.

Each little thing that I change, it's gonna be, this is how I am not trying to make it through this year.

See how far I can get or whatever.

Monday I started working out with Clint and he was like, alright, I just want you to know you're gonna do like next to nothing, right, for the first couple of weeks, three weeks or so, four weeks, whatever.

Like, you're gonna feel like this is ridiculous and that there's nothing, you're not doing anything, and I only want you to work out two days a week.

And I was like, well, okay, I actually have to.

I have to be here physically four days a week because if I don't, that habit will never form.

You know, I need that consistent, you know, accountability.

So she's like, all right, but I'm just telling you, like, we're only going to have you work out two days a week.

So Monday was my first day, tomorrow will be my next.

But so we worked on dumbbells and just doing little whatever, you know, workout just till 10 pounders, you know, nothing.

And just 10 reps, you know, it wasn't anything crazy.

Slow motions, you know, and all that.

And.

And I did a couple of stretches.

Now, this is going to sound absolutely ridiculous to anybody who's worked out probably, but I did five body weight wall squats, I did three per leg, backwards, slow lunges, Sit.

And my legs hurt so bad yesterday, I can't even tell you.

My arms were fine.

Actually my elbow feels like the little bit of soreness that I had left over.

Like, it's pretty much gone.

Like, it feels great, but my legs hurt so bad from just a few movements that I don't normally do.

And so, like, see, that's, that's exactly.

The point is get your muscles into a different kind of thing.

Like, it's like a muscle memory thing.

Like, your muscles have gotta start getting in tune with what you're getting ready to do.

But I'm also like, I'm sure that they hurt because now I'm using those muscles more when I do things like when I'm walking, I feel it in, you know, I feel that burn and where that muscle is at.

And so I don't know.

Little things, man.

And that's what him and Nick both were like.

Look, you start Small.

And then over time, this marathon that you're on, you're not on a sprint.

This marathon grows.

And so much like, you know, much like our walk, right.

In Christianity where Paul says run the race, it takes little baby steps of movement and commitment and change to get yourself to where you are setting the example.

So this new year, what are you changing?

What are, what is the thing that you're gonna change so that you can be the better example?

Are you able to just jump all in?

Possibly.

But I know reasonably most people need to take little things and make little changes at a time.

So it's been exciting.

I know I'm new on my journey, but as far as this year concerned, I also am starting a company this year.

I quit my job.

Yep.

And so that was a big change, a big jump in.

And it's because of the example that I've seen in other, other people's lives that and their encouragement that to, you know, to me.

And not just encouragement like, hey, you got this.

But like the encouragement of, okay, this is, this is what you gotta do.

This is the next thing you know.

Alright.

And them just constantly being an encouragement to me.

Yeah.

I'm starting my own laser company and it's pretty dope.

It's been a lot of fun.

I've had struggles and haven't like really officially started like taking orders or anything, but it's pretty cool.

It's pretty neat.

I've got some cool stuff made up.

So I think the thing that you.

I mean, I know it was like a practice for you, but the thing that you gave me was pretty freaking cool.

And I've got a completely different direction from that now.

So he made, See, he took a piece of wood and he had it laser on the image of the face from the Shroud of Turin.

And it's awesome in itself.

So the fact that he can go above and beyond that now, that's mind blowing.

I stare at this thing actually.

I love it so much.

So I mean, it's like one of my new prized things.

But like, yeah, it's so.

Yeah, I'm really excited to see what the future holds.

Man.

It's gonna be awesome.

But I mean that's the thing we get into.

Do you have a business name first before I do this?

Yeah, Strider Design.

Strider Design, that's right.

Yeah.

S T R Y D R Design.

Strider.

We got self promotion over here.

We gotta get it done.

But anyway, so like.

But that's the Christian walk.

I mean, like people see, I think what Will help if you're looking to take these steps forward is remember something.

Sanctification is different from salvation.

Salvation is instant.

Okay?

That's when you come to faith.

But sanctification is a lifelong journey, which means, yeah, you're gonna.

Might slip up and make some mistakes along the way.

But if you're gonna represent Christ, you're also representing as someone who's a work in progress, and you're gonna see others as that same way, too.

And that is really going to help you on your journey to know that.

Yeah, you know what?

You might not have had a good day today, but it's okay.

Tomorrow is another day, and that means you get to take another step forward.

And there's freedom in that.

There really is.

It doesn't need to be a guilt trip.

It does not need to be too much pressure.

It's just about, all right, let's see if we can keep moving forward in the same direction.

More steps forward than there are back.

And then you keep on that journey.

For sure, man.

For sure.

Yeah, that's actually.

That's actually.

My mom asked me, you know, me and my wife individually, like, hey, what, you know, what can I pray for you for this year?

You know, and mine was like, my prayer request for me is that I just keep moving in that forward motion and that I just am following after God.

Leave it in his hands.

And then when times get hard, he just sends me that little piece of encouragement that I need to keep moving forward.

So.

Interesting.

So you said you don't do resolutions.

No.

So.

And I don't really do them either.

But what I do do, I've done for what I do is a little different.

So years ago, I can't remember how many years ago now.

It doesn't matter.

I started doing this word of the year thing.

Have you heard of it?

Yeah.

So basically, the idea is you pray and you ask God to give you a word that kind of represents your year.

Might be a theme, it might be like a goal, it might be something like that.

And he has given me all kinds of crazy words over the years.

Last year's was actually move, which is funny because I was moving down here.

But also there was the big move trip, and a lot of things that required me to move forward in my ministry and my life in different ways.

So it was very representative of last year.

I felt like it represented real well this year.

The word I've been given is breakthrough, which will be interesting to get through.

It's just about.

I believe it's leading me to just look for new ways to break through in my faith, in my ministry, and different things that go along with those things.

So that being said, your word, it.

Sounds like it's not.

Huh?

It's not what you're gonna say.

Go ahead.

I was gonna say forward.

Yeah.

It's not.

Why?

It's not because my word for the year that God gave me was midbar.

What?

Meadbar.

Meadbar.

Midbar.

That's a Hebrew word.

Meadbar.

Wilderness.

Wilderness.

The root word is devar, which means to speak to, which is kind of crazy because God speaks to his people in the wilderness.

And this year, I'm heading into wilderness like, there's no.

There is no, like, paycheck that's coming.

There's no, like, you know, whatever.

You work your 20 hours and that equals this much pay.

There's.

There's none of that, you know, uncharted territory for.

For me when it comes to some building projects we got at the church and, you know, just some uncharted territory with.

With some of my.

My new, newer mentors.

Like, it's.

It's all God is just going to speak to.

Of wilderness.

And so meadbar is my word for this year.

Well, I would say your subword, but Meadbar.

Meadbar is.

Says Meadbar.

Dabar.

Meadibar.

Okay, that's cool.

Yeah.

Actually, you know, I see how that could represent real well for you.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Since it is a new year, it's still time to ask God for.

For a year, a word of the year for you.

So if you're interested, do it.

And if you do do it, we'd love to know what word you were given.

Go ahead and message us, comment, even come up to us if you know us or you see us in person.

Let us know.

We love hearing these things.

But, yeah, so, yeah, that's cool.

I think it's gonna be a real fun year to.

Well, I mean, it's gonna be fun.

It's gonna be exciting.

It's not gonna be easy.

No, but it's gonna be a fun year.

Most things that are worth it aren't easy.

I'm super excited.

Yeah, no, for sure, for sure, for sure.

I'm super excited about it.

And I'm interested in if any of you out there are doing laser stuff.

Let's hook up and talk shop.

Like, I'd love to learn from you.

And if anybody needs something lasered engraved, just so you know, Strider.

That's your company?

Yep.

Self promotion for Derek.

Totally do it.

I've Got signs down.

I can do signs that are painted.

Haven't got the staining down yet, but.

I think, I mean, if anybody's interested in a piece of wood that has engraved shroud of Turin in it, I'm telling you, the one I have.

And that's what just one of his, like, trial things is awesome.

So, I mean, check him out.

It's worth it.

I don't know what you charge for something like that.

It's phenomenal.

It's worth having it pay whatever he asks.

That's great, man.

I should have charged instead of giving it to you as a gift.

Yeah, no, I mean, it's, I gotta, I gotta, I got a tweaker.

But it's good.

It's awesome is what I'm trying to say.

I was really excited about it.

If you're a fan of the shroud, if you know someone, it is, it's a great gift.

I'm not kidding.

It is so good.

I feel like a hype guy right now.

Like, it's true.

And what, what's cool is the, the only thing I had.

And for any of you out there who know anything about woodworking, you know, you can, you'll, this story will put to rest whether or not I know anything about woodworking.

So I, I, I, I was like, oh, I, I need to sand this.

Right?

Yeah.

And so when it came out, because it was super dark at first I couldn't figure out why it was super dark.

And then idiot kicked in and was like, oh, yeah, I just burned it.

I gotta san.

Anyways.

So I grabbed the go to sandpaper, that's 150 grit, and just went to town on it.

And what was cool though was with that specific burn, it made it look like it had that patchwork to it.

And I was like, oh, that actually turned out really cool.

Well, that's the kind of stuff that you can play with and to see.

So it's like, I'll tell you.

For me, I just connected with that because so I, you know, I love Bob Ross and I've learned his technique.

I went and got, took a class and got certified in that.

And it's a lot of fun, but it's all about using your brushes in different ways to try to find new effects, you know.

So that's the idea.

And a lot of painting is that not even outside of that, but one of the biggest things is how can I use this brush to make new effects to get kind of the idea of what I want on the canvas.

But that's something you get to play with and find all these new ways of making something look even cooler than it could have been.

So I started getting frustrated with trying to do images, so I needed something else just to give me some momentum.

So I switched over to signs.

That's another thing.

Sometimes setting the example, you've got to switch things up, because some things can be frustrating, and it will get you to a point where you.

Not only do you not feel like you are setting an example, but you don't want to anymore, you know, so in our walk, sometimes that is.

That is like, sometimes you just got to change your approach.

Right.

So that's what I did was I changed my approach at what I was doing.

And so I started making signs that I would cut out and then layer.

And so.

But I started painting, and I don't.

I've never considered myself to have any painting skills, but I started thinking about the painting in a different way, which is really cool because, like, I took the image that I was painting the background of.

Yeah.

And I looked at the image and just.

For instance, I had one that has a dragon on it, and there's some fire and.

And like a night sky with a moon and stuff.

And so the fire obviously was red, but fire's not just red.

So I added a little bit of yellow and then some more red and then some yellow and then some red.

And so, like, there's like streaks of yellow and red and orange, and it actually has that, like, that little bit of that, I don't know, mixture of that glow.

But then I was like, okay, so now it's going to hit the sky.

And so it's going to give some glow to the sky.

But I don't know how to make that happen.

So why don't we just.

Instead of just having the dark blue, why don't I throw in some yellows and reds to the.

To the blues?

And it just.

It.

It really transformed how I thought about some of that stuff.

So.

And this.

I'll tell you what's awesome about this, is that, like, this ties right in.

And if you don't see how it does, I'm going to tell you right now, this is what the Christian life's about.

It's about constantly adding more, keep going, taking those steps forward, opening yourself up to new possibilities, changing perspectives.

And suddenly you see things so differently.

So that you can.

When you go out there, as we're saying, as you're setting yourself an example, suddenly you are set apart.

You are an example more than you've ever been in your life because you've allowed yourself to take some steps in your faith, to read your Bible more, to go to church more, whatever it is that you' that continues to help you, draw you closer to Christ.

And now your perspectives on things changed to where now certain things that might have made you angry, you're not getting angry about some things you might have acted a certain way.

You might not act that way anymore.

Some things you might have done, you're not doing anymore.

And then there's some things you weren't doing that now you are doing.

And that's all about the journey.

Just as he's taking this journey into this new business venture, which I am totally stoked on, and everybody should buy something.

But I did not ask him to say that, though.

He didn't.

This is just who I am.

But that is like, you just got to keep finding ways to take those steps forward and just see where it leads you.

And the best thing is going back to my life first.

When you put him first and you're not leaning on your own understanding.

And if you're not leaning on what you think, he is going to show you things and lead you in places you never thought before.

And it could be small things or could be huge things.

I certainly didn't expect to be in Florida right now yet.

I've been here for a year, and I am so grateful, by the way.

But this is where God led me, and I'm thrilled about it.

So I hadn't even thought about how this stuff could apply.

But really, my journey has been interesting because I want to give you guys a piece of encouragement in.

I was at a place where I hated going to work every day.

I really did.

It wasn't the people I love, the people that I worked with.

It wasn't the job.

It was just the.

I felt at times where it just felt like a grind where nobody cared.

And it at times just felt like a waste of time.

And I was just miserable.

My wife came home from move and she was like, hey, I want you to know, like, God, I feel like God's telling me like, there's gonna be a big change and that I need to be okay with it.

And the first thing that went to my mind was, she's gonna quit.

She's gonna quit her job.

She brings in all the money, you know, like, this is.

This is making me nervous.

And then nothing happened.

Like, nothing came of it.

And so I kind of got put on the back burner.

And then the day before my birthday December 5th, she came to me and she was like, hey, you talk about like, you know, always wanting to try something but never feeling like you have the opportunity to try something that you might fail at.

And she's like, how about at the beginning of the year you quit your job and you just chase after something.

And my immediate response was, yeah, I don't know about that.

You know, just hang in there, bear with me.

So I immediately reached out to a buddy of mine, was like, hey man, I know you've got this laser engraver we've talked about, you know, me, you know, trying to figure it out, make us both some side money or whatever.

I was like, well, my wife said this and you know, I was wondering if that's still an option, you know.

And he was like, well, my wife and I kind of decided to get rid of it.

And I was like, oh, okay, cool.

And so I just kind of wrote that off.

The next morning on my birthday, he messaged me and was like, hey, dude, my wife and I feel like where to push this year direction.

Like this is something that we feel like God is calling, calling for you.

And so what's crazy is, so nine or so months before that, this guy bought a laser that was broken when he got it and had to ship it back.

He ended up getting this laser and every time that he would line somebody up who was gonna, you know, start up this side business for him and they were gonna build some knowledge or whatever, it always fell through.

For nine months this guy was going through this where it felt like failure after failure after failure.

And then my wife having this whole like, God's gonna do something big, but I don't know what it is, I just gotta trust him.

And all of this culminates at my birthday, right this last year.

Great birthday present.

So I turn in my two weeks notice and bittersweet, whatever, but I tell my dad that next Monday night.

And my dad's response, and this is just how cool God is.

My dad's response was, well, actually what's crazy is 4 months ago I helped a guy start a laser engraving company and he's making exactly the amount that I need to be making to justify the quitting of my job, you know, after four months.

And it's a side gig for him, it's not even his full time thing.

And he's like, oh yeah, and by the way, you're gonna be getting your grandfather's inheritance soon.

And it's not a lot, but it's just so happened to be the exact amount I needed to buy the laser and start.

Start my company on.

On Sunbiz or whatever.

And it's just like, man, I was in turmoil.

I was in a.

In a place of like, why God?

You know, like, what is going on?

And he said, hold on, I've got stuff.

And I didn't listen.

And he said, hold on, I got stuff.

But it wasn't just that, like, he was telling other people, hold on, I've got stuff.

That led to me being able to be in a place where he wanted me to be.

Yeah.

And so learn from my example.

Not what to do, but to be looking towards.

What is God doing with this?

Because it could be something that is life changing for somebody.

Yeah.

You know, that's so real.

I mean, there's so many times where we get frustrated because what we want isn't in the moment and something's not happening or we feel or even like the story I told at one time about things that we think are in our way or hindering us.

Like the first time I drove to seminary, which is ironic, I thought I got a flat tire and I pulled over and it was a whole situation and I was all distressed about it because, you know, here I am.

It's holding me up.

I'm not getting there.

When I thought I was going to get there and all this stuff.

And my wife's like, you're going to seminary.

What did you think was going to happen?

You think it was going to be roses?

The devil wouldn't do anything.

Unicorns and rainbows, right?

Yeah.

And she's like, what do you know?

How do you know that this isn't God's plan?

How did you know that he didn't just save you from an accident?

Or maybe there is something that would have cut your tire down.

Or maybe there's a.

You don't know.

And that's the God's honest truth.

I mean, just in your situation, like, sometimes we're like, why is this happening?

Or why isn't this happening?

Right.

And God's doing that same thing.

And if we're willing to listen to him.

All right.

Yeah, I know that's not.

But I got something.

I got you.

It's okay.

If you only knew what I knew, you know?

And that's where trusting God comes in so much.

It's just his will, not mine.

His plan, not mine, you know?

Or I like to say, his design, not mine.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And what's crazy is if any of you know my wife, like, she's not the kind of person that comes up with this kind of thing on her own.

This is totally a God thing.

No, actually, the funny thing, remember, because obviously I was on the move trip, right?

So I remember her coming up and telling me that.

That she felt like something big was gonna happen.

And I didn't think it was something with her.

I actually thought it was something with you.

I just didn't know what it was.

I thought you were getting ready to make a job change, but not.

I didn't know this was.

Dude, I had no idea.

I really did think it was.

But I remember we were on the trip, and she said something to me about it, I think, and I was like, all right.

And, yeah, that's pretty cool.

I love.

And I kind of forgot about it, honestly, until you said something because, well.

I forgot about it until, like, she said something and it was just like, whoa.

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I love that.

So.

So, man, what.

What.

What's the hindrance in your life?

What.

What's the thing.

That's a thorn.

What.

What's sticky right now?

Like, what is.

What is that thing?

That seems like such a bummer, because that could be.

Sure.

That could be, you know, the devil not wanting you to be who God wants you to be.

Or that could be God saying, hey, watch what I'm gonna do, because I do cool things.

And he does.

And so how are you going to be the example in that for the world around you?

That is seeing how you're reacting to the things that's going on in your life?

I mean, sure, like, the world will accept you being frustrated at things that seem unjust or unfair or super frustrating.

That's legitimate or whatever.

But they're gonna ask you why you're different if you are.

Like, yeah, it's gonna be good even in the midst of the terrible tough stuff.

Because that is the difference.

That is the difference in the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.

Like, and it's hard.

It's a hard walk, but you get there little step by little step.

Just put one foot in front of the other.

That's right.

We came off that season.

My wife would probably kill you right now for singing Christmasy stuff, but.

Yeah, well, actually, that's.

This is me.

I allow a little bit of wind down.

Okay.

Okay.

A little bit.

She does.

But once I don't.

It's like Thanksgiving, Christmas to Christmas Day, and then it's over.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, I'm good with a little bit after.

Just.

I don't want to watch any movies anymore.

But, like, if somebody sings A Christmas Carol.

I'm like, not gonna get on them.

Yeah.

Before Thanksgiving.

I'm like, it's not until after Thanksgiving.

Yeah, but.

Because that's more of a rejection of.

And it doesn't matter.

So.

Yeah, but yes, in our house, we still have Christmas decorations up, so it's fine.

The Christmas tree will need to come down soon, though.

It's going to die.

It's dead.

Needs to go.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

Holidays.

So what's that thing?

What's that next step?

What's the little thing that you need to do to set the example?

What's your next step?

I guess be thinking about it.

Think about it every day.

Pray on it.

What's your word of the year, if you've got one?

Yeah, we'd love.

We'd love to know.

I mean, if you've got any advice for us, we're here.

If you need some advice, we're here.

You can hit us up atthetruth responsemail.com.

we got Facebooks.

We've got the Instagrams.

We've also got patreon now and YouTube.

Commenting on YouTube is probably the best of all of those.

That.

Or Facebook.

That helps us for the algorithms.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So shout out to trust God, bro.

Yeah, right?

Trust God, bro.

Trust God, bro.

I want to get.

Because I got a shirt now I got to get a hat.

Trust God, bro.

You need to.

You need to flip me a hat.

I will rep you.

Yeah.

And, man, I.

I just.

I can't wait to see what this year holds for.

For all of us.

So if you guys.

If you guys got anything that you need to talk about, reach out.

We're here.

I've got more time on my hands a little bit than when I used to kind of.

I have more.

More time.

I can respond.

We'll say that.

And be careful, because as soon as you open up space, things tend to take it.

Yeah, no, no, no.

I mean, I can.

I can respond a little easier and quicker now, so.

But yeah, no, seriously, like, that is the.

That's the thing I'm more passionate about is Jesus than.

Than any of it.

So I just.

I want to be here for you guys.

So comment.

Like, subscribe.

Do all the stuffs.

All the stuffs.

God bless.

Hey, thanks for joining us.

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