Podcast
Leaning Toward Wisdom
Hosted by Randy Cantrell · EN
Modern Tales Of An Ancient Pursuit
27episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Reflection and Anticipation (Year End 2025)
Dec 3101:08:23Tap to summarize  As we close out the final day of 2025, it seems fitting to engage in two of my favorite activities: reflection and anticipation. Links: My other shows are GrowGreat.com (a city government leadership show) and HotSpringsVillageInsideOut.com (a show about retiring, living, and thriving inside Hot Springs Village, Arkansas). Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me
Transcribe →Let’s Not Just Prepare For 2026
Dec 2900:23:33Tap to summarize  Happy New Year! Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me
Transcribe →Husbands & Wives: Old Love Is Home
Dec 1500:31:13Tap to summarize  Today’s topic has preoccupied (and occupied) my thoughts for decades. Boys. Girls. Men. Women. Our differences. Our wants, needs and desires. Those things we crave most. From one another, as husbands and wives. Our duties and opportunities to serve each other. To make a difference for this person we love most. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me
Transcribe →Staying Fascinated With My Wife
Oct 3101:08:48Tap to summarize  Once we were young. Now, we’re old. Okay, older. Being older is good. Often, it’s great! She was always gorgeous. I was always smitten. Madly in love. The love affair began on Wednesday night, July 2, 1975. During a church camp meeting in Oklahoma. I asked her out on a date following church services that night. She said yes. That orange car in the picture was our chariot. We drove around a bit. Talked a lot. Probably went to a Dairy Queen for soft drinks. I can’t remember. Eventually, I kissed her. She kissed me back. And it was all so easy. The conversation. The being together. The kissing. But I’m ahead of myself. First, there was her reputation. And my respect for her. She was known for being determined to remain faithful to her convictions. We shared faith. The Faith. She was smart, dedicated, disciplined, and intentional. The oldest of six kids. It was evident. It was among the top reasons I asked her out. She was beautiful, but that was bonus content. 😉 I hadn’t been in love like this before. Ever. This was different, and I knew it from the very first date. Becoming a Christian was my best decision. Falling in love with her was my second best. She’s only ever taken a backseat to God. Eighteen-year-old me would have denied ever being able to fall harder for her. But he’d have been wrong. Did I always behave like it? Nope. To my shame. But that was primarily due to my immaturity and selfishness. Two problems I’ve experienced and that I often see in the lives of other men, too. I’m not saying it’s a uniquely male weakness, but I’m a guy and it was mine. She’s not perfect. But she’s pretty ideal for me. I’m not perfect. But I’m pretty ideal for her. It’s our story. My story. But let’s not make this entirely about me, or her, or us. Two ideas have been swirling in my head for as long as I can remember. One, my daily, if not hourly, fascination with her. True confession: I think of her every waking hour. And I always have. Sounds like an obsession, huh? Well, it likely is. But in a good way. It’s why many times a day I approach her, seemingly out of the blue (I’m sure that’s what she thinks), and hug her because I’ve been thinking of her a lot before I literally have to hug it out. I’m high-maintenance like that. Two, sadness that too many marriages fail because of selfishness and pride. Mostly, I think of my own selfishness and pride because I know those are ingredients for failure for each of us. Read your New Testament, and you’ll see it more clearly — especially in yourself. This is about us – all of us. Yes, it’s about those of us who are married. And it’s about those of us who aren’t. Because love, fascination, selfishness, and pride are both universal and individual. Masculinity seemed all but gone until we got a new President in America. The shift back toward things our country once cherished and away from the idiocy that overtook us starting in 2009 or so has given many of us hope that men can get back to being men and women can return to their glorified place of being women. Love, pride (not the selfish kind, but the honorable kind), commitment, honor, loyalty, and merit. Those were once givens in our society. They eroded in the past couple of decades because we allowed ourselves to be manipulated away from the things we knew to be true and correct. Now, we’re seeing how bitter, hateful, and outraged the opponents to truth and right can be. But love and right are worth standing up for, and idiocy deserves to be fought vigorously. Without shame or embarrassment. I make no apologies for being a Christian. I make no apologies for being married to the same woman for almost 47 years. I make no apologies for confessing that we were both virgins when we married. I make no apologies that – because of my faith – I choose not to drink alcohol, gamble, or be promiscuous. I don’t care that others have made fun of my stance against alcohol or drugs or illicit sex. The mocking doesn’t bother me. I don’t care that others think putting their wives on display is better than my dedication to putting my wife on a pedestal. I learned as a kid the value of zigging when others are zagging. If you’re devoted to truth and right, you’ll be swimming against the tide. Sadly. When men are fascinated with their wives and maintain or grow that fascination over time, it’s not normal. It should be. When wives respect and let their husbands lead, it’s not normal. It should be. When husbands love their wives, as Christ so loved the Church. Ephesians 5:24-26 “But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…” Some truths are hard. Worth it and doable, but hard. Loving my wife isn’t hard. Never has been. I know, I know. Getting it right – marrying the right person – is monumental! I got it right. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me
Transcribe →Reaping The Rewards Of Wholesomeness
Oct 900:25:50Tap to summarize  Let’s discuss some important words: Regrets Wondering Wholesome Sacrifice Restraint Self-Control Struggle Discipline They all can help us understand and practice wholesomeness. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me
Transcribe →Closing The Gap (Between Where You Are & Where You Need To Be)
Sep 900:57:43Tap to summarize  Show notes? Nah. You don’t need ’em. Not for this episode. Enjoy! Randy Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me
Transcribe →Not Knowing You’re In Trouble
Aug 2100:27:16Tap to summarize  Today’s episode is about something we’ve all experienced, often without realizing it at the time: not knowing you’re in trouble. Not because you didn’t see the warning signs—but because you couldn’t, or maybe you wouldn’t. Pride, foolishness, selfishness—they can all blind us. And sometimes, the most dangerous trouble is the kind we don’t know we’re in. Important link: Let The Bible Speak YouTube Channel Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me
Transcribe →You Are Responsible For Everything
Feb 13, 202500:17:45Tap to summarize It doesn’t mean you’re to blame. It means you accept responsibility for yourself—for your choices, decisions, behavior, reactions, feelings—and all the rest. I’ve yet to discover a downside. Mentioned in today’s show: VIA Survey Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me
Transcribe →I Learned Everything I Needed From The Bible
Jan 11, 202500:51:45Tap to summarizeAll I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things by Robert Fulghum was published in 1986. It was quite the rage because it was filled with commonsense life maxims. I read it and appreciated the author’s point that even children can (and should) learn how to behave toward others. We are almost 40 years later, and it seems like a prehistoric work of fiction. When I purchased this book, I had yet to turn 30. I had two small children and a wife I’d been married to for about nine years. Back then, the content was much less remarkable than it is today. I appreciated Mr. Fulghum’s sentiment that kindness and courtesy are behaviors he learned as a small child, but that was then and now. When Fulghum grew up, parents trained children by providing guard rails, forbidding certain misbehavior, and encouraging proper behaviors. That’s much less visible today. When I first read the book, I quickly realized that kindergarten didn’t teach me these things, but my parents and older folks did. Increasingly, I realized they weren’t teaching me some arbitrary rules they had constructed. Their training manual wasn’t a book by some doctor or psychologist. They were using the Bible, the Word of God. The book focuses on fundamentals, such as the ” golden rule,” which originated in God’s mind. John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”. Matthew 7:12 “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” I learned that at home while reading the Bible. I also learned it by attending worship services every Sunday, a day that was (and still is) referred to as “the Lord’s Day.” Of course, every day belongs to the Lord, but the day of worship is unique and set apart for public worship. Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day (of worship, Sunday) approaching.” As an old man, I reflect on my training, and I’ve remained true to it because it was always based on the ultimate authority, God, and the Savior of all mankind, Jesus Christ. It wasn’t just a group of old people who littered my life, nor was it just my mom or dad imposing their will. It was a pattern for living, trained into me by these people who loved me and wanted only my best. Over the years, I’ve leaned hard on the precepts and principles of my training and continued it. It didn’t stop when I turned 18 or 21. The truth is, I made more dedicated, conscious efforts after I became an adult. I spent more hours studying and conversing with older mentors who continued my training. The foundation had been set, but the building didn’t begin until I was an adult, out on my own. That’s the litmus test for convictions – when you’re on your own, no longer under the thumb of anybody else, and free to choose for yourself. When that time comes, what will you do? How will you behave? Honesty, truth, kindness, courtesy (and much more) were instilled when I was a child, but as an adult, many no longer make those choices. We justify our poor behavior, choosing to be victims of others or circumstances we don’t think we deserve. I first saw deception at work on a stereo store showroom floor during my teen years. If a shopper was lied to about a piece of gear they considered, they might buy it. If you told the truth, they might not. My training and my conscience wouldn’t let that happen. It became easier when I realized that telling the truth worked better than telling the lies I knew others were telling. It turns out that the truth always works best. Personality and communication play a role, but the truth and doing what’s right aren’t subjective to either one. I’ve learned that some people struggle to communicate clearly, while others overcommunicate. Some need more public adoration and attention, while others don’t want it at all. Everybody has the God-given obligation to behave in ways that please God, and these are the ways taught to all of us in scripture. I was 27 when I first formed my business philosophy. I’ve always been prone to candor. Telling it as accurately and honestly as I can. It’s helped me avoid confusion that otherwise may have occurred. For instance, in every business dealing, I abhor ambiguity. I abhor it in my personal life because I’ve seen much misunderstanding result from people who lack the courage (or whatever it may require) to say what they want, what they require, and what they’ll accept. Even with explicit candor, people can still remember things the way they think they should have been. Years ago, while talking with an old businessman who was retelling a story whose facts I knew, I challenged his recollection. It didn’t happen as he said it did. When I confronted him, he said, “Well, I remember it the way it should have been.” His recollection made him the hero that he never was. Our minds can fool us into such conclusions. But we’re still wrong. Honesty is hard if it’s not your habit. It’s harder still if you’ve not been trained to exercise it. Without fear or compromise. Competence demands work and commitment. I believe it’s also a Bible-based principle. Colossians 3:23-24 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. The Bible contains many stories and illustrations of people dedicated to their work or servitude. I sought to be the best employee, boss, and cohort possible—not because everybody always deserved it but because I was attempting to serve God through Christ. I’ve devoted countless days to achieving greater competence. History will judge whether I succeeded. Giving more, like all the rest of this, is not negotiable. This has been a thorn in the side of others in many business situations because I’ve always begun every business relationship by focusing on how I might benefit the other person. It’s my worldview. They need to benefit before I can think about what I want. It’s God-centered, but it also feels especially good to me. Simultaneously, within this business philosophy, I also formed my own definition of leadership. While studying the Bible more, I also studied leadership and business more. I defined leadership as: a) influencing others to improve, b) doing for others what they can’t do for themselves and c) a focus on others (which turns out is the definition of compassion). I don’t find it difficult to give more, but I’ve had cohorts over the years who did. My behavior wasn’t driven by being altruistic. It was driven by faith, conviction, and doing what’s right. I quickly realized it was a competitive edge, but that wasn’t the point. Have I left profits, revenues, or anything else on the table? In other words, have I failed to maximize all I might have been able to get? Sure. And I’m good with it. It feels good to be because it’s right. Make it right. Fix it. Apologize where necessary. But don’t just say you’re sorry, actually change. The Bible calls it repentance. It’s making up your mind to change. Stop doing whatever you’re doing that’s harmful (to yourself and others), and start doing better. Lip service is easy. That’s why the bad husband can apologize to his wife, but nothing changes. He continues to mistreat her, selfishly patching things up because he’s the most important person in the world. Repentance is hard but worthwhile. It demands self-sacrifice, which is the hardest part. I’ve learned not to enable poor behavior. My own or others. As a young leader, I was offered a position at a specified pay rate. After a small bit of negotiation, I agreed. I was an employee. Over time, I discovered I had made an unfavorable deal compared to my co-workers. I was underpaid. At first, I was angry, but a mentor taught me not to be angry because I had agreed. He reminded me of the Lord’s parable of Matthew 20. 1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 8 So when even was...
Transcribe →If Your Habits Don’t Change, You Won’t Have A New Year. You’ll Just Have Another Year.
Jan 6, 202500:37:26Tap to summarize I posted this on social media a few days ago. It’s easy to desire improvement, but it’s hard to change our habits to bring about improvement. Each year begins with the hope that 2025 will be better than 2024. Maybe it will. Maybe not. Our habits are going to determine it. These 2 sentences are true. Life bears witness to their validity. Links mentioned in today’s show: • In Thy Paths, a YouTube playlist of sermons • A TV segment about why most New Year resolutions fail Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me
Transcribe →