← Unashamed with the Robertson Family
Unashamed with the Robertson Family
Ep 1183 | Mia Steals the Show for an Unforgettable Weekend & Jase Is a Cowboy Now??
00:56:57
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A
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B
Well, I was down on my last.
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C
Dollar and then I started saving because.
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B
The bank said fiscal restraint is what you're craving. So I put my earnings in a high yield account, let the savings compound.
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C
And the interest mount. I'm optimizing cash flow, putting debt in check.
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B
Now time is my friend and not a pain in the neck. And we've got a little cash to rebuild the old deck. Boring money moves make kind of lame songs, but they sound pretty sweet to your wallet. BNC Bank. Brilliantly boring since 1860. I am unashamed. What about you?
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C
So welcome back to unashamed. I feel so strange, Zach, sitting here.
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D
In the Sit, man. You're up in the northern. Oh, my gosh. What in the world. What we got going on there?
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C
I hope you're watching today and not listening because Jace is. The Jays has gone rogue.
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D
He's got a cowboy hat on that's got some kind of markings on it.
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C
Yeah, J.
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D
What are you doing?
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C
Jace, what's happened?
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B
Saddle up, partner. Put your seat belts on.
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D
Oh, you got the shirt on. Hey, this says saddle up.
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C
Saddle up.
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B
Zach, you with such a deep mind, it's amazing the simplicities of life sometimes takes you a while to process.
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D
Yeah, I saw the hat. The hat was jarring enough, but he's got a cowboy hat on. If you're not watching and you're listening.
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C
And this T shirt says sa Up.
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B
And you know what's crazy? I got my horse hooked up out here to the back of somebody's car.
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D
Okay. Okay.
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B
So that was a wild ride this morning. I'm kidding.
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D
I don't know what's.
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B
I don't have the horse. That was a joke.
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D
I don't know what's real anymore. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know.
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C
If I know one thing, I leave town and boy, Jace does a whole. He does a whole flip.
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D
What you got? What's. Is this, like a promotion of something? What is this? I mean, it's got to be something.
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B
Zach, it's a new look, okay? Now, we had this weekend, we had our. I don't know what? Annual 11. Annual, probably 11.
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C
Oh, that's right. Mia Moo.
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B
We had Mia Moo. And this was my look. This was the theme. And if you can look, I don't know if you can see the verse, but it says Ephesians 6:11 right under saddle up.
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D
Did you wear like Wranglers and cowboy boots?
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B
Well, I got some boots on here.
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C
Oh, yeah.
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B
Oh, yeah.
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D
Well, not really cowboy boots.
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B
Yeah. And I got some true classic. They look like jeans, but, oh, they're comfy. So I cheated a little bit on that. So, yeah, it was quite the weekend. And it was the reason I did this is because it was spectacular. This is the links that you will go to, to, I believe, show the love of God in this world. And by doing that in the theme of where we're at in the book of John and Jesus prayer so that the world may know that Jesus came to earth.
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C
I like it.
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B
There's your sermon for the day.
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C
I like it. And by the way, Ephesians 6:11. Put on the full armor of God that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
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D
Yep.
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B
What's interesting about that verse is, you know, the next verse says, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood. So we've helped 198 families with kids that have some kind of cleft lip and palate issue, or craniofacial, if you want to be specific. And so every year we invite all the families that we have supported financially. And I don't know what we're going to do if they all show up because, you know, we couldn't hold them. But just the nature of these families, there's a lot of problems. So on average we'll have about 30 show up every year, which is about as many as we can handle because it's not just the kid, it's their whole family. Right. So this year we had 48 volunteers, which was good. And just think, 48 people just volunteered for a weekend to completely serve and share the love of Jesus to these families. So these families, you know, they have a tough journey because we went through this with mia. She had 16 surgeries and major surgeries. Never went six weeks without seeing a doctor up until this past year. And for the first time, you know, she's a graduate of this process because she's now. Once you stop growing, the problems cease. You know, it is what it is that the problem with this condition is that as you grow, things get worse, since it wasn't right when it started with. So when they come in and do surgeries, you're just kind of managing the problem, which is why this is real expensive for the families, and it's just real brutal for the kid. Just think about having 16 surgeries before you're 20 years old. So it's tough. And a lot of these kids, you know, have worse conditions than others, so. And we had two families this year that actually had two kids with some form of this. So just imagine how difficult that is. So I was on a mission this year because I. What I basically do, you know, we greet everybody. I think we've told the story before. They come in on buses that we rent for them, the whole families. They all stay at a hotel together. We rent the whole hotel. And when they get out of those buses, it is 48 volunteers and everyone in our family, it is cheering like they just won the super bowl of life. So already kind of pulls on your heartstrings, especially the new families. We had two. Two families who were new, and it's overwhelming for them. But you got to remember the spirit of this condition. The biggest struggle is loneliness, because you feel like the kid feels like other kids don't have this problem. And there's a sense of being alone. And these families who are dealing with these very complex conditions, most of them, medical world, don't even know the process that they're going through. And so it's really hard to get information, the right information. This is part medical and part artistic because all kids are different. All these conditions are different. So, like in our case, Mia, they told her she was going to have four surgeries. You know, when we had the first meeting, well, they were off by 12, which is very frustrating. So basically, what we've learned through what we do with our charity is we're connecting these people and it becomes a family where they can lean on.
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C
You're creating a community, Jase. So, speaking of family, a little shout out, Zach, to our old friends at Family Research Council. Amazing group of people. Tony Perkins has been a friend for many, many years. I mean, it's a. It's trying to teach our culture generational faith. And they do it in the, you know, the political hotbed of Washington, D.C. so they're. They're amazing.
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D
Yeah. Where can people go, by the way, if they want to help them?
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C
You can go to FRC.org unashamed to support these guys. And I highly recommend you do it. Great organization.
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B
It's a community. And these little kids that have been there before, look, if you had some Chariots of Fire music going they get off that bus and they start running toward our family. And I mean, it will break you down. I mean, they're running like big hugs. It is, you know, I'm telling you.
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C
It'S very inspirational how you keep it together days. I'd be just, oh, you don't. Quality.
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B
Oh, you don't, you don't. It's a ball.
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C
It's like a rod. I'm tearing up. Just you describing it.
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B
Oh, I wear. I wear sunglasses most of the time, but it's okay. Look, we come there, we laugh, we cry, we share. And we have a thing with the parents for a couple hours. Just the parents, all the volunteers. And of course, we have medical staff there who keep all their kids during this. And this year was the first year that we had Mia. This was her idea. She met with the parents and us and they just asked her questions because a lot of these kids are teenagers. And the first part of this process is mostly physical, but once they become a teenager, it becomes psychological. It's kind of the equivalent to a military person being in, you know, having PTSD because they've had so much blood and trauma and loneliness and it's very difficult when they get to their teenage years, all of a sudden they notice that people are staring at them and it. It just. With all the things that are going on, they truly. Other people don't understand, you know. So Mia shared a lot of things in that group setting that was very powerful. You know, even just. She's like when she first started noticing and people would ask her, you know, like, as a teenager, what's wrong? And she said, I would come up with these crazy stories that I, you know, a shark tried to attack me and I fought my way out, you know, So I mean, it's kind of sad in a way that you have to do this, but you through that process and it's very powerful.
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D
So every time about this year, Al, Jase, we full fledged football games, kids going everywhere, and there is a lot of school drop offs. You guys are just. Y' all out of that stuff, right?
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B
No, you still. You still doing it. It only just began.
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C
It's just the next generation for us that we're doing it with our grandkids.
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B
Exactly.
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C
Well.
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D
Well, the fuel bill is what goes through the roof because we're all over the place. My truck holds about 36 gallons of diesel fuel. And so right now I'm using an app called Upside. I actually get cash back on every time I fill up. And right now, just down the street at the Shell station. I get 62 cents back per gallon on my tank of diesel. So when I leave here today, I'm going to go fill up. I'm going to save myself about $22. I'll literally get $22 in cash back. So I'm going to use that money to take my wife on a date when I save up enough. So you say, what is Upside? What' app that gets you cash back on daily essentials like gas, groceries and dining? There are over 100,000 gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants on the app. So cashback is always just around the corner. And yes, it's real cash back. No confusing reward points or credits. It's actual money. Cash right into your bank account. You can earn three times more cash back with Upside than any other product on the market. This includes loyalty programs and credit card rewards. $1,000,000 in cash back is being earned by users every single week. Upside has given over a billion dollars back to its users. To find out how much you can earn, download the free Upside app today and use promo code unashamed to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas using promo code unashamed.
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B
So one of the things I do besides speak there is. And what we do is Friday night's kind of a fun thing for the families that our team, they lead that. And then we have all the volunteers at our house and we cook them jambalaya, old Gimber cooks for them and white beans, and we just do a worship. We just kind of prepare our hearts and pray that this weekend the Lord will work. And so then Saturday is the longest day of the year. It starts about 7:30. We meet the families at 8 and then it's supposed to end at 8. But this time we had some things happen out of our control and so it kind of ended at 7:30. And I'll tell you that in a second. But one of the things I do like part of the day is they have stations where they go like into four. We divide them into four groups and I man the fishing station. So there's a pond at this camp that we fish. And the last two years, I think in the three hours, three and a half hours that with the four groups we might have caught four fish. So I was like, you know what, this is embarrassing. I'm in charge of this now. Look, it was not completely my fault, but the tackle we were using was provided by the camp but it. Wrong kind of tackle. I mean, it had been obliterated. And I was just going along with it. So I told Missy. I was like, I'm fixed to fix this. I go down to our friends at the Honey Hole here, and I wear their shirts a lot of times on the podcast. And the only thing I can kind of give you an illustration of it is like the PG version of Caddyshack, if you remember that movie. I watched it on the TV version. So when Rodney Dangerfield went into the golf pro shop and said, I want seven of those, 10 of those. Well, that's basically what I did at the Honey Hole. And it was just a bewildering. I was like, I want all live bait. I want a hundred shiners, two buckets of crickets, 10 boxes of worms. I had 15. They don't. They don't sell cane poles anymore. So I had these expensive. You fold them out, you know, and they brought me 10. And I said, no, I'm going to need five more of those. They rigged them all up. I mean, I was there two hours. I had boat paddles, I had pliers, I had every conceivable way to catch a fish imaginable. And this pile of stuff is at the register. And I'm like, all right, what's that going to set me back? I'll give you five minutes to tally all this up. And old Johnny D, who's. Who's a friend, and. And he does the Uncle Psy podcast.
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C
Yeah.
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B
What's it called? Thank you, man.
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C
What's it called?
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D
It's like, right. It's right on the other side of the wall for me.
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C
It's that little junior podcast, you know, next door.
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B
I said, what? Okay, give it to me. He said, zero. I was so. Look, we hadn't even started the Miyamu, and now I'm getting. I'm getting choked up in the Honey Hole, you know, I was like, no, no, seriously, Because I literally wiped out a whole shelf of these brim poles. And he's like, no. He said, you are helping these kids. And this is just our donation, you know, to y'. All. So a big shout out to the Honey Hoe if you need. And look, they did not know that I was even going to bring them up, but I just thought, if you need any kind of outdoor gear, look them up. I'm sure they deliver some capacity because I wipe them out. So give them a week maybe before you order some stuff. And so I. That was my big thing. And now I feel like Grace and I mean, incredible act of service and mean. I, I just went crazy. So we get down there to the stations and I had a few assistants and one other proficient pro. And I said, look, let's just go ahead and let me try this. Well, believe it or not, before the groups got down there, I caught. There was a. There was a little dock and there was a. I saw a brush top under the water and I caught three bass on my spinning reels in two minutes. And I thought, oh, we're good. But I didn't take the fish off because these are little kids. And I thought, I'm just going to give it a little line. We're fixed to catch three right off the bat. And so first group gets there. I'm like, come out here and grab a pole. Well, all of a sudden, you know, there's already three bass on the poles. They didn't even realize it. They're, they're like, you know, I was like, let out some line. They're like, well, I think I got one. And so boom. Well, look, as soon as I took those three bass off, we took pictures with them. I put a shiner on all three of those spinning reels, threw them back out, hand them to the next three kids, bump, bump, bump. Three more. And one of them was huge. I say, he's three pound, but you know, I got a little five pound test line here. And I mean, it was awesome. We hammered them. And the highlight was on the second group, a kid. And I said, kid. It was one of the teenagers with a. One of the poles, not the spinning reel, caught a bass that weighed over five pounds on a cricket where the guy helping her, the volunteer, had to get down in the water and get the bat. I mean, we're talking about a five pound bass.
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D
It makes me wonder if the. Because, you know, Willie run. He's somehow involved in that camp. I wonder if he's intentionally sabotaged the bait situation for his own personal. He goes out there and probably wears them out because you go out there with the right bait and all of a sudden it's. It's game on.
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B
Oh, exactly. So it was fantastic. And that was just my part. But, you know, it was a success. It was a success on all accounts. And we had this. And look, there was a lot of sponsors. I hate to start naming them, but even yeti. Look, they sent the whole family's yeti cups. No charge. I mean, just fantastic outpouring of gifts to these families. And it was awesome. But we had a guy who's a music director locally and we've had him before. What is his name? I wrote it down. Jared Richie. Al. Have you ever met him?
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C
Yeah.
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B
This was our big thing with the cowboy hats. This was all this about. He taught everyone folk dancing. If you've never done that, it's like dancing with groups. It's not like anything that you have a problem with dancing. This is not it. This is like big groups. We did the Sasha Donut where you make a two lines, you know. And so we all had our.
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C
Our came. He came up to our marriage refresh a couple years ago and we did that one night with all the couples. It was so much fun.
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B
Oh, this guy, he should be a stand up comedian. I mean, he's hilarious. And he can teach you how to do this in five minutes. You kind of go through the, you know, the little signs, the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. And the next thing you know, he plays the music. And it just, it, it happens and it's, it's all fantastic. So he was supposed to go to 8 and at 7:30, a power line fell somewhere on the road out there at camp and all the lights went out. This guy turns his, his phone on and we go another 15 minutes in the dark. We learned the waltz in the dark. It was hilarious. I mean, and fantastic. And it'll make it memorable. But. But I kind of use that as. So the next day, Sunday morning, we have church by the pool at their hotel. And we just. It's a voluntary thing and I think most families, if not all attended. And so we, you know, we got a couple hundred people out here by the pool. And that was the start. I was like, you know, last night we had this all planned because Missy was disappointed. She was like, all the lights went. I mean, it was completely out of our control. But we're like, wouldn't this what happened to all of our families? Everything's rocking along. We're excited about having a baby, bringing a baby into the earth. And then all of a sudden something completely out of our control happens and we're like, now what? And it just becomes the new normal. And so I started in John 9 there and basically I share the gospel for 15 minutes.
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D
One of the biggest blessings of our lives has been to connect with the people in Africa through different ministries that we've been a part of over the years. A lot of great friends over there spend a lot of time between our family and connections and, and ministries that we've been a part of. And we want to tell you about another mission that we are a part of in Africa. It's one of the things I love about Tomorrow Clubs is that they reach kids in the toughest places on earth, like the Binga district of Zimbabwe, where other ministries aren't working. So Tomorrow Clubs steps in by giving local churches the training and the resources to pour into the next generation. Think about how much these kids lives will be changed forever after they meet Jesus for the first time.
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B
Well, this is actually Jesus's mission that he passed on to us. He said, go into all of the world. Go make disciples of all nations.
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D
Right now, over 5,000 kids in 44 Binga area villages are part of the Tomorrow Club, which is amazing. But the door is wide open for more. 40 more villages and 5,000 more kids could be reached by the end of this year if we participate in this and help this make this happen. So what we're doing is we're asking the unashamed audience to help with that. Please help us make this happen. It takes about $2,000 to launch a Tomorrow Club in a new community. And that covers discipleship materials, life skills, leader training, and a year of support. So whether you sponsor an entire community with a $2,000 gift or contribution of any amount, you can be part of this amazing opportunity to transform families, churches, and entire communities. To join the Binga Blitz reaching the next generation for Christ and Binga, visit TomorrowClubs.org Unashamed. That's TomorrowClubs.org/Unashamed.
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B
I revolved it around the highlights of my life, which was seeing my parents be transformed by hearing the story of Jesus, hearing the message myself. And that's kind of where I went through the gospel, which it was like God became a man. He came to this earth. This Bible is about a living God who came to earth and died, you know, for our sins and redeemed us and liberated us. He rose from the dead to show that we can, you know, live forever together. And I brought up the fishing analogy, you know, the getting the fishers of men and catching the fish post resurrection because everybody had had such an awesome time fishing. I was like, this is what we're going to get to do for eternity is spend time with each other and God will dwell with us. Then I talked about my wife saying, yes, these are highlights in my life and talked about how our marriages become foundations for our kids, especially during difficulty. And then the birth of my children. Despite the difficulty with Mia, I wouldn't change it for the world. And then my last point was seeing People being born again. And that highlight just continues to be seen. People who give their life to Jesus and who are born again. So we did that and then Missy Mia led about three worship songs. So then Missy asked one of our kids to come up, which I had no idea this was going to happen. But here's a six year old kid comes up and Missy sang that song by Cody Carnes and Carrie Jobe, the Blessing.
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C
Yep.
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B
And so after she sang that, she then told everyone that this little girl who's six, she was going to have her 15th surgery today, which was tomorrow when we did this, yesterday, Sunday. And so we all, you know, prayed for her, of course. You know, a six year old that's fixed to have surgery and had this incredible event for that. It just, it made it for a very powerful event and kind of showed what we're all about and what we do. And so it was very moving. I wanted to share that just because, you know, it's a good way to show the love of God and to get involved in things that happen that are out of our control.
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C
I love the analogy. It's so good. I mean, because that's life, right? It's the things you don't plan on. It's the power that goes out. We were doing an event a couple hours from here on Thursday night and their sound got. Their AV person had. Had to drop out, you know, which, you know, automatically that's probably going to be a problem, you know, so they're here, they're. They're trying to raise money for a pregnancy center. And so this poor little guy is in charge of the stuff. But he, he doesn't like normally do that. He's a preacher and he just happened to probably be decent with computers and so he kind of drew the job. But then it, it was just problems all night, you know. And so by the time we got up there to do our thing, you know, our thing is kind of like a script of pictures, you know, that we go through. And so I start into this, you know, like this little opening thing. I do kind of a joke, you know, with the labs. And all of a sudden the computer just goes crazy and all this. All my slides just go, keep going all the way through all the slides. A video starts playing somebody that had an earlier thing. And so, you know, like the directors over there, you could tell, they're just in panic mode about what to do and they're trying to fix it over here. Well, we just lean, you know, Lisa and I started laughing, I started making jokes and we, and then, you know, and the audience is just laughing. It's improv. But if we had like just froze up or if we had just like got all stiff and like, it would have been a disaster. But you lean in, you know, you just gotta.
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D
You're good at the improv.
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C
Oh yeah, it was, I was in my element then they finally got it all lined up and we just went right back into our thing. And afterwards, you know, she was, I'm so sorry. And I said, hey, I knew you were going to have problems cuz the devil's in the computers, you know, that's what happens.
- [27:03]
B
Well, what was interesting in that moment, Al, is Jared, which he didn't know that before every meal we sing that song Praise God from whom all blessings flow. And we do that every year. So now all the families that have been coming, they all know it and it's really beautiful. And because we just acapella sing it before every meal.
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C
It's like an old camp tradition for many, many years. Yeah.
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B
So Jared, when it first happened, he said, well, I'm going to teach you a song while I try to figure out how we're going to do this in the dark. And he said, I'm going to teach you a song that's called Praise God from whom All Blessings. And somebody hollered, we know it. Do it. So we, we just sang it all in the dark, which was very moving. And then after that we, you know, we went out and they did s' mores because you know, the fire was providing the light and. But it was, it was just such a moving weekend. And I will say if you want to, you know, help contribute to what we do. They have a lot of leftover shirts. They do this on purpose. And so you can go to miamu.org but it'd be a good way so we can continue to help families.
- [28:15]
C
Well, you know, I hadn't thought about it about now Mia being a young adult, you know, she's. She's not a kid anymore. I mean she'll always be a kid to us. But her now being able to translate that to the adults, not just to the kid. I mean she's always been great for kids, but I hadn't even thought about that till you said that. That's very powerful.
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B
Yeah.
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C
Next year generationally watch that happen. Yeah.
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B
One of the parents asked her, they said, well, would next year would you talk to our teenagers? And so we're going to do that. And Mia was like, great idea because it is a different kind of struggle at that stage. And of course, you couldn't do all this without having this basis. You know, the Bible and the story of Jesus is the things that we're conveying. And whether they're believers or not, when they come to us, because we help people, you know, we don't make them fill out a questionnaire. They have this difficult situation, and we help them, but we're also introducing them to the principles that God has put in our life. And we know that, you know, this truth that God portrayed and revealed to us is what, you know, what you can use in your life to deal with this. And so that's kind of the hidden agenda, that it's not very hidden when you do this, because these people, there's a reason they keep coming back, you know.
- [29:41]
C
Well, and that's all part of that. We talk about it all the time, about the power of your story and how things unfold, how God works in your life. That's what impacts other people. And so then, even if you're not going through that, but you see that and it touches you because, you know, it's helping these kids or it's helping somebody else, it makes you want to be a part of that. It makes you want to join in. It's just a beautiful thing. It's great what you guys are doing.
- [30:07]
B
I related, you know, most of what we've been studying in John 16, 17, and now 18. You know, I just couldn't help it because even in my first speech, I was like, you know why we're doing this? And I told the story about Jesus telling his disciples, look, you're fixed to have trouble. You're fixed to have difficulty. And I said, he said that prayer, but he gets to the end of that prayer, and he's like, I want you to experience the love that me and the Father had before the creation of the world. And so it's very moving. And for people, you know, just from wherever, USA, I think we had 12 different states represented yesterday from. Yeah, but we went around and divided into groups of states for one of the games we played. I was shocked that there's 12 states represented here. It's incredible.
- [31:03]
C
But you're right, Jay. It's that theme, that theme of love and unity, which is all throughout that prayer that Jesus was saying. First he talked about he and the Father, then It was the 11, and then it was the whole world. Even that whole idea comes out of love, and that's that unifying factor. So you guys, totally out of love, have this opportunity, and you're unifying this particular group of people that grows and changes because people are added to it. And, you know, but they'll. They'll never forget that either. They take that with them where they go. That's the beauty of this thing, which is exactly the point Jesus was making. And it's all through. Through a difficulty, through. Through something that's hard, through something that's difficult. I mean, like you described, it's a lifetime for a child through that, you know, first 18 years of their life. It feels like a whole full life has already happened.
- [31:58]
D
So this is the year that Al and I are getting healthy. And, yeah, we've made a major turn in our life. The annual checkups, the doctor visits, the lab work, it all looks better. And one of the reasons why is I'm taking this product right here, Field of Greens. It's actually amazing. I've got kids that are growing up. I've got a young daughter. Got to stay healthy for them. I just found out that we all have two ages. One is the number on your license, and the other is your body's biological age. And get this. I have already lowered mine without even realizing it. Here's the problem. Most Americans eat a ton of processed foods and not nearly enough fruits and veggies. That means that a lot of us are actually 10, sometimes even 15 years older on the inside than our actual age. It's like a ticking time bomb. But a major university study found a way to slow that down. And all it took was Field of Greens. No diet change, no new workouts, just filled greens. Every fruit and veggie in Field of Greens is doctor selected for specific health benefits for your cells, your heart, your lungs, your kidney, metabolism, and even a healthy weight. And that gives me a peace of mind knowing that I can actually slow down how fast I'm aging so that I can be there for my kids as they grow up. I take this every morning, and it really helps me get through the day without any afternoon crashes. I'm sleeping better. Gut health is improved, which is obviously important to me and Al both. And I want to encourage you to join us. Skip the untested green drinks and go with Field of Greens. Check out the university study and get 20% off when you use promo code unashamed@fieldofgreens.com that's fieldofgreens.com promo code unashamed.
- [33:26]
B
And we have lots of conversations about pain and suffering. And, you know, I mean, I. I use a lot of C.S. lewis quotes and, and just kind of as the Result of giving us choices. You know, pain came from that because, you know, you have the choice to love, but we also make bad choices and, you know, just kind of going through the narrative of the Bible, even though we're not. I'm really not quoting scriptures the whole time, we're just dealing with these issues because it does make you angry. I mean, even Missy and I, when we knew that this was coming from the womb, because they could see that there was a problem, you know, I was angry for about three or four months because I'm like, well, why in the world is this happening? It's just a natural response, I think, from people who have flesh and are weak. We're just. We don't. This is not. It's out of our control and where we get angry about it. This is not what I want. But even here in Mia yesterday, you know, going through her journey in front of the parents, which really was an act of courage. I mean, you think standing up and speaking in front of your peers is one thing or in front of little kids is another, but to adults much older than you just to. I was shocked. But at some point in her telling her story, she said, you know, I knew I had turned the corner. When I look back at everything that has happened to me, and. And I was thankful. And I thought, oh, wow.
- [35:02]
C
Yeah, that's a moment as a parent that. Don't you love that? I mean, don't you love to hear that that's. That, you know, that everything was. Yeah, that she. She did get it, you know, because, I mean, it's harder. It's hard to raise teenagers if there's not any kind of maladies or difficult. And to get to that point where they can say those words, you know.
- [35:23]
B
Oh, I went head down, shades on for about 60 seconds. Yeah. It was an incredible weekend. Thanks for letting me share that, because it was real close to my heart, and it was just really moving. It seems like it gets better and better every year. I'm not sure why, but I think it's more just the volunteers are just all in, and the people just come there with open minds and hearts, and the kids love it. I mean, they. They enjoy that community where they feel like, oh, I'm with people like me. Just that one fact, and. And they. They love me.
- [36:04]
C
So, so good.
- [36:05]
B
Yeah, it's good.
- [36:06]
C
I love it when you're right. It's not easy to ever be in front of an audience. Yesterday we were. We were here. Lisa and I shared our story, our testimony at Zach's Church here. And originally I was supposed to preach, but, man, we've been doing so much stuff, I just couldn't. I didn't have the bandwidth to pull another lesson together. And so we decided we'd just do kind of what we do on the road. And Melissa was sitting next to us, and the church here is amazing. Just great atmosphere, man. Great worship. Grant, Zach's brother was leading worship and a lady with him, and it was really good. But they were doing an acapella song, and I guess that's. I don't normally do that.
- [36:48]
D
That's the first time we've ever done that.
- [36:49]
C
Yeah.
- [36:49]
D
And so they're not me. Yeah, we grew up doing that.
- [36:52]
C
Right, right. But Melissa was part of the little four. You know, they're doing harmony and everything. So they were going to get up on the stage, and so she's talking to me, and she. She just. She gagged. She. And I was like, what is. You step in something on the way in? Yeah, I thought. I mean, she was gagging, and I was like. And she said, oh, I'm just. I know y' all like the limelight. But she was gagging about going up front to sing. I was like, are you gonna be able to do it? I mean, I thought you. You get up there and wretch. I mean, you know, this. This song is going. But once she got up there, she did fine. But I was like, I never seen anybody have a gag reflex when they're about to go see, my goodness. But Zach was up there. Zach and Melissa.
- [37:36]
D
And I got nervous, too. I don't like to do that. I mean, I can speak in front of people, but you asked me to sing. I'm like, but it was beautiful.
- [37:43]
C
They did. What was the song?
- [37:45]
D
As the deer.
- [37:46]
C
Yeah, as the deer. The. You know, that kind of repeat song. And I love that song. The harmonies on it are so, so pretty. It's really good.
- [37:53]
B
Well, I did my sermon. I did a little bit different because Ephesians 6 was our theme. But, you know, that's kind of a deep principle, especially if you don't, you know, if you're not a believer. It's like, you know, our struggle is against the evil one. So we didn't do this by design, but we never really read the text until my sermon was over. And then Missy, I could. I look back at her because she was supposed to sing the song, and when she got up, I could. There's a certain look that she has that I know. Been her husband for 35 years. I thought I feel a sermon coming on. And was it the same look she.
- [38:37]
C
Had when Trump walked in?
- [38:38]
B
Same look. Same look. I thought, okay, if she had a hat on, she would turn it around backwards. And because I think I had shared Jesus. But I did some things that I'd never done. I'd actually, when I was doing some research about the Charlie Kirk situation, a. A little sermonette popped up from, I believe it was John MacArthur. And, you know, these algorithms, they know what you're looking for or whatever. And he, he, there was a little blurb that I thought, I don't know where he got that from, but I thought that was good. And I'm going to use that because I didn't know how many people in my audience were believers. Yeah. And so what he did, I wrote this down before I finished the Ephesians 5 thought. But I think this is what compelled Missy to do the sermon, because I started off with, you know, this beautiful prayer by Paul in Ephesians 3, where he talks about, every family on earth, derives its name from. From God. And then he prayed you would grasp how wide and how deep and long. High and long. Yeah. It's the love of God, and it's that intimate. He's like, I pray that you'll be strengthened with his spirit in your inner being. You know. And of course, you got to remember they've seen the display of the Holy Spirit, the love and joy despite incredible difficult circumstances. And we're all families here. And so I, I, I mentioned that, but I did this illustration that I, that I heard from MacArthur. He said, in 1903, there was a guy named Herbert Spencer that he came up with this groundbreaking idea that science basically built their model on of science and nature. And here was what he came up with this 1903. He came up with the idea that everything, and I have that in all caps. Everything. Everything that's knowable. Everything can fit into five knowable categories. Time, which is number one. Force, number two, action, which is number three, space and matter. And MacArthur said, Somebody should have told Herbert Spencer to read Genesis 1:1. And so watch how this works. It's very powerful. That's why I did it. Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, time.
- [41:24]
C
Time.
- [41:24]
B
God the force, created action. The heavens, space, and the earth. Matter. That would do it. That covers it, doesn't it? Isn't that something's like groundbreaking? Everything can fit into these five categories. You need somebody to raise your hand, said, yeah, we got that on Genesis 1:1. Breaking news.
- [41:52]
C
And then we throw in John 1:1. And two in there as well. And then you got the sun.
- [41:59]
B
Well, that's what I did. Al. I went to. And then the, you know, God became a man. In the beginning was the Word, because the next part of Genesis 1 is. And God said. And the Word became flesh. He. He became a demonstration as a human to who God is. And all these things, you know, heaven and earth coming together. The force, the power, the creation. And not only that, but a new creation. Which is why I had the highlight about being born again.
- [42:30]
C
Yeah. And which is exactly where we're at now in the story. Because the purpose, you know, to. To get Jesus, for him to come here is now about to happen. But nobody can understand why it has to happen. And so all this intrigue around it and the political stuff that we're about to get into and these. These trials of, you know, all these people trying to, you know, figure out how to deal with him, the whole thing is already part in the works. I mean, the whole thing is about. He came to die, to then be resurrected, to totally destroy the evil ones, holdovers. I mean, it was just. It was amazing when you kind of go back into it and you just look at the details of it, because I don't know about y', all, but, like, reading 18, 19, 20, like, the. I got really angry for some reason this time. And I don't know, maybe it's the. Maybe she'll still the echo from what happened to Charlie Kirk or something. I don't know. But it just. The injustice of it really bothered me more than any other time I've studied this particular happening.
- [43:36]
D
Yeah.
- [43:37]
C
And, you know, I don't know. We had Dallas Onion talking about, you know, he's right here as well on the show. But it just. It made me so angry because they're so. They're so pious and petty and felt like they were in such control when, you know, it was the Son of God standing there. Just. It offends me for Jesus. I mean, I realized it had to happen. If it didn't happen, I don't have hope for the resurrection. But it makes me angry that it happened.
- [44:05]
D
Well, everybody knows that the American health care system is a train wreck. Over 100 million people are drowning in medical debt, and even more don't have any health insurance at all, because traditional health insurance, it just cost way too much. It's way too confusing to navigate. And most of the time, it feels like you're fighting against the system instead of actually getting help. But believers have a better way. It's called Christian Healthcare Ministries and it comes in about half the cost. I'm actually a member. I've switched over to Christian Healthcare Ministries. It's absolutely amazing.
- [44:30]
C
Huge, huge blessing to Lisa and Isaac, no doubt about it. We've been very blessed by the idea of sharing among believers chm.
- [44:38]
D
It's a ministry first where believers from all over the country pitch in each month to share the burdens of each other's medical bills. It's not just about getting your medical bills paid though. There's also spiritual encouragement as well, lifting you up in the process. And since it's not traditional insurance, there's a lot more space for you to choose the hospitals and the doctors that you trust without the middle man. You think, well, how, how, how much is actually going on here? Listen to this. Members have already shared more than $12 billion in medical bills together. So for me it's a no brainer. I can save cash and I can stop feeding money into a broken system that doesn't honor God. I've signed up for Christian Healthcare Ministries out now. I'm actually sharing with other believers across the country and I believe in what they're doing. You know, it's so difficult just, you know, when I go into the exchange to look for insurance for my family, it literally, I mean I'm 40 grand out of pocket before I ever get a benefit. It's just too expensive. So I would encourage you to ditch your traditional health Insurance and join CHM today by visiting chministries.org unashamed. That's chministries.org unashamed chministries.org unashaMed it's kind of interesting you think about those five categories you mentioned, Jace. There's another category that wasn't mentioned in there that I think is super important and kind of the center category of what Jesus is rolling up against, which is why I think it made him so the Pharisees so petty is the category of just knowledge. Like how do we know all these things? How can you know about time, space, matter, the force, all that. So in John 1, which you just mentioned, the point that the Apostle John's making is that the Word was God in the beginning was with God, he was with God, he was God. And then that that Word actually became flesh. And so when you think about this whole point that he's laying out in John through John 17 is that not only is God creating or has he created the cosmos, he also speaks to us now and he speaks to us through his Holy Spirit, through the incarnation of The Word in Jesus. And so when you. When the thing is getting up to this, like, climax moment, the whole thing is coming to a head when you see Pilate kind of identifies it. We mentioned it in the previous podcast. It's like, who gets to determine what truth is? Who gets to determine, like, what reality is? And that's why I think they get so petty. That's why they get so pious. That's why they get. They get. What they're really angry about is that if Jesus is who he said he is, then they don't get to be the brokers of reality anymore.
- [47:21]
C
Right?
- [47:22]
D
And. And that. And that is always the power dynamic. If you look at any. Any issue when it comes to a power dynamic, it's always who gets to determine what the truth is. It's one of the reasons why during COVID I was so adamant and scared about the, you know, the whole, like, critical theory, critical race theory, all that. Because what's at the bottom of all that stuff is, is that people get who gets to determine what truth is? Is truth revealed to us? Or is it something that we determine based on our status, our position? And the Pharisees found out very quickly that truth is not determined by them. And even their knowledge of the Scripture, it was determined by the one that the scripture was about, to the point that even when they killed him, they're going to find out really soon that they can't stop him. You can't stop him.
- [48:12]
C
Right.
- [48:12]
B
Well, that's what led Missy to. To read that whole section, because all the contrasts that are in life, you know, good and evil, you know, God's new world in an old broken world, even the heaven and earth being displaced.
- [48:31]
D
Yeah.
- [48:32]
B
You know, she. She read this in Ephesians 6, and I'd like to read it because it echoes what you just said, but it was like, finally, be strong in the Lord and in mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world in high places and the spiritual forces of evil in high places. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm then. And here's the truth. With the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, which I had just shared to them. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith in which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, take. And the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, in which, you know, she echoed that that word became flesh. His name was Jesus. And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests with this in mind, be alert and keep praying. Well, that's why she then brought up the little, you know, girl and prayed for her. After hearing all that. And how about Jesus had rescued us from sin and death and given us all these tools to stand in this world despite difficulty and forces that are against us. It's really powerful. She did fantastic.
- [50:17]
C
No, and I think that, and Zach is right. Think about the idea that we're more than just matter matter. We're part of the earth, we're part of creation. But we're more than that because when God made us, when he gets you continue down that list. In Genesis 1, when it got to us, he made us in his image. And then he said that now that's very good. I mean, there's something special about humanity. So much so that, you know, Jesus could have come here in any form, in any way. I've said this before. But he decided to come as in a mother's womb and to be born and cared for and nurtured and to learn discipline and, and to be told, dear Jesus, don't do that. I mean, like imagine the Son of God growing up as a child. You know, we don't have anything except the little 12 year old story. We don't know anything about his childhood, but he went through whatever, what we all go through, and he did that as a man. Then he got to the age when he would now be a rabbi and he would now do all these things. And then that was it. Then he said, now I've got to accomplish what I came here to do.
- [51:28]
D
Well, I think that's the power of truth. That's the power of revelation, probably is a better word for it. Because truth, if you think about truth, truth is when reality meets what your thought is. So I have a thought about something and when that thought matches up with the way the world really is, then that relationship between the two is truth. And so faith becomes this idea of in revelation, well, God has to speak to me, right? He speaks to me. But what he's revealing to me is he's revealing reality. So when my thought matches up with God's revelation Now we have arrived at this thing called truth. And so you think, well, there's this threat against the kingdom of God in the form of. At least in the Gospel of John, it came in the form of Pharisees. It came in the form of the power of the Roman government, which was extremely powerful at that moment in history. And we're talking about the world superpower taking on the kingdom of God and in partnership with kind of the place it was coming out of, kind of the ins. So you had inside a threat and an outside threat all descending down on the kingdom of God to stamp it out. And think about to your point, God's way of victory is we're going to put a baby in charge. We're going to put. The whole thing is going to be contingent on a baby, and he's not going to be born into a palace, he's going to be born in a manger. So it tells you the power of God's revelation. Whatever power is in the gospel, you know, that's in Romans 1, whatever power that is, it's not the powers that we. How we typically think of power in the world, whatever it is, it's a different kind of power. It's a power that transcends. And I think what that power ultimately is, is. Is that it's actually reality itself, is who is God and nobody can stand against it. So when you get to that Ephesians 6 passage, Jase, I mean, look at all the things that are in there. When it talks about, like, suiting up for the battle and all the armor. It has to do with this idea of how we respond against the devil's lies on one end and then on the other end, it's how do we receive God's revelation in that? So it's faith. It's. It's a belt of truth. It's sort of the truth. It's the. What is it here? It's the, you know, the belt of truth about the truth, sword of the spirit, which is the revelation from Christ. It's the. The shield of faith which extinguishes all the flaming darts so that when the evil one throws lies at you, you got your shield of faith. That's not true. That's not true. I'm not going to receive that. The helmet of salvation. It's all, all of this.
- [54:12]
C
And think about that. The helmet protecting the mind. I mean, it is that truth that, you know, that protects us, don't you think?
- [54:21]
B
I mean, I'm glad we had this discussion, just because I think where we're going from here. In the book of John, there seems to be. In the religious world, I don't want to be negative, but there just seems to be a disconnect between the coming of the kingdom, which all four gospels are adamant about, even the conversation Jesus is fixing to have with the earthly powers concerning the kingdom. It's like a disconnect between that and what he did on the cross and the resurrection. And it shouldn't be a disconnect because that was the defeat of the earthly powers and ultimately the evil power. That's why he keeps bringing up the evil one. His time has come, and he's talking about right now. And I think we should view it as those things being synonymous, that that's why Jesus prayed your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Well, he's fixed to pull that off.
- [55:15]
D
Well, don't you. I mean, you see it even in this moment when he's in the garden and the soldiers show up to arrest him because he's been betrayed by Judas. I mean, even in that moment, you see, like, what is the power of the kingdom? Jesus is like, boys, don't worry about me getting arrested. Like. Like, this ain't. You're missing what's going on here. You're thinking too small.
- [55:40]
C
But that sword away.
- [55:42]
B
Put that sword away.
- [55:42]
D
Oh, let me grab the ear. Let me put that back on. No, we're gonna kind of re. We can rewind all that. Settle down. I'm in charge here. I'm Sovereign. They're like. And they're. And they're thinking, sovereign in charge. Dude, you're getting hauled off to the cross. What are you talking about? They don't have. They don't understand that the way that the power is actually going to overcome is through sacrificial love that Jesus embodies, which is kind of. That's kind of the thing, right?
- [56:10]
C
I mean, which is the same. We're about out of time, but the same moment we'll get into. The irony to me is Herod, who is his father, was the one, Herod the Great, who tried to kill Jesus as a baby. Remember to stamp him out just out of fear. And Herod's a son, you know, 30 years later, thinking he has control when he really does it. So. All right, we'll get into that next time. Jase, thanks for telling us about me and Moo. That's awesome. So proud of you guys for what you guys do. See you next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast, and don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube. And be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.