Theology for Teens with Alena Franklin

Summary

Podcast Summary: With The Perrys

Episode: Theology for Teens with Alena Franklin
Date: February 23, 2026
Hosts: Preston Perry & Jackie Hill Perry
Guest: Alena Franklin

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Episode Overview

In this engaging episode, Preston and Jackie Hill Perry sit down with author Alena Franklin to discuss her new devotional for teen girls, God Is: 60 Days of Learning Who God Is to Understand Who We Are. The conversation delves into making theology accessible to teenagers, the impact of suffering and family legacy on faith, engaging with the doctrine of the Trinity, navigating perfectionism and shame, and the practical implications of knowing God’s character. The tone throughout is warm, candid, occasionally humorous, and deeply encouraging—making the topic of theology both approachable and transformative.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing Alena Franklin & Her New Book

• The Perrys introduce Alena Franklin (née Pitts), highlighting her recent marriage and famous lineage (daughter-in-law to Kirk Franklin, part of the Evans family legacy).
• Alena shares about the experience of changing her name and life milestones with humor and relatability.
• Quote:
  "I think absolutely. It's the legacy that I've walked ahead of or behind or whatever." (Alena, 19:21)

2. Motivation Behind Writing for Teens

• Alena’s devotional is aimed at teen girls, encouraging them to know God deeply—beyond stereotypes or shallow faith.
• Jackie notes: “Anytime you say God is, you're becoming a theologian.” (B, 05:09)
• Alena reflects on her personal journey, explaining that writing about theology felt natural, and only afterwards did the weight of the task hit her.

3. Theological Growth through Grief

• Alena shares about losing her mother at age 14 and how that radically shaped her understanding of God.
• Pain both challenged and refined her view of God:
  Quote:
  "Grief, suffering, it all, I just realized, kind of skewed my view and then at the same time, perfected my view of him." (Alena, 06:45)
• The Perrys affirm that pain either perfects or tests faith for all ages.

4. Discipleship and Spiritual Legacy

• Alena recounts her father’s creative methods in teaching Bible stories, shaping her foundations before hardship struck.
• The influence of a faith-filled home equipped her to hold on to God during suffering.
• Preston and Jackie explore the unique pressures and blessings of being part of families with strong spiritual legacies (Kirk Franklin, Tony Evans, Priscilla Shirer).
• Quote:
  "I think the greatest thing my parents said is, just trust me with him. Like, trust me with God." (Alena, 35:51)

5. Why Theology for Teens?

• Jackie and Alena discuss the need for “depth regardless of what age you are,” challenging the assumption that teens only want fun or superficial church.
• Alena admits she always resisted typical youth group activities:
  Quote:
  "Please don't make me go to youth group. I do not want to eat pizza and talk about boys. Like, I just wasn't like that." (Alena, 13:44)
• The book aims to meet teens where they are with rich concepts like the Trinity, not just “accessible” topics.

6. Engaging Difficult Doctrines: Trinity and God’s Perfection

• Alena bravely introduces the Trinity in her devotional, making it simple yet profound.
• Quote:
  "You can't look at the Bible and not see... all of it." (Alena, 15:12)
• Discussion around God’s perfection becomes personal: navigating perfectionism and shame vs. the relief found in Christ’s completed work.
• Quote:
  "There is some relief in that. All those things about him are absolutely true and always true because he is perfect." (Alena, 24:43)

7. Birth Order & Approaching God

• The group humorously explores how birth order (oldest, youngest, only child) shapes spiritual temperament—perfectionism, freedom, entitlement.
• Real-life anecdotes (e.g., sharing Snickers, learning unselfishness in marriage) illustrate how practical theology intersects daily life and relationships.
• Quote:
  "I've watched his perspective of God and his perfection... I just didn't understand how you could so freely approach the throne of grace because I didn't understand the gospel." (Alena, 27:39)

8. Understanding God’s Goodness in Suffering

• Alena identifies “God is good” as the most misunderstood attribute—especially for those facing suffering or loss.
• She illustrates the importance of presence over preaching:
  Quote:
  "He did such an incredible job at just being there... Now when I think about God in my pain, I see my dad standing outside my door." (Alena, 35:54)
• Preston and Preston affirm that a theology of God’s presence in suffering is foundational.

9. Knowing God as Protector Amid Fear

• The conversation addresses teen anxiety—whether from social concerns or faith.
• Remembering God's faithfulness, even in just a few moments, empowers courage.
• Quote:
  "I have a decent enough track record with God to know that he's gonna show up when he calls me to things." (Alena, 40:40)

10. Prayer in Light of God’s Character

• Alena emphasizes that knowing God’s attributes transforms prayer from rote to relational.
• She offers practical advice:
  • Build "relational equity" with God.
  • Establish a specific place for prayer.
  • Keep things simple; write out conversations with God.
• Quote:
  "Why wouldn't I come to God, who's a truth teller, protector, lover of my soul?... Which makes coming to him kind of my only option." (Alena, 43:11)
• Jackie affirms the importance of accessible, childlike faith in prayer.

11. How Understanding God Changes Relationships

• Knowing God’s grace enables us to extend grace to others, seeing human finitude and dependency.
• Quote:
  "All of a sudden it's like, oh, they're just not God. Like, they can't give me what He can give me." (Alena, 47:13)
• This shapes healthy expectations and maturity in friendships and family.

12. The Simplicity & Accessibility of Theological Faith

• The hosts commend Alena for making deep truths plain—sign of true understanding and essential for beginners.
• Quote:
  "The more I understand something, the more simple I become."
  (Jackie, 52:13)
• The book is recommended not just for teens, but all ages as an entry point to knowing God.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Pain and Faith:
  "Pain can reveal if you don't actually believe. And I think I've seen in my life the temptation to move away from the Lord because it hurts so much, but still clinging because the Holy Spirit is at work..." (Jackie, 08:20)

• On God’s Grit:
  "God is kind of gritty...he's just right there...he likes to get in there and do the dirty work. And at the same time, he's not like us...there's no chaos attached to his being in our chaos and our pain.” (Alena, 09:33)

• On Perfectionism & the Gospel:
  "I've written a whole book on the character of God and...if I truly understood the gospel, I would know exactly how to walk in, like, his perfection..." (Alena, 24:43)

• On Childlike Simplicity:
  "There's beauty in, like, understanding theology. And there's also real beauty in the simplicity of God." (Alena, 51:24)

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Segment Timestamps

• 03:36 – Introduction of Alena Franklin, family connections, marriage anecdotes
• 05:26 – Discussing the purpose and challenge of writing God Is
• 06:45 – Alena’s story of loss and how grief shaped her faith
• 11:45 – Creative discipleship in her upbringing
• 13:44 – Why teens need depth in their theology, not just fun
• 15:12 – Approaching the Trinity with teens
• 24:43 – God’s perfection vs. personal perfectionism
• 33:00 – The misunderstood goodness of God
• 35:51 – Parenting, presence, and trusting God in a child’s suffering
• 40:05 – Knowing God as protector in the face of fear and anxiety
• 43:00 – How knowledge of God shapes prayer life
• 47:01 – God’s character informing how we relate to people
• 51:00 – Encouragement for simple, accessible theology and faith

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Closing Thoughts

This episode is a robust yet relatable exploration of theology for young people, showcasing how theology is not just for adults or the seminary-trained, but is a vital, practical, and accessible pursuit for all. Alena’s vulnerability and clarity, combined with the Perrys’ humor and insight, make deep faith concepts approachable—from the Trinity to God’s goodness and perfection. The call is clear: knowing who God is transforms everything about how we see ourselves, how we relate to others, and how we live.

Recommended for:
Parents, youth leaders, teens, or anyone seeking a fresh, accessible entry into understanding God’s character.

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(This summary omits all advertisements and promotional content for clarity and focus.)

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Then you see it.

[A]

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[B]

Hello, saints, and ain't. I hope you are blessed. Hope you are well. Hope you feel all right with y'. All.

[C]

How y' all feel?

[B]

I don't know about your home or your families, but there is some crazy.

[C]

You about to say something crazy.

[B]

There is a spirit of infirmity running all up and through here. Fevers and colds and. And yucky tummies and hand and mouth disease.

[C]

I be hating when school season start, cuz I'm like, y' all gonna get me sick. Well, well, let's be little nasty kids y' all around.

[B]

We're outside more than them, so what we're not gonna do is shame them for what we.

[C]

I'm just saying kids. Kids carry more germs than. Than adults. And now they talking about the new kids with this new disease. Hand, foot, and arm disease.

[B]

Arm is crazy.

[C]

What is that? Hand, foot and head.

[B]

Foot what? What is it? Hand footed mouth. What?

[C]

Back in the day, we had chickenpox. We had measles.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. In the generation before they had. The Lord is like, hey, I need y' all to be content.

[C]

I just kind of feel like the name of the disease was so lazy. Y' all was just a. Y'.

[B]

All. No, it's very discreet.

[C]

It's just. Yeah, we're gonna call this hand, foot, and toe disease. Mouth, mouth. Whatever it is.

[B]

It's like, it's. Come on. You just got over sickness. How are you?

[C]

I was down, so I knew I was gonna get sick when all the kids got sick, but I didn't think it was gonna hit me like that. I was like, yo, I feel like I got all y' all sickness at the same time. Jackie sending me downstairs.

[B]

I did. I was out of town. I was in Africa.

[C]

Have you gotten sick yet?

[B]

I was sick in Africa.

[C]

Oh, yeah, you were.

[B]

That was last week. Anywho, they ain't got nothing to do. What we talking about? We got Alina Franklin on the couch. Hey, it is Franklin. Yes.

[A]

No disrespectful, Elena Pitts. Franklin. Alina Franklin. You know.

[B]

Are you hyphenated?

[A]

I don't know what I am.

[B]

I did. Did you change your Social Security?

[A]

I did, but I haven't committed to my driver's license. All my other IDs are still Lena Pitts.

[B]

And how do you feel about that?

[C]

Because.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

We're speaking to her husband. He's off camera.

[B]

It took me about three or four years to change my Social Security card. I didn't feel like doing it. It wasn't. No.

[A]

That's a lot.

[B]

I didn't feel. I think I changed a passport.

[A]

Yeah, I haven't done that.

[B]

I lost my.

[C]

So for those who don't know, you are married to Kirk Franklin's son.

[A]

I am.

[C]

And he looks just like her friend, his mom.

[B]

Come say hi. Come stay.

[C]

Hi.

[B]

You got moisturizer on your face. You understand what I'm saying?

[C]

And I'd be hating. Sit next to you.

[B]

Sit next to him. Say hi. Look at the camera.

[A]

There they are.

[B]

Look at it. How y' all doing? Don't they look like newlyweds?

[C]

And I just be hating when, you know, when people, like, associate us with our. Our famous, you know, family. Because you just look like Uncle Kirk.

[B]

I think you look like your mama.

[A]

She would like that.

[C]

My mom would appreciate it. No, I think you look like both. You look like both.

[B]

You look like Tammy.

[C]

You look like both. These are a handsome young man. When did y' all get married?

[A]

August of last year. So we just hit a year.

[C]

Wow.

[B]

What y' all do before y' all go to somebody. Mount Sinai where y' all go?

[A]

Yeah, we went to. We did Kilimanjaro this past year.

[C]

Yeah, in Africa. We were in Kilimanjaro.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

It was horrible.

[B]

Sorry.

[C]

And both of y' all are creative. I've seen you with the guitar. I've seen you with the guitar. And so when y' all start being fruitful and multiply, y' all kids probably gonna have some, like, 90 gifts.

[A]

Yeah, they might be a little weird. I've been thinking about that. I'm like, how do we make sure they can interact with regular people?

[B]

Because they might just be. When y' all figured out, we want y' all back on this couch to tell us how it went.

[C]

We're gonna do a part two with y'. All.

[B]

Thank you, Mr. Franklin. Everybody kind of clap it up for Ms. Franklin.

[C]

That boy be hiking. I be sitting on Instagram now.

[B]

Y' all need to follow that. We gonna put both. We gonna put both Instagrams in the show.

[C]

Notes.

[B]

The aesthetic is fire. Cause I wish they would hike and not take good pictures.

[C]

Oh, yeah. Truthfully, I'm like, y', all, pictures be fire. For real. For real.

[B]

I love it. Alina wrote a book called God is subtitled 60 Days of Learning who God Is to Understand who We Are for teen girls. I think this book is interesting. Do you know why I already shared it? Because it's theology. I told her. I said, anytime you say God is, you're becoming a theologian. Because now we're defining God's nature using scripture.

[C]

That's right.

[B]

God is God, and there's a lot to him that is mysterious and yet revelatory and insightful. And so you decided to write a very plain book of theology for young girls. What? I don't want to say what made you write it, because that's a boring question, but was there any intimidation in approaching this subject?

[A]

Yeah, actually, the intimidation came afterwards when I realized I had to talk about it. I had to share about it, and I had to, like, yeah, in a sense, talk about a very theological topic. But entering it actually felt very natural because they're just, it's all over the Bible, first of all. And then second of all, it's all over our lives. Like, God's character is written in my life. And so I didn't realize until afterward, and then doing the theological edits and all those things that I was like, oh, my gosh, what have I gotten myself into?

[B]

What have you gotten yourself into? You talk about how a lot of your wrestling coming to terms with the nature of God came through grief. Can you, for those who don't know your story, don't know what that means, are hesitant to even pick up the book. Cause they like, I don't want to know who God is. I want to know who I am. Like, what can give us a preview of what you mean by that?

[A]

Yeah. My introduction to grief was at 14. My mom died suddenly, tragically, like, in the span of an hour. And as you can imagine, that's awful. And then being in it is more awful than you could possibly imagine. And one of the things that I realized very quickly was not right and probably got a little bit skewed in the midst of the grief was my understanding of God, the way that I viewed him, the way that I thought about him, my approach to him. Yeah, Grief, suffering, it all, I just realized, kind of skewed my view and then at the same time, perfected my view of him. Like, there was just this wrestle, like, I call the book remnants of my wrestle with him and who. Who he is in the midst of, like, things that I didn't think he should have allowed. And, yeah, that's kind of a. I guess, a backstory to how did you

[B]

see him before the grief that was changed.

[A]

I loved him. I don't think I ever even thought about. Yeah, Like, I think loving him was natural. And that sounds so naive, but I came from a family that not only, like, talked about Jesus, but they represented him really well, and they really, really loved and believed in him. And so, which I'm blessed to be able to say, coming from a ministry family is like, oh, they were the real deal, and they really are in love with Jesus. So he just kind of was like second nature to me. And so, yeah, I had a very pure, childlike view of him. And then, yeah, when life happens, I think we grow up a little bit and it gets harder.

[B]

I think what's beautiful about that is, like, I don't really think it matters what age you are. Pain has a way of either perfecting faith, like you said, or destroying it. Like, pain can reveal if you don't actually believe. And I think I've seen in my life the temptation to kind of move away from the Lord because it hurts so much, but still clinging because the Holy Spirit is at work and observing friends who didn't. You know what I'm saying? So it's a grace for you to come out of this and say, no, he still is. And I know this even more that he is good. He is true. He is the way.

[C]

Yeah. And also how pain and suffering can have the ability to show you different aspects of God's character, you know, because it's like, we know how much He's a comforter when we. When we suffer grief, you know, and stuff like that. And so I guess my question is when you experience that, like, at an early age, you said she died within a span of an hour, like, very briefly. That's. That's hard. What did. How did God reveal Himself to you in new ways when you. When you leaned into him and trusted Him? Through.

[A]

Through that, I think I learned first and foremost, God is kind of gritty. Like, that's the only word I could think of is He's Just in the hardest of hard. Like, I just thought of war and just like his presence in that, I think we don't associate him with that at all. And then when we're in the midst of war, I mean, he's just right there. Like, we're looking at him and he's still and he's perfect. And he's also in it with us. Like, I just imagine. Yeah, him and him in war and him. And he's gritty. He likes. He likes to get in there and do the dirty work. And at the same time, he's not like us. So, like, there's no chaos attached to his being in our chaos and our pain. Like, he's just still. And so that's. Yeah, that's what I learned about.

[B]

That's good. Yeah. How did your parents discipleship in Par prepare you to suffer? Some stories are so familiar, we almost forget what they cost. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if the cross itself could tell its story? That's exactly what if the tree could Speak. Written by Tim Tebow does this beautifully written narrative walks you through Jesus crucifixion from the perspective of the wooden cross, the closest witness to that day. And this isn't the kind of book you rush through. It's one that makes you pause to feel the weight of his humanity, to consider the mercy in his suffering, and to see the redemption of something once meant for shame become a symbol of hope. Even if you've heard the Easter story a hundred times, this helps you see it with fresh eyes. What you get from this book will stick with you long after you put it down.

[C]

The first time I heard about the concept of this book, I was very intrigued because I thought it was unique that they told a story from the tree's perspective. And a lot of times in the Christian community and just religious books as a whole, it can lack creativity and storytelling. And so that's the reason why I think this book is a dope book for everybody to read, because it gives us a fresh perspective that we've never seen before.

[B]

Step inside the story, hear the witness, and experience Easter like never before. With if the Tree Could Speak, available on Amazon. I encourage you to check it out. Out if the Tree Could Speak by Tim Tebow, available on Amazon or see the link in the show notes.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. We were just talking about this a second ago, and all I could think about was my dad. Like, my childhood memories are sitting at the table. Like after sitting still at school all day long and then sitting down and him being like, sit down very gently. But he was also militant. Like, he was in ROTC and all the things. He's very militant. He has four girls. And I just imagine him. I remember him, like, holding a ketchup bottle and holding mayo and, like, acting out the Bible with the condiments on the table. And us just being like, oh, my gosh, rolling our eyes. We want to go play. And then, like, I also remember just like him ingraining, like, different stories from the Bible, knowledges about God from the Bible. Like, him, Paul was a mayo bottle. And, you know, like, so I just. That's what I imagine. And I. And I'm thankful for that. I think that definitely changed the trajectory of, like, my suffering journey because I had this prior knowledge of who God was that allowed me to hold on to something rather than, like, looking for something I had no concept of. I had something to hold on to.

[B]

That's great. That's great. I got questions.

[C]

No, you. You can go.

[B]

I was expressing with Preston earlier about. You have a chapter about God as triune, that God is Trinity, one God who exists in three co. Equal persons. And I was saying how if the book's aim wasn't for teens, we would approach this conversation differently. Which made me start to think about how do you. How do you give people a desire for theology at ages where that's not an expectation, you know? Cause I think the expectation is if you're 14, 15, 16, let's have a Bible study that's, like, neat and fun and all the stuff. And it's like, nah, like, we need some depth. And so I guess, I don't know, talk about the need for depth regardless of what age you are.

[A]

That was my childhood was being like, please don't make me go to youth group. I do not want to eat pizza and talk about boys. Like, I just wasn't like that. I hated it. I hated it. I hated it. And so a part of why I wrote, I was thinking of myself like someone who was searching for something deeper. I think one way to get teens to approach the concept of God is to lie to them and tell them it's about who they are. Like, in the subtitle, it says, learning about, you know, God so that we can understand ourselves, which does come with learning about God. But as you're searching for yourself and as you look up, you realize that this doesn't even actually matter. And so, yeah, I say that I've always desired depth. Life happened and further increase my desire for depth. And then I would say, I think when we search for ourselves and we search for like more shallow things, what we find is depth. Like when we're looking for God, we find something much deeper than what we were looking for.

[C]

Yeah, I talk about the Trinity a lot. Like, you know, because I'm an evangelist, an apologist, so I'm often talking to people in different religions, faith groups, and a lot of the people don't believe in the triune God of scripture. What motivated you to talk about things like the Trinity in a youth book? Like what motivated you? Because I don't think I've ever seen somebody tackle the Trinity in a youth book like that. Maybe it's out there, I've never seen it. And so what motivated you to talk about the Trinity?

[A]

When we look at the Bible and we look at God's character, we don't get to just pick and choose the parts that we want to talk about. And so what motivated me is conviction because I don't want to talk about the Trinity either. Like that was one of the hardest pieces to write was I don't even understand this myself. But also we can approach God's love and his kindness and his mercy and not approach his righteousness and his holiness. Like that's not, that's one sided and it's not who God is in his entirety. And so I wanted to represent God in His fullness and I think that's all. You can't look at the Bible and not see, see all of it, you know, and for people that are disinterested in God a lot of the time it's because we won't approach the conversations of the other parts of him, like his wrath and his righteousness and like those things are worth digging into and understanding.

[C]

Yeah. One of the conversations I had with my 10 year old when I first started talking to her about the Trinity is so that she can kind of understand how we were created. Like we were created in the image of God and in his likeness, but we were created in community because God is a community. Right. He never existed alone. The Father has always existed with the Son, Son has always existed with the Holy Spirit. And so her starting to grasp that it was, it was, it was big for her I think, and me and encouraging for me because it shows us, it's like, no, God created us with purpose.

[B]

Uh oh, it just, I'm like, that has to be ugly.

[C]

Yeah, God created us with purpose. He created us in the community because he's a community, you know, so that's dope. I'm glad you wrote about that. I feel like that's dope for sure.

[B]

Because we are inclined to believe that theology isn't practical. You understand that, like, it's only supposed to be something that stays up here when there are so many practical implications to what is up here. Right. And so for me, knowing that God is triune always reflects on. Okay, I'm made in the image of a. Therefore, it makes sense why it's not good for man to be alone. Therefore. Jackie, stop isolating yourself. You understand the theology has worked itself down into my Tuesday at 4pm yeah, that's it. You know what I'm saying? And so that's it. What? I had another question, but I got nervous because everybody was staring at me. Ask the question, babe. I don't know anymore. Y' all supposed to say something else. Just say something.

[C]

That was good. That was good.

[A]

We were leaning in.

[C]

That was good. What, you.

[B]

Y' all don't got nothing else to say after that? No.

[C]

I thought you was about to ask a question, babe.

[B]

No.

[C]

Okay, I'll ask another question. Okay, so I wanna go back to your childhood. You growing up, right? You grew up in. You grew up in a very biblical, like, Bible centered home.

[B]

Cause Dr. Tony Evans is what to you?

[C]

That's what I was about to. That's what I was about to get to.

[A]

He was an uncle, but he played my. That was the closest my mom had to a father.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So Dr. Tony Evans was your uncle?

[A]

My mom's uncle, so my great uncle.

[C]

Your great uncle.

[A]

But he's grafted us in his like, grandchildren. So it's complicated, man.

[B]

Y' all kids got coming through with legacy.

[C]

Y' all kids gonna have a lot of pressure. I mean, Kirk Franklin, Dr. Tony Evans, Priscilla Shire. Priscilla Shire.

[B]

Goodness, crazy.

[C]

It's a lot. It's a lot of spiritual giants in y' all in your family. I guess my question is, you know, being like growing up in a home where you are always surrounded around the gospel, always surrounded around theological, like, principles and teachings, do you feel, do you think like this naturally was birthed out of you because of your upbringing with your teaching? Because what gave you the motivation at 21 years old to teach, right? 15, 16 year old. Even before we started the podcast, you said, like, I didn't want to talk about theological things. It's like I didn't even necessarily go to seminary, but I just kind of felt like it was in me. And so how much do you think this stuff was kind of like implanted in you from when you were younger and all that.

[A]

I think I would be remiss and totally prideful to say that any of it came from me. I think absolutely. It's the legacy that I've walked ahead of or behind or whatever.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think of a scripture. What is it about we are the crown of our.

[B]

The.

[A]

You know, I'm talking about. Oh Lord. My grandmother just sent it to me.

[B]

Bring it to our mind.

[C]

Holy Ghost, help the Lord.

[B]

Because we can't help now.

[A]

There's pressure.

[B]

Our community is failing you.

[C]

I know.

[A]

I thought you would just take the

[B]

words out of it.

[A]

Basically, we're the crown of our, like grandchildren are the crown of their whatever.

[C]

Their inheritance.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

And so I think about the faithfulness of my mom and my dad and those that went before them and how I'm actually just like a reward like of their faithfulness. And so I get to walk in that, which is a gift. And also there's like, there is stewardship involved with like. Yeah, that's the legacy that they've paved for me. They've paved this way for me. And so I think, I think a lot of it probably did come from the family that I came from. Yeah.

[C]

Do you guys ever feel this might be a little off topic? Do you ever guys ever feel pressure to kind of like live up to the spiritual heavyweights that kind of went before you and your family? Like, like feel like this expectation to, to, to. To teach or to, to live up to a standard? Because.

[A]

Yeah, I don't think I feel pressure as much as confusion because what God has given us looks different than what has come before us. And so our 20s have been. We just got here and it's like, where are we supposed to be? What are we supposed to do? Because it looks so different than what we've seen. And then I think naturally I probably hold a little bit of. It's not even pressure from man though. It's this like desire to please God. Like, I really want him to be proud of me because I'm the oldest child and because I came from a family that he's so proud of.

[C]

Yeah. And now I want to just encourage you. Not just you, but you, you also too, bro. Like you guys as a couple. Because we know, you know who your uncle is, we know who your, your father in law is. But you guys walk in a very like creative, eclectic, unique creativity. But also like you live out your spiritual lives and it doesn't seem like you're trying to be your dad or your uncle and, and You. It's very evident that God has uniquely made you guys. And also, like, he was intentionally put you guys together, you know what I'm saying? Because we don't see Uncle Kirk hiking and stuff like that, you know what I mean? Or even playing the acoustic guitar. But when I see you guys, I'm inspired in just another way. Like in photography, nature, songwriting. Your voice is beautiful, but you don't try to sound like Cece Wine. And so you guys are birthing another generation of creativity and spirituality. But it doesn't. It is. It'll look like you're trying to be like what came before you, so. Which is really encouraging, you know what I'm saying? So.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

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[C]

Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe,

[B]

and every single one is Zero Sugar Tap the banner to learn more. I wonder if there's some rebellion in y' all somewhere, you know what I'm saying? Like some. Some sanctified rebellion. I don't know.

[C]

I want to get you back. I want to get him back on the podcast because I want to pick his brain. You know what I'm saying? And your brain about. You know, we'll talk about that later.

[B]

One of your God is. Is because the devotional is God is truth, God is wise. God is. This is. God is perfect. And you talk about the perfection of God, which I want you to teach, but you also talk about perfectionism within you. Can. Can you just go in on that real quick? This is why. Because I think. I think we have two responses usually to God's self revelation as perfect, which is we either cower in fear because we know we can't live up to that standard, even though we attempt to through legalism, or we run away from it and be like, because I can't I'mma just be me, which is licentious. Like, we just live. Like, I'm a do what I. I'm gonna do what I want. You understand what I'm saying? And so I just kind of want you to teach on God as perfect, but also teach on that dynamic of responding to his perfection in a way that still honors Him.

[A]

This is what I'm walking through right now. I think, first of all, his perfection is it makes us complete. And so I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief because he is perfect and I am not, which is very clear. And so there is some relief in that. All those things about him are absolutely true and always true because he is perfect. So I think it holds up in a lot of ways, all the other attributes of Him. I think, personally, I found that, like, what the response to his perfection is, it's a very delicate balance. It's like, I want to be sanctified and I want to be, but also I can't be. And so I can't walk around in shame all the time. Like, what is the balance? And I was reading Ephesians the other day, Ephesians 3, I think, and it talks about how when we experience his love, we are made complete. And just like, what I've learned is that I don't actually understand the gospel. Like, I've written a whole book on the character of God and to. And like, if I truly understood the gospel, I would know exactly how to walk in, like, his perfection. You know what I mean? Like, he's paid it all, and that doesn't mean that I get to walk around and sin. Like, it gives me the invitation to be sanctified and all the things. But I think for my personal struggle is probably shame and like, the opposite. Like, knowing that I'm not perfect and feeling like I need to do all this and this and this to be forgiven. And the gospel is just that Jesus has covered it, and if we've experienced his love, we've been made complete. And like, that's it. And so I think.

[B]

Yeah, do you think. Because I think a thing that's at play a lot of times in our walk with the Lord that might take time to discern is how much our temperaments color perspectives, right? And so if you got only. No, I mean, oldest child energy, if you already have that temperament, then you. You might lean in the direction of having more shame because of not living up to a standard versus August,

[C]

you

[B]

know what I'm saying? The baby might lean more into selfishness, pride, and so there's an. Or like even. What's the word? Entitlement that leads them in the direction of not being the elder brother and the prodigal son, but the young one that's like, hey, let me go eat this pig food. So their temperament is directing even their interaction with the Lord. Does it make sense what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? And so I guess, how would you speak to even sisters where there's this sense where I'm the sister that wants to be right, but I can't be right because only God's righteousness can help me be right with the sister. It's like he love me, I'm covered in the blood. Like those dynamics within even a community of siblings. How have you engaged that?

[A]

That's hard. You mean in my relationship, in my sisters?

[B]

You could be as vague and abstract as you wanna be.

[A]

Oh, no, I don't mind.

[B]

I'm thinking about even. I'm just thinking about our temperaments and the clashing and the thing. Even in how you're raised in the order of the lineup.

[A]

Well, actually, I was about to talk about my sisters and then I realized I married a baby. So he's the youngest.

[B]

I was talking about you. Okay. Wow.

[A]

He's the youngest and I'm the oldest. So actually the most that I've grown in understanding of who God is is with like, in marriage to him. Because I've watched his perspective of God and his perfection teach this.

[B]

Go ahead.

[A]

I don't actually have anything else. Hold on. So, like, I watch how he just so freely approaches the throne of grace and I'm like taking. At first I had this righteous judgment of like, you're not gonna fix that. You don't want to change or whatever. He's amazing. There's nothing bad about him, but, like, I just didn't understand how you could so freely approach the throne of grace because I didn't understand the gospel. And then I think maybe I've challenged him to grow in sanctification and all the things. But what I needed to learn most was how. Was how to be. I don't know what the word is, just how to approach the throne of grace. Like how to come to God and fully embrace what he's given me and know that like, anything else actually is counterfeit. Like, it doesn't even.

[C]

Yeah, that's amazing.

[A]

My offering to him is nothing, you know, so I've learned that in marriage, actually.

[B]

That's good.

[C]

That's amazing how like, what we fall in the family kind of gives us a different perspective of God.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Because how we interact with our Heavenly Father kind of informs how we. You know, I'm saying, Because, like, for

[B]

me, it's birth order theory.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. For me, like, I was kind of in. I was the in between in my family. I was the youngest, but my brother that's a year older than me is mentally challenged, so he was technically the youngest or whatever. And so I had to be accountable a lot for him, which I felt like when I came to the Lord, I always had to be accountant. I didn't know how to just come freely to the throne of grace, you know what I'm saying? Because I feel like I always had to give account for something, you know what I'm saying?

[A]

It's exhausting.

[C]

And it's just like you being the oldest, you probably feel like you had to always. Okay, Lord, I want to tell you, I'm going to come to your throne when I'm going to tell you this first, you know what I'm saying? It's like God is like, no, just come. And I never even thought about that. How the youngest can just feel probably just free.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Because they don't have a whole lot of pressure like the. Like the older kids.

[B]

Yeah. I don't know what I would be

[C]

called, but you were the only one. It's like, it's me, myself and I. Yeah.

[B]

Ain't no sharing.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Because none of that.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Because when you want to share.

[C]

No, seriously, seriously, seriously. True story.

[B]

Like, I feel like you're gonna say something crazy.

[C]

Yeah, I'm gonna say. I'm gonna tell you. When we first. We first started dating, like the Snickers. I wouldn't even call you stingy. It was like the thought of sharing was weird to you.

[B]

No, no, no.

[C]

I'm so serious.

[A]

It was like, babies are like that, too.

[C]

Cause it was like. It was like we were dating and she was eating a Snicker, and I was like, give me a piece. And she was like, this is mine. And I was like. And I was like, I know it's yours, but I want a piece. And she was like, I can buy you one.

[B]

No, for sure.

[C]

And she was like, why are you asking for my sneaker?

[B]

No, it didn't compute.

[C]

Me having all of these siblings. It was just kind of like, cause I want a piece. It was just so different.

[B]

It didn't compute in my mind. It's like, you got money. Like, get your own snicker, bro.

[C]

Like, I just didn't understand You've grown a whole lot.

[B]

I've had to. We got four kids. We've been married 11 years. But I do think there is a selfishness that the Lord is constantly having to work out of me because of how I was raised as an only child.

[C]

But also, too, I love the sanctification of God. Like how God sanctifies us and uses relationships to sanctify us. Because even back then, you didn't share, but you didn't really ask for other people's stuff either.

[B]

Correct.

[C]

But it's like, now it's yours. I can't even eat a plate without you digging in. And now it's like, you just taking some of this.

[B]

You would take my personal. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It feels like you guys get some of your chest.

[C]

No, what I'm saying is God.

[B]

Even though we are here to talk about.

[C]

No, what I'm saying. Listen.

[B]

What I'm saying is learning who God is. Listen.

[C]

What I'm saying is published by B and H. Babe. Listen, follow me. What I'm saying is now, like, now you have the freedom to not only share with others, but to ask for my stuff without asking, just take it, because you free now. You know what I'm saying? Like, you grew up the only child, but it's like, now you're not the only child anymore. You're married to a person who you take their things all the time.

[B]

It's so ironic. I opened it up to God is peace. I was gonna say, don't feel peaceful at all.

[A]

There's gotta be anti.

[B]

It just feels ironic that we let.

[C]

Cause she'll take, like, half of my chicken.

[B]

Wow. Let it go. Brother doesn't care. No.

[C]

You gonna take all my rice? Wow.

[B]

What do you think? What do you think? Could be one of the most misunderstood attributes of God in this book.

[A]

Is God good? That was the hardest one to write, the hardest one to understand still. And yet he's good. And I think when you hear people who are not interested in Christianity, it's because God isn't good to them. They don't believe that he's good. When Christians walk away from him is because he didn't do something good. So I think it's a common. A common, like, misunderstanding that leads to unbelief. But the truth that's all over his word is that he's good. And I don't. This is about to get theological because it's a hard. It's a hard topic to approach. Without it, it's just like, yeah, so

[B]

define God's goodness for us.

[A]

It's his glory. I think about when I don't remember the exact, I don't remember the verses to anything. But in Exodus when Moses says, show me your glory and God responds, I'll show you my goodness. Like that's it. And so when we get glimpses of God's glory, that is his goodness. New Maybelline Serum lipstick. Maybe it's not just lipstick. It's lush color with endless possibilities. It's serum infused with a hyaluronic acid and oil blend for eight hour, plumping moisture in tone enhancing shades. It's more than the shade, it's who's wearing it.

[B]

You.

[A]

New Maybelline Serum lipstick.

[B]

Maybe it's Maybelline. Yeah. I think some of the wrestle with the goodness of God has to do with the justice of God, right? So if I'm going through a hard, difficult season, I have, I've had loss or I have a friend breakup or I have a boy don't like me. He called me ugly. I don't know, like, because I didn't pop the pimple the right day, I didn't put the star on it. So it didn't suck it. I don't know. Like when people go through hard situations, then it reflects back on the nature of God because it feels like if God is good, why is all this bad happening? You know? And I think sometimes we don't do the greatest job of being with people in that sometimes we may try to preach people out of grief or lament or confusion, especially young folk, because I think there's an anxiety and a fear that if I don't preach you out of it, I don't know what's going to happen to you. You know what I'm saying? And so I guess how. Let's say we're talking to a parent who has a child who is 16, 17, going through a very hard season and they are wrestling with the goodness of God. How does the parent parent and just give the wisdom that you got? How does the parent parent in such a way where they also reflect his goodness in the person that's wrestling with the goodness.

[C]

Or you could just talk about something that you like your parents have kind of ministered to you.

[B]

That's a great, that's a great. Yeah, I'll do recalibration of that.

[A]

I just thought about the fact that like when you look at Jesus life and you look at him approach people with pain, he never was like yelling in their face, I'm good. He's never. Like, that's not his concern. Not saying, like, because it's true. Like, he doesn't. That's not his concern in that moment. Instead, he asks if you want to be healed or he cries with you. Like. And so I think that approach of that corny saying, what would Jesus do? Or whatever, like, is actually very helpful for when you're navigating grief and hard things with other people. And then I think of my dad in the. Like. I mean, I just went through, like, some bouts of serious depression and, yeah, after my mom died, just, like, hopelessness. And it scared the mess out of my dad because he was like, this is not the girl that I raised. I don't know what's happening. And I think once he got over his fear, he did such an incredible job at just being there. So if I'm in my room with my door closed, he's just standing outside the door, praying for me, singing whatever he needs to do, and releasing me back to him. So just, like, I think for parents, the greatest thing my parents said is, just trust me with him. Like, trust me with God. But surrendering your child is, I'm more God's child than I am his. And then I think the second thing is just, like, sticking it out. Like, he just stayed present. He didn't. Eventually he stopped preaching at me and telling me that God was good. And he just stuck around because that was all I could take. And now when I think about God in my pain, I see my dad standing outside my door as I'm in the bed, crying and whatever.

[C]

Wow, that's really beautiful.

[B]

Oh, I wish I had saved parents.

[C]

That's beautiful. That's beautiful because it reminds me of scripture.

[B]

When Jesus acts, all things work together.

[C]

Jesus asked the man, like, why do you call me good when only God is good? Ultimately trying to reveal to the man that he is God, but God is good. Like, like, we look at certain situations and we say, this is bad. But it's like, I love the picture that you painted about your dad sitting outside the door. Because if God is good, even if my situation is bad, the power of presence is still good for me.

[A]

Right?

[C]

And so, like, like, like God being there, you know, I'm saying in the midst of our circumstances is evidence of his goodness for us. You know, his presence. And so we. In the last episode, we were talking about how, you know, the storm came and Jesus was on a boat, and one of the first things they. They wanted to do was just challenge the goodness of God. It was like, you don't care that we're about to die? And he's like, no, I care because I'm here, right? The evidence of me caring is my presence. And so I think a lot of times we just lose sight of that. And I don't think you got to be a teenager to lose sight of that. As I'm in my 30s, and I lose sight of that all the time.

[B]

You in your 30s?

[C]

You try to throw shade at me because you eat all my food.

[B]

Because you're about to be. No, I'm not, actually. I actually.

[C]

Oh, you let it go, ok?

[B]

I don't live from a fence. I just. I know you're about to be 40, so I forgot that you was in your 30s.

[C]

Yeah, I'm getting old, man. I'm getting old.

[B]

You have a chapter. Cause what was coming to my heart while y' all were talking was fear. This is distinct from what we were talking about, thinking about teens, young adults in college, in school, or whatever, who. Who walk in the level of anxiety, even when it comes to being missional, when it comes to doing scary things, when it comes to doing. Jumping off the cliff and not knowing what to do. You know what I'm saying? And I'm thinking about even social media and how it can make being faithful out loud scarier because you just don't know how people will respond, what people will say, what people will think. And one of the. The. Like, one of the characters of God that you put forward is that God is our protector. And you have Isaiah 41 that says, so do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. How has knowing God is a protector helped you do scary things?

[A]

So I got. I'm like, when I'm doing hard stuff, the only thing. The only reason I'm doing is because I know that I have his righteous hand to fall back on. Like, otherwise, I'm not doing that. Like, he does. My husband doesn't hold. He can hold. But, like, there are things that are scary enough to where it's like, oh, you're not gonna get me through this. Like, people aren't gonna get me through my vices, aren't gonna get me through. And then, like, looking back and seeing his faithfulness as I approached fear, like, I haven't lived a long time, but I have a decent enough track record with God to know that he's gonna show up when he calls me to things.

[C]

The Power of remembering.

[B]

You sound like David and Goliath. This is why. Because when I taught a passion about hope, I talked about how, you know, one thing that hinders our imagination is not being able to remember, not being able to. Able to reflect on our history with God. And I made the comment how there might be people in this space who feel like I don't have a significant history with God to even have that amount of courage or confidence needed to approach this or that giant or this giant. And how with David, when. When it came down to David and Goliath, he went to Saul the king. And it's like, now I'll fight him, you know what I'm saying? And Saul is looking at him like, you're a ruddy boy. Like, I don't understand why you got all that confidence. Because in his mind, he knows this isn't the David who's fought Absalom. This isn't the David that's fought Philistines. This isn't the David who will eventually, like, this is not that David yet he's a shepherd boy. But what David appeals to is that God, the Lord of hosts, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. Meaning he only had two memories that he appealed to for his confidence. And so it doesn't matter how young you are, you don't actually need that much to appeal to when you have the scriptures. And so I think if you're a person who. You only been saved a year, okay, did he save you? Therefore he's faithful, you know what I'm saying? You might have been saved a week.

[C]

I'm trying to random things that is that mustard seed that we need.

[B]

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. All right, you got one text bet. Like, go and do what you gotta do too.

[C]

That's good. That's real good. Because I think that is a picture of that mustard seed. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, they, you know, Jesus told the disciples, if you have faith in size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, move and it will move. We don't need much. All we need to do is remember the goodness of God and what he brought. Brought me from. And I think about the beauty of your story. I mean, the Lord brought you through something very tragic at an early age and how like, his keeping power will sustain you for as long as you let it. You know what I'm saying? And so I think that's just really, really dope. Really, really dope.

[B]

I'm curious to know how knowing the character of God, God is this God? Is that how that's affected your prayer life?

[A]

I love praying primarily because what I realized from, like, stepping into adulthood is most people don't know how to pray or, like, don't know.

[B]

They don't be praying girls.

[A]

They don't be praying. Exactly. And then when they do, they don't come to the throne of grace with, like, an excitement and a joy and a hope about who he is. Like, if God is telling the truth, I know that I can come to his throne and pray for this thing. Doesn't mean that it's gonna end up how I want it to, but if God is hope and light and all these things, I can pray for these things because I know that they're real. So, like, I think I've also seen God respond to my bold prayers, and I think that builds faith, too. Of, like, why wouldn't I come to God, who's a truth teller, protector, lover of my soul? Like, all of these things are true about him, which makes coming to him kind of my only option. Because I know that I can't bring my full self to humans. Like, I mean, I can, but I'm gonna get rejected. I won't be understood. People will judge me, whatever. And God sees, like, his love has made me complete and so I can come to him and does that answer?

[B]

This is gonna sound like a very duh question, but I think it's legitimate because even with Eden, sometimes she struggles with praying because she's comparing how she prays to how we pray. And I'm thinking of the 14, 15, 16 year old who's saying, I actually don't know how to pray. Give me advice.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

How do I do that?

[A]

I think the start is to build friendship with God, with Christ. So knowing his character creates relational equity. Like, I know who he is. We've become a little bit of friends. I know how to talk. I know. I mean, I don't know how to talk to him, but I would talk to him. Like, I would talk to a friend. And then practical things. Like, I think there's. In a day and age where it's like, we're kind of turning our faces to, like, more traditional things. I think it is really, really helpful to have a space that you pray. Not because you can't pray throughout the day, but there's something really, I don't know, safe and, like, relational about, like, you meet up with a Friend. You plan to meet up with a friend somewhere. And so I've loved having a space where I pray. I like writing prayers. And they're less of like prayers and more just like conversations, questions, concerns. Like I can just write these down on index cards, put them on the wall. And I have all this relational equity in this room, like in this closet or whatever that I can come back to and remember when things are hard, I can come. You know, like, I think there's something really powerful still about like meeting with God in a particular place. And like, like you said, he uses a mustard seed. Like just setting up the room invites him into that space, you know?

[B]

You got music playing.

[A]

No, not. I do if I'm really distracted, but a lot of times I actually feel convicted to sit in silence.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And I think there's tons of you

[B]

like a little monk? No. A little silence and solitude. Okay.

[A]

I think there's.

[C]

Do you write songs too?

[A]

I don't enjoy it as much right now. I do. When I'm really in pain, I write to process.

[C]

So your song's like, like you're like a poet.

[A]

Sad.

[C]

Like David, we poets write it right out. A lot of pain.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah. I'm trying to. I'm trying to phrase my question in my head. Why is it like, okay, so for a teenager, I'm thinking about teenagers or I think about my 10 year old who's getting older. Sometimes she comes home with relational issues. Shoes, which everybody knows.

[B]

Sometimes, you know, they didn't sit next to me on the bus.

[C]

Yeah. And how we.

[B]

That's the worst thing that happened to you.

[C]

The reality is the more you grow older, just, you're just gonna be wounded by people, you know? How do you think? Especially like, as we're growing up in our teenage years, understanding the character of God helps us have better relationships with the people around us.

[A]

Okay, that was good.

[B]

That is good.

[A]

I thought you were gonna ask something else. I was planning my other answer.

[C]

And think about it. Think about your 10 year old self, your 15 year old self.

[A]

I think understanding the depths of his grace and mercy for me helps me to walk in that same grace and mercy and love with other people. Because when I look at other humans, because I know God's perfection and then I look at myself and I know that I am not. I'm able to like, I don't know, see myself in other people. And all of a sudden it's like, oh, they're just not God. Like, they can't give me what he can give Me. And so learning that at a young age, I think is really important because you have a lot of adults running around looking for godlike attributes in humans. And so, yeah, I think knowing God also helps us to love people better and helps us to walk with people. But I think practically speaking, all I could think is like, a lot of times our relational issues are because we have a problem with somebody else. And when we realize that, we also are the problem because we understand that God is perfect and we are not. I think that's really helpful for navigating relationships.

[B]

And I think what's helpful about what you're saying is I think every human being has to get this in their system, which is that a theology of God, God as triune, God as omnipotent, God as holy, God as great, God as true, should illuminate your own. I'm going to use a big word, finitude. That you are human, therefore weak, therefore frail, therefore limited, therefore dependent. And it's like in relationships, I need Him. In prayer, I need Him. In suffering, I need Him. And that's what I hear you saying constantly. With every answer, it's this kind of like, yeah, I mean, they're not God. I need Him. They're not this. And I think that's the beauty of working through a book like this is that it not only gives you information about God, but information about yourself that you ain't him and therefore you need Him. And it's in that space that we become like Him.

[C]

Him.

[B]

It's the dependence that trains us to actually reflect Christ.

[C]

Absolutely. Because. Because I'm encouraged by listening to you for probably a reason that you don't even realize, because I remember when I was. When I was. I got saved when I was 19, and I ain't really started walking with the Lord until I was 20. But when people ask me questions, I gave very simple, kind of like, duh answers. And that's because my relationship with God, it wasn't just I didn't have. Have, like so much, you know, theological terms. It was just kind of like God is. In this last year, he's shown Himself to me. And when you think about the Scriptures, when you think about how God wants us to be like children, a lot of times when you ask people things about God, sometimes they give you these. The most theological answer. And, and sometimes, of course, like if you ask Dr. Tony Evans, it's going to be colored with life and life lived. But with you, it's kind of like God has shown Himself to me. I don't really have. You know what I'm saying? It reminds me of the woman at the well. It's like she didn't go back and tell people a whole bunch of stuff. She was just like, yo, this man just told me everything that I just knew, and I believed him. Go see for yourself. And so there is a beautiful faith that I feel like you display that's precious to the Lord even in your answers. It just reminds me, like, man, like, it reminds us to go back to the Vegas the basics. And I think the average Christian struggles with that. And God is like, y' all are all children. You just forget that you a child. You know that you've grown. You think you've grown. And so it's, it's beautiful, beautiful hearing you. You talk and talk about the Lord.

[A]

Yeah. That's a part of why I wanted to write it was. And actually how I feel most attacked by the enemy. Or like, this feeling of like, like, what am I doing talking about this? Or wanting to complicate the gospel for the sake of sounding smart or making sure I'm saying all the right things. And it's like, there's beauty in, like, understanding theology. And there's also real beauty in the simplicity of God.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Although he is a mystery, he's very approachable and understandable. And I think I want girls to know that, like, you can build relationship with him. Now.

[C]

That's good.

[B]

That's good.

[C]

That's beautiful.

[B]

Because it's, I think the simplicity of it is. It makes the, it makes intimacy and theology accessible so that we would know him. You know what I'm saying? So that we would love him. And even when I was reading the chapter about God as triune. Cause I wanted to see how you navigated that. It's so simple. Which tells me there's a degree of, of clarity you have on the subject. You know what I'm saying? Like, I, I tell people, I'm like, if you can't explain something plainly, it might be a sign that you don't actually understand it. The more I understand something, the more simple I become.

[C]

Yeah, that's good.

[B]

And so I, I just, I don't know. I, I, it feels weird to say I'm proud of you. Like, I think you don't even know me like that. It's just, I don't know. This is special and this is encouraging because I have something to give my daughters so that they can know the Lord. I can't say finitude with them. You know what I'm saying? I can't say justific. I could say it, but it's like, do like, hey, here you go.

[C]

I'm proud of you too, because I. I think we need resources like this to introduce lofty ideas. Because these lofty ideas, these teenagers and young people need. They need to be impacted by it as well. That's one of the things I said I want to do in my first evangelism book. I thought about everybody who think that they can't do. I didn't want to think about the people who read 18 evangelism books in the past. It's like, I don't. You know what I'm saying? If y' all read it, God bless you. But I think this book kind of does the same thing. I think it makes God attainable in a beautiful way. And so, good job.

[B]

God is 60 days of learning who God is to understand who we are. The link is in the show notes. But honestly, truthfully, I don't care if you're 42, you could buy this for yourself.

[C]

You could be 50, 11 years old.

[B]

It don't matter.

[C]

We don't care if you 50, 11

[B]

people gonna say, buy it for your baby. Buy it for your niece. Buy it for. Just buy it. You understand? Cause we all need to know who God is. Thank you so much for your encourage. Thank you, Mr. Franklin, for letting us borrow her for 60 minutes. We appreciate your care and your husbandry.

[C]

Peace, y'. All.

[B]

Bye. With the Perrys is produced by the Perrys with support from Amanda reed and Channing McBride. Video recording and audio production by Matthew Baxter and Xavier Fairley, edited by the team at Tread Lively. Artwork by Hobb. Thank you for listening. Now go with God.