Watching the World Without Losing Your Soul

00:00 Father, we honor you today and with everything we do, everything we say. Father, we know that we become what we behold. So we want to continue to behold you, behold your face, behold your word, and behold your works, the things that you do, your works that honor you, glorify you, and reveal you to a world that needs hope and needs Jesus. And so, Lord, we pray for our friends that will be joining us today and as they listen to this podcast, wherever and from whenever, when they do it, and we bless them, Lord. We speak life and blessing overall. In Jesus' name, we get to do this. Amen. Amen. And it's Wednesday, March 25th, 2026.

00:40 We get to do this. This is episode number 26. This is the life we've been blessed with. This is a kid's face. We get to do this. This is the chance we dare not miss. This is the life. We get to do this. Hey, brother. That never gets old for me. Where were you? Did you hear distance? I was, you know, I was coming through your microphone. I was coming through your microphone. I muted myself. Wow. You usually mute Tina, the keeper. I muted myself. You do that to her sometimes. Self-affliction. That was, I can't believe that actually came through. I'm like, where's this coming from? Like, I don't care. We pray. He left the room. We prayed.

01:25 Holy Spirit's got this. I'll figure it out as soon as we're done. Well, I mean, we're a little out of sorts. We're not in our normal place. Everything is out of sorts. It's been, it's been, I mean, for not that people would care that much, but I had a garage door problem. So, you know, first world problems. Tried to fix it myself with ChatGPT and YouTube and called in the big guns. Oh, man. Had to finally give in. It was so nice, though, that these you recommended this guy to me. Well, Mark, who owns the company, goes to our church. So he's a brother and a friend. Oh, there it is. There it is. Yeah, perfect. Good folks. So it's his, I guess they have two employees.

02:06 One is Alejandro, who came by today, and his son, who works after lunch, after school, or something like that. But it was so refreshing to have something that could be repaired and not like, you need a new unit. We can't just toss it out. I got a new unit. Well, no, but I needed it. You had a real old one. But I was like, this is so surprising. This is, I love this. This is good. It's totally good. Nice. Good people. Oh, man. So no sooner have we talked about everybody. I know the lamp's in the way a little bit. Have we talked about everybody calming down about Iran? I think it was literally two days later. The president's like, oh, I think we got this kind of sorted.

02:46 They're talking. We're like, oh, no. The Trump algo means we have to go up or down a couple more times. No kidding. And, you know, Iran's going, what's he talking about? Well, that's what's being said. There's a lot of who is. And this is really the point. There's a lot of stuff. It's like being said. Breaking news. Nobody knows anything. Everything is information. It doesn't mean it's good information. Exactly. It could be misinformation. It could be disinformation. And I have started to rely less and less on what we call news feeds because let's be honest, it's not. It's mind-pollution feed.

03:27 It's just feeding. And I can't take it anymore. I just can't. And then I, so I got to play this clip. It's the only clip. I didn't bring much today. Go for it. I don't know if you've ever seen Fox News. What's his name? Jesse Waters. He took over what used to be the Bill O'Reilly slot, and then I think was the Tucker slot. And he's okay. I mean, I haven't watched Fox News in years, but he has this one segment where he sends Johnny out and Johnny goes out on the street and asks people stuff. And it's always funny. And Man on the Street stuff is one of my favorite ways to do television because you can select whatever you want and make it super funny and make it sound like everybody's an idiot or nobody knows what they're talking about.

04:12 And so he did one of those, a spring break on the beach, and I just got 34 seconds of it. Oh, wow. But it made me think in two different ways. So I'll play this and then we shall discuss. I'm very happy. The Ayatollah's dead. What? Who? What? What is that? Who the f is Ayatollah? I have never heard that word in my life. Lewis. What's Ayatollah? I haven't heard. I found out about Chuck Norris yesterday. That was more devastating to me. He was the supreme leader of Iran. He's dead? Oh, yeah. We killed him. You did? You killed him? What have you heard about Venezuela? Venezuela? Nothing. I'm not sure. I barely know what will be going on in like Tennessee where I'm from. That they beat us in the world baseball classic.

04:55 Have you heard anything else? No? Nothing. I haven't heard nothing about Venezuela. Okay. Okay. So obviously, funny. First of all, it's spring break. So I would say there's inebriated adult beverages have been consumed. It's obvious. I pulled some of those quotes out, which contained F-words and drunk. But so the intent of this, of course, is like, the kids are stupid. And these are college kids. They're idiots. They don't know anything. The extended point of this as this gets around globally is Americans are stupid. And so I had, of course, I had those thoughts like, oh, that's funny. You know, I've made these myself and produced them for television.

05:39 But then I thought, we could do with a little more of this. And let me explain. As I was driving away from the church the other day, was it the last, maybe it was the last show we did? And I pull out, I turn left onto whatever that is at 87. That's Tyvedale Lane. Yeah, that is. Oh, we talked about the big street? Yeah. Where Hilda's right there. Yeah. No, no, go past Hill's left. And then that's... That's Highway 16. Yes. I have a GPS. You just turn right, turn left when it shows you. Yes, Tina's laughing. Well, I know how to get home. And I see across the street, I see vote for Riley.

06:24 Our guy. Okay, yeah, right. Randy. Randy Breilly. Randy Breilly. Thank you. See, this is how bad is Randy Breilly. Future mayor. And I see a sign, and it's the only sign I've seen. I don't get out much. And I thought, if I were to go down Main Street in Fredericksburg and ask people about Venezuela or about Iran, I think most people would have an opinion, but they may not know that Randy Breilly is running. They may not even know there's a mayoral election. True. And so this is what social media has done, even to me. I can't remember Randy Breilly's name. He goes to our church. Is it removes us from what is truly important, from our local business of our town, the business of our community?

07:13 We keep getting sucked up into these global national. And I'm, hey, I'm part of that system, to be honest about it. But we get sucked up into that. And does it really matter? I mean, yeah, okay, we saw a small, not even in, but we saw a change of gas prices. That would be the main thing that we saw. But that fluctuates, you know, but that's really it. There's not that much else. But that's, that dominates the entire online culture and arguments. And I don't know. It just, I felt like. Yeah, and you have to ask. Sorry, I just interrupted you. No, no, please go for it. You need to do that more to me. I feel a buster. Well, it gives you a chance to drink your coffee.

07:58 Yes, sir. By the way, thanks for the black raffle today. It's the best. Annette and I were talking while we were walking today. We did a little walk this morning. And I was saying, I literally said, how is this affecting us? You know, this war. Yeah, we're frustrated about it. Yeah, we want to see it come to an end. Yes, we have interests in what's happening. But where we live, and we say it like this, where we live, where we work, and where we play. So that's just where you do your life. And she said, it really doesn't. Other than I paid $62 for Cara. But it didn't like ruin my day. It didn't like put me in, you know, you know what I'm saying?

08:43 It wasn't a high impact. Not that there won't be other ripple effects, but I think what happens is there's a cultural mood, a cultural milieu, if you will, ethos. And I think it impacts that more than it impacts most of our real world situations. Now, there are other things going on in the government, DHS. That's tragic for these people, these TSA people who that's their job, their livelihood. And man, they're taking a beating right now. And that is affecting people where they live. And of course, that is a political game. And I think most people recognize it.

09:20 And some people would say it's the Republicans, others say Democrats, but that should tell you right there, it's a political game, and we should be disappointed in our elected representatives in general for that kind of politicking. But yes, but even that has nothing to do with, well, I guess that is another, that is another main topic. Yeah. It's a ripple effect. It impacts things. So I agree with you. I mean, as far as how it, the only way it places it really affects me other than the gas pump at this point is in my mindset, my mentality. And I always default back to first. 1 Samuel that says that, you know, these were David's mighty men, the sons of Issachar, the men of Issachar, who discerned the times, understood the times, and knew what to do.

10:07 I keep going back to that. It's one of those things I can't shake over and over that as we're engaging, whether it's social media or you're listening to podcasts by your favorite podcasters, hopefully us, but others. And as you're doing that, though, you're listening with discernment. You're listening with wisdom. You're listening with the idea that I'm going to respond, but I'm not going to react. And that means you take a mental pause when you hear these things so that what they're calling news doesn't land hard all the time. Because how it lands, how is how it impacts you? And so, anyway, I'm just totally in alignment with what you're saying here because, in a sense,

10:51 what's stirring us up is our own need to think we've got to be in the know. That's it. And that's it. Fear of missing out. Where does that fundamentally come from? Does scripture say anything about this? I know. Come on, Pastor. Can't you roll that out? I texted you last night. I said, What are we doing? This just came to be ready. Jimmy JPT, GPT. So, well, while you're looking something up, I mean, well, go ahead. No, no, no. Go ahead. I want you to clarify a little bit because give me a little more on that. Because I'm always looking now to scripture. That is my default. I'm starting to figure this out in a way for myself. Like, okay, I get it.

11:33 I'm not running the show. I have to listen and try to do God's will. I kind of have an idea of what my contribution is to the kingdom. He's been showing me my whole life. He's been creating opportunities for me my whole life. I've strayed from time to time where it may have been adjacent. And so I'm 61, you know, so what have I got to lose than to always try and look at everything through a worldview that is based on scripture? So, you know, the thing that keeps, this is one of my favorites, but keeps coming back and back and back is when the disciples say, Hey, yo, Jay,

12:15 when is this all going to come to a pass? What will be the end of the age? And the first thing Jesus says in Matthew 24:4 is, see that no one deceives you. And there's a lot of that going on, maybe not intentionally. And then this is my favorite. You will hear of wars and reports of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for these things must happen, but it will not yet be the end. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes from place to place. All of these are the beginning of labor, of the labor pains. So this is it. But this could just been going on for 2,000 years. It could be longer than that. But everyone gets so spun up.

12:59 And I'm like, everyone was born into war. This is what it is. It's not great. I wish it was different, but that's not going to happen until Jesus comes back. That's right. So I'm, so that's how I'm starting to look at things. So when I see, and we all have it, this incessant need to be in the know. And when you have that need to be in the know, it's like your mind is wide open saying, shovel any manure in here that you want to because I'm ready. And you chase it down these roads and these paths. And you're right. You're like wide open. You're like a big antenna. Remember the old satellite dishes? You'll see one of those every once in a while. They're huge, you know, big fiberglass dish.

13:38 And we become that. I mean, we're literally, we're taking in everything. And, you know, I did a daily grind the other day about guarding your heart, you know, because out of it come the wellsprings of life. And so as your heart goes, that's how everything's going to go, your mindset, your mentality. And so the scripture is clear. Guard that. You've got to fight for that. You've got to contend for that. So that may mean sometimes not just pushing totally away from what you're seeing. Because I mean, we do, but realistically, we don't. We can say it all day long. But at the end of the day, we're going to find ourselves scrolling and doing it. But listening with a different mentality, guarding your heart, keeping your heart, and literally have this running conversation.

14:23 Jesus, is this true? Why not go to the source? The real source. Sounds easy. Jesus, is this true? Is this real? Is this really happening? I heard something today that alarmed me this morning. And I was like, is this true? I mean, it literally just came out like, is this true? You want to share what that was? Trying to remember what it was. There's so much. It just was this morning. Oh, okay. This is going to sound dumb now you've got me on this, but I'm going to say it anyway. I saw where the New Zealand government was forcing beekeepers to destroy their hives. This classic. This is a class. The world will collapse when the day is a good thing. I know. It's like these are the most important.

15:07 And I was reading it going, oh no, because I love New Zealand honey because Mark Harmon addicted me to it. He got me hooked on it. Mark and Pam are good friends. Oh my gosh, they're amazing people. But every once in a while, he slips me a bottle of this. Just let's just say very expensive honey. Excuse me. I have not been put into Mark Harmony. He and I are more in the club age category. We work out. We talk about health and peptides and all that stuff. So he goes, I know you're a carnivore. And I'm like, well, I'm like more like a ketivore. And he said, but this is like raw, unfiltered. And it's like got some of the highest ratings, you know? So it's like putting something really amazing.

15:46 Well, then I find out this morning, what? They're getting rid of my favorite honey. Oh, no. I mean, I literally had a little panic moment, literally. And I had to go, Lord, is this true? I'm getting worked up over this. They're killing the bees, you know. And what's what I'm talking about? What came back? I went and got me some honey out of the closet. It made me hungry for it. And I just let it go. I'm like, you know what? That's probably just not even true. This is some weird random thing. And it may be. I don't know. I had to count the number of times the bee collapse was upon us. And, you know, without bees, the whole world goes to hell in a handbasket. I mean, it's probably in the 18 years I've been doing No Agenda at least 30 or 40 times.

16:29 Really? It's always and the bees, and you get all the YouTube videos. And of course, once you watch that, you can't help but seeing all the other stuff that comes up watching it. And the guy was saying, These bees are perfectly healthy. Yeah. Why am I having to destroy them? You know, so that hits on everything. It's the heartstrings. We're killing these innocent bees and they produce the best food in the world. And without them pollinizing everything, the world collapses, bro. There we go. Dystopian future is upon us. It's wild, though. I had to step myself down. That is bothered me. Yeah. Because I'm, man, it's Mark Harmon's fault for getting me addicted to the people. Well, no, of course we blame Mark Pam is faultless, but we blame Mark.

17:12 But isn't that also just another version of end times talk? Isn't everything ultimately for non-believers? It doesn't matter who you are. Everything you read will ultimately come down to an, and we're all going to die. Oh, yeah. Every single time. And that's the thing that we have to guard our hearts for because it works. Fear is the best emotion. You can sell people anything, certainly information. I have a friend I had lunch with last week. I'm not going to say his name to protect the guilty. And if he listens to this, he'll know. But he was telling me, he said, you know, Pastor Jimmy, I've never thought about

17:53 needing to have anything prepared for survival until now. And I said, what do you mean by that? He said, man, I've got a generator out of my shed, no gasoline. It's still in the box. I said, yeah, that could be a problem. That may not help you. And he said, and I've been thinking, do I need to stock up on ammo? Do I need to, I don't even have extra water around. So, I mean, he's going down this track. And I said, what's making that happen? He's, you know, stuff he's reading, stuff he's hearing about, people that are around him that are caught up in that. That's interesting that you say that because I still have in my closet a one-acre crisis garden, which comes in a tube.

18:35 Oh, my goodness. It's seeds. And I bought that in 2012 listening to Alex Jones. And so, you know, and I had to think of this yesterday. I was listening to Victor Davis Hansen, who is an intellectual guy. You know, he's out there at the Stanford, I want to say, but he has his own Institute. And, you know, he's a conservative guy, but a very, very intelligent voice. He, I'm pretty sure he's a believer. He understands Greek and old, you know, old languages, classic languages. And he's doing this podcast and he's deconstructing, you know, the anti-Israel stuff and all that.

19:20 And then he has an ad for survival food. And I'm like, this is nuts because, I mean, I have a box full of MREs, meals ready to eat. I know where to come. And they're good for 30 years. Brother, in 30 years, we'll be looking at those things. God, they're finally spoiled. And we didn't. We're still here. There actually is an expert. expiration date on that. I mean, we had that blackout in Austin, the snow apocalypse. We had no power for five days. And I told myself, I'm going to make sure I get a generator. Well, here we are. We've been here for almost six years. You know, have we had a blackout? Yeah, maybe a blip, maybe an hour, you know, or the power company was doing an upgrade.

20:03 No. So the thing is, you know, and I'm not saying that you shouldn't do some things to be prepared just for anything, for another, you know, whiteout or an ice out like we had ice apocalypse, you know, for something like that. But at some point, in fact, the guy that was telling me this, I was really surprised he was saying this because he's probably one of the godliest men I've been around in a long time. And yet I could see fear taking him down a path. And I kind of laughed it off with him. You know, we ended up joking about it, you know, but I just, I thought, wow, you know, something has caught him and it's causing him now to rethink his whole way of life.

20:45 Yeah. Am I missing something? Am I going to be in trouble? I said, well, I live four miles from Patriot Academy, so I can walk there. So I'm good. And I already got permission. Do not be deceived. If it goes down, I know. It comes back to do not be deceived. And too, listen to this out of James 1:5. If any of you, I keep hitting this because it's not mine. I'm not. Do you want me to reposition it? No, it's perfect. I'm just sorry for the bumping. Oh, no, it's all right. So, James 1:5, I love this. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. So, as we're talking about fear-mongering and alert, alert, you know, breaking news, all this stuff that gets us so spun up,

21:27 there are biblical answers to these things and biblical wisdom that we can draw from. For example, it says this: if you lack wisdom, ask God, and he'll give it to you. I mean, it's so common sense, though. And the things that are simple, you know, Occam's razor, the things that are simple, we tend to bypass, and they're typically the best answers. That's a cultural answer. That's cultural. So, Ephesians 5, listen to this. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Those are written 2,000 years ago, and the days were evil then. Yes. And they still are.

22:07 And so we. And we got air conditioning. Oh, my gosh. Yours feels good, by the way. This is nice right here. It's Annette had me power walking today. So here's another one that some will recognize. This is a more popular verse: Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. And I could go on and on because there's so many scriptures on this about trusting God, walking in wisdom. And what is wisdom at the base? Well, this is a good question because people, I'm sure a lot of people would like to know what is wisdom.

22:48 Well, wisdom is the application of acquired knowledge. That's it. It's the heart that distills all this incoming information into something that produces life. To me, that's just a simple, simple way of looking at wisdom. There is a lot of difference between someone who's just intelligent and spewing information, content, stats. Yeah, a lot of podcasters like that. Oh, yeah. And there's a difference between that and people who walk in wisdom. When you're in the presence of someone who carries that, you just know it. And you know, Ickbok is going to be okay.

23:31 Yes. And I've got a handful of people like that in my life. I count you one of those. And others who, when I'm in their presence and we're talking about, nah, this guy's falling, you know, chicken little language. It's like, oh, no, no, no. Okay. Take a pause. Take a step back. So I love to surround myself with people who are not spun up. Right on. But are walking in wisdom and they are doing what Proverbs 3 says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. This morning, John 7:38 popped up for me, which I had to, I got it in the

24:12 that might have been on you version. I can't remember, but someone read the older version. This is the New Living Translation. Anyone who believes in me may come and drink. I'm sorry, that's exclamation mark. Anyone who believes in me may come and drink. I'm reading Ephesians out loud tonight. Tina and I will read two or three chapters of scripture before we go to sleep. And I'm really trying to, you know, to read it with like, oh, there's an exclamation mark. Hold on. Oh, there's a comma there. I'm really working on my annunciation. annunciation. So, anyway, anyone who believes in me may come and drink, for the scriptures declare rivers of living water will flow from his heart.

24:49 So, if you drink from Jesus, rivers of living water, of healing, you know, light and whatever will flow from your heart. That's the way I read that. And man, I want to be that. I want to be that so much for everybody. I really do. I strive towards that. Well, I've been thinking about our podcast too. I mean, because when you it's hard not to compare yourself to others, right? I mean, all these podcasts, you know, you listen to a bunch, I do. And then at times, I kind of go into that little, wow, so what are they doing? You know, what's what are they doing that's working? What are they doing that's not? And you get into that comparison thing.

25:28 But, but we, and we mentioned this last week, but I think this bears an ongoing conversation, at least touching on it, is that it feels like and seems like podcasters are just constantly bringing things down, they're constantly critical. It's it's all about being critical. I mean, Simon Cowell back in the day, he seems a lot nicer now. He's like the good guy. Yeah, he's the good guy now. Back in the day, he was like the meanie, you know, and he was, and it really kind of is sort of disciple degeneration into being critical. Ooh, super critical. That's a great observation. I, I, you know, people are pushing back on me.

26:06 And Tina rightly said the other night, darling, for as long as I've known you, people have pushed back on you, have hated you online, have said horrible things. I said, I guess you're right. But this is new. And the thing, because, you know, on no agenda, we deconstruct media, which is an overall term, you know, but we do more than that. But what I hear constantly is you should criticize Trump more. And this is, and so it's just hitting me now that you say this. People want criticism. No, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not for that. It feeds something, some weird fleshly need in us.

26:46 You know, it's, it's the old school, it's so common sense. You know, back when we were kids, all right, junior high, early, you know, we would put others down because it somehow lifted us up. It was our default mechanism to guard against our own insecurity and our own sense of inferiority. So if I can press everybody down around me, that puts me heads above. Wow, we're back in middle school. Yeah, hey, but we're still doing it. Yeah. You know, we don't really grow up. We just grow older and we hide things better. I mean, nobody, did we really ever grow out of this stuff? It's got to be the ongoing battle of the flesh and the spirit that Galatians 5 talks about.

27:26 As you always say, it's a spiritual problem. It is, brother. Tell me about Galatians 5. Yeah, Galatians 5, it talks about that's the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. I mean, those are like, this is the fruit of the spirit, not the fruit of the flesh. It even says right before that, that the mind, the flesh sets itself against the spirit, and the spirit sets itself against the flesh. And these two are in opposition to one another. So that's the flesh war, mind war, spirit war that we live every day. Just driving down the road, I mean, this is how just being real, I can see a beat up car and I'll start judging the person driving it.

28:09 Oh, really? Well, I mean, not like, I'll just think, you know, why don't they take care of the car? Why don't, oh, maybe they don't have money. Maybe they're broken. Maybe they're, I mean, you can have a runaway on stuff being human right here. And it's not like I run around doing that with everybody, but every once in a while, I'll just catch myself or somebody pulls out in front of me and I dissect the man's life because he pulled out in front of me and made me mad. So I start to think, God, dude, must be a jerk, man. How can he do that? I mean, he must be selfish. I mean, just start down this road. That's great. But that's the part of the mind war. And then the Holy Spirit's screaming, stop. That's it. Okay, so let's deconstruct this because you are, you're a very thoughtful person.

28:54 You know, I've mentioned this before. You will think, you do it very quickly, but you'll think for a split second before you answer anybody about anything. I'm trying to be better. I'm, you know, my boy James, quick to be listened, slow to speak, and much, much, much slower before you vomit words out of your mouth. Or slow to be angry. But there's something about driving that is cutting off that part of your consciousness or something. And I'd love to know what that is. Preoccupation with driving? I mean, is it, what could that be? You know, when we're behind the wheel of a car, that's our space, right?

29:39 Yeah. Remember, MySpace. Yeah, my page. My page. Blink tags, blink tags. Yeah, there it is. So when you're in your car, you're sort of like, this is my space. And you expect other people to be courteous in driving. And when they're not, it's just a letdown. It's just frustrating. I wouldn't do that. I try to think, okay, how can I make this a better experience for everybody involved? I mean, I think that when I'm driving down the road, you know, so I'll try not to get up on somebody's bumper if they're going slow. I'll try not to, you know, raise my hand up like I'm frustrated and hopefully they'll move out of my way. I did that back in the day. But, you know, how do you drive in the spirit as opposed to the flesh?

30:21 And I'm telling you, you can. Well, that's a good place to practice it for sure. Absolutely. That's a great place, especially on the 87 and the I-10 out of the day. I'm talking to Tina now. You and Tina are the same person in your car. Actually, I'm doing so much better. I'm really leaning into what does it matter anyway? Yeah. What does it matter? At the end of the day, what does it matter? Well, see, I have my grandfather and my grandmother in me in both places. And I thought about my grandmother just about before we started the podcast. So my grandfather, you know, when he was in his 80s, he lived to be 98, but maybe late 80s still, on Sunday, on Saturdays, he will go out and he'd drive around to

31:07 the home for the old ladies, and they'd bring everybody flowers. And whenever there was, you know, an intersection or any type of who goes first, he'd be like, beep beep. And he'd be waving. It would be on, well, we'll let this good person go for it. He was always like that. And I took over all of that from him. Gracious. And too much to Tina's chagrin because she says, sometimes you're confusing traffic because you should be going and you're confusing traffic by DJ. Did you know that if you wave somebody in an intersection where you have the right of way and there's a wreck, it's my fault. It's your fault. Yeah. Because you waved him through. And I'll say, but Jesus.

31:47 And my grandfather. And my grandmother. And as, you know, Tina said, so, so I can't believe you're going to have Jimmy come into that studio. It is disgusting. It's so messy. I'm like, well, I think he'll be okay. He's a dude. And then my grandmother, she had a sign in her kitchen that said, bless this mess. The whole family always talked about it was a disaster, just like my studio. But they all would follow by say, but great food comes out of it. No, kidding, right? I'm like, the product is good. Yeah, so bless this mess. I do want to clean it up, but bless this mess, man. Bless this mess.

32:32 Ah, my grandparents. I know they're looking down on me. I'm sure they're very happy. Beautiful. We have a note. Oh, yes. Which is important for us to share. And I have something to say about Bo and the pickles. So this is my note. It's from Bo. Go for it. Did you get a note from Bo as well? I did. Got an email. Well, I emailed him first. I said, how can I get more of these pickles? I think I probably share. Anyway, I want to read this because it's such a good note. And we've been talking about these Louisiana sweet and sour pickles. He says, Adam and Pastor Jimmy, this is Bo Lacoste, the guy that sent you the pickles, aka Cepheus of Ratchet City. Thank you and Pastor Jimmy so much for your overwhelmingly complimentary remarks about the pickles. I'm thrilled that you guys enjoyed the value for value.

33:16 I certainly enjoy the new We Get To Do This podcast just as much, if not more. Jodi White, who we've been crediting with these pickles, and I have been friends and work colleagues for over 20 years. We have both enjoyed laughing about you guys giving Jodi so much credit for the pickles, especially since she has absolutely no involvement in the pickle ministry at all before now. It's a pickle ministry. I know. I didn't realize this. I obviously created confusion when I asked Jodi to email you to ensure the pickles I emailed to receive. I only asked her to email because she had your address and you guys had already been corresponding. Perhaps the mix-up has been God's way of keeping me humble, he says. Yeah, I probably needed that. But my concern and my reason for this letter is that you guys may have missed the main point of the pickles altogether.

34:00 So I wanted to share this. School us. This is good. Yes, I want to loan. One more paragraph. When I started making these pickles a few years ago, everyone who tasted them told me how good they were. So I decided to dedicate them to the Lord. I'm not great at a lot of things, but people sure seem to enjoy these pickles. Amen. What better way to glorify God, right? I'm not sure if you and Pastor Jimmy noticed the label on the jars. I did. I did, too. But the scriptures listed on there can be a useful witnessing tool. The concept of my pickles. pickles is that I sell them for a set price per jar. The price is only enough to cover ingredients cost for two jars than for my Christian friends.

34:37 I offer them as a BOGO deal, buy one, get one, where they get a second jar for free as long as they promise to use the second jar to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. I don't make pickles for profit. In fact, I make them at a loss. I actually invest all my labor for free, and that's why it's so important that we be clear about the reason I make these pickles. And he keeps on going. He says, I'm overjoyed you guys like the pickles. I don't mind if you give out my name or email address. So it's louisianadillpickles at gmail.com. That's louisianadillpickles at gmail.com. I don't even care if Jody officially gets crowned pickle princess and becomes the public spokesperson for the ministry.

35:17 However, if anyone gets credit with regards to the pickles, please, please, please make sure that it's Jesus who is ultimately glorified. May God continue to bless you and your work. Your friend in Christ, Bo. That is so cool. I love this. And we completely messed everything up. We're enjoying the pickles. And we kind of missed the whole backstory. So I really wanted people to know that he wrote me. I wrote him saying, how can I get more of these pickles? And he's not a guy. He doesn't have like a shipping department or nothing. But I didn't know that. I didn't know if it was a company or what. So he wrote me back and gave me a good heads up about why he does it and all that.

35:54 Wonderful, wonderful guy. And, you know, it's just interesting how just a simple act of kindness can just lift. Yeah. You know, I mean, the fact that you and I are laughing about it. Yeah, right there. Now we're desperate for them. Yeah, cut to the chase. Can we get more of these pickles? Man, I'll pay for them. I told him, I said, whatever you need. So he's, I'm going to get back with him. He told me what, you know, what it costs, you know, to do it. And he said, we'll figure it out. Let's chip in, man. Let's get a case or something of this. No, I was handed out to 10 jars at least. So let's do that. Yeah, we'll do that. I'd love to do that. We'll reach out to him. Yes. Get an order. So good. Oh, my God.

36:37 I tried to rash them. They barely lasted. I got them through about six days, I think. And then Annette caught me. She's like, what are you doing? Because she hears me. She's like Chevy with the move a cheese wrapper. He's there. What? Five tornadoes come through. He's not touching. What are you doing? Who are you texting? What are you thinking? Where are you walking? What are you eating? I said, pickle. And then I emphasize the last pickle. I said, but there's a jalapeno left if you want. Oh, man. Brother. Yeah. Anyway, we laugh about it. It's all good. Amen. It's just good stuff. We have some of the best listeners. Jeremy Ryan Slate. I don't know if you ever heard of him. He has a podcast.

37:19 But he is a, he's, I think he's, he may have a degree in it, but he is a certified Roman Empire expert. Oh, nice. And I should put this in the show notes, but you know, we're talking about Constantine and Constantine. I kind of casually say, well, Constantine made, you know, made Christianity official religion. I know you got a letter on that. I got a letter on that. Yes. He says, you talk about this. I wanted to mention because people say the books of the Bible were written at the Council of Nicaea. Incorrect. He goes into this whole thing. But he at least, Constantine did live his life as a Christian, wasn't baptized until his death.

37:59 I didn't realize that. I know that either. And Christianity became the official religion of the empire in 3080 after The Dosius the Great. So Constantine, like stolen valor. No kidding. I just love this stuff. I love hearing it. It's fascinating. It really is. It's so incredibly good. Well, we do appreciate our listeners and just giving us some time. But what our hope is, is that it will lift them. The whole point of this, you know, you're a pilot, you get it. Yes, I do. We want to put lift under them. We want to put lift under their wings and encourage them and hopefully maybe laugh every once in a while, even if it's at our expense.

38:38 Better be. Better be. Yeah, please. But, you know, some levity in this world and also looking at the things that are happening in culture from a different worldview, a different viewpoint, through a scriptural lens. It's not all doom and gloom. I mean, there is good news out there and good people like Bo and others. The guy you just mentioned, I mean, they're just Joe, you know, who schooled me on some stuff. It's awesome, though. And by the way, Joe, we're hosting tonight an organization called the Caleb Company. It's Caleb Global. And they're coming in and we're doing a whole evening on Israel. We've got over 200 people signed up already. Yeah, we're going. And there'll be more that'll show up.

39:20 Thanks to Matt Long having me on the radio. Good appearance, by the way. Oh, thank you. I listened to the whole thing. It was fantastic. It was interrupted a little bit by Felicitas, who was so happy she got her paperwork in order. So I'm like listening with one ear, like, I got to, I got to wait for the podcast to come out. But it was good. I mean, yeah. Thank you. You guys both did a really good job. And I think, yeah, there's no kidding, there'll be 200, maybe more. Can people just walk up before? Absolutely. I think so too. Yeah, we put it out. So we'll see what happens. But even if it's that 200 that signed up, it's going to be great. And it's going to give a biblical response. You know, what should be a Christian's response to what's happening in Israel?

40:01 You know, there's so much confusion out there, and it's really not that confusing, you know, once you boil it down to the basics. And I have good news of my own, just because I'm tracking the trends. There is a blowback happening against this. Israel is to blame for everything in the podcasting space and online. Please don't go looking for it. Don't worry. I've got the trend lines. And also, when I really look at the actual numbers going back to the opening of the show, you'd be surprised to find that a lot of people are not preoccupied with these things. They really have lives and are doing other things. Good. It's a much smaller number than we think. We are information people.

40:46 I think most people just go to work, come home, just maybe want to crack a beer, sit down, hang out with the family, have dinner, aren't you involved in this? And every morning I remind myself, I have all these little, we talk about this often, all these little translations of the Lord's Prayer, daily bread, guidance and provision, and lead us not into temptation. It's like, don't look at it. Just don't look at it. It's not worth it. And I got to say, I know a lot of men who are recovering from porn addiction. This is not that much different. It really, it's a different type of pornography.

41:26 Exactly, because it's that dopamine bump that we get addicted to. And that it is. That's why I've turned off. That's why I leave my phone now. When we go to a restaurant, I leave it in my pocket. So good. I love stretchy jeans, man. You couldn't do that before stretchy jeans. I have a little life hack that you may want to employ. And it only works for guys like us because we have the magic HAs, the hearing aids. So I have set up a separate notification sound that only comes through when you're on Do Not Disturb. So I know if that's you texting me or Tina texting me or any of our daughters texting me, everything else is muted.

42:09 So I do not, you know, that blip, you know, that's have logs. I got to look at it. Oh, that's nothing. I tried to rig it so I would actually say, this is Pastor Jimmy texting. Can't get us to do that. But a different sign, you put it on Do Not Disturb. You put the people you care about and favorites, you assign a different thing to them, and your life changes overnight because you still want to know, like, is everything okay? Is that the kids are okay? Yeah. And it's pretty much quiet. Well, I turned on my hearing aids. I turned off the notifications. The only notification I get is a phone call, which is rare.

42:49 We don't use these as phones anymore. So that hardly ever happens. So that's the only notification that gets just a little beep. That's truly it, man. The notifications, that is what does it all. That's what it does it all. And then you still got to be strong because Tina has notifications off, but then any pause in whatever we're doing, she's like, okay, just let me check everything. And then the 15th, because women, I don't know. I'm sorry. It's a women thing. They got a lot of text messages. They do. They talk. Yeah. They're conversational. So last night we watched I Can Only Imagine Two. Oh. I know, right? So real. Good. So good. I didn't know this story about this about

43:33 Mercy Me, but really more about Bart Millard and also Tim Timmons. Yeah. I didn't know that backstory. What a great backstory. Man, powerful show. And for a band tour movie, very well done. Although I thought the real guys in Mercy Me are much handsomer than the actors. And they made Nathan look like some kind of kooky dope. I'd be a little offended if I had Nathan a lot. But also, Barry, all they had about Barry was, How old are you, Barry? Oh, yeah. You came from another band, Audio Adrenaline, which I didn't know. That was good. I didn't love that band. I did know that. I did know that. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, they're always cracking on Barry being much older than everybody else. I'm like, come on, man. Yeah. It's crazy whatever. He doesn't have hair. That's it.

44:17 Well, but what a great. I'm not going to. not going to say anything about Mike. Great. What is there to say about we love these guys? That's what we got to see. We love these guys. Have you seen Mike's mustache? No. He's got a full arm. He's got a statue. Really? Yeah. He's supporting a mustache. You got to see it. Where did you see it? Instagram? I saw it on something. Yeah. Probably. Facebook, whatever. Another reason not to be on these social media things. All right, brother. I think. Oh, the only other thing I wanted to just tell you before I forget, because I wrote it down Sunday. Great message, by the way. Everybody should go to bridgefbg.com, look at the message from Sunday or listen to it in the Godcaster.

45:04 It was just so good. And as you were talking about, and you have to remind me, if you can recall, about standing above, you are above all of it. Can you remind me what? Yeah, the Bible says that in Ephesians 2, that we've been raised up together. It's the resurrection of Christ. Been raised up together in Christ and seated in heavenly realms or heavenly places. Ephesians chapter 1 says Paul's praying one of his great prayers, and he says that Jesus Christ has taken the seat at the right hand of God, which is the place of honor. It's the place of authority, the place of favor. But it says we're seated in Christ in heavenly realms.

45:46 Jesus is seating at the city at the right hand of the follow the logic train. That's it. The logic train, that means that that's where we are. And that puts us and places us in Christ far above. I'm just going to quote it, all power, might, and dominion. All of that stuff. And that's all demonic stuff. That's all dark, dart stuff. So why I wrote this down is because I'm always looking for Dutch sayings. Dutch sayings that, you know, I love the old saying. The most classic is, you know, when you turn 50, you see Abraham or you see Sarah. But they have all these different sayings. And there's one that finally I understood the origin of because it's very, these all come from scripture. All these Dutch sayings come from scripture. And it is

46:30 sta erbofa. Be above all of that. And the way it's the translation is very literal. The people always say, ichta erbofa, I'm above all that can often be interpreted if you take it literally like, you know, I'm better than you, but that's not where it comes from. It comes from be above, be above that battlefield. Be above at the right hand of Christ. And I wrote that down. I'm like, oh, I'm so excited to tell Pastor Jimmy about this. It hit me. We're going to dissect the whole Dutch language. Oh, I love the old sayings. You know, hopefully in October, you're going to be with us in Amsterdam. You're going to be speaking Dutch. You'll be perfect. Come on. It's such an easy language to learn.

47:11 Just one more hairball, and you'll be fine. All right, brother, you got anything else for today's catch-up? Well, I just appreciate so much that we get to do this. I know I keep saying it because before it was the title of a podcast, it just comes out of my mouth naturally. Yes. It's living a grateful life is what that comes down to. When I say we get to do it, it means we're grateful that we are even privileged to do these things. And so I'm really grateful for people that are listening. I hope if it's helping and encouraging, you'll get the word out to friends and family. And let us know. Email us. Let us know. We like to get feedback. We do. We love that a lot. And you're right.

47:51 We get to do this. Can you imagine? It's a Wednesday late morning. We get to do a podcast in my home. I know, right? Thank you, Jesus. This is the best ever. Love it, brother. All right, everybody. We'll be back next Wednesday with another episode. Thank you for joining us. We get to do this next week again.