From Cute to Crochety

[00:00:02] Speaker A: From Westside Church in Bend, Oregon. This is behind the message. In this podcast. We take you behind what we teach here at Westside. I'm Ben Fleming. That's Lindsay Parnell, and that is the unforgettable Evan Earwicker. [00:00:22] Speaker B: Unforgettable. [00:00:23] Speaker A: That's. [00:00:24] Speaker B: I don't know. Yeah. Where do you guys rate yourselves on forgettableness? [00:00:30] Speaker C: Oh, goodness gracious. I don't know that I've ever thought about it. [00:00:36] Speaker A: I'm pretty forgettable, I think. [00:00:38] Speaker C: I do have a friend that has to introduce herself to the same people again and again, and it's a thing. [00:00:44] Speaker A: So my wife gets that. She gets that a lot at church. She gets it pretty often, but she doesn't care. She doesn't care anymore. I think that used to be a thing. She's also not throwing herself out on the stage or anything like that. And so I'm like, oh, I don't know. You're not, you're not trying to be memorable here on a Sunday. You're just trying to go to church. So. [00:01:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I think I find this. It blows my mind when I show up to church events at church, just not on a Sunday if I'm wearing a hat and people won't recognize me. [00:01:17] Speaker A: Really? [00:01:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:19] Speaker C: Honestly, the greatest thing ever. [00:01:20] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, yeah, no, it's a, it's greatest thing ever. It is nice. But to be able to be anonymous, I guess, even in places that, you know, I'm a fairly prominent person within this church. [00:01:35] Speaker A: There we go. [00:01:36] Speaker B: So maybe I'm more. [00:01:37] Speaker A: I'm less forgettable than I think. [00:01:39] Speaker B: Yeah. That's funny. [00:01:40] Speaker A: That's really funny. [00:01:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:41] Speaker A: Do people introduce themselves to you? [00:01:43] Speaker B: No, but it's like a. Oh, oh, I didn't realize it was you. That kind of thing. Or if I'm even across the room a little bit like, oh, Evan, you know, whatever. [00:01:54] Speaker A: I don't have, like, some defining characteristic is the thing. I have a beard that's a similar length to most men in Bend. I don't have some kind of a hair thing. Not particularly fit or dress in a certain way. There's nothing to remember me by unless we had, like, a long conversation. You thought I was funny. That's probably all I've got. Right. That's it. I have tattoos. They're not that cool. They're not as artistic. Artistic an artist. I was going to say. There's not as much artistry in mine. [00:02:22] Speaker B: That's funny. No, I, I, I do think you carry yourself physically in a way that's more recognizable. So whether it's your stance or. Or your gait. Right. How you walk. [00:02:35] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:02:36] Speaker B: I think some people are more unique than others. So I don't know. [00:02:40] Speaker C: I have people saying, he has a funny walk. [00:02:42] Speaker B: No, I'm just saying, like, I think. I think I could. I think someone could see you with your face blurred out. [00:02:48] Speaker A: Yes. [00:02:48] Speaker B: Walking and be like, oh, that's Ben. [00:02:50] Speaker A: So I hear that. [00:02:51] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:51] Speaker A: Often I hear. I could tell it was you by your gate. [00:02:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:54] Speaker A: So I don't know what I'm doing, but it's. It's. I snap. [00:02:58] Speaker B: You've got kind of a Quasimodo. You know, [00:03:03] Speaker A: you started walking hunched over a couple years ago. Yeah. I don't know what it is. There's some. Yeah. Pretend particular physicality. [00:03:08] Speaker B: Something funny. [00:03:09] Speaker A: I don't know. Anyway, you haven't said anything about yourself. [00:03:12] Speaker C: It's a weird conversation. [00:03:15] Speaker B: That's why it's. We'll pick on Ben and I. We're not gonna be like. [00:03:19] Speaker C: So, Lindsay, I don't know why it feels like it's. I'll sit this one out. You guys go ahead. [00:03:23] Speaker B: Oh, come on. [00:03:25] Speaker A: Sit it out. [00:03:26] Speaker B: My neighbor. They're no longer our neighbors, but live in the house next door. And we'd probably been in the house for 10, 11 years. And he ran into my wife, like, in the alley, and they're talking, and then he goes, so how long have you been in the neighborhood? Had no idea that we were next door neighbors for 10 years next door. And we had talked. I mean, it was just like this. He had never considered her as a person. [00:03:58] Speaker A: Do people that consider themselves to be forgettable? [00:04:01] Speaker B: That's. [00:04:01] Speaker A: Is that. That's offensive. There's a lot of positives to it, though. [00:04:05] Speaker B: I would think it's. It's offensive. Yeah. Yeah. [00:04:08] Speaker A: Just as a rule. That is offensive to be. [00:04:11] Speaker B: Huh. [00:04:12] Speaker A: I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm on the other end and I feel like I know people everywhere I go, then I go, that'd be kind of nice to be unrecognizable for a little while. [00:04:21] Speaker C: That's why I think, geez, if I could just put on a hat. [00:04:24] Speaker A: That doesn't work for me [00:04:28] Speaker C: either. [00:04:29] Speaker A: Well, that's funny. Here I was feeling like I was pretty forgettable, and now you guys have convinced me that maybe. [00:04:32] Speaker B: Maybe there is. Maybe there is an accessory or piece of clothing that would disguise you like, crazy teeth or like, I don't know what that. Yeah. [00:04:41] Speaker C: For me, you already have one more. [00:04:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:45] Speaker A: Being unforgettable means that somebody has something that stands out, though, and that can go either way. Is the thing something that really stands out? We can feel very insecure about that thing about us that stands out. And we can also, you know. Yeah. Would be really proud of it. I guess whatever that thing may be. It's kind of a wide universe, a broad net I just cast over that phrase. Do a lot of work. [00:05:08] Speaker B: No, it is an uncomfortable conversation. [00:05:10] Speaker C: It's weird to talk about yourself in that way. Yeah, it is. [00:05:13] Speaker A: I'm having a great time. [00:05:15] Speaker B: You are? [00:05:15] Speaker C: I'm like, what's the matter with you? No, but have you seen those videos where moms or dads will be like, okay, if I were to disappear, how would you describe to the police or to someone seen? For me, it's dicey territory. [00:05:29] Speaker B: So funny. Let me read this. I just got this from my wife about something my son said. Speaking of what makes us who we are. My son, eight years old, said this morning, I think I got my mischievous jeans from dad and my love of chores and a goal from you. But I don't know where I got my handsome jeans from. [00:05:51] Speaker A: Jack is so. [00:05:53] Speaker B: That's stone cold. [00:05:54] Speaker A: Jack needs his own own podcast. [00:05:55] Speaker B: That's shade on both of us. [00:05:56] Speaker A: So that's how you describe him if he went missing. Devilishly handsome, mischievous, small eight year old child who loves chores. [00:06:03] Speaker C: Chores and a good goal. [00:06:04] Speaker B: Loves chores and a good goal. [00:06:06] Speaker A: Is that really him or is that him in a good mood? [00:06:09] Speaker B: No, that's. Yeah, I think he's. He's being accurate. Yeah. [00:06:12] Speaker A: Wow. Good for. And self aware. [00:06:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:15] Speaker C: Fascinating. [00:06:16] Speaker A: That's incredible. [00:06:17] Speaker B: So. [00:06:17] Speaker A: So how would you describe Eric if he went missing? [00:06:20] Speaker C: Again, this is a weird conversation podcast. [00:06:24] Speaker B: The people want to know. [00:06:25] Speaker C: Very handsome tattoos. [00:06:28] Speaker A: Would you say that? Would you say very handsome? [00:06:30] Speaker C: Probably not. If he disappeared. I was panicking. [00:06:33] Speaker A: He is very handsome. [00:06:34] Speaker C: He is. [00:06:35] Speaker A: He is really cut, jawline, fantastic six. Yeah. [00:06:41] Speaker C: Okay. [00:06:41] Speaker A: A lot of tattoos, [00:06:44] Speaker C: beard. I don't know. [00:06:48] Speaker B: I don't know. Yeah, yeah. Reminds you of Brute Holland. [00:06:52] Speaker A: Who's that? Yeah. [00:06:54] Speaker B: Does he look like the North. The Norway. No, the Norway striker. [00:06:58] Speaker C: He does not. [00:06:59] Speaker B: He doesn't look like him. [00:07:00] Speaker A: It's not Brute, but the. [00:07:01] Speaker C: The hubbub about that guy is crazy. [00:07:05] Speaker B: That's his hyphenated last name. His name is Irwin. [00:07:08] Speaker C: I don't know, but I'm gonna have to do a show note on it. Tell me his name. [00:07:12] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. [00:07:12] Speaker C: Brute Holland. [00:07:13] Speaker A: He plays for Manchester City. [00:07:14] Speaker B: It's not spelled how you think. [00:07:16] Speaker C: Wow. [00:07:16] Speaker A: In Norway. Oh my gosh. That guy's awesome. [00:07:18] Speaker C: We'll figure. [00:07:21] Speaker B: But yeah. [00:07:21] Speaker A: Does he. He. Does he have a look alike? It's not. It's not Holland. I don't think. [00:07:25] Speaker B: Eric. [00:07:26] Speaker A: Yeah. Eric Parnell. [00:07:29] Speaker C: I don't think so. [00:07:30] Speaker A: Yeah, nobody comes to mind for me either. [00:07:32] Speaker B: Wow. [00:07:32] Speaker A: Unforgettable, that Eric Parnell. [00:07:35] Speaker B: So Eric had the long hair for a while. It wasn't a long time, was it? But it was like shoulder length, wasn't it? [00:07:41] Speaker C: A long time after Luca was born? Yeah, yeah, Yeah. [00:07:44] Speaker B: I feel like in that season then he's in a whole other category of like, you know, northern European long haired men. [00:07:52] Speaker C: The very red beard at the time too. Yeah. [00:07:55] Speaker A: Did you ever have shoulder length hair? [00:07:57] Speaker B: No, but my oldest brother did. [00:07:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:59] Speaker B: And like, thinning hair, it wasn't a good look. But long, like, shoulder length hair. [00:08:05] Speaker A: This isn't like high school. [00:08:06] Speaker B: No, it was. It was kind of like peak Keith Urban long hair. And so he was trying to rock it and. And probably not his best. [00:08:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Don't underestimate how handsome Keith Urban is. [00:08:20] Speaker B: Yeah, like, no, that's the thing. Like, yeah, if you look like. If you have Keith Urban's face when he was in his 40s or whatever, you could probably rock anything. [00:08:29] Speaker A: That hairstyle was not for everyone. For sure, man. That just wasn't like a feathered. [00:08:32] Speaker C: Like a feathered cut. [00:08:34] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. It's like, I'm not an attractive person, but maybe if I grow my hair out to my shoulders as a man, I'll. I don't think that's not the problem. Yeah. [00:08:45] Speaker A: I don't know if a big hair move, like, helps the rest of us, you know, average to below average looking guys, like, just look so much better. Oh, thank God. [00:08:53] Speaker B: You pull your hair out now you're handsome. I feel like ever since. Well, who did the face swap first in, like, TikTok or whatever the filters now you can try it out. And if you put your face on Keith Urban's hair and you still look terrible, the hair's probably not gonna fix your problems. [00:09:11] Speaker A: Well, maybe we should try it. [00:09:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:13] Speaker A: Oh, goodness. I can't. I can't. [00:09:15] Speaker B: Anyway, good conversation, guys. [00:09:17] Speaker A: Lindsay, this is what it's all about. [00:09:20] Speaker C: I'm here for it, even if I'm just silently smiling and nodding. [00:09:24] Speaker B: We're actually just here for it. We're, like, in the room for it. [00:09:28] Speaker C: I am present while this is taking place. [00:09:31] Speaker B: That's really funny. [00:09:32] Speaker A: All right, we can talk about James. That's fine. [00:09:35] Speaker B: Yeah. We started James this weekend. [00:09:36] Speaker C: We did. [00:09:37] Speaker B: I was back after three weeks away. [00:09:40] Speaker C: How'd it feel good? [00:09:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I think the getting back into just my head back into preaching during the week, I didn't know how it would go, but it felt good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I enjoy James. I thought it's, you know, in the rhythm of, of coming out of a long gospel. And then we did Sermon on the Mount. To be in James feels very different than John or, or Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Although I quoted Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount a couple times because there is some real tandem. I don't know, maybe it's Jesus as rabbi and kind of his wisdom teaching in the Sermon on the Mount feels connected to James style of teaching, which is very different than Paul for sure. But. [00:10:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't know that I had ever. I mean, I always known James was different, but the more we talked about and looked into it, it feels like it just totally sticks out in the middle of the New Testament. Very different from just about anything. Like, you know, you reference Sermon on the Mount stuff, but it just. Yeah, it kind of pops out. Kind of like I've been thinking of it as. It pops out as much as the wisdom literature does in the Old Testament where you're going through these historical things and then there's all these kings and judges and, you know, and then right in the middle of it, there's poetry and songs and wisdom. James feels like that big of a pivot to me, especially with where it's located in Scripture of like, whoa, what is, what is this kind of brand new perspective or not brand new, but it's almost as if somebody's bringing a different argument to the table in the middle of something that you've gotten used to. You're listening and reading Paul all the time, and James doesn't come in and go, hey, Paul's an idiot. But James comes in and goes, so let's talk about some more stuff, you know, and it's really profound and interesting. Not just on its own, but in contrast the rest of the New Testament. [00:11:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's helpful to consider that James is writing before Paul has written. So he's not. If you think of it as James is reacting to Paul's theology, it feels probably more in contention with Paul than it actually is. Where James is writing practically really in the shadow of what happens in the Gospels, and even the Gospels haven't been written yet. But he's, he's, he's speaking to a scattered church who only has the stories of Jesus. They don't have these long developed theological arguments from the letter to the Romans, you know, they don't, they're not wrestling with those things yet. And so it's very practical, I think, for those reasons. And James is deep. It's rich, but it's wisdom more than theology. And when we approach it like that, I think it, it maybe comes to life as opposed to trying to like pit it against Paul's thoughts and arguments, you know, because that's not what it's doing. [00:12:35] Speaker C: It was so helpful when you made the comparison on Sunday between, you know, because Grayson works grace and works is. They seem at odds with one another. And even like how you're saying Ben, it can seem at odds with what Paul is saying. You know, we're saved by grace, not by works, lest any man should boast. But you did a really good job painting what Paul is addressing versus what James was addressing. I don't know that I've ever heard it laid out like that that Paul is addressing our place before Christ, before God. We can't earn it. Nothing we do will change that, our standing with God. But James is talking about what a Christian life actually should look like. I thought that was so helpful because I know people were probably wondering, you know, like, here we are sitting about or talking about good works and you know, where does that fall with the grace conversation? I thought that was great. [00:13:26] Speaker B: Yeah. And you have to, I think, be intentional to address that. Otherwise what it starts to feel like is that it's kind of a bait and switch where we talk about the grace of God being all you need and that it makes us right with God. And we're like, great, now that we got you. Just kidding. Actually, we need you to do all these things and it can be confusing. Why is that to the person that's hearing this? So to be thoughtful in describing. Yes, the Christian life actually does have things that come along with it that should feel radical and difficult and look like surrender and sacrifice and all these things to avoid that. I think that's weird. Why would we ever portray the Christian life as salvation? Only like, what a hollowed out gospel, right? [00:14:16] Speaker A: It made me feel like he's warning of people that don't necessarily have the self awareness either. He's not unkind, but he's, he's. To me, it sounds like it's a people that are kind of just slowly drifting in to this dangerous area as opposed to people that are doing these outlandishly awful things. And he's kind of doing this, hey, you gotta, you know, watch out, you gotta pay attention. This thing will Slowly kind of boil you in the water like the frog. It reminded me. I kept having images. And maybe I'll use this at the beginning of my message in a couple weeks as a refresher of Bilbo and his house. In the Hobbit, when Gandalf comes and the whole argument that Bilbo has is like, I'm just so comfortable and leave me alone. Even like kind of shoes Gandalf out of the door. He was trying to invite him on this great adventure. And in the movie. I don't think it's in the book. It might be in the book. Gandalf says, when did your grandmother's doilies become so important that you couldn't walk outside of this house and do anything? I know. [00:15:15] Speaker C: Jeez. [00:15:17] Speaker A: And I. I do think, you know, there's a similar story in the sandlot too where the mom comes, the main character, and she says, it's summer. I know, we just moved. You're playing with your rector set. You got to go out, you got to climb trees, you got to scrape your knees, you got to get dirty. You got to get into trouble. Not too much, but some. And I'm like, yeah, man, sometimes that's the church. It's like the church scraping its knees, getting dirty, getting into a little bit of trouble. Not too much, but some. Yeah. When did we just become so in love with creating a comfortable space for ourselves and then like curating the comfort that we've forgotten the adventure that's outside. [00:15:49] Speaker B: Yeah. And I mean this, we're like ground zero of comfortable, affluent, recreationally top notch lifestyles like Bend, Oregon, like, that's where we're preaching, that's where we're living. Unlike a lot of affluent places where people go, you know, to build careers or there's major corporate, like people come here because they like to be outside and recreate and you know, it's high cost of living. So we just have a demographic that needs, I think constantly, and I'm in the category too. We need to be shaken out of that. We're here because we love the lifestyle that this place offers. And I think all the New Testament writers would probably have strong words to us as Jesus did. For many who like the rich young ruler or others that just, you know, we just hold on to whether it's stuff or hold on to our comfort, that can be the thing that keeps us from the kingdom. And James is going to push against that in different ways. Right. [00:17:00] Speaker A: And the beauty is, is that is where adventure is. It's. It's beyond those, it's saying yes to some difficult things, opening up your arms to some different kinds of people, allowing yourself to be stressed by some things that maybe are beyond your level of stress right now. Sometimes it is funny, to your point, I think about some of the things that I worry about and go, man, these just aren't worries. They're not real worries. They are very temporary. They are about maybe fun or comfort or status or something like that. And, you know, we don't have to throw everything out that we enjoy, of course, like we always talk about, but. But there's a better adventure out there, right? Like, there's gotta be something. I think James is pushing us to that. It's not behavior modification again. He's saying there's a real depth that this gospel can have on the world around us, and if we open ourselves up to it and the discomfort that often comes with it, there's something so great on the other side of that. I think if we're honest with ourselves, who doesn't want that? Who wants to sit around just continuing to curate your own special space? We all want that, I think. [00:18:01] Speaker B: Yeah. And the New Testament model for those with resources is just an open hand. You know, whether it's. Was it Lydia that hosted a house church in the city of. I don't know where, Ephesus, or. [00:18:18] Speaker A: I don't know. I would love to help you. [00:18:20] Speaker B: Anyway. [00:18:21] Speaker A: There's nothing in my hand this morning, [00:18:22] Speaker B: but obviously the early church had wealthy landowners that were hosting the gathering of the early church. You don't hear Paul or James or any of the apostles shaming people for resources. It's just when you come into a Jesus community with resources, there's an expectation that we. We no longer make the protection of those resources or the hoarding of those things the first priority. And I talked about that, you know, this idea of. Of not having an outlet for our faith. I would say the same with our resources. If there's no outlet, if there's no outward movement for what God has placed in our hand, we become resentful, unforgiving, protective, defensive, all those things that are maybe the worst reflection of Jesus in the real world. And so it is this. We are conduits for the presence of Jesus. It's what Jesus said in the temple at the. Was the festival of tabernacles, where he stands in front of the altar and he says, you know, talk about the Holy Spirit, and from your inward being will flow rivers of living water. Speaking of the Holy Spirit, it is a river. It's a movement that comes when we receive the Holy Spirit that doesn't feel like hoarding and protecting and keeping our comfort. I worked with a friend of mine. We were both very young in ministry in another city. And I remember he was like, man, if I was ever leading this church. Speaking of the church we were both working at together, he's like, I would build just the tallest brick wall to keep these neighborhood kids out. He was more passionate about that than I'd ever heard him be about anything else when it came to ministry was, how can we keep these skater kids off our church property? They weren't even vandalizing. It was just they were around, you know, and, like, whenever that becomes our vision of, like, what God is calling us to. As. As followers of Jesus, we. We have missed the point. [00:20:22] Speaker C: Yes. [00:20:25] Speaker A: Build the height of skate hate probably is when that was. You remember, man, it was banks and everybody. There was a whole thing trying to keep skiers off your property all the time. [00:20:33] Speaker B: Well, I mean, that was some of the. In the water when we removed the skate park, because we had a skate park here in our building where the gymnasium is now. It was a skate park. And, you know, there was insurance concerns, but I know some of the rumor was actually we removed it because there were certain leaders here at the church that just didn't want skater kids. Sure. Around. But, you know, yeah, that's real. And we oftentimes, I think, want to curate, like, yes, Lord. We want to be a church for outsiders, but specific kinds of outsiders. And we want to be able to curate even who's in the community and who makes us feel uncomfortable that we don't want. And maybe that is a majority of the New Testament dilemma. The tension that Paul a lot of times is addressing is just like, Jews and Gentiles, they can't get along. And the Jews are like, can we please just do this with just Jewish. Jewish believers and vice versa for the gentiles? And Paul will have none of it. [00:21:36] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, does it bolster your faith at all that James believes in Jesus to be the son of God? Because it does me a little bit. [00:21:44] Speaker C: Yeah. Like, as his brother, you mean? Yeah, totally. [00:21:47] Speaker A: Yeah. I think it's very encouraging. I feel like the first guy maybe not to, like, shout the whole thing down, but to just, like, walk away would be the brother of Jesus and be like, I don't want anything to do with your weird religion superstition thing. I didn't see my brother come back. I am out of here. And I was with him by the way when we were younger, there's something about James being so for this that makes me feel good. [00:22:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, you could. A real cynical take nowadays would be, well, if your family members with someone so influential or powerful or celebrity status, whether you believe in them or not, you want to hitch your wagon to them. [00:22:31] Speaker A: There's money to be made in the [00:22:32] Speaker B: early church is the opposite. Like, to hitch your wagon to the Jesus cult in their day and age was suicidal. You were signing up for trouble. There was no wealth and influence waiting for you on the other side of being like, yeah, I'm with the way those weird Jewish believers in that Jesus rabbi guy that died, like, there was no win there. So, yeah, the fact that he signs on is fascinating on a lot of different levels. And I quoted somebody who said it's probably the strongest apologetic in the New Testament is the fact that the brother of Jesus is writing one of the first letters in support of that and saying he's, you know, I'm the bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like, wow. [00:23:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:20] Speaker B: And I think that's probably why Paul in I think it's 1 Corinthians 15 goes out of his way to talk about how Jesus personally appeared to James after the resurrection. Because it's a big deal. You know, it would have been a big deal amongst the apostles in the early. But those are, you know, I think those are really helpful ways where if, if someone was just making this up. These are a lot of details that I don't know that you would think of if, if a group in, you know, 400 A.D. was just writing the New Testament as a hoax or something. [00:23:54] Speaker A: Right. [00:23:55] Speaker B: Like, this is pretty nuanced stuff. [00:23:56] Speaker A: Yeah. I know for sure. It's. It would have been dangerous for him just being a family member of Jesus, I would imagine. Right. Like if they were going to hunt somebody down, it would have been him. And again, another excuse to be like, look, I just, I don't even believe it. I got nothing to do with it. I don't want anything to do with it. But then to go very public and publish following it, that you're a bond servant to Jesus, that's pretty incredible stuff. [00:24:20] Speaker B: Well, yeah. Yeah. And from a safety perspective, even his role as the leader of the Jerusalem Church. So Jerusalem is the epicenter of, of this new movement, Day of Pentecost. Now the brother of Jesus is leading a church in that city. He's target number one, you know, so, yeah, very dangerous. He would have to be convinced. [00:24:44] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:44] Speaker B: To do that. [00:24:45] Speaker A: Yeah, right. Yeah. I would have to be convinced to worship my brother, let me tell you. [00:24:49] Speaker C: I was just going to say, man, just from a sibling perspective, the humble pie you are eating just to say I'm a bond servant. Like, oh, man. I mean, I love my siblings are going to come me wrong, but I'm [00:25:02] Speaker B: a slave to my brother, slave to my sister. [00:25:05] Speaker C: What? [00:25:06] Speaker A: My brother was a lot older than me, and he kind of messed with me a lot. So I felt like I was a little bit of a slave to my brother as a kid. So maybe it would have worked for me. It would have just, you know, eased right in. I don't know if he would have been a gracious God, but he would have been a God. [00:25:21] Speaker B: I always think back, me and my oldest brother, he's five years older. Your oldest brother's way older, right? [00:25:26] Speaker A: Nine years old. [00:25:27] Speaker B: Nine years, yeah. [00:25:27] Speaker A: Quite a bit. [00:25:28] Speaker B: My oldest brother's five years older. And me and Brent always got along fine. He's Brent's middle child or whatever, peacemaker. But me and my oldest brother would fight all the time. And I remember we were riding around the neighborhood or walking around the neighborhood, and this big old German shepherd comes out of a house. And my oldest brother, who should have been my protector because I'm like seven years old, he grabs me and puts me in front of him as a shield, a human shield between him and the German shepherd. [00:25:56] Speaker A: Amazing, man. Oh, how old was he at the time? [00:26:00] Speaker B: Well, if I was 7, he was like 12 or 13. [00:26:03] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:26:05] Speaker B: But I'm imagining my daughter with my son. I'm like, yeah, I could see that. I could see her using him as a human shield. [00:26:13] Speaker A: Incredible. [00:26:14] Speaker B: I think he gave me a stick at least or something, you know, like, here, take this. Shows me in front of him. [00:26:21] Speaker A: Kids have run ins with dogs like that anymore. That's. That's something I felt like was part of growing up, was like the scary dog from the neighborhood might be around. [00:26:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:32] Speaker A: Like. And I had. I. I once hopped the fence at my grandma's house when my uncle was there, and he had a rottweiler named Kale. I hopped the fence and immediately had to hop back over the other side. And that thing was coming after. [00:26:44] Speaker B: That's sketchy. Yeah. And that's. That's on you, man. You jump into his fenced off yard. [00:26:49] Speaker A: Yeah. And I felt that he's in the. In the. In the yard and just. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. And then there was a husky that lived down the road like a half mile. But if you wanted to ride your bike into town. I'd go and he would hide on the side of the road and chase cars. But when you're riding your bike down there, you chase your bike and he can keep up with you a little bit better. [00:27:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:10] Speaker A: Oh, man. I remember so many trips I didn't take into town just because I was scared that husky was gonna be up there. Yeah, it was a thing. My kids have never had to deal with that. [00:27:19] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, we also live in a neighborhood, like a neighborhood in town now. And growing up, it was like neighborhoods on the outskirts where things are a little looser. You grew up in a small town. Oh, yeah. [00:27:30] Speaker A: Oh, that's true. [00:27:30] Speaker B: We weren't like in town. There might, you know, still be dogs on the loose back in Glendale. I don't know. [00:27:35] Speaker C: That's fair. Eric got chased by a dog recently. We were in Albuquerque. [00:27:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:39] Speaker C: We were in a house. It's kind of on the outskirts a little bit. And he went for a run and straight up had to run for his life because this dog was chasing him. Yeah. So every time we drive by that house. No, he's like, I don't like that house. [00:27:51] Speaker A: That dog. Did he outrun the dog? [00:27:54] Speaker C: I mean, he didn't get attacked, so I don't know. Nice. Fine. [00:27:58] Speaker A: But cardio, it's kind of scary. Motivational dog. [00:28:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:02] Speaker C: Didn't know what kind of a workout he was signing up for. [00:28:05] Speaker A: So James is short, Right. And that's you. You hit the nail on the head on the whole intro. It's this faith without works is dead. Where else does this thing really go? I guess without sharing too much, we'll do those podcasts. But does James feel kind of one note to you after doing that, or is it more dynamic than that? [00:28:26] Speaker B: Yeah. What we skipped over in the intro chapters is perseverance and suffering, which comes back in chapter five, I think. So we'll probably go there before the end of this. But yeah, there's some bigger kind of the high level themes. Perseverance and suffering, endurance through temptation. This week is going to be controlling the tongue. Wisdom that comes from God, humility, what to do in conflict. So there's a lot of. It's almost like a grab bag of all probably what James is experiencing in real relationships happening that he's addressing, much like Paul does, where you're seeing this stuff going on. Okay, I need to address that. I need to address that. I don't feel like any of it's theoretical or overly like. Could you imagine if this ever happened? What Would you do? It's. It's more like, hey, I see that some of you are acting so badly to the poor amongst you, and you're so arrogant. Here's what you got to do. And I appreciate that about James. In five short chapters, he. He really goes after, I think, what. What still ails healthy community, you know, And I think maybe what we're going to talk about this weekend with controlling the tongue is his kind of like what he points to as really the root of a lot of the problems that stem, that aren't caused by anything but what's on the inside. Right. It's not like we're perfect on the inside. And then all of a sudden we said something wrong and that ruined everything. It's the outflow of our heart and our spirit that our mouths speak. But what our mouths speak or don't, it affects everything. [00:30:08] Speaker A: And, yeah, there's probably a lot of conversation there. I might say words worth more or less culturally today. You know, that's an interesting question for us to be able to explore, as I feel like you could make an argument on either side. I might fall a little bit farther onto the side of we just seem to say a lot of things now, and there's not a lot of accountability or apologies necessarily on the other end. But, yeah, what an interesting idea. [00:30:37] Speaker B: Yeah. And in the age of. Of kind of the wild west of the political discourse, I think everything has kind of followed that lead where it used to be, you know, the higher up in industry or politics or whatever, it was like people guarded their words more. And so then when they said something, like, everyone listened or you paid attention because those words carried so much weight and they were aware of it. Now, you know, in the age of Trump and everybody else that's followed suit. It's wild because it's like, do words matter? Because they do. But it feels like so casual to throw out really, really inflammatory things or, you know, wild statements that even a decade ago would have been major news, that now does it matter? Yeah, I don't know. What do you think? [00:31:32] Speaker C: Man, oh, man. I do think it's shifting the way we are viewing our words and maybe credibility, too, for politicians or people in power, influence across the board. It's easier to see, like, you know, I don't care what they said, I don't care what they thought, because it just all kind of gets lumped into that really extreme language. But I would assume it would trickle down to culture, mainstream, all of us thinking, you know, I don't know, it changes it changes us. [00:32:05] Speaker A: There's no good outcome to either ones of those sides. Either we, we are saying things and they're still hurtful and then we're just making a mess out of people all the time, that we're constantly breaking them down by shooting vile words at them all the time. Or the other side is that we're now creating a culture in which nobody wants to take in anything that anybody else is saying because they don't have that relational equity or trust or people are just going to say stuff all the time. And so I'm just going to block it out. And that's not the kind of people we want to be either. So closed off. I mean, ultimately, I think what James is saying is this is how we're trying to build this tight knit relationship, community, care for each other. That is supposed to be the hallmark of Christianity. And neither one of those things give you that just saying whatever you want or just becoming a people that just close ourselves off to other people, people all the time. Neither of these are what we want. And so maybe this becomes one of those last bastions of Christianity, of faith, is no, we're going to do words, right? We're going to continue to believe that this is actually a holy thing, how we speak to each other. [00:33:06] Speaker B: Yeah, because it does matter. Words do carry power. And just because, you know, whether politicians are now calloused and flippant with all their words and so nothing seems to matter anymore. Or now in the age of AI, like words aren't even necessarily genuine from human to human anymore. So it confuses everything. There's noise, but I know this, like, what I say to my son matters a ton still. Nothing will change that. Like what I say to build him up or tear him down this afternoon will stick with him for life, likely. And what's dangerous maybe is we're like, well, Trump says all kinds of stuff and no one seems to care anymore. So I guess what I say to my son doesn't matter. No, that would be a huge mistake, you know, so just because words are being devalued, maybe on the world stage, we have to remember what was true in James Day is still true for us. [00:34:09] Speaker C: You know, the contrast is even greater now, actually. And what you said, Ben, I think is more spot on. Like, this could be one of our things, you know, the city on a hill, that kind of a differentiating thing. Like, no, we speak kindly and we speak truth and we speak lovingly. And that, that could be a pretty big deal actually right now I could see It. [00:34:34] Speaker A: Yeah, if. If we were known as that place and that people. It does stand in. I mean, I say it really crassly. It takes up a piece of the market that seems to be missing right now where people aren't necessarily experiencing that all the time. And it just stands in such stark contrast to what we deal with all the time. So I think it is our job. Yeah, I totally think it's our job. We need to do this really, really well and be thoughtful about how we're going about it, how we're presenting ourselves to each other within the church as well as to outside, just in small conversations. These things add up and they matter and they make a real difference. And maybe those are the places that we forget, right? The ordinary places where we speak in kindness to people that we know or we don't know. It just adds up to something that is valuable for a city and a community and a faith. And I don't know, maybe that's a good. A good goal as we go through this is for us to really capture again, that idea, because it can just be so tasty to just go the other way, to just jump in and say, fine, if this is the game we're playing, I'm going to get good at it. And we have to do the opposite. [00:35:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And I've had to check myself and understand that as life has gone on and I've gotten older, my words carry more weight than sometimes I give him credit for and for a long time. And I think, Ben, you've mentioned, you know, for a long time, it's like you're the young person in the room and like everyone else is, whatever, older and more experienced. And so you can kind of just say whatever or, you know, do whatever it takes for the laugh or the sarcasm. I remember the early days of our Christmas staff Christmas parties and the sarcasm and the snarkiness for comedy sake was real. And I think back to some of the things that I personally said at those for a laugh that I'm like, I could never say any of that today because I know, like, oh, my words carry more weight. They did when I was 24 years old and, you know, just doing whatever for a laugh. And I think especially for those in any kind of leadership position, whether it's in your household or you're a boss or just, we underestimate the weight that our words carry. And I've had to check myself a lot. I don't know, have you guys felt that where you're like, oh, if someone else said this, maybe it wouldn't matter as much because of who I am to them. I've got to be really careful more and more. [00:37:12] Speaker C: What's such a bummer about that though, is I'll go back and be like, oh, shoot, did I. I'll think of all the ways what I said could have been interpreted badly or from the wrong. And then it, you know, I feel like I have to double back and clarify or whatever. So I'm growing into it. But yes, so much, I think on a smaller scale with my kids. Even just this morning, we forgot lunches and I was frustrated coming, you know, into the church. They don't have their lunch. I'm gonna have to go home. And I was, I was upset in that moment. And even just my tone and my 6 year old starts to cry and I'm thinking about, like, this is a way bigger deal to her, you know, like, just reexamining my approach there because I'm the mom. If someone else had been that way, she probably like, whatever, you know, but it was me. And the same goes for, you know, I'm in different spaces now that I wasn't always. And meeting with people and they're viewing me as an authority on certain things. And I, yes, I have to really check myself. And you can't speak flippantly or just, you know, throw stuff out there these days. [00:38:17] Speaker B: Yeah, my son can be overly sensitive, which I wrestle with that because I'm like, stop being so sensitive. But that's a whole podcast. He spilled a drink all over himself and all I said was, I said bro. And then he starts to, like, not full on cry, but he's like, he gets worked up. And I was like, all I said was bro. And he goes, it was your tone. Okay, tone matters. [00:38:44] Speaker A: Jack's too smart. [00:38:45] Speaker B: But also, toughen up a little bit. Okay. All I said was bro. But, yeah, no kids. And I think I am going to address this this weekend of just the role as parents for the parents in the room. Our words are so weighted, so weighted. And we just have to be aware of that now that we tiptoe around and, you know, I don't know, like, we can converse as parents with our kids, but just understand, like, there's no such thing as a flippant, sarcastic remark. There's no such thing as, you know, some negative comment that isn't taken to heart. It matters a lot. [00:39:23] Speaker C: Dallas Willard wrote in one of his books, it might have been divine conspiracy, how the way parents talk to their kids, like, he is, he cannot believe the way parents will talk to their kids maybe in moments of frustration or anger, like, I'll have to find the quote for you. I don't know if you want to say it Sunday, but. And I stop and think like, oh my gosh. Yeah, it's because the familiarity there is so, you know, we're so familiar with each other, it's easy, easy to just say the thing without thinking about it. But he, he acknowledges it in the way we speak. And it really made me think twice about it, like, oh my gosh, do I treat my children badly in moments of like, anger or frustration? Because it's easier than like some self control and some awareness and. Yes. And I think that is commonplace for parents and kids or adults in kids lives, like prominently, where familiarities, you know, there. So it's a thing. And I don't think we should forget about it when we're talking about our words. [00:40:19] Speaker A: Are we like this sandwich generation that nobody thought about this when we were getting raised? You know, and so we didn't, we didn't like, get that side of it. And now we're like right in the middle where we're, all we're doing is thinking about it. It's kind of like the radio in the car. I think I made mention this in a sermon once. I said, I'm in the generation in which I grew up. And we were listening to AM 1120, Rush Limbaugh almost all the time. And that was what dad wanted to listen to, by the way. It was the only radio station we could get. And now we're in the generation as a dad where we have access to every song that's ever been written. And all I'm listening to is like this stupid hip hop stuff that my son wants to listen to. And I think it's garbage. I'm like, great. I mean, I'm now the parent that never got to listen to have be having control of the radio. And I still don't even as a parent, it feels a little bit like this. [00:41:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:41:06] Speaker C: I would think, because you, you bring up a good point. Like we're still the parent and we still have to instruct and teach and say the hard thing. [00:41:14] Speaker A: I'm not saying you're wrong, but you're [00:41:16] Speaker C: probably on like, you know, gentle parenting and all that. Yeah, we swing. We just do. It's our human nature. We swing to the other side. [00:41:24] Speaker A: We do. [00:41:24] Speaker B: Yeah. And I wouldn't even come out swinging against firm, true, strong parenting necessarily. Personalities are different. Styles of parenting are different. That's all Fine. The issue arises when it's cruel, when it's flippant, when it's sarcastic, all those things that there's no way to spin that as well. That's healthy. We're toughening them up by being cruel and coming at his confidence. There's no way to spin that. So don't tell me that's like, well, I'm just being a truth teller of a parent. No, you're being cruel because of your own insecurities or your own frustrations or whatever. And so that's where we. I think we just have to, as people who follow in the way of Jesus, do better. And I know we don't like behavior modification or that kind of try harder thing, but we owe it to those that we love, whether it's our kids or staff or employees or that for them, our words carry so much weight. We owe it to them to just not roll in tired and just fly off the handle with our words. That's not good enough. [00:42:36] Speaker C: You know, that betrays your heart. You know it does. And so you pay attention to what's coming out of your mouth, and it really does betray what's going on internally and in your soul. So, yeah, it's important. [00:42:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:42:51] Speaker A: That snuck up on me that my voice mattering thing really snuck up on me. Being the young guy in the room that's always a little bit of a pleasant surprise to people was kind of the thing that I lived most of my life doing. Like, most rooms I was in, I was a good, you know, at least 8, 9, 10 years younger than the next person. So it was like, oh, young buck. All right, here we go. Yeah, well, I don't know. He said some stupid stuff, but look how dynamic he is, you know, or whatever. You kind of live that way. And then, boy, if you don't realize that you need to outgrow that, that's a pretty dangerous place to live, especially with your words. And not even just rolling with staff. Yeah. With. With kids and whatever. Even just out in the community, like, I got to make sure I'm thinking through this. Rolling in tired. Yeah. What a good. I heard somebody, some author, something, say, I hope that I mature to the point that when I'm tired, I'm sweet and not. I can't remember what the word was, but it was, you know, angry or vitriolic or something like that. And I go, oh, that's not a bad. That's not a bad little goal. I could use that a little sweetness when I'm tired instead of you know, the way I usually am. [00:44:06] Speaker B: I was complaining. Jack's friends were in our yard yesterday and a couple of them are very loud and they have these real high pitched, like screams. I hate that I was complaining about it, but in such a grumpy way. And you are such an old man just sitting in here complaining about our son having friends and. Yeah, so we. I think we have to watch both things, right? That we don't think we're so cute like we were when we were 20 in the room. Nobody thinks you're cute at 40, Ben. I'm sorry. [00:44:41] Speaker A: I know they didn't think I to was going cute before that only ever [00:44:44] Speaker B: been cute and that we don't get so set in our comfort that we get grumpy. And then, you know, and then there's this, I don't know, hardness that comes out through our words. And that's this whole issue too, you know? [00:44:59] Speaker A: I don't know. Evan, those shrieks are bad, man. I think [00:45:03] Speaker B: I can't handle. I just can't. Kids scream like full on screaming as part of play. Like, did we do that? [00:45:11] Speaker C: Probably. [00:45:11] Speaker A: I don't think so. [00:45:12] Speaker C: I probably did. [00:45:14] Speaker A: I don't think I did. It is like the. It's as hard as they can go, right? Like it's clipping on the meter. I just, I can't. Joel's friends, so Joel's 11. My goodness. [00:45:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Or the kids step on your lawn. It's like, get off my lawn. [00:45:29] Speaker A: You know? [00:45:32] Speaker B: I'm telling you, we gotta watch out. [00:45:34] Speaker C: I feel like it's a short window between cute and crotchety. Like what time is. Yeah, we don't get much time. There's, you know. [00:45:42] Speaker A: Why is it so short? [00:45:43] Speaker C: Too short. [00:45:44] Speaker A: It's kids, right? [00:45:45] Speaker B: Kids do that because when you have kids. Is that what you're saying? [00:45:48] Speaker A: Well, we've just got friends that are single. I wonder if their experience is the same. Did they go to crotchety just as fast as we did? [00:45:54] Speaker B: Great question. Yeah. Or not. Great question. [00:45:57] Speaker A: It was like the kids did that to me. But we had kids at 27. I think something like that. [00:46:02] Speaker B: Gwen is switching for today. You're in the room. You're a generation younger. Ish. Right? Are you gen. Are you crotchety? You're Gen Z. You're an older elder Gen Z. Er, Are you crotchety yet? [00:46:14] Speaker C: I think so. [00:46:15] Speaker B: Are you grumpy? [00:46:16] Speaker C: You are. You are. [00:46:18] Speaker B: She said, you said. I think you're. [00:46:19] Speaker C: Do you think you're an exception or do you think. Yeah, this is, this is how we are We're a little crotchety these days. I think it comes from angst. [00:46:29] Speaker B: Angsty comes from crotchety angst. Interesting. [00:46:33] Speaker C: Wow. [00:46:34] Speaker A: All right. I like it. So the window is short. [00:46:36] Speaker C: The window is very short. [00:46:37] Speaker A: What is the window like 18 to 22, I think. [00:46:41] Speaker B: I think when you're, when you're of, when you're college age, maybe that's your only fun, you know, fun times where you're technically an adult but you're not grumpy yet. [00:46:53] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:46:53] Speaker C: You're not self aware enough. [00:46:55] Speaker B: 18 to 20. How old are you going? 18 to 24. And then 24, you're grumpy for the rest of your life. [00:47:03] Speaker A: So maybe this is a couple dads that have defeated it. I'm coaching this all star baseball team with this guy and then there's another guy who's a kid on the team. They call me. We played a game last night. I get home, they call me and go, hey, you want to go camping tonight? And I was like almost offended. [00:47:20] Speaker B: Oh dear. [00:47:21] Speaker A: That was my crutches. I was like, what? No. [00:47:25] Speaker B: What? I would, I wouldn't. I would never be able to do it. Same day camping. No. [00:47:31] Speaker A: And it was 7 o' clock when I got the phone call, like, oh, you just really wanted you to come hang. We're having a great time. We're going out to blah blah. And I was like, well, boy, if there's a gear I don't have, it's that one. [00:47:43] Speaker B: Yeah. How, how far you would do that? [00:47:47] Speaker C: Glenn would be down same day. [00:47:48] Speaker A: You're not crotchety. [00:47:49] Speaker B: And yeah, you got, you've got some years then of pre grumpiness. If you're willing to get a call at 7pm and go camping that night. That's impressive. [00:47:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:47:59] Speaker B: Yeah. How far would you go outside of your living room at 7pm if someone called with, with a plan? Yeah. Oh man, you had child care, so [00:48:10] Speaker C: that's not an excuse. [00:48:11] Speaker A: Have childcare. [00:48:12] Speaker B: Would you go downtown? Would you go further? [00:48:14] Speaker A: I go downtown, yeah. Yeah. I go to McMenamins or something like that. [00:48:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:48:17] Speaker C: What day of the week is it? [00:48:19] Speaker B: That matters. [00:48:20] Speaker C: A lot does matter. [00:48:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Sunday into a Monday. That's a hard one. Now, Wednesday or Thursday? [00:48:28] Speaker B: Friday, I would say. Yeah, Thursday through Thursday or Friday night. I'd be much more willing for sure to do something on the spur of the moment. But a normal weeknight, nope. [00:48:40] Speaker A: Tether. O. [00:48:41] Speaker B: Not happening. [00:48:42] Speaker A: You know, that's fine. Tether. Oh yeah. [00:48:44] Speaker B: I mean like if a friend is in crisis. We're not talking about that. [00:48:46] Speaker C: Like Right. Just for a hang. [00:48:48] Speaker B: Just for a hang, yeah. [00:48:50] Speaker A: Just for a hang. [00:48:51] Speaker B: Yeah. A Tuesday night hang is not probably gonna happen Sunday night without a, without some warning. Yeah. [00:48:57] Speaker A: That's a tough hangman. That is not. But I, I was inspired by their, their willingness to go on a little adventure. It's pretty great. Although one of them, I think spurred by emotion, I think he's like moving in a couple days. [00:49:09] Speaker B: Okay. So feeling the feeling the feels. [00:49:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. That doesn't count. You got the adrenaline from the emotion. [00:49:17] Speaker B: But Ben, you're going to state. You won state last year with Ben north and you're going back. [00:49:23] Speaker A: We won with tens and now we're in 11s. We're in the championship game Tuesday. [00:49:26] Speaker C: That's awesome. [00:49:27] Speaker B: Tuesday evening. [00:49:28] Speaker C: Right. So this, that's tomorrow. [00:49:30] Speaker A: Tomorrow night. [00:49:31] Speaker B: Do you know who you're playing yet or they stop to. [00:49:33] Speaker A: They play. Two teams play tonight for the chance to play us the next day. So. [00:49:38] Speaker B: Great. Do you know which team you're hoping will win tonight? [00:49:40] Speaker A: I'm hoping. Oh man. [00:49:43] Speaker B: Gives you the best shot. [00:49:45] Speaker A: One of these teams really does not like us at all. [00:49:51] Speaker B: Oh, wow. [00:49:51] Speaker A: And yeah, it's, it gives me a little anxiety actually. [00:49:54] Speaker B: So you want the other team? [00:49:56] Speaker A: I would prefer. Yeah, just do that. But you know, either one like kids will have fun and. [00:50:00] Speaker B: Okay. Where you, where is the game at? What school or fields at Mountain View. [00:50:04] Speaker A: Softball field. [00:50:07] Speaker B: Fun. Yeah. [00:50:08] Speaker A: Yeah. It's exciting in the, it's fun. The coach, the boys and they're such a great little group. [00:50:13] Speaker B: Do you have a, you have a ritual if you win with the boys? Yeah. Take them out somewhere or. [00:50:20] Speaker A: That happens a lot. That's kind of a parent driven thing. I give out a game ball if we win, which is always. Kids love that. I, I, I see the utility of it to encourage a kid. I hate MVP awards or whatever. Drives me a little crazy. But I'll give him a game ball. And you know, it's not always just for their performance but it's for their attitude or whatever and that's kind of fun. [00:50:42] Speaker B: So kids over two years, pretty great to a non baseball guy is that you're, you're keeping the balls throughout the season and then you're giving them one [00:50:49] Speaker A: of the balls from the game. [00:50:50] Speaker B: From the. [00:50:51] Speaker A: And then I'll take Sharpie and ride the date the opponent, the person that's getting the game ball. [00:50:56] Speaker B: I see. [00:50:57] Speaker A: And then. [00:50:57] Speaker B: So it's one of them. One of the players gets. [00:50:59] Speaker A: Yeah. And so you do this kind of [00:51:03] Speaker B: little speech thing and it's always Joel. [00:51:06] Speaker A: It's always Joel. No, I gave one to Joel the other day. [00:51:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:10] Speaker A: And that was a surprise to everybody. I don't give them to him. [00:51:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:14] Speaker A: Then he'll. [00:51:14] Speaker B: He doesn't care. [00:51:15] Speaker A: And he knows. He and I have had this conversation. He knows how much I hate it. And he. I gave him one. Got in the car the other day. He's like, I gave it to Blake, Dad. I thought Blake deserved it. I was like, you jerk. I finally gave you one of the balls, and you just don't even care. But, yeah. Yeah, there's that little ritual, our cheers for the North. Oh, yeah. Taken after Norway, maybe, or something like that. So the boys. Like, the boys really took to that. The idea of. For the new. For the North. [00:51:49] Speaker B: You should get them all, like, Viking wigs and helmets. I should. [00:51:52] Speaker A: Yeah. If I were a good coach, I'd do that. Yeah. [00:51:55] Speaker C: There's time. [00:51:56] Speaker A: Maybe if we have, like. Yeah. An after party, after season party or something like that. [00:51:59] Speaker B: I mean, how great would that be for the team portrait, though? [00:52:02] Speaker A: That would be cool. [00:52:03] Speaker B: Viking genius. [00:52:04] Speaker A: I'm gonna do it now. You think they got those at Leaping Lizards or something like that? Where do I find a Viking helmet? [00:52:09] Speaker B: You know, I have not. I've not actively looked for Viking Halloween. [00:52:14] Speaker A: That's probably the right call, actually. Your kids into Squishies, by the way? [00:52:19] Speaker C: It's crazy. [00:52:19] Speaker B: Squishmallows, you mean? [00:52:20] Speaker A: No squishy. [00:52:22] Speaker B: What are squishies? [00:52:23] Speaker A: Do you, like, hold it. [00:52:25] Speaker B: I've not seen this. [00:52:27] Speaker A: What's the. What's the. The big one? The big name. [00:52:31] Speaker C: Oh, man. [00:52:32] Speaker A: Nido. [00:52:33] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. My girls really like taba squishies. [00:52:36] Speaker A: Oh, no. Don't tell my kids about those. I haven't heard that name. [00:52:38] Speaker C: You probably already know. [00:52:39] Speaker B: I saw Nido in the news because kids are putting them in the microwave and then burning themselves back. [00:52:44] Speaker A: Oh, what they're, like, made of. There's, like, a glue kind of substance on the inside that would. It's hot glue. [00:52:53] Speaker B: Molten. Molten cubes of paint. [00:52:55] Speaker A: I'm not gonna lie. My kids got one that I've just been. You know, they're on the couch. [00:53:01] Speaker C: They're wonderful. [00:53:02] Speaker A: They're pretty fun. [00:53:02] Speaker C: Yes. I own some myself. [00:53:05] Speaker A: Oh, you do? [00:53:06] Speaker C: For you, When I was writing in papers, I would either bang my head on the desk or eat candy. And so I thought, well, neither of those are great, so I'm gonna buy some Squishy and apply that energy to [00:53:21] Speaker B: amazing concussion, diabetes, and. [00:53:24] Speaker C: Or cavities. Yeah. [00:53:27] Speaker B: Or a fidget. Yeah. [00:53:28] Speaker C: So I bought some. [00:53:29] Speaker B: They were great. [00:53:30] Speaker C: Yeah. But there's a YouTube channel my girls really like, and I also like it, too, called Dr. Squish. [00:53:36] Speaker A: Okay. [00:53:37] Speaker C: Highly recommend. She reviews all of them. She buys them, Reviews them. Sometimes she'll, like, cut them open and make a squishy salad. It's mesmerizing. [00:53:45] Speaker A: Wow. [00:53:45] Speaker C: I love it. Yeah. Highly recommend. Dr. Squishy. [00:53:48] Speaker A: Ever hear this? [00:53:49] Speaker C: Sponsor us and send us Squishies. [00:53:52] Speaker B: I'll be. I'll be too busy watching the. The Uber driver that does AI songs. Custom AI songs for the person he's driving. [00:54:02] Speaker A: No way. [00:54:04] Speaker B: Yeah. I think it's called Prank Cab or something. Anyway, I just know. They don't know until they hear their name and then they're ridiculous songs, you know? But it's, like, on the fly. Generated by AI. [00:54:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:54:16] Speaker B: It's one of the more clever uses of AI that I've seen for comedy. And it's. It's pretty great, so. [00:54:21] Speaker A: That's really great. [00:54:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:54:23] Speaker A: That's why, apparently, we're all finding. I found a guy, Korean guy, last night on Instagram, who reviews any. Any commercial where you're like. And look, it's a miracle, you know, or whatever. He goes out and he buys those things specifically and reviews them. But how he does it, like, how he opens the box and how he shows you. And every single time he has, like, his credit card out when he's watching the commercial, and he goes, I need this on my desk now. He's got this running. This running total of how much money he's lost on junk that doesn't work, and then a list of, like, gold items that actually do work miraculously. And I watched 15 in a row. I mean, it was mesmerizing. I was gonna make fun of you about the neato gal, but that's. I don't have any room to talk. [00:55:13] Speaker C: My girls are like, mom, you like her more than we do. I'm like, I do. [00:55:18] Speaker A: It's so satisfying. My son started watching fishing videos on YouTube. He's very into fishing right now. Very into fishing. [00:55:26] Speaker C: Good friend. [00:55:28] Speaker A: I don't really need a bunch of bros from Florida on my TV all the time talking about fishing, but, you [00:55:33] Speaker B: know, that sounds like another expensive habit of your son. [00:55:36] Speaker C: It's true. [00:55:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:37] Speaker A: It's headed that direction. [00:55:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:39] Speaker A: He just got his first tackle box outfitted. New pole, the whole deal. The beauty of it is that I know almost nothing, though. [00:55:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:48] Speaker A: So I can't help much. And so he doesn't. [00:55:52] Speaker B: Haven't you helped enough I think so. [00:55:55] Speaker A: I'm funding this. [00:55:55] Speaker B: I mean, after baseball, but after hockey, I feel like you put. You put the extra sacrificial work and time and travel in for hockey. I think baseball with hockey, even if Joel quit, I think you'd probably still be out there on the field because you love it so much. [00:56:13] Speaker A: Is it weird to coach a Little League team that you don't have a kid on? Probably, right? [00:56:18] Speaker B: I don't know. [00:56:19] Speaker A: Is that creepy or kind. [00:56:21] Speaker B: I don't think it's creepy. [00:56:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:56:22] Speaker B: If you're. If you're a baseball guy, if you don't care about baseball and you don't have a kid on the team, why, that would be maybe a question. [00:56:30] Speaker A: I could do that. I could coach, like, a little spring season after the kids are all grown up or something. Just hang out at the ballpark. I love being on the field, guys. It's pretty great. [00:56:39] Speaker B: Yeah, we know. [00:56:40] Speaker A: Yeah. You do know. I do the grass and the dirt and all that. [00:56:46] Speaker C: My dad coached Little League. He didn't have a boy on the team. Two girls. [00:56:50] Speaker A: Oh, cool. [00:56:51] Speaker C: That's great. [00:56:52] Speaker B: Wasn't weird. [00:56:53] Speaker C: Yeah. All right. [00:56:53] Speaker A: Maybe I'll do that. [00:56:54] Speaker C: You can. [00:56:55] Speaker B: My dad ever done being crotchety? [00:56:57] Speaker A: I'll be a nice old man. [00:56:59] Speaker B: That's. And that's probably what you got to do. You got to find activities that keep you from getting crotchety. [00:57:06] Speaker A: Just tending my garden in my yard might make me a little. A little angry. [00:57:11] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Solo work on your own property is probably not the thing that keeps you from getting grumpy. Yelling at the kids that screech at the top of their lungs. [00:57:21] Speaker A: Having fun. [00:57:22] Speaker B: Go back inside. On your screenshot.