February 26, 2025 • 47 mins
Discover how our choices intertwine with our identity and sense of self-worth.
• Exploring the connections between food and identity
• Personal reflections on the impact of dietary choices
• The role of fasting in spiritual growth and clarity
• How the pursuit of simplicity can lead to rediscovery of purpose
• The importance of community and relationships in overcoming excess
• Challenging societal norms around consumption
• Identifying distractions and their impact on spiritual journey
• Encouraging listeners to embrace their true identity in Christ
• Ideas for practical steps to simplify and focus on what matters
SHARECROPPERS COFFEE ON FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072208428425
Music from #InAudio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5NgiN3KLb4
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Hey, welcome back.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome.
We are here on episode six.
I can't believe we're alreadyon episode six.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
We made it.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
And I got to nerd out a little bit on my numbers.
But six is the number of man.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
That's right, because man was created on the sixth
day.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
That's right.
The sixth book of the OldTestament is Joshua and the
sixth book of the New Testamentis Romans.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Romans, that's right.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Just put that in your pocket and use it one day when
you might need it.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I don't know when you need that, but you never know
it could be a jeopardy question.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah, that's right, but, uh, we are so excited to be
here again.
I want to thank everyone for umjust joining us and and
subscribing to the podcast.
We had a significant amount ofmore subscriptions come in with
this last episode and I want tothank Caleb again for joining us
, and we did have a little bitof sound issues on that one and
(00:56):
that was our fault.
We were anticipating that.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, we kind of expected it.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
But you know when you're yeah, with your resources
starting, we're just startingout and so we only had two mics
and we thought we would be okaywith calvin and I sharing yeah I
think we still would be okaywith it.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
He was just way too far away from yeah, we would
just have to recognize that we'dhave to be cheek to cheek to be
able to make sure you hear usnext time, and I'm okay with
that.
I did marry you yes, that'sright.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Um so, yeah, that was a great episode and we've
gotten some great feedback fromyou guys.
Uh, that caleb's story reallyencouraged you and touched you,
and that encourages us, you knowbecause, honestly, we can get
behind these mocks and we'relike.
You know.
It's intimidating.
You don't know if anybody evenwants to hear what you have to
say, but you just feel likeyou're stepping out on faith and
(01:42):
doing this thing that was puton your heart.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Well, I think there's a concept of there might not be
anyone that wants to hear whatyou have to say, but in a world
of billions of you knowthousands, trillions of people,
however many people in thisworld I don't know but in a
world that is packed full ofpeople, there's going to be a
lot of people that do want tohear what you say and need to
hear what you say.
So if you're not saying it.
Who is God's?
Put something on your heart tosay to the people that are in
(02:07):
your world, so say it, speak out, and so who are we to minimize
ourselves?
Nope, I did nothing at all, andit's not about us.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
That's right, let's be clear about that.
So today we've got some greatlittle coffee mugs.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yes, this was Father's Day's day, right?
Speaker 1 (02:21):
yeah, this was a father's day cup that I got.
I think we got this at thatstore in oneonta, the mercantile
store so this is my littlebreakfast cup.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
It's got a, a soft boiled egg or a soft fried sunny
side up egg, which is my, myfavorite.
You got the runny yellow hollydoes not like the runny yellow
and then some bacon for thehandle.
Yeah, I love it.
We love that cup.
And then I have.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
This is from disney world.
We've we've taken the familyonce.
Of course they, they want to goagain and we'll eventually do
that again.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
But this is.
You got to plan that one inadvance.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
The ratatouille ride was new when we went and so we
got this uh remy cup, but thisrepresents cheese to me.
I know you might think that'scrazy, but we did.
Um, we do a lot of posting onour personal pages and on our
running, on coffee and christand our sharecroppers page, but
it's come out here recentlybecause people were asking us
(03:15):
about what kind of nutrition wefollow yeah, with our running
and things like that, and so weare carnivore and so these cups
represent us well becausebasically we eat animal
byproducts so eggs, bacon,cheese, they're all in our diet.
You know that's that's what weeat like tonight.
For supper I I had a hamburgerpatty and I know that might not
(03:36):
seem like much, but I was sofull and it was a big patty
we've been eating this way forquite some time.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, we really do enjoy it, and there's a lot of
things about the discussion thatwe want to bring to you tonight
or today, whenever you'rehearing this, that that really
were inspired from the thoughtsof, of of what we were, what we
were focused on in our life andwe had focused.
How many times does adiscussion?
You know you get done withlunch and you're sitting there
(04:03):
and it's like, well, what do youwant to do for dinner tonight?
you know, food was a really bigfocus on our discussion yeah but
, but we had, uh, quite a fewexperiences where lately, um,
we'd really kept this diet toourselves because we don't want
to be preachy, preachy, and wealso want you to know that this
episode is not about thecarnivore diet.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
It's not, it's not, I promise it's not, it's kind of
a segue into what our?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
main thoughts were for for this podcast.
Um, but so like, for instance,like when you were running a
half marathon, someone was withyou and they were taking a lot
of gels while they were running.
Yes, so the last half marathonI ran.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
If you listen to any of the other episodes, it was
quite a struggle for me, justbecause the terrain was hard,
like I came into it with reallyheavy legs.
Energy Energy was fine, thoughMentally not so great.
But there was somebody that wasrunning around in the same pace
that I was, but he went onahead of me.
I had to slow down some andonce the race was over, you know
(04:57):
there's just people are justwalking around everywhere, and
this man came up to me.
I guess he found me somewherein the crowd and he wanted to
know what I used for nutritionor what was.
I doing to fuel during the run.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, because runners don't call food food, they call
it fuel.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yes, and so most people, any distance runner and
I know a half marathon is shortcompared to some distance, but
I'm not minimizing that aseither.
But so people will use gelpacks or to it's to give
themselves some carbs, to givethem a burst of energy to get
through the run.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
It's especially popular with marathon and above,
but half marathons do it quiteregularly too, so I guess he saw
that I wasn't using anythingyeah, and I didn't use anything
in my last one either that youwere at a, at a really good pace
, like it's not, it's not a,it's not a.
Uh, I'm gonna finish this racepace.
It's, I'm gonna compete in thisrace pace yes you know that's,
(05:58):
that's your one of yourpersonality characters.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yes, so he was asking me what I use, you know and
everything, and I was like, oh,nothing, you know.
And and once again, we, wedon't just broadcast how we eat
because we know it.
Just it's a that's a wholeconversation that a lot of
people just don't understandwe're not nutritionists no,
we're not, and I will never tellpeople how they need to eat.
but I told him that I didn't useanything and he told me that I
(06:24):
really needed to.
I needed to, that I needed toget the gel packs and use those,
or just some electrolyte pillseither.
You know some of those two.
But I told him I was like youknow, I take zero sugar, like at
all, so that's not what fuelsmy body.
So if I took sugar like that,like it actually would probably
(06:47):
make me sick yeah, you'd bestopping at the porta potty
halfway through your race so Iwould uh in my diet.
I would need to take like butterpackets or something right yeah
um, it's the fat that fuels me,but, um, this just led us to a
topic that that we've beentalking about, like you said,
for days or, um, maybe evenlonger than that, really yeah,
(07:10):
one of the reasons why weoriginally will lean towards
this diet to begin with wasbecause of um, our diet that we
were on you know, it wasn'tnecessarily a a diet, as in a
restricted diet standardamerican.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
So we just didn't feel good.
We saw that our body wasn'treacting the way that we wanted
it to as we were growing olderand a lot of people around us
are still like, oh, you're soyoung, but yeah, we are, we're
40s, not yet, not yet for you,but you're fixed.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I'm holding on.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, but so we're right there, we, but so we're
right there, we're in midlife,right?
Yes, we're in midlife and wereally just wanted, like, what
are the things that we can dothat are better for us, and
really take our focus off of thethings that we're in excess of,
you know?
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
And there's a lot that's tied to your diet.
There's a lot that's tied towhat you consume.
There's a lot that's tied towhat you focus on the most, and
so much of our life was focusedon.
When you wake up, you got toeat.
What are we going to eat?
Try to figure it out.
Make a recipe.
The lunch comes around.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Make a recipe dinner comes around.
Most of my thoughts aboutdinner centered around sugary
things and carbs, like forbreakfast.
I would definitely want thingslike cinnamon rolls or pastries,
or we were a huge cereal family.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yes, cereal, cereal, cereal.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
We would have cereal knots and you felt like you
weren't consuming a ton ofcalories.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
But if you read the— and I would eat so much.
I know Huge bowls like mixingbowls.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I know and I remember looking at those cereal boxes
and realizing that I couldn'tfind a single cereal that hadn't
been genetically modified too.
Yeah, and so that was onereason we that was kind of a
start to start eating better,and for our kids we wanted
better.
We also had I had a friend youhad a friend diagnosed with
(09:01):
cancer, not saying that that'swhy they had cancer, but it was
another thing that just startedmaking us think about what we
were putting in our bodies andhow we could be the healthiest
we could be.
But in that journey of learningabout that, you kind of get a
magnifying glass and you startlooking at all these other areas
(09:21):
of your life that maybe you'renot doing so well in either.
Yeah, what is the excess thatis there that is not necessary?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, it's like your entire identity is going to be
revealed in what the things youdo the most of you know, the
things that you focus on.
When people say, tell me aboutHolly, Well they're, oh, she's a
mom.
That's 100% of the time she's aChristian.
You know, she is a runner, sheis a business owner, right?
(09:54):
So they would go down probablya checklist of the things that
you most do in your frequency inyour life, right?
And so those things identifyyou.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So what is our identity?
What is our identity supposedto be?
What are the things that we'resupposed to be focusing on and I
guess, that's where we reallywanted to go with this podcast
today.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yes, and like that.
When you really start thinkingabout this, it cuts you.
You're like, oh, my goodnessCause, I remember thinking I was
like and these are thoughtsthat you don't ever want to have
.
But I thought, what if you juststart shirking off those
identities that you've put on orthat maybe other people have
(10:33):
put on you?
And I think about, like, if Ididn't run anymore, if I wasn't
a runner anymore, I'm okay yeahit's good I think about if I
wasn't a wife anymore.
See, that's really hard tothink about.
But who am I in Christ?
Am I still His?
(10:56):
If, for some reason, if you'vepassed away and you're no longer
my husband, is my identitycompletely wrapped up in you,
and those are thoughts that wereally have to take seriously.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, like you should be able to be so dependent on
God that, no matter what comes,you're able to process it in a
godly manner.
Does that make sense?
Not that you're not devastatedor heartbroken or grieving,
crying is normal.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Grieving is normal, all of that is normal, but is
something like that going toactually wreck you and make you
completely ineffective in thislife?
It shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Well, I think it will wreck you.
But I think what I'm saying isthere's still meaning to your
life if things are taken away,like my children, that's one of
the worst things that I couldthink about is that identity of
(12:00):
being mom, and they take up alot of my time and my focus.
And for that to not be thereanymore?
Who is Holly, if I don't havethis business anymore, like if
it just went belly up?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I'm not speaking that but if it just hits bad, worse,
everything, everyone's everyone, loses their identity If their
identity is wrapped in God youknow, Um, but there was a time
in my life when it's it could bereally embarrassing how much
(12:36):
like clothing and jewelry which,like you know, clothing is one
of the necessities, but everynecessity can have an excess.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
An excess, yeah so I I was addicted to shopping for
clothes, shoes, accessories,handbags, makeup, nail polish
okay those things.
They can get me in trouble too.
(13:06):
You know, like I didn't, Ididn't care, like I want that
and I want it now.
You know, and keep in mind too,that we got married when I was
17 years old so young and thenas we moved into, I guess,
better careers and your incomelevel increases and everything.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
But if you still have really bad habits, have been as
so addicted to the clothing andthe shoes and all that as I was
, that I felt like that was myidentity and I had to keep it up
well, because, like we weretalking about this, like even
when you had a career change,you felt like you had to adapt
to that career change and partof that career change meant to
you a new wardrobe, because youroccupation had changed.
(13:57):
Yes, so you needed to lookdifferent and present yourself
different, to be moreprofessional or or more
comfortable versus whatever thecareer change was, because
you've done some veryprofessional, like public
speaking events and things likethat, where you know you didn't
need to wear your track outfitexactly you know.
But so you would get you knowseven days worth of business
clothing.
Yes, you know, and that wasthat would be excess.
Well, you know.
But so you would get you knowseven days worth of business
clothing.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yes, you know, and that was that would be excess
well, you know, thinking back,this can go all the way back to
something as silly as who's whoin high school, and this is just
going to be my opinion on this.
I really think that we shoulddo away with all those little
titles that we give seniorsabout um, it's not funny well,
you're speaking, well I know,but when you say something,
(14:37):
you're speaking something oversomeone.
So if you say this is the classclown.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
you're saying this person it's almost like a curse.
You're a class clown, almostyou know.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Or you know like most likely to succeed, you know, or
that's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Oh, yeah, put on somebody.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I mean, you were the most likely to succeed.
Well, like I think I was mosttalented and best dressed.
And I really took on at thetime like I don't.
I don't remember having thosefeelings of like look at me, I'm
best dressed or I'm most.
I really didn't feel that way,but subconsciously I don't think
I realized how much I took onthose identities, that it's like
oh, I'm the best dressed.
Well, then I always have to bethe best dressed.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Got to make sure everything's put together the
night before and maybe I put thepressure on myself.
You're thinking about it.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Because nobody else like.
Let's say, like you know, 10years down the road, the people
that I'm around, they have noidea that I was best dressed in
high school and nor do they carewas best dressed in high school
, and nor do they care right,but I have already at that point
too.
Also, when people areconstantly commenting on your
clothes or like oh, I wish thatI dressed like you, or I love
your outfits.
(15:44):
You always wear the cutestoutfits, you know, and so I
remember that's an ego boosteryou know it can be yes, and
people don't just compliment youon that, on that.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
People compliment you in all different areas of your
life, you know.
So what are the things thatpeople compliment you on that
you seek approval for?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Really think about the things in your life that,
like that, you can relate to.
It might not be the clothingand things like that.
Well, like social media,there's something else in your
life, the concept of socialmedia posts.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You make a post and x amount of people like it and
then you close your phone.
You wake up the next day andyou got a hundred more hearts
and it's like a hundred morepeople love what I did and it's
like and and that's a, that,that's a, that's a.
There's a drug, in that,there's an addiction in that
it's a dopamine.
Yeah it's a dopamine and it'sthe same concept with everything
, the things that that the worldor other people find valuable
(16:37):
in the moment to you.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Whether whether it's an intentional or if it's just
nonchalant, it still can playinto something that's going to
take your focus off of theidentity that you're supposed to
have and I think y'all likethere were times where it's like
, okay, maybe even like eastersunday, and this is pathetic,
like I really hate even sayingthis, but being so concerned
about what my Easter dress wasgoing to be or my Easter shoes,
(17:01):
and I would spend way too muchmoney on these things as well,
and then that I passed that downto my children which my kids
don't give a flip about thatthemselves anymore, you know but
like when they didn't reallyhave a voice to say yeah, you
know I bought excess for thembecause you know, it's like if
(17:22):
I'm the best dressed then I'vegot to have the best dressed
kids as well.
But I think like it was a slowrealization.
But I remember constantlycleaning out my closet and I
would just give boo coodles ofgarbage bags full to like Hope
House or you know, and sometimesI would sell it.
(17:43):
Sometimes I would, but a lot oftimes I didn't.
And I really started gettingconvicted about it because I was
like I have, if I'm having toclean this out all the time and
it's still so full that I can'teven tell what's in here.
This is so excessive.
There's nothing wrong withwanting to be fashionable or
(18:05):
having clothes or liking thosethings.
What's wrong is when youcompletely take that as your
identity so that if those thingswere taken away, you wouldn't
even know how to be.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Yeah, you know, it's like um, ernest P Worrell, um
the uh, like Ernest goes to jailthe movies, like Ernest goes to
camp, ernest scared stupid allthose.
I remember he always had thesame outfit on.
I remember this and he would goto his closet and change his
outfit and it would always bethe same, the same thing he had
five or six of them hung up inhis closet, he would even get in
(18:38):
the washing tub in his clothingto wash himself with his
clothing on.
But he didn't have to thinkabout that part of his life.
When we were talking about foodand things like that, with
going to the carnival, one ofthe comments that came up when
you really revealed this wasthey were talking about what is
(19:00):
it doing for you or like are youhappy in this situation?
It really made us think like,wow, we haven't thought about
this concept of it yes, likesomebody said, but are you happy
?
Because you're like you'redoing this.
Are you happy?
I?
Speaker 1 (19:10):
haven't really thought about that, and then I
was like, oh my gosh, I am andthis is someone like that we we
view as very insightful andreally understands human
character traits?
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yeah, Like we really look up to her.
But it was like wow yes.
And what we realized in theconversation of it.
They came about like it takesthe decision process out of it
and it puts it in something thatwe know exactly what we're
going to eat.
So it's like the concept withthe same outfit they know what
they're going to eat.
So it's like the concept withthe same outfit they know what
they're going to wear.
Like I think you mentioned wetalked about it, like Steve Jobs
(19:40):
, you know yeah.
And some of the other.
You know people who are liketech giants.
Tech giants.
Yeah, they wear almost the samething all the time, just
because it takes.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
It streamlines it.
Yeah, so our eating has beenstreamlined and we have saved so
much money.
People think that eating thisway like eating meat and eggs,
and because the way egg pricesare that it's so expensive to
eat this way.
I'm going to tell you this wehave saved so much money because
we don't eat out, because youcan't go out and just be like I
(20:11):
just want a single steak or Ijust want a single hamburger
patty.
You just can't get that withoutsides and things, and so we
don't want to spend money onthings that we're not going to
eat.
So we're eating at home andyeah it's.
It's working out so well for us, but it's it.
What it has done is it's likewe've really taken that excess
of the food that we were eatingand we've done away with it, and
(20:35):
same thing with like when itcame to my clothing.
I really you can attest to this.
It has changed so much it has?
yes it has changed a lot likeit's.
I don't.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I used to go regularly shopping, probably at
least once you might go shoppingonce every two months now with
with someone else that asks youto go with them.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Maybe, and I might not buy anything, and if I do,
it might be running shoes orsomething, but I was thinking
about this the other day when Iwas looking in the mirror and I
was like, oh my goodness, Even ayear ago or two years ago, I
would have never thought that Iwouldn't have cared about this
as much as I don't care about itanymore.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Like.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Like, yeah, okay.
So, for instance, you know, we,when we first were building out
our shop, this place is hugeand it's like what was it?
It's a little over 5,000 squarefeet.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
So we that's, right.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
We basically split it into.
So we had a 2,500 square foothouse and then we were going to
have a 2,500 square foot coffeeshop.
And so we finished out thehouse side of it first and lived
in it and then, once we wereliving in it and comfortable,
then we really started workingon the shop side of it.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
So it's like from concept and thought of hey, we
want to do a business, toserving our first customer we
estimated it was around threeyears.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yes, so we lived in it and we really only lived in
it.
We didn't live in it as long asI thought that we were going to
live in it.
We moved out this past summer.
But I say that because I leftso many clothes here still
Haven't touched them.
Haven't missed them, Haven'tmissed them.
Once again, I was like it's apunch to the gut you know I'm
(22:26):
like oh my goodness, the excessthat is just not needed.
And I guess what I really wantyou guys to think about in your
life is the excess in your lifethat's not needed.
That is taking your focus.
I think about, from a financialstandpoint, how much more money
I could have saved by notneedlessly buying things that I
(22:48):
didn't need.
I didn't need, and a lot oftimes I was giving away things
that had tags on it Yep.
Um and I know that there awaythings that had tags on it, yep,
and I know that there'ssomething that you can relate to
.
Yeah, it's not clothing.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
It doesn't have to be anything about the clothing in
your life or the food in yourlife.
But every single one of us aregoing to be tempted, tried and
struggle with what we focus onand is our is what we've focused
on actually benefiting us ashumans as families, as ministers
(23:24):
, as witnesses for the cause ofchrist, as athletes, with what
we're doing in our lives, asbusinessmen business owners, yes
, or operators is.
Is it taking away from thethings that you're supposed to
be focusing?
Speaker 1 (23:37):
on and and you know, like that is one of the things
that the devil is here to do isjust here to steal, kill and
destroy that's his purpose andhe's going to steal your
attention, he's going to destroyyour hopes and he's going to
try to control every aspect ofyour life, because he knows if
he can control you, then youwill be ineffective if he gets
you so right, gets your identityso wrapped up in things that
(24:00):
don't really matter, yeah, thenhe only thinks he's won and he
may have won the battle, youknow, but you have to realize
that you are in an identitycrisis.
All of us are yeah I think it's.
It's something that weconstantly struggle with.
He is constantly going to goafter our identities.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, and one of the things like even as a coffee
shop.
You know, we run this coffeeshop and it's all about coffee,
right.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
But when you think about it, when we step back and
we think about our purpose ofthis place, our purpose with the
employees, our purpose with thecustomers, with our community.
It's so much more than justcoffee.
Right now, it's kind of likecoffee was the driving force
behind the business concept ofwhat we want to serve our
community and we've created afantastic product.
(24:49):
We've created something thatpeople really enjoy and they
love.
I love it.
I enjoy drinking our coffee,but there's so much more to it
than just coffee, so it's notlike the focus, isn't it?
The focus is what is the purposeof this place, and this podcast
is one of those purposes andspeaking engagements and having
(25:13):
people here to be able to havestudies.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
We just had a fitness class in here, a fitness class.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
And there's so much more than just coffee.
So what is it that's taking somuch focus in your life that if
you were to reduce it, if youwere to say less of this so that
more of something else canincrease, what would you like to
see increase?
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I want to see Jesus increase in my life personally.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Exactly so.
If our identity is in ourthings, or in our stuff or in
the stuff, in what?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
we're doing Honestly running.
You could get excessive withthat.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
You could.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
It could become your identity.
I want to be very careful aboutthat, that I don't let that
take precedence.
It's a part of my life.
It's not my life.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
And we talked about that just the other day on one
of our runs.
We were like you know what,after this season we're going to
change the pace and boom anddrop to a different type of
season in our running, in our,in our fitness.
You know, right now we'reworking on this and there's
(26:22):
goals to change and shift andconstantly allow it to to
benefit other areas because,like our shift that we were
talking about wouldn't be foranything, for us, it was to
benefit someone else.
It was, and and that's the partabout it that, like when, when
you're focused on others, um,your priorities for yourself do
adjust.
Yeah, they do adjust to helppromote what you view as
important.
Yes, and if your relationshipwith Christ is important, your
(26:42):
focus is going to adjust.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Agree.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
So the scripture that we kind of thought about and I
want to read this before wecontinue on Mm-hmm.
Thought about and I want toread this before we continue on
when it came to reducing thefood consumption and some of the
chemicals that we were puttinginto our bodies unnecessarily
(27:07):
trying to eat clean.
You know, we as Christians anda lot of religions out there
have certain aspects of this,but we as Christians, we believe
that fasting is an importantpart of that and I know there's
some denominations.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
they'll focus on Lent , yeah especially during this
time, right now.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Lent yeah, as a fasting process, and they fast
from something, whether or notit's food or not.
Sorry, I've, I got frog in mythroat, but um, but.
But we, as christians, we havebeen told by who we follow that
certain things can't happen inour life without prayer and
fasting.
Yes, and jesus um.
(27:49):
In uh mark, chapter 9, verse 29, he's talking to his disciples
when the disciples tried to castout a demon and they weren't
able to and they brought it toJesus and Jesus cast him out.
And they were like, whycouldn't we do this, master?
And he says in 9, 29, he saysand he said to them this kind,
come forth by nothing but byprayer and fasting.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
And it's like what's the point of the fasting at that
point, like when it comes tocasting out a demon?
Well, let me tell you, fastingit is getting rid of any excess
at all.
It's getting rid of even likethe need, like what you might
need at that moment, but gettingrid of that excess.
(28:31):
And I think that when you doget rid of it, like, for
instance, like if you werefasting, let's say a 24-hour
fast where you have no food- orlet's say you just go from
supper to supper, you know, orwhatever.
Um, you realize how dependentthat you have become on that
(28:56):
thing.
So not only can you fast fromfood, but when we've told you to
be thinking about the things inyour life that are in excess,
like maybe it's you're on socialmedia too much, or maybe you're
watching TV too much, maybe youare I don't know what some
other things that you could bedoing, because I'm trying to
(29:18):
think of things that aren't justmaterialistic.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
It can just be your actions as well, yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
What are you doing when you're driving down the
road with your family in?
A closed car and there'snothing to do but talk to each
other or play on electronics orlisten to music.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Right, I would say we all probably could use with a
good fast for my phone and whenyou when.
If you did that, you wouldrealize how much, how much
you're going to it, how much youare dependent on it, just like
I realized how dependent I wason feeling a certain way about
what I was wearing right andabout what people were going to
(29:55):
think, right, if I didn't havethe cutest outfit on in the room
.
I know that that sounds very,very vain and just I hate that,
but it's a reality and if we're,hopefully, we're constantly
being sanctified by him you know, and I'm like god thank you so
(30:18):
much.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Thank you so much that you convicted my heart
about something in my life thatwas keeping me from personal,
closer relationship with youright and you know we we were
talking about this because wewere talking about what are the
areas that we're in excess ofand what are the areas that can
keep us from our relationshipwith Christ.
(30:39):
I had a pretty bad car wreck awhile back and I remember that
my fear that was wrapped up inthat.
I don't know if I've alreadymentioned this.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
I think you have I think I have.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah, but that it was that I didn't have control of
it.
That's what caused the fear inmy heart during that accident.
It wasn't that I was going todie or anything, but I was
afraid because I didn't havecontrol and and we were talking,
like, the area of excess that Icould think of in my life where
it was like I'm clearly tryingto figure this out and vocalize
it into words right now was thatI have a tendency to problem
(31:14):
solve in my head but not takeactions.
I have a tendency to overthinkthings.
So my excess that I was able tothink of like it's like, and I
know I've struggled with this,we've talked about this in the
past.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
But it's what do they call that?
Analysis, paralysis, right, andI'm a huge problem solver.
I love solving problems.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
That's what you've done to make a living.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yes, you've solved problems and and I'm great at
helping other people solve theirproblems and communicate with
it.
I'm like this is a fantasticopportunity for me to use the
gift that god has given me tosolve problems, but a lot of
times, um, my, it'll take myfocus my focus will be stuck on
the problems that are around meand are any of them actually
(32:01):
getting fixed?
And a lot of times thoseproblems aren't really actual
problems.
They're built up, you know, andit becomes something that I put
my focus on yeah, and I don'tfocus on, you know, the things
that would ultimately solvethose problems to begin with,
which would be the goodness ofGod, god's mercy, god's grace,
god's patience, god's temperance, all the fruits of the spirit
(32:24):
that I should be focused ongrowing in my life.
A lot of the things that Iconsider a problem would
probably just disappear.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Right, well, I think a lot of that problem would
probably just disappear, right?
Well, I think a lot of that.
That's true for all of us.
When you have things in yourlife that are just in excess or
that are you have you so youridentity is so wrapped up in it.
Satan knows that and he uses itto once again I think I've
already said this but to keepyou from getting closer to that
(32:55):
personal relationship with God.
Because let me tell yousomething, god does only have
good for us.
God has a plan for us.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Well, he says that if a son comes to his father, he's
not going to give him a serpentwhen he asks for bread right
For a fish.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
yes, For a fish, yeah .
Speaker 2 (33:10):
He's not going to give you bad things, because he
loves you, he cares about you,so he's not going to give you
bad things because he loves you,he cares about you.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
So what do we do to, I guess, in a way, quench the
spirit?
What are the actions that wetake every day, whether it's
just being so tied in tosomething like this and I know
I'm guilty of that If I'm ridingin a car, if I'm sitting, still
, I feel like I've got to scrolland I think about like 10 years
(33:35):
ago, or maybe even more thanthat.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
That wasn't a part of my life and my life was fine,
you know you know we talkedabout this multiple times that
uncomfortable situations causepeople to revert to things that
they're comfortable with and ifyou're comfortable on your phone
and you're in an uncomfortablesituation and your phone is
available, that's going tobecome your gut reaction is to
pull that phone out.
To in an uncomfortable situationand your phone is available,
that's going to become your gutreaction is to pull that phone
out to escape the uncomfortablesituation.
(33:58):
Riding in a car isuncomfortable.
It's not fun.
Seeing a tree line go by forthree hours is not fun.
We dealt with it.
As kids we drove to Illinoistwice a year.
It was a 12-hour drive to wherewe were going and you dealt
with it.
You talked with each other, youhad fun, you did other things
(34:18):
to focus, you played games andall that jazz.
But um, but it was.
It was an uncomfortablesituation and we dealt with it.
But uh, we've, we've talkedabout this.
How, so many of the people thatwe talk to, how many times in
your conversation, when you'retalking with people that are
dealing with something, does theterm like anxiety come up?
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Yes, a lot.
That's a buzzword now honestly.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
I think so Because there are actual emotional
responses that are chemicalreactions in people's bodies
because of an actual excessmaybe of I'm not a doctor of
chemicals and things like thatthat cause people to have a
physical reaction in awkwardsituations that doctors have
(35:03):
actually labeled as anxiety.
But I think it's become socommonplace that people misplace
human emotions in awkwardsituations that cause people to
naturally react the way humansshould the flight or fight
mentality and they call itanxiety when it's actually not.
I think it's just normal humanemotions that we're not normally
(35:24):
dealing with yeah with thecurrent newer generation or
people who are latched on to thethings that they can focus
their mind on with their phoneand thing.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Not just a generation , but yes we live in a world of
excess we do honestly and thinkabout this like okay, we have
sites like sheen, amazon, andsheen doesn't come quick, but
everything is so cheap on thereand there is so much stuff
what's the latest one, andyou'll be like click, click,
click click latest ones team oror TikTok shop, yeah, and so
(35:54):
things are like right at ourfingertips and we think that we
got to have this thing or havethat thing and before you know
it, it's excessive.
Or I could even say it can beabout like eating out all the
time.
I remember growing up, werarely ate out.
We did, but now nowadays peopleeat out all the time yeah, well
(36:17):
, one, one person there'sanything wrong with that, but we
really have to look ateverything in our life and think
what is excessive in my life?
Speaker 2 (36:26):
and now?
Now don't get me wrong, allthat's wrong.
Also, if eating out saves youtime which a lot of times it
doesn't, just to be honest, thedrive there, the waiting time,
which a lot of times it doesn't,just to be honest, the drive
there, the waiting, and all that, a lot of times it doesn't.
I can grill a steak on thegrill in 15 minutes right, if
everything's prepped and be backand eating it.
But if it saves you time andeffort and energy and that time
(36:50):
is better used benefiting God'skingdom, then I would consider
it might not be an excess, youknow, or?
if you're building community inthat eating opportunity it can
be.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
I have to have three Dr Peppers every single day.
Well, do you have to really?
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
We've even talked about like okay, I mean, it can
be sharecroppers.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
You know do.
How many cups of coffee do Idrink?
It?
Am I in excess?
Yeah I've backed off a lot, Ireally have.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
How many cup coffee mugs have we bought on vacation?
No, I'm joking, one every time,you know, we don't go out
overboard, but once again, Iwant to reiterate that this
isn't this isn't a condemnation.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
No, it's not, I mean we're sharing the choir.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Yeah, we're sharing our journey.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
It hits us first.
You know, and I just know thata lot of the things that are
excessive in my life, I havewrapped up my identity in them
so much that it has taken myfocus off of who my true
identity is in and that's.
Jesus.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
That's right.
And you know, at the end of theday, god wants it to be the way
that he designed it, to wherewe are in perfect communion with
him.
Yes, um and uh.
We were talking about ouridentity with Christ and and
being with one at one with him.
And the scripture that came tomy mind, um, and being at one
(38:18):
with him, and the scripture thatcame to my mind about this side
of it was that we looked at itas Matthew 22, 37 and 40 says.
Now, the Pharisees andSadducees were trying to trick
him up, trick up Jesus.
At this time they were tryingto play the political card and
get him to mess up what he wassaying.
But they asked him, like what'sthe greatest commandment, rabbi
(38:39):
?
You know, they called him rabbi, but they didn't really believe
it.
It was a mocking way, yeah, buthe said unto them you shall
love the Lord, your God, withall your heart, with all your
soul, with all your mind.
This is the greatest and thefirst commandment.
So we must get this right first.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
You know, everything else in life must come second.
When someone says who is Holly,you know, or who is Calvin, the
first thing that comes out ofthe mouth should be that's a
Christian, that's a follower ofChrist, you know, you would hope
(39:17):
that it would be, you know.
When someone asks you who youare, is that the first thing
that you would say Do you holdthat identity?
And then the second is like it,you shall love your neighbor as
yourself.
The whole law and the prophetsdepend on these two commandments
.
You know so much about howchristians get criticized by
(39:40):
judging people, and if the worldwould really just truly
understand that, if you are atrue follower of christ, you're
loving god so much, uh, that youare being convicted of the
things in your life.
Right.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
It's a my conviction, first mentality, because I want
to be where I can be, as closeto God as I possibly can.
I want to be in a rightrelationship with Him and when
God reveals something to us, andit's fantastic when you grow
closer to the Lord and youexperience the closeness of God
(40:17):
in situations you do nothing butwant that for other people.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Yes, and I think that's one thing that's been
hard about the carnivore dietLike I've wanted to share,
because this may sound crazy,guys, but being on this diet has
brought me closer to Jesus, andnot because I'm saying, oh,
please help me because I'mstarving to death.
No, it was getting rid ofexcess in my life and the verse
it comes up to me that comes tomind to me is when he said when
(40:46):
he's talking about the Phariseesand he says a little bit of
leaven it, it runs the wholeloaf right of leaven it.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
It ruins the whole loaf, right, hey y'all ladies on
your sourdough phase, how muchof that starter do you actually?
Speaker 1 (41:01):
need to make a whole bunch of sourdough, not a lot,
that's why they call it astarter it's just a little bit
and it makes that stuff go hogwild, crazy big fluffy right so
you know, like just going um,getting rid of to me the leaven,
okay, and I'm not just talkingabout bread, I'm talking about,
like in our life, sugar Me,getting rid of this obsession
(41:22):
with looking a certain way andclothes.
You know, this is really thesame thing.
Same thing.
Our, our daughter was in apageant and my old self would
have wanted to go spend a ton ofmoney on the best dress that I
(41:44):
could possibly find for her,because I would have a enjoyed
going and trying on dresses withher yeah, and two girls stay
out and two.
I just want her to have the bestdress, you know.
But I didn't even blink Like.
I got this dress for her beforewe ever knew she was going to
be in a pageant.
I knew that she would probablywant to be when she was in
school, and so I had bought thisahead of time.
(42:06):
I got it for $25 from somebodythat was selling from their
house, and I remember thinkingshe's going to wear that dress
Like there's no reason why shecan't.
She will look pretty.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
How many pageant dresses have you ever bought,
that, when you buy it, even fromoff the rack, fits perfectly,
it doesn't?
Speaker 1 (42:23):
You're going to have alterations done to it.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
So you buy something out of a yard sale type
situation and you have italtered and you had it in your
mind.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Yes, but what I'm saying is to me that was God
sanctifying me some.
I know that that's just a sillything, like a little pageant
dress, but it wasn't, guys,because I felt like that was
something in my personality.
It was like okay, I've overcomethat.
I have overcome that.
It might try to come at meagain.
I'm not going to pick it up,satanan, when you're trying to
(43:02):
hand it back to me, but I waslike I have overcome that
feeling of that I've got to havethis certain look or this best
of the best.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Yeah, and now I don't want to put it on you either
that if the dress she needs isan expensive dress, you know it
doesn't matter, but it was, itwas an issue, something I'm
talking about.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
I had something that she could wear and it was
perfectly fine there was noreason to go searching out for
something else yeah um, therewas no reason to be excessive
with it correct you know, um,and that's really what the whole
purpose of this talk is isreally think about the things in
(43:38):
your life that are just inexcess, that you can get rid of,
that you can lessen.
I mean, obviously I still wearclothes, y'all.
It's not bad for me to goshopping.
I have just severely pulled itback.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
Well, it's the same concept with your exercise.
Nobody can tell me that theydon't have time to exercise.
True, because there's somethingyou do that you could replace
with exercise.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
I was thinking about that when I went on my 10 mile
run this past weekend.
That usually is going to taketwo hours.
It took a little less this time, but I was like you can sit
down and watch a movie for twohours Like everybody a lot of
people may do that on a Saturday, but I was like there is time.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
There is time to do it.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
And you can always do something, remember, uh, I
think your dad was talking abouta story.
One time he went to thehospital and a guy guy was
paralyzed on one whole side ofhis body and he was like are you
okay?
He was like hey, let me showyou something.
And he reached over his bed andgrabbed the rail with his right
hand side and he pulled himselfonto his side and then he laid
himself back down and he waslike I did that.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Look what I can do.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
Yeah.
So yeah, focusing on the 50% ofimmobility was one thing, but
this guy had the mind frame tofocus on the 50% of ability that
he had and that brought joy tohis life.
You have ability.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
Yes, you do, and I want you to think about what is
Satan using in your life.
That may seem good, it may notbe a bad thing, but what is he
using to steal your focus?
That's keeping you fromultimately God's perfect plan
for you Give it up.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
Give it up, it's worth giving it up.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
We're still giving up .
We've got several things thatwe are still wanting to give up
and I'm like God, show me more.
Show me more that is in excessin my life.
Show me more that is notleading to the plan that you
have for me, because it is thebest plan, it is the only plan
and it is good Because you loveme.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
And he is good.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
You love me and we love you, and thank you for
joining us on episode six.
We hope that the Lord blessesyou and keeps you and makes his
face to shine upon you.
Hey everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Hey, welcome back.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome.
We are here on episode six.
I can't believe we're alreadyon episode six.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
We made it.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
And I got to nerd out a little bit on my numbers.
But six is the number of man.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
That's right, because man was created on the sixth
day.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
That's right.
The sixth book of the OldTestament is Joshua and the
sixth book of the New Testamentis Romans.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Romans, that's right.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Just put that in your pocket and use it one day when
you might need it.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I don't know when you need that, but you never know
it could be a jeopardy question.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah, that's right, but, uh, we are so excited to be
here again.
I want to thank everyone for umjust joining us and and
subscribing to the podcast.
We had a significant amount ofmore subscriptions come in with
this last episode and I want tothank Caleb again for joining us
, and we did have a little bitof sound issues on that one and
(00:56):
that was our fault.
We were anticipating that.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, we kind of expected it.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
But you know when you're yeah, with your resources
starting, we're just startingout and so we only had two mics
and we thought we would be okaywith calvin and I sharing yeah I
think we still would be okaywith it.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
He was just way too far away from yeah, we would
just have to recognize that we'dhave to be cheek to cheek to be
able to make sure you hear usnext time, and I'm okay with
that.
I did marry you yes, that'sright.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Um so, yeah, that was a great episode and we've
gotten some great feedback fromyou guys.
Uh, that caleb's story reallyencouraged you and touched you,
and that encourages us, you knowbecause, honestly, we can get
behind these mocks and we'relike.
You know.
It's intimidating.
You don't know if anybody evenwants to hear what you have to
say, but you just feel likeyou're stepping out on faith and
(01:42):
doing this thing that was puton your heart.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Well, I think there's a concept of there might not be
anyone that wants to hear whatyou have to say, but in a world
of billions of you knowthousands, trillions of people,
however many people in thisworld I don't know but in a
world that is packed full ofpeople, there's going to be a
lot of people that do want tohear what you say and need to
hear what you say.
So if you're not saying it.
Who is God's?
Put something on your heart tosay to the people that are in
(02:07):
your world, so say it, speak out, and so who are we to minimize
ourselves?
Nope, I did nothing at all, andit's not about us.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
That's right, let's be clear about that.
So today we've got some greatlittle coffee mugs.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yes, this was Father's Day's day, right?
Speaker 1 (02:21):
yeah, this was a father's day cup that I got.
I think we got this at thatstore in oneonta, the mercantile
store so this is my littlebreakfast cup.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
It's got a, a soft boiled egg or a soft fried sunny
side up egg, which is my, myfavorite.
You got the runny yellow hollydoes not like the runny yellow
and then some bacon for thehandle.
Yeah, I love it.
We love that cup.
And then I have.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
This is from disney world.
We've we've taken the familyonce.
Of course they, they want to goagain and we'll eventually do
that again.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
But this is.
You got to plan that one inadvance.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
The ratatouille ride was new when we went and so we
got this uh remy cup, but thisrepresents cheese to me.
I know you might think that'scrazy, but we did.
Um, we do a lot of posting onour personal pages and on our
running, on coffee and christand our sharecroppers page, but
it's come out here recentlybecause people were asking us
(03:15):
about what kind of nutrition wefollow yeah, with our running
and things like that, and so weare carnivore and so these cups
represent us well becausebasically we eat animal
byproducts so eggs, bacon,cheese, they're all in our diet.
You know that's that's what weeat like tonight.
For supper I I had a hamburgerpatty and I know that might not
(03:36):
seem like much, but I was sofull and it was a big patty
we've been eating this way forquite some time.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, we really do enjoy it, and there's a lot of
things about the discussion thatwe want to bring to you tonight
or today, whenever you'rehearing this, that that really
were inspired from the thoughtsof, of of what we were, what we
were focused on in our life andwe had focused.
How many times does adiscussion?
You know you get done withlunch and you're sitting there
(04:03):
and it's like, well, what do youwant to do for dinner tonight?
you know, food was a really bigfocus on our discussion yeah but
, but we had, uh, quite a fewexperiences where lately, um,
we'd really kept this diet toourselves because we don't want
to be preachy, preachy, and wealso want you to know that this
episode is not about thecarnivore diet.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
It's not, it's not, I promise it's not, it's kind of
a segue into what our?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
main thoughts were for for this podcast.
Um, but so like, for instance,like when you were running a
half marathon, someone was withyou and they were taking a lot
of gels while they were running.
Yes, so the last half marathonI ran.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
If you listen to any of the other episodes, it was
quite a struggle for me, justbecause the terrain was hard,
like I came into it with reallyheavy legs.
Energy Energy was fine, thoughMentally not so great.
But there was somebody that wasrunning around in the same pace
that I was, but he went onahead of me.
I had to slow down some andonce the race was over, you know
(04:57):
there's just people are justwalking around everywhere, and
this man came up to me.
I guess he found me somewherein the crowd and he wanted to
know what I used for nutritionor what was.
I doing to fuel during the run.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, because runners don't call food food, they call
it fuel.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yes, and so most people, any distance runner and
I know a half marathon is shortcompared to some distance, but
I'm not minimizing that aseither.
But so people will use gelpacks or to it's to give
themselves some carbs, to givethem a burst of energy to get
through the run.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
It's especially popular with marathon and above,
but half marathons do it quiteregularly too, so I guess he saw
that I wasn't using anythingyeah, and I didn't use anything
in my last one either that youwere at a, at a really good pace
, like it's not, it's not a,it's not a.
Uh, I'm gonna finish this racepace.
It's, I'm gonna compete in thisrace pace yes you know that's,
(05:58):
that's your one of yourpersonality characters.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yes, so he was asking me what I use, you know and
everything, and I was like, oh,nothing, you know.
And and once again, we, wedon't just broadcast how we eat
because we know it.
Just it's a that's a wholeconversation that a lot of
people just don't understandwe're not nutritionists no,
we're not, and I will never tellpeople how they need to eat.
but I told him that I didn't useanything and he told me that I
(06:24):
really needed to.
I needed to, that I needed toget the gel packs and use those,
or just some electrolyte pillseither.
You know some of those two.
But I told him I was like youknow, I take zero sugar, like at
all, so that's not what fuelsmy body.
So if I took sugar like that,like it actually would probably
(06:47):
make me sick yeah, you'd bestopping at the porta potty
halfway through your race so Iwould uh in my diet.
I would need to take like butterpackets or something right yeah
um, it's the fat that fuels me,but, um, this just led us to a
topic that that we've beentalking about, like you said,
for days or, um, maybe evenlonger than that, really yeah,
(07:10):
one of the reasons why weoriginally will lean towards
this diet to begin with wasbecause of um, our diet that we
were on you know, it wasn'tnecessarily a a diet, as in a
restricted diet standardamerican.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
So we just didn't feel good.
We saw that our body wasn'treacting the way that we wanted
it to as we were growing olderand a lot of people around us
are still like, oh, you're soyoung, but yeah, we are, we're
40s, not yet, not yet for you,but you're fixed.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I'm holding on.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, but so we're right there, we, but so we're
right there, we're in midlife,right?
Yes, we're in midlife and wereally just wanted, like, what
are the things that we can dothat are better for us, and
really take our focus off of thethings that we're in excess of,
you know?
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
And there's a lot that's tied to your diet.
There's a lot that's tied towhat you consume.
There's a lot that's tied towhat you focus on the most, and
so much of our life was focusedon.
When you wake up, you got toeat.
What are we going to eat?
Try to figure it out.
Make a recipe.
The lunch comes around.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Make a recipe dinner comes around.
Most of my thoughts aboutdinner centered around sugary
things and carbs, like forbreakfast.
I would definitely want thingslike cinnamon rolls or pastries,
or we were a huge cereal family.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yes, cereal, cereal, cereal.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
We would have cereal knots and you felt like you
weren't consuming a ton ofcalories.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
But if you read the— and I would eat so much.
I know Huge bowls like mixingbowls.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I know and I remember looking at those cereal boxes
and realizing that I couldn'tfind a single cereal that hadn't
been genetically modified too.
Yeah, and so that was onereason we that was kind of a
start to start eating better,and for our kids we wanted
better.
We also had I had a friend youhad a friend diagnosed with
(09:01):
cancer, not saying that that'swhy they had cancer, but it was
another thing that just startedmaking us think about what we
were putting in our bodies andhow we could be the healthiest
we could be.
But in that journey of learningabout that, you kind of get a
magnifying glass and you startlooking at all these other areas
(09:21):
of your life that maybe you'renot doing so well in either.
Yeah, what is the excess thatis there that is not necessary?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, it's like your entire identity is going to be
revealed in what the things youdo the most of you know, the
things that you focus on.
When people say, tell me aboutHolly, Well they're, oh, she's a
mom.
That's 100% of the time she's aChristian.
You know, she is a runner, sheis a business owner, right?
(09:54):
So they would go down probablya checklist of the things that
you most do in your frequency inyour life, right?
And so those things identifyyou.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So what is our identity?
What is our identity supposedto be?
What are the things that we'resupposed to be focusing on and I
guess, that's where we reallywanted to go with this podcast
today.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yes, and like that.
When you really start thinkingabout this, it cuts you.
You're like, oh, my goodnessCause, I remember thinking I was
like and these are thoughtsthat you don't ever want to have
.
But I thought, what if you juststart shirking off those
identities that you've put on orthat maybe other people have
(10:33):
put on you?
And I think about, like, if Ididn't run anymore, if I wasn't
a runner anymore, I'm okay yeahit's good I think about if I
wasn't a wife anymore.
See, that's really hard tothink about.
But who am I in Christ?
Am I still His?
(10:56):
If, for some reason, if you'vepassed away and you're no longer
my husband, is my identitycompletely wrapped up in you,
and those are thoughts that wereally have to take seriously.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, like you should be able to be so dependent on
God that, no matter what comes,you're able to process it in a
godly manner.
Does that make sense?
Not that you're not devastatedor heartbroken or grieving,
crying is normal.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Grieving is normal, all of that is normal, but is
something like that going toactually wreck you and make you
completely ineffective in thislife?
It shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Well, I think it will wreck you.
But I think what I'm saying isthere's still meaning to your
life if things are taken away,like my children, that's one of
the worst things that I couldthink about is that identity of
(12:00):
being mom, and they take up alot of my time and my focus.
And for that to not be thereanymore?
Who is Holly, if I don't havethis business anymore, like if
it just went belly up?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I'm not speaking that but if it just hits bad, worse,
everything, everyone's everyone, loses their identity If their
identity is wrapped in God youknow, Um, but there was a time
in my life when it's it could bereally embarrassing how much
(12:36):
like clothing and jewelry which,like you know, clothing is one
of the necessities, but everynecessity can have an excess.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
An excess, yeah so I I was addicted to shopping for
clothes, shoes, accessories,handbags, makeup, nail polish
okay those things.
They can get me in trouble too.
(13:06):
You know, like I didn't, Ididn't care, like I want that
and I want it now.
You know, and keep in mind too,that we got married when I was
17 years old so young and thenas we moved into, I guess,
better careers and your incomelevel increases and everything.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
But if you still have really bad habits, have been as
so addicted to the clothing andthe shoes and all that as I was
, that I felt like that was myidentity and I had to keep it up
well, because, like we weretalking about this, like even
when you had a career change,you felt like you had to adapt
to that career change and partof that career change meant to
you a new wardrobe, because youroccupation had changed.
(13:57):
Yes, so you needed to lookdifferent and present yourself
different, to be moreprofessional or or more
comfortable versus whatever thecareer change was, because
you've done some veryprofessional, like public
speaking events and things likethat, where you know you didn't
need to wear your track outfitexactly you know.
But so you would get you knowseven days worth of business
clothing.
Yes, you know, and that wasthat would be excess.
Well, you know.
But so you would get you knowseven days worth of business
clothing.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yes, you know, and that was that would be excess
well, you know, thinking back,this can go all the way back to
something as silly as who's whoin high school, and this is just
going to be my opinion on this.
I really think that we shoulddo away with all those little
titles that we give seniorsabout um, it's not funny well,
you're speaking, well I know,but when you say something,
(14:37):
you're speaking something oversomeone.
So if you say this is the classclown.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
you're saying this person it's almost like a curse.
You're a class clown, almostyou know.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Or you know like most likely to succeed, you know, or
that's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Oh, yeah, put on somebody.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I mean, you were the most likely to succeed.
Well, like I think I was mosttalented and best dressed.
And I really took on at thetime like I don't.
I don't remember having thosefeelings of like look at me, I'm
best dressed or I'm most.
I really didn't feel that way,but subconsciously I don't think
I realized how much I took onthose identities, that it's like
oh, I'm the best dressed.
Well, then I always have to bethe best dressed.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Got to make sure everything's put together the
night before and maybe I put thepressure on myself.
You're thinking about it.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Because nobody else like.
Let's say, like you know, 10years down the road, the people
that I'm around, they have noidea that I was best dressed in
high school and nor do they carewas best dressed in high school
, and nor do they care right,but I have already at that point
too.
Also, when people areconstantly commenting on your
clothes or like oh, I wish thatI dressed like you, or I love
your outfits.
(15:44):
You always wear the cutestoutfits, you know, and so I
remember that's an ego boosteryou know it can be yes, and
people don't just compliment youon that, on that.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
People compliment you in all different areas of your
life, you know.
So what are the things thatpeople compliment you on that
you seek approval for?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Really think about the things in your life that,
like that, you can relate to.
It might not be the clothingand things like that.
Well, like social media,there's something else in your
life, the concept of socialmedia posts.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You make a post and x amount of people like it and
then you close your phone.
You wake up the next day andyou got a hundred more hearts
and it's like a hundred morepeople love what I did and it's
like and and that's a, that,that's a, that's a.
There's a drug, in that,there's an addiction in that
it's a dopamine.
Yeah it's a dopamine and it'sthe same concept with everything
, the things that that the worldor other people find valuable
(16:37):
in the moment to you.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Whether whether it's an intentional or if it's just
nonchalant, it still can playinto something that's going to
take your focus off of theidentity that you're supposed to
have and I think y'all likethere were times where it's like
, okay, maybe even like eastersunday, and this is pathetic,
like I really hate even sayingthis, but being so concerned
about what my Easter dress wasgoing to be or my Easter shoes,
(17:01):
and I would spend way too muchmoney on these things as well,
and then that I passed that downto my children which my kids
don't give a flip about thatthemselves anymore, you know but
like when they didn't reallyhave a voice to say yeah, you
know I bought excess for thembecause you know, it's like if
(17:22):
I'm the best dressed then I'vegot to have the best dressed
kids as well.
But I think like it was a slowrealization.
But I remember constantlycleaning out my closet and I
would just give boo coodles ofgarbage bags full to like Hope
House or you know, and sometimesI would sell it.
(17:43):
Sometimes I would, but a lot oftimes I didn't.
And I really started gettingconvicted about it because I was
like I have, if I'm having toclean this out all the time and
it's still so full that I can'teven tell what's in here.
This is so excessive.
There's nothing wrong withwanting to be fashionable or
(18:05):
having clothes or liking thosethings.
What's wrong is when youcompletely take that as your
identity so that if those thingswere taken away, you wouldn't
even know how to be.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Yeah, you know, it's like um, ernest P Worrell, um
the uh, like Ernest goes to jailthe movies, like Ernest goes to
camp, ernest scared stupid allthose.
I remember he always had thesame outfit on.
I remember this and he would goto his closet and change his
outfit and it would always bethe same, the same thing he had
five or six of them hung up inhis closet, he would even get in
(18:38):
the washing tub in his clothingto wash himself with his
clothing on.
But he didn't have to thinkabout that part of his life.
When we were talking about foodand things like that, with
going to the carnival, one ofthe comments that came up when
you really revealed this wasthey were talking about what is
(19:00):
it doing for you or like are youhappy in this situation?
It really made us think like,wow, we haven't thought about
this concept of it yes, likesomebody said, but are you happy
?
Because you're like you'redoing this.
Are you happy?
I?
Speaker 1 (19:10):
haven't really thought about that, and then I
was like, oh my gosh, I am andthis is someone like that we we
view as very insightful andreally understands human
character traits?
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yeah, Like we really look up to her.
But it was like wow yes.
And what we realized in theconversation of it.
They came about like it takesthe decision process out of it
and it puts it in something thatwe know exactly what we're
going to eat.
So it's like the concept withthe same outfit they know what
they're going to eat.
So it's like the concept withthe same outfit they know what
they're going to wear.
Like I think you mentioned wetalked about it, like Steve Jobs
(19:40):
, you know yeah.
And some of the other.
You know people who are liketech giants.
Tech giants.
Yeah, they wear almost the samething all the time, just
because it takes.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
It streamlines it.
Yeah, so our eating has beenstreamlined and we have saved so
much money.
People think that eating thisway like eating meat and eggs,
and because the way egg pricesare that it's so expensive to
eat this way.
I'm going to tell you this wehave saved so much money because
we don't eat out, because youcan't go out and just be like I
(20:11):
just want a single steak or Ijust want a single hamburger
patty.
You just can't get that withoutsides and things, and so we
don't want to spend money onthings that we're not going to
eat.
So we're eating at home andyeah it's.
It's working out so well for us, but it's it.
What it has done is it's likewe've really taken that excess
of the food that we were eatingand we've done away with it, and
(20:35):
same thing with like when itcame to my clothing.
I really you can attest to this.
It has changed so much it has?
yes it has changed a lot likeit's.
I don't.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I used to go regularly shopping, probably at
least once you might go shoppingonce every two months now with
with someone else that asks youto go with them.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Maybe, and I might not buy anything, and if I do,
it might be running shoes orsomething, but I was thinking
about this the other day when Iwas looking in the mirror and I
was like, oh my goodness, Even ayear ago or two years ago, I
would have never thought that Iwouldn't have cared about this
as much as I don't care about itanymore.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Like.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Like, yeah, okay.
So, for instance, you know, we,when we first were building out
our shop, this place is hugeand it's like what was it?
It's a little over 5,000 squarefeet.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
So we that's, right.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
We basically split it into.
So we had a 2,500 square foothouse and then we were going to
have a 2,500 square foot coffeeshop.
And so we finished out thehouse side of it first and lived
in it and then, once we wereliving in it and comfortable,
then we really started workingon the shop side of it.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
So it's like from concept and thought of hey, we
want to do a business, toserving our first customer we
estimated it was around threeyears.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yes, so we lived in it and we really only lived in
it.
We didn't live in it as long asI thought that we were going to
live in it.
We moved out this past summer.
But I say that because I leftso many clothes here still
Haven't touched them.
Haven't missed them, Haven'tmissed them.
Once again, I was like it's apunch to the gut you know I'm
(22:26):
like oh my goodness, the excessthat is just not needed.
And I guess what I really wantyou guys to think about in your
life is the excess in your lifethat's not needed.
That is taking your focus.
I think about, from a financialstandpoint, how much more money
I could have saved by notneedlessly buying things that I
(22:48):
didn't need.
I didn't need, and a lot oftimes I was giving away things
that had tags on it Yep.
Um and I know that there awaythings that had tags on it, yep,
and I know that there'ssomething that you can relate to
.
Yeah, it's not clothing.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
It doesn't have to be anything about the clothing in
your life or the food in yourlife.
But every single one of us aregoing to be tempted, tried and
struggle with what we focus onand is our is what we've focused
on actually benefiting us ashumans as families, as ministers
(23:24):
, as witnesses for the cause ofchrist, as athletes, with what
we're doing in our lives, asbusinessmen business owners, yes
, or operators is.
Is it taking away from thethings that you're supposed to
be focusing?
Speaker 1 (23:37):
on and and you know, like that is one of the things
that the devil is here to do isjust here to steal, kill and
destroy that's his purpose andhe's going to steal your
attention, he's going to destroyyour hopes and he's going to
try to control every aspect ofyour life, because he knows if
he can control you, then youwill be ineffective if he gets
you so right, gets your identityso wrapped up in things that
(24:00):
don't really matter, yeah, thenhe only thinks he's won and he
may have won the battle, youknow, but you have to realize
that you are in an identitycrisis.
All of us are yeah I think it's.
It's something that weconstantly struggle with.
He is constantly going to goafter our identities.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, and one of the things like even as a coffee
shop.
You know, we run this coffeeshop and it's all about coffee,
right.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
But when you think about it, when we step back and
we think about our purpose ofthis place, our purpose with the
employees, our purpose with thecustomers, with our community.
It's so much more than justcoffee.
Right now, it's kind of likecoffee was the driving force
behind the business concept ofwhat we want to serve our
community and we've created afantastic product.
(24:49):
We've created something thatpeople really enjoy and they
love.
I love it.
I enjoy drinking our coffee,but there's so much more to it
than just coffee, so it's notlike the focus, isn't it?
The focus is what is the purposeof this place, and this podcast
is one of those purposes andspeaking engagements and having
(25:13):
people here to be able to havestudies.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
We just had a fitness class in here, a fitness class.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
And there's so much more than just coffee.
So what is it that's taking somuch focus in your life that if
you were to reduce it, if youwere to say less of this so that
more of something else canincrease, what would you like to
see increase?
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I want to see Jesus increase in my life personally.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Exactly so.
If our identity is in ourthings, or in our stuff or in
the stuff, in what?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
we're doing Honestly running.
You could get excessive withthat.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
You could.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
It could become your identity.
I want to be very careful aboutthat, that I don't let that
take precedence.
It's a part of my life.
It's not my life.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
And we talked about that just the other day on one
of our runs.
We were like you know what,after this season we're going to
change the pace and boom anddrop to a different type of
season in our running, in our,in our fitness.
You know, right now we'reworking on this and there's
(26:22):
goals to change and shift andconstantly allow it to to
benefit other areas because,like our shift that we were
talking about wouldn't be foranything, for us, it was to
benefit someone else.
It was, and and that's the partabout it that, like when, when
you're focused on others, um,your priorities for yourself do
adjust.
Yeah, they do adjust to helppromote what you view as
important.
Yes, and if your relationshipwith Christ is important, your
(26:42):
focus is going to adjust.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Agree.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
So the scripture that we kind of thought about and I
want to read this before wecontinue on Mm-hmm.
Thought about and I want toread this before we continue on
when it came to reducing thefood consumption and some of the
chemicals that we were puttinginto our bodies unnecessarily
(27:07):
trying to eat clean.
You know, we as Christians anda lot of religions out there
have certain aspects of this,but we as Christians, we believe
that fasting is an importantpart of that and I know there's
some denominations.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
they'll focus on Lent , yeah especially during this
time, right now.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Lent yeah, as a fasting process, and they fast
from something, whether or notit's food or not.
Sorry, I've, I got frog in mythroat, but um, but.
But we, as christians, we havebeen told by who we follow that
certain things can't happen inour life without prayer and
fasting.
Yes, and jesus um.
(27:49):
In uh mark, chapter 9, verse 29, he's talking to his disciples
when the disciples tried to castout a demon and they weren't
able to and they brought it toJesus and Jesus cast him out.
And they were like, whycouldn't we do this, master?
And he says in 9, 29, he saysand he said to them this kind,
come forth by nothing but byprayer and fasting.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
And it's like what's the point of the fasting at that
point, like when it comes tocasting out a demon?
Well, let me tell you, fastingit is getting rid of any excess
at all.
It's getting rid of even likethe need, like what you might
need at that moment, but gettingrid of that excess.
(28:31):
And I think that when you doget rid of it, like, for
instance, like if you werefasting, let's say a 24-hour
fast where you have no food- orlet's say you just go from
supper to supper, you know, orwhatever.
Um, you realize how dependentthat you have become on that
(28:56):
thing.
So not only can you fast fromfood, but when we've told you to
be thinking about the things inyour life that are in excess,
like maybe it's you're on socialmedia too much, or maybe you're
watching TV too much, maybe youare I don't know what some
other things that you could bedoing, because I'm trying to
(29:18):
think of things that aren't justmaterialistic.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
It can just be your actions as well, yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
What are you doing when you're driving down the
road with your family in?
A closed car and there'snothing to do but talk to each
other or play on electronics orlisten to music.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Right, I would say we all probably could use with a
good fast for my phone and whenyou when.
If you did that, you wouldrealize how much, how much
you're going to it, how much youare dependent on it, just like
I realized how dependent I wason feeling a certain way about
what I was wearing right andabout what people were going to
(29:55):
think, right, if I didn't havethe cutest outfit on in the room
.
I know that that sounds very,very vain and just I hate that,
but it's a reality and if we're,hopefully, we're constantly
being sanctified by him you know, and I'm like god thank you so
(30:18):
much.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Thank you so much that you convicted my heart
about something in my life thatwas keeping me from personal,
closer relationship with youright and you know we we were
talking about this because wewere talking about what are the
areas that we're in excess ofand what are the areas that can
keep us from our relationshipwith Christ.
(30:39):
I had a pretty bad car wreck awhile back and I remember that
my fear that was wrapped up inthat.
I don't know if I've alreadymentioned this.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
I think you have I think I have.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah, but that it was that I didn't have control of
it.
That's what caused the fear inmy heart during that accident.
It wasn't that I was going todie or anything, but I was
afraid because I didn't havecontrol and and we were talking,
like, the area of excess that Icould think of in my life where
it was like I'm clearly tryingto figure this out and vocalize
it into words right now was thatI have a tendency to problem
(31:14):
solve in my head but not takeactions.
I have a tendency to overthinkthings.
So my excess that I was able tothink of like it's like, and I
know I've struggled with this,we've talked about this in the
past.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
But it's what do they call that?
Analysis, paralysis, right, andI'm a huge problem solver.
I love solving problems.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
That's what you've done to make a living.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yes, you've solved problems and and I'm great at
helping other people solve theirproblems and communicate with
it.
I'm like this is a fantasticopportunity for me to use the
gift that god has given me tosolve problems, but a lot of
times, um, my, it'll take myfocus my focus will be stuck on
the problems that are around meand are any of them actually
(32:01):
getting fixed?
And a lot of times thoseproblems aren't really actual
problems.
They're built up, you know, andit becomes something that I put
my focus on yeah, and I don'tfocus on, you know, the things
that would ultimately solvethose problems to begin with,
which would be the goodness ofGod, god's mercy, god's grace,
god's patience, god's temperance, all the fruits of the spirit
(32:24):
that I should be focused ongrowing in my life.
A lot of the things that Iconsider a problem would
probably just disappear.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Right, well, I think a lot of that problem would
probably just disappear, right?
Well, I think a lot of that.
That's true for all of us.
When you have things in yourlife that are just in excess or
that are you have you so youridentity is so wrapped up in it.
Satan knows that and he uses itto once again I think I've
already said this but to keepyou from getting closer to that
(32:55):
personal relationship with God.
Because let me tell yousomething, god does only have
good for us.
God has a plan for us.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Well, he says that if a son comes to his father, he's
not going to give him a serpentwhen he asks for bread right
For a fish.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
yes, For a fish, yeah .
Speaker 2 (33:10):
He's not going to give you bad things, because he
loves you, he cares about you,so he's not going to give you
bad things because he loves you,he cares about you.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
So what do we do to, I guess, in a way, quench the
spirit?
What are the actions that wetake every day, whether it's
just being so tied in tosomething like this and I know
I'm guilty of that If I'm ridingin a car, if I'm sitting, still
, I feel like I've got to scrolland I think about like 10 years
(33:35):
ago, or maybe even more thanthat.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
That wasn't a part of my life and my life was fine,
you know you know we talkedabout this multiple times that
uncomfortable situations causepeople to revert to things that
they're comfortable with and ifyou're comfortable on your phone
and you're in an uncomfortablesituation and your phone is
available, that's going tobecome your gut reaction is to
pull that phone out.
To in an uncomfortable situationand your phone is available,
that's going to become your gutreaction is to pull that phone
out to escape the uncomfortablesituation.
(33:58):
Riding in a car isuncomfortable.
It's not fun.
Seeing a tree line go by forthree hours is not fun.
We dealt with it.
As kids we drove to Illinoistwice a year.
It was a 12-hour drive to wherewe were going and you dealt
with it.
You talked with each other, youhad fun, you did other things
(34:18):
to focus, you played games andall that jazz.
But um, but it was.
It was an uncomfortablesituation and we dealt with it.
But uh, we've, we've talkedabout this.
How, so many of the people thatwe talk to, how many times in
your conversation, when you'retalking with people that are
dealing with something, does theterm like anxiety come up?
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Yes, a lot.
That's a buzzword now honestly.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
I think so Because there are actual emotional
responses that are chemicalreactions in people's bodies
because of an actual excessmaybe of I'm not a doctor of
chemicals and things like thatthat cause people to have a
physical reaction in awkwardsituations that doctors have
(35:03):
actually labeled as anxiety.
But I think it's become socommonplace that people misplace
human emotions in awkwardsituations that cause people to
naturally react the way humansshould the flight or fight
mentality and they call itanxiety when it's actually not.
I think it's just normal humanemotions that we're not normally
(35:24):
dealing with yeah with thecurrent newer generation or
people who are latched on to thethings that they can focus
their mind on with their phoneand thing.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Not just a generation , but yes we live in a world of
excess we do honestly and thinkabout this like okay, we have
sites like sheen, amazon, andsheen doesn't come quick, but
everything is so cheap on thereand there is so much stuff
what's the latest one, andyou'll be like click, click,
click click latest ones team oror TikTok shop, yeah, and so
(35:54):
things are like right at ourfingertips and we think that we
got to have this thing or havethat thing and before you know
it, it's excessive.
Or I could even say it can beabout like eating out all the
time.
I remember growing up, werarely ate out.
We did, but now nowadays peopleeat out all the time yeah, well
(36:17):
, one, one person there'sanything wrong with that, but we
really have to look ateverything in our life and think
what is excessive in my life?
Speaker 2 (36:26):
and now?
Now don't get me wrong, allthat's wrong.
Also, if eating out saves youtime which a lot of times it
doesn't, just to be honest, thedrive there, the waiting time,
which a lot of times it doesn't,just to be honest, the drive
there, the waiting, and all that, a lot of times it doesn't.
I can grill a steak on thegrill in 15 minutes right, if
everything's prepped and be backand eating it.
But if it saves you time andeffort and energy and that time
(36:50):
is better used benefiting God'skingdom, then I would consider
it might not be an excess, youknow, or?
if you're building community inthat eating opportunity it can
be.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
I have to have three Dr Peppers every single day.
Well, do you have to really?
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
We've even talked about like okay, I mean, it can
be sharecroppers.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
You know do.
How many cups of coffee do Idrink?
It?
Am I in excess?
Yeah I've backed off a lot, Ireally have.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
How many cup coffee mugs have we bought on vacation?
No, I'm joking, one every time,you know, we don't go out
overboard, but once again, Iwant to reiterate that this
isn't this isn't a condemnation.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
No, it's not, I mean we're sharing the choir.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Yeah, we're sharing our journey.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
It hits us first.
You know, and I just know thata lot of the things that are
excessive in my life, I havewrapped up my identity in them
so much that it has taken myfocus off of who my true
identity is in and that's.
Jesus.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
That's right.
And you know, at the end of theday, god wants it to be the way
that he designed it, to wherewe are in perfect communion with
him.
Yes, um and uh.
We were talking about ouridentity with Christ and and
being with one at one with him.
And the scripture that came tomy mind, um, and being at one
(38:18):
with him, and the scripture thatcame to my mind about this side
of it was that we looked at itas Matthew 22, 37 and 40 says.
Now, the Pharisees andSadducees were trying to trick
him up, trick up Jesus.
At this time they were tryingto play the political card and
get him to mess up what he wassaying.
But they asked him, like what'sthe greatest commandment, rabbi
(38:39):
?
You know, they called him rabbi, but they didn't really believe
it.
It was a mocking way, yeah, buthe said unto them you shall
love the Lord, your God, withall your heart, with all your
soul, with all your mind.
This is the greatest and thefirst commandment.
So we must get this right first.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
You know, everything else in life must come second.
When someone says who is Holly,you know, or who is Calvin, the
first thing that comes out ofthe mouth should be that's a
Christian, that's a follower ofChrist, you know, you would hope
(39:17):
that it would be, you know.
When someone asks you who youare, is that the first thing
that you would say Do you holdthat identity?
And then the second is like it,you shall love your neighbor as
yourself.
The whole law and the prophetsdepend on these two commandments
.
You know so much about howchristians get criticized by
(39:40):
judging people, and if the worldwould really just truly
understand that, if you are atrue follower of christ, you're
loving god so much, uh, that youare being convicted of the
things in your life.
Right.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
It's a my conviction, first mentality, because I want
to be where I can be, as closeto God as I possibly can.
I want to be in a rightrelationship with Him and when
God reveals something to us, andit's fantastic when you grow
closer to the Lord and youexperience the closeness of God
(40:17):
in situations you do nothing butwant that for other people.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Yes, and I think that's one thing that's been
hard about the carnivore dietLike I've wanted to share,
because this may sound crazy,guys, but being on this diet has
brought me closer to Jesus, andnot because I'm saying, oh,
please help me because I'mstarving to death.
No, it was getting rid ofexcess in my life and the verse
it comes up to me that comes tomind to me is when he said when
(40:46):
he's talking about the Phariseesand he says a little bit of
leaven it, it runs the wholeloaf right of leaven it.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
It ruins the whole loaf, right, hey y'all ladies on
your sourdough phase, how muchof that starter do you actually?
Speaker 1 (41:01):
need to make a whole bunch of sourdough, not a lot,
that's why they call it astarter it's just a little bit
and it makes that stuff go hogwild, crazy big fluffy right so
you know, like just going um,getting rid of to me the leaven,
okay, and I'm not just talkingabout bread, I'm talking about,
like in our life, sugar Me,getting rid of this obsession
(41:22):
with looking a certain way andclothes.
You know, this is really thesame thing.
Same thing.
Our, our daughter was in apageant and my old self would
have wanted to go spend a ton ofmoney on the best dress that I
(41:44):
could possibly find for her,because I would have a enjoyed
going and trying on dresses withher yeah, and two girls stay
out and two.
I just want her to have the bestdress, you know.
But I didn't even blink Like.
I got this dress for her beforewe ever knew she was going to
be in a pageant.
I knew that she would probablywant to be when she was in
school, and so I had bought thisahead of time.
(42:06):
I got it for $25 from somebodythat was selling from their
house, and I remember thinkingshe's going to wear that dress
Like there's no reason why shecan't.
She will look pretty.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
How many pageant dresses have you ever bought,
that, when you buy it, even fromoff the rack, fits perfectly,
it doesn't?
Speaker 1 (42:23):
You're going to have alterations done to it.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
So you buy something out of a yard sale type
situation and you have italtered and you had it in your
mind.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Yes, but what I'm saying is to me that was God
sanctifying me some.
I know that that's just a sillything, like a little pageant
dress, but it wasn't, guys,because I felt like that was
something in my personality.
It was like okay, I've overcomethat.
I have overcome that.
It might try to come at meagain.
I'm not going to pick it up,satanan, when you're trying to
(43:02):
hand it back to me, but I waslike I have overcome that
feeling of that I've got to havethis certain look or this best
of the best.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Yeah, and now I don't want to put it on you either
that if the dress she needs isan expensive dress, you know it
doesn't matter, but it was, itwas an issue, something I'm
talking about.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
I had something that she could wear and it was
perfectly fine there was noreason to go searching out for
something else yeah um, therewas no reason to be excessive
with it correct you know, um,and that's really what the whole
purpose of this talk is isreally think about the things in
(43:38):
your life that are just inexcess, that you can get rid of,
that you can lessen.
I mean, obviously I still wearclothes, y'all.
It's not bad for me to goshopping.
I have just severely pulled itback.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
Well, it's the same concept with your exercise.
Nobody can tell me that theydon't have time to exercise.
True, because there's somethingyou do that you could replace
with exercise.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
I was thinking about that when I went on my 10 mile
run this past weekend.
That usually is going to taketwo hours.
It took a little less this time, but I was like you can sit
down and watch a movie for twohours Like everybody a lot of
people may do that on a Saturday, but I was like there is time.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
There is time to do it.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
And you can always do something, remember, uh, I
think your dad was talking abouta story.
One time he went to thehospital and a guy guy was
paralyzed on one whole side ofhis body and he was like are you
okay?
He was like hey, let me showyou something.
And he reached over his bed andgrabbed the rail with his right
hand side and he pulled himselfonto his side and then he laid
himself back down and he waslike I did that.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Look what I can do.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
Yeah.
So yeah, focusing on the 50% ofimmobility was one thing, but
this guy had the mind frame tofocus on the 50% of ability that
he had and that brought joy tohis life.
You have ability.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
Yes, you do, and I want you to think about what is
Satan using in your life.
That may seem good, it may notbe a bad thing, but what is he
using to steal your focus?
That's keeping you fromultimately God's perfect plan
for you Give it up.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
Give it up, it's worth giving it up.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
We're still giving up .
We've got several things thatwe are still wanting to give up
and I'm like God, show me more.
Show me more that is in excessin my life.
Show me more that is notleading to the plan that you
have for me, because it is thebest plan, it is the only plan
and it is good Because you loveme.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
And he is good.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
You love me and we love you, and thank you for
joining us on episode six.
We hope that the Lord blessesyou and keeps you and makes his
face to shine upon you.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.