March 27, 2023 • 40 mins
Granger Smith Podcast Episode 181: You have an addiction that you can not shake. You know you have a problem so why do we feel so convicted? It happens with all kinds of things but it doesn’t have to be written as a sin. I’ll explain why on today’s episode.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You said, I have struggled with quitting and I have
not been able to yet. That's the problem. Hey, everybody,
(00:20):
welcome back to the podcast. This is episode one and
eighty one, and I'm just glad you're here. I'm glad
you're listening and watching wherever you're coming from. The format
of this podcast, what we do is just sit around
and talk answering your questions could be about any subject,
anything in the world. Just just email Grangersmith podcast at
gmail dot com, and we walk through it like we're
(00:41):
just two people sitting in the cab of a truck
driving on a long road trip, got the windows down,
your elbow out. Hey man, I ask you a question,
something that's been on my mind lately. And then we
walked through it like we got all the time in
the world. And I don't have notes in front of me,
I don't have famous quotes, I don't have books. I
(01:02):
haven't even read the questions at all. I'm going completely
blind off of the email Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com.
Let's get to the first one subject line here says
Mistakes says, Hey Granger, my name is Duke. I'm from
southern California. I'm just wondering if you ever make mistakes
while singing at a concert. I have never been to
(01:24):
any concert, so I don't even know if that's a
thing to sometimes mess up. I assume you play a ton,
so maybe it's hard to mess up. I don't know. Yeah,
I don't think I've ever gotten a question like that, Duke.
I appreciate you shout out to Southern Cali and the answer.
I mean, yeah, I'll mess up a lot, mess up
all the time. I've played thousands of shows in my life.
(01:47):
It's crazy to think about, but if you think about
one hundred and fifty shows a year for decades, you
do that enough. You mess up enough. The thing about
it is the time no one even knows that I
mess up, except for maybe the hardcore fans and the band.
The band will always know. We always know when one
(02:07):
of us messes up, and so we usually will look
like Toddle do a note he's never done before on guitar,
and I'll look out of the corner of my eye
and he's looking back at me because he knows that
I'm looking at him. We're like brothers, you know, like
brotherly love. It's like, man, you knew I did that,
didn't you. Of course, we speak the same language on
(02:28):
the stage, me and the band. We know each other
without saying words. We know everything we do. We know
what the looks, we know the notes, we know the
drum beats. Everything. We know if someone is doing something
different because we've done it so many times. Most of
the time the fans don't know. Sometimes one mistake from
one band member leads to another mistake from another band
(02:49):
member because a muscle memory gets messed up. You're used
to hearing this pattern of events that happen, and it
triggers something in your brain. You play this because of
all these things, and when those things don't happen, you stumble.
It's very strange how that happens if you do it
so many times in a row. Sometimes the fans do know,
(03:09):
and sometimes you know. Some mistakes are worse than others.
Most of the time it revolves around me for getting lyrics.
Every once in a while, you could start the song
and the wrong key. That's like a once every ten
year mistake. But there are a lot of things. There's
a lot of technical problems. Microphones run out of batteries,
cables go bad, stages break lights, turn off generators, blow
(03:33):
power goes out, there's all those kind of things. The
thing about me is We've played so many shows for
so many years that I've seen every kind of mistake.
And that's a great thing because I could say to myself, well,
I've played bigger shows than this and messed it up.
You know, I've played bigger shows than this on less sleep.
(03:57):
I've played bigger shows than this and been sicker than
I am now, you know. So I've kind of done
all the all the combinations of bad things I've seen
it happen, and that that gives me a sense of calm, really,
and that that could be applied to anyone that's listening
that has done something enough times you can calm yourself
(04:17):
by saying I've I've messed up in bigger situations than this.
I've had my foot in my mouth and bigger conversations
than this. And there's something very freeing about that. And
so the best thing to do when I make a
mistake is just own it instead of trying to act
(04:38):
like I'm better than a mistake. Man, I'm I make
mistakes all the time, and I just own it. It's
a good question, though, dude, next question, septic line says
Bible question says, Hey Grander. In a previous email, you
said that you believed all people that are alive on
the Earth right now will have a human death before
(05:01):
Jesus returns. Could you make a clarification on why you
believe this and why you're certain of that. Secondly, could
you clarify what clarify why you believe most of what
John the Revelator describes in the Book of Revelation has
already happened, as well as what could have, as well
as what could have the animal symbolism that John uses
(05:25):
could have occurred in recent history. I read that exactly
like you wrote it, as well of what could have
the animal animal symbolism that John uses could have occurred
in reason Answery regards Anonymous. Okay, Anonymous, Yeah, let's dive
into this. I'm gonna say one thing off the bat.
I didn't. I didn't say what I'm uh what I'm
(05:49):
accused of saying here you said. I heard in a
previous previous podcast you said that all people that are
alive on Earth right now will have a human death
before where Jesus returns. I did not say that because
it's impossible, and I wouldn't have said something that is
impossible to know. It's like Napoleon, dynamite Napoleon. How could
(06:14):
anyone even know that? No one can know that. So
what I said was probably knowing me. I probably said
something like most likely ninety nine percent chance or something
like that, most likely all people that are alive on
Earth right now will not see Jesus return in the
(06:37):
way that John describes it in the Book of Revelation. Okay,
is that so wrong to say that? Is that so
wrong to say, here's the deal, Jesus. What we're talking
about here is eschatology. Eschatology is one of the most debated,
one of the most confusing things in the entire Bible.
It's the study of end times. And the thing about
(07:01):
it is is when Jesus came to Earth, right, God
had the Abrahamic Covenant, then he had the Mosaic Covenant.
When Jesus came, when when the word became flesh in
John won right, the Abrahamic Covenant was fulfilled. Jesus fulfilled
(07:29):
the covenant. He became the new Covenant. The Mosaic covenant
was to show people who God is and to give
them the rules on what was expected of them. When
Jesus came, he fulfilled the law and fulfilled all the law,
the prophets, including the Abrahamic Covenant. He became. Then he
(07:54):
became what people needed to turn to instead of themselves.
Abraham's covenant was based on faith. That's what Jesus fulfilled.
So here's the deal. The people before that, the people
of God, were based on genealogy, on the bloodline. When
(08:18):
Jesus came, the definition of God's people changed. It became new.
God didn't change. The definition of the people became new.
And the new definition of the people was how do
you respond to the sun? It was based on your
response to the Son of God. Okay, so we're moving
(08:41):
through this. What happened in that time, here's my point, Anonymous,
What happened in that time when the Word became flesh,
the end times dawned, the birth of Christ. When the
Word became flesh, the end of times dawned. That was
(09:02):
the beginning of the end of times. We're still living
in it. It's been two thousand years. So from that
day everyone thought, at some point, hey, maybe Jesus is
coming back today. Maybe he's coming back tomorrow. Maybe He's
coming back in my lifetime. For two thousand years, people
have said that and thought that there's technically nothing wrong
(09:26):
with a hopeful eschatology in that way, reading revelation specifically
looking to the sky for yourself. It's kind of fun, okay,
But it can become an obsession, and that's a problem.
That's a big problem. And I got a feeling, brother,
(09:47):
got to feeling through your email, the tone of your email,
that this is a problem for you. And that's why
I speak up about this in this podcast because I
used to fall in like in high school. I used
to study this stuff and get really into it and
look at the signs and be really into the signs
and thinking Jesus is gonna come back. And I did
(10:10):
it in a way that's not healthy. You see how
I said that. It's not that it's unhealthy for you
or anyone else, but I was doing it in a
way that becomes unhealthy because you start thinking about all
that stuff, and you start adding up these signs and
these prophecies, and you start putting it aligning it with
(10:32):
like world events and global leaders and things that are
going on in the culture, and you start trying to
add it up and like decipher it. When Jesus says,
no one knows, no one knows, no one will know,
that's what he says. He didn't say no one will
(10:53):
know except for the smart people that put all the
puzzle together. He said, no one's gonna know. It doesn't
matter if you get the Book of Revelation and the
Book of Daniel and you put all the prophecies together
and then line them up with the United States and
then China and then the new state of Israel in
(11:16):
nineteen forty six, and you add all this stuff up.
Jesus said, no one's gonna know. Why does he say
get ready? Why does he say be ready? Not so
that you could add up to the date, and so
you could get you yourself ready, you could be aware, right,
(11:38):
And so I think you could get lost in eschatology
and the science of it. If that's a thing, You
can get lost in that and forget that the whole
purpose is your response to Jesus through faith in him.
Because brother, there's a ninety nine point nine percent chance
you will die on this earth before that happens. How
(12:02):
do I know that? I don't. But that's just math.
It's just probability because people have been saying it for
two thousand years. Oh you say, now's different. Now's different.
We got COVID, we got AI, we got wars, we
got earthquakes, we got brother, this has always happened. This
(12:23):
has been happening for a long time. Don't get caught
up in it. It can mess you up. It starts,
it starts deviating you from the truth. Jesus is the truth.
Trust him. Don't worry about the signs. That's a wicked
generation that looks after the signs. You'll know in your
(12:48):
heart because of the fruits that you produce in your life.
You'll know if you're in right standing then only God
can do that. Focus on that, focus on loving others,
serving others, spreading the Great Commission to all the nations.
Worry about that and not Fox News and seeing in
(13:10):
and what's happening in Russia. Don't dive into that. It
becomes unhealthy. I've talked way too much about it. That's
my point. Appreciate you, brother. Next question here published songwriting.
Hey Granger, my name is Travis. I'm twenty eight years old,
single with zero dependence. I live in Georgia. Outside of work,
(13:31):
I have a passion for creating, writing storytelling that I
believe God has instilled in me. As of a few
years ago. I've taken a deep interest in writing traditional
country songs after they started randomly coming up in my mind.
I am not a performer, but I've enjoyed fleshing out
the lyrics and practicing singing with them and with my
acoustic I soon plan on demoing them to blank disc.
(13:57):
It's not much, but it's what I could do for now.
Forgive my ignorance and loaded questions, but there's much about
the Nashville grind and music grow publishing companies that I
just don't understand as an outsider, and I'm really ashamed
to ask, but here goes. Is it possible for writers
to submit demos that they've made to publishing companies like
novelists do, or reach out to them in any way
(14:19):
without being summoned via recommendation? Or all songwriters under contract
session writers as well, or do the sum work alone
and continuously submit their finished work whilst under contract. I
don't intend to sound wishful or disrespectful in any way
by asking. The waters are rough and chances are minuscule
(14:42):
to quote everything that glitters is not gold. There's certain
things a man just doesn't know. If you decide to
read this, thank you so much for allowing the unique
opportunity with your personal time. You're the man, christ Is King.
Thanks for everything. Sorry about the link, all right, brother,
I appreciate you. Man. Travis twenty eight years old. Travis,
you speak like an older man, like you've got a
(15:03):
wise soul. To your brother, shout out to Georgia. Love
that state, and let's dive in here. First thing I'm
gonna recommend to you is talking with a performance rights organization.
It's a pro BMI, ASCAP, seasack. You probably heard of those,
(15:26):
or maybe you've seen the little stickers on a restaurant
or a music venue. Little sticker says BMI or ASCAP
or sea sack. Talk to them. What they do is
they represent the songwriters and they get the songwriters paid
based on how many times that song has performed worldwide
in all media. That could be at a music venue
(15:48):
or a restaurant like we just mentioned, could be on
the radio, could be in a jukebox. It used to
be a really big thing, and every other way that
a song can perform and pay the songwriters. So that's
their whole job. And they're there for the writers and
so they they are staffed up to handle people like you,
(16:09):
to answer your questions. They can be the go between
between a publisher and the writer. They were for me
a long, long, long time ago. When I first did this,
I'd signed with BMI and doesn't There's no requirement, there's
no test or audition. Anyone could sign with BMI, ASCAP
(16:33):
or CEASAC and you're then you're a BMI writer and
you could use the privileges that you get from being
with that specific pro So I'll start there. And and
aside from that, you're twenty eight years old. You love songwriting, man,
(16:57):
just write a lot and put it on YouTube. It's
an amazing time to be a songwriter because this is
something I didn't have when I was twenty eight. You
could just throw it up on the internet on TikTok
or Twitter or YouTube whatever, Spotify. You can get every
song up right now through different different platforms. It's super easy.
(17:20):
It's amazing. You could start getting traction on YouTube right away.
That's something that you have an advantage on every other
songwriter that lived in the decades past. So I wouldn't
worry so much about publishing companies and songwriting contracts. There's
not much money in that anyway, so I wouldn't think
about it. What's gonna happen is you get a song
(17:41):
that goes viral on YouTube because it's just a great song.
You're gonna have any publishing company in Nashville wanting to
sign you because of that. So focus on that. Don't
get the cart in front of the horse. You know
what I mean. If you go sign with random publishing company,
which is near impossible to do, Jesus will I'm back
before you go out and just get randomly get a
(18:03):
publishing contract. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. That's an extreme. I've
tying the two questions together here, but it's it's just
the way it is. It's very, very difficult to get
a publishing contract if no one knows it and you
don't know anyone, and you don't even know how to
get your music on a disc, which, by the way,
doesn't happen anymore. Don't you don't get music on disc anymore? Brother,
(18:26):
it didn't happen. They go they go digital on YouTube sots.
Let's get to let's get to recording. Let's get that
guitar out. Let's learn a simple recording software like pro Tools,
like I'm literally using right now staring at the screen
off camera, looking at pro Tools. I've been using this
since two thousand and two. I got my first pro
(18:49):
Tools set up in two thousand and two. That's a
long time ago. It's like twenty one years ago, right,
So learn something like that recording software on your computer.
Get a couple of microphones. You don't have to spend
a lot of money. Put one on your guitar, one
on your vocal and record you some songs and get
them up on social media if one goes viral. Now
(19:12):
you've got something to talk about. Let's take a break
and you're at back. Podcast is brought to you all today.
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If you've got a question from me, email Grangersmith Podcast
at gmail dot com. I'm happy to add it to
the queue here and pull up an email. I don't
(21:41):
study these questions beforehand. I don't read them. I don't
have any notes. We're just going blind. That's what we do. Okay,
So next question. The subject line here on the next
queue says Christianity and tobacco. Hey, mister Smith, my name
is Jeremy Moss. I wanted to email in regard to
tobacco use. So I've been dipping for about eight years
(22:03):
and I'm twenty five years old. Now. I have struggled
quitting and I still have not been able to yet. However,
I wanted to pick your brain on the topic. Can
you still serve God and follow God wholeheartedly even if
using tobacco or alcohol? I don't drink anymore, only dip.
Side note, love your music, especially the album you did
(22:25):
for your movie. Greatest Hits by you and Matthew West
is a great song. I've been listening here lately. Please
keep up the good work you and Amberdoo. Brother Jeremy,
thank you so much, and thanks for the question. It's
a good question. It's a solid question. Let's dive in here.
Your question is can you still serve God and follow
(22:47):
God wholeheartedly even if using tobacco or alcohol? Well, the
short answer is yes, because we are saved by grace
through faith. This is not our own doing. It is
the work of God, so that no man may boast.
(23:08):
That comes out of Ephesians too. And we are not
saved by anything that we do or don't do, it
is the work of God through grace and our faith.
Right essentially, that's it. You can't add anything or subtract
anything from that. But you're talking about serving Him. So
(23:30):
if you are in faith and you're believing, and you're trusting,
and you see the fruits of the spirit, the fruits
of serving God, what are those fruits? Jesus says it
many times. You know, you know it's almost lost these
days in twenty twenty three, that there are many commandments
(23:50):
in the New Testament. There are commandments, rules, guidelines in
the New Testament. Can you believe that? We thought that
was just in the Old Testament, But it's not. And
we could see the fruits, the greatest of which is love,
loving others, serving others, the desire to love others, the
(24:13):
desire to feed the sheep, and the desire to shepherd
the flock, the desire to take God's people and bring
the word to them, and hurt for the lost, and
need need to be able to serve and help, to
be able to wash someone else's feet. That's what Jesus
(24:34):
did and we're supposed to model that. That is serving him.
And you could do that wholeheartedly and also have an addiction,
but that is not something you want to stay in.
So this is sanctification now we're talking about as you
become a believer and things start to shed away, as
sin starts to peel off of you, you continue to grow.
(24:58):
You could serve wholeheartedly at the beginning while you still
are in different scenarios of problems around you. But as
those things peel off, which they need to, that is
a sign that you're being sanctified and you're growing in
your faith. So, for instance, I wouldn't look back on
(25:22):
you when you first became a Christian, when you were
let's see, because now you say, I don't drink anymore, right,
I wouldn't look back on you when you became born
again and you became alive to Christ and you had
a beer. I wouldn't say you're not serving him wholeheartedly.
Yet I would say, in your current state of sanctification,
(25:44):
you're serving him wholeheartedly. But there's so much more to
come for you. You just don't know it yet. You're
a baby. You are drinking milk, right this little Paul says,
we start with milk, but we need to start eating
solid foods soon. What Granger, what are you talking about? Okay,
here's what I'm talking about. I'm diving into your question specifically.
(26:06):
At the beginning, you said, I have struggled with quitting
and I have not been able to yet. That's the problem.
You have an addiction that you cannot shake. That is
the contradiction you're having right now. That is the stirring
(26:29):
you're having. That's why you emailed me why. That's why
you are being sanctified in a way that you might
not even be able to understand or explain right now.
But the reason you emailed me is because you know
there's a problem. You're like, Man, I got something going
on and I can't shake it. It doesn't mean you're
not serving God. It just means the spirit is sanctifying you.
Going time to shed it. I want you to rely
(26:52):
on me. I want all of you. I don't want
part of you. I don't want a little sliver of you.
I want all of you, and I don't have all
of you while you're addicted to this, so shake it.
And then you go, oh, why do I feel so convicted?
That word right? Why do I feel so guilty? We
(27:14):
could feel that guilt and conviction, and it hurts sometimes.
And this happens with all kinds of things, and it
doesn't necessarily have to be written as a sin. Let
me give you an example. Last fall, I was sitting
there watching Texas A and M football. I was like, man,
(27:34):
I get so nervous before a game. I get all
stirred up and anxious, and then the game starts and
I get angry. And then as the game's going on,
I get joyful and then angry again. And the game's
over and they lose, and I have a bad night
and I'm affected by it. And it started hitting me.
This is last fall, guys started hitting me, you got
(27:54):
a problem. You love college football too much. You're addicted
to college football in a way that it is affecting
your emotions. I'm like, really, I recognize that old sanctification feeling.
And I told my tour manager Chris. I was like, man,
I think I gotta quit college football. He goes, what, like, yeah,
(28:15):
I think I'm feeling convicted to quit college football, to
quit watching it until I could rein it in where
I could just watch it casually and not be emotionally affected,
Like where it doesn't just start affecting my daily life.
And Chris is like, oh you think so, you think
that I watch college football. So I'm sinning. I'm like, no,
it's not there's nothing to do with you sinning. This
(28:38):
sanctification is different. Okay, So you see how I'm wrapping
this all up. So, buddy, you're addicted to anything, I
don't care if it's caffeine or, in this case, tobacco.
This kind of sanctification is up to you. If you're
addicted to caffeine, that's not against the law. But if
it's if it's controlling you in a way that you
(29:00):
you need it you have to function, that's a problem.
Then you gotta quit it. Tobacco, it's not illegal. You're
old enough to have it. You're twenty five years old,
you're old enough to buy it. It's not illegal. It's
not a problem unless it becomes a problem. I know
this problem personally, and I had to quit. I no
(29:24):
longer touch it. I could speak to this personally. I
had the same conviction you're having now, and I had
to kick it. You got me. Let's move on. Next question.
(29:44):
Subject line says talking with girls, Hey Grangeard like to
stay anonymous. I'm a sophomore in high school. I got
a girl that I've been talking to for a little
while now. She's extreme. She likes me, and she wants
to date me, but it seems like she's rushing into it.
All my friends think that she's cool, and she thinks
they are cool, and all trying to get me to
do stuff with her and ask her out. My main
(30:05):
problem is I have no idea what to talk about
with her right now. I don't know if I'm ready
to date her or not. I'm assuming very young here.
I'm assuming assuming you're talking. We're talking to a teenager here,
and you're talking. Oh you said it. You said I'm
a sophomore in high school. Okay, So what is that
(30:26):
sophomore in high school? You're sixteen, maybe seventeen. Let me
hand it to you, straight, sixteen year old. Straight. There's
a girl you've been talking to. She likes you, she
(30:48):
wants to date you, she's rushing into it. All your
friends think you should do it because she's cool. Your
main problem is you don't know if you're ready or not.
Answer is you're not ready. That's it. It doesn't matter
what your friends think is cool. It doesn't matter if
(31:08):
she likes you a lot. You're not ready. How do
you know? Because you said it, I don't know if
I'm ready or not. That is the answer that you're
not ready. If there's a shadow of a doubt in there,
then you're not ready. Because the essence of being ready
(31:30):
is there's no doubt you're ready. There is no reason
to wonder if you're ready or not. You just are.
You just know it. You go, man, I like her,
no red flags. I'm in I want to ask her out.
I want to talk to her. It doesn't matter if
I don't know what to talk to her about. I'm
just gonna go up and say I like you, and
(31:52):
I don't exactly know how to say it. I don't
really know how to talk. I'm a little embarrassed because
you're so pretty. But all I do know is that
I like you. I'd like to maybe go on a
date with you. But if you're not ready, you don't
do that. Brother, You don't say that at all. You
(32:13):
tell your friends I ain't ready. Come on, man, she's cool.
I'm not ready. Okay, okay, okay, fine, man, we'll lay off.
You see her in the hallway. She's talking to you.
You say, I just want to be up front. If
you're thinking this is going somewhere like dating, I'm not
(32:34):
ready for that. It's not It's not something that you're
doing or not necessarily. I'm just I'm a little young,
and I'm not ready. Maybe one day I will be.
This is a different story, you know, if you're like
thirty years old, twenty five years old, but fifteen, sixteen, seventeen,
this is different. Okay, you're not ready. Let's grab another question.
(33:01):
Subject line on this next one straight into the queue
says tough decision. Hey, Grangel, my name is Ethan. I'm
twenty two from Colorado. Moved to Colorado a few years
ago because I felt like it was the right place
to be at the right time. My time here has
taught me a whole lot about myself, and I've grown
on my own these last few years. I'm currently trying
to decide if I should move back to Tennessee or not.
(33:24):
I don't have as much family here and not a
lot of opportunities to go back home and see them. Okay,
and I don't have a lot of opportunities to go
back home and see them. Talking about the family like
I thought I was going to be able to I'm
really struggling right now, and I don't know if this
is just a season of life or if I'm really
starting to dislike it here. I've been praying about it
(33:46):
and still confused on what to do. Ethan, Ethan, thank
you brother, appreciate the question, and shout out to Colorado
and Tennessee, two beautiful places. Listen. The first thing you
got to establish here, Ethan, is that you make sure
(34:06):
this isn't just a wondering heart, because twenty two year
olds have it. It's contagious. At twenty two, I remember
having it. And what I'm talking about is just being
in a place where you're just not really content where
you are. You're searching, and it doesn't matter if it's
Colorado or Tennessee or Hong Kong, it doesn't matter. You
(34:32):
are not finding your contentment in the place that you're living.
I don't know from your email exactly why you moved
to Colorado. You just says your email just says it
felt like it was the right place to be at
the time. I don't know what that means. I don't
know if that means you had a bad breakup in Tennessee.
(34:55):
If there was a girl in Colorado you're chasing. I
don't know. If have you had a buddy that go
to Colorado and you followed him and now he's not
there anymore. I don't know. But it doesn't I'm not
getting a clear picture by you just saying I lived
in Tennessee and I just moved to Colorado a few
years ago because it felt like it was the right
(35:15):
place to be at the time. If we're riding in
the truck together, I need to know a little bit
more information, so we'll go by what we have. You
thought you were going to move to Colorado and be
able to go back and see your family a lot.
That's what you said. You haven't had those opportunities. You're
(35:37):
trying to decide if you should just pack up and
move back to Tennessee. Now, we make these things, these
situations into huge problems when it's really not. As I'm
reading it on the podcast, I'm thinking, this is not
a huge problem. It is to you because you're in it.
You're in the middle of it. For me on the outside,
(35:58):
I'm like, dude, get out of your lease when it ends,
go stay on a couch in Tennessee or at your
family's house, whatever, and you don't have to do it
for ten years. Just go live on a couch for
a month in Tennessee, get out of your lease in Colorado,
(36:19):
and you're gonna know you're gonna be back in Tennessee, going, yeah,
this is right. It feels right to be back here.
I think through your email, you're leaving it doesn't feel
like Colorado has anything to offer you anymore. And you
are saying, I'm struggling right now. I don't know if
(36:41):
it's just a season of life or if I'm really
starting to dislike it. I'm praying, but I still feel
very confused. What are you praying for? I always like
to ask that question. I always like to just at
least prick you a little bit and ask you what
you're praying for. God, help me to make a decision,
(37:02):
help me to follow my dreams. Like what are you saying?
Because I would recommend it sounds something like God. You
are sovereign, you are present, you are aware, you are purposing,
you're planning. You know every hair on my head, you
(37:27):
know every star in the sky. I will never question you.
Got it? I feel lost. I feel like I'm searching,
and I need to put that focus back on you.
Draw me to you, let me see you for who
(37:48):
you are. I don't know why I get so confused
and I get so caught up in this world, and God,
I don't want to do that anymore. I want to
look to you. Guide me. Let me open my eyes
to see what is out that the doors that are
opened that I could walk through, and the doors that
are closed I need to turn away from. But wherever
(38:10):
I go, let it be your will, not mine. If
there's someone here in Colorado for me to see and
talk to, let me find them. It's someone back home
at Tennessee I need to be with, let me go
to them. But either way, wherever I go, let me
find contentment in you. Just wondering, Eathan, if it's anything,
if I am even in the ballpark of the prayers
(38:33):
that you're praying when you're talking about moving, I don't know.
I was once your age and I was living in Tennessee.
I'd moved there from Texas, and after four years I
felt a little wild heart and I felt like I
(38:54):
needed to go back to Texas. I like, you didn't
get to visit my family that much. I thought I
was gonna get gonna get to see them more, and
I didn't. I know what you're going through. I feel this.
Go back to your home state, that's where you belong.
(39:15):
But pray a prayer of wisdom to God that it's
not your will, it's his surrender. Give it over to him.
Things get better, all right, Love you guys, See you
next Monday. Thanks for joining me on the Grangersmith Podcast.
I appreciate all of you guys. You could help me
out by rating this podcast on iTunes. If you're on YouTube,
(39:38):
subscribe to this channel, hit that little like button and
notification spell so that you never miss anytime I upload
a video. If you have a question for me that
you would like me to answer, email Grangersmith Podcast at
gmail dot com. YII
You said, I have struggled with quitting and I have
not been able to yet. That's the problem. Hey, everybody,
(00:20):
welcome back to the podcast. This is episode one and
eighty one, and I'm just glad you're here. I'm glad
you're listening and watching wherever you're coming from. The format
of this podcast, what we do is just sit around
and talk answering your questions could be about any subject,
anything in the world. Just just email Grangersmith podcast at
gmail dot com, and we walk through it like we're
(00:41):
just two people sitting in the cab of a truck
driving on a long road trip, got the windows down,
your elbow out. Hey man, I ask you a question,
something that's been on my mind lately. And then we
walked through it like we got all the time in
the world. And I don't have notes in front of me,
I don't have famous quotes, I don't have books. I
(01:02):
haven't even read the questions at all. I'm going completely
blind off of the email Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com.
Let's get to the first one subject line here says
Mistakes says, Hey Granger, my name is Duke. I'm from
southern California. I'm just wondering if you ever make mistakes
while singing at a concert. I have never been to
(01:24):
any concert, so I don't even know if that's a
thing to sometimes mess up. I assume you play a ton,
so maybe it's hard to mess up. I don't know. Yeah,
I don't think I've ever gotten a question like that, Duke.
I appreciate you shout out to Southern Cali and the answer.
I mean, yeah, I'll mess up a lot, mess up
all the time. I've played thousands of shows in my life.
(01:47):
It's crazy to think about, but if you think about
one hundred and fifty shows a year for decades, you
do that enough. You mess up enough. The thing about
it is the time no one even knows that I
mess up, except for maybe the hardcore fans and the band.
The band will always know. We always know when one
(02:07):
of us messes up, and so we usually will look
like Toddle do a note he's never done before on guitar,
and I'll look out of the corner of my eye
and he's looking back at me because he knows that
I'm looking at him. We're like brothers, you know, like
brotherly love. It's like, man, you knew I did that,
didn't you. Of course, we speak the same language on
(02:28):
the stage, me and the band. We know each other
without saying words. We know everything we do. We know
what the looks, we know the notes, we know the
drum beats. Everything. We know if someone is doing something
different because we've done it so many times. Most of
the time the fans don't know. Sometimes one mistake from
one band member leads to another mistake from another band
(02:49):
member because a muscle memory gets messed up. You're used
to hearing this pattern of events that happen, and it
triggers something in your brain. You play this because of
all these things, and when those things don't happen, you stumble.
It's very strange how that happens if you do it
so many times in a row. Sometimes the fans do know,
(03:09):
and sometimes you know. Some mistakes are worse than others.
Most of the time it revolves around me for getting lyrics.
Every once in a while, you could start the song
and the wrong key. That's like a once every ten
year mistake. But there are a lot of things. There's
a lot of technical problems. Microphones run out of batteries,
cables go bad, stages break lights, turn off generators, blow
(03:33):
power goes out, there's all those kind of things. The
thing about me is We've played so many shows for
so many years that I've seen every kind of mistake.
And that's a great thing because I could say to myself, well,
I've played bigger shows than this and messed it up.
You know, I've played bigger shows than this on less sleep.
(03:57):
I've played bigger shows than this and been sicker than
I am now, you know. So I've kind of done
all the all the combinations of bad things I've seen
it happen, and that that gives me a sense of calm, really,
and that that could be applied to anyone that's listening
that has done something enough times you can calm yourself
(04:17):
by saying I've I've messed up in bigger situations than this.
I've had my foot in my mouth and bigger conversations
than this. And there's something very freeing about that. And
so the best thing to do when I make a
mistake is just own it instead of trying to act
(04:38):
like I'm better than a mistake. Man, I'm I make
mistakes all the time, and I just own it. It's
a good question, though, dude, next question, septic line says
Bible question says, Hey Grander. In a previous email, you
said that you believed all people that are alive on
the Earth right now will have a human death before
(05:01):
Jesus returns. Could you make a clarification on why you
believe this and why you're certain of that. Secondly, could
you clarify what clarify why you believe most of what
John the Revelator describes in the Book of Revelation has
already happened, as well as what could have, as well
as what could have the animal symbolism that John uses
(05:25):
could have occurred in recent history. I read that exactly
like you wrote it, as well of what could have
the animal animal symbolism that John uses could have occurred
in reason Answery regards Anonymous. Okay, Anonymous, Yeah, let's dive
into this. I'm gonna say one thing off the bat.
I didn't. I didn't say what I'm uh what I'm
(05:49):
accused of saying here you said. I heard in a
previous previous podcast you said that all people that are
alive on Earth right now will have a human death
before where Jesus returns. I did not say that because
it's impossible, and I wouldn't have said something that is
impossible to know. It's like Napoleon, dynamite Napoleon. How could
(06:14):
anyone even know that? No one can know that. So
what I said was probably knowing me. I probably said
something like most likely ninety nine percent chance or something
like that, most likely all people that are alive on
Earth right now will not see Jesus return in the
(06:37):
way that John describes it in the Book of Revelation. Okay,
is that so wrong to say that? Is that so
wrong to say, here's the deal, Jesus. What we're talking
about here is eschatology. Eschatology is one of the most debated,
one of the most confusing things in the entire Bible.
It's the study of end times. And the thing about
(07:01):
it is is when Jesus came to Earth, right, God
had the Abrahamic Covenant, then he had the Mosaic Covenant.
When Jesus came, when when the word became flesh in
John won right, the Abrahamic Covenant was fulfilled. Jesus fulfilled
(07:29):
the covenant. He became the new Covenant. The Mosaic covenant
was to show people who God is and to give
them the rules on what was expected of them. When
Jesus came, he fulfilled the law and fulfilled all the law,
the prophets, including the Abrahamic Covenant. He became. Then he
(07:54):
became what people needed to turn to instead of themselves.
Abraham's covenant was based on faith. That's what Jesus fulfilled.
So here's the deal. The people before that, the people
of God, were based on genealogy, on the bloodline. When
(08:18):
Jesus came, the definition of God's people changed. It became new.
God didn't change. The definition of the people became new.
And the new definition of the people was how do
you respond to the sun? It was based on your
response to the Son of God. Okay, so we're moving
(08:41):
through this. What happened in that time, here's my point, Anonymous,
What happened in that time when the Word became flesh,
the end times dawned, the birth of Christ. When the
Word became flesh, the end of times dawned. That was
(09:02):
the beginning of the end of times. We're still living
in it. It's been two thousand years. So from that
day everyone thought, at some point, hey, maybe Jesus is
coming back today. Maybe he's coming back tomorrow. Maybe He's
coming back in my lifetime. For two thousand years, people
have said that and thought that there's technically nothing wrong
(09:26):
with a hopeful eschatology in that way, reading revelation specifically
looking to the sky for yourself. It's kind of fun, okay,
But it can become an obsession, and that's a problem.
That's a big problem. And I got a feeling, brother,
(09:47):
got to feeling through your email, the tone of your email,
that this is a problem for you. And that's why
I speak up about this in this podcast because I
used to fall in like in high school. I used
to study this stuff and get really into it and
look at the signs and be really into the signs
and thinking Jesus is gonna come back. And I did
(10:10):
it in a way that's not healthy. You see how
I said that. It's not that it's unhealthy for you
or anyone else, but I was doing it in a
way that becomes unhealthy because you start thinking about all
that stuff, and you start adding up these signs and
these prophecies, and you start putting it aligning it with
(10:32):
like world events and global leaders and things that are
going on in the culture, and you start trying to
add it up and like decipher it. When Jesus says,
no one knows, no one knows, no one will know,
that's what he says. He didn't say no one will
(10:53):
know except for the smart people that put all the
puzzle together. He said, no one's gonna know. It doesn't
matter if you get the Book of Revelation and the
Book of Daniel and you put all the prophecies together
and then line them up with the United States and
then China and then the new state of Israel in
(11:16):
nineteen forty six, and you add all this stuff up.
Jesus said, no one's gonna know. Why does he say
get ready? Why does he say be ready? Not so
that you could add up to the date, and so
you could get you yourself ready, you could be aware, right,
(11:38):
And so I think you could get lost in eschatology
and the science of it. If that's a thing, You
can get lost in that and forget that the whole
purpose is your response to Jesus through faith in him.
Because brother, there's a ninety nine point nine percent chance
you will die on this earth before that happens. How
(12:02):
do I know that? I don't. But that's just math.
It's just probability because people have been saying it for
two thousand years. Oh you say, now's different. Now's different.
We got COVID, we got AI, we got wars, we
got earthquakes, we got brother, this has always happened. This
(12:23):
has been happening for a long time. Don't get caught
up in it. It can mess you up. It starts,
it starts deviating you from the truth. Jesus is the truth.
Trust him. Don't worry about the signs. That's a wicked
generation that looks after the signs. You'll know in your
(12:48):
heart because of the fruits that you produce in your life.
You'll know if you're in right standing then only God
can do that. Focus on that, focus on loving others,
serving others, spreading the Great Commission to all the nations.
Worry about that and not Fox News and seeing in
(13:10):
and what's happening in Russia. Don't dive into that. It
becomes unhealthy. I've talked way too much about it. That's
my point. Appreciate you, brother. Next question here published songwriting.
Hey Granger, my name is Travis. I'm twenty eight years old,
single with zero dependence. I live in Georgia. Outside of work,
(13:31):
I have a passion for creating, writing storytelling that I
believe God has instilled in me. As of a few
years ago. I've taken a deep interest in writing traditional
country songs after they started randomly coming up in my mind.
I am not a performer, but I've enjoyed fleshing out
the lyrics and practicing singing with them and with my
acoustic I soon plan on demoing them to blank disc.
(13:57):
It's not much, but it's what I could do for now.
Forgive my ignorance and loaded questions, but there's much about
the Nashville grind and music grow publishing companies that I
just don't understand as an outsider, and I'm really ashamed
to ask, but here goes. Is it possible for writers
to submit demos that they've made to publishing companies like
novelists do, or reach out to them in any way
(14:19):
without being summoned via recommendation? Or all songwriters under contract
session writers as well, or do the sum work alone
and continuously submit their finished work whilst under contract. I
don't intend to sound wishful or disrespectful in any way
by asking. The waters are rough and chances are minuscule
(14:42):
to quote everything that glitters is not gold. There's certain
things a man just doesn't know. If you decide to
read this, thank you so much for allowing the unique
opportunity with your personal time. You're the man, christ Is King.
Thanks for everything. Sorry about the link, all right, brother,
I appreciate you. Man. Travis twenty eight years old. Travis,
you speak like an older man, like you've got a
(15:03):
wise soul. To your brother, shout out to Georgia. Love
that state, and let's dive in here. First thing I'm
gonna recommend to you is talking with a performance rights organization.
It's a pro BMI, ASCAP, seasack. You probably heard of those,
(15:26):
or maybe you've seen the little stickers on a restaurant
or a music venue. Little sticker says BMI or ASCAP
or sea sack. Talk to them. What they do is
they represent the songwriters and they get the songwriters paid
based on how many times that song has performed worldwide
in all media. That could be at a music venue
(15:48):
or a restaurant like we just mentioned, could be on
the radio, could be in a jukebox. It used to
be a really big thing, and every other way that
a song can perform and pay the songwriters. So that's
their whole job. And they're there for the writers and
so they they are staffed up to handle people like you,
(16:09):
to answer your questions. They can be the go between
between a publisher and the writer. They were for me
a long, long, long time ago. When I first did this,
I'd signed with BMI and doesn't There's no requirement, there's
no test or audition. Anyone could sign with BMI, ASCAP
(16:33):
or CEASAC and you're then you're a BMI writer and
you could use the privileges that you get from being
with that specific pro So I'll start there. And and
aside from that, you're twenty eight years old. You love songwriting, man,
(16:57):
just write a lot and put it on YouTube. It's
an amazing time to be a songwriter because this is
something I didn't have when I was twenty eight. You
could just throw it up on the internet on TikTok
or Twitter or YouTube whatever, Spotify. You can get every
song up right now through different different platforms. It's super easy.
(17:20):
It's amazing. You could start getting traction on YouTube right away.
That's something that you have an advantage on every other
songwriter that lived in the decades past. So I wouldn't
worry so much about publishing companies and songwriting contracts. There's
not much money in that anyway, so I wouldn't think
about it. What's gonna happen is you get a song
(17:41):
that goes viral on YouTube because it's just a great song.
You're gonna have any publishing company in Nashville wanting to
sign you because of that. So focus on that. Don't
get the cart in front of the horse. You know
what I mean. If you go sign with random publishing company,
which is near impossible to do, Jesus will I'm back
before you go out and just get randomly get a
(18:03):
publishing contract. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. That's an extreme. I've
tying the two questions together here, but it's it's just
the way it is. It's very, very difficult to get
a publishing contract if no one knows it and you
don't know anyone, and you don't even know how to
get your music on a disc, which, by the way,
doesn't happen anymore. Don't you don't get music on disc anymore? Brother,
(18:26):
it didn't happen. They go they go digital on YouTube sots.
Let's get to let's get to recording. Let's get that
guitar out. Let's learn a simple recording software like pro Tools,
like I'm literally using right now staring at the screen
off camera, looking at pro Tools. I've been using this
since two thousand and two. I got my first pro
(18:49):
Tools set up in two thousand and two. That's a
long time ago. It's like twenty one years ago, right,
So learn something like that recording software on your computer.
Get a couple of microphones. You don't have to spend
a lot of money. Put one on your guitar, one
on your vocal and record you some songs and get
them up on social media if one goes viral. Now
(19:12):
you've got something to talk about. Let's take a break
and you're at back. Podcast is brought to you all today.
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If you've got a question from me, email Grangersmith Podcast
at gmail dot com. I'm happy to add it to
the queue here and pull up an email. I don't
(21:41):
study these questions beforehand. I don't read them. I don't
have any notes. We're just going blind. That's what we do. Okay,
So next question. The subject line here on the next
queue says Christianity and tobacco. Hey, mister Smith, my name
is Jeremy Moss. I wanted to email in regard to
tobacco use. So I've been dipping for about eight years
(22:03):
and I'm twenty five years old. Now. I have struggled
quitting and I still have not been able to yet. However,
I wanted to pick your brain on the topic. Can
you still serve God and follow God wholeheartedly even if
using tobacco or alcohol? I don't drink anymore, only dip.
Side note, love your music, especially the album you did
(22:25):
for your movie. Greatest Hits by you and Matthew West
is a great song. I've been listening here lately. Please
keep up the good work you and Amberdoo. Brother Jeremy,
thank you so much, and thanks for the question. It's
a good question. It's a solid question. Let's dive in here.
Your question is can you still serve God and follow
(22:47):
God wholeheartedly even if using tobacco or alcohol? Well, the
short answer is yes, because we are saved by grace
through faith. This is not our own doing. It is
the work of God, so that no man may boast.
(23:08):
That comes out of Ephesians too. And we are not
saved by anything that we do or don't do, it
is the work of God through grace and our faith.
Right essentially, that's it. You can't add anything or subtract
anything from that. But you're talking about serving Him. So
(23:30):
if you are in faith and you're believing, and you're trusting,
and you see the fruits of the spirit, the fruits
of serving God, what are those fruits? Jesus says it
many times. You know, you know it's almost lost these
days in twenty twenty three, that there are many commandments
(23:50):
in the New Testament. There are commandments, rules, guidelines in
the New Testament. Can you believe that? We thought that
was just in the Old Testament, But it's not. And
we could see the fruits, the greatest of which is love,
loving others, serving others, the desire to love others, the
(24:13):
desire to feed the sheep, and the desire to shepherd
the flock, the desire to take God's people and bring
the word to them, and hurt for the lost, and
need need to be able to serve and help, to
be able to wash someone else's feet. That's what Jesus
(24:34):
did and we're supposed to model that. That is serving him.
And you could do that wholeheartedly and also have an addiction,
but that is not something you want to stay in.
So this is sanctification now we're talking about as you
become a believer and things start to shed away, as
sin starts to peel off of you, you continue to grow.
(24:58):
You could serve wholeheartedly at the beginning while you still
are in different scenarios of problems around you. But as
those things peel off, which they need to, that is
a sign that you're being sanctified and you're growing in
your faith. So, for instance, I wouldn't look back on
(25:22):
you when you first became a Christian, when you were
let's see, because now you say, I don't drink anymore, right,
I wouldn't look back on you when you became born
again and you became alive to Christ and you had
a beer. I wouldn't say you're not serving him wholeheartedly.
Yet I would say, in your current state of sanctification,
(25:44):
you're serving him wholeheartedly. But there's so much more to
come for you. You just don't know it yet. You're
a baby. You are drinking milk, right this little Paul says,
we start with milk, but we need to start eating
solid foods soon. What Granger, what are you talking about? Okay,
here's what I'm talking about. I'm diving into your question specifically.
(26:06):
At the beginning, you said, I have struggled with quitting
and I have not been able to yet. That's the problem.
You have an addiction that you cannot shake. That is
the contradiction you're having right now. That is the stirring
(26:29):
you're having. That's why you emailed me why. That's why
you are being sanctified in a way that you might
not even be able to understand or explain right now.
But the reason you emailed me is because you know
there's a problem. You're like, Man, I got something going
on and I can't shake it. It doesn't mean you're
not serving God. It just means the spirit is sanctifying you.
Going time to shed it. I want you to rely
(26:52):
on me. I want all of you. I don't want
part of you. I don't want a little sliver of you.
I want all of you, and I don't have all
of you while you're addicted to this, so shake it.
And then you go, oh, why do I feel so convicted?
That word right? Why do I feel so guilty? We
(27:14):
could feel that guilt and conviction, and it hurts sometimes.
And this happens with all kinds of things, and it
doesn't necessarily have to be written as a sin. Let
me give you an example. Last fall, I was sitting
there watching Texas A and M football. I was like, man,
(27:34):
I get so nervous before a game. I get all
stirred up and anxious, and then the game starts and
I get angry. And then as the game's going on,
I get joyful and then angry again. And the game's
over and they lose, and I have a bad night
and I'm affected by it. And it started hitting me.
This is last fall, guys started hitting me, you got
(27:54):
a problem. You love college football too much. You're addicted
to college football in a way that it is affecting
your emotions. I'm like, really, I recognize that old sanctification feeling.
And I told my tour manager Chris. I was like, man,
I think I gotta quit college football. He goes, what, like, yeah,
(28:15):
I think I'm feeling convicted to quit college football, to
quit watching it until I could rein it in where
I could just watch it casually and not be emotionally affected,
Like where it doesn't just start affecting my daily life.
And Chris is like, oh you think so, you think
that I watch college football. So I'm sinning. I'm like, no,
it's not there's nothing to do with you sinning. This
(28:38):
sanctification is different. Okay, So you see how I'm wrapping
this all up. So, buddy, you're addicted to anything, I
don't care if it's caffeine or, in this case, tobacco.
This kind of sanctification is up to you. If you're
addicted to caffeine, that's not against the law. But if
it's if it's controlling you in a way that you
(29:00):
you need it you have to function, that's a problem.
Then you gotta quit it. Tobacco, it's not illegal. You're
old enough to have it. You're twenty five years old,
you're old enough to buy it. It's not illegal. It's
not a problem unless it becomes a problem. I know
this problem personally, and I had to quit. I no
(29:24):
longer touch it. I could speak to this personally. I
had the same conviction you're having now, and I had
to kick it. You got me. Let's move on. Next question.
(29:44):
Subject line says talking with girls, Hey Grangeard like to
stay anonymous. I'm a sophomore in high school. I got
a girl that I've been talking to for a little
while now. She's extreme. She likes me, and she wants
to date me, but it seems like she's rushing into it.
All my friends think that she's cool, and she thinks
they are cool, and all trying to get me to
do stuff with her and ask her out. My main
(30:05):
problem is I have no idea what to talk about
with her right now. I don't know if I'm ready
to date her or not. I'm assuming very young here.
I'm assuming assuming you're talking. We're talking to a teenager here,
and you're talking. Oh you said it. You said I'm
a sophomore in high school. Okay, So what is that
(30:26):
sophomore in high school? You're sixteen, maybe seventeen. Let me
hand it to you, straight, sixteen year old. Straight. There's
a girl you've been talking to. She likes you, she
(30:48):
wants to date you, she's rushing into it. All your
friends think you should do it because she's cool. Your
main problem is you don't know if you're ready or not.
Answer is you're not ready. That's it. It doesn't matter
what your friends think is cool. It doesn't matter if
(31:08):
she likes you a lot. You're not ready. How do
you know? Because you said it, I don't know if
I'm ready or not. That is the answer that you're
not ready. If there's a shadow of a doubt in there,
then you're not ready. Because the essence of being ready
(31:30):
is there's no doubt you're ready. There is no reason
to wonder if you're ready or not. You just are.
You just know it. You go, man, I like her,
no red flags. I'm in I want to ask her out.
I want to talk to her. It doesn't matter if
I don't know what to talk to her about. I'm
just gonna go up and say I like you, and
(31:52):
I don't exactly know how to say it. I don't
really know how to talk. I'm a little embarrassed because
you're so pretty. But all I do know is that
I like you. I'd like to maybe go on a
date with you. But if you're not ready, you don't
do that. Brother, You don't say that at all. You
(32:13):
tell your friends I ain't ready. Come on, man, she's cool.
I'm not ready. Okay, okay, okay, fine, man, we'll lay off.
You see her in the hallway. She's talking to you.
You say, I just want to be up front. If
you're thinking this is going somewhere like dating, I'm not
(32:34):
ready for that. It's not It's not something that you're
doing or not necessarily. I'm just I'm a little young,
and I'm not ready. Maybe one day I will be.
This is a different story, you know, if you're like
thirty years old, twenty five years old, but fifteen, sixteen, seventeen,
this is different. Okay, you're not ready. Let's grab another question.
(33:01):
Subject line on this next one straight into the queue
says tough decision. Hey, Grangel, my name is Ethan. I'm
twenty two from Colorado. Moved to Colorado a few years
ago because I felt like it was the right place
to be at the right time. My time here has
taught me a whole lot about myself, and I've grown
on my own these last few years. I'm currently trying
to decide if I should move back to Tennessee or not.
(33:24):
I don't have as much family here and not a
lot of opportunities to go back home and see them. Okay,
and I don't have a lot of opportunities to go
back home and see them. Talking about the family like
I thought I was going to be able to I'm
really struggling right now, and I don't know if this
is just a season of life or if I'm really
starting to dislike it here. I've been praying about it
(33:46):
and still confused on what to do. Ethan, Ethan, thank
you brother, appreciate the question, and shout out to Colorado
and Tennessee, two beautiful places. Listen. The first thing you
got to establish here, Ethan, is that you make sure
(34:06):
this isn't just a wondering heart, because twenty two year
olds have it. It's contagious. At twenty two, I remember
having it. And what I'm talking about is just being
in a place where you're just not really content where
you are. You're searching, and it doesn't matter if it's
Colorado or Tennessee or Hong Kong, it doesn't matter. You
(34:32):
are not finding your contentment in the place that you're living.
I don't know from your email exactly why you moved
to Colorado. You just says your email just says it
felt like it was the right place to be at
the time. I don't know what that means. I don't
know if that means you had a bad breakup in Tennessee.
(34:55):
If there was a girl in Colorado you're chasing. I
don't know. If have you had a buddy that go
to Colorado and you followed him and now he's not
there anymore. I don't know. But it doesn't I'm not
getting a clear picture by you just saying I lived
in Tennessee and I just moved to Colorado a few
years ago because it felt like it was the right
(35:15):
place to be at the time. If we're riding in
the truck together, I need to know a little bit
more information, so we'll go by what we have. You
thought you were going to move to Colorado and be
able to go back and see your family a lot.
That's what you said. You haven't had those opportunities. You're
(35:37):
trying to decide if you should just pack up and
move back to Tennessee. Now, we make these things, these
situations into huge problems when it's really not. As I'm
reading it on the podcast, I'm thinking, this is not
a huge problem. It is to you because you're in it.
You're in the middle of it. For me on the outside,
(35:58):
I'm like, dude, get out of your lease when it ends,
go stay on a couch in Tennessee or at your
family's house, whatever, and you don't have to do it
for ten years. Just go live on a couch for
a month in Tennessee, get out of your lease in Colorado,
(36:19):
and you're gonna know you're gonna be back in Tennessee, going, yeah,
this is right. It feels right to be back here.
I think through your email, you're leaving it doesn't feel
like Colorado has anything to offer you anymore. And you
are saying, I'm struggling right now. I don't know if
(36:41):
it's just a season of life or if I'm really
starting to dislike it. I'm praying, but I still feel
very confused. What are you praying for? I always like
to ask that question. I always like to just at
least prick you a little bit and ask you what
you're praying for. God, help me to make a decision,
(37:02):
help me to follow my dreams. Like what are you saying?
Because I would recommend it sounds something like God. You
are sovereign, you are present, you are aware, you are purposing,
you're planning. You know every hair on my head, you
(37:27):
know every star in the sky. I will never question you.
Got it? I feel lost. I feel like I'm searching,
and I need to put that focus back on you.
Draw me to you, let me see you for who
(37:48):
you are. I don't know why I get so confused
and I get so caught up in this world, and God,
I don't want to do that anymore. I want to
look to you. Guide me. Let me open my eyes
to see what is out that the doors that are
opened that I could walk through, and the doors that
are closed I need to turn away from. But wherever
(38:10):
I go, let it be your will, not mine. If
there's someone here in Colorado for me to see and
talk to, let me find them. It's someone back home
at Tennessee I need to be with, let me go
to them. But either way, wherever I go, let me
find contentment in you. Just wondering, Eathan, if it's anything,
if I am even in the ballpark of the prayers
(38:33):
that you're praying when you're talking about moving, I don't know.
I was once your age and I was living in Tennessee.
I'd moved there from Texas, and after four years I
felt a little wild heart and I felt like I
(38:54):
needed to go back to Texas. I like, you didn't
get to visit my family that much. I thought I
was gonna get gonna get to see them more, and
I didn't. I know what you're going through. I feel this.
Go back to your home state, that's where you belong.
(39:15):
But pray a prayer of wisdom to God that it's
not your will, it's his surrender. Give it over to him.
Things get better, all right, Love you guys, See you
next Monday. Thanks for joining me on the Grangersmith Podcast.
I appreciate all of you guys. You could help me
out by rating this podcast on iTunes. If you're on YouTube,
(39:38):
subscribe to this channel, hit that little like button and
notification spell so that you never miss anytime I upload
a video. If you have a question for me that
you would like me to answer, email Grangersmith Podcast at
gmail dot com. YII
Host
Granger Smith
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