December 9, 2023 • 32 mins
Ever find yourself caught in the relentless cycle of life, longing for a moment to simply catch your breath? Let me promise you, this episode of Finding Faith and Losing Sleep podcast is your lighthouse in the storm, guiding you towards peace and tranquility. Diving headfirst into the life-altering wisdom of John Mark Comer's book "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry", we explore how the rapid pace of modern living is hindering our spiritual growth and well-being. Drawing inspiration from the biblical story of James and John, we discuss the profound impact of slowing down, and how it allows us to cherish what truly matters - nurturing our relationship with God and helping others do the same.
Ever wondered how the ticking clock controls productivity and rest in our Christian walk? Well, we've got some fascinating insights for you! We navigate the tricky terrain of schedules and deadlines, and how they often lead to more harm than good. Reflecting on our own experiences with guilt around taking breaks and the restorative power of vacations, we encourage finding that sweet spot between productivity and rest. Equally captivating is our conversation around the community-building effect of power outages, and the importance of rest - physical, mental, and spiritual.
As we get closer to the holiday season, we thought it would be fitting to talk about finding peace amidst the hustle and bustle. From personal techniques like solitude and prayer to sharing the true essence of Christmas, we've got a thought-provoking discussion lined up for you. So, tune in, slow down, and join us on this enlightening journey of faith and life. This isn't just another podcast episode—it's an invitation to a calmer, more fulfilled life.
Email: findingfaith.losingsleep@gmail.com
Twitter: @FindingFaithPod
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time to wake up and pray up here on the Finding
Faith and Cruisin' Sleep podcast, the traditional podcast made
by untraditional people for,hopefully, a traditional
audience looking and seeking togrow closer to God and just to
solve life's problems.
I think I synopsed it.
Is that even a word?
Pierre, you are a producer.
Is that an official word?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I don't believe that's a word, but you made it.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
You know what I've missed?
Yeah, well, I try.
I'm thinking about coming upwith my own dictionary one day.
If you write the dictionary,basically you're writing
everything, not only what wordsmean all the time, but you're
just setting trends left andright.
Dictionary is a live and activebook, just like the Bible is.
You can call it WestismsWestisms.
(00:50):
I like that.
Hey, michelle, that is Michelle.
That is Michelle and Pierre.
They are a married couple onthis podcast and they have
joined me for some reason.
I'm not quite sure why, butthey are.
And look, they are in a hurry.
I am in a hurry today and it'skind of fitting because, pierre,
you texted me and you said, hey, we need to do a lesson on
(01:12):
hurrying, because I'm reading abook about hurrying and I guess
that's what we need to do withthis episode.
Pierre, we could talk about howto slow down during this
holiday season a little bit aswell.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, absolutely yeah .
We're in a hurry, you're in ahurry, and I'm under the weather
too.
I'm fighting strep right nowbut it felt important to get an
episode out, and the book I wasreading is called the Roofless
Elimination of Hurry and it's byJohn Mark Hummer, and it really
just dives into a lot of thingsin life that have progressed
(01:43):
from, obviously, not just thebiblical times, but even from
like the 60s 70s up until now,and how we really just need to
think back to some of thosesimpler times and slow down to
really enjoy life.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Now, michelle, I always picture Pierre as being a
slow, methodical man anyway,kind of the way he thinks, and
him and I do a different podcastas well, talking about sports,
and he's the one who alwayscalms me down about things.
And when I talk to you,michelle, I have perceived that
you are more the reactionaryperson in that relationship,
(02:18):
more like I am as well, justkind of reactionary here.
Am I perceiving that right?
I think you're right, wes, yes,okay.
All right, I know I'm right.
I thought I was right Two hoursago.
Whatever I was thinking aboutit, I did.
And, michelle, whatever I thinkabout people that hurried in
the Bible and wanted quickresults about things I think
about, well, I guess it wasJames and John, the sons of
(02:40):
Zebedee, if I'm not mistaken.
That's who it was over in thebook of Luke, whenever people
rejected Jesus' teachings andthey're like hey, jesus, you
want us to cast down fire?
Ask God to cast down fire fromheaven on them and strike them
dead, and Jesus was like no,slow down.
I don't think he quiteunderstand the point of why I'm
here.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
The sons of thunder, I believe, is what Jesus refers
to them as, and that was thecase, if I remember correctly.
They were in Samaria aroundthat time and had some pushback
from that culture who didn'tlike them, and that was the
response let's strike them down.
And Jesus was like no, I camefrom them as well.
(03:19):
And again, like you justmentioned, don't be quick to
judge not just those people, butwhat I came here for.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
And it's easy to get in a hurry this holiday season,
and I think that it is becausewe have so many different things
on our plate, so many things todo, and maybe we forget our
purpose on why we're doing thosethings as well.
This is going to be an episodeto try and encourage you to do
things, to just not sit back andwatch holiday movies all the
time, but at the same time,we're going to try and persuade
(03:48):
people to not only slow downduring the holidays, but slow
down in life in general, to beable to take time to grow closer
to God, because our purposehere in this life is to grow
closer to God, to form arelationship with Him, but also
to pass that along to some otherpeople that maybe don't have
that same kind of ability oropportunity or know-how on how
(04:11):
to start a relationship with Godor even just to become better
people and solve their ownproblems.
I guess that's what we're hereto do, I think, as Christians,
pierre and Michelle, is to justhelp people along the way, just
like we've been helped and byall means, we're not perfect at
all, so we still need a lot ofhelping.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Boy, isn't that the truth?
I know I do, and I think youhit the nail on the proverbial
head.
Like we all have a tendency totry to rush through everything
in life and I think we have forlack of a better term over
simplified things, with all thetechnology and such that we have
(04:53):
that it's always instantgratification, we want
everything right now, and thenwe're on to the next thing and
on to the next thing, and itmakes that slowing down almost
scary, almost fearful, like if Ido that, something else is
going to happen, and I thinkit's just always staying busy
and hurried and I don't thinkit's healthy for us to be
(05:17):
completely honest with you.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So I know Pierre's probably got something to say
about that too, I mean it's notand I know like so if in the
book itself it just talks abouthurry being the great enemy of
spiritual life.
And when you think about that,like, when you think of enemies
I often think of like villains,you know obviously from like
superhero movies and the villaincomes to basically is trying to
(05:42):
ruin, ruin everything, ruin thecity, ruin marriages, ruin life
.
And when you look at the Bibleit says you know, the devil
comes to still kill and destroy.
He wants to ruin you and areason in a way to get, I think,
to that is through distractionand through hurry.
If you can have someonehurrying along in life to where
(06:05):
they're missing, you know thethings they should be taking in,
the things they should beenjoying, maybe family members,
relationships.
If they're hurrying through allof that, then you're not, you
know, really building, you know,relationship here on earth, and
definitely not spiritually forthose we should be recruiting
for the kingdom of heaven.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, totally, and people don't really realize how
much hurrying doesn't allowpeople to transform.
And that's what we are to do.
We're supposed to have atransformation in this life from
you know, worldly creatures andeverything to more of a
spiritual mindset, and sometimeswe're so fastly just going
(06:45):
after information to be able togain knowledge.
I think a lot of times we don'tslow down long enough after
we've gathered a bunch ofinformation to allow the
information to transform us intobecoming a different creature.
I think about a tree orsomething that gains nutrients.
And sometimes you know, if youever take one of those little
seeds and put it in the groundand you watch it, you're like,
all right, come on, come on.
(07:05):
You know after a week or twoweeks even you do your due
diligence, you put it out in thesun, you water it a little bit
and the next thing you knowafter a month or I don't know
how long a seed takes to grow.
I'm not a scientist, okay, I'mnot a horticulturalist.
I might be making up wordsagain, but okay, so, but you
know you can't have that kind oftransformation from a seed into
(07:27):
something else overnight.
And sometimes as Christians,especially new Christians,
people want this transformationbam right overnight, especially
people that I've worked with inthe past who may be chemically
dependent on things and stuff.
Yes, you start out on fire, butyou got to slow the pace a
little bit at some point becauseyou can burn out really fast.
You know, you just burn out andthen you don't have that long
(07:49):
sustainable fuel that you needto keep going in that Christian
walk.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
That's true and I know so.
I know you're just kind ofgiving an example of a timeframe
, but you said a month.
So even with that, what is amonth?
Four weeks, Four weeks, 30 days?
Okay, what's what's the day?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
24 hours 24 hours.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
So where does this all come from?
It's a start and the reason Iwant to go there is so back in
the days, you know, you look at,you know labor and work Folks
with what work, basically fromsun up to sundown.
When the sun went down, thatwas there.
That was their sign to stop.
You know there's no light.
You know before electricity,that you have to end.
(08:36):
You have a stopping point.
When time got involved wheneverthat was it was it was
initially created to kind ofhelp with productivity of those
basically working sun up tosundown, because we know,
throughout different seasons thesun's up for longer but time
kind of did the exact oppositeto where it kind of put.
(08:59):
I know the word I'm looking for, but what basically?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I can make a word up if you need me to.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I can't.
But what happened is so peoplegot the sense of time and they
became kind of less productive.
Because you're you're nowworried about how long you have,
so, without thinking about thetime itself, if you're not, if
you don't have a number in mind,if you're just doing things
when you know the sun comes up,the sun comes down, it's not the
, it's not the same, whereas ifyou have seven o'clock, that's
(09:32):
your time frame.
You're now in a hurry to makeit to seven o'clock.
Something starts at seveno'clock and someone says you
show it when you want.
That's one thing.
If someone says, hey, it startsat seven, you're now keeping
track of that and you're tryingto crunch as much time or things
as you can into that time frame, into that window, and I think
(09:52):
that even goes back into theBible.
You often see like people risingup early to pray and you're
like there's no way I could dothat.
I can't rise up that early.
You know I'm I got a.
I struggle getting up at seveno'clock in the morning.
But if you think about a peoplethat didn't have time, that
were going to bed because thedaylight was gone, you know
(10:13):
right now in the winter they'regoing to bed five, six o'clock.
You're waking up, you know, two, three in the morning it
doesn't feel like two or threein the morning because you're
well rested, because you went tobed earlier, whereas we don't
do that because there's so manydifferent things now that have
been created that are adistraction, that even once the
sun goes down, you know we'refinding something else to do,
(10:36):
something to watch, and the onething that you really you really
pick up on it.
So what do people tend to saywhen you kind of ask them how
they're doing?
I'm fine, fine, and they'rewhat.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Busy.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Just busy.
People are always busy, nomatter what time of year, what's
going on.
People are always busy and Ithink what takes place is
they're in such a hurry to fillthe void of having downtime.
People don't want to rest, theywant to continue to stay busy.
(11:09):
If you get time freed up, a lotof people don't take a nap.
They figure out somethingaround the house they got to
clean up, or going to get dinnerready, or I'm going to go shop
or pick this up real fast.
They're wanting to stay busyand I think, again, that's going
to be the root of evil, becauseyou're not finding some of
those relaxation, sabbathsilence and solitude type of
(11:32):
things that you need to getspiritually involved in your
Bible and your prayers, etcetera.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Boy, I can tell you I'm guilty of that one.
That's why I actually enjoyvacation, because I can actually
feel like I can rest,especially if we go on a cruise,
because I don't have to feelguilty if I sit down.
Don't get me wrong.
There are plenty of nights thatI sit on the couch and we watch
(11:58):
something on television, but inmy head I feel guilty for
sitting there, that I have allthis to do and I should be doing
this and I should be doing that, and I never.
Actually my brain doesn't everreally shut off.
And here I'll be the first totell you that if we go to bed
and I'm looking at the ceiling,he's trying to go to bed, he's
trying to go to sleep quick.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I'm trying to go to sleep Because he knows there's a
conversation about the start.
I've got to go to bed.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Because, all of a sudden, my brain has thought of
everything.
We need to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
We had a tornado that came through our area, I don't
know five, six, 10 years ago orsomething like that.
It was just a while ago, but itdestroyed power lines in our
area and there were justsections of the city that had
absolutely no electricity.
As a bread man, I wake up earlyanyway and I never have a tough
time going to sleep, butthere's always something to do
(12:54):
and there always has to be aplace to be gone to with the
kids or just a lot of stuff.
But when the electricity wasout, it was out in some areas
here for like three weeks or so,I think is what the estimation
was.
It was out of my house and inmy neighborhood, in area or
section of the grid.
However, it is for three days.
Three days we didn't have anyelectricity.
(13:15):
I'll tell you when it gets dark.
It gets dark Whenever they'reon street lights, it's dark.
I mean it's time for babies tobe made and stuff like that, but
I mean it is dark.
Well, I'm just saying do youthink back to what you were
saying about how people wentthrough time and everything like
that?
They didn't have anything to doafter dark.
That's probably why they had abigger family.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
They had so many kids .
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's just something that's
pointing out the obvious, excuseme, all right, there's a family
show here on the Finding Faithand Losing Sleep podcast.
I don't know what that'll make.
Keep you awake at night.
It's real talk.
But anyway, when it turned dark, it was dark and you had no
other option but to go to bed.
It was time to go to bedbecause you couldn't do anything
(13:59):
else, you couldn't move around,you couldn't put your see your
hand in front of your face, okay.
So it was dark and, like yousaid, pierre, when it was time
to get up, everybody was gettingup at the same time.
The bread man did.
It was funny to see it, becauseusually the bread man gets up a
lot earlier than everybody else, but everybody got up at the
same time.
The bread man did because theyhad stuff to do and you felt the
(14:19):
time crunch because it wasgetting dark I don't know about
six o'clock, maybe back thenduring that timeframe and so the
sun would come up around six.
So you had 12 hours to get donewhat you needed to get done,
and then you had 12 hours to donothing, and that's just how it
was, and you felt the pinch, Iguess of getting everything done
(14:39):
in 12 hours, and when you sawthe sun setting or about to set,
you're like, oh boy, I gottaget everything ready just to
even go to bed.
Yeah, I can't, I gotta lock thedoor.
I gotta make sure the door'slocked.
I gotta make sure this is donebefore I go to bed, because I'm
not gonna be able to do it oncedarkness hits and because you
didn't have any light oranything to do.
So that was a good example,pierre.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I mean, it's true, that's the example, and I think
you had a good point to kind ofmodernize.
It was just losing power orelectricity.
In these days where you're justkind of figuring out, if you
don't have candles orflashlights, you're, I mean,
what does it ever do?
You know, your phones, if it'snot charged, your TVs aren't
gonna work.
You're basically just in thedark and you gotta figure it out
(15:22):
.
And usually figure it out,you're waking up after you
figured out nothing because it'spitch black.
So, but again, I mean, yeah, Ithink how much that helps you.
The rest, though, yeah, whenyou have no choice but to kind
of shut down because everythingelse is shut down, what that
does for not just you physicallybut also spiritually.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Well, I was gonna say that and I'm gonna butt in now,
but I was gonna say one of theother unique things too in the
neighborhood was that everybodywas kind of stayed here and
people didn't have electricity.
So all of a sudden it was likehey, what do you need?
Can I help you?
You know, with my neighborsright, maybe some even neighbors
(16:04):
that I've never talked to ordidn't have a great relationship
, close relationship with hey,what do you guys need, need
anything?
You need anything while I'm outI gotta go to work today.
You need anything while I'm out.
And all of a sudden we werestarting to get things for each
other, or we were looking outfor each other, and I think a
hurried life decreases maybe ourcapacity to love others because
we don't take time tounderstand their needs.
(16:24):
Maybe a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Absolutely.
I mean, you don't take time fora lot Like.
One of the biggest factors isto listen and if you're in a
hurry it's really hard to listen.
I struggle with that at timesmyself.
If I'm like in a hurry to getsomewhere or do something, my
patience to listen is not there.
If I'm not in a hurry, mypatience may not be there either
(16:48):
, but it just magnifies.
I noticed it a lot like on theroad these days just with like
driving, interstate highways, etcetera.
So folks already go over thespeed limit, which is one thing.
But to go over the speed limit,in addition to those going over
the speed limit, like what areyou in such a hurry to get to?
Like, how many emergencies doyou think are truly happening on
(17:11):
the interstate?
Or if I'm going 60 and a 50 andyou're like you're in a hurry,
you're flying by me.
That's the norm.
If you're on the highway rightnow, you can't even go 15 miles
an hour over without peoplestill flying by you and getting
(17:31):
impatient and hocking the horns.
Like what are you in such ahurry to get to or to get from
that?
You're driving like a maniac.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Well, and what I was gonna say you kind of touched on
, wes was as much as I didn'tlove COVID and the shutdown and
all of that having to isolateand those things, the beauty in
that was there was more time forfamily, there was more time to
(18:02):
spend in your Bible and toreally cultivate that
relationship with God and tocare for others, like if
somebody had a really bad caseof COVID, like my parents when I
was sick, my parents when I hadCOVID, my parents brought
things over.
They bring food or groceries.
Some people in our life groupbrought things and vice versa,
like if somebody came down withit.
(18:24):
We were dropping things off,checking on people and I think
as much as it was isolating andit did hurt things, it also it
depends on how you look at it italso helped in those respects.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
I think I can understand that whenever you
don't get to intermingle withother people because you're just
in such a hurry you're notgonna be able to listen to other
people's injustices.
You know, like, what they'vegone through in their life and
maybe how life has kind of hurtthem a little bit and how you
think back to segregation andall that.
Maybe you would neverunderstand that if you never
(19:01):
took time to be able to talk topeople about that.
So it's gonna actually increase, I think, narrow-mindedness.
And what legalism?
Legalism would be another wordfor that, I think so, so for
sure.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I don't know, it's tough, obviously, but like so,
when you're in a hurry, what'syour solution, wes?
What do you do to kind of getback on track when you're in a
hurry?
You got any techniques orthings to help ground you?
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Look, I work hard and I wake up early.
It doesn't take me long tounwind and to get into a relaxed
state.
All right, so and I don't feelreally guilty about it either,
it's just me.
I mean, I know there's thingsto do, but there's always
tomorrow as well.
That may be my southern boycoming out, emmie.
(19:51):
You know, I'll just get to ittomorrow.
It'll still be there.
That old gutter will still behanging up there tomorrow.
I can patch it up tomorrow.
You know stuff like that.
Maybe that's what it is.
But one of my techniques isreally, you know, I like to try
and find a secluded place.
I like to be alone.
I like to take time and be withGod whenever I feel like I am
(20:12):
too busy or too hurried.
You know, you just even if it'sjust me going into the closet
for a little while and sittingdown in there and just taking a
time to breathe and meditate andrelax a little bit and pray to
God, just for all the thingsthat's been going through my
mind.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, I think that's part of the resolution when it
comes to slowing down and it'skind of in the silence and
solitude portion of the book.
But it talks about how Jesusoften you know even a monk, the
disciples following him he wouldoften take his time to just go
away and just him and God, justpray, even God, like the
(20:51):
wilderness, for example, for 40days.
You know that was him goingaway to get right and get
prepared, you know, for his owncalling, his own task.
And if we're not doing that,you know what makes us think
we're better than Jesus.
If he had to go the solitudeand find his own peace as the
Savior and Messiah, what do youthink us mirror?
(21:12):
You know humans that aren'tthat you know need to do in
order to find our own peace andfind our own connection to God.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
True, no, definitely a great example of that, for is
what he, what he did all thetime, and that's something that
we can definitely learn from.
In this holiday season, it iseasy, pierre and Michelle, to
get distracted from our realpurpose, to getting a hurry
enough to not understand whatour you know, some of our goals
may be in life.
So, you know we said this acouple of months ago, I think to
(21:43):
start thinking aboutcandlelight services at church,
start praying for people thatyou would want to invite to that
, because it is a special timeand you know, we talked about
that, and it's so cool to beable to see Pierre in that a
Timeline that we are living inright now, with the constraints
of the calendar and theconstraints of the day, how our
calendar has set aside time torecognize Christmas and, as
(22:06):
Christians, we recognizeChristmas as being that day that
Jesus was born, even though itprobably wasn't his natural
birthday.
We understand that, but itstill recognizes his birthday
there and is a the day that hewas born, and it's so cool to be
able to see that on thecalendar.
And how, in my world, in myLittle feeble mind, I see that
as a way that God has set asidethat time for us to be able to
(22:29):
concentrate on God.
But it also opens up a door ofopportunity to be able to
discuss that with other people,and I think that we need to take
advantage of that door Alreadybeing open for us, because we
didn't open that door.
We're living in a calendarwhere the door is already open
for us, and so to me, I thinkthat God has already opened that
(22:50):
door of opportunity for us.
Now we just have to be boldenough to walk through there.
And I do believe that if youThink about the things that
you've already known and you gointo that moment and you start
talking to somebody, that Godwill give you the right words to
be able to say and it's notalways the right word, sometimes
it's just the right attitude tobe able to have of loving, of
(23:11):
caring.
You know, I think there's astatistic out there that talks
about most people won't attendchurch Because most people won't
invite them to church.
You know and that's that's justhow it is how many people would
go to church if they did getinvited.
I Think that statistic is oneout of every three or something,
maybe even higher than that.
I can't remember what that statis, but nobody will come Unless
(23:34):
they're invited, and so that'ssomething that we can slow down
long enough to be able to do.
I think it's a cool thing, andthe Candlelight service is a
great way to make thatintroduction for people.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, like you said, that's that's coming up and
Christmas is a good reminder ofthat, and it's it's often
frustrating at least for myselfto To know how many times I've
just personally been too caughtup on gifts and, you know, like
presents and that kind of thecommercialized Christmas that
that we kind of have in theworld today and not really, at
(24:10):
least early on in my life,understanding the, the real
meaning behind Christmas, no,which, if I enter it seem for
like Like those that arenon-believers, I'm kind of
curious.
You know how they go aboutcelebrating Christmas.
Are they just worried about thecommercialized stuff or do they
realize?
You know you're, you're takingthe day off because you know our
(24:30):
, the birth of our senior, butit's a good reminder.
You get the music, you get thelights and it seems more often
than not that people just becomemore, more pleasant, more
joyful.
The spirit of it.
You know it's the mostwonderful time of the year, you
know, as a song, for a reason,and I think you do.
(24:51):
You see, like changed hearts.
Yeah, I know they're like theGrinch, the cartoon, or you know
he's, he hates it, he's stillin everything and his heart
grows big, and I think that's alot of people like this time of
year.
You know their, their heartsjust grow bigger, they become
more giving and sharing, whetherit be, you know, salvation army
, or donate in the toys for tots, things on those lines To just
(25:12):
be more given and caring, whichis great.
But also do that and you know,in remembrance again of what
Christmas is all about and youknow why we're celebrating.
And some people don't know that, like some people are, like
young Pierre or you don'trealize it and, like you stated,
inviting them to church aroundthis time of year Is a good time
(25:32):
frame to really invite them sothey can kind of come to that
realization of what we'reactually celebrating on that day
and being cognizant of.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Being cognizant of this is a season two of an
increased suicide rate, like foryou know people who this is a
depressing time for them and itmakes them sad, and so, if Just
to be cognizant of that and keepyour eye out and, you know, let
people know that they're lovedand cared for and invite them so
(26:02):
that they have hope, and Ithink it's really important to
keep that in mind too.
I'd love to see the spirit andyou know how A majority of
people really are more kind andyou know, just to one another
during the season, and it's abeautiful thing and Too bad.
It's not all the time like thatand but I do think sometimes
(26:22):
you you get what you look for.
If you expect To see peoplebeing rude and nasty, you better
believe you're gonna see it.
If you are intentional abouttrying to see the good and
looking for the good and things,you will find it.
It's just, I think we're justpredisposed to See the
negativity and it's easy to seeand it's easy to find, and you
(26:45):
actually have to be intentionalabout Trying to find the good
and everything Really quickly.
I mean I even I told Olivia,our daughter, the other day.
I said listen, I want you tounderstand something my cancer
diagnosis Wasn't answered prayerand she looked at me like
Really strangely, and I told her.
(27:06):
I said I just want you tounderstand that there is good
from everything.
I asked.
I prayed hard like God, pleaseteach me how to give things to
you.
I need to understand it becauseI just keep picking them back
up and thinking I can control itand I, I, I, I, I that I'm not
saying that's why I got cancer.
(27:27):
Please don't think that's whatI'm saying.
But God found a way to make goodout of that and to answer.
And I saw, I had to realize andI had to see that this is an
answer to my prayer.
Maybe not the way that I hopedit would come along, but me and
his he'd been faithful in all ofthis and I'm doing well, I'm
doing great, and you know he hasbeen so faithful and that is
(27:50):
100% him.
I am 100% convinced and youwill not convince me otherwise.
But like we're blessed and Ijust pray that people are
willing to see the good even inbad situations, because it's
there.
That's my whole point.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
We're running short of time.
I'm not trying to hurry anybody, that would be wrong but the
little neighborhood churchvehicle is getting ready to
depart, with neighborhood kidsin it.
That's what we do, but it's agood time all the time.
But I do wanna touch on just acouple of things.
Michelle, one thing that yousaid was being cognizant of
(28:28):
things that are going on aroundyou.
Because of that suicide rate andbad times during the holidays
and stuff, people start thinkingabout those things, missing
those people, that they, thatthe loved ones that they've
missed, you know, because theypassed away or maybe divorce or
maybe, you know, people just getdown on themselves this time of
year.
So if you know that there'sthose people in your
neighborhood or in your lifemaybe it's a coworker or
(28:50):
somebody else to take that timeto reach out to them, maybe have
them over for dinner close tothe holidays and then touch base
with them that day duringChristmas time, somehow, some
way.
You know.
Just reach out, just be afriend, just be a loved one,
just be caring.
Think about how many timesJesus did that with those people
that were all alone, didn't itfelt like they were outsiders,
didn't belong.
(29:10):
Jesus did that many differenttimes, and I just wanna
encourage us to do that Alsofind ways to get back to bless
your life by giving this holidayseason.
I remember my mother and sheinstilled some good things in me
, and one of these things was Ishould clear out my toys during
the holiday season.
You know, if I got a toy, I'dhave to.
If I was gonna get presents, itwas time to clear out the old
(29:31):
presents, kind of a thing.
Right, that's what I had to doat Christmas time, and we would
take them down to the orphanage.
Now I was a confused young manat that time because I didn't
know if she was taking me thereto drop me off or take me there
to drop off the toy.
But we would donate that stuffto the local orphanage that was
there in the area that I had andthat made an impact on me.
Even today I think about that.
(29:52):
Maybe that is one of thereasons why we fostered whenever
we became a married couple andstuff and ended up adopting you.
That stuff makes an impact onyou and your children.
So I know our houses getawfully small really fast
because of all the things webring into it.
Maybe it's a good idea to takethat stuff and don't just drop
it off.
If you want to, that's fine.
I'm not trying at a SalvationArmy where you can't interact
(30:14):
with people.
But if you got those toys,maybe make the toys get cleaned
up, make them look special, wrapthem up, take them down there
to the orphanage or the fosterhome care in your area and just
give them away and interact withthe people that are there.
It's scary, it sounds scary,but it's a blessing at the same
time.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Amen, it is, and I mean blessing's in your own
house.
So we're talking about hurryand, as we wrap up, like, don't
take for granted those aroundyou right now.
Don't be in so much of a hurrythat you miss what's right in
front of you because, as youstated, those people pass away,
those people move on in life andyou gotta enjoy them while
(30:57):
they're here.
Don't be in a rush to get backto this game or get back to
wherever you think you're moreimportant than your grandma or
your grandpa or your mom, yourdad, even aunts and uncles, like
these could be the lastholidays you spend with them.
So just take your time, enjoyit.
Enjoy them how they kindahelped you along your own
(31:21):
personal path in life.
Try, while you're visiting themin the first place, but slow
down, slow down and again, enjoywhat's all around you.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Thank you, pierre and Michelle, for joining me on
this episode of Finding Faith inLosing Sleep podcast.
Thank you so much, all youlisteners, for listening to us.
We will revisit you before theend of the year.
I'm going ahead and committingto that right now, pierre, but
if you'd like to leave a comment, leave a review or leave a like
or anything like that, onwhatever listening platform
you'd like to listen to the showon, we would appreciate it and
hopefully this message will getout to more people that they may
(31:51):
be able to slow down, listenand enjoy and figure out some
other things in life.
Thank you so much for listeningand, as always, if you pray for
us, we will pray for you Is.
It's time to wake up and pray up here on the Finding
Faith and Cruisin' Sleep podcast, the traditional podcast made
by untraditional people for,hopefully, a traditional
audience looking and seeking togrow closer to God and just to
solve life's problems.
I think I synopsed it.
Is that even a word?
Pierre, you are a producer.
Is that an official word?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I don't believe that's a word, but you made it.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
You know what I've missed?
Yeah, well, I try.
I'm thinking about coming upwith my own dictionary one day.
If you write the dictionary,basically you're writing
everything, not only what wordsmean all the time, but you're
just setting trends left andright.
Dictionary is a live and activebook, just like the Bible is.
You can call it WestismsWestisms.
(00:50):
I like that.
Hey, michelle, that is Michelle.
That is Michelle and Pierre.
They are a married couple onthis podcast and they have
joined me for some reason.
I'm not quite sure why, butthey are.
And look, they are in a hurry.
I am in a hurry today and it'skind of fitting because, pierre,
you texted me and you said, hey, we need to do a lesson on
(01:12):
hurrying, because I'm reading abook about hurrying and I guess
that's what we need to do withthis episode.
Pierre, we could talk about howto slow down during this
holiday season a little bit aswell.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, absolutely yeah .
We're in a hurry, you're in ahurry, and I'm under the weather
too.
I'm fighting strep right nowbut it felt important to get an
episode out, and the book I wasreading is called the Roofless
Elimination of Hurry and it's byJohn Mark Hummer, and it really
just dives into a lot of thingsin life that have progressed
(01:43):
from, obviously, not just thebiblical times, but even from
like the 60s 70s up until now,and how we really just need to
think back to some of thosesimpler times and slow down to
really enjoy life.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Now, michelle, I always picture Pierre as being a
slow, methodical man anyway,kind of the way he thinks, and
him and I do a different podcastas well, talking about sports,
and he's the one who alwayscalms me down about things.
And when I talk to you,michelle, I have perceived that
you are more the reactionaryperson in that relationship,
(02:18):
more like I am as well, justkind of reactionary here.
Am I perceiving that right?
I think you're right, wes, yes,okay.
All right, I know I'm right.
I thought I was right Two hoursago.
Whatever I was thinking aboutit, I did.
And, michelle, whatever I thinkabout people that hurried in
the Bible and wanted quickresults about things I think
about, well, I guess it wasJames and John, the sons of
(02:40):
Zebedee, if I'm not mistaken.
That's who it was over in thebook of Luke, whenever people
rejected Jesus' teachings andthey're like hey, jesus, you
want us to cast down fire?
Ask God to cast down fire fromheaven on them and strike them
dead, and Jesus was like no,slow down.
I don't think he quiteunderstand the point of why I'm
here.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
The sons of thunder, I believe, is what Jesus refers
to them as, and that was thecase, if I remember correctly.
They were in Samaria aroundthat time and had some pushback
from that culture who didn'tlike them, and that was the
response let's strike them down.
And Jesus was like no, I camefrom them as well.
(03:19):
And again, like you justmentioned, don't be quick to
judge not just those people, butwhat I came here for.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
And it's easy to get in a hurry this holiday season,
and I think that it is becausewe have so many different things
on our plate, so many things todo, and maybe we forget our
purpose on why we're doing thosethings as well.
This is going to be an episodeto try and encourage you to do
things, to just not sit back andwatch holiday movies all the
time, but at the same time,we're going to try and persuade
(03:48):
people to not only slow downduring the holidays, but slow
down in life in general, to beable to take time to grow closer
to God, because our purposehere in this life is to grow
closer to God, to form arelationship with Him, but also
to pass that along to some otherpeople that maybe don't have
that same kind of ability oropportunity or know-how on how
(04:11):
to start a relationship with Godor even just to become better
people and solve their ownproblems.
I guess that's what we're hereto do, I think, as Christians,
pierre and Michelle, is to justhelp people along the way, just
like we've been helped and byall means, we're not perfect at
all, so we still need a lot ofhelping.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Boy, isn't that the truth?
I know I do, and I think youhit the nail on the proverbial
head.
Like we all have a tendency totry to rush through everything
in life and I think we have forlack of a better term over
simplified things, with all thetechnology and such that we have
(04:53):
that it's always instantgratification, we want
everything right now, and thenwe're on to the next thing and
on to the next thing, and itmakes that slowing down almost
scary, almost fearful, like if Ido that, something else is
going to happen, and I thinkit's just always staying busy
and hurried and I don't thinkit's healthy for us to be
(05:17):
completely honest with you.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So I know Pierre's probably got something to say
about that too, I mean it's notand I know like so if in the
book itself it just talks abouthurry being the great enemy of
spiritual life.
And when you think about that,like, when you think of enemies
I often think of like villains,you know obviously from like
superhero movies and the villaincomes to basically is trying to
(05:42):
ruin, ruin everything, ruin thecity, ruin marriages, ruin life
.
And when you look at the Bibleit says you know, the devil
comes to still kill and destroy.
He wants to ruin you and areason in a way to get, I think,
to that is through distractionand through hurry.
If you can have someonehurrying along in life to where
(06:05):
they're missing, you know thethings they should be taking in,
the things they should beenjoying, maybe family members,
relationships.
If they're hurrying through allof that, then you're not, you
know, really building, you know,relationship here on earth, and
definitely not spiritually forthose we should be recruiting
for the kingdom of heaven.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, totally, and people don't really realize how
much hurrying doesn't allowpeople to transform.
And that's what we are to do.
We're supposed to have atransformation in this life from
you know, worldly creatures andeverything to more of a
spiritual mindset, and sometimeswe're so fastly just going
(06:45):
after information to be able togain knowledge.
I think a lot of times we don'tslow down long enough after
we've gathered a bunch ofinformation to allow the
information to transform us intobecoming a different creature.
I think about a tree orsomething that gains nutrients.
And sometimes you know, if youever take one of those little
seeds and put it in the groundand you watch it, you're like,
all right, come on, come on.
(07:05):
You know after a week or twoweeks even you do your due
diligence, you put it out in thesun, you water it a little bit
and the next thing you knowafter a month or I don't know
how long a seed takes to grow.
I'm not a scientist, okay, I'mnot a horticulturalist.
I might be making up wordsagain, but okay, so, but you
know you can't have that kind oftransformation from a seed into
(07:27):
something else overnight.
And sometimes as Christians,especially new Christians,
people want this transformationbam right overnight, especially
people that I've worked with inthe past who may be chemically
dependent on things and stuff.
Yes, you start out on fire, butyou got to slow the pace a
little bit at some point becauseyou can burn out really fast.
You know, you just burn out andthen you don't have that long
(07:49):
sustainable fuel that you needto keep going in that Christian
walk.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
That's true and I know so.
I know you're just kind ofgiving an example of a timeframe
, but you said a month.
So even with that, what is amonth?
Four weeks, Four weeks, 30 days?
Okay, what's what's the day?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
24 hours 24 hours.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
So where does this all come from?
It's a start and the reason Iwant to go there is so back in
the days, you know, you look at,you know labor and work Folks
with what work, basically fromsun up to sundown.
When the sun went down, thatwas there.
That was their sign to stop.
You know there's no light.
You know before electricity,that you have to end.
(08:36):
You have a stopping point.
When time got involved wheneverthat was it was it was
initially created to kind ofhelp with productivity of those
basically working sun up tosundown, because we know,
throughout different seasons thesun's up for longer but time
kind of did the exact oppositeto where it kind of put.
(08:59):
I know the word I'm looking for, but what basically?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I can make a word up if you need me to.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I can't.
But what happened is so peoplegot the sense of time and they
became kind of less productive.
Because you're you're nowworried about how long you have,
so, without thinking about thetime itself, if you're not, if
you don't have a number in mind,if you're just doing things
when you know the sun comes up,the sun comes down, it's not the
, it's not the same, whereas ifyou have seven o'clock, that's
(09:32):
your time frame.
You're now in a hurry to makeit to seven o'clock.
Something starts at seveno'clock and someone says you
show it when you want.
That's one thing.
If someone says, hey, it startsat seven, you're now keeping
track of that and you're tryingto crunch as much time or things
as you can into that time frame, into that window, and I think
(09:52):
that even goes back into theBible.
You often see like people risingup early to pray and you're
like there's no way I could dothat.
I can't rise up that early.
You know I'm I got a.
I struggle getting up at seveno'clock in the morning.
But if you think about a peoplethat didn't have time, that
were going to bed because thedaylight was gone, you know
(10:13):
right now in the winter they'regoing to bed five, six o'clock.
You're waking up, you know, two, three in the morning it
doesn't feel like two or threein the morning because you're
well rested, because you went tobed earlier, whereas we don't
do that because there's so manydifferent things now that have
been created that are adistraction, that even once the
sun goes down, you know we'refinding something else to do,
(10:36):
something to watch, and the onething that you really you really
pick up on it.
So what do people tend to saywhen you kind of ask them how
they're doing?
I'm fine, fine, and they'rewhat.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Busy.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Just busy.
People are always busy, nomatter what time of year, what's
going on.
People are always busy and Ithink what takes place is
they're in such a hurry to fillthe void of having downtime.
People don't want to rest, theywant to continue to stay busy.
(11:09):
If you get time freed up, a lotof people don't take a nap.
They figure out somethingaround the house they got to
clean up, or going to get dinnerready, or I'm going to go shop
or pick this up real fast.
They're wanting to stay busyand I think, again, that's going
to be the root of evil, becauseyou're not finding some of
those relaxation, sabbathsilence and solitude type of
(11:32):
things that you need to getspiritually involved in your
Bible and your prayers, etcetera.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Boy, I can tell you I'm guilty of that one.
That's why I actually enjoyvacation, because I can actually
feel like I can rest,especially if we go on a cruise,
because I don't have to feelguilty if I sit down.
Don't get me wrong.
There are plenty of nights thatI sit on the couch and we watch
(11:58):
something on television, but inmy head I feel guilty for
sitting there, that I have allthis to do and I should be doing
this and I should be doing that, and I never.
Actually my brain doesn't everreally shut off.
And here I'll be the first totell you that if we go to bed
and I'm looking at the ceiling,he's trying to go to bed, he's
trying to go to sleep quick.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I'm trying to go to sleep Because he knows there's a
conversation about the start.
I've got to go to bed.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Because, all of a sudden, my brain has thought of
everything.
We need to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
We had a tornado that came through our area, I don't
know five, six, 10 years ago orsomething like that.
It was just a while ago, but itdestroyed power lines in our
area and there were justsections of the city that had
absolutely no electricity.
As a bread man, I wake up earlyanyway and I never have a tough
time going to sleep, butthere's always something to do
(12:54):
and there always has to be aplace to be gone to with the
kids or just a lot of stuff.
But when the electricity wasout, it was out in some areas
here for like three weeks or so,I think is what the estimation
was.
It was out of my house and inmy neighborhood, in area or
section of the grid.
However, it is for three days.
Three days we didn't have anyelectricity.
(13:15):
I'll tell you when it gets dark.
It gets dark Whenever they'reon street lights, it's dark.
I mean it's time for babies tobe made and stuff like that, but
I mean it is dark.
Well, I'm just saying do youthink back to what you were
saying about how people wentthrough time and everything like
that?
They didn't have anything to doafter dark.
That's probably why they had abigger family.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
They had so many kids .
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's just something that's
pointing out the obvious, excuseme, all right, there's a family
show here on the Finding Faithand Losing Sleep podcast.
I don't know what that'll make.
Keep you awake at night.
It's real talk.
But anyway, when it turned dark, it was dark and you had no
other option but to go to bed.
It was time to go to bedbecause you couldn't do anything
(13:59):
else, you couldn't move around,you couldn't put your see your
hand in front of your face, okay.
So it was dark and, like yousaid, pierre, when it was time
to get up, everybody was gettingup at the same time.
The bread man did.
It was funny to see it, becauseusually the bread man gets up a
lot earlier than everybody else, but everybody got up at the
same time.
The bread man did because theyhad stuff to do and you felt the
(14:19):
time crunch because it wasgetting dark I don't know about
six o'clock, maybe back thenduring that timeframe and so the
sun would come up around six.
So you had 12 hours to get donewhat you needed to get done,
and then you had 12 hours to donothing, and that's just how it
was, and you felt the pinch, Iguess of getting everything done
(14:39):
in 12 hours, and when you sawthe sun setting or about to set,
you're like, oh boy, I gottaget everything ready just to
even go to bed.
Yeah, I can't, I gotta lock thedoor.
I gotta make sure the door'slocked.
I gotta make sure this is donebefore I go to bed, because I'm
not gonna be able to do it oncedarkness hits and because you
didn't have any light oranything to do.
So that was a good example,pierre.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I mean, it's true, that's the example, and I think
you had a good point to kind ofmodernize.
It was just losing power orelectricity.
In these days where you're justkind of figuring out, if you
don't have candles orflashlights, you're, I mean,
what does it ever do?
You know, your phones, if it'snot charged, your TVs aren't
gonna work.
You're basically just in thedark and you gotta figure it out
(15:22):
.
And usually figure it out,you're waking up after you
figured out nothing because it'spitch black.
So, but again, I mean, yeah, Ithink how much that helps you.
The rest, though, yeah, whenyou have no choice but to kind
of shut down because everythingelse is shut down, what that
does for not just you physicallybut also spiritually.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Well, I was gonna say that and I'm gonna butt in now,
but I was gonna say one of theother unique things too in the
neighborhood was that everybodywas kind of stayed here and
people didn't have electricity.
So all of a sudden it was likehey, what do you need?
Can I help you?
You know, with my neighborsright, maybe some even neighbors
(16:04):
that I've never talked to ordidn't have a great relationship
, close relationship with hey,what do you guys need, need
anything?
You need anything while I'm outI gotta go to work today.
You need anything while I'm out.
And all of a sudden we werestarting to get things for each
other, or we were looking outfor each other, and I think a
hurried life decreases maybe ourcapacity to love others because
we don't take time tounderstand their needs.
(16:24):
Maybe a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Absolutely.
I mean, you don't take time fora lot Like.
One of the biggest factors isto listen and if you're in a
hurry it's really hard to listen.
I struggle with that at timesmyself.
If I'm like in a hurry to getsomewhere or do something, my
patience to listen is not there.
If I'm not in a hurry, mypatience may not be there either
(16:48):
, but it just magnifies.
I noticed it a lot like on theroad these days just with like
driving, interstate highways, etcetera.
So folks already go over thespeed limit, which is one thing.
But to go over the speed limit,in addition to those going over
the speed limit, like what areyou in such a hurry to get to?
Like, how many emergencies doyou think are truly happening on
(17:11):
the interstate?
Or if I'm going 60 and a 50 andyou're like you're in a hurry,
you're flying by me.
That's the norm.
If you're on the highway rightnow, you can't even go 15 miles
an hour over without peoplestill flying by you and getting
(17:31):
impatient and hocking the horns.
Like what are you in such ahurry to get to or to get from
that?
You're driving like a maniac.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Well, and what I was gonna say you kind of touched on
, wes was as much as I didn'tlove COVID and the shutdown and
all of that having to isolateand those things, the beauty in
that was there was more time forfamily, there was more time to
(18:02):
spend in your Bible and toreally cultivate that
relationship with God and tocare for others, like if
somebody had a really bad caseof COVID, like my parents when I
was sick, my parents when I hadCOVID, my parents brought
things over.
They bring food or groceries.
Some people in our life groupbrought things and vice versa,
like if somebody came down withit.
(18:24):
We were dropping things off,checking on people and I think
as much as it was isolating andit did hurt things, it also it
depends on how you look at it italso helped in those respects.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
I think I can understand that whenever you
don't get to intermingle withother people because you're just
in such a hurry you're notgonna be able to listen to other
people's injustices.
You know, like, what they'vegone through in their life and
maybe how life has kind of hurtthem a little bit and how you
think back to segregation andall that.
Maybe you would neverunderstand that if you never
(19:01):
took time to be able to talk topeople about that.
So it's gonna actually increase, I think, narrow-mindedness.
And what legalism?
Legalism would be another wordfor that, I think so, so for
sure.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I don't know, it's tough, obviously, but like so,
when you're in a hurry, what'syour solution, wes?
What do you do to kind of getback on track when you're in a
hurry?
You got any techniques orthings to help ground you?
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Look, I work hard and I wake up early.
It doesn't take me long tounwind and to get into a relaxed
state.
All right, so and I don't feelreally guilty about it either,
it's just me.
I mean, I know there's thingsto do, but there's always
tomorrow as well.
That may be my southern boycoming out, emmie.
(19:51):
You know, I'll just get to ittomorrow.
It'll still be there.
That old gutter will still behanging up there tomorrow.
I can patch it up tomorrow.
You know stuff like that.
Maybe that's what it is.
But one of my techniques isreally, you know, I like to try
and find a secluded place.
I like to be alone.
I like to take time and be withGod whenever I feel like I am
(20:12):
too busy or too hurried.
You know, you just even if it'sjust me going into the closet
for a little while and sittingdown in there and just taking a
time to breathe and meditate andrelax a little bit and pray to
God, just for all the thingsthat's been going through my
mind.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, I think that's part of the resolution when it
comes to slowing down and it'skind of in the silence and
solitude portion of the book.
But it talks about how Jesusoften you know even a monk, the
disciples following him he wouldoften take his time to just go
away and just him and God, justpray, even God, like the
(20:51):
wilderness, for example, for 40days.
You know that was him goingaway to get right and get
prepared, you know, for his owncalling, his own task.
And if we're not doing that,you know what makes us think
we're better than Jesus.
If he had to go the solitudeand find his own peace as the
Savior and Messiah, what do youthink us mirror?
(21:12):
You know humans that aren'tthat you know need to do in
order to find our own peace andfind our own connection to God.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
True, no, definitely a great example of that, for is
what he, what he did all thetime, and that's something that
we can definitely learn from.
In this holiday season, it iseasy, pierre and Michelle, to
get distracted from our realpurpose, to getting a hurry
enough to not understand whatour you know, some of our goals
may be in life.
So, you know we said this acouple of months ago, I think to
(21:43):
start thinking aboutcandlelight services at church,
start praying for people thatyou would want to invite to that
, because it is a special timeand you know, we talked about
that, and it's so cool to beable to see Pierre in that a
Timeline that we are living inright now, with the constraints
of the calendar and theconstraints of the day, how our
calendar has set aside time torecognize Christmas and, as
(22:06):
Christians, we recognizeChristmas as being that day that
Jesus was born, even though itprobably wasn't his natural
birthday.
We understand that, but itstill recognizes his birthday
there and is a the day that hewas born, and it's so cool to be
able to see that on thecalendar.
And how, in my world, in myLittle feeble mind, I see that
as a way that God has set asidethat time for us to be able to
(22:29):
concentrate on God.
But it also opens up a door ofopportunity to be able to
discuss that with other people,and I think that we need to take
advantage of that door Alreadybeing open for us, because we
didn't open that door.
We're living in a calendarwhere the door is already open
for us, and so to me, I thinkthat God has already opened that
(22:50):
door of opportunity for us.
Now we just have to be boldenough to walk through there.
And I do believe that if youThink about the things that
you've already known and you gointo that moment and you start
talking to somebody, that Godwill give you the right words to
be able to say and it's notalways the right word, sometimes
it's just the right attitude tobe able to have of loving, of
(23:11):
caring.
You know, I think there's astatistic out there that talks
about most people won't attendchurch Because most people won't
invite them to church.
You know and that's that's justhow it is how many people would
go to church if they did getinvited.
I Think that statistic is oneout of every three or something,
maybe even higher than that.
I can't remember what that statis, but nobody will come Unless
(23:34):
they're invited, and so that'ssomething that we can slow down
long enough to be able to do.
I think it's a cool thing, andthe Candlelight service is a
great way to make thatintroduction for people.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, like you said, that's that's coming up and
Christmas is a good reminder ofthat, and it's it's often
frustrating at least for myselfto To know how many times I've
just personally been too caughtup on gifts and, you know, like
presents and that kind of thecommercialized Christmas that
that we kind of have in theworld today and not really, at
(24:10):
least early on in my life,understanding the, the real
meaning behind Christmas, no,which, if I enter it seem for
like Like those that arenon-believers, I'm kind of
curious.
You know how they go aboutcelebrating Christmas.
Are they just worried about thecommercialized stuff or do they
realize?
You know you're, you're takingthe day off because you know our
(24:30):
, the birth of our senior, butit's a good reminder.
You get the music, you get thelights and it seems more often
than not that people just becomemore, more pleasant, more
joyful.
The spirit of it.
You know it's the mostwonderful time of the year, you
know, as a song, for a reason,and I think you do.
(24:51):
You see, like changed hearts.
Yeah, I know they're like theGrinch, the cartoon, or you know
he's, he hates it, he's stillin everything and his heart
grows big, and I think that's alot of people like this time of
year.
You know their, their heartsjust grow bigger, they become
more giving and sharing, whetherit be, you know, salvation army
, or donate in the toys for tots, things on those lines To just
(25:12):
be more given and caring, whichis great.
But also do that and you know,in remembrance again of what
Christmas is all about and youknow why we're celebrating.
And some people don't know that, like some people are, like
young Pierre or you don'trealize it and, like you stated,
inviting them to church aroundthis time of year Is a good time
(25:32):
frame to really invite them sothey can kind of come to that
realization of what we'reactually celebrating on that day
and being cognizant of.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Being cognizant of this is a season two of an
increased suicide rate, like foryou know people who this is a
depressing time for them and itmakes them sad, and so, if Just
to be cognizant of that and keepyour eye out and, you know, let
people know that they're lovedand cared for and invite them so
(26:02):
that they have hope, and Ithink it's really important to
keep that in mind too.
I'd love to see the spirit andyou know how A majority of
people really are more kind andyou know, just to one another
during the season, and it's abeautiful thing and Too bad.
It's not all the time like thatand but I do think sometimes
(26:22):
you you get what you look for.
If you expect To see peoplebeing rude and nasty, you better
believe you're gonna see it.
If you are intentional abouttrying to see the good and
looking for the good and things,you will find it.
It's just, I think we're justpredisposed to See the
negativity and it's easy to seeand it's easy to find, and you
(26:45):
actually have to be intentionalabout Trying to find the good
and everything Really quickly.
I mean I even I told Olivia,our daughter, the other day.
I said listen, I want you tounderstand something my cancer
diagnosis Wasn't answered prayerand she looked at me like
Really strangely, and I told her.
(27:06):
I said I just want you tounderstand that there is good
from everything.
I asked.
I prayed hard like God, pleaseteach me how to give things to
you.
I need to understand it becauseI just keep picking them back
up and thinking I can control itand I, I, I, I, I that I'm not
saying that's why I got cancer.
(27:27):
Please don't think that's whatI'm saying.
But God found a way to make goodout of that and to answer.
And I saw, I had to realize andI had to see that this is an
answer to my prayer.
Maybe not the way that I hopedit would come along, but me and
his he'd been faithful in all ofthis and I'm doing well, I'm
doing great, and you know he hasbeen so faithful and that is
(27:50):
100% him.
I am 100% convinced and youwill not convince me otherwise.
But like we're blessed and Ijust pray that people are
willing to see the good even inbad situations, because it's
there.
That's my whole point.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
We're running short of time.
I'm not trying to hurry anybody, that would be wrong but the
little neighborhood churchvehicle is getting ready to
depart, with neighborhood kidsin it.
That's what we do, but it's agood time all the time.
But I do wanna touch on just acouple of things.
Michelle, one thing that yousaid was being cognizant of
(28:28):
things that are going on aroundyou.
Because of that suicide rate andbad times during the holidays
and stuff, people start thinkingabout those things, missing
those people, that they, thatthe loved ones that they've
missed, you know, because theypassed away or maybe divorce or
maybe, you know, people just getdown on themselves this time of
year.
So if you know that there'sthose people in your
neighborhood or in your lifemaybe it's a coworker or
(28:50):
somebody else to take that timeto reach out to them, maybe have
them over for dinner close tothe holidays and then touch base
with them that day duringChristmas time, somehow, some
way.
You know.
Just reach out, just be afriend, just be a loved one,
just be caring.
Think about how many timesJesus did that with those people
that were all alone, didn't itfelt like they were outsiders,
didn't belong.
(29:10):
Jesus did that many differenttimes, and I just wanna
encourage us to do that Alsofind ways to get back to bless
your life by giving this holidayseason.
I remember my mother and sheinstilled some good things in me
, and one of these things was Ishould clear out my toys during
the holiday season.
You know, if I got a toy, I'dhave to.
If I was gonna get presents, itwas time to clear out the old
(29:31):
presents, kind of a thing.
Right, that's what I had to doat Christmas time, and we would
take them down to the orphanage.
Now I was a confused young manat that time because I didn't
know if she was taking me thereto drop me off or take me there
to drop off the toy.
But we would donate that stuffto the local orphanage that was
there in the area that I had andthat made an impact on me.
Even today I think about that.
(29:52):
Maybe that is one of thereasons why we fostered whenever
we became a married couple andstuff and ended up adopting you.
That stuff makes an impact onyou and your children.
So I know our houses getawfully small really fast
because of all the things webring into it.
Maybe it's a good idea to takethat stuff and don't just drop
it off.
If you want to, that's fine.
I'm not trying at a SalvationArmy where you can't interact
(30:14):
with people.
But if you got those toys,maybe make the toys get cleaned
up, make them look special, wrapthem up, take them down there
to the orphanage or the fosterhome care in your area and just
give them away and interact withthe people that are there.
It's scary, it sounds scary,but it's a blessing at the same
time.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Amen, it is, and I mean blessing's in your own
house.
So we're talking about hurryand, as we wrap up, like, don't
take for granted those aroundyou right now.
Don't be in so much of a hurrythat you miss what's right in
front of you because, as youstated, those people pass away,
those people move on in life andyou gotta enjoy them while
(30:57):
they're here.
Don't be in a rush to get backto this game or get back to
wherever you think you're moreimportant than your grandma or
your grandpa or your mom, yourdad, even aunts and uncles, like
these could be the lastholidays you spend with them.
So just take your time, enjoyit.
Enjoy them how they kindahelped you along your own
(31:21):
personal path in life.
Try, while you're visiting themin the first place, but slow
down, slow down and again, enjoywhat's all around you.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Thank you, pierre and Michelle, for joining me on
this episode of Finding Faith inLosing Sleep podcast.
Thank you so much, all youlisteners, for listening to us.
We will revisit you before theend of the year.
I'm going ahead and committingto that right now, pierre, but
if you'd like to leave a comment, leave a review or leave a like
or anything like that, onwhatever listening platform
you'd like to listen to the showon, we would appreciate it and
hopefully this message will getout to more people that they may
(31:51):
be able to slow down, listenand enjoy and figure out some
other things in life.
Thank you so much for listeningand, as always, if you pray for
us, we will pray for you Is.
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