August 9, 2024 • 39 mins
Have you ever felt a nudge, a whisper, or a sign that seemed too perfectly timed to be mere coincidence? Join us on the latest episode of the Foxhole Symphony Podcast as we uncover the profound significance of recognizing signs from God in our daily lives. Maestro kicks things off with his trademark humor and warmth, setting the stage for an enriching conversation about the power of community and authentic relationships. Mark then shares a touching personal story about a moment of divine clarity on a morning walk with his dog, Red, where a simple stop sign became a powerful reminder to stop judging and be more present.
Throughout our discussion, we dive into various moments of spiritual realization and divine guidance that have shaped our faith journeys. From personal anecdotes to Biblical events, we emphasize the importance of being attentive to God's signs and seeking His purpose in our lives. We also explore how suffering and crisis can heighten our spiritual sensitivity, making us more receptive to God's voice. Additionally, we highlight the role of people in conveying God's messages and underscore the importance of staying connected with others, both spiritually and professionally.
As we wrap up this profound episode, we turn our focus to the significance of gratitude and mindfulness in our daily lives. By appreciating the small, often overlooked moments, we can deepen our connection with God and the world around us. Emphasizing the practice of looking up from our distractions, we share personal stories that highlight how these simple acts can lead to recognizing God's presence and blessings. With a heartfelt prayer for our listeners, we invite you to join our growing community and share this journey of hope, healing, and spiritual growth with us.
We have BIG plans at Foxhole Symphony and sure could use your financial support. Would you prayerfully consider a small monthly contribution to support us in our mission to catalyze transformation in the hearts of men? Support Our Mission
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Foxhole Symphony, a podcast about the
transformational value of men inauthentic community.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
In our foxhole.
Men are equipped to buildrelationships that foster
belonging, accountability andgrowth.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Stop believing the lie that you can thrive in
isolation and instead join us onthe journey from broken to
whole.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hello everyone.
They call me the Maestro and weare back in the foxhole where
we actively pursue belonging,accountability and growth
through authentic relationships.
No masks, no agendas, just ironsharpening iron.
Steve and Mark are back at itand I can hardly see them behind
all these signs.
No, u-turn one way 10% off yournext frozen yogurt.
Steve and Mark are back at itand I can hardly see them behind
(00:47):
all these signs.
No U-turn one way 10% off yournext frozen yogurt.
Well, grab a seat, open yournotes app and buckle up.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
The light goes green in three.
Two.
Welcome back to the FoxholeSymphony Podcast.
I always wanted to do that70-plus episodes.
I always wanted to open, likeStephen Wright.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
You caught me off guard.
I'm glad I did I waited threeyears.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Oh wow, welcome back, and I'm thinking I'll start.
No, I can't even breathe in.
It's good to see you.
I'm Sarge here with Mark.
Hey, how are you, bro?
Good, it is steamy out.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
We're in a series of steaminess right.
Yesterday was the type of day Isaid to Jack.
He slept in a little bit, hehad foot surgery early in the
morning and he's laying aroundand I said, bud, just that,
you're in a perfect spot.
I said you don't need to doanything outside, you just need
to walk out and you start yourpores all open up Steam room.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Right Steam room.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
And I like a good sweat, yeah, but yesterday was a
whole new level of yeah, andthis morning same.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Thing.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I mean, it's just a wall of humidity.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
It's unbelievable.
I think it lasts another fewdays.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah, so there's your weather update.
It's totally episodic.
That's what we do every episodeand their Comment about the
weather.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
This is our lives.
Yeah, wait till the Giantsstart playing.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Exactly.
And then, in addition to the,just the thick humidity, the
steamy, which is bizarre forwhere we live, I mean this is
not normal, right?
And then there's just, there'sthis smoke.
That's not.
I mean, there's obviously awildfire somewhere, but it
doesn't smell like fire, itsmells like melting plastic, it
(02:28):
got to something man-made.
Yeah, this is not trees, it'snot good.
And sign of the times Sign ofthe times Chaos In a bad way.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, there's signs everywhere there are.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
There are.
What a great segue.
Hey, listen.
Sign of the times.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yes, so, um, yeah, we're going to talk about signs,
and what's the question we'retrying to answer?
Speaker 1 (02:58):
The question we're trying to answer is that we're
cutting right to the end.
We can just skip this and makethis a four minute podcast.
Let's do it.
Three minutes of weather whatcan a man do to make himself
more available, aware and opento signs from God?
That's what we're after here.
Let me jump back to thebeginning with a story of why
(03:19):
this God put this on my heartabout 10 days ago.
There I am walking the Redsterright Doing our morning walk.
I'm out in the next door youknow the development next door
doing our two-mile loop,whatever it is.
Red and I are cruising alongand I was pontificating to our
brother Bo about something.
I was complaining, I wasjudging something.
(03:41):
It could have been from achurch work, probably something
I don't remember exactly, butlet's just say it was something
about the home or somebody, andI was praying for patience and
guidance and a soft heart, heartfull of grace and mercy, and
(04:04):
lamenting like what's golly.
You know why can't I just stopand breathe and just, you know,
stop judging, be present.
And Red decides to pull offonto the grass off the road.
I turn around and about 14 feetin front of me is a stop sign,
(04:30):
a big red octagonal stop sign.
Now I'm here to tell you thatI've walked past that stop sign
a thousand times and neverlooked at it, never paid
attention, because I it's a deadend street.
I never drive there.
There's no reason for me todrive on Sterling Place.
Bo starts talking to me and I'mlooking at the stop sign.
(04:52):
I'm just staring at the stopsign.
I'm like Bo.
I'm like Bo, hello Bo, wait aminute, I've got goose flesh
right now.
Retelling you the story for thefirst time, going here I a
moment ago, I was saying Lord,show me, help me to be present,
(05:14):
right, help me to stop.
I said, brother Bo, there's astop sign in my face right now.
I didn't know what I was like.
Oh my gosh.
And he starts laughing, he goes.
Well, you asked for a sign.
(05:36):
I said I didn't think it'd be ametal one.
You know, eight feet in the air, right, that big.
So I was swept away.
I stood there and we prayedabout that moment for me just
acknowledging that it could bethat simple.
Maybe it sounds oversimplified,I don't know, but to me in that
moment it was a clear,unmistakable sign from God going
(05:58):
Mark, stop, stop with thewhining, stop with the judgment.
Stop with the wah wah wah youknow the Woodstock noises and
just enjoy.
And this is a walk that'sbeautiful, it's green, it's got
the blue skies, breezes.
It protects you from the coldwhen it's really cold out.
This is an area we love to walkbecause you're protected on
(06:21):
both sides.
You don't get blown away bybitter, cold winds.
It protects you from hot sun ifwe're walking in the afternoon.
So there's a lot of beauty inhere.
The houses are really far apart,they're mansions, so it's
pretty in so many ways.
But they're in the middle and Iswear to you it's like right in
the middle and there are noother street signs in this
development except when youleave.
(06:41):
There's a stop sign in themiddle that I think my God put
in front of my face to remind methat sometimes you have to look
really hard for a sign.
You got to really get down onyour knees and humble yourself
(07:02):
and surrender and pray and hopethat that song or that verse or
that person comes in your lifeto show you what you want.
And other times there's abillboard.
That's what it felt like to me.
God put a billboard in my path,yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, that's my story .
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, that's why I'm here talking about this today.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, and obviously you know the stop sign existed
and was in that place before yougot there.
But the awareness, thesensitivity, the connection, you
know, the hearing from God inthat moment, your attention
being brought to it, you know,is a beautiful thing, it's a
(07:41):
gift.
How many times.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
The key, I think, is how many times I walked past it,
ignoring it.
Yeah, how many times do Iignore the signs?
The most obvious been there,done that sign.
Right, that is there for me.
It in that moment, at thatspecific time, that's the sign I
needed.
Yeah, by the way, I don't likebeing told to stop.
(08:05):
Yeah, you, how often doessomeone say to you, steve, stop?
And you're like okay, yeah,sure Right.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Happy to have you.
What a rolling stop.
Does that work?
We just.
You know you're right.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Let me just screw the Jersey slow roll, right, that's
how you fail the driving test,right, excuse me, you, it was a
rolling stop.
Um, yeah, so I'm, I'm, uh, I'mpretty hyped up about it and I I
quickly grabbed that, as youmight guess, yeah, and I Googled
signs in the Bible.
Bible, I had so much fun fortwo or three days I kept going
(08:44):
back.
I love it and it's just.
All it is is signs, from old tonew, just every Psalm.
And Brother Paul is the king ofsigns in the Bible.
Right, he left a crumb trail, Ifeel, for us to follow.
I feel for us to follow, youknow, the fact that he went from
(09:06):
such a dark, desperate type oflife to a redeemed, grace-filled
life.
Right, and now I've written somuch of the New Testament,
everything you know aboutBrother Paul, but he's like the
crumb trail guy.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
You know, right up to and including the crumb trail
that I read this morning in ourdevotional about, why do I do
the things that I don't want todo?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Right, yeah, that part, yes, that resonates with
every man.
What man has read 1 Corinthians5, whatever it is, it's
somewhere in there.
Yeah, and I'm sorry I don'thave my my phone or anything
with me to to update that folks,but paul is giving this great
soliloquy and, out of the blue,admits why do I keep doing the
(09:57):
things I know I shouldn't bedoing?
Yeah, what, what is that aboutme, lord?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
you know it.
It's interesting.
There are some signs that arequite subtle that I'm sure we
miss every day, right, right,yeah.
And then there's, like the youknow, there's the signs that are
so obvious that we still chooseto ignore.
I'm thinking about the plagues.
(10:22):
I'm thinking about the plagues.
You mentioned biblicalreferences.
Oh yeah, the plagues.
I'm thinking about the plagues.
You, you mentioned biblicalreferences and oh yeah the
plagues.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, really, so no, I the red sea and the plagues
yeah, yeah, and so pretty goodsigns.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
So like, well, and here's the thing you know, I was
thinking about this yesterdayum exodus 8, and you know, moses
and pharaoh, right, let mypeople go.
Frogs, there were frogs.
Right, the frogs, frogs, comeon you gotta pick frogs I will
send a plague of frogs on yourwhole.
(10:57):
Are you really on frogs?
Yeah, yeah, 100, it's my plague.
And they will come up into yourpalace, in your bedroom and
onto your bed, into the house,right Again.
So Lord says to Moses tellAaron, stretch out your hand
with your staff over the streamsand canals and ponds and make
frogs come up on the land ofEgypt.
(11:17):
So he did.
Frogs came up, right.
Pharaoh summoned Moses andAaron and said pray to the Lord
to take the frogs away.
And right, yeah, and I will letyour people go to offer
sacrifices to the Lord.
(11:37):
Moses says to Pharaoh I leaveto you the honor of setting the
time for me to pray for you andyour officials and your people
tomorrow.
Pharaoh says.
Moses says it will be as yousay.
So the frogs will leave you andyour houses and your fish.
They will remain only in theNile, right?
So all this happens, right?
(11:58):
And the frogs were piled intoheaps.
The land reeked of them.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Can you imagine, oh?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I could smell it Frog poop, I could smell it.
But when Pharaoh saw that therewas relief, but when Pharaoh
saw that there was relief, hehardened his heart and would not
listen to Moses and Aaron, justas the Lord had said.
And then the gnats come.
So I just, you know, like I'mreading this yesterday, I'm like
(12:30):
you know, it's so easy youtalked about judging right it's
so easy to be like a pharaoh andit's like man, like am I, am I
pharaoh, here we go.
Am I pharaoh?
You know, when have I beenpharaoh?
You know?
Praying relief, hardening ofthe heart.
(12:54):
It was better before.
It was better before.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
How about one of my favorites?
Thanks, lord.
Next yeah, thanks for the stopsign, father.
Yeah, and three days later I'mbeing a judgmental jerk again.
Yeah, you know.
And the stop sign, if not forthe podcast, is history.
It's a cute story.
It's a chapter in the book I'mgonna write someday.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Right with god, but thanks, lord next, so so easy to
get swept up in what we thinkwe want why were you reading
exodus eight yesterday?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
if you don't mind me asking so yeah, yeah, ironically
.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
So I was having coffee with a friend and he had
a speaking engagement coming upand he actually had said I said,
oh, what are you speaking about?
He's like, I don't know, theLord put Exodus eight on my
heart.
I got to think about it and Ihappened to pull it up and I'm
like, and that's where we went,I mean that's what we were
talking about.
And he was like, oh my gosh,that's so good, I love it.
(13:58):
Are you pharaoh?
Am I pharaoh?
Yeah, um, so yeah that's whatgot signs.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
How about feeding 5 000 people, or 4 000, depending
on which story you prefer?
how about the sign.
So in in those days, that's alarge group.
You, you get a concert of 5,000.
Now, you know, football games70,000, right, james Taylor in
concert, it's 5,000.
To walk in the park for us.
We're going to see him inAugust, that's why I bring that
(14:24):
up, but 5,000 had to walk a longway to get to the plateau where
Jesus wanted to give thatlittle speech.
Yeah, right, 5,000 people left.
Imagine the ripples coming outof that and the signs, right
that.
What did that say to potential,to the folks who believed, or
(14:47):
potential believers, or peoplelike the Romans who just all
they wanted to do was crowdcontrol, as long as the crowd
wasn't killing anybody.
They were pretty much meeting,talk all day.
You need water, you need food,right, 5,000 people.
Logistically, a nightmare in myhead.
(15:09):
I'm trying to organize it in myhead, but the sign, the ripple
that came out of that, isunmistakable, just like any
plague that you pick.
These are the big signs, likeany plague that you pick.
Yeah, these are the big signs.
The big biblical stories hassome of our heroes in it,
starting with Jesus and others,and then there are the subtle
yeah, one just came to mind.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I remember six months ago walking in town doing,
doing the loop you know I have aloop, like you do and I
remember thinking and I forgetexactly what it was.
I was thinking, but I was.
I was contemplating a decisionand you know remember feeling um
(15:49):
at a crossroads and a bit incrisis and then coming up the
street and off to the left bythe post office, there's a,
there's a giant area like sortof wrapped in caution tape okay
(16:10):
all over caution, caution,caution, caution.
Again, walk by it all the time,never took note until this
moment.
I'm praying, I'm asking theLord and you know.
Again I look to the leftcaution and I'm just weeping,
weeping and it's very much likeyour stop sign moment and that
(16:36):
listen, that has not happenedvery much to me, but in that
moment I was deeply grateful,deeply grateful and took note,
like I think that's important.
I think you know there'sprobably people saying you guys,
out of your minds, what are youtalking about?
Not to over-spiritualizeeverything we see, but take note
(17:02):
, ask the Lord, is this from you?
Speaker 1 (17:05):
That's it.
That's key, absolutely key.
I do it every day.
It seems that way lately andit's just some spiritual
maturity, you know, in in myevolution of my conversations
with god.
Yeah, have become very muchlike that, because I spend a lot
of time saying show me, I getfrom missouri in about seven
(17:27):
seconds.
Right, if you want me to dothis, show me.
You know it's awful, yeah, butwith it's not an arrogant show
me, it's like please, show me.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Like I want right here Am I.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Lord, in your will Right.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Send me, send me, show me, yeah, give me purpose,
cause I?
I seek purpose.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
And I think that is you know, and I think that is
you know, part of living in syncand in step with his spirit.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Being sensitive to his spirit, being sensitive to
his voice, being sensitive toyou know, our surroundings, you
know, and that longing is abeautiful thing.
It's a beautiful thing.
It's a beautiful thing andwe've talked about this before
like the suffering and being incrisis and how that heightens,
has the potential to heightenour sensitivity, because we are
(18:31):
poured out Psalm 22,.
We're poured out Right Right,psalm 22,.
We're poured out like water andyou know.
So that that's a, that's abeautiful thing, that's a
beautiful season to be in, totake note of the signs and um,
you know.
And then there's the people,right, there's the objects, and
(18:51):
then there's the people.
You know, and how, how Godcontinues to speak to us through
his people.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Remember the commercial Gosh.
I don't know who the brand wasor the IP, but it was a group of
vignettes and it was interviewsand at the end everyone in the
interview said and I'm a peopleperson and I'm a people person
and I'm a people person.
I'm a people.
I just when you said that itmade me think of I'm in the
(19:21):
people business.
I interact with other humansfor my job.
If I'm not interacting withother humans, I'm failing at my
job, right, truthfully.
That's how important the peoplepart of my job is in sales
Right?
So interestingly, I can put themin a box so fast, If God was
trying to show me something inthe other people in my
(19:45):
interactions every day.
I'm not giving him a fairchance because I quickly not
dealing with you, you, you know,or sizing them up, not dealing
with you, you you know, orsizing them up right judge,
judge, judge right.
Can this sales?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
can opportunity here, no opportunity, right, yeah,
serve my needs.
Well, there that's.
I mean, that's certainly theprobably the most significant
thread.
You know it's the antithesis ofthe question you asked at the
beginning of the podcast whatcan you do to avoid the signs?
Stay self-absorbed and belooking for your own?
And my conversation yesterdayhaving coffee and looking at
(20:30):
Exodus 8, it was very much aboutlooking back to the you know,
the way that my needs wereserved and maybe you know, can I
go back there?
And it's like no wait, that waslike I, I look, you know you
look back and intend to onlyremember the good sometimes and
(20:51):
it's and it's like oh wait, waita minute, I failed to forget
that I was dying, you know, atthis certain death and you know,
in spite of my, you knowphysical and material needs
being met.
(21:11):
You know, spiritually andemotionally, you know bankrupt.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Right.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Right, yeah, and yeah , you know it's, it's.
It's interesting, it's justinteresting that you know.
I think again, thinking aboutthe Israelites, thinking about,
you know, being in slavery andand going well, yeah, but at
least we had whatever right.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Hundreds of years, hundreds of years.
Yeah, the Israelites you'rereferring to were slaves for
hundreds, if not thousands.
I'm sorry I'm not going to getmy Bible details correct, but it
was definitely hundreds ofyears.
Yeah, how many generations youkeep telling your grandkids he's
coming, we're following theLord.
(21:58):
There's something better.
This is our God.
We are a chosen people.
After year 300, do you think?
You might, might be like ahyeah, you know, are you sure?
Right, and I?
Here's a, a test, not test.
That's not a good word.
Um, a challenge that I've givenmyself, um, in the last, in the
(22:30):
last, I would say, three yearsor so, is to help me stop
judging.
I have just taken on a phraseto remind myself that the person
in front of me is a child ofGod.
Man, woman or child, they're achild of God.
They're a child of God, and Irepeat that to myself over and
over and over, and I repeat thatto myself over and over and
over.
It really helps me.
(22:50):
I mean, I'm going to go as farway out and say Don and Joe are
two presidential candidates,when I'm judging them, which I
do every day, wondering how Igot here, child of God, when I'm
at work ready to judge somebodyand put them in their corner so
they leave me alone, child ofGod.
(23:10):
So I've made small steps, smallpositive steps.
Does change everything?
Simple?
Well, that's awfully simple,right?
Someone again might belistening going well, that was
easy, you know.
But they're a child of God,Treat them that way.
And I have a tendency to ignorepeople.
And it reminds me watching theChosen, season four.
(23:35):
Sorry, doing my shout out tothe Chosen, but Jesus is doing,
sign after sign, miracle aftermiracle, water into wine.
Lazarus, the centurion's kid,everything Watching and
everyone's ignoring him.
They're ignoring the signs ofPharisees, the Sadducees.
(23:57):
Everyone's ignoring, or justoutright.
If they watch, they showwatching the miracle happen yeah
, just outright.
If they watched, they showedwatching the miracle happen yeah
, a sad.
You see watching lazarus walkout of the tomb and he goes.
I gotta go back to jerusalem andtell him this guy's lying yeah,
right, yeah and I I I'm afraidof that in myself, of just
ignoring people and ignoringscience yeah, and it's it's.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
It's rooted, I I believe I mean it's obviously
rooted in self and selfishnessand all of that, but it's rooted
in this holding on to something, whether it's emotional,
whether it's material, whateverit is, I want, I need something
(24:42):
and I'm holding onto it.
And as long as those hands areclosed and those fists are
clenched, you know it's going tobe tough to do unless there's
nothing at risk.
If you have nothing to risk, ifyou're risking losing, nothing
easy to do.
But as soon as there's riskinvolved, risk involved.
(25:02):
Most people, most people, arenot willing to do that and many
are unaware, right, I mean.
But even if you know, if youare aware, you're perhaps
unwilling, so you're eitherunaware or unwilling.
(25:27):
And then there's a and thenthere, and then there's a small,
you know, a small part of thepopulation that is just open
hands.
Open hands, it is the main thing, it is the most important thing
.
It's why you know, it's whyJesus said it's the greatest
commandment.
Gosh, I love that.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
It's.
It's said, it's the greatestcommandment.
Gosh, I love that.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
It's probably the simplest andhardest thing for followers of
(25:51):
Jesus to do and most of us failBecause I want, I need, I have,
and I am unwilling, orunconscious, or unconscious, and
you know, I think that's wherethe rubber meets the road.
You know, what is it that youneed to release?
(26:12):
What is it you need tosurrender?
What is it you need to give upor give back?
Give back to the Lord, what isit you need to?
It's His, it's His anyway.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I'm picturing God right now smiling at you and me
and has a list.
You know, remember the oldthing where you open the wallet.
Can I see a picture of your kid?
Right?
God is smiling right nowespecially at me, going Mark,
there are so many signs waitingfor you.
(26:45):
You just got to get all thecrap out of the way.
Yeah, just start emptying outand clearing the path for me to
do to you what I'm dying to dofor you Lead you, show you, you
know, anoint you.
But I've got things in my way ofmy own doing, by the way, love
(27:06):
your metaphor with the openhands.
If you the daily refresh in theBible app that we do every day.
Often it leads a prayer at theend of every one very nice,
short, crisp one, perfect for meand it often says open your
hands and look up, or spreadyour arms and look up or lift
your arms and praise God.
(27:27):
And it always offers you thisphysical manifestation of this
as well.
And I often am doing that.
I'm walking the dog and I takethe leash, I stick it under my
arm and I'm walking with the dogwith my hands out.
If anyone's watching me, I mustlook like hysterical, maybe
that's why God was like stopRight, You're going.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Why God was like stop Right, You're going to hurt
yourself and your dog.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
That's good, okay, so let's be practical in the last
few minutes we're together.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
This morning, before we go out into the steamy New
Jersey countryside, what can aman do to be more available,
aware and open to signs from God?
So I wrote down a few things tostart, and let's, let's play
with this Slow down.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Breathe, look around, yep, like literally sit down
somewhere outside, preferably, Ithink.
Look around, yeah, now,certainly I think just about
everybody listening you and mewould sit there and go.
(28:35):
I see that all the time.
If I'm choosing to sit downsomewhere, it's probably
someplace I know and the areaI'm talking about, if you're in
my yard, I see that it's pretty,lots of nice flowers and trees
and green grass.
But can I appreciate that froma different perspective?
Can I look at it seekingconnection with God?
(28:58):
I think the catalyst there isand you know I've been doing
this now for a few years in myovert prayer life, just thanking
him for the simple, thecreation, the things in front of
me.
Thank you for this day, anotherday, eyes open, breathing, the
101 level existence prayers.
(29:20):
But looking at things you seeevery day with a heart oriented
to God, made that for me.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yeah, can you do that ?
Yes, and I would add to thatlook back and look up.
Looking back, acknowledging themile markers, acknowledging
God's activity, spending timegiving thanks and gratitude and
(29:50):
just acknowledging what God hasdone in your life, acknowledging
the signs.
What have you seen andexperienced in the past?
And then look around, take note, write it down so that it's
easier to look back.
Um, look ahead, you know, lookahead as well, um, and and look
(30:30):
up, look up.
Spend the time you know withFather, giving thanks as you
look back, asking for hisguidance and, you know,
acknowledgement, helping to yourawareness of what's around and
how he might want to speak toyou through that, and this is
prayer life, what you're justdescribing is just being with
him, right, and this is prayerlife.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
What you're just describing is just being with
him.
Don't let your mind wander.
I'm a wanderer, you knowsquirrels forget it literally
sitting outside, but I like whatyou said about the 360 view
right behind front up.
I'm also thinking of our friend, brother Ed Ballett.
He always sends those notes onmy current view.
It's his toes over the waterwith a fishing pole, right
Always.
That's his view, yeah, but Ibet you, if we had him here and
(31:09):
maybe we should if we had himhere and asked him about that
view, my guess is that he hasstopped long enough a few times
and said thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I think some of that heart of gratitude for these
gifts that we get is really key,you know, to experiencing more.
And I want to be careful.
I'm not trying to manufacturesigns now, you know, but I did
pray two days ago to a gray sky,a gray, cloudy sky, because so
(31:40):
often I'm on the same walk.
I walked two trails in themorning for five years the dog's
five years old.
I've been walking for fiveyears and blue sky.
You know our blue sky.
So I mean, look, wherever youare in the world listening to
this, you have your blue sky andit's the cloudless blue sky.
You know the one I'm talkingabout azure, blue, green, tall,
90 foot Oaks around us.
(32:00):
It's pretty, man.
It's easy to thank God for thatSun on my back, breeze on my
face, but two days ago it waslike this outside the sky was
low and gray and dark and thickand I made sure I didn't change
my prayer.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah, I'll give you another example of signs.
One last thing that sort ofreflects some of this.
It's easy for me, on my loop,going for my walk past, you know
, down down the river, past theball fields, up through town,
you know, and it's I, walk alongthe river.
It's beautiful, and oftentimes Ifind myself looking down,
(32:40):
looking down over a route,looking down at the ground or
looking down at my phone.
I mean, how many people waswalking out of the supermarket
yesterday and this woman nearlywalked right into me because
she's she's walking up thesidewalk looking down at a phone
.
Just watch where you're going,look up for crying out loud and
(33:01):
it's things like that.
Like you know, look up, get offthe phone, get off the device
and look up.
You know, and one of the thingsand I have to remind myself,
and so walking down past theball fields, and you know, my
son's 20.
(33:22):
I spent a lot of years down onthose ball fields coaching you
know, the whole.
Thing.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
And sitting getting those wrinkles on your butt from
those metal stands that are hot.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
And it's it's uh, you know it's early morning, it's
summer, and there's a man outthere with his, with his son,
you know, hitting them groundballs and you know tossing him
pitches.
And it's just the two of them,and and this little boy is
probably eight, you knowsomething like that under under
(33:54):
10 and and and his dad, and, andI just sat there, put my arms
on the fence, sat there andwatched them for probably 10
minutes and listened to.
You know, just this, thisbeautiful I'll call it a song,
but I just this, this beautifulinteraction, just the two of
(34:16):
them, just the two of them, andencouragement and excitement and
enthusiasm, and and just justthis love, and it and it and it.
It reminded me of just thefather's love.
And you know, part of me, likeI was looking back, I was
thinking about all the you knowthe many years on the ball field
and thinking about the manyyears these two have ahead of
(34:36):
them, and and you know, justthanking god for you know, the
beauty of a little league fieldin the middle of the woods in
Hunterdon County, you know, andperfect, yeah, it's just so like
those are the things, like youknow how many times I probably
walked by the same scene, butnever even took note, right.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Cause you're looking down Exactly.
Well, uh, to continue God'sconnection in our lives, I will
tell you a short story that I amone of the people who puts a
pithy quote at the end of theiremails.
I always have something I don'tknow what's there right now,
but coming out of the almostpandemic that we had I think
(35:20):
this is around 2021, for almosta year, I had two words in
quotation marks at the bottom ofmy emails and they were look up
, Wow.
And there was only one reasonfor that.
One of my moments of that was abig thank you, lord.
(35:44):
Just moments of thank.
That was a a big thank you,lord.
Right, the creator of theuniverse cares about me so much
that he's willing to make meaware of simple, obvious and as
well as subtle signs just for me, just for me, just for me.
(36:06):
Yeah, billions and billions ofpeople in the world.
My God talks to me.
Mark needs to slow down.
He needs to breathe, be aware,seek connection as strongly as I
.
Seek connection with you, myfriend and our V2G brothers, the
(36:28):
men that I've decided to investin.
I need to.
What do I triple?
What does God deserve A littlebit more right?
So this is a call, uh, tolistening to in your own way.
Look for the signs from God.
(36:49):
I don't think you're going tohave to look that far and when
you see one, acknowledge it,maybe do it that day.
Going right back to thebeginning, I stopped.
I decided, at least for a fewhours.
I know it sounds pathetic, butfor a few hours I was aware of
my judgmental heart, which is abattle I fight every day, and
(37:12):
just I stopped and I'm going totake the red octagonal and never
forget.
This is a story that will liveon in digital infamy now because
I put it out here on thepodcast and maybe it'll impress
somebody or help somebody intheir own way.
It might not be a big red metalsign but that's what.
(37:33):
I got.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Love it Well.
Thank you everybody forlistening.
Take note, become aware of yoursurroundings.
What's happening, what's hetrying to show you and what
might he be trying to say?
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Peace.
Sometimes, the best summariescome in the form of a list, and
I have two of them for us tothink about.
What's the best way to miss thesigns?
You'll like this list.
It's a short one.
Be self-absorbed.
What's the best way to see thesigns?
(38:18):
Slow down and take a deepbreath, get off your phone, look
around having gratitude forwhat God has done, look up,
spend time with him in authenticrelationship and in his word,
and look ahead seeking toglorify God in all that we do.
Lord, please continue to usethis podcast to impact the lives
(38:44):
of all who listen.
I ask that you would bring hopeand healing to each and every
one of them.
Meet them right where they areand reveal yourself to them like
only you can do.
In Jesus' name amen.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it
and invite others to theFoxhole.
You can find us wherever youdownload your favorite podcasts.
Be sure to subscribe so youknow when new episodes drop.
Thank you.
To make it super easy to findus, drop us a line with feedback
, questions, topic requests.
Who knows, maybe you'll be aguest on a future episode.
(39:27):
In the meantime, prepare tomove, embrace discomfort and
just be you.
Welcome to Foxhole Symphony, a podcast about the
transformational value of men inauthentic community.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
In our foxhole.
Men are equipped to buildrelationships that foster
belonging, accountability andgrowth.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Stop believing the lie that you can thrive in
isolation and instead join us onthe journey from broken to
whole.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hello everyone.
They call me the Maestro and weare back in the foxhole where
we actively pursue belonging,accountability and growth
through authentic relationships.
No masks, no agendas, just ironsharpening iron.
Steve and Mark are back at itand I can hardly see them behind
all these signs.
No, u-turn one way 10% off yournext frozen yogurt.
Steve and Mark are back at itand I can hardly see them behind
(00:47):
all these signs.
No U-turn one way 10% off yournext frozen yogurt.
Well, grab a seat, open yournotes app and buckle up.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
The light goes green in three.
Two.
Welcome back to the FoxholeSymphony Podcast.
I always wanted to do that70-plus episodes.
I always wanted to open, likeStephen Wright.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
You caught me off guard.
I'm glad I did I waited threeyears.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Oh wow, welcome back, and I'm thinking I'll start.
No, I can't even breathe in.
It's good to see you.
I'm Sarge here with Mark.
Hey, how are you, bro?
Good, it is steamy out.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
We're in a series of steaminess right.
Yesterday was the type of day Isaid to Jack.
He slept in a little bit, hehad foot surgery early in the
morning and he's laying aroundand I said, bud, just that,
you're in a perfect spot.
I said you don't need to doanything outside, you just need
to walk out and you start yourpores all open up Steam room.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Right Steam room.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
And I like a good sweat, yeah, but yesterday was a
whole new level of yeah, andthis morning same.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Thing.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I mean, it's just a wall of humidity.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
It's unbelievable.
I think it lasts another fewdays.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah, so there's your weather update.
It's totally episodic.
That's what we do every episodeand their Comment about the
weather.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
This is our lives.
Yeah, wait till the Giantsstart playing.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Exactly.
And then, in addition to the,just the thick humidity, the
steamy, which is bizarre forwhere we live, I mean this is
not normal, right?
And then there's just, there'sthis smoke.
That's not.
I mean, there's obviously awildfire somewhere, but it
doesn't smell like fire, itsmells like melting plastic, it
(02:28):
got to something man-made.
Yeah, this is not trees, it'snot good.
And sign of the times Sign ofthe times Chaos In a bad way.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, there's signs everywhere there are.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
There are.
What a great segue.
Hey, listen.
Sign of the times.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yes, so, um, yeah, we're going to talk about signs,
and what's the question we'retrying to answer?
Speaker 1 (02:58):
The question we're trying to answer is that we're
cutting right to the end.
We can just skip this and makethis a four minute podcast.
Let's do it.
Three minutes of weather whatcan a man do to make himself
more available, aware and opento signs from God?
That's what we're after here.
Let me jump back to thebeginning with a story of why
(03:19):
this God put this on my heartabout 10 days ago.
There I am walking the Redsterright Doing our morning walk.
I'm out in the next door youknow the development next door
doing our two-mile loop,whatever it is.
Red and I are cruising alongand I was pontificating to our
brother Bo about something.
I was complaining, I wasjudging something.
(03:41):
It could have been from achurch work, probably something
I don't remember exactly, butlet's just say it was something
about the home or somebody, andI was praying for patience and
guidance and a soft heart, heartfull of grace and mercy, and
(04:04):
lamenting like what's golly.
You know why can't I just stopand breathe and just, you know,
stop judging, be present.
And Red decides to pull offonto the grass off the road.
I turn around and about 14 feetin front of me is a stop sign,
(04:30):
a big red octagonal stop sign.
Now I'm here to tell you thatI've walked past that stop sign
a thousand times and neverlooked at it, never paid
attention, because I it's a deadend street.
I never drive there.
There's no reason for me todrive on Sterling Place.
Bo starts talking to me and I'mlooking at the stop sign.
(04:52):
I'm just staring at the stopsign.
I'm like Bo.
I'm like Bo, hello Bo, wait aminute, I've got goose flesh
right now.
Retelling you the story for thefirst time, going here I a
moment ago, I was saying Lord,show me, help me to be present,
(05:14):
right, help me to stop.
I said, brother Bo, there's astop sign in my face right now.
I didn't know what I was like.
Oh my gosh.
And he starts laughing, he goes.
Well, you asked for a sign.
(05:36):
I said I didn't think it'd be ametal one.
You know, eight feet in the air, right, that big.
So I was swept away.
I stood there and we prayedabout that moment for me just
acknowledging that it could bethat simple.
Maybe it sounds oversimplified,I don't know, but to me in that
moment it was a clear,unmistakable sign from God going
(05:58):
Mark, stop, stop with thewhining, stop with the judgment.
Stop with the wah wah wah youknow the Woodstock noises and
just enjoy.
And this is a walk that'sbeautiful, it's green, it's got
the blue skies, breezes.
It protects you from the coldwhen it's really cold out.
This is an area we love to walkbecause you're protected on
(06:21):
both sides.
You don't get blown away bybitter, cold winds.
It protects you from hot sun ifwe're walking in the afternoon.
So there's a lot of beauty inhere.
The houses are really far apart,they're mansions, so it's
pretty in so many ways.
But they're in the middle and Iswear to you it's like right in
the middle and there are noother street signs in this
development except when youleave.
(06:41):
There's a stop sign in themiddle that I think my God put
in front of my face to remind methat sometimes you have to look
really hard for a sign.
You got to really get down onyour knees and humble yourself
(07:02):
and surrender and pray and hopethat that song or that verse or
that person comes in your lifeto show you what you want.
And other times there's abillboard.
That's what it felt like to me.
God put a billboard in my path,yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, that's my story .
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, that's why I'm here talking about this today.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, and obviously you know the stop sign existed
and was in that place before yougot there.
But the awareness, thesensitivity, the connection, you
know, the hearing from God inthat moment, your attention
being brought to it, you know,is a beautiful thing, it's a
(07:41):
gift.
How many times.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
The key, I think, is how many times I walked past it,
ignoring it.
Yeah, how many times do Iignore the signs?
The most obvious been there,done that sign.
Right, that is there for me.
It in that moment, at thatspecific time, that's the sign I
needed.
Yeah, by the way, I don't likebeing told to stop.
(08:05):
Yeah, you, how often doessomeone say to you, steve, stop?
And you're like okay, yeah,sure Right.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Happy to have you.
What a rolling stop.
Does that work?
We just.
You know you're right.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Let me just screw the Jersey slow roll, right, that's
how you fail the driving test,right, excuse me, you, it was a
rolling stop.
Um, yeah, so I'm, I'm, uh, I'mpretty hyped up about it and I I
quickly grabbed that, as youmight guess, yeah, and I Googled
signs in the Bible.
Bible, I had so much fun fortwo or three days I kept going
(08:44):
back.
I love it and it's just.
All it is is signs, from old tonew, just every Psalm.
And Brother Paul is the king ofsigns in the Bible.
Right, he left a crumb trail, Ifeel, for us to follow.
I feel for us to follow, youknow, the fact that he went from
(09:06):
such a dark, desperate type oflife to a redeemed, grace-filled
life.
Right, and now I've written somuch of the New Testament,
everything you know aboutBrother Paul, but he's like the
crumb trail guy.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
You know, right up to and including the crumb trail
that I read this morning in ourdevotional about, why do I do
the things that I don't want todo?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Right, yeah, that part, yes, that resonates with
every man.
What man has read 1 Corinthians5, whatever it is, it's
somewhere in there.
Yeah, and I'm sorry I don'thave my my phone or anything
with me to to update that folks,but paul is giving this great
soliloquy and, out of the blue,admits why do I keep doing the
(09:57):
things I know I shouldn't bedoing?
Yeah, what, what is that aboutme, lord?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
you know it.
It's interesting.
There are some signs that arequite subtle that I'm sure we
miss every day, right, right,yeah.
And then there's, like the youknow, there's the signs that are
so obvious that we still chooseto ignore.
I'm thinking about the plagues.
(10:22):
I'm thinking about the plagues.
You mentioned biblicalreferences.
Oh yeah, the plagues.
I'm thinking about the plagues.
You, you mentioned biblicalreferences and oh yeah the
plagues.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, really, so no, I the red sea and the plagues
yeah, yeah, and so pretty goodsigns.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
So like, well, and here's the thing you know, I was
thinking about this yesterdayum exodus 8, and you know, moses
and pharaoh, right, let mypeople go.
Frogs, there were frogs.
Right, the frogs, frogs, comeon you gotta pick frogs I will
send a plague of frogs on yourwhole.
(10:57):
Are you really on frogs?
Yeah, yeah, 100, it's my plague.
And they will come up into yourpalace, in your bedroom and
onto your bed, into the house,right Again.
So Lord says to Moses tellAaron, stretch out your hand
with your staff over the streamsand canals and ponds and make
frogs come up on the land ofEgypt.
(11:17):
So he did.
Frogs came up, right.
Pharaoh summoned Moses andAaron and said pray to the Lord
to take the frogs away.
And right, yeah, and I will letyour people go to offer
sacrifices to the Lord.
(11:37):
Moses says to Pharaoh I leaveto you the honor of setting the
time for me to pray for you andyour officials and your people
tomorrow.
Pharaoh says.
Moses says it will be as yousay.
So the frogs will leave you andyour houses and your fish.
They will remain only in theNile, right?
So all this happens, right?
(11:58):
And the frogs were piled intoheaps.
The land reeked of them.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Can you imagine, oh?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I could smell it Frog poop, I could smell it.
But when Pharaoh saw that therewas relief, but when Pharaoh
saw that there was relief, hehardened his heart and would not
listen to Moses and Aaron, justas the Lord had said.
And then the gnats come.
So I just, you know, like I'mreading this yesterday, I'm like
(12:30):
you know, it's so easy youtalked about judging right it's
so easy to be like a pharaoh andit's like man, like am I, am I
pharaoh, here we go.
Am I pharaoh?
You know, when have I beenpharaoh?
You know?
Praying relief, hardening ofthe heart.
(12:54):
It was better before.
It was better before.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
How about one of my favorites?
Thanks, lord.
Next yeah, thanks for the stopsign, father.
Yeah, and three days later I'mbeing a judgmental jerk again.
Yeah, you know.
And the stop sign, if not forthe podcast, is history.
It's a cute story.
It's a chapter in the book I'mgonna write someday.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Right with god, but thanks, lord next, so so easy to
get swept up in what we thinkwe want why were you reading
exodus eight yesterday?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
if you don't mind me asking so yeah, yeah, ironically
.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
So I was having coffee with a friend and he had
a speaking engagement coming upand he actually had said I said,
oh, what are you speaking about?
He's like, I don't know, theLord put Exodus eight on my
heart.
I got to think about it and Ihappened to pull it up and I'm
like, and that's where we went,I mean that's what we were
talking about.
And he was like, oh my gosh,that's so good, I love it.
(13:58):
Are you pharaoh?
Am I pharaoh?
Yeah, um, so yeah that's whatgot signs.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
How about feeding 5 000 people, or 4 000, depending
on which story you prefer?
how about the sign.
So in in those days, that's alarge group.
You, you get a concert of 5,000.
Now, you know, football games70,000, right, james Taylor in
concert, it's 5,000.
To walk in the park for us.
We're going to see him inAugust, that's why I bring that
(14:24):
up, but 5,000 had to walk a longway to get to the plateau where
Jesus wanted to give thatlittle speech.
Yeah, right, 5,000 people left.
Imagine the ripples coming outof that and the signs, right
that.
What did that say to potential,to the folks who believed, or
(14:47):
potential believers, or peoplelike the Romans who just all
they wanted to do was crowdcontrol, as long as the crowd
wasn't killing anybody.
They were pretty much meeting,talk all day.
You need water, you need food,right, 5,000 people.
Logistically, a nightmare in myhead.
(15:09):
I'm trying to organize it in myhead, but the sign, the ripple
that came out of that, isunmistakable, just like any
plague that you pick.
These are the big signs, likeany plague that you pick.
Yeah, these are the big signs.
The big biblical stories hassome of our heroes in it,
starting with Jesus and others,and then there are the subtle
yeah, one just came to mind.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I remember six months ago walking in town doing,
doing the loop you know I have aloop, like you do and I
remember thinking and I forgetexactly what it was.
I was thinking, but I was.
I was contemplating a decisionand you know remember feeling um
(15:49):
at a crossroads and a bit incrisis and then coming up the
street and off to the left bythe post office, there's a,
there's a giant area like sortof wrapped in caution tape okay
(16:10):
all over caution, caution,caution, caution.
Again, walk by it all the time,never took note until this
moment.
I'm praying, I'm asking theLord and you know.
Again I look to the leftcaution and I'm just weeping,
weeping and it's very much likeyour stop sign moment and that
(16:36):
listen, that has not happenedvery much to me, but in that
moment I was deeply grateful,deeply grateful and took note,
like I think that's important.
I think you know there'sprobably people saying you guys,
out of your minds, what are youtalking about?
Not to over-spiritualizeeverything we see, but take note
(17:02):
, ask the Lord, is this from you?
Speaker 1 (17:05):
That's it.
That's key, absolutely key.
I do it every day.
It seems that way lately andit's just some spiritual
maturity, you know, in in myevolution of my conversations
with god.
Yeah, have become very muchlike that, because I spend a lot
of time saying show me, I getfrom missouri in about seven
(17:27):
seconds.
Right, if you want me to dothis, show me.
You know it's awful, yeah, butwith it's not an arrogant show
me, it's like please, show me.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Like I want right here Am I.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Lord, in your will Right.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Send me, send me, show me, yeah, give me purpose,
cause I?
I seek purpose.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
And I think that is you know, and I think that is
you know, part of living in syncand in step with his spirit.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Being sensitive to his spirit, being sensitive to
his voice, being sensitive toyou know, our surroundings, you
know, and that longing is abeautiful thing.
It's a beautiful thing.
It's a beautiful thing andwe've talked about this before
like the suffering and being incrisis and how that heightens,
has the potential to heightenour sensitivity, because we are
(18:31):
poured out Psalm 22,.
We're poured out Right Right,psalm 22,.
We're poured out like water andyou know.
So that that's a, that's abeautiful thing, that's a
beautiful season to be in, totake note of the signs and um,
you know.
And then there's the people,right, there's the objects, and
(18:51):
then there's the people.
You know, and how, how Godcontinues to speak to us through
his people.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Remember the commercial Gosh.
I don't know who the brand wasor the IP, but it was a group of
vignettes and it was interviewsand at the end everyone in the
interview said and I'm a peopleperson and I'm a people person
and I'm a people person.
I'm a people.
I just when you said that itmade me think of I'm in the
(19:21):
people business.
I interact with other humansfor my job.
If I'm not interacting withother humans, I'm failing at my
job, right, truthfully.
That's how important the peoplepart of my job is in sales
Right?
So interestingly, I can put themin a box so fast, If God was
trying to show me something inthe other people in my
(19:45):
interactions every day.
I'm not giving him a fairchance because I quickly not
dealing with you, you, you know,or sizing them up, not dealing
with you, you you know, orsizing them up right judge,
judge, judge right.
Can this sales?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
can opportunity here, no opportunity, right, yeah,
serve my needs.
Well, there that's.
I mean, that's certainly theprobably the most significant
thread.
You know it's the antithesis ofthe question you asked at the
beginning of the podcast whatcan you do to avoid the signs?
Stay self-absorbed and belooking for your own?
And my conversation yesterdayhaving coffee and looking at
(20:30):
Exodus 8, it was very much aboutlooking back to the you know,
the way that my needs wereserved and maybe you know, can I
go back there?
And it's like no wait, that waslike I, I look, you know you
look back and intend to onlyremember the good sometimes and
(20:51):
it's and it's like oh wait, waita minute, I failed to forget
that I was dying, you know, atthis certain death and you know,
in spite of my, you knowphysical and material needs
being met.
(21:11):
You know, spiritually andemotionally, you know bankrupt.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Right.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Right, yeah, and yeah , you know it's, it's.
It's interesting, it's justinteresting that you know.
I think again, thinking aboutthe Israelites, thinking about,
you know, being in slavery andand going well, yeah, but at
least we had whatever right.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Hundreds of years, hundreds of years.
Yeah, the Israelites you'rereferring to were slaves for
hundreds, if not thousands.
I'm sorry I'm not going to getmy Bible details correct, but it
was definitely hundreds ofyears.
Yeah, how many generations youkeep telling your grandkids he's
coming, we're following theLord.
(21:58):
There's something better.
This is our God.
We are a chosen people.
After year 300, do you think?
You might, might be like ahyeah, you know, are you sure?
Right, and I?
Here's a, a test, not test.
That's not a good word.
Um, a challenge that I've givenmyself, um, in the last, in the
(22:30):
last, I would say, three yearsor so, is to help me stop
judging.
I have just taken on a phraseto remind myself that the person
in front of me is a child ofGod.
Man, woman or child, they're achild of God.
They're a child of God, and Irepeat that to myself over and
over and over, and I repeat thatto myself over and over and
over.
It really helps me.
(22:50):
I mean, I'm going to go as farway out and say Don and Joe are
two presidential candidates,when I'm judging them, which I
do every day, wondering how Igot here, child of God, when I'm
at work ready to judge somebodyand put them in their corner so
they leave me alone, child ofGod.
(23:10):
So I've made small steps, smallpositive steps.
Does change everything?
Simple?
Well, that's awfully simple,right?
Someone again might belistening going well, that was
easy, you know.
But they're a child of God,Treat them that way.
And I have a tendency to ignorepeople.
And it reminds me watching theChosen, season four.
(23:35):
Sorry, doing my shout out tothe Chosen, but Jesus is doing,
sign after sign, miracle aftermiracle, water into wine.
Lazarus, the centurion's kid,everything Watching and
everyone's ignoring him.
They're ignoring the signs ofPharisees, the Sadducees.
(23:57):
Everyone's ignoring, or justoutright.
If they watch, they showwatching the miracle happen yeah
, just outright.
If they watched, they showedwatching the miracle happen yeah
, a sad.
You see watching lazarus walkout of the tomb and he goes.
I gotta go back to jerusalem andtell him this guy's lying yeah,
right, yeah and I I I'm afraidof that in myself, of just
ignoring people and ignoringscience yeah, and it's it's.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
It's rooted, I I believe I mean it's obviously
rooted in self and selfishnessand all of that, but it's rooted
in this holding on to something, whether it's emotional,
whether it's material, whateverit is, I want, I need something
(24:42):
and I'm holding onto it.
And as long as those hands areclosed and those fists are
clenched, you know it's going tobe tough to do unless there's
nothing at risk.
If you have nothing to risk, ifyou're risking losing, nothing
easy to do.
But as soon as there's riskinvolved, risk involved.
(25:02):
Most people, most people, arenot willing to do that and many
are unaware, right, I mean.
But even if you know, if youare aware, you're perhaps
unwilling, so you're eitherunaware or unwilling.
(25:27):
And then there's a and thenthere, and then there's a small,
you know, a small part of thepopulation that is just open
hands.
Open hands, it is the main thing, it is the most important thing
.
It's why you know, it's whyJesus said it's the greatest
commandment.
Gosh, I love that.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
It's.
It's said, it's the greatestcommandment.
Gosh, I love that.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
It's probably the simplest andhardest thing for followers of
(25:51):
Jesus to do and most of us failBecause I want, I need, I have,
and I am unwilling, orunconscious, or unconscious, and
you know, I think that's wherethe rubber meets the road.
You know, what is it that youneed to release?
(26:12):
What is it you need tosurrender?
What is it you need to give upor give back?
Give back to the Lord, what isit you need to?
It's His, it's His anyway.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I'm picturing God right now smiling at you and me
and has a list.
You know, remember the oldthing where you open the wallet.
Can I see a picture of your kid?
Right?
God is smiling right nowespecially at me, going Mark,
there are so many signs waitingfor you.
(26:45):
You just got to get all thecrap out of the way.
Yeah, just start emptying outand clearing the path for me to
do to you what I'm dying to dofor you Lead you, show you, you
know, anoint you.
But I've got things in my way ofmy own doing, by the way, love
(27:06):
your metaphor with the openhands.
If you the daily refresh in theBible app that we do every day.
Often it leads a prayer at theend of every one very nice,
short, crisp one, perfect for meand it often says open your
hands and look up, or spreadyour arms and look up or lift
your arms and praise God.
(27:27):
And it always offers you thisphysical manifestation of this
as well.
And I often am doing that.
I'm walking the dog and I takethe leash, I stick it under my
arm and I'm walking with the dogwith my hands out.
If anyone's watching me, I mustlook like hysterical, maybe
that's why God was like stopRight, You're going.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Why God was like stop Right, You're going to hurt
yourself and your dog.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
That's good, okay, so let's be practical in the last
few minutes we're together.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
This morning, before we go out into the steamy New
Jersey countryside, what can aman do to be more available,
aware and open to signs from God?
So I wrote down a few things tostart, and let's, let's play
with this Slow down.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Breathe, look around, yep, like literally sit down
somewhere outside, preferably, Ithink.
Look around, yeah, now,certainly I think just about
everybody listening you and mewould sit there and go.
(28:35):
I see that all the time.
If I'm choosing to sit downsomewhere, it's probably
someplace I know and the areaI'm talking about, if you're in
my yard, I see that it's pretty,lots of nice flowers and trees
and green grass.
But can I appreciate that froma different perspective?
Can I look at it seekingconnection with God?
(28:58):
I think the catalyst there isand you know I've been doing
this now for a few years in myovert prayer life, just thanking
him for the simple, thecreation, the things in front of
me.
Thank you for this day, anotherday, eyes open, breathing, the
101 level existence prayers.
(29:20):
But looking at things you seeevery day with a heart oriented
to God, made that for me.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yeah, can you do that ?
Yes, and I would add to thatlook back and look up.
Looking back, acknowledging themile markers, acknowledging
God's activity, spending timegiving thanks and gratitude and
(29:50):
just acknowledging what God hasdone in your life, acknowledging
the signs.
What have you seen andexperienced in the past?
And then look around, take note, write it down so that it's
easier to look back.
Um, look ahead, you know, lookahead as well, um, and and look
(30:30):
up, look up.
Spend the time you know withFather, giving thanks as you
look back, asking for hisguidance and, you know,
acknowledgement, helping to yourawareness of what's around and
how he might want to speak toyou through that, and this is
prayer life, what you're justdescribing is just being with
him, right, and this is prayerlife.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
What you're just describing is just being with
him.
Don't let your mind wander.
I'm a wanderer, you knowsquirrels forget it literally
sitting outside, but I like whatyou said about the 360 view
right behind front up.
I'm also thinking of our friend, brother Ed Ballett.
He always sends those notes onmy current view.
It's his toes over the waterwith a fishing pole, right
Always.
That's his view, yeah, but Ibet you, if we had him here and
(31:09):
maybe we should if we had himhere and asked him about that
view, my guess is that he hasstopped long enough a few times
and said thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I think some of that heart of gratitude for these
gifts that we get is really key,you know, to experiencing more.
And I want to be careful.
I'm not trying to manufacturesigns now, you know, but I did
pray two days ago to a gray sky,a gray, cloudy sky, because so
(31:40):
often I'm on the same walk.
I walked two trails in themorning for five years the dog's
five years old.
I've been walking for fiveyears and blue sky.
You know our blue sky.
So I mean, look, wherever youare in the world listening to
this, you have your blue sky andit's the cloudless blue sky.
You know the one I'm talkingabout azure, blue, green, tall,
90 foot Oaks around us.
(32:00):
It's pretty, man.
It's easy to thank God for thatSun on my back, breeze on my
face, but two days ago it waslike this outside the sky was
low and gray and dark and thickand I made sure I didn't change
my prayer.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah, I'll give you another example of signs.
One last thing that sort ofreflects some of this.
It's easy for me, on my loop,going for my walk past, you know
, down down the river, past theball fields, up through town,
you know, and it's I, walk alongthe river.
It's beautiful, and oftentimes Ifind myself looking down,
(32:40):
looking down over a route,looking down at the ground or
looking down at my phone.
I mean, how many people waswalking out of the supermarket
yesterday and this woman nearlywalked right into me because
she's she's walking up thesidewalk looking down at a phone
.
Just watch where you're going,look up for crying out loud and
(33:01):
it's things like that.
Like you know, look up, get offthe phone, get off the device
and look up.
You know, and one of the thingsand I have to remind myself,
and so walking down past theball fields, and you know, my
son's 20.
(33:22):
I spent a lot of years down onthose ball fields coaching you
know, the whole.
Thing.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
And sitting getting those wrinkles on your butt from
those metal stands that are hot.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
And it's it's uh, you know it's early morning, it's
summer, and there's a man outthere with his, with his son,
you know, hitting them groundballs and you know tossing him
pitches.
And it's just the two of them,and and this little boy is
probably eight, you knowsomething like that under under
(33:54):
10 and and and his dad, and, andI just sat there, put my arms
on the fence, sat there andwatched them for probably 10
minutes and listened to.
You know, just this, thisbeautiful I'll call it a song,
but I just this, this beautifulinteraction, just the two of
(34:16):
them, just the two of them, andencouragement and excitement and
enthusiasm, and and just justthis love, and it and it and it.
It reminded me of just thefather's love.
And you know, part of me, likeI was looking back, I was
thinking about all the you knowthe many years on the ball field
and thinking about the manyyears these two have ahead of
(34:36):
them, and and you know, justthanking god for you know, the
beauty of a little league fieldin the middle of the woods in
Hunterdon County, you know, andperfect, yeah, it's just so like
those are the things, like youknow how many times I probably
walked by the same scene, butnever even took note, right.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Cause you're looking down Exactly.
Well, uh, to continue God'sconnection in our lives, I will
tell you a short story that I amone of the people who puts a
pithy quote at the end of theiremails.
I always have something I don'tknow what's there right now,
but coming out of the almostpandemic that we had I think
(35:20):
this is around 2021, for almosta year, I had two words in
quotation marks at the bottom ofmy emails and they were look up
, Wow.
And there was only one reasonfor that.
One of my moments of that was abig thank you, lord.
(35:44):
Just moments of thank.
That was a a big thank you,lord.
Right, the creator of theuniverse cares about me so much
that he's willing to make meaware of simple, obvious and as
well as subtle signs just for me, just for me, just for me.
(36:06):
Yeah, billions and billions ofpeople in the world.
My God talks to me.
Mark needs to slow down.
He needs to breathe, be aware,seek connection as strongly as I
.
Seek connection with you, myfriend and our V2G brothers, the
(36:28):
men that I've decided to investin.
I need to.
What do I triple?
What does God deserve A littlebit more right?
So this is a call, uh, tolistening to in your own way.
Look for the signs from God.
(36:49):
I don't think you're going tohave to look that far and when
you see one, acknowledge it,maybe do it that day.
Going right back to thebeginning, I stopped.
I decided, at least for a fewhours.
I know it sounds pathetic, butfor a few hours I was aware of
my judgmental heart, which is abattle I fight every day, and
(37:12):
just I stopped and I'm going totake the red octagonal and never
forget.
This is a story that will liveon in digital infamy now because
I put it out here on thepodcast and maybe it'll impress
somebody or help somebody intheir own way.
It might not be a big red metalsign but that's what.
(37:33):
I got.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Love it Well.
Thank you everybody forlistening.
Take note, become aware of yoursurroundings.
What's happening, what's hetrying to show you and what
might he be trying to say?
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Peace.
Sometimes, the best summariescome in the form of a list, and
I have two of them for us tothink about.
What's the best way to miss thesigns?
You'll like this list.
It's a short one.
Be self-absorbed.
What's the best way to see thesigns?
(38:18):
Slow down and take a deepbreath, get off your phone, look
around having gratitude forwhat God has done, look up,
spend time with him in authenticrelationship and in his word,
and look ahead seeking toglorify God in all that we do.
Lord, please continue to usethis podcast to impact the lives
(38:44):
of all who listen.
I ask that you would bring hopeand healing to each and every
one of them.
Meet them right where they areand reveal yourself to them like
only you can do.
In Jesus' name amen.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it
and invite others to theFoxhole.
You can find us wherever youdownload your favorite podcasts.
Be sure to subscribe so youknow when new episodes drop.
Thank you.
To make it super easy to findus, drop us a line with feedback
, questions, topic requests.
Who knows, maybe you'll be aguest on a future episode.
(39:27):
In the meantime, prepare tomove, embrace discomfort and
just be you.
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