August 23, 2024 • 42 mins
Have you ever wondered how the simple joys of having a pet can lead to profound spiritual insights? In this episode of Foxhole Symphony, we share heartwarming stories about our furry friends and explore how their presence brings joy into our lives, setting the stage for a deeper conversation about shining the light of Christ amidst life's darkness. We offer biblical insights and personal reflections on the importance of being a beacon of hope and positivity, encouraging each other to remain steadfast in our faith.
Imagine adjusting to the light of Christ just like you would adjust to candlelight in a dark room. We delve into the intentionality required to spread this light, overcoming negative self-talk, and renewing our minds through faith. With personal anecdotes, we highlight how accountability and maintaining focus on God's presence can guide us through everyday challenges and significant revelations. The conversation emphasizes never taking God's guiding light for granted and constantly seeking to share it with the world.
Has an unexpected encounter ever changed your perspective? We recount a surprising moment at Costco and discuss how our daily actions and interactions can radiate our inner light. The episode also introduces the SoulCon Challenge, a six-week program aimed at enhancing spiritual, physical, and emotional discipline, and shares the importance of finding joy even in suffering. Finally, we explore how to expand our community, encouraging listeners to connect, share, and engage with the Foxhole Symphony podcast, fostering growth and wholeness together.
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
Find us at:
https://www.facebook.com/foxholesymphony
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuvcXdDpE79S_D_hInblcDw
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, andwe are back in the foxhole where
we actively pursue belonging,accountability and growth
through authentic relationships.
No masks, no agendas, just ironsharpening.
Iron.
Mark and Steve are in thefoxhole with their shades on and
they're eating strawberries.
I'm not sure where they'reheading today, but it sure feels
(00:49):
good basking in the glow.
It's time to get started, sograb your sunglasses, open your
favorite notes app and walktoward the light.
Oh, come on, don't be scared,let's do this.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Hey, welcome back to Foxhole Symphony Podcast.
I'm Sarge here with my goodfriend, mark, right on cue.
You did good.
What's up, corgi dad?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I am that.
I am that corgi dad.
You're a corgi dad.
I don't need to watch FacebookReels to see cute corgis.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I have one upstairs, my wife fought so hard for a
puppy, as you know.
Yes, fought so hard for a puppy, as you know.
Yes, juno, and you know we'vegot marvin, who's the west, he's
old, he's 13, and he's come tolife with juno, which happens
right.
You get a puppy and all of asudden, the old, the old one's
like I want to play for likefour seconds and he's like I
want to sleep.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Uh, juno that was a good, that was a good.
Marvin, you made Wish everyonecould see it.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Juno is.
I got to tell you.
I fought and fought and fought.
I'm like, and I was like allright, obviously I'm going to
lose this battle.
Let me just go all in.
I love this dog.
I love this dog.
He's just, and he's my bud andhe's.
I wake up in the morning andhis face is right, nose to nose,
(02:05):
and he's just got his head onmy pillow and he's staring at me
.
Oh my God, the dog sleeps onyour pillow, he does, oh, jesus.
And I love it.
Oh, god bless you.
This is like confession, I know, and this dog is about eight
inches.
If it's wrong, I don't want tobe right.
Eight inches low, this is alittle dog.
Well, no, he's grown.
He's actually bigger than Marv.
Now he is, he got bigger, oh mygosh, I haven't seen him.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, anyway, more pictures, yes, well, that hits
me right between the eyesbecause yesterday I got tag,
teamed by Jack and Ria, who arethe ones who got me for getting
red, our Corgi Right, and I,four, five years after Annie
died, and I was just done doingthe dog thing because I became
(02:49):
dog master.
And it's funny because samethings happen with Red, red
loves Maria.
I get the feeding and thewalking and the poop bags.
I'm the poop bag guy.
No one else here in this househas ever touched a green poop
bag Me thousands.
All right, because of courseyou can't leave dog poop
(03:10):
anywhere in the neighborhood,that's right.
But I sent I mistakenly sentthem a Facebook reel of a
Siberian Husky puppy, very, veryyoung puppy, howling for the
first time.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Come on, when did you do this Yesterday?
Oh, you're in trouble.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
And so Ria responds and says oh so cute, want a
puppy.
Yeah, we need one, no.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So the time I gave him the stop sign.
Yeah, the sticker Stop.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You know, I said that's it.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Can't send any dog reels.
You know, the title of thisepisode is man's best friend.
No, it's not.
Has nothing to do with.
Uh, maybe we'll find a segue,but well, look at that the light
is shining in the window thesun is shining right on you
because you face east.
Yes, I'm facing south yeah,most times, most most mornings
that we're recording, notice howI gave you that seat.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yes, yeah, microphone number one Sarge in the light,
and that's what we want to talkabout today.
Yeah, the light of Christ.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Amen, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it
shine.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Wow, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it
shine, man, thank God, let itshine.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
We don't sing often on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Hallelujah.
So don't say you're not blessedbeing on this podcast.
How do you let it shine?
That's a great question that Iwant to explore because it's
been on my heart.
I have found myself saying inthe last five years you know to
folks that I'll just lament in adevotional.
You know just text or just acomment in a devotional we're
(04:54):
doing.
I said you know, please go outand shine.
Today and that just became apart of my vocabulary is because
I just felt it was the easiestway for me to describe my
concern with the darkness.
I mean, to be beautifullyhonest, there are some dark
corners.
I mean I don't even look forthem, but I feel in my heart
(05:17):
there's just.
And I want to say I'm not aconspiracy theorist, I'm not
getting political in this, I'mjust saying it seems to me a lot
of darkness out there, yeah,and it can grab you, it grabs me
, it gets our attention.
And so I have simply said tofolks shine.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Shine with the light that you have If you believe
you're called to shine.
So I repeat that over and overand over.
Clearly, there's a biblicalfoundation for this.
I'm the light of the world as.
Jesus said.
So how I shine is a wholenother question, but I certainly
feel we could have a lot of funtalking about how that light
(06:02):
manifests itself in our lives,and I'll give you an idea how it
starts for me the.
I am sorry I'm going to get itwrong.
I won't be able to look it upfast enough, but the Bible verse
about I think it's actually aquestion that Jesus poses, or
one of the prophets poses andsays do you put a lamp under a
(06:23):
blanket?
And the obvious answer is ofcourse not.
Why would you put it under ablanket?
Unless you're staying up lateand reading and don't want to
wake your partner, you don't.
You put it out there for all tosee, and that is our calling,
and I feel that very strongly.
(06:44):
That's a passionate feeling forme.
I'm touching my chest nowbecause that's where it is.
It has gravitas in my life thatI feel like I'm pretty fearless
.
With my faith I've gottenbetter at loving those that are
hard to love.
It's still a great challengefor me, but for me that
(07:10):
manifests itself in reaching outto someone in line at ShopRite
that I normally wouldn't,greeting them saying hi, helping
in a public environment withfolks that aren't my kind of guy
.
That's my light.
How about you?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Well, can I take a quick step back?
How far back?
Well, some people might besaying what are you talking
about?
What is the light of Christ?
Right, right, so almost I kindof jumped us ahead to the how.
But then I'm thinking wow, likeyou know, is you know, you
(07:51):
mentioned the verse I am thelight of the world, which is
John 8, 12.
Right, jesus says I'm the lightof the world.
Whoever follows me will neverwalk in darkness, but will have
the light of life, the light oflife.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
So I always thought it was the Holy Spirit, and then
that was, that gift was thelight, yeah, but I could be
wrong.
Well, and this is what I think.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Matthew 5 is another verse that says you are the
light of Christ to the world.
You are the light of christ tothe world.
You are the light of christ tothe world.
So when christ indwells us as afollower of jesus, we become
the light of christ to the world.
So it, just like you saidbefore, it shines through right
(08:40):
those who belong to him.
Um should be visible right Toto the world.
So anyway, just again minor,minor detour, just to talk about
, like, what are you talkingabout?
Where's this coming from?
There's some, some couple ofbiblical references, but the
first thing I think of when wewe talk about the, the light and
(09:03):
the darkness, and I and I'llrelate back to me but the first
thing that comes to mind iscandlelight.
For me it's top of mind.
I'm always amazed in the pitchdarkness subway and you know
(09:29):
years being there and you knowno electricity and um, in a in a
dark room in the middle of thenight and you know I want to
read falling asleep tocandlelight and lighting a
candle, this little candle,right, and it's just like I mean
, it just lights up every nookand cranny and corner of the
room and it has oh, it's amazing.
It's amazing so soothing, um,and so that's what I think of.
(09:53):
Right, like that they're.
You know, like you said, you'dhave to really look for a dark
corner right and it'd be toughfind It'd have to be like a
shadow Right, and there are manyRight.
So that's what I think of.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
I think, okay, you know when, when, when I am
living in mission and shiningthe light of Christ, um, there's
, there's very little shadow,you know, there's very little
darkness, there's very littleshadow, um where yeah?
(10:29):
Whereas you know if I'm livingoutside of my mission or in my
anti mission or shadow mission,right?
Um, there's, there's, uh,there's not nearly as much.
So um, can I go back to yourcandle.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yes, I'm sorry to hang on to your thought as soon
as you said that.
It was one of the things theother day when I said to you hey
, I want to talk about thistopic.
And I thought about that andwhat came to my mind what I was
thinking of when I saidcandlelight and how it.
Usually when you're lighting acandle, it's because here
there's a power outage Veryrarely.
(11:10):
Now I don't have that problemanymore because I have a
generator.
I heard it come on the othernight.
That was funny.
It's till 4.30 in the morning.
In any case, I thought aboutthe adjustment time.
You know when you light acandle and all of a sudden it's
like, oh, there's light.
But if you stay in candlelightfor 10 or 15 minutes God made us
to adjust, right, your eyesadjust, and all of a sudden it
(11:31):
seems normal, right, it's likedaylight Right.
And I think that's a great lifemetaphor about how we adjust
when we find Christ in our lives.
It takes us a little time toadjust to the light, and so I
just wanted to not forget topeel that back a little bit with
you without interrupting youcompletely, because there is
(11:54):
certainly an adjustment period.
How many people can you imagineare walking around with a
strong faith just sold out forJesus?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah and don't say a word yeah Well, that's a great
point, because you know itrequires intentionality, great
intentionality.
The light is there.
The light of Christ is in us,it's in you, it's in me, it's a
gift.
It's a gift that we get toaccess.
(12:27):
We have to choose right, toshare that with the world or not
.
Leave your wallet at home andso, going back to you know,
hiding it under a blanket, undera bowl, right, you know, I'm
going to let it shine right,like I'm going to choose to
share this with the world.
Right, and this is what thatlooks like.
(12:48):
Right, starting with love as afoundation.
That requires so much.
Right, requires discernment,which comes from the light, the
Holy Spirit, spirit.
It comes from, and and requiresdiscipline, requires
intentionality.
But the more that we do itright, the more natural that
(13:11):
becomes.
And so we, you know, we justfinished a devotion on on
negative, negative self-talkright, right with, with the,
with the guys, and you know how,just the, the, um, how
pervasive and sneaky thosenegative self thoughts are, or
(13:32):
those lies from the enemy.
It's so pervasive and so we'reso used to it.
Our minds just naturallyproduce this, this real right of
negative self-talk that wedon't even acknowledge, we don't
even recognize it, right, itbecomes the norm until in this
(13:54):
listen again like another,another biblical reference here.
But the renewing of the mindright, burning new neural
pathways, you know, requiressuch intentionality.
But as we do that and we getaccustomed to that and we, we
speak life, we speak against thenegative self-talk, we, we.
That's part of that's a hugepart of it, because it starts in
(14:15):
our minds, it starts with ourthoughts.
Right Becomes talk, becomesbehavior.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Boom.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Right, becomes a habit.
Becomes a habit, yeahno-transcript.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
We believe there's no darkness in God at all.
Let's put a stake in the ground.
Right, that's right.
I invoke darkness into myrelationship with God all the
time, all the time.
It's embarrassing how much Iinvoke darkness into that, and
(15:02):
it had become a habit, at leastI feel like I catch myself or
somebody around me that holds meaccountable will catch me
Really.
I mean, that's so important forme is that I put worldly mark,
human habits, on God and myrelationship with him all the
(15:24):
time.
Yet I don't know about you, I Ihave this vision in my head.
You probably have seen thisreal or clip or movie where
someone's in the dark but theyopen a door and it's a blinding
light, like there's just likeyou know fanfare, right, like
and they're.
They're blinded, literally right, you're squinting, you know
fanfare like, and they're,they're blinded, right,
(15:45):
squinting, you're squinting atme.
It's that light when I, youknow, at 47, when I was saved,
that was my.
That's the light I needed fromGod.
I needed a blinding.
Knock me over, whoa, hold yourhands up in your face.
What's behind their kind oflight?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
The magic and mystery of my faith.
I feel like it's mellowed.
Now to where, for me, themetaphor is.
If I'm dealing with a challengein my life these days, it's
almost as if I open this littledoor next to my heart and check
to see if the light is in there.
Just a little light.
(16:26):
You still there, yeah, and youknow what I have to say out loud
it's always there.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Always.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
I think there's two things to talk about there.
One is that we're used toaccessing it and sharing it,
which is a good thing.
Used to accessing it andsharing it, which is a good
thing, and, on the other hand,on the flip side, we, we, I can
have a tendency to take it forgranted, right.
So that is the flip side, right.
So I was reading, reading astory this morning about you
(16:56):
know, a guy who you know came,came to the Lord.
Um, you know, later in life,you, you through suffering
having lost his two young adultchildren in a car crash
(17:58):
no-transcript.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
An example Of how many you just said, how many
times that I forget, that I takeit for granted that I, oh, I
mean like regularly.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Okay, no, it's, it's no one like moment, it's just
like over time, I should sayover time it becomes less and
less you know being.
You know, 30 plus years fromcoming to the Lord, like I.
Until I read a story like that,like I did this morning, I go
(18:33):
back and I reflect and I, I, youknow, I go back to that moment
and think where was I and whatyou know?
And it was so much.
It was not circumstantial likethis guys, it was my own
self-doing, it was my ownself-sabotage that brought my
suffering right, my own doing so.
(18:54):
Anyway, I think that for me,going back there, reminding
myself of that and and is soimportant, it's so, it's so
important to helping my lightshine now because you know quite
honestly, like back then andaren't in your, your early, this
, you just you're like.
Everybody needs to know aboutthis everybody needs to know
(19:17):
about this.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
That's my blinding light, right?
Did you see that?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
and like are we living that way now?
Are we still doing that Right?
And um, I'm not, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
The light mellows.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
And so you know, it's , you know, fanning that flame
is so critical, it's so critical, it's, it's it's just came to
your mind Give me a fan theflame.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
I've got a fan the flame moment for you.
Want me to go first?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I'll answer my own question.
Fan the flame moments happen onthings like Markman phase one
experiences, when we're workingtogether and you see a man
crumble or fly.
Come to life.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Right Experience God's healing right before our
very eyes and just dude.
I got goose flesh right nowthinking about it.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
That's a fan.
The flame moment for me,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
And same here, and that requires our participation.
It requires stepping out of theboat saying I'll go, I want to
do, I want to serve here I am, Iwant right.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Beautiful right.
There's a that fellowship,that's fellowship.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Where you give up yourself, you surrender a part
of yourself and look, I'm tired,I'm cranky, I want more
chocolate, you know everything's.
But the Holy Spirit is presentand you get a chance to
participate in this.
And that's the wonder, mymission statement, right as a
marked man for Christ, full ofjoy and wonder, and that wonder
(21:00):
word is so important for me.
That is, that's my light.
Yeah, is that?
Look, I'm, you know.
Okay, there are a lot of thingsstill coming at me in life that
you know, knock me oversometimes, like how did I miss
that?
Yeah, you know whether I'mreading in the Bible, talking to
you guys, doing a devotional,it's like I never thought of it
that way.
That happens to me almost everyday.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yep, yeah, I would add to that just more mundane
experiences, like you know,talking with a colleague, you
know one-on-one or a client, andyou know, just speaking life
into them, encouraging thempraying with them, them
(21:49):
encouraging them praying withthem, and there too, watching,
watching God do what he does andseeing a shift in in their
heart, posture, their, theirperspective, their, their
attitude, their what, whateverright, just because we, we
slowed down, listened intently,responded with compassion, asked
some probing questions and saidcan I pray for you?
(22:14):
That's something that we can doon almost a daily basis.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
I have one from yesterday.
There I am in the freezer atCostco.
Okay, the produce section.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
It's cold in there.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
It's cold in there.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
It's been the forties .
I swear.
I don't know how they do it,because it's the there's.
No, it's not closed.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
No, and it's lettuce.
You figured it would freeze it,all right.
So folks listening all over theworld.
Costco is our big box storeswhere you can go in and buy
7,000 rolls of toilet paper thatyou don't need, right, I've got
toilet paper forever, but I'min there and somehow I'm by
myself, except for one guy.
Let's call him Ray.
Ray is moving strawberriesboxes so he can put new boxes
(22:56):
off a pallet and he's probablyfreezing his butt off, bro.
I walk in, I hear kush, kush,kush and Ray is throwing the
strawberries and I'm thinking.
My first thought was you, jackwagon, you're gonna break up all
the strawberries, right?
Well, he sees me and all of asudden he's not throwing the
(23:17):
strawberries so much anymore.
He's kind of sliding him back,making room, pushing things out
of his way.
And I looked at Ray and I wasangry that you know, I wasn't
buying strawberries, butsomebody was going to get
bruised strawberry and I just Ihad a moment and I looked at him
and he didn't look like my kindof guy, but he was having a bad
day.
There's no question about it.
Ray's face said everythingHaving a bad day.
(23:40):
I went over to buy strawberriesthat I didn't need, I said Ray
how you doing.
And he said, oh God, just hebitched for like three sentences
, Strawberry Right.
And I said better days arecoming, bro.
(24:01):
He goes, yeah, probably, andthat was the totality of our
exchange.
But I came alongside Ray, justI thought I got to give this guy
a little break Because hewalking in.
I would not have been surprisedI'd be heaving strawberries
across the room, but I just feltlike I wanted to settle him.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
That's a great example of salt and light, okay,
cause you not only shed somelight, but there was some salt
in there too, like he could havereally like you know, yeah, he
could have punched you in themouth Like leave me alone, right
?
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Hey, I'm the strawberry guy, right.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah, um, but yeah, like there was a little bit of
loving accountability, I'll putit that way to this guy throwing
some strawberries around, likeyou could have just said like
hey, what are you doing?
What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (24:59):
jerk, stop throwing strawberries.
Easy on the strawberries there.
Bucko, right Something cute.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Exactly, I got my point across.
That would be me.
That would be snarky.
Mark that that's my point,right, that that would.
That's not of the, the light,but the the the.
You know can some conviction,some healthy, loving
accountability that truly leavesthe person feeling cared for,
cares for them, right?
Um, I think, is that's, that'ssalt and light that truth, truth
and love.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I can tell you, without going too much further
into it, what made thedifference with Ray is I made
eye contact with him.
He tried not to, but I moved infront of him in such a way that
it would have been awkward forhim to not make eye contact with
me.
So the few words I said to him,we were looking right at each
other, two feet apart, and Ifind that makes all the
(25:47):
difference in the world.
With people just in confidence,like if I, if I'm going to
shine that light, and I didn'tlook.
I.
I certainly wasn't prepared andthinking about oh, I hope I
meet a Ray bashing strawberriesin Costco.
It's just.
But I know, when I get thatchance, first I've got to seize
it and secondarily I've got toact out in a way that my hope
(26:11):
today, now that I'm talkingabout it, is that Ray might just
a little bit better.
You know like what the hell'sthat guy?
Why is he so happy?
And should I ever get a chanceif someone ever says that to me
like what are you's that guy?
Yeah, why is he so happy?
And should I ever get a chanceif someone ever says that to me,
like what is it?
What are you so happy about?
Yeah, I can't wait to tell him.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Yep, can't wait.
Yeah, I've definitely had thoseexperiences, not so much with
strangers but more people youknow in my life or in our lives.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Christina and I think of a couple, over the years,
close friends, who don't knowthe Lord, who have literally
looked at us squinting,squinting at the light, you know
a little bit.
I'm like what, why, how?
Oh, I'd love to tell youIncredible opportunities.
(27:00):
I think there's a prayer, Idon't think I know there's a
prayer component here, right,that I mean a tremendous
opportunity to get on our kneesdaily and ask God for help in
this area, right, like, thankyou, thank you for this light,
thank you for being like.
(27:22):
May your light shine through metoday and, and um, bring those
people to my doorstep that youwant to see it and give me the
words to say and help me toshine it wet Like God is
faithful to do that and it wouldbe wise, wise of us, it would
be foolish of us not to ask.
And and and not only that, butbut then puts it top of mind.
(27:45):
It's on our radar right.
Like you know, now I'm goingabout my day, I'm thinking about
that, and that's part ofrewiring, it's part of renewing
our mind, changing ourperspective, like less about me
and more of helping me besensitive to and aware of those
opportunities as God puts themin our path.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
It's.
For me it starts in the word,the light starts in the word I.
I funny, my light has becomevery refined.
I can laser focus my light or Ican go you've got a refined
light Corgi dad.
It's gotten a lot more refined,and I say that because the
words bull in a china shop, theguy carrying a big flashlight
(28:25):
banging into things, that's me.
Spotlight in the eyes.
Really.
Hey, want some JesusInterrogation.
Yeah, that's not bad.
Not bad, I sound like Dragnet,but I have used the word and my
time there just softens me.
(28:46):
I should do it more.
I have little pauses during theday, literally on my calendar,
that remind me to stop.
I usually just hit the buttonand pass by, but any chance to
get back to the word during theday seems to make a great
difference in the uh, myillumination, as it were.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yep, yeah, and I think you know um, you know I'm
a weekend at soul con.
Uh, for those that areinterested in, you know,
developing discipline, godlydiscipline, check out the soul
con challenge it's, it's, youknow, it's awesome, shout out
soul con and um what does it?
Say no, there's no, no cost.
Um, well, it was, it's, it wasstarted by and founded by and
(29:32):
really started for um military,um, you know, but it's I don't
know specifically what thosewords oh stand for, because
there's comic-Con.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Is it connection?
Is it conference?
Is it the con?
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Yeah, I don't know, Okay, Me neither I don't know.
But there is soul work.
It's spiritual discipline,physical, emotional.
But my point is this that this,this all requires discipline,
you know, requires discipline.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
And so, come on, you got to tell a little bit about
it.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
You can't just do that, yeah, I mean, well, it's
six, what are you doing?
Six weeks, six weeks, there's adaily devotional, a daily
challenge.
There's there's a fitness andfood objectives each day, and so
it's.
It's a little bit of everything, okay, and?
And there is community.
There's there's biblicalcommunity as well, and so you
can connect with others.
There's an app, of course.
(30:29):
There's an app, right, so youcan check out the SoulCon app
and connect with people in yourregion who are doing it, and it
repeats, like every.
You know, it's like six weeksand then a few weeks off you can
do it again, but I'm doing itfor six weeks just to kind of
dig in and work on thatdiscipline, you know, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
So it's Jesus-based Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Okay, and it's a self-improvement type Discipline
.
So it's finding joy insuffering, right.
So it's working on dailydisciplines and finding the joy
of the Lord in spite of our, inspite of pain, whether it be
fasting, whether it be, you know, physical, you know five Ks,
(31:11):
you know whatever.
Whatever it is orcircumstantial.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Go on the suffering podcast with brother Kevin yeah
that's about it.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
That's a pretty good idea, actually, and his, his,
his group would, his listenerswould, probably.
Yeah, there's a lot of militaryand law enforcement and stuff
like that.
But anyway, getting back to thelight, I think that there's a
(31:40):
strong discipline component toshining the light.
And the other thing I wanted tomention is that I think it's,
you know, we think of the lightas something we see, and that's
why I mentioned the discipline,right.
So it's, people are watching.
People are watching.
If you're a follower of Jesus,they're watching you.
And so what are they seeing?
Are they seeing the light inyou, the light of Christ in you,
(32:04):
or are they seeing somethingelse and that that takes
reflection?
I'm not looking to beat anybodyover the head, but, but here's
the other thing I'm looking overyour shoulder, at your sign
that says praise has a sound,worship has an aroma.
Light has.
You know.
Light is beyond.
God is bigger than the senses.
Light has an aroma, it has asound, right.
(32:27):
What aroma are you giving off?
What do you sound like?
What's your tone with your wife, your kids, with your coworkers
, right?
What are people seeing?
You know all of this is wrappedup in our light, or you know
whether or not that light isunder a bowl or whether it's,
(32:47):
you know, on a, on a mountaintop, for all to see.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Well, yeah that, what do people see?
I have tattooed the fruits ofthe spirit, right, that's my, my
hope.
When you said that, I thoughtwell, I hope they're seeing love
, joy, peace, right, Et cetera.
Uh, in me, and it also makes methink, just because of my
nature, is how many times I'mnot bearing that fruit.
(33:13):
I have it right.
I've decided, yes, I want thatright.
The, the fruits of the spiritare so and there are several in
there that are so important tome in my prayer life that I'm
really hyper-focused on.
But how many times do I walkpast my ray Go get my
(33:34):
raspberries and get the heck outof Dodge?
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Yeah, yeah, right.
And what needs to be pruned?
When we're talking about fruit,I mean lots of analogies here.
But like the light, if Jesus isthe bulb that never goes out
but in order to shine through usrequires a good, you know, a
connection, right?
What's going on?
Right?
Do we need a new fuse?
(33:57):
We need a new.
You know we need some newelectrical wire, like you know,
is the power out?
You know, need a need a new gen.
You need a generator, right?
Um, and so part of that isbiblical community staying
plugged in, right, have youbecome unplugged?
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
You know really tough to have your light shine if
it's not plugged in.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
No, true, also hard to shine.
I'm just thinkingenvironmentally, like the light
shines in the darkness and thedarkness will not overcome it,
that Bible verse, and thinkingof the times in my life, and
maybe in yours, where you're ina situation where you have a
chance to shine, but theenvironment or the people there,
(34:39):
you just I succumb to thesocial.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
You assimilate to the darkness.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yes, I do and I leave going, oh yeah blew that one
chucklehead yeah, you know, yeah, but but I say that to say I'm
aware, and I am aware of thoseopportunities and I am willing
to say the awkward thing, andit's only awkward because nobody
(35:08):
else knows what the hell I'mtalking about in that
environment.
I'm doing this a lot at worklately giving thanks, talking
about blessings.
I mean I make sure when someonesays how are you, I don't say
I'm blessed, yeah, even though Iknow I am.
How are you?
All we know is I'm never fine.
We've agreed to never be fine,but I always say I'm better than
(35:32):
I deserve.
It's actually not falsehumility.
It's part of how I feel, givenwhat I've contributed, because
I'm a quid pro quo guy.
Unfortunately, there's abalance sheet in my head, in my
life, and knowing that God lovesme, no matter what right.
Brother Bo was just talkingabout that in a devotional the
other day.
He said how can God keep lovingme in spite of the fact that I
(35:57):
sin repeatedly?
The same sin repeatedly, but hestill loves me.
It's very clear.
So I'm getting a little faraway from the light.
But light conversation I'mnever far from the light.
I'm guilty of being inenvironments where it's easier.
It's just easier to just goalong with the conversation, and
(36:22):
those could be political, theycould be social, they could be
church related, they could befaith related, work, et cetera.
Sure From um, I'm a capitalisttool and trying to earn, earn
money every day for my familyand sometimes it's just easier
to.
But I'll get in my car, I'll,I'll finish the day and I'll
look back at myself and thewords that came out of my mouth.
(36:45):
Uh, you hit a nerve with thetone with your wife comment Am I
practicing what I'm saying?
Therein lies the aroma, for me,the aroma of the light.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Beautiful beautiful beautiful conversation,
confession, confession,conviction.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautifulconversation, confession,
confession, conviction.
And um, uh, and excitement.
I mean honestly, it's this,it's it's an exciting
opportunity that we have, it'sit's the most exciting
opportunity that we have, rightis is to be the light of christ,
right where he's placed us, andand, um, um, you know, and to
(37:28):
to bird dog people toward him,right and and regardless, and we
always try on every podcast totalk about practical application
.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
At least I do.
And my thinking here is, nomatter where you are, what
you're doing, if you're askingyourself right now what light,
or if you have the light andyou're thinking, shine the light
, you know, just get in the word, trust the Holy Spirit, and
really, what's the worst thingthat could happen if you were to
(37:59):
share your faith, your story,your light with somebody?
Start someplace comfortable,someone you know.
Give it a try, yeah, but don'tbe afraid to make eye contact
with the cashier at ShopRite, atthe store, and tell them to
have a blessed day.
Yeah, you know, simple stuff,sure, any ideas, a practical
(38:24):
application of shining yourlight?
Speaker 2 (38:25):
There's a million.
I think it starts at home,probably the hardest place for
some of us, right, because we'reso comfortable, right, but just
love them.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Just love them.
Just love them, that's it.
That says it.
Just love them.
Yeah, they're in, they're in.
Love, love.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Ray at the strawberries.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
What's it look like to love Ray?
Well, and that's, you know andyou've.
I've watched you do that foryears.
You know, and and um, no matterwho brings what you basement or
into the foxhole, we're thereto just love them, Just love
them.
We don't need to fix them.
(39:15):
So that's what I've got.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
So you got yeah, I love your light.
I've seen it.
I'm attracted to it like a bugBug to a lamppost right.
No, no, no.
I just want to say that I'veexperienced you shining and
value and love how God hasemboldened you and given you,
(39:45):
you know, given you strength tojust push it out there and
project it, and I feel it's abeautiful, clean light.
So thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Thank you for contributing to it, being a part
of it.
You're a huge part of it, asyou know.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Cool man Well happy Saturday.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Yeah, Bless you.
And hey, everybody go shinethat light.
Shine bright for Jesus.
Cool man.
Well, happy Saturday.
Yeah, Bless you.
And uh, hey, everybody go shinethat light.
Shine bright for Jesus, Peace,Peace.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
As Steve said earlier , when we speak life into our
own lives and the lives ofpeople around us, we begin to
form a habit of not onlyremembering the gift we received
from our Lord and savior, jesusChrist, but we develop the
habit of sharing that light withthe people around us.
We share hope and love andtruth that has eternal
(40:33):
implications.
So I ask myself these questions, I ask you these questions.
Do we walk through our dayfilled with joy and wonder,
praying for God's light to shinein and through us?
People are watching me andthey're watching you.
What are they seeing in us?
Is it a reflection of the chaosin this world, or is it the
(40:57):
light of Christ that God's wordsays is in me and it's in you?
What are they hearing from us?
Is it the clanging cymbals ofthe world's news and politics in
an echo chamber?
Is it the silence ofhopelessness, or is it the hope
of our Redeemer for an eternitywith the creator of the heavens
(41:19):
and the earth that is paid infull for us?
What are they seeing in us?
Is it fear in us that the worldand the people in it will
cancel us, mock us and devour us, or is it a gentle boldness
that comes from being a filthyrag that's washed clean daily by
(41:40):
our Lord and Savior, jesusChrist.
Holy Spirit, help us shinebright.
Lord, please continue to usethis podcast to impact the lives
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.
(42:00):
In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
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, and
please rate us and commentthere too, as it'll help us get
found by others who couldbenefit.
Find, follow and like us onyour go-to social media networks
by searching Foxhole Symphonyor visit foxholesymphonycom to
(42:25):
make it super easy to find us.
Drop us a line with feedback,questions, topic requests.
Who knows, maybe you'll be aguest on a future episode.
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, andwe are back in the foxhole where
we actively pursue belonging,accountability and growth
through authentic relationships.
No masks, no agendas, just ironsharpening.
Iron.
Mark and Steve are in thefoxhole with their shades on and
they're eating strawberries.
I'm not sure where they'reheading today, but it sure feels
(00:49):
good basking in the glow.
It's time to get started, sograb your sunglasses, open your
favorite notes app and walktoward the light.
Oh, come on, don't be scared,let's do this.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Hey, welcome back to Foxhole Symphony Podcast.
I'm Sarge here with my goodfriend, mark, right on cue.
You did good.
What's up, corgi dad?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I am that.
I am that corgi dad.
You're a corgi dad.
I don't need to watch FacebookReels to see cute corgis.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I have one upstairs, my wife fought so hard for a
puppy, as you know.
Yes, fought so hard for a puppy, as you know.
Yes, juno, and you know we'vegot marvin, who's the west, he's
old, he's 13, and he's come tolife with juno, which happens
right.
You get a puppy and all of asudden, the old, the old one's
like I want to play for likefour seconds and he's like I
want to sleep.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Uh, juno that was a good, that was a good.
Marvin, you made Wish everyonecould see it.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Juno is.
I got to tell you.
I fought and fought and fought.
I'm like, and I was like allright, obviously I'm going to
lose this battle.
Let me just go all in.
I love this dog.
I love this dog.
He's just, and he's my bud andhe's.
I wake up in the morning andhis face is right, nose to nose,
(02:05):
and he's just got his head onmy pillow and he's staring at me
.
Oh my God, the dog sleeps onyour pillow, he does, oh, jesus.
And I love it.
Oh, god bless you.
This is like confession, I know, and this dog is about eight
inches.
If it's wrong, I don't want tobe right.
Eight inches low, this is alittle dog.
Well, no, he's grown.
He's actually bigger than Marv.
Now he is, he got bigger, oh mygosh, I haven't seen him.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, anyway, more pictures, yes, well, that hits
me right between the eyesbecause yesterday I got tag,
teamed by Jack and Ria, who arethe ones who got me for getting
red, our Corgi Right, and I,four, five years after Annie
died, and I was just done doingthe dog thing because I became
(02:49):
dog master.
And it's funny because samethings happen with Red, red
loves Maria.
I get the feeding and thewalking and the poop bags.
I'm the poop bag guy.
No one else here in this househas ever touched a green poop
bag Me thousands.
All right, because of courseyou can't leave dog poop
(03:10):
anywhere in the neighborhood,that's right.
But I sent I mistakenly sentthem a Facebook reel of a
Siberian Husky puppy, very, veryyoung puppy, howling for the
first time.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Come on, when did you do this Yesterday?
Oh, you're in trouble.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
And so Ria responds and says oh so cute, want a
puppy.
Yeah, we need one, no.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So the time I gave him the stop sign.
Yeah, the sticker Stop.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You know, I said that's it.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Can't send any dog reels.
You know, the title of thisepisode is man's best friend.
No, it's not.
Has nothing to do with.
Uh, maybe we'll find a segue,but well, look at that the light
is shining in the window thesun is shining right on you
because you face east.
Yes, I'm facing south yeah,most times, most most mornings
that we're recording, notice howI gave you that seat.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yes, yeah, microphone number one Sarge in the light,
and that's what we want to talkabout today.
Yeah, the light of Christ.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Amen, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it
shine.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Wow, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it
shine, man, thank God, let itshine.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
We don't sing often on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Hallelujah.
So don't say you're not blessedbeing on this podcast.
How do you let it shine?
That's a great question that Iwant to explore because it's
been on my heart.
I have found myself saying inthe last five years you know to
folks that I'll just lament in adevotional.
You know just text or just acomment in a devotional we're
(04:54):
doing.
I said you know, please go outand shine.
Today and that just became apart of my vocabulary is because
I just felt it was the easiestway for me to describe my
concern with the darkness.
I mean, to be beautifullyhonest, there are some dark
corners.
I mean I don't even look forthem, but I feel in my heart
(05:17):
there's just.
And I want to say I'm not aconspiracy theorist, I'm not
getting political in this, I'mjust saying it seems to me a lot
of darkness out there, yeah,and it can grab you, it grabs me
, it gets our attention.
And so I have simply said tofolks shine.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Shine with the light that you have If you believe
you're called to shine.
So I repeat that over and overand over.
Clearly, there's a biblicalfoundation for this.
I'm the light of the world as.
Jesus said.
So how I shine is a wholenother question, but I certainly
feel we could have a lot of funtalking about how that light
(06:02):
manifests itself in our lives,and I'll give you an idea how it
starts for me the.
I am sorry I'm going to get itwrong.
I won't be able to look it upfast enough, but the Bible verse
about I think it's actually aquestion that Jesus poses, or
one of the prophets poses andsays do you put a lamp under a
(06:23):
blanket?
And the obvious answer is ofcourse not.
Why would you put it under ablanket?
Unless you're staying up lateand reading and don't want to
wake your partner, you don't.
You put it out there for all tosee, and that is our calling,
and I feel that very strongly.
(06:44):
That's a passionate feeling forme.
I'm touching my chest nowbecause that's where it is.
It has gravitas in my life thatI feel like I'm pretty fearless
.
With my faith I've gottenbetter at loving those that are
hard to love.
It's still a great challengefor me, but for me that
(07:10):
manifests itself in reaching outto someone in line at ShopRite
that I normally wouldn't,greeting them saying hi, helping
in a public environment withfolks that aren't my kind of guy
.
That's my light.
How about you?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Well, can I take a quick step back?
How far back?
Well, some people might besaying what are you talking
about?
What is the light of Christ?
Right, right, so almost I kindof jumped us ahead to the how.
But then I'm thinking wow, likeyou know, is you know, you
(07:51):
mentioned the verse I am thelight of the world, which is
John 8, 12.
Right, jesus says I'm the lightof the world.
Whoever follows me will neverwalk in darkness, but will have
the light of life, the light oflife.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
So I always thought it was the Holy Spirit, and then
that was, that gift was thelight, yeah, but I could be
wrong.
Well, and this is what I think.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Matthew 5 is another verse that says you are the
light of Christ to the world.
You are the light of christ tothe world.
You are the light of christ tothe world.
So when christ indwells us as afollower of jesus, we become
the light of christ to the world.
So it, just like you saidbefore, it shines through right
(08:40):
those who belong to him.
Um should be visible right Toto the world.
So anyway, just again minor,minor detour, just to talk about
, like, what are you talkingabout?
Where's this coming from?
There's some, some couple ofbiblical references, but the
first thing I think of when wewe talk about the, the light and
(09:03):
the darkness, and I and I'llrelate back to me but the first
thing that comes to mind iscandlelight.
For me it's top of mind.
I'm always amazed in the pitchdarkness subway and you know
(09:29):
years being there and you knowno electricity and um, in a in a
dark room in the middle of thenight and you know I want to
read falling asleep tocandlelight and lighting a
candle, this little candle,right, and it's just like I mean
, it just lights up every nookand cranny and corner of the
room and it has oh, it's amazing.
It's amazing so soothing, um,and so that's what I think of.
(09:53):
Right, like that they're.
You know, like you said, you'dhave to really look for a dark
corner right and it'd be toughfind It'd have to be like a
shadow Right, and there are manyRight.
So that's what I think of.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
I think, okay, you know when, when, when I am
living in mission and shiningthe light of Christ, um, there's
, there's very little shadow,you know, there's very little
darkness, there's very littleshadow, um where yeah?
(10:29):
Whereas you know if I'm livingoutside of my mission or in my
anti mission or shadow mission,right?
Um, there's, there's, uh,there's not nearly as much.
So um, can I go back to yourcandle.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yes, I'm sorry to hang on to your thought as soon
as you said that.
It was one of the things theother day when I said to you hey
, I want to talk about thistopic.
And I thought about that andwhat came to my mind what I was
thinking of when I saidcandlelight and how it.
Usually when you're lighting acandle, it's because here
there's a power outage Veryrarely.
(11:10):
Now I don't have that problemanymore because I have a
generator.
I heard it come on the othernight.
That was funny.
It's till 4.30 in the morning.
In any case, I thought aboutthe adjustment time.
You know when you light acandle and all of a sudden it's
like, oh, there's light.
But if you stay in candlelightfor 10 or 15 minutes God made us
to adjust, right, your eyesadjust, and all of a sudden it
(11:31):
seems normal, right, it's likedaylight Right.
And I think that's a great lifemetaphor about how we adjust
when we find Christ in our lives.
It takes us a little time toadjust to the light, and so I
just wanted to not forget topeel that back a little bit with
you without interrupting youcompletely, because there is
(11:54):
certainly an adjustment period.
How many people can you imagineare walking around with a
strong faith just sold out forJesus?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah and don't say a word yeah Well, that's a great
point, because you know itrequires intentionality, great
intentionality.
The light is there.
The light of Christ is in us,it's in you, it's in me, it's a
gift.
It's a gift that we get toaccess.
(12:27):
We have to choose right, toshare that with the world or not
.
Leave your wallet at home andso, going back to you know,
hiding it under a blanket, undera bowl, right, you know, I'm
going to let it shine right,like I'm going to choose to
share this with the world.
Right, and this is what thatlooks like.
(12:48):
Right, starting with love as afoundation.
That requires so much.
Right, requires discernment,which comes from the light, the
Holy Spirit, spirit.
It comes from, and and requiresdiscipline, requires
intentionality.
But the more that we do itright, the more natural that
(13:11):
becomes.
And so we, you know, we justfinished a devotion on on
negative, negative self-talkright, right with, with the,
with the guys, and you know how,just the, the, um, how
pervasive and sneaky thosenegative self thoughts are, or
(13:32):
those lies from the enemy.
It's so pervasive and so we'reso used to it.
Our minds just naturallyproduce this, this real right of
negative self-talk that wedon't even acknowledge, we don't
even recognize it, right, itbecomes the norm until in this
(13:54):
listen again like another,another biblical reference here.
But the renewing of the mindright, burning new neural
pathways, you know, requiressuch intentionality.
But as we do that and we getaccustomed to that and we, we
speak life, we speak against thenegative self-talk, we, we.
That's part of that's a hugepart of it, because it starts in
(14:15):
our minds, it starts with ourthoughts.
Right Becomes talk, becomesbehavior.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Boom.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Right, becomes a habit.
Becomes a habit, yeahno-transcript.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
We believe there's no darkness in God at all.
Let's put a stake in the ground.
Right, that's right.
I invoke darkness into myrelationship with God all the
time, all the time.
It's embarrassing how much Iinvoke darkness into that, and
(15:02):
it had become a habit, at leastI feel like I catch myself or
somebody around me that holds meaccountable will catch me
Really.
I mean, that's so important forme is that I put worldly mark,
human habits, on God and myrelationship with him all the
(15:24):
time.
Yet I don't know about you, I Ihave this vision in my head.
You probably have seen thisreal or clip or movie where
someone's in the dark but theyopen a door and it's a blinding
light, like there's just likeyou know fanfare, right, like
and they're.
They're blinded, literally right, you're squinting, you know
fanfare like, and they're,they're blinded, right,
(15:45):
squinting, you're squinting atme.
It's that light when I, youknow, at 47, when I was saved,
that was my.
That's the light I needed fromGod.
I needed a blinding.
Knock me over, whoa, hold yourhands up in your face.
What's behind their kind oflight?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
The magic and mystery of my faith.
I feel like it's mellowed.
Now to where, for me, themetaphor is.
If I'm dealing with a challengein my life these days, it's
almost as if I open this littledoor next to my heart and check
to see if the light is in there.
Just a little light.
(16:26):
You still there, yeah, and youknow what I have to say out loud
it's always there.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Always.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
I think there's two things to talk about there.
One is that we're used toaccessing it and sharing it,
which is a good thing.
Used to accessing it andsharing it, which is a good
thing, and, on the other hand,on the flip side, we, we, I can
have a tendency to take it forgranted, right.
So that is the flip side, right.
So I was reading, reading astory this morning about you
(16:56):
know, a guy who you know came,came to the Lord.
Um, you know, later in life,you, you through suffering
having lost his two young adultchildren in a car crash
(17:58):
no-transcript.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
An example Of how many you just said, how many
times that I forget, that I takeit for granted that I, oh, I
mean like regularly.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Okay, no, it's, it's no one like moment, it's just
like over time, I should sayover time it becomes less and
less you know being.
You know, 30 plus years fromcoming to the Lord, like I.
Until I read a story like that,like I did this morning, I go
(18:33):
back and I reflect and I, I, youknow, I go back to that moment
and think where was I and whatyou know?
And it was so much.
It was not circumstantial likethis guys, it was my own
self-doing, it was my ownself-sabotage that brought my
suffering right, my own doing so.
(18:54):
Anyway, I think that for me,going back there, reminding
myself of that and and is soimportant, it's so, it's so
important to helping my lightshine now because you know quite
honestly, like back then andaren't in your, your early, this
, you just you're like.
Everybody needs to know aboutthis everybody needs to know
(19:17):
about this.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
That's my blinding light, right?
Did you see that?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
and like are we living that way now?
Are we still doing that Right?
And um, I'm not, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
The light mellows.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
And so you know, it's , you know, fanning that flame
is so critical, it's so critical, it's, it's it's just came to
your mind Give me a fan theflame.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
I've got a fan the flame moment for you.
Want me to go first?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I'll answer my own question.
Fan the flame moments happen onthings like Markman phase one
experiences, when we're workingtogether and you see a man
crumble or fly.
Come to life.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Right Experience God's healing right before our
very eyes and just dude.
I got goose flesh right nowthinking about it.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
That's a fan.
The flame moment for me,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
And same here, and that requires our participation.
It requires stepping out of theboat saying I'll go, I want to
do, I want to serve here I am, Iwant right.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Beautiful right.
There's a that fellowship,that's fellowship.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Where you give up yourself, you surrender a part
of yourself and look, I'm tired,I'm cranky, I want more
chocolate, you know everything's.
But the Holy Spirit is presentand you get a chance to
participate in this.
And that's the wonder, mymission statement, right as a
marked man for Christ, full ofjoy and wonder, and that wonder
(21:00):
word is so important for me.
That is, that's my light.
Yeah, is that?
Look, I'm, you know.
Okay, there are a lot of thingsstill coming at me in life that
you know, knock me oversometimes, like how did I miss
that?
Yeah, you know whether I'mreading in the Bible, talking to
you guys, doing a devotional,it's like I never thought of it
that way.
That happens to me almost everyday.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yep, yeah, I would add to that just more mundane
experiences, like you know,talking with a colleague, you
know one-on-one or a client, andyou know, just speaking life
into them, encouraging thempraying with them, them
(21:49):
encouraging them praying withthem, and there too, watching,
watching God do what he does andseeing a shift in in their
heart, posture, their, theirperspective, their, their
attitude, their what, whateverright, just because we, we
slowed down, listened intently,responded with compassion, asked
some probing questions and saidcan I pray for you?
(22:14):
That's something that we can doon almost a daily basis.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
I have one from yesterday.
There I am in the freezer atCostco.
Okay, the produce section.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
It's cold in there.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
It's cold in there.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
It's been the forties .
I swear.
I don't know how they do it,because it's the there's.
No, it's not closed.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
No, and it's lettuce.
You figured it would freeze it,all right.
So folks listening all over theworld.
Costco is our big box storeswhere you can go in and buy
7,000 rolls of toilet paper thatyou don't need, right, I've got
toilet paper forever, but I'min there and somehow I'm by
myself, except for one guy.
Let's call him Ray.
Ray is moving strawberriesboxes so he can put new boxes
(22:56):
off a pallet and he's probablyfreezing his butt off, bro.
I walk in, I hear kush, kush,kush and Ray is throwing the
strawberries and I'm thinking.
My first thought was you, jackwagon, you're gonna break up all
the strawberries, right?
Well, he sees me and all of asudden he's not throwing the
(23:17):
strawberries so much anymore.
He's kind of sliding him back,making room, pushing things out
of his way.
And I looked at Ray and I wasangry that you know, I wasn't
buying strawberries, butsomebody was going to get
bruised strawberry and I just Ihad a moment and I looked at him
and he didn't look like my kindof guy, but he was having a bad
day.
There's no question about it.
Ray's face said everythingHaving a bad day.
(23:40):
I went over to buy strawberriesthat I didn't need, I said Ray
how you doing.
And he said, oh God, just hebitched for like three sentences
, Strawberry Right.
And I said better days arecoming, bro.
(24:01):
He goes, yeah, probably, andthat was the totality of our
exchange.
But I came alongside Ray, justI thought I got to give this guy
a little break Because hewalking in.
I would not have been surprisedI'd be heaving strawberries
across the room, but I just feltlike I wanted to settle him.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
That's a great example of salt and light, okay,
cause you not only shed somelight, but there was some salt
in there too, like he could havereally like you know, yeah, he
could have punched you in themouth Like leave me alone, right
?
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Hey, I'm the strawberry guy, right.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah, um, but yeah, like there was a little bit of
loving accountability, I'll putit that way to this guy throwing
some strawberries around, likeyou could have just said like
hey, what are you doing?
What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (24:59):
jerk, stop throwing strawberries.
Easy on the strawberries there.
Bucko, right Something cute.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Exactly, I got my point across.
That would be me.
That would be snarky.
Mark that that's my point,right, that that would.
That's not of the, the light,but the the the.
You know can some conviction,some healthy, loving
accountability that truly leavesthe person feeling cared for,
cares for them, right?
Um, I think, is that's, that'ssalt and light that truth, truth
and love.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I can tell you, without going too much further
into it, what made thedifference with Ray is I made
eye contact with him.
He tried not to, but I moved infront of him in such a way that
it would have been awkward forhim to not make eye contact with
me.
So the few words I said to him,we were looking right at each
other, two feet apart, and Ifind that makes all the
(25:47):
difference in the world.
With people just in confidence,like if I, if I'm going to
shine that light, and I didn'tlook.
I.
I certainly wasn't prepared andthinking about oh, I hope I
meet a Ray bashing strawberriesin Costco.
It's just.
But I know, when I get thatchance, first I've got to seize
it and secondarily I've got toact out in a way that my hope
(26:11):
today, now that I'm talkingabout it, is that Ray might just
a little bit better.
You know like what the hell'sthat guy?
Why is he so happy?
And should I ever get a chanceif someone ever says that to me
like what are you's that guy?
Yeah, why is he so happy?
And should I ever get a chanceif someone ever says that to me,
like what is it?
What are you so happy about?
Yeah, I can't wait to tell him.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Yep, can't wait.
Yeah, I've definitely had thoseexperiences, not so much with
strangers but more people youknow in my life or in our lives.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Christina and I think of a couple, over the years,
close friends, who don't knowthe Lord, who have literally
looked at us squinting,squinting at the light, you know
a little bit.
I'm like what, why, how?
Oh, I'd love to tell youIncredible opportunities.
(27:00):
I think there's a prayer, Idon't think I know there's a
prayer component here, right,that I mean a tremendous
opportunity to get on our kneesdaily and ask God for help in
this area, right, like, thankyou, thank you for this light,
thank you for being like.
(27:22):
May your light shine through metoday and, and um, bring those
people to my doorstep that youwant to see it and give me the
words to say and help me toshine it wet Like God is
faithful to do that and it wouldbe wise, wise of us, it would
be foolish of us not to ask.
And and and not only that, butbut then puts it top of mind.
(27:45):
It's on our radar right.
Like you know, now I'm goingabout my day, I'm thinking about
that, and that's part ofrewiring, it's part of renewing
our mind, changing ourperspective, like less about me
and more of helping me besensitive to and aware of those
opportunities as God puts themin our path.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
It's.
For me it starts in the word,the light starts in the word I.
I funny, my light has becomevery refined.
I can laser focus my light or Ican go you've got a refined
light Corgi dad.
It's gotten a lot more refined,and I say that because the
words bull in a china shop, theguy carrying a big flashlight
(28:25):
banging into things, that's me.
Spotlight in the eyes.
Really.
Hey, want some JesusInterrogation.
Yeah, that's not bad.
Not bad, I sound like Dragnet,but I have used the word and my
time there just softens me.
(28:46):
I should do it more.
I have little pauses during theday, literally on my calendar,
that remind me to stop.
I usually just hit the buttonand pass by, but any chance to
get back to the word during theday seems to make a great
difference in the uh, myillumination, as it were.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yep, yeah, and I think you know um, you know I'm
a weekend at soul con.
Uh, for those that areinterested in, you know,
developing discipline, godlydiscipline, check out the soul
con challenge it's, it's, youknow, it's awesome, shout out
soul con and um what does it?
Say no, there's no, no cost.
Um, well, it was, it's, it wasstarted by and founded by and
(29:32):
really started for um military,um, you know, but it's I don't
know specifically what thosewords oh stand for, because
there's comic-Con.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Is it connection?
Is it conference?
Is it the con?
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Yeah, I don't know, Okay, Me neither I don't know.
But there is soul work.
It's spiritual discipline,physical, emotional.
But my point is this that this,this all requires discipline,
you know, requires discipline.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
And so, come on, you got to tell a little bit about
it.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
You can't just do that, yeah, I mean, well, it's
six, what are you doing?
Six weeks, six weeks, there's adaily devotional, a daily
challenge.
There's there's a fitness andfood objectives each day, and so
it's.
It's a little bit of everything, okay, and?
And there is community.
There's there's biblicalcommunity as well, and so you
can connect with others.
There's an app, of course.
(30:29):
There's an app, right, so youcan check out the SoulCon app
and connect with people in yourregion who are doing it, and it
repeats, like every.
You know, it's like six weeksand then a few weeks off you can
do it again, but I'm doing itfor six weeks just to kind of
dig in and work on thatdiscipline, you know, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
So it's Jesus-based Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Okay, and it's a self-improvement type Discipline
.
So it's finding joy insuffering, right.
So it's working on dailydisciplines and finding the joy
of the Lord in spite of our, inspite of pain, whether it be
fasting, whether it be, you know, physical, you know five Ks,
(31:11):
you know whatever.
Whatever it is orcircumstantial.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Go on the suffering podcast with brother Kevin yeah
that's about it.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
That's a pretty good idea, actually, and his, his,
his group would, his listenerswould, probably.
Yeah, there's a lot of militaryand law enforcement and stuff
like that.
But anyway, getting back to thelight, I think that there's a
(31:40):
strong discipline component toshining the light.
And the other thing I wanted tomention is that I think it's,
you know, we think of the lightas something we see, and that's
why I mentioned the discipline,right.
So it's, people are watching.
People are watching.
If you're a follower of Jesus,they're watching you.
And so what are they seeing?
Are they seeing the light inyou, the light of Christ in you,
(32:04):
or are they seeing somethingelse and that that takes
reflection?
I'm not looking to beat anybodyover the head, but, but here's
the other thing I'm looking overyour shoulder, at your sign
that says praise has a sound,worship has an aroma.
Light has.
You know.
Light is beyond.
God is bigger than the senses.
Light has an aroma, it has asound, right.
(32:27):
What aroma are you giving off?
What do you sound like?
What's your tone with your wife, your kids, with your coworkers
, right?
What are people seeing?
You know all of this is wrappedup in our light, or you know
whether or not that light isunder a bowl or whether it's,
(32:47):
you know, on a, on a mountaintop, for all to see.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Well, yeah that, what do people see?
I have tattooed the fruits ofthe spirit, right, that's my, my
hope.
When you said that, I thoughtwell, I hope they're seeing love
, joy, peace, right, Et cetera.
Uh, in me, and it also makes methink, just because of my
nature, is how many times I'mnot bearing that fruit.
(33:13):
I have it right.
I've decided, yes, I want thatright.
The, the fruits of the spiritare so and there are several in
there that are so important tome in my prayer life that I'm
really hyper-focused on.
But how many times do I walkpast my ray Go get my
(33:34):
raspberries and get the heck outof Dodge?
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Yeah, yeah, right.
And what needs to be pruned?
When we're talking about fruit,I mean lots of analogies here.
But like the light, if Jesus isthe bulb that never goes out
but in order to shine through usrequires a good, you know, a
connection, right?
What's going on?
Right?
Do we need a new fuse?
(33:57):
We need a new.
You know we need some newelectrical wire, like you know,
is the power out?
You know, need a need a new gen.
You need a generator, right?
Um, and so part of that isbiblical community staying
plugged in, right, have youbecome unplugged?
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
You know really tough to have your light shine if
it's not plugged in.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
No, true, also hard to shine.
I'm just thinkingenvironmentally, like the light
shines in the darkness and thedarkness will not overcome it,
that Bible verse, and thinkingof the times in my life, and
maybe in yours, where you're ina situation where you have a
chance to shine, but theenvironment or the people there,
(34:39):
you just I succumb to thesocial.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
You assimilate to the darkness.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yes, I do and I leave going, oh yeah blew that one
chucklehead yeah, you know, yeah, but but I say that to say I'm
aware, and I am aware of thoseopportunities and I am willing
to say the awkward thing, andit's only awkward because nobody
(35:08):
else knows what the hell I'mtalking about in that
environment.
I'm doing this a lot at worklately giving thanks, talking
about blessings.
I mean I make sure when someonesays how are you, I don't say
I'm blessed, yeah, even though Iknow I am.
How are you?
All we know is I'm never fine.
We've agreed to never be fine,but I always say I'm better than
(35:32):
I deserve.
It's actually not falsehumility.
It's part of how I feel, givenwhat I've contributed, because
I'm a quid pro quo guy.
Unfortunately, there's abalance sheet in my head, in my
life, and knowing that God lovesme, no matter what right.
Brother Bo was just talkingabout that in a devotional the
other day.
He said how can God keep lovingme in spite of the fact that I
(35:57):
sin repeatedly?
The same sin repeatedly, but hestill loves me.
It's very clear.
So I'm getting a little faraway from the light.
But light conversation I'mnever far from the light.
I'm guilty of being inenvironments where it's easier.
It's just easier to just goalong with the conversation, and
(36:22):
those could be political, theycould be social, they could be
church related, they could befaith related, work, et cetera.
Sure From um, I'm a capitalisttool and trying to earn, earn
money every day for my familyand sometimes it's just easier
to.
But I'll get in my car, I'll,I'll finish the day and I'll
look back at myself and thewords that came out of my mouth.
(36:45):
Uh, you hit a nerve with thetone with your wife comment Am I
practicing what I'm saying?
Therein lies the aroma, for me,the aroma of the light.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Beautiful beautiful beautiful conversation,
confession, confession,conviction.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautifulconversation, confession,
confession, conviction.
And um, uh, and excitement.
I mean honestly, it's this,it's it's an exciting
opportunity that we have, it'sit's the most exciting
opportunity that we have, rightis is to be the light of christ,
right where he's placed us, andand, um, um, you know, and to
(37:28):
to bird dog people toward him,right and and regardless, and we
always try on every podcast totalk about practical application
.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
At least I do.
And my thinking here is, nomatter where you are, what
you're doing, if you're askingyourself right now what light,
or if you have the light andyou're thinking, shine the light
, you know, just get in the word, trust the Holy Spirit, and
really, what's the worst thingthat could happen if you were to
(37:59):
share your faith, your story,your light with somebody?
Start someplace comfortable,someone you know.
Give it a try, yeah, but don'tbe afraid to make eye contact
with the cashier at ShopRite, atthe store, and tell them to
have a blessed day.
Yeah, you know, simple stuff,sure, any ideas, a practical
(38:24):
application of shining yourlight?
Speaker 2 (38:25):
There's a million.
I think it starts at home,probably the hardest place for
some of us, right, because we'reso comfortable, right, but just
love them.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Just love them.
Just love them, that's it.
That says it.
Just love them.
Yeah, they're in, they're in.
Love, love.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Ray at the strawberries.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
What's it look like to love Ray?
Well, and that's, you know andyou've.
I've watched you do that foryears.
You know, and and um, no matterwho brings what you basement or
into the foxhole, we're thereto just love them, Just love
them.
We don't need to fix them.
(39:15):
So that's what I've got.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
So you got yeah, I love your light.
I've seen it.
I'm attracted to it like a bugBug to a lamppost right.
No, no, no.
I just want to say that I'veexperienced you shining and
value and love how God hasemboldened you and given you,
(39:45):
you know, given you strength tojust push it out there and
project it, and I feel it's abeautiful, clean light.
So thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Thank you for contributing to it, being a part
of it.
You're a huge part of it, asyou know.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Cool man Well happy Saturday.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Yeah, Bless you.
And hey, everybody go shinethat light.
Shine bright for Jesus.
Cool man.
Well, happy Saturday.
Yeah, Bless you.
And uh, hey, everybody go shinethat light.
Shine bright for Jesus, Peace,Peace.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
As Steve said earlier , when we speak life into our
own lives and the lives ofpeople around us, we begin to
form a habit of not onlyremembering the gift we received
from our Lord and savior, jesusChrist, but we develop the
habit of sharing that light withthe people around us.
We share hope and love andtruth that has eternal
(40:33):
implications.
So I ask myself these questions, I ask you these questions.
Do we walk through our dayfilled with joy and wonder,
praying for God's light to shinein and through us?
People are watching me andthey're watching you.
What are they seeing in us?
Is it a reflection of the chaosin this world, or is it the
(40:57):
light of Christ that God's wordsays is in me and it's in you?
What are they hearing from us?
Is it the clanging cymbals ofthe world's news and politics in
an echo chamber?
Is it the silence ofhopelessness, or is it the hope
of our Redeemer for an eternitywith the creator of the heavens
(41:19):
and the earth that is paid infull for us?
What are they seeing in us?
Is it fear in us that the worldand the people in it will
cancel us, mock us and devour us, or is it a gentle boldness
that comes from being a filthyrag that's washed clean daily by
(41:40):
our Lord and Savior, jesusChrist.
Holy Spirit, help us shinebright.
Lord, please continue to usethis podcast to impact the lives
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.
(42:00):
In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
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, and
please rate us and commentthere too, as it'll help us get
found by others who couldbenefit.
Find, follow and like us onyour go-to social media networks
by searching Foxhole Symphonyor visit foxholesymphonycom to
(42:25):
make it super easy to find us.
Drop us a line with feedback,questions, topic requests.
Who knows, maybe you'll be aguest on a future episode.
In the meantime, prepare tomove, embrace discomfort and
just be you.
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