Start Strong, Run Hard, Finish Well | The Middle Miles

In Part 2 of our three-part series, we explore the “middle miles” of life—the busy decades of raising kids, building careers, and juggling growing responsibilities. How do we stay intentional and faithful in the thick of it all?

Through touching stories, practical insights, and biblical wisdom, Brody talks about thriving in your 30s, 40s, and 50s—not just surviving. From prioritizing church to rethinking family vacations, this episode offers real help for running hard with purpose during life’s most demanding season.

Whether you're in the middle of the race or gearing up for it, this conversation will equip you to live with joy, focus, and generational impact.

Send us a text

Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help improve No Sanity Required and help others grow in their faith.

Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, this week's episode of no Sanity Required
we're looking at part two ofwhat we started last week Start
strong, run hard and finish well.
I hope that you'll stick aroundand hear what we got to say,
regardless of what age bracketyou're in.
Last week we really talkedabout folks in their teens and

(00:20):
20s.
This week we'll move into 30s,40s, 50s, somewhere in there, or
maybe 20s, thirties, fortiesand into the fifties, but I
think the bulk of this will be,uh, targeted at folks that are
in that family raising, business, building, career, path of life
.
You know what I mean.
And then, uh, we'll follow upand finish up with how to finish

(00:45):
well, which is, you know that,into your maybe your 50s, but
for sure 60s, 70s and beyond,and I hope that you'll stick
around, whether you're in thatage bracket or not.
Hopefully this will be helpfulfor everybody and you'll at
least get something out of it.
We'll also give an update onwhat's happening at SWO.

(01:05):
We just finished week three,had an awesome week, headed into
week four now, and we'd love togive you an update on that.
Read some texts and somereports.
I think it'll be awesome.
So, again, welcome to no SanityRequired.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Welcome to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of
Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters.
A podcast about the Bible,culture and stories from around
the globe.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
This past week we had a group of students at camp.
They booked as this is nottheir first summer coming.
They booked as a group calledRay Weed's Legitimate Children,
and it's hilarious because RayWeed is the name of an early SWO
skit character that I would beand that I would do.

(02:00):
One of the guests we had on NSRa couple years back, Jessica
Hoover.
She's one of the people thatspearheads that group and so the
Ray Weeds Legitimate Childrengroup is a group of people that
all the parents worked at SWOand now their kids are of the
age where they're coming to SWOand it's just, it's a lot of fun

(02:21):
.
But I got a kick out of itbecause this past week I was
talking to those kids, uh duringI think it was during lunch one
day, and I said, hey, I'm gonna.
I love the Ray weeds legitimatechildren uh moniker or group
name for y'all, but I'm going tostart calling you the
descendants of SWO.
So the descendants of SWO wasthe name that I stuck with for

(02:44):
the rest of the week and Ithought that was pretty fun.
But anyway, shout out to all ofthem.
A lot of those folks listen toNSR.
It was just an overwhelmingblessing to have them at camp.
I tell you to have been doingthis now for 27 years, going on
28 years at SWO.
We're coming up on 28 years inSeptember since Little and I

(03:04):
moved to Andrews and we're over28 years from the time the Lord
really gave us the call in andwe started to work with other
family members and put thisthing together and a lot of
people involved to get thisthing off the ground.
On Little's family, the landwas put up, a lot of people

(03:26):
contributed.
Her parents were obviously the,the, the founding partners, and
this thing would have neverhappened without her parents,
and what her dad did was was toto give this thing to put wind
in the sails of SWO.
I don't think we would haveever got off the dock or

(03:47):
offshore or off the ground,however you want to say it
without his contribution andleadership, and I'm so grateful
for that.
And then, um, along the way, alot of people contributed on my,
my side of the family and alittle side of the family.
I mean those early summers Ihad, uh, some cousins that
worked here my brother workedhere just a lot of involvement

(04:11):
from, from, uh, our families andlittle's brother worked here.
Um, little had a cousin thatworked here.
So early on it was such afamily affair and then it
shifted into you know, thosefolks moved on and entered into
their careers and their livesand went in different directions
.
But the folks that came earlyto work in this ministry in

(04:37):
those first I say the first 10years, all of them have a part
in this ministry existing interms of building and
establishing it.
I feel like we didn't reallyfirmly have both feet planted
where we could say, yeah, we'vearrived, and I don't mean that
in a negative way, like we'vearrived, but you know what I
mean.
As far as we've arrived, we'rehere, we're here to stay, we're

(05:01):
established, we're not goinganywhere.
I feel like we were about 11years in when that occurred and
so anybody that was here inthose first 11 years played a
vital role in establishing thisministry, and some of the folks
whose kids were at camp thisweek are in that group or part

(05:22):
of that team, part of that group, part of that family.
I wanted to read a couple oftext messages I got, including a
text message from DanielRitchie.
I want to read something hesent and then share with you a
post that his wife made.
When she was here on Fridayevening, daniel and Heather

(05:43):
Ritchie met.
They served and they met at SWOand married here Not here, but
married, having met through theministry at SWO and they both
had some incredible things tosay this week, just so
encouraging.
Daniel texted me directly and Iwas so encouraged.
He said I love that.
20 years ago I sat at camp as astaff member and you led us

(06:04):
through Romans.
My son is with you this weekand you're walking him through
Romans.
Pretty incredible legacy ofgospel, faithfulness, proud of
you, thankful for you, and thatmeant a lot to me.
That meant so much to me.
I appreciate and love Daniel.
He's moved on to incrediblethings.
The Lord's using him inincredible ways.

(06:26):
If you know, daniel, we've triedto get Daniel on NSR and we
will eventually.
We just we've had a couple oftimes where dates fell through.
I had to cancel.
We had something happen on ourend, a death in our ministry.
I was supposed to beinterviewing Daniel and we had a
family that lost their sontragically and that kind of

(06:47):
consumed that week and I had tochange the.
I had to cancel it.
So anyway, we'll get Daniel onhere at some point.
Pretty awesome what God's doingin Daniel's life through Daniel
, and then I was just blessedthat he would reach out.
We try to stay in touch and I'mso thankful for his support and
love of this ministry and umhis wife, heather, who we love

(07:08):
so much.
And on Friday night I looked outand saw Heather, among a few
other parents, um sit sitting inthe crowd when I was speaking
Friday night and she had postedthis on Facebook.
Our media team sent me thisit's pretty awesome A picture of
her and her son.
I won't say his name I don'tlike to mention minors without

(07:30):
parental consent or permissionbut Heather, she mentioned us in
a post that was shared onFacebook.
Let's see.
I don't know if it's fromFacebook or I think this might
be from X or Instagram,something like that, but Austin
Scott, our marketing and media,our media director,
screenshotted this and sent itto me, because I'm not on social

(07:52):
media, but it says 20 years ago, in 2005, was my first summer
on staff at Snowbird SWO andBrody taught through Romans 8,
and it changed my life.
That same summer I met Daniel R, romans 8, and it changed my
life.
That same summer I met DanielRitchie, which also changed my
life.
Here I am in 2025 with our son,who is now a camper, and Brody

(08:13):
is teaching on Romans 8 again.
If that ain't God bringing itfull circle, I don't know what
is.
This place has always been andwill always be special to our
family.
It is a ministry I believe inwith my whole heart because it's
about the heart of God reachingthe heart of man and it's the
most fun you've ever had.
The stories us old friends toldtoday of the years we lived

(08:35):
here and were absolutely feral.
But there's no evidence, sinceit was before social media and
she puts one of those laughing,sweating emojis social media and
she puts one of those laughing,sweating emojis.
So glad we can share this placewith our kids as SWO continues
to be woven into the fabric ofour family's story.
And I'm not going to lie man,when I read that from Heather,

(08:55):
when Austin sent me that lastnight, I literally got emotional
.
I was so moved by that andthankful for it, and so shout
out and love to all of thedescendants of SWO Rayweed's
legitimate children and to allof your parents, who I got to
see and hug this week.
This was a special week for me,seeing second generation

(09:17):
ministry occurring and even withthat, knowing that we now have
second generation folks comingon to staff in the last couple
of years we've had severalpeople serve on staff.
This summer we've got one younglady whose dad served in 2001
or 2002, and she's on staff nowjust speaks to the faithfulness

(09:42):
of the Lord over the long haul.
It speaks to the faithfulnessof the Lord over the long haul.
By the way, if you'll excusethe noise and background and
microphone sensitivity, I'msitting in my truck, I'm
recording this week's episode onmy mobile thing and it really
picks up every little backgroundsound.
There's no microphone, there'sno way to screen or filter noise

(10:02):
, so I apologize for that, buthey, it's middle of summer, so
we're making do with what we got.
Every space at camp is occupiedthis time of year.
I'm actually recording this ona Sunday morning and the Sunday
morning between weeks three andfour, so it'll drop here in
about 24 hours, I think, butanyway, you probably hear some
some.
It's probably not great thebackground noise and I apologize

(10:25):
for that, but I think this is a.
I wanted to share those postsfor one so you can be encouraged
, but then also because I'm soencouraged by those and I'm just
thankful and want to share themwith you.
And that sets us up for wherewe're going to go in today's
episode, up for where we'regoing to go in today's episode.

(10:46):
But before we do get into that,I wanted to just one more thing
give a shout out to all thegroups that came week three.
We had an incredible week.
I had so much fun.
I really want to each week justreflect on the previous week,
and so I man, everybody that washere for week three I had so
many awesome conversations, somany young men and women coming
up to me and shaking my hand orgiving me a hug and just saying,

(11:09):
hey, thanks.
This ministry this week, thiscamp, whatever, has changed my
life.
And it's amazing how many kidscome up and say to me how much
the teaching and preachingministry at SWO means to them.
That's what God's using toimpact and change their lives
and that's the goal, that's whatwe're striving for, striving
towards.
So I'm really grateful for thatand so thank all of y'all who

(11:33):
came up and shared and spoke andencouraged me, encouraged our
team.
There was a this week we hadpeople always ask me what's the
farthest a group comes.
People always ask me what's thefarthest a group comes and this
week we had church the churchcalled Church 8025, which is
from Thornton, colorado.
Thornton is a northwest suburb,I believe it's northwest suburb

(11:57):
of Denver and it's not a suburb, it's a city but it butts right
up to Denver, so it's thegreater Denver area.
The pastor of that church issuch a close friend of mine and
he's a SWO board member and Ilove and appreciate that church
and Michael Talley, the pastor,his wife Dale and their kids
their oldest daughter, quincy,was at camp so I just wanted to

(12:20):
shout them out because that's along way to come.
They fly into Atlanta, fly fromDenver to Atlanta and then we
go get them, shuttle them up,just awesome.
A few other kids from theDenver area also come separate
from them, but come on the sameweek and that was pretty cool.
So we had folks from Denverhere this past week.

(12:41):
Over the rest of the summerwe'll have folks from Kansas
City, from Ontario, canada, fromparts of Texas.
So folks come from all aroundMinnesota, wisconsin and people
will ask me why do they comethat far?
And the reason is nobody'sdoing what SWO does.
What we do is unique and whenyou look at the entirety of what

(13:03):
we do.
You could go and get goodteaching somewhere else.
You can go and get incrediblerelational ministry somewhere
else and you can go and havewonderful high adventure
experiences somewhere else.
But to have all of that underone roof in one week with the
energy that SWO brings, you'renot going to get that anywhere
else.
I hope you get to come thissummer and see the energy that

(13:26):
comes to the stage like beforethe services kick off.
And, um, our, our productionteam is unbelievable.
They're just unbelievable.
John Rouleau, dawson, dickey,issa Pineda, um, jb is part of
that team.
Jb, who y'all know JB is,is'all know JB is not a stranger
to y'all now because she's anintegral part of NSR.

(13:47):
She's as much part of NSR as Iam now, and so you know her.
She's on that production team.
Zay is on the Zay Hart, xavierHart is on the production team,
michael Fitzpatrick a bunch ofpeople that just do a phenomenal
job.
And then, like our AV guys, theguys in the booth, landon,
chris, andrew.

(14:09):
We have an incredible team hereand I hope you get to come
experience it this summer.
But that's why folks come fromas far away as Denver or Canada,
because nobody's doing whatwe're doing and it's just an
amazing thing to see.
So with that, I want to get intotoday's, this week's content,

(14:30):
and last week we considered whatit looks like to start strong.
Today I want to shift towardsthat second category, which is
to run hard, and think of thisas overlapping in the 20s and
then maybe the 30s and the 40s.
This is that period of life.
If you're in this period oflife where you're still raising
your kids or you've still gotkids at home, some of us are in

(14:52):
two periods.
For me, I'm in the run hardperiod, but I'm also in the
finish well period.
All of these there's overlap.
When you think about the firstcategory, which is to start
strong, for some people they'restarting strong in their 30s.
You know it's a delayed startor you've just become a believer
.
You're starting strong at 50 orwhatever, but this is not an

(15:14):
exact science.
In terms of the first categoryis the 20s.
The second category is the 30sand 40s, or 30s, 40s, 50s,
whatever, like age 30 to 55.
It's not like that.
This is the idea of whateverstage of life you're in.
There's probably principles andapplications for each one of
these that would be useful foryou, and so we think about

(15:38):
running hard For me.
I'm in my 50s but I feel likeI'm in the twenties, thirties,
forties, run hard categorybecause I still have kids at
home.
Uh, we're still.
We're not empty nesters by anystretch, we're still a good ways
away from that.
So there's a lot for me to pullfrom this.
But then also that lastcategory of finishing well, I
mean, I, I'm thinking hard aboutthat because that's also the

(16:02):
category of life that I'm in.
I mean, my dad passed awayaround the age I am right now
and his mom passed away aroundthe age I am right now.
So you just never know.
But let's get into this idea.
The second category, the secondpart of this, which is run hard
.
Most of these are going to bekind of like, maybe feel overly

(16:24):
simple.
You know, like, seriously,that's all you got for me.
But if we'll put these intopractice, I think it'll really
make a difference.
So, category number two runhard.
The third episode in this willbe finish well, and we'll finish
with that in the final categoryor the final episode of this
three-part series.
But today we consider runninghard, thinking of that middle

(16:47):
stage of life where you'reraising your family, you're
building your business, you'rebuilding your career, you're in
the thick of it, you're in theheat of your career.
So just another bullet pointlist, another bullet point list
and if I could draw from thoseprinciples in Ecclesiastes and
if I could draw from thoseprinciples and ecclesiastes.

(17:07):
Let me start by saying I'llprobably start with this and
come back to this at the end,but I want to say that you need
to enjoy the simple things inlife.
You need to enjoy the simplethings in life.
Oh, hey, little bird, there's acool little bird right there.
I don't know if y'all couldhear him no-transcript.

(17:31):
Literally, while I'm talkingabout the simple things in life,
and I'm sitting here on thetailgate of my truck in my
driveway and that bird startssinging, that's pretty cool.
So enjoy the simple thingsWatching a bird eat, seeing the
sun set, seeing the sun rise,appreciating a good meal, a play

(17:54):
day.
What's a play day?
Well, for me, a play day isgoing fishing, going shooting,
riding my mountain bike, goingwith my family and doing
something, some outing.
It's just something, a day ofrecreation, you know, enjoying a
true Sabbath.
I would encourage you to take aSabbath.
For most people, the Sabbath isgoing to be on Sunday because

(18:17):
it's going to be integrated withworship.
That's what it is for us.
For us as a family, sundaymornings everybody sleeps in.
We have church on Sunday, butit's later in the day, so you're
able to sleep in.
We go for long walks, we getout and just enjoy creation, if
the weather is permitting, andthen the end of the day we're

(18:40):
together playing games, sittingoutside, enjoying the evening or
playing a card game at thekitchen table Just a slow, easy
day.
Usually on Sunday we talk tofamily that doesn't live here
anymore.
So for me today it's Father'sDay and I had the most awesome

(19:04):
thing I got to spend some timeon a FaceTime call with Kilby
and Greg and Punky, mygranddaughter, for Father's Day.
That was awesome and justenjoying the simple things.
For me it doesn't get much moresimple than a cup of coffee and
just a moment of of quiet.
And I'm also.
I'm also kind of uh, I'm kindof spoiled because I've got

(19:27):
running right beside my house,I've got a waterfall, the Creek
that runs by my house.
I mean, my house is not fancy,but I don't know what I can sell
this place for just because ofthe waterfall.
It's kind of funny, I realized.
I think my place is probablyworth a lot more than it should
be just because there's awaterfall beside the house and
it's like dang man.
The Lord blessed me with themost amazing gift.

(19:48):
I've got a literal cascadingwaterfall that goes down by my
house and I built myself a teenylittle deck I mean, it's the
teeniest little deck on theCreek bank down there and this
morning just sit out there in mylittle chair with my Bible open
, with a cup of coffee.
Enjoy the simple things.
If you're, if you're in thisstage of life, the get after it.

(20:10):
Stage the afterburner stage oflife, pause and enjoy the simple
things.
It's so important and I thinkthat's critical.
Now, one of the things that Ireally challenged folks with in
last week's episode with theyounger generation is not to
whine or complain, and, if we'rehonest, people in their 30s and

(20:35):
40s oftentimes are the whiniestcomplainantest people.
Sometimes people in their 70sand 80s are the whiniest
complainantest people.
So, again, with each of thesethree categories, this is
something I'm going to insert,and that is don't whine, don't
complain, don't be negative, bepositive.
See the good in every situation.

(20:56):
Don't be a complainer, don't bea whiner.
The Lord speaks againstmurmuring and we talked about
that last week and that appliesfor folks in this stage of life.
Okay, next, get up every day andget after it.
Get up and give it 100%, getafter it every day.
Every day is an opportunity foryou to go hard, to run hard,

(21:18):
waste time, be intentional inevery facet, every aspect of
life, every day, not in aparticular order, but I put this

(21:58):
high on the list just because Iwatch a lot of families put a
lot of things in priority overthe church and I understand that
the church is not perfect.
I understand that there's, youknow, a lot of times there's
frustration with the church.
When I say the church, I meanyour local church, the church
that you attend, and I know alot of people that don't attend
church.

(22:19):
They say that they're Christiansand they love the Lord.
They would profess to be hey,I'm a believer, I'm saved, I'm a
Christian, I have arelationship with the Lord, but
I don't attend church.
And then they'll have reasonsand a lot of times those reasons
are understandable.
I get it, man, the church isfrustrating.
Sometimes.
The church is like your family,you love them, but, man, it can

(22:44):
drive you crazy and for a lotof people it's hard to find a
church that you really feel likeyou can plug into and be a part
of and have a home.
I know for each of my threeadult children when they left
home it was really difficult forthem to find a church that they
felt like they could reallycall home away from home.

(23:05):
One of my daughters even in thelast little bit.
There was a situation at thechurch she was attending at
school and it sort of came into.
I'm not being in any wayjudgmental or trying to not
sound like I'm being judgmental,but there was a situation issue

(23:28):
handled at this church whereyou realize not every church has
strong leadership, not everychurch has strong leadership.
They have qualified leadershipand this church definitely has
qualified leadership, butthere's an almost passive
approach to how to deal withsome things.
And then other churches it'sthe other extreme.
I mean they're heavy-handed,they're confrontational, they're

(23:50):
short on the trigger, quick topull the trigger on things like
church discipline orconfrontation.
It's just hard to find thatbalance and I would just say
that there's no perfect churchand what we always tell people
when it comes to church ormarriage there's no perfect
church.
If it was perfect, it would beimperfect as soon as you showed

(24:12):
up.
That's what I always like tothink and say.
And with marriage, it's likewhen somebody's dragging their
feet, especially with a youngman.
It's harder for girls, but fora young man, a dude that's in
his late 20s or 30 and he'sstill living with his parents
and he's not pulling the trigger.
I'm like, if you're waiting forthe perfect girl, she don't

(24:34):
exist.
But if she did, you're the lastperson, a dude that's still
with his mama at age 30, youknow, living with his folks or
not, not launching a career orstarting a business or getting
after it.
She ain't gonna want to be withyou.
You know it's it's.
It's kind of like what are youwaiting for?
Same thing with the church.
If you're looking for theperfect church, it's imperfect
the minute you walk through thedoor.

(24:55):
But there is no perfect church.
The perfect church will be thechurch of Jesus Christ in the
eternal kingdom, like in the newheaven and the new earth.
So in this life, we just jumpin, we contribute, we contribute
, we do our part, we getinvolved.
Man, put your hand on the oar.
Imagine you're on a big shipand everybody's got a hand on

(25:17):
one paddle and we're rowing thisthing forward.
Do your part, and I've learnedthat if you'll get involved in
the local church and do sosacrificially and humbly, then
you'll be a lot more willing toshow grace to that church and
its people in the areas wheremaybe they struggle a little bit

(25:39):
or they're not super strong,super solid, as long as they're.
I would encourage you if you'relooking for a healthy church,
look at what the primarydistinctives of a church need to
be.
Do they preach the Bibleexpositionally?
In other words, are theyfaithful to how they teach the
word of God?
Are they faithful in how theydisciple their people, how they

(26:02):
look at missions, how they buildcommunity and relationships
within the church?
Is the pastor accessible?
Can you talk to the pastor ifyou need to, or one of the
pastors?
Can you have a legitimateconversation where you can get
guidance and help?
And how do they spend theirmoney?
What is important to them?
There are some things you canlook for.

(26:24):
Is doctrine important, becausethat's critical.
Do they hold strong and fast tohistoric, orthodox biblical
teaching but at the same time,do they try to cultivate
relationship with Christ andhelp you in that relationship?
That's important.

(26:44):
So I think you're not going tofind the perfect church, but you
could be a part of the churchthat's faithful.
So look for a faithful church,the church that's faithful.
So look for a faithful church,love that church and give of
yourself to it.
Yeah, so let's move on.
And again, I apologize for the.
I'm sure the sound quality'snot great.

(27:06):
I just realized I was leaningover the device, leaning into it
, and so it probably it probablygets super loud when I'm doing
that.
But anyway, let's keep going,let's keep trucking along along
along the lines of theimportance of the church.
I would say make tithing orgiving a priority.
I know for a fact I don't lookat the names of people.

(27:27):
We, we use someone.
We have some, a team of folksthat handle all of the giving at
our church and I don't look atthose names.
I don't want to know because Ithink I'd be discouraged.
But I know for a fact,statistically, that a small
percentage of people give thebulk of money to the church.
I'm thankful that our church,red Oak Church, gives

(27:49):
sacrificially to missions andministry.
Our church spends a lot ofmoney advancing the gospel.
I think we give between 15 and20 percent of our annual budget
goes to foreign missions.
That's pretty rare, I think.
And then about that same amountgoes to local.

(28:11):
I mean half of our budget andit might be higher than that,
but I want to say over half ofour budget goes to ministry and
outreach, or at least north of40% I think a normal standard of
church budget is, from whatI've studied, is that right
around 50% of your budget wouldgo to salaries and we're

(28:35):
actually a good bit under thatbecause we just have super
selfless pastors who fightagainst it even when we try to
give them raises sometimes.
But we have a pastoral teamthat is well worth the money, if
I could say it that way.
Worth the money if I could sayit that way.

(28:59):
But you should look at achurch's finances and back to
finding a healthy church.
Be a part of a church thatyou're going to raise your kids
in, that have, and maybe for youpriority is solid kids program,
solid youth ministry and thoseare all great.
Our church.
I love the focus on ourchildren's ministry and on our
youth ministry and they do agreat job.
But contribute, give to that.
Like what kind of money do youspend on your vehicle, like your

(29:23):
car payment, or your mortgage,or your vacations, or your
streaming services or yourhobbies.
Tithing to the church andgiving to the church should be
way up there, and I thinkfamilies that don't have that
standard of giving.
You're sending a reallyterrible signal and message to

(29:44):
your children.
But also I think you're missingout on the blessing of the Lord
, and part of the reason maybewhy church doesn't hold such a
priority in your life is becauseyou're not investing in it.
Make tithing a priority.
It's biblical, it's a point ofdiscipleship and worship.
You are showing yourself to bea very immature Christian if
you're not giving.
By the way, I don't receiveanything from anybody's tithing.

(30:07):
My income through my ministryjob at SWO doesn't come from
people giving.
I don't get anything from thechurch at Red Oak.
I'm a lay elder at Red Oak andso for me I don't stand to gain
anything by encouraging peopleto tithe.
But it's biblical, it's a pointof worship and discipleship.
You cannot live through your20s, 30s, 40s and not tithe and

(30:29):
expect God to really enrich andbless your life.
You just can't do it.
It doesn't work that way.
Next, don't look for purpose.
Oh, by the way, one more thingon the tithing.
I don't mean, if you're making$80,000 a year, that you give a
hundred bucks a week.
That's crazy.
Everything should be to scale.
A lot of people use 10% as abaseline.
I'm not going to give you apercentage, I'm just going to
say you put your money whereyour priorities are, and so it

(30:52):
should be reflected in that.
And then also just trust theLord.
Test him.
Test him to show you that he'sgoing to be faithful.
If you'll be faithful, okay.
Next, don't look for purpose andvalue first in your work, but
know that work is good and it'sfrom the Lord, so there's some
purpose and value in it.
Read that again.
Don't look for purpose andvalue first and foremost in your

(31:15):
work, but know that work isgood and it's from the Lord, so
there's some purpose and valuein it.
So if you draw from your careerand that's where you find your
identity you're going to come upshort.
But if you see it as anopportunity to glorify the Lord
in your work, then, man, you canreally use it to bring him
glory and honor and to use theplatform of your career to find

(31:40):
purpose and value in yourday-to-day life.
You can get up and be excitedabout going to work, get up and
be excited about building abusiness and you can do the
things you do so that you cangive more.
Make more money so you can givemore to the church or to
missions to advance the kingdom.
Find purpose in your work andhave that purpose attached to

(32:02):
ministry value and the buildingof the kingdom.
Next, don't be scared.
We live in a time and a placewhere people are convinced that
everything's gonna kill them,everything's out to get them.
Conspiracies, fear of thegovernment of.

(32:23):
You know everything fromvaccines to uh to the the of.
What is it?
Uh, the contrails behindairplanes to uh.
Are they poisoning the water?
Are they watching me through myphone?
Be aware of all that stuff andI'm not saying we shouldn't pay
attention to things like that,but, man, a lot of Christians
get completely overwhelmed andobsessed with that stuff.

(32:43):
Don't live scared of everything.
Be smart, make good choices,but don't be obsessed and
consumed with everybody's notout to get you.
Everybody's not out to get you.
Everybody's not out to to doyou harm.
Most people are more concernedwith with their own situations
and circumstances.
And but don't be scared, livewith confidence, live free man,

(33:08):
be free in Christ and free as anAmerican.
If you're, if you are anAmerican in this country.
We've been given and affordedincredible freedoms, and so
enjoy them.
Don't sad those things away,don't freak out and miss out on
the goodness of all of that.
We have a lot of freedom and weshould enjoy it.
At the same time, be aware thatyou can't trust people in power

(33:31):
, so don't think you've got totrust them and hang all your
trust and hope on them, but, atthe same time, trust that God is
sovereign and the season oflife that you're in.
If you've got freedom, enjoy itand don't live like wringing
your hands in fear all the time.
Okay, so that might've been alittle bit of a not a rant, but
like I guess a lot of this isgoing to come across as a rant,

(33:53):
and it's.
I think it's because I'm at thestage of life where I spend a
lot of time investing in peoplein their twenties, thirties,
forties and uh.
So the things that sort of popout to me um are are going to
naturally come through in thisNext fight for balance.
Don't get lopsided in yourpriorities.
Balance everything church, work, family, play.

(34:17):
I've seen people that neglecttheir family because they're so
consumed with their career, andsometimes it's a situation where
there's not a choice.
The career demands that theytravel, for instance, and so the
only way to avoid that would beto leave that career.
And that's a biggerconversation.
But in as much as you cancontrol it, when you're at home,

(34:41):
be at home, be present, be inthat moment.
I used to when my kids wereyoung even my oldest kids that
are adults now when they wereyoung, I remember I would leave
to go home and if it had been areally stressful ministry day, I
would stop and just spend sometime decompressing, getting my
head in a good space, and thenhead on home.

(35:03):
When I got home I wasn'tbringing stress and work stuff
home home.
I wasn't bringing stress andwork stuff home.
You know, um, but I've alsoseen people, especially in
ministry, that say, hey, myfamily's got to be a priority.
I remember a guy worked at asnowboard guy that when he first
became a dad, I remember havingto sit down with him because he
wasn't coming to work and Iremember saying, hey, man, you

(35:25):
haven't been coming to work andwe were a staff of maybe 15
people.
Then what is going on?
He said, well, and they had hadtheir first child and he was
telling me the child had criedthat night and he stayed up so
his wife could get some sleep.
And I said hey, man, Iappreciate your heart in that.
If you want to stay up and holdthe baby so she can sleep,
that's fine, but you still gotto come to work.

(35:46):
You don't get to take anunlimited amount of days off.
And what was happening was hewas letting her sleep at night
after she'd nursed the baby, andthen he would sit with the baby
because the baby was fussing alot, not sleeping, so she could

(36:07):
sleep, and then he would come towork at 11 o'clock Because then
when she would get up in themorning at eight o'clock or
whatever, he would then sleepfrom eight to 10 or something
like that.
It's been a few years ago and Iremember just saying hey, I
really I do.
I appreciate what you're tryingto do for your wife.
It's that's cool that you'retrying to serve her in that way,
but she doesn't work.
She's at home with that baby.
You know, I don't remember ifshe was on maternity leave or if
she wasn't working at the timein a career field, but I just

(36:30):
remember saying this is thebalance we all have to find, and
it's what makes it difficult.
But the point was hey, man, thisis the tension and the balance
we all have to find.
So work hard.
You've got to still go to workand you do need to serve your
wife and children, or yourhusband and children, you know,

(36:51):
whatever.
If you're a mom and a wife,like if you're a husband and a
dad, we've got to do the hardwork of finding that balance
where we're doing what we needto do at home and honoring the
Lord and loving our family.
Well, we also got to be thebest that we can in our career.
One of the best ways you canlove your family is to be the
best at running your business,or the best police officer,
firefighter, the best pilot, thebest doctor, the best welder,

(37:16):
the best race car driver, youknow, whatever your job is, I
threw race car driver in therebecause Hank, I love listening
to Hank tell NASCAR stories, andwe just did that a couple
nights ago.
So I thought, man, what a crazycareer you know, making a
living driving a race car.
And and for Hank, he eventuallyleft NASCAR because he felt
like he could not balance thatwith being a husband and a

(37:39):
father.
So it might mean a career move.
It might mean, um, you stay inthe same career but you downsize
.
You know, I don't, I don't know, I don't know what that looks
like, but you got to fight forbalance.
That's just that.
That's, that's yourresponsibility.
Okay, the next one is going tohit home for a lot of people.
Well, I say it's going to hithome.
You may not even care, but ifyou're wanting to learn and grow

(38:02):
, and you're, I mean I, I wantthings to hit home for me, and
this one definitely does, andit's it's uh, don't worship your
children.
You know you're.
You're in your twenties andthirties, you're maybe starting
your family, um, thirties andforties, you're growing that
family, you're going through theteen years, and I think the

(38:22):
struggle here is everyone dealswith this when, once you become
a parent and the struggle iswhen your kids are little, the
whole world revolves around themis everyone deals with this.
Once you become a parent, andthe struggle is when your kids
are little, the whole worldrevolves around them in terms of
caring for them.
I mean, you do everything rightFeed them, bathe them, put them

(38:43):
in bed.
Every aspect of their day issort of controlled by you, and
you'll see this with young moms.
Like I noticed we have a lot ofyoung moms at SWO and those
young moms get together and 90%of their conversation is about
or around their kids.
So it becomes literally theall-consuming aspect of your
life.
And I have a ton of thoughts onthis, because that's not a bad

(39:08):
thing what I'm saying there.
But we do need to be aware ofsome things and be maybe a
little bit guarded.
I think a lot of marriagesstruggle once kids come along,
but you don't realize themarriage is struggling because
the kids become kind of just themain component of the marriage.
Everything revolves around thekids, and so mom starts to put

(39:30):
all of her focus and emphasis onthe kids, and dad can tend to
do the same thing.
And before you have kids yourfocus is on each other, and so I
think you got to strike abalance there.
You got to make sure that youdon't worship the kids so that
you can maintain a healthy focusand emphasis on your marriage.

(39:52):
Y'all this is so important whenyou're raising a family.
You have got to continue tocultivate your marriage.
If you don't, there will benegative effects that come from
that, and it could be.
Those negative effects could bevery subtle and not show up
until you're empty nesters.
I know of three couples whodivorced once they were empty

(40:16):
nesters One at like 45 years ofmarriage, so they were way past
empty nest.
I mean, they were deep into thegrandparent years.
Another who did it at like 37years and another one at like 34
, where they've raised a family,they've built a career, they
get into their 50s or 60s andthen the marriage collapses.

(40:39):
Well, it's because the adhesiveto the marriage was the
children, and once they're nolonger around, it's very
difficult.
And I think this is animportant thing to think about,
because putting all of ouremphasis on our children is
dangerous in multiple ways.
For one, the kids can't handlethat pressure, and so you end up

(41:03):
with kids that are veryself-centered, family-centered
and that can create a lot ofproblems when it comes to them
surrendering to Jesus.
And so you've got to maintainit's important that you love
your kids well, that you leadyour kids well, that you
discipline your kids biblically,that you provide for your kids'

(41:27):
needs, but that you don't livevicariously through your kids.
Draw your purpose and identityfrom your kids.
Give all of your time,affection, treasure, talents to
your kids.
So just finding that balancewhere what this now.
This is a host of otherepisodes we would need to do.

(41:48):
But how do we do that?
Well, we love our kids.
Well, we teach them who theLord is.
We show them what a life livedin obedience to the Lord looks
like.
We carry them to church, weread the Bible, we sit around
the table and we have game night.
That's great.
But we also sit around thetable or at the bedside and read

(42:08):
the scriptures at night and wepray together.
And I think, going on car rides, we maximize that time for
conversation or for silence andreflection.
We don't entertain ourselves todeath.
We don't worship our kids'sports or academics or dance or

(42:29):
music or whatever they're into.
And then the other extreme tothat is we don't.
A lot of folks will really focuson their kids when they're
younger, but then when they geta little older, they kind of
push them into.
They just allow them to exploretheir own independence in an
unhealthy way.
So kids can go to their room,have unlimited access to the

(42:52):
internet.
I know someone that I'vewatched their life closely and
they've watched our livesclosely.
We're very tied in with thisfamily and I'm shocked at how
little the dad is engaged day today with his kids, but the
grandmother it seems like thegrandmother always with his kids
, but the grandmother like.
It seems like the grandmotheralways has the kids, but the dad

(43:14):
is present, the kids live withhim.
It's a blended marriage, soit's his kids from a previous
marriage and then the mom haskids from a previous marriage.
But I've started to watch thekids from this man really really
unravel in terms of justrebellion, pursuit of the world,

(43:36):
kind of unhinged in the waythey're living their lives, and
he seems at first glance to besuper involved.
Then I realized well he is.
He goes to all the ballgames,he goes to anything at the
school, he's involved in a lotof ways, but he's not involved
in their free time.
Now here's a little niche that Ithink is very important.

(43:58):
Your kids need free time, butit does not need to be free in
the sense that they have fullautonomy with what they watch,
where they go, who they spendtime with, what hours of the
night they're up and so, keepinga balance of we're going to
spend time together, I'm alsogoing to give you some freedom
and independence as you begin togrow into the teen years and

(44:20):
just maintaining a balance soyou're not centering your life
around them but you're also notpushing them off to set sail on
their own far before they havethe ability to handle it.
And again, this is completelyother conversations but getting
into, like, how much freedomthey have with their mobile
device or access to internet,access to friends, social media,

(44:42):
things like that we're going to, we're going to do an episode
this fall on social media.
We did it, uh, two falls ago.
We did a really long umconversation over the course of
two or three episodes and we'regoing to be doing that again
this fall.
But for now, just you've got tokeep that reined in Um.
But the main point there beingdon't worship your children,
don't order every aspect of yourlife around them.

(45:04):
You have to order a huge aspectof your life around them
because it is God's design.
I life around them.
You have to order a huge aspectof your life around them
because it is God's design.
I mean, the number one ministrythat you have is not to your
neighbor, it's to your children.
But find that balance.
Where you're the parent, you'rein charge, there's discipline,
but you're giving them freedomand letting them learn how to
earn trust and things like that.
So obviously a lot to that.

(45:26):
That's a very shortconversation on that, but that
could be multiple episodes, butjust striking that balance.
Next, I want to challenge you tolearn to appreciate the small
moments.
This could be car rides, itcould be walks is commit that
every day.

(45:46):
As long as it's not rainingreal bad or the weather's not
crazy, the daylight is there,you know it's not the dead of
winter and you're getting homeafter dark.
But even then, like every day,really commit to take a walk.

(46:06):
I think one of the simplest,easiest ways to slow your world
down, to slow your day down, isto take a walk, and we do this
as a family and then I do itwith my girls individually.
So right now that's Lailie andJuju are the two girls that are
still either at home or at homeoften enough.
Lailie's at school, but thissummer she's home.
So usually about once or twicea week she and I go for a walk

(46:29):
and then Juju's still at home.
So we go for a walk pretty muchevery day, and it's a short
walk, it's a 20 minute walk.
We walk down the road and backand that's what I call a small
moment and I learned toappreciate those small moments
and a small moment.
I'm not talking about playing aboard game, doing an activity,

(46:51):
I'm talking about small momentsthroughout the day.
Another one would be I'll get asmall cup of coffee.
I know I always bring up coffee, but I drink a cup in the
morning and then twice duringthe day.
I'll just pause and drink asmall it's probably a five ounce
cup of coffee.
I'll just stop, I'll get alone,I'll stare at a creek or a tree

(47:11):
and have a little cup of coffeeand just enjoy entering into
that moment.
Life is passing by so fast, andespecially when you're in this
stage of life that we're talkingabout.
So just enjoy a small moment.
I keep a set of binoculars in mytruck.
I love to look at birds,critters, animals.

(47:33):
Might be a groundhog that yousee, it might be a.
I love watching birds.
I really enjoy bird watching,like to go out this time of year
and walk and watch thelightning bugs, and all up and
down our road there's fieldswith lightning bugs and just
small moments.
I don't want to over.
If I over explain that, then itmakes it not about small moments

(47:55):
.
You know it's kind ofcounterintuitive.
So enjoy the small moments andbring your kids into that, bring
your, you know, do it togetheras a spouse, as a husband and
wife.
I think that's important.
That leads me to the next onethat I think goes along with
this, and that is entertainmentin moderation.
Entertainment in moderation, now, what I mean by entertainment?

(48:17):
I mean electronic entertainment.
So this would be Social mediamovies, streaming services,
programming, your favoritesports programs, your favorite
TV drama, whatever, podcasting.

(48:37):
So podcasts, documentaries,shows, movies, sports music,
social media, all of that.
It's not that all of that isinherently bad.
We enjoy and use all of that,but we need to do it in
moderation.
And I'm not going to give, I'mnot going to make this a

(48:59):
legalistic kind of thing where Igive you the letter of the law
you got to figure that out andyou know and just make sure
you're doing this withconviction, but in moderation.
An exaggerated example would beyou can't watch five hours of
look at a screen for five hoursa day and then go for a 10
minute walk and go.
Yeah, we're just trying to keepeverything in balance.
You can't everybody go to theirroom and get on their own

(49:22):
social media accounts for threehours every night, but then we
come together for a quick20-minute supper, but while
we're at supper everybody's gottheir phones out.
That's what I mean by it getsout of balance, real bad.
And so just keeping it inmoderation, set yourself some
caps and some limits and somerestraints.

(49:43):
I think that's very importantbecause the older you get and
the more you you know, whenyou're in your thirties and
forties and you're reallyrunning hard, it's so easy to
just um, it's easy to just kindof dive into electronics or
entertainment.
You know, spend an hour on yourfavorite social media sites and

(50:05):
an hour or two watching videosor shows or whatever, and then
an hour or two listening topodcasts and next thing, you
know, man, you look at yourphone and it's like dang, I
spent four hours inentertainment today and if you,
if you self evaluate, yourealize I did not spend that
much time doing meaningfulthings.

(50:26):
So, just again, not trying tobe legalistic, just wrestle
through that.
Um, let's see, I only got acouple more and we'll wrap this
up One.
This goes back to the first,one of the first ones we did,
and that's keep.
Uh, church and community areimportant.
This is kind of an addendum.
I add this back to the onewhere we talked about church.

(50:46):
Within the church.
We're not just talking aboutthe Sunday worship service.
We're talking about gettinginvolved in a small group.
Whether you call thosecommunity groups, home groups,
grow groups, discipleship groups, every church has got a name
for them.
Some churches don't do that.
They still do the moretraditional Sunday school.
If you're going to be part of achurch, be part of a small

(51:07):
group.
If your Sunday school is yoursmall group structure, then do
that.
But then also, outside of that,try to cultivate community.
I think a lot of people missout.
When they attend church onSunday.
They check that box.
It's an hour commitment andthen they're on with their life,
and a lot of times, on withtheir life means, um, the only

(51:30):
interaction they have withanything related to that church,
including the people in thatchurch, is that Sunday morning
worship service.
Um, cultivate a communalmindset, like we're living in
community and maybe it's youdecide that you're going to make
.
I got a buddy who's a pastor.
Awesome dude, austin Ramel,love that guy he's.
He's a close friend and brother.

(51:52):
He pastors in in the Gastoniaarea of North Carolina but he,
he hosts folks in his home.
He practices hospitality inthat way and uh, and we try to
do that you know, have people inyour home.
I think that's one way you canreally be connected to community
.
But then something he does andseveral other friends I know
they host their neighborhood,they live.

(52:14):
They live on a road, where Idon't live on a road like this,
but where you've got it's like aneighborhood or a subdivision.
You've got a road and eachhouse is on, you know a lot and
you can see your neighbors fromdoor to door.
I mean it's I don't like I said, for me it's a little different
.
If you live on a rural countryroad, that's going to look
different.

(52:34):
But if you live in asubdivision, man, really
cultivate community within thatcommunity.
That's an extension of churchand then maybe you start to
minister to people and so youend up using your house, your
home, your family as a means anda base of operation to do

(52:55):
ministry.
So teach your kids ministry.
And with that I want to give youone last practical thing and
we're going to elaborate on thismy next episode I'm very
excited about.
We're taking a break from thisseries and we're going to have.
I sat down with my daughter,lailie, and we just talked
through life growing up atSnowbird and there's something

(53:15):
she shares that I think isreally important and I want to
give you that principle righthere, and it has to do with
family vacations.
Okay, so here's the last thingand I will give a closing, just
kind of thought, but the lastpiece that I really encourage
you to establish during thefamily years when you're raising
kids.
I'm so thankful that we had theopportunity and the Lord sort

(53:41):
of nudged us in this direction,and the Lord sort of nudged us
in this direction when our kids,when our three oldest, were
growing up.
Now we're not doing this now.
It looks way different.
Now, with our three youngerkids, it just looks way
different and I can elaborate onthat.
But when our three oldest kidswere growing up, we just decided

(54:01):
that every year for vacation wewere not going to go to Destin,
florida, panama City, myrtleBeach, charleston, whatever.
There's nothing wrong with it,nothing at all wrong with that.
But if a kid grows up and theygo to the beach every year I did
that you grow up, you go to thebeach every year it's like, oh
yeah, I got good memories as akid going to the beach.
It was cool, it was fun.
Coolers full of food on thebeach, playing in the surf,

(54:29):
riding a boogie board, going outto eat at night all that goes
with that kind of vacation.
But I would say what I wouldsay is diversify the vacation
experience.
So if you go to the beach everyyear, then maybe every third
year go see a part of thecountry you've never seen.
Now I'm building towardssomething bigger than this.

(54:51):
This is just kind of in layers.
This is in layers.
Go to one of the monuments, oneof the national parks,
something like that.
It'd be fun.
But what changed my kids' lives,I truly believe, is every year,
as long as they can remember,for a week we went and worked in
an orphanage in Central America.

(55:12):
We started this when my oldestchild was six and we did it all
the way through COVID, and so wedid it for 20 years.
I think we did 19 trips.
So my kids growing up, theygrew up going to work in an
orphanage.
So we would still at springbreak we would go.

(55:33):
The other thing is spring breakwe would rent a house on a lake
, not in a town, we would buygroceries and then we would be
together as a family.
So the two things that we didthat I can now look back in
hindsight and tell you wereabsolutely effective.
And that we're still doing isan annual trip out of the

(55:55):
country and you go.
Well, how do I afford that, man?
We did that for like the yearswhere all five of us went.
It cost us about 3,500 bucks.
So it's like man, that's a lotof money.
Yeah Well, what are you goingto spend your money on?
You're raising a family, you'regrowing kids into adults and
you're giving them experiences.
You cannot put a price tag onthe experiences that my kids had

(56:17):
working in that orphanage.
It changed them.
It radically changed theirlives.
They were Kilby, tuck andLaylee were different human
beings than their peers atschool because of those
experiences.
I'm not saying they were better, I'm not comparing.
I'm just saying they saw thehere's what I'm saying.
They saw the world through adifferent lens.

(56:38):
You go to a third world country,you know, and when they were,
when we were adopting GGMO, thatwas cool because we had the
opportunity to spend over threemonths in a third world country.
That's not realistic foreverybody, but doing a trip,
even every two years, save up,like on your off years, do a
super cheap staycation.

(56:58):
If you can't afford $3,500,most people spend that much on a
vacation to Disney or PanamaCity.
But if you're like, oh man, wespend $1,500 a year on vacation,
okay, then skip a year andevery other year, do something
like this.
Somebody listening to this isgoing to take my advice and it's
going to take this.
It's going to change your life.
It's going to change your kids'lives.
You're going to see kids thatbecome others serving rather

(57:22):
than self-serving, and it reallyis impactful and powerful
others serving rather thanself-serving, and it really is
impactful and powerful.
And then what we did on ourspring break every year is we
rented a little bitty house on alake.
I think we spent about athousand bucks.
You already got to buygroceries anyway and we just,
every day we'd sleep in, get up,play in the water, eat a big
lunch by the water, fish.

(57:43):
In the evening We'd play games.
You know, like we had avolleyball net, we'd stretch
between a couple trees and playbadminton, play, what's that one
game?
It's a game where you throw aball.
It's a I can't think of thename of it, but it's like a
made-up game where you're tryingto get the ball to the ground.
Always think of like Atomic orBazooka or something like that.

(58:05):
That's not it, but anyway, itwas a lot of fun just making
games up, sitting around atnight.
We'd build a fire and just sitby the water, and it was just
our family, nobody else.
We didn't go see any sites, wedid not go to a theme park, we
did not.
It's so effective, and so what Icall that is redeeming your
vacations.

(58:26):
You're bringing value to yourvacation other than recreation.
You're bringing value that'sgoing to shape your kids into
the men and women that they'regoing to become.
That's a big one, and I cantell you from firsthand
experience it will make yourkids better people and it will
impact your family with memoriesthat are way better than I
remember riding go-karts andplaying putt-putt.

(58:46):
Nothing wrong with that.
I'm just telling you it's a lotmore meaningful and a lot more
life-shaping.
Hopefully, the sheep in thebackground are not too much of a
distraction.
It's pretty funny, thoughthey're letting it rip.
They just settled down.
I paused recording here whileLittle was feeding them, so
they're settling down now.

(59:09):
Let me wrap this up the bottomline, and this ties into that
last piece about how we use ourvacations and ties into that
idea of redeeming the smallmoments.
You know, enjoying the simplethings, but also um, uh, making

(59:29):
the most out of the big things,like vacation, like, uh,
evenings at home, things likethat.
Just be intentional and don'tlet family get in the way of
being the best business owneryou can be.
Don't let family, don't let theidea that you've got to commit
to your family keep you frombeing 100% at work.
The struggle that we have toface, and that God will give us

(59:52):
the grace to handle, is we gotto do both.
We cannot let family.
That is priority.
We cannot let our family becompromised and we can't
compromise time and priority tothat.
But we can't be lazy at work orcutting corners to go in late
or come home early.
We need to do a good job atwork too.
We need to be the best that wecan be, because it's reflecting

(01:00:13):
on our relationship with theLord and our testimony and our
witness.
I know we could elaborate on allthis and go and go and go and
go.
Now that I'm at a stage in lifewhere I can kind of look at,
you know, with three adultchildren, we can evaluate what
we do right, what we do wrong,what are some things we would do
different.
I'll tell you this it is a veryfreeing thing to know we didn't

(01:00:37):
do things perfectly, but Iwouldn't change a thing, even
the mistakes I made, because welearned from them and they
helped us and just live yourlife in a way that you don't
have regret.
If you're a young family, ifyou've got kids that are real
small, or even if you've gotkids that are in that 12 to 17

(01:00:58):
range, these days are going tofly by.
These are the best days of yourlife, I think for young
families that feel overwhelmedbecause you got a kid in diapers
and another one that's atoddler, and then you got one
that's starting school and youthink, man, this is so stressful
.
I promise you it's notstressful.
It may feel like it, but it'sthe easiest, funnest, most, I

(01:01:18):
mean, you are living in the bestseason of life.
If that's where you're at, ifyou're someone who's in your 30s
or 40s and you're navigatingthe teenage years, I don't have
to tell you it's hard.
It's tough, especially if yourkids are in school.
If you're homeschooling,there's some things that I think
make it a little bit easier,some things that you don't have
to deal with, but if you'resending your kids off to school

(01:01:40):
every day.
It's tough, so just stayengaged, keep your hand on the
plow.
Keep your hand to the plow.
Grip the plow in one hand, gripthe sword in the other hand.
Sword of the Spirit is the Wordof God and you center your
family and your life and yourbusiness and your world and your
marriage around the Word of Godand live as God would have you
live and He'll do awesome thingsin your life and your family.

(01:02:00):
So run hard.
These are the days when you can, so make the most of them.
Lastly I'm recording this, as Imentioned earlier on Father's
Day.
So happy Father's Day to allyou guys that listen, all you
men that listen, who are dads.
Happy Father's Day to y'all.
Be faithful.
There's nothing I think youcould make the argument.
Nothing is more critical rightnow in society, in the church

(01:02:24):
and definitely in our familiesthen, that dads just do and be
what God's called them to do andbe.
So be faithful in that and letthe Lord bless and move and lead
and guide and you just followand be faithful to what he's
commanded in his word and by hisspirit in your life.
Have an awesome week.
Pray for us.
Week four ramping up.

(01:02:44):
I'll read you some moretestimonies next week of
students' lives being impacted.
I literally got a text while Iwas recording from a student
pastor in the Atlanta area, justsouth of Atlanta, a good friend
named Alex, who said hey, man,one of our kids, she came to
know the Lord a couple nightsago.
And then there was one of ourstaff, one of our guys that's

(01:03:05):
been here in the Institute thelast year, a guy named Trip.
He had one of his boys come tofaith on Wednesday or Thursday
night and Trip texted me andsaid hey, this kid just prayed
to receive Christ.
Pray for another kid in thisgroup.
His name's Colin.
And on Friday night Colin and acouple of boys from that group
and the youth pastor from thatgroup walked up to me after
worship and Colin was just, hewas emotional man.

(01:03:27):
He said I just gave my life toJesus, he got saved.
And it's awesome because thoseboys are in an alternative
school.
They've had a rough go in andout of, I think, foster care and
man just walking through thefirst steps of discipleship with
them.
They got it, it took, it sunkin.
So continue to pray that Godwill move in the lives and
hearts of students and excitedfor this next episode next

(01:03:51):
Monday, excited to share withyou from a conversation I had
with Lely.
We'll have that one posted as avideo as well, so look for that
.
Thank you all.
We'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 2 (01:04:01):
Thanks for listening to no Sanity Required.
Please take a moment tosubscribe and leave a rating.
It really helps.
Visit us at SWOutfitterscom tosee all of our programming and
resources, and we'll see younext week on no Sanity Required.