Episode 23 - March Fatness

What happens when three ministry leaders confront their own relationship with hurry? In this soul-searching episode, we wrap up our study of John Mark Comer's "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry" while candidly sharing our struggles with traffic rage, creative burnout, and the pressure to constantly produce.

The contrast couldn't be more striking—discussing slowness while planning our March Fatness bracket (a food establishment tournament that has us debating whether Chick-fil-A's Sabbath observance gives their chicken divine blessing). Yet this juxtaposition perfectly captures our modern dilemma: we understand the value of rest intellectually while struggling to embody it practically.

Our exploration of Sabbath reveals how this biblical practice isn't just religious obligation but revolutionary resistance against the Pharaohs of our time—those forces driving us toward perpetual productivity. We unpack how simplicity creates both physical and mental space, with one host sharing how decluttering their home led to unexpected clarity and peace. The conversation peaks with twenty practical suggestions for slowing down, from driving in the slow lane to putting your phone "to bed" before you sleep.

Most powerfully, we confront how difficult it is to untangle our identities from achievement, especially in ministry where work, faith, and relationships blend together. "I have blurred the line between what I think the Salvation Army expects of me and what I expect of myself," one host confesses, revealing how deeply internalized hurry becomes.

Join us for this transformative conversation that might just help you recognize that life's greatest regret isn't lacking time—it's failing to be present in the time we have. How might your relationship with God change if you followed Jesus not just in what He did, but in how He lived?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
All right, everyone.
Welcome back to the Plugged InPodcast.
This is episode number 23.
We are two years old and, ifyou've never joined us before,
this is the Plugged In Podcast.
A ministry of the SalvationArmy here in Massachusetts, if
you've never joined us before.
The Salvation Army ofMassachusetts.
Its message is based on theBible ministry.

(00:31):
Motivated by the love of God,its mission to preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ and to meethuman needs in his name without
discrimination.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
There we go.
I was impressed by that.
How are you guys doing?
I'm good.
How are you?
It's good to be back, it's beena long time.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
You know, it's been so long that when I set up our
podcast recorder, the board thatwe work on, there was physical
dust on it and I had to kind ofblow the dust away.
Had to wipe that away, so we'reready to go.
But if you've never joined usbefore, welcome into the podcast
.
My name is Matt.
I am the director of music herein the Massachusetts division.
You guys want to introduceyourselves.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Sure, my name is Loretta and I am the divisional
candidate secretary andassociate youth secretary.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
My name is Nate Heinsman and I am the divisional
youth secretary and also workwith Loretta on candidates, all
right.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
I don't know if that answers any question as to what
that is.
No, it answers all thequestions.
The Plugged In Podcast existsbecause we like to connect
people Well, first of all herein Massachusetts, to our events,
things that are going on, butthe people outside of
Massachusetts, if you just wantto join us for a good time, and
at some point in the podcast wealways have a Bible application.
That's what we're here for.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
That's right.
Sorry, I'm going to be eatingmy lollipops to try and not
cough the whole time.
So if anyone wants a lollipop,I've got some for you, that's
all right.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
You know who would love one my son, caleb.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
He asks about them every single day.
I will supply.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
Those blue raspberry ones are pretty good.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Well, that's next on deck, it's tropical freeze here,
because he always asks for thatone.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
I'm going to raid my cabinet and get him some
tropical freeze tonight when wego to Quincy.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
So my opening thought today it's kind of more on the
rant side but it has to do withlater on we're going to wrap up
our study of the book that we'vebeen the book club or book pod
club or whatever that word was.
It's been so long Hopefullyyou've finished that book and
you've put it on the shelf, buttoday is we're just going to
wrap it up for ourselves.

(02:26):
Today's the day we're going towrap the book, but my opening
rant has to do with a thoughtthat I'll expand upon later, but
I don't know what it is, butthe last couple of weeks I have
just traffic has like gotten tome more so than I've ever let it
before.
Yeah, like it has just beenlike soul sucking.
Yeah, let it before.
Yeah, like it has just beenlike soul sucking.
Yeah, I can't like it justabsolutely blows my mind.

(02:48):
A drive that should take 15minutes and I'm there for like
an hour and five.
Like I don't, that's awful, no,but that's terrible.
But that's been pretty routine.
I cannot leave dhq and go to myhouse during like rush hour
time without it taking close toan hour.
Right now you are not farenough for it to take an hour.
No, I know the the 93, 95, likeit has been insane and I find

(03:10):
myself like every single day Imean this sounds terrible, but I
like feel like getting closerto like whatever edge is on the
edge of like road rage or like Ican just feel like anger, like
boiling up and I don't know whatto do with it because you can't
.
You can't escape it.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
No you can't do anything about it.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
No, I get really annoyed by the people who won't
sit in the traffic, like me, andgo into the shoulder and have
to like, yeah, make their ownlanes, and then they end up just
causing more confusion becausethere's a reason why it's backed
up in the first place.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
I'm getting closer to being that guy Cause I just
like I need out.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
I don't know what to do I'm done we?

Speaker 1 (03:46):
um, we just went on a weekend trip to Atlanta to
visit my uh, my brother Mason,his son just turned, asher just
turned one year old.
And on the drive from our houseto the airport, like once you
get in the tunnel underneathBoston.
I mean there is no escape.
No, you're stuck.
You are there.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
And it's like we were pushing the boundaries of
making our flight on time and weleft like two and a half hours
before the scheduled departuretime and it probably took an
hour and a half.
That's terrible To get from ourhouse to the airport and it
wasn't even like we were goingthe opposite way of rush hour,
so I just like I saw on socialmedia they are, uh, I'm not

(04:25):
going to weigh into likepolitics of the of the boston,
like mayoral candidate race, butI did like see that a friend of
the salvation army, josh craft,yeah, yeah, has decided to run
for mayor of boston.
And I just like I see a lot onsocial media and I just want to
write like, please, what is theplan?
yeah for traffic because itcan't.
Here's where my vote will go.
It can't just be to incentivizetaking trains and buses more.

(04:49):
There has to be a physical plan.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
No, we're past that yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
And if you want Boston to be in the conversation
for NBA All-Star Games or WorldCup hosting or perhaps the
Super Bowl, 0% chance.
We do not have theinfrastructure to handle all the
people.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
Did you see the video of the tunnel roof that?

Speaker 1 (05:07):
collapsed.
Wait what happened?
So people were driving into thetunnel underneath Boston and I
don't think it hit anybody.
But in between cars going by at50 miles an hour, a section of
concrete just fell from theceiling Stop and smashed on the
ground.
But I mean, if that had hit acar, someone's dead, Stop,
Smashed on the ground.
But I mean like if, if that hadhit a car someone's dead.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah Like that, yeah Concrete.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
That's crazy what does that say about the greater
stability of that tunnel ingeneral?

Speaker 1 (05:33):
Like yeah that's scary, is it?

Speaker 3 (05:34):
going to implode?
Who?

Speaker 1 (05:34):
knows, that is scary.
That's the whole big dig.
I haven't lived here longenough to be in.
Whoever is a curmudgeon aboutthat project from 30 years ago
that's not me, but it's real,it's wild, all right.
Anyways, after all thatnegativity, after all that, yeah
, I had to release that Wellgood.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
I hope you feel better now.
I don't know Until he goes homefrom work today and then it's
all going to be back.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
Retriggered.
I've triggered.
I've been in a little rut likeI don't know, outside the
traffic, like I just kind oflike I don't know I felt, like
in a creative rut yeah, I feellike whatever exhaustion.
Whatever I'm making, I feellike it sucks it just like.
No, I'm just.
I'm serious, though, becauselike you can get um when you're
creating things and you're doingprojects, like you can get
compliments from other peopleall day yeah but until you

(06:22):
believe that, like you're doingquality work or you like, are
really proud of what you'redoing it's hard to like.
It's hard to get out of that.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah.
I just kind of feel like inthis like yeah, I've too many
times like I've made somethingand the person who I've made it
for is like, oh, this is great,and I'm like I hate this, like I
don't want my name attached tothis.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
But there's also the internal pressure to kind of up
it every time.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Oh, I've done this before.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
How can I elevate this, in a way?
And so I think we're our ownbiggest critics and we're the
ones who put the pressure onourselves.
It's not necessarily comingfrom anybody else, but I think
that that's a natural thing thatwe're always like how can I
make this bigger and better thistime around?

Speaker 1 (07:03):
I feel like these jobs are that.
It's like how do you top youthcouncils from last year, or how
has Music Conservatory made mebetter, or this is episode 23 of
the Plugged In Podcast.
How is it better than the first22?

Speaker 2 (07:14):
How is it better than episode one?

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, exactly, the old days, the good old days, the
good old days.
And we are past two years old.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
And the clock on that is.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Mackenzie yeah, Mackenzie just had her second
birthday.
Man, the last couple of daysshe's got all the attitude in
the world she's bringing it.
I love her so much I do want tofreeze her in time right now,
because the way she interactswith Caleb, the way she speaks
her language right now, it islike a pretty precious time.
That's awesome.
So I'm trying to get past myown like, well, the hurry that

(07:45):
we're going to talk about.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, exactly.
No, I feel that way withJackson too.
I'm like he's just in the pastcouple of days he's been really
sweet.
I don't know what's happening.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
I don't know who God is, oh, and how.
He said to them well, godcreated you and was witnessing
to the five-year-old kid, hesaid.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
one of his friends said something said a bad word,
and he said oh, god created you.
He wouldn't like that.
You said that.
And then he said my friend saidwho is God?
And I said, well, what did yousay?
And he said I don't know.
But I was like, okay, littleguy, it was really sweet yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
That reminds me.
I just got to tell one thing,Okay.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
All right.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
So Heather had a conversation with Caleb the
other day and Caleb was askinglike where does Jesus live?
And so Heather's trying to youknow, talk through this one.
To you know, talk through thisone.
And caleb said oh, I get it.
So so we just go to church andpretend that jesus is real?
Um, it was like something alongthose lines.

(08:53):
Heather tells me this and I waslike whoa that lollipop was not
holding backthat laughter cough.
That's crazy, he's like he saidsomething like oh so we can't
see jesus, but we go to churchso that we can pretend that he's
real or like something likethat, and I was just like it's
so hard to explain to kids andhe was very innocent about it
but yeah, because he's, he'sgenuinely trying to trying to

(09:14):
process.
He's genuinely trying toprocess it yeah, so, but that
was like heather told me that Iwas like what?
but that's amazing anyways, uh,we want to highlight, uh, some
events that have been in ourpast.
Now and then we have someevents coming up, but I know
that in the Massachusettsdivision we recently just
flipped the calendar on theYoung Adult Retreat.
Can you?
Tell us a little bit about thatevent, sure.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
Take it away, Nate.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
So the very first weekend of February, we had a
Young Adult Retreat at theconference center Camp
Wonderland, or the WonderlandConference Center, and had a
great turnout.
We had 52, 53 people join usfrom across the division, had an
amazing speaker, stuart Hall,who's been here before.

(09:57):
He's really passionate aboutengaging this generation and
really believes in the power andpotential of leaders today, and
so he brought a great word.
The theme for the weekend wasthe space between, and talking
about how Jesus's words fall ondeaf ears if we're not living
them out in the margins.
Living them out like living thewords that are on the page, the
space in between.
There is our opportunity tocarry it out into the world, and

(10:20):
so it was a really, reallychallenging time of worship.
And so it was a really, reallychallenging time of worship.
We had a great worship leadersin Shaggy and his wife Becca,
who were just phenomenal andjust leading us in worship
Andrew Piercy.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
for those who don't know who Shaggy is.
Shaggy but don't call himAndrew, because he will say who
is that I?

Speaker 3 (10:37):
texted him.
I said hey, andrew, justwondering if you wanted to help
us out.
He's like first of all, don'tever call me Andrew again, and
only the way he can.
But no, they were phenomenal.
We went deep.
We had great conversation aswell, and then we had a great
time at level 99, which, ifyou've never been to level 99,
there are two locations, and Ifeel like I'm giving you a promo

(10:58):
, but you need to check it out,I can't really explain it.
There's one in Providence andthere's one in Natick.
We went down to Providence andit's best described as like an
immersive challenge arena.
So you go into different roomsand you participate in different
challenges.
Some are physical challenges,some are very like mental based
challenge and some require a lotof teamwork.

(11:19):
But you go into these rooms andyou're timed and you have to
complete these challenges, andthere's maybe like 60 different
challenges across the facility,so there's always something new
and unique to do.
Nice, and so our group had agreat time with that and just
really enjoyed the opportunityto fellowship and spend time
together in community.
That's great.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
If you are listening to the podcast today, just on
well, spotify or Apple Music, orhowever you listen to the
podcast, know that there arefull videos of the podcast on
the YouTube channel and I onlybring that up because Loretta
made a brilliant highlight reelof the Young Adult Retreat.
So on our YouTube channelthat's Essay Mass Music on
YouTube.
On this episode of the podcast,we'll have that highlight reel

(12:01):
playing while Nate was justexplaining it.
So, make sure you hop over tothe YouTube channel Essay Mass
Music.
All of the episodes of thePlugged In Podcast, or I
shouldn't say all, but most ofthem.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
The early ones are spotty, most.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
of them are there.
Yeah, we had to kind of findour way.
The events that are coming up,and I have these kind of in
order.
We have our YAM Overnighter,Youth Arts Ministry, After that
Star Search and then YouthCouncils.
I'll just speak briefly aboutthe YAM Overnighter that's
coming up on April 4 and 5.
The finale concert is going tobe at the Boston Croc.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
Center, that's crazy.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
I know it's already here.
It's already here.
That's wild.
The finale concert is going tobe at the Boston Croc Center on
April 5.
That's 3.30.
We hope everyone in thedivision comes out to support
our young people Youth ArtsMinistry.
We've got about 70 young peopleand a volunteer faculty,
probably north of 30.
A lot of young adults arehelping out and Youth Arts
Ministry basically is split intotwo tracks.
You've got a 13-plus track andyou've got a 9-to-12 track.

(12:56):
The kids get to study a wholebunch of different kinds of
things.
Very briefly, the people I wantto shout out.
So in my Yam band at Yam wehave three maybe four different
levels of brass.
We've got beginners and then wehave kind of two intermediate
bands and then we have the Yamband.
I want to shout out my hornplayers, phoebe and Rihanna.
So if anyone's like been aroundmy bands in the past decade,

(13:22):
there's kind of one piece thatkeeps circulating amongst the
young people and it's calleddance like david.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
it's a hot.
Yeah, I don't get topic.
I don't, I don't get it.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
It's fun, I love it it's a fun piece, um, but like
every they and I say they I meanlike literally a generation
worth of young people right allthe time are like can we play
dance like david?
Can we play dance like david,dance like david.
But it does take like a certainability.
So we're not always like.
I always say like every two tothree years, we kind of cycle
through like okay, now we canplay it but, anyways, it

(13:51):
features a prominent horn partand I know that phoebe and
rihanna have been practicingvery hard and they are
representing horn playerseverywhere in dance like david.
So that's the yamighter, April4 and 5 finale at the Boston
Kroc Center.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
It's funny.
You know that like they'replaying it in Yam Band, because
if you're here during Yamthey're all humming it around
the building like practicingtheir part or just like yeah
exactly.
I'm like oh, tell me whatyou're playing in Yam Band.
It's just so cute.
They love it.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
No, they're into it.
After that we'll have StarSearch.
Star Search this isn't totallyconfirmed yet, but we are about
99% sure that we're going to beat an off-site, non-army
location.
So that will be announced veryshortly, but we're in the final
stages of kind of dotting theI's crossing the T's.
I'm moving to a larger spacefor that event, so hopefully

(14:46):
everyone listening is working ontheir star search pieces.
That's a obviously a greatevent coming up.
If you have any questions aboutthat, you can email chris
molinaro or myself in the musicdepartment.
And then, after star search,we're in the thick of may and
youth, youth councils.
It's almost here.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
Take it away, I was going through my calendar and
putting things in and I was likeoh my gosh we are so close Yep.
So youth councils.
This year the theme iseverything and we have a guest
from the Echo Group, SamirMassad, and he's going to be our
speaker for the weekend.
He came very highly recommendedby the previous people that
we've had.
We always ask our previousspeakers now that you know our

(15:22):
kids, who would you recommendwithin your sphere?
Sure, and they recommend thesmart.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
The smart.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
The first year we had Stuart Hall.
The first night he gave themessage and then rewrote
everything the next day, becausehe's like now that I know the
crowd, so it's worked out well,so it's going to be a good time.
We had our first youthcommission meeting to kind of
start the planning process Offand running, off and running,
and yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
We also have Unbound is coming from the Territory.
It's the Territory's worshipband and they are phenomenal
have you heard them live lately.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
I mean like yeah, they're great.
I'm not trying to be biased.
I think like Unbound could likeopen like a stadium concert
yeah, for lauren daigle or likeI think they could, like they
could, play a stadium christianconcert.
They're incredible, I mean,they really, really are, and
they have all theseinterchangeable pieces and
voices and like I always like,every time there's a new singer
comes up and leads a song, I'mjust like oh, there's no way

(16:20):
that they're.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
And then it's like it's like unbelievable, unique
voice like it's just, it'sreally impressive and the
ability to tap into so manypeople from throughout the
territory.
I think that's what I love.
It's like it's it's kind of avery wide reaching group.
And so it's going to be good.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
And there's such authenticity when they're
leading in worship.
It's not like you know, it'snot a performance that it's.
It's really like we want tousher you into the presence of
God and we're worshipingalongside you.
Just wanted to speak to thattheme.
Everything it comes fromMatthew, chapter 22, which is
love the Lord, your God, withall your heart, soul, mind and
strength, and love your neighboras yourself.
And so in everything that we do, we have an opportunity to give

(16:58):
God glory in the ways that welove him and serve others.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
All right.
Well, that's going to be a wrapfor our event coverage here in
the Massachusetts division ofthe Salvation Army.
We're going to take a quickbreak on episode number 23 of
the Plugged In Podcast.
Before we do, though, Nate justgive us a tiny teaser of what's
coming up next.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
All right, it is March.
It's crazy, but along withMarch comes March Madness, and
so we have this year a new MarchMadness bracket challenge.
I'm going to refer to it asMarch Fatness, yes, but if
that's too offensive, we cancall it the Hunger Games.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
Well, let's put it up to a vote.
Let's put it on our socials andwe'll see what the Hold on.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
I'm just going to speak for my people.
I'm not offended, bro, bro.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
So I'm fine with March Fatness.
I'm fine with march fatness aslong as the public is fine with
march fatness.
That's what we'll roll with.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
But it could be so funny could be called the hunger
games tournament, who knows?

Speaker 3 (17:52):
but what we're going to do?
We have a 32 teams singleelimination bracket style with
four different regions, uh, andwe're going to be uh voting on
which uh in each region is goingto move on.
So we have a fast food region,uh.
We have a fast casual region,we have a sit restaurant region
and then we have a dessert slashcoffee region.
So these are all different foodestablishments that you've been

(18:14):
to many times, and so we'regoing to need your help to move
these people on in ourtournament.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
All right.
So after our break here on thePlugged In Podcast, we will have
that March fatness and then towrap our podcast today if you're
looking towards the end of theepisode, we are wrapping our
study of the book the RuthlessElimination of Hurry by John
Mark Comer, if you haven't beenwith us for this review of this
book.
Essentially the idea is if youtruly want to follow Jesus, then

(18:41):
you need to embrace hislifestyle, and if you study his
lifestyle, jesus was not in ahurry to do anything.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
He was busy.
He was busy.
Right, he was busy, but there'sa difference, there's a
difference between busy andhurried.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
All right, we're going to take a quick break on
the Plugged In Podcast and wewill be right back.
All right, and welcome back toepisode number 23 of the Plugged

(19:14):
In Podcast.
Nate, throw it your way, sorry,captain Nate.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
Captain, just call me Nate.
Okay, bro, bro, all right, goahead.
All right.
So into our March fatnessbracket.
Yeah.
So Loretta does a phenomenaljob putting graphic content
together for our socials, and soin the next few days or so,
you'll see that showing up onthe socials and you can help us
vote and move these seeds alongas we try to get down to the

(19:42):
champion of the March fatnessbracket.
I'm going to say it as manytimes as I can yeah, yeah, march
fatness.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Do we need our own socials?
We've never done that, I don'tknow.
Is that too?

Speaker 2 (19:50):
splintered off.
I feel like it would bebeneficial.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
Well, yeah, it could be useful, but I don't want to
be like, hmm, the plugged inpodcast.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
Like you know, I don't.

Speaker 3 (19:57):
Snooty Nah.
One army bro, one army podcast.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
That's the unblogged podcast.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
Take it away, Nate, but anyways we're going to look
at our first region.
We're going to go as quickly aspossible through these seeds
and if you have some commentsabout these establishments,
you're more than welcome.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
So we're going to all weigh in on them, but then the
real vote is happening on socialmedia.
So let's just say MassYouth.
I'll share it on MassMusic aswell but, I, think the primary
voting will happen on Mass.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
Youth yeah, this is a democratic process and
Instagram.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
that's the primary way to vote.
Instagram Mass Youth At MassYouth.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
Is it underscored?
I think so.
Mass underscore youth.

Speaker 1 (20:36):
Yeah, boom.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (20:37):
All right, so we're looking at our fast food region,
okay, and so our number oneseed is Chick-fil-A oh, facing
off against number Number eightseed Arby's oh okay, that's a
hard one.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
No, it's not, it's so different.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
No, I mean it's good, but no Chick-fil-A wins.
But like I like Arby's curlyfries.

Speaker 3 (20:53):
Yeah, but you can like aspects and just recognize
that Chick-fil-A is dominant.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
Okay, If I had to pick between.
Does Chick-fil-A even havecommercials?
I don't think so yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
It's an aggressive Arby's commercial.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
My chapter from today is about Sabbath, and
Chick-fil-A is closed on Sunday,so the Lord is blessing their
chicken.
So here we go.
Okay, what's the next one?

Speaker 1 (21:22):
Seed two McDonald's versus seed number seven Burger
King.
Okay, yeah, I don't really havea way in on that If I had to
choose a burger, I might I mean,I think, the fries I'd go
McDonald's.
Yeah, true, Burger.
I like Burger King.
I feel like it's a A betterburger.
Yeah, the Whopper's got mayo,which is I'm not even about the
Whopper, I'm about the BaconKing.
Oh okay, when I go to BurgerKing, whatever's on the menu

(21:43):
that says 1,500 calories that'sthe sandwich I'm getting.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
That calories?
Yeah, that's the sandwich I'mgetting.
That's the one.
All right, give me that.
Here's number three on thebracket, but number one in
matt's heart uh, taco bell, ohyeah, versus number six subway.
Oh, that's tough.
That is tough, yeah, because Ifeel like with many of these, it
depends on what you're in themood for?

Speaker 1 (22:00):
yeah, they're for different times.
They're for different times.
There's like uh, would you callthe subway and taco bell
equidistant from Camp Wonderland, or is Subway closer Because
there's that one in Cobb Corner?

Speaker 3 (22:11):
I'd say Subway's a little closer, maybe what do you
get at?
Subway.
What's your go-to?
Oh, I'm the spicy Italian.
Yeah, we're too similar.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, you two are way too similar, although I do like
the flatbread Flatbread spicyItalian.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
A little Chipotle sauce go on.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
I also like the sun chips that they have.
Anyways, number four Wendy'sversus number five Popeye's,
which, again, I feel like itdepends on what you're in the
mood for it's interesting.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
I don't feel like I've had either one of those in
a long time.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, wendy's is usually our like when we're
driving.
We'll get Wendy's, but we don'tdo it.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
The.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Baconator.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
That's him.
Yeah, chocolate frosty, thoughcome on, man, junior bacon
cheeseburger.
We're the same person, I'm justa foot taller, but we're the
same person exactly alright, andthen.
So that rounds out the fastfood region, the fast casual
region.
Okay, define that fast casual.
You could sit down and eat itor you could take it home.

(23:05):
Okay, I mean, you could sitdown in a fast food restaurant,
but it's fast casual is a littleelevated in terms fast food
restaurant.
But it's, it's fast casual is alittle elevated in terms of
quality of food.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
It's a little fence and you'll kind of you'll kind
of understand that by theestablishment.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
So I'm saying here okay, uh, number one chipotle
yep versus number eight domino'spizza.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
Oh no, oh no, yeah oh , domino's is like our sunday
meal.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
I like instantly got hungry thinking about both of
those things.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
Why aren't we eating these foods?

Speaker 1 (23:31):
as we're talking about them.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yeah, we need to fix this for next time.
Make a true fatness bracket.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
I don't know if you saw this.
Yeah, it's sad that I saw thisonline, but I did so.
Domino's just introduced, forthe first time ever in the
history of their chain, astuffed crust pizza.
Really, yeah, they had somesort of like that's crazy
Corporate call that said liketheir sales were a little bit
down throughout the year orwhatever, and so to regain

(23:57):
customers, specifically in ourage bracket they decided to make
the stuffed crust that unlocksa nostalgic memory right there.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
That stuffed crust, that's tough though.
I thought they had stuffedthere.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
That's stuff.
Crust.
That's tough, though I thoughtthey had stuff crust?

Speaker 2 (24:11):
That's crazy.
No, Pizza Hut man.
Pizza Hut, Pizza Papa, John'sPapa.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
John's, that's what.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
I'm thinking of.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
There's not a lot of Papa John's out here.
No I do miss some Papa John's.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, there's a ton in Ohio.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
That's a tough one, the arteries Literal pain
happening Number two fast casualseed is Panera versus number
seven, panda Express.
I like both of theseestablishments.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
Okay, that's a pretty easy one for me, but I won't.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yeah, I mean Panda Express's prices are pretty good
.
Yeah, pretty solid.
Number three Raising Cane'sversus number six Shake Shack.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
Ooh, Is Raising Cane's?
Is that a here thing?
I don't really know.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
There's one.
They just built one in Boston.
Well, right next to theChick-fil-A, I think, boylston.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
Well then, they used to have another one, because
when I first moved here and Ilived in Brighton and I was
taking the Green Line in everyday, they had one around not
quite BU, but it was like theAlston area.
Yeah, I don't know.
But anyways, I didn't know ifthat's a here thing or if it's
it's not really.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
No, the first one I had been to was in Columbus,
ohio, so I don't know where itoriginates from.
They got good chicken.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
What was it even facing?

Speaker 3 (25:20):
I'm sorry, five guys versus number five, jersey
Mike's Ooh.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Ooh.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
That's a toughie as a cheapskate.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
Yeah, I was just about to say this Five guys Like
it's ridiculous.
I need to split you two up.
It's like $14 for a burger.
Like it's insane If you getlike even the junior burgers.
Yeah, that's what I get If youget a junior burger, a small fry
and a drink.
That's like $20.
I don't think you can go therefor less than $20.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
We made the mistake one time of getting Jackson a
hot dog and it was like $9.
And I was like no kid ever.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
You want to talk about mistakes.
I took the entire musicconservatory to Five Guys when
we were on our field trip wewent to a water park and I was
just like Five Guys was acrossthe street I and I was just like
five guys was like across thestreet I was like oh they're
going to love this Can't be thatbad.
And then, like I was sittingthere and that cash register was

(26:16):
just like I was like oh man,I'm going to get in trouble from
someone.
But I mean, once you're in it,like no, you can't back out.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
Yeah.
They probably put so many friesin those bags.
It's good though it delicious,it's just really expensive.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Very expensive.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
So now we move on to our sit-down restaurants.
Number one seed CheesecakeFactory versus number eight,
applebee's Now Applebee's for me.
When I was in college they hadhalf-price apps.
I don't know if they still dothis.
I went probably three or fourtimes a week.
Wow.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
That's a lot.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
That's a lot.

Speaker 3 (26:43):
What's your go-to app ?
I was going to ask the bonelessbarbecue wings.
Okay, yep, all right, those aresolid.
Three times a week.
Three times a week is crazy.
Yeah, I don't even think I'vebeen to Applebee's three times
in the past 10 years.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
I feel like it's become an annual tradition at
family camp every year, I think,usually after the first night.
Yeah, the lead up into familycamp is usually so insane the
setup and like you're just likeso dog tired.
And then that first night thetech team has been like, yeah,
there's going to be no shametonight.
We're going to Applebee's butyeah it's so true, if you were

(27:21):
to like take a picture of thetable on that night each year.
It's pretty embarrassing.
Yeah, no shame.
Anyways.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Fatness bracket.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yeah, march fatness.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
I'm noticing a trend, a lot of food.

Speaker 3 (27:32):
Okay, number two seed Olive Garden versus number
seven seed Buffalo Wild Wings.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Very different again.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
I've got a good first date story at Olive Garden, but
I'll save that for another time.

Speaker 3 (27:45):
I'm a big fan of the salad.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
Breadsticks and salad .

Speaker 3 (27:49):
At Algern yeah, Salad's great.
And when they just go with thecheese and they say, say when.
And I just never want to saywhen, but then I feel like I
have to say when you know, it'sa lot of pressure, anyways
Social pressure yeah.
Number three seed TexasRoadhouse versus number six seed
Red Lobster.
Oh very, different.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah, lobster, oh, very different, very different.
Wait, red Lobster's done right.
Are they even around anymore?
I thought they were bankrupt,closing up shop.
I don't know, because they didthat all-you-can-eat shrimp meal
.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
Oh, that's true, they put them out of business.
Anyways, I don't know.
I haven't been to one in a longtime.
I guess I've been readingarticles about food.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
Matt's algorithm is phenomenal.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
Those Cheddar Bay Biscuits, though, are incredible
.
I'm not proud to admit this,but when I was in college, I
saved a Cheddar Bay Biscuit, putit in my dash of my car and
forgot about it, and then, whenI realized it was there, it
became a challenge to see howlong I could keep it.
Please tell me that if thisends with you ate it.
I did not eat it but it was inthe dash of my car for maybe

(28:49):
seven or eight years and itlooked exactly the same.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Seven or eight years.
Yeah, some people's cars don'tlast that long.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
Anyways, let's move on.

Speaker 1 (28:59):
Number four.
Dear lord, what did you finallydo with it?
I just threw it out.

Speaker 2 (29:03):
When did you throw it away After all that it looked?

Speaker 3 (29:05):
exactly the same, but it was rock hard.
It was like what made you throwit out, though I don't know
what am I going to?

Speaker 1 (29:11):
do with it.
You just woke up one day andit's like well, it's been eight
years Today's the day.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
No, I think what happened was I was trading in my
car for another car and I wasjust cleaning it out.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
Was that the Dodge?

Speaker 3 (29:24):
Dart, it was a Dodge Stratus, oh Will.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
Ferrell, yeah, I drive a Dodge.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah, yeah, that one.
It was black and it was rustedout and you could see the road
while you were driving.
It was incredible.
Nice, ohio, does not requireinspections, apparently not.
I keep going.
Number four Outback versusnumber five Chili's this one's
tough, oh yeah, that is tough.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
I, when I was pregnant with Jackson, my
craving was Outback wings.
That was like I could have thatevery day of the week, the
Kookaburra wings.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Is it Outback or Texas Roadhouse with like the
peanuts, or is that both?
That's Texas.

Speaker 3 (29:55):
Roadhouse.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Yeah, okay, yep, yeah , I uh, you said Chili's right.
Yeah, yeah, that's pretty,that's like Applebee's.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, theBloomin' Onion at Outback is
pretty spectacular, I agree.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
And now we move into our coffee and desserts region
Number one, dunkin'.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
New England runs on Dunkin'.

Speaker 3 (30:18):
I feel like there's no place that I spend money more
often at than Dunkin'.
If you look at my averagetransactions per month, it's
probably more at Dunkin' thanany other store.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
Yeah, just the frequency.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
Yeah, so they're facing off against number eight.
Crumble Cookie, You're on therewards right for Dunkin'.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
Oh yeah, best thing Just making sure Best thing,
best decision we ever made.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
So Crumble Cookie.
It's pretty good Okay.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
That was a hotspot at camp this summer yeah, I'm a
little cookie.

Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, it's good.
Number two Starbucks yeah,versus number seven Rita's
Italian ice.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
That's tough, that is tough.
Is it, I love.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
Rita's Starbucks is pretty versatile.
I'd probably vote for Rita'sover.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
Starbucks just because I'm cheap.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
So yeah, I don't want to spend that much on coffee.
Number three Krispy Kremeversus number six Ben Jerry's.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
I'll tell you who loves Krispy Kreme, if they're
listening.
My dad.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah, he will get that look in his eye talking
about Krispy Kreme.
He's the guy that will wake upwhen the sun comes up.
To make sure that he gets to.
Krispy Kreme.
Those donuts are coming off theconveyor belt when the hot and
ready sign is on.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
Oh yeah, my dad's there.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
Every like family vacation we were on that.
A Krispy Kreme was in that town.
Like he'd like sneak out of thehotel room at like 6am.
That's amazing and we'll comeback with like a dozen donuts.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
What a champion father.
Yeah, it was.
Yeah, we had a Krispy Kremeliterally behind our house in
Columbus.
It was bad, sorry, keep going.

Speaker 3 (31:55):
And then number four, cinnabon, versus number five
Dairy Queen.
I think the problem withCinnabon is there's not like
many of them, they're like in amall somewhere or at a rest stop
somewhere.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
I'm also learning.
You say Cinnabon, cinnabon, bonBon, it's Cinnabon or Cinnabon.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
Cinnabon.
Bon Bon, it's Cinnabon or.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
Cinnabon, cinnabon, it's B-O-N Cinnabon.
Oh, I've always said Bon.
I've always said Bon B-O-N.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
Cinnabon.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
C-I-N-N-A-B-O-N.
Yeah, I didn't eat it, I got aweird uh, uh.
My brain is tracking a weirdway on this one.
So I can't think of Cinnabonanymore without thinking about
breaking bad because my wordlisten.
So but this also tracks further.
I made like the worst, mostinappropriate reference maybe of
my, like, teaching career.
I didn't say anything specific,but I'm teaching the yam band

(32:46):
of like 13, 14 and 15-year-olds.
Yeah, they're right in thatbracket.
My brain was just like guys, doyou remember in Breaking Bad?
And then I was just like, wait,no.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
What did I just?

Speaker 3 (32:56):
do Don't ever watch it.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
No, breaking Bad is terrible, do not watch this show
.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
Don't watch it, it's highly inappropriate.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
They're going to go home and say Matt said I need to
watch this so I can understand.
I was like stunned, I was justlike I cannot believe.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
I just said that out loud to teenagers.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
But no, I didn't say anything specific, but I
referenced the show which Iclearly love just enough, yeah,
but anyways that's my Cinnabon.
You know, saul Goodman ends up.
I don't know.
Spoiler alert you should have.
I'll just stop.
Yeah, never mind, this is notplugged in podcast topic all
right, so yeah, that'll be.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
that'll be coming up on the socials, so vote and see
if your favorite moves on.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Yeah, so we talked about this.
So I think this is going toextend three episodes, so we'll
have some multiple rounds ofonline voting Between episodes.
Yeah, so the next time that wetalk about this on air, in
episode 24, we're going to beintroducing the final four.
Right, it'll either be theElite Eight or the Final Four

(33:54):
Right, one of those, and thenthe episode after that episode
25, we'll be announcing thewinners, right.
The aim is for that to drop inearly April.
Yeah, right, after the bracketkind of season wraps up.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
And I think whoever is the winner, we should have
that on the show to announce itthat sounds awesome yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
I think so.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
Okay, I'm down, let's do it.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Here's to hoping it's a sit-down restaurant we should
podcast from the restaurant.
We podcast from CheesecakeFactory.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
I mean, it would be borderline sad if it's Duncan,
because we have that almostevery episode of the show Every
day.
I'm hoping for dominoes.

Speaker 3 (34:30):
So here's the pizza.
Can we test out the new?
The eighth seed runs the table.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
Eighth seed.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
Let's test out the new pizza.
Yeah, right, I would love it.
Okay, okay, one more, blake,blake, one more Blake, one more
Blake here on the Plugged InPodcast.
Come back from our break.
We'll finish up our book, theRuthless Elimination of Hurry.
We'll be right back.

(35:01):
All right, we are back.
This is part three today of thePlugged In Podcast, episode
number 23.
23, right.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Yes, 23.
I get confused in there.
I said this the other daybecause we did the.
Because the episode with Chriswas a two-parter, we split it.
Yeah, it got released in twoparts, but now I'm like slightly
confused about the exact number.
Anyways, all right, part threePlugged In Podcast.
We're wrapping our study todayof the ruthless elimination of
hurry by John Mark Comer.

(35:29):
We're in the part of the book,if you're following along.
So it's broken into threesections.
This is part three and thefinale is basically practical
ways to kind of unhurry yourlife.
So today we're looking atSabbath, simplicity and slowing.
Each one of us took a differentchapter to kind of tackle and
talk about today, so let's startwith Sabbath.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
Yeah.
So in this chapter we'reexploring the biblical concept
of Sabbath as a gift from God,right that we were created, that
literally created into our DNA.
We were created to rest becausewe were created in the image of
God and God himself restedafter creating the world.
And so Sabbath just talkingabout how countercultural it

(36:14):
really is in our culture, ourfast-paced culture of busyness
where we have to be all thingsat all times.
He starts the chapter bytalking about desire and how
desire is the great motivator inour lives, what we desire we
pursue.
Motivator in our lives, what wedesire we pursue.
But because of our humannessand our brokenness, our desires

(36:36):
are never fulfilled by all theother things in this world, and
so we're constantly chasingafter things to fulfill the
desire.
And the one desire that wecan't fulfill on our own is this
desire to rest and delight inGod, unless we're being
intentional about creating spaceto do that.
And so he talks about, from ascriptural standpoint, Jesus and
his interactions with thePharisees, and how the Pharisees

(36:57):
were very legalistic and whenthey saw Jesus healing and
performing miracles on theSabbath, how they would condemn
him for that and how Jesusresponded by saying the Sabbath
was made for man, not man forthe Sabbath, that this was
literally a gift that Godcreated for you to stop.
The word Sabbath comes from theHebrew word Shabbat, which
means to stop, but it also meansto delight, and so we need to

(37:22):
create space to not just stopthe busyness of our life, but
also to find opportunities todelight in God.
And so it just kind of unpacksthis concept of if we're going
to truly work hard, then we needto learn to rest well.
And so, as he goes throughoutthe chapter, it really brings it

(37:45):
home to us.
You know, thinking about thecraziness of life and our
responsibilities and our roles,and how it's always the next
thing on the calendar and howSabbath is always the first
thing to go because we have tojustify.
You know, how many times haveyou heard?
Well, Satan doesn't take a dayoff, and we kind of like elevate
or kind of like I don't knowwhere our busyness has a badge

(38:06):
of honor.
You know Satan doesn't take aday off, so why should I?
But when you come to grips withthe fact that the God who
created heaven and earth restedand that Jesus himself modeled
the opportunity to rest anddelight and dwell in the
presence of his Father to stepaway, to be renewed, to be
recharged, to have life so thathe could do the work, that which

(38:27):
he had been called to do.
It's a humbling experience toknow that if we're going to walk
in the way of the master, thenwe need to be intentional.
And so there's some, just some,powerful quotes that I wanted to
share in this chapter.
It says we love God deeply, andit's shown in the, in the
busyness and the way that weextend ourselves to others, but
oftentimes we just do not knowhow to sit with God anymore.

(38:51):
And so just this challenge tonot just be spiritually busy and
, you know, check the boxes anddo what is expected of us, but
to also sit with God and delightin Him and to find real
life-giving rest in Him.
And so then they just take itthrough.
You know, Sabbath was not just asuggestion, but Sabbath was a

(39:15):
command, Sabbath as rest and asworship.
You know, the Sabbath was oneof the it's in the 10
commandments to keep the Sabbathday holy, and so it's a command
to rest.
And then Sabbath viewed as anopportunity to rest and to
worship.
But then he also has thisbeautiful imagery of Sabbath as

(39:37):
an act of resistance.
An act of resistance when God'speople were set free from Egypt
and Moses, you know, took themout of bondage and they're in
the wilderness.
This concept of Sabbath, forthe first time for a liberated
people who had spent so muchtime in slavery and bondage,
Sabbath became an act ofresistance, an act of rebellion

(39:59):
against Pharaoh and his empire.
And so, if you equate that totoday's modern day life, who are
the Pharaohs in your life, orwhat are the Pharaohs in your
life?

Speaker 2 (40:08):
that are keeping you what are?

Speaker 3 (40:08):
the pharaohs in your life or what are the pharaohs in
your life that are keeping you?
What are the pharaohs keepingyou enslaved and preventing you
from really delighting in thepresence of God?
I?

Speaker 1 (40:14):
don't think I can say I don't know yeah.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
Well, we don't have to say people no-transcript and
so all throughout this text,it's really just Sabbath is not
just okay, we go to church onSunday, but it's reframing,

(40:42):
reorienting, reposturing ourhearts and our lives in a way,
so that because we keep Sabbath,we observe Sabbath and because
we we live Sabbath, All the restof the days of our week are
different.
And so Sabbath as a way toreframe it up in mind, and I

(41:02):
just like I keep coming back.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
A central theme in this book is like there's data
out there that tells us that ourphones are bad for us, like
unhealthy bad.
But anyways, I was just curious.
But thanks for that, nate.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
I do not have as comprehensive of an overview, as
Nate does.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
Yes, you do.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
So my chapter was simplicity and he just
emphasizes the importance ofsimplicity as a spiritual
discipline.
And it's really interestingbecause Nate and I we just had
an annual quarters inspection.
So the division does inspectionon the quarters, basically for
property needs, to make sureeverything's working.

(41:56):
Okay, no major projects, but wereally took it as an
opportunity to declutter ourhouse.
So we went through.
We had like four or five bagsof of donation stuff, probably
three bags of four bags of trash, like just stuff that we were
like where did this live?
Um, but he's just talking aboutlike this material excess and

(42:17):
this clutter and the physicaland the mental um clutter that
lives in our, in our lives andhow it it contributes to a
hurried lifestyle.
Um, and he mentions Amazon.
He says Amazon is the newtemple and I was like oh shoot.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
Oh, interesting.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
And I was just like.
It's true, though, and Amazonhas made it easier to add
clutter to our lives andanything really web-based it's
just so easy.
You need this, you buy it.
You need this, you buy it.
But he talks about a fewspecific things and he says that
simplicity is about freedom.
It's about less stress, lessclutter, clearer focus on what

(42:56):
really matters.
It's about less stress, lessclutter, clearer focus on what
really matters.
And then he talks all aboutconsumerism and how consumerism
leads to a dissatisfaction andthe pursuit of more and more and
more and more.
And then he links the ability tohave more with, also, a
generation of people who areunhappy, and so it's like more

(43:19):
doesn't lead to happiness or joyand it's just, it's just stuff,
um.
And then he talks about howJesus modeled simplicity.
Um, and I love.
He's a couple of quotes that hesaid that I really loved.
Um, he said the most importantthings in our life aren't things
at all're relationships, andit's just good to read that as a
reminder, because we know that,I'd say we, we would say that

(43:42):
we know that as a truth and wewant to live that.
But we, how often do we forgetthat?
Sure, um.
But then he also said that hesaid this jesus lived simply not
because he had to, but becausehe knew the weight of excess,
and so it just kind of.
It just kind of leads you tothink about the things in our
life that are amaterialistic,the things in our life that we

(44:03):
have bought for.
You know, as an impulse and I'ma terrible impulse buyer I just
said to me the other day, likeI got a notification from old
navy that they're having a sale,and I was like what do you need
and he's like nothing.
So but I was like searching oldnavy do we need it?
No, but just the idea of likeimpulse and the ease of access

(44:23):
to, um, to these things, um, butsince we have really
decluttered our home a lot, wewent through all of our drawers,
went through jackson's stuff,we went through the laundry room
, um, his toys, like we wentthrough so much stuff.
But the last two days is reallywell, three days every morning
like we've gotten up, we've madeour bed and it's just kind of

(44:47):
framed my day.
I'm like I'm proud of the housebecause it feels I can breathe
easier and I feel like it's ledto even at the office being more
productive and being likethere's just a desire to
prioritize, I guess.
So it's just even a mentalspace, but just the way that

(45:16):
living in simplicity is not justless stuff but it's freedom to
pursue the things that reallymatter most, I'd say.
But it was.
I was like, are you talkingstraight to me after the weekend
that we had of just cluttering,decluttering our life?
But it was really.
It was again one of those nailon the head moments where it
just spoke right to me.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
yeah, I mean the book in general.
I've just found like so manythings have just I don't know.
It just speaks right to you,yeah, yeah.
So my chapter was calledSlowing and this chapter was
less about it, didn't have asmuch scripture in it, but it had

(45:51):
20 practical suggestions toslow down your life.
So he talks about us as asociety being obsessed with
speed and efficiency and justabout everything we're doing.
And it's not that efficiency orproductivity again is a bad
thing.
I can't help.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
but think of your traffic.
It's coming up, okay, it'sliterally coming up.
I'm like no, okay, go.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
No.
So I just like it'sproductivity efficiency are not
bad things, right.
But it's productivityefficiency are not bad things,
right.
But when it's prioritized aboveeverything else, right.
I keep seeing.
I mean, my algorithm is crazyin tune with me because I see
stuff all the time that's likehere's an AI planner for your
day, yeah, to efficiently makeyour schedule, and like it's
going to do it all for you, andstuff like that, and it's just
like this hyper, hyperefficiency model.

(46:37):
But one quote I did want toshare.
He said again the truism weachieve inner peace when our
schedules are aligned with ourvalues.
To translate to ourapprenticeships to Jesus.
If our values are life withJesus and a growing in maturity
toward love, joy and peace, thenour schedules and the set of
practices that make up our daysand weeks, which together

(46:58):
essentially constitute our rulesof life, are the ways we
achieve inner peace.
So I talk with my studentsabout this all the time.
But it's that idea of it's fineto start with big overarching
goals, long-term goals.
Maybe you want to play in theNew York staff band someday, but
then how do you fill in the?

Speaker 2 (47:19):
five years that it takes to do that.

Speaker 1 (47:21):
Well, you probably need to practice every single
day.
You've got to do basic things.
You probably need to auditionand get into future all-stars.
You need to be in that crowd.
You probably need to attendStar Lake.
You need to get into the StarLake band.
Okay, practical things.
You probably need to move toNew york, like.
You want to play in the bandyou probably gotta like so I
break that down my students allthe time anyways goals this

(47:41):
chapter is kind of it for me inthis book, so here's I'm gonna
go through quickly.
Um, here are 20 suggestions toslow your life down on purpose.
Number one drive the speedlimit.
Number two drive purposely inthe slow lane and stay there.
Double driving yeah.
Hov for you.
He says just rock it withgrandma in the Oldsmobile.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
Yeah, he wants you to watch the scenery, yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
Like see things that are passing you by, be present
yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
Number three come to a full stop at stop signs.
No rolling stops.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
These are so practical.
I really love this.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
I really love this.
Number four I'm bad at this oneand it's illegal.
But don't text and drive, putyour phone down.
Number five show up 10 minutesearly for an appointment without
your phone.
Get there early.
Read the magazines in the lobby, Number six, and this would
drive me crazy.
Get in the longest checkoutline at the grocery store.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
So any lane at Walmart?

Speaker 2 (48:39):
I move based on which one's moving faster.
I know, I know, that's crazy.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
Here's what he says.
Well, here's why I do it, andsometimes, not always.
It's a way to slow down my lifeand deal with the hurry in my
soul.
It gives me a few minutes tocome off the drug of speed.
Here's something to pray, okay.
Number seven Turn yoursmartphone into a dumb phone, he
says.
Take email off your phone, takesocial media off your phone, or

(49:04):
, if you can't take those thingsoff, set a certain time in your
schedule where that's the onlytime you do those things.
Number eight Get a flip phone.
Okay.

Speaker 3 (49:12):
Yes, motorola Razr, let's go.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
Oh, I did those Razrs .
Number nine parent your phone.
Put it to bed before you go tobed and make it sleep in.
Okay, so if you're going to bedat 11 o'clock that night, why
don't you put that phone to bedat nine?

Speaker 3 (49:27):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
Number 10, keep your phone off until after your
morning quiet time.
A lot of us use our phones foralarms, and then the first thing
we do when we wake up is wecheck our phones, first thing,
and if you're getting an emailor a text message from work that
you don't want to see.
You're seeing it at 7 am yeah.
Number 11, set times for youremail.
Number 12, set a time and atime limit for social media, or

(49:48):
just get off of it.
Number 13, this is interestingkill your TV and it kind of
speaks to what I was just sayingearlier.
But TV is filled with a lot ofgarbage, a lot of uh lust, a lot
of prioritizing of things thatare not fulfilling to our lives,
yep.
Number 14, stop multitasking andinstead single task.
Okay, single task.

(50:09):
Number 15, walk slower.
I said just walk slower.
Enjoy your surroundings, youdon't need to hurry, walk
everywhere.
Number 16, take a regular dayalone for silence and solitude.
I think that speaks into makingtime for the Sabbath.
17, take up journaling.
Number 18, experiment withmindfulness and meditation.

(50:29):
Number 19, if you can, takelong vacations, amen, said.
We've kind of all gotten in thehabit of and I literally just
did this again like we just wentto Atlanta for the weekend.
So he says a lot of us go onweekend trips or we head down to
the beach for a day or two, butthis says take a long vacation
if you can.
And then, number 20, cook yourown food and eat in.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
Timely for our fatness bracket yeah no, I just
those.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
A lot of those suggestions again were uh
practical things to slowly addup to a life that more resembles
, yeah, jesus's pace, yeah, yeah, um, you guys have any like
broad thoughts about this bookin general?

Speaker 2 (51:14):
I think, just I have appreciated the approaches to
practical ways to eliminatehurry, especially with the
comparison between hurry andbusy, like there's a difference.
Um and how?
Those eliminating some of thosethings and then adding things

(51:43):
silence, solitude, sabbath,simplicity, how those things can
cultivate deeper relationships,greater joys, more meaningful
connections with the people andthe situations around us.
I think my inclination is walkfast and look like you have a
purpose, so that you don't getstopped to do something else.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, yeah but it's like that'skind of the opposite of what

(52:05):
Jesus did.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
Yeah, I think the thing that constantly resonates
with me is that oh, I just lostit.

Speaker 1 (52:15):
I can go.
If you want to try to grab it.
Yeah, no, go ahead.
So I've lost it.
I can go.
If you want to try to grab it.
Yeah, no, go ahead.
So I've read it, Like I said Ithink I've said in previous
episodes like a lightning boltof conviction.
I felt that for the whole book,Same what.
I have had trouble not I've hadtrouble putting anything into
practice.
I mean, we've been reading thisbook and so I guess I've kind
of we all work for the SalvationArmy.
People out there listening maynot work for the Salvation Army,

(52:38):
I think in our work culture Iguess I'm speaking for myself,
but maybe you guys find similarthemes I have blurred the line,
I guess, between what I thinkthe Salvation Army expects of me
and what I expect of myself.
So that line is pretty blurredand I can't tell anymore if it's
my career that drives me tohyper prioritize efficiency and

(53:01):
productivity and doing thebiggest and best and the
greatest, or if that's not whatmy job is asking of me and I'm
just, that's just me, Right.
That line has blurred for meand it's hard to untangle that
Indistinguishable.

Speaker 2 (53:14):
And.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
I think one of the things that we kind of talk off
air a lot is like part of thatentanglement is this idea of,
like, when you're in these jobsin the army, whether it's an
officer or an employee, like Imean, that's a whole lot of
things in one, it's your, it'syour friendships, it's your
faith, it's your church, it'syour career, so that kind of

(53:35):
blurred line between who you are, what you're doing, yeah, the
identity, who you're doing itfor, like that, yeah, the
identity kind of the whole thing, yeah, um, so anyways, that's a
little bit off topic, but uh, Iappreciate this book because I
think it has put to paper awhole lot of things that we
think about in scattered ways,and here's's like a very

(53:56):
practical outline of like here'ssome issues with how we live
our lives, and I think it atleast is setting the goalposts
that like it's kind of opened myeyes to.
I guess I hadn't really thoughtabout Jesus's life in this term
, these terms, before anunhurried life.
He was busy, but he wasn't in ahurry.
He took time constantly to restand to pray.

(54:17):
And then that idea of what doesit mean when he says follow me.
What does that mean?
Because you can do the thingshe does, but are you living like
he lived?
So that idea, follow me, followme, follow me.
I think that's been kind of anawakening for me.
Yeah, I think that has kind ofthat's been a kind of awakening
for me yeah, I was.

Speaker 3 (54:38):
I had watched a video and it was.
It was based on a study thatthey had done of people who were
, you know, nearing the end oftheir life and asking them, you
know what are, what's thebiggest regret?
What's the biggest regret fromyour life?
people that were responding weresaying I just wish I had more
time more time to be presentwith my family, more time to

(54:59):
enjoy the beauty of nature andsunset, more time to pursue
passions and things that I enjoyto do.
And in reading this book, it's areminder to me that the problem
is not the lack of time there'splenty of time in my given day.
But the problem is am I usingmy time well?
And so how can I reprioritize,how can I reframe, how can I

(55:22):
declutter and how can I make themost of those moments to be
present with the things thatmatter, to be present in
relationship with others, butfirst and foremost, to be
present in relationship with theLord.
And I think that if we can getthat into alignment, then
everything kind of just fallsinto place.
And so the challenge for me isnot to beat myself up over how

(55:45):
often I fall short, because thisis a human problem, this is a
problem with humanity, this iswar with our flesh.
But it's an encouragement andit's a challenge that it is
possible.
It is possible to live anunhurried life if we make the
most of the time that we've beengiven, by centering it and
posturing it in what mattersmost.

Speaker 1 (56:07):
Yeah, as soon as you said that life regrets.
At the end, during ourHalloween episode, I think I
said my biggest fear is thepassage of time and how you're
using it, but yeah well.
I've enjoyed're using it, butyeah, well, I've enjoyed this.
Yeah, I have too.
It's been good.
It took us way too long tofinish.
Tiny book.

Speaker 3 (56:25):
Hey, we didn't want to hurry through it, we wanted
to get slowing, slowing.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
Let's go.
He got it.
Good job, neen, he got it.
If you've enjoyed followingalong with us, uh, in this book
and, uh, we have had, um,several people let us know that
they've been reading along um,just let us know.
We like hearing from the peopleI almost said fans, but the
people who are the listeners.
If you're listening to the showand you've enjoyed, uh, reading

(56:53):
this book with us, just let usus know.
I think that, coming into theEaster season, we'll probably
have some more material that wecan go through together, and I
think it's a helpful exercisefor the three of us, let alone
anyone else who's listening.
I've just kind of enjoyedchatting with you guys about
this.
So, anyways, that is, that's awrap.

(57:14):
The Ruthless Elimination ofHurry by John Mark Comer.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
Nice, well done, it was good.
I don't think I'll ever look ata grocery line the same I know
I'm going to think about it allthe time.
Yeah, If nothing else, I willtake those things away from it.
Oh man.

Speaker 3 (57:27):
So our Walmart side note, side note let's go for it.
Our Walmart.
They got rid self-checkoutbeing like an unlimited amount.
And so every self-checkout isnow 15 items or less, and of
course they have, you know, likethree lanes that are open with
people and like 25 self-checkoutlanes, and so I'm always trying

(57:47):
to sneak full carts into theself-checkout lane even knowing
that it's 15 or less, and everytime, every time they have like
a bouncer who's like Nope, yougot to go to that line and wait
in line for 40 minutes.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
I was just about to say who goes to the
self-checkout line with a fullcart.
That's never me.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
No, because I know that I can be astronomically
faster than waiting in line.
I would rather just bag mybillions of groceries over
waiting in line, Nate why don'tyou pray?

Speaker 1 (58:16):
Why don't?

Speaker 2 (58:16):
you stand in line and pray now.
Now, you better choose the linethat's all the way back through
the women's clothing.

Speaker 3 (58:25):
I'm just going to wait in line and I'm just going
to, hey, you know what, go aheadof me and I'm just going to see
how long I can stay there.
Can you get?

Speaker 1 (58:31):
video footage of this .
I'm going to stick a GoPro onhim.

Speaker 3 (58:34):
I'd really like to see you do that, let's do it.
Anyways that's my tangent,that's my rant.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
Yeah, no, I mean self-checkout lanes.
There's an issue with thatwhole thing.
In the stores there's notenough employees, there's not
like it's a whole thing.
Yeah, that's a whole otherepisode about how are any of us
going to have jobs in 50 years,or is AI just going to do
everything, everything.
So, yeah, that's anotherepisode we had of the plugged in

(59:00):
podcast we had, like nateversus chat gpt yes, how much
has chat?

Speaker 3 (59:01):
gpt grown since that episode.
I bet now, now, that we shoulddo it again, and this time would
be way better because we playedwhat 20 questions yeah and we
like, but it was like prettybrand new and I don't think that
you had like really done muchin chat gpt to have it know you?

Speaker 1 (59:16):
yeah, now ChatGPT is like planning youth council.
No, I'm just kidding, don'ttell them.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
Our guest is actually AI, just kidding.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
Very good, alright.
Well, this has been thePluggedIn Podcast, episode
number 23.
Great to have all of you withus today listening.
Join us next time, episode 24.
We're going to go through ourMarch fatness bracket.
Make sure you visit mass youthon Instagram to vote for those
winners and it'll be a good time.
So until next time, everyonewait, that wasn't my tagline

(59:50):
it's been a while.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
We'll see you.
That's what it is.

Speaker 1 (59:52):
We'll see you next time, get it.