From Hair Transplant To Holy Questions

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A simple travel plan—celebrate the empty nest, get a long-awaited hair transplant, see a few sights—turned into a spiritual jolt I didn’t see coming. From the first call to prayer echoing across Istanbul, I felt a nudge to pay attention: to public faith, to daily rhythms that shape identity, and to a hospitality that flowed from shared standards. What started as a personal errand became a lesson in bold devotion and a mirror held up to my own Christian life.

We walk through the sounds and sights of the city—mosques open five times a day, garments that signal belonging, and loudspeakers that stitch worship into the fabric of ordinary time. I share what I learned touring a former church turned mosque, why Islamic spaces avoid images, and how that restraint resonates with biblical warnings against idols. Along the way, I read a few chapters of the Quran to better understand what I was witnessing, then hold that up against familiar scriptures from Exodus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and the New Testament to consider God’s transcendence and our human need for tangible anchors.

The conversation turns to why Islam’s clarity and consistency appeal to youth, especially young men hungry for identity and accountability. We talk about community signals, visible standards, and the way daily prayer can form character in public. That observation becomes a challenge aimed at my own tradition: have we learned to hide what we believe? I offer practical ways to make faith visible with grace—praying over meals, returning to weekly worship, opening the Bible where we live and work, and serving neighbors without apology—while avoiding culture-war posturing.

As we prepare to head to Ephesus, the story widens: Mary and John, endurance and witness, history and hope. The thread through it all is simple and hard—live what you believe, every day, with kindness and courage. If this journey sparks a question or stirs a habit you want to rebuild, I’d love to hear it. Subscribe for the next chapter from Ephesus, share this with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a review to help others find the show.

This is the Buddy For Junior Show — where faith, truth, and courage come together. Join us as we explore life’s deeper purpose and carry the torch of conviction. The show begins now.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:12):
Welcome.
Welcome to the Buddy for JuniorShow.
I'm gonna give this a shot.
I'm at an airport in Istanbul.
We're flying to Ephesus.
I just spent the last four daysin Istanbul, and I gotta tell
you, I'm completely blown out ofthe water.
What started off as an emptynesters, empty nesters trip with
my wife and I, that I wanted touh have the tail end of it be in

(00:36):
Turkey for my hair transplantthat I've been planning for a
couple years.
And we did it.
I followed through the hairtransplant, I was a little
nervous, it's done.
And what started off, as I wassaying, as an empty nester tour
has turned into an incrediblyspiritual journey that I had no

(00:59):
idea I would partake in, inJesus just showing up.
And I'm not sure if it's becauseof the journey I'm on
spiritually, why it happened,the timing where I am, the
places we visit it, but I knowit was the intent of a higher

(01:19):
power of the Holy Spirit, andI'm very grateful.
Let me share specifically whatI'm talking about.
Jesus showing up.
I here I am in Turkey, Istanbul,in an Islam nation with Muslims
visiting mosques, and anoverwhelming amount of the

(01:40):
culture of Islam, of thatreligion, is everywhere.
You have the prayer chants overthe loudspeakers that partake
throughout the day.
You have the mosques that prayfive times a day.
They're open for prayer fivetimes a day.
And as we're touring themosques, we're witnessing this
ritual.

(02:00):
You have the um women wearingthe coverings, some just the
face, others the entire body,exposed to just the eyes, the
hijab, the garment that coversthem.
You have the men in what appearsto be very comfortable.
And at one point I was jealousbecause it was so hot out for
their comfortable um attire thatthey wear.

(02:23):
And experiencing the Islam faithwhen they're interacting with
you, when they're talking toyou, when you're lost on a train
and they're helping you, uh,that was something that was
definitely inspirational.
I'm talking about very gracefulpeople who are completely open

(02:49):
to the tourism that's happeningin uh Istanbul.
Very helpful, very graceful,very uh at peace, joyful people.
And that was not what I wasexpecting because I really had
no expectations other than thefact that I thought maybe it'd
be a little standoffish, alittle pushback because of the

(03:10):
way we dress, because of uh ourlack of sharing their value
system.
And this is where the rubbermeets the road, the value
system.
So as I'm witnessing this theseprayers five times a day in the
garbs that they wear throughoutIstanbul and the many mosques

(03:33):
that are everywhere.
Do we really have that much of adifference in value system?
And I would offer that we don'thave that much of a big
difference.
And I started reading the Quran,a couple chapters, to really
understand what I waswitnessing.

(03:53):
And the Holy Spirit showed up tome in the mosque, and what he
showed me was what it looks liketo live in faith, what it looks
like to live out your spiritualbeliefs in public.
And like it or not, that'sexactly what the Muslims do, and

(04:13):
that's what I witnessed thisspiritual transparency, the
unapologetic approach or theunapologetic worship through the
loudspeakers throughout theentire city, through the
uniform, for lack of a betterword, for this podcast, through

(04:34):
the five days showing up in themosques, unapologetically,
showing their honor to who theyworship.
And we did a tour, we did a tourof a couple museums, and one was
the oldest mosque in the world.
The Arab A-R-A-P mosque wasactually originally a church

(05:00):
that was built in night in 1325that was later converted to a
mosque when the Ottoman Empireconquered.
What we learned was in a mosque,there is no pictures, there's

(05:22):
nothing other than architecturaldesign.
And what they did was they tookover these Christian churches
and they plastered over all ofthe drawings of the apostles,
all of the Virgin Mary mosaics.
They basically plastered overthem, which preserved them by

(05:43):
default.
And why they do that is becausethere's no picture of Allah,
there's no picture of Muhammadin the mosques.
There's no picture.
There's just these to the leftand to the right.
There's the Arabic language thatsays who they are.
But there's no, there's no umidol.
There's no idol.

(06:04):
One second.
Okay, sorry, as I said, I'm inan airport trying to pull this
off.
I'm gonna get more detailed innext week's podcast, but I don't
want to go without a week of metelling you where I am, what's
going on.
So back to the mosque.
There's no there's no there's noidol worship in a mosque, as God
had originally said in theBible.
Let's look at the biblicalChristian or the Old Testament,

(06:28):
Exodus 20, 4 to 5.
You shall not make for yourselfan idol in a form of anything in
heaven above or on earth,beneath the waters or below.
You should not bow down to themor worship them.
For I the Lord am your God, andI am jealous.
Deuteronomy.
Therefore, watch yourself verycarefully, since you saw no form
on the day that the Lord spoketo you at the herb out in the

(06:53):
midst of the fire, beware leastyou act corruptly of making
carved image of yourself in anyform or figure.
Isaiah 44, 9 through 11.
Those who make idols are foolishbecause their idols have no
power to them to help them.
All who worship idols will bedisgraced along the craftsmen,
mere humans who claim they canmake God.

(07:17):
And this goes on.
John, little children, keepyourselves from idols.
Corinthians, therefore, mybeloved, flee from idolatry.
So the mosques follow that.
The mosques have no idea whatGod looks like.
We don't, because we can'texplain him.

(07:38):
He's inexplainable, he'sindescribable.
He's the creator of theuniverse, he's the alpha, he's
the omega.
There's no containing him,there's no putting him in a box,
there's no description of him.
It's all powerful.
And you have to respect the factthat when you walk in a mosque,
there's no idols, there's noprophets, there's no apostles

(08:00):
anywhere in the building.
It's architectural design, andthey've taken over as they
conquered Christian churches,transformed them to mosques by
removing the cross on the top ofthe domes, and by covering the
idol worship that you couldclaim or you could make a case

(08:22):
for.
Sorry about that.
At the airport again.
So listen, what I learned, and Iwant to just get to the point,
and we'll pick this up nextweek, and we'll bring you into
my uh Ephesus when we go toEphesus, which is in the New
Testament, Ephesians, where Maryand the Apostle John lived.
Here's what I'm getting at.

(08:44):
When we look at Islam, maybe wecould learn something.
Maybe this is the fascistgrowing religion on the planet
for a reason.
Maybe these young people areattracted to Islam, and I'm
gonna go over the statistics.
By the year 2050, I believe itis, or 2030, they're gonna be

(09:04):
matched in worship totals offollowers as Christianity.
The growth is astronomicallyimpressive.
You have youth, young men thatare attracted to this movement,
that are attracted to theuniforms, that have an outward

(09:24):
expression of who they are.
Look at young kids joining gangsand the colors and the bloods
and the crypts.
You have that affiliation andbrotherhood.
You have a complete outwardexpression, and you have a
community that you know whenyou're out, who's in your
community and who shares thesame belief system.

(09:45):
You have consistent, constantprayer throughout the day, five
times a day.
You have loudspeakers throughoutyour community blasting a
reminder of who you are.
And when you're wearing andyou're representing, it holds
you to a higher standard, whichI personally experienced and how
I was treated with an extremegraceful welcome.

(10:09):
Okay, again, that was aloudspeaker announcement.
I'm trying to get this done withmy surgery, my hair transplant
two days ago.
I've been out of it, and I'mexcited.
I want to share this enthusiasmand just give my listeners a
different perspective that youdon't see in the nose.
Perhaps we can learn somethingfrom a faith that is growing

(10:32):
astronomically.
The unapologetic outwardexpression of their belief
system is contagious, it'sgrowing, it's infectious.
And the reality is we asChristians have been putting
ourselves in a box, and I'vebeen saying it, we've been

(10:52):
hiding who we are.
We are a generation, if you'rein your 40s and 50s, that we're
told to be quiet about ourfaith.
It's been pushed out of our highschool system, our elementary
system, it's been pushed out ofour colleges, even the ones who
have a cross on their logo.
I know this because my daughtersgo to college.
It has been pushed out ofgovernment.

(11:13):
It's been pushed out ofHollywood.
There has been a major, massive,demonic erasing of our Christian
faith.
And it's time that perhaps wecan look at another religion
that frightens us because we'reunaware of it, but perhaps
approach it from a lovingperspective and an open-eyed
perspective, and figure out waita minute, why are they so

(11:36):
comfortable in expressing whothey are?
Why are they so comfortable indressing the way they dress?
Why are they so comfortablefighting for local politicians?
Sorry, that's a loud speakeragain.
I'm gonna end this.
The bottom line is it's time forthe Christian faith to stand up,
be proud, get back to church,pick up the Bible, pray over

(11:57):
your meals, pray in public.
Get this train back on thetracks, each family at a time.
You can do your part and yourrole.
Whether you're a younger personlistening to this, influence
your parents.
If you're a parent, influenceyour kids.
If you're a parent, aunt, uncle,whatever it may be.

(12:18):
We need to inspire ourChristianity back to the fold,
to mainstream, back in oureducational systems, back in our
public offices, back in our TVscreens.
But let's start with our houses.
I'm gonna end this now.
This was an unorthodox podcastat an airport, but I didn't want
to go a week.
I want to share with you what Ilearned and the impact of faith

(12:42):
had on me that I had no idea itwould have on me whatsoever.