December 17, 2024 • 31 mins
In this episode we dive into the remarkable story of Joan of Arc, the patron saint of SEEK this year. We'll explore her legacy of courage and conviction, and discuss how Joan’s life and leadership, rooted deeply in her faith, continue to inspire and challenge us.
Whether you’re attending SEEK or tuning in from afar, this episode offers enriching insights into spirituality, community, and the pursuit of holiness in today’s world.
Join us as at SEEK: seek.focus.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Seek Podcast, where we explore faith,
inspire hope and buildcommunity.
My name is John Michael Lucidoand I'm excited to invite you to
join us this season as we diveinto topics about the faith with
people from all over theCatholic world.
Thank you for listening totoday's episode.
Know that we are praying foryou.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to the Crunch Catholic Podcast, the first
podcast that was live at Seek in2017.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
The first one.
My name is Ethan and I'mPatrick.
I don't think that's true wewere one of the first ones.
Oh, yes, we were there yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
And I wanted to do like a hook at the beginning.
Pull people in and say who arethese mysterious?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
mr beast, whoosh, boom, noise.
We've podcasted at every sneakone dollar catholic conference
versus one million dollarcatholic conference I
consecrated 20,000 hosts.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
This is a little Mr Beast humor for you guys Out
there.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I multiplied five loaves and two fishes and had 12
baskets Left over.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
That's funny.
I have this tweet in my mindthat I'm refusing to post
because I can't figure out a wayto do it right.
But it's basically the thrustof the post is that the Sermon
on the Mount is the greatestsales letter of all time, and so
I go in and I'm like here'swhat the?
Sermon on the Mount taught meabout B2B SaaS sales.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
That's good.
I think it would be funny, butI can't figure out how to do it.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, sass, sales, that's good, I think it would be
funny, but I can't figure outhow to do it.
Yeah anyway, welcome to theofficial seek podcast.
Uh, we are the crunch.
We're a comedy podcast.
I used to be a focus missionary.
Patrick used to be a youthminister.
We've been to probably eight,seven a ton, a bunch of them
(02:05):
many, many, many focusconferences even to the point of
recording live at uh 2017, 2018, 2019.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
No 2018, 2019, 2020 yeah, and then and then.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
We were not invited before 2020 happened and then we
were not invited and then wedid it on a trash can in 2022.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
No, right no, we, we well, we, we were invited, we
were in, we we did record atthat seek as well.
We had, we when we did.
That's right, yeah, yeah, yeah,we were invited.
Yes, we did record, we just didfor fun, I guess.
We just we were invited, westill did the trash can.
We just still did a trash canthing, we just did for fun.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
I guess we were invited.
We still did the trash canthing, we just still did a trash
can podcast.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Our semi-illegal mobile podcast our simp, the
simp aka Patrick.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
why do you think SEEK is important in 2025?
Why are we still doing it?
Everyone's been doing the bigconference thing.
We just had the Eucharisticrevival.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah, why do we got to do another one?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
We just had the Eucharistic revival.
Yeah, why don't we do anotherone?
I mean, we're doing all thesebig conferences.
What is the value for somethinglike this?
Especially and I want you tokeep in- mind a few different
things this year.
The patron, joan of Arc.
Okay, the theme follow me.
Why are these things important?
Speaker 3 (03:22):
in 2025?
I think I don't know.
There's not a lot of stuff.
The Eucharistic revival is good, but it was like for everybody.
I think it's important.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
When you were in youth group, did you guys have
like a special section, likewhere you would go if you wanted
to hold hands with a girl andnot be seen by?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
the Eucharist no, no, no, no, no, no.
I mean like in mass, like theyhad a when I, when I was growing
up, our youth group had like ahad like a section where we'd
all sit together.
Yes, I think.
I think it's important to havethat for young people for
multiple reasons, not just forthe holding hands with a girl
thing.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Although that is definitely one reason we need to
have a special thing for foryoung.
We need to have a special thingfor young, attractive people
ages 18 to 22.
There's just not enough forcollege kids.
There's not enough going forcollege kids.
These days.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I genuinely believe that I don't think there's
enough that's good for them.
That is genuine.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
The whole thing is the appearance of you got all
this great.
You're going to the bars,you're going to the football
game, you're going to the, butit's empty.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
You play video games, but college kids are also
famously lonely.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yes.
You know, and like, sad andconfused about the direction
that their life is going in.
It's like the whole world, thatexperience of the whole world is
catered to you like your hotcool 20-year-old.
But you're I mean, mean I was,I don't know you.
I was not a hot cool 20, I wasa hot cool 20 year old and
(04:51):
everyone's like.
The whole world is for you.
Everything in life is designedaround pleasure maximization for
you, basically.
And yet you still go to bedcrying, you're still confused
about where you want to be, whatyou want to do.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
You still have a desire for family and
relationship and connection and,uh, no one seems to talk about
that you know, and it's toughbecause, like so, it's so easy
to get, I think, sidetracked bythe world in this, and I think
that's why the joan of arcpatron is good, because I, I
think joan of arc is a greatpatron.
Oh geez, I just knocked over myeverything on my desk.
(05:24):
I think the joan, I think joanof arc is a great patron.
Oh, jesus, knocked over myeverything on my desk.
I think the joan, I think joanof arc is an is an interesting
patron, because she's, like, theleast relatable person on the
planet what do you mean by that?
she like comes out of nowhere,right, she's like from, descends
from on high.
And she's like I'm going todefeat the britons, I'm gonna
defeat the burgundians and thefrench.
(05:47):
The french are like cool, we'lltake, we'll take your help.
And then they like they, theycapture, and they like torture.
And they're like explaintheology.
And she's like yes, I, I knowall theology.
Like how you're just, you'relike a 12 year old girl.
How do you know all the likenever committed a sin, a paragon
of virtue, the opposite ofevery person that I know in my
(06:08):
life, including and especiallymyself.
And so I think it's a fitting,I think I think she's a fitting
um patron.
But I mean I could see whypeople would not be, not be, uh,
we're not see her as relatable.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I think it's a good move on Focus's part, because I
think this is just my personalopinion.
I think there's been a littlebit too much of the soft small
girl saints.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
The Therese of Lisieux.
We've done that right.
That's been a thing.
Those women have everythingthey need in terms of content,
about being like a shy littlegirl, you know?
Yes, that's not a mean thing,it's just.
It's a different style.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
That's the vibe, yeah .
Speaker 2 (06:54):
We need a girl who is willing to not only defend
Christ to her dying breath, butalso to chop off a guy's head
with a scimitar.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Did she do?
That I don't know, but it seemslike a type yeah, did she, I'm
gonna hold on.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Can you focus?
Just pause for a second.
Did joan of arc kill?
A guy I think there is noevidence that joan of arc ever
killed anyone in combat by herproper hand, but she did order
her men into battle, causing theloss of thousands of enemy
soldiers.
So basically, yes.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Objectively crazy that a 14-year-old girl
commanded armies.
That is crazy.
But I always told you it'scrazy that she fought in the
Hundred Years' War at only theage of 14.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Like you'd think you'd have to be.
At least 100.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Older, there's like an age limit.
You know it's like sorry, sorry, ma'am, you can only fight in
the 14 years war ma'am, you mustbe this old to fight in the war
I have this, I have this matrixthat I told you about it.
The four the four saints that athat a catholic girl gets
confirmed and she chooses one offour saints.
It's like the big soul, littlesoul, has a past, doesn't have a
(08:08):
past, and Joan of Arc andTherese are both on the doesn't
have a past side and, like, joanis the big one and Therese is
the little one, which is coolbecause we have a picture of St
Therese dressed like Joan of Arc.
I think it's fun.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
It's interesting yeah .
Speaker 3 (08:29):
But I think that Joan is a great choice because it's
there, are.
It is good to have saints thatare relatable, you know, for the
fellas out there that, like theladies too much, it's like oh,
augustine, lord, make me chaste,but not yet, you know, you have
that like that like hashtagrelatable saint um, or I like
mountain climbing, like pierregiorgio frassati.
But I think it's also good tohave these idealistic saints
that are just so impossiblybeyond right what we could be.
(08:51):
That it shows us what the holyspirit could do in us if we just
let him you know.
Yes, I.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I also think jonah bark is interesting because she
she kind of speaks against themodern understanding of a strong
woman and he's important forboth men and women, because
she's not.
She led armies of men, but itwasn't because she was like a
girl boss slay Queen mmmfeminists, it was because she
(09:20):
was a literal prophetess andyeah like she spoke with the
wisdom of the holy spirit withevery and acted with complete
virtue in all situations, and sopeople like listened to her and
followed her, regardless of howold she was, regardless of the
fact that she was a woman in the1400s.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
They were like yeah, what?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
what do you want us to do?
You know like we're on, we'reon your team, all right, yeah
which I think is reallyimportant, because there's girls
being lied to about what itmeans to be a leader, what it
means to be successful.
It's not about denyingmasculinity, which is kind of
what it is now.
I also think this is importantfor men, because if a woman, in
(10:01):
the name of being a girl boss,tries to tell you that your
masculinity is inappropriate orthat you can't lead, I think you
should also push back againstthat.
And you should say well I thinkleadership at the end of the
day is rooted in virtue,conforming yourself to Christ,
and if you can do that, then itcuts through all this gendered
stuff that's going on in theculture at the.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
moment gendered stuff that's going on in the culture
at the moment.
She also it's.
She also leads.
She's a woman who leads men and, because she's so young, she's
a woman who leads men divorcedfrom any like sexual desire.
I think there's a lot of,there's a lot of, there's a lot
of in like in women's stocks youhear this like or in men's
stocks sometimes you'll hear itwhere like, oh, women call men
(10:43):
on, like they set the moralstandard because guys want to
get with them, so they yeah youknow they're gonna.
It's just like a hound dog, yeah, to be released, yes, and and
so to the ground he's going,yeah, looking for, and so like
if the, if the girl reality yeah, if the if so, if the girl says
you know, no, you gotta be, yougotta be a virtuous man to have
sex with me, then the man'sgonna become virtuous.
(11:05):
It's like, I don't think I, Ithink we've had enough of that.
Like I, I heard.
I heard that when I was in highschool at least implied yeah,
it was.
it was like it was like oh, itwasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't
explicit, but it was like guyswant to date girls and so
they'll become better people inorder to date them, and it's
like that's fine and probably itis definitely true.
(11:27):
I mean, guys definitely likeshower so they can date girls,
so why wouldn't they?
you know, shape up a little bit,but it's like I think.
I think the Joan of Arc storyis interesting because she, she,
leads men to virtue, divorcedfrom that side of of the human
experience.
She, she's side of the humanexperience, she's able to lead
them by femininity in itstotality, not purely in its
(11:50):
sexual aspect or in its romanticaspect.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
I don't know, what that means.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I mean there's multiple facets.
I feel like I just hit the pin.
I'm confused.
She's able to lead these men,not because they want to be her
boyfriend, but because they justrespect her as a woman, right,
you know?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
it.
That is a false.
I don't know what the rightword to use there is, but
there's dichotomy, falsedichotomy.
I don't know if it's a dichotomy, but it's because it's not a
dichotomy.
It's this false belief thatit's okay to just kind of prop
women up, put them on a podiumand say, well, these are the
(12:32):
great and beautiful ones and youguys need to be better for the
sake of the great and beautifulones.
It's like this kind of halftruth where it's like, yes, men
should be good to honor women,but that's not.
The goodness goes beyond.
Yes, femininity, you know.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It's, which is another thing.
Right, this is, uh, in theculture, the ultimate is like a
woman, you know, never mind thefact they can't define it, never
mind the fact that they, thatanyone, can be a woman.
But to be a man and to be athing that it truly embodies
what a man is, is bad.
(13:12):
It's bad to have strongopinions.
It's bad to show strength.
It's bad to take onresponsibility.
People don't like it whensomeone makes it so that their
wife doesn't have to workbecause you're depriving her of
the ability to have a job orsomething you know.
(13:33):
Sure.
Yeah, it's like, and it's wrongof the man to to imprison her
in in her home, as if she's notimprisoned in the cubicle under
the fluorescent lights for 40hours a week I was.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
I was leaving, I there's a park across the street
from my office and, uh, my wifetexted me.
She's like hey, we all, likethe, the moms group, got
together at the park across thestreet, come say hi, and I
walked over and all the ladiesgo.
Is that a husband?
Is that a wild husband?
I see this is a rare sighting,this is kind of a joke.
And then, um, I like said hi,and I said hi to leo and I
(14:05):
hugged my wife.
I was like all right, but Isaid hi to all the ladies.
All right, bye everybody, Igotta have a meeting.
And they're like ah, a meeting,and one of them goes just think
of us having fun at the park.
And I was like that's why I dothe meetings, that's why I do
the meetings, so that you guyscan go to the park, the whole
point.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I sit and I stare at the spreadsheets and at the Zoom
calls so that my wife can andmeet other women with kids of
similar ages and get coffee withthem.
That's my whole point she'slike I met a new friend at the
park.
I'm like wonderful, tell me allabout it.
(14:40):
I drove.
Shareholder value.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
I will not tell you about the spreadsheets.
I will not tell you about thespreadsheets.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I'll not tell you about the spreadsheets.
If you promise, please don'task me about the spreadsheets.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
If you promise, please don't ask me about the
spreadsheets.
I know I think that'sinteresting.
It's like Joan of Arc breaksgender stereotypes but in doing
so she does not break gender orsex or sexuality, she affirms it
by breaking what our conceptionof it.
It's like we replace what itmeans to be a man, what it means
(15:15):
to be a woman, in these littleboxes and the like, the
accidental aspects of what itmeans to be a man being really
good at war.
So that's an accident ofsomething that's true deep down
about what a man is.
And so, like Joan of Arc, whatis true about being a woman
would, in that in that timeperiod, would exclude being a
(15:37):
good commander of armies.
Right, but at the end of theday, like it in the bible, we
have judith and deborah, we havepeople, we have women who
commanded armies.
It's like not, it's not, it'snot alien to woman to do this
thing.
But it's like she breaks thestereotypes in order to find
true femininity.
But I think, I think ourculture wants to break the
(15:57):
stereotype, to eliminatefemininity as a whole.
It's spent particularlyfemininity.
Our culture wants to eliminatefemininity and make it some kind
of like androgynous thing.
I know you mentioned theculture wanting to eliminate
masculinity.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
I think, yeah, yeah there's all, it's both, it's any
.
Any distinction that impliesthat something is better than
something else is is is notallowed.
Yeah, in the culture, right?
So to say that women aredifferent than men and they have
this thing that men can't doand it's really amazing, it's
called childbirth.
That's like you can.
To say that women are differentthan men and they have this
thing that men can't do, andit's really amazing, it's called
(16:33):
childbirth.
That's like you can't say that,right.
Or men are different from women.
Men have this really greatability to have really robust
shoulder and chest muscles thatallow them to lift God willing,
god willing, I did one day, oneday, one day, one day maybe I
have big shoulders one day.
(16:54):
Yeah, like there's physicaldifferences in how we're built
and how we're structured and doCigar Burger and all the women
are like.
All I did was listen to SisterBethany Madonna and read the
little office of the Blessedvirgin mary and and and veil,
and now I'm like out in the realworld and I'm like I have male
(17:15):
co-workers and it's just like aweird experience how do I talk
to them?
How do I what?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
how do I do this?
I went on the capture.
My heart retreat very nichefranciscan reference like think
about to lead soldiers in war.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Jonah vark had to like, go out on campaign with
the men, right?
Yeah, she had.
She had bodyguards, she hadprotectors, right.
So there was no like she's notjust out in a field on her own
with a bunch of dudes capture myheart more like capture the
english territories, that'suh-huh yeah, you're gonna try
another one.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Um, catch my heart while I capture the flag.
That's.
That's the men's retreat.
You want to try one?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
capture my heart more like capture my fart there you
go, there it is.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
That's the men's, that's the men's retreat.
We had beans for dinner at themilitary camp hey, any, any, any
current frannies, you'rewelcome to take that.
I will be the.
I will be the mc of the capture, my fart retreat frannies
aren't going to Seek Patrick.
Dude, yes, they are.
What are you talking about?
Franciscan students go to Seek.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Do they?
Benedictine is the big thing,the big school.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Well, Benedictine has a big connection to Seek, but
Franciscan always brings a bunchof people.
Franciscan is a sponsor of Seekevery year.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
That's true.
I forget about that.
Franciscan University ofSteubenville.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Yeah, we send Frannies, we have focused
missionaries, or at least we did.
I think we did Go.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Barons Anyway what I was saying is that she was out
in the camps, she was out on thecampaign with the men.
And I would presume because ofher virtue, because of the way
that the men trusted her.
It was not like she's off onher own on the woman's side of
the camp and then the men areover here and the men's side
like if you're on a, if you'rein the military, you're all kind
of together, you know.
(18:54):
But she was obviously treatedin a way that was appropriate
for her station yes and shetreated the men in a way that
was appropriate for theirstation.
And I just wonder if that's likepossible to achieve in the
college context today where,like, women and men can coexist
without it devolving into eitherdegeneracy and like weird
(19:17):
dating relationships andarguments and fighting, or
devolving into the thing I wasdescribing before, which is like
two completely separate groups,like can we just have like a
normal reg, like the thing thatyou get when there's married
couples that all hang out andlike the guys and the girls will
have normal pleasant dinnerconversation and it's all united
and connected you're talkingabout kids, whatever but then
(19:38):
after dinner the men are havingthe, the drink and the women are
are eating a cookie I think, uh, so you have all these
contrived situations.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
You have to, uh, you have to be on the lookout for
serendipity.
I think this ties into thetheme of Seek, which is follow
me.
In the midst of all thesecontrived circumstances.
The men's groups, the women'sgroups, all good things, all
good things.
These are not the only timeswhen you can meet a spouse.
(20:07):
I remember when I was in ayouth group I would get really
excited to go to school orwherever my crush was Like I
would go to.
Where I was crushed on a girlat youth groups, I'd be like, oh
, I'm so excited to go to youthgroup.
I might see this girl.
You know, not, considering Ilive in the same town as her, I
could just ask her to hang outwith me.
(20:29):
You know, these contrivedcircumstances are not the place
it's.
You have to be on the lookoutfor the serendipitous the, the
place where you don't havecontrol, the follow me thing
right, like the, the apostlesleaving and being like um, I
have it, hold on, I'll tie it in.
It makes sense in my head, butI'll make it make sense in the
real world, please.
(20:49):
Um, there's, there's safety inseek and there's safety in.
It wouldn't be a crunch seekpodcast if we weren't at least a
little bit like, honest andcritical about the conferences
in general.
But it's like there's safety inseek, there's safety in your,
your men's group and there'ssafety in your college.
It's that's.
(21:11):
That's the boat right, that'sthe tax collector's office.
That's the place where you'recomfortable.
But, like, jesus is always goingto call you to where you're not
comfortable.
He's always going to call youto follow and he calls.
When he calls someone to followhim, he's calling them into
something unknown.
That's all he says.
That's all he says.
He calls us into a place wherewe are not in control anymore.
(21:33):
And so I think being docile tothe Holy Spirit, being on the
lookout for those circumstances,are ultimately going to be the
things that fulfill the desiresof your heart.
Maybe you're not resonatingwith dating because you're in a
super happy relationship andyou're like we're going to get
married two weeks out here.
It's something else.
There's a deep desire in yourheart and you're like I'm get
(21:56):
married two weeks out here.
Um, it's something else.
You know, there's a deep,there's a deep desire in your
heart and you're like I'm gonnacome up with this contrived
circumstance to to fix it.
I'm gonna start a men's groupand we're you know.
But like, god is calling you tolisten to his voice and follow
him to a place where you didn'texpect and like that's where
you're gonna find what yourheart desires.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
It's kind of like when, uh, god says to abraham go
, leave the land of your fathersand go to the land that I have
I've picked out for you and foryour children's children and
your children's children, anddon't take anybody with you, and
abraham's like sounds good, I'mon my way.
Lot do you want to come with me?
And lots like yes.
(22:29):
And then god punishes him andthat seems like unfair.
But it's because he contrivedthis situation right.
He didn't feel completely safefollowing what god asked him to
do and so he took along this,this extra thing.
This happens over and over againin the bible, right, I'm
thinking about, I'm thinkingabout jonah, like go to nineveh.
(22:50):
It's like ah, I'm not going tonineveh, I'm going the other way
.
I'm gonna meet this, this, thislittle creature in a boat, and
there's gonna be cheese puffsfor some reason.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
And you've seen jonah the veggie sales movie yeah,
yeah, the movie that bankruptedbig idea, the movie that
bankrupted veggie tales, and whyit's not this, why they look
weird.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Now it's the whole now, yeah, I could probably come
up with a thousand moreexamples.
The cock crowing you know, andPeter running away when he could
have stayed by the side of ourLord.
Lots of situations where peopledon't feel comfortable and they
refuse the invitation of theLord to follow them.
I think the young people nowI'm talking, I'm 28.
(23:35):
So I'm not I probably includemyself in this, I guess, but if
you're 18 or 10 years youngerthan me, so you're, if you're
going through life, there's areally heavy pressure on you to
it's not have it figured out.
But there's a reason that a lotof young people are depressed
(23:55):
or anxious or have a lot ofthings that stress them out
every single day, because there,there, there's no clear um
expectation and there's no clearmodel for them of how to live
the in the way in which youdescribe.
Like there is no room anymorein american life for serendipity
because everything is plannedout.
You know the?
(24:17):
The new season of great britishbaking show comes out in
september.
You got to watch it.
You know the?
The football starts on time.
The basketball starts on time.
The the the seasons change,everything just kind of moves on
.
It's at its regular pace.
You get shipped off to soccerpractice, you get shipped off to
school, you're off to college.
You know, everything just kindof happens as an unfolding.
(24:37):
There's no agency and there'salso no spontaneity.
There's no randomness to life.
It can feel like when you'reyoung, especially in college,
and I think that's why a lot ofpeople are going back to what we
started with.
They're confused, they'redepressed, they don't know where
they're going because they'vebeen on this conveyor belt,
they've been on this treadmillfor 12 years and now it's like
(24:58):
you're living on your own andyou feel like serendipity should
be happening.
But it's like, hey, why don'tyou let go of trying to
facilitate a happy life foryourself and just surrender
those things?
And then let me give you thehappy life that I, that you.
(25:20):
It's not gonna be easy, butit'll certainly be way more
filled with joy and peace thanthe alternative.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Clearly, yeah, and it's tough to hear because it's
like you just want I mean, youjust want control.
It's like, oh yeah, my and itany any now that, now that I
have a young son a little, alittle guy it's.
So I see I see myself like fiveyears ago in this little kid
where it's like he just wants,he wants control of things.
(25:49):
It's so funny.
He'll um, I'm like I want,you're gonna, we're gonna put
your shoes on.
He's like no or no, this is abetter example like give me that
toy.
Give me that toy, and he wouldlike, rather he doesn't want to
give me the toy, he would ratherthrow it away from me than hand
it over to me.
And it's such, it's like I.
(26:10):
I'm like, yeah, man, me too.
I would rather that, rather, Iwould rather, I would rather
lose everything by choice thanhand everything over, all
control over to god, like that's.
Just.
How often do I make that callum, and so, yeah, it's a hard
thing, it's a hard thing to say,but it's true.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, this ties in with just the idea of agency,
the idea that you have morecontrol over your life than you
feel like you do.
It might feel as if you're goingthrough college and for us to
say to you abandon these thingsyou're holding on to give your
life over to Jesus, that mightbe really scary because that
(26:57):
might mean a lot of things wouldchange, that you don't have a
framework to understand whatthat means, right?
So, for example, extreme I needto drop out of school, I need
to break up with my girlfriend,I need to go no contact with my
family, any number of things.
Because you're young, this, I'mnot saying this because you're
(27:19):
like oh, cause you're young andyou're stupid.
Because you're young, youhaven't had enough experiences
in your life to know how tohandle those types of situations
, so they feel reallyfrightening and impossible to
deal with and so people will notgive them over to Christ
because it's like I don't knowanybody that's done that.
Nobody says that this is a goodidea.
I can't do that thing.
This was my experience when Ijoined Focus.
(27:43):
I didn't know anybody that hadsuccessfully gone to become a
Focus missionary.
I didn't know anybody thatfundraised their salary.
I didn't know anybody thatwould have rather done that
instead of being an electricalengineer making $70,000 a year
out of school.
I didn't know anybody thatwould have made that decision.
I made that decision and it wasreally hard because my family
didn't have a model for it.
(28:03):
I didn't have a model for it.
I knew it was what Jesus wantedme to do.
It was one of the hardestthings I've ever done, because
it was really scary, know, yeah,and I, but I feel like that's.
But that led to so many otheramazing and incredible things in
my life, like my marriage andmy children now exist because of
(28:23):
that decision and like Icouldn't have, you know,
predicted that I could not havecontrived that if I had wanted
to yeah, um so.
So I think it's like theinvitation here going back to St
John of Arc is this courage.
It's this courage to give yourlife over to the Lord and not
allow yourself to be trapped inthe prison of modern society, as
(28:49):
Fight Club would say.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
You know, yeah, yeah, fight Club.
Would say yeah, yeah, fightClub, the movie that everyone
who's listening to the Seekpodcast has seen.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
I was just thinking of.
It's just so cringe to be likemodern life is a prison Because
our furniture is from Ikea.
It's like a Fight Club.
It's a whole plot of Fight Club.
It's like a guy who bombs abuilding because he doesn't like
Ikea furniture.
I don't know if that's actuallywhat the movie's about.
It's been a long time since I'veseen it, but that's my
recollection that's what Iremember I'm gonna become brad
(29:21):
pitt and I'm gonna kill a guybecause I'm depressed, not the
move yeah, I haven't seen iteither, but I'm pretty sure
that's what it's about yeah,yeah, thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
What's the part where they reinvent baseball?
Speaker 2 (29:36):
You're thinking of Pulp Fiction.
What did I say?
I don't know.
Do they reinvent baseball inFight Club?
Speaker 3 (29:45):
No, in Moneyball, Moneyball, another Brad Pitt
movie.
I thought you would get thatimmediately.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I thought it was going to say Moneyball was like
that.
Should the baseball alreadyexists in money ball?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
that doesn't make any sense they reinvented baseball
in money, oh big with the newstrategy billy.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
This is jonah bark.
It's like jonah hill ispitching.
Her only defect she's 17 yearsold does she kill burgundians?
Speaker 3 (30:13):
no, but she gets on base, she gets on base that's
funny.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
That's funny, maybe to like four people.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Yeah, that's hilarious and we're two of those
four, yeah, so if you're outthere and you like the money
ball.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Jonah vark crossover meme.
Thank you, I think that's itfor our seek podcasts, yeah I
think I think we've covered.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
We covered the three major things about seek this
year.
I'm really excited for theconference.
Um, if you're there, say hi tous, say what's up, we will be
podcasting.
Whether they like it or not,we'll bring.
Do you still have the banner?
We're gonna bring the bannerback.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Oh, it's up.
It's up on my shelf up there,so I'll have to get it down.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Ooh, semi-illegal mobile podcast.
Let's hope the QR code stillworks.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
We're coming back, baby.
Thank you guys for listening tothe Crunch.
You can find us if you want to.
I just wanted to be here foryou guys, thecrunchcastcom.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
We're just happy to be here for you, the
crunchcastcom.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
We're just happy to be here.
Crunchcastcom.
Follow us on X, the everythingapp.
Patrick, do you have anythingelse for the people?
Follow us on Instagram.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
That's where you're going to have more fun.
Follow us on Instagram.
The somethings app.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Thank you all for listening.
Please pray for us.
We'll be praying for you.
We'll see you all next time.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Bye, bye, bye.
Thank you for joining us forthis episode.
We hope you learned somethingand encountered Christ in some
way.
If you enjoy what we do, pleasesubscribe and share this
podcast with a friend.
This helps us reach more peoplewith and for Christ.
Until next time, this is JohnMichael Peace.
Welcome to the Seek Podcast, where we explore faith,
inspire hope and buildcommunity.
My name is John Michael Lucidoand I'm excited to invite you to
join us this season as we diveinto topics about the faith with
people from all over theCatholic world.
Thank you for listening totoday's episode.
Know that we are praying foryou.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to the Crunch Catholic Podcast, the first
podcast that was live at Seek in2017.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
The first one.
My name is Ethan and I'mPatrick.
I don't think that's true wewere one of the first ones.
Oh, yes, we were there yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
And I wanted to do like a hook at the beginning.
Pull people in and say who arethese mysterious?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
mr beast, whoosh, boom, noise.
We've podcasted at every sneakone dollar catholic conference
versus one million dollarcatholic conference I
consecrated 20,000 hosts.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
This is a little Mr Beast humor for you guys Out
there.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I multiplied five loaves and two fishes and had 12
baskets Left over.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
That's funny.
I have this tweet in my mindthat I'm refusing to post
because I can't figure out a wayto do it right.
But it's basically the thrustof the post is that the Sermon
on the Mount is the greatestsales letter of all time, and so
I go in and I'm like here'swhat the?
Sermon on the Mount taught meabout B2B SaaS sales.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
That's good.
I think it would be funny, butI can't figure out how to do it.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, sass, sales, that's good, I think it would be
funny, but I can't figure outhow to do it.
Yeah anyway, welcome to theofficial seek podcast.
Uh, we are the crunch.
We're a comedy podcast.
I used to be a focus missionary.
Patrick used to be a youthminister.
We've been to probably eight,seven a ton, a bunch of them
(02:05):
many, many, many focusconferences even to the point of
recording live at uh 2017, 2018, 2019.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
No 2018, 2019, 2020 yeah, and then and then.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
We were not invited before 2020 happened and then we
were not invited and then wedid it on a trash can in 2022.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
No, right no, we, we well, we, we were invited, we
were in, we we did record atthat seek as well.
We had, we when we did.
That's right, yeah, yeah, yeah,we were invited.
Yes, we did record, we just didfor fun, I guess.
We just we were invited, westill did the trash can.
We just still did a trash canthing, we just did for fun.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
I guess we were invited.
We still did the trash canthing, we just still did a trash
can podcast.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Our semi-illegal mobile podcast our simp, the
simp aka Patrick.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
why do you think SEEK is important in 2025?
Why are we still doing it?
Everyone's been doing the bigconference thing.
We just had the Eucharisticrevival.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah, why do we got to do another one?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
We just had the Eucharistic revival.
Yeah, why don't we do anotherone?
I mean, we're doing all thesebig conferences.
What is the value for somethinglike this?
Especially and I want you tokeep in- mind a few different
things this year.
The patron, joan of Arc.
Okay, the theme follow me.
Why are these things important?
Speaker 3 (03:22):
in 2025?
I think I don't know.
There's not a lot of stuff.
The Eucharistic revival is good, but it was like for everybody.
I think it's important.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
When you were in youth group, did you guys have
like a special section, likewhere you would go if you wanted
to hold hands with a girl andnot be seen by?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
the Eucharist no, no, no, no, no, no.
I mean like in mass, like theyhad a when I, when I was growing
up, our youth group had like ahad like a section where we'd
all sit together.
Yes, I think.
I think it's important to havethat for young people for
multiple reasons, not just forthe holding hands with a girl
thing.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Although that is definitely one reason we need to
have a special thing for foryoung.
We need to have a special thingfor young, attractive people
ages 18 to 22.
There's just not enough forcollege kids.
There's not enough going forcollege kids.
These days.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I genuinely believe that I don't think there's
enough that's good for them.
That is genuine.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
The whole thing is the appearance of you got all
this great.
You're going to the bars,you're going to the football
game, you're going to the, butit's empty.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
You play video games, but college kids are also
famously lonely.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yes.
You know, and like, sad andconfused about the direction
that their life is going in.
It's like the whole world, thatexperience of the whole world is
catered to you like your hotcool 20-year-old.
But you're I mean, mean I was,I don't know you.
I was not a hot cool 20, I wasa hot cool 20 year old and
(04:51):
everyone's like.
The whole world is for you.
Everything in life is designedaround pleasure maximization for
you, basically.
And yet you still go to bedcrying, you're still confused
about where you want to be, whatyou want to do.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
You still have a desire for family and
relationship and connection and,uh, no one seems to talk about
that you know, and it's toughbecause, like so, it's so easy
to get, I think, sidetracked bythe world in this, and I think
that's why the joan of arcpatron is good, because I, I
think joan of arc is a greatpatron.
Oh geez, I just knocked over myeverything on my desk.
(05:24):
I think the joan, I think joanof arc is a great patron.
Oh, jesus, knocked over myeverything on my desk.
I think the joan, I think joanof arc is an is an interesting
patron, because she's, like, theleast relatable person on the
planet what do you mean by that?
she like comes out of nowhere,right, she's like from, descends
from on high.
And she's like I'm going todefeat the britons, I'm gonna
defeat the burgundians and thefrench.
(05:47):
The french are like cool, we'lltake, we'll take your help.
And then they like they, theycapture, and they like torture.
And they're like explaintheology.
And she's like yes, I, I knowall theology.
Like how you're just, you'relike a 12 year old girl.
How do you know all the likenever committed a sin, a paragon
of virtue, the opposite ofevery person that I know in my
(06:08):
life, including and especiallymyself.
And so I think it's a fitting,I think I think she's a fitting
um patron.
But I mean I could see whypeople would not be, not be, uh,
we're not see her as relatable.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I think it's a good move on Focus's part, because I
think this is just my personalopinion.
I think there's been a littlebit too much of the soft small
girl saints.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
The Therese of Lisieux.
We've done that right.
That's been a thing.
Those women have everythingthey need in terms of content,
about being like a shy littlegirl, you know?
Yes, that's not a mean thing,it's just.
It's a different style.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
That's the vibe, yeah .
Speaker 2 (06:54):
We need a girl who is willing to not only defend
Christ to her dying breath, butalso to chop off a guy's head
with a scimitar.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Did she do?
That I don't know, but it seemslike a type yeah, did she, I'm
gonna hold on.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Can you focus?
Just pause for a second.
Did joan of arc kill?
A guy I think there is noevidence that joan of arc ever
killed anyone in combat by herproper hand, but she did order
her men into battle, causing theloss of thousands of enemy
soldiers.
So basically, yes.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Objectively crazy that a 14-year-old girl
commanded armies.
That is crazy.
But I always told you it'scrazy that she fought in the
Hundred Years' War at only theage of 14.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Like you'd think you'd have to be.
At least 100.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Older, there's like an age limit.
You know it's like sorry, sorry, ma'am, you can only fight in
the 14 years war ma'am, you mustbe this old to fight in the war
I have this, I have this matrixthat I told you about it.
The four the four saints that athat a catholic girl gets
confirmed and she chooses one offour saints.
It's like the big soul, littlesoul, has a past, doesn't have a
(08:08):
past, and Joan of Arc andTherese are both on the doesn't
have a past side and, like, joanis the big one and Therese is
the little one, which is coolbecause we have a picture of St
Therese dressed like Joan of Arc.
I think it's fun.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
It's interesting yeah .
Speaker 3 (08:29):
But I think that Joan is a great choice because it's
there, are.
It is good to have saints thatare relatable, you know, for the
fellas out there that, like theladies too much, it's like oh,
augustine, lord, make me chaste,but not yet, you know, you have
that like that like hashtagrelatable saint um, or I like
mountain climbing, like pierregiorgio frassati.
But I think it's also good tohave these idealistic saints
that are just so impossiblybeyond right what we could be.
(08:51):
That it shows us what the holyspirit could do in us if we just
let him you know.
Yes, I.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I also think jonah bark is interesting because she
she kind of speaks against themodern understanding of a strong
woman and he's important forboth men and women, because
she's not.
She led armies of men, but itwasn't because she was like a
girl boss slay Queen mmmfeminists, it was because she
(09:20):
was a literal prophetess andyeah like she spoke with the
wisdom of the holy spirit withevery and acted with complete
virtue in all situations, and sopeople like listened to her and
followed her, regardless of howold she was, regardless of the
fact that she was a woman in the1400s.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
They were like yeah, what?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
what do you want us to do?
You know like we're on, we'reon your team, all right, yeah
which I think is reallyimportant, because there's girls
being lied to about what itmeans to be a leader, what it
means to be successful.
It's not about denyingmasculinity, which is kind of
what it is now.
I also think this is importantfor men, because if a woman, in
(10:01):
the name of being a girl boss,tries to tell you that your
masculinity is inappropriate orthat you can't lead, I think you
should also push back againstthat.
And you should say well I thinkleadership at the end of the
day is rooted in virtue,conforming yourself to Christ,
and if you can do that, then itcuts through all this gendered
stuff that's going on in theculture at the.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
moment gendered stuff that's going on in the culture
at the moment.
She also it's.
She also leads.
She's a woman who leads men and, because she's so young, she's
a woman who leads men divorcedfrom any like sexual desire.
I think there's a lot of,there's a lot of, there's a lot
of in like in women's stocks youhear this like or in men's
stocks sometimes you'll hear itwhere like, oh, women call men
(10:43):
on, like they set the moralstandard because guys want to
get with them, so they yeah youknow they're gonna.
It's just like a hound dog, yeah, to be released, yes, and and
so to the ground he's going,yeah, looking for, and so like
if the, if the girl reality yeah, if the if so, if the girl says
you know, no, you gotta be, yougotta be a virtuous man to have
sex with me, then the man'sgonna become virtuous.
(11:05):
It's like, I don't think I, Ithink we've had enough of that.
Like I, I heard.
I heard that when I was in highschool at least implied yeah,
it was.
it was like it was like oh, itwasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't
explicit, but it was like guyswant to date girls and so
they'll become better people inorder to date them, and it's
like that's fine and probably itis definitely true.
(11:27):
I mean, guys definitely likeshower so they can date girls,
so why wouldn't they?
you know, shape up a little bit,but it's like I think.
I think the Joan of Arc storyis interesting because she, she,
leads men to virtue, divorcedfrom that side of of the human
experience.
She, she's side of the humanexperience, she's able to lead
them by femininity in itstotality, not purely in its
(11:50):
sexual aspect or in its romanticaspect.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
I don't know, what that means.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I mean there's multiple facets.
I feel like I just hit the pin.
I'm confused.
She's able to lead these men,not because they want to be her
boyfriend, but because they justrespect her as a woman, right,
you know?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
it.
That is a false.
I don't know what the rightword to use there is, but
there's dichotomy, falsedichotomy.
I don't know if it's a dichotomy, but it's because it's not a
dichotomy.
It's this false belief thatit's okay to just kind of prop
women up, put them on a podiumand say, well, these are the
(12:32):
great and beautiful ones and youguys need to be better for the
sake of the great and beautifulones.
It's like this kind of halftruth where it's like, yes, men
should be good to honor women,but that's not.
The goodness goes beyond.
Yes, femininity, you know.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It's, which is another thing.
Right, this is, uh, in theculture, the ultimate is like a
woman, you know, never mind thefact they can't define it, never
mind the fact that they, thatanyone, can be a woman.
But to be a man and to be athing that it truly embodies
what a man is, is bad.
(13:12):
It's bad to have strongopinions.
It's bad to show strength.
It's bad to take onresponsibility.
People don't like it whensomeone makes it so that their
wife doesn't have to workbecause you're depriving her of
the ability to have a job orsomething you know.
(13:33):
Sure.
Yeah, it's like, and it's wrongof the man to to imprison her
in in her home, as if she's notimprisoned in the cubicle under
the fluorescent lights for 40hours a week I was.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
I was leaving, I there's a park across the street
from my office and, uh, my wifetexted me.
She's like hey, we all, likethe, the moms group, got
together at the park across thestreet, come say hi, and I
walked over and all the ladiesgo.
Is that a husband?
Is that a wild husband?
I see this is a rare sighting,this is kind of a joke.
And then, um, I like said hi,and I said hi to leo and I
(14:05):
hugged my wife.
I was like all right, but Isaid hi to all the ladies.
All right, bye everybody, Igotta have a meeting.
And they're like ah, a meeting,and one of them goes just think
of us having fun at the park.
And I was like that's why I dothe meetings, that's why I do
the meetings, so that you guyscan go to the park, the whole
point.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I sit and I stare at the spreadsheets and at the Zoom
calls so that my wife can andmeet other women with kids of
similar ages and get coffee withthem.
That's my whole point she'slike I met a new friend at the
park.
I'm like wonderful, tell me allabout it.
(14:40):
I drove.
Shareholder value.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
I will not tell you about the spreadsheets.
I will not tell you about thespreadsheets.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I'll not tell you about the spreadsheets.
If you promise, please don'task me about the spreadsheets.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
If you promise, please don't ask me about the
spreadsheets.
I know I think that'sinteresting.
It's like Joan of Arc breaksgender stereotypes but in doing
so she does not break gender orsex or sexuality, she affirms it
by breaking what our conceptionof it.
It's like we replace what itmeans to be a man, what it means
(15:15):
to be a woman, in these littleboxes and the like, the
accidental aspects of what itmeans to be a man being really
good at war.
So that's an accident ofsomething that's true deep down
about what a man is.
And so, like Joan of Arc, whatis true about being a woman
would, in that in that timeperiod, would exclude being a
(15:37):
good commander of armies.
Right, but at the end of theday, like it in the bible, we
have judith and deborah, we havepeople, we have women who
commanded armies.
It's like not, it's not, it'snot alien to woman to do this
thing.
But it's like she breaks thestereotypes in order to find
true femininity.
But I think, I think ourculture wants to break the
(15:57):
stereotype, to eliminatefemininity as a whole.
It's spent particularlyfemininity.
Our culture wants to eliminatefemininity and make it some kind
of like androgynous thing.
I know you mentioned theculture wanting to eliminate
masculinity.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
I think, yeah, yeah there's all, it's both, it's any
.
Any distinction that impliesthat something is better than
something else is is is notallowed.
Yeah, in the culture, right?
So to say that women aredifferent than men and they have
this thing that men can't doand it's really amazing, it's
called childbirth.
That's like you can.
To say that women are differentthan men and they have this
thing that men can't do, andit's really amazing, it's called
(16:33):
childbirth.
That's like you can't say that,right.
Or men are different from women.
Men have this really greatability to have really robust
shoulder and chest muscles thatallow them to lift God willing,
god willing, I did one day, oneday, one day, one day maybe I
have big shoulders one day.
(16:54):
Yeah, like there's physicaldifferences in how we're built
and how we're structured and doCigar Burger and all the women
are like.
All I did was listen to SisterBethany Madonna and read the
little office of the Blessedvirgin mary and and and veil,
and now I'm like out in the realworld and I'm like I have male
(17:15):
co-workers and it's just like aweird experience how do I talk
to them?
How do I what?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
how do I do this?
I went on the capture.
My heart retreat very nichefranciscan reference like think
about to lead soldiers in war.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Jonah vark had to like, go out on campaign with
the men, right?
Yeah, she had.
She had bodyguards, she hadprotectors, right.
So there was no like she's notjust out in a field on her own
with a bunch of dudes capture myheart more like capture the
english territories, that'suh-huh yeah, you're gonna try
another one.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Um, catch my heart while I capture the flag.
That's.
That's the men's retreat.
You want to try one?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
capture my heart more like capture my fart there you
go, there it is.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
That's the men's, that's the men's retreat.
We had beans for dinner at themilitary camp hey, any, any, any
current frannies, you'rewelcome to take that.
I will be the.
I will be the mc of the capture, my fart retreat frannies
aren't going to Seek Patrick.
Dude, yes, they are.
What are you talking about?
Franciscan students go to Seek.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Do they?
Benedictine is the big thing,the big school.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Well, Benedictine has a big connection to Seek, but
Franciscan always brings a bunchof people.
Franciscan is a sponsor of Seekevery year.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
That's true.
I forget about that.
Franciscan University ofSteubenville.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Yeah, we send Frannies, we have focused
missionaries, or at least we did.
I think we did Go.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Barons Anyway what I was saying is that she was out
in the camps, she was out on thecampaign with the men.
And I would presume because ofher virtue, because of the way
that the men trusted her.
It was not like she's off onher own on the woman's side of
the camp and then the men areover here and the men's side
like if you're on a, if you'rein the military, you're all kind
of together, you know.
(18:54):
But she was obviously treatedin a way that was appropriate
for her station yes and shetreated the men in a way that
was appropriate for theirstation.
And I just wonder if that's likepossible to achieve in the
college context today where,like, women and men can coexist
without it devolving into eitherdegeneracy and like weird
(19:17):
dating relationships andarguments and fighting, or
devolving into the thing I wasdescribing before, which is like
two completely separate groups,like can we just have like a
normal reg, like the thing thatyou get when there's married
couples that all hang out andlike the guys and the girls will
have normal pleasant dinnerconversation and it's all united
and connected you're talkingabout kids, whatever but then
(19:38):
after dinner the men are havingthe, the drink and the women are
are eating a cookie I think, uh, so you have all these
contrived situations.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
You have to, uh, you have to be on the lookout for
serendipity.
I think this ties into thetheme of Seek, which is follow
me.
In the midst of all thesecontrived circumstances.
The men's groups, the women'sgroups, all good things, all
good things.
These are not the only timeswhen you can meet a spouse.
(20:07):
I remember when I was in ayouth group I would get really
excited to go to school orwherever my crush was Like I
would go to.
Where I was crushed on a girlat youth groups, I'd be like, oh
, I'm so excited to go to youthgroup.
I might see this girl.
You know, not, considering Ilive in the same town as her, I
could just ask her to hang outwith me.
(20:29):
You know, these contrivedcircumstances are not the place
it's.
You have to be on the lookoutfor the serendipitous the, the
place where you don't havecontrol, the follow me thing
right, like the, the apostlesleaving and being like um, I
have it, hold on, I'll tie it in.
It makes sense in my head, butI'll make it make sense in the
real world, please.
(20:49):
Um, there's, there's safety inseek and there's safety in.
It wouldn't be a crunch seekpodcast if we weren't at least a
little bit like, honest andcritical about the conferences
in general.
But it's like there's safety inseek, there's safety in your,
your men's group and there'ssafety in your college.
It's that's.
(21:11):
That's the boat right, that'sthe tax collector's office.
That's the place where you'recomfortable.
But, like, jesus is always goingto call you to where you're not
comfortable.
He's always going to call youto follow and he calls.
When he calls someone to followhim, he's calling them into
something unknown.
That's all he says.
That's all he says.
He calls us into a place wherewe are not in control anymore.
(21:33):
And so I think being docile tothe Holy Spirit, being on the
lookout for those circumstances,are ultimately going to be the
things that fulfill the desiresof your heart.
Maybe you're not resonatingwith dating because you're in a
super happy relationship andyou're like we're going to get
married two weeks out here.
It's something else.
There's a deep desire in yourheart and you're like I'm get
(21:56):
married two weeks out here.
Um, it's something else.
You know, there's a deep,there's a deep desire in your
heart and you're like I'm gonnacome up with this contrived
circumstance to to fix it.
I'm gonna start a men's groupand we're you know.
But like, god is calling you tolisten to his voice and follow
him to a place where you didn'texpect and like that's where
you're gonna find what yourheart desires.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
It's kind of like when, uh, god says to abraham go
, leave the land of your fathersand go to the land that I have
I've picked out for you and foryour children's children and
your children's children, anddon't take anybody with you, and
abraham's like sounds good, I'mon my way.
Lot do you want to come with me?
And lots like yes.
(22:29):
And then god punishes him andthat seems like unfair.
But it's because he contrivedthis situation right.
He didn't feel completely safefollowing what god asked him to
do and so he took along this,this extra thing.
This happens over and over againin the bible, right, I'm
thinking about, I'm thinkingabout jonah, like go to nineveh.
(22:50):
It's like ah, I'm not going tonineveh, I'm going the other way
.
I'm gonna meet this, this, thislittle creature in a boat, and
there's gonna be cheese puffsfor some reason.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
And you've seen jonah the veggie sales movie yeah,
yeah, the movie that bankruptedbig idea, the movie that
bankrupted veggie tales, and whyit's not this, why they look
weird.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Now it's the whole now, yeah, I could probably come
up with a thousand moreexamples.
The cock crowing you know, andPeter running away when he could
have stayed by the side of ourLord.
Lots of situations where peopledon't feel comfortable and they
refuse the invitation of theLord to follow them.
I think the young people nowI'm talking, I'm 28.
(23:35):
So I'm not I probably includemyself in this, I guess, but if
you're 18 or 10 years youngerthan me, so you're, if you're
going through life, there's areally heavy pressure on you to
it's not have it figured out.
But there's a reason that a lotof young people are depressed
(23:55):
or anxious or have a lot ofthings that stress them out
every single day, because there,there, there's no clear um
expectation and there's no clearmodel for them of how to live
the in the way in which youdescribe.
Like there is no room anymorein american life for serendipity
because everything is plannedout.
You know the?
(24:17):
The new season of great britishbaking show comes out in
september.
You got to watch it.
You know the?
The football starts on time.
The basketball starts on time.
The the the seasons change,everything just kind of moves on
.
It's at its regular pace.
You get shipped off to soccerpractice, you get shipped off to
school, you're off to college.
You know, everything just kindof happens as an unfolding.
(24:37):
There's no agency and there'salso no spontaneity.
There's no randomness to life.
It can feel like when you'reyoung, especially in college,
and I think that's why a lot ofpeople are going back to what we
started with.
They're confused, they'redepressed, they don't know where
they're going because they'vebeen on this conveyor belt,
they've been on this treadmillfor 12 years and now it's like
(24:58):
you're living on your own andyou feel like serendipity should
be happening.
But it's like, hey, why don'tyou let go of trying to
facilitate a happy life foryourself and just surrender
those things?
And then let me give you thehappy life that I, that you.
(25:20):
It's not gonna be easy, butit'll certainly be way more
filled with joy and peace thanthe alternative.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Clearly, yeah, and it's tough to hear because it's
like you just want I mean, youjust want control.
It's like, oh yeah, my and itany any now that, now that I
have a young son a little, alittle guy it's.
So I see I see myself like fiveyears ago in this little kid
where it's like he just wants,he wants control of things.
(25:49):
It's so funny.
He'll um, I'm like I want,you're gonna, we're gonna put
your shoes on.
He's like no or no, this is abetter example like give me that
toy.
Give me that toy, and he wouldlike, rather he doesn't want to
give me the toy, he would ratherthrow it away from me than hand
it over to me.
And it's such, it's like I.
(26:10):
I'm like, yeah, man, me too.
I would rather that, rather, Iwould rather, I would rather
lose everything by choice thanhand everything over, all
control over to god, like that's.
Just.
How often do I make that callum, and so, yeah, it's a hard
thing, it's a hard thing to say,but it's true.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, this ties in with just the idea of agency,
the idea that you have morecontrol over your life than you
feel like you do.
It might feel as if you're goingthrough college and for us to
say to you abandon these thingsyou're holding on to give your
life over to Jesus, that mightbe really scary because that
(26:57):
might mean a lot of things wouldchange, that you don't have a
framework to understand whatthat means, right?
So, for example, extreme I needto drop out of school, I need
to break up with my girlfriend,I need to go no contact with my
family, any number of things.
Because you're young, this, I'mnot saying this because you're
(27:19):
like oh, cause you're young andyou're stupid.
Because you're young, youhaven't had enough experiences
in your life to know how tohandle those types of situations
, so they feel reallyfrightening and impossible to
deal with and so people will notgive them over to Christ
because it's like I don't knowanybody that's done that.
Nobody says that this is a goodidea.
I can't do that thing.
This was my experience when Ijoined Focus.
(27:43):
I didn't know anybody that hadsuccessfully gone to become a
Focus missionary.
I didn't know anybody thatfundraised their salary.
I didn't know anybody thatwould have rather done that
instead of being an electricalengineer making $70,000 a year
out of school.
I didn't know anybody thatwould have made that decision.
I made that decision and it wasreally hard because my family
didn't have a model for it.
(28:03):
I didn't have a model for it.
I knew it was what Jesus wantedme to do.
It was one of the hardestthings I've ever done, because
it was really scary, know, yeah,and I, but I feel like that's.
But that led to so many otheramazing and incredible things in
my life, like my marriage andmy children now exist because of
(28:23):
that decision and like Icouldn't have, you know,
predicted that I could not havecontrived that if I had wanted
to yeah, um so.
So I think it's like theinvitation here going back to St
John of Arc is this courage.
It's this courage to give yourlife over to the Lord and not
allow yourself to be trapped inthe prison of modern society, as
(28:49):
Fight Club would say.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
You know, yeah, yeah, fight Club.
Would say yeah, yeah, fightClub, the movie that everyone
who's listening to the Seekpodcast has seen.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
I was just thinking of.
It's just so cringe to be likemodern life is a prison Because
our furniture is from Ikea.
It's like a Fight Club.
It's a whole plot of Fight Club.
It's like a guy who bombs abuilding because he doesn't like
Ikea furniture.
I don't know if that's actuallywhat the movie's about.
It's been a long time since I'veseen it, but that's my
recollection that's what Iremember I'm gonna become brad
(29:21):
pitt and I'm gonna kill a guybecause I'm depressed, not the
move yeah, I haven't seen iteither, but I'm pretty sure
that's what it's about yeah,yeah, thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
What's the part where they reinvent baseball?
Speaker 2 (29:36):
You're thinking of Pulp Fiction.
What did I say?
I don't know.
Do they reinvent baseball inFight Club?
Speaker 3 (29:45):
No, in Moneyball, Moneyball, another Brad Pitt
movie.
I thought you would get thatimmediately.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I thought it was going to say Moneyball was like
that.
Should the baseball alreadyexists in money ball?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
that doesn't make any sense they reinvented baseball
in money, oh big with the newstrategy billy.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
This is jonah bark.
It's like jonah hill ispitching.
Her only defect she's 17 yearsold does she kill burgundians?
Speaker 3 (30:13):
no, but she gets on base, she gets on base that's
funny.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
That's funny, maybe to like four people.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Yeah, that's hilarious and we're two of those
four, yeah, so if you're outthere and you like the money
ball.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Jonah vark crossover meme.
Thank you, I think that's itfor our seek podcasts, yeah I
think I think we've covered.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
We covered the three major things about seek this
year.
I'm really excited for theconference.
Um, if you're there, say hi tous, say what's up, we will be
podcasting.
Whether they like it or not,we'll bring.
Do you still have the banner?
We're gonna bring the bannerback.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Oh, it's up.
It's up on my shelf up there,so I'll have to get it down.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Ooh, semi-illegal mobile podcast.
Let's hope the QR code stillworks.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
We're coming back, baby.
Thank you guys for listening tothe Crunch.
You can find us if you want to.
I just wanted to be here foryou guys, thecrunchcastcom.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
We're just happy to be here for you, the
crunchcastcom.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
We're just happy to be here.
Crunchcastcom.
Follow us on X, the everythingapp.
Patrick, do you have anythingelse for the people?
Follow us on Instagram.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
That's where you're going to have more fun.
Follow us on Instagram.
The somethings app.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Thank you all for listening.
Please pray for us.
We'll be praying for you.
We'll see you all next time.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Bye, bye, bye.
Thank you for joining us forthis episode.
We hope you learned somethingand encountered Christ in some
way.
If you enjoy what we do, pleasesubscribe and share this
podcast with a friend.
This helps us reach more peoplewith and for Christ.
Until next time, this is JohnMichael Peace.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com