August 14, 2025 • 35 mins
Sometimes it doesn't feel like God is listening. Jeff & Steph talked about how God is strenghting your faith when you don't feel it. God opens and closes doors, you must accept it, and stop trying to go through the closed doors and enter through the open doors. Just remain faithful, God is watching over you, he knows what he is doing. Trust him, be obediant, and just keeps doing what is right and he will get you through every season in your life.
You can watch and listen to Stephanie on her YouTube channel - In the Service of the Queen - where she talks about the blessed Mary https://www.youtube.com/@InTheServiceOfTheQueen
You can catch Jeff on numorous podcasts https://coolcasts.cooolmedia.com/
Please follow These Times on whoever you listen on, so that you don't miss an episode.
You can watch and listen to Stephanie on her YouTube channel - In the Service of the Queen - where she talks about the blessed Mary https://www.youtube.com/@InTheServiceOfTheQueen
You can catch Jeff on numorous podcasts https://coolcasts.cooolmedia.com/
Please follow These Times on whoever you listen on, so that you don't miss an episode.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Well, hi, and welcome to these days. I am Jeff,
and I have an awesome coz as you guys know,
your name is Stephanie. She'll be joining us in a minute.
So we're here to talk to you about from a
Catholic perspective. We're going to talk about Bible history and
mysticism all that, steph How our things going out there
in the volunteer State and going good?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Jeff, it's hot and humid as usual. You walk outside
and you've got glasses or sunglasses on there immediately fogged up.
But we're getting through it. Last days of summer, right,
How are things and buyers?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Oh Colorado? Well, last time we talked it was all
kind of cold and rainy, but now we're back up
to the mid nineties and all this. The thing is
the western part of Colorado, it's all burning. There's forest
fire is really they have one of the fifth biggest
first fire in Colorado history burning out there right a
little town called Meeker. And as all the hell they're
going through over there, we have had the most beautiful sunsets,
(01:00):
all that smoke and everything. As the sun's coming, as
the sun's going down behind the mountains, you just all
different kinds of colors and especially red and all that.
So I don't know, maybe there is a shining light
and all the with all those people on the West
slopes suffering with it.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah, that's kind of.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Like the theme of our show today, right, How even
in the midst of trials and tribulations, there's always some
kind of beauty or comfort or something that God supplies, right.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yeah, He doesn't just leave me out there all the time.
And U think what got when I kind of brought
up today's stam. You know, it's kind of amazing how
God he'll talk to you, ask him questions. You don't
have to be in the church on your knees, you know,
praying hard and all that kind of stuff. It's amazing
how he'll just talk to you, like I got. I
was listening to the radio other day and this song
came on and say, up all the straight and manroad
(01:45):
when you don't know where you are, to use the
needle of your.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Comforts to sew up your broken heart. The rest directions
from a genie and a bottle of.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Gim beament, do you wam you learn the truth?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
You're going through hell? Sheep boll go bll slowed down
after skinned no, show you mine more than ever even know.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
That.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Sure, it's kind of a pop little country here, but
to me it spoke to me. It kind of let
me know that, you know, God's not always going to
solve your problems, but he's you're going to give you
peace as you're going through the Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Exactly, Yeah, I love what you said that it doesn't
have to be on your knees at church to hear
guidance or direction. My my best friend I grew up
with in Texas surprised me and came into town last
weekend and just to prove your point, Like, she doesn't
go to church, she wouldn't really consider herself religious, but
she literally said something to me that I don't think.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
You know, ten years of therapy wouldn't have been as good.
She said.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
She was like, well, you know, sometimes when God wants
you to go through a door, if you're a hesitant
or you're not really getting the message, or you're not
willing to walk through it, sometimes he has to push
you through it, right, And I was like, wow, that's
pretty why some profound.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Not only push something, they kicks you in the butt too.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Sometimes he pushes you pretty hard through, don't it's.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Gonna well, I guess I'm going this.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Way, yeah exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
But he I think, well, like that song said, you're
not gonna find your answers in the battle of gymbing.
But if you're if you're asking God and you're turning
to God and you're open, he will guide you.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
And you're right.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
It can come through a song, it can come through
a person reading the scripture, of course, but nature, yeah,
I mean, you just got to be open, keep your
eyes open right, and be aware, keep your heart open.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And what I think what really kind of got me is,
you know, it's just a catchy country song, you know,
try and get a good hook in so that the
people want to sing one something on that. But you think,
right before the hook, right there, he says, when you
when you stray off the net straight and narrow, And
that's kind of what I think. What kind of I
you don't know the hook but I hadn't really paid
much attention. Is when you stray off the straight and narrow,
(03:54):
you know, then that's kind of when you need God to.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Boast right and he always he seems to work the
best with us in our broken brokenness or in our despair.
Sometimes I really think he does strip everything away that
we might get comfort or security in just to remind
us that, hey, I put me first and I will.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Come through for you.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
He doesn't leave us hanging.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
No, he doesn't do that, not at all, and that
it feels like it sometimes though, I mean, I think
everybody's kind of Hey, you know, Jesus said, all I
have to do is ask what's going on?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I'm asking, right, And sometimes we like expect the immediate
result and it's not. Well, I'll give you a personal story.
I've been kind of in that situation now. But I'm
going to tell you a story from the past, because sometimes,
you know, hindsight's twenty twenty. We can really see how
he worked when we look back at our life, even
more so than what we're going through right now. But
there was a time when I first moved here and
(04:49):
I had gotten a job as an apartment leasing person,
my first job here in leasing.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
And when I first moved here, I was.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Living with a girl named Tammy, and she was married
to the drummer of Ricochet. I don't know if you
remember Ricochet. They were a country band. I was there
through the beginning of them getting signed with Sony Records
and in the studio when they recorded their album at
their at their release party, it was kind of cool
to move here as a songwriter and just immediately God
(05:17):
had me in that environment. And Tammy and Jeff both
really nice people. They had a town home. I had
the upstairs, they had the downstairs.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
But you know, as the music.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Industry goes and how life is hard, they found theirself
going through a divorce. So I just realized there's two
ways God brought comfort in this situation. Because I had
gotten this job at the apartments, Tammy and I, even
though she was going through obviously a very difficult time
going through a divorce, we were able to move into
a two bedroom and that kind of just worked out
and flowed effortlessly.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
So we moved. We get out of the townhome, move into.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
This two bedroom apartment, and she's getting her degree in
music business at Belmont. We're living there. I'm working there.
I had met a French family that kind of took
me in because I was really missing home and missing
my family. So they had lost the father of the family.
It was a mom, but she cooked and a son
and a daughter, So I become like I became part
of their family. That I went over there for dinner
(06:11):
I think every night, and she had a little glass
of wine and would cook very simple but very comforting meals.
And so God was providing me comfort while I was
missing my family. He provided us a place to live.
He was providing obviously income and a place for Tammy
to heal from her divorce and get through school. And
then lo and behold. As it turned out, the manager
of my job, she was going through a divorce.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Now I get how devastating that is.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So she wasn't showing up for work a lot, and
that was really just too much stress on the assistant manager, who,
you know, one day I called in sick. I was
really sick. I wasn't faking it or anything like. I'm
a hard worker.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
I've never called in.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Sick just to you know, take some time off. But
so the assistant manager just like totally went off on me.
She was just stressed because everything was kind of falling
on her with the manager not showing up. And I
get it now, like she just kind of went off
on me. And you know, being twenty two at the time,
I went off on her back, and I was like,
I can't work here.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I quit.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So I quit my job a month before Christmas, get
us kicked out of our apartment. And God was reminding
me of this as I'm going through this season in
my life right now, which is in pretty rough and
pretty bare, like the wilderness season. I guess they call
it so here. I am twenty two. My roommate's kind
of counting on me for a place to live. She's
going through divorce. I get us kicked out of our
(07:26):
apartment at Christmas. We have thirty days to get out,
and I don't have a job, and it's Christmas. And
by the end of the day, and God doesn't always
show up this quickly, but raise be to God that
he did this. She was also managing the doctor's office,
and so she was pretty upset with me, obviously, But
by the end of the day she called me and
she was like, well, her exact words, this is pretty funny.
(07:48):
This is how comical I think God has a since humor.
Her exact words were, I know you don't like kids,
But Nancy showed up at work in tears today. Nancy
was the doctor's wife, and she was like, Nancy shows
up in tears because her nanny's in jail and she
needs a nanny. And I know you don't like kids,
but you need a job. Do you want to do
this at least until you find something. And I was like, yeah, sure,
and of course I do like kids now, But I
(08:10):
was twenty two. I was young and you know, stupid
at the time, so I didn't even go a whole
day without a job. The next Nancy said, come to
the house in the morning, and so I go to
the house and this.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Is just the beauty of God.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I get there and she was like kind of motioned
for me to come on in. You know, it was
in November. The beautiful I remember, like, this house was
a beautiful mansion and the orange and gold leaves were
all over the porch, and she was on the phone
in the kitchen and kind of wait for me to
come on in, said she'd be off in a minute.
So I walk in and I see Chandler. Who's this
little eight month old little girl wearing nothing but a diaper,
(08:43):
and she had just pulled herself up on the coffee
table Like this stands out in my mind really vivid,
and she just gave me the biggest smile, and I
felt like I'd known her my whole life, and it
was just like obviously a divine destiny thing that.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
You know, God knows everything. He knew that I was
going to lose my job at Chrismus, and he already.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Had a plan, And like that's the thing. God already
knows everything we're going to go through. He already has
a plan for our good and for his glory. And
I looked at Chandler and she smiled this great, big
smile and just held her arms out to me for
me to pick her up. And I pick her up
and I walk it, picked her up like I've just
known her my whole life. I felt so comfortable with
this child from the beginning. I walk into the kitchen
(09:21):
and Nancy gets off the phone and she was just like,
are you kidding me? She says, she never lets anyone
hold her, So you know, there's a God moment there.
And long story short, what was supposed to be a
temporary job. I was there for three and a half years.
I became part of their family. Chandler was, you know,
still is a very good friend of mine. She ended
up getting cancer in her college years. She was supposed
(09:44):
to die. It was a rare form of cancer. She'd
beat it, and then once again, God shows up with
his divine grace. She ends up going back to Belmont
becoming an on collegey nurse. They told her she'd never
have children because of the harsh treatment she had to
go through. Now now she's a mom, she's she's a nurse,
two children with cancer, and I.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Mean, you can just see God all over.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I mean, not only did he provide me a family
and a job and a connection that's been a lifelong friend,
and then look what he did in her life.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
It's just it just goes on and on.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, that is pretty, That is really cool. You can
definitely tell that's the whole thing. Like you said, you
look back at that time, it didn't make any sense
to you at all. This isn't working at all, and
then oh okay, I got everything out of it.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Exactly Like he can turn the worst moments into the
best moments. And it's the place I just want to
encourage everybody that's going through a difficult time right now.
You know, don't forget that God is going to show up.
Even though it looks dark, it might look awful, He's faithful,
He's going to show up.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
He has a plan.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
We've talked about this before, but I think one big
thing too is you have to keep yourself open because
lots of times God will offer some for you, and
if you're not paying attention and not looking for it,
a little go to school right on past you and
you'll miss the opportunity that He was sending you to.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, that's a good point because I could have said, yeah,
you're right, I don't like kids, I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Do that job. Yeah I could.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah, I was like humbled. I think that's a huge thing.
And I think that's a lot of the reason why
God allows for us to go through a lot of
the things we go through is to humble us, because
He really can't work with us at all.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Right, if we're not.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Humble, well, not that I mean you just in your
own personal life, like I work and all that kind
of stuff. If somebody who's full of themselves, you can't
work with them, and it's just you can't do it.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
No, you can't.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
You can't talk to them, they can never see where
they're wrong. And you know, like I feel like that's
been the last three years of my life. As God
has been humbling me to really focus on myself and
not not look.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
At other people.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
It's so easy to look at other people and be like, oh,
what their law or they're doing this wrong, But when
you look it's actually so much more peaceful when you
look at yourself, because you can't control other people.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
No, you can't change other people, but well you can
change is yourself. And if you can just stick.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
With God every day and you know, like I think
I mentioned to the scripture that keeps coming up to
me every time I'm opened the Bible is be still
and know that I'm God, And.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
That's He's talked to me. So much more.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
It's more, it's a lot deeper than just you know,
be still and God's going to come to the rescue.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
You know He's going to show up for you.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
It's really like when you're in that really still place
and you're just I don't know, when you're just like
I think, I don't know for me, like it's just
like knowing that you really don't need anything but God
and everything else does get added to you. When when
you're only like in that still place, only seeking God
and trying to be humble and look at your own
faults and take responsibility and just ask God, you know,
(12:34):
what do you want me to do today? What do
you want me to do right now? Like I'm here,
you know, I'm here, I'm listening.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
What do you what do you want from me?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
You know?
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I think I think I'm like a lot of people
that all humble myself and ask God, you know, what
do you want? And all this kind of stuff in
my life starts going in a certain direction and I'm
not humbled enough. I don't have the humility where I'm
I don't want to go in this direction, so I
kind of of course screw everything up, and it's kind
of like going, well, you know, I should have should
(13:02):
have just kept going that way exactly.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
We do that.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
We're human and that's part of I think our human brokenness,
our original sin or whatever.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
But like as soon as life.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Starts going good, it's just like a default setting to
start getting full of ourselves thinking we don't need God
running off in the wrong direction instead of like stay
is so hard to stay in that place where you
know you're constantly seeking his will.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I guess, yeah, And it's kind of like I'm not
saying they would have been lifelong nates or anything, or
husband their wives or anything. But when you look back
at like we we're like in high school and right
out of high school and all that, you might have
the most perfect Like for me, it would be a
girl who got she was just everything right, but she
just didn't seem to check what I thought was the
(13:46):
right boxes. And you look back and he right, you know,
she would have probably been pretty good. You'd have been
better than I was with after that, right, right?
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Hindsight's twenty twenty, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah, that's the only thing I heard. A pretty good quote.
Life is the only place where you have to take
the test before you get to study.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yeah, that's it, that's true. I have.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
That just reminds me of a recurring dream I have.
I haven't had it in a long time, thank god,
but I think it. I think I have it during
these times when I'm like scared and feeling unprepared. But
it's like I'm going to play and I show up
on stage and I don't realize until I'm in front
of all the people that nobody ever gave me the script.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
I don't know what to say, I don't know what
to do.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
No that's it. That's just like life. You they say,
here's your test. Okay, now we'll give you the study
of the material afterwards.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Right totally, Okay. You know God does show those little signs.
I mean there's just like been so many little signs
in my life recently that you have to have discernment
because the enemy is going to throw stuff in there too,
So you do have to pray for discernment. And I
think a good prayer is always like keep whatever door
shut that you don't want me to walk through, and
open the doors that you do want me to walk through.
(14:52):
But yeah, there's like little things like somebody will show
up that you haven't talked to and forever that you
don't normally talk to, and they have that exact message
that's hopeful and encouraging, and you know.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
It's from God.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You just feel it when it hits you know, like
it was hopeful, it was encouraging, it was exactly what
you needed to hear it, and it was kind of
out of the blue, and then you kind of, I
don't know, those those are cool little God moments.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah, and he I actually worked the opposite way of
what you said about because I actually not too long ago.
I actually connected with somebody that I hadn't seen or
talked to in about fifteen years, and all of a sudden,
the next thing I knew, I was like, going, now,
I know I haven't talked to him in fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Such a drag trying to drag you down. You know,
one of those people that automatically everything goes back to them.
You know, it's right, I'll ask you how you doing well,
I'm doing okay, Well I'm not here, you know, and
everything they do drags you down and all that kind
of stuff, and it's kind of like, well, I'm glad
you're doing good, but I know why I'm not going
to talk to you for another fifteen years exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And actually it's part of that discernment because when I
say that girl called me that I hadn't talked to
that I grew up with, she had that message I
needed to hear that. And this is different from the
girl I saw last weekend that actually came to town.
But you know, the one that just called me and
had the message I needed to hear. She calls like
two months later and was just negative and accusing and blaming,
and I called you, I left your message, you didn't
(16:15):
call me back.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I mean, she was just and I had the exact
same reaction, like, yeah, I know, I don't talk to
you all the time.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
But that just goes to show when God wants to
get a message through, he can work.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Through anyone though, right, even even somebody that may.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Not see where you're not going to go like this, right, see,
I'm showing you where to go, but this is why
you don't want to go back that way exactly. You
could telling me the other day about a psalm. It
seems like I don't know if you have like a
bookmark there, but every time you open your Bible, you
actually open to it.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Which one was it?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
It was like some forty six or something like that.
I don't remember.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, that's the still and know that I'm gone, yeah,
and it's you know, after I read it, and I
keep getting it from different sources, like someone will say
it to me, I'll see it somewhere.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Like keeps like reiterating it.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
So you do. And I think that's one thing people
need to know. God loves to confirm his word. He's
not a god of confusion. So if he really is
trying to give you a message, he will confirm it
if you're open and paying attention multiple ways. And after
I read it last night, I did it again, opened
up the Bible. I pray, well, I prayed first, what
do you want me to know?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
And I opened up to Psalm forty six and something, for.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Some reason, it was like I heard my guardian angel,
or maybe it was the Holy Spirit. I had thought, well,
this is you know, in the Bible several times it
says several times I think that to be still, know
that I'm God. And that voice challenged me and said,
we'll google it. See how many times this.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Exact word is in the Bible. And I googled it
and it's only in Psalm forty six. As famous as
that that is, there's nowhere else in the Bible.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
And I open it up to that page all the time,
and there's nowhere else in the Bible that says be
still and know that I'm God. There are other scriptures
that say something similar, maybe like stand still and see
the saving power of God, or you know, something like that,
but only.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
In Soul in forty six does it say be still
and know that I Am God.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
So when you open it up, does it freaky out
that it always open as or more comforting and reassuring
that you're opening up to it.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It's comforting and reassuring. Like I said, my life is
pretty mystical. I do tend to I tend to sense
God's what he's saying to me.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Pretty you know.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I went back last night and looked through all my dreams.
I've been keeping like a dream journal, and it's amazing
how many dreams I have had that have come to pass.
One came to pass just a few days ago, and
I had dreamt it a year ago to the date.
That's what's freaky when you look at a dream and
then it comes to pass a year ago to the date.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
So a lot of times, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
God will give me dreams that and I know not
everybody relates to that. Not everybody is a prophetic dreamer.
Maybe why I feel close to Saint Joseph because he
was a prophetic dreamer. But yeah, I mean a lot
of times God is always affirming things to me in
my dreams, so I kind of expect him to. What's
the not normal for me is when I'm asking questions
and I'm not getting answers. That's the part that feels
(19:07):
really uncomfortable to me because I'm so used to getting the.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Answers right then are you not getting the answers or
you're not recognizing the answers.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I think sometimes, even especially through this past season, he's
been silent at times because he's trying to grow my faith.
That is the answer that I've gotten, is that when
he's silent, he is growing my faith and he's wanting
me to And you know, the Saints wrote about this.
There were times when they felt God, like God completely
withdrew his presence from them and they didn't have any consolation.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
And I think in those moments, he really.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Is challenging our faith to say, can you still believe
in me? Are you still going to trust that I'm
going to do what I said I'm going to do
and I'm going to fulfill my promises and I'm faithful
even when you know I'm not. You're not really you
don't feel my presence today or you don't you're not
getting any answers from me today.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
No, I agree with you. And that's the hardest season
to be into.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yeah, yeah, it is. It's a test of faith.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
It is definitely a test of faith, just over the
last couple of days, I think I've reached a place
of maybe the next level of peace, being at peace
because I've been This is like a three year journey
for me.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
My faith has really been tested.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
But finally he gave me that consolation of like a
really deep piece of where I don't know exactly how
it's going to unfold or how my future is going
to play out. And that's another thing my friend Misty said,
who came from Texas. She said, well, you know, God
doesn't show us the whole picture, because if he did,
first of all, we'd start trying to control it and
change it, or we'd be scared.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
You'd be things we'd see that we didn't.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Want to know, right, But just to live in the
moment each day and trust him that whatever happens or
whatever he brings before us is his will.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
And you know one thing that you just said about
that is basically what jesus whole ministry was on. I mean,
he was basically saying that's going to suck. You're going
to be persecuted, You're going to have those and I
can't help you with that. But what I can help
you with is I'm going to you peace then, you know,
and they help you.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Through it exactly and he does. Yeah, he gives us
through it. And it reminds me of the Scripture of
I can't remember their names. I've been to go me
Shak and there.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Was like a third one. Do you know that? You
know what the third god's name was?
Speaker 1 (21:13):
No, not right off the end.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Anyway, they were putting the fire right. He even gave
me a dream to confirm this. But like you know,
in Jesus with there were three people in the fire,
but they then they saw four because he was with them.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah, yeah, it's pretty those stories are kind of you know, honestly,
I think I have pretty strong faith, but I don't
we're not because I think we've talked about it before.
I try and like put myself in a different kind
of I know, we're not supposed to we're all supposed
to run her own race and all that kind of stuff.
But sometimes I try and put myself into a situation
think could I have done that? And it's like going,
(21:49):
you know, like David and the Lion or be shoking
to grow and I don't remember go into the furnace,
you know what? Have I had the faith that you know,
to do that night, and most of the time I couldn't.
I don't think I would have.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, but God knows, you know, he knows us, and
he knows what trials are perfect for us, because you know,
you took care of your mom for how many years?
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Well, the last one year was just solid a couple
of years.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Yeah, and I think that's something that I couldn't have done.
Like I do know, when you're taking care of a
loved one and you're watching them decline, that is an
excruciating pain. And then your whole life changes, and you know,
there's like your schedule changes, everything revolves around taking care
of them, and then you're working your whole life. You
still have to make money, you stop a job, whatever,
and then you're kind of reorganizing your schedule around that.
(22:34):
And then you're also dealing with the emotional part of
seeing someone you love and knowing that their time's coming up.
So you know, like, I look at your journey and
the things God has put you through, and I'm sure
you felt his presence with you, and I'm like, wow,
I don't think I could have gotten through that.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
My parents actually.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Died fairly quick, which God knows my weaknesses. I don't
think I could have done what you did, and so
like keep God's like, all right, so I'm going to
take your parents out pretty quick. They're going to go
six weeks apart. And you know, it was pretty fast,
but that was its own kind of hard harshness. But yeah,
I guess he just knows, he knows what.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
We can handle.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
This is going to sound really goofy, but during the day,
basically for retirees and all that kind of stuff, they're
stations that just played like TV shows, like old westerns
and that kind of stuff, you know, and you can
tell from you can tell from the commercials it's they're
made for the retirees.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
They're all AARP ads and they're all life insurance ads,
and they are all ads for wanting money, and a
lot you see a lot of those from like Danny
Thomas's hospital or the Shriners and all that kind of stuff.
We'd walk. You know, it was a day of like,
oh man, I'm kind of tired. And you know, it's
like you think about it and you watch her and
you don't even think she's really paying any attention to
(23:47):
it or knows what's going on. On the TV. She
had dementia, and you don't know what she even knows,
but that she seems to okay whatever she likes the
screen or whatever. Whenever they'd have one of those commercials
for like Children's Hospital or the Shriners and those kids
would come on, she would sit there and wave with
those little kids, you know, and all that kind of stuff,
and so that would kind of get my attention. I'd
watch those commercials, those parents going through all that horrible
(24:10):
stuff with their kids, and the cancers and the deformities
and all that kind of stuff, and honestly, in my mind,
I was kind of when I'm going through with her,
to me, what those parents are going through with those
kids was nothing. So whenever I kind of felt, you know,
I guess selfish that man, why do I have to
do this? I would think of those parents going through
that with their kids, and I thought, this isn't nothing
compared to that, right.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
And that's yeah, that reminds me. And it just goes
to show back to our theme of our God is
in control. He's there, he's he has a plan, he already.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Knows what you're going to go through. The last three days.
In my mom's life.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I did fly to Texas and she was in ICU
and she died of COPD. So she had a breathing
tube down her throat and she, you know, like it
was like the day they decided that they were going
to take the breathing tube out, and she was uncont
from She was conscious the whole time I was there
till that day, and then that day she was not
conscious and the doctors basically had to pull me and
(25:03):
my dad into a room. It was so horrible watching
him go through that of them saying, we're going to
take the breathing to you bout and she's there's no
hope for her to recover and let her die in
natural death, right, So they did that, and then I
was in the room and like I said, she had
not been conscious conscious all day, never did regain consciousness
before she died.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
But the moment my dad walked in and you couldn't
hear there was not a sound.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I mean, I remember I saw him walk in, but
he didn't make a sound. He walked in and sat
down in the chair across from her bed. She sits
straight up, opens her eyes, waves just this.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Little flick of her hand like seea. And there was
nothing sad about it. I mean, there was almost like.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
A I don't even know what it wasn't joyful, but
it was a non sad moment, That's.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
All I can say.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
But she was kind of like seea, like matter of fact,
see Ya lays back down, closes her eyes and never
opened him again, and died at five point fifty five
the next morning.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Man, well, I guess you guys, I guess so they know.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Like you know, people know, and in God's grace, like
he maybe God's grace was that he gave my mom
that one last opportunity and gave my dad that last
opportunity for her to say goodbye. And yeah, it's I mean,
we can't even fathom. We can't even fathom God really
hard with our small, little, puny human minds. I know.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
It's kind of funny because like when you talk about
your dreams and all that they mean stuff, and if
I wrote down tried to write down what I dreamed,
and it's so out there.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Well you have to have to sort of like I've
learned over the years how to interpret my dreams. It's
taken some time. Sometimes my dreams are very literal and
it's not hard to interpret them at all, but then
sometimes they're pretty symbolic and it does take a little,
you know, a little bit of time sitting with God saying, Okay,
what does this represent? You know, like I've come to
represent anytime I'm seeing myself or someone in a shower,
(26:56):
that means you're going through a cleansing process or somebody
washing their hair. It's like a cleansing of the mind,
getting where there might have been mental confusion. They're coming
out of mental confusion and the mind getting clear. You know.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
That kind of stuff is what God's taught me how.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
To interpret my dreams. But yeah, I love dreaming. I
feel like I'm clocking in for work at night. When
I go to sleep, I'm like, all right, I'm on
the time clock. You know, this is where I figured
out my life.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
God, what do you got for me?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Yeah? Well, I think you're unique, though I don't think.
I don't think everybody has that discernment on that kind
of stuff, because otherwise, why was Josephi on the one
who could interpret that Pharaoh's dream? And I think there's
just certain people who actually get it of it right,
synapses that snap, and I don't know, how do you explain.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
It right now?
Speaker 2 (27:40):
I mean, I do think it's a gift, and he
gives us all different gifts. But I do know you
can pray. And one of the things she promises when
you have a devotion to this what's cool about being Catholic.
We have a devotion to Mary under the title of
Our Lady of Sorrows, and you pray the Sorrowful Rosary.
One of the things she promises to you is that
she will reveal the hidden things. So when I really
(28:04):
am struggling to try to get a direction or clarity
in my life, I will before I go to bed,
I'll ask the Sorrowful Mother, please reveal to me anything
hidden that I'm.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Not seeing that God wants me to know and make
it clear in a dream.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
And when I say that, man, I tell you I
do have very clear dreams, and it's usually something I
did not know or did not see, and then it
has always turned out.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
To be accurate.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Well, that's good advice for all of love. I think
we know what to do to interpret our dreams. Now, yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Ask the Sorrowful Mother, and you know, have a devotion
to her, And you know, I've even heard you know,
she's so gracious.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Of course, she's filled with humility and just loves God
and wants to help us all. She loves her children.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
But you know, sometimes I don't pray a whole being
lazy and being a you know, human, sometimes I don't
pray the whole sorrowful Rosary, the whole Chapolet.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
But even if you just say, you get a lot
of grace.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
I think if you just say one hell Mary, when
I walk my dog every morning, is when.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
I tend to do it.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I'll say, this is to comfort your heart, Mary, and
to comfort is sacred heart. And I'll just go through
each sorrow, you know, starting with the prophecy of simeon
the journey into Egypt. Each one, there's seven of them,
and you just said one hell Mary. I mean, that's
not hard to do. I do that within five minutes,
and I'm walking my dog and then I feel at
least like I've honored her sorrowful heart a little bit.
(29:19):
I'm given maybe her giving her a little bit of
comfort for the day.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Well that's cool. So I was thinking about this a
couple of days ago, and actually it was kind of
just a snippet on me and Marry, I told you
how God can come to you in that song or
wherever it is right in a movie, and it was
kind of like a cartoon. I guess you'd call it
a clip or something. I was wondering if not next week,
We're gonna have to think about it for a while
and kind of let it like rattle around in our minds.
(29:45):
But I think an interesting discussion be how to pray?
You know, do you really know how you're supposed to pray?
Because you ask a lot of people and they don't
really know. Like I'm I'll include myself. You know, how
are we really supposed to pray? Are we just supposed
to recite? Are we to just talk? Or we you know,
I think that'd be kind of a pretty interesting show
for us to have.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
That would be a great show.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, and there's a lot of different of course Catholic
schools and thoughts on that.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
And you can do the devotions, you can do the
those you know.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Different saints have told us that that's yeah, let's save that,
let's put that in our pocket for that's a very
I think it would be a very helpful and uplifting podcast.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
It's kind of funny it's kind of like one, well
I prayed really hard. Well how do you pray really hurt.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Exactly exactly?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
And like and do you have to hit a quote
a quote every day or do you need I will
say this, Father Rippeger, who's a very well known exorcist,
says that we are not doing justice to God if
we don't at least spend fifteen minutes in prayer every day.
That is the basic level of justice that needs to
be given back to God. And he says that's probably
why every time we you know, you see the Blessed Mother,
(30:57):
she's always saying, and I think all these apparitions, pray
your rosary every day because it takes about fifteen minutes,
and so she's wanting us to at least give God
basic justice.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Yeah, nothing, and you don't. I mean, once you do
it every day, you realize that if you don't do it,
you feel like you're missing something. I done something today
and it's kind of like, oh, I really haven't really
talked to God today.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Yeah, there is an emptiness and kind of for me
feeling a little bit off.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
It feels off track until I.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yeah, you got there's a feeling of be an empty
and off track for me personally when I haven't prayed
it yet.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
And it's not too hard just to turn off all
the background noise. And you know, these people will sit there,
they transcendental meditation and all that kind of stuff. Well
you really, you know, it's if you want peace, just
sit there and turn off the TV and just say, hey, God,
thanks for today. You know, right, I'm kind of can't
figure this one out. And you know, after a couple
(31:54):
of minutes later, you just get up and go about
your day and you just feel better.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Well, and that's so funny. It's just so cool. All
the holy It's flowing. Because I was on my front
porch I had just prayed my Rosary this morning, and
my neighbor walks by, who has an autistic son. He's Catholic,
and what we ended up talking about was he was
talking about how autistic people are very unique and special,
that they have such a childlike almost vulnerability and innocence
(32:21):
to them. And he said, you know, my boy knows
whose name Leo, by the way, He's like, he knows
he's autistic, but he has no concept that other people.
I mean, you can look at him and tell he's autistic,
but he always thinks he needs to tell people.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
He's autistic because he doesn't have any self.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Aware and he doesn't think that anybody would know that
if he doesn't tell them. And so that led us
into a conversation about how we all need to be
more childlike and come to God like his little children.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah, and actually not only Jesus, but I mean his apostles,
And I mean how many times in the Bible that
they refer to us as you know, children, you know,
all you children and children. I mean they hour for
Paul and Peter, all of them. Basically, if you read
their their books and the bustles and stuff, you know
they're constantly calling it's children exactly.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
And I'm sure in God's oz we are children because
he's so much bigger and wiser and he knows, you know.
It's like it's like he's God's dealing with like how
we feel when we're dealing with a two year old, right,
Like they're limited knowledge and they just don't understand everything.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
And I'm going to have to help you out because
if I don't.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
You're not going to get there exactly. Now, this is
totally not biblical, it's not anything. But we're there, and
since we're getting ready to wrap the show up anyway,
I thought i'd tell it. It was doctor and my
brother and his wife. They adopted a new dog, a
Great Dane, so it's already huge at only fifteen weeks
old and all this kind of stuff, and I go, well,
(33:46):
you have to really, and they're, God, this dog is
just we have to realize just because it's three feet high,
it's still fourteen weeks old, you know, just because it's big.
You know, he's still got to make Yeah, he's still
a puppy man. You have to realize that.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
He goes.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
I know I'm trying, but you don't understand how big
this dog is and all that kind of stuff because
I don't know about and he was talking, well, you're
a cat person, and I was going, well, yeah, they
just show up, but okay, I'm a cat person, and
it was kind of reflecting. I think dogs, since were
you brought it up. I think dogs are kind of
like elementary school kids, and I think cats are like
(34:21):
teenagers are getting ready to graduate high school. You know,
the dog you still have to be around all the
time and everything like that, and they're happy to see you.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Where cats you they're sweet.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yeah, cats, you can kind of leave them alone. And
the only thing you can actually leave them alone. They
might trash your house or you gone, but you know
you can still leave the cat alone.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
Right.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
So I think the cats are the teenagers and dogs
are basically elementary school kids.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
That's actually pretty good analogy, Jeff, I'll give you that one.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
I had nothing to do with Jesus or anything, but hey.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
So just he created all of us, right, He created
the dogs and the cats.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Too, exactly right, And I can't wait to again next time.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Stephan, thank you all for tuning in today with Jeff
and Stephan these days, and just remember we're all in
it together.
Well, hi, and welcome to these days. I am Jeff,
and I have an awesome coz as you guys know,
your name is Stephanie. She'll be joining us in a minute.
So we're here to talk to you about from a
Catholic perspective. We're going to talk about Bible history and
mysticism all that, steph How our things going out there
in the volunteer State and going good?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Jeff, it's hot and humid as usual. You walk outside
and you've got glasses or sunglasses on there immediately fogged up.
But we're getting through it. Last days of summer, right,
How are things and buyers?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Oh Colorado? Well, last time we talked it was all
kind of cold and rainy, but now we're back up
to the mid nineties and all this. The thing is
the western part of Colorado, it's all burning. There's forest
fire is really they have one of the fifth biggest
first fire in Colorado history burning out there right a
little town called Meeker. And as all the hell they're
going through over there, we have had the most beautiful sunsets,
(01:00):
all that smoke and everything. As the sun's coming, as
the sun's going down behind the mountains, you just all
different kinds of colors and especially red and all that.
So I don't know, maybe there is a shining light
and all the with all those people on the West
slopes suffering with it.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah, that's kind of.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Like the theme of our show today, right, How even
in the midst of trials and tribulations, there's always some
kind of beauty or comfort or something that God supplies, right.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yeah, He doesn't just leave me out there all the time.
And U think what got when I kind of brought
up today's stam. You know, it's kind of amazing how
God he'll talk to you, ask him questions. You don't
have to be in the church on your knees, you know,
praying hard and all that kind of stuff. It's amazing
how he'll just talk to you, like I got. I
was listening to the radio other day and this song
came on and say, up all the straight and manroad
(01:45):
when you don't know where you are, to use the
needle of your.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Comforts to sew up your broken heart. The rest directions
from a genie and a bottle of.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Gim beament, do you wam you learn the truth?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
You're going through hell? Sheep boll go bll slowed down
after skinned no, show you mine more than ever even know.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
That.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Sure, it's kind of a pop little country here, but
to me it spoke to me. It kind of let
me know that, you know, God's not always going to
solve your problems, but he's you're going to give you
peace as you're going through the Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Exactly, Yeah, I love what you said that it doesn't
have to be on your knees at church to hear
guidance or direction. My my best friend I grew up
with in Texas surprised me and came into town last
weekend and just to prove your point, Like, she doesn't
go to church, she wouldn't really consider herself religious, but
she literally said something to me that I don't think.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
You know, ten years of therapy wouldn't have been as good.
She said.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
She was like, well, you know, sometimes when God wants
you to go through a door, if you're a hesitant
or you're not really getting the message, or you're not
willing to walk through it, sometimes he has to push
you through it, right, And I was like, wow, that's
pretty why some profound.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Not only push something, they kicks you in the butt too.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Sometimes he pushes you pretty hard through, don't it's.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Gonna well, I guess I'm going this.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Way, yeah exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
But he I think, well, like that song said, you're
not gonna find your answers in the battle of gymbing.
But if you're if you're asking God and you're turning
to God and you're open, he will guide you.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
And you're right.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
It can come through a song, it can come through
a person reading the scripture, of course, but nature, yeah,
I mean, you just got to be open, keep your
eyes open right, and be aware, keep your heart open.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And what I think what really kind of got me is,
you know, it's just a catchy country song, you know,
try and get a good hook in so that the
people want to sing one something on that. But you think,
right before the hook, right there, he says, when you
when you stray off the net straight and narrow, And
that's kind of what I think. What kind of I
you don't know the hook but I hadn't really paid
much attention. Is when you stray off the straight and narrow,
(03:54):
you know, then that's kind of when you need God to.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Boast right and he always he seems to work the
best with us in our broken brokenness or in our despair.
Sometimes I really think he does strip everything away that
we might get comfort or security in just to remind
us that, hey, I put me first and I will.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Come through for you.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
He doesn't leave us hanging.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
No, he doesn't do that, not at all, and that
it feels like it sometimes though, I mean, I think
everybody's kind of Hey, you know, Jesus said, all I
have to do is ask what's going on?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I'm asking, right, And sometimes we like expect the immediate
result and it's not. Well, I'll give you a personal story.
I've been kind of in that situation now. But I'm
going to tell you a story from the past, because sometimes,
you know, hindsight's twenty twenty. We can really see how
he worked when we look back at our life, even
more so than what we're going through right now. But
there was a time when I first moved here and
(04:49):
I had gotten a job as an apartment leasing person,
my first job here in leasing.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
And when I first moved here, I was.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Living with a girl named Tammy, and she was married
to the drummer of Ricochet. I don't know if you
remember Ricochet. They were a country band. I was there
through the beginning of them getting signed with Sony Records
and in the studio when they recorded their album at
their at their release party, it was kind of cool
to move here as a songwriter and just immediately God
(05:17):
had me in that environment. And Tammy and Jeff both
really nice people. They had a town home. I had
the upstairs, they had the downstairs.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
But you know, as the music.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Industry goes and how life is hard, they found theirself
going through a divorce. So I just realized there's two
ways God brought comfort in this situation. Because I had
gotten this job at the apartments, Tammy and I, even
though she was going through obviously a very difficult time
going through a divorce, we were able to move into
a two bedroom and that kind of just worked out
and flowed effortlessly.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
So we moved. We get out of the townhome, move into.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
This two bedroom apartment, and she's getting her degree in
music business at Belmont. We're living there. I'm working there.
I had met a French family that kind of took
me in because I was really missing home and missing
my family. So they had lost the father of the family.
It was a mom, but she cooked and a son
and a daughter, So I become like I became part
of their family. That I went over there for dinner
(06:11):
I think every night, and she had a little glass
of wine and would cook very simple but very comforting meals.
And so God was providing me comfort while I was
missing my family. He provided us a place to live.
He was providing obviously income and a place for Tammy
to heal from her divorce and get through school. And
then lo and behold. As it turned out, the manager
of my job, she was going through a divorce.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Now I get how devastating that is.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So she wasn't showing up for work a lot, and
that was really just too much stress on the assistant manager, who,
you know, one day I called in sick. I was
really sick. I wasn't faking it or anything like. I'm
a hard worker.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
I've never called in.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Sick just to you know, take some time off. But
so the assistant manager just like totally went off on me.
She was just stressed because everything was kind of falling
on her with the manager not showing up. And I
get it now, like she just kind of went off
on me. And you know, being twenty two at the time,
I went off on her back, and I was like,
I can't work here.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I quit.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So I quit my job a month before Christmas, get
us kicked out of our apartment. And God was reminding
me of this as I'm going through this season in
my life right now, which is in pretty rough and
pretty bare, like the wilderness season. I guess they call
it so here. I am twenty two. My roommate's kind
of counting on me for a place to live. She's
going through divorce. I get us kicked out of our
(07:26):
apartment at Christmas. We have thirty days to get out,
and I don't have a job, and it's Christmas. And
by the end of the day, and God doesn't always
show up this quickly, but raise be to God that
he did this. She was also managing the doctor's office,
and so she was pretty upset with me, obviously, But
by the end of the day she called me and
she was like, well, her exact words, this is pretty funny.
(07:48):
This is how comical I think God has a since humor.
Her exact words were, I know you don't like kids,
But Nancy showed up at work in tears today. Nancy
was the doctor's wife, and she was like, Nancy shows
up in tears because her nanny's in jail and she
needs a nanny. And I know you don't like kids,
but you need a job. Do you want to do
this at least until you find something. And I was like, yeah, sure,
and of course I do like kids now, But I
(08:10):
was twenty two. I was young and you know, stupid
at the time, so I didn't even go a whole
day without a job. The next Nancy said, come to
the house in the morning, and so I go to
the house and this.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Is just the beauty of God.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I get there and she was like kind of motioned
for me to come on in. You know, it was
in November. The beautiful I remember, like, this house was
a beautiful mansion and the orange and gold leaves were
all over the porch, and she was on the phone
in the kitchen and kind of wait for me to
come on in, said she'd be off in a minute.
So I walk in and I see Chandler. Who's this
little eight month old little girl wearing nothing but a diaper,
(08:43):
and she had just pulled herself up on the coffee
table Like this stands out in my mind really vivid,
and she just gave me the biggest smile, and I
felt like I'd known her my whole life, and it
was just like obviously a divine destiny thing that.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
You know, God knows everything. He knew that I was
going to lose my job at Chrismus, and he already.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Had a plan, And like that's the thing. God already
knows everything we're going to go through. He already has
a plan for our good and for his glory. And
I looked at Chandler and she smiled this great, big
smile and just held her arms out to me for
me to pick her up. And I pick her up
and I walk it, picked her up like I've just
known her my whole life. I felt so comfortable with
this child from the beginning. I walk into the kitchen
(09:21):
and Nancy gets off the phone and she was just like,
are you kidding me? She says, she never lets anyone
hold her, So you know, there's a God moment there.
And long story short, what was supposed to be a
temporary job. I was there for three and a half years.
I became part of their family. Chandler was, you know,
still is a very good friend of mine. She ended
up getting cancer in her college years. She was supposed
(09:44):
to die. It was a rare form of cancer. She'd
beat it, and then once again, God shows up with
his divine grace. She ends up going back to Belmont
becoming an on collegey nurse. They told her she'd never
have children because of the harsh treatment she had to
go through. Now now she's a mom, she's she's a nurse,
two children with cancer, and I.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Mean, you can just see God all over.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I mean, not only did he provide me a family
and a job and a connection that's been a lifelong friend,
and then look what he did in her life.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
It's just it just goes on and on.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, that is pretty, That is really cool. You can
definitely tell that's the whole thing. Like you said, you
look back at that time, it didn't make any sense
to you at all. This isn't working at all, and
then oh okay, I got everything out of it.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Exactly Like he can turn the worst moments into the
best moments. And it's the place I just want to
encourage everybody that's going through a difficult time right now.
You know, don't forget that God is going to show up.
Even though it looks dark, it might look awful, He's faithful,
He's going to show up.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
He has a plan.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
We've talked about this before, but I think one big
thing too is you have to keep yourself open because
lots of times God will offer some for you, and
if you're not paying attention and not looking for it,
a little go to school right on past you and
you'll miss the opportunity that He was sending you to.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, that's a good point because I could have said, yeah,
you're right, I don't like kids, I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Do that job. Yeah I could.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah, I was like humbled. I think that's a huge thing.
And I think that's a lot of the reason why
God allows for us to go through a lot of
the things we go through is to humble us, because
He really can't work with us at all.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Right, if we're not.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Humble, well, not that I mean you just in your
own personal life, like I work and all that kind
of stuff. If somebody who's full of themselves, you can't
work with them, and it's just you can't do it.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
No, you can't.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
You can't talk to them, they can never see where
they're wrong. And you know, like I feel like that's
been the last three years of my life. As God
has been humbling me to really focus on myself and
not not look.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
At other people.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
It's so easy to look at other people and be like, oh,
what their law or they're doing this wrong, But when
you look it's actually so much more peaceful when you
look at yourself, because you can't control other people.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
No, you can't change other people, but well you can
change is yourself. And if you can just stick.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
With God every day and you know, like I think
I mentioned to the scripture that keeps coming up to
me every time I'm opened the Bible is be still
and know that I'm God, And.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
That's He's talked to me. So much more.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
It's more, it's a lot deeper than just you know,
be still and God's going to come to the rescue.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
You know He's going to show up for you.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
It's really like when you're in that really still place
and you're just I don't know, when you're just like
I think, I don't know for me, like it's just
like knowing that you really don't need anything but God
and everything else does get added to you. When when
you're only like in that still place, only seeking God
and trying to be humble and look at your own
faults and take responsibility and just ask God, you know,
(12:34):
what do you want me to do today? What do
you want me to do right now? Like I'm here,
you know, I'm here, I'm listening.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
What do you what do you want from me?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
You know?
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I think I think I'm like a lot of people
that all humble myself and ask God, you know, what
do you want? And all this kind of stuff in
my life starts going in a certain direction and I'm
not humbled enough. I don't have the humility where I'm
I don't want to go in this direction, so I
kind of of course screw everything up, and it's kind
of like going, well, you know, I should have should
(13:02):
have just kept going that way exactly.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
We do that.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
We're human and that's part of I think our human brokenness,
our original sin or whatever.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
But like as soon as life.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Starts going good, it's just like a default setting to
start getting full of ourselves thinking we don't need God
running off in the wrong direction instead of like stay
is so hard to stay in that place where you
know you're constantly seeking his will.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I guess, yeah, And it's kind of like I'm not
saying they would have been lifelong nates or anything, or
husband their wives or anything. But when you look back
at like we we're like in high school and right
out of high school and all that, you might have
the most perfect Like for me, it would be a
girl who got she was just everything right, but she
just didn't seem to check what I thought was the
(13:46):
right boxes. And you look back and he right, you know,
she would have probably been pretty good. You'd have been
better than I was with after that, right, right?
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Hindsight's twenty twenty, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah, that's the only thing I heard. A pretty good quote.
Life is the only place where you have to take
the test before you get to study.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yeah, that's it, that's true. I have.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
That just reminds me of a recurring dream I have.
I haven't had it in a long time, thank god,
but I think it. I think I have it during
these times when I'm like scared and feeling unprepared. But
it's like I'm going to play and I show up
on stage and I don't realize until I'm in front
of all the people that nobody ever gave me the script.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
I don't know what to say, I don't know what
to do.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
No that's it. That's just like life. You they say,
here's your test. Okay, now we'll give you the study
of the material afterwards.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Right totally, Okay. You know God does show those little signs.
I mean there's just like been so many little signs
in my life recently that you have to have discernment
because the enemy is going to throw stuff in there too,
So you do have to pray for discernment. And I
think a good prayer is always like keep whatever door
shut that you don't want me to walk through, and
open the doors that you do want me to walk through.
(14:52):
But yeah, there's like little things like somebody will show
up that you haven't talked to and forever that you
don't normally talk to, and they have that exact message
that's hopeful and encouraging, and you know.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
It's from God.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You just feel it when it hits you know, like
it was hopeful, it was encouraging, it was exactly what
you needed to hear it, and it was kind of
out of the blue, and then you kind of, I
don't know, those those are cool little God moments.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah, and he I actually worked the opposite way of
what you said about because I actually not too long ago.
I actually connected with somebody that I hadn't seen or
talked to in about fifteen years, and all of a sudden,
the next thing I knew, I was like, going, now,
I know I haven't talked to him in fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Such a drag trying to drag you down. You know,
one of those people that automatically everything goes back to them.
You know, it's right, I'll ask you how you doing well,
I'm doing okay, Well I'm not here, you know, and
everything they do drags you down and all that kind
of stuff, and it's kind of like, well, I'm glad
you're doing good, but I know why I'm not going
to talk to you for another fifteen years exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And actually it's part of that discernment because when I
say that girl called me that I hadn't talked to
that I grew up with, she had that message I
needed to hear that. And this is different from the
girl I saw last weekend that actually came to town.
But you know, the one that just called me and
had the message I needed to hear. She calls like
two months later and was just negative and accusing and blaming,
and I called you, I left your message, you didn't
(16:15):
call me back.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I mean, she was just and I had the exact
same reaction, like, yeah, I know, I don't talk to
you all the time.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
But that just goes to show when God wants to
get a message through, he can work.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Through anyone though, right, even even somebody that may.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Not see where you're not going to go like this, right, see,
I'm showing you where to go, but this is why
you don't want to go back that way exactly. You
could telling me the other day about a psalm. It
seems like I don't know if you have like a
bookmark there, but every time you open your Bible, you
actually open to it.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Which one was it?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
It was like some forty six or something like that.
I don't remember.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, that's the still and know that I'm gone, yeah,
and it's you know, after I read it, and I
keep getting it from different sources, like someone will say
it to me, I'll see it somewhere.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Like keeps like reiterating it.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
So you do. And I think that's one thing people
need to know. God loves to confirm his word. He's
not a god of confusion. So if he really is
trying to give you a message, he will confirm it
if you're open and paying attention multiple ways. And after
I read it last night, I did it again, opened
up the Bible. I pray, well, I prayed first, what
do you want me to know?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
And I opened up to Psalm forty six and something, for.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Some reason, it was like I heard my guardian angel,
or maybe it was the Holy Spirit. I had thought, well,
this is you know, in the Bible several times it
says several times I think that to be still, know
that I'm God. And that voice challenged me and said,
we'll google it. See how many times this.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Exact word is in the Bible. And I googled it
and it's only in Psalm forty six. As famous as
that that is, there's nowhere else in the Bible.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
And I open it up to that page all the time,
and there's nowhere else in the Bible that says be
still and know that I'm God. There are other scriptures
that say something similar, maybe like stand still and see
the saving power of God, or you know, something like that,
but only.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
In Soul in forty six does it say be still
and know that I Am God.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
So when you open it up, does it freaky out
that it always open as or more comforting and reassuring
that you're opening up to it.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It's comforting and reassuring. Like I said, my life is
pretty mystical. I do tend to I tend to sense
God's what he's saying to me.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Pretty you know.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I went back last night and looked through all my dreams.
I've been keeping like a dream journal, and it's amazing
how many dreams I have had that have come to pass.
One came to pass just a few days ago, and
I had dreamt it a year ago to the date.
That's what's freaky when you look at a dream and
then it comes to pass a year ago to the date.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
So a lot of times, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
God will give me dreams that and I know not
everybody relates to that. Not everybody is a prophetic dreamer.
Maybe why I feel close to Saint Joseph because he
was a prophetic dreamer. But yeah, I mean a lot
of times God is always affirming things to me in
my dreams, so I kind of expect him to. What's
the not normal for me is when I'm asking questions
and I'm not getting answers. That's the part that feels
(19:07):
really uncomfortable to me because I'm so used to getting the.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Answers right then are you not getting the answers or
you're not recognizing the answers.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I think sometimes, even especially through this past season, he's
been silent at times because he's trying to grow my faith.
That is the answer that I've gotten, is that when
he's silent, he is growing my faith and he's wanting
me to And you know, the Saints wrote about this.
There were times when they felt God, like God completely
withdrew his presence from them and they didn't have any consolation.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
And I think in those moments, he really.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Is challenging our faith to say, can you still believe
in me? Are you still going to trust that I'm
going to do what I said I'm going to do
and I'm going to fulfill my promises and I'm faithful
even when you know I'm not. You're not really you
don't feel my presence today or you don't you're not
getting any answers from me today.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
No, I agree with you. And that's the hardest season
to be into.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yeah, yeah, it is. It's a test of faith.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
It is definitely a test of faith, just over the
last couple of days, I think I've reached a place
of maybe the next level of peace, being at peace
because I've been This is like a three year journey
for me.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
My faith has really been tested.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
But finally he gave me that consolation of like a
really deep piece of where I don't know exactly how
it's going to unfold or how my future is going
to play out. And that's another thing my friend Misty said,
who came from Texas. She said, well, you know, God
doesn't show us the whole picture, because if he did,
first of all, we'd start trying to control it and
change it, or we'd be scared.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
You'd be things we'd see that we didn't.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Want to know, right, But just to live in the
moment each day and trust him that whatever happens or
whatever he brings before us is his will.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
And you know one thing that you just said about
that is basically what jesus whole ministry was on. I mean,
he was basically saying that's going to suck. You're going
to be persecuted, You're going to have those and I
can't help you with that. But what I can help
you with is I'm going to you peace then, you know,
and they help you.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Through it exactly and he does. Yeah, he gives us
through it. And it reminds me of the Scripture of
I can't remember their names. I've been to go me
Shak and there.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Was like a third one. Do you know that? You
know what the third god's name was?
Speaker 1 (21:13):
No, not right off the end.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Anyway, they were putting the fire right. He even gave
me a dream to confirm this. But like you know,
in Jesus with there were three people in the fire,
but they then they saw four because he was with them.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah, yeah, it's pretty those stories are kind of you know, honestly,
I think I have pretty strong faith, but I don't
we're not because I think we've talked about it before.
I try and like put myself in a different kind
of I know, we're not supposed to we're all supposed
to run her own race and all that kind of stuff.
But sometimes I try and put myself into a situation
think could I have done that? And it's like going,
(21:49):
you know, like David and the Lion or be shoking
to grow and I don't remember go into the furnace,
you know what? Have I had the faith that you know,
to do that night, and most of the time I couldn't.
I don't think I would have.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, but God knows, you know, he knows us, and
he knows what trials are perfect for us, because you know,
you took care of your mom for how many years?
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Well, the last one year was just solid a couple
of years.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Yeah, and I think that's something that I couldn't have done.
Like I do know, when you're taking care of a
loved one and you're watching them decline, that is an
excruciating pain. And then your whole life changes, and you know,
there's like your schedule changes, everything revolves around taking care
of them, and then you're working your whole life. You
still have to make money, you stop a job, whatever,
and then you're kind of reorganizing your schedule around that.
(22:34):
And then you're also dealing with the emotional part of
seeing someone you love and knowing that their time's coming up.
So you know, like, I look at your journey and
the things God has put you through, and I'm sure
you felt his presence with you, and I'm like, wow,
I don't think I could have gotten through that.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
My parents actually.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Died fairly quick, which God knows my weaknesses. I don't
think I could have done what you did, and so
like keep God's like, all right, so I'm going to
take your parents out pretty quick. They're going to go
six weeks apart. And you know, it was pretty fast,
but that was its own kind of hard harshness. But yeah,
I guess he just knows, he knows what.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
We can handle.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
This is going to sound really goofy, but during the day,
basically for retirees and all that kind of stuff, they're
stations that just played like TV shows, like old westerns
and that kind of stuff, you know, and you can
tell from you can tell from the commercials it's they're
made for the retirees.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
They're all AARP ads and they're all life insurance ads,
and they are all ads for wanting money, and a
lot you see a lot of those from like Danny
Thomas's hospital or the Shriners and all that kind of stuff.
We'd walk. You know, it was a day of like,
oh man, I'm kind of tired. And you know, it's
like you think about it and you watch her and
you don't even think she's really paying any attention to
(23:47):
it or knows what's going on. On the TV. She
had dementia, and you don't know what she even knows,
but that she seems to okay whatever she likes the
screen or whatever. Whenever they'd have one of those commercials
for like Children's Hospital or the Shriners and those kids
would come on, she would sit there and wave with
those little kids, you know, and all that kind of stuff,
and so that would kind of get my attention. I'd
watch those commercials, those parents going through all that horrible
(24:10):
stuff with their kids, and the cancers and the deformities
and all that kind of stuff, and honestly, in my mind,
I was kind of when I'm going through with her,
to me, what those parents are going through with those
kids was nothing. So whenever I kind of felt, you know,
I guess selfish that man, why do I have to
do this? I would think of those parents going through
that with their kids, and I thought, this isn't nothing
compared to that, right.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
And that's yeah, that reminds me. And it just goes
to show back to our theme of our God is
in control. He's there, he's he has a plan, he already.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Knows what you're going to go through. The last three days.
In my mom's life.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I did fly to Texas and she was in ICU
and she died of COPD. So she had a breathing
tube down her throat and she, you know, like it
was like the day they decided that they were going
to take the breathing tube out, and she was uncont
from She was conscious the whole time I was there
till that day, and then that day she was not
conscious and the doctors basically had to pull me and
(25:03):
my dad into a room. It was so horrible watching
him go through that of them saying, we're going to
take the breathing to you bout and she's there's no
hope for her to recover and let her die in
natural death, right, So they did that, and then I
was in the room and like I said, she had
not been conscious conscious all day, never did regain consciousness
before she died.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
But the moment my dad walked in and you couldn't
hear there was not a sound.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I mean, I remember I saw him walk in, but
he didn't make a sound. He walked in and sat
down in the chair across from her bed. She sits
straight up, opens her eyes, waves just this.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Little flick of her hand like seea. And there was
nothing sad about it. I mean, there was almost like.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
A I don't even know what it wasn't joyful, but
it was a non sad moment, That's.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
All I can say.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
But she was kind of like seea, like matter of fact,
see Ya lays back down, closes her eyes and never
opened him again, and died at five point fifty five
the next morning.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Man, well, I guess you guys, I guess so they know.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Like you know, people know, and in God's grace, like
he maybe God's grace was that he gave my mom
that one last opportunity and gave my dad that last
opportunity for her to say goodbye. And yeah, it's I mean,
we can't even fathom. We can't even fathom God really
hard with our small, little, puny human minds. I know.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
It's kind of funny because like when you talk about
your dreams and all that they mean stuff, and if
I wrote down tried to write down what I dreamed,
and it's so out there.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Well you have to have to sort of like I've
learned over the years how to interpret my dreams. It's
taken some time. Sometimes my dreams are very literal and
it's not hard to interpret them at all, but then
sometimes they're pretty symbolic and it does take a little,
you know, a little bit of time sitting with God saying, Okay,
what does this represent? You know, like I've come to
represent anytime I'm seeing myself or someone in a shower,
(26:56):
that means you're going through a cleansing process or somebody
washing their hair. It's like a cleansing of the mind,
getting where there might have been mental confusion. They're coming
out of mental confusion and the mind getting clear. You know.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
That kind of stuff is what God's taught me how.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
To interpret my dreams. But yeah, I love dreaming. I
feel like I'm clocking in for work at night. When
I go to sleep, I'm like, all right, I'm on
the time clock. You know, this is where I figured
out my life.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
God, what do you got for me?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Yeah? Well, I think you're unique, though I don't think.
I don't think everybody has that discernment on that kind
of stuff, because otherwise, why was Josephi on the one
who could interpret that Pharaoh's dream? And I think there's
just certain people who actually get it of it right,
synapses that snap, and I don't know, how do you explain.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
It right now?
Speaker 2 (27:40):
I mean, I do think it's a gift, and he
gives us all different gifts. But I do know you
can pray. And one of the things she promises when
you have a devotion to this what's cool about being Catholic.
We have a devotion to Mary under the title of
Our Lady of Sorrows, and you pray the Sorrowful Rosary.
One of the things she promises to you is that
she will reveal the hidden things. So when I really
(28:04):
am struggling to try to get a direction or clarity
in my life, I will before I go to bed,
I'll ask the Sorrowful Mother, please reveal to me anything
hidden that I'm.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Not seeing that God wants me to know and make
it clear in a dream.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
And when I say that, man, I tell you I
do have very clear dreams, and it's usually something I
did not know or did not see, and then it
has always turned out.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
To be accurate.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Well, that's good advice for all of love. I think
we know what to do to interpret our dreams. Now, yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Ask the Sorrowful Mother, and you know, have a devotion
to her, And you know, I've even heard you know,
she's so gracious.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Of course, she's filled with humility and just loves God
and wants to help us all. She loves her children.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
But you know, sometimes I don't pray a whole being
lazy and being a you know, human, sometimes I don't
pray the whole sorrowful Rosary, the whole Chapolet.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
But even if you just say, you get a lot
of grace.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
I think if you just say one hell Mary, when
I walk my dog every morning, is when.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
I tend to do it.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I'll say, this is to comfort your heart, Mary, and
to comfort is sacred heart. And I'll just go through
each sorrow, you know, starting with the prophecy of simeon
the journey into Egypt. Each one, there's seven of them,
and you just said one hell Mary. I mean, that's
not hard to do. I do that within five minutes,
and I'm walking my dog and then I feel at
least like I've honored her sorrowful heart a little bit.
(29:19):
I'm given maybe her giving her a little bit of
comfort for the day.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Well that's cool. So I was thinking about this a
couple of days ago, and actually it was kind of
just a snippet on me and Marry, I told you
how God can come to you in that song or
wherever it is right in a movie, and it was
kind of like a cartoon. I guess you'd call it
a clip or something. I was wondering if not next week,
We're gonna have to think about it for a while
and kind of let it like rattle around in our minds.
(29:45):
But I think an interesting discussion be how to pray?
You know, do you really know how you're supposed to pray?
Because you ask a lot of people and they don't
really know. Like I'm I'll include myself. You know, how
are we really supposed to pray? Are we just supposed
to recite? Are we to just talk? Or we you know,
I think that'd be kind of a pretty interesting show
for us to have.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
That would be a great show.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, and there's a lot of different of course Catholic
schools and thoughts on that.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
And you can do the devotions, you can do the
those you know.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Different saints have told us that that's yeah, let's save that,
let's put that in our pocket for that's a very
I think it would be a very helpful and uplifting podcast.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
It's kind of funny it's kind of like one, well
I prayed really hard. Well how do you pray really hurt.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Exactly exactly?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
And like and do you have to hit a quote
a quote every day or do you need I will
say this, Father Rippeger, who's a very well known exorcist,
says that we are not doing justice to God if
we don't at least spend fifteen minutes in prayer every day.
That is the basic level of justice that needs to
be given back to God. And he says that's probably
why every time we you know, you see the Blessed Mother,
(30:57):
she's always saying, and I think all these apparitions, pray
your rosary every day because it takes about fifteen minutes,
and so she's wanting us to at least give God
basic justice.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Yeah, nothing, and you don't. I mean, once you do
it every day, you realize that if you don't do it,
you feel like you're missing something. I done something today
and it's kind of like, oh, I really haven't really
talked to God today.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Yeah, there is an emptiness and kind of for me
feeling a little bit off.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
It feels off track until I.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yeah, you got there's a feeling of be an empty
and off track for me personally when I haven't prayed
it yet.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
And it's not too hard just to turn off all
the background noise. And you know, these people will sit there,
they transcendental meditation and all that kind of stuff. Well
you really, you know, it's if you want peace, just
sit there and turn off the TV and just say, hey, God,
thanks for today. You know, right, I'm kind of can't
figure this one out. And you know, after a couple
(31:54):
of minutes later, you just get up and go about
your day and you just feel better.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Well, and that's so funny. It's just so cool. All
the holy It's flowing. Because I was on my front
porch I had just prayed my Rosary this morning, and
my neighbor walks by, who has an autistic son. He's Catholic,
and what we ended up talking about was he was
talking about how autistic people are very unique and special,
that they have such a childlike almost vulnerability and innocence
(32:21):
to them. And he said, you know, my boy knows
whose name Leo, by the way, He's like, he knows
he's autistic, but he has no concept that other people.
I mean, you can look at him and tell he's autistic,
but he always thinks he needs to tell people.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
He's autistic because he doesn't have any self.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Aware and he doesn't think that anybody would know that
if he doesn't tell them. And so that led us
into a conversation about how we all need to be
more childlike and come to God like his little children.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah, and actually not only Jesus, but I mean his apostles,
And I mean how many times in the Bible that
they refer to us as you know, children, you know,
all you children and children. I mean they hour for
Paul and Peter, all of them. Basically, if you read
their their books and the bustles and stuff, you know
they're constantly calling it's children exactly.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
And I'm sure in God's oz we are children because
he's so much bigger and wiser and he knows, you know.
It's like it's like he's God's dealing with like how
we feel when we're dealing with a two year old, right,
Like they're limited knowledge and they just don't understand everything.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
And I'm going to have to help you out because
if I don't.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
You're not going to get there exactly. Now, this is
totally not biblical, it's not anything. But we're there, and
since we're getting ready to wrap the show up anyway,
I thought i'd tell it. It was doctor and my
brother and his wife. They adopted a new dog, a
Great Dane, so it's already huge at only fifteen weeks
old and all this kind of stuff, and I go, well,
(33:46):
you have to really, and they're, God, this dog is
just we have to realize just because it's three feet high,
it's still fourteen weeks old, you know, just because it's big.
You know, he's still got to make Yeah, he's still
a puppy man. You have to realize that.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
He goes.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
I know I'm trying, but you don't understand how big
this dog is and all that kind of stuff because
I don't know about and he was talking, well, you're
a cat person, and I was going, well, yeah, they
just show up, but okay, I'm a cat person, and
it was kind of reflecting. I think dogs, since were
you brought it up. I think dogs are kind of
like elementary school kids, and I think cats are like
(34:21):
teenagers are getting ready to graduate high school. You know,
the dog you still have to be around all the
time and everything like that, and they're happy to see you.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Where cats you they're sweet.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yeah, cats, you can kind of leave them alone. And
the only thing you can actually leave them alone. They
might trash your house or you gone, but you know
you can still leave the cat alone.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
Right.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
So I think the cats are the teenagers and dogs
are basically elementary school kids.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
That's actually pretty good analogy, Jeff, I'll give you that one.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
I had nothing to do with Jesus or anything, but hey.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
So just he created all of us, right, He created
the dogs and the cats.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Too, exactly right, And I can't wait to again next time.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Stephan, thank you all for tuning in today with Jeff
and Stephan these days, and just remember we're all in
it together.
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