Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wouldn't it be nice if every now and then life
allowed us to just slow down and pull over, turn
off the car, take a real look at the world
around us, reflect on our lives, our choices, the things
that make us happy, the things that make us sad
or afraid. Wonder if the road we're on will actually
take us home. Let's admit things have been better. Our
(00:22):
nation is split in half. We don't really like each
other much, so busy trying to win arguments, we've stopped
listening to each other. We don't trust each other. We
assign sinister motives to everything the other guy does. Rich
people think poor people just take. Poor people think rich
people have too much and don't share. Over the last
(00:43):
couple of generations, we've made some bad choices. The nobility
in using our nation's vast wealth to lift some out
of poverty has largely created a class of the permanently dependent.
For fifty years, we've turned public schools into day care centers.
Kids get dropped off before sun up retrieved its sun down.
We've made teachers into social workers probation officers, and yet
(01:06):
complain about what our kids aren't learning. The sacred institutions.
Congress the media of the church has lied to, misled
and mistreated US. Americans are overweight, over medicated, and overconsumed,
talked into buying things we don't need, can't afford, plunging
us into one trillion dollars in credit card debt. But
(01:28):
perhaps the common denominator in the fissure of the nation,
I believe has been the slow but steady drift away
from God the Almighty. For fifty years, we've been trying
to prove to ourselves we don't need Him. We got
this seems. We think we're smart enough, sophisticated enough, and
tech savvy enough to go it alone. Heck, we've made
(01:49):
machines that'll think for us, make decisions for us, write
notes for us, even drive the car. And yet a
whole lot of us are lost and don't even know it.
All Right about now, you're thinking, and yeah, for that guy,
But I'm fine, Really, Jim Rose is one of the
lucky ones. For the second year in a row, I
got to spend three days trying to find my way
(02:10):
by asking him for directions, a three day retreat at
the Cloisters on the Plat. This is the sprawling three
hundred acre reserve on the rolling hills above the Platt
River near Springfield. It's a natural sanctuary of streams, lakes, trees,
walking trails, wild flowers and wild life. Omaha philanthropist Joe Ricketts,
(02:31):
a devout follower, imagined it and then use some of
his billions to turn his vision into reality. Today, Cloisters
on the Plat is a physical monument to the power
of prayer. Each weekend of the year, around eighty of
the lost spend two and a half days there. Room
board meals, access spiritual programs free of charge, very few rules,
(02:53):
just one. Really, you're only allowed to talk to one guy.
Him Now the fortunate among us to be able to
spend this time in silent conversation with God. Eventually hear
him loud and clear. He reveals himself with lessons like
how life is to be lived forward, but from each
of our experiences is only understood backwards. How some of
(03:17):
us have made secondary gifts our jobs, big houses, phones,
cool cars, boats, stuff the object of our focus. We
fill our time with acquisitions, pursuing satisfaction that only comes
from more acquisition. There's a name for it, spiritual poverty,
when in fact, pure happiness comes from family, friends, volunteerism, humility,
(03:40):
and gratitude. If him and I commit to some straight
talk between friends, I learned that even with GPS and
a concealed carry permit, I need to be found and
made safe. If we give him a chance. God reminds
us to stop now and again, turn around and see
how he looks at us. You have to have a
(04:00):
personal intimate relationship first. That means sharing everything and offering
pure forgiveness to those who have done us harm. Book
of Luke, chapter six. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
And then we begin to experience his infinite love, which
is the only fuel that will power us through. On
(04:21):
the way home, go ahead, pull over. Look up this
old friend. I promise he's always got time to talk.