Ep 1331 | Mia Graduates College — Then Jase Pulls a Stunt Nobody Expected

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back to Unashamed. We left a little bit of a cliffhanger on the last episode, I think, fellas, because y'all were headed, Jace was headed off to Nashville to meet Zach and his family, and Jace, you were meeting your family. There was a big crawfish bowl. You were, you had hesitation because Zach was involved in the process. The story was Zach somehow got deemed the one who was going to cook the crawfish, of which I opposed some concerns about that. And then when I talked to Zach on the podcast, he said, because I had a meeting on the podcast. I got a guy who was Ben. And so we gathered at my son's house on Friday night, the day before graduation. And Zach, to his credit, his guy pulled it off. Now I have a few pictures because Zach had to be, he had to kind of, the politician was coming out in him. Ben did all the work, but every time I looked around, Zach was like creating a photo shoot. So I started taking pictures of a guy looking like he knew what he was doing. Here's a various assortment of those pictures that I was seeing that you can see. So while you're looking at those, that fairness to Zach, Jace, he did run for Congress. And I've noticed that people that run for Congress find a way to get in every picture. That's not how it happened. The guy who actually did the work is not in any pictures that I took because every time I went to take one, Zach moved over. Like, got in the way. That's not true. Now it's all making sense because I never, Jace doesn't take pictures. First of all, the fact that he had his camera out, he said, I didn't get my camera, I'll take some pictures. He was planning to set me up the whole time. So yeah, let me get my phone. I gotta get some pictures in here. I was like, oh, he's gonna give me credit on the, I'm literally done. Zach, have you ever known Jace to be the photo dog at any event? Was he ever known? I've never seen him. I've never seen him take a picture. That's why when he was pulled out his camera, I was like, well, maybe he's going to actually give me credit for something. I didn't know it was a setup for just blatant lies. Well, it's just so funny. When we were doing something that's not typically done, we were having a crawfish bowl with a large group of people. I didn't realize that ex-family had gotten so big. And we had shrimp too. We did it in Tennessee. So it was weird because there were people coming around like wondering what was going on and they're like, what are those things? And they're called crawfish or mud bugs. Well, the funny thing about it is we get, so we get there, I drive in, Jace came late and Missy sends me a text and says, can you or Ben pick up the crawfish? They're already paid for, which is good. That's a good sign. I'm already, I'm already in. When the tax on board, I'm on board. So then she sends me this seafood marketplace. And so I'm thinking, well, yeah, I'll pick him up. So I drive to the seafood market and there's no seafood market. Like there's nothing, literally, it's like, I'm like, I want to tell you, I'm not kidding. We wound up in the back of an alley and there's nothing around. And I'm like, what? And there's no seafood, but I'm looking on the phone and I'm clearly at the place that it says to go to. And all of a sudden I see Ben, because Ben met me over there. I see Ben walk around the corner of a van, like a big box van. And I'm like, I'll throw up my hands kind of like, what? What's going on? And he's like, and he points at the van unmarked. The van's completely unmarked. It's just like a box van. It's called smuggling. Oh yeah. That's what we do. When you think about crawfish, because crawfish, it's better than drugs. But what do you do if you don't live in Louisiana or, you know, South Mississippi? Well, this is what you do. You got involved in crawfish smuggling. Which is legal, by the way. The guy pops out of the van and had a side door and he's like, hey, yeah. And he's like, and he's like, you got a cooler. I might not have a cooler. I just told him, pick up a sack of crawfish. He said, well, you got 50 pounds. It's going to be a sack and a half. But I only got like, where are these are going to be? We're going to have to like put these in something. You got a box. I got nothing, man. I mean, that's not how we do business. You know, and so we're like going back and forth and the thing was refrigerated. The truck was. And so he basically had a half of a, he had a big sack, which is 40 pounds, I guess. And then he had another half bag that had 10 pounds in it at any time. But so we worked it out. But literally the only crawfish in there were the ones that I bought. It was the whole experience is really weird. And so I put them in the back of the Max's truck. We got put some ice on top of them and then brought them back, but it was very shady. I'll just say that. I'm not sure. I'm not sure it was legal. Because people who are from Louisiana, all you had to say was I'm from Central Florida. He went, oh, oh, yeah. I don't know where he was from. I mean, I don't know where they came from, how the crawfish got there. I mean, I don't, I have no clue. Zach, everybody that I know who I call a friend in North Louisiana, they have a Yeti ice chest in the back of their truck right now. I didn't bring my truck. I got it yet. There's no bringing it. It's part. I didn't bring my truck. I was in Jill's van. You have, look, Zach, your wife, kids, ice chest. That's, you have to have that. We were, we had too much, too much luggage, too many people. Well, there you go. It was like, we brought a crew. You know, but you have. But you know, Zach, I'm not, Zach, I'm no lawyer, but as far as I, as far as I know, it's okay to cross state lines with crawfish. It is. But it just helps with, because we realize how good this is. And this is, there's an underworld of crawfish. But how do you have a, yeah, but the question is, how do you have a Google like business that's on Google? It's got an address and everything like a phone number. And then you drive there and it's literally a van parked on the side of a road. I'll give you the answer. It's the power of the crawfish. Well, well, I got, well, we have more closure, by the way, than just that. I did because in a previous episode two, whenever, if you guys remember a while back, I wanted Jase to see if he could negotiate with us. When I came down for the duck hunt, the epic duck hunt, when we got iced in, I wanted Missy to make me a crawfish pie, which never happened because Jase never told her, but she didn't make three crawfish pies at this thing and they were excellent. And I had my fair share of that too. I need to get that picture from my lovely wife because usually she puts a cross, she just makes one. So then you're, you feel kind of weird because this is so good, but you're like, you don't want to cut into that cross. She makes a little cross out of the dough. But she had three of them because there were three graduates, two of Zach's kids and then my daughter. And so I think it was Mia's idea because she's like, well, I don't know what to put, you know, because she was thinking about putting the cross on one, the tomb on one, and an arrow on the other. And Mia said, why don't you put yay. And that's what she did. Why? Why? Yay. So that was funny. That was on the crawfish path. Yeah. But like the three, you know, why? A, Y. I'll get her to send that. But it was a good, it really was a good time. And I look over there after the meal was over and we all kind of migrate to the living room and I see Bear and Jase over there cornered up and I was hoping that you were speaking some truth into my son. And I did find out later, y'all got into a whole thing on act 17, which I was thankful for. It was just one aspect. You know, I don't know how old he is, 17, 18, 16, 18, just turned 18, just turned 18. That, that conversation started in a duck blind, which shows you the power of a duck blind, speaking of the power of the crawfish, where you're out there in a perfect setting for an older guy in the faith to talk to a younger guy of the faith. And that's where that conversation started. And it just picked up right where it left off. And he was asking the right questions about walking with Jesus and going to a public high school. What's funny about the conversation? Because we would go through these nuggets that the Bible offers. And I would say, he would say, man, that is so powerful that that where's that that's in the Bible. And so I was like, your dad hasn't taught you about this. And he said, well, I'm sure he has, but he's so theological. I didn't get it. And I thought, welcome to the club. No man is a prophet in his own town. That's in the Bible. Number one, Arizona house. Yeah, Arizona house for sure. And number two, you lay those seeds and sometimes like what you pray for is someone else to come along. And isn't that true though? It is funny. I mean, we're making fun of this, but I had those same interactions with various members of my family. You just you're hearing the same thing from a different point of view. And you know, you reach a, I said, maybe somebody told me this, but you know, you're, you're as a parent, you're great until the kid turns about 13. And then you know nothing. I mean, so they have to get it from somebody else. You know, you have to live it, which I, that's part of my speech because they then just watch you, but they don't listen to you. But they have to get the information from someone else, which is weird in our, in our world of family and trying to teach our kids. 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But I thought about that in relay and I wanted y'all to speak to this like because they're your kids, but that a lot of people think, you know, you send your kids off to college and you're hoping they'll figure out what they want to do or be. But in the case really of all three of your children that graduated college, but to me it feels like they pretty much already know who they are and what they want to be and what they want to do because they're already doing it. The college education, I'm sure is nice and, you know, that helps open some doors for jobs and they've learned some things. But I mean, you know, there's a great involvement already in terms of their abilities because we talked about that they can sing, they lead worship, in Layla Max's case, they're opening for Larry Flea, you know, and they're already doing all these things and married and about to get married. So I mean, just talk about that in terms of the college didn't really prepare them for that. God prepared him and you guys and your families, but the college education was just a part of the process as they're going through life. I mean, that's kind of how it looks from my perspective, just looking at. Yeah, I mean, for us, well, the school was great. I mean, they got into a program there. They really helped foster kind of their creative abilities and really, I think, helped them get going on everything. But was that where you at? Were you at the graduation ceremony? Yeah. Yeah. There was thousands of people there. We were there, but we didn't come in together. I didn't know, but did you know I was there? Did you ever see me? No, I never saw you. I was wondering where you were at. Did you ever hear me? Never heard you. Did you hear us yelling when Mia went across? Did you hear some other people yelling in the, in the, in the, oh, I did. You didn't hear what I did. You must have been far away from me. There were thousands of people. So look, I will, I will play the video we want, we won't show it to you because the first 12 seconds is, is a shot of Bonnie, Aunt Bonnie's right hand, but you can hear it. You can hear what I did. And this was Mia's idea. Well, it was my idea and I was joking because she said, y'all better cheer for me when y'all went, when they announced my name because she said it's really awkward, which this was the first college graduation I've been to. There was how many people graduated? Zach? That'd be 500. Oh, I think there's more than that. Maybe six to 700, I think. So I had no idea because I thought when the program, I thought it was wrapping up. And then I thought, well, why didn't Mia say this was going to be two hours? And Aunt Bonnie said, oh, they're fixed to read off every name. I said, they're sitting there? And now I know why it took two hours. So what happens is they usually announce, hold your applause to the end, but they didn't even announce that. So every time someone's name is announced, the three or four people that came to support them, they, it's just like a, you know, who, but then you move on to the next name. So Mia was saying that and I said, well, you know what I ought to do? Maybe I shouldn't blow it down. Yeah, that's what I said. And I was kidding. And she said, dad, you must do that. So I smuggled in a duck call too, because I was thinking I got to go through security. This should be called the smuggle graduation with the crawfish. Now the duck. So look, I'm going to play this for you. You can hear it. So you'll hear the name. And then you'll, here we go. Which I thought sounded pretty good. That was my triple threat. But all, so when I blew that, we're up above and Zach didn't hear it, which I'm surprised. I'm not sure what section you were sitting in. This is a big arena, but all the students that hadn't got in line, all their heads simultaneously just whipped around and looked at the section where that duck call came from. And they were stunned. And then they all grand. It was like an orchestra. It was so weird. But I thought that may have never happened in the history of graduations where student was announced and then you just hear this sound of goodness. What did Mia do? Could you see her expression? She said she heard it. That's why I was wanting to Zach heard it. Now, well, we were, well, I think because we were all screaming, so I probably couldn't hear because that's probably what happened. Yeah, which I have to admit, there was a lot of people screaming for, which kind of made me tear up because I thought, well, she's really made a lot of relationships because usually and she was on the national show, national television. It's not like they don't have heard of her. But I hijacked your stories. Go ahead and finish. What was my story? Well, you were just going through the graduation process, but I'll say this to where I guess we're doing this together. I was really impressed at the spiritual focus of the whole presentation. And I thought, man, I probably should have got this vibe before I sent my daughter there. I was kind of shocked. I mean, they put, they made a point to say, yes, they've learned a lot of things, but hopefully the transforming power of the Lord will be the highlight. I mean, that was definitely the focus of the whole ceremony. Would you agree, sir? Yeah, I think so. I really think they turned the corner at that school. I mean, I was so impressed by the kids' experience there. And your question, Al, was like how they have their, they do have a direction in life, I think a little earlier than a lot of people, which was proud of all three of them. They really, they do know what they want. I would say probably some of that is a result for us. And I think Jason Missy did the same thing. We've helped our kids, but we've also not enabled them. So we've really kind of pushed them to acquire more responsibility earlier on rather than later. I think that has helped a lot. But I do think that, you talk about that family compound, which is one of the things Ben Sasse said, and that, when you look back at his life. And yeah, with our kids, we sat up, I guess it would have been Friday night, we all got back to our Airbnb after our crawfish bowl where I cooked crawfish for everybody and did a great job at it. And it was me, my wife, Jill, all of our kids. It was Laila's husband, Dawson, Max's fiance, which they get married in two weeks, Annabelle, and then Ben and Melissa were there, which Ben is my brother-in-law, Melissa is my sister. And then we had Paisley, their cousin, and we all sat in a room. And for probably two hours up until about midnight, we just like spoke truth over the graduates. And a lot of it was like us talking about like, how do you organize your life? You guys are going on the road. And like, one thing you got, if you got to fight for your marriage, you got to fight for time together, you got to fight for rhythms, you got to, it was just, but what I loved about it, and I thought, man, like, what, what our kids have received over the course of their lifetime is they have lots of aunts and uncles, cousins. I mean, Jay says my first cousin, I guess he would be Bear's first cousin once removed, but he's ever on the couch earlier that night, speaking the truth of Act 17 into him. To me, like the biggest thing that you can do is get your kids in a, in community with lots of other people speaking into them, because you can speak to, I mean, so I'm so glad Jayce brought that up. You can speak the truth into your kids over and over again. It matters. And they, and they, and they, and it's resonating, but not on the same level. And so to where literally, the fact that he's never heard Act 17 or like not put together the Act 17 when that's like, I had literally probably preached Act 17 in his lifetime a hundred times. It's your go-to, is that? It's your go-to. So it's kind of like, for him to say, yeah, never heard, never heard that talk about that. I'm sure he said it. I'm like, no. He actually said like, that's in the Bible? That was his response. I read it and I said, what are you talking about? That's in the Bible because, I mean, I'm offended. I wasn't, I'm offended, but then I'm also thankful and I'm also, you know, it is what it is, but in that tree that's like, but you want that and like you want, I want my kids to have mentors and people they look up to and, and of course, Bear just thinks Jayce hung the main. It's like, I want him to sit under Jayce's teaching. 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Policies are issued by Western Southern Life Assurance Company, not available in certain states. Prices are subject to underwriting and health questions. Maybe I should just share a little bit of the questions. Yeah. I mean, the first question he asked, he's like, it's so difficult, you know, in high school, because God seems so far away in that moment. And it just made me think about first John will have been studying about we're in this world within a world. And in his perspective, he's looking around like, man, this is just overwhelming the captivity by the evil one in this world that you're up against. It's just overwhelming. And so it led to more of a God is way nearer than you think through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And he was like, well, how does that work? I was like, what do you mean? How does it work? He's like, well, the Holy Spirit, I mean, where was it at before Jesus, which was a really good question. When you think about it, I was like, well, if you go back to page one of the Bible, I said, there was something hovering over the waters. What do you immediately think about when you hear the phrase hovering over the waters? Because I had taken him duck hunt and I thought he was going to say a duck. And he was like, clouds, smoke. And I was like, what about a duck? And he said, oh, yeah, that's funny. I was like, no, it's more than funny. Because then God spoke. When you speak, what do you use? And he went words. I was like, who infamously became the word in human form? He's like, Jesus, I was like, and there's the Holy Spirit, there's this creation power. I was like, then this one, he became a human. He gets in line like everybody else to be baptized and what happens? And he's like, I don't know what happened. I thought he was just answering the questions. And I was like, the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove. And he went, oh my goodness, have you told anybody about this? I was like, what are you talking about? I told him, this is in the Bible. It's like it hovered down. If you've any hunting experience, this is the Holy Spirit. How close is this that he's using an illustration from the hunting world like a dove? Because anybody who's ever seen a dove hovering, you know exactly what that looks like. And he's so into hunting and I am too. These same verses that I know he's heard 100 times, it was just lighting a fire under him. And I was like, that same experience happened to you. Remember when you said, Jesus is Lord and you went down in the water? I was like, even though you didn't see that hovering and that new creation being launched, that's what happened. And it's in there. It's a matter of that becoming a reality in your life. You have the Holy Spirit in you. And so, I mean, that was just one kind of avenue. That's where it started. And so by the time we got to act 17, he said, well, what kind of questions should I ask to get into these conversations? I was like, well, there's not, there's only a few basic humanity questions. And which is why I went to act 17, which is, well, how'd you get on the earth? And I went through the story about Paul. I was like, he came up on these people that were, had an image that said to an unknown God. I was like, that's what you're describing. These people, God is unknown to them. How do you make it known? And then he starts in these three little categories where he's like, God gave all men life, breath, everything else. And this is the part that he said, this is in the Bible. I said, he determines the places for them, the exact times for them. He gave them life, breath, everything else. He did this so that men would seek him, reach out for him and find him. I was like, well, that answered two basic questions. How'd you get here? God had a plan and a purpose. And it was exact the moment. And he did it so you could find him, reach out for him, and then you would then represent him. And he's not far, that verse, because that's where that all started. And he's like, how far? He seems like he's far off. And it says, though he is not far from each one of us, in him, we live and move and have our being. I said, then the last question is what happens next? What happens after you die? And then I read the verse at the end where he said, he said, a day when he'll judge the world, he's given proof to this by all men, by raising Jesus from the dead. He literally, he looked like he was ready to run through a wall. He's like, oh, I got a, I got a right to this down. I was like, what are you going to do with it? He's like, I'm going to share this. This is it. Well, the way home, he called his buddy, we were driving back yesterday and he called, he has a, one of his friends that leads this Bible study they've been doing for, I guess, I don't know, probably six months down though. They have a lot of kids coming and it's completely student led. And so he called his partner up, he said, all right, here's the new, here's the new thing we're going to be talking about. He said, go read Acts 17. I'm going to fill you in. That's what I knew. That's what I was like. I was listening to him talk. I was like, what made you think about Acts 17? Oh, it's just something me and Jayce were talking about. Yeah, which I've told you a thousand times, but that's fine. I didn't say that part, but I was like, but it was funny. Zach, it makes such a good point that, and I love your humility and that just to say, you know, you've taught a lot of people, but even, you know, your kids or somebody else sometimes can hear things in a different way from a different person. And so to an audience as big as ours, we talk all the time about just having Jesus conversations. And this is why, because you never know when you're going to resonate with somebody. I mean, you felt those connections before when you had conversations with people and it just instantly feels like you're both on the same page. And whether it's just mutual encouragement or you're sharing something new or they're sharing something new with you from either a life story or something from the Bible. It's why we have these conversations and it's why we all must be engaged in the conversation. Everybody learns in different ways and some people will hear you teach or hear you share and they just completely connect and resonate. I've had people say that before, I could listen to you all day if you're teaching that. That just means that you're resonating, connecting. Other people are yawning, you know, like, like Zach, during a break, you know, of, of unashamed. And so, you know, and why? Because, you know, it's just, it doesn't hit them the same way. And so, I take this as like the ultimate charge while we have to share because you never know when you're, you know, whatever that God's giving you is going to connect with somebody else. And trust me, it always will. I mean, it never comes back void. You know, when you share Jesus, it comes back to somebody. It pays a dividend, which is powerful. So I love that story and how it impacts the story. Here's what's ironic. So this weekend when you guys were doing all this, back home at WFR, and I didn't really realize this, it was this Sunday, I tune in from down here in the southern layer to our live stream. And then I realized as soon as I tune in, I thought, oh man, this is my favorite day at Senior Sunday. And so every year it's been a tradition we've done since back when I was there. I can't remember exactly when we started it, but it's been a long time, many, many years. I mean, my kids went, had Senior Sunday and we recognize the Senior class that graduates because, you know, they're about to go to college, kind of like what you guys just described, both part of the family finishing and here's Bear preparing to do whatever he's going to do. And so the reason why it's always one of my favorite Sundays from a, from a standpoint, usually of just presentation, which I was involved in for many years, it was, it's not always the best because it's a bunch of kids up, you know, nobody knows really what they're doing. It's not very smooth. The youth guys usually in charge and he's the least experienced out of all your staff people. And so they may go off the rail with the message, you know, you never know what's going to happen. And, but the reason I love it in spite of all that, and part of it is because of that, to be honest with you, doesn't have to always have to be so polished is that I missed my teenage years. You know, I was, I was on the wrong team. And so I gave those to the evil one for 14 to 18. So when I see a bunch of kids that have committed their lives in the moment and are participating in a part of the church and, you know, just a lot of times they share and they're the ones that teach or share their testimony or lead worship that day. I mean, it is so powerful to me. I don't care what happens. I'm already engaged and excited even when it starts. And so it was this Sunday. So I was in tears just watching it. There was a bunch of kids I know. One of them was Gimber's son was helping lead worship. And so there's these kids up here. Another one was a kid that really had a hard time. His parents went through a divorce. And yet he's doing so great. He was up there playing the guitar, you know, being a part of the worship. And so, you know, I was already in tears just watching it and experiencing it and worshiping with them. And then our youth guy gets up and he starts into his text. Well, as funny as I'm preaching next Sunday, Jays. And so when he starts into the text, because I'd had an outline for what we're going to be doing. And I thought, well, he's teaching my tech. I'd already started preparing this text. And it's first John, ironically, because, you know, you probably contributed to that. I don't know. I did. Since we had studied first John through this podcast, it's a lot easier for you to preach on it and to submit an outline. Because one thing, yeah, for all our listeners, we went into first John in depth. And so, but you, I was telling you before this podcast started that I listened to that sermon and not to say that the times before, you know, because they do this every year. But it's like, okay, it's, it's the high school. And look, I did, I was one of the teenagers in my senior year that got up and spoke. It was one of the five times I spoke at that stage of my life. And I was nervous. Well, that tells you how far back it goes, Jays. I didn't even realize that. Yeah, I was one of the guys, didn't want to do it, but oh, Mike Hellen taught me into it. And so, when I turned it on, because I was traveling back from Nashville, I thought, oh, here we go. I thought, I'll maybe preaching. And, and I was tempted to turn it off. But, but he said, we're here in first John. And I thought, Oh, is this youth pastor fixed to preach in first John? Well, I got to listen to this out. It was fantastic out of the park by far. I thought, and it just made me think that this old boy has really grown just in his confidence and just his Bible study. It was, it was very, very, very good. I didn't encourage people to listen to it. It was fantastic. It was a little long, but I didn't care because it was so good. No, man had something to say and it was, it was done well. All right. So I just got back from Nashville and I'm telling you gas prices, diesel prices, groceries, I mean, everything is skyrocketing and your budget wants a break. I'm proud to tell you about one of our sponsors, Upside. Upside's an app. It's free and it helps you get cash back on gas, groceries and dining. We do a lot of travel back and forth, especially from southern layer to here. So gas is a big thing with us. So Lisa and I are earning a lot of cash back. All you have to do is open the app, claim the offer and pay with your card like normal, then you get paid. That's it. Super simple. And yes, it's cash back, not points that you're never going to use or credits or anything like that to expire. Over 100,000 participating locations means you're going to find the offers at the places that you're already going to. Upside has given $1 billion back to its users. Find out how much you could earn. Download the free Upside app and use our promo code Unashamed to get an extra $0.25 back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's an extra $0.25 back for every gallon on your first tank of gas using promo code Unashamed. And he had one of the senior, had a couple of guys up at the beginning do a text and a prayer, and then he had another senior give a little mini testimony like right in the middle of it, which extended his time, but it was really good. And I just wanted to mention it just because it was so good. And I had already like come up with my little outline for it. So as he's sharing, I'm listening to him and his points and they were very good. While I'm also looking at my points and actually building on them because I thought, well, this is a sermon I won't preach now, because he's priested, although this will be the intro for next week because it was so good. But here's what, here was what I was going to call this sermon. And he got into it and it was so good. And Jason was aligned from the podcast and remember when I said, it's who you know. Yeah. So that's, that's what I would have called this text is who you know, because ultimately that's how we know, right? It starts in verse three of 1 John 2. We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands, the man who says, I know him, but does not do what he commands as a liar. And the truth is not in him. And so he establishes right off the bat that when you choose, what you choose to know or who you choose to know is who you choose to obey. And so it's right off the bat in the who. And of course that's Jesus right off the bat. And so you see this maturity, this love that's made complete that he talked about. And then the next section, what you choose to learn the old command that he mentioned determines what you choose to see. And that was interesting because he said it's an old command, but it's actually a new command. Well, what makes, what makes an old command new? It's when you finally see what it's talking about. You know, I mean, it's just what you described with, with bear. What I love about this, Kyle Alderman, he has a book called, Aha, it's about the prodigal son. In my mind, immediately, every time we do senior Sunday, my mind goes to prodigal son. And if you're ever a prodigal, you know why it's because when you were away from God at a moment like this, when it could have been some of your best years, when you come to realization that you're really in a pig pen, that you're in that world from first time to 15th through 17th, you're on the wrong team. It literally is an aha moment. And the aha stands for awareness, humility and action. That's the AHA for Adam's book. And it's so good because when you come to an awareness of something, you immediately apply it to you. And when you do that, you take action, you can't help it. That's why bear had to, he had to talk to his buddy and get back and want to teach this because it's an aha moment when you see something for the first time. That's what makes something old. Act 17, that was done 2000 years ago, something new. And so I love John's point in that, which is the idea of light of truth. That's what it does. And there's nothing false about it. There's no false claims because he compares it to darkness. That's what the evil one does. No false motives, no false direction, simply a clear pathway to truth. And then he says in the next text in 12th through 14th, it's about family. We were talking about this compound thing. What you choose to overcome is what determines who you are. And this whole book, we've talked about fellowship with the father, son, and the spirit, but it's us that gets to fellowship. And we don't want to keep that to ourselves. That's even our family. That's why I think when he did the little song, J, the little 12th through 14th and first time too, when he did the children, the young men and the fathers, that was why he chose that set. He chose a family because this whole setting, right, is to the family of God. He keeps calling them children the whole time. And the idea is to overcome the evil one. And then of course, that takes you to that last text that Spencer did in 15th through 17th, which is that clear eternal decision that you make. And the only way you can do that is if you can see the temporary nature of the world. What the evil one offers is only that which will pass away. What the, what the Almighty is offering is even in this life already being tapped into the eternal, which this is what's going to set me up for next week, which I'm super excited about. And that's the idea of how you know. Who you know is the most important, but how you know is also very important. And guess what? That's the Holy Spirit, the anointing, which is what we get into the next time. So I, it was very moving to me. I loved it. Spencer did amazing. Not to the part. Definitely go to WFRchurch.org and check his whole presentation out. But man, I'm excited. It just shows you, I think, when you put people in a box, it's a mistake because it seemed just like somewhere in between the last time I heard him and now there was a spiritual awakening. And he came out firing. And, uh, and really the barometer you knew why it was good. I was telling Missy this is our good old friend Kurt, who we call Jesus because he hollers out and exclaims during sermons, Jesus, boy, you could hear him in the background, which that should tell you right there. It was, it was good. I want to make a comment when you said about that, aha, because that phrase, I looked this up before, is used all over the Psalms when our enemies, the enemies of those who put their faith and trust in God, when they see Christians suffering, it's a frequent phrase. It's, it's actually in the Bible way more than you would realize. And that's why when I heard you say that, I thought I'd bring this up. I'll just give you four that when I Googled Proverbs 35, 21 and 25, did I say Proverbs? Psalm 35, 21, 25, Psalm 40, 15 and 70 verse three, but I was going to read one just to let you get a feel for it. In Psalm 40, 15, it says, may those who say to me, aha, aha, be appalled at their own shame, but may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. May those who love your salvation always say the Lord be exalted. I just thought that was funny that we have an aha moment, but that's kind of how it works because you've, you know, I was trying to follow Jesus when you were in your prodigal years and y'all used to make fun of me mercilessly, you know, it's the same usage of the phrase, but it's one of mockery. And then when you, you're transformed, it's like, aha, a more humble, wow, look at what I have. So it's an interesting phrase, but you're going to be persecuted. You go from the one doing the persecuting to the one being persecuted in that transformation. Well, and it's so motivated, Jase, by what your, what your allegiance is to. And that's why even people in your own family can be so hurtful. I mean, I say to audiences all the time, I mean, like my biggest regret is turning my back on my Lord first, but then my family second, because like you said, I mean, I should have been your biggest encourager, you know, and instead I was one, you know, persecuting because of the goodness. It was exactly what happened when mom turned to Christ out of desperation because of her situation with dad, which is portrayed beautifully in the blind when she's sitting in that bathroom, you know, and she just comes that realization that I can't give up. I got kids depending on me. And guess what happens? Her biggest persecutor became dad, you know, because all of a sudden he's projecting his bad life and his worldly living on to her faith. And so it was the exact same thing. And I went through the exact same thing, which was just, oh man, it's just my greatest regret. You just think if there was one thing I could go back and change, it'd be that because this should have been a time of uplift and Thanksgiving. And even Lisa and I, you know, and our movie is coming out by the way this week, May 16th, so I want you guys to check it out on Lifetime. You'll have to find out like I did that you even have Lifetime, but I do. It's there. I just never have watched it. So, Jason, have you been doing a little bit of work in your brunt boots? You got kicked up there? You tell me. You can look at those boots and say somebody's been working and they've held up well. I love my brunt boots. They really have stood up to some pretty tough work lately with no issues. Also just received the Torah pants. I think they're fantastic. They're awesome. I love the fact that it's lightweight, durable, stretchy fabric. It's versatile for kind of any work environment if you're, or if you're running into town. It's got a convenient side cell foam pocket as well. They're water resistant. These are extremely comfortable. Most boots force you to choose between toughness and comfortability, but brunt boots are built for both. So whether you need safety toe, waterproof or soft toe brunt sketchy covered, they also have a risk-free trial so you can actually wear them on a real job site. And if it's not right, guess what? Just send them back for a full refund. So stop overpaying for work where that doesn't last. Brunt is offering our listeners a huge way to save with their starter kit. Bundle their top boots and work pants for 10% off by going to bruntworkwear.com slash unashamed and then use our code unashamed at checkout for another $10 off on top of that. This is top gear for an incredible price plus with the risk-free trial. Well, there's really no reason not to give them a shot. bruntworkwear.com slash unashamed code unashamed. But I was the same at in that moment. Same thing. I mean, because I was in the world when I first made contact with the person who would later become my wife, and then I would become her biggest cheerleader trying to hold her up and love her and all these things. But I had been such a bad influence in the early years and another great regrets is something you can't take away when you live in the temporary. That's all you think about is what's in it for you and how you can degrade. And so, man, it is a light switch. It is a flip when you go from that to the true aha. Well, that's kind of been the point, I guess, of everything that we've been talking about. You know, having our three kids graduate, but it became more of a Jesus moment for what's next. And, you know, we happen to be in first John here where this new birth that we've all experienced has allowed us to be in fellowship with the God of the universe in very intimate ways. And even that song, I mean, I'm glad you brought that song up because I thought, isn't this what we're doing when he, you know, he basically makes that truth that whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. And it launches into this song. Where he's like,哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎 little section about this battle. Don't love the world or anything in the world. You're going to give allegiance to something you just can't coast through life. And you have the evil one presenting this world on a daily basis. And you do seem overwhelmed, especially our kids. I mean, it's just so tough. It seems like every generation is worse because I'm thinking, man, I didn't have a cell phone when I was a teenager, which I'm thankful for. But even that, and those phones are just designed to disciple you now through algorithms and all that, which is in contrast to what Jesus said, go make disciples of all nations. And so you just think, oh, I'm just sitting here hanging out with my phone. Yeah, you're being discipled by a phone because it's just catering to your desires. And so I really think we're at a point here where you got to roll up your sleeves, look at the next generation and say, I need to have these conversations with them, you know, in the consistency of it all. So it seems like all our worlds are combining to that point. Yeah, there was a, I was trying to look it up. There was a guy I saw just last night. I think he wrote a new book. His last name was Brooks, I think, but he, he was called the meaning of your life. And he talked to it just what you were talking about, just and how the struggle of this generation with social media and such a outside source of trying to find meaning for one's life. And it was so interesting listening to him and he round up the interviewer, which I think it was kill me on Fox, wind up just saying, well, what, what, what's the meaning of your life? How did you find it for yourself? He said, Oh, I find it in my faith and God. It's like, there's no doubt about it. It changed everything for me. And then for my wife and then for our family and everything going forward, he said that that set forward. But then before he ever got to the faith part, when he was just talking about our society and kind of what you just mentioned, the ills that are there, he was like, I mean, this family, it's meaning. It's, it's something bigger than that. It's like, it's like not paying attention to people that only want to take you down and destroy you. And it was just all the practical things we know. They kind of come out of this lifestyle that we're talking about. Yeah. But it's a process, you know, I mean, his, his whole theme of the sermon, which I thought was really good, the youth director was he, he, he probably said it two dozen times. And he went through that cycle of knowing God, obeying his commands, abiding in him, and it produces love, which then comes full circle. And then you know him better as you're loving the end result. You're doing things with your body that are acts of love. And I thought it was just a real simple circle of what first John is all about, which is why the last verse, which I want to, before we move on to third John, is, is in, in there when it says, keep yourself from idols, because when you're creating something or you're being discipled by something that is not the creator, that cycle is interrupted. And then you're just a restless wonder, not knowing where you came from, even getting back to that conversation with your son. It's like all of a sudden, you know, you just see these light bulb moments come on like, Oh, this God is knowable in an intimate way, so intimate that he will move in and you will house the creative force of God, you know, through his spirit. As you're becoming like Jesus on the earth. I mean, it's just light bulb moments that when you see in a young person, because they have the energy to go out there and be like Jesus. It's just really, I don't know how it could be any more satisfying. Something that I just been like thinking about when we're, you know, when you're, when you're trying to shape the next generation, the first thing that I think you have to do is you have to connect their, what would like their desire that's beneath their desire, like that thing that we're all kind of longing for. You have to connect that with the kingdom. That's what that means when it says the God's put eternity into the hearts of men. So when you get into questions like, like, why am I here? How did I get here? There's like, there's really simple questions that we're all like asking. Like everybody's asking these basic questions about like existence. And if you were just to bowl that down, all that really is, it's just that you have a longing. I have a longing for eternity and I can't make sense of it outside of my faith in Christ. And that's what we're trying to get people to understand. That's what I'm trying to understand for myself and the conversations that I want to have and the things I want to study and the things I want to contemplate for me, they have to meet that end. And I think that that's especially true for young people, because sometimes you can put that off because it seems like so far out there. I think that's like, like, that's way out there. But what about right now? I'm 17, 18 years old and I just, I want to have fun. Well, yeah, but you got to connect the vision to that of what the good life is. And what do you, what do you really want? And I think you start asking this kind of questions. You can get into really meaningful dialogue and provide this next generation with honestly a vision of the kingdom, especially to introduce, you know, the idea of eternity. We're out of time. I'd found the book, The Meaning of Your Life, Arthur C. Brooks is the guy's name. Zach, have you ever heard of it? What's that? What's it then again? Arthur C. Brooks, The Meaning of Your Life. I was very impressed with his interview. So I don't know, we may look into getting him on and talking about it was very good. That's it for this time. Next time we're going to get back into second, John. Oh, no, no shame. We'll see you then. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.