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Tomorrow can be different from today.
Our lives often leave us feeling hopeless—like nothing will ever change. But perspective is everything. When you know where to look, hope can be found in the spaces and places you least expect.
Join Jason Gore (Lead Pastor of Hope Community Church) for a fresh perspective, practical steps, and weekly encouragement that hope really is possible… even in real life.
What if we put a different target on our wall
and said, Hey, is that, can I see these things?
And then what if we were willing to ask those good friends
that you talked about earlier,
or our spouse who can be brutally honest with us, Hey, am I,
are you seeing more of these things in my life?
And that's a question a lot of
us are probably scared to ask.
Welcome to The Hope and Real Life podcast with Jason Gore.
Our team is passionate
and committed to bringing you more hope in the everyday
real areas of your life.
If this conversation and content is valuable for you,
please do us a favor, like, subscribe, and even share.
You never know how valuable it could be
to share a little bit of hope as someone else.
Let's get the conversation started.
Well, hello, hope in real life family.
Welcome back to another episode
of The Hope in Real Life podcast.
I'm here with my good friend, Aaron Nelson. Hello.
Hello Aaron. Welcome to the show. Glad to be here.
We are wrapping up season three with this episode with, uh,
how we've ended seasons one
and two as well with, uh, you asked and we answered.
And so, uh, we've got Aaron in here to kinda help lead
and steer that conversation
and to do a lot of the questions.
But first, Aaron, why don't you just tell the good people
of hope in real life, a little bit about yourself?
Yeah. Um, I don't know anything that's, you know, all
that fascinating, but, uh, yeah.
Um, enjoy being in this space.
Enjoy kind of the, the whole podcasting thing.
My wife and I, uh, we've been married
for going on four years now.
Um, we have our first kid on the way,
which we're super excited about.
Yeah. Um, and our free time,
we enjoy having conversations like this as well.
Um, yeah, man, it's, uh,
I'm just along for the ride. You know,
First kid on the way.
Have you gone public yet with Boy, girl?
Or is that still being held?
So, it's funny you say that. Yeah. So we, uh, we, because
No one, I mean, no one will know if you just tell me
right now, it's just me and you. It's just a conversation.
It's fine. We'll edit it out in post. Right.
So we're good? Yeah. No,
we're having a girl, so, okay. Right
On. Yeah. Gonna be
be a girl dad and excited about
and I didn't know that, so I'll try.
Act surprise. But
What, Congratulations. Thank
You, man. We're excited.
So
What do we do now? We, we
got some questions. That's it.
Somehow you, did you make up all the questions yourself?
I am taking the role of you today. Yeah. Okay. You asked.
And so, hello, my name is you.
Um, and now Jason, you're about to answer. So,
Alright. Let's see what we got. See, let's
go see
how many of these I can dodge. Yeah.
There's a good little healthy mix here.
I think some of 'em are just fun.
Kind of get to know you sort of stuff. Yep.
Uh, and then the further we go, we'll get
to more hard hidden stuff
and, you know, see where you are in some, uh,
some staunch issues, maybe.
I don't know. We'll see. We might get
weird. I had coffee and it just
Kicked over. I can pass if I wanna
pass, pass.
No, you can't. Alright. Uh, here we go.
Number one, um, what is the most
adventurous thing that you've ever done?
The most adv. I, I've done a lot
of adventurous things. Are
You an adventurous person by nature?
I am, yes. By nature. I am.
Um, I think I'm just like any other guy
that's teetering on the edge of getting old.
Right? Like, I'm at 45 just learning the gas in the tank's.
Not the same that it used to be, but,
and we got, we got three kids, man.
We're always on the go. And so it's like, sometimes I just
Imagine adventurous is changing.
Before it was like, we're gonna go skydiving now.
It's like, am I gonna go
get something from the fridge right now?
That's right. Or am I,
I don't know. I'm thinking about going
to Walmart. It's after 10 o'clock.
Sounds pretty dangerous. Um, yeah.
The most adventurous thing.
Let's see, you know, a couple of them.
And, and they've been on a different continent.
I think two things I would, I would highlight that I've,
and I've done some fun stuff, man.
I mean, I've jumped off some cliffs.
I had no business jumping off of into water. Okay.
So, just to be clear. But, um, so one time myself
and, uh, a mutual friend of ours, Cory Paxton.
Yeah. This was probably 20 years ago, something like that.
We were in, we went to Kenya
to this suburb outside of Kenya called Coli.
Uh, working with a friend of ours
who had started an orphanage, uh, for kids
that had lost both of their parents to hiv aids.
Mm. And so we were there
and then we got, uh, part of what we were gonna do on
that trip, and we were there for like two weeks, was
to fly over the, we were gonna take medical supplies.
Um, basically this is how it worked. All right.
So the guys, the guys says, listen,
since you guys are coming, I need some extra bodies.
'cause there's this group of people that we do work
with over the mountain range in northern Kenya,
and it's hard to get folks to go with me
and then carry the supplies
because we literally land in the middle of a desert
and then we gotta carry 'em like a mile
and a half to get them to where the people are.
I'm like, well, that sounds fun. That's not
What, what was in the brush air
Over here. That's right.
I assure you this trip,
there's no brochure about anything that we did on this trip.
And so, uh, we show up
and we get on, uh, we go to the, uh, what,
what they call these things where airplanes are
airports that they call them.
Right. That's, and so we go to the airport
and we walk by this plane that I think,
and I'm like, aren't we gonna get on the plane?
It's like, no, the plane that we're
gonna get on is down here.
Oh. And I look and it's like 20 yards.
And it's like, I'm like, that's an airplane.
Like it looks like a go-kart with some propellers on it.
That's what, and I'm like, how
are we gonna fit all this stuff?
And so we get there and, uh, you know,
some other people are helping load the stuff in.
And it is, man, it's like a single engine plane. Yeah.
There's three of us.
And then these medical supplies, I,
I'm pretty sure it was single engine.
There might be a fact checker on here that's like, oh,
no single engine plane can fit.
I a really small airplane. Yeah. Okay.
And so we get on this thing and we're flying out
and we're flying towards this mountain range,
and we're getting closer and closer
and closer to this mountain range
and this airplane, I mean, it's like up and down
and moving around and I mean, I could kick the pilot from
where I was sitting if I wanted to.
And I asked the pilot, I said, Hey, we're getting closer
to those mountains, but it doesn't seem like we're
going any higher.
Um, or, or don't we need to go, something
Has to move here, Don't need to go up.
And he literally said, this plane is not really
meant to go that high.
Gosh. And I said, what, what are we gonna do?
He said, no, we go through the mountains. Oh my gosh.
And so we literally take this plane
through this mountain range terrify.
So that was adventurous
that I didn't know what I was signing up for.
Oh man. Another one involved an airplane in Africa,
and I'm not kidding, on another trip.
And we were, we went to Uganda.
We were with some friends in Uganda, uh,
different group still working with orphans.
And we were flying over the Nile River.
And I'm not kidding, I was sitting right next to the pilot
and the pilot asked me if I wanted to fly and I,
or if I had ever flown before.
I said, I said, yeah, my uncle, uh, used
to have his pilot's license when I was a kid.
And he would take me up and he'd like, you know,
hand me the, the stick
and let me, I was like, so I've done it before.
He is like, do you wanna give it a shot?
And I'm in the plane and like,
this was a little bit bigger plane.
Yeah. Like a two engine type deal.
And all the people in the back like, no, no, he doesn't.
He does not want to. And I was like, well, I absolutely do.
And I, so I'm not kidding. I've flown Yeah.
An airplane over in parallel, oh my gosh.
To the Nile River with like Will de Beast,
like animals running along below
and, um, like very exhilarating and other
Plenty of collateral below In case potential.
My wife was on the plane, uh, Dave
and Cindy Nuity, who, you know, oh my gosh.
They were on the plane. Ask them about it.
They would tell you. But yeah, so those are probably two
of the more adventurous
Thing I've been in that exact scenario,
except I was one of the passengers of the plane.
And I remember how terrified I was.
So in this, in this case, what the guy did was he looks at
the guy in the passenger seat and the guy in the passenger
seat, he's the one that initiates this.
And he goes, well, you let me fly the plane.
And the guy told him, he says, you can tell me why
that light's flash and I'll let you fly the plane.
I don't know what light it was. I don't know
what significance it had, but genuinely he
told him, Hey, this is what it does.
He's like, all right, you got it. And so he let them let him
fly the plane for a few minutes later.
We asked him about it when we get on the ground,
and he's like, dude, it's just like flight simulator,
like the PlayStation game.
Yeah. That's how he had learned.
And the guy was, we talked to the pilot after the fact,
and, uh, he goes, no,
if you played flight simulator,
you got it. Like, that's pretty much
It. Here's what's
crazy though.
So we talked about the instruments
and like you can see on there, he is like, over there is
where turbulence is, and you can see, and you look over
and you see the thunder clouds and stuff like that.
Yeah. And it was literally like,
you could steer the plane over towards the,
and you start getting a little bit closer to the clouds
and you see the turbulence stuff on the ra
and like you, so you get closer
and the winks start shaking, the plane start shaking,
you get a little bit closer, it gets, and the people,
of course are yelling in the back, what are you doing?
Get the heck away. So anyways. Oh my gosh. Most adventurous,
Exaggerating Is what they're doing. Those
are the top two. Um,
I also shot a BB gun at my dad one time growing up
that almost cost me my life as
Well. That was high risk,
high risk, low reward, I'm sure.
Uh, kind of in that same vein,
you're international traveler.
So I'm assuming this might be, I don't know, maybe not.
This could be something stateside,
but what's the weirdest food you've ever
tried? And did you like it?
The weirdest food I've ever tried? Um, I didn't like it.
Um, I was in Kyrgyzstan, weirdest food I've ever had.
They have something there called MA's milk.
Um, mayor's milk is the milk from a horse
that they allow to ferment.
Okay. And it's a delicacy there. Mm.
My stomach did not think it was a delicacy.
Yeah, that sounds, uh, They serve it at
like room temperature.
Oh, horse milk fermented. Okay. Uh, not great.
And then the other weirdest thing, it was on that,
I think it was on that same trip, um,
they bring out, they brought out a lamb's head
and it was cooked, I'm assuming, like steamed
because they told us it was cooked,
but it looked still like a lamb's head.
Yeah. And they began to cut the skin off the face
of the lamb and people started eating, eating it.
You didn't meeting that. I mean, I, I chewed on it
for a good minute and I, uh, I, I found a way
to get it in my napkin.
All right. Well, so it was two weirdest
things, man. And I've
Never, was it one of those, like, I don't wanna offend
anybody's situations or
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's what it is, right?
You, you,
you know, you're in a different culture.
Yeah. So you don't want to offend them.
But, um, man, that was so, if, if that's your delicacy
and you love it, I apologize.
I don't eat a lot of hot dogs,
but a hot dog over that, just about any time.
I feel like we've learned too much already. But, uh,
What else you Got? Another
question we have is, uh, what's a fun fact about you
that most people don't know?
Man, there's fun fact people about me don't know.
Um, I don't know. I mean, I love juujitsu. That's a thing.
Okay. Um, we've probably talked about that on here before.
I enjoy that. Um, I love to fish.
Uh, that's, I guess,
moderately fun when you're catching stuff.
And, um, man, that's it.
And then the other, I, I guess, you know, some people,
you know, I talk in front of people sometimes.
Mm-Hmm. Have podcasts.
I think some people naturally assume
that I'm like extroverted all the time.
Mm. That is not the case, man.
I hit a wall and I want to be either with my people
or just sitting at home or at the gym Yeah.
By myself. Love going to the gym.
I do not go to the gym to talk to people. Yeah.
No, that's real. Yeah. I put earbuds in even if
nothing's going on in my earbuds. Just
So I can't
Hear you. Yeah. What?
Yeah. No, that's great.
I don't know if any of those are fun facts, but they are
Facts, man. It's good to know. Yeah.
That could be useful information in
case anybody ever runs into you in the gym.
Yeah. He's like,
he left his headphones at home
the day he's still like, what?
I don't know, wants a talk. Yeah. He's like, ah, I got it.
Okay. No. Pretty good. Um, those headphones. Yep.
You got 'em in your ear. You're at the gym.
You know, I'm, I'm gonna put a
little bit of a spin on this one.
Okay. The question is, is what, uh, if you could only listen
to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
But I'm curious to know what's your, like
what's on Jason's gym playlist?
My gym playlist. Are
You okay? Can you listen to
podcasts when you work out?
I, I do, but I know I don't take everything. Yeah. I know.
I don't retain everything. Mm-Hmm.
But I do, I I try, I listen to podcasts sometimes. Okay.
There is a difference though, in like listening
to music versus listening to a podcast like Oh, yeah.
With just with the intensity
that you kind of take to the workout.
So if I'm feeling it and I'm feeling good
and I don't need any extra gas in the tank, then yeah.
I'll listen to a podcast. Mm-Hmm.
I do try to make sure this is the nerdy side of me.
I really do try
to make sure I'm taking in at least two hours of
outside content a week that maybe has nothing to do
with anything that I'm preparing for.
Planning for just Yeah. Try to grow. Right.
And so, so if I'm backlogged on that, then I'll, you know,
halfway listen to it while I'm working out. Can
You work out with nothing?
Yeah. With silence. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. I can. Yeah.
Absolutely. I know it's a struggle for some people,
So Yeah. No, and there's, there's
times this, again,
this is gonna sound kind of nerdish,
but there's times where I like tell myself,
you need to do this.
It's easier with music, but it might be harder without,
but you know what, you can do hard things.
Yeah. And that's, it's a weird, weird thing.
No, that's good. We had, when I was,
you didn't ask about this, but I'll tell you when I was,
You didn't ask, but I answered.
That's a new episode you didn't ask.
But I'm here to tell you for like an hour.
I think that's like the normal news cycle, isn't it?
That's just the news. These are all things
nobody really wants to hear about.
I'll tell you. We're gonna tell you the world's gonna end.
We're being taken over by Killer Bees.
Um, what was the question?
No, uh, there was, there wasn't one
That was, that was the point.
What are we doing? Um, so no, someone asked,
I heard this guy. And so
I know all of our listeners aren't necessarily don't.
Well, I think all of our listeners probably are on a faith
journey where they, whether they realize it or not,
but they might be, might not be listening to this for that.
Mm-Hmm. But I was in college
and, uh, wrestled at NC State Go Pack
and, um, heck of a wrestling team over there.
And you know, a lot of people, just like any other sport,
you know, you listen to headphones while you warm up.
Right. So I don't think we had beats back then.
And we certainly didn't have iPhones.
I think we had like the little mini disc players back then
was the thing that were popular for like skips
On every rep. Yeah.
They were popular for like nine months. Yeah.
Um, but thi this guy, uh,
we had this sports performance guy come in
and he was, um, he was a Christian
and he said, listen, you gotta figure out,
you gotta be able to answer this question.
What are you gonna do when the music stops?
'cause you can warm up and get as hyped as you want to
with headphones in.
But the reality is, when you're up
and it's your weight class, you take off your warmup top.
Yeah. You take off your headphones and it's deathly quiet.
Mm. You know, I mean, in your head right.
The cloud's cheering and whatever. Yeah.
But in your head, man, there's no music going.
And so what is it that like gets you going?
And so what he taught us was, if you're a believer,
like you need to be able to see your athletic performance
as a worship performance.
Mm-Hmm. Like, you've got to get in your mind
that you're gonna use the talents
and abilities that God's given to you
and that you've worked hard for to go back
and then worship God through using those.
Yeah. That's good. So that was his, his spin over.
So, so yeah. So I've just kinda
carried that with me at times.
Like, Hey, I can do this just because I can. Yeah.
It's not always my personal preference. No,
That's good. I,
But I feel like 27 minutes ago,
you actually did have a real question around this in it.
Um, what was the, uh, uh, yeah, if you listen to one song
for the rest of your life, what would it be? Yeah.
Okay. So in my playlist, I'm a, so I will say this,
if I'm at the gym and I really need something, man,
that old school Rocky four soundtrack.
Okay. It's hard to beat. All right. Yeah.
So that's gonna be in there, but I sometimes
just, I'll just throw on.
So it just depends on what mood I'm in, man.
I would go to Apple Music
and just search country music,
country music station if I'm into that.
Or I'll search Rock and Roll Station,
or I'll search, you know, um, yeah.
Workout, hip hop. It's just whatever mood I'm in.
So I don't really have a, a go-to all the time. Yeah.
I see this question here, now
that I'm looking down at the paper, there's one song
that you could listen to for the rest of your life.
What would it be? So, music for me is, uh, I enjoy music,
but it also, like my dad was big time musician.
And, um, then I have these memories of my stepdad and my mom
and, and the music that we listen to.
And so it, for me, music, it has a lot to do with nostalgia.
Mm-Hmm. So when you say one song for the rest of your life,
there's a couple songs that just have a lot
of memories in them and like Mm-Hmm.
Are listeners probably have no idea, um, what those are.
Yeah. But I'll say this. Yeah. No, that's cool.
There's a song by a guy named Michael Martin Murphy
called Carolina in The Pines.
Okay. And, uh, my dad used to, I mean, he would play
that song when I was young, like, and we'd sing it together.
And so, so that's a song that I go
to if I just wanna be an upbeat Good.
Yeah. Fun, happy mood. That's cool, man.
And then my mom and stepdad, for whatever reason,
I just have these memories
of them loving Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.
Hmm. And they had,
they sing a duet together, islands and the Streams.
And, uh, that's just,
That's my wife's go-to karaoke song.
Is it really? It really is. Yeah.
We should, I'm make go do both parts too. I
Thought I was gonna say we should, we
Should go do karaoke and I'll sing the guys' part,
but there's some lyrics in that I don't want,
I don't wanna sing that song with your wife.
You and Aaron are islands in the stream. What?
That's what you are. I'm not there with you.
What's your go-to karaoke song? Do you have one? Oh,
I don't, You don't have one? Okay.
No, I don't. I don't. But I will tell you that
I will lay down some Otis Reding if I have to. Okay.
Right on. Right on
Hope and Real Life family.
I wanna pause for a moment
and let you know about an opportunity
that I believe can help you find a bit more
hope in everyday life.
Listen, I know a lot of our viewers probably aren't a part
of a church, or maybe you gave up on the church a long time
ago and, and believe me, uh, possibly for good reason.
I understand. Uh,
but I don't want you to miss out on the hope
that you can actually experience by journeying alongside
of a group of people that really are seeking
God's best for their lives.
If you are the least bit curious, uh, we try to make this
as simple for you as we possibly can, wherever it is
that you digest digital content podcast, you can go
to the podcast store, you can check it out on YouTube
and just search Hope Community Church.
You'll be able to find our messages
there and check those out.
Or if you actually want to tune in during a service time,
uh, you can go to get Hope TV at four 15
or 6:00 PM Eastern Standard Time,
or you can tune in at nine 30
or 11:15 AM Eastern Standard Time.
Again, that's at Get Hope tv.
We hope that you'll take a chance with us
and experience what it is God has for you in your life.
You're gonna find practical messages
that will help you find hope in
the everyday moments of your life.
Hope you'll check it out. Do
You have a hobby or an activity that you've always wanted
to try but just haven't gotten around to either for,
hasn't been made available to you
or you just haven't had the opportunity?
A hobby that I haven't,
It doesn't have to be a hobby. Maybe
a one time experience
or something that, you know, you say,
if I ever had the chance to do this,
You know, when I was younger, I,
I would've told you it was skydiving.
Mm-Hmm. Now let's go back to, let's call back to
that 45 years old.
And I got three kids. And
Have you ever been, never been stopped.
I never have, but here's the thing.
I don't, I don't know that I want to anymore.
Why would You jump out of an airplane? Yeah.
That, you know, I'm sure shoots, statistically speaking most
of the time parachutes open up,
but man, I mean, it's not a hundred percent.
It's not. So, Uh, you know what?
I, uh, if I could do something, if I had the time
and I could do it every week, um, oh man.
I don't want anybody to,
this is not a political statement Okay.
In any way, shape or form. Listeners, I'm sorry.
I just, growing up, I, I enjoyed shooting guns.
We grew up on, on a farm, so, I mean, I think like going
to a gun range Yeah.
And having time to, you know, just, there's just something
that's, you know, kind of stress relieving about that.
Yeah. And so if I had time, yeah.
If I had time, um, if I had a couple hours every Friday,
every Saturday, I'd probably get back.
Yeah. Nice. Cool. Somebody does every Sunday in my
neighborhood, every Sunday
I wake up some gunshots. I'll
say this, I, I told you I enjoy training Jiujitsu when
I, I had to stop when my third kid, when Connor got
like two years old
and really started getting more mobile,
we had three kids on the go.
Um, I pulled back from Jiujitsu
and then they got into wrestling.
Mm-Hmm. And so now most of my mat time goes into wrestling,
but I think when my kids get older
and get out of the house, like I'll probably end up back in
the jujitsu world a little bit. Nice.
Yeah. Nice. That's awesome.
Um, alright, we're gonna go ahead
and turn the corner a little bit here.
You've talked about your kids, you've talked about just kind
of these other relationships that you have.
Yep. And, um, all this sort of things singing karaoke
with, with my wife.
Sounds weird outta context. Different, it's different.
It's, yeah. Yeah, yeah. You had to go
back a few minutes and hear the whole thought. Could
You imagine if they just took
that one little clip and made that decision?
That's what happens when you let AI
pick your social media clips.
Oh, man. Um,
Did you guys hear that, Jason?
Uh, healthy relationships,
I know that's a big deal to you.
Yeah. I know. It's something that's really important to you.
Something that you invest in pretty intentionally. Yeah.
Um, what do you think are key components
of a healthy relationship?
Yeah. And I, I guess we can leave it kind of broad.
Um, just between you
and the way that you interact with others around you,
what are some key components that you always want to
Yeah. So I
mean, a relationship is something that
it's usually changing.
Um, and it's usually going in one direction or another. Hmm.
But you don't meet somebody
and then all of a sudden just have an incredibly
healthy relationship.
You might have a positive impression of that person
and they might have a positive impression of you,
but I wouldn't necessarily call it a healthy relationship.
I think, um, the primary key
to a really healthy relationship is,
is knowing one another well, and,
and allowing one another to be who that person is, you know,
outside of sin or doing something stupid like, you
and I know me, really, you know me pretty well.
If you thought I was gonna go rob a bank,
you shouldn't let me go rob a bank.
Right. You should say, Hey, don't do it.
But, um,
or you can drive the car, either one DC I mean, but much.
Yeah. So I think one, you gotta know each other
and you gotta, um, like give one another space
to be who you are.
You've gotta be able to set appropriate boundaries.
You've gotta know how to interact with somebody, when
to push, when not to push, when to let them be who they are.
And so, I think just, just flat out knowing somebody.
And the truth is, in today's world, I just don't know
that we really know each other all that well anymore.
You know? I mean, those people that are close
and spend time together and intentional do it.
But it's so easy just
to connect over text message or over social media.
And I don't, I don't necessarily wanna beat that drum,
but I think really genuinely knowing someone
and then going out of your way to honor someone by
allowing them to be themselves, you know, in
that relationship and doing what you can do
to help them feel comfortable, you know, being themselves.
So I think that's important. I think another key
to healthy relationships is having people
around you in your life that like,
understand what's important to you,
and they're going to continue to encourage you.
That's to live out the things that are important to you.
And then vice versa, even
if they're not in the same direction.
Now, some real magic happens when some folks
like really do care about each other.
They know about, you know, what's important to each other,
and they all wanna run in the same direction.
Yeah. So, no,
That's good. I like that.
Um, I'm not one of those people who,
when people say, Hey, we should go get a coffee
and get to know each other, that sends me running.
Yeah. Right. I'm kind of like you, the same way I can,
I can tend to be pretty introverted, right?
Yeah. So I don't wanna do, I'm not a
big fan of small talk Yeah.
Of like, so what are you, you know, yada, yada,
like the questions you're supposed to ask.
And then, so you mentioned you're a bit introverted.
You have a relationship with someone, someone that you know,
and oftentimes they're kind
of these friendships, relationships that we have.
Where is this a question that one person wrote
in? Is this about, hey, this is,
This is asking for a friend right here.
Okay. That's what this, that's what this segment is.
Um, and you say, this is a question that someone wrote in,
but I'm, I'm kind of contextualizing it a little bit
based on what we've been talking about here.
But there's a relationship that you have
that you want to invest in.
Okay. Let's say it's a friend, spouse, coworker, whatever.
Right? Just somebody you know, Hey,
I want to get to know them a little bit better.
Whatever. Um, what do you do?
And you can speak to this personally, to build
and maintain strong relationships,
because I think it's, I'm a drifter naturally by tendency.
Right? Like, I'm, it's very easy for me
to be outta sight outta mind with people.
Um, and I've actually been told specifically like, man, I,
I wish you would invest a
little bit more in this relationship.
Yeah. What does that look like for you, um,
in letting people know they're seen, they're cared about.
I I want to invest in this relationship. Yeah.
So two things I would say.
One, there is something,
and again, I agree with you, like the, the small talk.
If it's not flowing
and it feeling forced, that can be like death. Man,
I heard something the other day that it takes
on average about seven minutes if you're talking
to a stranger Yeah.
To like, break that seal of like, oh,
I'm comfortable talking to you now.
Yeah. I'm like, that's seven minutes is a long time.
Yes. So there are some, I think there's some secrets
that kind of help pass the time.
So it's like, if you can spend time
with somebody while you're doing something else,
that's why the sitting and having a cup of coffee is kind
of intimidating and doesn't feel good.
'cause it's like, there's really only one thing you can do.
You can take a sip of coffee,
Man, this coffee's good.
It's like, man, look, I know I don't really have anything
to say right now, so I'm just gonna,
It's not as warm as it was
the last time I checked the temperature.
My cup's empty. I'm gonna get a refill, don't need it,
but I'm gonna go get one.
So, you know, so actually doing something productive and,
and I would even say like, doing something that's valuable
and productive to society.
I mean, like, that's good.
Serving alongside of someone,
someone doing something mission focused.
You wanna get to know somebody.
I don't really care what they tell you.
Can you watch them serve other people?
Can you watch them do something that doesn't just add value
to their own life, but to somebody else You can really see,
you know, kind of where they stand.
So I think that's one thing.
Uh, another thing is if you want to get to know someone,
and this isn't all that different than, uh, than a cup
of coffee, but there's more to it.
But there's something to the art
of ha just having someone over to your place
and preparing a meal for them.
Yeah. And then sharing that meal.
Um, you know, when you're eating, like,
there's obviously more things going on, and so,
and then just something happens.
Mm-Hmm. Like in, we, we eat food multiple times a day.
Most people do. Some
of us eat too much food multiple times a day.
But, you know, there's just, walls just kind
of break down when you're doing something
that's comfortable.
Again, going to a coffee shop
specific place, it's not your house.
It's not your comfort zone. Mm-Hmm.
But inviting someone into your space
where you're comfortable to
where you can just focus on serving them.
So I think, you know, those are a couple things I would say.
Um, sharing a meal or actually doing something
productive with someone.
And the other thing is, obviously if you have a mutual
hobby, you know, that's a way to, to get to know someone,
but I don't think anything's gonna trump
actually doing something for somebody else together.
You really get to see Yeah.
Somebody. That's good. I like that.
Um, obviously you care a lot about
kind of the digital space
and I mean, this seems to be just the trend
in the way that the world is headed in.
Right? We only get more
and more, I mean, especially as we see, you know,
AI technology and stuff like that, getting involved,
technology is playing a bigger role in our lives.
Excuse me. Yeah. A bigger role in our lives day by day.
Um, how do you see that impacting the way
that the church reaches people?
Um, in which way do you see, uh,
the big C church playing a role in impacting the digital
world and spaces, um, for, I mean,
anyone who takes up a space on this big rock, man, why do,
what what impact do you see it making?
Yeah. So I want to clarify something which I,
because you said obviously you're a big fan
of the digital spaces or, or something like that.
Somebody can replay the tape if they really want to know.
But the truth is, I I, it's not like I wake up
and I'm like, oh, I love the digital space.
I love online community,
or I love engage digital engagement.
I think what it is, especially as it relates
to the church world and this podcast even in particular,
I want to see people have more hope.
All right. And at the end of the day,
like listeners li listen,
we're gonna keep talking about different areas in your life
where you are looking to find more hope.
Period. We're gonna do that.
At the end of the day, I believe
that hope is ultimately found in Jesus Christ.
Yeah. And so, um,
so when you start talking about the church, it's like,
how do you, why would I get involved
or be excited about digital spaces?
It's just because that's where people are.
And so if you want to create environments for people,
if you want to create a pathway for people
to find more hope, and people are engaging in,
in things digitally more than they are in person
just en mass, well then, man,
we gotta figure out a way to get in that space.
Yeah. And so I do believe, um,
and again, depending on what you believe, I,
I don't believe the church is just a building that you go to
or an event that you do
for one hour a week on a Sunday morning.
I believe the church is a group of people that carry
with it the hope that we have in Jesus.
And so if you really want to get down, if, if
that's your definition of the church, then I think
the church will have its maximum impact in today's world.
And, and who knows, like we could,
the internet could potentially disappear to, I mean,
I highly doubt it, but something could happen.
But in today's world, I think the church that the churches
that want to see, um,
a maximum impact Mm-Hmm.
They're gonna find a way to get into places
and spaces where people are.
And so they're gonna find a way to get content,
to get opportunities for people to connect
and build community in an online space Yeah.
Where people are. And so that's
what this hope in real life thing is all about, man.
It's how do we get there? Good.
And I think other churches,
and look, not every church has the resources to do that.
And I'm not saying that if there's a church out there
that's not engaged in a digital space,
that they actually don't have a presence,
that they're not living out God's kingdom.
Yeah. That, that's not what I'm saying at all.
I'm just saying the church is called to be on mission,
and there's a huge mission field out there
that the church would serve itself well, um,
to find a way to engage.
No, that's good. That's good.
I opened up social media the other day
and saw a post that I wasn't a fan
of that I didn't agree with.
And, uh, it just kind of sent me down this rabbit hole
of thinking technology is amoral, there's no,
it's neither good nor bad.
Right. That's exactly right. It's a matter of
how we populate it and what we choose to put on.
So if your timeline is garbage,
Right? That's right.
I mean, you put it there, you know what I mean?
Your algorithm that you chose.
Yeah. You know what I mean? So it's, it's just funny, man.
I, I don't know a single person who wouldn't agree
with a statement that technology is or can be toxic,
but it's like, yeah, but who's hand did we put it in?
That's right. So I love that you're using this platform
as a way of saying, Hey, if we have an opportunity
to populate this space, let's populate it
with something that's hopeful for people.
That's good. Let me ask you though,
'cause you're, you have a podcast.
Mm-Hmm. So what was the driving force behind you starting
what you true discipleship? Yeah.
So for us it was, um, my wife
and I were just having faith conversations around the table.
And, uh, I remember just kind of having this feeling of,
I wish we could bottle this up.
Yeah. Like, I wish we could hold on to the things
that we're learning through this time.
And, uh, I was just thinking about like, Nate,
we were having conversations about things that I'm like,
man, I wish I would've realized this sooner,
or I wonder what other people's
perspectives would be into this.
Yeah. Um, so how do we take a conversation that we're having
around a table and invite other people into that?
And so really that's what it was.
It was just kind of blurring that line a little bit
so we could have some community and people to talk to.
Um, but also, man, it's just selfishly speaking,
like it's super cool for me once a week to be able
to sit down in our office at home, just me and my wife
and talk about things that actually matter.
Yeah. And so it's kind of created this space for us
to be open and vulnerable with each other.
Um, yeah.
In a way that happens in weeks when it's normally too busy
to sit around the di dining room table, you know?
Yeah. It's been good.
One of the reasons why I love the, the podcast space is
because this sounds crazy, but just sitting down
and having a conversation with somebody, um, that, um, that,
you know, you do have a relationship with Mm-Hmm.
And there is a specific topic.
It's not necessarily just small talk. Yeah.
Uh, there's just something life giving
to that that feels right.
Yeah. You know, that you can learn from something,
from somebody else that you can maybe be challenged on a
perspective or be encouraging a perspective. So yeah.
Yeah. That's good. That's good man.
Hope in real life family, we just want to take a moment
and let you know about a resource that is available to you.
I know a lot of our listeners aren't necessarily active in a
church, might not even be a Christian.
We are still thankful that you're spending time with us.
However, we do get asked regularly,
how can we find out more about your church,
or even just about this Jesus guy.
And so if that is you, I want you to know you can tune in
to get Hope tv.
We have live services on Saturday, 4:15 PM and 6:00 PM
or on Sunday at 9:30 AM
or 11:15 AM Those are Eastern standard times.
If you can't tune in during those times,
we will drop our YouTube link as well
as our podcast link down in the show notes.
We would love to have you join in with us.
Let's keep sharing some hope.
What role does the church have in politics, Jason?
That's, that's a question We got that. Um,
Well, it looks like that's the, all the time we have
for this episode with
what role does church have in politics?
Alright. So the, the root word
polis, I think we've talked about this maybe,
I think we did an episode with Lance, uh mm-Hmm.
Where we talked about, uh, the church
and politics is, that's the root word, right?
And so really what that's talking about,
the word politics is really just talking about
how do we live in society?
Mm. I think the church has a huge role
in how we live in society.
Yeah. That's now, that's not
what you really meant when you said what's the
church's role in politics?
Right. What we're talking about, what most people mean is,
Hey, we have at large, um, by
and large two parties, a Republican
party and a Democratic party.
And most people mean,
so which side is the church supposed to pick?
Yeah, no, that's really, And that's, man,
the reality is, I would say if you are trying to make
that decision, you've framed up your question the wrong way.
Because neither one of those is going to
send you down the appropriate path of
how the church should actually live in society.
Mm. That's good. Um, at the end of the day,
if you believe the best, what you would say is both
of those political parties
or any political party for that matter,
have the best interest of the people, um, in mind.
It's just they have dramatically different paths
of how they want to get there.
Yeah. Um, I would say that none of them are, um,
bring the abundant life that the way
of Christ gets us there.
Yeah. So how does the church, uh,
what role does the church have in politics?
There is a level, uh, you know,
Jesus is asked in the Bible like,
what do you think about paying taxes?
Mm-Hmm. You know, and he said, Hey, you know, give
to Caesar what is Caesars?
And that's kind of his way of saying like,
if you live in a society that has a certain set of rules,
and then hey, yield to those set of rules.
Yeah. You know, obviously short of sin that starts
to become into a different question.
Mm-Hmm. But, um, you know, it's,
that's not your personal preference.
You're inside of a, but I think outside of that,
I think the church's role in politics is
to actually live out in society the ways of Jesus.
Mm. Now Jesus didn't necessarily force his
way on other people either.
Mm-Hmm. I mean, obvi Jesus actually was quite different in
that he would challenge people on things.
He would ask people questions, he would tell people stories
that led them at, at large towards what he was saying.
Truth was Mm-Hmm. Um,
but ultimately he allowed other
people to make their decision.
But I think his example and what people saw in
and through him is what it was that drew people
to follow after him.
Yeah. So I think the church is, the way
that we live in society is to live out the ways
of Jesus in a world that's a lot of times
that's swimming upstream.
Mm-Hmm. Um, in hopes that, um, one,
that we would bring glory to God
because that's how we're called deliver life.
But that other people would see this
and be like, wait, some of the ways
that you're living your life seems a little bit upside
down and a little bit crazy.
Yeah. But I'm intrigued
because it seems to be working for you
and you are more joyful than anyone else that I've ever met.
You seem to have more hope than
anybody else that I've ever met.
So I think, I think that's a rule. I I don't That's good.
You're never, I don't think
that you can legislate morality Mm-Hmm.
Or a perfect society though. Yeah. So,
No, that's good. That's
good. Yeah. If government was crushing it,
Jesus wouldn't have had to come to That's right.
That's right. Establish another kingdom. Right. Yeah.
That's really cool. Um, I think you kind
of answered our next question here.
You know, you, I like how you kind of polarized both sides
of that political coin of what, what does politic,
what does politic actually mean versus
how do we exercise it?
But the next question was what,
what role does the church have in culture?
Yeah. Um, with it being posed that way.
Do you have anything else to add or,
You know, I would say we have to be careful
as the church to not be, um, molded by the culture.
Mm-Hmm. You know, we live in a world where there's like,
like it's so easy to get canceled right now
and to get, you know, people yelling at you Mm-Hmm.
For your beliefs. And so we have to be careful, I think,
as the church to not just run away
and hide in places that people don't actually see a group
of people living out what we're called to believe.
Mm-Hmm. And so I believe the church in its most healthy
form is actually living a Christian life in public,
in society, in culture, for people to see,
not in a dogmatic way, certainly not in a judgmental way,
but living it out and standing strong in
what they believe truth is.
Yeah. But doing so in a loving way. Yeah.
And, um, that's good. And not, um, not throwing shade
or judgment at other people.
And so I think, man, if more people just got that,
that we're supposed to love and serve our neighbors
regardless of what their beliefs are, um,
the church would probably be painted in a little bit more
positive light as opposed to doing it the wrong way
and yelling and screaming at people
or the other wrong way, which is just,
I'm gonna go hide in my house and, you know, not show up.
Yeah. No, that's good. But seriously,
do you vote Republican or Democrat? He's
Gonna pass. Yeah. We'll,
we'll pass on that one.
Um, you've dropped hope a lot. Yeah.
Uh, you've mentioned that word, that idea about
how important it's for, for people to have hope, um,
from a Christian perspective, from your worldview,
what is a Christian's hope?
Um, is it, uh, I'm gonna pose kind of a couple
of caricatures out here.
Okay. Uh, is it simply that we go
to heaven when we die like that?
Is that the only thing that we really hang our hat on?
Um, and then where do you think that plays in
with the idea of finding purpose?
Because I think hope plays a role in that as well, right?
Yeah.
I think that there is hope
in heaven when we die, um, but it's not hope
and that we get to go to a destination.
Right. Heaven is a place where there's white fluffy clouds
and a pudgy baby with wings playing a harp is,
is actually not all that enticing to me,
the good news is I don't really think you see
that picture in the Bible either.
Yeah. So, um, but heaven being a place
that you see in scripture described as basically
that everything that we experience is broken right now.
Mm-Hmm. In this world is actually put back together again.
The Bible tells us that every tear
that's been shed will be wiped away.
Um, that a world like that that's put back together again,
like there is hope in that Mm-Hmm.
That even on the i I preaching this past weekend
and said that, man, if you have hope in Christ, I mean,
he went to a death on a cross,
but three days later rose from the grave and overcame sin
and death so that we could experience new life.
So like even on the other side of death
as resurrection and new life.
So I do think there's hope in that,
but man, there, there's,
there's gotta be more to it than that.
And I think there is, I think it's the hope of knowing, no,
no, no, we can actually experience peace
and in an abundant life, even in this broken world,
if we actually live into the forgiveness
and the grace that Jesus has shown to us
and actually live out, um, the Jesus way Mm-Hmm.
And the world around us. And so I, I think, yes,
there is hope when we die, but I think there's so much more
to it that we come to experience if we actually live into it
and live it out while we're here before we die.
That's good. I like that.
Um, the opposite of hope,
I would say is despair.
Okay. And despair is a characteristic
of anxiety, um, an issue that we see
prevalent in our society, especially among young people.
Um, how do you think families, um,
and you can talk about this from a church perspective if you
want, um, but how do you think families, uh,
should address the current kind of zeitgeist of
anxiety that seems to be running rampant?
I mean, I, I know for me is,
Sir, what does zenge mean? I
Don't know. I don't even know if I said it right.
I was hoping you
wouldn't bring too much attention to it,
but that brought some anxiety up to me.
No, um, no, I just, what?
You know, um, because it is so prevalent, I mean,
there's people in my life who I know that struggle
with anxiety, and it's really, I mean,
I think we've all been in a situation
where someone's freaking out about something.
You say, calm down, it doesn't work. No,
It's bad. No, I learned
that in like year one of marriage. Yeah.
What do you think is the, I'm not gonna say the right,
but maybe a patient, uh, approach to those
who are struggling with anxiety.
How can we, as a culture
and a society, um, deal with this as a communal issue
and not just somebody else's problem?
Yeah. So, man, I don't, I've got some answers
that could be a whole nother podcast.
Yeah. You know, for sure. There's so much to it
because I do, while I do believe that anxiety
and the state of our mental health is like, is is unhealthy
or more unhealthy than it's ever been, I also think
that we live in this echo chamber that we're being told
that it's such a big issue
and all these things that are going wrong in the world.
It's just, and like, so we had
John Delony on the show earlier in the year,
and he, he actually made a point,
it actually makes it easier to actually believe
that we're in those states.
And look, I'm not saying that. Nah, it's just in your mind.
What I am saying is sometimes what we need
to do is just turn down the noise.
Hmm. I mean, we've got so much stuff.
We're connected, people are coming at us left and right.
Um, you, you turn on the news, everything's negative.
You get on social media, people are bickering and fighting,
and we're about to go into an election season.
I'm telling you, the anxiety
and all that stuff that you're hearing right now,
when we get into election season,
I guarantee you it's gonna jump.
Yeah. And it's because it's gonna be, look,
more people are fighting and now I gotta pick a side.
And so I pick a side that now these people are mad at me.
And this is, so I think number
one, we gotta turn down the noise.
Mm-Hmm. Number two, we do need to do some business, I think
as a culture with, um,
what are we believing as truth?
I mean, what are we giving ourselves to?
'cause the reality is, if we were created,
or if there is some set of this is your best life,
or this is how you were created to experience life
and you go about it a different way,
it would just make sense.
Mm-Hmm. For your body to not respond in a healthy way. Yeah.
And anxiety itself is not a sickness. Right.
It's a, it's an alarm to let you know
that something else is wrong.
Mm-Hmm. Anytime you talk to someone
and say, well, I've got this anxiety,
and often what you hear is, I've got this anxiety
and I don't even know what it's coming from.
No. It's telling you.
What it's telling you is you need to stop
and take a deep breath and figure out why,
which direction you're heading in.
That's the wrong direction. Mm-Hmm. Something's going on.
And so I think a lot of us, man, we just gotta stop
and do business with the fact that we could be enga,
we could be pushing ourselves too, too hard.
We could be in a relationship that we don't need to be in.
We could be saying no to something
that we need to be saying yes to.
We could be saying yes to something that we need
to be saying no to, and all that stuff stacks.
Mm-Hmm. And I think when you put all that together
with all the noise, I, I think it tells on us.
And so one, I'd say turn down the noise.
Two, I think we gotta do some business with, you know,
what are we actually giving ourselves to in our lives?
And is it the most healthy thing
That's good world's busy,
all sorts of things going on around us.
A lot of those things can be, you know, anxiety inducing.
Um, when we talk about spiritual growth, when we talk about,
um, doing things that contribute to
who we are on a spiritual level,
how can someone deepen their
spiritual practice in a busy world?
Why don't you answer this? You're a big John
comb man fan. I think that'd,
Uh, I left my collection in the office.
I can't go. No. Yeah.
I mean, I honestly, I mean, I say this in full sincerity.
I think that you, I would consider you
as a subject magic expert on this as much as anybody
realize when we do these episodes.
And it's like, Hey, uh, you asked,
we answered the only thing I'm answer,
I'm answering at large Mm-Hmm.
Based on the stuff that I've heard from some of our guests
or something that I heard from that two hours to learn.
And it's not because I'm a subject matter expert. Yeah.
Um, but man, I, there
we have to, again, we gotta turn down the noise.
Mm. If you can't say, this is how I experience silence
and solitude in my life.
Mm-Hmm. I mean, I'm just telling you from the moment,
really from the moment my kids get up.
But I would say from the moment I leave the house
until I lay down my head at night,
it's just bit, it's just hectic.
It's just noisy. And so part
of my routine is getting up early in the morning
and having a cup of coffee,
and that's like nobody else can get to me.
Yeah. And, uh, so I think we've gotta figure out
what is a rhythm where we're actually just sitting
with ourselves and doing business
with what's going on in our lives?
Where do we need to put our attention?
What's grabbing for our attention?
What are we wrestling with? And so
it's only when we actually take the time to do that
that we can figure out, okay, so
what is it that I need to address?
Yeah. And you know, truthfully, I mean, 'cause you,
and you said spiritually, right?
Mm-Hmm. And so, like, it's, we, it's,
it's in our silence and in our solitude
that we actually have an opportunity to hear from God.
Yeah. So what about you though? What would you say?
Um, I'm actually gonna quote my wife on this one.
She says something that I love. Um,
Man, do you remember that time her hat sang karaoke?
No. She's, she says something that I absolutely love, man.
She, I remember, uh, she told me, um,
I think we were still dating at the time,
and I don't remember what it was.
I was like, man, I wish I had
more time for this, or whatever.
And she's like, you know, I've taught myself
to stop saying I don't have time for something.
And instead I've started saying,
this isn't a priority for me.
Hmm. That'll get your,
that'll get you in in order real quick.
Yeah. So when you start thinking through, you know, the,
I think the heart of this question, um,
how can someone deepen their
spiritual practice in a busy world?
I, it's like, man, how am I supposed to
read my Bible when I, I don't, just don't have time.
How am I supposed to fill in the blank
with any spiritual practice?
How am I supposed to do that? I, I just don't have the time.
When you start changing that
to now reading the Bible's not a priority to me.
Wait a minute. That Hits different, right?
Yeah, it does. Um, there are plenty.
I don't have time to eat most days. Yeah.
And then I go through a Bo Jingles drive through,
and I regret it later, but I knew it was like,
it's either I do this or it's just not gonna happen.
Right. Or I'm gonna be miserable for the rest of the day.
And so I do think there has to be a bit of a prioritization
of realizing that, um, man, if I,
if I don't prioritize this, what's gonna happen to me?
You know, we were talking about this, um,
before we started recording actually with Hailey, one
of the producers on the show. She
Yeah. She makes it happen.
Yeah. And, uh, I was telling her, I was like, you know,
it's funny, so many people, we set physical goals.
Yeah. Um, either for, this is what I want my body
to look like in X amount of time.
This is how much money I wanna make one day.
This is the type of car I want to have.
Uh, these are the dreams that I have for my children.
All these sort of things. But rarely do we say, man,
in two years, I wanna be like a person of integrity.
Yeah. What do I have to start doing
today in order to get to that point?
Or I wanna be a more generous person or fill in the blank.
Right. So I, I just don't think we think about investing in
our character that same way.
And so I I, I agree with you.
I think to sit down and actually I think kind of the,
the overarching theme of kind of
what you were just talking about a minute ago with culture,
and now what we're talking about with,
with spiritual practices is, uh,
we're not just supposed to coast through anything.
Right. Like, we have to deeply examine every area
of our lives, whether that's culture, whether
that's politics, our spiritual
development, all these things.
Like, you can't just blindly hope for the best. Yeah. You
Know, or just take some influencer's word for it or
Exactly. There has
to be some sort of lens that you look through, um,
that says, this is how I determine
how I'm gonna take the next steps in my life, whether it's
who I vote for, how I interact with other people, whatever.
Um, and it just so happens that we believe that the,
the best lens to do that through is through the word of God.
Yeah. And, and through the life of Jesus, you know? Yeah.
So when I look at life
through those lenses, what do I do next? Yeah.
Hey, I wanna call back to one thing you just said
that your wife Morgan, she said, we have to say, hey,
that's not a priority to me.
Mm-Hmm. You asked me earlier something along the lines
of what's a key to a healthy relationship?
I think in a healthy relationship, you have somebody that's
able to say to you, Hey, I hear what you're saying.
You don't have time. But
what it really sounds like you're saying is
you don't prioritize it.
Yeah. Like, we need friends in our life
that will talk to us that way.
That's good. And, uh, you know,
So that's good. Yeah.
Yeah. Um, I mo at you
because I saw where you were going and I didn't like it.
Uh, don't go there. The
Holy move.
Um, we're talking about spiritual growth.
What are some signs that a person is growing spiritually?
Uh, a sign that, that wasn't even a mo. What was that?
That really good groan, A sign
someone is growing spiritually.
Yeah. You know what?
I think, um, the Bible gives us a clear picture, I think
of the, the fruit of the spirit.
Mm-Hmm. Uh, it says right in Galatians, love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control.
Like, I could say, Hey, I think I'm being a good dad
because my kids are doing this.
They're making straight A's, they're doing this,
they're doing this, and then, and work is doing this,
and then the church has grown this way.
And so I must be doing a good job.
That's one way to say, another thing to do is
to put up a gr a grit of saying, okay, love.
Am I being loving? Mm-Hmm. Okay, joy. Am I joyful?
I mean, I taught this last week, right?
Like, consider it joy when you face trials. Why?
Because those trials develop something inside of us
that takes us down the road of character
and integrity and completeness.
Mm-Hmm. So, um, am I exhibiting joy, joy, peace, peace?
Am I showing peace in the midst of a storm? Peace, patience?
Am I being patient? Am I being kind?
Am I showing gentleness?
Am I showing self-control in the areas of my life
that I might be tempted or I really want to go and do this?
But I know that's not the Jesus way.
Like that's a whole different grid. Yeah.
And, and I think oftentimes we,
we just throw up the world's filters of
what the world's chasing after Mm-Hmm.
And like, man, I'm gonna tell you, I I don't wanna like
oversize this, and I'm not a guy that's like, Hey, the,
there's a devil around every corner and he's gonna get you.
But I think you Almost scared me.
I'm coming to get you. Uh,
But I do think that if we did have an enemy Yeah.
And if you wanted us to be distracted away from the things
of God, and he could get us to see things like, well,
my bank account's growing
and I'm moving up the corporate ladder
and my kids are doing great in
school, or any of those bad things.
No, those are great things, but he can get our eye off.
What if we put a different target on our wall
and said, Hey, is that, can I see these things?
And then what if we were willing to ask those good friends
that you talked about earlier,
or our spouse who can be brutally honest with us, Hey, am I,
are you seeing more of these things in my life?
And that's a question a lot of
us are probably scared to ask.
So that's one. The other two I would say, like, are,
are you, are you living a life of service?
Are you living a life of generosity? Mm-Hmm.
I mean, those are things that I think really show if
somebody's actually showing
growth in their life spiritually.
No, it's good. I like
that you went to the fruit of the spirit.
I like, I like to think of it this way.
It's a little cheesy, but you know,
when you squeeze fruit, what do you get?
Uh, juice. You get juice. Yeah. Right.
Okay. I was like, is this a trick question? Coffee.
Wait. No. It's Jesus. Jesus
Is always the answer.
No. When you, when you, when you squeeze
fruit, juice comes out.
Right? And so when you get disclosed, when
When you get Disclosed, when you get disclosed,
what comes out, that's good.
And that's a clear barometer of if you're growing spiritual,
I mean, your spirit is within you.
Right. It's the title of the episode. That's right.
What, what to do when you get disclosed.
Uh, but man, yeah.
What your spirit is
what's on the inside of you. That's right.
That's Exactly right. And so when,
when the pressure comes out, dude, I, I asked this question.
You wanna know, you wanna know, uh, what are the signs
of you're growing spiritually?
How do you react in traffic today
versus six months ago? Yeah.
Yeah. When you're put under pressure. Yeah.
What naturally I want say to,
But I hope, I hope my wife is listening to this episode
because you just asked a great question
that I don't need to ask her because you did
Well. How's
she doing traffic? Just kidding. I'm kidding.
You do great. All gonna wrap up.
This is it. Anything else? You got a last
Question? I got one last question
for you. All right.
So we talked about the progression, setting spiritual goals
for yourself, having a desire for yourself, the type
of person that you want to be somewhere down the road.
Mm-Hmm. It's 2024.
Yep. In 2029, what do you hope is true
of Jason Gore?
Five years from now, what do I hope is true of Jason Gore?
I wouldn't have told you this five years ago.
I, I sincerely can say,
'cause you asked me about Jason Gore, right?
Mm-Hmm. You didn't ask about my family, my kids that
Yeah. I can
sincerely say
that I hope in five years I'm more loving than I am today.
Hmm. I hope that, um, I have learned how to be more joyful
in the midst of struggles.
I, I pray that, um, I can be a, um,
an anchor for peace for those around me in the midst
of whatever trial or storm that we find ourselves in.
I hope that I'm more gentle than I am today.
I hope that I'm more kind that I am today.
Um, because I've just seen when
in the rare events it seems like
that I actually do get those right.
Man. It just, it, it really is a part
of ushering in a different, I would say, kingdom way,
Jesus way of life that our souls are actually meant
to live out and experience.
And it's the same for other people. Mm-Hmm.
And so you wanna talk about bringing hope into the lives
of other people, man, live a hope-filled life, uh,
around other people and watch what it does.
And so, man, I would say if I'm going down that journey,
um, I'm in a good spot.
That's good. That's good. And that's admirable.
I mean, I would obviously, I asked you very personally,
but I think that's good sound advice
for anyone who's listening to this. So thank you for that.
Yeah, for sure. Good stuff.
Can I add one other thing to it since we're about
to sign off on season three?
Why That's good. Um, I, and I, I'll just say this
'cause I don't, I don't want anybody to hear that.
While I think my answer was, was great for me, uh,
I don't want anybody to hear that and think, oh, okay, cool.
I don't know much about Jesus.
I don't know much about the church.
And so I'm just going to go and try to be more loving.
I'm gonna go and try to be more kind
as if that's going to do it.
Yeah. Um, Jesus is really clear in the Bible,
I'm the way, the truth and the life like the way Mm-Hmm.
No other way. I'm the way, the truth and the life.
No one comes through the father except through me.
Um, the reality is you can try all you want.
I can try as hard as I want to, and my heart
and my soul is not really gonna change.
Mm. I'm a broken man.
We live in a fallen world
and the Bible tells us that we can try as much as we want,
but there's no way to actually earn back that Right.
Standing before God. And so I would just say,
if you're there and you're asking questions
and where do I start and what do I do, man,
don't start with doing the trying.
'cause you're gonna try and you're gonna get beat up
and you're gonna get burn out and you're gonna try
and you're gonna get beat up and you're gonna be burnt out.
And you're gonna think, man, I can never do this.
And the reality is you can't.
And what you need to know, and what the Bible tells us is
that we have a God that loves us so much
that he allowed his son
and sent his son down to this earth to walk on this earth
to actually show us what it really looks like,
that it is possible to live that life.
But not only that,
because we weren't going to get it right, he went to a cross
to pay the penalty that we deserve
to pay for not getting it right.
And then he went into a tomb
and three days later, the Bible says he rose from the grave
overcoming sin and death.
So that if we believed in that
and trusted in that, that we could actually have new life.
And it's only through that restored relationship with God
that we actually have a shot at this thing.
And so, um, I just, for our listeners, thanks for giving me
that 30 to 45 seconds.
Um, and Aaron, thank you so much, man. It
Was so much fun. Thanks
for, thanks for having me. This was a good time.
Yeah. We should do it again sometimes.
And talk about episode 11, what happens when you get quotes?
Yeah. What hope in real life.
Thank you so much for tuning in to season three.
Uh, we are excited for what is to come down the road.
If this has been, uh, beneficial for you
or if you think it would be beneficial for someone else,
or if you just think it would be worth listening to
for a good time, we would encourage you, like, subscribe,
share it with somebody else that
you know would benefit from it.
We love you guys. We cannot wait
to see you next time around.
Aaron, thanks again. Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Hope in real life. Love you guys. See you soon.
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