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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.
If you're going into Christmas saying, Hey,
how do I model the heart of Christ into whatever
situation or family dynamic I'm going into?
Um, gosh, I kind of say this tongue in cheek,
but I don't wanna make light of it.
But like, you're probably not gonna literally be
crucified and die.
So like, man, I think you'll be okay. Yeah.
You're gonna be all right. And if you get to model that
for other people and make someone's else day a bit more
joyful, then man, that's a win.
Yeah. 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.
At 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 with someone else.
Let's get the conversation started
going on Hope in real life family.
Here we are. We are getting close to the holidays
and we are gonna be taking on a topic
that we are calling Real Talk for the holidays.
Keeping the Faith during what we all know
is the craziest time of the year.
I'm here with a good buddy, Bradford Mitchell.
We're doing things a little bit different. Yeah.
Happy to have you here. Bradford,
why don't you tell the good people just a little bit about
yourself, just in case they don't know you. Yeah.
Um, By the way, happy holidays. Merry Christmas.
Happy Thanksgiving. Almost. Yes.
Merry Christmas. And who knows? People will hear this.
Mer Chrysler. There we go. There it is.
I love, I love the holidays.
I'm, I'm the helpless romantic. We'll get into that.
Um, my wife is like, okay, uh, yeah, I,
I have a YouTube channel. I,
I can't wait to hear how the holidays have to do
with being a helpless romantic,
but, oh, we'll get there. We'll get, alright.
I have a YouTube channel and, um, I teach guitarists,
mainly church guitarists how to play.
And, uh, I get
to do some cool stuff with guitar gear and all that.
And, um, I'm a part of our church.
Jason's our, our pastor.
And, um, I play there and so I got to know Jason that way.
And, uh, then you guys had me on to talk earlier in 20,
what, what are we, 20, 24? We're in 20, 24.
Four now. Yeah. That it doesn't feel like it was like
only like several months ago, but it was, uh,
and I just came on to be a part of the team.
Jason had asked me if I would be interested in doing it
and so that's the short version.
Yeah. But we're doing things a little different just to try
to like, just to just try something different.
Yeah. This isn't necessarily an episode of, uh,
and we're gonna lean into this a little bit
over the, the coming months.
Not necessarily an attempt
to have a subject matter expert Yeah.
Or anything like that. But I'm not one, here's a couple guys
that, um, have some, some commonality.
Both have beards at the moment.
That's about it. Yeah. Uh,
Likes music. Yeah.
I like sports. You don't
I work out though. But you
do too. So there's
That. There's, there's some stuff. So.
Alright, well that's enough about us. Yeah.
Welcome to our, our our date. Here.
There, everybody's been invited to. Hey.
Uh, alright, we're talking about the holidays.
Why, why don't we jump in here?
Like, we've all got stuff in our lives
that we remember from the holidays for some reason.
What's one tradition that just stands out
to you in your mind, Bradford,
that you can't shake maybe for better or for worse.
Yeah.
Uh, I know like when it comes to Christmas, I was like,
I was always stoked to be able
to open a present on Christmas Eve.
Mm-hmm. I remember
it, remember that like, that was like my thing.
And my parents and my mom. I always
remember my mom always trying
to like guard me from shooting, choosing certain presents.
She's like, no, no, no, you need over.
I'm like, like, it was like socks or it was like pajamas.
I was like, what's the point? Like if
I want the He-Man action figure
Or I want the video game, but my mom's like, no. Did
They have He-Man, when you were little? I knew
Who he was. Okay. I don't think it
Was his big a deal. I'm a deal older
Than you. It's a little different. It
was Ninja Turtles for me. Okay.
Yeah. So Power Rangers. Yeah. Yeah.
But like, and the other, the other thing like, like,
like the foods we would have,
like my mom makes these like marinated olives.
Mm-hmm. Which I don't know if it sounds weird
to hear this from somebody else, but it's like we, oil
and vinegar and like garlic cloves
and you marinade the olives for like a week
before and they're just like, really?
They got a little bit of bite. They're not pickled,
but they're, they got a little bit of bite
and they got like the garlic in it
and like, it's not cr it's not Thanksgiving.
Bradford is also a foodie. That's all.
Just so you know. Yeah. I
Am, I am, I like say I'm a simple man.
I'm not like steak, steak sounds simple, but it's not, not
No. We do it right man. It's
an art. Yeah.
I, I mean, I can remember I've, and I hate that I,
'cause I got a lot of great memories.
Like, and there's like a, you know, I, I find myself,
whether I'm posturing myself
or just simply happen to be a little bit,
maybe a little bit more on the guy's guy side of things.
Yeah. Uh, in, in life.
But there's also like this kid in me that has never left.
And that I like regret the fact that part of it, maybe part
of it maybe has, and the innocence that we have as kids
and like in the memories that we have, like you said,
like waiting for the presents and delights and the season
and something special, something's different.
But I've also, I have this memory, I don't know
how old I was, I maybe first grade
and my parents were divorced
and I was going to, uh, this was the year for me
to spend Christmas Eve at my dad's house.
And he was married at the time, so it was my dad,
my stepmom, and then her kids were there.
And so my stepbrother and stepsister,
and somehow in my mind, like my dad took me
to sit on Santa's lap, I think,
or maybe my mom did, I don't remember.
But I remember this was the year I was gonna get a go-kart.
And I had gone big and my ask and, and that was it, man.
I was gonna get a go-kart.
And on Christmas Eve, Christmas morning I woke up
and, uh, there wasn't a, a go-kart, but there was a bicycle
and I'd never had a bicycle.
And I remember like beings so bummed
that I didn't get a go-kart.
Yeah. And, uh, I, I don't remember exactly
how I expressed that.
Um, as a first grader, maybe it wasn't all that great. Yeah.
But I remember my dad taking me outside
and saying, Hey, listen, um, your stepmom
and I spent money on a bike for you to have for Christmas.
And, um, when we go back inside, you're gonna be excited
that there's a bike in there and, uh,
and then you're gonna ride it later.
And, uh, so for some reason, I don't know why.
Now look, my dad taught me how to ride a bike
and here's how he taught me how to ride a bike.
I went down the street, uh, twice with training wheels
and he had his wrenches out
and the training wheels came off.
And then I learned how to, um, ride a bike very quickly.
So very thankful,
but for some reason, man, I just can't shake it.
Can't shake that one.
Okay. So that, that brings up something
that I think maybe we could talk about.
Like there's prob maybe somebody who either they're,
they are divorced or maybe they're, I don't know.
I mean, if it's something who, I don't know if we're gonna
have like kids listening to this,
but like, do you have any thoughts about how
to navigate the holidays in that way?
That's, I mean, that could be, it could be tough.
I mean, it could be tough navigating with your family,
even if like your parents aren't Right.
Like it could be tough. Yep.
Um, but do you have any like, like what,
what like do you think would be helpful
for people trying to figure out how to do this?
Maybe this is their first year being divorced
and this is something they need help and hope for.
Yeah, so I, I think,
let me answer it a little more broadly.
Sure. And then we can maybe jump back
into that if we remember.
But I, I, I will say this.
So I've been married 21, uh, 21 years. Okay.
And, and if it's 22, sorry babe. Uh, 21 years.
And, uh, man, I will say one
of the hardest things at the holidays is figuring out
where are you gonna be on Christmas Eve?
Where are you gonna be on Christmas morning?
Especially if you got little kids. Mm-hmm.
Um, the grandparents wanna see it. Yeah.
And, and I get it, man. Yeah. I'm figuring that out, out.
It is a magical thing. Yeah.
So I would think I, what I would say is the best thing
to do is to get a plan early.
Hmm. Like when you start waiting until the holidays
to make your plans and it's then the expectations mount
and now you're in the holiday season and everybody's busy.
And so I would say as best as you can, decide
where you're gonna be, lay it out,
make sure everybody understands, Hey, we're gonna go here.
And then there's something to the fact,
and I'm sure we'll talk about this a number of times
as we try to talk about how to kind of numb down the crazy,
but just, you gotta remember,
you can't make everybody happy.
No, you can't. And so if you're, if you are married, um,
man, you and your wife gotta be on the same page.
Yeah. And you guys gotta do
what's best or you and your husband.
That's most important. Yeah. And
so now here comes the hard part.
How do you do that if you're not, and,
and then I think it's a conversation
and there's gonna be give and take, man.
There's gonna be some sacrifice.
How do we find the common ground? Yeah.
Uh, so I would say that if parents are divorced, my,
my parents were and another layer.
Right, Right. And what worked well for us growing up is
it was just an every other year thing as to
where I was on Christmas Eve.
Mm-hmm. And so one year I would be
with my dad on Christmas Eve
and wake up there on Christmas morning
and um, see what Santa Claus left under the tree.
Uh, see which go-kart didn't get left or did, uh, or,
and then, then, and then I would then, but shortly
after that, around lunchtime I'd be heading over to mom's
and we'd be doing everything on mom's side.
And then the next year it would be at mom's on Christmas
Eve, Christmas morning,
and then heading over to be with dad for a bit after that.
Yeah. You said that that brought up a a good point.
'cause I, my wife
and I, we, our families are like close enough
that we can drive, but like not close to each other.
My in-laws are west in Charlotte.
My family is east in North car or, uh, Virginia.
They're in like Virginia Beach area. Yeah.
And we do that, but we actually just,
that's you said like make a plan.
We just actually have like a, a rotation.
It's like we spend Thanksgiving with one family one year,
and then we spend Thanksgiving
with the other family the next year.
And especially now we have kids like, we're like,
we're not gonna do the traveling for Christmas thing.
And like we'll figure that part out. Yeah.
Um, but we do that and so everybody knows.
So my mom still asks,
which I wonder if it's her being hopeful that like,
maybe she, like she asked this year, I'm like, mom,
you know, you know, we were with you last year.
I think you just, she's just hoping
that something would change and we're gonna go.
'cause my, my daughter's eight weeks old,
so I think my mom's like, come stay with us.
Yeah. But she doesn't wanna say it, so. Right.
Yeah. Why do you think though of,
why do you think at the holidays this pressure comes out?
Like why is there tension that seemingly surrounds all,
I mean, everybody talks about we all got some crazy family.
Yeah. But, and, and maybe that leads to the tension,
but why do you think at the holidays,
like everything gets a bit more chaotic?
I think there's, I think it's hallmark's fault, man.
I think, I think, uh,
but I'm joking, but I'm actually kinda serious.
I think people see like movies
and they see, they see this like idea
of families gathering together
and like, everybody's peaceful.
And then like, you know, if you're like me, I'm like, no,
no, I'm gonna watch Christmas vacation.
Like that's more real. Right. Yeah.
That's more real home alone. Yes. Maybe
Or Die Hard, which is a Christmas movie by the way.
Maybe we talk about that.
But I think, I think it's,
I think it's like Hollywood gives us this, this idea.
I think Hollywood often gives us ideas that kind
of like misconstrue
that we kinda like get these wrong ideas about.
And I think a lot of people try to fit in a lot
of quality family time in a short period of time.
And they're like, this didn't go right.
And they explode because there's just pressure
to make like the eight hours you're together.
Right. Yeah. And when
The last eight years Have not been Right.
Yeah. Well it's like, because like I, I've told my parents,
I was like, I I love to, to see you guys on the holidays,
but like, like my dad makes a joke about like, his,
his birthday is not just a day, it's like a birthday week.
Yeah. And I'm like, why don't we apply that to holidays?
Yeah. Like, we don't need it to be one day, like
come a few days later and like there's less pressure then.
'cause it's not actually a holiday. But I think a lot
of times people, they try to make this magical moment.
They don't know they're doing it.
'cause I think I find myself, 'cause I mentioned I'm the
hopeless romantic and we can still,
that's, it's, it's funny. I Did you want
To go there? You mentioned it twice.
We can go there right now. We,
I think, I think that's the thing though.
I think people set unrealistic expectations.
And it's like, if you're spending time with your family,
I understand there's like, you
know, we're on the East Coast.
If you have family live on the West coast,
like seeing them regularly is not easy.
I get that. Um, but I think that may be something that like,
in people's head, that's what it is that makes people think
that like, there's all this
pressures 'cause they're like, it's gotta be perfect.
Yeah. It's like just hang out.
Like it doesn't have to be like, that can be your tradition.
Just hanging out can be your tradition. I don't know
Hope in real life family.
I want to take a moment and let you know about a resource
that we have for you for your own personal development,
spiritual enrichment, and really a way for you
to find a bit more hope in real life.
We have a tool for you called the Hope in Real Life app.
It offers things like parenting tips, financial resources,
marriage insights, uh, if you're looking for it,
there's even Bible reading plans in there.
And there's a community
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You can search hope in real life and both stores.
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Remember, tomorrow can be better than today
and hope is possible even in real life.
Uh, man, I, to me it just seems nuts that,
so I'm, I'm 45
and I feel like it's been like for 20 years in a row.
Maybe, maybe it's less than that. I have kids that are 16.
Maybe it's 16 years in a row. Just kidding.
Uh, I know y'all listen, I
then I thought this is gonna be the year
that I'm not gonna miss it.
Mm. Like this is the year that I'm gonna slow down
and I'm gonna enjoy it.
And then I turn around
and I feel like it's like, it's spring
and somehow I, I was like,
when am I gonna enjoy the Christmas season?
When am I gonna Well
You are in ministry.
Yeah. I mean that can have a little bit to it
with a big deal, but like how do, how do you,
how do you think Brad, we go through what this season
that's coming up right in front of us mm-hmm.
And not miss out on what it really does have to offer. Yeah.
I think one thing I've thought about,
I've been challenging myself to, to do is to not think of
myself because I've like,
I feel like I want to experience it.
Like you were talking about the
like, you know, the worst, the magic.
It's like I'm an adult and it's like the magic is gone.
Like the the presence thing. Like Yeah.
Presence are still great and you're still grateful,
but it's just like, man, I'm not like jumping.
Like I used to wanna get up at five in the morning
to open presents on Christmas.
Yeah. But now I'm just like, can I sleep first?
The presents will be there. Yeah. Like I'm more realist now.
Uh, but like I found that
serving other people is a good way.
Even as small as,
'cause this is, this is the thing around the holidays,
just letting somebody else have the parking spot.
Yeah. Yeah. Like start there. Yeah. Start there.
Serving can be really small.
You don't have to interact with the person. Right.
You don't have to say anything. You don't have to like,
'cause like small talk to me, I feel like it's kind of fake
and like it's kind of the point.
But like, I don't wanna be like, oh no man, it's all good.
Like it's not all good. Right.
But like, I didn't have to interact with that person
to let them have Yeah.
The parking spot or to like,
let somebody in on the highway even though it means like,
I can't, like what?
I'm gonna get half a second closer
to my definite the destination by not by letting them in.
Yeah. Whatever. So I think just serving
and letting, thinking about other ways
to serve people is like, I think it's cliche,
but sometimes cliches are cliches
because they're real. Yeah. It's true.
Yeah. Well I think if you think about it, man, like
what this, what Christmas,
if we're talking specifically about Christmas,
what it's really about is
God sending his son down to earth.
Yeah. Right. And Jesus willingly the son
of God taking on human flesh
and being born as a baby ultimately is an act of service.
Mm-hmm. To all of humanity. Yeah.
And so if we can get out of our, I mean you said,
you said Hallmark ruined it.
I mean Hallmark really made it about, hey,
it's about the gifts and it's about the cards
and it's about the party butterflies,
your stomach, all this stuff.
As opposed to like, no, no, no.
What's the best way to remember God
stepping down into the course of human history mm-hmm.
So that we could all experience a different life.
It's like, okay, well what if we make it about that?
Then how can we model that in our lives? Yeah.
Because that's ultimately what we need to be remembering.
I think if we want to find peace.
I'm not saying I get this right all the time. Yeah.
But when you say give somebody a parking spot,
I mean that's really what you're saying.
How do I willingly set aside my personal preferences
to allow this to be a season of peace that actually models
what the whole season is all about.
Yeah. Um, what, what did you,
so you mentioned a parking spot.
Any other, any other bright ideas for people that might need
to find a way to slow down
and remember what it's really about?
Remember, I now see, I think I, I mean I think, I know
for me, like my wife and I try
to be intentional about like, you
Try to be helpless romantics together.
Yes. No, not her. Okay.
That's, that's why it's even funny.
It's like my wife is like, I don't, I don't care.
Um, but my wife is intentional about traditions.
Um, or or, and not traditions that were so like, so rigid
that like if we miss them, Christmas is ruined.
It's like let's try to get to one
or two things that are fun that are Christmas ish.
Like we used to go to like Spencer, North Carolina. Yeah.
They got like the it's transportation museum or something
and they got like this Polar Express thing. Yeah.
Okay. I've been to that. Yeah. And
my kid, like, he used to love Polar Express. Yeah.
He's four and a half this year.
So whether or not he's gonna love it the same,
I don't know. No, he's gonna love it. My
son, my son Aidan, who's now 16,
loved it until he was like 14 years old. Oh.
I'm still, and I think he still tell my wife that
Think still does. I
Think he still does. We're not doing it
this year. Yeah.
We already made that call not
to do it. Yeah. And I was like, okay.
Like, well I was just talking about the movie.
We didn't go on the train. Oh, the movie. Yes.
We didn't go on the train every year.
The movie. I can't, you gotta watch the movie.
I cannot watch the movie. Right. Yeah. I dunno.
Um, to not miss it. I think I, that's just really it to me.
And like, you know, think not thinking of yourself
and just thinking about how you can bring some,
I mean, that's the golden rule.
So again, like, it can sound cliche,
but I like treating other
people the way you wanna be treated.
It'll get like, that'll change some things for you. Yeah.
Yeah. And like, just going out with gifts
or just being intentional and not even having to,
and we, I think we wanna talk about this in another episode,
uh, depending on how things lay out.
But like, gifts don't have to be, you don't have
to spend a hundred dollars,
$500 on somebody for it to be a good gift either.
Like intentionality Right. Is more about to me. Yeah.
So getting together with family.
Something that we do at the holidays,
whether it's Thanksgiving, Christmas,
You wanna talk about a service.
What is, uh, that can bring tension.
Uhhuh, you got any tension Uhuh
in your family you wanna talk about? No, no.
Nothing worth mentioning. Okay. Alright. Alright.
Nothing worth mentioning, but I mean,
it was an election year.
Yeah, it was. So this may be
weird for some people this year.
Yeah, that's true man. Yeah.
You're gonna get people together. Yeah. Crazy.
Uncle Johnny's gonna show up. Yes.
And he's gonna talk about how the recent election was the
best thing ever or the worst
Thing ever or the worst thing ever.
Yeah. Yeah. There's gonna be a little bit of both happening
And you gotta decide, are you gonna talk about it Uhhuh,
are you not gonna talk about it?
I'm already cringing thinking about that person who feels
that they're, I feel bad for that.
It's because it's hard. Yeah.
For me, it probably just depends on the day.
Most of the time I'm in a good place, like, ah,
that's probably not something we should
talk about right now.
Or just sit there and listen. And then every now
and then I have a couple family members that it is hard,
sorry, Amy, to not, you know,
just stoke it just a little bit.
And, um, I don't, I don't know
that my sister-in-law listens,
but if she does, can't wait to see it at Christmas
and I can talk about some stuff.
Uh, so family expectations though, um,
people are gonna have them.
Mm-hmm. You said you've got,
because you just said you have an eight month old,
but eight week old, right?
Eight week old. Yes. Yes. But also
a four and a half year old.
Yes sir. And so I'm sure that brings
with attention uhhuh, like you said, with family.
Any recommendations on
how you guys have navigated some of that?
Uh, I think we kind
of talked about it in a way and it kind of goes back.
It's like ultimately it comes down to what my wife
and I think is best for us.
Um, and like an eight
and a half week old, an eight week old is,
she doesn't have like an immune system yet.
Like, or it's like it's weak. Something. I don't know.
She's, she's an infant. She's more
susceptible to getting sick.
Yep. Um, and we're not using it
as an excuse, but like, it's a reason.
It's like we're gonna kind of keep it a little low.
Lay a little low right now. Um,
but also it's like we don't want to deal with toys,
gifts hauling that like we don't want to.
So it's just like, well this is
the best move for our family.
Like, we're here. We'd love to have you.
Um, you know, my my in-laws have, it's just
that my mother-in-law, my father-in-law there, my family,
my sister, one of my sisters has special needs.
She's always with my mom and my youngest sister
or with both my parents.
My youngest sister is 13 years younger
and she actually just graduated from college.
So like, she just now got into like, her own life.
So things are gonna be a little different this year anyways.
So I think it's just like navigating with grace and patience
and like, like, Hey mom, like we wanna spend time with you,
but just know, like, I think we gotta
really figure this out together.
Like it's not, it's it's,
it's gonna be different this year for a lot of reasons.
And it's being upfront, like you said,
get a plan together early.
Yep. I would add to that. I would agree.
And add, like, just be like honest
and communicate with people.
'cause I think it can cause like tension.
Like will you spend too much time
with that family instead of our family?
Or it could be that way for somebody who's like,
just be honest and be
like, Hey, we're trying to figure this out.
Like, yeah. Can we be graceful with one another?
And like, if we can get a tradition, the plus would be mom
and dad, come on now if they can move down here,
which is like what I've been trying to get them to do.
Yeah. So they'll be here in like a year or so,
but that would make things a lot easier. Yeah.
I think too, men, like what,
and again, I told you I don't get this right all the time,
but, and, and I,
I am a rather opinionated human. Um, yeah. I
Would say I am too. Yeah.
And so good company,
I have to tell myself and
before getting together, whether it's Thanksgiving,
Christmas, going to the in-laws, like,
hey, this isn't about you.
Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. And so you can do one of two things.
You can go in with expectations that it's going
to be your way.
And within the 99th percentile be frustrated the whole time.
'cause it's probably not gonna be. Mm-hmm.
Or you can go in this thinking,
especially into the holidays, look Thanksgiving it's about
what, like recognizing what we're thankful
for in life and wanting to experience.
Like, you know, science even tells us
that when our hearts are in a place of gratitude,
like everything in life is just better.
Yeah. Like we respond, uh, to challenge it better. Yeah.
I mean, and so I try my best to take on this perspective
of how can I bring the attitude of what the season is about
to wherever I'm gonna be.
So if it's Thanksgiving, I'm going in with a heart
of gratitude, man, look, yeah.
I've got family that's not here anymore that used to be
around, and I don't get to see 'em this year,
but I do get to see some.
And so I'm gonna go in with a heart of gratitude
and I'm gonna go in with a low expectation, um,
Christmas like, man, for goodness sakes.
Yeah. It's about the presents and it's about the Turkey
and it's about the olives,
which is the weirdest thing I've ever heard.
Um, so good. So good.
I mean, I love olives, don't get me wrong.
I, I, it's just, I've never associated them with Christmas.
Although I do have a funny story about
Coca-Cola at Christmas,
which we'll come back to in a minute maybe.
Okay. And now I probably
don't even remember what I was gonna say.
I do Christmas.
Like it's about goodness gracious, like I said, the son
of God coming to earth mm-hmm.
Ultimately to be a sacrifice for all of mankind.
The ultimate act of humility too.
Yeah. And so to go in with a high level of expectation
for self-service, for my needs to be met
seems like that's backwards.
And so if I can go in with that attitude
and hey, how do I, how do I usher in, how do I model in,
how do I bring the spirit of whatever it is
that we're celebrating into it
and allow that to be my expectation?
I mean, heck, if you're going into Christmas saying, Hey,
how do I model the heart of Christ into whatever
situation or family dynamic I'm going into?
Um, gosh, I kind of say this tongue in cheek,
but I don't wanna make light of it.
But like, you're probably not gonna literally be
crucified and die.
So like, man, I think it'll be okay. Yeah.
You're gonna be all right. And if you get to model that
for other people and make someone's else's day a bit more
joyful, then man, that's a win. Yeah.
That's a win. I, I wrote something about that,
like, uh, it's not about you.
I had wrote that one line
and I was thinking like, that's a good cola.
No, not about CocaCola. Alright.
But I mean, there's one other practical thing.
You may need to make the call
to just decline an invitation too.
Mm-hmm. Like, you don't have to be,
if you do not think it's a good call.
Now, you and I would argue that, like,
I would think based on what you were saying too,
it's like if you're getting to be the hope of Jesus
and offer something to people and just like remind people,
'cause some people holidays gets them fired up whether
they follow Christ or not.
Right. And it's like that's, I'm excited
that people can still find hope in something that's like,
I want them to find hope in Jesus,
but I'm happy to see happy people.
Right. Right. So if you can serve
and be like a light, that's awesome.
But I, I also think it's important, like you don't have
to say yes to every invitation.
Yeah. So that's a different thing,
but I just, I thought that will slip that in,
like give someone the, the opportunity
to like not feel like they have
to go everywhere they're invited to. Yeah.
So Coca-Cola, yes. So let me see if I can get this right.
Coca-Cola was a beverage that was
It still is it?
It still is. Sorry. Have have stock in the company.
They don't have it anymore. They probably, yeah.
Uh, that was largely a summertime beverage.
It was like originally marketed as a,
this is a refreshing drink.
I think I may know where you're going with
this and I'm curious to hear it.
Well, no, in a bunch of, I mean,
look at Coca Christmas time now.
It's like, oh yeah, have a Coca-Cola.
You, what is it? The polar bears. The polar
Bears. Right. Yeah. That's what I was
Thinking of. So like, some
marketing people got together from Coca-Cola
was like, man, we were, we're down in the winter months.
Interesting. And then just decided, hey,
we're gonna start this marketing campaign,
put some polar bears with Santa Claus on the Coke.
Yeah. Who the truth is,
if Santa Claus was near polar bears, they would maul him.
Yes. But somehow they're together now
and, uh, they're the most vicious bears
and they're rolling down the hills looking cuddly and cute.
Which again, polar bears might look cute,
but you don't wanna get close to 'em and drinking Coca-Cola.
And now all of a sudden, like their,
their sales are like just as high now as,
but like, I don't know.
There's no real magical reason why Coca-Cola is like in
Christmas commercials and a part
of Christmas time other than a great marketing
Campaign. Marketing. I mean, you gotta do what you
gotta do.
I mean, that makes me think of that Hershey Kiss commercial
that plays every year when they're like doing the bells
of like, we wish you would Merry Christmas or whatever.
I don't know that one. You,
It's been on for like decades.
Nah, you'll see it, you'll see
it like 20 times this year now. Okay. Alright. Alright.
Okay. So let's, one thing I know for me that's, um,
I mentioned this earlier every year I feel like
I say I'm not gonna miss Christmas.
And then it's like the 22nd I'm like, okay,
this thing is in three days.
And then in my world it's like, and now I have,
That's when Services start.
I have 25 Christmas Eve services to, I think it's worth all
of us, myself included, like just thinking through
how do we get more intentional, uh, about not missing it
because whether it is a Hallmark thing or it is
because, you know, the Bible clearly elevates the birth
of Christ and that's when we celebrate Jesus.
I think we'd be hard pressed to miss like,
really some magical times for people in this world,
whether it's kids, adults, even happen around this season.
So any ideas, man, and like how we can be more intentional
and may, and maybe just me asking the question
for our listeners is just, Hey, are we taking the time
to figure out how to be intentional in
this season and not miss it?
Mm-hmm. And I mean, I know I'm asking you the question,
but I'm just gonna jump right.
'cause I really have no, like, for me personally,
like my kids love decorating the house.
Mm-hmm. There's been a couple of years where I turn
around and it's like December 7th
and you're like, man, you don't even have a whole
month to enjoy it.
And so this year for me, I am, I am declaring
that Thanksgiving Day will also be spent putting
up Christmas decorations.
There you go. Putting lights on the house. There you go.
Um, getting the whole thing started at the absolute latest.
And then normally the day after Thanksgiving,
one thing we do that's always helped,
we just have a tradition the day after Thanksgiving
or sometime before that, weekend's over,
that's when we go get a Christmas tree.
There you go. Um, but any ideas for you guys?
How you're gonna make sure you I, I feel like,
I feel like I always think of that same thing too.
Like I feel like I'm like, man,
'cause I'm also, I'm also in ministry
and also with my business, it comes down to like the end
of the year you're trying to wrap things up
and really push the last few things.
And so I'm like so focused on that.
Like I'm more focused on product
and trying to like wrap up a good year.
And I've found like taking a year off from not playing
for Christmas, like feels good on paper,
but like it, for me it's like I've been a part
of a Christmas Eve service since I could walk.
I feel like Yeah. Like in some form
or fashion, whether it was like I was attending
and started volunteering in some facet as a kid.
Um, I don't know. I I think
one thing I I always say I'm gonna do is like some sort
of like advent book or like devotional thing.
Yep. Um, that kind of just
'cause the whole idea there is like waiting for Christ and,
and like they're waiting on his arrival.
And I think some people may,
who maybe just don't really feel like they want anything
to do with Christ may find that like that's still beneficial
for them to understand like,
why is it necessary that he came?
What did he come for? Who did he come for? Yeah.
Um, and like, I think maybe, I'm hoping
by the time we post this episode,
we could have a resource up
and we can point you to something.
Um, but just like, even if it's like you open the, one
of the greatest things that exists,
I think is the YouVersion app.
Yeah. It's like Life Church put a lot of effort into that
and it's free resource with lots of cool stuff.
Um, and that's, that's one big, big thing.
But also we have our, our app, the Hope and Real Life app
and we're trying to keep adding content to that. Yeah.
I'm sitting here like, why are you talking
about somebody else's app?
Man, we got stuff that we're gonna have in there.
I'm just trying to credit where Credit
is due. Yeah. No, they've
done great. They, they
Paved the, they paved the way
for that kind of thing. Yeah.
Get Bradford off the show. I mean, we gotta get some,
He's talking About other people. If
I wanted Craig Rochelle, I'd have the, uh,
you know, one other thing I would say in terms of, um,
serving, we hit on this earlier and then we kind of moved on
and, and I'll wrap up with this
and then in a minute we're actually gonna jump into
Christmas, you know, just around the idea of gifts
and how do we manage just a lot of pressure and tension.
Yeah. And so, you know, we'll hit that on the next episode.
But I will say as we head into the holidays, man,
just looking for, you said it, I mean,
giving somebody another parking spot that that's one,
but like looking for ways to serve other people mm-hmm.
That keeps our minds off ourselves Yeah.
And puts our minds towards other people.
And that could be as simple, and Hailey said this, um,
but a moment ago
before we even started the show, whether
that's serving in a soup kitchen somewhere,
man, there are people hurting.
I think I read a stat in Wake County alone that it's like
one in eight kids like go home
and don't know if they're gonna have food that day.
That's crazy. That's nuts. That's crazy.
So like, whether it's serving in food
or something as simple as like, if you are a part
of a local church, like if you were a part
of a local expression of the body of Christ, one
of the greatest opportunities that you will ever have
to ensure that someone hears the hope
that we actually have in Jesus is
through celebrating a Christmas Eve service.
Because people are more willing
and more apt for whatever reason to go,
especially if invited at Christmas Eve.
And so when your church says, Hey,
we're doing these Christmas Eve services
and we've got opportunities for people to go
and serve, man, goodness gracious.
Go. Don't do the bare minimum. Yeah.
Look, look in, find how many opportunities
can I find to share hope?
Because like, look, you can give someone a meal
that's important, but nothing is gonna change somebody's
life than coming in
and into an encounter with, with the gospel.
Mm-hmm. And understanding that no, the son of God did leave
heaven and did come to Earth.
And you have an opportunity to be a, a conduit.
You have an opportunity to be, um, a, a resource
to actually bring that to life for other people.
Yeah. So, um, man, we covered a lot.
We did family stay away from the election conversations,
love people, put a plan in place early.
It's okay to say no. Mm-hmm.
Be a hopeless romantic
and don't fall into the trap of the marketing
of Coca-Cola at Christmas time.
I mean, and eat olives. And eat olives, marinate olives.
That's a, that's a big episode. There we go.
Hey, let's sign off for this week for this episode.
Heck, you can listen to all
of them in one week if you want to.
Sure. Let's sign off for this episode
and we will jump in on our next time together talking a bit
more about the Christmas season.
Bradford, thanks for being here. Hey, thank you. Yes, sir.
Hope in real life. Share this with somebody like,
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