Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 233 | Something Bigger

Episode Date: April 3, 2020

There's something bigger going on than what's right in front of us. In this (mostly) upbeat, lighthearted episode, we dive into the ways we make sure we can see beyond what meets the eye.

Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. How's it going? Happy Friday. Is it Friday? Is it Saturday? Is it Monday? Is it 2025? Who the heck knows? We're still in this weird dystopian alternate universe that all of us are really eager to get out of. But I hope that you are looking for those silver linings. I hope that you are enjoying this time with your family. Maybe you are making an effort to call those friends that you haven't talked to in a long time. Maybe you're writing thank you notes that you never got around to you. That's something that I need to do, by the way. Maybe you are looking for ways to be productive and to busy yourself during this time. Of course, a lot of you might be going through a really difficult time, and that is normal too. I hope and pray that you get some relief from these government checks soon.

We know that government doesn't do anything effectively or efficiently, but I do hope that you get some kind of relief and that you are able to even apply for a job, maybe Amazon, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, one of these places that's hiring millions and millions of people right now because they are in such high demand. Hopefully you're able to find employment that way. I say this every day, we're living in crazy times. It's not very insightful. Doesn't really offer any help or benefit to you whatsoever, but that's really the main

reaction that I have throughout the day. We are living in crazy times. one of the things that I am trying to do to make this a more normal and productive time for all of us is to encourage you guys to memorize the chapter of the Bible and we have chosen Romans 8. So I talked about this on Monday's episode where I gave 10 tips to making this a productive quarantine time so that by the end of this, whenever it is, because there will be an end of this, we can just remember and hold on to that there will be an end of this at some point we will be able to look back and say okay i learned something during that time i invested in something that was actually good and beneficial during that time i

exercised my mind i studied the word more i maybe exercised my body more whatever it is we should be able to look back at this and say okay there was something actually gained from that time and not just lost i didn't just waste all of that time i actually tried to be a good steward of the time of the time that I have. We know the Bible tells us to do that, that we have to make the best use, the most use of our time because the days are evil. And just because so much of our life has stopped, God's plan of redemption hasn't stopped. God's eternal plan hasn't stopped. And as I said, repeatedly on the last episode, that is the most real timeline that we're on. That's the most pressing and most urgent timeline that we're on. That's the most real reality that we live in is God's

reality and none of this is a surprise to him. None of his roles, none of God's roles or responsibilities have been suspended during this time. While our roles and responsibilities have been changed in this time and we kind of feel like we're on in time out in a lot of ways, God is not in time out. Like he is not sitting back and saying, when are things going to go back to normal? Because he not only foresaw all of this, he predestined all of it. He is completely sovereign over it. And so he has never stopped working even though a lot of us have stopped working he's never stopped working and while a lot of leaders find themselves in quandaries right now god is not finding himself in a quandary and while a lot of world health officials and different officials around the world and different sections of society

find themselves confused in the midst of this not knowing where to go and what is going to happen next god is not confused he is not wondering what's going to happen and next and none of this is an interruption to him. None of this is a surprise to him. As I've said many times, God is not waiting around to see if we're going to figure it out so he can come in and clean up the mess. That is not true. He foresaw, he predestined, he is in control right now of every single detail and every single second of all of this. Now, does that mean that he is happy about the suffering and about the job loss and about the deaths and about the sickness, about the chaos, about the anxiety? No. But as we also talked about on Monday's podcast,

and I think it was last Monday's podcast as well, is that we don't always know what God is doing. Very often, most of the time, we don't know what God is doing, and we never know what all God is doing. Even if we can see one thing that He's doing, we don't know everything that God is doing. And as God told Habakkuk, if I told you what I was up to, you would, wouldn't believe me. God has the same message in many ways to us today. If I told you what I was doing through this suffering, if I told you what I was doing through this pain, if I told you what I was doing through this chaos and this seeming pandemonium, you wouldn't believe me. And so his message to us is clear in the word. It's be watchful, be sober minded, be obedient, pay attention to

me. Something we talked about on Wednesday as well is that God is cutting out the background noise. like that's not some extra biblical word I've gotten or some vision or some prophecy that I'm trying to tell you in some special way. I'm reading his word and knowing his character, knowing that he's sovereign. And if one thing that's happening right now is that we have a lot of the background noise of our life cut out in popular culture, in sports, in the different things that usually fill our minds and fill the background during this time of the year, he has cut all of that out and I think it's very um it's very likely that he is cutting things out in order that we could pay even better attention to what he's doing than we were before maybe

uh this cutting out of the noise that typically typifies our life is an act of mercy not an act of punishment per se now a lot of this could definitely be judgment related. I think there's a very good chance of that as well. It's certainly an opportunity for us to take a step back and to instead of filling our minds and our lives with other things to make up for the noise that's been lost, to pay attention to what God's doing,

to pray more, to listen more, to be quiet more, to wait more. I certainly think that that is a blessing that God is giving us in the midst of that. And so I am, even though we all feel like we are waiting for things to open back up, maybe we shouldn't be waiting for that. Maybe we should realize that things are happening right now that weren't happening before and that God doesn't have to wait for the economy to start back up to do the things that

he wants to accomplish. So we can be excited for what's going on today in this moment rather than anticipating what's going to happen in a month or two because like I've said, God is not limited or prohibited or inhibited or determined by what our world leaders decide to do. He is actually over all of it. So how did I get off on that tangent? That wasn't planned. Did I, so I talked about the fact that we're memorizing Romans 8. I guess that was my explanation for why we're memorizing Romans 8, but we're memorizing Romans 8. I've posted about it on social media. I really want you guys to join me.

At this point, yes, you're a few days behind, but it won't be too hard for you to catch up. We're memorizing basically a verse a day. There are 39 verses in Romans 8. And so that means that we're going to have to double up on a few days there towards the middle and towards the end. But it's basically one verse a day. Some of you out there were like, oh, I can totally do that. And some of you were like, oh, my gosh, an entire chapter in one month. And I know it sounds like a lot, but it is doable.

It is totally doable. There are a variety of different memorization methods out there. Some people make up songs. Some people make up hand motions. Heck, you can do an interpretive dance. You can write it in Sharpie on your forehead. I don't really care. How I do it is that I read a verse several times

and then I try to look away and say it several times. I might have to look back and I do that over and over again. And often I will write it to really seal the deal today on Friday, April 3rd, You should have three verses down. If you've got a friend that will do this with you, that really helps when I memorized the book of Ephesians. I certainly don't say that to be braggadocious at all. I say that as someone who had never memorized a book before

and didn't think I could do it, but I did it with a friend and I was able to by the grace of God, which means that you can do it as well. We would hold each other accountable. So I highly recommend that you get a friend to memorize this with you, hold each other accountable, text each other, send each other voice memo, send each other a video of you saying it, come up with methods together, however you can do it.

I mean, it reminds me of when I ran in, this also seems like a humble brag, but again, this is not when I ran a half marathon in college. And the reason why that's not a humble brag is because I was not someone who took fitness seriously at all. Like could not run. When I started training for a half marathon in college, I'm getting off on another tangent it now but that's okay you guys are tired of coronavirus news so maybe this is coming as a as a as a as a as a reprieve a a desirable reprie for you guys when i was in college and i started training for the half marathon which i'm

still so glad that i did i could not run a five minutes i did an app called couch to 5k and when i started that i couldn't run for three minutes i think nonstop and so i literally had to work up and it took me several several months to be able to run i remember I remember the first time I ran five miles, took me an hour, and it was at that point when I could run five miles that I was like, I think I'm going to try for a half marathon. And I did it. And my only goal was to not walk or stop. And I accomplished that goal. But one of the reasons why I was able to do that after not having been a fit person, not certainly not being a runner, I still hate running. But one of the ways that I was able to accomplish that is that for all of my long runs, I did it

with a friend and we would talk the entire time and that even probably helped our cardiovascular ability as well but we talked the entire time and those long runs that often took an hour would go by really quickly or an hour and a half however long it took us would go by really quickly and uh that was really the only way that i was able to do it so in the same way we are doing an endurance race here and while it's kind of a fast endurance race because we're trying to memorize a versatility day but we're doing an entire chapter have someone proverbially run along with you and keep you accountable and talk you through it come up with the best message or methods and the route that you want to take to be able to memorize this and if you don't have that friend like if you're someone

who's like I don't have a whole lot of Christian friends in my life or I just don't feel like I have a lot of close people in my life either a this is an opportunity for you to reach out to someone that you aren't especially close to but you would like to form a friendship with and this maybe could be the first way that you become friends with it. Maybe this is a way that you can evangelize to someone that you work with or someone that you know that you would like to bring to Christ, you know, through the power of the Holy Spirit, of course, that you would like them to know Christ better. You would like to introduce them to the gospel. Just challenge them to do this along with you, something that will keep them busy, something that will exercise their mind.

You can pitch it like that. And maybe they'll do this along with you. So, good for forming relationships, good for forming friendships, good for sharing the gospel with people. You can do it with a family member. And if you don't have any of those people, if you or someone who happens to be really struggling right now because you are in total isolation, like I will be that person with you and we can do this together. So know that I am also memorizing this every day and that you've got an entire community of people now that listen to Relatable, that follow me on social media that are all doing this together. They're writing it out. They're saying it. They're posting it on Instagram and tagging me and you can go to my story and see all of those people

that are reciting it. That's also a good way to be able to memorize this. And you can realize that there are tons of people, thousands of people across the country that are embarking on the same endeavor that you are. And then this time where it's so easy to feel alone, it's so easy to feel like nothing matters, like there's nothing bigger than you going on and you feel very small and you feel very lonely, you feel maybe very purposeless. I pray that the word of God would give you the encouragement and the purpose and the reminder of hope that you need. And also the community that so many of us need during this time.

So Romans 8 1 through 3, let's see if I can say it. Now, if I might have to look down because I'm a little bit nervous. And those of you who are listening to this, you're just going to have to trust me. I'll tell you if I looked down. Okay. Okay, there is therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the spirit of, for the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

I haven't looked you down yet. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do. now I'm going to have to look down by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh. So I had to look down twice on that one. I'm not sending a very good example, but I just memorized that and I wanted to be able to recite it to you guys. And if you are watching on YouTube, you saw the two times that I looked down. Just wanted to be honest. But that is showing that, hey, I'm working on this with you guys. And I'm excited for us to be able to recite it. I will try to recite the whole thing on this podcast

at the end of the month. But by April 30th, all of us should have Romans 8th completed. This is a way, by the way to, I mean, there are so many bad parts of social media. I mean, so much outrage, so much anxiety, so much misinformation. We've seen that now more than ever. But this is a great way, just by sharing you memorizing this on social media is a great way to share the gospel with the people who follow you without you even directly sharing the gospel. People are going to be hearing you reciting Romans 8 on your story or see you write it out, however you decide to share that. And they are going to be reading the Word of God.

And you can pray that God would use these messages that you're posting on your story or Instagram or whatever to speak to the right person that he would use the word of God to plant the seed. Of course, we know that he is sovereign over the entire process of salvation. but he can choose to use you and use you reciting his word to reach people in a time when people are grasping for hope. Like that's the message of Romans 8. Romans 7 is awesome.

Romans 9 is awesome. We can talk about obviously the entire context. I got the idea of reciting or memorizing Romans 8 from John Piper and his podcast. I thought it was a great idea because the entire message of Romans 8 is that nothing can separate this from the love of Christ. It's a message of hope that pestilence, that famine, that joblessness, that misinformation, that propaganda, that incompetent leadership cannot separate us from the love of Christ, cannot thwart God's plan.

And so I hope that it continues every day to give us the hope that only the gospel can give. And I also encourage you, I actually haven't been doing this for the past three days, and I should. We should be reading all of Romans 8 every day. day, even as we are memorizing verse by verse. Just a reminder to also build upon each verse. Don't just memorize the verses in isolation, actually build upon each verse. So I haven't done a very good job at the beginning of this podcast, which we're already 17 minutes in. That tends to happen. I haven't done a very good job of telling you what this podcast episode is going to be

about. But since we're already more than halfway, I guess I'm just not going to do that. one more way that you can be a part of community during this time is you can join the book club it's women's book club with alley i think it's women's book club with ali on instagram women's book club with ali stucky on facebook you can join either place you can add if you want to you can add the people that are a part of that group become friends with them you can strike up a friendship with them outside of the group if that's something that you want to do and i really hope that it offers again some kind of community as we are striving to to think more critically about the world around us.

We're reading nothing to envy, which is about life in North Korea. And it is teaching us a lot. And this is kind of a segue into what I'm about to talk about. But the reason why it's so timely that we're reading it right now is because we are reading about what the suspension of, or really just the obliteration of human rights looks like and civil rights looks like when people are entirely dependent on the government, when they are brainwerect. endlessly by their government, by their media, by their entertainment industry, if you can even call it that in North Korea into believing that they have, quote, nothing to envy, that their

lives are perfect in this socialist utopia that is in North Korea, even as they're starving, even as they are afraid to even go on dates with people, even as they're afraid to even think something that is against the Kim dynasty and the regime that rules North Korea. still they are being convinced on a daily basis, that their lives are wonderful, that capitalism is an enemy, that America is an enemy, that capitalist Japan and South Korea are enemies

and really the place that everyone wants to live is North Korea. That's what these people are being told and being fed. And it mirrors in some ways, and I'll explain how it mirrors a lot of the things that we see today with the misinformation that we hear from our media. Now, our media is not telling us that America is the greatest place on earth the way that the media is telling North Koreans, that North Korea is the greatest place on earth, even as people are dying of starvation on a daily basis there. We are hearing the opposite, but it's actually the same message from many in the media. We're hearing the opposite that we shouldn't want to live in the United States, but we are hearing that socialism creates some kind of perfection and utopia.

and prosperity that we are missing, that if the government just controlled more, if it just nationalized more industries, if we could rely on the government more, if we had more bureaucracy, then people would be happier, they would be more equal, they would have more prosperity,

we wouldn't be running into the problems that we're running into. For many in the American media, they look to every other country as a better model of success than the United States, particularly socialist countries. And in North Korea, that's how socialism and communism, which by the way, they really use interchangeably. I'm just saying that's how they propagandize socialism and communism too, that the government has done an excellent job of taking

care of them and capitalism is the worst thing that could ever happen to a nation. And of course, unfortunately, in North Korea, most people don't know any better. And also a parallel, the scary thing about North Korea is that North Korea actually, and I just learned this from the book that we're reading a few decades ago, used to be a Christian nation. They were a Protestant nation where that really existed like Pyongyang existed as somewhat of an epicenter of Christianity in the East and now they're completely atheist where really the Kim dynasty is worshipped. They are seen as some kind of gods, although they the people know that there is, that they have mortality, that they're going to die, but they are, are worshipped.

And there is no freedom of religion. There is no Christianity there. There are no missionaries that are allowed there. There is no conversion that is allowed there. So in just a generation, it went from a Christian nation to Kim Il-sung taking over to it being a completely pagan, not even pagan, just a completely, um, uh, a, uh, a thing. the atheistic country and with that came to complete obliteration of their freedom of prosperity of civil rights of human rights now a lot of that also came with the ussr being taken down and them not having any other communist allies and so they relied completely on the insulation and the isolation of their people in order to convince them a that there is no god be that government is the god and see that the government can take care of all of your needs and very quickly as we read in this book people started to realize that their needs were not being met that their

children were dying that they didn't have electricity anymore this is not a third world country north korea is not a third world country they are a country that has chosen isolation because of communism because of socialism and here still here on a daily basis we hear about how wonderful it would be if our government was bigger if we had more bureaucracy if we had more socialism that the problem that's we are having right now is because we don't have socialized health care or we don't have higher taxes on the rich because we don't there was a stupid article the other day saying that we need to nationalize Amazon we need to nationalize all of our industries and basically go into socialism so things can be happier and healthier and yet there are no examples no examples throughout

the world where that kind of success has been exemplified has been demonstrated at all. And yet we hear politicians like Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, we hear Chuck Schumer, we hear a variety of Democrats saying, this is the moment, this crisis, this pandemic is the moment to push our progressive agenda, to make sure that the government gets bigger, that there are more programs, that more tax dollars are being sent to things that ultimately don't matter and don't help us in this pandemic. and we have a media that is covering for them. They're covering for things like pastors getting imprisoned

or continuing to congregate. There was a New York Times op-ed that blamed evangelicals for the coronavirus. They have raked the my pillow guy over the coals for simply saying something about God and the Bible. And so we see so many parallels between every communist regime that's out there, every socialist regime that's out there and the propaganda that's been peddled by these socialist and communist regimes to some, not all, some of the media in the United States still trying to push that kind of message. I mean, you have AOC who got on her Instagram live and was talking about how important it is, you know, to push the progressive agenda. and all of that. We have a lot of catching up to do, she said. And she actually demonized landlords by saying,

we live in a capitalist country where people are able to make money by just owning property. Okay, this is some crazy Marxist socialist idea that someone who, just because they are on a higher rung on the ladder, that they are evil and wrong and shouldn't be making a profit. Of course, she's forgetting about the fact that many tenants in these properties in these apartment complexes that are owned by a landlord, they very often make more money than the landlord themselves. Like very often those landlords are poor compared to some of the tenants that they have. And so for her to say that you should go on a rent strike, which is what she is saying, and you shouldn't pay your rent, even if you can pay her rent, well, that's hurting some of the people

that she says that she fights for, which are the poor, the marginalized. You don't know what kind of landlords are out there. But this is this Marxist, Leninist, this socialist idea that hierarchies are bad. And that communism and socialism and socialism, it creates inequity that these people say is enviable, that these people on the left say that we need here in order to survive our next pandemic. And we have a media who, just like every other media in every other communist regime, is covering for these ideas which has so often ended in failure so often actually not so often but unconditionally

ended in failure and suffering and i also think one interesting thing that we read in this book nothing to envy and uh in every account of any kind of socialist country is that christianity is always the first to go and conversely where christianity thrives so it is freedom that's probably why That's why Christianity is always the first to go when it comes to totalitarianism. But the problem with that is, is that there is no concept of individual human dignity based on the fact that someone is just a human made in the image of God without the God of the Bible. There is no concept of that. Evolution doesn't account for that. Materialism doesn't account for that.

Survival of the fittest doesn't account for that. Why everyone, no matter their capacity, no matter their ability, no matter what they look like where they're from, what their skin color is, has the same human dignity and therefore is deserving of the same kind of inherent human rights that the government cannot give or take away. That is why Christianity and freedom and human rights coincide the more that the more that history has progressed. Of course, you can say, well, America was a Christian nation and allowed all kinds of atrocities. Yes, that is absolutely true. obviously slavery, Jim Crow, we had Japanese internment camps, we had Chinese railroads, all of these terrible things, abortion that has happened in this country, but all of these examples are

us stepping away from Christianity and God's good law rather than stepping closer into them. The fact of the matter is there is no concept of human dignity, no concept of inherent human rights outside of the Bible. Whether you're a Christian or not, that is just true. Like go look at the go look at the progression from the magna carta to the united states constitution and you will see the through line is the biblical principle of uh inherent human dignity and people being made in the image of god people always worship something they're always going to worship something if you don't worship god you will typically work uh worship the government you will worship yourself you'll worship your success you'll worship your fitness you'll worship your money you might worship uh multiple things

outside of the God of the universe. And that is why we see godlessness, the increase in godlessness and the increase in a lack of religious faith and leftism coincide. The increase of leftism coincide as people continue to disbelieve in God more and more. We will see them latching onto the government more and more. And people who have that mentality are latching on to a crisis like this to try to put that kind of leftist and anti-religious agenda. That's just what's happening.

And we know that's going to happen. We know we're going to get persecuted more and more. And I do think it's important for us to speak up. I do think it's important for us to be bold, but more than anything, it's important for us to trust God. It's important for us to meditate on scripture, to memorize scripture, and to be bold about sharing the gospel

and to talking about the hope that we have because, yes, there are bad actors that are trying to push whatever kind of dystopian vision right now, but there are even more people that are just looking for hope. They're looking for some kind of purpose. They are looking for something to grab onto. They're looking for something to anchor their soul. And that's where Christians come in. Like that is where we stand up and say, oh, you're looking for unconditional joy even in this trial. Yeah, we've got that. We've got that over here. Oh, you're looking for hope when everything seems desperate. Oh, okay, yes, I have exactly what you're looking for. You are looking for love.

You're looking for purpose. You're looking for fulfillment. You're looking for satisfaction. Oh, let me show you the well that never runs dry. Let me show you where to get a drink so that you never thirst again. Let me show you the bread of life that you can take of and never hunger again. Let me show you the hope of the universe. Let me show you this king of kings who can rule in your heart and keep you in perfect peace and keep your mind steadfast until eternity. Let me show you that thing that you are longing for and looking for. That's where we come in. I had something else to say.

Maybe I'll leave it for Monday. No, it kind of goes with what I'm saying. Okay, I'll just say. So I was thinking about all of that, that in God, we have all of that. that in God we have all of the things that we are longing for the most right now. We're longing for stability. We're longing for an anchor. We're longing for something sure for something to hold on to. And Christ, His gospel, offers us that. And I was thinking about how all of us are. For those of you who are parents, you know how vulnerable your children are, how helpless

they are until they're a certain age, how much they need you, and just how much they unconditionally trust you. And that's been just a beautiful thing for me to watch having my daughter and becoming a mom for the first time is that she knows that if she sees, if she sees me or her dad, that everything's okay. It doesn't matter if we are in a place where she's never been before. If we are getting in the car and she doesn't know where we're going, if she's getting in her stroller and we're walking around the neighborhood and she has, you know, she's never been to this part of the neighborhood before. If I am feeding her a new food she's never had before, but. for if we're doing something that she's never seen if I'm putting her down for a nap.

Now she might get upset about some of these things, but if I am there, if her dad is there, she's okay. She doesn't question our motives. She doesn't wonder whether we are going to take care of her or not. She doesn't wonder or not whether we love her. She knows these things by now. We have built her trust and she really has no choice but to trust us and she knows us and she clings to us and when she sees us and we tell her that we are there that things are going to be okay, she doesn't doubt that. She really has no choice, like I said, to do anything but completely trust us and depend on that and depend on us.

And we take joy in that responsibility to be able to care for her and steward this gift of parenthood well. And what a reflection that is of how we relate to God and how God relates to us. us. And if we during this time, as the Bible says, can humble ourselves and repent and go to God and ask for mercy and direction and guidance and trust him and have this childlike faith that our kids emulate in their own small way to us. If we can take on that faith and trust him during this time, we will be a lot better off than if we try to control our own situation and try to control all these variables and wrestle with anxiety and fear and go down the conspiracy theory rabbit

holes. Instead, we can look to God and look to his word and remember that that is what tells us that things are going to be okay, that his presence, that his heerness, his closeness is what tells us that, okay, I can be okay. I don't have to freak out. I don't know where I'm going right now. I've never, never been here before. I don't know what the circumstance looks like, but God is here. He has not changed. He is still on his throne. He loves me. He's with me. I can trust him. He's never failed me before. He's never lied to me before. And I can completely depend on him in the same way that our kids completely depend on us, even though they're upset. And there's also more to this metaphor that when our kids are upset, when they don't understand what we're doing or why we're doing something for them, but we know that it's for their own good. For example, putting them down for a nap or making them eat vegetables. They might kick and scream. They might be, they might, you know, cry because of those things. But we don't. try to explain everything that's happening. We don't say, hey, eight-month-old baby, like, I got to give you this mashed up spinach because it's good for you. You got to go down for a nap at 3 p.m. or else you're

going to be completely exhausted, and that's not good for you because they don't understand. They don't understand why we're doing the things that we're doing. They don't understand what they don't understand what it means for something that they don't like to be good for them. And so we can remember that analogy when we're looking around and things don't seem to be. good for us. We don't want to be going through this right now. Well, if God tried to explain to us what's going on and why in the same way that if we tried to explain to our babies why they have to go down for a nap, it wouldn't work. It wouldn't work if God explained all these things to us because we don't have the capacity to understand in the same way that our babies don't have the capacity to

understand every parenting decision that we make for their good. And so in the same way that they simply trust us, even when they're upset, we have to trust God even when. we are upset because if there is a gap in understanding between two finite beings and a parent and a child think about the gap and understanding between an infinite being being the god of the universe and us these finite transient people um at least well transient in some ways we're eternal in other ways think about the gap of understanding between an infinite being and finite human beings like like us it's a big gap in understanding so in the same way that kids really without a thought without any hindrance, trust their parents. May we trust God in the same way.

Also knowing that in the same way that we as parents delight in our kids, God is delighting in us and is delighting and taking care of us and doesn't want us to be afraid. We don't want our kids to be afraid. We don't want them to worry. We want them to look back on this time and not even know anything was happening besides the fact that mom and dad were there more and they got to do more crafts and go outside and they didn't have to go to school. In the same way, I think God, wants us yes to pay attention to him and to follow him but also to not be afraid and to not be anxious we don't want our kids to be afraid and anxious and God doesn't want his kids to be afraid and anxious either so that was just an analogy that I was thinking about I'm going to try to share

more analogies with you guys shared the noisemaker analogy on Wednesday shared the parenting analogy which I'm sure you've heard before today and I hope that it's at least just food for thought as you have a lot of time to yourself to think of your own analogies and lessons and things like that okay love you guys i'll be back here on monday monday i've got to give an update on some of the things that are going on um but i won't spend the whole episode on that but there's just there's just some stuff that we got to discuss okay i will see you back here on monday don't forget to keep memorizing roman state okay bye