WHOA That's Good Podcast - Don't Play the Comparison Game | Sadie Rob Huff & Bob Goff

Episode Date: March 30, 2022

Author Bob Goff speaks to the most difficult issues we face with such joy and encouragement. He joins Sadie to talk about how to turn letdowns into lessons and disappointment into determination. They share heart-driven stories to illustrate how we can conquer the distractions that lead to comparison, how to be more kind in our assumptions about people, and how to cultivate a 24/7 thirst for the Lord. Friends, don't be distracted by what's going on around you. Take a moment to look at what God's doing within you. Bob Goff's "Undistracted: Capture Your Purpose. Rediscover Your Joy." is available now. - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up, well that's good fam, welcome back to the, well that's good podcast. I hope everyone's having a great Wednesday. Y'all, it's about to get better because today we have a very special guest. This is not his first or second time. This is his third time on the, well that's good podcast and I'm so thankful for every time he's been on with a new book called Undistracted. Capture your purpose and rediscover your joy. We have Bob got back with us. Welcome back to the podcast, Bob. Hey, thanks a million Sadie. It's so fun to see and connect. I'm just always cheering for you guys.

Guys, thank you so much. Well, I'm excited to have you back and no have already asked you the question of what's the best piece of advice you've ever been given and I've actually probably asked you twice. So for the third time, I'll just ask you, Bob, just give us a good piece of advice. I know that you are absolutely full of it. Yeah, here's a, I remember last time we talked about it, remember it was 100% kindness and 0 percent drama. I remember you sent me something. Yes.

Still got it girl, I just love that thing. Here's a thought for now, instead of being distracted by what's going on around you, take a moment and figure out what's going on within you. So I think a lot of our time we're like figuring out what's your position on this and this and this and this. And these are all good things, they're not bad,

but they become bad if they distract you from figuring out what God's doing inside of you. Yeah, that's so good. Come on, that's great. And I know that distraction has been a big topic of conversation for you lately with your new book, Undistracted. And the last two books were about love

and they were so good. If you haven't read, love does, or everybody always stop what you're doing right now go order three books at this moment and order all three of Bob's amazing books but what led you to want to shift gears a little bit and talk about being undistracted what was the heartbeat behind that yeah I think it's because I'm uniquely qualified to like be distracted like as a flaming anyogram seven, like that's where we live. Like everything in our mind is a carnival.

It's just like you're just doing the coin toss, you're like trying to get a goldfish, you're like, your mind is just like constantly distracted. And it couldn't find a book that helped me focus. And so you kind of write the books, like you do, you write the book you need. I went out and watched this glorious sunrise in San Diego Bay. It was like one of those just moments. I just came back having started the day so well. But we've got a little doc behind the house. I got back to the doc. I went up a lit a fire and another boat like mine pulled in a little while later and it looked

Identical I got the binoculars out because it's on the other side of the bay. It's my boat because I had I hadn't tied it up Distracted so it isn't always bad things to distract you like no brains no headache But it isn't sometimes it's really beautiful things that distract you, that you see, like you take your eyes off of what's going on in your life because you're so distracted by something beautiful that's happening in someone else's. Now the bad version of that is comparison. And God never compares what He creates. So what you need to do is to put a little truth

and a little bit of obedience over anything that's distracting you. Oh, get this, Sadie. This will be really helpful for you and your adventures. An anaconda, I want you to picture that without freaking out. This snake is 25 feet long. It's three feet around.

That's a lot of snake, you know, even in Louisiana. And if you have an anaconda wrap around you, you could try to bite it, but it wouldn't even feel it, because it's wrapped around you. And you got about one minute. This is what an anaconda is uniquely susceptible to. One drop of alcohol on its nose. I'm not getting it. Yeah, one drop of alko, it would like let you go and slither away all 25 feet and think about what's distracting you and what is uniquely susceptible to is truth and obedience. So anaconda is a drop of alcohol for all the fears that you have, speak a little truth over it. Be obedient to some of those truths. And so I just think if we're susceptible people, that's the message of the scriptures, that we're susceptible

to everything. I wanted to say, I want to deal with that susceptibility by putting a little truth. I'm not saying positive affirmations. You're swell, you're nice, you're happy. But to just say who God says we are. Speak a little truth over that. Then be obedient to that, like some of the things that maybe you're listening and distracted by what other people are saying about you. I'm like, nah, I'm out of there. That's so good. Man, that's so good.

I love how you already brought up just a difference in biblical truths and positive affirmation, because I think that's something that we should see the difference in, that, you know, it's one thing to just puff yourself up and say, I'm awesome, I'm great, I gotta go on and that'll maybe encourage you for about an hour, but then, you know, when something hurts you, when you get distracted by an ugly comment,

it's those truths that you come back to, that keep you rooted. You know what's helped me a lot is to do this a little bit of a matrix. Number one, I try to say what's the most generous explanation for whatever's distracting me? Somebody who says something mean, somebody blows you off kind of goes to you

or something, what's the most generous explanation? Then what's the most realistic explanation for that? And then what's the most optimistic? And so I'll give you an example. Somebody who's sending email to and they don't respond. Maybe the most generous explanation. There was somebody I hadn't written to from before there was computers. It's a family member.

And I've sent this email and I didn't hear anything back. You know what my most generous explanation was? Maybe I have the wrong email address. And then I said, what's the most realistic explanation? Maybe there's some hurts there. I've got a couple. Yeah. Maybe they do as well. Sometimes if somebody hasn't spoken well of you, that there's some unresolved stuff and a big chunk of truth in there. Something for me to learn, like I maybe need to own a little bit of that and then change some of my ways. And then what's the most optimistic thing? And here's the most optimistic with the person I emailed, maybe they'll email me back tomorrow. Maybe most optimistic in the painful words that might have been spoken about you to say maybe I can change. Maybe with Christ's help I could find not a better version of me but a

more accurate reflection of him. Well that's great, Bob. That's so good. One thing you talk about in the book is kind of being willing and able to stop in those moments that you need to stop and reset, hit the reset button of your life. And that's a hard thing to do.. And that's a hard thing to do. You know, that's a hard thing to do for most people. I think it does require a moment of stopping, not being distracted to stop and look at yourself in the mirror long enough. You know, for the, I mean, the most honest version of ourself, nobody wants to do that because

that brings up embarrassment or shame where we feel guilty or we feel like not enough or whatever. But in those moments, whenever you know it's time to stop, how do you get past those feelings of that embarrassment or that fear to even deal with who you are in order to stop long enough to become who you want to be? Yeah, so everybody has these stories that we make up when we're little, little Bobby Goff. If you met me when I was eight, you'd see first impression, that's a lot of freckles.

And then this, you don't see all this gray air. You see right now, just flaming red hair and a lot of freckles. But little Bobby Goff had a couple weird things happened and you did too and everybody I know did and I made up a story That everyone was gonna eventually abandon me. I will be left all alone And it's because I didn't have the emotional tools to deal with it And so we do that we make up stories and then here's the insidious part we make up rules to support the stories So my rule is that don't get close to anybody.

Why? Because the story is that everybody's going to eventually blow me off. And then these rules that we're actually scaffolding to keep your little eight-year-old life together. Now you're 20 or 30 and you don't have any deep friendships. It's because there's an underlying story that everybody's gonna leave.

And so you make up a rule that I'm not going deep with anybody. And so you spend all your time in your friendships snorkeling rather than ship wreck diving. Like you keep it in the top two feet of the relationship because you're afraid you're gonna leave. And so people then have this impression of you, Sadie. Fun, happy, go for it, all that, or Bob the balloon guy.

Nobody's first thought is Bob super insecure. But I am here to tell you, I am super insecure. I just tried to keep it together with little Bobby Gough decided he'll be funny. So if he's just fun, then you don't have to. And here's the beautiful part that Jesus invites us to. He gets to say, you don't have to be that. Let's revisit the rules. Let's revisit the story and say, was it ever true? Or maybe if it was true then, it doesn't need to be true now. And that's the promise of the hope of Scripture. That you just get to like,

take a hard look and that Jesus is there to like walk with you through that. So if we can uncover the story, figure out the rule, and then as people say some hard things to you, to say, okay, what's the most generous thing? Even when somebody says something lame, if you could go to the thought bubble, you know, is anybody ever told you the way to memorize somebody's name is to see it in sparklers

in their forehead? That's just super lame. But if you could picture a thought bubble from somebody that's saying something super lame, their thought bubble says, I'm being super helpful right now. Like when they, like a word of correction that's totally unnecessary, they're like, I am really helping Sadie out right now. I'm being a boss. Yeah.

And so what I'm trying to do is just be a little bit more kind about what my assumption is about where they're coming from. That they do need to be mean. They just be more generous with your explanations. That's so good. That's so good. And it's so true. Like people look at other people and they have this perspective of who they are based off of just

what they see. But there's so much to people that is unseen. And honestly, even when you just said that about me, the truth is today, literally today, I had a conversation with someone. And she looked at me and she said, you know, you just appear to everyone like you're so strong, but I know that some things have to hurt you. And I said to her, they do hurt me. And then she said, well, why don't you share that? And I said, well, because you never know who's gonna leave you.

And I don't, it's easier to not share because then I don't feel like I get backstab when the person leaves. And I think, and it was just a really real honest conversation. And I think, you know, when people see me, they say, oh, she's, she has so many friends, she's everybody's friend. And the truth is, I, I will, Kava say, I am everyone's friend, but it's really hard for me to let someone be my friend. You know, I will be there for everyone, but it's hard for me to let someone be my friend. You know I will be there for everyone but it's hard for me to let someone be there for me because when I open my heart in that way then your scared your heart's gonna get hurt. But the truth is even in saying that and in saying that

I am scared of those things and those things do hurt every time I open my heart the friendships are worth it. You know the the beauty behind all that fear that you have is the beauty of life. Like, it's the joys of life. It's the celebration things. So, I'm glad that you said that because I do think that people might look at me and have a certain perspective and I don't want people to think that those things are easy for me just because I appear strong or friendships are easy for me just because I have friends. It's still hard, you know? And so, I love that you're speaking to these. just because I have pure strong or friendships are easy for me just because I have friends. It's still hard, you know, and so I love that you're speaking to these.

You speak to such hard things with such a joy wrapped around them. And I'm really thankful for that because as you were talking, I was feeling convicted because I'm like, man, I hope people know that about me too. And I want to share some of those unseen things as well. And we're actually kind of just one safe friend away from making some progress. You know, like think of one safe friend. You got dibs on Christian.

He robbed the bag and dibs on you. Totally. And, but to just have, then to say, can I do that outside of my marriage or the closest relationships? Can I add one more safe friend? And even a better question is, can I be that safe friend for somebody else?

Can I just be the safe spot, the wide part of the road where somebody can come and unload something that they just don't need to carry around anymore? And so I think for you and I, this idea of to say, that's a really good thing to do. If you've ever seen somebody who had their luggage break, let's say they had a rolling duffle bag and they've got it by the handle and they're going down the street and then the stupid handle breaks. So what you need to do is you carry the duffle bag

like hugging it and so as you're walking down the road you can tell there's a person that doesn't have a handle on it and I'm like this will preach like we need to get, I don't want, when I need you, to have you have the big duffle bag of all my unresolved stuff that I've got my arms around. Because you'd be like, Bob, I feel like there's something that's come between us. And it's all this stuff that I don't have a handle on. And so what I'm trying to do is a little at a time. Get a handle on that. Whoa, that's a whoa, that's a good moment.

That's so good. I love your analogy. It's awesome. And I think like sometimes we think whenever we face a disappointment in life or whenever things don't go well, that's a massive setback. And I love how you wrote in the book. Some people at disappointments turn into distractions. You say don't be the kind of person who falls for that trap.

Stop thinking about how unfair life is and turn the let downs into lessons and the disappointments into determination. And I'm like, man, that is so, if somebody used to write that on their mirror light today, someone needs to put that as a banner over their life because so many people just sit in those disappointments and it's so true, let them become a distraction.

So can you speak to that a little bit about how disappointments don't actually have to be a setback but can actually be almost a set up in your life? Oh, I like that. Yeah, I'm just thinking like a setback doesn't need to be a campsite. Like so you have something, it got really wonky, you wish it wouldn't. There's enough truth in there for me to say, how can I grow in this? That doesn't mean you need to put yourself around people that are constantly trying to teach you how to grow, because that can be really tiring. What I want to do is influence

people, I don't want to control them. And that's a really subtle but important distinction. We swank through the South on a little bus tour, we tried as an experiment. And we had so much fun. Sweet Maria came and we went from place to place. And we got to some place and there was a guy that really, really needed to talk about something. I could tell the person organizing it wanted me to be elsewhere, but this guy really needed

to talk about something. And the guy organizing it came over. He grabbed me by the shoulders like physically and started moving me away from him. And I'm thinking in my thought bubble, what hospital do you want to go to? Take it baby stuff. And he said, Bob, I think I know why you're here. I think I know what you came to accomplish and you could do 10 times more of that if you move 40 feet to your left.

I'd be like, let's go. But the fact that we try to get controlled, like we push back against control. And so what I want us to do is to just say, what if our rolling people's lives were to point to beautiful things? Like to just point to the beauty of the scriptures, point to the beauty of what might be possible, the beauty of dependence, but move away from manipulation and control. I think Jesus leads people to Jesus. I don't think we lead people to Jesus. What we try to do is influence them, and the best way to do it is to do what you're doing.

Just be a great example of that. An authentic example. Because as soon as I'm like happy Bob, like balloon boy, like I'm bouncing out like takeer everywhere, if I'm not feeling that, then I've made myself a caricature of who I really am. I'm just like being the guy everybody expects me to be. And what if we just came with palms up and to say, man, there's a ton to be joyful. Let me just get for real.

Is this, can we just agree this is a safe place for a couple of minutes? Yeah. Like this isn't going out on Twitter. And all that, like, can we just like, let's just decide communally, we're gonna make this a safe place. And if somebody blows it and doesn't make it safe, it doesn't mean the new rule is that people can't be trusted. It means that somebody's still learning.

I've got stuff to learn. Here's the thing they have to learn. Yeah, that's great man, that's so good. It's so graceful too. And that's a lot of the theme of what Everything you've said is it's just being graceful like we're so quick to lose that grace and I'm at this I have this person in my life one time and she told me that every single day She woke up and she asked how to give her grace for the day and I thought it was so beautiful And I thought about that a lot of times since I've talked to her about how

Just every day waking up and asking God for that grace because that is so needed and it's so Man you really see how good God is that he has that endless grace for us about how short our grace can be for other people And so I'm so glad that you said that because a lot of the things that you say even if it's a bad thing you're like but they're still learning and even just having that mindset on people is so kind and so good. I wanted to ask you because you are one of the most interesting people truly and I have had the privilege of knowing you and I see maybe more than what some people see who are just follow you on Instagram and you are that person you do all these crazy things and maybe even some things that people don't see.

And to some people, maybe even to you, you might think that those are distractions, but also like those things are actually part of what makes you awesome. Like you fly planes and you travel all over and you start schools and you do balloon parades and all this stuff and so, but you also are very committed

to the things that you're committed to. Like, you were a lawyer for so long. You do actually start schools all over the place and commit to them and see them come through. And I think that right now, this generation is having a hard time balancing, like, okay, I wanna be the fun person and I wanna travel and do all these things,

but they don't wanna commit to the things that are maybe their job or maybe that are hard. And so how do you do both so well? How do you do the things that are fun and take on new hobbies, but still stay committed to the things that are hard and that you care about that look more like work than like fun? Does that make sense? Yeah, two thoughts came to mind. It's a great question. The first response is still learning. Like at 63, I'm still trying to figure this thing out. Crazy thing, Sadie. We get about

4,000 weeks. You know, a little more if you eat broccoli and a little less if you eat pop stars. I'm talking to you, John Luke. But with this little bit of time that I have left, I just want to stay super curious, and I want to be obedient to these things. Like these people, like if you want to meet Jesus, He said, this is it. He said, I was hungry, and He fed me. I was thirsty, gave me something to drink.

I was a stranger. I was kind of creepy, but you invited me in. I was like, I was like naked and you clove me. I was in jail and you came, like I was just thinking, hungry people, thirsty people, sick people, strange people, naked people, and people in jail. And so what I'm trying to do is to just say,

what can I learn? I just hired a guy, he's in San Quentin right now, but we think he's getting out at the next parole board hearing well that's a minute he started going growing his dreads out when he went into sand quit in twenty five years ago say they are down to his ankles that but he has got some dreads we're gonna need to get a middle seat on the plane just to fit his dreads they are

glorious uh... well i've said you're gonna be to get a middle seat on the plane just to fit his dreads. They are glorious Well, I've said you're gonna be my new body man like where I go you go and I wrote to the pro board I said like where I go he goes just let him out. He's my new guy And I've just living with that kind of anticipation and I'm not doing it to be a nice guy I'm doing it because Jesus said, if you meet them, you'll meet me. And if you don't find yourself on the way towards hungry, hurting, isolated,

lonely, sometimes creepy people, then we're not meeting Jesus. Because that's where he's always on his way too. And so this dollop of obedience to say, it's going to be awesome. I mean, we're going to get stopped a lot, but which is awesome because I am going to learn a lot from him. Sweet, hurrying off. She does not go out and do much stuff. He wrote her a letter and said, I've been going to San Quinn for five years teaching these guys

every three or or learning from these guys more accurately. Every three or four weeks, he wrote to her and said, will you come and visit me? I know you don't go out and meet a lot of people. And she said, I'm in. So next week, we're over there together. No way. That's awesome. I feel so good.

I feel so good. Yes, but I think that's again, evidence of Jesus. And so they, in in summary to say, don't think about doing it across the ocean if you're not willing to do it across the street. Don't tell me go to the ends of the earth if you haven't gone to the end of your block. So let's do that for the people that are near you.

And then maybe do these other things, but don't go there trying to fix it, but show up to say, man, what do I learn in this thing? Where is it that the next kind of drops can be? And you don't have to wait for something magical. I feel like my faith is really staking potatoes. It's just Jesus already wrote it down. Like it's already like there, you want to know him?

Read up about it, but then don't just read. Just like say like do something in the crazy part Sadie as a seven I want to like ask Jesus. So how can I help you out? And he says I don't need your health. I need your heart Bob golf I don't need your pithy sayings what I need is you to be obedient and show up It's great come on. That's such good advice. I love that obedience. It's great. Come on, that's such good advice. I love that obedience. It's like, it's so important.

And I love how you talked about, you've been going there every four weeks for years. And I think that commitment, what you see from that is you see relationships built. And I think that's why sometimes we struggle to form relationships because we're unwilling to commit to the process of them. Or we struggle to see great outcomes of things because we struggle to form relationships because we're unwilling to commit to the process of them. Or we struggle to, you know, see great outcomes of things because we struggle to commit.

And your commitment to certain things has built such beautiful relationships. And just call us some incredible work to be done around the world. And you literally have relationships all around the world. But I know you have relationships on your own street too. And that's a really powerful thing. I love how you talked about your relationship with Jesus being just what, sake of potatoes, how you said it.

And I loved in the book you talked about this because I've said this so much too. You talked about how not everybody has to have a quote unquote quiet time or quiet time in the morning. And it felt like for a little bit of time, I felt kind of guilty because I'm not a morning person but all the super spiritual people that I know were like up at 5 a.m. like having their quiet time.

And first of all, I don't really do well with quiet times. And second of all, I don't do well in the mornings. And so I'm forcing myself to do something that I'm not really getting the most out of. And so one time and a dawn on me that Jesus didn't set this meeting, you know, I did. I'm like, sorry God I didn't get up, but God isn't like telling me I have to get up at five and do it this way. God just wants me to be with him all times.

So when you wrote about this, I was like, yes. So tell it to me about sometimes the loud time. So tell it to me about the times with Jesus that don't look like, yes. So talk to me about sometimes the loud time. Talk to me about the times with Jesus that don't look like quiet times. Oh heck yeah, it's been 25 years since I had a quiet time. Like mine are super loud. I'll just think of everything I wrote down. I've taken a couple notes just while you and I are talking.

The whole idea is just take notes about what's going on. Like actually live a note worthy life. It just means like be so engaged, be so curious. A Philippians 220 takes such a genuine interest in other people that you're taking notes. And then in the morning or whenever it is that you find that time to talk to God, check it against scripture. Go full a possible on it to say I know it sounds right, but is it

actually true? So you can put that dollop of truth and then the obedience is the actually go do something about it. I can tell you we have a I think a mutual friend he's had a bad diagnosis and he was down to MD Anderson to find out what it was going to look like for the balance of his life. And so I was flying down there to be with him. And I'm reading and James says, are you sick? Like get the elders to come annoying you with oil.

And Sadie, that is so not part of my faith tradition. Like, but I'm older than dirt. So I think of that I call up my furthest thing. So I thought, well, I'll go to a grocery store, I'll get some lesson, and that I'll just like, you know, do that. But there's no grocery stores by the hospital, but get this. There was a burger king. And so I told the guy when I'd been reading and the guy at the fry machine, he gave me some of the oil from the fry machine. I'm walking through the lobby of looking like I'm I'm holding my own urine sample and I found my friend and he went into that

MRI machine smell like a bag of french fries and I realize that's what obedience looks like I don't get it. It's not part of something I've done before but if God said it man I'm just'm just going to try to do it. And he said deal with insecure creepy people like me, like me. I'm that guy. Like I'm insecure. I'm often misunderstood. Do you get misunderstood very often? Totally.

Yes, totally. I think we all do, right? Oh, they kill Jesus. I mean, what's a bad day for you? Like so when it happens, I'm not surprised by that Somebody asked me actually it was recently in it They said are you watering down the gospel and I actually said yes Like you know, I want to make it for thirsty people like I would hang a salt lick at the end of every pew,

just so people would be thirsty for Christ again, that they wouldn't just come to agree with them. They wouldn't come to be informed, they wouldn't come to be inspired, they'd come to worship. Like I want people to be that thirsty again, and I want to start with me. I'm not trying to figure out everybody else's stuff.

I want to cultivate that thirst, but with a very reformed, accurate view of Scripture to say, I want if he said it, I'm going to do it, even though it feels a little weird. Yeah, wow, that's so good, Bob. That's so, so good. And I love that, you know, here we have it. You say, you have had a quiet time in forever, but it seems like you're more in love with Jesus than ever. And so I am not in any way, shape, reform, bashing quiet times. I think that is needed.

I think that is beautiful. And I think that Jesus set that example, that he would get up early and he would go and be with the Lord. And it is always a good thing to be with the Lord. But there is something really beautiful to not just making it a time, like a 15 minute, a 20 minute, but a 24-7 thirst for God. And I think that's what I hear you saying. And it's just beautiful when you live your life like that because that's the richest it gets when you're

constantly thirsting for the Lord. Yeah, I think there's some time that you and Christian have that are really beautiful and quiet and sitting by the fire and all that But I bet as you guys were getting to go deeper and deeper levels I think there was a lot of conversations going on and there was a lot of laughter and there was a lot like no way And that kind of thing. I'm not saying just yet be skipping because I know you guys talked about hard stuff and important stuff And stuff that you didn't understand. I love it in Mark 9 He's skipping because I know you guys talked about hard stuff and important stuff and stuff that you didn't understand. I love it in Mark 9.

It's a dad like me and he says, I believe just help my disbelief. And so some people see it's binary either believe or you don't believe. And here's a guy getting real saying, I got some stuff I believe and help me with the parts that I don't just have my arms around. I'm trying to get a handle on it And if we could get vulnerable and real enough, do you know in Jesus in three years He asked 307 questions and he only answered three is that crazy Three years he only one of them was a lawyer like me. He said what's a big commandment?

He said love God with your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor, even the guy with the dreads. And the second one was, we teach us how to pray. And he said, yes I will, our father. And the third one was in front of pilot. He said, so I hear the King of the Jews. And he said, yes, I am. Wow.

I love that. So if somebody asks you a question, and you don't have an answer, say, I've already given my three answers. Ask me three years. Yes. That's so good. I love that so much. You actually need to talk about just some of the hard aspects of faith in the book.

You said, faith is having the guts to ask the questions about your beliefs, knowing that God's love is big and patient enough to cradle us in our disbeliefs. And so, have there ever been moments in your life that you've had to really ask God those big questions and from asking those big questions, where do you feel like that led you to a place with Jesus? Yeah, I think of a person that I loved a lot that lived across the street. I mean, some people that have loved a lot that lived across the street. I mean, some people that have read my books, Noah's Carol.

That's why I still wear a crazy red socks out even though I've never been to a baseball game, because it was her hat. And I just every time I think of that, I think love my neighbor and when she went home to heaven, I'm like, I just, I got some questions around that. I'm not mad, I'm I just, I got some questions around that. I'm not mad. I'm sad. But I got some questions. And I think just this side of eternity, there's going to be some stuff that I just don't understand. What I want us to do is figure out what you don't know, where you're just not there yet. And so I love that. was teaching kindergarten and she said

They don't get grades like ABC. It's like they've mastered the topic or N for not yet They get an M or an M and I think on some things with my faith I'd say I'm an N like I'm just not yet I'm not there and I think that had an anisensifier done that just to say, I wanna be generous, I'm just not all the way there. He was more generous than I've ever been. It said he gave away everything almost.

And killing words from the apostles, you haven't lied to men, you've lied to God. And so I wanna own that, that sometimes this appearance of subtle pressure, that people listening might feel, that you might feel that I might feel, that we have to appear that we're at a place that we're not there. Just say like, I'm not there yet, but you know what?

My prayer is that God would help my disbelief. Maybe somebody who's really wounded you to say, I can't believe that happened. What happened is you just got your feelings heard and I wanna say, what's the most generous? The most generous explanation is they are really good people and they didn't mean to. What's the most realistic explanation?

I probably need to own some of that, but there's enough that's true in that. What's the most optimistic Jesus could change me? That's good. So good, Bob. Everything you say is just very hopeful. And so thank you for that. The last thing I want to ask you about was a quote in the book that I thought was so good and so needed. It says, sometimes we were so busy looking up and looking forward trying to figure out the next moves in our lives or looking backwards at all the places we've been

that we don't like down and figure out where we actually are. And that was so good and so true. And so I just wanna ask you, how do you say in the moment in life? You know, there are so many distractions. How do you say in the moment that you're in? Oh, this is such a great camper.

The fun part is your mom was at this thing. I think she was, yeah, she was. And we've got a water tower up at the oaks. And it's really, I bet it's 60 feet tall. And they said this last scene that we were gonna do of this thing, I was gonna take all these healing balloons and release them from the top of the water tower. So it had to do with balloons, so I'm like in.

But when I got to the water tower, I'm looking at these little like rebar handles going up the side of the sink, and the winds blow in 40, and I'm thinking, what if I fall off of this and maybe I can land on the balloons, and I'm standing at that water tower looking up for a solid five minutes, figuring out all my plans,

something catches my eye, I look down, there's a coiled rattlesnake at my feet. No. That'll keep you regular. Oh my. And I have been so busy making all my plans about all the moves I'm gonna do this and this and this, think of getting out of college maybe and moves I'm going to do this and this, this, this, think of getting out of college maybe and saying, I'm going to do this and this,

or this, who I'm marrying and when and where we live and all that, that you're not, where your feet are. And I learned that phrase from you guys in the South, like be where your feet are, like, just assess circumstantially, like, where am I? What's at my feet before I start getting distracted by all my big plans? And I was actually I am so glad that there was a Robertson like not at my side or she would get bit But but like to have like these people in your life people that you trust people that you love people that Ground you people that help you be where your feet

are. And sometimes it's just a kind word. To just look around, hey, tell me, think about that. The first conversation God had with Adam and Eve, he told him what not to eat, the second conversations when he, they actually did what he said not to do. And the words for him, where are you? I love that. I don't think God was confused. I think he was, where are you? I love that.

I don't think God was confused. I think he was saying where are we? Now that it got really weird, like where are we? And what a great conversation to have with yourself to get be where your feet are. Where am I right now on faith and relationships and the tricky stuff? And then where does God want to take me?

And he wants me to take me towards hurting lonely, isolated people. Man, that's so good, Bob. Well, if you're listening today to the podcast, I just encourage you to go back about 15 seconds and listen to the questions that Bob just asked. Actually, like you said, camp out there for a minute. Answer these questions because I think by giving yourself some of these answers,

you can be where your feet are. You can sit there and be planted in the space that you're in and not miss the moment. Bob, I'm so glad that you showed that story and it's so funny you said you're glad that Robertson was there. And I will say, my mom would be the best. My mom's the best one for a friend,

but she's probably the worst Robertson in the case scenario that you have a snake. Are you guys one of different Robertson for that? And it's not me either. But guys, we love you, our family loves you. We're so for you. And just huge shout out to you for this new book, an amazing accomplishment.

Your books are incredible. And guys, if you haven't already bought it, go buy Undistracted, capture your purpose and rediscover your joy today. But thank you again for being on my podcast. It's always just a joy. Thanks, a million blessings on you and all the people listening, like just don't just agree that a safety was saying, just go do something.

And God's going to show up. Yep, so good. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC