#139 Should you text your ex back?

you're coming from. I love this platform. I love to be able to speak in a podcast platform, long form with y'all. I answer your questions. You email me Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com. It goes in the queue. I pull it up randomly and I don't have any notes.

I'm not prepared and I'm not always right. But we're going to talk through it and answer these questions, just like me and you are sitting in a cab of a truck and you just want to run something by me and we just talk it out like old friends. That's all it is. And you guys have made this podcast what it is, so thank you for that. My only couple requests are keep them kind of short, keep it like the length of the phone. If it gets too long and I'm scrolling. It just gets too hard

to read it in this platform. And then my second request is don't send the same email twice because that doesn't help. They just it ends up getting deleted and it can only come one time. Okay, let's dive in. First question says living the Dream with a broken Heart. My name is Christian, twenty six years old from Nebraska. I'll listen to your podcast every week and it's helped

me through many life struggles. For the past five years, I've been really struggling with people, trusting people, and especially other Christians. I've desired to have trust for people and hang out with other people that are Christians, get involved in a church, but I'm scared that I'm gonna be used and judged and taken advantage of. My question is what is the best way to overcome this fear that

I have with the church and other Christians. I know that there are Christians and church places that I could feel safe, but my perspective is there's none safe and I've trusted Christians in church. Thank you for making this podcast for people who need a ee man. Christian, thanks for emailing Buddy. Shout out to one of my favorite states, Nebraska. It's a good question. And first of all, let me tell you the church is full of hypocrites. Let that

settle for a second. The church is full of hypocrites. Why because it's full of humans, Guys like me and you. We make mistakes. Becoming a Christian doesn't stop you from making mistakes, or all of a sudden make you perfect, or all of a sudden make you able to judge everyone because you're you're high and mighty. It's just not the case. And if you hear of anyone talking in

that way, they're wrong. And I will go as far as saying, if you hear people talking that way, they probably haven't been reborn again, and they probably haven't been digging into what the gospel really means, because it's all about humility and surrender, giving up your life for him, realizing that you are nothing without him, talking about Jesus, realizing that you're no better than anyone else, and that you should always treat your neighbor like you would treat

your own self. And trust me, we treat ourselves very well. We feed ourselves, we go to sleep, we make sure we have a job that makes us happy, and we fall in love with someone we really like. We love ourselves even if you have even if you struggle with yourself, the reason you struggle with yourself is because you love yourself so much that you don't want to struggle with yourself. Right,

Anything else is a lie. And so if you see someone that's all high and mighty and judging you because they're a quote unquote Christian and they go to quote unquote church, then they're just not representing the good part of that of that idea and so, and that's okay too. I mean, we all do that at times. It's hard. It's hard for me to not go to a concert and not judge another band according to what I know from my perspective of playing in a band. I try

not to, but it's hard not to. It's hard to hear a band make mistakes and think, wow, they made some mistakes. Now I shouldn't tell them about it, right I should. I should have more humility than that and realize that I make plenty of mistakes myself. That's the essence of it. But buddy, Christian, it's ironic, that's your name. You shouldn't have a fear of this or be scared of this. You said, I'm scared that I'm going to

be used and judged and taken advantage of. Well, isn't that the same with anything in life, Like you don't want to get a home loan and be taken advantage of by the banker. You don't want to buy a car and be taken advantage of or judged by the used car salesman. So you keep your guard up and you protect your heart, and you walk into church like you would anywhere else, not skeptical of it, but you

just realize what it is. It's a building full of humans. Now, the truth is those humans are going there because they should go there, because they need to be saved, and they need redemption, and they need that humility, and they need to be put back in their place, and they need to know that they're coming in presence of their creator. That's the truth of it. If you see anything else,

it's just it's a form of insecurity by them. So go in with that, Go in knowing that no one is better than you, and you're no better than anyone else. Then you're at the right place. This question subject line says future dreams getting destroyed. Hey Gringer, my name is Tyler. I'm from Oregon. I'm sixteen. I recently found your podcast through TikTok. My question is that there are so many people at my school bringing me down and trying to ruin my chances of making my dream a reality of

going to the NFL. They make fun of me, They tell me I can't do it because I'm not good enough. They trash talk me. I do my best to ignore it, but I kiss I just can't take it anymore. How would you deal with this? God blessed Tyler? What's up? Buddy? Shout out to Oregon. I love that state too. Thanks for finding me on TikTok, and let me dive into your question. I want you to question any NFL player.

Imagine sitting down with any of them and asking them if they ever had people that doubted them in their life. What do you think the answer to that would be all of them one hundred percent would say yes. But they would also say, it doesn't matter what other people think of you when you're playing. It only matters how you feel about yourself when you're playing. You're gonna let

them stop you. Hey, I'm gonna tell you right now, Tyler, if you are sixteen, and you're in a place where it affects you what other people think, and it affects you how other people are bringing you down at your school. You ain't ready for the NFL. Brother, You ain't ready because that's all you're gonna see. Wait till you get to a higher level. So you want to play college ball? What til you get to play college ball? Do you think the judgment's going to be easier then? And then

imagine the NFL. You think that fan base at at whatever city you go to is going to go easy on you? Do you think that coaching staff is going to go easy on you? You're in for a rude awakening. Tough enough man, tough en up, get thick skin. Football is a mental game. It's about mental toughness, right, That's where it starts. Everything else, the agility, the physical ability, the fundamentals, the technique, all of that comes after mental toughness.

And so right now you need to work on this part of your game because nothing else matters more than your mental toughness. If you can't get this past you at sixteen, you will not make it. And so add me right here on this podcast. Add me to the group. Of people that's telling you you're never gonna make it, And I hope you take that the right way. I hope you take it like okay, challenge accepted. Granger Smith told me that too. Challenge accepted. Get mental tough work

on this. Block it out, Block out the noise. Go read, Go read about Teddy Roosevelt when he wrote about being in the arena write, go read about Teddy Roosevelt when he wrote deare Mighty things, the speeches that he wrote. You think all those people up there in the arena that are mocking you and telling you you can't do it, they're up there in the cheap seats. Do you think they know what it's like down there on the field. The answers know, and so if they don't, because the

answers know, then why would you listen to them. You're the one out there sweating in the middle of the field, dirt tears. That's all that matters. The people that are on the field with you listen to them, not the people in the cheap seats. Next question, subject line says, my ex reached out to me. Hey, Grangeer, my name is Evan. I'm twenty three from Dallas, Texas. My ex and I split after a year of dating back in January. It's been painful, but through counseling, my friends, church, and

your show, I've healed a lot. She reached out to me this past weekend. I have no idea why. I was immediately filled with anxiety because of it. I've tried to follow your advice and think with my brain and with my heart. But what should I do about this whole deal? Continue to live my life and make her chase me? Or do I entertain this for a bit? I think I know the answer, but I would still like to know what you have to say. Evan. Well, it's interesting you know the answer, but you're asking it

anyway to me, and I like that. It's good. Thank you for the email. Shout out to my home state of Texas here. So this all depends on where you are in your heartbreak, where your heart position is right now. Now, you getting filled with anxiety immediately because she messaged you is not a good sign. You could say, hey, what's up,

I'm still thinking about you. Let's go to coffee, and then you go to coffee and then she says I want you back, and then your heart opens back up again, and the wound that you had started to heal starts to bleed again, and then the same pattern happens all over again. She breaks up with you, and you're back at square one. After all that healing that you went through, after the time that it took for you to get

past this, you're broken all over again. So then you have to ask yourself, do I want to do that? Is that something I'm willing to do just in case it does work out this second time? That's up to you. That's what I would ask you if we're sitting around a campfire right now, and say, is it worth it? Can you deal with that again? Do you trust her this time? If the answer in any of those questions is I don't know, or maybe not or probably not, then the best thing for you to do is ignore

the message. It's also one of the hardest things to do, because your natural reaction is to reach out as fast as possible. But if you truly want to protect yourself, if you truly want to heal, if you truly want to move on and see what else is out there for you, you'll just delete the message and move on. All right, Let's go to a very interesting question here, it says Subjecline, my very rational brain makes it hard to believe in God. Hey Grandeur, my name is Gavin.

I'm twenty four years old and I don't come from a religious family, but I work closely with two serious Catholics and serious Christians, serious meaning that they're strong in their faith. My issue lies here. Being surrounded with God at work has eventually chipped away at my agnostic, atheistic thoughts to the point where I want, in all caps, to believe in God. However, it's very hard for my rational brain to believe in something that I can't feel with any of my senses. I want to believe this

isn't it. I want there to be an after I want there to be an afterlife. The idea of blackness and nothingness for eternity scares the hell out of me. I come to the conclusion myself that people that believe in God are scared to die, and not that I'm not. It seems that they just want to desperately believe that there's more to life after this one. But what if there isn't. My question is this, how do I go against every rational thought that I have in my head

and welcome God into my life. If you took time to read this, I thank you Gavin from Ohio. Thank you Gavin. I love this question. Shout out to Ohio. I love that state. And Buddy, I think I think you're asking a really good question, and I want to say that I'm on the same train with you. I'm a rational guy. I'm a very practical guy. I don't I don't live by people that say I just believe because I believe. I just have faith because I don't know. I grew up this way. It's what I was taught.

So I just believe need more than that. And so let me just walk you, Gavin. Let me walk you through my brain when I think about your question from an agnostic slash atheistic viewpoint, and you say, you say you're rational, and so you would rather be an atheist because that's more rational than being a Christian. So let me walk you through my brain with that exact thought. Okay, I'm gonna challenge you. An atheist would believe that there

is no God. There never was a god. We all came from amba and pond scum, which eventually grew legs and eventually became some kind of sea creature that walked out of the water over millions of years and then grew feathers some of them, some of them grew hair, some of them turned into monkey like forms, then grew an intelligence, and then lost their hair, and millions of years later, here we are. That's what you're saying is rational. So I would challenge you on that and say, Gavin,

is that rational? That's rational as opposed to my view. There is an almighty creator that made us in his image just the way we're supposed to be today. And you say, yeah, that's crazy Granger, and I go, okay, how about this. Let's go backwards. Let's go back to creation. Let me start with this question, can something come from nothing? The answer is no. We know that that's the answer. Something can't come from nothing. So let me lead you here.

If there is something, which there is, we look around this earth, we see something. So if there is something, then that means because it can't come from nothing, then that means there always was something, because at some point something can't come from nothing. So as far as you go back in eternity past, there always was something. Maybe you're thinking, no, there's quantum physics and we've proven now that something can come from nothing. So that's the first argument.

Can come say can something come from nothing? I'd say absolutely not. The rational thought. The rational thought is if there is something, there always was something. Now, as Christians, we know that that something is God. Maybe maybe that's not enough for you, So let's let's move forward. Say you did come from ponds, com me and you were both ponds come literally, that's that's our ancestry. And then through millions of years we grew these legs and here we are. So if that's the case, why do you

care about anything? Because nothing matters, Nothing is beautiful, There is no love. There absolutely are no morals. There's absolutely no conviction inside you that says that's probably wrong or this is probably right, or I love her. That doesn't exist because you and I are ponscum and pond scum doesn't have any of those kind of emotions. So then you say, well, no, we evolve that way because of what that's in our nature. It's in our nature to love.

And I say what is nature? Where did nature come from? Did that evolve from nothing? Too? And then I say why are we different than any other creature on this planet? Now I would say it's because we're made, according to the Bible, made in the image of God. And part of that image is we think. We love of we create, we paint, we make music, we have ambition, we build beautiful buildings because in our nature we are creative beings.

Why is nothing else creative? Why is nothing else a lovable creature or an emotional creature or a creative creature? Nothing and nothing ever has been? And why haven't our brains evolved any more than they were when we read ancient text three thousand years ago, four thousand years ago, when we read ancient texts that we have copies of, we look at that and we go, these people, this

is what I think when I read that stuff. I think these people are no less intelligent than me, Like they're just as intelligent four thousand years ago writing these ancient documents. So our intelligence, of course, we have built upon what we've learned. And when I speak of evolution, I'm not talking about some fish that grew an extra fin because it needed it because of survival of the fittest. I'm not talking about some bird that grew a longer beak so it could reach into the pollen of a

certain flower. That's just survival of the fittest. We understand that. Once again, I'm trying to stay on this rational train with you, Gavin. So then I take you to Christianity, which is different than all other religions. This is the religion where we know God finds you. You don't find God,

you can't attain God. Because if there was a creator way back at the beginning of the universe, if somebody did build this, make this, create this, do you think that creator would want to keep in touch with us in some way, would want to communicate with us in some way. I mean, we'll speak rationally. Why would a creator make this and then disappear and hide man? And as Christians, we know that that's revealed to us through the Bible, through human writings inspired by God. That just

so happens. We go back in the Bible and we start digging in, especially to the New Testament, and we see all these ancient prophecies that were written a thousand years before that, before the New Testament, that have been fulfilled historically. And when the New Testament speaks, it speaks of specific names in specific towns, at specific dates, with specific events that we could trace back and go, yeah, yeah,

I see that. And it was in front of eyewitnesses written by many authors, the same story, by hundreds of eye witnesses that attest to this. And then here's where it gets tricky, Gavin, you said you think religion comes from people that are scared to die. Here's the trick. Those people that wrote the Bible stories died for and

they didn't seem to mind. These were martyrs in the New Testament, these disciples, these apostles, died for what they wrote, and they didn't seem to mind dying for it at any time, Gavin, listen, rational speaking here, at any time, any of these people that wrote these stories could have said, because we know this, we note historically the Romans gave them options. All you have to say is it's not true. I denounce it. All it was a lie. I was tricked into this by so and so because if they

were going to pay off my family or something. That's all they had to say during the most gruesome torture. And guess what they didn't. They didn't say it. They said, fine, kill me, kill me for it, and they gave them the worst death and they died for it. So then you say, well, maybe they were crazy. I say, all those people were crazy, all of them, and they all kept the same story consistently. When we find these ancient writings, Gavin, we find pieces of the New Testament and the Old Testament.

We had the Isaiah Isaiah Scroll too. As we find these pieces in their original first century form, and we find these fragments and we put them together, and they're on three different continents, and we find them, and each time we find one, we still find them. Today there's over five thousand of them, these fragments. We still find them, and every time we do, it's consistent with another one

two continents away, the same story. We go, Man, how could these people be crazy and keep their story straight? How could they be lying and die for it and perpetuate that lie so much that they would have to go through Say, some king wanted to lie about this, so he would have to go through these thousands of documents, spread through three continents, all over and find all of them and change them all to what he wanted the narrative to be. Is that rational? That's impossible. So there's

one option left, Gavin, Listen, there's one option left. It was true? Was it true? That's what got me here. And for a rational guy like you, I respect that that's what you got to wrestle with. That man, good luck, because that's what you have to wrestle with. And here's the kicker to it all. Remember what I told you about Christianity. Every other religion it's man finding God. Christianity is God finds man. So I'm going to ask you this. I'm going to go back to your question. Why do

you think this is? You're wrestling with this right now. Why do you want to know God? Is it because something bubbled up inside you and you wanted to know that you manifested? Or is God? I'm saying, Gavin, it's time to activate you. Interesting? Is God calling you? Gavin? Anyone else listening to this podcast? Is God calling you? That's what you got to wrestle with. You say you want proof? Look around you. Look at this universe, Look at the order of it, look at the design of it.

Look at the air we breathe. It's perfect for humans. Look outside and out of space. You see anything else like this? It's biggest satellites and telescopes that we have. Have we ever seen anything like this? No? Not in twenty twenty two. That's interesting. Rational, Let's take a break. Bear It Back podcast is brought to you all today

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back to Christianity. It says, hey, Granger, I'm getting baptized soon, and I'm really nervous about sharing my testimony in pointers. Thanks man, don't no one says you have to tell your testimony. Tell them you don't want to. Don't do it? Is that what your church does? It makes you get baptized and then get up and say your testimony. Tell them you're passing on that done. There's nothing requiring you to do that right now. Until you're comfortable with it.

I think you will be one day, but don't worry about it. By the way, I get a lot of questions about baptism. How you should do it, Should babies get baptized, should adults get baptized? It is not required for salvation at all. It's the outward expression of an inward change. The thief on the cross next to Jesus went to Paradise with Jesus. He never got baptized. You could be on the way to get baptized in your car and get killed in a car crash. Does that

mean all of a sudden you're not saved? No, of course it doesn't. Keep that in mind. Man, going through these questions. Let's see subject line Guarding your Heart. Hey Grangeer, this is Lane from Texas. I'm twenty one. My last relationship found me very vulnerable. I didn't guard my heart at all. Eventually, after two years, it ended with her saying she loves me and wants everything with me, but not right now. We walked away from each other. However,

I still don't know how to guard my heart. What is too much and what is too little? Thank you. I find the podcast comforting in your knowledge. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate this. Lane. Man, I'm just a I need you to know I'm just a normal guy. I'm just I'm one beggar telling another beggar where I found bread. There's nothing more than that. So guarding your heart is so much easier, Lane, It's so much easier at the

beginning of the relationship. It's much more difficult later on six months in one year in it's hard because you've already committed your heart and and you keep going so it's easier at the very beginning to set your own boundaries, your own guidelines before you start. I'm talking before you pick her up for the first date, you tell yourself, I'm not going to tell this girl I love her for X amount of time. I'm not going to go on a second date until X amount of time. I'm

not going to text her tonight. Little tiny things. I'm not going to open up about my past relationships until there's a moment when that's ready to happen. There's things like that, the little guidelines that you could protect your heart with instead of you pick her up and you go, oh oh, I feel butterflies that think I love this girl. Might tell her tomorrow, maybe we should, maybe she should come and move in with me next week. It's much easier at the beginning to set the guidelines because once

you go too far, it's too late. So you're at a good spot right now, just out fresh out of a two year relationship that ended that you didn't guard your heart and your heart broken. So now starting over, you go, Okay, I'm good, I'm going back into a new relationship, and the next time that happens, I'm setting these rules before I pick her up for that first day. Do it early early on next question, subject line dating

for years. Heygre andur had like to remain anonymous. In episode one and thirty six, you said dating someone for years usually doesn't work. I'm talking about before marriage. I'm seventeen. I've been with my girlfriend for three years. What's your advice on dating multiple years when you can't get married? Thank you? Yee Yeah, Nathaniel, you wrote this. I have heard this a bunch people that are in high school asking me this kind of question. So I will say this.

First of all, if you're seventeen, you've been dating your girlfriend for three years, that means you started dating at fourteen. That's pretty young man. It's pretty young to be in a serious relationship. I want to say this was hard for me. I struggled with this in high school too, so I'm absolutely in not a better place than you. I'm just looking back on my life and going Man, if I could have changed a couple of things, this

would have been one of them. Guard my heart. Don't stay in these relationships for multiple years and years and years. But we get this idea that we need the relationship like we need it because it makes us a better person. We're a better part of ourselves because we're in a relationship. And sometimes it doesn't even matter who we're in the relationship with. We're just better because we're in one and everyone else is in one and it looks really good

on Instagram and Facebook. So, Nathaniel, you're already in this three years. You have a lot of thinking to do. You're seventeen. You have to ask yourself, am I going to be twenty and dating this girl for six years and then I'm gonna be ready for marriage at twenty five?

And that's going to be eleven years into this dating relationship and I'm never gonna really have known any other girls besides her because I started dating her when I was fourteen, and then ten years down the road after marriage, You've been with her twenty one years, married for ten. You're thirty one or no, thirty five at that point, according to my bad math, you're thirty five years old, been with the same girl for twenty one years, and you've been married for ten Is that Do you think

that that's leading you to a good place? Do you think that's healthy? I'm asking you all these rhetorical questions and you got two kids running around, and you're confident in this relationship enough to know, because maybe you are, maybe it could work. But I'm here to tell you, Nathaniel, if it didn't. If it did work, it would be rare. You would be an exception to all other humans. You'd

be a one percenter if this works. If you're thirty five years old, same girl for twenty one years, married for ten and a couple kids, you'd be like a one percenter that's happy in their marriage, no divorce on the horizon. Everyone else is getting divorced around you, and you're still totally happy. There's some bad odds. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm bringing up here. So at some point it's like, hey, babe, I think I need

some space. Oh my god, why because I'm seventeen and I started dating you when I was fourteen, and I just I feel like I'm not going to be good for you if I don't at least see the world myself as a single man. If I don't go to coffee with another female and see what another voice sounds like on the other end of a phone, it's a disservice to her. If you don't do that right. So many people right now are going no. I've been married for seventeen years and we started dating when we were eleven.

I know. I see your messages on TikTok. People want to argue everything I say. All I'm saying is I'm trying to get you to play the correct odds here. I'm trying to give you the best odds at the blackjack table. And right now you have a really bad hand and you're trying to beat the dealer, and you can because the dealer could bust. But odds are you're going to lose this hand? Is that what you want to play? Are you going to wait and keep your chip on the table and throw out another hand, maybe

a better one next time? How many hands would you have to play to finally beat the dealer? There's relationships for you. It's like how many dates do you want to go on until you're confident with one for marriage? You want to just take one hand at that? And you got a two and a four sitting on your table, bro Is that what you want to do? Or do you want to say I fold, I'm gonna keep playing

some more hands. I'm gonna get some more experience at this table before I'm confident with putting all my chips on it. Right. That's my answer in a long way. There's another question about baptism. That's the subject line. It says, thanks for this podcast. It's helped me in ways that I needed help that I didn't even know. My question is does getting baptized as a baby count as baptism or do you need to get baptized on your own

choice in accepting Jesus into your life. My church does bad baby baptisms, but I feel like it's more for the parents to show off their kid than it is for the church. Thanks Grangor. This is Justin from Wisconsin. Yes, Justin, I believe with you. I believe that you need to be at an age of reckoning where you could understand what baptism actually means. I don't think there's anything wrong with baptizing babies, but I do think you should go back and do it again. But it is not required

for your salvation. Keep that in mind. It's a great outward expression of an inward change, and a baby can't do that. But hey, if there's nothing wrong with a family taking up a baby in front of the church and getting baptized and sprinkling their head or whatever. You know, there's nothing wrong with that. I think it's a beautiful thing. So I wouldn't tell anybody that's wrong. But I want to tell you, don't put that much emphasis on it. You do you? Okay? Here's a man. You guys, there's

like back to back, back to back God questions. Here's this next one says Hey Granger. I'm twenty eight years old. I'm a married man from Rockton, Illinois, with my first daughter on the way. I've seen you play many times. I love your music, and I have reading comprehension problems, and I find it hard to read the Bible every day and understand what it says. I mostly picked chapters at random and hope that it speaks to me, but without direction or clear goal to learn, I find myself

getting inconsistent. Do you have any advice for specifically choosing what I can understand better so that I can have a closer and more clear relationship with Christ. Thanks for all you do spreading the word. Yeah, man, justin shout out to Illinois. Thanks for the question. I think there's a problem with picking random chapters and reading them and

just hoping they speak to you, like Bible roulette. The reason I think there's a problem with that is because it's the same problem as picking random verses like what I like to call them coffee mug verses, and that you you know, the kind of verses that you see on T shirts and coffee mugs and people put them on wooden signs and hang them in their house. Because

it gets it out of context. You lose when you pick a verse or even a chapter like that, you're losing the context of who was writing it, where they were writing it, why they were writing it, and the purpose of writing it to those people that they're writing

it to. Does that makes sense? So if you pick a random chapter, it's hard to keep that context in mind of why it matters to you, because you would know if you read everything in whole why those people were hearing it at the time, by the person for the right reason. Then you can go, yeah, that's me, that's me too. So consistently, consistency starts with creating a habit, and the habit would start with picking a time of day mineus the morning before everyone gets up, a cup

of coffee, and I have a plan every morning. I have a plan. I can't live randomly in the Bible, so I read. There's a many Bible reading plans, many my personal one that I read of I'm on my second year of it. It's called the McShane plan. And the McShane plan takes me through four chapters a day. My little brother Parker says that force too much. He'd rather do two. Whatever. Okay, maybe you'd rather do one,

Maybe you'd rather do a paragraph. As long as you're keeping consistent with the context of it, and you're going day to day, paragraph after paragraph, that's fine. I like it because it skips me around from the Old Testament to the New and then back to the Old and then back to the New again. It gets me through the New Testament twice in a year, Psalms twice in

a year, Old Testament once in a year. But it all starts with one idea, and this idea is and it kind of goes back to the very first question I had about atheism and creation. If if there is an almighty career, which we which I pretty pretty well established that I believe there isn't in my first question on this podcast, If there is, and you think would this creator speak to his creation or when he goes silent, and then we believe, well, yeah, of course he did.

He spoke to his creation, and he still speaks to him actively through what through the word through the Bible. So then then you have to come to this realization at some point. It's like, there's this creator that created this universe that we could see all around us in perfect order, and it has flaws because it's a fallen

world and there's bad things that happen here. But through the bad we see this order that happens, I mean, starting with the sun and the Earth rotating around the sun in a perfect order create an atmosphere that we live perfectly in as humans. So then we say, if that creator, with that kind of order spoke to us through a certain word, why would I not read that every single day? And why wouldn't I read that like

my life depended on it. If it mattered to the Creator to speak to his creation through a word, why would I not treat that like the most valuable book on the planet. And so once you come to that, then you set your alarm in the morning, you get up before your family does, and you get that cup of coffee your daughter's on her way, your wife's pregnant, and you get that book and us you say, oh God, I am lost and I need renewal. Speak to me

today through this word, this ever living word. It's presents, it's profound, it's relevant to me. Let it speak to me today, because I got a feed here, angree, and I have to feed right here, the living food. Speak to me through these words. Let me find my meaning. Let me find how to be a better father for my daughter and a better husband to my wife, because every day I need it, because I get broken and I fail and I fall, and I have to pick up again right back here where I left off at

this word. Why, Because the creator gave me this word, arrived there with that mentality before you read, and you're gonna have no problem digging into a reading plan. If you don't believe that, if you don't care about that, then it's useless. It's gibberish. None of it makes sense. Why would it? Just ancient writings doesn't matter. Look at it from that perspective. Next question says depression from the weather in Texas. Question mark says lighthearted question. Hey, this

is Lisa from Saskatoon Saskatchewan, Canada. I always struggle with seasonal depression, as winter here is so cold and long, it's hard to get out and get sunlight and fresh air for a good six months. I always dream of one day moving south. I was just wondering if you could struggle from seasonal depression if the weather is too hot, or is life always good in Texas. Lisa, thank you for the question. Shout out to my friends in Saskatchewan.

I love your question because I am very affected by the weather and I lived, you know, many years ago. I lived in Nashville, and in Nashville there in February, they'll see like one or two days of sunlight in the month of February. And I remember going home to Texas and visiting friends in February, and they're going out in Austin. They're going out on Lake Travis. They're out on a boat. It's sixty degrees in February. It's sun it's not a cloud in the sky. They're just living

it up and I'm just feeling so good. I was just loving it. And then I'd go back and get on a plane and go back to Nashville, where it's just it's like forty degrees and misting rain and overcast, and Nashville's on the very eastern side of the Central time zone, so the sun goes down earlier in Nashville than it does in Texas because they're on the same time zone, but Nashville is so much farther east, so it gets dark at like four point thirty and it's

just so so depressing. You know, people in Seattle because of the rain so much, they'll they'll put UV lights in their home to soak it in. I traveled to Alaska recently and we played a tour. It's like five days and it was freezing cold, and it was overcast, and it didn't get light till like ten am, and it got dark at five pm. And I just felt it. I felt the gloom on me. So short answer, yeah, yeah, it can affect you, and I hear you. I hear you.

But then the longer answer it would be that finding a warmer client climate with more sunshine doesn't necessarily fix your problems. There's other things you got to deal with. There's other ways to find joy and peace and happiness and love. There's other ways besides the weather that bring those to you. In fact, Most of those things come from different sources than the weather. The weather is just one factor. So should you move to Texas? Sure, it's great.

It gets really hot, really hot. I don't know if you'd handle the heat in August it's one hundred and ten and gets terrible, but we do see beautiful February days when it's sixty and sunny. Just know that it's a joke, and I know you're joking to say is life always good in Texas? Because it's not. That depends on the person. That depends on where you're seeking your joy from. Remember that, and there's also a lot of people that could absolutely love Saskatchewan, Canada. It's a beautiful place.

So find the source of your joy and then supplement that with the source of your sunlight. Later, let's hit another one question subject line talking to girls. Hey Granger, I'm Bobby. I'm fifteen. I know that you say at my age I should stay out of relationships, and I don't really want to be in one. But when I talk to girls or when they talk to me, I always seem to get very awkward, even if the conversation

is something that we're doing in class. So I guess what I'm asking is what is the best way to seem cool and not awkward? Love the podcast, the music in the smith, Thank you, what's up? Bobby? Fifteen? Man? You are just right on track of where I was, and so many people, so many boys at fifteen, would say the same thing. So my best solution for you is just wait a few years. It's going to come. You won't be awkward forever. Fifteen is an awkward age.

I remember being fifteen like it was yesterday and being so awkward in front of girls. I didn't know what to say. I grew up with two brothers. I didn't know what it was like to have a girl in my life besides my mom, and that's different. I didn't know anything about girls. I didn't know how to talk to them. They're like aliens to me. But you will. And a good way to start this is to stay

in groups or like herd animals. So stay in a group with your friends, and you get six guys and six girls, and you go to a movie together, or you go to a football game together, and you mingle and you mix up in there, and so you're still with your pack. You're with your boys, and they're with their girls, and so you feed off each other. If it gets too awkward, you just kind of nudge your

buddy and you go back into guy mode. But every once in a while you get stuck in this little conversation with the girl and you're still surrounded by your safety around you, your guys, and you slowly learn little things like ooh, that was dumb. I probably shouldn't have said that. That's something I would only say to my guy friends. Or I just said that, and she actually really was interested in that mental note. Girls like it when I talk about stuff like this or when I

talk in this way. Okay, good, you're learning, and that's what you do at fifteen, Bobby. This is totally natural, and this is good. It's totally normal. Stay in groups, mingle with other girls, slowly learn and that'll allow you eventually to break off and be with a girl, just you and her, and you go to dinner, and you're confident by that point because you've talked slowly to girls for a few years before that. Thank you, guys so

much for these questions. If you have one for me Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com, we'll see you next Monday. Thanks for joining me on the Grangersmith Podcast. I appreciate all of you guys. You could help me out by rating this podcast on iTunes. If you're on YouTube, subscribe to this channel. Hit that little like button and the notification spell so that you never miss anytime I upload a video. If you have a question for me that you would like me to answer, email Grangersmith Podcast at

gmail dot com. Yiyi