What's crazy about this? This highly controversial right A lot of people listening right now are about to really disagree with me. What's crazy about your email? About desperately needing to know how to pour into yourself and how to feel like you are enough for yourself. In the essence all of this, I'll say this as lightly and as lovingly as I can to you, all of this is an obsession with yourself. What's up? Everybody? Welcome to the podcast,
Episode one seventy two. Thanks for watching and listening. It's gonna be fun. One got your questions lined up. If you want to ask me anything, email Granger Smith Podcast at gmail dot com. I'll answer it. We'll put it in the queue. My only thing is don't send the same email twice and don't make it too long. It makes it harder for me to read the entire question. And I don't have notes, I don't have anything prepared. I just go off of what these emails say. What
the latest one in the queue is. I also host a radio show called After Midnight, and it's on every Country music iHeart station FM station in America. So and it runs from midnight to some stations five am. Some
stations six am. What's crazy is how this podcast has started integrating into that radio show, and we've been speaking about these questions, sometimes right off of your questions on after Midnight, and then it spurs these great conversations that I get to have on the radio with people working the third shift, meaning to people the Amazon's stockers, the grocery store stockers, the newspaper deliverers, the the truck drivers, the all night workers, security ems, hospitals, police, it's been
really inspirational to hear their stories and to read your questions on there. So some of y'all are the same people and some of y'all are completely different, but either way, it's been a blessing to have after midnight and to see it start to look more and more like this podcast for people that might need to hear it in the middle of the night. Let's get to the first one here again. If you have a question for me,
email Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com. The first one in the queue, subject line says having the no sex with a guy I am seeing. That's what the subject line says exactly. The email says, Hey, grangoud like to remain anonymous. I'm twenty six years old from Colorado. Recently started dating an X from college. When we were dating in college, we slept together. Since then, I've gotten involved with the church and decided to wait until marriage to have sex. I'm not sure how to talk to him
about this. I would like some advice on how to approach this conversation with him. Thanks so much. Anonymous almost said your name. I almost said, that's why, if you're gonna say you're anonymous, you don't need to tell me your name because I might accidentally read it. Okay, let's dive into this. This is interesting, not necessarily interesting in what you're asking. It's pretty I understand your question, but
it's interesting. And I see this a lot on these questions as I'm you know, one hundred and seventy two episodes in we have a communication problem. Do you ever think about that? Like and Anonymous? And it's not it's
by far not a knock on you. It's just it's an observation that you would rather ask me who you've never met, and I just host a podcast and sing country music, and you would rather ask me a question to ask me how you could ask a question when in reality, I don't understand what would be bad about just just telling him this same thing just as candid
as possible. And here's the thing. I think sometimes we worry that a friend or a family member or a spouse or a boyfriend girlfriend is going to look down on us or get angry with us, or not understand us, or make fun of us. And so sometimes we just need to start the conversation by saying, hey, this is awkward, or hey, I feel uncomfortable saying this, or hey, this
is difficult for me. I need to tell you something that that's kind of hard and it's difficult for me to bring this subject up, but I'm going to do it because it matters and you matter to me. So I think if you kind of preface it with that and you say just what you said to me in
the email, you just say that to this guy. So if you sit him down and it's like, hey, I know we used to do this certain thing back then, and I'm changed and I don't want to do it anymore, and I wanted to bring this up to you, A couple of things happen when you say it. When you say it just like that, a couple of things are going to happen one you're going to know by his response what kind of guy he is and his investment
in you is going to be. You know, if he's like, well, then I'm out, okay, good, good for you now, you know, right? And if he's like, well, I don't under I don't totally get it. I'm going to respect you and I'm going to respect your wish, but I don't totally get it. Can you help me to understand why you don't want to? So now you've got a witnessing opportunity and that's good. But either way, saying it is so critical, and saying
it soon is so important. Just to say all of the information and to admit that you're vulnerable about it, and just to bring it all out in the open and stumble through and mumble the words and stutter and say you're embarrassed and speak it and be vulnerable and then play off of how he responds to that and let it go from there. That's your only play here,
That's it. Because you don't want this to happen on Saturday night on the couch after the movie and things are getting frisky and you're like trying to use body language to tell him no Ah, that's weird, right, Like no one wants to be in that situation. She need to tell him soon, really soon, and how he responds is going to be huge on telling you what kind of guy is. Next question subject client says, lost my way in faith grandem My name is Caitlin. I've been
a Christ follower since a young age. My grandmother led me to no Christ. She passed away in November of twenty one, and ever since, I've struggled to open my Bible, go to church and even pray. I feel her telling me to be in church again. But it's like I get to the door of the church and then I just break down and struggle to go in. I struggle to worship. I struggle to find a church where I could be fed and feel the Lord working. Any advice on what I should do? Thanks for everything your podcast
gets me through the Monday morning ruts. Well, Caitlyn, thanks for the email. I appreciate you so much for listening and trusting me. All of y'all trusting me with your questions. Let's dive in. Let's like start picking apart your email here. I'm sorry that you lost your grandmother. We'll start with that,
truly sorry. She sounds like she was a great woman and she had a big influence on you, and so losing her you feel like some of that influence is gone, which is interesting if you think about it, because your grandmother gave you that influence, especially the christ follower apart, so that when she is gone, you could be on your own and be okay, like that's that's what she did it for. She didn't tell you all that stuff and demonstrate all that stuff to you, so that only
when she's around you participate with her. She did it knowing one day I'm going to pass on this legacy. I'm gonna be gone, and she's going to continue in this path and then she's going to teach it to her daughter and her daughter for that and so for you now, and all all respect to you, Caitlin, for you now to say you're falling backwards and you you don't want to follow up on this, you don't want to participate, and the action of faith that your grandmother
taught you is a disrespect to your grandmother. Like I said, I don't I mean that in the best way possible to you, but it is a disrespect to what meant so much to your grandmother for you to just say, I'm I don't know. I can't really go in. It's too hard for me because it makes me think of her. Well, that's not the reason she taught it to you, so you remember her? Does that make sense? Whenever I see the question like this, lost my faith or excuse me,
lost my way in faith? I think it's like I heard ambersay the other day, Well didn't it didn't just drop out of your pocket? Where is it? Just it's like you lost you left your purse or something, and you lost it. You left it on the train and seat one a it's gone. Like That's not what happens with faith. So we have to go back and think practically about what is faith? How did I lose it? Is it possible to lose? Is it possible to cultivate? Is it possible to make bigger? Well, so let's dive
into that. I guess that's what your question is going to be about. When you were younger and you were with your grandmother and she was showing you this stuff. In my opinion, because of my life and when I think back on the times when I thought I had a lot of faith, and then turned out I didn't at all what I was doing. I was just mimicking those people around me and being caught up in the moment. So the moment was lifting me up and I thought, Wow,
my faith is awesome right now. But in reality, I was just in the moment of those around me, in the moment of what your grandmother was doing. But on your own time away from your grandmother, completely separated from her. I'm being willing to bet that you weren't diligent in reading your Bible and going to church. What else did you say here worship? I'd be willing to bet those were usually tied to your grandmother. With your grandmother, so now that she's gone, faith is an action. Faith is
a verb, so we acted out, we practically speak. This is the perfect example that I use of baseball all the time when people say I lost my faith. I say, if you were playing baseball and you said I lost my swing, I would then say, what are you doing? Are you talking to a coach? Are you watching video of yourself? Are you going to the batting cages? Show me what you're doing right now that's ending up with a bad swing. So, Caitlin, what are you doing right
now that's ending up with bad faith. And you would say, pretty sure, I'm not doing anything. Just like the baseball player would say, I'm sitting on the couch eating cheetos wondering why I have a bad swing, and I would say, get your butt off the couch and pick up the baseball bat and go to the batting cages. So Caitlin, go into that bill that church building, go back in there, and then, just like the email before this, be vulnerable, be honest. Don't don't act like you're somebody you're not.
Don't don't go into the congregation and be like, yeah, this is great. Jesus is great, I love love God, everything's great. Talk to someone, find a find an elder, find the pastor find someone, find a sister there and just go I'm struggling. Can I talk to you. I'm struggling right now. I lost my grandmother and she she was this for me. Now I need to know what this, what this really is? This whole church things, whole faith thing, so Bible thing, like what is it? I need to know?
Oh but I do. I can tell you right now something's missing. There's a hole in my soul right now, and I'm trying to fill it with other stuff. And I thought Grandma filled it. But now that Grandma's gone, I realized she wasn't the thing that I needed. She wasn't what was filling the space. And I know it has something to do with faith, has something to do with this church. But I need help. Can you help me? Open up like that? Be honest, be vulnerable. Tell them
that you're struggling. Tell them, Tell people that you're you don't know what to do. Tell your wise counsel in your church that. And that's a great first step. It's a great first step. You know. It's equivalent to It's equivalent to the baseball player going to a coach and going, man, coach, I can't swing. I can't swing. Watch me, watch me, I've lost it. I used to be such a great hitter. Now watch me. Look here's how I'm holding the bat. Here's my feet. I've watched a video. Look look at
my form. Help me, coach, I need help, And he goes, Okay, let's get going. Let's get to work. Start at the beginning, and that's that's a good place for you. Let's hit another one. I'm getting into preaching mode. Subject line here says, how do I pour into myself? How do I pour into myself? Hey Granger, I've been listening to the podcast for a few months now. I've always said I was going to write you and hope that you would read my email, and you might not get to this one,
but I hope you do. I always hear you talk about pouring into people and pouring into yourself. My question is how do I pour into myself. I've always felt like I'm not enough for anyone and even myself. Thank you for reading this if you get a chance. Thanks for everything you do, Emily, Emily, thanks, thanks for the kind words, and I'm excited to tell you that I'm currently reading your email on the podcast. So you made it. We did it. Here we are. Now let's get into it.
What you're asking me, I could tell right away you're throwing other people in there, pouring into people. But what you really want to know is how do I love myself. I don't feel like I'm good enough for anyone, yes, but for myself. The main focus, that's the main part of the email is I don't love myself and I feel like I'm not good enough for myself and I would say, what's crazy about this? This highly controversial right A lot of people listening right now are about to
really disagree with me. What's crazy about your email? About needing, desperately needing to know how to pour into yourself and how to feel like you are enough for yourself in the essence of you to plating this and thinking and listening to my podcast. According to your words, you're always saying you're going to write in and hope that I read it about the subject of pouring into yourself and feeling like you are enough. All of this, I'll say this as lightly and as lovingly as I can to you.
All of this is an obsession with yourself. How do I know? Because I'm human and I feel the compulsion of that obsession myself. All of us are obsessed with ourselves. That's all we think about, that's all we talk about, that's all we worry about. That's all we want. That's all we need is how to comply and love and accept and nurture ourselves. That's what we want. That's what consumer commercialism is driving. That's what commercials want you to see.
How to make yourself better, how to make yourself look better? Feel better, run better, swing the bat better. Everything is about how do I make myself better? Why? Because I'm obsessed with myself. I love myself. I love myself. I'm
so obsessed with myself. That's what everyone thinks, and everyone has to suppress that thought because the world says, you know what, the problem is, you don't love yourself enough, and that obsession inside of you, the psychopath inside of all of us goes, Yeah, you're right, I don't love myself enough. I need to love myself more. I want You're right, I want to love myself more. Because why because I hate myself? Yeah, I hate myself. So that's
what the world wants to you. The world wants you to start thinking that it's gotten so bad with you that now you hate yourself. What's the opposite of hate? Everyone's like it's love. No, the opposite of hate is not love. The opposite of hate is indifference. Guess what the opposite of love is saying? The opposite of love is in difference. The opposite of hate is in difference. Hate and love are tight. They're close brothers. They are
both obsessions forms obsessions in a relationship with ours. When we're talking about ourselves now in difference means, imagine imagine being indifferent to yourself for one second. We'll start with you, Emily. I'm ragging on you because you wrote the email, but you represent me and a lot of people, all humans, I would argue, all humans. Imagine feeling indifferent about yourself. H I don't really care. I wake up in the
morning and my back hurts. I don't really care. I don't brush my teeth because I don't really care that I have bad breath or that I have plaque. Yeah, don't care. I don't brush my hair or get a haircut because I don't care what people think about me, and I don't care with the way the hair fells on my head either way, don't really care. I don't really drink water because it's kind of annoying and I don't really care. And sometimes I skip meals sometimes I
eat them. Either way, not a big deal out I go about my day. I don't have a job because I don't need money, because I don't really care about money. But it's not that I have some kind of good feeling about not having money. I just could have money or could not. Either way, I don't really care. I don't have a relationship because I don't need anybody, not because I'm that content. It's just because I don't really care. Do you know anyone like that? No, you don't. No
one is like that. No one is indifferent to themselves. They either are obsessed with themselves through loving themselves through vanity, or they're obsessed with themselves through hating themselves. And to the point of the top of the line, the top form of self love, brother of hate, the top of it is suicide. It's the very pinnacle of all this, because suicide says I am so obsessed with myself and I'm currently hurting mentally, physically, whatever, and I don't care
about anyone else but myself and ending this pain. I don't care the repercussions this does to my family, or my friends, or my work coworkers or anyone around me. I don't care. So I'm gonna kill myself because that will finally be the final act of self love to turn off that pain switch. I will do anything self love to make myself feel better, to feel peace, to
feel not in pain anymore. I told you all this is controversial, but I'm very passionate about it, and I think about it a lot, because I'm surrounded in this world by this idea of self love, self status. Even self hate is an obsession that we have to We have to realize that self hate is in itself a form of self love because of the obsession. But what does Jesus say? What does the Bible say? What does the fundamental undertone of Christianity say? Love others like you
love yourself. Notice there, it doesn't say love others and try to love yourself less. It doesn't say love others but don't love yourself. It says love others like you love yourself, knowing you're already You're already love yourself. So if you could pour into others that same amount, to that level, you could pour into others and love others at the same level that you love yourself. If you could do that, you're gonna get the promised peace and hope,
enjoy the fruits of that love. That's what the Bible promises, and so emily through all this. That's a long way to say. If you could pour into others as you pour into yourself, if you could do it that hard, reckless, total, reckless abandonment, then you're gonna be in a good place. Let's take a break. Fear It Back podcast brought to
you all today by man Scaped. I just got a box from Manscaped in the mail so that I could talk about it on this podcast, and I opened it up and I was just blown away by these hair trimming products. They've really revolutionized men's grooming. And now they have the beer Hedger Pro. Kid, that's what I got, So all you guys that have beards or partial beards or five o'clock shadows, this stuff cuts better than anything I've ever seen. And it has a light on it.
It has a USB C charger, Like that's a big deal to me. It doesn't have one of those other chargers that all other shavers have. It has a normal charger with a light. It feels solid. It feels like one of those shavers that you get at the barber shop. And I was talking about it last night and ambers like, you really like this stuff and I was like, yes, Look I was trimming my sideburns and it was like the perfect cut. Yeah. Manscape products are legit. It's waterproof.
You could drop it in the shower and the sink and no problem. It's got titanium coded t blade that's tough enough on hair but smooth on your face, leading to a single stroke efficiency that's very satisfying. That pro kit doesn't stop there, though, It's also got some really cool dermatologist tested formulations for your post trim care, like a beard shampoo and conditioner, beard oil, beard balm. The
stuff smells and feels and applies really well. So you're looking for a shaver of any kind for any type of hair, you got to hear me out with manscaped, So get twenty percent off and free shipping with the code Granger at manscaped dot com. That's twenty percent off with free shipping at manscaped dot com and use the code Granger Manscaped Beard Hedger one stroke, one guard twenty links.
You're listening to the Grangersmith podcast and this episode is sponsored by Better Help and I love Better Help and I love reading about them because we talk in this podcast about people that struggle. And when you're not struggling currently and you're at your best, you could do great things. But we all know that life is full of struggle, and when you do sometimes you can get bogged down and feel overwhelmed and you feel like you're not showing
up the life in a way that you want to. Now, working with a therapist could help you understand these things help you breathe a little bit easier, because when you feel empowered, you feel like you're better prepared to take
on everything that life throws at you. Now I understand that when I say that, you think it's laying on the red couch with the carpet and the chandelier and you're talking to somebody and that's super expensive, and they're taking notes, and you got to show up every Tuesday and you got to miss work and it's embarrassing and you don't really know this person. Well, better help comes in with a better solution. So if you're thinking about giving therapy a try, Better Help is a really great option.
It's convenient, it's flexible, it's affordable, entirely online, no red couch, no Tuesday meetings. You just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched up with a licensed therapist, and then if you don't like that person, then you could switch anytime for no additional charge. Look, there's no shame in seeking a therapist. You people seek gym trainers and food nutritionist and when it comes to our brain, why not
seek someone you could talk to about this. If you want to live a more empowered life, therapy can get you there. Visit better Help dot com slash granger today to get ten percent off your first month. That's Better Help h LP dot com slash Granger. And finally, this podcast is brought to you by Cozy Earth Luxury Goods that transform your lifestyle. Amber reached out to me the other day and she said, Hey, did you ever talk about that Cozy Earth stuff on your podcast? And I said, yeah,
I've been reading it the last couple of weeks. And she said, I really like these sheets. They're super soft. No, she never says that, y'all. She never makes an effort to come to me and say I really like this product. And she loves these sheets that Cozy Earth sent us and we put them straight on our bed and they're super souper soft. See they're made from responsibly sourced viscos from bamboo. All products come with a tenure warranty. The
betting is temperature regulating. Maybe that's why I like it so much. And it's available in viscos from Bamboo and in linen Cozy Earth also offers loungewear that offers optimal comfort while maintaining a flattering, elegant fit. Maybe that's why Amber likes it so much. Cozy Earth offers premium bath products made from viscos from bamboo. They offer a Plush collection as well as their new Waffle collection. Stuff is
really really cool and super super soft. If you want to check out exactly what I'm talking about, and maybe your wife or maybe you if you are the wife, will be super impressed by this stuff, then go to cozyearth dot com. Cozyearth provides an exclusive offer from my listeners today thirty five percent off site wide when you use the code Granger. So go to cozyearth dot com to get thirty five percent off site wide. Just use the code granger. Back to the podcast, All right, Back
to the podcast. We got a question subject line faith, Leadership and Past. If you have a question for me, email Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com and we will put it in the queue. No notes. I'm just going just off the top of my head whatever I feel, and I'm gonna go with this one right here, Faith Leadership and Past. Hey Granger, my name is Michael, I met you a few times at your shows. I'm twenty four years old. I've experienced a lot of trauma in
my past. I moved out when I was sixteen. I now have a corporate job that oversees twenty eight hundred employees. I am wanting to grow my leadership and faith. How do I overcome my past so that I can grow my faith and leadership. During the past year, I've lost over one hundred pounds and found working out helps me focus on what I do. Also, do you recommend any books about faith and leadership? Okay, so faith and leadership you have? You have, Michael, You've connected those two words.
Every time you said it. Every time you said faith, you also said leadership. Every time you said leadership, you also said faith. So you put those two together. Thanks for emailing, brother and dude. First of all, let's just say kudos to you. Congrats losing over one hundred pounds. That takes tremendous discipline. And and then your your oversight of twenty eight hundred employees is really good. It's very respectable, and so in the corporate world, I would say it
sounds like you're doing really well. Here's what I want to dig on you a little bit, you know, man, You know y'all know I'm gonna dig. You know I'm gonna dig. So when I sit here and talk about the Bible, faith, the Lord Jesus, I want to talk about this stuff what the Bible says. Outside of my opinion. I'm not going to give you my opinion right here. I'm going to tell you what the Bible says. The Bible says, if we read it in its entirety, it is it is. It is completely undisputed what it says.
And it says that we are on an airplane that is going down. This plane that we're on, all of us is crashing. We are barreling towards the earth. Now, our hope lies within the parachute. The parachute is the Gospel of Jesus. We are saved by grace through faith. Saved what do what do you think that word means? Saved? Like saved from embarrassment, saved from emotional distress. No, saved from the airplane that is going down to crash into a ball of flames. That's what it says, not the
airplane part. But you're tracking with me, right, So the Gospel of Jesus is the parachute, and so so me on this podcast as I'm reading through the Bible and you guys ask your questions. I'm trying desperately, first of all, to tell you this is not my opinion. I'm just the messenger here. I didn't write the letter, I'm just delivering it. It says the weird going down in a ball of flames. Take this parachute and put it on you, and strap it tight. Pull these armstraps down. Make sure
you're sensed. Listen to me. There's all this air going through the cabin and the and there's there's rattling, and you know that the plane is shaking and it's going through the and it's dark and we're yelling, and I'm trying to get across to you. Look, grab this strap, make sure this is tight. And then look at this armpit and make sure this pool. When it's time to go, when it's time to jump, you're gonna need to know
where this switch is. And when you pull this switch, that's your parachute that is going to keep you from crashing and burning and dying. Right. This is an analogy of what the Bible essentially is saying, And so I say this stuff and I come back on the podcast and then Michael love you, Bro, I love you man. But then you say equivalent to you say, hey man, so this uh parachute thing's cool? Also, will you help me fly the plane? Help me learn how to fly
this plane. That's that's the equivalent of you saying, can you show me more about faith in leadership? Because I really want to grow those two things, like at an equal level. It's kind of what you're insinuating here. I want to learn. I want to learn get any books about faith and leadership because those are two things that are really important to me. It's the equivalent of you saying, hey man, can you show me more about this parachute
thing and how to fly a plane? Because I'm interested in getting my pilot's license and I think I might be a commercial pilot one day. I's think it's something I'm kind of interested in. And now that we're on a plane, I think it'd be cool for us to maybe go up in the cot pick and you just show me a couple of buttons that you've experienced in your life and we'll just see And I'm like, Bro,
this plane's going down. Are you tracking with me? If there's nothing wrong with the leadershow Leadership is very important, right, it's very important. You know, flying a plane's important. But if you're going to put it in the same context of the the plane that is going down, that is unfliable, and you're going to say that, that is going to to be equivalent to learning how to put on a parachute.
I'm gonna say, dude, take those two words that you constantly put together and separate them, and I want you to say, faith, this is my parachute. I have to learn this. I have to know that my straps are on tight. I have to continue to work it out. I have to continue to test it. I've got to keep pulling these things. I got to go up one more time and make sure I've got that little that handle. I got to make sure for the tenth time I've got a good grip on it. I got to work
this stuff out, keep it fresh. Okay, please please hear me. Hear what I'm trying to say. Nothing else I could tell you matters. Dude. You're overseeing twenty eight hundred employees. That's awesome. You're doing really good. You lost over one hundred pounds. You know how hard it is to do that. You know how many people can say that you've got incredible self discipline. You're incredibly motivated. Now, if you want to go back to past email and you want to
talk about servant leadership separate from faith. But if you want to take that and pull it apart and say, pour into others, pour into those under you don't act better than them. Find that one guy, that one guy that's just has to has to be on the toilet duty. You know, he's the guy that cleans the toilets. Nobody
really talks to him. He doesn't even speak English. So well, find that guy, learn his name, take him to lunch one day, pour into him, find out, find out about his mama, what does she do, where does she live, Where did he grow up? You got twenty eight hundred employees, but you pour into one like that, things are gonna change. You pour into one guy, learn his name, and then find another one. Not the guys that are gonna help
you to continue to climb the corporate ladder. Those guys are fine, but they need to be treated equally as the guy that works the toilets. You truly find that and they see you, and you don't do it in a way that's showy. You don't do it in a way that you hope that everyone notices, so that they think you're just a really humble guy. You do it in a way that even when no one's looking, it doesn't matter to you. They're gonna get wind of that.
You're twenty eight hundred. Are gonna be your army, and they will die for you, and they will go into war with you. They will go into battle with you. They will stand beside you, and you will stand beside them, and they'll know you're going in with the same sword. Okay, there was a lot of info, Michael, And if I could keep going unless I have to stop myself, something gone. This next one says finding happiness and work and relationships. Hey,
mister Grangram twenty six found this. I find that it's hard to find happiness in my job and within my personal relationships, whether they be friendships or intimate ones. I'm in the South Dakota Guard and even that seems to be not enough to make me happy anymore. I guess my question is how do I find my own happiness? Because I've tried what it seems like everything I've tried doing things I thought I enjoyed, like hunting, fishing, work in my truck, shooting. I love your podcast, listen to
it every day. It doesn't say you don't see your name except in the email says Nelson. I'll call you Nelson. It was crazy? What's crazy about your question? Nelson? I host this radio show after midnight, and occasionally for after midnight, I will go to this podcast email and I'll pick one out of the inbox and read it on the air on after midnight. And I read yours about two weeks ago, and I presented the idea to all the listeners.
But this guy is looking for joy everywhere hobbies, work, career, relationships, and he cannot find it. Is joy something that can be found? In fact, I pointed out that I think you have mistaken the word happiness for joy, joy being more equivalent to long term happiness. Right, short term happiness happens upon us. That's what I like to think. Happiness happens to us. Have you ever seen that meme that says anyone that said they can't buy happiness has never
written a four whiller. That's kind of true, Like there's a little bit of truth to that. You want to find happiness, jump on a four wheeler and ride fifty miles an hour in an open field in New Mexico, the sun on your shoulders, like, it's hard to be sad in that kind of moment, right, But then you say, you pull over and your phone is buzzing in your pocket. You pull it out. It's your brother. Mom's in the hospital. It's cancer. It's back. She doesn't have long come home soon.
Suddenly riding that four wheeler, that sunshine, a good time, feeling you're having gone gone. You don't read an email like that or text and then fire up the four wheeler and take another spin. Hey, what was that email? What was the text? God's mom, Cancer's back. Hey, I'm gonna do a couple of spins and go route and I'll meet you guys back at the house. Sure is a great day. That's happiness. It comes and it goes.
And that's why I think this email is mistaking the word happiness for joy, because joy is what coexists through all of it. Joy is something that can't be taken away. Joy is something that exists inside simultaneously with grief. It could coexist with the darkest grief. You could have joy that cannot be robbed from you, and the same way that it can't be taken away. Joy can't be achieved or attained by earthly measures. You can't go buy a four wheeler or a bass boat and say I'm gonna
find me some joy today. Baby, you're mistaking that word for fleeting happiness. So in this email, as you're going through searching for relationships, or the South Dakota Guard or the hunting and fishing, that stuff is just fleeting happiness. And to a certain level, if you get to a certain level of depression and grief and sadness, or or just not being content a certain level, there is nothing that can make you happy. You know what's crazy, y'all?
Think about about Elvis's daughter that just passed away. She had everything. She had the capability of buying everything, and not just with money, but she could also have the service of anything. She could have anyone serve on her for her to her of anything. She could buy an island or jets to go to the island, and food and servants to feed her while she's coming off the jet in the island. And yet she wasn't happy, nothing
satisfied her. She actually died with an addiction to painkillers or whatever else she was taken, whatever else pills she was taking. Do we really think about that, like, does that really compute with us, that the money, that that service, that that unchecked power cannot satisfy a part of us that holds our joy, a part that the piece of contentment that gives us something everlasting. We ever think about that. It's like we hear those stories and that they're is
old as time. We hear them and they come and they go, and we continue to go, Yeah, great, but I really want to get the money. I really want to get that next four wheeler. I really want to do this. You know, I gotta do more hunting trips, more shooting, working on my truck, whatever's in this email, trips things I need it. And then when you get it, you go, now I need it someone to share it with. And then you go, now I got someone to share
it with. I need to make babies with the person that I'm gonna share it with, because this is how I'm just going to create manifest this happiness in my life. And then you hit forty years old and you go, golly, I got I got nothing, I got no joy, I got kids, I got wife, I got job, I got toys and nothing but burden and all these things I thought I wanted, all this stuff that I thought was the American dream. It's gonna make me happy, and it's doing nothing. I used to think a new truck would
do it. I used to think a new house surely would do it. Maybe another baby, maybe a fourth baby, is gonna do it. Maybe we need to just need a vacation. How many y'all have heard that I just need a vacation? God, Leah, just once, Like man, I cannot wait to get to Cayman Island. When I get there, things are gonna be nice. I'm gonna sit there with my corona and things are gonna be good. And then you get there and guess what traveled with you? That pain? It found you, It camean And then you think, I
just need a vacation from my vacation. And then you get back home and there it is waiting for you, all those same problems. You thought you could buy your way out of it, that you thought you could experience your way out of it. You thought you could love your way out of it with a spouse or a kid, a friend, But you can't. That's a story as old as time. Joy comes from a different place. It's different
than happiness. Joy is deeper, it's longer lasting. Joy comes from peace and relateationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the provider of joy. He wrote it, He wrote the letter of joy. It's his, and he shares it willingly when we didn't deserve it. Can you imagine that he shares I love overflowing with joy that he has with the Father, and he shares it out of abundance willingly with an undeserving creature like me. And all I gotta do is trust, believe in him, turn from my old ways,
turn away and turn to him. Put my trust in him, and he goes. You trust me. I'm gonna give you something. It's just just just a get just a glimpse of what's to come. This little piece of joy you're gonna have in your heart that no one can take away, that no job could fulfill, that no pain or loss or death of a loved one could steal from you. I'm gonna give you a little piece of this, But wait till you feel when it's completely fulfilled. Wait till you feel when you're with me and you get all
of it. That's the promise. That's what he promises us. I don't have to testify. I don't have to convince you, the listener. I don't have to convince you of this, because all you gotta is look around and go yep. He tried to find it. She tried to find it. He tried to find it. He killed himself, he got rich, never found it, he stayed poor, never found it. The world will not give it to you, but it still holds that lie that it can. That's a trick. We
can't fall for it. Nelson, Your email spurred two weeks of conversations with people on after Midnight on iHeartRadio. That called in hundreds of times, and everyone had a new definition of what joy is. Where does it come from? How do you make it? How do you manifest it? And they all had a different idea. And I listen and I'm moderated, and I commentated, But there's only one place that really comes from. Love you guys, 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 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. Yigi
