Worried for our children

Read Podcast. Yeah. For those that have followed this podcast long enough, you've heard Chad talk about this with me. It is what we're kind of calling it is the next level to this podcast, the deeper level. So if you hear something, if you hear something that we reference from the Bible, and you want to hear it a deeper analysis of it. I say that kind of lightly because it's also going to be for anyone yet to hear exactly, I think, similar to what we get to

enjoy here and then other people watch it. We have questions, they're deep questions. Some of them are not deep questions. But it's two guys just off the cuff, no preparation, and there are so many times in our interactions where whether we're getting tacos or grabbing a cup of coffee, we bring up a passage of scripture and that leads to something else and we just are all of a sudden off to the races and we're chewing on the word and we're getting into life and what does it mean?

How does it affect the way that I'm a dad? How does it affect I'm a husband or a brother or a friend. And so it'll be a lot of that where we'll just start with a passage scripture and no preparation in fact, you're going to be on it, and then we'll just switch chairs. I'll be over all right, you good, and we'll just read a passage and then just talk about it and see where it goes. How

do we kind of unpack that as menagata? For those listening, this is a normal thing for Chad and I will go, like you mentioned, we'll go get lunch, we'll get tacos. And this podcast that you're listening to now is really just an extension of these kind of conversations. The way that we have this setup is if you have a question anything in the world, and you would like it answered,

you email Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com. And then here's Chad and I and we're eating tacos together with you, and you ask it in a way that you just say, hey, Maniel, I've got something in my heart I want to share with you. Guys. It's about my career, or about my girlfriend, or about my grandmother, or about my dog, or could be anything. Could be about fishing, could be about hunting. We've talked about all these things and could I get

y'all's opinion on it. And then you get to kind of sit at the table with us as we're having tacos, and like Chad and I do with our lives with each other, and Chad is so great. That's why I have them as a guest, that we get to just talk about it together. So and you get the advantage of maybe you hear a question that somebody else asked and it's not yeah, maybe you never knew you had that question, or you're too afraid or you didn't know

who or where to go with it. And now you're going to benefit from at least Granger and I. We're gonna be candid. Benefit might be a loose word in some situations. We'll see, we'll see. I'm gonna I'm gonna jump right into this, so you're going to hit you with something right off the bat, Chad, This subject line is government mandate. Oh there we go, going to be talking about masks. Here we go. We'll find out it says, Hey Granger, I'm just wondering how you feel about the

government and all the mandates. How are they pressuring everyone to get the jab and wear a mask? Again? Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel with all of this? Such a sad world to raise my children in? Frowny face. I'm definitely not planning on getting the jab. What are your thoughts? Thank you for your amazing podcast. God bless you and the Smith family. Darby. I don't know where Darby's from, but thanks for riding Garby.

What caught my attention in this email was one sentence that Darby said out of all that this is what caught my attention. Such a sad world to raise my children in. And I rebuke that thought. I hear people say that, and I rebuke that thought for so many reasons. And I'll just start by saying, all human beings are brought into the world for a time such as this, This is their time. I was just thinking, yes, yes,

it's it fires me up. And when people say such a tough time to raise children, and Darby, I'm not using that. I'm not saying that in that way to belittle your concern, because it's a true concern for you and probably for a lot of people. But what I'm saying is I'm trying to fire you up to say this is a good time. This is a good time to raise good children, this is a good time to raise little warriors. And I love that. And you know the old the old adage that says that good times

make weak people. Weak people make bad times, bad times make strong people. And it's just this is how this little this cycle goes. And so we've had good times in the past. My generation was great kids born in the seventies, eighties, and nineties. We had it really good.

And I think we're starting to We're going to see a trend where it's going to get tough, and then the kids that are being raised right now that are raising a tough time are going to be strong, and then those strong kids are going to grow up and create good times. What do you think about all this stuff, Chad? Yeah, I mean I think, like you said, your generation, we

had certain things that were good and bad. And I remember, even when I was a kid, my grandparents and parents, uncles aunts saying, man, you guys have it so easy back in my day. And so you just like each generation sees its own challenges and ease and compares it to the next. And so I think, yeah, it's it's our kids are born for such a time as this. Yes, they they won't know a world where you could just wait at the gate for your loved ones to come

off the plane. That world's gone. That changed twenty years ago. So it's things are changing, but they are this is the time. This is the time they were brought in the world intentionally, sovereignly, supposed to be born and supposed

to be raised in this time, Darby. And so I think for Darby and for any of us who lament some of the challenges that we're experiencing, and we just we reflect on our own upbringing and maybe the freedoms we had that you know, like like I can't my mom would send me outside on a Saturday, and I wouldn't be home till like and she'd send me out in the morning and I wouldn't be home till like after dark and she had no worries. And we don't live in a world where my kids can't do that.

But there are other opportunities that have that I didn't have, and so trying to embrace them. But yeah, I think I'm asking myself, what are the principles that are important for my kids to gain, not necessarily just the experience that they're supposed to have, and helping to infuse them

and their their experience with those principles as key. So I wonder what Darby, what principles he thinks, you know, we had the benefit of, or he had when he was a kid, and what experience is brought about those learning those principles, and then how can he create those opportunities for his own kiddos. But yeah, the whole mask thing, I mean, did he ask if you're going to get the poke? He didn't. He just said what do we think about it? He said, I'm definitely not. And then

he said, how are they pressuring everyone? Well, we know how they are, they're taking, they're taking the liberties that they want to take. How are they pressuring everyone to get the jab and wear the mask? Again? Uh? Yeah, I asked myself about the mask thing. I asked myself the same thing. I think, what, this's just common sense that when you sit down at the table and you take it off and you put it back on and you take you touch your face, that's just common sense. Yeah.

But here's here's what I think. Here's what I know, and I'm not going to act like I know anything more than anybody else. But the virus is very contagious. It's affecting a lot of people. I think at some point it will directly affect every human being on the earth, probably at some point, I think, I think we all need to be bold enough to live with it, to live our lives safely. However, you want to be safe, if you're if you're at high risk, do what you have to do. But we're going to have to live

our lives. Yeah, And I think one of the things that we have to wrestle with is what doesn't mean to honor or submit to or be a citizen when we feel like our rights are being violated and you know what, what does that look like? Those are things that we have to wrestle with and they're not hard. And what what what frustrates me is the the way that it is becoming so divisive. If you you know, if you were wearing a mask or not wearing a mask, you were making a statement and you were put into

a camp or a category. And that's rough. Yeah. So yeah, we gotta we gotta move forward with wisdom, winsomely and representing truth, but with a lot of humility, a lot of grace, a lot of patience. Yeah, totally agree. This subject is so beaten down that we don't need to talk any more of this podcast. Usually you start out with, hey, have you ever driven a track? I know, Sorry, I'm at you when when I set up this I wasn't really putting it in any kind of order. Off, just like, okay,

this is truly non rehearsed. Yeah, this is non rehearsal. I'm gonna hit you next. I'm gonna hit you with one called for you and Pastor Chad, oh cool man, is the same question there? It is? It says, hey, mister Smith and Pastor Chad, what are your views on predestination? I respect you and your faith and your willingness to speak freely about it, and predestination is a pretty complex idea, so I'm curious what you both think. Thanks, this is

Joe from Iowa. Good another softball question, another just another easy one out of the gates. So we should we should kind of build this for listeners in a simple way to kind of say what, first of all, what Joe's even talking about? And then we could say what we think about it. Simply put, predestination is the idea, a biblical idea that God knew from the beginning, who has chosen people are. That's as simple as I could put it. Yeah, that God actively predestined some to salvation.

And the rub that people have is that immediately means or by implication, that God then predestined some to help. Yeah. So some people might be thinking, well, that's a terrible thought, why would you even discuss it. We discuss it because it's actually written that way in the Bible with actually that word predestined. So the way that I know Chad's heart, and we've talked about this subject many times together, so I know I know how he feels about it, and

it could be it could be treated delicately. It doesn't have to be, because it's not my word. I'm just a mess. I'm just the deliverer of the male. I'm not the I'm not the composer deliver it, so I don't have to feel weird about it. But there there are two There are two components to a Christian or a human being saved, Grace and faith. And Amber put this, and then I'm gonna let you tell your story up to basketball. But Amber told me this, and I thought

it was so interesting. But grace and faith are like two parallel lines. And I've heard this many times. They are like two parallel lines that only intersect in heaven. But she she put it, like, what do you call the people in the circus that are on the rings the trapeze? The trapeze? Yeah, like the people that hold the rings. I guess they have it. And gymnastics too, like they swing on the rings. So it's like grace and faith are like the two rings, and they're on

a pulley, so they are they coexist. You have to have both to stabilize yourself, but you can't let go of one or you'll you'll completely lose balance. And so how that balance exists is a mystery, and it's no human knows the the impact of faith. Belief, believe and you'll be saved or grace because it's it's they co exist. There there are parallel lines, and that's why. And so that's why Joe's saying this is this is complex, This

idea is complex. Before before you go and just blow our minds, I have to say that this idea, and I've said, I've said kind of alluded at this before in this podcast, don't ever let this kind of stuff stump you or trigger you or make you doubt. If any way that you start thinking this, this is not fair, this is not doubting, then just stop. It's not necessary for everyone to go through this in their mind and

completely dissect how they feel about it. But but I would encourage you, as you read your Bible too, to see it. Circle that stuff and you'll see it a lot. You'll see you'll see Paul and Peter and John and Jesus talk about this a lot. And so it's interesting to circle it and go, oh, he chosen, chosen, chosen, predestined, elected. Okay, go ahead, Chad. Yeah, I think I remember struggling with this as a new believer, whether or not I was okay with a God that would pick some and not others.

I mean, that's really what it came down to for me. And so, like Joe says, it is complex because there's it just it seems unfair. It seems like, well, how come some people get picked and not others, especially if it's not anything that they've done. How could he do that? And then they start to question the character of God or he's got loving if he's like that, and you know, if if people just have no say in the matter.

And I think what you're saying is there is this mystery in our activity and our role in extizing faith and obedience to Christ. And there's also God's sovereignty just showing up and arriving and him opening our eyes to see things. And I can tell from my own story that I was not looking for him. It's not because I'm somehow clever or I found the secret sauce like I was running away from him and he completely disrupted me. And so I can't take credit for this awareness or

understanding of who God is. He did that and revealed that to me. But some of the ways that I think it's important to understand is that we all in this human condition, we would identify as Christians. We would say that all have sinned, all fall short. So there It isn't as though God is taking this group and saying I'm going to make you sinners and you're going to go to Hell, and I'm going to make you

nonsinners and you're going to go to heaven. But the reality is the whole human race is falling, broken and sinful. And so then why is it that a God that we would say is loving and good and perfect and righteous, why would he choose some to then escape that fate. That's the big question. And what we see throughout the Bible,

whether it's the Old Testament of the New Testament. God is a God that picks, he chooses, he selects, he predestines, And it starts with Abram, and he calls Abram, who is not a godly man, he just was in obscurity, but he calls him and makes and he says, I'm going to make a people out of you, and yes, yeah, total pagan. And he tells Abram, which he later names Abraham, that I'm through you. I'm going to make you a name.

I'm going to make a name for you. I'm going to give you descendants as numerous as the stars, and through you, all nations will be blessed. So all of a sudden, he selects this one guy, and it's through him that all nations are going to come to be blessed by Abraham. So he's picking one to bless the rest.

We see that again with the people of Israel. There are time and time again where through Israel he's going to interact with the people so that the watching world sees what kind of God he is, and the way that he blesses these people as they walk in obedience, well they don't over and over again, but again he allows them to come back when they repent of their sin. They come back and the watching world gets to see

a God of power, a God of grace. And then we enter the New Testament, and it's made very clear that what God is doing through his son Jesus Christ is drawing people to himself, and all of a sudden, and now it's not just the Jews the chosen people, but now it's what the Bible calls gentiles. All those non Jews, that's you and me are now included. And so what God is saying is that the boundaries are moving out and all these different kinds of people are

being brought in. And so the reason why he chooses some is to draw the rest. And there's a board picture that a friend of mine always tells he's a pastor out in New York, and he says, imagine it this way that you have. You're in this high school basketball gym, and you've got this this phenomenal basketball team. They're the visitors, and they've come to play, and they are clearly high caliber, talented team, best of the best.

And what God does is he looks around it and he instead of choosing like the varsity squad for your home team, he goes out of the basketball court area through the double doors that exit the gym around the corner, and he finds the group of smokers and emo kids and the people that are just angry and you know, just hate sports and have a chip on their shoulder and you know, eyeline or all that kind of stuff.

And he picks those kids and he says, you're my team, and he brings them in and coaches them in such a way that they excel beyond all of the best basketball players in the gym, to the extent that now all of the jocks that he overlooked they want to play on that team. Like that that's what God's doing when he picks, he's picking for the purpose of mission. Yeah, he's trying to draw others to himself. You, Joe, you

asked pastor Chad and you got it. You know, when it comes to this kind of stuff, it's interesting to think about. If you think I believe that something you could ask, but why do you did? Was that belief given to you or did you create it on your own? Because the Bible says we should have nothing to boast about in our salvation, nothing, and to an extent, you could boast that you believed and others didn't, So that can't be real. If you if you are not saved,

you are an active rebellion. You are someone that says absolutely not, I want nothing to do with it. If you're questioning and you're like, but am I, that's the person I want to talk to. Yeah, if you're questioning that, if you're thinking maybe you are, then maybe you are right. And so then there's those parallel lines, you know, then so like what are you balancing on? You balancing on God's grace? Are you bouncing on your own belief? And

I love that. It's a mystery and I think if it was, if it was perfectly clear cut, we could just say check that box, we're done, see in heaven. But because it's not clear cut, it's complicated. We want to read more and we want to underline. I want to circle those words and we go what does that word mean? Why? But why do I need to be? How do I need to be getting closer? And it becomes a lifetime of this and I think that was by design. Yeah, it was by design. Thank you, appreciate you. Joe.

Shout out to Iowa Stu. We got another question coming up. It can it be like what my favorite color is? How about this one? This one says my career. Surely this is going to go east my career. Hey Grangeer, my name is Landon. I'm from Boise, Idaho. I love your show. I was and it was wonderful. If you could please sorry, I'm going to read this right, it would be wonderful. I'm just correcting a little bit of your writing. Landon, it'd be wonderful if you could answer

this question on your podcast. I'm fourteen and for all fourteen years of my life, I've wanted to pursue my dream of being a police officer. Do you have any tips on how to stay productive in ways to reach my dream job without giving up or blindly choosing to pursue something different? Thank you, I hope you have an amazing day. Appreciate you and Boise Idaho, I love Boise fourteen good age. And he says, blindly choosing to pursue he's predestining himself too, blindly that he's choosing this is

a good one. Chap this. We don't have to get in trouble with this. It doesn't apply to just whether you want to be a police officer. No, right, it's no if if you've if you've got a dream and there's a there's something you want to do with your life, what what are the best steps? Like? How did you when did you want to become a musician? We were just talking about actually right here, fourteen So you can't go to academy at fourteen. You can't train really in

any way. I mean, yeah, I don't I don't know what is required to become a police officer. You know obviously, and you know the law, studying the law, but that's all stuff they'll teach you. There's I don't know if watching law and orders is a good thing or a bad thing, because I'm sure it's not like it's portrayed in the TV show. There's probably a lot of law enforcement officers listening. Comment below if you're watching on YouTube, a comment below if you could help Landing out. I mean,

I think it starts with get good grades. You know, work hard. If you don't get your high school diploma. If you fail out, you're not going to go to the academy, right I'm assuming you're not going to get accepted to be like a lot of these academies are pretty strict. So your first, your first tiered goal right here, Landing is to get into a good academy that you want. So I would go boom to their website. Maybe you want to be an Idaho State Trooper. I don't know,

just throwing that out there. That's probably one of the more difficult law enforcement groups in Idaho, the troopers. So you go to their website and you go to applications or the next event that they're hosting, and you just go down the checklist of what it takes. You know, how old do you have to be, what kind of degree do you have to have, what kind of physical training. Do you have to have or you have to run you have to run five miles under this time. Okay,

now you got something to work for. Yeah, you got a goal. Yeah. I mean I can relate to that because when I was thirteen fourteen, my older brother who was in the Navy, turned me onto this these this group called Navy Seals yep, and I was like, I want to do that, and now I'm not going to be able to enlist at fourteen or anything like that. But he got me the physical entrance requirements and I was far from them. But I had some goals. I had to get my run time down. I had to

be able to swim and pull up smush up. So there were certainly those types of things. What I wish I would have been able to do in order to get a better idea is to be around it, like to be around that community and see what you know, their family life was, Like what was you know? Because all that I knew was what was portrayed in the media, and it's going to be hyped up. And I mean, I'm sure now there's a lot more accurate portrayals of it.

But back back then, I mean in the early nineties, there wasn't a lot of material out there, and so I guess, like if my own son who's thirteen, he's got things that he wants to do and things he wants to be, and so I try to just get him around people that do that to let them speak into that, because he may have an idea of what it is and it's it's not that it's going to be romanticized or so I don't know if you when you can start going on right alongs or that's a

great Now. I bet you there's some kind of clinic going on that maybe do like a summer clinic, or there's there's always land in the there's always the idea of you go and you get a job there in the mailroom or taking off the trash right and you say, hey, I want to do this. I want to do whatever it takes. Do you have anybody in the mail room that needs help. I will intern, I'll do it for free. I want to take off the trash. I want to I want to clean the garden beds of the precinct.

But I just I think land, and there's there's got to be a checklist that you can get into pretty easy. After you listen to this podcast. You can get in and just make you a little short list and go, I got to run this kind of mile, I got to lift this kind of weight, I have to have this kind of grade at school. And and other than that what Chad said, just absorb it around you. Get get involved as much as you can. Don't forget to live your life as a fourteen year old kid. Yeah,

be fourteen, be fourteen, and maybe get into trouble. I'll get in trouble. It's like go steal a bike. No, don't do that. Just totally kidding. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, that's that's awesome. Hey, Landon, there's not a lot of kids that are that are having this dream so much respect. I wish that we had an entire generation like you that says, I love law enforcement. This is all I've ever wanted to do. I have no aspirations past that. I think. That's that's awesome, buddy, So hats off to you.

And we're gonna be in Boise Man and like August twenty fifth, somewhere in the twenties, so like, well, we'll see you soon. It's beautiful over there. That's so you need me to carry you yeah, I need to carry you back. Let just take a break. Your Right Back podcast brought to you guys today by cameo dot com. If you tried cameo, have you got the app? Have you gone to the website? This is an awesome way to keep in touch with me at a personal level. Say you have I have a question that you wanted

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And I can go on and say anything that Mike tells me that I need to add to this birthday. Wish I could do it on Cameo so Cameo dot com slash Granger Smith. Another way to keep up with me is yegy Nation yeg nation dot com. If you are the if you want to take your fandom to the next level, go to yeg nation dot com. You could find out how to get exclusive merch from US, exclusive discounts, early access to the Yegi apparel launches, which could be huge if we start selling out of sizes.

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Back to the podcast. I have another one for you here. I don't know how triggered this is going to be Chad, but the title is burnt Out by the Ministry for Pastor Chad, says, Hey Granger, Pastor Chad, my name is David. I'm nineteen years old. I'm from North Carolina. Pause, nineteen nineteen. That isn't add up. Burnt out okay, says A couple of weeks ago, I emailed Granger about his thoughts on gospel music. Well, I have a question for Pastor Chad

now relating to the ministry. My question is this, what do you do when you feel burnt out by the ministry. I'm interning in a church in New Jersey for the summer and God has really blessed me. I've learned a lot and the church has blessed me a ton. But the church is in transition and searching for a new pastor, and with that comes a lot of stress from the

congregation staff and myself. I have been here only for a month, and while it's been a blessing, I'm just burnt out from constant negativity, questions we can answer, and getting used to this new environment. It's been hard to stay positive and energized. Would love to hear back from you guys. Thanks for what you guys do, ye you,

David ah Man. That's it's a Unfortunately, it's a pretty common scenario where people feel called into full time vocational ministry, pastoral work, minister at work, and they get to that point. It's sad that he's nineteen and he's there, but unfortunately not surprising as well. I mean, it doesn't take long to get there. And there are things that you have to hold on to as you respond to that call and you engage in this kind of work, and that is remembering that God is the one that called you

and you work for him. It's very easy to get caught up, whatever the structure of the church or the ministry or the organization is, to think that your primary report is to people and to their opinions and what they want from you. But just to always remember God's one to put you there, that you're His called shepherd or person in that position, and so you're beholden to Him.

And oftentimes, and we see this in the scripture, God puts on the heart or leads a leader to do something that's unpopular with the people, not unbiblical, but unpopular, and it's going to face resistance. But those people always are absolutely sure that it's God that they're following and that he's leading them. And so as much as they get pressure, and sadly they are going to get a lot of pressure from people, they serve him that he

is the boss, he's who they work for. I'd also say it's important to have a network of support friends

outside of that direct ministry experience. So I've got friends from other churches, other pastors, other ministries that aren't in my current church, and it's just refreshing to hear what the Lord's doing in their world, what they're wrestling with, and it's a place that I can decompress with them and I can work through challenges that I'm facing or frustrations that I have, and they're able to listen say yep,

now get back in the game staying there. You got this, So having those kind of people outside of your immediate context is huge. It sounds like he doesn't have a lot of that. Yeah, that can be challenging, David. We could hit this from a couple different one being just a simple fact that it's a summer internship. That should

be enough to energize you through this. There's an end date, there's a temple world, and you can and on one one hand, you could go, hey, I'm learning, I'm learning the kind of people I don't really want to be around right now. You could say it in that way, keep it in mind exactly what Chad said that God called you here for a reason. That reason could be so you see a stagnant environment that you don't that

you don't want to be a part of. It could be that he's showing you this is not your calling. That too, he brought you here to experience this and you go, man, this isn't what I'm wired for. Yeah. The other angle I could take this from is this, this is typically this kind of thing is a leadership problem.

It's a trickle down problem. If they're changing leadership, it would explain even more why this is a trickle down problem you're if you're feeling says burned out, constant negativity, questions we can't answer, getting used to this environment, hard to stay positive, energized. That's all that. All that is trickling down from bad leadership, not bad people, bad leadership, and it's in transition, so that could it could not

even fall in anyone one person's shoulders. So you could learn from this and you can go this is not how this is not how I would be leading, And I'm not going to give into negativity. I'm going to be the one that stays positive in the hallways and the office ways and outside on the sidewalk when I see somebody, I'm gonna bring I'm going to bring that energy. I'm going to bring that light because that is up to you, and you can be the one that does it.

You don't have to fall into constant negativity, the questions you can't answer. What's wrong with saying we can't answer that right now? There's a positive way to not being able to answer questions. Man, David, I could relate this directly to me on tour. I could say, we see bands, and we see bands all the time that are just walking around their head down, they're dragging their feet. We see crews, audio crews at big, massive festivals and they're

just walking around, just mad. And I'm thinking, you're doing this for a living. You're making people smile for a living. Traveling around in a tour bus, eating catering. Ten years ago, this was your dream. Now you're mad and you're negative because it's hot or it's too windy, or the rain might come at three o'clock, or the people are getting outside the barricade and you have to fix it, or whatever.

The thousands of reasons humans will continually fall back to negativity when they don't have a leader that's keeping them energized. I'd also say one of my mentors told me, in the ministry, there's a lot of stuff that you're going to do that wasn't what you imagined it to be, Like, this isn't what I thought pastoral ministry was going to be. Or there's just a lot of stuff you do that's

just not fun and a lot of challenges. But he said, you have to set boundaries and ensure that you get to do a fair amount of what does energize you, what does fill your cup in the way that you're called designed to serve that kind of thing, things that interest you, and ensure that you protect that you get to do those things, and it allows you to navigate

and endure the many things that aren't enjoyable. And I'm sure for you, man, there's probably a lot of stuff you got to do that's just part of the business, just part of the music industry. It's not your favorite and it can be a drag, but you make sure that you get to do enough of what you do love songwriting and being with fans and getting to deliver your music to people and share that with people. That

makes the rest of it okay. That's worth it, absolutely And you could sum that up by saying, David, keep your gratefulness higher than your expectations. You're expecting so much from this church and you're not as grateful for the position. Just make yourself it doesn't have to be a lot more grateful. You'd just be a little tiny bit more grateful than you expect out of the job. Gratefulness above expectations, and you're not going to feel that drag. You could

relate that to any job, David. There's plenty of other jobs out there. You could switch to another profession and feel the same way in the same thing. Not being said, I can't relate to this particular job like Chad can, but I could say with almost certainty, no one gets into the ministry and goes I'm looking to get in ministry because it's gonna be fun. Yeah, it's not the first reason you would say so. And that has to do with lower your expectations a bit. Hire the gratefulness,

and that's really good. Let me just fine gratefulness above expectations. I don't know if you made that up, but that's brilliant. I didn't make it up, but I don't remember where I heard it, but I've used it for so long.

That is really good. And it could relate to we're playing a gig and when we used to be in the van and we would have to load in and soundcheck, and then we would get in the van and go to eat dinner, go to a hotel room and change clothes, come back to the venue, and we come back the parking lot. What does it look like? It's like the instant idea of how this night's gonna go. Is it packed or are there like four cars there? So if you just keep your expectations low. Like, man, it's Friday night.

We're gonna play a gig tonight. You know, I don't even care who comes. Then when you roll up and there's fifteen cars, you go, dude, fifteen cars, maybe they had five people in them each car, It's gonna be pretty good night. But if you played there last year and there was one hundred cars, and then you roll up this year after dinner and there's fifty cars you were expecting one hundred or more, it's gonna be a bad night. You've lost the gratefulness of what the night is.

So thanks for the question, Dave. Again, I appreciate your brother. We got some stuff. How about football and peer pressure? Yeah, it's football. We're getting into the fall season. Per two days are probably starting. Hey Grange, I've listened to many of your podcasts and your songs. My favorite song of yours is America, Thank You Buddy. It says I'm from a small town in Iowa this or second Iowa, Second Iowa, and I'm thirteen. I'm going into the eighth grade. At

my school. Sports is a huge thing. I've played football at my school for three years now, and this year I've decided not to play football. It's just not my thing. But some of my friends really want to play, and I don't want to. How should I handle this? I love your advice. I'd really love you to help me out. Thanks in advance. I would like to remain anonymous. Well how do I process? You're thirteen, so I could approach this in two ways, one your buddy, two father figure.

I might have the same answer with both. I would say, if a lot of your friends you say, some of my friends really want to play, if those are close friends of yours, I would follow them into football, because you're risking separating yourself from that friend group and football. I love football. I talked about it on the last podcast. And one of the reasons I love football is because it's not talent and skill based. It is camaraderie. It

is mental toughness, It is show up and compete. It is it is be available, be ready, and much less like baseball is so much more skill and right place, right time and patience, and football is is eleven guys and they're gonna put on helmets and we're gonna get out there and try to win this game regardless, and it comes in all different shapes and sizes of people you know, all different skill levels. So this is my first my first bit, Sam, Sorry, why do I do that? Luckily?

Why do I do that? My first bit to you, sir is, uh, follow your friends in there. You're in eighth grade. Give it, give it one more year. That's what I would ask you. Give it one more year for your friend's sake, so that you could be with them. It's not about starting. It's not about being a star. It's not about being a hero in the field. It's about going through August and September with these guys in Iowa.

I was just not in Iowa recently with a head football coach actually, and I was such a cool, cool little stadium in green Grass and just being a part of that, being a part of something that's bigger than you, that's greater than you, where you're contributing, not necessarily always on the field, but you're there contributing morally with your friends.

You're there to give them support. And unless you could replace all that I just said with something else in eighth grade, like maybe it's track or baseball or chess or math team. If you could replace it with that, do it. But if you can't and you're just gonna do nothing, I would say follow your friends in footb Yeah, I have a lot of questions for Anonymous. What kind of friends are they? Are these the kind of friends that you want to be? Like? Are they good friends?

Are they you know, a good peer group? This is obviously the dad and the pastor and me. I'm not answering as a friend, but whether you should or shouldn't I think a question that you probably want to answer is what do you want to be true of you in a year from now? Like, in terms of your relationship with these guys and these friends, do you want

a deeper friendship? And there's no doubt if you go through something as challenging as a football season with a group of guys, the highs and the lows, everything that you have to traverse with them is going to draw you closer. There's something about having to go through something difficult together that just forms bonds and friendships that can last a lifetime and develop character. And there's all kinds of benefits even if it's And the other question would

be why don't you want to? Is there something about or something you've had as an experience that that just you go, you know what, I don't want to have to work that hard. I don't want to go through two days. I don't want to have to get hit. Or is there something more, you know, severe that really good point that's causing you to not want to do it?

So I would just wigh. Is it just a I wanted to have a free fall and just kind of be in the stands and hang out with the ladies, or I guess there's other guys that don't play football too, right, But what's the reason why you wouldn't really good point to listen to anonymous that what are you trading this for? Why are you deciding not to do it? I promise

you that when you do. First of all, let me say that the last three years, which have been fifth grade, sixth grade, and seventh grade, aren't going to be the same caliber football as eighth grade football. That's going to be. It's going to be different and you will be able to say one day. I promise you in your job, when your job gets hard and something you have a challenge, you're going to go. You know what, I remember standing out there in October and the cold rain, standing ankle

deep in mud, in that field with my buddies. This isn't that bad. That was tough. You're going to learn so many life lessons like that. You get about about winning and losing and struggling and fighting through adversity and competition and challenges and overcoming them together as a group. That all these things you're going to learn. And once again I got to say, this is not about talent and skill and fame and notoriety. Some very few kids get that. But what you're really going to get out

of football is this group. And we're made as humans to be connected in a group. So I challenge you to to rewind this podcast and listen to what Chad said and question your reasons. As a dad, as a pastor, We're going to question why are you not wanting to play? And this is this is not what you wanted to hear in this podcast. Probably when you wrote in this is not what you're expecting, you wanted us to say, Well, you go out there, just do what you know, do

you man? B you bu But I feel pretty serious about this, and I would say too that if there is something else, that another reason why you shouldn't do it, and it's a good reason then obviously we don't have that information, and we're going off of what you've indicated here. But there's a few things that for my own son, who's thirteen and looking at a fall season of sports, like I want, I want him to know that this is a season that will pass. He has very few

opportunities to do this kind of stuff. I mean, the opportunities to play on a team sport and to I mean, you've got probably only five more opportunities to do this, and then once you get off, most people aren't going to be able to do this in college or in their adult life. So it's a unique season of life to take advantage of these kind of things. Also, we're training future men. We're not raising boys, we're raising men.

And we need a generation of young men that can take the hill, that can and that comes because they've decided to do hard things and they've survived them and they've gotten better for it. So do hard things, anonymous, all right, we need we need men like you to lead in the future. So do hard stuff, make hard choices. And if you've ever said yes to any one of these buddies when they said, hey, are you gonna play football, and you said yes, then you better do it because

your word is your bond. That's so good. What do you say? We have to we have to have men that could take the hill. Yes, we need men that can take the hill, that could take the hill. Yes, I love that. I love that man. And let me say one more time, Anonymous, let me just clarify. If you're saying you want to replace this with soccer cool, wrestling great, cross country cool, it's not. This is not football specific. This is doing difficult things, do hard things.

It'll be better for it, and when you do it in a group, even even better than that. Right, thank you for email. We got time. We have time, Chad, sweet, I'm gonna throw this over to you. We have military marriage is hard. We have relationship problems. We have feeling lost in a fog. Advice from a fan, grief belief differences in relationship. You have advice from a fan. I think it was miss misstated here, okay, advice to us. I'd love to hear. I thought that I read it.

And let's jump into one of those relationship marriage ones. Which one do you want? You want the belief differences in a relationship, relationship problems or military marriages is hard belief differences sounds says, Hey Granger, I'd like to remain anonymous. You got it, he says. I'm a strong Christian, but

my boyfriend considers himself agnostic. He doesn't understand why God would let bad things happen to people and children, like cancer, starvation, etc. I never know what to say other than that, other than that we live in a fallen world with suffering, and that this is in our home, and that life is so short comparatively to eternity. What would you say to a non believer that says that they cannot believe in God who would let bad things happen to innocent people?

What do scriptures say? Also? What are your thoughts on marriage between a Christian and a non Christian? What does a Bible say about that? I'm always praying for God to reveal himself to my boyfriend and for him to escape to accept Jesus into his heart. Thanks for reading my email. This is loaded. We've gotten into this in

the previous times. I've been here at at the table with you in terms of why would God allow and what would we say to somebody who's struggling with a God that allows evil and bad things and suffering and cancer, and I think, yeah, I mean the answer remains the same there, certainly is. We live in a world that is very fallen and broken, and there's a ton of

pain and suffering. The reason why God allows that to take place is because he's a God of love and he is created a universe in which we are free creatures. And in order for authentic love to occur, freedom has to exist, which also means we have the ability and the freedom to not love and to reject Him in his ways. So there, that's usually where I start with when I'm talking to somebody who really gets upset about the idea of evil and a god that will allowed.

Is I look at the ideals of love, which everyone they enjoy that they love the idea of freedom, but to realize that freedom necessitates both a good and a bad side. There's the freedom to do good and evil, and that is something that this world has because He is a God of love and has created this world for that. Let me tie this to the last question

real quick. So I would say to this anonymous, I would say, to your question, and as Christians, we need to be armed with an answer of some sort we can't just fumble our way to I don't know you're right. Maybe you're right. So to answer this, why does God? Why did God create a world that has suffering? Basically is what you're saying. So I'd say to relate to the last question, why did Man create a game like football that allows suffering and pain and blood and hardship

and loss and adversity and possible broken bones? Why did Man? Why did we create a game like that? And why do we still play it? That sounds ridiculous. Oh wait a minute, that's the same question, because look what football does to young men. It creates men that could take the hill. It creates strength and bond and love and endurance and perseverance and patience. Why do we go to a gym and work out to tear down our muscles

to grow bigger ones? That everything in life revolves on this same principle, that it takes adversity or some kind of breakdown to then build back up. God created this world, He created us. Don't you think he kind of knew that that if you imagine a world of perfect bliss, what would that be like? Will be terrible? I think I'm not talking about Heaven. I'm not talking about it. I'm talking about this here and now. If it was

just everything was just fine. I was reading a study or a story I think it was back in the nineties. There was this experiment I think it was in Arizona called the biosphere or biosphere too, and scientists created this environment that was completely closed in and it had all of the different trees and plants and things like that, and they were doing an experiment to see if they could create that kind of the perfect environment free from that kind of thing, and what they could learn from it.

The interesting thing they found out about the trees in this biosphere, and it was that after a certain after they would grow to a certain maturity, these trees that were full and lush and fruitful would fall over and then some of them would just start to shrivel up and die. And they were like, what's going on here? And it's because the trees lived in an atmosphere with

zero adversity. There was no wind, and because there was no wind, their root systems were shallow and they didn't have to grow deep root systems, and so they were unstable and they fell. So it's interesting to learn that trees need adversity, They need the stress of wind and rain and snow, and it causes their roots to go deeper and deeper and stronger and stronger so that they can be mature and even more vibrant. That's incredible analogy,

that's perfect. We need wind to then send our root system deeper to stabilize us, and then we're more fruitful, and then we have more vibrant lives. That's that is the answer. And people don't people think that's so hard to understand why God could introduce adversity or suffering into our lives. When if you look at every time that we go through a war in this country, imagine World War two, we came together from that adversity. We unified after nine to eleven, the aftermath of nine to eleven.

The flags I still see the vision of all the flags on everybody's porch, and everyone coming together is one to help each other and make each other stronger. And it's those type events help make us stronger. Let's move on to her next big question here, what are your thoughts in marriage between a Christian and a non Christian? What does the Bible say about it? Praying to God forgot to reveal himself to my boyfriend. Uh, this will

be the last thing. And then in the podcast, Yes, I have had this conversation with a variety of couples through the years, and it is let me say, let me say, is chat is you give marriage advice pre marriage counseling, So you're you're pretty equipped for this kind of Yeah. And one of the things that I do with a couple is I have them picture. Let's say their marriage is wildly successful, they have this long, happy marriage,

and I have them separately imagine who's around them. Let's say when they're ninety and their marriage they've they've been married maybe seventy years, and when they close their eyes and picture who's there? What are the people experiencing that are there? Yeah, what's the size of the people. What

does life look like in that picture? And it's interesting that how often couples that are both believers have a similar vision, the pictures the same, which means as they decide things about and priorities about their life, and that's going to lead to that ultimate successful picture, they're going to be making decisions with the same sense of priority,

and they're going to have the same priorities. But if a couple has a different picture of what success in marriage looks like, that's going to be extremely challenging to begin a marriage that's going two different directions. And so when it comes to kids, how are we going to discipline our kids? Are we going to go to church? What does it look like if moms heading'to church but dads stay home and watching football on Sunday. Those types of things have an impact. Not that it can't be successful,

but the odds are stacked against. Statistically, if it's not the mother that goes to church that affects the kids, it's the father. And a father that does not go to church, eighty percent of those kids will not go to church when they grow up, regardless of what the mother does. It's leadership, right, It's a leadership issue in that regard. And so yeah, other things come into play.

How you spend money, prioritize spending, how you make decisions about career and whose career and all these these are all emanating out of two distinct worldviews. A Christian worldview says, I believe that God exists, that he's ultimately good, and that he orders my days. A non Christian worldview thinks that I'm in charge of things here and if it's going to be it's up to me. And so there's different hopes and dreams and different standards, and so it's

extremely challenging. It's very difficult. Anonymous dumping or we'll be praying for him. That's the pastor leouds. I like to say that on this podcast. Dump him. Yeah, I may or may not be serious, but thank you for the email. This is this We're around a campfire, just a couple of buddies. Remember I can say to say we're buddies here, not on the platform. We're on the same page. Thank you, guys. Chad, love you brother, You're awesome. We are. This is episode

ninety seven. We're still planning on the getting together with several of us on number one hundred, so we'll talk about that. And yeah, thank you guys for all the different platforms that you're listening and watching. Thank you, we love you, see you. 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. Ye