¶ Weird and Unique Food Preferences
What is going on ? Youth man . We are here with our youth podcast and we're so excited because we have our worship pastor , mr Sam . Mr Garo , say what's out to everybody . We're excited to have him on . We got a few questions that we're gonna ask him Some funny questions , some worship related questions . We don't know where this is gonna go .
We're just excited to have him on as a guest today . So let's just , we're gonna dive into some good questions . We got some funny ones at the top and I'm scared for this one because I have to answer it too and I don't know . But what is the weirdest thing that you have ever done ?
And the reason why I ask you this is because I feel like you've done weird stuff . So that's why I put this one on here , because I feel like you just do weird things . So give me your weirdest thing you've ever done .
Well , I appreciate it . Also thanks for having me on . I've never been on a podcast before and so I'm not as seasoned and polished as you . In the intro , bro , about Foul , I thought you were screaming at me . It was too much energy , sorry .
I bring the energy really fast . It's really hard , scares a lot of people , but it's okay .
It didn't ease in at all , alright , so weirdest thing that I've ever done . That's kind of subjective . I feel like . I feel like to you every day of my life is just weird if we're being honest , but for me , the weirdest thing that I think that I've ever done probably happened in sixth grade .
It doesn't make sense to people when I tell them this story , but I am a rebel at heart , but I'm also a super respectful person , and so it just makes for like just doing weird things .
So I just remember there's one time I rallied , like everyone in my sixth grade class , to pass notes about our teacher that taught Spanish , but on the notes were just like really kind things about the teacher .
So okay , which is just like really weird , because part of me was like I want to be a rebel and I want to do something kind of like sneaky , but also I don't want to make it nice , but I wanted to be nice at the same time . So it's kind of like just just pick a lane .
But that's my so really , you just wanted to be a nice person , but also weird at the same time I guess , so I guess did the teacher like it .
No , she was just like really confused by it , because so it like kept getting passed around and we were hoping she'd catch us . We were like making it obvious , like you know , but but then she never caught us . So then we had the classroom narc . We told her like go tell , go tell that we're passing this note go tell on us .
And then she went and told us and she's like hey , sam , in to show on our passing notes to each other . And then the teacher like , pretended to like just be walking by us and then saw the note and was like oh , what's this ? And then it just said a bunch of nice things about her . We're so glad that we're in your class .
You're such a great teacher , such a good thing to do .
That is very weird . I mean , that is legit weird . Yeah , it is weird , but it's super nice .
This is my I don't know sixth grade brain , and that still exists in me . Rather than just do something nice for my wife , I have like some weird spin on it that just confuses her . So that's just .
I don't know , it's stuck , it's stuck . It's not normal . I mean it would have been different , it would have been normal if you had just given everybody a letter and say write something nice about her to your teacher and then give it to her . That's not the fun way to do it , though . You got a surprise . You got a surprise , that's a surprise .
She thinks it's something bad . She opens it and something good about her .
Yeah , yeah she doesn't gonna be something raunchy . Someone's talking smack about another student , but lo and behold , we like you , you do a great job . Yeah , we're glad to be in class .
I love that , so I want to add to this too , because you told me I had to . But , I was trying to think I don't do a lot of weird things . In my opinion , they're probably weird to other people .
Oh my gosh , they're probably weird to other people . I probably have more stories about you being weird than me being weird .
I sing a lot . People who probably don't know that I sing a lot and Miranda would tell you that . But this one weird thing that I did a long time ago . I was probably like , oh , maybe in sixth grade . No , I would have been like fourth grade , maybe Third grade , I don't know . I used to .
When I was younger , I would pretend that I got hurt for attention , like I don't know if everybody does this , but I did this . So there was one time , me and my dad , we were leaving school and I faked tripped .
I intentionally wanted to do this .
I faked tripped as we were walking out and fell Like legit , fell on the ground on my arm and pretended I broke my arm . The whole time I was telling my dad I broke my arm . I wanted him to take me to the hospital . I wanted to get checked out . I wanted to actually break my arm . He didn't believe me . Obviously he's smarter than I was .
So he took me home and the whole night I'm icing it . Ah , my arm's broken .
It's broken .
It's broken and I'm complaining , I'm telling everybody it's broken , my grandparents is broken , my sister it's broken , and a couple of days go by and they're not buying it . So I think I end up coming clean . I'm like , yeah , I didn't break my arm and they're like we know .
And then after that they made me go and apologize to every single person that I told that I broke my arm . So I remember going to my grandparents and telling them I'm so sorry . I lied to you about breaking my arm and I did that a couple of times . There was a lot of occasions where I'd pretend to really hurt myself .
I never went that extreme again because obviously I learned that it was obvious I didn't break my arm .
So I went to the little extremes .
Ah , I rolled my ankle .
I didn't roll my ankle , I got you .
But I don't know why . I just wanted attention from getting injured all the time .
I get it and it still exists . You do it every Sunday night . I bat a lot , you do , he always falling Ah , my back , my back .
I actually do hurt myself though .
I'm not buying it anymore , whatever .
Whatever , but that was probably some of the weird . But I do weird things all the time . I guess you are right , yeah that is .
I mean yeah , it is pretty weird , but also somewhat common .
Somewhat common . I feel like there's a lot of people that do that Because people want attention . Yeah .
Like . I did not that , but as a kid , if I were depraved of attention , I would result in just doing something weird rather than Dumb . Yeah , just dumb rather than just being like A .
Give me a little loan . Actually pay attention to me . I like to hang out with you guys , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah .
To be honest , I probably would still go with that route today rather than be like I don't blame you , hey , come hang out with me .
Come hang out with me .
Weird .
All right . So this question is fitting for everybody , Because the thing I've learned about you over the last few months and years that we know each other is that you love food and you don't love the food that everybody else loves . You love the different kinds of food that everybody else likes . All right , it's not a weird thing . That's cool .
I like that about you . You're not the guy that's just going to go to Chick-fil-A every day . You're not going to do it at Chipotle every day , Not McDonald's every day . You're going to go find the mom and pop shop that no one else knows about and then you're going to tell everybody about it .
So this question is what is the strangest food you think you like that probably other people wouldn't like ?
OK , strangest food that I think I like .
Or maybe a strangest place that you found .
OK , shoot , ok . So well , first let me preface by saying food for me . I like enjoy .
I hope to eat food that tastes good , but I can eat a meal and it may be not taste the best , but still have the time of my life , because I like to cook and sometimes if I'm trying a dish that's very specific to culture or something like that , I feel like I get to learn about this culture .
And I get to especially if I'm in someone's house and they're making me something that they grew up eating or something .
I get to learn about your family and so , even though it might not taste the best to me , I feel like man , I'm connecting with somebody and in a way , absent of this dish I probably wouldn't be able to , I get to taste your childhood If you ate this every day growing up . That's cool to me .
So really random , really weird , but in terms of a weird spot that I Go to , a whole a wall type spot .
Mmm .
Okay , okay , I just , I don't even know the name of the place , but that's how whole the wall . But it was on . It's on Western at the bottom of the hill so it's kind of in the hood . Don't go there without me if you're listening to this , but it's a barbecue place and .
And and when you go in , there's like bulletproof glass , like in front of the , in front of the counter , and they give you your food like through a carousel , so like they put it in a thing and then they spin it around for you . So you can't like , you can't like you care they eat it , but it's really good . It's good barbecue .
I just wish I remember the name of the place . I don't remember , but it's good barbecue . Okay good ribs , good rib tips . Okay , it's good , it's good up in , it's good up in there . I like going to places where I got out . You know , gotta risk it .
You gotta risk it , yeah , but a biscuit . Those , I will agree with you . Those are the best places . Mm-hmm , I don't know what it is . Those best places ? Like the family own shops . You know they take diligent in what they make yeah instead of , you know , like the typical McDonald's , it's like a chain restaurant .
Yeah , those people don't care what they're making , they just want to paycheck .
Yeah , but these places they care that , they care , that's their life . They don't got money for advertisement , so their advertisement is their food , their food . Yeah , exactly I hope you tell somebody about this . Yeah , that's the best .
Look at that . You're telling people about a place that you don't even know the name of . I don't even know the name of that Barbecue places , but don't go to it because apparently it's got bulletproof glass and that's that's not . That's not safe . So I gotta ask you this , because I think you've taken me to one of these places .
But oh yeah , where is your favorite wing restaurant ?
We already know . Is it what's it called ? I forgot what it's called .
It's called juniors on Main Street right .
Yeah , that's the one you took . Yeah , and it's really good . Yeah , it's good , it's good juniors on Main Street . I would never have had that if I didn't meet you never I didn't know there's a place it's good Season food top of the line . See a lot of people here would say we can stop or B dubs . Yeah , you think about those two chains .
I mean wing stop above , above B dubs .
For me personally , stop above B dubs .
Okay , but B dubs .
I'm kind of right there with you yeah we don't either .
I mean , I could talk for hours .
Listen , we can talk about a whole pocket really bad food yeah and bad food .
I'll just throw this out to also Panda Express . Oh , yeah , I know you like it , but I like it . Yeah , but .
I do like actual .
Like you know , I would probably prefer that over .
But again , I just don't know the mom and pop shops that you know of , so I'll just go to Panda , because it's easier for me .
I got you do your research , I don't .
I'm not about to Google Chinese restaurants , I'm just gonna go . It's Panda , because I know it . Judge me if you want to , but it's what we do .
So yeah , that's , that's chill . I just it just doesn't look right .
Yeah , that's what it is . For me , it looks like somebody cracked a glow stick and then seasoned the chicken you know I will say this you probably never have you gone to high , being got their Chinese . No , but it's pretty good , pretty good , it's pretty good .
Okay .
I will say I'll pick that over paint .
Oh yeah , yeah , it's pretty good .
I mean it's you . I don't know if you'd agree with it , because it's still , it's a high , it's still it's not like authentic , but yeah , still pretty good , yeah , it's delicious .
So I'll also let me plug yin shing real quick . That is a legit mom and pop shop , yep .
Where's the ?
university by the book nook up there . Yep , can't go wrong , it's pretty cheap . It's pretty cheap too . Real authentic . They Barely speak English , so you got to point everything in the menu . It's good . He said , oh yeah , but it's not do that .
Yeah , but that's what you know is real , because that they know how to make it and it's not some American white boy , yeah , counter making Chinese food ? Yeah , you don't know what you're doing . It's the bag of frozen orange chicken You've been the sauce on it , like they're actually making it .
Mm-hmm , so it's you see , we'll do a whole nother podcast later , just about food recommendations , and people are gonna take your opinions on it . They're gonna be asking for it .
Later We'll see but I doubt it , I doubt it , I doubt it . We'll
¶ Meaning and Practice of Worship
see All right .
Well , let's get into some actual Questions . So we want to ask you , so you , you know , you're the , you're the worship guy here .
Mm-hmm .
You love to sing . You love me play on the worship team all the time you wrote some songs . So we wanted , I wanted to ask you just some questions Just kind of around worship . And the first one I just wanted to ask is very simple and just um , I Think we'll just set the tone for this is just what does worship mean to you ?
You know , like we sing songs on a Sunday , we sing songs on a Wednesday , we , we , we write worship songs just what , in general , does worship in a hole just mean to you ? Why do you do it ? What's the reason behind it ?
mmm . So Worship to me this is the definition that I wrote with is just when every part of my life just responds to who ? God ? is and me knowing Him and having a relationship with Him .
And so , beyond when an instrument is in my hand or I'm singing something or playing something , like every title that I wear , so as an employee , as a husband , as a father , as a brother , as a son , as a communicator , as a citizen of the United States , like every title that I could possibly own , like when all of those things respond to who God says that
I am and who he's called me to be through a relationship with Him , that is when I feel like I'm actually getting to the heart and to the meat and bones of being a worshiper .
And so , even just when all the little things in and about my life that not necessarily everybody sees responds to me so even in my speech , how I talk , even in my bank statement , how I'm spending my money , even in , like how I care for my home , how I treat my neighbors , like when all those things line up and I feel like people can see them and sense ,
hopefully , the love of Jesus through them , then I think that we're really getting to something .
Through your lifestyle .
Yeah , yeah , yeah .
Just how you live your life .
How you live your life . It's super important and it's like super personal too . I think I spent a lot of my life thinking that in order to live a lifestyle of worship or to be a good worshiper , it needed to look like how that person does it or how that person does it or how that person does it . But in reality I'm walking through different stuff .
I got my own journey with Jesus and I think he's asking things of me . Specifically In Romans , chapter 12 , verse one , it talks about becoming a living sacrifice . That is a true act of worship is what the . Bible says , and so I think that there are specific things .
Well , there are universal things that God calls everyone to sacrifice , like if you choose to follow Him , then universally , you're called to sacrifice your own pleasure . You're called to sacrifice like being vulgar in language . You're called to sacrifice not being good with money .
We don't have those quote unquote freedoms , even though they're not really freeing , like people are slaves to all those things , but we don't have those freedoms as believers . But then , specifically , as I live a life of worship , I think God is asking Sam , I'm calling you to give this thing up in pursuit of me . So that's what it is for me .
Yeah , I don't know that you've asked this before you're going there , but I'm just going anyway .
But so that's why I think corporate worship , or worship with believers gathered together , whether they're young or old or whatever , like coming together and singing songs and all that stuff , to me it's the best preparation to be able to do those things Because , if we're being honest , it's not the most comfortable thing to do .
At first , I think you do think things like man , how do I sound , how do I look ? I don't know what that word means . Why is everyone raising their hands ?
Should I be ?
raising my hands Just because everyone else is raising their hands . Do I stand up ? Do I sit down ?
You think all of these things , but I think the more that you push back against the discomfort of it and the more you're in God's word and you just see throughout all the Psalms , we're encouraged to shout , to sing to raise our hands to bow before Him , to look up in reverence . They're all physical things .
We're encouraged to sing songs with one another when we gather . So that's all in the Bible and as a believer , we want to live out whatever's in God's word .
I get it's uncomfortable , but in the same breath , for me , I've always just thought okay , if I'm amongst a bunch of people that believe and proclaim Jesus and I find it difficult to just sing songs about Him , or I find it difficult to like lift my hands and express my love and appreciation for him , then what chance do I have when I'm at school or I'm at
work and I'm not amongst believers , I'm not amongst people that share my faith ? What chance do I have to actually stand up and stick out and live out the things that I'm called to live out ? So , yeah , so it's just good preparation .
I love that .
So one thing I wanted to ask you kind of with the corporate side of worship is like when , when we're worshiping together , I think about like for me , when I'm in that environment , I know you're on stage a lot worshiping and you don't get the opportunity to be like in the crowd every once in a while , but when I'm in the sanctuary with people and I'm
worshiping , for me it's just like a moment to just thank God for like what he's done in my life , whether it's good or bad . You know that's kind of just what I like sit and rest on and ponder on . For you , maybe , what does that look like while work ? Cause I know with students it's like that uncomfortable , discomfort thing .
You know , like they don't know how to worship . Should I worship ? Should I raise my hand ? But in that moment when we're worshiping and singing songs , what's something I don't know like , maybe for you , what do you do in that moment to really just focus your attention ?
Cause I know it's easy when you're on the platform like , oh , people are looking at me , oh , oh , oh .
But like what do ?
you focus yourself on , or maybe when you're not on the stage and you're just in a worship environment , what do you focus on while you're worshiping ? To not be uncomfortable or to make it purposeful ? Sure .
So this is very niche and maybe not a lot of people are gonna get what I'm about to say and they're out there , but it's still worship . It's still worship for me , like when I'm leading on a Sunday .
But on a Sunday morning or on a Wednesday night , there are so many things that are just happening that I'm listening to and listening for that and I know the Lord still receives it as an offering , you know , and that is me providing and doing my best to allow other people to worship and not have any sort of distraction .
But it's not really like a personal moment of worship for me if that makes sense .
You know what I'm saying .
And so I don't know .
So it's still under the umbrella of worship , but it's not something that , like , you know , when you have a moment of worship there's just something that like feels like , like my heart is filled up , you know , and most of the time in corporate stuff it's like a pouring out of my heart , which we're called to do , we're called to be conduits right .
Nothing's supposed to just remain stagnant , like as God pours into us , we pour it out and it fill us back up , and so my pouring out just happens to be when I'm leading people in worship and so .
But my filling up is just like moments right before this , I was just sitting in the sanctuary reading my Bible , singing a song out to the Lord , and it's important that we have those moments , in addition to just like those corporate moments , where we get to stand shoulder to shoulder with people that hopefully share the same faith that we have and look heavenward
.
So yeah , that's kinda . Yeah , I like that . So , kind of , as we come to a close a little bit , I wanted to ask you just for students , like you talked about it at the beginning , living a life of worship . That's what worship really is . How can , in students' lives , I think , on a day to day basis , how can they try to live out a lifestyle of worship ?
Like , how can they take what we do on a Sunday maybe , and live that out in ? a day to day life , like what are some maybe examples that you'd have for students that are listening .
Yeah . So I kinda touched on it before , but just right now I feel like Just pray to the Lord and ask Him like God , what do you need from me ?
¶ Surrender and Obedience in Worship
Again , because I just remember being young and just thinking that person is someone that really loves the Lord . So , therefore , if my life looks like that person's life and my expression of worship looks like that person's expression of worship , then I must be doing the right thing . But God wants a personal relationship with you .
He wants your heart , and there are things that I might be more connected to than that person is , and so it's easy for me to give the sacrifice that that person is giving .
But what God really wants from me is something completely different , you know , and so I think it just takes some God seeking and some self-searching and asking yourself the question yeah , god , what might I be holding onto that I'm not really ready to give into , surrender to ?
And then you'll know what that is and just begin the journey and start walking with the Lord and kind of what it looks like to let that thing go . Yeah , I can say for me , yeah , personal convictions are a huge thing for me . And personal convictions are different than you know . There are things that are like you're not really sinning if you do them right .
But the more that I grow in a relationship with the Lord , the more that I understand myself . I begin to realize yeah , I know that that thing might be okay for that person . But , for me specifically .
I know my relationship with Jesus is gonna suffer if I do that thing , you know , and so I would never tell people my own personal convictions because then we just get into legalism , stuff , you know , and just like you can't do this and you can't do that and you don't do this and do that .
But I think we should all have things that are like you know , for me and my walk with the Lord , for what I'm going through in my life I don't know it's the wisest thing that I partake in that thing , you know .
And I think kind of when you begin to start to have those relationships , it's just the mark of someone that's really growing and walking hard towards the Lord , and I think that's like just a beautiful act of worship . You're sacrificing something , giving up something , just so you can seek the Lord more .
Would you say that a big thing of worship or just in general following Jesus is surrender Like surrendering ourselves ? Because I think that's a lot . As humans , we wanna do our own thing go to places say our own things , and I think that's just what having a relationship with Jesus is surrendering ourselves to his greater story . Would you like ?
What do you think ? Oh , for sure .
I think of the story of there's Saul in the Bible , who just took it upon himself to continue to bring God animal sacrifices that he never asked for , and there's a famous for a well-quoted verse in there . That's just where God says that like over your sacrifice , I want obedience .
obedience over sacrifice Did you just preach on this ? Maybe who just preached on this ? Did you just preach on this ? I might have , maybe you did , I don't know . I preached too many things , yeah , yeah .
Also , this is online somewhere . Anything that wise that might come out of my mouth probably didn't come from me . I heard it from somewhere else . So , but kingdom domain . you know , I don't know , so I claim nothing but , yeah , there's someone wiser that probably shared and talked about it way better . Yeah , but obedience over sacrifice .
Don't just give God something because everyone else is giving that thing to him or what's what we're supposed to give him , but a true act of worship is surrendering and listening to the voice of the Lord . I want to give you what you want from me . I don't know , I don't know , I don't know if someone's ever given you a gift that you never asked for .
All the time .
Yeah , it's just kind of frustrating and it's also kind of like especially if it's from someone that you have a relationship with . That's just kind of like thank you , don't even know me . You don't even want this .
You know that I wouldn't even like this .
You know what I'm saying , and so that's kind of the same thing with the Lord . I just feel like I know him and I want to give him what he wants . I don't want to give him something that's just some song and just like hey , take it , and God is like hey , you don't even know me .
Just spend some time with me and I'll tell you exactly what I need from you .
you know so that's it , the wisdom of Sam the cigar man .
It's not his . Yeah , yeah , or whoever is that ? Whoever , wherever he learned from ?
Well , man , I just want to say thank you for coming on . We'll definitely have to do this again , because obviously we got to talk a lot more food stuff , so yeah there's more to come with that , but we'll go to the Bulletproof restaurant .
next time We'll go on site . I need you to . I need you to take me now . I'm serious about this barbecue taste .
Man . Well , thank you guys for tuning in . Give it up for our pastor Worship , pastor Sam the cigar . He's around , Talk to him , Get to know him , man . He's a great guy , but we love you . Thank you for joining us , man . I appreciate you and we'll see you all next time .