Hello and welcome to another episode of Upfront and Undivided with Luke and Dean'na. Hi! Hey babe! How's it going? It's good, how are you? I'm pretty good! Good. It's a good day. It is a good day. I'm still in my PJs. You are still in your PJs. That you bought me that are so cute? Yes. They look like shorts and a shirt and comfy. Anyway, sorry. Yeah, no, it's PJ Day. Getting stuff done though, day.
Yes. It's so funny that sometimes I've decided, like, I get up in the morning, you get up before me every morning, and then you come down and you do your work. Yes. And then I get up and I'm really enjoying the whole summer hours with the kids because it's like we can kind of float and move ourselves around and do whatever we want to do.
And then it's like, I go, okay, so I need to do laundry, and then I need to work on my registration to redo my sub stuff, and then I'm going to clean out my closet because I'm going to follow suit with the kids and everything that's been going on because we have the most... Listen guys, y'all want something organized? You need to hire our daughter. I am not joking with you. True. We literally paid her the other day because I could not handle the upstairs anymore. Yeah. Between...
Where the kids live. Yes. Because she had already done this amazing purge to her room, and she does this periodically. She decided she wanted to do this whenever we got back from our trip. And then she is in the middle room, and I walk upstairs and I go, I will pay you money if you could fix this for me. Throw away all of the old toys, organize everything. This is her jam. It really is. She walks into her room and her brain is already going into high speed. She's one of those.
She will pull everything out, and then she will slowly, methodically start grouping things together, start putting things in place. She'll stick three different piles and then she'll throw stuff away. Our sweet Sarah just purged out her closet. She was over there just the other day helping her get all of that stuff done. She did that to the middle room where they live, basically. It's kind of there, just a little hangout space. And then she did it to our little brother's room. Yes. So nice.
But I've decided, sometimes my super cape, my super power, my little superhero outfit is my PJs. It's true. I don't know why. You watch it happen. I all of a sudden, I'm like, do, do, do, do, do. Am I going to get dressed for the day? I am dressed for the day. We're just going to... I'm not going outside. I'm not going anywhere. People coming into my house, you're coming into my house, and I'm in PJs. That's right. It's just that simple. But anyway. It's like when you joke with me.
I'm almost like a Mr. Rogers. I've got a work inside outfit and a work outside outfit. That's it. That's it. I have my stay inside and work in my office pants. And then I have my, I'm going to go out to the workshop pants, or I'm going to go out in public pants. We're the funniest little people. We are. Yes. We break it down like that and it's like, y'all are weird. Yeah, we are. But probably not. I can almost guarantee you that. There's a lot of people out there that are like that.
Yeah. What's the point? I'm going to mess up. I'm the one doing the laundry, so I'm going to be messing up another outfit. No, man, I'm good. I'm going to just stay in my PJs. Then my hubby got me because they're super cute and super comfy. And so, oh, and so I wanted to say a very happy birthday to a Mr. Jared Green because today is his birthday. Oh, happy birthday, Jared. He is absolutely precious. He's a guy that goes to church with us and we adore him.
He's just kind-hearted, just compassionate, very hard worker, just a really neat guy. And he listens to us. He's really sweet about that and periodically he lets us know. And then he tells us really great tips to how to maintain our yard because Lord knows we need help. That's one of his blessings. It is one of his blessings. He works for one of the cities here. One of the cities here, yeah. He does the yards and parks and stuff. Park and rec. Just not like, probably not like the show, but yeah.
Anyway, so happy birthday, Jared. We pray that this is a really good year for you. Yes. All right, baby. What are we talking about? I am literally going into this blind. You are. You are. I asked for it. It's like I am, but it's like you are, but you're not. It's like because we've kind of been talking about it inadvertently, but we haven't. I'm excited. First off, I want to say I'm excited. This is episode 35 for us. Oh, wow. Yeah. Check that. Wow. I know. I know.
The things that we took off for our vacation, we've been, let's just go. Yes. High five, babe. High five. I love that. Okay. So what is your amazing title? Because it's always so good. So this week, our title, what is in your toolbox? Come on. Shut up. My PJs are in my toolbox. I like it. But yeah, just the whole, what are you equipped with? The physical, the spiritual, the emotional, the mental, what do you bring to the table? What can you take away from the table?
Okay. Because I know there have been times where we've been in a marriage group or something and it's the people talking and they're like, yeah, put that in your little toolbox. Put that little bit of advice for your marriage there. But again, you come from a family of mechanics and people that work with their hands. I have worked with my hands and a lot of things and it is. It's important to realize the tools that you have. It's also important to maintain the tools that you have. You are right.
And to use the tools properly. Okay. I love that. But again, it's kind of one of those. It is. It's what do you have and what can you bring? And not just what can you bring, but again, what can you do with what you have? So again, there have been times it's like, well, I'm not that kind of a person, but I'm this kind of a person. It's like, again, I know we've talked about it before.
Our awesome friends that do the fostering and the adoption and that, and that's huge and that's massive and that's needed. That's not our calling, but we are really good at support. Hey, we'll order you a pizza. Hey, we'll show up and help you with this event or something. Like when we showed up and helped pass out board games. That's it.
Yeah. And I can't even, not to cut you off, but it's like, I can't even say that it's not like our calling because in the word of God, it talks about feed, feed, clothes, take care of, right? Right. Yeah. The way we go about it, what we bring to the table looks different. Yeah. And we're still helping. We're still doing it. Again, one of my besties, she's, they literally doubled in size just from the amount of children that they have brought into their world.
Not to mention the ones that they fostered, but the ones that they've adopted themselves. And she's like, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, I can call you. Our other friends, sweet ones that now are living in Tennessee that have those four amazing boys that we just got to spend time with, right? Said the same thing. She looks me right in the eye. I remember right before this journey that she took, she looks at me, she goes, Dina, I know that this is not, this is not who you are.
This is not in your toolbox. Right. But I know you're gifting and I know what your gifting is, is you and Luke encourage, you and Luke support, you and Luke come in when the house is on fire, you're going to come with the biggest hose you possibly can and help just, you know, put it out. And it's like, I think, I think that keeps, it keeps us from, she said it really beautifully this last time because I was asking her what was going on with her life. Right. And I said, what's happening with you?
Like I see that there's this ministry, these, this women's ministry that you're kind of doing and you're doing some stuff over here. And then I know that you guys just moved and all of this stuff is going on over here. Yeah. And she says, I don't have the bandwidth to do all of these things. My focus is my boys. And I said, as it should be. Right. And again, our first ministry is our family, you know, to God, then to our family, then to our church community and all of the other things. Right.
And because even in the word of God, where it talks about, you can't be something in a church if your household is not in order. You just can't. How can I trust you with my marriage and giving advice from my marriage if you literally, if yours is falling apart, there's just, there's just, or giving me advice about your kiddos and your kiddos are like running amok and crazy. We understand trials and tribulations and hardships and just silly things.
Yeah. But like you are, your house is on fire and it's being pushed over by, you know, a giant crane or something. So, but it's like figure out the season that you're in because even sometimes you might have this amazing toolbox, but like with you, with your woodworking, some of those tools are going to get used more than others. Some projects, some situations don't need a bandsaw. Some of them don't need the sander right away. You know, it's just, or it even is in steps.
It's like, I need this, this time, I need this, this time, and I need this, this time and just learning when to use these things, how to use these things. So I kind of repeated what you said. Yeah. But I immediately started seeing you in your shop just doing all your stuff and I'm like, okay. And then growing up as a kid with my dad watching the mechanics of stuff and looking, you, listen, you've seen my dad's shop. I have seen your dad's shop and it's tiny compared to what I've heard.
It's nothing compared to what it used to be. Yeah. And I know that he had so many tools, but each one of those tools had a purpose. And one of them might be used like once a year, maybe three times. But the fact is that he knew he had it. He knew he could recall it and then use it at the appropriate and the needed time. And I know that's important. And it's also, and again, kind of that was going to be my next point was you need to remember what you have in your toolbox or in your arsenal.
Yeah. Because I mean, I was almost thinking back to a question that we received as a couple because we have talked about, here's what you can do with dating and all. And it was, there was a question about what should I do or this person was like, what should I do about long distance dating? Yeah. And I was like, well, the beauty is nowadays, there's video chatting. That is something that's in your toolbox. You can video chat so you can actually talk to somebody while looking at them.
I know you and I have utilized it a lot, not just when you're out and about, but when I was in Puerto Rico for a month and a half. Yeah. That was a lifeline. Because there's even when you're not, because traditionally, when you're just on the phone and there's that just that pause in the conversation, it's like, okay, what's going on? Yeah. But it's like when you can actually see their face.
And even way back in the day when everything was like handwritten letters, it's like, man, that's, I'm going to write a letter and maybe I'll hear from you within a week. Yeah. That's crazy. But now it's like we could, you and I could literally be on different continents. Yes. And we could video chat and see each other instantaneously. Yes. And again, that's one of those things that's in our toolbox. Hey, I'm out at the store. Hey, babe, is this the thing that you need?
I don't have the intensive. Yeah. Hey, I'm in the shampoo aisle for you. Which one do you want? So again, I mean, some of the stuff is, some of the stuff can be deep and spiritual. Yes, this is a weighty thing to talk about. And other things it's like, look, I was shopping for shampoo and this is a tool I had. But again, it's that whole gamut of what do we have?
Or all of a sudden I'm reminded of the other day we were talking and we were in a service and our pastor was talking about the same spirit that rose Christ from the dead is the same spirit that lives in us. The spirit that did all of that, the Holy Spirit that did all of that is the same Holy Spirit that's in us. And I look at some people and it's like, you have access to the full arsenal. Literally. The full arsenal of what God has to offer.
And all you're doing is you're stepping in right inside the front door to where the slingshots are. And you're like, I'm going to take down this giant beast with just a slingshot because David did. And it's like, you know, you could use the machine guns right over there in the back. Dude, that's legit. Yeah. But I think a lot of it, that's where in our toolboxes and with our toolboxes, this is where we need that community. We need the people around us.
We need people that have been seasoned in this for a season. Sure, let's go with that. And so it's like, you know, hey, have you thought of maybe this? Or like our Bible study that we're doing right now at church, literally talking about the armor of God, right? So it's talking about all of the different ways you go about to keep you defended, to keep you, you know, protected, to keep you, you know, in line, keep you in check. Now we're starting to talk about the shield.
We're talking about the sword. We're talking about the helmet. These are things that are a little bit like we're taking ground. Well, even the shoes, it's like they had little spikes on them. And so you're like, you know, advanced like cleats. Old school cleats. Seriously. Like, so you're advancing and you're walking towards this terrain.
But if you don't know these things, if you were raised in a religion or not a religion at all and, and they didn't teach you the, like the word of God, they didn't teach you about the principles of Christ. Some of the things that we talk about all the time here is that's one of the main goals that we've always wanted is I want to bring a practicality. Not that we're trying to, again, not that we're trying to make Christ practical, but how do you live a supernaturally natural life here on earth?
What does that even look like? Okay. So the father, this is what you said. Do this. Don't do that. I'll get blessed. I won't get blessed over that. You know? And it's like, if you don't know the rules of engagement, if you don't know, like even what's in the playbook, you're going to be running all around the field like a crazy chicken with their head cut off. And then you're going to get plummeted by the enemy because it's like, what are you doing, dude?
You have this, you have this, and you have this person over here that you could have called on at any given time. You have the Holy Spirit, not just the Holy Spirit and God and Jesus. We're talking about the people that I've put around you. Why didn't you call for help? What's going on? This person over here, their prayer life is intense. This person over here, they seem to have a lot of joy. Just those kind of things in our toolboxes, in our arsenal that we need to be grabbing from each other.
Why do you always seem so happy? Well, I got the Holy Spirit. No, man, I got the Holy Spirit, but you have this innate ability. You have this overflowing joy. How does that happen? What does that look like? And then sit down with that person. Find out, why do you seem to combat things or stuff comes at you, but it doesn't even phase you? What happened? How did this go down?
I think if we allow ourselves to be taught, if we allow ourselves to look at our own toolboxes and say, not just, okay, God, what do I have to bring to the table, but Father, I seem to be lacking in some places. I really want to go to a bigger, deeper, greater level and I want to make a greater impact. I want to be able to... What did I say to you the other day? I said, babe, I want to get to a place. The spirit was one of our friends.
I want to get to a place where my shadow brushes somebody and they feel the presence of God in that moment because that's what it says in the Word of God. Even their shadows would come across people and people would get delivered. I'm like, Father, how do I get there? How do I get to that space? Teach me. Show me. Let me know your glory in a deeper, greater way.
At the same time, help me walk around with other people and say, hey... Like we talk about sometimes, I'll go to the floor with you all day long, but I may not hang out at a barbecue with you. It's okay to not have a personality kind of where you're clicking with this person, but I think we do a misjustice when we say, I don't really gel with this person, but then I'm like, but there's something in that arsenal of theirs or that toolbox that I might need.
Father, show me how to knit this body together that much more, how to beef up all of our toolboxes that much more. Just because we're a community doesn't mean we have to be tight, tight friends. Right. Right. If you're getting shot out... Yeah. I'm right there with you. Yeah, that's it.
Yeah. And something else I thought, with our tools, this is why prayer, practice, and training are important because regardless of how many tools I have in my shop, and regardless of how many tools your dad had in his shop, if you don't know how to use a hammer, it's not going to be very effective. Correct. If I could pick up a cordless drill all day long, but if I don't know what I'm doing with it, I'm going to ruin a whole lot of wood. Yeah, or lose a finger. Right. Yep. Or both. Yep.
But it's... Shout out to our friends that accidentally shot himself right above the knee with a nail gun. Bless him. He walked away. He was fine. No injuries, but yeah. I hurt. But it is. I think that's kind of what I'm saying is you need to learn how to use your tools and what their limits are. Oh, come on. Not just your limits, but... I mean, I could teach Sebastian how to use a hammer and a
drill, but if he uses everything as a hammer, or if he uses a hammer on everything... I've heard it once before, if all you have is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail. I'm just going to sit there for that. Folks, she just went back in her seat. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Oh yeah. I've heard that one a lot before. Wow. I have never heard that. Oh, yeah.
Wow. Yeah. If you have one or two tools in your toolbox, in your arsenal, then you will see every problem can only be solved with that one or two tools. Wow. Yeah. I have this huge sermon in my head now. No, seriously, because it's like you hear tough love. You hear compassion. You hear, ah, wow. Yeah. I mean, in a way, you almost want to feel... This kind of explains the, well, that's how I was raised. If that's how you were raised, that's the only tool you have. Come on, babe. Wow. So yeah.
Wow. So, it may not necessarily be that people have the wrong tools. They just don't know. Maybe they just don't have enough of the right tools. See, I wanted to say something different. Something else came in my head. Yeah. But it's like... I like when you said the limitation of. Yeah. But I think, to piggyback on that, there's also a place where you have to say, are we limiting the tool? Sometimes, yes. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah.
So, we're talking about physical tools, but I'm talking about, we go to the gym, we do our thing. Yeah. But it's like, a lot of times, people say, well, I mean, that's all I can lift. I'm like, but is it? Because did you push yourself to a place? Did you go beyond yourself? Did you go beyond yourself? What is your max capacity? And it's like, and we're not saying run around and do stupid things. No. But it's like, well, I pray, but I can only pray this much.
Or, well, I came across this, but I can pray for someone's cold, but I don't know about someone raising from the dead. Remember the sermon that said, wait a minute, why are we having to muster up? If Christ did it, he did it. Period. There shouldn't be this. We have to have a hyper faith because of somebody being raised from the dead. We should have a hyper faith because we know that Jesus did what he did on the cross, and we have that same ability. Period. Right.
It's not that we're using our tools inefficiently. Maybe we are. But I think sometimes it's a new season. This is a new project. I don't want to teach you how to do something in a new way. And so I would, I don't know, I think we're saying a whole lot of stuff, but all at the same time, but the same thing. I think so. Okay. I mean, and again, I know there are times that different tools can be used for different reasons. Right.
Sometimes not the intended purpose, but again, it can still sometimes be an effective thing. And even just turning, we heard it, I want to say this past weekend, sick person comes to a pastor and says, pray for me. I'm sick. Pray for me to get well. I loved that. And the pastor's like, well, how about you turn it and say, I'm well. I need you to pray the sickness off of me. Yes. That was so good. And it's the same thing, but it's almost more effective.
It's kind of going back to our conversation about praying from a position of victory or for a position of victory. Don't just take it as, well, we know we've won, so it's predetermined that we're going to win. We need to fight like we're victorious. We need to fight as if Moses still has his arms raised. Yeah. And so I think there are times that we do. It's like we forget that we are that strong. We forget that we have access to so, so, so, so, so, so, so much.
And I think it's almost complacency. Where it's like, well, I mean, I don't want to walk all the way to the back of the room to grab the really good tool. So I'm just going to use this one that's right here. Come on, babe. You know? Yeah. Sometimes this happens when I talk a lot. Maybe this is why I don't talk much because I don't want to convict people. I don't know. I say that. No, that already happened last week. We were meshing ourselves up and out. That was fun. Yeah, that was fun.
But it is. I think sometimes we do. We get complacent. Yeah. You know? And sometimes it is. Sometimes it's training. Yeah. You know? If you're not in a community that recognizes, you know, they're not going to teach. They're not going to encourage. You know? If you're not taught that you have access to the nuclear missile of God to take out the enemy and what he's doing, then you're not even going to think you can use it. You're not even going to know it exists. You know?
Right. I mean, I grew up in the military. I know that there are secret projects out there. You know? Peel back the curtain. The place that a lot of people call Area 51, it exists. It's real. Yeah. There is a whole lot of testing that goes on. They are testing aircraft that are not going to be released to the public through rumor for probably another 10 to 15 years. You know? But it's just that's how they do it.
That's what they do is, you know, I mean, you go to Ford and GM, they're doing the same thing. You know, they've been developing some of these cars for five years. And all of a sudden it's like, oh, I saw a weirdly painted truck from a Ford. You know? I mean, when we were on vacation, we saw cars that have not been released to the public, but they were out driving and they had manufacturer plates on the cars and they were driving in a little convoy style. Yeah. I'm like, oh, I was a little bit.
I was a little bit because because three of them in a row were the upcoming new electric hummers. Yeah. You know? And it's like, oh, I bet they're doing road tests so they can sit there and say, here's a good here's our range. Here's our here's how we do on the road. Yeah. You know, so again, it's, you know, I know that these things get developed. I know that there's training out there. I know that there are things out there that not everybody knows about.
Yeah. You know, but again, as part of the kingdom of God, we have access. Yes. We have access to all the secrets of the kingdom. We have access to all the secrets of creation. Yeah. And we've been given dominion over creation over this earth. Yeah. You know, and it's like, yeah, there's, there's, there's people out there that it's like, you know, they're afraid to get in creation's way. You know, it's like, yes, you know, we were here to take dominion if it's okay with you. Yeah. You know?
And I'm not saying, you know, live, live a, live a lifestyle where you're trashing things and you're just, you know, you're, you're destroying things just to destroy things, you know?
But again, it's, you know, it's, it's kind of like, I know you've talked about the city of Austin, Texas, you know, how there are some cities, they will, they will bulldoze the environment, they'll bulldoze the trees and the grass and everything and flatten the hills and bring up the valleys and, and build the city and then say, hmm, we need green space. Okay, quick, let's plant a couple of trees. Yeah. You know, tiny, tiny that are going to take forever to grow. Right.
Yeah. You know, but then there's cities like Austin, Texas. Keep Austin there. Yes. Yep. But they've decided to build around what's already there. And that's what makes it so incredibly cool. Yeah. You know, and it's, so again, it's like, we have dominion, we can take power, you know, that is one of our, that is part of our toolkit, you know, but we don't have to destroy things to take dominion over them. I like that. Let me also say this because you said something back there.
Yeah. And I wanted you to keep going because what I heard was you're saying Area 51, right? Yep. You're talking about like here in the future, this is going to be developed, but they're working on it right now. Yes. So what I want to speak to some of the people right now, because a lot of us, I'm one of them, that is standing there. You're in the middle of developing what you're developing.
Okay. Just because it seems small now, if we continue to work it, if we continue to, you know, wield our swords, if we continue to brandish, I'm using all these words and I'm looking at you where you're like brandish. So you want to hone a sword. You want to hone it nice and short. Brandish. Yeah. To show it. Yeah. Okay. So you want to do all these things, right? Thank you, baby. You're welcome. So it's one of those where, but it takes time, right? So it takes time.
So sometimes it's not necessarily that we're lacking anything in our toolbox. Exactly what you're saying. We have all of these beautiful things in front of us. Yeah. So I want to make you excellent in this craft right now. I want you to push everything else aside and I want you to hone in on this one thing. Sweet, sweet friend of ours, she did a video today and she's talking about patience. God gave her a dog. Right? So you're laughing.
I'm laughing because I'm listening to this video and she's like, so if you guys want to, you want to work on patience, get yourself a baby something, a baby, some sort of animal. Child. And I'm like, child, husband, family, coworkers, it's going to all, but I think the thing is, is it's like, we always say don't throw the baby out with a bath water kind of scenarios. We always have that kind of lingo, but I'm also like, wait a minute.
If nothing else we've learned like I'm looking at this sword and you are so insanely obsessed with like forged and fire and things like that and how the impurities have to come out and it has to be banged and banged and banged into submission to a point to where the more that it's heated, the more that it goes through that, the more that it's quenched down into that water and then pulled back out again and done whatever it needs to do, the stronger it gets.
And so if you feel like you're in a season right now to where it's like, God, why do I seem to have like one tool right now as opposed to this plethora or why is it that I seem to be fixated on just one, you're asking me to hone in on this one thing. Why? And the whole time he's like, because sometimes, okay, so let's say patients, you're, you have our son out into the woodworking shop with you, you have to have patience in teaching him. He has to have patience and learning it.
He has to have patience and knowing that he's not going to do this constantly perfect every time none of us are going to. And it's like, if we start honing in and saying, okay, God, not just show me what this does, how to handle it. But father, I'm asking that you help me be somebody that has excellence in this craft. You know, we're talking about the tools we talk about, like people that do instruments that have a craft, they've, they've crafted this instrument.
My favorite story of an auctioneer with an old violin says, how much would you guys like this for? Yeah. And it starts off with two, $3, five, a gentleman comes up from the crowd. He says, may I see that please? He tunes it. He picks up a bow and he starts playing it in such a way that it shows how this thing can be played. And then the auctioneer says, can I have 1000, 2000, 10,000 more?
You know, it's like the more that we start handling those things that God has entrusted us with, the more that we start seeing them as not just tools that we can utilize, but that we're actually crafting something beautiful, this masterpiece, creating something for his glory, for his good pleasure. I think it starts, I think the destruction starts going away. We're not out to destroy. Yeah. Like you and I were talking just before this, we want to learn self-defense.
We want to learn how to deescalate something, me and the school district, you and what you do and us standing back and saying, we don't want to hurt anybody. No. We don't want to hurt anybody. Even if that person is trying to cause destruction or not trying to cause your destruction, we're trying to create a rescue, a place of safety, you know, and we want to be able to bring you in to where you are safe, not just the other ones around you.
So it's like, I think if we come at life in a manner of God, I want to produce life and not death. I want to create something beautiful and not something that is going to create wall, you know, then I think that also takes us from a place of we're building something to we become crafts, crafts people for the kingdom of God. Yeah, it's true. I like it. That was a whole lot. That was, I liked it. So thanks for like completely. Yeah, that was that was completely out of pocket.
Yeah. So, and you guys ask periodically, Hey, how do y'all talk just on a random basis? Yeah. Welcome to our- How do these ideas come about? This is it. Well, we all of a sudden we're like, Hey, what do you think about this? Two hours later. Yeah, not that this took two hours. No, but we're pretty good on our time. We are. All right, guys. Anything else, babe? I think that's it. I think we said everything we wanted to say. I like it.
Again, guys, I we pray that you you become good stewards with what God has given you. Yes. And when you're good stewards with what he's given you, wherever those tools are, just know that he's going to he's going to fill up your toolbox even more. That's right. So be be great God ambassadors this week. Yes. And like the God ambassadors. You like that? Yeah, I do too. That was pretty good. It's for some I think upset. All right, guys. Happy birthday, Jared. Happy birthday. All right.
Have the best week, guys. Yeah.