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00:00:01
Choose your paths wisely
17 Plays11 days ago
Do the hard things
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Transcript
Introduction and Personal Story
00:00:00
Baker Plbg
Okay, it's a bit of a story time here. Personal story, everything's personal. Frankly, every story I tell you has somebody attached to it ah in my life that I know ah personally.
00:00:16
Baker Plbg
This one's an interesting one. This was a some 16, 17 years ago. A friend of mine who is no longer a friend of mine, but was, a friend of mine for a long time ah had decided that he was going to remove himself from his faith and from his family.
00:00:37
Baker Plbg
And it was going to be deliberate and intentional, and he knew full well what he was doing.
The Friend's Belief and Consequences
00:00:42
Baker Plbg
And I do remember i going to visit this individual at his place of business to discuss what what he was doing and why he was doing it and just, you know, sort of as always, share my thoughts, not yours on what I thought would be the outcome of his decisions.
00:01:07
Baker Plbg
And we had a very amicable and positive, I thought, conversation and left on good terms. um But the one thing that he said to me that I will never forget, never,
00:01:20
Baker Plbg
forget, he said to me, you know, Bob, all that really matters is that my children are kind and that they're nice to old people.
00:01:33
Baker Plbg
And he said it, you know, half jokingly, half sincerely, that life wasn't that serious and that I should, you know, maybe, you know, turn it down a notch.
00:01:47
Baker Plbg
Like I don't need to be quite so intense about things. And we chuckled about that and then moved on. Anyway, that was literally probably the last time I ever spoke with that individual face to face.
00:02:01
Baker Plbg
And i mean, the the record is out now. 16, 17, 18 later, whatever that number is the results are in.
00:02:13
Baker Plbg
And I'm sorry to say that even with that incredibly low bar, just the lowest of lows, your children are going to be kind to people. All right. ah He has failed miserably. His children are a disaster.
00:02:31
Baker Plbg
just they They are unable to function in this world without pharmaceutical interventions. They are unable to function without um therapy to to navigate the most basics of tasks, and they and they are not They are not kind, nor are they nice to old people.
The Metaphor of the Kite
00:02:54
Baker Plbg
In fact, they are an absolute train wreck. They are, in every measurable way, takers from ah the trough of life, if you will, and men don't give in any meaningful way.
00:03:09
Baker Plbg
And what what do you think is going to happen when you remove your faith and your family from your life, those moorings are gone and they are literally like leaves in the fall just blowing around.
00:03:26
Baker Plbg
with no direction, no purpose, sort of grasping at every stupid trend that happens to be on social media or elsewhere, freaked out by everything that's happening in this world.
00:03:38
Baker Plbg
Because he intentionally removed those moorings. It reminded me of that, you've all heard of the kite analogy, where the kite that you've that you're playing with is you know hundreds of feet in the air, and you can control it, and it's You know, up there, it's beautiful, it's wonderful, blah, blah, blah, blah. blah um And yet, the thing that's restricting it, the string, appears to be, you know, holding the kite back.
00:04:12
Baker Plbg
And what happens when you cut that string? Well, initially, the kite just takes off. Probably goes another, you know, 10 or 20 feet in the air. And then what it do? Immediately becomes uncontrollable and crashes to the ground.
00:04:26
Baker Plbg
Those things, faith and family, are what hold, in my thoughts, not yours, hold the world together.
Importance of Faith and Family
00:04:39
Baker Plbg
And when we decide personally, if you're an individual, a couple, or a family that decide that those things are no longer important to you and you don't need them in your life,
00:04:51
Baker Plbg
you have literally stacked against the deck against you. And I'm not saying it's hopeless or like there's no chance once you make those choices, but I have seen over and over and over again the results of people that have made those decisions. And you may think,
00:05:09
Baker Plbg
I'm gonna this up in a minute. You may think that your circumstance, your your the variables of your life, of your kid, your family, your work, your health, whatever, are just so unique that that the rules don't apply to you.
00:05:22
Baker Plbg
And that may be true. Your situation may be very unique, but the path that you're on and the destinations that you're headed to are the most common things in the world. And unless you do the hard things,
00:05:36
Baker Plbg
And faith and family are hard things. Make no mistake about it. But if you decide that you're going to remove those and take the easy path, then you're gonna then you're gonna be like that kite.
00:05:51
Baker Plbg
And you are going to crash miserably to the ground because you have nothing to help you navigate the winds of this life. And so if you're considering walking away from your family or your faith or whatever the case may be, I highly encourage you to reevaluate that.
Advice for Maintaining Relationships
00:06:12
Baker Plbg
It doesn't mean they need to be your best friends or that you need to visit them every you know weekend or go on outings, but you should have an amicable relationship with those that you consider family, whether they're part of your faith family or your actual family. Um,
00:06:29
Baker Plbg
in order to weather those storms. It is a needed commodity, much more than orange juice or whatever, you know, whatever.
00:06:41
Baker Plbg
Those are needed, needed, needed. and if And if you intentionally go about removing those, you you As it says, you will be blown about by every single trend, doctrine, opinion that there is out there. I wish you luck in your navigations. It's a stressful life out there.
00:07:04
Baker Plbg
Everybody knows it. And, um you know,
00:07:12
Baker Plbg
As usual, those are my thoughts, not yours. I wish you luck. And and I don't, you know, for my little friend there, um you know, he now has to he now has to put his head in the sand and shrug his shoulders and go,
00:07:29
Baker Plbg
Well, kids are going to be kids. No, they're not, man. You had the chance to be a guide and a mentor and someone to help them navigate the craziness of life. And you just said, no, man, you just, you be you.
00:07:43
Baker Plbg
We're going to be best friends and we're going to do cool things and we're going to be awesome. And that worked for a couple of years and now it's a total freaking train wreck.
00:07:54
Baker Plbg
My thoughts, not yours. Have a fabulous day out there. Decide what's important and stick to it. I'm telling you, faith and family is important. My thoughts, not yours.