Transcript
Speaker: Oh, hello. He's alive. He's alive. As you, you are also an alive. Barely. Barely.
Speaker: Barely. I've got a hot whiskey from my throat. It's seen better days.
Speaker: A hot whiskey, you said? the whole, like, no drinking alcohol thing isn't as taboo in Ireland as in America. Oh, that's fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hot whiskey. Hey, I saw i was just getting on and i saw a cheeky little thing that said ah something about a gray lady. And I was like, OK, interesting. the book must be done. i wasn't told about this. So right before I got on, I was putting in my card information in order to purchase said book.
Speaker: So I am ready to go. Cheers, For those of you listening in, Logan and I have not actually spoken to each other since the last episode. We've got a lot to catch up on and today. You're just going hear us catching up on our lives, basically.
Speaker: It's been a fairly nuts few weeks. Several weeks. it's It certainly has. I don't even know how long it's been. i don't even know when was the last time. like i would be an nervous to look it up.
Speaker: It's not in the last month. I'll No, Tell you that, folks. I can tell you that for sure, because on the data that we see of who listens to, it usually says whether there's been an episode this month and there has not been an episode this month.
Speaker: So and I don't get the one last month either good think the month's not over. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. For those of you who are still with us on this journey, we know we do not deserve your love or your dedication or your support in any way whatsoever.
Speaker: You're the best. Yes, you are. we we We do not deserve your loyalty to us for, i don't know. Ritual neglect.
Speaker: are did See, if it was, if it was, we were doing nothing and we were just being lazy, i think that would, that would be one thing. That is dangerous. It is ah insane the amount of stuff that has gone on. Even as I just gave you a short list of what had happened in my life, that's only me. That isn't even what's going on in your life. so Yeah, but you know what? Let's let's talk about it. let's Let's rewind to the summer, let's say, and work our way up as to what was what, where we are, what's happening, what's been going on.
Speaker: Do you lose choice? Who wants to go first? Um... I'll let you go first. That will give me time to figure out when our last episode actually was. Yeah. do Well, I suppose... Things really changed in our lives as family at the end of May.
Speaker: My mother went for a Routine checkup last year with the doctor. never got us Never got any word back, no email, no response, nothing. then ah That's genuine neglect.
Speaker: um And then this spring, she just realized certain things were not normal. So she went back the doctor again and then in May learned that she had cervical and pelvic cancer, which one part of it had already been there last year but no results were ever given the test or scans.
Speaker: So in the space of a year, it leapt from stage to stage three and it spread. so our June and July were very much boom boom boom boom more mobile with them tests, scans, more tests, more scans, more tests, more scans, and the Irish helped
Speaker: System is criminally dreadful, I'll be honest. a But the regularity of her appointments was unheard of.
Speaker: Second to none. Yeah, if she were told, we'll see you in two months, she was seen in three weeks. If they said, see you in two weeks, they said, whoopsie, we're the cancellation. We'll see you in 48 hours, Mags.
Speaker: um So it was really, really incredible. And the hand of God all over it, pushing her to the top of every list.
Speaker: So she went on holidays in July and August for two weeks, 15 days. And... and She was supposed to come back from holidays and have three or four days at home and then begin treatment.
Speaker: um But I got a phone call from the hospital. Shout out to St. Luke's in Dublin. And they called me the last day of her holiday, the day she was returning home.
Speaker: And they said, we've got a bed for your mother tomorrow. We will see her tomorrow. Yeah. So the holiday, was advised against it by the doctors, but she said she needed that space to prepare her mind her heart and everything else. yeah i mean So she spent about a month and a half or so in hospital. They anticipated it lasting anywhere from five to eight weeks.
Speaker: I think it was maybe six weeks. ah And it was... It involved radiation treatment every single day, a chemotherapy every few days, immunotherapy was once every three Fridays, and they anticipate that continuing for a whole two years.
Speaker: And they also administered four rounds of brachy, which I had never heard of before. So basically they insert
Speaker: through body of ours I will not mention on a Christian podcast channel but you can use your imagination a metal apparatus to target the cancer internally but on one occasion I'm not entirely sure how it happened or why we're not seeing them but they inserted it incorrectly.
Speaker: I don't know what that means.
Speaker: Backwards, upside down, but incorrectly. And basically burned the living daylights out of her from inside.
Speaker: ah Which of course led to great deal of discomfort and infections and whatever else. Obviously so. Yeah, yeah. So it's been... That's probably been the main focus in our house for the last half a year.
Speaker: Yeah. And from the very first treatment, which was radiation, that was day one. Our body had a negative reaction to it.
Speaker: Compulsive diarrhea for hours and hours on end right through the night, like no no sleep. a Severe vomiting, overwhelming. move
Speaker: It was... I don't know if Ruff is... ah Sufficiently strong adjective to describe what it was. Yeah. Yeah. um But, yeah, we got her home, brother, father and have been doing round-the-clock work to make her comfortable, and as of three Mondays ago, we began taking her for walks, which I know sounds like, you know, she's a dog and we're the master. Yeah.
Speaker: But a couple hundred meters there, a couple hundred meters here. So I started off just taking Uranus from a straight line, no from our house our cousin's house, and back again.
Speaker: it was from our house to our cousin's house, then to the house behind ours, and back again. um Then we did one around the cul-de-sac. So this was taking place... don't even know you have the word cul-de-sac in America, do you? do you know what cul-de-sac is? Yeah. Yeah, I can't remember it. Yeah, like a neighborhood.
Speaker: So that was probably three times a day, weather pending. And then just yesterday days she took a notion and that she wanted to start going out twice a day but doing half our estate.
Speaker: And I was thinking a it's quite the leap, but okay. Yeah. um So yeah, she's a trooper. ah She's going from strength the strength, thank God.
Speaker: And we know that we've got people all around the world who are joining us in prayer, which is, it is the ultimate lifesaver.
Speaker: It really and truly is. a And in the midst of all this, my father got a cancer diagnosis as well. whos He is Mr. Ghoul.
Speaker: Just takes everything, including Satanic attack, in his stride. And yeah, we know that he'll be youll be okay. His is under his eye.
Speaker: um yeah But a simple operation will... Thieves the End of Ass. Yeah. Unsightly for number of weeks or so.
Speaker: But, and, well, as Shrek once said famously, better out than in. um So, yeah, that's, uh, That's been the main thing here. Of course, you I've had ministry and whatever else, but we can circle around to that.
Speaker: And yes, the books that i literally only acknowledge their existence on WhatsApp updates a few minutes ago. About five minutes before you probably saw it. But ah yeah, listen, overall, what have your last number of months been?
Speaker: And then we can get more specific into a the joys of pastoring, which... and I never thought I'd be saying about myself and maybe you feel the same about yourself. Yeah. Yeah. um so i So I went and checked and our last episode was August 22nd.
Speaker: Oh, that's interesting. So yeah, it's been two months, but now I think we know why now that you have explained that story. that there is a valid reason. I've been sitting there for two months like, what's Brandon not texting me? has we gone Did I say something you took offense at again? no No, no, no. You laughed at something. Your your last thing was you laughed at it. You might have to cut out in the video.
Speaker: Right, right. No, I have had thoughts of posting some of my teachings. The thing is, we don't always record our teachings. And that's part the problem. You should be doing it. Let's move a new way.
Speaker: What's that? You're the young pastor. We're paving a new way, a new direction. Let's get the word of God out to the masses. Right. We should. But that requires someone to run the booth, and nobody wants to run the booth. know.
Speaker: I get it. Yeah, it requires more than just me. But um I have been thinking through some of that, especially as I've just started a series on –
Speaker: Matthew 6, which covers the Jesus's explaining um the heart behind charity, the heart behind prayer, the heart behind fasting. um And so I've been thinking through some of those of how it could even be helpful to not only as I practice and run through, but maybe practice by doing it in front of people and on and an online forum and then go and practice in front of other people. So I've been thinking through the logistics of that, but it just has not come together because it does require you to sit down in front of your TV, in front of your computer when there's 12 other things going on. So the big thing over the last few um months has just been where exactly is God leading?
Speaker: um, like job wise. Um, because if you guys know or have followed along, I have not returned to go back to teach school this year. They, I could have, I could have tried to force that to happen, but there would have been a lot of concessions that needed to make be made. And I really felt that God was leading towards ministry, specifically pastoral ministry. So I was like, you know what, we're going to take a step of faith here and we're going to see where God leads with this. Um,
Speaker: And as a church or as our my pastor, he was like, yeah, you know, we will we will for sure be able to find you a spot. And we'll even if we can't get you here, we'll get you somewhere else. um At least that was the the thought early summer.
Speaker: Very, very, the very ah excitable thoughts. The early summer as the summer has gone on, um he was counting on a lot of more people giving more money.
Speaker: to the church. That's was his count on. Now, let me, let me put it this way. He never told the people they needed to give more money. That never happened because it's awkward. He doesn't like to ask people for more money, but he was actively praying that he would get more money. He wasn't doing anything to help the situation, but he was praying about it.
Speaker: So as we continue on, um, It's basically been said now a few times. Let me tell you, there was there was live and die moments every single – we have these these board meetings every single week or not month. Every month we have one board meeting to basically go over the finances of the church. And for a while, every single month, I would sit there with bated breath going, this is the month. This is the month they will finally say, you know what, Logan, we want you. This is the month.
Speaker: And that month would go by. We'd spend three hours talking about absolutely pointless stuff because that's what happens. And then we'd go to the next month and I'd be like, this is the month it'll happen. No, this is the month it will happen. Finally, it got to about June, late June, early July. We did our, uh, actually, no, we didn't have that one. We had, it was the August one, early August. And, um,
Speaker: They like I i had talked to the past to my pastor earlier and I was just like, look, is anything going to happen here? Like, are you just stringing me along and go, yeah, we kid don't have a job for And he's like, i'm not trying to do that, but we don't really have the money to keep you.
Speaker: Like, we're not trying to, but yes. its exactly and at this point i hadn't even been paid like there had been no money actually paid so i'd been going there every single day and no pay like nobody was paying me for anything and i was like well let me be honest i i can't do this forever like i can't just sit around forever not getting paid for doing this stuff it's good information i'm learning a lot of things but like I do have to make a living. And he's like, I know that I'm trying not to do that to you. And I said, okay, well, we got to figure something out. If there's nothing, like if you're not going to be able to find a spot for me because of finances, then we need to start working on finding something else.
Speaker: um And so the last few months we have spent talking to, um we have a a state representative over our entire collection of churches. um And so we've been talking with him and he has had, a couple churches in mind that he knows will need a pastor um or currently need a pastor. And so um I am currently, I've sent my resume to one church. Now the problem with this church is they don't have like, they're not very good with communication.
Speaker: They have not communicated internally. And so then it struggles to communicate to any candidate. So yeah, ah so And I also know that calling a pastor is not a quick business. It's not like you walk in on Sunday and go, hey, we need to call a pastor, so let's call the first guy on our list. All right, would you please come visit us? like I get that it's a process. So um we're in that process. We're seeing what happens there. Last week we went to, ah or two weeks ago, we went to a conference um further, like three hours away, and this conference was focused on church planting.
Speaker: And um they brought in a bunch of church planners from other places and or another church planner from Utah specifically. So he plants churches with the Mormons um because in reality in America, Mormonism, at least in Utah, is like a complete its own country in terms of their belief system.
Speaker: like you So he allowed but presumably. What's that? is polygamy actually allowed? Because I've just seen a little clips on like TV here and there. that actually a thing? he Depends on which part of the Mormons you're with.
Speaker: Like, the LDS do. The ones, there's like another Mormon group that's in like Missouri. They don't. So it it really depends on there's these two different groups. but um Anyway, these he he started playing churches in Utah, and they've gotten up to six right now. But he was kind of yelling at our group of churches because he's like, you guys have 130 churches.
Speaker: The amount of finances that you guys have alone to be able to plant churches and reach all of Ohio is insane. The fact that you guys aren't doing that is a problem.
Speaker: So he kind of... got after us a little bit. Yeah. um And ah they had some really good, really good preaching, good teaching um just to encourage us in that. And so that's been the newest thing because there's, it's, there's, there's two difficulties. So if you go, if I, if me as a guy who does not have a specific doctrinal degree, go into a church that has a bunch of older people who don't,
Speaker: yeah You know, for whatever reason, respect me. That's going to be an issue and it's going to be a problem that I'm going to run into. um It's not a problem that I can't handle, but it's going to take time yeah in order for some of those changes to be implemented because some of the older people are are always more resistant to change. However, if you start a church plant, you have less change. Like you, you can change things a lot quicker and more efficiently. Um, the problem is that you yeah you have to gain people. You have to connect with people and, um, you start at the bottom with absolutely nothing. So, um,
Speaker: Those are the kind of the two paths at the moment that we are trying to work through of which is God leading. The cool part about our organization that we're with in our collection of churches, they have they had a church close that that the closing and selling of the church was about $1.4 million. dollars And they put this in an investment. And now going forward, it is going to return just the interest that we get back $60,000 every single year.
Speaker: $60,000. And so their point is we need to give that to church plants. That's their heart behind it, but nobody's planning churches. So this is $60,000 that isn't even going to be used this next upcoming year. If we don't start a church plan.
Speaker: So it's just going to sit there. Right. So that's,
Speaker: right right um but and so that's That's the kind of the kind of stuff that we're working with. We're trying to figure out how to how do we make this work. So um so that's those are the two paths at the moment. And it's not really clear which we're going down, which is going to work. um I will say i have been immensely blessed by the people in our church. um Because as I've had some like car troubles lately with my car just...
Speaker: needing to be in the shop at least six days this past month, which is a lot. Yeah. I've had people who have given me money to be able to cover some of that stuff.
Speaker: Just like they didn't even question it. They were like, yeah, we'll pay for that. I'm like, you don't need to pay for that. They're like, no, we're going to pay for it. want to tell different people.
Speaker: So it has been awesome to see that. So it to me, it then gives me encouragement that what I'm doing is the right thing. I'm not doing something that God isn't going, you know what, I will take care of you, even if it's not the way that you would think.
Speaker: So that's kind of the main thing that has just been going through is um handling where does God want me? Where am I supposed to go? um because I feel like all of my experience, everything God has given me is used for something. It's just, what is that thing? And and that hasn't directly been lit, but I think this next month will hopefully provide clarity. I know I've said this for about 11 months now, but this month is it.
Speaker: You sound like you're speaking to yourself while your pastor speaks to you. It's like, oh, it's going to happen the next 28 days. nice i eight I meant 31. Starting after the next 31st day. Yeah. Yeah, I get it.
Speaker: I get it. So thankfully, I've been given a lot of opportunities to preach in the meantime. So I'm doing this series and then I got to preach on some of the parables over the summer. So.
Speaker: That has been good. I'm supposed to preach when we get to Thanksgiving. i'm going to preach on Psalms 100. So talking about thankfulness, um focusing definitely in on thankfulness there. So it's been really good to get a lot of these opportunities, but ah I still would like a little bit more settlement and where exactly I'm going to get paid financially from, because as much as I don't want to go work at like Walmart or McDonald's or any of those places,
Speaker: I might have to. I get you. I get you. Yeah. Yeah. a Yeah. Listen, I mean, Potspring was not on my to-do list at all.
Speaker: I remember I was maybe eight or nine years old. Possibly seven. I'll say eight or nine. um When someone was my aunt.
Speaker: told my sister, oh, I'm praying that Brendan becomes a pastor. look Well, I did not know what loosing and binding images was, but I did it there and then.
Speaker: go
Speaker: a just imagined your day job being sitting around, reading the Bible all day long, and thought to myself,
Speaker: What an unmitigated waste of one's time. And I loved the Bible, I did. um And then we got to November 2024. I'm moving and move closer to that microphone. um And I was holidaying in Amsterdam and God gave me a word and just said,
Speaker: leave that church you're currently in. And I'll be honest, I had hopes he would tell me to leave. i just didn't know where I was going to go or what was I was going to he gave me ah a vision and I saw a Zoom link and I saw my sitting room.
Speaker: Zoom room, Zoom room, Zoom room, Zoom room. and So I woke up and I'll be perfectly honest with you. I wrote it down and I just said, I ain't even going think about that. And normally I'd be the first one, I'd be interpreting dreams like a bullet. I'd be on it like a promise. Not this time, I was on holidays.
Speaker: Right. And I got home and i think I went back to work and on the way home from work, I had a vision on the book.
Speaker: And there I saw a massive castle wall. Now I'd seen this in a vision in 2017. I think it was the 9th of January, 2017. And I knew then what it was. I knew when the first time around it was my, what's now my ex church.
Speaker: um But this time the walls were even bigger and thicker and stronger and more impenetrable, but not in a good way. And then this portal just appeared where there should have been like, know, a drawbridge or a gate.
Speaker: And just felt God say, there are many things you can change. But like you just said a moment ago, church culture is not one of them. a To do it successfully, you actually need to be in the decision-making position.
Speaker: yeah And you need to work very strategically. Not always slowly, but sometimes glaciers would melt more quickly than you have to do.
Speaker: the trust from your congregation to move. That's just, it is what it is. Right. That was not going to help me because I was just the kids' church teacher.
Speaker: I was just the young adult adults teacher. And I knew I wasn't even liked in that position. I knew that the ones that could rid of me from that position stick yes men in. So i and just said, all right, God, I will...
Speaker: I will stay in the current positions I'm in until the last Sunday of the year and then I'll skedaddle. um And it was only after that that I came back to the Dream of Amsterdam and I realized God had actually already told me what the next plan was.
Speaker: it was the start Joshua Generation Church at home. But to have a Zoom option. And I said, God, I was embarrassed.
Speaker: I said, am I supposed to tell people that I have set up a church for people who don't want to go to church? And it wasn't even that. Like, people are doing it from other countries or whatever else. right Right.
Speaker: But it it felt like, where's Brendan? Oh, he's at home. What's he doing? He's talking to people laptop, pretending that they're worshiping Jesus. I knew that's what it would sound like. So I was mortified. Right.
Speaker: right um and even home church i remember her and i said university once when i first heard the home church of the thing and i god loved the woman who said it to me but i absolutely burst a laugh in her face and realized it was serious and i was like is that you know what is missing to leaders whose theology is whatever their bible college told them it was um ah But you know what? You gotta work with what you gotta work with. And God verified literally on the first day that this was of him. This was his plan.
Speaker: And I just had to get with the program. And again, while it's amazing, um
Speaker: the reality is I could spend, if I allowed myself to, I could spend from 5.30 in the morning 1.30 the morning to one-thirty in the morning just on the phone dealing with church people that's the reality interpreting a dream for this one a month's worth of visions for this one this one did what you told them not to do now they're stuck in a hole and you're a person who can get them out of it this one has a genuine crisis this one needs prayer this one needs prayer for something they told you was not issue three days earlier when you asked o you could actually lose your mind
Speaker: yeah And even with the number of pastors who you know like go cray-cray or retire decades before God wants them to commit adultery, I get it.
Speaker: Not that it's okay, but I get it. I get just burnt out you can be. And I have say, I have those beautiful church families and i really do got josh generation which is mine open house ministries which is one that i do with others right i was a more revival focused um but they'll always say hey you know praying for your mother praying for you appreciate you so much love you so much you're so amazing i know that you'll you're very busy and you'll respond to this and you have a time when have a chance there's no rush they're so beautiful they really are
Speaker: But I suppose I still feel the gravity and the weight of that burden. it Yes, it's from Jesus, the burden of light, but it is a burden. It is real. There is a certain heaviness to it.
Speaker: yeah Dealing with people's lives, with hearts, with destinies. If people look to you for advice to that's real related to their own lane for people you don't even know,
Speaker: There's there is a special wisdom that's required for that to to share. Right. Based on the intel that I have, which is what you've given me, or what Holy Spirit's pressing on me, I encourage you to do this.
Speaker: I know I release you into your lane, and I hope you don't screw it up because I gave you the wrong info. Right. So, yeah, I understand how burned out.
Speaker: um leaders can get and understand how they can get burnt out. Two different things, but I can see both aspects of it. Right. um I'd say maybe a month, month and a half ago, i did have a moment where someone just made a serious boo-boo.
Speaker: And I remember just saying, I can't do this. And I spent about three days just ignoring the mobile phone and Zoom links and everything else and just saying, God, I I can't.
Speaker: i can't. and And then, thankfully, I coughed myself on and said, in his power, I can do anything. um But I get it. i understand how burnt out it can be. And then, for me, I put couple shifts with Domino's couple nights a week.
Speaker: I'll just have a bit of cash coming in. But in terms of a full-time job that you know brings with it cash flow, I've been looking into different things. I've applied different things. I've sent CVs. And I would always have been told that i was like you know really intelligent or I'd have no problem getting a job or look at all the experience you have.
Speaker: but the only person who seemed remotely interested in me was a job that's three or four hour drive away one direction who wanted me to be like a shopping center santa claus i'm not saying there's a problem with santa claus's we need them they serve a valuable
Speaker: Purpose. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Or not. yeah or not ah But do I want to drive all the way to County Limerick and back again each day, eight hours on the road? Don't think so. All the cash will be spent on petrol.
Speaker: well So I get it. I do. And that's where, as believers, we have to be, i think, extra creative and extra strategic when it comes to finances and really flexing our creative muscles.
Speaker: I've got a couple of examples of that, which after you've spoken, I'll come back to. But um yeah, it's ah I suppose that's maybe one of the biggest sacrifices that I actually feel with pastoring.
Speaker: um For me, spending hours know praying for this one, that coffee, lunch thingy, helping this one, planning this event.
Speaker: It's just become my life. It's just become staple elements of my day. um Advertising, you know, for this or that or the other. But and I actually think the biggest sacrifice is the fact that I know should be
Speaker: a lot wealthier financially than I am. Right. Bessing my time, energy and effort and heart into this. um so i I, get that. I do.
Speaker: But I stand on God's word that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the just, for the righteous. And um I believe that a new world is coming where the the wealth of the Epstein class and co is coming to the body of Christ.
Speaker: So I take that. They come first. And that as well. And I live by four words. God is absolutely good. And he does take care of his kids.
Speaker: And that includes me. and Yeah. Say something sensible. Say something sensible. Oh, well, you know, i I completely agree with all of that. Like the the finances, like if you look um if If you take too much time to compare yourself to other people who are in the same stage of life, you can easily just be like, wow, yeah I am a lazy bum.
Speaker: I am... reading God's word. I go to church in the morning. Um, I am, you know, stay on a Wednesday night, stay on a Sunday. um but I'm invested in God's word. I spend time praying and it looks to like, if you just look at the world, they would go, look, you're, you're lazy. You're not making any money. You're not being profitable. You're not, you're not and making anything so that you can buy a house or,
Speaker: make enough money so you could support a family and get married. You're just you're just a bum, you know, you're 30 year old bum. But the Bible talks about storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven.
Speaker: Do not store up where thieves and moth and rust destroy, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. So that's really when you're investing in ministry, you're storing up for the future in heaven. You're not storing up for here on earth because Truthfully, there have been days where I just went, you know what?
Speaker: The fact that they're not paying me, screw this. I don't want to come in. I don't want to deal with whatever I have to deal with. I don't want to have to sit there and hope that they'll pay me someday.
Speaker: and don't want to have to deal with that. But even in those times, I had to remind myself, this is I'm not doing this to make money. It's not what I'm doing it for. If I get paid, which the Bible talks about, a labor is worth his wages, meaning that you should be should pay people who are doing in the ministry.
Speaker: That's okay. It's just at the same time, Paul did things for free. He he also had to find flexible jobs that would allow him to be able to afford what he needed to eat and pay the things he has to pay and keep going. So,
Speaker: so I will say it has been very, not only with the people blessing financially, but even to see some of the people who have just been very thankful and very appreciative of me, my teachings of who I am as a person of the fact that I take the time to interact with whether it was their kids or whether it was them um and being able to those kinds of things that they are able to see and be an encouragement. um I've had in my lifetime, even before this, which I, again, I would never have called myself. Yeah, I'm going to be a pastor one day. Like it is even if you look since COVID, or even if you look back, back when I went off to work at camp, I was like, you know what? I will do ministry, but it's going to be camp ministry. There's no way I'm going to be a pastor. As much as I love teaching, as much as I love doing that stuff, I'm always just going to be low rung teacher.
Speaker: like a youth teacher, that's all I'm going to be. And God has been working on that. um I've had people even in the past who this would have been five, six years ago that would have said, you know, you would make a great church planner.
Speaker: They said that to me. And I looked at them and I was like, Why? How crazy do you think I am?
Speaker: yeah Why would you say that? But I've had people recently say that as well. they They're like, yeah, you do great at that. And I'm like, why do you think that? And they're like, because you have the heart to be able to connect with the people.
Speaker: that's That's the difference. There's not everybody has heart in what they're doing. But when you are preaching God's word, when you are teaching, when you are interacting with people, There is heart behind it. So have the same question, but with a different tone of voice. The first time it was, why your expectations of me so low?
Speaker: And now it's, why do you think I could do what God has p told me to do?
Speaker: I like the show. Yes. Yeah. So it is, that has, has been encouraging. So to me, Even just the last few months of not necessarily always knowing exactly where the finances are coming from, how it's going to work. But to see God's hand just work through people to give financially to me specifically or to just hand me a ah card full of cash.
Speaker: Who does that? other than God answering prayer. And so that has been proof to me that even though I don't know exactly what it is right now, God, God will take care of it. He he's got it. So, um, that's, it's, and again, I have, I have seen the fact that there are days that you just don't want to deal with the people. Like yeah somebody says something dumb yeah and you've told them,
Speaker: time and time again. real This is how you're supposed to do this and they still don't do it right. And you're just like, you Muppet. like Wow, look at all those hours of my life that meant absolutely nothing to look at either of us apparently. Look at those sheep. Those dumb sheep. They just are dumb.
Speaker: They just keep jumping into that river. yeah But at the same time, it's those moments where we have to remind ourselves God came after us when we did dumb things. And so he still does.
Speaker: He still does. yeah He doesn't quit on us. No. He doesn't treat us like we would treat other people because boy, doesn't treat us as we deserve. There are some people that they should be thankful.
Speaker: that I am not God because I would be done. But by the grace of God, I'm not. Yeah. If I were God, I think I'd go into like the libraries of heaven. I'd put like the enal, you know, where I first wrote the law that I would never like, you know, overwrite a human being's will.
Speaker: I'd take a little rubber, an eraser, act like will do it. hourly, even second by second. You don't have to kill everyone. you don't have to dust everyone like Thanos.
Speaker: All you need to do is whatever Brendan Thomas Marat says, whatever Logan, insert middle name here, says, they will obey. Underline, underline, underline, exclamation points.
Speaker: Yeah, asterisks. and People are fun. But the reality is what Logan said it is correct. you the only thing that keeps you going is bringing to remembrance that God has been that patient with us.
Speaker: Right. And when I say has been, I mean was and is. um Yeah. It's...
Speaker: you You do learn but about the frustration. Of God. The delight of God, you know, when people get it right. And when you see answered prayer and breakthroughs and successes and growth, yes, you'll get a parent.
Speaker: But you do learn the frustration of God. Oh, my word. um Yeah, people do make the ah for the strangest people. They really do.
Speaker: Especially Christians. Yeah. Yeah. It's just that verse that that David says all the worthless men came to him and he became their leader. It feels like that sometimes. i It's not like we're getting all the cool kids and all the cool kids are falling. It's like, oh, no.
Speaker: Question on that question. Because that's such a brilliant point. David is on my mind. I didn't know why. That's amazing. I don't know why I had to point you so emphatically.
Speaker: Just the audience, no, I'm not pointing at them. It's Logan. Yeah, yeah, it's me. By the way, guys, i hope you're all enjoying this, like, just random, you know, three-month-long catch-up we're having.
Speaker: Right. Let us know if your summer and autumn will have been going.
Speaker: I never looked to lead a church. I never... Maybe I never really thought it would happen. Right. Had it crossed my mind over the years, undoubtedly.
Speaker: You see someone flop on stage and you ask if I were in their position, would I have done differently? and It happens. Exactly. very Right, right, right.
Speaker: The people that God has sent to you, are they the people... that you wanted. It's a spicy word, but when you pictured the body of Christ in your mind's eye, never thinking you'd be leading them, but just in your vain imaginations, as you thought they were,
Speaker: Are the people that God has currently entrusted to you? The ones you looked for, the ones you would have wanted, and the ones that you would have hoped for, the people you would ever have hoped to be populating your life?
Speaker: Because for me, the answer is no. And I'd say that with absolutely zero offense meant to anyone the Joshua generation or OHM listening right now.
Speaker: But I... I Angela Martin in The Office once said, i would like to have children at some point. um Four little well-behaved boys. actually That was such a strange thing.
Speaker: I think so often when we do picture God's family, that's who we picture. They're like little ducks in a row squeaky clean shoes, not a thread out of place their...
Speaker: on their very coordinated um uniforms, um no hands in pockets, hands at the front or behind the back, crucifixes around their necks, and they look like butter would not melt in their mouths.
Speaker: And then God sends you.
Speaker: Mess. Chaos. The sick. And they expect you to believe for their healing. the troubled. Right. And you're the one who's supposed to have faith that their freedom what Jesus died to give them is indeed their portion.
Speaker: And people who seem rigged against receiving what God would have for them because they're so caught up in the drama or whatever trauma i they're addicted to That's my story for you.
Speaker: Are the people in your life the ones you wanted
Speaker: well i think there was an interesting statement that i heard one time of a husband who his wife asked a similar question was when you dreamed about getting married okay uh how who did like what did she look like and so then he explains how it was like this blonde woman who was Specific height and had a specific type of build and all of this stuff. And that mean he was she was feeling bad about herself at this point because he was just like, this is the like the the greatest woman that that I was imagining. yeah And then he immediately changed and said, but I wouldn't want her because I'd i'd choose you because of the relationships we've had.
Speaker: And so I feel like that's very similar with the people that God gives us. They may not be the people that we would go like on a, like if we had a roster of a draft, we'd be like, okay, so ah nope, nope, nope. And those the ones that are actually the ones who come and are faithfully because we know their tendencies. We know that they, they can just irritate us in certain ways. um And so we, we probably wouldn't pick them, but we probably wouldn't trade them either.
Speaker: because o no he he would trade them never mind but for me like the to be able to see their growth to see yeah that happen is amazing and i you you wouldn't trade that because if you had a bunch of perfect people they wouldn't need you you would feel like i'm unnecessary why am i even doing this um whereas when when you have people who do need you, they they they do, and you can feel that importance of being there for them. um And I think just like we saw in David, how David, all of these people came to him, same thing happens to Jesus. Who are the people that go to Jesus? It's the sinners. It's the tax collectors. It's the people who need healing. It's the people who are rough and
Speaker: Jesus loves them because they're the ones who are actually willing to listen. So the the good looking, the people who are all put together, who are better than you, who have all of that, those people would would be difficult to deal with in a church because they would go, I could do this better. And there's an arrogance there. But when there's need and there's those that struggle, that...
Speaker: that That is encouraging because there is an element of we can help them. Whereas you can't always help people who have it all together. Yeah.
Speaker: So did you want them? No. Would you trade them? No. That's a good answer. I like that. going use that one. Right. you You can steal that one. Oh, I'm going to. Without your permission. There is no trademarking in the kingdom of heaven.
Speaker: There's no place.
Speaker: and the Yeah. Okay. So how, how is this book thing? How did that come about? So your, your mom hasn't been doing well. It's been like a dark time in terms of a job situation. You haven't been able to have something like that going on. You've got all of this chaos that goes on just in a weekly basis with church. How did you find time to be able to finish a book and,
Speaker: and get it out to the world? Great, great question. So, at shameless plug time. All right, so a number of years ago, um was it 2021 maybe?
Speaker: I released The Ghost of the Unsaid, part one, Panopticon. So the first time I did it I did it through a publishing company.
Speaker: Although, to be honest with you, they weren't particularly helpful. So I decided this year that I'd go back to the first two books and make them exactly as I wanted them to be. Remove the publishing company's name, the thing that they'd requested, yada, yadda yada, yada. And make 100% what I always wanted it to be.
Speaker: So, Podopticon. So you mean to say that the book that I have read was incorrect? There were elements to it that i just said, you know what?
Speaker: I want to make this 110% mine as true to what I always wanted it to be. I see. Yeah. So i went back and a reviewed them and changed the covers and everything.
Speaker: So
Speaker: I know like Harry Potter is a taboo issue for a lot of Christians. Most Christians wouldn't go near it. But what would I like with the style of Harry Potter books is you have normally a hero or something on the front cover,
Speaker: and someone else in the back. So I said, yeah, you know what? I'd like to be inspired by that and we'll have a hero or something on the front. I mean, the villains on the back and then the black spine, obviously, and the prince will have the panopticon and many other ones. So that's the panopticon.
Speaker: a Then the second book is is Reckoning. So again, i went back and I did the same and made it 100% exactly as I always wanted it to be. And with that, changed the covers as well. a Where again, you got the protagonist on the front and the background kind of a more um true to the story, perhaps a good way of putting it, background.
Speaker: And then the big villain of Reckoning there in the And then think it was in 2020 2021, I wrote another book called The Grey Lady.
Speaker: And because my life is absolutely nuts, I can completely forgot that I'd written it. And then one day, Logan and I were having a chat, and he was describing what, to me, sounded like a really interesting book. And I said, oh, love to read that. What's the name again?
Speaker: And I said, Broski, you wrote it. So I said, it sounds like the kind of book I would write, but I did not recall this.
Speaker: So i went through the annals of my book. laptop and came across it and I was like jikers. So when I left my teaching job in February i said okay I actually want to power through with this.
Speaker: um So I finished it off and changed it around quite a bit actually. and Where originally it was mainly a book from the villain's perspective of how a villain takes over ah world.
Speaker: And then I said you know what and the whole dystopian focus on the villain kind of thing. It's, it is bit overdone. And I actually think that what the world is really looking for right now are heroes.
Speaker: What the world is really looking for it heroes who are not woke.
Speaker: Heroes where the males are not
Speaker: badly written, vilified, or just there to get their balls kicked by a bossy female protagonist. a But actually, for men to be men, for legitimate heroes to step up and say, you know what, we will form a bastion against the forces of evil, trying to encroach and...
Speaker: overtake and overrun the world. and So much to my surprise, this one became less fantastical and more science fictional, and where an evil force called the Grey Lady comes up out the moon to the earth one day with her army of grey men.
Speaker: They float across the earth and basically you try to make it a socialist communist utopia, which is hell on earth, as anyone with a brain knows.
Speaker: But a group of heroes who are quasi superheroes choose to stand up against her. um So what I've also done this time around in the three books.
Speaker: It was something I'd wanted to do originally. didn't, chose not to, was dissuaded from doing so, whatever. But I always actually wanted to have pictures in the book so that people, when they're reading along, could actually picture what these characters in these worlds look like. that's something I've been including all three as well.
Speaker: And then all three are available for on Amazon and where all good books are sold. yeah and So, i yeah, i literally only stuck it up on Amazon there before.
Speaker: today by five minutes before sending you the Zoom link. um So, i'm yeah, I just had to tweak the covers a little bit yesterday on Amazon KDP just to get them and just right as per the machines add decisions but what I like is that I can honestly say the three of them now are what I've always wanted them to be in terms of covers in terms of interior art and and everything else and yeah they're truer now to what I always wanted them to be um and I will not be changing them ever over ever again they are what they are and then I've got other books in mind as well which I will start working on soon
Speaker: Until the 20th, 20th year edition comes out and then you've got to upgrade that to the, ah the under compulsion to like, you know, edit something or other, just the covers maybe.
Speaker: and Now I do have a question because I'm curious. ah Well, and I guess this, this, this will be my plug for what I suggest. Right. um I don't think you have it on audible yet. Right. That's tied to Amazon. It's like ah the audio version of a book. um yeah But I will listen to the first two over again if you ever get it registered with Audible. Absolutely.
Speaker: um And if you ever need a, um what do they call it? A drama drama dramatized version of the recording and you need another voice or voices, I will gladly help cover voices. you have more time in your day than I do.
Speaker: I do, but. I might take you up that. I would love to just sit around reading my own book to no one but my laptop, recording it on whatever that site people use is. and
Speaker: but I can picture the logo. can't picture the name. Audacity. think that's what it is. The Audacity. But... by ah Even since we sat down to have a chat, my phone's been going... tooo Here in the corner. Yeah, listen, if you'd like to, that can be arranged, bro.
Speaker: I'm just saying, i I would love to listen to it on Audible. and Because that's, to me, the easiest way when I'm driving. Because I have to do a lot of driving. You just sit and listen to the story. so i agree. you ever get it on there, I will listen to it again. Because it might come across differently than when I read it. Because...
Speaker: My brain struggles with names sometimes and pronunciation names. And then I listen to the audiobook version. I'm like, oh, so that's how the name is supposed to be pronounced. Oh, that's true, too. The pronunciation and Reckoning do have some names that I totally just made up from imagination.
Speaker: um Right. i think The Great Lady is ah is a lot easier in terms of names. Maybe I'll get you to record that one. Yeah, but i I would love to do voices and figure out voices for characters. So if you ever need a dramatized version, I'm in. We will talk about this again after we turn this camera rocks
Speaker: um off. Yeah, so that's that's awesome. That is exciting. I have already purchased my book, so you can also purchase your book at Amazon.com. Just search Brendan Thomas Merritt books. And he's about the fifth option down. So you do have to scroll a little bit. He's not the first option, weirdly. There's not another Brendan Thomas Merritt. It's somebody else, but.
Speaker: I think there might be a Brendan Thomas Garrett. Because every time I'm like, he shows up first and I'm like, really? Do you really vote Mr. Garrett?
Speaker: But that's, right yeah. I find myself competing with whoever this guy is or isn't. Right. So if you don't want to Google it, you could always just look in the link below because we're pretty good about putting the links in for the book. So make sure you buy yourself a copy. We will, I'm sure, have a book review at some point because I will be reading it. ah I guess.
Speaker: Well, truthfully, it's probably six books in order because I have to do a bunch of reading for a preaching class. But once that class ends by December, We'll get into it. So, ah yes. I've also begun in my free time between midnight and 3 when the rest of the world is asleep, making Christmas decorations.
Speaker: Christmas decorations. I just took a notion. Okay. And I said, why? Because my mother loves Christmas. We all love Christmas, but it is her holiday.
Speaker: And we just said, okay, maybe she won't be going out adding to our already and criminally large collection of decorations this time around. I think we have an attic for Christmas decorations, a shed and a utility room for Christmas decorations, and we've got a toy shed, which is...
Speaker: Partly contains the toys and now mostly contains Christmas decorations. Sounds like my uncle. And the decorations that we just never take down from end of the year to the next. So she keeps saying, okay, you know, this year I'm not going anything else. And then she goes in and buys other things. So I said, you know what?
Speaker: I'm going to instead make our own Christmas decorations this year. So there's an angel with a star, a cheeky elf, a polar bear, a holy family,
Speaker: The reindeer, the snowmen family, and the three wise men with two doggies. um So yeah, I decided i would design our own Christmas decorations, so I whipped up those designs. I bought in material for the wreaths and the likes.
Speaker: um The LED lights. I'll buy them for ourselves for other people. People cost extra. and But yeah, that's my newest project as in the last 72 hours.
Speaker: So again, if anyone wants these Christmas decorations, message us right from Dublin to Cleveland at gmail.com. um So yeah, I know your first question was, how do I find the time to do all this?
Speaker: I wake up when I make a decision. I wake up at 5.30, no than
Speaker: and I make a decision. I have a yearly planner and I write down all things that I do on a given day.
Speaker: And who I need to contact, who I need call, what I need to organize, I need to book, what need look into, I need to advertise, where I need a what teachings I need to make.
Speaker: which teachings need to upload and where I need to upload them. And I um make a decision. I commit and I get it done. Wow.
Speaker: ye So these Christmas things, are you are they ornaments? Are they just little things that stand on the... I realize now that I just showed random pictures of animals on screen and didn't actually see what they were.
Speaker: They are centerpieces. um made from a very specific resin, a palyton resin. I'm probably butchering that pronunciation.
Speaker: a But yeah, there'll be they'll be sturdy. a And they're ideally known for mantelpieces, worktops, tabletops,
Speaker: and
Speaker: any kind of top, really. Really?
Speaker: In front your Christmas tree. Except the tank top. Except the tank top. That might look a little bit weird. Or am I as well get super glue and just glue it on. meal That's up to you, suppose. um Just let me know not to include a wreath.
Speaker: and So, yeah. I just took an ocean. And I decided I'm going play around with this idea. if I can make it happen. And sure enough, I made it happen.
Speaker: So, uh, The molds are currently being whipped up and the paint job and everything else.
Speaker: And then the wreath. um I've got a lot of things already for the wreaths, which will be more imaginative than what was there on the screen. going to go for a forest walk up tomorrow and pick up some more things, you know, from the woods.
Speaker: Nice. Nice. I will look forward to seeing these. This this could be... Yeah, no, im I'm excited. Just one of those random notions you get at 2am at night when the rest of the world is in their bed.
Speaker: And I, again, i made the decision. And I said, that this is happening. but but Right, right. I feel like I get those and then I get only so far and then I'm like, yeah, this isn't exactly how I wanted it. So let me come back to this and then it's two months later and I don't come back to it. You just have to commit.
Speaker: have to commit or outsource to i your friendly neighborhood Irishman and he'll give you either the kick up backside that you need or he'll do it for you whichever but but but he will want a percentage of the profits not for free right along there you go there you go no look I think God's people are the most creative people in the world a because creator God lives in us yeah And I think we so often
Speaker: downplay that creativity, like, oh, I'll just do it for church. I'll just give it away at church. It's like, well, God wants you to be as innocent as a dove, yeah, but as crafty as a snake.
Speaker: And he does give you the skills to make wealth. Right. right But so many Christians either say, oh, I'll just do it for a church, or I won't do it at all. and They pretend that focusing on other things is more important than, like, you know, all-around survival.
Speaker: um And I get how easily we can be disenfranchised. I've been there, too. But I'm in days of a kind the Christian version of Mikey. Just do it.
Speaker: Just make it happen. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. um I will say that that does bring up an interesting point because this – earlier this year we had a chili cook-off where we were making food. Okay. And um they were struggling to get enough people to make chilies. Now, in hindsight, there was still like 30 people that made chilies. They just never signed up because people do that. they They just show up the day of. They don't sign up ahead of time. They got it.
Speaker: It's just the life, I guess. But – Anyway, ah i was like, you know what? I'll do a chili. I'll make a shrimp tri chili. That's what I'll do. So we'll put shrimp in it and make chili.
Speaker: wow And so I was like, all right, so let's just make it happen. So I found a recipe, but even as I was finding the recipe, I was like, there's a bunch of things that I don't like about this recipe. So I'm going to make adjustments and changes to it. right So I did my own thing with it and um submitted it for the chili cook-off and they they gave me third place for it. I got third place out of 30 people.
Speaker: Well done. And I had two people who afterwards were like, Hey, two ladies, these are like middle-aged ladies. they they They know how to cook. They've cooked. I saw them cook. They had really good chili. They were like, can we have the recipe for your chili? And I was like, well, here's the problem.
Speaker: There is a recipe, but I did my own thing. So i had to give them the recipe and then like correct all the errors that I didn't like.
Speaker: So there there is one of those things of just doing something. And yes, we i did it for church, but now like my dad is always asking about, can we have that chili? Can we do that chili again? What do we need for the chili to be able to do it? So yeah um that stuff that I really like doing is to be able to cook um and do my own thing to it. So like the week previous, uh, we had a young adults thing and we did a like potluck thing.
Speaker: And so I got to make pulled pork. And again, it's like, what do I have in my cabinet for spices? Okay. That'll work. That'll work. Throw it in, rub it on, throw it in the crock pot and we're good.
Speaker: So yeah, using crock pots for God's glory, you know, That's it. why wouldn't you? Why not? Yeah, so.
Speaker: But, ah with that being said, do you have your three items behind the camera? i
Speaker: I have an entire electronic worship equipment set behind my camera, so I will put like three things at random. The three lightest things. Okay, but i i can't I can't know what they are.
Speaker: All right, you have to keep them hidden. I will not go with the worst few equipment then, which I have four mentions. Yes, it has to be things I don't know. So okay I have my three things. So how this how this game is going to work is ah you're going to have your item, whether it's near you, and ah it's...
Speaker: kind of like a truth or a lie. So when you when you explain your item, you can either tell the truth about the item oh or you can lie about the item.
Speaker: okay And my job is to guess whether you're telling the truth or not. I can ask five questions about it and to try and figure out if it's true, not true.
Speaker: I guess we can use somewhat sound effects if not if needed. But but I don't know that that's normally how it's done when I watch the videos there's like sound effects, so you could like drop it on the table or you know put your. like I have an animal. business name and so yeah so it's basically you get to decide, so you have your item and you explain what your item is, but you don't have to tell the truth, you could be lying about what your item is. And then your goal is to guess if I'm telling the truth about my item. And if you get it, well, then we'll show it. We'll reveal what the item actually was and we'll see if we were telling the truth or not. So that's that's the whole game. it's It's pretty simple. It's have an item, explain the item, or or lie completely about it. so Ladies and gentlemen at home, we're in our thirty s
Speaker: this is This is what happens when Logan has too much time watching YouTube. He finds these weird games that people play online and goes, yes, that'll work for the podcast. This is peak masculinity. Let no one tell you otherwise.
Speaker: We don't do toxic masculinity here. said that for our other channel.
Speaker: Alright, so ah my first item here. It is a stress ball okay that is in the shape of a globe.
Speaker: um the It looks like Africa is actually the shape of Australia. And Australia is the shape of Africa. They're the exact same shape.
Speaker: um So it is a stress ball and it says we love missionaries on this stress ball. So it is a blue ball that is the globe.
Speaker: What questions do you have?
Speaker: Were you lying when you said that Africa looks like Australia yeah and vice versa? because if someone loves the world, that's a fairly big mistake to make.
Speaker: I'm a missionary. just a bigger version of Australia. Like, it's larger. So it's not it's not as small. So Australia is about this big, and then Africa is about this big, but the shape is the exact same.
Speaker: Right, okay. Okay.
Speaker: I can ask five questions, yeah? Five questions, yep. That was question one. I kind
Speaker: i kind of wanted to ask, are you lying to me? But don't want to waste a question. listen hey Where did you get this bowl?
Speaker: stress ah That is a great question. I got this ball at the most recent conference that I went to. They had it on a table, and there was no one at the table, and I just grabbed it and ran.
Speaker: Did you really run, or did you walk briskly? I walked briskly. Yeah, it wasn't a real run. I'm not going to count that as a question. That that was only question two.
Speaker: I'm running out of questions. I was hoping that would be question three. um What kind of stand was this ball on? It wasn't on a stand. It was on a table.
Speaker: Just sitting out. There was a bowl that had a couple of them in, and then there was another one that was outside of it.
Speaker: What kind of...
Speaker: What was the purpose of this table? um Like I said, the purpose of this table was We Love Missionaries. um It was Faith telling faith Baptist Missions.
Speaker: Faith Baptist Missions was their actual table, but I didn't stay long enough to see any of their other documents. I just grabbed a stress ball and moved on.
Speaker: He's looking it up, guys. He's Googling. I want to see if this is a real thing. I have Faith Baptist Church. I got Faith Baptist Bible College. Faith Baptist Mission. it does exist, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker: does exist. and i want to see what their merch is like. they sell these well I won't see. i won't They don't sell them. it was They were giving away. I just took one.
Speaker: I see. They were giving them away, but they were not there to be taken away, I see. Yes. And what colors are on this stress ball?
Speaker: Oh, that was that's a good thing I left out. that Good question. It is blue, mostly, and then each of the land masses and islands are green.
Speaker: If you had said each landmass was a different color, I would have said you were lying. Because ain't nobody got time for that.
Speaker: So, am i telling the truth or am I lying?
Speaker: I do not think it is a particularly good look for a missionary table that obviously wants you to sign up to their mission field. Let's be honest. and Throwing out stress balls...
Speaker: be because it's basically saying your job is so stressful, you're going need it. But who you sign up anyway? But...
Speaker: Could I imagine it? Every aspect of that is very likely, is very realistic. I'm going to say it's true. It is true. julia yeah is larry loyal on One point to you. um Let's see. So it would be... let me move this back over here.
Speaker: um If not, then it's... and Technically? So it let's see. My and by technical finger is technically on it right there. It's just really small.
Speaker: That is accurate. It's very small. Comparatively to the rest of like Russia there that takes up most of the ball. so Yeah, there you go Good job. One point to you. I'm winning. All right. Now it's your turn. Explain your first item.
Speaker: I have
Speaker: a phone holder.
Speaker: phone holder. Yes. Okay.
Speaker: Is that all the information you're going to give me for free? I
Speaker: have you ask questions and I'll make of the rest up as I go along. it Okay. um What color is this phone holder? It is bumblebee colored.
Speaker: Mostly black. With a little bit of yellow. Mostly black with a little bit of yellow. Bumblebee colored. So, when you say bumblebee colored, are you talking about its stripes? Or is it like spots?
Speaker: No, just it's it's it's black. And little bits and pieces are yellow.
Speaker: Okay. yeah
Speaker: Which... parts are yellow like the part where it holds the phone or yeah yeah that makes sense yes the part that the phone would connect into are yellow okay
Speaker: that didn't feel very good and only those parts didn't feel very convinced so everything else is black okay so everything else is black all right um Have you ever used this this phone thing before?
Speaker: Never, not once. But other people have. i We have... As Open House Ministries, we have conferences like we had in September for women.
Speaker: and And revivals, which we have... yeah Two Saturdays from now. And... um The worship team used these holders to click onto their um
Speaker: microphone stands. Oh, okay. So they could read the music on their phone. Their phone or their tablet or whatever, and they can read the lyrics and the chords. Okay.
Speaker: All right. Interesting. um Did you purchase these yourself, or was this by the Open House Ministries? They paid me back, but I'm the one who picked it up in the sound shop in Drahara, which is the biggest town in Ireland.
Speaker: It's about 25 minutes south of where I live. Okay, so you had to drive 25 minutes for these phones. How many did you buy? I bought two in early September, but we have a new addition to the worship team, so he wants me to pick him one up tomorrow.
Speaker: Well, he wants me to pick him one up. I'm going to go tomorrow. It's in my yearly planner. It's on the list. It's going to happen.
Speaker: Well...
Speaker: i don't want to start off that I don't want to start off by saying you're lying. I don't i don't want to. I want to believe that you're telling the truth. a Christian. couldn't lie to save my life. Because Jesus is my Lord. And his name is truth.
Speaker: I think you're telling the truth.
Speaker: true There you go. This that entire episode is just full of but shameless self-advertising self-promotion and plugs for businesses that have absolutely nothing to But put that in the thumbnail. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This episode is ads only. Catch up ads. We got to catch up.
Speaker: At least, hey, some people might click on that simply because there's no political ads. so like That's true. it's All right. I've got my next item. This item is a brown bear holding a pumpkin with two other pumpkins seated next to him, yeah and they are all attached together. and Okay. Okay.
Speaker: Have you ever had a pumpkin spice latte?
Speaker: Yes. Was it worth it? I saw it advertised in a cafe window today and I was this close to going in, but I did not want to be accused by the barista of being a woman. Oh, no, you won't be accused of being a woman. I i think it's worth it's worth it one time to say that you've tried it to go, okay.
Speaker: But is it worth it to like buy it every day? no I would not say you want every day. It is only a fall thing. So when it's in fall and the cooler weather is coming, that's the time that you go, okay, I will commit to the the pumpkin spice latte. It's one of those drinks. I'm not entirely sure how it became a thing, but it seemed like just a few years ago, it just became like the done thing. And I refuse to be part of the algorithm, the slave to with the machine.
Speaker: Right. I did get a hankering first. um How long have you had this pumpkin bear? Um, I don't know.
Speaker: I found it on the a table outside. i was coming in this morning. My mom had decided to decorate for fall this week, and I saw it, and I went, hey, that could be a perfect thing for this game, because it'll confuse Brendan.
Speaker: It really will. Um... When you first began speaking about this particular item, it looked like you clicked button on your laptop screen.
Speaker: Are you actually just like talking about image that you're looking at online right now? You mean, am I looking at an image of this bear? Yes. On computer.
Speaker: No, wouldn't do that. Okay, let me rephrase. Were you, when you began about this, When it looked very much like you had just clicked a button on your computer or your keyboard, because I do know basic technological words, were you actually still looking for an image that you were looking at online?
Speaker: I was not looking for an image. So if I were to go on Amazon.com right now and type bear holding a pumpkin with pumpkin stitched to his legs, I would not find this bear.
Speaker: You might.
Speaker: Are there faces... I don't know how many I've asked last time. Are there questions... Questions? That's not what I want to ask. going start this again. You're confusing me. Are there faces... Don't you raise those eyebrows at me, boy. Are there faces on these pumpkins?
Speaker: Um...
Speaker: No.
Speaker: There are not faces on these pumpkins. There is a face on the bear, but not on the pumpkins. Using your hands, how big is said there? That very
Speaker: small. That big. Yes.
Speaker: I think you're pulling my leg and having a laugh. I do not think a Christian man who's found himself pastoring a church would be seen dead with pumpkins in his house. Yes, there are Christians who are like, you know, oh we're just celebrating the fall, is what God's done. Not the Adam and Eve fall, the satanic fall, but autumn.
Speaker: There are other Christians who'd be like, you know, shit. New Halloween-ish warlock. Alright, well, there it is.
Speaker: Like I said.
Speaker: I'm apparently a warlock now. That makes for a better thumbnails. This episode is just full of thumbnails.
Speaker: We've got thumbnails for the next two years of episodes. Oh, man. All right. Let me get my last item. All right. So your second item.
Speaker: My second item is
Speaker: a water bottle that is longer than it is wide longer than it is wide
Speaker: so it is um how how tall would you say this is this the size of your face Oh no. No, I said long. and
Speaker: Okay. saying out with will
Speaker: Oh my.
Speaker: Longer than my face. That's quite a long water bottle. Does this water bottle have a straw or is this just like you gotta a you know, sip it?
Speaker: No, that would be deadly dangerous. It does not have a straw. plastic, paper, or otherwise.
Speaker: isn Alright, so no straw. um Does this water bottle say something on it? Like, does it say anything at all on the outside of it?
Speaker: Snug and toasty. Time to and a word I can't make out, but I think it begins a H. Snug and toasty.
Speaker: Give me a hug. Sure, why not? and there's a full part of what I love about it. Okay, why do you have this water bottle? What is what are you going to use it for? They are two very different questions, and I have to try them such.
Speaker: Okay, why do you have this water bottle? Let's start with that. I think my parents gave it to me. Okay. How long ago?
Speaker: Would it sound obscene if I said last December? Oh, so this was a Christmas gift. Yeah.
Speaker: It doesn't seem like you that you'd have this weird... Well, I guess, to be fair, there are people... There are people who give you terrible Christmas gifts every year, even when it's people you like are really close to, like your family. They just give you something terrible and you're like, this is trash and you just have it. Don't diss my family.
Speaker: I'm not dissing your family. I'm just dissing their giving giving ability. That's all I'm saying.
Speaker: They're great people. I believe it, but their ability to give things, that that's still in question here. but um Have you, so this is my last question. Have you opened it? Have you actually used it?
Speaker: Many times, yes.
Speaker: Reduce, reuse, recycle, and all that crap.
Speaker: I think the thing about your family giving it to you is a lie because I think that i think their gifting ability is better. So I'm going to say that you're lying.
Speaker: Well, your information, it is true.
Speaker: Whoa! That is pretty cool. A hot water bottle for your feet or your bed. Oh, nice. Yeah. Do you not have these in America? i was I was thinking this kind of water bottle. know you are, and you mentioned straw, and I let you think that lie.
Speaker: I don't know if you guys at home can read it. I can make out. What can make out? Nug and... Where's the camera? Snug as a bug in a rug? And Toasty.
Speaker: There's a love heart. And Time 2 or Times 2. If you know what that word is, let us know it from Dublin to Cleveland at gmail.com.
Speaker: I don't even know if it's still in frame.
Speaker: There you go. you go All right. I've got my third item. This item is pack of cards.
Speaker: And this pack of cards on the logo, it has Oreos. So it is a Oreo deck of cards. So every card has instead of certain shapes you know they would have like spades or anything like that they have oreos so there's like the original oreo is the black one and they put it in the shape that the oreo is in the shape of the okay okay of the so like it's space where there's like a diamond yeah right right right okay okay
Speaker: quite right right So that's this deck of cards. So it's a deck of cards that is Oreo edition of a deck of cards. Okay.
Speaker: What icon has substituted the ace?
Speaker: The ace? doesn't make sense. No, the ace is still the ace.
Speaker: Can I take back my question? Sure, yeah, yeah. Try again. Rewind.
Speaker: That was stupid.
Speaker: You have never struck me as a card player. Maybe i know with your cousins you want to play Uno once every seven years, but in terms of poker, snap, come up, go fish,
Speaker: You've never struck me as a card player. Do you actually play cards?
Speaker: Yeah. As in like a 52 deck. Right. Yeah, yeah. We we play hearts and
Speaker: sometimes 21, which is like blackjack. ah Sometimes poker. um Not like we're betting or gambling on anything other than maybe Tori. you don't play for cash, you ain't playing cards.
Speaker: No, we play for candy or crackers. We don't play for cash. You're so cheap. aye Tell me about it.
Speaker: Describe to me flush. royal flush?
Speaker: A royal flush? Oh, yes. it's A Royal Flush is just all of the same suit of cards in order. You've got to Google that beforehand.
Speaker: That proves nothing.
Speaker: um Sorry for all the dead air, folks. What was that? Are Oreos your favorite biscuits?
Speaker: I'd say... Right now, probably. i really like the gluten-free ones because they don't feel like they're as unhealthy and they still taste as good.
Speaker: um
Speaker: But i don't necessarily like... you know, biscuits in, well, you use the term biscuits, we you call them cookies, but I don't gro prefer them in general.
Speaker: How have you come to have these in your possession? Again, i believe it was like a Christmas gift kind of thing that somebody went, oh, wow, that's Give this as a gift. And it I think it was in a like ah ah one of those white elephant gift exchange. So you like you bring a gift that's just random and you everybody puts the packages in the middle and you pull out a number and you get to go and pick the gift. And think that's where this came from. So it wasn't even somebody intentionally gave it to me. It was just part of like a group of other presents that I ended up getting stuck with.
Speaker: Did biscuits come with the deck of cards? no that would have been great, but no. There was no no Oreos that came with it. It was all on its own in a little case about this big.
Speaker: I know these Chris Kingle white elephants must spend money for no reason to pretend we colleagues like each other. Things can be pretty scabby and mean-spirited.
Speaker: I myself have indulged in them once or twice and always bought the most ridiculous, useless, thoughtless, hope your Christmas sucks kind of gifts out spite. yeah But do I think someone would have thrown in a desk deck of biscuit-beamed cards and not even a packet of bickies?
Speaker: That would be low even for me.
Speaker: It was pretty low. It was.
Speaker: The fact that you were so non-specific with what Christmas that was and where you were when this happened, i am going to say that is one great big fib.
Speaker: I do not want put woman out there is so sick and twisted. and I'm sorry to inform you that you are absolutely... Correct. It's Irish playing cards, not Oreo playing cards.
Speaker: I do have an Oreo USB. That was not close enough. But I was mixing two things. so You know what actually really revealed this?
Speaker: The fact that you couldn't actually tell me what the four and card sharks are going to so annoyed with me. Sooths. I guess it was emblems. The four suits were. If you said, you know, your normal brand Oreos, strawberry flavored, chocolate flavored, half eaten, whatever. But the fact you couldn't say those four, i was thinking, okay, he's making this up off the top of his head.
Speaker: Right. So this this is actually ah like it has slangs in here. Irish slang. Nice. So like acting the maggot. Love it. Which is fooling around. Yeah. um This is weird.
Speaker: St. Patrick is apparently a phrase that you guys say. It just means the patron saint of Ireland. Duh. We know that.
Speaker: this An American did this. An American did this. I'm not. That's not really Irish slang. We all know who the guy he is. We all love the guy. But he is not slang. Ban. Jaxed. Oh, yes.
Speaker: Broken. Beyond the Repair. Ah, I've heard this one. Bang on. Bang on.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: This is alcohol, black stuff. next Guinness in particular, I'm sure, yeah. We got a chancer, a daredevil. Yeah, you're a chancer.
Speaker: You're a chancer, so you are. This one's, again, a terrible one. The Emerald Isle. It's just Ireland. We know that. that's It's an island that's green. There's having the crack. Having the crack.
Speaker: Now that you're holding that in your hand, I didn't want to correct you via text message earlier on, but can you see a certain error that you made about six hours ago? Yep. Anyway, moving on. Minus crack. It's about like a crack. It's good.
Speaker: I haven't heard that one before.
Speaker: Alright, can you pronounce this one? Colchi. Colchi. Yeah, you come from am probably inner or western Ireland. and right Real countryside, you're a Colchi.
Speaker: You're not a Taiwanese, you're not a city folk. You're a Colchi.
Speaker: Okay, this one's new. Deadly. I've heard you say deadly before. Oh, I do every once in a while. Yeah, it means brilliant. Bloody brilliant. and Fantastic. It doesn't mean fatal. It means in incredible.
Speaker: I always thought it was fatal. I'm why is he saying that?
Speaker: got a nightclub last night. It was deadly. Oh my goodness, who died? like no one, but we all hit the floor. We got donkey ears. here Oh yeah, yeah. Donkey's ears. Donkey's years. It's like how long have we been friends? Donkey's years.
Speaker: A lot of years. There you go. A dosser. Dosser, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Does nothing. We got Crack On.
Speaker: Crack On. It has to be done. The technology frustrates us for an hour, but we'll crack on. Boyo. Boyo. That's it. A lad. man.
Speaker: A boyo. Alright, this one I'm gonna need help with. Especially in Dublin. Just that letter O to any name. It sounds like you're in Dublin. Delira and Xera. Delira and Xera. Delira.
Speaker: Must not be a real song. I've never heard anyone say that in Cod in in ya. Cod in ya. Let me cod in ya. Relax.
Speaker: Pull someone's leg. yeah Jakin. okay
Speaker: yeah o
Speaker: How's she cutting? How's she cutting? How's she doing? How's the old one? How's she cutting? Bunk off. Bunk off. Yeah, when you're, um, you call, you, you pull a sickie. You call in sick to work or to school. Right.
Speaker: What you used to do a lot at your old job. yeah Hey, I had valid reasons for not attending. Right. Sure. Sure. yeah I was always not feeling the best. Throw shapes.
Speaker: Throw shapes on the dance floor? Because your body starts making new ones that God probably never intended for it to. Not the full shilling.
Speaker: Shilling. Back when we had the Irish punt, our previous currency, we had a lot of different points Shilling was one of them. So if someone's not the full shilling, they're just not entirely there. They're not all there.
Speaker: Now you're sucking diesel.
Speaker: There are worse things to suck, like your own toes. A nixer. A nixer, yeah. Perfect pronunciation. That is a cash job.
Speaker: A yoke. A yoke. If you can't think of a word, it's a yoke. Catch all word. Basically. Basically. Up to 90. Or it could have been a Yoki Mabuzzer.
Speaker: Up to 90. What meaning are you giving it? Because 90 is normally very good. Super busy. Yeah, okay. Yeah, normally, nowadays, 90 is a good one. It means a good thing. There you go. A dooter.
Speaker: dooter? I've never heard that one. A wee walk. Wee walk. Going on a dooter. Ah, I like that. so Okay. Okay. We, of course, I've heard this one. Of course, yes, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Like, I live in the smallest county in the country. Sherlock. Sherlock, it is what it is. You, it's so dismissive, but it's a classic.
Speaker: Yeah, it's good. my job yesterday astro Another one of Brendan's favorite, Slaggin'. When I first saw that on the screen, I read the something very, very different. I saw the o as a H while it's lagging. Yeah. and The bants. Banter.
Speaker: Shattered. building things don't love Shattered. Exhausted. It's like someone has just smashed this glass into a million pieces. That's how you feel. You'll never recover.
Speaker: Turn scarlet. Scarlet for your mother. That she has to call you her son. Embarrassed. Oh, mega embarrassed. Scarlet for your mother.
Speaker: Absolutely savage. This is good. and I like this one. Again, it's got nothing to do with eating people or animals in the great outdoors devouring each other. It just means brilliant.
Speaker: Minerals, meaning soft drink. Oh, yeah, absolutely. So like Coca-Cola would be a minerals. well Oh yes. Mineral would be more common than like soft drink or fizzy drink. You can say mineral.
Speaker: Mankey.
Speaker: it Absolutely disgusting. yeah Or to be really cool drop the Y and just say mank. Mank. Have it to baldies.
Speaker: It says when you have no idea. Haven't a ball these. Oh, it's been a very long time since heard someone say that. Nowadays it's more common to say I haven't a balls notion.
Speaker: That's more common nowadays. this This is probably a top 10 one for me. Leg it. Absolutely run. but Yeah, like if you like I did a few weeks ago, you crashed into someone's car and you caused 1,600 euros worth of damage. Leggett.
Speaker: Play for your lives. When you steal a stretch ball from a missionary. Leggett. A Joe Maxie. Joe Maxie.
Speaker: Which is havent that a Texan.
Speaker: There's the Jacks. Which is the toilet. It's not polite when you're in a restaurant on to say you go to the toilet. No one wants to picture you on the loose, so you're going to the Jacks. The first time I heard this one, I thought you were just saying idiot weirdly, but Egypt.
Speaker: We intentionally say idiot weirdly. the Absolute Egypt. We got fair play, which is well done. we got My brother and girlfriend and I always say that, but we kind of swore it and I said, fair? Fair play, yep. We got fierce, which is excellent.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. I've got your fine thing. It it got absolutely fluttered.
Speaker: but Luther. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Fluttered. Flew. Flewthard. Flewthard. Okay. And if you're doing something non-specifically or you're not in the mood to say what you're doing. Ah, I was just flewtharing.
Speaker: I was flewtharing around the house. There you go. one Gaff. Yes. both has yeah A free gaff, which is a house party. 100%. And why wouldn't you?
Speaker: was like, well, man, I'm on my Tobler. I'm on my Tobler. I'm on my own. Let's have a free gaff. For those keeping track at home, though, when you get a gaffer, that is an old man. It is not a house. Or an house. Yeah.
Speaker: Made it popular by Samwise Gamgee in the early 2000s. Another one of Brendan's favorite, gas. Absolutely funny. It's gas. It's a gas man. Gas crack.
Speaker: Gas ticket. care We just love gas. Get out of that garden. Or get up that yard. Same thing. ah Which just means you've got to be kidding me.
Speaker: You can say that or you can say the opposite. It just means you're having a laugh. I don't believe the words you're saying. i was abducted by aliens last night. Get up that yard.
Speaker: out of that garden. but Give it a lash. Give it a lash. For your best. Make attempt. Give a Give it a What's the worst that could happen?
Speaker: Giving out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's what parents do, especially mothers, when they're and complete disciplining their kids.
Speaker: Or you're complaining about, well, anyone or anything, or the weather, or whatever. Giving out. Complaining. Being argumentative. There you go. And jammy.
Speaker: You jammy git. Especially someone wins. You jammy git. there you go. I ruined a car on my birthday on that competition. Yeah, Jamie, get you. Did not.
Speaker: That has been Irish playing cards with Irish slang. Very good. There's only one of them that sounded very American.
Speaker: I think this guy is American. He's saying that he thought it would be funny to write down Spanish phrases and then he went, why not do Irish too? We are the best country in the world.
Speaker: What can i say? Alright, last item for you. yeah So what is your item? My item
Speaker: is a plastic bag of dried fruit.
Speaker: Has this dried fruit?
Speaker: Pine cones. And what? Pine cones.
Speaker: okay um is this dried fruit edible or was it ever edible
Speaker: i have never nor will i tried to eat this okay so it's not supposed to be eaten i was just i was just sitting here thinking why is he putting dried fruit Like, actual fruit that could have been eaten in a plastic bag with pine cones. Is it gonna, like, be some kind of recipe and it's gonna turn out well? There is a sticker on the bottom of the bag that says, Warning, this fruit is not for consumption.
Speaker: It is for decorative purposes only. Okay. This does feel like something that would be in a pastor's office. And I know you don't have a pastor's office. So risk it's it's one of these things. So where did it come from? What what did you use it for?
Speaker: It came from my dining room and i brought it into my room. Not very many hours ago. Is it for these new ah Christmas things that you're making? It is going to be for these new Christmas things I'm making. It was not bought by me for these Christmas things I'm making. I have no idea how long these things have been in my house. ah you so Who put them there?
Speaker: So you're basically stealing from your mother to make money? Is that what I'm hearing? If you're accusing me of stealing from a cancer patient in a way of trying to degradate my otherwise pristine character, i would have you know that it's sick.
Speaker: Alright, well, he just was giving out there. What? ah right well he just was given giving out there
Speaker: I was just fluttering around my house and I saw these and said these will do well in my winter project. It wasn't my Christmas checkies. So, okay, so you you found these things. yeah they weren what color What color are these dried fruit? Are they... Like, what's the color?
Speaker: The oranges are orange. and Perhaps...
Speaker: Less bright than when they were first hooked off a tree, assuming they're even real. Oranges, but they are orange. The pine cones are brown.
Speaker: Good, I'm glad they're not pink. yeah
Speaker: There are spherical shapes that look like lemons, but with white ish rims on the exterior.
Speaker: They are yellow. Okay. And there are slices of fruit that are not oranges whose internal segments and seeds are brown but whose exterior
Speaker: Skin or whatever. edible parts with no skin. Whatever the exterior is or is not is quite kind of like a bronze color.
Speaker: So ah like a a bronze and yellow. Okay. m For some reason, when you said dried fruit, I thought of grapes and you didn't mention any grapes. so I have not mentioned any grapes. i um how About how big is Like, the biggest pineapple or the biggest fruit? How how big are we talking here?
Speaker: I have never once mentioned pineapples.
Speaker: Okay, orange or pin pine cones. Pine cones. I almost caught him in a trap, guys. Preach lie with some degree of realism, please.
Speaker: The pine cone...
Speaker: At least the biggest one. i don't want to shuffle the bag, is then you'll know that I'm telling the truth or whatever else. It is about yay big. Okay. as big as my index finger.
Speaker: Alright. I think I have enough to go on. I think... so i think that you would steal this from your mother and just take them. cancer patient.
Speaker: Let call a spade a spade. No, say it. Not at work. Say it. I'm not saying it. I think you would go around and say this is my house.
Speaker: I will grab this thing that's sitting out and add it to my collection. I believe that is true. oh wow. so Love me. Love me.
Speaker: also... don't know where are after all these years.
Speaker: I've never been to this. I think you're telling the truth. I think this is this is a true thing that's in this bag.
Speaker: That's your final answer. That's my final answer. You're telling the truth. Keeping in mind that this might just be the end of our friendship.
Speaker: Yep, still you're telling the truth. True. but' so consistent
Speaker: Oh, are those the things... do Do you put it in water and it, like... gives you smells in the kitchen? That's probably why it was bought. But normally we put them in our bathroom. and But for some reason, these ones were never opened.
Speaker: So, uh... Yeah, I'll be adding these to the wreaths. Gotcha. You have claimed them for Mother Russia. For Mother Russia, that's it.
Speaker: Where my true allegiance is like. I have claimed them for Brendonia. That would be the capital city of when I become president of Mother Russia, yeah?
Speaker: Yeah. Move over, Moscow. Make way for Brandonia. With a new Stalin-shaped statue in the middle of the town square are looking like, well, me.
Speaker: Oh, Alrighty. Well, i think I think you went three for three, didn't you? i decided i would tell all truth no yes but i got two of yours correct i got two of yours were correct so it was a tie we we did very well that was that was good that was fun um well i know that we've been chatting for a while so i know our it's gone long but i do think it's important that we get to some uh passage of scripture that is important to you or has stuck out to you lately um so while you're thinking of that i will share mine um Mine, it comes from Philemon. um
Speaker: just felt like the other day that God was... kind of just, in my prayer, asked, God, where do you want me to go? And ended up in Philemon, of all places, which is not... It's kind of an in-between book. It's a blink-and-you-miss-it book. It's not very long. Just one chapter. But... Stuart has just died, aged 86. Who just died?
Speaker: who just died Patrick Stewart. Charles. Oh, no. man
Speaker: Man. ah He didn't live long enough to see his um movie Avengers Doomsday tank in the box office. guyan sort That's fair. Yeah. So I was in Philemon and I apologize. I'm trying to do this one handed, but I finally made it to Philemon. Yeah.
Speaker: I think the verse that really stuck out to me in Philemon was verse 4, that Paul is again introducing himself and Timothy. And then in verse 4, he says, I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers.
Speaker: And there was just something about that that really stuck with me, that every time that we think of other people or that other people think of us, that they – this is what they're thinking of. that there there are I know there are people in my life who when they think of me, they are mentioning me in their prayers.
Speaker: And how awesome that is to remind ourselves of that oh my god there are people. pi patsy What's that me of that?
Speaker: But there are times you not praying when I think of Brendan, when I think of some of my other friends who aren't in my life right in front of me, that that's one of the best ways when we think of them is to pray for them. it's Because we don't know what's going on.
Speaker: We don't know um all the depths of what's going in their family. We don't know what's going in their lives. But that's the idea that Paul is portraying here is that we need to be thanking God for the people that God's put in our lives and mentioning them in our prayers.
Speaker: And so that was just ah an awesome reminder as I was going through that. section of here's Paul writing a letter on the, on behalf of Onesimus who has ran away as a slave writing to Philemon and he is thankful for Philemon. He's thankful for what Philemon did in his life and just,
Speaker: even as we get towards this time of fall and Thanksgiving and being thankful, we we tend to skip it because there's a thing called Black Friday where we got to buy all the toys for Christmas and there's Christmas coming. And so people tend to skip Thanksgiving. But here, this is pointing out, we need to be thankful, thankful to God for those who have put in our life. So I am very thankful for Brendan. I'm thankful for all the ministry that he does, even when It means that we are separated for months and months on end and we don't get a ton of episodes done. I know that he is faithfully serving the Lord and he is meeting people meeting their needs. And i am thankful for that. I can see that and I can thank God for that. Even when I can't always tell Brendan that I'm thankful for that. it
Speaker: So that's, that was the thing that really stuck out to me this week that as I was thinking and as we were were doing this lesson, I was going, you know what? We need to mention that because we should be mentioning others in our prayers. We can thanking God for their impact in our lives.
Speaker: ah Amen. Amen. No, I love that. That's brilliant. That's awesome. And yeah, um one that's really jumped out at me, actually.
Speaker: ah We've got our final, Irish revival of 2026 coming up on the 7th of the 11th. likelu episode for So for Americans, I get confused that it's the 7th of November, not the 11th of July. um So I'm going to read this from the Berean literal Bible. I really, really like the Berean translations of the Bible.
Speaker: um This is from Genesis. I just sat down and read all the 7-11s in the Bible. And Genesis 7-11 in the 600th year, in that year of life of Noah, in the second month, on the seventh and tenth day of the month.
Speaker: You can skip that part. That's not the part that impressed me. On this day burst forth all the fountains of the great deep and the windows of the heavens were opened.
Speaker: And word there, the windows of the heavens were opened. That translates in Hebrew, it's a adobah, as the sluice of heavens.
Speaker: The sluice are artificial canals which let water in and keep things out. They pour out things from heaven and they stop things which are not of heaven getting in.
Speaker: It's the floodgates through which one lurks of heaven. The eyes of heaven. The floodgates of heaven.
Speaker: The dovecot, which is a building, that's birds would would live in its walls, of heaven. And the chimney with its apertures for smoke.
Speaker: Of heaven.
Speaker: And the, on Bible Hub it says, that this gives heaven a theological vantage point. It is heaven's sluice for judgment or mercy, earth's outlook on frailty, and the soul's reminder that everything issued through that opening is under God's sovereign control.
Speaker: so we've got the floodwaters rising up, and we have the floodgates of heaven opening up. Now in the story, it's to deal with the wicked, of course.
Speaker: Right. But in our lives, it might look like we're surrounded. But we're surrounded by gods. It might look like the forces of evil, on the gates of hell, if you will, are rising up to swallow you whole, to drown you, to wipe you out.
Speaker: But the floodgates of heaven are opening. And you live all under an open heaven. The floodgates of heaven opened on the day of Jesus water baptism and the Bible never says that they closed.
Speaker: um It might look like enemies are coming out of that corner and threatens from that corner, but angelic help is coming out of those floodgates of heaven.
Speaker: But no matter what you're going through, no matter how real the attack, the invasion, Heaven is invading the earth.
Speaker: There are portals all around us through which heaven's help rains down and God's abundant grace and his
Speaker: daily renewed mercies get poured out liberally. All you have to do is ask. And if a wicked parent would not deny one of their children, how much more will our Heavenly Father Bless and bestow blessings on us.
Speaker: So if any of you are going through Genesis 7-11 moment where it feels like you're swamped or you're sinking or you're drowning, just know that the floodgates of heaven are opened and with the authority you have in Jesus' name, declare that they open and that the Father of the heavenly light rains down provision and a safety rope.
Speaker: In Jesus' name, amen. amma Amen. Indeed. Well, let me close us in a word of prayer and we'll send you all off on hopefully a wonderful evening. And we're again, thank you for sticking with us for our lackadaisicalness of doing public posting. And hopefully it's not, um hopefully, hopefully you're not like angry or mad at us because we've been gone, but that hopefully you're like, let's keep praying for, for Brendan's mom and um let's keep them in our prayers and um just where God has us. We want to keep doing this and we love doing this. But at the same time, there's things in our lives that are important that need done as well. So bear with us, but we intend to keep doing this as much as we can.
Speaker: So let's pray and then we'll send you on your way. So Jesus, thank for day. Lord, we're thankful again for another evening, another opportunity to be together as brothers and talk about your word, to catch up on life. to be able to um talk about things that are important to us, things that have been in our lives. And Lord, we're just thankful for your faithfulness in both of our lives. We're thankful for your faithfulness in everybody's life, that you are present and active And you are always watching. You're always around, just like Brendan was just explaining. You are are with us. And you see all of it. And you not only do you see all of it, but you're in control of all of it.
Speaker: You are the the active mover of the entire universe. So we're thankful for that, Lord. We do pray for Brendan's family, and we just pray that you would be with them in a special way through this time that is difficult, that is a bit challenging, it's not normal, um but we know that you are the ultimate physician, you're the ultimate healer. We do pray that you would heal his mother, that you would take this cancer and all of the cancer treatments and all that stuff, Lord, that you would just heal her in a match in a special, magical way, even as we're speaking right now.
Speaker: Lord, that you just ah heal her in a way that she would give all the glory and praise to you, that it wouldn't be chemo, it wouldn't be any of these ah medical things, but that the healing comes directly from you, Lord, that it would even baffle some of her physicians and people who have been around her. We pray that you would give the right people and put the right people in place to be around, to care for her as she needs. We're thankful for the progress and her willingness to get up and walk and move, and Lord, we just pray that you would continue to heal her and heal her body.
Speaker: Or we pray for Brendan's dad. We're thankful for this this this treatment that was able to be removed. Or we just, again, pray for his recovery through that as well. And we pray that you would keep any other cancers from growing inside of either of them. Or we just pray for your protection on their family. We pray that you'd be working in their hearts and growing them closer to you. We pray for Brendan as he works in his ministry, that you'd allow him to... um just grow in his ministry, that you'd allow his ministry to, even when there's times that there are people who are frustrating or are needy or who are annoying, Lord, I pray that you give him the strength to be able to continue on, to keep on going on, that you'd help him to do it because of you, because of your word, because of your grace, your goodness in his life. that he'd be able to pour into it. We do pray financially, Lord, that you'd be able to help him to provide, Lord, that he wouldn't have to do all these other things, that you would even make just a special way of financial financially coming through for him, that whether it's through the people in his church, whether it through its people that he knows, whether it's through maybe these book sellings or these Christmas things, that you would provide him with the finances that he needs to be able to survive and to be able to thrive in this world. Lord, we pray that um you'd help me as I go forth in ministry, that you'd open up doors, that you'd show me and guide me in the way you want me to go, not the way I want to go. Lord, we we're past that. We are past things where I want to do. It's following you, and I want to do what you want. Lord, help me to find the right place for me.
Speaker: and i pray And I know that you will be faithful in that. Lord, I know that you have given me a calling and you have given me abilities that I want to be able to use for your kingdom here on this earth and not just for my own financial gain. I do pray for any finances or any things that you would provide for me as well in your time and your grace.
Speaker: And Lord, we just pray that you would again be with us this evening. We pray for each and every listener. We're thankful for their willingness to listen to us and willingness to watch a longer episode of us just talking about things and catching up on stuff. pray that it would be a blessing to them and it would challenge and convict their hearts as well. And Lord, we are thankful for their willingness, again, to just listen and and to our chats. and We pray that you'd allow them to connect with us and we'd be able to build into their lives that we've had people who've built into ours that we'd be building into their lives as well.
Speaker: Give us good evening tonight. Keep us safe as we continue on our evening and continue on with our week. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Well, thank you, friends. We'll see you next time.
Speaker: Adios. Indeed. Serio, guys.
