WEBVTT 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:19.000 >> [LAUGH] 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:25.840 >> I think part of the reason this time of year sometimes feels just 00:00:25.840 --> 00:00:33.760 exhausting is because it kinda quietly assumes that we're missing 00:00:33.760 --> 00:00:34.880 something because of effort. 00:00:38.400 --> 00:00:42.840 That we need to try harder, we gotta be better, we gotta fix ourselves. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:48.080 But lately I've been kinda wondering if it's not, 00:00:48.080 --> 00:00:53.760 if that's not actually the problem, like what if we're missing? 00:00:53.760 --> 00:00:58.880 What if what we're missing isn't discipline or 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:03.080 trying harder or hustle, but it's just more depth? 00:01:06.360 --> 00:01:12.560 Last night, we celebrated my oldest son, Jayden's 21st birthday. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:16.480 >> [APPLAUSE] 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:19.760 >> Yeah, and I know what you're thinking. 00:01:21.320 --> 00:01:24.640 I know you're thinking I realize, that's me guys, that's me. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:31.480 I realize like you're look at me and you're like, you're not old enough to have a 21 year old. 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:39.840 >> [LAUGH] 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:41.360 >> You laughed so hard, you snorted. 00:01:41.360 --> 00:01:44.640 >> [LAUGH] 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:45.760 >> Okay, maybe you're not thinking that. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:50.960 Never mind, look, I did not have Jayden in high school. 00:01:50.960 --> 00:01:54.680 I didn't have him, you know what I mean? 00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:59.960 I was at a college, I was in the military, it was married like, I just look young. 00:01:59.960 --> 00:02:02.480 I dress young, it's just a fool you. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:08.200 Anyway, body doesn't think so, that's my little guy. 00:02:08.200 --> 00:02:13.680 This is our album cover that we, yeah, we had a country album coming out. 00:02:16.600 --> 00:02:23.080 It's Minnie Mee, that's all R.I.P. to the beard. 00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:29.000 >> [LAUGH] 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:35.840 >> The last one is us last night in Austin, Jayden's birthday. 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:39.000 You mighty, Jayden, that's Jayden's mom, Bethany. 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:45.720 We're all in Austin celebrating, I have a 21 year old. 00:02:45.720 --> 00:02:49.160 >> [INAUDIBLE] 00:02:49.160 --> 00:02:53.880 >> So we were there last night, we were, all of us started at some point, 00:02:53.880 --> 00:02:57.880 flipping through our phones and the picture albums. 00:02:57.880 --> 00:02:59.960 You ever do that? 00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:06.240 One picture leads to another, and another, and suddenly time just kind of collapses, 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:08.440 and you are lost. 00:03:11.440 --> 00:03:18.840 I just lost like little Jayden, like seeing what he looked like 20 years ago, 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:26.240 21 years ago, 19 years ago, 8 to 15. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.520 Look at that, there's no way this was 10 years ago. 00:03:31.040 --> 00:03:34.200 I remember looking at it, go back to the one where it's Jayden and I standing. 00:03:34.200 --> 00:03:38.440 It's our album cover, I think that was five years ago. 00:03:40.160 --> 00:03:49.080 He looks so little, like all these memories. 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:51.120 There's a video I was watching. 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:53.920 So Jayden was like, he may have been 12. 00:03:56.880 --> 00:04:00.720 Something had happened, they had a day off from school. 00:04:00.720 --> 00:04:04.280 He stayed home alone, Marty and I went to work. 00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:07.840 And we came back home, and he was so excited. 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:12.400 And he was like, I have to show you what I learned today. 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:13.360 All right, cool. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:16.760 And he grabbed some pillows that he had brought downstairs and he sets them on the ground, 00:04:16.760 --> 00:04:19.480 and I'm like, what is happening? 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:22.800 I should have sent the video. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:32.080 He stands in the middle of the room, like this, and he just, he's like, all right. 00:04:32.080 --> 00:04:33.840 And he does a back flip. 00:04:33.840 --> 00:04:37.760 And I was like, what? 00:04:37.760 --> 00:04:38.920 We were shocked. 00:04:38.920 --> 00:04:45.960 His little brothers, Jackson and Jett, Jett had to have been one, two, one and a half. 00:04:45.960 --> 00:04:49.400 He's sitting on the couch, he was talking, so like, yeah, maybe two. 00:04:49.400 --> 00:04:53.440 They're sitting on the couch and you can hear in the video, they're like, Jayden, you did 00:04:53.440 --> 00:04:54.440 it. 00:04:54.440 --> 00:04:55.440 They're so excited. 00:04:55.440 --> 00:04:58.840 While Marty and I are like, wait, we were not home and you learned to do this today while 00:04:58.840 --> 00:04:59.840 we were gone? 00:04:59.840 --> 00:05:05.640 He said, yeah, I put pillows down, I'm like, you could have broken your, what are you doing? 00:05:05.640 --> 00:05:09.800 But that was cool. 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:12.840 For the longest time, anywhere we went, I'm like, Jayden, do a back flip, do a back flip, 00:05:12.840 --> 00:05:13.840 do it. 00:05:13.840 --> 00:05:17.320 He's like, no, dad, come on. 00:05:17.320 --> 00:05:23.720 I think I've done it at church, like get on this and do a back flip off. 00:05:23.720 --> 00:05:26.220 But just here, like the back flip, I remember that moment. 00:05:26.220 --> 00:05:31.440 I remember being there, being scared, being surprised, being like blown away, that my 12 00:05:31.440 --> 00:05:36.920 year old taught himself how to do a back flip today, YouTube, you know, you can learn anything. 00:05:56.220 --> 00:05:58.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:05:58.220 --> 00:05:59.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:05:59.220 --> 00:06:00.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:00.220 --> 00:06:01.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:01.220 --> 00:06:02.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:02.220 --> 00:06:03.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:03.220 --> 00:06:04.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:05.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:06.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:06.220 --> 00:06:07.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:07.220 --> 00:06:08.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:08.220 --> 00:06:09.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:09.220 --> 00:06:10.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:10.220 --> 00:06:11.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:11.220 --> 00:06:12.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:12.220 --> 00:06:13.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:14.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:14.220 --> 00:06:15.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:15.220 --> 00:06:29.220 I'm going to be a little bit nervous. 00:06:29.220 --> 00:06:30.220 There we go. 00:06:30.220 --> 00:06:34.220 He did a backflip. 00:06:34.220 --> 00:06:36.220 I think crazy part. 00:06:36.220 --> 00:06:41.220 Being back there, the memories, the hearing. 00:06:41.220 --> 00:06:49.220 I don't remember hearing Jackson and Jett's reaction on the video until last night. 00:06:49.220 --> 00:06:50.220 We were watching it. 00:06:50.220 --> 00:06:51.220 Jaden was watching. 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:52.220 He was like, "That's the Jett I remember." 00:06:52.220 --> 00:07:00.220 I was like, "Oh, I don't know what that means, but he's 11 now." 00:07:00.220 --> 00:07:06.220 I was just scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, looking at memories. 00:07:06.220 --> 00:07:10.220 It was these memories captured in stillness, right? 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:16.220 Just the emotional whiplash of how did we get here so fast? 00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:21.220 Like the joy and the grief living in that same space. 00:07:21.220 --> 00:07:24.220 He's about to leave. 00:07:24.220 --> 00:07:29.220 21 years. 00:07:29.220 --> 00:07:32.220 There's something about moments like that. 00:07:32.220 --> 00:07:35.220 They don't feel thin. 00:07:35.220 --> 00:07:41.220 They feel kind of heavy in a good way. 00:07:41.220 --> 00:07:46.220 They don't ask for analysis or anything. 00:07:46.220 --> 00:07:51.220 They just ask for presence. 00:07:51.220 --> 00:07:58.220 I think that's part of what many of us feel lately. 00:07:58.220 --> 00:08:08.220 It's not despair, maybe that's there, but not emptiness, just the quiet realization that life keeps moving. 00:08:08.220 --> 00:08:19.220 And sometimes it feels like it moves faster than our ability to stay present in it. 00:08:19.220 --> 00:08:29.220 That life keeps happening, and we're not always sure we were fully there for it. 00:08:29.220 --> 00:08:38.220 You see a picture and I'm like, "I don't even remember it, but I don't even know if I was fully there." 00:08:38.220 --> 00:08:42.220 The song that we sang earlier, Brittany referenced it. 00:08:42.220 --> 00:08:49.220 It's a song I go back to over and over and over again. 00:08:49.220 --> 00:08:52.220 I'm definitely not some kind of music expert, so I don't even know. 00:08:52.220 --> 00:08:55.220 I think the song's good. 00:08:55.220 --> 00:08:59.220 To me, I don't know anything about production language or technical terms. 00:08:59.220 --> 00:09:04.220 I just know that when something hits me in the chest, it hits me. 00:09:04.220 --> 00:09:07.220 Many of you have heard me talk about the song. 00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:12.220 I convinced Monty and to play it and sing it this morning. 00:09:12.220 --> 00:09:16.220 It's a song meant to live. 00:09:16.220 --> 00:09:20.220 It was a song written by John Foreman, who was a lead singer for Switchfoot. 00:09:20.220 --> 00:09:27.220 If you've grown up in church, and Switchfoot was a Christian band back in early 2000s. 00:09:27.220 --> 00:09:36.220 But I heard it back there, but my favorite artist, John Bellian, he redid the song in 2023. 00:09:36.220 --> 00:09:42.220 He redid it, it's got an orchestra as part of it. 00:09:42.220 --> 00:09:46.220 I haven't stopped listening to it for the last two years. 00:09:46.220 --> 00:09:51.220 My Apple music wrap up. 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:57.220 Here's your favorite song again. 00:09:57.220 --> 00:10:00.220 JD and I were texting because we both love John Bellian. 00:10:00.220 --> 00:10:06.220 My favorite song was meant to live. 00:10:06.220 --> 00:10:09.220 My favorite album was one of John Bellian's albums. 00:10:09.220 --> 00:10:13.220 I'm kind of obsessed. 00:10:13.220 --> 00:10:15.220 I don't listen to a lot of music. 00:10:15.220 --> 00:10:20.220 When I do, I put on a song that I know is just going to hit me. 00:10:20.220 --> 00:10:27.220 Half the time when I'm driving to church on Sunday mornings, I put on meant to live. 00:10:27.220 --> 00:10:30.220 There's a line in it that stops me every time. 00:10:30.220 --> 00:10:37.220 This is wondering why the world has passed him by. 00:10:37.220 --> 00:10:41.220 And I'm almost 44 years old now. 00:10:41.220 --> 00:10:46.220 I feel that line deep in my soul. 00:10:46.220 --> 00:10:48.220 I don't hear it as despair. 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:53.220 I just hear it as like awareness. 00:10:53.220 --> 00:11:01.220 Like that moment when you realize something important is happening and I don't want to miss it. 00:11:01.220 --> 00:11:08.220 There's another line in the song that says maybe we've been living with our eyes half open. 00:11:08.220 --> 00:11:11.220 Maybe we're bent or broken. 00:11:11.220 --> 00:11:16.220 Again, to me it doesn't sound like shame. 00:11:16.220 --> 00:11:20.220 It just sounds like honesty. 00:11:20.220 --> 00:11:28.220 Not broken, not failing, just distracted. 00:11:28.220 --> 00:11:33.220 There are moments in life that I think they interrupt this thinness that we live in where 00:11:33.220 --> 00:11:36.220 there are moments that they don't announce themselves. 00:11:36.220 --> 00:11:39.220 They don't necessarily feel spiritual. 00:11:39.220 --> 00:11:41.220 They're just moments that kind of stop you. 00:11:41.220 --> 00:11:46.220 Have you ever experienced those? 00:11:46.220 --> 00:11:51.220 There were so many, especially like going through all these photos and stuff. 00:11:51.220 --> 00:11:58.220 But when I was thinking through a moment that just stopped me, it just happened. 00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:04.220 Jet, not the one Jayden remembers, the current one. 00:12:04.220 --> 00:12:15.220 Jet, 11 years old, is the kid who go upstairs, play on his iPad, play video games half the time 00:12:15.220 --> 00:12:16.220 and disappears. 00:12:16.220 --> 00:12:21.220 If you come to the house and you're hanging out with us, especially if you're like newer 00:12:21.220 --> 00:12:25.220 at the house and we hear someone running down the stairs, you'll hear Mottie or I go, "Jet, 00:12:25.220 --> 00:12:26.220 put on clothes!" 00:12:26.220 --> 00:12:29.220 Because he runs down in his underwear, always. 00:12:29.220 --> 00:12:31.220 We're like, "Put, Jet, we have guests. 00:12:31.220 --> 00:12:35.220 You can't be running around in your underwear." 00:12:35.220 --> 00:12:36.220 Always. 00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:38.220 Please put on clothes, Jet. 00:12:38.220 --> 00:12:48.220 Right, Robert, Robert at the house and we're like, "Jet, put on clothes!" 00:12:48.220 --> 00:12:49.220 He's like, "Okay." 00:12:49.220 --> 00:12:56.220 The other day he came downstairs, so Mottie and I were working on something and we were 00:12:56.220 --> 00:12:57.220 busy. 00:12:57.220 --> 00:13:05.220 But he started talking about how he set up the PlayStation 5 in their room, but he set 00:13:05.220 --> 00:13:10.220 up a download faster and he was describing it. 00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:11.220 We're working, I'm busy. 00:13:11.220 --> 00:13:17.220 It was just one of those moments where I think both Mottie and I just kind of stopped and 00:13:17.220 --> 00:13:19.220 we were just looking at him. 00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:20.220 He's like, "I got it. 00:13:20.220 --> 00:13:21.220 I got it set up. 00:13:21.220 --> 00:13:22.220 It's downloading faster." 00:13:22.220 --> 00:13:26.220 So I did this to the network and then I did this to the PlayStation. 00:13:26.220 --> 00:13:27.220 We're just there. 00:13:27.220 --> 00:13:31.540 I'm like, "What is he talking about?" 00:13:31.540 --> 00:13:34.220 How does he know these words? 00:13:34.220 --> 00:13:39.220 And he was so excited. 00:13:39.220 --> 00:13:48.220 And I remember just looking at him and being like, "He's brilliant. 00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:49.220 He's blowing my mind. 00:13:49.220 --> 00:13:54.220 I can maybe figure this out if I YouTube and watch somebody tell me how to do it." 00:13:54.220 --> 00:13:55.220 And maybe he did that. 00:13:55.220 --> 00:14:00.220 But even as an 11-year-old to figure that out and do it, it's like blowing my mind. 00:14:00.220 --> 00:14:05.220 I was just looking at him like, "This kid's brilliant. 00:14:05.220 --> 00:14:12.220 He gets that from his mom, but it was just one of those moments that just kind of stopped. 00:14:12.220 --> 00:14:14.220 Whatever we were doing didn't matter. 00:14:14.220 --> 00:14:19.220 It was kind of like, "Man, look at this kid." 00:14:19.220 --> 00:14:28.220 And I think a lot of times, even right in this sermon, looking at these things, it's a reminder 00:14:28.220 --> 00:14:32.220 that I miss things. 00:14:32.220 --> 00:14:33.220 And it's moments like that. 00:14:33.220 --> 00:14:34.220 They don't ask to be explained. 00:14:34.220 --> 00:14:39.220 They just ask to be noticed. 00:14:39.220 --> 00:14:42.220 We're really good at explaining things. 00:14:42.220 --> 00:14:44.220 We can explain emotions neurologically. 00:14:44.220 --> 00:14:46.220 We can explain attachment chemically. 00:14:46.220 --> 00:14:51.220 We can explain biologically. 00:14:51.220 --> 00:14:54.220 We can explain love, harmonally. 00:14:54.220 --> 00:15:03.220 And all of that matters, but sometimes explanation becomes a way of escaping the experience. 00:15:03.220 --> 00:15:12.220 It's possible to understand something completely, but still miss it entirely. 00:15:12.220 --> 00:15:21.220 You can explain a sunset, but never actually see it. 00:15:21.220 --> 00:15:24.220 There's an ancient story. 00:15:24.220 --> 00:15:27.220 It begins in the middle of an ordinary day. 00:15:27.220 --> 00:15:31.220 It's in the book of Exodus. 00:15:31.220 --> 00:15:34.220 In Moses, he's out just working. 00:15:34.220 --> 00:15:37.220 He's shepherding his flock. 00:15:37.220 --> 00:15:38.220 He's working. 00:15:38.220 --> 00:15:39.220 He's focused. 00:15:39.220 --> 00:15:40.220 He's busy. 00:15:40.220 --> 00:15:47.220 Scripture says Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midland. 00:15:47.220 --> 00:15:52.220 He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. 00:15:52.220 --> 00:15:57.220 The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of the bush. 00:15:57.220 --> 00:15:58.220 He looked. 00:15:58.220 --> 00:16:01.220 The bush was blazing away, but it didn't burn up. 00:16:01.220 --> 00:16:04.220 Moses said, "What's going on here? 00:16:04.220 --> 00:16:05.220 I cannot believe this. 00:16:05.220 --> 00:16:06.220 This is amazing. 00:16:06.220 --> 00:16:10.220 Why doesn't the bush burn up?" 00:16:10.220 --> 00:16:14.220 God saw that he had stopped to look. 00:16:14.220 --> 00:16:16.220 God called him from out of the bush. 00:16:16.220 --> 00:16:20.220 Moses said, "Yes, I'm right here." 00:16:20.220 --> 00:16:23.220 God said, "Don't come any closer. 00:16:23.220 --> 00:16:24.220 Remove your sandals from your feet. 00:16:24.220 --> 00:16:30.220 You're standing on holy ground." 00:16:30.220 --> 00:16:31.220 Moses is working. 00:16:31.220 --> 00:16:32.220 He's focused. 00:16:32.220 --> 00:16:33.220 He's doing his thing. 00:16:33.220 --> 00:16:36.220 But he notices something that doesn't make sense. 00:16:36.220 --> 00:16:40.220 There's a bush on fire, but it's not being burnt up. 00:16:40.220 --> 00:16:43.220 It is not being consumed. 00:16:43.220 --> 00:16:47.220 And the story doesn't say that God shouts at Moses. 00:16:47.220 --> 00:16:54.220 It says God saw that he stopped to look. 00:16:54.220 --> 00:17:00.220 And that's the moment in a story that everything changes. 00:17:00.220 --> 00:17:06.220 Commandments before calling, before purpose, he just stops. 00:17:06.220 --> 00:17:14.220 The first thing he hears is an instruction. 00:17:14.220 --> 00:17:17.220 God says, "Take off your sandals. 00:17:17.220 --> 00:17:22.220 You're standing on holy ground." 00:17:22.220 --> 00:17:26.220 Nothing new suddenly appeared. 00:17:26.220 --> 00:17:29.220 In fact, if you look at the story, it's interesting as I was reading the story. 00:17:29.220 --> 00:17:34.220 It's almost like the bush has always been there, and it's always been on fire. 00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:36.220 That's what it seems like. 00:17:36.220 --> 00:17:37.220 What is happening? 00:17:37.220 --> 00:17:38.220 Hold on. 00:17:38.220 --> 00:17:42.220 When I read it, I imagine God being like, "Oh, he stopped, finally." 00:17:42.220 --> 00:17:45.220 He did it. 00:17:45.220 --> 00:17:48.220 Because God wasn't trying to get his attention. 00:17:48.220 --> 00:17:50.220 He was just waiting on him. 00:17:50.220 --> 00:17:54.220 And when Moses walked by, it says he stopped, and he looked. 00:17:54.220 --> 00:17:57.220 And I think God is reminding him in that moment. 00:17:57.220 --> 00:17:58.220 He said, "Take off your sandals. 00:17:58.220 --> 00:18:00.220 You are standing on holy ground. 00:18:00.220 --> 00:18:05.220 Actually, you're not only in the present, but you are in the present." 00:18:05.220 --> 00:18:08.220 And the presence of God in the present. 00:18:08.220 --> 00:18:13.220 And the difference, it wasn't God showing up. 00:18:13.220 --> 00:18:20.220 It was Moses not letting the moment slip past him. 00:18:20.220 --> 00:18:22.220 I think there are moments that happen all around us. 00:18:22.220 --> 00:18:24.220 Moments that maybe they feel weighty. 00:18:24.220 --> 00:18:26.220 They quiet us. 00:18:26.220 --> 00:18:31.220 They ask us not to rush through them. 00:18:31.220 --> 00:18:34.220 Not because they're religious, not because they're dramatic. 00:18:34.220 --> 00:18:41.220 But because something in us knows like this matters. 00:18:41.220 --> 00:18:45.220 And we don't always have the language for it. 00:18:45.220 --> 00:18:48.220 So we move on quickly. 00:18:48.220 --> 00:18:52.220 Or we distract ourselves, or we explain it away. 00:18:52.220 --> 00:18:58.220 Maybe the invitation isn't to explain more. 00:18:58.220 --> 00:19:04.220 Maybe it's to notice longer. 00:19:04.220 --> 00:19:10.220 There's another moment in Scripture that just feels easy to skip past. 00:19:10.220 --> 00:19:15.220 People, they're bringing children to Jesus and the adults in the room. 00:19:15.220 --> 00:19:18.220 Very practical, very efficient. 00:19:18.220 --> 00:19:20.220 They're like, move things along. 00:19:20.220 --> 00:19:22.220 Get out of the way. 00:19:22.220 --> 00:19:23.220 We have a mission. 00:19:23.220 --> 00:19:24.220 We are busy. 00:19:24.220 --> 00:19:29.220 Nobody ever does that to your kids, right? 00:19:29.220 --> 00:19:31.220 They're like, there's more important things happening right now. 00:19:31.220 --> 00:19:35.220 And Jesus stops everything. 00:19:35.220 --> 00:19:40.220 Mark 10 says, people were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. 00:19:40.220 --> 00:19:42.220 But the disciples rebuked them. 00:19:42.220 --> 00:19:44.220 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. 00:19:44.220 --> 00:19:48.220 He said to them, let the children come to me and do not hinder them. 00:19:48.220 --> 00:19:52.220 For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 00:19:52.220 --> 00:19:58.220 Truly, I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. 00:19:58.220 --> 00:20:04.220 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them, and he blessed them. 00:20:04.220 --> 00:20:10.220 Jesus refuses to rush past this moment. 00:20:10.220 --> 00:20:23.220 And I think it's a reminder that life unfolding in front of you is not an inconvenience, it is the point. 00:20:23.220 --> 00:20:30.220 I don't think what most of us are longing for is answers. 00:20:30.220 --> 00:20:33.220 I think it's permission. 00:20:33.220 --> 00:20:44.220 Permission to slow down without guilt, permission to trust that some moments are meant to be felt, not solved. 00:20:44.220 --> 00:20:52.220 And permission to believe that attention itself might actually matter. 00:20:52.220 --> 00:20:55.220 You've had moments like this. 00:20:55.220 --> 00:21:07.220 You didn't imagine them, you weren't being unproductive, you weren't behind, you were just present in that moment. 00:21:07.220 --> 00:21:15.220 And I told you to close your eyes and I think back to those moments, you could probably remember those moments. 00:21:15.220 --> 00:21:20.220 And then there's other moments where you might talk to someone. 00:21:20.220 --> 00:21:28.220 Like I had a conversation the other day, someone was telling me about this time that they saw me doing something. 00:21:28.220 --> 00:21:30.220 And I forgot what they were even talking about. 00:21:30.220 --> 00:21:34.220 But the way they were explaining it, I was like, that seems like a really cool event, like what was happening. 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:39.220 Like you were there. 00:21:39.220 --> 00:21:46.220 But as a reminder that there are things in life that we experience that are just incredible. 00:21:46.220 --> 00:21:52.220 And a lot of times they're little things. They're things that remind us that we're human. 00:21:52.220 --> 00:21:59.220 They're things that remind us that like to be alive is the gift. 00:21:59.220 --> 00:22:02.220 And we pass them by because we're busy. 00:22:02.220 --> 00:22:12.220 We got things to do, we were focused, we got a job, people are counting on me. 00:22:12.220 --> 00:22:16.220 And you stop and you experience the present. 00:22:16.220 --> 00:22:20.220 I think that's what Jesus was constantly reminding us to do. 00:22:20.220 --> 00:22:23.220 Tomorrow we'll have worries for itself. 00:22:23.220 --> 00:22:32.220 You can't change the past, just be here in this moment right now. 00:22:32.220 --> 00:22:41.220 And I know this isn't like a go out there hustle, get ready, 2026, it's going to be your year. 00:22:41.220 --> 00:22:44.220 And I think it could be. 00:22:44.220 --> 00:22:49.220 Not because you're hustling or working harder or doing more. 00:22:49.220 --> 00:22:54.220 But because you actually are learning to slow down. 00:22:54.220 --> 00:23:01.220 And not just slow down to slow down, but slow down to recognize. 00:23:01.220 --> 00:23:10.220 Slow down to realize that like there are moments in your life you were having that other people would die for. 00:23:10.220 --> 00:23:12.220 And it's your life. 00:23:12.220 --> 00:23:16.220 And you can experience them. 00:23:16.220 --> 00:23:19.220 We don't have to be busy. 00:23:19.220 --> 00:23:25.220 And that is what we are told by culture is the pinnacle. 00:23:25.220 --> 00:23:27.220 Make it, do it. 00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:30.220 Hustle, you can make all this money, you can do all these things. 00:23:30.220 --> 00:23:36.220 It doesn't give us life. 00:23:36.220 --> 00:23:40.220 And I'm sitting in a chair right now talking to myself. 00:23:40.220 --> 00:23:41.220 I get it. 00:23:41.220 --> 00:23:44.220 I want to do all these things. 00:23:44.220 --> 00:23:51.220 But I've been reminded in the past like probably a year. 00:23:51.220 --> 00:23:52.220 Maybe I'm getting older. 00:23:52.220 --> 00:23:55.220 I think I'm going to die soon or something. 00:23:55.220 --> 00:23:59.220 Don't shake your head yes. 00:23:59.220 --> 00:24:02.220 Y'all know if it happens. 00:24:02.220 --> 00:24:05.220 It's always the wife. 00:24:05.220 --> 00:24:18.220 No, there was a about a year ago. 00:24:18.220 --> 00:24:24.220 Molly and I were talking and we were trying to figure out what life is going to look like. 00:24:24.220 --> 00:24:29.220 We knew some of our VA stuff was changing. 00:24:29.220 --> 00:24:33.220 We're going to have money coming in that we don't have to work for. 00:24:33.220 --> 00:24:36.220 We already did the work. 00:24:36.220 --> 00:24:38.220 What have we just stopped? 00:24:38.220 --> 00:24:39.220 Retired? 00:24:39.220 --> 00:24:41.220 Let's just sell everything. 00:24:41.220 --> 00:24:43.220 We can't afford to do that. 00:24:43.220 --> 00:24:45.220 But we could if we move somewhere else. 00:24:45.220 --> 00:24:47.220 It's this cheaper to live. 00:24:47.220 --> 00:24:49.220 If we sell everything, we moved to Portugal. 00:24:49.220 --> 00:24:50.220 We can live there. 00:24:50.220 --> 00:24:52.220 It's 40% less cost. 00:24:52.220 --> 00:24:56.220 We can live in Portugal. 00:24:56.220 --> 00:25:00.220 We should plan something later in the year. 00:25:00.220 --> 00:25:03.220 November happened, something changed. 00:25:03.220 --> 00:25:08.220 There's a big thing that happened in November and then in January, something else changed. 00:25:08.220 --> 00:25:13.220 We were like, "Maybe we should go sooner to go look at this." 00:25:13.220 --> 00:25:18.220 We had some points on some credit cards. 00:25:18.220 --> 00:25:19.220 We booked a trip. 00:25:19.220 --> 00:25:21.220 We went to Portugal in March. 00:25:21.220 --> 00:25:24.220 We spent like nine days there. 00:25:24.220 --> 00:25:29.220 We were looking around and I'm looking like, "Where are we going to buy a house?" 00:25:29.220 --> 00:25:31.220 Look at this beach. 00:25:31.220 --> 00:25:34.220 The biggest waves in the world are right here. 00:25:34.220 --> 00:25:40.220 I don't surf and I wouldn't do that, but it'd be cool to watch other people do it. 00:25:40.220 --> 00:25:44.220 I remember I got in this mindset of like, "I get to slow down." 00:25:44.220 --> 00:25:51.220 I would tell people in conversation like, "The only way I'm going to slow down is to get out of here." 00:25:51.220 --> 00:25:54.220 The only way I can get out of this hustle and this. 00:25:54.220 --> 00:25:57.220 I got to prove things I got to do is to get out of here. 00:25:57.220 --> 00:26:01.220 I got to go somewhere else that they understand what that looks like to slow down. 00:26:01.220 --> 00:26:06.220 I still think maybe that is the case. 00:26:06.220 --> 00:26:17.220 But when I was looking at this plan for the new year and the message and trying to put it all together, 00:26:17.220 --> 00:26:19.220 I was like, "You know what? 00:26:19.220 --> 00:26:22.220 I just have to be intentional." 00:26:22.220 --> 00:26:28.220 If you pick me up and put me in Portugal, I'm still going to have this angst that I got to do something. 00:26:28.220 --> 00:26:32.220 When we were there, I was like, "Hey, if we drive like an hour up from Porto, 00:26:32.220 --> 00:26:38.220 there's a clothing manufacturer there that makes really cool blanks and clothes 00:26:38.220 --> 00:26:43.220 and I can get them to manufacture some clothes and then we can sell them." 00:26:43.220 --> 00:26:45.220 I was ready. 00:26:45.220 --> 00:26:48.220 We were going to do this. 00:26:48.220 --> 00:26:52.220 As well, it's like you're never going to slow down. 00:26:52.220 --> 00:26:54.220 No matter where you're at, you're not going to slow down. 00:26:54.220 --> 00:26:56.220 Unless you are intentional about it. 00:26:56.220 --> 00:27:01.220 Unless you stop and look. 00:27:01.220 --> 00:27:12.220 Because as the song says, the world has passed me by. 00:27:12.220 --> 00:27:17.220 I think for a lot of us, especially here, 00:27:17.220 --> 00:27:27.220 the culture that we live in and the place that we live, it is so easy for life to pass us by. 00:27:27.220 --> 00:27:33.220 If you won't book it is, but there's a book where someone is asking people who are dying. 00:27:33.220 --> 00:27:38.220 They're elderly, they've been here, they've done life. 00:27:38.220 --> 00:27:42.220 What would you have done differently? 00:27:42.220 --> 00:27:45.220 I would have slowed down. 00:27:45.220 --> 00:27:48.220 I would have been present where I was. 00:27:48.220 --> 00:27:53.220 I would have experienced the relationships that I had on a deeper level. 00:27:53.220 --> 00:28:01.220 I wouldn't have tried so hard to impress everyone with what I could get or do or make. 00:28:01.220 --> 00:28:03.220 I would have slowed down. 00:28:03.220 --> 00:28:08.220 And I know that I say that and everybody's like, "Yeah, and you're going to leave here and you're going to be like 26. 00:28:08.220 --> 00:28:11.220 It's going to be my year." 00:28:11.220 --> 00:28:14.220 And that's fine. 00:28:14.220 --> 00:28:30.220 I wonder if maybe this should be the year that we stop and we look and we see what's right in front of us. 00:28:30.220 --> 00:28:41.220 And we experience the moments that maybe we would have captured on a phone to look at 20 years later. 00:28:41.220 --> 00:28:51.220 Maybe this is a year that it's not the phone that gets to keep the memory, but it's your body because you experienced it. 00:28:51.220 --> 00:28:58.220 So maybe the invitation as we begin this year isn't to go back and recover everything that we missed. 00:28:58.220 --> 00:29:12.220 Because we can't go back and it's not to do more or to hustle harder, maybe it's just simpler than that. 00:29:12.220 --> 00:29:19.220 Maybe it's learning how to be here now. 00:29:19.220 --> 00:29:30.220 So the moments that matter don't just pass by unnoticed. 00:29:30.220 --> 00:29:44.220 So may this be the year that you stop and you look and you slow down and you experience life. 00:29:44.220 --> 00:29:50.220 Because if not, you will look back and say it passed by. 00:29:50.220 --> 00:29:54.220 I love you guys. 00:29:54.220 --> 00:29:57.220 Let's slow down and let's love each other well. 00:29:57.220 --> 00:29:59.220 We'll see you next week. 00:29:59.220 --> 00:30:02.220 And next year. That was it.