Favorite Gift Given, Received, Or Both After Hours

This is Hans Schile from the Finishing Well Podcast.

On Finishing Well, we help you make godly choices about Medicare, long-term care, and your money. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. From an entrenched barricade deep in the heart of central North Carolina, Masculine Journey After Hours. A time to go deeper and be more transparent on the topic covered on this week's broadcast.

So sit back and join us on this adventure. The Masculine Journey After Hours starts here, now. Welcome to Masculine Journey After Hours, and we are in the middle of our Christmas season, just like you are, but we're doing Christmas season on the radio. And so last week we had Preparing Your Hearts for Christmas, and we talked about that. So if you missed that, you can go back and listen to the processes we go through to prepare our hearts for Christmas, at least some of them.

There's multiple ones. And then this week we're talking about Robby's topic. So Robby, if you want to kind of remind us of the topic, because you're going to articulate it much better than I would.

Oh yeah, this isn't too hard, is it? What was your favorite present that you ever gave, and what was your favorite present you ever got? Because again, as people are out there thinking about, you know, what are we going to get?

What do I want to put on my list? You know, just give people some great ideas, and also to see kind of how God blessed us this time of year. Well, thank you. I appreciate that, Robby. And so we are going to continue. We're going to have a clip here in a few seconds, but we'll go ahead and start with a story. Harold, you had a couple stories you wanted to share with us, didn't you?

Oh yeah. This was real easy for me. The best gift for Christmas that I ever got was in 1962. On the Friday before Thanksgiving, a guy tricked me into a blind date with his sister. At Christmas, almost six weeks later, I found myself on one knee on the floor, asking her to marry me, and she said yes. That yes was the best Christmas present that I've ever received.

I can imagine it was. And 60 years later, I'm still madly in love with her. And the best gift that I ever gave, according to her, is we had our picture taken in Huntsville, Alabama, kissing beneath some street signs at an intersection of Harold and Janice Streets. I had written her a poem that I subsequently cross-stitched and got mounted with that picture. And the poem says, I am you, you are me, together we are one, strange, love the key, us till time is done. And sweetheart, I meant it then, I still meant it, love you.

Wow, that's really nice. Got me a little choked up there, Harold. That was good. So I'm assuming that was like a gas lamp back in those days, or was it? I'm just kidding, it's an old lamp.

Think joke-ish, not funny. So David, thank you, Harold, that was very sweet. David, do you have some stories for us?

Is it going to be as good as Harold's, or are you just going to... No, that's going to be pretty hard to follow up. But you know, a really good friend of mine, back when me and my wife got divorced and my kids moved to North Carolina, they had given me a gift for Christmas one year of buying the plane ticket for me to send me down here to be able to go spend the Christmas. I think it was the second or third Christmas that the girls weren't living with me and was able to go down and spend Christmas with them. So that was one of the best gifts I've ever gotten. But in turn, that also was one of the best gifts I was able to give to my children as well, because I hadn't seen them for a while. So just to see their faces light up during that and see the joy it brought them, it was great now.

Fast forward now, it might not be so much joy, but you know, it's still a good time. Yeah, now they might go, eh. Yeah, I might not really want to see you, but it's Christmas, they just want gifts. They always want to see Dad.

They always want to see Dad, they do. So Rodney, you have a clip for us. Hey, we always save the best clip for last, right? Hey, hey, hey. We can go with that.

Hey, that's my story. That one works. So you want to tell us a little bit about the clip? Do you want to set it up or what do you want to do?

I want to set up the clip. You know, I was trying to figure out again, because this topic is really hard for me to try to figure out what was a good gift that I've either given or received. These things just, for whatever reason, aren't something to stick in my mind. And of course, the first thing I thought of, which I'm surprised we haven't actually talked about, is the gift of salvation, which was just, that's all that was really on my mind ever since this kind of, you sent out the topics.

And I'm like, huh, how am I ever going to beat that? And then, you know, you think through giftedness and the other things that were just kind of, I was just kind of randomly on my mind. And this movie just kind of popped up when I was doing some searching and looking for what would be in my heart. And this movie just kind of ended up capturing it.

It's a movie called Gifted and the girl in the movie, she had her mother die and then her mom's brother is the one that's looking after her and taking care of her. And they've really grown close and tight and they, you know, they're just like father and daughter, really. And then, you know, he sees the end of this time alone together homeschooling and sends her to school and then everything changes. So let's listen. Please don't make me go. You can keep homeschooling me.

I'll tell you everything I know. No more argument, okay? We've discussed this ad nauseum. What's ad nauseum? You don't know?

Well, it looks like someone needs school. Good morning, Miss Stevenson. Who can tell me what three plus three is? Everyone knows it's six. Mary, can you stand up, please? Can you tell me what 57 multiplied by 135 is? Okay. 7,695.

The square root is 87.7 and change. Now what does ad nauseum mean? I think your niece may be gifted. I am good friends with the headmaster of the Oaks Academy for Gifted Education. No, I promised my sister I'd give Mary a normal life. I think she's got to be here. Who's that lady in front of our door? That'll be your grandmother. Holy... It's a MacBook, darling.

What are you doing? You are denying the girl her potential. How many seven-year-olds are doing advanced calculus? You forgot the negative sign on the exponent. Mary, why don't you say anything? Link says I'm not supposed to correct older people. Nobody likes a smart ass.

We petitioned the court to grant my client full custody of the child. No! No! You're going to take that girl, you're going to loan her out to some think tank where she can talk non-trivial zeroes with a bunch of old Russian guys for the rest of her life. And you'd bury her under a rock.

Evelyn, stop. I'm raising her how I believe Diane would have wanted. My sister wanted Mary to be a kid.

She wanted her to have friends and to be happy. Tell us, do you have health insurance? No.

Did you spend the night in jail? Objection! What's your greatest fear? That I'll ruin Mary's life. Mary! Mary! Mary! Uh-uh! She's bossy. I've heard that. She's a good person.

She wanted me before I was hurt. So how often do we judge people by either the gift we give them with how we give and things of that nature and then what we receive? And we have all received gifts from our Heavenly Father.

And what I would like to go through now is the gifts that I see that God has given my band of brothers. I'm going to start with Mr. Samuel. It's the wisdom, the wit, the sharpness of mind, and all mixed in with humor. Because it's always a little smart aleck or comin'. Nobody likes a what, Sam?

Whatever it's said in the clear. But how is it that Sam is like the premier one in the group and everybody just loves him, loves that humor? And then we got Andy, which I just go with friend, and he's so careful and thoughtful of others and very compassionate and always willing to jump in and help and be a part of something else. And then there's one here that's a supporter, and he himself admits that, well, I'm not the most athletic, so I called him the athletic supporter. That would be Danny. You're a jock, man. You're a jock.

We'll be taking up donations for the local pickleball team. Strap one on, Danny. But he's just such a helper, such a partner.

And I think about what he just did with Michelle here just at the last boot camp, and it was just an epitome of exactly the man he is to go home and support her. Robby, just the man of hunger. I've never seen the appetite for God and for relationship, knowledge and meaning of things, and to dive in and just to go and go and get going.

I always expect the energy and the appetite to run out, but it doesn't. It just keeps going. And then, of course, our sage back to the wisdom. He loves truth. Harold is a rule follower.

He travels the narrow road. He truly walks that. And then you listen to the old stories that you just can't picture Harold as kicking the box around, beating up the box in his office.

I just can never forget that. He actually physically kicked boxes around his office. He's a kickboxer.

Yeah. You know, before his time, yeah. And to see him now, you just see the growth from that wide road travel to that narrow one. And Mr. Jim's not here, but it's just compassion, compassion, compassion. He's the most given person that I've ever seen.

I know of all of his renters and things like that that he's just lived with just horrible renters that wouldn't pay, but he gives them another break and gives them another break and just basically he ends up giving them way more than he ever gets. And you've got Mr. Seeker Wayne over here, the treasure hunter man. He's always searching.

And the best day I'm sure in his life is when he was actually found, when he was found by God. He's just so purposeful and mission-driven. And Mr. Raw, Honest David just kind of, he is what you see and you get what you get in David. He's very raw, very no-nonsense kind of guy, comes at you straightforward. And I know we don't ever get to hear from Art, but we should. He's got a lot to say, but he just won't say it. He's just very quiet. But he's such a friend and devoted and caring and always makes sure that Harold gets to and from the radio shows safely and without any problems. So, love you all brothers. That was awesome.

A couple things. You basically called David Popeye. He is what I am. Yeah, he is. And then the ironic thing that I really thought was kind of cool is Harold went from the wider road to the more narrow one, so he had to merge. He would have been required to at some point. And back to the wit and the humor, the quickness, right?

Sam's on top of it always. That's not always a good thing. But David, did you have something you wanted to say in your Popeye voice or no? I can't do a Popeye voice. I don't like spinach that much either, so I don't know if that would really work out.

It might not. All right. So, who else? Wayne, do you have anything you'd like to add this week? We haven't seen you. We've missed you, Wayne. Oh, it's been a while.

It's great to have you here. Yeah, having a job is exhausting. Yeah, you know, it's like, wow, I've got to work and do other things?

Yeah, exactly. I mean, as far as the giving and the getting, I'm kind of like, you know, the one that came to mind was very similar to Robby's. It was giving to a family. We had a small group with our church that we were going to at the time, and we all decided to go together and bless one of the families that we had found out the wife had had cancer. The dad had to quit his job to take care of his wife, and they had four kids. It was a pretty dark winter for them. Me and my wife actually got to be the family to take all the gifts over.

We snuck it all in on Christmas Eve. The dad and the mom were in on it, but the kids, you know, they had assumed they weren't getting anything, and they were fine with it. They knew where their mom was and kind of what was going on there. But just to be a part of that family's life, to see the husband and the wife, and we continued being a part of their lives after that. And then the following year, you know, she passed away.

It was a very aggressive form of cancer. So that's probably one of the best giving moments. As far as the getting, I mean, you know, I don't really, I'm the same way. Like, I don't remember a lot of Christmas getting.

I just, it's never been one of the things that I've really cared about, and I just don't care about it. But if I had to pick one, it would probably be my son. He's a December 16th baby, so he's a December baby.

He is a true gift of God to us. It was after coming out of Teen Challenge that particular year. I went on a prayer walk. My wife wanted another kid. I was done. I was finished with two. And, you know, I just went before God, and I said, you know, Lord, you know what's best. You know what kind of time we've got.

Your will be done. And literally 30 days later, she was pregnant. So he's a, and he is, he is such a joy, such a blessing. He makes everyone smile.

He's so animated, so full of life. And it's hard sometimes too, you know, just because of the way I grew up with my dad. You know, being able to see him that way and know that he is so much like me when I was that age. And, like, how did, you know, my dad not see the same thing.

So it's kind of a twisted edge there. But he is, he is so, so awesome. So that would definitely be the greatest gift I've been given in terms of things. Other than salvation, thanks for throwing that in there. Yeah, Rodney, thanks for that whole thing.

It makes me feel, like, petty talking about nutcrackers. Yeah. Salvation. Yeah. Ooh.

Nutcracker. He keeps removing my point, doesn't he? Yeah. Wayne, thank you. That was very good, and I appreciate that. So we've went through everybody. So I told you if we ran out of stuff, I was going to start asking questions. So, Rodney, did you share? No, I didn't share. Oh. And then we didn't run out of everybody. Yeah.

This may be my best Christmas ever. If you could see his face. Yeah. He's been left out. Wow.

Ooh. Or Danny. I'm sorry, Danny. No. Go ahead and share.

Talk a lot, because we've got some time. Well, that's what you had said, and he's not even going to let me share. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Yes. You know, a couple different things. Like, last Christmas, the gift I gave my wife was she wanted a new fishing rod. She loves to fish. And she said, I want my own tackle box.

And so being a guy who doesn't want to just give something, you know, when you give women something that has the match, so her favorite color is Tiffany blue. So I found her a Tiffany blue tackle box and a rod and reel at match. And she goes, where in the world did you find that? But I asked her the other night when she said, what's y'all's topic? And I said, you know, the best gift you've ever given. She said, well, I would do the tackle box. She said that was pretty neat. And so she said, I love that. So but the one she she gave me a gift several years ago.

And I mean, it literally, you know, the scripture that says he will restore what the locusts have eaten. And in my wild days, in my addiction days, I lost my high school class ring. So I stole it or something.

And I thought, well, it's gone. And one Christmas, unbeknownst to me, she coerced with my mother and figured out what my class ring used to look like. And so she recreated it almost identical to the one that I had bought in high school and gave that to me for Christmas. And sometimes I wear it and everybody, why is a 50 year old wearing a class ring?

Got nothing to do with the high school. But I got everything to do with the woman who gave it to me. That's very cool. Thank you. You want to keep talking?

We got more time. And my second Christmas, I remember. Well, you kind of actually, your sharing led me into the question I want to ask. How do you prepare to give stuff to people? You know, if you want to try to give a thoughtful gift, you know, Harold talked about doing the cross stitch and the poem and things, you know.

How do you go about doing that? How do you go about saying, hey, I want to give something to them, not just the money doesn't matter. It's not about the money. It's about what am I going to give that person? Right. How do you decide what to give your spouse if you're married or your kids or whatever that may look like or friends? Any thoughts come to mind? Amazon cards. Amazon cards.

Well, yeah, they can get whatever they want. I personally just love to be creative. You know, I guess it's just, you know, let me think through, you know, something cool. And so I remember one time for an anniversary, you know, there was this thing, if you ever saw the movie Parent Trap, that, you know, the kids recreated the first date scene or the place on the boat and they had the, you know, the portholes and all the different things. And so, you know, I had my kids act like the kids in Parent Trap and set up this whole thing because Tammy and I had gone on a cruise as well on our honeymoon. And so they had it up from the USS Emerald Seas and the whole thing.

And they were acting as waiters and waitresses. And it was the whole setup. You know, it was kind of like your deal for the scavenger hunt. You know, it's like the whole family gets involved. And, you know, how can we be creative to create not just the gift, but actually, you know, the moment, so to speak, and the whole thing. So I love to, you know, be creative. You are very creative. I mean, Christian Car Guy Theater and all that stuff that you do is incredible.

I could see that in you, yes. It's fun. It's a way to worship, actually.

It is. You know, I shared, I think, a little bit last week. But one of the things for me is it's one of the areas that I've actually kind of turned to God and said, God, Father me. And this, you know their heart better than I know it. You know, it really kind of started when my boys and you guys always, some of you guys gave me a hard time called a bar mitzvah. You know, and I had the 16th birthday for my boys. And, you know, we had a celebration, you know, coming of age kind of thing. I guess it is kind of like a bar mitzvah, really. But, you know, but I gave them both a sword.

And one of the cool things for me along that way was walking with God saying, okay, what sword will speak to their heart? Right? And I actually ordered one, got it in and like, this just isn't right. So I sold it.

I put it up on eBay and sold it. And, you know, then another one came along and it was just the right one. You know, and how to, you know, do I engrave this one or what do I do here?

And God, you know, what do you think I should do? And each one of them ended up being exactly the right thing. Right? But it was that process of walking that through with him.

And I try to do the same thing as I'm thinking through Christmas stuff of, okay, when I'm thinking of that person, you know, God, help me to think of things that's going to speak to their heart in a way that it's not just an item, but it's something that means something to them. Right? That it's deeper than that. I think what I'm trying to say, and I'm being not very concise in saying it, is we all have a desire to be known. Help me to help that person feel like they're known.

Right? Because that's going to make them feel special about Christmas. You know, my favorite Christmas stuff I've gotten is, and I talked about the nutcrackers joking around, but my kids knew me. My family knew me. They knew that that was something that I would get a kick out of, you know, that I thought was funny. And it's the being known part. I think a nutcracker speaks to your personality. It does.

It does. I mean, is that the word? We are on the radio. David, you echo that sentiment, I'm pretty sure, and Andy and everybody else here at the table. So anyone else on this topic?

Because I do have another question. No, I mean, with the gifts, for me, I don't want to put too much information out there because this gift still has to be given, but for my wife's brother, for instance, there's a thing that we have that was her dad's and that it was in pretty bad shape, and me and my wife had taken it because she wanted it, or not she wanted it, we wanted it. But ultimately I'm restoring that now. I'm going to give it back to her brother. And it was their dad's, and he passed away two Januarys ago, so I know it will be sentimental to him. And, you know, really for us, it would just sit on a shelf.

So that was the first time that I've actually thought through a gift in that kind of area. Yeah. So does he listen? Because you know he's going to figure that out. No, he doesn't listen. I'm pretty confident. But if he does, then it's okay. Yeah.

He doesn't know when he's going to get it. No, and there's several things that I had that were potentially needed to be restored. So it could be multiple things. Yeah, that works.

Rodney? Yeah, I go back to like the gift I got. Again, this was really hard for me to think through these things.

But I remember back to when I was in high school, and I got to go on a snowmobile trip with my really good friend and his family up to Wisconsin. And next thing you know, my parents are like, yep, and it's paid for. I'm just like, what?

You guys are paid. It was one of those shocking things that I just wasn't expecting. It was like, wow, it was the gift that kept on giving because it kind of became a tradition.

Yep, okay, we'll pay for that trip for you to go up there. And I was like, totally unexpected. You're just like, wow, the generosity. I was like, wow, really? It wasn't cheap. But it was just like, wow, one of those things you really appreciate. And then I'm the opposite of Robby.

I'm very practical, very uncreative. And I at least made an attempt. We went on a family vacation to Europe, and I tried to take all the pictures and put together the scrapbook and the timeline of what we did and go through the trip and put that together, and that was probably the most creative thing I got. But it was, even for whatever it was for them, it was really fun for me to think about all the memories and things like that. Because when you do something like that, there's the highs and the lows and all that kind of stuff. You just did one recently. You always had those moments. Just thinking through that and just going through in your own memory of the things we still joke about and kid about and poke ribs about, the fun things that went on during that trip.

It was fun to do. Thank you. David, do you have something else you want to add? Anyone else? Bueller? Anyone? I do have one other.

I just hope that maybe somebody's out there like this. I'd heard Morgan Snyder do a thing about getting his daughter, who was turning 14 or 15, a promise ring. And I thought, man, I really blew it.

I should have gotten that. Because the promise was not that she would be pure or whatever. The promise was that I'll always love you, no matter whatever in the world ever happens. And that was the promise that Morgan did for his daughter at 15 or 16.

Not the kind of promise ring that other parents would give, but the idea that no matter what, I'm going to love you forever. And I thought, man, that was really neat. And I was going to God with it, just like your idea.

And God, what do I do, man? I really blew it with my daughter Tess, because that would have been the perfect thing. And he said, well, it's not too late.

And at that point in time, she was probably 27, 28 years old. And I was like, all right, I'm going to do it. And so I told her mother. Her mother totally loved the idea. And I'll never forget the trip that we went down to the jewelry store to pick out the ring. And my wife was telling the girl behind the counter, and she was about, oh, that's the sweetest thing ever. And it was just like, man, they all got into this.

So they worked really hard to get the perfect ring. And then what that meant to my daughter's heart at that point in time was a promise from her father, even though she was, like I said, an adult well at this point. That's a Christmas gift I'll never forget giving. And maybe that's something that you could put on your list for the daughter that you love. It's a promise that you will always love her no matter what. And I never see my daughter.

She doesn't have that ring on. Wow, that's awesome. Thank you. Well, since we have just another quick few minutes, about a minute here, Rodney was really gracious about having stuff that he shared over us. What words would you share about Rodney?

And I think in a kind way. Let's make sure we clarify, right? Exactly. Rodney is, we call him Ramrod. We call him that for a reason because he keeps us on task. He is the coordinator in the midst of chaos. And I think that's a real gift that he has a way to bring us back to what we need to do regardless of what's going on.

And so that's a great thing. He is a zaddy, meaning that he is the righteous one. He knows what's right, and that is a gift that he has. But it's also his joy when he sees things right.

He's got a way of looking at puzzles that only he looks at them. And it's a beautiful gift that really he does for all of us. We need him. We absolutely do.

And we ran out of time, but there is so much more that we will have to share at some point. And anyway, go to masculinejourney.org for a boot camp coming up. That would be a great Christmas present. Give somebody a boot camp for Christmas, and that's coming up March 30th through April 2nd. And we have entrenchment before that in Kernersville, January 28th and 29th. Go to masculinejourney.org to sign up for either one of those. We'd love to have you there. I think David has a nutcracker for it. This is the Truth Network.