Oinkity Oink

This is Andy Thomas from the Masculine Journey Podcast where we discover what it means to be a wholehearted man. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. People instilled with an extraordinary passion. Together we explore the stories of men and women who take what they love and let God turn their passion into kingdom pursuits.

Now live from the Truth Booth, your host, Robbie Dilmore. Well, how fun today is. Well, it's like Valentine's Day Eve, Eve, Eve.

In case you didn't know, it's coming Wednesday, right? It's Valentine's Day and so this is sort of a special opportunity we have today on Kingdom Pursuits. We have Tina Neely and she's the author of a kid's book with a great Valentine's Day angle. The book is Bacon Loves Everyone. You know, as one person put it, it's impossible not to root for bacon.

Well, think about it, Carmen. Pig's root. And from what I understand, Tina Neely is the author and Tina Bacon is your pet, right?

This is correct. And she, being a pig, she does have a tendency to root, I guess. Well, it is a boy pig and he does tend to root. So when we got him, he was a house pig and we went on vacation. I told my husband, I said, nobody's going to let a pig in their house. So we have like a chicken coop corn crib and we stuck him back there with the girls. And when we came back from vacation, he trotted on up to the house and he looked inside and he looked back at the corn crib and he looked inside and he turned around and went back to the corn crib. Because when he was in the house, he would try to root and I would say, bacon, no root.

And he'd go, oh, like he was disgusted with me because he's a pig and that's what he's supposed to do. And so your book obviously is going to illustrate that about love, right? Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. So I started writing this book during the COVID. I was actually a sous chef at the time and they had closed down my facility and I came home and I told my husband, I said, what do I do from here? And I went in the backyard and I thought, I'll just start writing a blog.

I don't know what they are, how they work, but I'll figure it out. And when I was starting to write down some notes, Bacon just kept talking to me. And a pig has like 40 different sounds they make to communicate with you. And if you know your pig, I knew that Bacon was saying, hello, pay attention to me.

I need some lovings. So this little story just popped out while I was sitting back there. That's interesting.

So he's got 40 different dialects apparently. Yeah. Pigs may. I didn't know that when I got him.

And then the more you studied on him, you're like, oh, okay. So yeah, they're extremely intelligent animals. And so that's very curious to me that pigs want affection of some kind from people. Yes. Yes. So he was, when I brought him home, he was, I was told that he would get no bigger than 30 pounds, that he was a little micro pig.

There was no such thing for yous out there that are thinking about getting one. When we brought him home, he was smaller than my toy poodle named Goliath who weighed five pounds. So five years later, he is, he was about 325 and right now I'd say he's about 350 pounds. So he ain't like a pig, no doubt. Well, good for him, you know? I mean, that's, that's pretty cool. And since he's a boy pig, it makes him a hog, right?

I mean, that's the whole deal. Yes. I think.

I think you're right. Anyway, Tina, you've never listened to my show, but I thought that, you know, the whole idea of bacon was just Roth with humor possibilities. So I do this thing called Robbie's Riddle. So speaking of bacon, right? Yeah. Now the fun begins.

Oh, yes, it is time to play shenanigans. And so it being Valentine's Day, Carmen, you know, what's the hit bacon Valentine card this year? If you've wondered about it. Have you heard about it?

No, I haven't heard about it. How about you? I mean, Tina, you hear about bacon all the time. What's the hit bacon Valentine Day card? I have no idea. Don't go bacon my heart.

That's physically or emotionally, you know. And I know you're kind of curious about this, Carmen, what kind of ice cream I have on good authority that that, you know, bacon and loves a particular brand of ice cream. What brand might that be? I'm not sure. What do you think? Have you heard that one, Tina? No, I have not. Does bacon like ice cream?

I have never given bacon ice cream. Oh, well, today's his day. I mean, it's almost Valentine's Day and clearly he could use some Haagen Dazs. Oh, that's cute. And one of my favorite, I've used this many times, but it still makes me smile just to think about it. What do you get when you cross a pig with a centipede?

I have no idea. Don't let bacon try this at home. But anyway, you get bacon and legs. Oh, my goodness. And another one I've used before, but it just tickles me also.

I really like this. How do you stop Canadian bacon from curling in the skillet? I have no idea. I mean, you fried it. It just curls right up, right? Yeah. Oh, the way you stop it is you take away its tiny little broom. If you've ever seen curling, a Canadian... Oh, the sport.

Yeah, there you go. And, of course, I have one last one here for you that I did really think was funny. I had never seen this one before, but what do you call a fir tree covered in bacon?

A fir tree covered in bacon. I bet you can get this one, Tina. What do you think?

No, you're wrong. I can't get it. I have no idea.

Sir Carmen? No, no idea. Here you go. A porky pine. Now I've got new material, thank you.

Yeah, you do. All sorts of stuff. The porky pine. There you go. Oh, that just tickled me. Bacon jokes are just, you know, you've got to root for them. Anyway, you know, at the end of those shenanigans, I would have a Bible riddle, so here we go. How did the bacon get waterlogged in the Bible?

How did the bacon get waterlogged in the Bible? If you have the answer to that, you can call us and win at 866-348-7884. And if they know the answer, Carmen, tell them what they'll win. They'll win one of our wonderful prizes from the Kingdom Pursuit Prize Vault, so call in if you know. It is loaded with all kinds of books and very odd, interesting trinkets that I've received along the way.

You never know what I may just give you out of the Truth Prize Vault, because, you know, next week actually, or the week after next, is the NRB, National Religious Broadcasters Convention. And what my boss, Stu Epperson, will tell you, it is a land of plunder. It's like a pirate paradise. You go in there and you go, argh, it's time to plunder. The reason why we say that is because all these people ship all their stuff in for the convention. They don't want to ship it back, and so they give it away by the handful, and guess who's there?

Because we drive to the NRB in Nashville, then we bring back a handful of trinkets to give away from the Truth Prize Vault. So, eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four, eight, six, six, three, four, truth, how did the bacon get waterlogged in the Bible? You know, there's not a lot of bacon in the Bible. I don't know if you noticed that, Tina. But there is one particular story that actually is in the New Testament. I'll give you a hint.

There's no doubt that the bacon got waterlogged. Eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four. So Tina, tell me, you know, I'm curious about your faith and how that entered into, because I understand you're actually an award-winning author at this point. Yes, I did receive the Mom's Choice Award for this story, and as far as my Christianity, when I had my son, who is now 26, I was holding him as a newborn baby, and I looked at my husband, and I said, this child needs Jesus, and not really realizing at that moment that I still didn't truly have a relationship with Jesus.

So on my first Mother's Day, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Wow, what a story. Well, we've got to go to a break, I can tell by the music. When we come back, we're going to hear more from Tina Neely, and we've got callers that think they know about this waterlogged bacon, and it's going to be so much fun. What a story, Tina. I'm going to dig into that. Again, call us with your thoughts.

Eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four. We'll be right back with much more. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the Kingdom. And today, our passion is bacon.

I thought that was so much fun. We have Tina Neely, the author of the kids' book with a great Valentine's Day angle. The book is Bacon Loves Everyone, and it's a story about her pet bacon, which is quite a character, it sounds like.

But, you know, we have, wonderfully, riddlers who want to answer, you know, how did the bacon get waterlogged in the Bible? And first up, we got Ramona is, let's see, doesn't say where Ramona's at, but Ramona, good morning. You're on Kingdom Pursuits. Where are you at, Ramona? Stokes County.

All right. They're up in King or somewhere like that, right? Well, yeah, yeah, we're next door. Are you in Pilot Mountain or something?

No, actually, oh, geez, don't mention Pilot Mountain to me. They were in the news yesterday. Poor lady got killed by her husband. But anyway, no, yeah, sad, sad story. When we hear stuff like that, I mean, it's big for our county, because we're semi-rural. And so when something comes up like that, it's just, everybody knows about it, and we're sad.

But anyway, it was a husband and wife thing, and they arrested him, and he's been charged with murder. So anyway, well, I know where it came. In fact, I got the curling joke that you gave the last one. I instantly thought Canadian bacon, they do curling up there. You know what curling is. I'd never learned all this stuff when I finally grew up.

Don't do a lot of curling in Stokes County. No, no, no, not at all. Anyway, this is a story of Jesus in the country of the Gadarenes. Oh, wow, well said. You know, those two demon-possessed men, they were coming out of the tombs and violent and everything. And anyway, there was a herd of pigs feeding nearby, and the demons begged him to, you know, don't send us where he was going to send them. You come here to torment us before our time or something like that.

They asked to be sent into a herd of pigs. And you know, I heard an amazing sermon on that story this week that just really touched me. And what this pastor made reference to was that when Jesus got in the boat, this is right before the storm came up, right? That part of the reason that Jesus—the beginning of the whole story of the man, of the demoniac, was that the reason Jesus got in the boat was he heard the screaming of that man, and he made that trip across, you know, all the stormy seas and all that stuff because he— Oh, really? Well, yeah. I mean, so if you go back and look at it, it's like the beginning of the story actually goes back to Jesus getting into the boat.

And of course, he's just on his way to go help this man. Right. And when you look at him rebuking the storm, he rebukes it like he would rebuke a demon. Right, right.

And so it was like the demons brought the storm because they didn't want Jesus coming. Ew, that's fascinating. Oh, gosh, you could make a sermon out of that. Well, he did. Believe me, it was awesome. It was. It was. It was a spectacular sermon, and it was really amazing how— Who was it? How intentional Jesus was on saving that man that literally didn't— And everything he did. Right, right.

Everything. Well, thank you, Ramona. Who was this preacher?

Well, wait, wait, wait. Who was the preacher? I'd love to hear that sermon. Or was it not recorded?

It was recorded. It's actually—and I wish I could tell you his name—but my daughter went to this church in Birmingham, Alabama, when she went to Samford University, and she still follows it. And every time there's a good sermon, she texts it to me. And so if you will—I'm going to put you on hold when I get off the phone with you, and then I will text it to you because I can't remember the name.

I know that it's an amazing church in Birmingham, Alabama, but I cannot tell you the pastor's name off the top of my head. Well, before you go, before you go, if you give me one more minute— I will. Yeah, they were sent—the demons were sent into her, the pigs. They went over the cliff and drowned. Waterlogged. That's how the bacon got waterlogged. Wow.

Okay. But let me tell you another thing that we discovered in our studies. And my husband, he saw right through the whole thing. But we were having the Children's Bible School Wednesday night, told the story of the prodigal son and how he was feeding the pigs, and the pigs were unclean and everything. And this one little boy—he's a very smart young man—he said, well, why were they raising pigs? You know, this is the story of a Jewish young man who was the prodigal son. The whole point of the story was that the father loved his son and welcomed him back when he came home. That was the Valentine's Day message.

That was the angle of it. But this little boy had to ask, well, why in the world were they raising pigs? And none of us thought of the reason why because of context.

And I say that. That word pops into my mind, context, context, context, kind of like location, location, location, you know, with buying a house. So anyway, and I thought, golly, I should have thought of that, but I really didn't have the context, never thought of it that way.

So I went home. The story was related to our choir. And everybody thought, how cute, this little boy is very smart. And we thought, oh, you know those Jews, how they're merchants, extraordinaire, and they'll raise pigs and make money off the Gentiles but never eat the pork themselves. Little did I know the next morning when I shared it with my husband, he said, well, no, they weren't raising pigs. He was in the far country.

And I looked it up and there it was. Both passages, they were, when Jesus was to do with pigs and all and stuff, it was always in the far country from what they could see. So it wasn't Jews that were raising pigs.

Nowadays they probably do. He not only strayed from his family, you know, he strayed from his country. And clearly I love that story. And I'll tell you what's really cool, I saw it this week as well, Ramona, it's something that I attended, was somebody had taken the picture that Rambat painted of the prodigal son, which if you spent some time looking at that painting and looking at the details of it, he pointed out that the father's hands, when you look closely, the right hand is a feminine hand and the left hand is a masculine hand. And when you look closely at the hands, showing that, you know, the father's mother heart on the right hand and on the left hand it is a masculine hand, it showed, of course, the older brother standing there with his hands folded. It shows the prodigal's feet if you look closely at the, you know, he'd come a long way. And then the interesting thing is there were four people, actually five people in the picture, if you look closely, and the question that the author of this book was pointing out was, which of these people standing there are you? And it turned out to be a trick question that actually we are all of them.

At times we're the prodigal father, at times we're the prodigal, at times we're the older brother, you know, and at times we're just an onlooker. It's an amazing thing, the whole thing. Anyway, I appreciate your call so much, Ramona, and I'm going to put you on hold, and we'll get you that sermon.

It's amazing. So just hang on. All right.

And that will be my gift. You don't have to send me anything else. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Ramona. God bless. God bless you too.

All right. So we also have Mrs. J if she's still with us. Ms. J, are you with us?

Yes, I am still with you. Hi, Ms. Tina. Hello. You're going to be my person I'm going to look up to because I submitted my book, and they want it, and I'm hoping to finish it. That's awesome. My book is The Starfish That Wanted to Roll. So I hope I can get your book.

I hope I can get your book. The Starfish That Wanted to Roll? Yes. Well, my goodness. Did he want to rock too or just roll? Just wanted to roll.

Now, you know, it's going to take Kool-Aid and popcorn to talk about it, but my bacon thing is the one about when they were, when God was flooding the land, and he called two of them. Oh, oh, oh, oh. In the boat.

Yes. They're in the boat, and they were traveling on, so they're on the log, you know, from the wood. Oh, that's creative.

Not only in the New Testament, it's in the Old Testament as well. You're right. You are exactly right. Man, as always, my listeners are smarter than me. That is brilliant.

No, not smarter. We can net do them. But he said greater words we should do after you teach us. There you go.

That is beautiful. They were waterlogged. Yes, they were waterlogged. And if it weren't for those two, right, bacon would not have existed, Tina. I mean, there you go. It wasn't.

I had a dream at all. So I was like, yes, thank you, Holy Spirit. Well, thank you. And I hope I can get my two in the book. Well, we're going to put you down, because I think Ms. Tina will send us some. And I will make sure that you get one, Ms. Jay. Thank you. And I also need that sermon, too.

If you don't mind texting that to me, because I was interested. Oh, it is a great sermon. It is world class, I'm going to tell you, as is that church every time I've ever been to it. I'm following your lead, Brother Robby. I really am. Thank you. God bless, Ms. Jay. You have a great weekend. Bye-bye. You too.

Bye. So, getting back to Tina, when we left our hero, Tina, I loved, loved, loved your story about your son was born. You're holding him, and you said this guy needs Jesus, right?

Yes, sir. And so the first question I have about that is, you said shortly thereafter on Mother's Day you received Jesus. How did that happen?

What exactly? How did God get your attention? I think he got my attention with my son.

I think the motherly instinct had kicked in that I wanted to provide the best for my child, and I knew that was with Jesus. Wow, I can't believe another break comes up just when I'm fixed to get to this. We will get to this when we come back in the next segment. Meanwhile, you know, if you've got a question or a comment, by all means, you call us, 866-348-7884. We'll be back with more of Tina, and we are going to get to this story about her son.

But I've got to find out about her son. So we're going to find out about that. It's a Valentine's Day special today on Kingdom Pursuits. We'll be right back.

Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the Kingdom. And today we're talking with Tina Neeley, she's the author of the book Bacon Loves Everyone. And here we are, you know, on Valentine's Day, EVVVVVVVVV, it's going to be Wednesday, you don't want to miss that. It's always February 14th, my wife tells me. And so you want to be prepared, and maybe you need to be prepared with bacon, just saying.

I don't know how it works out. But anyway, we were talking to Tina, and she was talking about, I love this, that your son, you know, you're holding him and you want him, right, to spend eternity with Jesus. You know, we all want that for our children, but that led to your own. And so was there something on that Mother's Day, a sermon, or what actually hit you? I always tell my son, I think that he saved me. It was, and it's the same way with this book, I just feel like you know when God is nudging you. And it was like, this is your time to accept me. And it was like one of the, well, probably the most precious moment of my life, even more than having given birth to my child, even more than marrying my husband.

My husband and I both always say that we love each other, but we take second seat to Jesus. Right. And it was just a true gift, it was the best Mother's Day gift I could have ever received. Yeah, and so was he involved in, you had said you'd gone out to your backyard because you felt like you were supposed to write a book. Was that one of those nudges you just said?

Yes, yes. I definitely thought, my husband and I do an outreach ministry at an inner city church. And our church is very giving and very caring, but it's a small church, and I just feel that there is a bigger need there than that our church may be able to financially provide for these children. So I told my husband, I said, I want to create something that will allow me more freedom, help me with my retirement, but just let me be a giver, and I need some kind of source with that. And then this story came about, and I'm sitting there, and I just, I was like, this is it. So then I wrote this book, this story took all of 15 minutes to write, it's taken me three years to get to this point, and I can remember doing it initially, and I did it in watercolors, and it was just like I could hear the Lord going, it's going to happen, but it's going to be down the road.

Just trust me, it's going to happen, it's just down the road. And it was just like, it just washed over my body, and I was like, well, this is in his hands now. So every day that I pray over this book, I have a ton of people that pray with me over this situation, that this is being done to glorify God, and the message is about love.

And we just can't hear that enough, no matter what our age is, we all need to hear that. So tell us about the book itself, like how is it a message about love? Bacon has his own little language, and it's not pig Latin, but it is his own little language.

That would make perfect sense, I understand, yeah. And so when I said that they make all the different sounds, so in the book I've written this little ditty, so when he loves you, and he's trying to get your attention, so he's very optimistic, he's kind of oblivious to his surroundings, he kind of doesn't even notice that people are kind of passing him by, he just knows he's worthy. He knows he needs love, and he knows his forever family is out there, so he is going to sing to anybody that walks by to buy him at the flea market where he's up for sale, oink-ditty-oink-ditty-oink-oink-oink, and that's what a pig says when he loves you.

Oh really? And he finally comes across his forever family, which happens to be me and my husband, and then he comes back to the house, and he connects with all his new forever friends, and the message is that you're loved. So it's kind of like the forever family spoke his language, because they understood what oink-ditty-oink-ditty-oink-oink-oink meant. Right, Gary Chapman wrote a book, The Five Love Languages, you may be familiar with it. He's actually a pastor in a church I was a member of for years and years and years, and I never had considered that animals have love languages, but they certainly do.

We have a miniature dachshund who has stayed miniature, or she, I should say, her name is Ruby, and if she doesn't have a love language, I don't know, and I mean, she can look at you with these eyes, and it's clear what she wants at the moment, right? You know if that means, but she can bark, and then the other thing that she can do, I've never seen a dog do it like this one. She can sing. I mean literally, literally, if you start singing, whatever that may be, then she jumps right in, and she picks up her head, and she will sing, and you better be ready, because she's going to give you the full chorus, and if you don't commend her while she's singing, you know, she'll stop, but if she comes, that's great singing, Ruby, and she just is, I'm pretty sure she's praising God.

I'm almost certain it's a hymn. No doubt. But, you know, I think you're absolutely right that somehow or another, I don't know how it works, but I don't have to, I mean, clearly, they're expressing themselves, and there's something to that, right? I think so. And so that's how you won the Moms, what was it called, the Moms' Choice, Moms' Pick? Moms' Choice Award, yes.

So it's just based on quality of information or materials that they think that new moms will be appreciative of. Oh, and so, I know the thought on everybody's mind, did your son receive Jesus? Yes, yes. So he was very young, we were at a revival, and he was across the tent, and he comes running over to me, and he's like, Mom, what do I do, what do I do? And he said, I need you to go up there with me, and I said, I can't do that, that's between you and Jesus.

I said, I can come up afterwards, but this is a decision you need to make on your own. And I leaned over to tell my husband, and before I could get it out of the corner of my eye, he's running up the aisle. Wow.

Accepting Jesus. How old was he? He was five. Isn't that awesome? And today, did you say he was 26? Yes. Wow, and how long have you had Bacon?

We've had him seven years. That's just awesome. And they live on average to be 20 years old. Really? So similar to a dog, but nonetheless, a language all their own, and so now Bacon lives out there with the chickens, he's got friends out there? Yes, and you'll appreciate this with your sense of humor, his best buddy is Eggs.

You're right, I do appreciate that. And so is Eggs a hen? Yes. Well, that would make sense. So that's one of my future stories I have already written out, I just need to illustrate it.

Well, that's the other question I have. So you illustrated this book too? I did. I did. So I come from, my dad was an artist, so I worked for my parents for many years at a sign shop, so I had some knowledge of laying out things for signs, but I hadn't touched anything, I hadn't drawn anything in decades, and my husband's like, who are you going to get to illustrate this? I said, well, I am.

He says, can you do that? I said, well, I can now, so it took me a minute, but I think it turned out really sweet. And you did it with, did you do it with watercolors?

I initially did it with watercolors, and I didn't, I was like, that's not the vibe I want to give off on this book, so I said, I'll just do it digitally. But I didn't know where the on button was on the machine, so I had some very kind people from church that helped guide me over and over again. That's awesome. So the cover that's, the picture that's on the cover, which by the way is at KingdomPursuits.com, if you go to KingdomPursuits.com, you'll see a way to, you know, get it on Amazon, all that kind of stuff, but that cover is yours as well?

Yes. Oh, wow. How, what a gifting, what a neat thing. I just think it's so exciting that, and so how long ago was it published?

Just this past month, the 23rd of January. Oh, really? And so are you going to be at the NRB next week? I will be. Oh, fun, so I'll get to meet you, that'll be wonderful.

I am excited about that. And where do you actually live? Cincinnati, Ohio. Oh, so, so bacon is up there in the freezer section.

B.A. I understand, all right, well, we're going to be back in a minute with much more Kingdom Pursuits. Of course, if you've got a comment, a question, or maybe a bacon joke that you don't think I've heard, 866-348-7884, we'll be right back.

Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the Kingdom today. What a treat to have, a Valentine's Day special. We have Tina Neely, she's the author of the book Bacon Loves Everyone. And what a marvelous story, and I was thinking about it during the break, that what bacon was doing when it was calling out, oinkity, oink, oink, oink, which I got to admit that's really fun to say.

It is. Bacon was literally loving everyone. And in spite of the fact that many didn't answer her, it didn't change her attitude to continue to call out to everyone, I love you, right? And I think that's a childlike heart, and I think that that's where I mess up a lot, right? Is I get hurt, I get my feelings hurt, and my focus goes on me, rather than all those wonderful people that are walking by me, that I ought to be going oinkity, oink, oink, oink, oink, right? If you like that, you'll love the other sounds, because the dog says, ruff-titty, ruff-titty, ruff-ruff-ruff. Diddy-glub, diddy-glub, diddy-glub, glub-glub. Of course, naturally. So what does eggs have to say for herself? Cluck-diddy-cluck-diddy-cluck-cluck-cluck.

Oh, that makes perfect sense. So the sequel eggs to go with bacon, have you got the title for that one yet? The Comfy Wumpy Sleepy Spot. The what now? The Comfy, Bacon's Comfy Wumpy Sleepy Spot. Oh wow.

Bacon's Comfy Wumpy Sleeping Spot. Yeah, there you go. And I would imagine that must be close to eggs?

Yes, they sleep together. Yeah. And so, in Cincinnati, Ohio, isn't that wonderful? Like, did you guys get a lot of snow in this last storm, I suppose?

Actually we have not gotten a whole lot of snow, just a dusting, but it's been extremely cold. Yeah. And so bacon still is hanging out with the hen rather than coming inside? Yes, yes.

Like I said, they're fascinating animals. Depending on the season, he will either dig himself a huge hole and fill it with straw and bury himself in there in the cold times. And then all the chickens I have will climb on top of that, top of his back, so he's keeping their feet warm and they're keeping his back warm. And when he comes out from underneath there, when he needs to be fed or drink, he is like putting off steam.

That's so beautiful. You know, we had a hairless dog for years. We called it Harry, you could imagine. But anyway, because Harry didn't have any hair, I mean, he had to stay under a blanket constantly. I mean, he would find a blanket and talk about rooting.

I mean, that's the deal. He's trying to stay warm. And so when you think about it, pigs aren't covered with a lot of fur. And so poor bacon is, you know, but I love the idea. Now, what do the chickens love him?

Yes, he puts off a lot of heat. I would think. And I love that he knows, I mean, I had never even thought about the fact that the pig would be rooting around in order to get warm, but I mean, that whole thing just makes sense to me. And I love your childlike heart. And I think, you know, that's a big part of what mom's pigs should be about, right?

I think so. I mean, I think just keep it simple. I think there's a lot of clutter going on for our children, a lot of exposure to the things that they don't necessarily need to be exposed to. And this is just very old school, and just keeping the message very simple and important of loving one another and expressing that. Darrell Bock Right, because, you know, it's very interesting. I love that you said that, because number one, writing a book is expressing yourself. But also God's name, Yahweh, in Hebrew, when you dig into that, the idea of it is an expression. Because what good is love if it's not expressed? And the fact that God wrote the Bible, the fact that God gets us these messages when he speaks to us, when he nudges us, like you're talking about, I mean, that's him expressing.

And that's what he is. And that's really what Valentine's Day is, right? When you were a kid and you made out all those Valentine cards for every kid in your class, isn't that the way that was supposed to be?

Like, weren't you going oinkity-oink? Well think about it. I mean, that's the simple message. And my daughter's a third-grade teacher, actually the one that sent me that sermon. And that's the deal.

Like, everybody gets everybody a card. Vicky Healy Yes. Well, one of the classes I just read, too, the teacher contacted me the next day, and she's like, because when I was speaking to the children, I said, I know we need to express that to each other. But I know sometimes that's awkward, that if we're telling our friend, especially if you have two little guys or girls or whatever saying, hey, I love you, when you're in school, I said, if you look at them and just tell them oinkity-oinkity-oink-oink-oink, they'll know what you mean.

She says, Tina, my class was oink-ditty-ing all day long today. Darrell Bock Yeah, because it's fun. And it's, you know, that's the whole deal. You know, what, you know, someday you'll have grandkids if you don't have them. Vicky Healy I have 11. Darrell Bock You have 11 grandkids? Vicky Healy I have 11 grandkids, yes.

Darrell Bock Well, good for you. Well, you know that for a while they don't go to the dark side, and they'll still say oinkity-oinkity-oink-oink-oink. But when they get to be about 10 or 11, they quit oinkity-ing, and, you know, it's hard. It's hard. But then someday they'll have kids, too, and they'll be able to oinkity-oink again.

And when we get older, we get able to oinkity-oink. So thank you for what you're doing. God bless you. So much fun having you. I look forward to meeting you here in about a week. Again, we thank you for listening to Kingdom Pursuits. It's obviously the listeners that make this show. Stay tuned. We've got so much truth coming at you. We have an encouraging prayer with James Banks coming right up.