This is the Truth Network. Coming to you 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. We are continuing to talk about the things that drive us to comfort outside of God. Our ultimate comfort needs to be God.
And so we've been talking about that. We're kicking off a series, and we don't even know what to call the series, because we've already had foundations. We've already had pillars. Oh, did you? What did you name it?
We got to speak in the microphone, Danny. I can't hear you from. Masculine Journey Boulder series. Oh, the Boulder series.
Okay. That's a Boulder. That's a nice Boulder. AKA and the cornerstone. Does anyone know the size a rock has to be to be considered a boulder?
No. I'm sure you do. Rock on, Jim. Just a touch over 10 inches.
Okay. Okay. Rock me on my dish. You say a touch over 10 inches. Yeah, I think it's 10.1 because it's actually in metric system.
They've got very specific sizes, and boulders are bigger than that. Is that a circumference? That is that? No, that is the diameter.
Okay. Is there pie involved? I think it might be. Boulder pie. Anyway, you got more.
You better have really good teeth. Yeah. Put your nose to the grindstone. Here we go. Andy, you have the first clip of this show, and so you want to tell us what your clip has to do with anything?
Yeah, so y'all left me hanging out there. I was the only one that read anything about comfort, I think. Rock on, Todd. Rock on.
So this clip is from Groundhog Day, and it's not one we typically use or uh I've used before, but Whenever they mention comforters, I think false comforters from just kind of what we've gone through over the years. And I never really had tied it to The topics of justice and mercy and grace and peace. I'm just thinking, I just know that I go to false comforters whenever I'm looking for some relief. And food has always been one of those things, you know.
Some of the lust and stuff has been taken away, and I've grabbed. I mean, I've always enjoyed food, and I've never really used to think anything about it, but it truly can be a comforter. I know. on a Friday night. And I've had a hard week at work.
I'm going to, you know, look for a pizza or a steak to give some comfort. You know, something's wrong when you open the refrigerator and you go, How you doing? That's right. Exactly. Hey, baby.
Right. I mean, there's a whole category around it. Comfort food, right? I mean, it's a real thing. And so, in this clip from Groundhog Day, Bill Murray, he's caught in the Groundhog Day and he's beginning to realize there's not a lot of ramifications.
He gets the same day over.
So he's going to enjoy some food and some smoking and some other things. And it's on repeat. And it's kind of like my days repeat. It's like I'm getting that comfort from food on a regular basis. But with me, there are consequences to it.
Correct. Thank you. Um so And he's got Rita talking to him, and she's trying to get him to reconsider this. And again, this is a time where he doesn't really care because he doesn't have any consequences to his actions. Yeah, he's out of control, so he's spiraling.
Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Here we go. I like to see a man of advancing years throwing caution to the wind. It's inspiring in a way.
My years are not advancing as fast as you might think. More coffee, hun? Yeah, just keep it coming, please. Sure thing. Don't you worry about cholesterol, lung cancer, love handles?
I don't worry about anything anymore. What makes you so special? Everybody worries about something.
Well that's exactly what makes me so special. I don't even have to floss. Yeah, yeah. Ugh. We are.
The wretch can centered all in self. Living shall forfeit fair renown. And doubly dying shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung. Unwept. Unhonoured.
An unsung. Sir Walter Scott.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. What, you don't like poetry? I love poetry.
I just thought that was Willard's code. Do you think I'm acting like this because I'm egocentric? I know you're egocentric, it's your defining characteristic. Mm. Uh, are you guys ready?
We better get going if we're gonna stay ahead of the weather. Thanks, Larry.
Well, would you like a doggy bag? I'm not gonna stay here and f Yeah.
So yeah, that can be me. I mean, even today, I uh Had to go to the Orthodontis, and when I did, I hit a couple spots after it. And I think I was looking for some comfort when I came out. But, you know, you do really look at that. There's a certain amount of justice, or, you know, it brings peace.
You know, you're looking for peace outside of God. What I will say, though, is you don't think of a. The whole idea of communion. The whole idea of the sacrifice, all those were tied for God in food and sharing it with man. And there is a communion, and we go to food for that, I think, a lot of times.
It's still that communion with God. But just an example. This is one of my readings from today is Deuteronomy 14. Verse 22: You shall certainly tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes from the field every year, you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God at the place where He chooses to establish His name, which is Jerusalem. The tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.
But if the distance is so great for you that you're not able to bring the tithe, since the place where you're going to be able to bring Where the Lord your God chooses to set his name is too far away from you. When the Lord God your God blesses you, then you shall exchange it for money and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And you may spend the money on whatever your heart's desire is, oxen, sheep, wine, other strong drink, or whatever in your heart's desire. And there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. The point was, was that just popped out to me.
It was like God was about going and honoring stuff at the holy place, but he also realizes the logistical and stuff. But he just wants to share. Share that with you. He wants you to go to the place that he chooses and to commune with him. And, you know, I think a lot of times when I get the food in front of me, I just want to get down with the food.
But there is a time of really saying, God, thank you for this. I'm going to share this. I'm not just going to drive through it like I usually do. I'm going to take the time and I'm going to appreciate it. I've heard Morgan talk about that.
From Wild at Heart, that you just actually eat your food slower and you appreciate it and you taste it instead of just rushing through it. I'm bad to do that.
Well, I see. It would be cheating if I said, hey, God, let's enjoy a frosty on the way home. You know what I mean? It's like, yeah, exactly. As long as he sanctions it, I can eat anything.
You know what? It's fascinating that you were there this morning because this same spirit. But this morning I was, as you might know, studying Haggai. You know what Haggai's name means? It means feast.
And the overall idea of the book of Haggai was you got to build this place to have this feast. And what are we supposed to feast on? It's just like you said. on him but You know, what we see the temple of being, like when you go to Israel and you actually go to Shiloh and you see all the broken pottery all around, where because what did they do? They had all these huge sacrifices and then it was a feast.
Like they were. They were in this unbelievable community having this party with exactly what you're talking about. There was lots of wine involved. If you've ever been to a Seder, real Seder, I'm talking, there is a lot of wine involved, and there is a lot of those things. But the point you're exactly making is that was supposed to be...
With with him and enjoying him in in the idea of it. It's it's really amazing.
Well, thank you there, Rowie. Haggy, ayy, ayy. Anyway, speaking of haggai. You reminded me of Haggis. And I had Haggis in Scotland that was wonderful.
I had Haggis on a ship that wasn't so wonderful. They know how to make it there. Lots of stuff. I'm afraid to ask what it might have caused. Yeah, I don't.
Nothing you're familiar with recently.
Okay, well, good to know. Danny, you actually have the next clip. Bail us out. I don't know that I want to follow any of that. Yeah, no, it's Keith.
You maybe cut that out or edit it to where you don't sound it. We don't have to. He used to show right now. Yeah, you'll be good. My clip is from the Shack.
And it's a scene where Mac and Jesus are out in a boat, and the boat is coming apart. And Mac goes into panic mode. And you'll hear his frustration, and I think, and Jesus is trying to explain to him. And what I thought about that is that, you know, in the idea of comfort, and you know, we mentioned truth and everything. Mac doesn't understand the truth of the situation.
And so, you know, we'll play the clip and I'll talk about it afterwards. But the confusion and the chaos going on in his own mind and his own heart. is is what we'll center in on too.
Okay, okay, okay. There. Mac, it's okay. Why are you doing this to me? This isn't me.
You told me to come out here. Mac, this is happening inside you. No, you should be. You're letting it consume and you don't have to. Just take a deep breath and listen to my voice.
Don't look at it, Mac. Look here. Vision. Don't think about the past. Don't think about the pain.
Look at the mm. Everything's gonna be okay. Look at me. Trust me, none of this can hurt you. Uh Just keep your eyes on me.
Breathe. Good, Mac. I'm not going anywhere. Yeah, the whole idea behind that is that you know Mac is freaking out, and because of the situation going on around him. And I've thought so often that there's many stories I could tell about.
the situation was at hand that was chaos. And I didn't understand what was really going on. You know, what's actually going on there is there's some healing going on in Mac's life. God is dismantling some stuff in his life. And but he doesn't see it that way at that moment.
He does eventually. and maybe if we're lucky we all come around eventually. But, you know, I can remember when you know certain things going on in my life. And I'm going God I don't understand. And so I would run to the other comforters.
Yeah. I d I don't understand what you're doing. And so I I I'm p taking my ball and I'm going to play somewhere else. And I've done that many times in my life, not proud of that. But in essence, what happens is that we learn to trust him.
in those moments. When we finally decide we're going to seek truth, as Darren was talking about.
Okay, Lord. And we call it Raiding the Hood around here. You know, okay, the engine lights flashing, the oil lights on, and you know, everything else is happening. There's steam coming out from under the hood. Probably better stop and check this out.
Yeah. And When we decide to do that, we invite Jesus in. Say, Lord, what what's going on here? And you know, he can bring truth into the situation. Whereas I would have never seen it.
You know, I don't even know my own heart according to Scripture. I don't know. why I feel the way I feel. But he does. And if I invite him in, then, you know, I get to see from his perspective what's going on.
and makes a little more sense.
Sometimes it doesn't. But the essence is I need to trust him.
So. Absolutely. Harold, do you have anything you'd like to add on this topic? I'm sorry I didn't go to you last show. Uh yeah, as a matter of fact, I really do.
I don't disagree with the comments earlier. about going to food for For comfort. But there's a flip side to that that uh I just experienced And That's the absence of of food. being a comfort. My sweetheart was scheduled for a colonoscopy on Monday morning.
And so I decided on Sunday that I would do everything except take the fills and and drink all the water.
So I d I didn't eat. I stayed up with her when she had to get awake at 3 a.m. in the morning. to take a second set of pills and stuff.
So I did all that with her. And yeah, I felt a little bit of uh discomfort in my stomach. but it it was far outweighed. by the joy that I felt, and especially after the fact when I realized that she was telling the medical people what I had done, And uh she told Art uh when he came over for Our meal Uh she was telling him about it. And, guys, I can't tell you how much comfort Agir from knowing that as she described it, I got another set of wings.
And so there is something to be said in finding. comfort in the absence of things that normally provide comfort.
So anyway, that's that's my thoughts on it. Another set of wings would have saved Icarus' life, so they're good things to have. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
We appreciate it, Harold. The next clip i it's the one that I submitted and it's It's from different shows. When I sat and thought about the topic, I thought, okay, what really takes me to the place where I'm looking for comfort? And it's not always from God.
Sometimes it's not usually from God. You know, I just, it seems like I need immediate comfort. and God isn't always about the immediate comfort. Right?
Sometimes, I mean, he's there. I don't mean it that way, but not the way I see that I need it. You know, because obviously I know better than everyone else, including God, sometimes is what I think. And I don't. But I realize that most of the time it's emotions that take me there, but there's something under those emotions that drive it.
But the first part of this clip is from two different movies from Disney, which is Inside Out One and Inside Out Two, where they're talking about this little girl and her different emotions. And in the first movie, they deal with the typical emotions, anger, joy, you know, those kinds of things. And then in the second movie, they introduce some more emotions, and that's what we're going to hear. And then it'll flip over to a couple other random clips that just really speak to what I feel sometimes, and then we'll talk about it. I'm joy.
This is sadness. That's anger. This is disgust. And that's fear. Hello.
I'm anxiety. Where can I put myself? A new emotion.
Sorry. We wanted to make such a good first impression. What do you mean, we? I'm Envy. Look at your hair.
Oh, yeah, not happening. That's on we. On what? It's what you would call the boredom. What's your name, big fella?
That's embarrassment. Welcome to headquarters, embarrassment. Oh, we're doing a fit. No. Oh, nope.
Go on high. Oh, you got a real sweaty palm there, buddy. Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. What we've got here is Failure to communicate.
He fouled me. What am I supposed to do? Let him get away with that?
Well, yeah, when he's 40 to 1. He almost put me in the rail.
Well, did he? Look! We had a plan. He found me, Tom! What am I supposed to do?
He cut me off! He found me! Salam.
Son. What are you so mad at? You have the voice of reason coming in finally after all of that. And that's what happens for me a lot of times as I have my little tirade, I go in the direction I don't need to go, I shouldn't go, and then God eventually just says, Son.
Son, what are you really mad about or angry about or whatever the case may be? And so when I was looking at those emotions, yeah, every one of those take me at times except for joy, takes me to a place of where I feel like I need comfort. Because something underneath that drove me there. Either the injustice made me angry, which we heard in the last clip for last part of the clip from Sea Biscuit. He feels like it's an injustice to him.
You know, before that we had from Cool Hand Luke. We have a failure to communicate and part of my wounding is not feeling like I'm heard. Right. Hear me correctly, it frustrates me. Right, but it's more than just a situation.
And then, of course, I had to throw in Bill Bixby, the original, You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry, you know, because I just thought it sounded good. And no, it's I, there are times. I could compare to the incredible hawk, just not doing great things. You know, I have broken more things in the fit of being angry. That I've had to buy again, that I finally learned my lesson to quit doing that.
I remember one time I got really mad at my phone. Not a smart thing, and I smashed it against the uh the shifty the gear shift and uh had to buy a new phone. And so it wasn't a smart sm phone. No, it well it wasn't smart enough for me, apparently. And so just stupidity and you learn that stuff, but I just have been asking myself ever since Darren threw out the topic is God, what keeps me from coming to you first?
Why is it that I don't, you're not my immediate go-to? Why is it the refrigerator? Why is it something else? Why is it staying up late watching UFC? You know, because I enjoy seeing people beat up each other.
I don't know. Why do I do that instead of just saying, God, I need you? You know, and I'm doing it more and more all the time. I just know that I'm nowhere near doing it enough. And that's where I really am stuck right at the moment of saying, okay, God.
Help me to peel back why I don't have a deeper trust of you in these situations.
So that's my story.
Well, I will say this, just to give some grace Because that's one of the words to all of us, I think, is this whole idea of progression and becoming. You know, you could say the same thing about Moses or you know, whenever he got Fed up with the Israelites, or whatever. One minute he was defending them in front of God, and the next minute he was ticked off and hitting the rock twice, you know.
So I would agree. you know, a process is kind of what's illustrated. We've been talking at most of these Terms are in the 85th Psalm. And the 85th Psalm comes to the highlight of the idea of You know, as we talked about the you know righteousness would kiss peace. And this idea of truth in meeting with grace or with loving kindness.
But then it says that truth Rises from the ground, and the point of that to some extent is we're ground, right? We come from the dirt. and that truth is growing. Because we actually don't have the fac the facilities inside us to see absolute truth. And so as we get a little bit more truth and a little bit more truth, we spring up.
But the beauty of it as it springs up, that righteousness Looks down. From above, like the sun would look down on a plant that's trying to rise. And as those two kiss, like it that's that's that feeling of comfort when heaven touches earth.
So you got sun-kissed out of that. There you go. Yeah, absolutely. Now I understand the orange soda. Wrong sun.
Andy, I'm actually going to go to your other clip for a moment because I think it's the epitome of what we will reach to to try to find comfort. Do you want to talk about it, what's going on here? I've never watched this movie all the way through, but we've used this clip quite a few times. And it's. It's from the jerk and I don't even know the context.
You might want to know. I'll give you the context. Yeah, he just gotten his girlfriend broke up with him, and he's got a broken heart. He's crushed. And he's lashing out at her that he doesn't need her.
And he's looking to say, what do I really need in my life to make me feel comfortable? And this is what we're going to hear.
Well, I'm gonna go then! I don't need any of this. I don't need this stuff. I don't need you. I don't need anything.
The captive. Listen, I tell you, that's the only thing I need is death. Are these or this? Just disaster. Doose cloud day.
The asteroid and a paddle gamer, that's all I need. And yet Remote control. The ashtray, the pile game, and the remote control, and that's all I need. But these matches Yeah. The ashtray and these matches and the remote control and the paddle ball.
Good player. Yeah, free. Mm. This problem game and the remote control By the left, but that's all I need. Yeah.
And then I need two. I don't give one other thing, not once, I give this the ball given the share. And he goes on. I mean, I'm just thinking, you know, we've all... Sung the song Jesus is all I need or said it, you know, in a prayer, and you know, that's it.
We we say that and then we're kinda kind of like him. You end up with a whole house full of stuff, you know, by the time you finish. I got a plaque that hangs on the wall. They're at home. Jan's niece actually gave it to me.
It says all I need is AU football and my dog. That's not true. It's funny, but not true. I'm sure Jan didn't appreciate that. When you listen to that clip from the jerk, you can look at it and go, it's ridiculous.
Obviously, it's over the top. But I kind of think that's how God looks at me and says, You really think you need this? You really think you need that? You know, and it's just, son, you're being ridiculous. You know, you don't need those things.
You need something deeper than that. Yeah. I just um I like my needs better than his. I I mean, seriously, it's just like, but but but but you don't understand. I just I just want what I want.
And there used to be a country song um by Terry Clark. called I Just Wanna Be Mad. And there is some point Where we get to that spoiled child. In us, gonna go there, that there's a younger part of us someplace that is saying, But you don't understand, I was fouled. I was wronged.
I was misunderstood. I did endure injustice. I did endure bullying. All of these different things. And there is that.
that part of us some place in there. That is saying I you know, I was betrayed. all of these different things. And the enemy is right there in the midst of that, going, Yes, yes, you were, Darren. Yeah, Sam, you were.
Yep, yep, Jim, you were mistreated in that way. And he is helping us interpret. Yeah. The voice is coming from within, perhaps, that there is this younger part of you that, or this, it might be three years ago, younger part of you. that is very upset and hurt and needs comfort.
Mm-hmm. The question is: Who are we going to listen to? There, you go back to the 85th Psalm. We have to start seeking truth. rather than just going with what we're hearing because the enemy will be there to interpret all of these things and tell us why they happen and what we should do to make them right.
Thank you, Darren. I think it would be good for each of us to just ask the Holy Spirit: where do you want me to focus in this area? Do I sit down and make a list like I heard Sam do, like I did? Do I start somewhere else? But where do I start to help me start unpacking these things to where I can find true comfort?
That I can find it in you and through you, instead of in these places I look that are only going to provide it the most a momentary relief, and then it's back into the grind again. Go to masculinejourney.org, and we will talk with you next week. Yeah.
