2022 Word of the Year After Hours

This is Stu Epperson from the Truth Talk Podcast, connecting current events, pop culture, and theology. And we're so grateful for you that you've chosen the Truth Podcast Network.

It's about to start in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, and please, share it around with all your friends. Thanks for listening, and thanks for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. 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. Coming to you from the Masculine Journey After Hours, and we're mostly glad that you're with us today. Is that better, Andy? Would you prefer that as an opening or that we're really glad that they're with us? I'm really glad.

I don't know about what Sam's talking about. Mostly? Come on, man. No, we're really glad that you're with us today. Absolutely. We're excited. We're delighted.

Yeah, we're delighted. Jim, any other big words? Those are all short ones. That's all I got. You've got to throw in like a six syllable. We're peacefully delighted. That's two words.

Nothing comes to mind, which is kind of sad. Okay, okay. Well, we are talking about the word of the year.

I about said day. The word of the year. And so, Robby, I know you just set it up the last show, but if you'd like to go ahead and tell us a little bit more about what that is in case there are some reasons why you're just joining this show for the first time.

Sure. Well, it's just absolutely a delightful practice we've done for a number of years. It really is, and I didn't mean to use my word. It is delightful that we ask God in the month of December or January or whenever. I mean, I think some people one time got their word in February, which is cool.

Oh, it was Andy. It is cool in February. Normally, not that anyway. But the idea is, you know, God, where are we going? You know, sort of a theme, a paradigm, a way to look at your year, and you begin to ask God like you would ask for your new name. You know, and listen. It's a matter of giving God the opportunity to speak, and then you sit there and try to hear. And when you get a thought that you feel like wasn't something you thought, you said, well, that doesn't a lot of time make sense, then you begin to track that to see if you can get some verification that that is, in fact, you know, where he wants to go. And again, I actually used to ask for one every day, and so I did get kind of, you know, over the period of several years, I did that every day. And so I got to where I got to where I could hear. It was really a wonderful practice, and certainly one that has just enriched my life tremendously.

So how exciting we get to do it this year, 2022. So I should have a bigger vocabulary than I do. They're all short words. Robby, I was just starting to feel good about, you know, my word of the year, you know, that I finally engaged after four years at a word and actually kind of stuck with it and bam, right out of the water.

Overachiever. Exactly. Now I just like, now I feel bad again. That's why he's so delightful. Yeah, you can feel delightful. I feel like nothing now. Shame.

I couldn't figure out what I could say. Anyway, just messing with you, Robby. Andy, the first clip is yours. And so I got to say before you played this clip or anything, this is one of my favorite clips that we've ever played.

We play a lot of good clips, but we've used this one before, and it is just such a good clip for so many things. It is. So Sam submitted this back in June, I think, when we were talking about condemnation and conviction and a difference, and you saw it a little bit. But it's from the Andy Griffith Show, and I'm going to talk more about it after, but it really is a dialogue between Andy and Opie about Opie's charitable giving. When I called your name, you gave a large, generous amount of three cents. My, that is big off your diamond, Jim. Can I give him too much, Pa? Too much? I could ask him to give back two cents. Look at him. We better talk about this thing.

Now, now, now, look here, Opie. You can't give a little bitty piddly amount like three cents to a worthy cause like the underprivileged children's drive. I was sitting here just the other day where there's somewhere like 400 needy boys in this county alone or one and a half boys per square mile. There is? Sure is.

I never seen one, Pa. Never seen one what? A half boy. Well, it's not really a half a boy. It's a ratio. A ratio who? Not whole ratio, a ratio.

It's mathematics, arithmetic. Look, now, Opie, just forget that part of it. Forget the part about the half boy.

It's pretty hard to forget a thing like that, Pa. Well, try. Or a ratio. Now, look, a ratio is not the only needy boy. Son, didn't you ever give anybody anything just for the pleasure of it? Something you didn't want anything in return for? Sure. Just yesterday, I gave my friend Jimmy something. Now, that's fine. What did you get?

A sock in the head. I meant charity. I didn't charge him nothing. I meant something for the joy of giving. I enjoyed it. That's such a good clip.

Yeah, that's really one of my favorite clips from any movie or TV show, actually, and that's kind of why I went back to it. So my word for the year is charity. So just a little back story on how I got it. I was driving home last week, and I'm usually a late bloomer on getting the word. And I was driving home, and I was like, God, what is my word?

I got an hour and a half drive to Boone, so I had plenty of time to ask. But it was interesting how quick it came. But I never had received my word this way before. I kind of like saw it in my spirit. I saw the word charity written out.

And this is where I was asking Jim and Robby, maybe they could help, CH was emphasized. And I know there's a lot in the letters and start stuff. So I know the word in Greek for love is agape.

And I don't know the Hebrew word, but I don't know if you can have anything to add into that. But anyway, it just came to me, and at first I was like, is that really it? But as the weeks went on by, I've realized that that's it. Now, I feel like over the past few years I've thought about love as being a word, and it just didn't feel like the right time, I guess. I mean, I've heard you guys get different versions of it, the father's love or various versions of love.

And I think this is what we were talking about. If it comes a certain way that's within you trying to make it up, it would have just came as love or whatever, but it came in a distinct way. What I'm wondering if that word, the emphasis on the CH for charity, maybe it ties back. Four years ago I got my first word, clarity, and this is charity. But with that being said, what I feel like it's leading me into is, obviously we think of charity as giving to somebody else and helping somebody in need, but we also know that charity is love. And instantly it was about love or agape love that I thought it was, about God's love or maybe my love to fellow man or the whole charity. Now, I started thinking about the charity. I've been a giver, but I could do better.

And there's people in a lot of need now, and maybe this is something. But even in 1 Corinthians 13 where it talks about charity, it talks about, I can give everything I have to the poor, but I can still not have love. So the emphasis really is on love and finding out what God is. But the point is, is I really don't know where he wants to take me. There's a lot of questions there, but there's an opportunity for him to just lead me into whatever my guess is. It'll probably touch on all those ideas that I've had at some point, but just having the faith to trust him to lead me down that path, that's what I'm going to do.

It sounds like an awesome word, and I'm looking forward to it. This has nothing to do with the show, but when you said the word charity, my best friend from school, his name is Bob, and he was engaged to a lady named Charity for a long time. And I used to always ask him, is that her name or what she does?

She just has Charity because she's dating you. So I'll be nicer on your word because I know that one's coming from God directly. And so we'll kind of go from there. Oh, that'll be a first if you're nice on his word. Just on his word.

Everything else is up. You'll be very charitable, right? He's going to double down on everything else. I'm just saying, I'll be nice on the word. That's all I committed to. Oh, gosh, we're going to have to see if we can hold him to that. Thank you, Rodney.

I appreciate that. So Rodney, you have a microphone. That means you must have something you want to say, like it's your turn to talk about your word. Well, you know, Robby has call-in shows. This would be perfect for a call-in show because he always wants people to call in.

He tries to give them sometimes really easy things so they can guess. So we can listen to this and just guess. Just try to see if you can figure out what my word is before I even tell you.

I think you can do it. It's not life, right? It's not life. No, Jim's is not life. It's peace. It's not even life. Shalom.

So let's play it. Shalom. Freedom Oh, yeah I'm on my way Just set me free Oh, sweet home Oh, sweet home Freedom Is your word my, my, my way or whatever it was? Yeah. Yeah. So Robby, I'll buy you dinner next week if you can tell me who that band was. The only reason I know this is because, you know, you guys went on and on and on about it and I'd never heard of them.

But, you know, it's pretty easy name to remember Motley Crue. Oh, gosh. Now I got to buy you dinner.

But meanwhile, before we do that, I, if you don't mind, I'm just so excited about. Oh, yeah. You mentioned Hebrew, Andy.

So you got Robby's over there like he's, he's, we got to peel him off the ceiling. Well, I already knew that the Jews consider offerings to be that idea of charity. Right. And so you hear them speak about that often in their discussions of whatever. And so the word for offering, which is by the way, you know, the way it's a gift, tribute, offering, present, oblation, is it's mincha. Very specifically with, you know, what is called a het, which is that CH sound.

Het, right? And so, which means life to a great extent. And then it's got the he, which is an expression of life with the first letter being a mem, which is kind of like saying it's the Messiah. And then there's a nun, which is like, so it's kind of like the seed of life, if I were to tell you what it looks like in Hebrew. And then you have, you very, very clearly has that, that CH with a he on the end of it. And you know what I'm saying, right, Jim? I mean, it's completely got that charity idea in it. Really beautiful.

You can also go with the Greek and that's chi, which is the beginning of Christ. So very cool. But now we can get back to freedom. I mean, I guess, and the motley crew, you know, I still am missing something, you know, I don't know exactly what, but I know, I know Rodney loves it and that's what's important. I'll buy you dinner the week after that, if you can spell it correctly. Motley crew? I'm just going with M-O-T-L-E-Y. And the crew? I would guess C-R-E-W. He's shaking his head no. Yeah. Does that mean you buy me dinner?

C-R-U-E. And the motley, I think, has an umlaut over the O, so it would be M-R-I-T-L-E. So back to you, Rodney, on freedom and motley crew. Hey, I'm giving them guys a lot of freedom to just do whatever they want to do, man.

They did a lot of freedom there. Yeah. The word came to me very quickly because I had, there was a couple of times I was like, oh, yeah, I got to remember. And I'm like, oh, he's like, okay, Lord, I'm not going to pray about getting my word yet because I don't have time to deal with this.

Then finally I did, I'm like, okay, I got some time, I'll sit down with you. All right, before I even got out, my whole mind is saying, what's my word? The word popped in there, and I was like, really? I was like, that's a great word, Lord.

Man, I would love some freedom. And it was just like, is that really it? And it just feels like you were talking about with the light being a gift for Robby, and it's like, that's what it feels like. This is just like, this is your gift.

This is your freedom. And so it's been awesome since getting the word because how often do we talk about freedom in Christ and listening to some sermons and other things? It was just like Bible study. It was like boom, boom, boom in there all the time. And it was just, it's just been a great word already just for the fact that the impact that it's already had. And then two days ago, because I had the Sam clip from Freedom from Braveheart, and I'm like, yeah, that'll work. When I first came up with it, I'm going to play that. Then all of a sudden in my head, two days ago, I'm singing Home Sweet Home in my head. I'm like, man, I haven't heard that song forever.

Then I'm just kind of, next thing you know, I can't get out of my head. I'm like, Lord, am I supposed to use that because, you know, I'm coming home. That's where my freedom is, is in heaven. It's in you, Lord. It's in coming to you. It's coming home to you. And set me free.

That was it. I was like, and it just set me free. And I just sit over and over in my head. I was like, I was just singing that and hearing the music. And I actually went, you know, and then looked up the lyrics when I cut it. And there, isn't it amazing that what you see in lyrics of songs are in context of movies and other things that happen in life, B.C. to After Christ? It's just, you see things in lyrics like, wow, I can see things in there that the Gospels in words and in songs and in movies that I never would have had that before. And that's the freedom he gives you to see these things and to understand these things. And it's like, all right, I'm going to understand a lot more about not just my freedom, but I think the freedom that he offers in Christ and just with the brothers and with other believers.

Because that's, last year with family was just a great year to grow in Christ and just have, understand my family's much bigger and much larger. And just, it's been interesting because we've been doing, we do two services at church. And the first service is the one I attend.

And the second service is one where I either do some work or something, or I go to Sunday school, the adult Sunday school class. And we've been doing for quite a while now, just some, hey, somebody give your testimony. Well, I got tapped on the shoulder this past week and it was just, it was a lot of freedom for me to actually be able to give my testimony that specific probably day, even with everything that's going on in my life. And to be able to talk about where I've come through, where I'm at now and what I'm about to go through.

So it's like, it was like just a great word, it seems to really fit already. And I'm just really enjoying it. Thank you. I appreciate it. Danny, we've had you on the line and you really haven't asked anything. Would you like to comment on anything from Andy or Rodney's word?

I really got nothing. I just want to give you that opportunity. You know, sometimes that happens.

I appreciate that. But I do want to make sure you understand what happened to the person that was yelling freedom. Are you ready to be eviscerated and decapitated? Yeah. You know, like in the song, you know, take me home like tonight, tonight, tonight, you know, I'm on my way. I'm like, well, I don't think it's tonight that I'm, you know, going to have ultimate freedom and, you know, be, be seeing God tonight. But in, in this time of my life, yes. And I'm like, I, I have no problem with that.

And that is our ultimate freedom. Yeah. Of course I would have gone with Jimi Hendrix. I don't sing it. No, since you're the one, you're the one, the whole room that can sing.

I can't sing like Jimi Hendrix. Yeah. No. Yeah.

Well, William Wallace and Motley Crue all had big hair, so that's gotta fit. There you go. There you go.

That works. He could be a part of the, he could have been part of the band. Well, see, I need to actually apologize to Andy on the air, you know, and it doesn't happen often. Oh my. But I'm going to because, you know, I gave him such a hard time about, he used a song from Ozzy Osbourne a couple shows months ago, whatever, a while back. I think it was like six weeks ago. No, I'm just kidding.

Like 13 hours. The point there, and you said it, Rodney, I just want to re-illustrate it or revisit it was that, you know, since everything borrows from God's story, not all music has God's story in it, but the music that moves us, when you really go to those specific lyrics, right, there's something in there that's borrowing from God's story. And so I gave you such a hard time about that because he had been in the group Black Sabbath and lots of stuff. And he had us checkered past, and that was when I found the actual lyrics and what they said, I was blown away because I'd lived, it was crazy training, I listened to crazy. And it's hard to understand what the lyrics of Ozzy. But you start listening to it, it talks about just the craziness of the world and then people trying to find, you know, freedom apart from, you know, truth or whatever. Now again, these are songs, a lot of them that we listen to and we'll play a lot of secular stuff. A lot of times it's just the object and the focus, people will make a God out of another person. And we can take that song and redeem it and say, well, they're talking about God. But you know, I appreciate you saying that.

It wasn't a big deal, but I will say this, maybe it was a wound there. But it was so shocking to me when I saw it, because I had heard that song, all I'd heard was, you know, the fast chorus part, but not really the verse is it really actually said something. Yeah.

And you find that, you know, I find it in songs that I really like and then I go back and I ask, God, God, what is it about that that's moving me? That's the payoff. Yeah.

Right. The payoffs are, God, why is that moving my heart? Why does it bring me to a tear?

Why does it do this to me? Right. What are you trying to get to me in that? And so, well, I guess I have a microphone in front of me, which I do the whole show, but it's my turn to... You don't have to share. I don't have to share.

Yeah. And that's mainly because you guys don't want to get my breath off of the microphone here. But let's go to my clip.

I'm going to play the clip first and then we're going to come back and talk about it. So this weekend I was playing hide and seek with my kids. And as they counted to 20, I ran and I kind of like positioned myself behind the curtain.

Yeah. Pull it across. And I just stayed there, pressed up against the window. And as my kids walked in and out of the room, they didn't see that I was standing there. We were playing hide and seek. And I, I was trying to hide. So as they moved through the house, daddy, daddy, where are you?

They finally got bored and they went into another room and started to watch television. When I came out, I started to smile and I laughed at them and I was like, haha, you didn't find me. And they were like, daddy, where were you?

We looked everywhere. And then it hit me, they were looking for me. I couldn't be found because I was hiding. Who's looking for you?

I'm not talking about just you, your body showing up. I'm talking about you like, who's looking for you and do you want to see the celebration that they share when they finally find you or you finally show yourself? There may be people around you who are waiting for you to show up. There may be people on your job, your employers waiting for you to show up. Your clients may be waiting for you to show up and everyone has given you an opportunity to show up. Maybe you don't like the celebration. Maybe you don't like the attention. Maybe you don't want or you don't feel comfortable sharing your talents or yourself.

It's a challenge that I've faced and I'm sure there are many people out there who face the same challenge. Since you're accustomed to challenges, I'm going to challenge you to show up because there are people who are looking for you, people who want to celebrate with you and now is your time. There's a gentleman named Jaron Sprov and I have no idea who he is. I did a YouTube search on the topic of gifts and talents and he's one of them that came up. I was surprised. I believe it's a secular thing that he's speaking to there and two of the things that I saw actually on there were both from secular people but they both hit me the hardest.

That one was one of them. The other one was from a lady and I didn't get her name but she quoted this. It said, the world needs that special gift that only you have. Back to my story of getting my word. This year at Christmas time, I felt God say, okay, give your coworkers, I'm working with some new coworkers I haven't worked with before, a copy of your book that I wrote a book a few years back, a devotional book, and really haven't done anything with it. It's just kind of been at boot camps and I've given it away and felt God strongly tell me to write it. Never really did anything with it after that.

Never really felt like I needed to do anything with it after that and thought I was just being obedient. I was given to him, my God, I don't know where these people stand in relationship with you. One of them that I wasn't certain about at all was one of the sales people at work. He got it and he was incredibly excited. He came in and he's like, oh my gosh, you know, and we're talking.

So I told him the story of how it came about from writing devotionals for a long period of time, put them together, made a book, that kind of thing. And he looked at me and he said, why are you hiding your talents? And I said, what? He said, scripture's pretty clear.

You don't bury your talents. And so it is, I was like, wow, okay. You know, and thank you, you know, and thank you for it. And later on I'm praying, I'm like, God, what was that about? And he's like, why do you hide your talents? I said, okay, I'm assuming that's my word for the year. He was like, yes, we're going to talk about that. And I began to realize that I do that.

I do that a lot. I'm sure there's some level of posing that has to, that's there somehow, or hiding or fear that God's going to come after, but the word that he gave me this year is talents. And one of the things that's so funny, you know, we had my last year's word was believe, right? And so as soon as he confirmed, you know, that is the word, I'm like, okay, God, I'm just asking you, don't make me live off my talents.

This comment back was, what do you believe? And I just started laughing, like, touche, God, you got me, right, I just barely did learn that lesson enough over the years, so I have no idea where he's going to go with it. I do know there's some things that he's going to open up for me and some things that I've had covered up, and I don't know why, but I do it at work sometimes, I do it with you guys sometimes, you know, I just kind of hide. And God's saying, nope, not time to hide anymore, it's time to come out from hiding. And so I don't know what that looks like this year, but I'm excited to see where he takes me, and a little scared, quite honestly, a little nervous, not scared that God won't get me there, of what I'll need to go through. And so anyway, I ask you to go pray to God this week and ask about your word, and it may take you several weeks, but just keep on it. Let him give you a word for the year and then just stick with him, saying, God, what do you have for me today on this, or what do you have for me this week, or bring up things in movies or music that speaks to this for me, you know, and help me to understand what you're pulling me to. This helps you to trust in him also. Exactly. Go to masculinejourney.org to register for the upcoming bootcamp, March 31st through May, or through April 3rd. This is the Truth Network.