Busyness

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Welcome to the masculine journey. We're glad that you're with us this week and we're in the middle of a pillar fest. I don't know how else we would say that. Not pillows, Danny. Not pillows. I know you're going to go with that. I brought my blanket and everything. You did. You did.

But you travel with that most of the time. We call him Linus. We do call him Linus. So Andy, can you help us understand what we're talking about when we're talking about these pillars? What are we in the midst of right now?

Sure. And just for an update, I listened to the show from last week that I wasn't on that I broke away from for a while. But there was discussion about where pillars came from. And I believe the original pillar, it started out with the masculine journey pillars. I think there were some questions about that. I think Rodney, you said that that's where it came from.

I think that's where the original idea came in. So anyway. I just record them. I don't listen to them. No, I didn't listen to them. I'm just joking.

No. So this set of pillars, a pillar is something that's foundational that holds something up in our spiritual walk. And the enemy has tools that he uses. And we're talking about these pillars or things that are consistent with what the enemy does to us to trick us, to bind us up. And they're tools that he uses. And I guess one day his pillars are going to get demolished, but they're kind of what he stands his work, puts his work on.

Yep. We are talking about the tools the enemy uses to keep us in bondage, to keep us from having healing and freedom and those kinds of things. So scripturally was pillars. Do you remember having pillars in the Bible? It wouldn't turn into a pillar of salt. Samson.

That's what I was thinking. And so if you really want a vision of pillars, if you think of Samson, you know, pushing the pillars out to where the, was it the temple? It wasn't a temple. It was something that collapsed. Was it a temple? Okay. Thank you, Robby.

You can go to Washington, DC. There's a lot of pillars there too. So yeah, you can't push them apart. You can try anyway, back to the topic. So this week's pillar, Rodney, this is your idea this week. So if it doesn't go well, we'll blame you. This is somebody to blame.

We're all great. It's usually Andy. That's why I usually have him talk. He's always back up on the blame.

If you don't have anybody else. Yeah. Yeah. So we've been doing some of the pillars and you've already had several and you were reading them off. And one of the things that just came to my mind while you're reading was the busy-ness because in almost everything I'm looking at, whether it's, you know, ministries talking about it, whether it's the world talking about it, whether it's just my own personal life, there's a lot of busy-ness and it just seems to get in the way. And now with, you know, everybody hoping we're over COVID and all those stupid stuff there, but yet talk of, well, it might be coming back. You know, it was just like constant people really want to unwind the busy-ness that they've had, even though some people have been stuck at home, they've been really busy in just trying to figure out how to do things differently, living at home, being scared of COVID or having mask and getting shots and all the other things that come around and getting toilet paper there for a while, you know, whatever it was, you know, you're, you're a busy year. It's like, people just want to relax and want to relax and have some fun and just take the pressure of life off. And for me, you know, being just kind of in the, I feel kind of guilty sometimes. I'm like, I'm, I'm good. I just kind of feel like, you know, there's nothing to rush out about, nothing to worry about. God's got it in control. It's just one of those things for me. It's, it's not been that bad, but I've, I've seen it around and I've noticed that my own life actually coming back a little bit because of certain things in my life where it's like, oh, I'm really, really busy with this and I don't have time for some other things that I'd like to like to do. Yeah. For me, COVID is about a week and a half from being over.

If I can factor in right. I'm, I'm on my last roll of one ply toilet paper. So as soon as, as soon as that's gone, I can actually go to the good stuff.

But yeah, I still have, you know, that stuff just lasts forever. You know, speaking of pillars though, I have at least two, if not three pillars of toilet paper in my basement, if you need some. No, I'm good.

I'm, but it's all one ply cause that's our preference. Yeah. I'm waiting to waiting to get some good stuff here.

So I'm about a week and a half away, I think. So we do have a clip. And so Danny, I think your clip is first and that's two weeks in a row. That's a record. I'm pretty sure it will be broken at some point.

It may not be next week or the week after, but it's up for it. It's a pillar. It is a pillar.

Yeah. So this clip is from an anonymous pastor cause I don't, I couldn't find his name and it's a devotion. He does the enemy of business and he does a really good job with scripture and setting up how busyness affects us and how the enemy uses it to, to, um, distract us.

So we can play the clip. All right, men, we're back and talking about enemies of our family. And I want to address one of the first enemies in the family today. And that is the enemy of busy-ness, not business, but busy-ness. In Luke chapter eight, Jesus talks about seeds and he talks about some of those seeds being choked out by the cares of this world. And in that, in that, that verse there cares literally means to divide. It's made up of two words to divide the mind. And so when you think about the cares of this life, we're literally talking about that the cares of this life, the busy-ness of this life can divide our mind. And the Bible says that a double minded man will never be stable. And so I want to challenge you today in the midst of the cares of this life and the busy-ness of this life, don't let your mind be divided.

Keep your mind with single purpose and single focus. Say, yes, my family is going to serve God. We're going to love God together.

We're going to work in the house of God together. We're going to do these things that cause singleness of purpose and singleness of mind because when our mind becomes divided and when as men we want to be, we want to provide, we want to be the strength, we want to be the foundation of our home. But when we let our mind be divided, we become distracted. And that cares of this life, it says in Luke, it says that it will keep it from coming to maturity. So men, what's going to happen is if you let your mind be divided, you will never fully develop into the mature man of God that you've been intended to be. So I would challenge in each and every one of us, don't let the busy-ness, don't let the cares of life choke out the word of God in our life. Let it grow to maturity and let every one of us be strong pillars in our house and in God's house all the days of our life. Even the clip said pillars.

It did. Yeah, so that was, that was a blanket statement all the way across the border, what we're doing. There's some blankets again.

There you go. You know, just thinking about what he was talking about and, you know, if you're not careful, even with, there's nothing wrong with going to going to church, I will say that. And, you know, being active. But in my own case, you know, several years ago, I got so busy in, quote, doing the things for God, that I left my family behind. I left, you know, the things that were important, the things I should have been focused on away because I had other things to do.

And, and, you know, there's a danger there, and the enemy used that to, to create some pretty massive carnage in my marriage and, you know, even with my children and, you know, God's been gracious and bringing a lot of that back together now. But, you know, that's the, that's where I went with this topic is that, you know, if I'm not careful, you know, I'm not listening to God and that relationship is severed, and I'm just doing it because it has a Jesus sticker on it. And, but God didn't tell me to go do it.

I just went do it because I thought it was a good idea. And so now trying to learn to listen and, you know, trust and obey rather than being here, there and yonder. And every time the door is open and, and every time somebody else has got something going on, just trying to be, you know, Michelle told me one time, hang up your Superman cape. But, um, that's where I went with this topic.

So, well, thank you. The, um, it reminds me of a couple of things. I think in a lot of our stories, we have a similar thing that there's a time that we go through a real busy time in church and volunteering for a lot of different stuff. And, and I went through that, uh, years ago at a church I was out in Indiana until God, one day we sit down and talked and I was just tired, you know, and, and, uh, he reminded me just because I can, it doesn't mean that I should. We can go do a lot of things. God's gifted us in a lot of different ways. Everyone that's listening is gifted in a lot of different ways and we can go make ourselves really, really busy with some really good things. But if God's not calling us to that, it's going to drain us. It's going to drain us at some point.

We can't keep that up. And so for me, it's always been a question since then of asking more. God, is this something I really should enter into? You know, and then feeling okay when he says no, you know, this, because what I've realized is someone else, if it really needs to be done, God will raise someone else up to do it. Right. And then they can be blessed in the midst of that.

But that, go ahead. I had a very wise man years ago. His name was Paul Trollinger. He, he said something that was so profound to me. He said, you know, no is just as annoying to the word as yes is. Good point. In there, with that all being said though.

But he didn't like for you to tell him no, by the way. Yeah. Yeah.

It was not anointed when it came to him. Yeah. That being said, you know, with, with the room full of guys here, isn't there something good that feel, it feels good to be productive. Right. And so there's something in the busy-ness that feels good. That's the draw.

Yeah. I'm just coming off of a five day weekend for Memorial day. I took a few extra days off and I am tired. I am tired, tired, tired. It should have been something that I could have rested up and, but there was all sorts of stuff.

I got a graduation coming up with my son and making the house presentable for family. Like they'll even see it or care, you know, it's just something we do and, you know, just working out in the sun all day for most of those days. I did take Sunday off and kind of relaxed, but, uh, I'm still just tired, you know, and there's something that feels good and that's what draws it to us.

Yeah. The, the productivity is not necessarily related to the business. One of the enemy's best lies is, Oh, you'd be busy doing this. You'll be productive.

And that's what we've got to look at. Cause I I've, uh, basically had time. Well, I just won, I worked a job and I was working 50, 55 hours a week and I took a pay cut to cut back to 40 hours a week.

And I was easily as productive in the 40 hours as I was in the 50 to 55. Yeah. There there's a lot of truth in that, uh, go to masculine journey.org. We have a boot camp coming up. I actually have the dates right now.

It's it's set no November 17th through 20th, November 17th through 20th. We also have an entrenchment coming up locally here in the Reedsville area, uh, more local than where some of you are listening from, but go to our website to look up the details on it. One of my favorite things about boot camp, well, the favorite thing about boot camp is every time I go, I encounter God. And as anyone that has encountered God knows, generally speaking, it's nothing we expect. Real encounter with God out of the blue. He knew what I needed. I knew what I wanted.

And those two were rarely the same thing. Register today at masculine journey.org. For me, describing boot camp, when I heard the stories from the stage that the other men had, and then during my prayer time, I'm getting a download from God on where my life is and how I have wounds and I have a place in his story to know how I heard from God is one of those things. He really does communicate with us. Register today at masculine journey.org. Welcome back to masculine journey.

Now, Rodney, I know you've been trying to get a Dolly Parton clip in for a long time, so you're able to work it in with this one. I really want to get that promotion is what I really want to get. Yeah, I think it'll work more than nine to five. Yeah. These days, man, if you're working nine to five, that's like a vacation.

Yeah. That's what we're talking about is it's the busy-ness of this world and you can just see it change over time. And I just remember back when I started my career, you know, you get out of college and you get your first real job, you know, and I think back on even before that, it was, man, I was working out in the fields. By the time the sun was up, I was out in the field working almost all day and I was in mowed yards.

My dad had me over in the garden all the time. It was just, I was always working. And then when I got a real job, it was like, oh, you can work this thing called overtime and make more money.

Oh, okay. And I actually loved my job. It was really fun.

It was a great place to work, great atmosphere. And you just kind of find yourself, oh, more hours and more hours and more hours. And then you have a family and you're like still putting in the hours. It's like you find an identity inside that where you're just like, oh, I'm comfortable over here because I'm good. And you find that niche where you're like, I'm good at this. And they appreciate this.

This other stuff called family and husband and father, that's a little tougher. You know, it's real easy to go to work and just be productive at work. So you can find yourself really just getting drawn into the busyness of life at work. Yeah. It's a lot easier to answer the questions that come up at work. Yes, it is. Yeah, usually yes, no, a lot less gray area. And well, you're always... I mean, the openness of what you talk about there of just dealing with trying to get work done, yes.

It's easy stuff compared to family life. Yeah. Yeah. Now, the next clip is Robby's clip. So Robby, you wanna tell us a little bit about your clip?

Oh, yeah. This clip surprised me a lot because it's on the Model T by Henry Ford. And I was interested in it just because I'm the Christian car guy and I love Model Ts. But it got me by surprise at the end on how the Model T changed really all the culture of the turn of the century through the invention of the assembly line.

I'll just play the clip and then we'll talk about it. When Ford first conceived the Model T, it took 13 hours to assemble. Within five years, he was turning out a vehicle every 90 seconds. Of course, the real invention wasn't the car, it was the assembly line that built it. Pretty soon, other businesses had borrowed the same techniques. Seamstresses became button sewers. Furniture makers became knob turners.

It was the beginning and the end of imagination all at the same time. Yeah, that just kinda hit me right in the gut as I started to think, wow, these guys who used to be furniture craftsmen, I mean, that worked hard to build the thing and the creativity that went into it when they went to work in the assembly line and all they were doing was putting on one nut or one bolt. You know, there's no soul in that or the people or the seamstresses that they're talking about that used to make dresses and create and all that had soul in them and partnership with God in so many different ways and what in the ways that we work. Under the sun is kind of a critical way to put that because the whole book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is making that point that as the sun comes up every day, you get things done day by day, but that to an extent is under the curse of the sun rather than in the light, which we're gonna get when we get the new heaven and the new earth, we won't need the sun anymore. And so Solomon makes that point really well in Ecclesiastes.

He drives it home in the Song of Solomon when he's talking to a Shulamite woman who says, don't look at me because I'm dark, because I've been under the sun. But the idea that, you know, I can accomplish things in my own strength goes clear back to the idea of Cain where he was going to, under the sun, plow the field so that he could make his wheat grow better than, you know, normal wheat. And this was gonna be done in his own strength, which God didn't like that. And so he didn't look with favor on Cain's offering. He looked with favor on Abel's and Cain killed his brother as a result. And the mourning of that is a darkness that comes from being under the sun. And as I process my own life, the thing that I think to me is, if you'll just take what part of my life is the most important to me, and for me, it's the time I spend with Jesus every morning.

And I thought about the change he brought into my life and then kind of taught me in it that in the 119th Psalm, there's a verse that says, order my steps in your word that not any iniquity would have dominion over me. Well, iniquity is when you start measuring things. When the car business is all about how many cars do you sell last month? How many cars do you sell this month?

How many are you gonna sell next month? You know, it's all about, iniquity is all about all these measurements that we put on, you know, how many members you got in your church or whatever. And when you start doing Bible study with that idea, oh my goodness.

And so, when I started going to him with the whole idea of what you're talking about, Sam, is this is a partnership too. Like, God, where do you want me to study this morning? What's more important to you? Maybe you don't even want me to look in the Bible. What do you want me to look in? You got a book?

You got something? Where do you want us to go? And when I made that shift to let him order my steps in his Word, it started to break me out of what had me in bondage, which I would have told you five years ago was the car business, but I was in bondage to being under the sun in all the iniquity, in all the different ways that I measure. And unfortunately, even Bible apps, you know, they tell you how many days in a row you've been faithful, you know, all that stuff is under the sun. And it's harmful compared to getting in there and partner with God and having the art of the creativity of that craftsman in whatever it is that you do that you love. Chris It was during those times, too, John writes in Wild at Heart, the big change in fatherhood, because fathers had traditionally been working out of the home, right? They had been doing the furniture making in the home, they had been doing in the shop out back, that type of thing. And now they're going to a different location in town, where they have to work in their way from the family all day.

And so there's a big change in the culture there with the way fathers are looked at. And I work with a lot of people that that's what they do for a living in manufacturing is their creativity. They want to be creative, but that takes time and money and you don't have that to compete. So it's it's getting them understanding also there because there's like, like there, he said that it grew something, because like the assembly line and all the thought process that went behind that. So there's a lot of creativity that went into losing other creativity, right? It's a balance. So what you have to do is you have to be able to look at it and it's like, look at what you're doing and go, okay, this is very mundane. It's boring. It's just this no, look in it for where does God have you in this and ask him, okay, Lord, where's the creativity that I can bring work and I can bring my personality into this.

Cause he gave you a personality for a reason. And that's where it's, it's hard to find that balance because many things just seem like, Oh, it's just ho home doesn't matter. And a lot of people, even back then when they were making furniture, like I'm just making a piece of furniture.

Now we look back and I was like, wow, that was really creative. It's you have to really look for those opportunities to bring that in. And it's not easy. It's easy to get buried in that busyness. It is. It is. I'm going to get one more clip in here cause it's 42 seconds.

So we have time for that. And this is, this is how my life feels this last few weeks and hoping it'll settle down in the next few weeks, but we'll just listen to it from Alice in Wonderland. You'll probably have heard it before.

It's just a rabbit with a waistcoat. So if that was someone that you cared about and that's how they were living their life, you'd probably say, Hey, you need to slow down a little bit. You're going to drop dead, right? You're going to have a heart attack. You're going to stroke out. Something's going to happen here.

You can't go at this end up in the rabbits too. Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah.

It, but if it's you, do you have the same advice for yourself or do you justify it? Well, you know, it's just a season. It's just a busy season. That's going to get better. Will it really get better?

Will it really just be a busy season? I think rather than justify, you want to use the word rationalize. We, there is no real justification for it. Jesus didn't do that.

And he was the most productive man ever. And, uh, we could always justify what we get accustomed to and think is the right thing to do. Well, we think it's normal.

Yeah. At some point it's very unique. It is very unique.

That's pretty good. He knows that irritates because you can't be very unique. You're unique or you're not. It's like being very pregnant.

I've seen people that are very pregnant. Yeah. Anyway, so last thoughts on the topic before we go from the show.

Rodney is your topic. A couple of last things you want to finish up with. Well, I'm just like you thinking about the busy Memorial day weekend that I just had. Uh, speaking of pregnant, my cousin's oldest daughter is having their first child. So we had a baby shower.

We went to watch the race on Saturday. We did a baby shower on Sunday and then just hung out on Monday. And it was a very busy weekend, but Oh my gosh, was it fun laughter and just all kinds of stuff going on with the family. And a lot of them were in from out of town, things like that, that people I think took time out of their busyness to come be with family. And I think everybody was talking like, Oh my gosh, we keep talking about getting together more.

We've fortunately this time is for a baby shower because it's been for funerals, unfortunately for several of us, you know, for a few years. So, but that's what, you know, we get together for these items, but we're like, man, we need to plan a family vacation and actually do it design. Cause we've been talking and talking and talking and not doing it, but it's like, that's a time to be properly busy. Cause I, I, even though I'm tired, cause I got home late, I still had a great time and would go right back at it and do it again. Loved it, had a great time and just, you know, it's like, okay, try to, how do you balance the way those out as to where's the proper business?

Where's the unproper and, and all that. Yeah. I think there's a lot of things to weigh into the busyness. Busyness can feel good.

Yeah. It can feel productive. Like we talked about, it can feel like I'm getting things accomplished, which is productive in another way of saying it, but it also, what's it robbing you of at that point, right? Is it robbing you of time with your families? We talked about, is it robbing you of time with God? Is it making you divided in your thinking to where you don't really focus on anything? You get too many irons in the fire. Those are all things that you need to go to God with and say, Hey God, I need you to help me with my priorities, with the things that I have going on. This is the Truth Network.