Pruned

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This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. So, discontented.

That's our question today on Truth Talk Live, and it's live because you can call in and tell us why do you think the younger generation, and maybe you're in the younger generation and you know why you're discontented. That would even be better. 866, the number to call in, 866-348-7884-866-348-7884. And if you're digitally gifted, then you can do this kind of thing. It's 866-342-7884-866-7884.

That's easier to remember for some, but I can't do that. 866-348-7884. Why is the younger generation so discontented? And wow, I am so excited, honestly, to introduce to you a Truth Network podcaster and a future, like he's coming soon to be a regular host on Truth Talk Live from Lynchburg, Virginia, and a member of the younger generation. By all means, it'll be the youngest Truth Talk Live host I'm aware of we've ever had is Ryan Shay, and his podcast is called Pruned. It's an up-and-coming podcast here at the Truth Network line of podcasts, which, by the way, if you go to truthnetwork.com, and you can look at all those podcasts, and you can see Ryan's, which he does along these lines, always about what's the generation thinking, what are they doing, and is it, well, let me just introduce you welcome Ryan. Thank you for having me, Robbie. It's good to be here. It's great to have you, and so it's like Generation Z?

I think Z. I think Z's where we're at for now. Okay. Depending on who's listening. So very cool, right? It's a great topic, and I can imagine if you have some younger generation in your family, or you walk into the mall, and they have this look on their face, like this person is not happy.

This person looks discontented. Why do you think that is? 866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. It's a fascinating thing, right, that I can remember when I was in the younger generation, right? And Nick, you're in the younger generation too, right? So our producer, Nick, who's always. Proud Gen Z.

My right-hand guy in so many different ways. So you see, when I was your guy's age, shortly there before, the Vietnam War was going on. And our generation did not believe, I shouldn't say all of our generation, but a lot of people in my generation did not believe that war was necessary. And obviously, many of us in that generation lost a lot of friends in the Vietnam War, and at that point in time, there was a draft, meaning that whether you wanted to join the army or not, you were gonna have a number that came your way, and you were headed to Vietnam. And many went and served their country valiantly, and unfortunately came back to a whole lot of shenanigans. And really, it was disgraceful the way we treated them, all those kind of things.

But if you can picture kind of what that was. And so, when I look back at my younger self, and I go, hmm, why was I so discontented? And from my standpoint, it was the older generation. They're running the country into the ditch here, and I'm the one that's gotta go give my life to fight for my country here, in a war that I don't think I necessarily think we ought to be in, et cetera, et cetera.

It was a tough time. Have you ever read that about it, history or anything? It's like that in, hate to get political, but like that in Congress. There are a lot of older generation thinking for the young generation, but they're not thinking longevity, they're thinking of now.

Do you get that? I mean, current votes and things that will keep them in office, and meanwhile, running off billions and trillions of dollars of debt, that kind of thing, is that what you're talking about? Yeah, and that trillions and billions of dollars in debt, that's gonna come back on us when they are gone.

There you go. Yeah, but they're not worried about you. They're not worried about me. They're not worried about the average person, no.

They're certainly not, you know, in their 20s and stuff like that. So what do you think? I know you've got an opinion out there, and it's time for you to get fired up.

866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. You guys came up with this, you're doing a podcast on it, right? This is gonna drop next Wednesday?

That's right, next Wednesday. And so why did you feel compelled to even talk about that, Ryan? Well, I mean, I see so many times in my generation just looking out at friends, coworkers, you know, people that do life with, and it's just like, there's just this perspective that I can't do what God's called me to do unless I have what I think I need, you know? And so you almost live as if you're missing something, and something that we're going to do next week, and what we try to do is, like, showing everybody, like, no, you have exactly what you need to be content in all circumstances, and maybe it's not what you think it is because a lot of people think it's found in circumstances, which is why it's always so up for grabs, you know? That seems like there's scripture along those lines.

Absolutely, absolutely. Paul says it, Philippians 4, right? He says, I've learned the secret to being content, and I think the secret word is the key word there because if you look out at the world, it's like a lot of people don't have it, which makes sense.

That's why it's the secret. I think it's a John Piper quote. He says, if people aren't asking you about your hope, it's probably because you hope in the same things that they do, and I think a lot of times we base our contentment off of circumstance rather than the character of our God, which is what everyone else in the world does, and we wonder why we're in such negative, anxious, depressed, we're the most depressed generation ever to exist, you know? It's like, why do you think that is?

Because we're always basing our totality of well-being based on life and what we go through. Right, and if you're listening with me right now, you're going, hmm, I have hope in this generation. How cool is it that God is raising up, and he has, in every generation. He raises up people to help lead that, you know, a remnant, essentially, that's saying, hey, remember God is the same yesterday, today, and he was faithful to the previous generations.

Clearly he's going to be faithful to us, but obviously that requires faith on our part, and a lot of interesting things. Absolutely. So you decided to be quiet so far in this segment, but during the time, it'd be great for you to call us, 866-348-7884 during this break. 866-344-TRUTH.

We'll be right back. Why? Discontented. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. Today's question, which, by the way, you could call in and give us your ideas.

Why is the younger generation so discontented? 866-348-7884. 866-348-7884. I know you've got some ideas. We've got some younger folks here that we could run these things by, and we would love to hear from you. We are blessed to have with us in the studio Ryan Shay. He is one of the Truth Network podcasters, and soon to be we are working on details for him to broadcast live actually from Liberty University in Lynchburg, where he just recently graduated and fixed to finish his master's degree. So Ryan, pretty cool that you're going to be doing this podcast and sharing these kind of things, but obviously you had your own journey, right? And that started somewhere, and so were you originally from Lynchburg? I'm originally from right outside of Washington, D.C., up on the Maryland side. Yeah, so I grew up in kind of the urban area of Maryland, right outside of D.C., and honestly thought that I would be there for the majority of my life. I wasn't planning on going to Liberty, and through a series of uncertain events, honestly, baseball being a big catalyst for that, ended up at Liberty with a long story, long story. So how about your own spiritual journey?

Where did that start? Yeah, so I grew up in a morally good household, you know, Christian, so to say, like God, Jesus, Bible, all the things, but really wouldn't say I knew the gospel and really kind of walked with Christ until really, honestly, probably in the last five, six years of my life. And so in high school, I had this moment where I was just like, man, I've said I'm a Christian my whole life.

I have nothing related to my life saying I'm showing I'm a Christian. I was like, why don't I read the Bible? So I read the whole Bible in like a couple of months, you know, and I was like, well, maybe this is what Christianity looks like. As long as I do this and do that and check this box, like now I could say I'm a Christian, you know, and I got to college and quickly found out that my desires are not as good as I thought they were.

You know, like there's a part of me that actually likes the things of this world. And I didn't really know that because I didn't I wasn't tempted by it beforehand. But now that I'm in it, it's like just because I've memorized a couple of verses. There's a lot more in it than just having all the head knowledge, you know, and so I really went on this deep dove of like, what does it actually mean to follow Jesus and deny yourself, take up your cross? And I got to the scripture in Hosea 6-6 where it says, I desire your love, not your sacrifices. I want your heart more than I want your burnt offerings. And I've just come to this conclusion that God wants me. He doesn't want my good works. He doesn't want my religion, my good behavior. He wants me.

And if I give him me, then in turn, like he will give me the life that he's called me to live through the scripture and through obedience and all those things. But I think we get that mixed up a lot. We do. So there you are at Liberty and you're playing baseball and you know, which probably knowing most athletes, there was baseball in high school and then there was baseball in college. And so was there something that that kind of turned you back towards like, wow, this baseball thing is where I need something to fulfill me? Is there something in that that happened?

Yeah. So funny enough, I, I always, I always tell this to people like my story within getting out of sports was the complete opposite. And so a lot of times people are like, man, like I just, I really want to do this, but I felt like I should have done this other thing.

I felt called to like ministry or doctor or lawyer, all these kinds of things. For me, I was like bent on, I like, I'm going to be a baseball player. I don't care what it takes.

I don't care how hard it is. Like this is what I'm doing. No one's changing my mind, you know? And so literally for me, it came to a point where not only was an injury was something that pulled me out of the game, completely changed the trajectory of my career. But truthfully, like I look at it and I had, I had no choice. Like my career was taken away. I was not good enough. I lost all my skills and abilities and to which I was faced with a new reality of what I'm doing today. But it wasn't something that I chose.

I would not have ever chose this myself, I guess I would say. So a bad injury, right? Yeah, that injury. And there you were, obviously.

And interestingly, I, you may know, interviewed Nikita Koloff many, many times. And I don't know if you know this, but he played football and his deal was he was going to be a professional football player. And actually when he was in high school, broke, I think it was, he broke one leg horribly, got to college and was very shortly thereafter that when it looked like he, the NFL was looking at him and all this, guess what? Another leg taken out and, you know, right there at the point where he was going to graduate and that kind of stuff. And so he lost his chance at the draft and he goes into all kinds of training, all kinds of training in order to be ready to walk on, you know, or whatever you want to call it in the NFL. And God just had something different for him in wrestling. And so there you were, is that when you kind of pushed back into your faith?

Yeah, a little bit. I would say, I would say stepping, stepping out of the game, like once, once that injury happened, I continued to play for about a year and a half after that. But after about a couple of months after the injury, I knew at that moment that my career was going to be over. And so I played another year, but I knew long before that, man, like, I'm not going to play again, you know? And so there was this realization at some point before I stopped playing that, okay, I really need to get on a good, good page spiritually.

You know, like, let's, let's make this a priority and figure out like, okay, what do I believe about God, about Jesus, all these kinds of things. And you just so happened to be at Liberty University when this injury happened. Just so happened, man. A few disciples around you, I would imagine, was there somebody that, that came alongside of you that really helped you with that journey?

Yeah. I mean, I had plenty of people in my life at that time that were pushing me towards the thing. But I mean, honestly, Robbie, and I have no problem saying this, at that current moment of my life, I knew everything that I was doing was wrong and sinful.

Like, I had all the knowledge in the world. I mean, I read the Bible, so I knew, I knew everything that I was participating in or doing or experiencing was wrong. I had just never made the decision to say, okay, like, am I actually going to follow Jesus and trust him when he tells me what to do?

Or am I just going to keep acting like it's rules that I'm going to break, you know? And so it wasn't so much someone, like, nudged me or pushed me, it was really, I mean, probably the Holy Spirit really, just one shining moment of, like, man, if you're really going to claim me, like, if you're going to claim to be mine and I'm going to claim to be your God, like, let's do this thing right. You know, let's stop going through the motions, stop faking it, and really make some change here instead of just continuing to do things that the old self of you would be doing. And so when did you feel like you made the change and you began to push into your faith, push into the words that you had memorized? Yeah, yep. I actually believed them. And so, you know, when did he, or how did that kind of change the trajectory of where you were headed?

Yeah, that's a good question. So I, like I said, I had known, for example, don't get drunk with wine. I had known, you know, do not commit sexual morality.

Like, all these things, they're in the storage, you know, they're right here. And so the decision to finally act and believe on those came, obviously, a little bit afterwards. But even then, I mean, there was a part of my flesh that I have built this sinful pattern and over and over and over again. Like, to cold turkey, that was impossible, you know? And so even for, like, listeners today, I mean, maybe you're the one who's walking through these things and, like, trying to figure out how do I stop, where do I go for help? And the reality is, you have to show yourself some grace here because to cold turkey is probably thinking that your own strength can sustain that, which it can't. And so I had to get to a point where I understood, okay, maybe the power of the Holy Spirit is the one that does the change in me instead of me trying to stop doing what I like to do.

You know, maybe instead of just trying to cut off my own desires, maybe I should actually surrender to a strength greater than myself to do what I could not do for myself in the first place. And that really changed everything for me. Right. They put somebody else on the throne. That's right.

That's right. Well, I hate for some of you, you're not going to hear the rest of this show today because we're not on all the markets, but you can always go to the podcast page and listen to the rest of the show. Again, it's going to be why is the younger generation so discontented, which I'm shocked and awed that nobody's called in at 866-348-7884. For many others, including those in Lynchburg, you'll be hearing the whole, so come, stay tuned with us, and call. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. We are having so much fun today with Ryan Shay.

He is the host of the podcast Pruned, which you can find again at truthnetwork.com. But the question that we would love you to chime in on is why is the younger generation, or maybe why are you? You may consider yourself younger.

I do. What's up with all this discontent, man? And obviously, I love what Ryan was pointing out before the break, you know, we know that this is not how God would want us to live. We know that, you know, the Bible says don't be discontented, but if you really look in the mirror hard, like, well, that's a pretty discontent.

Look at the dude right there. I just shaved this morning. I love what we were talking about before the break, Ryan, that, you know, you can know something's a sin, all that you want to, but if you're addicted, or if you have, you know, patterns that you have in your life, it's just not like, oh, I'm deciding that's going to stop. You know, and I was telling you during the break, you know, I'm diabetic, and I know for me to eat a cookie or candy or anything like that, I mean, I'm really hurting my body. I mean, you just take me out.

However, man, at times, you know, I lose control, and I need, like, the Holy Spirit. But so for you, you know, you had a lot of stuff going on, and I can imagine that as a really successful baseball player, you're in college, right, that it came with some pride, right? Absolutely.

Absolutely. So I would say I started to live my life under this canopy of really three words, and it's, I got this. You know, and so that was taught for me at a young age, right? Because in athletics, it's like, well, you got to prove yourself, you got to show everyone you can play, and, like, you're better than them. So there's this part of you where you start to actually believe that, like, yeah, of course I could beat this guy.

Of course I'm faster and stronger than this guy. And so when that transitions over to the faith now, I'm thinking the same thing. And so the problem is, when I have that perspective, now I see, like, the law, obedience, holiness. I see all those things as pre-reqs of, like, okay, those are the things that I need to do, and then I provide the strength to do that, right? But if you really think about it, I mean, the totality of the Scripture is trying to show you that you can't. You know, like, even Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, he says, you've heard it said, but I tell you, and he raises the bar, like, astronomically high. It's like, whoa, I can't do that, and then, exactly, you can't, you know? And so I think that's the whole point of really growing in spiritual formation is understanding that maybe I can't live the life that he's called me to live, and maybe that's okay.

You know, maybe I'm supposed to rely on a strength greater than myself instead of trying to provide the strength on my own. And I think that changed a lot for me, and I think, honestly, that's the message of Jesus in the Scripture. Darrell Bock Yeah, and I love the way that you allowed God to take that over.

And, again, if you have a comment, you call us, 866-348-7884. But I know this may be hard to believe, but at 6 foot 5 and, at the time, 260 pounds, I was terrified of the dark. Terrified, right? And not long after I came to Christ, it became, like, man, I bet this is a sin.

Seriously. And I thought, you know, I've got, this isn't good, right? And I used to, like, if I heard noises and stuff, my wife, who's 5 feet tall, it was like, Tammy, could you check on that? It sounds pretty scary, something going on, you know? Like, I was just terrified. Well, one weekend, she went out of town, and at this point in time, I'm like 38 or 9 years old.

And we lived, actually, over here by Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in this really creepy house. It's just the best way I know to put it. And it's a thunderstorm, and it's lightning, and I'm laying, and I'm just absolutely frozen, scared, laying in bed. And I was like, well, God, you know, I know that me being this scared is a sin, but I have no idea what to do about it. I said, according to the Bible, somehow or another, I'm supposed to give this to you.

How do I do that? And this is a conversation I'm having in prayer with Christ. That night, in bed, shaking in my boots on me, right? And he says this to me.

In my spirit, like, you would hear the voice of the one, you know, like, his sheep hear his voice. Don't harden your heart. He says, well, Robbie, what's the worst thing that could happen? And I said, well, you know, have you not seen the movie Straight Jacket? Somebody comes in here with a knife, and rah, you know, you get the whole picture. And he says to me these words that changed everything.

Robbie, what would be so bad about that? And I went, oh, you're threatening me with heaven. Like, you're threatening me with, you know, that. Oh, wow. And so for the first time in my life, I actually, and through that conversation, he did it.

You're right. It wasn't in my own strength. It was my own journey. And through that, I began to process the fact that it would be okay if I died. And to die would be gained to some extent. And it didn't take me terribly long to have it to where I was not terrified anymore.

But he did it. And interestingly, I was diagnosed with a very deadly form of cancer about a year later, and it was fascinating that he had given me that so that as soon as I got the diagnosis, I was like, well, threatening me with heaven again. And I remember thinking, man, thank you for saving me from that for such a time as this. And interestingly, a few years ago, somebody actually was on the roof of my house, and I had to go out there with a shotgun.

My wife would tell you this long story. Oh, my goodness. But in other words, I know that he completely freed me of that, but it wasn't until I totally gave it to him because I didn't know what else to do. Right. And that's exactly, does that sound familiar? Spot on.

That's spot on. And we were talking about this before the show. I think the root of it, unfortunately, is we don't trust God.

Right? And you may be offended I said that. I said, oh, I definitely trust God.

Like, I went to the altar call at camp when I was eight. I definitely trust God. And I'm not doubting salvation by any means, but I'm just saying on a very practical base level, if you feel like you need to step in, you don't trust him with everything.

If you think that you have any part to play whatsoever, any part of control, any part of credit that you can have for your own gain, you don't trust him. And so the way I explain it to people is like, let's say you're driving with somebody, and the driver you know is a really good driver. It doesn't matter how fast or how slow they're driving. You're not going to say anything because they're professional.

You're not going to say anything. But if you don't trust that driver, you'll backseat drive all day, man. And so the fact that you have to step in and say something goes to show you that you don't trust that whoever's in control is actually in control. And I think even with obedience, I mean, if you look at the entirety of the law, it's always been, look, if you follow these laws and my commands and observe my law, you will live. He's saying this is the best way for you to live.

It's not like, hey, these are the rules you have to follow, and if not, you're out of here. But then we take that and look at it and say, I don't know if I can do that. And so naturally, in our human instincts, we rebel. And then we never find freedom anyway because we just go back to the same things over and over. There you go.

So maybe you had such an experience with your own struggles. We would love that testimony. That would be awesome. 866-348-7884. This is a live call-in show, just saying.

866-348-7884. And so cool. You know, God is taking you on this journey, and then you've graduated now in your master's program there at Liberty and thinking about a position on staff for the church, but you got this podcast. And so tell us about that, kind of what the mission is with that, Ryan.

Yeah, it's called the Prune Podcast with the Truth Network. Our goal and our mission is to emphasize how God is always in the business of shaping us and forming us more into his image. And so the Scripture says those who aren't bearing fruit, he prunes so that they may bear more fruit. And really, everything we're doing is trying to help listeners understand that at the end of the day, God is trying to make you more like him. Character formation is his greatest strength.

Like, that's what he's after at the most. And so when we look at our lives, we can look through suffering, adversity, perseverance, like all these things. We're not just victims of random circumstance, right? We can then trust that in this, he's trying to form us into more of his image, which means ultimately, like, we're never out of his hand.

And so I think if we look at life through that perspective, a lot of stuff changes, and it frees us now to live in freedom because we understand that he's using all circumstances for our good. So it's fascinating you chose the name. You know, and again, for those who don't know, I'm very involved with the podcast network here, and so I've been working with Ryan's podcast for a few months, and I always knew the title was Pruned. But now that I know your story. Makes a little more sense, huh?

So he had a big old shears outright, and here came baseball in Ryan's life. And man, that one had to hurt because, like, all those roots went down into that particular thing that I know from, you know, my own son and situation that baseball player became really your self image. Yep, absolutely. It became my identity, right? And so I thought to presume that who I was was based on what I do. And so how good or how bad I do equals how good or how bad I am, you know? And so I've heard it said baseball is a great sport, terrible God.

That's exactly what I did. You start to worship it because that's the thing that is on your mind the most tends to become the thing that you worship. And so that was a realization that I had to make. It's like, man, everything I do is wrapped around the sport.

And I could say I'm a Christian all day, but if my mind is fixed on the things of in between the white lines, that changes a lot. So maybe you were pruned. I don't know, but I know you got a thought. You got a reason you can call in. We would love to hear you. 866-348-7884. I really, really like the name of this podcast the more I think about it.

866-348-7884. Pruned with Ryan Shay. We got a whole lot more coming up with you. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live.

Today we're questioning why is the younger generation discontented? We've got Ryan Shay with us. He's the host of Pruned. It's one of the podcasts there at the Truth Network. He is soon to be one of the new Truth Talk youngest Truth Talk Live hosts. As you know, we have different hosts on different dates, so we're hoping he's going to be a regular out of Liberty University there. And we have Mike Drayton. Mike is in Dayton, Ohio.

Not Mike Drayton, but Mike Dayton. Hello, Mike. Hello.

Thank you for taking my call. I love that word, prune, as well. Have you been pruned, Mike? Are you feeling the scissors, man? Oh, my gosh. Every time I open the Bible, God prunes me a little bit more. You know what I mean? Every time I sit there, he prunes me every more.

Oh, well said. I think it says it's able to divide between spirit and soul. Every time I drive down the street and God tells me to stop and push a car out of the way of the median, God prunes me a little more. You know, it's just amazing how God will prune you when you're not selfish. And I think that's the thing with the world. I think we were the school, the world around you says, you can do it, you can do it, you need it, you need to have it.

You need to have a bigger TV, a bigger microwave, a bigger car, a nicer house, you need this. And God says all you need is him. And that's what the Bible says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean on your own understanding that all your ways acknowledge him and he'll make your path straight.

And that is so hard to deny yourself of what you think you need instead of saying, okay, God, what do I need? Hopefully I said that well. That's good, Mike. Really good. That is good. That's good. That's good. To quote Morgan Freeman or, you know, you remember the movie Bruce Almighty.

No, it was the movie Evan Almighty. So it's good. That's right.

That's right. All right, buddy, you have a great night. Thank you, Mike. Have a great weekend, buddy. Thank you. God bless. Oh, you too. Thank you. Thanks for calling in very much. All right. We've heard from Mike. We have not heard from you.

866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. And, again, you know, this idea of being pruned, and so even though your podcast is named Pruned, and even though you've had a chance to think about this and work with it, it still hurts every time, doesn't it? It doesn't feel any better. But I will say it also, I think it helps me, too, to understand that this will be a lifelong journey, you know, and I think we can never get past the thought of God is always, always, underlined always, always looking to make us more like him. And I believe, I believe he will do that until the day that you leave this earth. And so if you look at it like that, I mean, this makes life a lot easier. It's like every day that I'm here, every day that I wake up, every breath I have in my lungs is being used to make me more like him. And so when you look at life through that scenario, you're just like, well, whatever he gives me today, I can trust that that is being used for my good and ultimately for his glory, which means even when I don't agree, even when I don't see a way forward, I could trust that.

I could trust a good Father who gives good gifts and who is with me in the storm no matter where I am or what I go through. That's so beautiful. And so as the Truth Talk listeners are listening and not calling, so we know they're listening, what might they expect in some of these upcoming Truth Talk episodes with Ryan Shay hosting? Yeah, I would encourage you to come back in and really, I mean, we're going to just continue to push you to change your perspective on life because I think a lot of times what we do is when we have these situations that we don't agree with or wouldn't prefer like the suffering, the hardship, the disease, the cancer, we almost think that like God's sin up in heaven, he's like surprised, like it caught him off guard. Like he missed that one on the wave.

It's like, oh, like you didn't see that one come through. And it's like, well, maybe if he's really God, like maybe he knows what he's doing and maybe you can trust him at that even in the parts where you don't agree. It may not be easy, but you can put your faith in it and believe in it at the end of the day. And I think if you do that, then you take a whole different perspective. Like I'm not on my own and God is not against me, right?

The Scripture says he's for me and nothing can stand against. Yeah, and you have some amazing resources that come through Liberty all the time. So you got a lot of neat folks that you can interview, right?

Absolutely. I got a lot of really special people to come on and share their stories. That's another thing we like to do. We like to have other perspectives, other testimonies of how, man, God has pruned me. You know, like our friend Mike today, God has really shown me areas, brought me through certain things where I'm being pruned too. And then the reality is that turns into, okay, look, all of us are in this together, right?

We're all going through the same thing and we can all cling to Christ in the midst of it and walk alongside each other and lock arms as we go through this life. So you've already, with your podcast, had a chance to interview some neat folks on those podcasts that people can go back and see in the archives. Which person you interviewed did you all of a sudden like, oh my goodness, I had no idea.

That's a great question, great question. So we had a theologian named Chad Bird on a couple of episodes ago, probably a lot of episodes ago. But his story today, he is a resident scholar at a Christian organization called 1517.

He's a speaker, author, travels the country and does all these great things. But his story, his pruning was not a cancer diagnosis, something crazy happened in his life. His was personal rebellion. And so he was the star of his seminary.

He was the youngest professor to ever teach on campus. All of a sudden his pride got to him, adultery, possible suicide. His life just completely fell apart. And God had called him back and showed him that he is not too far in his mess. And so to hear a story like that, it's encouraging because it's not just the crazy parts where we don't understand.

It's also our own stories. I think of like Jonah. Jonah ran from God, right?

And so that was his own decision. Like I'm not doing what God wants me to do. And even in that, in something as crazy as a whale, like God will use things to bring you back to what he presumed for you to be in the first place. So I think it takes a lot of pressure off of us too. It's like we don't have to have all the right decisions.

There's no pressure to go the right or wrong way. You just continue to go in God's way. And he will take care of everything else and use everything else to help better the person you become.

That is a really cool thing. And I know all too well that like every time somebody sits down in front of you, God has done something that got their attention, changed things. And most people can relate to it because usually it's on the backside of some of my own disasters of some kind that I created and disobedience that I've had.

And so, yeah, you look like you wanted to say something. Yeah, well, I think it's so freeing for me because like I have no pressure to be perfect. I have no, like there's no bar for me to meet.

There's no standard for me to set. It's just I live my life trying to be as faithful as possible, being utterly dependent on God. And so like everything else that happens is completely up to him. I'm not in charge of anything else but obedience and the outcome I can give to him.

And when I do that, I mean, life becomes a life. I think this is the freedom in Christ that the scripture talks about. It's like you were made to be free. You weren't made to be tied to your own mistakes, your own bondages, your own even unforeseen circumstances.

It's like, no, you can live in freedom because someone else is in charge. It's like I know who's in charge. I know the Father.

And if I know the Father, I mean, I'm going to be okay. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing. And it's like you talked about the yoke is light. You know, I've often thought about that, you know, for those of my generation, you're familiar with a movie called Blues Brothers. Maybe you've seen it. You know, Jake Elwood and his brother, you know, are going to go, what they say is on a mission from God.

And they go do some crazy things in the movie. But the point of it is if you really do know that you're walking in obedience, this is what God asked me to do, and I know he asked me to do it. And like you said, I can turn loose of the results. This is what he asked me to do. If it turns out horrible, it's probably supposed to have been whatever it is. You know, I don't know.

I don't know, but that was clearly what he asked me to do. And you can turn loose of that, and it makes the burden really, really, really light. It does. And I can mirror a couple examples in the scripture real quickly. I know, for instance, you have like in Job where the enemy comes and messes up your life, right? But there are some other times where, I mean, the scripture says the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, right? So like sometimes maybe God is trying to show you that maybe you need to be more dependent. You know, maybe he's the one who's pushing you to your lowest point of strength because he cannot perfect strength. He can only perfect weakness, right? And I think the strongest place we can be as believers, men or women, is weak.

And that's the only place where he can make us strong and really give us the thing that we couldn't give in ourselves. More scripture, right? That's right, that's right. You got it.

It just is. And so I, those who know me well know I love, love Hebrew. And the word strength in Hebrew, are you familiar with it?

I'm not, no. I'm just going to spell it, and that's the way I like to do things. It starts out with this idea of a letter I in. And the letter I in is shaped like two I's that are connected to an optic nerve because that's the idea. I in does mean I as far as what it's meaning is because every letter in Hebrew is a picture. And so that's a picture of a vision, like God's vision. And what is it that you're seeing in the idea of strength is the letter Zion.

So the I in is the first letter, a Zion is the second letter, and that letter is essentially a reflection of Jesus. So if what you're seeing, if what your vision is, is causing you to reflect Jesus, you're strong as a bull. That's good. Stronger than a bull.

You're strong as you can be. But if what your vision is, if what you're reflecting is yourself. Right. That's right. And you're in some trouble, huh?

You know, as my friend Nemo found out, you know, shark bait, ooh-ha-ha. And there you kind of get it. But, you know, I've come across several things lately that just had to do with strength. So as you talked about that, I couldn't help but think that, man, what a cool thing that if we can just keep our eyes on Jesus. If we can just keep reflecting him, let him be, right?

That's right. Our strength will be made perfect in our weakness. His strength will be made perfect in our weakness. So beautiful thing, Ryan. So excited to have you on the team. Ryan Shay, his podcast is pruned.

You go to truthnetwork.com to find out more about that. We will see you next week.