New Beginnings After Hours

This is Stu Epperson from the truth. Talk podcast connecting current events, pop culture, and theology, and were so grateful for you that you've chosen The Truth Podcast Network it's about to start just a few seconds. Enjoy it and please share around with all your friends. Thanks for listening and thanks for choosing the truth. Podcast network. This is the Truth Network coming to an entrenched barricade in the heart of a letter masculine journey after our time to go to be more transparent on the topic of this so sit back and masculine journey starts here now is time you there are sugars in this entrenched problem with getting entrenched in Revelation that is picked on that before entrenched barricade keeps gophers out, but doesn't keep the triggers, apparently a lot of things and keep around a lot and so I ended up in places I didn't like the after hours of it's the trigger show that we continue to talk new beginnings and in order for those to happen we have to have something typically come to an end. You don't mind, motion drills and sleep through it and you just keep scratching some time so you talk about these changes in and in the regular show. I think we give examples of things, it came to and that didn't get their own rebirth. I will that's the story of our ministry family. We had you pretty big falling out about six years ago and it looked like that season was gone.

And then you God chooses to redeem it. Three years later and start the process and before that he was laying groundwork, but where will we we became aware of more unit of point where were not much different place with a lot of the same group of guys, and some additional ones got really decided you want to bring it back in a different way and stronger and that's why I would look at it is for sure it it felt like an ending for loss of heart in it for me personally. MAI I pretty much lost my heart for a couple years and struggled through and unfortunately people that live with me in close to me had come to suffer through that to. However, as the new me comes out of that in and learns to depend on God in ways that I didn't before. I think that even they probably would say it was perhaps worth it enough to end up on the side and there's a lot of blessings that have come out of that pain now brings up a whole another topic. Sometimes endings are not necessarily in God's plan may be because of our sin, and yet God is still capable of redeeming that in a grace based redemptive community is capable of redeeming that and that's what's happened and what we do in the way of ministry really flows out of our community and so that's kind of what we lost. At one point the ministry became more important in the community and we crashed and burned and and when we began to really recommit to the community, then it's allowed ministry really blossom in a different way and I think it fits you created a stronger foundation than what we had before. Yeah, I think there are times things happen. We make choices for me.

You know, my marriage came on and I don't really think that's what God had in store.

I don't really think that's what he wanted, for whatever reason, my wife and I couldn't work things out in an marriage ended but I think even on the backside of that if I would've stayed stuck in the missing that versus an okay guy I can't really do much with it.

I can return to you I will. The learned a lot of things about myself that I now know I think you may have revealed them to me in time, but I think because there was opportunity there. I had plenty of time. There is week does this by myself and I had opportunity to show me that I like to do things I didn't know that I like to do you paint and do some other things and it changed my relationship with my kids a little bit in a positive way. You know, because we could have different types of discussions and again we probably could have those inside the marriage, but God chose to see us into a different season so Harold and I are wondering, have you had a hankering to start any kind in masonry projects laying brick or anything. Okay so just trying to see if you were channeling Winston Churchill or not, but not now. It's too much work. I do want to get to a clip though because I want to go back to some of this topic of your sometimes these these new beginnings aren't exactly what we think we going to be in or put still frustrated about how the old part ended instantly pick up this clip from the movie for McFarlane.

That's kind of where this person is living his yeah I mean it. It is a lot kind of my story in that unit of the McFarlane USA's true story about a track coach, a cross-country coach who didn't want to be a cost car cross country coach didn't know anything about cross-country but he had been fired from enough jobs and gotten into what he thought was a dead-end town out in Southern California where he is by far the minority there in white middle-class America.

He was a white middle-class guy and ends up in a very brown Hispanic community of really neat people. He didn't go into it thinking that and he had some experiences with some amino County gang activity and that sort of thing and was really regretting it.

And so the first thing we pick up is him apologizing to his wife and saying I'm sorry we'll figure out some will move someplace else and so it it's kind of were forced into this new beginning because other things have ended and were not happy about not having you stay here and find something else, a lot more options. We cannot afford okay looking teacher salary just stayed somewhere longer. I don't know built up some tenure, then it would be different yourself Johnny could get our girls to start school on Monday. Julie's shoes sometimes you can talk about being excited about new beginnings that's totally's case is his new beginnings are very reluctant night that you come into home and then you as you let God enter into them.

You find it.

Sometimes you find life on the other side of that is much better than what you ever anticipated. It could be the thing I love about Pat clip is clearly at the end of the clip you hear that God is let the air out of his bag and and I'm certainly capable of living my bag and becoming a windbag and yeah at at at and even at this boot camp that were just coming back for more. We got triggers general help.

Let the air out of your bag, but anyway you know there were a couple of events there at the boot camp that honestly lost heart in the and and I know these guys don't want to discuss them even know this, but in a few hours before I was supposed to give two talks I called the rent that you know Sam and Darren and and Mark together and in tears that I can't do this not lost heart. I'm just in Lala how to do it and I can't even even though it was extremely painful. The air was out of my bag and I had no place to turn but to you guys, which in.obviously to God through you guys was able to you know come after that and that it really was a gift of phenomenal proportions. I would never know it was almost like what Satan meant for evil God meant for good. As I come in to hurt Robby and this is what this is, look like, but as a result, I have a lot better understanding of what it's like to live without your heart is that that point in time I had totally lost heart. Just like you can hear his voice right there which you know is a great actor and people that offer their but I know what that feels like in it and it gives me some sense of the value of of humility because if you know the movie as I know the movie he would've never allowed himself to trip to even coach and a cross-country or anything he would've missed his glory had he not let the air out of his bag arming of God hidden power that worked in.

Obviously we all get a chance to get the air out of her back. I really identify with this clip and it enjoyed the movie, but in a very different thing that was me when I'm talking about my job. The jobs I've had.

Most people, by the time I'm through thick. I'm a liar because of the professional Boy Scout inside sales engineer pump centrifugal pumps and valves. I've been a many many things we won't go through the list and it has in mind. Jim said earlier than the earlier show that you know that's most nobody likes change. I thought I love change because and I said it in this was an agreement in the camp that I am great at starting things that I usually end up in the running out of gas or in a fiery crash and it hit me during that clip that that's what God used me to get me into ministry and when I was a young man. Nobody would've expected me to be where I am now including myself makes a lot of all myself.

It's it's interesting to me that when you know you talk about that Jim and in and Jim earlier talked about change. I think were all okay with change as long as were in control with the control of it. It's when it's not in our control that we don't like change right and so when an ending is in our control were probably a little more okay with it, although sometimes it's an ending. It's a hard ending a bad relationship.

You know with with a friend that's just or has been a friend, but you know is a bad influence on me.

I remember breaking some of those friendships earlier in life and thinking man really like hanging out with that guy.

But that is not good for me. You know and and having to separate myself from that and it was hard even though, but I was in control of it or I thought I was in control of it so it wasn't as hard I could take the you know the high road, if you will, or whatever.

It's when you know relationships come to an end that you're not in control of, or it ends really badly those things and to see where God you know is in the midst of that and redeeming that is is a is a scary process if were not even if even if we have tremendous faith. I remember shortly after everything blew up with us.

There were many times when Sheila would say something like you and pray about it. Now go now. Now I don't want to pray about outing with think about, much less pray about coming that was to the extent that I had lost heart, and you know me Nora. Usually I would pray about it eventually. But you just being as authentic as I can be. I was there allotted days and I'd I know most men are at some point or another. There, at times, but that's what a broken heart does. And so when changes forced upon us, and causes a heartbreak. Once a little different story then you know AA move because a company offers you a job position.

It still hurts, you know, it can still have a major effect on the family and all those things at times there still an ending of some sets of relationships or geography or whatever. In the beginning of others but and so, as our listeners are listening, they might find themselves in various situations where some of those changes or endings are good and some of those endings are horrible when you deal with family in the both of those situations can it can be in the same move, you know, in my company move me down here from Indiana and on and you know was part of my wife and I prayed about it with like we should come down and it was a really good thing is we found this community at the time we were giving up what we thought was a very close a Bible study is that we met with every every couple weeks.

You know, we thought were really close. I can tell you the last time I even talked one of the people for that group was probably about 13 years ago when I left almost you know, because when you're not with people. Sometimes it drifts away you know in.

They were good people use realize at the time you note some heartbreaking stuff on I don't know that it was as close as I thought it was. But then we came down here and found a true community that was our story was really good. It was really good for my son Caleb got opportunity to play football with the way he would not where we were in Indiana it was nothing great for my daughter Sydney Newman � is it going in her senior year had spent 11 years in the same school system and then we pull her out and put her in a senior year in a new place and she told it where the story was good about moving down here pray would be the same as rest of the family and so I think even in the midst of those changes how that's looked at it and how the enemy plays that can be two different things you can look back over time, and you can see God's hand in things that you couldn't at the time and the other day when those in the devotional study basically on prayer came to an understanding that I didn't have previously and that is that God doesn't need to know what I want because he knows what I need and I illustrated that with something that brought a chuckle out of the rest of the gang a while ago when I said the cute little blonde I wanted good matchup to the beautiful brunette that he gave me and the question was a window that happened and it was over half a century ago my sweetheart and I are selling a nonstarter. We celebrated 56 years will marriage now, but to me that's the realization that when I came to North Carolina. It was at a point where I really did not want to leave Columbus, Mississippi. I have a lot of ties there that I didn't want to break and but it was necessary for me to leave for various reasons and I remembered that driving up by 85 I was listening to a song that at the time was really great for me.

It was Paul Simon and Phoebe Snow gone it last because there were some bad things going on at my work situation and saw him coming up the road thing and I've been through some hard times but they're gone it last. And so there's excitement there can be a feeling of loss. But you can also look at it with a feeling of excitement because of the new beginning sure Morneau look forward to the new attic lab times the problem is we get stock in the morning and never really let it go in on. That's where you know we got a distress the gods, and bring something through force and we think we can all sit and say their situations or people in on that. They just live in that same place that they've been for years and years and years and that ends up tends to end up becoming bitterness back is a can't move past that morning and into a new season of their life. I've been running through all kinds of stuff about me with this and one of them was that I have never had a child die and I pray I never will that be a major one. But when my father died I was suddenly thrust into the role of the patriarch of the family I wasn't ready for that but then I got thinking about Jesus and what was read earlier. He was sent to die and he accepted that. But even the night before. He's saying well. Father, if there's any way to not do it this way. Please take this cup from me and that's it goes back to the very first clip of the other one we can look at it as a this is a positive thing, and this is moving forward with my heart and God's taking care of it or it could be a yeah how can I possibly survive this mess dear Nuno set up the next McFarland yeah in this next clip aroma see what happens when you do make the move date. They ended up know the family ends up staying there and then the Kevin Costner character story again starts coaching cross country team gets a bunch of kinda down and out kids and involves them in it and they're good at it and they really bless his life. They bless his wife's like they bless his daughter's life. The they create a real community there and for the first time. His family is experiencing real community but he gets offered the bigger better job at the fancy private school down the road and all of those things and so this is a conversation he and his wife are having about this and he just naturally thinks will the best thing for my wife and my kids is to go to this other job and she begins to kind of help him take inventory of the blessings that they perceive because he hasn't left yet, just like everything we've ever wanted everything we've ever talked about big house financial security. Great school for the kids nice, safe neighborhood, owner of the corner store was washing away blood from his car, when I drove out this morning to me. Owner has a name and he's our friend and use of too many identities going, thinking that everything is done for course. It bothers me to not clean, tempting front of her and pushed her out of the way they protected her like she was there family think you can find that in Palo Alto they know it's hard but please don't just let this be a safety because nowhere have ever lived there certifying the value of community and she's bringing about yeah and you know the story ends. Spoiler alert you had plenty of time to watch the movie if you had story ends. You know they win a state championship they win multiple state championships.

He's lauded as a tremendous coach and it totally changed his life because he was that a man that was very rough around the edges. He was a hard dude and he learns and he get to meet some kids that are harder than he sat now and these kids thrown into the tumbler with him.

They rough off you know they rub off each other sharp edges and it is a tremendous redemption story, first for his soul for these kids souls in and for the life of that community for years and years and years to come. And he would had that blessing if he wouldn't have stayed, and if he wouldn't have had one ending in this new beginning running. What about you what's this topic really for you. Well, it just fits in so well with the boot camp and what all went down for me the entire weekend on top of you know, getting incredible blessing of skews me an incredible blessing of being able to baptize my son as were packing up and alien way to go.

He blessed me even greater, probably by just tell me a few things that are still going on in his life that you know he is struggled with in I know is fast enough that we struggle with and be sure that with me and I was just a true blessing to builders sure that was your son and we are going to work on some of that together going forward and that's his true blessing so you know hopefully it's also an ending of some things for him in his life in a new beginning for him and then the beginning for us to even share a goal more intimate, more deeper with each other and then Darren during a talk on the wound finally came upon me that although this is what my father wound was and how it hit me, and is things of been there for a while. This is been around, but the fact that it came up that your dad doesn't want to be with you was was it when he hit me during that and there's a flash of a few things that came with it is that how I reacted to that as a teenager in made decisions and did things in my life around that and how I've been like that ever sense in making decisions you know it just a lot of that came together so I feel there's gonna be a new beginning for me there as well to the beauty you think about it is you know where therefore now a new creation like the old things are passed away. So for me personally when I think of the old Robby/Bob Junior/Bruce///you know there really was an old things and and to be a new creation in Christ not only gives you the new thing, but the appreciation of what's in that clip right I would not of recognize that in a million years Bob Junior/Bruce/those people. But after the new creation then all the sudden you recognize all my goodness, I can have a lifelong friendship. I can have. I could go deeper in this relationship. I can you know work on the kingdom all sorts of things happened as a new creation, which is ultimately I mean like it's up when I think about the subject is the ultimate value in it for so those guys that were open with us and saying I'm never gonna watch another movie the same way again as they just get fed with sorry but I would like Jesus a little bit bigger than you. You can't shut a mountain he can do things within and through you that you we can show other people and they just just to hear that and see that it was like yeah it's it's it's amazing that member. What happened to me to cite okay. Things are different now.

Stephanie my story on me and I was not much of a movie guy before iconic found this message and I didn't like Lord of the rings coming you know things like that. I looked at a moment, you know, just gobble them off, but now everything I watch I see the story, God is telling nice. I see the larger story and every single one of them and it's just that it's a cool thing is to close up this topic out when I can throw it out there that sometimes is this things ending could be our beliefs that were bad we can say okay got them step into this new truth you gave me a mistake past that when you step into the truth of what you say of who I am. Yes, you those types of things that he can take this topic and take it way out there, but thing is to get there with God to God, help me see some of those old things that ended maybe once I'm still struggling with and help me find the new beginnings are you trying to lay in front of me or make me aware that when you've already given me and help me step more fully into them but spend that time walking with him. See you next week