Ever found yourself in an argument with your spouse over something trivial and wondered how it escalated so quickly?
We, the Adkins, open up about those little marital tiffs that can teach us a lot about the bigger battles within ourselves. Our latest episode peels back the curtain on navigating disagreements with humor and grace, and we're letting you in on the secrets to turning conflicts into opportunities for growth. We also dive into the importance of communication and the art of the apology, sharing a personal story that proves even the most mundane days can lead to profound insights.
In a world where smartphones often replace heart-to-hearts, we tackle the challenge of reclaiming family time to make a Kingdom impact. Transitioning from a bustling household of nine to just the five of us has taught us the power of intentional habits. We share valuable takeaways from resources like "Parenting Mentally Strong Kids" and "Habits of the Household," aiming to guide your family to more meaningful interactions in the digital era.
Moreover, we reframe the way we view the Bible, discussing how it can serve as a roadmap for life's journey rather than a list of rules to follow. Join us as we explore creating a legacy of purposeful living and leading by example for our children.
Episode Highlights:
Links Mentioned in Episode/Find More on A Force to Be Reckoned With:
This show has been produced by Adkins Media Co.
Ever found yourself in an argument with your spouse over something trivial and wondered how it escalated so quickly?
We, the Adkins, open up about those little marital tiffs that can teach us a lot about the bigger battles within ourselves. Our latest episode peels back the curtain on navigating disagreements with humor and grace, and we're letting you in on the secrets to turning conflicts into opportunities for growth. We also dive into the importance of communication and the art of the apology, sharing a personal story that proves even the most mundane days can lead to profound insights.
In a world where smartphones often replace heart-to-hearts, we tackle the challenge of reclaiming family time to make a Kingdom impact. Transitioning from a bustling household of nine to just the five of us has taught us the power of intentional habits. We share valuable takeaways from resources like "Parenting Mentally Strong Kids" and "Habits of the Household," aiming to guide your family to more meaningful interactions in the digital era.
Moreover, we reframe the way we view the Bible, discussing how it can serve as a roadmap for life's journey rather than a list of rules to follow. Join us as we explore creating a legacy of purposeful living and leading by example for our children.
Episode Highlights:
Links Mentioned in Episode/Find More on A Force to Be Reckoned With:
This show has been produced by Adkins Media Co.
We are at war and it's not against our neighbors, spouses, children, politicians or whatever else we feel like we're battling against.
Speaker 2:So the questions are who's the fight against, and are we winning or losing? We're the Adkins, and we are a force to be reckoned with.
Speaker 1:Are you ready to?
Speaker 2:join the force.
Speaker 1:Hello, hello I was literally gonna do that do?
Speaker 2:I do that every week I don't know I don't know either it must be a habit we hope that you guys are doing well and had a great weekend. It's Tuesday or maybe Wednesday by the time this gets out, because we're a little bit behind this week.
Speaker 1:Tuesday.
Speaker 2:But do you remember my joke from last time about it being Tuesday?
Speaker 1:Uh-uh.
Speaker 2:Happy Tuesday and we are so glad.
Speaker 1:That you choose us.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness. No, I don't remember that. Well, anyway, we have a short and sweet episode this week. How short do you think it's gonna be?
Speaker 1:every time you say that it's like an hour and a half hours long're like that was the best one yet. Wow, you're really setting us up, I know.
Speaker 2:I said that's what we say. I wanted to talk about what you told me today. So listen, this is just a funny story.
Speaker 1:You can't just share it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I am. So this is we all know by now. This is not the. We don't have our lives together when we don't ever claim. And that's exactly why I can share this story, because any other podcaster who's like talking about all these you know good perfection perfectionism, all that stuff can't talk about this stuff, but that's why I just love the heart of our podcast. So so last night, cory and I got into a little fight and did we talk on the podcast about how you don't really like drive away anymore no, we're not getting into this.
Speaker 2:So we just had a long week. We were both tired, we got into a little fight and anyway it carried on until so. Here's the thing I don't. I'm not usually one to back down from a fight. So, corey and this is I know I have to grow. I'm growing every day, learning and growing every day, but Corey is usually the one that has to be like all right, enough is enough, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You want to take over, yeah?
Speaker 1:Well, we got into this spat and I was like I'm not, I'm not doing it this time. Every time I am like, all right, we need to make up or whatever, and I was like you know what, no, she can be the one that comes to me. This time I am not doing it.
Speaker 2:This is not, obviously not.
Speaker 1:You guys don't come here for marriage advice and I even I even prayed about it yesterday. I was like god, please make her come and apologize to me because I'm not like I'm like oh, I'm holding out till he says he's sorry, I just, I just take you just don't ever say you're sorry no, that is not true.
Speaker 2:I just take longer to come around. So, anyway, we I was like you woke up this morning feeling good, you know, holding strong, but I wasn't as mad and so and it was a dumb thing that we were even fighting about that just turned into a big thing. You guys have been married, you get it.
Speaker 1:And so finally, I yeah, what made you break.
Speaker 2:It wasn't like I said. It wasn't like I'm ever like oh, I am holding out until he apologizes it just, you're usually ready to move forward before I am.
Speaker 1:That's what happens, so I was ready to move sometimes I feel like you could just not move forward for all eternity. I mean, I'm like seriously, I'm like seriously, how long is this gonna freaking, keep going on like this is dumb at this point yeah.
Speaker 2:So I called cory on his way to work and I was like all right, let's this, let's just not, let's just not do this anymore okay, let's, let's have a good day. You know it's monday, I didn't say that, but and we we talked it out. We had like a quick phone call, said sorry, I love you, have a good day. Well, this guy, I go to his office today and he what? Why would you the audacity?
Speaker 1:because time had passed by, I walked you out to your car. I gotta tell you a funny story I walked you out to your car, I got to tell you a funny story.
Speaker 2:I was like okay, and what'd you tell me?
Speaker 1:I was like well, the funny thing is is I was waiting on you to come to me and then it just had gotten so long that this morning I'm waiting to work before you called.
Speaker 2:I was about to give up.
Speaker 1:I was like, well, I wasn't going to give up. Then I was still going to hold out until like lunchtime. But I was like you know what? You know, maybe at lunchtime I'll just go and grab some flowers and like a couple of steaks A couple of steaks. And take them to you, Wow.
Speaker 2:I wonder why I never gave, and then I'd be like you know what?
Speaker 1:Let's just make up. I got us these steaks.
Speaker 2:We'll have these later for dinner, so like if I held out just a couple hours longer. You said lunchtime. I called you around 10 o'clock. Just two hours longer I'd have gotten a couple steaks and some flowers. Are you serious? Well, that's the last time I apologize first.
Speaker 1:Well, next time you're not getting anything because of this.
Speaker 2:All right, so yeah, that was it.
Speaker 1:And we'll catch you next week. Just so you know. The flowers are for you, the stakes were for me. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right. So do we want to do a little fun game, or do we just want to get?
Speaker 1:into it. Dude, you made me get these words.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, okay, we're just trying to have a little fun in our lives, you know A little fun. Welcome to the show Corey Adkins.
Speaker 1:You have this labeled as game show.
Speaker 2:Word Association game. What is it? I?
Speaker 1:don't know, it doesn't really. I don't know, I wouldn't have guessed game show.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Maybe, yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe.
Speaker 2:I feel like it's a game show. I just All right, corey, come on down. Corey, can you?
Speaker 1:tell us your name, your height and your social security number. No, no and definitely not all right. So I'm gonna say five words and you're gonna just whatever it is and it's, is it the first?
Speaker 2:word, first thing that comes to mind just word or anything where. What do you mean? Anything like what if?
Speaker 1:there's like a description.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's like a sentence. Yeah, I think that's good.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, ready. Yes, count me down.
Speaker 1:Three, two, one.
Speaker 2:Banana, you got it.
Speaker 1:Baby food.
Speaker 2:Faster than that.
Speaker 1:Rock, dwayne Johnson, saber, tiger, tooth tiger. Yeah, yeah, that is exactly what I was thinking stinky baby, dirty diaper okay, gorgeous uh okay, that was fun of course. All right, my turn. Okay, let me just whip out the old notes here. Do you want to? Do you want to give us your name? Uh, your age and your weight?
Speaker 2:The things you don't ask women.
Speaker 1:And your pregnancy status Things you don't ask women in a grocery store. Okay.
Speaker 2:That's hilarious.
Speaker 1:Okay, I wrote down a few here, just in case we both had the same words and we didn't, so let me just uh. All right, you ready, I'm ready for this fire rock what I don't know.
Speaker 2:I just said the first word that came to mind that's what came to your mind.
Speaker 1:It doesn't even make any sense, I don't't know. This next word is really going to be good for you Dementia.
Speaker 2:Old.
Speaker 1:Not what I was looking for.
Speaker 2:You were thinking Biden, weren't you?
Speaker 1:I was like yeah, I think she'll say that All right, blue Green, you're the worst at this game. Okay, stupid, stupid, stupid. You can't say at this game. Okay, stupid, stupid. You can't say the same word.
Speaker 2:Dumb, I don't know, I can't.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:Who were you thinking?
Speaker 1:I didn't think of anything. I was just curious what you were going to say your words are too dumb Like not good.
Speaker 2:All right, my words aren't good. I was just curious what you were going to say. Your words are too dumb Like not good. All right, Give me one.
Speaker 1:My words aren't good. I said fire, you said rock and my words are bad. Are you kidding me right now?
Speaker 2:It's really late right now.
Speaker 1:Okay, queasy.
Speaker 2:Throw up.
Speaker 1:Okay, that was five.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's the game.
Speaker 1:That's a wrap.
Speaker 2:You know what I think of that. Yeah, that one didn't really translate the way we had hoped, but we appreciate you guys for hanging out with us, okay, what's the first thing that comes to everyone else out?
Speaker 1:there is mine. When you say fire, that would have been better when you're under pressure, you don't think of the right thing. What kind of pressure are you under?
Speaker 2:just having the pressure of saying the right word.
Speaker 1:It's not about the right word. It's just not a stupid word like fire rock.
Speaker 2:There's rocks in the fire, there's rocks around the fire. You sit on rocks when you're at the fire Like there's rocks everywhere.
Speaker 1:What fire pit are you going to? Our fire pits metal and we sit in folding chairs.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know, I think it may be because my first word was rock, I don't know. But okay, so how's life? Anything, anything else going on? Um any exciting updates, anything you want to talk about?
Speaker 1:anything exciting?
Speaker 2:yeah, no okay, all right, so this episode is really not going well, um, which is why we're talking about it and why we're talking. So, as we, as we were, you know, talking about this episode, I wanted to just share, like we've talked about kids going home and where we're at in life and transitions and all that good stuff, and just I just want to go a little bit deeper with that because I feel like we've been kind of in a rut, but also not in a rut. We've just we were, we adjusted to the life of being a family of nine and now we're back to being a family of five and we talked about this a little bit, but it's like I have felt so off kilter, have you?
Speaker 2:yeah, and then it's like you look around in the world and I feel like a lot of people feel that way, but it's then you, you sit and you think like okay, well, I don't know, I just like how do I even get back to not feeling that way?
Speaker 1:yeah, how do you take it back?
Speaker 2:yeah, how do you take it all back?
Speaker 1:how do you take?
Speaker 2:take it all back, yeah because right now, like we talk about the podcast and the podcast is called a force to be reckoned with and it's all about being a couple who's forced to be reckoned with, raising a family who's forced to be reckoned with, like going out into the world and making a difference and making an impact and having a firm, strong foundation. And I just really haven't felt that for ourselves. You know, I just feel like we're kind of floundering or just anyway. I don't know, I just feel like we're kind of floundering or just anyway. I don't know, it just has fell off.
Speaker 1:So yeah, how do you so when you can't control everything, and you can't control the world and you can't control all of the things happening around you? I think this is going to touch on this, but just taking control of what you can.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:The little things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so like habits, which is ironic, because one of the things I feel like I always go back to when I start to feel this way is I'm like I need to plug back into personal development and like reading and getting back into that. So started counseling. We talked about that last time. I've gone once. She's great. I'm going to stick it out. Don't have much to report there yet. I've only gone once, but she had recommended a book about parenting. I think it's called Parenting Mentally Strong Kids and I haven't read it yet, but I was going on amazon and I was looking for that book. It's actually written by a christian neuroscientist, I believe, and so I'm really interested to read that. Because, man, we've we've been struggling a lot with just we have a pre-teen and just all the challenges that come with raising kids in this world and, yeah, I just want to make sure we're not screwing our kids up too much.
Speaker 1:But anyway, when I was getting online and buying that book the book that I'm about to talk about today we can screw them up a little bit, but not too much this book popped up and I was like I'll get it.
Speaker 2:It sounds interesting, but it's called habits of the household came up as recommended. Wow, you guys, how am I only on page like I don't even know 40? And? But the thing is, before I even got to like, I read the foreword and I was. This is, we've got to do a podcast about this, because this is so much what we're walking through right now and it's just. Yeah, I don't even need to say the words because I'm just going to read part of the forward, a portion of the forward for you guys. Okay, ready.
Speaker 2:It says we all face constant, a constant challenge to be present in the moment. Yeah, we do. Well, at least I do. That's not what that says. Okay, at any given time, it's easy for our thoughts to be all over the place thinking about a pending task, mauling over an email or even daydreaming about being somewhere other than we are. Truly, truly being present in the moment is important, but often elusive. Even in our parenting, we often complete the tests of family life on autopilot while our minds wander. And then he just talks about have you ever gotten to the end of a busy day and realized that you were essentially dragged through it by the demands you live under.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to describe.
Speaker 2:That's what our whole life has been recently. What about the challenge of organizing your family's day around God's word? Yeah, sounds great in theory, but like that is nearly impossible when you're just going through every day or navigating technology with your kids. Is this guy reading my journal?
Speaker 1:What you've been journaling about all this? No.
Speaker 2:The electronic distractions that we grew up with pale in comparison to today's social media. So, whether it's our divided attention, the chaotic pace of any given day or the challenges of technology, the longer we live in unhealthy patterns, the more normal they can seem. But in our more sober, sober, reflective moments, we realize that something needs to change. And but the question, what and how? That's like exactly where we are right now, and I feel like I've talked to so many people who have also felt like that. We're just like going through the day to day and it's like something's got to give, but what you know, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, anyway, this isn't even written by the author. This is written by somebody who wrote the foreword, so I'll fast forward. It says disciplining happens in the context of the habits we form and the rhythms we keep. So if you feel like life is moving at a frenetic pace and you're struggling to keep your own heart centered, let alone your family's, this book is strong medicine. A strong medicine.
Speaker 2:In a straightforward and candid fashion, justin breaks down the activities of a day, giving wise instruction for how to reclaim the time we're losing for maximum gospel impact in our homes.
Speaker 2:Okay, so, something that I feel, have felt and do feel, and I feel like a lot of families like feel this but can't, don't really put words to it, as I just constantly feel I mean, we'd say it in the intro of our podcast we're at war. I feel like there's a constant battle among families to continue to not just stay afloat in this like crazy, fast-paced world, but also be raising good, like good people and and shepherding hearts, the hearts of our kids, and just doing it in a culture that like a family culture that's fun and that our kids want to, you know, be in. I feel like that has been my biggest conviction and struggle recently when it comes to the kids is you know, we had this like crazy busy life. The kids were having fun, but we let a lot of stuff go. And then now we have this more downtime and and more margin to see like, wow, we did let a lot of stuff go and and our kids I'm trying to reclaim it back yeah and I.
Speaker 2:This quote was really encouraging from the book where he just talks about our kids hearts and our responses and um. So in the beginning of the book he talks about how he was just going through a normal day. He was working, he raises, he's raising four little boys with his wife and everything was just chaos, like, like how everybody's life is. And then at the end, I think one of the kids splashed in the tub and he, like he, he lost it and yelled at his kids and he talks about how it wasn't his. He said it wasn't like the way I responded that was so bad, but it was the fact that this was what was normal it was their new normal yeah, it was normal and um.
Speaker 2:So basically this whole, the gist of the whole book, is reclaiming that and he says it is possible to practice habits of the household that lead our hearts and our children's hearts in new directions. So he's just encouraging and like if you do feel that way, you don't have to stay stuck in that, and also just the power that habits can have in our lives. And I think we all know that to a certain degree but we also kind of forget it, like we, how did we get? We go through life and then we find ourselves in this chaotic feedback loop and we're like, well, how did I get here and how do I even get out? And I think so much of it goes back to our habits.
Speaker 1:Back to the habits. Yeah, I was just watching this piece of a pastor's sermon and he was preaching on having the spirit of Elijah and what he's talking about is Elijah standing his ground and standing firm on biblical values and he's talking about how, in this day and age with cultures he was talking to the culture and he's like you can have your schools over here, but you're not taking over our Christian schools.
Speaker 2:You can have this is in the Bible.
Speaker 1:He was saying this oh. He was like having the spirit of Elijah he was talking about today's culture.
Speaker 2:Oh sorry, no, not for a second.
Speaker 1:Like today's culture, like you can have your public schools but you can't have our Christian schools. You can have these non-Christianians homes, but you cannot have my home. And it was talking about how, like, as christians or anybody said to, like you, you can't have that. You can have this in your culture and in your music or whatever, but you're not taking our church and our music and like we're called to be different, we're called to be separated.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that's exactly what he's saying in this book. He talks about how habits of the household as a rule of life and how this is not new, this is ancient. And he is talking about Daniel, and Daniel did the same thing. Is talking about Daniel and Daniel did the same thing. He insisted, like him and his fellow servants, they insisted that they would serve in Babylon's courts and they would follow a different pattern of living. Their commitment to specific habits of eating, drinking and praying, which was their rule of life, is what allowed them to be in the world, but not of it. And then he said that you see a similar thing in Acts 2, where early believers' conversions led them to adopt habits that were radically different from the world around them, and the distinctiveness of their habits set them apart and called them to commitments of their faith and attracted many others to join them.
Speaker 2:So it's like which goes going back to formulating these habits with our kids of not like legalistic things, but just we're not gonna partake in this because it's not healthy for our brains. It's not healthy. It's not the way God designed us. You know what I mean. Like the excessive overconsumption.
Speaker 2:And then you feel a tension in the excessive overconsumption?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then you feel a tension in the world that we're in. I think that that's part of the battle, maybe for our generation, maybe it's always been in the battle for every generation, I don't know. But of like, okay, how do we stand firm on the truths of God, stand firm on the truths of God, stand firm on biblical values, but also not coming across as what do they call it, johnny buzzkill?
Speaker 1:or whatever like not coming across as like as just being like oh, we have all these rules and we've got to follow all these rules, and like kind of being like jerks about it. In a sense, too, it's like okay, as. In a sense, too, it's like okay, as, in order to be a family, that's a force to be reckoned with. We have to stand on truth and on god's word. But we can be fun and this can be like it like, I think, a lot of times like following god's word and and stuff like to outsiders a lot of times looks like it's not fun.
Speaker 2:It's boring.
Speaker 1:You're just going to live a boring life. The funny thing is really the opposite is true. It's like having this relationship with God. Mm-hmm is exhilarating and a lot of times it's. A lot of times life is can be harder that way, but it's also more fulfilling and it is more fun because of that, because you find true meaning in impact towards other people in a in a positive way than you do just living the cushy, comforting life and chasing the things of this world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wrote a blog post about this a really long time ago, when I first started blogging and talking about viewing the Bible as a rule book versus a roadmap. And I feel like when you're not I mean I don't want to say when you're not a believer, but I mean anybody could view it that way If you're viewing it as a rule book, it's basically like you're just what it is, You're following a set of rules, and it feels very restraining as opposed to the word of God. It's not a rule book, it's a roadmap. It's used to guide you and lead you and help and establish your steps for you, and help and like and establish your steps for you. And when you view it that way, it's like this is like really awesome, actually adventure that I'm on and it's really empowering. But with that, there are some guides in there that say like, okay, we probably shouldn't be partaking in these things.
Speaker 2:And he I'm not going to like quote this entire book because I want people to read it but he said, um, like, talking about those communities in the Bible, he said that these communities realize that if they didn't shape their trellis of habits, that the world would shape one for them and that, unfortunately, most of our families are defaulting to the American set of habits and the American role of life instead of the actual role of life, which is supposed to be biblical. And by not choosing our habits carefully, we're falling back on rhythms that are forming us in all of the usual parts of unnecessary screen time, unending busyness, unrivaled consumerism, unrelenting loneliness, unmitigated addictions and unparalleled distractions. And I don't want that. None of us want that, but it's that slippery slope.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and it's. It's the things that are comforting and mindless and just so easy. It's like, okay, how many times anybody listening like, how many times were you like, oh man, I just want that you know extra large blizzard from dairy queen and it sounds so good and you're eating it and it is so good, yeah, and then when you're done, you feel like complete trash yeah it's, it's like that it's.
Speaker 1:It doesn't look as fun right to eat the I don't know the piece of grilled chicken or steak instead or maybe the steak is, but you feel good, you're fueling your body for the long term, rather than that little short-term satisfaction, and I love it too, like even when you were just talking about that. One of the things that I personally just always found interesting and fun is when, like, like, because we've always loved to yeah, right now we're not doing a great job of it, but historically we've always loved to read personal development books and listen to personal development podcasts too, and that could be Christians or non-Christians, and I love it when non-Christians, when I'm reading their personal development like, stumble onto a like just the truths of how God organized earth.
Speaker 1:And it's like Jocko Willink's book. It's called Discipline Equals Freedom and it completely like answers, that where, like the discipline of being in that relationship with the creator of our world, right, the architect, that's a discipline. It takes, it takes intentionality to have that relationship and it looks very boring. I mean, how boring does it actually sound, honestly, when you when you hear it like pray and read your Bible, like it sounds really boring when I talked about it this weekend. And I mean how boring does it actually sound, honestly, when you hear it Like pray and read your Bible, like it sounds really boring.
Speaker 2:I know that's why, like when I talked about it this weekend and I said pray and read your Bible, I kind of said it with that tone like all right, pray.
Speaker 1:But then Because everybody.
Speaker 2:It's such a cliche answer, but it's such a powerful, powerful habit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it even sounds boring to me as I'm saying it, but then when I know, like when?
Speaker 1:I actually the impact and when I actually am doing it. It's not boring when I'm actually doing it. And the other, the other, uh, like truths, truth of this earth and how God created. It is like how many people of success, whether it's athletes or business people or whatever talk about how you have to fall in love with the process and that's really what it is. Is that you it sounds boring or it sounds like it's hard, and yeah it is, but you do. You fall in love with the process of these disciplines and then the wins that come of it, the person that you become, the family that you become by doing these disciplines.
Speaker 2:I feel like I'm'm convincing myself right now Right, because we haven't been doing it. And something else he says is we become our habits and our kids become us. And that is like wow If I look back at the last six weeks of my life, if I'm engaging only on the last six weeks of my life and my habits and my kids becoming that. I don't want that for them.
Speaker 1:Oh man, they will be eating a lot of ice cream.
Speaker 2:That's not true. We haven't had that much ice cream.
Speaker 1:A lot of treats, let's put it that way Desserts.
Speaker 1:Okay, so one last part of the book Before you do that because you had said that to me, and it reminded me of a couple of quotes, and I'm sure people have heard these quotes. But the first one is watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become character. And watch your character because it becomes your destiny and it all. Just, it starts with our thoughts, right, which become the words, the habits, your character and your destiny. It's literally these little things, it's a foundational things that add up to being big things. And then one other quote that I actually have hanging in my office too, but it was Aristotle, and he said we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. I just I think that's such a powerful quote because it's like how do you become excellent? We look at people. It's like how do you, you know, maybe, how do you have the relationship that they have with God? How do you become the dad or the mom that they are?
Speaker 2:And it's by little tiny habits.
Speaker 1:It's the habits.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So last thing, just to wrap up. He's talking about just raising our kids and he said, in suggesting that we reconsider habits of the household, I'm suggesting that we reclaim the idea of creating a role of life in our families so we can produce something other than the typical anxiety ridden, depression prone, lonely, confused and screen addicted teenager. So we can form children and god's love. So we can train them in meaningful relationships. So we can teach them the peace that comes with knowing the unconditional love of jesus. So we can create homes that are missional lights in a dark world. Wow, that's exactly what we want and that's exactly what it takes to be a force to be reckoned with and the crazy some disconnected household of everybody on a different screen at night.
Speaker 2:And yeah, there's time and space for that when when we've had long stressful days, but it shouldn't be the majority of our lives like. Our house is a mission field and a missional community and we need it's just you know it's just such a deep, profound thing, but it's also so simple, and it all starts with our habits.
Speaker 1:And the the crazy thing is, when you think about it, is that, because of the direction that our culture is going and that the average kid is going like they were talking about the average teenager and then growing into an adult, is that, if we do basically the opposite and tie our kids in, getting them off of the screens, teaching them actual people skills and how to interact with people and manners and how to have conversations and all of those things, how to have that relationship with God and how to form these other healthy habits you know, whether it's the exercise and the things that you eat and all those things?
Speaker 1:Is that those, because the all of the other kids are trending in this whole opposite direction the kids that are going to raise like in this whole opposite direction, the kids that are going to be raised like that, are going to have such a huge advantage, more so in just all of the successful things that this world has to offer and the impact that they can have on people by doing the opposite of what everyone else is trending towards. They're going to have more of an advantage than really any other generation has had that has come before them yeah, that's an interesting thought.
Speaker 1:I hadn't thought about that, so anyway, that's only page up to page 16, all of that juicy goodness wait a minute, all of this reading, you've been doing that book and you've only got to page no, no, I'm further along, but just the quotes that I pulled were like from the foreword and I was like man how bad have our habits gotten that you become such a slow reader?
Speaker 2:no, but I just I'm loving this book and I will say like I've been really working the last well day of like trying to be more intentional.
Speaker 2:I mean, I've tried it for the last few weeks but I'm like really feeling finally motivated it's just been like sporadic and it's been spotty 30 years like reading my bible and it's been spotty and I was talking to my friends at bible study about, but like it's just too important to not, it's just too important to put it off any longer. So with that, that's the episode today. Um, I'm reading this book and I want to buy it for of you guys. So if you what just take a screenshot of the podcast or just share about our podcast that you're listening in your stories and you tag my instagram, I'll it should be, actually it should be this episode, right, because then we know that they want the book okay, yeah, just screenshot this episode that you're listening, tag my instagram and I will message you for your address and I will send you this book.
Speaker 2:Um, it's just really good and I would love to. I I actually got it for a friend today and I'm sending it to her and I would just love one to have people to read it with. But two, think about, like, if 10 of our families took this and the Bible and just truly were like all right, we're going to apply this, we're just 10 families closer to being a big, huge force to be reckoned with.
Speaker 1:If I screenshot it and share it, can I get my own copy?
Speaker 2:No sorry. We'll have to share. We're on a budget, all right, sorry, we'll have to share. We're on a budget, um, all right. Well, we hope that you guys are having a good week and we'll catch you next week. Bye.