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One, boom, bop, pow. See, I did it. Welcome to the Point Taken podcast, the only podcast.
I'm Josiah, see, I love doing that. I'm Josiah, that's Anna, that's Carissa. We gotta talk about being angry at God.
When is it okay, when is it not okay? What are the examples we see in the scripture of people being angry at God? And then personally, how have we dealt with any feelings of anger towards God?
So that's what we're gonna do today. But first, but first, we have a moral dilemma for our new guest,
Carissa. Go ahead, Carissa, do your thing. Okay, so I know someone, and they called me, and so.
Just the way she does it. I'm not gonna call them out by name, because she probably won't ever watch this, but still, I don't wanna get a phone call.
Got it. So basically, she went to Walmart, and she bought a couple items from Walmart, and one of these items was a backpack.
Is she about to do the thing? What, what? Remember, we had one like this before. Oh, just go ahead.
I'm gonna stop talking, because. No, you're not, no, you're not. Okay, anyways, so she went to Walmart, and she bought this backpack.
She bought, like, several bags, okay? And then she never noticed anything. She got home, weeks passed by. She bought these on her birthday, so that was in March, beginning of March.
This is April now. And so she gets home, she picks up the bag, and she opens it, and there is another bag inside of it that she did not pay for.
Oh. That is different. That's different. That is different. Okay, so the real question was, does she return it?
Does she bring it back? Because she called me, she was like, do I take this back, or do I just keep it? Because then they'll think you stole it on purpose.
Because if you take it back, they're gonna think you stole it on purpose. No, they won't. It's Walmart. It's Walmart. I'm telling you.
But I don't know, they'll let you return stuff without receipts all the time. Like, I've done that with like baby stuff. Well, she also was like, you know,
I could just go back into the store and just put it on a shelf, and then just leave. But then they're gonna think, someone's gonna think you're bombing the place.
Like, that's very sketchy. Well, it's her. I'm not joking. Man, I've got two over -thinkers over here, bro.
I've got two over -thinkers here. Why do I got these two? About bombing. Oh my goodness gracious, man.
We were thinking like, we're gonna screw up their inventory. That's what we were doing. Oh my gosh. No, I'm just thinking like, there's gonna be like -
Yeah, because Walmart's inventory is born on. You bring something into Walmart, you put it on a shelf, and then you bounce.
Bomb. That's my first thought, bomb. It's not my first thought. Okay, well, apparently
I'm an over -thinker. You're an over -thinker as well. Yeah. Did you not count yourself in that category just then?
Yes, but this example, no. I'm a pretty straightforward thinker when it comes to this one. Okay. Yeah, because that's like a multifaceted issue.
Because then you have the - So in your multifaceted issue of a very simple thing you want to make complicated. It's not that simple, because like I said, if you bring back two of them, and you try to return one, you know, you're gonna be like, look, try to explain it.
No, no, not bring back two. She's only gonna return the one she wants to keep. Yeah, she's gonna keep the one that she paid for, but she's gonna, she's like taking back the one that was in the bag.
Okay, so how long ago was this phone call you have with this person? This was on, this was yesterday.
Okay, and she bought this in March? Yeah, you can still return it to Walmart. Well, hold on. It's only
April 2nd, when you say March. Her birthday is March 8th. By the way, if someone's thinking, they can figure this person out, because she's given three hints now already.
Okay, the only people that are gonna know. All right, March 8th. March 8th, so four weeks ago. So think about this.
Okay, so four weeks, about three, four weeks. Okay, so what's your solution?
Okay. Because all you've given is you can't do that, you can't do that, you can't do that. So can you give one solution? I don't know.
I'm trying to talk my way through it. I'm trying to make sense of it in my head. All right. What would be the best thing, because here's the thing.
You return the one that you didn't purchase, then they will give you credit for that one back when you didn't originally pay for it.
So you're getting money for something. No, she's not returning it in the sense of getting money back. So she's just walking in there and going to customer service.
No, no, no, she's going to customer service. She's gonna be on lists. Why don't you just do this? Go to customer service, say, hey, I didn't mean to grab this one.
That's what she's gonna do. Here it is. You know what they're gonna do? Okay, have a good day. Probably, because it's Walmart. But then also, you have to think about where this person lives.
Care, I don't think they would care at all. But yeah, I'm thinking like, I don't know. I'm overthinking this.
How many crime shows do you watch? Too many. Yeah, I mean, this is, this is clue. I listen to true crime podcasts.
Do you really? Yes. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I do too, but I don't think about that. I watch the Murdahl, the Murdahl case, the one, okay, the one, the lawyer in South Carolina who killed, he was convicted of killing his son and his wife.
Oh, and his wife, he shot him with a shotgun in the field. I watch that trial live every single day.
Did you watch a documentary on Netflix? Yes, I did. And the one on HBO Max. Did DJ watch it? Yes, he did.
You know, I had him in his little bouncer, he's watching it. And I'm just like, buddy, it's gonna start early for us. But so too many shows.
So that's why I think the way that, I think I'm like, if you just drop something off somewhere, it's gonna look shady.
But again, thinking of where this person lives, it's like, They're probably gonna think it's like a meth bar.
A meth bar or something. It's not gonna be a bar. Guys, this is not that difficult. You bring the open bag. Hey, I have this in here.
You walk to customer service, you say, hey, I didn't mean to grab this. It was in the bag I bought last week. What do you mean, y 'all? I agree with you.
And I have agreed with you. You haven't answered the question yet. Because y 'all been just talking to each other. Okay, you know what, Anna, we're talking too much.
Krista, take it away. I just agree with you. I told her, I think you should just take it to customer service, explain the situation.
And if they think you're a thief, just say like, well, that's your opinion. By the way. It's like, I promise, I didn't steal it.
Why would I bring it back? By the way, I want to make a comment. Krista is the third smartest person we've ever had on the podcast.
Yes, absolutely. And she agreed with me on the game that I, if you're listening, this is the part where you look at me, lost to Christian and Hunter a few weeks ago.
I know, you still won that game in my book. I told you, if I would have been here, I was screaming in the comments. I'm like, if I were there,
I was like in the car, I was like, no, Josiah is right. What is wrong with y 'all? See, and this is why if I just, if we just have more sensible people, not
Christian or Hunter. Yes. So just before we move on about the grizzly bear and the gorilla, about the, what was the other ones?
The water one. Yeah, and the camera guy didn't help that day either. So is the whole like, is water wet thing? Yes, yeah, the camera guy over here is making, yeah.
So thank you. I appreciate that, everybody. Okay, all right. So I would say you could return it.
However, the people at Walmart might not believe her, but again, she's not returning it for that reason and they can just avoid it further and further.
Let's just make sure. I'm just saying. Like I said, I over thought it. This is not what you were saying, but when she asked the question, neither of us are saying return it as if you bought it and tried to get money.
Right, right, right, right. Take it back and say, hey, this was in this bag. Like you're not getting money back. That's why I was saying that would be wrong because if you didn't originally pay for that bag, then you're getting credit for that amount of, you know, like all that.
But like I said, I have to talk through things. I'm fun. To work through them. That's what
I sound like. I'm sure my husband loves it. That's what I sound like early in the mornings in my shower when I'm talking through things.
I'm like, how am I going to do this? Josiah, how are we going to do this, buddy? That's how I sound. Okay, buddy, how are we going to do this?
That's okay. That was me last night. Pumped up. Friday night. Yeah. About what? She almost got swept away in that tornado.
Yeah, I live in Covington. Oh, that's right. That's right. I texted her and I was like, are you okay? Like, do you need?
She's like, I'm at my mom's house. And she said that, well, I'll let you tell it. Like it was. Which part? When you were at your mom's house.
Oh yeah, we could watch like from her driveway. We could see the tornado like forming and how big it got. Yeah. I would have pooped my pants.
But no, I was talking, I was on my way to go check on my apartment to see if it had like survived and the whole way there. And I was just like, okay,
Carissa, God is sovereign. He's, this is in his hand. Like I was like talking myself. I love that. That's great. I was like,
God is sovereign. Don't stress. Like if your apartment is gone, you have things for Noah. Like everything is going to be okay.
Because at the end of the day, like you're in God's hand and you're going to be fine. And you said your sister was like, you're like really calm about that.
You're like, I'm really calm. You know what? See, that's a good attitude to have. Camera guy, do you agree? I was doing it in tears, but like I was really.
Hey, that's okay. Y 'all like, by the way, I've called him Lowell since we've done this podcast, but I'm camera guy.
I kind of like camera guy. Well, because we've had different camera guys. He's normally our producer. Today, he's doing it all.
He is our producer. Who is normally your camera guy? Nick or Dalton or Seth or Taylor.
We scraped the bottom with Seth, just kidding, Seth. Seth is always so willing to help and he's so polite.
He calls me ma 'am and I'm like Seth, come on. Hey, that's a good man. But Taylor makes me laugh because like she got distracted.
She got distracted looking at Elena. Elena wasn't talking anymore. I was talking. She forgot to move the camera over.
So I'm pretty sure last episode, Nick was like, how do you want me to work with this, man? Like, what do you want me to do? I love
Taylor. I love her so much. She's just so focused on it. I'm like, maybe you shouldn't operate the camera anymore.
Maybe we should have you on other shows. I love her. Man, I love her. Where is she right now? I don't know. I love her. But yeah, we have the best team.
I love this podcast team. We're making a lot of ground. We really are. And not today, producer
Lowell. Soon, we will have four speakers at one time. Ooh.
Okay. So hey, angry at God. When is it acceptable?
When is it not acceptable? Is it ever acceptable? There's question one. Question two, or not really question, examples in the
Bible of anger at God and how it was dealt with, both by the person and by God. And then number three, us personally.
How have we dealt with those feelings of anger towards God? All right, so let's start with one, number one.
Sorry. What? I just read a text from my husband. He's, I just saw the first part of the message.
Our son's name had the nastiest dye, and I was like, diaper. Awesome. I already know
I don't wanna finish this text message. Awesome. I was like, that's why I left, so I apologize. I'm glad you said our son's first name because I forgot that I was about to say it.
I'm like - We're very private people. We don't even, Donovan has social media, but he never posts on it. Yeah, but my favorite part was like,
I was - Our son's name, fill in the blank. I was about to say, you forgot your son's name. Like, what is wrong with you? My baby.
That's something that I would do. Why would you do that? I've called Naomi Nadine like at least 20 times.
I do that all the time. I'm like, whichever one you are. But anyway, I'm sorry. So biblical examples of people who got angry at God or who could have.
So we can do biblical examples first.
Okay. And then we'll talk about a personal. And then we got to summarize at some point and say, is it ever okay to be angry at God?
So let's start with biblical examples first. You mentioned a couple before we started. Who'd you want to knock out? Let me look at my list.
Oh, one that, well, do you want to do Joseph? Are we doing the ones that could have been or like that were angry?
I say both. I say both. I think that could have been and who like in our brains had like our human nature had, like we could say had the reason to be would definitely be
Joseph. Would be like one of my top people that I think of. And Joseph in the Old Testament. Joseph in the Code of Many Colors, Old Testament.
So here, I'll go there. Cause I've got my Bible with me. Yeah, that's what Genesis 50. Well, that one scripture we were talking about.
So why would you say Joseph would from a human perspective, would have had a right to be angry at God?
I think like, you know, we often like, okay. In Joseph's time, his brothers hated him.
Like he was his dad, he was his dad's favorite. And so that automatically put a target on his back for his brothers that we hate him, you know, and then they threw him in this pit and left him there.
And then decided to sell him as a slave to another group of people. So one, you know, his brothers hate him.
And then he got kicked out of the family pretty much. And it was like, okay, bye. Like, we don't love you, you're gone. Well, and then the brothers lied to the dad and said he was killed.
Said a lion or a wolf or something. Yeah, like see, he's alive by animals. And I'm like, dang. So it's like, his dad thinks he's dead.
So it's like, you know, no one's even gonna look for him. Oh, and it gets, cause the one who was merciful sold him as a slave.
Like, you know what boys? Cause they were gonna leave him in that pit, like to die.
And his brother was like, you know, that's too harsh. So let me just sell him as a slave. The Ishmaelites are going to Egypt.
How gracious, how merciful. And then like, you know, it just gets worse from there because like, then he's in prison because of Pharaoh.
Is it Pharaohs? Was that what he was called then, Pharaoh? I think all of them were like Pharaoh. Before he even talked with Pharaoh, Potiphar, which was his like slave master, his wife.
Put the moves on him. And he's like, woo! And he was accused of slaving with her. Yeah, he tried to sleep with me or whatever.
Right, yeah. And because of Believe All Women, he's thrown in prison and, sorry, sometimes
I say true things out loud. I didn't mean to do that. Yeah, he's thrown in prison, not only for a crime he didn't commit, he's thrown in prison basically for not committing adultery.
Right, for fleeing from the situation. In reality, he's in prison for not committing adultery.
That's what he's in prison for. And then, but he gets, who is it, the guard? He's like, makes friends with the guard or something?
Or is it the - Well, the other people in prison were the baker and the cupbearer. Yes, that's right.
Because they were like, when you go Pharaoh, don't, like, don't forget. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he's like, remember me? And then they're like, yeah, who is that guy?
We don't know him. Like, completely forgotten. And then they, one guy, oh, hey, I remember.
Two years later. Yeah. I remember. I remember now, because Joseph interpreted the dream for the baker and the cupbearer.
It was good for one, bad for the other. The baker, if I remember right, the cupbearer was put, no, the baker lost his head.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the cupbearer was, it was a fortunate dream. And then
Pharaoh was having trouble interpreting a dream. He had all his magic demonic - And then the cupbearer, like, automatically remembered, like, oh my gosh,
I'm in prison. I know a guy, he's in your prison right now, by the way. Let's get him out. He's one of those Hebrew people.
Yeah, he's in there, yeah. You know, the ones that we love so much. Yeah, so. But then all of that happens, and then the drought, he's put into power, and the drought happens.
Yeah, yeah. And then he puts all of this stuff, and then his brothers come. Like, 20 years later. Yeah, come back. Yes, and then his brothers come back, like, requesting for help and all of this stuff.
And so he recognizes his brothers, but they don't recognize him. They don't know who he is. And he's like, I have every opportunity.
And, like, he played into it for a little bit, like, with his - Yeah, like, pretend to steal. He was hiding silver cups in there.
Benjamin? Yeah, Benjamin. It was the replacement child. Yeah. Poor Benjamin. Oh, yeah, because as they were traveling back, like, he sent people after them.
Like, did y 'all steal my cups? Right. No, I didn't steal your cup, and there's a silver. And so that was kind of, like, his way to get back, but then he realized that he was wrong.
And then that's where that scripture comes in in Genesis 50. It's like, what God, or what you intended for evil against me, God intended for good.
If I could just, that scripture right there. I've got it here. But Joseph said to them, so what
Anna just quoted, after all that happens, okay, and the Israelites, who should have starved to death, got food from a pagan nation whom their brother was the second command of.
They should be dead, starved to death. There should be no book of Exodus. Should all be dead. The dad,
Jacob, dies. So now the brother's like, well, crap. Now he is going to take vengeance on us because dad is dead.
And then Joseph says to them, verse 18 of chapter 50 of Genesis, this is how the book of Genesis ends.
They fall down before him, groveling, begging. Behold, we are your servants.
Isn't that the dream that he had? It is the exact dream, Anna. Because remember, he had this dream that this would happen.
Where all the bales of hay were bowing down before him. And they got all mad. And then the stars, you're exactly right. Good call.
Well, because it was the 12, isn't it like the 11 or 12 tribes? The 12 tribes of Israel or the 12 sons, yes.
Yeah, that's awesome. But, and they said, we're your slaves. In other words, we'd rather be your slaves than be put to death, right?
Joseph said to them, don't fear. Am I in the place of God? No. I think if we were to cut the podcast off now and just had to say one sentence for anger with God, am
I in the place of God? So they're bowing before Joseph and he goes, no, am
I in the place of God? Verse 20. As for you, you meant, intended, evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring about this present result that many people are alive today.
So, you meant it for evil. What's the it? Well, it would be selling into slavery.
Slash killing, almost killing. Right, but God meant it for good. So the same action, being sold into slavery,
God intended that to happen. Planned, intended, meant. They intended it to happen.
But their purposes were all evil and God's was wholly good. Isn't that amazing, though? That God and them could plan out the same event, one with only evil intentions and one with only good intentions.
You're right. That's amazing. It's incredible. I agree with Carissa. If there was someone, apart from Jesus, who maybe had a right to be angry at God, it's hard to beat that one.
That's years upon years. I don't know, but Job is kind of a close second for me.
He had his whole family wiped out. 10 children died. His whole livelihood. I think Job definitely, but unless, correct me if I'm wrong,
I don't remember there being a scripture of where Joseph went to God and was like, why?
Like questioning him. Like questioning him, like Job did. Job was like, he bowed and was like, God, why? Like, why is this happening?
But Joseph just pretty much just submitted and obeyed and just went, unless I'm wrong.
I don't think there's, I'm with you, I don't think there's anything. I think she's right. Here's probably, for me, as far as tragedy,
Job's 10 children died. I can't even. I couldn't even imagine one child.
I can't even imagine, I have one. I would be broken. However, God audibly spoke to Job.
We have no recollection that I can think of in the book of Genesis, except through dreams, where God ever audibly spoke to Joseph.
Which means, much like this dispensation where God doesn't audibly speak as much as he used to,
Joseph, as far as we can tell, didn't really hear from God about the plan. Right, he just had to have blind faith.
Bro, I mean, that's incredible. All right, so Job, I'm going, keep going.
What were you gonna say? No, just saying, I just think the whole story is beautiful, because one, he had a, in our human nature, to think he had a reason to be angry with God.
He wasn't angry with God. And then the fact that he turned it around and wasn't even angry with his brothers. Like, not even just angry with God, but he just forgave them and was like, after they sold him into slavery.
Right. Like, what the, my brother did that to me. It's humbling and convicting.
Yeah. It's extremely convicting. How pathetic does someone have to wrong us to where. For us to be angry at them.
Right, and feel that we're in the right for that. Right. Oh yeah, cutting me off. Some guy cut me off, and then he's the one who flipped me the bird, and I'm just like, okay,
I guess that's how this works now. You know, a friend of mine I know gets mad when people don't give him their leftovers. Like, you know, just pathetic stuff like that.
Yeah, that guy's a loser. He really needs to work. He is, he needs to get over himself. He needs to work on his portion control anyway, so. That was so unnecessary.
With his extendo fork. Okay. Y 'all seem to know this friend. Go go catch an extendo fork. Y 'all seem to know this friend, and you're being quite harsh with him.
You don't know his story. And where he come, who, me or the friend? Your friend. No, he's not sensitive.
He's not sensitive, he's fine. Did he say, like, we don't know where he's come from? Yeah, I know where he came from.
I know where you came from. I know the Wyoming story, it's all of it. We share blood. Yeah, I'm about to say.
Moving on, moving on. So, Job. Job, old Job. Job. If you are unfamiliar with the account of Job, chapter one and two are pretty dreadful.
His 10 children die. I mean, right there, the fact that the word and is used after that.
But can we note that Satan requested to do this, and God gave him the ability to do this, but didn't allow him to take his life?
And what does that tell us? This is a hard - That God is in control, and that Satan had to ask permission from God to do this.
And what Anna just said is a hard thing for some people to come to grips with. That God, remember the whole
Joseph thing? God had an intention, but his was holy for good? Mm -hmm. What does that tell us?
That God had an intention, even for horrible suffering. God had an intention, horrific suffering.
That God had an intention. You know, whenever I say that, people think that that's attacking
God's character. But the reverse, I think, is far worse.
The reverse is God does not intend for there to be suffering. He's out of control of it and can't help it.
He's trying his best. That's not a God I care to worship. I don't care to worship that kind of God, a weak -
I think some people forget that God has, he's not just a God of love. Like, he's a God of justice, and it's not just, oh, he's a loving
God, so all these terrible things are happening. How can he be a loving God? There are multiple sides. He does love you, that's true, but at the same time, there has to be payment.
The example, I think Carissa's spot on. The example I always use, and I've never had anyone disagree with this example, except when it applies to God.
Every one of us, let's say that in a town, we have a thief who, one of our friends, one of our friend's houses, the thief breaks into one of our friend's houses, kills the child, and gets away, and the police find him the next day.
And then we all go to the court, waiting for the sentence, and the judge says, all right, the evidence says that this absolutely happened, but the sentence will be, he can go free.
Would we all look at that judge and say, what a great judge, what an amazing upholder of the law.
Some words just crossed my mind. Right. That I'm not a house. Yeah, yeah, yeah, ain't no way. I'm a Christian.
Okay, ain't no way. No, that's a crappy judge. That's a terrible judge. Well, God is not a terrible judge.
He doesn't just dismiss sin. Someone will be paying for it. Now, consequences of that sin are still in our world today, but all sin, even every idle word, the
Bible says, even every idle word, all sin will be paid for, either on the cross of Jesus, or in the perdition and damnation of sinners, but all sin will be paid for.
Dang, I've never thought of it that way. My husband and I were talking about the thing that happened in Nashville this last week with the children at that school, and this was like one thing where I'm, like he brought up in Sunday school this morning, we were talking about in First Samuels at 25 that we were in.
That's right. And so he was talking about how David was rejoicing at this one guy.
The death of the wicked. Yes, and it's like, are we allowed to do that? You know, are we allowed? And I'm like, the flesh side of me is like, yes, like glad she's gone, you know, whatever, but Donovan said, he's like, you know what though?
Like meditating on that scripture and then thinking about it, like she is being, what was his word?
God is just, and she is receiving punishment for that, and it's not, and he's like, and I would not want to be in that room, in that throne room where she is getting her judgment.
I think Donovan has the right mindset. It's a balance. There are psalms called imprecatory psalms.
Maybe you're both already aware of this, but in case anyone isn't, there are psalms called imprecatory psalms.
What an imprecatory psalm is, there's a few of them in the Bible. It's where the psalmist, i .e. David, is praying for God's judgment on his enemies.
If you've never read those, okay, if you've never read those, they are not your typical
Southern Baptist felt board theology. They are for real. I think the balance is exactly what
Anna just said. I think if God were to lift up the carpet and allow us to gaze into the horror of hell, in one sense, we would beg for mercy for Hitler.
We would grovel for the worst rapist who ever existed. We would scream for mercy.
And that was his point. It's like, you know, she was around, because I think it's come out that she was a student at that school at one point in time.
And I think that's why she targeted that school in particular. But it's like, she was around Christian people and she rebelled against scripture and against God.
And so he said that, and I was just like, I mean, I guess you're right, but like, dang. I was like, I'm still like super, especially now since I have a kid,
I'm like, I could not imagine like, especially what these families were going through, but it's like that. Oh, and then
Michael Knowles ended up posting the scripture about, like,
I think it's in Isaiah where it talks about like the vengeance is mine. Like God will have, yes,
God will. That would be the other side I was gonna say. So that's the one side is the, I wouldn't wish that on anybody.
But the imprecatory Psalms are in the Bible for a reason. And I think the balance is this, and I'll just share one more scripture on this one.
In the book of Revelation chapter six, you have the saints that have died who are waiting for Jesus to go and slaughter the enemy.
If you've ever read Revelation 19, the blood of the enemies comes up to the horse's bridle.
That's insane. We're talking, I'm a pretty tall dude. So if I'm standing, we're talking four.
With those lifts that you got. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Talking four or five feet high, 180 miles long.
That's crazy. Okay, the wine press, treading the wine press of God's wrath.
And they say, they look at Jesus and they say, God, how much longer until you avenge our brethren?
How much longer until you go do what you said, how much longer? And he says, just a little while longer.
There is a balance of what you, what Donovan described. And then also, it's not that I wanna see them suffer, is
I wanna see my God, when I say justified, I don't mean in the sense of salvation.
I wanna see just, I wanna see the scales balance. I wanna see the scales balance. That's what
I want. Well, the scales balancing involves judgment being passed down on those who said, screw you,
God. So, I do wanna see justice. One day, every evil will be atoned for.
Again, either by Jesus or by people. And it's not that I wish the hell on them, is
I wish my God to not be mocked anymore. I'm tired of my God being mocked.
I'm tired of what seems like injustice getting away with it, even though I know it's not.
And Psalm 73 is about that exact thing. Psalm 73 is David saying, it's
David asking a question I've asked before. David says, God, they have an easy time, the wicked.
They don't have to worry about this. I've poured out my life for you. They have an easy time, and it seems that their life is easier than mine.
I'm the one obeying you. And then the Bible says that David realized, he said, I was an unthinking animal, because I was thinking about life as this.
But a justice is coming, is basically the point David's making. So, anyway, I think that's the balance for that.
Our boy Job here, his wife, after all this happens, was not exactly the helpmate
I think he was hoping for. Her advice was to curse God and die. Appreciate that, honey.
Thanks for that. I can tell you've been reading your scriptures. Thanks for that spiritual encouragement.
I gotta give his friends credit. We're hard on them sometimes, because they give some bad advice, they do.
But the Bible says they came and sat with him for a week before speaking.
You know what, because let me tell you something. When you're like that, sometimes you just need someone to sit with you and you need to shut up for a minute.
I've been there. As both members of that party. So I gotta give them credit there.
Now, they don't give the best advice all the time. Like us. And then
Job, like us, and then Job starts to get a little lippy with God. Now, it's so hard for me to even say that after what happened to Job.
But God's answer is basically what? What's God's answer?
Even - I don't remember. I couldn't tell you, I don't remember. God says, who are you to answer back to me?
Don't back talk me. Now, if you are not familiar with biblical language, you would read that and say, that is harsh.
His children are dead. He has boils from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head.
That is harsh. God's answer is, he goes through a million things.
I don't remember asking your permission when I placed the stars here. Or when I told the waters they can only go this far.
God's like, you're gonna be sassy with me. I'm gonna be sassy with you. He says, I tell lightning where to go.
Right. The rain ask my permission before it falls. Like he goes through all these things and he starts several of them, where were you?
Where were you when I spoke and land came forth? It just -
It puts him in his place. Of a creature. Of a creature and not the creator. Not the creator.
And Job gets that answer. And of course, God rewards his obedience, his repentance at the end, a hundred fold.
But I think the point, because Job's answer is,
Job answered Yahweh and said, I know you can do all things and no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Therefore, I've uttered what
I did not understand. Things too wonderful for me, which I didn't know. Here, I will speak.
I will question you and make it known to me. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you.
Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. Now, this is what the narrator, the writer of Job said.
The narrator said in verse 11 of chapter 42, that all his brothers and sisters who had known him before came and ate bread in his house.
And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil, the calamity,
I'm sorry. For all the calamity that Yahweh had brought upon him. Not that Satan had brought upon him, that God.
What's the writer's point? That Satan did this, but ultimately under God's permission, which there was a purpose for.
And do we get to see what that purpose is all the time? No, I can give you one for here. I've used that to help many people, that exact passage right there.
Sometimes we don't get to see that and we don't have a right to demand that we do sometimes.
So. That would be hard. It would be. Well, especially in the aspect of him losing all 10 of his children.
And it's like, and you never getting to see the purpose of that. Like I would be screwed up.
When. That would seriously mess me up. Yeah, you don't always get to see.
We're not always granted to get to see that purpose. Sometimes people are.
Like the guy that was blind from birth in the. He was blind from birth because I get to create, or I get to perform this miracle on this guy, just for that.
200 people go by to see it or whatever. Just for that reason. No. It was not because of the sin of his family or anything that he did.
It was because that he would. And Anna, do you think he ever wondered during his life? Why me? Why am
I blind? I mean, would you technically, this is like a side note. You know, they didn't have like glasses,
I'm assuming. So would you technically be blind if you were? I don't think so. Like how would they just decide that?
Because the blindness he's talking about, he didn't see nothing. Just complete darkness. Well, I'm just saying like with people like that.
I mean, cause your eyesight is pretty poor from what I remember. Yeah, thanks. I'm just saying,
I'm just saying like for an example, I wasn't 100 % sure. It's not great. I know you're not. Okay.
It's not very good, thank you. But anyway. Any other physical qualities of me you wanna? No, I've already said something about the shoes and stuff.
Yeah, how tall are you, Anna? I'm 5 '4". I have both of you beat when it comes to height. So I don't wanna hear it. Backers is taller than all.
That's the point, yeah. 5 '4", okay. I have some like wedges that I wear from time to time. Don't compare your heels to my boots, okay?
No, they're not heels. They're like platforms like that. So you have like platform, like, are they like the shoes that have like the platform on the inside?
You're looking at them, they're just regular boots. Yeah, those are the ones like, show the side, get a side view of those.
Oh, okay. I can't see them from the side over here. Oh, okay, she hears that pity in her voice.
But anyway, going back to the blind man. He was made blind from birth for that particular purpose.
But like you said, sometimes we don't know why we are created the way that we are with certain ailments or whatever else or certain circumstances happened to us.
I think that's why that one passage in Revelation, I probably can't go a podcast episode without quoting it.
It's one of the most comforting verses in the whole Bible to me. If you're listening, Revelation 15, three and four.
Revelation 15, three and four. And it says this, that one day all of his righteous acts will be revealed.
All of his righteous acts. See, they're all good, they're all righteous, even if we can't see it. And one day they're gonna be revealed and we will get to see what he's been creating this whole time.
That day is not today. All right, I like Job, Joseph.
Anyone else we had in mind? It was Jonah. Jonah, our boy Jonah. Oh, Jonah. Oh, Lord.
Yeah. Oh, Jonah. Yeah, because we talked about other people who could possibly have been angry,
Joseph and Mary. Oh, yeah. But Jonah, yeah. So if you don't know this account, let me just read it and I'll let the ladies respond to it.
Basically, it's kind of petty. So God tells
Jonah to go somewhere, Nineveh. Jonah doesn't. God has him swallowed by a fish, a whale, who then swims to Nineveh, okay?
I love God's humor in that. Yeah, the fish obeyed God more than, and then vomits him on the beach, okay?
Yes, he should have been. Yeah, now Jonah repented in the belly of that whale. Yeah. And just so happens, now pay attention,
Christian. He repented, was spit out, and then still had to obey. Right. You catch that?
No, it still made him follow through. Right. I'd say, yeah, repentance doesn't mean you get out of it. You repent, but you're still gonna have to obey.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Which is the sign that it was real. So Jonah walks in.
Now, these are unclean folks. These are Assyrians. He's not preaching to Hebrews. These are a different people group.
And Jonah's sermon is basically this. You're all damned, repent or die.
How many days was it? Huh? How many days did they have to repent? It was like 40?
Like 40, let me read it. That's like the number in the Old Testament. It's like, in doubt, just say 40. Yeah, yeah, just say 40. Yeah, so he says, okay, that's him in the general, people in Nineveh repent.
Jonah went into the city, going a day's journey. He called out, yet 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown. And the people of Nineveh believed
God. Not Jonah. They called for a fast, put on sackcloth for the greatest to reach the east.
King of Nineveh rose, same thing. They didn't eat. They didn't drink water.
Not even the animals were allowed to eat or drink, okay, the whole nation. That's pretty serious. Yeah, for real.
Making the animals fast. Making the animals fast? I don't know if I've ever noticed that before. God relented. Okay, so God relented and did not destroy them.
The next verse. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry.
And he prayed to Yahweh. Yahweh, is it not what I said when I was in the country?
This is why I made haste to flee from Tarsus. For I knew that you are gracious and merciful to God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and running from disaster.
Therefore, Lord, please take my life for I'm ready to die and live. Take this off. He's quoting the books of Moses.
This is a quote from Exodus and Deuteronomy. You are a gracious, slow. Yes. And he said, this is why
I didn't want to do this because I knew that you're too merciful and would forgive them. So he's angry that they repented and God forgave them.
He's angry that God didn't destroy them. Because he thought that they needed to be, yes.
The arrogance of a man who disobeyed God and just got swallowed by a whale to be able to, if you will, look
God in the face and say, I hate how merciful you are. Why'd you have to save them? They didn't deserve that.
And then, but my favorite part is then he goes and pouts. Yeah, and the tree, the plant. And then the plant,
God produces a plant to shade Jonah. Oh my God. Out of his mercy and grace shades him and then it dies.
And he's like, you had more concern. Yeah, God sends a worm to even, yeah. You had more concern over this dying plant than you did these people.
Right, it says, that's exactly what he said. He said, you pity the plant which you didn't even labor or make it grow.
And it came in a night in Paris tonight. Why should I not pity the people in Nineveh, the great city where there's more than 120 ,000 people.
That's crazy. And a bunch of animals, 120 ,000 people. For this time period, that's a lot of people.
Did Jonah respond to that? That's where the story ends. That's what I thought. But I didn't think he had responded. And then we never hear about Jonah again.
Yeah, Jonah's, he's a brat. Yes, he is. But I mean, we all are. But that's what I love about God in this particular,
I don't, in this book, is that he keeps picking Jonah up, allowing him time to repent, keep picking
Jonah up, doing this. And then he's just like, he's pointing out, you are self -centered. You are not merciful.
You are not like me. You need to have mercy on these people. You need to give these people grace. You need to love these people and tell them about me.
I just like that it's in scripture because I like, because I hate to say this, but I can relate to it. And it's like, okay,
God still consistently was like, I'm going to use you. Like, you're going to obey me and I'm going to use you.
And then Jonah was like, yeah, no, I'm not doing that. And then God was like, mm, but you are. Well, like you said, we're all brats.
Yeah, we all are. There have been times, and like, if you do you wanna get into the personal? I do,
I was gonna summarize this and let's get into the personal thing. Here's, I think, our summary from what
God's word says about this stuff. We all have had areas of struggle.
Some of us great to trial. I don't think any of us can compare if you wanna play games with Job, with Joseph.
But I think the answer is, while God is understanding, the attitude, oh,
I'm sorry. Let me make sure I be clear. The Bible tells us, like when loved ones die in 1
Thessalonians, grievance is okay, that's not unthankfulness to God. But we don't grieve like those with no hope.
We don't grieve in the same way as everyone else does, right? I think the answer is this.
Grief is okay, questions are okay. But the attitude that some of these people displayed is never acceptable, even under the worst trials.
If we really keep in the forefront of our mind of who God is, we have no right to be angry with him.
I mean, if you think about it, what you're doing is accusing the most merciful being to ever exist of being not merciful enough.
Think about what you're doing. The most gracious being to ever exist for not being gracious enough. When Josiah is angry at God, that's really what
I'm saying. I'm saying that he's not merciful enough, he's not gracious enough. That's a scary thing to have in your head and your heart.
The reason this question came up, this particular one about being angry at God, it was the
I Am Second, they have the YouTube page where they interview different people and they essentially give their testimonies.
I've seen some of those. There was a community post that they did and it was like essentially saying that it's okay to be mad at God because they're like,
David was mad at God, you know, and they listed the Psalms and there were like other instances in scripture and they're like, God already knows what you're feeling, so you might as well just talk to him about it.
And I'm kinda like, yeah, but in the way that you're like,
God, I'm really upset about this, I don't understand why you're doing this, but I'm going to trust that you will use this for good and not just like ream him and curse him.
Right, it has come from a place of like questioning and trying to find an understanding. It can't come from a place of like, not just sitting there and like I said, cursing
God. Yeah. Because that's not okay and it's like, yeah, it's like, so that's why I kind of, that's why
I was curious about this particular question. I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah, I would say no. Because they were essentially saying it was okay and I'm like. I don't think it's ever okay to be mad at God.
I think what Carissa just described, by the way, I'm just, it's a side note, but you know what, it's a podcast, so get over it.
If you were taught that it's wrong to question God, let me help you.
Let me relieve you from that. Let me disabuse you from that mindset.
Josiah Shipley, at least, cannot read this book without having questions. Here's, I think, where the problem is.
We have been raised in a culture where the word question means to reject. Like people say, well,
I'm just questioning the, okay, if you mean question as far as asking questions, it's not just that that's okay.
I don't know how else you learn. I mean, look at the school system. That's what they do for school. Like you take a test on what you've read.
Yeah, I don't, I don't. So you can understand that. Exactly, I don't know how else you learn about God. I don't, like, so if we mean is it okay to question
God as in is it okay to not have answers and seek out those answers, my answer would be not only is it okay,
I think you are disobeying if you don't. Seek me and you will find me.
Knock and my door will be open. Search for me with your whole heart. Come, let us reason together,
Isaiah chapter 11. So I don't know, I think you're disobeying if you don't. I think what some people mean is it's not okay to reject or accuse
God of wrongdoing. And that is, of course. But I think we need to get rid of the phraseology you shouldn't question
God because that's silly. I mean, I don't know how else you learn. So anyway, why am
I talking about this? You're talking about questioning God. So not okay to be mad at God, of course it's okay to question.
Yes, but not. But not from a spirit of, God, why the heck would you do it that way? Because there have been times where I have done that.
Like I had, I'm very type A, I'm getting like less or more lax on the type
A thing. But back in high school, I was going to graduate high school, I was going to go to nursing school,
I was going to graduate that, get married, then have kids. That was the order that everything was going to go into.
I graduated to me. According to the God, Anna. Yes. Not really, by the way, that was.
Little G God. Not even, but yes, yes. So I was very adamant about how
I wanted my life to play now. Graduated high school, went to, they call it pre -nursing, like you have to get accepted into nursing school to get into the program and all that.
So I don't even think I applied for nursing school. And I didn't drop out because, like I was flunking every class.
I'm just like, I, the first year, I hated it. I'm just like, I hate math and science.
Why am I going into a career that is only like math and science? Like, this is all it is. I'm like, I was fooled into thinking
I would actually like this. So I did it the first year for myself to like, no, you can prove this to yourself.
You know, just do it. Hated it. The second year, I did it for my mom because my mom was so proud of me that I was going to nursing school and she was putting all of this unintended pressure on me.
And so I don't blame her for that at all. So I left, like quit school, took time off.
I took a semester off. And then I told, you know, my then boyfriend, fiance, when we were engaged, that was,
I don't know what I want to do. So I don't want to waste money putting myself through school. And so then I just worked full -time for, you know, however many years.
So then we, I got married in that amount of time, put my husband through school.
So he graduated. And then I went back to school, 2020. It was like spring of 2020.
So like right as COVID was hitting and went into x -ray, well, applied for x -ray school the following year, didn't get in.
And I'm just like, God, I have no idea what you want me to do. I thought this was the direction you wanted me to go in.
Like I was really interested in this. And at that point in time, my whole identity was wrapped around in my career and how much money
I could make and, you know, being something instead of who God wants me to be in Him.
And so I'm just like, God, I don't understand like why things aren't working out for me. And it's just like,
I said, if you, and this is before I found out, I didn't get into x -ray school. And I was kind of low key, like hoping
I didn't get in. Cause I was like, I don't know, it was like a whole thing. It was just scary.
And so I prayed and said, if this door does not open, like if you choose to not allow me through to this program,
I'm okay, but I just need you to direct my steps to what I need to do next, because I just, I have no idea.
And so I didn't get in and I had peace about that. And then like a year later,
I think it was that following year, that winter
I told my husband, I said, I want to start trying for a baby. I was like, we'd put it off because both of us had been in school.
Like, I'm tired of waiting. Like, I think I'm ready. And he's just like, I had to do a lot of convincing with him, a lot of convincing.
And now we just look at our son and I'm just like, why did we wait so long? You know, it's like, why? He's just like one of the biggest joys of our lives.
But all of that to say, I didn't understand what God was doing. And he's still like, he's still provided for us.
And now I'm so glad that I'm a mom. And I'm like, this is what I was meant to do. Not have all of these accolades, not have all of this money, not have all of these abbreviations and letters behind my name.
Like that doesn't matter. But now I'm happy doing that. Another thing that was like a why
God type thing was - Ali, that was beautiful. Oh, did you do that? Jeez, yeah. I was like, how can you just transition so fast?
I don't know. That was beautiful. Jeez. What a testimony to give right there. Golly. I don't even want to say it.
You keep going. No, I'm like, it took a lot. It didn't like, now it's like, it's always nice when you can look back at a time and you're like, man, glad that's in the past.
You know, now I'm dealing with other things. But after that, it was last summer. So this was, I was pregnant last summer.
I was like halfway through my pregnancy. Chris, all of us used to live at the same apartment complex, okay?
So in this particular apartment complex, they had student housing and they sent out, we had a friend whose parent worked at the school and said, hey, like, just so y 'all know, they're about to send out letters to like have you guys, like, they're not gonna allow you to renew your lease for the fall.
Because most of us were not students. I was already out at this point. We were not students. I was like the auditing or whatever.
So we paid like an extra 50 bucks a semester. So an extra $100 a year. I'm like, okay,
I'll do that. And you went to the class every time, I'm sure. Sure. Yeah. I got all the emails. I don't even know like what class
I was auditing. I still don't know what I was doing. I remember Dr. Kilpatrick was the professor, never met the guy, but anyway.
So we do that. But man, he knew how to write an email. Yeah, man, he was really good. And then I looked at all the curriculum that he sent with it.
So anyway, we found out when I was like 20 weeks pregnant that we would have to vacate our apartment.
They weren't allowing us to renew the lease. And we were actually, Carissa and I were on the youth trip together and she got the email.
And she's also pregnant, but like a month out from delivering. You're eight months pregnant. You got two pregnant women in the middle of the heat.
Carissa. Like I legit started crying right then and there. Cause I was like, I'm supposed to get birthed in a month and we're gonna be homeless.
We evacuated all the kids outside and like all the adults were inside with Carissa. We're like trying to reassure her.
And like, I'm like, Carissa, it's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. So that happens. And so Donovan and I are just on edge.
And we're like, we know we're like, we're gonna have to get this email. Was Donovan? He was on the trip too. And Chapman was too?
No, Hunter wasn't on the trip. I hadn't even talked to Chapman. That was, I think that was making it worse is cause like I wasn't able to talk to Hunter.
Right. And I was just like, my pregnant brain was just like, oh my gosh, we're gonna be living on the streets of Memphis in July with a newborn.
Like what? So, so that happened. So we were on edge. Like we knew that it was going to hit us.
So on the way back, we were pumping gas, like filling up all the cars, our caravan with gas.
And I looked at Donovan, he was pumping gas in one of the cars. I'm like, are you okay? And he goes, yeah. And I was like, for reference, we've been together since we were 15 and 16.
So this year will be 13 years that we've been together, seven years married as of next Saturday. I can tell when something's wrong with him.
And I'm like, you're lying. I said, what's wrong? And he goes, I got the email. He's like, I didn't want to tell you before we got home.
And he's like, I got the email from the school and we're gonna have to move. And I'm just like, I started tearing up a little bit cause again,
I'm 20 weeks pregnant, I'm hormonal. And I'm like, I don't know what we're gonna do. But I looked at him, I said, God's going to take care of us.
I don't know how the heck, how he's gonna take care of us, but he's gonna take care of us. So July 4th, 4th of July, like where, you know, we're looking at houses.
We get pre -approved and everything for like our loan. Cause we know we're going to have to purchase a house in this market because an apartment was like more expensive than a mortgage for what we needed.
So we start looking for houses, 4th of July, you know, we're both off work. I get an email from one of the realting websites that wanted like a house popped up in the market today.
And so I emailed our realtor and like, hey, I want to try to look at this house at some point. And she goes, oh, I can schedule you a viewing today.
Being 4th of July, I didn't know that was like a thing. Apparently, you know, they work on holidays. I want to shoot, I can do this today.
We can go see it at 12. I said, great. We're going to be out that way visiting family anyway. That's great. So we see the house and I'm, I look at my husband and I'm like,
I really want to put an offer in. He's like, me too. So we talked to the realtor. He's like, all right, we'll go ahead and put the offer in. So like all of this to say, we ended up not having to move out of our apartment until like September and our baby was doing
October. And so because of that, this was again, July, the buyers ended up picking us because we would give them two extra months to find another house because we were staying in that apartment.
We didn't have to leave for a couple more months. So that is the only reason we got our house was because of that.
And if it weren't because we were being kicked out at that point, then that house wouldn't have been ours. And we wouldn't have moved in when
I was eight months pregnant and completely useless. As Donovan likes to say. You're so cute. And you wouldn't have brought your son home to your actual home.
Right. And that was, and when Donovan and I, like we, you know, turn in the keys to the apartment, like we've been there our whole marriage at that point, you know, it was six and a half years.
And Donovan and I, like, he's not sentimental, but I am, but he is a very emotional guy. And that's one of the things that I like.
Like he's strong, but when he's emotional, I just, I love it. So we were both like, like ugly crying in the apartment when we were leaving.
And he's just like, I don't wanna go. I said, I know. I said, but we have to. And I said, but just think about it. I said, this will always be our home.
We now get to bring our son in to our home. And it, you know, be something like that.
But it's like, I never knew how God was gonna do it. And I was like, low key panicking. And I would just pray and I would feel myself get anxious.
I'm like, God, I'm just like, I don't know how this is going to work out, but you do. And I just need to trust that. Because I don't know.
But then that's not me saying that. Like I didn't doubt or, you know, freak out. Like I thought I was gonna have to move in with my mom for a little bit.
And I'm like, oh God. I don't wanna have to move. I don't wanna have to move back in. Cause anyone knows if you have to move back home, like, and you're already an adult and you've already been on your own for so long.
And then you have to move in with another adult who already has like their own routines and all that stuff. I'm like, I can't, I can't do that.
And then we're gonna have to have a newborn. And I'm like, I can't. I'm like, Lord, please don't do that to us, please.
I'm like, I just wanna be in the home. But we didn't have to do that. But that's kind of like my thing of,
I had every opportunity to be angry with God in that time.
But instead I chose differently. I mean, another point of like, where I could have had like anger towards God is like with my dad.
My dad was abusive, like long, short story long. Dad was abusive, like didn't have a relationship with him.
I could have had a better dad, but I didn't. But like weeks before he died, like he wasn't sick or anything.
It was like an accidental type death. I prayed for him. I prayed for his salvation, for his salvation.
And I remember when I was at the funeral home, hadn't seen this guy in 10 years. I was at the funeral home talking to his body because you know, when people die, you need weird closure and stuff like that.
And I just remember telling him, dad, I'm not mad anymore. Whatever you did to us is canceled.
Like in whatever, I'm like, I'm not mad and I forgive you. And I hope you find peace with that. Like, I hope, you know, I see you one day.
But that would be something else that I couldn't gotten mad about God about because I didn't have a good dad.
I've met a bunch of people and I'm like, okay, apparently this is like a thing where a lot of people don't have good parents, but it's like, you know,
I was just one of them. But like I said, I could have gotten mad at God for that.
And I did, like when I was a teenager, like I was pretty mad at God because I'm just like, you know, why me? I'm not special.
I remember I was that way in high school. Like I didn't have, which my dad and I are on like a lot better terms now.
I think that there are some bridges that just can't be rebuilt because of like the boundaries that I put up just because I don't want to have to go through that again.
But like, I remember in high school, my mom, she told us, she was like, you know, we're moving out. Like we're leaving, we're going to go stay with your aunt.
Like we're, you know, we need time apart. And I remember like being in my room packing and I just sat on my bed and I just started crying.
And I just remember looking at him being like, what the heck? Like you're tearing my family apart.
And like, you know, you're supposed to be this almighty God and you're sitting here tearing my family apart.
Like, why are you doing this to me? And like, I was so angry for so long. I mean, like I was still angry when
I started coming here. How long have you been here? Like going on, let's see, I'm 22, three, four years now.
But like, I was just so, and like that anger took me down so many roads that I wish
I had never gone down. But like, I was talking to somebody when I first got here and someone looked at me and they were like,
Carissa, why are you so angry with the only person or the only being that can heal this?
And I was like, it took me back because I was like, here I am blaming the person or the being,
I'm blaming God for not doing what I think he should be doing. But really in all actuality, he's waiting for me to repent for being so angry and allow, not allow him, but let him just heal me inside and out and show me why
I had to go through that. And then heal my family in the process. You know, we moved back in, my parents are still together.
There's a lot of healing has taken place. And it was just so crazy to watch it happen because it was just like, the moment
I realized that, oh my gosh, I'm blaming God who is the only person that could fix this.
But it wasn't God's actions that led to that. And that thing is like, you know, it wasn't, I was angry at him for other people's actions and my own actions that I was doing.
And I was blaming him and I was like, okay, Carissa, settle down, take some responsibility here because God's not forcing you to do these things.
God wasn't forcing your dad to do these things. You know, but you both chose to do these things. But yet he's still there saying, all you have to do is repent, right?
Like, that's all you have to do is repent. Repent and follow me. I feel like we do that though with like any type of relationship is that we always try to put the blame on somebody else, whether it's like their fault or not.
Just like - I think it's amazing. At least me.
Oh man, this, this kills me when I do this. I just want to like go back in time and slap myself in the teeth.
So like, when something goes wrong and the first person you want to blame is
God, when God blesses you, answers the prayer, whatever, you'll say thanks one time, something you prayed about for six months.
You'll say thanks one time. And like three weeks later, you'll look back and it's, you're already so accustomed to it.
You're like, oh yeah. That's just the norm now. Yeah, I was crying about this five months ago and I'm so ungrateful.
Like this was supposed to be the worst thing ever and you're just going through this horrible thing.
You barely even give gratitude. So you'll give him 100 % of the blame and an afterthought of credit.
Yeah. That's backwards. I mean, that's just backwards. You know, something
I have come to appreciate, and this seems like a trivial thing, but you want to talk about stress management.
So there was always at least eight people living in my home growing up.
There's seven of us and there was always one or two other people that were staying with us. Well, my family had between two and three working vehicles, between the seven of us and all seven were of driving age.
I'm talking when we were older, okay? Or maybe, you know. Just the three oldest. Jeff might've been 14 or 15, like they needed to go somewhere is what
I'm saying. There were on many occasions where there were eight people that needed to get to six different locations and only two vehicles to do it because constant car problems there for two years.
Constant for two years. I remember those days. Man, nine flat tires in one year for the
Shipley family one time. Nine. Oh my goodness. You remember your black truck that was then, was it
Joshua's? Uh -uh, I have no memory of that, Anna. No, none at all. Yes, it was me and Joshua's and it did not drive more than it did drive.
The ceiling was like coming down. I just remember it like sitting on side of like in front of the house longer than it was ever just like.
That's about right. It was just stuck there. It was not because of lack of effort. It just could not run. For whatever reason, I tried,
I tried, I tried, I tried. Oh my goodness, okay. Back then,
I've said this before on the podcast but for those of you that maybe are a little younger than me or whatever, back when President Obama was president, when he was president, the city, and some of your cities may still have this by the way, the city had an ordinance that said you had to pass inspection before they would give you your tax.
Now that went bankrupt. I know, government run thing going bankrupt. I'm about to say, I don't remember that. Government run thing's going bankrupt. I remember it being a thing but I never registered.
Yeah, it's probably not a big deal for most people not named Josiah. Okay, but here's the problem. This was when
President Obama did his cash for clunkers thing. And this is where you could turn it, that's what it was called. Lowell, do you remember this?
Okay, you could turn in your crappy car for like $700. The problem is that wasn't enough money to actually buy another car.
So you'd just be without a car. Or you'd just go into debt. He did it to appease the eco -friendly environmentalist on his side of the aisle.
Okay, so here's the problem. And $700, I don't really remember. You had to pass inspection. For those of you from Memphis, there's this huge place on Appling and I -40.
And then there's another one, I can't remember where the second one was. Anyway, all you had to do was you drive and they would do like the windshield wipers and the lights on and stuff and then they would take this little thermometer looking thing and they stick it on the inner tailpipe and it measured
CO2 emissions. Now, most people, they just did it and then they could go get their tags.
This is before you could order tags online. You just go get the tags, no big deal. Well, the problem was my truck was, you know, it got like 11 miles to the gallon.
It never would pass that thing. Now, you could not go get your tags unless you had passed it.
AutoZone used to have this stuff called guaranteed to pass and all this stuff to help you pass. You remember that? Yeah. Well, I do because I bought several cans of it.
So anyway. You didn't say how many cans it would take to get your tags. I never could get it to pass.
Well, then it came time. Guaranteed. I still have to get to school and my parents. Were you in high school at this point?
Yes. Okay. My parents, the three best words they ever told me were I love you. The second set of three words they ever told me that was the best thing for me was the words figure it out.
I had to get to school. So I'm driving a vehicle that has expired tags and I'm not talking just by a month.
By the time I saw the truck, the tags were nine months expired. I was pulled over between me and Joshua 15 times by police.
Oh, let me tell you something. I've been pulled over by police 15 times between he and I for this.
Here's what would happen. I'd get pulled over. The police officer would come and then you know why
I pulled you over? Yes, because my tags are expired. Here is a, you will appear in court 30 days.
You have, okay, whatever. But then I'd pull out my piece of paper, say officer, I understand. Listen, here is where I tried to go get the inspection thing done and I failed it.
You can see this was too easy. I'm trying to go, all right, I'll tell you what. I'm gonna write you a citation that says you have 30 days to get your tags renewed or else you appear downtown.
I said, okay. And then I would just go fail the inspection again, get pulled over again, show them the paper, get another 30 days to pay.
You didn't have to pay for these inspections. No, no, no, because they were government mandated. Okay, so you're not out of pocket for this.
No, except tardies from school started because I was getting pulled over. Walnut Grove, Germantown Parkway, I -40.
Work over there. Yeah, 240. So I can't tell you how many times. I ended up, it got to a point where Joshua and I would just go, hey, you wanna go fail the thing to get the thing?
And he'd go, yeah, I'll do it. We'd just go and like, hey, and I'd be like, hey ma 'am, yeah,
I know, and you're new here. Let me explain what's gonna happen. Why don't you just skip all the headlights and the windshield wipers? Just go ahead and go do the thermometer thing.
Give me the failure 30 day thing and let me just go home. I think that was like one time
I got pulled over the day, like on the way home. Anyway, so I became very accustomed to that.
And while that compares nothing on a human level to Job losing his children or anything, for a 16 year old, the amount of stress of every day
I had to figure out how am I getting to where I need to go tomorrow. Every night we would meet together because it had to be like,
I worked in Somerville and for those of you not from Memphis, that's literally 25 miles.
And then I had to go to the University of Memphis to class. That's a 55 minute drive.
So it would be like you wake up two hours early to drive this person to Walnut Grove and then like drop
Jermiah and Jeff off at FSAS and then you take Donovan here and you go take mom.
My parents would like let us drop them off at work, right? Because Somerville and I'm driving a
Ford Astrovan. Some days a Mazda 626. I thought it was a
Windstar van. Some days, well, remember mammals side by side, step side. The mystery machine, the
Scooby -Doo and Shaggy thing when it's over. Man, that thing, let me tell you something. It can go over 80, by the way, if you ever have an exam.
If you ever have an exam for a - I was asking what Rachel came and woke you up for. So anyway, it can go over 80.
All the way from Arlington to wake him up. What a good woman. Yes, yes. Better than I would have been. I kind of knew at that point. Well, this, to be fair, this would be like, this would be like, yeah, kind of important.
So funny. So I have a 1995 Oldsmobile Delta Royale 88.
By most people's standards, it is not a good car. It's a hoopty, as they would call it.
Every single day that I turn the key, it starts. For me, in my maturity now,
I am overwhelmingly grateful for that. I don't even want to sell it because for me, that's God's provision for me.
And I know that sounds silly, but for me, that was a stressful thing 15 years ago.
Golly, 15 years ago. That was a stressful scenario. For me, that right there, that's
God's blessing. I can't help but be grateful for that. That was not always my attitude. But it just goes back to,
I have that attitude now, but I didn't before.
And it's just incredible how amazingly ungrateful we can be.
Amazingly ungrateful. It boggles my mind when
I hear myself or other Christians, people who were spiritually dead, screw you,
God. God resurrects them to life, gives them the ability to desire things of God, and that we could be ungrateful for things.
That's the kind of stuff where I just, like, Josiah, what are you doing, man? So my maturity in that is, much like Anna and Carissa have already said, my gratefulness, my gratitude is still not where it needs to be, but it's far better than it used to be.
I am very grateful now for those times because I just think now, if I'm this ungrateful sometimes now, what would
I have been if I had always had, you know, I mean, it's almost like God knew what he was doing. And so, almost, right?
Almost. I think a key problem for most of us as we wrap up here, and Anna, I'm not picking on Anna, because I was the same way, when
Anna started saying, my career, my plan for my life, my plan for my life, what constantly helps me is recognizing that I am currently breathing
God's borrowed air. Mercy is not that we don't go to hell when we die.
Mercy is that I'm not there right this second, that this floor does not open up, like, right now. When I, I do best when
I keep that in mind, not because he's some fat kid with a magnifying glass and I'm on the anthill, because I've wronged him.
When I think that, then I get in the right mindset of gratitude.
And man, you know what? The outlook on life is just a whole lot better. Yeah. Ladies, closing comments.
I would just say, you know, your mom, your mom said this to somebody.
My mom? Yes, your mother, Gwendolyn, said something to me that I didn't hear until after I needed to hear it.
And I'm just like, man, I wish I would have heard that like years ago. She said, God does not care what your career is.
He will use you wherever you are. And so that was like a big thing with me is, like you said, with your spiritual maturity,
God will use you wherever you are and your life is to serve him. It's not to serve yourself, because that is all this culture is.
Put that on a t -shirt and sell it. Well, that's all this culture is, is me, me, me, me, me, and what I want to do.
And you know, like you said, it was my career, my life and all of this stuff. And it's like, it's not about you. It's not about you.
It's about your service to the creator and how you can lead people, well, not lead people, how you can be an example to people to help them know the love of Christ and be that for them.
So I would just say, like God will use you even if you can't see it. And like we said earlier, even if you will never see it,
God is using whatever you're going through for a purpose. That's right.
But that would be me. I don't know, Anna kind of stole what I was going to say, so I just - There's power in repetition. Times two. There's power in repetition.
Well, yeah, and that's a big thing. It's just like, you know, in those times that you sit down and you want to say, like, you just want to curse
God. Instead, just in a humble way, God, why is this happening?
Show me why so I can understand it. But then also be okay if he doesn't give you an answer. That's a good word.
Because at the end of the day, like you said, it's not about me. It's not about you. And God will reveal what he wants on his time, not on mine.
That's right. And so, you know, maybe in 10 years, I'll know why this happened five minutes ago, or maybe
I'll die never knowing. And I have to be okay with that. And I think that's just a big thing that people, it's just like you said, it's me, me, me on my time when
I want it and I want it now. And it's just like, God's like, God's like, no, this is my plan.
I will do it how I want to do it. And - Because I know what's best. Because I know what's best. And it's, we have to just say, okay,
God, you know, and we have to submit under him and just, and follow. And I don't know,
I think that's just something that I personally forget a lot because I'm the same way. I'm just like, okay, well, this is not in the plan.
So what do I do now? Right, right. Us planners. All right.
All right. I think we answered the question. That's our thoughts on biblically, folks who are aiming with God and how that was dealt with and then us personally in our lives.
If you like what you heard, like, share, subscribe, all that stuff. If you didn't, we are open to that too.
Put it in the comments, send us a message at listenpointtaken at gmail .com. Tell us how we really stunk it up and didn't do it right.
We'll try to do it better next time. If Will forwards us the message, he might just be like, yeah, you know what?
That's from that person who cares. I'm just kidding. You can also find us on Instagram at pointtakenchristianpodcast.
Hey guys, we are in the business of doing this to help share insights, wisdom, and discernment that we have learned from God's word as it has been experienced in our life.
There is no truth that will come out of our mouth more true than what God has said in his word.
Let that be what rules your life. A proper understanding of where you place as far as God's authority and your own can help deal with any type of emotions you're dealing with towards him.
All right, that's all we have. We'll be off next week and then week after we'll pick up with a topic yet to be determined.
Until next time, Deuce says we're gonna do that again and don't edit this out. We'll do it again. I was like, wait, what are we doing?
Carissa, Carissa, I'm gonna say. Usually I get to work before the podcast ends.
So when y 'all get to the very end. Because we talk more than 50 minutes. Yeah, because we, okay. So I'm gonna say until next time, we're gonna make deuces.
Are you ready? All right, on the count of seven. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Until next time, deuces. Why seven? We didn't do chat it up.
Here, let's do it right now and have him slice it in there. All right, so here you go, you ready?