Podcast

Welcome to the final episode of 2024! As we wrap up the year, Victor and I reflect on what it means to desire change and align those desires with God’s will. In this episode, we dive deep into the importance of not just having holy desires but taking actionable steps to fulfill them.

From personal growth goals to the incredible opportunities God gave us this year through our ministry, we discuss victories, challenges, and the practical ways we can all begin 2025 with purpose and clarity.

Let’s make this new year different—not by setting fleeting resolutions, but by recognizing the desires God places in our hearts and working intentionally to live them out. Ready to go all in with us? Let’s take that first step together.

Learn more about our pilgrimage to Greece & Turkey

 

 

 

 

Well, welcome back to the Pew everybody. I am your host, John Edwards, and here across the table. From me as always is my co host and cohort, Victor Adams. John, do you know that today’s a major day and, you know, and really what it is, is because gym memberships will skyrocket today. That’s right. Well, that’ll be tomorrow probably, right?

We’re here on a new year’s eve and it should be, it should be happy gym day. It should be. Happy New Year’s. Yeah. Happy New Year’s. Right. So that’s what it’s going to be tomorrow is New Year’s day. And we’re here, uh, putting this last episode down for the year. I can’t believe 2024 is gone by so quickly.

It’s, it’s, you know, we say this all the time when we, the older you get, which is weird because I remember my parents saying this, my grandparents saying is like, man, time does sure fly by. And it’s, uh, it’s no joke, man. It just, it’s hyperspeed now. And I think it’s because. We, we get so tied into our schedules because our schedules are booked.

It’s like, we don’t have time to rest. Yeah, it is funny. I mean, I remember being a kid and like wanting to be 21 or 18 or all those different things and it like took 20, 000 years to get to those ages. And then once you hit 21, it’s like you’re 40 and then you’re 46 and then you’re whatever else, right.

And, and it just flies. Cause you, life happens. You have kids, your kids get busier, all that stuff. And there’s things fly by. And. So I wanted to, you know, take a moment here before we dive into our topic, um, for 2025, really the first, the last year of 2024 is pretty much the first year of 2025, but, um, really just wanted to take a minute to just tell everybody, thank you again.

Um, it was an incredible year. Uh, it’s one of our biggest and most successful yet, as far as, you know, being able to do what God set before us. And, uh, just wanted to share some of that with you. We’re always on here asking for your support and. Asking for you all to be partners in the pew to become partners in the pew and thanking those of you who already are.

And I just want to share some things with you this year, in case you didn’t know, but in terms of the podcast, because of your support and your help and sharing it, and also the, you know, the, the support you give us financially every month, we were able to reach over 75, 000 people on the audio version of the podcast alone, and over 85, 000 on YouTube, um, through 2024, which is amazing.

I mean, Each and every year that’s growing and we’re reaching more and more people through media that way, and it’s drawn more people into what we do. And it allows us to be able to go back into these parishes and. Get invites to parishes and all those things to do the work, the leadership summits, all of that.

Um, as far as activity is going out and doing the work with men’s groups. I mean, we had six restored parish missions and men’s group launches in 2024. We, we spoke at six men’s conferences. We had six diocesan leadership summits that we were stuck on six, right? Then we had the pilgrimage to Italy where we were able to take 50 people to a Eucharistic miracles pilgrimage, uh, through Italy.

And. And just enrich people’s lives that way and to visit those amazing places We were able to go to the national eucharistic congress and podcast with father maliki in front of A ton of people there and to get in front of a lot of people in our booth thousands of people Um, you know throughout the week and you know Just through social media and everything else your instagram and and facebook and linkedin and x and all that stuff We reached thousands of people through that.

Like it’s ridiculous how many people, you know, we’ll watch and are reals and all those things that, that are there. So, you know, when you look at it, there’s now hundreds of men meeting in groups where they can find healing and grow in their faith and authentic friendships in Wheeling, West Virginia and Gainesville, Florida and Hutchinson, Minnesota and Muncie, Indiana, South Bend, Indiana.

It’s in Folsom, California, right? If you look at the conferences we were able to attend to really share the gospel and just plant the seed of these leadership summits and stuff to come back and help men rise up, not just come to the conference, but rise up and do something in their parish. We were able to, to speak in front of 4, 400 men last year in these conferences.

You know, I think it’s even a little bit more than that. I didn’t throw in some last numbers. It’s probably closer to 6, 500, but that was in Columbus, Ohio, Green Bay, Washington, Dubuque, Iowa, uh, Scranton, Pennsylvania, uh, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Muncie, Indiana. Uh, the leadership summits where we partnered with diocese.

We spoke in front of about 800 men at those from parishes with their priests and deacons in the Diocese of Columbus and in the Diocese of Metuchen and Diocese of Fargo, Diocese of Victoria, Texas, another one in Metuchen. And then through the experience retreat weekend for the men of Dallas. So the Lord has just been doing amazing things and it’s not possible without all of y’all.

So I wanted to take a few minutes here in the beginning of the show to say thank you to all of you that listen, that share, that write us emails and letters, um, telling us the impact this has had on you. I, I’m currently hiring for a job and one of the people that applied, a lady said that she had been listening to our podcast, Victor, for four years and that their marriage had been blessed and that their, their, their faith life was so much better because they’d been listening for four years.

Very humbling to get things like that. So we know that the podcast is helping people come out of their brokenness, all those things. We’re building these groups, but it’s all because of you. So thank you all that gave on Giving Tuesday. Gave monthly or annually or a one time donation this year. We hope that you’ll continue to support us through 2025 and beyond.

We’re growing. We’re going to be hiring missionaries. I’m hiring a full time or a part time admin right now and a marketing company that’s going to come alongside and help us grow with all this stuff. So that more people can have eyes on this. It can be helped by it and can know that we can go to their parishes and help them.

So I just wanted to take this moment at the end of the, of the end of the year to say thank you to all of you on behalf of Victor and myself. And. The opportunities, whether you were at one of these conferences, you listened to us, you support us, or you were at one of the group launches or whatever. We thank you all for the invites, for the time that you took to spend with us during all those things.

And we look forward to another year of working in the vineyard alongside you and your prayers. And your support. So thank you for that. If you haven’t supported us yet and you’re interested in 2025, you want to become a monthly partner in the pew, somebody that’s right alongside us in this mission, you can do that by going to donor box.

org slash pew. That is donor box. org slash pew. Or you can go straight to just a guy on the pew. com and you can, you can find that donate button in the top. One last thing. A lot of people have been asking about the pilgrimage to Greece and Turkey. You can find that on the website as well on our events and book me page.

Uh, if you’re interested in that is filling up fast. So please, I mean, we had five more, I think this or six more this week, sign up. So please, uh, if you’re interested in that, go and check that out and get signed up before we have to, uh, start the wait list. So folks again, thank you for everything. Looking forward to every opportunity we have to spend with you.

In 2025, through our events, through pilgrimages, through the podcast and wherever else God brings us together. And, uh, you know, you were talking about a list of everything that we, you know, collectively, uh, we, we’ve done mostly you, you know, doing the thing and I know it’s okay to receive it, but you know, they go into the conferences and the leadership, uh, events, um, any of those that have been there and, and experience, you know, John being down there and help, you know, speak down there.

I mean. And we would love to hear how your life’s doing now. Yeah. You know, just, you know, doesn’t have to be attached to this, you know, this, uh, video. Um, and, uh, Although we like comments, I’d be great to know how we’re doing, but like I said, just like, and subscribe. Yeah, just sit exactly. Sorry. I meant to do that.

But, uh, but yeah, just, just send us an email and let us know how we’re doing because, you know, we don’t hear much, you know, we, we, we, you hear, I think when you’re in person, emails come in and stuff too, but yeah. I don’t have that password. I get busy and forget to tell you all of them. But, uh, but I like, I like when you do share, I like to hear because not only is an encouragement, it’s one of those things like when, whenever we’re like wondering what’s the topic that people want to know about, what, what.

What, where to go, what direction do we need to be like, or what direction we can be in 2025? You know, I mean, those are things we would like to hear is like, Hey, this is great. I’ve never heard about anything like this. Is there a way you guys can talk about that? Yeah. Um, we are open to discuss a lot of those things.

Well, and you’re always wanting to know, like where, where do people minister to when we’re talking about where do people need to be ministered to when, when we’re talking with men’s groups and stuff, like one of the things that I always talk about is. What do men want and what do men need? Do you even know?

Because a lot of the complaints are like, well, nobody’s showing up or nobody’s coming or we don’t get consistent, uh, attendance, that kind of stuff. Or nobody seems to care or they come and they fall off. Well, what are you providing? Right? Like, do you even know what men want? What men need? When I was a sales guy for Napa, if a guy, you know, needed, uh, needed a radiator and I was selling brakes and that’s all I had, I wasn’t much used to them, right?

Or he needed a wrench and I had screwdrivers. Wasn’t much used to them. So one of the things that we really try to want to know in this ministry, whether it’s through starting these groups, administering them in, in that way, or through this podcast is where are you and what are you dealing with? What do you want to hear about?

Right. We’ve got 310 episodes after this, I think that, that have all kinds of things you can go back and listen to. But if there’s any particular, you can always email just a guy on the pew at gmail. com. So the name of the podcast and at gmail. com, and we can look at those. But, you know, you were talking about 2025 and desires, Victor, and And that’s really what this show is going to be about today.

You know, we’ve been on this beautiful journey. I know it’s been helpful to me. Um, you know, ever since Heather Kim came on three or four episodes ago and talked about encountering Emmanuel, been going through that book, uh, every day of Advent, it’s just been a gift, uh, to her, you know, she’s such a gift.

And just to walk through that with her insights and guidance of the Holy Spirit has been great, Angela’s doing it too. Um, but then we had the episode on preparing the way of the Lord, like what does the Lord want and how are we doing that and giving him our hearts? And. The healing that he wants to do.

And then we talked about, you know, stop hedging your bets, right? There, there, there comes a time for decision. You prepare and you wait and you prepare and you wait, but you also have to make the decision on what you’re preparing and waiting for the ways of the world or of Christ. And then finally, last week we talked about the heart of the matter that really what God desires is our hearts.

And it’s the place of transformation. It’s where everything has to happen. Then our faith can’t stay, uh, intellectually only like that’s where You come to the desire to know God, right? Like the questions and seeking answers, but then it has to move to the heart for it to become real and take place in your life, right?

And to have real change. And so as we were preparing for this episode, which is, as we said, this is coming out on New Year’s Eve, but tomorrow’s a new year and a new day, right? Is John Paul II, uh, was St. John Paul II was so Uh, so smart and saying, and so repetitive and saying was begin again, right? Like it’s a chance to begin again.

And we’ve done shows in the past. We’ve talked about like the gym membership stuff. You’ve, you’ve kind of referred to there and how everybody wants to like, how am I going to change this year? And oftentimes there’s. Those things fail. But what I really want, want people to think about and what I’m thinking about now is, um, have this time before the end of the year.

So many people are off work and, and have some time, you know, in the next week and a half, two weeks to really not just celebrate the season, but to think about like, okay, God wants my heart. That’s where transformation takes place. So the question that should flow out of that is what do I desire? Like, what, what do, what do I desire?

Now the more important thing is what God desires for me, right? But I think that’s where we have to start. So so many people go, well, I want to be different in 2025. Okay. Well, what does that mean? Yeah. Like, what are you desiring? Because as we’ve talked about before, Victor, our hearts full of desires, but they’re different desires, right?

There’s, there’s a ordered and holy desires and there’s disordered and unholy desires, right? The goal of our life is to let the Lord come in and help us rid ourselves of those unholy desires that come from wounds and places of pain. And you know, that’s where guys that are continuing to fall to pornography or, or substance abuse or whatever, oftentimes are, they’re giving into those unholy desires.

Which there’s a good desire below it, but it’s, it’s distorted in the way we live it out. But then we also have these holy desires, right? When you’re, maybe you’ve gotten in a fight with your wife and like you’re, you’re hot in the moment or you’re mad in the moment. And you don’t care a lick about anything other than the way you were treated or the way things went down.

But then you get away from it for a moment and you’re like, I just don’t want to fight in my family anymore. Or I just don’t want to be the reason that there’s an issue in my family. Or I just want to be a better husband and father. Or a better employer. Or a better friend. Or whatever it is. There’s all these great desires.

I want to know the Lord better. I want to know His purpose for my life. Those are good desires. But if we never really sit with that, Then we just, we don’t really know what they are. It’s like, well, I just wanted to be a good year. I want to be healthy. And, but what beyond all that, like, what do you really want?

And that requires taking time to sit down in our life and going, you know, what are my desires? What do I want? And so you and I are going to share some of our own in the show today. Like what, what we hope for 2025, our own life, and I hope to, to motivate and to. To, um, have guys really just leading by example, do the same in their own life.

So. I think there’s really four things we’ve got to look at and then we can dive into our own one What do we desire as I was just talking about like what do I really at my core what I want to be better at? and i’ll talk about my own here in a minute, but like The things that are the red lights that I know are issues in my life or the things I want to be better at What are those two?

What does god desire for me? Well, we know the answer to that question, right that that question is Is, uh, is really about what the Baltimore Catechism used to say, right? Like he wants us to to know him and love him and serve him so we can be with him forever in the next, right? I just butchered that, but to love and serve him in this world so that we can be with him forever in the next.

He wants relationship and those things, but he also desires what the good things for us, right? He desires good things. Now this is not the, what do you call it? The prosperity gospel kind of stuff. Like he desires me to have a Lambo and in a, you know, 17 bedroom house and all that stuff. But he desires our good and, and, and the things that he wanted us to have and designed us to have.

Right? Great relationships and faith in him and, and love and kindness and joy and peace and all those things. So. If you know what you desire, you know what God’s desires are, then the thing I would say is like, how do my desires line up with his? Like that’s the next logical thing in this whole plan is what do I desire?

What are God’s desires? Where do they meet? And then finally, how am I going to take action once I have clarity on those things? Because so many of us We don’t take action. We have a desire. Um, but we don’t, it’s like having a dream. A dream’s a dream until you start trying to make it come true, right? Till you start working to make those things happen.

So our desires are the same way. It comes down to, to knowing what we want, but also in praying for God’s guidance and discernment and all those things. And for him to give us the grace to be able to find those things that are good and holy. But also, um, it’s up to us to take action, isn’t it? Well, I know I was kind of like, joking a little bit about the gym membership thing.

Yeah, no, no. But really, that’s what it is. We all have a desire, like you said, to be healthy, to eat healthier. Yeah. Or to get out, walk, or go to gym, work out, and stuff like that. I think all of us want to be healthy. Yeah. You know, physically, mentally, spiritually, everything. That is, that is a goal that we all probably share on this earth, in one way or the other.

Um, but like you said, you know, we all desires need to be changed into a habit needs to be changed into a routine in order for that desire to be, uh, an act of labor, uh, working towards it. Um, and you know, for, um, a lot of us, I think once you set a routine and anything that you do, it becomes habitual process, your life, like, For me, I have to have a cup of coffee in the morning.

So I get up, I let the dogs out, I have a cup of coffee, go out there, let them run around. I come in and then, you know, I check my work email. I need to do something. I need to add something more to that. Like I used to do, which is to read the daily scripture, to ponder what, what the scripture is of that day, you know, and to say, what can I do to implement that in my life?

What can I do to be prepared for this? Um, I have allowed my work email. My Outlook app to be kind of like my setting tone of the day. Sure. And I don’t like that. I don’t like how that happened this year. Uh, two years ago, you know, I pretty much said I was gonna like limit or eventually not have any social media.

I have a Facebook account, but guess what? I’m sorry. If you friend me two years ago, , it doesn’t mean I don’t like you, i’s just, I don’t go, go and check on Yeah. You’re not a social media guy, that’s for sure. Right. Because for me, even LinkedIn, you know, I, I I just see what’s going on. Yeah. But like, I don’t, like, I, it’s like I don’t post because one, I feel like for me, I just, I, I, I, I, I share with people who I love.

Yeah. And they know my life. So if you, if you wanna know what I’m, how I’m doing, call me. And I’ll tell you how we’ll put his phone number out to all of you. So there’s a security code somewhere in there. That’s true. But that’s a desire then, right? If you like get back into more spirit, that is, that is, that is a easy step one basic process that I, and there’s other things that we could talk about further in the show, but for me is to kind of implement, uh, A daily scripture or a meditating process because I used to be like in the morning I would get up at six o’clock in the morning.

I light a candle. It was still dark and it opened up my bible Yeah, and I would I would look at um, you know, what’s the divine intimacy as well that book too. I would do the And I do that. And then I would write stuff down, you know, like what stood out for me generally. And for me, that’s, that was like an amazing activity that just really set my heart, not ablaze, but just like focused on what I’m supposed to do today.

Like, thank you God for this. The breath that’s in my lungs. Thank you for my heart beating. Thank you for my wife. Thank you for my children Thank you for allowing me to say I love you to people Um, and and and it really allowed me to be kind of like a motivated person of faith Yeah, you know instead of a motivated person of work.

Sure. No, I mean it’s something that I want to do too I mean i’ve I got a list of stuff over here too, and I was just kind of thinking when you were talking You know, that, that we, you know, the show’s called what do you desire? But the important thing is really what does God desire? And we really know what he wants of us, like we talked about.

But the thing is that we have to figure out in that is with that, with his desire and our desire, where do they meet? Where do they intersect? Because honestly, like, this is the cool thing about it. One thing I was just reflecting on one day. Is these good things that we have, they don’t always seem good because if you’re living in, in disorder desires, this desire of your heart, that’s telling you like, this isn’t good and you want to be better.

Oh, you know, it’s like, you know, when your heart’s telling you like. What are you doing? Yeah. Like, why, why are you thinking this way? Why are you acting this way? Yeah. You know, this isn’t you, and you’re like, well, yeah, it’s not me. Yeah. And I spent many, uh, many years in that, like when I was doing the cocaine and the drugs and the, the alcohol and all that stuff and the porn.

It’s like every time I went to do that stuff, there was like a quiet voice saying like, this is not you and this isn’t good for you and you don’t want this. And, and so really. So when we talk about our desires, when we talk about holy desires, it’s really the voice of God that’s speaking into us that make those holy, right?

Like those things, it’s that conscience and that quietness that’s, that tells you everything you’re making a wrong turn or every time you make a wrong decision or, or you’re getting off the track. It’s that voice. It’s calling you back. Sometimes we even feel like we’re being nagged by it or something, but it’s, it’s the voice of God.

And so like, we have to. It’s the things that we always kind of get around. Well, I’ll eventually get around to that. I’m going to be a better husband. I’ll be a better father. I’ll, I’m going to read more scripture. I’m going to, the reason we even say that is because someone is putting that desire there.

Like that reminder, right? So God’s desire is more important because he’s God. And two, Because it’s his desires that really shed light into our own desire, especially in those places where we’ve been broken and off course and, and just have gotten away. Right. And, and so that’s, that’s what we need to really focus on.

And so for me, you know, some of mine, like I’ll just read them off really quickly and we can jump into some as we talk about yours too, but. Um, like I want to be a better disciple, you know, I get, I get in a good groove and I’m like doing the liturgy hours and I’m, I’m got my new Scott Hahn, you know, huge Bible that came out a couple of weeks ago and I’m loving kind of reading through it and reading the footnotes and then going to the catechism because of that and, and I enjoy that.

But oftentimes I allow, like today I had a bunch of interviews for these positions. I had zoom calls with parishes and men’s conferences and all this stuff, making sure they have what they need. And I’m on the same page as they are and all that stuff because I’m having to handle it all by myself right now with the transition of Derek leaving.

But oftentimes that can happen more often in my life than I want it to. There’s been more lately, more times lately when I’ve missed daily mass and that’s something that’s been a stalwart in my life, right? Um, adoration has been a little bit few and far between for me. And those are things that I know I want to be a better disciple in that way.

I want to, I want to stay. At the foot of Jesus better than I have this year Um, not because it you know Obviously it makes the ministry better when I do But I need it like personally in my relationship with them because a lot of these other things i’m going to mention they They become issues when that first desire isn’t met like I want to be a better disciple of jesus.

So Two is I want to be a more present loving husband, right? There’s so many times I spend telling Angela about all the the struggles and the stress and the things that the ministry has going On or the you know, sometimes a one man show is as this can be when we are in between people I monopolize a lot of the conversations about Um, you know, my life and, and knowing she has stressful things going on, but just selfishly choosing myself over her, um, in the way that we talk and discuss those things, um, you know, listening, but not hearing kind of stuff.

Um, hearing, but not listening, I should say would probably be better. Um, so there’s those things. And then with children, right? Like I want to be more in loving and more and more loving and unselfish with them. Um, you know, when, when there’s time to be had with them, I don’t want it to be, okay, well, I want to watch this Grizzlies game.

Do you want to watch it with me? And then therefore we spend time together or I want to. You know do this or that and you can accompany me instead of just like what do you want to do this past sunday? I sat on the floor and played some game that never ends and was like monopoly. No, it was like Something against humanity.

Oh cards. Yeah, and like i’m just and it was like a clean kids version And it’s like what’s the point of this and when do you win or lose and they’re like you don’t and they’re just having a Ball and i’m like, oh my gosh I really have to like there’s a million things that you’d be doing. I want to do You But there’s gonna be one day when I look back and like wish for moments like this.

So yeah, I need just to be better about Letting that stuff go and just being present the moment to them and then finally like I want to proctor’s pride Prioritize my health not in some good a gym membership all that but I really want to sit down and eat better and plan better and exercise more and and not just use road travel on the road and airplane life and And you know doing what I want to be an excuse not to to treat my body as a temple I’ve been treating it like an amusement park, honestly, uh for the last, uh, since august probably with all the travel and the junk and the Making excuses for myself and so those are some of my desires, right?

But As we talked about desire has to take action, right? Right. So that’s some things that i’ve got to look at and start planning about how that’s going to happen in my life But what are some more of yours? Well, I mean i’ve i’ve learned to pray more Intentional wise like rather than just for myself intentionally.

Yeah, intentionally like I used to You know the youth of my prayer life was like god, um, you know Don’t let suffering come to me, you know, uh, God, let me be patient, you know, teach me to be, or, or bring this to me, like, you know, like asking stuff without the work, you know, and I realized a long time ago that, that you got to put the work in, you know, like if it’s kind of, Silly for me to say, God, don’t let any suffering come towards me, because I know that, you know, suffering, no matter how it comes, it’s always a revelation of God’s love in me, towards me, for me.

Um, I realized, gosh, if I didn’t go through this, I wouldn’t have a perspective I have, as I have now. Yeah. You know, and not to say that I’m wishing everything bad to happen to me, but like when it, whatever comes, ’cause I know he is not a punitive God, you know? Well, you’re surrendering his will. Yeah. He, no matter what it is, loves us.

Good, bad or different. He loves us. He loves us, but he wants us to learn. He wants us to love to learn how to, to learn how to love perfectly. Even though we may not reach that, but we’re on our journey to know what perfect love is. And, and that is to like to, to love. With your whole heart, not with a part of your heart, as we had in another conversation.

And, um, and by, by that I don’t ask for patience because I know I have to work on patience. Yeah. So therefore when patience means, like you said, to, to, when I got it, when I know I have something to do, I stop and I listen to what Christy says or my girls ask me to do. And I, I’m, I’m actively involved in the conversation.

Yeah. Because that is a moment they need me. So if I don’t show up now, then they’re never going to expect me to show up later in their life. Sure. So I’m, I’m, I’m trying to be more aware. My desire is to be more aware when I need to be present with those in my, in my life. Well, and that’s what I mean, that’s exactly what I was talking about too.

It was like really loving, like Jesus did being present to the people that are in front of you. And John, just. St. John Paul II was excellent at it too. It’s legendary about how late he was to things, because if somebody was in front of him, that’s all that mattered. Right. Like, and, and especially no more so than in the Eucharist, whenever he found himself in a adoration chapel or something like that, you know, he might be hours and hours late, but yeah, I mean, all these things are, like I said, these desires, God desires for us to these good and holy desires that line up with his, um, but we can’t leave it in the, it doesn’t need to be a hope, right?

Just like I hope this happens. When you use the word desire, like I want this, like I really need this in my life. This is something I long for. It’s really what desire is, is a longing for. So if I really long for it, then I have to be willing to do the things that matter, right? The things that I need to do to be able to do that.

For me, when I said prioritize my health too, like, sometimes I still, you know, I’m able to drink and not have a lot of problem with it as far as addiction, you know, I don’t, um, not like the cocaine, like I had to go, you know, you had to stop doing cocaine. It’s not good for you. And alcohol can be a bad thing too, as we know.

With me, what I want to be better about is not turning to things like alcohol. Or pornography sometimes when I still fall, you know, every once in a while when the devil wins at that, that temptation battle with me. Um, I don’t want, I don’t, I just don’t want to continue to go to those things as crutches.

You know what I mean? My desire is like to be rid of all that in my life to where when I, when I struggle in an argument with my wife or, or I’m disappointed because of the way that I didn’t handle the children, right. Or something that I don’t, or, or work stress or whatever it is that I don’t go and just go.

Okay. You know, I’m going to, I’m going to go drink more than I should because I’m, I’m stressed and I’ve, uh, I need a break or whatever. Well, I deserve this. Right. So allow the Lord to become the desire of, of that quenching, right. Of that release of that, of, of, of, of that, that yoke that he wants to be right.

To take on these things for me, that’s the desire I really have. And so what do you do about that? You start, you start making that more of a priority and you start realizing those things. And like, when I’m feeling those feelings and. You know, bored, less, uh, angry, stress, lazy, tired, you know, that, that I know that I’m, I’m susceptible to these things and that I need to be careful of that.

Cause honestly, the only time I ever struggle in my life again was like pornography or looking at something I shouldn’t, or, or something coming on a movie I didn’t expect to come on and. And not fast forwarding it quick enough or something like that is, is, um, is when honestly I’m not so many other things in my life are off kilter Right and usually if it’s drinking too much like if i’ve had too much to drink your inhibitions go out the window So what is a if that’s really your desire to not be in those situations?

Then maybe your plan of action is like, maybe drinking isn’t the best thing for me, right? Maybe I shouldn’t drink at all, or maybe I should set limits. Like I’m only going to have to like, you’re good about that. When you come over here, you’re like, I’m driving Christy, you can have a good time and, you know, drink some wine or whatever with Angela and the girls.

Um, but I’m going to, um, I’m going to have a couple and then have some time and then drive home. Right? So there’s just things like that in my own personal life that I’ve noticed when I get in a situation I don’t want to be with. And it’s generally because I’ve let my guard down and I’ve, and I’ve made some sort of excuse for the behavior and why I should be able to do that.

So that’s one of the places I want to, I want to take action. And, and that’s really what I want to talk about here at the end is like when we talk about these desires, a lot of people go, well, God knows me. He knows my desires. He just doesn’t do anything about them. Well, God likes to work in tandem with us.

He gives us grace and we take action, right? Like he gives us grace if it matches with his desires gives us grace and then he Waits for us to take action with it, right? I mean, I knew that I wanted to go into ministry I lost the job. Angela looked at me and said, take a little bit of money and start a nonprofit.

And if I had never done that, God gave me the grace through Angela and the, and the, and the words, his own words to do that and the inspiration. But I could have sat there and been like, no, I’m scared. I don’t want to do it. Or no, I’m just going to figure something else out, complain and all those things.

But instead. I took that action when I could have gone the other way and now here we are with this ministry. So through God’s grace and then our, our yes, right? So what I wanted to just read through a couple here before we, you know, start to end the show here in a second is really what the Lord says and what some of the other saints say about this.

So first of all, with our desires, the good desires, right? The desires that are, that are the holy ones of our heart, St. Catherine of Siena says there is nothing we can desire or want that we do not find in God. Right? So even your disordered desires have a good and holy desire under them, as Dr. Bob Schut’s tale says all the time.

And that good and holy desires from God. Right? So anything that you’re looking for is like, I was alluding to when it’s like that whisper or that piece of your conscience that’s going like, Hey, you know, you don’t want to do that. Or, Hey, you know, this isn’t good. Or if you, if you open your mouth instead of just being quiet and taking the, the more humble road in this, in this tip with your wife, Then, then it’s going to get to be a problem and your children are going to see you argue and fight and they’re going to remember it and all those things, or you have an option in the moment.

So, you know, these desires are put there by God. And then what we have to do is what we’ve talked about, like this. This, um, looking to what lines up with his, right? Because it says in, in Psalm 37, four through five, take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will act.

So that’s just, it’s telling us. First and foremost, like we talked about, give the lord your heart so that transformation can take place. Like that’s what it means to take delight in the Lord, to put him first, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Now again, that doesn’t mean like 40 supermodels in a, in a You know, Ferrari and, uh, you know, in a, hitting a winning lottery ticket.

It means the good desires of your heart that line up with his, he will give you commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will act right. So if we have these desires that are good, we know they came from the Lord. He’s the one that spurred those desires within us. So he’s there rooting with you with the communion of saints, with those that have gone before you.

He wants those good things for you. So he waits on you to act. And so we have, you know, one of the fathers of the church, St. Augustine, that said this a bunch of times, and it’s a famous quote, you know, that people repeat a bunch of times, I should say, is pray as though everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.

And that’s what we really have to do for our goal in 2025, is to kind of go, you know what, I’m sick and tired of saying this all the time. And I know that, you know, God continues to whisper in my ear, these desires, you know, and that’s what gives me this desire in the first place, I’m going to sit down and start to listen to those and look back on 2024 and all the times I felt those nudgings and those kind of like sometimes a gnat, you know, that’s just, you want it to go away and it’s just buzzing around.

What were those? Those things that I heard what were those continual Echoes that I heard in my soul right and write those down And then look at what god basically wants for you your good your peace your love your hope Your grace to be poured over you all of those things. Do they line up? And then take St.

Augustine’s words, right, to heart. And then what Jesus himself says in Matthew 6, 33, Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Right? When we pull apart our own selfish desires and the things of our heart that aren’t of God and we start to realize what is left, either, even those holy desires that are below the bad things that we’re doing and living disorderly.

There are desires come from God, the good and holy ones. If we really sit down and take that. So if you want to like actually change in 2025, if you want to stop the things that are going on and some of the ones Victor and I talked about here may have hit home with you, but if you know those things and it’s up for you to take action, right?

Um, you know, desire has no. Power without action, right? It’s a longing without ever the means to serve that longing. And so what we want to do is put our energy in 2025 into living that way and in utilizing, bringing those four steps together, right? What are my desires? The good and Holy ones and the good and Holy ones that are below the disordered ones.

What does God desire for me that came from him in the first place? So those will line up. But once I figure that out, how am I going to take action and find clarity on these things and then start to live it out in my life? Because that’s where change comes from. So for all of you out there, you know, that are looking for this, it doesn’t have to be another year that goes by where you said all these nice things and they didn’t happen.

Be more, um, intentional this year, like not wait, not waiting for, for tomorrow, right? Which is when you’re going to hear this. So I guess you’re going to have to, but like. But looking at it and saying, okay, 2025, I want to be different for me in these ways. These are the real desires of my heart. Even if they’re painful and I don’t want to admit them, or they look like Herculean to me or whatever, write them down.

What does God think about these? Where do they intersect? And then what is my plan of action to move forward in these? Um, for you, Victor, it sounds like, you know, you’re gonna, you’re gonna spend more time in the mornings praying and doing some more of that and, and being a better listener to your family and stuff like that.

For me, and I want, you can clarify on that in just a second, for me, I want to be a better disciple. I want to be more present to my wife and kids. I want to continue my healing journey, right, by, by looking at not. Everything that’s a problem is everybody else and not me, but like dealing with my inadequacies, they’re still there in my abandonment wounds and all those things.

And then working on my health and making good choices in my life. Those are the things I want to, I want to do. And so I’m going to sit down over the course of this time, you know, uh, next couple of days and just really look at that as I have been through Advent and come up with a solid plan, right? You don’t want to try to eat the whole cake.

Just write down some slices you want to start and then start taking bites of those slices. And once you’ve had one, go to the next and go to the next and go to the next and work systematically and intentionally with a guide who wants to do it alongside of you. So Victor, any final thoughts here? Just really just kind of piggybacking know, ideas and desires are good without a course of action or plan.

They just remain that way. Yeah. And, and God has placed something in your heart so that you move towards that, that goal, that, that closest, that that connectivity with God. With him in the spirit and with the son. Um, so listen to that, you know, obviously we, we, we, we hear this, we know this. Um, and yet something kind of prevents us from going all in, like if we’re at a poker table, you know, all in putting our heart on and, and not, you know, hedging our bets.

Yeah. And as we were talking about, right. So go all in and, and this year and coming up in 2025 and say, this is what I know I need to work on. This is what my course of action is my plan. And I’m going to meet those desires. They’ll become actual, um, actual events. Yeah. They’ll become reality. They’ll become truth.

They’ll become a truth of my life. So folks, I mean, that’s really it. Like we said, you know, look at your desires. Those come from God and just, they’re going to match up with Him if they’re good and holy desires. Um, you know, and then take action with it, right? Take action with it. So, we’re going to close out in prayer here with those things that, praying for all of you that, that you’ll take a couple of moments, or as much time as you need, over the next few days.

And don’t feel like you have to rush, you know, and do it tonight or in the morning because the calendar is flipped. Like sit with God and give him the time of your life be silent like get away from distractions Find a place in your room or somewhere in an adoration chapel and do what you got to do to sit down and have this Conversation with God Lord, this is what I keep hearing you say to me or my conscious is saying to me Is this what you desire?

If so, then Lord, this is what I want to help me make this desire reality and help me form a plan to do that. I promise you, your life will change, but the more intentional you are with that, the more chance you give yourself for change. So let’s take all of that to prayer. Um, and just ask God for help in 2025 and beyond for those that we love and for ourselves.

So the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this opportunity to come together and to talk about what really matters, the changes that you want in our life, right? Those whispers that we hear all the time, some that we were grateful to get and some that we ignore because we’re just.

To tie it up in the things that matter more to us than they should. Lord, the heart is the place of transformation. You’ve told us that there is where true change starts. So Lord, as we enter into this new year on this last night of 2024, help us to center on what those quiet voices tell us. Those desires of yours to make sure that they line up together, right?

And then to form a plan of action so that we can actually become the men that our heart tells us we desire to be, not for it to be a pipe dream or something out there out of our reach, but but for it to become a reality with your grace, with your guidance, with your love, and the hope that all of it brings.

And the name of the Father of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thanks folks. Have a great 2025.

Today we’re talking about something we see far too often: living with one foot in the world and one foot in the faith. It’s time to make a choice, to stop hedging our bets, and go all in with Christ.

In this episode, we share our own struggles with lukewarm faith and explore what it means to commit fully to God. We look at examples from Scripture—like Elijah calling out the people on Mount Carmel and David’s heartfelt psalm of trust—to remind us that God doesn’t want a half-hearted relationship. Advent is a time to prepare, reflect, and decide: Will we give our all to Him, or keep clinging to the distractions of the world?

Victor and I are passionate about helping you find the joy, peace, and purpose that only Christ can bring. This episode is a wake-up call for anyone who’s ready to stop living a “safe” faith and start living a fulfilled one.

Don’t miss this one, and as always, share it with someone who might need to hear this message. God bless!

Get all the details 👉 here

 

 

 Well, welcome back to the Pew everybody. I’m your host, John Edwards, and here across the table from me as always is my. Co host and cohort, Victor Adams. You know, uh, it finally got comfortable here. It was an ice box in here earlier. Um, I had to wear some layers today because I knew this is like kind of like the out, you know, it’s attached to your house.

It was great. It’s an amazing studio. If anyone wants to come and do a tour, let John know. We’re going to need to do some background checks before that. But no, you’re right. It was cold in here. I mean, some days I stay in the house and work just because. It’s a different heating system and all that. Yeah, it says 55 when you come in.

We all know, well, we all know that, you know, in the wintertime those gas bills can get crazy. So, if I’m not working out here doing calls with parishes and stuff, sometimes I’m just, right now I’m spending a lot of time writing the book. So I can sit in the house when the heat’s already on. Right, I find out why you keep a call for me to stay asleep, uh, stay awake.

That’s right, yeah. Cause I, in the old days Trying to turn your headlights on. Right, in the old days. We were just doing like, you know, no, no video. There was times where I was like this. Oh yeah. John be like, John be like nudging. Cause we were sitting next to each other. We did, uh, The old, uh, what was it?

Cafe? Cafe Catholic. Cafe Studio. Yeah. Studio. Yeah. So you would sometimes nudge me and I’d be like, bless, pray. Praise God. Yeah. Oh, Jesus, here. Yeah. Yeah. It’s . So, uh, so you know, we would, yeah, we used to set up IVs, uh, of coffee for Victor, just a straight coffee in the whole time, espresso shots. So anyways, that’s, that’s the history of this, this kind of story.

So, yeah. No, but it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s, uh, we’re in the middle of Advent, right? We’re going into, this will be the third week of Advent. So, you know, we’re continuing talking about, uh, the things that we’re going to talk about in the context of Advent. You know, we had the episode with Heather Kim and then last week, uh, we talked about, uh, preparing the way of the Lord, uh, and staying awake.

Yeah. When, prepare yourself, stay awake. Staying awake. That’s right. So right on your point of what you were talking about. So we’re going to jump into another topic today that I’ve just really been praying about and thinking about during Advent. Before we do that, I just want to invite everybody. And remind everybody that we do have that pilgrimage coming up, uh, going to Greece and Turkey to walk in the footsteps of St.

Paul with my good friend, Father James Clark from the Diocese of Memphis. That is taking place September 9th through the 20th, um, of next year. We already have a bunch of people signing up, Black Friday and all that stuff. They had sales. It’s already starting to fill up. We’re only taking one bus. That means less than 50 people.

Um, so if you’re interested in going with us, you can go in the show notes and click and register and find out more about the trip there. Or you can go to just a guy in the pew. com, go to our event page and right below our calendar is a whole section on the pilgrimage. And you can download the brochure.

You can do all that there and then register straight from our website. But we’re going to be doing a lot of amazing stuff. We’re going to be walking the footsteps of St. Paul. We’re going to see churches. We’re He wrote letters to places where he preached places where he traveled with Silas and some of his other, uh, disciples and brethren there.

Uh, we’re going to see the Island of Patmos and the grotto where St. John wrote revelation. We’re going to see the house where Mary, uh, was said to have lived her last days up until the Assumption. There’s just so many amazing things the seven churches of revelation Um, and there’s a cruise it’s a four day cruise involved in it, too So you’re in land and you’ll be through the Aegean sea Going to all these islands like Mykonos and Patmos and Rhodes and all these beautiful, uh other places So Folks, if you’re interested in that, go to the link in the show notes below in the description, go to our website, just to get on the pew.

com and you’ll see a pilgrimage thing at the top. Click it and join us there. We’d love to have you also for any of you that are looking to bring us in to help you start and launch vibrant life changing ministry to men, or you’re looking to do leadership summits or have us for conferences and do do multiple things like that.

Then, uh, we are taking reservations and bookings now, uh, through the latter half of 2025 and into the entirety of 2026. So if you’re looking to have us come help you start a life changing ministry for men in your parish, you want us to come in and do a leadership summit in your diocese, uh, to help get groups going in many parishes, just reach out to justgardenview.

com. Click the, the, any of the buttons on the page that say, find out more. It’ll pull up a place where you can put in your information. You can even schedule a call with me. And we’ll get all that set up. So folks just wanted to say that also. Thank you again to all those that gave on giving Tuesday and continue to give each and every day we’re growing those monthly partners in the pew, and it is helping us be able to move forward.

Um, we’re actually moving in a different direction with what we’re doing with marketing and we’re bringing on an admin, and then we’re going to be looking to bring on those missionaries we’ve been talking about for a long time. So please pray for that. And please, if you haven’t give given yet, please consider becoming a partner in the pew.

It really helps us in our mission. You can do that by going to just get on the pew. com too. All right, Victor. So let’s jump into it. So we talked about it. We’re here in Advent, the third week of Advent. And, you know, I’ve just been having this wonderful walk with the Lord personally. Um, you know, we were talking before the show, I was kind of lamenting over some things that have happened at the year that have been a little difficult.

You know, just things I didn’t know were going to happen. You brought your lyre out and you’re singing the harp of David and lamenting. I was impressed, you know, but, uh, it was one, you know, it’s just, it’s some things here at the end of the year. That have been difficult that I wasn’t expecting to deal with.

So the Lord’s been giving me a really great grace to just, you know, sit and prepare the way and, and to wait as you’ve said, and to really just sit in peace. And so I’ve had a lot of time to pray about a lot of things and reflected over 2024. And. Um, a lot of the relationships and a lot of the places that I’ve seen men and, and really just the church men and women in the church today.

And so I was praying their day and I was thinking about some of that stuff and you know, a big problem that I’ve seen a lot in, in the men that I’ve journeyed with and some of the men that are in, in the men’s groups that we walk with, um, you know, people that are just in the church. Um, there’s been this sort of problem of, of just man, this sort of one foot in and one foot out in the faith.

And again, I, I live my life a long time that way. Talk about hokey pokey. Yeah, just sort of this special hokey pokey and, and really just this, this, like this desire to not want to pick and choose a side, right? Like I’m going to try to live in the world and I’m going to try to live in the church. And yes, we have to have jobs.

We have to have things. I’m not talking about like the literal sense of having to live in the world, but it’s almost like, okay, I know that there’s God and there’s all the promises that he has, but I’m not sure that that’s real. And so I don’t want to like put all my time into that and go crazy and give my whole life to God.

And then find out at the end that nothing’s really there and it was all just something someone made up And so I I don’t want to lose what I could have had in my own life So there’s just kind of one foot one one in One foot in one foot out and this kind of desire to play it safe with god like i’m going to do enough with god to where Like god knows who I am and and possibly if if jesus were to come back tomorrow that maybe i’d make it in But I also am going to continue to flirt with the world and the things that they offer, because I want my cake and eat it too.

Like I don’t want to choose one or the other, because what if whatever I choose isn’t a safe bet, right? What if whatever I choose doesn’t turn out to pay out right. In the sense of like, Diversifying your money, right? For instance, well, what if I put it, if I put it all in that Apple stock and it crashes, then I’ve lost everything.

So I just want to diversify my money and put it everywhere, which is a smart thing, but it’s not always so smart to do in your faith because you’re pretty much hedging your bets. And God doesn’t like that. God wants us to make a choice and he wants us to choose him. It’s not about spreading out your, your life and yourself so that you can walk in both worlds and kind of jump back and forth with, you know, whichever, whichever way the balls.

You know, whichever side’s winning, right? Or whichever side is offering you more at the time. But I see that in a lot of lives of men today. I see it in a lot of the people we’re working with. Like, hey, I want to change my life, but I still want to do all the other things I’ve been doing. I just really want to feel better about myself for a little while.

I don’t really want to change. So can I sort of keep walking this life over here and then kind of stick my toe in the life of a Christian? You know, because we’re not just talking about Catholics. It’s every Christian out there. It’s a lot of parts of the faith you see this in. where people are trying to put on the pose of, I’m a good Christian and I’m giving my life to Christ on stuff.

But they’re still over here living fully in the world and they haven’t made a choice. They’re playing both sides of the table. Yeah. Um, that’s kind of like what you’re talking about. The world’s very good. at giving misdirections or distractions. Uh, every day we go about setting the course that we need to do in order to provide, uh, income for our family and to answer emails and to do everything we can.

And then sometimes during that busyness, we kind of like forget that God’s even part of our life. You know, cause we’re distracted by everything else. So that is the, the encouraged, uh, I guess, incursion of misdirection of what the world tells us to focus on. And the danger of that is, is that over time, we not only neglect going to God or spending time in prayer, we start developing our own philosophy.

Yeah. We start justifying, well, you know, I mean, life’s pretty good, you know, I mean, we’ve missed, you know, for, for Catholics, you know, we’re, we’re supposed to go to mass every, every Sunday. Yeah. And that’s just, that’s just the expectation, you know, of, of being a Catholic. Yeah. Um, and not to say that every person that’s not in the Catholic faith, you know, don’t, doesn’t go to a Sunday worship all the time, but I do know a lot of people, cause I came from that, that, uh, that faith that sometimes golfing or, uh.

Hunting or fishing fishing sports. Yeah, right usurp that time, you know, that’s the important part and you know, everyone needs recreation I totally get it. I’m not, you know land blasting people like that because sometimes you just you know Sometimes unfortunately sporting events are always on like sunday.

Yeah, even within the catholic faith. We have volleyball basketball I mean, so it’s kind of like catholic run sports organizations, right? so there is that that that process that sometimes we We don’t know We negate the sense of worship and community worship and we, we, we create our own philosophy and say, well, uh, uh, God loves me, you know, but I believe more spiritual life rather than religious life.

And when we start divesting, you’re talking about, you know, financing stuff, we start divesting faith from spiritual or religion. from spirit, we, that’s what the danger we form, we form our own faith, we form our own philosophy and we get further and further from the truth and we make up our own idea of who God is or who Christ is or who Buddha is or who, uh, you know, uh, Allah is.

And so it gets to the point where we’re, we’re, we’re so convoluted in our faith that we don’t really know who it is we believe in. And then we started to believe more in ourselves. Yeah. And we, you just start to struggle and you’re wearing these masks and things, right? Like that’s the thing. A lot of us, and I know, cause again, I’m not pointing my finger at anybody but myself here, you know, in my past and things.

I would, I would put on the Christian mask and the church mask on Sunday, just like I would the work mask and the, this friend mask and this guy mask. Yeah, for an hour and a half you wear it. Yeah. And wear it. And you’re like, okay, I did enough to check the boxes to. You know, if I die tomorrow, if I have a heart attack, get hit by a bus, maybe God will look mercifully upon me and I’ll go to heaven because I, I did some things and that’s dangerous because you, you start to, it’s almost like you’re, you believe you can earn your way into heaven and that’s not what it’s about.

We’re supposed to be doing things out of love, but it’s like love doesn’t hedge their bets and I keep saying that phrase and. You know, I’m sure everybody listening is familiar, but if you’re not like hedging, your bets is really just, it’s a phrase. It’s like, I don’t want to, I’m afraid of making a mistake.

So I’m going to, I’m going to spread things out. Right. I’m going to put things out there, um, and play both sides of the issue so that I come out either way. It’s that gambling turn, right? I’m going to hedge my bet while things like hedge funds, right. It’s, it’s playing things so that. There really is no opportunity for loss and that you come out smelling like a rose, no matter what happens, but we can’t do that with our faith.

God, you know, what does Jesus say in the Bible? You can’t serve God in mammon, right? Like you can’t. He, he says that multiple times. You can’t have a foot in this and a foot in that. It’s one or the other, right? You can’t put your hands to the plow and then turn back and look back because guess what?

You’re going to have the most crazy line that you, you’ve ever, you know, dug in the sand to plant crops. Like you’re going to be crazy and all over the place. So Jesus tells us that over and over again. But the thing is, it’s, it’s human nature for us to want to hedge our bets, right? Like we’re so afraid.

Of choosing wrong in things right instead of instead of like what is my heart leading me to or what is god calling me to? So we hedge our bets when we’re not sure what to go all in on, right? We want the safe play and we don’t know You know, we we start becoming a little bit everywhere and we get everywhere.

It’s like Trying to do 8 million things well, you’re never going to be able to do that because you can’t, like, you can’t give enough yourself to all these different things to really do all of them well. That’s why people like, very rarely do you see an athlete play football and baseball, Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson’s like, that’s it.

But how many players have ever played in the NFL, right? Or in the major league that weren’t able to do that because it’s, it’s a crazy talented person that can do that. For the most part, we have to concentrate on the one thing, right? And that’s why Jesus says, again, there’s one thing that matters, right?

There’s one thing. And so, We have to quit hedging our bets and this time for admin is a perfect time to do that Like as we’re preparing for the lord, that’s what we should be doing Like lord, where are the places in my life? Like we talked about last week that that i’m not surrendering to you that i’m not giving to you Where are the places that I still have?

My leg over in the, in the, in the secular world. Right. And still trying to live and have my cake and eat it too. Like I want to tell Jesus, I love him and I’ll give him my life. But over here, I’m still doing all these simple things that I know I shouldn’t be doing. And I’m not really making that much effort to stop them.

Or I’m turning all my attention to. to building up treasure on earth and all those things instead of using my gifts for what God wants them for. So there’s a lot of that that I think that we see like guys will come to us and we see it when they come to the group. It’s like, man, I want to change my life.

And I, I just, you know, I need help. And then they start to find help and then they disappear and you see them. You’re like, well, what’s going on? I’m fine now. I felt better. I went to confession. You guys really helped me. And six months later you see them and they’re in the same mess again. It’s because we can’t, it’s like trying to, to stand on two different skateboards and somebody push you as fast as they can down the road.

Eventually because of the curvature of the road, the obstacles in the way, those skateboards are going to start to spread and you’re either going to get cracked like a wishbone, you’re going to fall off and hurt yourself, or you’re going to have to choose one to jump on and with both feet and ride to avoid danger, to avoid falls in the pitfalls of life.

And that’s what, what we need to be thinking about here in Advent is like. I need to start making this choice and and stop being the people that that are really Just giving in to this hedging my bets and and out of fear Trying to live in both worlds because what if what if I give all my life and my time to god and none of that’s It’s all mumbo jumbo right and and i’m just dead and then I missed out on this opportunity to have this amazing life because I, I gave my life to the Lord and did all the things he wanted because again, so many of us look at equate giving our lives to Christianity and to Christ is becoming a servant, like a slave, not a servant, but a slave where it’s not like the amazing life that waits for you is in Christ, but we just can’t get out of the world.

So we, you know, we kind of make a deal with God. We’re like, okay, well, I’m going to continue to kind of do things over here. I need you to look the other way, but I’ll show up on these days and I’ll try to basically live by the commandments and, and I’ll try to partake in the sacraments every once in a while.

And, and maybe I’ll find a little time for prayer here and there. Usually when I need something, but like I’ll try to pray a little bit more than that. Maybe some prayers of gratitude and we wind up living this mediocre life, right? It’s not choosing either side and, and we know what the Lord says about that too, right?

He talks about that in scripture, being lukewarm and spitting you out of your mouth. We’re going to talk about that too, but this is a struggle that, you know, we’re trying to, to live in that world of Christianity and to do things as a Catholic we’re called to do, which is good. We should, but we also have to make that choice in that firm decision of the will.

That like when I start to move over to this Christian life, I can’t be, I can’t play both sides. It’s just like dating two women in your life is not a good idea, right? You’re going to wind up hurting one or both and losing both of them, stringing two jobs along forever that you’re trying to decide because you’re afraid about what if you pick this one or what if you pick that one and you don’t make a decision, you wind up losing an opportunity for both, right?

Because they’re going to hire somebody else. They’re not going to wait on you forever. And that’s why God and, and Jesus in, in parts of Matthew and other parts of scripture is very adamant about like standing guard and being ready and, and keeping watch and staying awake during Advent because it’s this, it’s this, it’s this constant calling to say you have to leave those other things behind.

You have to put that other stuff behind you. And if you don’t, you’re going to always struggle and there’s always going to be difficulty. Right. Well, you’re talking about essentially the soul. Our soul is essential because God created us, you know, God’s creation is our soul, but yet he gives us that, that free will to either love him or not love him, you know, and like going back, what I was saying is like, you know, I think everyone has this Exploratory phase in our life.

What is God in my life? What is my identity in Him? Do I believe in Him, or should I believe in Him? Those are fine. You know, we’re not questioning that. I mean, I did that when I was in my youth. You know, I say, okay, this is my mother and father’s faith, Presbyterian Church. You know, I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, but what does that mean?

It means something to them, but what does it mean to me? You know, and, and, uh, by the way, we’re, what we’re saying is like, if, if you know God is important in your life, Christ is important in your life, we’re just, this is a wake up call saying, dive deeper into it. We’re not, we’re not chastising people who are, who are, don’t know it about it because they weren’t taught about it, where this is a call to action, you know, but we’re talking for people who know better like myself and like you, we talk about, we know better and we know that we have to set aside.

What’s in our life is important, and that is serving God, that is loving God, that is loving others, and that is choosing God’s will above our own will. And we’ve had a lot of Hard Knocks Life lessons about how we would go against that sometimes. But for a lot of us, we’ve gotten to the point where we know what’s important.

What is healthy for us? And, and that is what this is all about is that, you know, we’re, we’re pleading for you guys who, who are, have your feet in both faith and also in the world. It’s not a happy place to be in. There’s no good returns on this. Right. You can’t, you can’t ever be whole. I mean, Because when you’re hedging your bet, you, you, you’re refusing to commit to anything, right?

It’s like, I’m just going to kind of be with both and never really fully commit. And you can’t have a relationship without commitment, right? Like you can’t have a real relationship. I remember in college, like I really liked this girl and she was very popular. You know, we started to see each other and then next thing you know, I was like, Hey, so, you know, where are we in the status of things?

Like, are we seeing other people? Are we not? She’s like, well, I like you a lot, but I want to see other people. Like, I want to continue to date other people. And I remember I took her out one night and then like, I took her back to her apartment. And it was early. We went to dinner or something just one night just to hang out.

And then I went and met some buddies at a bar and she was already there with another guy that she like had gone on two dates in one night. And I remember what that made me feel like. I was like. Geez, like I dropped you off like 20 minutes ago, you’re already like out with another guy, right? And it just made me like, I loved her.

I wanted her to love me. I, I, I don’t know if I was crazy in love with her, but I certainly had feelings for her. And, you know, and to see like, to be treated like that is not a way to treat anybody. And when we continue to walk in this light, that’s the way we treat God is like, God, I know you love me and you’re always going to be there for me because you said you will be.

And eventually I might choose that. But until then, like, I kind of want to, you know, I kind of want to keep dating around, you know, I want to date my job and my success and my money and my, you know, whatever else, my addictions and everything else, instead of like committing to the Lord and the Lord doesn’t like that behavior.

He doesn’t, and you can’t. You can’t do that in the faith because it leads you to indifference, right? You know, it leads you to indifference and that’s one of the biggest You know downfalls of christianity and the and the people that claim to follow it in the world today Is this just indifference i’ll do enough to check enough boxes But really like i’m indifferent to what happens like I just want to live a good life and whatever happens happens And it’s, it’s pretty dangerous and we’ve got some quotes here from some of our favorite folks.

You know, Bishop Sheen, Fulton Sheen, we’re going to, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, we’re going to quote him. But, you know, he says, by the mere fact that we do not go forward, we go backward. There are no planes in the spiritual life. We are either going uphill or coming down. Furthermore, the pose of indifference is only intellectual.

The will must choose. And even though an indifferent soul does not positively reject the infinite, the infinite rejects it. The talents that are unused are taken away and the scriptures tell us, but because thou art lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. That’s Revelations, right?

Where, where Jesus is saying, like, you got to pick or I’m spitting you out of my mouth. Like, I’m not going to, I’m not going to be the side piece to the world. Right. Like, I hate to say it like that, but I’m not going to be the second option to the world. Like you give your life to me or there’s going to be consequences.

No one wants to be treated like that. And I love what he says. Like. You’re either going forward or you’re going backwards. There’s no flat land where you just get to stop and rest. The faith is forwards and backwards, uphill and downhill. And the, the pose of indifference is only intellectual. It’s, it’s in your mind, the will, your heart, the will has to choose.

Right. And so he really warns us there. And then St. Maximilian Colby, another great man. I mean, he says the most deadly poison of our time is indifference. And that’s what we see is like. I’m going to do enough of this and I’m still going to be this man over here. And whatever happens is like, either way, I sort of win because if I die and there is no God and there’s no heaven and none of that stuff, then at least I got to have a fun, successful, amazing life.

And awesome. I didn’t lose, but if there is a God and I do enough. To where I slide in the back door before St. Peter closes the gate all the way, then, then, Hey, I made it. And, and what did it hurt? Right? So it’s just this crazy place of not choosing and standing in the middle of the road, and when you do that, you get run over and.

That’s what, uh, the last thing I’ll quote here is Francis Chan. He’s a very popular Protestant pastor. I love some of the things he has to say. He says this lukewarm people don’t really want to be saved from their sin. They want to only be saved from the penalty of their sin. Right? So like, I don’t really want to live the life.

I just want the forgiveness. I just want the grace. I want the mercy, but I what makes me feel good, but not get penalized. Yeah, that’s it. I don’t really call it sin, but. But just minimize it. Yeah. Yeah. No, you’re exactly right. I mean, it’s just like, I want my cake and eat it too. And that’s not what we’re supposed to do.

We can’t hedge our bets. And, you know, there’s some old Testament examples of this that I wanted to bring out too. And really a bad example and a good example, because at the end of it all, like I said, it’s about committing to and cultivating a relationship with God. You cannot hedge your bets with God’s it’s like I’m either I’m not gonna play both sides of the field I’m either I’m all in like I’m pushing all my chips to God’s table and I’m gonna live my life that way If you don’t then then you’re gonna be pretty disappointed at the end of your life Right, and I think there’s gonna be a lot of so called christians in the world that are very disappointed when that day comes The thing all I have to do is just be saved by the blood of Christ and live a decent life, but not actually live the way that Christ called me to, right?

There’s action that has to take place with our, with our yes to the Lord. We have to, we have to partake in that salvation. It’s not just a one time thing. It’s at least that’s what we believe as Catholics and it’s what I knew to be true because why the heck would Wow, what’s the point of living any sort of good life or a christian life?

If you just get a free pass to heaven, right no matter what you do It’s it’s doesn’t make any sense and jesus certainly doesn’t preach that himself. So This is all about committing to and cultivating a relationship with God. It’s a choice. And, and the thing is like, God always asks people to make choices.

And I love this. I was reminded of Elijah and, and the prophets, right? When he had to basically go to the Mount of Mount Carmel. And, and, and have a one man standoff with like 400 prophets of mm-hmm . Of this, these false gods all God. Yeah. Right. The, the, the kingdom had fallen under the, the, the control and the power of these pagan gods and ball and all this stuff.

And so the Lord calls Elijah. Right. And even the king of Israel was under the influence of Yeah. Of Pagan. His wife. Yeah. All of them. And it happened multiple times in the Old Testament. I. Come on guys. Yeah. It’s like, how many times does God have to show you who he is? But like, Oh, signs and wonders. Well, how many do I have to give you a part of the red sea?

I, I did all of these things. I saved you from the lion’s den. I did all this stuff. Like, what else do I have to do for you? I sent you my son, right? I sent you a King that slaughtered a giant. Like I’ve done all these things, but. So, you know, obviously at this point, you know, we’re in first Kings, but, but, um, Elijah, you know, he goes this mountain and I love what it says here.

I mean, it’s just a couple of verses I want to read. It says, so Ahab sent to all the sons of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel and Elijah came near to all the people and said, how long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him.

The next line is key. And it’s where a lot of people are today. And the people did not answer him a word so basically looked at him like yeah, we We’re gonna just kind of keep both feets in the same thing right now We’re gonna do enough to keep god pleased over here, but we’re also we’re going to do.

And so He’s calling out to us the way that God is calling us. We’re living in a society like that today, surrounded by all sorts of pagan gods and terrible things that are calling us away from the Christian life and away from the Catholic faith. And away from being the people that God calls us to be.

And we’re standing there in the middle of it going like, well, I don’t know, I kind of like these pagan gods. They’re a little bit more lax on the rules, right? And I get to do a little bit more of what I want over here. And, and, you know, I want to be a better person. I want these better things, but also like a lot of this over here too.

Right. You know, and so, What we’re trying to say through this episode today is what Elijah, you know, said to these people there when he’s saying, will you, how long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. Make up your mind. He didn’t say follow God or go to hell.

He’s like, make a choice, make a choice. You’re either in or you’re out. That’s what he’s saying. That’s what God sent him to say. And so he does, it calls down, you know, they build the two temples in the fires and he pours water three times over his fire and God lights it and everybody converts back to God.

But we shouldn’t have to continue to ask God for signs. We got the greatest sign in the world from Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ went all in. He didn’t hedge his bets. He didn’t sit up there and go. Well, you know father. I don’t know like I know you want me to do this But maybe something will happen, you know Maybe maybe the things that we think happen won’t happen and they’ll just kind of find their way back I’d rather sit up here because it’s comfortable and i’m in charge of everything and there’s not all that pain and death and whipping and nails and suffocation and Rejection and all that stuff.

So I’ll just I’ll kind of stay up here. Maybe the last minute I can just kind of swoop down there and snap my finger and fix things. He didn’t do that He pushed his chips all the way in as we’re going to see that starts in this advent season As he can’t chooses of his own will he made a choice right to become flesh to become vulnerable To live 33 years and then be tortured in the most horrible death that anybody’s ever faced Because he made a choice for love You And that love led him to choose us.

Right. And so that’s what we’re talking about here in the faith is it’s time to get off the fence. It’s time to quit hedging our bets. And we need to be like another person of the old Testament. I want to read one more thing really quickly. And then we’ll start talking about closing out here, Victor, but like, you know, David, you know, we, we’ve talked about David a bunch, David, warrior King, David falling to lust and adultery and sin.

David was human. He made mistakes, but at the end of the day, He’s a man after the lo over after my own heart is what God said about David. So we see David in Psalm 16 and he starts to cry out the Lord and it’s actually called a song of trust and security in God. This is what it looks like to make a choice.

David said, preserve me, oh God, for in you. I take refuge. I say to the Lord, you are my Lord. I have no good apart from you. Right? Then he says, as for the saints in the land, they are the noble and whom is all my delight. Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows. Their libations of blood I will not pour out, or take their names upon my lips.

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup, you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a god, a goodly heritage. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel. And the night also my heart instructs me. I keep the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved.

Therefore, my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices. My body also dwells secure, for you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your godly one see the pit. You show me the path of life, and your presence there is fullness of joy, and your right hand are pleasures forevermore. That’s somebody who’s making a choice.

David says right there. I don’t want, those who choose another God multiply their sorrows. Their libations of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips. You are who I choose. You walk by my side. You are my part. You are my steadfastness. This is the men that we’re called to be. That’s like what Joshua said, you know, he said, as for me and my family, we worship the Lord.

I don’t know what you’re going to do, but we’re going to worship the Lord. Yeah. So make a decision and choice. Yeah. And, and, and it changed the dynamic because they came into the, the land with milk and honey, but there’s always been problems. There’s always been people who are wavered, who are indecisive.

And, and that is because probably, you know, in all aspects. Um, with, with the sense of study, with a sense of faith, with a sense of prayer, sometimes, you know, that’s, that’s great, but there’s probably something like a traumatic event or something that happened to them. We don’t know. Yeah. You know, and like I said, I’m not going to go dive deep into that in the, in the behavioral health side, but I know there’s been a lot of people have been hurt by people who have been in the power and authority of the church.

We’ve, we’ve, we’ve recognized this and we’re, we’re sorry to hear that that ever happened and within all kinds of faith. It happens, you know, and, and we recognize that, that that’s probably some people may be struggling with that. And we’re, we’re not getting onto you at all, but we’re saying we, we understand, but, but God is love.

God loves you very much. God, it wasn’t that person that harms you or the person that spoke evil of you or threw you out of the church. That wasn’t God. That was, that was that person’s own faith, their own philosophy that they were letting their lives. Lead their lives and not act as a Christian individual, right?

And that’s God gave his life for yours. Yes That’s what he did. He gave his life for yours He thought you were worth dying for so much So that as we’re gonna see in a couple weeks here as we celebrate his birth that he chose of his own volition Like I said, he didn’t hedge his bets He pushed all his chips the middle of the table and said I’m willing to give everything for them, right?

So and you hear it in John 17 So I am with you and they can be with you as I am with you, right? So that they can be and they can know that you love them as you have loved me. That’s what Jesus says. That’s his whole mission for coming here is to show that love. So we have to be like David, even though it is mistakes, right?

We’ve all made mistakes as you were just alluding to. David still pushed his chips to the middle of the table. He went and he asked for repentance. He asked to be forgiven. Then he lived the rest of his life as best he could in the, in the ways of the Lord. Right. Even though there were some consequences and things for his decisions He still grew that and cultivated that relationship.

That is what the christian life is about. It’s about making a choice It’s saying i’m not going to choose these things anymore. I’m going to choose you doesn’t mean i’m perfect Doesn’t mean i’m not going to fall But it does mean that with everything that I do just like when I go to confession I’m going to make a choice i’m going to make an amendment To live my life a different way.

Right. And I’m going to try everything in my power to make sure that I do that. That’s what the Christian life is called to. That’s what waits. That’s what, if you want joy and you want purpose and you want peace in your life, that is the cost is simply that I’m going to make that choice. I’m going to stop hedging my bets, push those chips in the middle of the table, and then live that way for the rest of my life.

So Evan is a chance Victor, for all of us. To to make a choice and to make a stand right? Let this be the year if you’re tired of it If you keep telling yourself well john, I try and I keep going back to little things Then you haven’t really made a a choice of the will is built as fulton sheen was saying you haven’t really chosen from your will Right you haven’t that choice of the will is i’m going to do this no matter what happens No matter if it kills me i’m going to give my life to the lord So we have to make that choice.

We have to take that stand And we have to let go of the things in the world that will never fulfill us and go all in our relationship with Christ. That’s the only way that we’re going to find the joy, the peace, and the happiness that we’re looking for. So. You know as we leave out here, I just want to say like make up your mind and do it Stop settling for a mediocre life.

Stop playing it safe Like push all your chips to the middle of christ’s table and watch what happens. That’s what happened in my life That’s what’s happened in yours and I know that both of our lives are better because of it Yeah If you spend time looking in the rearview mirror and thinking about what you’re going to lose and what you didn’t get Then you’re never going to be happy.

But if you turn straight forward, you keep your hand to the plow and you look ahead of you and stop looking back and you make that choice to continue to do that, you’re going to have a life that you can’t believe. So folks, again, thank you for listening to the show. Um, it’s been a joy traveling through Advent with you.

We’ve got another great show coming up next week. If you love the podcast, if you. If you’ve just happened upon us for the first time today, like and subscribe, whether it’s on Apple or a Spotify or YouTube channel, whatever it is, like and subscribe, that’s going to help us grow our subscribers, our followers.

It’s going to help us get out in front of more people. And then look, take and copy that link. If you were helped by this episode and share it with somebody in your life that needs to hear it, share it on Facebook, Instagram, share it with somebody that you know, one of your children, your neighbor, whoever it is that may need to hear it.

Because it’s an easy way to evangelize. And if you’ve gotten something out of it, chances are other people will too. So Victor, as we close in prayer here, I just want to read and pray. I want to pray this Psalm because that’s what we do. We pray the Psalms. I want to pray the beginning and the last part of the Psalm and then we’ll end the show.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Psalm 16. Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, you are my guide. I have no good apart from you. Therefore, my heart is glad and my soul rejoices. My body also dwells secure for you. Do not give me up to shield or let your Godly ones see the pit.

You show me the path of life and your presence. There is fullness of joy in your right hand or pleasures forevermore, and the name of the Father of the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Victor and I are diving into something really close to my heart—what Advent is truly about. It’s so easy to let this season slip by in the rush to Christmas, but Advent is such a gift if we really lean in. It’s not just about lighting candles or decorating—it’s about inviting Christ into the deepest parts of our lives.

We talk about how Advent challenges us to open the doors we’ve kept locked for far too long—the places of shame, hurt, and brokenness. Jesus came into the world as a baby, humble and vulnerable, and He’s waiting to come into our hearts in the same way.

In this episode, we break open scriptures like John 1 (“The Word became flesh”), Isaiah 61 (“He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted”), and Philippians 2 (“He emptied himself…”) to explore why Christ came and how we can prepare ourselves to welcome Him fully. We also share personal stories about letting Jesus into the messiness of our lives and what happens when we do.

I’m praying this episode inspires you to make this Advent more than just a countdown to Christmas. Let’s prepare our hearts, invite Him in, and let His light shine in our darkest places.

 

 

Well, welcome back to the Pew everybody. I’m your host, John Edwards, and here across the table from me. Is my co host and cohort Victor Adams. Yeah. I feel like I’ve been on sabbatical for a while. It seems like I’ve been busy, busy band. Tell us all this stuff about, uh, giving a Tuesday. Yeah, it was a lot of stuff, man.

First of all, like we’ve, it feels like sabbatical. Cause I think we did two or three episodes in a row together, like at one time. So it’s been several weeks. I know we thought about getting the wardrobe over here. That way we can change three, three shows in one day. And that guy’s what y’all wouldn’t know, but you know, if he had the same.

Yeah. Cause I think I took my vest off on one of those. So I saw the same under, you know, the button down under it, but the vest was gone. It’s kind of like Clark Kent and his glasses, I guess. I’m a different person. That’s right. But no, we did some episodes together, uh, there. So you and I hadn’t been together in a couple of weeks in here.

And then I had Heather Kim on last week that did the, uh, encountering Emmanuel on Advent and her book. Uh, it was really great to spend time with Heather. She’s great. Yeah, she is. She’s, she’s, uh, she’s a gift and we share a similar heart. Like I noticed a lot of the similar. ways that we talk about the Lord and preach about the Lord.

And it was just, it was neat to get to spend that time with her. I look forward to more opportunities in the future, you know, to, to minister with her and then her husband, Jake, who works with Dr. Bob too. I just love hearing people that just dive so deep in the Holy spirit. Yeah. I mean, it’s like, it’s so encouraging for me to go like, man, I can do that too.

Yeah. Yeah. She’s awesome. And she’s great at that. Um, but yeah, so we’re in here. As a follow up, you know, it’s our first Advent episode together this season, so I’m excited for that. Happy Advent, everybody. Yeah, happy Advent. That’s for sure. Fresh off an Advent retreat with Marie Miller the other night in her own parish, it went really well.

We had a lot of people there. It’s a beautiful night. A lot of people going to confession and just worked with Marie to call people into this time of preparation and understanding, you know, really, even though it’s a season, this is the way we need to enter in and, and the, Posture we need to have in our life all the time.

So it’s been a whirlwind of a few weeks. You know, Jacob broke his arm over Thanksgiving in two places. We’re still trying to get that surgery done and all that. And so folks out there, if you don’t mind, throw us prayer up for my son, Jacob and, uh, healing and for the surgeons, hopefully we can have that done.

But, uh, but yeah, so there’s a lot going on. I’ve just, you, you alluded to giving Tuesday. I wanted to thank everybody, uh, here in the beginning for, uh, All the giving they they gave on giving tuesday and before that we had advanced giving we wound up hitting our goal Um, we beat it by a thousand dollars or so And it was a lot of last minute stuff.

There was a lot of advanced giving there was a lot in between So thank you to anybody that gave whether it was 20 bucks five bucks a thousand dollars, whatever it was Thank you for giving uh in supporting our ministry It means the world and many of you sent nice comments and just kind things. You said You You know, is why you were giving it and all of that.

So thank you. It’s going to allow us to continue to move forward, to bring on the people we need to, um, right now we were in the, in the need of hiring a full time admin. Uh, my friend Derek has been working with me. He’s moved on to another ministry. And so we wish him the best and thank you for all the work he did here.

But we’re going to need some admin work. Uh, so if somebody, if you’re open to that or you have those skills, please apply. Yeah. Apply. You can send me an email at, uh, john at pew ministries. org. And we’ll look at that and see if it’s a good fit. Um, also we’re looking to hire missionaries to bring on the night train to Victor.

So that’s something else we’re doing there. But thank you all for helping us hit our goal. Um, you know, we. We put together a good campaign, a campaign. Derek really did a lot with that. And he was the reason we did so well with it. So thank you, Derek, for that. Uh, and all the work you did, but really folks, all of you that give each and every month, you’re the reason we get to do this and continue to do it.

So thank you. And please know that we’re going to use that ministry to help bring more men into healing and restoration each and every day, uh, through our Paris groups and through this podcast and through everything else. Uh, finally, I just want to tell folks that if you didn’t hear in the last couple of weeks with the black Friday sale and all of that.

Um, we are, I want to announce here again that I’m going to be going to Greece and Turkey. We’re going to be walking in the footsteps of St. Paul. I’m going to go alongside Father James Clark from here in the Diocese of Memphis. We’ve already started filling the trip. I think there’s already 10 or 12 people that are signed up in the first few days of So it’s a limited space.

I think we’re taking 45 people. It’s going to be one bus, but it’s going to be an amazing trip. You’re going to go to Athens Ephesus and Corinth and Thessalonica and all these other sites. You’re, you’re going to be able to go on a four day, a GNC cruise. You’re going to go to all these islands like Mykonos and.

And Patmos and all these places. It’s going to be great fun, but also food and you’re gonna learn a lot. Yeah, that’s the thing. It’s, you’re going to see the culture, the food, the drink, all that stuff, but you’re going to immerse yourself in the New Testament. I mean, really, what, what happened from Acts and beyond, um, beyond the gospels is where we’re going to be.

And you’re going to get to walk in the footsteps of St. Paul. You’re going to see where he preached. We’re going to visit the churches he wrote letters to, obviously, and the ones I mentioned there. Um, we’re going to Be able to visit the house where, uh, the blessed mother was said to have spent her last days before the assumption.

Um, obviously going to get to, to spend time in the cave, the grotto area of Patmos where St. John wrote revelation. Um, and then you’re going to visit the seven churches of revelation. So there’s so much there, places where Paul and Silas preached in so much Greek history and mythology and all that stuff at those places too, that we’re going to see.

So we’d love to have you with us. And I can tell you as always do if you travel with us. I can guarantee you that you’re going to feel seen, loved and heard that I’m going to spend time with you. I’m going to be glad you’re there. Father Cork’s going to be the same way. We’re going to laugh. We’re going to have fun.

We’re going to help you build memories that are going to last a lifetime. Not only are you going to grow in your faith, but you’re going to grow in relationships that you can have for the rest of your life. All of our pilgrims have experienced that, and I can’t wait to bring more and some old ones along with us.

So folks, if you want to, we’re headed to Greece and Turkey, September 9th through the 20th of 2025. So you can check the show notes down below. There’s a link there for the, uh, for the pilgrimage. Or if you want to, you can go to our website and now at the top, it says events, book John and pilgrimages. You can click that and you can find the links there below our calendar on our bookmeet page.

But folks, we’d love to have you. And again, If you’re going to do it register soon, because it’s going to fill up fast and we’re limited to 45 spots. So hope you’ll join us. Hope you’ll consider it and look forward to seeing you there in Greece and Turkey next year. So Vic, uh, now that that’s out of the way, and we can really focus on where we are in this episode.

And at the end of this year, Um, you know, we always like to do stuff in the liturgical seasons of the church and the church and all of her majesty and all of her, her intelligence and her great wisdom gives us these times of the liturgical year so that we stop and we pause and we quiet ourselves and we reflect on, on what we’re doing.

And, you know, I gave this talk the other night at this Advent retreat with Marie, it was really great and it was a lot of fun. It’s her beautiful voice. It was just, she’s amazing. Um, but I didn’t know what I was really going to say and I started praying into all this stuff and the name of the, of the retreat was preparing the way of love because her album is called the way of love.

And so she was going to present on St. Therese and tie in some of those things to Jesus in Advent. And so I just. You know, called my talk preparing the way of love, the word made flesh. And as I started to ponder and to read and to think about all this stuff, I started thinking about, man, what is it, what I really want to talk to people about and what I want to invite people into.

And while Advent is a penitential season, right? It’s, it’s one that’s often treated like the redheaded stepchild of the church. You know, I said that to Heather on the last episode too. Because when we think of these, these seasons, the church Lent is like, you know, King, and it should be because, you know, we get invited to walk into the desert with our Lord for 40 days.

We get invited into his passion. Um, you know, we, we, we’re there with him at the cross and his life, death and resurrection. Right. And, and, and there’s just, it’s such a powerful time to remember what the Lord has done for us. But. If you really stop and think about it, none of that would have been possible if the God of the universe hadn’t decided that he wanted to take on flesh and be born as a, as a, as a child, as a baby and to go through 33 years of life, um, before he even began or 30 years of life before he really began his mission.

Of redemption for the world as far as you know, what we know and what we see in the scriptures. Yeah. So he took on these things. He made himself vulnerable. He became this baby and was born in a feeding trough in a, in a town called the house of bread. Right. That’s what be mm-hmm. Bethlem means, and this foreshadowing of the Eucharist and all of these things.

But so often as you know, Victor, like we can get into the, the fray of the world and the rat rat race of the, of the season from Halloween on. Right. You hit Thanksgiving, you’re doing all the stuff. You’re, you know, going to both sides of the families doing all that. You’re barely done burping up the turkey.

And then all of a sudden it’s the first day of Advent, which really happened quick this year. You know, it was like Thursday, Sunday Advent. And so. We go from the Thanksgiving and all those things to Advent. And then what is, what really happens? Our mind goes from Thanksgiving to Christmas because quite honestly, they’re putting out, you know, Christmas stuff in July now, 4th of July, there’s Christmas stuff out.

And so the world’s pushing for their commercialism and all those things and to concentrate on Santa Claus and all the Hallmark movies and all that junk instead of what it’s really about. And. So, Advent, a lot of the time, gets looked over. It’s like, alright, let me throw my pink and purple candles out there.

Let me get out my chocolate Advent each day, a little piece of chocolate and eat it. And, you know, maybe try to go to some church a little bit more. But really what it is, is this time of waiting and preparation for the coming of the Lord. Now, the Lord’s already been born, right? We’re celebrating His first coming, uh, as a child in Bethlehem.

Here in Christmas in a few weeks, but really also what we’re celebrating is the, is, is what’s to come. Right. Right. This preparation and waiting for the, for the second return of the King. Right. Where he’s going to come back and, and, and, and bring everything to justice and, and, you know, and, and to, uh, us to fulfillment.

Right. Right. So this is where we are, but for so often, that’s what I meant by being a redhead stepchild, like Advent’s just kind of like, Oh yeah, it’s the purple season. Yeah. You know, candles and wreaths. And then eventually they’ll put up the trees and, and we blow by it. And if we do that, we’re really missing a.

A beautiful opportunity to journey with our Lord and to prepare and to really invite him into our hearts to see not only where To remember that he wasn’t only born into this world But he wants to be born into our lives and not just wherever we are in the moment But like every portion of our lives He wants to be born into every moment every situation every difficulty every suffering every joy is what he wants to be born into and That’s why in the past we’ve had shows called The Word Made Flesh or The Word Was Made Flesh and Has The Word Been Made Flesh in Your Life?

And that’s something I think we’re going to discuss again a little bit today and just really try to bring the further attention to Advent because I don’t want this to go by, you know, there have already been one week in the season that went by and there’s only like three and a half weeks of Advent this year.

So, um, I really want people to be able to enter into this and to receive Advent for what it is. In the moment to prepare for what we’re preparing for, but for the greater vision of really looking at what this means for the rest of your life. I mean, you, you kind of did exactly what, um, I was going to say is that Advent is, is sometimes it’s a blend of Christmas in a sense of, you know, it’s like, almost like we celebrate Jesus, but we don’t really like, um, Um, explore what that means because we’re distracted, like you said, by, by movies and by, uh, gifts and so like that.

But a lot of us know that the connection between the gifts or the connection of the Magi giving to Jesus Christ and then the history for that. But really for me, like Advent is a time for just being thankful, just being appreciative of, of the things that I have been awakened to. In my life, my spiritual sense of my connection with the Holy Spirit, with Christ, but also, like you said, Christ coming down, taking on flesh, becoming human, fully human, fully divine.

And, and also, it allows, I think it allows us to be more sensitive to God. To knowing Christ because he went through a lot of things we’re going through, you know, like he knows what it’s like to, to be talked bad about. He knows what it’s like to be rejected. He knows what it’s like to try to help someone who, who people who refuse, like the Pharisees, you know, like if you only knew why I was here, you would be celebrating my, my, my, my entry into this world, you know, like he would say stuff like that all the time, you know?

And just imagine how like happy he was when people got it and how disappointed and sad that people didn’t connect with what he was trying to say. Um, and, and for us, you know, for, for this season, we had to be careful and sure what we connect with, connect with the loving, the lovingness of a, of a, of an amazing and merciful God, you know, and be thankful for, you know, your family, your job, even though things happen, suffering happens, and it may not have gone the way that you wanted.

But the thing is, is, is, Is that you have things to look at and say, God, thank you for this. You know, thanks for allowing me to, to realize who you are in my life. Thank you for, even though the gifts are great and everything else, but thank you for allowing me to have time with my family, you know, and, and I think we really kind of have to be careful about.

Uh, you know, grading what this, this season is all about. Sure. You know, well, and I mean, it is the way the church looks at it. It’s two different seasons, right? It’s you have Christmas and then you have Advent, right? So Advent is really dispreparing and the journey of the Magi and all these things as we draw closer to Christmas and all of that, but it’s, you know, it draws, it begs the question what you were talking about, which is like, Why, why did the Lord come?

Like, why did he come? And it was to enter into our mess. It was to enter into our brokenness. It was to save us. You know, where the catechism says, um, where Jesus Christ humbled himself to become man, where Adam, um, uh, uh, asserted himself to become like God. Right. So because of that, that assertion of Adam to say, no, like I want to be my own God with Eve, everything was severed.

Everything was broken. And so Jesus comes to right the wrongs, to be the new Adam, where the old Adam, uh, messed up and made mistakes, and where he calls the brokenness and the sin and the death that’s coming to the world. So Jesus comes to restore, he comes to reconcile, right? And that’s why I love really three readings that I like to read this time of year that kind of get me in the mindset of Advent and really helped me kind of start looking deeper into why Christ came, because.

As I said, when you look about Lent, we think it draws us, Jesus Christ is our savior. And while yes, he is, he did come to save us. Um, you know, through his life and death and resurrection, he also came as healer. Mm-hmm . Right? He came as healer. He, he came as, as this divine physician. And that’s really what we hear when we read some of these readings and what he wants to do in us.

So he’s coming to reconcile, which means to heal. He’s coming to heal that broken relationship, and that means that he has to heal things in us, right? Or the things that we don’t want anybody to see. The shame, the things that we have locked away, the, the difficulties. The wounds that we have, the wounds that we’ve, you know, put into other people, like the Lord wants to come into all of that brokenness.

And he chose to do that. He looked at his father and said, I’ll go, you know, send me. And then I will take their place. I’ll take on all of that so that there’s a, there’s an open door. There’s a reconciliation for them to become. Part of the the holy family of God again, right? And and so I love reading John 1 parts of it because it just really gets me into the mindset and and Really talks about some of these truths.

And so I want to read that really quickly So John 1 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God He was in the beginning with God, all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony to bear witness to the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. We have beheld His glory, glory as if the only begotten Son from the Father. And from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father.

He has seen and made Him known. Man, I love that and it gives me chills every time I read it. I mean, just all of it talking about the light was coming to the world and the darkness could not overcome it. And that’s what Jesus came to do. All of us have that darkness. And, and again, we have the tendency, Victor, to read something like that and go, Oh yeah, he came in because there was so much darkness in the world then.

Well, look around you now. Mm hmm. Not only in the world around us, but also in our own hearts, in our own lives, the darkness that we can find ourselves in, the brokenness, the, the way we get off track, the way that we get off the beaten path. And the Lord wants to come into that brokenness. And so we say, like, why did he, he come?

And, and what I told people here tonight was, He came to do these things, to reconcile, to call us to repentance, to call us to healing, and to call us into relationship. Like that’s what he came to do, relationship with the Father. And we see that said here in this first passage from John. It says, but to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.

That’s what we were originally. And then everything was severed when we made mistakes, right? When Adam and Eve chose themselves over God, as the catechism says. And so now Jesus comes to give power to those, to become children of God. Again, this is the reconciliation that he’s talking about that I’m talking about here.

He comes so that we can become children of God and we stop identifying ourselves with children of the world or, or, or. Uh, children of brokenness and children’s of mistake and some of mistakes and all those things. It’s for us to become children of God, right? And so Jesus, it says, as Paul says in other parts of scripture, became poor so that we could be rich in his grace.

He came to pour out his grace over us, which is the only reason that we are ever found worthy for redemption is because of his grace and his love. And so he comes the word was made flesh He chose to bring on flesh and he doesn’t want to just be made flesh 2, 000 years ago He wants to be made flesh in our life right here right now each and every day In the midst of our burdens in the midst of our mistakes in the midst of our problems In the midst of our hardships and our difficulties right of our calamities That’s what saint paul means when he says that in second corinthians 12 9 Like when I’m weak, when I’m strong, come into my burdens, my hardships, my difficulties, because I need you.

And so he humbles himself. And this Advent season is a call for us to remember that and to follow in his footsteps, to humble ourselves and to allow him into our lives for him to be born, not only into this world, but into every possible place in our hearts and in our lives. But Victor, as you all know, the problem is so many of us, this knowledge stays here in our heads and it never moves our heart, which is the place of transformation.

Right. And you’re talking about the compatiwhat is it? Let me say this real quickly, correctly. Combativeness of the heart. Yeah. Where the heart, there’s a lot of wounds in the heart. I think our mind, we, we recwe remember things or remember situations or, but it’s like, we feel everything emotionally here.

So when something doesn’t agree with how we want to feel or how we want to feel at that time, we ignore it. Like I said, if I’m angry, I want to be angry, you know? If I’m frustrated, I’m going to be frustrated. If I’m going to be appreciative, then I’m more appreciative. But if we’re not, like, focused on the emotion that we are at a time, we can dismiss a lot of the things that God’s trying to give to us, or other people are trying to share with us as well.

Um, you know, like I said, I’ve been in the hospital chaplain. Uh, at the VA in the St. Jude Hospital and, um, I’ve been witness to many, many blessings, many miracles, uh, many aspects of the human condition of wanting reconciliation with God. You know, where people carry burdens for their whole lives, and even though they may not be Catholic, I’ll be honest with you, there’s a deathbed confession for everybody.

Yeah. You know, because there’s, there’s this awakening of like, oh my gosh. Um, this is it, and I need to make things right. I need to apologize, or I need to kind of like, I need to do something right now that’s not selfish. Sure. Um, and I wish to God that everybody had that experience, you know? Some people are just going to be the way they are going to be, but, you know, the change of heart is, like you said, the most crucial aspect of being a Christian.

Because when you remove the selfish intentions, or the anger, or the pain, and the hurt that people, other people cause you, and you hold onto that, it’s like you said before in other shows, it’s poison. Yeah. And we’re dosing ourselves with poison, expecting us to be healed, but yet you’re, we’re the ones that aren’t taking the antidote, which is Christ.

No, you’re a hundred percent right. And, and this is why we need in this season of preparation to start asking those things like, Jesus, where do you want to be born into my life? What is it that you know me better than I do Lord? And, and where do you want to go? And, and, and, and trusting him and giving him permission.

That’s why he does these other things. Like he comes to reconcile any, and that starts with repentance, right? Like he calls to. He calls us to repentance. What is the first thing he says when he’s of age and he’s been baptized? What does he say? The first thing in his mission, uh, you know, um, uh, repent and believe in the gospel, right?

He says the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. The first thing he does is call us to repentance out of our, he calls us out of our brokenness and what is repentance really? It’s an invitation. To be honest, to be truthful, to be vulnerable with ourselves, right? We, we all know what we struggle with.

We know the things that aren’t healed. We know the things that are like, uh, uh, a rock in our shoe that every time we stay, take a step hurts. And we were just trying to gently step instead of trying to take the shoe off and remove the rock. And this is what we’re so many of us are. And he comes into this brokenness and into this broken world and into our lives to call us into that repentance.

And out of that vulnerability, it’s witnessed in his whole life. Like it’s bookended in jesus’s life like from the beginning at christmas. He comes into the world as a baby he doesn’t come into some triumphant king as as the Uh as as the jews thought he would as this military messiah that would come in with just armies and destroy the romans He comes in as this little child, as Heather said last week, that could be easily dropped, right?

That could be hurt. And she said, and we did eventually hurt him, right? We hurt him badly. We took his life, but he comes up in this vulnerable state. And then at the end of his life, he’s the most vulnerable man that’s ever lived on the planet. As he stretched out in the crucifix on the wall behind you offering everything, there’s nothing of me that you don’t have.

There’s nothing that I haven’t given right that vulnerability and so he calls us to repentance which is an an opportunity To to to mirror that vulnerability to say lord like I am broken. I am I am struggling. I can’t fix myself I need you. I haven’t been the person I need the things you were talking about on the deathbed confessions Like we don’t have to wait till our deathbed that.

Christ comes to give us that opportunity to be honest and vulnerable about our lives so we can repent and clear those things out and then we can look to heal. That’s the other thing he came to do, right? To reconcile us. He calls us to repentance and then he calls us to healing. And that’s one of my other favorite readings, which I’ve read a bunch of times on this podcast and I want to read again now is Isaiah 61, right?

But it’s this prophecy. And, and, and I love this because it reminds me in, in, in context, in conjunction with the word becoming flesh. Why? Well, here’s your answer. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God.

To comfort all who mourn to grant to those who mourn in zion to give them a garland instead of ashes The oil of gladness instead of mourning the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit that they may be called oaks of righteousness The planting of the lord that he may be glorified He came to heal us to reconcile us to the father So that we can glorify God, we can become the people we’re called to be.

And so, so many people, they think, as we’ve talked about a million times here, Victor, like, why should I care about Advent? Why should I give my life to Christ? What could he want with me? You have no idea what I’ve done. You don’t know how broken I am. You don’t know how messed up I am. You don’t know the mistakes I’ve made, what I’ve done to my family and to myself, or what’s been done to me.

But Jesus’s answer is the spirit of the Lord God is upon me. And I’ve been sent. To. Bring good tidings to the afflicted. Every one of us is afflicted. He sent me to bind up the broken hearted. All of us are broken hearted because of our mistakes and falling short of the glory of God because of sin and death to proclaim liberty to the captives.

How many of us are bound, right? How many of us are captive in our own addictions and our own prison cells that we’ve locked ourselves into, right? Because we’re so afraid to let anybody really see us because they may not, they may abandon us. Right. Those inadequacy wounds, those abandonment wounds. Then he says, I’m here to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.

All of us are bound to sin, right? To give us good tidings and gladness and all of these things to replace the brokenness that we’ve been walking around in this world for so long. To bring us joy. That’s what he says. I’ve come so that you may know my joy and that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

Right? This is who Jesus is. And so many people see God and Jesus as something different and something that’s waiting to punish them and all that stuff. But here Jesus tells you that. And then guess what? When we’re healed, when we’re set free, when, when our hearts are mended, then we have the opportunity to, to claim this prophecy as our own.

To go out and to do for others this same goodness that Jesus did for us. That’s why he came to reconcile us to bring us into relationship. Well, he brings you and I into relationship Victor so that not so we can sit in it and revel in it go Yay, look at me. I’m a child of God. That’s great And we need to live from that identity and that knowledge But the purpose of that is so that we go out and we tell others that you’re a child of God that has worth That it was worth dying for That God has a plan for your life and all that begins with Jesus choosing to come as healer To do what we could not we couldn’t heal ourselves That’s why he says the light shines in the darkness that light coming into that darkness is the healing he wants to bring in our life It’s just like when you’re in a dark room and you’re in your maybe you’re a kid and you’re scared to death and you’re freaking out And there’s all these fears and And ideas of what could be in the room lurking and waiting for you.

That’s what it’s like when we’re caught up in all of our brokenness and all of our pain and our problems. But if you have a match, if you just like one single match, the light overcomes the darkness, right? It takes away all those fears. It takes away all those ideas of what could happen and what may happen.

There’s nothing but the truth. Right? There’s nothing but the truth and the light shines on all of that. And that’s who Jesus is. So he comes to heal. And this Advent season is an invitation to let him begin to do that as we’re preparing for him to his birth and the celebration of that. It’s an opportunity to let him into those places of our heart, those rooms we have locked away with the hidden things that we want nobody to see.

And this is why when he came to the earth, what did he say? Do you want to be healed? What do you want me to do for you? Right? He always asked people because he came to heal. Ultimately, Jesus came to save us, but he came to heal us too. And because he’s opened the door to heaven again, the healing work starts and continually combating the lies of the devil, restoring our identity, healing our wounds.

So that we can believe he is who he says he is. We are who he says we are and we can be reconciled to the Father. So that’s what he’s trying to do. And all of that is to bring us into relationship. Well, what you’re saying also is take hope in the healing. Yeah. You know, healing, um, that comes from Christ is, The most powerful medicine that there is because it allows you to kind of like let go of the things that Have been the stumbling block for your life, whether it’s like an individual that mistreats you or You know Things that you constantly stumble upon, you know, I mean like just just all this suffering all the pains all the disappointments all the aspects of Failure that you think is failure.

We have to understand that sometimes those are things put in front of us to see You know, how will we react to that? You know, the sufferings are always a lesson of learning of life, right? Yeah, how will we receive it? Uh, as, as a parent, I see my kid going through something that’s tough, and I want to say, how are they dealing with that?

Are they, are they going to persevere? Are they going to ask for help? Are they going to like have trust and faith? You know, I think for a lot of us is that we forget to ask God for help. Yeah. You know, God helped me in this, you know, God, allow me, uh, to, to be able to find what you want me to be. Allow me to be, uh, a perspective of faith to help other people in this process.

I mean, how many times we’ve gotten a phone call from a friend that’s going through something and we just got, you know, we’re not prepared for that conversation. That is a time to say, Lord, help be part of this conversation. Like every time we, we start this show, we begin with a prayer, we end with a prayer.

Knowing that whatever the words that, There may be some script, but majority of it is something that’s just, it’s just a process of a conversation that unfolds itself in front of us. It’s the power of the Holy Spirit and believing in the Lord is going to do what he says with us. And, and yeah, that’s, that’s what he calls us to do, to heal one another, to be there, to be those hands and feet.

And, you know, I experienced that in our men’s group last night. There were some new people that came and they opened up on the very first night and shared some things that, we were Most people wouldn’t share in 10 years of knowing somebody because the air of comfortability and I think is we’ve been able to establish that with the help of the Holy Spirit in our group because people are When you’re able to be open, it allows other people to be open and trusting.

Yeah, like wow, this is an amazing group You know, I’m saying this from from my perspective of years being there It’s like when someone’s willing to share about something that is a struggle for them That takes a lot of courage and strength to do that. Yeah. And then to kind of like, after you say it, you want to immediately take it back because all of a sudden there’s this quietness and not people are judging.

Yeah. Not that the people judging you is kind of like going, you know, there’s this quiet going, what’d you do? Yeah. Eat yourself. But what you hear is like, I’ve had the same thing. I struggle with the same thing. I know how you’re feeling, brother. I will pray for you. You know, this, this, this support that comes like Christ in, in our lives, that there’s this, this automatic kind of like warmth of the power of his, of his light.

You know? Yeah. It just kind of washes over us and saying, that’s who I want you to be. I want you to be open to, to the people I put in your life. Are there because I put you there or I put that pause you’re talking about the, you know, where you’re like, Oh, what did I just do? That’s the last ditch attempt of the devil to get you to draw back.

Like you’re, you’re, you’re one foot out of the prison cell you’ve been in and he’s trying to grab you by the shirt tail and go, where are you going? Where are you going? Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t. And, and it’s just so free. And that’s why healing is so important. That’s why Christ came right to. Like I said, to heal us and, and it’s for relationship.

Cause if you think about the process, he comes to reconcile. He calls us in vulnerability to be vulnerable, to share about what we’re broken in, to be open with them, to go and ask for forgiveness, to receive that grace and mercy so that healing can begin. And when healing starts, when we start to let Jesus into these places, then what happens, trust, surrender.

Love relationship, right? Think about it. When you meet anybody in your life or your wife or whoever it is, like you immediately didn’t like meet the girl of your dreams and walk up and go, Hey, like I have tremendous foreign problems. I’m this, I’m this, I’m this, I’m broken in this way. And Hey, would you be interested in going out with me?

Like, no, because they would be like, no, what the heck? No, thank you. Who are you? Are you talking to me? But like over time, as we get to know someone and we start to journey with them, And then we start to trust more and more, right? That relationship builds and Jesus starts that relationship by inviting us to repentance, right?

Look, just admit to yourself what’s wrong in your life and then bring it to me when you’re ready. And then when you, when you bring it to me, you see that I am gentle and meek of heart, as he says in scripture, right? I’m not here to punish you. I’m not standing here with a whip to beat you because you’re a moron and you made mistakes.

I am gentle and meek of heart. My, my burden is easy and my, you know, or my yoke is easy. My burden is light. This is what he invites us into in those moments. And then he can look at you and go, look, like now that you’ve seen I’m gentle, we can start to heal and you can start to trust and all those things.

And that’s how we build relationship. That’s how you start to open up to people is when that trust and that love builds. So that repentance and that healing is a desire of relationship. And Jesus waits at the door of our hearts. And that makes me remind, it reminds me. You know growing up baptist both my parents were baptist, right?

And so when we go to their house in mississippi, they both had the same image on the wall and it was this protestant image um of jesus standing outside of a like a home with a door And like a front door of a house and always as a kid was like, why is he standing there? Like there’s nobody else in the picture And why is he just standing outside when I got a little bit older?

Later in my teens, I looked at it one day and I was like, Oh, there’s no door handle, right? So Jesus was standing outside at the ready waiting to be invited in not to kick the door into the storm in But to be invited in right so he came into the world Of his own accord, but now he waits to be invited into our own hearts And the thing is the door handle is on the other side.

Jesus isn’t going to force his way in. He’s not mean He’s not hard on us. He’s gentle and so he knocks and he waits for us To answer and invite him in and so That’s what we have to do And this is what this advent season about is inviting the lord further into our heart And so some of you may be sitting there right now going in in victor This is what some people the other night that when I gave this talk we’re thinking about they were like well Okay, John, I’m already baptized.

I’m confirmed. I do all this great Catholic stuff. I’m in adoration all the time. I’ve already let Jesus in my house. Well, the thing is our home is full of other rooms, right? And think about it. Like if somebody calls you five minutes away from your house and like, Hey man, I’m gonna swing by a minute. And all of a sudden you look around and you’re like, Oh, dude, this place is a mess.

So what do you do? You start throwing everything in cabinets and in closets. You start dumping everything in your bedroom and shutting the door. And we start to lock away these things because we don’t want people to see us as we are. We don’t want people to see these things that we’re ashamed of or that we’re not proud of.

I don’t want somebody to see that. My, my house is a mess or in the context of this, my heart is a mess. And so we let Jesus in with all these things we do as we become Christian, but Jesus wants to go further into the home, into the home of our heart, right? He wants us to open up these doors and that’s what Advent and Lent and the journey of a Christian really is, is allowing Jesus in the front door.

He’s in the foyer. But he wants to go further into the house. He wants to go into these rooms and he wants to rearrange things and he wants to help you get rid of the mess that you, that you, you, you threw away to hide and shame and help you actually get rid of it. And so that’s what this can mean. And I’m so worried in my, in my prayer every day that myself, that you, that others are missing the beauty of this time of year that we’re in, because it can, as I said, be easily I got to get the lights up and I got to go get a tree and, and you know, when is this going to be Christmas time and I got to get all the presents and when’s Amazon having their sales and all that stuff instead of like, man, what a gift.

What a gift. The church in her, in her wisdom through the knowledge of God and the love of God has given us to remember exactly what we are preparing for. And it’s what I just said at the end to let Jesus out of the fourier. Out of the front room of our home in our hearts and into the depths of those homes To really sit and to make himself a place to take up residence so that he can heal us of those things We don’t have to hide those things anymore, right?

We don’t have to throw those things in rooms The Lord has come to reconcile us by calling us to repentance, by calling us to healing, so that we can have a relationship with Him and He can take us to His Father. That is what all this is about, and this is why He was chose to be born into the world. The question is, Victor, are we going to let Him be born into ours?

Right into our hearts into our lives in a more full way than we ever have. That’s the journey of a Christian It’s not a one time thing. It’s not a one time celebration the church and her wisdom We have these same seasons every year because it’s an invitation to continue to go further in our faith each and every day And so as we close out here Victor talking about this and hopefully people will take this to heart I want to read one last verse the third passage Or one last passage, I should say, that I read every year at Advent, and it calls me into remembrance of this.

And then I just want to talk about some things that we can do as we’re, we’re moving forward in this. So this is Philippians 2, verses 5 through, um, 11. Yeah. Yeah. So there you are with that seminary degree. I also saw your notes. Yeah. Oh, there you go. Cheater. I was giving you a compliment. You didn’t deserve it.

No, but. So it says this. Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. This is what this is about.

Journeying from our brokenness and the places of shame and all those things, this is why Jesus came to reconcile us, to call us to repentance, to call us to healing, to build relationship so that we can stand up no matter what situation we’re in in our life, no matter what the circumstance, and boldly proclaim that passage I just read.

And how did it happen? Because God did something. He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, not to be held on to, but emptied himself taking the form of a servant. So what should we do in this Advent season, the rest that we have here? And I pray that each and every one of you will do after this podcast.

I hope you can hear the passion in our voice and the cry of pleading with you to do this alongside of us is to empty yourself. Of everything forget the pride forget the the shame forget the the disgust you have with yourself and empty it all out So that the lord can come come into your life and to fill it with that Which is good with himself and give you the opportunity that you need to be reconciled and have the power to become a child of god That’s what this is about.

This is every day of our life and what we’re called to So the things I would all encourage everybody to do is start asking god questions right now Like he just pick up the Bible and start to read these passages, the ones I’ve shared. John one, Isaiah 61, Philippians two, five through 11. Sit with ’em, pray with ’em.

As you read through ’em, what stands out to you. And then start to ask God, Lord, like in Isaiah 61, where do you wanna free me? Where am I bound? Right? Where am I in captivity? Where am I mourning in my life? Like what do you, where do you want to go? In my house and in the home of my heart. What what do you want me to do where do you want an access to that?

I haven’t given you point that light shine that light into that darkness and then have the The the next prayer to lord Give me the strength and the courage to trust that you are who you say you are and to let you go in there And do the things you want to do you’ll have the most transformative advent And then realize that that is the work that we need to do every day in our lives, constantly examining ourselves and asking God, where do you want to go?

Where do you want to take up residence? And where do you want to become flesh in my life? So Victor, and to all of you out there, I hope that you’ve enjoyed this episode. I hope that it will lead you to a greater, uh, repentance and healing and relationship with the Lord and the rest of this Advent season.

As always, we’re praying for you. We’re always going to continue to do that. Thank you for listening today, and let’s take this to prayer. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Heavenly Father, you sent your Son, and your Son of His own will chose to take on flesh, and to become one of us.

To be born is a vulnerable baby, to walk this earth, and to die a vulnerable death. All so that we could be called into reconciliation through repentance and healing, so that we could be brought back into relationship. Lord, You and Your Son want to give us the power to become children of God. Help us to take that to heart.

And the rest of this Advent season, help us to let You into the home of our heart. To let you deeper into the residence of our homes, to unlock the doors that we’ve locked, to get rid of the shame and the brokenness and the mistakes, and all those things, to let you shine that light into that darkness, so that we can become the people that we’re called to be, so we can spend eternity with you, and we can bring others with us.

Lord, come into our hearts and set us free this Advent, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

This week, I’m thrilled to have Heather Khym, co-host of the Abiding Together Podcast, join me for a special episode. With Advent in full swing, Heather and I dive deep into the meaning of this beautiful season and how it’s so much more than just a countdown to Christmas.

Heather shares the inspiration behind her Advent journal, Encountering Emmanuel, and how Jesus wants to meet us in our “messy stables”—the broken, vulnerable places we often hide. We reflect on the importance of slowing down, making space for Christ, and letting Him enter our hearts to bring healing and freedom.

In this conversation, we explore some powerful truths:

👉Why Advent feels overlooked and how we can reclaim its importance.
👉How to recognize Christ as the healer who enters our struggles, not just a distant figure.
👉Heather’s personal stories of vulnerability and the real freedom that comes when we let go of control.
👉Practical ways to prepare your heart for Jesus this season, using Heather’s guided reflections and journaling prompts.

Advent is a time to pause, reflect, and encounter Christ anew. I hope this episode inspires you to open your heart to Him, whether that means diving into Heather’s journal or simply carving out quiet time to pray.

🔗 Get Encountering Emmanuel

PS – #igivecatholic on #givingtuesday is now LIVE 🚨

You can give today. Your support creates safe, transformative spaces for men in need. 👉 https://bit.ly/40TfJHs

 

Well, welcome back to the pew. Everybody. I’m your host, John Edwards, and I’m very excited for this week’s episode of just a guy on the pew this week. Victor’s off doing something for Thanksgiving or something. So my buddy, Heather Khym decided to jump in and take his seat today virtually.

And I’m excited to have her on the show folks. If you do not know who Heather Khym is. She is the co host of the internationally popular Abiding Together podcast with Sister Miriam and Michelle. She and her husband Jake are co founders of Life Restoration Ministries, where she serves as director of vision and ministry of the British Columbia based Apostolate.

So she is Canadian by, uh, by where she lives now, part time. She lives in Steubenville sometimes too, but she’s, uh, she also serves as the director of the Celtic Cross Foundation. She’s been doing ministry for over 25 years, uh, as a speaker, retreat leader, Given workshops and conferences. Uh, she also was a student and graduated from Franciscan where she studied theology and catechetic.

So I might’ve said that wrong. If I did, I promise you I’m more intelligent than that, but I might’ve gotten that word wrong. But, uh, she still lives in British Columbia with her husband and her three children. So without further ado, Heather, welcome to the show. It’s great to have you here. Thank you so much.

I’ve been really looking forward to our conversations. So thanks for having me here. Yeah, it’s awesome. I know you and I, uh, we met. I guess, uh, what we didn’t talk about this before we started recording, but you and I actually met When I was still part of virtual catholic conference I was one of the guys that founded that during covid and you and sister and michelle came on for one of our I want to say it was a healing conference or something, but we uh, we had you guys interviewed on there you did a show for the online conference during covid and So I got a few minutes with you there in the green room to To me, it’s been a while back.

So I don’t expect you to remember that, but then we got forgotten about that. Yeah, this is great. And then we met at the NEC properly. Sure. Sure. So all that came through sister, I met her first and then was lucky to get introduced to you guys and to start building a friendship there. So, like I said, I’m excited to have you here.

It was great to see you and Jake at the, uh, JP two healing center. All are kind of knitted into this whole, uh, JP2 healing, uh, healing, uh, ministry that Dr. Bob has. So it’s great to, to be in good company with y’all and the work that you guys are doing alongside of Bob and sister and everybody else. Yeah.

Thank you so much. It’s such a pleasure. Privilege really isn’t it to be in the vineyard, just, um, trying to help people come along, you know, I feel like for all of us, you you’ve been so vulnerable in sharing your own story, but I think that’s the real stuff, right? It’s like, we’re all on a journey together.

And as much as we can help each other along the way, I mean, that’s, that’s the good stuff right there. Yeah, it is. And I think that comes through. Uh, on y’all show. And then even like the stuff that you post online, I was looking at something you posted yesterday. That was, it was multiple pictures to, to look through.

And it was just this beautiful journey. We’re taking people on like statement by statement, talking about, um, just how God’s there and everything. And there’s a, you have a really unique quality to come across as very genuine and very, not to say other people aren’t, I don’t want to sound like I’m beating up on people, but like you just have, you come across as somebody who’s like, Hey, She just as soon sit down and have beer and wings with you, uh, is she would, you know, talk to you about Jesus too.

Right. So I think that’s very attractive to people and people really relate to y’all. Well, and I think that’s why you guys have the following you do and the, and the folks that are so moved every time you guys have a show come out. Yeah, I think, uh, for me, I don’t really know how to be any other way.

Thankfully, uh, the Lord has stripped a lot of that away along the years, you know, and I’ve realized that actually just being honest about who we are and where we are is, um, is really what the Lord desires. And there’s a lot of freedom that’s come in that for me. It took a long time to be able to sort of settle in to like who, who I am and, and who I’m becoming.

You know, and I think that’s part of it is like, we’re all becoming, and we’re all, like I said, we’re on a journey, but by that, I mean, like we get opportunities to grow. And that also recognizes, Hey, we don’t have it all together, you know, and the more that we can be honest about that, I think it allows a lot of room for God to be who he is in our life and wants to be who he is.

Yeah, no, I do too. I, I, I couldn’t agree with you more. There is a freedom when you’ve just come to realize that you’re not the sum of your mistakes and your failures and that God loves you through all of it. And, you know, you mentioned being vulnerable. I mean, you get up and you start telling people about the things in your life and they, they no longer have power over you anymore once you’ve let God into those things.

And there is a freedom. And I think that’s why vulnerability is so important. Uh, because not only. Is it helpful to you, but it’s also, it gives permission to others to see the freedom and Hey, nobody abandoned them or nobody ran the other way. In fact, they love them in spite of those things. And it’s really, uh, I think what Jesus calls all of us to is just that joy and that freedom to live in who we are in him.

And so I think that’s beautiful. Thanks for, for sharing your thoughts there. It’s, it’s, um, yeah, it’s like you said, it’s a gift to be able to do this. Sometimes when I’m coming here and turn on the microphone, I’m like, Lord, you should You, you, you still, you sure I’m still the right guy for the job or like there’s somebody else, you know, and he keeps telling me to do it.

So I’m sure you kind of feel that way sometimes too, but. But, uh, I’m excited to have you on here today, uh, in particular to talk about something that I know you’ve been working on and has recently come out. Um, it’s this Advent guided journal for prayer and meditation with Ave Maria and it’s called Encountering Emmanuel.

And we were talking before we came on the air, you know, over the last few years, uh, I’ve been picking these up, you know, I’ve had different people doing them every year. And so, you know, went through the one with father John Burns at Lent, I believe. And one was sister, I think it was called behold. And there’s just a lot of, I think they’ve got a really thing, go a good thing going in there.

They have, uh, obviously picked great people to do it. So I know we’re about to enter into Advent. In fact, this, this episode will be out the first week of end of Advent. So I’m excited to kind of talk to you a little bit today about. Advent and, and why it’s important and why you felt led to do this and to write this book.

And, you know, what you hope people are going to get out of it, because, you know, quite frankly, I said this to you as we were, we’re getting ready for the show too. I kind of feel like, you know, advent can sort of be the redheaded stepchild of the liturgical season of the year of the church. Sometimes it’s everybody gets all geared up for Lent and Advent.

It’s just sort of the, the pause between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Right. If you will. And, and, uh, it’s just, it’s so much more than that. And such a, a, a greater opportunity to, to really. Uh, prepare the way of the Lord, if you will. Yeah, exactly. And I just want to say, since this is already the first week of Advent, that people are listening to this, it’s not too late people.

If you haven’t started something, if you don’t have the book or whatever it is that you will want to do, it’s not too late, like in scripture. It says now is the time. So, today is a new day and you can get started on something today. And I love that the church does liturgical seasons for us because often I feel like, and maybe you feel the same, it’s like life is happening to me.

Everything is moving so quickly that I’m like, wait, am I in charge of my life or is life just like coming at me? And so I think liturgical seasons are really an opportunity to kind of wake us up and give us pause to go, Oh my gosh, like. Are my priorities straight? Like what actually is most important to me in my life?

And, and where do I need to allow Jesus to come in? Like what’s maybe gotten a bit out of control or what am I sort of like putting under the rug or I’m not making space for that’s most important. I guess it’s like a reset, you know, it gives us an opportunity to come back to ourselves, to come back to the Lord and come back to what’s most important.

So that’s really the hope for this journal and, you know, for Advent this year, I think is to. Put first. What should be first? Yeah. Make space for that. Mm-Hmm. . Yeah. It, it, it’s, I couldn’t agree more. I mean, even when you think about Lent, you know, it’s, I I always laugh ’cause you know, you’ll get so busy, like you were saying and, and starting the year or whatever it may be in that time of year, but.

Then somebody says like, you know, Ash Wednesday is like this week and you’re like, Oh, and you think of the one thing, you know, the Lord wants, and you kind of whistle past the graveyard. Like you didn’t hear it, you know? And, and it is, it’s an opportunity to reset. And, and as we talked about a few minutes ago, I mean, Advent is, it’s a penitential season too.

And it’s, it’s an opportunity to come back to the Lord with, with, uh, with everything in your life. And You know, what I, what I love about Advent is when you start to think about it, and I want you to speak more to this because I know you’ve obviously written a book on it now, and you’ve spent a lot of time here with it, but, um, I just, I love the idea of looking at it, not as just Christ being born as a child, but as Him coming as divine healer, right?

And wanting to come into these places of our hearts and, and, you know, And, and you have this whole period as you’re going towards the birth of Christ to really start to concentrate on that and really start to think and to ponder on those things and, and to offer back to them those things you talked about that maybe you hadn’t in your life.

Yeah, it really was like a lot of the focus for this particular book. I was praying, I mean, you could go in a hundred directions, you know, I feel like there’s so many different scriptures or themes you could pull for Advent. And as I was praying about it, I was thinking, okay, like the two bookends here where we look back.

Uh, to when Christ came 2, 000 years ago, a real event. We focused on that during Advent. Then we also looked where the second coming and this is what the church is, is saying to us. And as I was praying, I was walking down my driveway one day and I said, Lord, what do you want me to say in this book? And he said, I’m coming now.

I’m coming for people now, like, I want to come into the darkness now. I want to come into the places where there’s hopelessness, where there’s anxiety and depression. And I want to bring freedom. And I was like, okay, whoa, like, here we go. Like, let’s do this. So let me get some paper, scratch this down. So yeah.

So every meditation for each day starts with, he comes. And I think what got impressed upon my heart is in that, is that We can often get it mixed up, like, it’s all up to me, I gotta, like, do my self reliant thing that I always do to, like, muster up some grit and, like, get at it, you know, and we do have some decisions to make, of course, but Christ is always the one who initiates, He’s the one who’s already come, and He is coming, and He will come again, you know, so there is a seriousness there.

It’s around Advent that’s actually really good. Sometimes we hear serious news, we go, Oh man, that just sounds like hard, you know, but to just know he’s, he’s already, he’s already coming. He’s initiated. And for us, the opportunity is to respond and to open our hearts. Just like our lady did. It’s like the Lord came to her, the word came to her in the annunciation and it was like, what will you do?

You know? And she was like, well, I’m afraid. And then she said, yes. And I’m like, could we? You know, allow our lady to teach us something in that could we this Advent, like, be like her and open up ourselves in a real way, like a real way for Jesus to come into our life. And, and, and that’s the hope. I mean, all of those meditations that, that I wrote are just like real things that have happened.

that have happened in my life that the Lord has been, you know, just teaching me along the way that I think he just wants to teach all of us for what it’s worth. I think if people just read the book, it’s like, you’ll probably disappointed at the end of Advent. It’s just going to be a book, but, but if you actually do what’s in here, which is at the end of each meditation, there’s a time to pray and a time to, Like journal a little bit and go under the surface in your own heart.

And I think that’s where the real stuff is gonna happen, because that’s the opportunity for Jesus to meet you right where you are. Yeah. And I, uh, I couldn’t agree more because I, one, when some of these start first started coming out, I, you know, that’s what I did. I’d read it every day and go, okay, I read it with, you know, every other.

You know, reflection or daily journal, you know, book that has, uh, some sort of, uh, daily inspiration. And if you just, you know, get up, pray, read it, throw it on the bed and say, okay, I checked off another thing. It’s not going to be as helpful as it would be if you sat down with it the next year. I got one of those old black and white like, um, Mead high school books and just started journaling every day.

Like I’m going to do this and I’m going to sit down and I’m not going to blow off what it’s asking me to do. And I’m not going to tell myself I’m, I’m too busy and I have ministry stuff to do, so I don’t have time to pray or like sit with God. And when I did started doing that, these books really started coming to life and the Lord started shining a light.

You know, in the places like you’re talking about that he wanted to speak to me. And I think that’s the beauty of it. You’re a hundred percent right. Like we all struggle with the same things. If I’ve come to learn anything in the last few years of ministry, it’s like, we all, we’re all struggling with the same stuff.

Like there’s not, I don’t care if your theology is super sound and you can quote the Summa in your sleep, or if you’re just a beginner, we all struggle with the same stuff. And that’s where Christ wants to meet us. Isn’t that every day, every day, um, Just whatever we have going on in the moment. And so I’m excited for people to start doing that with this.

And I saw that you have, like, you broke it down for those who haven’t had it yet. Like you’ve got. You know, your introduction where you’re kind of talking about why and what you’re doing here and what the hopes are. And then every one of these books comes with, okay, like, how is this organized and how should I go through it?

So you’re not guessing at it. There’s a lot of stuff that starts leading you and encouraging you, encouraging you in specific ways to go through it. But then. you know, you, you break it into four different weeks that are titled four different things. And I thought maybe we could kind of jump into that a little bit and talk about, you know, those themes and why four and, you know, where are you starting and where are you going?

Yeah. I mean, I had that kind of idea. Okay. So Jesus wants to come, like, how do we, what do we nest this in? And what, what I was drawn to was the four reasons for the incarnation that we find in the catechism. So it’s nested in, not just like, Oh, some ideas Heather had, but What the church teaches, what Jesus has revealed as to why he came.

So, the first week is Jesus comes to save us. The second week is Jesus comes to make us sharers in his divine life. The third week is that he shows us how to live. He’s a model for holiness. And the fourth is that he shows us God’s love. And so, that’s important for us to note. Jesus came for reasons.

Mm-Hmm. , he’s very intentional about why he was coming here. And, and all of those things don’t just matter in the grand scheme of like, oh yes, the church says this, and as the world, you know, we should understand. It’s like, what does this mean for me? And that’s where this book is going. Like, in every single thing, this, this advent, it’s gonna be okay, that’s great.

This stuff out there, this, this scripture, or this idea, or this teaching, or this saint said this, but what does that mean for me? And what is my response to that? You know, also, and, um, yeah, so I, I love that there was like themes that were, I mean, obviously so clear that we could jump right into, um, but yeah, we’re going to keep going under the surface.

And for some people, they might be like, Oh man, I don’t, I don’t want to, like, I work really hard to stay away from those places. Why are you sticking your finger in it? You know? And I would just say. You know, take a breath, and maybe there’s some reasons there that are wrapped up in some misconceptions that you might have about who God is or who Jesus is.

And I think we all have them. John, I’m sure you could name off a few that you’ve struggled with in your life and maybe still do. And I could say the same, and there’s usually reasons. Why? It probably makes sense if I, you know, if people were to share their story with us, it would probably make sense why they believe certain lies or have misconceptions about who Jesus is and who God is.

And when we actually invite the real Jesus to come and meet us, what can happen there is that it shatters those misconceptions and then we could actually be loved by a God who is love, you know, where we could actually receive. fear and his tenderness and his kindness. And even, you know, the conviction that comes with, whoa, I need to change some things in my life.

Ultimately, he’s a God that wants to love us into freedom. You know, he doesn’t just want us to have better behavior. Although we should probably have better behavior in certain places, but, but that’s not the point, you know, and I think sometimes we reduce. Yeah. Our religion or our practice to just like, okay, I got to do this stuff.

I got to check the boxes. I got to, you know, like be a good boy or be a good, good girl. And we forget that this is like one massive love story that we’re in. And we actually are really desperate for a savior and we have one. Yeah. And we have an opportunity to experience that. Yeah, you’re man. That’s beautiful.

And that’s the truth. I mean, I. I was sitting there, you were talking about all the things in your life. And I’m like, yeah, I’ve got a giant scroll on the wall. I could just unroll across the room with everything. I still deal with in trouble, you know, struggle with and all those things. We have them, but like you’re saying, I can remember, um, being in the jail cell when I was, you know, in trouble.

And, and, uh, and I had been so ugly to God, like when my mother died and I blamed him and I. And I had just been so, uh, contrary to him and had given up on him, but he never gave up on me and in that gel cell, like he came into that moment when I just remember feeling a presence and going like, okay, what do you want?

Like, you’re probably here to punish me even further. And instead it was nothing but love. He was nothing but love. Like he just, he walked me through so many things in my memory and the things and just, you know, I, I began to feel great repentance in the moment and the need to, uh, in the realization that.

My life had gotten so off course, but, um, but yeah, he was gentle. He didn’t come in. And I think that a lot of men in particular, you know, we have a lot of men that listen to the show, obviously, but a lot of guys can feel like that. God is like a father figure. They had that maybe wasn’t the kindest or was very authoritative or punishing.

And the, you know, God’s kind of. On a cloud is a cosmic police officer waiting for us to die so he can punish us. But no, it’s just this great love of sending his own son and then Christ and his willingness coming here to, to do exactly that, to enter into those places. And. You’re right, we, we, we close our fist, we, we put up barricades, we double lock the doors of our hearts and, and don’t want them to come in.

But man, when we can find the courage, and sometimes that comes in rock bottom moments, sometimes it’s just a moment of grace, but I guess all of them are moments of grace. But, uh, when we finally meet them, we, and you see who, as you said, Christ really is, it blows you away. Like it blows you away that the God of the universe cares that much about you, you know?

Yeah, exactly. I love what you’re sharing there and just your, your vulnerability. And although I, I haven’t myself been in an actual jail cell, I can say, I feel like I’m, there are places of my heart that are in prison. You know, that I, I need Jesus to come into those places too. And one of the misconceptions that I had for a very long time in my life growing up was that God was far away and he didn’t care.

He was just unmoved by my suffering. And it was just like, he was just like this distant figure in the sky, um, with his arms folded just waiting for me to get it together, you know, and, and that experience that you’re talking about there at the end of him shattering those. Misconceptions and, and me actually being able to experience his close proximity and his care for me has been one of the most healing and powerful things in my life.

And, and is that not what Advent and Christmas is all about is like Jesus comes close. He doesn’t stay away as his distant, like in heaven, you know, wherever that is, if we can even imagine it, but he actually came to this earth, like you can go to the sea of Galilee where, where he walked on those shores and, and he became a human being and he became so little and vulnerable.

So it shows us like he didn’t come to intimidate us. Like he just came vulnerable with nothing, like as a little baby. Who would do that? It’s ridiculous. You know, we think about like, he actually let humans hold him. Like we could have dropped him. We could have hurt him. We did hurt him eventually, you know, but he came because of his great love for us.

Yeah. And because he does, he wants us to know he doesn’t want to be far away. And again, like that idea and that truth, um, we want to become a reality for us this Advent. And that’s, uh, I think that’s the thing we have to remind ourselves, especially as Catholics. I mean, I was a convert, you know, I was, grew up Baptist and there’s obviously a huge focus on personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Right. And you hear that a lot. And in fact, I make jokes about it. When I give a talk on the most important thing in personal relationship with Jesus Christ is I’ll always say, and yes, it’s Catholic because so many people hear that. And they’re like, that’s that Protestant stuff. But But really that’s what he wants and, and the, you know, he, he wants to come for relationship and, and wants to come close, as you said, like he, he chose not to stay distant to, to, to show himself to us.

And, you know, you talked earlier about how you read something matters. I think that’s important with scripture as well, too. That we, when we read it, it’s like, okay, well, here’s the adulterous woman in the glass houses and all that stuff. You can read it that way. Or, or what is Jesus trying to do in my life today?

Like, what is he, who am I in this today? Am I the woman on the ground reaching up, begging for mercy because I made a mistake? Or. Am I, am I Christ in someone else’s life, you know, reaching a hand of mercy down? Am I a Pharisee who’s standing in judgment over somebody in my life or, or an apostle that doesn’t know what’s going on?

Like, who am I today in that? And I think it’s beautiful that you said that because everything in our faith, we’re not careful, can become rules and regulations. And we can forget that all of that is the pathway and the interstate or the road to deeper relationship. And it starts here in Advent, right? The church starts here.

with Christ coming and as you said, becoming this vulnerable little baby. And when you start to even look into the, the nuances of Advent, like where he’s, he’s born into a feeding trough, you know, as he would, he would give himself as, as the Eucharist, uh, throughout the rest of time, uh, Bethlehem house of bread.

You know, you start to look at these things and, and you can’t make this stuff up, right? Like it’s, the Lord had all of this planned out and it started with him coming, not only to come into that, into that feeding trough, but to come into our hearts. And he’s there every day at mass waiting to do that.

Right. And, and, uh, I just, I, that’s what I get chills when I start thinking about all that with Advent. Mm hmm. Totally. And I mean, that he would come into a messy stable. I mean, wow, that sounds a lot like my heart, you know, so it’s really hopeful. It’s like really hopeful, like scripture, like you said, when we get into scripture, we can start to see the real Jesus.

And that, that also blows apart our misconceptions. And one of the questions that, you know, I think many of us need to ask is like, what if it’s true? And some people are like, what, like what? Like we sort of like assume we think it’s true, but do you believe that that’s true? And that he is the same one now as he was then.

He has the power to do the same things now as he did then. So, um, my dad, I don’t, I don’t know if you’ve heard this story, John, but when I was a senior in high school, my dad, he was a very capable businessman, very successful. a great negotiator. He could just work a room. Like he was just really good, competent, you know, he was always fixing everybody’s problems and helping out so generous.

And then he was diagnosed with non Hodgkin’s large cell lymphoma and they said he had three months left to live. And I mean, nothing will bring you to your knees like moments like that. And I think we all have them in different ways, whether it be somebody passes away or, you know, a deep suffering that we have to journey through where it strips us of our, our false idea that we have it all together, you know, and, and takes away our ability to be self reliant.

Cause we’re like, I actually can’t fix this. And it was, the cancer was all through his body. It was in his bone marrow and in his bloodstream and tumors all in different areas. And. He read this scripture one night when he was in the cancer clinic, and they were about to do a scan the next morning, and they just said, you have three months left to live, you need to get your affairs in order, and he read the scripture about the healing of the leper.

And he just lay there and he was like, he said, I prayed for myself for the first time. I never felt worthy to ask God for anything before, but he read that scripture and he was like, it was that. What if it’s true? You know, I think like that came into his mind. Like, what if it’s true? And so he just prayed and he had this incredible experience of the presence of God and his like power rushing through his body and he went in for the scan the next day and they knew there was tumors in his abdomen, his spleen, all the lymph nodes all over and they came back and they said, there’s nothing there.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. And he lives next door to me right now. I didn’t know. I thought you were going to tell me he passed and now all of a sudden, what a beautiful story. Yeah. Yeah. And I share that. I think as I share it a lot now, um, because I, I think there is a real sort of like belief under the surface that we’re like, he can’t do stuff anymore.

Jesus is powerless in some way. And not to say that he’s always going to do that because that would be heaven, you know, that if he healed everything and you know, hurt every desire or hurt like that, like ultimately that will be satisfied one day. But yes, he can right now. And if the answer is not yet, then he will come with his presence, which is even more incredible than just the pain being taken away.

You know, I think the holiest people have suffered and, and in their suffering, they have learned deep intimacy and friendship with Jesus. Yeah, I can, I can tell you, you know, I alluded to my mother passing and being angry at God. And I can remember the first time that I ever went to a doctor’s appointment with her, because I was in a very bad state of life.

I mean, I was addicted to all sorts of things. I was selfish. I was buying into everything. The world tells a man you should be money, fortune, fame, you know, accomplishments, all that stuff. And I remember I live right around the corner from the cancer clinic that she was going to. And, uh, they had sort of, they had a, Uh, they both were the same part of Mississippi and they had moved back down there.

Uh, but they still had a home up here in Memphis. They were trying to sell. And so she kept her appointments up here. And, and, uh, one day I was just making sales calls and I remembered out of the blue, like, I think mom has a doctor’s appointment. It’d been weeks since I saw them because I was always too busy and all that stuff.

And so I stopped by there and I go in and, uh, and I said, you know, it was miss Edwards here. And they said, yes, who are you? I’m her son. And they sent me back to the office and, or to the room. And I’m staying there and my, my father was not a very, uh, mostly capable guy. So he kind of looked at me like, son, when I came in, but my mother was overjoyed.

And that was the day the doctor walked in and said, like, you know, you must be John. Uh, Proving my point. I wasn’t around very much like my sisters that were there for her all the time and uh, she said it’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry. It’s under these circumstances, but um, and she turned to my mother and said, you know, she’d had some heart issues.

So they chose to stop the chemo to do heart surgery and then the cancer spread. And it went, you know, from her breast or lymph nodes and her lungs and then into her brain. And so the doctor looked and said, Ms. Edwards, I’m sorry, but you have, you know, two weeks to a month to live and I followed them back to their house in Midtown and, and, uh, they were getting clothes to take down to the farm so they could go by, be by themselves.

And to your point about your father, like I opened the car door and all six, eight, 275 pounds, my mother was like maybe five, three and a half. And I just fell into her lap and started crying, you know, and just said, mom, this isn’t right, this isn’t fair. And, and I’ll never forget. She just, she just sat there rubbing my head.

And I always tell people that’s why I’m bald now. She rubbed the hair right off. But like. But I remember just laying in her lap, it, you know, 35 years old, whatever I was at the time. And, and her just saying, it’s okay, John, like I knew this could happen, but I love Jesus. And I’ve known Jesus my whole life.

And while I’m going to miss you and, and, you know, I won’t get to, to be here for a lot of things. I know that I’m going to be with Jesus and I know that he’s going to be waiting for me, you know, and I. I just remember being angry, you know, because I was selfish and I was like, no, I want you here and he can have you later and all that stuff, but just being so impacted by the fact of like, you just found out you’re going to die.

You just found out like, this is it. Like, there’s no, you know, you can pray, but, and maybe something will happen in the case of like your father, but. But I just remember going like, what faith? And I honestly think when I look back at that, yeah, the jail and all that stuff. But I really think that that moment was the beginning of a turning point in my own journey of like just being hit in the face with what real faith and real relationship with Christ look like, you know?

And so my mother did not, she didn’t make it. I was there at her bedside when she passed with my family and I looked, watched her look at my dad and say, I love you. And him say, I love you back and, and, and, and pass peacefully. But, um, yeah, it just, It goes back to what you’re talking about, just this relationship and in somebody that had, it just spent her life trying to grow that and saw him and everything, um, was just so beautiful to witness, you know?

Yeah. Yeah. That, that, thank you for sharing that. Those are really sacred moments, aren’t they? Yeah. Like sacred, sacred moments. And, and I think for, you know, people listening, they’re probably right now going, Oh, wow. Yeah. That, that makes me remember this, you know, part of my life for a suffering, a deep place of suffering.

And, and what we do in those moments really matters. You know, what we do from the Those moments of suffering really matters. And it sounds like for you, you know, the anger and then deeper into some, some other things other than God, you know, eventually brought you back to him. And I think it’s because those are sobering moments where we have to face ourselves and we have to face what’s actually going on under the surface, you know, and for you, it sounds like it was exposing a lot of other things that were under there, you know, and eventually like you came to, came to where you need to be.

And, um, and so I think for people listening right now who are being reminded of deep places of suffering, the hope is that Jesus also suffered, and that he can take the most horrible things and make them into something beautiful. And although I, I’m telling you, you know, my dad was healed from cancer, there’s tons of other things that, you know, we prayed for that it’s like, oh, the answer wasn’t yes.

The answer was no, no or not yet. And um, and even some of those places now in my own life, but the presence of Christ there is changing everything for me. It really is like, I’m, I’m less going to the other things that I used to just drown my sorrows in. And the more that I come to him, the more I’m just like, Oh wow, like you’re, I’m still hurting, but like your presence here is so healing for me.

It is what I need. You know, it’s what, it’s what we want. And, um, I think the more we get honest, just to go back to where we kind of started, you know, it’s like the more we can get honest about those places, the more we can experience the relief of Jesus. Yeah. You know, it’s like, if we don’t get honest about that, then we’re just carrying it all on our own.

It doesn’t go away. We know that it’s just right under there all the time. It’s coming out in all kinds of ways. If you asked other people around you, they’d be like, Oh, I can see it. Even if you think you’re good at hiding it, like they can see it. It’s coming out in your anger and your selfishness and your, you know, whatever addictions you might be going into.

And so it’s like, Hey, what if we could just be honest and just said like, Lord, I need you in our desperation, like actually really need you. And then we could experience the relief of him. Yeah, no, a hundred percent. I, uh, you mentioned the Holy land earlier and I’ve walked in those places and I’ve been in that I went with father Larry Richards a year ago and.

Um, you know, but a pilgrimage over there and it was really powerful. And I remember one of the moments, um, you know, I, I’m not a guy that’s just like, okay, I’m going to give a lecture at every stop and all that, you know, I’m just like, Lord, if you moved me to say something, then, you know, then I will, and we were, um, at the healing pools, you know, uh, where Jesus says, do you want to be healed?

And, uh, he moved me with a group of people that were sitting there and I said, the guy said, do you want to say something? I was like, yeah, I’m not really sure what. But the Lord’s moving me, I opened my mouth and just the Lord started speaking. And, and, uh, and I just remember reading that passage and saying people to people like, do you ever wonder like why he didn’t call the person by their name?

Like he could have, he knew their name, like Josaphat, do you want to be healed or whatever? And instead he says, do you. Do you want to be healed? And the fact that I think the Lord did that because he knew thousands of years later that people would be reading that and that he would want them to be asking themselves that question, right?

Like, do you want to be healed? And where in your life do you want to be healed? And that’s, that’s who Jesus is. If you look at everything, every interaction he had with anybody healed, it was never like, Hey, I’m the son of God. And like, you know, I’m just going to come over and fix this for you real quick.

And just to, you know, to have an example, to show people that I am who I say I am. Amen. It was always very relational, you know, what do you see? What, what would you like me to do for you? Uh, do you want to be healed? Right. And that’s who God is in that gentleness. And, uh, sometimes I miss my old, uh, Protestant Bibles that had like the, the things Jesus said in red, right.

Where you could just look and flip it open and boom, there’s something, I mean, Jesus obviously wrote the whole thing, but like to have his spoken words, they’re highlighted. I could often flip to those things. I know we have some Catholic Bibles that do that too. But. Um, just to really go to those places because every time I, I need him, I open up that book and he has something to say to me, right.

And even in this Advent season, I, you know, I think about some of the things that I like to read and, and, you know, I want to hear if these are some things you like to go through too, and then maybe jump a little bit more into the book. But, um, Just, you know, John 1 where it’s talking about the word was made flesh and why he came and the world that was in darkness and he came to be a light like this time of year in particular like I read that and I’m almost I’m trying not to cry right now, like thinking about it, just this loving poetry that the Lord wrote through John and, and just this, this vision of why he came and then it ties back to Isaiah 61, right?

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me and why did he come to, to free those who were bound and to heal the brokenhearted and to, to comfort those who mourn and like, how could you not? Want to believe in that God, right? Like not the one that’s like the punishing in the crowds that the world tries to tell you he is and all that stuff.

But the one that is core is the Von Heeler. And it just wants to come into your life and he wants to make it better. And he wants you to, to realize that he’s your friend and ultimately the best friend you will ever have in your life. Right. And. I don’t know. Sorry, I could go on and on. I’m supposed to be interviewing you instead of talking.

That’s beautiful. I love it. Dude, you’re speaking the truth. You’re speaking the truth, and you’re speaking from your heart. And, and I, I do think you’re absolutely right. This is, this is what life is all about. This is why Advent is such a incredible time that we’ve just started. You know, it’s an opportunity for us to come back to our senses again, right?

It’s just like, okay, let me just clear out the clutter and get, get quiet again. And that’s an important part of Advent is that we would actually make space. So I know it’s a busy time. I know there’s going to be like a thousand Christmas concerts and parties and gift buying and traffic’s going to be terrible.

And you can’t go into the store without, you know, probably getting frustrated, but Hey, what if we could be intentional and maybe even put it in our phone, you know, on our calendar, like I’m going to get quiet for 20 minutes, like before my day starts, or maybe at the end of my day, how it, whatever works, um, to just try to make some space.

Yeah. To reprioritize again. Yeah. And that’s the thing, folks. I mean, I, I know we’re all creatures of habit. Like you’re saying, we can get busy and we can say we don’t have time, but like you, when you do, if you can sit there and you can, and you can promise yourself, like for this Advent, I’m just going to take 10, 15, 20 minutes, whatever you can muster.

And I’m going to get intentional about being quiet and sitting with the Lord. And this book, Encountering Emmanuel, is a good way to do that because I know when I sit. Yeah. If I don’t have something to guide me, oftentimes I’m off to the races and my mind’s everywhere. And you get more frustrated. All right, Jesus, I gave you time.

And all I did was thinking about, you know, what’s coming on Netflix later or whatever, you know, and, and you get frustrated and you quit when, when in fact, like that’s, you’re giving in very easily to the evil one. Who’s trying to keep you from. That time, but to have something like this, that’s a guide for you.

And it’s, and it’s a disease, like you’re going on a journey. It’s not random stuff. You’re what you seem to have done here. Heather is to, to give people a place to start, to journey alongside of them. Uh, you know, gently. Uh, as a surgeon would maybe poking and prodding at a little places to, to make people feel something and know that there’s something there that needs to be looked at, but, but then to guide them through it.

Right. I mean, just like with the Lord, the Lord doesn’t come and go like, you know, come up and flick you and go, did that hurt? Good. You know, he’s there to, to point those things out and then to help comfort you in those places that you need comfort. So with this, um, you know, it’s, it’s, It’s day one, the first week, you know, to start on, um, the first of Advent.

If you didn’t have it, I’m sure you could take, you know, catch up pretty quickly, uh, through that there’s short meditations. But I see here, like you said, we have Jesus saves us and then Jesus make us, uh, makes us share in the divine life. What would you talk about that just for a minute? Like what you mean by Jesus makes us share in the divine life?

Because I think sometimes people hear that. And then they’re like, okay, what does that mean? Like divine life, like what does that mean? Am I going to start glowing? Am I going to levitate? Like, what does that mean? Wouldn’t that be awesome? Yeah, it would. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think just simply a lot of the meditations in there are like the first one is he comes into a family.

Like that’s what it means to share in divine life. Jesus came so that he would take on flesh and that we could then become a Adopted sons and daughters of the Father, that we would be one with him, that Jesus is our brother, you know, like that’s crazy, like the Savior of the world, the one we were just talking about, that like did all those miracles in scripture, like he’s our brother, you know, like that’s some of the meditations as you, as you go through Advent, it’s like, this isn’t just a story, like this is real, this is really real.

And so, um, sharing in divine life also means that we have power. that has been bestowed on us in our baptism, and as sons and daughters of God, we have an inheritance, you know? So, we have divine power, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, Scripture says. So, when we think about, oh man, I got, there’s so much I have to do, or like, this is so hard, it’s like, you’re not supposed to do it on your own power.

You actually can’t. So, we get to be dependent, uh. on God for who he is, because he wants to pour his very life into us. And he has just knit us together into his family. That’s, that’s powerful, but it’s also healing because it also means you belong. And I think for the, for at the core, for all of us, Oh my gosh, like I’m sure everybody listening to be like, Oh, let me tell you 10 stories off the top of my head of where I’ve been rejected.

Oh, yeah. Where I’ve been left out or where in my family there’s so much brokenness or where in relationships I’ve messed things up so badly that like now there’s just fracturing all over the place and to just know, hey, it was never meant to be that way. And the way back is Jesus. Jesus is the restorer of all the fractured pieces.

And one of those main places being fractured is family. And community, you know, and so it’s like, Hey, we have an opportunity like to receive from the family of God. So the places that have been broken for us, like God wants to fill those places with himself, with, with the family of the Trinity. Um, and then there’s a deep security that I think we can all experience that comes through that.

Like once we’re rooted in that place, There’s a lot of other things that we don’t need to depend on. We don’t need to prove ourselves, you know, to belong. And so those are some powerful themes that I think, again, we want to move beyond it just being an idea into an experience and something that we believe and something that we can go, no, I, I am a son of God.

I am a daughter of God. And that, that, that means something real to us. Yeah, and that’s a place we all have to go because if you if you ask most people who are you they I’m a doctor I’m a lawyer. I’m a police officer. I’m a this I’m a that and we’re we’re not identifying ourselves with the one thing That is actually our identity and it’s good.

So many of us don’t believe it and that’s the beauty of of these liturgical seasons Advent Lent, you know But it’s also the beauty of being able to journey through them looking for those answers, right? I mean, I I I know that one thing in my life that I struggle with a lot, and I still do, if I’m not careful, my wife’s very good at pointing it out for me, but, uh, is, is control, right?

Like I want to be in control and control is an illusion, right? And we fight against it so much because it’s just not something we’re supposed to have, right? Like that’s why it’s so difficult. And while we get angry and all these things and, The Lord wants to take that from us to, you know, you let go the steering wheel and you see that you’ve white knuckled the steering wheel.

So long you have arthritis, right? Like you just have been trying to control your life and the Lord wants to come into that. So. Yeah, and, and one thing about what you said here, and then we can start to kind of, uh, you know, just, just talk a little bit more about this as we go to close, um, about where people can find it and, um, all those things.

But, you know, to your point of, of, of not feeling seen and, and the Lord wants to come and restore, you know, we, Paul George and I, you’re another one of your friends did the restored men’s conference. The first one for the healing center last weekend, or yeah, two weeks ago. There was a guy that I was walking past when Paul was talking in the hallway.

It was just he and I, and he wouldn’t looking up at me, you know, and, and, and I just kind of walked by and the Lord moved my heart to tap him on the shoulder. And I just said, Hey, uh, I’m glad you’re here. And he kept walking and I kept walking and he came up at the end of the conference and he said, uh, He goes, why did you touch me and talk to me in the hallway?

And I was like, I don’t know if this guy, if I did something wrong or what, but I just, you know, Lord, give me the words to say. And I just said, I know what it’s like to be in places and not to feel seen, you know, not to feel seen and to feel like you don’t matter. And the guy just crumbled. He just buried his head in my chest, started sobbing.

And so many people are like that in the world. And, and to your point, this is what Jesus wants to show us is that he, yes, he came, but he still comes every day to meet us in those places and to, to journey with us. And it’s just such a powerful time, even, you know, here on the third day of Advent, right?

It’s, it’s not too late to start to pick up and folks, I mean, this is just a beautiful work by a person that has, you know, in Heather, that is, you know, She’s obviously told you here, some things that she’s been through and that she struggled with and, um, how the Lord has met her in those places. And, you know, we’re Catholic speakers and evangelists.

That doesn’t mean we’re fixed. Uh, we, we both still have those places the Lord wants to come into, but. I think for any of you out there that they’re looking for Advent to be more than just something on the calendar and the chocolates you eat every day and the purple and pink candles you put out that you really want something, uh, powerful to happen, that this is a wonderful place to start in this book that, that Heather is, um, you know, gifted the church with, uh, through her gifts that the Lord has given her.

So Heather, anything else you want to say about it or, or just invitation for people there as we come to close here, you’ve been really kind with your time. I want to honor it. Yeah. I mean, I love how Avi Maria lays out these books. One, we talked about this a little bit. It’s simple. There’s the reflections are like a page, a page in a little bit.

So I don’t know. Sometimes I don’t like feeling like I got homework and I’m just going to get way behind or whatever. So, so this is super easy. And then there’s brief prayers in here. Um, and then three, two or three like journaling questions that you can sit down with that you can ponder throughout the day.

There’s space to write them right here. So you don’t even have to get another book. Yeah. Uh, All of that I think is really intentional. Like some people might be like, I don’t journal or whatever, but, but maybe you might wanna try because it does actually help you to get below the surface and it gives you a little bit more time to ponder what’s going on.

And for some people you might be listening to John and I talking and go, whoa, I don’t have a whole bunch of stuff like this. Like, does everybody really need to be healed? Well, you know, like actually Pope Benedict talks about how healing is like the point of the whole Christian journey if you zoom out, you know, like that, that’s what it’s all about.

And, and maybe some of us. Just are unaware of the impact of certain things in our life. And it allows us time to be more self reflective, which I think we’re really lacking today because it’s so noisy all the time. So it’s like a great opportunity to get quiet. The other thing I love about this, because we’re talking about belonging and just people, you know, not being noticed and stuff like that.

There is a group guide that goes along with this for free that you can get on the Ave Maria press website that has, The prayer to open the questions for your group. It’s laid out so simply, you don’t even have to think about it. You just got to show up and invite some people so you can do it on, on zoom with a friend or, you know, at your house with a coffee or at the parish or whatever it might be.

And, and I think that that’s also a great opportunity for relationships to also go a bit deeper. Sometimes it’s hard to take those steps and be like, Oh, we’re going to talk about God and like our faith. Like that might feel a little weird with certain people. So the book kind of does it for you. It breaks the ice for you because, uh, the questions are right there.

You’re just answering a question, you know, instead of bringing it up yourself. So yeah, I think those are all valuable things. There’s little videos that go with it each week. We’re going to do it. Yeah. Companion videos. Yeah. And we’re going to do, we’re going to do Yeah, exactly. In our podcast, Abiding Together, we’re going to do it each week.

So even if you don’t have the book or you’re not going to get the book, you could just listen to the podcast and the discussion about it and then just ponder some things, um, and engage that way. So there’s a whole bunch of options and I know there’s lots of other books and options out there. And I would just say, don’t overwhelm yourself.

Just pick one thing and get quiet each day. And invite Jesus to come, you know, that’s the whole point. And I, I mean, I opened, uh, page 20. So in the first week and there’s three questions, I mean, what is the one place in your life right now where you’re not free? Where, what do you desire Jesus to do about that?

And what is holding you back from stepping into freedom? And I mean, that’s simple questions, but very, very powerful and very thought provoking. And folks that’s what you’re going to find in this. And The Lord, uh, the Lord wants to lead us back to him and that’s what this season is for. And I personally can’t wait to dive into this book.

I’m going to, uh, probably have to buy another one cause I’m gonna have to arm wrestle my wife for it every day. I would imagine. So, uh, I’m going to get another one. In fact, I’m headed over to the Catholic bookstore here in a minute after this. So I’m going to pick up another copy and folks, I mean, Heather, you’re, you’re a gift to the church.

And so folks, if you, if this is your first, um, encounter with Heather, if this is the first time you’ve ever heard, Um, who she is or what she does, uh, do yourself a favor and look further into the work that she’s a part of at abiding together and, um, through her life restoration ministries with Jake, her husband, and, uh, so many other things.

So Heather, like, I want you to just spend the last couple of minutes here, just telling people where they can find more about you, how I know you speak. So if you want to, you know, talk to about how people can book you to maybe for a mission or for an event at the church, please, please feel free to. Thank you so much, John.

Yeah. Uh, so I I’m personally on Instagram quite a bit, or Facebook, but mostly Instagram. Um, our podcast is abidingtogetherpodcast. com. That’s with Sister Miriam James Hyland and our friend, Michelle. And then, uh, Yeah, our ministry, my husband and I have is called life restoration and people life restoration.

ca so they can look us up there and Jake has a great podcast as well called restore the glory that he does with Dr. Paul, our good friend. And, and so, yeah, just even people who are like, I really want to learn more about what is it, what is healing all about and stuff like that. That’s a, that’s a great resource for people as well.

Yeah. All right. Well, Heather, um, you know, I really appreciate your time. It’s just a joy to call you a friend and to get here and to sit, sit here to get to sit here with you and talk about things that a lot of people don’t talk about, you know, wounds and healing and, and just this invitation that the Lord has for us this Advent.

So, uh, thank you for coming on. Thank you for taking the time. I hope we get to, to actually be in the same place sometime to get to spend some time and maybe grab some of those blessings. Beers and hot wings, but then we were, we were joking around about, but, uh, the best to you and your family. And, uh, if we don’t talk again, Merry Christmas and happy advent to you.

Yeah. Thank you. You too. And John, I do want to say like you also are a great gift. Especially to men. I think what you’re modeling with just vulnerability and openness and your heart that just desires God, you know, you, you have a heart that is like burning for Christ and I can see that. And I know that that’s a great witness to a lot of men in particular.

So thank you for what you’re doing to build the kingdom. Yeah. It’s a joy. I mean, I think he would say the same thing that Jesus Christ did something for me that I couldn’t do for myself. And so, uh, you know, the response is to do whatever he asked. Right. And so what we try to do the best of our ability, we don’t always get it right, but we try the best we can.

So, but Heather, thank you so much for the kind words and, and, uh, I will be praying for y’all again. Thank you for your time. And folks go out. I’ll Uh, to Ave Maria Press, or I believe Dr. Bob has it on his website there at the JP2 Healing Center, I believe. Amazon has it. Just go out and grab this book and make sure that you are journeying with the Lord through Advent.

Thank you again, Heather. Thanks so much. All right. God bless.