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Feb 22, 2026
Journey Along the Narrow Path
Journey Along the Narrow Path
00:00
1:04:39
Transcript
0:00
Hi, everyone. I am Fernie, one of the hosts of the Walking the Narrow Path podcast. We are so grateful to have you as part of our community. If you're finding value in these conversations, I have a small favor to ask.
0:13
Please hit the follow or subscribe button in your podcast app right now. It's the best way to support the show and make sure you never miss an episode.
0:24
For more resources and show notes, you can also visit us at our website at walkingthenarrowpath.org. Now, let's get back to the show.
0:34
[gentle music] Hello, and welcome to the Walking the Narrow Path with Fernie and Efrain. The podcast is centered around real conversation, applying scripture to everyday life.
0:50
This is our first episode, so I hope you guys enjoy everything, and I wanna introduce my co-host. Say hi, Efra. Hey, what's going on, guys?
0:59
[clears throat] My name is Efrain, or Efren for those of you who may not speak Spanish. But it's super great to do this, man.
1:06
Like, this is something that, uh, came about really, really quick, really fast, like within the last two weeks, right?
1:13
We just kind of from, from the first conversation that we had about this till, till right now where we're actually recording the first episode, and I think, I think that's great.
1:21
[laughs] Yeah, I mean, God works in mysterious ways, right? It's funny. I forgot that bag, and you came over, and just one conversation led to the other, and well, here we are.
1:31
Yeah, something that we had both been feeling, something that we, uh, a desire that we had both had in our hearts maybe for months, if not years.
1:40
And literally, it's like we had one conversation where it just came up, and within a couple of weeks, like you said, here we are, man. So let's do this. Super excited. Yeah. I can't say I'm not nervous, but...
1:51
'cause I am. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Uh, but, you know, I hope this helps other people.
1:56
So the intent of this podcast is, you know, to have real conversation about how to apply scripture, how to understand it in, in a more common, layman way. You know, it's difficult to really understand.
2:07
The Bible's very complex, as you well know, and so I think that there's many people that shy away from scripture because they really just can't understand it, and I know that was a struggle of mine, as we've had super conversations about that.
2:22
And so I think that this is gonna help other people really understand how to apply everyday events and how to really lean on God's word and how to interpret some things.
2:35
It's the only book that's lasted 2,000 years, and people still can't really interpret it. It's just magnificent how that works, and that's how this thing started, right?
2:43
From me talking to you a few years ago and saying, "Hey, I really wanna understand this better," and that's kinda where it grew in my mind. But it's like, "Okay, how can I help other people if it's helped me?"
2:55
We can't always understand why things happen, and I think by helping others really capture it and how to apply it, I know that was very meaningful for me, and it's changed my life.
3:06
So I think, you know, I wanna help others. So that's the whole purpose of the show, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. You said something right now that is very true.
3:16
Uh, scripture can be very complex, and yet, at the same time, it can be very simple, you know? And you're right, it is the only book that's been around for 2,000 years. And in spite of that,
3:28
we're still finding new things, you know? And, and the reason for that is because we need to keep in mind that scripture is infinite, right? Because it's God revealed through written word.
3:44
And because of that, it can be around for 2,000 more years, and people are still going to be finding new things under the guidance of the Holy Spirit because if our God is infinite, then obviously the word that He reveals Himself through is- Right...
4:00
infinite as well. Yeah, absolutely. I think the scripture doesn't change, but it changes to the timeframe that we're in, and I think that's probably where a lot of people disconnect. I think that's where we sometimes
4:17
look at it and try to exercise the word of God with others, but in the old way, the way it was done 30 years ago, 100 years ago, whatever.
4:27
And a lot of people, when you talk to them, it's like, "Oh God, here we go, brimstone and fire," and it's not really that. That was my fear. I mean, I'll be honest with you, it was like, "Okay, who's gonna criticize me?
4:37
Who's gonna condemn me for doing this?" And it's actually been the opposite, right? It's been very encouraging.
4:43
And for all of those that are listening that are not part of our church community, we attend the Worship Center on the northeast off of 4000 Hercules. And so- El Paso, Texas. El Paso, Texas. [laughs] Yeah.
4:56
'Cause I know that this podcast is gonna reach far beyond the borders of El Paso, at least that's truly what I'm believing, hoping.
5:03
So for those of you that may be listening in another city, we are recording this podcast from the great city of El Paso, Texas. Yeah, the little nook in Texas, right on the corner- Yeah... right? Yeah. Depends.
5:16
I always call it the redheaded stepchild of Texas. [laughs] Yeah. It feels that way sometimes. Yeah, it does. So wonderful. So I wanted to start off by...
5:25
And I think we started pretty well just really inter- helping our listeners understand why we're doing this, right? And so why the Walking the Narrow Road? We based it off of Matthew 7:14.
5:41
And, and you guys will see that on our graphic, but I wanted to get your perspective on why, why did we name it that?
5:47
Obviously, you and I know, but I think it's helpful for the listeners to really be under- be able to understand, "Hey, well, why? Why that name? Like, why Matthew 7:14?"
5:57
There's thousands of scriptures in there, so- Yeah... we could've literally picked anything. But I know that titleHit with you and it hit with me. And so, yeah, let's discuss why why that.
6:11
So Matthew 7:14, and I'm reading out of the New King James Version but it reads, "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."
6:24
So why exactly did we actually decide on that to be, like, our base scripture, right, for this podcast a- and for the title? Well, simply put, because honestly,
6:38
scripture and the path that God has called us to walk on is narrow. Absolutely. You know? We need to understand that we live in a day and age, we live in, in, in a culture today
6:50
where people want to make truth whatever they feel like it. Mm-hmm. You know? And I think that too many people, even within the church community,
7:02
speaking a- as far as the general church a- as a whole, right, not necessarily one specific church, but just in general, too many people in the church community don't understand that there is such a thing as an absolute truth,
7:17
right? Mm-hmm. There is such a thing as an absolute truth. In a day and age where people wanna say, "Hey, well, what's true for you isn't necessarily true for me." Absolutely. Right? Right.
7:26
"And what's true for me may not be true for you or for the next person," right? But that's not... I mean, that's not reality. Yeah. Correct. I mean, I hear that a lot, right?
7:36
And I think another discouraging thing, and m- to be honest, and this is what I want this podcast to be, is real conversation, right?
7:43
And that's what we have in our description, real conversation, really coffee talk type style. And- Yeah... to be honest with you, there's a lot of people
7:51
who look at Christian, the r- Christian religion, and, and people like you and I that, you know, go to church, and we really wanna spread the word,
8:02
but there's always that, and I hate to use the word, but it's hypocritical, right? 'Cause there's some that will preach it, but they won't live it.
8:10
And I think that's the truth that you're talking about is I can quote you every scripture in the book probably, and I, I can't, that was just me saying it, but- Yeah...
8:18
if I don't live it, if I don't walk it, like you said, what good is it, right? I mean, it's... You memorize some lines, but as soon as you leave the house or as soon as somebody turns around, you're judging them.
8:32
You're like, "Oh, my God. Look at what they're doing." And I think that's the big discouragement for some people is they don't wanna be judged, and I understand that.
8:39
So for me, the reason that it hit so well is because, yeah, I do think it's a narrow road, and it's very easy to be distracted.
8:49
As a matter of fact, earlier today, uh, Fayin and I, we do a 10-day Bible study for our church, and it's a men's Bible study, and so, you know, we, we go over some, some really good topics.
9:00
Uh, I think today was a really fantastic one. Yeah. It was, man. It hit home for sure. But, you know, one of the things that I wrote down
9:08
while we were there, and I thought it related to it, and well, it's very funny that we were watching that video, and it went over the exact same Matthews- It was. Yeah... 7:14. Yeah. And so I know...
9:19
It, it read chills down my spine. Matter of fact, I'm getting chills now about it. And so to me, I mean, that was confirmation that this is- Like God w- wanting us to do this. Yeah, for sure.
9:27
Like, if there was any doubt, right, in our mind- Mm-hmm... prior to that, like, it's like what a coincidence, quote-unquote, "coincidence"- Correct... right?
9:35
Because we know that in God there are no such thing as coincidences, but what a coincidence that on the very day that we had already scheduled ourselves to come and do this recording, we happened to watch a video
9:49
where this guy is talking about the same Bible passage- Absolutely... that we had already chosen for this broadcast. Correct. Yeah, and- And for this podcast...
9:57
and he, he went over a lot of the stuff that we wanna talk about. Yeah. So- For sure... it was pretty interesting. So what I wrote here is, "The road is so narrow that if you just get distracted, it's very easy..."
10:10
And he was talking about ditches, right, on each side of the road. I thought that was fantastic, you know? You know, if you- Yeah. I have that route done before... you fall into the ditch.
10:19
And, um, so yeah, I was like, "Well, that's not far from w- the way I believe too," right? If the road is so narrow that any distraction can steer you to the right or to the left, then it could put you in a ditch.
10:33
And I think that when people get distracted, right, and they go into the ditch, they feel like they can't get out of the ditch and they gotta stay in the ditch. I know that was true for me.
10:44
I thought that years ago, and thankfully, the Holy Spirit spoke to me, and by the grace of God and by surrounding myself with people that can encourage me to really lean on my faith has been, you know, life-changing.
10:59
But like you said, it is very narrow, and when you guys see the graphic that we chose, you'll see someone at the very end of the road, which looks silhouette with a light behind it.
11:09
And to me, the light on that road is what's significant for me. You know, I teach the kids on Sundays, well, more of my wife now than me, but, um, I always use the light.
11:23
And the light for me has always been one of those things from the Bible that I use, I use the, a lighthouse, and you know how I feel about lighthouses. So I always think about if you keep...
11:36
Lighthouses steer people in the right direction. It keeps them away from danger while you are in a storm. You can't see where you're going.
11:43
But if you keep that light in front of you and you steer towards that light and you don't lose your focus, then no matter what's going around you, you'll stay on course. And I think that's the same thing, right?
11:57
I think that's what this podcast name is really, really saying. Hey, nothing's gonna be perfect. The road is very narrow, and so it really takes effort.To stay focused, to stay on the road.
12:13
We see it now, people get distracted all the time, and I think the enemy does a very good job of distracting us. You know, it's, with things that we don't even realize, right? It's easy.
12:24
We get warned about driving and texting and being distracted by eating and all these other things, right? There's always been distractions.
12:31
And so, yeah, you know, you get distracted, I mean, how easy is it to veer to the left or to the right? Yeah, absolutely.
12:36
And one thing that you mentioned a moment ago, right, where somebody falls into the ditch and they stay in the ditch, and I think that a lot of times they stay in the ditch not because they want to stay in the ditch, but simply because of the fact that they don't know how to get out of the ditch.
12:47
Or a lot of times they're afraid to ask for help to get out of the ditch, right? Mm-hmm. 'Cause they feel that maybe...
12:57
You know, and I think that to a certain degree the church at large has a lot of fault in this, is that when people fall into that ditch, they're gonna feel condemned. Mm-hmm. They're gonna feel judged. Correct.
13:10
They're gonna feel like they can't go back. Like, maybe what they did or what caused them to steer away or to fall into that ditch is too big to be forgiven. Mm-hmm. Right? And the truth is that
13:25
nothing is too big for God's grace. Absolutely not. Right. Nothing is too big for God's grace.
13:30
Nothing is too big for God's love, and that's one thing that I hope we are able to help somebody understand out there that might be listening to this, is that it doesn't matter what you've done.
13:41
If you walked with God at one point and then you backslid, or maybe you've never walked with God before but you feel like the things that you've done in your life are too big to be forgiven, the truth is that God's grace covers a multitude of sins.
13:56
That's what scripture tells us. There's a Christian song that came out years ago and one of the lyrics in that song, it says that, "His grace is nationwide." And I love the imagery that portrays, right?
14:07
It's like it's nationwide, like there's nothing that his grace cannot cover. Absolutely. You know? And that's amazing.
14:14
So I just want to encourage everybody who might feel like they just can't find or there is no way back to God, you know, there's always a way. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you can correct your car from veering right or left.
14:28
I mean, you can... Even if you go in the wrong direction, nothing says you can't turn back, right? Absolutely. It's like make a right turn, make another right turn, and you're right back on course, right? [laughs] Yeah.
14:39
[laughs] It's simpler than what people really think. Yeah. I think we make it more complex. For sure. And, and, and I think the enemy has a lot to do with that as well. Mm-hmm. You know?
14:46
I- in bringing that sense of condemnation and making us feel like, like, "Man, I messed up and I gotta stay here."
14:56
And yeah, we understand that there's consequences to actions, we understand that there's consequences to choices, but that doesn't mean that God has stopped loving you.
15:03
That doesn't mean that you can't find your way back to His loving grace. Absolutely. And it's... One of the things that I kinda wanna also touch on is I think that walking the narrow road, I think some people, though,
15:19
misuse it, and I think that's where the hypocrisy that I was talking about earlier, right? Yeah. Where they see it as a free pass to go to church on Sunday and be different on Monday.
15:32
And so today we're discussing imagery, right? Yeah.
15:34
Um, and so sometimes I think that we get God's Word, really, the Holy Spirit and, and what we're trying to achieve, really it's not that we're trying to get people to go to church.
15:45
I want people to really deep dive right into their faith and really understand it. Sometimes it's hard. You go to church and what is it that they were really talking about, right? Especially with the Old Testament.
15:55
Oh my God, I, I struggled with that. I mean, I'll be honest with you. There's always gonna be something about scripture that makes us uncomfortable. Mm-hmm.
16:02
There's always gonna be something about scripture that we don't fully grasp or comprehend. There's always gonna be something that we struggle with, right?
16:10
And whether it be Old Testament, New Testament, you know, like, the reason for that is because... Well, like I mentioned earlier, I mean, it, it's God being revealed through written words. Mm-hmm.
16:22
So, so as we read through scripture, there's always gonna be certain things that we, in our limited comprehension and our limited understanding, right, our mind is a great tool, but it's, it's, it's not infinite.
16:35
Correct. Right? So there's always gonna be certain mysteries that we don't fully comprehend. Yeah, and I'm glad you said that. So beautiful segue, 'cause what I really wanted to say is we can't explain every mystery.
16:50
We can't explain everything, right? But my hope is that us having these conversations will help somebody else really understand it.
16:59
'Cause I'll tell you that when I started to wanna get deeper into it, and, and I told you that I searched for podcasts, and I was shocked about how much isn't out there, right? And then- Yeah... who do I trust?
17:12
You know, I mean, I hope people trust us. I mean, obviously, um, we're not gonna be perfect, and I don't wanna be perfect, because there was only one perfect person to ever walk this earth. You know, and
17:23
if I could do that, then I wouldn't need Jesus, and I think that's the part right there. We always need Jesus. We always need God to, to guide us and ask the Holy Spirit, "Hey, I'm struggling." You know?
17:35
And, and I think sometimes too, it's we need to really understand in order to walk a narrow path, sometimes you need someone to guide you, right?
17:47
And not to say that God and the Holy Spirit won't guide you, but we need to surround ourselves with people that are, "Hey, Fernie, you're falling asleep at the wheel, bro. Move over." [laughs] Yeah.
17:58
Yeah, we're always gonna need that community. Yeah, absolutely. And I think struggles are struggles, and people don't need to go through them by themselves, but it's also not a free pass. Right.
18:06
I think, I go- You know, when I started with this, it was...Doesn't mean that, you know, you go read 10 minutes and then you can go do whatever you want because God's already forgiven you, right?
18:15
Before you even do anything, you've already been forgiven. I mean, that's, that's the truth of the matter. We were forgiven before we were even born, right? 'Cause that's why He died at the cross and shed his blood.
18:26
And yeah, that's kind of what I, like, you know, what I'm really hoping that this brings a little more humanity to God's Word 'cause I think we forget that.
18:37
I think we forget the human aspect of this, and- I, I do wanna make a small correction in something that you just said, with all due respect. Yeah, absolutely.
18:44
You said that we're, we're forgiven before we're even born, and I think that the willingness for God to forgive us is there. But there needs to be a repentance on our part as well. Correct.
18:57
And the reason why I say that is because when we look at scripture, we see so many examples of people who had hardened hearts. I mean, the people of Israel in the Old Testament are a perfect example of this. Mm-hmm.
19:10
Right? Where God would call them to repentance time and time again, and they would repent. And I believe that their repentance was sincere. Mm-hmm. But
19:22
as time went by, sooner or later, they would turn away from God again. Mm-hmm. Right? And their hearts, a lot of times, were hardened to the things of God. Mm-hmm. Right?
19:32
And the thing is, we need to keep that heart soft. We need to keep that heart sensitive to the voice of God in our life because one thing is that when,
19:48
when we have a hardened heart to the things of God, then the Holy Spirit can't penetrate. Yeah, absolutely.
19:56
No, you're co- 100% correct, and you don't ever have to correct yourself and say, you know, "With all due respect." That's what this is about, right? Yeah. It's about- So-...
20:03
understanding, and so I'm not afraid to get corrected. By all means, do so. You obviously... And I think this is why this dynamic's gonna work.
20:11
It's because you have a lot more experience and knowledge than I do, and I- I am not above be- being respectful- Oh, no, no. Of course... of other approaches either. No, of course. You know? So, yeah. Yeah.
20:20
But I mean, you, your, your knowledge is pretty deep, and I do kinda wanna bring some validity to this podcast a little bit, you know.
20:28
I want people to know where you're coming from and what your background is and, and, you know, where, um... Why I say that you can correct me, 'cause your knowledge is deeper than mine, which it is.
20:41
I'm trying to get there. It's not gonna happen. [laughs] He's got way too many years on me. Oh, man, no. Um- That's- But yeah. Why don't you let our audience know, hey, where do you come from?
20:54
What, you know, what's your background? Well, to be honest with you, by God's grace and mercy, I had the blessing and privilege of being born into a Christian home.
21:03
My parents were missionaries and church planters and pastors of churches s- literally since before I was even born.
21:13
So I do recognize that that gives me, I guess maybe, for lack of a better term, a certain advantage. With that being said, though, I have not been immune to the struggles of life. I've been through some stuff.
21:29
Absolutely. I've been through, through some stuff, and I myself have backslid in my walk with the Lord, when there's times where I haven't been... I'll, I'll be honest with you. There were...
21:41
I, I've never completely stopped going to church. Mm-hmm. But my heart was far from the things of God. Oh yeah, I understand. I've been there. You know what I mean?
21:52
[laughs] Yeah, I've been- My heart, my heart was far from the things of God. And that brings up an interesting point because, to be completely honest with you,
22:02
a lot of people feel that, "Hey, as long as I go to church on Sunday, I'm good." [laughs] Right? "As long as I go-" Yeah... "to church on Sunday..."
22:09
It's like they're trying to just accumulate those brownie points with God, right? "As long as I go to church on Sunday, I'm good." Because unfortunately, that's what religion has taught us for such a long time. Yep.
22:20
And we don't understand that this is not... God has not called us into a religion. He's called us into a relationship. Absolutely. You know? Yeah, it's not a rewards program. Exactly. [laughs] You can't...
22:30
Look, look, you can't get married and just show up to sleep at your house once a week. Absolutely. Because things with your spouse are not gonna go well. Yeah, absolutely. Right?
22:42
And that's the way it is with God as well, right? It's not just a once-a-week thing. It's not just a one or two hours a week thing. It's a daily- This is every single day. Absolutely.
22:52
And walking the narrow path, it is such an important thing because scripture tells us, when we look at Matthew chapter 7, scripture tells us Jesus is speaking, and He is telling us
23:04
that the road is narrow, and it's a difficult road to travel. And you see, it has to be difficult because if it was easy... What's that saying? If it was easy, everybody would do it, right? Mm-hmm. But here's the thing.
23:16
If it was easy, then we would depend on our own strength to be able to navigate that road. But this is a, this is a journey of faith. Absolutely, yeah.
23:27
This is a journey of faith, and it's important that we understand that. Why? Because we need to depend on Him. You mentioned that a moment ago, right?
23:35
About depending on somebody else, and we talked about the community and the importance of the community, right? But we need to depend on God.
23:45
Scripture tells us, Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John that without Him we can do nothing.
23:53
And the reason for that is because walking this narrow path in our own strength is completely, goes completely against human nature, and it is impossible for us.
24:04
It is only with the help of the Holy Spirit operating in our lives, strengthening us every day-Right? And, and, and, and of course, yeah, we, we... There is something that we need to do.
24:17
Like, there is a part that we need to play in all of this. We need to strive, right, to be better every day and to live the way God intends us to live. But the point that I'm trying to, to, to get across is simply this:
24:32
if you try to do this on your own without God's help, you will fail each and every time. Oh, yeah. Each and every time because it is literally impossible, 'cause it goes against everything that we are as human beings.
24:47
Mm-hmm. So we need that faith to help us navigate and walk that narrow path. Yeah, absolutely. It's... There's always a fork in the road, and I was, I was going over the scripture before it, right?
25:03
We said 7:14, but in the scripture right before it, scriptures 13 through 27, God really makes a very good... The scripture sen- states that we have two distinct options, right?
25:19
It says the, you have the narrow gate or the broad road. Which will you take, right? I call it the fork in the road, right? There's... And
25:29
the path least traveled, it's what sometimes we take the, the broader road because why? It's easier to navigate, right? You know, I got more room to swivel left, swivel right.
25:41
Um, but it also talks about the good tree or the bad tree. What kind of fruit do you wanna produce? What are your roots like? If you have good roots, you produce good fruit, right?
25:53
And I talk to the students about that all the time. I tell them, "There's always a fork in the road. You just gotta know what's gonna take you left and what's gonna take you right." You know what I mean? And so
26:05
that's hard. That's hard if you don't ask for that guidance, and I think sometimes the people take the word as, "You must do this," right? And it's really not that. It's really a, a guide. It's to help you.
26:19
It's not making decisions for you. And I think it's like, it's not a magical book. It's a magical book, but not like that. You know, it's not sprinkle of fairy dust. And so I think that's the key.
26:28
And so that kind of brings me a little bit then I wanted to talk about. You said faith. In order for us to have faith, we need to believe, right?
26:37
So one of the questions that I had early on is, what does it mean to believe? And what's... Things that I wrote down is believe in your calling. You know, that brings me to another question. What is a calling, right?
26:49
Um, you know, belief that you were meant to do something. I believe with all my heart right now that we're supposed to do this. It's actually funny 'cause it feels supernatural right now. It's just...
27:02
You've never done a podcast. I've never done a podcast. But hey, we'll see, right? And then it's called to versus things we didn't choose but were chosen to.
27:12
So all those, I mean, just in those three I think would, we could go pretty deep with it, and I, obviously I have a lot more but- Yeah... this thing, the one episode thing. [laughs] So let's start there.
27:23
I mean, what does it mean to believe? What's it... Give me your interpretation of it. You know, belief is... Man. Well, not belief. Faith. Faith in itself, when we talk about faith, I mean, everything surrounds faith.
27:39
Everything surrounds faith. As far as l- looking at it from a spiritual perspective, looking at it from a godly perspective,
27:47
faith is one of those things that is absolutely vital to be able to actually have a relationship with God, and yet sometimes it can be just so difficult to explain. Mm-hmm. But faith is... Well,
28:05
scripture itself tells us in the book of Hebrews chapter 11 that faith is the evidence of things not seen. Right? Mm-hmm. Things is the... Faith is the evidence of things not, not, not seen. So let's start with that.
28:18
I mean, normally we live our life, our everyday life with this idea that if I don't see it, right, I won't, I, I won't believe it until I see it. Correct. But faith, faith allows us to go beyond that- Mm-hmm...
28:35
and to actually operate in, not in the natural but in the supernatural, where in the everyday life we might say, "Hey, I don't believe it until I see it," but God says, "You need to, you need to believe in order to see."
28:52
Correct. Right? You need to believe it in order to see it, so that is so contrary to our humanity. Yeah, absolutely, 'cause we're, it's, it's, our human nature is to go, "Yeah, okay.
29:09
When I see it, I'll believe it," like you said. Yeah. Yeah. Like my wife, for example. My wife, she is skeptical about everything. [laughs] And we balance each other out- Yeah...
29:20
so well because honestly, a lot of times I need to rely on her perspective of things- Mm-hmm... because I am the complete opposite.
29:30
Where she questions and is skeptical about everything, I trust way too easily and way too much, and that has cost me dearly, you know, in the past and throughout my life. Mm-hmm.
29:43
And that's something that I'm really learning. And at the same time, I kind of balance her out because she's learning that, hey, not everything is out to get you. Correct, yeah. Yeah.
29:58
You do need to be very, very aware, right? And you do need to be very cautious, but there are some people that want to help you- Mm-hmm...
30:10
simply because that's the right thing to do and not because they have an agenda to it. Yeah. And-That's a great point because I've seen it's very easy to believe when things are going great
30:28
but when things are not that's where the challenge comes in, right? And so it's funny 'cause, and I'm using the, the kids a lot that we teach, it's, it's funny sometimes I think they teach me more than I teach them.
30:41
Yeah. Life- But-... life does that, right? Yeah, it does. Yeah. So it's- But-... you know, they're, they, they ask some serious crazy questions and that was kind of one of the motivations too. It's like, "Okay,
30:51
how do we reach these kids, right? That might have these questions." And sometimes it's not easy asking their parents 'cause you just don't know.
30:59
It's like I think some people think that they are expected to know, but there's no way you're gonna know. You can be... You can study the Bible for your whole entire life and not think it's to understand it.
31:09
But I feel the kids, when things are not going well, that's when you need to get into the word even more because if you let the whispers of life and humanity and the enemy get into your head,
31:26
it's very easy to lose that faith, right? And so, like you said earlier, we're seeing what's happening, but we're not believing. We don't have the faith that God will take us out of it. Yeah.
31:39
And so especially when thing happens one after the other, after the other, and I've seen it in my own family.
31:46
As you well know, I just lost my brother in October to cancer and, um, that was one of the things that he struggled with. You know, it was when things got good, it was easier for him to believe.
31:55
But when he had a challenging time, it was one thing after the other, and as soon as he s- head comes above water, then it seems like something was pulling him back down, and, um, I saw him struggle.
32:07
Thankfully, right before he passed away, I was with him for eight months taking him to his doctor's appointments and everything else and spending some time with him, and I'm super grateful that God gave me that time.
32:18
And I, I was blessed, really, you know, it was, it was precious time that I'll never forget, and I could have been angry, right? I could have stopped believing, but I didn't. I leaned more on it.
32:30
And what I learned from that was little things that I would say to my brother, just one seed here, one seed there, and before he passed, he came back to God. And I am, by all means, grateful that, that- Absolutely...
32:46
that he saw it and, and I fully believe that he's probably listening to me right now. He's probably gonna hit me across the head with something later. [laughs] But [laughs] he's like, "How dare you tell my story?"
32:56
Um, but it's, it's that, right? You know- When-... you're in the deepest part of the storm, when you're in the deepest part, that's when you really need to believe. I know it's hard.
33:09
I'm not saying that it's, it's easy for us to say, but I think this is why I wanted to do this. I wanted to give people those tools and it's not gonna be perfect. We all kind of lose faith. It's, it's natural, right?
33:26
But it's the level, right? We can't let it be drained to its entirety. And that's where I say sometimes you need that person that says, "Hey, Ferdie, wake up. You're s- you're, you're, you're going into the ditch." Yeah.
33:39
'Cause that's where we, that's where we veer. Absolutely. You know, it's funny you bring this up because, well, there, there's two things that I wanna mention about that. We have a tendency, right?
33:51
When things are going smoothly and life is good, it's easy to believe because as humans, I think that we have a tendency of questioning when things start- Mm-hmm... getting hard because life does get hard.
34:09
Yeah. And life does get difficult and there are really, really desperate people out there that are in very dire situations. And I don't want to undermine that at all. No, of course.
34:20
But, but when life gets hard, we have a tendency of questioning God's goodness. We have a, a tendency of questioning God's faithfulness. Mm-hmm. Right? It's so hard sometimes to really believe- Mm-hmm...
34:38
going back to that word, that God is actually with you in those times. But there's a beautiful passage in the book of Hebrews- Mm-hmm... that personally I hold dear to my heart.
34:51
I mean, all of scripture is beautiful and to be able to say like, "Oh, this particular passage or this particular verse is my favorite," is really, really hard because when you start understanding more and more of scripture, it's like it all becomes just absolutely amazing.
35:08
But I can honestly say that this particular passage is one of my favorites, and it's Hebrews 6. Mm-hmm. And towards the end of the chapter it talks about hope being the anchor of our soul. Hmm.
35:26
And when you think about that imagery, when you think about that analogy, what does an anchor do? Yeah. It holds you down. It holds you down. What does a ship do in order to not get lost at sea? It drop the anchor.
35:38
It drops the anchor. And what is the purpose of that anchor? Is that it digs down into the bedrock at the bottom, right? Mm-hmm. We don't, we don't see the anchor in the bottom, but it is digging into the bedrock.
35:52
And on the surface, there may be storms, there may be wind, there may be waves that are going to sway that ship back and forth, but the anchor is keeping that ship from getting lost at sea.
36:05
You know, that's, that's a really good analogy. And now that you're taking it, the anchor's not that big. You know, it's heavy. Compared to the size of the ship, yeah. Correct. It's- It's, it's heavy. Yeah.
36:19
And it's funny because a lot of people think that God is heavy.Right? That, that's... It... And he is. It is. He is. I mean, it's, it's... You know, today we were talking about fear at the, at the Men's Bible Study, and,
36:33
and you s- you saw that I raised like a million questions and challenged a lot. But one of the things that I kind of was like, "Okay, I think we're looking at fear the wrong way."
36:50
Before you go there, J. Perry- Yeah... I'm sorry to interrupt you. No, no. By all means, Ferdie. But, but I, I wanna make a second point, because I mentioned that there were two things. Yes. Oh, you're right. Right?
36:57
Go ahead. So before, so before you mention that, I wanna mention the second thing. Yes, yes, yes. And it's this: hope is the anchor. It keeps us anchored. Mm-hmm.
37:08
When the storms of life come, it's going to keep us anchored to the rock, which is Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay? So hope is that anchor of the soul. That's what, going back to the analogy that I gave just a moment ago. Yeah.
37:23
Life is gonna get messy. Mm-hmm. Life is gonna get difficult. Yeah, absolutely. It is. But that hope, the hope of what? The hope that this too shall pass.
37:34
The hope that, that God is holding us and carrying us and walking through us in the middle of that storm. Mm-hmm. And the hope that no matter what life actually brings your way and how difficult it is,
37:53
there's always a better future. There's always a better tomorrow. And I want to be clear, because we have such a limited understanding sometimes that when we think about a better future, we think about this life.
38:07
And while many times that may happen, a lot of times, a lot of times it doesn't. Yeah.
38:17
A lot of times, and I, and I, and I go back with, to the analogy or to the example of your brother, he was facing a storm that he did not survive, but he's enjoying the better future that he hoped for, which is the eternal life in God's presence- Amen...
38:35
right? Mm-hmm. That, that Jesus offers us. The second thing that I wanted to mention, right, 'cause that's one. Mm-hmm. The second thing that I wanted to mention, and I read this in a book so, so many years ago,
38:53
and it spoke to me so clearly, why is it that when faced with trials, when faced with hardship, when faced with tribulation, some people fall away from their faith- Mm-hmm...
39:05
and yet other people, their faith is actually strengthened through that? It's a wonderful question. The answer is choice. [laughs] Kind of what I just read earlier, right, what I was talking about. The answer is choice.
39:20
Yeah.
39:21
The people who choose to actually dive deeper into God's Word and get closer to God in the middle of the storm, their faith is going to be strengthened, and they're going to be able to come out on the other side as better people for it.
39:38
I once heard somebody say, "The problems don't happen to you, problems happen for you, to help you grow and mature and become better- Amen... better versions of yourself," right? Mm-hmm.
39:51
So why is it that when faced with difficult things, why is it that when our faith is tried by fire the way scripture says that it must be, some people fall away, and some people's faith actually gets stronger, and they end up getting closer to God?
40:08
And it all comes down to choice. What do you as a person, what do I as a person, as a man- Mm...
40:15
as, as Efrain, and you as Ferdie, and, and, and every single person that is going through trials and tribulations out there that may be listening to this one day- Mm-hmm...
40:24
what do they choose to do in the middle of that storm? You know, it's, it's comical, but it's real, and I used to laugh when I used to see this in shows. Um, the devil on one side and the angel on the other. Yeah.
40:40
[laughs] Yeah. You know? And- Yeah... and you, we really do. You know, we have two voices speaking to our ear, and one of 'em is the Holy Spirit, and one of 'em is not.
40:48
And then, yeah, which one are you gonna listen to, you know? And sometimes- Yeah... it's, it's hard to decipher which, which way to go. But like we were talking, the broader road
41:01
is easier to walk, and sometimes because the narrow road is, is like walking a tightrope, right? So I think sometimes we take the broader road 'cause we don't wanna struggle to stay on the road,
41:18
but by choosing that, I think we struggle more, because you're opening yourself to a lot more stuff coming at you, right? 'Cause now you're dealing with traffic. [laughs] That's kinda how I see it, right?
41:34
You're gonna get hit. You, you're, you're risking being hit by something else or something hitting you to move you off the road. When you, you have a narrow road, it's, you concentrate more, right?
41:48
You, 'cause you have to, right? You, you kinda have to, and you're, you're less likely to get distracted and let your eyes wander around.
41:56
And, and so- It's like driving on, it's like driving on the freeway when you have six lanes open- Yeah...
42:00
or driving on the freeway, but in the middle of a construction zone that has those concrete barriers on the sides, right? Absolutely. You have to concentrate more. Yeah. You can't speed as fast, right? Yeah.
42:09
When you have six lanes open, and you're driving, and there's no traffic, you know, you shouldn't go 100 miles an hour, but you can. Mm-hmm. Right?
42:16
And, and, you know, yeah, you might have an accident, but there's also a very good chance that you won't have an accident- Yep... especially if there's no traffic on the freeway, right?
42:26
But, but when you have those construction zone, th- those cement, those concrete barriers on the side-You can't drive the same way No. If you do, then what happens? Yeah, you're gonna kill yourself.
42:36
Yeah, you're disaster. Right? Yeah, you're gonna crash and burn. So if- I mean, really... and here's my... Here's the other thing, right? You're driving down that six-lane road, that freeway, what do you have more of?
42:49
Choices, right? Do I go all the way to the left? Do I go all the way to the right? Do I stay in the middle? Sometimes we, we have too many choices, right? It's not a fork in the road. Sometimes we make...
43:05
You know, it's funny that they say a fork in the road, right? 'Cause there's... Most people talk about a fork in the road, you go left or you go right. But an actual fork has multiple, multiple spikes, right? So
43:19
sometimes I think we don't make it a left or right, we make it a four ways, you know- Yeah... we're at a four-ways stop. [laughs] It's like w- without a GPS now, I'm like, "Which way do I go?"
43:31
It makes me think of Cast Away, where Tom Hanks is at the end, and he gets to that four-lane road, and there's nothing out there. I tried to watch that movie so many times, and I fell asleep every single time.
43:42
[laughs] I could never get past the first 30 minutes. Well, spoiler alert. At the end of the movie, you know, he parks his truck, and he takes out the map,
43:55
and he's studying the hoods, and he looks left, and he looks right. He looks front, and he looks back. Which way do I go? And I think sometimes that's where we're at. We, we get to that point and
44:11
we don't know which road to take. But if we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us, we ask God to guide us, I don't think I can choose a road that's not correct,
44:28
'cause He's gonna point me in the direction that I need to go. And I learned that very... Last couple years, I learned that, 'cause I was at a crossroads with my career. You know, it was tough.
44:45
I thought, "I went to school. I got my education." It's like, it's like, "Okay, I'm... I need to do... I need... I have more to give," 'cause God told me that, "You have more to give."
44:57
I chose a degree that I never thought I was gonna be in. And then when I was going through it, as I was getting ready to graduate,
45:05
I am applying to this job, applying to that job, fully qualified, by the way, and people that were less qualified were getting the position. And I was like, "What the heck? Is this really where God is sending me?
45:17
Is this the road? Like, did I make a wrong turn?" And that's that faith that we're talking about, right? It... You start feeling that anxiety. You let that anxiety kick in, and you're, you start doubting.
45:26
You know, you're like, "God, wait, is this really the road that I was supposed to be on?" But if you trust it... And so what I... What did I do? I got deeper into the scripture, and I, I kept listening.
45:39
And it's gonna sound cliche to everybody, but every single time I turned on the radio and listened to a worship song or listened to a sermon that was recorded by somebody, I always got my answer. Not directly,
45:54
but confirmed that I needed to stay on that road. And even though you might hit that ditch, and even though you might flirt with that ditch, when you have a narrow road, and God's in front...
46:08
'Cause remember, the scripture also says, "Where you're going, I've already been and prepared the place that you're going." Right? So I leaned on that. Right.
46:18
I was like, "God, I gotta stay on this road," 'cause He's got something for me. And by His grace, and His grace only, lo and behold, the job that I'm in now, not only is it way better than the other ones,
46:35
man, I fell in the perfect place. Literally, month after I started that job, our pull-down set. And the support that I got from my boss and my coworkers,
46:52
man, that, that meant a million bucks to me, because I didn't have to worry about work. You know, I still had to do my job, obviously. Yeah, of course. But it's funny how God pointed me in that.
47:06
And it's funny, too, because so many things had to line up. And when I look back at it, I'm like, "How in the heck did I get that job?" 'Cause literally, there was... I, and I kid you not, there was probably, like,
47:23
five to 10 barriers that had to line up exactly for that to happen, and there's only one person that could've made that happen. That's when you realize divine intervention, right? Absolutely.
47:35
That's when you realize that this is not coincidence. You know? And, a- and the thing is,
47:42
God just has a way of doing that, and I think that far too many times we get so anxious, and stressed out, and frustrated- Mm-hmm... that we fall away. We fall away, and we quit. We end up taking another path.
48:00
Mm-hmm. We end up going down another road. We end up making other decisions. You know?
48:05
And I remember, I remember Pastor, he actually mentioned something a few months ago in one of the sermons, and he said, "We end up quitting right when God is about to do something big." Yep.
48:17
And we never give Him the opportunity to show up in a big way- Mm-hmm... because we don't stay persistent, right? And we end up falling away a little bit too soon. Yeah.
48:32
So it kinda goes what I w- some of the questions that, um, that I, that I posed in the beginning, right? BeliefThat what, the direction that I'm going is where God wants me to go, right?
48:44
And that brings me to the other one, right? Where it says called to do something versus things that we didn't choose you know? What's the difference? You know, I think you're called to do certain things.
49:01
Like, I believe we were called to do this, but we also didn't choose it. I don't think we chose it. [laughs] I- We, we ended up choosing it,
49:11
but it was by God's grace and God's direction that I feel that we ended up cho- choosing it, 'cause we were open. Our hearts were open. We listened. And that's a key factor, what you just said. Our hearts were open.
49:25
Mm-hmm. Our hearts were open. We need to have open hearts. You see, here's the thing. You can't ask God to guide you and then close yourself off to His guidance. Yeah, exactly.
49:41
It, it, it makes absolutely no sense. It, it's completely ludicrous. Mm-hmm. Right? To ask God to guide you, and then when He does guide you, you say- Mm-hmm... "No, I don't think so,"
49:54
simply because maybe the way He's guiding you isn't what you had envisioned for your life. There you go. Right? Or it's not the way that you wanna go. Yeah. I mean, you think you should go left, and God... You know,
50:06
you wanted to go right, and He's telling you to go left, and you're like, "I think you're wrong." No, He's not wrong. Yeah. He's telling you which way to go. You're- Exactly.
50:15
Now you're choosing the broader road, not the narrow road. The broader road. Right. A- and, and, and that's the thing. We always have free will, and God is gonna let us do whatever we want. Yeah. I mean...
50:25
He's not gonna force us. I think- He's gonna guide us. He's gonna show us. He's gonna speak to us when we're open to listening to Him. He's going to do those things, but He's not gonna force us.
50:36
And it reminds me of something that my mother told me many years ago when I was actually a teenager. I can't remember what was happening, but she came up to me almost out of the blue one day,
50:49
and she said something that I'll never forget. She said, "Following God's will for your life is not always the easiest thing to do, but it's always the choice that's going to bring you the most blessing."
51:04
And it's typically not the easiest thing. It's typically not. You know, as- As a matter of fact, I, I can tell you it's almost never- Never... gonna be the easiest thing to do. Yeah.
51:13
There's always gonna be another choice that's gonna seem easier, another path that's gonna seem more comfortable or just easier to navigate in general. Yeah, I think it's, uh, the surface thing. You know, you, you...
51:27
I mean, we've heard the phrase, "You get what you pay for," right? Sometimes taking the easier route ends up being more expensive. And I kinda find it funny when people look at
51:41
the people that God has blessed to do some of the hardest jobs, like doctors, and they see the glorious life that they live outside, right? The picture perfect, the big house, the cars. But they don't see the struggles.
51:52
They don't see the work. I mean, they put in more than 40 hours, I'll tell you that. So everybody wants all that, but no one's willing to put the work in for it. And I shouldn't say no one.
52:05
Let me take that back, 'cause that's, that's a little condescending, and I don't want to sound condescending. It's harder to choose to put that work in. Everybody wants the results. Yes.
52:19
But not everybody's willing to pay the price. Correct. And I've heard it said before, everybody wants the benefits of salvation, but not everybody is willing to commit their life to God and submit to His will. Mm-hmm.
52:37
I mean, so believe it. It's either you totally believe or you don't, 'cause there's no halfway. I mean, if you're, if you're going halfway, then you're making your own road, right?
52:49
Again, it's not that two-way, left or right. You're... Now you're making another way- Right... 'cause you think you know better. And I'm not saying that I've never thought that. I mean, heck yeah, I did.
52:59
I was trying to make myself go in the path that God didn't want me. Taught me a lesson real quick. Humbled me. And I think sometimes those disappointments is God's way of training us, right? 'Cause what do we always say?
53:15
He's our Father. And for all you parents out there, we all know that sometimes we gotta let our kids learn the hard way, right? You think God's any different? [laughs] He's like, "All right. You wanna,
53:32
you wanna touch the stove and burn yourself? I already told you not to, but go ahead. Only that way is you're gonna learn. 'Cause if you don't learn that lesson, I can't give you your...
53:43
what's meant for you, because you don't know how to handle the smaller things. And if I were to give you what you want when you want it, you're not ready for it. You would be overwhelmed completely."
53:59
And we would make a mess of it. Absolutely. Yeah, we... Like- We would, we would make a complete mess of it... it's like trying to cook a five-star Michelin dinner and not having any cooking skills.
54:09
It's not gonna happen. You... Yeah, somebody's gonna try it, but they're not gonna eat it. [laughs] I mean, there's always someone willing to try it, but- Yeah... I mean... Yeah.
54:21
Yeah, you're not gonna, you're not gonna make a restaurant out of it. That's for sure. For sure. Yeah, I mean, that's... It's great.
54:27
So that was a long way for us to say why we chose this, but- But I think as a first episode, you know, I think that this is... I think this is good. Yeah. Me too. Yeah, this is- I, I think this is good, man.
54:38
Honestly, there's so much to explore, and we can talk about this for hours and- Oh, yeah...
54:42
one thing will lead to another, and, and that'll lead to another, and, and-And we can be here all day, and we'll get to a lot of questions, and we'll get to a lot of topics in the, in the coming episodes, in the weeks and, and hopefully months and even years to come.
54:56
Mm-hmm. God willing, my friend. God willing. But man, just to reiterate what we've said already, man, I'm, I'm super excited about this. Yeah. I never in my wildest dreams ever thought that I would be doing this.
55:11
You and me both. I've had... Look, I'm gonna be honest with you, I've had opportunities to do stuff and I've always turned them down because just the idea of other people hearing my voice. I've heard my voice.
55:22
Yeah, me too. It's not the greatest. No. No, it's not. [laughs] It's not. I don't know if I have that radio voice that everybody talks about. You know what? I hate the...
55:30
when I listen to my voice playing back to me and I hear it, I can't stand the way that I sound. But you know what? It is what it is. And I'm gonna tell you something. Remember about two years ago,
55:49
three years ago, can't remember, I was driving home, and I told you that I had that wonderful, overwhelming experience that even made... brought me down to tears and that I just...
56:00
It was a feeling I've never felt before, and that I told you the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "Use what you've learned for my church." And I had a different meaning back then. I read it differently.
56:18
Not to say that that's still not... that there's not other things for me to use that, but he told me, "Use the education that I gave you, what I've taught you."
56:30
Because, yes, I got to university, taught me what they taught me. But the university taught me that because God put the people there to impose that knowledge onto me. And I think that's what I'm doing now.
56:43
I think I'm fulfilling part of that calling. I'm gonna be honest with you, I think you are. It's, it's, uh... Yeah, it puts a smile on my face.
56:54
And you know, I told you not so long ago about a pastor of mine that, that's a very, very dear and close friend of mine that's pastoring a church in San Antonio and, and a few months ago, this was
57:05
right before the holiday season. Mm-hmm. Maybe, like, towards the end of October, beginning of November, right before the holiday season kicked off, and he just... He asked me something. He goes...
57:18
Well, first of all, he knew that we'd been struggling, you know, some of the struggles I've been going through lately. Mm-hmm. And, and, and he knew about that, so he called me completely out of the blue
57:28
and he said, "Look, man," he goes, "I don't know why, but I just feel like I need to ask you, what about your calling? Because you've been struggling with these areas." Mm-hmm. He goes, "And wouldn't it be a funny thing
57:45
if you start to just answer, you start to tend to that call that God has given you- Mm-hmm... and the Lord is gonna start providing for the needs that you have." And he said that,
58:00
and it's been in my heart and in my mind this entire time, and I'm not gonna lie, through this entire ordeal that, that my family and that myself, we've been through for the last almost a year now,
58:14
there's been times where I've doubted the calling. Yeah. It's, it's, it's back to what we were talking about. Yeah. Absolutely.
58:22
There's been times not only where I've doubted the calling, but I've even doubted what the calling is. Mm-hmm. And, and I'm not gonna lie- No, mm-hmm... I still don't have a clear picture of it.
58:30
I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like I have a vision of what it is. I, I still don't know. I still don't know. It's something that I'm still navigating.
58:37
I'm still trying to figure out, "Okay, I thought my calling was this. Is that truly what it was, Lord? Or is it something else?" And, and, and here's the thing,
58:48
that same person in that same phone conversation that we actually had, I told him about the idea of the podcast, and this guy, he's super laid back, super chill, you know.
59:01
If you saw him, you would never, you would never in your life think that he was a pastor. He's just... His demeanor is just super, super laid back, and he just tells me, "Do it, bro."
59:13
[laughs] He's just like, "Do it, bro. Just do it." You know, it's... Years ago, I called you one day and I told you that I was driving and I was hearing these... I was listening to sermons and I would hear these...
59:28
In my head, I would hear a different message, like if I was delivering it. And you told me, "Hold on to that message. Write it down, 'cause you never know who that's gonna be for."
59:43
Maybe it's for everybody that's listening. I think, I think maybe all these thoughts that we've had, realistic thoughts really, and I'm not gonna shy from it.
59:54
I mean, God says use your testimony as a, as, as a thing, right? I think that's what we're gonna be doing. I think leaving off on that on your, on calling, maybe we'll pick up there next time- Yeah...
1:00:07
and really discuss what a calling is and, you know, what scriptures we can lean on. And the last thing that I wanna say is don't think of scripture as a formality. Think of scripture as
1:00:26
a story, 'cause that's what it is. It's a story. It's storytelling, and if you can capture the essence... I don't... I couldn't quote you one of the scriptures, but I can t- I can tell you the stories, right?
1:00:40
So sometimes maybe you don't have to learn every line in the Bible, you know, and I think sometimes we think we need to do that.
1:00:47
Learn the stories, 'cause the stories I think help you navigate life.Much easier when you look at it as a totality thing. Like, wow, you start picking up eyes what I did.
1:01:00
I mean, I tell, I tell the kids all the time, I'll give them the stories, and then they- I'll tell them, I'll say, "I gotta look up what scripture it is, 'cause I don't remember what it is, but I can tell you the story."
1:01:09
Yeah. And I've leaned on that and it's helped me tremendously, so. And you know what? It's, um... It just came to mind right now, and, and I don't wanna finish without mentioning this because,
1:01:23
again, I don't believe that in God there's coincidences. No. But literally just, like, two or three days ago, I got a text message from somebody from our church. Mm-hmm.
1:01:34
And this person used to go to the church that I used to go to a few years back. And out of the blue, completely out of the blue, he sends me a screenshot of his phone- Mm-hmm...
1:01:47
of an old text message that I had sent him back from 2018. Wow. In 2018, I sent him this message, and he saw it, and he took a screenshot, and he sent it to me. Now, we were talking about hardship a moment ago.
1:02:04
We were talking about problems. We were talking about... And again, I in no way want to undermine anything that anybody may be going through. Yeah, absolutely. But the message, but the message said this:
1:02:17
"If you have a big God, your problems will be small." Ah, ooh, amen. That's beautiful. If you have a big God, you have small problems. Amen.
1:02:28
But if you have big problems, if you see your problems as being unmanageable, then maybe it's because the God that you're believing in is small. And I'm paraphrasing, right? Yeah.
1:02:41
'Cause I didn't, I didn't use these exact words when I sent him that message, but, but that's the ultimate gist of it, right? We need to learn to focus on God. Amen. And when He shows us His greatness
1:02:55
and His power and what He can do in spite of the problems that we are going through in life, then those problems will seem small by comparison. Amen. I think that's a hell of a way to end our first episode.
1:03:13
So with that being said, too, you know, I don't know how many people are gonna listen to this, but if I get one person to listen to this and it makes a difference, then... Then we've done our job. We've done our job.
1:03:24
Yeah, absolutely. Exactly. So with that note, if anybody wants us to tackle a certain subject, 'cause I don't wanna hit it by scripture this, scripture that, right?
1:03:38
I wanna use scripture for life experiences 'cause I think that's more po- I think that's powerful, and I think that's the message that the Holy Spirit wants us to convey through this.
1:03:48
I think it's more relatable in that way. So I hope you guys have enjoyed this, and again, we're super excited. If you haven't noticed already, we have deep voices, so don't judge us.
1:04:00
[laughs] It might sound like we're, uh, a little, uh, hoarse, but, um, we're far from it. Uh, but yeah, I wanna thank everybody who took the time to listen and, uh, we hope you come back. And, uh- Absolutely...
1:04:14
may God bless you in your journeys a- and may God bless this podcast. And, uh... Stay strong in your faith. Absolutely. Stay strong in your faith. Don't quit too soon, and we'll see you next time. Amen. God bless you.
1:04:31
God bless. [outro music]
Walking The Narrow Path
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