0:00

The invitation of

0:02

children in mystics is without the

0:04

guardedness, without the cynicism, without

0:06

the prove it to me, there is

0:09

a way to just

0:11

very simply enjoy God and

0:15

drink from Him. Right? You

0:17

got a funny look on your face. I know. Because

0:20

I love what they're

0:22

saying and I

0:25

have this resistance that,

0:28

yeah, right. But Brother Lawrence,

0:30

step into 2024, live

0:33

in a large city and have

0:35

the kind of life

0:37

with family and

0:39

with bills and

0:41

with expectations and technology.

0:44

And now show me what it

0:46

looks like. Welcome

0:49

back, guys. Thanks. How are

0:52

you coming into the studio this

0:54

week? What is your condition?

0:58

I'm feeling a little rushed this

1:00

week. I'm headed out today,

1:03

this afternoon for an

1:05

event with a buddy that he's running.

1:07

I get to just go

1:09

be a part of it. Oh, no kidding.

1:11

Nice. Which will be a totally different experience

1:13

when I'm not running an event. Yeah. I'm

1:15

so used to event directing and I think

1:17

it's going to be really fun to be

1:20

a part of it. But it

1:22

has caused, you know, this morning was

1:25

a flurry of getting

1:27

last minute things packed and all. I

1:29

got to remember to grab this and

1:31

that. So a

1:33

little bit scattered, but trying to

1:36

slow down, take a breath and

1:38

dial into this. So I've

1:40

been thinking a lot about our

1:43

previous conversations. Oh, good. That have

1:45

led to this conversation

1:48

this morning. So, Alan,

1:50

that's good because I have no idea

1:52

what we were talking about. We'll lean

1:54

on him today. Yeah. Yeah.

1:56

Yeah. Kind

1:58

of the same as Alex. going on the same trip.

2:01

And so came into the outpost today

2:03

with the, you know, suitcase and going

2:06

to be gone several days. And already

2:09

on the drive here remembered at least

2:11

two things I forgot. So I'm like,

2:14

it probably would have been good to

2:16

have a jacket when we're going into

2:18

a mountainous area and it's cold

2:20

weather still sometimes. You don't have a jacket?

2:23

Well, I have it at home. Oh,

2:25

by Kelly? So coming

2:28

in, knowing we've

2:30

got a mission, focus

2:33

on that. And then when I get back,

2:35

I'm home a day and Kelly

2:37

and I had to see one

2:39

of our kids who's in another state. And I'm

2:42

realizing I, some people do

2:45

really well with back to back travel and

2:47

I'm here, I'm there, I'm somewhere else. I

2:49

don't like that. Like I enjoy where I

2:51

go when I'm there, but

2:54

I don't like back to back trips. And

2:56

so I'm kind of gearing myself up for

2:58

I'm not going to be home much in the next few

3:00

weeks. You guys. How are you doing?

3:03

You're triggering me. I

3:05

feel triggered. I

3:08

don't like the pace of the week. It's

3:11

been blast. It has. It's

3:13

been blast. And so I used

3:16

sugar and caffeine to

3:19

get me through the low moments of

3:21

the blast. And then I

3:24

crashed. Like my body

3:26

just went, stop it. Wow. Yeah.

3:29

I refuse to operate on that. And I just,

3:32

I had that, you know, sugar hangover, caffeine hangover

3:35

thing yesterday. So I'm doing

3:37

better today because

3:40

I made, I made a choice this morning. I

3:43

could give a little extra time to going over my

3:45

notes for this, or I could

3:47

just go in the kitchen, stand

3:51

there, kind of

3:53

doing nothing pet

3:55

the dog. Like, and that's, that's what I

3:57

needed. That's what I'm like. I

4:00

could come in here more prepared, but i'll

4:02

be back in that, you know Flying

4:05

thing. I've just yes. Yeah

4:07

just racing through the

4:09

morning, so I'm looking

4:11

forward to this immensely And

4:14

welcome back everybody. Welcome to

4:16

wild heart podcast here in the week

4:18

of april 22nd Spring

4:22

is fully in gear Praise

4:25

god And uh,

4:27

it comes slow here in color out. It

4:29

takes the entire month of april for trees

4:31

to begin to you know There

4:34

gotta be notice. They're starting to I know

4:36

I know like so

4:39

Let's take our pause because I bet

4:41

that conversation just then about Your

4:44

your pace your pace. My pace

4:46

was probably pretty familiar to

4:49

most people So that's

4:51

why we build the pause in Especially

4:54

if what you were just doing

4:56

was listening to another podcast And

4:59

then this just kicked up in your library Right

5:02

like oh, whoa, you gotta take

5:05

a break between Good

5:07

things great things, right?

5:09

So let's pause Jesus

5:14

Help me come back To

5:16

my own body help me come back

5:19

to my own soul. Help me come

5:21

back to you I

5:24

give everyone and everything

5:26

to you right now I

5:30

give everyone And

5:32

everything to you. What

5:34

do you need to release friends? What

5:37

do you need to let go? Oh Thank

5:51

you god, yes, I I

5:53

continue to release it and I pray for

5:55

your life and I pray for your love

5:57

and I pray To receive.

6:00

Now what you have for

6:02

me today here in this

6:04

podcast. Amen.

6:14

Or. So help me. What?

6:16

What do you remember? When.

6:19

Are goes remember from the. The.

6:21

Last episode The First episode.

6:24

Well remember. The. Disciples

6:26

of the Internet phrase yes and

6:28

thought because that was so disruptive

6:30

to to me helpful but yeah

6:32

man I want to be that

6:34

and and solve our member I

6:36

was feeling like I am that

6:38

Alex you're more that but I

6:40

know has have just been am

6:42

I doing That said that left

6:45

us best vote Were I a

6:47

letter job buddy? Well we're all

6:49

in that and and that was

6:51

the main thing I remember. Face

6:54

is fragile. And

6:57

just the whole thought of

6:59

we sat to be intentional.

7:02

About. Life and who were we? a

7:04

disciple of those kind of the. The.

7:07

Things that stand out on, well,

7:09

that's good. Stash.

7:11

Thanks s son has some

7:13

such as.little out of this

7:15

the the thing that really

7:18

is still standing out to

7:20

me and my than dwelling

7:23

on his as just that

7:25

idea that we're we're conditioned

7:27

to want answers on and

7:30

condition to expect. Immediate,

7:33

he answers and com and then

7:35

he said he said such a

7:37

brilliant thing and I think this

7:39

was the last. Ah,

7:42

Podcast so he did second one that we

7:44

did it in the series. He

7:47

said he, don't He

7:50

don't have to understand

7:52

something to. Experience

7:55

A. Benefit. From

7:57

it and enjoy a. Can.

8:00

And I'm saying a little off, but

8:03

that's good. But that

8:05

is such a big statement.

8:10

And I've been chewing on that because

8:12

I think there are, you know,

8:15

when you express that idea of,

8:17

hey, give a ice cream bar

8:20

to a child and they're going to run over

8:22

in the corner and they're just going to start

8:24

enjoying it and relishing it and be in the

8:27

moment with it. They

8:29

get all of the glory of

8:31

that ice cream bar. And

8:34

you give it to me, and especially

8:36

right now. So I'm going

8:38

through some checking

8:41

out my health, 48, how am

8:43

I doing health wise? And

8:46

so I find myself constantly,

8:48

any food item I'm throwing

8:50

the package over and I'm looking for

8:52

the, what's the fat, does it have

8:54

saturated fat? I'm

8:57

not even present to enjoying

8:59

it. So it's just

9:01

good. Just give me the

9:04

information. And

9:07

sometimes that information gets in the way. I'm

9:09

truly enjoying something. So that's

9:12

a big thought. That's really good.

9:15

Yeah. Because we were talking about

9:17

the difference between sunsets. And

9:20

you use the example of kissing my

9:22

wife at the altar, you know, when

9:24

we were getting married, like I didn't

9:26

need instructions, please don't break that down

9:29

for me and give me the mechanics

9:31

and the biology of that. And like,

9:33

just let me enjoy the kiss for

9:35

heaven's sakes. Yeah. I

9:38

think that stayed with me. That

9:41

example, along with

9:43

a whole bunch of other stuff, swimming or

9:45

riding a bike, or like if you get

9:47

too caught up in the mechanics,

9:51

you actually are outside the experience

9:53

now. Outside the

9:56

joy. It's coming back to me too

9:58

as we talk that we... went

10:00

into how as a culture, we don't

10:02

like mystery. And

10:05

so we want answers

10:07

to everything and

10:09

not, not just that it's quicker and easier

10:11

on the internet, but, but we just don't

10:13

do well, not having

10:15

a sense that I know

10:18

everything about this topic and

10:21

that, that is something John, I

10:23

think, and Alex is huge, because

10:26

if we're bothered by that,

10:28

then we're going to spend most of

10:30

our life gathering more and more and more

10:33

and more knowledge trying to, without

10:35

really a lot of benefit to

10:38

the deeper needs. I

10:41

think, Helen, to that, what, what

10:43

was also fascinating is

10:45

that though that's true and

10:47

though we're constantly

10:49

having this need to understand

10:52

it and, and get rid

10:54

of the mystery, we

10:57

still don't trust what

10:59

we find out. Exactly. We

11:01

still end up skeptical, right?

11:04

Yes. And we don't know what

11:06

we can trust in the information

11:08

we're getting. So, yeah. So not

11:10

only are we not comfortable with the

11:12

mystery, we're, we're skeptical of what

11:15

we're finding out anyways. Yeah. So,

11:18

yeah, that's really good. That's really

11:20

important review too, is that the,

11:23

the process of

11:25

get to the latest science, get to the

11:27

bottom of that political report, who's telling the

11:30

truth on this, what's really going on with

11:32

my child's ADHD? I need to get

11:34

into the bottom of that, you know, and

11:36

then the next week, it's a different

11:38

expert saying, well, actually all that's wrong.

11:42

No, that what you really need to, you know,

11:45

complete reversal of the information

11:49

causes this collapse

11:53

of confidence. And

11:55

it just, you're just weary and skeptical.

11:58

Just like, yeah, prove it to me. me. I'm

12:00

not really sure I believe you. And we

12:05

were talking about how if

12:09

we could only keep

12:11

that restricted to nutrition

12:13

or retirement plans or

12:16

education, but it bleeds

12:18

over. It just bleeds into your soul.

12:21

You're a living organism

12:23

and this stuff just like your

12:25

bloodstream. You could try

12:27

and hold that alcohol within one thing,

12:29

but it goes through the whole bloodstream.

12:31

Okay. Same with this.

12:33

Same with internet discipleship. I

12:36

want to come out at this week. We're kind of

12:38

in part three, folks.

12:41

So if you didn't catch part one

12:43

and two the last two weeks, you might want to.

12:45

You don't need to, but this is

12:47

part three of a conversation that we

12:51

are intentionally trying to slow down

12:55

because part

12:57

of internet discipleship is,

13:01

and by that we kind of

13:03

also mean just that the culture you live

13:05

in, the age that we live in and all that

13:07

goes with it, the speed of

13:09

things is this regular

13:16

absorption of content. We're just

13:18

consuming content, content, content, content.

13:20

Yeah. But

13:22

it's like pouring wine into

13:24

a glass that's already full

13:26

and then it just, or

13:29

water, better. Maybe imagine pouring water

13:31

into a glass of wine and

13:34

it starts to dilute it and then it pours over the

13:36

edges and you keep that up and after a while, you

13:38

don't have wine, you don't have water. Okay.

13:41

So we're trying to slow things down to

13:45

see what stays with us,

13:47

what lingers, what is truly

13:50

getting in enough

13:53

to be helpful, transformative

13:56

actually. Okay. So here's

13:58

the way I want to come out at this. week. I

14:01

want to come at this from

14:03

the perspective of human flourishing. What

14:08

are the conditions that

14:11

men and women need in

14:13

order to flourish as human beings? And

14:16

I mean, as you back out, like, that's why

14:18

we're here. That's why we do the podcast. That's

14:21

why the ministry exists. That's why Stacey

14:23

and I write books. We're pursuing

14:27

the way. We're pursuing the life, the

14:30

path, you

14:36

know, the habitat, I guess. Okay,

14:38

so human beings are created to

14:40

live in a habitat, just

14:42

like any other animal, rabbits,

14:44

deer, falcons, you

14:47

know, whatever it is. Like, they

14:50

need a habitat, goldfish.

14:54

Everything has its own habitat.

14:56

Human beings are designed that

14:58

way, too. And

15:00

I want to read from Jeremiah

15:02

17, because

15:05

it's a beautiful, beautiful, you can think

15:07

about how ancient this text is, and

15:10

how current, how

15:13

relevant. So this is from Jeremiah 17,

15:15

cursed is

15:18

the one who trusts in

15:21

man, who draws

15:24

strength from mere flesh, and

15:26

whose heart turns away

15:29

from the Lord. That

15:31

person will be like a bush in

15:33

the wasteland. They will not

15:35

see prosperity when it comes. They will

15:38

dwell in the parched

15:40

places of the desert, in

15:43

a salt land where no one lives. And

15:46

this is the thing that compels me

15:48

constantly to come back in the studio.

15:51

If I look at humanity, I'm like

15:53

parched, dry

15:56

land, not

15:58

doing well. They've

16:01

been taken out of the habitat

16:03

for which they were designed to

16:05

flourish in. Okay. But Jeremiah

16:07

goes on to say, blessed is

16:10

the one who trusts in the

16:12

Lord, whose confidence

16:15

is in Him. And gosh,

16:17

you could just pause and go, the

16:19

confidence thing, the internet,

16:22

no, no, no, our confidence is,

16:24

get me the latest science. Blessed

16:27

is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose

16:30

confidence is in

16:32

Him. They will

16:34

be like a tree planted by the water

16:37

that sends out its roots by the

16:39

stream. It does not

16:42

fear when heat comes, its leaves

16:44

are always green. It

16:46

has no worries in a

16:48

year of drought and never

16:50

fails to bear fruit. So

16:54

you have a description of human flourishing

16:56

and the habitat within

16:58

which human beings were designed to

17:00

flourish. So coming at it from

17:03

that angle, help me

17:05

name that. Help me name what is that? What

17:07

is that habitat that humans

17:10

flourishing? Yeah. I mean, if

17:12

I was going to put kind of one phrase over

17:15

that scripture, it's a life

17:18

rooted and centered

17:20

in God, right? It is

17:23

that picture of the tree that's

17:26

tapped deeply, rooted

17:29

in the source and the thing that's feeding

17:31

its life, which is

17:34

God. And

17:37

I know that's a big statement, right? Like

17:39

that's a little nebulous, but

17:42

I think that's the starting place is

17:44

that of

17:46

our habitat. Yeah. Go

17:48

ahead. Let's catch that.

17:50

You immediately apologize. I

17:54

know I didn't give enough information. I get

17:56

that. W.T. asks, man, you see how brilliant

17:58

it is. Like

18:01

this is baked into us. Yeah, you're right.

18:03

Oh, man, you caught me Yeah, you

18:05

made a statement. Yeah that

18:07

a person could base their life

18:10

on yeah Like you

18:12

could live the rest your life with that Yeah,

18:14

that the habitat is a life that is

18:16

deeply rooted in God. The tree

18:19

is yeah and Yes,

18:21

and I totally felt in that

18:24

moment Everyone's question

18:26

of well how Oh

18:30

gosh Yeah,

18:35

you want to remove the mystery of

18:37

it Yeah, but if you allow for

18:39

the mystery, yeah that that you can

18:41

just walk through the woods folks and

18:44

enjoy the woods Yeah You

18:47

don't have to know how everything is growing So

18:51

I just had to catch that moment and go there it is

18:54

That's funny, isn't it? Yeah That

18:57

is yeah to me it feels

19:00

like an invitation away

19:02

from culture

19:04

into simplicity Like

19:07

what you described is

19:09

a very simple Image

19:13

a tree. Hmm by water

19:15

with roots that go down It

19:18

it's not you know a 17 page

19:20

instruction manual with 59 steps It's

19:24

not something that you have to

19:26

stress and strive and like

19:29

it just it washes

19:31

over me the simplicity of what's

19:33

being offered there and We

19:38

don't but we don't live in a

19:41

simple world and So

19:43

it almost feels too easy

19:46

too simple too Naive

19:48

that no there's got it

19:51

that can't be it until

19:53

you are that tree Right and the

19:55

trees doing really well the trees like

19:57

yeah, no, no problem, man. Yeah I'm

20:00

rooted in God. I draw my

20:02

life from Him. And the tree doesn't have to create

20:04

the water. And the water's

20:06

there, right? Yeah. It's

20:08

just planted in the right place. That's right. Yeah.

20:12

And it had to do, I thought it was interesting that it

20:14

had to do with confidence. Where is

20:16

your confidence put? Your

20:19

attention, your trust, your security.

20:22

Yes. Right? So what we're describing

20:24

to get started this week is

20:26

there is a habitat within

20:29

which human beings were designed to flourish.

20:31

And yes, of course, there's a lot

20:33

to that habitat. Yeah, sure. The pace

20:35

of life, you were saying. There's a

20:38

simplicity to it. That's a

20:40

piece of it. But

20:43

what we were trying to say is

20:45

that human beings are designed to experience

20:47

God and draw

20:50

upon His life. And

20:52

all that He is providing, we

20:54

might need guidance. We

20:57

might need comfort. It

20:59

just depends. Day to day, week to week, we

21:02

might need courage. Right?

21:05

We might need a lot of wisdom

21:07

for a sudden moment.

21:10

All of that is available to that tree.

21:15

Because they're in the habitat of God. They

21:18

are situated in the habitat that a human

21:20

being was made for. So

21:24

what we were pointing out is

21:26

this cultural moment for many reasons

21:30

has yanked people out of that habitat. So

21:33

that you have to apologize for

21:38

saying something as beautiful as you did.

21:41

Right? It's not enough. Okay.

21:44

Yeah. I always had

21:46

a conference, therapists

21:49

mostly, or people interested in that.

21:53

And First Baker Gets Up gives

21:55

kind of a really sort of

21:58

a simple but a very beautiful research. reflection

22:00

on this idea, habitat,

22:03

God, a life

22:05

of prayer. And when

22:08

they were done, you know, there was just

22:11

kind of a little smattering of applause, right?

22:13

The polite applause. And the

22:15

next guy gets up, having to be a man

22:17

that was the next speaker. And he

22:20

goes and he starts going

22:22

into kind of the same thing.

22:24

It was recovery from trauma was

22:26

the overall, you know, scope

22:28

of things. But his thing

22:30

was on the latest science and

22:33

what we're learning about the human brain and the

22:35

body and the kind of thing. He

22:38

almost got a standing ovation. Yeah.

22:41

Yeah. That's it. Like that's our

22:43

moment. And part of me wanted to come

22:46

out of my chair and go, folks, you

22:48

were just the first speaker just gave you

22:50

the key to life. That

22:52

you are a tree rooted in the habitat for

22:54

which you're made. And this other guy got up

22:57

here with the latest shiny stuff and

23:01

you're absolutely enchanted with

23:03

it. And so

23:05

I thought that was a good example

23:08

of what the effect of we're

23:10

all disciples of the internet. Why

23:12

do you think that was

23:14

the phenomena you saw there? Like what, what

23:17

causes people to hear something

23:20

ancient that's

23:23

proven and grounded and give a

23:25

smattering of applause. And then something that's

23:27

so new, it's not even fully

23:30

known or proven or anything, but it's just

23:32

new. Like what is that

23:34

in the human spirit? Do you think? What

23:36

is that? Alan,

23:38

the human spirit. I mean, what

23:40

do you think that is? What's with that? I

23:43

mean, yeah, I think what it is

23:45

for me at least is I

23:47

always believe there's something

23:50

more that will make my

23:52

life better or easier than

23:55

what I already know because I know my life

23:57

isn't easy. So it feels like the Siren

24:00

song oh in our of yes, but

24:02

you haven't tried this yet or yeah

24:04

only this is discovered or we now

24:06

have the new iPhone

24:09

Whatever model it does

24:11

that promise of that's got to be where it's at.

24:13

I think that's with me at least yeah, that's good.

24:16

I Think

24:19

Alan what I in that moment when you're subscribing

24:21

that and you're asking that question I What

24:25

I went to was it self-saving Right

24:28

like there there is something

24:31

in the human soul Broken

24:34

in the human soul from

24:36

the very beginning, right? We saw

24:39

it in the garden Yeah, there

24:41

was this this idea that oh

24:44

You actually can know yourself like

24:48

the promise of You'll be

24:50

like God. You'll be like God. Yeah,

24:53

and and so there is

24:55

something really seductive to

24:58

things that feel like We

25:03

can save ourselves, right? I like so

25:05

off we just understood that we could

25:08

We could fix that thing.

25:10

You know save ourselves. It's

25:12

a self-saving posture

25:15

that Wow

25:18

That's huge That's

25:21

huge because a friend was saying that he thought

25:23

the internet was a reach

25:26

for omniscience Wow,

25:28

right Wow. Yeah, you

25:30

can get you can get anything you need. Mmm

25:33

Any piece of information you need and

25:36

that was the garden right you're describing

25:38

going back to the reach for control

25:42

Self-saving and part of it

25:44

was knowledge. Yeah knowledge of good and

25:46

evil the discernment of things So

25:51

Jesus comes along and He

25:53

says this truly I tell you Unless

25:57

you change and

25:59

become like little children, you

26:01

will never enter the

26:04

kingdom of heaven. Why

26:07

do you think he said that?

26:11

Like what's with that in regards to our

26:14

conversation these three weeks now? How

26:16

does that? Well, I think

26:20

when you're a small child,

26:22

we've all had children around the table. There's

26:26

just a contentment and a

26:29

trust that

26:32

your parents have it. You're

26:36

taken care of. My son would get

26:39

in the truck with me. He wouldn't ask me if I had my

26:41

wallet or if I had directions.

26:43

There was an assumption of just calm

26:46

piece of, I don't have to know everything. I

26:48

just have to be with my dad. I

26:52

think that's part of what

26:54

he's getting at is yes, it's an element

26:56

of wonder and joy, but

27:00

it's also just they

27:03

trust their dad, the father, to

27:07

be a provider and a protector and

27:09

to know what needs to be known. We

27:15

quickly move out of that stage and it's

27:17

hard to ever get it back, I think

27:19

sometimes. That's

27:22

really good, Alan. I love what

27:25

stands out to me and what you're saying is the

27:27

trust piece. A

27:33

child is so much

27:35

more likely to just

27:38

trust. When

27:42

the one in charge is

27:45

good, they can trust.

27:51

God is good, right? But

27:55

when we lose that childlike faith, something

27:58

happens to our trust. Yes in

28:00

that moment, which is yes, you're bringing

28:02

up eden earlier, right? Which

28:05

is the very first strike of the enemy right

28:07

was you can't trust your dad, right? He's

28:09

he's not good. He's holding out. Yeah,

28:11

and it feels like that's been the

28:13

attack from day one. Totally

28:16

Oh alan, I I

28:19

actually was really stopped by when you

28:21

said and then we pretty quickly lose

28:23

that innocence Pretty

28:27

quickly lose that childlike innocence

28:29

trust confidence joy peace, you

28:31

know And oh

28:33

my gosh, right because life comes in

28:37

trauma gets in and breaks your heart and

28:41

um I think what

28:43

jesus is partly after here what

28:45

what adults have that children don't

28:47

have is the cynicism And

28:51

the suspicion. Yeah And

28:54

the guardedness Yeah And

28:57

he's saying those things are actually in the way

29:00

They're in the way of you getting

29:02

back into the habitat That

29:05

you're made for We're we're

29:07

trying to get back into the habitat. That's part

29:10

of the goal of the series. That's certainly the

29:12

goal of the entire Existence of

29:14

this podcast and many other good podcasts

29:16

or they're trying everybody's trying to help

29:19

folks get back into the habitat, right?

29:21

Yeah, okay Jesus says

29:23

there's something about the adult In

29:26

you That's

29:28

in the way And

29:31

taking this series the internet discipleship, it

29:33

would be the skepticism I

29:36

gotta you know, how much saturated fats in

29:38

this thing now? Yeah Because

29:41

if you tell a child we're going

29:43

to the beach tomorrow They

29:46

get two days of joy They

29:49

get the entire day of anticipation of

29:51

joy. Yes. Okay now you guys you

29:53

know what I was about to say

29:57

I was literally going to say this which by the

29:59

way the nerve Science shows about after

30:01

her funny guy a sufficiently man.

30:03

Well here it is. Linda Neuroscience

30:06

shows that you're anticipation of the

30:08

enjoyment of an event is awesome

30:10

greater than the enjoyment of the

30:12

event itself. Well, so that anticipations

30:15

importance in for human happiness. So

30:17

there it is. Yeah, right now

30:19

and now you're like, oh, that's

30:21

really. Advertise:

30:24

Oh it's just unbelievable

30:26

how baked in assists

30:28

Okay. If the child gets

30:30

two days of joy, To get

30:32

the day of thinking about it,

30:34

reading about excited we're going tomorrow.

30:36

And then they get the day

30:38

itself right. Beaten adults. In.

30:40

Adult Goes. What

30:43

time do we have to get up

30:45

and tell? Far as if from here

30:47

to the beads and what's that for

30:49

soundtrack? Is that rush hour traffic time

30:51

like at a book? Or what about.

30:54

Praxis. Than that. Yes,

30:57

The online there's leicester sewage issues on

30:59

the coast This year I read about

31:01

that as us I be resumed go

31:03

out we can't get in the water

31:06

and right and immediately looked at the

31:08

weather repair. Like instantly.

31:11

It's started this year. And.

31:14

The skepticism that is in

31:16

the way. Of our

31:18

life with cause of experiencing.

31:22

A at and of being the

31:24

tree right again. So I'm. Part.

31:27

Three, we've gotta at least get into

31:29

a little bit a relief here with

31:31

gusts trigger offer some hope and some

31:33

direction so what I want will probably

31:36

end up sidling this one. Which.

31:38

Children and mystics know.

31:42

There is a tradition. In

31:45

Christendom. Ah, a very

31:47

biblical very store a clay rooted

31:49

Orthodox tradition and I he knows

31:52

I need to qualify this of

31:54

Christian mystics. Knees are men and

31:56

women down through the ages. many

31:59

of them. very, very simple,

32:01

very ordinary people, some of them

32:03

very, very brilliant people, like

32:05

a Thomas Aquinas or a Luther, who,

32:10

who were those trees that they had

32:13

found the habitat and they were

32:15

living happily in

32:17

it and they would share

32:20

their experiences. But primarily

32:22

their, what their experiences were

32:24

with was a daily saturation,

32:30

of God. I

32:32

am in God and God is in me and therefore

32:34

I am well. And

32:37

so for example, 14th century guy, Thomas

32:41

the Campus wrote a really,

32:43

really famous book called

32:45

The Imitation of Christ. There

32:48

was a long period in history where

32:50

it was the second most published book

32:52

in the world to

32:54

the Bible was Thomas the

32:56

Campus, The Imitation of Christ. It's a

32:58

good book. He

33:01

says this, he's speaking

33:03

out of his own experience. Okay.

33:07

Oh, he says, turn to God with

33:10

all your heart and you will see the kingdom

33:12

of God come to you. Christ

33:19

will come to you offering his consolation

33:22

if you prepare a fit dwelling for

33:24

him in your heart.

33:27

His visits with the inward man are

33:29

frequent. His

33:33

communion sweet and full of

33:35

consolation is peace, great

33:41

and his intimacy, wonderful indeed.

33:47

So he's trying to invite people, react

33:50

to that. It's like, Hey, here's my experience. I

33:53

love that. And

34:02

it speaks to something that for

34:04

me, I do

34:07

tap into at times.

34:11

But hearing him say that, I'm just sitting

34:13

there thinking of the times that I've had

34:15

that with God and

34:17

how it does just that,

34:20

right? It brings

34:24

peace, there's a sweetness

34:26

to it, to the communion with

34:29

God in it. And

34:36

I don't always do it. This

34:38

world runs at such a pace

34:42

that the

34:44

one thing he said in there and

34:46

his visits are frequent. And

34:49

I go, huh? I

34:51

don't know. Kinda. That's

34:54

the one piece that I look

34:57

at that I think it requires something of

34:59

us for those visits to

35:01

be frequent. Yes. Like I think

35:03

what Aquinas is naming is

35:08

the man who chooses to

35:11

enter into those moments. And

35:14

those convenience will be frequent if

35:16

he chooses. Yeah. And

35:19

the mystics didn't need you to

35:22

explain how and why. They

35:24

just knew God is available. He surrounds

35:26

me. His kingdom is

35:28

full of wonders. It surrounds me

35:30

too. I, like a

35:33

child, fully anticipate

35:35

enjoying it now

35:37

here in this life to

35:39

great measure. So, okay, let me quote another.

35:42

This is Brother Lawrence who

35:44

wrote another pretty famous book in the

35:47

world of mystics, but far

35:49

beyond that, practicing

35:51

the presence of God. You may have heard

35:54

of him. He was a French guy. Yeah.

35:56

I was actually very wounded in war the

35:58

30 years. war that

36:00

was going on in France at the time wound

36:03

up in the

36:05

kitchen serving, he joined, he became

36:07

a Carmelite friar, a

36:10

monk, and served in the

36:12

kitchen in Paris in this particular

36:15

order that he was in. He was not a

36:17

very bright man. He was clumsy by

36:20

his own admission and everyone else's. He'd

36:23

break stuff. Like he wasn't

36:25

good at life, as

36:28

we would call it, efficiency and that sort of

36:30

thing, but he

36:32

had such a sweet

36:35

daily experience of Jesus.

36:38

And he wrote this, he says, there is not

36:40

in the world a kind

36:42

of life more sweet

36:45

and delightful than

36:47

that of a continual conversation

36:49

with God. Those

36:53

only can comprehend it who

36:56

practice and

36:58

experience it. So

37:02

again, the invitation of

37:04

children and mystics is without the

37:07

guardedness, without the cynicism, without

37:09

the prove it to me, there is

37:11

a way to just

37:13

very simply enjoy God and

37:17

drink from him. Right? Yeah.

37:21

First of all, you got a funny look on your face. I know.

37:25

Because I love what

37:27

they're saying. I

37:29

want more of what they

37:31

have. And

37:34

I have this resistance that

37:38

I think is coming from, yeah, right.

37:43

But Brother Lawrence, step into 2024 or

37:45

our campus and go, but

37:47

live in a large city and

37:55

have the kind of life with family

37:58

and with. Bills

38:00

and with expectations and

38:03

technology and Now

38:05

show me what it looks like and

38:08

I'm not saying that that's like But

38:11

I'm just naming it because that's my

38:13

resistance is somehow it was easier in

38:15

times past to be a mystic

38:18

Yeah, and so it

38:20

leaves me hungry for

38:23

what they had but wondering and Today

38:27

what and Does

38:29

that sound like

38:32

a six-year-old or

38:34

a? Definitely

38:38

a 52 year. Yeah,

38:40

I know I know which

38:43

you are. Yeah. I mean there it is,

38:45

right? There's the adult yes Guardedness.

38:47

Yeah, sure this is get into

38:50

my life, buddy Yeah, right

38:52

it and that's that's the cynicism

38:54

there and Jesus was saying

38:57

while that stuff is still In

38:59

you he says it is almost

39:01

impossible to experience

39:03

the kingdom of God It's

39:07

not a it's not like because you're

39:09

a bad person it's because it's in

39:11

the way, right? Right,

39:14

yeah Okay, so

39:16

I need to do a quick qualifier here

39:18

because I'm inviting people to become mystics. Yes

39:21

There are my cards are on the table.

39:23

Yeah, boom I think

39:25

it's the way out of the

39:27

internet discipleship and the prove it to

39:29

me and the facts and the latest science and all that But

39:34

I need to do I need to quickly

39:36

describe right qualify it what do I mean

39:38

because there's holy mysticism

39:40

and unholy mysticism just as

39:43

there's Holy

39:45

sexuality and unholy sexuality.

39:47

We don't abandon sexuality

39:50

because People

39:52

abuse it. Yeah, right,

39:54

right. Yeah. Okay, and there's

39:56

unholy art and

39:59

science people do very unholy things

40:01

with art and science, but it doesn't

40:03

say therefore abandon those things. Like there

40:05

is a history. In fact, if you

40:08

look through the biblical record, okay, what

40:11

is the invitation? Well, it's get back

40:13

in the habitat is the

40:15

invitation. Please, please, I beg of you.

40:19

It's almost like I oftentimes

40:21

feel like I

40:24

am trying to persuade a pod of

40:26

whales to return to the ocean. But

40:29

it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no,

40:32

this desert, you're not meant for this. Get

40:34

back in the water. Okay. That's

40:37

what it's like. Adults,

40:39

weary skeptical pragmatists, get back

40:42

in God, get back in the kingdom. And

40:45

you go down through the scriptures

40:47

and the saints through the ages

40:49

and the invitation is we are

40:51

all meant to experience God, experience

40:53

daily nourishing

40:56

habitat, experience of God

40:58

and His beautiful kingdom.

41:02

And so if you look at it in that light, you go, oh,

41:04

well, then the apostle John, he

41:07

was a mystic. Totally. You

41:09

go, well, hang on a second. So

41:11

was David then and Adam

41:14

and Eve were, right? He

41:17

start going through the record and you're

41:19

like, hold on, Gideon was and Daniel

41:21

was and Deborah was

41:23

and Esther was. And

41:26

you go, oh, the invitation, okay,

41:28

which makes Jesus of

41:30

Nazareth, the most profound Christian

41:33

mystic of all, because

41:36

he was totally comfortable with the

41:39

amphibious life, with moving

41:41

in between presence of

41:43

God and hatred and

41:45

hostility or brokenness and

41:47

heartache and loss. He

41:50

was navigating life, but

41:53

as an amphibian, he was just drawing

41:55

upon the

41:57

habitat, right? Okay,

42:01

here's the problem. We're almost

42:03

40 minutes right now, and

42:06

I don't want to force the content because

42:08

the conversation is so good, and I think

42:10

people are really resonating with it. I

42:13

think it's going to be enormously helpful. So

42:16

let me tee up where we're going with

42:19

just a few pieces that kind of anchor. Human

42:23

mysticism is simply the

42:26

daily experience of

42:28

God and His kingdom, which

42:32

is really just human life back

42:34

on track. It

42:38

is back into the habitat. Okay, so

42:40

we're going to tell some beautiful stories

42:42

next week. We are, of

42:44

course, there is a way. There is coaching,

42:46

there is discipleship, there is guidance into this.

42:50

Yes. You guys are going

42:52

to tell some stories. I'm going to read a

42:54

couple things myself, but let

42:56

me close with this. I

42:58

want to call it ordinary mysticism because

43:01

I'm using the word mysticism for a reason.

43:03

I'm trying to yank people out of the

43:06

internet mindset. It

43:08

carries some risks with it. I'm

43:10

aware of that. So what

43:13

I want to say is the ordinary Christian

43:15

mystic, the friend

43:17

of Jesus, he's

43:20

called friends of Jesus. Four

43:23

things, enjoys the palpable

43:26

presence of God. Jesus

43:30

and Papa and Holy Spirit

43:34

are familiar. We

43:36

enjoy their presence. We're nourished by it. Here's

43:38

the voice of God in

43:40

daily living. Is

43:43

able to enter into that inner communion

43:45

that a compass was talking about in

43:47

the heart. We can

43:50

access God for Christ dwells within

43:52

us. And then

43:54

through that inner communion, there's the

43:57

comfort or the consolation or the

43:59

guidance. And then

44:01

just bottom line draws their life

44:04

from God. So

44:07

it's not wild, crazy

44:09

visions and ecstasies and

44:11

crazy kingdom experiences. Mature

44:15

mystics do. And we

44:17

can talk a little bit about that as we go along.

44:19

But the ordinary mystic is

44:22

the person that's going to thrive in this

44:24

hour. It's the

44:26

person who is making their way back

44:28

to the habitat that we were

44:30

created for. That's it. Get

44:33

back in the habitat. And so we'll unpack

44:36

that next time.