Israel & Rachel Campbell "SOUP" Podcast
Join us for an exciting Season 2 of our podcast, which garnered over 7000 downloads last year! Your hosts, Rachel and Israel Campbell, are back to take you on an incredible journey. In this podcast, we invite you into the ongoing dialogues about life, love, parenting, relationships, spirituality, and whatever else sparks our interest!
Our motivation for creating this podcast remains unchanged: we believe that discipleship should encompass more than just a classroom experience; it should be a way of life. Drawing inspiration from Jesus' interactions with his disciples, we see that it was far from a traditional classroom setup. Instead, it was a continuous exchange of teachings and discussions encompassing all facets of life.
Imagine savoring a delicious bowl of soup – that's what our podcast is like. We're here to engage in honest and unfiltered conversations, covering a wide spectrum of topics. And now, we invite you to share this podcast with your friends, family members, or coworkers, just as you'd share a great meal. Just like Jesus and his disciples, we're here to explore the richness of life together!
So, come join us for another season of candid conversations as we dive into a little bit of everything – from the profound to the lighthearted!
Israel & Rachel Campbell "SOUP" Podcast
Israel & Rachel Campbell "SOUP" Podcast Season 2 Episode 24 Unlocking your Superpower
Today's episode is a heartfelt journey through empathy's profound impact, drawing wisdom from the biblical story of Joseph. Joseph's evolution from a self-centered youth to an insightful man in the depths of an Egyptian prison teaches us the significance of discernment in others' despair. By observing the cupbearer and baker's sorrow, Joseph sparked a chain of events that would lead not only to his own redemption but to the prosperity of an entire nation. We delve into how this ancient tale echoes in our own lives, inspiring us to foster growth and harness the power of relational intelligence during times of adversity.
Rachel's story of her mother's passing is not singular—each day we encounter souls enduring silent battles, holding stories that can only be unearthed through compassion. In our heart-to-heart, we uncover the 'superpower moments' that surface when we extend our hands to the burdened neighbor, the worried friend, or the stranger we meet. The thread of community weaves through our narratives, spotlighting the vital role of support systems and prayerful reflection in lifting one another up. We laugh together too, as we consider the curiously human trait of gossip and its unexpected role in relationship building and character development.
Finally, we put on the cape of curiosity—our greatest superpower—and discuss the simple, yet profound act of engaging with others by inquiring about their lives. This episode is an invitation, a call to be part of a movement that celebrates the incredible stories each person carries. Just like the wholesome goodness of kale in our diets, this superpower enriches our lives with positivity—minus the bitter aftertaste. So, join us as we delve into the superpowers nestled in everyday interactions, the kind of stories that ripple out compassion and understanding into the world around us.
Hello everyone and welcome back to Campbell Soup Podcast. We hope you're having an amazing day so far and we're excited about our topic today. We're going to be talking about one of life's superpowers.
Speaker 2:I love that, and actually I have a verse that goes with it, which always helps if this podcast is going to be on discipleship, and it's actually I was doing my devotions with my son Silas, and that is not me projecting to try to be super spiritual Power move, but what it is is just we were going through it and this just jumped out to me and I was like what? And then him and I began to talk about it, and then I started talking to you about it and then we just said we're going to talk about it one day, and today's the day.
Speaker 1:And here we are talking about it.
Speaker 2:We are talking about it. The scripture verse that jumped out to me is Genesis, chapter 40. And this is the story of Joseph, and I mean we could do podcast after podcast just on the story of Joseph, his ability to dream dreams, his ability to run from Potiphar's wife, being able to handle prison you know all the different things and then being promoted to Pharaoh's second in command. But this verse really jumped out to me, and it's in the middle of that, while he's still in jail, and it says when Joseph came to them in the morning so he's in prison he came to the cupbearer and the baker and he came to him in the morning and he saw that they were troubled. So we asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house why are your faces so downcast today? And they said to him we have had dreams and there is no one to interpret them. And Joseph said to them do not all interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.
Speaker 2:And so I think that what jumped out to me is really a life superpower, and that is the ability to tell what is going on in people's lives that are around us, and in this case, rachel, in the same setting.
Speaker 2:So it's not just if everything in your life is going well then you're able to see somebody not doing well, no, they were. All three of them were in prison. So it would be so easy to Joseph to just stay downcast or focus on his own injustice, his own problems, his own hurts, own injustice, his own problems, his own hurts. But instead he has this incredible superpower of saying, hey, these two guys aren't acting normal. The scripture says their heads were down. And being able to recognize that and not just go past the moment and like, oh, we're all in prison, we should all have our heads down, like what made this day more down than the other day of prison. And so that is a superpower that, if you and I can grab a hold of it, will change our life. Because this was the domino effect that actually got eventually Joseph in front of Pharaoh and then made ruler over all of Egypt except for Pharaoh.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So we want to talk today about this portion of scripture that Joseph had a superpower and it was being good with people. It was reading the room. Well, it was seeing people and recognizing they were in distress and not ignoring it, but maybe addressing it and having an answer and having God as the answer. But I just, first of all, we're going to jump into this but I love this portion of scripture.
Speaker 1:I love this text because, if you know the story of Joseph, joseph didn't always read the room. Well, joseph, in the beginning of his life, did some pretty socially awkward things where he wasn't reading the room, wearing his coat of many colors to skip down the road to bring his brother's lunch and then tell him dad gave me this beautiful colorful robe that you don't have. That was when Joseph lacked any kind of relational IQ. But I just think it's really cool that Joseph grew. He didn't go. Well, that's just my personality type. Well, that's just how I was raised. Well, I'm not going to give to someone if I'm going through something bad myself, like.
Speaker 1:There's all these things we can learn from this season of Joseph's life where Joseph, first of all, joseph grew in prison. Joseph stopped being relationally unaware, joseph stopped only thinking of himself during what season? The season that was hard for him, and so that's kind of what we want to talk about today is this podcast is not for people that just want to be good with people and life is good for you. But what about when you're going through the storms of life and you've got enough on your plate and God asks you to look up and see somebody else? And that is where Joseph found his superpower and really it promoted him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I man, rachel, you just added so much that I hadn't even really thought of. So I'm still like, oh, I mean, he really did. He learned that. And unfortunately, I'm the kind of person that would be like Joseph.
Speaker 2:I sometimes only learn in prison, like you know what I mean, like I'm not a really quick learner, sometimes of the good times, sometimes it's those bad moments that I actually that's where I learned my lesson, and maybe you're like that, and really he chose not to become bitter, but he became better. And so even in your worst relational dynamic, no matter what season you're in the middle of, we all have the same opportunity to respond, like Joseph, whether this is going to really make us bitter or it's going to make us better. And so I love that. I love that he eventually passed this test and it it really does set him up for, as you were referencing to what he was like before, and then, of course, historically, we have now history of what he was like in the future the room he was going into, he understood with his brothers you know how to deal with them when they came and his dream was actually fulfilled, like ha ha.
Speaker 2:I told you no, that's not how he responded. It was his heart said. Maybe it was God, what you know, don't get mad at yourselves. It was God that put me in this position to help save us. I mean just everything about him, Rachel. So true is that he grew in that, and this is an incredible superpower the ability to stop looking at yourself and see the people around you. And so let's talk about that maybe a little bit, and I know we go back and forth on different things, but it's so easy. Everything in society today, even modern psychology, really wants us to look in within ourselves and to really think about us and to really even make choices that if this person doesn't benefit, you then get rid of them. If they're not cheerleading you, then you don't need them, and you will miss out on life's superpower if you always are looking at yourself or looking at others as a frustration instead of maybe a chance to be able to help.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so deep. I mean the thing. The reason why it's a superpower is because not everyone is going to get ahold of this principle, especially in a self-absorbed world like we live right now. It's how did that make me feel? If somebody's holding you back, let them go. And you know we have empowered people so much.
Speaker 1:I think that you know, back in the fifties, no one would ever set boundaries. That wasn't a thing like you know. Um little kids were to be seen and not heard, and if your husband was abusive to you, you just took it. And you know there were a lot of things back in those years where people did not stand up for themselves. And now we've gone the opposite direction, to try to correct where we have over-corrected, where now everyone is so sensitive to their own boundaries, their personal boundaries, that we've become really selfish and self-centered and we always are measuring life through the window of how does this affect me? And that's a horrible, small and really, in the end, self-depravating way to live, because God has created us to be generous, to change the atmosphere, to look and see people the way he sees them.
Speaker 1:So that's why it's called a superpower, and I love the redemptive story of Joseph's life, because I just love how he started. He did not start with a propensity to think of others. He started as a very favored little boy and um, you know that coat of many colors and he didn't know how to wear that. Well, and honor that without making other people feel like, you know, a little bit jealous and all of the things, and so that's. I think that that's why it's such a beautiful story is it doesn't really matter where you come from. It doesn't really matter what your Enneagram number is. This is something that God has called us all to work on. Is we're, if we're going to spread the good news of the gospel, if we're really going to be the hands and feet of Jesus, then we, one of the things we have to have is this superpower of seeing others, even while we might be in prison. There might be areas in our life that we haven't conquered and we want to see changed, but sometimes those are the hardest times to see other people and be the answer. And I just want to read this and then give it back to you.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 3, verses 3 through 4, says it's an answer to what we're talking about. Let love and faithfulness never leave you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. If you think about that love and faithfulness, can I see through the filter of okay? What can I love about this person that's being ornery, edgy, attacking me, whatever it might be? And love and faithfulness. And I love verse four of Proverbs three. It says then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man, and I think sometimes Israel. Christians are really good at earning the favor of God and talking about their relationship and their righteousness and how godly they are and how ungodly the world is and drawing that stark definition. But there's this other part that God has called us to and it's a really powerful part of being a Christian and a witness is not only gaining favor with God, but the Joseph superpower part of and man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it really is part of before we even can get into the great commission or some of that, like, even if we were going to do a podcast on evangelism, the first thing is, if you can't get this superpower, it's going to be really hard to evangelize. When I was running the marathon and I'm not just trying to bring that up every time- oh, we're going to have a month of this guys.
Speaker 2:But there were these guys that had, like, this speakerphone right and they were preaching the gospel to all the runners going by and it was like they didn't read the room. Nobody right there while they're running is like oh, plant that seed, like it just sounds like, and you can't even hear it and you're just half of us have headphones in it. Just, it seemed insincere and not something. And this Joseph starts the ability to talk about God to these two people, because he was aware, and if he would not have been aware, it would have open up an opportunity to share the gospel, which would be a thousand times more effective than giving them those old school tracks that say you're burning in hell. Right, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:And it's like we miss these moments that are superpower moments. I think we've had some conversations I know you have with some neighbors and I'm so grateful because you're probably better at it, you've got more superpower than I do but you read it and it was like I would have just gotten in the car and said you know, hey, and left and you read something how are you doing what you were in the hospital, what I've never met you before? Oh, you're single mom, you're going. Oh, can I pray with you? I mean, you're just really good at that, and what I like is you are good at that, but Joseph got good at that, and so I can get good at that too.
Speaker 1:We all can and um, you know, I think the reference to that that I just want to bring up is the power of God, because today marks the 10 year anniversary of my mom being in heaven. She passed away 10 years ago to this day and I just remember this one time when my mom was going through chemotherapy and she was so weak they had to stop early because her body just could not take any more. She had fainted and it was just horrible and I had walked her out to the car and they wanted me to stop by the pharmacy to pick up this medicine because she was kind of having an allergic reaction and she was hanging onto life not just hanging onto her bad day by a thread, she was hanging onto life by a thread. And I pulled into this busy Seattle pharmacy and my mom she looked pretty good, she was cute, she had a cute little jogging suit on. So on the outside people wouldn't have been able to see what kind of a day where we had just come from. We had just come from oncology. I mean it was serious, we were facing death and um, and she wanted to get out of the car and get out at the pharmacy and talk to the pharmacist with me. So she was getting out of the driver's seat and this man, a grown man with kids, came by and wanted to get into the pharmacy quickly and literally pushed my mom while she was struggling to get up and get into the door.
Speaker 1:And I watched it and I was just so frustrated with that. But it marked me and it made me just vow to God, god, I don't want to be so obsessed with what I need in a store and I have not done it right every time, but I want to look people in the eyes and I want to know, god, what's their story, what? Where did they just come from? What are they hanging onto by a thread? And I think that when you go through that was a prison season for me with my mom, where I'm like I wanted her to live, I wanted you know, and she didn't, and watching her fight for her life and trying to be normal and another human that is doing well in life, you know, who knows what his story was.
Speaker 1:But it marked me that we can just be so obsessed with our own little lives and getting our list done that we can literally push people that are dying and hurting and need encouragement right out of our way, and I think that's why I try to see people. To be honest, it's not like I'm this special person, but when you see the effects of not seeing people to that extent it makes you live your life a little differently and go, yeah, why is my neighbor limping? Well, instead of just saying, oh, my neighbor's limping, and then moving on with my life, well, why is my neighbor limping? So I went over and started talking and they were going through chemotherapy and I got to every day that I see them. Yesterday I saw them getting out of their car. Hey, our church has you on the prayer list. We're praying for you. You know, I see you, and I think that being able to say I see you with our actions to people is so much louder than any other words.
Speaker 2:I love that and let's. I mean, it's so powerful because what you've said is you know, as you articulated earlier, that Joseph grew from that. He learned it. But you're also saying that sometimes we learn it by maybe it happening to us the wrong way. We're not seeing or in your case, seeing somebody how they treated your mom, and so, instead of then, of course, you could have used that moment to be bitter at men that you know come into pharmacies or whatever.
Speaker 2:But to go. No, I'm going to use this to be aware and grow from. That, I think, is so powerful I was thinking about, and maybe you could maybe just touch on this for a second but how do you get enough courage? How do you get enough strength? How do you I mean, let's just put ourselves in Joseph's situation you have been imprisoned, wrongly lied about Potiphar's wife, your brothers have thrown you in a pit. You're away from home. How do you lift up your eyes on a morning and see somebody else limping or somebody else affected by a dream? What are some tools to get better at that? Does that make sense? That's the question.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that the more that we're close to God, the more that we understand His great love for us. On our worst days, we become more compassionate people, and time spent in the presence of God produces the fruit of compassion. You know, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, health, peace, all of these things. And sometimes you meet these people and you're like you talk about God, but I don't feel like you've been with God. You don't. You're not carrying the sweetness of what God gives, and so I think that, for me, is just recognizing I'm a carrier of the presence of God, which means even on my worst day, there's purpose. That's the thing is, you're not actually Joseph, probably, to be honest, and we will never really know until we get to heaven but I have a good sense that probably Joseph did it more for himself than he did it for someone else.
Speaker 2:What do you mean by that?
Speaker 1:When you're going through a season where everything feels like a dark cloud. If you can find the art of allowing God to bring purpose out of your pain, there is something that happens in your own spirit, in your own psyche. It helps you. I have purpose. My life is still useful, even though it feels broken to me, and most people never experience the Savior being redemptive in that way. But when we do, it's a whole nother level. It's a whole nother depth of realizing this is for the glory of God. My life is literally for the glory of God, and when I allow him to be glorified in my life, I become better, happier, more compassionate. I become stronger. I have and purpose is. Purpose is what gets people through.
Speaker 2:I love that. I also love the thought that this superpower is not necessarily always evident immediately, or the fruit of it immediately. The fruit of it was in the story, immediately he gave the dreams and this is what's going to happen in three days. And then the Bible says he was forgotten about for, I guess, two years. And then all of a sudden they're like oh, I remember when Joseph, there's a young Hebrew man. And so this superpower is never to get immediate change. You know how certain people will say well, you know, to sell something, you have to say this word. Or pastors will say to lead you, you almost lead by saying these little trickery things. And it's like no, no, no, no, no. This is character superpower, this is a Christian superpower, not a get rich or you know people to do what you want them to do.
Speaker 2:Right. This is a Get people to do what you want them to do. Right. This is becoming who we're supposed to be. Because the Bible says if we look at the life of Jesus, he notices Zacchaeus in the tree, and so he notices the woman from Nain coming out of the city with her son that just died and she's a widow, and he stops and heals. So Jesus had an incredible, of course, superpower of knowing what was happening and not missing the room, not missing the moment and doing that. So I love that.
Speaker 2:Is there some practical? Here we are. You know me, my practical Monday through Saturday, you know this. To me, though, is not just practical.
Speaker 2:I think that some of the times that I've been frustrated as a pastor is when we don't do this at church, like it's so easy to just say hi to our friends and say hi to that.
Speaker 2:Or it drives me crazy when one person wants to like, oh, should I say this? I don't want to offend anybody, but if one person will want to talk to me at the end of the service and want to go talk, like, for 35 minutes and I want to talk with as many people as possible, and they'll just be like their problem is the only problem, or their situation is the only situation, and I have compassion on that, but I hate it when they're not aware enough that there's a single mom coming in and she's got a little bit of sunglasses on because she's got a bruise, because her husband did it, and then you want to talk about do you know, the same thing that we talked about last week, or whatever. You know what I mean, and so I think at church is a Sunday is a great time to practice life superpower, and because you know, this wasn't a church service, this wasn't whatever, but there are some powerful things that Joseph was able to speak into these situations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think a practical thing for me is I love a good gossip session and what I mean by that? Yeah, I know that'll get your attention.
Speaker 2:Good gossip. Let's name the podcast that. But go ahead.
Speaker 1:That would be. Maybe we should do a podcast on that. But what I'm saying is some gossip is good. I love to introduce people and tell them each other's stories. Do you know that this guy last year had alcohol poisoning and couldn't even say his name, and now he's one of our worship leaders? Do you know that this lady overcame nine miscarriages and now she has a child? I love good gossip.
Speaker 1:I think it's so important for people to know each other's stories and it's something that I really love to cultivate is you know, if somebody comes to me and says so-and-so in our church was mean to me and they didn't include me, and I go, do you know their story? And they say no, well, I know their story. You should ask them to go to coffee and hear their story, because I think it will make you think differently about how they're treating you right now and giving each other the space grace to be like Joseph and grow into this superpower. But it's something that it doesn't come naturally and it's not something our society is good at. We're good at throwing people away and I think good gossip needs to be really cultivated in our lives is we talk well of people's story but we also go.
Speaker 1:That's where they're coming. Where are they coming from? When I find out where someone's coming from, I can hold a lot more. You know their weird habits that they do, the way they withhold, the way they're untrusting, the way that they're jealous, all of these things. When you know where they come from, you know where they were and where they are. They've already grown, but they're not all the way there. Then, all of a sudden, it gives you this beautiful grace to go. Oh, my goodness, I'm going to be part of their beautiful story and help them grow more.
Speaker 2:Wow, and so you're actually you're helping a person grab a hold of a superpower that they would have just missed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, learning each other's story is so important, right, oh?
Speaker 2:I love that. I love if it was practical. For me and I have to do this is I tend to be a little bit of an introvert. I like I can get up and talk and preach and do all those kind of things that maybe people think are extrovert, but I tend to be a little introvert and so there's times where I have to, mentally, if I'm at a conference and maybe in a room, I look for a person, like intentionally not look for a person that I know, but actually look for a person that I don't know, and I will do what you just said, kind of like ask them questions and ask them the story. And that's what Joseph did.
Speaker 2:Joseph, it was an incredible superpower, but and he noticed, but the second thing that Joseph did cause it's one thing to notice, like anybody can notice the second thing he did is he asked them what's going on, and so being able to ask questions, not just notice Cause I think that you know we've got people oh, I noticed this and I noticed that and maybe even a spirit of excellence, how they can notice who that's that ceiling tile was off, you know. But it's not just noticing that causes the superpower, it's the now, can you flesh that out? Can you, you know, get that? And that's pretty powerful too, because most people don't want to tell you their secrets or their story or what just happened. And he was able to even flesh that out. And so I think for me a practical thing is learn how to ask questions to people, learn some good ones, that aren't just the weather, that aren't just movies, that aren't just those kind of sports ones that guys can do, but learn to ask some good questions.
Speaker 1:So much, and I think that's in Proverbs 3, the wisdom part. It doesn't just say that we'll grow in the favor of God with God and man. It says first wisdom first and then favor and wisdom. The wisdom of God to know what questions to ask and what questions not to ask. You know, being too spiritual too soon can shut somebody off, and so, like you were saying in the marathon, it's the wisdom part of these.
Speaker 1:People are not having the wisdom of God to open the door. A better thing for Christians to do during the marathon would to be have a really cool little cups of water that had a cool scripture like I am the living water. We're so proud of you for running this race. That's what the Bible says I'm the living water. Then they have something to think about. But they had kindness first instead of no water. You're going to hell. I hope you're listening. We're having an altar call at the end Like that's just not having the wisdom of God, and God wants us to be wise because the wisdom of the Holy Spirit is the thing that will open the door to favor, and so many Christians are so pushy and so spiritually proud that they don't humble themselves enough to go God, give me wisdom on how to open up this door that's locked in this person's heart.
Speaker 1:Show me something to do. Should I bring them food? Should I take care of their kids? Should I compliment them? What things are going to open that door? The favor of man, takes the wisdom of God.
Speaker 2:I love that and it is absolutely true and I think that you really brought up a point as we wrap up with this is Joseph learned from that? Because that was not his original, his original? If you were going to define spiritual pride, it would have been Joseph. You looked it up in the dictionary, seen a picture of Joseph with his coat of many colors, telling everyone his dreams, telling everyone the prophetic, telling everyone what's going to happen in the future. And that was, like you said, not wise.
Speaker 2:And thank God for a God who redeems, thank God for a God who can use, knows what we're going to do, knows the process that it's going to take, and Joseph totally gets to see that redeemed. And when we get this superpower, this superpower, the domino effect saves a nation because there was a famine for seven years and a lot of people died. Domino effect saves a nation because there was a famine for seven years and, you know, a lot of people died, but Jacob, his 12 sons and all of his grandsons and great grandsons and great granddaughters and great great granddaughters all lived because we could go back to the domino of Joseph's superpower and I love that. The Bible Rachel used to say it so good. The Bible shows us that he learned from it and he grew in that, which gives me hope that, no matter what state I'm at now, I can grow in this.
Speaker 1:And it's something we can begin to pray for. If you have a difficult relationship, begin to declare and ask God to give you wisdom with that difficult person. And it's amazing the power of God in relationship when we really ask him to not only just help us. You know, don't pray the prayer God change them, but pray the prayer God. Can you give me keys to their heart? Can you give me what is it that they love that would give me favor enough to begin to have that kind of a relationship? I just want to read this. I know we're ending, but Luke 2.52 talks about even Jesus doing this. It says and Jesus himself increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with both God and man. And if Jesus had to grow in that, then we need to grow in that and we just want to invite you into.
Speaker 1:Most people love to talk about themselves when given an opportunity. That's human nature. And so when you ask someone what's your story? And you're not being creepy, like spooky, like stalker, but you're more like have you lived here your whole life? What's your story? How many siblings do you have? Are both parents? You know? Whatever you just begin to ask these questions, they will begin to open up and as you actually listen and you're not listening to speak again, but you're actually taking it in and reading the story of their life it's amazing how people open up and feel seen.
Speaker 2:It is one of life's superpowers that we can all have.
Speaker 1:You won't need to eat kale, just have a superpower of seeing people.
Speaker 2:Kale, they have found out Rachel is poisonous. And so you don't have to worry about that with me. But, yes, get this and it will change not only your life but the life of those around you. And so life superpower share this, let us know that you loved it and liked it of those around you, and so life superpower share this, let us know that you loved it and liked it and all of those things. I have been seeing a lot more comments.
Speaker 2:So love seeing those comments and we will see you next week. Thank you.
