The Life Challenges Podcast
Living a Christ-Centered Life: Balancing Faith, Pro-Life Advocacy, and Charity in the Modern World
Discover how your everyday actions can become a beacon of Christ's love and an invitation to the gospel. Our conversation takes us to the heart of what it means to be a witness in the modern world—where professional landscapes and personal convictions often collide, challenging us to maintain authenticity in our faith journey. We examine the delicate balance between being pro-life advocates and keeping our eyes on the ultimate prize: sharing the transformative power of Christ's love and salvation. We also delve into balancing generosity with discernment, the impact of our giving choices, and the importance of prayerful decision-making. Join us as we explore the profound implications of our stewardship and how, through our deeds, we can illuminate the path to Christ for others, all while navigating the intricate interplay between our professional endeavors and our calling to serve.
Discover how your everyday actions can become a beacon of Christ's love and an invitation to the gospel. Our conversation takes us to the heart of what it means to be a witness in the modern world—where professional landscapes and personal convictions often collide, challenging us to maintain authenticity in our faith journey. We examine the delicate balance between being pro-life advocates and keeping our eyes on the ultimate prize: sharing the transformative power of Christ's love and salvation. We also delve into balancing generosity with discernment, the impact of our giving choices, and the importance of prayerful decision-making. Join us as we explore the profound implications of our stewardship and how, through our deeds, we can illuminate the path to Christ for others, all while navigating the intricate interplay between our professional endeavors and our calling to serve.
On today's episode. Now. So how did I feel about all those times I gave him money? And whenever I encountered that, I always remember that Bible passage it's better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. I've adopted this mentality. I don't have it down great yet, but I would rather default on the side of doing good and being taken than of neglect for somebody who genuinely needs it. And it has helped drive me, and particularly what we do at New Beginnings, but in what we do at CLR in general.
Paul Snamiska:Welcome to the Life Challenges podcast from Christian Life Resources. People today face many opportunities and struggles when it comes to issues of life and death, marriage and family, health and science. We're here to bring a fresh biblical perspective to these issues and more. Join us now for Life Challenges.
Christa Potratz:Hi and welcome back. I'm Krista Potratz, and I'm here today with pastors Bob Fleischman and Jeff Samuelson, and today we're going to be talking about understanding the Christian mission and being pro-life. We probably have hit on this subject in other episodes too, but today we're going to devote a whole episode to it, and so I just kind of wanted to start, maybe, by defining the Christian mission. I mean, if you asked me, it would be proclaim the gospel. Am I missing anything in that? What would you say?
Jeff Samelson:Certainly not missing anything. The only thing I would say is well, you could probably expand it a little, but that's it in a nutshell. In certain Christian circles, they talk more about the Christian's mission being more about proclaiming the glory of God, or something like that, but even that could probably be understood if you realize that. Well, what's the greatest glory of the Lord? It's the gospel. That's what he has done for us, though it was completely undeserved. We've got to be careful, though, because proclaim the gospel does not necessarily mean that every Christian's responsibility, every minute of the day, is to be speaking out loud the words of salvation, because that's not it either. We are called to do various things. Our entire lives are witnesses to the gospel, to the wonderful truth that we have salvation by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. While it's nice to be able to sum it up and narrow it down that way, there's certainly a lot more. That is part of being a Christian who's living out his or her mission.
Bob Fleischmann:I like to refer to it using Star Trek analogies a little bit. I like to refer to it using Star Trek analogies a little bit. It's the prime directive to proclaim the gospel If you go to the seminary, walking into the chapel. At our seminary, they have written in Greek over the entrance of the seminary chapel Greek for proclaim the gospel and it's foremost. But what it is is everything supports that. In other words, you are to let your light shine before others that they might glorify your Father in heaven. Well, there's something about the way you live your life, the seriousness with which you do your job, the diligence, the sacrificial nature that you live with, that prompts people according to 1 Peter 3.15, prompts people to ask you about the reason for the hope that you have. Your entire life, no matter what vocation you're in, always is to reflect that you are a member of a higher kingdom.
Bob Fleischmann:When I was a kid, I got talked into getting onto the evangelism committee at church as a high schooler and I grit my teeth over it because I remember he handed out like 25 Bible passages that we needed to memorize and my ability to memorize it never was well.
Bob Fleischmann:Maybe it's pretty good, but I never liked it.
Bob Fleischmann:Nobody wanted to proclaim the gospel, because if I had to memorize 25 verses, it's never going to get spoken, I'm never going to be able to do it.
Bob Fleischmann:But the reality is, everything in Scripture talks about your lifestyle pointing that direction. Think about it this way If every inclination of the heart is evil, and so every inclination of my heart is evil and every inclination of the hearts around me are evil, but I have been regenerated through baptism, the Holy Spirit is also at work in me, and so when I start showing uncommon love, uncommon commitment, uncommon sacrifice, in a world in which Jesus says, because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of most grows cold, and I still show commitment without reward, that kind of stuff it's going to prompt people to ask me what makes me tick, how can you do it, and so forth. And see, then the Christian mission is not as direct as proclaiming the gospel. But the Christian mission provides a forum for people to ask me and then I get to talk to them about I was lost and found in Christ and he died for my sins. I live for a higher standard. That's the Christian mission.
Jeff Samelson:Pete, and I think it's helpful put it this way if you're having trouble seeing how your life relates to proclaiming the gospel, that mission, back it up a little, perhaps to talking about your Christian motivation.
Jeff Samelson:Love compels us and it's such a powerful passage and it really illustrates, okay, the way that I live my life, whether it's the things that I say, the things that I think, the way that I act, my attitudes, my behavior.
Jeff Samelson:This is being compelled by my love for Christ and by his love for me. That identifies who I am. That's everything I do is permeated by that and if Christ's love is behind all of that, then it is all moving toward that end, that goal, that is our mission, because the love of Christ reflected through me to others is going to want to share the good news of salvation with them, to others is going to want to share the good news of salvation with them. That's going to want in every way to live my life so that, as Bob was mentioning, people are going to ask me the reason why I live that way and everything connects. But that motivation can sometimes help with some of those questions like, well, how am I doing the mission part? Like, well, live your life that way and the mission? Well, you're going to be on the way there, naturally.
Christa Potratz:Yeah, I can kind of see that, I think. You know, sometimes I mean I'll just take myself versus you guys called worker versus not, and sometimes it is difficult because I do tend to think, well, okay, like why wasn't I called to do that? Or I feel like maybe there is more of a having to find my mission versus just having it. And there is this, maybe this pull in mentally over that.
Bob Fleischmann:Now you've seen the movie Miss Congeniality with Sandra Bullock.
Christa Potratz:Oh, yes, do you know it was filmed in Texas.
Bob Fleischmann:Well, one of the things is that in a way, she was cynical about beauty pageants and so forth and they would ask her you know, what do you want most and everything? And she was just saying that anybody who would hurt women would be in it. She goes and world peace and, a lot of times, people. It's kind of like what drives you? What drives you? And if you look at what society is doing, what drives you is preserving the planet. What drives you is world peace.
Bob Fleischmann:What drives you and what Jeff's talking about is the love of Christ compels me. What drives you and what Jeff's talking about is you know, the love of Christ compels me. What drives you? In other words, am I so devoted to God that that drives me? Or am I only devoted to God to the extent that he agrees with me? Because God says you know we should love people, okay, so I'm devoted to God, so I'm going to love people.
Bob Fleischmann:But when he also says, you know that you stand up for truth and that some people do go to hell and so forth, and we begin to say, well, I'm not comfortable with that, I don't want that God, well then you're not living for God, you're living for your version, your imagination of a God, and so we're not saying that everybody has to be saying Jesus died for your sins. You want to get to that point someday, but it's what drives you is that you are the object of perfect love, which means while you were still sinners. He died for you when you were most unlovable, most unlikable, most intolerable. He died for you Not when you were most penitent, not when you were most sorrowful, but while you were still a sinner. Penitent, not when you were most sorrowful, but while you were still a sinner. And once you internalize that message, it drives you.
Bob Fleischmann:So whether you're working the punch press line or you're working the paper route, or you're working as a homemaker and everything, you are already in your evangelism field. That's your field. It just happens to be the vocation you're in. And it's the same thing too. You know called workers. You know called workers.
Bob Fleischmann:We kind of simplistically say, oh well, they could preach, so they get to preach the gospel, or they could teach a Bible class and everything. But I'll tell you, far more outreach is done not in the pulpit and not in Bible class, but one-on-one, just like you do it. In other words, somebody says well, I got a friend. They had a loss in the family. They don't know what to think. Would you come over and talk with them, pastor? That's when it happens. Why? Because the unbeliever doesn't come into the church Because he doesn't believe. Why would he come into the church and the unbeliever isn't coming to you, the pastor's Bible class, because he doesn't believe. Why would he come? But but you get that one-on-one contact, so it's your vocation, the setting you're in luther made a big deal about that he always talks about was it the cleaning lady or something that she still is is god's servant serving that role?
Jeff Samelson:I imagine this episode is probably gonna go live sometime around. Ascension day puts me in mind of jesus, right before he ascends, tells the assembled disciples and such, who are at that point representative of the entire Christian church. He says you will be my witnesses. I always point out that that's not a command. It's not be my witness, it's not go out and talk to me. It's a simple statement of fact you will be my witnesses. So those who believe in Christ, whether they're trying to or not, they are witnesses to Christ.
Jeff Samelson:The only question, then, is what kind of a witness are you? Are you being a willing one? Are you being a positive one? Are you being a willing one? Are you being a positive one or are you being a negative one? And I think that helps address a lot of that question that Christians often get of oh, am I doing enough? Am I doing the right things? Shouldn't I be knocking on doors more? Shouldn't I be stepping out of my area of skill and comfort and doing this other thing? Because that's what I see other people doing, and they're always talking about how they led this person and that person to Jesus.
Jeff Samelson:It's like your job, your calling as a Christian everyone's is to be a witness. A witness is a representative of Christ and a witness says what he or she knows about Christ. If you can recite the creed, for that matter, if you can just remember what's in the creed, you know everything you need to know to be an effective vocal witness. You don't have to memorize as Bob was talking about a list of 25 passages. I mean, it's great if you do and it's wonderful to have that ready, but you don't have to have this incredible training. You don't have to have a specific job or position within the church to carry out the mission of the church, because you've got that role already as a witness in your family, in your school, in your neighborhood, in your workplace. You are the person that people look at and say, well, that's a Christian, and you want them to say I want to be like that, I want to have what he or she has.
Christa Potratz:A question here. Another one is how do maybe some of our callings or our vocation, do we ever have any tension between that with what we're doing, and the Christian mission versus being pro-life? You know, I kind of think maybe like of a nurse in the hospital or something. Maybe is asked to do something that just kind of goes against something. Can we talk a little bit about that tension that could exist there? Can we talk a little bit about that tension that could exist there?
Bob Fleischmann:I think there's always tension. I mean, it's a world full of sin, sins within me, sins around me so there's always going to be the tension. On occasion you're going to get into situations where you're going to be challenged, and the challenge goes both ways. You're not only going to be challenged if you're in the medical profession, challenged to do something that looks like you might be condoning something sinful, or you actually might be in a situation in which you might be tempted to desert your gospel focus for living and buy into some other noble cause, like, for example I've said this before sometimes we become so ideologically perfect that we're practically useless. So, in other words, we're so pro-life, we're so defending the unborn, that we forget when Jesus said what do we profit to? Gain the whole world, but lose our soul. In other words, you always do it within the context, and perhaps the best section of Scripture that I think brings that up is in Acts, chapter 6, when the disciples, there was this dispute going on between the Hebraic and the Gentile Jewish people about who's getting allocation of food for widows and orphans, and it sounds harsh. We ought not to give up the gospel to be waiting on tables and when people, when they just read that. It just sounds very cold, but they don't read on. They don't read on.
Bob Fleischmann:So they decided to appoint men full of the Spirit and wisdom, which is, of course, gospel, proclaiming God-loving, living for Christ people. But the danger was is that the people were tempted to become distracted from the gospel outreach, because you don't live by bread alone. In other words, just providing the food wasn't going to do it. But you know what it means to be spiritually dead and to have been spiritually resurrected. You have a responsibility to show that kind of love to others. So it's consistent with your mission to be pro-life, to care for the hungry and the needy, but you never allow it to supplant your ultimate goal, and that is to evangelize the world, to be a witness to the world.
Jeff Samelson:Yeah, I mean, if you want to step aside from the obviously pro-life issues. Just for example, there are any number of Christian charities out there or I'll just say charities that started as Christian charities to feed the world, feed the hungry, or whatever that started with very Christian missions. That started with very Christian missions and over time we want to be able to access this group here and so we've got to tone down our Christian message in order to do this. We want to maximize our outreach to this community, so we're going to drop that gospel thing from our job descriptions because it's more important that we do this and eventually they get so focused on that One that we don't normally think of as a charity so much the YMCA Young Men's Christian Association. I actually have been in a YMCA outside the United States that still had some sense that it was Christian and had a mission, but I doubt that anybody in the United States has had that experience with the YMCA. It's become a health club, it's become a community group or whatever, but that's a group.
Jeff Samelson:At some point they decided that whole Christian thing that's not important to us, because the other things are more important. So, as Bob's pointed out, we've got to make sure it's not an either or it's a both and, and that's, of course, what the apostles were doing in Acts 6. They weren't saying oh well, some of us are going to do the gospel thing and others of us are going to do the waiting on tables things. It was a division of labor. We're going to be too distracted if we're trying to do everything, so we're going to focus on this, because that's what we've been trained and equipped for, and we're going to find somebody else to do the other things because they're qualified for that. It was not in any means saying this one's important and that one's not.
Christa Potratz:Yeah, what would your advice be to maybe, somebody that wants to give to a charity? Should they always, you know, like okay, I mean you know you want to give to the homeless or something? Should you always be looking for a Christian group that is going to be doing the gospel and giving to the homeless, or is it just? Is it okay to just give money to the homeless? I think that there is a tension there sometimes that people have.
Jeff Samelson:It's going to vary a lot. There's no one easy answer to that. Let's say it's a group that is feeding orphans in Africa. That's your concern. Okay, you do some research, you find out there's a Christian organization there. But you also find out that it's a Christian organization that takes an approach to scripture and the gospel or whatever that you know is not correct and you really don't want to be supporting false doctrine being given to these orphans that are being served there. So you might say I'm not so comfortable with that. But you find out there's a completely secular organization whose only goal, only purpose is to feed those orphans. Well, in that case you as a Christian might say well, I'm going to go with the secular organization there because my money's going straight to what I want it to go to and I'm not supporting something I'm uncomfortable with.
Jeff Samelson:But flipping it around the other way. Maybe the Christian organization is I'll just call it unoffensive in its doctrine and the way it approaches things. But you find out that the secular organization is preaching I'll just say Marxism to the kids. It's got a political message or something like that that you think is very dangerous and is anti-Christian in its message. Well, in that case you might say I don't want to give money to that secular organization because that's supporting something I'm uncomfortable with. So, unfortunately, basically what it means is you have to do some research. But I would say, don't assume just because an organization claims to be Christian that it's definitely the one you want to support. Certainly anything within our own circles we can be comfortable with that, with Wells Organizations and things like that. But don't just assume because it's Christian that it's perfect, it's okay. Don't assume just because something's secular that it's offensive. You've got to do a little research.
Bob Fleischmann:Darrell Bock, diane and I monthly support Christian Life Resources but also Wisconsin Right to Life and Wisconsin Right to Life. I happen to know those people well. To my knowledge they're all Christians, but they're an effective organization working to protect human life in the state of Wisconsin without Christian overtones. It's got a Christian underpinning, but without the Christian overtones. And the reality is Christian Life Resources doesn't do that. We are not involved legislatively or politically, so they're doing something we cannot, and so sometimes in those circumstances, you do that.
Bob Fleischmann:Now, like Jeff outlines, if Wisconsin Right to Life were to all of a sudden become uber-Christian and uber-Christian in a way, that would be problematic. The idea like we all worship the same God, there's other ways to heaven than Jesus, or something like that we'd probably drop them like a hot potato. It would just be that quickly. So I think there's definitely a place for it. We have, over the years, have supported many different charities, some of which have been Christian but not within our fellowship, and many of which have been secular but accomplish an agenda which we see as a building block towards reaching people and getting the gospel to them. It's hard to get the gospel to unborn children who have been aborted, so if we have a secular agency that's protecting them, we're on board. We'd like to do something, but we don't want to do anything that compromises our Christian mission, which is salvation through Christ alone and getting that message out.
Christa Potratz:Sometimes, you know, I think people maybe think does like giving to people or does charity in general promote laziness. What would your thoughts be on that? Approach to things you know like every charity.
Bob Fleischmann:You know we make them work for it. We can do this Anytime you get something for nothing, it always has the potential to appeal to the old Adam in you and you're going to want to be lazy about it. And, quite honestly, if you're going to sit on your money and sit on your gifts and your talents, waiting for the absolutely safe place to give to you are a horrible steward of your resources. I mean, even Jesus said give to Caesar that which is Caesar's, and Caesar was a horrible way of managing the funds. But you still had responsibilities and you can show responsibility by caring for others.
Bob Fleischmann:Recognizing it comes at—you know everyone who comes into New Beginnings and I hope I'm not overstating it, but I've been at it for over 30 years at New Beginnings—everyone who comes into our home for single mothers is looking for something free. You know I want free housing. I want a safe place to stay where I can, you know, and everything. They're not there to learn about Jesus and the same thing too.
Bob Fleischmann:You know how many times don't we open up our Christian day schools and people miserably enroll their children in our school because they're just so unhappy with the public system or whatever it is. They come in for the wrong reason, you just accept that Nobody is perfect. If they're perfect they don't need what we're doing, but everyone's imperfect. So, yes, there are people and it's our job as stewards over like at CLR and at New Beginnings we are stewards over the gifts that come. So we recognize that people are coming in for the wrong reasons. Maybe they're not always being honest, all that kind of stuff, but it's our goal as stewards to manage responsibly so that that doesn't become the ongoing habit. But anybody who thinks that, oh, I'm going to only give to this because they only give to people, you have no idea what's going on in the field.
Jeff Samelson:Yeah, and if you're thinking as a Christian, I don't want to encourage laziness. I want to make sure that the people who are getting this appreciate it and use it the right way. This is where being a Christian is really helpful, because then you can remember all those gifts God has given to me. Do I always use those faithfully? And he even knows that I'm not going to be faithful in everything that he gives me, and still he does, and it's his generosity that we are called upon to imitate, and so that's a point where we can say, okay, yeah, holding others to this 100% standard is somewhat hypocritical and it's not in the spirit of the gospel, which is what motivates and drives us.
Christa Potratz:Yeah, I think that's so true. And another aspect with this is just remembering why, as Christians, we do give and if we're constantly wanting to give in these perfect scenarios where every single penny we give is being used perfectly in the cause, it kind of takes away from just that blindness maybe of giving or just that blanket of trusting God and how the giving really kind of is for us too to be able to let go of some of these things that God has given us. I don't think I've ever told this story on the podcast. I'm going to tell it.
Christa Potratz:Several years ago I lived in Austin, texas, and there is a prolific homeless population in Austin and so you see people on the side of every street corner mostly. And it was a beautiful day, so I mean I'm kind of guessing maybe February for that and I had the windows down and just I mean right away I was stopped and there was a homeless person and he had a sign and you know was, and just he was very interactive, I guess you could say and asking me you know, a lot of them will just stand there quietly, but you know, oh, you've got money. And so I started just engaging in a back and forth with him and I said you know, oh no, you know, or I don't know really what I said at first. But basically I even got to the point where I said, well, I mean I don't, I mean I don't really know, like what you're going to do with it or something, and to which, like, he responded, well, why does it matter, why do you care? You know, and I just remember thinking like well, I mean I yeah, like well, I just don't want to give you money if you're not gonna.
Christa Potratz:You know, if you're just going to buy something with it or whatever. And I or you know, thinking like alcohol and cigarettes or something like that. But you know, his point was just like well, what I do with it when you give it to me, that's what I do with it, you know, and and and then I think the light changed and I got out of there as quickly as I could. But it is something that has really stuck with me over the years too. In just that thinking of yeah, I mean I want to give to people and to things where it's going to be used and everything. But I mean, ultimately, that isn't really something I can control and giving is just something that is a heart issue really, too, to be able to let go of that.
Jeff Samelson:Yeah, and what you're talking about with that interaction is it's also a question of stewardship.
Jeff Samelson:I mean, if you know that the money you're giving to a charity or to an individual is going to be wasted, well then that's not good stewardship, you know. If it's merely, I'm afraid it might be, that's different. But if you're, you know, you're pretty sure that it's not going to be a good use of your funds. Well then, you, I was living and working in Bogota, colombia.
Jeff Samelson:There were, uh, these, uh kids, you know, some as little as four years old, um, that would be out on the streets and they would be begging, um, you know, asking for money, and, uh, I had a chance once to talk to an American woman who worked with these kids on the street and I just asked you know, so what should I do when they approach?
Jeff Samelson:And she said don't give them money.
Jeff Samelson:Maybe, if you like, have an apple or something like that. Give them food, cause that's something that they can use right in the moment, but don't in any way give them anything that will support them in this, because we want them to get off the street and we want to get them into the homes that we have, where they're going to learn, because if you give them money, then they think, well, okay, I'm doing just fine out on my own, which is not actually the truth. But of course as kids they think they are and that has just always stuck with me as an example that you may think in the moment you're doing this great good deed and that's what they're counting on, but in the long run it's not actually what's best. So the good stewardship and the loving service to your neighbor may actually be in some of those cases saying no, I'm not going to do that, that thing that you're asking me for Back in 1992, we made the decision to open New Beginnings, which eventually opened in 93 in metropolitan Denver, colorado.
Bob Fleischmann:And so already in 92, I was making monthly trips out to Denver and at the exit ramp for Peoria I-70 in Peoria there was a homeless man and he always held up a sign and I would give him money Because you know you'd be stopped there and I'd give him $10 or $20 or something like that. Ironically, when we moved New Beginnings in 2014 from Denver to here, he was still at that intersection and that last year when we were there, I was in my hotel room in Denver and there was a news story about this guy who had been doing this for like 30 years and they'd found out he was making, in a year, twice what I was making. This became his profession Now. So how did I feel about all those times? I gave him money?
Bob Fleischmann:And whenever I encountered that, I always remember that Bible passage it's better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. I've adopted this mentality. I don't have it down great yet, but I would rather default on the side of doing good and being taken than of neglect for somebody who genuinely needs it, and it has helped drive me, and it's particularly what we do at New Beginnings, but in what we do at CLR in general, because a lot of people they don't live up to a performance level. I think, krista, that great point that we don't always live up to it, and you've got to remember that If we want to play the game of benefiting according to how much we deserve, then you better start with yourself, and then you might find a lot of hungry nights.
Christa Potratz:So I mean, I think we've kind of maybe touched on this a little bit too. Then you better start with yourself, and then you might find a lot of hungry nights, you know.
Bob Fleischmann:So I mean, I think you know we've kind of maybe touched on this a little bit too, but just kind of. At what point, like, does charity and activism become a distraction? It's when it distorts the Christian mission. All of us have certain causes that are near and dear to us. Whether it's the hungry in Africa or whatever it is, we got it. But if it distorts the Christian mission, that's what we have to be careful of is not allowing it to be a distortion.
Jeff Samelson:And just kind of internally on a personal level, what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount when he was talking about giving and the doing of righteous acts. He said when you perform acts of mercy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Obviously there's a figure of speech there or whatever, but the point is you should be doing your acts of charity in such a way that you're not thinking about, okay, what am I going to get from this, or how is this going to affect everything? You're doing it because it's the right thing to do. You're doing it because this is the way you're showing your love for your savior and love for your fellow man. You're not doing it because, oh, this is going to happen or that's going to happen, or I'm going to. You keep those things separate and it's less likely to become a distraction because your motivations are clear.
Christa Potratz:I was going to ask, too, if there were any other biblical type of principles that we could add to this conversation as well.
Jeff Samelson:I already mentioned stewardship. There's going to be hard work sometimes involved in sorting these things out and deciding what it is you're going to do involved in sorting these things out and deciding what it is you're going to do. Certainly, some of the difficult decisions here should be made with lots of prayer and trusting these things to the Lord and asking for his wisdom. And just one other big thing is just you know, it's something that's important for every aspect of Christian life is balance. We've got to understand we've got competing interests at times and competing concerns, and sometimes you just have to make the decision how much of this one today, how much of that one today, maybe a different balance tomorrow? You've just got to take the time to prayerfully consider these things.
Bob Fleischmann:Pete, my big encouragement would be is that never throttle back on your concern for others, but always keep that mission in mind. In the end, you need to connect them with God, eventually through Christ. And so you find numerous bridges to do it. And just keep looking at your life, look at what you're doing in your life now and just try to find the bridges.
Christa Potratz:All right. Well, thank you both for this discussion today and we thank all of our listeners, and if you have any questions on this topic, please reach out to us. You can reach us at lifechallengesus and we look forward to having you back next time. Thanks a lot, bye.
Paul Snamiska:Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Life Challenges podcast from Christian Life Resources. Please consider subscribing to this podcast, giving us a review wherever you access it and sharing it with friends. We're sure you have questions on today's topic or other life issues. Our goal is to help you through these tough topics and we want you to know we're here to help. You can submit your questions, as well as comments or suggestions for future episodes, at lifechallengesus or email us at podcast at christianliferesourcescom. In addition to the podcasts, we include other valuable information at lifechallengesus, so be sure to check it out. For more about our parent organization, please visit ChristianLifeResourcescom. May God give you wisdom, love, strength and peace in Christ for every life challenge.