Welcome back, listeners! As we burst into a brand-new season of the Plugged In Podcast, we reflect on a summer of adventure and growth. We've got a sneak peek of our thought-provoking devotional thought from Matthew 11:28, where we uncover the art of finding rest amidst the hubbub of everyday life. We also share our exhilarating escapades from Camp Wonderland, where a staggering 945 campers experienced the divine love of God, and an impressive 721 of them made new commitments to Christ.
Fasten your seatbelts as we embark on another fun-filled journey with a game of CATCH PHRASE. Can you guess the answers before we do? From French capitals to Crazy Rich Asians, it's a rollercoaster ride of knowledge and laughter. We also invite you to take a stroll down memory lane as we reminisce about our favorite things about fall. And as we transition into the season of fall, we dive into a serious conversation on the impact of busyness on mental health. We discuss the pressures we mount on ourselves and the importance of learning to prioritize time with God, similar to the examples set by Jesus himself.
This season of the Plugged In Podcast is bursting with profound insights, lively discussions, and opportunities for self-reflection. We explore how to prioritize joy over happiness, how to find that elusive peace in times of anxiety, and how to remain unflustered when life becomes overwhelming. Join us as we share our love for all things autumn - from football to the cool air, from lighter clothing options to the controversy surrounding Aaron Rodgers. Let's kick-off this new season together, filled with laughter, reflection, and inspiring conversations. Tune in and be a part of this enlightening journey.
Welcome back, listeners! As we burst into a brand-new season of the Plugged In Podcast, we reflect on a summer of adventure and growth. We've got a sneak peek of our thought-provoking devotional thought from Matthew 11:28, where we uncover the art of finding rest amidst the hubbub of everyday life. We also share our exhilarating escapades from Camp Wonderland, where a staggering 945 campers experienced the divine love of God, and an impressive 721 of them made new commitments to Christ.
Fasten your seatbelts as we embark on another fun-filled journey with a game of CATCH PHRASE. Can you guess the answers before we do? From French capitals to Crazy Rich Asians, it's a rollercoaster ride of knowledge and laughter. We also invite you to take a stroll down memory lane as we reminisce about our favorite things about fall. And as we transition into the season of fall, we dive into a serious conversation on the impact of busyness on mental health. We discuss the pressures we mount on ourselves and the importance of learning to prioritize time with God, similar to the examples set by Jesus himself.
This season of the Plugged In Podcast is bursting with profound insights, lively discussions, and opportunities for self-reflection. We explore how to prioritize joy over happiness, how to find that elusive peace in times of anxiety, and how to remain unflustered when life becomes overwhelming. Join us as we share our love for all things autumn - from football to the cool air, from lighter clothing options to the controversy surrounding Aaron Rodgers. Let's kick-off this new season together, filled with laughter, reflection, and inspiring conversations. Tune in and be a part of this enlightening journey.
Here we go. Yay Season two, baby Season two of the Plugged In Podcast. It's been a minute, man, it's been a long time Now. We kind of we went out on season one with a whimper.
Loreita Hinzman:Yeah, I know.
Matthew Luhn:Whimper. We had all these grand plans to record right up till commissioning in June and yeah, wham, didn't happen, did not happen.
Loreita Hinzman:Life came in strong. Life happened yes.
Matthew Luhn:So it has been a while, the whole summer has gone by, and now, guys, it is October, but we are here to kick off season number two. This is episode number ten of the Plugged In.
Nate Hinzman:Podcast Wow.
Matthew Luhn:Wow, if you guys want to look ahead to the end of our episode and our devotional thought, you can crack open your Bibles to Matthew, chapter 11, verse 28. And just to give you a teaser, this is what it says.
Nate Hinzman:Sorry, Nate was not ready for that. I was not ready, I was throwing it to you, buddy.
Matthew Luhn:All right, let me try that again.
Nate Hinzman:Matthew 11, 28 says this Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Put my yoke upon your shoulders. It may appear heavy at first, but it's perfectly fitted to you. Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. When you are yoke to me, your weary souls will find rest, For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Loreita Hinzman:It was worth the wait. Yes, it was worth the wait.
Nate Hinzman:Yes, so I scrolled all the way down, or all the way back up to the top.
Matthew Luhn:Excuse us Whatever you want to say I'm out of practice.
Nate Hinzman:It's been a while.
Matthew Luhn:It has been a while, so later in today's episode we are going to talk about wrap that up. Give us a theme, nate. What is today's theme?
Nate Hinzman:Learning how to rest in the midst of the busyness, resting in God and not allowing the chaos that consumes our everyday lives to reign in us or have control over us.
Matthew Luhn:Are you listening? Today it's October. Are you already too busy? Is there too much going on? Is there too much happening in the Salvation Army?
Loreita Hinzman:Yes, Sometimes yes, Sometimes yes.
Matthew Luhn:In case you are joining us for the very first time, my name is Matt. I'm the music director here in the Massachusetts Division. You guys want to introduce yourselves.
Loreita Hinzman:Sure, I'm Matt and my husband Nate. Say hi, nate.
Matthew Luhn:Hey.
Loreita Hinzman:We are the division youth and candidate secretaries in the Massachusetts Division, which just means we help oversee the youth ministry that happens here and help people who feel called to full-time ministry enter into that journey.
Matthew Luhn:So guys tell me about your summer. The whole summer has passed by. Give me a couple of highlights. What happened?
Loreita Hinzman:Oh my word, it was crazy. I can't believe how fast the summer went. You want to start? Yeah, I can start.
Nate Hinzman:One of the greatest privileges that we have in our role is to be out at Camp Wonderland, our summer camp for the summer, and to really just welcome campers onto that holy ground for seven different sessions throughout the summer, where they're participating in everything from arts, arts and crafts, music, recreation, different forms of sports, but also building relationships in their cabins and, most importantly, being immersed in the love of God and just being surrounded by people who are loving on them, seeing potential in them and pouring into them. And so this summer we welcomed 945 campers onto— 945.
Nate Hinzman:945 campers to go along with close to 80 staff who served seven sessions there, about two months on camp, and just want to give God the glory for the 721 new decisions that were made for Christ this summer.
Matthew Luhn:That's incredible, yeah, 721.
Nate Hinzman:721 decisions.
Matthew Luhn:And a lot of those happen each week during each session of camp. I think we talked about it in previous episodes, but there is a night where the camp staff puts on a production called Jesus Theater and then at the end of that production there's an opportunity for kids to accept Jesus into their heart, many of them for the first time. But 721, that's an amazing number.
Loreita Hinzman:Yeah, one of my favorite camper quotes of the summer. There was a camper who was calling home Her mom—it was one of the situations where mom was more worried about her than she was worried about being there. And she was calling home and we're sitting next to the phone as she's calling and she's like Mom. It's a Christian camp but it doesn't feel like a cult and I was like. I was like you win. Yes. But it was just so— Victory We've achieved our goal.
Matthew Luhn:It was so cute.
Loreita Hinzman:It was so sweet but she had a great time. But I think the campers make it all worth it. It's crazy schedules but it's so much fun and it's a nice change of pace for us too to be out of the office and be immersed in ministry, so it was good.
Matthew Luhn:It's a unique feeling to be at camp and to see the level of happiness and joy, just watching that, even on the hottest days or the rainiest days, just seeing them play and interact both with their friends, with their counselors, it's just a unique thing.
Loreita Hinzman:Just being outside and playing non-technology, it's just really cool to see, and I feel like that was all we had was either rain, thank you, or hot. There's nothing in the middle. There's a lot of rain this summer, a lot of rain.
Matthew Luhn:I read somewhere like 14 of the last 17 weekends it has rained, that is horrible Whole summer it rained.
Loreita Hinzman:Yeah, how about you?
Matthew Luhn:Me, I'm going to go with a personal summer highlight, so we talked a little bit in the spring time I was doing this weight loss program.
Loreita Hinzman:Yeah.
Matthew Luhn:So it's called Awaken 180. So if you want to check it out, it's a Boston based program, but I'm just really thankful for what they offered because it was successful for what I was looking for. So I went on a 20 week program that started in January, extended really right into the end of June. So it was interesting because I started working at camp right as the program was finishing.
Loreita Hinzman:But all in all I know.
Matthew Luhn:All in all, it was actually better that I finished right before camp, because staying that discipline was pretty difficult yeah. That's hard. I mean I had my nose and chicken fingers and chicken patties.
Nate Hinzman:Late night snacks.
Matthew Luhn:Oh, yeah, yeah, no, but all in all, at the highest point I was at, I was down 75 pounds. Wow, incredible, and it was just I don't know. I feel good about the accomplishment and there's still more to go, but I'm just feeling better and that was kind of like my personal highlight for the summer, aside from we've talked about our kids growing up, and Mackenzie is now seven months old, which is wild. Oh my gosh goodness. Yeah, that was my summer highlight and yeah, it just went way too fast.
Loreita Hinzman:Yeah, it went so fast.
Nate Hinzman:It always goes so fast. It's insane.
Loreita Hinzman:But I feel like this year was faster than usual. I don't know. Maybe it wasn't.
Nate Hinzman:We're just getting older.
Loreita Hinzman:I mean backtracking. Kudos to you for keeping strict and rigid. You know coming off of that program in camp Because you know the men you have no control over it.
Matthew Luhn:It happened for a while. I'm not going to pretend like I was a saint because really once we got into the music conservatory, snacks for the faculty like no.
Loreita Hinzman:I was partaking in those.
Matthew Luhn:But I mean, I feel like at that point I had earned it.
Matthew Luhn:Yes, oh yeah, but now we're all back in our fall routines. We're back in the office, back to kind of regular schedules. I think that's always jarring coming out of the summer and I don't know I don't really know if it's like that for other people with I'm going to use the word normal jobs. I feel like we don't have normal jobs, fair assessment, but we bounce back from being, you know, in shorts and a t-shirt and in and out of camp settings and teaching kids, to now you're a little bit more back in the office, meetings, still getting out and teaching and being with people, but it's certainly a transition that if you've never done it before it can be rigid.
Matthew Luhn:Yeah, yeah, Larita, I think you have a game for us?
Loreita Hinzman:Yes, I do. I'm curious what. This is Okay, so we're going to play this catchphrase game. Have you ever played catchphrase before? Oh you have?
Matthew Luhn:Yeah, of course who has it.
Loreita Hinzman:So this is like it's a little intimidating. This is catchphrase ultimate, and I think the idea is to throw like a frisbee, but we're not going to do that?
Matthew Luhn:No, we're not going to do that. No, we're not going to do that Not on space.
Loreita Hinzman:Here you can see. If you're looking at the video, it's pretty intimidating, okay.
Matthew Luhn:If you are listening to look at YouTube, sa Mass Music. We are recording this episode live on video so you can see our little space.
Loreita Hinzman:Okay, so we're going to play catchphrase. We're going to let me pull up my little notes tab here and we'll all keep score. We're just going to go around and I'll keep track of how many you get. We're not going to pass it or anything. Okay, matt, why don't you start us off? Oh geez, here we go.
Matthew Luhn:And.
Loreita Hinzman:I'll keep tabs All right.
Matthew Luhn:If you're listening or watching, you have to guess along.
Loreita Hinzman:Yeah. See if you can get it before we do. Oh, the sound effects.
Matthew Luhn:What category are we doing? Toss up?
Loreita Hinzman:Toss up yeah general Okay. Oh gosh, I have to multitask, all right.
Matthew Luhn:Am I just pressing this button?
Loreita Hinzman:Press play, and then don't scream into the mic, larita.
Matthew Luhn:Okay, oh, I should push my mic away. All right, here we go. All right, toss up category, here we go. It's going to be an immaculate round. Okay, this is, in France, the capital, paris.
Nate Hinzman:Yeah.
Matthew Luhn:I hope it's a capital. That's right. This is a movie. Wild, wealthy and poor. No, no, what's the word for wild Wild?
Nate Hinzman:and crazy, crazy, yes. And then, well, rich Asians yes.
Matthew Luhn:Good job, nate. Okay, pass Okay, not Okay.
Loreita Hinzman:This is a chalk board? No, not chalk board. Yeah, dry erase Close.
Matthew Luhn:Sorry, wrong clue, I read it wrong. Okay, a basketball, you got to hit the Backboard. Yes, backboard. Okay, before Google Maps I would use, I would look this up Map, quest, map, quest, yes, oh map quest Okay Turkey.
Nate Hinzman:I'm going baster, yes.
Matthew Luhn:Wow, okay, a bird with a ton of colors. Okay, my car.
Nate Hinzman:Ignition no.
Matthew Luhn:Start Chee. Yeah, okay, now I'm going to eat this. It's a tasty treat Cake, cake, cupcakes, ice cream Crisp and apple pie, yes, so.
Nate Hinzman:Key lime pie yes, yeah.
Matthew Luhn:Okay, I'm going to fly, not Delta, not American United.
Nate Hinzman:The cheap ones, cheap ones, period Okay.
Matthew Luhn:Walk outside at night. This comes on Stars. The bulb Street light.
Loreita Hinzman:Yes, this is good.
Matthew Luhn:Wow, I was solid. I'm going to say that was impressive.
Loreita Hinzman:We'll have to check the tape, but I just I don't know if I just kept cooking. We're at 11. Whoa, nice job. Should I have held that no?
Matthew Luhn:no, no, that's good.
Loreita Hinzman:Sorry, I was like I just spoiled the spoiled the score.
Matthew Luhn:I'm feeling good about 11. That was good. That was really good. There were some weird ones.
Loreita Hinzman:I can't wait for Nate. This is going to be good.
Matthew Luhn:I felt weird trying to describe crazy rich Asians.
Loreita Hinzman:Yeah.
Matthew Luhn:That was. I felt wrong saying it.
Loreita Hinzman:Love that you tried to explain blackboard.
Matthew Luhn:That was good yeah 100% said backboard and my old man eyes read it as blackboard.
Nate Hinzman:So, Okay, you recovered. That's all that matters. You can go, I'll finish it off. Okay, I got you. I got you. I need. Can you beat 11?
Loreita Hinzman:Probably not, but oh, starting off strong.
Nate Hinzman:Are you ready?
Matthew Luhn:I'm excited for this. Okay, it's missing anywhere else.
Loreita Hinzman:Okay, yeah, it has missed guys.
Matthew Luhn:Hey, ya named the video website.
Loreita Hinzman:Oh man.
Nate Hinzman:All right, this is a national landmark. The four presidents are carved into the hills. Yes, all right, these people work on a lake and they watch over kids, so they don't. Yes, this is a. It's like a horse, but it's on.
Matthew Luhn:Yes, Under the sea.
Nate Hinzman:Not okay. This is a cucumber that you put into vinegar, and you what kind? Do, yes, don't yes, these are in your cars and they come out when you're in a car. This just a movie about it, ken, and.
Loreita Hinzman:Barbie, yes, oh wow.
Matthew Luhn:So much passing. We didn't make rules about this, all right.
Nate Hinzman:He's gonna go back.
Matthew Luhn:Luigi is part of our super mario.
Nate Hinzman:Yes, it's a purple vegetable and you can play it with with marinara Parm 11 oh Mine are we not allowed to skip?
Loreita Hinzman:I always skip well, I mean, you skip cuz some of them were not appropriate. You skip like a hundred, you're like when.
Matthew Luhn:I feel, I feel like, well, you don't apply this a now? But I've always played like with one allowed skip, okay in here.
Nate Hinzman:But don't worry, I skipped a lot.
Loreita Hinzman:Yeah, you skipped a lot. I skip, nate, you're gonna keep track for me.
Nate Hinzman:I will okay. I'm great at multitasking.
Loreita Hinzman:He, I know Wow okay are you feeling better or worse about your?
Nate Hinzman:life. Well, if he would have skipped, if he would have skipped, he would have got like 18.
Loreita Hinzman:Hmm, it's because we didn't clarify.
Nate Hinzman:So I think, I think, I think yeah.
Matthew Luhn:How are you gonna feel the read if you get like four Uh accurate, I 100% freeze up.
Nate Hinzman:I'm like.
Loreita Hinzman:I forget all words and how they sound. Okay.
Nate Hinzman:Here we go.
Matthew Luhn:Let's do it.
Loreita Hinzman:You got this Now that I've set the tone really good. How do I do the toss up?
Matthew Luhn:Okay, here we go. She's feeling the pressure.
Loreita Hinzman:I'm like crying.
Nate Hinzman:It's okay, this means nothing in the scope of eternity.
Loreita Hinzman:Yeah, but you will hold it over my head.
Nate Hinzman:All right, here we go.
Matthew Luhn:Oh, uh, all food goes into this garbage garbage disposal, but not a garbage dumpster but then it melts it like Decomposes uh, yeah but you and then you put it in a garden compost.
Loreita Hinzman:Yes, wow, okay, um, the red stuff that comes out bud, what Keep going?
Matthew Luhn:You got this blood transfusion.
Loreita Hinzman:Chocolate or vanilla.
Nate Hinzman:Strawberry blood. Strawberry blood, orange, I forget it, okay.
Loreita Hinzman:Okay, um, this is, uh, okay. You use this to play a game with a puck hockey, yes, hockey stick. Oh, this is a kind of coffee, not a cappuccino, but uh uh latte.
Matthew Luhn:Okay, another one.
Loreita Hinzman:Um no, it's wind, with water Nope with water, yeah, yes, thank you. Okay. Uh, rocky babo was a boxer. Yes, Um, um um. Oh, um, there women wear these kinds of pants really high and it's like a joke from the 90s mom jeans, mom jeans, mom jeans. Um you this is kind of ice cream. This is an ice cream and you put, you put.
Matthew Luhn:Chocolate, you know sprinkles.
Loreita Hinzman:There's a fruit and you put banana split. Yes, sorbet, um, this is kind of gas, not, not E85 diesel. Okay, another word Um petroleum, the other another one.
Nate Hinzman:That's all the words I know, okay done Um.
Loreita Hinzman:oh, we saw him in concert, Uh guitar.
Nate Hinzman:Yes, uh, what was I six? What was the blood one? I'm really putting?
Loreita Hinzman:What is that? Why do I get the weird ones See?
Matthew Luhn:that's why I use the skip button.
Loreita Hinzman:But I was like, oh, I can describe blood and I can describe pudding, but then, as soon as I started saying the red stuff that comes out of your body, I was like this is so weird.
Matthew Luhn:All right, I like that. We should maybe bring that back. We're going to take a short break in our show. When we come back from the break, we're going to have top fall things, so keep in mind your favorite things in the seasons of October and November, and then after that we're going to get to our devotional thoughts. So we'll be right back on the Plug In Podcast. Ok, we're back on the Plug In Podcast. Welcome back. Thank you, you're listening to the audio.
Loreita Hinzman:Oh, not me them. Yeah well, welcome back, larita. Thanks.
Matthew Luhn:All right, top fall things. I want to hear let's do top three. You guys want to read your list of three, or should we go around the table?
Loreita Hinzman:Let's do our three. Yeah, go ahead.
Matthew Luhn:OK, let's, Larita, you go first.
Nate Hinzman:OK Are you doing like three, two, one like.
Loreita Hinzman:I did not have any kind of structure.
Nate Hinzman:You didn't rank them.
Loreita Hinzman:OK, I'll look at them really fast.
Matthew Luhn:I rank them right now. What do you?
Loreita Hinzman:got. Probably three would be. This is so you're going to make fun of me. Fall scented candles.
Matthew Luhn:Oh, that's not a bad one.
Loreita Hinzman:I love like apple candle, pumpkin candle, love it.
Matthew Luhn:Does that be my three? I'm one kind of candle all year long, though.
Loreita Hinzman:Vanilla.
Matthew Luhn:Well, kind of, but it's called Christmas cookie.
Loreita Hinzman:Oh, that's good or sugar cookie.
Matthew Luhn:I mean, that's not a seed Like that could be all year long.
Loreita Hinzman:Yeah, it's timeless Well the good thing about those is see, I don't like floral candles or anything like that, but anything that's clean or like a baked good, Anything that makes me think the oven is on and I'm about to ingest lots of sugar, like I'm ready for that.
Matthew Luhn:OK, next one, that would be my three.
Loreita Hinzman:Two would be like apple crisp. I'm not a pumpkin fall girl, I'm an apple. So that'd be two and then.
Matthew Luhn:Lots of sugar on top right.
Loreita Hinzman:Lots of sugar, lots of crumble.
Matthew Luhn:Yep, yep.
Loreita Hinzman:And I think that kind of mixes in with like apple picking. I love.
Nate Hinzman:Like the apple crisp sauce, the syrup. I don't like the actual baked apple inside of it.
Matthew Luhn:OK, interesting I knew that I sense fights in your house. There are.
Nate Hinzman:Marital fights.
Loreita Hinzman:Nate does not like hot fruit.
Nate Hinzman:Yeah, yeah, I like fruit, just not hot fruit.
Loreita Hinzman:So he doesn't like pie or anything.
Nate Hinzman:And then you have sensitive teeth or something. No, I just I'm a fruit snob, I guess.
Loreita Hinzman:There was a major fight when we were planning for our wedding, because I wanted fruit in the cake and he was like hard pass, hard pass.
Nate Hinzman:You don't put fruit in cake. That's gross. Ok, but I know I do.
Loreita Hinzman:And then one Thanksgiving.
Matthew Luhn:Thanksgiving, thanksgiving, friendsgiving, all the giving. There's a lot to unpack by just saying Thanksgiving.
Nate Hinzman:That covers everything.
Loreita Hinzman:Thank you.
Matthew Luhn:We'll take it, we'll accept it.
Loreita Hinzman:What Do I have? To have a specific? Well, there's like so.
Matthew Luhn:I mean, you could have your top three Thanksgiving things.
Loreita Hinzman:OK. Well, we didn't do that, we did fall OK.
Matthew Luhn:All right, so a day.
Loreita Hinzman:Thanksgiving part of fall. All right, it's her list, it's your list.
Matthew Luhn:Yeah, it is your list.
Loreita Hinzman:I shouldn't have gone first. If you attacked, all right.
Matthew Luhn:You didn't get the lowest score.
Loreita Hinzman:I'm going to dissect all of yours. All right, nate, nate, what do you?
Nate Hinzman:got All right Coming in at number three, number three, number three. Daylight savings time what? Yes, you know why I'm all about that extra hour of sleep. But since we have a four-year-old, it doesn't really apply anymore. But back in the day I remember that extra hour of sleep was what I needed to propel myself into the fall.
Matthew Luhn:Yeah, ok, that's fair. All right, but we all agree that at this point the clock should fall back and then never change.
Loreita Hinzman:And never jump forward. Yeah, never change again.
Nate Hinzman:Yeah, I heard there was some type of bill introduced to get rid of that right.
Loreita Hinzman:I just think in general, spring forward is evil, Like the idea of losing an hour. Well, it's just that it's equated right.
Matthew Luhn:I don't know the whole history of it, but I mean it was for the farmers in the 1700s.
Loreita Hinzman:Yes for crops, Right. Yeah, I selfishly do not want to lose an hour of sleep.
Nate Hinzman:Like I like the summer, but there's no need for it to be light at 9 o'clock in the evening, you know what I mean?
Matthew Luhn:There is nothing, Wait. So you're saying daylight savings is a good thing, but in the fall time it gets darker faster.
Nate Hinzman:Yeah, and it gets worse. It's fine. That's fine in the fall.
Loreita Hinzman:But is it just going to keep getting worse?
Matthew Luhn:Because I mean, yeah, but there's nothing worse. You step outside at like 3.45 PM and it's like OK, the day's over Right, which is like winter.
Nate Hinzman:OK. So maybe what I really want is just one day of the year where church starts an hour later. Oh, ok.
Loreita Hinzman:OK, there we go. I think that your list is already worse than mine. All right, number two. Ok, number two.
Nate Hinzman:Moving on, moving on, moving on. Number two pumpkins. Yep, pumpkins are fantastic, carving pumpkins going to the pumpkin patch, pumpkin spice everything. Yesterday I was at Walmart and there was pumpkin spice deodorant.
Matthew Luhn:Oh, did you buy it.
Nate Hinzman:No, I did not.
Loreita Hinzman:He sent me a picture and I said walk away.
Matthew Luhn:Bro, you have lots of time still to pick that up.
Nate Hinzman:Yeah, they also have eggnog out already at Walmart pumpkin spice eggnog.
Matthew Luhn:I say, by the time we have the next episode, you have purchased and tested this out, I'll bring it. I'll bring it, we'll give it a review.
Nate Hinzman:Yeah it's the native brand of deodorant it has a pumpkin spice, so I'll bring it.
Loreita Hinzman:Pumpkin spice product reviews.
Nate Hinzman:Yeah, yeah, ok and then number one, the definitive number one best thing about fall is football in my opinion Very good. Football season is fantastic. I've been waiting for this to come up.
Matthew Luhn:Larita.
Loreita Hinzman:Lots of you.
Matthew Luhn:Should we even set the stage? Or you just want wait, wait, hold on, I think I'm going to ask Nate instead. Ok, nate.
Nate Hinzman:I will speak through her.
Matthew Luhn:Yeah, yeah, like an interpreter Can you describe the moment that Aaron Rodgers well. First of all, hold on. Let's describe the moment he ran out of the tunnel with the American flag, like was Larita weeping, and then a different kind of weeping. Tell me about the moment when he tore his Achilles four seasons into the season.
Nate Hinzman:Season Four plays, four plays so here's the thing about Aaron Rodgers Like he.
Loreita Hinzman:We're not asking for your dissertation. Oh no, I am.
Matthew Luhn:No, but here's the thing.
Nate Hinzman:He's universally not liked by many people, correct you know what. But this year, with them being featured on Hard Knocks, he kind of became a likable character and you can kind of get behind you can kind of go ahead. Unless you're a Pats fan, you can kind of get behind the jets underdog, not really having much success in recent years, and I I for one, Tell me about Larita's reaction.
Matthew Luhn:This is what. I want to know this is what I want to know.
Nate Hinzman:Yeah, there was just the tragic like text thread with her family just saying oh, I should pull that out. Classic jets.
Loreita Hinzman:Classic jets Nate's not doing a great job. I didn't talk the rest of the day. Oh, I'm sure, oh yeah.
Nate Hinzman:And she was ignoring texts from people and she was blocking people on social media.
Matthew Luhn:I was ignoring you, I don't, I don't remember texting anything bad.
Loreita Hinzman:I don't wait and I'll have to go back. I'll have to find it, probably while you're doing yours, but my dad was just like oh Very first person I thought of.
Matthew Luhn:Yeah, thanks.
Loreita Hinzman:I was just. I wasn't excited because I was like I don't want, like I don't want to win something on the back of someone else. Here's the thing, here's the.
Matthew Luhn:Everyone does. So here's the part about Aaron Rodger. I don't want to get into this because it's not with the plug-in package, but here's the thing that I'm one of those people that does not like Aaron Rodger's, and he's a fraudulent guy. So he is someone who is a conspiracy theorist about 9-11.
Matthew Luhn:He thinks it was a government inside job and I don't know all these details Well, I mean, that's just like that's who he is, and then he plays for New York and runs out of the tunnel with a spotlight on him with the American flag. It's just disingenuous. I mean, I'm not one to say he had it coming for him, but the guy is not likable. I mean I don't want anyone to get injured. That stinks.
Nate Hinzman:But now we're subjected to all these primetime games with the Jets and Zach Wilk.
Matthew Luhn:With the horrific Jets team now. I like how New England SportsHawk radio the next day was just like wow, it stinks that he's injured, but this is two more wins for the Pats this year. Those are automatic victories that Zach Wilson can't play.
Nate Hinzman:It's not like they looked great against the Jets this past Sunday.
Matthew Luhn:No, no, no, the Pats are not.
Loreita Hinzman:I just want to say OK, so I have scrolled back, oh gosh At 824.
Matthew Luhn:PM. She kept her receipts 824.
Nate Hinzman:PM At 824 PM.
Loreita Hinzman:You said number eight in the house. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Nate Hinzman:That was before.
Loreita Hinzman:By 826,. I said did you legit just jinx this?
Matthew Luhn:See, I said nothing.
Loreita Hinzman:I said nothing mean, but like that's how quickly that turned. Yeah, and then Nate was sending images of Tom Brady in a Jets uniform.
Matthew Luhn:It was crazy because it felt like a lot of the country was watching that moment.
Loreita Hinzman:Yes or at?
Matthew Luhn:least sports fans.
Loreita Hinzman:I just couldn't believe. It was like. I was like there's no way. There's no way this could happen to us.
Matthew Luhn:Oh yeah, Coming back to Nate's list, I do love that football is back. That is like a fantastic thing to fall. Ok, I'll speed through. We took. I'll speed through my list. I listed like seven different things, just in case you took some of my Overachiever. No, no, no, I'll pick some of my weird ones, oh lovely. First weird one, I'll just list it as number three. In the fall your grass looks amazing.
Nate Hinzman:Oh, here we go.
Matthew Luhn:No, I'm not even kidding, I'm not even kidding. Like so the combination of the cooler temperatures with the rainfall, like so all the grass, like, gets super green and it starts to thicken up and it revives itself from the summer where it was like beat up by the heat.
Nate Hinzman:Nice.
Matthew Luhn:So okay, number three your grass looks amazing.
Nate Hinzman:Okay, that's a.
Matthew Luhn:I love. I personally love. I'm a bigger guy, so I love the cooler weather and the ability to wear jeans and a hoodie, as like your dress coat.
Loreita Hinzman:What a weather. Yeah, like, yeah, yeah, that's not like in New England like that.
Matthew Luhn:You can't do that during the summer.
Loreita Hinzman:No.
Matthew Luhn:You're usually wearing more layers during the winter, yeah, but like, fall is the sweet spot where you don't need to leave the house with a coat. Yeah, or hopefully not a rain jacket, but if you're in a hoodie, that's a good one.
Loreita Hinzman:I am stealing it and like tennis shoes.
Matthew Luhn:Like that's my like fall dress code.
Loreita Hinzman:Yeah, I'm all about that, and you don't get in a building and you have 18 layers on and you're sweating because that's winter.
Matthew Luhn:Yeah.
Loreita Hinzman:I'm with you.
Matthew Luhn:And then I don't know if this is number one. I don't have. I didn't rank them, but I did have football on the list. I had apple orchards. We kind of mentioned that a little bit. Yeah, love it. Pumpkin spiced. Everything I'll say I love a good chili.
Loreita Hinzman:Yes, I'm surprised you didn't have that.
Nate Hinzman:That is, that is our post. Sunday church football meal. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Matthew Luhn:Ours too, and like the first day of fall, like we were on Saturday, we're just like oh wait, we're going to make chili, yeah.
Nate Hinzman:You're going to make chili? Yeah, it's time?
Matthew Luhn:Yeah, but once you throw it in the slow cooker, it cooks all night. And then you wake up and you're just like oh, this smells delightful.
Loreita Hinzman:The house Smells amazing, but then you come back from church.
Matthew Luhn:Yeah, and I don't know how you guys eat your chili, but I like to crush up some tostitos, some crunchy chips, a little bit of shredded cheese on top, oh yeah. I don't know if you can do sour cream.
Nate Hinzman:Yeah, definitely yeah.
Matthew Luhn:Load that up, but also, you usually make enough that there's leftovers.
Loreita Hinzman:Oh yeah.
Matthew Luhn:So I actually saw Nate heating up his extra chili this week in the office. It was glorious so that's my list Chili I don't know if that's the top, but it's certainly good.
Loreita Hinzman:I know I had to put like the sour cream in like a little Ziploc bag so he could like snip the end I made a little cake pipette. You know how, like Wendy's does the like this. I had to make a little squeezable packet because you have to have sour cream with chili.
Nate Hinzman:Thanks for hooking me up.
Loreita Hinzman:You're welcome, honey.
Matthew Luhn:I'm sure that you, listening out there, have your fall lists, so if you've written them down or if you've thought about them, send them to us. You can get ahold of SA Mass Music or Mass Youth on any social media platform pretty much, but we'd love to hear from you Facebook, twitter well, I guess not Twitter formerly known as Twitter, now the X. Yeah, how do you even say that Like I don't tweet something anymore, I don't you X something, I X'd it.
Nate Hinzman:Elon Musk, bro that guy.
Matthew Luhn:Yeah, and Insta yeah, get ahold of us. Sa Mass Music or Mass Youth both of those run the podcast and you can find the podcast on YouTube this season. Yay, yeah. So, nate, we teased this earlier, but we're going to look at this verse Matthew 11, 28. But I think you have a bunch of verses to kind of go through Today we're talking about. I don't know if we tried to make catchphrase fit into this theme, but are you too busy? Are you stressed? Yeah, too many things going on. Is the pressure bearing down on you and how do we deal with that?
Nate Hinzman:Oh yeah, I mean that game you're trying you are racing against the clock, literally Right, literally, to make split second decisions.
Loreita Hinzman:And sometimes that's how it feels. I was just going to say, and I feel like as the time gets, as the clicking gets like faster, I'm like.
Nate Hinzman:Oh yeah, your heartbeat speeds up your respiration, it starts sweating crazy. Yeah Well, just kind of segueing on that, in just a few short days, it is a world mental health day, on October 10th, and I was doing some research prior to this and came across this statistic that said that three in five Americans today report that stress has a negative impact on their everyday lives. Three in five, so that's pretty significant, which led me to ask myself am I stressed out? I'm sure we can all identify stressors in our lives, and each of us deal with our own forms of stressors in a unique way, and some of them are very unique and some of them are very personal. But what I wanted to share today was my greatest source of stress, and I think that that is my.
Matthew Luhn:You're not going to get fired by sharing this, are you? Oh, no, no, no, okay.
Nate Hinzman:No, it's just a general or divorced and I Fired or divorced.
Loreita Hinzman:No, no, no, it's not that kind of and I feel stress.
Nate Hinzman:I think, my greatest sorts of stress. Just if there was a catch-all umbrella for it all, I would just say busyness, just staying busy, like not prioritizing my time correctly or saying yes to too many things or just filling my calendar with busyness right. And so, larita, she makes fun of me because I have this massive to-do list on my laptop. It's all compiled there in a Microsoft Word document.
Matthew Luhn:In a Word document. She doesn't make fun of you because you have a list. She makes fun of you because it's the year 2023 and you have a list without bullet points. That's just on a random Word document.
Loreita Hinzman:It's just like it works. I have a thought, enter and then I type it in.
Nate Hinzman:But I just, when things come to my mind, I just throw it into that document, I cross them out. When they're done, it's great, it's fair.
Matthew Luhn:Yeah, so Larita's stressed by seeing your document.
Loreita Hinzman:If only you could hear my heartbeat right now.
Nate Hinzman:So I mean, what I've been thinking about is, sometimes I feel like I don't have enough time to get the things done in my life right. We always have somewhere to go, we always have pending projects over our heads, we always have emails and texts going off, we always have people looking for us, assignments, due appointments, missed calls, bills that are due, groceries to buy the list is literally endless. And so I would venture to say that busyness has become a chronic condition for most Americans, and this hurried way of life can really have a negative effect on everything from our physical health and our well-being to even our mental, our emotional and our spiritual health. And then, kind of hand in hand with that, on top of just the sheer busyness of going, going, going, is the pressure that we often place on ourselves to not let anyone down not let anything drop through the process.
Nate Hinzman:Right, I can handle it all, because people are expecting me to keep it all together. And so if I don't do it, if I don't say yes, if I don't handle it, then who will right? And so what this creates then is naturally this urgency to do more, to be more, to take on more. And then, somewhere along the way, when we get buried alive underneath all the expectations, all the weight, we get to this point where we believe that our entire worth and our value is attached to what we do, what we produce, and if we're not extremely careful, we can lose sight of what's really important and how God is inviting us into His rest.
Matthew Luhn:Do you just back here just a little bit? Do you? Do you feel anxiety? I know I do. When the idea of letting someone down, yes, all the time, yeah, I think like I can't handle that thought. I like I get irked when I think it's just a character complex that I have. I don't like when people don't like me.
Nate Hinzman:And.
Matthew Luhn:I don't like when I the idea of letting someone down, telling them no, letting them know I didn't do a good job, but like that stuff all drives like anxiety for me.
Loreita Hinzman:Yeah, no, absolutely. I think that, like there are often times too, where something as silly as someone like mispronouncing my name, I'm a I have been afraid to like correct it because I don't want them to feel weird.
Matthew Luhn:You know what I?
Loreita Hinzman:mean Like I don't want to make them feel uncomfortable, so I'll feel uncomfortable. And then I'm like in my own head for for forever, Like why am I even thinking this way?
Matthew Luhn:Sidebar. What's the weirdest pronunciation you got?
Loreita Hinzman:Oh, one time in high school my maiden name is Vaughn, Like I got called with a loud speaker, Laureata Van Hugen.
Nate Hinzman:The exchange student from Germany, laureata Van Hugen.
Loreita Hinzman:Yeah, laureata Van Hugen, I get Laureata or Laureata.
Matthew Luhn:Yeah.
Loreita Hinzman:I've gotten Laurecia before.
Matthew Luhn:Laurecia. That was a fun one. That's cool. I'd say everyone on their first try. I'm Matthew Loon, matthew.
Loreita Hinzman:Loon.
Matthew Luhn:That's been my whole life. Sorry, Nate Go ahead.
Nate Hinzman:Oh no, you're good, you're good. But, as you were saying that, though, like these expectations, how many of those do we just project that people aren't actually placing on us? But somewhere in the deep recesses of our mind we're like we're the ones who are saying we're letting people down, you know?
Loreita Hinzman:what I mean.
Nate Hinzman:So. I read a quote earlier this week that said if the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy, meaning that we can become so fixated and so preoccupied by everything else that's going on that we really do lose sight of what's truly important. And that's where our priorities, that's where our soul kind of comes out of alignment to what God desires for our lives. And so the point today is that hurry can be a great enemy of our spiritual life. This past weekend we were at a young adult retreat which was in the Poconos in.
Nate Hinzman:Pennsylvania. It was a great time with about 350 other young adults from across the territory and on the opening night it was really on this topic of rest, which kind of really aligned to what God has been laying on my heart and shout out to Captain Daryl Houston. He had this one quote that says you have permission from God to rest. You have permission from God, In fact, God desires rest in the midst of our weariness, Like that's what he created us for. That's what Sabbath is all about.
Loreita Hinzman:Man, it's so hard.
Nate Hinzman:Yeah.
Loreita Hinzman:So hard, like I'm just a person that I almost fear the quiet. You know what I mean. Like even when I'm doing anything, when I'm getting ready in the morning, I have like the news on, I have something on, because silence is sometimes scary or even silence is deafening.
Matthew Luhn:Sometimes I have to check myself because I know that the three of us are comfortable texting each other at like pretty much any time and, like you know, most of those texts are our friend you know friendly texts and then every once in a while, it's, like you know, 1045 pm and I go to text you a work question I'm like send Yep.
Loreita Hinzman:And we're like answer yeah, Right.
Matthew Luhn:And then we get caught up and that's an easy pattern falling to yeah.
Nate Hinzman:And then I usually respond with some ridiculous gift.
Matthew Luhn:Yes, you are the gift master.
Loreita Hinzman:I am the gift master my phone fills because of the gifts that Nate sends in. It's good Just trying to lighten the moon, you know. Thank you.
Nate Hinzman:So God actually gives us permission to rest, and that that doesn't mean that we are God's not telling us to just drop all of our responsibilities to sleep through all of our alarms and neglect our roles, but rather what he's telling us to do.
Nate Hinzman:What he's inviting us to do, is to lean into him, to carve out space and time to simply be present with him. And what we'll see is, when we do become intentional about being present with him, we will leave that presence renewed, refreshed, encouraged and strengthened. And so this isn't something that Jesus just commanded or something that God created us for. This was something that Jesus modeled himself, and so I just wanted to just share a few brief highlights from scripture. In Matthew, chapter 14, jesus finds out this devastating news that his cousin, john the Baptist, had been murdered. And we read in verse 13 of Matthew 14, that as soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be left alone. And so Jesus Jesus, processing his grief, processing the stress of that moment, modeled for us that sometimes you just need to be alone, sometimes you need to retreat from the chaos that you are in and spend time alone.
Nate Hinzman:And then in Mark, chapter one, verse 32, we read that it had been a long day. It was past sunset, night had come, sick people, demon possessed people, had been brought to Jesus all day long. And it even says that the entire town gathered at his door to watch Jesus heal. And so Jesus heals them. And think of the pressure and the expectations of all the eyes on him watching. Is Jesus going to heal me? Is Jesus going to heal me? And then it says in verse 35, before daybreak the next morning, jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. And so here Jesus is after a long, busy night, exhausted. The first thing he does, before the sun even begins to rise is he prioritizes time alone with his father rather than sleeping in a few extra minutes. He gets up because he knew that this was what he needed deep down to be restored. And if Jesus needed that, then you better believe that we desperately need that as well.
Matthew Luhn:You wonder what Jesus was thinking about when he went off to be alone, like, I always, always have trouble like remembering that Jesus was human. So like when he goes off by himself and he's just sitting there alone, knowing who he is. What is he thinking about in that moment? Because, you know, he has the ability to comprehend, like all of eternity, all of humanity, like, but is he thinking about his disciples?
Loreita Hinzman:Is he?
Matthew Luhn:thinking about his mother? Is he thinking, I mean? But also you know that he like, sees the future, like I'm just. What is he thinking about in that moment? He's alone, he's quiet, he's praying, but I'm just.
Loreita Hinzman:Those are always the fill in the gap, like things that I'm really curious about like because he was a person Like we're his feet tired from walking, like you know what I mean Like he all the things that.
Matthew Luhn:What about your? Yeah, what about bodily things? I'm hungry.
Loreita Hinzman:Right, right, like this rock, is uncomfortable to sit on whatever, my sandals no longer fit.
Nate Hinzman:Well, I think of all this. I have a blister, sorry. Think of the times that, like, I've tried to retreat and then, like all of a sudden, my I get a notification on my phone and I'm instantly out of that. Snap out of it, or like or like the AC, like the room I'm in is too hot or too cold. It's just like so many things can take us out of that place of rest, if we're not truly centered on why we're there and who we're there for.
Nate Hinzman:Just a few other quick examples Mark, chapter four Jesus spent an entire day with the crowds because they hung on literally everywhere that he spoke, and so we read all these parables in Mark, chapter four. But then, in verse 35, it says that evening had come and Jesus decides that it's time for a break. This is where Jesus sets a boundary and he says no. And he says I'm going to leave the crowds behind, I'm going to step into the boat where they can't follow me, and sometimes we have to tell people no and it's amazing how you follow up that that part. Jesus goes down into the bottom of the boat and this is where the storm rises up on the sea of Galilee, and Jesus is fast asleep at the bottom of the boat.
Nate Hinzman:Yeah, what a powerful message in the midst of that storm that the chaos is always going to be there. But Jesus down below had this deep sense of peace and contentment and was able to sleep in the midst of the storm because he had his heart set on what was true and what was right. And so he gets up and he speaks peace. Be still over that storm. And he speaks peace. Be still over the storms in our lives.
Loreita Hinzman:I'm just, I'm imagining like just peace and contentment, like when Jackson's having a tantrum. Like what would that look like?
Nate Hinzman:Yeah, Amen, amen. And then the last thing I wanted to focus on the example of Christ is that he made it a routine. This is, this, wasn't just what Jesus did when he was like I just can't take it anymore, I'm depleted, I'm going to, I need to go and recharge. He made this an everyday, daily rhythm, and it was the rhythm that he needed to be sustained physically, emotionally and spiritually ready for what he would confront along the way.
Nate Hinzman:And so how often do we have to get to the end of ourselves, to the very bottom, get to a breakdown, get to some type of attack, before we start to feel like, oh, I really need to set aside time for myself or I really need to rest. But making it a part of our daily rhythm and routine, that's what's really going to be life giving and sustaining for us.
Matthew Luhn:And you know that if you're not taking that time to rest, or by yourself, like in some sort of routine, you are a ticking time bomb to a bad something. Oh yeah, whether it's a conversation with your spouse or your core officer or a friend, like when you are at the end of your rope and you don't even realize it, you haven't taken the time for yourself. You're setting yourself up for a difficult situation.
Nate Hinzman:Yeah, it's not going to be good, for sure.
Matthew Luhn:For sure.
Nate Hinzman:And so I just wanted to end with some encouragement, some practical tips right, yeah.
Nate Hinzman:And it's all about balance. Yeah, finding some life giving activity that you can partake in to help balance to cope effectively when stress is imminent. Social media is great, but it can also be draining, and so knowing our limitations with that right, and so finding some healthy rhythms taking walks, going to the gym, painting, reading a book, baking some apple crisp, I don't know, playing some music, whatever it takes right, incorporate some rhythms that you know are going to be life giving to you, and then combine that with a renewed emphasis on making time to be present with the Lord each day. And what you'll discover in the midst of that is that God is not calling you to do more. Rather, he's calling you to be a better version of yourself, and that's that's hard for us to quantify as success. People pleasing accomplishment driven people. God's not calling you to do more, but he's calling you to be the best version of yourself with what you already have on your plate.
Nate Hinzman:And so I just wanted to plug a quick book that I've been looking at the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. It's available on Amazon for like 16 bucks, and I love the subtitle of this book. It says how to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World. And right now, if you are someone in a ministry role who is in charge of leading Bible studies or Sunday school classes, they actually have a video series on right now media which, for those who don't know, that is the Netflix of spiritual Bible studies Bible study resources, and every Salvation Army Corps has a subscription to that, and so check out the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.
Loreita Hinzman:Is that overdoing our young adult Bible study on this season? We are not, oh sorry.
Nate Hinzman:We are doing young adult Bible study on October 6th. We are doing man loves.
Loreita Hinzman:That was one of the contenders. I think that was one of the contenders.
Nate Hinzman:That's a good one, but, as I was looking at the materials more, it's more geared towards people who are actively in ministry, and so I wanted to go with one that is more focused on our audience. So we're going with Bob Goff's Love and Chaos on October 6th, but yeah, that's my encouragement to you. I wanted to leave off with just Jesus's words from Matthew, chapter 11, verse 28. He says this Thank you, nate, appreciate that.
Matthew Luhn:Hopefully you listening today can take some encouragement from the words that Nate brought and from Scripture. Today I really liked what is it, captain? Dorell Houston? Captain.
Loreita Hinzman:Yes.
Matthew Luhn:Not a major yet. Nope, you have permission to rest. God gives you permission to rest. I like that, all right. Well, guys, this is season number two. It's episode number 10 in total. We are going to wrap the Plugged In podcast for today. If you're looking to tune in to the next episode, it's going to release on October 20th and if you want to get a head start on the devotional, you can crack open your Bibles to the fourth chapter of Philippians. I joked saying that this has the most amount of verses that could appear on a coffee mug. Yeah, but if you want to think ahead, we're going to talk about life. Sometimes sucks.
Nate Hinzman:Yeah.
Matthew Luhn:How do you focus on the good vibes only?
Nate Hinzman:Yeah, and finding joy right.
Matthew Luhn:Yeah, are you prioritizing joy over happiness? Is the peace of God washing over you? Are you anxious about things in your life? So that's stuff to look forward to. And we're going to have another game to play, maybe a ministry tip of the month, yeah, something like that. But, guys, it was fun. I'm glad we did this. It's good to be back. The final season, no.
Loreita Hinzman:No, just season two. Here we go. Season two Plugged.
Matthew Luhn:In podcast season number two. All right, everyone, we will see you next time.