Plugged In Podcast
Plugged In Podcast
Episode 21.2 - Thanksgiving Special with Chris Molinaro - PART TWO
Ever wondered what makes Chris Molinaro from The Salvation Army Massachusetts Music Department burst into laughter? Well, join us for a ride filled with dog videos and Hollywood casting dreams! Chris shares his love for camp life and his entertaining choices for movie portrayals, sparking a hilarious game of "Which celebrity would play you?" With laughter echoing through our conversation, we also explore the charming chaos of Thanksgiving, ranking those cringe-worthy moments that every family gathering seems to have. From clogged toilets to nosy questions about marriage, we recount our most amusing holiday stories that remind us why we love—and sometimes endure—Thanksgiving.
But it’s not all fun and games; we take a reflective turn discussing the powerful role of music in our spiritual journeys. Music isn't just for entertainment—it's a conduit for worship and personal growth. Through personal anecdotes, we dive into how certain songs can spark profound spiritual insights, challenging us to view musical performances as acts of worship. We delve into the beauty of embracing our God-given talents and the importance of intention behind every note played. It’s a journey of rediscovering faith through melodies that reach deep into the soul and uplift our spirits.
As the episode unfolds, we are inspired by insights from John Mark Comer's "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry," urging us to embrace our limitations as part of a meaningful life. The discussion shifts to living with intentionality and the "unforced rhythms of grace" that Jesus offers. We explore how recognizing our human limitations can be a pathway to spiritual growth and a fuller presence in God's world. Through Chris’s stories and our reflections, discover how to slow down, embrace life’s imperfections, and find divine purpose in the everyday hustle.
all right, we're back, episode number 21 plugged in podcast. We are continuing our interview with chris molinaro, salvation army, massachusetts music department, nate and lorita. I think you guys have some questions.
Speaker 2:I did fire away so I had a question and then Matt kind of alluded to I was gonna. I was gonna ask what was your favorite job you had at camp but, that was alluding to all the many jobs you had at camp. But um, I'll ask something else. So what is something that never fails to make you laugh?
Speaker 3:okay, I'll say my, uh, my like reels out algorithm. You know what I'm saying when I say like the videos that just go to you because of what you watch. Yeah, right now is awesome, I got like a healthy mixture of like great, great um, like nba and and nfl, like videos of just highlighted plays and things like that, and dog videos like populations of dog videos I okay, I I have to be honest, like I was not I was not a dog fan growing up.
Speaker 3:We had cats. I like didn't think dogs liked me. And then Katie was like we're getting a dog and I was like okay yes, as you say.
Speaker 4:And I was really nervous about it.
Speaker 3:But I've become a dog person. I really enjoy seeing a dog and just hanging out with them and Kai's great, anyway. So I think dogs can are really really funny and these compilation videos of dogs doing funny things are just they are they always? Yeah, like you said, I always laugh, always put a smile on what a great answer, though the algorithm that's the answer yeah, I feel like I work hard to try to get us in people's algorithms.
Speaker 1:It's not working, but the, the algorithm that's great.
Speaker 4:I'm always sending ridiculous videos to Loretta and she's like I don't know where your algorithm is, but it's a place I don't want to be. How do you get there?
Speaker 2:But what's funny is on our fridge we have like all the pictures of camp staff and all of our camp staff yearly photos, and was it 21 or 22 that you have a guy in the?
Speaker 3:picture. Yeah, because Kai lived with me at camp with the bubble and all that and it was so cute. Oh my gosh, what a summer. But yeah, I know, yeah, that was incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's a puppy, like every morning. Oh my gosh, I know she's huge.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And she's like my phone back or I have I'm holding her in my phone background.
Speaker 2:Oh, you have a dog. I'm like, there you go, it's right there.
Speaker 4:You know I'm always ready and it's a anyway. Uh, yeah, it's great a rapid fire question.
Speaker 2:Supposed to be fast for me or fat? I don't, because I keep talking. That's good. No, that's what we do on the show is rapid.
Speaker 4:It's all dragged out. So my question pertains to you. Talked about all the different things you did at camp. You're really like a jack of all trades type person if you could have anybody in hollywood play you in a movie, who would it be?
Speaker 1:chris evans wow, that's fast, wow you thought about this before.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, captain I will say I okay, I have a second answer, because I think chris evans, since captain america, has kind of evolved into a lot of other roles and yeah, yeah, before he's successful and um and and doing a lot of great things. I think I just saw he's in like a santa action movie.
Speaker 1:So with the rock, right.
Speaker 3:But it's funny because we want, and katie loves chris, chris evans too and we watched preview and I noticed him and then it came up again in case, oh, that was chris. I was like, well, he looks a little bit different than he did back then and he's kind of evolved into different roles and knives out and things like that but like um. Anyway, my second answer would be um john krasinski, oh I'm a huge office fan and I, if I could be jim, yeah, I would yeah, I'm saying so like and and he was really great.
Speaker 3:If that whole thing is awesome, I love the story behind that.
Speaker 2:If you, don't know if, oh, yeah, look into watch the movie.
Speaker 3:Look into the background of that. Um, love the man, so, yeah, amazing do you have one?
Speaker 1:can you think of that? Off the off the bat? Who would be me?
Speaker 2:yeah, I have no idea, melissa mccarthy melissa mccarthy, that is a fantastic answer. I would watch that movie from suki to like anything she's done. I love melissa mccarthy.
Speaker 1:Yes this is different than like celebrity crush, my like celebrity band crush, bradley cooper like if he could play me, that'd be amazing but I'm like more of the, you know, the jonah hill body figure type, like that's kind of where I'm at. Although he's changed, he's like he's all over the place.
Speaker 2:I know, I know, nate, who you got one. I have no idea.
Speaker 4:You asked the question, I know I know, but I didn't rapid fire myself.
Speaker 1:Toby maguire, oh no that's not the worst one. No, that's not a bad answer.
Speaker 4:I mean, I really like Jason Bourne movies, so Matt Damon maybe but I don't know you got to find someone who's five foot three and a half, and that's hard.
Speaker 2:That's why I went to a movie. What's the Patriot player, julian Edelman.
Speaker 3:Julian Edelman. Oh yes, I wish it could be Julian Edelman, that's your doppelganger, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Can we?
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, never mind, all right. So Nate has a segment for us. So Thanksgiving's coming up, take it away, buddy, yeah man.
Speaker 4:So this is a blind ranking, meaning we're going to give you a bunch of different things. You have to give us one to ten, one being the most awkward, ten being the least awkward and so being the most awkward, 10 being the least awkward and so these are awkward and uncomfortable thanksgiving situations.
Speaker 3:Have you done a blind ranking before? Uh I I I have participated in listening to yours okay, I always give my own rankings, while I'm just listening. So for the, listeners out there.
Speaker 1:So nate has a list of 10 things, but chris does not get to see the list, so he's just again blind ranking.
Speaker 3:Go for it I'm also gonna forget them, so be ready for that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no worries so the first one awkward thanksgiving encounter the unexpected guest who only one person knows. No one else knows why they're there, but they're there. And how would you rank that in terms of awkward?
Speaker 2:so is one least awkward 10, most awkward one is most most awkward is number one wait, you just gave me an example.
Speaker 4:Yes, the awkward or the mystery guest that nobody else knows. So where do they fall?
Speaker 3:So you're like at a family gathering.
Speaker 1:This is Thanksgiving, right, right?
Speaker 3:No, yeah, that's what I'm saying Like a Thanksgiving family gathering. And there's someone there that barely anyone knows.
Speaker 1:So like Aunt Sue, twice removed, shows up.
Speaker 3:I'd say sorry, one is most awkward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'd say 10 because like, okay, you know, all right, I'm a fairly okay guy with I'm taking notes are we both taking notes?
Speaker 2:you take notes? Okay, this is much harder.
Speaker 4:I got it all right. So there's that one. How about the, uh, the mystery side dish that nobody knows who made it or what. It is just on the table.
Speaker 3:It's just on the table all right, I think again I gotta give this like a nine, because the the problem is you're talking to someone's gluten free and most dishes there I can't eat.
Speaker 3:So if it's a mystery dish, the chances of being gluten free are very low. Yeah, but I'm also like I'm. I'm also in being gluten free. I'm kind of picky, so like I know already what my thanksgiving plate is going to look like, and if those things aren't there, then I just have an empty space on the plate. I'm not going to go grab something I don't know.
Speaker 2:The mystery dish from Aunt Sue, twice removed, yeah.
Speaker 3:If she like, labeled it gluten-free, I'd probably eat it, because she went through the effort of saying it was gluten-free.
Speaker 1:And unless it was like super spicy.
Speaker 3:I'd probably be okay with just trying it. So you've taken up the bottom two, so nine and ten are.
Speaker 1:The least awkward right.
Speaker 3:I'm saying this right, yeah, okay, all right, let's see how that works.
Speaker 4:How about the guest who doesn't help cook or clean up and they just sit there?
Speaker 3:I'm kind of that person.
Speaker 4:Oh no.
Speaker 3:Again with the gluten-free thing. I typically bring the same gluten-free meal every time, and sometimes it's a hit, sometimes it's not. So I I try to bring, like this, this gluten-free ziti that I really like to make um, and we've also made um sweet potato, a sweet potato dish, um, anyway, I'm not gonna get into it, but like you're the guy that, like finishes, leaves his plate and walks to the couch and, like everyone's kind of looking and talking, about like a little more contest ready, ready um, if it was at, if I was hosting, I would absolutely be the person to clean up and take care of everyone, like absolutely uh.
Speaker 1:But most of my thanksgivings are are at my parents house yeah I'm one of six kids so the chances, stop it, stop, no, anyway, the chances of the chances of there being more than more than one person like helping clean up, like I.
Speaker 3:I'm not the only. You know what I mean. So like there's plenty of people involved and I'm also super social, I don't get to see my family that often because I'm the farthest one away. So, in those moments where I'm not taking a nap like I'm socializing, so I, I anyway. We got it. Oh, a nap, I'm socializing, so I anyway.
Speaker 1:We got it.
Speaker 3:Oh shoot, I'm sorry, I forgot I was supposed to write this.
Speaker 1:No, you don't have to write anything, but you have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, available.
Speaker 3:So the question was that awkward person. But I said I am that person, so I'm going to put it as eight, all right.
Speaker 4:Because I am that person.
Speaker 2:We're going to spice it up a little bit here. Clogged toilet.
Speaker 3:It's obvious that you were the one to use it. I'm not going to give any more context to this, other than people who know me will understand why this is kind of funny. I'll just leave it at that. I'll give that a one.
Speaker 1:Wow, I hate that.
Speaker 4:When you just feel helpless and there's no plunder in there At my family's house, it wouldn't be that bad.
Speaker 3:But if I was, at the Friendsgiving at your house. Oh, I would be. Let's ratchet it up.
Speaker 1:You were invited to the Divisional Commander's Thanksgiving. He let's ratchet it up Like you were invited to the divisional commander's Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2:Like yeah, he's already made it one, easily a one, it's still one.
Speaker 3:If there's any way to make it more embarrassing or more awkward, I will.
Speaker 1:It's negative two All right, that's number one Clog the toilet.
Speaker 4:Thank you, nate. All right, here's another good one the unwelcome political rant during dinner by the crazy uncle.
Speaker 1:Political rant number two.
Speaker 3:I am open to healthy discourse but, sometimes it's hard to keep it civil.
Speaker 4:Alright, how about the forced family photos?
Speaker 3:I have seven left right. That's the highest.
Speaker 1:I love a family good, good, one of my yeah, so again.
Speaker 3:I'm one of six kids, but my dad's also one of six kids, so, like very, very large extent, and one of my favorite pictures to look at my grand at my grandparents house was this collection of pictures that we took. I think I'm like I said, I'm one of six. I think I was the youngest, I'm the third, so this was a long time ago. Um, all of us in our separate families took family photos and something together, but we were all wearing like colored shirts. It's like my family was maroon and and whatnot and uh nice. And there's this great photo, too, of all the cousins at the time.
Speaker 3:We took this there was a lot there was 18 of us, not 18 of us, I think yeah we're all like kind of stacked up on top of each other that's awesome and took like a nice cute photo and then we also took a hilarious photo and then we like recreated it later on that's fantastic awesome.
Speaker 1:I love family photos yeah, all right, I'm all about number seven all right.
Speaker 4:How about the guest who won't leave? When it's obvious everyone has trickled out and they're just there I will say I am not that person have you been a part of it.
Speaker 1:You've been part of a midwest goodbye oh my god this is so classic in the midwest, like everyone says goodbye, then you walk around, everyone gets a hug, and then it's just like well, we ought to be leaving and blah, blah, it's for yeah, and then another 30 minutes to answer the, the, the ranking.
Speaker 3:I got what like three, four, five, six. I think I'll give that. I'll skip six, I'll give five. I'll give five Because there's you said the Midwestern goodbye there's the one who just won't get the hit and leave. The one that I struggle with is actually my dad. We call the Italian goodbye In this large family when it's time to go. We're not leaving for another hour and a half because you have to say goodbye to everyone and in those conversations it you know comes, you know there's the conversation you didn't have earlier or whatever. So the italian goodbye is the tough one, where you just have to feel like you have to say goodbye. I'm more of the irish goodbye irish on my mom's side, where it's uh, a goodbye to everyone all at once yeah, just a peace out everyone.
Speaker 3:Good to see all of you. If like, jen comes up, gives me a hug, like great, I'll give jen a hug, but like yeah, you've gotten caught.
Speaker 2:In some after bible said you've gotten caught. Yeah, absolutely, everyone, absolutely. Oh, let me hug and then you chat.
Speaker 3:Oh, and, by the way, if katie's listening to this, she'll be like you are your dad. You do irish or italian goodbyes. I'm like all right when I'm in a really situational yeah, but like I was, at was at a Halloween party the other day. It was like a. I said goodbye to the hosts, thank them for having us, but for the most part it was like peace out.
Speaker 1:I don't know if I've heard the term Irish goodbye, but I think that's my style. I like that. Bye, everyone, see you.
Speaker 3:I think that's a pretty well-known term.
Speaker 4:I'm going to be shared with everyone, or talking about their colonoscopy, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Oh geez.
Speaker 4:Something that's just like. Why are you talking about that right now?
Speaker 3:I might also be that person.
Speaker 4:A little bit A little bit A little bit.
Speaker 3:I love it so much I just don't stop talking. As we all can see, this is great.
Speaker 4:I really don't know what these other options are so I'm just going to give it a six and just assume you're saving some of the best for last.
Speaker 1:That's the scary part Oversharing guests Got two more All right.
Speaker 4:What about cooking failures, where the dish is absolutely terrible? The turkey is dry and it's like you've got to put on a brave face because you don't want to hurt feelings.
Speaker 3:absolutely terrible, the turkey's dry, yeah and it's like you got to put on a brave face because you don't want to hurt feelings. I'll give that a four. I'll give it another funny story again, being gluten-free, yeah you know like I only have so many options.
Speaker 3:My mom is amazing. I'll say that right now. My mom is amazing. She not only has to cook for someone who's gluten-free, but my dad's been a vegetarian forever so he always has vegetarian options. Uh, my siblings have been in and out of being vegan and different diets, so my mom's always accommodating for all these different things, and that's a lot. My favorite Thanksgiving memory is the year she was making me a homemade gluten-free mac and cheese. She had a cheese sauce going, had the pasta going. She was going to make stovetop stuffing, dumped the glutinous bread stuffing right into my cheese sauce. My accent wrong pot. She had like four things going dumped in the wrong pot.
Speaker 3:And then just no, and I'm like mom, what's going on? And just recently I brought it up again because she was making me stir fry and I was like oh, what sauce did you use? Not gluten free?
Speaker 1:And she's like I'll rinse it off.
Speaker 3:I'll rinse it off. No, mom, you're not rinsing it off the stir fry sauce. So anyway, would I say a four.
Speaker 2:That's so funny.
Speaker 3:Cooking mishaps at Thanksgiving are common.
Speaker 2:I mean we'll sit down and my mom will go.
Speaker 3:I forgot the stuffing or something.
Speaker 1:She forgot something.
Speaker 2:It's just too many things.
Speaker 4:In our family. My mom is notorious for. I don't have that part of the recipe, so I'm going to substitute it with something that I'm sure will work instead.
Speaker 2:It doesn't work. No, it doesn't work, I will run to Walmart for you, we're not doing that Awesome.
Speaker 1:All right, then the last one.
Speaker 4:What's number three? All right, the last one, sorry. Which one conversations? When are you getting married? When are you having a baby? Can I take back my one? I mean?
Speaker 3:three's, pretty good Three's up there. Actually clogging toilets, still number one Again. If you know me, you know that I've been getting those for about almost seven years now Nice Lined up pretty well there.
Speaker 1:Here's your list, one to ten. So number one is the most awkward, number is the least awkward.
Speaker 2:Number one clogged toilet at a thanksgiving gathering like his. His ranking is pretty. It's pretty good good youtube comments.
Speaker 3:What do you?
Speaker 1:think. Number two the political rant. Yeah, okay, so unwelcome political rant, heated conversation. Number three is the when are you conversations? When you're getting married, when you're having a baby? Number four cooking. Cooking failures Dry turkey gluten.
Speaker 2:Cheesy stuff.
Speaker 1:Number five, the guests that won't leave. So this is the Italian goodbye, the Midwest goodbye.
Speaker 2:Versus the Irish goodbye. Yeah, I like that, I'm going to adopt that.
Speaker 1:Oversharing guests is number six. Just had your colonoscopy last Wednesday. Let me tell you about it. Number seven is a good Forrest family photo, although not it's not forced for all of us.
Speaker 3:I'm all about the photos as well, and you're not a part of the family. You want to join in? Join in, yeah, yeah, I'm in there.
Speaker 1:Number eight is the awkward, unhelpful guest who's not about washing dishes or cleaning up after themselves In the name of being social is what Chris says.
Speaker 3:I will say I Anyway, I don't want to give myself the trouble.
Speaker 1:Number nine is the mystery side dish you see on the table. You're not sure what it is, but it is prepared by someone. And then number 10, the least awkward situation is the unexpected guest.
Speaker 2:Great Aunt Sue yeah.
Speaker 1:Great Aunt Sue. Apologies to anyone named Sue out there, we've really besmirched your name today Many times, many times Many times.
Speaker 1:No, chris, that was great. So, as we kind of come to the close of our conversation, we do want to know on our podcast from time to time we talk about what God is presently doing in our lives, what we think he's currently saying in our lives. Is there something, either through your work or in your personal devotion time, where are you at, kind of spiritually, and what do you think God is saying to you currently presently?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think, as musicians in the church, you know, we often connect our faith to our music, right To music that we're performing or practicing music that we hear. Right to music that we're performing or practicing music that we hear. Um, I think that, uh, a lot of my you know bible verse memory actually comes from you know songs that I've sung. You give me a memory verse or a bible verse. I might be able to sing you a song that hasn't.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean so, um, and that's been instilled in me from from for a for a long time, uh, but there's also, you know, some songs that that have great messages that aren't necessarily scripture, but just you know good things to think about.
Speaker 3:Um and uh, I think you know, as I've grown up as a musician and whatnot I um, I think the transition to this job was a nice opportunity for me to remind myself that these are God-given talents, right, and it's not for my praise but for God's glory, right, and even, you know, in the transition of this job, I still need to remind myself that, right, and I try really hard to do that in my teaching, as well as to remind kids that we're not here just to develop our skills for our own, you know, own benefit, but also in an act of worship. And sometimes a song will just hit you in a certain way, right, I was at Singing Stars a few weekends ago at Starlight Camp, and I had one of those moments where a song just slapped me in the face. This happens all the time. It could be a song you've heard a thousand times. It could be a song you heard for the first time.
Speaker 3:uh, the first time I heard um, firm foundation, he won't that one got me, I talked about that music conservatory, this idea of of uh uh got peace. That makes no sense, I got joy and chaos peace that makes no sense. Every, every time I hear it, it hits me because it's like yes, I don't get it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I have it right.
Speaker 3:But we were doing a song, a choral arrangement of we Believe by Newsboys. Great song, great, you know. The chorus talks about what we believe in and that was fantastic and great declaration of your faith. Right, there's one line in particular that, as I started because, again, this is a song I've heard a lot that it started to it just smacked me in the face, as we're at this opportunity to not just grow in our faith, but we're also, you know, working on our talent. Right, let our faith be more than anthems, greater than the songs we sing. Right, and right there, I had to, like, check myself. I was, like, am I here to show off? Hey guys, I'm a great singer and I can help you be better? All this stuff Is that why I was there?
Speaker 3:Or was I there for the opportunity to worship with some great people and share the good news with whoever would listen? You know what I mean. And I did, right there, I checked myself. I said, actually, you know what? Stop, let's look at this music as a whole. What is the message that's being prepared for us?
Speaker 3:You know, there was a great segment in the middle there of our performance that was about the cross and about, you know, going to the cross and giving yourself to Christ right, and living a Christ-centered life. And it wasn't until I sang that section of the song that I was like time out, let's think about this. And so I try to do that at EM too. That idea of I didn't just pick these songs because I like them. I'm trying to share a message with you, whether it's based on the theme we picked or this idea of the Sounds of Christmas concert being about the birth of Christ, right? So is this telling the story? Is it, you know, reminding us of why he came, you know, to earth and why he died for us, and so just trying to remind ourselves that we're not just doing this music for fun, for entertainment, but it's also for worship. And we may know the message that's in there, but you might be performing it for someone who's never heard it before, or they've heard a thousand times, and it was you who performed it that day that gave them.
Speaker 3:That. That's I keep saying, slap on the face, but feeling conviction, right, you know that idea of oh my gosh, I really just heard those words for the first time, you know. And so that's why we're developing our skills to have a more, uh, you know, convincing um and meaningful performance, you know. So that's uh, god's been um. Speaking that to me, I think, since I started this job, again reminding myself that these are God's. God's given gave me these talents and I'm now, you know, in an act of worship every day you know, helping kids um, you know, develop those skills and it's it's really humbling, you know.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that's awesome. Well, thank you for sharing, chris. So you'll hear at the beginning of this episode. We talk a little bit about you before you come on the show, but the one word, well, two words I think I stole your word, but we were talking about authentic and genuine and these. I hope these are things that you've heard from us before, but, uh, it's worth it to say it again Uh, when we see you teach, when we see you interact, not just with the kids but with people, um, what we said earlier, uh, it's a reflection of the love of God.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a reflection of Jesus' love for people, and we see that through you and through your life. And we just want to affirm what you're doing, and I know the feeling that you're describing, like when you can marry, like your occupation, with the joy and the peace and the fruit of the spirit, when you can marry like what you're doing, you know to those, what am I trying to say? It's such a right place to be and you can feel it in your soul and uh, so I, I love that you're feeling that, I love that you're here and I'm the team and, uh, we just really appreciate you and we're uh, we're just really thankful for you, so we want to pray for you today and, uh, thank you again for thank you for having me.
Speaker 3:I appreciate you guys so much. I know I wouldn't be here without you guys and without so many people, but thank you for welcoming me and making me feel like I'm supposed to be here. So thank you three very much.
Speaker 2:We love Chris, we love you man, let's just pray.
Speaker 4:Gracious God, we thank you for Chris. We thank you, God, for the ways that you have used his experiences and his story and his passions and his gifts and brought that into alignment. Lord, with the opportunity to bless the lives and enrich the lives of so many. God, we thank you for his ministry here in Massachusetts. Jesus, God, for the things that are seen and the many things that are unseen. Lord, just the intentionality, the preparation that he puts into connecting themes and deep truths of the gospel to every form of expression.
Speaker 4:God to help young people understand, god, that you have created them and wired them to bring God glory and giving their gifts back to you.
Speaker 4:Lord, I just thank you for Chris's life.
Speaker 4:I thank you, god, for his willing spirit to just jump in and do, lord, whatever you need him to do, god, and do it with a smile on his face, lord, the joy that's contagious, the sincere heart that's behind what he does, lord, knowing that he never gives anything less than his best, god, because he recognizes that it's more than him, god, but it's you at work in him, lord, I just pray blessings over his life, lord, his continued ministry here in Massachusetts. God, I pray blessings over his family. God, blessings over everything that he puts his hands to. And God, remind him, lord, that he is yours and you brought him here for this time and for this season. And so, lord, we celebrate his life. We thank you for his humor, even finding himself in the awkward situations. God, we just thank you for the ways that you've wired him and the person that he is. Bless him today, god, and just again, we just thank you for who you are and what you allow us to be when we live our lives in you. We pray this in your name Amen.
Speaker 3:Amen, can I just say one last closing statement.
Speaker 1:Of course, yeah, and I'm just saying this right to the camera.
Speaker 3:If you were inspired today to be a part of a handbell choir, I'd invite you to sign the petition that will be in the YouTube comments, to join me in bringing handbells to the Massachusetts Division of Music.
Speaker 4:I love it. I'll sign that. I'll put a Google form out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there you go, thank you.
Speaker 1:Well, once again, thank you for being on the show, chris. If you want to see Chris in action, come to the Sounds of Christmas on Sunday, december 8th, at 6 o'clock pm at the Boston Chorac Center. Chris will be conducting three different levels of choruses, as well as doing a number of other things in the show. So if you want to see Chris in action, or if you want to connect with him, get music lessons at any one of the Salvation Armies that he is teaching at. Please send us a message and we will get you connected to that Salvation Army community.
Speaker 1:We're going to take another quick break here on the Plugged In Podcast, episode number 21. When we come back, we're going to continue our review through the book of the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. We'll be right back. Plugged In Podcast. Welcome back to Plugged In Podcast, episode number 21. As promised, we are diving back into the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. A pod book club. Pod book club. I like that. I feel like we've said book club, but I didn't hear the word pod in front of it. I do like that.
Speaker 2:I think I just added that right now.
Speaker 1:Pod book club. I like it, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in like a graphic. So we probably uh, this wasn't great planning on our part, but the next chapter in the book really belonged with last week's episode yes um?
Speaker 1:so quick recap on the next chapter that we that we read. So it's still identifying hurry as a sickness, hurry as literally borderline, a medical disease, right, um? So the thing that jumped out me, jumped out at me in this chapter. He has a list of 10 things that maybe you can find um relatability in. But here's the 10 symptoms of hurry sickness. Number one irritability. You get mad, frustrated or just annoyed way too easily. Take a look at how you treat those closest to you your spouse, your children, your roommate, your friends. Number two hypersensitivity. All it takes is a minor comment to hurt your feelings. Number three restlessness. You simply cannot relax. You give Sabbath a try and you hate it. You read scripture but find it boring. Number four workaholism. Is that how you say that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think so, that's right. Workaholism Is that how you say that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so, that's right. Workaholism, workaholic Okay, so your drugs of choice are accomplishment and accumulation Okay. Number five emotional numbness. You just don't have the capacity to feel someone else's pain. Empathy is a rare feeling for you. Number six out of order priorities, you realize you still haven't gotten around to all the things you said were the most important in your life. Number seven this one hit me hard lack of care for your body.
Speaker 1:You gain weight. You regularly wake up tired. You don't have time for eight hours of sleep daily, exercise, healthy home-cooked food. Eight hours of sleep, daily, exercise, healthy home-cooked food all that stuff you resort to caffeine sugar, processed carbs.
Speaker 1:Number eight escapist behaviors. Same thing. Here you find yourself in some sort of distraction that has a chokehold on your life Overeating, overdrinking, binge-watching Netflix, browsing social media, surfing the web, looking at porn what are these modern vices that have trapped you? Number nine slippage of spiritual disciplines. And then number 10 is isolation. You feel totally disconnected from God, from others and your own soul. So that kind of wrapped up the first part of the book when we move into part two. So I'll just give it a general summary and then, in a sentence, and then I'll throw it to you guys the solution finally arrives and what the author is saying is that, um, we are never going to be able to conquer the sickness of hurry with adding additional time.
Speaker 1:Right, you'll fill up the time with more stuff exactly the only antidote to this is not to just embrace the theology of Jesus, but to become his apprentice, which means to live life the way Jesus lived his life.
Speaker 2:That's what I took it as. And then he jumps into these lists of limitations that we have, and some of them are really interesting to me because we might not think of them as limitations, but he says Because we might not think of them as limitations, but he says we have limitations, lots of them, including, but not limited to, our bodies. He says, unlike Luke Skywalker, we can only be in one place at a time, limitation Our minds, knowing that we can only know in part, as Paul said, and the problem is we don't know what we don't know, we miss all things. So our minds are a limitation. This one was interesting to me our giftings. But he compares it to the idea that we're always seeking comparison and how comparison is just the thief of joy and someone can always be better at us than at something that even we think we're good at. So, just like our giftings, our limitation, um, our personalities and emotional wiring, we only have so much capacity, um, whether it's relational capacity or you know, anything we have, our emotional wiring, our families of origin.
Speaker 2:I thought this was interesting as well. Right, none of us start to the blank slate. Some of us start with a leg up in life, others of us will walk with a limp for our early years. Generational poverty, non-existent parents in our lives, faith, all those different things, our socioeconomic origins. He says America is built around the myth of classless society, a myth that conceals a deep well of injustice and the truth is, even in our land of opportunity, some people just have more opportunity than others.
Speaker 2:Seven, our education and our careers. He mentions if you drop out of high school, that's a limitation. If you have a PhD from Harvard, that's another. In an odd way, another limitation. A career might be a limitation. He says our seasons of life and the responsibilities that they hold. If you have a young child or you're going to college, you're caring for people in your life who are not well, a limitation. Our 80 or years of life, if we're blessed, he said that's no guarantee, Um, but he says there's no, there's simply no way to do it all.
Speaker 1:So he just keeps going, so he brings up limitations. For what purpose to? He's saying really that, um, if you are not accepting of some of these limitations, you are going to spend a whole lot of time and energy, uh, trying to fill something that may not be realistic.
Speaker 4:Yeah Well, it's defeating to try to be all things at all times and this pressure that we face to ignore our limitations or to press through our limitations, and this embrace of our limitations actually is freeing, because it allows us to kind of hone in to what God is actually calling us to live out and lead from.
Speaker 2:Well, that's what he says. He says what if our limitations aren't something to fight but to gratefully accept? And then he quotes Peter Scazzaro and he says we find God's will for our lives in our limitations. And I just thought that after that whole list where you can become so bogged down with, oh, check, check, check, it's like wait, maybe, maybe this isn't the fight. You know, I like that.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And then we move into like, ok, how, how do we do this? What is this? What is this thing that Jesus is actually calling us to, then recognizing all the limitations that we face every day, that can easily become excuses or easily be easily become things that defeat us and discourage us. And then it's bringing us back to the reminder that Jesus's yoke is easy. It's not another obligation, it's not another expectation, it's not another burden, right, but the yoke is is Jesus. You know us strapping ourselves to Jesus so that we can shoulder the load of our everyday life with his grace. He actually uses the term the unforced rhythms of grace. Allow that to just wash over you. When do you wake up in the morning and face everything that's coming your way and you say, god, I just want to face today with the unforced rhythms of your grace. And so he moves into this conversation about what it means to truly be an apprentice of the master of.
Speaker 4:Jesus, to be with Jesus, to spend time with him, to become like Jesus and to do what he would do if he were you. And I love this conversation because it goes back to this. A lot of people, a lot of times we say I want to be like that person, I want to run a marathon like that person, or I, I want to be like that person, I want to run a marathon like that person, or I want to play music like that person. Or we look at people and we want to emulate their life, and then we think of what it costs to actually become that, to get up at 5 am every morning.
Speaker 4:To run miles To have a strict diet of he says in the book, celery and water, To become a marathon runner. And you're like, okay, do I really want it? Do I really want to do what is necessary to become that person?
Speaker 4:And it carries over into our spiritual lives. A lot of times we say I want to be like Jesus, and then we have to take a step back and say am I really, do I really desire to be like Jesus? Because if so, it's going to cost something, it's going to demand something, and patterning my life off of his lifestyle means I'm going to have to reprioritize, reshift my focus and really just tap into those unforced rhythms of grace that he desires to produce in me and create in me force, rhythms of grace that he desires to produce in me and created me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I love just that. The turn in the book as well, when he talks about doing that means living deliberately or living with intentionality. Um, and then he just he dives into all these crazy things about matt. You mentioned, um, where it says the average guy spends 10,000 hours playing a video playing video games by the age of 21 10,000 hours 10,000 hours and then he's like he just goes into a what could you do in that time?
Speaker 2:what if you had, if you had lived deliberately in in those 10,000 hours? What could you have done instead? And it just is, it's perspective, um, but not to add more time to the clock, but to do better with the time that we have.
Speaker 4:Yeah yeah, there's this, there's this quote here that says um, the definition, definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. But that's exactly what we do in our spiritual lives. Right, we get this vision of what a kind of life is like in christ. We go go to church, we read books, we listen to podcasts, we catch a glimpse of what our soul aches for, one of emotional health and spiritual life. And then in our gut we say, yes, god, this is what I need, I want that life. But then it says we head home from church with all the willpower we can muster, we set out to change, but then we go right back to living the exact same lifestyle and nothing changes. And it's a cycle of repeat stress, tiredness, distraction, and we feel stuck. What's missing? His nonstop conscious enjoyment of God's presence in this world. Then we not only have to adopt the right theology and the code of ethics, but also Jesus's lifestyle, follow the way he lived his life.
Speaker 1:I found it very interesting. He brought up multiple times where Jesus is constantly saying come, follow me. There's an invitation not to just believe the words but live the way. He brought up a couple of different stories from the Gospels, a couple of things that I found interesting. He said I'm struck by how fiercely present Jesus was, how he would just not let anything or anyone, even a medical emergency, a hurting father, rush him into the next moment. Jesus was constantly interrupted. There was two stories. He brought up Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days and then he said to his disciples let's go back to Judea. He wasn't in a hurry. This other story, jairus, is that the oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, jairus' daughter.
Speaker 1:In another story, jesus was teaching in a synagogue when this guy, jairus, literally fell at Jesus' feet begging him to come and heal his little girl who was at the point of death. Again, this is life or death. But on the way to Jairus' home, a woman with a chronic health condition that went back 12 years interrupted Jesus.
Speaker 1:There's a beautiful story where Jesus just took all the time in the world with her, no rush at all. So he brought up a couple other stories too, and it's just interesting, because jesus is constantly saying come, follow me. But he's also, uh, displaying this lifestyle where he is not.
Speaker 1:He's not in a hurry yeah he's not prioritizing anything other than his relationship to the father. Yeah, there's multiple times where he's off on his own praying, or he's uh. There was one funny line where he I'm not gonna be able to find it now, but he was like Jesus basically spent. He waited 30 years to preach his first sermon and then, his first day on the job as Messiah, he went into the desert and prayed for 40 days. You know, he just so, he was like he prioritized his soul amongst any of the other distractions around him.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And so there's really this as we move into the next section of the book. The drive is then really, if I want to pattern my life after the lifestyle of Jesus, what are the habits, what are the practices, what are the behaviors that Jesus embraced, that he's calling us to embrace, and we know these are spiritual disciplines, but he refers to them. Not just he said I don't want us to embrace, and we know these as spiritual disciplines, but he refers to them. Not just he said I don't want it to just be straight religious language with you, but I want these to be spiritual habits and practices and are these, you know, kind of to the point of you're going to get out of your spiritual life?
Speaker 1:or relationship with God, what you put into it, the investment that you make.
Speaker 4:There's a tangible growth in the time that we spend with the Lord, in the discipline that we have to say no to the things that maybe our minds or our bodies say that we want, but to say no, this is where I need to be. I need to be with the Lord. I need to be in the word. I need to be. I need to be with the Lord. I need to be in the Word, I need to be a person of prayer, I need to be a person of silence and solitude and know when to pull back. Just as Jesus himself would often go off to a solitary place to be renewed in the presence of his Father, and so it's recognizing our vulnerabilities, recognizing our limitations, and when we recognize those and the triggers that those things produce in our lives, that irritability and that, all those other warning signs, where can we lean into him a little more through the process?
Speaker 1:Well, that brings us to our stopping point for today. I think maybe it's not a limitation, I don't know, I'm just not. I have a tough time diving into books.
Speaker 1:I feel like I start a ton of books and I just like, get you know, 60 pages in and I'm just like, ok, I just feel a little bored or I don't, I don't know, but I will tell you that this is an easy read. Yeah, this guy is speaking so relatable to the present world and it's like every other page is just like oh, that's me, that's me, that's me. So if you haven't picked up this book and you're interested in going through it with us, highly recommend it.
Speaker 1:It is an easy read. It's a very quick read too, but tons of practical stuff to take from it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and as we mentioned in the last episode, that there is a supplement that goes along with this on RightNow Media that you can use in a small group Bible study setting or you can use it just for your own devotions.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:A conversation sheet that goes along with it and some supplemental videos that can just really help enhance reading through this topic.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, thanks guys. Thanks guys. Another fun episode on the PluggedIn Podcast. We made it. That was a great interview with Chris that was a lot of fun. He's the best Great stories. Really good time Before we go. I want to plug an event or two. We said it earlier, but Sounds of Christmas, sunday, december 8th. Hopefully the entire Salvation Army Massachusetts division will be coming out to the Boston Kroc Center Standing room, only Standing room only Hot chocolate, coffee water desserts.
Speaker 1:The Standing room, only Standing room. Only Hot chocolate, coffee water desserts. The world famous sound of Christmas. The world famous the ninth annual.
Speaker 2:The ninth annual Sound of Christmas.
Speaker 1:Anyways, thanks for joining us today. This is episode 21 of the Plugged In Podcast, and I'll tell you every single time we will see you next time, thank you.