Squirrel

Join Joe, Kelly and Ashlyn as they talk about the distractions (squirrels) in their lives that can hold them back from living out God's best for them.  

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Transcript

Episode 4 Squirrel

Kelly: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Blessings on Hope Road podcast, where we talk about life, family, and what it all looks like through the lens of our walk with God as we step into our calling as his children.

Welcome to episode four of Blessings on Hope Road. This one is titled Squirrel. 

Joe: Squirrel. She's 

Ashlyn: so professional when she does it

Joe: too. I know she came right outta the gate like that, like the very first episode. Like we were talking about what it was gonna look like leading up to it, and she was like, I. And like she hit the record button and he just was like, Hey, welcome episode one.

Who 

Ashlyn: is this person? Wow. 

Kelly: Thanks guys. 

Ashlyn: No, I mean, in a good way. 

Kelly: We're not taking shots at 

Ashlyn: you. 

Kelly: No. You wouldn't know it if I was taking a shot at you. No, I know. I, I know. Trust me, I know there will be no shot taking. 

Joe: Maybe. It sounds like, I'm mean, there will be no shot [00:01:00] taking. No. 

Kelly: So you hear a third voice on here today.

It's not just Joe and I. Um, our daughter Ashlynn is joining us. She's back from vacation. Yay. Yay. Is 

Ashlyn: it appropriate to yell into the microphone? 

Kelly: No. 

Joe: No, please don't. Just for our sake, we haven't headphones on, 

Ashlyn: please. Are you sure you don't want me to blow 'em out really quick? I'm positive. 

Joe: Okay. Thank you.

All right. 

Kelly: So squirrel episodes four is called squirrel. Cause we're gonna be talking about distractions. Yeah. Um, so we definitely live in a world of distractions. Many distractions. 

Joe: It's an understatement. 

Kelly: Yeah. So, Day in and day out, not just, uh, a lot of electronics or distractions. Mm. Talk about the electronics first.

So going from phones, they can't see that. No, we're not recording. Ashlan just lifted up her phone and it's very true. Phones are like, I feel like number one right now, more than anything else. Oh, absolutely. 

Joe: [00:02:00] Number one. I think it's mainly because they've actually even taken. The place of television. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. People watch movies on their phones, they watch clips on their phone, they reels tos. Right. Uh, every, that is entertainment now. Yeah. Um, when you and I were growing up, kale, it was, everybody sat down and watched. Different TV shows, you waited until, you know, eight o'clock at night. Mm-hmm. Everybody sat down and watched their favorite shows.

Kelly: Well, even just talking about that, like we had shows, we had to wait a whole week for the next episode. Oh gosh. Where now, gosh, you can watch as many episodes as you want and binge watch them. 

Ashlyn: Well, I mean, there are shows that you have to wait for weekly episodes for, but there are few and far between.

Right. There's a lot of other shows that you can binge watch in the, 

Kelly: yeah. Yeah. So, 

Joe: which just kind of appeals to our very basic fleshly needs of instant gratification, right? Mm-hmm. This is what I want, this is what I want now. And I mean, you, it's one thing. I mean, there, [00:03:00] it, there was nothing wrong back in the day really, with sitting down and watching a half an hour episode of something, right?

No, but now you lose. People lose days, lose hours, days. And I meanwhile, I don't mean to say people as in, you know, judgmental because there are times I've sat down. Sure. And I mean, I don't think you've had a long 

Kelly: day. You know, you sit down and you're like, I'm just gonna look at this. And then it kind of snowballs into hours.

Hours. It's 11:30 PM 

Ashlyn: and you gotta be up at four o'clock the next morning. But you've watched eight episodes of whatever show you started when you got home. 

Joe: Right. Yeah. I don't, I mean, we don't have that problem too much anymore. No. I mean, maybe on a weekend or something we might sit down and get hung up watching some kind of improvement show or, yeah, 

Kelly: but there was a time, like we literally had to be, I.

Like aware of it, that it was happening. 

Joe: Oh, you look forward to it. Yeah. Yeah. Like you, you set your schedule up around it. Like you knew Monday nights are, well, I shouldn't say Monday cuz I don't know what, what Monday was, but I know [00:04:00] in our house Sunday nights at eight o'clock meant America's funniest time videos just going on at eight 30.

It was, I think they started some kinda weird. America's Funniest People, which was really weird. It was a very odd show. Yeah. I don't remember that. Esp. Well, it was weird because Bob Saget was the original host of America's Funniest, right? Yeah. So Danny Tanner hosted America's Funniest Film videos. Yeah.

And then Uncle Joey, Dave, oh, that's, he was the host of America's Funniest People. It was just really weird. That is weird. Yeah, it was odd speaking of squirrels. Yeah, there's, there's, there's one that's a rabbit. 

Ashlyn: We just went down. We do that a lot. 

Kelly: Yeah. So, but yes, so I mean, there's the phone and then, you know, most of us have a computer.

We get stuck on a computer. It's the same kind of thing. Some people just go to their computers and they either get stuck, you know, continuing to do work [00:05:00] or, you know, whatever they're looking at on the computer that. They're also attached to that. But you know, yeah, we talked about TV too, so, um, that's like kind of like distraction number one, 

Joe: but know before, I think it was last episode, you know, talking about balance.

Sure. You know, you, yeah. You just brought up the phone, you know, some people's, it's work. It's, we live with those, the, the phones and let's just go ahead and call it for. Oh wow. It's a fire siren. That was really odd. I thought it was some kind of weird low tone feedback, fire. So we 

Kelly: dunno if you guys could hear that.

That's actually um, 

Joe: yeah, yeah. Our community fire, our community fire whistle was 

Ashlyn: follow up. Your fire department whistles going off. 

Joe: Thank you first responders for what you do. Yes, thank you. Yes, you are a blessing. Um, But yeah, the, let's just call for what it is. These [00:06:00] phones are not phones. No, they're, they're handheld computers with the ability to make phone calls.

Yep. Um, but with that, we're, I mean, you're constantly connected now. Yeah. There is no disconnect. I mean, there's no disconnect even with the type of work that I'm involved in, in construction. Uh, it used to be when 

Kelly: you worked from morning until like five o'clock at the latest. Well, you saw people on 

Joe: jobs.

If you had to talk to somebody Right. You know, you had to go to their office or you had to, you know, set up some waste shape or form. Meet me at the job site. Right. You know, you had to call them from another office line to their office. Meet me out here. You went over everything. You have to Right. Go over.

But now it's, you get phone calls all hours. Mm-hmm. I mean, people will call you. I literally was making a pot of coffee the other morning at like 10 after six in the morning. Like nobody else is even in the office yet. I'm just making coffee, [00:07:00] phone rings, right. Contractor, Hey, I need you out on this job today.

Like, dude, can you, can you gimme, like, can you write just 20 more minutes until 7:00 AM Yeah. 

Kelly: Or I mean, jobs, good grief, jobs that I've worked at. You know, I'm only supposed to work Monday through Friday, you know, until. Four thirty five o'clock and people call you 

Ashlyn: during church on Sundays. Yes. 

Kelly: Yep. 

Joe: I hear is ridiculous.

Not annoying at all. Not 

Kelly: at at all. Yeah. 

Joe: So, you know, but that's what it is and it's, it appeals to that instinct gratification. Sure. That's what it is. I want you to do this. I wanted to do and, and notice how it's amped up now it's to a point. Where even if you text someone mm-hmm. If they largely, I'm not saying like, I don't, not everybody, right.

Not everybody's all the time. Yeah. But especially in in the work environment. In the business environment, yeah. You send somebody a text message and they don't answer you within like five minutes. Mm-hmm. Like it's another text message, where are you? Yeah. Or if the phone starts ringing. Exactly. Like, did you get my text?

Like, yeah. [00:08:00] Breathe. Kim Musabi. I've got 15 other things going on. I'm gonna answer the text. Right. I see it just, I'm trying to give you my undivided attention right now. You're dividing my attention. Yeah, so it's, yeah, the phones are probably it. Cause the computer. Nope. I mean, laptops are portable. Yes, there are some people that carry their laptop everywhere, but largely they're not, largely, you're not taking your laptop and plugging it in on your nightstand next to your bed and you're not watching grabbing it it first thing in the morning and carrying it downstairs and yeah, it's not doing that.

And the televisions will. They're kind of stationary. 

Kelly: Yeah. Well, especially now you're taking it off the wall every day. They don't really move. 

Joe: I just think about that. It's crazy. Yeah. TVs when we were growing up, used to like sit in the center of the living room. Now they hang on the wall like a piece of 

Ashlyn: art.

Right. And 

Kelly: they used to be really, 

Ashlyn: really heavy. There are actually TVs that you can get that like come with like pre pictures that look like I've seen those. Yeah. Pieces of art 

Kelly: that are [00:09:00] hanging on your wall, like, yeah. Well, and there's the ones that you, paintings that you can have like the painting that comes over in front of it.

Yeah, that's electric. That's, yeah. Pretty cool. That's weird. There you go. There's another squirrel for you. Like we just totally got off on a, yeah. Anyway. So expensive though. They're really 

Ashlyn: expensive. Just to have a constant. Picture of a painting on your tv so it doesn't look like a 

Joe: tv. Yeah. But, um, what does all this really amount to, at the end of the day, it's not, I mean, in the big scheme of things, honestly.

I mean, I know work is important, but I get 

Kelly: that goes back to just like what we were talking about last time. Yeah. It's a balancing act. It's the priorities. Where are your priorities? Mm-hmm. You know, are your priorities just to get lost in something? Are you getting lost in a phone for a reason? Is there a reason that you don't wanna maybe deal with everything else in your life?

Yeah. What are you avoiding? Right? Yeah. Or is it just that you're really need to focus a 

Joe: little bit [00:10:00] more? Yeah. I mean there's even the occasional, you know, scenario you run into, and I'm. I'm not calling anybody out. Right. I'm not calling anybody out. But there are the people who, well, I do this to relax. It helps me relax.

Right. That thing is not helping you relax. Right. I promise. No, there's no matter what. It's just helping you. Exactly what we were just talking about. Yeah. Not think about, yeah. Yeah. Everything else you've got going on, which actually is just multiplying the stuff that you're already stressed out about that you're not getting done.

Right. Cause you're not dealing with any of it. Not dealing, yeah. It's still not getting done. Mm-hmm. So the stress is just gonna multiply. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's what you're shoving here is gonna come around and bite you on the back end. So I it, yeah, for sure. Um, other distractions, tasks. Yeah. Yeah. I heard somebody say once that the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you [00:11:00] busy.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. And that is something, even if, you know, if you're listening to this right now, we all, if you go to church and you love the Lord, you know your heart is to serve. But there is a balance. To that. Yeah, absolutely. You can't just say yes to everything. Everything. And yeah, do that at the cost of your family.

Right. Of anything else that you can't. And we've been there and not show up to your Oh my gosh. 

Kelly: Absolutely. We have been there where we have said yes to everything, and then we run Yeah. At church almost every day of the week. Like Yeah. And then we run into almost a burnout. Mm-hmm. Where it's like, I can't do this anymore.

Our family starts to falter, you know? And it causes issues. 

Joe: Yeah. But, and that there again, that's that balance. It's learning, it's. Being able to recognize it. Mm-hmm. Because there are times where we're gonna be called to run hard. Yes. It's, it's, and you have to be willing to do it. You do. 

Kelly: And, and [00:12:00] it's, but you have to sometimes only for a season.

Joe: You also have to be, I, and, and it can be a long season. The, the fine line of it is learning when to say, I need to rest. Right. I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna run some more. I just need a couple days. Yeah. 

Kelly: And rest doesn't mean staying on the phone the whole time. Rest 

Joe: is not staring at the phone, rest is not staring at the tv watching eight hours of movies.

Right. Uh, but is, and here's the other thing, it's, I just like everything else, it's gonna vary. Sure. Based on the person. Maybe for somebody, it is super relaxing to just sit down. And watch a movie, right. Maybe it is relaxing to sit down and just read a book. Mm-hmm. It's nothing. I enjoy reading. It's not relaxing to me.

Uh, it, it is just not right for some people. They love to lay down and just, you know what, I'm gonna [00:13:00] take a half hour nap, 45 minute nap. Right. Um, um, Again? That, that for me, not really, no. Has it happened? Sure. There's been plenty of times you run hard and you sit down for a minute and you're like, wow, this feels really, that's it.

You're going. But for some people rest is grabbing the kayak, throwing it in the back of the truck and just go paddle for a couple hours and just get still. Mm-hmm. Just get quiet. Mm-hmm. It's not, rest is not always still Right. Rest is whatever you can do to just yeah, breathe and say, okay, I'm settled.

Nothing is really expected of me right now. I am not trying to fulfill some sort of task, some sort of job. I can just be right for a little bit. Uh, what is, where do these tasks come from? [00:14:00] Well then it's easy to say that other people put them on, put them on us, but 

Kelly: we put 'em on ourselves. A lot of the time it's learning the 

Ashlyn: gift of no.

Joe: Yes. The gift of a no. You need Mey Miny. 

Ashlyn: No. 

Kelly: So, and it is, it is. It's a very good thing, and especially for women. Women put a lot of tasks on themselves because especially if you, mom, mom, they know how to say no. They don't know how to say no. And you really have to try to learn because you want to please everybody.

Mm-hmm. You can always please everybody. And that's a hard thing to learn as a woman, because we wanna do everything for our kids. Yeah. Absolute. We wanna provide for our kids, we wanna provide for our family, for our husbands, for everybody. And we can't. 

Ashlyn: There are boundaries though, that you have to set. Yes.

And I know for me it wasn't even like, want not wanting to let people down. It was feeling bad about saying no. Mm-hmm. Like there was something wrong with me that if I said no, then [00:15:00] somebody was going say something about me or like something like 

Kelly: that. Right. What will people think if I, if I say no, say no.

Yeah. So I have to say 

Ashlyn: yes, I have to be everywhere all the time. And it turned into, All of my life came because I said yes to everything. Right? 

Kelly: It's very cluttered, very quickly. It does get cluttered. It does. It very much so does, and then you get worn down, you get tired, and it leads to a multitude of other 

Joe: things.

Yeah, I I can see that. I can see that. Especially for moms. Yeah, women. Yes. Moms especially because moms, it's the majority. Unless I. It's a dire situation for the most part, when any of the kids need anything in any household. Mm-hmm. It's, Hey mom. Mm-hmm. Hey, mom. Hey mom, 

Ashlyn: mom, 

Kelly: mom. 

Ashlyn: Yeah. Mama, mom. 

Joe: Yeah. When there's, when there's [00:16:00] emotional stuff going on.

Yeah. 10 times out of 10. Mom, mom, can we talk? I, and, and it is just, and I get it. It's not. So I can definitely see where, yeah, that would be kind of one of those from the time you wake up till the time you Yeah. Lay your head down. It's just somebody's asking. Mm-hmm. Something of you, something. 

Kelly: Um, I mean, there are times where I know for me, I'll feel like I'm being pulled in a million different directions and I, I can't please everybody.

And it's like, hold on, I need to deal with this, then I'll come help you. Right, right. Then I'll go to the next person because they all want something and you're trying your hardest to. Do everything, but you 

Joe: can't. So I would wager say for guys it's, I mean,

I don't have a problem saying no. I didn't always have the ability Yeah. To [00:17:00] say no. But I've learned it sometimes. Maybe I've learned it a little bit too. Well, I mean, sometimes. Sometimes there's situations where I know I should be doing something and like, Nope, no. Oh, McDonald, half a farm. E i e i. No, 

Ashlyn: man, you were coming up with all kinds of ways to, dang, 

Joe: thank you.

Tim Hawkins. 

Ashlyn: Yeah. If you could figure out how to work that into like, our daily conversations, when you tell me no, that'd be a lot more fun and enjoyable for me. 

Joe: No, you would just, you would just despise it while you're laughing. Um, but no, I, for guys it's the majority I think of our pressure is, Trying to, and this is probably something most guys don't wanna talk about, but I'll say it, you, the majority of us saying yes to stuff is what we wanna be noticed, right?

Good, bad, or indifferent. It doesn't matter what [00:18:00] anybody says. I don't care every single, even if it's not, and it doesn't have to be at the top of your list. It's not, it's far, far from being at the top of my list, right? But when you do certain things, A man, there's something inside a guy that wants just a little bit of recognition.

We don't need the red carpet rolled out. We don't need confetti and Right. Angels singing as the clouds part. And, uh, light shines from heaven on us. 

Kelly: No, but you want people to take notice, but, and you want them to say 

Joe: something to you. But I will tell you, you, and, but this is the ironic part, and I don't want you to miss this for most of especially husbands.

I, I could give a flip. How many other people notice if my wife doesn't notice? It drives me insane. It 

Ashlyn: does. 

Kelly: Mm-hmm. It really does. 

Joe: And I'm not that husband. If you're listening and you, I'm not that guy that takes out the trash and comes back in and is like, who's throwing me a party at me? Right. 

Ashlyn: No, [00:19:00] you're not.

Let's have a parade. I, Hey, let's take your cake and have a party. Just cause But not cuz you took the trash out. 

Joe: Yeah, no, it, it's not like that. It's not like that at all, but I, when you are a guy and you get up and you go grind every day and you come home and you still give everything you've got to your family because mm-hmm.

Here's the other part. After you go grind, like just in a situation, say you're a stay-at-home mom, okay? You're dealing with the kids all day. Absolutely. Hardest job. You couldn't pay me enough to stay home with like three toddlers all day. There's not that money. There's just not. There's not. I will go jackhammer concrete all day.

Yeah, with a bad back, but we'll go do that. And then the second we walk in the door, the wife is like, okay, I'm done. Mm-hmm. Your turn. Well, just because you didn't see what I did doesn't mean I didn't do right. And it's like, yeah. And as the [00:20:00] husband, you feel obligated to. Right. Okay. Cuz she needs help. Yeah.

Or you come in and it's been a rough day. The last thing I feel like doing is fixing dinner. But you know what? I'm gonna fix dinner. Yeah. If that's what I have to do. And you go, and then when they, when it, for husbands, when it starts to feel like it's just expected, right? Is you start to get in this, or maybe, maybe most, maybe some guys don't, maybe it's just me.

But it's like you get to this place where you're like, oh my gosh, come on. I just need a little break. Yeah. Because there are some days where you just feel like, and you walk in and you'll finally see where everybody will just, they'll be off doing their own little thing. Mm-hmm. And you're like, oh, it's okay.

Well let me just go ahead and walk in the door and put my lunch down and I, I'll fix dinner. So it, but it's, but then it's just, yeah. It's those little things. Right? Those little things, for sure. [00:21:00] But we put that on ourselves. It's not expected. We get in our heads and we just think, well, I have to do this.

Right. And then when people don't recognize it, you get mad and you get salty and you're like, I'm doing this no more. I'm gonna watch you fix your own stupid dinner, take my ball and go home. But we do that to ourselves. Yeah. Largely. And these are all things, those type of mindsets mm-hmm. That are distractions.

Yeah. They're huge distractions. How can I have a healthy relationship with you if. That's the first thing I do when I walk in the door is get overtaken by tasks. Right? Mm-hmm. How can you focus on your relationship with me or with your kids? Right? Yeah. All of it becomes a distraction and actually the need in will will go actually right into the next thing.

The need to rest right. Can become a distraction. [00:22:00] Sure. Yeah. Because all of a sudden it's, and it's funny, and that, going back to what you had mentioned, Kel, the, you know, having these seasons of being busy. Mm-hmm. And we're largely in one of those seasons right now where we're busy all the time, but it, it's just, it's different now.

Yeah. The times that we are in, I, I genuinely just in my spirit, this is what it's gonna be until it's, until this thing wraps up. Right. Um, And that's why it is so important to learn those moments where you say, you know what? I just need to rest. However, it can become that, that need to rest. Mm-hmm. Becomes your primary focus.

Yeah, it can. And it's like, no, I just wanna rest. Right. No, I don't feel like doing that. No, I don't. Well, what does God have for you? Yeah. You're not, I can promise you one place. You're not gonna find it. He said on your couch. No. Won't find, you're Definitely not. Find it. You won't. Rest is good. It is good.

Good. Rest is good. It is good when we are commanded to rest. On the seventh day, God rested, [00:23:00] right. Weird to rest, but it doesn't say on the seventh day God rested it. Before that it didn't say. He got halfway through the third day and thought, you know, I need to just chill out for a little while. Yeah, I'm feeling a little stressed.

I think I need to veg out 

Ashlyn: and to go sit in my safe space. 

Kelly: So there have been times where we have been running hard. You know, people have commented like, I don't know how you do it all, but I think when you have God with you and you're doing what he's called you to do, absolutely. You were able to do it all.

And it doesn't feel stressful. It doesn't feel tiring. You are able to do it and then when it's done, it's like, oh yeah, that's good. Yeah. And 

Joe: it doesn't, like physically you're tired, right? Physically, your body isti, but your spirit is just raring to go it. Exactly. I, I mean, we didn't, little insight to our beautiful family.

I, um, did a boooooo last night and tried to wire up a new thermostat. Here [00:24:00] you go. Blew a fuse in our air handler, which meant we had no air conditioning last night. So my wife and I slept downstairs. Well, sleeping in two chairs isn't now 

Ashlyn: would be a good time for the applause button. Yeah. I can't remember which one.

It's, um, 

Joe: but the, uh, we slept in two chairs last night, so tired. It's tired. Um, didn't go to bed because I got frustrated because I, I screwed up and ended up sitting up until like almost 11 o'clock reading the manual for this after I made the mistake. Should have done that first. Guys don't do that 

Ashlyn: ever.

This is why they tell you to read the instructions before you build the Legos.

Joe: So either way, but finally at like 11 ish, I fall asleep. The alarm goes off at four 15 and literally it was just like, no. The gift of No I one. Yes. The gift of I didn't, but I got up. Yeah. And you go to work and you work all day and like [00:25:00] literally catching yourself yawning all day and you're like, oh my gosh, we have use group tonight.

And then I've gotta get up and go cook men's breakfast food tomorrow. Yeah. And then we have an outreach and then we have, you're looking at it, but I'm excited. Right. I'm not tired. No. I mean, physically, yes, I am tired. Like I could probably lay down and go, but my spirit is raring to go. Yeah. Yeah. I am so stinking excited for everything that's going on, but I have to be aware and say, okay, Saturday night after this mm-hmm.

Outreach, I am probably gonna come home and we're probably gonna have a really good meal and I'm gonna go to sleep for a while. Yeah. Because I just, I'm, I'm ready to sleep. It's been a long week, and then it's back on Sunday afternoon, and then it's a week back on Sunday. Yeah. Yeah. It's, I don't, it's not down.

Yeah. No, not down 

Kelly: for the count. No. And you'll just have times like that. I mean, we have had times like that, and we're living in one right now, and it doesn't mean next week's gonna [00:26:00] look the same, you know? Right. Mm-hmm. So it's a matter of, you take it as it comes and. And you just ask God to get you through it sometimes.

Cuz sometimes you really do have back to back things and that's okay. 

Ashlyn: Well, I mean like every week, every night this week we've been at church aside from Tuesday. 

Kelly: Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. So, and it necessarily hasn't been, the whole family has been there, but somebody's been, but somebody has been in church every night and I know people kind of look at him and they're like, oh, you're at church that much.

But you know what? And I enjoy it. Yeah. When you're, when you're right with God and you're at a good place and you're at a church that you're 

Joe: meant to able, when you're walking in your're calling Yes. And what he has for you. It does not get any better than that. Can you chill loud, quick? It doesn't, and it is, that's the key, which actually rolls right into one of the last things that, um, I just kind of penciled in on the notes after Kele printed it out.

That's fine.[00:27:00] 

Kelly: We said we'd be bringing the comedic relief while she's here. I'm here. 

Ashlyn: You're welcome. I blessed you guys not with a gift of no, but a gift of comedy. It's kind of close to the gift of, no, just a little bit better.

I've been blessing these two wonderful people with it my entire life. And I'm pretty sure they're fed up with me at this point. 

Kelly: Mm-hmm. 

Joe: No, no, not at all. Cuz I have nobody to blame but myself. 

Kelly: Exactly. That part doesn't fall very far from that tree, 

Joe: but no, it doesn't. Um, what kind of fruit is it? But when you're walking rain in, squirrel, when you are walking and what the Lord has for you.

It's easy. It's, it's absolutely no burden, no weight, no anything. Um, but you have to be careful. You have to hear it from the Lord. Yes. He has to be the one to tell you. [00:28:00] Excuse me. Yeah. What To walk out. How to walk it out. Don't lean on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledging him. And he will direct your steps.

Yes. So you have to let him do that. We. I have to be mindful of people who, while good intentions Yes, have a tendency to have a tendency to want to speak things over your life without realizing that that stuff is all almost going to culminate in this sense of obligation. Mm-hmm. Inside of you that you have to start walking some things out because, Well, this person said they see this, this gift.

To me, you're really good at, at talking to people. Mm-hmm. And you are really good at listening to people or you really just, you know, for basic, generic examples. Mm-hmm. Well then you feel like every time somebody calls or has a problem and comes to you, you could have talked to you. So like, oh, I have to talk to 'em.

Have to talk to mm-hmm. Like, you're on call. And that's not if. If you are gifted to do that, God bless you. Yeah. But if you are not, you're gonna go [00:29:00] insane. Yeah. Yeah. So we have to be leery of that sort of thing as well, and not letting people speak things over our lives. What? What we walk in and the personal ministries that we have has to be from God.

It has to be 100%. It cannot be, well, my mom always said I was gonna be this, or my grandmother was that, so I'm gonna be there. My grandfather said it doesn't. None of that matters. No, it doesn't. Um, if I jumped on board of everything that I was told, when I came to the Lord and got all stirred up, I, I would, what are you laughing at?

Kelly: I don't know what she's laughing at. No, you 

Ashlyn: think you probably have to cut this out, but remember the part from turbo with the big white snail? And he backed into the darkness and went to.

Kelly: So here we are with another squirrel. This is [00:30:00] exactly why we called this episode, ladies and gentlemen, 

Ashlyn: squirrel, welcome to 

Kelly: Distractions Happen to this family quite a bit. This family. Yes. I like to call them rabbit turtles. So anyway, I'm the one who has to reign everything back in all the time. 

Joe: So if I had jumped on board everything that everybody told me, mm-hmm.

I would be burnt to a crisper now. Yeah. Um, and I actually did go through e season of being burnt out cuz I was trying to do some stuff that was, it was not on me to care. Um, you come from a certain background, you come from a certain place and people think that, oh, well that means this is your ministry.

Well, right. Yeah. And I was passionate about it. But the thing is, is when you get, and this is just learning from maturity. When you are a new Christian, when you, you are a, especially a new, you're a ball of fire. Yeah. Um, so you [00:31:00] wanna do everything. Yeah. So somebody can come and say, oh my gosh, I see man, you would be really good at this.

And you're like, okay, I'm gonna do it. Um, And we talked 

Kelly: about this in one of the earlier episodes. Yeah. You know, you have a tendency, you hear something and you just take off 

Joe: running there. Yes. At a time. There was a time, there was a time, and when I say there was a time, it was like five minutes ago that No, but, and in all seriousness, I would say you tried this really good 

Ashlyn: self-control with the cheeseburger thing.

I'm very proud of you. 

Joe: Thank Oh my God.

Kelly: Joe May now be regretting inviting Ashland on these 

Joe: podcasts. No, not at all. Not at all. I just, I wish too. It's 

Ashlyn: okay,

dear Lord. 

Joe: Well, yeah, we told you this was gonna be a different kind of podcast. Welcome to different, um, get used to different. Yes. Thank you for that. You're welcome. I don't even know what [00:32:00] I'm saying now. I have no idea what I was 

Ashlyn: saying. There was a time when you would take off running and probably face plan because you didn't go to God first.

Joe: Yeah, thank you. You're welcome. That it's, I'm to remember it's literally like that. That is something that's only shifted like legitimately and I mean like genuinely shifted to where I hear I'd say like in the last year. Yeah. Up until a year or so ago, man, I'd hear something and be like, oh, this is what God wants and just take off.

Yep. And it then there are things, every, he spoke many things to me that I'm watching. 

Kelly: Right. Sometimes get to put it on shelf. 

Joe: Now it's, it's, as you walk, you start Yes. To see things, you start to say, oh, okay. And, and even with this, even with this podcast, this has been what, two, three. Two, three years. 

Kelly: Yeah.

It's been like 

Joe: three years of trying to get this. And every time I would see something else, it would be like, okay, Lord, I'm ready to go in that direction. And he'd be like, no. Yeah, [00:33:00] but yeah, but this, and he would say, no, you haven't done what I told you to do first. 

Kelly: So there again, distractions, Uhhuh do 

Joe: first, but we, and that's something, we're making it into a distraction, right?

Because we're caught up on the flashy, shiny thing that just got put in front of us. Exactly. While not paying attention to the original. So that is, it's crucial to do that. If he says to do something, do it. Yeah. And don't, if it's on your heart and you know this is something you need to do, don't take it from someone who stalls better than anybody.

I mean, I just got an admitting that it's been two, three years of starting this podcast, but. Uh, here we are now. Mm-hmm. And now things are starting to literally, almost instantaneously. 

Kelly: Listen to episode two. Waiting. Stop. I, 

Joe: I told you Kelly does the majority [00:34:00] of the waiting. Okay. Up until like recently.

What did you guys talk about? You'll find 

Ashlyn: out. You'll find out next Wednesday. That's not fair. I'm a part of this. 

Joe: Now. You are. Then you weren't. You were on vacation ballot. I was outta 

Ashlyn: the 

Joe: state by choice. So yes. Distractions. Don't be distracted. Yes, don't. If God tells you to do something, please do it.

Please do it. Take that first step. Yeah, because if you don't, if you delay, You literally a, a delay in doing what God tells you to do. You are literally inviting distractions into your life. Yes. Because the enemy does not want you to walk that way. No, 

Kelly: does not. That's, and he will throw many distractions in your path.

Mm-hmm. That look nice, defer and look good. But they're not. 

Joe: No, no. And that's, that's a really good point. They look good. Yeah. They seem good. They appear. Yeah. Good. [00:35:00] And you won't know it always right away. He, you'll get down that road a good way before it finally hits. Can you chill out please? And you're like, oh man, what the heck am I doing right now?

Like my chair is squeaking squeaky squeaking. It is. It's whenever it rubs up against the desk. Yeah. But see, distraction 

Kelly: squirrel. Yeah, there's another one. They're all over the place, so it's a matter of reigning them in. It is. I don't do good at that. I know. That's why I'm here to reign you all in,

so, but yeah. All kinds of distractions. So 

Joe: all kinds. And what is the greatest to be aware of them? So we're, we're talking about it. We've pointed out the distractions, we've talked about all many different angles that they come from. Mm-hmm. So what is the best defense [00:36:00] against distractions? The best 

Kelly: defense, yeah.

Is definitely focusing on your opinion. In my opinion, you have to focus on God and what he wants you to do. I mean there are obviously those tasks that you have to do every day. Sure. You know, you have those that's just, and he, God knows that, but you need to focus first on him. If you focus on him and what his plan is for you, then you can walk out the steps that are necessary.

Yeah. So in realizing, cuz you will get into that funk that you'll be like, no, I just wanna sit down and mm-hmm. Rest, take for se and 

Joe: take the take tonight for instance. Right. Yeah, we get home from youth group at nine o'clock. Yep. Yeah. Uh, get a phone call. Make a phone call. Yeah. Come in. Like, literally, I yawning, I'm fighting off yawns right now, but I didn't, I I honestly, you didn't wanna do this?

I didn't. I wanted to do the, my spirit wanted to do this. My flesh wanted to go to [00:37:00] sleep. I wanted nothing to do. Right. With coming in here, my flesh like, nah, just let's go to bed. Let's do it tomorrow. Right? Yeah. No in full. Well, the more you push it off. Yeah. So come in here we, yeah. Hit the record button.

Let's get this thing done. Yeah. Yep. So hopefully we can share some of our madness and help other people avoid it. Yeah. So focus on God. Yeah. That's what I think now here. Now here is, here's a question. What does that look like? 

Kelly: I think that's different for everybody. What it looks like for me isn't gonna be what it looks like for you or for Ashlyn, 

Joe: but for me it's, it had to, it was a discipline, right?

I had to discipline myself because I'm somebody that is very easily distracted. Yeah. I get bored with stuff really easy. If I, if, if I look at it, doesn't mean I do have it figured out, but if I can look at something and have it figured out, at least in [00:38:00] my mind, I'm done. Right. I am checked out. You no longer have anything that is worth me paying attention to.

Yeah. I mean, as far as books, sure. Different things. I'm not talking about people, but so, but I had to discipline myself, so I learned that for me, like my very best time is first thing in the morning. Yeah. It's, I don't have to really be to work technically until six 30. I like to get there early, get everything opened up, going ready for the guys when they get there.

Mm-hmm. Um, But, uh, there's no need for me. I'm 13 and a half minutes from the shop, but I get up at four 15, right? Four 30 every morning. Not because I think it's good for me, even though I, it is good for me, but that's not why I get up. I get up to spend time with him. Get up, just start talking to him. I start thanking him.

Go through the morning routine, and once I get done packing a lunch, [00:39:00] fixing breakfast, sitting down, eating, it's time to come in here, sit down, right, pop, open that scripture, take the Bible and just let him talk to you. Yeah, read his word, take it in and stop. Give yourself time to listen to him. Don't just.

Read it and say, okay, cool. Yeah, and get up and go. Let him talk to you. Let him speak to you. Let him speak to a place that you didn't even know you needed to be spoken to. Right. That's, that's, those are the little moments that enable you to get through every day. Yeah. Those are the little moments that are the building blocks that give you the life that you didn't think you could lead, because once you're already, when something already goes crazy at that point, If, if you are not prepared for it, it's already too late.

Right. It's done. You're getting ready to have to fly white knuckle it to get through it. Yeah. But if you have that foundation, just like what Jesus talked about, if whoever hears these sayings of [00:40:00] mine and does them mm-hmm. I will liken him to a wise man who builds his house upon the rock, and then all the things come, the wind, the rain, the flood, all that comes.

But the house was still standing because it was built on the rock. Yes. Mm-hmm. That's for me. My, I, I work on that every morning. Mm-hmm. And just let that, and it doesn't mean every day looks beautiful, but they're always good. Just different levels are good. Yeah. What about you? What are your, sorry. I was, 

Ashlyn: worry about what I'm saying are good.

Um, I, my thing is at night I. 

Kelly: You know, she is my night owl. 

Ashlyn: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I went in the morning. When I wake up, I am not able, like I can read the Bible in the morning and that's, that's fine. That's great. That's all. Well, I promise you, in 10 minutes I'm not gonna remember anything cuz I was not coherent enough to let it all sink in.

So my thing nighttime when I wake up in the [00:41:00] morning, I turn worship music on. That's how I start my day with Jesus because I do notice a difference in. The way I mostly react to things. Mm-hmm. Um, and my like mindset throughout the day. So I'll do music during the day. I'll read scriptures throughout the day.

If I have a devotional, I'll do it, but I really don't sit down, crack open scripture and pray until the evening before I go to bed, because that is when I'm most like, I feel like that's when I hear the most out of him, because everything's quiet, right? Like it's not, I'm not still trying to wake up. I'm not still trying to function like it's, and I find that I sleep better when I do that too.

Kelly: So yeah, I can understand that. You know, mine is my devotional in the morning and then, um, you know, when I like what you said about the worship music, because I don't necessarily listen to it first thing in the morning. But when I know that things are getting chaotic, that's when I'll turn on the worship music, put in my earbuds, and [00:42:00] it's like a complete 180.

And it, yeah, and it totally changes my outlook throughout the day, so it's really important to me. 

Joe: So, because all of it is bringing, bringing us back around, right, to the one that we find everything in. He keeps him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on him so we can keep our focus on him. And now you're starting to understand and put it all together.

That's the whole purpose of distractions. Yeah. Is to keep us apart from him. Right. We have a very real enemy that wants down. I'm not gonna sit here and give him credit. Right. No. But we do have a very real enemy who takes his job very serious. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. More 

Kelly: serious than we take. 

Joe: Our focusing on Yeah.

Absolutely. Some days though. Yeah. Jesus didn't say he comes to scare you and frighten you. No. And make you sit still. No. He comes to steal kill. Mm-hmm. And destroy. And destroy. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's his business. Yeah. And he means to carry it out. And as these days amp up and [00:43:00] as this puppy starts, this thing we call, time starts to wrap up.

Yeah. It's gonna, it scripture tells us it, it's gonna escalate. Yeah. Because he knows his time is short. He knows his time is coming to an end. Right. So he's literally gonna cut all hell loose. Yeah. Trying to take as many people with him as he can. Absolutely. And as long as there's breath in my lungs, uh, no.

Yeah. Because I know what God did. I know what Jesus did on the cross, and it actually says he shamed you. He made a spectacle of you. Yeah. Yeah. On the cross. And now he's giving me that authority and that power. Yeah. No, I'll, yeah, we're gonna make do with the time that we have and we're gonna make the best of it.

Yeah, definitely. So distractions to a minimum. Yes. Focus. 

Kelly: Focus on him. On him first and foremost, 

Joe: and get after it. 

Kelly: Yes. Whatever he's 

Joe: called you to do. Yeah. And if you haven't heard what it is he's called you to do. I. [00:44:00] Take a deep breath, relax and ask him. It's coming. Get in the word. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody, we tend to, and I used to ask that all the time, well, how do I know God's will for my life?

Open your Bible. Bible. Bible. It's in there. Bible. Yeah. His will for you is in there, and as you read it, it's not gonna say, you're not gonna open it if your name is, I didn't open my Bible and it didn't say, Joe, one day you're gonna do a podcast. Right. No, but as you're reading those scriptures, he starts talking to you because that the, the Bible is not a book that is just like any other book.

It's alive, it's living. Yeah. It's how do you get through life? Um, we have a strategy guide. That's called the Bible. And when we know Christ and we make him Lord and Savior, he puts his spirit in us. So now, not only do we have a physical strategy guide for [00:45:00] life, but we have the author of that strategy guide living on the inside of us.

Yeah. So if you're worried about understanding it, if you know the Lord, you have everything you have made up to understand that book. You have the Holy Spirit inside of you. Like literally you, uh, you are set up to be nothing short of a wrecking ball against the kingdom of darkness. Yep. So just get after it.

Stop. It's not about you anyway. It's about him. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's all about him and what he wants to do through you. So yeah. Put the distractions aside and let him use you in a mighty way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

Kelly: Well guys, I think, uh, This wraps this one up, so 

Joe: thank you. It's pretty awesome. Thank you. Thank you.

Thanks for tuning in. Yeah, thanks 

Kelly: for tuning in this time, and we'll see you next time. 

Joe: Bye.

Kelly: Thanks for listening to the Blessings on Hope Road [00:46:00] podcast. If you'd like to support the show, click on the link in the description and don't forget to follow the show to get notifications whenever there is new content.