Letting Go of Distractions - Episode 9

We are being inundated from every angle with distractions in our life.  It seems impossible to think clearly through all of our obstacles. 

The KEY to knowing where you want to go is getting away from the past.  To get over the past, you will shift where your focus is in the PRESENT.    Knowing where your focus is will make sure you get to where you need to be. 

Are you easily distracted?  What is your strongest daily distraction?   

It is time to let go. 

In this episode, Don and Justin talk about the distractions we experience (how do you break free?), whether natural or spiritual, and ways to Identify and Separate from what has been holding us back - Are you being tempted or are you being tested? 

It’s time to FOCUS.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Justin: Hi, everyone. This is Justin Olbrantz,

[00:00:35] Don: and this is Don Schaefer, 

[00:00:37] Justin: and you are listening to the Wise and the Wandering podcast for those who know the way and for those who are led astray. And if you feel like you fall into either of those categories, Then you're in the right place. So let's dive in. So Don, what are we going to talk about 

[00:00:55] Don: today?

[00:00:56] Don: Well, I think we've got an interesting topic here, Justin. I'd like to talk [00:01:00]about letting go of distractions. 

[00:01:02] Justin: Letting go of distractions? Yes. That seems like a good one. Oh, yeah. There's definitely a lot of distractions in the 

[00:01:09] Don: world today. That's right. And I know a lot of times in life, people find themselves not succeeding, maybe struggling in life, but they don't realize that it's the distractions sometimes that's causing the issue.

[00:01:22] Don: And that's where I'm hoping today we can address some ideas and thoughts on what distractions do to us, what it creates and what a focused life might be like, you know, and some people have that. Yes, that's 

[00:01:35] Justin: true. And I think that's definitely the goal the agenda for today And I think the title here was letting go of distractions because I just want you to picture something here Real quick and I want you to picture that You're letting go of something.

[00:01:51] Justin: And a lot of times what we do in life is we hold on to something. And we hold on to it and we refuse to let go. And a lot of the [00:02:00] times we are very habitual creatures and we go through the same patterns in life. And things don't get better for us. And one of the reasons being is because our focus is not there, like you said.

[00:02:13] Justin: And we are being distracted. In so many different ways, and we hold on to these things. We keep them close to us, whether it's reading the news, what's going on in the news daily, um, just being on our phones in general. Our phone is the biggest distraction tool, I think, by far in our, in a modern day life.

[00:02:34] Justin: Yes, it is. Yes, it is. And the idea is really just to kind of let go of these things. To think of, it as something that you can let go of, something that you no longer need, something that's. No longer useful to you. It's not providing for you. It's it's not I've said this before it's not producing fruit in your life That's right, but just getting that perspective so that you can let go of it.

[00:02:58] Justin: That's right 

[00:02:59] Don: Yeah, that's so true [00:03:00] because I believe God, you know didn't create us to live a distracted life He created us to have a focused life and you look at individuals that succeed in life It's because they've learned how to place of focus in what they were doing. And like Justin is saying here, like you're saying, Justin, you know, being able to let go of some of those distractions.

[00:03:20] Don: Sometimes we don't realize the impact of things that are coming at us, but we can see people, you know, it's amazed me because it always amazed me because I'll go back a ways, but Michael Jordan, he was 6'7 and he was considered, and probably still is considered, one of the best basketball players that there ever was.

[00:03:39] Don: Yeah, for sure. Well, this guy here got cut from his high school basketball team, and uh, he, I think he took it personally. I think he took it personally, but he went to camps and he played basketball and he played basketball and he played basketball. He got himself focused, you know, he got himself focused playing the game and he didn't allow nothing to [00:04:00] distract him from what he was wanting to do.

[00:04:02] Don: So when he got on the court, his body functioned because it was a focused body and it wasn't distracted so much of our lives. We want this. We want that. We want, great things in our life, but we just can't get it. Well, what is the reason for it? You know, we're probably doing this and that and this and that.

[00:04:21] Don: Because I know one time I, I talked a message and the message was going down the street and having what you wanted at the end of the road and driving down that road. But along this road is billboards. Billboards advertising this and billboards advertising that and in life a lot of times That's just the way it is.

[00:04:40] Don: We go down the road and we find ourselves turning off towards the billboards We're trying to get what this is rather than focusing on the one thing that we want and I believe God Created us to live a focused life. Not a distracted 

[00:04:54] Justin: life. Yeah 100 percent and I think that it's so good what you said about the billboards because when I [00:05:00] mentioned the phones earlier I was thinking of , a similar kind of analogy is that yes, , we're just focused on the billboards and we're, we're driving off to see what the billboards are, but the same thing with our phones, you know, I would even compare, we sit on our phones.

[00:05:15] Justin: Not all of us, but a lot of us. We sit on our phones and we scroll through things for hours a day sometimes. Yeah, and we're looking at videos and we're looking at, we're looking at reels. We're looking at whatever it is, and we're just absorbing all of this information, and it is a distraction. We're not actually, we're not learning anything really.

[00:05:35] Justin: Right. Nothing really comes out of it. I would almost compare it to back in the days, they don't really do this much anymore. But when you used to go to a waiting room and you would have the magazines laying there and you'd have like the men's health and there would be the people magazine and the, the good housekeeping and stuff like that.

[00:05:54] Justin: All that good stuff. And you would look, right. You would look through those magazines. And you would just see all of these like [00:06:00] advertisements, just tons of advertisements. And by the end of reading all these magazines, you weren't really absorbing any of the information. It's the same thing with the phones.

[00:06:09] Justin: I feel like what we're doing , is we're being distracted on, on a monumental level now, because now what we're doing is that scrolling, that same watching hours of videos and reels and stuff like in shorts. Yeah. Is the equivalent to just going through all of these magazines and not actually retaining any of the information.

[00:06:28] Justin: That's right. The distractions, like I said, , the intensity has been increased. Yeah. And I think, One thing I want to address because we,, we've kind of talked about this in the, , previous episodes is the way the enemy or the adversary likes to, the tactics that he uses, whether people want to agree with it or not.

[00:06:47] Justin: But one of the tactics is distractions. Yeah. He's, using distractions to pull you away from your purpose. And I've said before, we've talked about this. Numerous times in the [00:07:00]podcast the podcast we're trying to help people Fulfill their purpose and find their gift and distractions are stopping you from fulfilling your purpose and finding your gift And you got to let go of them.

[00:07:10] Don: Oh, yeah, that's for sure. Justin and it's interesting like you're saying, you know the enemy , you know,, as far as stopping us, that's all he has to do is distract us. We can just keep distracted life, living this and living that, not really having a focused life, never really hearing maybe what God wants of us or any of this because we got the noise of the world going on around us.

[00:07:31] Don: And when you getting onto social medias and stuff. I heard an interesting story lately. It's interesting how you see the best of the best when you look at Facebook and Instagram. I mean, it's the best family. It's the best vacation. And this one guy was telling me a story I was listening to.

[00:07:49] Don: He's seen a family. They were fighting. They had two or three kids. The kids were misbehaving. They were fighting. The parents were arguing with each other, and all of a sudden they got a passerby to come [00:08:00] by and take a picture of them. They were on vacation, and all the women were sitting there with their pearly whites, all with their heads on each other's shoulders like they loved each other.

[00:08:08] Don: And that's what went on Facebook. That went on Facebook. You know, so there's so many things in life that distract us, that we think we're not good enough, we're not this or that, where it's all make believe things. And your adversary, I think, continues to feed stuff. I know today's day and age, because I know, like, I get into Scripture once in a while, and they talk a little bit about temptation, and things that will lead you astray, and overcoming the world, and what have you.

[00:08:37] Don: But, you know, you look back in those days, they probably had two camels parked out back. They had a Tent that they were living in with a fire out front, what were they talking about? I mean, if they could live in 20, in our times, 2023 and see what we could be distracted with, I mean, this is a real battle. I think that's going on in people's lives and it's a spiritual [00:09:00] battle, but it's also affecting them physically.

[00:09:03] Don: You know, as far as their material gains or their dreams and a lot of areas of life, they're having a hard time achieving it because they can't get focused. You know, it's, and it's interesting because you see it in the young people, you know, their attention spans are very short because they're so used to being distracted.

[00:09:20] Don: They want this, they want that, and it's got to be boom, boom, boom. Teachers are having a hard time teaching them because they can't sit still for 10, 15 minutes and listen to somebody because they can't get focused. Yeah, 

[00:09:30] Justin: that's so true. And you mentioned temptation, and that's a word that I think is Kind of in a gray area.

[00:09:37] Justin: I think it actually is important to understand temptation because temptation is also a tactic of the adversary because when people think of temptation It's not just about some kind of desire you have or you know Wanting some kind of food or something like that, you know a temptation itself can be a tactic used [00:10:00] by the adversary, the enemy, because he's trying to get you to feel a certain way.

[00:10:04] Justin: You know, a lot of the times we think that there's just feelings and thoughts going in our mind. And that's just, it just kind of is what it is. Right. And I think a lot of the times, , that's not the case. And when you think about the spiritual battle that we're kind of in, what that What the enemy is trying to do is he's trying to get you to give into the temptation of feeling a certain way of feeling jealousy, of feeling bitterness, of feeling anger, because then once you give into that, It kind of starts manifesting itself and everything else just falls along as he wants as he has planned And you know, especially if you're in the same kind of predictable cycle.

[00:10:47] Justin: Yeah, so It's it's important. I think to understand what temptation actually is because you're When you're being tempted to like get angry or something or to go off on somebody or [00:11:00] to hold a grudge. Yeah, there's something spiritual happening there and you're giving into it.

[00:11:05] Justin: You're giving into it by allowing yourself to be tempted and I think there's a difference between Being tempted and being tested. Are you being tested or are you being tempted? Yeah, because you know even in the Bible after Jesus was baptized, right? He goes into the wilderness It says that the Spirit of God led him in there, right?

[00:11:26] Justin: So he was gonna be tempted. Yeah For 40 days after fasting, he was tempted by Satan for 40 days, but the Spirit of God actually led him into the wilderness, so he was tested as well. So I think it's important to understand in your life when you're going through certain situations, am I being tested or am I being 

[00:11:46] Don: tempted?

[00:11:47] Don: That's right. That's the beauty of what you're saying here, Justin, because it is a tool. You know, I mean, God has created this world just like, as you're saying, you know, with all the temptations and the testings in life, because this is what [00:12:00] purifies an individual if there's wisdom. If you're wise enough to realize what is happening around, because the Bible talks about us becoming.

[00:12:09] Don: Overcomers, you know, overcoming of a world of temptation of testing of all these types of things, but the one that gets wise enough and realizes it because I know myself, I've had a lot of opportunities through the years of people with issues. They've come to me and talk to me and said, Don, this is going on and that's going on.

[00:12:29] Don: You know, part of what I look at. is a person that's really been distracted because God's got the answer. He's the source. I know Jesus, even when he was tempted for those 40 days, he quoted scripture right back. You know, it was, it wasn't like the devil really had a hold on him. And it's the same thing in our life.

[00:12:46] Don: If we connect with God, you know, we take the time in prayer and meditation, reading of the word or hearing of the word. You know, these types of things, they feed us and they make us wise. So when it comes at us, we see it. You know, it's [00:13:00] such a subtle thing out there right now, where they're subtly taking the minds of individuals and getting them so distracted that they can't find peace, they can't find happiness, they're, uh, as far as success, , even the workplace.

[00:13:14] Don: You look at how many times can you find a worker? Because, you know, to work, you gotta focus a little bit and stuff. But they're, you're getting distractions, all this junk into your mind, you're having a hard time saying, Hey, you know what? I am going for eight hours and I'm going to take a project on and I'm going to work it.

[00:13:31] Don: And then the next day I'm going to work it again. You know, I'm going to do this, , right. We've got a society of people. that are addicted to distractions and the devil or adversaries having a heyday, you know, because he doesn't have to do a whole lot. He just needs to distract us, you know, and that's where you see some people that are superstars in this world, not in the spiritual sense, but in the natural sense to their superstars because they've learned how to focus.

[00:13:57] Don: They've learned how to discipline themselves. I look at a man [00:14:00] named Tiger Woods, you know, I'm from young on. Dad taught him disciplined him. You know, he doesn't have to work. He'd go out and shoot around the golf and do great and afterwards go back and shoot another 400 golf balls. , I mean, he had a disciplined, focused way about him.

[00:14:17] Don: He didn't let crowds bother him. Nothing distracted him. Right. And that's where our society, we have a problem. We really do. 

[00:14:24] Justin: We definitely have a problem. And I noticed this because distractions, I mean,, Like you said, the enemy's having a heyday, and he really is, and that's why there's so many distractions in the world.

[00:14:35] Justin: But I noticed this, is that, I mean, let's just go back and talk about, even Jesus had distractions. It's, you know, it said that he had to go, to a solitary place. He would go Off into the mountains to pray, you know, because he had to have that connection, right? There are so many distractions that you still have to have that that secret place.

[00:14:55] Justin: You still have to have that time for prayer. And I think that time for prayer is so [00:15:00] important, like you were saying, kind of planning out your day and, and as far as a worker is planning out their day, but that prayer is a direct attack against the distraction. Oh, yes, it is. Because the distractions not only affect.

[00:15:13] Justin: They're trying to stop you from your spiritual relationship with God. Yeah. , but they're also affecting your physical relationships too. You know, if you sit there and you listen to, you know, podcasts, or if you just watch these reels and shorts and stuff all day and you're watching, for instance, videos about people that are in relationships. And maybe you're watching videos about people that are showing you how to have good relationships. Well, you're still not You're still not applying that to your life, you know, I think there's too many viewers in the world and not enough doers Yeah, I think we need to be less of viewers.

[00:15:48] Justin: Yeah, and we need to start doing things Oh, yeah, we need to start the application process instead of just watching these videos and saying this is what I want to be This is what I want to learn and [00:16:00] it's I understand this is easier said than done But this is a mindset that we have to get. Oh, yeah, because I noticed Especially when it comes to the spiritual realm is the distractions they come a lot more intense than they normally would.

[00:16:15] Justin: And it's hard to have a phone in your hand and a Bible in your other hand and choose one over the other. I've noticed this. I've since. Doing these podcasts and even since becoming a believer I've read the Bible quite frequently and I have read the Bible But I've noticed a lot of the times when I'm about to open the Bible.

[00:16:36] Justin: There's something trying to distract me There's something like I'm saying to try to choose over my phone in my Bible it becomes this hard decision that I have to make and That's that's something that I think beats The distraction is not only prayer, but the Word of God, getting into the Word, reading the Word daily.

[00:16:55] Justin: Maybe starting your day reading the Word, maybe ending your day reading the Word. So that way your [00:17:00] day starts and it ends at least free of less 

[00:17:03] Don: distractions. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you're absolutely right. This is a real battle that's going on. I know in the Bible you're talking about Jesus and everything, but I remember he showed us what distractions were like a little bit when he was out on the water and, or no, he was walking on the water.

[00:17:18] Don: That's what it was. He was walking on the water and Peter says, you know, Lord, you know, asked me to come out and the Lord says, come to me, Peter. And he starts, Peter starts walking on the water. But then he started looking around, and as soon as he started looking around, he went down, yeah, he had to be pulled out of the water, you know, so he showed what distractions does, and that's where for us, we got to say, what in the world are we doing?

[00:17:38] Don: Like you talk about prayer, you know, getting, see, the way I look at life, this is the way I do, I look at, you know, there's only one direction that we're headed towards. There's only one direction. You know, at the end of life, there's only one direction we're going to. So I better be going in the right direction.

[00:17:56] Don: I better have the right understanding. So I better be having [00:18:00] meetings with the director, you know, and spending time maybe in the morning saying, Hey, you know. Lord, what type of life do you want me to live today? How should I be acting? What should I be doing? You know, I don't want to be distracted. So I have regular meetings with you because I realized when I get away from you, you know, I start to see things and I start doing everything I want because our own personal life can be a distraction because we constantly have wants.

[00:18:24] Don: Desires and going after this and that, you know, this can be a real distraction Where what i'm saying to myself sometimes is saying, you know, where do I plan on going in life? And what am I going to allow to distract me? What am I allowed to be a part of my life? Am I going to have some of this wisdom to be able and even if you go more into the bible david and goliath, you know david I look at it as a young gentleman that had focus, and it's like, he killed a lion, he killed a bear.

[00:18:53] Don: He had focus in what he was doing with a slingshot. But I look at Goliath as one that was distracted. He didn't [00:19:00] see any danger, he didn't see nothing. And he was taken down. And a lot of times, we play Goliath. You know, the focus people in society, the doors open up for them. You can tell people that are focused, they're successful, whether it be spiritually or whether it be in the natural world, they are successful because this is a principle.

[00:19:21] Don: This is the way we were We are the equipment, the equipment, and the only thing that really stops us is the distractions in our life. And we have to be wise enough to be able to focus and be able to say, this is what I need in life. Because I know the mind or the soul is a part of an individual, but the flesh has its own mind.

[00:19:42] Don: And whoever has the stronger mind is what's going to rule the individual. And I know in a distraction. The flesh is in control. It is going from this entertainment and this whatever. And then all of a sudden we get all kinds of [00:20:00] frustrated and the clock keeps ticking. It keeps ticking. We all go by the same clock, the 24 hours a day.

[00:20:08] Don: It's the same for everybody, but a focused individual will wisely use that time to whatever direction they want to go in. I know the Bible talks about us having, being heavenly minded, you know, having a mind for things that are above, not looking at all this stuff in this world because we realize that's not taking us no place.

[00:20:28] Don: You know, it doesn't matter how many shows of this or how many shows of that or what event I went to or whether this team won, you know, I mean. I look at sports, you know, these teams and stuff and all the fans, well, those players don't even know your name. They could care less about you guys. You know, they, they love the noise you make, but we get, we get so distracted by things and we, and we make them important in our life where the things sometimes that are valuable, we lose sight of that.

[00:20:56] Don: Yeah, and we, 

[00:20:58] Justin: that's such a good point about, that you made [00:21:00] about the sports teams. And I think that another thing that distracts us is the opinions of others. Yeah. And I mean, the opinions of others, I would say distract us from knowing what is right and kind of what we're called to do or what we're supposed to be because we're constantly looking for the approval from others.

[00:21:19] Justin: Whereas if you have a relationship with God, I think that's where. Your purpose, your calling, your gift starts to become apparent because your focus is there. And like you said, your focus is on heavenly things or it's in a, it's in a spiritual sense. It's, it's in the, when you're thinking spiritually or when you're operating in a spiritual realm, I don't know, we've discussed this in previous episodes, but there's no limitations there.

[00:21:48] Justin: So your focus is kind of dead on. And I think when you're focused on God, and when you have that relationship. He kind of reigns supreme in your life, so the distractions aren't going to get in the [00:22:00] way. The opinions of others aren't going to matter. The approval of others isn't going to matter. The, the grudge that you have against a family member or something like that, it's not going to matter anymore.

[00:22:10] Justin: Because why should it matter? It's just a distraction. It's something that you held on to, right? It's something that you held on to and it's been distracting you. That's right. That resentment that you have, that bitterness. Oh, you want to talk about bitterness. We can bring that up every episode. Yes, we can.

[00:22:25] Justin: That's something you hold on to and it is distracting you. And I think, again, that's the, the perspective is that you have to start looking at these things as things that. You don't need you don't need to have them and you need to let them go. Yeah Yeah, there's there's a focus that you need to have there's a calling there's a calling on your life There's a purpose that you have and these distractions that you also have in your life are stopping you from fulfilling that Yeah, and up until this point It stopped you from fulfilling it.

[00:22:56] Justin: So the idea is to let it go and to move on and to [00:23:00] let it pass away. And I think the Bible talks about that as the renewing of your mind. And I think part of renewing your mind is to change what you allow to distract you. Because you're constantly, you're constantly changing, you're making it new. And by making it new, you're looking at things objectively every day and saying, what is actually What is productive to me?

[00:23:26] Justin: Right. My habits. What, what is actually productive to me and what is actually stopping me from doing what I want to do? That's right. And I think when you focus on what you want to do, you can start to understand what you were called to do. Yep. Because when you focus on just you and you understand, I mean, not in a selfish sense, but if you, if you focus on what you actually want and desire in your life and you have that relationship with God.

[00:23:49] Justin: Mm. Well. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. That's right And I think that's what you have to focus on and when you do focus when you do [00:24:00] get that focus and you have that Discipline because there needs to be a discipline there when you have that discipline the devil's not going to stand a chance 

[00:24:08] Don: No, no, he's not, you know And that's where a lot of times too like you were saying just and talking about all the things See a lot of times the Blessing of life is living an uncluttered life and distractions can become clutter.

[00:24:21] Don: I know myself a year ago, we had to move out of a place that we lived in. We lived there for about 10 years. We had to take, go through all of our stuff, you know, and we had to get rid of stuff and we did, and, but there was such a refreshing because I mean, we had all this stuff. See, what happens a lot of times in life is we store up treasures on earth.

[00:24:43] Don: The Bible says we need to store them up in heaven, but we just, we store up treasures on earth and they fill up our whole house, you know, and yeah, we love every item we have, but we can't function the way we could really function. And, but then when we get to a point where we have to do something about them and we [00:25:00] remove these things, there's a certain freedom that we have and it's free.

[00:25:04] Don: I know I worked with a guy one time that he went through his whole house. He took his whole attic up in his house, took everything out of it. Got rid of all of it, had rummage sales, all the stuff, thrift store, his garage, everything. He had one closet in his house, and he said anything that they didn't have a spot in the house for, they'd put in that closet, and once a year he'd clean out that closet.

[00:25:26] Don: You know, but he was Totally free of stuff because so many times people hang on to this, hang on to that, but a lot of times distractions, clutter, all this stuff, you just hang on to all this stuff, and you're not really free to move. And I know the Bible says, , we don't lay up our treasures. On earth we lay up our treasures up in heaven.

[00:25:46] Don: So we need to be free of this. And that's where the Bible says, he who the sun sets free is free indeed. And I believe that he can free us from the distractions of life. The things that are cluttering up our thought process [00:26:00] many areas of our life and allow us to be the people we were designed to be.

[00:26:04] Don: And again, you know, our adversary, he doesn't have to get our heart. That's all he has to do is distract us. If he can get us distracted in life, we can live a life without God. And we'll go to a place someday and find ourselves living another life without God, because this is the time. This is a time we need to.

[00:26:23] Don: Really focus on what's important in life, you know, I mean I can have this I got an autographed football That was autographed by the green bay packers when they won the super bowl When they won the super bowl back in I forget what year that was anymore, around 2011 or something like that Yeah, but they won the super.

[00:26:41] Don: I got this thing here. See this is this could be a treasure. I mean But this here is going to mean absolutely nothing. You know, as years go by, I'm going to be gone. This is just going to be a foot, this is going to be a piece of my life. But if I can do, like the Bible says, a kind deed, if I can help somebody, if I can encourage [00:27:00] somebody, these are treasures.

[00:27:01] Don: You know, and a lot of times we get so distracted by wanting possessions in our life. You know, and we've got. That stuff on all over our house, this and that. And we're doing different things, but what does it mean? It means absolutely nothing. And so we sit there and say, you know, I don't have a piece of my heart.

[00:27:19] Don: You know, I don't feel loved. I don't feel none of this stuff because that football doesn't make me feel loved. And that football doesn't put peace in my heart. People do, you know, and that's where God created us to serve one another. And that's where we find that. And when we do that. We put treasures up in heaven, and I think we get interest on it too, but we get treasures up in heaven that we have something to go for.

[00:27:42] Don: So many times people want to have a big account, 401k or whatever, , they give up their whole lives. What are you willing to give up your whole life for rather than doing things and reaching out to other people? Someday it's all going to be gone because you can't take that stuff with you. My dad used to say, you don't.

[00:27:59] Don: [00:28:00] See, armored trucks going following horses to the cemetery, you know, you can't take your, can't take your money with you. So you better be able to use your time and your monies and everything wisely and don't get distracted on where you're actually 

[00:28:13] Justin: going. Yeah. Because you need to you need to make the best use of your time.

[00:28:18] Justin: Like you're saying, we only have so much time. We only have so much of it. So the distractions in our life constantly keep us away from making the best use of our time. That's right. And there are these things that are basically like, , I would call them de stressors. There's these de stressors out there.

[00:28:36] Justin: They have the appearance like they're made to take some stress away from you. Yeah. But they're Also distractions, for instance, like video games, you know, these are, these are touchy topics, but for instance, video games, you know, and stuff like that. They're, meant to pull stress away from you, but they're actually distractions.

[00:28:57] Justin: Like you're talking about treasures. I mean, we hold [00:29:00] these things in our life as treasures. The video games we have, the, the ranking that I have in these games or the trophies, whatever I have. My football, right. And does it mean anything? No, the, the alcohol, right. And for just symbolism for the treasures that we have, somebody who likes to drink a lot, we have these treasures.

[00:29:19] Justin: They are distractions. They are. You're being distracted. In a spiritual sense, you're being tempted to give in to the drink. You're, you're being tempted. When I say tempted, I mean, temptation as to entice you to solicit, to provoke you to sin. Right. And we've talked about sin before. It's just kind of doing the wrong thing, right?

[00:29:43] Justin: Yeah. The temptation is to get you to sin. So you're being tempted to drink, just like when you go to the store and you buy. The bottle of whatever drink it is. And on the front of the store, it usually says the name, but then it says the name and then it [00:30:00] says, and wine and spirits, right? A little interesting.

[00:30:04] Justin: Right. But you're being tempted to give into that. And I think just like with the video games, I mean, you're, you're spending to make the best use of your time . I don't think. Video games are making the best use of your time. I think there are people, and there's going to be people that are argue with me to the, this is a hill that people are going to die on.

[00:30:25] Justin: And I get it. There's people that are making millions of dollars, but are there really? enough people making that much money that everybody should be playing video games. So what I'm saying is that they, there's good things that de stress you. They take away some of your stress, but they're also distractions keeping you from focusing, from focusing on putting real productive action into your life and changing things and changing habits, addictions that will give you a.

[00:30:53] Justin: Lifelong lasting impact. That's right. Rather than just avoiding them and focusing on something that just de stresses [00:31:00] you temporarily. Yeah, 

[00:31:01] Don: yeah, that is so true. That's so true. And we just seem to gravitate to stuff like that because we think this is the answer. But in the truth of the matter, God is the only answer for all of this stuff.

[00:31:12] Don: And with all these distractions, we're being kept from it. But there's another area, Justin, I wanted to touch on a little bit is, um, where distraction really has gotten a hold of our society is worry. You know, people worrying about, you know, where their The Bible says that, you know, you look at the birds of the air and the flowers of the field.

[00:31:32] Don: You know, the birds are taken care of. They don't worry about their food. The food is always there. 

[00:31:36] Justin: Tomorrow we'll, we'll, uh,, worry 

[00:31:37] Don: about itself. That's right. You know, and, and like the, yeah, the, of the flowers and all this stuff, God takes care of all that stuff. So what do we say when we worry? Well, we've been really distracted.

[00:31:48] Don: We've gotten distracted thinking that there's something that we can do about this sort of thing, that God is no source and God isn't going to take care of us. And this here is a little controversial too, but [00:32:00] I, um, you know, you talk about global warming. I'm sitting there, what the heck is this? Are we saying that mankind can control the world?

[00:32:09] Don: Mankind can control the seasons, mankind can control what's going to be happening here and all that. Or is there possibly God that takes control of everything, that says that if we cast our cares upon Him, He will care for us, He will take care. It's amazing how much fear that's in this world. Because of people that are distracted people who are distracted knowing where their source comes from where they're The savior that loves them that wants to care for them that created a world for us to live in And i'm supposed to worry about this and that and this and that you know, and we're all going to the same place.

[00:32:47] Don: It's just a matter of how fast we get there. But you know, what am I trying to do here? Am I, you know, living a life where I'm not, not really free. I don't have any peace in my heart because I'm worried if I'm going to have food in five [00:33:00] years or you know, that the electricity is going to be turned off or God forbid, but you know, what type of heart?

[00:33:07] Don: And I say to myself, you know what? The only thing I need to be concerned about is my relationship with my king and my source. And he says he's going to take care of me. Whatever happens, happens. I'm going to live that, but I'm not going to live a life of fear. And I'm not going to let the distractions around me create worries and fear inside of me.

[00:33:25] Don: I am going to live life to the. Fullest and the people that struggle like you talk about alcohol. You talk about a lot of these. This is trying to Take care of the issues of distractions in their life. You know, they have all this anxiety They have these mental anguishes They have all this stuff going on and the only release they have Is in the alcohol or in the whatever games they're playing and this and that Escapism.

[00:33:51] Don: Just like, too, I ran across a lady many years ago, but she said she lived in novels. You know, and she, and these were like romance novels, but [00:34:00] this lady who lived in novels, she wanted to escape her life. Every time she picked up a book, she started reading, and all of a sudden, her life was gone. She was in the book.

[00:34:08] Don: She was in, she was escaping. This is just a distraction. You know, as soon as she closed that book and put it on the shelf and had a couple days without a book, she was living her life. And her life was not what she wanted, and she didn't have any peace, or none of this stuff, because only God can give that to us.

[00:34:24] Don: And that's where a lot of the worries and anxieties, and there's all kinds of, symptoms, all kinds of characteristics that happen to an individual that has this happening in their life, because nobody wants to go through stuff like that. You know, we got all kinds of medications and all that, trying to, you know, take care of the pain, but God says, I will take care of that pain.

[00:34:44] Don: I'll take care of it. Worrying 

[00:34:45] Justin: is something that I think is that we have a culture of worrying. Oh, we sure do. I like to think of worrying as kind of like sitting in a rocking chair. And you're just going back and forth, and you're going back and forth in your head. And you think you're actually [00:35:00] going somewhere.

[00:35:00] Justin: , but you're not actually going anywhere. You're just rocking back and forth. And it's not, , you're not making any kind of progress. You're not making any kind of gains. You're just stuck in one spot. Oh yeah. I think. That is something, I mean, we talked about fear in a previous episode.

[00:35:18] Justin: I think that's something that kind of, , comes from worrying, but the distractions, , worrying is definitely a distraction, I think, because, it, it's rooted in fear. So, I mean, just like, You know, it's kind of strange to me that we have 24 hour news cycles, you know, it is kind of strange You know, there once was a time where we didn't have the news wasn't on 24 hours a day just running stories you know, and you have to kind of wonder why that is and and by design why that happens and 

[00:35:55] Justin: it's constantly pumping worry into people. I mean, it's kind of [00:36:00] hard to say that you can you could stop being distracted by something that's making you worry because you'll just go look somewhere else and find another reason to worry. So you have to find another reason to do the opposite of worry, which I think is trust.

[00:36:17] Justin: You have to, like you're saying, develop that relationship when you trust in God, when you trust that his will, his plan for you is going to work itself out. Worrying. It's going to be useless worrying won't even be in your vocabulary anymore because you understand that Everything is always gonna work itself out.

[00:36:38] Justin: He's always gonna be working in the midst and There's always gonna be a plan for you. There's gonna be a hope a future a plan right and I think it's again letting go of things is hard. Letting go of things is really hard. I'm, I I'm not perfect. I have a dark [00:37:00] past as well. You know, when it comes to addiction, substance abuse, stuff like that.

[00:37:05] Justin: So I understand this stuff. I, it's Me just preaching it, talking about the Bible, talking about having a relationship with God, just seems like it's so easy. Yeah, it does take time. Oh, yeah, but relationships take time. Yeah, and relationships take effort and relationships take action. It's not just wanting something.

[00:37:27] Justin: It's actually doing it. It's putting in the It's, it's putting the steps together, putting a plan together and not just saying, Hey God, I want you in my life, but taking the time out of your day. To, to plan for that, taking the, taking the time to, to read the word, taking the time to study the Bible maybe, taking the time just to pray, like you're saying, that secret place.

[00:37:51] Justin: It has to be a secret place because it has to be away from the distractions in your life. And that's why I think that Letting go [00:38:00] of those things is breaking yolks. . It's breaking strongholds. It really is. It's it's it's more than just letting go of distractions You're you're getting rid of things that are holding you down in your life Yeah, but it's the idea of looking at that at it that way that we are simply just letting go We're moving on to something else.

[00:38:19] Justin: This is no longer something that I am associated with. I am detaching myself from this I no longer Right, 

[00:38:27] Don: right. Yeah, that's, that's good, Justin. You know, because it is true. You know, we need to protect ourselves. I know the Bible talks a little bit about armoring ourselves up. You know, we, when you get into reading the Word of God, you get into praying, you get into listening to good podcasts, and, uh, and the sort, what happens is you, You develop an armor to protect yourself and once you get distracted, you know, you get yourself into trouble And there's a couple examples i'd like to share with you.

[00:38:55] Don: One was uh solomon in the bible Okay, he became the first [00:39:00] king of israel And he didn't want He, uh, he didn't want, to be, live a long life and become rich and all that. But he wanted to be able to serve the people and have a connection with God. So God blessed him with a long life and the riches.

[00:39:14] Don: And so he built the temples, he built everything in Israel. I know they said the Queen of Sheba came to visit him because she didn't believe what they were telling her. And she said the half hasn't even been told because he set everything in order. As far as his servants, as far as, you know, all the gold, I mean, they talked about the tons of gold that came.

[00:39:33] Don: It was just a perfect kingdom, the way he treated all the servants and stuff. But Solomon got distracted. See, Solomon, the Bible says, had 700 wives and 300 concubines. So he had 1, 000 women in his life. Yeah. And that is a distraction. And he was 

[00:39:54] Justin: the wisest man who ever lived. Yeah. Yeah. He 

[00:39:57] Don: was wise. And that's where you, you know, you look at [00:40:00] Solomon at the end of his life, he was distracted.

[00:40:03] Don: And that's where our lives, we got to make sure we don't get distracted. You know, we couldn't have an understanding of God. And we can, like Justin was saying, the wisest man on earth can get distracted. We can get distracted too. We need to place an armor upon us. And it's amazing. How distraction can destroy things, because I know I remember, , this is going back in my day, there was a boxer called Muhammad Ali.

[00:40:29] Don: He floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee. And he had a rope a dope and stuff. He had all this stuff going for him. So, or I am the greatest, you know, what he did to his He distracted them. He got into their heads. You know, they couldn't focus like they should have been focused in a lot of these fights.

[00:40:46] Don: He won. You know, was he the greatest fighter? I don't know, but he certainly was good at distracting. And that's where our adversary, I think, is the same. I think a lot of times he does the Ropa Dopa. Around us and we don't even know it and he [00:41:00] floats like a butterfly stings like a bee, you know And that's where I think if we don't armor ourselves up, And get wise enough to realize how we need to protect ourselves from those distraction as Justin mentioned earlier You know the phones and all the different things we get ourselves into and we're letting our young people, you know As we get older we need to You share this with our young people, get some type of order here, because I think some of these areas because I read this, I don't know if this is true or not, but they're saying like China doesn't even let their kids, do some of the stuff that was is being produced in China's coming to the United States, don't even let their kids get involved in it, because it's by design, it's by design to control, you know, to control a nation, control the thought process and distract a nation.

[00:41:47] Don: And that's where we need to wise up. a little bit and realize that, you know, we have to let go of these distractions in our life and in our personal lives. And then if we can help others just to open up their [00:42:00] eyes, you know, and that's where Jesus says, I am the light of the world because there is a spiritual darkness.

[00:42:05] Don: People don't see a lot of times the effects. of all of this that's coming at them right now and how addicted they are to all this. I'm saying to myself, if I was in a room without nothing, how would I react to that? Would I go out of my mind? Right. Because I'm so used to being distracted by things, you know, give me a radio, give me a TV, whatever it might be, or some books or whatever.

[00:42:26] Don: I need something. Don't let me sit in a room all by myself because I need to be distracted, you know, and, uh, you know, but years ago, people, that's the way life was. They weren't distracted. They had a candle. Yeah, they had a candle, you know, and sat there at nighttime. They went to bed, you know, because they couldn't do a 

[00:42:42] Justin: lot more.

[00:42:42] Justin: And now we have to worry about UFOs and, you know, these debates that we're having constantly. And I think it gets, it has to get to a point where It's not so much the debates that we need to have or that we don't want to have. We have to understand the underlying problem [00:43:00]is there's just too many distractions.

[00:43:02] Justin: So before we can start worrying about these debates about certain things, let's start minimizing the distractions as a whole before we just throw more gasoline into the fire and just keep adding to it. We'll talk about things later when we start attacking the root of the problem. And I think, having said all this, What are some good suggestions you would give people to avoid distractions in their lives, or to maneuver 

[00:43:30] Don: around them, I guess?

[00:43:31] Don: Yeah, well, I think, you know, Justin, myself, you know, hopefully we address what distractions are. I would suggest that people would start to really look and see once, you know, what is a distraction? You know, maybe have some time with God and say, Lord, what You know, we're having a business meeting here this morning.

[00:43:49] Don: You know, what, what is the distractions? What is it that keeps me from focusing in my life? You know, whether it be spiritual or even a natural thing a career or something in my life [00:44:00] Help me to get a focus because I think once we can see the distractions Then we can start dealing with them. We can start make put a list together distraction distraction Maybe list everything you do.

[00:44:11] Don: Is this helping me to stay focused? Or is this a distraction? 

[00:44:14] Justin: Yeah, what's, like I was saying before, , what's tempting me and what's testing me, what's coming from God and what's not from God. So like you're saying, I agree with that a hundred percent. You should put,, you should go to God first. Yeah.

[00:44:26] Justin: You should plan the day with a focus in mind and then go to God first. Yeah. And I also think that you should. Learn to be content in a sense that you should wake up and maybe even end the day Recognizing the blessings in your life as being sufficient for you Right, not that you need to have more not that you need to compare or not allowing Yeah for you know for jealousy for the you know For that to creep in and for you to be tempted to give in to being jealous and bitter but recognizing the blessings in your life [00:45:00] as sufficient.

[00:45:01] Don: Right. Right. That's good, Justin. 

[00:45:03] Justin: And also set aside time for things that are important to you. Not just the, you know, not just the, the treasures like we were talking about, but things that are truly important to you, things that you'd neglect. Cause I think there's a lot of things that are happening.

[00:45:18] Justin: Maybe it's spiritual, maybe it's just natural, but , there's ideas that come to your mind. There's things that. You know, maybe there's just things that pop into your head that you constantly ignore, and then you get distracted by doing something else that maybe you could be paying attention to, things that maybe are hobbies, or maybe there's things that you've wanted to try or wanted to learn that you've been kind of keeping yourself from doing or distractions have been keeping yourself from doing.

[00:45:43] Justin: So setting aside some time and then being fully present when you set aside that time, you know, just to make sure that you rid yourself of any Possible distractions. That's right. Turn off your phone. Basically. Yes. 

[00:45:57] Don: I hope that you and I didn't do some damage here, [00:46:00] Justin You know because I think there's a there's a light that sometimes shines and sometimes the spoken word is very Important in the you know faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, you know and a lot of with a spoken word, and I don't think we have enough of that in our society today, where people speak out on topics like we're talking about here on this podcast.

[00:46:23] Don: And I know, you know, with that focus, it's up to the person. , people make decisions. On what they want to do you can hear good things and you can say well that was good You know, I enjoyed it, you know stories were good and all that stuff, but unless you make decisions Nothing happens and the word decide in the original means cut off You know cut off from doing anything But you know and that's where I hope you know in a podcast like this that decisions are being made That people are saying you know what I?

[00:46:52] Don: I'm going to look at my life and I'm going to see if really distractions are controlling me or you know Maybe there is something I really need to [00:47:00] do to stay focused In what I go after because you see so much being sold to people, you know All these different plans and everything, you know, but people never follow them through because there's too many distractions Yeah, for sure It's just a crazy world, but you know It can be a lot better that better than that and I believe Jesus Christ came to give us that life and if we can grab onto it and get our focus where it needs to be That he'll lead us through, you know He created us as sheep very unruly But he can direct us and he can guide us and he's got something for each and every one of us If we can get ourselves focused in the right direction.

[00:47:37] Justin: Yes, 

[00:47:38] Don: because we're in a, we're in a position actually, if a person can be focused, you won't have any competition. You know, a lot of people that are successful in life and you say, wow, this guy is great. Well, you know, if you can, it doesn't matter, your skills could not, maybe not to be as great as other people, but if you can get focused.

[00:47:54] Don: You won't have much competition because most people do not most people are distracted They're too distracted [00:48:00] to succeed even in sports some of these players, you know They're not maybe the skill but they do so good because they are focused on what they do So a lot of areas of life, there is no competition if you're focused on what?

[00:48:13] Don: You need to do 

[00:48:14] Justin: in life. Yeah, and I think it comes from a book. I don't remember what book it is, but it says, What you focus on expands. Yeah, that's good. And that's a hundred percent true. Yeah. So what are you focusing on? I know, I know. Versus what's distracting you. What are you focusing on? Cause that's what's going to expand.

[00:48:29] Justin: That's right. So I think just, it's important , to be, very careful about where you put your 

[00:48:33] Don: focus. That's right. I'm focusing on doing a good podcast. Just, 

[00:48:38] Justin: I think we're doing a good job. Well, I think that wraps it up 

[00:48:41] Don: for today. This was a good one, Justin. 

[00:48:44] Justin: I think so too. Hey, we're glad you guys found your way here today, and we hope you can join us again next week for another good word.

[00:48:53] Justin: Until then, stay 

[00:48:54] Don: blessed by the best. See you guys.[00:49:00]