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Have you ever been in an uncomfortable situation? How did you respond? On this episode of WeLuvSanDiego, Ryan shares his story of being in an uncomfortable situation and the realization that God often has to make us uncomfortable or we would never move.
Have you ever been in an uncomfortable situation? How did you respond? On this episode of WeLuvSanDiego, Ryan shares his story of being in an uncomfortable situation and the realization that God often has to make us uncomfortable or we would never move.
Thank you for joining us on we Love San Diego. Our host, Ryan McFadden, is one of the most in-demand evangelists today. As an actor who shared the screen with the likes of Robin Williams and Don Johnson and later became part of the MTV Comedy Tour, Ryan had his life mapped out in front of him but, through the power of the gospel, God radically changed his life and perspective to go on from being served to serving. Today, Ryan and his wife Rose run one of the premier Christian outreach organizations in the country, called we Love San Diego, as they bring church to the people, bringing hope to the hopeless and serving those that society often turns a blind eye towards. Join us today, as Ryan shares a message of hope that we believe will impact your life and inspire you to live the life that God is calling you to live Now. Here's your host of we Love San Diego, Ryan McFadden.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you so much for joining us today on we Love San Diego. I'm Ryan McFadden and I pray that this message today blesses your life and that God reveals a truth to you that only he can. Well, today I want to talk to you about uncomfortable moments. Uncomfortable moments, and the reality is that how we respond in these uncomfortable times really is going to make or break us. It's going to determine so much about our future. And last week we talked about the rich young ruler who encountered Jesus, which, by the way, if you did not hear last week's show, if you didn't hear any of the week's shows, we do have a podcast entitled we Love San Diego. Now, love, of course, is spelled out L-U-V. I don't know why I said of course, like anyone would imagine that it would spell that way, but it is so. Love spelled L-U-V. We L-U-V San Diego on our Apple podcast and if you subscribe to it, you can get the new show every single week that we do put that up.
Speaker 2:People who have podcasts, by the way, will say subscribe and rate. Here's the reality. I don't have that much confidence in your rating, not because of you, but because I don't know how good this show would be rated. So I encourage you to subscribe, but unless you're going to rate it, well, maybe don't rate it. I don't think a one out of five stars or a two out of five is really going to help in any way. So if that is where you would rate the show number one, you're probably not listening to the podcast. But if you are going to rate it, and maybe it's a one or two in your m maybe lie, that's Christian, maybe lie. Put it as a five and I'd appreciate that. But nonetheless, you can always check out previous week shows on Apple podcasts.
Speaker 2:But again, we were talking about last week the rich young ruler and I started thinking a lot more about his life and kind of digging deeper into it. And if you don't know the story, just paraphrasing it, I'll get into a little bit more as we go on here today. But this rich young ruler comes up to Jesus and says hey, jesus, what do I have to do to inherit eternal life, in other words, to go into heaven? And Jesus starts telling him well, you know the commandments. And he starts listing off the commandments and the rich young ruler is excited because he tells Jesus all of those I've kept since I was a young boy. Now we don't know if he really did, but just reading between the lines, jesus doesn't rebuke him and he doesn't say no, you've, you've messed up in this area or that area. Again, maybe he didn't keep him, maybe he did, but nonetheless, jesus's response to when he says that is that there's still one thing that you're lacking. Now that would tell me again, reading between the lines, is that the rich young ruler actually did what he told Jesus he had done and he kept all of the commandments. But what Jesus is about to tell him is a very uncomfortable request. He tells this rich young ruler here's what you need to do to inherit eternal life. There's still one thing that stands in your way Go and sell everything you have, give the money to the poor and then come, follow me. And because it's such an uncomfortable request, the rich young ruler walks away sad and is unable to do it.
Speaker 2:I mean, picture this guy's life. He has a lifestyle that he's used to, if you want to picture it in today's times like. Picture Jeff Bezos, who owns Amazon. Picture, I mean this guy isn't worth a billion dollars. He's worth hundreds of billions of dollars If all of us listening to the show myself included pulled all of our money together, we probably don't have $50 million I'm assuming we don't. Maybe some of you are well off and that's great, but I mean like we're not even in that realm. This guy's not a billionaire. He's got hundreds of billions of dollars. This guy has a boat that's worth billions of dollars. Like a boat.
Speaker 2:If you picture him as the rich young ruler going to Jesus, saying, hey, jesus, what do I have to do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus was to tell Jeff Bezos here's what you got to do Sell everything you have, give it away to the poor and then come follow me. Like, imagine, put yourself in his shoes. Like everything you know right now in life is gonna change. Like it is a super uncomfortable situation that Jesus is putting him in, not in a negative way, but just in reality, saying, hey, everything you know is gonna change. All these luxurious items that you're used to is gonna change. Give it all away, give the money to the poor and then come follow me. And he wouldn't be able to do that. Now contrast that with another guy in the Bible who's a fisherman with a bad attitude. They say he had a mouth like a sailor. Now he's gonna encounter Jesus and I'll get into that a little bit here but he's gonna encounter Jesus and Jesus is gonna put him in an uncomfortable situation as well by the request that he is going to ask this fisherman to do, and that fisherman's response is gonna make or break his future. Everything that that guy has in his future is gonna be determined by whether or not he goes on this uncomfortable request or if he says no, like the rich young ruler.
Speaker 2:My question for you today is has God ever put you in an uncomfortable situation, like maybe he's asked you to do something that was opposite of what you wanted to do? Maybe God's asking you or has asked you to fix a broken relationship that, if you're being honest, you really didn't wanna fix. It wasn't your fault, it was the other person's fault. Why should you be the one that actually fixes this when the other person should be doing the fixing? It was an uncomfortable situation. Maybe God's told you to give something to someone that perhaps, if you're honest, you would prefer to keep it for yourself. Or maybe God's asked you to give something up that, again, if you're honest, you would prefer to keep for yourself, that you don't really wanna give it up and God's putting you in this situation again not in a negative context, but it's gonna be an uncomfortable situation for you.
Speaker 2:Or what about this? God ever called you to do something that you felt you couldn't do because of physical or financial or knowledge limitations? Like, maybe what God has asked you or is asking you to do was possible at one point in your life when you were younger, had extra money or extra time or a lot of people around you that could help you out. But now that request that he's requesting you to do seems impossible. The past, when it was possible, seems like just a memory and you look back at that past and this request and say, well, back then I could have done it, but now I just don't see how I could ever make this thing come to pass. If that's you, I know a little bit about that scenario and I'll tell you a story of how that became real in my life.
Speaker 2:So in my early 20s I was a little bit different than I am now, as in my early 20s I was living in Whittier, california, and a friend of mine was talking about running a half marathon, which is 13.1 miles, in the Grand Canyon, and it was a few weeks away and they asked me if I wanted to do this with them. Now here's the deal. I didn't really want to run. I don't like running. I'd never run more than a mile in my life. I was a baseball player. You run 90 feet like you don't run long distance, so I maybe had run a mile, but I had not run anywhere near 13 miles. But so I didn't really want to run.
Speaker 2:But here was the thing and I know I shouldn't point this out as a Christian, I'm just again, I'm being transparent with you In the Grand Canyon half marathon, you were gonna stay in Las Vegas. Now, I'm not a gambler or anything like that, but I love Las Vegas. I know that that's like saying I love Sodom and Gomorrah. I know, I'm aware of that. You don't gotta point it out. I just I like walking around Las Vegas, like I like looking at how things are built there. I'm weird, I know, but in order to run in the half marathon, we were gonna stay in Las Vegas for a day. A bus was gonna pick us up and bring us to the site to run, so I agreed to do this. Again, I had not run more than a mile in my life. That night it started hitting me. I just set myself up for failure. I'm gonna look like a complete fool out there when everyone else is running and here's Ryan walking the whole way Like I'm not going to be able to do this. But I do wanna go to Las Vegas. I'll be fun for a night and hang out there and then do this thing and then come home. It'll be a good time. So I agreed to wing it.
Speaker 2:Now here was my crazy plan. I was going to, in those three weeks, the long period of time I had to train, I was gonna add a mile to my run every day. One mile one day. Two miles, an X. Three miles, an X. Four miles, an X. That's how I was gonna do it. Now, I didn't even have running shoes. I had basketball shoes, I had baseball cleats, I had basketball shoes and I had church shoes. That's all I had. In fact, luke Barnett, who's now the senior pastor of Dream City Church in Phoenix, tommy Barnett's son he gave me his shoes, his running shoes, because I didn't even have any. He's like well, you're gonna need these, so take these with you. So I was wearing his shoes the whole time to run and to train and I would add a mile each time to the day. So I actually was able to build up in three weeks an incredible amount of stamina. I don't remember what I was able to do, but maybe like eight or nine miles that I was able to run in just that short period of time, because when you back yourself into a corner it's amazing what you can accomplish.
Speaker 2:So we get up to the half marathon and I'm running in this thing and I'm not saying this bragging, I'm saying this for context, as someone who had never run more than a mile in their life. I came in first in my age division. I have a ribbon, I have a medal that says whatever. I think it was like 22, like 22 to 26 year old, first in your age division. Like I have that Now, before you think I'm bragging, I do wanna point out I don't know if there was anyone else in my age division that ran. In fact I'm pretty sure there wasn't, because I didn't run the whole thing.
Speaker 2:I didn't realize that they gave out drinks and it was Gatorade at every mile and they had all these cups on a table and I ran like five, six miles, but then I was like I'm running in the Grand Canyon. This is beautiful. Why am I doing this? Like no one's even with me, because everyone runs their own race and I'm by myself and I'm like, at that next drink station, I'm gonna stop and I'm gonna get a drink. So I stopped and I got a drink and I was like this is amazing, this tastes so good. At the next one, I'm gonna get two. Well, the next one came along and I got like three or four of them, like you're not supposed to drink like that when you're running. But I got them and I took them with me and I just started walking and I started looking at the scenery. Like when am I ever gonna be in this place again doing something like this? I'm gonna enjoy it. And I walked like the final three miles but again, first place in my age division. I'm just gonna hang on to that one. But I did it.
Speaker 2:There was another time, not too far after that, that I had to get my brakes done on my car and I dropped my car off with a friend of mine at a place to get my brakes done and he was there. He dropped me off, brought me back to my apartment. Well, when my car was ready. I didn't have anyone to bring me to go pick up my car and I remember distinctly, in my apartment, looking at what's the difference distance between where I'm at and where my car is, and it was five miles. And I was like, oh, five miles, that's no big deal. And I literally just put on shorts and a T-shirt and I jogged Like again, this is like another world for me right now, thinking about like where I'm at now compared to then. It was like no big deal, oh, five miles, I'll just jog, I'll just run it out. And that's exactly what I did. I just jogged to go pick up my car.
Speaker 2:Here's why I'm telling you this Skip ahead many years later to 2020, the COVID era. So I had just come to San Diego back to San Diego, I should say from Phoenix. I'm pastoring a church here. We had amazing success in we've only been here for three months before COVID hit. We had doubled the congregation size. No joke, in that three months In fact, a little bit more than double. It was all new people that hadn't gone to church before that were like man, this is great. So we were doing well and then COVID hit.
Speaker 2:Now our church was one of seven different locations run by an executive pastor who, I'm not sure to this day, was actually a Christian, but he was in charge. So COVID hits and he decides we are shutting down all locations indefinitely. So all this momentum that we had built out was great, but he shut down all the locations. We were shut down for like six months of not meeting in person, with no video quality, like we were doing online church. But when you do a bad online church, it's actually worse than doing no church at all, like it was. We had no video quality to do like anything of decent value there. So, long story short, by the time we show up six months later, our church really doesn't exist. Neither does any of the other locations, and in order to keep those afloat, they decided to sell the only church that they owned, which was San Diego, and that's what they did.
Speaker 2:So, long story short, they asked me to be the pastor of a Riverside church location, which was a setup situation. I was gonna have to be there at seven in the morning and I don't live anywhere near Riverside. In fact, I'm about two hours from Riverside. I had a one year old at the time and I was like I'm gonna have to get her up at three in the morning just to make it. This is not gonna work. So, long story short, that ended my pastoring of a church here in San Diego, at least for the time being.
Speaker 2:I'm someone that I own a business. It takes a while to get that business going and I'm someone that I want to feel like I'm contributing, that something's happening. And I found out and this still, I'm sure, exists today that you could deliver stuff for Amazon randomly, like you could go five days a week and go one day a month, it doesn't matter. Sign up, they tell you when to show up and where to go. So I was like, oh, I'll give that a shot, at least while I'm waiting for my business to ramp up. So I did that. I did it a few times, I should say, and one of the times that I was doing it, what they do is they have an app that tells you, house by house, where to go, because you're delivering to neighborhoods you've never been in. Well, it takes me on one of these times it was my second time delivering for Amazon to a dead end. And this is a neighborhood. Now, I don't know the neighborhood, I don't know the surrounding area, so it's not like I could just drive around and find a different entrance. This is where it told me to go. Well, it's a dead end and I remember 2020,. Ryan McFadden looks at his phone and says oh, where's the house? It's only a mile and a half away. I'll walk it, it's no big deal.
Speaker 2:I ran a half marathon in the Grand Canyon. I ran five miles to pick up my car. A mile and a half is nothing. So I got out of my car with the package in hand it wasn't very heavy and I started walking. Now, to paint the picture, this was one of those super, super humid, like 90 degree days.
Speaker 2:I'm wearing skinny jeans, a pair of dress, boots and a button down shirt, and these aren't flexi skinny jeans. I don't know if any of you guys even wear that, but these are tight. Gee, they're not comfortable. These are like why would you wear these? They're uncomfortable. Every second you have them on and I start my walk and I would say about halfway, not even a mile in I'm like wow, it is really hot out. I'm sweating like you wouldn't believe and it just seems like this house is further and further every time I look at my phone. It was like a hundred miles, like I keep going and luckily it was mostly downhill.
Speaker 2:I'm sweating at this point now like I jumped in a pool and as I get to the house, as luck has it, the guy who owns the house walks out towards this mailbox and I'm like, oh, this is going to be so awkward. And at this point my legs are now cramping up, my body is starting to seize up, I'm hurting, but I'm about to encounter this guy. So I hold it together and I walk up to him. I scare him to death because I'm like hey, and he turns around. I said, hey, I got a package, I'm from Amazon. He looks at me and he looks around and he's like where did you come from? And I said, oh well, I'm with Amazon. I parked over by the dead end. There he goes, the dead end, that's like a mile away. And I said, actually, it's a mile and a half away, if we're being exact on there. And he just looks so confused Like, why did this weird guy who's sweating, like you wouldn't believe in skinny jeans and a button up shirt, just walk a mile and a half to give me? I mean, like logic would say, find another way in Didn't cross my mind, and I give him the package and I get out of there as fast as I can, cause it's so awkward talking to him.
Speaker 2:Now. Remember how I said this was mostly downhill on that mile and a half. Guess what the next mile and a half is like. It's all uphill. It's still hot, it's still humid. My calves are cramping, my thighs are cramping, my shins feel like they're going to explode. So here's the amazing idea I got I'm going to tap into a different set of muscles on my legs.
Speaker 2:I'm going to walk up this hill backwards. There's been no cars this whole time that have been coming. No one's going to see me. Everyone's in their house. It's a very nice neighborhood. And I start walking up this hill backwards. Well, what happens when you start to do things like that? Every single car that has ever come by is going to come by. Car after car after car start coming by. There's a van with a bunch of kids in there that are just staring at me, surely asking their mom. Hey mom, why is this weird guy walking up this hill backwards? That's odd. I keep going.
Speaker 2:I finally get to a point where I'm pretty confident I had a heat stroke. I've never had a heat stroke, but I'm confident in this moment that that's what I'm having and I don't think I'm going to make it Like I really am starting to get concerned, like I don't think I can make this. I can't walk, everything hurts. And between a couple of houses was like a thicket, a forest with a rock, a giant rock, and I said, if I can just make it to that rock. And I walked over to this rock, which is just barely off the street, and I sit down on the rock and I just bury my face into my hands. I look like I've just lost everything that I've ever had in my life. And again, car after car after car is driving by. Kids are staring at me. Mom, what's wrong with that guy? Should we help him? He looks like he's he's really in need. Like I am just devastated.
Speaker 2:I sat there for like 20 minutes. I was so worn out. I finally got enough courage to start that walk again. I don't even know how I crawled back to my car I may have literally crawled back to my car, I should say and I got back in there and that was the last day that I ever delivered for Amazon. That was the end of my Amazon career.
Speaker 2:But here's why I tell you that long story. That was a mile and a half three miles, if you're doing math. I ran 13.1 first in my age division, I ran five miles to go pick up my car. And I start looking at this saying, like what is wrong with me? Like that what I used to be able to do and what I'm able to do now are completely different. And that's why I'm saying, if you're looking back on that remember when mindset I know exactly what it feels like and what it looks like because that's what I was in I look back saying I can't do the things that I used to do when I was younger. And I know I think about it. Like I wonder if that's what Moses felt like when God called him to go deliver the Israelites out of Egypt when he was 80 years old, thinking about, well, god, it made sense 40 years ago when I was there, but I haven't even been back in 40 years. Plus, I'm 80 years old.
Speaker 2:Like the remember when attitude, when God is telling you to do something, that you're like I cannot do this, I just it's uncomfortable. And that uncomfortable moment of not being able to do a one and a half mile walk I wasn't running, it was just walking changed everything for me. Because I said I can't, I am very unhealthy. I built a gym at my house. I know not everyone can build a gym. I was lucky enough I could build a gym at my house. I lost 50 pounds. I got a long way to go, but that changed like my whole thought process of where I'm at, like I need to make changes.
Speaker 2:And again, if that's you right now and if God is putting you in an uncomfortable spot with an uncomfortable request, know that that's oftentimes when God is shifting your life, when you're at a spot where it's uncomfortable and maybe you're hitting a wall and, like all your efforts just seem like man. Why is this happening to me? That's oftentimes when God is doing something in your life and he's trying to make you uncomfortable for a reason Because when you're uncomfortable, that's when you'll make changes. In fact, for many people listening to this here today, if God didn't make you uncomfortable, you would never change. You would never change and that's why he's got to shift some things in your life that may not make sense. Make some requests in your life that may not make sense so that you'll actually make the changes that are going to propel you into God's will for your life. The reality is, we always have this mental battle between what we think is best and what God knows is best, and it's that uncomfortable season of life that propels you into your future.
Speaker 2:How do I know that? Because of the rich young ruler and that fisherman named Simon. See, that rich young ruler was not able to do what Jesus was asking him to do. And I wonder what did he miss out on? Like we don't know what happened the rest of his life? But we know he's never mentioned again in the Bible. Like what did he miss out on? What could his life have been?
Speaker 2:But then we look in contrast to Simon, the fisherman who's had a really bad day of fishing when he first encounters Jesus. He's a fisherman by trade and he's caught nothing all day. And he comes in to the shore and here's Jesus. Now, we know who Jesus is, we know he's all knowing, but in Simon's mind this is a carpenter. And this carpenter tells Simon, who's caught no fish, hey, why don't you go back out Now if you are someone with a bad temper and a bad attitude and you know in your mind more than the person who's telling you to do something that you don't wanna do. That's a recipe for losing your mind. That's a recipe for getting mad and saying you don't know anything. I'm the expert, not you.
Speaker 2:Simon is put in an uncomfortable situation. What is he gonna do? And I don't know what stirred up inside of him, but he decides to go and when he goes he has the greatest catch of his life. In fact, the Bible records that he catches so many fish that they could barely even bring the nets on board. The nets are bursting and it's that moment, right there, that changes his entire life. It's that uncomfortable situation, that unusual, uncomfortable request by Jesus to go do something that he is sure is not gonna provide success, but he does it anyway. Why? Because he trusts God, and it's that moment that his life changes forever.
Speaker 2:I don't know what God is telling you to do. I don't know what request he is making in your life that you're just so battling it right now. I don't know God. Does it make a lot of sense? I don't know what it is that lies on the other side, but I know a few things. I know that God is a good God who only knows how to give good gifts. I know that when he puts us in these uncomfortable moments, it's to propel us into our future, and I know that he is someone that is for us and he's not against us. And if we add all of those things together, we can trust, when God puts us in these moments, that, even if it is uncomfortable, even if it doesn't make sense that we can follow him, do it because we know that his plans are better than ours and he'll do exceedingly, abundantly more than we'll ever ask or think.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us for we Love San Diego with Ryan McFadden. We pray that this message has blessed your life. If you'd like to learn more about we Love San Diego or to partner with us, visit welovesandiegoorg. Spelled W-E-L-U-V-S-D-E-G-O-O-R-E. That's W-E-L-U-V-S-D-E-G-O-O-R-E. For additional messages, find us on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts at we Love San Diego. Also, if you live in the San Diego area, you can find out where and when the next outreach event is by following we Love San Diego on Facebook and Instagram. We so value you listening to our show today and hope you tune in next Sunday at 9 am as we bring another message of hope to you and your family. And, as Ryan always says, find a need and fill it. Find a hurt and heal it. This has been we Love San Diego. That's W-E-L-U-V-S-D-E-G-O-O-R-E. Visit W-E-L-U-V-S-D-E-G-O-O-R-E. That's WeLoveSanDiegoorg.