No Sanity Required
No Sanity Required is a weekly podcast hosted by Brody Holloway and Snowbird Outfitters. Each week, we engage culture and personal stories with a Gospel-driven perspective. Our mission is to equip the Church to pierce the darkness with the light of Christ by sharing the vision, ideas, and passions God has used to carry us through 26 years of student ministry. Find more content at swoutfitters.com.
No Sanity Required
Start Strong, Run Hard, Finish Well | The Starting Line
In this 3-part mini-series from Ecclesiastes, Brody challenges and encourages young Christians—whether you're a teen, a college student, or someone just now getting serious about your faith. Each episode unpacks a key step in your walk with Jesus: Start Strong, Run Hard, Finish Well.
In Part 1, we explore what it means to start strong—learning to enjoy the goodness of God, build spiritual habits, develop discipline, and let go of what holds you back.
Brody also shares powerful stories of students coming to faith and offers practical advice on topics like gratitude, godly friendships, submission to authority, and standing firm in your beliefs—even when it’s hard.
This series is packed with truth, encouragement, and real talk for anyone ready to take their faith seriously and live for the glory of Jesus.
- Philippians 1:6
- Luke 9:62
- Ecclesiastes 11
- Summer Camp SWO25
- Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown
Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help improve No Sanity Required and help others grow in their faith.
Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.
I often talk to young Christians, or, when I say young Christians, people that may not be young in human years, but they're young in Jesus years in terms of their faith and their relationship with Christ. Maybe somebody's in their 30s or 50s or 70s and they've just gotten serious about their walk with the Lord, that person, a young Christian. And today I want to share some, some challenges and some words for um, for for you, some to do's, some things that you can get active and get after in your Christian walk, and I'm going to do this in three episodes. We're going to look at folks that are younger in their faith, but but then also, but then also gear this towards young Christians, christians who are young, so believers in their teen years and their 20s Can we say it that way? So I want to encourage you.
Speaker 1:If you are in one of these three categories, you're a teenage Christian, or even younger. You're a young adult Christian. You're in your twenties. Maybe you're a college student, grad student, or you might be in the military. You just went to work right out of high school, um, but you're in your twenties and you're just really. That's the decade where you're starting life. You know, um, or you're older but you're a Christian that's really just now getting serious about your walk with the Lord and this episode's for you. We will follow this with a couple episodes. We're going to talk to folks about sort of how to live out faithfully in your 20s, 30s and 40s, and we'll finish up with one that looks at the 50s and up, and I'm excited about this little mini series. This is birthed out of a sermon that I did recently at Red Oak Church that you might have listened to and hopefully it'll be an encouragement, give you some motivation.
Speaker 2:Welcome to no Sanity Required. Welcome to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters, a podcast about the Bible, culture and stories from around the globe.
Speaker 1:All right, before we get into this week's episode, I did want to read to you some amazing I'm talking about awesome, awesome text messages that I received, and I read some of those last week and I want to read some from this past week. Here's one from a staff member named Justin, which, by the way, I'd like to ask you to pray for Justin's family. His mother is dealing with some medical issues. Justin has served very faithfully here at SWO and his folks are in a difficult time and season, so pray for them. Right now. While you're listening to this, just pause and pray for Justin's family, specifically for his mom. I think that would be a huge blessing to them. But he texted me this One of my guys pulled me aside last night and professed faith in Jesus.
Speaker 1:I responded dang, son, that's the best way to start a weekend. This was on Friday. This would have been Friday night. Um, he said for sure, he was 15. He was eager to learn the whole week and came to me the last night just torn up. I asked him what's going on and he was telling me that he knows he's been living life wrong, doesn't want to do it anymore. It was a good conversation, man, so praise the Lord for that. This is from Connor, another faithful brother that's serving here this summer. Forgot to let you know, but on Wednesday one of my boys got saved. I also just had another conversation and another guy of mine gave his life to Jesus. So, connor, in one week got to experience two young men professing faith in Jesus Pretty awesome.
Speaker 1:This is another one. Hey, brody, one of my students got saved, um, tonight. So that was cool. That was on Tuesday night. That was early in the week, which is pretty, pretty cool. Um, always awesome when it happens early. Uh, then on Friday, thursday, I'm sorry, um, my camper gave his life to Christ tonight. His name is Jonah, he's from Mount Zion, so that's pretty cool. And then I got a text on Thursday. Hey, just wanted to let you know. One of our girls from our church got saved tonight. I said, heck, yeah, that's so amazing. I'm with student pastors now. They're going to come your way. So, anyway, awesome. Just.
Speaker 1:I know y'all love to hear those and I love to read them to you. So some cool stories there of God's faithfulness. All right, let's get into this. I want to encourage you with a little bit of scripture. The scripture tells us in Philippians 1, chapter 1 and verse 6, and I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. And in Luke, chapter 9, verse 62, the scripture tells us and y'all know this is one of my favorite verses, it's something that motivates me every day and that I try to motivate y'all with. And Jesus says this. Jesus said to him no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. And so, with those verses, what I want to do is encourage you with, uh, with, what the writer of Ecclesiastes said in Ecclesiastes, chapters 11 and 12, when he said remember your creator in the days of your youth, remember your creator in the days of your youth.
Speaker 1:Over these three episodes, I want to give you three applications for young and old believers. Three applications for young and old believer. Here's the three applications, and today we'll be considering the first one. I want to give you these three applications Start strong. Number two run hard. And number three finish well. Now, for me, the way I think of this is also start strong, run strong and die well, or die strong, so finish well. But anyway, today we're going to get into.
Speaker 1:Starting strong, what does that look like? So let's think of the teen years, the college years, the 20s, but then also you put in this category those earliest years of when you first get married. For those of you that are new believers, I talked to a fairly new believer this week who's in his 50s and I'm like, hey, let's start this thing out, let's get going, let's get after it. So these would apply, I think, to him. Okay, so let me give you it's going to be a bullet point list. We're going to rip through it. I hope it's meaningful.
Speaker 1:Excuse me flipping and turning the pages of scripture because I want to read a few different passages as we go through this. So here's the first one Start strong, starting strong. Here's the first point. Learn strong, starting strong. Here's the first point. Learn to enjoy the goodness of the Lord. Learn to enjoy the goodness of the Lord. That's so important. And where does that come from? It comes from Ecclesiastes, chapter 11, verse 7. Light is sweet and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. What he's referring to in that verse is being alive, because if you read that whole chapter, what he's saying is he's using the darkness as it relates to death, and he's using the, the light, to relate to being alive Cause. In the next verse he says so if a person lives in many years, let him rejoice in them all. So enjoy the goodness of the Lord. Because in the next verse he says so if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. So enjoy the goodness of the Lord.
Speaker 1:I think a few thoughts that go along with that is each day, reflect on the goodness of the Lord. Each day, meditate on God's word. Have you meditated on God's word today? What does it mean to meditate on God's word? It means to think on these things. To read it means to consider, it means to think on these things. To read means to consider, means to look into and then reflect, give reflection. Have you talked to God today, spoke to God, shared your thoughts, your heart, your, your fears, your anxieties, your requests?
Speaker 1:The scripture says let your requests be made known to God. And it says to do all that by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving. And so that brings us to appreciating the simplicity. Appreciate the simplicity If it's a sunny day, as simple as it seems. Pause and reflect on that and just appreciate it. Tell the Lord. Thank you, but in your heart, have an attitude of appreciation. If you enjoyed some food or drink today, appreciate that Pause and appreciate it. I think that's so important, and the Bible teaches us that appreciation and thanksgiving and rejoicing produces more joy in us. You want joy to be. You want to become a joy factory. You want your heart to be a factory that produces joy in us. You want joy to be. You want to become a joy factory. You want your heart to be a factory that produces joy in you. Then be someone who gives thanks and reflects on the goodness of the Lord and and speaks of it and and meditates on it and and thanks the Lord for it.
Speaker 1:Next, here's the next thing Learn what to hold on to and what to let go of. Learn what to hold on to and what to let go of. There's things that you've got to let go of, man. It could be a harm or a wrong or a pain that somebody caused you. It could be a grudge that you're holding against that person. It could be harm that was done to you, whether it's post-traumatic stress from that, or it's the pain associated with it. Or it could be combat trauma or like we've got a guest coming up, maybe next week, it might be in a couple of weeks, but we've got a guest coming on that we did an interview last week. Week, it might be in a couple weeks, but we've got a guest coming on that we we did an interview last week and this guy was a firefighter and man. He he experienced a couple of things, some some pretty intense death and loss that he was, he was hands-on with and it spun him out. I mean, it really destroyed um sort of the. The frame of mind he was in was very destroyed, and so, anyway, learning to let what to hold on to, what to let go of.
Speaker 1:Now it's easier said than done to let go of abuse that occurred when you were a child, or the loss of a buddy, um, I recently was talking to um, a former member of of dev group, which is known as seal team six, and we were talking about the death of one of his buddies, who I didn't know, but I read the book. It was a guy who was a believer, which I'll just recommend the book right here. His name's Adam Brown. The book was called Fearless and that book was powerful man, because you saw the power of the gospel at work in a person's life. It wasn't, first and foremost, a book about military service and combat, although it was those things, and powerful at that. It was a story of God's grace to change a man's life who was in the. Adam Brown was severely addicted to drugs and God brought him out of it. It's a powerful story, but anyway, adam was killed in an operation where he was shot. He was shot up pretty bad and so one of his team members uh, I had the privilege of meeting recently and and getting to know a little bit and, um, we're having a conversation about it and that led to conversations about some other operations and I I I think I mentioned this before but I love the story.
Speaker 1:One of the stories I love to read is the story of a guy named john chapman, known as chappy. It's the first medal of honor recipient ever to be where his, his actions were caught on film, on camera. It was a c-130, I think, filming, and then an overhead drone that captured the imaging of Extortion 17, a helicopter in 2011, where everyone on board was killed, and it's just you watch it and you hear those helicopter pilots talking about that and it's like man, these dudes carry this. The survivors carry this because they buried their friends, they worked on them as they died oftentimes. And so when I say you got to know what to let go of, I know it's not as simple as just saying, oh well, my buddy died, I got to let go of it. I know it's much more complex than that. I got a buddy that two really good friends, man, they're like brothers and they listen to NSR. They live in Virginia. They're like brothers and they listen to NSR. They live in Virginia. They're combat veterans and one of them is a man.
Speaker 1:We sit around the fire one night and talked about the struggle of moving on. You know, in your heart and your mind and when you've seen things and done things and experienced things in the fog of war and the heat of conflict, how do you let go of it? And here's the image or the picture that for me because I've not done those things. But I can tell you that as a Christian, you've done things that you live with regret and guilt over bad things, bad things that you would not want anybody to know and you don't want to talk about. I can tell you that. I can tell you that in my life there are things that I am ashamed.
Speaker 1:There's one particular incident that I think only one other person has ever known about, that happened to me before I was a Christian, that I, that I did that haunts me, man, and I wrestle with it and I just give it to the Lord, and the Lord has freed me from it and I'm grateful for that. But anyway, it was something that occurred when I was gosh, I don't know, 17 years old maybe, and something I did, and just in a moment that that could have caused a lifetime of I don't know man, the Lord is bigger than any of your moments and he's bigger than the sum total of all your moments, and you got to learn how to give it to him, and that sounds easy, but you got to let know what to let go of. And I told my buddy, sitting around that fire that night I shared with with him what I, what I do is.
Speaker 1:I imagine you know there's that passage that talks about the sea of forgetfulness, that that the Lord separates our sins from the East as far as East is from the West. That he, that he remembers him no more more. He casts him in the depths of the sea, that it's this picture of throwing it into the depths and I imagine a sea that's bigger than the pacific ocean and deeper than anything on earth. You know, the deepest spot on earth is what? 35 000 feet is what the? I think it's 35 000 is the, the challenger deep, which is a section of the Pacific Ocean. 35,000 feet deep, that's Mount Everest plus a mile of water on top of it. And I imagine an ocean that's bottomless. It's deeper than that and those things I need to let go of. I put them on a raft and I float it right out into that ocean and it begins to sink and it just disappears and it's somewhere in the ocean of God's grace, and he's got it and I'm not going to try to resuscitate it, revive it and pull it up. That for me, is an image.
Speaker 1:But then also learn what to hold on to. There's some things you need to hold on to, to remember. You know you might have past addiction and you need freedom from it, but you need to hold on to it so that you're you remember what it's like to go there. You know what it's like to to, to fall into that and to create and live in those patterns. So that's important Knowing what, learning what to hold on to as as much as I learned what to let go of.
Speaker 1:Hold on to the relationships that matter. Fight for your marriage, your friendships, if you're, if you're um a young, 20 something spouse man, the earliest stages of your marriage can sometimes pose the greatest hurdles. If you're a teenager that's trying to embrace adulthood but you've come out of an abusive situation, hold on to Jesus. Hold on to relationships that'll bring healing. Hold on to accountability. Hold on to new affections. Very important, so important, and I like that picture of affections because, um that that brings me to the next point, which is um.
Speaker 1:The scripture speaks of setting our affections on things above, and so, for a Christian, we have a new set of affections. We don't long for the things that the world longs for, or we don't long for the things we longed for when we were in the world, and I like to this summer. I'm using an illustration, I've used it once so far and I think I might continue using it, but I think about um. Changed affections will change your activity or your behavior, and to me, the the good illustration of this, or a good example of this, is imagine a teenage boy. Okay, now, let's say he's 13, 14.
Speaker 1:You know, you can't. I young and don't want to take a shower. His room stinks. You can't get him to do his laundry. You got to remind him every day to brush his teeth and put on deodorant. He smells bad, he looks like a train wreck, you know, just kind of messy all the time. And then all the sudden you know he's, he's, he's entered into puberty and so everything that comes with that. You know, body's changing and so there's new odors and and uh, anyway, you can't.
Speaker 1:You're trying to get this dude to, you know to to clean up a little bit and just be presentable. And you're struggling with it, you know, struggling with it, and he's not cooperative. Anyway, all of a sudden you realize hey, he's, he's brushing his teeth, he's taking a shower, he's putting on deodorant. He got a job, he's trying to make a little money, he's saving for a car. He looks different, he's, you know. And then you find out, oh, it's because now there's girls and he's realizing that he's attracted to them and he's trying to present himself in a way that would make him appealing. What has changed is his affections. So a changed affection will change behavior.
Speaker 1:And that leads me to the next thing, which is to create habits and patterns within those affections, and those behaviors Create habits and patterns, and there needs, and those behaviors create habits and patterns and there needs to be discipline, and discipline would be its own point, but habits and patterns are connected to discipline. We got to have discipline to to establish those habits, habits and patterns. You know, um, and so habits and patterns are important for kind of keeping us between the ditches. You know, there, there, I don't want to become legalistic, but I do want to have sleep patterns and reading patterns and meditation patterns and they don't have clean habits of exercise and conversation with the Lord and, um, listening to things that are wholesome and are going to build me up. That's important and and and that does lead to discipline, being disciplined, disciplined in every facet of life. I'll I've shared it on here a lot of times before the struggle for me when it comes to discipline is, uh, is dietary dad, gum man. I love ice cream and fried food and pastries. Literally, there's this old, there was this.
Speaker 1:I don't know if y'all remember this Alan Jackson song that was real popular, um, in like the late eighties. It was'all remember this Alan Jackson song that was real popular in like the late 80s. This was early Alan Jackson, early Alan Jackson career, because I mean, maybe it was early 90s. I think I'm looking it up right now. I think it was, I don't see what, anyway, the song's called. While I'm looking it up, the song's called everything I love is killing me. Y'all remember that. Um, and it was. Uh, it said everything I love is killing me cigarettes, jack daniels and caffeine. Uh, yeah, that's it. Let's see, everything I love is killing me cigarettes, jack daniels and caffeine. Um, it came out. Okay, I was wrong. It came out in 96. Um, released october 96. Um, anyway, funny, because that's me. Everything I love is killing me donuts, pastries, pie, cake, fried foods, fast food, y'all.
Speaker 1:I am, I am over the middle-aged hump, I'm approaching AARP age. I mean, I'm very close to being able to get a senior coffee at McDonald's. It'll happen here in the next year or two. And I love fast food, I love cheeseburgers, I love pizza, y'all. Last week I went to the gas station and bought two pieces of Hunt Brothers pizza one day because I hadn't eaten lunch and it was about worship service time at SLO and I went and got it and it was so good. The next day I did it again Gas station pizza. It's delicious, but it's so bad for you.
Speaker 1:And so, trust me, I appreciate and understand the struggle with discipline. Now I do really good. I personally do very good when it comes to exercise. I exercise pretty much every day, even on like a Sunday. I'm gonna get out and do something. I'm gonna go for an extra long walk Sunday morning while everybody's in bed. So I'm always and I lift weights and do strength training. A mountain bike you know I row. I have a rower Like I. I do go with that, but partly cause I enjoy it. A lot of people don't enjoy um, uh, exercise, and so that requires a little more discipline. Um, I do pretty good with my sleep. Uh, I've adjusted my sleep habits. But I'm not trying to become a fitness influencer. Lord knows, that's the last thing I can do.
Speaker 1:But I'm just saying, as Christians, we don't need the internet telling us hey, live disciplined lives, and if you do, there's a lot of joy and freedom that comes from that. And I don't need an author or a fitness influencer to tell me that a YouTuber. Discipline is good, but now I also don't want to become obsessive. Compulsive is good, but now I also don't want to become obsessive, compulsive, obsessed and consumed with discipline. Understand that Paul writes to the Galatians and says for freedom, christ has set you free. And so what I would say on this one is with discipline, find balance with freedom. Discipline needs freedom and freedom needs discipline. So there's the point Freedom unhinged would run you off the cliff. You'd run headlong out of control in your life, and you need discipline to bring things into check. But then discipline without freedom would turn you into a fundamentalist or a robot, and that's not good. So find that balance.
Speaker 1:Next, let's see a value Learn the value of building true and lasting and healthy friendships. Invest in those friendships. Learn the value of building true and healthy friendships and then invest in those friendships. So, in other words, those types of friendships are going to require your personal investment. Friendships are going to require your personal investment. So, yeah, I think friendships are one of those things that, as you grow into, as you grow in your faith, you're going to realize the importance of developing deep, lasting friendships that are true and healthy. Now, what is the what is characteristic of a healthy friendship? And this would be a great other episode here, but I would say we want what's best for each other. I'm for you, not against you, but I'm willing to confront you in areas that I feel like you're compromising yourself and so say hard things. But also, I'm going to rejoice when you rejoice, I'm going to grieve when you grieve, and so cultivate those healthy friendships where you can trust somebody that's very important and be a good friend.
Speaker 1:Next would be submit willingly and joyfully to godly authority. Submit willingly and joyfully to godly authority Very important Learning to submit to the authority that God puts in your life and knowing that that authority might not come, um, it might not be easy for you. Some of you struggle, some of us struggle with authority. Man, I have a hard time with authority, just to be honest. Sometimes it's, um, it's difficult, it's not easy, and so I need to. But submitting to Godly authority doesn't mean obey the authorities of the government and make sure you go the speed limit and do your taxes. Yeah, that's that's, that's the thing, and you do that, but whatever. But what we're talking about is submitting to the authority of the church, the authority of the word of god, recognizing that the scripture has authority for your life. You're not reading it the way you read other literature. You're reading it to learn what you might obey or submit to, and to establish patterns of worship and obedience. So submit willingly and joyfully to the godly authority. He's put in your life the Holy Spirit, the word of God.
Speaker 1:Next and this is especially true, so important for young people know what you don't know. Know what you don't know. Know what you don't know. People, when they hit 20 and 22, tend to want to express everything they know and to be combative and to be argumentative and um and. But the reality is, those of us that are older, you know, and I know, that when you're, when you're in your 20s, you know a whole lot less than you think you know, and life is gonna. Life is gonna humble you and teach you and, and you'll be fine, like you're in your 20s, you know a whole lot less than you think you know, and life is going to humble you and teach you and you'll be fine, you're going to learn some hard lessons. But, man, if you can recognize man, I don't know as much as I probably think I know, and so I want to just listen more than I talk and learn from the people around me that have lived more life than me. That would be super helpful.
Speaker 1:Next, be kind. Now again, we're under this heading of starting strong. So starting life strong, starting my Christian walk strong, learn to be kind. Just be kind. That doesn't mean you go out of your way to be friendly and bubbly, and just be kind to people. Sometimes kindness is quiet, sometimes it's very gentle, sometimes it's loud and fun and joyful and boisterous. But kindness to celebrate the goodness of the Lord in other people, kindness to sympathize or empathize with those that are hurting and to extend that kindness to them through a caring word or a caring eye or compassion for what they might be experiencing.
Speaker 1:Don't expect something for nothing. I heard a 20-something the other day complaining because the only job offer he has coming out of college will only pay $35,000, and that's not fair because he spent twice that getting his, or three times that getting his education, four times that, whatever it was, and so that's crazy if they think he's going to come work for that. Hey, don't expect something for nothing, including don't expect to start at the top of the chain. You know, I talked to a young lady the other day. I was so impressed by her. I said what are you doing Using your degree?
Speaker 1:She recently graduated from a large, very solid Well, she graduated from Clemson University a large, very solid. Well, she graduated from Clemson University. So, large, good education, large, well-known name brand, all that. What are you doing? She said well, I'm working. I'm not going to say what it was, I don't want to compromise her. I didn't ask her if I could share this, but she's just working at a small local business, not making a whole bunch of money, just being faithful with the opportunity in front of her. She's not using her degree, but she said I'm just doing, doing what I can. I talked to another guy what are you doing? Well, I got this job and it's not exactly what I was looking for, but I'm building a resume.
Speaker 1:So don't expect something for nothing. Expect to work hard, start small, despise, not a small beginning, get after it. Get after it and build something. Now that's different. If you're going to, you know, if you're a school teacher, you work in education. Come out of school. There are those careers like law enforcement or education or the medical field, where you have a very specific degree and then you're probably going to, going to get a job. That then you're going to do that job for 25 or 30 or 40 years, but it's because it's very specific to the degree. But if you get a business degree or a marketing degree, or maybe you get a very specific degree and can't find a job in that field, just be willing to do what it takes. You know, and don't expect something for nothing. The, the, the. Everybody gets a trophy mentality needs to be left behind.
Speaker 1:Um, this next one is man. This is important and I want you to hear, listen, hear this whole thing out. You are not special, but you are unique. There's this mindset of well, I'm special, you're special, everybody's special. Well, yes and no, we're all created in God's image and, as such, we're image bearers. But every one of us is unique. You're unique, I'm unique, everyone has a uniqueness. We have the imprint and the thumbprint of God on our lives. We're created in his image. But just remember that you're unique and so with that, you have a unique relationship to the creator. All of us have an opportunity for a relationship with our creator, but it's a unique creator creation relationship from person to person.
Speaker 1:And with that comes the next one, which is you are loved by God and with that, you have value and purpose. So you're loved by God, you have value, you have purpose. God has value that he has placed on you. That's why Paul writes to the Corinthians and says you're not your own, you're bought with a price. So glorify Christ Jesus in your body, so you're loved by God, you're valued by God. He has purpose for you.
Speaker 1:But the other reality that comes with that is the next point, which is learn and understand the law of the harvest. What's the law of the harvest? It's what James writes when he says don't be deceived. Whatever you sow, you're going to reap. So whatever you sow, you're going to reap. A person who sows to adultery is going to reap the consequences of that adultery. A person who sows to living in pursuit of what the world offers is going to face the consequences of realizing that the world cannot satisfy what's deep inside of you.
Speaker 1:We have, there's a song that we're singing this summer at camp and at first it throws people off a little bit people that are really doctrinally faithful because there's a repeated line in it that says I've wanted you all of my life. And we know that we haven't wanted God all of our life in terms of when we're blind to God and we're in love with the world. We don't want God. But we also know that we really do. Every human being longs for a relationship with God. That would restore everything that's broken, and so the consequences of my actions can be brought into a place of peaceful rest and kind of brought into check through my relationship with God. I'm loved by God, he loves me, and the law of the harvest says I'm going to reap what I sow, but thank God that his grace is sufficient for me.
Speaker 1:Think about the man that wrote that, the Apostle Paul, what he must have lived with when it comes to going back to that earlier point of knowing what to let go of. He had to let go of knowing he had separated families and killed mamas and daddies and orphaned their children. You know how hard that must have been to wake up and be that dude every day. Very difficult, so difficult. Um, next, we've got to wrap it up here. I've got to move on to my next thing in my day here at SWO. But, um, just so, just a couple more, three or four more. Um, give and tithe, so tithe.
Speaker 1:Give money like, give to the church, give to ministry. Use the resources God's given you to bless others. The, the, the ministry of the church, depends on the giving of God's people, and a lot of people. When you're young and you don't have a lot of money, you convince yourself that you can't afford to tithe, you can't afford to talk. I can't man. I'm, you know, I don't make enough money, I'm barely paying my bills. I can't man, I don't make enough money, I'm barely paying my bills. How can I give 10% of it to the church? And I'm not going to say a percentage. There's not a percentage that we need to hang on to. It's the principle of giving and give sacrificially. The scripture says give and it will be given unto you. Press down, shaking together, running over. God will give to you in abundance and our giving will be reflected in the blessing we receive. And that's not prosperity gospel, that's biblical principle. I don't give just so I can get, but when I give, I can trust that God's going to take care of me.
Speaker 1:You cannot be faithful in worshiping the Lord in your life if you're not giving of your personal resources time, talent, treasure. Give of your time, give of your talent, give of your treasures. So give money. And then what are you doing with your time? Do you use all your free time and your day off to go to the lake or to enjoy working around your place. Do you use some time each week? One of the things I love is all the people that serve in our pinwheel tutoring program volunteer and serve in that thing for free to administer, using their time and their talents. And so learn to give, learn to tie. That's critical.
Speaker 1:Next, do hard things. This kind of ties back into discipline, and I'm going to do an episode on discipline and doing hard things. That's a future episode that we're going to be doing, so I'll elaborate on that later. But do hard things. Challenge yourself relationally, challenge yourself academically, intellectually. Challenge yourself physically, challenge yourself spiritually. Do hard things, you'll grow through that. Learn to not just chase comfort. Uh, three more temporary things can often seem like ultimate things. So you know, especially for teenagers, sports and hobbies Let me tell you something you won your 3A high school conference championship. Nobody cares. You care and the folks in your inner circle care. Nobody else really cares, and so recognize it as a gift from the Lord. What an incredible experience I remember as a high school senior. Sports were everything to me, and they go away, you know. You leave them behind. So recognize that, okay. So kind of tagging on or piggybacking on that idea of don't make temporary things the ultimate things. And again, I use the sports analogy.
Speaker 1:This is because I was an athlete, but you could use anything, you know, it could be your work, like I remember dudes that I went to school with and see this even now, guys that are consumed with hunting, like I've got a buddy Love him, awesome, brother. He's so obsessed with hunting and fishing that it is compromised friendships and relationships. So anything can can do this. It could be money, it could be. It could be, you know, as you even enter into your career path. It could be something that is not bad in and of itself, like money's not bad, but you can become consumed or obsessed with the, with something that's not intended to be ultimate, it's temporary. So those temporary things, the way I would clarify, that is to say, use temporary things to bring glory to God and make eternal or kingdom impact and investment. That's what I would say, which brings me to the next thing, which is don't seek praise. Don't seek praise. Paul says am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? If I'm trying to win the approval of men, then I'm not a bond servant of Christ. So don't seek praise in that, um, you don't need the approval of people. We simply want to be faithful to the Lord and win his approval, and and so I think all of us have the tendency and there's it's, it's a normal desire to want to be approved and seen for what you've done or accomplished or what the Lord's done through you, but also for the things that you've worked hard to accomplish in and of yourself. So don't seek, don't seek. Praise. Live for the glory and honor of the Lord and honor the Lord. And then then the last one, and then I'm going to end with sort of a um, a thought that's not really on the list, but it's kind of a bigger overarching, all encompassing thought. Um, the last one is don't complain, don't be a whiner, and I would, just I would. What I would support that with is we talk a lot about um, don't have a victim mentality, don't have a sense of entitlement, those two things.
Speaker 1:If you come to Snowbird, if you work here or if you attend something here, you're going to hear those two things. Don't have a victim mentality, don't have a sense of entitlement, victim mentality. Yeah, you might have been victimized, yeah, you might have been harmed, hurt, abused, something terrible might have happened to you, but don't have that mentality of a defeatist. And again, that's one of those things it's easy to say sitting here and harder to do if you were terribly damaged and traumatized as a child or a young girl, young boy or combat veteran. But you're not a victim. You're not a victim.
Speaker 1:You have to get that in your mindset, that God has given you everything as it pertains to life and godliness. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world and through Christ. Romans 8 says we are more than conquerors. So don't be an entitled, whiny, complaining victim of circumstance. You're a conqueror.
Speaker 1:And the whining thing is it goes. It goes into more shallow waters. It would seem like, okay, having a victim mentality, that's one thing, but whining that's not as serious. But in some ways I think it's more serious, because you look at, like, when the children of israel are in the wilderness and they begin to murmur against the Lord, god gets so mad at them. He gets so mad, he's so angry and there's judgment that comes because it's a rejection of his goodness that drives that whininess. So don't complain, don't whine, don't be a baby, don't be a victim.
Speaker 1:Okay, now I said I want to wrap all this up with one big overarching thought and it's this Be okay to be weird or rejected or not approved by people like to be ostracized or made fun of or pushed to the fringe, like the world around you is not going to accept you, the way that you live your life. If you live your life for Jesus, it's just not. The world around you is going to look at you and go man, something's wrong with that guy, something's off with that dude, something she's. She's man, she's weird. She's weird. She loves she, she's very they'll say, she's very religious.
Speaker 1:Or my, my kids the reason I put this one in there is because I had already prepared this outline or this bullet point list and I was talking to a couple of my kids and little. I was talking to actually one of my daughters and to my wife and they had overheard a couple of people, a couple of teenage well, one's a teenager, one's a college age kid talking and they had made the comment these people are very close to Snowbird, like they're very close, I would even say kind of connected to Snowbird, and they had said man, snowbird, people are just weird. Well, I know that these two people are neither one really pursuing the Lord, they're pursuing the world, and so it makes sense that someone pursuing the world would lash out at somebody that's pursuing Jesus, you know it makes sense and especially immature people. Now I have learned that the longer you faithfully and consistently pursue Jesus, the more opportunities you're going to have um to, to, to build credibility and equity with people and to have an impact. But then also, the longer you walk with Jesus, the more you might have a. There may come a time where you're on the wrong side of a not the wrong side, but you're. You're in a conflict where you cannot get to a point where you win someone over and they hate you and they project that hatred on Christ, and that is not your fault. I'll tell you an example Young couple in our church she was one of our own Um, he started coming because he was, he was, he liked her, uh, he's.
Speaker 1:They were teenagers years ago. They're teenagers Um, he then was very manipulative, very controlling, but he did it in a way. He, he, he fooled and smooched the mama. The girl's mama thought he was great Cause he was cute and funny and articulate and bubbly and had a great personality. And it was. It's just easy to do, man. You know, it's like it's. He fooled her. She's a sweet lady, loves the lord, she's a discerning lady, but the dude was, you know. So we all get fooled. Sometimes everybody's had that happen, I've had it happen, you've had it happen where you think one thing and you find out, man, that person really pulled the wool over my eyes. So this boy pulls the wool over the eyes on this, on this family and long story.
Speaker 1:This kid by then had gotten real plugged in at our church and he was, um, you know, they, they, they had transitioned from childhood to adulthood. I mean, they went out of high school into the early adulthood and they're dating or whatever. And man he was, he was controlling that relationship, he was posing a threat, he was being very sexually controlling of this girl. And we found out some things were happening and going on and we're going to address it, you know. So we address it. And initially we address it in a Matthew 18 kind of manner hey, man, you're going to knock it off. Y'all need to, y'all need to quit dating, take a break, get some accountability, let's try to help, you know, get you going forward, get her going forward, and then if the Lord brings y'all back together, then great, but it'll be done the right way. And so we did that.
Speaker 1:But then he was sneaking, he was, she was living out of town, going to college a couple hours away, he's, you know they were, they're sneaking and doing their thing. It was just a bad situation and and when it was said and done, we, we confronted that boy and and uh, and dealt with it and to this day he hates us. He's, I see him from time to time and he hates us and I have no regret over the way we handled that Cause that that girl was one of ours and he came in as a wolf among sheep. That's, that's the way I feel about it. And so there's going to be times where, and as a result, by the way of that, several of my close friendships in this community ended because he spun things against us, and I don't even want to say he spun things, it's just, it is what it is.
Speaker 1:We told him how you can't be around her, you can't come around her, and we kind of closed and, you know, put up the, we latched the door and put her on the inside and had her family just get around her and and her family and a few people that really cared about her work to bring her back and restore her to just a place where she could find healing and she went on and married and as a mama now and is serving the lord and is doing great and has an awesome godly husband and that's another principle met a godly dude that didn't care where she'd been or what she'd done or what she'd been through. He's like no man. I'm going to marry you because Jesus loves you and has given me a love for you. And they're doing great. And but that other dude is not doing great because he rejected discipline and rejected con confrontation and struck out and tried to do things on his own and, as a result, man, his life is not in a good place. And do I feel bad about it? Yes, would I do it any differently? Probably not, because he posed a threat and there's only one way to deal with that kind of threat and that's to go at it.
Speaker 1:And so you, you learn an early principle, which is there are times where people are not. They're going to think you're crazy for your views and the way you think about the gospel, and you got to learn to be okay with that, especially, especially true for our teenagers or for our college students that are in this age bracket. Get to school and you take a stand and people are going to you know they're going to come after you because of your, your biblical ethic on sexuality or because you choose to live your life in a different manner. You might lose a relationship because there's a young lady in our church who I love so much and love her dad and her mom they're so just sweet, dear people and she's dating a boy recently and broke it off because he said if you're not going to have sex with me, then why are we dating? And she said, oh okay, well then we're not dating. That's easy.
Speaker 1:Got to have the stamina and the spiritual backbone to make those hard kinds of you know decisions and anyway, um, that's that's what I got for today. So start strong, start. He who began a good work will be faithful to complete it. Start strong. And next part two we're going to get into run hard, get after it. Live man.
Speaker 1:You're in into your twenties and then through your thirties and forties. That's a season of life where you better be getting absolutely after it. And and you know there's overlap, like in your fifties for some people, your fifties, I think, for me I. I hope that I'm in that stage that run hard, not in the finish well stage. I hope I got a lot of years left, but you never know, and you gotta be ready to finish well at any time, because you don't know when God's going to call you home. So that's that. That's what we got for this week. Hope you're encouraged by that challenge and those words, regardless of where you are, even if you've been a Christian following Jesus for 20 years. There's principles in there that we need to be reminded of. For me, a lot that I was reminded of and putting that together, so hopefully you'll be encouraged by it as well. Pray for us this week. Students have rolled in there. They arrived this afternoon this Monday, june 9th. They arrived and yeah, so pray that God moves in a powerful way this week and we'll give him praise and thanks for it, whatever he does.
Speaker 1:The last thing that I wanted to mention is that it was 18 years ago today, june 9th 2007, that an automobile accident claimed the lives of four Snowbird staff members. Their families impacted forever, our family impacted forever. Snowbird community went through its hardest season in its history and two survivors of that automobile accident, dawson and Kara, who we pray for often and would ask that you pray for them today as they navigate this difficult day in their lives, and so, anyway, just want to say that our prayers are with those families as they remember this day 18 years ago. Our prayers are with the staff that lived through that 2007 summer and for all of you that got around us and encouraged and supported us. We're grateful.
Speaker 1:So y'all, pray for us. It is a difficult day, so pray for us today as we reflect on that and most difficult time. We lost Ashley, lost ashley, michael, daniel and suzanne, and and dawson and carol were deeply impacted. So pray for those families and those survivors and for the extended snowbird family today. We would appreciate it. Pray, god moves. This week awesome week of ministry. We're expecting great things, groups coming from Denver, colorado and all over the Southeast and all points in between, expecting God to do great things. So we'll see you next week.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening to. No Sanity Required. Please take a moment to subscribe and leave a rating. It really helps. Visit us at SWOutfitterscom to see all of our programming and resources, and we'll see you next week on no sanity required.
