Suffering or Inconvenience

welcome to expanding your faith

a podcast hosted by Bishop Breier Godsey

The Old Catholic Churches International

expanding your faith

brings together a panel of well educated

clergy and laity

to discuss modern events with a biblical perspective

our podcast is about to start please stay tuned

good evening

everyone and welcome to expanding your faith

I'm Bishop Greer

and joining me tonight is Reverend Mark

greetings everybody and Bishop Ben

greetings to everybody too

so we took a little bit of a long break

haha

instead of a one month break

it ended up being a two month break

because we had to deal with Hurricane Helene

I thought it was

cause Bishop Ben was on an extended vacation

well he did go to Vegas for a while

but I mean

we would have gone on without him

even if he was in Vegas but um

no Hurricane Helene kind of came through our area

and kind of devastated the area

and so we've been working to

get back to some semblance of normality

in the area

and actually the topic for tonight's podcast

in the start of our season 10

is actually inspired by Hurricane Helene

uh River Mark and I were talking one night as we

uh sat uh

smoking cigars in

um at his house because he had power and we didn't

and this was kind of

one of those ideas that came out of that

that is are we actually suffering

or are we just inconvenienced

because we went through a period

I think Rivermark had power out for like six days

and we had power out for eight days

and then I spoke with somebody at the church today

who had no power for 11 days

and so I mean

um

were we really suffering

or were we just inconvenienced by these things

uh so that's what we're gonna talk about tonight

um

since you came up with the idea hahaha

yeah well start you off

I think a lot of times

we

we read a lot about suffering in scripture

we read a lot about suffering around the world

and then we go through situations where

like with our Hurricane you know no one expected

the level of devastation that Augusta right

and the surrounding communities experienced

that evening or that aft

that night

and you know I woke up

right when the power went out that morning

at about 4:00 and was laying in bed and just

I'll never forget the sound right

it was insane just the amount of wind and of course

it had been raining

and um

you wake up the next morning there's no power

wake up the next morning and you know

chunks of my roof are in the yard

shingles that is and you know I don't

you don't know what to do and right

it's like how do you get a hold of people

and so you know

there was a lot of stuff going on and

you know

you feel the pressure of having to adapt and to

to change and

to adjust and

you know how do I go about my normal life

because there is no normality there

because everything is disrupted

we don't have electricity

we can't get out trees are down and

you know food spoils because it's out for so many days

the electricity that is and

you know it's an aggravation

it is you have moments where you're

that that routine is disrupted right

and I became frustrated because

you don't know what's going on beyond

beyond your little neighborhood you're in

and you start asking you know

is my sister okay is my parents okay

or are my congregates okay or my friends okay

and you know

and then you stop step back and you're like oh

thank god I'm okay

and then you start hearing the reports

uh there was what

last count I read was 32 dead right

and the majority

maybe all but three or four of those people

died from trees crashing through their homes

and killing them

and things kind of start getting into perspective

and you see a lot of people jumping on Facebook and

you know

they're complaining about this or talking about that

and you know our

I think we're so blessed in America

that even when we have tragedies like this now

stuff that happened in North Carolina is

you know

definitely beyond comprehension where entire towns are

just wiped off the map because of flooding

yeah that's a little different

I'm talking about us here locally

you know we

we we're more

you realize you're more inconvenienced to things

because while yes

I didn't have gas

uh in abundance for days

no electricity you know

I was still able to function

I had food I could eat I had things I could

could uh consume

I could communicate with people right

um

you know yeah

I was wearing you know

I was having to charge my phone in the car

and run my gas out but

um you know

eventually I was able to get gas and uh

you know

fortunately I was off from work for six days

and then the church was without power

so that we couldn't hold services right

so it didn't have to be anywhere

you know but you're concerned for everybody else

and

it really puts into perspective of how blessed we are

to be able to recover so quickly

at least the majority of us

there's many people are still displaced

because their homes were either devastated or

you know a tree landed and it split into right

and um

at no point did I go hungry

but there's places all around the world

that can't say that right

there's people around the world

from natural devastations that

you know have been years trying to recover right

and you know

within less than a month we were back to a routine

for the majority of us many people again

still dealing with things but

are we are we blessed

are we inconvenienced or are we suffering

and you know

I think each of us has to ask that question

right and each of us has to answer it

I think so many people were kind of um

they kind of thought maybe

they were living the life of job for a little while

there right

they're ready to sit on the

in their yard and scrape their wounds and

and you know

cry for help you know

but uh

in reality you know

we fared a lot better than

you know many of the places around us like Asheville

North Carolina

some of the cities up there

where they may never find all the people

that were affected just simply because of the

you know complete devastation of the of the city

and you know

but so many people too

and I noticed this on social media off and on as

you know lunar and I are trying to get out to people

accurate information

about what resources were available

where curfews were um

what the curfews were

uh alternative sheltering

and things of that nature out to people

the one thing that you know

struck me over and over and over again was

uh how

you know being without power for a lot of people

uh and I'm not talking people with medical necessities

and things but just

you know people

that are in good health and everything

being without power was like

the end of the world for them and

you know God help them

the internet was down

right

you know uh

forget that

we had just gone through a Category 1 Hurricane

hitting Augusta Georgia

I mean which as far as I'm aware

has never happened in the history of Augusta Georgia

yeah um

and so forget that for a minute

the biggest problem was

I don't have electricity and I don't have internet

and so uh

you know it was very interesting to me to see that

that was considered suffering

you know that

you know I'm being

I'm being inconvenienced

to the point that it's now suffering and persecution

you know

and I'm thinking you know

we lived as a as humanity for years without electricity

we live for centuries without internet

I mean running water

running water yeah

I mean you had to go to the well

in the middle of the city to get

to get water

and here

we had semi trucks bringing in bottles of water for us

right we didn't have to go to wells right

and I even thought about it

as I jumped in the very cold shower

yeah

uh cause

I end up taking a shower before

Mark's power came back on

before ours came back on

and um

yes it was ice cold

and it certainly gave me a good little start

and it made my arthritis flare up

but I didn't have to go out

and bring a bucket full of water

to fill up a tub

yeah it was pumped right into my home

where I can freeze my butt off in the

my shower without prying eyes

buckets of water right

right so

I mean um

all things told we're very blessed

right you know

um

and I think the moment that it really hit for me

that concept is we're sitting out

Luna and I created a fire pit in the front yard

with the idea that some of the neighbors could come

and gather around if they wanted to

and that kind of thing none of them did

they preferred to sit inside their dark homes

and bitch and moan about the darkness so

um hot dark home

the hot darkness yes

and we uh

we sat out in front of the fire

and Luna decided she wanted a bag of popcorn

well all we had in the house was microwave popcorn

so what did she do she went and got a pan

and that bag of microwave popcorn

and put it in the pan and put it over the fire

there you go and sat there and pop

now half of it burned in the bag

but I mean

but it was popcorn you know

and

you know we were able to heat things up over the fire

we were able to cook things out on the grill

in the back and stuff like that

so we fared pretty well

and most people around us did too

you know nobody went without food

nobody went without um

you know at least the majority of their necessities met

um but there were people who lost their homes

lost everything they had

a dear friend of ours Sid Gates

Doctor Sid Gates

um

he lost his home

you know in the midst of all of this

um so

I mean uh

but even in that it's really an inconvenience because

you know nowadays we have insurance

we have the ability to rebuild or buy new

you know um

it's not the sorrow and

and tribulations that many people made it out to be

because you know

you you step back and you begin to look at

you know I could have went days

even probably a couple weeks and been able to eat

uh it may not have been exactly what I wanted to eat

but I had the you know

I had enough stuff in my my cupboard there to um

your pantry to uh

to get what I needed right

and um

I had bought some stuff before the Hurricane

not thinking

you know it was just a day for me to go buy some stuff

I wasn't thinking that we'd have what we had

and we've had tropical storms come through

we lose power for a few hours and then we're fine

but you know

this was a whole lot different and

you know true suffering comes when

you know you

you lose everything and there's no hope

or there's no ability for you to be able to

to rebuild or right

you know you're complete

you know there's people that are completely displaced

uh in various countries

I mean up in Asheville

North Carolina

you've got people that used to live in neighborhoods

and

and they're camped out in tents now

and that is their neighborhood

all right I can't

you know I can't fathom that I

you know um

and when I realize that you know

I'm just being inconvenienced

I step back and I go you know

I'm a blessed person you know

I live in a country that uh

for all its faults there are some things that it gets

right now I'm not

you know and we

we were able to have the National Guard come out

and be able to assist us and

in different organizations and responses

and I'm not under the delusion that

all of Augusta was in the same boat that I was in

there's many people that didn't have access to

to food and had very limited supply

you know they have their kids and family members

we have people in our church that had to go to

to emergency shelters because they had generators

and they had to take their family members

who were on oxygen right

so that that

you know but they were blessed enough to be able

to go somewhere right

and we really need to to remember that yeah

it's it's hard

it's difficult but at the end of the day

we're breathing end of the day

we can go to sleep and wake up the next day

and continue to do better right

uh we can

you know we

I didn't go hungry you know I

I cut back on how much I did eat

only I had a sandwich in the morning

and then something in the afternoon

Bishop brought pizza to me once and then uh

I think a hamburger or hot dog or something like that

uh from the y'all school they

they were giving out food

and

you know and

you know what I enjoyed the most about all

all of it was just the

the being able

I cherish the time that we were able to just sit there

and talk to each other you know

there were no distractions

we had to be careful how much we were on our phones

right because battery was precious

battery life was precious and

um you know

we had to be fortunately

we don't live too far from each other so right

um but at the same time we

you we

I realized that it could have been worse

true and it

I had I had many things to be thankful for

and I was I was inconvenienced

you know I'm not

I'm not going to put myself in the Saint Francis

category or the or the Gandhi categories or the

the other

people that have gone into the world to try to

right injustices and have lost their lives right

you know that's true suffering

you know and while their reward I believe in the

in the next life is wonderful uh

sure they suffer in this life here

so we it really

it really slowed me down to realize

life is too fast for us here

right we overlook too much and realize

and not realize how blessed we are

and we need to pause and be more thankful on a

on a continual basis indeed

Mister Ben you have any thoughts

no you actually covered it well

but you know I was going to say to people that are

that are non clergy or non understanding of things

how would a lay person discern

suffering versus merely inconvenience

you know I think that's a good question

I think that um

this is kind of the way I look at it okay

if you don't have roving gangs of people

pulling you out of your home and stealing your stuff

uh if you don't have people coming and saying

denounce your faith or you're getting shot

you're not being exiled to a foreign country

because what you say or do is

found to be offensive by your government right

then it's likely just inconvenience

you know correct

because

and I think that's a good point to make it Bishop Ben

is that

we as Americans don't really know suffering

I mean there are some people who do

there are some people who go to bed hungry every night

there are some people

who don't have a roof over their head

don't know where their next meal is coming from

are constantly being you know

thrown from one city to another or

you know that kind of thing

but most

Americans

don't really understand the concept of suffering

you know because in the reality

most everything that we deal with in our daily lives

is not suffering it's just inconvenience

um now

I mean I know people who have cancer and are dying

that's suffering

I know people who

have had Covid and died that's suffering

um there are women

like in Texas who died

because they weren't given proper medical care

after Roe v Wade was overturned

um that's suffering

but the reality is that

most of what we go through in America

is not true suffering

the internet being down for

you know five or six days

that's not suffering

the power being out for eight

or 10 or 12 days is not suffering

um

even not being able to drive around town

because trees are blocking the road

that's not suffering

you know

especially if you have food and water

and everything at the house

you really don't need to be out anyway

but

there were people who were spending their whole days

part of the gas station

just waiting for gas

for the power to come on so they could get gas

I was watching people post on

cause several areas had curfews right

edgfield being one of them

and I was flipping through some page somewhere

Facebook page somewhere where people were commenting

you're not gonna tell me to stay home

you're not gonna tell me

and the reason they were telling us to stay home was

cause there were power lines in the road

there were trees in the road

emergency vehicles and electric companies

the National Guard they were all trying to clear that

and get that out of the way

so that we could resume normality

well we lost a lot of people in Augusta

not a lot lot

but I mean several people in Augusta who got run over

because they were walking down a dark street

in dark clothes

and somebody trying to find gas or get to a store

run them over yeah

cause we had no street lights

there were no street lights

you know you could barely see

uh we had several people die

from running into trees that were blocking the road

cause they couldn't see them

you know but by God

they were gonna be out they were gonna be out

you know and bless them

I hope it was worth every minute of it

but I mean well

we're so accustomed in our country

to just doing everything we want right

and we think that the minute somebody says hey

you know best not be on the road right now

we think they're trying to infringe on rights

and stuff like that it's like folks

this is an emergency situation

right where there are literally trees in the road right

there are blockages in the road

you can't get around I mean

trees were just laying all over roads

right and

you know where do you have to be if you're not a

an essential worker you have you

you should stay home until we can get back out

and thankfully within days

we were able to yes

but people were online

acting like their rights were being just ripped away

by some Nazi

and it's like folks

we're just trying to clear paths

right and I got

I get it you know

uh the electric

the electrical companies

the people that came in from out of state to work

they were working around the clock

they had shifts working around the clock

and most of our lines had to be completely run fresh

and new telephone poles had to be taken down

because they were ripped into

and brand new ones put in

I mean it was a major undertaking

yes it was

and you got people that didn't need to be anywhere

were all ticked off

because they couldn't just go at will where they wanted

that's not suffering

yeah no

and it reminds me of you know

in the early days of Covid

you know we had the mask mandates

we had the curfews we had the

you know social distancing

even the shutdowns and stay at home orders

and people were throwing a fit

you know I'm

the government's not going to tell me I can't go out

well most of those died from Covid

so I mean

that

I guess they kind of Learned their lesson ultimately

but you know

it was the same concept you know

they felt it

being forced to stay home was somehow oppressive

and was a form of suffering

it wasn't

you had food you had water

you had electricity you had internet

you had the people that you either loved

or didn't love around you

oh dang

well if you didn't love them

that might have been a little bit of suffering but

the point is that you know

that this was just an inconvenience

it was not true suffering

and yet people made it out

as though that was the end of the world

you know and so

but what we were trying to do during the pandemic

was to try to

save as many people from getting the disease

as humanly possible

because we had no clue what it would do long term

right you know

today we look back on it four years on now

and we know that

the more times you get Covid

the more likely you are to get long Covid

which ultimately is deadly

you end up dying from it eventually

it's not a pretty sight

and if people had stayed in instead of

you know being bull headed

they wouldn't be suffering from the issues

they're suffering from now

but unfortunately

again people thought that was a bridge too far

that it was suffering

and it was causing them persecution

especially when the churches had to close down

oh you would have thought that Hitler

himself had walked through the city

and declared that all the churches must shut down

well I'm

you know my statement about

you know we're so free in America to do what we want

that's not a negative that's a

it's just we're accustomed so much to

you know we're the land of the free right

and the minute minute

we have to pull back and say okay

we need to scale back a minute

it's the same principle as

you know when you break your leg or break a foot

or something like that and

you know

you want to go running or you want to go walking

or you want to go you know

do what you normally do

but instead you have to keep the leg in a boot or

or the foot in the boot that is

keep the leg up or put it in a cast whatever

and so you have to spend time

letting that heal is the same type of principle

except this is on a mass scale

no one's trying to rip your rights away and no one's

you know now

now if they had persisted into

they were still doing curfews now right

then that's we're talking a different story right

but having curfews for a few days or a week

just so that 1 people are on the road

emergency

people are available to the folks doing emergency work

right versus people that don't need to be out

that are just derping around

riding around causing accidents right

so you know

it's just common sense to me

but so many people think that

you know this is just a power grab

a power grabs when they start passing laws and start

you know infringing and it becomes a long term thing

right I mean

sure then we can talk

but we're so used to

in our country being free to do whatever we want

that the minute someone says no

you can't it's like a second

you know it's like there's a

I don't know a

something that rises up in us and we're like

we'll show you right

Boston Tea Party moment all over again

oh yeah

yeah and

you know that true it

it

it's not a situation where we have to step back and go

you know

you know the lord's trying to

trying to test me or trying to what

we were just inconvenienced and we

it should be a wake up call for us to 1

remember how quickly life can change right

and how quickly things can happen

and that we need to be grateful for what we do have

and the blessings that we have

as you said that uh

comedian Ron White came to mind and he said

you know he got pulled over by a cop one time

he was drunk and driving correct

got pulled over by a cop

and the cop goes to put him in cuffs and he says

Mr White you have the right to remain silent

Ron White says

I might have had the right to remain silent

but I did not have the ability

I think that's

that sums up kind of the American view on things

you know

uh we may have the right

but we definitely don't have the ability sometimes well

or the ability to just apply

what's that book common sense right

that probably nobody reads anymore right

um

you know

I just

yeah

common sense isn't so common anymore sadly

that's correct you know

people have long abandoned it

um

I like using the example of job

when it comes to suffering

because Job Job was a man who understood suffering okay

if you need a real explanation of suffering

read the story of job or some people call him job

it was not written about Steve Jobs

it was written about job but anyway um

Joe don't you go to

don't you go to the book of job to

to find a find a job

find a job here you go

uh it's just like

Adam and Eve are the first ones to not read the apple

terms and conditions so anyway

uh

we uh

I mean job lost everything

he lost all of his crops

he lost all of his animals that he was

you know taking care of

he lost his children

his wife ultimately walked out on him

he lost his health

he ended up with sores and boils all over his body

his own friends were telling him to curse god and die

you know

there's a guy who understands suffering

right okay

when you have to sit on the side of the road

in front of what was left of your house

and scrape your wounds with pottery

that's suffering

but even in that suffering

what did job do he refused to curse God and die right

yeah he got angry

he got frustrated he had a long dissertation about

why is this happening to me

why are you picking on me

but he never let it destroy his faith

he never let it cause him to waver

and yet we have so many people today that

when they are slightly inconvenienced

they suddenly their faith goes out the window

yeah

you know they begin whining oh

why is this happening to me

oh God must be punishing me

no God's not punishing you

this is just a mere inconvenience

right you know um

I mean we're talking about the God of the universe

who could snap his fingers

and you just don't exist anymore

I mean if he really wanted to punish someone

he could punish someone

I don't believe that God stoops to the level of these

petty tit for tat exchanges

where oh

well you sinned

so I'm going to make your car blow up today

and not work anymore you know

I just don't think that's how God works

one of the greatest gifts that god gives us

is the gift of our life to

to function and to do things the way we want to

to make the decisions right

many people will step back

and this may be a little controversial haha

you know oh

God's in control God's in control

you know if God wants to make it happen

it'll just happen no no

god gives us

the opportunities to make the right choices

god gives us the opportunities to do the right things

to other people god gives us the opportunity to be

that Grace

that extends to people that don't deserve it

and God gives us

do I believe in supernatural intervention

I do I believe that God can step in and do things

supernaturally beyond humans ability right

but I also believe that god works through individuals

to make things happen you know

that's why the disciples were sent out into the world

instead of Jesus ascending to some world platform

right to declare the message of the Kingdom

um Jesus worked through the 12 through the

you know the other disciples that followed Jesus the

and then those that went out from Jerusalem

on the day of Pentecost you know

they were all sent out sent out for god to work through

right and

we're given the opportunity to make

decisions in our lives

based on the leading of the spirit

based on what we've Learned

based on what we know to be Grace and truth

to make the choices that lead us to life and godliness

what what a Deuteronomy uh

uh

what is it G uh

Moses was uh

right the

the writing of Deuteronomy

Lord help me Jesus yeah

I've talked too much today right

it says I've placed before you life and death

blessing and cursing

uh choose life

and you know

that's what we should choose each and every time

each and every day each and every minute

I choose life over things that degrade other people

that degrade other people

that put other people down and so on

so forth that cause division

that cause people to be hurt and wounded

and that's you know

part of choosing life is choosing words correctly

uh Proverbs 8:00

eighteen's are Proverbs

Chapter 18 tells us that

life and death is in the power of the tongue

right and um

so we should be very watchful at just thinking that

whatever happens is

oh well

that's God's will you know

well how do you explain

you know random weather patterns it

it's that it's it's the earth

you know things happen

it rains on the just and the unjust you

you mean it

there wasn't some machine that made the Hurricane

come our direction Lord have mercy

this is not the 24th century and this is not Star Trek

right we don't have the weather control devices yet

yeah the weather uh

modification that as they called it in the

in Star Trek no

we don't have that but um

uh I

I wish we did that would be wonderful right

right but um

you know I

it it

we are called to go out and make change in the world

we're called to to set a watch on our mouth right

we're called to guard our hearts

we're called to uh

keep our minds state on truth and Grace and justice

uh

you're not called to make sure that I do those things

and I'm not called to make sure you do those things

we do it for ourselves

and I know that's controversial theology

and some people don't like that

because it puts the responsibility on us

and it takes it off of God right

and we're just not out here flapping in the wind

but I truly believe that we have a responsibility

to carry that message

that Jesus taught us to the earth

how else is it gonna happen

God's not buying billboards

and putting the message up on the billboards by

you know the agent Holy Spirit right right

we have to do that and we have

we have to make sure that our life reflects that of

of the kingdom right

the rabbit is

is upset that she's not getting enough attention

I think I don't know if the rabbit was saying amen or

I don't know what she's doing me right

uh as you may have been able to tell

we've relocated our studio

and so we're now near the rabbit

and so uh

is Miss Dana giving us homework

yeah this is our homework for the night

no I uh

I made some notes um

some possible future podcast and so I was uh

I had her grab them for me

so I could try to pick out what our next podcast

I don't know if she wrote notes saying

I don't know what y'all are talking about

but this is better here right right

say these things I tell you what

the retreat this morning at MCC was probably better

it was that oh no

this is good it was uh

Reverend Martin did a great job or whatever Dana says

that's good too and we're actually going to talk about

some of the things that he covered today

in the retreat on an upcoming episode

closer to Thanksgiving

in which we're going to talk about

uh where is it

uh what did I write down

well it's gonna be essentially things that truly matter

but

uh that's not what I had uh

and then I had one um

that I thought was very funny um

let's see

yeah things that truly matter

and then uh

I have one that I thought was really funny

we're gonna do one called sweet baby Jesus

sweet baby Jesus Christ childhood hahaha

where did you get that out of today

I don't know I just

God knows what I was saying

he just you

you mentioned Christmas and oh okay

and my mind started moving

I mentioned Christmas no way

never never never yeah

and so I uh

that came to mind but yeah

that was that Class

Today was loosely based on a book by Joshua Becker

it's it's not a

it's not a quote unquote religious book

but right

and it does you can tell some threads in it

um

and another idea was a religion of cats

that's gonna be interesting

the religion of cats the religion of cats okay

uh and then we'll have an episode at some point

stump the pastors

stump the pastor

you all have to bring in questions to try to stump us

oh wow

we should do that once a quarter

at my first I haven't done it at MCC

first quarter at my first pastor at

we do I called it ask the pastor

usually it would be a midweek service and

but I always said okay

you can ask me anything you want

but I have the right to say I don't know right

absolutely

absolutely why don't we do a podcast called Ask Francis

ask Francis

those that can't see

Francis is up here on the back of my chair

perch like a parrot on the back

Francis is making sure we say all the right things

right he's the one feeding me all the good lines

he'll be judging us later right right right

so I think uh

next week

we're gonna talk about living in a chaotic world

that's a good one uh

it's gonna be post election

and I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of people who are

sad or upset

one side or the other

and who think that the world is coming to an end

and so um

how do we live in that chaos that's been created by

you know

the pitting of each other against each other over yeah

elections and everything else

and how do we get through that

and to somewhere that's a little bit better of a spot

so next week that'll be our topic

living in a chaotic world

uh any final thoughts Reverend Mark

I I just think that um

and I will dive harder into that as we

as you alluded to but I think we

we should step back and realize that moments that we

you know don't have our routines or conveniences

should be wake up calls for us

to remember that we are blessed people right

and that since we are a blessed people

we should be able to reach out

to bless others to be thankful and grateful

to live with a thankful heart

and to if we have it in our ability and our power

to minister to somebody

or open up and make something happen for somebody else

we should do that we should take that opportunity

it was the small things you know

I remember that pizza y'all brought me that

that was the best pizza that I think I've ever eaten

that you know

now was it

you know like I said

it wasn't made in Italy

it wasn't made by an official Italian cook

but it was just

I was so thankful and grateful for the fellowship

and for the get together for the food cause

you know peanut butter and jelly sandwich

after a few days in a row

is just a little much and

and so you know

you step back and

it's the little things in life that we should

be eternally grateful for

and I think moments like that

in our lives should make us appreciate when we succeed

when we move forward and

you know I remember the days when I was

you know I had success as a pastor for a while

and then when I stepped out of my first pastor

I lost so much income right

stepping out of that that

you know I had to sell my truck

I had to fix up this old beater car that I had

I had to I mean

I lived my credit card stayed maxed out over time

I pay off the credit card

and then get a little bit of credit left

that's what I would buy my groceries on

and then it would max out again

and so now I I

I step back and realize how blessed I am

and remind myself on the regular

you know live

live thankful for God's Grace and God's mercy

and share that with others

absolutely

Bishop Ben your final thoughts

well you know

Reverend Mark pretty much covered it really well

you know the only thing I gotta say is

you know people that are in this world today

we are all in it together

in a world that seems like it's upside down right now

I get

my best advice would be be courteous to each other

treat each other like human beings

show love and compassion

absolutely

and my final thought is this

even in the inconvenient times

don't let it shake your faith

stand firm

uh as Paul says in Scripture

when you've done all you can to stand

stand

I think that's a very wise advice

um

because I think

it's so easy for us to be bogged down by

even the inconveniences

to let ourselves end up uh

just letting that overwhelm us

rob our joy

and so um

just keep on keeping on

through thick and thin my friends

like I said next week

we'll be talking about living in a chaotic world

I want to thank Reverend Mark

and Bishop Ben for joining me tonight

it was wonderful to be here

thanks for hosting us yes

and for Francis keeping us in line

yeah Francis keeping us in line

thank you for having us and for Miss Dana

bringing us better things to talk about right right

she needs to be off every Saturday night

um so that's right

uh so until next week

when we once again attempt to expand your faith

keep shining bright my friends

thank you for joining us for this episode of

Expanding Your Faith

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keep shining bright