SPEAKER_00 0:00

Men welcome to the most important podcast that you'll hear in a long time. It's the Men's Leadership Community Podcast, and it starts now.

SPEAKER_10 0:17

Here's our roadmap, kind of like our best practices. We uh this is the first time we've done all of them at once. So kind of getting a scope of what they are. We're week eight, and we're gonna be talking these two that go kind of hand in hand, whole life wellness and relational wellness. So um, what is whole life wellness?

SPEAKER_09 0:37

But I can take a look at that verse real quick, Obi. So for the guys that are are listening and can't see Psalm 90, 17, you you know, we're gonna say, what does scripture have to say about our work? What does scripture have to say about our vocational life? What does scripture have to say about our callings? And I love this verse from Psalm 90, verse 17. This is kind of the prayer every morning before you actually walk out of the house.

SPEAKER_11 1:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:01

Or actually get out of bed because our vocations and our callings begin with our marriages and our parenting anyway.

SPEAKER_10 1:08

Yeah. May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us. Establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands.

SPEAKER_09 1:16

You know, we live in a culture today where Obi, I think we almost believe that we're supposed to work Monday through Friday. We get Saturday off, and then and then we go to church on Sunday and talk to God and have a relationship with God. And yet actually Psalm 90 says, Establish the work of our hands. Like it all begins with God establishing what we're called to and what we're up to.

SPEAKER_10 1:37

Yep. So big question how are your vocations? That's at home, at work, and in the world.

SPEAKER_09 1:45

Yeah, we've been asking this, you know, how's your feeling? How's your thinking? But how are your vocations? And not just one. I don't know if you notice there's an S at the end of that word. Not vote, how's your vocation? Because men can we can pigeonhole ourselves into, hey, Obi, it's nice to meet you. What do you do? And immediately it's uh, I you know, I'm an IT director at a large law firm, and all of a sudden we pigeonhole ourselves into this one professional career vocation, but we're gonna actually broaden that to all the vocations that God calls us to in our daily lives.

SPEAKER_10 2:20

Yeah. So a couple of questions. How how many hats do you wear every day? What are they? And our most important question: is Jesus at the center of them all?

SPEAKER_09 2:32

Because I know he's supposed to be at the center of my marriage. I know he's supposed to be at the center of my parenting. I I know he's supposed to be at the center of me being a a brother, a member of a congregation in a church that worships him. But is Jesus really supposed to be the center of every one of my vocations? And the answer is work, network, Andy.

SPEAKER_10 2:49

Network.

SPEAKER_09 2:50

Yeah. Well, we we do like to we do like to find the little niches, the little closets where we can tell Jesus, why don't you just stay out there for a minute? I'm gonna go do this, I'll catch up with you in a few.

SPEAKER_10 3:03

Yeah, I'll I'll work double double duty at church, do two to two things at church.

SPEAKER_09 3:08

Yeah, that's how Jesus is my homeboy. Jesus, you stay out here and I'll catch up with you when I get this done.

SPEAKER_10 3:16

What does the Bible say about the meaning of life, fulfillment, and purpose?

SPEAKER_09 3:20

So our vocation actually has a deeper meaning than just what we do for a living. And actually, vocation, when you open it up, Obi, it is the discussion of meaning of life fulfillment and purpose of an individual, which I think that has some pretty, pretty uh uh intimate things that he wants to be involved with as far as meaning of life fulfillment and purpose for every man on this call.

SPEAKER_10 3:41

Yeah, fulfillment and purpose go really hand in hand with vocational, with your vocation. Um, so we'll we'll expand more on that in a little bit. And uh finally, how will we define vocational health and wellness?

SPEAKER_09 3:54

Yeah, and I I have heard more and more, uh, especially since COVID, maybe COVID opened it up for guys to be able to talk about. I have never heard men, so many men talk about toxic environments of their workplaces before as I do now in the last six years, seven years. So, you know, when we're talking about vocational health and wellness, we're talking about the environmental health and wellness that we're in at home, at work, and in the world. And we're hearing more guys that are actually struggling with that environmental wellness of where their callings are taking place.

SPEAKER_10 4:29

Yeah. Hey, so let's uh define vocation.

SPEAKER_09 4:34

Nice. We got to get our Latin in. This is better. Look, uh Obi, this is closer to Spanish for you. So this isn't gonna be quite the Speebrew or the Spur, the the German, you know, that you you know, and the Greek that you really hope.

SPEAKER_10 4:47

I like the Latin because I can't say the Latin and it works well for me. It comes from the root word Latin vocatio. Uh look at that. Yeah, I the even rolling the T, I love it. Very good. Nice. A call, a summons, an occupation to which a person is especially drawn, or for which they are especially suited, trained, or qualified, though now often used in a non-religious context, the meaning of the term originated in Christianity.

SPEAKER_09 5:16

And and before you jump forward, I want you to look at the uh external nature, you know, because we live in a world where, well, I just come up with everything that I'm supposed to do. I create my vocation, you know, I'm the one that decides or whatever. Look at in the actual definition from the word bocatio, especially in Latin, how external it is. It is a call that comes to you from the outside and summons you forward. So think about this in connection, especially with God's word and God's call on your life. It's external, it comes to you and draws you into places that maybe you wouldn't go on your own to serve in opportunities that maybe you would reject if you were to come up with them on your own. So a call or a summons, which is from the outside, an occupation to which a person is drawn. You're drawn to it. Uh, and then you do have these now giftedness that we talk about, first article gifts. Uh, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. Uh, you know, these gifts that we're suited for, trained for, or qualified for, that God has put into Obi that are different than Andy, right? So we have these unique skill sets and different things of our personalities that He's created us in. But I just wanted to hit on just for a second, have you ever thought about just for a second, that the vocations that you fulfill every day are external calls from outside of yourself to serve in different ways and for other people? Right. So your marriage as a vocation is a call from outside of yourself to serve your wife versus what uh kind of the common thought of marriage is I'm gonna find a woman that I find attractive, that I believe is gonna give me a good return on my investment and is gonna treat me the way that I want to be treated. And everything begins with this internal drive of what we believe marriage is versus this external call to marriage, Obi. Or then move that on to parenting, this external call to parenting versus this internal drive, and you know, I want to have children.

SPEAKER_10 7:26

And I think it it should transform the way that you live your life in your marriage.

SPEAKER_09 7:33

Absolutely. I I think so. I think just the conversation of it alone, you know. Uh, in Patrick's already thinking about it this way, Pat, I think that's Pat Peters. Your strongest vocation may not be your job. And actually, your your professional career, actually, we'll talk about in just a minute, Pat. Your professional career and your calling to that ought to actually flow out of the vocations that you have at home. So see how men, our minds immediately go to our professional career, and then hopefully that's going well, and then all my vocations in the home life, Obi, will go better. And how to actually, God actually created everything to flow out of the wellness of our vocations in our home life to then go make an impact in the world. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 8:16

I was just gonna say that yeah, after after I had my stroke, I kind of started to realize that you know I wasn't just put on this planet as much for myself after I saw the people that helped me and did things. And then after I got MLC and I met Steve and I started, you know, doing the fasting and it started kind of working for me. It's you know, still not perfect, but I'm a lot better off than I was. But the biggest thing Steve said was just pay it forward to somebody. And I kind of was like, you know, that's kind of a novel concept, right? It's like something we don't think about every day that even, you know, what is it? You know, there's even somebody like me can pay it forward and help people out. And there's several people now that I've helped that have lost, you know, 30, 40 pounds, and they're not where they want to be, but they've seen an improvement. And so I feel like in the grand scheme of things, the stroke made me realize, hey, you weren't just put here to, you know, taking care of your kids or helping your wife is a good thing, but there's also people out there that you were, you know, you were put here to help too. And so anyway, that's just something that it kind of it kind of hit me through uh, you know, with a it took a brick over the head to do it, but it's kind of crazy how it happens.

SPEAKER_09 9:30

Yeah, and you know, Dave, you're pointing out there there's every stage of our life, there might be a new calling that God is drawing us out to serve others, and your experience of going through the stroke and now actually thinking about your health and wellness physically as it's intimately connected to your spirituality and and your relationships, but now you want to help others because you're getting healthier, and now you have a vocational call. And you probably maybe didn't even word it that way or think about it that way, but Obi, now a vocational call for Dave to go and share his experience of getting healthier with others who need to get healthier. That's a great thing. So our experiences, they are going to draw us out. God's going to call us out through our experiences, two different aspects of serving others through the different stages in our life. It's not like, oh, I was an IT guy, I studied IT through college, I got an IT job, and now I'm only gonna help out people who have IT problems. Does that sound fun, Obi?

SPEAKER_10 10:28

No, and Andy, I was gonna say, you'll you'll be surprised how many men I know that really um they they go to work and that's all they put in into the family. Well, you know, that's the mentality. Hey, I'm I'm earning the bread, I'm making the money. So now I get to go home and that's it. I just get to go home and do what I want.

SPEAKER_09 10:50

And somebody served me because I've been serving others all day.

SPEAKER_06 10:53

Yeah, I was I was just gonna say, I mean, we we are constantly changing jobs throughout our life based on our experiences. And you know, I'm not talking about our professional job, but just the jobs that we do through life. I mean, Tom and I, I we we've talked about we're getting promoted to grandparents, you know. We're excited. It's gonna be a new role, a new job. Um, so you know, that's what's great about being surrounded by other brothers that have kind of walked before us and you know, hearing all about that. But yeah.

SPEAKER_09 11:22

No, and you know, Steve did I mean talk about just all the different stages that we're in, you know, Jen and I are being called into the vocation of empty nesters, and that's got its joys, it's got its challenges, it has its opportunities to be excited, it's opportunities to be afraid, and it'll just be a different experience than what we've gone through before. But it is a new calling, and actually, when what the way that I'm praying through it and thinking of it is uh a renewed calling to a different stage in our marriage and the opportunities that that has for the two of us, instead of uh just bemoaning that Sam's not in the house anymore. What is the what are the opportunities that provides for me to engage my calling as a husband in a new and refreshed way?

SPEAKER_06 12:00

Yeah, exactly. And that's where most marriages fail is because they've spent 18 years focused on their kids and they forgot about their marriage. The kids move out and now they don't know who each other are, right? That's why it's so important that your your relationship with your spouse comes first over your child children.

SPEAKER_09 12:20

Yeah. So I love that we're stages and seasons of life that that uh the experiences that we go through, Obi, that that might draw us into newer callings that we weren't capable of being able to serve in before.

SPEAKER_10 12:33

Well, and I'm glad you mentioned different our that our vocations changed, Steve, because Marty, Uncle Marty, Uncle Marty, he placed a particular emphasis on vocations and divide calling, and here this is this is where it fits in, broadened them to include all of our many and various daily roles. Remember, we talked about many hats that we wear. Um, God's call to the many and various roles, functions, and stations of our lives as his servant leaders at home, at work, in the world, at play, wherever you are.

SPEAKER_09 13:08

Yeah, and for those of you that aren't in the know, Uncle Marty is Martin Luther the Reformer. What was going on during that time, Obi, is there was a hierarchical structure of who was important and who wasn't, who actually had divine callings, and that was the priests, the monks, and the nuns. And then you had the lay people, and they just kind of sucked, right? So you had the really special people, which those were in service of the church, and then everybody else, uh, a lower class of people. And Martin Luther was like, No, God, if you look at the God, the first article of the creed, I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, he's created every vocation as a divine calling in which we are to serve. And he said things like the mother changing the baby's soil diaper is fulfilling her divine calling. The blacksmith who is shooing a horse is fulfilling his divine calling. And then all of a sudden, what you have is you have a greater uh emphasis on each and every one of us have divine callings within our roles to serve within the community. So there's not this special class of people. Everyone's called by God to fulfill these divine callings, which include marriage, parenting, whatever your your role is out in the world in your professional career or your job. And you know, we see something neat about that happening today. I'll just connect it to that. Mike Rowe, uh, for you guys that that might know that name, Mike Rowe is really kind of doing a similar thing out in the career world. And he's raising up once again, blue-collar jobs is just as meaningful and important for us to train people in as his white-collar jobs, right? Uh, so he wants to see people grow in being mechanics and uh, you know, working on large diesel trucks and automotives and whatever it may be. And I love the way that he's raising that up because it's very similar to what Martin Luther did, just what the average everyday person, Obi. Like every calling is important. Let's stop hierarchying these with one another on which one's special and which one isn't.

SPEAKER_10 15:08

Yeah. So let's talk about a little bit about what is vocational health and wellness from a redefined point of view. That's our ability to achieve personal satisfaction and fulfillment from our work as we maintain a fluid balance with our personal lives, as well as make positive make a positive impact within the context, environments, organizations, and communities where we have been called to live, work, and play. You see this?

SPEAKER_09 15:37

And those those three are huge. Go through those, Obi. Live, work, and play. Aren't those? I mean, we I think we leave out leisure and play as an actual vocational calling. Well, that's not work. But see, that's when we've that's when we've restricted what work is. And God actually sees our our time at play and at leisure with one another. The fall retreat and all the the joy that we have with one another is actually a vocational calling for men to get away with one another and have leisure and play with each other.

unknown 16:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 16:08

And that's what that's that's what the whole life willness uh encompasses, right? Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_09 16:14

So I always remember I don't, I'm gonna date myself. You know, I have a 19 in front of my birthday, so I'm gonna date myself a little. There's this TV show called Friends. I don't know if all of you know it, but there was this one episode, and there's a girl in there. Uh her name is Phoebe, and she loves running through the park, Obi. But she, according to all the other adults that are mature and grown up and are out at the park running to exercise and get in better shape, she does it wrong because she runs through the park with her hands flailing in the air and laughing as loud as she can because she thinks running is fun and it should be uh it should be enjoyed like a child. Well, you get the other people in the TV show are like, that's so stupid. You look ridiculous. You're supposed to run to get in shape, and you have to run with great form, you have to be perfect at it, and everything. She finally woos them over to running like children, throwing their hands in the air and running wild and screaming, and all of a sudden they're all having fun. And I think men forget the the importance uh that not everything is supposed to be serious and perfect, guys. Some things are supposed to be enjoyed like a child still.

SPEAKER_10 17:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_09 17:24

Does anybody else take themselves too seriously like I do? Like I'm the most important person in the world most of the time, who is the smartest person in the world who takes things the most seriously in the world? Like, does anybody else struggle with that at all?

SPEAKER_04 17:38

You're you're completely wrong, Andy. I can't even find that I can't even walk straight sometimes. I don't take myself too serious.

SPEAKER_08 17:46

Dave, you are our Phoebe.

SPEAKER_04 17:47

We need to all go walking with Dave and what Oh my gosh, I was thinking of that while you were saying that. I'm I'm the Phoebe, just not as good looking.

SPEAKER_06 17:56

That's it, yeah. That's gonna stick. Yeah, Andy. Do you Andy? Do you remember anybody?

SPEAKER_04 18:02

You had a happy hour when you call me Phoebe.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

You need to change you need to change your iPhone description to Phoebe now.

SPEAKER_08 18:11

Phoebe, yeah. Andy, you won't remember why you got it, Phoebe. Thanks. Thanks for making us all laugh a little, Phoebe. If you don't do it, I'm gonna be disappointed. Yep. Jump in, Jeff. I hear you.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Well, I was gonna say, do you remember how she explained to Rachel as to why she runs like that?

SPEAKER_08 18:32

Yeah, yeah. Tell the guys, it's good.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Yeah, so she says, she says, Well, you know, you just gotta get out there and have fun, like you're running from Satan.

SPEAKER_08 18:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

And and Rachel looks at her like she's crazy and she goes, Well, Satan was this really mean dog from our neighborhood. And so I just always had to run from him. And I was like, That's great. This is and so yeah, that's that's the that became the joke. And now with my my teenager playing football for the first time this year, they're like, Oh, look, he's running like he's like like he's running from Satan. So I thought that's where we were going with this conversation, but it's a good time.

SPEAKER_09 19:05

No, that's good. But you know, it's it's Satan at work with my old man that tells me it's supposed to be serious instead of fun, you know. Uh it's Satan at work with the old man inside of me that says, No, you're you're supposed to be serious and you're supposed to be important, and everything's supposed to be deeply thought through instead of really some things are just supposed to be experienced in joy and laughter with one another as we sit by a campfire.

SPEAKER_10 19:28

Amen. I think Jeff was telling me um as we were walking to lunch one one of these days that some of the most meaningful conversations as he's had have been by campfire. So campfires are very, very important to Jeff. Matter of fact, he he had me save him, you know, little containers, the Mentos containers to put ashes in because he, you know, they remember the the campfire story. So that there's something really important that God wants from us when we play as well, so that we're not we're not grinding ourselves to a nub and exhausting ourselves.

SPEAKER_09 20:04

Yeah, I agree. I agree. Yeah, we'll work on that with each other.

SPEAKER_10 20:08

Amen. Uh so back to redefining vocational health and wellness. Um, it's connected to all the other dimensions of wellness and to the overall level of wellness someone experiences.

SPEAKER_09 20:19

And so again, you can't you can't cut out or compartmentalize out or fragment out our vocations away from our spiritual health and wellness. Yeah. Or our physical, or you know, it's all intimately connected with Christ at the center, Obi.

SPEAKER_10 20:34

All of it. Every aspect of our life. What do I what do I always say, Andy? When when Christ when Christ captures your heart, he doesn't want just a little aspect of your life, he wants everything, and the Holy Spirit will ruthlessly pursue every nook and cranny of your life.

SPEAKER_09 20:50

So for our benefit and for a good. Amen.

SPEAKER_10 20:53

Yeah. Listen to this having a satisfying work life positively impacts our spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional and relational health and wellness.

SPEAKER_09 21:06

Yeah, and this is another one of those areas, and we point them out just to be open and honest. This is another one of those areas where I think the church does a poor job. By the way, for those of you who don't know, I'm a pastor and I work in the church and all that stuff too. But this is one of the areas where we do a poor job and we compartmentalize out the health and wellness of your vocational life and say, well, it really doesn't impact your spirituality at all. Boy, it sure does because it's intimately connected to who you are in Christ. So of course, your vocational life and your professional work life is going to have an impact on your spirituality. You know, but we usually only run that one direction in the church. Oh, did I just throw out another? There we go. One direction in the church. That was, you know, boy bands. Uh, you know, you got to be careful of the fluff that comes with boy bands. But we really run that in one direction of well, if you're spiritually healthy, then your vocational life's gonna be great. Uh but your vocational life really can't impact your spirituality on whether it's going well or not. That's absolutely not true.

SPEAKER_10 22:08

So nope. And you know how I know because we've had many guys in here that said, pray for me. I'm struggling. I'm in a I work in a toxic work environment and it's killing me.

SPEAKER_09 22:18

Yeah. Do you think your toxic work environment that you're struggling with in your professional life doesn't come home with you to your marriage and your parenting? Of course it does.

SPEAKER_10 22:27

Uh-huh. Yeah. Well, some key benefits of vocational health and wellness, we always need to talk about those. Um, engaging in a professional development enhances intellectual wellness.

SPEAKER_09 22:40

You know, Jen and I were just talking about this at dinner last night, becoming empty nesters. We were like, one of the things we want to continue to do with one another is we want to continue to challenge one another to grow in our learning. We don't want all of a sudden that, you know, Sam's off to college or whatever, and now let's just sit around and do nothing. We still want professional development in our lives as spouses, as parents, uh, in our work environments to continue to be intellectually well.

SPEAKER_10 23:09

Working in a collaboratively with others and practicing conflict resolution, develop social awareness.

SPEAKER_09 23:17

Yeah. And and begins at home once again. Our ability for conflict resolution and the way that God created things is that that we should practice that and that experience of it going well at home should then have the experience that goes with us out into the world, Obi, when we run into conflict resolution out in the world versus again the other way around. Amen.

SPEAKER_10 23:40

Securing work that offers good pay enriches our financial wellness.

SPEAKER_09 23:45

Yeah, there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to have a professional career that pays you well. I just want to end that right now. It's okay to want to be financially healthy and well.

SPEAKER_10 23:56

Uh, achieving personal satisfaction and fulfillment in one's work depend deepens our overall sense of meaning and purpose.

SPEAKER_09 24:04

Yeah, absolutely. And that comes from the way that God created us in the beginning. And we're gonna get into that in just a minute. God created us to have meaning and purpose in our work.

SPEAKER_10 24:12

In our hey, and where does that come from? Just so you know, me and Andy don't pull anything out of our rear ends. It's always based on scripture. Um, we were created to work. The Lord God, this is out of Genesis 2.15, the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and care for it.

SPEAKER_09 24:33

Yeah, you know, this is really huge. This is before the fall, this is before sin enters in. This is in Genesis chapters one and two, before we get it to Genesis three. But God created man and woman that they would have meaning, fulfillment, and purpose in their work. So not just that they would go work the garden and take care of it, but as they're doing it and cultivating that, that they would grow in their meaning and purpose and their fulfillment with one another, doing it together. Right. So it not only impacts like the care of the world, it not only impacted the personal fulfillment and development, but it actually impacted the cultivating of community with one another as we do it together. So again, this is where it begins that it's not supposed to be done alone or in isolation.

SPEAKER_10 25:19

Yeah, I think people forget that. People forget that we were created to work. We weren't just sitting around uh eating grapes, which I think some people get that image, you know, when Adam and he were just sitting around eating fruits naked and like work, work came with the fall.

SPEAKER_09 25:35

No, work was radically changed, unfortunately, for the worst because of the fall. We're gonna see that in a minute. But work was work did not come because of sin. There was work before sin because it was good for us. Live, work, and play were all a part of the garden before the the fall. But you what you're saying, Obi, is a lot of people now believe, well, I can't wait till the next life where we go to we go to heaven and with Jesus, and I don't have to work, and I'm ready, I don't have to work anymore. And that is a unfortunate thought process of eternity that you're not gonna have fulfillment, meaning, and purpose because that comes with vocation. And we're all gonna have very important, meaningful vocations in eternity.

SPEAKER_05 26:18

That's so that's an important point. Uh, first person I heard talk about that was Patrick Miller almost 20 years ago, and he said that very point. He says, Heaven won't be just sitting on clouds or playing harps or singing in a choir all the day. That that you know, singing in a choir in front of Jesus will be part of it, but we will all have meaningful work. It just won't be something that's a drudgery or that we dread because it'll be a way of worshiping Jesus in real time, yeah, which it's supposed to be redeemed to now.

SPEAKER_09 26:48

I mean, but do we think about it that way, Dave? That like our marriages are parenting, or oh no, it's professional career, all of these things are aspects of worshiping Christ.

SPEAKER_05 26:58

Yeah, yeah. And we we we should get to do that every day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 27:03

Uh I David, I like that you said these are have-to's, not get-to's. Yeah. I just don't want to gloss over that. And then CJ, you know, he mentioned something that I think about all the time. Uh, he said that it's hard to picture what work looks like in paradise since work usually involves fixing things and solving problems, you know. And I think about this, Andy, but I always think about what work is going to be like without without becoming weary.

SPEAKER_09 27:28

Yeah. So here's the here's another thing, and I know Dave's probably heard me share this before in churches. God created everything in the beginning perfect, but not not complete. Amen, brother. And everybody kind of stops and struggles with that and goes, no, he he he he come created everything complete. No, he created everything perfect, and then he found joy in handing over the cultivation of it to Adam and Eve.

unknown 27:52

Yep.

SPEAKER_09 27:52

And Adam and Eve were to cultivate it and grow it and take it forward into community, into building society and all these things. And I think that there is going to be sinless problem solving in eternity. There's going to be the opportunity to cultivate with one another face to face with Christ to grow things, you know, but it won't be coming out of problem solving as oh my gosh, this is broken. It'll be problem solving insofar as Christ having the enjoyment of sitting there face to face with us, going, okay, what do we what do you want to do with this?

SPEAKER_10 28:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 28:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 28:28

Man, what a beautiful thing to look for.

SPEAKER_09 28:30

Yeah, pretty, pretty cool, by the way, when we talk about it that way. Yeah. Yeah. Like there's a there's a theological, brilliant statement that said, God finds joy in watching us create out of what he's created. So taking the stuff that he gave us that are gifts and us doing stuff with it, he finds joy in that.

SPEAKER_10 28:51

Yes. And you know, we'll get to we'll get we'll ex we'll touch that in a little bit, but that's where the the creativity, you know. Wow, why did he give us the the ability to create things? Well, there's a purpose to that. Right.

SPEAKER_04 29:03

Um almost like a father being proud of a son.

SPEAKER_08 29:07

Yeah, exactly. Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_10 29:11

Um Genesis 125 126 talks about our the origin of leadership that we were created to lead when he says that then God said, Let us make mankind in our image in our likeness so that they may be poetic shepherd kings.

SPEAKER_09 29:29

Yeah, so the word that you have in English in your Bible is probably have dominion over. But the Hebrew within the poetry, because all of Genesis at the beginning is poetry, uh, the Hebrew within the poetry actually alludes to we will be like God insofar as our under-shepherding, and God is described as a poetic shepherd king. So our dominion is supposed to reflect and and mimic his. So our leadership over creation, which God gave us to cultivate the garden and watch over the animals and all that, was that we might be poetic shepherd kings and be creative in the way that we cultivate and watch over and care for creation. So there's beauty, there's this great purpose, there's a this great leadership, and there's this great creativity that God like created within us to have.

SPEAKER_10 30:20

And it's almost like He like we were created to be created. Right. There you go. This is out of Genesis 2, 19 to 20. Now, God, now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called, each living creature, that's that was his name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds uh in the sky and all the wild animals.

SPEAKER_09 30:46

You know, and we see right here it doesn't say, and God brought all the animals that he named to Adam and told him what he named them. God brought all the animals to Adam and said, Adam, uh a poetic shepherd king who cares for and cultivates the creation that I give them, they begin with poetry. Think of it for the just a minute. You begin with your poetic ability, and the poetic ability that God has given Adam is to name the animals. Right? Once again, our creative poetry in motion. Adam is the one that names them all, not God. God gives Adam that creative opportunity and capability to use the poetic shepherd king to actually name the animals, and we still have that somewhere inside of us, even though broken, even though perverted, but being redeemed today in Christ.

SPEAKER_10 31:33

Well, and you talk about that perversion, that brokenness, you know, it's heartbreaking uh to see that this lasts two chapters.

SPEAKER_09 31:42

Right. Two chapters, and then all of a sudden, this is uh this is one of my favorite slides we've ever done. If you're not looking, these are the slides that we put up with Genesis chapter three, and everything is upside down, and you're looking at it going, I think Obi and Andy messed up their slide. Yeah, we did. Along with Adam and Eve, and along with all of you, we've messed up the slide. It's no longer perfect, and now meaning, purpose, and fulfillment are turned upside down when it comes to the human fall. And what was supposed to be meaningful, purposeful, and actually give us fulfillment now has been turned upside down. And now all of a sudden, work is a way for me to, you know, uh uh solely be focused on status and wealth. That's not what work was originally meant for.

SPEAKER_10 32:27

But working to define us, Andy, yeah, or a a way to define what we def how we define ourselves, right? Yeah, yeah. Well, these are the effects of the fall that we're talking about. Um and you know, you see this when Adam and Eve's eyes are open because of their disobedience, and God specifically talking to Adam, and he and he said to him, Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit from the tree, which about which I commanded you, you must not eat from it. Cursed is the ground because of you. Through painful toil, you will eat food from it all the days of your life.

SPEAKER_09 33:06

Yeah, so here we see the actual effects of the fall is not that God created work for us to do because we sinned, but now the work that was supposed to be meaningful, purposeful, and and give us joy every day is now going to become drudgery and now gonna become hard. And that obviously is well, there goes my dog. There, that obviously is something that we all experience.

SPEAKER_10 33:27

So well, then it's not only for us, but also uh nature itself warring against us. It's saying it will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground. Since from it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you will return.

SPEAKER_09 33:48

Boy, what a we've come a long way from poetic shepherd, shepherd kings in one chapter. Poetic Shepherd Kings 2, you're dust.

SPEAKER_10 33:57

It escalated very quickly.

SPEAKER_08 33:58

Yeah, so for those of you that might struggle with pride like me, this is a great awakening.

SPEAKER_09 34:04

Because I love to think of myself as a poetic shepherd king, but I really don't like hearing uh, yeah, Andy, you're dust.

SPEAKER_10 34:10

Well, and it changed everything, right? It really did. It tried, yeah, it specifically says by the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food, which tells you that there was there was not this struggle. There was a struggle both from from our our ability to work and then from nature itself now warring against us to uh to bring something that produced joy and produce enjoyment and fulfillment. Um and you know, the the vocation vocational confusion just entered into uh into the world.

SPEAKER_09 34:41

In the first part of vocational confusion that entered in, God even said, He goes, The two of you, Adam and Eve, you now are gonna struggle with one another. And marriage was in in before the fall, marriage was this beautiful complementary relationship where they freely gave to one another, they grew one another, all these things, and now God says specifically, you guys are gonna struggle with each other in your marriage. Yeah. And that's where the vocational confusion really begins, is what was once meant to be complementary now becomes conflict-oriented at times.

SPEAKER_10 35:18

Well, you know, and I, you know, as as as grim as that looks, God always provides, you know, even from the beginning, he always had a plan. Uh, he's a restorative God. Uh and Frederick Buchner, he's an American author and theologian, uh, said this about the restoration of our vocations. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work that you need most to do, and the kind of work that the world most needs to have done. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.

SPEAKER_09 35:53

You know, and I think it's really big, you know, not to end on that sour note of what happened at the fall with our vocations, but God did have a plan, and it was the restoration of restoration of our vocations in Jesus Christ, where once again we can talk as brothers with one another, we can be fully aware and recognize the fall and what it's done and the impact that it still has on the old man that lives within each and every one of us. And yet the hope and the reality that the new man in Christ is being restored and fulfilling his vocations every day. And that that kind of work that each and every one of us in our individual personalities knows we're drawn to, we're being called to, but also the kind of work that the world most needs to have done. And did do we recognize that begins in the house at home and then it finds its way out into the world?

SPEAKER_10 36:41

Yeah, gives us purpose, Andy. Yeah, for sure. Real purpose.

SPEAKER_09 36:45

But for me, I remember that means that my wife has a deep hunger that her husband is to fulfill. My son has a deep hunger that his father is to fulfill, and vice versa, of course, in those. But you know, instead of seeing like marriage and parenting right away as these things that are supposed to serve me, fulfill me, and make me feel better about who I am, they are opportunities to be drawn out and called to service. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 37:13

So, yeah, so that there is fulfillment. Psalm 9017 says, May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us, establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands.

SPEAKER_09 37:24

And that's such an important psalm because I think David recognizes that his vocational callings are all going to be corrupt and perverted because of the fall and the old man that's alive in him, even though in the death rolls. So he has to he has to cry out to God every day that the favor of the Lord would rest on him to establish the work of his hands, right? And a great call for all men who want to have real purpose is to call out to God to actually lay his hands on our work.

unknown 37:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 37:54

You know, and we learn that. Anthony, I'll just go back to when Anthony shared with all of us on the MLC that he goes out on his 18-wheeler and every day he lay he lays hands on his truck, that God would establish the purpose in the work of his truck and and him driving it that day. And the impact that that had on me was that comes directly from Psalm 90, verse 17.

SPEAKER_11 38:16

Well no, so and Andy that he goes out with his a portion of his earnings goes to the church, no matter uh what ride or how big or how small. If the ride.

SPEAKER_09 38:30

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and he's just been one of the most faithful givers to the MLC his entire time with us. Uh so there's always a percentage, I think, of almost every load that Anthony sends into the MLC, which is just phenomenal.

SPEAKER_10 38:45

Yeah. Yeah. Well, we have a Venn diagram of your core passion, where your core passion lies on what the world needs, and then where those where those two circles merge is where we find our our calling and how God is using that, our calling, um, to bring restoration to the world, to make an impact to the world, which is important for us. We're talking about all of this because um, you know, at the MLC, we we train, we equip, we mentor people on really knowing your why.

SPEAKER_09 39:19

Right? To know our You know, and Pat Pat Peters even put in that chat earlier, he said, all this ties in so well for me when I started discovering my why that my strongest vocation may not be my professional job. Uh, and and Pat Peters serves in a group called the Samson Society, where he's a a coach uh for men that are struggling with different deep addictions, uh, whether it be sexual or drug or alcohol related, and the meaning and purpose and fulfillment that Pat got from figuring out his why that he wanted to learn how to coach and mentor men, you know. Uh so you know, this is actually taking place in guys' lives where you may continue with your professional career because that's what you're gifted at and called to, but there may be something underneath the surface that God's drawing you out and calling you to uh that you may not be fully aware of until you work through a process like this, Obi.

SPEAKER_10 40:12

Yeah. And you know, but it's it's it's surprisingly how many men really don't know their why. They and they struggle. And and when you talk to them, you see that there's not there's a lack of fulfillment in their lives. And the majority of the time it's because they're missing their why. And and and God calls us to be men of action, God calls us to uh fulfill lives, to be viceroys of the gospel wherever we are.

SPEAKER_09 40:36

Yep, ambassadors of Christ, yeah, for sure. So you got to know what you need to continue to grow in and the area of your passion that God's wanting to create ongoing transformation. And you also need to know then what is the contribution or the impact you want that to have on others. So Obi and I meet with guys one-on-one for mentoring, and we take you through your vision, mission, and values. We take you through understanding your why, and then actually into working on your own life story, your hero's journey, and being able to share these things with other men because we need to hear each other's why. We need to hear each other's hero's journey because it's when we hear those that we look at another man and we go, Wow, you too? Oh, I didn't know you were passionate about that. I am too. Or wow, I didn't know that was a part of your life story and that you'd gone through such experiences. Can I sit down and talk to you for a minute? Because I've gone through maybe something similar, not the same, and I don't know where I am right now with it. And that's how we learn from one another and why God created us to live in community with each other.

SPEAKER_10 41:39

Yeah, and if you haven't gone through this, if if you haven't gone through this, man, reach out to me or Andy. We we'll be more than happy to sit with you and go through this. This is so important. It's so important. Um, Andy, what was the statistic that you said about people not being self-aware?

SPEAKER_09 41:54

It's 23% of people walking around on a planet today that are actually self-aware, which means they know who they are, they know the environment that they live in, they know the impact that they have on others. You know, 23%. That's a very unfortunate low number. But the thing that comes with that is the lack of intentionality to actually do anything to become more aware. And that's what we offer. We offer men the opportunity to be intentional about your self-awareness and understanding who you are, the gifts that God's given you, the impact that you want to have and what's going on in your environment around you.

SPEAKER_10 42:27

And to understand that we are we're called, you know, God has a purpose for you. Regardless of what you think about your testimony or or your hero's journey, there is a purpose that God has given you. Colossians 3, 16, 21 says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the Father, through him.

SPEAKER_09 42:59

So this is just a great set of verses, Colossians 3, 16 through 21, that says Jesus is at the heart and center of your vocations. He's at the heart and center of everything you do in word and deed. So really awesome. Hey, and he yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_07 43:16

Yeah, just kind of want to give you uh give God a shout out, but you're talking about vocations. Obviously, I'm a pharmacist, super cool, not really, but you know, my part of my mission is helping others. And then part of the business mission is um you know doing what we do well, and we prayed for opportunities in ways we can help people beyond the scope of what you would consider pharmacy or medical equipment. So we have an opportunity today. I'm taking my management team, we're going to a customer's house. Um, she qualified for a state grant, she doesn't have any heating or air in her house. And so We applied for her uh for this grant. We got the grant and we're gonna go over there today and completely clean out her house and put in heating and air. And and I mean this is this talking about God being a part of your vocation. This is it. I mean that's so far away from the scope of anything that we do. But the opportunities are still there.

SPEAKER_08 44:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 44:29

And and it it it's crazy to have watched, you know, from where I started to where we are today. Um he's blessed me the entire time. I didn't deserve it by any means. But it it's interesting if you keep your eyes open in your vocation, there may be things that it paths it takes you that you have no idea and has nothing to do with what your vocation is. So you are just using that as an example was all.

SPEAKER_09 44:55

Yeah, no, that's great. Thanks, Jay. Yeah, it's just you have to be open to the opportunities that God's laying in front of us to serve other people, to draw, to draw us out, to call us out, uh, you know, into serving somebody else. So, no, that's a great example.

SPEAKER_10 45:08

Yeah, Jay. And I'm gonna and I'm gonna modify that what you said where you may, God may provide, may. I'm gonna say he will, will. He absolutely, he absolutely will, Jay. And you we're seeing that regardless of how insignificant you think your job, it can be, you know, you can you can be an accountant just sitting there looking at spreadsheets all day. You could be somebody that's working in IT, you could be somebody that's doing major mergers, you know, you could be an attorney, a doctor, whatever it may be, God has specifically called you and put you in that position for a purpose. You have a purpose.

SPEAKER_07 45:41

So not not to mention what what it shows my staff the that we're willing to do. And and that has really now, yeah. Uh do we get paid for it? We do, but I'm probably gonna give the majority of the money back to the person we're putting the Heating Area in for because she doesn't have anything. So it's just a matter of of uh opportunity and and uh it grows our team that's doing this today, it grows us even closer. And then you buy you once that happens, you buy in more and more to the vision, mission, and values of the business. And you're you were talking earlier, your why. Yeah, once you figure that out, everything else makes sense.

SPEAKER_09 46:26

Yeah, for sure. No, and you know what Jay's talking about, Obi, is our vocation, our vocational health and wellness is intimately connected to our relational health and wellness with those that are at home at working in the world. And we'll talk about those next Friday. The intimate relation, you know, the the very next slide was the move to relational health and wellness, which is the final one in the health and wellness series. And I already knew we weren't gonna get there, so I'm not disappointed.

SPEAKER_10 46:53

No, I think that's what makes us great. You know, sometimes the Holy Spirit really guides the conversation, and for the sake of somebody, it could be one or two people, maybe everybody here. And we want to make sure that we are being sensitive to that. And that's so much so much really tied to going through every slide.

SPEAKER_09 47:11

Yeah. Or rushing the content. So I think I think today, you know, our vocational health and wellness for men because our vocation, our thoughts on vocation, whether right or wrong, whether restricted or wide open, uh, we need more conversation, godly conversation and brotherhood on what is our vocation, what do they mean, why are they important. Uh, we need to encourage men that you are supposed to have meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in your life. This whole thing, we live it. I want to wrap up with this, Obi. We live in an age where we are constantly now being bombarded. Uh, that there are no values in this world, life is meaningless, and when you die, that's the end. And there is no, there is no positive conversation. Not enough, not no, I shouldn't say no. There's not enough positive conversation about the beauty of the meaning, purpose, and fulfillment that God has at work in our lives today, even though we still live in the midst of a broken creation, even though we are ourselves sinful and broken, even though we live and have to work with and and have households filled with other sinful, broken people, that there is beauty to the meaning, purpose, and fulfillment that God has for us right now. There are things of great value in this life. There are things that should give us hope. There is a life that is to come. And I want to be bold in saying that out loud because this nihilistic, deconstructionistic uh, you know, mantra that is being blared at us a thousand times a day is overwhelming people to live lives without hope.

SPEAKER_10 48:46

Oh, yeah. And you know, Andy, I will tell you that. And it may be this may be your story now, but this is not something that I grew up hearing, right? That that work that God called us to to flourish in our work, to be a beacon of hope in our work, that God used our talents, our vocations, our skills, our abilities, everything uh for his sake, right? Uh, everything for for the furthering of the gospel, for your fulfillment, for you to live a fulfilled life where you're not just surviving or you're thriving. I didn't hear that. And maybe it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_09 49:21

Every aspect of our different vocations, the many and various hats that we wear are all opportunities to worship.

SPEAKER_10 49:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_09 49:29

Think about that for just a moment. And that's what Jay's getting to. You know, utilizing his business and his staff to go out and serve somebody else, right? Is actually an act of worship because we are worshiping God when we're fulfilling the meaning and purpose that He's filled us with.

SPEAKER_10 49:47

What a high note to leave on.

SPEAKER_09 49:49

Well, that's pretty good stuff.

SPEAKER_10 49:50

It is really good stuff. Well, guys, we want to be mindful of your time. We're gonna pray, and then you're welcome to stay in the after party and share your thoughts. Lord, we thank you so much for loving us despite us. Thank you for each and everyone that's here that has a unique ability, skill, talent, vocation, whatever it may be, um, that you've given them for the furthering of the gospel, to find purpose, to live a fulfilled life working uh diligently while we're on this side of eternity. I pray that you stir our affection towards you, that you stir our hearts, that you will motivate us and light a fire so that we can start seeing opportunities to serve you, to worship in whatever aspect of our life it may be, whether it may be serving our family, whether it may be serving um our work outside, even in those times when we're relaxing, when we're playing, that we find ways to worship you, that you will reveal uh opportunities for us to make your name known. We thank you for everyone that's here. And as always, um allow us to not just be people that hear your word and read about it, but are that are actually transformed by the power of the gospel. We love you, and it's in your name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 51:12

Thanks for joining and listening. We hope that you were truly blessed. Now you can join the live call every Friday morning at 7 a.m. Central Standard Time, and please bring a friend. And to learn more about the MLC, visit our website at the MLC.life. That's the MLC. Have a great day.