Our Community, Our Mission
Our Community, Our Mission
Ep #260 – Drawing Near in the Season of Lent
In this episode of Our Community, Our Mission, Mike Schoettle, Director of Spiritual Wellness and Discipleship, shares a powerful message: What if drawing closer to God were simpler than we make it? During this Lenten season, we unpack the profound simplicity of spiritual connection—one that transcends denominational boundaries and religious complexity. While Lent is often associated with Catholicism, it is observed by many Protestant traditions as a 40-day journey of spiritual formation, echoing the biblical significance of the number 40 as a period of testing and transformation.
Rather than focusing solely on giving something up, this conversation explores meaningful ways to create space for God—whether through intentional kindness, quiet reflection, or simply being present in the moment. Inspired by Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century monk known for finding God in ordinary tasks, we are reminded that spiritual connection doesn’t require grand gestures, only a willingness to turn our hearts toward Him. No matter the challenges we face, this discussion offers practical wisdom on sustaining a meaningful relationship with God, not just during Lent, but throughout our daily lives.
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Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, lord, for this day and your blessings and provisions. God, thank you for this time. Lord, to record this podcast, and Lord, just to celebrate. God, this special time of year, and, lord, we just pray that we would honor you with it. Lord, in your holy name, we pray, amen. Well, hello and welcome to episode 260 of Our Community, our Mission. I'm joined today. I'm Josh Turley, director of Strategic Development for the Topeka Rescue Mission, joined by Miriam Crable, as always. Deputy Director of Supportive Services. Hi, josh, I nailed that Barry always stumbles.
Speaker 2:I know he does. He has a really hard time saying my name and my title all in one breath. Yeah, it's a little crazy, but it's okay. It's okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:He's retired? Yeah, he's. You know that's great, yeah, anyway. Well, you're probably wondering why I'm hosting this morning. And well, it's because Barry's out on assignment, lamanda's out on assignment, so you get the D squad today.
Speaker 2:Oh, actually, I think you have the pros now.
Speaker 1:The rest of the people have to do it often, to practice. There you go. We're the ones who come in when they need. That Exactly, I like that. That's a lot better. Okay, well, in honor of of Barry, we still got to talk about our special days. It's your favorite part, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Oh, you know, Josh, there's so many things to. This was not one of them. It's like we could have just skidded right by that, but no, no, but I know it's because your department comes up with all this right.
Speaker 1:At this point it's tradition. At this point it's tradition.
Speaker 2:Well, we cannot break. We've always done it like that right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you can't break tradition and you'll hear the voice of Mike Schottel. We're joined by Mike Schottel today.
Speaker 3:What's up, can you tell?
Speaker 1:us your title.
Speaker 3:I am the Director of Spiritual Wellness and Discipleship. Yeah, yes.
Speaker 1:So we've got Mike on today and he's going to share a special message with us, so we'll get to that. But before that, yeah, we got to get to today. So today's March 18th, yes, it is say, our R&D team spent tons of time about 10 minutes looking these up, see what we had. So do you want to announce our first special day today?
Speaker 2:You know, I could just really throw kink into it and we'll go to the one that is your favorite.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 2:Which is National Sloppy Joe Day.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So why do you love Sloppy Joe's so much?
Speaker 1:Sloppy Joe's. Just the name invokes such a wonderful.
Speaker 2:No, I don't like Sloppy Joes. I know you don't and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made you talk about it.
Speaker 1:It's funny though I put it on here.
Speaker 2:Well, and you know, Mike and I like Sloppy Joes as long as they don't have green peppers Right For Mike's safety. Well and have to be homemade. Yes, they need a mother's love. Yes, and that requires homemade from start to finish, not no other than you know. You can use ketchup that's already made or barbecue sauce that's already made.
Speaker 3:Use it with ketchup that's already made, like I make, that we make like take the tomatoes gotta fresh squeeze that tomato.
Speaker 1:Gotta make it fresh squeezed tomatoes.
Speaker 3:Think about that. Oh is, is ketchup like a smoothie, because it's technically a fruit, if you think about it.
Speaker 2:Oh, you know, now, there you have it. You could yeah, I think you could call it that.
Speaker 3:That's disgusting.
Speaker 2:That's worse than a sloppy joe. That's worse than a sloppy joe, that's exactly right, it needs to be homemade.
Speaker 3:And what really cracks me up is like when I was a kid, too, I had family members that would pair Sloppy Joe's with salt and vinegar chips and I always thought, oh, that is disgusting, salt and vinegar chips, get out of here. And then I grew up and the pairing is just perfect because you have the vinegariness from the chips and then just the subtle vinegary, but sweetness from the Sloppy Joe.
Speaker 2:It's a beautiful thing. It is a beautiful thing. I think, Mike, maybe you and I need to make Sloppy Joes for Josh.
Speaker 3:We should do like a Sloppy Joe carry-in dinner thing for the children's palace.
Speaker 2:I think that would be a great idea.
Speaker 3:And Josh is the head judge. Exactly, these Sloppy joes are good.
Speaker 2:These ones are bad. You know what? I think I can make that happen.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know the person that could set that up.
Speaker 2:I do, we could definitely make that happen.
Speaker 1:All right, moving on Speaking of awkward moments, Today is awkward moments day, Okay, okay, but I guess you know it's. Some things are just better out in the open. So you know what, rather than hide that, I don't like sloppy Joes and you bring them and you know, accidentally, be like oh, Josh doesn't like sloppy, I'm so sorry. Be like now, you know so, true, true.
Speaker 2:Now, nobody can awkwardly bring them, but I'm not sure who would be more awkward you is, you have to eat them.
Speaker 1:That's true, it's you, that's, that's how I was raised. You, you just do you eat what's set in front of you.
Speaker 3:That's right. So are you? How I am with like beans and stuff with sloppy jams? No, I'm not that bad Okay.
Speaker 2:I'll eat it, it's just not it's just not what you'd ever ask.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'd never ask for it so yeah, but uh, but yeah, I mean no well, and you know, and it could, it could create an awkward moment.
Speaker 2:It absolutely could. But there are bigger awkward moments than that.
Speaker 1:So do you guys like think back about times?
Speaker 3:why are you looking at me and just automatically laughing?
Speaker 1:because, because, because I don't know it's, it's, it's funny because like and maybe this is just my brain, but I'll think about like awkward times in my life where I, like you know, waved at somebody and that I thought was waving at me, and then they're waving at somebody behind me and I'm like those those moments like stick in your brain and you think about them randomly like 10 years later, like, oh, I feel so dumb.
Speaker 1:I do understand that okay, okay, I'm glad I'm not. Yes, anyway, honoring awkward moments, days, uh. So we have one more day that we want to recognize, and I feel like this is actually a pretty good one national ag day.
Speaker 2:National agriculture day that is such an important thing to recognize the farmers and ranchers that provide us with all our food. It really is.
Speaker 1:Ag Day to me is a very cool day so, and I saw my youngest brother this weekend and we were just talking about you know farmers are the biggest gamblers of anybody in this entire world.
Speaker 2:None of us need to go to Vegas at once. You're a farmer because everything you do is a gamble, you know. Will your, will your livestock be okay? Will they grow well? Will you have enough food to feed them? Gamble Planting wheat, planting soybeans, planting corn it's a gamble. Will there be enough sun? Will it be too wet? Will it be too dry? And when I think about how. That is so ingrained in me that when I see weather, when I see what's happening with the weather, my mind goes straight to gosh. I wonder how this is going to impact the farmers. The weather my mind goes straight to gosh.
Speaker 1:I wonder how this is going to impact the farmers.
Speaker 2:You know, oh yeah, so it's something you grow up with constantly and realize, yeah, the farm life is an interesting time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, as with gambling, except this is livelihood, like you know. It's not just some extra cash or whatever. This is food, so anyway, but, yes, we want to celebrate the agriculture and all of the incredible farmers and all the work that they do. So thank you Absolutely, absolutely. All right Now that we've gotten that out of the way, thank goodness.
Speaker 2:Let's move on.
Speaker 1:It's always so stressful, right, I know, I know. Well, at least I didn't quiz you on it. Barry likes to quiz you on it, so I just, you know, said here it is. Anyway, mike Schottel, we reached out to you and asked you to share a little bit with us about the season we're in and the season of Lent.
Speaker 3:What do you have for us today? You said Lent, yeah, lent. I thought you said Lent, like clean out your dryers every six months, oh.
Speaker 2:Well, this is awkward. Now what Talk?
Speaker 3:about an awkward moment. Well, folks, make sure you clean out your lint traps on your dryers.
Speaker 2:But more than every six months. Yeah, I mean always, unless you want to start a fire.
Speaker 3:The tubing that goes to the. I do every six months. That's what I do. Yeah, but the lint trap. Here's the deal the lint trap.
Speaker 2:So here's the deal, do you? Yeah, but the trap here's the deal. So here's the deal. Do you know? Uh, really, you do that yeah okay, we'll talk after this.
Speaker 3:Okay, I mean, yeah, I just got to make sure that the airflow is going all right I never have okay, let's talk moving on okay, so awkward moment we're going to talk about lent, yeah, um.
Speaker 3:so just a brief overview. I know that we've got a lot of listeners that listen, come from all different backgrounds of Christianity, even some that are not believers. But when you hear the word Lent nine times out of 10, you're going to think, oh, they're Catholic. If you are observing Lent, you're Catholic Catholic. If you are observing Lent, you're Catholic. Yes, the Catholic church does oversee or does observe Lent, but you got Protestant churches that do it too. I mean, you got the Methodists you have, Lutherans you have-.
Speaker 3:We do the Mennonites do Correct? And I mean I grew up basic. I mean it's the missionary church denomination, but it's basically Wesleyan, yeah, and we observed it, of course. So Lent is the 40 days between Easter, between Ash Wednesday, excuse me, and Easter. It does not oversee the Sundays that are in that period of time, but Lent begins Ash Wednesday all the way until the Saturday before Easter, ends Ash Wednesday all the way until the Saturday before Easter. That is a time to engage in prayer, time to engage in fasting, but most importantly, it's spiritual disciplines.
Speaker 3:Um, so it matters because Easter, even bigger than Christmas, easter is the reason why we are here. Christ came, he lived, he died and he came back to life, conquered death, so that those who believe in him can have eternal life. So Easter, it's kind of a big deal. So what kind of? Put me down the rabbit trail. Easter rabbit, just kidding. Just want to look up like what the word lent actually, where that comes from, which actually it is an old English word that means spring, or the lengthening, lengthening of days. So really has nothing to do. There's no Greek in it, there's no nothing. It's literally just spring. So looked into it a little bit more. Like what does the Latin say about it? Because you have Catholicism and all the other denominations of churches and Christians that follow Lent. It's quadrigesima, which means 40.
Speaker 3:Okay 40 day fast, okay, yeah. So with Lent you hear people that'll say, well, what are you giving up for Lent? What was really funny is growing up. My sister would always give up chocolate during Lent and what's the one thing that you can see? And there's children, little girls, that are going door to door right now, this time of day, this time of year, Selling what? Girl Scout cookies? Girl Scout cookies, yes, every single solitary year. And it's like Sarah just had like a reset, like, oh man, I'm giving up chocolate and I can't have Thin Mints, I can't have the peanut butter patties. What is this? And we're like, hey, you're doing it to yourself. You know, some people give up chocolate. Some people even will try to give up smoking. They'll give up social media. Me, every year, I give up the difficult sacrifice of watermelon. It's not a seasonal fruit.
Speaker 2:Oh well, you know, so it's tough.
Speaker 3:And then also scuba diving. You know, living in Kansas sometimes you've got to make the commitment.
Speaker 2:You do, you have to go all in.
Speaker 3:No. So one of the things, instead of like giving up stuff, what I try to focus on is doing more to seek the Lord. It's a 40-day period, not including the Sunday, so some people would believe, okay, let's break the fast. On a Sunday, we can do whatever, because you're observing the Sabbath. Those 40 days you are observing the time to draw nearer to the Lord. Those 40 days you are observing the time to draw nearer to the Lord, but 40 is the number of the fast and that can represent judgment. It could represent spiritual testing. You can see that all throughout Scripture, genesis chapter 7, with Noah and the ark, the 40 days and 40 nights. It's going to rain. And then they were on the ark.
Speaker 3:Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by Satan and overcome the temptation with the use of scripture, with the use of his authority as God, right Um, and this discipline and I honestly think that the Catholic church is just so great at doing it um, for the 40 days of imitating Christ's suffering um, through the process of growing more in their spiritual disciplines, growing closer to God, to do. And, josh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pick on you real quick because, uh, probably about two months ago or whatever, we were out with with uh, with another friend, and we were having dinner and somehow we got on the basis of fasting um, and I'm pretty sure that was most of the conversation for the night, as we're eating chicken wings, that's, we're eating dinner. Your, your focus needs to be on Right Um. So you shared, like the, the most that I'd ever fasted was like 48 hours, but around like 30 hour 36,. I mean, little Mike gets, he gets hangry and hunger gets what hunger wants. Um, but you shared something really cool about your parents.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, um, I was, I had shared with Mike that I remember seasons as a kid when my parents would, it was a couple of times they would do a 40 day fast. They did a 40 day fast and there was, and you know, I was trying to reflect on. I don't really remember specifics, but I remember there was like kind of big things going on. There was kind of like and it was a time of seeking for them and they use that time of, you know, to pray, read the Bible, and it was really a discipline and so, um, but yeah, I remember that happening a couple of times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's, that's amazing, and you know so I've been talking to different friends in our women's Bible study and stuff, just about how they are observing Lent, not necessarily about what they're giving up. So one person is spending the time these 40 days lamenting, right, so kind of thinking about those things that are worrisome or bothersome and really just lamenting to the Lord about it, which I thought was really interesting. So things that she considered difficult or things going on in the world, to really just lay it all at the Lord's feet but not just giving it up, but being agonized about it, right, being just lamenting. You know the whole principle of lamentation and that.
Speaker 2:And then someone else has chosen to say I am going to be intentionally kind, so I'm going to try to do the things that Christ did. I'm going to be focused on Him, his life, not just this period in his life but his life, and just be very intentionally kind, particularly to people that, not that this person would ever not be kind because she is a kind person, but just intentionally kind to people that might not expect it, right, and that kind of thing. So I've been kind of intrigued, so I've always observed Lent from a perspective of recognizing this time frame, you know, and trying to do different devotionals or Bible study or something that really focuses on this time up to Jesus' death and resurrection. But I've never, really ever, given up something. That's never been in my practice, but so I was very interested to hear how these other people were observing Lent in a different way than just giving up something.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that's like a big part of it. I think when you focus solely on the impact of just giving something up, I think you can pretty easily like miss the point of it.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:Correct. Um, so when you give up and talking about fasting food, the what you're supposed to do when you're not eating is you take that time you'd be eating to pray, right? It's kind of supplementing for those spiritual disciplines. And so when we just fast to fast and just kind of talk about what we've given up, I think you missed the point.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because it's replacing one for the other.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I agree with you. It is a time for spiritual formation, it is a time to draw closer to God.
Speaker 3:And there's one quote, there's a couple quotes actually, from Brother Lawrence which if you've spent any time talking with me, discussing with me as part of my job. There are some staff members, even guests, that are like okay, how do I draw closer to God? Well, first and foremost, you got to be in the word. You have to be in the word. James, chapter four, verse eight, is draw near to God and what's the promise he will draw near to you.
Speaker 3:So be in his word, Practice his word, Practice his presence. Which brings me up to the next one. Brother Lawrence was a 17th century monk in France. He worked on a monastery. He, I believe, was in the kitchen. I've read the book like four or five times and let me tell you it's not an easy read because it was translated from 17th century French to now.
Speaker 3:But this individual, of anybody that was at this monastery. There were priests, there were nuns, there were people who, like, had the greatest accolades. And if anybody you could ask them on the premises, like who is the most spiritual of all, who is the most in tune with the Lord, they would all say it's Brother Lawrence, the guy that works in the kitchen. You're kidding me.
Speaker 3:And these letters that he wrote to the Holy Mother, to his coworkers, to whoever like. Somebody got these after he had passed and made them into this book, fantastic book. But here's a couple quotes that Brother Lawrence said about drawing closer to God. Speaking as speaking, this is of God. He does not ask much of us, merely a thought of him from time to time, a little act of adoration, sometimes to ask for his grace, sometimes to offer him your sufferings, at other times to thank him for the graces, past and present, that he has bestowed on you In the midst of your troubles. To take solace in him as often as you can, lift up your heart to him during your meals and in company. The least little remembrance will always be the most pleasing to him. One not need cry out very loud. He is nearer to us than we think.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm wow, I mean, he is so close to us. We just got to reach out and just say something, just as something as small as just being like god, thank you for this and that that. For me, when I first started working at the mission of almost seven years ago seven years, holy cow, seven years, boy, howdy. But every single day like this is and I will say it, this is the best job like I thought when I was at the dc, that was the best job that I'd had out of college. No, the job that I'm in now it's like. This is fantastic.
Speaker 3:And I've I know I've texted you, miriam and lamanda, uh multiple times, just being like thank you for this opportunity. You know, I'm almost done with my schooling, with my master's and just being able to basically be. My career is to draw closer to God, so that I can shepherd everybody at the mission to draw closer to there's nothing like it. I love it, but I remember when I first started at the DCC, every day it was like God, thank you that I'm finally in my niche. Thank you.
Speaker 3:And then there was like two weeks that I went without thanking and it was like and I call it the Holy Spirit, with a two-by form Whack right upside the head. It's like, michael, you haven't thanked me, like you are so close to me and you're not thanking me. Just take that small, teeny, tiny moment and lift up your hearts to him. The least little remembrance will always be the most pleasing to him.
Speaker 2:Just thank him, just conversationally, right? Yes, you know, and that's something and, josh, it kind of, I think, harkens back to a little bit of what you were saying too. We can make Lent seem so complicated, right, and make it about the acts versus about the why. I think you're really spot on with that and it's that same thing. Just even the recognition of what Christ was facing during these 40 days. You know just what that must have been like for him. You know and we know how close God is. And then I think about Christ on the cross and feeling forsaken, the son of God, god incarnate, feeling forsaken by the Father, and what that must have felt like, and then that we miss the opportunities just to be in communion with him in the small, everyday kind of moment. That's really beautiful and that's very convicting for me to think about, to just go ahead and embrace the fact that the Lord is so close. I just need to.
Speaker 2:I just need to intentionally, like I would any friend you know, like I would. Yeah, that's, that's really powerful.
Speaker 1:I've heard something similar to that too, of like how would like you know if you have a really good friend or family member that you're in contact with all the time and you just stop talking to them? Yeah, what would happen to that relationship? Yeah, right. Like so there's investment in there and it's intentional investment and it's worth it Right.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:To put in that time.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So Right.
Speaker 3:Um, so, with the end, with the intention this is another quote from brother Lawrence, from practicing the presence of God. He says we must know before we can love. In order to know God, we must often think of him and when we come to love him we shall then also think of him often, for our heart will be with our treasure, and that just rings true to me because it feels like it mirrors Matthew 6, verse 33. But seek first the kingdom of.
Speaker 3:God and his righteousness and all of these will be provided for you. Seek him, love him, and no matter even how hard life's going to be, you got the love. Just fall into that. Yeah, it's. It is about drawing closer to him, but there is, there is the importance of the fasting, the cutting things out to see what Might be thwarting your relationship with him, to grow closer to him. You know, it's just like how, you know, some people are trying to figure out what they're allergic to for food, so they completely change their lifestyle and for like three weeks.
Speaker 3:Well, it's just kind of going off of what Daniel does, daniel's fast in Daniel, chapter 10. For three weeks he stopped eating this food nothing rich, nothing, uh, you know. No, no wine, nothing rich, to give him the sustenance. Because who is the one that is sustaining? God, the father. Um, so, slowly, adding those things back in, you know, will show. Okay, what is it that's causing me to slip up? Yeah, um, so abstaining is something that gives us the idea to focus, just like, josh, what you were saying, like when your parents did the 40-day fast. It shifts our focus on what is sustaining us.
Speaker 3:And it kind of cracks me up, because one of my uncles, my godfather actually he is Catholic and he absolutely hates fish. If it slithers or crawls or swims, don't put it in front of him, he's going to eat it. So during the Lent season, Fridays are the worst days for him.
Speaker 3:And that's when you'll see when you're going past my office, whatever the day is that I'm writing on the dry erase board below it, on the Fridays during Lent. So this Friday it's going to be only four more days of fish for for fish hating Catholics, but the whole thing about fish and I might be wrong in this, but this is just some of the stuff that I was gathering for it is, why is it fish on Fridays?
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 3:So what I found is that fish is a symbol of Christ, which it makes 100% sense, because early Christians used the Greek acronym Ichthus, so Ichthus was spelt Iota, chi Th sigma, okay, iota. That starts with jesus, he a sue and it's just kind of like uh indiana jones in the uh uh last crusade, you know, at the very end when he's trying to save his dad sorry if I'm ruining this for you, but this is a 35 year old movie 36 year old movie, uh, 1989.
Speaker 3:But yeah, uh. Jesus in the greek and in the latin starts with an I. So when indy's like trying to take the steps of god, the name of god, uh, it zooms in on sean connor and he goes, oh. But jehovah starts with an eye and he goes jay, and he steps in and he almost dies, no. So jesus in the greek, in the latin, starts with an eye. So yesu cristo chi feu. God huyas, that's the epsilon, and then so tear savior, eu, god Huyas, that's the Upsilon, and then Soter Savior. Ichthus is the acronym for Jesus Christ, son of God Savior. Wow. So Ichthus, greek for fish. You can't say Jikthus, I mean, let's be honest, that wouldn't have caught on. But Ichthus is Greek for fish. So symbol of Christ, fish.
Speaker 2:Interesting.
Speaker 3:Kind of cool little video. That is really cool. Yeah, so could that be why they just eat fish? Because it's a symbol of Christ? Sure, I don't know. I have no idea. I thoroughly enjoy fish. My Uncle Chip I do Hard pass for my Uncle Chip, I mean no.
Speaker 2:He must have had a sloppy joe, experience Must have had some bad fish, really bad. That is very interesting, because I've never known why the fish represents Christ. Huh, interesting.
Speaker 1:I didn't know, I'm just not like maybe fishers of men or like there's lots of fish symbolism kind of within within that too.
Speaker 3:But also just because fish fries are delicious.
Speaker 2:They're just fun Boy that's exactly right For those of us who don't have to do it or don't feel compelled to do it on Friday.
Speaker 3:We just enjoy tagging along. That's exactly right. Anybody knows where a good fish fry is. Hit your boy up.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, since we've, I have a question for you, if you were to help our listeners out, what's some very practical tips on drawing closer to God, and obviously that's going to be different per person, but what's some things that work for you.
Speaker 3:So things that work for me, or you know, pot's calling kettle black on this one. Um, you know, if I'm going into, because I'm going to be honest, I go to counseling. It's a wonderful thing, it's a, it's a spiritual formation, uh, opportunity for me, because there's a lot of stuff that we deal with, whether, whether it is here at work, whether it is personally, whether it is stuff that we just deal with by watching the news. Anxiety is a real thing. People should definitely be going to counseling a lot more often than they think they should be or shouldn't be the stigma. Just, first and foremost, go to counseling. It's great. But if I've had just an incredibly difficult week, the first thing that my counselor says to me is well, have you been in the word I'm like well, no, no, I haven't well, there's your problem, but that could not ring any more true.
Speaker 3:Last week, for instance, like just dealing with a whole bunch of doubts, my past, not really feeling like I'm worthy to be in the position that I'm in. You know, just finished two classes. Talk about getting kicked in the head and kicked in the hind end at the same time. I mean two classes, master's level, classes on top of work, and then being a husband, being a father, being a friend it's a lot. And reading through psalms 40, when the lord heard my cry and he picked me out of the pit of despair, of desolation, and then out of the miry clay and placed my feet firm on the rock. That's what we should be just reading that the word is living and it is breathing. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. That's the first thing that I would say to any listener.
Speaker 3:If you are a believer and things just aren't right, things don't feel like they're going right, I'm, first and foremost, I'm sorry that it doesn't feel like things are going right, but get, get in the word. And if you're not in the word, just start in Psalms. Do one a day, whatever the date is. So today's the 18th read, psalm 18. Tomorrow's the 19th. Read Psalm 19. Start small, aim small, miss small.
Speaker 3:For those of you who are in the word every day and it just doesn't feel like things are going right, I'm sorry. Life's not supposed to be easy, but what we are supposed to do is remain faithful to the Lord, remain steadfast in him, continue to seek him. Steadfast in him, continue to seek him. There is darkness and this part of life, there will be suffering, but remaining steadfast in him and practicing to just draw closer to him, mm, hmm, that's probably one of the most important things that I would say, yeah, and I think and you know, during this season, obviously you know it is that focus, but I think of everything that's going on in the United States and in the world and all the uncertainty.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure that there's any more important message than to draw closer right. When everyone is feeling like life is chaotic and they don't know what tomorrow is going to hold, and prices are going up and this, and that People are struggling to hang on to their housing or they're living outside already, is there any message more important than draw closer Then draw closer First, get to know him, than draw closer then? Draw closer first, get to know him, but draw closer? Um, and what a responsibility that, then, that we all have to share that kind of good news. Um, that we don't have to be afraid of what the future holds or what the present holds. Frankly, um, we can just sit in him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, whether it's lent or not lent, and I think that's a good point too. Right, it doesn't have to just be lent, no, sometimes you're going through difficult times and you just may need to pause and maybe reflect on what you, what you talked about, mike, and things that are taking you away from that, and take a break from those. Fasting from different things Isn't just about lent, right, it's. It's just a state of mind that we go into to kind of help combat those difficult times. So it's right now, but it's, it can be done anytime, right, it's?
Speaker 3:it's the time I mean you got. You have valentine's day. Oh, it's a day for me to love on my wife, hopefully that's not going to do it any other day of the year. Or Christmas, like ooh, it's a time of great cheer and jubilation and you know being charitable, but I'm only going to do it around December, right after Thanksgiving, and, you know, after December 31st. Nope, no more, no more, no. Practice it every single solitary day, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's beautiful, that's beautiful.
Speaker 1:Well, that's great, man. I super appreciate your thoughts. Is there any final thoughts you want to share with our listeners?
Speaker 3:I mean, I had Daniel, chapter 9, verses 3 through 4, written down right here and it's. You know if you, if you go through the book of daniel, it is a minor prophet. Uh, he was a minor prophet and he's in chapter nine. It's almost like the the aha moment for him, like holy cow jeremiah, what he's saying for the 70 years, like we're in it yeah and he it clicks for him of we're in this captivity, and verses three and four, it says so.
Speaker 3:I turned my attention to the Lord. And this is Daniel saying I turned my attention to the Lord to seek him by prayer and petitions, with fasting sackcloth which is morning clothes and ashes. I prayed to the Lord, my God, and confessed ah, lord, the great and awe-inspiring God, who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands. We have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled and turned away from your commands and ordinances. Rebelled and turned away from your commands and ordinances. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, leaders, ancestors and all the people of the land. He just goes on saying like we messed up, we have been wicked God forgive me.
Speaker 3:That's the first step, because then, once you know him, then you get to love him. Yeah, so yeah, whatever the nation is seeing, whatever we're seeing in our community, whatever we're seeing at our work, whatever we're seeing in our homes, whatever we're seeing just in ourselves, that we're not telling our community, whatever we're seeing in our work, whatever we're seeing in our homes, whatever we're seeing just in ourselves, that we're not telling our friends, that we're not telling our spouses, our kids, whoever it starts inside with us, it's never too late to just cry out to God and say we've messed up, I have messed up, but you are a God full of mercy, you are a God full of grace, you are a God that is filled with awe. Have mercy on me, a sinner. That's where it starts. And just like Forrest Gump says, that's all I got to say about that.
Speaker 1:What a great message, man. Thank you for sharing that and just thank you for listening today. If you're listening today and heard this message and maybe you're going through a rough time maybe you're celebrating Lent right now, maybe you're not, maybe you don't even really know what this time is about. Ask a friend, se you're not, maybe you don't even really know what this time is about. Ask a friend, seek the Lord. That's the standing message today. Lean into the Lord, whether you're giving up something or not, know that he loves you, know that he cares for you and know that he's there for you. Thank you for listening today. If you'd like more information on the Topeka Rescue Mission, you can visit trmonlineorg. That's trmonlineorg. Thanks for listening.