SPEAKER_00: 0:02

Welcome to the Boundless Bible. My name is David Shapiro. Hey, I'm Javi Marquez. And I'm Jason Holloway. One of the things that I'm really great at is also one of the things I'm really terrible at. And that being grateful and being thankful. And I feel like I've probably missed a lot of blessings in my life because of the times that I'm, you know, really struggling with being thankful. Yeah. Um, you know, how does that sound to you guys? Is that something that you you can relate to?

SPEAKER_01: 0:33

Yeah. One million percent. I think you just named most of my life right there. Like I'm the most, I'm the most contradictory person. And one breath I can tell you how intensely grateful I am for everything. And then I turn around and complain about something.

SPEAKER_00: 0:48

That's funny. Yeah, if somebody is going to do something for me, if I'm like, hey, can you do this for me and do it? I'm always very to make sure I'm thankful to them. I'm like, hey, thank you. But that's saying the word thank, you know, being thankful, having gratitude, living with a life of gratitude, very different and something that I struggle with at times. Uh probably more than I'd like to admit, but it's something that uh we're not the only ones, which is great. And I think diving in today and and talking about, you know, gratitude and thankfulness is uh really important. People struggle with this.

SPEAKER_01: 1:17

Yeah, and seeing how this is coming out, I believe it'll come out the week of Thanksgiving. It's relevant, it's timely and topical.

SPEAKER_00: 1:23

Yes. Sounds good. Um, the you know, I love starting with with Jewish and and Hebrew words. Um, so it the word gratitude or thankfulness actually comes from the word toda. And that's the Hebrew word. And like everything, it's in motion. It's not just hey, I am grateful or I'm being this is actually being thankful before something happens, expecting it to happen, your thankfulness. So it's expectation of gratitude. Um, and it's really cool because if you look at like sacrifices that happen in Old Testament, um, they have this sacrifice of Thanksgiving that wasn't a sacrifice of thanksgiving for the past, it's a sacrifice of thanksgiving for the future. So it's a very cool word. Yeah, it makes sense to go ahead.

SPEAKER_02: 2:14

No, that makes so much sense to me because for me, gratitude is a is a it's a life, right? It's a foundational life for believers, it's not a circumstantial thing, right? It's not because something good happened to me now that I feel gratitude for it, and I think it's sitting in this every day trying to be grant grateful for what you do have and what's to come and stuff like that. So God is good, and I think if we continue to have that perspective that He's good and that we know that what we have is good, so we could feel good and grateful for what we do have relationships, a home, a shelter to live at, food, right?

SPEAKER_01: 2:51

So I was gonna say, David, that that's the earliest bomb drop you've ever dropped. I have never once in my life considered that gratitude was not a past tense thing, or like being grateful for what I have current and past. I'm glad that these things happened and that this thing happens, but how much more intensely powerful it is when you are grateful for what is to come. That is that's that is going to swirl around in this brain for months to come, I'm sure. That was a while ago.

SPEAKER_00: 3:25

And that is that is literally gratitude from the old testament. Now when we the new testament, the Greek translation of it, uh, I don't know if this will blow your mind. The the Greek translation uh is basically Eucharista, which we know is Eucharist. Eucharist. Um what we know as the Lord's the the la Lord's Supper or the Last Supper. Um people say this happened on Passover, which they'd be right on on all accounts, but the early church goers actually knew this as the Eucharist. This is the dinner of thiving. So this was the Thanksgiving of the Eucharist. Um thanks again, pre, they're giving thanks to Christ who was going to give his life for our salvation. So again, it it translates not dramatically um because it's more about grace, the Eucharist, than it is about uh Thanksgiving in the future, but it does actually fast forward to Jesus' salvation, uh his sacrifice for our salvation.

SPEAKER_01: 4:23

That's big. Again, even that, it's so common to think that you would be thankful for the gift that Christ gave us in his death, but it wasn't originally that. It was them thanking for what was going to happen. And wow, you got me there.

SPEAKER_00: 4:40

So that that's kind of just the starting point of thanks. But but I actually think, you know, when I when I think of I'm with you, Jason. I I am I even start off by saying, you know, if I ask something from somebody and they do it, I say thank you. I'm very thankful for that has already been done. Uh and I think that that's probably a really good place to start off is, you know, what's the difference of being thankful for something that has already happened? And then maybe what's being thankful for something that you're expecting for sure immediately right off the bat.

SPEAKER_01: 5:11

That's such a big difference, right? Like I'm to be they're both important. I as I'm sitting here like processing the thought, I think they're both important. I'm thankful for what I have. I am thankful for what I've been given and all the opportunities I was given, particularly because I just probably didn't even deserve them. But to look forward is to say, this is the problem with why we are so thankful. Like you and I started by saying we're thankful, but at the same time we complain and we grumble and we we're frustrated by things. It's because we're looking back and we're not looking forward. Um, and so if we can change our perspective to say, you did this for me before and I'm thankful for that, but you're going to do it for me again, and I'm also thankful for that, it's probably gonna do a good deal of damage to my complaining, or at least I hope so.

SPEAKER_00: 5:54

That that's you know, one of the ones is rooted in humility. That's exactly the thankfulness you have. It's it's rooted in that humility of I didn't have this, I didn't have to have this, and thank you for for having the opportunity to do things or have certain things. I definitely didn't think that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02: 6:06

When you were saying that I was kind of like sometimes I like giving encouragement for people, right? Like to, hey, you're looking at it wrong, be grateful for this. Understand that God has given you that, and sometimes it's easier for me than the as an ice outsider not going through those things to be able to say to others, hey, be grateful for certain things. And I think there's truth behind that because sometimes for ourselves, we can't be grateful for what's happening because we're stuck in it. And I think that's that whole and I mentioned this before in a different podcast, just that top-down view perspective from God's perspective. He's looking outside of and going, I have given you so much, you you're so blind by the fact that you're looking at only this circumstance, or you're blind by the fact that everything else I've given you that you're not grateful for what I've given you. So I think there's this level of if we really boil things down, there's so many things to be grateful for, although we're stuck in maybe a storm, we're stuck in this circumstance that we feel like we can't change or haven't been given it. Being grateful from the start and just really appreciating what we do have, right, and stewarding that well, I think we could look at circumstances a little bit better and go about it better from our own perspective rather than hearing it from others. So I think yeah, it's hard, but it's good.

SPEAKER_01: 7:28

I would even expand on that. And I think that there's this idea of micro-macro, right? Like I live in the micro, I'm only able to see 10 feet in front of me, 10 feet beside me, 10 feet behind me. So if I happen to be in a dark place right now, I don't see that there's a whole huge world out there that's going on. So in any given situation, I can only see a very tiny speck of what's happening. And then you're using top down, but I'm using it like inside out. Like from the inside of anything, you can't see anything. But when you know that there's somebody else who's looking at it from the outside, who's looking at it from the top in your case, then they're able to see all of the pieces that are moving, all of the things that are going. And I think acknowledging with humility that my vision, my understanding, my capability is extremely limited, is the way that I can just say, okay, yeah, I'm grumbling right now and I'm frustrated right now, but it's because I don't have the full picture. I just don't have the full picture at all. And and I think that's been one of the things that I'm working on right now, too, is just to say, look, if you were to tell me 10 years ago, I would have ended up exactly where I was, I would have told you, not a chance. That's not possible because I just couldn't, I couldn't see all the things that were gonna happen in a year from then and a year after that, and a year after that, and every day beep in between there. And but yet, but yet it did. And so me sitting here now, frustrating and being worried about where's my next 10 years going? How am I gonna get there? This is my goal, these are my plans, these are maybe there's other plans, all kinds of things. And I don't know how to get there, and so I get frustrated. But yeah, it's not for me to know. It's not for me to know, it's not for me to understand, it's for me to trust, it's for me to keep moving, keep acting, keep pushing and to get there. And again, I don't want to get too far from gratitudes. And like you said, David, if I'm looking forward, I don't have to be grateful for all the things that God did to get me here, but I can also now in advance be grateful for all the things he's gonna do to get me where he's taking me.

SPEAKER_00: 9:17

Yeah, you know, I it's funny. I literally wrote four things down with Thanksgiving. You guys hit all four of them right now, so I'm done. We're done. We're done. That's it. Well, what's interesting is you guys touched on, you know, we offer God Thanksgiving, which we know. Uh, it's out of humility, out of remembrance. And then what you just talked about was obedience. This is out of obedience as well. It's not just, hey, I'm being thankful just because, hey, God, I am thankful for you, and we are, but we're called to be thankful. We're called to obey the things that he had already done, the things he set apart for our lives. And I think that obedience is an important part of thanksgiving. Not that our gratitude is, you know, any greater or less because of our own stresses of it, but if we obey God, we trust God, we put our faith in God, then we can be more grateful and say, hey, thank you for what you've done and thank you for doing it again, which I know you will in the future. And it's just that obedience of I know who you are, I know who I am, and I can be thankful for that really quick. Because, you know, this is something one of the guys in our men's group had said this once, and it was really interesting to me. And he is a very grateful person. He is somebody who, unlike us, he does not struggle with gratitude whatsoever. But when we were in a group, there were a couple of guys who were really going through it that week, and he was having a phenomenal week. And they were talking about their struggles in their marriage and with their kids, and he is having just a great time. Yeah. Um, and he actually held it to himself. He didn't want to let people know how grateful he was. He didn't want to let them know about his gratitude because he felt bad, as if he was going, you know, hey, I'm sorry, your life is is rough right now, mine is great. So he actually held it in. Right. Um, and I looked for a verse that that I remember hearing once, and and I couldn't use it then, and now I remembered it. Um, but this is Psalm 26, 7. I'm gonna read it, and it says, proclaiming thanksgiving aloud and telling all of your wondrous deeds. And again, it's obedience. We are called not only to be grateful, but to show our gratitude out loud, yeah, to tell all of the wondrous deeds that have happened through God. And I think that sometimes somebody who's grateful, instead of holding it in, can give hope to somebody who's really struggling with it.

SPEAKER_02: 11:35

Yeah, that's challenging because I almost want to disagree with that to express it even in that kind of setting. I think it depending on the setting. I agree with scripture, don't get me wrong. I agree with scripture to share your gratitude and stuff like that. It doesn't say there when someone is going through stuff, then you share your gratitude. But I think there is a certain hope or maybe a lane that you could express that in. I say that only because I remember this story, and almost similar to what you're saying, David. My sister was telling me that her friend was going through a really tough time, really horrible time, and just complaining to her. And my sister was, she wanted, she actually met up with her to tell her the good news what's going on in her life. And she just felt so bad to express it to her. And she just felt, I don't know, every time I speak to her, this is like this overwhelming, this cloud that comes about our conversations. And I think the Bible also speaks about mourn with those who mourn, cry with those who cry. So I think that is how I would take that approach within the group, or maybe a conversation like that with my sister and her friend is like if they're going through things, let me emote with you, right? Let me, is that right? Is that the right word? Let me be sympathetic, right? To what's going on and be able to be there with you and what's going on. And then in chances of there was an opportunity for her to ask or they to ask what's going on in your life, yeah, you could probably express gratitude. But I think it depends in that situation, David. So my perspective is let me meet you where you're at and be able to encourage you out of it, but not by me sharing with you what's the good that maybe is going on in my life in some ways. I don't know if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00: 13:09

It does really get Jason.

SPEAKER_01: 13:10

No, look, it's not a surprise that I'm probably gonna end up right in the middle of both of those, which is I I think that there's a place for sympathy, but I think there's also a place for perspective. And so to say, hey, look, I get it. You're going through it. Like I'm not going through it, so I'm not feeling it, but I do get it. I've been in places like that or I've been in situations like that, and that that is rough. But wallowing doesn't help anybody either. And so it's another thing to say, hey, look, you're going through that. That's it, that's tough, that's rough. But let's remember some really basic tenets of life. Like we are made of these atoms that are flying around semi-randomly in a chaotic state of space, time, and whatever. And yet somehow here you are sitting and you even have a body, a brain, and a consciousness to even complain. If you stop and think about that, the magic and wonder and unbelievable nature of that alone, we need to be thankful for. The fact that I we talk about first world problems. Oh, my car broke down. You have a car. Like, congratulations. Like, we can break it down into first consciousness problems. Like, I the fact that I'm even physically here to complain, I should be grateful for at all. And again, it doesn't lessen the suffering of that person. And it doesn't deny it, and it doesn't say you don't deserve to feel like that. But it does say you still we always have something to be grateful for. We always have something to be grateful for. And yes, I'm talking past tense, but I am talking present. And look, the fact is, I'm gonna wake up tomorrow and have something else to complain about. Thank God I'm gonna wake up tomorrow and have something to complain about. Thank God that I exist with enough mental capacity to be able to work through that problem. And ultimately, and I want to take this, I think this is a very important twist on this. It's a very important to say thanks for the things that I have. It's very important, thank you for the mouse that I have to click on this screen to make this thing. However, none of that would exist if it wasn't for the fact that God made it come into existence in the first place. So the literal beginning of all things I thank myself for is the fact that God made it exist at all, that God continues to make it exist, that every, again, I'm gonna go back to science, like all the molecules and the atoms and the, yeah, it's purple. Look at that. All the molecules and the atoms and the protons, neutrons, and electrons, those things revolve around each other and they stay in one place. Why is every atom in this staying in this place where it's at right now and not flying off to become a cat? Like, why does this not become a cat? Like, why does the cat not occasionally become a hot dog? Like the fact that we have this ordered universe, like we have to just say thanks to God for making any of it exist at all. I know that's a wild way of looking at it, but I'm constantly reminded to say thank you for things is good, but to thank you for the maker of those things is far more important and continues to be more important. Sorry for the rant.

SPEAKER_00: 16:07

No, no. I mean, I think, listen, even shrinking it down from that is, you know, God makes things on purpose. We should be for it. Uh, when we look at how he made us, we are his creation. And, you know, if you take a step outside of the biblical world into a secular world of psychology, yeah, um, they say it's impossible to be anxious and grateful at the same time. Um, once you start to be grateful, it changes everything. It changes, it transforms your life, it changes your brain, it changes your thoughts, it changes your body. You actually become healthier the more grateful you are. These are things with your perspective, you are actually a healthier person. Yeah. So God made that as well. He made it so that way when we're grateful, when we're thankful, we're actually healthier people. Yeah. And that's also something to be thankful for.

SPEAKER_02: 16:52

No, there's I was reading an article that I think an FIU article, and it was saying about the benefits of being grateful, right? There's it says here the brain releases hormones that kind of elicit happiness and joy, the dopamine and uh serotonin. It helps improve sleep, relationship health, move regulations. There's no negative when you talk about gratitude. Now, I also want to say now, because I think we haven't said it just yet. I think we don't want to, whatever's happening in people's lives is valid, right? Like for you to feel not happy that this happens, not feeling grateful at this moment is I think that's valid as well for them to feel that way. But the perspective is how to get out of it is grateful. What can you be grateful for? There's also these, they always say these prompts, right? Have these grateful prompts every day. And I think there's truth behind that because it it ignites this other side of your brain to feel happy, enjoy, and just content with what you have, which is a good perspective.

SPEAKER_00: 17:52

And I don't I don't want to take away from people's feelings, but I'm just gonna challenge that for a second. And again, uh, we need to be on opposite ends today, Avi, but let's do it. Um, my challenge to that is yes, at the moment we're looking at something and going, This is hurting me, and I'm not very happy. I don't feel like being grateful. Part of the being grateful and obeying is grateful for the future and going, I know that this storm I'm in right now is going to lead to a testimony that is going to lead for I might be able to help somebody else come to Christ. I might be able to help somebody else going through this same thing. I think that you can be grateful even in that storm, no matter how bad it is. I do think there's a perspective of it going, you know, all the things that I've been through when I was younger, going, I really wish I can go through that. Then I think about it, I go, no, if I didn't, I wouldn't be me. And I'm so grateful to be me. And I can be thankful in the moment, even in those bad storms. And I get what you're saying, Javi. We don't want to make somebody feel bad if they're struggling. That's not my desire, is not to make somebody feel bad, but maybe just to see a different perspective to go, you know, that test that you're going through right now is going to become your testimony. And what a beautiful thing that God is allowing that. And it doesn't feel beautiful at the time. Yeah. But I'm so grateful for the things that God had done. And I know that when in the future, when I go through some tough times, I want to try to be as grateful as I can, as thankful as I can for what he's doing to me through that moment.

unknown: 19:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 19:21

That's a tough pill to swallow, right? That I'm going through it right now. It's really hurting. I'm not sleeping. I'm stressed out. I'm anxious. I'm frustrated. And yet I should be grateful. That's a really hard pill to swallow. And I to state something that you said, Javi, I don't think anybody's feelings are invalid, right? Right. There's but also, I, David, you also always note that I say the not this or but this and. And I think this is a this and conversation. You can feel tremendously hurt by the thing that you are going through. Tremendously hurt. Destroyed, even. You can feel that way. And it's not wrong, but don't let yourself only feel destroyed. At least keep some mustard seed of hope and belief and trust and faith that when we are talking about gratitude, particularly as you started, David, so wonderfully talking about the future gratitude, right? This very second sucks. And everything that was going on previously, it's not helping me right now. It's not helping me right now, and I'm not feeling very good about that. However, like you said, if I see somewhere in my soul that this thing that I'm going through right now can eventually help me help someone else. There's a great story. And in fact, I heard the story, but I and I think I know who the people were, but I'm not going to call anybody out. But there was a man at church who whose wife died and was really dealing with the grief and grieving and going through all these things and really struggling for that for many months and wasn't even fully out of it, I don't think. And went to one of the firesides, and of course, one of the guys that there had recently had his wife die as well. And all of a sudden, this guy who had been really going through it for quite a bit of time was able to counsel that guy, the guy who was newly going through it. And the two of them together ended up going through this together, and they ended up helping each other. I don't think you're ever over it and it's never gone, but I to my understanding, they're helping one another with these things. And now these two men have found new purpose or they found new comradeship or whatever you want to call it and fellowship. But I'm sure that very few times, if any, during the point that he was going through it, he was going, I can't wait for what's coming next. But but it doesn't mean that he he was any less grieving, but it does mean that he was able to use it and for good. And I'm sure in retrospect now, with the macro understanding, can see that there was something beneficial that came out of the end of it. So yeah, I'm right in the middle. Like I think you can, I think you have to be both. Like I think you have to feel the pain, but you also have to see the future gratitude that something good can and will come out of it if you are faithful.

SPEAKER_02: 21:56

I could give David credit. First Thalonians 5 17 says, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances. And I agree with that. I also believe that, like you were saying, Jason, like you're going through it, you're it's valid for you to feel that way. Of course. Now, the perspective on how to get out of it is give thanks, right? That you are maybe are able to maybe get out of it, right?

SPEAKER_01: 22:21

Well, like I said before, wallowing of God, right? Yeah, help anybody because wallowing is sitting and not having any gratitude for what's coming and no feeling that I can work myself out of it. And that like again, I have been in the wallowing space in my life before, and I know there you wallow, you suffer in silence, maybe for years at a time, but eventually, and by the way, had I not seen God or gratitude or seen that there was an opportunity or hope, you don't get out of those things. And thank God hope.

SPEAKER_00: 22:49

I one of the things I you know I look at is everything is scaled. We look at things as humans as scale, and I don't know if God sees things as scale. So for us, he's going, you have to be grateful in all things. Yeah. So if I go, hey, this this little kid came over and kicked me in the shin, I'm gonna go, well, I can't be thankful in the moment to that little kid for kicking me in the shin. So cute, but I'm not gonna be grumbling that much. And then I can go, all right, look, you know, thanks for God to give little kids and you know the ability to just walk up to a stranger and do that. Yeah, um, but then when you magnify that and you go, well, what happens if there's real loss in my life? And you go, you know, now this kick me in the gut, uh a completely different kind of kick. And and I understand the feeling. I like I said, I never want to take that away from somebody watching, but we put things into scales, and I'm going, which level is it severe enough that we lose our gratefulness? And I think that God is calling us as obedience to be grateful in all things. As obedience doesn't mean it makes it easier. It doesn't mean, hey, I agree with that, stop what you're doing, stop grumbling, and make it easy. I'm just saying I think that we're called to be grateful in those situations, a piece of it. Even if it's hey, that I woke up this morning, I'm sick, I'm feeling horrible, everything in my life is going wrong. Yep. But God, thank you for giving me the breath in my lungs to you know be able to stay to sit up today. Um, I, you know, but I definitely, I don't want to say that I don't understand where you guys are coming from because I think that on the other side of things, scale, sometimes I can talk about things very flippantly and I go, well, this is what the Bible says. Meanwhile, I understand that there are some really hard things that people are going through that, you know, I can't just be like, hey, stop going through that, just be grateful. Yeah. That's that's not fair to them either.

SPEAKER_01: 24:32

Yeah, and look, I I'm not saying I disagree with you. I actually do dis I actually do agree with you 100%. I think I think it's I think it's hard to do though. I think we are humans and we tend to we attend to our feelings before we attend to our duties, to our responsibilities. And, you know, it's a hard thing to do. And I the other thing I would also maybe the the reason I'm pushing on both these sides too, David, is when I was a younger, more immature Christian, which is still ironic because I'm still immature, but when I was even younger and even more immature, if somebody had told me we need to be thankful in sit in suffering situations, and then I couldn't be thankful in suffering situations, I was like, yes, this Christianity thing in for me. I don't want anybody to feel like if you're going through it, you're having a hard time being thankful that you're not there. It's look, everything in life is a is trial and error, practice and learning and growth and so forth and so on. So if you're out there and you're listening to us and you're like, I can't do that, yeah, you can. You're not doing it able to now, and you're not able to do it maybe right now, and you're having a hard time with it. But believe me, everybody does. Everybody has a hard time with it. Everybody struggles with being thankful when when the chips are down. Just it's just the way it is. But you can develop yourself into that type of person, and that's cool. It's funny we hit we didn't, we only said one thing about psalms today, because Psalms is like the for me, Psalms is the gratitude book. David, why don't I know you weren't expecting this, but why don't you give a little overview of Psalms and like the who who wrote it, why they wrote it, and what situation they were in when they wrote it?

SPEAKER_00: 26:03

It's attributed to multiple writers, but typically we'll know it as King David, uh wrote most of Psalms. And this is interesting because it goes from lament to deep gratefulness and gratitude. So when you start reading through it, you'll actually see a pattern of David alone and you know going through it, and he is lamenting to God, and then it gets to this point where he starts to be really grateful. And you know, you mentioned, you know, before we mentioned Psalms 26, 56 as well is, you know, I'm not gonna be afraid, but I'm gonna be grateful through everything. And it really just turns into this really beautiful poetry about uh how grateful David is for God and for what done and where he has placed him and all the different things that David realizes hey, yeah, I need you to get rid of my enemies. Hey, you left me alone. Where are you? But then in moments of like, there you are, and thank God for you, God.

SPEAKER_01: 26:58

Yeah. And that's why I bring that's why I bring it up. It's the epitome of suffering and thankfulness. So if anybody is suffering and having a hard time feeling thankful, Psalms is the book for you. Uh it's it's gonna show you a person who was in their own personal wilderness. David, you actually described it one time as David, David was literally like hiding from his enemies, like living years and years at a time alone in terrible conditions. And that's why he's lamenting so hard. And yet, yeah, at even in those words, and it was like 20 years, wasn't it? It was like 20 years, which is a crazy amount of time, to be alone and suffering and struggling, and yet he could still he still found a place for gratitude.

SPEAKER_02: 27:44

I was gonna share a psalm for you, Jason, since you mentioned about having scripture for Psalm. Psalm 107, one through eight, it says, Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. And then it goes off talking about, I guess, the Israelites in the desert for a long time, and then it continues saying, like, he delivered them from their distress, right? Let them thank the Lord for their steadfast love. And I think that's true. Like, God is still going through things with you when you're going through it, but there's still thankfulness to be had. But also when you look back at your life, that's another perspective to have and go, wait a minute. I have a lot of things to be thankful for in that stuff. And I think it's a good reason why I think we want to do this episode now, going into Thanksgiving, just being thankful for the people surrounding you, whether they're all your family's there or not. There's so many things to be thankful for in a time like that of really trying to bring things together. And of course, food. You can't you have to enjoy food.

SPEAKER_01: 28:43

Food. Yeah. My my favorite, my second favorite thing in life. I have to say God first, but food's right after.

SPEAKER_00: 28:49

My mother was not able to join me for Thanksgiving, and this happened on Thanksgiving, and she was in the house a couple of states away, and I was alone, and I'd never been alone on Thanksgiving. Even when I was in the military, I was with other troops, and I went to Perkins restaurant. Sure. And when I went to Perkins restaurant, there were probably four or five other elderly people in the restaurant, I'm assuming widows without families, and everybody was having a Thanksgiving meal. And while we're having the meal, there was this elderly lady, and she literally got up, got everybody together, we got a bigger table, and we had dinner, and it was six strangers having dinner together, having Thanksgiving. And I, you know, at that point I actually did not know Christ. And when I look back at it, I think here she was being grateful for being in a restaurant with other people to be able to share a meal with. And as sad as everybody should have been, we just enjoyed each other's companies. And it was just one of those moments where again you just reminded me of that Javi. And for Thanksgiving, we're meant to be thankful whether Whether you are your house is filled with people. And listen, sometimes it's harder to be thankful for when it and when it's empty. Um, or whether it's empty, just know that no, yeah, not only should we be thankful, but the creator of the world is thankful to us, is grateful to us. The whole reason he gave his life was because of his gratitude towards us and his love. Right.

SPEAKER_02: 30:22

So I love the story, David, because it reminds me a little bit of my our story. Actually, my wife and I, when we were living in LA, we didn't have much friends. We know some people, but when we got connected with the church, gave our life to Christ and all that stuff, we were still alone, right? So Thanksgiving, everyone is with their families and stuff. So what we decided to do, because we knew a couple people that was going to be alone for Thanksgiving, so we invited them over. And we spent Thanksgiving together and we did it all where we were at in our apartment. And that was really some great times. It wasn't much food, it was like a turkey, maybe some sweet potato yams or whatever it is. But the conversations, the just being together, so we watched some shows. It was really a great time, especially in a time for even though I had my wife at the time, we were we felt alone. We miss our family dearly. It reminds me of that story, David, when you said, but it also reminds me that we could do this every day. We could literally find somebody that's maybe sitting alone and go, Hey, how you doing? Can I eat with you kind of thing? Don't be creepy about it, but you could do it. And I think there's don't be creepy.

SPEAKER_01: 31:28

Easier said than done, Javi.

SPEAKER_02: 31:30

Easier said than done. It reminds me of what is it? I don't want to say it here, but 50 First Dates when he with the little waffle house. Are you touching my waffles, man? Yeah, that's so funny. So there's that level of still, we could do that every day and be thankful for what we do have and be there for someone else. And that's a level of you can still maybe evangelize, right? And share that what God has done in your life and that thing through those conversations, through these people that maybe God put in front of you. Now we're going through a different thing, but I'm just saying I think that's a cool story, Dave, that we could actually do every day. Except don't be creepy.

SPEAKER_01: 32:05

That's the good takeaway there. That's the good takeaway. Javi, why don't you why don't you finish our episode for us today?

SPEAKER_02: 32:10

Yeah. Gratitude is not easy, especially going through storms, going through heartaches, and we're not saying otherwise. But there's a great benefit in being grateful, and I pray that we are we were able to highlight that today. The bottom line is being grateful is a mind change. It's psychological as much as it is spiritual. So I just pray that today you guys are grateful. I pray leading into Thanksgiving, you guys could be grateful for what you do have for family, for food, shelter, whatever it is. Overall, God in your life. Thank you for listening to us. Follow us. Uh, please comment. Uh next day.

SPEAKER_01: 32:46

Bye. Thanks, everybody. Bye.