And with that in mind, we're going to pray again. We pray a lot, if you've noticed. We like to pray, because you know it's it's God. Um Jesus, thank you so much for uh for the fact that you do answer our prayers. Thank you for the fact that no matter how big a problem might be, if it seems impossible, if it's an addiction that we can't overcome, if it's a health issue that seems beyond our control, nothing is beyond your control. And you love us. If there's one person in this room that has not realized the overwhelming love that you have for them, God, I pray you make that clear right now. And as Ken shares with us from your word, we pray that you would open our minds, that you would open our hearts, that we would be a people, a whole family of people that say, we want to learn, we want to grow, and we're ready, God, for whatever it is you have for us. I pray all this in your name, Jesus. Amen.

Amen. Great job, just see you, man. Well, I want to open up by saying thank you. Uh thank you that this is just one of my favorite places to be. It really is. And if you're new here, there's a really good chance it'll become one of your favorite places as well. I want to thank you for um, I I love being a part of this and how unbelievably talented a leader and gifted speaker Justin is. And I want to thank you for not just when he introduces me and walking up, you you guys don't go, oh man, really? Justin's not here this way. Uh, I want to thank you for not doing that. And uh, I'll just assume those who do get up and leave, you're going to get coffee. So I'm just gonna assume that. Um, but you know what, life is full of struggles, and and there's something within every one of us that wants to succeed. We want to succeed, we want to know we're success, and we want to know that there's significance in what we're doing. And there's some moments in life, and I just want to kind of get a little bit personal and we'll we'll end up to where we're going this morning, but uh, there's significant moments, and for us, it's happened in the past couple weeks with my daughter. Kennedy's 11, and she just uh she's just learned how to ride a bike. And now, some of you, if you're thinking about age and bikes and thinking, wow, you must be a really bad parent for not teaching her that before 11. And I can tell you this, it wasn't me at all. My wife's patience and amazing uh encouragement was the process in that because I took her out and my wife had gotten her little bike to teach her, and I tried to do that, and I'm just like, I was so frustrated because she wasn't getting it. And I'm like, you've got this. I know she's got the ability, coordination, she can do this, and yet she was so tensed up and so frustrated. And I'm just like, okay, don't get frustrated, stop getting frustrated, which you can tell when you you say it that way, just stop getting frustrated. You know, that instantly they're not frustrated anymore. And and so she's getting frustrated, and I'm getting frustrated. And and uh one time as I was attempting this, and I'm like, that was it, you got it, you got it. And then she put her feet down and fell off the bike, and I'm like, oh man, and and she just kind of gave me the clarity. She goes, you know, most people learn this when they're younger. And I just was like, oh. And she just kind of brought up the reality. And for those of you who don't know my story and our story, she goes, you know, most of them, when most kids were learning to ride a bike, I was in cancer treatment, and uh, and it's true, she was, and at three to five and a half, six years old, and we just never got to it. So yesterday, when we went and we traded in her training bike for a bike and let her pick it out and her ride it, and we went for like a five, six-mile ride on the on this the West Cobb Trail, it was just one of those moments you're like, this is significant. And it was just such a joy. But through that time, some of the most significant parts of life come in ways we don't expect them to happen. And if I could take you to another significant event of the last couple years that culminated, well actually culminates in a few weeks, it's that my daughter really was diagnosed with cancer. She really is a survivor, she's doing great. But through that process, I had no idea. Now, if you would have asked my wife and I, hey, if you've got the results today that you have, do you want this to happen? We would tell you 100 times out of 100, no, we don't. I'll never forget the doctors telling us as we sat down with them three days, two days after the diagnosis, saying, Hey, if you gotta have cancer, this is the kind you want. And my wife and I both looked at each other and at the same time looked back at the doctor and goes, Yeah, we don't want it. You can have it back. Because we don't want that. And in this world, there are overwhelming circumstances that hit us. There's frustrating parts of life, and how are we gonna deal with that? Because as I want success and significance, how does the stuff and the gross of life play into that? And how do we deal with that? And how do I find that significance and that success in the midst of circumstances that aren't problem, they're not positive. And I'll give you one example that as we went through this process with my daughter, my two sons have this amazing sensitivity towards kids, amazing interactive ability that I firmly believe was fostered through that. Go back two years, and I was invited and asked to speak and just kind of more be a chaplain for a Blue Skies retreat. Blue Skies is a retreat where they take families, and families will take their vacation and pay to go and serve a family that has a child with cancer. And these families with kids with cancer, which we were one, will come down and they go from everything goes wrong to this week of just euphoric, everything is wonderful. It's called blue skies, and it's amazing. And I was asked to be the chaplain last year. I took my family down with me, and we were going to, I was not only gonna be the chaplain, but we were gonna serve a family and help out. And I remember my boys going, Dad, what do we do? And I'm like, dude, it's easy. I said, you already have been trained. You've already been a sibling, you've already had a daughter or a sister with cancer. All you have to do is be you because these kids are going through what you've been through. I said, here's what you do: you have fun. That's your job for this week. Have fun. And when you see the kids with cancer and you see their siblings, make sure you include them and make sure they have fun. And if there's any competition, make sure they win. That's it. And I said, if they win, then we all win. And I said, at the end of the night, there's gonna be a meeting with everybody, and some of the adult leaders are gonna need help when they say, Hey, I need a few people to help with. I said, before they finish the sentence, raise your hand and say, I'll volunteer. And I can't tell you how proud I was of my boys that they just got that. And I'll never forget one of the meetings, one of the gentlemen who is the leader of the whole camp, um, and he just said, Hey, um, after this meeting, I just need a couple guys to help. And both my boys raised their hands. One of them stood up and he goes, You don't even know what it is yet. And I'll never forget. He says, It doesn't matter. You're the leader, and I believe and what trust what you're doing. If you need help, I want to be the one to help. And I'm sitting there going, and and literally the guy's like, What? Okay, and they did that all week, and it became this contagious piece of all the kids, and I'm just like, wow! And fast forward to this year, where at the end of that camp, my oldest son, who's 17 now, was 16 then, went to Melinda, the one who created Blue Skies. She's a nurse at children's, and she said, There's got to be a place for families in this, and she created this. And at the end, Graham, my oldest, went up and he said, Miss Melinda, I've had a great time. He says, But can I talk to you when you have a minute? And she said, Sure. And they talked, and he goes, Miss Melinda, you need interns. You need an intern to come and help the leaders know where things are and just kind of be here and understand what's going on and kind of organize a little bit. I know you've got the leaders, but help the leaders lead. You need that, and I'm gonna be your first one, and I'm gonna design the program and I'm gonna do that. And he sat down with her after the Blue Skies retreats went on, and he said, I've gone online, I've designed this based on other intern programs, and they need to raise this much money, and I'm gonna be your first intern, and I'm already raising my support. At 16, and I'm just like, Yes, you can applaud for that. I'm sitting there going, man, when I was 16, I don't know what I was doing, but it wasn't that. I'm like, wow, that is significant. That is success as a dad to have a child that even thinks that way. He is not perfect. But it's one of those where you're like, that's awesome. And that came out of something that was not good. And I just got to thinking, in this life, how do I get to that point where I'm successful? How do I get to that point where I know that what I'm doing is significant in the midst of life? And there's really two decisions we have to make, and I want to share those with you this morning that really determine whether or not, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the environment, whether or not we're gonna be successful and significant. And if we make these two decisions, and I'm just gonna throw them out there, I don't know where you are on the spectrum, but there's one way to address it. The first one is where is my foundation? What foundation am I going to build my life on? And I'll give you three options that I see. And one would be that of just going, you know what? I'm gonna take care of it. I am gonna be successful. I am, I believe in if you can see it, you can do it. If you can visualize it, it will become reality. And it's that self-help model and idea. And I can tell you this there is some success in that. I've seen it happen where people go, I can do this because I've visualized it before. I'm a positive thinker. And I and I've seen it work in some senses, and I've seen it work in some areas. Success, by some definition, happens, but the problem is what happens when I visualize it and I do it and I accomplish it, and I climb that ladder, and I'm at the top, and I've succeeded, and I realize that my ladder is on the wrong wall. And that there's success, but then there's not significance. And then I succeed, and then, well, well, this didn't bring fulfillment, so what's the next one, and the next one, and the next one? And the problem with that mindset is that we can achieve, but is there really significance? And do I get to the point where I really find that fulfillment? There's another way to kind of address it, and uh for many who are here, you've probably experienced it in some way, and that's kind of a religious. You know what? I'm gonna take the truth. I'm gonna take this amazing book of truth, and I'm gonna live by the rules, and I'm gonna do the best I can here. The problem with the religious version of that is that that lifestyle is creating an emptiness because I'm living by the rules, and it it's kind of a religious version of the self-help of I'm gonna do the right pieces here, but then then what's the result of that? What normally happens is a little bit of bitterness where I say, okay, God, I'm I'm doing everything right. When religion is the foundation, I'm doing everything right and it's not working out, and we get frustrated. And and that that can breed a bitterness. It can also breed in the religious, and let me just say this: I know there are some here today that you've been through the religious waters and you got burned or burned out. Because what is true and wonderful was presented as a rule and impossible, and you're never good enough. Look what Jesus did for you. What are you doing for Jesus? And it became this rules of what you can and can't do, where you should go, not go, who you should be with and shouldn't be with. And it became this list of rules. And on behalf of the real Jesus, let me say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, that should have never happened. I've lived under that. I I remember, I can look back and I can remember questioning, well, why? And I'll give you one quick example. I said, Well, I don't understand this this piece about this particular area. I said, Why do you say that when it seems the the Bible says something different? That Jesus' first miracle was to do that, and and you're saying that it wasn't, and then it was this, and I don't understand that. Why would you do that? Why would you stray from the purpose of it? And I'll never forget the guy. He says, Well, if I give them permission or if I give them the authority to do that, then they'll abuse it, and I have to control them. And I'm like, whoa. See, religion controls. Jesus is the only one in control. I'm not in control. I have the joy and privilege of being gifted to share some of the truth, but I'm not the control. Jesus alone, and the last way to really hit that is through a relationship. If the foundation is a relationship with Jesus Himself, the real Jesus, then life makes sense. Then circumstances find perspective. Then pain has a purpose. And I want to share a couple verses with you as we look at this in Ephesians 2.10. And if you have a Bible, I so encourage you to find Ephesians 2.10 and put a big star by this verse. Because it is a radically joyful experience of the relational part of a foundation. I want to read that, if they can bring it up on the screens. And there it is. For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. In the relational sense. I just want to look at a couple words there. It says that we are God's workmanship. You and I, He made for a purpose. Individually, intricately, intimately, He made you and I. And He said, This is my purpose for you. And that it's in Christ. We begin to discover that when we go all in. What you saw in baptism this morning is a beautiful example of that. We're saying, you know what? I don't need the religious Jesus. And I've tried the self-help thing, but I get overwhelmed and I can't control it. I want to know the real Jesus. I want to know this personal relationship. When I get to that, one of the best ways I can describe it is my friend Terry. He was a neighbor and he's still a friend. He started a business and we've walked through a lot together. But I'll never forget him telling me the story of when he was younger and growing up. He and his twin brother and his dad. His dad said, My dad always had a car he was working on. And he would get one out of the junkyard, have it towed to our house, and then we'd piddle with it. And we would fix it. He said, I didn't realize what I was learning was not normal. It was just normal for us. We'd go out after dinner, we'd tinker with the car, and we'd do the upholstery, we'd do this, that, and the other, and we'd work on it together. And he says, once we got it back to pristine condition, we'd drive it for a week or a month, but then he'd sell it and get another car. And we'd just work on it and tinker on it. He said, I never had any idea what that really meant. He says, but then I got married and then I got a car. And he says, Dude, you've got to drive this car sometime. And he and I went down and said, I want to see it. And I think the name, I think he named him Gloria. He says, You got to see Gloria. And I'm like, now you know you're a car guy if you're naming cars, all right? And he showed me Gloria. It was a 1965 Pontiac GTO convertible. And okay, there's some car people here, alright. And it was in pristine condition. I mean unbelievable. Better than factory condition. And he had restored this car literally from a heap in a junkyard. He had pulled out in the original, he had hand stitched the interior back together. He had pulled the engine out, completely pulled it apart, and he had literally calibrated the compression in each cylinder so that it was perfect, better than factory. He goes, dude, he says, Next time you take Heather on a date, you gotta take Gloria. And I'm just like, whoa, no, no, no, no, no. Well, I'll tell you why I didn't want to, but I'll tell you that I did. And Heather and I, we got it one night, and she said, Oh, this is kind of cool. And she, I said, You want the top down? She goes, Oh, yes. So we're driving, we went down to the Cheesecake Factory in Buckhead. And as we're driving down, if you know that part of Atlanta, you know it's a very, I mean, the governor's mansion's there, very nice part of town. Very nice cars driving up and down the road, Mercedes and Bentley's and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it didn't matter because every light we came to, people were just staring at us. And after about two or three lights, my precious wife, who's not a car person, she's like, why do people keep looking at us? I'm like, oh, honey, they're not looking at us. They're looking at the car. And she's like, really? She said, but it's old. And I'm like, I know. And I said, you can buy those cars if you have enough money. You can't buy these cars. We pulled up to the cheesecake factory and went to valet it. And the guy literally said, Oh, hang on here. And I started again, he says, hey, stay there. I'm not valeting this. And I'm just thinking, what? And and literally he got some cars out of the way, and here's the door. He moved back. He says, Come here. And he pulled it right next to the door. And he put cones all the way around it. And he said, he said, dude, it'll be here when you get out. And I was like, just that time, one of the one of the Atlanta Falcons pulled up in an NSX and the doors fly open. And he literally got out, almost didn't even acknowledge the valet. He walked right over. He goes, dude, you have to sell me this car. I'm like, I can't do that. He goes, No, I mean, you have to. He says, I've been looking for one of these. Now, if you see the Dallas Cowboys pants, it's that kind of steel, blue, silver, that's what color it was. And it was just stunning. And he goes, You don't understand. I've looked for one of these cars my whole life. And now that I am where I am, that's the car. He said, I'll trade you right now. And I'm like, dude, I can't do it. It's not money. He's like, Well, you give me his number. I have to have this car. And it was just one of those. And the reason why I did not want to drive it, and Terry finally talked me into it. I'm like, dude, I can't drive this car. And he goes, why not? He said, It's a great car. I'm like, no, it's it's phenomenal. I said, but what if somebody hits me? What if I wreck? I would be terrified. What would I do? And Terry just went, really? And I'm like, yeah. He said, then I'll fix it again. And I'm like, oh. Yeah. Okay, now I wasn't driving just crazy with it, but I'm just thinking, I that gave me such freedom at that point. And here's the point, and the reason I share that story, if you look, you can flip over just a page or two to Philippians chapter 1, verse 6. Because here's what happens in that relationship with God. It says that being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. He's the master craftsman. Now, if if I could put it this way so simply that this is one of the things I love about this place. You don't come here fixed up. You don't come here perfect. Some of you are, most of us are not. We come with our junk. We come broken. We come and Jesus goes, Yeah, come on in. And this is a phrase I heard when I was a young teenager and I've never forgotten it. Jesus loves you 100% exactly the way you are right now. But he loves you too much to let you stay that way. Because he is the master craftsman. And he has a plan that he's put into motion before you even knew about him. And he says, I want to craft you into who you were meant to be. And I'm I'm good. I'm good. I just, and until I come back or you die, I'm gonna work until completion, till you are everything I made you to be. See, that's when we lay that foundation of saying, God, that's what I want from you. That is that is who you are. You're the craftsman, you're the potter on the clay. It gives such freedom to know, but God, what if I mess up and I ding up the fender of my life? He's like, I'll fix you again. Because I'm with you. I'm not just for you, I'm with you. Now here's the amazing part. It always blew my mind that I could know God, the creator of the universe, keeps everything in order, the smallest and the biggest, that I could know him. That's amazing. But what literally exploded my cranial was when I realized that the God of the universe believes in me. That blows my mind. That he not only believes in me and you, but he says, You're amazing. I made you. And I've got this incredible opportunity for you to be successful and significant in a way that you will be full. But it's only gonna happen when you do it with me. Now, that part, that foundational part, I get and I love, and it's awesome. The part that I struggle with is the next decision. Because in life, we are going to have circumstances we don't expect, environments that are not optimal, people that come across. Path and they don't do what they should or we think they should or they should have done and we bear the burden of that. The second decision I have to make is that to properly handle frustration. Not only a foundation, but what happens when I get frustrated? What happens when it doesn't work out? Because the truth is, if you're a self-help person, that success may be empty down the road, or it just doesn't work out. I get success and I get everything I thought I wanted, and it's not what I I really need. I'll give you one example. I've got a good buddy who's a very successful, owns a shoe company that if I told you the name, you would know it. And uh he didn't get married until later in life, but he was successful, and he is successful in many measures, but it wasn't enough. It's not enough. And so he just thought, you know what? I've been this, I'm a little bit later in life, but so this isn't filling that part. I I guess I need to get married. So he came up with a list of the perfect woman, and he found the perfect woman, and they got married. And guess what? She's a woman, and they're illogical and emotional, and it just it doesn't matter how perfect the list, he's like, Well, Emma. And we had lunch, I said, How's it going? And he's like, Oh, it's good. And I'm like, Really? And he's like, No. And uh I said, give me an example. He goes, Well, all I can say is if you're a person, you ask a question that you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear. And I said, You said that to your wife? And he said, Yeah. I said, Well, how's that working out for you? He's like, not so good. And I just like, see, because what what brought him success in the business world doesn't work in the relational world in a marriage, and and the self-help isn't working. And the truth is, is that no matter how much we love it, say, you know what? If I only have kids, and kids are gonna be great, and that's gonna bring me fulfillment, and they do, but that's not gonna have the significant effect apart from knowing God and seeing the perspective. Because kids, they're they're take, take it to the extreme, they're not gonna be exactly what we expect, the way we expected. I love walking out here and seeing the new babies and seeing the parents, and they have this half zombie, half-smile look, you know, just like it's the greatest thing of my life. It's awesome. You know, just it's just awesome. But we can't just tough it through that and find significance. We can't just tough it through. And then there's the next part of the religious part. It it what happens is if we decide when we get frustrated to just try harder, put in powerful effort, if I just do all of the rules in the entire book, then God has to bless me. What happens is we start praying at God and we start going, well, I'm doing everything right, and you are not acting the way you're supposed to. You are not giving me what I want. And it becomes this adversarial, frustrating religious pain. But in a relationship, when we start seeing the fact that these laws were not meant to be implied except through a relationship. It's not just the law for the law's sake. We've got to get to the personal side. Let me give you an illustration of what I love in the personal side. Once you know the person, the law may seem like I don't understand the law, but when we get to the personal side, it makes sense. Heather and I went to Boston. I had a couple shows in Maine. We went to Boston a couple days early and we're driving around. I love Boston. It was awesome. And I love seafood and I love clam chowder. I had clam chowder three times in the same day. It was awesome. Yes, for breakfast. I did. But we went to this one place and I couldn't help but over here, the table next to us, they're like, Can I take your order? And they're like, Do you have clam chowder? And then it's like, it's Boston, of course we have clam chowder. And the lady said, I would like some tom, do you have a tomato-based clam chowder? And the waiter said, Of course not. And she goes, What do you mean, of course not? He said, It is against the law in the city of Boston to have a tomato-based clam chowder. And I just went, What? And and she just kind of looked on and he goes, No, I'm serious. She said, Really? And he walked away, and our waitress came up and I said, Was he just like messing with her? And she goes, Oh no, it's a law. It is illegal in the city of Boston to have a tomato-based clam chowder. And I'm like, that makes no sense until you understand the foundation, the relationship of it. Boston, does anybody know the baseball team in Boston? The Red Sox. And they are a big deal in Boston. And I asked the waiter, I said, why can you not have a tomato-based clam chowder? He says, because that is Manhattan clam chowder. And Manhattan is in New York, and we hate New York. So they passed a law that said you can't have anything that refers to New York in the city of Boston. I'm like, that's the coolest law ever. Once you get the personal side of it, but I can tell you that in this life, as life hits us and as circumstances hits us, we will get frustrated. But I want us to see what God says about this frustration. It is a trigger for us to make a fundamental decision. Is it to just buck up little camper and keep going? Is it the the idea of the our society is so messed up? It's it's all we're gonna do is spend time trying to avoid frustration and anxiety. If if that's the self-help side, and it will always hit. I'll give you just my fun example of this, just that we have tried to avoid anything that's pained, anything that's frustration, anything that's overwhelming. Even in the schools, the schools drive me crazy. Um, I was in this one school up north, and their mascot was the commandos. And it was like the commandos army guy with a rifle and bayonet. Well, it became politically incorrect to have a rifle and a bayonet for a commando, I guess. So they literally erased the rifle and the bayonet out. Now it's just a guy standing there like this. It's like he looks like an idiot. And even the cheers have changed. This is my favorite cheer of all time. Ra-ra-ri, kick him in the knee, rah-rah, ras, kick him in the other knee. You know, that's my favorite cheer. And apparently that's it, just the cheers have changed to where we go, well, there's no kicking, there's no kicking, we can't kick. I'm like, really? And then there used to be one that if your team struggled, maybe we gave up a touchdown, maybe a pointer, maybe we got a flag or something. There used to be a cheer that says, that's okay, that's all right. Come on, Timo, fight, fight, fight. Do you remember that one? It's just that's politically correct now. It's like, that's okay, that's all right, that's okay, that's all right, it's okay. Everybody wins, trophies for everybody. Just that's that's not reality. Pretending it doesn't exist doesn't make it go away. But here's the deal, and it is it is radical. It is radical because in a relationship with Christ, when we get to that point where we feel anxiety, and here's where I personally struggle, where we feel overwhelmed, look at what Christ, the person Jesus, the relationship Jesus says. In Psalm, I'm sorry, in Philippians 4, 6, Jesus, we're an admonition, it says, do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God. He says, It's about the relationship. When you're overwhelmed, tell me what you're overwhelmed with. I know it already, but I want us to interact. And then petition. Tell me what you wish would happen. Then, after you've shared that, then I want you to do this. I want you to thank me for all that I've brought you through. Because then we're gonna get on the same page. Then we can move forward. Then I'm gonna show you and I'm gonna walk with you. That's the way we connect. I love there's a psalm also, Psalm 94. And this is one of my favorites ever. And if you're new to his hands or you're new to kind of checking God out, let me just tell you the writer of Psalms, a lot of them is David. David was this manic depressive guy, okay? I mean, he literally, if you read, there's like over a hundred of them in the Psalms, and in one Psalm he's like, God, you are awesome, and everything smells great, and you're wonderful, and we'll compare you to everything good, and then like two psalms later, he's like, I am all alone, and God, you have left me, and help me, please. He's just this roller coaster dude, and there's this one psalm that just hits perfectly in Psalm 94, verses 18 and 19, and then they appeared. He said, When I said, My foot is slipping, your love, O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. That is what God is. He said, In the midst, in the midst of frustration and overwhelming, I'm there. Acknowledge that, turn to me, call to me, rest in my love. Because I'm there. Because God in the midst of that is ultimately the perfect relationship. I I heard an example of this. It is it did not happen to me, but a gentleman that I I know, he was sharing how his son in Little League had the ultimate situation. He said, I had this friend had said I was coaching third. Uh I was just one of the parents, but it was kind of my time. I was coaching third. I helped out a little bit, and and it was the end of the season, last game. And it was the quintessential moment, the situation, the bases are loaded. There are two outs. If we win, we go to the playoffs. If we lose, our season is over. And my son, he's telling me, my son is up to bat. And it is the pressure of that world. Parents are yelling and murmuring, and it is the pressure of that little league situation because everybody knows at 10 years old and little league. If you're in that situation, you have this fork in the road. If you get the hit and you win, then you go on to fame and fortune and women and cars. If you get an out, then you end up in the penitentiary, and you just you just your life spirals out of control and all the pressure this is going on. And he said, the other coach called time out to talk to his pitcher. He said, So my son came down and he said, I'm looking at him, he goes, Hey man, how you doing? He's like, he he was just locked up with fear. And he goes, hey man, um, base is loaded. And he says, You get a hit, we win, we we make the playoffs. He says, but I want you to know this. If you get out, don't miss this. This is very important. If you get out after the game, we are still going to get ice cream. And I don't really care either way. I just want to get ice cream. So if you get a hit, that's awesome. If you don't get a hit, that's awesome. What kind of flavor ice cream do you think you want? And his son just kind of went, huh? And he said he just walked back with a smile on his face. And he stepped up and he said he was so loose, and he said it really didn't matter. He says he ended up getting out. And he said, you could see the parents' lives just crushed, kids crying left and right. And he said, I looked for my son, and he just had this slight disappointment, a smile. And he's just walking, going, you know what? And he said, I could tell he tried his best. And as he looked over, he says, I caught his eye and he just went, chocolate gel. It's like, yeah. And I share that with you and I for the purpose of this life. I don't know what area you're in right now that is frustrating or overwhelming or anxious, but I do know that if the foundation is Jesus, the real Jesus, and I do know if we turn to him, he makes us a promise in Romans 8. This is the personality promise. And I'll just read it to you, 8 verse 28. And he says, and we know that all then in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. He is the ultimate craftsman. To say, God, really? You love me even if I strike out? Yeah. Ice cream. That's what's important. Perspective, and God will use every bit of it for our good. I can tell you this though, it makes no sense and it is miraculous when we choose to make God as our foundation and choose to properly handle frustration and anxiety. Once we do that, what he says in Philippians 4 7, where he says, Don't be anxious for anything, but in prayer, he says, and the peace of God, which surpasses comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. It's only in Christ. As he said in that psalm, and he said, You know what? When I cried out to you, Lord, and my foot is slipping, and you consoled my soul and brought joy to my soul. In the midst of our anxiety and frustration, we can take joy and peace in knowing, God, you're with me in this. You're gonna work. I don't see how you're gonna work it out, but you're gonna work it out. That is God's heart in the midst of what we're going through. So I hope today that you will choose that foundation. Choose whatever area you're frustrated in to say, okay, God, what do you want to do there? I want to take just a second to pray. I'm gonna share a little bit about what's next week, and the band's gonna play a song to just let this kind of sink in. But will you pray with me a minute? God, thank you. We we do pray a lot here, and I thank you that you're listening all the time. This is just to draw our focus. I pray as only you can, every single heart here right now. We would say, God, here's what I'm anxious about. Forgive me for trying to do it on my own or trying to just do the rules, but Jesus, I want you with me. And Lord, will you just remind me this week through your Holy Spirit that when I get anxious, that's just a trigger to remind me that you want to give me joy and peace right then, and that you really will work this out. You'll give me whatever I need to get through it. It may not be what I expect to get through, but Lord, that you're with me. So, Lord, thank you for that. And it is only through the gift of Jesus and the power of your spirit we can pray. Amen. Next week.