Ventors- it has been a MINUTE! I hope you all are doing well- and if you’re not- hoping this episode finds you joy in our Father! In today’s episode of The Shared Vent, Gavin brings on a long-time-listener: BRAD. I know.. I know... hold your excitement. This episode dives into the book of 1st Samuel chap. 1-3. Now time for the moment all of you look forward to! The most important part of the podcast! The questions. Well listen in, cause we cover a huge descion depending upon a christmas tree’s opinion of who he wants to be cut down by. Gavin also touches on his opinion of Tesla and then they get into the meat of the podcast. Brad describes how he felt inadequacy through his bout w/ depression which left him feeling ‘empty and boring’. He chose to just push it off and ‘man up’- put his self aside (which is what a lot of us do, whether we realize it or not:(). Gavin touches on an account found in Genesis while describing the fig leaf we all bear and try to hide ourselves with. Which is almost always commonly linked to an activity or a situation in which you always have enjoyed since childhood. It is talked about the loss of innocence, and even the loss of this child like, ‘childness’. If Adam and Eve had just one fig leaf per person, we feel in our day, that we might have a whole bouquet. The point of that is to know that we are all sinners, that we all fall short, but there is a God who does not try to shame and make us feel bad about ourselves, but he strengthens us and in the words of Brad, “ repair our cracks with gold!” Don’t ever forget where you came from, thank God where you’ve been and have faith in him about where you are going! Some Figleafs from Brad was music, art, and movies. Whatever your fig leaf might be, it is not inherently bad (sort of like how a fig leaf itself, without any context is not inherently bad) but it becomes bad when we, as bearers of Christ likeness try to exclude ourselves on this one topic and not try to see God in our moments and in our days. Brad talks about his philosophy that he learned from the great, Bruce Lee, that being exactly like water. Water itself is very adaptable, so Brad is encouraging us all to be adaptable, to hear more of this tap play NOW! When it comes to a time when people have to face reality it’s really hard but it is really life-giving, to embrace it and start to make a perspective shift, realize where you’re at and by the grace of God may you get out of it! We all carry a burden, we all carry gold, we all fight, and we all have our story. We learn about a great band called, type o negative and it has a banger song called black no. 1 (https://youtu.be/vFwYJYl5GUQ) Johnny Kelly has really cool hair and Dracula has a surprising voice hit that link! HOW DO I GET ON THIS PODCAST! My snap is: progavin50 my Gmail is [email protected] my ig is @thesharedvent God bless and I love you, peace out ✌️