Ep 170 ｜ Is It OK to Celebrate Halloween？ ｜ Guest： Lisa Simmons
Episode Stats
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182.4657
Summary
In this episode of Relatable, I interview my mom, Allie's mom, about Halloween and what she did to make sure her kids learned how to be a good communicator. She also talks about what she and her husband did to ensure that their kids were good communicators.
Transcript
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Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Friday. Hope everyone has had a great week so far.
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It is October, which means that Halloween is just around the corner. So I am going to address
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a topic that many of you have asked me to talk about, and that is should Christians celebrate
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Halloween or how should we celebrate Halloween if we do? I am going to talk to a very special
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guest, and that is my mother. I think that she did a really great job growing up of showing us how to
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celebrate things in a godly way. So she's got some insight for us today. Okay, now I am going to talk
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to my lovely mother about Halloween. So a lot of people have asked me to talk about how I was
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raised. They've asked me a lot about my parents. They've asked me to interview my parents. And so
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now I am giving you what you have asked for since your wish is always my command. So mother,
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could you tell everyone a little bit about who you are, what you do, what you like to do,
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and why you're here? Well, I'm Allie's mom mostly, and I have two other children and
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four grandkids now. Yeah, two additions this summer, so it's kind of hard to keep count.
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Yeah. I was a school teacher, you know, long time ago, and I've homeschooled. I've done,
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you know, I've kind of stayed a teacher. I'm just kind of a teacher at heart. Yes. So yeah. Yeah. And
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a lot of people have asked me, because I think I mentioned once on the podcast that one thing that
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I'm so appreciative of, because my grandmother was also a teacher, my mom, like she said, is a teacher,
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teacher. And both of them were at home a lot with me when I was little. And so they took a lot of time
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to teach me things to teach me, especially how to read and how to write and how to memorize things.
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And I've gotten questions about that when I've mentioned it on the podcast. So just before we
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get into the Halloween conversation, which we are going to get into for the moms that are wondering,
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okay, how do I make sure that my child is a good communicator? What are some things that you did
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with us when we were little? Well, of course, the biggest thing is to talk to your kids and to read
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to them. I mean, it's really that simple. Like even when they're infants or from the get go. I mean,
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I read books to all of you when you were just tiny infants, there was no way you couldn't even hold
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your head up. But I was reading books, mostly and little words, you know, and things especially that
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rhyme, because it's very important. And people don't really understand this, that there's a rhythm
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to reading. Yeah. And when you teach your kids to read, even mother goose and just little things that
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rhyme, they pick it up easier. That's why songs, you know, kids songs are so popular. Yeah.
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They learn that quicker. They learn that quicker. It's the reason why we sing the ABCs rather than
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say the ABCs. Yeah. So if you read books that rhyme, they begin to pick up and, and that also makes
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them a good reader because it's important as you're reading, not to just read like the, you know,
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like a robot and they get more out of it when they're reading in an energetic way and a fun way.
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Yeah. I think that does help. And you kind of had me memorize books and not just the alphabet,
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but also the words that corresponded with the letters in the alphabet. And I do think, I mean,
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I don't know that much about teaching your kids or I've never been a teacher either, but it seems
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from my own distant memory that making those kinds of connections, especially like you said, with songs
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helps you not just with, okay, memorizing things, but having some kind of comprehension and being able
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to repeat it in a meaningful way. So I think that's, I think that's what you and dad and grandma all did
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growing up. And then also I would say we had like a close relationship growing up. You also just had
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conversations with me. Yes. I think. Yeah. And I, I think that's important that, um, I'm not against
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baby talk. I mean, I talk baby talk to your daughter and my other grandkids and all that, but it's also
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important to talk to them like a person and to have conversations on their level, of course, but, um, to
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not be afraid to use big words, um, and, and then helping them to understand the context of how that
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happens. And it's amazing how, uh, quickly, uh, you and, and other kids and, um, learn that way just
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by having conversations. It's just so important to just talk. Yeah. Yeah. And I think sometimes we
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think that, oh, well, kids don't understand. And so it's not, we don't really need to talk to them
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about stuff, but I guess that really is how we learn. It is amazing just how quickly kids pick up. I mean,
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obviously my daughter is only 13 weeks old, but you can tell already they start having some kind
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of emotional or natural reaction to certain things that you say. It's just amazing to watch
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their minds kind of develop. Okay. We're going to talk about Halloween. Thank you for dressing in
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Halloween themed clothing. That's very important for this podcast. I always get very dressed up as you
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can tell. Um, and this is a topic that I think is a little bit controversial. There are a lot of
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different views on it. And I think that there are a lot of different biblically valid views on it
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that can differ. That's not true with every single subject. Not everything is relative,
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but with something like Halloween, there are a lot of different ways that people approach something
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like this. But, um, from your perspective, and you can start wherever you want to from the,
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you know, how Halloween started and all of that from your perspective, how can Christians think about
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this in a way that is God honoring? Well, you know, there's a whole history of Halloween,
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uh, beginning with the Celtics and, and starting, you know, back in the... It was like All Hallows Eve.
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Yeah. And they, they were really celebrating the harvest and, but they didn't know who God was.
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They weren't Christians, you know, at this point. It was when the Catholic church came in
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and, and kind of mixed those two, that it, it began to take a little more, um, of a turn toward
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what we know now as Halloween. And so I, there were, yes, a lot of satanic rituals that, uh, we would
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associate with the original Halloween celebrations, but, um... And there probably still is some.
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And there is. There are people that are definitely... With the occults and... The Wiccans and, and things
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like that. Yes. They take this opportunity to, um, just... Celebrate Satan. To celebrate evil. Yeah.
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Yeah. And, um, and that's very true. Um, I grew up, you know, the traditional trick-or-treating,
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dressing up in every kind of costume that there, uh, that there was. And so I didn't really think
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about it when I was growing up and no one ever said to me, oh, you shouldn't do that. And we were
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church-going, you know, Christians. Um, so, uh, that wasn't an issue. It was only when I had
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children and that it started the, I heard just, just sort of this rumbling among moms. Ooh, should
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we really be dressing up and celebrating Satan? So you hadn't really thought about it. I had not
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thought about it. Yeah. And, um, so I took the, the tactic. Okay. Well, maybe we just won't dress
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in evil costumes. Yeah. And that's what I remember. Yeah. That we'll just dress in fun costumes. I mean,
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my favorite costume for you was Lamb Chop. Oh yes. That's another thing. She's very creative
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and crafty. She made my Lamb Chop costume. Now there are people listening to this podcast that are too
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young to know who Lamb Chop is, which makes me feel very old. Yes. Lamb Chop was a little puppet
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that she loved and she, um, just loved it. So she was probably about two years old and I got a white,
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um, sweatsuit and glue. I mean, literally this is how creative I am. I glued or felt red buttons on it
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and got a little hat and put eyelashes on it. And that was, that is pretty. If I can find the picture,
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the picture somewhere in your house, maybe I'll post it on Instagram. Yeah. And anyway,
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that was my favorite, my favorite one. So, so not scary stuff. Tried to do not scary stuff. I do now
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looking back, I saw some pictures, like I think Justin was a vampire one year. Oh yeah. So would
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you do that? Would you now knowing what you know, would you still allow your kids to dress as a vampire
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or witch or something? I would not, you know, I just don't see any point in, uh, sort of glorifying
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evil or evil or scary, you know? Yeah. Why do that? I mean, there's just no point. It's fun to dress up.
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Kids don't know the difference. If they're dressing up as the ballerina or a doctor, they think it's fun.
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So why don't just do something fun? Um, so for years I really, I decorated for fall. I didn't do
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really the Halloween, you know, black cats and witches and that kind of stuff. And, and it was
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really when you were little, probably when you were five or six years old and, um, Allie was always my,
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uh, let's have a party person. So everybody else's houses were decorated with the traditional Halloween
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and, um, Oh, I think you let me put spiderwebs up. You, you said, mom, can't we just have a black cat?
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And I was trying to explain to you why we didn't do that. Yeah. She never decorated for Halloween.
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I think grandma finally bought you like a little statue with a little witch and a black cat and I'll
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let you have it. So anyway, it was, um, you know, I just, it was always torn because I didn't want to be,
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you know, that, uh, yeah, a fuddy-duddy. Yeah. Just a stick in the mud about it. But I just didn't
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want to glorify something that shouldn't be glorified. So probably when you were about 13,
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um, I was sitting in church one Sunday and, uh, the pastor started preaching from Ezekiel
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and the verse he said was, Oh, dry bones, hear ye the word of the Lord. Now I'm sure I'd heard that
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verse hundreds of times before never hit me. But that Sunday, it was like this huge light bulb went
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off. Like I could use that for Halloween. Yeah. And so I went home, literally went to the home
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improvement store, got some, uh, cloth, like drop cloths that you use for paint and came home and,
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uh, drew that on this drop cloth, decorated it in fun Halloween colors and, um, put some
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skeletons, you know, out beside it. And that was my Halloween thing. And then I was like,
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I got so excited. I went and made another one with jack-o'-lanterns and, you know, said like,
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let your light shine. Yeah. Let your light so shine. And so I put, those were my only two that year.
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And in that, at that time, the neighborhood we lived in, we would have at least 300 trick-or-treaters.
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Yeah. It was like constant. It was constant. I, every year I would run out of candy. I would think
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I have enough and I never had enough. And, um, so, and the reason I knew that there were about 300
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is because I made up about 300 of these little tracks just on construction paper, um, about a
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pumpkin and how we are like a pumpkin, how God comes in and scoops out the yucky stuff and puts a light
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inside of us, you know, very simple. Yeah. And, um, I would put those in with the candy. So I made up
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the first year, I made up 300 of those thinking, you know, I'll have enough for two or three years.
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No, I ran out. So I know that you type up those little cards. I did. I typed them up and printed
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them on orange and, uh, like share the gospel in a kid friendly way. And it was, it was a tiny
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little thing. And I put a couple of scriptures on it. I only had one child, um, give it back to me.
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And that was because she was not, um, of the Christian faith. So, and I thought it was very
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polite of her and, um, you know, she wasn't rude about it. She just, you know, said, thank you very
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much. And she handed it back. So, um, mostly the parents loved it. They did. So what were some of the
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responses that you got? Um, the parents would come to me, you know, when they're kids, they
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would go, I love your signs. Because then of course, each year I would add a different
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kind of sign. So this, so you had just so everyone can get a picture out front in front
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of your house, you had the sign like, Oh, dry bones. Here are you the word of the Lord
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with the skeletons on it that you made. And then you would also have the like, let your light
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so shine with the pumpkins on it. And so you would take Bible verses, um, and not, not,
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you're not changing them. They're, you're just kind of decorating. You're attaching it
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to a traditional, a traditional Halloween, um, uh, decoration. And then, but putting a
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Christian message with it. And I started calling it Holyween. Now I realized that hallow means
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holy. Yeah. So people don't really think about that anymore. Yeah. We don't really use the
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word hallow, uh, that much. So I, it sounds now I think of it as scary. Yes. Yes. And, uh,
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so holy to me just said the, what I wanted people to see. Um, so I, I painted a banner that
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of Jesus and you know, the, the traditional Jesus and the children coming to him picture
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that we see, well, I painted the kids coming in, in, um, costume. And, uh, so let the children
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come to me. And, you know, that was one of the banners. Then I did a Charlie Brown one,
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you know, um, about, uh, walk as children of light. And I did that one. So it, it was becoming,
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people were starting to want one of these banners. And I was like, I can't paint everybody
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a banner, you know, and I was trying to get them to, you go paint it. You know, you, I'm
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not an artist at all. And you can tell from some of the banners, they're really bad. You
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were just doing this for fun at your own house. You weren't like, Oh, these are professional
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and making a business out of it. Not at all. But, but parents would come to me, where did
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you get your signs? Or can you make me a sign? They just like the idea so much. They probably
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didn't care that it wasn't perfect. And literally when, uh, and I started to do it for other
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holidays as well. And, uh, when we moved somebody who I did not know walked up to my door, rang
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the doorbell and said, are the new owners going to do the banners? So I felt so bad. Um, but
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anyway, I did find an online company that, um, I can create vinyl banners. I've sold a few
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of those. I'm not trying to go into the vinyl banner business. Yeah. You can go on the same
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website and, and make your own. Yeah. They have some, you know, just really stock vinyl
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banners that you can add your own pictures to in your own words. It's very simple. So,
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um, I encourage people to do that. And I've also done t-shirts and the little. Oh yes.
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This is a little onesie that she gave, that she gave me. It's cute. Let your light so shine
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Matthew 5 16. It's super cute. Yeah. There are all kinds of ways. I think that you can
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redeem things like this. Although I do understand it's kind of like I was talking, someone asked
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me a couple of weeks ago about Christians and alcohol. And obviously you don't drink.
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There are a lot of Christians that don't drink. And I've always said that is a totally viable,
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valid option. And maybe that's the best in the wisest option, but it is, there is a way to
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responsibly drink as a Christian. The Bible warns against, uh, drunkenness and, um, filling yourself
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with wine for that is debauchery as Ephesians says, but there is a way to responsibly drink as
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long as you are keeping those things in mind, as well as keeping in mind the faith and the struggles
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of the people around you. And I think it can be similarly said of Halloween that if someone feels
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like they can't celebrate Halloween at all, that it's strictly pagan, it's strictly satanic.
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There is no part for a Christian to play in it. I think that's okay. And I know I mentioned earlier,
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oh, you don't want to be a fuddy-duddy. I don't want to imply that people who don't celebrate
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Halloween are that way. There are valid reasons, but I also think it can be valid to redeem it as
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much as you can and use it to share the gospel. And I think you don't have to decorate. You can do
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like, I still just decorate with really fall things and now my banners. Um, but, um, I think you could
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just have a cookout at your house. Um, our church does a thing called light the night and they just
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encourage people. We don't have a fall festival anymore. We used to have this gigantic fall
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festival. Um, and now they just encourage people to stay home and have a cookout in your front yard
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or your backyard or invite your neighbors and just do fun stuff like that to encourage people,
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um, to one, get to know each other. We don't really know our neighbors anymore. And, um, just to,
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if you can share the gospel. And I just think what other night or day of the year do people come knock
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on your door? Are you having strangers? Yeah. And you open the door without, uh, you know, hesitancy.
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Yeah. And then, and, and they're asking for something and you can give them what you want
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and they'll take it. Yeah. Now you don't necessarily know what they do with it, but
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after that, you don't know. But from my experience, people came back year after year. I love your house.
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Not, not my house, but what we did with our house. Coming to your house. I love that you do this. Um,
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and I would always say, go do it. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's fun. I love thinking of, you know,
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scripture in a different way and how can I share this in a way that's not, um, uh, scary or like
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I'm coming at you with a, you know, giant Bible or something. And I, like I said, I've, I've really
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never had anybody. I've had more people say, I love this. I love what you're doing than, uh,
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any kind of negative. Well, they don't have to take it. They can throw it away when they get
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home. I'm not following up with them the next day. Um, did you read that, that I put in your
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trick or treat bag? Yeah. I think that, that you make a really good point. A lot of people think
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of Christians as going door to door and knocking on their door and saying, do you know Jesus? Not that
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there's necessarily anything wrong with that, but now the roles are reversed. People are coming up to you,
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knocking on your door and saying, what do you have for me? And there's no reason for a Christian.
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Yes. You can give candy too, but there's no reason. Yeah. There's no reason whatsoever for
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a Christian not to give something that's actually going to give sustenance forever. Yes. Eternal,
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eternal sustenance. And I think so many times Christians, we're just afraid. We're afraid that
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we're going to offend someone. We, we just want people to think that we're nice. We want people to
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know that we're not the bigoted kind of Christian. Like we're not the mean kind of Christian.
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And so unfortunately, a lot of people use that as an excuse to not talk about Christianity.
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To just blend it. Yes. To just blend it and to not share the gospel. I'm just going to share candy.
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And maybe if I'm really nice to them, they'll see the love of Jesus in me. But I think more times
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than not, and especially from what you said, from your experience, people like not only the kindness,
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but they're looking for truth. And maybe they're looking for light in a night that they feel like
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it's dark. Don't you think as a young mom, when you were conflicted about whether this is good or bad,
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if someone had reached out to you and shown you some sign of redemption in Halloween, you would have
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felt, I don't know, comforted by that? Oh yeah, absolutely. I, I, you know, I was trying to figure
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it out on my own. Of course, there was no internet to, to go look at or look up, uh, answers or, uh, in a
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chat room or any of that, you know, there was nothing. So you just kind of, uh, did what other
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people did and, um, tried to figure it out. And this, you know, I've, I'm sad that it came so late
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and you didn't get to really experience it since you were already a teenager.
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Mom, if you want to whip out the lamb chop costume, I'll try to see if I can wear it again this year.
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Save it for baby girl. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I do think it's important though, for Christians
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to stay away from the glorification of evil and the satanic and things like that, and to stay
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on the light and right side of it as much as they possibly can. Because I, I quote Ephesians all the
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time, but I was thinking about a verse the other day that convicted me that it was talking about the
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fruits of darkness and the people of darkness. And it says, God through Paul says, it's shameful to
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even speak of the things that they do in secret. But the fruit of light is everything that is good
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and right and true. Walk as children of light, which is one of the verses that you have used.
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And that's so convicting to me. How often do we just kind of like toe the line in the evil works
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of darkness? Like we talk about it. We might even be fascinated by it. We might play with it a little
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bit on something like Halloween, but I don't think Halloween is an excuse for Christians to all of
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a sudden be like, ah, the darkness and evil is okay. Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree. And, um, I think it's
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just some of the verses that I've used of the years I've mentioned, um, the Ezekiel one, which is
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Ezekiel 37, four, Oh, dry bones, hear you the word of the Lord. Um, Psalm 139, 14, I am fearfully
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and wonderfully made. And the banner that I did with that was just one of children dressed in
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Halloween costumes, you know, great message. And it's just, you know, it's still, uh, has a
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Halloween theme, but I'm getting a message out there through that verse. Um, the one you mentioned,
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Matthew 5, 16, let your light so shine. Um, Ephesians 5, 8, walk as children of light. Um,
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this one was a little out there and this is for verses that you can use for banners or just to
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think about. Yeah. And, um, I just found it, you know, really easy to, to, to attach a verse with
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that. Um, this one was a little bit out there. Um, I had just read Mark Batterson's, um, I think it
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was grave robber, um, book at the time. So I thought, Oh, grave robber, how can I do that? And so
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I came with, uh, first Corinthians 15 55, that death has no power over us, that there's no sting
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in death. And so I found a traditional Halloween graveyard, uh, picture, put it on a banner and put
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ultimate grave robber with that verse. So most people don't really get that one, but I still like
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it. Oh, I like that. There's definitely something you can do with tomb and grave. Yes. Yeah. And you
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know what, if nothing else, it gets people to go look for that verse. Yeah. Maybe, maybe they'll
00:23:54.100
go read it and go, Oh, I never thought about that. Well, if we believe that the word of God is
00:23:58.340
powerful and sufficient and certainly that the Holy spirit works as another thing that you could use
00:24:02.620
Holy ghost, Holy spirit. Um, and that's kind of, that's one that's sort of been around for a long
00:24:08.900
time. I'm sure people have seen no one lives here. No ghost lives here, but the Holy ghost or
00:24:13.120
something like that, you know, and that's been around for a long time. Um, and then the Matthew
00:24:18.820
19 14, let the children come to me and having, you know, a Jesus thing. I haven't really found a vinyl
00:24:24.580
banner option for that one yet. So still working on that one. Um, Genesis one 21, God created every
00:24:32.380
living creature. And that one I did spiders and cats and bats and, you know, which are all living
00:24:38.820
creatures that God made. And then just put that verse with it. And they also happen to be Halloween
00:24:44.840
items. That's cute. And then, uh, Romans 10 13, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be
00:24:51.720
saved. And I used an owl, uh, for the calling, you know, yeah, I know that's a little out there too.
00:25:00.420
She's very creative. So anyway, those are just some fun ones. And, um, every year I try to think of,
00:25:08.320
uh, a new way to use a verse. And, um, so anyway, uh, so for, for moms that maybe are where you were
00:25:17.420
and maybe where I'll be in a few years of, okay, they're not creative. They're not crafty. They can't
00:25:23.900
do this stuff. Or maybe they feel like they don't have time to do this stuff. What are some other ways
00:25:29.420
that moms can kind of feel like they are, uh, celebrating this in a glorifying way, or what are
00:25:36.740
some ways that they can talk to their own kids about it? Yeah. Um, well, I just think one, you
00:25:42.900
don't have to go, we don't do that. We do this. Like, we're like, we're better than some other
00:25:49.440
people who maybe celebrate in a different way because you don't want to ever one, make your kids
00:25:55.380
feel like they're better than everybody else. Um, but you also don't want to make them feel ostracized.
00:26:00.840
Like we are so different that, you know, we are not, you know, we're in the world, not of the world.
00:26:06.540
And we get all hung up in that. But, um, I think you can, you know, explain what fall is and how fun,
00:26:15.000
how God created, uh, the, the fall season. And we celebrate things in lots of different ways. We
00:26:22.140
have Thanksgiving in the fall and, and Halloween. And that's a day, you know, this is a day the Lord
00:26:28.280
has made, let us rejoice. And from Psalm 118. And so, um, don't, don't let it be, uh, a day that,
00:26:37.320
um, Satan has taken over. These are all days that God has made. And I think you emphasize that to your
00:26:45.960
kids and just, you know, you don't have to make a big deal about, we don't do this. We only do this.
00:26:53.260
Yeah. It's kind of, this is who we are as a family. This is what we believe. This is what our
00:26:58.260
heart is surrounding this. Now. I do think I could imagine that there could be some points
00:27:04.380
of clarification that might be needed for older kids, or it depends on what age they are for.
00:27:10.000
Okay. Can people really like rise from the dead? Do skeletons really rise from the dead? Are there
00:27:14.980
really witches? Are there really vampires? Um, and they might have questions about that. And I do think
00:27:21.020
it's important for one, for parents to know the answers to those things theologically, to know
00:27:27.560
what the Bible says about those things. You can even, if you want to get really in depth,
00:27:31.580
you can talk to your kids about the resurrection of the bodies that's going to happen. And the
00:27:35.560
difference between that and skeletons walking around today and zombies and all that kind of stuff.
00:27:39.820
I know at some point, maybe that can be easy for older kids to be able to compartmentalize. They
00:27:45.540
know witches aren't real and it's not a big deal to them, but it might also be important for parents
00:27:50.620
to have those conversations with kids that, okay, you might see some people celebrating this kind
00:27:55.700
of stuff, but here's what the Bible, here's what the Bible says about this. And you don't need to
00:27:59.840
be scared because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. You're going to see a bunch
00:28:03.700
of scary stuff tonight. You don't have anything to worry about because the God of the universe is
00:28:07.520
protecting you. I think that's also important because kids can, even if you celebrate it in the
00:28:12.860
right way, kids can get scared. They see stuff on TV. They have a friend or a cousin who told
00:28:17.580
them a scary story. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just like anything with your kids. You don't talk to your
00:28:24.180
two year old in the same way you would talk to your eight or 10 year old about any subject. So you do
00:28:33.100
the same thing with Halloween. You have fun with it in an appropriate way that you feel is right for
00:28:41.120
your family. You use as much biblical background as you can and, um, use it to share the gospel.
00:28:49.940
That's the most fun thing to me is that, um, I even got to where I was, um, I would sit on the front
00:28:56.080
porch and of course we're in Texas, so it's still like 80 degrees at Halloween. Um, and I would sit
00:29:02.500
on the front porch in a rocking chair and I had the skeletons hooked up to the rocking chair so that
00:29:07.720
when I rocked, they danced and I had, I had Mary Mary playing in the background, take the shackles
00:29:15.240
off my feet. So I could take, and you had your banner and everything in the banner. Yeah. I kind
00:29:21.660
of went maybe a little overboard, maybe kind of, but it was so fun. It just, it became probably
00:29:29.200
fun. Yeah. I mean, I love Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it was just so much fun because Thanksgiving
00:29:34.700
Christmas. And people aren't really expecting that for Halloween. They're not. And it, it just,
00:29:39.720
um, it just lit up my life where, you know, for, to do that. And to see people probably like
00:29:45.240
surprise reactions. They're just not used to things like that. Okay. Tell us about the Holy
00:29:51.380
Ween acrostic. So moms, dads can remember, okay, this is how Christians, this is a good way for
00:29:59.340
Christians to think of Halloween. Yeah. So I just kind of did H as the history of Halloween. If you
00:30:04.960
want to teach your kids kind of where Halloween started and go back to the Celtics and the Catholics,
00:30:10.140
it's, you know, pretty easy to look that up on Wikipedia. So H is history. History, but also
00:30:17.280
to change hallow to holy. And, you know, that's just, it's, I guess, semantics a little bit,
00:30:24.680
but holy is more understandable, I think to kids and to most people than hallow. Um, O is your opening
00:30:31.740
doors to strangers. You don't do that any other time of the year. Probably you're very careful.
00:30:37.620
You're looking through the peephole. You're, you know, not answering the door because you don't
00:30:41.540
know who it is, but on Halloween you open your door and, uh, and it's for L it's a good way to love
00:30:48.220
your neighbors. You know, if you're going to have a cookout and you're just trying to get to
00:30:52.760
know your neighbors, that's a great way to show love to them. The why is of course, young children,
00:30:59.260
um, teaching young children about the gospel, the, the younger they get exposed to that, the more
00:31:06.940
likely they are to believe that later on in life. Um, studies show that past the age of 13, it gets
00:31:15.020
harder and harder to share the gospel and for them to, uh, want to have that in their lives.
00:31:22.940
They've gotten a lot of other influences at that point. Exactly. And they're going to get a lot more,
00:31:27.360
um, through college. So, um, the W is, uh, the word of God and just using the word of God like that.
00:31:35.920
It's amazing. The word of God is alive and it, it, it touches people in ways that you had no idea
00:31:45.660
that, um, it was going to do that. And which reminds you, I love when that happens, when you
00:31:51.740
share a verse or you talk about a verse and someone gets something out of it that you didn't
00:31:56.380
even think of. It's just a reminder that it's really the Holy Spirit. We're just ambassadors,
00:32:01.260
messengers, we don't, you know, we proclaim truth and the Holy Spirit has it. And I think that that's
00:32:08.380
true. That's a, yeah. And so we try to get all fancy and, and, you know, share the gospel and we
00:32:13.860
do all these procedures that we go through and really it's sharing the word. Yeah. And, um, so
00:32:20.340
that's, that's W. Yeah. So E, um, um, everyone gets something for free and, you know, that's,
00:32:29.020
that's just an example of God's love and grace that his grace is free. Salvation is free. It's
00:32:36.740
to anybody who asks for it. Not cheap, but free because, and like candy, it costs you something.
00:32:42.480
Yes. It costs you something, but the person you gave it to, it costs nothing. And obviously we
00:32:46.540
know that salvation costs the cost of God's only son, Jesus, but for us, it was free. So that means
00:32:52.360
it's not cheap, but it's free. And, and they're, they're at your door knocking and you just open it
00:32:57.560
and give it to him. That's, I love that. Um, the other E is eternity. You may be affecting
00:33:04.140
someone's eternal destiny by sharing the gospel. This one time, you don't know that that five-year-old
00:33:11.840
that sees your heart during this time of year, you don't know what he's going home to, but he may
00:33:19.180
there, that little seed may have been planted. You just don't know. So why not do it? You know,
00:33:25.660
if there's a chance to the parents are, that's a huge, you know, children lead their parents to the
00:33:31.480
Lord a lot of times, because what if that child now ask his mom, well, who is Jesus? Or what is
00:33:38.960
that lady talking about? Um, you know, eternal life. What does that mean? And then it makes their
00:33:44.940
parents who may have gone to church when they were children. And then as adults, they stopped,
00:33:49.580
it may get them to thinking, Hmm, maybe we need to, you know, go back to church. Yeah. So, um,
00:33:57.580
and then N is, um, new, you know, you're starting something new in your neighborhood. Um, and I
00:34:05.280
mentioned before our church does like the night where somebody in the neighborhood has a cookout or
00:34:10.300
just a get together and, uh, you're being the bearer of good news. And that's so rare in our day. We hear
00:34:18.240
so much bad news and, um, you also fake news. We hear the term fake news all the time. And this
00:34:27.080
is the least fake news you'll ever hear. This is the truth. Yeah. This is probably the only truth
00:34:33.800
that matters. The ultimate truth and the source of all truth, the beginning and the end of all truth
00:34:38.780
too. That's right. And, um, so, you know, the Satan wants us to believe that it's, um, that God's word
00:34:46.660
is the fake news. You know, he's been saying this from the garden. He's been saying, did God really
00:34:53.920
say, you know, he'd got Eve to doubt. And so that's the fake news that we have. But God said,
00:35:01.440
God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes it's for everybody. And so
00:35:10.700
don't believe the lie, believe the truth. And, um, so I can, that is the new good news that we are
00:35:20.360
giving people. And also new in the sense that this could be a new tradition that you start for your
00:35:24.880
family. Like my mom was saying, like one of her goals is not, it wasn't to sell banners, but to get
00:35:32.240
other people to, um, use this as a mode of redemption and to share the gospel and to love your neighbor and
00:35:39.460
to be hospitable to those around you. This is such a rare opportunity that all of us have. Um, and
00:35:45.360
that's, that's me included. I don't think that I've thought about it necessarily in this way. I think
00:35:49.140
just now that I have a child, I'm starting to think about it. I haven't celebrated Halloween in a,
00:35:53.700
you know, a long time. Um, but now I am starting to think about that and she's right. What an
00:35:58.220
opportunity that we have. So this could be, this could be something that you start with your family.
00:36:02.160
You could find your own verses, your own pictures. Maybe you are an artist. Maybe you're not,
00:36:07.000
maybe you're like me and you're not an artist at all. Um, but there's, there's a way that you can
00:36:11.640
share this message of truth with those around you. Yep. Anything else you want to add?
00:36:17.120
No, I think I can, I'll share, you know, and you can share on your, um, different social media
00:36:23.460
outlets. Yeah, I'll show you how she does it and the banners that she's made before. Yeah. And the
00:36:27.580
pumpkin story, you know, you can share that and, um, yeah, just go out and have fun. Yeah. Okay.
00:36:33.820
Perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you guys for listening. I will see you back here on Monday.
00:36:38.520
I think on Monday, you can, you can tell me what you think about this. We will talk about a biblical
00:36:43.740
forgiveness. This is a question that a lot of you guys have asked me. There was a recent, uh, murder
00:36:49.220
case in Dallas surrounding this, uh, particular issue. And a lot of you guys have asked me to
00:36:53.920
address it. So I think that's what we're going to talk about on Monday and I will see you guys back