Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - December 27, 2018


Ep 65 | Q&A!


Episode Stats

Length

30 minutes

Words per Minute

201.2788

Word Count

6,107

Sentence Count

469

Hate Speech Sentences

10


Summary

In this episode of Relatable, Allie answers some of your questions about the holidays and what to get for a late Christmas present. She also talks about some of her favorite things to do on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, it's Allie. Welcome to Relatable. It is two days after Christmas. I hope that you guys
00:00:06.580 had a wonderful holiday, that you got to spend time with your family. I know that sometimes
00:00:11.020 Christmas can be super stressful. I don't know if you have a great relationship with your family
00:00:15.960 and your in-laws. I hope that you do. If you don't, maybe you're taking some time to yourself
00:00:20.720 today to enjoy your gifts, or maybe you didn't get any gifts and you're just enjoying some Netflix.
00:00:27.180 If so, I wish you the best, and I hope that you get lots of rest. I hope that you didn't have to
00:00:32.640 go back to work immediately, and maybe you even have a long weekend until after New Year's. If not,
00:00:39.720 if you're working and you are in the routine of your day, then best of luck to you as well. I
00:00:46.540 am chilling, except for doing this podcast. So today I'm going to answer some of your questions.
00:00:51.840 To be perfectly honest with you guys, I'm just going to be real. I don't know exactly what we're
00:00:57.060 going to talk about on today's podcast. I'm going to answer some of the questions that you sent me
00:01:00.940 and hope for the best and try to extend this to be at least 30 minutes for you guys. I usually find
00:01:07.400 something to say. I usually get long-winded about one topic or the other, so it should be fine.
00:01:13.000 But I'm just letting you know, I'm kind of going into this after the holidays with a more relaxed
00:01:18.020 mindset that we're going to figure out something to talk about, but I don't know what yet.
00:01:21.580 That is very atypical for this podcast. I always have notes, and I know what I'm going to say.
00:01:27.700 Today, you just never know. You don't know what's going to come out. Before we actually start and I
00:01:32.420 answer some of these questions, I have to tell you, I have to tell you, I know you guys have no
00:01:37.380 idea what I'm about to say. I have to tell you about my pillow. I got a review the other day that
00:01:42.640 said, I love Allie because she loves Chick-fil-A and pillows. Yes, true. I do love pillows, but not just
00:01:49.300 any pillow. I love my Bolster Sleep pillow. So you can go to bolstersleep.com slash Allie and get
00:01:54.340 10% off their pillows. Their pillows are amazing, you guys. I used to build this whole pillow empire
00:02:01.040 around my head to make sure that I slept in the correct way and I would still get a crick in my
00:02:05.940 neck. That's not true anymore. My Bolster Sleep pillow keeps its form all night. It's just the right
00:02:10.420 combination of firmness and softness, if you know what I'm talking about. It's not a feather pillow,
00:02:15.100 but it's also not like super firm to where you can't move your hat. Does that make any sense?
00:02:20.620 It's really perfect and it's made out of this material called tin cell. So it stays cool all
00:02:25.020 night, no flipping over to get the cooler side of the pillow. You've got it all night with a Bolster
00:02:29.840 Sleep. So you should go to bolstersleep.com. You should use promo code Allie. It's A-L-L-I-E,
00:02:35.240 not A-L-L-Y, not A-L-I, A-L-L-I-E. Get 10% off. If you're looking for a late Christmas present,
00:02:41.900 I don't know, maybe you're a trash person like me and you didn't get everyone's Christmas presents
00:02:46.160 in right away. Actually, I did this year. That's an accomplishment for me, but maybe you didn't
00:02:50.720 and you should just get this late Christmas present and whoever you're giving it to will
00:02:54.640 really appreciate it. Okay, moving on. I'm going to answer some of your questions that you sent me.
00:03:01.100 You always send me your questions via Instagram. That's where I interact with my audience the most.
00:03:05.200 It's kind of funny. It used to be Facebook that I had the largest audience on and I talked to the most
00:03:10.540 and then it was Twitter. Now it's Instagram. Let me tell you, Instagram's way nicer than any other
00:03:17.100 social media platform. I think it's because the people who follow you on Instagram and who see
00:03:21.860 your posts... Okay, so the people who see your posts on Instagram and comment on your posts
00:03:25.820 typically follow you because you don't share posts on Instagram. So there's not a huge chance of people
00:03:31.040 seeing something unless they follow you. So most of the people that comment on my posts follow me,
00:03:36.140 which means they probably agree with me. And y'all are just a lot nicer on Instagram or on
00:03:41.520 Facebook or on Twitter. You have no idea who's sharing your post. So you have no idea who's
00:03:44.920 going to see it. And the trolls just come out in droves. And yet I find solace in Instagram.
00:03:50.580 So that's where I interact with my audience the most. And so this is where you guys send me
00:03:56.380 all of your lovely questions. So one of the questions that I got is from Jess. What other
00:04:03.320 podcasts do you love and vouch for? I love yours and I've been trying to find others that are good.
00:04:08.240 They could be either politically based, Christian based. Okay, so here are the podcasts that I listen
00:04:13.000 to and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings about what podcasts I don't listen to. So sometimes I
00:04:19.180 listen to a variety, but here are my mainstays. I listen to The Briefing with Albert Moeller. So this is
00:04:25.380 Approaching News and Politics from a Christian Worldview. I think that's actually the tagline.
00:04:31.060 And it's about some, it used to be 15 minutes. I think it's actually about 25 minutes now,
00:04:35.900 but it goes through stories, not of the day, but of the week or of the last two weeks that have not
00:04:41.460 only political importance, but cultural importance. He talks a lot about the moral revolution that's
00:04:46.820 happened over the past 10 years and really analyzes that and puts it back into the Christian
00:04:52.720 worldview and roots it in scripture. And I think he's really good. He is a conservative.
00:04:58.480 He doesn't necessarily say I'm a Republican or I'm a conservative, but he does have conservative
00:05:03.140 views. Of course, that could be a criticism of the podcast, but everything he says is scripturally
00:05:08.060 based. As you know, I believe that if you are a Bible-believing Christian, you are going to tend
00:05:13.260 to have conservative views, at least culturally, maybe not on every single policy, but culturally,
00:05:17.860 you're probably going to be pretty conservative just because that's how the Bible leans.
00:05:23.620 So he is conservative. He's a Christian. He is also a Baptist. You can take all of that as you
00:05:29.240 will. I really like Albert Moeller. I think he has a great daily podcast. It's one of those podcasts
00:05:34.260 that makes you feel smarter after you listen to it. Another mainstay is the Ben Shapiro podcast. So
00:05:40.140 this is the podcast that I go to when I just, I want what is happening that day, what news I need to
00:05:45.700 know and the details I need to know about those news stories. His podcast is completely different
00:05:51.160 than mine in that he's going to talk about the Russian collusion story. He's going to talk about
00:05:56.240 all of the minutiae of the day. My podcast doesn't do that. And the thing, the funny thing is,
00:06:02.520 is that, you know, people always tell me they love Ben Shapiro. Like, oh, I just, I love following
00:06:07.260 you and Ben Shapiro. No one has ever told me, I wish your podcast was more newsy or I wish your podcast
00:06:13.660 would cover the Russian collusion story. And I think that's because there are so many podcasts
00:06:18.620 that already do a great job with that, like Ben's podcast and other podcasts that cover the daily
00:06:23.400 news that people just don't come to me for that. And I'm completely fine with it. We have a kind of
00:06:29.460 a different approach and the stories that we choose are a little bit different and they're a little bit
00:06:34.560 more evergreen than the daily news. And so that's why I listen to Ben's podcast because it's different
00:06:41.580 than mine. It's different than the other ones that I listened to. And I highly recommend it.
00:06:45.260 If you just want to know what you need to know for the day, he's going to tell you the facts.
00:06:49.360 I also think that he is extremely fair. He's obviously conservative, but he's going to tell
00:06:53.800 you both sides of the argument. Um, so I really like Ben's podcast. I just feel like I can trust him
00:06:58.860 again. That's another podcast where you just, you don't just feel like, you know, more, but you
00:07:02.620 actually feel wiser. Like you feel smarter and it actually makes you think every time you listen to his
00:07:07.440 podcast. That is important to me. Um, let's see. Another one that I listened to is the just thinking
00:07:13.600 podcast. This is an exclusively Christian podcast. There is one episode, I believe a week. It dives
00:07:18.540 into a particular issue, typically a theological issue. Um, if it's a cultural or political issue,
00:07:24.700 they always, um, approach it theologically. And I really like it. I just think that they're very good
00:07:30.540 analytical thinkers. They are reformed. They are just awesome. I really like how they think.
00:07:36.640 And I love how they articulate things and I love their exegetical style and really digging into
00:07:42.180 the Bible in such an accurate way. So the just thinking podcast, those are really my three main
00:07:48.020 ones. I also might listen to the Dave Rubin podcast from time to time. Uh, Oh, the Sheologians. I
00:07:54.420 listened to the Sheologians, um, as well, and they approach theological topics and I just think
00:08:01.000 they're really good. They're also reformed and very biblically sound. So Sheologians,
00:08:05.780 Ben Shapiro podcast, uh, the briefing and the just thinking podcast, those are my main ones.
00:08:11.540 And like I said, there are always other ones kind of sprinkled in there, but those are really good
00:08:16.780 ones in a good balance. And they're all just smart. They're, they're just, they're good.
00:08:21.080 They're not just informational, but they're actually analytical as well. Um, okay. Someone asked me,
00:08:27.960 what are your thoughts on someone taking birth control to control periods, acne or other medical
00:08:32.260 reasons? Is it still simple? Um, she said, I'm pretty sure in the Catholic church, it would be.
00:08:38.520 So she's asking me for the Protestant perspective on this. Uh, I don't, I personally don't think so.
00:08:44.580 Uh, no, I don't think so. If you're not sexually active and you're using it literally as a medicine,
00:08:49.260 I don't see any argument against that whatsoever, unless you're just against medicine in general.
00:08:53.820 Um, I don't think birth control itself, the pill itself is inherently simple. It depends on what
00:09:00.760 you're using it for and how it actually works. So I've gotten a lot of messages from you since last
00:09:05.360 week's podcast talking about birth control. And I've literally gotten both sides of the argument,
00:09:09.280 which is why, again, I think it's so confusing because one side is extremely sure that all birth
00:09:14.980 controls in some way cause an abortion or can cause an abortion, making, uh, the uterus just
00:09:20.840 inhospitable to a fetus and therefore are killing an embryo. And then I have gotten a lot of messages
00:09:27.760 from people saying, no, that's not true at all. It stops ovulation. So you're just not going to
00:09:32.480 conceive a child. Again, I don't know enough about the science myself. I'm learning to, to know which
00:09:37.700 one is true and you could have problems, moral problems, theological problems with it either way,
00:09:42.860 whether it causes an abortion or just stops ovulation. And I totally, I totally get that. Um,
00:09:48.280 but if you are not doing it for either of those reasons, now there could be medical reasons why
00:09:53.160 you don't want to get on birth control. A lot of people thinks it, think it messes up your hormones.
00:09:57.560 Um, but I certainly don't think it's simple to simply use it because you need to use it,
00:10:02.420 especially if it's not to actually control conception or control birth. Um, I don't have
00:10:08.320 a verse to back that up. That just seems, that just seems logical. Um, someone asks me just a very
00:10:15.600 offensive question to be honest. Why do you like Chick-fil-A so much? So I'm going to answer a
00:10:22.180 question with a question. What kind of question is that? I don't even, I don't even know how to
00:10:27.200 answer that. Why would someone not like Chick-fil-A actually, actually confession. I didn't like Chick-fil-A
00:10:33.680 when I was young. For some reason, I didn't like the peanut oil. It grossed me out. I don't know what
00:10:38.360 I was thinking. Then I was out of my mind. I mean, your brain isn't fully developed when you're young.
00:10:42.180 That's probably why I didn't, I didn't think I liked Chick-fil-A. I love Chick-fil-A. As I've
00:10:47.900 talked about before, I am addicted to Chick-fil-A, especially when I am pregnant. I love waffle
00:10:53.960 fries. I love Chick-fil-A sauce. I don't want to know how many calories are in Chick-fil-A sauce.
00:10:58.280 Don't message me about that. I know it's a lot. I love the grilled chicken sandwich. It makes me feel
00:11:02.980 like I'm being a little bit healthier than getting the fried chicken sandwich. And as I have heard
00:11:08.360 before, I've heard that Chick-fil-A is actually the healthiest fast food option you can get.
00:11:13.740 Now, I am not against a Wendy's. I'm not even against in desperate situations at McDonald's.
00:11:19.640 I'm not against, there's a lot of fast food I'm really not against. Now, I am kind of against
00:11:23.500 KFC. It didn't used to be. I actually grew up eating KFC. I'm kind of against some Burger King.
00:11:31.540 Kind of grosses me out. Not against Whataburger. I actually love Whataburger. I fight with myself
00:11:37.020 on a weekly basis now that I'm pregnant between, oh, do I want Whataburger or do I want Chick-fil-A?
00:11:42.620 Usually Chick-fil-A wins because it's faster and they say my pleasure. And I sometimes just,
00:11:46.900 or I somehow feel like I'm like supporting some kind of Christian cause. And I don't think that's
00:11:51.520 true. Chick-fil-A just goes above and beyond not to just make amazing chicken and chicken sandwiches
00:11:58.760 and waffle fries and sauce, but also they're just kind and they're efficient and they think about
00:12:06.040 the customer first. I think that a lot of fast food restaurants are just thinking about what
00:12:10.980 costs the least amount of money. And I'm a customer and I am spending my five minutes in line and my
00:12:17.320 probably $7 on your meal. And I want to be treated with respect. Okay. I think Wendy's is actually fairly
00:12:24.520 good at this. I think people sleep on Wendy's. I think people don't give Wendy's enough of a chance.
00:12:31.440 They never freeze their beef. Their fries are pretty good. Ranch dressing is good. I can't really
00:12:38.500 speak for their chicken fingers. Chicken fingers, I'm a Chili's girl. That's another place people sleep
00:12:43.960 on is Chili's. I personally think it's disrespectful to the chain of Chili's that people don't go there
00:12:51.220 more often. Their skillet queso, amazing. Their fajita pita, really good. I don't even think it's
00:12:58.780 on the menu anymore. Chili's used to be the place to go. And I just think it's very sad that it's
00:13:02.960 gone so downhill. So anyway, the question, why do you like Chick-fil-A so much? Because it's amazing.
00:13:08.600 And if anyone doesn't like Chick-fil-A, then it's not just that they're wrong. They're a bad person.
00:13:13.820 I feel like you can't trust them. Can you really trust people who don't like Chick-fil-A or don't go to
00:13:18.540 Chick-fil-A? I don't think so. That's just my objective opinion. Tips for young professionals,
00:13:25.120 especially those who want to work in politics. Tips for young professionals. Ooh, maybe I could do,
00:13:29.500 I could do a whole podcast on that. Tips for young professionals. Okay. This is from someone who had
00:13:35.320 an unsuccessful first part of my young professional career. When I graduated from college,
00:13:42.240 I went straight into PR. And I am such a typical millennial in so many ways. I know I
00:13:47.100 rail on millennials and all of the bad things about us because there's so many bad things about us,
00:13:51.640 but I have been at times in my life entitled, not okay with authority, just want to do what I want
00:13:59.740 to do. And no one can tell me any differently. Actually, I'm still like that today. That's why
00:14:03.500 I went into a job where I basically worked for myself. But I would say that's not a good mentality
00:14:10.160 to have, especially when you're first starting out. So you graduate from college,
00:14:13.260 you think you're on top of the world. I delivered my commencement speech. I graduated with honors.
00:14:18.240 Of course, I went to a school of 2,700 people and it was a liberal arts college. It's not like
00:14:23.520 I went to Harvard or something, but regardless, you think you're on top of the world. You think
00:14:27.680 you're invincible. You think that you know everything. You think when you go into your
00:14:30.740 first job that, yeah, sure. This might've been hard for some people. Some people might've had to
00:14:35.900 adjust, but I won't have to. I'll learn so much more quickly than everyone else. Ha. That's what I've
00:14:40.860 said. Maybe that's true for you. It was not true for me. So I went into PR and I had actually
00:14:46.180 interned at this place before. It was, it was a great place. A lot of people that I love worked
00:14:51.540 there, still work there. And it was a really good experience for me. But if you're PR, if you're in
00:14:58.320 PR, you understand PR is difficult. You deal with a lot of rejection. There are a lot of deadlines.
00:15:03.040 There's a lot of pressure in just any kind of client relations whatsoever. I think it's great to go
00:15:07.700 into client relations after college because you learn how to write an email. You learn how to work
00:15:12.200 with people. You learn how to put your client first and to make other people happy. You learn
00:15:16.160 how to go above and beyond. And those are huge, amazing skills that I have continued to learn and
00:15:24.760 to use for the rest of my career. But I just wasn't prepared. I wasn't organized. I didn't know how to
00:15:30.040 maximize my time. I remember crying on a Friday night, working on a project that I completely forgotten
00:15:36.840 about. College, in my opinion, my college experience did not prepare me for my first job
00:15:42.180 out of college. And I probably was a little bit arrogant thinking that this is going to come
00:15:46.220 easily for me and not being as teachable as I could have been. I learned a lot about humility
00:15:50.180 in that first job, but I would like to think of myself as much more teachable now than I was then
00:15:54.340 because you make a fool of yourself a lot less when you just admit that you don't know something
00:15:58.800 and ask for help. PR though, at the end of the day, social media strategy at the end of the day
00:16:03.640 just wasn't my thing. And so after about a year and seven months, I moved to another job.
00:16:09.860 I actually managed and marketed for a pure bar. I thought that I was, this is going to be so much
00:16:15.380 more fun. Turns out I'm really bad at managing people. I'm just not good at managing a ton of
00:16:21.200 people that constantly need me. I'm just not good at that. I would rather you figure it out and do
00:16:25.860 what you want to do. So I should have, I don't even know what I would have done differently.
00:16:32.220 I probably would have stuck the job, the first job out a little bit longer. I would have been
00:16:37.580 more teachable. I would have prepared myself a little bit better in college and learn some
00:16:42.740 organizational skills and learn some time management skills. And I would have had a better
00:16:48.380 attitude in doing the things that I didn't want to do. I think that's a huge problem with our
00:16:53.560 generation that we have bad attitudes. We don't want to do things that are hard. We don't want to do
00:16:58.400 things that are inconvenient. We don't want to go above and beyond. We want to do the bare
00:17:01.920 minimum. And I can't say that I necessarily did the bare minimum and I was completely apathetic,
00:17:07.460 but I certainly didn't push myself as hard as I could. I didn't push myself as hard as I could
00:17:11.320 in college. And I didn't in my first few jobs. It wasn't until I was really on my own in this job
00:17:16.560 that I started applying myself, honestly, and working as hard as I possibly could. I wish that I
00:17:23.120 had realized that about myself early on and worked harder. I just wish that I had. So respect your
00:17:30.020 bosses, learn how to write an email, learn how to communicate well, go above and beyond for your
00:17:34.420 clients and work hard when you don't want to work hard. That is my tips for young professionals.
00:17:38.860 Do not, those are my tips for young professionals. Do not worry right now about finding that perfect
00:17:44.840 job that's going to be fulfilling and lucrative in all of these wonderful things. It's going to
00:17:49.540 happen, but your goal in life is not to be fulfilled and happy. It's to do your best. It's to use your
00:17:55.180 talents and your passions to the best of your ability and to trust God with everything else.
00:18:01.020 That's a lot easier said than done, but that is, that's, that's my piece of advice. You said,
00:18:05.860 especially in politics, especially in politics, stay above the fray. Politics are really hard.
00:18:11.180 It's easy to get down in the mud. That's why I live in Texas and not in DC or New York or LA,
00:18:16.600 where most political media people live, because I don't want to get into the politics of politics.
00:18:21.260 I don't want to get into the gossipy world right now. Um, it's a, it's a hard industry to be in.
00:18:27.780 That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it because we need more, uh, wise, awesome, honest people in
00:18:33.120 politics, but stay above the fray. Stay rooted, um, in your friends and in your family and in your
00:18:37.860 values and in your faith. Don't let yourself be dictated by, um, the lack of morals and the lack
00:18:45.440 of principles that is American politics. Okay. Next question. Okay. So I won't read the whole
00:18:56.100 thing. What are your thoughts on speaking your mind when the consequences could be damaging?
00:19:00.860 I think this is a difficult question because there is certainly a balance in this. Whenever I'm talking
00:19:08.120 to college students, uh, I say what I think a lot of people have said, of course, I would love college
00:19:14.060 students to be able to stand up in class and say, professor, you're wrong. Stop shoving this post
00:19:19.580 modern crap down our throats. This is not how history played out. And white people are not bad.
00:19:26.000 And America is not an aggressor. I think that would be awesome. But at the same time, uh, I'm not sure
00:19:31.320 if that's always a battle that is worth fighting in every single situation. I think pick your battles
00:19:36.680 wisely. Um, it depends also on what the argument is. Are you listening to someone blaspheme? Are you
00:19:43.140 listening to someone, um, purport something that is dangerously untrue that you think is going to have
00:19:48.660 negative effects on you on the people around you? Um, then maybe there's a respectful way to say
00:19:53.480 something. Maybe it's not in public in the classroom or wherever you are. Maybe it's privately go to that
00:19:57.740 person and express your concerns. Um, but if it's just something where a professor or someone, you know,
00:20:02.960 makes a passing remark, um, that you don't agree with, maybe just let it slide. I think picking your
00:20:09.740 battles is a matter of discernment. I can't necessarily tell you the formula for your life
00:20:14.360 and your situation, which battles are right to fight and which battles are right to just ignore.
00:20:21.080 Um, but I think it's a matter of wisdom. It's a matter of discernment. And of course,
00:20:24.240 when it comes to standing up for your faith, I think it's pretty much in every single situation
00:20:28.780 standing up for politics. Maybe not so much. It just depends on what's on the line. Is it your entire
00:20:33.720 job and your family's going to starve? And, uh, if, if, if you say that you're a conservative and voted
00:20:39.320 for Donald Trump, okay, well, maybe you, you, you don't need to say that. It's also possible just
00:20:44.320 to live a conservative life, um, and a life that aligns with your politics without having to be
00:20:51.320 aggressive and shove it down people's throats. Um, of course, when you're asked about it, I would
00:20:55.660 never lie. I would never be dishonest. I would never try to cover it up, but that doesn't mean
00:21:00.260 you go around picking fights with people that you disagree with. Again, that's politics, your faith.
00:21:04.480 I think it's always important to be bold in a loving and truthful and a kind way.
00:21:09.340 Hope that makes sense. Um, what do you do to de-stress and mentally get away from the crazy,
00:21:14.680 uh, political world that you are immersed in? Um, well, I was just talking about that
00:21:21.120 when I'm feeling particularly overwhelmed, this is not something I'm bragging about. This is a bad
00:21:25.660 thing that maybe in 2019, I can rid myself of when I'm super just like in the moment. Oh my gosh,
00:21:31.480 I don't want to think about that thing. Or I don't want to do that one thing, or I'm just
00:21:34.320 stressed to the max and overwhelmed. I scroll through Instagram particularly. And this is so
00:21:39.620 bad guys. This is so bad. I know it's bad. Particularly. I scroll through keeping up with
00:21:46.300 the Kardashians clips on my discover page on Instagram. Instagram knows that I love watching
00:21:52.380 the Kardashians. I don't love the Kardashians. I actually think that they're so obnoxious and
00:21:57.320 largely ignorant, but they're so entertaining. I love watching like the 32nd clips from past
00:22:04.880 episodes. I have no idea why. Like I don't actually watch keeping up with the Kardashians
00:22:08.300 on television. I just watched the clips and I could do that for probably six hours. I did that
00:22:12.820 for 30 minutes today. Why did I do that? I don't know. Cause I hate myself when I'm done because I'm
00:22:18.400 actually dumber at the end of it. They're saying nothing of substance whatsoever. Um, and yet I do it.
00:22:24.920 I don't know why, but that is one way. I guess I de-stress the stress only goes away for so long
00:22:30.720 though. Um, to really de-stress, I try to put away my devices, hang out with my husband. Um,
00:22:39.360 when people ask me what I like to do, I'm like, I don't know. I like to watch TV and eat really
00:22:45.020 filling food with my husband. Like a great night for me is watching like a show that we've been
00:22:50.200 watching for a long time. Like right now we're watching band of brothers and eating pizza. Like
00:22:55.040 that is a great night for me. Not seeing anyone except for my husband, not having to talk to
00:23:00.200 anyone. Makeup's already off in my sweat pants under a blanket with my cat sweat pants and
00:23:08.460 watching TV. That's a great night. So maybe that's what I do to de-stress. I also like talk like
00:23:14.200 talking helps me de-stress. Maybe it might also wind me up. I'm not really sure, but I like talking
00:23:20.140 things out with my mom. It helps. Um, also I'm not really immersed in the political world because
00:23:26.740 I live out here in Texas away from all the madness. Okay. Can you talk a bit about what it means
00:23:32.860 for Christians to be first and foremost, citizens of the kingdom of God and how that fact should
00:23:38.900 inform exactly how we are to operate in the kingdom of men, whether in the realm of politics or
00:23:43.080 anywhere else? Wow. This is a big question. I'm not sure I can answer it comprehensively.
00:23:46.640 Um, so you're absolutely right that Christians are citizens of heaven. Uh, first and foremost,
00:23:51.840 that means that how we behave, how we act, the things that we think should be shaped by eternity.
00:23:56.760 So are the anxieties that we have, the priorities that we have, um, should be shaped in light of
00:24:02.160 eternity. That means we don't worry about the things that the world worries about. Um, that's why it says
00:24:07.480 we're not supposed to worry about what we wear, what we eat, what we drink, that our heavenly father
00:24:11.600 knows that we need these things and he's going to take care of us. And that non-Christians are the
00:24:15.720 ones who worries about who worry about those things, but we don't have to, that God is going to take
00:24:20.120 care of us. That doesn't mean that he is going to provide us, uh, with all of the financial benefits
00:24:24.380 that we think that we deserve, but whether in life or in death, he is going to be there for us
00:24:30.980 perfectly and he won't forsake us. Um, so it means that our entire thought life and therefore our
00:24:36.840 entire, uh, actually walking life, our entire action life is in light of what is important
00:24:44.980 eternally, not what is important temporarily. Do I live like this? No, the things that I am
00:24:49.540 concerned about are typically the things that are happening today, the things that are happening
00:24:52.840 tomorrow. What am I going to do about this, uh, this aspect of my job? How am I going to get this
00:24:59.000 done? Oh, I have to travel tomorrow. This person didn't, uh, book the right thing for me. What if
00:25:03.800 this goes wrong? I'm always concerned about the things that are happening right now. The things
00:25:08.580 that I feel like I don't have control of the things that I feel like are, are not going my way. I'm
00:25:12.720 very rarely focused or worried about things that are eternal. Like, Oh, what about the state of all
00:25:17.900 of these people's souls? What about the lost people in the world who have never heard Christ before?
00:25:22.360 That's not what's keeping me up at night. It's typically selfish things and temporary things.
00:25:26.280 So, uh, being a citizen of heaven doesn't mean that you're going to be perfect in your thought
00:25:30.700 life, but it does give us a different perspective. Now we are in the world, not of the world. We are
00:25:36.360 not conformed to the patterns of this world. So I do think that that means that we participate,
00:25:40.580 um, in, in the spheres of the world that are seen typically as worldly, that Christians can be
00:25:46.960 involved in government, that Christians can be involved in politics, in media, in art,
00:25:51.720 in whatever it is, um, and glorify the Lord in doing that. The Lord gave us particular gifts
00:25:58.540 that we are to use to glorify him. And it's important that we are salt and light wherever
00:26:02.640 we go. If all of Christians extracted themselves out of politics, there'd be no Christians in
00:26:07.100 politics and no light in politics at all, in all at all. I think I said that correctly.
00:26:11.960 Um, so I don't think it means that we just sit in our house and we pray for Jesus to come back.
00:26:16.400 I think that it means that we share the gospel through everything that we do. We work hard,
00:26:20.800 heartily is for the Lord and not for man. Um, and that we keep our eyes on Christ and our
00:26:26.220 perspective centered on him. Okay. Let's see any more questions. Okay. Interesting question
00:26:35.540 thoughts on tattoos and biblical reference to them. So I believe this, I didn't look this up before
00:26:42.680 cause I forgot about this question. Um, but I believe there is an, uh, or there is a verse
00:26:49.560 in Leviticus that talks about not tattooing your body. Typically Christians don't heed to that
00:26:55.160 because there are a lot of laws in Leviticus, uh, that we don't abide by because they're not in the
00:27:01.580 new Testament and they were meant for the Jewish people and not for the Gentiles. Now there are some
00:27:06.260 things that are in the old Testament and the new Testament that of course we abide by. Um, but that
00:27:11.580 typically isn't one of them. Now I'm not going to say definitely that it's God's will that people
00:27:16.700 get tattoos. And I'm not saying it is, uh, necessarily the Christian thing to do, but I'm
00:27:22.740 also not sure that it is a sin. Uh, according to the Bible as a Christian, I do have a tattoo.
00:27:30.080 I don't know if I've ever said that on my podcast, but I do have a tattoo and I won't tell you what it
00:27:35.800 is. I'll let y'all, I'll let y'all guess what it is. It's not a butterfly. I can tell you that if I've
00:27:39.840 never told you that, um, that I, I have a fear, I have like this crazy fear of inanimate butterflies.
00:27:48.120 I don't not fear. I just don't like them. Like no offense. If you like inanimate butterflies,
00:27:53.820 but I will not buy a planner, a shirt, a dress, a wallpaper, whatever it is with an inanimate
00:28:02.240 butterfly on it. I just don't like them. I just don't like them. And now I'm forgetting why I even
00:28:08.000 said that. Why is it? Oh yeah. Tattoos. It's definitely not a butterfly. Cause I don't like,
00:28:11.980 I don't like inanimate butterflies. Just FYI. Okay. Last question. Do you have fears about
00:28:17.520 bringing a baby into the chaos of the world that we live in? Or do you see it as an opportunity to
00:28:21.540 bring humanity back to God and raise your child morally? Because I know that I struggle with that
00:28:25.300 being a mom, but also see it as a great opportunity. Um, of course I have fears. I have fears that I
00:28:32.340 won't have enough time to teach my child. What is true. I have fears that once they go into the world,
00:28:38.840 once they start school, of course, once they graduate and go off to college and become an
00:28:43.040 adult, that they'll fall prey into, um, into the lies of this world. Uh, of course I, I worry about
00:28:51.860 that. Um, but as I said, on Tuesday's podcast, like my child is not mine. I entrust them to the Lord.
00:28:58.180 They are the Lord's God has a plan for my child that doesn't even include me. Doesn't even involve
00:29:03.540 me that will last long after I am gone. And I do see it as an opportunity, I guess, uh, to raise a
00:29:10.340 child in the Lord. And I hope that this is, uh, another Christian and a Christian that is passionate
00:29:15.460 about God and passionate about sharing the gospel. Um, but of, of course I have fears, but like in all
00:29:22.800 things, I have to trust God with those and know that if I wasn't supposed to have a child, I wouldn't
00:29:27.260 have a child, but that he has a perfect, a perfect plan. And he cares about this child way more than
00:29:32.180 I do. Um, that was my last question. Thank you guys so much for listening. I hope that you guys
00:29:39.240 have a great new year's. I, well, I will be here. I will be here next week. We will have podcasts next
00:29:46.260 week. Maybe we'll talk about new year's resolutions. Feel free to send me recommendations for what you guys
00:29:51.200 want. Uh, last week when I checked this podcast was in the top 100 for news and politics, which is
00:29:57.840 awesome. And that's all because of you. Thank you guys so much for listening. If you have feedback
00:30:01.820 about how I can make this podcast better, please email me, Allie at the conservative millennial blog.com.
00:30:06.740 I really, really would love your recommendations. As you guys know, I take your feedback really
00:30:10.860 seriously. So please send me anything that you think that I can do to make this better or to make
00:30:16.120 your listening experience more enjoyable. Uh, love you guys and see you soon.