Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 879 ｜ Do Christians Idolize Sports？｜ Q&A

00:00:00.180 You're about to graduate from college.

00:00:02.400 What should you do with your life?

00:00:04.280 I've got some advice for you.

00:00:05.760 I've also got some advice if you are a mom going from one kid to two kids.

00:00:11.940 What do I think about Christians being Orkin donors? 0.79

00:00:14.920 Do I think wearing sports jerseys in church is okay?

00:00:18.840 We are answering all of these questions and many more on today's episode of Relatable.

00:00:22.960 It's brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.

00:00:25.740 Go to GoodRanchers.com.

00:00:26.900 Use code Allie at checkout for a discount.

00:00:28.660 That's GoodRanchers.com, code Allie.

00:00:39.820 Hey, guys.

00:00:40.720 Welcome to Relatable.

00:00:41.540 We are back with another Q&A episode answering all of your very interesting questions, some

00:00:47.240 of them personal advice questions, some of them theological questions.

00:00:51.100 I'll do my best to answer them how I can.

00:00:54.280 Okay, first question.

00:00:55.080 Post-grad advice about to be a senior in college and will need to decide where to live and work.

00:01:01.000 Oh, I remember so well being in that position.

00:01:04.440 It was spring of my senior year of college, and I still didn't know what I was going to

00:01:08.600 do.

00:01:08.720 I was trying to decide whether to take a pretty well-paying internship, but that was only guaranteed

00:01:14.960 through the summer back in the city where I'm from in Dallas, or take a full-time job that

00:01:22.460 was offered to me that was not very much money, but it was a full-time job in a totally different

00:01:29.700 city that I had once lived there for a summer.

00:01:33.620 It was Athens, Georgia.

00:01:36.780 But I didn't really know very well.

00:01:38.860 I didn't know anyone there.

00:01:40.280 I didn't know where I would live.

00:01:42.700 And so they were both in public relations, and I remember trying to figure out what I

00:01:48.780 wanted to do.

00:01:49.420 I ultimately decided to go to Athens, and the Lord had his hand there.

00:01:54.020 I'm very, very glad that I did.

00:01:55.560 A few months after I moved to Athens, I met my husband.

00:01:58.300 Of course, the rest is history there.

00:02:01.640 But I remember being in that position, and my parents told me the same thing they told

00:02:07.720 me when I was paralyzed by the choice of what college to go to.

00:02:11.900 What choice does God want me to make?

00:02:14.280 What college is going to lead me in the right direction?

00:02:16.600 What if I make a mistake?

00:02:18.460 And I remember my Bible teacher saying this, and I'm not sure that I would phrase it this

00:02:23.680 way, but this Bible teacher, when I was a junior in high school, had a really big impact

00:02:28.240 on me just because he said things that were really intriguing and made me think about the

00:02:31.560 Bible and Christianity in a way that I hadn't before.

00:02:33.860 And he said it like this.

00:02:35.120 He said something that my parents kind of reiterated, but in a more, I think, theologically correct

00:02:42.180 way.

00:02:42.620 But he said, God does not care where you go to college.

00:02:45.880 God doesn't care where you go to college.

00:02:47.380 And I would disagree with that.

00:02:48.780 I think God cares where you go to college.

00:02:50.520 But what he meant by that is true.

00:02:53.000 Is that where you choose to go to college is not going to obliterate God's plan for your

00:03:02.840 life.

00:03:03.880 And the same is true of what you choose about post-grad.

00:03:06.960 As long as you are not choosing something in sin, as long as your motivations aren't selfish, 0.99

00:03:13.520 you aren't stupid, silly, you're not following some guy that wants nothing to do with you. 0.93

00:03:17.780 As long as you are making a decision using the tools of wisdom and discernment and logic that 1.00

00:03:24.180 you have been given, as long as you are at least trying to choose something that aligns

00:03:29.720 as best as you can with your strengths, then it's not that God doesn't care.

00:03:35.100 But again, the truth behind that, I think, is important that God is going to accomplish

00:03:42.480 his purposes through you.

00:03:44.740 It's not like God is so weak and so flippant and so flappable that we, with all of our power

00:03:51.820 and authority, could decide something.

00:03:53.540 And he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

00:03:55.340 I was sovereign up until now.

00:03:57.120 I can't believe you chose that job.

00:03:59.180 Like you're going to that city.

00:04:00.480 I did not see that coming.

00:04:02.760 Now, even though I've written every single day of your life before any of them came to

00:04:07.400 be, as I said in Psalm 139, now I have no idea what I'm going to do.

00:04:12.100 Oh my gosh, I'm going to have to come in and clean up this mess.

00:04:14.420 That doesn't mean that we can't sin or can't make mistakes.

00:04:17.240 But look, like God is totally sovereign.

00:04:20.640 He has planned out every single day of your life before any of them came to be.

00:04:24.720 He knows exactly what choice you're going to make.

00:04:27.220 He knows exactly how these days and how these connections that you're going to make and

00:04:31.120 opportunities are all going to fit together and are going to lead you to every future

00:04:36.140 phase of your life.

00:04:37.880 So take comfort in that.

00:04:39.120 How my parents put it, which I think is also very comforting, is that it's not jail.

00:04:44.520 They told me college is not jail.

00:04:46.280 The future job that you are choosing is not jail.

00:04:49.060 You can go.

00:04:50.160 You can see if it's right.

00:04:51.940 And then maybe you made a mistake or maybe it was right for just a little while and then

00:04:55.240 you can change.

00:04:55.980 I'm not talking about being unreliable, but you don't have to stay in the job that you

00:05:03.560 choose or the city that you choose right after college forever.

00:05:06.840 You are not bound to that.

00:05:08.720 You are not writing a contract written in blood.

00:05:11.180 And if an employer tries to make you do that, that's probably a red flag that you shouldn't

00:05:14.620 stay.

00:05:15.460 But it's OK to make a decision based on the information and the convictions that you have.

00:05:21.820 And then if in a couple months you make a different decision, take it as it comes.

00:05:27.220 Just take it as it comes.

00:05:28.260 And if you don't know after college, that's OK, too.

00:05:32.080 Here's my other piece of advice that I would say.

00:05:34.900 You do not have to have the rest of your life figured out.

00:05:37.640 The next job that you take may very well be very different from the career path that you

00:05:43.040 have or the life path that you have in the future.

00:05:45.440 That's OK.

00:05:46.240 You are not picking your dream job right out of college.

00:05:48.960 It will be extremely difficult for you or anyone to find the job that matches all of your

00:05:55.740 strengths, that fits all of your priorities, that helps you strike that perfect work-life

00:06:01.160 balance and also pays you $100,000 a year.

00:06:04.220 I think that's what a lot of college students think that they can get right out of school.

00:06:08.060 But it just it just doesn't happen.

00:06:09.960 It's OK for you to take that imperfect job.

00:06:12.720 You don't know where it's going to lead.

00:06:14.060 You don't know if it's the right thing for you.

00:06:16.020 That's OK out of college.

00:06:17.160 You do not have to have it figured out.

00:06:19.980 I didn't stay in PR.

00:06:21.160 I knew I wanted to do something like this.

00:06:23.240 Of course, then I didn't really have that much of a concept of podcasts.

00:06:26.320 The only conservative media I knew really was like what people put on Facebook and, of

00:06:31.660 course, Fox News.

00:06:33.040 And in college, I didn't really have a sense of how I would pursue that, how it would manifest

00:06:37.540 itself.

00:06:38.060 I just did.

00:06:39.480 What at the time was the next right thing in faith?

00:06:42.340 And I knew I loved to speak.

00:06:44.100 I gave the speech at my college graduation and I just I felt in my bones.

00:06:48.640 This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

00:06:50.320 I still feel that way when I speak today.

00:06:51.920 I knew that's what I wanted to do.

00:06:54.200 And I had no idea how I was going to get there.

00:06:56.860 Even a couple of years into my first job, I had no idea how I was going to get there.

00:07:01.060 God led the way.

00:07:02.020 I could not have predicted all the steps that I would have taken to get to what I'm doing

00:07:05.780 today.

00:07:06.440 And that first job was a part of that.

00:07:09.360 I wouldn't have known it at the time, though.

00:07:11.520 I simply took the opportunity that was in front of me and allowed God to lead me.

00:07:17.380 And he has.

00:07:18.100 And he's going to do the same for you.

00:07:19.580 So do the best you can with what you have.

00:07:22.280 Just do the next right thing in faith.

00:07:23.940 Tips for, I think it's meant to say, for going from one kid to two kids.

00:07:43.540 I always feel when I ask these questions, I'm like, have I answered that?

00:07:46.720 I feel like I already answered that.

00:07:48.960 Maybe not.

00:07:49.600 I don't know.

00:07:49.940 Sometimes I get similar questions, but OK, this is what I would say.

00:07:54.000 And this is controversial.

00:07:54.800 And I have definitely said this on a Q&A, but maybe it was to a different question.

00:07:59.680 I think ensuring that your first child is sleeping through the night is very, very helpful when

00:08:06.440 you are adding another child.

00:08:08.040 I am an advocate of certain types of sleep training.

00:08:10.940 I'm not going to get into all of that because I did that on another Q&A that maybe already came

00:08:15.080 out.

00:08:15.340 It'll come out sometime.

00:08:16.280 I don't know.

00:08:17.280 I'm talking about gentle sleep training.

00:08:19.140 I am talking about getting into a routine.

00:08:21.280 I'm not talking about allowing your child to just like cry out in desperation for hours

00:08:25.720 on end.

00:08:26.740 But the fact that our first child by six months was sleeping through the night, sleeping 12

00:08:33.920 hours a night, that absolutely made us ready to start trying for a second.

00:08:39.480 I don't think if I had like a toddler that was up multiple times a night, I'm not sure that

00:08:44.660 I would have wanted to add a second one when we did.

00:08:46.740 And so now both of our kids sleep through the night.

00:08:49.420 And so we feel more prepared for a newborn because we know that we are going to be getting

00:08:54.420 up with the newborn.

00:08:55.880 But at least we can rest assured that most nights anyway, our other kids will be sleeping

00:09:00.960 soundly and we won't have to go back and forth.

00:09:03.600 I think sleep is so important for everyone in the family.

00:09:07.060 I know a lot of people are completely anti-sleep training.

00:09:09.600 Look, I think getting the best sleep that you possibly can, helping your kids get the best

00:09:14.540 sleep that they possibly can is better for everyone's relationship, better for everyone's

00:09:19.600 brain development, better for everyone's sanity, better for your marriage, better for your

00:09:24.160 sex life.

00:09:25.200 Yes, I think that everyone getting as much sleep as possible, especially if you're thinking

00:09:29.560 about adding on another child is very necessary.

00:09:31.900 So that's one piece of advice that you have.

00:09:33.540 The other piece of advice, do not be discouraged if your oldest child is not super excited about

00:09:40.060 your second child when you bring them home.

00:09:42.200 This was a surprise for me.

00:09:43.900 I had seen so many videos, so many portrayals on social media of the oldest child just immediately

00:09:48.720 falling in love with their younger sibling and being so nurturing and loving.

00:09:52.980 That wasn't our experience.

00:09:54.640 Our oldest had a really hard time welcoming the second in because the second one cried all the

00:10:00.980 time and demanded all of, not all of, but a lot of mommy's attention. 1.00

00:10:06.640 And that was a difficult transition.

00:10:08.740 She did not like the chaos that the baby caused and like the change in routine and just how

00:10:16.280 our house and responsibilities and roles shifted.

00:10:19.580 That was really difficult for her.

00:10:21.360 And it's taken her a while to kind of get used to her and be okay with her and learned how

00:10:26.060 to share with her and things like that.

00:10:27.940 It will get better.

00:10:29.380 Let me say that.

00:10:29.940 It will get better.

00:10:30.920 In fact, every week it gets better.

00:10:32.880 It took three weeks for it to not just be, oh my gosh, when one of them cries, everyone

00:10:37.280 cries.

00:10:38.100 That was really hard.

00:10:39.040 The first three weeks were the hardest.

00:10:40.420 It got better after that.

00:10:41.900 Not perfect, but it got better after that.

00:10:44.020 And then I will also say every year gets better.

00:10:46.200 Every week gets better.

00:10:47.080 Every month gets better.

00:10:48.080 Every year has gotten better.

00:10:49.600 Really just now at four and two, are they kind of in that, oh, I love you.

00:10:56.380 You're my sibling stage.

00:10:58.020 That doesn't mean that it's perfect all the time.

00:11:00.660 But starting to like really voluntarily share and play with each other.

00:11:04.880 So just it's okay.

00:11:07.000 It's okay if your first child has a hard time.

00:11:09.580 They still need to know.

00:11:10.540 Your oldest child still needs to know that they are your baby too.

00:11:13.380 I heard this on a podcast and this really helped me.

00:11:15.880 I think I thought that, you know, all toddlers want to hear, you're such a big girl or big

00:11:23.000 boy.

00:11:23.520 You're such a big helper, which can be great.

00:11:26.020 It depends on the personality.

00:11:27.440 But they also need to hear that they're still your baby.

00:11:30.440 That you haven't replaced them.

00:11:32.160 That you still want to rock them.

00:11:33.940 That you still want to hold them.

00:11:35.440 That you are still thinking about them and caring for them.

00:11:38.420 I would say this has been true for us.

00:11:41.680 And I think the podcaster who said this was right.

00:11:44.680 And that don't rush your oldest in growing up just because you're adding on a baby that's

00:11:51.420 smaller than him or her.

00:11:52.960 Let them know that they are still your baby too during that time.

00:11:57.920 So yeah, that's one piece of advice that I have.

00:12:00.100 How do I find community that shares your values as a young single woman?

00:12:05.940 Look, I know that that's got to be really hard.

00:12:08.300 I have some wonderful Christian friends who are single women.

00:12:12.060 They would love to be married.

00:12:13.180 They just haven't found the right person yet.

00:12:16.580 And if you don't have like strong friendships from high school and college, which don't feel

00:12:20.360 bad about that if you don't, a lot of people don't or you don't have strong friendships

00:12:24.780 from work, which can be like a little bit complicated.

00:12:30.100 Uh, then like, I understand it can be really hard and it can be really lonely and you can

00:12:36.920 feel like your coworkers or the people around you or the people that you meet at your workout

00:12:40.920 class, they just don't, they don't think the same way you do.

00:12:43.460 And in a hyper-polarized world where you can like immediately pick up on what side someone

00:12:49.860 is on based on like the language they use, it can be really, really tough.

00:12:55.400 And so I, of course, would encourage you to join a local church.

00:12:58.520 We'll link the founders resource for that.

00:13:02.340 And maybe the masters or master seminary resource for that.

00:13:06.020 They have like these church search links where you can go on there.

00:13:09.720 You can type in your zip code and it'll tell you some solid churches in your area.

00:13:13.300 I would really encourage you to do that.

00:13:15.940 Um, maybe join BSF.

00:13:17.960 I know we've got some differing opinions on BSF.

00:13:20.020 I'm not a part of BSF, but I have some friends who are, and they really, really love it.

00:13:23.840 So, and I would try to, when you find a good local church, I would also try to really plug

00:13:29.820 in and to start going to a Bible study and to make sure that you're involved.

00:13:35.160 Um, I would also maybe volunteer to your local pregnancy center.

00:13:38.560 It doesn't have to be your local pregnancy center, although there just happens to be like

00:13:41.940 a lot of women there. 1.00

00:13:43.400 Um, but go places where Christian women are. 1.00

00:13:46.780 That's what I would say.

00:13:47.840 If there's like a women's night at your local church, I would go to that. 0.97

00:13:51.380 You could even go to a woman in the women's ministry and say, look, I don't have any Christian

00:13:55.380 friends.

00:13:56.020 And I know that can be hard to say.

00:13:57.620 Maybe that's even embarrassing to say.

00:13:59.740 Um, but gosh, I, in like older women, if, or just any women in the church, and I'm speaking

00:14:06.260 to myself too, like if anyone ever comes to you and says, I need friends, or if you notice

00:14:13.900 that someone in your church doesn't have friends, they just don't know where to sit.

00:14:18.000 They don't know who to talk to.

00:14:19.360 They don't feel comfortable.

00:14:20.700 Please.

00:14:21.120 I'm, I'm just asking you to reach out to them.

00:14:23.140 And again, talking to myself too, because I think all of us are so caught up in making

00:14:26.840 sure we have friends and we have community and we have encouragement and we're surrounding

00:14:31.160 ourselves and our kids have friends and we get so busy that we forget that there could

00:14:35.080 be people in our church who are lonely and look, maybe it's the person that we think is

00:14:39.780 a little weird or we think is a little off or we just don't click with them.

00:14:43.920 We just don't have fun with them.

00:14:45.000 They don't offer us anything in friendship, which I know it sounds so horrible to say those

00:14:48.620 things out loud.

00:14:49.160 It sounds so selfish.

00:14:49.780 But if we're honest, you know, we've all kind of like thought these things before, but

00:14:53.280 the church really shouldn't be a place for that.

00:14:55.980 Um, and so if you notice that in your church, reach out to that person, take initiative and

00:15:01.700 not just, Hey, I want to get coffee with you once.

00:15:03.980 So you can check it off your list, but invite them, invite them to things, include them in

00:15:08.740 things.

00:15:09.540 And again, I'm preaching to myself here because we can all do better at noticing those people.

00:15:14.800 But if you are that person who is in a position of loneliness, I encourage you to be vulnerable

00:15:18.940 and go to someone in the church.

00:15:20.860 And look, I'm not guaranteeing that that experience will be easy.

00:15:24.480 Unfortunately, churches, just like any other institution are filled with imperfect people,

00:15:28.020 busy people, distracted people, selfish people.

00:15:31.320 Um, and so I understand like my husband and I have been in a situation where we've been

00:15:36.240 a part of a church.

00:15:37.060 We've really sought community and everywhere we turned.

00:15:39.840 They made it as difficult as possible to join a community group and to like make Christian 0.99

00:15:44.520 friends.

00:15:44.860 It was almost like this exclusive club.

00:15:46.960 And that's awful.

00:15:48.000 I still have, I mean, I hope I'm not hanging on to bitterness towards that church, but I

00:15:52.680 still hate how that church handled that.

00:15:55.900 And so try, try though, try, put yourself out there and try, go where other Christians 1.00

00:16:01.440 are.

00:16:01.820 How to support your husband as he is a spiritual leader.

00:16:17.540 So the first thing that came to mind was first Peter three, one through two, likewise, wives 0.53

00:16:21.320 be subject to your own husband so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be one 0.74

00:16:26.180 without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

00:16:31.080 So if your husband is already a natural spiritual leader, maybe he is ahead of you in his theological

00:16:36.680 and biblical understanding, this can be pretty easy to follow them because they are kind of

00:16:41.620 in a role of like teaching things to you, interpreting scripture for you, helping you along, making

00:16:46.700 sure that you're praying, that you're in the word.

00:16:48.980 But that's not true for a lot of marriages because women, I think, are just kind of were 1.00

00:16:55.620 naturally in general.

00:16:57.800 This is a generalization.

00:16:59.300 So it's not true for everyone.

00:17:00.640 And I think in general, we tend to make more time to study scripture.

00:17:06.000 We are just more adept at understanding things with words.

00:17:15.120 We like words more.

00:17:16.680 We tend to read more.

00:17:18.480 We tend to write more.

00:17:19.620 We tend to talk more.

00:17:21.180 And so I think very often it's the woman who is reading her Bible more.

00:17:25.300 She's praying for her kids more.

00:17:26.940 She's talking about the Bible more.

00:17:28.160 She's more likely to be to have kind of a discipleship mentorship situation going on or to be a part

00:17:34.000 of the Bible study.

00:17:35.560 Women are just different, whereas the man, he might be more busy working or he's compartmentalizing. 0.82

00:17:40.360 He doesn't spend his free time doing that.

00:17:42.060 He wakes up early to work out or to play golf or things like that.

00:17:45.300 And maybe he's reading the Bible, but he just hasn't spent as much time in the word as the

00:17:49.520 woman has. 1.00

00:17:50.000 I know a lot of women who are in that situation, and yet the Bible does not say that we are

00:17:56.040 to decide who is the spiritual leader in marriage depending on who knows the Bible more, depending

00:18:02.940 on who is more theologically adept, depending on who prays more.

00:18:07.780 That's not what the Bible lays out for us.

00:18:09.560 Actually, that first Peter passage is really hard to swallow, but it's there.

00:18:13.820 Ephesians 5.

00:18:14.640 It's there that the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the 0.96

00:18:19.060 church.

00:18:19.780 Now, a wife should never sin to follow her husband because she follows the Lord first,

00:18:26.300 but she is to look to him as a leader in the family.

00:18:31.420 And if he is a Christian, he's supposed to be the spiritual leader in the family. 0.65

00:18:35.860 So I think this first Peter passage applies in that if your husband, he doesn't know as

00:18:41.140 much about the Bible as you do, and he's really not in a position to lead you biblically,

00:18:46.500 the encouragement that we can give him is through our example, not through nagging, not

00:18:51.440 through argument, not through tearing down, which all of us fall prey to, men and women, 1.00

00:18:57.580 but through our prayer and through our example and through how we're following the Lord, the

00:19:03.820 patience that we have with our children, the peace that we have when we are parenting or

00:19:08.700 going through our day-to-day lives, how we handle conflict, how we handle stress, how

00:19:13.960 we handle our friendships, how we serve other people, how much we know about the Bible, not

00:19:18.960 in a braggadocious way, but in a humble way, and also just in praying for him and encouraging

00:19:24.900 him.

00:19:25.460 And when you do see those examples of spiritual leadership pointing it out, even allowing him,

00:19:32.480 and I know this is tough, especially for you women out there who are like, you're like

00:19:36.560 seminary level, theologian level, allowing your husband opportunities to read through

00:19:43.240 the Bible with you.

00:19:44.760 And if you have a genuine question, I'm not talking about playing dumb, but have a genuine

00:19:49.480 question, allowing him to answer that question or to think through that question.

00:19:53.120 What do you think this means?

00:19:54.860 Did you read this this morning?

00:19:56.380 What did you think about that?

00:19:57.620 Oh, wow.

00:19:58.040 That's a really interesting thought.

00:19:59.120 I've never heard about that before, or I've never thought about that in that way before.

00:20:04.160 Again, not playing dumb, but giving your husband the opportunity to think through those things.

00:20:09.060 So I think that that's one way.

00:20:10.960 I'm speaking to someone who loves the Bible, who there's so much that I don't know about

00:20:15.460 the Bible, but who knows the Bible pretty well and who has read a lot of theology.

00:20:22.160 And yeah, so this is a practice for all of us as women, especially those of us who read

00:20:29.640 the Bible a lot.

00:20:31.100 This is something that we are called to be submissive in.

00:20:34.460 And it's, yeah, it's a practice that we put into place.

00:20:39.000 Let's see.

00:20:41.680 Let's see.

00:20:42.360 Let's see.

00:20:42.840 Let's see.

00:20:43.600 Are Christians to be organ donors? 0.99

00:20:46.000 Can Christians be organ donors? 0.97

00:20:49.820 Yes.

00:20:50.820 Maybe I would need to know a little bit more about why Christians could not be organ donors.

00:20:55.500 Now, I don't know that you should put organ donor on your license.

00:20:59.920 I have heard about this, that this is not, that you shouldn't do this.

00:21:04.800 I don't remember all the reasons why, but I think it's because basically that gives them

00:21:11.220 license to take any and all of your organs and then donate them, like even your, like 0.77

00:21:17.320 everything.

00:21:19.000 And your family might not want that.

00:21:20.980 But if you have it on your license, I don't know.

00:21:22.520 Maybe you could debunk that myth, but I have heard that you shouldn't put it on your license.

00:21:26.920 But if like you wanted to donate a kidney to someone, then yeah, I think that's totally

00:21:32.780 fine.

00:21:33.300 I don't think that there is any like biblical, biblical reason not to do that.

00:21:37.880 Um, where am I seeing God's hand in my life?

00:21:54.220 Gosh, I feel like I see it all the time.

00:21:56.480 I, I, I'm not really, I don't know if this is good or bad, but I guess I don't really think

00:22:01.660 about things that way.

00:22:02.980 I just know that he is orchestrating all things together for the good of those who love him

00:22:09.300 and are called according to his purpose.

00:22:10.740 I mean, sometimes I'm like, wow, that connection was incredible.

00:22:14.260 Or how this has unfolded is amazing.

00:22:16.600 Or just little things that come with like travel and my kids.

00:22:20.380 I'm like, wow, I feel like God really worked that out.

00:22:22.820 Or he really answered that prayer.

00:22:25.840 But really, I feel like it's just a daily communion and relationship with God.

00:22:29.860 And I know that he's always working.

00:22:31.100 There are plenty of things that I pray for that he doesn't do in accordance to what I

00:22:35.480 think he should do, or doesn't answer how I think he should.

00:22:39.320 But I mean, everything that I do, whether it's just giving me children, whether it's giving

00:22:44.220 me the opportunity to talk to you guys through this platform that I see all as the hand of

00:22:49.880 God.

00:22:51.200 Um, let's see a thoughts on Christian idolization of, or I think idolatry of sports.

00:23:00.700 And wearing sports gear to church.

00:23:03.420 I don't know if there's any biblical mandate against wearing sports gear to church.

00:23:09.300 I think that that, I guess, is fine.

00:23:12.280 I would, I would be open to discussion and debate on that.

00:23:15.820 I'd be open to someone giving me the reason why you should not wear sports gear to church.

00:23:20.320 I mean, I don't like it.

00:23:21.360 I don't like how it looks.

00:23:22.580 I don't know if it's necessarily sinful.

00:23:26.760 I mean, I guess if you're wearing like the jersey of the NFL team that's playing later,

00:23:32.680 then it's kind of showing like, this is my real Sunday plan.

00:23:37.280 This is what I'm really looking forward to today.

00:23:39.740 Can't wait till the sermon ends so I can get back on my recliner and watch the Eagles,

00:23:45.480 whatever.

00:23:45.760 Um, but I don't know that there's, that that's necessarily a sin.

00:23:50.260 I don't know that that's necessarily indicative of that person idolizing sports.

00:23:55.120 Now, do I think that there is Christian idolatry of sports?

00:23:58.640 Sure.

00:23:59.620 I think that there is idolatry of, there can be idolatry of anything among people who profess

00:24:05.580 to be Christians.

00:24:06.240 I think that there is probably a bigger temptation towards idolatry of youth sports because you

00:24:11.580 can kind of excuse idolatry of your child's athletic success with love.

00:24:18.720 Like you can say, well, I'm just loving my child.

00:24:20.700 I'm just putting my child first.

00:24:22.340 And so you allow sports and tournaments and competitions to take precedence over church,

00:24:30.000 to take precedence over regular family time, to take precedence over community, to take

00:24:34.580 precedence over rest, to take precedence over academics, all of these things.

00:24:38.240 So I do think that there could be some idolatry there for sure.

00:24:43.180 How do I know when it's the right time to talk to my daughters about sex and puberty? 1.00

00:24:46.220 So you're talking to someone who has very young kids.

00:24:48.280 So I am not going to pretend like I have all the answers.

00:24:51.360 I have not gotten there in my life yet.

00:24:55.640 Um, I think that there are, I mean, there are a lot of Christian resources out there about

00:25:01.420 that.

00:25:01.900 What I have read and what I've heard about this, because this is something that we're already

00:25:05.520 thinking about is that you need to talk to them about it before they come to talk to

00:25:11.020 you about it.

00:25:11.480 If you can, that's not going to be true for everything.

00:25:14.280 For example, your three-year-old son might maybe four or five-year-old son might pull

00:25:19.020 a tampon out of your purse and say, what's that?

00:25:21.700 And so you have a conversation, a non-shame filled conversation about what it is in age

00:25:28.440 appropriate terms, maybe before you are ready to.

00:25:31.420 But when it comes to sex and puberty and those things, you do not want your children to be 0.98

00:25:37.800 introduced to those subjects by their peers, by their peer siblings, by their teachers.

00:25:44.180 You want to be, if you can, the person to introduce those topics to them.

00:25:48.920 Whoever gets to those topics first tends to have the most influence and authority over what

00:25:54.620 a child thinks about those things.

00:25:57.060 And so you want to be the first one to start laying the groundwork.

00:26:01.360 And I would also say from what I've read that you don't have to talk about everything at

00:26:05.380 once.

00:26:05.940 You don't have to sit down and make it this, and actually I've seen recommendations against

00:26:10.420 doing this, sit down and make it this big conversation.

00:26:13.880 You don't necessarily have to go out of town and talk about it and make it very serious.

00:26:19.220 Maybe that works for you, or maybe that really just kind of creates a lot of embarrassment

00:26:23.940 among your kids, and you can talk about it in a way that's more casual.

00:26:28.920 You talk about one subject at a time, depending on their maturity, depending on their understanding,

00:26:34.860 depending on what age they are.

00:26:36.940 There are a lot of variables that come with that.

00:26:39.020 But what you need to make sure of is that you are thoroughly educated in not just the topic,

00:26:43.960 but how to talk about the topic with them.

00:26:47.160 And that you are, if you can, be the first one to bring it up.

00:26:51.960 I don't think that you have to be a biologist.

00:26:53.920 I don't think that you have to be a linguist.

00:26:55.860 You don't have to know everything about every subject to talk to them about it.

00:26:59.640 You're just two human beings with a relationship talking about something that is a fact of life,

00:27:03.880 and that also for the Christian has spiritual significance as well.

00:27:08.100 So they're very important topics, but they don't have to be heavy and sad and sorrowful

00:27:12.020 topics, because there shouldn't be a whole lot of shame and embarrassment that comes

00:27:17.120 along with these things.

00:27:18.860 Um, so that's just, that's the only encouragement I have when I get there.

00:27:22.560 I'll probably have some more wisdom for y'all.

00:27:24.500 All right.

00:27:24.960 That's all we've got time for today.

00:27:26.280 We will see you back here soon.

00:27:28.280 Hello again, Related Gals and Related Bros. 0.99

00:27:42.660 This is Ron Simmons.

00:27:43.780 I'm Allie Beth Stuckey's father, and I'm here to bring you some news updates.

00:27:48.600 I also want to thank you for all the kind messages that you've sent Allie relating to the new baby,

00:27:54.840 and everything is going well, so thank you for continuing to have her and her family in your prayers.

00:28:00.640 I know that you're enjoying the episodes that she recorded prior to going on maternity leave,

00:28:04.940 and she's got several more good ones coming, including the one that you listened to today.

00:28:10.080 A couple of news items is there was a poll taken by ABC News and the Washington Post,

00:28:17.240 whereby President Trump had a nine-point lead over President Biden.

00:28:20.960 This was pretty surprising to most people that read the poll, and possibly it was an outlier poll

00:28:25.980 that just happened to get a hold of a lot of people that were tending to be more Trump than Biden.

00:28:33.160 But it was a poll that was equally divided between Democrats, Republicans, and also some independents.

00:28:39.340 Part of that poll also said that 75 percent of the people polled felt that President Biden was too old to run for office again.

00:28:47.240 And another interesting point was that President Trump had a 20-point lead in voters under age 35.

00:28:55.000 We'll have a link to the show notes of this episode relating to this poll that you can find out more details on.

00:29:03.760 Secondly, the economy.

00:29:05.200 The economy continues to move along, and inflation remains stubborn.

00:29:09.820 In fact, energy prices were up 5.6 percent last month, in my opinion, in large part due to President Biden's team

00:29:19.140 shutting down places where we can drill for oil and gas and refusing to issue new leases on places

00:29:26.160 where we already have been leasing and drilling in the past.

00:29:30.220 So that's a real problem, in my opinion.

00:29:33.160 Food is up just a little bit, although it's still considerably higher than it was two years ago.

00:29:37.660 The unemployment rate is a bit of good news in that it's at 3.7 percent, which is essentially full employment in the United States.

00:29:45.840 However, what's not in that number is the number of people that have actually left the workforce and are no longer looking for work.

00:29:54.000 And that's why only 62 percent of the people eligible to work actually work.

00:29:59.900 And there are people, maybe they're living off of government assistance or what have you and not looking for work anymore.

00:30:05.300 They do not show up in that unemployment rate.

00:30:08.100 So it's a little bit misleading, but it's about where it has been in pretty good economic times.

00:30:14.900 The immigration is one of our biggest problems. 1.00

00:30:17.860 However, if you look under the U.S. Census Bureau statistics, where most of these stats on the economy come from,

00:30:25.060 immigration is up 168 percent since President Biden took office.

00:30:31.060 And this includes legal and illegal immigration estimates.

00:30:35.740 And you and I both know that's not sustainable.

00:30:38.280 We need to have immigration laws that make it reasonable for people to come here legally,

00:30:43.820 but that we shut off our borders to all illegal crossings.

00:30:48.360 And why in the world that's not something that's bipartisan that can get done?

00:30:53.100 I have no idea.

00:30:54.040 Interestingly enough, immigration, illegal immigration was down 2017 through 2019 during the Trump administration.

00:31:02.620 So something they were doing was correct.

00:31:05.700 Also want to talk a little bit more about President Trump and the story that came out recently that's very concerning.

00:31:11.340 And that was his interview on Meet the Press, where he basically stated that a six week ban on abortion was a terrible idea.

00:31:19.820 I mean, DeSantis is willing to sign a five week and six week ban.

00:31:24.240 Would you support that?

00:31:25.180 I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.

00:31:28.460 Now, this was a political attack against Ron DeSantis because he signed one of those in Florida.

00:31:33.460 But other states such as Texas have those as well.

00:31:36.680 And he also, President Trump, would also not commit to a federal 15 week ban on abortion.

00:31:41.840 That concerns me.

00:31:43.600 It actually leads me to believe that President Trump does not have a strong conviction on this issue.

00:31:50.260 Because when you don't have a strong conviction on this issue, you can be wishy-washy and you're trying to appeal to different audiences.

00:31:58.320 And either you're pro-life or you're not, President Trump.

00:32:01.080 Make a decision.

00:32:02.340 Be transparent with us so that we can know how we want to vote relating on that issue.

00:32:07.240 Finish up with a couple of funny stories.

00:32:11.440 And one of them is in the Associated Press.

00:32:14.280 There's a 10-year-old boy and his 11-year-old sister that stole their mother's car.

00:32:19.700 And I say stole because it wasn't theirs, obviously.

00:32:22.180 And drove it 200 miles on the way from Florida to California because they were mad because their mother took away all their screen devices for a period of time.

00:32:32.020 So can you imagine when the police stopped them and this 10-year-old boy and 11-year-old sister got out of the car?

00:32:39.620 All are doing well and they've been reunited.

00:32:42.220 Not sure what the punishment was, but that should remind us that if we have young children to make sure our car keys are put away somewhere where they can't find them.

00:32:50.340 And then finally, I wanted to mention a movie that we've talked about before that's coming out called The Blind.

00:32:57.680 And it's coming out September the 29th.

00:33:00.340 And it is about fellow Blaze host, podcast host, Phil Robertson.

00:33:08.840 This is a movie about his life.

00:33:11.740 And it is an incredible story of redemption that I know you're going to want to see.

00:33:15.340 You can go see it in your local theaters, but I encourage you to go to theblind.com and go ahead and buy your tickets now because independent films need strong ticket sales up front to have as wide a distribution as possible.

00:33:28.580 And my final, final word for you is, is that in your personal life, whether you're a man or a woman, you need mentors.

00:33:37.360 And you need mentors in all the different areas of your life.

00:33:40.840 I talk about this in my book, Life Lessons from the Little Red Wagon, and that if you need we need a spiritual mentor, we need a business mentor, we need a relationship mentor, we need a personal financial mentor.

00:33:54.080 And we might even need some a physical mentor that helps us with maybe our our diet and our our physical activity and what have you.

00:34:01.900 And all of those can't be the same person.

00:34:04.560 I always sought out mentors that in that specific area, I could tell were further along in their walk than I was, whether that was their spiritual walk or their business walk or their personal financial walk.

00:34:16.280 And yes, it made me uncomfortable sometimes and being transparent with them.

00:34:21.440 But ultimately, it helped me grow.

00:34:23.280 And I would just encourage you to do that.

00:34:25.100 I know you're busy.

00:34:25.860 You have a lot going on.

00:34:26.960 But seeking out those mentors is very, very important.

00:34:30.660 There's a lot of wisdom that is stored up in the minds and the hearts and the souls of people that are senior to you.

00:34:40.780 And I encourage you to seek those out no matter where you are in life.

00:34:45.100 Thank you again for your time today.

00:34:46.640 And thank you for supporting Relatable Podcast.

00:34:49.720 Please make sure that you go to wherever you listen to podcasts and give Allie's podcast a five star rating.

00:34:56.960 Look forward to talking to you again soon.

00:35:02.720 Hey, guys, if you love this podcast, please leave us a five star review wherever you listen on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify.

00:35:11.520 And if you haven't yet, please subscribe to our YouTube channel.

00:35:15.420 Thanks.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - September 26, 2023

Ep 879 ｜ Do Christians Idolize Sports？｜ Q&A

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - September 26, 2023

Ep 879 ｜ Do Christians Idolize Sports？ ｜ Q&A

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript

Ep 879 ｜ Do Christians Idolize Sports？｜ Q&A