[00:00:13] Speaker A: Hey, welcome to another episode of the Jonathan Project podcast where iron is sharpening iron and we help men navigate the complexities of the world around them. And we take the example of Jonathan and David and his friend and future king as the inspiration for our show. If you want Jason and me to come out to a men's event, church function, your business, something you have going on, please reach out to us at the Jonathan Project podcast gmail.com Again, the Jonathan Project podcastmail.com Jason, welcome to the finale of season three, believe it or not, episode 10. How are you doing this week, man?
[00:00:55] Speaker B: That is a episode 10 season finale episode or season three. That's a lot. But it's, it's all.
Yeah, but it's going well. Everything's going good.
How about yourself? You had the book interview and not on that, but we have a, another volunteer that helped us. You were explaining that. So give big thanks to her.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: Your wife. Yeah. So thank you. Go ahead, tell us about the book interview.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: Yes. So you know the book, so the series, the rapture series that I've been writing the last, believe it or not, five plus years now. And for all those that have been reading the books, as Jason and my, my dad most definitely say, I turned the lights out on people and, and want them for the next book. But the book, I had a chance to win an award for, you know, best Christian fiction book cover design and, and the number one podcast author interview show out there, the author show reached out, did an interview with them about the books, why I get into Christian fiction and to sum it all up, you know, and once the episode's out, I'll make sure I post it for everyone to go and listen if they want. But the bottom line is this, is that, you know, being a Christian fiction author, it gives you an opportunity to wrap the very powerful, engaging, life changing message that the gospel is in a package that some people will receive because we know there's some folks, you'll never get them into a church, they'll go kicking the streaming. But if you say, hey, I got this book, it's pretty fun. It's an interesting read, especially guys.
And then in the books, every book I write, there is a character at some point in time that comes to Christ. And so if that person that you're trying to get out there to get into church and they read that, then they have read the salvation story and hopefully the Holy Spirit then continues to grow them in their heart.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: So that's awesome. You know, I love that. I love the fact that you got the award. I love the books. I was reading them last night. You are correct. You do cut the lights out on us. So I have to phase it. You know, in all truth, I phase it. I'm like, okay, you know, we talk and I say, all right, is another book coming out? So I may, I may stop about halfway, three quarters of the way through, and then I go, okay, another book is coming out. So let me finish reading so that.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: I can stay fresh. Yeah, yeah. And the next one's coming out. It'll be Easter of this year is the publication schedule right now. But any case, yeah, thanks, thanks for that little call out. And then shout out to my wife who in her regular life is really good at marketing and learning and development. So there's going to be some changes for just some exciting changes for us here at the Jonathan Project, some bigger efforts than me and Jason have been working on for quite some time. Long story short, we're going to be doing some rebranding over the course of this year.
We're gonna probably land on an umbrella company called the Christian Warrior, Christian Warrior Media, which is going to entail quite a few things. But more on that down the road. But yeah, 2025 is shaping up to be pretty exciting. And, and we're gonna wrap up the season, right? We're talking about something that a lot of folks in a new year are pretty interested in and that is the old pursuit of happiness.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, man, wrap it up.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: Especially this time of year in all kinds of ways, right? Resolutions and goals. And I'm gonna go to the gym more. I'm gonna eat. Right. I'm gonna be happy this year. So, Jason, what do you think about that age old question?
Right?
[00:04:36] Speaker B: Yeah. New Year's resolution, it comes up and everybody says, hey, I'm gonna make these changes. And we, the reason we make those changes is we want to do better. Right. Like you aren't happy with where you were and so you're projecting yourself towards a happier or a better place. But when I did some research, happiness, and especially if you do research, just use the Google AI machine because that's where a lot of people use it. Right. There's even a video right now. People having a conversation with their phones. That's a little scary to me.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: Yeah, I've seen that commercial. That's crazy. It is kind of weird. Like they're asking this machine life kind of questions.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, so. But it's a multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings from contentment to intense joy. You know, but again, it's an emotion. And so the Bible is very clear, you know, about emotions. And it talks about, you know, God gives us things like be strong, be of good courage. And it tells us about taking charge of our emotions, right? As. As my father once said, emotions are kind of like. It could be like that. That gas in your stomach, right? It swells up, you think, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna die. It's super intense. And then all of a sudden it comes out and you're like, it's over. So be very careful about being in that pursuit of emotion.
So I did some search, and it come down to, like, why are people happy? Or how are people happy? And a lot of people find their happiness in. Is it in money? Is it women? Or that opposite. Opposite sex? Is it the attraction? Does it come from items, you know, good times, success? How do you define your happiness? Those are some popular things.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
No, you know, it's interesting. I think we've all fallen into that trap at some point in time where we have been in the pursuit of something that we think is going to make us happy. And then for a believer, you throw in the layer where the door closes. And I think, for me, I remember when me and you were at this particular organization in the intel community, we were working together. And I don't know if you remember this story, but it was poignant for me, and it broke me. It was a breaking point for me, pursuing and being defined by happiness professionally. You laid out a different kind of ways that people define. And for me, for the longest time, Jason, having the uniform, being in the army, that was. It was premier in my life. And it was funny right before I kind of started this whole journey of the books and everything that spawned off of that, but I was going to be a congressional fellow.
And I mean, I had every recommendation. I had everything ducks in a row to include the senior general who's in charge of the Army's congressional fellowship program, who was my old brigade commander, had personally put in a recommendation. And I remember getting the email that day saying, hey, yep, you made it to the final round, but we chose somebody else. And I was. I was broken. I remember getting up. I don't know if you remember. I just got up and left. I left.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: I remember this.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: I was like, I'm done, you know, And I got home and I was. I was so mad, Jace. And really hit me clear as day. My wife, being who she is, she always has a way to kind of keep me grounded. She was like, you know, you've done so well in your career and the one thing that doesn't go your way and you know, you're trying to be a good Christian man and this is what breaks you. And I'm, you know, I didn't want to hear that, you know.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: No, no, no.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: But the point is, is what I come to find out and it changed my life. It really did. And then shortly thereafter, I started writing the books is it's not happiness because happiness is fleeting. And what I thought was going to make me happy, what I've come to learn all those years later now is it wasn't what the Lord wanted. And he wanted me to be more obedient. He wanted my heart. But it's too easy to get caught up in that pursuit of happiness. So. Yeah, I hear you.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: I remember that. I think it went to. I think the final decision was something like. Yeah, but Billy Bob over here, like I owe him a favor or something. It was kind of, it was kind of weird.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: Yeah, it was, it was like. Well, you've basically, the what the guys, the army panel that made this decision is like, you've had too much success.
We need you just to kind of just slow down and we're gonna let somebody else have, have some fun here.
[00:09:09] Speaker B: That's crazy. Yeah. Anywho, you know, you think about it like so people, we do, we. We chase after those things and, and I say it, and I'll say it till the day I die. Humans are not static creatures. We're either running from something or to something. And we're always in that pursuit. I really think it goes back to that God shaped hole when we were in union together in the garden. And when we separated, we keep trying to fill it, right? And Solomon, he wrote this very famous book called Ecclesiastes. And if you ever feel like there's too much happiness in your life and you need to be depressed, that's the. Read that and Lamentations.
But he calls it all vanity. Actually the word is hovel. And he. It's vapor or smoke. Yeah, I really do. You know, when you look at the book, he goes, all your efforts don't last. Basically. If you climb a mountain, you see everything that you could have done.
It doesn't care. The mountain doesn't care to be there long after you're gone. You know, death is a great equalizer. He talks about this and he's kind of going through this because, you know, Solomon, what did it say? Like, silver was so plentiful, it didn't Matter. And he did all that make some kind of statement about money, you know, people. Well, he had a thousand wives. Right. And not to get either one of us in trouble in this, in this right here, but that could be very problematic. Right. As much as I love our greatest fans, sometimes, you know, we may not see eye to eye. And. Yeah, that's. That's part of life.
Can you imagine having that a thousand times? I don't know.
[00:10:52] Speaker A: But I can't. And you know. Yeah, I'll just leave it out. Yeah.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Okay, so moving on to the next part of that. But he had all the money and he had all the food and he could do all these things. But he makes this comment in Ecclesiastes is like, by the time you make enough money, it's time to pass it along. And those folks may not even care. He talks about. He does one of the most famous things, and it hit me like a ton of bricks was you can spend all your time doing work, like, career wise, but the day you give it over to somebody else, they can go any direction they want to go, man.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: Tell. We both have seen that, have we not?
[00:11:35] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. You can be the best shepherd of your organization and then you're like, out, and next thing you know, they replace you. And that guy can go, nah, man, I want to go 180 degrees and we're gonna sell snow cones, you know, but, you know, and then some people go, well, it's for nothing but, you know, with happiness, but in reality. And he's. So they like, oh, do you live for the weekend party? But the truth is, is Monday always shows up, right?
[00:12:08] Speaker A: Yes, it does. Yes.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: So when the world thinks about happiness, it's kind of. A lot of people are in pursuit of it, you know.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: No, you, you bring up, you know, some really good points, is, you know, all humans share this basic desire for happiness.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: The problem is, is many don't fully understand what that means. If you ask my, well, what makes you happy? When I think about people, especially in our age group, middle age part of life, and I've heard this with, you know, several couples, is like, well, she. He is not making me happy. And you ask him like, okay, well, what about it? Well, you know, I just. Life is too short, Right? Yeah. But what does happiness mean to you? And how has the world around you shaped your view? And no one stops and pauses on that question. I think such an abstract kind of concept with no objective measure.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: We equate happiness and. And what is. Right.
Yeah. You know, there's A famous song out there. If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad. Right. But in reality, those two are totally opposites. Yeah, they don't, they don't go together. And I think sometimes we believe our pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of what's right.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree with that.
I agree with that. But you know, those interpretations of happiness, are they, by the nature of that mood, of that emotion, it's going to be very temporal, it's going to be very temporary. You know, is it a general sense of satisfaction one day? Is it the presence of pleasure, not pain? Living a good life. And then don't even add in social media, which generates this fear. I'm missing out on the latest trend. So we need to do it. We need to have, you know, X amount of dollars in our bank account, Even though I'm 20 years old or whatever the case may it puts it that being happiness, an emphasis on the temporary and ourselves and that constant desire of chasing something. That's why there's the highest rates of loneliness and depression that we've seen in American society measuring because we're so absorbed collectively of our own well being that we forget the people around us and that. And we even come to resent people that kind of tell us, like, hey, you know, you're bringing down my mood.
Well, your mood is not a good thing that you're chasing. And people get mad at that, you know. And so again, what does happiness mean to you and how is it changing your worldview? And people don't pause and think about that question enough.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: Well, I like some Solomon, you know, he was pretty smart.
When God asked him, you know, what did he want? He asked for wisdom. And then, you know, God tells him, avoid Egypt, avoid, avoid horses and avoid a multitude of women. And he did all those. So apparently the wisdom was pretty good, but it wasn't applied. So you can be real smart, but not applied.
But he does say, and he acknowledges that living in wisdom and the fear of the God of the Lord, right, is important, right? And he says the gift of God is the trust in the Lord and enjoyment of the simple things. That's Solomon. He also states that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, right? And he talks a lot about that and that, that being where the center of your joy is. When we talk about it, there's a, when we look at scriptural version or advice on, on happiness, you know, joy or blessed makarios I think is the word joy that we had. What's that?
[00:15:50] Speaker A: I said Those are big words. That's fancy.
[00:15:52] Speaker B: It is a big word. I had to look it up and have Google play it for me to make sure I understood it, because I don't, you know, foreign language is not my thing.
You know, I did, I did have to learn Spanish. They said, well, that'll be your third language. English is your second. We don't really know what you speak, man. You know, you're in bad shape when you can watch the swamp people and you don't need the subtitles. The. But I thought a lot about what does that mean?
I look, in Galatians, Paul talks about standing fast in the Liberty. In Galatians 5, it talks a lot about fruit of the Spirit. The very first one. The second one is joy. It says love, joy, peace.
If I look at that, and I looked at that whole chapter, not to cherry pick a verse, but Paul talks about standing fast in the liberty of Christ, that Christ has made us free. And that's what the chapter is about. Were free from condemnation now in Christ and led by the Spirit and not under the law. That's a big deal, right? Yeah, he speaks of things and then he goes on, he talks about things that are of the flesh. And then he says, but look, the fruit of the Spirit going back to where you are right now, it's that love, joy and peace. And it centers around Christ. It doesn't center around which God? It doesn't.
[00:17:11] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: Solomon famously said, and I'll just country it up for you, it's better to have a dinner of poke salad in a house of peace than to have a big old fat steak where there is quarreling.
Anybody that's been married knows that.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: Or a bad work environment. You know, it's interesting, Jason, as you've hit on that biblical perspective of happiness is really what I would call joy. And joy is just that state of, you know, kind of. It is happiness. And I'm not trying to get into, you know, synonyms, but it's really that deeper level of happiness. It's a long lasting state of being rooted in the promises of God. It centers on Jesus Christ over ourselves. And even in a difficult circumstance, when you're joyful, you can find yourself having again, the Bible calls it the peace that goes beyond understanding. You can also find yourself being happy. And people are like, what are you happy about? I give you a great biblical example of that is David. David in the midst of his sin with Bathsheba. They have this child. The child gets sick and the child is. Has. Is about to die. David is absolutely devastated leading up before the child dies. So much so that then he comes out of it when he gets the announcement the child has died. He cleans himself up, he wants to eat. And everyone's like, is this dude nuts?
[00:18:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: Well, he had found a sense of joy. He gives us this epic verse on dealing with grief and a lot of the different things where he says, you know, the child cannot come to me, but I'm gonna go to that child. And he's rooted in the faith that the Lord is going to reunite us, just not on this side.
You know, it's easy for us to miss those points, but I think about Isaiah 55 and 9 as well, where it says, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts, your thoughts. God's goal for us being joyful and happy in life are so much more broad. There's so much deeper than this fleeting thing of I need to have the latest iPhone, I need to have the latest car, I need to have a better relationship. Those are all temporary things. Even if you're married for 80 years. Here's the news flash, right? Somebody's going to die. Death is a 100% thing for humanity. At some point, you're going to be separated from that. And it's not that God doesn't want us happy, but he wants so much more. He wants to give us a purpose. And I think we miss that.
[00:19:49] Speaker B: No, you do. I think as. As a Christian, where your joy comes from. Because does God want you to be happy? If you plug that into the Google AI Gonculator, it'll say yes. However, it's a little bit off, which is Satan's famous ploy. It's a little bit off. It's. Yeah, it's. It's almost. It's almost there, but it's not there, right? And it talks a lot like Philippians 4, 4 rejoice in the Lord, right? And Psalms 144 and 5, happy is that people whose God is the Lord, okay? And Israel went through some really rough times, but it centers about that happiness being within God. And in Proverbs, like we're talking about, when it talks about wisdom, when Solomon said, happy is everyone that retaineth her. But then you go over to Proverbs 9, he says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of the wisdom, and the wisdom of the holy is understanding. So it all centers back into it, right? Even Paul in Romans, and he writes, you know, and he says, you know, God now the God of hope, fill you all with joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.
It's, it's all about centering it back towards Christ. And you know, Colby, I found some. I did some other research about what science says about happiness.
And bear with me on this, they listed some things. And tell me if you think about this inside of Scripture, because I believe very heavily that science is. Hey, look, there's a lot of truth in science, right? And you should be able to see the fingerprints of the Creator in his creation.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: Absolutely right. Yeah.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: So practice daily. Gratitude was one. And I thought, wow, that's cool. Yeah. Ephesians 5:20, giving thanks always for all things first. Thessalonians in everything give thanks.
They talk about that and we talked about the gratitude journal. It, it, it is kind of tough at times to be joyful and thankful for everything.
But that tells you that it's not feeling based, it's action. And then the feelings come along. You got to figure out which end the horse needs to go on this cart.
But it says, surround yourself with positive people.
[00:22:21] Speaker A: That's the whole Jonathan project. I mean, you have to have someone in your life that is pushing you forward. Yeah.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: And they go through this different science about it. But I love it. Iron sharpens iron. It's pretty simple. When I saw that, I was like, I wonder if, you know, immediately it shows up that iron sharpens iron in my mind, do regular acts of kindness was another thing, which, hey, that's the fruit of the spirit, right?
[00:22:46] Speaker A: Like, yeah, absolutely.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: Fruit's meant for the tree, doesn't eat the fruit.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: Right.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: It's meant for you. And even Ephesians says, be kind one to another, spend more time with family and friends. And I thought in Ephesians 5 it talks about as well, it talks about, you know, walk circumspectly now, don't be foolish and redeem the time, because the days are evil. Spend money on experiences instead of things. So even science is telling you to divest of things.
But look here in Matthew, it talks about lay up not yourselves treasures on the earth. Right. So you're going to see some correlation, but it's got to be grounded in biblical truth. Because next thing you know, people are like, oh, if it make you happy to dress up like a cat and poop in a litter box. No, stop, stop.
[00:23:35] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: Well, I mean that. You see some, you see some craziness going on, and we just like, oh.
[00:23:40] Speaker A: There is a lot of Again, over emphasis on self in the pursuit of happiness. But you know, it's interesting as we look at the New Testament in particular, and just three verses here that come to mind, you know, Mark 8 and 34, denying self, 9, 23, take up your cross.
Romans 6, 6, 7, dying to sin. You know, we look at these commands and they appear to contradict what the world says defines happiness. But they those in those three little verses, denying self, taking up your cross, which means putting on the burdens of that you have and placing them before the Lord and then dying to sin, dying to what my desires are and giving them to God instead. Those are the foundations to life and true joy. And here's a question, you know, for the audience writ large, right? Have you ever struggled with understanding why God's plan might not align with what you think is going to make you happy? I just gave my example earlier in Professional Pursuits. It's the open door, closed door. Do you truly believe, having gotten to a place, and this is how you know that you're moving to the deeper level of happiness, AKA joy, when you can look at something and say, you know what, maybe that wasn't for me. Right? The Lord closed off that relationship. And I have come to the point, I mean, you've talked about this. As I continue to mature, I can say thank you for the no's. And I can see so many times where God has said no to something and then it turned into a blessing. You know, I think about like again, that congressional fellowship by the Lord saying no. It allowed me to get to a place where he could use me. And us sitting here today and having this conversation and sharing it with the world and so many people that we don't even realize might be impacted. It's all because he said no to something I thought was going to be great, but he had something so much better. And so I think we struggle sometimes understanding why the plan, my plan, right, is not working well, except God's plan. Accept that what he wants to give you is going to be good. You know, it's like if as a father, I give something to my kids, I truly believe that I'm doing something good, right? I don't give them a snake when they want ice cream. So how much more so does God give us good things even when he says no? And once we start focusing on that, we move from this temporal kind of happiness and you start moving in true.
[00:26:07] Speaker B: Deep joy, you highlight it, right? Like what we think we have a shallow understanding. And even as much as we think we get to know people. We see a snippet of their life. We see a series of Polaroid pictures, right? What they let in. And if you sit here and go, well, this woman makes me happy, or this guy makes me happy, you see what they present, right? And it may not be what you really understand. John Kirsten. I love to listen to him. You and I've talked about him quite a bit. I look forward to meeting him in heaven.
He talked about when his kids. When his. When his child was extremely young. He had just suffered a tragic loss. His wife had passed, but he said he had stepped outside. And he comes back into their house and he can see his. One of his children is just crying on the floor and reaching, reaching, reaching, reaching for something. He's so frustrated because he can't get it. And he's like, what's going on? So he goes over there, closer to it, and what it is, he sees this black spider.
It's a black widow spider. Now, that kid thinks it's shiny and I need it, but in reality. So he runs over and steps on it, right? We're like that. We think, oh, man, I need to have this. But God sees it in its fullness.
[00:27:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:25] Speaker B: And he goes, man, if you get that, that's. That's just like, I love you. Literally brought up Matthew 16. And I love that because Jesus says it very plainly when he talks to his disciples. Does any man come after me? Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, because that's. Whoever seeks to save his life is going to lose it. Whosoever will lose his life, my sake shall find it.
He goes on to talk about profiting. Was it profit a man if he loses soul? Can you imagine how that statement come across in there? Think about it. All right? I need you to take up your cross. Everybody knew what the cross was because they'd seen some folks die on it. It's not like in the movies, not like in tv. They're very personal. Somebody hanging there for days going, man, I will bargain with everything. I got to get off this.
And he's like, I need you to pick up your ver. Yours.
So I gave it a lot of thought. Your cross is not something that is thrust upon you like a sickness or things like that, right? It's something you pick up, you take upon you. And it could be those in this pursuit of happiness. It could also be like, hey, I'm married to somebody. I need to work this out.
[00:28:44] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:28:44] Speaker B: You know, or things of so forth.
Your happiness is in Christ is like delayed gratification. You ever see that experiment? They have these kids in a room and they go, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, eat the marshmallow, don't eat the marshmallow. If you don't eat it, get. I'll bring you a bag of them when I get back.
[00:29:02] Speaker A: Yeah, it's so hard for those little people.
[00:29:04] Speaker B: Yeah, those little kids. But they figure out whoever can delay that actually has a better chance later because they can see the greater picture. We have to be that way as Christians. And your maturity as Christians now, as adults, we go, yeah, I'll wait, I'll just hold off. But as a child, you don't.
[00:29:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:23] Speaker B: You know, God has a plan in our life and, and like you, when he says, no, man, that that might be the best thing. That open door, closed door.
That closed door may be the secret to your. It may be one of the com. It is one of the keys to your overall happiness and joy, you know?
[00:29:44] Speaker A: No, absolutely. And you know, and kind of give some closing thoughts here is that, you know, there is a. There's a distinction between what the world chooses to pursue for happiness. And if you look at a lot of it, it is something that is, in my words, it's a God sized void that you're trying to fill. It's. You're trying to find a purpose, you're trying to find a reason for why you're here. You're trying to find something that makes you happy, quote, unquote, every day that makes you feel satisfied. Well, what the Bible tells each and every person is in Jesus Christ. You find that satisfaction, his quenches the thirst that you can't quite put out in other kind of ways, to put it into a different kind of terminology, you know, and I would just encourage all the listeners to just understand that God does want you to be happy, but he wants you to be rooted in your happiness is in him and his plan. And even when the storm clouds come and it rains on you a little bit that you still believe and move forward that things are going to get better because he's promised to all those who put their trust in him that he's working those things to good. Right. You have to believe that, you know, pursue that deeper relationship with him. And that is where you'll find the purpose that so many people nowadays are searching for is in Him. I gave the example when the door was closing, what I thought was my purpose professionally, what I have found now and what I'm living out and I'm excited to go about doing for the rest of my life. This is why I was put on this planet. You know, we look at, you know, a good scripture to study out. And I'll leave with, you know, the audience is Philippians 4:11 through 13. And it talks about this contentment and joy in all circumstances.
That's not saying God's not asking you to suck down like when bad things happen. Go back and read the story of Job. Job cried out, and he had a heartfelt conversation with him. Where he landed when they walked out of that conversation and the air is clear, and he had. He got them, got the emotions off his chest is he said, lord, you know, you are good, right? And the Lord blessed him. So we have to get to that point. We have to get to the point where we can see the good in any, any kind of circumstance. And God is working it out for us. And I pray that we all do that as we go through 20, 25. So, Jason, I'll give you the final thoughts here.
[00:32:06] Speaker B: No, you know, I love the story of, you know, Job's counted as a righteous man. He also doesn't show up on the scene until later. We probably ought to do an episode about Job.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: Yes, sir.
[00:32:17] Speaker B: And there's so many life lessons. But it's interesting. Job had a lot of questions, and when God showed up on the scene, he didn't answer a single one. He asked Joe 66 questions, if I remember correctly. And Job didn't have a single answer for anyone either. But, you know, but he did. He walked out and he says, you know, God is good. I think that's where we as mature Christians and we as also, because nobody likes being told no. Right. Nobody likes the door shutting. And it does. But we as Christians have to control our emotions and be, you know, contentment.
And that's where good buddies come alongside of you and pray with you and talk with you and go, okay, let's. Let's take a pause here, because everybody has hit that professional, especially for men, you know, especially happiness inside that success. But if you're, if you're stubborn like me, pray for open door, closed door. You know?
[00:33:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:17] Speaker B: As I, as I told a buddy, I'm. I'm probably about 90 something percent Irish. I will choke a burning stove just because it's burning me. I just, you know, I got that stubbornness inside of me.
So I need God to close the door. I really do. I need him to close it because I don't want him to look at me in heaven and go, man, if you'd have just persisted a little bit more.
[00:33:37] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a good point. Well, folks, that is season three, episode ten of the Jonathan Project podcast. We will be back next week with season four of the Jonathan Project podcast, bringing you content topics that help men sharpen other men, iron sharpen other men, or shout out to one of our big audience groups out there, moms, women, you know, who are trying to help those men and folks around them become better. And we appreciate all of you. We appreciate want to make sure we give a shout out to everyone that supported us, all of our guests that came onto the show this season, everything that the God is working out, we appreciate every single bit of the support and we're just trying to be faithful and obedient every single week. You can find this episode in every episode on your favorite streaming service. It could be iheartradio, it could be Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music, you name it, we are there and we come out with episodes every Tuesday morning. That's where you will find your favorite episode of the Jonathan Project podcast. So please go to our website, which we'll put into the comments. Subscribe. That way you don't miss one single episode. If you want Jason and me to come out to an event that you're having, please reach out to us at the Jonathan Project podcast gmail.com if you want prayer episode feedback. Again, the Jonathan project
[email protected]. jason, it's been a pleasure to do this with you each and every week and I look forward to continu to push the ball forward for the kingdom.
[00:35:09] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely, man. All right, have a good day.
[00:35:12] Speaker A: All right, take care.
[00:35:12] Speaker B: See you, buddy.
