"Very Eloquent"
EPISODE 210
Face Trials Together
How would your life's biggest trials have turned out without a friend to bear your load? Scripture says “A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity” (Prov. 17:17). This week, in the penultimate episode of this season (and of our Two by Two study), we reflect on the support we find in good companions when everything falls apart. We build an A Team of Friends Through Adversity, learning from the examples of Bible all-stars Ruth & Naomi and Aaron & Hur. Finding Jesus in Galatians 6 leads us back to a Martin Luther sermon about Jesus carrying us on his shoulders. And we reflect on bad days with friends — and how we somehow wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Find all the goodies that go with this series at biblegeeks.fm/twobytwo.
Takeaways
The Big Idea: The hard things in life are made a little bit easier with friends you can count on.
This Week's Challenge: Ask someone how you can carry their load or share yours with them.
Episode Transcription
And through this giving and sharing and receiving, we too can share and love and have and receive. Very eloquent. Well, hello everyone and welcome to Bible Geeks podcast. This is episode 210. I'm Bryan Schiele. I'm Ryan Joy. And thanks so much everyone for tuning in. We are in session eight of our two by two guided study. We're almost at the end of this conversation and we're talking on this episode about being born for adversity. How friends really are standing side by side with us when stuff goes bad. And you know, for all of us, I think we've been there that point in our lives where just things don't go so well. And having a friend there can always be a helpful thing, especially when we're going through the mud, like we're talking about in this conversation starter. Oh man. Good memories here. Going back to the old Arizona mud run, running through the desert and into some bits of water. Ryan was right alongside us while we were doing these mud runs. And that's what we talked about in our conversation starter that we called Filthy Fun Runs. This is two by two. Filthy Fun Runs. Back when I was younger and more willing to abuse myself, I did some pretty dumb things with my friends in the name of fitness. Run a half marathon? Sure, I guess. Travel to Utah for a 200 mile relay race? How bad could that be? But I still can't believe I let my friends talk me into multiple muddy obstacle courses and Filthy Fun Runs. Crawling around in my belly in a mud pit under barbed wire, sliding down a giant inflatable slide into a pool of dirty water. It was all a blast and it just seemed normal since I wasn't alone. Well, here's the big idea. The hard things in life are made a little bit easier with friends you can count on. Sometimes life can feel like an obstacle course in the mud when we're dealing with the world's or maybe our own darkness and sin, but it's our friendships that strengthen us during our struggles. No situation is too messy for a friend to step in and help with since a brother is born for adversity. In our darkest hours, wandering through the valley of the shadow of death, God's presence and guidance brings us peace. And once he's comforted us, we adopt a take one, pass it down approach, turning to our friends to comfort them. It might seem easier and more convenient to rejoice with our friends, but when we also share someone's sadness, those bonds solidify into long lasting relationships. Notice the great friends in scripture who, sometimes literally, held up each other's hands in difficult times. How would those situations have turned out if they were all alone? Sometimes we need help, but other times it's up to us to step in with gentleness and genuine concern to carry someone's pack. As Paul reminds us, "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." So here's the big question. Have you prepared for the storms of life by investing in close relationships? So follow along with this guided study of biblegeeks.fm/twobytwo and may the Lord bless you and keep you today. Shalom. Okay. And the big idea we talked about there was that hard things in life are made a little bit easier with friends you can count on. And it's true. It's a little bit easier. It's not always like, oh, everything's smooth sailing when you've got buddies. No, that's not what we're saying. But you know, there's a reason we go and sit with people and eat together at a funeral. There's nothing you can say to make it better. If you're just trying to think of the perfect words, you're missing the point, right? That's what you learn over time is there's nothing right to say. You sometimes say nothing. You just give a hug or you say, "I love you." Yet the presence of friends matters. It's just different than being alone in it. It is good. It is healing to be loved and to be with others that love you in those moments. Yeah. You kind of think about Job's friends. We've talked about that a little bit, you know, windy words and things that they've frustratedly complained about them with. But having friends around really is a positive thing when you're going through difficult times. And as we talked about in the big question there, have you prepared for the storms of life by investing in close relationships? I've been flying a lot for work recently and it makes me think about that spiel that they do with the safety information during takeoff. Like everybody does, I zone out when they're going through their little, you know, song and dance there at the beginning of the flight. But I'm glad that somebody has hopefully prepared themselves for that turbulent moment. You know, it's like somebody needed to have prepared the seat back to be a flotation device or somebody needs to make sure that the slides on the plane are going to deploy properly. And especially like that the oxygen masks that they will actually come down as they're hiding from view deployed just at that right moment. Like somebody needs to know that there is a turbulent time coming and to be prepared for it. But for me, I don't think that's how friendship is. Friendship is not like the break glass in case of emergency kind of thing where it's like, you know, okay, I'm only going to use you now that things are not going well. And for the rest of the time, you'll be out of sight. You know, I'll ignore you. I'll just sort of think about other things and just focus on myself. No, I think friendship is something we've got to prepare for before the storms of life come. And that's really where this conversation I think fits into the overall scheme of our discussions that we've had. You know, it's all about laying the groundwork and being a loving friend who listens and everything that leads up to this. So that when adversity comes and things get tough, your friends are there for you. And that only happens if you've done that stuff ahead of time. I love that point. And you know, it's just, it goes to the way you start to change your view of friendships and those, those important strong relationships as you get older. You know, when you're young, it's like friends are about who can I have fun with? And I don't want to be alone. I don't want to sit alone at the lunch table or whatever. Just like having friends is better than not having friends because you want to be with people. But then you start to realize there's a time when I need people and times when people need me. And that's what life is about to a large extent is, you know, sharing it and, and those relationships and, and our icebreaker question sort of lightens it up. We're going to talk about one of those moments when you did need a friend. And I don't know how light we can get it when we ask what's the worst day that you've shared with a friend. Like we could have said, what's a rough day you've shared with a friend and kept it light, but worst day kind of starts to back you into the corner of, of getting pretty real here. Yeah. I mean, this is a, this is the most Debbie downer of icebreakers that we probably have. Like, all right, tell us all the terrible stuff that happened. You know, I did sort of in my answer though, kind of steer it more toward the positive. But man, there have been days, you know, funeral days and things that in my own life, like with dad a couple of years ago, but I think on a, on a little bit lighter note, I had a friend when I was growing up, who his dad got hit in the jaw by a softball at like full velocity and like just shattered his jaw. And my friend basically watched us, his mother and father were whisked away to the emergency room. And we basically like took him in and just adopted him for like, I don't know, a week or something. Like it was a long time. He lived with us and I was an only child at the time. And it was like, we just, we took this difficult, terrible situation that him and his family were going through and we played video games and we built forts and we, we had like the best time hanging out. You know, it was like, this is a bad day and nobody enjoys this day, but we, we sure had fun. You know, we made the best of it. And I guess that's kind of what you were saying about little kids, like we have a tendency to be able to look past some things and build a fort just to make ourselves feel better. But yeah, on a serious note, I've been to plenty of other kinds of events, like funerals and things that just, you needed those people around you to help make it through the day. I love that answer because, you know, I was playing down the idea of friends for fun, but maybe that is what we all need a little more of too is, you know, that there's a place for that and for lightening things up, you know, those moments when a friend makes you laugh at one of those, you know, in one of those awful days and just says the thing that just, you know, and sometimes those are the times when you start laughing and you can't stop laughing because you need the laugh so bad. And you just like, it's so surprises you, you start cry laughing, you know, and you're just, you're just all kind of a mesh together laughing like crazy people. A mess together. It's perfect description for this episode. You know, the first thing that came to mind to me was a day I spent with my uncle as he was, he was near death and just in awful pain. And we talked through, you know, we spent a lot of time just talking through the book of Romans in this, what I remember the most, it was a painful day physically for him and mentally for him and, and hard for, for me. And at the same time, I wouldn't have missed that time. I wouldn't want to have been anywhere else in those times then with him. And so, you know, just being together with the people you love again is, is a core lesson in this whole thing. Yeah. I think that's such a mark of a good friend, right? It's like, you don't want to be there. You don't want to be in that moment, but you wouldn't be anywhere else. Right. But as we move into something that ties us into what Jesus talked about, let's find Jesus here in Galatians six in our next segment here in Galatians six verses one to five. This is not a passage about Jesus, but we are going to find him here. This is Paul talking to the Galatian church when he says, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. But then he says, keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. And he goes on to talk about how we don't need to puff ourselves up and think that we're some great people, but it's deceptive for us to think that we've got it all figured out. Test yourself, make sure that you're okay. But then he says for each one will have to bear his own load in verse five. I think this is a perfect verse is sort of tying in the last conversation with this one. And where do you find Jesus here in Paul's conversation about bearing each other's burdens? Yeah, that was an interesting setup there. As you talked about Jesus not being mentioned here, but you know, this segment came from that time that we went through the whole New Testament together in our into the book reading plan. And we noticed you can find Jesus everywhere, right? He is, he's not here, but he is. I mean, his, the law of Christ is mentioned here, but you can see Jesus because he's the theme of everything. And years ago, I read some excerpts from a really cool sermon by the reformer Martin Luther about how Jesus bears our load. And that's what I thought about when I saw this passage in a finding Jesus segment, the sermon he did centered on the picture of Jesus carrying us on his shoulders. And he drew first from the parable of the lost sheep. And then from that great passage that Isaiah gives in Isaiah nine about the Messiah's names. So when the shepherd finds the lost sheep in Luke 15 five, it says, when he found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing, but he carries his sheep home. He bears the load out of responsibility for his sheep and he's happy to do it. He's just happy that he has brought his sheep home. And then in Isaiah nine, verse six, it says to us, a child is born to us, a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, Prince of peace. So Luther brings up how most rulers, most government officials and Kings ride on the shoulders of their people. You know, think of the, the bad Kings in the old Testament who overtaxed their people and Ray of Boam, right? Oh yeah. And how they're just riding on the shoulders of their people. You carry me and this King carries the government on his shoulders. I've never thought of that passage. The government shall be on his shoulder, but you know, he has this upside down approach to the kingdom where he is carrying his people, his kingdom on his shoulders, all of the onus is on him and he owns so much of this. I mean, obviously we need to make our choice and we need to follow him, but he has paid the cost. And it all reminds me of that lyric from the hymn. I love the hymn, how deep the father's love for us. Do you know that hymn? Oh yeah. Yeah. And it says, behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon his shoulders. Behold your God, behold your King hanging on a cross, carrying on his shoulders, your greatest burden, all of your failings, all of your darkness so that he can lighten your load and set you free. And that's bearing our burden. That's truly fulfilling the law of Christ, the law of love and giving us the great gift that only he could give. It's such a powerful view of Jesus, right? As the one who bears our burden. And then as he calls us to follow him, right? What does he call us to do? Bear our cross, take our cross and follow him, put the yoke on our shoulders and bear his load. Not that it's too hard, not that it's too difficult for us, but you know, so that idea just of him doing the work and then us following suit and just being like him in that, I think is so helpful. And of course, that's, you can see why in verse two, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. He is obviously the center of this story. So him bearing the load is so important for us to also carry on and do ourselves. That actually kind of led into what I was thinking of here because verse two tells us to bear each other's burdens. But then in verse five, maybe something I've struggled in the past to kind of rectify, but he says for each one will have to bear his own load. So it's like, which one is it? Am I going to have to bear my own load or should I bear other people's loads? And the answer is yes. So when I'm finding Jesus here, kind of like you were saying, it all becomes so clear. Jesus bore our burdens. He took on our sin. He carried us and he also carried his own load. He lived perfectly, right? He was perfect. Although he was tempted in all the ways that we are, he didn't sin. And so, you know, Jesus told that story about the log in your eye, you know, deal with the log in your eyes so you can deal with the speck in somebody else's eye. Jesus didn't have a log in his eye. Jesus didn't have a speck in his eye because he had already taken care of it and never had to deal with it in the first place. He was perfect. He didn't have, you know, anything in his eye, but he was able to take care of what we needed the most because of seeing clearly himself. And, you know, we talked in John eight with all of its caveats and asterisks a couple of episodes ago, but you know, when Jesus tells the people like you who are without sin, cast the first stone and nobody could reasonably step up, but Jesus being perfect, he could have taken the first stone and, you know, cast it at that woman, but he didn't. It's just this idea that Jesus, he lived perfectly. He lived with a view to himself, bearing his own load, not boasting about himself or anything like that, but he's living out this verse. He took care of himself so that he could then take care of us. And that's really what he's asking us to do. Take one and pass it down, I suppose. Yeah. I've always found it helpful in that passage to note the distinction between there's actually two different words for burden or load there. And one of them has to do with that soldier's pack that we each have to carry. And the other is this other kind of load. And you're right. Jesus carried both. He carried his load cause he lived perfectly. And then he carried our load, the load that we couldn't carry because we have not lived perfectly. Absolutely. All right. So let's move on to our second segment here on the episode. And that is the A-Team. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team. Any excuse to use that theme song? This leads us into our exciting bracket challenge here, our draft of friends through adversity. So all throughout the Bible, we see these really powerful friendships that pop up from time to time. And some of these friendships are absolutely critical when things are going bad in the lives of the people in these stories. So we are going to draft our favorite friends through adversity. And I'm not sure who gets to go first. Do you want to flip a coin, Ryan, call heads or tails? Tails never fails. Hey Siri, flip a coin. It's tails this time. Ah, it's tails this time. You are correct. So tails never fails. So that means you get to go first in our draft of the friends through adversity. Okay. Well, I feel like there's just a standout choice here and I'm going to go with it. David and Jonathan, who were soul-knit friends, and we've talked about them a couple of times in this series. And I just think that the picture of the covenant they made with each other, Jonathan's dad is trying to kill David and David is on the run. And there's a lot of intrigue, but they stood with each other and helped each other through it, especially Jonathan faithfully and loyally standing by David through all of that. So that's pick number one. I think that's the correct first pick. I think we all knew you were going to pick that one, but I do find it really powerful in that story. Just the connection that they have in the middle of all the struggle that they're going through. I mean, there's a lot of reasons why they shouldn't have been friends, but Jonathan sees something in David's character and David clearly sees something in Jonathan's character. They're like magnets together and I love how they stick through it with each other and find opportunities to console each other and to connect even when they're on the run. So that's definitely a good one. Mine is not as much of a friendship, although I feel like it is a really close bond and that's going to be Ruth and Naomi from the book of Ruth. I feel like if you're talking about people sticking together through adversity, I mean, who's going through as much as Ruth and Naomi are in this story as it begins there in chapter one, it's just, it's so difficult and to see how Ruth isn't going anywhere and she's sticking right by Naomi's side and Naomi just, I don't know, she doesn't really seem like she wants her there because she wants her to go and be happy and be free, you know, fly free little bird, but, you know, they, they stick together and, and just such a powerful relationship that they have. That was number two on my board also. And I think, you know, it definitely, I think there's elements of a friendship there. It's, it's interesting as you go through life, you pick up friendships with family also. And I, you know, like I've developed friendships with my father-in-law and mother-in-law and, you know, you're certain family members just, you become closer to, and they become, you know, the people you go to. And so that's a beautiful, beautiful example of loyalty and trust and love and kindness. And so with number three, I am going to bring in the big artillery. We've gotten out two picks without mentioning the Lord. So I'm going to go with Jesus with Mary, Martha and Lazarus. We've talked about that several times here, the ones that it specifies in the book of John that he loved and he had this bond with. So that's my number three pick. I think that's such a good one, especially, I mean, that's like three friends, right? And of course, as you see there in those stories, they're just, their lives are so intertwined with each other and it's like a, just a foregone conclusion as we've talked about a little bit here. Like the, the one whom you loved has died and he's like, Oh yeah, we know who that is. So just the relationship that they have is so cool. And I think I'm going to have to, in my pick, go with another Jesus pick because yeah, Jesus didn't just love Mary, Martha, Lazarus. He also loved the disciple who he loved, John. If you really want to argue about it, we certainly can, but I'm going to call it John, uh, who Jesus loved and especially in John 19, as he turns to John and gives his mother to him, basically says, take care of mom and you know, your son, behold your mother. So what a cool way of seeing this relationship between his best friend and his mother continue after he's gone. And if you're going through anything facing adversity together, John and Jesus are definitely doing that for sure. Okay. Well, I'm going to go with another group of friends and I'm actually preaching on these three friends this Sunday as a manifestation or a result of our Bible bracket. And that is the fiery furnace, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who stood together. You could add Daniel to that list if you wanted to, cause they were all standing together and then they stood together in Daniel three before the fiery furnace. And that's what we need our friends for is, you know, give us that counterculture to the world that, uh, that helps us be faithful to the Lord, at least in the church. That's what friendships really do for us. I appreciate that you've talked about it as countercultural. You know, it really is a lot easier to stand out against the world and to stand in contrast to the world. When you got somebody else who's doing it along with you. I think this goes all the way back in our first episode where we talked about Jesus sending out his disciples two by two, right? It's like, you're going out there, you've got a different message. People are not really going to believe you. There's a lot of power and having other people there to back you up. And Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are able to link arms together and say, we don't know what the Lord is going to do, but we trust that whatever he does is exactly what he needs to do. So such a cool story. And, uh, I obviously knew you were going to pick that one because why wouldn't you, if you had the first pick, pick Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Listen, I got to pick for my third pick your penultimate pick. Oh, there he is. So for my penultimate pick, I am going to pick one that we talked about in the conversation starter, just touched on it ever so briefly. And that is Aaron and her holding up Moses hands in Exodus 17. Such a cool story, obviously of Moses brother and her, you know, holding up his arms as he's, every time he drops his arms, the battle starts to go in the wrong direction. And so as Moses needs some help in this time of adversity, he needs someone to hold up his hands. And that is quite literally where that phrase came from. So this is my third pick. I think it's a good one. They kind of stuck together aside from the fact that Moses and Aaron were real, you know, compatriots going through all the stuff with a Pharaoh and all the plagues and everything else together. But well, and don't forget that while Aaron and her are holding up Moses hands, Joshua is down in the Valley fight, leading the fight, you know, like Joshua, Moses, you know, those, those friends. And there's a lot of those mentor type friends. And I, I have four different options on my board involving Paul, and I'm going to actually skip all of them and go instead with Elijah and Elisha, who was another mentoring kind of a partnership. And, you know, Elisha took the mantle literally from Elijah eventually, but being a prophet in those times in Israel would have been a rough thing. And we see those two standing firm right up until Elisha watches Elijah leave the world on a chariot of fire. All right, here we go with the ultimate choice. I also had some things in there that we could have picked for Paul, but I'm going to throw in here my final pick. And that is Joshua and Caleb spying out the land. You know, it doesn't really say too much that these guys were like super great friends, but they certainly were in the thick of it together. I mean, they were hiding in Rahab's roof and doing all kinds of things together, spying out the land. And, you know, they're having to listen to the complaints and the gripes and the, all the lack of faith that the other 10 spies had and Joshua and Caleb sticking through it during a real time of trouble for them, I think rounds out my pick. So just to summarize here, Ryan, you picked David and Jonathan, Jesus and Mary and Martha and Lazarus, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and Elijah and Elisha. That's a quality lineup there, but going against Ruth and Naomi on my part, John and Jesus, Aaron and her and Moses, and then Joshua and Caleb. I don't know who would win. I think that's always the challenge in these drafts, but I like my picks. I think they're solid. Got Jesus in there. Got Old Testament heroes. We both found a way to get Jesus in. So, you know, there's no obvious stand out there. Jesus versus Jesus. Fight. Yeah, that's right. I like where you ended up there too, Joshua and Caleb. I'm glad we got Joshua in there. And that's a good pairing. I imagine those two old dogs, you know, sadly the only two people from their generation still living there at the end. And they had been through the fires together and made it through the wars, as we say, literally, and made it to the other side. I know you talked about Paul and some relationships there, but who else is on your list? Yeah, yeah. Paul with Priscilla and Aquila. I was thinking of a Epaphroditus with Paul and Paul and Barnabas and Paul and Timothy. Paul and Silas was on mine. Paul and Silas. Yeah. In the prison. You know, it's weird that we didn't get to Paul, but he gets enough play on this podcast. We've talked about Paul Blenty on this show. He was the winner of the favorite Bible character bracket a couple of years ago. So I think he has been respected. For sure. So that's our draft of friends through adversity. When you really think about it, there are a lot of examples of people who are living life, going through struggles all together. And for each one of these, we could really think a lot about the lessons that they teach us for our own lives and our own friendships. But in the spirit of that, let's move on to our last segment here on the show. And that is our reach out question. Reach out, reach out and touch someone. So the question is, how would your life, how would your life's biggest trials have turned out without a friend to bear your load? You know, kind of thinking about these friends through adversity we've just been talking about. If you didn't have a friend with you during some difficult times, how would things have turned out differently for you? You know, I don't even have to use my imagination because I'm just dumb enough to have tried carrying a lot of my biggest trials both ways, you know, and I can tell you from experience that the ladder wins every time. Not surprisingly, as we've gone through this, you know, there's just times when I felt like I needed to keep some troubles, whether it was in the church or in my family or in my faith to myself. And sometimes it's hard to discern between good things. You know, it's hard to discern between the virtue of wanting to be responsible and carrying a load with discretion and self-sacrifice and the virtue of walking in fellowship. And that idea of fellowship is really helpful for me, I think, because it captures what we're really talking about. Fellowship, koinonia is about sharing. We share so much in the Lord and that leads us to share our lives, to share, you know, physically what is needed to share each other's burdens. As we've been talking about that fellowship and partnership and sharing, having each other's things in common changes the experience. And sometimes what I've found is it's about finding the right person to work things through with. And whenever I did that, it was like I was a different person. So like trying to get to the real thing of this question, how would it be different? How is it different? I think when everything is internalized and you're just holding it all like you need to be the fortress, of course you have the Lord and that makes a huge difference. But He has blessed us with the church to really help and to really mourn with, pray with, share the load with, just talking it out so somebody else knows the issue that you're going through. It really just, it just makes a huge difference. There's a hymn that we sing sometimes, "I don't know a thing in the whole wide world that's worse than being alone." And there's just those moments when you feel like you need to be alone in it and then you eventually realize there is somebody I can talk to about this and you say it and it's like something is just lifted off your shoulders. It's not that you aren't carrying it anymore, but it's not so heavy because you're not alone in it. It's just like being understood. We've talked about, it's hard to express why it's different, but it really is. What about you? When you were talking there, fellowship, then you talked about koinonia and that sent me down this really weird spiral, right? It was just thinking about how we have this mutuality, right? It's like our lives are somehow intertwined with each other, where when you're so close to somebody, you've developed that connection with somebody, like it's just like waves that ebb back and forth and back and forth. You offer them support, well then they turn and offer you support and it's that giving and receiving. It actually made me think about that silly quote from Friends when Joey is up there officiating at Monica and Chandler's wedding ceremony and he's saying, like he basically says, "It's a love based of giving and receiving as well as having and sharing and the love that they give and have is shared and received and through this giving and sharing and receiving, we too can share and love and have and receive." Very eloquent. It's such a stupid way of phrasing all of the things that go on in a marriage, but between friends, that's exactly what it is. It's like a back and a fourth and a giving and a receiving and a sharing and a having. I just thought for myself, thinking about this question is like, I have been the Elijah in the cave and I've had those moments where I don't want to give and receive and share and have. I want to close out the world and I want to just be by myself. I've been in those moments where I feel like being alone would be better and easier. Then I've been, like you said, on the other side of that where I have opened up, I have shared things with people and comparing those two situations, it is for me, it's night and day. When there's somebody there to bear your load, for me, all I can say is that I get out of my head. I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you've just been in your head and you can't get out of your head. When you're by yourself, there's nobody to bounce things off of. There's nobody to check your speculations or your motives or to ask you challenging questions like we talked about in the last conversation. It's like when there's nobody there to bear your load, you are left with yourself and you're left with God, obviously. In that moment when Elijah was in the cave, God shakes Elijah awake and basically tells him to go find a buddy and get out of here. For me, the bearing of my load sometimes is just about listening to me and letting me express what's going on so that I don't have to let it swirl around in my own brain anymore. The giving and the sharing and the receiving and the having is great in a marriage. It's so good in a friendship too when they can see you, they can be there right in the thick of it with you and carry your pack like we've been talking about. Yeah, I can definitely relate. It's so easy to just start spinning and spiraling whenever you don't have perspective. There's an anchoring that comes whenever you feel like someone else is holding it with you. I love your example of Elijah too, because the Lord was there with him and that made a difference. But he didn't just say, "I'm enough." He said, "I have my 7,000 who haven't bowed the knee to Baal." He said, "You go." He gave him Elisha and there's still a place for others even as we walk with the Lord. If we only had the Lord, yes, that would be enough. But in his wisdom, that's not how the Lord has left it. He's given us others to talk things out with and to bear burdens with. He's commanded us to live that way in that kind of community and communion with one another. Well, I don't think our challenge this week is going to be a shocker to anybody, but here we go. Let's get into our challenge for this upcoming week. I am ready to face any challenges that might be foolish enough to face me. Unsurprisingly, our challenge this week is to ask somebody how you can carry their load or share yours with them. The giving and the having and the receiving and the sharing, you too can do this this week if you choose to. That sums it up so well. Yeah, that's it. We talked about a few weeks ago, we keep coming back to bless or to be blessed. That is the question. Knowing that they're really just two sides of the same coin. It's sometimes easier to be the helper than the helpee as we have worked through, but it's also good to know you don't have to carry everything on your own. We're both responsible for ourselves and we're given support through Christ's gift of the church. Ask somebody how you can carry their load, but don't be ashamed to share your load with those people that really are there for you. You don't dump it on everybody around you. It's not about complaining. This is not a moaning and mumbling conversation, but it's about, "Hey, I need some prayers." It's about, "Hey, can I talk through something I'm going through with you?" Or, "Hey, I want you to know I'm here for you. What can I pray for you this week? How can I help you? How can I support you? I know it's been a rough year for you and I just want you to know I'm here." I really appreciate that as leading into our closing prayer for this conversation. The one in the study guide comes from 2 Corinthians 1 verses 3 and 4, which basically says, "As you continually comfort us, O God, let us turn to pass that comfort along to our friends." That is what we're talking about here on this episode, because God is the God of comfort. He continually comforts us. Can we pass that down to somebody else in our life who needs comfort? Let's go to God in prayer and ask Him for that this week. Holy Father, it's amazing that you're able and so willing to step into our lives in all the mysterious and unseen ways that you do, but especially today as we think about our friends, the way that you use them as your hands and your feet to take care of us when we struggle and go through difficulty. When we look around at the help and the ways that you've comforted us and the ways that you've led us through even our darkest moments, please Father, help us to use those lessons to love others in a way that shows and demonstrates to them the kind of comfort that you've shown to us. We're in such awe of your power and your wisdom and all of the bigness that we see in creation that points us to you, but also in those little ways that you lift up our chins and that you wipe our tears away in all of those small moments unseen maybe by some. We can't wait to spend eternity with you and your Son in heaven, but while we're here on this earth, Father, we ask that you will strengthen our community, that you'll strengthen our resolve and our connection with each other to bless each other in a loving and supportive way every day. We thank you for these friendships that we have through the church, through Jesus, through his sacrifice that he paid, and please Father, strengthen us in these relationships to have deeper and more sincere connections with each other. We thank you for these times that we can talk together, that we can share these stories about men and women of faith long ago whose friendships helped them through adversity. I thank you for these times that we have to look at the power that you've presented to us in these loving and connected relationships. And Father, all this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Okay, so our next episode is the conclusion of this two-by-two guided study, session nine, about lifelong friends. You know, a lifetime's not too long to live as friends, as the old song says. And to prepare for that episode, we encourage you to read with us John 19, 25 to 27, Philippians 1, 3 to 11, and Ecclesiastes 4, verses 9 to 12. I love the way that this two-by-two study has sort of ended. You know, we've been talking about making friends and the makings of friendship in the beginning, and then we talked about this circle of friendship and how we sort of, you know, huddle up together and develop this real close bond with each other. And then just the journey of friendship, you know, living life together in this conversation that we've had today about adversity. And then just really the positive aspects of what we can do together as friends, how much better life is when we've got people there to share it with. So we'll wrap this whole thing up in our ultimate, the final conversation, session nine of this two-by-two study. So thanks so much everyone for tuning in to the Bible Geeks podcast. You can find show notes for this episode in your podcast player of choice, or at biblegeeks.fm/210. You can find this guided study over at biblegeeks.fm/twobytwo. There you'll see all of the conversations that we've had. You can follow along with the courses that we've got there. You can pass the link along to a friend and study these things together with them. And if you have any questions, comments, if you'd like to reach out and ask us to talk about anything in upcoming episodes, we'd love to hear from you. Just reach out on our website and may the Lord bless you and keep you. Shalom.