Spiritual Pathways || Phase 1 | Lesson Seven

Do you ever think through some of those random Guinness world record facts that are out there? It feels like you read on the news or see a lot of things now where people set a Guinness world record for the most random things. You know what the world record for the most piercings is? 4,225 piercings is the Guinness world record for the most piercings. The world record for the most Big Macs eaten in a lifetime? 26,000. And I don't know how they validate those. I don't know if they kept the receipts from that or how Guinness was able to sign off on somebody a 26,000 Big Macs in a lifetime. But a part of me, I think maybe the alcoholic side of me feels like it's a challenge. He ate 26,000 Big Macs in his lifetime. Well, in this section, we're asking those questions about different things. And today, the question we're talking about is what about the Bible? You know, the Bible is a book that maybe feels like now if you if you read and listen to any part of like kind of like cultural or societal kind of discussions about it, it feels like, well, the Bible is under attack. And that's a really bad thing. But the reality is the Bible has been under attack as long as the Bible has been around. There's not been a book that's been more persecuted or more trying to squash, hide or get rid of than the Bible. The Guinness world record fact here is that the most published book in human history is the Bible. And Guinness says that there was over five billion copies of the Bible have been made. So as you're starting this journey of recovery and we want to connect you to Jesus as a part of your long term recovery and and walking with Jesus is centered a lot in reading the Bible. And so it's like, OK, I feel like I need to start reading the Bible. And maybe you've done this before where you've decided or you heard somebody say you need to read your Bible. So, OK, I'm going to do that. And so you open it up like you do most any other book and and you get a hold of it. And you start in the first the first part and you start reading it. And then it becomes pretty clear pretty quick that, man, there's just a lot of different things in Scripture. And so that's that's we're going to spend a whole section kind of on the Bible. And so I don't want to dig too much into that, but I do want to kind of get some some foundation of what it is. Sixty six individual books or writing styles that are put together is what makes up Scripture. And it's cool to understand that there's different writing styles that are in the Bible. So because you read some of it and it reads way different than other than other other places in the Bible do. And if you read the Psalms, it's obvious that it's written in like poetry or song lyrics or something like that. You read Proverbs. It's obvious it's very those quick little like almost like fortune cookie statements. There's a lot of those that are in in Proverbs.

And some of it is like a historical account of things of of what's taking place. And some of it is like futuristic sci fi, never seen before prophecy things. And you take all of those things and you mix those together and you put it you put them in together. And that's and they're all in the Bible. You know, when I first went in the rooms of recovery, I would sit in those rooms and I would listen to people tell their stories about where they'd been and what they had done and what had happened to them and the choices they made around the substances they were using. It was very easy for me to look at, find the differences in it. And I would listen to somebody share about something and I'd be like, oh, man, I've never done that or this something else. Somebody else would share it. I'd be like, gosh, I've never even come close to doing something like that. And very early on, a guy that was first walking me through the steps of the recovery program would say that he used the word yet. When I would say, well, I've never done that, he would say, yet you're eligible to. And what I realized is I progressed in my addiction. And the longer that I went, the more that I had to use and the less time that I could go without using was a reality for me. Anytime that I stopped, as soon as I picked up, I was right back to where I was. The last time I quit, no matter how long I had taken off, like the differences that everybody had in me kept getting less and less. And man, what a difference it would have made in me if I would have shown up in those rooms of recovery, if I had shown up with the people that were there in recovery and I would have been looking for the things that are similar. And that's really in this part of us understanding what about the Bible is. Instead of looking for all the ways that you think that this doesn't make sense, or instead of looking of all the ways that you don't understand this or that, look for the things that you do connect with. Look for the things that do land. Look at the stories of how Jesus treated people and maybe just start there. And realize that sometimes as hard as it is to trust, that my way wasn't working. Me leaning on my own understanding wasn't working. Proverbs said that to trust not yourself, lean not on your own understanding. When I tried my way, it wasn't working. I tried my way that it landed me in a spot where I was in detox and I was sick and my relationships were broken and it felt like I had nothing left

that I could look, had any kind, that was the feelings of hopelessness is what my way got. Hebrews 4.17, or Hebrews 4.12 says, for the word of God is alive and active and so lean into the stuff that you do connect with. Don't look for the differences, look for the things that you do have in common and Psalm 119 verse eight says, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Lean into the things that you do connect with and you do understand and realize the Bible has been around for a long time. It doesn't need us to try to take up for it or fight for it. Like God's word has been around and it has stood. If you start somewhere, start with the stories of how Jesus treated people because I'm convinced there's nothing closer to the heart of God than the way Jesus treated people and that's been the foundation for me in my recovery. So start in that and don't look at the differences of the Bible, look at the things you can connect with. The Guinness Book of Fun Facts were really interesting and when you think about it, in order for somebody to strive for that goal, they had to get curious to begin with like, what's even there a record set for

and could I beat that and why they think of the things that they do, I will never understand. But as we think about our life and as we are putting pieces back together, we're stepping into recovery, we're allowing healing to take place. One of the best things that we can do is get curious about ourselves and how these pieces are coming back together. Several years ago, I was taking a class and the man leading the class taught us a simple conflict resolution technique and he said, just ask why five times. And he said, now listen, tone of voice matters, you aren't gonna be like, why, why, why with the attitude, right? And your heart has to be in the right place that your heart is really in a posture of wanting to learn and help get to the bottom of whatever the conflict is about. So I want you to think about this tool kind of like an onion, that if you were gonna peel back the layers of an onion to kind of get to that very center, these questions could be used in the same way. And I was skeptical at first, I'm gonna be honest with you and I was driving home, my kids were really young at the time

and I just found myself kind of at a point of desperation and I thought, I'm just gonna try it. They were fighting and so I just went for it. So to set the scene, my kids are in their booster seats, my daughter's hauled off and hit her brother in the back seat and now he's screaming. And I looked at my daughter in the rear view mirror and I said, why did you just hit your brother? And she said to me, well, because he was making me mad. And I said, well, why are you mad then? And she said, well, because he interrupted me. So then I asked her, why is him interrupting you, making you upset? And she said, because I was trying to talk to you mama and he interrupted. And so then I said, why did you think hitting was the best option to get him to quit interrupting you? And she sat there for a minute and was really quiet and she said, you know what? That really wasn't a good choice. I'm really sorry, bubby. And then we moved on and I thought to myself, this man is a genius. And it's not always that cut and dry, right? That's a sweet little example that actually worked out the way it is. But when we lay this alongside what we know about our emotions and how our brain is wired, asking why five times gave us time to slow down,

to let those emotions and those messages get from the first floor of our brain to the second floor of our brain, where we can really think and reason from a healthy place rather than just respond from a place of reaction and strong emotions. So as you continue in your application piece, I want you to really take the time to stop and get curious and ask questions and allow yourself to consider, if this is something I believe, why do I believe that? And then peel back another layer of the onion. Why that? Why that? And see once you get to the root of it, if you're able to uncover a truth that maybe has been buried for quite a while.