Kirk Cameron is joined by Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter, Jonathan McReynolds, sharing his personal story of God’s work in his life and career.
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Takeaways with Kirk Cameron | Jonathan McReynolds: Discovering Value in the Valley Experience | Takeaways with Kirk Cameron | June 2, 2025
- Kirk cameron: life is full of ups and downs.
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- We work hard to climb the mountain of success.
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- We're striving for excellence, and there's nothing wrong
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- With that.
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- Mountaintop accomplishments are to be enjoyed, but we don't want
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- To miss the lessons of growth and strength offered in the
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- Valley experiences, because god uses those times to draw us
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- Closer to him and open our eyes to what is truly important.
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- Our guest today, grammy award winning artist jonathan
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- Mcreynolds, will share what he's learned from his mountaintop and
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- Valley experiences that will encourage and inspire you.
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- So let's get to it right now on "takeaways."
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- Jonathan mcreynolds: we are so pressed as a culture to
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- Constantly aim up.
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- Remembering that god is your source.
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- You can't eat on the mountain.
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- There's not much up there.
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- So you have to come back down to get your nourishment, to get
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- Your identity back.
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- [music]
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- Kirk: my guest today is a grammy award winning artist,
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- Songwriter, and producer.
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- Jonathan mcreynolds has released five acclaimed albums and
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- Authored two books while also serving as adjunct professor at
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- Columbia college chicago.
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- His latest book, "before you climb any higher," reminds us of
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- How important it is to make room for god in the middle of all the
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- Chaos and the busyness of life.
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- Jonathan, thanks so much for meeting up with us
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- On "takeaways."
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- Jonathan: thanks for having me.
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- Kirk: man, i'm so fascinated by your life, by your career, and
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- Not only your ministry, but this book about mountaintop
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- Experiences and how we all want them, but often they're
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- Unsatisfying for a number of reasons, and we don't cope with
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- Them well when we finally get there, and we fall.
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- Jonathan: yeah, yeah.
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- First of all, i'm an admirer of your life and all that you've
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- Done, your work, all that you've produced and put out there
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- For us.
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- So, i appreciate you, and i thank you that you're interested
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- In anything i have going on.
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- Kirk: well, i am, absolutely.
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- Thank you very much.
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- That's very kind of you to say.
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- Give us all a little bit of background on how you got
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- Started in the gospel music industry.
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- Jonathan: man, you know what?
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- I talk about this in the book.
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- It feels like god made me start this mountain he
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- Started himself.
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- I don't know that i was really looking for it.
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- I guess i was doing the stuff that it would require, but i
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- Never knew that my life would ever turn out like this.
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- I was, you know, playing the organ, the drums in my church
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- Ever since i was five years old, i was going to school for music,
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- But i really didn't have a lot of commercial ambitions for the
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- Music i was making.
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- So i was in the dorm room in between classes, i was making
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- Music, and somehow that music got out.
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- One day i woke up to a whole bunch of missed calls, 'cause
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- They had played my song on the radio.
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- They invited me to a big church to sing, and that's kind of how
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- It all began.
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- Kirk: wow, that's always the best story, when people are
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- Doing it just because they love it, not just as like a gimmick
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- To try to make a career or something.
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- I mean, everybody needs a career, but when you love it,
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- And you're starting out in church, and you're doing that
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- Kind of thing, i think everybody's already rooting
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- For you.
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- Jonathan: sometimes it's good to be a little, i don't wanna say
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- Dumb, but innocent of all of it.
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- You don't know the right things to do.
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- You don't know the right formulas to plug in.
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- You're just doing it your way, the way you feel it, the way you
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- Thought of it, and that's really how my first album was.
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- It was initially just a christmas gift.
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- As a college student, i don't have enough money to buy actual
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- Gifts for every aunt and uncle, so what i did was i burned a cd
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- Of some of the music i was making in the dorm room, called
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- It the very unofficial ep of jonathan mcreynolds.
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- I made the first track like a thank you auntie betty for all
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- Of the road trips to branson and disney world.
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- I appreciate how you, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah, and
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- Here are six songs, and that eventually became my first
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- Release, my first unofficial release.
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- Kirk: that's so cool.
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- And it lends an authenticity to it that i think comes through in
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- The music.
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- Jonathan: thank you.
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- Kirk: so what led you to write this book, "before you climb
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- Any higher"?
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- Jonathan: i don't know about you, but i have many times had a
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- Personal discrepancy between great professional moments and
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- Not so great personal moments.
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- It seems like the seasons where i am doing so well and i have so
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- Many things to post and so many likes and so many--so much
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- Applause, and it's like--
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- Kirk: everything's working professionally.
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- Jonathan: everything's working, but for me, though, i feel
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- Tired, i'm exhausted, i'm making stupid mistakes, i'm doing stuff
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- That i'm not proud of, i'm sad, i'm grieving, i'm mourning, all
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- This other stuff is happening, and so i think for me, not only
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- Seeing that within myself, but seeing that honestly in culture.
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- We see the greats all the time falling.
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- We see the amazing people that we revere have so many struggles
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- Once it comes out.
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- And so i wanted to really try to rectify, reconcile rather, why
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- Does it seem like the people who are high up on the mountain who
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- Are having the success, why are they not actually having
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- Soul success?
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- Kirk: yeah.
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- Jonathan: why doesn't peace exist up there?
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- What's happening?
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- Kirk: yeah, i know exactly what you're talking about, because
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- Sometimes i think of people who work their whole lives to become
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- A singer, or they work their whole lives to become an athlete
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- And get into the nfl or the super bowl, or to become an
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- Actor, and then you find later they like--i don't know what
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- Led to it, but they fell, and they fell so hard.
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- It's like they didn't just fall, it's like they dove, and they
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- Either just lost it with substance abuse, or they
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- Destroyed their marriage, or they committed suicide or some
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- Tragic thing, and you think.
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- Man, you had it.
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- You had everything.
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- Why weren't you happy and at peace?
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- Jonathan: it's not even just singers and athletes.
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- A lot of times it's pastors.
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- A lot of times it's ministers, it's people you think that we
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- Would be immune to all of that.
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- You think that we would have just a vested protection from
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- Ever being burned out or exhausted because everything we
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- Do has jesus's name on it.
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- But honestly, we are just as, you know, vulnerable to that
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- Burnout as anybody else.
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- Kirk: yeah, so, jonathan, give us just a little flavor of like,
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- What was it like for you, your mountaintop experience?
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- What was it about your musical career that would influence you
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- To write this book?
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- Jonathan: yeah, so i've never really had a mountain top
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- Experience, because if you're a true climber, whenever you feel
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- Like you're getting the top or something, you normally just
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- Find something else to climb.
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- And so it's a forever pursuit.
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- I'm just always wanting to be better, more--get more awards,
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- Get another movie, get another song, get another degree, get
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- Another church, whatever it is, and so for me it was really i
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- Was in a situation, i had done a huge tour, literally, christian
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- Music's biggest tour up to that point.
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- I was in a musical, i was thinking about maybe writing a
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- Book, and i had another book in mind.
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- I was thinking maybe i'll write something like this.
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- All of this was happening at the same time i had some family
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- Stuff going on that i was carrying, and i just realized
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- That all of this trudging up the mountain that i was doing,
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- I was--it was wreaking havoc on my body, my soul.
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- I mean, every doctor i went to, it looks like stress.
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- I mean, you'd be amazing--you'd be amazed how many
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- Manifestations of stress that can happen in the body.
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- It's just like your pinky toe hurts.
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- Well, that's probably stress.
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- Kirk: it's probably stress.
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- Jonathan: and so it's just amazing how the work and the
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- Upward progress that i had set myself on ever since i was a
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- Little precocious kid when i was six years old, i was not giving
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- Myself time to be anything else than a title earner, a degree
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- Receiver, an accomplishment getter, and i had to realize
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- That first and foremost, on my best day and on my worst day, i
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- Was something else, a son of god, and i wasn't gonna find and
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- Embrace that title while every day was on the mountain.
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- Kirk: wow, this is so good for all of us, whether you're a
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- Singer, whether you're an athlete, whether you're a pastor
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- Or you're a parent, a student, a grandparent, anything, because
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- We want our life to count for something.
- 00:08:48.017 --> 00:08:49.385
- I wanna know who i am, i wanna know that my life is counting,
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- And that i'm moving in the right direction.
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- And we're always looking at the next big thing, the next big
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- Accomplishment, you know?
- 00:08:57.360 --> 00:08:58.694
- I'm 55 years old now, and i think, wow, you know, i've got
- 00:08:58.694 --> 00:09:02.498
- Like--so much sand has gone through the hourglass in terms
- 00:09:02.498 --> 00:09:06.002
- Of the time that i have left in life, and i think what is it
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- That i wanna do next?
- 00:09:08.771 --> 00:09:10.640
- But i love what you're saying is that we have--i mean, the truth
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- Is i've got more than enough time, i've got eternity with the
- 00:09:15.745 --> 00:09:20.916
- Lord in heaven, but while i'm here, i want to do as much good
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- As possible, and i wanna be in the right mindset so that it's
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- Not burnout, and i know your book is gonna help me and others
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- With this.
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- You say in your book, the mountain is part of life, but
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- There's very little life on it.
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- Jonathan: yeah.
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- Kirk: what do you mean by that?
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- Jonathan: okay, so now i'm from chicago.
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- We don't have mountains or hills much at all.
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- Kirk: okay.
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- Jonathan: but when i got to la, and i started living in la, and
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- You know about la, there's some elevation there.
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- There's literally, you know, mountains and valleys, and what
- 00:09:55.184 --> 00:10:00.056
- I realized, even if you look at like the rockies, you have this
- 00:10:00.056 --> 00:10:03.626
- Big noble mountain, but as you slide up this mountain, you
- 00:10:03.626 --> 00:10:07.363
- Realize, wait, i don't see any trees, i don't see any green,
- 00:10:07.363 --> 00:10:12.068
- It's snowcapped, it's, you know, cold, thin air.
- 00:10:12.068 --> 00:10:17.273
- Meanwhile, the valley, and i mean civilizations, ancient
- 00:10:17.273 --> 00:10:21.210
- Civilizations, they always start in the valley, why?
- 00:10:21.210 --> 00:10:24.180
- Because there was lushness there.
- 00:10:24.180 --> 00:10:26.048
- There was grass, there was a river, there were bunny rabbits
- 00:10:26.048 --> 00:10:29.185
- Hopping around.
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- There were birds flying.
- 00:10:30.553 --> 00:10:31.887
- All of this is so much life in the valley, and i think that we
- 00:10:31.887 --> 00:10:34.023
- Are so pressed as a culture to constantly aim up, up, up, up,
- 00:10:34.023 --> 00:10:40.529
- And i think that we haven't really been honest, even the
- 00:10:40.529 --> 00:10:43.065
- People who are working so hard to be up there, they haven't
- 00:10:43.065 --> 00:10:46.368
- Been honest about what's on that mountain.
- 00:10:46.368 --> 00:10:49.205
- It's not just a lot of people applauding for you, but it's
- 00:10:49.205 --> 00:10:52.575
- Cold, thin air, it's isolation, it's a lot of loneliness, and we
- 00:10:52.575 --> 00:10:56.746
- Just haven't been honest.
- 00:10:56.746 --> 00:10:58.214
- And so my goal in this book was to de-romanticize the mountain a
- 00:10:58.214 --> 00:11:02.251
- Little bit and let people know that there is something for you.
- 00:11:02.251 --> 00:11:07.056
- There is sonship, daughterhood for you, and that is not
- 00:11:07.056 --> 00:11:10.893
- Something that you have to earn.
- 00:11:10.893 --> 00:11:12.261
- That's something that you just have to embrace being given.
- 00:11:12.261 --> 00:11:14.396
- Kirk: jonathan, this is so important, because so many of us
- 00:11:14.396 --> 00:11:16.665
- Do romanticize or fantasize, whatever word you used, about
- 00:11:16.665 --> 00:11:20.336
- A mountaintop experience.
- 00:11:20.336 --> 00:11:21.704
- And could it be that the most important lessons and the
- 00:11:21.704 --> 00:11:25.374
- Deepest lessons of the heart are learned way down in the valley,
- 00:11:25.374 --> 00:11:29.145
- Which we think of as bad?
- 00:11:29.145 --> 00:11:30.513
- But you're saying that's where the lush life is happening.
- 00:11:30.513 --> 00:11:32.615
- Jonathan: absolutely.
- 00:11:32.615 --> 00:11:33.949
- My goal is to flip this idea of mountain being good, valley
- 00:11:33.949 --> 00:11:39.121
- Being bad, because honestly, most of my problems, most of the
- 00:11:39.121 --> 00:11:45.127
- Heartache, the hurt, the injury, it happened on the mountain.
- 00:11:45.127 --> 00:11:51.100
- It happened while scaling the mountain, and it's just how we
- 00:11:51.100 --> 00:11:55.671
- Be honest about it.
- 00:11:55.671 --> 00:11:57.006
- And i'll go farther into this metaphor as we talk, but it's
- 00:11:57.006 --> 00:12:02.478
- Not even about your actual success, it's about how much
- 00:12:02.478 --> 00:12:05.748
- You're consumed with the pursuit of success.
- 00:12:05.748 --> 00:12:09.185
- That's what pushes you up the mountain.
- 00:12:09.185 --> 00:12:10.986
- And you've seen some incredibly successful people who have
- 00:12:10.986 --> 00:12:15.124
- Learned to be low and near the valley.
- 00:12:15.124 --> 00:12:18.527
- We've also seen some people who maybe don't have all the
- 00:12:18.527 --> 00:12:21.297
- External success but are so consumed by the pursuit of it,
- 00:12:21.297 --> 00:12:24.867
- That they're somewhere up there in rarefied air.
- 00:12:24.867 --> 00:12:27.269
- And so just whether you find yourself at the beginning of
- 00:12:27.269 --> 00:12:31.207
- Your career, at the end of your career, it feels like you're at
- 00:12:31.207 --> 00:12:33.809
- A peak of it, or you feel like you're at a valley of it, i'm
- 00:12:33.809 --> 00:12:36.946
- Trying to let you guys know, let the world know that god has
- 00:12:36.946 --> 00:12:41.050
- Something for you.
- 00:12:41.050 --> 00:12:42.418
- If you just humble yourself, you might find even more success,
- 00:12:42.418 --> 00:12:46.055
- Because you're now empowered as a son, not as a boss, king,
- 00:12:46.055 --> 00:12:50.459
- Ceo, superstar.
- 00:12:50.459 --> 00:12:52.895
- Kirk: man, i wanna talk with you more about this.
- 00:12:52.895 --> 00:12:54.663
- After the break, jonathan will share how he discovered the
- 00:12:54.663 --> 00:12:57.499
- Valuable lessons he learned on the way back down the mountain.
- 00:12:57.499 --> 00:13:01.203
- Don't go away.
- 00:13:01.203 --> 00:13:03.205
- [music]
- 00:13:03.205 --> 00:13:08.002
- [music]
- 00:13:08.002 --> 00:13:08.612
- [music]
- 00:13:08.945 --> 00:13:11.982
- ♪ this is your world ♪
- 00:13:14.784 --> 00:13:16.620
- ♪ i'm just living in it ♪
- 00:13:16.620 --> 00:13:20.357
- ♪ i'm just walking through it ♪
- 00:13:20.357 --> 00:13:23.193
- ♪ knowing that you're in it ♪
- 00:13:23.193 --> 00:13:25.562
- Kirk: welcome back.
- 00:13:25.562 --> 00:13:26.897
- We're learning about valley wisdom for mountain dreams with
- 00:13:26.897 --> 00:13:30.033
- My guest jonathan mcreynolds.
- 00:13:30.033 --> 00:13:32.969
- Jonathan, your book is reminding me of a camping trip that i took
- 00:13:32.969 --> 00:13:36.206
- With my son, james, and we wanted to go backpacking out
- 00:13:36.206 --> 00:13:39.576
- Into the ansel adams wilderness near yosemite, california, and
- 00:13:39.576 --> 00:13:45.515
- We had such a great time because, well, first we had to
- 00:13:45.515 --> 00:13:48.351
- Decide, are we gonna go down to the valley floor where most
- 00:13:48.351 --> 00:13:50.887
- People go, and that's where the millions of people are, because
- 00:13:50.887 --> 00:13:52.923
- You could see the waterfalls, you're down there with the
- 00:13:52.923 --> 00:13:54.624
- Squirrels and the bears and everything else, or we're gonna
- 00:13:54.624 --> 00:13:57.227
- Go up to where it looks like the moon?
- 00:13:57.227 --> 00:13:59.896
- It's like scorched earth, nothing left, and you're just
- 00:13:59.896 --> 00:14:03.433
- There with granite and like wolves.
- 00:14:03.433 --> 00:14:06.002
- Jonathan: yeah.
- 00:14:06.002 --> 00:14:07.337
- Kirk: but, you know, my son wanted to go to the top of the
- 00:14:07.337 --> 00:14:09.205
- Mountain, and my daughter wanted to go down into the valley, and
- 00:14:09.205 --> 00:14:15.879
- They're both beautiful, and there's both--they're both
- 00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:18.682
- Great, and you were talking a little bit earlier about the
- 00:14:18.682 --> 00:14:24.955
- Valley not being a bad thing but being a lush place of life where
- 00:14:24.955 --> 00:14:30.894
- Lessons are learned.
- 00:14:30.894 --> 00:14:32.228
- Can you expand a little bit more?
- 00:14:32.228 --> 00:14:33.563
- What types of lessons can be learned in the valleys?
- 00:14:33.563 --> 00:14:36.566
- Jonathan: sure, first of all, it's funny that your son wanted
- 00:14:36.566 --> 00:14:40.370
- To go to the mountaintop, 'cause us guys, we have it really bad.
- 00:14:40.370 --> 00:14:45.008
- We have this thing where we really feel like we have to
- 00:14:45.008 --> 00:14:48.611
- Conquer, rah!
- 00:14:48.611 --> 00:14:49.980
- You know what i'm saying?
- 00:14:49.980 --> 00:14:51.314
- We gotta get to the top, and trust me, i am not advising
- 00:14:51.314 --> 00:14:55.852
- Against climbing your mountain.
- 00:14:55.852 --> 00:14:58.254
- God has given us all assignments, he's given us all
- 00:14:58.254 --> 00:15:01.224
- Missions, he's given us careers, ministries, families to take
- 00:15:01.224 --> 00:15:04.294
- Care of, climb that mountain.
- 00:15:04.294 --> 00:15:05.962
- It's very important that we handle what we're supposed to
- 00:15:05.962 --> 00:15:08.131
- Handle, and maybe that means climbing to the top of that
- 00:15:08.131 --> 00:15:11.167
- Mountain, scorched-earth mountain, then let's do it,
- 00:15:11.167 --> 00:15:15.572
- And god will give us strength.
- 00:15:15.572 --> 00:15:17.407
- The problem is sometimes we are so afraid of coming back down to
- 00:15:17.407 --> 00:15:27.150
- Just the normal valley where all the people--all the normal
- 00:15:27.150 --> 00:15:30.687
- People are.
- 00:15:30.687 --> 00:15:32.022
- Kirk: and it makes me-- i'm not special anymore.
- 00:15:32.022 --> 00:15:33.390
- Jonathan: i'm not special anymore, you know?
- 00:15:33.390 --> 00:15:34.958
- All those--that feeling that i had in childhood where i had to
- 00:15:34.958 --> 00:15:39.796
- Accomplish so people would like me and value me.
- 00:15:39.796 --> 00:15:43.633
- My mother seemed to enjoy when i did something well.
- 00:15:43.633 --> 00:15:46.669
- So, let me keep doing things well.
- 00:15:46.669 --> 00:15:48.571
- Let me keep going up the mountain, and we continue to
- 00:15:48.571 --> 00:15:51.574
- Forsake this opportunity that your daughter saw, that there's
- 00:15:51.574 --> 00:15:57.047
- Beautiful--there's a reason why there's more people down there.
- 00:15:57.047 --> 00:16:00.216
- There's life, there is less concern about falling.
- 00:16:00.216 --> 00:16:07.323
- There's less paranoia.
- 00:16:07.323 --> 00:16:09.259
- There is--there's a freedom down there.
- 00:16:09.259 --> 00:16:12.328
- There's a community down there.
- 00:16:12.328 --> 00:16:14.264
- And i think that when we are only on the mountain identifying
- 00:16:14.264 --> 00:16:19.002
- Ourselves as ceo and boss and king and queen and everything
- 00:16:19.002 --> 00:16:23.740
- Else, have you looked at instagram bios lately?
- 00:16:23.740 --> 00:16:28.011
- This is the generation of the multi-hyphenate.
- 00:16:28.011 --> 00:16:31.347
- None of us do one thing.
- 00:16:31.347 --> 00:16:32.916
- Yeah, i'm a singer, i'm an actor, i'm an author, i'm a,
- 00:16:32.916 --> 00:16:36.619
- I don't know, trapeze artist.
- 00:16:36.619 --> 00:16:38.354
- I don't know, i do all these things, you know what
- 00:16:38.354 --> 00:16:40.156
- I'm saying?
- 00:16:40.156 --> 00:16:41.524
- I'm the boss of this, and i founded this, and i thought
- 00:16:41.524 --> 00:16:43.927
- About this.
- 00:16:43.927 --> 00:16:45.295
- Rarely do you see son or daughter of god, because we
- 00:16:45.295 --> 00:16:48.465
- Identify ourselves mostly as people who take care of stuff,
- 00:16:48.465 --> 00:16:54.003
- And we forget that we are also being taken care of.
- 00:16:54.003 --> 00:16:58.908
- In the valley, you remember that you are not just somebody on
- 00:16:58.908 --> 00:17:03.313
- Assignment, but you're also god's assignment.
- 00:17:03.313 --> 00:17:06.516
- He's taking care of you as ardently and even more
- 00:17:06.516 --> 00:17:10.553
- Tenaciously than you're taking care of all the stuff on
- 00:17:10.553 --> 00:17:12.922
- Your mountain.
- 00:17:12.922 --> 00:17:14.290
- He's taking care of you, you are his son, you are his daughter,
- 00:17:14.290 --> 00:17:17.527
- You have an opportunity to embrace that and take a load
- 00:17:17.527 --> 00:17:22.165
- Off a little bit.
- 00:17:22.165 --> 00:17:23.500
- His will is his bill, not yours, and there's so much that we can
- 00:17:23.500 --> 00:17:27.737
- Do when we are stripped and freed of the responsibility, not
- 00:17:27.737 --> 00:17:33.543
- Even the responsibility, because we have our responsibilities,
- 00:17:33.543 --> 00:17:35.812
- But the pressure of constantly living on the mountain.
- 00:17:35.812 --> 00:17:40.750
- Go to the mountain, but any real mountain climber knows he can't
- 00:17:40.750 --> 00:17:44.454
- Really celebrate until he gets off of that mountain.
- 00:17:44.454 --> 00:17:48.658
- Like there's only so much you can do on the top of
- 00:17:48.658 --> 00:17:52.262
- Mount everest.
- 00:17:52.262 --> 00:17:53.630
- You get up there, you plant the flag, you take a picture, and
- 00:17:53.630 --> 00:17:56.199
- You try to get down so you can really get back with family
- 00:17:56.199 --> 00:17:59.636
- And hug.
- 00:17:59.636 --> 00:18:00.970
- And so it's not so much about lessons being learned in
- 00:18:00.970 --> 00:18:02.839
- The valley.
- 00:18:02.839 --> 00:18:04.240
- There are lessons that you're gonna learn, but it's really
- 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:06.476
- Identity that you pick up again.
- 00:18:06.476 --> 00:18:08.878
- Oh, wait, i am not--the world is not revolving around me.
- 00:18:08.878 --> 00:18:13.216
- Even though i'm responsible to steward what god has given me as
- 00:18:13.216 --> 00:18:17.453
- Best as i can, still, i don't make the world go round.
- 00:18:17.453 --> 00:18:21.291
- I'm gonna do the best that i can do as a ceo, as an entrepreneur,
- 00:18:21.291 --> 00:18:24.928
- But god gives the increase.
- 00:18:24.928 --> 00:18:26.796
- So i have to make sure i'm reminded that he's taking care
- 00:18:26.796 --> 00:18:30.166
- Of things even better than i'm taking care of.
- 00:18:30.166 --> 00:18:33.336
- Kirk: yeah, i mean, i think about the scriptures that say
- 00:18:33.336 --> 00:18:34.804
- The lord is my shepherd, and he leads me besides quiet waters,
- 00:18:34.804 --> 00:18:38.942
- And he makes me lay down in green pastures.
- 00:18:38.942 --> 00:18:41.377
- Well, where are those?
- 00:18:41.377 --> 00:18:42.745
- They're in the valley.
- 00:18:42.745 --> 00:18:44.080
- Jonathan: not up there.
- 00:18:44.080 --> 00:18:45.448
- Kirk: they're not up there.
- 00:18:45.448 --> 00:18:46.783
- Jonathan: there's not a lot of green up there at all, yeah.
- 00:18:46.783 --> 00:18:48.384
- Kirk: and that would make us not resent and be disgusted by being
- 00:18:48.384 --> 00:18:55.258
- Laid low by our circumstances, because you're saying that's
- 00:18:55.258 --> 00:18:58.995
- Where we can find rest, and we can reconnect with god.
- 00:18:58.995 --> 00:19:03.600
- Talk a little bit about those two qualities, the importance of
- 00:19:03.600 --> 00:19:06.402
- Resting and reconnecting.
- 00:19:06.402 --> 00:19:08.571
- Jonathan: when you actually realize, okay, maybe there's
- 00:19:08.571 --> 00:19:11.341
- Something for me in the valley, and you come back down to the
- 00:19:11.341 --> 00:19:14.444
- Valley, you realize that god had--he had identity for you.
- 00:19:14.444 --> 00:19:19.816
- Normally, we are climbing up that mountain so high, because
- 00:19:19.816 --> 00:19:23.553
- We're looking to establish identity for ourselves when god
- 00:19:23.553 --> 00:19:27.323
- Is trying to tell us in the valley there's already
- 00:19:27.323 --> 00:19:29.425
- An identity for you.
- 00:19:29.425 --> 00:19:31.194
- You're looking to acquire grammy-type identity or applause
- 00:19:31.194 --> 00:19:37.734
- Identity, and god has given you son-type identity, and we just
- 00:19:37.734 --> 00:19:43.172
- Never really rest in that.
- 00:19:43.172 --> 00:19:47.010
- I don't have to, ah!
- 00:19:47.010 --> 00:19:49.679
- Steer this ship with such a strong--no, he actually has
- 00:19:49.679 --> 00:19:53.783
- This under control.
- 00:19:53.783 --> 00:19:55.118
- He's finished the work, i'm living this thing out, and i am
- 00:19:55.118 --> 00:19:59.088
- Just one of his sons within his agenda.
- 00:19:59.088 --> 00:20:03.293
- Am i doing some great things and having some great feats and
- 00:20:03.293 --> 00:20:06.129
- Getting to hang out with some of the greats in our industry?
- 00:20:06.129 --> 00:20:10.300
- That's awesome.
- 00:20:10.300 --> 00:20:11.634
- But ultimately, this is all a finished work.
- 00:20:11.634 --> 00:20:14.237
- This is all something that i'm living out much more
- 00:20:14.237 --> 00:20:17.707
- Than creating.
- 00:20:17.707 --> 00:20:20.009
- Kirk: yeah, johnathan, let me ask you, you said a couple of
- 00:20:20.009 --> 00:20:22.278
- Times that i'm a son of god or i'm a daughter.
- 00:20:22.278 --> 00:20:26.015
- What's so great about that?
- 00:20:26.015 --> 00:20:27.684
- I mean, someone who says like, well, okay, you're saying that's
- 00:20:27.684 --> 00:20:30.987
- Better than than the grammy title or the king or the
- 00:20:30.987 --> 00:20:34.190
- Boss title.
- 00:20:34.190 --> 00:20:35.558
- I have a son title.
- 00:20:35.558 --> 00:20:36.893
- What's so great about being a son?
- 00:20:36.893 --> 00:20:38.261
- Jonathan: man, okay, so son comes with power, it comes with
- 00:20:38.261 --> 00:20:45.234
- Position, it comes with--it comes with an idea that dad's
- 00:20:45.234 --> 00:20:54.377
- Gonna take care of stuff.
- 00:20:54.377 --> 00:20:55.812
- Like, do you remember just being a kid and just being like
- 00:20:55.812 --> 00:21:00.149
- Are we there yet?
- 00:21:00.149 --> 00:21:01.484
- I mean, there's so--i'm not the one that's driving this ship.
- 00:21:01.484 --> 00:21:04.987
- It's like god, is this where you want me to get off?
- 00:21:04.987 --> 00:21:06.723
- Okay, here we go.
- 00:21:06.723 --> 00:21:08.091
- You know what i'm saying?
- 00:21:08.091 --> 00:21:09.425
- There's just so--there's a different approach to life and
- 00:21:09.425 --> 00:21:12.128
- The way you look at it when you realize you're the son and not
- 00:21:12.128 --> 00:21:14.731
- Just the son of like some regular guy, but the son of god,
- 00:21:14.731 --> 00:21:19.102
- Like the one who's actually orchestrating all this in the
- 00:21:19.102 --> 00:21:21.404
- First place, like you have a direct line, you have his blood,
- 00:21:21.404 --> 00:21:24.941
- You have his dna, and you are embracing it, and you're living
- 00:21:24.941 --> 00:21:28.778
- It out, man, that is a different type of power.
- 00:21:28.778 --> 00:21:31.814
- That's a different type of comfort.
- 00:21:31.814 --> 00:21:34.183
- I know that everything is gonna be all right, because my father
- 00:21:34.183 --> 00:21:38.855
- Runs everything.
- 00:21:38.855 --> 00:21:40.189
- Are you kidding me?
- 00:21:40.189 --> 00:21:41.524
- We're in his house.
- 00:21:41.524 --> 00:21:42.892
- And so, i think that, you know, there's so much beauty that can
- 00:21:42.892 --> 00:21:46.429
- Come when you just remind yourself that you're a son.
- 00:21:46.429 --> 00:21:49.732
- Kirk: yeah, that's right.
- 00:21:49.732 --> 00:21:51.067
- That's right.
- 00:21:51.067 --> 00:21:52.435
- I love that, and you know, the scriptures tell us that just
- 00:21:52.435 --> 00:21:55.371
- Like jesus, you know, he is the son of god, but we're sons and
- 00:21:55.371 --> 00:22:00.410
- Daughters of god when we believe the gospel, and we get to
- 00:22:00.410 --> 00:22:03.179
- Inherit all of that together with him for all of eternity.
- 00:22:03.179 --> 00:22:08.017
- And i think, and all of his righteousness becomes ours and
- 00:22:08.017 --> 00:22:12.255
- All of that glory and that kingdom, he invites us into it
- 00:22:12.255 --> 00:22:16.526
- And to share all of it with him.
- 00:22:16.526 --> 00:22:17.894
- So what does it really matter whether my--whether i have a
- 00:22:17.894 --> 00:22:20.696
- Book or a movie or a trophy or a ribbon or a thing when i've got
- 00:22:20.696 --> 00:22:26.602
- The goodness and the mercy and the glory of god
- 00:22:26.602 --> 00:22:30.139
- To enjoy for eternity?
- 00:22:30.139 --> 00:22:31.874
- Jonathan: this is icing on the cake.
- 00:22:31.874 --> 00:22:33.209
- Kirk: yeah.
- 00:22:33.209 --> 00:22:34.811
- Jonathan: that's all it is.
- 00:22:34.811 --> 00:22:36.179
- It reminds me of this, and i just wanna say this, since you
- 00:22:36.179 --> 00:22:38.114
- Brought up jesus, we're talking about a jesus that is the son of
- 00:22:38.114 --> 00:22:41.017
- God, and he--god was so pleased with him that he said, "this is
- 00:22:41.017 --> 00:22:45.955
- My son in whom i'm well pleased," and jesus hadn't
- 00:22:45.955 --> 00:22:48.825
- Done anything.
- 00:22:48.825 --> 00:22:50.193
- He hadn't done any of the miracles that we know him for.
- 00:22:50.193 --> 00:22:53.129
- He hadn't died on the cross, he hadn't done anything yet but be.
- 00:22:53.129 --> 00:22:59.502
- So, could you imagine that if god can bestow that type of
- 00:22:59.502 --> 00:23:03.506
- Pleasure in his son before his son even gets to the
- 00:23:03.506 --> 00:23:08.244
- Nitty-gritty of climbing his mountain, don't you think he'd
- 00:23:08.244 --> 00:23:12.048
- Do that for us too?
- 00:23:12.048 --> 00:23:13.449
- Jonathan: man, this is a fascinating talk.
- 00:23:13.449 --> 00:23:15.885
- I can't wait to talk more, and when we come back, we'll talk
- 00:23:15.885 --> 00:23:18.921
- With jonathan more about the value of valley experience and
- 00:23:18.921 --> 00:23:22.692
- How god will use it to change our mindset, so stay with us.
- 00:23:22.692 --> 00:23:26.896
- [music]
- 00:23:26.896 --> 00:23:31.400
- Kirk: welcome to a new segment of "takeaways" where we're
- 00:23:35.571 --> 00:23:38.374
- Putting a spotlight on breakthrough health discoveries
- 00:23:38.374 --> 00:23:41.677
- And hosting a very special friend of the tbn family who has
- 00:23:41.677 --> 00:23:44.947
- Come all the way from israel.
- 00:23:44.947 --> 00:23:47.383
- Joining me now is ilan sobel, the ceo of bioharvest sciences,
- 00:23:47.383 --> 00:23:52.021
- The makers of vinia, a red grape circulation superfood that is
- 00:23:52.021 --> 00:23:56.659
- The talk of the town here at tbn.
- 00:23:56.659 --> 00:23:59.195
- Ilan, thanks so much for joining us.
- 00:23:59.195 --> 00:24:01.197
- Ilan sobel: kirk, it's an absolute pleasure to be on the
- 00:24:01.197 --> 00:24:03.065
- Show today.
- 00:24:03.065 --> 00:24:04.433
- Kirk: well, i am so excited.
- 00:24:04.433 --> 00:24:05.768
- You know, if i wasn't an actor, i had always aspired to be a
- 00:24:05.768 --> 00:24:09.005
- Doctor, and i'm thrilled at the idea of technology harnessing
- 00:24:09.005 --> 00:24:14.777
- The magic and the treasures of creation and using it
- 00:24:14.777 --> 00:24:19.382
- For health.
- 00:24:19.382 --> 00:24:20.716
- So talk to us about vinia.
- 00:24:20.716 --> 00:24:22.084
- What is it, and why is everyone so excited about it?
- 00:24:22.084 --> 00:24:25.054
- Ilan: wow, vinia is probably the best manifestation of how
- 00:24:25.054 --> 00:24:29.091
- Scripture and science come together.
- 00:24:29.091 --> 00:24:31.727
- So let's go back to creation, if you don't mind for
- 00:24:31.727 --> 00:24:34.597
- A moment, kirk.
- 00:24:34.597 --> 00:24:35.965
- On day 3 of creation, god gave us 500,000 plants, and each of
- 00:24:35.965 --> 00:24:41.370
- Those plants are like treasures.
- 00:24:41.370 --> 00:24:44.073
- Every plant has critical phytonutrients that are so
- 00:24:44.073 --> 00:24:47.877
- Important for our health and wellness.
- 00:24:47.877 --> 00:24:49.845
- We at bioharvest sciences have spent more than $100 million on
- 00:24:49.845 --> 00:24:54.016
- A technology that we call botanical synthesis, and we're
- 00:24:54.016 --> 00:24:57.687
- Able to understand exactly where inside the plant are the
- 00:24:57.687 --> 00:25:00.423
- Critical cells that produce those very important
- 00:25:00.423 --> 00:25:03.693
- Phytonutrients for the human body.
- 00:25:03.693 --> 00:25:06.062
- So in the case of the red grape, we took cells from the red
- 00:25:06.062 --> 00:25:09.832
- Grape, the critical cells that produce the
- 00:25:09.832 --> 00:25:12.301
- Important phytonutrients.
- 00:25:12.301 --> 00:25:13.803
- Inside a red grape are very important phytonutrients,
- 00:25:13.803 --> 00:25:15.805
- Polyphenols, and we took those cells, and we grew those cells
- 00:25:15.805 --> 00:25:21.577
- In specific petri dishes, like a science project back at school,
- 00:25:21.577 --> 00:25:26.115
- With changing the food we feed the cells, we changed the
- 00:25:26.115 --> 00:25:29.418
- Lighting, we changed the temperature and a number of
- 00:25:29.418 --> 00:25:32.121
- Other critical elements that are part of our ip black box,
- 00:25:32.121 --> 00:25:36.058
- And we get the cells to do two things.
- 00:25:36.058 --> 00:25:37.860
- One, we get the cells to produce the exact same phytonutrients as
- 00:25:37.860 --> 00:25:41.464
- The plant, we call this mirroring, and two, we magnified
- 00:25:41.464 --> 00:25:44.734
- The levels of the most important polyphenol, in this case it's
- 00:25:44.734 --> 00:25:48.404
- The piceid resveratrol.
- 00:25:48.404 --> 00:25:49.805
- So in the case of vinia, we magnified the piceid resveratrol
- 00:25:49.805 --> 00:25:54.477
- 100 times.
- 00:25:54.477 --> 00:25:56.078
- Now, piceid resveratrol goes back to the french paradox, and
- 00:25:56.078 --> 00:25:59.715
- If you go back to the french paradox, you understand people
- 00:25:59.715 --> 00:26:01.917
- In france, they have amazing cardiovascular health, but they
- 00:26:01.917 --> 00:26:05.821
- Have a really fatty diet.
- 00:26:05.821 --> 00:26:07.456
- So when the scientists went to understand what was it that gave
- 00:26:07.456 --> 00:26:10.359
- Them the amazing diet, they realized it was moderate
- 00:26:10.359 --> 00:26:12.695
- Consumption of red wine, that's two to three glasses of red wine
- 00:26:12.695 --> 00:26:15.898
- Every day.
- 00:26:15.898 --> 00:26:17.266
- And when they went in to understand what was inside the
- 00:26:17.266 --> 00:26:18.801
- Red wine, they realized it was the piceid resveratrol.
- 00:26:18.801 --> 00:26:22.438
- So what we did is we took these cells, we grow them in large
- 00:26:22.438 --> 00:26:25.975
- Scale bioreactors, in 18 to 20 days, the cells multiply, they
- 00:26:25.975 --> 00:26:30.279
- Produce the piceid resveratrol, we harvest the cells, and we're
- 00:26:30.279 --> 00:26:34.116
- Left with this amazing capsule which has the same amount of
- 00:26:34.116 --> 00:26:37.720
- Piceid resveratrol as 1,000 red grapes, pretty much what we have
- 00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:41.624
- Here in the glass container, and one bottle of red wine, of
- 00:26:41.624 --> 00:26:45.561
- Course, no sugar, no calories, no alcohol.
- 00:26:45.561 --> 00:26:48.230
- And as a science-based company, we conducted clinical trials,
- 00:26:48.230 --> 00:26:53.769
- And we were able to demonstrate that after taking one capsule of
- 00:26:53.769 --> 00:26:57.039
- Vinia every single day, we increased the dilation of your
- 00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:01.177
- Arteries significantly.
- 00:27:01.177 --> 00:27:03.345
- Now, as we understand, we have 60,000 miles of arteries,
- 00:27:03.345 --> 00:27:08.184
- Capillaries, and veins in our body, and it's critical that
- 00:27:08.184 --> 00:27:11.721
- Those 60,000 miles are operating like four-lane highways, because
- 00:27:11.721 --> 00:27:16.325
- Blood flow is so critical, and this is what vinia does.
- 00:27:16.325 --> 00:27:19.028
- Vinia increases blood flow significantly as a result of
- 00:27:19.028 --> 00:27:22.765
- That increase in arterial dilation.
- 00:27:22.765 --> 00:27:25.434
- Kirk: that's fantastic.
- 00:27:25.434 --> 00:27:27.036
- I love the metaphor there of a four-lane highway.
- 00:27:27.036 --> 00:27:29.672
- We don't want bumper-to-bumper traffic on a two-lane skinny,
- 00:27:29.672 --> 00:27:32.908
- Little country road.
- 00:27:32.908 --> 00:27:34.243
- Ilan: or a side road, you want that blood flow flowing, 'cause
- 00:27:34.243 --> 00:27:36.979
- More blood flow means more oxygen and nutrients being
- 00:27:36.979 --> 00:27:40.683
- Delivered to all your body tissue, cells, and organs, and
- 00:27:40.683 --> 00:27:43.319
- That's more physical energy and more mental alertness.
- 00:27:43.319 --> 00:27:46.422
- In today's world, who doesn't need more physical energy and
- 00:27:46.422 --> 00:27:49.925
- Mental alertness?
- 00:27:49.925 --> 00:27:51.293
- Kirk: that's right. that's right.
- 00:27:51.293 --> 00:27:53.996
- And i know that blood flow also affects the brain.
- 00:27:53.996 --> 00:27:55.731
- Talk to us about why so many people are struggling with brain
- 00:27:55.731 --> 00:28:00.136
- Fog, trouble focusing, and with mental alertness.
- 00:28:00.136 --> 00:28:05.274
- Ilan: so there was a recent nhi piece of research which
- 00:28:05.274 --> 00:28:08.778
- Demonstrated that roughly one in three americans are dealing with
- 00:28:08.778 --> 00:28:11.447
- The challenges of brain fog.
- 00:28:11.447 --> 00:28:13.616
- It's just not operating the way it should be.
- 00:28:13.616 --> 00:28:16.452
- And many people don't realize that one of the critical, you
- 00:28:16.452 --> 00:28:19.421
- Know, catalysts to solve that brain fog is related to blood
- 00:28:19.421 --> 00:28:23.459
- Flow, why?
- 00:28:23.459 --> 00:28:25.261
- Because if you think about it, our brain, it's 2% of the body
- 00:28:25.261 --> 00:28:29.732
- Mass of our body, but it utilizes 15% of our blood flow
- 00:28:29.732 --> 00:28:36.005
- And 20% of the body's oxygen.
- 00:28:36.005 --> 00:28:39.508
- And that's critical, because you need to have significant blood
- 00:28:39.508 --> 00:28:43.245
- Flow to the peripheral part of your brain in order to bring
- 00:28:43.245 --> 00:28:46.882
- Oxygen to the brain and remove cellular toxins.
- 00:28:46.882 --> 00:28:51.086
- And it's because of the lack of oxygen and the inability to
- 00:28:51.086 --> 00:28:54.623
- Remove enough of those cellular toxins that you have brain fog.
- 00:28:54.623 --> 00:28:57.993
- So you have to have that good blood flow inside the peripheral
- 00:28:57.993 --> 00:29:02.031
- Part of the brain with more oxygen and helping to remove
- 00:29:02.031 --> 00:29:05.301
- That cellular toxins and wastes.
- 00:29:05.301 --> 00:29:08.237
- Kirk: i'm continually amazed at god's design and how it works
- 00:29:08.237 --> 00:29:11.774
- And how important blood flow is for all of our different parts
- 00:29:11.774 --> 00:29:15.177
- To be working properly.
- 00:29:15.177 --> 00:29:16.912
- You mentioned not only the importance of blood flow taking
- 00:29:16.912 --> 00:29:20.282
- Nutrients to our brain and other parts of the body, but there's
- 00:29:20.282 --> 00:29:24.153
- The other half of the equation, which is exporting that
- 00:29:24.153 --> 00:29:26.989
- Cellular waste.
- 00:29:26.989 --> 00:29:28.324
- All of the garbage has got to be gotten rid of.
- 00:29:28.324 --> 00:29:31.060
- Ilan: correct, so think about it, our body has billions of
- 00:29:31.060 --> 00:29:33.762
- Cells, and those cells, their role is to produce energy.
- 00:29:33.762 --> 00:29:38.634
- And it's like a factory.
- 00:29:38.634 --> 00:29:40.002
- You produce something, you have waste.
- 00:29:40.002 --> 00:29:42.104
- So that waste has to be removed from the body.
- 00:29:42.104 --> 00:29:45.608
- So that's a critical role of the blood flow.
- 00:29:45.608 --> 00:29:47.543
- The blood flow is helping bring nutrients to the cells, the
- 00:29:47.543 --> 00:29:50.145
- Cells are producing oxygen, and then there's the removal
- 00:29:50.145 --> 00:29:53.716
- Required of the cellular waste.
- 00:29:53.716 --> 00:29:55.451
- And that's why the blood flow is so important to keep the cells
- 00:29:55.451 --> 00:29:58.754
- Healthy by removing the cellular waste and taking it to the liver
- 00:29:58.754 --> 00:30:01.924
- And kidneys to be excreted from our body.
- 00:30:01.924 --> 00:30:04.994
- The important thing, kirk, is that the average person on the
- 00:30:04.994 --> 00:30:08.964
- Street does not understand how important blood flow is to our
- 00:30:08.964 --> 00:30:14.336
- Bodies, and that it's the most critical part of our body's
- 00:30:14.336 --> 00:30:18.741
- Operating system.
- 00:30:18.741 --> 00:30:20.376
- And this is what really the power of what we've tried to do
- 00:30:20.376 --> 00:30:23.078
- At bioharvest sciences with vinia to really help educate
- 00:30:23.078 --> 00:30:26.715
- The consumer.
- 00:30:26.715 --> 00:30:28.050
- Kirk: wow, it's easy to see why so many people are excited about
- 00:30:28.050 --> 00:30:31.720
- Bioharvest sciences and vinia.
- 00:30:31.720 --> 00:30:34.323
- Taking care of the temple of our bodies isn't just good
- 00:30:34.323 --> 00:30:36.992
- Stewardship, it's also how we ensure we're ready to fulfill
- 00:30:36.992 --> 00:30:41.397
- His calling in our lives with our fullest potential.
- 00:30:41.397 --> 00:30:44.833
- If you want to learn more about how you can try vinia risk free
- 00:30:44.833 --> 00:30:48.537
- For 90 days, please call the number on your screen or just
- 00:30:48.537 --> 00:30:51.807
- Visit viniatbn.com.
- 00:30:51.807 --> 00:30:54.677
- Also, i want you to know that a significant portion of your
- 00:30:54.677 --> 00:30:57.546
- Purchase of vinia goes directly to tbn to support the mission of
- 00:30:57.546 --> 00:31:02.318
- Spreading the gospel around the world.
- 00:31:02.318 --> 00:31:04.119
- We'll have more right here on "takeaways" after this.
- 00:31:04.119 --> 00:31:10.002
- We'll have more right here on "takeaways" after this.
- 00:31:10.002 --> 00:31:11.255
- [music]
- 00:31:11.588 --> 00:31:15.793
- Kirk: we're back with jonathan mcreynolds.
- 00:31:19.730 --> 00:31:21.098
- Jonathan, we're talking about your book, "before you climb any
- 00:31:21.098 --> 00:31:23.467
- Higher," and what do you mean when you say that the valley is
- 00:31:23.467 --> 00:31:27.938
- Not about finishing but about being?
- 00:31:27.938 --> 00:31:31.141
- Jonathan: we have a lot of energy that is pushed towards
- 00:31:31.141 --> 00:31:34.545
- Accomplishing and doing, expanding, either horizontally
- 00:31:34.545 --> 00:31:38.582
- Or vertically.
- 00:31:38.582 --> 00:31:39.917
- We're always trying to accomplish.
- 00:31:39.917 --> 00:31:42.152
- But when it comes to the valley and this idea of being just a
- 00:31:42.152 --> 00:31:45.422
- Son or daughter of god, that is when you just get to be.
- 00:31:45.422 --> 00:31:49.193
- That is when you just get to present yourself as who you are
- 00:31:49.193 --> 00:31:54.131
- To your father that already knows who you are.
- 00:31:54.131 --> 00:31:56.934
- I think for me, and you tell me if you've ever had to deal with
- 00:31:56.934 --> 00:32:01.138
- This, the industries that we're in, they all require a little
- 00:32:01.138 --> 00:32:05.909
- Bit of a mask.
- 00:32:05.909 --> 00:32:07.277
- They require some enhancement.
- 00:32:07.277 --> 00:32:10.347
- They really couldn't deal with us just as us.
- 00:32:10.347 --> 00:32:13.550
- Kirk: there's a lady back there trying to put some makeup on my
- 00:32:13.550 --> 00:32:15.552
- Face today, it's like--
- 00:32:15.552 --> 00:32:17.755
- Jonathan: every two minutes, dabbing me up with a little
- 00:32:17.755 --> 00:32:19.123
- Extra, you know what i'm saying?
- 00:32:19.123 --> 00:32:20.457
- Because these cameras could not handle all of my actual flaws.
- 00:32:20.457 --> 00:32:24.161
- Kirk: that's right.
- 00:32:24.161 --> 00:32:25.496
- Jonathan: you know?
- 00:32:25.496 --> 00:32:26.864
- And so, but god can.
- 00:32:26.864 --> 00:32:28.198
- That's the point is that in each arena that we live in or
- 00:32:28.198 --> 00:32:32.936
- Actually work in, rather, there's a mask, there's an
- 00:32:32.936 --> 00:32:35.939
- Enhancement, there's a call for us to reach and be something
- 00:32:35.939 --> 00:32:40.878
- Maybe a little different or whatever just to acquiesce with
- 00:32:40.878 --> 00:32:44.882
- That environment and be presentable.
- 00:32:44.882 --> 00:32:47.051
- You know, we have a--or i have a career where people are
- 00:32:47.051 --> 00:32:51.121
- Involved, and i have to present to them, and they have their
- 00:32:51.121 --> 00:32:53.791
- Different preferences and their different understandings of
- 00:32:53.791 --> 00:32:55.993
- Things, and i prided myself on walking into a room, being able
- 00:32:55.993 --> 00:33:00.431
- To read it, and be able to do and kind of change my
- 00:33:00.431 --> 00:33:03.967
- Presentation to adapt to the room.
- 00:33:03.967 --> 00:33:06.670
- But when you are just in the valley, it's just like, god,
- 00:33:06.670 --> 00:33:10.774
- Here i am.
- 00:33:10.774 --> 00:33:12.109
- This is all i got.
- 00:33:12.109 --> 00:33:13.477
- Kirk: now, jonathan, what are some practical things you can do
- 00:33:13.477 --> 00:33:15.379
- To put yourself in the valley?
- 00:33:15.379 --> 00:33:17.047
- Jonathan: cool, i'm gonna start with this.
- 00:33:17.047 --> 00:33:18.749
- One, we all know about sacrifice.
- 00:33:18.749 --> 00:33:22.686
- We sometimes sacrifice with our money.
- 00:33:22.686 --> 00:33:25.122
- I've even, you know, there's even a term of sacrificing,
- 00:33:25.122 --> 00:33:28.525
- Giving god a sacrifice of praise.
- 00:33:28.525 --> 00:33:31.562
- But how hard is it for us hustlers and workers and
- 00:33:31.562 --> 00:33:35.966
- Overachievers to give god a sacrifice of pause, just for
- 00:33:35.966 --> 00:33:40.404
- One second?
- 00:33:40.404 --> 00:33:41.738
- First of all, just stop.
- 00:33:41.738 --> 00:33:43.107
- Just--now, it doesn't mean, you know, forsake your job, it
- 00:33:43.107 --> 00:33:46.276
- Doesn't mean stop paying the bills, but just for a second,
- 00:33:46.276 --> 00:33:49.580
- Maybe for an evening, for a weekend, could you just get that
- 00:33:49.580 --> 00:33:53.217
- Off your mind for one second and pause and just identify how this
- 00:33:53.217 --> 00:33:59.223
- Work and this ministry and this undertaking that you've had is
- 00:33:59.223 --> 00:34:03.560
- Now affecting you and the scars and the injuries that you have?
- 00:34:03.560 --> 00:34:06.597
- The first thing we have to do is pause.
- 00:34:06.597 --> 00:34:08.632
- Then we start to aim down.
- 00:34:08.632 --> 00:34:10.267
- And i, in the book, i talk about it's kind of a, you know, right
- 00:34:10.267 --> 00:34:15.005
- Foot, left foot type method.
- 00:34:15.005 --> 00:34:16.740
- Just imagine coming down, right foot, less of me, left foot,
- 00:34:16.740 --> 00:34:22.579
- More of god.
- 00:34:22.579 --> 00:34:23.914
- Right foot, less of me, left foot, more of god.
- 00:34:23.914 --> 00:34:27.584
- Right foot, less of me.
- 00:34:27.584 --> 00:34:30.053
- I need to tell my ego, first of all, to shut up.
- 00:34:30.053 --> 00:34:33.690
- That is a very loud voice in our lives.
- 00:34:33.690 --> 00:34:36.426
- It's the voice that says if you stop now, you're gonna
- 00:34:36.426 --> 00:34:39.496
- Lose progress.
- 00:34:39.496 --> 00:34:40.898
- That guy who's behind you, he's gonna get ahead of you
- 00:34:40.898 --> 00:34:43.400
- If you stop.
- 00:34:43.400 --> 00:34:44.768
- You're gonna be late if you don't pray.
- 00:34:44.768 --> 00:34:46.103
- I remember my mother, she would stop me at the door every time
- 00:34:46.103 --> 00:34:49.840
- I'm running out, i'd be late trying to catch the school bus,
- 00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:53.010
- And she'd say, "hold on, pray."
- 00:34:53.010 --> 00:34:55.112
- I'm like, "ma, i'm about to-- i'm gonna be late."
- 00:34:55.112 --> 00:34:58.448
- She's like, "well, if praying makes you late, you're gonna be
- 00:34:58.448 --> 00:35:02.186
- Too early."
- 00:35:02.186 --> 00:35:04.021
- Kirk: that's a good mom.
- 00:35:04.021 --> 00:35:05.389
- Jonathan: and yeah, so, and so at the end of the day, you know,
- 00:35:05.389 --> 00:35:08.058
- We have to, first of all, tell the ego--and this is the less
- 00:35:08.058 --> 00:35:11.695
- Of me part--hey, shut up.
- 00:35:11.695 --> 00:35:14.464
- And you have to sometimes hit it with some actual truth.
- 00:35:14.464 --> 00:35:17.467
- It's not to make you look at yourself as less, but it's to
- 00:35:17.467 --> 00:35:22.172
- Take a little pressure off of yourself and shut that ego up.
- 00:35:22.172 --> 00:35:26.677
- Then you move to more of god.
- 00:35:26.677 --> 00:35:28.979
- What i've enjoyed doing and, you know, this might be my little
- 00:35:28.979 --> 00:35:32.549
- Artsy way of doing things, i like scrapbooking, because i do
- 00:35:32.549 --> 00:35:36.954
- So many cool things, things that, you know, others would
- 00:35:36.954 --> 00:35:40.657
- Deem cool.
- 00:35:40.657 --> 00:35:41.992
- I get to hang out with you, i get to travel here, and i get to
- 00:35:41.992 --> 00:35:44.561
- Do that, and you just move so fast that you don't realize what
- 00:35:44.561 --> 00:35:49.299
- God has been doing.
- 00:35:49.299 --> 00:35:50.634
- Like you just--so what i say in the book is the first thing is
- 00:35:50.634 --> 00:35:54.171
- Let's review god's history.
- 00:35:54.171 --> 00:35:56.106
- Let's just for a second just realize--
- 00:35:56.106 --> 00:35:58.342
- Kirk: there's so many highlight reels, and we need to
- 00:35:58.342 --> 00:36:00.244
- Watch them.
- 00:36:00.244 --> 00:36:01.612
- Jonathan: watch them.
- 00:36:01.612 --> 00:36:02.946
- Don't just post them, watch them.
- 00:36:02.946 --> 00:36:04.481
- You know, really go through your photo album and see like there's
- 00:36:04.481 --> 00:36:09.052
- A moment when you didn't think you were gonna get past that.
- 00:36:09.052 --> 00:36:12.789
- You don't know--you thought that they were gonna hate that
- 00:36:12.789 --> 00:36:15.325
- Presentation, they were gonna hate that song.
- 00:36:15.325 --> 00:36:17.060
- You didn't know how you're gonna walk into this environment
- 00:36:17.060 --> 00:36:20.330
- And escape.
- 00:36:20.330 --> 00:36:21.698
- And not only did you escape, you thrived.
- 00:36:21.698 --> 00:36:24.201
- God was with you in all these moments.
- 00:36:24.201 --> 00:36:26.570
- When you didn't think that you were gonna even be able to have
- 00:36:26.570 --> 00:36:29.206
- A child and now you have four of them.
- 00:36:29.206 --> 00:36:31.908
- Look at where god has brought you from.
- 00:36:31.908 --> 00:36:34.544
- So, and i, you know, i have a few more steps in there that
- 00:36:34.544 --> 00:36:38.515
- Adds to the less of me and more of god step down.
- 00:36:38.515 --> 00:36:41.718
- But as you continue to take those steps down, you'll find
- 00:36:41.718 --> 00:36:44.888
- Yourself in a place where you don't need or even want to
- 00:36:44.888 --> 00:36:48.158
- Identify as just the boss and the worker and the graduate.
- 00:36:48.158 --> 00:36:53.697
- You wanna just lay in god's arms and be like, god, thank you.
- 00:36:53.697 --> 00:36:58.635
- Pops, i love you.
- 00:36:58.635 --> 00:37:00.170
- Kirk: man, gratitude is the key.
- 00:37:00.170 --> 00:37:03.106
- Gratitude, someone once said, they said that--see if you like
- 00:37:03.106 --> 00:37:05.742
- This--they said gratitude is the attitude that determines
- 00:37:05.742 --> 00:37:08.779
- The altitude for your living.
- 00:37:08.779 --> 00:37:11.615
- And man, gratitude is so important, but you learn
- 00:37:11.615 --> 00:37:15.218
- To be grateful often down in the valley.
- 00:37:15.218 --> 00:37:16.853
- Jonathan: i love that.
- 00:37:16.853 --> 00:37:18.188
- I really love that, because, yeah, it's on the mountain.
- 00:37:18.188 --> 00:37:22.459
- This is how i think of it.
- 00:37:22.459 --> 00:37:24.161
- On the mountain, all of my prayers were so mountainy,
- 00:37:24.161 --> 00:37:28.832
- You know?
- 00:37:28.832 --> 00:37:30.200
- Because all i was concerned about was career and, you know,
- 00:37:30.200 --> 00:37:33.303
- Presenting myself in a good fashion.
- 00:37:33.303 --> 00:37:35.405
- Now, it was all noble, i guess.
- 00:37:35.405 --> 00:37:37.007
- You know, i wasn't going out for just greed and fame or anything,
- 00:37:37.007 --> 00:37:41.878
- I was just trying to represent myself well, even in the most
- 00:37:41.878 --> 00:37:44.715
- Noble way.
- 00:37:44.715 --> 00:37:46.083
- I just wanna graduate.
- 00:37:46.083 --> 00:37:47.417
- I just wanna do something good on the earth.
- 00:37:47.417 --> 00:37:49.419
- Still, all of my prayers were based towards that.
- 00:37:49.419 --> 00:37:53.423
- So now i'm only looking at god through this little tunnel
- 00:37:53.423 --> 00:37:56.426
- Vision, and i only see your blessings when it's in
- 00:37:56.426 --> 00:37:58.929
- This realm.
- 00:37:58.929 --> 00:38:00.263
- I'm not even seeing what you're doing over here.
- 00:38:00.263 --> 00:38:02.232
- I'm not seeing how you're protecting me over here.
- 00:38:02.232 --> 00:38:04.434
- I'm not seeing how you're providing for me over here.
- 00:38:04.434 --> 00:38:07.170
- Everything has to be in this little lens that i'm praying
- 00:38:07.170 --> 00:38:09.940
- For, and i just believe that when you come down to the valley
- 00:38:09.940 --> 00:38:14.277
- And you start opening--instead of being so tunnel visioned on
- 00:38:14.277 --> 00:38:18.215
- The next step up, you get to open yourself to this wide
- 00:38:18.215 --> 00:38:21.818
- Valley and be like, oh my goodness, god, i did stub my
- 00:38:21.818 --> 00:38:27.357
- Toe, but the rest of my body is fine.
- 00:38:27.357 --> 00:38:30.460
- Thank you.
- 00:38:30.460 --> 00:38:31.795
- Like, i didn't get this car that maybe i wanted, i didn't get
- 00:38:31.795 --> 00:38:34.564
- This promotion that maybe i was hoping for, oh my goodness, like
- 00:38:34.564 --> 00:38:38.702
- You've kept me this whole time.
- 00:38:38.702 --> 00:38:41.138
- And once you start to widen that view, oh wait, god has been
- 00:38:41.138 --> 00:38:45.108
- Doing a lot of stuff around you and for you, and that valley
- 00:38:45.108 --> 00:38:49.379
- Gives you an opportunity to widen that scope and see what
- 00:38:49.379 --> 00:38:52.549
- He's been doing.
- 00:38:52.549 --> 00:38:53.884
- Kirk: man, that's so important, because it's when we pause and
- 00:38:53.884 --> 00:38:56.853
- We think about those kinds of things, i know for me that's
- 00:38:56.853 --> 00:38:59.656
- Where i've learned the most important lessons of my life.
- 00:38:59.656 --> 00:39:02.092
- All the lessons that have kept my marriage on track and have
- 00:39:02.092 --> 00:39:06.196
- Helped me to be a good father have not been when i'm way up
- 00:39:06.196 --> 00:39:10.033
- Flying high, it's when i'm laid down low and i'm in prayer and
- 00:39:10.033 --> 00:39:14.738
- I'm just crying out to god.
- 00:39:14.738 --> 00:39:16.373
- Yeah, it's the best.
- 00:39:16.373 --> 00:39:18.074
- We have so much more to talk to, and i want to talk more about
- 00:39:18.074 --> 00:39:20.177
- Those, the right foot, left foot, stepping down the
- 00:39:20.177 --> 00:39:22.446
- Mountain, how we get into the valley in a healthy way.
- 00:39:22.446 --> 00:39:25.449
- How do you apply what god shows you during times of rest and
- 00:39:25.449 --> 00:39:29.886
- Reflection and not repeat the same cycles of burnout moving
- 00:39:29.886 --> 00:39:33.723
- Forward to the next goal?
- 00:39:33.723 --> 00:39:35.325
- We're gonna talk more about this right after the break.
- 00:39:35.325 --> 00:39:38.128
- [music]
- 00:39:38.128 --> 00:39:44.000
- [music]
- 00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:44.904
- [music]
- 00:39:45.238 --> 00:39:49.442
- Kirk: jonathan mcreynolds has stayed with us to discuss the
- 00:39:51.444 --> 00:39:54.547
- Life-changing mindsets that he has learned in his latest book,
- 00:39:54.547 --> 00:39:58.351
- "before you climb any higher."
- 00:39:58.351 --> 00:40:00.186
- Now, jonathan, share with us some strategies for how we can
- 00:40:00.186 --> 00:40:05.692
- Stay anchored in the valley.
- 00:40:05.692 --> 00:40:07.627
- Jonathan: what i love about what you just said about gratitude
- 00:40:07.627 --> 00:40:10.930
- Being the attitude that determines your altitude, to me,
- 00:40:10.930 --> 00:40:15.602
- In my valley/mountain, you know, mindset right now, it reminds me
- 00:40:15.602 --> 00:40:21.641
- That what we garner and what we gather down in the valley, how
- 00:40:21.641 --> 00:40:25.478
- We eat in the valley, like how the fat buildups, the everything
- 00:40:25.478 --> 00:40:29.749
- That we--the proteins that we consume that build us as people,
- 00:40:29.749 --> 00:40:35.989
- I think that when it comes to the idea of just being anchored
- 00:40:35.989 --> 00:40:42.896
- To the valley, it's knowing how to get up and down quickly.
- 00:40:42.896 --> 00:40:49.402
- You know, it's knowing how to leave set and get back
- 00:40:49.402 --> 00:40:53.540
- Home quickly.
- 00:40:53.540 --> 00:40:55.241
- It's knowing how to in the concert, be like, thank you guys
- 00:40:55.241 --> 00:40:58.978
- So much for coming out, i love you, and you know that you're
- 00:40:58.978 --> 00:41:01.681
- Vulnerable, your adrenaline is up, and all this other stuff.
- 00:41:01.681 --> 00:41:05.585
- How quickly can you get back to lord, i thank you?
- 00:41:05.585 --> 00:41:10.623
- Kirk: yeah.
- 00:41:10.623 --> 00:41:11.991
- Jonathan: wow, wow, god, you know?
- 00:41:11.991 --> 00:41:13.426
- Maybe i've done that before, maybe i've never done that
- 00:41:13.426 --> 00:41:15.562
- Before, maybe i've done bigger things before, but god,
- 00:41:15.562 --> 00:41:18.264
- Thank you.
- 00:41:18.264 --> 00:41:19.632
- That was really cool.
- 00:41:19.632 --> 00:41:20.967
- I thank you that you keep trusting me with this stuff.
- 00:41:20.967 --> 00:41:23.202
- I thank you that you have confidence in me.
- 00:41:23.202 --> 00:41:25.772
- As we become more mature in our sonship, we get all of these
- 00:41:25.772 --> 00:41:30.443
- New, exciting assignments and places where god is trusting us,
- 00:41:30.443 --> 00:41:37.150
- Platforms where he trusts us.
- 00:41:37.150 --> 00:41:38.918
- Thank you for that.
- 00:41:38.918 --> 00:41:40.253
- And let me just come back down to just being your son who is in
- 00:41:40.253 --> 00:41:44.791
- Awe of what you keep doing and that you keep somehow including
- 00:41:44.791 --> 00:41:48.361
- In your plan.
- 00:41:48.361 --> 00:41:49.729
- It's a mindset.
- 00:41:49.729 --> 00:41:51.064
- It's not always a physical place.
- 00:41:51.064 --> 00:41:52.899
- Now, i do have a power rangers toy on my tour bus to remind me
- 00:41:52.899 --> 00:41:58.605
- To be a kid.
- 00:41:58.605 --> 00:42:00.006
- I don't play with it necessarily, but just seeing the
- 00:42:00.006 --> 00:42:02.342
- Red ranger up there, it makes me just, okay, all right.
- 00:42:02.342 --> 00:42:06.879
- I know that you're great out there, but in here, all i need
- 00:42:06.879 --> 00:42:10.516
- You to do is be good.
- 00:42:10.516 --> 00:42:12.118
- And i think that, you know, being anchored and coming down
- 00:42:12.118 --> 00:42:16.889
- As often as you can, remembering that god is your source, you
- 00:42:16.889 --> 00:42:21.928
- Can't eat on the mountain, there's not much up there, so
- 00:42:21.928 --> 00:42:24.764
- You have to come back down to get your nourishing, to get your
- 00:42:24.764 --> 00:42:28.534
- Identity back before it sails away in the air.
- 00:42:28.534 --> 00:42:33.272
- Kirk: you're making me think of jesus.
- 00:42:33.272 --> 00:42:34.641
- He was--he preached the sermon on the mount.
- 00:42:34.641 --> 00:42:37.043
- He often would go up on a mountain, and he would--yeah,
- 00:42:37.043 --> 00:42:39.979
- And then he would come back down and he would, again, he said, "i
- 00:42:39.979 --> 00:42:44.050
- Didn't--the son of man did not come to be served but to serve."
- 00:42:44.050 --> 00:42:47.120
- He came down the mountain, and he'd serve people.
- 00:42:47.120 --> 00:42:48.921
- He would literally feed people, he would heal the sick, he would
- 00:42:48.921 --> 00:42:52.458
- Raise the dead, or he'd go out into the wilderness all by
- 00:42:52.458 --> 00:42:55.094
- Himself as the son and just pray to his father.
- 00:42:55.094 --> 00:42:58.231
- And, you know, he--or he was on his knees, and he wept, or he
- 00:42:58.231 --> 00:43:03.069
- Sweat great drops of blood, because he knew that, man, think
- 00:43:03.069 --> 00:43:08.107
- About this, the greatest mountain he had to climb was to
- 00:43:08.107 --> 00:43:13.079
- Actually go do the father's will and go up to mount golgotha and
- 00:43:13.079 --> 00:43:17.183
- Go hang on that cross.
- 00:43:17.183 --> 00:43:19.285
- And it was like everything that led up to that, i think, seemed
- 00:43:19.285 --> 00:43:24.557
- Like they were in those valleys where he was with the father
- 00:43:24.557 --> 00:43:27.794
- Serving other people, laying down his life so that he could
- 00:43:27.794 --> 00:43:32.699
- Actually do the most important thing that he came to do.
- 00:43:32.699 --> 00:43:36.235
- Jonathan: it makes me think of this, the big prayer in the
- 00:43:36.235 --> 00:43:39.272
- Garden, you know, it's kind of like, i don't know if that,
- 00:43:39.272 --> 00:43:44.010
- Lord, let this cup pass for me version of jesus, i don't know
- 00:43:44.010 --> 00:43:48.548
- How the apostles would have dealt with that, how
- 00:43:48.548 --> 00:43:51.284
- The disciples would have dealt with that.
- 00:43:51.284 --> 00:43:53.119
- I think even going, you know, retreating and kind of going a
- 00:43:53.119 --> 00:43:58.491
- Stone's throw away from him to actually have this prayer with
- 00:43:58.491 --> 00:44:01.861
- His father, that wasn't necessarily the most, i guess
- 00:44:01.861 --> 00:44:08.668
- From a human's eyes, the most marketable version.
- 00:44:08.668 --> 00:44:12.371
- That's not--that wasn't the strongest version, that wasn't
- 00:44:12.371 --> 00:44:14.874
- The most heroic version.
- 00:44:14.874 --> 00:44:19.479
- Kirk: most braveheart, gladiator prayer.
- 00:44:19.479 --> 00:44:20.813
- Jonathan: yeah, that wasn't the chuck norris version.
- 00:44:20.813 --> 00:44:24.250
- Kirk: i hear what you're saying, yeah.
- 00:44:24.250 --> 00:44:25.585
- Jonathan: you know, that was the vulnerable.
- 00:44:25.585 --> 00:44:29.255
- That was the like, god, do i have to do this?
- 00:44:29.255 --> 00:44:31.657
- Could you do something else?
- 00:44:31.657 --> 00:44:32.992
- Is there another way?
- 00:44:32.992 --> 00:44:34.360
- Is there a plan b? is there something?
- 00:44:34.360 --> 00:44:35.695
- And then, yeah, when it's all over, okay, but let your will
- 00:44:35.695 --> 00:44:38.931
- Be done.
- 00:44:38.931 --> 00:44:40.266
- Sure, not my will but yours be done, but i think that an
- 00:44:40.266 --> 00:44:43.436
- Opportunity to go a stone's throw away to retreat, even as
- 00:44:43.436 --> 00:44:48.541
- The father, even as the head of the household, the head of the
- 00:44:48.541 --> 00:44:51.611
- Company, sometimes you have to get away from the people that
- 00:44:51.611 --> 00:44:55.014
- Even you--you're over, your own staff, your own kids, and you
- 00:44:55.014 --> 00:44:59.485
- Have to retreat and go to a place where now you are not the
- 00:44:59.485 --> 00:45:03.389
- Authority figure, and you can now embrace that there is a big
- 00:45:03.389 --> 00:45:08.194
- Authority that loves you.
- 00:45:08.194 --> 00:45:09.729
- Kirk: you know, jonathan, that's actually how i came to the lord
- 00:45:09.729 --> 00:45:12.031
- As an atheist when i was on a tv show called "growing pains,"
- 00:45:12.031 --> 00:45:15.301
- Probably before you were even born.
- 00:45:15.301 --> 00:45:16.669
- But ask your mom, she'll tell you all about it.
- 00:45:16.669 --> 00:45:18.371
- Jonathan: i was there. i saw it.
- 00:45:18.371 --> 00:45:21.207
- Kirk: and it was like a mountaintop kind of experience,
- 00:45:21.207 --> 00:45:23.176
- But i didn't believe in god, and when someone told me that i
- 00:45:23.176 --> 00:45:27.180
- Ought to pray to god and reminded me that i needed
- 00:45:27.180 --> 00:45:30.783
- Humility and faith, he was reminding me that i was not
- 00:45:30.783 --> 00:45:38.024
- Gonna be the celebrity in that relationship between me and god.
- 00:45:38.024 --> 00:45:43.362
- I needed to humble myself and come way down low, because
- 00:45:43.362 --> 00:45:47.066
- Somebody else made the mountain, and that was the one that i was
- 00:45:47.066 --> 00:45:50.136
- Talking to, and that shifted my whole perspective.
- 00:45:50.136 --> 00:45:52.238
- All of a sudden i felt like i was a big man on campus at
- 00:45:52.238 --> 00:45:54.740
- Warner brothers, in, you know, in my career at 17 years old,
- 00:45:54.740 --> 00:45:58.978
- But really, i was--i felt like about as big as a grain of sand
- 00:45:58.978 --> 00:46:03.382
- Compared to the god who created the universe, right?
- 00:46:03.382 --> 00:46:05.551
- Jonathan: yeah, i love that.
- 00:46:05.551 --> 00:46:06.919
- Kirk: but that was what i needed to actually like sync up
- 00:46:06.919 --> 00:46:11.557
- With reality.
- 00:46:11.557 --> 00:46:12.892
- Jonathan: yeah, you know, i was--you know, i tell people
- 00:46:12.892 --> 00:46:15.695
- This often that, you know, there was a time, particularly when,
- 00:46:15.695 --> 00:46:19.532
- You know, my beginning years of career that i started going
- 00:46:19.532 --> 00:46:22.702
- Through the bible, and i was looking for a special book.
- 00:46:22.702 --> 00:46:25.805
- I feel like we deserved a book on just--a book just for vips,
- 00:46:25.805 --> 00:46:31.244
- A book just for public figures, a book just for people that have
- 00:46:31.244 --> 00:46:34.747
- A million followers on instagram.
- 00:46:34.747 --> 00:46:37.583
- There should be a scripture or ten chapters just for
- 00:46:37.583 --> 00:46:43.890
- The celebrities.
- 00:46:43.890 --> 00:46:45.424
- And why isn't there?
- 00:46:45.424 --> 00:46:46.759
- There isn't even one just for the ceos.
- 00:46:46.759 --> 00:46:49.495
- There isn't just a nice, wonderful book.
- 00:46:49.495 --> 00:46:52.832
- Okay, paul wrote to galatia, he wrote to thessalonica, he wrote
- 00:46:52.832 --> 00:46:57.970
- To everybody.
- 00:46:57.970 --> 00:46:59.338
- Why didn't he write one to the c-suite?
- 00:46:59.338 --> 00:47:02.008
- Why didn't he write one just to the directors and the producers?
- 00:47:02.008 --> 00:47:06.245
- It's amazing why--how there isn't a special scripture just
- 00:47:06.245 --> 00:47:09.916
- For those.
- 00:47:09.916 --> 00:47:11.250
- Every promise, every blessing, everything he has to say is to
- 00:47:11.250 --> 00:47:15.388
- The kid.
- 00:47:15.388 --> 00:47:16.756
- And so if you don't embrace the idea that you are a child of
- 00:47:16.756 --> 00:47:20.359
- God, then you miss all of what he's had to say.
- 00:47:20.359 --> 00:47:24.096
- If you come to the bible as just the boss and the dad, then you
- 00:47:24.096 --> 00:47:29.101
- Might miss out on so many promises, so many blessings, so
- 00:47:29.101 --> 00:47:32.705
- Much teaching, so much guidance, and that is what, again, i'm
- 00:47:32.705 --> 00:47:38.177
- Trying to encourage myself first, but also my generation,
- 00:47:38.177 --> 00:47:42.415
- My friends, hey, i understand that you're great, you're
- 00:47:42.415 --> 00:47:45.718
- Multi-hyphenate, you're amazing, you are probably the king of
- 00:47:45.718 --> 00:47:49.455
- Warner, you are, you know, you're doing your thing.
- 00:47:49.455 --> 00:47:53.359
- Kirk: of whatever kingdom.
- 00:47:53.359 --> 00:47:54.994
- Jonathan: yeah, but you're gonna miss out on a lot of
- 00:47:54.994 --> 00:47:57.530
- Relationship, a lot of love, a lot of peace, clarity, guidance,
- 00:47:57.530 --> 00:48:01.634
- A lot of patience and virtue, because you're not coming to
- 00:48:01.634 --> 00:48:08.407
- Life as a son.
- 00:48:08.407 --> 00:48:10.209
- You're not entering your day and approaching it as a son or
- 00:48:10.209 --> 00:48:13.746
- Daughter of god.
- 00:48:13.746 --> 00:48:16.449
- Kirk: what's the main thing you hope people get from reading
- 00:48:16.449 --> 00:48:19.385
- Your book, "before you climb any higher?"
- 00:48:19.385 --> 00:48:21.520
- Jonathan: i think i said it earlier, because a lot of us
- 00:48:21.520 --> 00:48:26.058
- Don't have--we have noble reasons for being up on
- 00:48:26.058 --> 00:48:29.662
- This mountain.
- 00:48:29.662 --> 00:48:31.030
- We feel like they're noble.
- 00:48:31.030 --> 00:48:32.365
- They're good, heroic reasons.
- 00:48:32.365 --> 00:48:33.833
- They're not bad reasons.
- 00:48:33.833 --> 00:48:35.234
- Most of us aren't ultra-greedy.
- 00:48:35.234 --> 00:48:37.703
- Most of us aren't trying to be somebody's dictator.
- 00:48:37.703 --> 00:48:43.576
- Most of us are being pushed up this mountain, because we're
- 00:48:43.576 --> 00:48:47.680
- Just trying to stay above reproach.
- 00:48:47.680 --> 00:48:49.615
- We're just trying to escape the mediocrity.
- 00:48:49.615 --> 00:48:52.551
- We're just trying to make sure that we always stay valuable to
- 00:48:52.551 --> 00:48:55.821
- The people that we love.
- 00:48:55.821 --> 00:48:57.857
- I just wanna remind you that you are not primarily somebody that
- 00:48:57.857 --> 00:49:02.762
- Takes care of stuff.
- 00:49:02.762 --> 00:49:04.630
- You are primarily somebody that is being taken care of.
- 00:49:04.630 --> 00:49:10.336
- There is a god, there's a father that is taking care of you, and
- 00:49:10.336 --> 00:49:15.574
- I know that you feel sometimes that you are flying high, but
- 00:49:15.574 --> 00:49:19.578
- It's probably because he just tossed you up there.
- 00:49:19.578 --> 00:49:22.581
- Please know that it is not just you responsible for you.
- 00:49:22.581 --> 00:49:28.387
- There's somebody else that has your back, has your front, and
- 00:49:28.387 --> 00:49:31.624
- Has your sides, that's your dad in heaven.
- 00:49:31.624 --> 00:49:35.961
- Kirk: that's so good. thank you, man.
- 00:49:35.961 --> 00:49:37.463
- Thank you for all the time that you spent with us tonight.
- 00:49:37.463 --> 00:49:39.465
- Jonathan: oh, no, i'm honored. this is awesome.
- 00:49:39.465 --> 00:49:40.800
- Kirk: yeah, this is awesome. thank you.
- 00:49:40.800 --> 00:49:42.768
- After the break, we'll review today's takeaways.
- 00:49:42.768 --> 00:49:45.805
- [music]
- 00:49:45.805 --> 00:49:52.000
- [music]
- 00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:52.715
- [music]
- 00:49:53.049 --> 00:49:57.020
- Kirk: i really enjoyed our time with jonathan mcreynolds talking
- 00:49:59.622 --> 00:50:02.892
- About what god has for us in the mountains and valleys of life.
- 00:50:02.892 --> 00:50:07.297
- There were so many takeaways.
- 00:50:07.297 --> 00:50:08.698
- Here's just a few.
- 00:50:08.698 --> 00:50:10.700
- Don't romanticize the mountain.
- 00:50:10.700 --> 00:50:13.002
- Didn't you love how jonathan positioned this?
- 00:50:13.002 --> 00:50:14.971
- So many of us fall in love with our achievements, successes,
- 00:50:14.971 --> 00:50:19.275
- And significance.
- 00:50:19.275 --> 00:50:20.710
- And god did make us to work, he's given us mountains to
- 00:50:20.710 --> 00:50:23.746
- Climb, but the mountain isn't the prize, people are, god is.
- 00:50:23.746 --> 00:50:29.786
- Which occupies more of your thoughts and your time?
- 00:50:29.786 --> 00:50:33.256
- Dreams about becoming the boss, king, queen, ceo, champ,
- 00:50:33.256 --> 00:50:37.060
- Number one?
- 00:50:37.060 --> 00:50:38.428
- Or gratitude for being chosen as a son or daughter of god with an
- 00:50:38.428 --> 00:50:44.701
- Opportunity to serve others?
- 00:50:44.701 --> 00:50:46.970
- Like jonathan reminded us, the air is thin at the top of the
- 00:50:46.970 --> 00:50:50.039
- Mountain, and we're not supposed to stay there.
- 00:50:50.039 --> 00:50:53.576
- Ground yourself in the valley.
- 00:50:53.576 --> 00:50:56.513
- At first, this can seem counterintuitive, because we
- 00:50:56.513 --> 00:51:00.283
- Want the mountain top, we want the thrill and adventure that
- 00:51:00.283 --> 00:51:03.620
- Movies are made of, but once jonathan described what the lord
- 00:51:03.620 --> 00:51:07.023
- Offers us in the valleys, it flipped the script, didn't it?
- 00:51:07.023 --> 00:51:11.261
- The valley humbles us.
- 00:51:11.261 --> 00:51:13.263
- It reminds us that the world doesn't revolve around us and
- 00:51:13.263 --> 00:51:16.666
- That god doesn't require another ceo, boss, king from you or me.
- 00:51:16.666 --> 00:51:21.604
- What matters most is being a child of the king of kings and
- 00:51:21.604 --> 00:51:26.409
- Everyday opportunities to represent him well to others.
- 00:51:26.409 --> 00:51:31.648
- The valley is also a place where we find authentic community and
- 00:51:31.648 --> 00:51:34.817
- We celebrate what god has done on and off the mountain.
- 00:51:34.817 --> 00:51:38.354
- It's a place of nourishment, refreshment, and rest, and it's
- 00:51:38.354 --> 00:51:42.992
- Where we receive our next assignment for the new god-sized
- 00:51:42.992 --> 00:51:46.629
- Mountain he wants us to climb.
- 00:51:46.629 --> 00:51:49.432
- Less of me, more of god.
- 00:51:49.432 --> 00:51:52.835
- When we better see the significance of the mountains
- 00:51:52.835 --> 00:51:55.672
- And the valleys, it's also important to know how to get
- 00:51:55.672 --> 00:51:58.908
- From one to the other.
- 00:51:58.908 --> 00:52:00.610
- Jonathan used a climbing metaphor, left hand, right hand,
- 00:52:00.610 --> 00:52:03.713
- Left foot, right foot, more of god, less of me.
- 00:52:03.713 --> 00:52:07.450
- He must increase, i must decrease.
- 00:52:07.450 --> 00:52:10.920
- That's our strategy as the family of faith, and it brings
- 00:52:10.920 --> 00:52:14.557
- Our mountain-sized egos back down to earth, reminding us of
- 00:52:14.557 --> 00:52:19.862
- Who we are and why we're here.
- 00:52:19.862 --> 00:52:23.299
- This should lead us to say, lord, i thank you.
- 00:52:23.299 --> 00:52:27.837
- This is the mindset that jonathan said will anchor us in
- 00:52:27.837 --> 00:52:31.507
- The life-giving valley, so get back home to the valley of
- 00:52:31.507 --> 00:52:35.678
- Gratitude as often as possible.
- 00:52:35.678 --> 00:52:38.648
- That's all for this episode of "takeaways."
- 00:52:38.648 --> 00:52:40.750
- Thanks for watching, and if you've enjoyed the show, don't
- 00:52:40.750 --> 00:52:43.419
- Forget to set your dvr to never miss an episode.
- 00:52:43.419 --> 00:52:46.522
- And of course, you can always catch up on past episodes by
- 00:52:46.522 --> 00:52:49.292
- Searching for "takeaways" on tbn+ or by visiting the kirk
- 00:52:49.292 --> 00:52:53.863
- Cameron on tbn youtube channel.
- 00:52:53.863 --> 00:52:56.432
- We'll see you here next time for more great conversations.
- 00:52:56.432 --> 00:53:01.437
- [music]
- 00:53:01.437 --> 00:53:01.437