In this first episode in our series on Grit, Mitchell Buchanan and Grant Dailey explore the concept of enduring suffering and developing character within the church community. It challenges the idea of avoiding hardship and instead encourages embracing challenges for growth and transformation. The speakers reflect on personal experiences of grief and loss, highlighting the importance of perseverance and community support. They emphasize the need for intentional growth and resilience in the face of adversity. The conversation ends with a reminder to support each other through struggles and live out the teachings of the church as a community.
Listen on these platforms
[00:00:09.72] - Mitchell Buchanan
Hello. Hello. Hello to all of you. Welcome to the Sermon podcast for the church community for God. I am Mitchell Buchanan. I am here with you every single time we record. We are blessed today to have Grant Daley here with us. What's up, Grant?
[00:00:27.89] - Grant Dailey
Thanks for having me. Excited to be here.
[00:00:29.66] - Mitchell Buchanan
This is beautiful. The exuberance from this guy is unfounded in other guests that we have on here, obviously, by the name of this podcast, the Sermon podcast, we're chatting through what sermons are given to church. We try to do it in a way that is not corny or lame or just reiterating the main points. What we're trying to do is make sure that these conversations that we have on Sundays extended everything that we have. Small groups with friends, family. We want to give opportunities to really dig into the text more and more and more. So without further setup or ado, Grant started a new series with us on grit, which is super fun. I don't know many other churches that would say, hey, our theme is grit. Cause we're not gonna find it explicitly many places in the text, maybe ever. We'll research that and get back to you. But I think it shows a lot of ways of, like, hey, our life as believers involves a lot of suffering, a lot of endurance, a lot of ways that we are, I think, put in uncomfortable spots. And it's like, how do we find, I think, the word of God and the spirit of the Lord in a way where it's like, we push through, even just like, in a display of, like, effort, and I think, force to say, like, no, no matter what, I'm going to see this through the end. So grant's kicking us off this week starting in romans five. So if you want to kind of give the text, give a few highlights, and then if you want to give any behind the scenes of, like, this is where my thought process was, and we'll kind of kick start from there.
[00:02:08.72] - Grant Dailey
Yeah. So I reading from romans five, I really enjoyed studying this because I like this sermon series on values, because it. It is our effort to produce, like, a biblical understanding for a value rather than just what we might conventionally recognize. So I think grit is present in our discourse, like being tough. In my sermon, I alluded to the Boston be a man who just everything is be a man.
[00:02:35.71] - Mitchell Buchanan
I did not know this. I immediately.
[00:02:37.96] - Grant Dailey
He's a great account. It's a fantastic account because they're all really succinct, right? They're all like, literally, like, five second clips. I think my favorite was, like, on mother's day, wake up all the kids and rile them up, then go play golf, be a man. Like, you know, it's. It's dumb, stuff like that, but it's often centered around, like, blue collar working class. Being a man equals working hard, killing yourself, and then medicating in dumb ways.
[00:03:04.74] - Mitchell Buchanan
You know, that's like. And not even shameful about it. You're proud.
[00:03:07.71] - Grant Dailey
No. Explicit. You know, just brazen, if you will, in what it means to be a Mandev. So, talking about grant conventionally is recognized as the perseverance and effort, particularly to achieve a goal, overcome an obstacle. And for me, looking at romans five, particularly three through five, was really interesting, because when Paul highlights what we boast in, which is suffering, by the way, he notes that there is a process that then unfolds on the other side of suffering, particularly when it is approached with the intentionality of a group of people that are looking at this. So knowing that suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character. Character produces hope. Hope does not disappoint us because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given us. So for my sermon, I tried to examine the process and what that means and what it looks like in particular. I started by latching on to the idea of boasting that it is like something. And I would also note that, which I did this in my sermon. But to be clear, this is all communal language. It's all plural. It is all we, our. We like. None of this is what I myself individually do. This is a shared mindset and for a community to highlight. Before, we were talking about sports. Right. And it is not an uncommon thing. And it is, like, the most natural thing for a community of fans to boast in what it is that their team does well, boast in their achievements. Right? Like, that's. That's what we print on everything. I remember being a kid, did you ever buy a championship shirt for a team that didn't win?
[00:04:52.13] - Mitchell Buchanan
Oh, like at a. Like in Knoxville as hammers, where they would print them off, and it's like they didn't win, but they had them all printed just in case they did.
[00:05:00.79] - Grant Dailey
So, you know, being a brave. Being a brave fan in the nineties.
[00:05:04.87] - Mitchell Buchanan
You'Re saying you had multiple.
[00:05:06.00] - Grant Dailey
Is that what you're saying? You know, like, in the nineties, the only thing we could boast in was 1995 or just the string.
[00:05:13.25] - Mitchell Buchanan
Like.
[00:05:13.99] - Grant Dailey
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The consistency. And that's what we highlight. Right. It was like the number of playoff entries to the Braves throughout the nineties. Starting with Sid Breen. You know, we're boasting right now. Yeah, but I remember, like, going to, I think it was like JC Penney after the. The 96 World Series where they lost to the Yankees. To the Yankees. And seeing, like, the 96 World Series braves world champions, even though they lost, because, you know, the stores print them and have them available, ready to sell. That would be funny. But, you know, this is a normal thing. We boast in our triumphs and our achievements, even if it took a lot of work to get there. That's what we highlight. That's what we call attention to. And Paul really subverts that and subverts the expectations of even the norms of, like, greco roman rhetoric here that he starts off, he's like, we boast like, this is the thing that we highlight in our community, our suffering. And that is a weird way to start. But, like, you could get there if he's like, we suffering, but now we have overcome, but he doesn't ever get there because he's like, we boast in our sufferings. And why do we boast in that? Because people that suffer, we're going to have endurance. And people that can endure through something, they're actually going to develop character. Like, real character. And then people. Real character, they can hope. I think what you were highlighting before we started this was just like, yeah, what do you do with that? Like, that's a terrible cell.
[00:06:45.02] - Mitchell Buchanan
Well, I mean, yeah, you did in the sermon where it's like, every step of the way, it's like, you think, I'm gonna. There's suffering. I'm gonna endure this. And then you get something right. So then it's like, oh, at the end, I'm gonna be able to, you know, whatever your goal is, it feels like going through hardship, there should be, like, something that you attain. I think just video games have, like, you fail the level over and over. I'm going to get the flag at the end of that level. I'm going to conquer this and then go to the next. And then it's like, paul, really, it's like a paradox where in the end you're left with hope. And it's like, for someone suffering, it's like, what does that even mean? Like, oh, you're going to have this hope for something that may eventually happen. You're like, this is bogus and why this doesn't mean anything. And then I think as you kind of peel the layers of the onion, like, getting to hope was, like, for a believer at the end, like, that means so much like, it becomes something that seems like it's really, like, ethereal. Like you can't really grasp onto it. And it's like, in the end, it's like, for someone who has their faith and trust in the Lord, it's like, all we have is hope. You know? It's like you kind of come to this place where it comes full circle, and it's like, this means so much at the end. It's a really cool progression or, like, journey that Paul takes us on.
[00:07:58.42] - Grant Dailey
Yeah. I mean, when you look at all of them, like, okay, so suffering. Why do we both send suffering? Because it produces something. Because the outcome of it is endurance. What is endurance other than the ability to, like, withstand more suffering?
[00:08:10.77] - Mitchell Buchanan
Right.
[00:08:11.48] - Grant Dailey
And then, like, character. Like, what is character good for? Right. Like, wouldn't you rather produce, like, dollars? I don't know, like. Like a name for yourself, and then.
[00:08:21.23] - Mitchell Buchanan
You producing characters feels like a silver lining for, you know, it's like, well, at least you learn something through. At least you, like, built up some character. And it's like, that's not how Paul is presenting it, and that's not what it is to us. But I think traditionally in the world, that's how it feels of, like, I.
[00:08:36.48] - Grant Dailey
Think we like character, and it's like, character and whatever comes with character. Right. Like, you. Character and what you were trying to get.
[00:08:45.71] - Mitchell Buchanan
Right.
[00:08:46.03] - Grant Dailey
But he's just like, you get character.
[00:08:47.87] - Mitchell Buchanan
Yeah.
[00:08:49.47] - Grant Dailey
And then you're like, well, what's. And he's like, in character, at least.
[00:08:52.52] - Mitchell Buchanan
I get a third place medal. Like, I get something besides character.
[00:08:55.45] - Grant Dailey
Character gets you hope.
[00:08:56.67] - Mitchell Buchanan
Yeah.
[00:08:56.99] - Grant Dailey
And hope is really funny. You know, like, in Hebrews, when it. When it walks through, like, the cloud of witnesses, it's like none of them got what they were hoping for, what they were working for. So then hope can be this very frustrating thing, because it. Even from that perspective, it may extend beyond your lifetime or beyond what you get to experience. And again, this is an odd selling point. To participate in this community of faith that he is talking to right now. It's a hard sell.
[00:09:28.85] - Mitchell Buchanan
Yeah, no way around it. I mean, it's like, if everything our world is trying to sell us is like, you know, to avoid suffering, obviously to make our lives more comfortable as every product we see or everything pitched to us, and this is like, don't avoid suffering. Don't just like, hey, accept it. It's like, no, no, no. Like, you should boast in it where it's like, hey, this moment of hardship is something that I'm like, intentionally and actively embracing, because I know that I'm gonna be changed. I know that, like, God is with me, you know, like, there's something on the other side that is, like, not material or not, you know, illusory in that way where it's like, oh, you know, you get a medal or some achievement. It's like, no, I'm like, God is changing me through this in a person and, like, someone that God can use more and more and more.
[00:10:19.76] - Grant Dailey
Yeah, I think, you know, if I were to. If the question is, like, real, simply, like, what does it look like? What to have grit as a person that acknowledges Jesus as lord. It's that, like, you push you and you endure not because of what you're going to get out of it, but because of the. You get to become the kind of person that can partner with God in what he's doing in the world. And I got that from verse two where he talks about that we boast in the hope of sharing in the glory of God, that God's vision, his dream for the world has been from the outset that the earth would be full of the glory of God, the knowledge of him, that everybody would get to know who he is on his terms as, like, for all that he's done in the world, that people would actually know God. And we get to share in that, you know, like, sharing in the hope of the glory of God, that we get to partner with him and having grit, then if we're going to get to do that, we have to be prepared just to, like, endure and push through and call attention to that and highlight that.
[00:11:31.08] - Mitchell Buchanan
I think something like, had a question about, because suffering happens with everyone, right? So, like, everyone has hardship or the, like, you know, to different degrees, but everyone, you know, suffering will just happen to. And then the progression is suffering produces endurance. And then I think I was just thinking, like, endurance according the world is just something that happens over time. Like, if your circumstances the same, that as long as you're, you know, just going forward in time, most people say, oh, you're enduring that, you know, hardship or that objective thing that's happening. But is this really enduring as, like Paul would set it out because it feels like that's just passive. Like that just happens to you just like suffering does. But I seemingly, I think there's just a lot of intention in how they approach that, where I'm just thinking, you know, how often are we saying, oh, yeah, I really endured that. But in the end, that's just you, like, reminiscing and looking back on a moment where it's like, oh, that was really hard, and now I've made it through, and now it's like a different spot. But it's like, I didn't do anything intentionally in that moment to, like, really endure. Like, hey, bolster my spirit in the word of God, to, like, know that God is with me and that I'm produced. Being produced into something. It's like no time just happened. So it's like, how do I really know, you know, what spot we're in? How do we intentionally endure, I guess, is probably the best way to say.
[00:12:56.92] - Grant Dailey
Yeah, I think the. For me, the question as to whether a person, like. Cause I would say, like, it seems like enduring is different than, like, just having survived or gone through something. I don't mean go through it like, you're really working through it. I mean, like, it happened to you and, like, you're describing, like, time passed and it was still happening. I think the measure for in the text becomes, like. Like, the character you have on the other side of it. Character is an interesting thing. Like, I teach high school and teaching at the academy.
[00:13:29.27] - Mitchell Buchanan
No soft kids.
[00:13:30.14] - Grant Dailey
No soft kids. You know, we're trying to cultivate kids with character, and this text has always left me an interesting position because it seems to, like, challenge the notion that you can have character if you haven't suffered. Because in the progression, it's like.
[00:13:49.11] - Mitchell Buchanan
Like, that you can get character from just, like, a knowledge of, like, oh, I know the right way to approach.
[00:13:55.66] - Grant Dailey
Yeah. Like. Like, real abstract. Like, growing up, I remember in public school is, like, we had a character trait of the week. Oh, you know, and it'd be like, the character trait of the week is, like, I don't know, honesty or kindness or integrity. And then they would teach you about the character trait, and then they'd, like, go beyond honest and integrous and have that character. And so, like, I guess. And it.
[00:14:16.96] - Mitchell Buchanan
What you, in your sermon, you really say, like, it's easy to say, I'm honest. It's hard to always be honest. Or it's. Yeah, it's easy to say, hey, I am enduring. It is immeasurably harder to endure something that is.
[00:14:30.30] - Grant Dailey
Yeah, or even, like, if we were to. Even if we just take the sermon series we've been doing, like, it's easy to say, like, yeah, I practice forgiveness until you actually get in a conflict with somebody that's messy and you hold on to it because it's really easy for me to stand on stage and be like, you guys got to forgive each other. But then when you get in conflict and it's ugly and you have to forgive, and you may not want to, but then you hear the words of Jesus ringing in the back of your head, and you're like, I got to forgive this person. Then every day, you have to struggle with the conscious. You look at them and you're like, I just want to throw it right back in their face, what they did. But then you're like, I forgave him. That is hard. And that is where character becomes. I liked one translation of the term. There was proven character that we differentiate between the kind of character you can grow in a lab and then the kind of character that gets formed because you have had to endure some hard stuff in life. And so. Yeah, how do you know somebody's endured? How did they display character that was developing in them? Like, did they keep commitments?
[00:15:38.26] - Mitchell Buchanan
Right?
[00:15:38.74] - Grant Dailey
Like, did. Were they responsible and faithful to, like, do what they said they would? Did they finish things during that period where they may have had an excuse and said, like, I'm sorry, this hard thing, I can't do it. But no, they, like, they did it. They showed up. Or not just showed up, but they actually did it. And they did it. Well, like, how do you evaluate the character? It would be necessary to evaluate the character, gain through that experience. Like, because I think it is very easy and probably very common to suffer and just, like, wait it out and not develop at all.
[00:16:15.14] - Mitchell Buchanan
Yeah.
[00:16:15.45] - Grant Dailey
You know, or try to, or maybe not even wait it out. What may be more common is to, like, suffer and then try to find the shortcut around it to put an end to it.
[00:16:25.09] - Mitchell Buchanan
Just escape.
[00:16:25.95] - Grant Dailey
Yeah, just escape from it. Just get out of it.
[00:16:28.02] - Mitchell Buchanan
There's so many outlets to shut. Shut off. Like, hey, you know, I don't have to think about that. Or, like, that's a hard conversation. I, like, I'll mentally think, like, prepare myself, but it's, like, to actually do it. It's like, no, I just need to, like, I'm just stressed. I just need to de stress. I need to do these other things. And it's like, we have a zillion ways to escape and be distracted, and it's like, I think that is the option to circumvent because, like, I. You know, like, I kind of even brought up earlier, everyone is suffering. So even just to say, like, hey, man, we're all going through it, and it's like, we all veg out on Netflix, and it's like, you can kind of come to that place where it's like, what are we. What are we supposed to do? Like, time and chance happens to us all. Hey, this is, you know, a hard season, and now I'm going to, like, kind of, you know, make it through by, like, just consuming.
[00:17:21.98] - Grant Dailey
Just tune out. Yeah.
[00:17:22.76] - Mitchell Buchanan
Right.
[00:17:23.02] - Grant Dailey
Just numb yourself part of, like, if I were to go, like you said behind the curtain earlier, if I were to, like, peel back the curtain going into this sermon, I knew what I want to talk about from the text, and I knew the points I had. But then I was kind of, like, contending with God over how I was going to tie it all together because I felt like there was a way, a route I could have gone to bring it all together, but I didn't know if I needed to go there if I wanted to. And in the end, I ended up going there, which is just to speak about my life. And I kind of did this intentionally to kind of do in practice what Paul is talking about here, which feels like a weird thing to say. And I tried to do it as humbly as I could, but, like, I spoke at the end about just my own experience and what it's like to lose a spouse and then have to keep going through life, because it was. It was, like, suffering, and I had to endure it. Like, I had to go through it and not just endure being a single dad, but also endure, like, grieving.
[00:18:40.75] - Mitchell Buchanan
Yeah.
[00:18:41.25] - Grant Dailey
Which, you know, there's, like, no set timetable for that. You know, like, I. I got remarried, but that doesn't mean I wasn't still having to deal with all the reverberating impact of losing somebody.
[00:18:52.74] - Mitchell Buchanan
Not to, like, make. Not to make light of or make a joke, but you can make a joke. Accessing your feelings is probably harder for you than some people. So I would even think the process of grieving is like, yeah, it's something that's not just like, oh, it's easy for me to, like, mourn something. It's like, it's probably, you know, just knowing you. Difficult for you to even. I think, and I think maybe push through all the depths of, like, what? Sadness.
[00:19:18.53] - Grant Dailey
Yeah. Because my trajectory is to be a man guy. You know, it's Boston, be a man. Which is maybe it's good for, like, getting through a work day. It is not sufficient for grieving. Yeah. So part of what I tried to do is what Paul tells us to, like, we boast in our suffering, and I was trying to call attention to does a hard thing. And I know that it wasn't just mine to go through like, it was something our community had to go through. It was suffering that we all had to go through, and I had to endure it. And then part of what I was trying to testify to is that, like, this is what's unfair about following Jesus, at least from a fleshy perspective, it feels unfair. Right? I remember somebody shared with me not long after Stephanie died. They were talking with somebody, and they were just asking what I was gonna do. And they're like, oh, what's grant gonna do? Is he gonna, like. You know, I had the time. Three kids. One of them was a year old, and they were all really small, and they're like. Cause he's just gonna take some time off and travel, spend time with his kids. And that felt like a funny thing to me. Yeah, you laugh. I was like, I would never do that. But I guess that's what people do, is when suffering hits, it's like you retreat or you withdraw or, like, you isolate. And I felt like I could never do that. No, I did it, like, well, in moments, you know, even when you say.
[00:20:40.39] - Mitchell Buchanan
That, it feels like they retreat or isolate. It's almost as if you're in the midst of what would be the largest suffering you'll have, you know, of your decade.
[00:20:50.70] - Grant Dailey
Yeah.
[00:20:51.01] - Mitchell Buchanan
And it's like, I need to prevent any more.
[00:20:53.26] - Grant Dailey
You know?
[00:20:53.69] - Mitchell Buchanan
It almost becomes, like, a self preservation thing where it's like, I have to remove myself because I'm overwhelmed. And, like, I don't need any possibility of, like. Because I would probably continue to, like, expound. Like, everything probably exacerbates to where people are, like, either never mention it or like, I'm so sorry. And you're like, this is not helping. You know?
[00:21:14.20] - Grant Dailey
It's like, yeah, I mean, it's a hard thing. You know? It is a hard thing for.
[00:21:18.35] - Mitchell Buchanan
So, like, the world's wisdom might just be like, just take your time. You should travel. You should like. And it's like.
[00:21:26.16] - Grant Dailey
Which feels like the plot to so many movies that aren't coming to mind right now, but, like, yeah, I.
[00:21:33.27] - Mitchell Buchanan
Sorry to interrupt you.
[00:21:34.21] - Grant Dailey
No, that's fine. No, that's very true. So I felt confronted with the challenge of what felt like unfair following Jesus is that at the time I was teaching at the academy, I was actually the interim principal of the academy for just, like, a period before principal Castro took over. And I was like, I had responsibility. And, listen, the people in charge of school are so gracious and generous. Like, if I had gone and been like, guys, it's way too much. I can't do it without a shadow of doubt, they would have been like, we understand, that's fine. But I felt like I could never do that because, like, I showed up to teach kids the Bible, and that's a hard thing, you know, because I was having to deal with something, and it's not like they didn't know what I was going through. Like, they all knew it. And a lot of them had. My late wife is a teacher, so they knew what was happening. So then they're staring at me, and you feel the burden of, like, I am now representative for these kids of the hope of God. And inside, I'm falling apart. But on the outside, I have to speak by faith. That's a really hard thing to do. And I wasn't fake. I don't think I was ever fake. But you do have to, like, turn on something for a moment that may not reflect exactly how you feel. And I just. I had to endure that. Like, I just. I had to. Cause it was like, you know, it was like. It's not like it was one day to show up and do something. It was like every day of the week, I had to walk in the school where Stephanie taught. Teach these kids music, and they all knew her, and I was like. And then, you know, like, I was a terrible single dad, and I was like, I don't know where my kids are or if they're going to make it. I don't know who's watching them today or, you know, like, there was a lot that you're carrying going through. And then I think that, again, trying to, like, model this text, like, it produced some character in me that the challenge I feel from the text is, did I really have character before that, like. Or what kind of character did I have? Because I think when I was younger, I would have been like, I'm a man of God. I'm a tegras, and I'm character. And that's not like I never experienced anything in life before that. It's not like the first. That was certainly the most serious and especially in terms of death. And I think that it gave me some character that I would not have had otherwise, because it's one thing to show up and do your job when everything's okay in the world. It's another thing to show up and do your job. And I don't just mean that lightly. I mean, do your job in terms of be obedient to the calling God has.
[00:24:12.59] - Mitchell Buchanan
Yeah, I think that was even highlighting that of, like, it's not like, hey, no one can teach this class I'm doing. So you're doing it. It's like, you know, embracing, you know, what God would have for you in that moment or the best you could, because I'm sure you've probably had a million, like, if I could change this, this. I probably knew this the best, you know, like, a million mistakes. Insincerity of, like, hey, I'm really just trying to respond to the Lord and, like, do what God's called me to do. And it's like, I think that is so commendable. Commendable in a way that even as you're testifying, it should be the path that we all take of, like, hey, when your world is shattered, like, when, you know, things are, like, have so plunged you into, like, a chaotic moment, it's like, if we can still, I think, respond to, like, all right, Lord. Like, I want to be obedient to where you would have me. And it's like, mistakes happen in the midst of that. But it's like, I think the. The intentionality to enter that with the Lord is like something that, on the other side, it's not as if the Lord ever left, you know, where it's like, that there wasn't, you know, a character that you. You would never have otherwise is like, that's the Lord's, you know, like, hand the Lord's the Lord's doing.
[00:25:29.92] - Grant Dailey
And God was so faithful to me during that season. And part of what I wanted to highlight in that, even by testifying, is what Paul's saying here, that this is a. This is a we thing. Like, it's given all of us some character that we didn't have before. Cause now, like, we know that it doesn't have to be just what the world does at large, which is check out and isolate. But, like, we've got some character as a community now that says hard things happen like, that we can endure, and we're gonna be responsible, we're gonna be faithful, we're gonna keep commitments. And then part of what I was also trying to testify in there is this dynamic as a preacher that sometimes you are giving a message that you yourself has to hear. And it always feels really funny doing that. Like, sometimes I'm on stage preaching, and I'm like, I, too, have am subject to this. I'm not preaching as a paragon of these things. Like, this is for me. So at the end, when. When he talks about that, hope does not disappoint us. I tried to highlight that the phrasing there does not disappoint us might be weak. The way that term is translated almost throughout the entirety of the new session is put to shame. And for me, disappointment seems to be an internal mechanism. Like, my dad didn't go to my baseball game. Now I'm disappointed, or I didn't get what I wanted for my birthday. I'm disappointed. Whereas put to shame, shame has an external component towards. It has to do with, like, the way people see you and regard you and how you then feel about that, or the standing you now have or have lost because of that. So hope doesn't put us to shame for me. And maybe I need. I wish I had said this clearly. Maybe I did say it clearly. I don't know. I'm again behind the curtain. I don't have notes up there, and I don't have an outline. I have what's in my head that I work with. I feel great about that, but sometimes it gets me, I think, part of what I was doing, because I ended the testimony by noting that this summer, I had the opportunity to go to India. And I haven't been to India in six years. The last time I was in India was about a week and a half before I found out Stephanie had cancer. You know, the thing for me, going to India was, like, something Stephanie and I did together was, like, we traveled to India. We named our first born after our experience in India. This was, like, the vision we had for it. And then when she died, it felt like that was gone. You know, it felt like we lost that. And I felt a degree of shame about that, because it's, like, all this hope that I had built up in that I'll never realize it. I was like, I'll never get to be in India with Stephanie when we're older, or I'll never get to go again. You know? Like, it felt like I carried some shame because of that hope. And part of my encouragement to everybody was to say that, like, our hope has to be so much bigger than sometimes we make it out to be. Like, it's not just my hope. Like, we have to get on board with the hope that God has for the world, that the whole world get to know him, that we get to partner with him in that. And so now I have this opportunity to do it. I'm going with KB. I'm going with my wife. It's very special. I did not want to go. Like, I've been fighting it for so long. My wife has been so mad at me for so long. Cause I wouldn't commit to it. And I wouldn't say yes. And, like, even other people, like, so you go into India. I'm like, I don't know. I guess, mind your business. Yeah. Like, you know, like, no. Like, people, like, going on the trip, they'd be like, you can be there with us. And they've heard my wife, like, I don't know, grandma. Make up his mind. But you're gonna. You're gonna go there, and I'm back. I don't. I don't know. I guess.
[00:29:24.42] - Mitchell Buchanan
And pause for just a brief moment. I think if there's, like, a spiritual, healthy way to throw someone under the bus, like Kaylee, you know, that seems up her alley. Like, hey, if you thought I'm putting on pressure on you, anytime someone asked me, I'm saying if Grant would get off his butt about it, like, they're.
[00:29:42.58] - Grant Dailey
Having these, like, weekly. They've been so faithful, you know? They're like, they've been meeting every week for this trip. There's. There's a few people going this summer. They've been working on the project goals of planning all this stuff. They've been going every week. I have not gone. And then they're like, you're gonna come to the meeting, and Kaylee says, you don't know if you're gonna go or not. And it's like, I'm looking a little Olivia lasseter. And I was like, I don't know. You know? But then I had to. I had to contend with the shame. I felt the potential for shame, because, again, this is an external world. This is a world looking at this community as communities dealing with the potential for external shame. Oh, you guys had this vision and this hope for the future, and now you're suffering, and everything's falling apart, and it looks like your hopes aren't going to pan out. And that's what it felt like for me at times. It was like all these things that we said by faith, by hope, weren't going to happen. But then the. The confidence we have in this text is that we're not going to be put to shame. We're not going to be embarrassed. We're not going to be ashamed of the hope that we have in God because of this love that we have, being full of the word of God, full of the spirit. And now it's like we're overflowing with this love that we're going to extend to the world. And so part of me even bringing that up, I hadn't planned necessarily on saying that, but part of it was even for me to acknowledge that this is what Paul's talking about, that when we go through the process and submit to it, subject ourselves to it as a community, and we learn and we develop character through it, then we come out on the other side with the kind of hope that's not going to leave us ashamed. And I think for a lot of us, like, the hope that we have when we were younger, we might feel ashamed about because maybe we said things to people when we were younger that, oh, I'm going to do this or be in this place or have this kind of lifestyle. And maybe we're now in a position where because of, like, tough things we've been going through.
[00:31:39.42] - Mitchell Buchanan
Yeah. You make those statements before suffering or endurance or building character. Like you, you kind of have all these grand aspirations that have not been tested at all. Right.
[00:31:50.21] - Grant Dailey
It's not tested. And then, like, the shame enters, then when now people are like, what happened to that? Didn't you say, weren't you gonna be, weren't you going, weren't you gonna do that? And now we're in this position, wherever we have the potential to feel shame. But, like, from the perspective of this text, when we endure and we're tough and grit, that it's not going to, it's not going to leave us shameful. We're not going to feel ashamed of it because we're connected to something that's so much bigger than us in terms of our hope. And our hope is not. You can have hopes as an individual, you can have hopes and dreams, but you also have to access the hope that we have to partner with God in this. And if we can be the kind of people that are tough enough and have enough grit to just keep pushing through and keep working and keep maintaining our character and developing our character, then the hope that we have is going to be just, it's going to be so expansive and it's going to be so much bigger than me, and it may be bigger than my lifetime, it may be bigger than my kids lifetime, but we're not going to be ashamed.
[00:32:55.51] - Mitchell Buchanan
Yeah.
[00:32:56.29] - Grant Dailey
We're not going to feel bad about how or like, they're not going to feel as if we were let down by our dreams because it's now something so much bigger because we've been able to tough through it and get some character in us.
[00:33:10.23] - Mitchell Buchanan
Yeah. I think you did a great job in your sermon and you felt it talking, I think, through your personal journey and then saying, like, it's not mine. This is our community, and it's like, how are we going to respond? And it's like, I don't think, you know, this might be just naive to say I don't think even out of all the hardships that our community has experienced, I've never thought I need to have a personal response to it of like, hey, this is kind of like what we're doing. And I think even this text and then your testimony is like, hey, what are we doing if we aren't seeing this or if we're not seeing our lives as a response to the suffering? That's what it is. Like, how do you respond to suffering? It's like, I think probably through the hardships of our community just felt where I'm like, hey, it's just happening to us. So it's like, I don't feel like I'm ever, like, dishonest or changing. I'm not, like, ashamed of something, but I think kind of just like, hey, this is just happening. We're pushing forward. Pushing forward. But it's like having the mentality with, like, grit and, like some, you know, almost like some healthy aggressiveness. Like, hey, no, this is our response. You know, it's like, hey, just so you know, like, I'm intentionally enduring this. Like, we're responding in this way, or it's like, I think it demands some drive that we should all have as, like, believers that are not ashamed, that have this character, that we have been tested and we've not fallen away or like, we've been through these battles together, you know? It's like, yeah. Cause I don't think anybody in our community wants to be like, man, I'm so sorry grant endured. That's like, we will. We would all have the hope. That's like, hey, we did our best to be there for you.
[00:34:52.40] - Grant Dailey
I mean, we were enduring it together because it's like you guys are watching my kids. I mean, I often say, like, you know, my Rosie at the time was my youngest. She is now, uh, oh, seven in December. So she's six and a half. She, you know, she was eleven months old when Stephanie died. And I don't. I don't like. I don't know how she's okay. Other than so many people were just like. Like, Jennifer Sherrod watched Rosie, like, three days a week, probably more than that. I don't even remember for, like, 6 hours a day, maybe longer. And, you know, Rosie one developed, like, a really unhealthy love of cheese that she still has with her to this day. She loves cheese.
[00:35:35.88] - Mitchell Buchanan
Yeah.
[00:35:36.32] - Grant Dailey
And but also, like, she was just okay. Like, she was fine through it all. Like, she. She was fine.
[00:35:44.28] - Mitchell Buchanan
Yeah.
[00:35:44.80] - Grant Dailey
And there are so many stories about that, and it was part of the endurance of our community, because I know for people that it was hard to simultaneously, for a lot of people, grieve a friend or somebody that was, like, a mentor to them and Stephanie or whatever role she was in your life and then also try to take care of, you know, her now. Her. I don't know. We have a widow or a widow. What's a half orphan? I don't know. I don't know how to talk. These kids didn't have a mom, and, you know, like, so, yeah, we endured it together, and that was part of my. My intentionality and testifying to it. Like, this is something that we have gone through, and we have so many things like that that we have gone through. And if our response to when things get tough and now we feel like the hope that we had is in jeopardy is to just, like, quit or complain, we're not gonna make it. We're not gonna get to the. We're not gonna get to the point where our hopes aren't, like, put to shame. We're just gonna, like, feel ashamed of everything and just quit and whine or complain, and it's like, move on.
[00:36:52.82] - Mitchell Buchanan
Looking at the text, what is there? You know, I think we're all going into this vocation like this, you know, this adventure on with goddess. Why? You know, sober minded.
[00:37:04.80] - Grant Dailey
Yeah.
[00:37:05.07] - Mitchell Buchanan
You know, like, wide eyed, where it's like, we know what we're getting into. It's like the. The game plan or the path is there. It's like, what are we complaining about? You know? It's like, suffering. You know, it's like we're all going to experience suffering. It's like we're going to endure it if we want to have character. It's like when we have, like, those bumps in the road or even, like, major life trials, it's like, complaining should not be the. It may be natural to do it. It may be like, part of trying to get to where we need to be, but it's like, when you look at it objectively, it's like, where's the room for it? It's like, why do we do it? Because.
[00:37:38.32] - Grant Dailey
Well, the thing I would challenge is that, you know, when I was young, I moved to Nashville when I was 27, but I have been doing ministry for years before that. Went to Bible college, was a youth pastor, had gone on slam trips and gone to Mexico. You know, from 23 on, like, I'd done mission trips with Ywam when I was 21, had a desire to serve the lord. And I think as a young guy, like, of course I knew that there was going to be suffering. Like, you know, and I was even prepared to give things up. I had a stint where I was going to be celibate for the rest of my life that did not work out. You know, like, I was prepared to, like, live an impoverished life. I remember you could do it, like, you know, like, all the things that were, like, I felt like you said you were, like, we knew what we were signing up for. Never once did I think I was signing up for being a widower.
[00:38:31.82] - Mitchell Buchanan
Right.
[00:38:32.69] - Grant Dailey
That's something else.
[00:38:33.86] - Mitchell Buchanan
Yeah.
[00:38:34.28] - Grant Dailey
And I think that's the problem. That's the hard part about suffering, is that, like, it is a broad thing here. It's wide open. It's like you. You may be able to prepare yourself for certain things, but you can't prepare yourself for everything, you know? Like, I've gone through so many cars in my life, and, like, just. I have had so many terrible cars and cars people have given me. Like, you know, if. If our car broke down, I'd be like, all right, I feel like I'm prepared for this. I've gone through this. But there's, like, you know, there's you. You just can't be ready for everything in terms of suffering. And sometimes you're going to experience something that's just going to knock you off your feet that you weren't ready for. And that's the stuff that. That leaves us questioning, you know, not the predictable stuff that we saw or that we anticipated or some of us maybe even welcomed. You know, it was like the martyrdom syndrome that was, like, so prevalent in young Christian DC.
[00:39:31.11] - Mitchell Buchanan
Tom.
[00:39:31.57] - Grant Dailey
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jesus. Freeze.
[00:39:32.63] - Mitchell Buchanan
I read the book of martyrs.
[00:39:33.86] - Grant Dailey
I read the book. You know, I knew the stories. Like, that stuff. Yeah, I was ready for that, but I wasn't ready for, like, what happens when your wife dies.
[00:39:41.69] - Mitchell Buchanan
Yeah.
[00:39:43.26] - Grant Dailey
Like, how could I have been ready for that one? So I think it is like, there were things that we couldn't predict and couldn't see coming, and that hits you hard. That has the potential to derail you. And then if it has you reevaluating your life, because now all the things that you were hoping for aren't coming, and you feel that shame from it. It's like all that, and then you just, like, you want to complain about it or give up or quit, and God's like, he can't work with that. He needs people that aren't going to quit. He needs people that are going to grow and develop because not because suffering is the end goal, but because suffering is actually the start to help us become the kind of people he actually needs in the world. That's now the thing that's going to help push us to become the kind of people that can actually help usher in, like, the glory of God and manifest the glory of God on the earth. Like, that's. That's where I felt the challenge to everybody, and that that would be what I would want people to consider. Like, if you are having to, and I don't think suffering is, like, all the time unending. Like, some of you, I'm sure there are people out there, like, I'm actually pretty stable and okay right now, but that's fantastic. You will hit seasons where you're not. We just talked about that in seasons, but I, like, if you are going through something, like, don't let it be an opportunity to quit. Recognize that you're gonna become something in this. And it may not end when you want it to end. It may not, like, net you something that you want, but you will develop character, and that'll be, like, a benefit for all of us. It'll be character that we can all benefit from. And it will give you a vision and a hope for the future that you just haven't had before because you didn't have the scope to see what it was.
[00:41:41.26] - Mitchell Buchanan
And I think, you know, unless you have more, I think ending on just your sermon in a way where it's like, hey, this was, you know, my experience and my testimony, and it's like, inviting everyone into that and even just saying, like, hey, we all made it through, like, Rosie. Somebody watched Rosie. And it's like, for our church community today, you know, there's so many people I can think of that are kind of, like, going through the ring where it's like, you know, I'm close with Tristan. I think every day, just like, the physical nature of him trying to get his body right, it's like, chronic physical issues.
[00:42:15.42] - Grant Dailey
Yeah, yeah.
[00:42:15.94] - Mitchell Buchanan
And it's like that. That's just so apparent because it, you know, it's. It's his actual body, but there's so many more people going through stuff, and it's like, I think having a mentality as a church where it's like, hey, Tristan, you're not going through this alone.
[00:42:31.28] - Grant Dailey
Yeah.
[00:42:31.76] - Mitchell Buchanan
And it's like, that's not just like, that should be his perspective, it's like, hey, I could feel free to like, hey, I'm having a rough day. You know, it's like, or, hey, this is going on. It's like, and I think for the church overall, it's like, hey, let's get out of our own, you know, like, daily schedule, and let's, like, be willing to embrace those people where it's like, hey, we need to get through this together. Because, you know, I think just being closer to him, I've encouraged Tristan before because he's like, oh, thanks for taking the time or doing this. It's like, first of all, like, this is what we're called to do is for me to help support you when you're needed. It's like, and now if I don't demonstrate this right now, I'm going to be going through my trial in, like, one month, six months, three years, five years from now. It's like, if I'm not faithful to, I think, be a good friend and be someone who's laying down my life in this moment, it's like, then that foundation isn't there for you to do the same. You know, it's like, this. This should be a collective, like, community where it's like, we all have the word of God, we all have this vision where it's like we're trying to endure suffering together, because together, God's going to produce a people. And it's like, I think there's so many opportunities that we have. I think if we're going through struggles, like, open that up and, like, let people, you know, know what's going on. Let people know that you're hoping for restoration, that you're pushing forward and enduring, and, like, people can lift you up and, like, engage in that. And then I think for everyone else, like, find those opportunities, like, who's in your accountability group, who's in your. Your neighbor where it's like, dude, they. I know they're going through stuff, like, I need to help and, like, help make sure they know they're not alone in this. Because this, the moment that I think we all feel like we're kind of in this place where it's like no one understands me or it's like I'm kind of, like, trapped in a moment, you know, to, you know, kind of borrow from you, too. It's like we've kind of lost altogether that we need to be able to do this together. And I think that is going to be so healthy. And again, your sermon alone, being able to testify, and then welcome, everyone, into that moment of, like, it's hard for me to say yes to this trip this summer, but it's like I'm doing it, and it's like everyone is now part of, I think, helping to endure that with you. If. If. If we could say that.
[00:44:49.55] - Grant Dailey
Yeah, and let me. Let me just. Just. Because, just to be clear, don't. Please don't anybody let my experience become the bar for what constitutes suffering. You know, suffering is a very broad term in the New Testament. Encompasses a lot of things and a variety of trials, afflictions, sufferings, oppressions, things like that. Just, you know, the severity of mind does not invalidate what you may be going through. That's a legitimately hard thing. So if you have that tendency and you're like, well, I guess I have to lose a spouse to actually have any character. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just telling my story. Yeah, but, yeah, I thought that was a really good, practical summons at the end.
[00:45:34.61] - Mitchell Buchanan
That's why I'm here, dude. It's my.
[00:45:36.67] - Grant Dailey
Yeah, well done.
[00:45:39.17] - Mitchell Buchanan
Well, this was great, man. And just. Thank you so much. Every time you speak, it's. You mentioned you don't really have, like, strict outline or, like, you know, Brandon will have, like, hey, I want to read this because I did it well. And, like, this is how I work. Like, and I think something just to reflect back to you. Every time you speak, you always seem so present. I feel like times I speak, I feel like I get. Stray away and I get a little cluttered. I have to get back. It's like, I think when you're speaking, it's like, it's obvious that you're very present in that moment, which you. You can be so powerful because you can go down a number of different ways, and it's like. But God uses you to speak, and I think that's, like, something that's really great for you to be able to speak to our church. So thanks, but thank you all for listening. This was a great time again. You know, everything that we do here is just a practice that we should all be doing. Like, hey, bring up a scripture. I know there's prayer groups that meet on Wednesdays with. With different people, and, like, they. They hold accountability and, like, digging into God's word, it's like, that's what this about. So, like, wherever you're watching, listening to this and leaving a five star review, I think we're taking these moments to really practice. Hey, what does God's word say? What do we hear at church. How are we going to live this out? Because we've got to do it. To do what God wants us to do. Until next time we see you at church. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you later.
Kommentare