Leadership Lessons That Will Break You and Build You with Craig Groeschel  

25:06And that's just not the most loving thing you can do. There's times when you need to say, you're actually not very good at that. Let's go do something else, you know? And so I don't blame the younger generation for being more sensitive. I blame my generation for, um, by robbing the emerging generation of some of the things that helped create a resilient spirit. So, you know, we, we all have strengths and weaknesses and there's so many good qualities with Gen Z coming up, really, really qualities I like and admire. But one of the developmental areas is to help them understand that, hey, when I'm giving you feedback, it's actually because I care about you.

25:47And once you get better, I'm not criticizing, I'm not tearing you down. I actually see greatness in you. I'm helping try to pull it out. So there's just what I find is in that generation, sometimes we have to give a little bit more context for them to understand it. And then, then they get really passionate about it. Yeah. By the way, I do think this younger generation wants to contribute and serve as much as I've seen. They want to be a part of something. Very mission minded. So many good qualities and Gen Z is getting a little scrappier too. They're seeing their older brothers and sisters broke and struggling.

26:19And they're going like, I don't want to be that. I want to save some money. I want to work hard. And so So there's cycles in every generation, right? Yeah, you're right. You know, both my children, Max and Bella, were here for Easter. They're both Bella home from college and Max home from golf. And they were both here. And I was thinking about being a leader. I knew we were going to talk, and I had already wanted to go in a little bit of a direction with leadership with you on the show. And then you confirmed it this morning. It was almost like kind of an answer to prayer. And I'll tell you what happened this weekend.

26:49I was with them both. This is personal, but I always do this on the show. My kids know I love them. And the people that work with me know I love them and care about them. It's something I'm pretty good at expressing. Belief, though, is a different thing than love. It's correlated, but it's different. And my daughter came over and she just passed her real estate test and she's doing great. And we had a little session together and she walked away and I'm like, check the box. She knows I believe in her so deeply. The way I communicate with her. My son and I then had a different session together. I'll call it a session.

27:21Long conversation. Clearly knows his dad loves him. But we were kind of going back and forth on what he's doing. And when he walked away, you know, you just kind of watch your kids sometimes walk away from you. It's your baby. And I went, I wonder, am I doing as good a job as he's gotten older at him knowing his dad believes in him as I did when he was younger? Is that box fully checked? Like this young man goes out in the world. My dad loves me. He knows my dad believes in me. The man I look up to the most, which is usually your father, believes in me deeply. And I just had this sense in my spirit, not enough, not enough.

28:00And I made this mental note, fix that, pour into him more belief, right? What do you do as a, is it the same as a dad, as a granddad, as a business leader? Are you cognizant of that distinction of belief and anything that you're conscious of doing to pour into people belief, as opposed to just, I care about you and I love you. So I'm really glad you asked that, Ed. And I'm going to ask you this. Do you remember what my favorite podcast of yours is still to this day? I assume it's the one with my kids. It 100 % is. That's what you told me on the voice note. You told me on the voice note. Yeah. Yes, it is.

28:37And you've had some fantastic ones. Thank you. But who you are as a parent and your relationship with your kids, that's a bigger blessing than owning an island. Sure is. That's a really, really big deal. Thank you. And so you ask about how do you communicate belief and not just love. As a parent, it's interesting. The father-son dynamic is often different than the father-daughter dynamic. The son, so often he wants to please you based on how he performs. And your son's going to measure himself up against you. And that's a pretty tough tool of comparison. And so one of the things that we have to do is help people know that we value not just what they do, but who they are.

29:26And in work and as parents, we almost always go to the do. Like, hey, great game. Or, you know, you did a great job on that project. And I am so biased to performance that I have to stop over and over again as a dad and as a leader and say they don't want to be just loved by what they do. because if they are, then we're using them. But they want to be valued for who they are. And so like today is administrative assistant day. And today we're recording this. So I wrote my assistant a note because her love language is words of encouragement. And I tried to talk about who she is as a person more than what she does.

30:07Every day she does things that she runs my world and it's amazing. What she does is valuable, but who she is, is meaningful. And so it's, it's, we have to, the more driven we are, the more biased we are toward action. But the best way to communicate care and value is not by celebrating action, but by celebrating character or who they are. And so that as a dad, like, especially with my sons, my daughters, there's more of a nurturing relationship that's natural. My sons, I love them like crazy, but I know they're going, Dad, are you proud of what I did? And so what I try to do is say, I just can't, I'm so proud of who you are.

30:50And then talk about the qualities, like the fact that you're working for purity, the fact that you really are striving to be a godly man. And they're crushing it in ministry. Their numbers and impact are great. But I try to go to the who before the do. uh and and that that's it's infected but it's effective but it's hard to do especially for people with uh with success goal-oriented minds yeah that you're so performance oriented i'm gonna stop telling you how good everything is we're just gonna keep going but shoot man this is so good um how do you uh you and i are both habits people right we're both habitual and the reason that that matters is at scale habits matter under pressure habits matter and under and under fatigue habits matter right let's talk leadership habits for a second um are there a few that stand out to you that if you don't do these things habitually you know and some of them guys want to avoid people want to avoid in general ladies and men want to avoid as a leader um What are some of those things that for you, like these are just cornerstone habits and you can't avoid them?

32:01What are some of those? So let me talk first general and then I'll get specific. And it was Charles Duhigg who wrote The Power of Habit. He talked about Keystone Habits. A fascinating story, I think, of Alcoa Steel, a company that was struggling. They brought in a CEO who said, this is going to be the safest place to work. And they all thought, well, that's kind of dumb, but it'll change. Well, he did that for months and months and months. And what they didn't realize is when they tried to become safe, it changed how they hired, how they interviewed, the systems they created, the processes that involved their communication.

32:36And suddenly they became profitable. Why? Because they had one habit that created lots of other positive habits. And so what you know in your life, Ed, and everybody listening is there are certain habits that if we have this one or two or three things in place, then they compound into other really positive habits. And the opposite is true. If we're not doing that one or two things, then negative things happen. And I joke around about my keystone habit being flossing, which is silly and it kind of is. But if I floss because I hate flossing, it triggers something in my mind that says, wow, you do what's right even when you don't like it.

33:15I'm a disciplined person. So therefore, I get up earlier. I eat right in the morning because I'm disciplined. I do my Bible study. I get to work earlier than anybody. I work harder. I come home in a good mood because I was productive. My wife loves me. We have six kids. Why? Because I floss, and I'm slightly exaggerating. But if I don't floss, I don't feel disciplined. And so I might sleep in later, don't have time to do my Bible study, don't prepare a good breakfast so I pick up a donut on the way. I don't feel as healthy, so I don't exercise. I have a bad day. I come home, I'm not as good a husband, and my wife doesn't like me or whatever.

33:51And again, I'm obviously exaggerating, but not by much. There are certain things that have compounding positive or negative effects. And so as a leader, for me, it starts in the morning. And you're going to find that almost every time, I guarantee you, you did not sleep until 9.30 today. I bet my entire life on it. that you are probably more productive before seven o 'clock this morning than many people are in the whole day. And so what you want to do is you want to decide what are the habits in your life that create the other positive habits. And then you develop them. They're not going to be the same for anybody.

34:33But for me, you know, they're like exercising is as spiritual as Bible study. I have to do it. It's for my mind, my soul, my marriage. It's for my relationship with God. It's a way I honor God with my body. If I'm not going to honor him with my mind, but I'm going to listen to something today. I was listening to one of your podcasts last night. Why? Because I'm developing my mind. And so I have a lot of little habits that have created a lot more habits. and it's not because I'm a disciplined person. The reality is I'm undisciplined. I love donuts. I love sleeping in. I love vegging. I love being lazy.

35:15So I have to choose the right behaviors that create the right results. And then you learn to love them. When I started eating healthy 15 years ago, I didn't like it. Well, now I don't like the junk food I used to love because your appetite changes for what's good if you start with the right habit. So I can be specific if you want, but that's kind of a general thought process. No, no, no. I'm a big believer. Charles has been on the show a couple of times in this keystone habit concept as well. And ironically, this is no joke, you guys. We did not confer on this. And I've never heard him say this before.

35:52I have a podcast where I talk about my catalyst habit is flossing. I'm not exaggerating. It's a fact. It's because I don't like doing it. It's tedious. I used to feel like, you just get away with not doing it. Just brush your teeth, whatever. Right. And that, because I don't want to do what I do it. And then that kind of moved into something cold in the morning. I don't want to do it. I don't do it for any anti-inflammatory properties. I do it because I don't want to do it. And I'm, I now put myself, as you've said, in the category of a freak, I'm doing things other people aren't willing to do.

36:22I am this disciplined person. And it just sets me on this path. I always want to ask you such a big organization. I want to kind of take a turn.

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37:27CarMax. Pickup not available everywhere. Restrictions and fee may apply. How do you keep culture? This is one for the business people in here. How do you keep culture at scale? You know, you got a six person group or when you first started the church, there's 15, 20, 40, 50 people there. Controlling the culture is doable, right? If you're cognizant of it, if you're even cognizant of culture, some leaders aren't even cognizant of culture at all. but at scale and then digitally often like how you've been growing in addition to the general locations that has to have been a challenge for you so what would your answer because i get asked this a lot in my business coaching and i don't know that i have a great answer for it so it's very challenging so ed we you know we went from one location to maybe 11 12 13 and we we entered at a really bad season where the culture got away from us.

38:21And there were subcultures, they were not healthy. And the challenge is, what is your culture? Your culture is a combination of what you create and what you allow, period. That's all it is. It's your standards. What do we celebrate? What do we tolerate? And everybody has a culture. Not every culture is created intentionally. Some of them are, you know, we come in, we turn the lights on, we listen to whoever's screaming, we solve problems that we see, turn the lights off and go home. That's not a healthy culture, but it is a culture. And so if you don't like your culture, you have to change what you're tolerating, what you're creating.

38:59We got to where we had like, I don't know, 11, 12, 13 locations. And it was, they were not consistent. Some of them were not healthy. There were really bad behaviors in there. And I thought we'd lost it. Like, I don't know how we're going to ever get this back. And what I realized is that great cultures never happen by accident. They're always intentional. And what creates the culture? Well, what we believe determines what we do. What we believe determines what we do. How we think determines how we behave. So we have to over and over and over and over and over and over again, drive the values that make us who we are.

39:39What values do we have? Well, there's a lot that goes into creating values. A lot of people have words. I like to create statements because statements create emotion. So in church, evangelism is a word that means reaching the lost. We don't say evangelism. We say, we'll do anything short of sin to reach people who don't know Christ. To reach people no one's reaching, we'll have to do things no one's doing. We'll do anything short of sin to reach people who don't know Christ, to reach people no one's reaching, we'll have to do things no one's doing. That creates emotion. We'll say this, the church does not exist for us.

40:14We are the church and we exist for the world. And so we are not spiritual consumers, we're spiritual contributors. The church doesn't exist for us, we're the church, we exist for the world. We say these things over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again to change how we think. Because if we do not, what happens. Vision leaks and culture drifts. Vision leaks. Here's what we're about. And after a while, people forget. Culture drifts. Culture never drifts toward better by accident. Why? Because we take the easiest path. We take the road of least resistance. We move towards what's easy, creating a great culture's heart.

40:50How do we do it? Well, three things. We have to be very, very clear about what we expect. Here's what we expect. And then we have to reward it when we see it and we correct it when we don't. That's it. That's how you create a culture. Here's what we expect. Here's what we believe. Here's what we value. And we reward it when we see it. We correct it when we don't. And that is in many ways our job. That's a big part of it. Huge. Is we are creating the beliefs and the values that drive the behaviors. And then we want aligning systems and we want the right people, you know, and we want to make sure resource allocation is, you know, consistent with all these things.

41:28What is great leadership? It's getting the right people, it's creating the right culture, it's developing the right systems, it's allocating resources in the right way. And of those big things, you can't be successful in any of them without a healthy culture. See, everybody, you forget for a while that you're listening to a pastor. And I've, submitted this over and over and over again. You show me anything that's flourishing in this country, in this world today. I don't care if it's a church, a scout troop, right? A business, you name it, a sports team. I'm going to show you something being led by a leader, a real leader, and a group of leaders that they've developed.

42:09And that's what you're hearing here today. Period. End of story. For fun. And to just as a pastor, if I can just talk about my faith and we share the same belief system. If you ever look at Jesus through a leadership lens, tell me what you see. Okay. He's the son of God. He was sinless. He died and rose again to save the world. That's the heart of the story. What did he pull off? He recruited 12 people that others overlooked. He imparted kingdom values. He created a kingdom culture. He empowered, He delegated. How did he delegate? He said, I'm going to go away. I'm going to send you out, go into all the world, preach the gospel, baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

42:52He gave them the what. He gave them the where. He did not give them the how. He didn't delegate tasks. He delegated authority. Oh, my goodness. He went away. He sent the Holy Spirit. And here we are 2 ,000 years later in an organization known as the church with still doing the work of God. Why? because Jesus came and selected some people, empowered them, gave them the vision. Here's why I came. I didn't come for this reason. I came for this reason. Here's the vision. Here's the kingdom cultures. Here's how we love here, how we treat people. He released them. That's leadership. Yeah, so good. And by the way, everybody, if you don't know the story, this was a ragtag army too.

43:30He didn't pick what everybody would think was the perfect resume and the perfect background and the perfect history. Every religious organization would have rejected That's right. Exactly. Every single one. And so that's why I don't recruit from the normal religious institutions. I recruit business minded people who love Jesus. And we recruit from the church, bring people up from within. And that's, again, whatever you do, don't limit it to what you do. I can learn, I learn all day long from people like Ed and apply it to ministry. People in business can learn from guys that do what I do. Great principles are transferable.

44:07And I hate it when people try to put themselves in a box. Yeah. I'm so with you. I had something happen to me when I was younger. Because the other thing about Jesus, maybe my favorite story, you guys have to understand this, like the night before he knew he was going to be crucified, what did he do? he washed their feet. It's one of the most emotional stories that I'm not really good at even telling because I get so emotional about it because I was so much not that person when I was a young leader. And what you said about the church is here to serve, not to be served. The leader is here to serve, not to be served.

44:47And that's something that most people that are leaders have backwards. And he knew he was going to go. And he knew that not all these dudes in there necessarily even had his back, but he washed their feet. And, um, to me, that's just the symbol of what I should be aspiring to do. I don't do very well, but it's my example. You do that. Well, you're what I call a youth centered leader, meaning you don't have to do this podcast. I mean, you've created wealth and you're doing this to serve people. And if anyone ever meets with you one-on-one, they'll be more impressed with you in person than they are from a distance because you care about people.

45:26And that's fundamentally what we have to do as leaders is we have to be youth-centered leaders. The moment that I think that the church exists for me is a moment I should be wiped off the face of the earth, right? I'm not inviting people to come serve my vision. That's selfish. Thankfully, I'm serving a vision much higher than my own, but I'm inviting people to come and use their gifts to serve other people and make a difference. And that's, you know, that's what you do really well. And so don't ever, you know, as your friend, I will not let you sell yourself short. I appreciate it. I do. I thank you for saying that.

46:03I will accept that. Although we both know I have a long way to go on that. We all have, we all have a long way to go, but it's, you know, you care and that matters. It shows. Do you, um, apologize. One of the things I wish like in our politics, no one specific, everybody, but man, would I follow a leader who says, hey, I got it wrong. I'm sorry. My intentions were right, but I'm going to make a correction here. I was just at a business meeting. I won't name the company, but they had rolled out a compensation plan the year before. And the leader got up. He spoke before me and he said, I'm excited about, you know, the man that's about to speak.

46:39But he goes, I just need to do something here. And it was a celebration. It was in Hawaii. Was it Hawaii? No, we were in Cabo. So they were celebrating. And he goes, I owe you all an apology. strategy. We rolled out a plan last year. It didn't work. It's my fault. I called the wrong shot. I got this one wrong. And I just want to tell you that we're going to try to get it right now. And I thought, man, I'd run through a wall for this guy. I would run through a wall for this guy. I don't see enough leaders. I almost feel like as a leader, my opinion is like you ought to give credit for the successes and take blame for the losses and that mean it sincerely.

47:14Have you had a situation where you had to get up and say, Hey, I'm, I'm blue. This one, can you speak a specific situation and what's your philosophy on that? So, you know, way too many times. Um, you know, one of the biggest that I just apologized in front of our whole team for is in 2019, the, the weight and pressure was exceeding my capacity. And so for years I was kind of ahead of it and always healthy. And I just wasn't in a good place. And so I was starting to work on getting better then. And then 2020 hit. And for every leader, that was just a ridiculously tough time. For pastors in particular, people spiritualized their politics and politicized their faith.

48:02And it was ugly everywhere. It was ridiculously ugly here because you were woke and liberal if you had masks on, you were arrogant and hateful if you didn't, and you didn't have faith. And so everything was charged. And I just stopped leading with boldness. And I literally, for the first time ever, I had my foot on a brake, not the accelerator. And I didn't even know it because I was so shell-shocked and I kind of felt like I was just dodging bullets. And you never lead well when you're afraid. It took me probably a year to acknowledge that I had been completely ineffective in my preaching, in my leadership.

48:48I wasn't casting vision. So I just apologized and said, I have been leading afraid. I've been leading not to get shot. And as a Christian, man, if you're not getting shot at, you're not doing it right. And as a leader, if you're not getting criticized, you're not doing much at all. If you're, if you're not hurting, you're not leading. I'll just say that if you're not hurting, you're not leading well. And I was trying to lead not to hurt. So I apologized and, and I mean, I kind of broke down. I actually did. I cried because I was really embarrassed by it. And, you know, did people lose respect for me?

49:25I mean, maybe somebody, if you did, but for the most part, people are like going, okay, yeah, I've seen myself in that too. And I think the thing I tell people all the time is we feel so much pressure to be right, to be smart, to have it all together. And people are not looking for that. They would rather somebody be genuine, transparent, apologize, be real. And it's kind of tweetable, but I just say, you know, people would rather follow a leader who's always real than one who's always right. And that's just so, so true is really good. We don't have to be perfect, but we do have to be honest. And, And that goes a long way in building trust.

50:02And trust is the most valuable commodity and quality we have as leaders. Without it, we have nothing. No good. I was, that thing you just said about if you're not hurting, you're not leading. You have said that before. And I know you've said it before because I don't know when it was. I don't know if it was a year or two ago. I was going through a really tough time in one of our businesses. Just people had left and it was just bad. and um i was in an airport and i was calling some difficult shots and i turn on my phone and it's you and you were live preaching that sunday and that was your message it was one of the messages that day if you're not hurting you're really not leading and it just made me feel i don't know comfortable in the position i was in and not in such riddled with so much self-doubt i think a lot of times a leader like this is really awkward.

50:51I'm, I'm, it creates more doubt. At least it did in me. And that gave me a great deal of comfort during that time. I got two last questions for you, but we go nine hours, obviously today. When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you know, your choices matter. You're the expert because you know, what fits your life and getting it right starts with good information. That's why America's beverage companies are sharing more information about our ingredients at good to know facts.org. No spin, no judgments, just the facts straight from the experts for more than 140 beverage ingredients. Visit good to know facts.org.

51:34Have you had times and I mean like, like even recently where the adversary, the enemy kind of creeps in and gives you a little bit of doubt either in you or your vision or in something important in your life. Um, the last year or two, a couple of things I thought I wanted to do, and I'm pretty convinced now that I'm on the other side of it, it was just the enemy. So in a little seed of doubt in me, and I think I kind of gave into it a little bit, you know, I didn't push through something because I doubted myself. I just doubted my judgment even maybe in something you ever have that as a leader.

52:11And what have you done about it? If you have, Yeah, this is hard to say, but I think in the leaders that I lead with, some amazing people, men and women, I think I battle with doubt more than any of them. I think I battle with doubt in myself. I battle with having a lack of faith of what's possible. And so on one hand, I have this enormous amount of faith in people. I have a faith in God. I have the faith in God to save people that are very, very broken. Tremendous amount of faith. But I don't always have the faith that we'll be able to, for example, YouVersion, when we started it years ago, the Bible app, they're like, hey, let's create this app and give it away.

52:59Okay, great. But can we afford to give it away forever? So I was terrified of not being able to keep up. And so recently, it kind of came to my attention. And I was talking to a guy in IT who said, yeah, at our last big gathering, it felt like we were celebrating the past, but we weren't really pushing hard in the future. And I was like going, oh, I think you're right that we were celebrating a lot of what had happened. But I wasn't really casting a big vision for the future. And I kind of realized I've been doing it for almost 30 years, and I just don't want to cast a vision where we fail. And that's just.

53:38That's exactly what I'm like. Stupid. Because we've been failing for 30 years. We've just been failing forward. We shoot for something and we hit it sometimes. We don't other times, but we're always shooting. And I was a little bit afraid to shoot because I just didn't know if we could achieve it. And so bottom line is I played it a little bit too safe because I've been afraid in maybe my inability to help us get there. And I'm working through that now, but it's been a process and it's been humbling to say like, you know, if you leave something that's grown for a long time and people consider it big, then you think, well, okay, we're pretty successful, whatever.

54:25The reality is we haven't done anything yet. I mean, like the impact we're having in the world is like next to nothing compared to what's possible. And so I don't want to look at what we've done. I want to look at what we could do. And I've been, I've been afraid to do that. And I'm growing out of that as we speak, meaning I'm going public with some, some goals that are going to be really, they're, they're bold, they're bold and we need them. I need them without faith. It's impossible to please God. And a lot of times as leaders, we want to leave by, we want to leave by what we know is doable without faith.

54:59And, uh, and I'm not gonna do that anymore. Okay. Are you trying to lead me into my last question, by the way, that was my exact issue too. I think if I'm really being honest with myself and a lot of you that are leaders would as well, it's like, uh, you know, I've had a pretty good winning streak here. Not so sure. I want to break it up with a really hard one. It's easy to risk when you don't have as much to lose. It's true. When I had nothing and now I'm like, I don't want to fall on my face in front of everybody. Everyone thinks I'm kind of a guru. I got everybody fooled right now. Like what?

55:21I'm not gonna have a big loss. Same exact thing. So you led me into my last question. And now you know why he's one of the people I admire most. And by the way, actually you don't because most of the things that I admire about him are the things that you wouldn't even see in a podcast today. But one thing that's happened to me in my life the last few years, maybe 10 years, but particularly the last five is God has brought some men into my life that truly like Craig, that make me want to make my walk with Jesus much more close and just be a better man. And one of the qualities that you have, and it's a really unique nuance.

55:59And I want to kind of give you the floor on the last question about it. It's great to have, and we didn't even get into vision today, but have vision and have standards and have culture and have difficult conversations and be able to apologize and have belief and love people and all the things we've talked about and have this plan. And you're going to be bold and you're about to come bold again with something. And then to surrender and to say, Jesus, this is yours. father please and for me as much as i've always loved god i've always had this issue with total surrender and this year it's my word for the year it's been something i'm really in practice in fact every time i pray every single time i've prayed this year i think there's been a conversation we've had together about my surrender and giving him my burdens and my challenges and trusting his course in my life, trusting him fully surrendering to his will with my plan, so to speak.

56:58And so I'd like to just talk about that. The pastor, you can be a little bit more present here if you like, but like, what about for you? Like, and what would you say to somebody who's, they've got a burden in their life right now or a struggle or a block or a big vision they're excited about, but nervous about what about surrendering? Am I using the right word? do you think? And what are your thoughts on that? Well, I think whether it's the right word or not, I think it's a super important word. And I would say too, and I mean this super sincerely, when we first met, I admired who you were as a person and kind of what you're doing.

57:35It's really special. But you had then what I would call like the earlier stages of spiritual passion and development. and to see that it's just like you've really, really grown in your boldness and just sincerity of your faith. And so that's so great. And I would say to people, it doesn't matter where you start, just start, right? If you're still cussing every third word, that's a good place to start. We don't need to clean it up before we come to Jesus. Come to him as we are and let him work on us. And I guess what I'm trying to say is he's doing a good work in you. It's really obvious. He's doing a good work in you.

58:15And then I would say the part of surrender, this is what's really interesting as people of faith, is how much of our life, calling, success, mission are we going to create and do? And how much of it is God's work in us through us? And there's always this beautiful mix, like even the church. There's a verse that says, Paul did one thing, he watered and or planted and apollos watered and god built the church so what what happened well one guy planted one guy watered and god built the church so god didn't build it without the guy planting without the what so we're co-laborers we work together so ultimately i think that having a big big vision or any type of vision is god honoring without a vision the people perish without what are we fighting for if we don't have something to fight for and our part matters a lot a lot meaning if you're faithful the little god will trust you with more and ultimately all we can do is what we can do and at some point we have to surrender to the things we cannot control you don't always have the power to control but you always have the power to surrender If you're dealing with a health issue, what can you do?

59:32You can eat better. You can take the supplements. You can exercise. You can work on your mind. You can go to the right doctors. Those things you can control, but you don't have the power to control everything. You can do what you can do, and you trust God with what you can't do. And so I joke around about having a God box that there are certain things that if they're within my control, I'm going to do them. And I think God would call me responsible to do them. He can't choose my diet. He can't choose when I go to bed for me. He can't, you know, I'm going to choose my friends. I'm going to choose what I read today.

1:00:04I'm going to choose what I do and don't do, how I think. But there are some things that are above my pay grade. And so if I need to write that down, some things go in the God box. And when they go in the God box, I'm going to put them in there and leave them in there. And symbolically, a lot of people have done that. They've created a real God box and said, if I can shape it, I'm going to shape it. but if I cannot, I am going to surrender it to God and say, ultimately, his ways are higher than my ways. He is always good. His plans for us are always for our benefit. He's working in all things to bring about good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

1:00:43So that means we're in a really good place, Ed. I mean, we're in a really good place that we have today to love people, to serve people, to honor God. If he gives it, tomorrow's not a guarantee. We can't control tomorrow, but we can control today. So I will shape what I can control. I'll surrender what I can't. And no matter what, I'm going to try to grow my trust in God every single day. Amen. This was extraordinary. This was extraordinary. Holy smokes. Hey, guys listening, would you like me to have Craig on again? I think I know the answer. I'll tell you what I'll do. I will do that. We need to extend this conversation.

1:01:28And here's what you all should do. You should just, and he's not going to tell you to do it, so I will. It's got 15 books. The most recent one is The Benefit of Doubt. Okay? Get the one, go look at his titles. Get the one that you think that grabs your heart right away. The other thing you should do, you should be involved with Craig Groeschel. Listen to his podcast. I think the first thing he'd want you to do is go to that you version Bible app because then you're getting involved with the guy above him and the and the most high the you always talk of the power of one more then there's the ultimate one the only one you need and you're gonna find him in that Bible app and then of course his life church as well but you ought to follow his work he's he's one of the most unique beings on this planet right now and somebody that I told you in the beginning I look up to and you got a little flavor as to why today this was an all-timer brother seriously thank you so much thank you thank you thank you thank you for thank you for your friendship and um man thank you thank you for just investing in all of us like we there we're there are millions of us out there that um that grow and get better because of um your work and so it's it's just it's an honor to be in your orbit it's you're really being kind today but thank you and by the way when i do see you we should probably you know do the lunch thing But what we should really do is get a workout in together because I want to see what's real and what's not real here because the guns are legit.

1:02:48I want to see what we got, what we're working with. Let's do it. All right, you guys, I don't have to ask you to do this today. I know you're going to share this episode, but I just want to say God bless you and max out your life. This is the Ed Myron Show.