Live From The Path | 2019 E14

Show open: Dan in Zimbabwe, Mike on Skype from Minnesota

A host opens the show noting Dan is away in Zimbabwe ('the Zimbabster'), so it's just him and 'Boov' in the studio. Mike is brought in via Skype audio from Minnesota (where the show teases a mystery fan noise), and the night's plan is laid out: Boova's Psalm 104, Dear LFTP letters with Mike, and a prayer discussion around a book two of them recently read.

Clean Christian jokes: the Satan category

A host starts the show with clean Christian jokes from a website, offering categories (crime, farmer, heaven, Satan); Boova picks the Satan category. Four jokes are told: 'Jesus Is Watching' (a burglar hears a parrot named Moses say 'Jesus is watching you' — named by the owners who also named their Rottweiler Jesus), the man unfazed by Satan because he's been 'married to your sister for 25 years', 'The Fence' (the man on the fence between Jesus and Satan — 'I own the fence'), and the golfer who trades portions of his sex life to the devil for golf shots and turns out to be Father O'Malley. Reactions are mixed; they agree some categories are not funny.

Boova's Psalm 104: a card from Madagascar and a friend who read it the same day

Asked to 'talk to me about Psalm 104,' Boova explains that he saw his girlfriend's Instagram story: a girl at the children's home in Madagascar where she works drew her a card referencing Psalm 104, and he made a recent decision to look up every scripture he encounters. He reads Psalm 104:1-13 aloud — creation ordained and cared for by God — and applies it to his own season: his job is getting harder, he is certain God is moving him to leave it, but doesn't yet know where he's going. Later that day a college friend, crying over doubts about her call to become a missionary to the Middle East, told him she had literally just been reading Psalm 104 herself; he talked her through the psalm, connected her with his girlfriend (a missionary in Madagascar for four years) to talk through the rough nights, and they prayed for her.

From asking to be used to a daily loving relationship with God

Boova describes the shift behind his recent fruit: he had long prayed 'use me' without putting himself in a place to be used; the change was pursuing a daily loving relationship with God, crying out every day, inviting the Holy Spirit in through repentance, and praying 'Lord, help my unbelief.' Scripture started making sense, he stopped counting 'coincidences' and started counting God's trustworthiness, and he keeps finding that what he reads in the morning is exactly what someone needs to hear that same day.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire: prayer is proportional to belief that God is good

Addressed by name, Mike says the book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire moved him: a church that took emphasis off the Sunday service and put it on the Tuesday night prayer circle (a missionary's line — Sunday morning attendance attests to the popularity of your worship, Sunday night to your preacher, Tuesday prayer circle to Jesus). Prayer life, he says, is proportional to how much you believe God is good and can be trusted; he realized he had never even asked God what songs he wanted for worship. Ben (named by the others when they mock his analogy) adds that knowledge about God can't be the whole expression of faith, and tries a Tom Cruise gas-station analogy — you'd be crushed to learn God was working in your house and you missed it — which the others roast as unrelatable.

God's plans vs ours: Proverbs 19:21, Amos 3:7, and Isaiah's throne room

A host shares from his current Bible study: no Bible story works well because someone brought a plan to God — Noah, Isaiah, Abraham, and Jesus never did; it is the opposite, us aligning with his plans. Proverbs 19:21 ('many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand') and Amos 3:7 (God reveals his plans to his prophets before he acts) anchor the point. Isaiah 6 gives the picture: in God's presence Isaiah can say 'here I am, send me,' versus transactional prayers that amount to 'don't worry, I've sent myself.' Asked point-blank how prayer looks for a 'less ethereal' man, Mike answers that he used to pray his own plan ('I'm going to follow you today') instead of asking 'where are you going and what time do I need to be there?'

Ben's software-vendor analogy: dictating to God vs asking what He wants

Ben (announcing 'Ben's attempt number two') tells a work story: evaluating software, one vendor would build exactly to his 40 requirements, while another, without seeing the requirements, delivered everything he needed plus fifty things he hadn't thought of — far better than 'exactly what I asked for.' That's the difference, he says, between dictating to God ('here's what I'm going to do, bless this') and putting it in his hands ('you solve them how they get solved, and let me see where you step in'). Abraham wanted his promised son in nine months, not after 25 years of formation; the Bible is impressive precisely because it is full of God's plans fulfilled through people, not people's plans fulfilled by God. Jesus says he is the living bread for eternity, not just the bread in your hands right now.

When did you last pray about the show? Practical conviction on prayer

• When's the last time you prayed about this show — that it would do what God wants out of it?

Convicted by their own discussion, the hosts admit they used to pray for the show on Monday-night drives in but stopped five to eight years ago — and even then it was dictating ('bless what we do') rather than asking what God wanted. They get practical: release the 'I statements,' pray for your enemies first to get oriented, then say 'I'm listening.' Expectations for how God answers differ (Ephesians offices — teachers, preachers, prophets); one host got a quiet affirmation 'Jesus is Lord,' his wife 'child, I'm here,' while others get hyper-specific words — not every prayer ends with a burning bush. Open-ended listening has already changed habits: choosing to talk to God on the drive instead of sermons, being 'escorted' to Starbucks, expecting God to speak even after fifteen years on one prayer.

Dear LFTP: the nice guy with a string of failed relationships

• I'm a 34-year-old nice guy with a string of failed relationships — the women say I'm amazing but leave or cheat. What am I doing wrong?

Mike reads the first Dear LFTP letter: a 34-year-old man, kind and communicative, with a string of failed relationships — the women call him amazing yet leave or cheat — now ready to give up; he wants a partner who may become 'my queen.' The hosts' advice: he may be 'a bit of a pansy' — passively overcompensating, offering only what a very good friend offers (a listening ear, paying for dinner) rather than a partner's strength and leadership; stop looking, work on loving Jesus and seeking first the kingdom, and let God ordain it. The 'secular answer' (read aloud): something is clearly wrong — go fishing in different waters, stop trying so hard, ask married friends for tweaks — which sparks a 'tweets vs tweaks' mixup and talk of Plenty of Fish and Tinder. They also note the letter's own red flag: he and the women both agree he's amazing, which walks in on a high horse.

Dear LFTP: the slide-phone and landline holdout

• Why do people keep shaming me for having a slide phone and landline instead of a smartphone?

Mike reads the second letter: a man with a slide phone (formerly flip) and a landline answering machine is tired of being asked when he'll get a 'new phone'; he doesn't want a smartphone and resents the shaming. The hosts' verdict: he's overreacting — he's an anomaly, and people ask out of curiosity like they'd ask about a rotary phone at great-grandma's; but he has a real opportunity to explain the freedom of not being a 'phone man' instead of being angry about it ('Ben, I love the way you bully,' one host quips). The 'secular answer': the latest phone is a status symbol, but what askers really mean is 'when are you going to make it easier for us to communicate with you?' They close on constant availability: answering every call is like gambling ('if I don't play, I can't win'), one host's dead phone was revived just in time for his little sister's emergency-room call ('it only takes one'), and saying yes to every interruption tells the person in front of you that anything could matter more.

Outro: the complaint line and the sign-off

The hosts close with the complaint line number (515-517-0085), noting the silence probably means nobody listens, thank Mike for joining via Skype, and sign off: 'In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends.'