Biblical Leadership Show
The Compassionate Journey: Embracing Empathy, Faith, and the Power of Small Kindnesses
Have you ever found yourself running alongside someone, literally or metaphorically, sharing in their struggle and triumphs? That's where Dr. Posey and I found ourselves this week, and it's what sparked a heartfelt conversation about the true nature of compassion. We swapped stories from the gym to the running track, delving into personal challenges and the aches of pushing our limits. Throughout this episode, we weave these experiences with the deeper threads of empathy and action, all while keeping the mood light with a variety of dad jokes that'll have you groaning with delight.
Listening, really listening, can be an art form, and it's at the compassionate core of our next chapter. The pandemic has toughened the fabric of our social interactions, and we address the delicate task of offering a nonjudgmental ear to those navigating troubled waters. We share anecdotes and insights on how to truly be there for someone without the reflex to fix their issues. As we unfold the nuances of support and understanding, we also delve into how faith can inform and deepen our compassionate practices, bringing to light a God of love rather than anger.
Ending on a high note, we explore the monumental impact of small acts of kindness, like sharing a meal or a simple touch, revealing how these gestures can brighten and even transform a day—or a life. We encourage listeners to find daily opportunities to express kindness and keep the cycle of compassion spinning. Before signing off with our signature humor, we invite you all to share your cringe-worthy dad jokes, keeping the spirit of community and laughter thriving. So, lend us your ears and perhaps a chuckle or two, as we embark on this journey of compassion together.
Have you ever found yourself running alongside someone, literally or metaphorically, sharing in their struggle and triumphs? That's where Dr. Posey and I found ourselves this week, and it's what sparked a heartfelt conversation about the true nature of compassion. We swapped stories from the gym to the running track, delving into personal challenges and the aches of pushing our limits. Throughout this episode, we weave these experiences with the deeper threads of empathy and action, all while keeping the mood light with a variety of dad jokes that'll have you groaning with delight.
Listening, really listening, can be an art form, and it's at the compassionate core of our next chapter. The pandemic has toughened the fabric of our social interactions, and we address the delicate task of offering a nonjudgmental ear to those navigating troubled waters. We share anecdotes and insights on how to truly be there for someone without the reflex to fix their issues. As we unfold the nuances of support and understanding, we also delve into how faith can inform and deepen our compassionate practices, bringing to light a God of love rather than anger.
Ending on a high note, we explore the monumental impact of small acts of kindness, like sharing a meal or a simple touch, revealing how these gestures can brighten and even transform a day—or a life. We encourage listeners to find daily opportunities to express kindness and keep the cycle of compassion spinning. Before signing off with our signature humor, we invite you all to share your cringe-worthy dad jokes, keeping the spirit of community and laughter thriving. So, lend us your ears and perhaps a chuckle or two, as we embark on this journey of compassion together.
Hey, hey, everybody. Welcome to another exciting episode of the Biblical Leadership Show. My name is Dr Dean.
Speaker 2:Posey, and I am Tim Lansford. Welcome, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 1:Oh, it never gets old. So, anyway, I am Tim Lansford, and over with me is Dr Dean Posey. I just figured I'd be a doctor for a little bit of my time.
Speaker 2:Hey, for a minute or two, right, wow?
Speaker 1:Yeah, how are we doing? How are we doing this week?
Speaker 2:I'm doing great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm doing great. Yeah, well, that's good to hear. I'm glad so. Did you have a good week since last week?
Speaker 2:Well, you know what I did? Have a fantastic week. Went up to see our daughter up in Maryland and ran a half marathon with her.
Speaker 1:Nice.
Speaker 2:Yes, I am so sore right now Hadn't run a half marathon, you know, actually in a race. This was in Frederick, maryland, and it was a big festival up there and we had a great time with her and her boyfriend, nice, and so the two of them ran. We all three of them ran together. My wife Diana was our biggest cheerleader and we just had a wonderful time being up with her a couple of days, ran the marathon, a half marathon on Sunday and then flew back yesterday. So we're doing fantastic.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, I might need a wheelchair to get me out of the studio.
Speaker 1:I'm walking a little slow too, because I started back in the gym lifting weights. So, I've got a little sore muscles as well, so it's all good. So we're having fun. We're going to make it through here. As long as we don't have to stand up and walk around the studio, we're good right. So we can sit here and talk the whole time.
Speaker 2:We can just sit there and lean on the table.
Speaker 1:So, hey, what are we going to talk about? We're going to talk about compassion, but you know, last week they're trying to have some compassion for us right now, being all sore from our working out.
Speaker 2:We're going to talk about compassion, but as I said before we started the show last week, we did the dad jokes at the very end we only had like three or four, and so we're going to make up for that this week.
Speaker 1:People are like no.
Speaker 2:But that's why they listen. That's why they listen, because they need good dad jokes.
Speaker 1:They're looking for it. Well, I mean, then they probably should listen to somebody, but that's why they listen. That's why they listen, Because they need good dad jokes.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean then they probably should listen to somebody else's joke. They're looking for good dad jokes. Is there a?
Speaker 1:good dad joke. I think they're all groaners. They are all groaners.
Speaker 2:It's not a good dad joke if you're not groaning, it's not groaning, so here is one. I'm just going to share.
Speaker 1:So you're going to be non-compassionate with them today. I'm going to Definitely non-compassionate.
Speaker 2:I'm going to talk about what you should not do when you're telling a dad joke. So here he goes. How many stormtroopers does it take to change a light bulb? Now you know, you Star Wars people. You should know this right off the top of your head.
Speaker 1:You should, you should. How many stormtroopers does?
Speaker 2:it take to change a light bulb.
Speaker 1:I do not know. None, none.
Speaker 2:Because they are all on the dark side.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's pretty good. I'll give you that one. You will. I like Star Wars.
Speaker 2:I'm a big fan of that one.
Speaker 1:That's a great series All right, you got one more you want to do.
Speaker 2:I do Punish these people, so I got invited to this fancy dinner and I had to go and rent a tuxedo. Okay, I don't have a tuxedo. I haven't worn a tuxedo in a long time. So I went to the tuxedo store. I was browsing around and this guy came up and asked me if he could help me. I said no, I'm fine.
Speaker 1:He said fine, Suit yourself. That's pretty good.
Speaker 2:I like that one I don't mind that one.
Speaker 1:So I mean, it's just one of those things that we we got to get good at and we got to work on our dad jokes. You got better ones than me today. I'm just telling you Mine are groaners out of groan and I'll save mine to the last show.
Speaker 2:I don't want anybody to log off early. I have one more to set the stage for compassion. Oh my gosh, look at you going. So half price books go to half price books buy some books. I saw a book that said how to solve 50% of your problems.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So I bought two of them.
Speaker 1:Nice.
Speaker 2:We better get on with compassion.
Speaker 1:Compassion. We should show some compassion for the people out there that are driving down the road or in the gym or at the church right now. So yeah, so you know compassion. What's compassion to you, dr Posey?
Speaker 2:Well, I think one of the things compassion is not just a feeling yeah you know it can be a feeling, but I think if in the fullest extent of the word, it's not just um a feeling, the word literally means to suffer together, and so when you have compassion on somebody, you don't want to just feel. That's like empathy. Empathy means that you're aware of other person's emotions and you try to feel the same thing. But compassion goes beyond that and it's a little different than empathy. Because compassion you don't just want to feel it, you want to take action, to actually do something about it. Now, you don't want to solve all their problems, you don't want them to just rely up on you there's got to be boundaries on that but you want to actually do something for somebody, and it could be just sitting with them at the hospital while they're going through a difficult time. It's not that you have to buy them something.
Speaker 2:One of our most valuable resources is time, and when we give time to somebody, especially when they're going through a challenging, a difficult time in their life, that is a very compassionate thing to do. Time in their life, that is a very compassionate thing to do, and we might. I learned this a long time ago, in early years of being a pastor. Sometimes you just go. You don't have anything that you really need to say. Sometimes we feel like what am I going to say in this difficult situation? They might not remember what you said, but they're going to remember that you're there, and so the ministry of presence or the friendship of just being present with somebody while they're going through a difficult time is a significant way of showing compassion to somebody else.
Speaker 1:I like that ministry of presence, Ministry of presence.
Speaker 2:It took me a long time to learn that because I thought you know you actually had to do. I like that ministry of presence and that is a very compassionate thing to do. So you want to have sympathy for somebody, want to have concern for somebody, kindness, but then you want to also take the next step and actually see if you can actually do something for somebody else. And sometimes you can do something for somebody and sometimes you can't. But the question is do you even have the emotional attachment to do something, even though you might not be able to do it? You don't have the resource, you don't have the skill, you don't have the time whatever at that particular moment? The question is is there any compassion at all towards that other person?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and sometimes people don't like to get involved, right.
Speaker 2:A lot of times.
Speaker 1:A lot of times.
Speaker 2:I think COVID especially accelerated that, because we are so into ourself and our own safety and those kind of things that we really you can walk down the street now and people don't want to say even hi sometimes, and so it's getting out of ourself and allowing ourselves to feel some type of feelings for another person and then if we're able to actually do something to help them, yeah, and I don't.
Speaker 1:And this is so close to sort of what we talked about last week, where we talked about where people do things out of the kindness of their hearts or they do things because they want the recognition to make sure that it is from the bottom of your heart, that your acts of kindness, your generosities, that they come from you, and it's something that you strive to do. And, like I say, I think one of the biggest things that I learned on compassion is biggest things that.
Speaker 1:That that I learned on compassion is, um, and it's tough for me a lot of times as a corporate coach, a life coach, and all that is not to want to fix everything you know, and and I think that's one of the biggest things sometimes just being present is and that's why that struck me, I wrote it down, it's it's that's one of the things is we don't think about you know, it's just our presence sometimes is the most important. People just sometimes vent, you know, and they don't want to be fixed, they don't want to have something, they just want to have a voice to somebody and it's having that ear that's open to hearing from people.
Speaker 2:Yes, and so you want to have a sympathetic ear to listen? Yes, but you have to put a boundary on yourself because you don't want to do that so you can give them advice, and it's challenging for some people. I know I've had this issue in the past. Hopefully I've gotten better at it. But while they're talking, instead of listening to them, you're actually thinking about what you're going to say, and that's not compassion, that's trying to give them advice or trying to tell them how to live their life, and there might be a time for that. But that's really not the first step. The first step is to just have a listening ear. Let them know that somebody cares. Sometimes there is no solution to the issue. There is no solution that you can give. You don't need to make something up, you just need to listen. You might need to cry with them. They might need a hug just to say, hey, this situation is really difficult that we're in, but thank you for being here. I really appreciate it and you're just going to be there for the long haul.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think one of the toughest things sometimes is that I usually tell people when we're talking about this is to be nonjudgmental. You know, and and we talked about it before on the show a couple of shows ago that it's a lot of times what people don't know, right? You, you've, each of us had had different experiences, we're at different levels of knowledge and and sometimes we look at something that it's like what's what's going on? Why can't they get over this? Because for you it's literally something you learned when you were 15, right, and it's like you're a grown adult. Why are you getting so hung up on this? And sometimes you have to sort of train your brain not to be in that judgment zone, because it is easy to get there on something, because you're like you're trying, you want to fix their problems, but for you it's like it's something somebody should just wake up on the right side of the bed and fix right, and it's as simple as that. It's like, well, what is so hard about it? And I think a lot of us we judge and it's not intentional, it's just we do it based on who we are, our past experiences and and what we feel that that problem.
Speaker 1:I mean a lot of people. They feel that they have problems that are overwhelming and they don't understand that. You know other people. You know that that's such a small problem that they have so many things above. You know and you know people put themselves at different level. I've heard that from like work, you know, and it's like how how much, how hard can her job be or his job be right? I know what they do on a daily basis. Do I understand what I go through? And I've heard that from corporate people and everything. It's like why is she having so much problems? And I'm doing five times the work and my stuff's more complicated and a lot of times you get in that judgment and that kicking back and forth stuff.
Speaker 2:Yes, and so one of the things that a compassionate listener does besides not giving advice or trying to solve someone's problem but you can help them think out loud about their options. And in doing that, the goal of that is to get people hope that whatever they're facing right now is not the final part of their life. You know, tragically sometimes it is. So you're trying to help people process that, but the majority of time it's not, and so you want to help people think about okay, what are your options? What is the good and bad of each option? Let's look at that. Let's look at consequences. Let's look at do you have the resources to do this option? Do you have the time to do this option? Do you have the oh, we need to look up a number for the doctor. Do you have time to call them? So you just help people process that out loud and with our phones.
Speaker 2:Most people have a smartphone now you can take all those notes down on your phone, and sometimes people are so overwhelmed by life that you might actually have to write it down for them and then send them a text message and then call them the next day or two and say, hey, have you had time to do that. Can I come over to your house, or do you want to come over to my house and call them from here so you want to walk with them? I think that's an important part of compassion is that you don't want to just kind of have a one-time thing and then move on. You want to be able to walk with that person through life and do life together and be able to help them think through their issues without solving their problems for them.
Speaker 1:And that's why I was going to go on. That is a lot of times you know, seek to understand, you know, and a lot of times we know the know and a lot of times we know the answers. But a lot of times we know the problems, we know the answers and we like to give them solutions, how to fix it, but a lot of times we don't do the deep dive to go. What's really their pain points? What's causing? What's the root cause? Right, you know, because sometimes you can fix the surface issues with surface problems, right, that are obvious. But a lot of times we got to dig deeper I do this when I do coaching is you got to find that root cause, and a lot of times that root cause is not easily understood. You can't easily find that root cause. It takes many sessions or many questions to be able to drill down. And it's one thing to have compassion and offer solutions, but if you don't know what's causing it or what's caused it, it's going to be ineffective.
Speaker 2:in my book, yes, and one of the issues also if you're sitting with somebody, it could be a coworker, it could be a family member. If you don't know their history, even if you know some of their history, you might not know how their history affected them. If they had an older sister that was perfect in every way in their parents' eyes and this child was not how they were treated growing up, could have really set their DNA to think I'm always going to be a failure, I can't do anything right. Everything bad happens to me, and that is hard to overcome. It can be overcome with time and therapy and friendship and compassion, but it takes a long time and so thinking that we can just walk in in five minutes, listen to somebody and then have their problem solved in five minutes and go on with our life, we're just fooling ourself and that's not really compassion. So we have to be with that person for the long haul, if possible, and walk with them through challenging times.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I understand. So let's talk about compassion in the Bible, right? Oh my goodness there is so much. There's probably not much on compassion in the Bible and I'm sure that you probably had to dig around to find a couple verses and a couple of place and that it was listed, but I'm going to see if you can maybe pull one out of the air that you might be able to find where it talks about compassion.
Speaker 2:There is so little. There is so much about compassion, but let me just throw some in. And it's in the old Testament and in the new Testament, so it's not just like a New Testament thing with Jesus, but one of the main ones is in the book of Colossians. It's Paul's letter to the church at Colossae, chapter 3, verse 12, where he said this Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. And if you actually look at what Paul is saying, you know if you clothe yourself, then you can take that off just like a jacket. He's not talking about that. He's talking about you want to clothe it so your actions resemble, you know, or show compassion and kindness, humility. But you don't want to leave it there, you want to get it. So it's actually a part of your being, not just a part of your clothing or just putting on and taking off. You want it to actually be a part of your character that you are a person of compassion. And Isaiah 54.10 from the Old Testament though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. James 5.11,. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. Psalm 51.1,. Have mercy on me, o God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. So one of the most compassionate things God ever did for all of humankind was to send his son who died on a cross so that we could have forgiveness of sin. Jesus died, he was buried, he rose on the third day so that we could have the gift of eternal life. What a compassionate God.
Speaker 2:Sometimes people think, oh, God's just angry. He's angry at us. No, he's not. He loves everyone, right where we are and just the way we are. And His love for us is because of who God is, not because of who we are, not because of what we've done. It's because of who he is. And what Jesus did for us is because of who God is, not because of who we are, not because of what we've done. It's because of who he is and what Jesus did for us. He wants us to have a relationship with him for all of eternity, and what a compassionate God that is that he wants us to be with him forever in heaven. And let me ask you a question on that.
Speaker 1:You know, I hear people all the time talk about an angry God. And does that stem out of the Old Testament or where does it come? Because I don't consider God angry, I consider him compassion, I consider him love. But I always hear, you know the angry God and I've always wondered. I've never even thought to ask you about that, because you said that I was like, yeah, I mean, you hear that all the time out of a lot of people and I tend to think I don't. It's more love, full of pure love and compassion and everything. So I'm just curious.
Speaker 2:I think it does really stem from two places. One is the Old Testament. They think God's a God of anger and vengeance and wrath and all those kind of things, and if you go with that filter and read the Bible, that's what you're going to see. But what we see that's even more dominant is really the theme of the scripture, and that God is a God of love and that he loves all people the same. He loves us as much as he loves his own son, jesus, and he wants us to be in heaven with him.
Speaker 2:Some of the wrath that we see in the Bible and those kinds of things is because of people's choices. He does give us a free will to choose. Yes, and here's a very important lesson, we can choose to do anything we want, but we can't always choose the consequences. And so sometimes, when those consequences are not positive, we blame God for the bad decisions we've made, and then we say that God doesn't love us, he doesn't care, he's a vengeful God, he's a hateful God, he doesn't care about me. But we can't blame God for the bad decisions that we make and the consequences of those bad decisions. Now, He'll forgive us for any sin, any bad decision, but he doesn't always erase the consequences, and so sometimes, many times, we have to pay the consequences of our bad decisions. But he is compassionate because he still offers forgiveness, no matter what the sin is, and he still wants us to be with Him forever in heaven.
Speaker 1:Okay, I've always been curious on that.
Speaker 2:No, I've heard that for a long time.
Speaker 1:I've heard that a lot and it's never felt right to me. It didn't resonate with me and I believe in everything, even in every book you read, even the Bible, what resonates and I want to make sure that it's something that ties in. I've heard that many times. I've never even thought about asking you until you said, angry God. I'm like, yeah, let's talk about that, let's go down that path.
Speaker 2:Well, I've heard that for a long time and sometimes people use that as an excuse not to believe. God's the God of anger in the Old Testament and love in the New Testament. No, it's the same God. He's always a God of love, and so, even in the, you know, we talked about this in the first several of our podcasts back last fall when we were talking about Noah, you know, and the flood. We can see that as a story of destruction, or we can actually see.
Speaker 1:It came out of a book, didn't it?
Speaker 2:It came out of a book.
Speaker 1:My goodness, what was the name of that book.
Speaker 2:I don't remember 12 Gifts About Something.
Speaker 1:Oh, by Dr Dean Posey. Yes, pick it up on Amazon or your local place and say yeah, yes, exactly right.
Speaker 2:But we can see that as a story of destruction or we can see it as a story of redemption, and I choose to see it as a story of redemption that God wanted the whole world to follow Him and be obedient to Him. Noah and his family was that. Everyone else rejected that and they suffered the consequences of that. So I see even in that story that there is a God of compassion. So even back in the first part of the Bible, in the book of Genesis, adam and Eve sinned.
Speaker 2:You know, we see that they ate the fruit of the tree and they saw themselves as naked. And then God clothed them. So the only way God could have clothed them without fig leaves was to kill an animal and clothe them with the skin. And so he sacrificed something that he created to show compassion and love to humankind who had sinned. Obviously, the consequence of that they got kicked out of the Garden of Eden. But that shows that God was even in the midst of their sinfulness. He was still compassionate enough to take care of them, even though they had sinned against him.
Speaker 1:Interesting. So I've enjoyed this show today. I've got some good stuff out of it. So here's things that I had. I had five key elements of compassion. I was going to throw them out there and then we're going to talk about that. I have empathy. I have recognition of suffering. I have desire to alleviate suffering, acts of kindness and generosity, and then that nonjudgmental attitude, you know.
Speaker 2:Very good list. Very good list.
Speaker 1:You know, I think there's a level. How would you rate? You think there's levels of compassion. I think there is levels of compassion is it per past experiences or is it Per the person? So, in other words, if I went through the same experience, am I going to have more compassion? Or is it because I'm just a good person, that's a good listener, that's nonjudgmental, that I'm going to give you that same compassion?
Speaker 2:This is my opinion.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I think some people All opinions though store at the Harley of the BiblicalLeadershipShowcom and be taken at that point. Anyway, go ahead, Partly of the biblicalleadershipshowcom and just be taken at that point, Anyway go ahead.
Speaker 2:I think some people have more knack for a compassionate heart than others. They're just given that. Just like some people have a real gift for math or music or science or whatever, some people just have a more compassionate heart. Now, I believe that it's something that everybody can learn and that can be a part of their thinking and their doing and their believing and like, yes, we need to be doing this, not because I feel I have to, because I want to. I think everybody's capable of learning to be compassionate, not just through their actions, but in their heart.
Speaker 2:So I think God is all in about heart transformation, but some people it's just more natural than others. And so, to go back to your question, which I don't remember what it is, so I'm just going to make something up. I do think that we could go through the same experience, see the same issue, and we're going to have different levels of compassion depending upon our past experience, depending upon our heart, just depending upon our own character, our nature. And so if you are trying to help your organization, let's just say we're going to do something for the homeless population in Fort Worth. What are we going to do about that? It might take some people a lot longer of doing those things for them to actually feel the same level of compassion as others.
Speaker 1:Man, I turned down a road and I got twisted in Fort Worth yesterday. Boy, it was a crazy amount of homeless people there. So, and and I, we, we see it all the time in the big cities, you know, dallas, fort Worth, but this one road I was like, wow, this, this is, like you know, pretty, pretty crazy. There's that many homeless on this and you see them all in the underpasses and you know all that stuff. But this road was all all there. So I know it was interesting, I know where to find it, so, um, but yeah, it's one of those things that you know, I, I look at compassion as um, um, you know, as something that I think you can develop.
Speaker 1:I, I do believe that I think you'd be more compassionate, but I think, uh, like you said, it's somewhat ingrained from, uh, from a leadership standpoint, it goes back to your personalities. You know, um, tony Alessandro, you know that's why he's those people. Are the relators, right? Those are the people that that want to. I call them the teddy bears of the human zoo, right? Those are the people that everybody needs to get along or we'll hug it out.
Speaker 1:And you need to have a voice, and you need to have a voice and you need to have a voice and, and you know, I think that's ingrained deep into somebody's personalities a lot of times, because you know you get, you get your directors and some of these other personalities they're, they're, they're only going to go so far before they shut you off and go let's, let's solve this right, you know, and where somebody that's compassionate, that's that relater personality is going to let you have that ear and keep going, and we're going to figure it out as we go along. It may take us two days to figure it out, but I'll listen to you.
Speaker 2:Yes, and there are so much need in the world today. You talked about the homeless population. You know there's people that have an income, they have a job, but they just can't make it financially, and so that's why we have food pantries, clothing pantries, those kinds of things. And if we actually are looking for a way and this ties into what we talked about last week as far as servanthood if we're looking for a way to serve with compassion, we will always find it. The question we have to ask is what are the resources I have whether time, financial interest whatever to give of myself, to live out of a compassionate heart, to help someone else deal with an issue that they're going through? And that's really the question what's my commitment to being compassionate through my actions? We all have the same number of hours in a day. We do the same number of hours in a day we do.
Speaker 2:And same number of you know hours in a week. How many of those hours am I going to spend with compassion, in action, to help address someone else's need? And there could be those spontaneous things you know could just be helping someone. I was at the lumber yard the other day and there was this older lady trying to pick up some wood and I was just standing there and I just stepped up and asked her if she needed help picking up. This was a big piece of wood and she picked up one end, I picked up the other.
Speaker 2:And you know, it's just those momentary spontaneous things. But the question is, are we open to doing that? Those aren't planned, but you just want to be able to look around and say, okay, how can I serve, how can I help? Am I going to have compassion on this woman who obviously can't pick up this big four by four that's 12 foot long, and put it in her cart, or am I just going to sit there and watch her try to struggle? And so that's. The question is how much of that is ingrained in our being, that we're looking for ways to help other people, whether it's actually a planned activity or it's just spontaneous.
Speaker 1:Yeah, some of the things that I put down on my show purpose is you know what are some of the things you can do on a daily basis.
Speaker 1:You know, morning reflection, you know, and prayer and starting your day with intention towards being compassionate, a simple thing of smile and making eye contact. You never know how far that can go with somebody just saying hi to somebody. And you know there's been stories and stories and countless stories where somebody just said hi to somebody or just said hey, you know, that dress looks very pretty on you today and that's all they needed to hear is that one thing that just changed their whole direction of their day?
Speaker 2:Yes, and so I was speaking at a church in Graham, texas, here about two weeks ago, texas here about two weeks ago, and I shared with them some information that I learned a long time ago as a pastor, and that is that some people who come to church and there's lots of people that don't come to church, but the need is the same they don't touch another human being for an entire week, and so the only time that they actually have another human touch, or they touch another human or shake hands or hug, is actually at church.
Speaker 2:They might say hi, but there's no human contact, and human touch is such a powerful way to express compassion. Now you have to do it with integrity and those kind of things and just be nice about it. But there are some people that if you're in a church or you're an organization that you have to think they might not have touched another human being all week, and so just going up there and shaking their hand or giving them a shoulder hug or something, it could literally make their weak. And so I just encourage this church that I was speaking to just do that, be looking for those people and not just talk to the people that you normally talk with, go out and look for those people that just come in by themselves. They might live in a retirement home, they may not live by themselves whatever and just show an extra level of compassion on them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly right. And you know it's as simple as saying thank you. You know, send them a thank you note, expression the appreciation that they're there. You know, I think that's just sort of a great point to take away that a lot of people they don't have those touches, they don't have some people to talk to, they don't have the family members, and there's a lot of people in the world that don't have the family, they don't have any kids or anything elderlies, and they come to church. That's their life, that's who they're there, that's their church family, that's their family in general. And I think that's a great point is to pat them on the back, shake their hand and invite them to something. Let me get you a coffee, can I do something? And I think that goes a long ways.
Speaker 2:Yes, or let's go to lunch after church.
Speaker 1:Or can.
Speaker 2:I come over Wednesday and have lunch with you. There's just ways that if we're being sensitive and we're looking for those ways to just have compassion on other people, get out of ourself, get out of our agenda. Don't think we're coming to church to meet our needs. How can I help another person have a great experience on Sunday morning? How can I do that? I have a great experience on Sunday morning. How can I do that? And one of the ways is to show compassion in those simple, you know simple handshake, hug kind of ways.
Speaker 1:All right and we've been showing a lot of compassion.
Speaker 2:By not doing dad. Jokes by not doing dad jokes.
Speaker 1:So you know, I feel like we need to throw some dad jokes in there to be sort of non-compassion a little bit, I guess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so here we go. Why should you never throw grandpa's false teeth at?
Speaker 1:a vehicle. I love this one.
Speaker 2:Why should you never throw grandpa's false teeth at a vehicle? Because you might dent your car?
Speaker 1:I love that one. Let's see, can I give you a thing? I don't have any. Oh, there we go. Oh there we go. Wow, well, there we go.
Speaker 2:Oh, there we go. Wow, well, I did some show prep on that one.
Speaker 1:I like that one. You told me that one a while back and then I thought that one was pretty good.
Speaker 2:So what did Elvis Presley say to his landscaper? Thank you. Thank you for the mulch.
Speaker 1:Oh, I was trying to think of something with all shook up.
Speaker 2:You know, that's good, you got one more, I've got I've got, you know, 20 more, but I probably shouldn't say more than six.
Speaker 1:Yeah okay, why?
Speaker 2:did the rolling stone stop making music?
Speaker 1:I don't know, because I got to the bottom of the hill nice, I've just got one and I'll throw it out because it's I had a compassionate one. Why did compassionate pencil say to the racer? Don't know you rubbed me the wrong way, but I'll always forgive you.
Speaker 2:Okay, I've got one more for all the coffee drinkers out there. Oh, we got a coffee one. I'm okay with the coffee one.
Speaker 1:I'm actually craving a coffee. That might be my next stop after the show.
Speaker 2:Okay, why did the coffee taste like dirt?
Speaker 1:Do not know.
Speaker 2:Because it was just ground a few minutes ago.
Speaker 1:I actually like that one. I would give you some applause on that one as well. I would give you some applause on that one. Wow, I got some applause.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I actually like that one. I'm going to have to pass that one off to the wife right.
Speaker 1:Or my kids, even like that one, all right. To have to pass that one off to the wife, right? Or my kids, even like that one, all right. So here we are, check us out. We're at the end of the show. Here we're going to relieve you by compassion.
Speaker 2:We're going to be compassionate by stop talking.
Speaker 1:Stopping on our dad jokes and everything. So, hey, be sure, and check us out, biblicalleadershipshowcom, as always, send us some good jokes good dad jokes some good comments you know, Send us a thank you note. We get every thank you notes, you know, from the churches and stuff. Let's hear from some of the other people out there. You know, be compassionate towards us. Tell us, be nice to us. You know we're gentle. You know we're fragile Okay, we're not.
Speaker 2:So anyway, we're far from that and don't tell us.
Speaker 1:We've heard people we don't like your dad jokes. We don't care, we're going to say dad jokes.
Speaker 2:We're going to have some really bad ones next week. We're going to have some really bad ones. Yeah, next week's called groaner week.
Speaker 1:I love it, all right. Well, check us out biblicalleadershipshowcom and Dr Posey, take us out of here. All right, make it a great day. Thank you.