Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You can say all you want, but if you're not doing it like you're saying, if there's no fruit.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Then it's meaningless.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: And welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the official Emmaus athletic podcast in the nest. I'm your co host, Shane Douglas, here with Matthew Tomlinson. Matt, how you doing today, budy?
[00:00:22] Speaker A: I'm doing good, Shane. How about yourself?
[00:00:24] Speaker B: I'm doing.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: I'm doing all right.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: I'm doing good. It was a tough Sunday. It wasn't the outcome I wanted, but it was still pretty good. Talking about the Super bowl, of course, with the Kansas City Chiefs.
[00:00:36] Speaker A: Snacks good. That's really what the snacks good?
[00:00:38] Speaker B: The snacks were pretty good. Yeah. I made a buffalo chicken dip like every other person in America.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: Right.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: Everyone thinks they have the best Buffalo chicken dip, but I feel like I actually do. I'm going to be just. I got the recipe from my father, but.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: So if you like buffalo chicken dip, who is a Buffalo Bills fan. Yeah. He was born in Buffalo, too, so it makes.
Yeah, I definitely have the.
I haven't tried many other people's, but the ones I have tried, like, not that good, especially ones you get at the store. But your snacks good? Were your snacks good?
[00:01:09] Speaker A: Yeah, we were at the erasmus, and I always enjoy what Kevin and Laurel make there. Kevin being kind of like our life coach on our team. He's an Emmaus alum. He's a basketball alum. But his role this year is kind of, like, pouring into the coaches, and it's been really cool.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: I like that. What do they make you say? It's like a huge thing. Yeah.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: It was like they made pulled pork and then Laurel makes these really good enchiladas.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Very nice. So you had, like, a whole meal?
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: I feel like Super bowl should be, like a national holiday. It already feels like it is.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: I mean, everyone takes Monday off anyway.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: So it's like a lot of people do. Right?
[00:01:47] Speaker A: It's good. That is what it is.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: No, Super bowl is always fun. It's always good to watch that and hang out with friends, family, et cetera. Have some good snacks, like you said, and then root for a team. I haven't really enjoyed a Super bowl for a while because the Chiefs are always in it, and I do not like the Chiefs. So I'm hoping that next year I can enjoy it.
I don't care who wins, but either way, thank you, everyone, for making us a part of your day this Thursday morning or Thursday afternoon or whenever you do listen to us, we do appreciate it. So thank you again for hitting the video and giving us those views, whatever. But also just the support as well. So again, thank you for making us part of your day. Today we're going to talk about quite a bit, not too much, really, but I would say quite a bit. Some heavy stuff to talk about. But we're going to recap the basketball.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: Games that happened, five games to cover.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: Five games to covers that happened the past week and a half ish. And then we're going to talk about the future games coming up. And then we're going to piggyback of the conversation we had last week about not just Brock Purdy, but christians in sports and what it looks like to honor the Lord after the game. That goes beyond telling a reporter this win goes to Jesus. So we're going to kind of talk about that topic in maybe some good ways and what the Bible kind of says about the fruit of the spear and what it truly looks like other than just that one word that come out your mouth. What's the repeated sentence everyone says?
[00:03:18] Speaker A: First and foremost, I like to thank my lord and savior Jesus Christ.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: Is that truly the fruits? Is it the only fruits that matter? So we'll talk about that a little bit, and then if we got some time, we'll go into a top five little segment. That should be a fun one. Yeah, it will be fun, especially the alumni of the Emmaus friends of the college who've been to a couple classes. We're going to do a top five of our favorite classes. I guess that were just a spoiler. I feel like spoiler alert. Whatever. I mean, it doesn't really matter. So if we got time, we'll do top five favorite classes, and if we don't have time, maybe we dodged a.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: We'll see.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: We'll see. So we'll try to make it to the top five. But either way, Matt, let's talk about Emmaus athletic sports. What has happened? Yes.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: Here we go. So this past weekend, we had our annual, or I guess our biannual trip down to Manhattan, Kansas. We played Manhattan Christian.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: Always a pleasure.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: And then they hosted us the next day against Barkley College. Okay, so, guys, we just had a game on Friday because Manhattan doesn't have a girls team. They had to cancel their girls team the semester. So the girls didn't have a game on Friday, but we did. Manhattan's the number one team, the number one undefeated team in the conference. And so we actually, they're undefeated in the conference or undefeated in the conference. And so we played them actually a lot better this time around than we did the first time. So, obviously, loss is a loss, but the areas of improvement from the first time we played them were a lot better. And so that was definitely encouraging to see.
Had some guys out, and so some of the freshmen and guys that don't normally play as much really stepped up. And so that was really encouraging to see that happen on Friday. And then going into Saturday, the girls had a 10:00 a.m.. Game. We had a noon game, 10:00 a.m.. Game. 10:00 a.m. Games are terrible. They are killing get up at like six or seven to be prepared for that, the worst. And so they played Barkley, who they had lost to earlier in the year.
I think it was like five points, I think. And they ended up losing again by six points. It was a really low scoring game. It was 47 41. And especially for them, their issue this year is just they can't score the ball. And so once they can make layups, make those shots, I mean, it's a whole different season for them. And so that was encouraging. Like, stinks to lose, but they were right there. And then our game was ridiculous. I mean, we came out, had an amazing first half. I think we shot like 50%. We were up 19 at halftime against Barkley. That's nut, who we lost to by 21 earlier in the year. I think it was 19, actually. And, yeah, going at halftime, we're like, oh, boy, we have this lead. And last time we had a lead this big, we ended up losing against Faith the first time, but the guys played amazing. It was really cool to see we end up winning by 23. And so that was a huge win for us, for our team, and especially against a really good Barclay team, too. They just had a really bad game. And, I mean, everyone has those now and again, but it was super encouraging. Some more than others, right? Yeah, some more than others.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: Maybe we're part of that, too, right?
[00:06:37] Speaker A: But it was just super encouraging to have that. And I think it was really good. It was a nice, enjoyable eight hour ride home after that.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: That's always good. The trip home is always better when you have at least one w. And.
[00:06:47] Speaker A: Then Tuesday night, it was the home game that we hosted faith. And so the girls came out, played a really good game. They ended up winning, which they beat faith 48 to 40, which has, that game had huge implications on the conference, really, with our girls beating the faith girls, that really can really shift the seating and how the tournament goes next week.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: It's going to be wild. It is.
[00:07:15] Speaker A: It really was. That was super encouraging for them to win.
And then we played after them and I couldn't quite pull it out. It was unfortunate. We ended up losing by eight.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: It was really tough.
[00:07:32] Speaker A: Yeah, it was 72, 64.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: So many chances.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: Offensively, we struggled. We could not literally make a basket in the first half, and that kind of dug us into a deep enough hole that we couldn't get out of.
And like we said, you have those games. Those ones hurt. That one definitely stung. I have had a hard time sleeping these last two nights, but it's all good. And so just knowing, like, okay, because with sports, the biggest thing are, you know, what you do well and you keep capitalizing on that and then you learn from what you don't do well. And if you keep doing what you don't do well, you're not going to win. And so you have to take what you don't do well and you have to get better at that. And so for us, it's rebounding and it's being consistent on offense, and those were our two biggest issues and they definitely showed. And so we'll see what happens because we play Marinatha tonight and they're a good team as well, but it's a game that we could easily win or lose. And so just learn from what happened on Tuesday and take the good and run with it and learn from the bad and improve off that. And it should be a fun game tonight.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: Yeah. And not to over spiritualize it, but it's a good outlook on our lives. Our Christian walk, too. It really, it. Sports is an amazing thing. Paul was an athlete himself, and there's so many things that relate from athletics to our christian. So it's really cool. And that's why you have a huge ministry of FCA that's out there. But how it relates of really you got to put in practice to get better. You got to see the mistakes you made, things that prevented you to get over that hump, and then you got to go practice. You got to make yourself better. You got to sharpen yourself.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: You can't make these issues that you have habitual where it's over and over and over and over. No, it's like you got to learn and move on if you want to get better.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: And ultimately results, ultimately, what makes you better is other people. Right. It's not necessarily, I mean, all the time. Yeah, you can go into the gym, work out, like they say, work out yourself.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: Perfect. No, it's perfect. Practice makes perfect. And, yeah, having your teammates, having your peers push you to get better rather than, oh, I'll get better. And then you go through the motions.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: Or even just going, like, working out by yourself, which is also great. Right. But what does really make a huge impact and really pushes you forward as quickly as possible is iron sharpens iron. Practicing with a friend, a player, a coach.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: Sounds like a biblical theme right there.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: Exactly. It is a biblical theme of looking at not just your athletic career, of, man, I got to get better at this. I got to really sharpen these areas. But look back. Look in the mirror, look at yourself and how you can sharpen yourself and your Christian walk outside of the court, off the court, off the field, wherever that is. How can you be a better student, a better husband, a better teammate, and looking to the bible for those answers. And again, not to over spiritualize it.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: But they literally go hand in hand.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: They do.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: They literally do.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: It is really cool. And also just encouraging to the players. Any player out there that is listening, that look at it, not just on the field, but off the field. And honestly, sometimes off the field can coordinate with issues off the field can coordinate with issues on the field, especially.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Like, with how schools in our realm, in our conference, in our region, and the NACA are set up. It's like, there's oftentimes where you even see, like you said, outside things coming in. Sometimes you see like, hey, why is this person not playing well? Or why am I not playing well? It's like, oh, well, I'm spiritually struggling right now, and it's like, I need to get all facets of life together in order to succeed because literally, I know people kind of get, when they hear body, mind, soul, it kind of throws up red flags. Like, okay, is that yoga? Is that the weird spiritual stuff? But, no, it's true.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: Pray, love, eat. Pray, love.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: Right? But it's true. You need to have. Physically, you need to be there.
Mentally, you need to be there, and spiritually, you need to be there because they all feed off each other.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Yeah, 100%.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:58] Speaker B: I was going to say, son, but I kind of forgot it.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: But my bad.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: I mean, no, you're good. It's the temple. It's the body. You got to really take care.
[00:12:04] Speaker A: Your body is a temple to the holy spirit who lives within you. Yeah.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: So, again, just an encouragement for you athletes out there and everything going there, but let's talk about some of the games coming up.
[00:12:15] Speaker A: So we got Marinatha tonight, which should be a great game, and then both teams are traveling. So just guys are playing because girls already played them last home game of the year, so it should be a good one. We get to hear Anna Harwood sing the national anthem tonight.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: That's cool.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: It's going to be great. That's going to be great. And then on the road Saturday morning, we're driving down to Central Christian College of the Bible in Mowberley, Missouri, and then that's our last regular season game before conference regional tournament.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: That's going to be fun.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:42] Speaker B: You said Mobley? Yes.
[00:12:46] Speaker A: Tracy B. CCC.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: What did you just call them?
[00:12:49] Speaker A: Tracy B. Tracy B. That's how they call it.
[00:12:51] Speaker B: That's what they say.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: Yes. Tracy B. Tracy B. Three season.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: I can do that. I like that. It's better than just, like, making the overused joke of.
[00:13:05] Speaker A: Tonight, Saturday, and then on to next Thursday for the start of the conference.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: If we're playing Maranatha tonight, do we know where we stand seeding wise? Conference next week.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: So Saturday's game will kind of depending on what Saturday does, because Thursday's game won't affect conference, it'll affect region. But Saturday's game has potential to affect what seed we are.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: Is it too much mathematics for you? Math?
[00:13:36] Speaker A: I haven't looked at it, ideally, because with a seven team double elimination bracket, the one is on the top side, and then I think right now we think we're sitting at seven, so we're on the bottom side of the brackets. We've been at two seed, and then six seed would be on the top side, I think. Is that how it works? And so we'd be looking at probably playing, I think, Ozark. Right.
[00:14:05] Speaker B: Kind of. What kind of bracket does the MCC do? Is it the. The lowest seed will always play the high seed, or it was. You just get put on the side of the bracket and you finish. Right.
[00:14:17] Speaker A: So it was when we had eight schools, but now that we only have seven schools, the one seed will get the buy.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:24] Speaker A: And so then they'll play the winner of. Is it three?
[00:14:28] Speaker B: Because they're automatically in then.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:30] Speaker B: Or they're like, they have one game automatically. Okay.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: But then it stinks. Like, if you're on that side of the bracket, if you lose, you don't get to play an extra game.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: Okay. So it wouldn't matter too much because they would automatically just, they get the buy, then they play the lowest seed, and then if they win, they're in.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: I'm not. That's a good question. I don't know what it is because you think about even, like, the NFL playoffs it was always like, it'll be mixed. Yeah, it was mixed around. So that's a good question.
[00:14:59] Speaker B: I think that's how it is, because, I mean, if it's not one team gets a buy, then everyone plays based off of the high to the low.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: Then, yeah, lowest seed ends up playing the one seed or something.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: That all makes sense.
[00:15:12] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll find out next week, but.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: I guess so we'll be talking about it. Wait, when do you guys travel? Next week?
[00:15:18] Speaker A: We'll probably leave. Well, I guess it depends if we play an early game on Thursday or not.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Let's say you do.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: We'll probably leave early Thursday because it'll probably be like a 02:00 p.m. Game or something.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: Yeah, something like that.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: Okay, so we'll see you next week.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: On the podcast, then hopefully do it on the road.
[00:15:34] Speaker B: Yeah, no, probably not. I'll probably have, like, will, come on.
[00:15:37] Speaker A: No, we should be. Because, remember, that's right. Because we're leaving right after we record next week to go to the youth group thing.
[00:15:46] Speaker B: Either way. Either way. Anyway, good stuff. Looking forward to conference play, finishing conference play. The Marinatha game tonight's always going to be a good one. Wait, we lost them.
[00:15:57] Speaker A: We did.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: Earlier this year.
[00:15:59] Speaker A: Last year.
[00:16:00] Speaker B: Oh, I guess so. Yeah. Well, the season. So is there just to continue on this Emmaus athletic run?
What's the team's mindset at right now? Is there, like, a thirst for revenge? Because I know a lot of them. Everyone holds a grudge.
Everyone holds a grudge against Marinathis specifically.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: We want to win, obviously.
[00:16:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:25] Speaker A: You want to win even more, especially at home against your rival.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: So mindsets are pretty good. Everyone's just set. Like, let's just win, baby.
[00:16:33] Speaker A: Hopefully Al Davis. I think so.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: Okay. Very nice. Yeah. Looking forward to that game. If you are in the area, please come out tonight. Thursday, February 17 come out tonight, 06:00.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: P.M. That's crazy how fast this month's gone by, by the way.
[00:16:50] Speaker B: It's ridiculous. Oh, goodness gracious. Can't get stuck in the phases.
[00:16:54] Speaker A: No. Always stuck in the phase.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: So live your day out day by day. All right, well, let's get into. Let's move on from Emmaus athletics, but really looking forward to the games. Wow. No, we love Emmaus. We do. No. Okay, so Super Bowl. Super bowl was fun. We talked. Know your favorite food? You got your pulled pork and enchiladas if there is no cheese on them. But before we get into, I did like your. For people who didn't watch the Super bowl. What happened is the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49 ers went into overtime, and there's new overtime rules.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: Like, brand new rules.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: Brand new rules that half the players.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: Didn'T even know what the rule was.
[00:17:34] Speaker B: Yeah. So what it is, is the old rule is whoever scores a touchdown, if you're the team and you have possession of the ball first and you score a touchdown, you win. If you score a field goal, the other team has an opportunity. So a touchdown wins the game.
[00:17:50] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: But now it doesn't matter what, both.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: Teams get an opportunity no matter what happens.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: So both teams get the ball. It doesn't matter if you score a touchdown and two point conversion or extra point, the other team will get the ball to answer back. So that's what happened. 49 ers drove down the field, kicked the field goal. I thought they should go for it because they're playing the Kansas City Chiefs. And I was saying that you can ask anyone at the Super bowl party with me. I said, they're on the nine yard line, fourth and four, go for it. You don't get it. You backed them into the territory. Your defense played decently well.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: But you know, the Chiefs are going to score no matter if you score a touchdown, kick a field or don't.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: Score, and that's why you score. So the Chiefs got the ball back. They score a touchdown, they win the game. So the whole idea is like, what's the new strategy? Because the strategy used to be like, you always elect to take the ball, but a lot of people are talking about the new strategy is don't take the ball first, because it's like that.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: College in college where both teams get a chance and you want the ball second. You want the leverage, your defense at first.
[00:18:50] Speaker B: You want the opportunity, when the ball is in your hands to win the game. And electing to take the ball first. With the new rules, you cannot win the game. Right. You have to give the other team the opportunity to win the game. Right. So let's say you get the ball first, you go down field, score, touchdown, kick the field, go, the other team gets the ball. They scored a touchdown, then they go for two and they win. Yeah. So the strategy is new. And you've mentioned this just shortly, but I thought it would be kind of fun to just mention it.
[00:19:17] Speaker A: But you mentioned it should be like soccer rules or like FIFA rules where.
[00:19:22] Speaker B: It'S not golden gold.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
A regular time expires and then, like a soccer, they literally play 215 minutes halves.
[00:19:32] Speaker B: I wouldn't even say, 15.
[00:19:33] Speaker A: Well, even everyone's watching the Super bowl anyway. You're going to have bonker ratings anyway. Why not do it where you play a little bit more or you play two more quarters or whatever it might be, and then after that, if no one scores or if it's still tied, then you go to, I would say.
[00:19:53] Speaker B: One full quarter because that's what a.
[00:19:54] Speaker A: Lot of people worried about because the Chiefs scored as the first quarter of overtime expired. But they're saying it doesn't matter because with the rule, you get an opportunity to score no matter what.
[00:20:04] Speaker B: And to be fair to the Chiefs, this wouldn't have changed the outcome because they scored with 6 seconds left in overtime anyway. So obviously they would have won anyways. But I think it would be cool to have a full quarter. Doesn't matter who scores, how many points or when they score, but whoever has the most points at the end, especially.
[00:20:23] Speaker A: For being the final game of the year in the championship.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: Yeah. And after the game, as usual, the sideline interviewers come up to the MVP or just the star of the team for the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes. And they always are. Asked the questions. Talk me through that last drive, Patrick. What were you guys thinking? What was the play call? And then what do they say? Matt.
[00:20:46] Speaker A: Want to thank my lord and savior Jesus Christ.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: That's good.
[00:20:50] Speaker A: But no, that's kind of what we're talking about.
You hear that all the time.
We studied it last week when we were talking about Brock purdy and know and CJ Stroud. And it's like, okay, that's like, I love hearing that.
But then like we're saying, okay, you say that after you win, which, but what are you doing at the Super bowl parade? What are you doing afterwards?
[00:21:14] Speaker B: What are you doing during the game?
[00:21:15] Speaker A: What are you doing during the game? After the game? You be, this win goes to God. I want to thank you. Thank you, Jesus, my lord and savior. I'm a Christian yaki yak, blah, blah, blah. And then people are like, wait a minute. Wasn't he screaming at the officials all game? Wasn't he talking trash to the other team? Wasn't he playing dirty? And it's like, okay, you're talking the talk, it appears, but you're definitely not walking the walk. And that's kind of like what we were talking about earlier.
It's like the whole thing, like, do as I say, not as I do. And it's like, how do you. Because it's needed. It's needed in all contexts. We talked last week it's not just sports. It's at work, it's at home, it's wherever. It's like, you can say all you want, but if you're not doing it, like we were saying, if there's no fruit, then it's meaningless.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: Yeah, meaningless. It goes back to the fruit in Galatians five, the fruit of the spirit. And then kind of connecting that a little bit with, I'm thinking of John 15 with Jesus is divine.
[00:22:20] Speaker A: Divine, the true vine.
[00:22:21] Speaker B: And if Jesus is with you and you're with him, then you're going to produce fruit. You're going to produce good fruit. And what that fruit is, is the fruit of the spirit in Galatians five. And that's not just what you say when the cameras are on you, but when the cameras are off you.
A lot of that, when it comes to sport is during the game, before the game, after the game, you're in the stage, especially on a stage like the Super bowl or in a championship game, the NBA Finals, whatever it is, what are you doing before the game? During the game and after the game that is going to be oozing those fruits of the spirit? What is that? Right. It's not just going on stage and accepting an award and saying, first and foremost, I want to thank God for everything. That is awesome. And I love that.
[00:23:11] Speaker A: Praise the Lord.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: It does.
I'm not thinking about, and I think we're both in this boat is. We're not thinking about anyone specific. Maybe we're not.
[00:23:21] Speaker A: Obviously, we both know celebrities out there, athletes out there, even friends out there know, say this, but then as soon as they look the other way, it's, it's not. Things don't line up.
[00:23:33] Speaker B: They don't line up.
[00:23:34] Speaker A: They don't line up.
[00:23:34] Speaker B: And there's a reason Paul talks about how there's many people, many false teachers who, they're not christians, they don't have a relationship with Jesus yet. They're still proclaiming Christ and he is thankful for that.
[00:23:47] Speaker A: Great that Christ is getting out there. But at the same time, it's like.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: Yeah, so to so many people who do thank the Lord, awesome that his name is being mentioned, keep it up. That is amazing. We love that.
We love it, but the Lord loves it.
It's good for the kingdom, for the growth. It really does plant seeds. It is amazing how the Lord can even use unbelievers to plant seeds. Right?
We don't know those people's lives. We only see what the camera shows us of these celebrities, these athletes and the way they live. So we don't know what goes behind the scenes, right? We don't know the full story of that, but we got to take for what we do know. And what we do know is that sometimes they don't show the fruit they don't have.
I guess you walk the walk of a Christian because then after you win the big game, you're out partying, getting drunk, or even just saying foul language.
And that doesn't mean because if you curse, you're not Christian. But that's not it at all.
[00:25:02] Speaker A: But it goes back a wholesome talk. And what are you putting in? Because even us, we could be saying all this to you guys, and then we turn off the camera, and then we go back and we fill our minds with bad music or we're gossiping or we're doing this or that or everything. It's like, no, it's like we have to be living out what we're saying. We can't just be saying we're thankful for our time at Emmaus. We grew in our faith. We're both youth leaders. Great.
What's going on outside of that? And it's like, you have to be. And I think that's even more important, especially for people that do have pastors, youth leaders.
If you have the influence that you have, it's even more important because people are like, young children are watching you. Youth are watching you. And it's not just the 20 to 50 year olds that are cheering you on. The super, like, no, you have just as many eyes, just a different age group. And I think it's like, we just have to be so conscious of what we do, of what we say.
You might think, like, okay, if I do this, you see things like, okay, how many times have we seen a video pan out of an athlete picking up trash, like, on the sideline, and they're like, oh, that's so great. And it's like, okay, are you doing that when no one is watching? Are you doing that when there are no cameras? It's like, obviously, where's the word? Yeah, where's the fruit? What is the purpose behind what you're doing? Are you saying these things like, thank you, God, just because, you know you're going to appease one area of your fan group, or are you actually being like, no, thank you, God, for this opportunity, for this? And it just goes so much together. And I think there's just so many people out there that struggle with that. Especially, like I was saying, I even think at our level, how often do I know? Hey, obviously there are some teams we play that don't have christians on their team, but a majority of the teams we do are full of christians.
But also, sometimes they're the ones that are the worst at questioning every call or being chippy. And obviously, there's nothing wrong with playing hard, but where's that line of when you step over that line and you are talking that trash or you are saying foul things or you are saying degrading things and it's like, no, it has to be.
[00:27:35] Speaker B: It's starving the flesh. It's denying yourself and what you want to say, what you want to do in those moments when time gets tough, when the game gets rough, you want to hurt someone, right? You want to be like, I want.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: To show you struggle in something. We're all sinful, fallen human beings, but, yeah, it's like, yeah, we have to deny ourselves, deny the flesh of those obtrusive thoughts.
Maybe people would say, in my previous life, I struggled with this or I had a sailor's mouth or whatever, but it's like, okay, what can you take from then and get rid of it to where you're at now?
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Yeah, and here's another. And that's the thing is, we're not really putting down any, like I said, we're not putting down any athletes specifically. No one. We don't want to put down anyone. But the thing is, and we don't know, like I said, we don't know.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: Their situation, their personal life or whatever.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: But it's just an encouragement to athletes out there. It's like, really and a good reminder. Take this as a reminder of walking with Christ every second of the day, on, off the field, pregame, during the game, post game. It's not just the post game and saying and giving him honor and glory and then going. Talking about me or even going to behind the scenes, away from the camera, doing, who knows, feeding your flesh in whatever way, but starving the flesh, surrendering yourself, obeying the Lord, being a good steward of where the Lord has placed you as an athlete, if that's at Emmaus Bible College or if that's on a big stage at the NBA Finals or the Super bowl, what you do before, during and after is what really shows those fruits, really shows your character. And so that's an encouragement to you young athletes out there to really consider, how are you honoring the Lord? How are you glorifying him, not just on the field, but off the field and every day before competition?
[00:29:35] Speaker A: Is it after competition? Is it during the competition. It has to be all three. It can't be one or the other. It has to be all areas.
[00:29:42] Speaker B: And to circle back to what we were talking about, of how sports has such a beautiful comparison to the Bible, another sports thing is, it's a marathon.
It's not 100 meters race. Right. It's not what you do just for one year of your life or one interview or one game. It's all those games, every interview, your entire life, from when you're middle school, high school, from when you're born to when you die. How are you living that life of a Christian? Are you acting as if the light is always on you and you always have to respond the good ways or when the light is away, when the camera is away, how are you responding?
[00:30:27] Speaker A: Are you still genuine and being who you are through Christ?
[00:30:31] Speaker B: Are you only acting as a Christian, only honoring the Lord when the camera is on you, or are you also doing it when it is off you? So that's something to consider is like, it is a marathon. It's not just 100 meters race, 200 meters. It's a marathon. So we have a long race to run.
[00:30:46] Speaker A: We do.
[00:30:46] Speaker B: And that goes for us, too. Like, up here, it's like we're here. We're preaching to the choir. We're preaching to just a little camera right there.
[00:30:53] Speaker A: We're talking about is literally on us.
[00:30:57] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. But what are we doing behind the scenes?
We could be treating it like a sprint. Right. There could be a couple of years from now that one of us walks away from the Lord. And I hope that's not. And I don't think that's it. Right.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: That won't happen.
[00:31:10] Speaker B: I see the fruits from you.
[00:31:12] Speaker A: I hope you see fruits from fruits from you.
[00:31:13] Speaker B: Yes. And that's where you see that genuineness, the genuine relationship that that person has with Jesus. And it's hard to see that with athletes, with professional athletes, when the camera is always on them and you don't really see the authentic, genuine self of them when the camera's off. Right. So only the people who truly know those people who walk and live life with them really know the story. Right? The only people who. They live in the homes, their neighbors to them, their family, their family, know that as young athletes, young people, even just. I mean, not even as athletes, just to know that when the camera's off, when the camera's on you or the camera's off you, you should always be acting the same. Yes.
[00:31:56] Speaker A: And even, like, you should always be caring yourself in such a way of the Holy Spirit is just flowing through you. Jesus is just. And that's not even like trying to say, are you over christianizing stuff. Like everything you say is like the comedian Michael Jr. Says, are you over saved?
I'm thirsty. Thirsty for the Lord. But is what you're saying lining up with what exactly? Or what you're doing line up with what you're saying?
Are you being a good Christian? Are you saying things that are worthy of him? Are you conducting yourself in a manner that people, non christians see the light coming out of you? Are you treating your christian brothers and sisters in that way? I think it just goes so much together of like, you have to be doing what you're saying. And you can't just be.
It can be frustrating, but it's also so encouraging.
No, I'm with you exactly.
[00:33:08] Speaker B: What you're saying is it kind of goes to like, james, 119 to 26, a little bit of looking in the mirror reflecting, you have the truth of the Lord before you.
[00:33:17] Speaker A: But also, are you yelling their eye when you have that law and it's.
[00:33:22] Speaker B: Being hearers of the word, it's being doers of the word, not just hearers.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: No.
[00:33:28] Speaker B: That's the life of a Christian. And it goes so just because you hear someone say something on tv doesn't mean that's their true walk, right? Just because you hear us talking behind to you on a screen doesn't mean that we're a Christian or that's our walk.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: And the same thing, like when you hear a negative thing, that doesn't mean who they are, because we don't know the, we're all fallen, we're all sinful.
[00:33:50] Speaker B: And that's something that sucks about the day we live in today is the media and the cameras being shined on you every time someone gets drafted and.
[00:34:00] Speaker A: People are all pulling up old Facebook messages or Facebook or Twitter trying to find something, tweets. I guess now it's really, it's really.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: Tough to find true genuineness in people.
[00:34:09] Speaker A: Is that authentic?
[00:34:10] Speaker B: Yes. Christian either way.
Well, we're running short on time, but let's do a top five. Let's get into top five. Let's do a top five. So we're going to do top five favorite classes here at Emmaus Bible College. Matt, hit me with one of yours.
[00:34:26] Speaker A: All right.
[00:34:26] Speaker B: Are you going to go order five then? One.
[00:34:30] Speaker A: I was going to do my favorite class first.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: Let's do top three since we're running.
[00:34:35] Speaker A: Would say, I would say a lot of people would understand this in this context, but I would say, my freshman year at Emmaus, I took missions and evangelism with Mr. Joel Hernandez.
[00:34:47] Speaker B: Love him.
[00:34:48] Speaker A: And I just find myself daily just remembering back to that class. And I think it just like his teaching and then just, I mean, the portion of what's our mission and how do we evangelize? That just spoke to me so much that I would say that was my favorite class because I think about it every day.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I would probably touch on that.
It's tough for me to have, like a number one, two, or three, but I can give you three. I can't give you the order. But speaking of Joel, I would say cultural anthropology is one of my favorites of Joel. A lot of that had to do with the people that were in the class. It was a great crew of people. We also went on a couple of trips together as a class, so that was really awesome. He took us around town to look at, see other cultures. We went to El Paso with a great taco place, talked to the owner there. He made us tacos. That was great. But just the way Joel teaches who he is, his storytelling and learning about other cultures was really awesome. So that's definitely one of them for me. And I'll give you another one. It's another one with Joel.
And that one is.
I'm blanking on it, actually, right now. You go, wait, I just blanked.
[00:36:06] Speaker A: I would say one of my other favorite classes was with the great Lake. Mr. Glock was life of Christ. I love that.
He taught that class probably like hundred times, and he had a book and it would have all four gospels lined up, and you would go through the book and just see how the gospels line up. And he was just such a great teacher and just storyteller. And I just love that class because I hear, like, probably once a month, I hear of alumni that still talk about that class and how they've taken their notes from that class and they've used that to teach at their church or to do Bible studies with it. And that was one of my favorite.
[00:36:50] Speaker B: I know why I was blinking, because it wasn't with Joel. It was an ICS course. It was major cults with Dr. Frank Yabini.
[00:36:58] Speaker A: Love that himself.
[00:36:59] Speaker B: Love that class. Learning about different. Another thing about other religions, other cultures within those religions. I won't say anything specifically major cults. It's not a class right now.
[00:37:08] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:37:09] Speaker B: They're just low on ICS faculty, so they haven't taught that one for a while, but they kind of merged it with, like, world religions.
[00:37:17] Speaker A: I took that with him. And that was world religion, because obviously, you know, you hear about which one do you take with world religion? You hear about Muslims or Hindus or Mormons or whatever, but it was like in depth looking at the fine tune points of what they believe. And that was really eye opening for me.
[00:37:35] Speaker B: Yeah. And this one was really cool because we were able to visit some of these services of these religions, and it was like, super interesting. And it was honestly convicting because sometimes they were more friendly than when you go to a God fearing church or.
[00:37:51] Speaker A: They might know more about how to answer questions than we do in certain areas.
[00:37:55] Speaker B: But I did love that class. That one was really fun. Interesting, too. So really enjoyed that. Dr. Frank Yubini did a good job of involving us into the community and other cultures in Dubuque outside of religious organizations. So that's awesome. Give me your third one.
[00:38:10] Speaker A: I would say, well, it's a tough one, but third one would have been, I took Bible geography with Dr. Sanchez.
[00:38:19] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:38:19] Speaker A: And that was part of my archaeology minor that I took the rest of the classes with Dr. JJ Rowley. And I don't like, obviously, I'm not using my, you might say, oh, archaeology, what a meaningless or pointless thing. But just like understanding the history of cultures and how they operated and how they did things and then seeing that firsthand, that was amazing. I loved it. I spent a month in Israel going into my junior year, and that's really cool. It was just amazing to see.
[00:38:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I remember you spoke about that month in Israel a little bit to me and how you could eat everything dairy. It wasn't a huge factor there.
[00:38:55] Speaker A: I also didn't touch a basketball when I was there, and I should have, but I should have brought it with.
[00:39:00] Speaker B: You, pumped it up there. This is tough because I only got one more slot, but I love every class I had with Jeff Riley and Reagan Benaski, as they were both my shout out professors, as I was em. I will have to say marriage and family was amazing. I took my freshman year. Should have know I wanted to take it again. Couldn't make it work this semester as I'm getting married in May.
I also love teaching Bible, but the one I do think about a lot is small group ministry with Reagan Benaski. Really awesome class. Taught me a lot of tangible things that we can take within the church, out of the church, and especially with hospitality and when it comes to discipleship and doing ministry and making it a real thing. So really did love that. And it was really hands on. And I'm a hands on learner.
Yeah, we met outside of class a lot, and we had to run our own small group with not strangers, but a different community outside of Emmaus. But it really did push you a little bit. But it was really awesome. And I learned a lot from that. So great stuff.
[00:40:04] Speaker A: That's great. Well, for our listeners, for our alumni, for our listeners at the other christian colleges, in our conference, we'd love to hear about what have been your favorite classes when you were in college and just the common bond of the Bible and spiritual things like, there's so many great things out there, but we'd love to hear from you.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I was just actually at Texas Dreadhouse in Des Moines this last weekend. Went home to see my mom a little bit for a day and guess the waiter was a faith alum.
[00:40:30] Speaker A: Really?
[00:40:31] Speaker B: Yeah. So funny.
[00:40:32] Speaker A: So funny.
[00:40:32] Speaker B: Really crazy, right? Small world of just, I, like, I saw he was like, he seemed different. Seemed.
I was like, I was like, looking like, you know, I wonder if this guy's a believer. And then I talked to him a little bit. I'm like, oh, where are you from? He's Minneapolis. Came down for school. I'm. Oh, what school is. Oh, faith Baptist. I'm like, oh, I went to Emmaus. I worked know. It's just so crazy. He didn't really. He knew a little bit about Emmaus, but it was very interesting.
Yeah, so he said he, like, passed away.
[00:41:00] Speaker A: Shout out, Coach Lopez got coffee with him this past week with him. About that.
[00:41:04] Speaker B: You owe me some coffee, coach Lopez. So I missed out on that one. They don't want to bring me on the trips, I guess that'd be fun. I would love to go on the trips. Maybe I do some sideline reporting, but do that either way, though. Thank you, everyone, for listening. Definitely that encouragement from Matt of reaching out to us. Tell us your favorite classes when you were a student here at Emmaus or at your respective school in the MCC or NCAA conferences. We would love to hear more from you guys, your stories, and even just giving us a listen. So we love that. So again, thank you for making us a part of your day. Check out concerning him and all these.
[00:41:40] Speaker A: Really good podcasts coming out.
[00:41:41] Speaker B: The blog. There's a blog. I just found out there's a blog for it. So check out the blog.
What else we got to tell them about.
[00:41:47] Speaker A: See what they got due coming up.
[00:41:49] Speaker B: Discovery, Mace weekend register. That registration is. We got about a month, two months of registration left, and it is filling up super quick.
[00:41:58] Speaker A: So if you're not a prospective student, if you're a parent, you can still get tickets to the Shane and Shane concert.
[00:42:03] Speaker B: So look into that. Reach out for questions, call us, talk.
[00:42:07] Speaker A: To Shane about the Shane and Shane concert.
[00:42:09] Speaker B: There you go. Talk to Matt about me and then, yeah, so we got discovery, Mace coming, a bunch of other events that we're going to be going to, but we'll talk about those in the next couple of weeks. But either way, thank you for listening. Check out concerning him. Check out our shorts that will Cunningham works on every day. Those are really awesome. Our recap videos of games.
[00:42:29] Speaker A: Yeah, those are coming out.
[00:42:30] Speaker B: If you're really interested to see more about our team and you just haven't really got into watch a live stream. We have less than five minute videos of a recap of the game with highlights so check those out. Either way though, thank you for listening, everyone. We appreciate you tuning in today.
[00:42:47] Speaker A: And Matt, it's a great day to be an eagle.
[00:42:50] Speaker B: Have a great day.
