Fat Real Estate Margins, Gentleness, and Elon Musk - The Briefcase and the Barn - Episode 10

September 25, 2024

The briefcase and the barn ep10 final

Kyle: [00:00:00] Hey guys. Welcome back to another, uh, episode of The Briefcase in the Barn, uh, a show with me and Gary Bars, um, a series of the Furious, the Furiously Curious Show. Episode nine, episode 10. 10, sorry, 10, where we talk about, uh, business, Christianity, life, and more show sponsors. Arbon Arbonne is a health supplement.

Um, link in the description below that I use every day, uh, in the morning. Uh, take some green, some gut health, use some other stuff. And Gary gives me crap 'cause he says it's a pyramid scheme. I mainly just care about the product. Uh, but we have a group chat with my wife and I and Gary and his wife and she, uh, messaged us, me a nice, beautiful picture of some arbon she was taking and, and she liked the combo and placebo effect, whatever.

And so I, I said as if Gary was saying, I said, how can. Um, how can you like a pyramid scheme in the morning? Um, I was pretending as was Gary saying that, and she says, yeah, well Gary has a cold for three weeks now. Maybe his time he climbs [00:01:00] onto the pyramid. So if you wanna be healthy and feel good about yourself, you should try it three months.

Arbon, it's not the worst pyramid scheme.

Gary: I

Kyle: seen actually this week the

Gary: Tupperware went broke. Yes. Speaking of pyramid schemes. Yeah. Or Amway around for a long time or Amway. I dunno, family's still around. My parents were part of the Amway thing when I was a kid. I think that's probably where it comes from. Most of our deeply ingrained beliefs come from, uh, deep childhoods.

If it's actual,

Kyle: uh, if these are actual pyramid schemes, yeah. Wouldn't they, uh, not pass government regulation? Like some thought you're, you're thinking a Ponzi

Gary: scheme.

Kyle: Oh,

Gary: okay. That's Ponzi scheme. Big difference. Ponzi scheme is an actual thievery, okay. Pyramid scheme is a real sales thing. I mean, you're buying a real product and some, you know, they're, they're selling you something.

Yeah. I mean, like, I would argue what debate, what they're, what's in the powder, but, um, there's fat margin and there's enough fat margin that everybody down lower on the scale behind you. You know, I mean, realtors have. Products like this where they bring [00:02:00] people into the brokerage and they get paid the same way.

It's, yeah, it's basically big about margin. Talking about realtors and fat margin, goodness me, it's less than you think actually. Oh, like the actual checkoff is huge, but the costs are high. I would agree that the commission is high, especially because realtors get the same commission they did when housing was like a quarter of the price.

Yeah. Less than 10 or 15 years ago. So, but costs have gone up a lot. Video, um, marketing advertising, it's expensive. Um, how you doing? Good week. Pretty good. Lots of real estate deals going on. Okay. Yeah, I've

Kyle: seen you sold the one house?

Gary: Yeah. Or accepted offer? Accepted offer, yeah. It was a cash offer, but so in BC when you have a cash offer, and by cash offer, I mean no subjects, like somebody says they're buying it, they don't have to do a home inspection, they don't need financing, they're buying it.

Five years ago, if you did that, it was considered sold. You could tell people as soon as the deposit check was in, which would usually be within 24 hours, you could tell people what it sold for. Well, because of bidding wars in 21 and 22 and people paying $200,000 over asking [00:03:00] and being greased by realtors to pay over, which is why people don't like realtors.

'cause realtors are very pushy to get deals done. To be fair to realtors, many clients wanted their realtors to be like, Hey, we want this house no matter what. So the realtor's like, well, I guess you're better offer 10% over asking. So I, I came in being a realtor, right? In the very end of that, in the craziness, early 22.

Because of that, the why'd you become a realtor? Well, somebody asked me that the other day. Somebody asked me the other day when you became, 'cause I, I list a lot of expensive places. I listed a farm yesterday for, for over a million, a chicken farm. I'm listing another one, uh, soon. Um, people said, oh, did you expect to get those, uh, listings when you became a realtor?

And I said, like, I mean, you don't expect anything 'cause. That leads you, leads you to great disappointment. It's just like I always say, right in marriage. You thought about it though, like you didn't do. I did, and I'll tell you why. I was pretty sure I told 'em I thought I would. And the reason I said that was because in, um, probably in 2017 or 18 already, um, you know, I was buying, I was buying and selling stuff and, and doing farm.

A lot of cattle deals in hey deals. And I put together and I mean, I wasn't, [00:04:00] it could have happened anyways, but like, I kind of like connected all the dots and three farms transferred in Abbotsford. Um, and all pretty expensive between five and 7,000,003 of them, so it was a pretty big deal and I didn't know much about realtors and fees.

But I just did it at 1%, you know, on 17 million or whatever. And I'm like, that's a lot of money. If I would've had my license, I could have made some money here. Yeah. Yeah. And I, and I'm, I like the social aspect of it. Um, I like the relational piece of it. I like the doing the deals, like actually the complexity of selling farms with quota and, and, and sometimes thinking outside the box and ulterior financing and vendor takebacks and, and lots of different things that you do that you, you know, when you sell a house, you typically just sell the house and, and it's pretty straightforward.

It's financed through a, a normal bank. Um, but so I'm

Kyle: assuming this adds a bunch of time to your week, every week. You were pretty busy. Pretty busy in 21. What did you cut out in? Did you get rid of anything?

Gary: Uh, I just spent less time with my wife.

Bad joke. Didn't spend a lot with her in 21 either. I think back we had, we had three kids under three years old. Uh, [00:05:00] went from two kids to five kids in three months. Right. When the three littles came. And then for some reason in 23 she thought we should take one, a sixth child. She must have had an easy day.

Actually, ironically, that was her, uh, yeah, it was her doing. So I did not do that. A lot of people put, they put all the bad decisions in our family on me and all the good ones on her, which there's some truth to that. But she, uh, she was gone to a conference with some lady friends. It was a foster adoptive conference or something, um, in Ontario with some great ladies and.

We got the phone call about this, the baby that we have now living with us as a foster boy about that. And I just put it on her. I said, Hey, like I'm not doing that well here right now without you here. Like if you think it's a good idea to add a sixth kid. And it was supposed to be short term and it always is.

So I mean that's, we should have probably known better. But it was definitely a situation where it wasn't meant to be what it has become. And, uh, so she said, oh no, I think we should. And, and it's been a beautiful thing. And it's a beautiful family. Beautiful kid. Yeah. A very beautiful kid. And we know, and his family's wonderful.

Uh, his, his family, but so we're fostering him right now. We don't know. We have no idea [00:06:00] how that's gonna look going forward. But, uh, back to the realtor thing, I think that, um. You know, you joked about the commissions. I mean, farm's obviously a lot larger, but farms don't necessarily sell. And sometimes, so what will, like you

Kyle: say, you don't, you don't actually make that much, like a commission

Gary: is two point half percent, typically 3%, somewhere in there.

Two 8 million bucks. Yeah. And then you split it with the person buying.

Kyle: Yeah.

Gary: Right. And usually in half. Or you might keep a little more, 'cause you have all your advertising costs. I usually run, you know, so I don't, my advertising bills anywhere from, you know, three to 15,000 a month. Right. So it's a lot like, you know, you're, you're, I'm marketing my farms in Ontario and Alberta.

You know, all the places where, and I've had people fly out in the last few weeks to look at stuff because of that, so, yeah. Yeah. Huh,

Kyle: interesting.

Gary: Yeah. So it's, it's, uh. It's a feast or famine thing too. It's similar to your world where it's like, you know, you don't kill, you don't eat. Yeah. And um, and I think that, I think that's healthy, but in a way it creates, it also creates problems if you do sell a lot, you know, a lot of realtors, like in 22 just got took on extravagant payments and lots of, you know, rental properties and just things that were [00:07:00] totally fine when they were.

Doing like three or four or five deals a month. And then now I've had, I've heard of realtors doing nothing for nine months this year.

Kyle: Well, it actually, it makes me think of a, a proverb. I wish I would've, um, remembered where it was that I read a couple weeks ago and it said, uh, wealth can be good, but wealth with wisdom is better.

Or something like that. It was one of the Solomon's proverbs. And I was thinking about how, um, how generally when someone gets a lot of money or has like, starts earning a lot of money is they start making bad decisions. I mean, I made, I made a lot of it myself when I started making much money. Mm-hmm. And I think those are just only I.

You already have, you're already making those decisions bad before, but they're on such a small scale that they're not having that big of an impact. But you blow it up and then all of a sudden it becomes a big problem. And so just like being faithful with little Yeah. Allows you to be

Gary: faithful with a lot and do it well.

What I found fascinating in my life is that, um, like I make more money now than I did when I was 25. Uh, when I was 25, I worked twice as hard, like physically twice as hard for sure. Yeah. And just twice [00:08:00] as hard, like twice as driven as I am now. I mean, I'm still probably pretty driven, but I, I was just grinding so hard and I think that that's probably God's blessing in people's lives because when you are in your early twenties, you're not that smart.

You, you think you're really smart. Yeah. You know, everything at that point. Um. A few people that are listening right now that fall in that camp, they're really smart ones. Haven't asked for advice yet, you know who you are. Um, but just in general, like people, you know, you just, wisdom comes with age. Yes. And uh, and actually I get mortified.

Even now I'm 40. I'll be in a meeting or I'll be somewhere and I'll be talking a lot and I'll be like. Go home and be like, I know that in 10 years from now, I'm gonna look back on the things I said tonight and be more embarrassed about the ridiculousness. So

Kyle: actually one thing my dad taught me, he, he, uh, he said, always be the last to speak in a meeting.

You told me that a while ago. I've not forgotten that. Yeah. And if he goes, the decision's already made. If the decision's already made, like it won't make a difference if you say anything. Then also don't say anything like, you don't even have, even if they're asked to speak, but you don't need to speak anymore, they don't speak.

Gary: Okay. If the u the room's unified, you're in a, in a board meeting or an [00:09:00] elders meeting or room. Yeah. You just let it go.

Kyle: Yeah.

Gary: Yeah. Yeah. Unless you felt really convicted that the things are going in the wrong direction, I guess. And

Kyle: interestingly enough, I've seen a clip from Jeff Bezos who owns Amazon or 16% of it, um, a couple weeks ago.

And he says when he has meetings, he always starts with the lowest ranking person in the room to give their opinion. And he moves up from that. He goes, 'cause the likelihood of, um, you giving your opinion after your leader has given his opinion. It goes way down. Like you just won't, people just won't share it because they're just like, well, hey, the

Gary: smart person already shared.

How, how am I gonna, yeah. Which is a, a bit, I mean, obviously I can understand why people would feel that way, but perspective is everything and somebody in a different role, in a different tier of whatever the company is just gonna have a totally, a very valid perspective, but just very different. Right.

Yeah. Just humor

Kyle: humans though, right?

Gary: Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.

Kyle: So you uh, uh, MCed a conservative event last night?

Gary: Yeah, I did. Um, short, not short notice. Conservative what? Like a, like BC [00:10:00] conservative BC Yeah. The BC conservative party. Now, the United Party, I mean, I don't know, most people probably know this, but the United Party step basically is no longer, yeah.

Kevin Falcon, uh, decided to not have run. Uh, it'll be interesting to see how that's, what's the name of the

Kyle: party now?

Gary: It's the BC Conservative Party. Okay. The other party is no more. Okay. The other right-leaning, if you wanna call it that, they wouldn't even have called themselves that. They would've called them the, the center free, uh, free Enterprise.

Free enterprise. And the BC conservatives are right-leaning only on fiscally I. No, I wouldn't say that. No. No, I wouldn't say that. I think that, I think that, you know, what came even out of the, the, the dinner last night, it was a fundraiser dinner, and, uh, a friend of mine, uh, their family, they, they put a lot of effort into it and asked me to mc, and I mean, as, as always, I went in with no preparation.

Um, so I don't think I butchered it too bad, but it was interesting just to hear the candidates even speak, right? Different values for sure. Different, not, not all the same things you're passionate about. Um, I think that. What really came out of it is that, um, [00:11:00] if you were gonna draw a line in the sand of what the difference would be, is that, uh, and, and you can see it even at our school board level in Ack at the public school system, but it's like the families, like conservative party's gonna let parents make a decision on the family, right?

It's not gonna be the, it's not gonna be the school system that's gonna decide what's best for the kid. It's not gonna be the government, it's not gonna be some, you know, and obviously if a parent's not doing the right things or whatever, the. That, you know, we have systems in place where, where people step in.

Yeah. But there needs to be the criteria that a child be removed before you're gonna start telling a parent how they're gonna parent their child. Right. People, families have different values. It's a free country. You're still allowed to have different values and I think that's what's really, I. To me has shifted where it's like, you know, now if you, if you don't follow the thought that the, the, the cultural way, direction we're going, you're the big end.

It's like, no, like I'm just, I just think differently than you and that should be okay. Yeah. That's the country, you know? And so I think when you say, Hey, it's fiscally conservable, it's definitely fiscally conservative, which is what I'm excited about. The NDP government, we've had boom years now with, you know, full employment, pretty, [00:12:00] like very good employment and, um.

Our economy's been doing pretty well and they've ran massive deficits. Now we're gonna go into a trough and we're starting to see it in the nonprofits that I'm involved in, that I'm on the boards of. And you're gonna start to see governments justifying deficit spending. 'cause we're in hard times. It's like, no, like we've had deficit spending for years and massive deficit.

I saw an article the other day, federally. That the government we have now took over in 2015 and in eight years they doubled the national debt. It's insane. They doubled the national debt. I'm gonna say the number wrong, but I think it's 600 and some billion they added. And I remember when Harper like I go like, I'm getting older now.

I remember when Harper was in power and he was, I was frustrated. He was running deficits. It was oh eight or whatever in the financial at 2010 and stuff. Yeah. And they were like two, three, $4 billion deficits. And I'm like, these are massive, these billion dollar deficits and. Yeah. It's, it's insane. Got, it's gonna blow.

It's not gonna end well. And uh, there's, there's guys that listen to this, that are just loading up on Bitcoin as we're talking Right. And buying gold. And

Kyle: I actually want Mark to come on, 'cause Mark did the [00:13:00] Bitcoin podcast with me. 'cause he, he wants to ask you a bunch of questions. 'cause I, he said something about the fact that he goes, uh, that you thought gold is better than Bitcoin.

No. That you would be a fan of Bitcoin. Um, but anyway, I'll leave that discussion for that. I wanna react to a video here about, um, um, debt that I'm gonna play and, uh. Um, um, R's gonna lay it. Is this the debt video? 'cause it's, yeah. So we're, while we're on topic.

Speaker: Okay. Honestly, I would just can this whole bill, don't pass it.

That's my recommendation.

Speaker (2): What about the support though for the charging network? I mean, there are, there are parts of this bill and unnecessary No.

Speaker: No. Do we need support for gas stations? We don't. There's no need for support for a charging network. I would delete it. Delete.

Okay.

Speaker (2): All right.

Speaker: I'm literally, I'm literally saying get rid of all subsidies. Also for oil and gas.

Speaker (2): Think about also how this affects your competitors.

Speaker: Um. I mean, maybe they need it. I, I don't know. I'm in favor of deleting subsidies. I mean, when we started Tesla, there were no EV subsidies at all, and gasoline was super cheap.

The 7,500 tax credit came as a result. Not a Tesla activity, but a of General Motors lobbying for it. I would just say delete 'em [00:14:00] all.

Speaker (2): There's some other good things in this bill. Some would argue, I mean, the, a lot of money earmarked for r and d. Would you wanna put that towards something? No. Okay. All right.

We're gonna move on from the bill because I think we get what you're saying. Seriously saying on it

Speaker: in general, if we don't cut government spending, there's something really bad's gonna happen. This is crazy. Our, our, our spending is so far in excessive revenue. It, it's insane.

Gary: It's fascinating how, on a personal level, most people, maybe not initially, because if people have credit cards, they spend obviously more than they make.

But initially, e eventually every personal household gets the spot where they come to some realization. That they can't keep spending more than they make, but yet we as people who are the government, we are the people like we are the government. Right? Eventually we just elect people to represent us, to make decisions on our behalf.

For some reason, we as a country think that we can just keep spending more and it's gonna be totally okay. Yeah, and it's mostly 'cause people don't understand the value of money. And I read a book recently, um, didn't make it all the way through yet, but it's called the, the Death of Money. I think it was about the Ri Republic.

It's, you know, [00:15:00] after the first World War. We learned about it in school where basically, you know, the, the, um, the, the, uh, what was it called now? Anyway, it was the reparation payments right? For the First World War. And they just basically saddled Germany with so much debt and crushed 'em so hard that they just started printing money to try bank the payments so that, that didn't go well.

But it's basically talking about some of the similarities and, and, and goes into deep detail about the devaluation of money. And people just do not understand that. Yeah. Right. People are excited when they get a raise. They don't realize that the dollar, well, I was telling something the other day when I graduated in

Kyle: 2009.

I think I was making 50 grand a year. Yeah. What 50 grand a year could buy in 2009 is a hundred. Still way more than a hundred grand today. Yeah, I know. Like way more like it, I would've to make 150 grand or something today. And that position today is not making 150 grand.

Gary: Well, and the irony is, is that the minute you get.

So that's what they do. That's the government. So they devalue the money. Then you get paid three times as much. Yeah. But then you're at a higher tax bracket. So instead of paying 35% tax, you pay 45%. It's, it's robbery. It's, yeah. But a taxation is theft. Yes it is.

Kyle: [00:16:00] Okay. Uh, we got,

Gary: uh, we're at 20 minutes already, so I thought this was gonna be a short one 'cause we both look pretty frazzled when we came in here.

Kyle: That's fair. I also hit record like five minutes before you get up, so actually that's probably not actually my time. Yeah. So anyways, for the spirit doing the series and for the spirit fruit, the spirit today is gentleness. When you think about gentleness, Gary.

I will read this quote first, so I looked it up. So Dane Cland wrote a book, gentle and Lowly. Yes, in the Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers. Amazing book. I. So that comes from a verse, uh, gentle and lowly comes from the verse describing who Jesus is. And so that's what I thought about first. When I thought about today's word being gentleness.

I was like, oh, that reminds me of that book that Jesus is described as gentle. Um, but then at, so I was looking at some quotes from that book. So this is one quote. As long as you fix your attention on your sin, you will fail to see how you can be safe. But as long as you look to this high priest, Jesus, [00:17:00] you will fail to see how you can be in danger.

Look inside ourselves. We can anticipate only harshness from heaven looking out to Christ, we can anticipate only gentleness.

Gary: And I was like, wow, that is incredible. I started reading that book for the second time again recently.

I mean, I grew up, I guess in this, there again, I mean I'm not, not a theologian, but I grew up kind of feeling, um, like God was very distant. I mean, didn't believe God was real when I was a kid. Just kind of was something that was, I was force fed and just rebelled against it for just reasons in my own heart.

But, um, definitely had this idea of God being, um, not, not equating the two and definitely not thinking about the personality or the character that Jesus has. Right. And he does an amazing job going through scripture, showing examples of. You know, and Jesus is God, right? Yeah. And that is, that's God's heart too.

And like so very much, um, counter to what I [00:18:00] kind of grew up with and my idea, I grew up with very much a very harsh, harsh, harsh view of God. God's very, and I mean, is authoritative. Yeah. Very authoritative, very angry. You know, and like Ken Deck would say, God is angry all the time. Right? And it's only because of Jesus that, that, that were saved from that wrath.

So there, yeah, that dichotomy I get now, but I definitely struggled with the idea that, um, with that concept of God being gentle, I feel I. Slow, gentle and compassionate, slow to anger or the verses. But, um, that, that person, well,

Kyle: there's a chronicle Narnie, I think it was, um, has a quote, really famous quote that I, I, I haven't even read these books, but I just love the, love the quote that, um, Aslan asks, um, is the lion safe?

The line is Christ in, in these books. And, uh, he said, no, he is not safe. But he is good. Yeah.

Gary: Yeah. So that's where I was gonna go when you asked initially what is gentle, like, gentle doesn't mean you're weak. No. Gentle doesn't mean gentle, [00:19:00] doesn't mean that you, you know, you're not capable of, of whatever. I, I think it more just means that you're gracious.

Yes. And all the other fruits, the spirit come to mind, right? Yeah. Patient and kind. And I, I think that, um,

Kyle: well, gentlemen, right, like you're, you're. A real gentleman is someone that like, doesn't blow their top, that doesn't like, isn't rude to people, that isn't, that is caring, that is like, you know, and is leading and serving.

I, I actually remember this when I started going to Central, uh, at um, the Promontory campus there. And every week you had to set up the chairs beforehand 'cause there's church in the gym and every week. Pastor Jonathan's there setting up the chairs. And I'm like, why is, why is he sitting up the chairs?

Like, pastor shouldn't be sitting up the chairs. He should like, that's not, like, that's not his kind of work. Like he's, he's above that sort of idea and, uh. They're like, no, he's past. Pastor means servant. He's leading, he's leading, leading by example. He's serving like, and he's loving his people by doing there and doing the real work.

And I was just like, I was just blown away by that. Um, yeah, [00:20:00] the verse in the Bible that says that Jesus is gentle and only is this, Jesus said, come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because. I am humble and gentle at heart.

So frazzled,

Gary: pretty frazzled.

Yeah. One of my favorite verses.

Kyle: Okay. Profit of the week. A little bit of a different angle here on, uh, there's some overlap, but don't waste your time on fools for, they'll despise the wisest advice.

Gary: Is there a verse about throwing pearls before swine or,

Kyle: yeah,

Gary: that's another verse. Yeah. Would that be similar?

Kyle: That's the first, uh, I mean, it seems, seems similar to me. I'm like, um, what I thought about was what you told me a couple years ago when I was frustrated a bunch about trying to help a bunch of guys that didn't want help. Yeah. [00:21:00] And, uh, you said like, why are you wasting time with those guys? Like, you can go find a hundred guys that do want help.

Um. Go, go talk to those guys. Like, don't, like you can have way more impact. Don't chase after people and that don't necessarily want help. And I like, I still think it's good to, you know, if you see something, see someone, something in someone that they can need help and, and to, to like pursue to a certain degree.

But I think there's also something to be said about the fact that like, if we all have. In, uh, a finite amount of energy. Like if you can spend on the people that actually are willing to receive help, uh, yeah, you can do a lot more. Good.

Gary: Yeah. Another thing I've kind of turned towards or try too is, um, really investing people that are, seem to have, not, not leadership capables, but just people that are gonna just be disciples later on themselves.

You know, you can go, some people are very self-centered. Yeah. They do want to do better and they'll, they'll even put in the work so their life can be better. But are they really gonna transition into pouring into others and yeah. Hey, who do I see around me that kind of could use some encouraging or just, and most people just need encouragement.

Most people [00:22:00] just need friendship. They need, they need somebody to believe in them and kind of encourage them and challenge them and that balance back to that gentleness thing. But it's like, that's something. Where I think I can be too harsh sometimes, but I mean, most men need a hard word. Yeah. Like in our world, most people are just talking for cover all the time.

Well, it's an honest word. An honest word. Yeah. But honest honesty feels harsh. Yes. When you are, when you are in a tough spot, right? Yes. When you, you know, you just right away think, man, that's not very nice. But I mean, yeah. The truth, the truth does hurt. It doesn't need to be said in a hurtful way, um, but gentle way.

It needs to be said in a gentle way. Yeah. Um. But also when a man takes a hard word, you know this truth to, and he takes it to heart and you've said it to him, then there's this bond and this trust where it's like, wow, you, you cared about me enough to risk our relationship, to speak truth to me and, and vice versa, right?

Yeah. It's like, wow, you took that, you're willing, like the respect you have for someone when they can take a hard word from you and like, I have that with some of my friends. You'd be one of 'em where it's like, Hey, you know what? There's, there's some things that are said where it's like, oh, [00:23:00] that's, that's, that's a stinger.

Okay. No, I, I need to take that.

Kyle: That's how you grow, right? I don't know. I don't know how how else you move forward unless you open yourself up. Well, you don't grow if you're comfortable. No. Right. You have, you have to open yourself up to those things. But our

Gary: whole culture is about being comfortable. Yeah.

It's about being comfortable financially into retirement in our daily life, on our weekends, everything. Right? Yeah. Like everything is about nicer and more comfortable and yeah. So that's why I love the podcast of, uh, Brian, Brian McConaughey.

Kyle: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Gary: Go get uncomfortable. Had an interesting meeting like three days after our last recording when we talked about that podcast.

Um, that podcast would've been released yesterday, obviously. Yeah. Um, but, um, I met someone else that's spent years on the Thai Cambodia border and is heading back there in three weeks. Oh. To go meet him. Oh, meet Brian Or meet.

Kyle: Okay.

Gary: Sorry. Meet Rat. Rat, like with the organization Rat. Right. And very, very, yeah.

Kind of reiterated everything he said. It's not for anybody to go there. You're not going there. Just go to the website and donate money. Right? Yeah. So

Kyle: interesting. [00:24:00] Uh, bill called me at one 30 when we were supposed to start recording. Yeah. And, uh, and I said, uh, well, I can talk to you until, until, uh. Gary gets here.

That could be quite a while. Yeah. Well, he said, so he just listened to the podcast and he's like, interestingly, when I started, when you mentioned the weed thing, uh, initially my first reaction was judgment. And then I started listening and realizing that like, oh wow. Like why don't, why do I think my vices are better than those vices?

And like he started, uh, um, just re um, yeah. So we talked through that and I said, yeah, Gary's vice is being late

Gary: and a few others. Did you, did he listen to the podcast about us talking about weed? Yes. Okay. Did you get any other feedback from that podcast yet? Uh, yeah, DJ gave me some

Kyle: feedback. Uh, he said, I just, uh, was very defensive, uh, and I was like, uh, I, I didn't think I was, but maybe I was.

But, um, yeah, I, I haven't really talked to anybody else. You were way

Gary: more defensive than you were when you talked to me off the podcast, which I think is unfortunate because I think your heart is one of wanting to be fully sober and doing the right things, and it may not have come across that way, which is.[00:25:00]

Which is not fair to you. Yeah, and I think, and that is the problem with recording things. I said that to my wife too. Like, you take one snippet of one sentence that we say yes on here, and you take it outta context as with anybody's words or just people may saying a dumb thing. I mean, everybody says the wrong things at times.

Right.

Kyle: But, but I do

Gary: think

Kyle: if someone, I. Like the people that closest to me, their, their have opinions haven't changed, or because they know the whole thing and like

Gary: then you have level

Kyle: No,

Gary: but when you put yourself in a, in a spot where you're allowing your stuff to be shared anyways, then I mean, you are a witness to everybody.

Right? So then you're in the spot where you have to account for the fact that you're putting yourself out there.

Kyle: Yes. But if you've only listened to, like, let's say someone got sent only that piece of the podcast and didn't listen to the other episodes we've done. Yeah. You know, you're. I think over time you start to get a more well rounded picture.

Yeah, you do.

Gary: Yeah. Ultimately, there's a lot of sayings about it and a lot, lot of history there, but I think you without, I mean, the old saying is walk a mile in somebody's shoes. Right. But just like, Hey, how well do you know someone and Yeah. And have you walked their journey in? I mean, yeah. We don't need to, we're not the judge.

Right. So, yeah. Just, [00:26:00]

Kyle: okay. I wanna react to one more video here. We're gonna, it's the first, uh, week we're doing this and seeing how this, I don't know if I wanna react, is this one we're gonna watch? Yeah. Yeah, so the title of this video is, uh, I don't think I wanna watch it. How Russell, uh, Russell Brand's Life has changed since being baptized.

I like this even more that you don't wanna watch it because I don't wanna watch it. I don't wanna watch it.

Gary: Why not? Um.

Kyle: It's one

Gary: minute. You don't have to say anything. If you don't wanna talk afterwards, all you do the talking, I'll, I'll sit in silence. Wouldn't that be a beautiful thing?

Speaker (3): Christ chooses us.

I wish I had known earlier. I wish I hadn't thought that I was too clever for the religion of my grandmothers well. I thought that I was too smart. I thought somehow that I knew what was in the Bible even without reading it. Reading it. Blowing my mind on a daily basis. I can't believe the profundity, the depth, the incredible beauty, the deep truth available to all of us.

And I know there are many ways of, uh, receiving the Lord's truth and the Lord's wisdom, but [00:27:00] it's, uh, transforming me very quickly. I didn't make a choice. Tucker and I have mentioned the way that you operate as well, that there is a kind of surrender. I'm not saying that I'm without shame. I'm not saying that I'm without fear.

I'm not saying that appoint, I don't feel compromised and uncertain. I'm saying that since being baptized, since becoming Christians, since surrendering to him, I feel his presence continually. I feel it now. I feel it in this moment, and I feel free. Go ahead, just to

Kyle: give some context for her. So that was Russell Brand.

Uh, she, uh, he was interviewed by uh, who is Russell Brand? Ru. Yeah. So Russell Brand is a TV movie star that, um, has done like all the Rast movies and he is very well known for his, uh, doing all the drugs you can and lots of them and, uh, his sexual exploits and things like that. And so he has in the last year become a Christian.

And he has like, it's like one of the craziest, one eighties I've ever seen. And uh, and so he came out and talked. He's not doing the drugs [00:28:00] anymore? No, not, he is clean off everything. Like he is so sober and he is just preaching on his social media as like, just real stuff. It's just, it's, it's, it's awesome.

Um. But yeah, so, uh, I, I seen that clip 'cause he got interviewed by Tucker Carlson and, uh, and he was just sharing on there. And I just, I love that clip where he was just so honest about the fact that Jesus picks us and he, he, he loves us before we love him. Um, and what I also thought was interesting how he said, like, I had big opinions on the Bible before I started even reading it.

And like, I didn't really start reading my Bible till, like really digging into it till probably. Well, I mean, only started really reading it very consistently this year. Mm-hmm. Since, since January where like I haven't missed a, um, missed any days or I, I just catch up and read it. Mm-hmm. Read a full plan, but how much, when you're actually taking the time to read it, I, I love reading it in the new living translation version 'cause you can actually understand what it says.

Mm-hmm. And, um, like it's more layman's terms, but just the, the amount of truth and wisdom in it, it's like, [00:29:00] it's, it's not, it's uh, it's too easy to believe. It just does something you're supposed to do, but you don't actually take the time to. Understand what it says and it's hard to take the time.

Gary: Yeah.

It's actually, it's embarrassing for me how hard it's to be disciplined to set aside the right amount of time.

Kyle: Then it's a belief thing though, right? Then it's a belief that we don't, that whenever we struggle with reading it, that we don't actually believe the value that it gives us. Like if you get a letter from Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates about how to money, wouldn't matter matter what was going on your day, you just stop the day.

And you'd read it. Yeah. You'd read it and you'd like study it. It'd be like, how, how do, how do I get rich? Like how do I do this? You know? And this is like the book of life. This is how you get rich where billions and billions of years. Yeah. Uh, yeah. It, it's, um, so I just

Gary: saw Why didn't you wanna watch it?

Well, I'll tell you why I was triggered because yesterday I think I was supposed to, or I was checking on something on Instagram and then I saw. In probably a cer in the feed somewhere. Somebody else had shared it on Facebook. It was, uh, social media. Was Mark Driscoll [00:30:00] doing a running commentary and I'm thinking it was on the prayer that he did.

Maybe, I dunno. It was, you know, just. It's back to what you said about judging, but I just think first of all, celebrity, celebrity Christianity isn't Christianity like, you know what I mean? Like that's, he has this journey and he's allowed to share it, but like Yeah, I agree. Um, people, it doesn't matter if you're in ab Dutch Reform Church and the pastors, the, the, the the Pope or, or whatever, wherever you are, it's like it's dangerous anywhere, right?

Yeah. We sure don't wanna be worshiping people. Yeah. People are really sinful and they fall off the pedestal real fast, so there's only one savior. And so I feel like that with everything. And then, so I struggled, like Driscoll, you know, was super influential in my walk early on, like I, Marie and I used to go down to Seattle, go to church there.

I listened to all the sermons Back in the day, me and my dad

Kyle: used to watch 'em together.

Gary: Okay. He preached a lot to. Um, angry young men. Yeah. And I worked and I fell in that camp.

Kyle: Okay.

Gary: Uh, and just challenged them, challenge them to treat women while, you know, and there again, like I did a myriad of, uh, leadership things that weren't healthy and [00:31:00] eventually really tarnished his reputation in the church's reputation, unfortunately.

Um, which is unfortunate. So I have huge PTSD. You know, um, oh, when you see a Dr. A clip from Driscoll, I kind of, I shouldn't say that, but I like, uh, I think it was Christianity there. I'm saying the wrong one. But they did a whole podcast series on the rise and fall of Marcel Church. Um, and there again, I mean, I think I disagree with that too.

I think we as Christians don't need to be, I mean, we can learn from these things and it's not that should, but. Very quickly it's sensationalized, and now we're talking derogatively about any church. It's not healthy. It's like, yeah, no, like the churches, the churching and there's, there's believers that, you know, most churches or a lot of churches and yeah, far be it from us as Christians to be disparaging of what other Christians are doing, unless it's literally heretical.

And even then, you know how. How, how helpful is it when we're throwing stones at others? So, so when I saw him doing a running commentary on it, it's like, Hey, are you the judge of Russell's? Whatever he's saying, or it's like, you know, like, I always think just read your Bible, like, like you, you know, pull up the Bible and just read your Bible.

Like [00:32:00] it's mostly a personal journey, right? And then it should be showing how, how we treat others and stuff. Our walk should show that. We don't need to be doing a lot of preaching and, and criticizing others. I didn't even watch the thing. So now I'm really surmising, but I, I kinda know. Yeah,

Kyle: yeah. I see what you're saying.

Okay. Uh, what, what did you think of the clip?

Gary: Oh, I didn't disagree with what he said. No, but you know, I'm, I'm not gonna go to Russell Brand, who's a new Christian in the last year to get my theological teaching can be pumped. No, that's right. You know what's I'm saying? It's like, Hey, I, there's pastors all over on.

Podcast that I listened to. No, I wouldn't, I

Kyle: wouldn't

Gary: recommend that either. I was just, I, I saw Timothy Keller sermon or I'm gonna Listener also. Yes.

Kyle: Yes. Yeah. Or John Piper.

Gary: Or John Piper. You're a big John Piper fan. Actually, I listen to Is he a

Kyle: celebrity for you? Uh, he was, but you get him to sign your,

Gary: your, your Bible.

Kyle: used to be okay. Uh, no. I met him a couple times now. Yeah. And I did dad actually, one part I don't understand. Very gifted, very gifted preacher. The, the signing the books thing. I'm like, you're weird. It is very weird. It's weird. Um. Yeah. But, uh, he had just, there's an interview that I, um. [00:33:00] Uh, he just posted of him and John MacArthur inter interview each other.

Okay. And, uh, it just got posted I think two weeks ago. Um, they're old and they're so old. But MacArthur's uh, are you talking about the guys are so old. Yeah, John the best. They're like, I think John MacArthur's in his late eighties. Like he's got a lot of energy. That's impressive. I. But he was saying about Piper, he goes, what he most appreciate about Piper?

He goes, he didn't know anybody else that loved Christ as much as he did. And I was like, man, that is like the, if I ever get a compliment that like surpasses all compliments, it'd be that like, be proud of that, eh, well just like, it's the most beautiful thing. It is

Gary: beautiful. He does the, uh, like three minute devotions.

Marie listens to those a lot. Daily, daily stuff. He does a lot like, and those are, those are great 'cause they're. They're pretty easy to listen to. Just like a power forward.

Kyle: Yeah.

Gary: Um, yeah. That's good.

Kyle: Okay. We are way over time. Um,

Gary: one last thing here. Speaking of which, are you gonna speak about the one last thing in overtime or I.

One. What last thing in overtime? Well, you said you had one last thing, but maybe it needs to be talked about in the,

Kyle: well, I wanna say that, uh, [00:34:00] right now if you go to my Patreon, uh, you get to watch all the videos for free for seven days. It was a free seven day trial, so all the Dutchess out there, they're like, we're not sure if, uh, Trevor was going.

Uh, we're not sure if, um. Uh, we should pay for this. It's good value or not, you can go watch 'em all for free and then cancel your card before seven days they're up.

Gary: Or you

Kyle: can just, I never

Gary: let my wife do that 'cause she never cancels. I don't like ever sign up for afri free trial. I come completely unhinged.

Okay. No, nobody ever cancels. But these people might, these people, they're pretty valid. These

Kyle: people. I'm just saying. It'd be awesome if you could support the show. There's, uh, like five bucks. It's, uh, the value's there for you. Uh, U-S-D-U-S-D. I would, uh, much appreciate the support. It would help to, uh, make the show a bit better, um, and all the money will go back into the show as well.

So for some more interviews. So, if you can, uh, patreon.com for slash If you're usefully curious, if you do sign up and support the show, you also get access to overtime, which we will record now. Thanks for ing guys. Till next time, thanks for listening to another episode of the Briefcase in the Barn. Hope you enjoyed it.

If you wanna listen to some [00:35:00] overtime clips, uh, I'm gonna play a few right now and you can kind of get an idea of, uh, what overtime's all about. And if you, uh, wanna watch those, you can go to patreon.com/furiously curious and enjoy those. So, uh, this is what you would get with that. Take a look. I was like, oh, if I wanna be liking respect that I have to get rich, uh, buy a house, work hard, and, and

Gary: become somewhat religious hurt people.

Either hurt people, but a lot of hurt people realize that people need help and they want, and so the social work field is like that. People that have a great heart for people

Kyle: because of the podcast, he got invited to go, him and his family got invited to go get flown out and all expenses paid for a trip for him to be a speaker at something.

Okay, if you enjoyed those again, uh, patreon.com/furiously curious, uh, five bucks a month. Um, and uh, we started these in episode four already, so you can go back and watch all the different overtime episodes if you're interested in that. Otherwise, uh, thanks for watching. Uh, please like, uh, the videos subscribe to the channel.

Um, rate the show on the different, um, [00:36:00] podcast apps so that you can do that. On, goes a long way. Leave a comment on social media. Um, um, send some feedback, uh, via the website, furious securus.co. Um, in the contact form there. Also, if you have questions or things, topics you think we should talk about, uh, feel free to shoot me a message there.

Um, that's gonna be an, you can send messages anonymously if you want. So hope you enjoyed it and I'll uh, see you guys the next one.

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