UNCHURCHED #316 - Lift Them Up

0:00This fish ain't it's in my soul Welcome to the Salt Strong podcast Disrupting fishing entertainment as you know it Prepare to laugh Prepare to get to know fishing legends in a whole new and unfiltered way And on occasion, you might even learn a thing or two about fishing Here's your host, Joe Simons Like Diamonds Lift them up Hey everybody, Joe Simons like Diamonds back again With Salt Strong Unchurch, I'm pumped about this one True story happened to me recently and involves my son Jackson Hopefully I won't get emotional like I have on some of the past ones I got emotional just kind of thinking about this and kind of how it all evolved And really the lesson that the guy was teaching me through it on I think will each of you listening will have some sort of similar thought memory Or an idea of how you could impact someone and lift up someone in your life And so I'll kind of give the background on how this started and where it happened

1:02So the school that the kids go to is very intentional about bringing the families Together around certain events, almost like an inexcuses to throw a party Right from just little hay rides and having a fall festivals To the mile run, which I think is awesome They make all the kids run a mile as fast as they can All the parents come and cheer them on You're just trying to beat your time every year And one of my favorites though is what started off it was called Saints Unplugged And it was a camp out on campus there They've got a bunch of acres and kind of in the back that are not really wooded but open And they're just throwing up a tent and if normally we have a fire If it was cold out like it was here recently of course with this burn band We couldn't have a fire but didn't matter Just such a blast to get everyone together do a little camping on campus And you know they got food and you know movies out in the stars And the kids are you know playing in search around 430 And you know as the sun goes down everyone kind of slowly moves to their tents

2:05And you know by 93010 it's you know lights out if you will and everyone tries to go to sleep at least And we've done this multiple times and this past year no different I was excited To take at least Jackson and Savannah and Sean is now too old to it to go to it It's more for the lower school kids and prior to you know the sun going down A lot of the kids were out there playing their favorite sports They had you know basketball There was some even doing some you know lacrosse field hockey And then there's a group of boys playing soccer and then another group playing football And my son Jackson is not the best athlete I guess is the nicest way to say it He likes sports but just hasn't found that coordination yet And I was the opposite I was one of the first kids in my class and I was also older Meaning I had a mid-October birthday so I was one of the oldest ones in my class And I kind of hit you know puberty first I was probably the most coordinated first

3:08And the strongest first didn't stick that way forever as the ice cold grew on But at a young age I was at least I thought lucky blessed whatever to have all of that And so I was always you know kind of the first picked And that's all I knew because that's just that was a gift that God gave me And there's other things that I'm literally weekend of course Jackson's the opposite I don't think he was even picked And I'm kind of watching this from from afar you know still talking to some of their dads and moms there We're all kind of you know just hanging around the the tents catching up on life And it's kind of watching it and essentially he was left out and it crushed me I was like oh man like not even picked I don't think or maybe I didn't watch exactly what happened But enough to where he just finally just kind of walked away from the soccer game And was just kind of kind of punting to himself So I really was heartbroken for him and you know I try not to let it bother me But at the same point I'm like watching was like man why is any plan why are these kids mean to him

4:10And and I know some of them are good friends like people that we have spent the night when they're one on one They're super nice and I don't know that it was even mean to him I just think he wasn't looked at as the is the first pick and maybe you've been there before I know I've been there before and other other sports as I got older Where I just wasn't the one that that was chosen first and it is hurtful And Sanny hi I'm kind of watching this and at one point I went to go to the bathroom and I passed mindfully Hey man, how you doing buddy and He's like that man. We you kick with me And I said well let me go to the bathroom and I will and part of me You wanted to keep going back and hanging out with my friends or some people I hadn't caught up with in quite some time And then the part of me was like you know what this is my chance to lift my my son up And spend a little time with him and he really wants to kick with me you could tell him it meant the world to him I'm kicking on him and he essentially has created this I'm gonna call it a new soccer game So he's still a soccer ball, but it's a lot of you know punting and there's certain rules and how many times he could bounce

5:11And it's essentially a game you know he completely made up Which is which is fine and I enjoyed dealing with them And what was interesting though watching it all kind of unfold is he's doing that and I'm doing some pretty big Big ponds to the point that now the other kids are kind of taking notice and he's very quick to make sure that they see Him and me doing this and how much you know fun fun we're having and a couple of people even came out of the what is this and Jack's like Oh, it's just the game on him. I don't even know the name of the game But it was it was really neat for me to see Him his confidence go up and all of a sudden his excitement of you know doing something fun with With his dad and he had completely forgotten about being being left out And I completely forgotten about any of the hurt feelings or whatever was was there And in just moments earlier right I mean we're sitting on the same field that it just happened with the same kids on the you know just

6:12You know 2030 yards away from us and and he was just so proud Being able to do this with me and afterwards I went up to him and said man that was really fun buddy and I said I'm real proud of you for creating your own game and Man this is where I get emotional because I think deep down That's what all of this one especially from a father You know from going up to to guide for a father to tell us and look at the I say I'm real proud of you And you could tell like it's just something changing on when I said that and ever since then this was you know only 10 days ago I guess as I'm recording this in every day since he's wanted to kick the ball with me after school and do this do this game And you can tell he's just he's excited to come home he's excited to do it and I thought about that and I was like wow all All because I took a little bit of time and shame on me it wasn't my first choice just being completely transparent And into just saying those words the power of words of just saying I'm proud of you and it hit me on how few times I've probably said that

7:23You know I think a lot of us compare kids and spouses and co-workers and everyone to ourselves and or we have this maybe kind of false narrative of what they should be doing or you know how good they should be It's something and and sometimes we we look at through the wrong lens instead of just saying yeah you know what that's not exactly how I did it growing up And that's not not even the real game of soccer but man I'm proud of you and boom that it literally just changed so much for him And even the relationship et cetera and so I wanted to share that with you because I think we all have this opportunity for at least still alive You know to share that and once we're gone we we don't and there's plenty of people that don't have a father around or never met their father And don't have the father figure to tell them they're proud of them and so I would urge you just if there's one to do this week is to find a way to tell someone

8:23You're you're proud of them and to spend a little bit of time maybe even doing something that you didn't think you're gonna do like playing a goofy game And what's really wild so the very next morning I took a screenshot of it we talked last week about how God puts that right message In front of us at the right time and many times it's through this daily Bible that I'm reading And the song then very next day I'm gonna read it here Blessed are those who have regard for the weak the Lord delivers them in times of trouble the Lord protects and preserves them They are counted among the blessed and the land And it keeps going on about just the power of those who have regard for for the weak and for the finiti And I would say that he was kind of considered the weak and needy in that example of you know kind of being being left out I think it's just so powerful so you have a chance in your life regardless of who you are and your status

9:24Regardless of any of that there's someone who looks up to you And even if they don't they will when you start blessing them and flooding them with with love and favor and lifting them up I even just saying man I'm really proud of you you really did a good job there And hey that was really cool you created a game out of thin air man you're so creative Just those little words are so so so so powerful So I hope you are able to use that and it really just hit me and I've seen even just this transformation and confidence This past week just from that simple thing that happened there at the school yard and maybe it's transpired even on the school yard Where's friends so man as dad was playing that within his dad's cool and it's wild the small things that you can do that have just a huge effect long term So I hope this was helpful I hope you're able to go lift someone up and bless them and have an amazing day Much love and hit me up if you have any questions thoughts or stories that relate to it Joe at saltstrong.com

10:29Otherwise I will talk to you on the next episode Cause be sure to turn my son it was passed out of me from the days ago Find us on the water if there was a way Cause Brim said my poverty broke the book I'm catching big reds and 20 pounds look I wish I knew all the things he knew today For he's the reason why we are this way And he could feel his arms to stay