Casting Lines of Faith: Navigating Spirituality With A Son & His Father.

When life casts its lines into the deep unknown, it's the stories of faith and family that anchor us. Join us on a heartwarming voyage with our special guests, Andrew—affectionately known as Nene wise-beyond-his-years. Together, we navigate the waters of spirituality, sharing how a simple fishing trip can mirror Jesus' teachings and the importance of being 'fishers of men.' Andrew opens his heart about his relationship with God, the influence of faith on his decision-making, and the unique bond within our blended family. The tender complexities of brotherhood and the guiding light of spirituality in shaping a young life are laid bare, offering a glimpse into the profound impact of family ties and divine connection with Jesus.

As we reel in our thoughts, we discover through Nene's eyes the unfiltered essence of childlike wonder and belief. His anticipation of a new sibling, a reflection on the role of Jesus in our lives, and his enchanting concept of a 'landfill saint' remind us of the purity and depth of children's spirituality. Nene's conversation is a tender reminder to cherish the family we have and the faith that holds us together, as he offers advice on navigating life's challenges with grace. Ending on a note of prayerful contemplation, Nene extends a heartfelt invocation for the listener's well-being, weaving the enduring themes of love and faith that have colored our exchange into a tapestry of hope and inspiration.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

All right, what's up guys? Welcome back to landfill Saints. And this episode, as you can hear, we have Bubby aka, the new addition to the family. He just turned six months. Man, you got a lot to say as I push the cord and we got Nanny. Go ahead and introduce yourself, nanny, tell me about yourself.

Speaker 2: 0:19

Hey, my name is Andrew. I like football, baseball, basketball. Um, I, I really love Noah, really love God, and you know, I just gotta always spread the word.

Speaker 1: 0:31

Oh, yeah, yeah. So tell me, what do you know about God?

Speaker 2: 0:34

He was our Lord and Savior.

Speaker 1: 0:37

And what did he do? He died for us in my man, my man, we just came back from fishing. Watch everybody about fishing.

Speaker 2: 0:45

Yeah. So we were out there for like an hour and then we just started moving down the pond and then, like at our second stop, like in the middle of the pond, I call a small one, and then I was like, ooh, I think I'm not gonna catch another one till. My dad was like, well, you got to kiss the fish, it gives you good luck. And when I once I kissed it like five cast, after that I reeled in like a five pounder.

Speaker 1: 1:13

It was about a five pounder right.

Speaker 2: 1:15

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:15

Nice, nice, what you're for a part about fishing.

Speaker 2: 1:19

I've been spending time with me oh really, in the monsters.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Yeah, what's the biggest fish you caught?

Speaker 2: 1:26

Like a six or seven pounder. Oh no, I call a fly. Yeah, no, yeah, the flathead was yeah, that was a big fish. It was like 32, something like that.

Speaker 1: 1:38

Do you know what Jesus said about? About fishing?

Speaker 2: 1:42

Yeah, I would know.

Speaker 1: 1:43

I said yeah, he said Follow me and I'll make you a fisher of men. Do you know what that means?

Speaker 2: 1:49

No.

Speaker 1: 1:51

So what do you do when you have to catch a fish?

Speaker 2: 1:54

You have to set up your rod and Then, if they didn't have rods back then, you'd have to cut a branch off of the tree.

Speaker 1: 2:03

No, but how do you catch a fish? What type of baits do you?

Speaker 2: 2:06

use, oh, certain fish, right yeah, like swim jig, swim baits.

Speaker 1: 2:10

So what type of baits do you use to catch a bass? Like swim baits and then, what type of, what type of bait do you use to catch like catfish?

Speaker 2: 2:20

like Catfish, like the catfish bait or chicken liver like chicken liver and stuff like that, right?

Speaker 1: 2:26

So like you can't fish for you can't use one bait for every fish, right, can you, or no?

Speaker 2: 2:34

No.

Speaker 1: 2:34

Yeah, so with God, he she taught his disciples.

Speaker 2: 2:38

You did, you. You did catch a carp on the basket.

Speaker 1: 2:41

Yeah, you might get lucky with what God was telling his disciples was that, with the word of God, he's gonna teach you how to meet people with where they're at. So you can't use one bait to catch every fish, just like you can't. Just like you can't talk to everybody the same, you have to meet them with where they're at. Do you get what I'm saying? Yeah so can you give me an example about how you can meet someone with where they're at?

Speaker 2: 3:10

So if somebody's new to God and they just started like worshiping him, you could tell them about him more so they can Figure out more about him.

Speaker 1: 3:21

Yeah, so if somebody's new to God, you have to tell them just enough so that they can Keep searching for him and you don't overwhelm them, right? And if somebody's been following God for 10 years, I'm sure you can tell them a little bit more and you can get a little bit more Deeper with truth, with the Lord's truth, to be able to, you know, to get them to follow the Lord in a deeper way, right.

Speaker 1: 3:48

Yeah nice, nice, we got Bobby right here. How many, how many brothers and sisters do you have? You can tell everybody.

Speaker 2: 3:55

With this step count huh. There's like steps this in brother count.

Speaker 1: 4:01

You can go ahead.

Speaker 2: 4:02

So I have.

Speaker 1: 4:04

How many? How many brothers and sisters do you have with your mom?

Speaker 2: 4:08

Oh, I have two brothers. Well, I've won right now, but one on the way. Now I have three sisters.

Speaker 1: 4:15

So your mom has two kids, right? Yeah including you. Yeah and then you have Bobby, yeah, and then one on the way.

Speaker 2: 4:24

From your mom, mm-hmm.

Speaker 1: 4:26

That's a lot brothers and sisters.

Speaker 2: 4:27

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:29

Who's your favorite? Yeah?

Speaker 2: 4:34

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:36

That's cool. What's if? Let me see, if I could ask you one thing, what would be one thing you would want to tell people about the Lord?

Speaker 2: 4:46

Mmm, I Just told him like that he died for our sins and then like um, and then what he do for you too. Okay, go ahead, keep going so like that he died on the cross for us and then he got.

Speaker 1: 5:10

You resurrected he resurrected after, and then yeah so what's one thing do you think God's done in your life? What is he done in your life so far?

Speaker 2: 5:21

Mm-hmm, he's changed me how. Cuz when I didn't know him. I would like do more bad stuff like Cuz. I'd like start fires outside and stuff in the backyard.

Speaker 1: 5:34

You would start fires outside, yeah, without me knowing.

Speaker 2: 5:36

Yeah. Oh man, okay, so keep going and then, after I started to know him or I just stopped doing that, because then it was the wrong thing.

Speaker 1: 5:46

Why? Why did you feel like you had to stop doing stuff that you knew you weren't supposed to do? You know what I mean. Like what was it? What was it that was making you stop?

Speaker 2: 5:56

that cuz I knew he was. He's always watching me, yeah.

Speaker 1: 6:00

Yeah, so you don't want to do something because you don't want to disappoint him or because he's watching.

Speaker 2: 6:07

Cuz I don't want to disappoint him.

Speaker 1: 6:10

What else has he done in your life?

Speaker 2: 6:13

He's gave me my baby brother.

Speaker 1: 6:15

He's giving you a baby brother. Yeah, that's cool, and you got another one on the way, right? So If you can tell somebody Not only that Jesus died for our sins and that he's changed your life, how do you think you know? That's a call the, that's called a testimony. So if you tell people what the Lord did in your life and how he's done it, that's called the testimony. So have you ever told anybody about your testimony about God?

Speaker 2: 6:44

Oh, a little bit Cuz me and Ryan would just talk about like how he changed our lives. We just like say like things we used to do and things we don't do anymore because of he him coming into our life.

Speaker 1: 7:00

Well, how do you think? What's, what's um, what's a way you can get closer to God?

Speaker 2: 7:08

I'd say reading the Bible every night, praying and.

Speaker 1: 7:16

Reading the Bible and praying.

Speaker 2: 7:19

And going to church, and going to church.

Speaker 1: 7:21

Yeah, so if you met somebody and you wanted to tell them about Jesus, how would you tell them I?

Speaker 2: 7:27

Would explain it to them, what I know, and then I'd show them the Bible, and then I just like Probably take them to church.

Speaker 1: 7:39

What? What church do you go to?

Speaker 2: 7:41

Here at my house. See you in it.

Speaker 1: 7:47

What's your favorite Bible verse? John 316 and what's that?

Speaker 2: 7:53

for God, so love the world. He sent his only Begotten son just so we don't perish. Believe in internal life, nice.

Speaker 1: 8:01

What's your, what's your favorite Bible verse Bobby. Mine is Proverbs 3, 5 through 6. It says trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own Understanding, and all your ways submit to him and he will lead your path straight. Do you know what that means?

Speaker 2: 8:26

So I'd say, if you would believe in him and trust in him, you wouldn't Balance to the wrong side, you would be more Leaning towards him and he'd be your stabilizer, he'd be there to keep you up nice, nice.

Speaker 1: 8:44

And what about? Let's see, and all your ways, submit to him and he will lead your path straight. What do you think?

Speaker 2: 8:52

that. So if you would Like submit to him, would be like you would trust in him or know him more. Instead of having like a squiggly like life and it's like on and off bad things, you just have a straight, straight path into with him and you just keep on walking down that path with them.

Speaker 1: 9:14

Dude, that's really good. Nene, that's awesome dude.

Speaker 1: 9:17

Yeah so trust in the Lord with all your heart means to give up everything that's in your heart and to trust him so that he can show you what it is that you need to be doing. So trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, because if we try to figure things out, mean you have done it right on our own. If we try to figure things out on our own, we probably will mess things up right, start fires in the back without people knowing. You know doing bad stuff. So we tried not to Lean on our own understanding but to lean on God's understanding, because God's understanding is the best right.

Speaker 2: 9:56

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 9:58

And then, in all your ways, submit to him and he'll lead your path straight. Submitting to him is letting go of what we want, letting go of what we think, letting go of what we know right.

Speaker 2: 10:08

So it's like you're letting go of like the past or like, yeah, that you think you can do by yourself, but our Things you can do on your own, but like he would be there for you, yes, just like you said.

Speaker 1: 10:21

correct it, yeah, the correct way to do it, yep, and then he'll lead your past straight, just like you said, you won't have to live a squiggly life or a squiggly line, and the path will be straight because he's gonna lead you. So what do you want to do when you get older? Oh, like what I want to be yeah, what do you want to be when you get older?

Speaker 2: 10:39

I want to be in the army or, like navy, the air forces, special forces.

Speaker 1: 10:45

It would not just a, not just the army or the navy, but you want to be some sort of special forces. Huh.

Speaker 2: 10:51

Why?

Speaker 1: 10:52

I don't know what you got and figure it out. What is it?

Speaker 2: 10:55

Just because you think it's cool because, like I think, if I'm doing that I'll show respect to my country, not like I'll help protect my country.

Speaker 1: 11:08

What do you think, what do you think's important about protecting your country?

Speaker 2: 11:12

Because if we weren't, if we didn't, if the army, if they wouldn't have protected our country wouldn't, we wouldn't even be here right now. We'd probably be like in Germany or something. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 11:27

So you think the army keeps us from being out of Germany? They do a lot of things. I don't think keeping us out of Germany is one of them. What about you? Do you have any questions? Do? You have anything you want to ask Papa.

Speaker 2: 11:44

I mean, what do you know about God?

Speaker 1: 11:46

What do I know about God? I know that God is everything. God is absolutely everything. He is the waymaker, he is the rock, he is truth, he is love. I know that without God, I wouldn't be where I am today. He's changed my life In a crazy way. Do you think he's changed my life?

Speaker 2: 12:10

He gave you that straight path.

Speaker 1: 12:12

Yeah, he gave me that straight path. So what do you? And it's okay if you want to tell people, but what do you think that God's changed in my life from what you've seen?

Speaker 2: 12:23

Because you used to be mean all the time.

Speaker 1: 12:26

It's okay, it's okay, it's okay, that's good. That's good that you get to see that it's okay, it's alright, that's good, because then people get to see the difference in what God really does in somebody's life. Right, so I used to be mean all the time. That kind of they got to keep it together, come on, so I used to be mean all the time. What else? What else do you see that he's changed in my life?

Speaker 2: 12:59

You said, you bad things, but now you don't.

Speaker 1: 13:04

Yeah, like what were those bad things?

Speaker 2: 13:07

I used to go to the bar a lot.

Speaker 1: 13:09

Yeah, I used to do things that I wasn't supposed to do, right? Yeah, so I stopped drinking and I stopped.

Speaker 2: 13:18

Vaping Smoking.

Speaker 1: 13:20

Smoking cigars, all kinds of stuff, right.

Speaker 2: 13:22

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 13:23

Yeah, so see, those are things that I know that God's did in my life that people could see.

Speaker 1: 13:29

But the most important part of what God's did in my life people can't see and it's what's in my heart, because there are things that were in my heart that shouldn't have been in there, like anger, sadness, anxiety and hate, and there's still some things that the Lord's working to get out of me. But that's what he does is he helps, he removes those things. He helps us see what we can let go, because we don't have to hold on to things that are weighing us down.

Speaker 2: 14:05

Like yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:06

You know what I mean. So, like the things that we were doing too, or that I was doing that was hurting the people that I love the most, you know now look at you can see some of those things. But it's brought me into a place where not only did he remove it, but he showed me how I can be better and how I can only do that with Him, because I couldn't do it on my own. You know what I mean. So, with Him, he showed me that. You know, if I rely on Him, just like trusting Him with all my heart and lean out on my own understanding, I trust with Him and I trust on Him with all my heart, and I understand things differently. Now you know what I mean.

Speaker 2: 14:52

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:53

So that's good. What else do you think? What else do you think he's done in my life?

Speaker 2: 15:02

Well, he's given you another son.

Speaker 1: 15:04

Well, I got a little bubby. Yeah, we got bubby.

Speaker 2: 15:07

Yeah, he's given you a beautiful wife.

Speaker 1: 15:10

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:11

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 15:12

And she's another. From listening she's probably grinning really hard you know right. Yeah, she could be a pain in the butt sometimes, but yeah, she is beautiful. I think he allows us to have things so that we can see exactly what he does in our life, and things that we can see and touch. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2: 15:32

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 15:32

But, like I said, some of the biggest things that the Lord does are the things that people can't see. So what do you think the Lord's done in your life that people can't see, other than starting fires in the backyard?

Speaker 2: 15:47

Like Mmm, when my mom would tell me like to not do something, I would do it anyways. Like when she would tell me like oh, dinner's almost ready, don't go over to like the football field. That's like like 10 minutes away from the house and I'll be like, okay, I'm just gonna go outside for a little bit and like I would go to the football field. But now it's different.

Speaker 1: 16:17

That's good. What do you think he's done in your heart? He's has he put anything in your heart?

Speaker 2: 16:24

He's strengthened your heart in my heart, yeah how is he strengthened, your heart. He's putting more of himself in there.

Speaker 1: 16:32

Wow, that's cool. How do you know that he's in there?

Speaker 2: 16:37

because I can feel him and when I'm gonna, when I'm like About to do something I'm not supposed to, he's stopping me from doing that.

Speaker 1: 16:47

Nice, that's cool man. That's cool. He does the same thing with me sometimes, but I have to make sure to continue to seek him daily so that I don't do those bad things. Just like you, you have to continue to seek him all the time so that you don't do those bad things.

Speaker 2: 17:02

Yeah, like start fires yeah.

Speaker 1: 17:07

He's the only one that can put him out right.

Speaker 2: 17:09

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 17:11

What about your sisters? Do you? Do you talk about God with your sisters? What do you guys talk about?

Speaker 2: 17:16

a Naya talks about him a lot does she?

Speaker 1: 17:18

what does she say?

Speaker 2: 17:20

She just like says like mommy, you know that I love God. She's like mommy, guess what? I love God.

Speaker 1: 17:28

That's good. That's good. Yeah, she's always seeking the lawyer.

Speaker 2: 17:32

We can see it in here too.

Speaker 1: 17:33

What do you, what do you want to do this summer? Oh?

Speaker 2: 17:37

I just want to go fishing with you a lot and then, like what you and Ryan go to, six flags.

Speaker 1: 17:48

Just go do guy stuff outside like camping and stuff.

Speaker 2: 17:51

When, like Bobby, yeah, when Bobby's one years old.

Speaker 1: 17:55

When he can walk.

Speaker 2: 17:55

Yeah, when he can walk, I wanna play football with him.

Speaker 1: 17:59

Do you know what a landfill saint is? Yeah, what's a landfill saint?

Speaker 2: 18:03

So a landfill is a place where they put garbage and. I think a saint is like a sin.

Speaker 1: 18:10

No, a saint's not a sin. A saint's someone that's close to God.

Speaker 2: 18:15

The football team.

Speaker 1: 18:16

Not the football team. So a landfill saint is somebody who knows that they're garbage and it's only through Christ that there are new creation and it's only through Christ that they have a chance at salvation. So a landfill saint is somebody who's in the world. We know we can't do anything right. It's only Jesus that does anything, right. Yeah, so we rely on Jesus for everything, because Jesus is everything. We rely on Jesus for everything, and it's only through him that we were made new, because of what he did on the cross, and that's the only reason we're able to have salvation is because of what he did on the cross.

Speaker 2: 18:56

He died for our sins.

Speaker 1: 18:57

So if he didn't die for our sins. We'd just be landfills.

Speaker 2: 19:01

And those things.

Speaker 1: 19:03

So, yeah, it's because of Jesus. So a landfill saint is somebody who knows that Jesus is everything and we're nothing. So we have to put Jesus before us and before our lives every day and never go a day without knowing that. Are you excited for your little brother to come? Yep, yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:22

What's his name again?

Speaker 1: 19:23

AJ. Is it just AJ, or does he have like other? I think it's gonna be like Alexander or something. Alexander.

Speaker 2: 19:31

Alexander, like I don't know, we haven't figured it out yet.

Speaker 1: 19:35

But just AJ.

Speaker 2: 19:36

Yeah, we're gonna call him AJ.

Speaker 1: 19:37

Nice, that's dope.

Speaker 2: 19:41

Waaaaaah, oh, noah's mad that we're talking about another baby.

Speaker 1: 19:46

Yeah, and I am right, that's cool. So if you were to go to school and you think God was telling you to tell somebody about him, how would you do it?

Speaker 2: 20:00

I'd say he died for our sins. He's our everything and he's our protector.

Speaker 1: 20:08

Nice, Okay. So last question who is God to you Exactly?

Speaker 2: 20:14

He's like my father.

Speaker 1: 20:15

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:16

Because he protects me, he feeds me the word and he just keeps my heart up and beating, because if I didn't have him right now I probably wouldn't be where I am right now, like I'd probably have like Fs in season school.

Speaker 1: 20:36

Yeah, that's a possibility.

Speaker 2: 20:37

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 20:38

Do you know I love you right.

Speaker 2: 20:40

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 20:40

Do you know how much I love you? Yeah, it's a lot right. Yeah, do you know, god loves you more.

Speaker 2: 20:45

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 20:46

That's crazy to think about, right.

Speaker 2: 20:47

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 20:49

So, because you know God loves you more, you know that God wants the best for you. I want the best for you too, but God knows better than I do, so you always have to listen to him. But you have to obey your parents too. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2: 21:01

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 21:02

So continue doing what you're doing, and if you can give everybody that's listening right now a word, give them some advice. What would you give them? Advice on what Advice on anything? Advice on life? Advice on God?

Speaker 2: 21:19

I just say keep on walking the straight path.

Speaker 1: 21:22

if they are, Keep on, and if they're not, I tell them to go through the straight path. And it's going to be hard sometimes, huh.

Speaker 2: 21:30

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 21:31

But to find the straight path and to walk it huh.

Speaker 2: 21:33

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 21:34

That's it.

Speaker 2: 21:34

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 21:35

All right, say bye to everybody.

Speaker 2: 21:36

Bye guys.

Speaker 1: 21:37

Bye guys. So remember, every Wednesday we're dropping podcasts. Today was with Nene, my boy, my champ, my fishing partner.

Speaker 2: 21:48

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 21:49

So today was with.

Speaker 2: 21:50

Nene and Bobby.

Speaker 1: 21:52

And Bobby's right here with us too, and just continue to stay tuned. You know what I mean. So we're going to be bringing people on. Talking about truth, talking about Jesus. Did you have fun? Nene.

Speaker 2: 22:01

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 22:01

Yeah, we're going to do it again.

Speaker 2: 22:03

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 22:03

Yeah, we're definitely going to do it again. So today's podcast was just me and Nene sitting back and just having a little chat.

Speaker 2: 22:09

And Bobby.

Speaker 1: 22:10

And Bobby, so we hope you guys enjoyed. Man, do you want to pray for anybody on the way out?

Speaker 2: 22:15

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 22:17

OK, go ahead and pray.

Speaker 2: 22:18

Father God, please protect anybody that listens to this podcast. Please have this podcast in light in their heart even more than it already is. Please protect them and have them a blessing life and Jesus' name amen.

Speaker 1: 22:36

Amen, all right, guys, till next time. We'll see you then.