Finish Strong With Fearless Faith

Life's Most Important Lessons! #15

April 05, 2021 Fearless Faith Season 1 Episode 15
Finish Strong With Fearless Faith
Life's Most Important Lessons! #15
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Show Notes Transcript

Hosts Dan, Terry, and Brian discuss their 7 life lessons to live by

They will help you live your life with purpose, change someone’s life for the better and leave a lasting impact on those around you. Everyone starts the race... but only the Fearless Finish Strong!
 
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Dan Wheeler:

So I only spent like $4 on the Hot Fudge Sundae. So I made $16. The problem was Mary Jane, she found out and came over and just screamed at me through the screen door.

Brian Roland:

And that's not the last time that happened.

Dan Wheeler:

No. But during that screaming fit, I just kept thinking about that $16 profit but no, but that wasn't the right thing. And I did confess up which was hard because I was getting a verbal lashing that night,

Terry Steen:

so and I would have lost that bet. I would have been surprised if you had one day so to have three is it modeling? Okay, let's get back on track here.

John Matarazzo:

Live your life with purpose, change someone's life for the better, and leave a lasting impact on those around you. Welcome to finish strong the podcast designed to help you discover your unique purpose and develop a plan to leave a powerful legacy. In this episode, Dan, Brian and Terry discuss their seven life lessons to live by. Here's Dan. So let's get started.

Dan Wheeler:

We learn a lot of lessons in life, some of them much harder than others. My name is Dan Wheeler, the host of finished strong with fearless faith, and I'm joined by Brian Rowland and Terry Steen. And we're going to talk about seven lessons to live by. I've got to tell you, we've got a lot of experience, we've got over 200 years of life experience between us. And guys, hopefully, we've learned something along the way right and gained a little wisdom,

Terry Steen:

you had to go there to finish this podcast, I need a nap.

Dan Wheeler:

Well, I started out figuring - trying to use an abacus and then I had to go to my calculator. It was just too much We are

Brian Roland:

never thought to be that old.

Dan Wheeler:

So we all kind of contributed to this lessons we've learned the first one that I contributed was that I really have learned that I have to love God with all my heart, all my soul and with all my mind, just as in Matthew 22:37. And I've got to keep that relationship strong through prayer and Bible reading and keeping His commandments. You know, Brian, in our younger days, it was easy to get our mind off the Lord and sometimes end up where we should have been.

Brian Roland:

I remember that. Well, I hate to say that I remember this, I remember that. I don't think we cracked the Bible in the one apartment. It was just so that's when we were just going down the other path. But But

Dan Wheeler:

yeah, we are working at a Christian television station. So maybe we thought we were getting enough of it during the day. Right?

Brian Roland:

That's that's what usually happens. You think it just rubbing off or that you're, you're producing and doing a show. So you're doing work for God.

Dan Wheeler:

But Terry really stayed on the straight and narrow. I know he's upset that he doesn't have a testimony. But Terry, you've, you've always made God a priority in your life.

Terry Steen:

Well, I've, you know, I've done the best I could it's, I guess you can really call it a life lesson. But you know, whenever you're doing it, we all slip, we all have our times closer to the Lord our times further away. But I think over the course of the years, if we're all honest, the times we were loving God like we should the times we were in our Bible reading the times we were praying, life went a little bit easier, you know, and not that everything was all roses. But there was so much more peace, so much more joy, so much more enjoyment in life. When we knew that we were loving God with all of our heart. It's not easy.

Dan Wheeler:

The Lord has been so good to me. And when I look back, see if you guys had a similar experience, most of my problems were self inflicted.

Brian Roland:

Oh, no doubt, no doubt. Dan, it's and I agree with you there and what Terry was just saying to I think what happens and what happened in my life would be like you said, you get close. But then you start working on something you want it to happen quickly. You know, you we got these times we got to have it now we got to do something now. So you try to do it yourself. And every time that happens at all just just go down that sinkhole until it had to come back and say okay, Lord, but he always does things in his time. He said it's not always rosy, but we get there in his timing and according to as well.

Dan Wheeler:

Well, I think when we're first starting out in life, we get so busy when we're younger, building a career building a family, and that's when it's easy to slip away.

Terry Steen:

It is and another thing is if we're expecting to get something if we're wanting to get something if something seems like an injustice that God didn't come through for us, it's really easy to get mad at him and then kind of make turned and walked away and said, well forget him for now, right and too many times that can happen in our lives. I think that's as far as learning a life lesson. That is never the way to go. God always knows the right path for us

Dan Wheeler:

In one of our early podcasts, we talked about that movie city slickers in the character curly, talking about the one thing for me, this is the one thing that has to be in first place, loving the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind, when that's not there, all your other relationships are messed up and not where they should be, right?

Brian Roland:

Absolutely. No, I totally agree with that. And one of the ways to get there, though, to Dan, and then showing our love is by our prayer and Bible reading, I did a morning cup, just the other day on 10 minutes, just take 10 minutes, I was reading a book on time management. And it said, if you could do something in 10 minutes, do it now. Don't hold it off till later because it just keeps getting further and further down the road. And by the end of the day, you're going, Oh, I don't have time to do this. Now. It's just taking that time they have some prayer, read your Bible, and then move on with your day and it'll grow. It'll grow as you grow in the word.

Dan Wheeler:

Absolutely. I I don't watch a lot of TV. But I watched a lot of Michigan basketball. You know, I have my Bible with me. And during commercials, I'll just read or pray. So there's so many ways we can use our time. More importantly, speaking of time, though, I want to go on to point two, which is family and friends are irreplaceable. So don't ever take them for granted. And I think that's so important. You know, john asked us in his podcasts along the way, which is excellent. You need to download that and listen. But we were talking he said, How do you guys keep your friendships alive? And we say we work at it. You know, to have friendships, you need to be a friend. But of course, family. You know, some people would think well, it's easy to love your family, but not always all family members, maybe that are a little more difficult than than others. What do you think? Yeah, it's

Terry Steen:

always everything's work, every relationship is work. But if there's anything that we find in you always hear it someone who's on their deathbed, or someone who's in the hospital, what is the most important thing that comes to their mind? It's not their money, it's not their job, it's their relationships. And sometimes they figure it out too late. So you're right, Dan, family and friends are irreplaceable, we can take them for granted. Because at the end of the day, that's what's gonna be important.

Brian Roland:

And it's so true, because in family situations, especially, you might not agree on things, but and then you said it before, when Beth passed away, just be there. Just be there for your family. Anytime, no matter if it's good or bad. If you're just there for them, that's always going to be an impression it's going to be in their mind. They know that you're going to be there through thick and thin.

Dan Wheeler:

That's good. Yeah. In my book that I wrote about Beth called hurricane of love my journey with Beth Wheeler, still available wherever books are sold Amazon little plug there. But Sage 135. Yes, our website. I have faith that org page 135 that book I said, Don't wait until a life and death situation to tell the people who matter the most to you. That you love them. Is there someone you need to tell you love them? You don't know when you're gonna wake up and discover that your wife has stage four cancer as was my case. And we didn't know how long we had. But she had three years they only gave her a year she made it three years. But why wait, tell them now you don't know when your loved ones gonna walk out the door and you might never see him again. They might be in a car accident, they might have a heart attack. Life is fragile, right? Yeah. And really have to work at those. Those relationships.

Brian Roland:

You have to work at that Dan and it goes hand in hand with what we're just talking about about friends are irreplaceable and family. And it's how do you keep that going? When you try to out serve each other. And he tried to do more than the other person and showing how much you must respect them. And I learned this from I talked about one of my mentors, Bruce matar, his wife, Mariana told a good friend of mine when he said how do you have a successful marriage? He goes, so you can forgive each other? Who can do more for each other? He goes, What do you mean, she goes well, when you say to your wife, I love you. She says I love you more. You know, I love you more. It's just like that only doing things for one another without being asked to do it just to do it. He goes and when you do that, that just shows your love and your respect. And over in Mark 1045. The Bible tells us for even the Son of Man, that not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. He came to serve. And if we can't learn from that, then we got to serve other people that we can serve other people and get their respect. And they see that in us and what we are giving out. I mean, that's what it's all about right here. And that's one of life's lessons. That it's Hard to learn. But once you have it, he got it.

Dan Wheeler:

It was interesting because both Brian and Terry, you submitted something about serving others as being a life lesson. And Brian was focused a little more on marriage. But but go ahead.

Terry Steen:

Yeah, I was just gonna say even with your children, I know that as my daughter watched me serve my wife, it made a big impact on her. And she realized the importance of that in a relationship. And so when our children see us do it, then we're setting that example, just like our Heavenly Father, us as a father are setting that example for our children, and even our friends, when we serve our friends. it deepens the relationship, you can't help but deepen a relationship when you set them as a priority.

Dan Wheeler:

Obviously, my wife Beth passed away, it's been Wow, almost five and a half years now. But my daughter, Kelsey is here living with me because she's going to get married next month. And sometimes the morning I'll go out to make some eggs. And I'll ask her, Kelsey, would you like to have some eggs and she always says yes. And I make them and I take them in and I server and then when she's done, I'll take the plate and watch and just, it feels good. And to know that we're teaching those lessons passing along there. And so your wife, your children, your friends, try to out serve others, Brian, you've got the next one,

Brian Roland:

I want to talk about john 13:14. Because what you're just saying, Dan is so appropriate. It's stuff that maybe we don't want to do, but we do it out of love. I mean, john 1314 says, Now that I your Lord and teacher have washed your feet who wants to do that, but he washed your feet, not

Dan Wheeler:

I don't want to wash your guys feet

Brian Roland:

Right? But you should also wash one another's feet. So it's telling us to do the little things like that do things that people don't want to do, and help the other person out. But that also goes into how do we put our trust in which is perfect on this, we have to put our trust in Jesus least that's what I was always taught. And what really came the point for me was when I was going to college, and right before my parents had dropped me off, they were getting ready to leave. My mom said, Brian, if you never remember anything I ever tell you remember this, you're going to meet some fantastic professors and fantastic people. And you're going to start thinking, believing what they say she was, but don't put your trust in any of them except Jesus, because they're human just like you. They're going to have their own ideas and own own thoughts. So put your trust only in Jesus.

Dan Wheeler:

So why whenever you'd get a C, you just kind of rip it up and change it to an A cuz he said I don't trust say

Brian Roland:

I trust Jesus. I'm going to graduate

Dan Wheeler:

He Trusted himself to greatest papers. Terry, I remember Pascal's Ponce, a test.

Terry Steen:

You know, it's interesting you bring Dan and I were in a philosophy class together one of the few classes we were in together, and hey, let's face it, Dan was a better student than me. But well, on this one test. It was an essay test. I owned him on it, I beat him. And so I can never let him forget it as long as he lives.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah, he got like a B plus, and I got a B he owned me.

Terry Steen:

That, Brian, what's you're saying is so true that you know, over the course of time, and I've worked with ministries and evangelists and pastors, both of you guys have as well, we see way too many times that people have put their faith and stock in one of those men of God, then when they fail, their faith flounders. It's like they didn't put it in the right source. And they're kind of wandering a little bit and wondering about Christianity, when that should have no impact on their relationship with God.

Brian Roland:

It really shouldn't. Because over in Psalm 100, verse five, it says, For the Lord is good, and His love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations. So there's just what you were saying, It's perfect. And we got to put our trust in the Lord because he's the one that's going to endure forever. And His love is going to be there and we can trust him and everything that we do and everything that we believe in and pray about.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah, I was reading Psalm 19, seven, two branches. The law of the Lord is perfect. converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise as simple you can always count on his truth. Yep. Terry, I believe you have the next day.

Terry Steen:

Yeah, yeah. The fifth lesson that we came up with was you'll never go wrong doing the right thing. And it sounds simple, but the reality is the right thing is usually the hard thing. The right thing is usually the narrow path, not the wide path. The right thing is usually not what most people are doing. And so if we could figure that out, obviously the the Bible the Lord, the Holy Spirit helps us determine what the right thing is, but deep inner If we're a Christian, usually we know what the right thing is. It's just hard to do it sometimes isn't that

Dan Wheeler:

I think we really have to think and and I guess we learned to do that as we get older when we're young, we're kind of impulsive. But we have to think about doing the right thing in our actions, and what the consequence would be of that. I remember this funny story. My uncle Glenn, he lived with us for a while when I was in high school, my mom kind of felt like I needed to a male role model model and he bet me that I couldn't take out three girls in one night and he was gonna pay me $20 if I did, and I did it. I took Suzy Fenner to as who was kind of my girlfriend at the time, took her to Joel krugel. My friend's rehearsal dinner, dropped her off, picked up Mary Jane can off and took her to build naps for hot fudge sundaes took her home.

Terry Steen:

You're not supposed to take your sister out. The other.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah, that's not I know, I have a sister named Mary Jane. Yeah. And then I went out and then went over to Pam preps house for a couple hours. So I only spent like $4 on the hot fudge sundae. So I made $16. The problem was Mary Jane can off who I was kind of kind of my old girlfriend, I don't know, you know, back then you didn't really have commitments. But she found out and came over and just screamed at me through the screen door.

Brian Roland:

Last time that happened.

Dan Wheeler:

During that screaming fit, I just kept thinking about that $16 profit. But no. But that wasn't the right thing. And I did. But I did confess up which was hard because I was getting a verbal lashing

Terry Steen:

I guess so and I would have lost that bet. I would have been surprised if you had one day. So to have three is modeling. Okay, let's get back on track. James says this is how serious God takes doing the right thing. It says anyone then who does who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it in sin. So that's how serious he takes it if we know what we're supposed to do, and don't do it to him it's in. I'm sure you guys had many people that come up and ask advice or whatever. And many times you sit and listen to the issue and what they think and then you can see and tell that they know what the right answer is. They don't want to do it. They want somebody to reinforce the wrong answer the easy way out. It's just human nature.

Dan Wheeler:

That's so true. I think we all know what the right thing is to do. The question is, do we do it? Right, Brian?

Brian Roland:

you know, when I when I was working for the Discovery Channel over in Singapore, that there was a girl that were in our office that was a really strong Christian. And this other girl I was working with, she said, You know, I admire her, but I don't understand. I said, What's that she goes, everything is black and white. There is no gray area in her life. And I said, Well, that's what God says you can't be on the fence. You they gotta be on, you know, one side or the other. And she's chosen the site. And she shows you that every day. So it's true.

Terry Steen:

Wow, that's interesting.

Dan Wheeler:

I think if we think about the outcome of our actions, and the possible things that could go wrong, it's really a good check for our spirit to do the right thing.

Terry Steen:

Yeah. And Peter tells us, you know, if we are, he says in the third chapter of First Peter, the 13th and 14th verse, who's going to harm you if you're eager to do good, but even if you should suffer for what's right, you're blessed. So don't fear what they fear. Don't be frightened. So he's telling us, even if there's some suffering involved, do the right thing. You'll be blessed for it. And that's God's promise to us.

Dan Wheeler:

I think that ties us into our next life lesson. And Terry, you came up with this one At first, I thought, well, that's interesting. And then I thought, Wow, it is so important. You said we need to establish the lines you will never cross. Now what do you mean by that?

Terry Steen:

Well, and now is the key word. If we would set the boundaries of our life, if we would know what God tells us to do. We translate that into our life into our actions into what we'll do or say, and we do it now. Then they're established then no matter what pressures come up, whatever peer pressures, I did this in high school in college as best I could. I tried to set the parameters. So then I wouldn't have to make a decision. Every time the decisions made. I will not cross this line. Whether it was situation of guys wanting to drink or drugs or just doing the wrong thing, doing crazy stuff. If it was gonna cross that line, I weighed by and didn't even follow along. And I think if we can learn that at a young age, it'll be so beneficial to us.

Dan Wheeler:

I read about Billy Graham that he would never get on an elevator. If there was a woman on there, he would never take the chance of being alone with a woman who could maybe falsely accused them. And we've seen so many situations where men have gotten in trouble. But he knew, yeah, that's a boundary he had to establish. And I always admired that. And, you know, and other people said, I would never have lunch or even a cup of coffee alone with a woman being married. So very, very important to think about that in advance and establish those lines.

Brian Roland:

When you do that, to as Terry pointed out, you you don't put yourself in bad situation. You see it coming and you can divert get around that. And you go the other way of what the path that you've already decided you're going to take.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah, it's, you know, the Lord prayed that lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And the prayer of Jay Bez, he said, Lord, you know, keep me from evil. Yeah, we want to stay out of that. We don't want to go into that arena. So these are all important life lessons. And then the last life lesson, we came up with us, keep your word, keep your commitments, you know, sometimes I've made commitments. And I thought, Man, I don't want to do that. Why did I do that? But I always tried to say, Okay, I committed, I've got to follow through, I'm gonna show up. And sometimes it's, it's hard to follow through once you make that commitment.

Brian Roland:

Now, that's so true. You know, and I share with you guys the other day about when I first started playing sports and got in the football, and I didn't know much the game or just learning it. And I got discouraged by it. Because I wasn't, I wasn't playing a lot and I was doing things seem to be going wrong. And I told my dad, I'm done, I'm quit, I'm out of this. My dad is no, you're not, you're not going to leave, you started something, you finish it. So you're going to grow with it, and you're going to grow into that starting position, you're going to fight until you get it and he was right. And I went back there, and he wouldn't let me quit and never give up. And that laid a foundation for me to never quit.

Terry Steen:

It really all comes down to integrity, mess. In essence, that's what we're talking about. If you don't live a life of integrity, then there's going to be commitments you don't keep, and people are gonna see it. It impacts your character. It impacts your story. It impacts what people think about you. It's all important.

Dan Wheeler:

My mom used to say to me, what if the Lord decided he wasn't going to go to the cross? It was too much work, damage, pain, he could have easily done that. He was God in the flesh. But he went through it as a human for you. And I and boy, he he followed through to the bitter end and took it all for us. And I think because he kept his word, we need to keep ours especially if other people know we're Christians. So important.

Brian Roland:

That's very true. Very true. Keeping your word No, never quit. Is there all integrity issues and the things that we have to address and that we have to look at every day. Our lives go through things every day that we have to sometimes step back and look at even though you try to make a decision ahead of time, which you're going to do, you always get in that push comaneci, you're always getting that push. And I think it's just the devil one more time saying I'm getting I'm trying to get you one more time to cross that line. And when we fight back, like he says, a devil fleet. And he has to because we have that Archangel Russ man. He's watching and he's helping us in God is protecting us when we asked him to do that and put that protection around us.

Dan Wheeler:

So here we are. Three guys with 200 years of life experience over 200 years, we've learned to love God with all our heart. We've learned that family and friends are irreplaceable, so don't ever take them for granted. Always try to out serve others. Don't put your trust in anyone except Jesus. You will never go wrong doing the right thing. Establish the lines you will never cross now. And keep your word keep your commitments. Our young Producer John Matarazzo is always paying attention. JOHN did were any of those life lessons helpful to you?

John Matarazzo:

Oh, yeah, I think one of the things that you said earlier on is about the you reference the whole city slickers thing about keeping the one thing that keeping the one thing the one thing you know that and for me, right, I've got a lot of things that are pulling my attention in different directions. And if I can make sure that I can just keep that one thing in mind, and focus on what the Lord has put in front of me, then I'm able to focus I'm able to do what he's actually asked me to accomplish. And so, if I can remember one thing, it's remember the one

Dan Wheeler:

well, there is one thing you can do for us and that is to rate our podcast. We'd love to hear see five stars. But that actually helps us right john when people rate it.

John Matarazzo:

Yes, it does. Because the more people talk about the finished strong podcast, the more other people will see it, and it will get recommended for them. Because the more you talk about it, then the algorithms and everything they say, oh, there's there's something really interesting going on with this. And so it'll recommend it to more people. So make sure that you rate this podcast, give it five stars, and write a little review and then share it with a friend. You can do that through, you know, simply sharing it from your your cell phone or through Facebook, however it is that you want to share it that'll help more people finish strong.

Dan Wheeler:

So take it from three guys who are in our mid to late 60s. The lessons you learn in life are sometimes hard, but they're so valuable. Don't let them go. Keep them and live by them throughout your life. I'll be with you next time unfinished.

John Matarazzo:

Thank you for listening to finish strong. For more information about finished strong and fearless faith. Check out their website, f faith.org. Make sure that you rate and review this podcast to help more people accomplish their God given purpose so that together we can finish strong