Russ Ewell:
That’s really good. I think about our first podcast in this series—when we talked about making God personal, powerful, and purposeful. You’re really hitting on purpose here.
As a Western-minded person, I think life is supposed to go in a straight line. Eastern-minded people don’t see it that way. For them, life moves in circles, and the journey, the discovery—that’s what matters.
Jonathan Haidt talks about this in his book The Anxious Generation. He says one of the mistakes we’re making with kids is that they’re not experiencing enough play. Older generations had more face-to-face interaction, more unstructured play. He breaks people down into defenders and discoverers—again, forgive me for not getting it exactly right.
His point is that when kids are too detached—on phones, isolated from peers—they become rigid. They become defenders instead of discoverers. But when they play, when they’re outside, when they’re free, they learn flexibility and resilience.
I think it’s the same for us. We stop seeing life as an adventure. We start evaluating it in binary terms: pain or no pain, success or failure, sin or righteousness.
But look at Jacob. His life was messy. He made mistakes. His family was dysfunctional. But at the end, he says, “God has been my shepherd all my life.” He saw life as an adventure.
So for me, instead of letting anxiety lead to spiritual exhaustion—which is the sixth kind of anxiety, where anxiety drains our faith and leaves us powerless—I want to start seeing life as an adventure. I don’t always do that. My wife will be laughing at this part. But I’m trying.
I want to stop judging my life by whether I hit milestone #3 on time. I want to see God working, even if I don’t get my routine, my role, or my recognition. And for those of us 50 and older, we need to revisit that.
You know where I get a lot of joy now? From watching people younger than me thrive. From being the one who throws the bounce pass—the assist. From helping others develop. I think that’s what our lives are meant to do. When we reach this stage, it’s time to start mentoring.
ou know, I think about Rick Pitino, the coach of St. John’s—he’ll be in March Madness around the time this podcast comes out, or it might be over by then—but he’s like 72 years old. He was the coach at Boston University when I was in school as an 18-year-old.
He’s still coaching at 72, and he’s in March Madness. He turned St. John’s around. Winston Churchill—after all this ambition in his life, all this drive—had been put out to pasture at 65 years old. Then England brings him back to lead them through World War II and to victory.
There are so many stories like that. Abraham Lincoln—after all the failure, all the difficulty—was prepared to be president at probably the most crucial point in American history.
I think we’ve got to start thinking like that.
Michael Jordan talked about being cut from his high school team. It was being cut that gave him the drive to become the player he was. He used to sign into hotels using the name of the guy who took his place on that team—to remind himself of what motivated him.
Tom Brady—drafted in the seventh round, a guy nobody really cared about—goes on to be arguably, and in my opinion absolutely, the greatest quarterback to ever play the game. Because he was able to take adversity and let it transform his life instead of letting it crush his life.
Anxiety can actually be a good thing if we use it as a signal: it’s time for me to go to God.
Stress can be a good thing if we use it as a signal: it’s time to go to God.
And fear? Fear can actually be a signal that it’s time for me to let God be in control instead of trying to control everything myself.
Prayer is something we’ve got to do a lot of. We don’t have time to get into it now, but go back and read Philippians 4:6–7:
Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything—every circumstance and situation—by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, continue to make your specific requests known to God.
And the peace of God—that peace which assures the heart, that peace which transcends all understanding, that peace which stands guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus—is yours.
And then there’s the Holy Spirit power, in Galatians 5:22:
“But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions:
joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit.
Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.”
You know what?
If you have situational anxiety, go back to Galatians 5 and let peace subdue it.
If you have responsibility anxiety, embrace faith that allows you to prevail over those responsibilities.
If you have relationship anxiety, look at what it says about the Spirit producing love and kindness in action.
If you have transitional anxiety, like I do—patience that endures. Don’t get impatient. Just roll with it.
If you have status anxiety, have joy that overflows. Psalm 90 says, “Satisfy us, God, with your love.” Learn to be content and satisfied with what God has done in your life up till now, and trust that He’ll do even more amazing things in the future.
So we don’t need to be sad about today when tomorrow’s coming.
And when you feel spiritually exhausted, He gives us strength of spirit.
God gives us strength of spirit so we’re never defeated—so we’re never, ever, ever taken to a place where we have to give up.
We just have to wait patiently until God shows us the surprise.
We’re going to come back in a little bit after the break, and we’re going to take some questions. Then our series will be over.
