From Ultramarathons to the Altar - Father Ernest Fritz

From Ultramarathons to the Altar: Father Ernest Fritz

What happens when a life that looks successful on the outside is quietly falling apart on the inside? In this episode of Island Life Stories, I sit down with Father Ernest Fritz — a man who grew up on the Cape Flats of Cape Town, built a career in business and manufacturing, and ran four ultramarathons chasing a breakthrough he couldn't quite name.

Then, mid-training-run one Saturday morning, a stroke stopped him in his tracks — and changed the direction of his life for good. Not long after, Father Ernest and his wife Maureen left everything behind in South Africa to start again on St Helena Island, following the trail of her family roots, where he now serves as a priest.

We recorded this conversation inside St Peter's Church in Sandy Bay, St Helena — a beautiful, atmospheric setting that comes with a little extra echo on the audio. Stick with it; what Father Ernest shares is more than worth it.

A conversation about faith, loss, running, and learning to trust that you're exactly where you're meant to be.

Transcript

Speaker 6 0:07

That was Father Ernest Fritz. His message, that you never know if you'll be here tomorrow, so don't wait to do the right thing today, is one worth sitting with. Apologies again for the sound on this one. Church walls make a lovely setting, but tricky audio. Hopefully, the story made up for it. Thanks for listening to Island Life Stories. If it moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it, and I'll catch you next time

Speaker 1:18

Thank you so much for joining us on Ireland Life Stories- Yes in this beautiful surroundings of St. Peter's Church- Yes in Sandy Bay, St. Helena. I've been wanting to speak to you for ages, and it is an absolute pleasure. let's start with telling everyone a little bit about yourself and,

Speaker 2 1:33

where you grew up. Yes. thank you, Darren. It's a privilege to meet with you today. Of course, and thank you for allowing me to share my story. I grew up, on the Cape Flats of, Cape Town, South Africa. I was born in '69, and spent most of our lives in Cape Town growing up, especially in the- Lots of regression that Discrimination is big and we, we, we grew up experiencing animosity and just division amongst people as a people. But, you know, even though protected world, My parents weren't able to offer us all the material things in life, but I think one of the most important things they did offer was, we were raised in church. so from day one, the first thing we got to know was, to lead a spiritual life. and we attended... We were members of our church throughout our childhood. Continued our journeys as, as young people in the church, to offer our services following our parents' footsteps. And so the values there was, was, was spiritual. Very spiritual, spiritually grounded humility. I had a father that was extremely humble, and I think we, we were... That's-- if there was that one thing that, that, that grounded for us as a family, as children, we're six, siblings of whom I am the second youngest, born 12 years after my brother before me. So it's, it's like I'm a, I'm a different generation of person, you know. And, but yes, even though, you know, we, we, we, we were raised to be Spirituality, those, those are the things which we were given, which, which I think, you know, is what carried us to this point, and what's carried me 'Cause that, that, that's really I grew up together in our family home. At the time, my younger brother and myself was five years-- we five years apart, five years younger than me. And, our journey, you know, continued very similarly because we were, because of our beginnings, we were, we were sort of the, the culture was to, once you've finished schooling, you need to go out and work, you need to earn, your keep. And whatever savings you make, you're responsible for them. And so those are the kind of values which we were raised with. Be responsible for your actions, do what you need to do, and, and, and be the person that, we raised you to be.

Speaker 4:51

Yeah. W-w-would you say at that point, obviously, from what you're saying there, faith has always been- But at that point idea that maybe it would play such a significant part now, or did you, did you think about a career in the church? Never. If a

Speaker 2 5:11

career is the right word, I'm

Speaker 5:12

not sure.

Speaker 2 5:13

Yes,

Speaker 5:13

well, a

Speaker 2 5:14

vocation. A vocation. That's the word I was looking for. I never, Darren. I, I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I was ever going to be, ordained as a priest. I did, my, my vocation in the church started as a, as a lay minister. Well, I started in the choir. Maureen and I got married, when I was 25. But between ages, I would say 16, 15, 16 and, 28, mid to late 20s, I separated my life from church, ended up in the secular world, and got lost, to that. You know, chose my own path and decided, oh, well, this is it. You know, I'm going to-- I'm going on my own journey. I need to be my own person and identify with what I think was good at the time, but it was destructive. Made some destructive decis- decisions, and until the time that I had met Maureen, we were then able to start putting- Through the grace of God, of course, again, prayer Support from family, church members who never, ever lost sight of my, you know, my journey. People continued to pray, people Carried me to this point. I think those are the-- I think the, the essence of, of, of life is that for me, I believe that when God appoints you, he will anoint you, and it doesn't matter when he appoints you because it could have been in those early stages of life.

Speaker 6:52

Yeah.

Speaker 2 6:53

And only later on do you see the fruition of where you were shaped and molded and- Yes. So, so yeah, no, I, I journeyed through life. I was in the secular world. I, had, fortunately, you know, went into the business world. spent lots of years, growing business. I was... Ended up in business development and, and manufacturing industry was where I, where I, ended up in, amongst other industries which I was exposed to. But fortunately, um, was, you know, we were able to survive and live off what I did. but alongside that, as I said, at one point where life felt like the wheels were falling off at one time, I think it was nine years into our marriage, so that could be Started taking its toll on me. I had enough freedom, I had enough space to do what I wanted to do with. I had enough funds to do what I wanted to do with, and I was, I was comfortable. But yet we weren't happy. we were, we were bobbing heads. We were just going Spiraling downward and moving further and further apart.

Speaker 8:15

Yeah.

Speaker 2 8:15

And it was at that point where I think it was pivotal, between thirty-five and, you know, forties, which, yeah, it's about almost seventeen, eighteen years ago, that I rediscovered, God's purpose for my life. I went back in and started being a regular attendant in church. I joined the church that Maureen and I got married in thirty-two years ago. And, and that's where God again started, m-m, you know, nudging and pushing through the membership of the church. I was encouraged to join the choir, and they said, "Come on.

Speaker 8:52

Come on,

Speaker 2 8:52

join us," you know. I ended up doing a course which was called an, the Alpha Course, which was a course, led by-- started by Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, which are both UK Okay, we need that Renewal revitalized my spiritual, my spirituality, and my relationship with God. And, that is where I started renewing and re-offering and sort of giving myself that roles of God's family, God's church, and becoming an integral part of it, giving my life back to it. So that, that's kind of

Speaker 9:44

where that journey started my, my sort of church- Did you feel that at, at that time then that the, the, the realization of maybe a lack of spirituality at that point was the cause of the lack-

Speaker 2 9:59

Safely say that the more I entered into the secular world, the more I partook of the, you know, everything that the secular world has to offer. that includes, you know, all the pleasures, all the fun Stay in the present and, and, and the more we seek, the more we push, the more destroying the soul. And, and I found that soul-destroying. And, I found myself at a point where I was running. I was, I was running, looking for, for For breakthrough, for some sort of thing to happen, but there was nothing happening.

Speaker 11:05

Yeah.

Speaker 2 11:05

I searched and searched and ran and ran, and literally one night I was out with friends and we were-- we left, Maureen wasn't home solve and I sat in that environment where there was music and drinking and I, I, I felt lost There was more to life than this. I needed something more than I got up and I think I can't remember how far from home or where we were, but I got up and I just started walking and walking, running, walking In the heart of Cape Town. not the most sane thing to do. No. But I ended up getting home safely, thank God. And, these were the moments where I was really sort of in the dark Seeking. And as I continued to seek through certain relationships which I formed from these people that I was able to be counseled by, I was able to realize that The one question I was asked was, "Are you being the person that God expects you to be?" Because your most in-- your most sort of sacred relationship starts failing at that point in that bizarre marriage. that was where, you know, it attacks the most, the most significant relationship that you have when, you know, when the chips are down. And, and that's where somebody, my spiritual counselor said to me, a friend of mine, but he chose to counsel me. And he said-- He asked me one question, and he said, "Are you being the husband that God expects you to be?" And I had to look at And second person that I spoke to had provided and said to me, "Would you want to be married to you?" And I, I needed to think about that and really say to myself, "Well, this is where you need to start Start looking and digging deep. Yeah. And that's where the journey started. I, I, I think that's where my spiritual sort of journey started, and, and we ended up, I ended up immersing myself to just becoming a regular attendant to church and just being fed of the Word, being a regular

Speaker 13:47

attendee. Were you, were you still in industry and manufacturing at that point as well? Yes. Yes.

Speaker 2 13:49

Yeah. So, so I, I, I slowly started weaning myself off the worldly pleasures and, you know, I stopped doing going out with friends to have a drink at the pub or, you know, I eventually actually stopped drinking, and I, I, you know, stopped doing lots of things, which were, which were drawing me away from God. And I, I said to God that, "If, if you are able to just give me the, the strength to do this, I will, I will dedicate part of my life, you know, to... that I've destroyed in the process in the last few years back to you in some way." And funny enough, at, can't remember what age it was, between 35 and 40, somewhere around there, I started running.

Speaker 14:35

Okay.

Speaker 2 14:35

Yeah. I started doing marathon running. I started, started with 5Ks, and- Okay I ended up running ultramarathons. Wow. I ran four Two Ocean ultramarathons, and, it was just amazing. I, I, I was, I was just... Life, that's how life went 360. Yeah. There was, there was this U-turn, you know, from where, where I was going. I said, "Hang on. I need to, I need to change. This, this needs to change." And, and, and it changed. Again, um, I was given strength to run. I was given the strength to achieve and just, you know, with that came lots of other mental strength and- Yeah lots of spiritual strength and lots of tenacity, lots of, you know, just positive energies, that, that flowed with that. and during that time, as I said, I started in Empire for two years, joined the church, council for a couple of years, and I was called into lay ministry while I was working. So I said, "Sure." You know, I said, "Well, I'm, I'm, I'm not the right guy to do this." I said, "You don't know me." I said to the, the, the re- the, the vicar at the time. Well, in, in South Africa, it's called the rector. And Maureen and I prayed, and she said, "Listen, Ernest, you need to tell him that you got to proceed." Yeah, guys, I know I said, "You know, Father John, I personally don't think I'm the right guy for this." And he said, "You know what, Ernest? Don't worry about it." He said, "God doesn't he doesn't choose the equipped." He said, "He equips those he chooses." And he says, "You only get that privilege once in a lifetime, so it's up to you to choose." And that gave me the courage to start this journey. And I went into the lay ministry. I was licensed as a lay minister. I started doing, serving the cup at the altar. I was licensed to see, uh, I got trained to visit, you know, the sick, to minister to the homebound, to the sick, and, you know, just by taking, um... training young people information and baptism training and that sort of thing. So that's, that's how that journey then progressed. And while that continued in South Africa for, oh, for those 14 years, I could say, up till the age of fif- 47. 'Cause I'm 57 now. So at 48, and that's where we get to this point. Right? so we're traveling, and we're journeying, and, you know, life starts throwing us... You know, life doesn't go smooth all the time. No. As you know.

Speaker 17:25

No. That's right.

Speaker 2 17:25

And so it starts throwing a bit of curve balls at us again, and I am in business development having to travel all around the provinces of Southern Africa into Namibia and looking after the sub-Saharan area of, of, you know, to introduce and looking after clients. A lot of traveling a lot and spending three weeks away from home. Then I'm back and mornings alone and, you know, life is not conducive, and it, and the pressures were, were becoming tough for somebody that's, you know, just a normal guy- Yeah trying to make life happen. And you, you're being pushed. You know, in industry, you're being pushed. Yeah.

Speaker 18:04

You are. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 18:06

And, I was doing a training run one Saturday morning- I was doing a training run, and it's a six, six, six thirty in the morning, Saturday morning, and I'm going out on five K's out. And as I get to the five K mark there, I'm just about to turn around, come back home, I have this huge blackout. And I'm literally standing there and I'm de-- I'm, I'm-- I can feel myself going. I'm gone. And I feel my body sort of just elevate, I mean, you know, descending, to the ground and I'm saying, "God, please don't let this happen to me. Don't let me fall and hurt myself or break anything." God, please just hold me. Fortunately, I blacked out completely. My arm was like, and my left side was like two pieces of lead. Right. I couldn't... It felt as though my arm was gonna swing off my body when I, you know, eventually come to. I didn't fall, thank God, and I needed to stamp my foot, you know, to, you know, just instinct.

Speaker 19:30

Yeah.

Speaker 2 19:31

Said, "Listen, you know, bang your foot to hold your arm so it doesn't pull out the socket," and, you know, just do things that logically- Yeah your mind is saying. So my mind, thank God, was still able to process what was happening. So you were- I was sliding still alone at that time. Nobody found you? Nobody. Nobody. Yeah. I was, I was alone. Do you know how long you were on the phone or, it

Speaker 19:46

seemed, it seemed- Five,

Speaker 2 19:55

six. It seemed it's... Yeah, it seemed... I, I don't know. Oh, wow. Could've been, you know. I, I don't know. But things were-- My, my brain was processing and saying, "Okay, what, what do I do now? How should I go about this? How am I going to..." And the, the next five K's back home was literally dragging my foot, getting home. I got home, and as I- I think in hindsight, thank God it happened that way because, I was able to remobilize myself in the process. Yes, I had to, we, we got home. I said to Maureen something's happened. I'm not sure exactly- Yeah what it is, but let me just rinse myself off. Just watch me. jumped in the shower and we went off to the medical center, and they immediately booked me into... I was in hospital for seven days. Right. And they had started bleeding, and they found that there were lesions on the back of the brain. Oh. It was a mild stroke. Oh. And there was just all these things that happened in such a short space of time, so fast, so quickly.

Speaker 21:05

Yeah.

Speaker 2 21:07

And, Sadly though, even though that had happened to me The Monday, that was the Saturday. The Monday morning my GM was next at my bedside looking for me continue. People were flowing in to get the job. And, and I think that made me realize that, you know, this is what life's about. Yeah. This is, this is, this is how you're valued in the world, hey.

Speaker 21:33

Yes.

Speaker 2 21:34

You know? Right. You, you, you're just there for what you can give, and up to that point, that's it.

Speaker 21:41

Yeah. You're just a number. You're just a number. It's, it's a bit cold, innit? It is. But then it's right. I think the older you get and, and the longer you're in that industry, it, it is very- You

Speaker 2 21:51

realize

Speaker 21:51

very correct.

Speaker 2 21:52

Then I thought, "Well, this is it." And Maureen realized the same, and she was concerned, of course. and she said, "Ernest, you can't do this any longer."

Speaker 22:02

And I said, "Well

Speaker 2 22:07

Life

Speaker 22:08

Yeah

Speaker 2 22:08

You have to do it. And this is where the process started. Coming here, she decided, well, because of her, her ancestry and her dad being sent, you know, being born on Saint Helena Island in Napoleon Street Decided for some unknown reason- Mm-hmm she started investigating because she, she's had-- already had a British passport since the '80s, and she decided she was going to explore, you know, Saint Helena Island and her status and all those things, whether she was eligible to receive status as a saint. Right. And she did that. And in the October of 20-- I think it's 2018, she... Yeah, it's 2018. She came to me and she said, "Ernest-" I've got my status, let's go. I said, "You crazy." I said, "Coffee, where, how are we gonna do this? I mean, come on." And you know, Darren and I started reflecting on life. We sat, we, we, we sat. Yeah. We said, "Okay, listen. Let, let's do a SWOT analysis." And we did a SWOT, and we looked at life.

Speaker 23:24

Yeah.

Speaker 2 23:25

And we said, "We can't pay the two." And we said, "Hang on, you know, what have we got to lose?" And we took every single memory that we literally had our home Our life, the two cars we had, you know, we had vehicles, we had stuff. We had stuff. We had stuff. We had, uh, we had a life, man. You know, we-- that which we built around us and a little existence that we had formed, which belonged to us.

Speaker 24:05

And we said, "Well,

Speaker 2 24:07

let us just pack up, you know, and do this well." I said to her, "Okay, what about this before we do it?" I said, "We can't do it though, because if we do, we can't live off what we have. So we need to... I need to be able to sustain us at least." Yeah. And then I did three applications. One ended up on Ascension Island with the Some navy, you know, I think it is a military base.

Speaker 24:40

Okay.

Speaker 2 24:40

And, the other ended up-- two ended up here. And the manager of SHAPE then contacted me and said, "Listen, I found your CV on my desk." But listen, this is the crazy part was that my cousin's daughter had come here for seven years, and she was the manager for SHAPE. Oh. And she said, "Ernest, you're not gonna believe this. I've got your CV." I said, "Yeah, well, I did apply." She said, "Unfortunately, you know that I can't be involved in this whole process." We had an online, interview, and they asked me to start in December. I said, "Well, we can't. We can't leave yet in December, but, you know, give me some time." So we took the interview. I went to morning and I said to Susan, "Guess what? I've got a job." And said to Lina, "I have enough to sustain us. There's a place to rent. We got everything. What do we do?" October, November, December, I needed to leave This is where God has, has this plan to go and here.

Speaker 26:01

Yeah.

Speaker 2 26:02

Prayed about it, Darren, and we put the house on the market. The house was sold at good price. We were able to get rid of all, you know, our debt, and we were able to then take some of the new funds, and we were able to invest it and keep it as a little nest egg just in case whatever happens. But we decided that we'll go for a year or two. I said goodbye to my life in SA, the industry I was in for about 14 years, and it was a bit sad, but that was it. We, we, we were, we were free. When I got on the plane and, and I traveled to this, this island, I felt a sense of peace- Mm. A sense of freedom, a sense of It's hard to explain when you are able to release yourself from the bondage of a life that just- Yeah that just keeps on churning.

Speaker 26:59

Yeah.

Speaker 2 27:00

And where you, you, you, you just go into a place of simplicity.

Speaker 27:04

Yeah.

Speaker 2 27:05

And I was happy to come to a place of simplicity. Unknown-

Speaker 27:08

Yeah

Speaker 2 27:09

but not fear. I, I wasn't fearful. I trusted- No that where God is leading us, He would, He would And I-- the first thing I did, of course, when we arrived here, things went, went okay. The work was, was, was interesting. I enjoyed working with, with... And, and the nice part is the, the people whom I encountered through SHAPE were people that were disabled- Yeah. People that were challenged both mentally and physically, and it was the most beautiful people to work with, the most meaningful relationships that I would ever encounter-

Speaker 27:48

Yeah

Speaker 2 27:50

as opposed to meeting with, you know, GM, CEOs, and whatever- Yeah in, in, in, in secular industry. So this really, you know, helped me to re-discern, you know, connection with people- Yes and what it meant.

Speaker 28:08

Yeah.

Speaker 2 28:08

So I was able to do that. And in the process of coming here, I also had to break ties with my, my ministry, which I loved. I mean, I was really passionate, of course, as you know, about the ministry who daily email out to patients who asked somebody to Would it be okay for me to join And it took a while, a few months before he responded, but then we-- I started attending St. Paul's Church because we were living in Penny Cross, and I walked up to the church Well, get your, your paperwork from your bishops over there and your re-- your vicars or rectors from South Africa and any, any letters of recommendation from the church so that I know that you are who you say you are. Thankfully, I was, I was asked to, you know, or given the privilege to continue my lay ministry here. And it was a year into the lay ministry that Bishop Dale, I think in the time was of course discerning me, process which I had gone through in South Africa before to be discerned into holy orders Yeah, it was cranky in the process of becoming deacons So anyway, this is you, you got the wrong guy. Yeah. I think at, at that point I was able to discern and say, "Well, Father, you know, God, this is you appointing," because as, as I think you asked the question earlier So desire to and to be ordained That point I, I think that from You know, those, those are the parts of our lives that shape us most. Those, those are the parts of our lives that impact us most. even though we were comfortable, there were, there were moments where I was able to see the vicious cycle of life in, in, in, in the secular world, especially in industry and, and, and when dealing at, at a level where you ground in, you know, in production.

Speaker 32:19

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 32:19

And you're dealing with guys that are, you know, in responsible for the lives of these people, and you see sad part, you know, that, that- Yeah this is, this is just you, you just jump and run, I think you said.

Speaker 32:31

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 32:35

As much as we can get out of you, that's what we, we want from you. Yes. And, and looking at that, and also just looking at the cycle of, you know, the, the, you just felt like a hamster on a wheel. Yeah. Just, you know, this is like we're gonna-- we came from twenty fourteen to twenty fifteen, and it seems like we're just gonna go through the same motion of twenty sixteen- Yeah and we went through. And twenty... And we just-- And then, you know, you kinda, you kinda wondered to yourself, well, you know- God's purpose for, for your life? Or is this your, your decision that you've chosen to be part of this journey and you're just carrying on? and then, you know, really that

Speaker 33:33

Having to make, make that decision and the power of knowing, I think- Yeah whether it's consciously or subconsciously that change has to happen. Definitely. And you cannot carry on the way, even, even though probably your brain was saying, "I can't leave a perfectly good job." And we're never gonna get them anyway. This has always gonna override it. This was the, this was always gonna be your destiny then I suppose, isn't it? Definitely. This path. Definitely. I, I, I, I would never... And if anybody would say to me today, you know, is I'm at this point in my life

Speaker 2 34:06

where I have this decision where I need to release myself from the bondage of the world and, and my situation that I'm in, of course, within limits, within responsible limits of being able to do that, where it doesn't affect anybody's life negatively, and it doesn't affect your responsibilities negatively, I would say do it. Yeah. I would say it's you, you, you, you're only better for the change. And I'm not saying that, you know, these, these decisions come easily or they come... I don't want to make it sound as if, we ended up on this, you know, all comfortable situation in life- And just I think, uh, I'll share with you, I mean, and, uh, I don't know if I should, but anyway, look at this True. Um, I ended up, I earned 500 pounds a month at, at SHAPE.

Speaker 35:03

Yeah.

Speaker 2 35:03

Because it's a NGO, and I was giving back to society and once a month on rental and buy food. Yeah. And survive. Ask me today how we did it-

Speaker 35:30

Yeah

Speaker 2 35:30

I don't

Speaker 35:30

know. But- You find a way we

Speaker 2 35:33

were-- we survived. You find a way. So Maureen, Maureen got there. She, she... 'cause I was here for, you know, she, she had to wrap up everything in SA, sell up and do all things, get rid of everything. We were, she was here for not even a month, and she was blessed with a, a job in a day at, at Emporium, and she started sort of a settlement because I ended up Humbles you. It humbles you, you know. When you realize that honest work and just doing things, To live a simple life

Speaker 36:29

Yeah

Speaker 2 36:30

means more than to grind to the bone to keep Add on this piece of property to the house or buy this or, we were just living. That's all we were doing

Speaker 36:57

This is

Speaker 2 37:03

One of the most, yeah, one of the most simplistic places, and, and, when I, when we arrived, when I arrived here first in 2019 and I drove from the airport to Guinea Grass, I looked at the, the, you know, I'm not sure if you noticed, but there were each little piece of land you would find a gate- Yes. Just, just- I'm sure standing there- Yeah doing nothing in some cases. Yes, yeah. And I looked at these, I was so fascinated, and it feels and still feels like Santolina has just stood still in time we became used to so many things like fast food, takeaways, all those things, but the simple way of life is just so much more valuable-

Speaker 37:52

Yeah

Speaker 2 37:52

than having McDonald's or Burger King. Yeah. You know, those things and, and, and, and the, the, uh- Instant gratification. Everything's like happens so fast. So you want it, okay, you can get it. You want this, you want money, you want everything. Here, what you have is what you need.

Speaker 38:15

Yes. You feel like we're being sort of stripped back, but in, in a really good way. It's, the... It's like you said, the act of going into town, it, it seems to be lost now, doesn't it? But just taking- Yeah going to town, get some groceries, do, do your, your business, your daily business, and meeting people. Yeah. And it's just wonderful. And, and it's, it's lost in modern society, in most places. In most places

Speaker 2 38:39

in the world. We, we race past each other. Yeah. And, you notice, as you say, here people know you. Yeah, yeah. You know, when you drive past, you know, there's an acknowledgement. Oh- Yeah you're still there. Yeah. whereas in the cities that we come from, Past year as fast as possible. Even our own families, sadly, you know, have lost in, in-- we've lost the value in, in, in relationship to each other watch it and try to just be I think definitely being on That has been isolated, that is not now, of course, that has had much exposure through technology and social media. But I think the, the ethos, the, the, the basis of who people are- Mm-hmm still remains the same.

Speaker 39:39

And a very strong, faith- Yes ...on the island, throughout the island.

Speaker 2 39:42

Yes. Yeah. Very, very, very committed. We're not, you know, very, I think, faithful to, to church.

Speaker 39:49

Yes.

Speaker 2 39:49

and there's a, there's a traditional thing I, I think in most cases we find that people are traditionally church because of colonialism Oh, church was extended into the world, either through, you know, introducing Christianity to the African continent a-and to kingdoms, you know, as opposed to really, growing its, you know, growing spiritually.

Speaker 40:21

Yes.

Speaker 2 40:21

Yeah. And, and, but yeah Forget it. Try to look Yes. Yeah It's been, it's been a huge shift Yeah and yes, of course, being human, we do pull, you know, there's this pull to this, this, you know, this, this, life that, that you-- we-- I think we s- we, we Man doesn't appreciate what they have, you know, until they've, they've, they've lost it. Yes. And I think that is the, the, the key to, to, to enjoying the moment, enjoying where you are in this part of your journey because- Is intended for us to be at this point in our journeys

Speaker 41:58

If, if you had a message

Speaker 2 42:07

You know, the essence of, of, for me If you have the opportunity to, to be-- to do the right thing today, do it Yeah. Don't wait. Don't wait. we often, uh, uh, um, you know, we- It's not the right time to do this just yet, but I think we, we, we need to realize that, often as, as, as we believe that we have tomorrow, we don't. I think, God said to the, this very rich man one day, he said, "You know what?" the man said, "Look, you know, what do I do?" And he asked Jesus, he said, "I, I've got this-" You give me the bliss, man, so much joy For the other barns because this one is too small. And he said, "Well, you know, if-- it's okay to do that, but, who says you're gonna be alive tomorrow to actually see this?" You know? So I think-- and I think that is the essence of life. We don't know when or how life, We don't have the key. We don't have the key to, to, to the future. You know, as much as we believe that we're in control, I think, I believe that God, intends greater things, and he has a greater purpose when we are able to release ourselves into the trust of where he wants us to be. So trust, trust God, fully, with the decisions that you've discerned through prayer, through scripture. take your time carefully, when making these decisions in life. But make them. Make those decisions, you know, because you've only got today. That is what I would like to

Speaker 44:07

say. Yeah.

Speaker 2 44:08

Yeah. We've only got today