Go M.A.D.
Go M.A.D. means "Go make a difference". Together we discover how we can make the greatest possible impact through Jesus for the people in your world. Whether in conversations, on social media, at home or at work, you can be that M.A.D. person starting today! We'd love to connect with you on social media as well!Connect with us on social media and / or email:Twitter - @GoMADPodcastFacebook - facebook.com/gomadshowInstagram - @gomadshowYouTube - @gomadshowEmail - gomadshow@hutchcraft.comOr find out more about us on our website: gomadpodcast.com
Go M.A.D.
Summer Challenge: Steps to a Stronger Family
Let summer begin! The brothers Hutchcraft officially herald the changing of the seasons with pastimes of mirth. Translation: the bros let us in on some summer fun! What does summer fun have to do with being Christ's ambassador? Doug and Brad walk us through ways to make our summer count for strengthening our families. This time of year can be an opportunity to create lifelong memories with the people closest to us and it's all about doing what you can with what you have. Join in and let's Go M.A.D.!
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Thank you for listening and Go M.A.D. today!
Welcome everyone to Go Mad with Doug and Brad, and you are going to want to make sure you stay closely tuned. Open up the notes section of your phone, grab pen and paper, because today is going to be an incredibly practical episode.
Speaker 1:Just open it up. It is about the summer challenge steps to a stronger family. And now we're not just going to be like here's the ethereal things you could do. We're going to give a bunch of ideas to get the party started. Did you just use the word ethereal things that you can do? I did, I did, we almost went with that title. I did.
Speaker 2:Titles are hard. Titles are hard are hard.
Speaker 1:We almost went with that title that would have been good.
Speaker 2:Ethereal experiences.
Speaker 1:Ethereal experiences of the fourth level of of summer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the uh, uh you. You might hear that title and go, oh well, my kids aren't in the house anymore, or or, um, uh, or wait, I'm a grown adult and, and you know, I don't, I don't have kids know what? You are going to hear great steps, no matter where you are in a family. You are going to hear some ideas to strengthen your family. So if I don't, have kids.
Speaker 1:I just turn out Okay, so maybe it's you and your spouse.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's you and your spouse We've got ideas for that. Maybe it's you and your kids We've got ideas for that. Maybe it's just you and you're living with a parent we got ideas for that. Look at that, and they are so ethereal you're gonna be shot. So two things, that, two things that um brad and I always seem to discuss right before we record the podcast. One is does this shirt make me look fat?
Speaker 1:yeah, which never mind, I won't say no you have no.
Speaker 2:There's a great line from a movie, tommy Boy. He says, no, your face does.
Speaker 1:I was going to quote him. That's terrible. That's so mean. We're not saying that to anybody, or to each other.
Speaker 2:Just quoting movies. But titles are kind of hard believe it or not because you want to be creative. But at the same time the podcast experts say that you need for it to be kind of blatant what you're talking about. So we said, okay, summer challenge steps to a stronger family. But we're like no.
Speaker 1:Very straightforward, very spot on.
Speaker 2:Stronger kind of a boring word. Let's synonym this a little bit. So here are some that we came up with. Just maybe leave a comment. When you leave a comment, leave an idea of whether you think some of these would have been better. So we almost went with Summer Challenge Steps to a flourishing family Flourishing, Boring no. Steps to a robust Robust that's strong. Steps to a stalwart family that's stronger. Here's my favorite stalwart family. That's stronger. Here's my favorite, and this was a synonym for stronger. You ready. Summer Challenge. Steps to a sinewy family that's gross it really is.
Speaker 1:Did ChatGBT come up with that?
Speaker 2:one, I don't know. So we went with stronger. Look, we all know time goes so fast when you're a kid, you know, and your parents and adults like I'm telling you, time goes fast. Enjoy these days, Enjoy these summer days, Enjoy when you don't have a job. Oh, whatever, you know. I always hear you say that. But the older you get, the more you realize time just flies. I just saw this picture of my daughter, who's now 22, and I was going through my phone and she was still a little while from coming back from college. I was missing her and guess what picture I come across? Oh no, it's daddy in a suit, which is rare enough. What could daddy possibly be wearing a suit for, I don't know? And well, look about two feet down, and here is my five-year-old daughter. We went to a local daddy-daughter dance.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:The look on her face. She's like twirling around, eye-beaming. She's looking right at the camera, smiling, and I had no problem with it at all. I just went right past it and didn't cry.
Speaker 1:You know what this is actually Ted Cunningham, who a friend of ours. He's actually going to be on an upcoming episode. The phrase is so true that the days are long and the years are short, and it is so true, because we wind up the iPhone photos, the memories of this day. It's the worst invention to mankind because it is constantly telling me do you remember this? And the clock is ticking.
Speaker 2:And I'm just like no Sunrise. Sunset, sunrise.
Speaker 1:We're still going Quickly. One season following another, we we're gonna act out the entire yeah it's fiddler on the roof. Oh yes, man no wonder the bible that are monsters inc oh, my goodness, are we doing this podcast today?
Speaker 2:but you know it's, it's interesting. I was looking up some scripture for this episode today. It's no wonder, man. The Bible uses metaphors when it's talking about time, like grass, wind, a vapor, to illustrate how quickly life can pass. James 4, what is your life where you're a mist that appears for a little time. This is really uplifting Well, and then vanishes. That verse can either depress you or hold on. It can motivate us to make the most here's more scripture of every opportunity. Why? Because the days are evil. Yeah, there's lots of evil out there. A great way to go to war with it is to flame people on social media.
Speaker 2:Wait, that's not what I have here Is to take steps to make your family relationships as strong as possible. Now, it takes thought and time. We're going to get to a few ideas for this, but again, whether you're talking about when we say family relationship, either spouse to spouse, parents and kids, kid to a parent so again, we're going to get to some ideas for everybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the key is, you know, if you've listened to this podcast, maybe it's your first time checking it out If someone shared this with you which is a great idea, by the way but I share this with a friend but if you're just tuning in, go mad, go make a difference. It's all about being an ambassador for Jesus where you live. So this is about being an ambassador this summer with the people who are closest to you your kids, your spouse like you said, Doug, whether it's a parent or whatever, because the verse that hit me was James 1, 17,. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there's no variation or shadow due to change. Now, God gives us good and perfect gifts. We are not God, we can't do the perfection that he does, but we should desire to show his love to our family, to those around us, in a way that gives them good gifts, and summertime is an incredible time to do that, because we all of a sudden have more time Now.
Speaker 2:I want to address I love that so much, by the way, referring to I hadn't thought of that but the gift of time, I mean that is the most valuable thing, especially with busy lives. I love that.
Speaker 1:Go ahead. Yeah, I think we know that with time, with summer, comes additional time. Now, not for those who have a job. I get that that people are listening to this and but there's a different rhythm. I'll probably say it is. It is a different rhythm. People may be like well, yeah, I know I'm going to take vacation time, whatever else, but we're going to just look at, as you said, Doug Ephesians 5, making the most of every opportunity, because there's things you can do with summertime, Even if you don't have a ton of extra time, like your child is off from school or home from college might. You've got to be able to find a way to tap into the extra time that they do have and to maximize that, Because it is, like you said, a different rhythm.
Speaker 2:Longer days, yeah, it's bright longer. It's warm in the evenings. Communities are doing a lot more stuff in the outdoors and providing cool opportunities. Are you guys like me? Go ahead. I love the pause. That was great.
Speaker 1:That was unexpected, oh wait.
Speaker 2:There's more. Are you guys like me? You sit around thinking about a lot of time during this, thinking about things that America's past first ladies have said, Jesse and I we were in a trivia competition over the weekend and specifically we know if we are. Specifically, it's going to be Barbara Bush.
Speaker 2:Yes, of course, but she does have a great quote. Check this out. She said at the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, a parent, a parent. I mean, none of us would be surprised to hear the dedicated time with our family, um is really I like to call it relationship glue. Okay, now look out, I'm bringing out the studies. You know I like to sound smart with science, is this guy? It is science, yes, science, um, for real, though. Even science says and if science says, then it has to be and the Internet Both science and the Internet says this is true that there are scientific proof that time with our families not only does it strengthen relationships, it actually promotes mental health, it reduces stress and anxiety, especially with kids, and listen to this it increases life expectancy, because there's just something about being with families.
Speaker 2:It's almost like God wired us to spend time with our families and impact them, and summer is a great time to do it. We said like there's a unique rhythm, so I'm looking, I'm personally, we're talking about this challenge. Brad and I are personally looking at this summer not just as hot days to get through, but I think that these are holy days to use as relationship glue with my spouse, with my kids. Holy just means set apart, right. So I'm setting apart some days and we're going to get into the specifics here and it's going to take some thought Set apart some days that only belong to the family, or at least there. Set apart some days that only belong to the family, or at least there's hours in it that only belong to the family. So, looking at these days as bonding agents where you can grow in a relationship at warp speed compared to other times of the year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so a quick way to look at this is actually is kind of a looking back at something we did last year called how to avoid a bummer summer, but we talked about that. There's three things you can do with your summer Really. You can waste it, you can spend it or you can invest it, and that's what we're talking about today is specifically investing in your family this summer, and the good news is the things we're going to share are practical and doable for anyone.
Speaker 2:Yes, we try to avoid things where it's like, well, if you can drop five grand on a family vacation.
Speaker 1:you should do that Climb Mount Everest.
Speaker 2:This is not that For a closer family.
Speaker 1:This is really trying to give you practical things, simple things that can be done, because I do like what you said, doug, that yes, it is a bonding time, but also that I think others see that even those who maybe don't have Jesus at the center of what they're doing, these communities see that, man, we need to do more things because we want families to people know family strength strengthens a community and we want to be a part of that, even in this podcast today.
Speaker 2:So we are about to get to this list. Let's just talk a little bit about this. Before we get into a couple, good things to keep in mind, Because we've all got relationships we'd like to see get stronger. Maybe there's relationships that need to be healed. This can go towards that too. So we're sharing again the summer challenge steps to a stronger family.
Speaker 2:So here's the idea. Okay, you might have to get a calendar out, you might have to give this some thought, but it's worth it. So once a week for two months, you lead the charge in doing something intentional to build up your family. Whether it's you and spouse, you win kids, kid with parent. Again, once a week for two months, you lead the charge in doing something intentional to build up your family. Now, part of making the most of every opportunity.
Speaker 2:Remember this you might have to go out of your comfort zone a bit to do this. You know, I know there's some guys out there who are you know, they only wear flannel and they never smile. Yeah, that's how tough they are. Wow, that's how tough. But seriously, this is going to take a little bit of thought, but it's worth it and, who knows, you might end up creating something that your family loves so much it becomes a regular thing any time of the year. So we're going to maybe focus on less obvious things and things that aren't expensive or that take massive planning. But it'll take effort. It'll take planning Just not a ton of it, hopefully and no matter how. Last thing I'll say about it for this list no matter how perfect or not the idea works, you go. What if it doesn't work? The fact that you went to the trouble, your family will notice. It'll mean a lot to family members, even teenagers. Even if they won't tell you, they'll notice, they'll remember. Some of your best memories ever as a family might come from these ideas.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's just something for me personally. I am a planner by nature, not like obsessive or anything. Okay, hold on.
Speaker 2:I like to yes. Yes, you say not obsessive. So so this is jesse. I'm gonna share something with you. I don't know where this is going so this brad is actually.
Speaker 2:It's part of it's part of what makes him so great at his job and leading on eagle's wings and all that great stuff. He is such a planner. What he would do is, jesse, he'd be 12 years old, 13 years old, and he would come up to my mom and dad and say, mom and dad, I got a great idea going to the movies with my family. Jimmy's mom is driving, we'll get, we'll be back at 9 30. The movie is pg for um, for um, whatever language, and he would have the entire plan set up. So mom and dad would just be stunned and couldn't say, no, they've thought of everything.
Speaker 1:The bottom of that was so, and all we need is a ride and so basically I had, but you didn't start there. No, no I had lined up everything and at the end of it it's basically so. Not only were they as my dad says, not only were they going to let me down if they said no, they'd be letting down about eight other junior hires.
Speaker 2:This is starting to make a lot more sense than some things going on in my house. Thank you for putting that out. Try it, jesse. Try it.
Speaker 1:There you go, but I do, especially when it comes to family stuff, family vacations and trips and everything, I love for just those to be very special times, special memories, just those to be very special times, special memories. And I'm in a season right now where we did have a uh, over spring break, had a good family trip and everything, but I kind of wanted one before a busy summer season where we have our warrior leadership summit conference, the on Eagles wings team that we're traveling with, and the days just kind of started slipping away and I'm like I don't think I'm going to be able to link together a week away and and I even the place I'm like you know money's tight and I'm like, well, we can't do anything really big. And then it just really hit me that I need to apply Ephesians 5, 15, 16 to my own life make the most of every opportunity. And so I've been looking for and this is what I would encourage our listeners with is to look for not what is your ideal, but look for what's doable.
Speaker 1:We can't go on a week to the beach and we'll make memories, because for me it's been a fact of saying what's in our area, what can I just do today? Or partway through the day, all of a sudden saying you know what? I could take an hour to go do this. And it's important to know, yes, this is going to take intentionality, it definitely will, because you have to keep saying I'm going to invest, I'm going to do these things. But it doesn't mean that it has to take a long time to plan. It just means that, hey, you've got maybe this list of ideas in your holster that you're just saying, hey, I can do that one today, and if you can take a few days away, that's great. A family vacation is fantastic. But we know that's not realistic for every person, every listener. So we want to give some other ideas as well.
Speaker 2:It's perfect, we're going to get to this list here, but I love the idea.
Speaker 1:Holster, there we go, ethereal idea holster, should I do that every time you share an idea here we?
Speaker 2:go, here we go. Some ideas for your idea holster here. So here we go. I'm just going to start off with one that might sound a little good.
Speaker 1:Notes open All right, you ready start off with one that notes open.
Speaker 2:Notes open. All right, you ready candlelight dinner from mcdonald's.
Speaker 1:Sorry, I had to do it the first or candlelight dinner from taco bell.
Speaker 2:You go what? What? Just just hear me out here. You get a few candles. You say, hey, we're doing something special tonight. You, uh, you set it up fancy in the kitchen or the dining room or whatever. You light the candles, maybe put on some, you know, find some music online that's classical, you know, and get a real like classy restaurant vibe going. Pull out the best plates you've got the best plates yes.
Speaker 1:If you don't have fine china, just write it on whatever you've got Fine china.
Speaker 2:But you're serving Big Macs, you're serving bean burritos. Put the towel over your arm Put the towel over your arm, be the maitre d' I'm telling you, people love it, people love it. We do this thing. We call it Hutchcraft Cinema Another good idea. So this is not just watching a movie. We just did this the other night.
Speaker 1:You invited my kids over for it. That's right, and we make it doesn't.
Speaker 2:So you got a 13 inch tv, you got a, didn't think it'd be a homemade home movies from growing up, but you know whatever four hours of it.
Speaker 2:No, we made, we made the place a theater. Now here's here's how we did it. Uh, we actually air popped popcorn. This is not the microwave stuff, okay, this is the, uh, the kernels that you, that you just get at any store. They're air poppers, or maybe $15. And get this, you melt it and put real butter on it, so healthy you can get for a dollar. You can get movie theater candy. Okay, and try to, if you give it some real thought, you could try having movie snacks that line up with what's happening on screen. You could try having movie snacks that line up with what's happening on screen.
Speaker 1:I'm hearing, after some of these ideas, that the God and the Dad Bod, part 3, is going to be coming soon to a podcast.
Speaker 2:Real butter, I'm just kidding, I love the idea. And you can use the real butter and put it all over the Raisinets for a real healthy snack. What do you got? Okay, mr God and the Dad, bob 3.
Speaker 1:For me I.
Speaker 2:Some ethereal ideas.
Speaker 1:I mentioned that kind of one hour or whatever thing. Even for me one of them is, depending on the age of your kids, go grab coffee or a smoothie with one of them. Just say, hey, can I take you out for coffee this afternoon? And usually that's going to get a yes, I found, but so it is you could bring your four year old to get coffee and just not everything.
Speaker 1:Everything's done with intentionality, so you're continuing to build a bridge. But please just a side note here Don't think that in everything you do you have to have some super deep spiritual conversation. These are just have fun with them too, and build a bridge to when they do want to talk, go for a drive and check out something different in your area. I was looking at this just the other day. I'm like man, there's some things within a couple hours here that I've we. We have some things we like to go do and it's like but I've never checked out this. There's more than you think. We have some things we like to go do and it's like but I've never checked out this. There's more than you think. Yeah, for sure. And even what you mentioned, doug, about the communities and events they're doing, I keep going to looking in our area. What does this town have going on? What does this town have going on?
Speaker 2:Because all of a sudden, these events pop up and I'm like I had no idea that we had a pickle festival where you can have gherkins.
Speaker 1:You can anyway.
Speaker 2:And pickleball festival. But that's the thing about. Summer is a lot of communities, even small ones, do things that families can have some fun at. There's so many Look around at what is around. They're popping up all over the place Retro gaming arcades where the games you played, maybe when you were a kid Pac-Man or Atari. However far back you go, you bring your kids and you say this is how it used to be and finally you're playing a video game.
Speaker 1:If you've ever played video games with your own kids that can destroy you because it's got 94 buttons. Yeah, but then they get better than me. I know, so fast, I take you to an 80s arcade and I'm like I'm going to crush you for 18 seconds, and then you have now mastered this game as well.
Speaker 2:That's right. All right, it depends how. Here's one that's a little ambitious, but I'm telling you, give it a shot. You go online on YouTube. There are online dance lessons. Now hang on, hang on. If you've never done it before, it's even better. Put in salsa dancing and try with your family. You get one shot at it. Put it up on the screen and say we're learning salsa dancing and you will fall over all over the place. You will be cracking up, especially if you're as coordinated or not as I am. Try a picnic. That's like a favorite food thing. I was going to say Olive Garden, but that's like $900. Now, I love the Olive.
Speaker 1:Garden idea Because we were sharing some ideas with each other. My first thought maybe it's the planner thing I'm like I'm going to have to have the plate because it's like the messy Italian food and everything and I'm like how do I do this on a picnic? But I like the idea. I think it's good.
Speaker 2:Try learning an outside sport together. It's going to be pickleball.
Speaker 1:It's going to be.
Speaker 2:You know what I tried. I'm telling you we have some of our favoritist family memories from this. We just decided we were going to try badminton. No one had any idea how to play badminton and we had some of our biggest belly laughs ever, because it's one of those things that looks really easy but you can stink at it pretty good Trivia about.
Speaker 1:Brad, I love. Brad trivia I took badminton as a PE credit. Emphasis on bad and I I was like and I thought it was easy a pe credit.
Speaker 2:What school did you go to we?
Speaker 1:won't get into that. I it was. I may have lost jesse there, I don't know, but uh outdoors, the backyard camping. Yeah, now, okay, sorry, I wanted to get off, but I was so afraid you were about to tell a story of me being uncoordinated. Some of these things I've done, and here's what's great.
Speaker 2:They went terribly Well, but that's part of it. Yes, it is.
Speaker 1:No, hear this. This is important. Yeah, part of the trying something, and even if it doesn't go well, is you have tried something. The laughs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, even if it doesn't go well.
Speaker 1:Is you have tried something? Yeah, the things that don't go well stick with you just as much as some of those memories we did backyard camping. I'm just going to start with the fact I do not have a good back.
Speaker 2:I just, and I'm like but we're going to do this and I mean most of them made it through the night in the backyard.
Speaker 1:I may have been inside on the couch by the time, but it is. But just those experiences you've got there. I've got a couple more here that, um the uh take a hike doug.
Speaker 2:Oh wait, no, uh, hang on. Is this about the ethereal jokes? They cut deep, they do.
Speaker 1:I'm wounded take a hike somewhere. Just there's hikes everywhere. In fact, this just hit me, our family for a little while did there's apps that talk about geocache or geocache or geocache I don't know how you say it it's one of those.
Speaker 1:You look and you follow these hints to find these clues. It's kind of like a scavenger hunt, but you're following these coordinates and here's where this is, so check out one of those. This is going to sound. Two more quick ones here. This is going to sound like oh you're very creative, brad. You could go to Walmart or Hobby Lobby. Now they can have a twist to them. You can go, and once Sarah and I went on a date and it's one she still shares about and I found online a Walmart bingo card.
Speaker 1:And basically you go there and some of it I'm just like ouch, but it is. You know, sometimes it's find someone wearing jammies at Walmart and that took not long, but parking lot but there were you, you were looking at these days at walmart find a cart abandoned in the parking lot, uh, something like that.
Speaker 1:So you've got a list of things and you're just going through the bingo cart. And so you're making a trip to walmart, fun and creative, a trip to hobby lobby. Try to get out of there with your wife in less than an hour and a half. I mean, there are challenges.
Speaker 2:By the way, the trick is now they've changed that on the Walmart card you actually have to find someone not wearing jammies in Walmart.
Speaker 1:Might take longer. And then I would say an encouragement would be if you're like I don't know what to do and I've tried some of these ideas, ask them what they would like to do Now.
Speaker 1:they may need a little bit of time, especially your kids. Ask them hey, I'm going to be asking you later today some things that you would like to do over the coming days. Now, their answer, first of all, may be Disneyland, and you're going to have to be prepared just to head that off, just around this area, you could say. But Romans 12.10 says be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. It's not just about what you want to do or what you think is fun. You mentioned that, doug, that sometimes it's well, maybe this isn't something I want to do and it's outside your comfort zone. It's well, maybe this isn't something I want to do and it's outside your comfort zone.
Speaker 1:ask them what they would want to do because sometimes they come up with some really cool, creative, fun, memory-making ideas.
Speaker 2:Now what if they say I used to say no to this all the time Dad play? We have a favorite video game.
Speaker 1:You know if you're a wise parent. Oh, video games banned Never. Oh wait, no, that's not.
Speaker 2:I started to find that when I played them, even though I stunk, they loved that Parents are always in charge. There's something about being better at this than my parent that feels good. Lots of laughter. A couple other quick ones here.
Speaker 1:I'm bottom three on Mario Kart every time we play and it's just a thing. Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:I'm whatever bottom three, I'm the one behind that wherever you were. So check this out. You go, boring no Family karaoke. Now it is so stinking funny and you go. Well, no one's going to want to sing. That's why, here you go. You go first. Go first, find something goofy when they see you. You go first, go first find something goofy when they see you it. You might just have your teenager just sitting there smirking. You're still having fun together. Um, good old-fashioned game nights man, maybe that's fantastic oh, people don't realize how strongly they go.
Speaker 2:Monopoly life, uno, try it. When was the last time you actually tried it Again?
Speaker 1:relationship blue Again. Side note Phase 10 enrages me, but still we play it.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it rages me because I still can't figure out how to play it and you know what. A couple other quick things Maybe ask your kids or ask your spouse hey, who's someone that needs help in this community right now? Now, I know this isn't a getting a little deeper here, but ask them how they One of the weeks, one of the weeks.
Speaker 2:One of the weeks. Yeah, maybe it's just one of the weeks, but maybe it's folks that are lonely in a retirement home. Ask them then how they think they could help them Get their ideas. Then give it a name. Give it a name, a funny name, whatever clever name. Give it a name and then go and put it into action together. Nothing bonds you together like serving together, especially when they own it. And a couple quick ones here here, couple quick ones for couples okay, and then we can.
Speaker 2:We can wrap up, you do excellent, uh, a diy, a do-it-yourself spa night. Now, I have never done a spa, I have never been in a spa, and so I mean you might have to actually.
Speaker 1:Google it.
Speaker 2:Look at my you can't tell my manicured, my beautifully manicured. I would never guess it's shocking, oh man, I feel like it's an ethereal experience, but it's. But no, there are. Especially if you're a guy and you set up a spa night for your wife, she will be shocked.
Speaker 1:All I can think of is getting cucumbers and putting them on the ice. That's all that's going through my mind right now, because I don't know what else to do.
Speaker 2:And one other quick one. Look in your community. You might be surprised what free or very inexpensive classes are being offered, especially during the summer Cooking, a dancing class, something where it's just you and me, honey, and we're going to make a night of it. And again, we're committing, don't forget.
Speaker 1:we're committing to do this once a week for eight weeks and I would say, with your spouse. The theme dates are fantastic.
Speaker 2:Our church kind of encouraged us with this year ago are so good at this 50s night, uh, an 80s date, something that's just fun.
Speaker 1:It doesn't have to be expensive. You, just what's in my closet that makes me look like fonzie, I don't know which. Quite honestly, probably way too much. I probably have collected way too much over the years that I can be like I'm fonzie, uh. But it do something that just kind of brings a little spark and again you could do that with a family just to say, hey, we're going to do 50s or whatever.
Speaker 2:What about?
Speaker 1:going to Walmart in the 50s outfits. Yeah, man, Well, that would be pretty fun actually.
Speaker 1:I think that there is one thing I would encourage that hadn't hit me before. Some of these ideas, some of these things and Doug and I have tried several of these, have done these, repeated many of them but the sooner you start, you can do these at any age. Please know that, especially you. Look, we've included things that do these at any age. Please know that, especially you. Look, we've we've included things that can be at any age the coffee and whatever else, and walks and hikes and all that.
Speaker 1:But some of the more ones that have you putting yourself out there, more family karaoke things like that you want to start, if you start early and your kids know that, hey, my parents are a little wacky, they're just, they're wired a little differently, that is a really good thing and you should lean into that, because all of a sudden they know that anything can happen. Fun can burst out at any moment, laughter can happen, because it's something different and we are, as followers of Christ, we should be wired a little differently. And we still should be able to have a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:That's such a great point, brad, and you guys by the way, you and Sarah do those theme dates so good because you really go for it. I think we're due for one for a while, but yes, we've got. As parents, you already have positional authority. Okay, just by being the parent, you have authority. Don't be afraid to do something different and a little goofy. When you do that, you get something that's super powerful as well. You get personal authority with your kids because they go, they're willing to have fun, they're willing to goof off a little bit. Um, so go for it now, maybe.
Speaker 2:Just wrapping up here for a sec. You maybe you have kids especially teenagers, are like this, who only want to do things when their friends are there. Okay, I, I've uh, we have run into this before I only want to do it if jojo is there. Um, I don't know if the name was actually jojo, but rather than fighting it, if you want to think about this, you want to do it if JoJo is there. I don't know if the name was actually JoJo, but rather than fighting it, if you want to think about this, if you want to improve a relationship with your kids, maybe invite their friends once or twice to the family. Things like meals or whatever you're thinking might be fun. You might not even like the friends okay, but this is a great way to get to know them and show your young person you're ready, that you care about who they care about. Just want to do it a little aside there for families that are dealing with that.
Speaker 1:Well, and we do. I know we've got to wrap things up here. Even our dad was reminding us recently that one of the ways that if you're not sure about some of the friends in your kids' lives or whatever, if you're not sure about some of the friends in your kids' lives or whatever, or you're a little just nervous about in today's world, your child going to someone else's house, make your place a great place to hang out. Make it a place with fun and some special touches. And man, we're coming over and you're making milkshakes when they're there Not spontaneous, not where it's like, hey, come over and we're going to do these eight things, it's just, hey, friends are hanging out. I want to do something special for them because then you know you're getting to know who they know and it's a special experience. You should enjoy those times. That's so good Before we do wrap up and you can take us out here. But I want to just say a quick word about what else you can expect this summer from Go Mad, because we're going to be talking to-.
Speaker 2:Oh, this is going to be awesome. First time we've ever tried this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, usually we disappear for the summer because we are on the road and we're traveling a lot with the On Eagle's Wings team and all that, but we just are going to be able to talk with some of our special Make a Difference friends and some who we haven't met yet, who we're going to get to know the first time.
Speaker 2:Some cool surprises here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so over the next several weeks, the next couple of months, you're going to get to hear from some of these friends of ours. So keep tuning in. They're ambassadors that are making a difference. We'll still be. We're on these podcasts, oh yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:No very good point, we've got some great friends, some great interviews that we promise are still going to be practical. I'm excited about this. We've never we haven't tried this before. Like you said, we disappeared for the summer, not this year, even if you've been wanting us to disappear for the summer, tough luck. So we hope that you will join us and check out those brand new podcast episodes with these great interviews, and we're also hoping, even praying, that you'll join us in this Summer Challenge and if you can't remember exactly what it was, it's the Summer Challenge. Steps to a stronger, flourishing, robust, stalwart sinewy family.
Speaker 1:And on that note from all of us, All right, fine.
Speaker 2:Summer Challenge steps to a stronger family. We hope you'll do it. So come on, brad here we go.
Speaker 1:Let's do it From all of us to all of you. Until next time, Go Mets.