Unknown Speaker 0:00
Come on

george grombacher 0:12
over to my blood, this is George G. And the time is right welcome. Today’s guest is strong and powerful. Brett crow. Brett, are you ready to do this? Man? If I’m on with George Gee, I don’t have any other options. So yes, sir. Let’s, let’s go. Brent is the Vice President of Student Leadership, or rather, the Vice President of Student Leadership University, he holds a doctorate in philosophy and to Master’s degree, he is the author. He is an author, his newest book is 10 steps to your best life connecting the new normal to the ancient wisdom of Jesus, Brent, get excited to have you on tell us a little about your personal life, some more about your work, and why you do what you do. Sure, thank you. It’s George g. a stage name. Is that? Is that what you when you’re in the clubs turning the tables? Is it George G? Or is that just what everybody calls you? So So I’ve never had the opportunity to do that. But I simply must set the intention of going to the clubs turning the tables and using at stage name or pseudonym. Yes, too good. It’s too good to way.

Unknown Speaker 1:21
Back. I didn’t go.

Brent Crowe 1:25
They chased me down well, on the street. Yeah, they did not let me in. Yeah. Hey, go? Well, George, my name is Brent. And I live in the metropolis of a little cow town outside of Orlando, Florida, where Floridians we’ve been in a lift in Orlando for 17 years. And then about two and a half years ago for our own wellness, from contentment. For our own sanity, you may say I

decided to, or my wife, I should say, and I decided to just kind of kick our president paradigm to the curb, we we moved to the country, we have six kids, which is either people either really think that’s a cool idea, or highly irresponsible. One or two.

Usually, when I’m speaking somewhere that gets a smile and a nod, which you know, the people who just smile and nod or in their head going, that’s so irresponsible that they would have six kids. Oh my gosh, they tried to get a reality show. Anyway. So I’ve six kids, we live on about 10 and a half acres of land with chickens and ducks and donkeys and cows, which is not our norm. We’re exploring, definitely a new way of a new way of living. And I spend my days helping students think dream and lead at the feet of Jesus through our organization, Student Leadership University. So that’s a little bit about me. Nice. I don’t I didn’t really think irresponsible. When he talked about six kids, it was more oh my gosh, just how more how I’ve got to? Yeah, so if I were to multiply that by three, I just hey, so God bless whatever you get whatever, you got your plates full. And

honestly, we have, we have six. But a year and a half ago, we had three GEORGE We adopted three kids smack in the middle of the pandemic. And it was something that we had always wanted to do adopt, but the door just kept shutting in our face. We had no idea why. And then all of a sudden, in May of last year became apparent why. And the reason is because we had been trying to adopt a kid. And the Lord and his infinite wisdom, had a plan all along where there was this sibling group that was going to need a home. And so in one month from May to June, we went from three kids in the house to six and so our our family doubled in size. So that’s Yeah, that’s awesome. Well, congratulations, shortest version of that story I keep. Yeah. Well, that’s sounds like it sounds like part two of the podcast. So we’ll we’ll circle back on that. So what what was the motivator for, for for the new book?

Unknown Speaker 4:17
What 10 Steps To Your Best Life is a book that is very practical. Of course in nature. You can’t have a title like that and not be practical. But what I what I tried to do was take a question that I believe everybody is asking and take it to the teachings of Jesus and that is

Unknown Speaker 4:38
what does it look like to craft create, imagine, pursue a new paradigm of living as we emerge out of this long, dark winter called COVID-19. And I just simply took that question to the teachings of Jesus and the more research and the more

Unknown Speaker 5:00
that I wrote, it kind of fell into the category of 1010 steps. So it is highly practical, but self help would probably not be the best phrase, it’s really the save yourself that we’re seeking here. And as a Christian, taking that, that that question to the Scriptures, and, and and spending a year and 1416 months researching the answer was was,

Unknown Speaker 5:26
was probably the the most rewarding research project I’ve done in my my 20 plus years of research and writing. So

Unknown Speaker 5:35
yeah, I certainly imagine. Now, as as, as you think about that, you’re thinking, Okay, we’re going through this, this this ridiculous, crazy time. And I think that you’re right, I think that, that we’re all struggling in some form or fashion with everything that’s going on. And as we look to the future, it’s, it’s, it’s never going to be the same as it was, it’s going to be different. Did did? Did you already have a sense of just because you’ve been immersed in, in, in, in Christianity and the Scripture?

Unknown Speaker 6:11
How it kind of walked me through that process of, here’s some of the main areas, I think, yeah, then researching?

Unknown Speaker 6:20
Well, I knew, as a Christian, I knew, I knew that. This is not the first time that people have faced tragedy crisis, a storm of uncertainty brewing around them at all times. But a and I also knew as a Christian, that, that God has always made a way forward. Now, it may not have been the way we would have, we may have wanted to write the script a little differently at times. But God has always provided away

Unknown Speaker 6:55
the struggle has been that we, as human beings, get very comfortable with temporary, I live in, let me tell you what I mean by that I live in Central Florida. So you know, our state, Florida is basically a big peninsula of land sticking out into the ocean. And so we’ve got the Gulf on one side and the Atlantic on the other side. And, you know, the reality is, we get quite a few storms. years ago, there was a series of four storms that hit Central Florida in six weeks. So after the first storm, we all do what we do, right, we clean up our yards, we put everything on the curb.

Unknown Speaker 7:40
The only problem is the next storm blew through and everything we put on the curb became projectiles and destroyed homes and roofs and cleaned up again, by time for storms had come through the the the debris that had been cleaned up, caused more damage than the original storms. And so it took us 18 To 24 months to get our city back in order. Every time I would fly into Orlando, it was a sea of blue tarps. And you could tell after about a year and a half, there were some people who got really comfortable living under a blue tarp.

Unknown Speaker 8:18
Well, a blue tarp was never designed to be a permanent solution. It is a it is a temporary solution to a permanent need. And the great fear as I’ve gone through this research through this, the great fear for me is that I would or others would

Unknown Speaker 8:38
get really comfortable with temporary solutions, when there’s a better way that God wants us to strive for and to reach for

Unknown Speaker 8:48
as we emerge out of this out of this pandemic.

Unknown Speaker 8:52
What an amazing metaphor that is nice,

Unknown Speaker 8:56
too comfortable or just comfortable living under a blue tarp

Unknown Speaker 9:01
is is that a function of just trying to address the symptoms constantly, but not really getting down to the root cause? I you know, I think it’s a function of what Lynard suite called a dinosaurian philosophy, a dinosaurian philosophy of life, as he articulated it was that I’ve got to eat, drink, pleasure, myself, and fight. And those are the four rules of a dinosaur. And I think it’s the result of of just trying to survive. And there’s something about our brains or something about

Unknown Speaker 9:43
maybe humanity and it’s fallen nature, where we just want to get by and I just am very, very grateful to Lord that

Unknown Speaker 9:54
he’s never, he’s never presented us a way of living where we just get by and so I

Unknown Speaker 10:00
I think it goes back to that dinosaurian philosophy of trying to survive rather than soar.

Unknown Speaker 10:07
Nice. Yeah, I think that that makes a lot of sense.

Unknown Speaker 10:10
And, you know, I mean, it’s, it’s talking about Florida and the storms are going this way they’re going that way. And it’s just such a wonderful metaphor for life because we can have good intentions about what we’re going to do today, I don’t need to get wiped up by a hurricane, but your kids sick, or you get a fire at work or whatever.

Unknown Speaker 10:32
And we’re constantly sort of responding and living in that dinosaurian sort of framework.

Unknown Speaker 10:40
So it’s such a human thing to do you talked about why that why it is that’s happening. Why does it often take? Or what, what, what is Jesus think about? Why it takes me hitting rock bottom to start making changes?

Unknown Speaker 10:58
Well, I don’t, I don’t think that it takes us hitting rock bottom, start making changes, I just think, you know, he, humanity has an incredible ability to suffer from short term memory loss. So we we tend to not learn from lessons of the past too easily.

Unknown Speaker 11:19
And so we think that every crisis is unique, and it is in one sense to us.

Unknown Speaker 11:25
But that I was, I was in a conversation with a friend the other day whose grandmother survived the Spanish Influenza. The issue the pandemic that happened, the spec called the Spanish flu, Svenja, influenza, whatever. And

Unknown Speaker 11:42
you could just tell there was a different dimension. 102 years old, there was a different demeanor about her. She felt like we had been here before we can get through this. I remember when 911 happened, I was speaking in a church and I had all our world war two veteran stand up, who were alive and fought World War Two, you know, attack Pearl Harbor happened drew us into that conflict that great war.

Unknown Speaker 12:09
And I had all the the World War Two veterans stand up that had all the kids 1112 years and younger stand up. And I was doing this more for the adults towards the than anybody else. But I said, Alright, kids look at look at all the adults that are standing in this room, these older men and women. I said there, they’re living proof that we’ve been here before. And we’re going to be okay. So I don’t think it takes hitting rock bottom, if we’re willing to remind ourselves, but the beautiful thing about I think the grace of God is that Jesus is willing to meet us no matter where we are in the journey. And no matter where we are in the journey, his appeal is still the same. You know, come to me.

Unknown Speaker 12:52
Those of you who are, are heavy laden, in other words, you got a lot on your shoulders come to me.

Unknown Speaker 12:58
And, and you’re gonna find rest. My burden is light, he said. So no matter where we are in the journey, I think that that Jesus is going, you don’t have to keep going this way. There’s a better way. And as a Christian, it is a very comforting and encouraging thought and idea to know that Jesus has a burden that is light, and that I can literally put my burdens on his shoulders.

Unknown Speaker 13:26
Nice. I appreciate that.

Unknown Speaker 13:30
So what are you hoping that when somebody picks up the book that they’re going to get out of it?

Unknown Speaker 13:37
Oh, by prayer is all long been that they will have a functioning paradigm for living I, I want people to feel after they read this book 10 steps to your best life that they can, that they literally can craft a paradigm of living or customize the paradigm of living, I should say.

Unknown Speaker 13:59
Based on the paradigm in the book that is not new with the book. I mean, this paradigm has been around for a long time and has always worked, but that they can customize a paradigm of living that will help them live a contented and full life. That’s the hope. Yeah. So tell me say that differently. So customized paradigm for living differently.

Unknown Speaker 14:25
Imagine if you had a whiteboard. And you could whiteboard your future, you could reimagine what normal looked like. My hope for the book is that people would be able to reimagine their future based on the teachings of Jesus that is a that is a really good formula for living. Nice. So

Unknown Speaker 14:50
that could be

Unknown Speaker 14:52
they could be what my family situation looks like. That could be what my work situation looks like. Everything is Sarah.

Unknown Speaker 15:00
You know, in the book, we identify 10 areas, we start with, with beginnings, we start with God, in our view of God and how we got to create a rhythm of renewal for God. And then we go on this journey, this 10 Step journey that ends with contentment.

Unknown Speaker 15:18
We don’t start with contentment, contentment is kind of the, you get to that place of contentment in your life, when you follow Jesus’s paradigm for living. So we’re going to start with God, the beginnings are very important. If you don’t start in the right place, you end in the wrong place. So we’re going to start with God, we’re gonna create a rhythm of renewal.

Unknown Speaker 15:40
And then hopefully, we’re going to end up in a place where we experience contentment, not as the exception not as I got to go to a mountaintop and feel the breeze and look out on the landscape before I can feel contented are sit on the beach or retire or accomplish this at work, or my kids are doing well enough in school and my wife loves me or what? No, no, somehow, there has to be a way to live happy to live full of joy, to live with this sense of contentment. Even if the storms of life are still swirling around me. That is possible, but it’s only possible. I believe, if you follow if you follow the Savior’s

Unknown Speaker 16:31
formula.

Unknown Speaker 16:34
I like it.

Unknown Speaker 16:37
This might be sort of inappropriate or super appropriate question.

Unknown Speaker 16:42
It’s kind of funny. I work with students so awkward works really well. Hi, great.

Unknown Speaker 16:48
What are you most proud of from from from the book?

Unknown Speaker 16:53
Um, honestly, I am.

Unknown Speaker 16:59
Wow, I’ve never been asked that question before. Dang, George G. Good does a good question, brother.

Unknown Speaker 17:06
I’m most proud of the book. Because I believe the book is an ethic for living.

Unknown Speaker 17:15
On a very personal level, I’m most proud of the book because

Unknown Speaker 17:20
I went on a journey to figure out how to make life work. I I’d taken a massive pay cut. Because I asked, I prayed at the beginning of the pandemic, Lord helped me not have to furlough says our new code word for fire. Anybody on my staff, and Lord help us to reimagine our organization so that it can thrive. And so I was really going on a journey to try to figure all this out. How can I how can I lead an organization where I’ve got to work, crazy amount of hours, the future is very uncertain. I’m a nonprofit, in a world that’s that’s, you know, bleeding every which way it can.

Unknown Speaker 17:59
How in the world cannot. And so went on this journey. And I was able to figure this out for myself. So I’m most proud of the fact that I learned something. I was better for it. And I’m most proud of the fact that then I got to turn around and share it with others. So I have to say that that’s what I’m most proud of. I love it. That makes sense. But also most proud that it’s in its second printing now. So that’s awesome.

Unknown Speaker 18:26
Can I say that? Is that terrible to say out loud? I? I don’t think so. That just means that you’re reaching more people, right? Yes, sir. Love it.

Unknown Speaker 18:36
Well, Brett, the people are ready for that difference making tip. What do you have for them?

Unknown Speaker 18:40
If I had to say one difference making tip and I looked on your your site, and you’ve had some incredible interviews, George George G.

Unknown Speaker 18:48
But I would say if you wake up

Unknown Speaker 18:53
with gratitude, if you let the sun hit your skin every day and you’re grateful, and you look at the stars every night and you’re amazed, then you’ll never waste today.

Unknown Speaker 19:03
I think that that is great stuff that definitely gets come up. Rent. Thank you so much for coming on. Where can people learn more about you? How can they engage with you and where can they pick up a copy of 10 steps to your best life connecting the new normal to the ancient wisdom of Jesus? It’s really this easy. My name.com Brent CRO br e n t crowe.com Or they can follow me on social Brent at Brent a CRO at Brent, a CRO asked to be Brent a CRO George because I didn’t get in the social media game until five minutes too late and a middle schooler an event I was doing took Brent Crowe and just posted about how much I love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so okay at its at Brent a crap.

Unknown Speaker 19:50
I love it. Well, if you enjoyed this as much as I did so bright your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciates good ideas go to Brent crowe.com

Unknown Speaker 20:00
That’s br e and t, Cr, O, W E.

Unknown Speaker 20:05
And check pick up a copy of 10 steps your best life connecting to the new normal, connecting the new normal to the ancient wisdom of Jesus. I’ll list all those in the notes of the show. Thanks, Kimbra Thanks, sir. And until next time, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all in this together.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai