Raising Teens With Purpose with Eric & Geo Huffman | Parenting Uncovered | Dave & Ashley Willis

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Welcome back to Parenting Uncovered. We are so excited about today's episode. We have some awesome people here that we are going to be interviewing, and Dave is going to tell you all about them.

I'm excited. Yeah. We've got Eric and Gio Huffman, founders of the Story Church in Houston, Texas, and Eric also hosts the maybe God podcast. They're the parents of two teenagers. And we're going to have a conversation today about raising teens. And so lean in. We're gonna cover a lot of stuff. And so, without further ado, guys, welcome. Eric and Gio, welcome to the Parenting Uncovered podcast.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good to be here.

Excited.

We're excited. This is new. See, this is new. We've been doing the Naked Marriage podcast for a long time, but this, the Parenting Uncovered podcast, you guys are actually just.

Those are some of the second. The second one we recorded.

Yeah. You are fresh. I mean, this is.

Congratulations.

It still has that new podcast smell.

It does.

Congrats on that. And this is much needed, so.

It is. I know. And we're leaning in especially because. I know, Eric, we've told you this about kind of the ages of our kids, but we have four boys ranging in age from 8 to 18, and so two of ours are teenagers, and then that third one soon enough is gonna be a teen. And so we still are. We're in the midst of still figuring this out, right, sweetie?

I mean, yeah, we got. We've got one in elementary, one in middle school, one in high school, and one in college. We just dropped our first off at college. Yeah, we're all over the place.

You feel like you're done or are you going to have more?

Oh, gosh.

We feel like we're complete, but, you know, hey, we never say never.

I look at her sometimes and just say maybe two was our number. Maybe we overshot.

No, we say that in front of you.

No, no, we. We love our boys.

I mean, they're. They're wonderful.

Oh, gosh. Every one of us, so blessed. Yeah. Is a gift. Such a gift. I love our boys so much. But, yes, we are very retired in that department.

Yes.

Looking forward to those grandkids someday. But tell us about your kids, you know, tell us about your family dynamic in this season.

Well, we have. I still feel like it's weird to say we're parents of teenagers because it all flies by so fast, but we have a 15 year old daughter and a 13 year old son. And how would you describe their personalities? What would you say?

Well, my daughter Doelle is Exactly like Eric in every single way. Very charismatic.

She's been on the podcast once or twice.

Yes, very charismatic, bubbly, just the life of the party wherever she goes and loves to be around people, love to cuddle, just vibrant. And my daughter, well, our son Cohen, he is more serious, more reserved, exactly like me and just loves his quiet time. So we have two opposites basically with our kids.

Yeah, each one is so unique in that, you know, that's so cool. Now, just as a quick side note, Gio, dear kids know Spanish. Have you raised them bilingual or. Because I just thought that would be so. I just wish. I wish I had been raised.

Yeah, that's one of the areas where I feel like a failure now. Well, our daughter speaks Spanish, but it's just because she self taught herself. But my son is very impatient. Our son is very impatient and he basically wants to understand everything and doesn't really want to learn another language. So we just kind of dropped the ball.

You know, some people like learn languages easier than others and we have a case study in that. So our daughter.

No, that is so much the truth. And I've heard that we have friends who, you know, one of the spouses like, is a native Spanish speaker and the husband is also, you know, a native English speaker. And they had the same kind of thing. They're not totally on board with it. And they're like, you know, one of our kids is really, you know, easily learns the language. And so I'd say, hey, if one of them is really interested, like, like your daughter, go for it. And the other, it's like we have to choose our battles. And I think especially in the teenage years, like, I'm sure you guys could speak to this, you know, we only have boys, so we're not even raising teenage girls. And I remember I used to teach middle school, I taught eighth grade. And I remember during eighth grade especially they're like 13, 14, that, that can be a rough time in a teenage girl's life. And what I found, and I would love for y' all to speak to this is especially when it comes to like girls and friendships. I feel like for the most part there's just a lot of friction between girls during that period. And I know a lot of this is because of hormones and just the transition in life with growing up and navigating relationships and all that kind of thing and their bodies and what they think about themselves, what they think about the world, what they think about God. And so what have you found especially. And we'll talk about Boys, too. But especially in raising teenage girls, what are some of kind of the issues that maybe is different than teenage boys that you've had to navigate?

Yeah, it's definitely a complicated situation to raise a teenage daughter. I would say, for us, it has been very, very important to make sure our daughter grows up in church, in the church culture. And I think it's been super important ever since we've had them. They have a choice about many things, but not about skipping church. And I think that she has been so, so priv. But to have her best friend is basically. She's somebody she met when we arrived to Houston at 6 years old. And they've grown up together. They FaceTime each other about everything from what they're gonna wear to what they're going to do. And I think it's been super exciting to watch that relationship establish itself. And I think there are influences in her life that kind of shape who she is beyond our parenting. They have been so key to have for. And we've prayed very, very hard for her to also have other Christian friends. And we have been so, so privileged that in her life she has found the right friends at the right time. I know that doesn't work for every parent, but, you know, and for every child. But for our daughter, it has been so crucial for her to have Christian friends and, you know, that influence her, that walk along her, and that are the friendships that will shape her critical years. And that has been a blessing for us. And, you know, and I don't know if I'm going to let you talk about Cohen.

Yeah, well, you all want to get to the boy side In a minute. I'll say. From a dad of a teenage girl perspective, I just think that there's a thin line where we want to draw these hard lines in the sand and these boundaries that are sort of impenetrable, and that's understood. And we've done that. You've mostly done that. We play good cop, bad cop.

I'm the disciplinarian.

It's our dynamic a lot. Not always, but.

Yeah, not always. Right. I was thinking about that this morning. I was like, sometimes, you know, when she just is feeling like, you know, chilling and she's more relaxed, I'll put on that bad cop uniform and play act for a while. But I also think, fundamentally, when raising teenagers, we just. We have this thing in our culture where basically we just see teenage years as an extended childhood. And I fundamentally disagree with that. I think we both do, and I think we see it as Young adulthood more than extended childhood. And it's training time, you know, and so we look at our teens as adults in training, and obviously we want to protect them and, you know, coddle them and cuddle them and all that stuff we all want to do with our kids. But it's time to get them ready to fly the nest. And so I think raising the bar of expectation is important. Letting them make their own decisions within those boundaries that we set. Like, it's all pret. I mean, y' all said it earlier. Picking your battles is so important. Like, that probably could have been the title of your podcast. Picking your battles while dancing. It's so important.

Yeah, it is. And never more than in the teenage years because, you know, I think that a lot of times you hear people in books, they talk about, like, with toddlers giving them choices, you know, picking your battles. But I feel like even more so, like you said, we're training these teens to flee the nest and to be able to live in this world as an individual, you know, for Christ. And it's just there's a lot of things, decisions that they're making and we want, you know, instead of just being, like you said, completely hard lined on everything and making the decisions for them, we want to lead them to make those right decisions. We want to guide them in being able to do that. And that's been something we've had to navigate, too. And I love Gio, how you talked about friendships. I'm telling you, that has been a constant prayer of ours for, I mean, all the years we've been parents. And I mean, we see it in our own lives, you know, as adults. But I think that just praying for those, those good friendships and also helping our kids to recognize when a friendship is not good for them. That is really hard. But again, like, what you guys are saying is, I mean, we can, as parents say, like, you can't see this kid anymore, obviously. And many. I mean, there's a lot of situations where we need to do that. But I think the best thing is when the kid themselves, the teenager themselves, can say, I see this person isn't good for me. This person is getting me closer to the Lord. And I just wanted to ask you, you said something, Gio, about, especially when raising your teenage daughter, about influences beyond you and what are some of those things when you said that what comes to mind as good influences, godly influences beyond you guys, like what if you could name those? I know our listeners would love to hear from that.

Yes, that's a great Question. I think that for us it is important for them to participate in activities and groups that will be God centered in one way or another. You have to prioritize because we all want to be sometimes Tiger mom and we want our kids to know three languages and to play every single sport and to get scholarships for college. We have all these big dreams. But when it comes down to what, you know, the Lord is commanding us to do as parents, for us, it has become very important to sort through all of those activities, all of those things, and to find activities and things that they can be a part of where the right mentors, where the right people are influencing their lives. And I think that's very, very hard to do. We've had to say no to a lot of things for her. And we're, you know, even now we're constantly saying no. Like there was a big temptation for our daughter to be a part of the dance team for. And you know, that was fine, but it was going to consume every single minute of her, of her week and she was going to miss her small group. She was going to miss church some weekends. And we had to say no as much as it was hard for her and for us. But it was the right decision because she's been able to participate in more groups, start her own group, you know, participate. What is that young life? And she's being able to do so many different things that have been so life giving to her and that have really shaped who she is. And for us, you know, for us it's very important that she grows up knowing Christ, knowing scripture, and those are the priorities that you have to come up with. And for us, it's knowing Christ, knowing scripture, knowing how to sacrifice, to live sacrificially, to live for others more than herself. And that has been super hard because frankly, you know, we live in an era of feelings and girls have a lot of feelings. You know, like, I feel this and I feel, I feel, I feel. And a lot of the times I've had to sort through, through those feelings with her and say, like, I know how you feel, but what do you think? You know, how do you think God feels about this situation? And I think getting her outside of herself and to understand that there are other priorities that are greater and they supersede her feelings and her emotions, you know, has been super important too. So.

Yeah, that's so good.

Yeah, that is so good. And you two are, you know, you're as pastors in a unique situation where you're not just the parents of two teenagers. But you're also, you know, the shepherds, the guides, the leaders, the pastors of others families within your church. And so within your church, you know, you kind of have a unique viewpoint of what families and what teenagers are struggling with and going through and kind of what are some of your insights outside of your own family, but just kind of in the church as a whole and in the community that you see that teenagers are facing or the parents of teenagers are facing, you know, what's. What are you saying?

Yeah. Well, I heard a pastor a long time ago say in his experience, and he was in a context a lot like Houston, Texas, where there are endless opportunities to do more and have more and all of that. And he said, we're raising a generation that's experience rich and relationship poor. And that has stuck with me all these years. That was probably a decade ago that I heard Andy Stanley say that. And I think that's spot on for a lot of families today, even Christian families, that we are trying to convince ourselves that more is more, when deep down we all kind of know that less is more. In terms of the number of influences we allow access to our kids, the number of groups we allow them to get involved in, the number of activities, the number of vacations that we take to try and impress them, the number, all of it, we just try to do more, more and more and more. And we find ourselves more and more relationship poor in terms of our, the depth of our trust with our kids, the depth of our knowledge of them and their knowledge of us, and the depth of our discipleship as a family. And so I just find that as pastors, we always have invitations and things to go do more things as a couple, as pastors in Houston. And we say no to a lot of things for us. And our kids see us saying no to those things so we can be home with them. And that communicates to them it's not just us arbitrarily keeping them from having more fun. It's a principle that we have, we have tested and we have reaped the benefits of it and we want it for our kids as well. And it's okay to be home doing nothing or having conversations or going on walks or, you know, it's okay to not be involved in all the things your friends are involved in. It's okay to not have 20 friends and get invited to all the parties. Okay to have three really good friends and they all love Jesus and, and you know, they're all good for each other, like sometimes less really is more. And that's sort of been our philosophy of parenting.

I love it.

No, that's so true. And that statement, I mean, that's something I think we all need to just keep in mind. Because I know as parents, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to say. I want to, you know, I want to do better for my kids and give my kids more than maybe I had or whatever. But I think like you said, we get some so wrapped up in really being narrow minded with that thinking it's about stuff when really we want, we want them to be relationship rich. You know, I've never heard that term, but that is, that is just so spot on. I mean, you know, we, we moved back to like the town we're in now to make sure our kids, we didn't use that language. But it was to be relationship rich. I mean, essentially right? I mean that was like our main motivation because they were having such a hard time connecting. And we're like, we want our kids to build on relationships and it's worth it for us as a family to make our job harder in getting to where we need to go if they can be relationship rich. Because it is so important and it gives our kids such a foundation and especially, you know, when they're godly friendships. And I'm always telling my boys, I'm like, if you have, you know, even one to three close friends, like you mentioned that number, I'm like that, love you, love the Lord, want what's best for you. And also aren't just yes people in your life where they're just telling you yes all the time, but they're people who really help you to grow and help you to see a better perspective. Then you count yourself blessed. I mean, that is just such a blessing and everyone longs for that. But I do think that we're in a culture that is so connected, you know, social media wise and Internet wise. But just like you said, we're so relationship poor because it's all surface level, it doesn't go deeper. And sometimes I think even when I was teaching teenagers, I saw. And that was like a long time ago, but that was the beginning of that where I saw like this connectedness in devices. But just they were like anemic when it comes to just knowing how to even have a face to face conversation. And it's even more so today. And so I, we're constantly, we're, we're constantly having that conversation in our house because we have kids, you know, boys who Love to game. They love their little online things. They do connect and they're talking to people on. You mentioned FaceTime. You know, one of our sons FaceTimes, his cousins in Kentucky because we're in Georgia while he's playing Roblox. I don't know if y' all know Roblox or if your kids are ever into it. Yeah, you know, so it's not like a bad thing. And I love that he's connecting, but we have to, we have very specific times they can do that because again, we don't want it to be all about the game or the connection that you're doing over a device. We want it to be about real relationships. And also, just like you guys mentioned this sit. Being at home, not having an agenda and being. Okay. Yeah, like that.

And putting technology down. I'm sorry, I interrupted you. Yeah. But we have very strict boundaries as far as technology is concerned. I first of all, like give them only 30 minutes a day for their cell phones. Once they reach that limit, they can text or call or do anything. And I think that's been super important for our children to know that how to communicate with people in person. And they do a great job and we practice with them. So, you know, how, how would you check on somebody who's not feeling well? How, how would you check on somebody who's, you know, having a hard time and they're great about being compassionate. I think that we might have failed a lot of things, but I think that, you know, them caring for other people is something that we are proud that they, they have learned, they have learned to not. And that again goes back to not being so self centered, you know, because right now there's a lot of infl from the world like you. You know, it's about you, it's what you feel matters. And we are always challenging them and saying no. Like your feelings are important, but to a certain degree, you know, you need to make sure that you're analyzing this through the Jesus lens, you know, through what would Jesus think about this situation? Or what would Jesus think about the way you're feeling about this specific thing? And it's hard. It challenges them, but I think it gets them out of that selfishness that I think is inherent in a lot of children.

So it is hard. I think that's why not everybody does it, right? Everybody knows it's good to limit your kids screen time, but not everybody does it because it's hard to do that. It's easier because if they're unlimited on their Screens you can be too, I think, as parents. And it's just easier to not be the bad guy. And thank God I've got a wife who has no problem being the bad guy whatsoever.

Thank you.

And no is her favorite word. And I'm just kidding. It's not right. She's very tender, but she chooses to make these hard decisions and draw these hard lines because she knows it's not about what we feel, it's about what's right. And Dave, the other day on when y' all were on the maybe God podcast, y' all talked about the, the influence that feelings are having over us right now. It's just such a feelings driven culture and, and where that's leading us, you know, and the Bible says the heart is deceptive of all things, and that's sort of where our feelings sort of come from. Right. And we have to be very careful with our feelings. And I think the key is for Christian parents raising kids that, that are suspicious of feelings and that just want to do what is right in the eyes of God as far as we can. And so I think that's sort of the guiding light we've had as parents of two teens.

Right. And, you know, and discipline, of course, discipline is hard, but I don't mean just discipline in letting your child know when something goes wrong. I think discipline, we model discipline for them. If they see us adopt habits and really embrace them every single day and, you know, prioritizing things and, you know, these kind of habits that are important for us, for example, are reading. We want to make sure that there are people who know how to read. And ever since, not just like literally, but actually read. And, you know, we have made it a habit for us to go to a, some kind of a bookstore every, almost every every other day. And we will spend a couple of hours easily just reading books. And our daughter and our son have become really great readers. And I think that has been so nice for us to see because a lot of the times when they have a question about a certain topic, they will read and they will let us know. Actually, I think they're much better readers than we are. They're voracious readers.

It's because they've seen us, because they've seen us modeling.

And it's hard because a lot of times I've been tempted whenever we go to Barnes and Noble or to a bookstore to get out my computer and to start working again. But it's also challenged me to go and grab a book about, you know, something I really Want to deepen my understanding of and read. Reading next to them and them seeing me do that and, and, you know, it's just become really powerful to see how it has developed. That discipline has developed throughout the years. You know, we might not be as good with other disciplines, but even to, to, to what they eat and making sure they eat certain food groups, you know, and, you know, even those things every single day has been important to us, but, you know, we don't get it right every time. I don't want to say that we get it right every time, but there are certain things that we have been pretty disciplined about and I think that's important.

Yeah, you guys, if you write a parenting book, I will be first in line.

Read it.

So much of what you're describing is things that we've wanted to. Yeah, you know, to do it like, you know, raising. I mean, just, just all of it. It's, it's, it's fascinating.

Absolutely. And I love how you said we don't get it right all the time because, gosh, we don't either. I mean, I don't think any of us do. I think knowing that none of us are perfect, that we're all works in progress and sometimes too, we'll try one, you know, method of getting our kids attention, maybe to read more. And that doesn't work. That doesn't mean we stop trying to get them to read more, whatever it is, you know, but we try different things. And I think we're all on that journey. But I think that just the fact that the listeners and the people watching on YouTube are here, it shows that you all are great parents in the sense of wanting to learn. Because I think that knowing that we never arrive, that this is a journey. And just when we think we have it all figured out, we have a new season with one of our kids or all of our kids. And I feel like God keeps us on our toes in that way as parents. But knowing that there's, you know, we can always learn something and books are a great way. I love that. And that challenges me. Like, our kids do read, but I'd like to even push that further, like for them to want to go like when they need to learn something. I think all kids are so prone to just like, let's Google it. Which sometimes gives good info, sometimes doesn't.

Find a 30 second TikTok video or.

A TikTok video or YouTube. And I'm always like, you can't always believe everything you see on those in those places. But, but doing you know, research and books and plus reading is just so peaceful. Like it's such a. I find it like such a peaceful experience and a challenge. Challenging in the best way kind of experience. I want to say real quick before we kind of go to our end, things that are fun with each episode. I said that we would talk about raising teenage boys. I would love to get your all's perspective on some of the hurdles that you have to face with raising teenage boys. What have you guys been seeing?

Well, you started with the girl, so I'll start with the boy. I think that first of all, they're just so antisocial and I think during COVID especially got worse and I think we're still recovering from that. And just teaching just basic like manners and empathy and conversation, you know, all of those sorts of basics is some of the hardest challenges we face with, with our boy. But I would say again, if he is not just a grown up child, but a young man in training, as I said earlier, then we need to start teaching how to be a young man and training him in that regard. And that means, well, you work for money and so there's nothing free. There's no handouts anymore, buddy. Like if you want to have money to spend, these are the sorts of things you're gonna have to do. And a lot of people say, well, you shouldn't have to pay your kids for chores in my day, whatever. Okay, well, I think to each their own. To us, it has made a lot of sense to start giving him a little money for the work that he does around the house if he does it well. And then, you know, the other side of what I would say some people are going to scoff at this. Being a man is you have to sit with the consequences of your bad choices and, and so not rescuing him, you know, just because we feel bad for him, but letting him actually go without his phone for two weeks if he abuses the privilege and you know, oh yeah, those sorts of things where again, you're playing a long game. And one thing, Gio, my wife, has taught me about raising kids is that you're parenting toward a big vision of a long time from now, what these kids of ours are going to be when they're our age. And you know, and so it's not just about what feels right in the moment, it's about what is right in the long term. And so in raising our 13 year old boy, we're trying to treat him as much as possible like a man and teaching him some of the basics. Like ethics, like work and reading.

Yeah. I'm so happy that I'm married to such a great dad, because I think parenting a boy, it's very hard without a dad. And I feel it for moms that are doing that, and I pray for them all the time. But I think that there are certain things that I think Gary communicates with Cohen about that I would never be able to. It would make me enter into a panic. Because boys grow up into their teenage years, they change so much, and I think it's important for them to have a father, you know, around everything we talk about. You know, he and Cohen communicate about things that I don't think he and I communicate about. I'm more of his cuddle buddy. And, like, you know, I'm waiting there to hang out with him.

And it happened again two nights ago when you walked in the room, and he and I were having one of our talks. What are y' all talking about? And I said, you don't want to know.

Yeah. I was like, oh, well, okay.

Well, I'll.

I'll be downstairs.

Homer Simpson in the hedges.

Yeah, just back in back and. Yeah.

But, you know, it's just. It's just an everyday thing. It's an everyday journey with young boys. And I think that it is important for them also to know that there's somebody who, when they break the boundaries, that they will have to face consequences. Because I think that in a lot of ways, after raising Joelle and Cohen, I noticed that boys tend to want to break more boundaries. They need a stronger hand around that will say, no, this is very wrong, and this is your consequence. You know, I. To a certain degree, I can discipline both of them, but I know that Con will need that in his life, so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, that's so good.

So good. Yeah. By God's perfect design. You know, a strong mother and a strong father is. Is ideal for every family. And those folks, like you said, that are having to do it solo, I just, you know, pray that God gives them the extra grace.

Right. I think that's where the church comes into.

Yeah, that's right.

You know, mentors at church is that single moms, in those cases, can call on some of these elders in the community to. To help father their kids through tough seasons like adolescence.

Yes.

Yeah. That's so good. Yeah. You don't have to do it alone. And if you. If you are listening right now and you're in. In that boat, you know, you're single, single parent, just. Thank you. Thank you for the work that you're doing. Thank you for investing in. In your own parenting and leadership and growth by listening to this. And just know, hey, God's with you. And like Eric just said, you know, look. Look to your church and the mentors who are there to come alongside you and help out. Guys, we've had so much gold in this podcast, and we could. We could talk to you guys for hours because. So much wisdom. But to honor your time and the time of our listeners, we're going to move into the end with our weekly elements of Ashley's Fascinating fact and Dave's dad joke. And then I want to. While we're doing this, Eric and G, I want you guys to think about. You've already shared so many nuggets of parenting wisdom that I feel selfish even asking for one more. But you've shared so much gold. I want to give you the final word. And after we finish this little part, I want to give each of you the chance to just share one piece of marriage encouragement or advice. It could be anything, big or small. Did I say what I say?

Marriage?

You said marriage.

Parenting.

Podcast. Yeah.

Wrong.

Podcast and parenting. Yeah.

If it's a marriage tip, you know, that helps families, too, so. But we'll do. We'll do parenting. And so while you're thinking of that, my love, what is your.

You go ahead and do your dad joke because I was in between, kind of. Okay. I think I have mine, but you can.

I don't know. I mean.

You don't know yours yet.

No, I mean, I have a hard time deciding between.

There's just so many running through your mind all the time.

It is. Yeah. And they're all terrible.

They really are. Like, it's one of them.

They really are. She was so quick.

I meant they're. No, that's not. I. I chimed in at the wrong time. I meant, like, they really are running through your mind all the time. Like, he's just a fountain of dad jokes. And I love it. I love how much you love it. That brings me joy, even if I don't get them sometimes. And I'm like, how is this funny? But the boys. You know, I live in a household full of men, so, like, I don't get most of the jokes. Like, most of the. I'm like, how is this funny? Even our teenage boys. I'm like, how is this funny, Mom? You just don't get it, you know? And I'm like, I don't. I'm sorry.

And then they show it to me, and I'm like, oh, that's hilarious.

And I'm like, this must be a. Just a secret little.

It's. Our maturity level is so much lower than yours. Yes. I don't know.

Oh, absolutely. That's what it is.

I'm just like, I don't get this joke. All right, so do you want to go first? You want me to go first?

Go ahead.

All right, so I am getting today's from this fascinating fact from the CBC CA website. So a Canadian website, and I just found this very fascinating. It's entitled Babies Swaddled Like Mummies. People once believed that babies wouldn't be able to assume human form, that's in quotation marks, unless it was forcibly imposed upon them to achieve that. In medieval times, children were swaddled from head to toe like mummies. The idea was that this would make their limbs grow into human limbs and their trunks stay a human trunk. It could take up to two hours to swaddle them, which meant the children were rarely changed and in quotation marks, stewed in their own filth pretty much all day. The swaddling. I know. It's like. It's like what? The swaddling was also intended to prevent young children from exploring and getting into things they shouldn't, allowing parents to continue their business.

That's what it was really about.

Yeah, I think it was. It was a free babysitter. They were like, oh, but he's, you know, he's immobile.

They gotta grow human limbs. Let's just.

Yeah, right, sure.

This is the tragic part of this story. So back in medieval times, a lot of children died when they were bundled into a cradle and then nosed into a fire by the livestock that passed in and out of the house. And so until about the late medieval period, children had a 50% chance of living to their 10th birthday. And so people learned that that was not good. So, like, sometimes my fascinating facts are going to be a little hard because I think as parents, we need to sometimes know, like, how. Like, how far some of these parenting. The parenting advice went in different times throughout history. So.

Well. And I think it's a good reminder, too, that just because we're like, well, we've done it this way, or everybody in our family's done it a certain way in parenting, it's okay to take a step back and really evaluate that. But, like, just because it's been done or because it's a popular, trendy thing to do, does that mean it's the healthy thing to do?

Exactly.

Because all these folks, the Middle Ages.

For, like, a while.

Convince themselves. No. Every loving parent, you know, ties their kid up from head to toe.

They did this.

I mean, lets the donkey kick it into the fire. It's terrible.

It's so terrible. I know, I know. So you gotta lighten it up with your joke.

Let's keep learning. Let's keep growing. Gosh, that's a lot of pressure.

So it was a little death.

A death fact. And then I'm gonna.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Oh, man.

Make it good, Dave.

Yeah, this has got to be a real good one.

Oh, man. Okay.

No pressure.

So.

Alrighty.

I went to the doctor the other day and he asked me to come back today with a stool sample.

Oh, gosh.

Okay.

So I've been watching YouTube videos on carpentry to learn how to build one.

Oh, my goodness. Wow.

And the doctor said. Oh. The doctor was really concerned when I told him I wouldn't be able to produce a stool sample for at least a month.

Wow.

Oh, my gosh. Okay. Well, I did lighten it up. I'm not sure that was your best one, but it was okay.

Any joke about stool samples? It looks good with me.

Oh, yeah.

Hey, it's better if it is a poop. I love it.

I love it if it's a poop themed dad joke. You already have a head start.

You do.

Everybody's gonna laugh at that. Well, now they're gonna, you know, it is good.

Ashley, you're a lucky woman.

I am. She is. I really am. No, Dave is, like, amazing. And I love his love for dad jokes. So I'm excited every time we record. I'm excited to see what you come up with.

I don't know if that excitement is from your heart, but I will.

It's from my heart.

I will receive it from my heart and I will thank you for it. All right, guys, before we wrap up, Eric and Gio, give us one more of your deep treasure trove of parenting nuggets.

Yes.

Give us one more before we close out.

Me or you?

Okay, you go.

Okay. I think what we hear a lot from people because we're pastors. People will come to us and say, how am I supposed to raise my kids to be Christians in a culture like this one? You know, they're in public school, or even worse in some instances, they're in these private schools where they've gone off the rails in terms of ideology or whatever, politics, etcetera, and the simplest and best answer, and the answer no one wants to hear is just be a Christian. Like, be Christian parents and all the way. Yeah. Dive into your faith and let it out. Yeah. And I know that sounds sort of pedantic or minimalistic, but it's true. And kids are. They are. They have the best sort of. Hate to use the phrase, but, like, BS antenna, like, they are. They are always looking for, and they pick up on hypocrisy like no one else. And so if you're telling them, you know, you really want them to be Christian kids, but, you know, you're drinking all the time, or, you know, you're not reading your Bible at home, or you're not taking your faith seriously, like, it's a really simple answer. Like, if you really genuinely want more than anything else to raise your kids to love the Lord and be Christians, like, let them see you diving into your faith wholeheartedly and. And you will see the. The blessings of that over the long haul, man.

Beautiful.

I love it.

It's awesome.

Thank you, guys.

You guys are amazing.

Wait, Geo, Geo, what do you got?

Yes. Yes.

Sorry, I thought you wanted one for both of us.

Oh, well, I would say trust in the Lord. Trust him in all of your ways. I think that's a passage, right? A Bible passage. And I think every single day when you face challenges, bring it to the Lord and let the Lord give you the wisdom that you need. And also have a great community around you of other Christian parents that you can call. And when you reach a hurdle and you don't know what to do, those people who have more wisdom, who've already graduated their children into college or whatever it is, that phase, you know, phase of life that you're facing, that you're going through, they can help you. They can give you the right advice. So have a good village, a good community.

Amen.

That is so wise. You know, just speaking to that. Like, we just literally just this weekend before this recording, dropped our son off into his dorm for college, and he's our first one. And I have been so grateful. And I think you've had men, too. You've had men reach out to you and see how you're doing, giving advice, just checking up on us. And I've had my, you know, ladies ahead of me or maybe doing this alongside me, check on me and, like, how's your mama heart? How are y' all doing? How's Cooper doing? And I'm telling you, that village is just so important. You know, we talked about our kids having godly friendships, but us, too, as parents, we're modeling that for them as well, and to also be that village for someone else to be that supportive village. So I love that reminder. Gosh, we're going to have to have you guys on again. Sometimes you're so wise and have such great, just practical tips on really living out, being a godly parent and being real with our kids. So I just appreciate you all.

Thank you guys so much. Before we go there, tell folks where they can find you. Of course, if they're, if you're in the Houston area, definitely go to Story Church. Check it out. But where? For those in other parts of the world that want to connect with what you're doing, how can they connect with you?

Yep. Well, we have the Story Church online, which is at thestory church and you can watch services and things like that. But we also have this sort of in house podcast that you guys were on last week called the maybe God Podcast. And we put out weekly content really tackling some of the most difficult topics and questions that people are wrestling with, but especially folks that are sort of on the fringe of faith and just not real sure about Christianity. That's our, that's really our target audience. And so if you or someone you really care about is like really struggling with Christianity or faith or religion, then we curate this podcast for you. And you can find it@maybegodpod.com or anywhere that you listen to podcasts.

Great. And it is a great resource. We highly recommend it. Guys, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us. Keep up the great work and we hope to reconnect with you real soon. And for all you listeners, thank you guys so much for listening to this. Do us a favor and share this episode. There are parents of teens out there who could really use the wisdom and encouragement that was talked about today. So, so share it on social or just send a text message to a friend and say, hey, check this out. You might just make their day. So God bless you guys. We'll see you next time.

Amen. Thanks guys.

Thanks for having us.