Choose Joy with Jason Lavrack

Well, I feel like I've been fortunate in my lifetime. I've gotten to meet quite a few people that choose joy, and I'm instantly attracted to it. It's like, oh, I want more of that.

Yeah.

So why would people choose the other route? Why would they choose to tear others down, be divisive between each other? All the things that we see in the world today, or at least believe about the world today, that it's divided, it's negative, it's greed, it's all of this stuff. Why would people choose that over joy if joy is so attractive?

I mean, you know, it's not always what's attractive is the choices that we make, right? It's. It's how. How is it packaged, right? I mean, the news is meant to keep us confused. So there's a lot of people that watch the news, that buy into what the news is saying and media is. And I think that it depends on the agenda of the source, right? If your agenda is to be the head of the class, you're in the wrong class, right? I mean, think about that, right? Let that sink in for a little bit. Because we all struggle with pride. I struggle with it. I have to remind myself every single day, right, that my words matter and. And I need to be more selective with them because, you know, the flesh of Jason wants to. Wants to go down the rabbit hole of sarcasm because I know it's funny. There's sometimes, like, my humor that's natural in me, and it was the way that was raised. My whole life is, man, the more sarcastic we are, the funnier it is. And that's not always the case with everybody else. And it's. So, you know, I have to also think about the other person's perspective on the person receiving it. So I think that why would someone choose it, man? Obstacles. Life. Life gets in the way. There's so much white noise out there. But if we don't recognize it as white noise, it will affect you. And that one day it affects you. The second day, you choose to allow it. That person who offended you, again, we'll go back to the choice. We have a choice to remain offended. So when it's a person, it's a business. It's a decision someone made that we don't agree with, and it doesn't fit our own agenda. That's the source. Right? Now I'm offended, and now I'm internalizing. That's where revenge comes in. It's where people want to go after somebody's character, their integrity. It's where I'll go shut down. And now I'm not producing. Mana can be applied in so many ways. And I just think that everybody has an opportunity.

It's pretty insightful. Like our agenda personally, like, what we're after can lead to the negativity, of course. But if we don't. If we don't worry about what our agenda is and we worry about what God's agenda is for us, Joy is easy.

I mean, that's a hundred percent true. That's. And that goes back to in the beginning we were talking about, like, you know, for me, I can. I can speak from just my. From my own experience. You know, when I was obedient, man, things were easy. When I mean obedient. I mean, when I allowed God into my decisions, right. I knew I wasn't doing it alone. I'm not the one can control. Joy was easy even when things weren't that great. And then when I was like, nah, man, I gotta do this on my own. I'm not feeling it. Right. My faith is dying at the church I'm at. Well, what was I doing to change it? Nothing. I was doing the same old thing. It's like the definition of insanity, right? I was doing the same thing repeatedly, over and over again, expecting a different result. Yeah. And there was a different result. It just wasn't good.

I have unfortunately been a member of four or five churches throughout my lifetime where it was really good. I mean, super active and the Holy Spirit was there, right? But then all of a sudden, there's this little shift. There's this little, you know, a little chirping, There's a little bit of drama. There's. And it just. It just festers. And then all of a sudden, the church isn't the church anymore. Some of that has to do with certain leaders leaving and certain leaders coming in and that type of thing. But I had this tendency of going, well, what's the pastor doing about this? Right? Like, that's, that's his job. And as I've gotten older, I reflect on, like, why aren't I doing something about it? Why aren't I, like, instead of jumping in on the drama and jumping in on the, hey, we need this. Pastor needs to do something about this.

Wow.

Okay. No, he doesn't. Like, we need to. We're the ones doing this. We're the ones having the time. Like, why do you feel that way? What can we do about it? How can we solve it? And. And doing more of that instead of more feeding the flame yeah.

You know, I think, you know, there's a. You know, a lot of people, you know, they. They may. They may find, like, reading boring. But, you know, we have so many ways of getting information fed to us. And I think that, you know, it goes back to that, that. I mean, sociologists and psychologists, they all agree on this. What goes in, right, what we see and what we hear is what comes out. It is the most simple. It's like psychology 101. So you have to ask yourself, if I'm down, if I'm depressed, if I'm having problems. You can literally start with, what's the music you're listening to, Right? What are the television shows that you're watching? I can tell you, I. I was like, the most, like, man, I want to watch Breaking Bad. I can't wait till the next episode. And that's a really good show. Great acting, great content. All the stuff, right? Nudity, violence, blood, killing, drugs. All the great stuff, right? Because. And I say that it's great because, you know, if you're not having fun while you're sitting, then you're not doing it right, right? So that's. That's one thing I want to say right here on record right now. If you're up to no good and doing some bad stuff and you're not having a blast, you're with the wrong group of people, and you're doing it wrong. Whatever you're doing is wrong. Stop.

Oh, man. That's on that note. Yeah.

I want to tell. I want to. I'll make it quick, man. I was challenged with the 5, 5 and 5. For 21 days it takes to. To create a habit or to break a habit. I was given a task because I was. I was actually doing load in, load out at 1. I had a church one time and loading in chairs and stuff, and we were listening to rap music on the stereo system, right? And they were dropping some words, and it was good music. I'm not going to say it wasn't. The beat was good, the lyrics were good. Everything was good.

If you're from Houston, you like rap music. It just is.

It just is what it is, man. Um, and the pastor's like, hey, man, I'm not against that. I know the song too, right? I could probably sing some of the lyrics even. That's how cool my pastor was and is and any. And he goes, man, but I want to give you a challenge. I'm gonna preach about it. It's the 5, 5 and 5. Before you go digital every morning, I want you to spend five minutes reading scripture. I want you to spend five minutes in prayer, and then I want you to listen to about five minutes of worship music, and I want you to do that for 21 days. Now, I'd like to see you do it for a year, but I want you to do it. Huh? Five, five and five. It was list. Read five minutes of scripture, do five minutes of prayer, and do five minutes of listening to worship music. Right. So worship music, prayer, and either some sort of devotional or reading scripture.

Okay.

Where you're at least getting part of the message from the Bible said. And do that for 21 days. Right. Because they were doing the 21 days of fasting. So what he was asking me basically to do a 21 days of fasting leading up to Easter was to get rid of social media in the morning. Like, don't get on your phone right away. Don't go to your email. Start your day off with this. Now, I already had a routine. Okay. But it wasn't all three. And it was interesting what happened, and I want to share it with you. Jim is. Since then, just those 21 days, it is so rare for me to listen to secular music. Now. That was seven years ago.

Wow.

And in the last seven years, my go to playlists on my phone at our wedding, my wife and I wedding, was filled with worship music. And it opened up the door to something I've been able to even share with you a little bit was the discovery of this really amazing quality of worship music that I didn't even know existed and was out there because I still had this old adage of, you know, the old white guy in a suit preaching at a pulpit and the. The old. Just traditional worship songs, you know, standing there.

Yeah, it was that. And there was like two. Two other sources. Amy, Grant and Petra. Like, that was it.

Yeah. Maybe sprinkle some Phillips, Craig and Dean in there. And you better watch out, man.

Okay, well, that was neat, but there's not much of it, so now I'm gonna go listen to this other stuff. I actually grew up playing basketball with Scarface. Like that group. They were on the court with us and stuff like that. So there's a. There's a little nugget for you.

So I just wanted to share that, man. That was the five, five and five. And I can tell you, it just. Again, it just elevated this relationship that I have with my Lord and Savior. It elevated my relationship with others. I believe it gave me a different lens to look at people when we do connect groups. Even in business at work, it was actually seven years ago was the first time, and I wasn't afraid to share my faith. I've never been ashamed of it, but it was the first time that I actually. It challenged me to pray before business meetings and to ask if I could pray before meetings internally in the office as well as with other people in business and clients. And the fear. I think there was some fear of doing that in the past, man. I go in with confidence because now it's received so well when you're going to share a meal with a client that you're as a prospect, you don't even doing business with them yet. It's someone you're targeting. And to say, hey, man, do you mind if I bless a meal? And just ask, hey, Lord, bless this meal, Bless what we're going to say. You know, give them a double portion of success, double portion of legacy, double portion of finances. May they give back to their community. Let this meeting be blessed and. And your will be done. And then to bless the food, man, I just. It's really, It's.

I can remember that time in my life where it was there was fears because you just didn't know, right. Like the other person, what their belief systems were or if you were in a business setting, like in your offices, what. You know, everybody's got their own way, right? Sure.

Yeah.

But I never had anybody say no.

And.

And the more I asked, the more yeses I got. We all like yeses. So now it's easy now. Like, it's like, hey, we're gonna pray. Is that okay with you? And. And if anybody did say no, okay, I'm gonna respect them because I'm not gonna. I'm not going to push go.

Yeah.

It's just not the way I am. I'm not wired that way. I don't think that's what it says scripturally to do, but I'm going to live my way. And hopefully I'm that through that action, it continues to be attractive. And maybe I'm not the right person for him, the right voice for him, the right message for them, but it's a piece along the way that they might bump into the next guy like Jason, and it might be the right piece. And those pieces all add up. The more of us out there doing, I think the better it is.

Yeah, for sure. I agree with it. Interesting to see, like, how the things that we may be afraid of, of doing that just a simple call to action. You go, man, that was much Easier. And I thought all I had to.

Do was do it.

All I had to do was do it. What was I afraid of?

Yeah, I wish I was. I wish it was more of a habit, to be honest. Sometimes I just forget, like, we're like. We go to dinner, we're hanging out with buddies and stuff, and we just start eating. I'm like, about five minutes now, like, oh. And I go, hey, guys, I forgot. I forgot. If we bless this meal. And they're like, still cool with it. It's not a problem. This has been a great interview, Jason. I. I knew it was going to be. I didn't know it was going to be this good.

Thanks, man.

I appreciate everything that you share today. I know it's a different podcast than what we would normally do. Pretty heavy fai. If people listen to our podcast, they. They know about that from me. But I hope they found something in here, no matter what's going on in the world. Positive, negative.

Sure.

But they found something in here that they're missing. They're missing. Excuse me. Well, they're missing this piece of joy because they have peace with where they're at.

Yeah.

If that's something that you're missing, call me, message me. DM me like I was. Send up a smoke signal, whatever.

Yeah.

I'm more than willing to talk with you about it, which we're called here to do. I'm not ashamed to say it in any way, shape, form or fashion, and I appreciate you, Jason, for being of that persuasion as well.

Man, any. Any amount of time that I get with you is a. Is a blessing, man. From the first time we met, I know that our lives are going to be threaded together forever. First thing I told my wife after the time I met you was, you know, and even in scripture, we see it in our own lives. I've heard a lot of sermons on it where it says, you know, you're going to have a relationship with a friend for a reason, a season or a lifetime. And I knew from the word get. I told my wife, I said, this is going to be someone I'm close, close with for a lifetime. So is. It's truly my honor, man.

Likewise, brother. I'm here.

I look forward to continuing doing life with you, man. Let me know whatever. And I'm happy to give my resume of my accolades. So it's. It could be somewhat more relatable, but some other time. To me, it's just not that important, man. It's not. It's not what I've done. It's who I am. And the next step for me is I'm praying that God gives me the. The courage to have legs for legacy. And the same for you, man, because for me, that's. That's next steps is choosing joy and. And having the right legs for the legacy that's to come. So it'll be good to share that at some time.

Thanks for being on the show. I really appreciate. I know we took a lot of time that I know your time is valuable. I'm honored to have you on the show. Honored to have you as a friend, and thank you.

I feel the same way, man. I appreciate it.

I'm going to let you go. If you want to hang out for just a second, though, I'll go ahead and close out here and. And we. We'll wrap up in just a second.

Sounds good, man.

All right, cool. Whoa. Not. Not where I was expecting to go. There was a couple of things in there that I really wanted to. To make sure that we honed in on because I. I knew them about Jason, but the depth, the wisdom, the just unabashed freedom of knowing that he's a man of faith. I didn't know we would talk about that as much as we did, and I'm glad we did. I hope in listening to this episode, actually probably two episodes, this is part two now, that if there was a touch, there is a feel, a tug, a nudge in any way, you can always get a hold of me through. You can message at contractor radio on Facebook. You can message on our YouTube channel. Private message me. Shoot. I'll give you my phone number. My phone number is 715-808-1542. It's been my number for 26 years. It's never changed. I don't have anything to run from. I've paid. Everybody I ever said I would get was gonna pay. And too many people want to give me money at that number, so I ain't getting rid of it. If you felt a nudge, you need to talk to somebody about your faith or what faith is all about or this journey with God. You're stuck. You've paused. You're starting. It doesn't matter. Reach out to me. Shoot me a text message and we'll start a conversation. I'm no angel, and neither are you. We all sin. We're all hypocrites. We all mess up. But I think that's what. I think that's what the church is for. What better place for us? Thanks for hanging out with us on this episode. Of contractor radio, and we'll catch you next time.