Episode #6-Loving Life & People

In this episode of College Knockoffs, Brie talks about her favorite years and who she admires the most. She shares that her favorite year was 2021, a year of healing and self-discovery. Her second favorite year was 2022, a year filled with fun and new experiences. Brie also admires her grandfather, who was kind and patient, and her grandmother, who taught her important life lessons. Hannah's favorite year is 2024, as she is excited about the changes happening in her life. She admires her parents for their support and encouragement. Brie also mentions a special Easter reading from the book of Mark. Welcome back to College Knockoffs with Brie and Hannah. I'm Brie. Unfortunately, Hannah could not be on pod today, so it's just going to be me for episode 6, but it's still going to be a lot of fun. So, just to start, I'll tell you how my week was. It wasn't bad. Nothing, like, great happened, but, I mean, it wasn't bad. I just went to work, and I was kind of busy at work. There was a lot going on, so the week just kind of went by really fast, so I don't really, like, remember much of what happened. But, yeah, so it wasn't bad, but, you know, just nothing happened to make it great either. So, yeah, that's how my week was. Let's get started. Our topics for episode 6 are favorite year and who we admire the most, and even though Hannah's not here, I'm still going to share hers as well. She went ahead and sent them to me just so that, you know, you guys can still hear hers as well. So, let's get started on that. I had a hard time choosing my favorite year, and by favorite year, we mean, like, our favorite year of life, our favorite year that we've lived. And I had a hard time choosing, honestly. And now, looking at them and seeing my reasons for why they're my favorite, I can see that my second year that I listed has many more reasons. So, maybe that is my favorite year, but I'm very proud of the first one. Okay, so the first one is the year 2021, and I call it my year of healing. I worked on finding myself again. I had gotten out of a relationship, and it was really bad, and I just, like, totally broke down from that, and so I was working on finding myself and being happy with just me. And with that, my relationship with God grew tremendously. I spent so much time with Him, and that was really, really great, but I was also lonely in learning to be okay with it. So, that's a year that I'm just very proud of for myself, and I think that's why I listed it is just because of, you know, how proud I am of myself for, like, going through what I went through and then working to heal myself and grow my relationship with God. My second year I listed was actually the year 2022, and it's so crazy. It's like a switch flipped. I was just instantly happy and healed from the year before. That is actually when Hannah and I became best friends, and because, like, the, what, second week of January of 2022 is when we went on our trip to Texas, and we've already told you guys back in episode one that that's when we grew really, really close. So, yeah, Hannah and I became best friends that year. We were constantly going somewhere or having fun just at home. I graduated college in 2022 and then chose a career I didn't have a degree in because, yeah, the summer of 2022 is when I decided I wasn't really happy with my job, and I decided to pursue teaching instead. And that was really great for me also because I, you know, didn't realize how much I would love that until I was just, like, interviewing for jobs, and I was like, oh, yeah, this is actually something that I could really see myself doing and really see myself having a lot of fun with. That's also when my boyfriend and I started dating, and that's been super great. Two of my best friends got married that year, and my sister graduated high school, so there's just a lot of things that happened in 2022 that made it, like, so fun, and I labeled it, I labeled it my fun year. I just loved life again. I was a lot more sunshine instead of, like, rain clouds. So, yeah, those are my favorite years. Let's see, Hannah's. Hannah's is this year, 2024. She says she loves all the changes that are happening in her life, and she's going to be moving soon. Which is really exciting for her. Sad for me because I'm going to miss her. She already lives hundreds of miles away, and we don't get to see each other much, and now if she moves, like, thousands of miles away, it's going to be so hard. But it's okay. I'm still super happy for her anyways, because, I mean, she's my bestie. I love her. Okay, next topic. I am literally, guys, flying through this. I'm looking at the recording and realizing it says I'm only at five and a half minutes, and so this is really sad. I don't know how people record podcasts by themselves, because how do they make them so long? Anyways, okay, I'll try to just maybe talk slower. Maybe that's my problem. I'm just talking so fast. I guess I don't have Hannah to just, like, bounce off of either, but anyways, okay, moving on, sorry. Who we admire the most. So this one was also really, really hard for me to decide, and so I chose one person that is no longer living, no longer with us, and then I chose someone that's still living, because these two people I've admired my whole life. They are absolutely beautiful people. So yeah, someone that is no longer here is my papa. So he's my paternal, I think that's the right one, my dad's dad. He was just a friend to literally everyone. He could talk to anyone for 30 minutes, an hour, forever, honestly. He was just so kind, and I never saw him mad. Like, I don't remember a time ever seeing Papa mad. He always just held his composure, or, you know, like, didn't let things bother him, just let things kind of roll off of his back. He taught, or tried, tried, to teach me how to weld, and was so patient, because I was, for a while, one of the only girl granddaughters, or at least one that was old enough to, like, kind of do things with me. My other older cousins. But they would always be out in the shop, and they would always be, like, welding, and doing something, building birdhouses, and I wanted to be all over that, and so I was, like, the only girl that was out there. And Papa was super patient in trying to teach me those things. And it's been, oh my gosh, let's see, like, five years, I think. Almost six, without him. And it's so crazy that it's been that long, but it also doesn't feel like it's been that long. But he was just someone that I always looked up to, and, you know, somebody that I always just wanted to be like, and yeah, I admire him a lot. The next person, the one that I chose, that is living and still here, is my nanny, which would be my dad's mom. So, she, oh my gosh, I could go on and on about this woman. She is the one that taught me how to cook eggs and pancakes, because when my dad would have to go to work, I'd go to nanny's, and she would teach me how to cook eggs and pancakes, and we'd, you know, spend the morning making breakfast, and then I always did this thing where I would write a letter or a note for the mailman and always thank him for, you know, bringing my nanny's mail to him. Or to her. And I talked to nanny about this kind of recently, actually, and she said that, because I always just, you know, it'd just be a piece of paper that I folded up and I'd go stick it in the mailbox, but when I would leave, she'd go out there and get it and actually put it in an envelope and put a stamp on it, and I didn't know that, but I mean, that's just one way that shows you just how amazing she is. She taught me what it's like to be proper and polite and a godly woman, honestly. Like, she is just the epitome of a godly, proper, polite woman. And I've always loved that about her, and that she's always been that, you know, constant that I can watch and see, and, you know, I just know, like, that's how I want to grow up and that's how I want to be. She's very hospitable. I mean, will welcome anyone at any time. She's, oh my gosh, I mean, I've stayed over there so many times, even as an adult, I've stayed over there. She's helped me in any way that she can. She, one semester, helped me pay for my college and, you know, told me I don't need to pay her back right away. Like, she's not that worried about it. She's just amazing. She listens to me rant. I mean, she's always on my side, but she's also always honest with me. She'll tell me how it is, even if I don't want to hear it. But she is just someone that I love so much, and I don't know, the day I lose her too is going to be a very awful day for me. So yeah, those are who I, those are the people that I admire most. Hannah's are her parents, her mom and dad. She says they are her best friends, and they always push her to be better, and they always go the extra mile for her too. And I can, I've honestly seen that as well. Like, I've seen her parents be there for her, and go extra miles for her. Hannah's parents are amazing, I do. I love them too, they're awesome. But yeah, those are our topics, and that was really short. I really wish I had handed it off off of. But next episode, she'll be back. I am still going to share though, what I read this week, and I know in the last episode I said I was going to start Isaiah, which I still am, I still plan on it, but because it is Easter weekend, I wanted to do something a little special, and do like an Easter special thing. So, that's what we're going to do. And so what I read was, oops, dropping stuff. It's not like your normal Easter where it's going through, you know, Jesus being crucified and then resurrected. I actually chose from Mark 10, 32-45, and so I'm just going to like read that real fast, and then I'll like go over my notes and stuff. Okay, so Mark 10, 32-45 says, oh my gosh, I lost my spot. Okay, sorry. They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him. Listen, he said, we're going up to Jerusalem, where the son of man will be betrayed to the leading priest. And the teachers of religious law, they will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him. But after three days, he will rise again. Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. Teacher, they said, we want you to do us a favor. What is your request, he asked. They replied, when you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left. But Jesus said to them, you don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I'm about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with? Oh, yes, they replied, we are able. Then Jesus told them, you will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen. When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. So Jesus called them together and said, you know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you, it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader amongst you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others, and to give his life as a ransom for many. So, with that being said, my notes on this. I mean, you need to hear it over and over again. And I think it's so true. Every time I read the gospel and what happened to Jesus, it's just like, you know, a big shock or a big hit and you're like, oh my gosh. All the crazy things that happened, you know, the crown of thorns shoved into his head, being whipped, beaten, and then forcing him to carry his own cross, the nails in the hands and the feet, like, that is brutal torture. And he did that for us. And it's, I mean, so crazy because that's how much God loves us. So my notes, my take away from this is, in verse 32-34, talking about God, the tone of Jesus has changed. He's, you know, maybe a little angrier. And he's, you know, like, can you endure what I'm about to endure? Are you sure you can do that? And in this passage, God is the author of salvation. You know, he has written everything out. He, God doesn't treat us according to what we deserve. He doesn't. Moving on to 34-35, I'm sorry, to 42, James and John want seats next to Jesus in heaven. And they are exposing humanity's deepest problem. They're thinking about power and glory and they want to benefit from it. Jesus wants to give, and the disciples are wanting to get in this situation. You know, they put it off by, you know, wanting to sit on his right and left side to honor him, but they're not. It's almost like they're asking for attention, you know? Ransom, okay, it talks about that. That was in, like, the last verse, in verse 45. Ransom is the redemption of God's people. While we live for ourselves, Jesus gave up his life for us. You know, we have to constantly be reminded of that, too. We can get so caught up, and I've said this a lot on Pod, but we get so caught up in the world and all the things that happen in the world and worldly things, you know, things that make us sin. And Jesus gave himself up for us, and we really, really need to focus on that. Jesus was focused on Jerusalem the whole time, you know? He was thinking about the people. And if you don't take Jesus' blood and apply it to your heart, God's anger is still, like, with you, you know? I mean, we have to actually apply it to our heart and apply it to our lives. Jesus is our lamb, our ransom. The cross cannot be just our story. It must also be the shape of our life, how we live. The cross is the template for how we must lead. We need to take up our own crosses and follow Jesus. And just one more thing, one more note that I have for this was, the good news of the gospel starts with the bad news of the gospel, which is true. Thinking about it, thinking about the torture that he went through, that's the bad news. And thinking about, like, all the sinners and all that was taking place at the time, like, that's the bad news. And we have to get through all of that in order to get to the good news, which is Jesus dying for us. And, yeah, so, that's what I read this week, and I've, you know, been kind of really focusing on it. I've also read different versions, or, yeah, from, like, different books. I've kind of skimmed through Matthew and Mark, and then I looked a little bit in 1 Corinthians. But, yeah, so, that's what I read. I don't know what Hannah read this week. She did not share that with me. I'm hoping she started, I think what she said was Numbers, right? I hope she started Numbers, and she'll catch us up on that when she comes back for the next episode. But, yeah, so, I think the topic we're going to do next episode is, oh my gosh, where did I write it? Here it is. Little things that aren't little. You know, like, little things that people do that are actually big things. And I'm really excited for that. Because I feel like I have a lot of those. But, anyways, guys, thank you so much. This is a short one. Sorry. I'll do better next time if I have to go so long again. But, thanks for listening. I hope you guys have a great week. And, you know, Hannah's not here to say deuces, so I guess I'm going to have to. But, deuces, guys. See you later.