360: Podcast Showcase - Pause To Consider

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1. 0:01

   Welcome to the good Chris Adelphian Talks podcast. This is brother Brian. This week’s talk is another one of the spotlighted Chris Adelphian podcasts that we think you would also benefit from being tuned into. This one is brother Sam Taylor’s Pause to Consider, which she’s run for a few years now on and off.

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   And the format is a very focused devotion, usually no longer than 8 to 10 minutes, that plays off of famous phrases or more commonly, historical interesting stories as a mirror to a larger and more impactful spiritual lesson.

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   Now, this podcast and the perspective that Brother Sam brings out has inspired many other talks. I find that of this particular series, many of them are repeat listens because the stories just stick with you so easily. And if you listen to one, once you get into a bunch of them, you’ll see what I mean. So the one that you’re about to listen to is called Of Bombers and Biases, which refers to a flawed logic about plane damage in World War 2 and how we can overlook the needs of those in our community that don’t fit the typical mold. Brother Sam speaks from the heart like few can, and I hope you’re able to appreciate well lesson he’s trying to bring out. This was a really hard choice to narrow down. So I’d also highly recommend that if you enjoyed this one, immediately go and listen to the next one after this, which is enduring the spiritual siege.

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   So as always, we hope that this strengthens your faith and brightens your day. From the podcast, pause to consider Brother Sam Taylor of Bombers and Biases.

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   Pause to consider the podcast where you put your busy day on. Pause to consider spiritual encouragement and wisdom on your walk towards God’s Kingdom. Thanks for joining me. I’m Sam Taylor, here to get you thinking about the Word of God.

6. 3:18

   At the height of World War 2, the Allied powers conducted studies on how to reduce losses of their bomber aircraft to enemy fire. The initial plan was to study the planes that made it back to base to study their damaged areas. But it was Abraham Vold, a Jewish Hungarian mathematician with the Statistical Research Group at Columbia University, that came up with a novel idea.

7. 3:43

   Vold recognized that survivorship bias was skewing the data, as the only planes they could study were the ones that returned. Instead of reinforcing the damaged areas that were proven to handle damage, he proposed they reinforce the areas of the planes with the least amount of damage as planes. Damage in those areas weren’t coming back by considering the absence of information from destroyed planes that couldn’t be represented.

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   Abraham Vald’s understanding of survivorship bias potentially save the lives of thousands of Allied pilots and crewmen. Survivorship bias distorts our worldview by having us believe success is achievable just by working hard. When we hear about a famous singer who had nothing but followed their dreams until they succeeded, well, we don’t hear the countless stories of untold thousands of people who also tried to follow their dream, but they couldn’t catch a break.

9. 4:45

   By seeing one person become successful, we’re led to believe their story tells the whole picture, that they somehow tried harder or deserve success more. And we could succeed too, if we just tried. And if we just proved it, we deserved it. But the most accurate and important information should come from the people whose voices aren’t heard. Throughout the Bible, God commanded Israel to especially tend to the needs of the sojourners, the fatherless, and the widows among them.

10. 5:22

    They were the marginalized people in their communities that were overlooked. They were the ones who weren’t heard. Let’s read from Deuteronomy 24 verses 17 through 22 to see what provisions God had in place for those who couldn’t speak for themselves. You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there.

11. 5:55

    Therefore, I command you to do this. When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again.

12. 6:18

    It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore, I command you to do this. God appealed to the empathy of the children of Israel that were once oppressed in Egypt to remind them of the importance of caring for those who couldn’t advocate for themselves. These vulnerable members of society in ancient Israel serve not only as a constant reminder of the compassion everyone should extend, but also a reminder that without God’s care, all Israel would be equally destitute and pitiable. It wasn’t hard work or industriousness that set anyone above being poor.

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    It was God’s grace and the expectation that those afforded more grace would see themselves as vehicles of God’s grace towards others. Which raises a question Who are the voiceless in our midst today? While we undoubtedly have strangers and widows and orphans among us, they’re not the only one to struggle to be hurt.

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    Those fighting mental illnesses such as depression, victims of passive or active neglect, the lonely and heartbroken are but a few of many groups that go unrepresented because they often feel like they don’t belong and therefore don’t come together with the rest of their community. While tending to the needs of those present is a critical part of pastoral care, we have an inaccurate and incomplete picture of the needs to be met when we don’t factor in those who aren’t there to speak for themselves.

15. 8:19

    The Lord Jesus recognized this and try to explain it to those around Him in Luke 15 verses one through 7. Now the tax collectors and sinners, we’re all drawing near to Him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, this man received sinners and eats with them. So he told them this parable.

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    What man of you having 100 sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbor, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.

17. 9:02

    Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over 1 Sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. A major obstacle in understanding the parable of the Lost sheep is our failure to acknowledge our own survivorship bias. Though there were 99 sheep that weren’t missing, they didn’t paint the complete picture of the condition of the flock.

18. 9:36

    The one missing sheep was as important to the story as the 99. How often do we attribute one person straying from our flock and becoming spiritually lost due to personal weakness? How frequently do we lament that they wouldn’t have fallen away if they just worked harder, if they had done more Bible study, if they had gone to Bible class more often? How different is this line of thinking from reinforcing damaged areas of bomber planes that can still get back rather than focusing on what caused the others to crash? When we believe this flawed logic, we failed to consider the words of Isaiah 53 verse 6.

19. 10:28

    All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to His own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. We’re all lost in one way or another, and Christ continually seeks to bring us back to Him, back to the fold. The difference between us getting back to God or continuing to be lost it isn’t due to our own strength. It’s whether our vulnerabilities are sufficiently reinforced to withstand the trials of life.

20. 11:05

    It’s up to us as God’s children to ensure our community tends to the needs of the voiceless and marginalized among us. We need to be the ones looking to see who’s missing and have the courage to ask what we aren’t doing to offer support. Otherwise, things just won’t change. Are there people struggling with loneliness that aren’t around?

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    Well, what are we doing to validate their struggle and to offer them support? What about those who work overnight and weekend shifts? What are we doing to make them feel part of the community? There are countless needs that go unmet because we’re only focusing on those making it back to base instead of focusing on those who are absent because their trials prevent them from being among us.

22. 11:55

    We owe it to each other to be willing vehicles of God’s grace and reconciliation to other members of His family because God has extended to each of us abundant grace to be freed from sin through Christ Jesus. So let’s seek each other out.

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    Let’s strive to bind each other up so that one day we might, as one body in Christ, see that fulfillment of Ezekiel 34 verses 11 through 16, which we’ll read to wrap up our time together. For thus says the Lord God, Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.

24. 12:40

    As a shepherd seeks out his flock. When he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep. And I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel by the ravines.

25. 13:02

    And in all the inhabited places of the country I will feed them with good pasture. And on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land and on rich pasture. They shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak and the fat, and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

26. 13:43

    I want to thank you for listening to another episode of Pause to Consider. If you found this episode helpful, I hope you share it with your friends and your loved ones. If you have any questions or feedback, I’d love to hear it. You can e-mail me at Pause to Consider [email protected], or you can reach out to me on my Pause to Consider pages on Facebook and Instagram.

27. 14:07

    But above everything else, I just hope this episode was helpful for you, and I pray that God will be with you until we meet again, whether it’s on our next episode or in God’s Kingdom. God bless.

28. 14:28

    Thank you for listening to Pause to Consider. I’m Levi and I wanted to be sure you’ve heard about a few other podcasts in the WCF network. I am actually one of the Co hosts on a show called a Little Faith where we explore faith breakdowns and build ups with different people who have very powerful stories to tell. That’s a little faith.

29. 14:46

    Tom and Naomi are exploring how we interact in our ecclesial relationships in from the platform. It’s a very in depth series that is incredibly helpful for understanding and developing compassion and better listening practices. You can find both of those wherever you get your podcasts or our website wcfoundation.org/podcasts. Have a great week.