Sunday Service: Give Me Strength

Philippians, 413, I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. What does that even mean? How does it apply to your and my life? If it even does, that’s what we’ll explore today. Welcome to the Sunday service. This past weekend, I watched a portion of the film, The Passion of the Christ. And if you’ve seen it, you know how incredibly powerful and how moving it is, how beautiful and awful and terrible and incredible and amazing it is hard to watch, impossible not to watch all of these things, the moment, one moment in particular that really moved me this time around, because I’ve seen the movie, probably like you, many times when Jesus is carrying His cross to his own crucifixion on the road to Calvary, what an incredible moment that is just so many profound things going on. And it struck me. Struck me as I was thinking about it. The next day, when God calls me to carry something, whatever that is, when God calls me to carry something, I better be strong enough to do it. God calls me to carry something, I better be strong enough to do it. I don’t want when the time comes and it’s necessary that I am in position to step up and to do something that is needed, that is necessary. I don’t want to fall short. I do not want to fail. I do not want to be unable to perform, to execute. Quite the opposite. I want to be ready. When you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready. We’ve heard these it’s true. Nobody cares. Work harder. You know, we don’t need too much anymore, because we’re very fortunate through the wonders of technology and modern living. But it used to be that you would chop wood all summer long, stack it up, not because you’re gonna burn it, because when the winter came, you needed that wood or you would die. So so many ways, so many different aspects of life. That’s still true yet. We’re removed from it. That’s why watching a film like that, or reading the Bible or thinking about things that are important to you and what matters just reminds us. As I talk about a lot, we need to be reminded more than we need to be instructed. I think that we all know that we should be prepared, like the Boy Scouts taught me when I was a kid, be prepared. Be ready. So when the phone rings, or whatever happens, and it’s time to spring into action, to take action, you want to be in a position to be able to do that, not to be left wondering what in the world I should do, or, worst case, to be unable to do what you need to do. There was this video on the internet. Course, there an unlimited number of videos, the internet memes and the Internet, in many ways, is undefeated, of course, but it was one of the most awful and pathetic videos I’ve probably ever seen as a parent. But I imagine even if you’re not, but more so if you are certainly of an overweight woman who was on a hill and lost control of her stroller that her baby was in, and it was just slowly rolling down the hill into what was obviously traffic, and she made a very, very feeble attempt to get her body up off the ground, only to fall flat back on her face, and thank God, literally, thank God, there was somebody else who caught the stroller. Can you imagine, can you imagine your feeling of absolute helplessness as you slip, you have a mistake, you stumble, and your baby starts rolling towards traffic, and you are so physically unwell that you’re not able to do anything about it. I can’t imagine that. And hopefully, hopefully, that moment motive. That human being to get her act together, to make her body strong enough so that that wouldn’t happen again. I mean, think about adversity. The thing about resiliency, personal resiliency, is that we make mistakes and then we learn from them. And that’s, you know, a big part of being a human being. The opportunity of being a human being is to make mistakes, to have bad, bad things happen to us, and to be to respond in a positive and proactive way. And in this example, it would be to make yourself strong enough where when you do have an accident and your baby, your stroller, slips out of your hands, that you can get up immediately and chase it down and save your child’s life. So when God calls me to carry something, I better be strong enough to do it. And I don’t know what form that that’s going to take. I have no idea, but I want to be ready to do it, or at least try and position myself so that I’m ready to do it so that I am strong enough to carry what he calls on me to carry so does that mean I have to be physically strong? Yes, that means I must be physically strong. Does that mean I have to be mentally strong? Yes, that means you need to be mentally strong. Does that mean I need to be emotionally strong? Yes, that means you need to be emotionally strong. Does that mean I need to be financially strong? Yes, yes to all of those things. How am I supposed to be able to do all those things like anything else? Focus on what must be done on a daily basis in order to get what it is that you want know what matters. Know what must be done in service of what matters. Take action that’s going to get you to where you want to go. So physically strong, mentally strong, emotionally strong, financially strong, whatever other forms of strength, spiritually strong. We must, we must cultivate in our lives. So we have to do what God calls me to do, whatever God calls me to do, whenever he calls on me to carry I want to be able to do that. Islam teaches in the Hadith, strong believers better and more beloved to Allah than the weak believer. While there is good in both, strive for that which will benefit you. Seek the help of Allah and do not feel helpless in Joshua. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God, will be with you wherever you go. Buddhism teaches us, conquer the angry one by not getting angry, conquer the wicked by goodness, conquer the stingy by generosity and the liar by speaking the truth. So all of those things demand that you are in control of your faculties, that you’re strong enough to recognize those things and that you’re stronger than your ego. You’re stronger and you know the truth. Sikhism teaches that truth strength is not in the body, but in the spirit. When it is in harmony with the divine. You know that the pen is mightier than the sword, so it’s not just about physical strength, but I do believe that that is a part of it. Do you have a strong spirit? Do you ever look around at the world, and I know that you do as I do, and wish that things were different? Do you ever look around and wonder, has everybody lost their collective minds? Me too. So what do you do? Then, what do you do? Then, when you look around and you see that, just shrug your shoulders, throw your hands up and move on. Or do you long? Do you wish for the ability to make change? Do you wish that you knew how to make change. The great Jordan Peterson talks about how meaning is found in responsibility. The opportunities to make a difference are everywhere. They are all around us. They’re all around you right now, if you desire, if

you want to be a difference making person, if you want to be an impact player in your life, look around you and look for the areas where responsibility has been abdicated, and that’s where your opportunities are. Then make yourself strong enough to be able to do fill in whatever gap has been lift left by that abdication of responsibility. That’s where your opportunities are, and again, make yourself strong in those areas, so that when you see them and you decide, I’m going to do something about this, that you’re actually capable of doing something about it, because you are I believe. I know that we’ve all been given this amazing gift of our existences, that you are unlike any human being who has ever walked the face of this earth, that you have gifts that are unique to you, and your abilities are unique to you, and your ability to do things are different and better than than the way that I do them. You have all the tools that you need to do, the work that you want to do. We’ve been given them. I also know that most of us, many of us, most of us, squander it. We squander the gifts that we’ve been given. And I know that I’ve certainly done that at various times in my life. I am a fallen human being, the same as you and I’ll continue to do so. I’ll continue to be but I’m working. I am striving to make myself strong. I’m striving to be in a position to answer God’s call, whatever form, fashion that it takes. When God calls me to carry something, I better be strong enough to do it. I will be. I am working to do exactly that. God willing. Make your body physically stronger through proper nutrition, exercise and sleep. You make your mind stronger through a commitment to lifelong learning. You make your heart and your emotions stronger by knowing what matters most to you, keeping your life in perspective. You make yourself financially strong by breaking free of your debt, breaking free of the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck, finding financial security. All of these things are within your control and all possible through God. Every night, I ask God to give me strength, because life is hard. It’s really hard. One of the features of humanity it’s disappointment, it’s pain, it’s suffering, it’s challenge, it’s sadness, it’s elation, it’s happiness, it’s love, it’s all of these things, not just thinking about it from a negative standpoint, but when the love of your life walks through the door, will you be in position to take advantage of it, to get up and introduce yourself, or whatever it might Be when the career opportunity of a lifetime presents itself to you, you be confident enough to accept the challenge. When the leadership opportunity opens up, somebody says you’re the person for the job, will you be ready to step into the role? I don’t know God asks you to lift something heavy. Better be strong enough to do it, and I know you can. You’re worthy of everything that you want. You are deserving of it. We’re just not entitled to it. I need to ask God for help and for the strength to do it, and then we need to do our part to make ourselves as strong as we possibly can. As always, do your part by doing your best. You.

george grombacher 16:00
So if I want my iPhone, and my Tesla and my Bitcoin to work, we need to get the metal out of the ground.

Pierre Leveille 16:07
Absolutely. Without it, we cannot do it.

george grombacher 16:13
Why? Why is there a Why has production been going down.

Pierre Leveille 16:21
Because the large mines that are producing most of the copper in the world, the grades are going down slowly they’re going there, they’re arriving near the end of life. So and of life of mines in general means less production. And in the past, at least 15 years, the exploration expenditure for copper were pretty low, because the price of copper was low. And when the price is low, companies are tending to not invest more so much in exploration, which is what we see today. It’s it’s, it’s not the way to look at it. Because nobody 15 years ago was able to predict that there would be a so massive shortage, or it’s so massive demand coming. But in the past five years, or let’s say since the since 10 years, we have seen that more and more coming. And then the by the time you react start exploring and there’s more money than then ever that is putting in put it in expression at the moment for copper at least. And what we see is that the it takes time, it could take up to 2025 years between the time you find a deposit that it gets in production. So but but the year the time is counted. So it’s it’s very important to so you will see company reopening old mines, what it will push also, which is not bad, it will force to two, it will force to find a it will force to find ways of recalibrating customer, you know the metals, that will be more and more important.

george grombacher 18:07
So finding, okay, so for lack of a better term recycling metals that are just sitting around somewhere extremely important. Yeah. And then going and going back to historic minds that maybe for lack of technology, or just lack of will or reasons, but maybe now because there’s such a demand, there’s an appetite to go back to those.

Pierre Leveille 18:33
Yes, but there will be a lot of failures into that for many reasons. But the ones that will be in that will resume mining it’s just going to be a short term temporary solution. No it’s it’s not going to be you need to find deposit that will that will operate 50 years you know at least it’s 25 to 50 years at least and an old mind that you do in production in general it’s less than 10 years.

george grombacher 19:03
Got it. Oh there we go. Up here. People are ready for your difference making tip What do you have for them

Pierre Leveille 19:14
You mean an investment or

george grombacher 19:17
whatever you’re into, you’ve got so much life experience with raising a family and doing business all over the world and having your kids go to school in Africa so a tip on copper or whatever you’re into.

Pierre Leveille 19:34
But there’s two things I like to see and I was telling my children many times and I always said you know don’t focus on what will bring you specifically money don’t think of Getting Rich. Think of doing what you what you like, what you feel your your your your your, you know you have been born to do so use your most you skills, do what you like, do what you wet well, and good things will happen to you. And I can see them grow in their life. And I can tell you that this is what happens. And sometimes you have setback like I had recently. But if we do things properly, if we do things that we like, and we liked that project, we were very passionate about that project, not only me, all my team, and if we do things properly, if we do things correctly, good things will happen. And we will probably get the project back had to go forward or we will find another big project that will be the launch of a new era. So that’s my most important tip in life. Do what you like, do it with your best scale and do it well and good things will happen.

george grombacher 20:49
Pierre Leveille 21:03
Thank you. I was happy to be with you to today.

george grombacher 21:06
Damn, tell us the websites and where where people can connect and find you.

Pierre Leveille 21:13
The it’s Deep South resources.com. So pretty simple.

george grombacher 21:18
Perfect. Well, if you enjoyed this as much as I did show up here your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciate good ideas, go to deep south resources, calm and learn all about what they’re working on and track their progress.

Pierre Leveille 21:32
Thanks. Thanks, have a nice day.

george grombacher 21:36
And until next time, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all in this together.