The Uncommon Man
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The Uncommon Man
6. Protect Your Sabbath: Why Time Discipline Matters
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In this episode of The Uncommon Man Podcast, we talk about why protecting your Sabbath isn’t optional—and why time discipline matters more than hustle. From burnout and calendar overload to giving your family the leftovers, this conversation challenges the idea of “work-life balance” and reframes Sabbath as intentional rest in God, not just doing nothing.
If you feel constantly tired, stretched thin, or like your schedule controls you instead of the other way around, this episode is for you. Learn how to manage your time with purpose, protect what matters most, and live a more uncommon life.
Cold Open: Travel And The $3 Meltdown
JonWelcome to the Uncommon Man Podcast. We are your host, I'm John, sitting here with Mr. Devin. How you doing, buddy?
DevinI'm good, buddy. Glad to be here. Glad to be alive. It's gonna sound weird. Alright. So you just got back from a trip. Yeah, I had to go out to Dallas, Texas for a little bit. Where there was snow on the ground, so I finally got to see some snow this year. Because here where we live in central Alabama, it was a couple of weeks ago it was snowing in the north, and then in the south of Alabama, there was like three tornadoes that touched down. I was like, welcome to Alabama weather. It just doesn't get any weirder than this. But I I gotta tell you what happened. Because as soon as it happened, my immediate thought was this has to go on the podcast. And I sincerely hope and pray that the Lord that that look, I want every man to listen to this podcast. And if this guy hears this podcast and knows that that was him, I'm not even sorry. Like you Okay, let's hear the story. Okay, yeah. So we go to breakfast on the way to the airport on the last day, right? And everybody sits down, you look at the menu, you decide what you want to eat, you tell the waiter or waitress, right? To bring you a drink. Everybody, you you pay the bill and you leave, right? Well, this guy sits down with what I could only assume was probably his 14 or 15-year-old son. And uh the the guy turns around out of nowhere and goes, Well, this is BS. Now I'm gonna give you the G-rated version, or maybe PG, but I'm not gonna say the I'm gonna let you guys interpret the words for yourselves. But a guy goes, Well, this is BS. And we're in the middle of having a business conversation, me and the guy that I'm with. And so I'm like, hold that thought. I gotta, this guy's getting worked up. I need to pay attention. And so it's burned stare. Yeah, exactly. It has nothing to do with me. Oh, I did, oh, I was looking. And so, anyways, what it boiled down to, the guy was upset because a week ago he had come in and the apparently they had just changed something on their menu where if you wanted a pancake, it was three dollars less than if you wanted a waffle. And so the guide starts causing a scene in this tiny little breakfast place, mad, because of a three dollar upcharge that this place made from waffles. And like, I I get it. Um no no no no.
JonIf you're upset that something costs three dollars more than something else, then what I mean is that like pancakes.
DevinI I get the sticker shock, right? And so what but where the where this guy took it was just absurd and to uns, you know, like levels that just it it made no sense. Yeah. He was telling, giving the the owner of the breakfast place his opinion, dropping F-bombs left and right. Finally, I turned around and it's at this point in the story where I decide I would really like to, I don't know, you know, lob a grenade and and throw it, watch, watch this dude just throw up all over himself. And so I asked my business partner, I was like, Do you have three dollars in cash? Oh no. I really wanted to. And my my whole he goes, dude, I don't. I really wish I did because I'm picking up what you're putting down. And honest to God, all I wanted to do was to go over there, slap the three dollars on the table, and be like, can we all get back to enjoying our breakfast, or do you still want to cry about $3 worth of pancake versus waffle? And the guy went on to literally explain to his 14 or 15-year-old son how it was the exact same batter that they used, and this was a deliberate attempt to F over their customers and blah, blah, blah. And so the waiter comes back to take his order and goes, Well, what can I get you? And he goes, Well, I decided I'm not gonna get F'd, and he says it just like that, like loud enough for the whole place to hear him drop an F-bomb. And he he was really like his day was completely ruined. And I look over at his son, and his son is ready to just melt through the floor. I imagine so. I it was it was the funniest thing, and and Brittany asked me, she goes, So what did pre-Jesus Devin want to do? And I was like, Pre-Jesus Devin wanted to walk over there, look at the son, and just ask him, just be like, Hey buddy, is this is this your dad? And then I would have hoped that he would have said yes, and then I would have looked at him and just said, I'm sorry. Like, I'm sorry, you that that that's the example you got. Yeah, that's not a very good example. So uh, but I mean it was it was just funny. This dude's entire day was absolutely ruined because of three dollars over pancake batter. So if you're watching this episode via YouTube, we have coffee mugs that we
Humor, Mugs, And Setting Today’s Topic
Devindecided to to bring out. Mine is Groot, and it says I am Groot because John apparently has That's actually Avalon's coffee mug. Well, you can tell her I said thanks.
JonI have Groot, and then you have a uh I have a coffee mug I got from a Starbucks in Japan. It's like one of those you can only get them from you can only get it out of Starbucks in Japan?
DevinYeah.
JonThey do that in certain places across the country in different parts of the world. It's good coffee though. Thank you.
DevinYeah. I don't remember what it is.
Why Sabbath Matters More Than Hustle
DevinLet's get into what we're talking about today. Work. Yeah, work and protecting your Sabbath. And this really stemmed from a conversation, John, that you and I had about protecting the Sabbath. And I'm actually going to kind of break rank here a little bit. And I'm gonna read a little bit of our text thread back and forth that day. Okay. And finally, so we were talking about the part about the tacos. Yeah, we're not going about that.
JonThat was later anyway.
DevinExactly. Exactly. But we were we were talking about managing your schedule, right? And then I told you, I said, and for the love of God, John, incorporate a Sabbath. And your response was usually Saturday, I don't do as much. Sabbath doesn't mean you don't do anything, though. You rest in God, not necessarily from work. And I said, You're exactly right. Sabbath isn't resting, and resting isn't Sabbath. But something for you, or for maybe you and Laura, just no video or editing in your case, and your response, those days are few and far between for a while. Everything in life cost something. And then I got that that made a lot of sense, but here's where I kind of began to clap back at you a little bit. And I said it does, but ultimately we are the CEO of our own lives and our schedule. Sometimes that goes beyond our control, which I understand. And here was your great like mic drop response. You said, No, it isn't our control. Quitting technically is an option, but I'm not gonna do that. God calls you to something, pretty sure it's never only work five or six days a week, and only until you're 65, make sure you're not tired when you get to heaven. And I was like, Yeah, man, that's so good though. That's so true.
SPEAKER_01And then yeah, I think a couple of a couple of texts later you said, by the way, dude, this is our next podcast.
JonYeah, because this is just a this is actually just a few days ago. I will say, you are a hundred percent right on incorporating a Sabbath. And that is one of my uh how do I want to put it? It's something I don't do very well.
DevinWell, I just think I think a lot of people don't, right? So I think one of the biggest things that we do is we let our calendar control, or we either don't control our calendar or we let our calendar control us. And all we're what John and I are simply saying is there's there's a balance between both. But I think in order to do that, you have to really begin to define exactly what work is work versus Sabbath, right? And you earlier today you said something to me in the preparation for this episode. You said that you hated we were talking about a work-life balance, and you said yeah, yeah, so because that's a bunch of bull crap, and I don't believe it.
JonI yes, I think it is, and I I don't think we're wrong either people's thinking in Groots that I need to I need to I need to make sure I choose my words wisely here. I don't think that what people are trying to accomplish by having a quote unquote good work-life balance is there's anything wrong with that. I don't like the whole concept of work-life balance because for one, when we talk about work-life balance, we're talking about our turn nine to five. Yeah, right. That's first of all, I don't I don't like that. But I also don't like the idea of to turn one it to to succeed in work or in business, I have to fail with my family or with my kids, and vice versa. To be successful with family, I have to fail in business, or not necessarily fail, but make less. Right? Sometimes one of them needs to be turned up. Softball season for your 12-year-old girl. Sometimes family needs to be turned up a little bit. I need to prioritize a little bit more of my time and energy and finances and all of the things towards that, and that's the key. Prioritizing it. That does not mean you have to turn work or everything else down. You can turn one up. There's not it's not like there's these two like volume knobs with this inverse relationship. Like yeah, like you gotta like you gotta go beep beep beep beep beep. Like, why do we have to choose one or the other?
DevinYeah, and work is turned up, and then you're telling me I have to choose. The other one turns down as well as well.
JonYou're telling me I have to choose A or B. I'm gonna pick C every time. That's right.
DevinWell, C was always right on every test question. If you didn't know the answer to the case, on the multiple choice with the Yeah, I always went C until I looked up after you know 20 or 25 questions, and I just had C, C, C, C, C, C.
JonAnd I was like, I should probably incorporate a B here, maybe a D here. Anyways, if it if the Scantron's big enough, if it's one of those, you just make a Christmas tree.
DevinI did that one time and passed a test. True story.
SPEAKER_01I made a Christmas tree out of a Scantron and you kids and I passed it kids today with like a 65, okay.
DevinSo I mean, like I passed it on the bubble.
JonYou're still a doctor.
DevinC's get degrees, baby. I mean, yeah. Or as my wife would say, D is for diploma. All right. But the the the biggest thing I as you were saying that, I made a a realization of something that I said to my wife one time whenever I first started my business. I told my wife that you either get money or you get time with
Rethinking Work-Life Balance As Priorities
Devinme. Because if if you don't get a lot of time with me, you're gonna have you're gonna have money that you can have to live whatever life that we want for us. And for I mean, we didn't have children then, but you know, for us and to put back and to go on vacations and go on trips, like, but you're not gonna get a whole lot of time with me during the week if if that happens. Or I can spend more time with you and we're not gonna make as much money. And then eventually, what I learned is both ended up suffering. The more I tried to balance the two out, the more they both suffered. Because what I was doing was I was not controlling and dictating my calendar or my schedule. And I I think for us though, to define what work is, we have to go more. It is not just a nine to five. Right. And I it should it there was one uh a video I think you sent me one time that said that I'm gonna butcher the heck out of this, but it was talking about what you do outside as leisure. Can you expound upon that? Uh yep.
JonIt was so in in ancient Greek the word for work was not at leisure. And now it's more it's it's the inverse of that. We define work as when we go to work. We're either at work, we're at our place of business or in our work vehicle doing whatever, right? Sitting in a I don't know, whatever it is you do, sitting in a bulldozer, whatever the case may be. But I don't I don't think I don't I don't like to view work that way. And and and I think to But a lot of people do a lot of people do view it that way, right? A lot of people I think I think most people do. I think the vast majority of people do. And I think work really is if you have enough life with your work, you don't have to think about work-life balance.
DevinYeah, that was it, that was in the video. It said this the true definition of a work-life balance is having enough life so that you don't think about the work-life balance. That was it. Yeah, that was I I made that little note here. Because that in other words, what he's getting at is in to define what truly what work is. Okay.
JonWork is anything more though than just the job that you were trying to get at was it's more than just that. Yeah, it's goes all the way back to your God-given purpose in life. Now, sometimes your God-given purpose might be your nine to five.
DevinThat might be your your grocery that that might be how you pay for your groceries and your yes, but like you said earlier, but God did not put us on this earth, and I'm sorry to jump in on you here. God did not put us on this earth to work for 45, 50 years, make a bunch of money, retire on some of it, and die. Yeah, no. Like there's way more to life than that.
JonBut that's the very common way. Right. And I think we need to be more mission-focused. Yeah. We need whatever whatever God has put us on this earth to do, that's what we need to be focused on. That's our work. We are put on this earth to work. Like, what is the first thing God told Adam to do?
DevinBe fruitful and multiply. No. No. Before Eve. Oh, before Eve. I told him to tend to the garden.
JonYeah, take care of the garden. Yeah. He had to go name all the animals and name all the plants.
DevinWhere in the world did he come up with hippopotamus?
SPEAKER_01You know what I'm saying?
JonYeah, he probably. I mean, we've probably changed the names of all those things since.
DevinIt's kind of like the first uh very good friend of ours actually said that so he hates shrimp. And he said, What I want to know is who in the world picked one out of the ocean and said, You know what I think I'll do? It looks like a cockroach. You know what I think I'll do? I think I'll eat it. And I'm like, Yeah, but it's delicious.
JonDo you like shrimp? Yeah, I love shrimp. Love shrimp. All right, anyways, keep going. It's like a go-to meal. Go to Publix and get like a pound of shrimp and just cook it.
DevinNo, see, if I go to Publix, I go get a boatload of sushi, man. I'll tear up some sushi.
JonI like sushi too much to eat it from there. Anyway, you got me off track now. Yeah, that's my fault. Work life balance. Works not just about your nine to five. It's about pursuing your God-given purpose. Now, we can talk about purpose in another episode, finding your purpose, figuring out what that is. But I think I think we I think I have I think we have mentioned that previously. So if you haven't heard it, go back and listen. I don't know what episode it is. Oh, you know what? I'll find it and I'll link it in the show notes.
DevinOne of the things here that I think we need to truly evaluate then is if we look at what is that work-life balance, how does that equivalate at home?
JonExcuse you. My bad. Bless you. Whatever I meant to say there. What are you talking about? Doing yard work, doing the dishes, doing laundry. I think people still kind of equate those things to work. Like we literally call it yard work.
DevinI love doing yard work, by the way. You're weird. No, man. Listen, if you're out there, you're listening to this episode and you love yard work, please do me a favor and drop a comment that it is. To let us all know how weird you all are. That's fine. You can think we're all weird. Do you know why I love it, John Pierce? It's because it is instant gratification. And there's a lot of things that and we live in a very instant gratification society, right? So therefore, there's a lot of things in my life that I don't allow myself to be instantly gratified by. I have to work towards it. And it's a process. And because it's such a beautiful picture, whenever it's done and over with, I cut my yard, it looks like a diegum golf course. And you know what? I'm proud of it. I like pressure washing. That's satisfying.
JonThat's especially if it's like dirty. But it's it's the same thing. Yeah. Yeah, it is. You're I don't like I don't like raking grass, like raking leaves or I don't mind cutting grass. I hate raking leaves.
DevinOkay, so but to go back to talking about the work and work working at all over the place. Working at home is you know, you in preparation for this episode, you were kind of talking a little bit about, you know, uh why like if if you're the husband that has gone all day, yeah, and you come home and you don't have like I don't know, the house is a wreck and the kids are screaming, mom's lost her mind, laundry's everywhere, dishes are piled up to the ceiling, all that type stuff. I
Home Leadership: Don’t Give Family Leftovers
DevinI think a lot of men in today's world have gotten into this bad habit of thinking that because they go to work and they go make the money, like if that's your household, I think you need to seriously evaluate what that picture is going to look like. So, in total transparency, that is my household, right? My wife stays home and takes care of our children. Do I lose my mind on her if I come home and dinner's not on the stuff? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. In fact, I it because here's why. I have told her numerous times, even though I'm the one that's getting up early and going to work and all that type of stuff, even though, yeah, I may be the one who's doing that, the thing that it would be foolish of me to think that with a six-week-old daughter and a three-year-old daughter, that my that my wife's just laying on the couch all day.
JonYeah, no, she doesn't lay on the couch at all, probably.
DevinNever. Never, not unless she's trying to rock the baby to sleep or something like that. How dare I then come home and say, well, you didn't do anything. You know what I'm saying? Like, like if you're if if your wife, so if that's you and you're the primary breadwinner.
JonYou need to stop and go reevaluate your entire life.
DevinAnd you need to truly evaluate if that's what makes you mad, it is not the fact that dinner on the stove or dinner was not on the stove when you got home that you're mad at. What you're mad at is all the crap that went on throughout the day.
JonYeah, or whatever else is going on. Mad that your, I don't know, boss yelled at you again. Well, I mean, maybe maybe he's a crappy leader, maybe you're a crappy follower. Maybe you just need to figure that crap out and not take it out on your wife.
DevinThat's right. Entirely too much of us. We give, especially as men, I believe the most common man does this. And here on the Uncommon Man podcast, we want to talk about the opposite of that. But the most common man gets mad at simple stuff like that instead of walking in the door, seeing that their wife has had a day, wrestling with kids all day, and going, baby, how can I help? What can I do to make this picture better? Can I get up in the morning and uh, you know, uh 20 minutes early and unload the dishwasher or change the clothes over, or whatever. Like those are simple things and simple fixes that we can make that you will truly begin to have a very uncommon life and a very uncommon marriage. But all that type stuff, that's not that's that's general life stuff that's happening. That does fall into the air quote work-life balance to understand the other side of it. So the opposite of that in this episode is gonna be protecting your Sabbath.
What Sabbath Is And Isn’t
JonYeah, get back on track here a little bit. Protecting your Sabbath. So Mark tw Mark 2, 27 and 28, you want to read that? What is a Sabbath?
DevinSo in in Mark 2, 27 and 28, Jesus is saying this to the Pharisees because the Pharisees have accused him and the disciples of violating the Sabbath by plucking grain to eat and highlighting that human needs or hunger take priority over strict ceremonial rules. Listen listen to what Jesus said. If I can if my computer will work right. And I can get this pulled up. Jesus said this. He said the Sabbath was not made for man or was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even on the Sabbath. In other words, this Sabbath, what I said in the beginning of the episode, Sabbath, resting isn't Sabbath, and Sabbath isn't resting. Okay, so when we're talking about, a lot of people think that taking a Sabbath is sitting on the couch and Netflix and chilling. And what I'm getting at is that's further, that could not be further from the truth. Right. I had a man, a pastor ask me a couple of weeks ago. He said, Devin, what does your Sabbath look like to you? Well, I spent time evaluating this because I do work from home, so I am home a lot, sure. But I make priorities throughout my day. And then on the Sabbath, on my scheduled Sabbath, which for us is Sundays, for us, we're out doing something. Maybe that's spending time with my toddler, taking her around the street, or playing in bubbles with her, or during the summertime blowing up her pool and doing whatever that stuff, you know, being a dad. Yeah. And what that stuff looks like. I think that like to me, that's my Sabbath. The other side of it is I do spend time in the Lord's presence. And I know you had a comment on that about spending time with the Lord on your Sabbath. I did. You did in the preparation for this. I don't remember what it was. I honestly don't know what you're talking about. Alright, well, to get back to it, what I'm simply saying spending time with the Lord on your day of rest, on your Sabbath, is more paramount.
JonWait, are you talking about resting in the Lord? Yes. Oh. Why don't you just say Welcome to the conversation, bro? I didn't remember, I forgot what I said. Sorry. Why don't you just say that? Yeah. Rest in God. You know, it's not necessarily Netflix and chill. It's well, that has a different meaning, doesn't it? Anyway, it's it's not necessarily just being a vegetable and doing nothing. Although, I mean, that is kind of rest does have something to do with that. You should rest and not work your butt off all day, right?
DevinRight, because as we said earlier, you're not called to work for 40 years.
JonRight. It's more about resting in God, worshiping.
DevinWait, like, talk about you for from from like a video and editing standpoint.
JonRight. So for me, like I have my regular 9 to 5 or 7:30 to 4, whatever you want to call it. And then I have all of the other stuff that I do. Generally, I'm working on something nearly constantly. Like I wake up, I go to work, I come home, I do some more work, and then I go to bed and I wake up and I do it all again tomorrow. And then between there, like I have kids, I take get the kids off the bus, I take them, take them to the bus stop, get them off the bus. We do homework and
Serving, Worship, And Real Rest
Jondinner and and all the things, right? Wednesdays we go to church, that sort of thing. And all around that, working on other things. Sunday, most of the time I I can't really, I don't feel like I can consider that my Sabbath because I'm doing something that I feel it's not it doesn't feel like work to me because I love doing it. Well, it's like I'm not sure. But I'm also not necessarily resting for very much on a Sunday, on any given Sunday. I'm usually first first service to third service, and sometimes after up to two or three o'clock, I'm working on stuff for that Sunday. Right. And don't get me wrong, Sunday I when I'm at church, I will stop what I'm doing and just go find someone and talk to them. I like walking. I I want to go have the community. That's the whole point of the church. The church, it's well, it's not the whole point, it's one of the main points. Anyway, I like I'll go find people and just have conversations, go catch up with people that I haven't seen, you know, since last Sunday, whatever. Normally my Sabbath is my rest days, if at all possible seemingly. Because like I said, actually having a rest day is one of my I'll call it a weakness, I guess. But that's Saturday for me. I will do way less on a Saturday than I will most other days. Well, and so you and for me that looks like spending time with my kids. Maybe we'll go to the trampoline park, maybe we'll I don't know, do whatever.
DevinDraw with it. But all that stuff is still Sabbath. That can still be considered being in the Sabbath.
JonAnd but the important part of that is God. That's right. Spending time, prayer, and oh people don't like the word meditation, but it if you if I I don't mean meditating, like no, meditation is perfect. That's a great word to use there because No, it and I know it is, but some people have a different view of that than what I'm referring to. What I'm referring to is prayer and then sitting in silence alone with nothing but your thoughts and doing like a check-in mentally.
DevinAnd that leads me to my really the next point of what my Sabbath looks like. So part of one of the things that I do, I told you mine is on Sundays, right? Sometimes it's a Saturday morning, sometimes it's a half a day Saturday and a half-day Sunday, right? But it's the amount of time that is spent for me that defines, or not that defines, but that is my Sabbath. Okay. I'm not at my desk at work. I'm not doing dishes, I'm not doing yard work, I'm not putting things together, I'm not doing whatever. I'm spending time between me and the Lord. And then what I do is I'll take an evaluation every single week. I take an evaluation of the last week and how it went. What did I where did I do good at? Where did I suck at? And then what I'll do is I'll evaluate what do I need to change? What minute, what things do I need to change to be better this week than I was last week?
JonIt's a great time to work on those earlier. What I was when I mentioned what really what work-life balance really boils down to is priorities. Sometimes you have to prioritize things over another, right? That's a great time to do that. Work on your look at your calendar coming up. Like maybe you have a Thursday where you're going to be slammed and you're going to you know you are going to be exhausted. Plan the three days prior to that. Because you don't you don't want to go go
Time Stewardship: Kill Wasted Minutes
Jonhome and give your kids your leftover. You don't want to give your family leftovers, right?
DevinI think that's one of the biggest mistakes that husbands and fathers make.
JonIf you know that you're going to have a Thursday that is going to require a lot of your energy, plan the three days before that so that you have the energy and you're not going home afterwards with nothing left in the tank.
DevinBecause the problem is this. Most people, most men that are being common, what they're doing is they're giving all of their emotional time and energy to their work. And then what's happening is they're giving their wife and their kids the leftovers. And that's not fair. And they wonder why their marriage is in the crapper. They wonder why they're why their relationship with the with their children is not where they want it to be. It's because you spend too much time, energy, and effort caring about a job that may or may not care about you the way that you do about it. And then you go home and you give your wife and your kids the leftovers. Now, look, I understand that we're all busy, we've got a lot going on. But what I'm simply getting at is if you want to have that profitable relationship in life, not just with your spouse and not just with your children, you have to quit giving your career or your job 99.9% of your energy and effort and giving your giving your significant others the rest. That's not fair.
JonYeah, no, it's not at all. Back to you, you're absolutely right about that. And I'm glad you said that. Back to uh the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a gift from God to refresh our souls. Yeah. Because if if you don't do it, believe me, from experience, you will get, if you just work yourself to death seven days a week, you will eventually just be depleted. Burnout. Now, even with even when I do practice, if I actually successfully two weeks in a row practice a Sabbath, generally speaking, after about a week and a half, I have a day where I just don't function very well. Sure. And I do, I go to work and I I get my job done. I do I perform as well as I should at work, as well as I can, rather, I should say, at work. But when that's over, I go home and I just die. I like I'm I'm toast. And if I'm going home to my kids that day, it's not fair to them. So I absolutely despise those days. But it's my own fault. It's my own, I did it to myself. Because because you didn't you didn't set the priority straight.
DevinRight. Right. I didn't I mean I'm not clowning on you here, but no, you're asking. But what I'm what I'm getting because I even told you before this episode that I had gotten off of what I fasted during the 21 days of prayer and fasting that we did in January, that I had I had failed off of one of the goals that I had. For me, it's getting up earlier. It's getting more and more things done because what I learned was I was getting a lot more done and accomplished before my kids even got up. It just because I simply got up earlier. Now that's a fault of mine, right? But and we'll talk about time here in just a little bit, but what I'm what I'm getting at is we need to listen, I hear you.
SPEAKER_00I get what you're gonna say about this, but I've got to have money to be able to give my wife and my kids and everybody else the things that I want.
DevinListen, the reality of the situation is this, and I heard this from a speaker whenever I was in Texas this last week. He said this. He said, the the problem with most people is they will fight their lives for 40 and 50 years working to acquire a bunch of money to buy a bunch of crap to impress people that they don't even like.
JonYep. And I'm going you ain't taking none of it with you, and you ain't taking a dime of it with you.
DevinYou think anybody cares?
SPEAKER_03Do you think anybody cares when you go to heaven? Hey, how much money did you make throughout your life? Well, it made this, well, I made that. No. What they're gonna look at is what did you do with the time that you were given? Right. What did you do with the time that the life that I gave you?
DevinOne of the first series I ever preached whenever I was in college was called One Life to Live. Man, we get one shot at this thing called Life. And the problem is a lot of us screw it up because we simply fall into such a common mentality of just going, well, I've got to go make a bunch of money so that I can do this, so that I can get this type stuff, so that so and so down the street doesn't think that we're broke poor, so that you know we we have keeping up with the challenges, yeah, so that we have all these things.
SPEAKER_03Ain't nobody care what kind of car you drive when you get to heaven, bro.
DevinYeah, it's true.
SPEAKER_03Ain't nobody care about the square footage of your house.
DevinNope. I do, I do like and want to believe that my my mansion in heaven has a lot bigger square feet than my current house.
JonAnd speaking of speaking of when you get to heaven, I wanna so we're gonna talk about all right, let me back up. When I said earlier, most people's response to some to when I say work-life balance is a myth. You don't have to turn that one down to turn the other up, you can turn one up and leave the other turned up too. Most people's response to that is gonna be there's not enough time in the day. How many times in your life have you heard somebody say there's just not enough time in the day? Fun fact for good old John Pierce here, there is 25 hours. Because I said there is, and there's nothing you can do about it. Regardless.
SPEAKER_01Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. So the God of the universe.
JonHe didn't tell me there's 24 hours a day. So show me in the Bible where it says there's 24 hours a day. Show me.
SPEAKER_01I can't.
JonRight.
SPEAKER_01But so so you believe in your heart of hearts, like that God gave John Pierce 25 hours a day.
JonI just do 25 hours worth of work in 24. Because I'm awesome. Humble brag. So what I meant when I said when I when I was talking about uh when I said something in that text about being rested when you get to heaven, I believe that was from a quote that oh gosh, the name football quarterback Florida Tim Tebow. Yeah. Tim Tebow.
DevinWhat about immediately go to that?
JonBecause of course it but whatever. Anyway, I believe Tim Tebow said something along the lines of not being something about not being tired when you get to heaven, something like that. That kinda goes, it seems like it goes right in the face of what we're talking about in incorporating a Sabbath. That sounds contradictory. It's not. Yeah. Because what I mean by that is most of us aren't going to this goes back to prioritizing your time throughout throughout each and every day. Most of us are going to spend time, we don't want to be, we don't want to be too tired the following day. Right? Sometimes that's gonna happen. Sometimes you're gonna have nights where you go to bed at midnight because of whatever was going on that day, and you still gotta get up and go through your day the next day. That sucks. You're gonna have to catch it back up on your sleep, and that's gonna take you a couple nights, right? But the the what I was trying to get at there was you're we're put on this planet for a reason. We have a God-given purpose for existing. Every single one of us have a God-given purpose. And if we're not doing everything we can to live that out, if we're like, well, let me let me spend a couple hours on that today, but I'm pretty tired, I don't feel very good, like my tummy hurts. Like, I'm gonna go lay on the couch and scroll through TikTok for like 30 minutes, and that turns into you know, you end up you end up sitting there for forever. You just wasted time, and every one of us does that. Even if you only spend five minutes doing whatever time waster thing it is that you do, everybody has something, right? Most of us is probably is scrolling social media. But if you add those things up, look, you have now you have more time in the day. It's crazy. There's this app, I can't remember what it's called, it's incredibly expensive. I looked at it, but it's this AI assistant thing. I think it's called motion or something. It it does other things, but part of what it does is it helps you plan your day to the minute. It helps you, it'll take control of your calendar and all this stuff. It helps you plan out your day to the minute.
DevinThere's there's no my day planned out to the minute.
JonWell, I mean, if you want to prioritize your time.
DevinI prioritize my own, yeah. Like I I make my own schedule, I set my own calendar down to down to about the hour of what I'm doing.
JonI'm not I'm not sitting here saying for 72 seconds I'm going to sip coffee. Like I'm not saying that. By the way, I'm about right to the bottom. But if you get rid of this up, if you if you get rid of those time wasters, you have more time in the day. It's it's not a matter, yes, time is finite, and yes, we all only have so much of it. And yes, sometimes you're gonna have to prioritize one thing over another.
DevinThat's right.
JonBut the argument there's not enough time in the day to turn one up and leave the other one turned up is bogus.
DevinIt is. And the one of the things that I heard I heard it put like this one time was they said, Listen, we all get the same 24 hours in a day for John Pierce, 25. But they said for for all of us, we get the same 24 hours in the day. He said, Do you want to know why I'm more successful than you are? And I went, Why? And he goes, I work harder at managing my time. Okay, I was about to say. Yeah, he said he said sorry, at managing my time. He said, I work harder at managing my time. He said, I'm up at 4 30, I go to the gym, which that's just stupid. I'm sorry. I'm not I'm I'm not getting up at 4 30 in the morning to go to the gym. Okay, no. Add lazy to the list, go for it. Call me whatever you want. I ain't doing it. You're waking the Lord up at 4 30, man. You're not. Anyways, but he said, he said, what he does is he gets he gets up at 4 30, he goes to the gym, he said, I'm home and showered by 6 30. I get my kids up, I get breakfast ready, my wife will do whatever to get herself ready for her day. And he said, then I'm off, and whenever I get home, the phone goes in the drawer. I'm spending time with my kids, spending time with my wife, we go to dinner, we do whatever. And then I he said, I make sure that I am shut off and down from the world by nine o'clock. And he goes, Because I'm getting up at 4 30 in the morning and I'm doing it all over again. Right.
JonI mean, sleep's important. So if you're gonna get up that early, obviously go to bed a little earlier.
DevinThat's just yeah.
JonBecause if you don't, again, from experience, if you don't, you will you it won't take you very long to just climb up. Some do you wake up in the mornings? Do what? Sunday wake up in the mornings. Most of the time about six, six thirty.
DevinThat's fair. That's normal hours. That's normal people hours. But for you clowns that are out there at 4 30 in the morning going to the gym.
JonSo it depends on the day. I don't take my kids to the bus stop every day. On the days when I have to take them to the bus stop, I I have to, if I'm not up by five, I'm screwed.
DevinWell, that's kids make it different,
Purpose Over Paychecks
Devinyeah. But anyways, the simple point of it is this we all get the same 24 hours with it. The question for you is what are you doing with yours? What are you doing with your 24 hours? Are you managing your schedule or are you letting your schedule manage you? Right. Because there is a massive difference in the two. And I think for for the majority of us to live an uncommon life, I think we need to do two things. Let's put a bow on this. I think we need to do two things. I think the first thing is we need to do better at practicing a Sabbath.
JonYeah, whatever that looks like for you. Like it could be a little, it could be a little different for some people, but it should incorporate the main elements of a Sabbath. We're resting in God and actually evaluate spend spending time with God in worship. Re do a reset. That whole day, the purpose of a Sabbath is for a reset.
DevinYeah. And evaluating, like I said, I truly believe this because I got this from a very, very I don't want to say powerful, but I mean like he just speaks a lot of wisdom all the time. He said, evaluate your week. So evaluate what went right, what went wrong. And so for me, that's what I do. I evaluate where did I need to get better so that next week I can be a better version of myself. Right. And then the next thing, the the second part is to be more disciplined with your time. Understanding this, guys, you can always, there will always be a chance to make more money. There will always be a chance to do all those things. But the reality of the situation is this we are only given a set number of years to be on this earth. None of us know what that is. None of us know what that's gonna look like. It is imperative and it is foolish if we waste it. But it's imperative that we manage it right.
JonYeah. Just to to add on just a little bit to I meant to say this earlier. Oh, go ahead. But I was waiting for you to finish something and then I forgot. The when you said you can always make make more money, just then. If making money is your whole goal, you probably need to reevaluate some things. You should be whatever your purpose is, whatever it is in your life that you're pursuing, you're pursuing a thing, you're pursuing it should be have something to do with growing the kingdom of God in some way. That's part of it. I don't know what that looks like for you. That's different for everybody. That's for you to figure out. But if you're mission focused and you're pursuing your purpose, the money, the money will come. Like, do you really think God's not gonna take care of you? Well, the question you have to ask yourself is do you trust the Lord with your finances? Right. And you you have to. You have to. If you're just chasing money because I gotta take care of my family, yes, yes, you have to go make money and take care of your family. If you don't have a job and you come home without one every day, or you're just sitting there, just like, I'll scroll through indeed for an hour today. I couldn't find a job. Don't get your butt out of the house to go find a job because you have to take care of your family. That's not what I'm saying. Your whole like if you built a business and your whole goal is to just make money, you're doing it wrong. That's right. Like you're doing life completely wrong.
DevinI heard it put this way one time. If you're always chasing money, that is a race you will never win.
JonIt's like chasing happiness. You're never going to find it. That's right. You'll never have enough money.
DevinThat's right. And it'll never be enough. I used to, I mean, what what was it that Nick Saban said one time, if you want to be happy for an hour, eat a steak. If you want to be happy for a week, buy a car. If you want to be happy for a month, buy a house. And he goes, But if you want to be joyful in your life, then ask yourself one question. If I didn't show up tomorrow, would anybody miss my butt? Like, would anybody miss me?
JonYeah, or or how about this? If this thing that I do on whether it's a daily basis, something you do on the side, whatever it is, if this thing that I do, if I stopped getting paid for it, would I still keep doing it?
unknownYeah.
JonThe answer to that is yes. Why would you still keep doing it? That's right. Because I'll tell you, there's a lot of things that I do. If I didn't get paid for them, I'd still do it. As a matter of fact, I was doing them before I got paid for it. Yeah. Like I was, I just did the things and then all of a sudden I started making money with some of it. Yeah. And that's cool. Maybe I'll be able to quit my nine to five one day. I don't know. But I don't care. You're too talented at that thing. Well, I hope you're right. But and I don't care. I'm going to keep doing what God's called me to do regardless. And if I'm exhausted because I'm I've had to do those things, I'll get some rest. But at the same time, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna be like, let me take some time off because I'm tired.
DevinI promise you this, man. If you will take time to incorporate a Sabbath into your schedule, spending time between you and the Lord, spending time away from the things that you're that you're not getting paid to do or or that you're getting paid to do, and spend time with the people that God has put you on this earth to be a witness and a blessing too. I promise you, men, you will find a lot more happiness
Two-Part Playbook: Sabbath And Discipline
Devinin your life. You will find a lot more joy in your life and a lot more purpose. Ultimately, it's this practicing that Sabbath, that Sabbath, and then being disciplined with your time. Try that this week and find out how much different your life looks next week.
JonAnd you know what? I have completely forgotten about this. I set it up like be right before we started the first episode. You can send us a text, by the way, if you want. There in the in the description, there's a send text button. I saw that. And yep, that is there. I keep forgetting to mention it. But use that and send us a text. We would love to connect with you. Look, John and I do this uh to Well, okay, hold on. Oh, sorry. Send us a text to and let us know how it goes for you. Try it, let us know how it goes. If you've got feedback of any kind, positive or negative, I mean, if it's super negative and you've listened to 14 seconds of this, you can keep it to yourself. But and if and if it's something like about I don't know, my pizza. How I come across or something, like go find another podcast. But reach out to us if you need anything or just want to connect.
DevinMaybe you just need prayer, maybe you just need somebody to talk to, or you need somebody to sit down and truly just hear you out. John and I are here for that. John and I do this because we love the opportunity to be able to be a witness for the kingdom, but then also because we're focused and soul set on living lives that are uncommon and helping to cultivate men into living that uncommon life.
JonRight, and we want to do that together. So if you live in the at Shelby County, Alabama area, small group starting.
SPEAKER_03They do start in a couple weeks.
JonBut it's February 15th. Yeah, so our first our first small group, the Uncommon Man Small Group, will be on February the 21st. That's the following Saturday, right? It'll be every Saturday starting February the 21st at Leaders Coffee in Colombiana. Yes, sir.
DevinSo feel free to join us. And then also I have a uh a small group that I do for myself, for fathers, called Fatherhood beginning February the 16th. Whatever the Monday is after Valentine's Day. Yeah, it would be the 16th. Yeah, so beginning February the 16th. Fatherhood. I've been I've been part of it for a while now. Yes, you have. We love having you. But John and I are super excited to to take the Uncommon Man to Leaders Coffee in Colombiana every single Saturday morning. Super excited about it. John? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00This was fun, man.
DevinIt was. I enjoyed it. You pray it's up? Yeah, let's pray. Father, we love you. God, thank you so much for this platform. God, I pray that you use it for your kingdom growth. God, for your benefit. Father, that that these men would hear the words from our from our lips, but God, they are so from you. They are from you. And I pray, Lord, that you allow it to penetrate their hearts to live lives that are uncommon, to be different than their than the than how we are raised to think things should be, and let us be raised to think the way that you think. God, let your thoughts be
Connect With Us And Next Steps
Devinour thoughts. And I pray, Lord, that you help us to be able to navigate day in and day out to live that life uncommon. In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_05Amen.