Episode 192 with Levi Lusko
You Only Get So Much Time to Live
SHOW NOTES:
Join us on this thought-provoking journey through Levi's life and insights, including his Montana bucket list item and his recommendation of "Undaunted Courage" as one of the best books ever written.
This episode is a masterclass in embracing life fully, gaining perspective from the cosmos, and choosing positivity in adversity. Tune in and let Levi Lusko inspire you to make the most of every moment on your journey.
Get Levi's newest book Marvel at the Moon here >> https://amzn.to/44Yo5vO
Get your copy of Roar Like a Lion here >> https://amzn.to/3RlbMX5
Get your copy of Through the Eyes of a Lion here >> https://amzn.to/3sTiRnL
Get your copy of I Declare War here >> https://amzn.to/3RkFmfb
**
Learn more about Levi Lusko here >> https://www.levilusko.com/
**
Download your copy of the Rich Habits Test for Parents here >> https://www.1000hoursoutside.com/blog/rich-habits-test-for-parents
DONATE HERE:
Your donations play an integral part in keeping The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast running. We appreciate your support!
RELATED EPISODES:
1KHO 92: Make Real Life Compelling | Andy Crouch, The Tech-Wise Family
SHOW TRANSCRIPT:
192 Levi Lusko
Ginny Yurich Yeah. So this is a wild story. People ask often like, how do you pick your podcast guests? And so yours is the most intriguing and unique story that we were on an adventure together.
Levi Lusko A Hummer?
Ginny Yurich Yes. And I was screaming.
Levi Lusko You the most livewire I've ever been around on a TV ride like that. And it was so fun. It brought so much joy to it because you want to ride a roller coaster with someone who's going to react, you know, That's just good times.
Ginny Yurich Yeah, it was awesome. So you were out in Moab, but what were you there for? You were kind of traveling through.
Levi Lusko Well, it was weird. So Lennox, my son and I had to speak the next night at a big music festival in Grand Junction, Colorado. 6000 people, a bunch of bands. And I was speaking in between some of the bands, and I was like, What's in Grand Junction? So we fanned out a map or like OC mobs near Grand Junction. So let's just plan. And we always trying to if I bring a kid with me on a work trip, I always do something fun. So we booked a night to camp in Moab, did the 80 the Hummer thing, and then we next day got picked up and went over and did the work day and then flew home.
Ginny Yurich Levi that is so cool. What a cool way to do that with your kids, to go and do a really fun thing. And that was with the Moab Adventure Center, and I was there with our oldest daughter, who is 13, and we just ended up on the same one. Like there were three groups or something that went out at the same time. And we were with you and then we were up on top of those rocks.
Levi Lusko I mean, it was like a mountain. We were watching the sunset at the Devil's Hills Revenge. The Hills Revenge course. It was insane, though. The the degree to which those Hummers can go up and down those mountains. It was definitely you expressed what I felt in the inside, that's for sure. And then you went on from there. I did like a four night flow river camping wildness.
Ginny Yurich Yeah, we sure did. And I totally recommend that it was a five day rafting trip down the Green River. So you're camping at night, You're in just this remote location. It was phenomenal. The food was phenomenal with that same company, the Moab Adventure Center. And you just get to know people. It's such an interesting thing. I think that doesn't happen too much in life anymore, where you just happen to be in the same place as someone else and you get to know them well in such a short period of time. So we I remember we were up with our Hummer, They were doing the snacks and people were talking a little bit about what they did. And Lennox said something like, My dad is only written eight books.
Levi Lusko Yeah, he's very he's very sorry. Sorry, Lennox. I will work harder next time.
Ginny Yurich That's what he said. And one of the one of the couples, I think the guy was a teacher and the other one, they were getting married. So just an interesting way to spend a couple of hours with a total random group of people.
Levi Lusko And that we both are podcasters in the same kind of like that. We want to talk about kids and family and camping. I like we're soon As you expressed what you did with The Thousand Hours, I was like, That's amazing. And I immediately stalked you on the internet. I was like, This is phenomenal. Like, every family should be doing what you're challenging them to do. So I'm a big fan.
Ginny Yurich Thanks, Levi. Yeah, What a cool thing. What a cool connection to make. And I, after we left, I actually I read two of your books. I read through the eyes of a lion facing impassable pain, finding incredible power. Also read I declare war for keys to Winning the battle with yourself. Really touching books, both very different from each other, but came away with a whole lot to think about and also got roar like a lion. So 90 devotions to a courageous faith. And our youngest daughter is seven and she absolutely loves this book. Levi She brings it to me every morning and every night to read the next one all on her own, which that's the sign of a good book, right?
Levi Lusko That's amazing if.
Ginny Yurich Your kid goes to grab it. And so you have it's it's basically a similar book that's coming out but revolving around space in the moon called Marvel at the Moon. Our niece is so into space. It's such a fantastic book, the illustrations and the cover. Congrats.
Levi Lusko Thank you. I'm so excited. I'm holding it here. The first two copies came and first of all, my co-writer, Tamar Fortner, is amazing. I don't know if anyone has seen the movie Elf or if there's anyone who hasn't seen the movie Elf would be a better question. There's that Myles Finch character who comes in. He's like the hotshot co-writer who just is amazing, right? And all his good ideas. I joke that Tamar Fortner is kind of the Myles Finch of the Christian kid's publishing industry because she is so talented and working with her was both times very incredible in Journey. Her insight, like she took a book I wrote called The Last Supper on the Moon for Adults, which is about space, and Psalm says, Look up and lift your eyes and see the stars. So many people, as you know, are not looking up enough. You know, there's a real problem with our cell phones that keep our heads down. They're even saying it's changing our spines, our necks, the posture, the blood that our brain gets. So when you. As you know, as you're always telling people on 1000 hours outside podcast to do list your eyes, look at the stars, get out there, look at the mountains. Go do something fun. That's the premise behind Last Supper on the Moon. It's let's look up at the heavens. And there's actually a beautiful corollary between scripture and space, because when in 1969, Neil and Buzz went to the moon for the first time, they actually did communion. Buzz Aldrin ate communion on the moon. And so that's where the title comes from, The Last Supper on the Moon, because the first thing ever eaten on the lunar surface was the Last Supper. I had a chance to speak to Buzz and confirmed that they did that before they ate their rations, so it was indeed the first thing ever eaten. But this book is a kid's take on that. And like you said, so many kids naturally love rockets and astronauts and, you know, the whole idea of zero gravity. So this book is, I think, going to be very I think kids are going to be excited about it.
Ginny Yurich And this is just a different piece of the getting outside. So I started 1000 hours outside back when I was a young mom and was really struggling with my own mental health and struggling with raising small children and trying to be present. So what I've learned over the last decade plus is that when we go outside, it helps our kids with their cognition and it helps their social skills and helps their physical bodies. It helps them emotionally. US too, as adults. But there is also a spiritual component, and this is not what everyone is here for. Some people may shut it off at this point, but this is part of my story too, is that this has also been a journey of learning that if that's what you're looking for, if you're looking with your Christian faith for ways that God shows his glory, in, ways that God shows biblical principles, you can find them outside.
Levi Lusko That's right.
Ginny Yurich And so that's a really cool thing with Marvel at the Moon that you've done is that you have taken the heavens and the stars and the skies in the expanse, and you have brought in that component that I think a lot of people are looking for. That hands on real life also leads us back to faith and leads us back to God. So can you tell us when this one comes out? Yep.
Levi Lusko September 12th, this release day. And if you go to my Web site, Levi Lusk account, we're actually doing a giveaway where we're going to pay for a family of four airfare, hotel, rental car to go to Houston to visit the space center Houston, which is one of my favorite. I've gotten just about every space center in the country, you know, from Cape Canaveral to the Smithsonian Udvar-hazy and the Air and Space Museum, as well as, of course, Space Center Houston, where mission control is located. And this place has a Saturn five rocket, which is 300 feet long. You have to stand under it and go, oh, dang. Can you imagine writing one of those? You get to see a space shuttle. You get to see literally where you know, all of the mission control specialists who spoke to the astronauts and continue to speak to them on the space station. It's all based and we're going to pay for all of that. And so there's a little giveaway going on. All you have to do is prior to the book to get into it, and we're going to pay for you to go check it out.
Ginny Yurich That's so cool. You can see that your love for that, the space and the moon and the galaxies in the Milky Way, you can see that come out. Have you been interested in that for a long time? Like, is that stem back to childhood or is that a newer thing?
Levi Lusko You know, it is kind of newer. I mean, I've always been a nerd and I think if you're around me for 2 minutes, you get that. But space, I'll be completely honest with you. It kind of helped me through the pandemic. You mentioned your struggles with mental health. I had my fair share of that like we all did. 2020 was such a weird year, and I went from flying 175 flights a year, speaking all these different events around the country and world. I mean, I went in a two year period. I went to South Africa twice for the weekend. You know, that was kind of the pace I was running, like many of us, unhealthy, right. But then all of a sudden, no airplanes, no travel, no adrenaline. You know, all of that came, you know, screeching to a halt. And I found myself kind of staring into the void a little bit in my own kind of darkness. And one of the things that helped me through it was to go out. We have a little balcony and to go on my balcony and look up at the moon. Whenever I found myself having a panic attack or anxious moments, I would just go look at the stars in the moon and it would just kind of remind me like there's something stabilizing about that. You mentioned the help of nature to ground us. I believe, like you were saying, points as to who who made those things, that God made those things. And it sort of reminds me like, Hey, look, the same moon and stars that we've been looking at is what Napoleon and Abraham and Joan of Arc and Esther and David looked at. And that's just sort of helped me to go, Hey, my problems are going to come and go just like theirs did and help me through all that. And because of that, I started to get really interested in the moon, in the movements of the moon, in the phases of the moon and Perseid meteor showers and finding out where the North Star is. And I bought a telescope. And then, you know, I wrote the whole book about it, which was kind of my way through the pandemic. But that's kind of where that all came from.
Ginny Yurich Wow. That's really interesting that it's just a recent fascination, and I think that's really cool, too, as we go through life that we can find new things that really pique our interest and we can learn about them. Like I said, I ended up reading some of your other books too. I came home and everyone was like, Oh, we know who Levi Lasko is. And I thought it was really cool that I mean, you just introduced yourself as an author, but that you are this pastor that has, like you said, you speak all over the world and have your own congregation and messages that go out online every week. And I just got so much out of both of those other books. I know they're just a smidgen of your now nine, right? So maybe, maybe Lennox would be happy with nine.
Levi Lusko Yeah, take that. Take that, Lennox. Maybe he'll finally be proud of me.
Ginny Yurich And so it's an interesting juxtaposition to meet someone. And then I came home from Utah. We live in Michigan, and everyone knew who you were. And then to read your books and to realize that actually you seem like, you know, this larger than life guy doing all these different things, but that you came from a place of struggle and you talk about your child anxiety and sleepwalking and sleepwalking on an airplane.
Levi Lusko That was not a great day. Yeah.
Ginny Yurich I actually never heard of that before. So you just had these struggles and then you wrote this book about how you have found ways to manage that. And I got a lot out of it. So can we talk about some of those things, too, since you're here?
Levi Lusko Sure. Hey, we all have struggles. No matter who you are, you don't get off this planet unscathed, right? We all take some beatings and we'll deal with struggles. And and that's kind of the joy of it, because I think that a lot of the richness of who we can become is born out of the pain we endure. And also, you know, our own idiosyncrasies, insecurities and the hard things we've had to face. You know, my parents were divorced when I was young. That leaves a mark on you, all the different sort of things. But fortunately, those also can become how we grow and evolve and are transformed into hopefully more empathizing, loving, caring, kind people.
Ginny Yurich Mm hmm. Yeah, I loved it. You talked about this whole concept, and I've been thinking about this a lot, that sometimes we feel like we're catapulting toward a bad mood. And you talked about it even starting in high school, where, Yeah, you have a bad experience. You're kind of moody. You feel like you're going to be stuck there the whole day is shot. Maybe tomorrow will be better. But then you talked about how you would go to art class and the bad mood would evaporate.
Levi Lusko Yeah, and it took me a while to put two and two together. I was like, Wow, that's strange. I just happen to feel better every single time after this period, you know, in my day. And I didn't connect the dots for a while. It's like, Oh my gosh, my art teacher would bring our CD players. I'm dating myself now. Of course, we had CD players back then and I would spend an hour painting with music on. I would feel dramatically different than when I was all triggered or, you know, full of self-loathing and, you know, angsty teenage, you know, drama, whatever, whatever. And then I connected the dots of the music and the art both soothed that mood like you were describing. And I describe in the book, I Declare War a bad mood as being held hostage by a version of me that I don't want to be. And that's how it feels. You feel like you're tied up with duct tape and gagged and bound in the basement. And meanwhile, this triggered mean version of me I don't want to be is calling the shots. And I think it's really empowering to know, hey, we can take control of our own mood by doing the things that will lead to a more grounded, centered, stable version of ourselves being back at the helm.
Ginny Yurich I just love that because I think, especially when you're in that I'm sure for everyone, because you're talking about this is happening back in high school, but in the stage of life, when you're parenting, it is really easy to get thrown off. Maybe happens at 10 a.m., you know, or maybe whatever happens at 1 p.m. and you just feel thrown off. And I love this concept of, well, you talked about getting in the wrong Uber.
Levi Lusko Yeah, right.
Ginny Yurich Here. It's not even an Uber at all.
Levi Lusko My gosh, it's amazing. I've made it this far in life. Yes, I was at the Miami airport and I jumped in an Uber at the front, and the guy was like, Well, I don't know where you're going, man. I'm way I'm picking up a friend. You know, It wasn't even my Uber and it wasn't even an Uber. But then I realized, Wait a minute, I can get out. I don't stay in this wrong Uber. And when we choose to get into the wrong mood, maybe one full of jealousy or one full of bitterness or toxic thinking, we kind of are tempted to think, Well, I have to stay in this because I've got in it, and it wouldn't be authentic to not act how I feel. And with apologies to the sincerity of the moment, if you got in the wrong mood, you can choose to get out. We say stuff like, Well, this de shot or the story of my day, this this is a bad day. I'm just in a bad mood. And then we resign ourselves to the couch and Ben and Jerry's and just sort of these things like the Netflix binge that's going to supposedly make us feel better. That has been proven time and time again to make us feel worse. Binge watching anything is linked to depression, and yet the power of all, one study pointed out, is able to bring us to a higher place. And the all can come from paintings or painting. It can come from nature. Even a picture of nature. And it also can come from exercise. And then faith. Of course, it's secular. Studies do show a church service, a worship song. Scripture can literally unlock a better version of you. And so if we choose to, instead of sugar and empty carbs and the latest whatever on Amazon Prime video, instead take a walk, do some push ups, look at some paintings, do some sketching, or even write down five things you're thankful for. And we can teach our kids this too, because, you know, I have a friend whose six year old daughter is asking him for an iPhone, and he said, What should I do? I said, If you hate her, give her an iPhone. If you despise her, you know, we give driver's license. 16. There should not be the unbridled Internet in the hands of a child. You're going to give her the tools that is going to feed the don't mean loop. That's going to lead to more and more depression and narcissism and self-loathing. And so sadly, that's why we're seeing the generation ferreted away by suicide and anxiety and all these things that the tools they don't have to develop. It's like a slot machine. You know, we wouldn't let a kid have alcohol until 21. But it's been proven that the social media is as dangerous as heroin and pornography lights up the same centers of the brain that those addictive drugs do, too. So we have to just regulate in ourselves. And our kids.
Ginny Yurich Are so important. Those things are vitally important. And I agree with you. You got to wait. You got to wait. And I like this concept of using props. So when you talk about the art class, talked about painting and the music, and then you also talked about in other ways, like different props, like you were talking about someone was saying that they're about to pop off at the mouth and say something that they regret, like just to take a sip of water or even you had other props in your life too, about using your writing glasses. And I think it's a great idea.
Levi Lusko That's embarrassing. Hey, it got the book done. I bought this cheesy pair of glasses. They didn't even have prescription frames in them, and I only let myself put them on when I was writing. And if once I put them on, I wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom. I wasn't allowed to go on the Internet. I wasn't allowed to get distracted because these are my brave author glasses. And so when I was wearing them, I was a writer. And, you know, look, it doesn't have to be impressive. It just has to work for you. And so I encourage you, if it's a special ring you buy that you know, only a kind mom wears or, you know, a present father wears, or if it's a mug that you drink, your match or your latte out of little things like that can just be kind of cues like an actor would have in a scene. It's like, oh, this is my prop to get me, you know? And we're basically becoming who we were born to be instead of who we're triggered to become.
Ginny Yurich And I think that you give all of those practical things in these books for kids like the Roar, like a Lion and Marvel at the Moon. There's just a lot of practical things like that where you're passing those along to children. They need these tools, probably more so than we ever did because they have all this technology surrounding them. So I love this question of like, what is your equivalent art class? So thinking back to you, going in and then coming out a different person in the wrong Uber, you can go and you can get out. Such a great message for families and for parents. You don't have to stay in a bad mood. And similarly with the positive thinking, actually when so now we've incorporated this. You were talking about like cognitive restructuring, that there were these Navy SEALs and that no matter what happened, they would just go good times.
Levi Lusko Good times. Yeah.
Ginny Yurich It's funny actually kind.
Levi Lusko Of the dishwasher breaks and your normally going to say, oh that figures or I can't believe or just one more thing or the straw that breaks the camel's back But instead if the dishwasher breaks and you say good times, now we're going to figure this out, we're going to, hey, you know, washing dishes by hand. I lived in England for a while. I didn't have a dishwasher and washing dishes by hand. I hated I would have the soup and the whatever and baked on. But then I was like, you know what? 20 minutes with my hands where gave me time to think. And I always like an hour class. I would finish the dishes and there would be this sense of like, Hey, I did that. You kind of stand there looking at your dry dishes, like, Hey, man, I kind of, look, I owned you. And then you walk away like, Hey, you can choose to view it however you want. Yeah. So my faith system says God works all things for the good, and secular studies bear that out. Psychologists have again and again and again proven conclusively that winning the lottery leads to misery and that people who go through cancer or some other traumatic disease who survive come away with a greater sense of gratitude over the small things in life and a greater sense of happiness. Think about that. What we all wish would happen. A big payout, millions of dollars, misery. Wow. And cancer, which none of us want to have. Cancer leads to actually happiness. So, you know, I think we get to choose to reframe whatever we want. And I love the Navy. So Creedence. Hey, good times. You get to choose the story you're writing some Make it a good one.
Ginny Yurich Yeah. I read a book where they were talking about, well, the concept is promise versus peril, and a couple of different people have written about it. Andy Crouch wrote about it. There's a book called Digital Madness by Dr. Nicholas Cartier. So he writes about this concept of promise versus peril, and the dishwasher actually falls into that one, that these things come out, We think, yes, like I don't have to watch dishes anymore. But then, you know, one of those authors was talking about, well, that was a time they. With their wife. And they'd stand there for 20 minutes and they would connect. So there is peril attached to it. And I think that to your point, you can reframe good times. You know, we're back to washing dishes. Yeah. By hand. In in certain situations, it almost can bring in some humor, like, you know, your car breaks down or your tire popped and, you know, your immediate reaction has to be good times. So.
Levi Lusko Yeah, that's it. But instead of just cursing, which is the cultural thing, like just curses, which is uncreative good times, now let's be creative and problem solving if we're going to get a good story out of this, you know, And, you know, I think we have to be careful. Feature creep is real, you know, they're just because they come out with a refrigerator that has Alexa, you're like, Oh, my fridge writer has looks. It's like, Hold on, hon. Does anybody want to stop and ask a question? Do we need or want a refrigerator that can talk to Alexa? It's like I've got a smart microwave. I immediately turn that feature off. You know why you don't need a smart microwave? I don't need to ask my microwave with my voice to melt a stick of butter. You know what I mean? Like, and I just think whatever we assume is going to all of a sudden make our lives so much better. Maybe not so much, you know?
Ginny Yurich Yeah. That promise versus peril is an interesting concept because it pops up in a lot of spots where you think it's the answer and then it turns out to not be very good.
Levi Lusko I like that premise versus parallel. Crouch She said, I'm going to write that.
Ginny Yurich Yeah, Andy Crouch is really good. It's in his newest book. I'll send you the title when you talk about positive thinking and this is woven throughout I Declare War, you wouldn't tend to think that you are a naturally positive person, which is not the case. You said you used to be called Mister Negative.
Levi Lusko That was my dad's nickname for me. He also said it repeatedly how he was sure I was going to have a very successful life as a lawyer because I would argue everything. So that is my nature and I think I've had to overcome that. And I still do. You know, I still have weird little tics, like I have this form of OCD that makes it very hard for me to not count syllables in sentences and words. And I catch myself even on a run. Like if I'm listening to a podcast while I'm running, I'm like, I'll catch myself whatever I heard the person say, trying to figure out whether there was even or odd number of syllables in the sentence. And I could of course be like, Oh, sad about that. Woe is me, I'm a victim. I have this, whatever, whatever. It's kind of annoying. But I also can choose to say, Hey, this has allowed me to be fascinated with words, fascinated with how words sound and feel. And that's also made me a successful author and communicator. So I don't know, I guess we just get to choose to once again reframe things and we don't have to stick with what we start with. Just because I was a negative person or have that tendency doesn't mean I'm just going to resign myself. Just that's the way I am. I can choose to change, I can grow, I can improve. Hopefully.
Ginny Yurich That's one of the things I really loved about your book, is that you really want to read a book by someone who has gone through things and has figured out how to manage them, not someone who started off with the rose colored glasses, but someone who started off in a spot that was really stuck and trying to figure it out. And so, I mean, in this whole book I wrote down so many of the things you said. You said, I am a big baby and also a control freak. I am bad at managing myself. Often my mind is a bag of cats.
Levi Lusko Yeah, that's just Thursday. That's just a Thursday.
Ginny Yurich Yeah, but you talk about how you have been able to make changes and been able to reflect that gloominess leads to more gloominess. Like I think sometimes we think like if we're grumpy, that's going to be what helps us to get out of it. Like I'm going to give in to these feelings, but that is actually not what happens.
Levi Lusko No, it's not. It's funny how bad we are at catching patterns. So much of life, I believe, is pattern recognition, so much of marriage, parenting. If you can just detect patterns, if we're bad at patterns, we'll keep putting our hand in the same stove, burning ourselves and then complaining, but then doing it again. And I think the better we can get it going. Okay, hold on a second. When I do this, give in to the gloominess, for example, or say this or let's talk about my teenage daughter. If I do this, here's what happens. But then I end up doing the same thing again because it feels so good in the moment. You know, it doesn't feel good humility in the moment, but in my tongue in the moment, you know, not saying less, asking a question instead of giving the answer, saying I told you so, instead of asking up a question, letting her talk. Right. And just being a good listener or and here's my biggest parenting for teenagers tips right now when they choose to be talkative, go with that. Right. Because when I want to have a big chat, which is usually like, okay, I brought you on this road trip or I took you on this car ride, Now I want you to talk and bear your soul to me. And she's like, I don't want to talk, but I'm like, Then I'm frustrated or trying to force it. Okay, well, then, like, I'm ready to go to bed, and she comes and plops down on the foot of my bed and starts chatting about some boy or whatever, whatever. And I'm thinking, Hold on. This is I had set aside time to have a TR right talk. You didn't pick it, but you're picking this. You got to what did they say in Vietnam? Smoke them when you got them, you know? So it's like when your teenager wants to chat. Guess what? New plan. We're not going to bed. We're going to ride this wave. When you choose to open yourself up. Not on my timetable, because in. Seldom is convenient. But back to the point, the things that feel the best usually lead to the worst outcomes and the things that feel the worse in the moment lead to the outcomes we all want. Example Big Temptation. Taco Bell. I could pull through that Taco Bell drive thru any time I see it. If I don't control my car, it'll just like a homing beacon. Like, what am I doing? I'm ordering a chalupa. I don't need to loop on 41. I need to know what feels good leads to the outcome. I don't want sodium, you know, bloated, blah, blah, blah. I feel it. Why did I do that again? Looking for the Tums. What feels terrible in the moment. Kale salad drizzled sparingly with olive oil. Ain't nobody got time for that. But you know what? That's going to lead to me having a good feeling, you know, not not having the sugar crash and also fitting into my pants would be lovely, right? So I think it's just remembering same thing relationally. What I don't like in the moment is going to lead to life. And what I well, that would feel so good to say that's come back to my wife and you know, I feel terrible the rest of the day, you know?
Ginny Yurich Right. Well, you even had him here. I'd never heard of this before. It's like a French phrase. I think about how the witty come back like you because you're mad. And so you can't really think of that. Come back. And then, like, later on, when you calm down, you think of the come back and they actually have a word starter.
Levi Lusko Well, it's jerk store from Seinfeld for those of you children of the eighties. Right right. And science behind is pretty interesting. It's because your brain when it gets into a flustered state D prioritizes that kind of analytical comeback kind of energy and it prioritizes blood going to your quads for running or your biceps for fighting and your eyes for seeing an enemy. And so once your heart rate goes back down to a normal place, it returns blood to the parts of your brain that are able to have really good decision making in that kind of a way. So that's why when we're flustered, we make such big mistakes.
Ginny Yurich Yeah. Wow. And then you say being rude is expensive. It's not cheap. So similar. All those things go together and a lot of these things are in your books for kids. So if people are looking for ways to teach some of these different thoughts about, like you said, our different tendencies and pulling out of those and just really beautiful books and like I said, my little I mean, you know, kids always bring you books to read, but they don't necessarily bring the same one over and over again. And so our little.
Levi Lusko Winning I'll pay her for that later. I slipped that $20 bill in the book cover. Well, it's so funny that like you're I think what you're saying is and I told my publisher that from the very beginning when they said, Hey, do you want to do a kid's book? I said, Well, only if you'll allow me to put in concepts like social intelligence, emotional IQ, all of these things, each other that you travel a lot, you know, you see it like I do, and that is parents and adults who never got those basic skills built in self-control, impulse control, kindness. You know, this little cheese don't have tantrums. You know, there are still 50 year old people having tantrums in airports. I see it every day when they don't get their seat or whatever. And so I think if hopefully in these books, if anything can come across, it's that we can build these tools that make it easier to build a man or woman out of a child, as opposed to getting to that age and trying to fix it afterwards.
Ginny Yurich Mm hmm. And you did something right? Because she sure loves it. She sure has a preference for that, loves the illustrations. And there's always the little side note.
Levi Lusko Did she find the hidden anchors, though? That's the.
Ginny Yurich No.
Levi Lusko You know, every illustration, there's hidden anchors throughout. So at the last page of the book tells you a guide. But in the illustrations, you don't realize that there's a hidden anchor. And the new book has hidden telescopes. So it's actually so funny. My son Lennox, if he sees an anchor like in the world TV, like hidden anchor, it's like he thinks all anchors are hidden.
Ginny Yurich Anchors match from your daughter that passed away, right?
Levi Lusko Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So Linnea, my daughter, who gives us the name Lion Roar like a lion through the eyes of a lion. She. We loved anchors. We always did. She had an anchor necklace. We buried her body with an anchor necklace. We had an artist illustrate an anchor on top of her casket. It's on her tombstone, which is all comes from Hebrews 619 in the new King James Bible that says Hope we have is like an anchor for the soul, and it gives us a connection point. And so that's to become a fund symbol in our family of hope in hard times. But that's why we we scattered the the anchors throughout the book illustrations.
Ginny Yurich Oh, that's really fun. We're going to have to go back through and look. That's really special. And so in the new one, it's going to be telescopes are beautiful and I like each one. I'm surprised that they're hidden in these pictures. This is really fascinating.
Levi Lusko Do you remember those Scholastic magazines back in the day where you had to find the little things? That was kind of where I had the idea of in the doctor's offices.
Ginny Yurich I love those. And each one has a verse. And then, you know, you read the page, doesn't take super long, which is kind of nice at night. You're tired, it's very quick. But then there's always like a did you know and I love this too, you know, the biggest storm ever recorded. Here's where it was. And it was so big that the winds were 190 miles an hour and. All these just different little extra tidbits. Get ready to roar. So just a beautiful book and I think Marvel at the Moon. I mean, it's pretty neat that you were able to do two of them because they come out with 90 devotions and then to come out with 90 more. I know someone who is trying to write like a 365 day and she's like, This is actually a lot.
Levi Lusko Yeah, it's it's cool. And thank you for the kind words. And that was my hope. Like, I've read enough books to my kids to go, okay, I know what, I don't want this to be, like too short or they're not satisfied too long where you're like flipping through the pages going, Oh my gosh, how many more do I have to go? But also variety, because if you read one a night, it's going to last for three months and not where you read the same book to them every night for like ten days, you're like, I'm going to put a knife through my temple if I have to read this again. But then also of stuff that is fun, like how much Frank Sinatra paid for his first microphone and why he developed his iconic dancing style. Because people used to throw pennies into his megaphone before he could afford a microphone. He would choke on them, you know, just like that's interesting. And it gives us kind of something to say at a party when we're having a chit chat. Right. And and I love obscure little tidbits from history. The fact that Neil Armstrong landed on the moon with a piece of the Wright Brothers airplane wing in his pocket. Right. That's just fascinating.
Ginny Yurich Yeah. So this one end that I declare war, that's one of the the Appendix B compendium of useless tidbits. I like that to you guys. It definitely can help you in conversation. Like if you if you can remember some of them. I didn't know the thing about green eggs and Ham.
Levi Lusko In that great. It was a dare between him and his publisher that he couldn't write a book using only 50 different English words.
Ginny Yurich I mean, that is so interesting. I had no idea. And that you had a lot of things in here about social media. Americans spend up to 5 hours a day on their phones, 150 hours a month, 14 years over the course of a lifetime.
Levi Lusko And that was pre-COVID. Can you imagine now? Wow, that's brutal.
Ginny Yurich Yeah, it's brutal. Was it yours or. I was talking about the likes that sometimes they released the likes.
Levi Lusko Oh, yeah. They withhold them and they cluster them so you don't quite get one. As they come, you get a whole cluster. Oh wow. There's like 14 or 17 or so. That way every time you open up your social media, it almost feels like a little slot machine.
Ginny Yurich When while. Levi I read a lot of books about technology and had never read that the experts admitted to such practices as holding back likes until they know when you're going to have enough time to spend on their.
Levi Lusko Because they know your patterns. So they know you're going to have more time at a certain time. They're going to give you more likes at that. It's really, really scary. It's basically we're rats and they know what's going to make us go through the maze in such a way.
Ginny Yurich Mm. Huh. Wow. I never you know, you hear a lot about it, but that was like a whole nother level that they know. But she's going to have 45 minutes now, So if I put it up now, she's going to be stuck in there. And that's. That's pretty wild, bad.
Levi Lusko It just makes you feel like, dang, I'm I'm getting used here, man.
Ginny Yurich Yeah. Like a puppet on a string. And then you had written that college kids aren't reading anymore. A third didn't read a single book last year. Those were the well, it's not even college kids, those with a college degree. So it's adults.
Levi Lusko Yeah. Imagine people who don't have a degree. I mean, it's like it's really bad. It's a dumbing down. And you see it. The bookstores are getting smaller. The bookstores are closing down. The fact that Borders closed, that used to be my wife and his favorite date night. Go to Borders, walk around, look at the books. And I was literally just Barnes and Noble in the airport. They actually see physical books.
Ginny Yurich Yeah, John Ashcroft talked about that because he's got a similar amount of books as you do. And he said you go through the air, he flies around like you do and speak. And he said, you know, you go through the airport or the planes and no one has a book. It used to be that everyone was reading a book and no one has a book out now.
Levi Lusko And even getting a placement in the bookstores, I'm not sure if you're aware of this. It's actually kind of corrupt. You if you know those little spindle racks in like the if you're in the airport, you see where you go, get your sandwich, your bottle of water, and then they have a freestanding rack that spins with books. Yeah, those are all paid placements. So it's not just what's going to what people want to read or is popular. You pay as an author or a publisher to have your book placed there. So it's not it's all kind of, you know, a bummer.
Ginny Yurich It's a bummer, but good to read more. And I've loved your books. Like I said, the two that I read, I Declare War and Through the Eyes of a Lion, very different from each other, but both really impactful and thought provoking. And I would love to talk about the peace story.
Levi Lusko Oh, when I went my pants.
Ginny Yurich Well, kind of. It was kind of a weird.
Levi Lusko Yeah, you're right. It was a tie. It was a wardrobe malfunction. Yes. Thank you for bringing this up, Jenny. All my deepest, darkest secrets. Yeah, I was getting ready to speak at this event with, like, 5000 people, and I had a little trailer they had given me for, like, to prepare and quiet my heart. And I was trying to, you know, I was wearing a suit. And so they put a mike pack on your belt, which is heavier than you realize it is. And I went to the restroom without giving too many details as I opened my belt buckle and was using the restroom, the belt was kind of sitting. Curiously with the backpack. Well, halfway through things, the belt pulled really hard with the pack and my whole belt came out of my belt loops and when fell down. Anyhow, I went to grab it and ended up, you know, getting all over my pants. And so then I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I have to go to the stage in front of all these people. I don't have time to change. And I literally had one song to get out there. And so I ended up just putting as much water in hand sanitizer as I could on things and then got belted up, went straight out and and I went out and was on stage. And, you know, people are clapping and, you know, I just was hiding behind the lectern, you know, like, I'm not going to let you see that I've got pants. And it was so funny because someone said later on, like to me, hey, up there in the lights, how do you not get a big head and struggle with pride? And I was like, Oh, Mike, that's the that's the least that I'm thinking about. I'm not thinking I'm the cat's meow or the, you know, I'm like, I'm just struggling to keep behind the pulpit. You don't see that I wet my pants. And I guess my point in that telling that story in the book, if I can recall, was we might look at people and go, Oh man, must be nice to be them. But the reality is they're facing struggles that you don't know anything about. And so before we were jealous of people, we must remember that every new season or blessing comes with a new burden, a new responsibility, a new difficulty. And it can help us to just sort of put in context that in our minds.
Ginny Yurich Mm hmm. Yeah. There's a whole section about developing grit and that our public. What does it say? Public victory comes from private disciplines. You. Well, I like the sentence to envy someone. Success is to miss the nature of it. So it's stepping back and knowing that you. I mean, that was a story, Levi, Like you said, you had a couple minutes and you made the decision to do that. But I.
Levi Lusko Hate speaking. Well, having to pee is a real fear of mine. I was actually afraid in that Hummer, too, of the whole time I got off. I have to pee because I drink so much soda and coffee. You know, diet soda. That's any better? That's just as bad.
Ginny Yurich Well, when you only have a couple of minutes in your rushing and then you you like you said you had one song's worth of time.
Levi Lusko It was a mistake.
Ginny Yurich Then your mind is scrambling. Well, like, what do I do? How do I handle it?
Levi Lusko And if I remember correctly, for King and Country was playing and they were finishing up and it was just I made the wrong call. Jenny okay. I know I'm not proud of my decision, but then I found this great story about the very first American astronauts into space. Alan Shepard is his name and he literally had to pee. And there was a he was sitting on the rocket waiting to launch. And there was a delay in the in the launch sequence. And they hadn't realized how long he was going to be in the rocket and they hadn't put a diaper on him. Now, every astronaut that launches now wears a diaper because, you know, if they if they delay or whatever, they can't unbuckle, they can, you know, go go to the restroom. So they wear a diaper and they have to be they have to be there to pee in their diaper. But the flight director was like, man, I got to go. He's like, I go to the bathroom. Go like, just just go, just go. And so he's literally lying there peeing. And when he got home, President John F Kennedy invited him to the White House and he had a ticker tape parade in Manhattan, New York. Like a half a million people are out there cheering Putin for. And it's like, dude, you be like, Oh, it must be nice to be an usher. It's like, Are you kidding me? That guy was, you know, peeing on himself and this rocket ride, right? So it's just I think it's just kind of realizing, like, everyone goes through hard stuff no matter who you are.
Ginny Yurich Yeah, he's got PR up his back. I mean, it's going all through the suit, right?
Levi Lusko And it was shorting out some of his sensors. It was a real problem. They were very worried that he could actually electrocute himself.
Ginny Yurich Wow. There's this book called I think it's called Rich Habits. Poor Habits. And then they wrote one for kids. There's something. Anyway, there's this test in there. It's like the rich habits test for parents, whatever. It's who cares if your kids are rich, But it's kind of about like, what are the habits for building successful kids? And there's 40 things in there. And like, they're really interesting. Levi None of them have to do with grades. It's about like, do you call people when it's their birthday and do you exercise? And do you limit your junk food and your television consumption? But one of the 40 things is do you read biographies of successful people? Interesting.
Levi Lusko Very, very good. No, I think that's fantastic. And have kids that are self learners and have drive and empathy to like it's like both of those things, like they said about Abraham Lincoln, that he was velvet coated steel. He was strong, but he was he had a soft touch. And I think what you're saying is calling someone on their birthday, helping a stranger like that sense of kindness is the velvet and the steel. Is that strength and that, you know, financial independence and, you know, all of those kind of things like. So I would hope that for all of our kids that they would be velvet steel.
Ginny Yurich Yeah. And by reading biographies as one of the 40 things that really changed actually what we were doing in our home, we weren't reading biographies, but then I read them and I thought, Well, yeah, because then what happens is your kids learn. What you're saying basically, is that no one has a straight shot to success. Everyone has pee in their astronaut suit or whatever that you. Reason is people are struggling. It's not perfect. So I think that's really encouraging. And you talked about ways to build your grit. So one of the things you talked about and these are simple things.
Levi Lusko What was that book that referenced that research was Rich Dad, Poor dad.
Ginny Yurich Well, it's not rich, Dad. Poor dad. It's called rich habits. Poor habits. I'll send it over.
Levi Lusko Nice. You're going to put all this in the show notes, right?
Ginny Yurich Well, yeah, there's actually a Google. Like, if you just Google it, it's like called rich habits test for parents. And it's just this checklist of 40 things that they're very eye opening because it's mostly just like you talked about, like social emotional skills. And that is really what's going to set our kids up for success. It has less to do with like GPA and test scores than you would think that it does. It's really interesting. I liked the biography one.
Levi Lusko Interesting.
Ginny Yurich Yeah.
Levi Lusko That's very good.
Ginny Yurich Yeah, well, it's kind of like all these things that you talk about, right? This is all practical things. So you were talking about in your books about you were speaking and you're speaking at your church and there's a couple dozen people at the beginning. And now, like you said, you just you're at this thing and there's 6000 people on this and there's 10,000 people at that. And over time, you have built this skill set and there's grit. But you talked about how you felt like you're going to throw up and you're really nervous, but then you give these practical things like breathing and posture. Can you give just a couple tidbits of advice there for when our bodies feel like they're going to shut down on us? But there are ways out.
Levi Lusko Yeah, well, that's so true. And I think it's really important to remember, like, like I said, you quoted me a moment ago saying that public victory comes from private discipline. We all look at what we wish we had, but we we sometimes neglect the little unsexy things it takes to get there. You know, Michael Jordan famously said that it's what's done in empty gyms that one day will fill up arenas. We only go to watch Michael Jordan or watch Last Dance on Netflix because of what he did when no one was looking. And I think in our lives we neglect sometimes the little repeated shaving the skin off our turkey breast, you know, kind of things that it's going to take to get to what we wish we had. And we flippantly say, Oh, that that's the life I want, but we're not doing the little things to get there, right? And so in my life, like, yeah, you could look at, you know, speaking at whatever event or doing whatever, but, you know, I know how I began, like I know I've my first speaking event was a Chinese Christian church who asked me to give a seminar on parenting. And I was like, you know, I'm not married. I don't have kids. Right? And like, yeah, we just want someone to tell us what the Bible says about parenting. I'm like, Well, I can look into that. So I spent, you know, days and days and days and days like I was studying. There's free to a million people What the Bible says about parenting and presented this. Talk to them. I'd take my shoes off at the front door of the church and you know, it was not a big, sexy opportunity, but I took it seriously. And I always did that in my early days. And to this present day, if I was speaking to 14 or 14,000 people, I prepared the same. And it wasn't like I phoned in one or, you know, or the other. And I, I honed in myself the ability to take seriously that I'm speaking to these people that are there have me there for a reason. And, you know, I don't have in my head like, oh, this is a little opportunity or this is a big opportunity. Just fun to bring all my gifts to bear, all my focus. I'm going to leave it all out there on the stage. Right. And and I think that's what develops what eventually can be scaled. And to your point, I always get nervous. I got nervous so bad at the beginning, I would throw up every time I spoke. So people say, oh, wow, you just good public speakers. Like, No, I fought through hell to get here. I literally would drive and vomit every time, you know, for for this was months and months and months. And I started to learn to pay attention to my body and to know what was happening physiologically with cortisol, which is a stress hormone with testosterone, which is a powerful feeling almost drug, and that there are things you can do to influence one or the other. If you practice deep breathing, you're going to feel calmer. If you're nervous, you're going to breathe shallow. If you kind of hunch over and sit nervous, you know, Oh, this is going to be bad. You're going to feel more stressed out if you put your hands on your hips or sit up tall or put your hands in the air, you're going to have a sense of testosterone because your body's literally going to reinforce what you're doing. And they say, if you put a pencil between your teeth, your back teeth and force a smile, you will literally feel happy. So even just smiling makes you feel happier, Right? So, again, the gloominess leads to more gloominess. But if you choose to say, I'm going to put a smile on my face whether I feel like it or not, eventually you'll start to release that feeling of happiness and dopamine. So when I'm getting ready to speak, I do not give in to the feelings of nervousness and allow that to infiltrate my posture. I choose to assume positions that, like the Bible, reinforce that statement. Let the weak say I am strong and I have little affirmations. I say to myself, There are things I say to my kids every night at bedtime. You know, they can repeat them cold because I'm choosing to speak. Over what I want to see and speak over myself, what I want to see. And that's kind of one one thing that's helped me out.
Ginny Yurich Mm hmm. And these things that you put in the book, they are accessible to breathe deeply. That's something that we can do. It's not like we have to have some gadget or own this whatever thing that's expensive, it's a deep breath. Or when you were talking about the posture, like the arms raised or the Wonder Woman pose.
Levi Lusko Yeah, exactly. That's one of my favorites. Wonder Woman always stands like that, right?
Ginny Yurich Mm hmm. And it can change things in as little as just a few minutes. Well, it says cortisol can drop by as much as 25% in as little as 2 minutes, depending on if you can take these different stances. That's huge.
Levi Lusko It's crazy. And it's something you could do before a job interview. You could do it before a test, you could do it before a date. You could literally inform your whole well-being.
Ginny Yurich Mm hmm. Wow. This is a great book to read for teenagers, I think, because there's so many practical bits of life advice.
Levi Lusko I'm glad to hear you say that, because we're working on a young reader version of it that's kind of a version sort of catered to an 11 year old. 12 year old.
Ginny Yurich Oh, it's perfect.
Levi Lusko Shorter chapters, bigger words, but still same content.
Ginny Yurich Yeah. Book ten.
Levi Lusko Ooh. Yeah. Well, we'll see. We'll see what Lennox thinks of that.
Ginny Yurich Yeah.
Levi Lusko Be like. I don't know, Dad. You're phoning in all the old book. We don't know if we can answer that one. You know.
Ginny Yurich Like book nine. Be one of the last things, if we can snag it, is you talk about, you know, your childhood in middle school. And actually there was a sentence in here that said something about how middle school is like the worst time in life.
Levi Lusko It's been verified by sociologists.
Ginny Yurich Wow. For most Americans, the middle school is the worst time in their lives. But you are talking about caring what other people think about you, which is something that we all do and looking for validation. And and here you are in this spot where your words are heard by millions and you have all these books out that have spaces where people can leave reviews. And how have you learned to deal with what other people say and what other people's opinions are having so much of yourself out in the world?
Levi Lusko Yeah, I mean, anybody who tells you that that's not a struggle is lying. I mean, I think that's it's it hurts us. All right. I might get a hundred positive comments or letters or emails, but the one man I'm going to fixate on that one, like I got this one review and one of my books and I saw it and it was one star. And, you know, they said the funniest thing. They said this book smelt like smoke. And I was like, Oh my gosh, that's Amazon's fault and packager. It was, you know, smoking while they put in a box and like, but you're going to put your one star review on this book that took me six months, you know, of of blood, sweat and tears to write but it's so but then I was like it made me laugh because, of course, I've gotten much meaner criticism than that. He doesn't know what he's talking about. And we were sick of hearing his words. Someone, you know, might say whatever they want to say, but when I saw that one star review over this book smelt like smoke, that the person literally pulled it out of the box and went, Yeah, this book smells bad, so I'm going to just leave this for you. I was like, You know what? It's it made me realize it's easy to criticize, you know, without quoting the movie Ratatouille. There's some truth to the fact that anyone can criticize, but it takes someone to dare greatly to put themselves into the kitchen and cook a meal and serve it up to somebody. And so, I mean, I guess I I'm always trying to continue to learn and apply that. I just have to do what I'm doing and I don't want to spend my life tearing down someone else's work. I'd rather build my own and and to remember if my wife likes me, if my kids, you know, tonight I'm taking my kids out to a dinner and at my deathbed, no one's going to be reading my resume and talking about where I spoke or what I wrote or how many units sold they're going to be. Hopefully my kids are going to be they're fighting over who gets to eulogize me. Hopefully my wife is going to be wanting to speak about me and my grandkids. And and if that's the case, then you know what? I'm going to die a happy man and a wealthy man because I'll be rich in the right ways.
Ginny Yurich Yeah. Levi, I'm just so impressed with your books and so and so awesome that we met in the most random of ways.
Levi Lusko In the Utah desert.
Ginny Yurich If you are both of these podcasts, it has been such a gift to get this time with you and to read your books. Like I said, I've taken so many things from them and our kids are too, because you've got these ones that are for kids. So people are looking for devotions cheery with their kids. Two options were like a lion marvel at the moon. Fantastic. And then the other books that you've written for adults, you have a marriage devotional. So many different things people can find information at. Levi last Lego.com pastor, author, husband, dad and also you have a podcast. Hey, it's the less goes that you do it. Jenny So what's a topic that tends to come up there often?
Levi Lusko Oh gosh, we talk about all kinds of things, but a lot of the conversation comes back to my love for cold plunging in sauna. I'm a bit obsessed. With getting into ice baths and hot saunas. So we talk about that. I'm always raising guests and friends to get in there.
Ginny Yurich It's good for mental health, right?
Levi Lusko It's good for. Don't get me started. You'll never get the Green River thing. How many snakes and spiders did you see when you grow? Five day.
Ginny Yurich But I will tell you this, Levi. The mosquitoes were so unbelievably bad. I have never been in an environment with that many mosquitoes. And it was an anomaly. It was just because I think the water level was high and that had to do with the amount of snow that had come in. Normally, there's no bugs at all because you're in the desert and they say there's no bugs, but we had to wear mosquito nets and it was pretty wild.
Levi Lusko Sleep on the ground, Did you put cots up?
Ginny Yurich So we put up cots and tents every night and the last night. But this is really cool. It fits with the book. The very last night, the bugs weren't as bad. And so my daughter, Vivian, we both decided we weren't going to set the tent up for the very last night. And we slept under the stars and we saw a shooting star. She said, I don't even want to fall asleep because I've never seen anything like this before.
Levi Lusko It was probably so dark.
Ginny Yurich Yes.
Levi Lusko A friend of mine slept in the Grand Canyon once and he said it was the best stargazing he ever did in the center of the Grand Canyon. He said he could reach out almost, and grab the stars. I bet it was kind of like that.
Ginny Yurich Well, sure. And that company does these river trips down the Grand Canyon to where it's five, seven days. What was really neat about it, Levi, is that you don't have any access to your phone. And so it almost felt like going back in time, like being a child and just being able to live in the moment. You have no phone, there's no technology. You're just there with the people that you're with. Someone is cooking for you. So like, you know, you're giving the food.
Levi Lusko Was the food good?
Ginny Yurich I mean, it was phenomenal. Some of the best food I'd ever had. And we had fun. It was a talent show. I just thought it was a phenomenal trip. I can't wait to do it again. They fly you in and a little prop plane.
Levi Lusko This is the Moab Adventure Center trip.
Ginny Yurich The Moab Adventure Center? Yes. Down the Green River.
Levi Lusko And they do Grand Canyon, too. That's cool.
Ginny Yurich And they do Grand Canyon. It's called the West Western River Expeditions. They do trips, I think, all over, like in Idaho and different places. And the food is phenomenal. The accommodations were great and we had the time of our lives. Our daughter cannot wait to come back.
Levi Lusko And your kids are talking about for their whole life. Yes.
Ginny Yurich Yeah. Because we did that Hummer thing with you and then we did a canyon hearing thing as well where you you know, you're rappelling down. And so it was really a memorable time. So and what a cool thing to meet you. They're so thrilled to have your books as part of our home here. And we're picking them up every day because our daughter brings them.
Levi Lusko We'll get the new on your way as soon as it's physically in our hands. So yeah, it's awesome.
Ginny Yurich Levi We always end our podcast with the same question. Here's the question What is a favorite memory from your childhood? That was outside.
Levi Lusko My dad had a jeep and he would always take the top off in the summer, but he would, you know, be so in a hurry to get it off. He would be like the first sunny day the top would come off. And then, you know, of course, Colorado weather. As I lived in Colorado as a kid, it would get colder again. And, you know, we'd have some long drive and we would just be so cold in this jeep with the top off with the wind blowing in. And yet we would crank the heat and like kind of be driving with our hands on the heaters. And I just I so vividly recall the fun of the wind blowing in through the car, freezing to death, but loving the memory of riding around in my dad's jeep.
Ginny Yurich And that and that hot air blowing through the things that is awesome.
Levi Lusko Burning my hands like scalding my hands. But still I can't move my hands because otherwise I would freeze to death.
Ginny Yurich Oh, Levi, thank you for spending this time with us. I know everyone is going to be so grateful and actually, like so many people, they're going to think I'm really cool. So let me just take that out there. You have given me cool points with my friends and family. So thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Levi Lusko Well, I'm the one who's fangirling over here. I think you're incredible. And you did what you did with the Green River. I'm like, I want to go do that immediately. So I owe.
Ginny Yurich You a lot because.
Levi Lusko One for your list. Here's one for your bucket list. There is in Montana, a guide service that will do a very similar trip to what you did down the Missouri River past what's called the White Cliffs. The White Cliffs. So if you go to Fort Benton, Montana, you get to find it. And outfitter, there's tons of them. They'll support a trip like what you're saying. But you get to recreate a portion of the Lewis and Clark journey.
Ginny Yurich Wow.
Levi Lusko From Fort Benton on the Missouri Pass the White Cliffs. And specifically the White Cliffs is the bricks. And there's nothing manmade. It's wilderness. And that trip is unbelievable. Stephen Ambrose, who wrote the definitive biography on Lewis and Clark called Undaunted Courage, which is probably one of the best books that's ever been written. He said of the entirety of the Saint Louis to Oregon, Lewis and Clark journey. He's recreated it all multiple times. His very best favorite part was the White Cliffs section. You can do a three day trip, a four day trip, a five day trip. We did it as a family and it was one of. The greatest things we've ever done. So that should be on the bucket list for going I want to live that thousand hour outside life.
Ginny Yurich You know, it's really cool by it. It's really encouraging to see what you're doing with your family. Like the fact that you had stop with Lennox to do that trip. And I had talked to this pastor, Brian Tome, who's got a podcast as well, and he was telling me and he's out of the fathering years, but he was telling me that pastors have the lowest testosterone of any profession. And he was saying that this is so important that like in all of our walks of life, no matter our profession, that we're getting out and we're doing things with our life and we're doing things with our kids. And I think it's so easy as a pastor because so many people pull out for your time and they need you. I think it's so easy to lose sight of that balance. And so what an encouraging thing that you're doing, Levi. Like your family day and all of those things I think are modeling for everyone else a way to go after life, a full life. And it really is so impactful.
Levi Lusko Oh, thanks, Ginny.
Ginny Yurich Thanks, Levi.
