Walking with God

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Shalom, Grace and Peace. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

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My name is Daniel Miller and this is the notes I Leave podcast.

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Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, we love you and I thank you so much for the journey that you've built for us.

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I ask that we all follow your path with you, alongside you, as opposed to behind or in front.

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Let us never stray and let us be reminded of the path that we need to walk alongside you.

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In your son Jesus name and the Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen.

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Thank you for joining me today.

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I wanted to open up in a prayer as I title this episode Walking with God in Reflection.

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I should open every podcast with a prayer and I can commit to doing that from this point forward.

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This last 24 hours or so has been a big reflection period for me in the nature of our family business, Biblical Anatomy Academy.

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What it is, why it exists.

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And as I reflect on that, I go back in theme with the notes I leave to leave valuable lessons

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for those who love me and those who need to hear it.

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I specifically think of my son in this episode in if he has a entrepreneurial desire and the

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Lord paves that path for him, that this would be a wonderful message for him.

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And if you have an entrepreneurial side to you as well, this might be a message that you need to hear.

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Because as I reflect back on the last, well, really 10, 15 years, I've always had an entrepreneurial

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side to me and I've ran a strength and conditioning business that was by definition successful.

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And I have done always done a side job on top of a traditional job.

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And that side job has always been how I kind of get my creativity, my entrepreneurial side out.

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And over the last two plus years, the focus has been Biblical Anatomy Academy.

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But the truth is it didn't start two years ago.

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It started maybe a year or two before that under a different name.

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For those of you that have been following my journey long enough, you know, the company was

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called Ararat Physiology and the meaning of Ararat Physiology was Mount Ararat was the first

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mountain that was exposed after the flood recited.

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And that's where Noah and the ark landed, was on Mount Ararat.

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And so for me, given my path in life and how gracious the Lord has been to me, Mount Ararat symbolized new beginnings.

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And the Lord has also provided me, provided me extensive physiological training and understanding

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how the human body works.

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And so the two just seem to fit.

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And in many ways the business should still be called Ararat Physiology.

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But after a few years and realizing that the world wasn't recognizing what I was trying to contribute.

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I realized that nobody really knows what Ararat means, and nobody really knows what physiology means.

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And I fell into the trap of being catchy.

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And so I went into a summer season of prayer, and I came out of that summer really feeling like

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the Lord had given me the message to start a school.

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And I decided to name that school Biblical Anatomy Academy and teach anatomy and physiology. Biblically. Pretty simple.

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But over the last 24 hours, as I reflect back on the message, on what God definitively told

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me, I realize he told me to share my knowledge, share the knowledge that he has provided me.

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And he didn't necessarily give me a business name.

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He didn't necessarily tell me to start a podcast.

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He didn't necessarily tell me to start a YouTube channel.

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He didn't necessarily tell me to write a textbook, and he also didn't necessarily not tell me

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to do any of those things.

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But what happened that was super critical at that period of time was I walked ahead of him.

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I took that concept of share the knowledge I've provided you, and I jumped to the idea of a school.

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And I immediately jumped into all the exciting stuff about starting a new business.

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What we were going to call the school.

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Where are we going to start as an academy, a college?

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Were we going to build to a university level?

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What people were we going to serve?

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What courses we were going to offer?

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Who was going to help with this, how long this was going to take to create all these things?

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My mind went wild with it and exciting in a very good way, not a bad way.

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But the point is, as I reflect now, I realize that God told me to share my knowledge.

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And like an excited child, I started running and dancing and doing all these things.

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And I'm sad to report that it's been two years of excitement and frolicking down the path.

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And I realized last night, as I sort of lament on the status of this podcast and the viewership

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and having those same feelings that I had with Ararat Physiology, that nobody knows what Biblical

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Anatomy Academy is, and if nobody knows about it, nobody can care about it.

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And if nobody knows or cares about it, how is it serving anyone and falling into those worldly

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temptations and defining this podcast, the textbook, the business as a whole, as something that

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is valuable or successful in terms of the world?

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And that really sat on me hard because I truly don't want to be defined as successful in the ways of the world.

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I want to be defined as successful in the eyes of the Lord.

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And a verse comes to mind that I just read this morning.

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For what value does it have for a man to trade his soul for riches of the earth?

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And I'm paraphrasing greatly, but essentially what value does it have for you to have riches

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in this season, this life, if it costs you your soul in eternity?

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And I never want that to be.

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Let it never be that that ever takes place in my life.

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And I am confident when I say that if I write this textbook, if I publish this podcast, and

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it never receives one view, I'm storing my treasures in heaven.

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And I need to really.

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And I need your help with this to get out of the mindset of viewership count or subscribers

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or all these things that the world just inundates us with this.

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Because that's not what the Lord asks us to do.

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That's not who the Lord asks us to serve.

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He is asking us to serve his people, but under his guidance, under his providence, through his

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ways, not our ways, and certainly not the world's ways.

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And so as I sat back and reflected, I realized what the last two years have looked like.

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And I realized that I'm falling into the same doubts that I had with Ararat Physiology.

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And I went to the length to basically unplug it and completely start over.

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We had a YouTube channel that was about two years old under the name Ararat Physiology, and

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I couldn't change the name to Biblical Anatomy Academy.

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So I started a new one and started from ground zero.

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And I don't want to be in that pattern of doing that every few years.

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I want to be in the pattern of walking back down the path to our Lord to make sure I wait for

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his signal to take the next step and to continually do that.

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Now I feel extraordinarily blessed because I do feel this way in my entrepreneurial life.

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I do not feel this way in my traditional nine to five work.

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The Lord is blessing me every single day in that line of work.

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And I am meant to be there 100%.

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And I think that there's probably some pride with the entrepreneurial side because I really

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want to be an entrepreneur, and not even necessarily full time, but to have something that I've built.

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And I think there's probably too much pride in that.

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I need to understand that I am fulfilling a purpose as a high school teacher.

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And additionally, I get to teach at the college level, fulfilling a purpose.

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And so I'm almost asking for a third job here to fulfill a purpose, which is silly because I've

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already been provided two extraordinary platforms to fulfill that purpose.

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But I do feel that itch nonetheless.

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I am going to continue scratching that itch, but allowing myself to slow down and to seek his

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guidance first to step with Him I shared in a podcast last week or the week prior about having

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something to say versus saying something for the sake of saying something.

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I phrased it a little bit differently in that episode, but you get the idea.

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And in this podcast and in the textbook and in the business as a whole, I don't want to say

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something just for the sake of moving my lips for the sake of saying something.

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I want to say something because the Lord has put something on my heart.

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And this week he definitely did.

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Now, before I continue on with what's been what I've been reflecting on in the story for this

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week, we've probably spent too much time without being in God's word so far.

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And so let's take a look at the Book of Micah and then let's take a look a look at chapter six

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and specifically verses six through eight.

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Verse six reads, with what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high?

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Shall I come to him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves?

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Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams?

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In 10,000 rivers of oil Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious act, the fruit of my

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body, for the sin of my soul?

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He has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice,

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to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

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And that really resonates with me, specifically those last three things. To do justice.

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I do feel I am a just person, feel I'm a very fair person.

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Even though I don't like the world's definition of fair.

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I feel like I'm a very just person and I'm a very loyal person.

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Do I love in kindness?

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I'm getting better every day, thankfully.

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I'm getting better every day. And loving kindness.

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I come from a long line of criticism and a long line of doubt and fear and all those things.

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But every day I'm getting better and better of loving and kindness.

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And am I walking humbly with God?

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I think for the most part I am.

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Again, I said that the last two years this has happened in the entrepreneurial side of my life,

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but it hasn't happened in my traditional workforce.

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It also hasn't happened in my personal life.

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I feel like the Lord is with me every day and almost like I'm walking three simultaneous paths

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and two are wonderful, absolutely splendid but this third area, this entrepreneurial side, I'm seeing my faults.

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I'm seeing mistakes that I've made.

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And to be honest, of the three areas of my life, and perhaps more areas of my life where I could

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stumble, I'd want it to be this area.

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Entrepreneurship is not for the weak.

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It's not for the faint of heart.

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I have learned some very difficult lessons, but I am so thankful that the Lord has.

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One, taught me those lessons and two, provided me and my family with the stability through traditional employment.

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Also provided me and my wife with three beautiful children and provided me the opportunity to be dad.

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Because as I've said on this podcast before I renamed it the Notes I Leave, when it was still

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called the Biblical Anatomy Podcast.

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As I've said in that I'm confident in two things.

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The Lord made me to be a dad, and the Lord made me to be a teacher.

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And so really, what I'm trying to focus on in this podcast, in this business, is being a dad

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and being a teacher and by leaving quality notes that are worth reading.

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So as I think about the application that I'm hoping to provide to you, it is that path that

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we all have that is uniquely different for each of us.

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The path and inspiration, the reason I have for this business, that is uniquely part of my path.

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The path is worthless if I'm walking it alone.

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I must be walking it with God and at his pace, which will always be sufficient.

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If I walk behind him, I'm in trouble. If I walk.

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If I walk in front of him, I'm in trouble.

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But if I walk alongside him, waiting for his direction, I think of Proverbs 16, 9.

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If I walk alongside him, waiting for his direction, I will always be okay.

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And I will be more than okay.

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I will be provided for, my family will be provided for, and I will continually be doing it the

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right way by storing my treasures in heaven.

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You know, that quickly reminds me.

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I was getting off the freeway yesterday and to the right of me was a truck and a trailer.

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And it had very simple stickers on it. And it was a.

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A guy that had a plumbing business.

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And I don't remember the name of the business, probably because it wasn't catchy enough. Right. But I.

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It was basically ethical plumbing is what it was.

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It and doing business the right way.

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And I just love that it was.

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It was an older truck, it was an older trailer.

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It was not a lot of money invested in the logo.

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Not a lot of money invested.

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The decals, you could tell just by this outward appearance that was not flashy as the world would like.

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I felt peace about having that guy work on any plumbing issue that I'd have in the future because I.

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I felt, again, this is maybe a stretch because I don't know the person at all, but that presentation

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probably does not appeal to most of the world, but it appealed to me in that this guy probably

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does business the right way and he's concerned about looking himself in the mirror every night

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when he goes to bed.

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And hopefully he's a godly man and hopefully his concern is a little more than that while looking

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in the mirror that the Lord would respond to him.

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Good job, good and faithful servant.

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And so I reject, I relent, and I repent on trying to make this business a worldly success.

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If that's the Lord's will, fantastic.

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But I need to store my treasures in heaven.

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I need your help in doing that.

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I need your encouragement in doing that.

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If you have found this podcast to be beneficial to you at all.

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Some of you have sent me direct messages and you have no idea what that means to me.

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It means more to me than any deposit in our bank account associated with this.

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That truly means more than the monetary side, even if it is difficult to make ends meet. Keeping this podcast running,

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that tells me that I'm storing my treasures in heaven.

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That tells me that I'm having the right impact on people. Money is a tool. Money isn't necessarily evil.

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We get the quote wrong all the time that money is the root of all evil when the Bible tells

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us that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evils.

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But we are not to serve money, we are to serve the Lord and store treasures in heaven under his guidance.

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And so that is what I commit to doing with this podcast.

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And I hope that regardless of who you are listening to this, whether you have an entrepreneurial

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side or not, that you are motivated in the way you do work.

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Because most, if not all of us are doing work of some sort.

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And is it the paycheck that is the gift, the benefit of doing the work?

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Or is it the impact we have on people?

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Is it the fact that we can look ourselves in the mirror at night?

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Is it the fact that we will receive the desirable message that we all hope to receive?

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And that is good job, good and faithful servant.

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As I transition into this members only section, I'm going to expand on the last two years journey

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a little bit more, even a little bit prior to that, and more total details on my entire entrepreneurial journey.

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I ask that you join me for that and I ask that you reach out and we have communications.

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It's been a few weeks since I've listed my email, but there are many episodes in the past that have it.

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This most simple, shortest email is danielearba.com and that'll get directly to my inbox and

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love to communicate with you, text message further from there, phone calls, whatever it may

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be, to get to know you and to serve you.

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Because what I'm also realizing is that it's in service to God's people.

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And I believe that God will put someone in front of me to serve this day or the next immediately

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to work with, as opposed to some project or some business path.

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I believe that's a byproduct that that will happen.

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If you're treating God's people well, if you're serving well, I think the rest will take care of itself.

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And I'm going to spend the next however many weeks, months, years trying to prove that true.

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I believe it is true, but I'm going to try and prove that true in my own life by serving you

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and serving you well for the reason that I'm commanded to and no other reason, because I have

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been doing that in the past.

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But I do admit to you that I believe it was with a bit of cheese at the end of the string that

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I was hopeful, perhaps too hopeful, I almost guarantee too hopeful that it would yield to a

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business that was successful through the wrong definition of what success.

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And so I need to commit to what I'm preaching, commit to what the Lord is putting on my heart

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and serving people for the sake of following his path and his commandments that he has for us.

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And truly, when I'm in the moment and I'm serving people, I realize that that's where the fruit

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is, that's where the benefit is.

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That's what feeds my soul in addition to his word, my prayer life.

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And that's more valuable than any dollar amount that could turn into a fleshly replenishment

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as opposed to a spiritual replenishment.

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So thank you so much for your time. I love you dearly.

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I'm going to go ahead and transition to the members only section at this point in time, and

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so wishing you nothing but the best.

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Thank you for your time and God bless.

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Until next time. May the peace of Christ dwell richly in you.

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And may I also express maranantha, which is an Aramaic word translating to come, Lord Jesus.