Welcome Back

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Shalom, Grace and Peace.

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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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Well, hello and thank you for joining us today.

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I'm not sure what time of the day it is in your part of the country.

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You're part of the world.

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I'm not even really sure what day it is or year it is, depending

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on how much later into the future that you're watching this.

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But right now it is 2025.

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It's about the middle of the summer, and a lot has happened in

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our lives over the last year.

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If you've been following the podcast, last season concluded in

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August, so it's been almost one full year since our last episode.

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And I want to talk about that today.

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I want to talk about the things that the Lord has led us to in

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the last year, being a new teaching job in those sorts of things,

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and just the amazing things he's doing in our lives, how that

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led to a pause in the podcast, and how we're coming back with

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this new rebranded approach to the podcast, which we aim to have consistency in.

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So that's really the main theme of this episode today.

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There are a couple other sort of housekeeping introductions that

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I'd like to include here as well, and that mainly being the differentiation

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between a public episode and an exclusive episode.

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In the past, every third episode or so, I would release an exclusive

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episode for our members only group.

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I've changed my approach over the last year, and I can credit

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that to the Duck Dynasty members in their podcast, the way that

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they do it and in the way that a lot of podcasts do it these days.

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But basically it's split into two segments.

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And so that's what I've decided to do going forward is have the

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first 10 minutes or so be public for everyone and the last 10

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minutes be an exclusive segment.

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And so if you are a member under our podcasting platform, you

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would then have access to a specific RSS feed that would get you

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access to the full 20 minutes, not just the first 10 minutes.

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I'll talk about that a little bit more later on.

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I don't really want to focus on that or dwell on that because

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there's too many things that God has done in our lives the last

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year that is really the focus on this.

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Whether you sign up or not really isn't of my concern.

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It's really how the Lord is choosing to provide us that form of

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benefit for the fruits that we're sharing.

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But no doubt my aim is to give you a ton of benefit in the first

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10 minutes for the casual listener and for someone that maybe

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is a lot like most podcast listeners, myself included, and is

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kind of listening for the day or listening for the moment and

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those sorts of things.

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So with that in mind, let me start off with a Bible verse that

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really came to mind when I thought over the last year, what is

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a Bible verse?

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Which was hard to come down to a Bible verse, and even in this

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instance I chose two back to back.

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But a Bible verse or a set of Bible verses that is going to best

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encapsulate sort of what we've been through.

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And so let me read for you Psalm 25, 4 and 5 out of the New American

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Standard Bible 1995, verse 4 reads, make me known your ways, oh

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Lord, teach me your paths.

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Verse 5 reads, Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are

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the God of my salvation.

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For you, I wait all the day.

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Really how that ties in really right off the bat is make me known your ways.

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That has always been my approach.

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I have met with not countless, but many Christian entrepreneurs

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and non Christian entrepreneurs over the last few years, and to

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me, the advice that I traditionally get just does not sit well with me.

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The advice I traditionally get is really worldly and all the different

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things that can be done online, such as making videos like this,

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making podcast episodes like this.

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By the way, if I mention video or audio file, it's because I do both.

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So right now I'm recording a video with audio through the podcasting

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platform, it's audio only.

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Through YouTube it is video.

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Also, if you'd like access to the video and you don't know where

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to find it, let me know.

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And I'm happy to get that to you.

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Easiest way to reach me is simply daniel.com BAA stands for biblical Anatomy Academy.

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And I'd be happy to get the video to you or send you a link on

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where the video is located, that being both a public version and

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an exclusive version.

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A little off topic there, but back to the main point.

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The advice that I get a lot of times is worldly and all the things

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that we need to do to produce content and lead magnets and just

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all these things.

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And I always get kind of a snake oil salesman vibe and it's easy

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for me to feel that way because I sort of loathe sales to begin with.

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I'm not good at it.

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I don't wish to be good at it.

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I really wish to just be good at what the Lord put me on the earth

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to do, and through Ephesians 4:11, when it talks about pastors

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and teachers at the conclusion of that verse.

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For years I have felt such a strong calling to teaching, and I

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have taught for a decade or so.

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And even in my previous work, I was a teacher, a trainer by heart.

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And so I've always felt a tremendous amount of peace with being a teacher.

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And over the last year or so, the Lord has really placed upon

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my heart that you need to be prepared for the pastoral side of

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things as well.

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And that even ties in to my master's program.

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When I began that in 2015, I chose to go from a Bachelor's of

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Kinesiology to a Master's of Kinesiology.

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And one of my professors, a psychology professor, because I was

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doing a minor in psychology as well, he tried to convince me to

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join a Master's of psychology or a Master's of counseling because

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he recognized those pastoral gifts in me early.

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And what a compliment that was.

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I did decline and continued on with the kinesiology route, but

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that didn't make me more or less empathetic, relatable, pastoral

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in that way.

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Now, at that time in my life, I wasn't thinking pastor at all.

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In fact, I wasn't even a Christian.

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I would tell you I was a Christian, but the truth was I hadn't

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dedicated my life to Jesus Christ.

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That came in the summer of 2019.

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I've talked about that in previous episodes, so I won't go into that now.

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But really what I'm getting at here with this verse is that I've

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always wanted for the Lord to make known his ways.

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I don't want the profession that I do in teaching or whatever,

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whatever other avenue he has for me to be anything about me, I

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want it to be about Him.

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And I've gotten a lot of pushback from entrepreneurs on that.

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Proverbs 16:9 comes to mind.

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I'd encourage you to read 16:9, go through that and see how that

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applies to your life.

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But nevertheless, with all my Bible study and all my prayer, I

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have felt such a peace at really a lack of financial gain and

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really just a service to my fellow brother and sister in Christ.

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And that really took it up a notch last July.

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Last July, I was thinking I was teaching at the college, the college

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that I've been teaching at for many years now, eight, eight, nine years now.

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And I was thinking, what is this business going to look like?

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Biblical Anatomy Academy?

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Because at that point in time, I was thinking, okay, we're going

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to teach the college part time, and then we're going to run the

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business, and that's going to be what we do for many years to come.

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And I started thinking about our desire, my wife and I, our desire

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to live in the mountains and kind of get away from it all.

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And I don't mind commuting to a big city to teach a couple classes,

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but I like to be somewhere small community.

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And when I say small, I mean small.

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I live in Boise, Idaho, which is, if you surround it with the

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neighboring cities like Meridian, Nampa, Eagle, Star, all that, it's.

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It's over a million people. Now.

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I was born here in the mid-80s, and it was like 200,000 people

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at that point in time.

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And most of that was Boise.

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All the other cities that I mentioned, towns that I mentioned

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were just specs on the map.

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I won't get into how that is either aggravating or not aggravating. It's not.

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It's just not home anymore.

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And so when I say small, I want to get back to kind of the place

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that I grew up, not 200,000.

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I wasn't a fan of Boise at that point in time, even with its size

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at that point in time.

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But I'm talking like 500 or less people in a town.

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I've lived in a town with 50 people in it before, if you even

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want to call that a town.

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So that's what I mean by small.

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So a lot of the people that are moving into Idaho, they're moving

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into Idaho because Idaho reminds them of what their home was,

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where they came from, and it feels like a small area.

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Totally different mindset.

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When I say small, I'm talking 500 or less people.

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So I'd love to live in a small community, and I'd love to run

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the business from home at that point in time.

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And as I was thinking about this and communicating this with my

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wife, I thought, you know, there's a school district associated

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with all these little towns, and one of my degrees is the degree

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that a superintendent has.

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And so I thought, why not have that being sort of a stepping stone?

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Like, I could do college teaching, working into a superintendent

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position in the business, and eventually it could just become

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a superintendent in the business, and we could move into a small

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area that we've.

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We've wanted to live for quite some time.

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I won't bore you with the details.

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Long story short, the Lord led me into teaching in a path, perhaps

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to superintendent position.

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Again, I won't bore you with the details, but there's A reason

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why, through the state of Idaho, that I needed to start at a high

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school teaching or middle school teaching position before I could

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go on to a principal and then superintendent position.

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Essentially, the college experience I have is college experience,

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not high school, middle school experience, as silly as that sounds.

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But it's all part of God's plan, so I go through all the details.

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Long story short, I find a high school science position perfect

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for me with anatomy and physiology being my emphasis, that being

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two of the classes now, three of the classes that it teaches or

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is required in that position at Nampa Christian High School in

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obviously Nampa, Idaho.

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And I jumped all over it and, and it was immediate fit immediately

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on the same page with my superiors, just absolutely loved it.

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In fact, a few months into it, after I got done questioning myself

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about teaching 14 year olds again, after teaching adults for so

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long, I realized that this was the Lord's plan all along, is to

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get me to teaching these high school kids that really need to

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hear God's word, especially at a Christian school.

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And every day we came in, I came in and I shared a Bible verse

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with the kids.

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It was pressed on my heart around the Christmas time, started

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that in January.

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And for the rest of the year we did at least one verse from every

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book of the Bible, all 66.

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And at the end of the year, the kids agreed that that was one

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of the coolest things that we did all year.

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Even besides anything related to science, like dissections and

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different processes and cycles and everything else.

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It was such a renewing experience for me.

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And so what I did was I taught at the high school during the day

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and I taught at the college in the evening.

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Now, whether that leads to a superintendent position in a small

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school, I'm not sure.

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But it's obvious that the Lord brought me back to teaching this

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population for a very specific reason.

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And so I'm certainly in no rush to jump to the next stage because

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I recognize and I'm so fulfilled by what I'm doing on a daily

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basis with these kids.

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But that sounds like a pretty busy schedule.

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Running a business, which includes this podcast, running a day

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job, Monday through Friday, 8 to 5 at a school, and then teaching

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at night part time at a college.

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And it is a very busy schedule.

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But the Lord has granted me with the patience and the drive to do it.

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And that's how he's built me.

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And that's really the only evidence I can give you as to why I

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excel at that is really him, not me.

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But nevertheless, podcast was Something that I just didn't know

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that I'd have the time for.

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And so I reluctantly placed a pause on it in last August as I

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was beginning this new high school teaching position.

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And I'm thankful that I did because it gave me a full year to

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really look at what I wanted the podcast to look like going forward.

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And it also allowed me to get through three pretty major certification

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exams to get all the loose ends tied associated with getting the

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job that I did.

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And so that's all done.

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I was able to do those three exams in about 11 days in June after

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the school year ended.

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And that is done.

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Everything's good there.

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Thankful for that again.

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All glory to him for getting through that in that ridiculous amount of time.

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By the way, I took the exams in 11 days.

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I studied all year, but just sat for the exams in 11 days.

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So here I am, it's July, and my heart feels strongly that we need

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to start the podcast back up.

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And taking away that study that I had last year for those exams

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gives me the time to bring the podcast back back.

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I'm also working on a textbook and I plan to release the biblical

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anatomy textbook next summer.

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And I'm really excited about that and so thankful that these certification

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exams are done because now that opens the door to be able to do

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some things for the business that integrate into the high school

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that I wasn't able to do.

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So kind of a long story there on what happened the last year and

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how the Lord brought me to Nampa Christian and what we've been

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doing the last year kind of from a bird's eye view standpoint.

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Going forward, what I want to do is I want to release this podcast

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on a weekly basis and I want to keep it under the name the notes

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I leave as something that really allows me to reflect on a weekly

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basis in what I've learned and what I can share. Great example.

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August 4th here.

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In a couple weeks, I'm starting a Greek class.

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I've always wanted to learn Greek.

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That's not completely true.

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Ever since being born again, I've wanted to learn Greek.

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Really, that's all that matters after being born again.

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But nonetheless, ever since being born again, I've wanted to learn Greek. Why?

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Because I want to understand God's Word as best as I possibly

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can in the New Testament, that is the original language.

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Eventually, I want to learn some Hebrew as well, and maybe even

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some Aramaic, as that ties into the Bible also.

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So what I'm going to be learning on Tuesday nights on a weekly

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basis is amazing.

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And I want to be able to share that with you, whether it's dissecting

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a specific Greek term or whatever the case is.

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But the point is, the way that God has made me is one who loves

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education and does a lot on a weekly basis.

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I don't say that to gloat in the lightest.

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I say that because that's how God made me.

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And it is my ambition to share that with you.

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So for one, the notes I leave become something that you can pick

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up as you see fit to learn something maybe you're interested in.

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It also can serve as something that I can use as a reflection

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tool for myself as the years go on.

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And probably the most inspiring thing for me is the students that

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I teach and my children that I raise.

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It's something they can look at as the years go on and reflect

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at some of the things that their dad or their teacher did or their

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coach did during this specific period of time.

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Again, what I'm planning for is about 10 minutes of a public episode

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and then about 10 minutes of a member only or an exclusive episode.

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And so what I'd like to do now is I'd like to transit, take a

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break, and transition to that member exclusive episode where I

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would like to dive in deeper about actually a vision that took

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place for me that led me to Nampa Christian and made that opportunity

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for me so clear and has further substantiated over the last year

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such a perfect fit for where I'm supposed to be at in my life.

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So for those of you that are signing off at this point in time

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now, love you greatly and I thank you for your time and I wish

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you nothing but the best. God bless.

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Until next time.

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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

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to come, Lord Jesus.