Lunchtime Live with Lisa Harper | Holly Furtick

welcome to lunchtime live the holiday edition also known as the holidays Edition I just made that up on the spot I hope it's not too corny um okay I was just saying when we got on can we I think we should open up the curtain because I'm at my office so you might want to see the people who are behind me um there's no need to cover up we're working oh you can see my ring light but anyway here we are happy holidays how you doing what' you eat for lunch because this is lunchtime live so we always like to share if it's lunchtime where you are or breakfast time or um dinner time maybe you haven't even eaten lunch yet I had soup from Panera tomato soup it's easy it's warm it feels good in my stomach so that's what I had for lunch let me greet some people hello Renee cup hello Tammy Ferguson Melissa Johnson panie oh I like that name I like that it's a Greek god right pranie I think so trying to fix my chair here ah there we go somebody tell me look at up panie it's a Greek god or it's a story uh anyway hi pany I like your name hello Teresa Yates hello Amanda burnhard uh good morning from Chicago which one Queen of the underworld Queen of the underworld oh that's right because I saw Hades Town that's how I know it we took Abby to see Hades town the musical let me know if you saw Hades Town actually Eva noblezada who is the star of Hades town uh she grew up at our church so uh there you go uh we saw her on Broadway hello Laura Chavez hello Patty Taylor who is about to eat breakfast Selena Ramos from Raleigh North Carolina oh my gosh it's flying now I am Boer from Hillmar California Tammy luchana um she says you just reminded me to eat fun fact about me I never forget to eat um and I never skip lunch um lunch is my favorite meal it's I just I love lunch I love sandwiches and french fries and soups I'm not a big salad girl but anyway I love lunch hello Rebecca Russell from Colorado Rebecca Cliff from London UK nice to have you joining us Michelle from New Jersey Terry Nichols says she loves Lisa Harper well that's who we're talking with today so you're in for a real treat for this holiday edition um of lunchtime life with my dear friend Lisa Harper um I have a lot of friends named Lisa and I would say Lisa Harper is one of my favorites of all people and all the leases that I know okay Jessica Flores good to see you Esme meralda Esmeralda we call her Esme nice to see you on here cat Smith from Tupelo Missouri I always miss Missouri or Mississippi Ms Tupelo Mississippi I think and uh last shout out I'm going to give to Sandra poo who says no salad LOL I don't know if that means Sandra like salad or not um right before we got on we were having a debate about how often you should wash your water bottle or your sley cup so I wash mine every other day judge me or don't judge me sometimes it takes me to days to drink one whole Stanley Cup but I will refill it with ice and lemon and uh every other day and um because I'm that I don't know I'm lazy like that then and and I don't think it's a bad thing so I mean if I saw something floating in there I would change it let me know what do you think do you wash your Stanley Cup or your water bottle every day they're laughing at me in here nobody's commenting because I think there's a little bit of a delay but I think we should get Lisa Harper on I think we should forget about the Stanley Cup water bottle debate and start talking about the joy of Advent hello I'm so excited I'm here for Holly dayss I love Holly days and Holly I have to apologize I had a crazy morning and I picked up this place you know the Franklin Factory where they have all these wonderful little Cubbies and I thought oh it's going to be so pretty and I'll be able to show Holly the decorations at the Franklin Factory um what I did not know was I would get here and all of the really quiet that are conducive for conversations Cubbies um would be taken by just piglets and I would have to be forced to a table in the public next to a construction project so alas this is going we're gonna have lots of ambient noise I've gotten as far away as I could from the noise but it's it's going to be a Rowdy holidays today you know what I am okay with background noise I'm not kind of person that's like super distracted by that so I'm I'm fine with it okay cool okay cool I I apologize I was trying to think can I race can I run with my iPad while you're talking about Stanley Cups and and just shove somebody out of one of those cuppies but it just didn't feel Christmasy how often do you wash your Stanley Cup just out of curiosity I'm right there with you I'm totally aligned with you in spirit and Stanley Cups every two days baby okay now what I did not know was you really have to to take the lid off and get in there with all the the you know take the little finger that holds the straw on okay well let me let me admit also my Stanley Cup um um huge mistake I was like well I want to drink coffee for my stained cup and I don't like drinking coffee from a straw because it's so hot and so I ordered two more Stanley Lids not realizing all you do is spin that little top piece and it uncovers the cubby that doesn't have the straw and covers the straw hole I I didn't know that so so I ordered two new Stanley Lids that for Stanley caps not knowing it's already made for the coffee all you do is turn that little thing so if you change the lid then does that buy you another day of having to wash the cup that's my question you know what I didn't even think that way so it could be that that could be the the Redemptive aspect of my stainless stup okay we have to talk about Christmas because you are in the middle of this amazing Advent tour and um you're one of my favorite people to talk to in the world every time I'm around you I want more time with you I think that funny when I saw you I thought people at the tour when you came to the to our Gastonia stop I like couldn't quite let you go I don't I don't get to be with you enough in person and so I think I held on you know when it almost gets awkward the Embrace light turns into something where people go she needs to see her therapist like she's held on to poor Holly for seven minutes and you were real sweet you kept hugging me back I couldn't quite let you go did you know we were coming no Levi had told me they had invited you but I know y'all are so stinking busy that I'm like they do not have the time deing because it is the holidays after all and if it wasn't holidays you might have had time no I was so you know sometimes you don't expect something and you get something even bigger than You' hoped for and it's like your heart goes like my heart squealed when I saw you it made me so happy um you give you give the best hugs and it made me so happy so okay before we start talking about your tour um I just want to talk about Christmas with you for a second so this is going to be like a speed round but also you know I'm not very good at okay so we may we may detour off from it but let me start off real tree or fake tree oh I feel terrible about this but fake oh me we have the cool we have the cool well I dated a guy that made me do a real tree years ago and I still have scrapes and my floors over it so I have a little root of bitterness over him um but also Missy fell in love her first year home from Haiti with this kind of a Disney tree it was Charlie Brown it was on sale because they had had it so much at the a store near where we live they were just they put it out front because all the fiber optics were falling off and she loved it and I thought well they were like it's not for sale you like we're throwing it away after this season and they said we don't have the directions anymore or anything and I said well can I just take it Holly I spent hours and hours and hours zip tying all the fiber optics back in place it I'll send you a picture it's the most incredible tree it's this I don't know if it's 10 or 12 foot but it has all these fiber optics and the lights do dances and different things and she will both just sit just mesmerized it's so I like real trees better but I'm gonna cry when I lose this tree this is this is like the coolest Disney tree ever I don't like real trees because they're not they're never balanced they're never they have holes and they're messy and I just love I like all that I just don't like that they trash my floors and and one year I almost burn the house down because it mine got so brittle and I tried and so I I I love it in everybody else's home I just and we might go real tree again you know we live in the boonies it would kind of be afo to have a real tree but but I I love this tree Missy picked out and I will keep it until it falls apart I also have a lot of trees in my house I have I have a couple too I have a fancy Tree in my living room and then I have a family tree in our little family room what's the difference like did do you decorate them totally different oh yeah yeah yeah the fancy tree looks like something you would see maybe like in a department store with like more Nordstrom me yeah with all the matching ornaments and like you know it's all neutrals and all that the family tree I am obsessed with Christmas ornaments so I buy Christmas ornaments all year long I did not know this about you this is a good fact to know I buy them almost everywhere I go um I will even if I'm somewhere like on a vacation and I'm in I love gift shops I love gift shops um and and so if I'm somewhere where they don't have Christmas ornaments I'll buy like a keychain or a magnet and I'll make it into a Christmas ornament and so I have do you like him to be kind of a little bit trashy like like you they can be yeah they can be anything so okay you know how people will wear t-shirts that say like um Boston Marathon but they didn't run the Boston Marathon they just were there or they gave out water to people and I think that's cheating and some people are like that about like if I bought you a really cool kitsy Christmas ornament from some random place would it bug you because you weren't there do you have to be there to get it for the memory well I would put that one on my family tree because I have family tree and I have a travel tree okay my travel tree is in my and it has ornaments from like all the places that we've traveled but it has to be you had to have traveled yeah I have I actually it's really funny that you ask me that I have one ornament from New York City that A friend gave me and it's on the tree but because I've been to New York but um I didn't actually go and it always kind of bothers I'm totally like that things like that bug me because I feel like I'm misrepresenting it's like if I have it as a memory I have to have made the memory I have to have at least been there so but with my kids it's kind of like a documentation of their lives so if they played a sport um they would get an ornament for that year um if they um oh gosh if they loved something like if they were obsessed with Elmo or or Elsa or they would get an ornament for that if they like like so Elijah this year he got um an ornament for his college and then he got an ornament for um a birthday gift that we had gotten him that I wanted to like commemorate um like Graham has one this year because he got his driver's license and so it's like a little keychain driver's license it says new driver and I always write their name in the date on the back of every ornament so that tree is very special I love that so anyway okay this is definitely not a speed round I'm sorry it's me you know that concise is not my gift and mine is not not either me too um okay do you decorate before or after Thanksgiving um Thanksgiving Day okay I decorated two weeks before Thanksgiving this year I you know what I don't I don't have a problem with that because I it makes me so happy I love it so sorry I'm trying to be shorter now Thanksgiving afternoon okay mine's before all right colored or white lights on the house or on the tree both um I do both I have sections of white lights and it troubles me if colored lights get into the white lights and then I have other sections that are colored lights and with the tree I go back and forth with all different but Missy loves colored lights so I've I've had to get over my white light fetish I prefer white but my family likes colored and so our family tree has a colored or white setting but the but the remote broke this year and so it's stuck on white and I have to figure out trying to figure um okay uh have tell me about a present that you have regifted oh so many so many but I always tell I always tell people when I regift every time oh I do it oh I do every time every time I'll go I didn't really buy this um I got it saying you don't tell the person who gave you that the gift you tell the person you're giving the gift to yes yes I tell the person I'm giving the gift to because it otherwise I feel like I'm cheating it's almost like shoplifting Christmas so I always tell them and then if I regift a gift to somebody um I feel like I have to also pay for a gift so I end up paying the same amount but I'll get some really amazing things that I just personally don't like like when I tell something about myself that is well this this is not a slight to anybody because it's purely subjective there's a I won't say her name but there's a particular jewelry designer that has a name that is in a lot of malls but I won't tell you name because lovely jewelry rhymes with rhymes with hindra hot and H and people love hindra hot's jewelry and for whatever reason I'm just not a hindra hot kind of girl I'm not quite that and so but it's lovely Jew and I have several friends who are fans of that brand and so when somebody gives me that that's very lovely and very kind and expensive so I don't want to just not use it and so I give it to my friends who like hrot and and I tell them that I got it from someone who's very generous and now I'm giving it to them I agree with you 100% And I'm gonna um I'm gonna tell you a secret I actually regifted a Kendra Scott necklace last week did you tell them I'm buying you I'm binding you hindra hot next year and I'm gonna pretend like I forgot and I'm gonna give you something really I'm gonna give you maybe a trip tick you're gonna get a necklace and earrings and a bracelet that match and I'm just gonna watch your face and see if you can hide it I won't I won't um favorite Christmas movie oh ah I love It's a Wonderful Life Missy loves elf so so it be both on the same night with popcorn hot popcorn with M&M'S mixed in the hot popcorn so they get melty oh gosh I love M&M's and popcorn together okay I also love both of those movies so let me ask you this what movie that everybody loves that you don't love um I don't know I'm real I'm real kind of cheesy at Christmas I I I know that is silly but I cannot think of a Christmas movie I don't like well I can say this there's a Christmas channel I don't love I'm not into that either because they all end a little well first of all all the girls are skinny and then it's all just so schaly and I can't quite it's a little too cheese for me but then some sometimes I'll sucker into it and I will like one of those but I tend to I I can't think of an actual movie like that you would go see at the theater or rent on Amazon Prime that's christmy that I don't like unless it's hateful like if somebody's hateful and real mean I don't love um the redone Scrooge I like the original Scrooge the reden I can't remember who it was I didn't love and actually thought of another one I don't love Jim car's Grinch Grinch I don't love that Jim car's Grinch because Grinch was so mean and I just think of Grinch as as someone who's wounded and needs therapy and really his heart is in there and the unit gets bigger and so I don't like disliking Grinch so much okay so I don't love the Grinch movie uh or story I it's fine but it's just not one of my favorites I've never watched National Lampoon's Christmas and I I've never watched I have either I've never watched all of A Christmas Story um I can I don't know it doesn't look good to me so you not read Luke too either I can't believe you don't watch A Christmas Story A Christmas Story is epic you don't love the leg lamp and you'll shoot your eye out I love a Christmas story I'll tell you before when I was like in my I mean I was I was old enough to know better probably my 30s um I I had friends with little kids and I love the Christmas story so much that I gave several of my friends that was back when we had VHS I VHS s tapes for their kids of the Christmas story because you know I I wasn't a mom I just thought it was hilarious there's some undertones in that that are really not young child appropriate and they were like and I was their Bible teacher they were like what is wrong with you you would give us this movie to watch with like our fouryear olds and I was like oh I'm so sorry see it's funny when something stirs up nostalgia in you and you don't necessarily think about where it's age appropriate so I do love the Christmas story but I did not let I don't think Missy is actually she's 14 she could I don't think I've ever showed it to her because it it's there just a few little mildly off color elements I think I watched it as a kid I just don't remember ever caring about it or finishing it so yeah so here are my two uh my two favorite Christmas movies mov are um Home Alone one yeah best one the best one and then this one is I don't know why this doesn't get put on a list of Christmas movies but it's totally a Christmas movie um and Abby and I watch it together every year it's called while you were sleeping with Sandra bulock have you ever seen that movie I I love Bill PM I love Bill po he's like my favorite no I love that movie but I would have never thought of that as a Christmas movie either until you say that and it really is a Christmas movie it is a Christmas movie and anything Sandy my pretend best friend is in I love I totally agree and so me and Abby watch that we already watched it once this Christmas but a lot of times I'm gonna watch that when I'm wrapping presents so uh okay so um do you have this now this is a very important question to me okay do you have a favorite Christmas book yes the gospel of fluke okay fiction book um I I don't I shouldn't admit this to you because I I don't want to admit any of my book fails with you my favorite Christmas books are these really old it was back when I worked for folks on the family a million years ago when I had to wear um Clos toed shoes because they told me the line between my big toe and second toe was remiss of cleavage so it does bring up that trauma but they used to have these books that Focus I think maybe they gave them away as a premium but it was they were compiled by a guy named Joe Wheeler and it's these I get them out every year and it's a compilation of true Christmas stories and they every year I reread these Christmas stories and ball crying I was reading at night before last in the bathtub sitting in the bathtub preparing for Bible study balling crying I didn't find the story to read at Bible study but I was just reading reading these stories and I've had those for probably 30 years and I have a three volume set there may be more volumes but that my favorite by far Christmas stories Missy has some kids Christmas stories like there's a Christmas edition of If You Give a Mouse cookie or Mose muffin or one of those um and sometimes we'll read those but I and some of these are little too adult not off color just they're really Brant most of them are kind of sad but like can I truncate my favorite Christmas Story Ever from that book for you okay there's this um this town small town is having a Christmas play and it's one of the times when the whole town gathers together you know for the play at the first whatever Church on the corner and and the director of the play is real p sniky as you can imagine this is like you know she hangs her hat on this all year and she doesn't really know what to do because there's a little boy who desperately wants to be in the play but he has some um he he's uh developmentally not not as he's not able to memorize his lines like the other kids but just desperately wants to be in the play so she doesn't want to ruin you know this perfect Christmas play she has planned but she also wants to accommodate this precious kid who's um who doesn't always get picked for the team so she chooses him to be the um owner of the N so he only has one line he's like 10 11 years old and and struggles uh with language and with school and so she he only has one line and his line is there's no more room his name is Wall-E and so that's all he has to do is there's no more room so you the first part of the play goes off for that a kit hitch you know The Whole Town's leaning forward it's just really really precious and then Mary and Joe you these young kids in their bathrobes you know they take the fake you know the the fake donkey up to the in and Wally's standing there and he's wearing his bath rug and his little hat I don't know why they all wear bath rugs and hats because didn't all dress like that but nonetheless the you and the spotlights on Wall-E and all Wall-E has to say is there's no room and he says his lying and you kind of hear the whole church the whole town the whole audience kind of sigh with relief that Wally got the line out and then Mary and Joseph as they've been trained in the play they turn away dejectedly from the pretend in and Wally's face just crumpled and then he ruins the whole play because he goes wait wait you can have my room I know I know is it the sweetest story ever I cry every year when I read about that Christmas plue gone wrong but gone so right a okay what's your favorite book because I'll read it this year um okay have you ever read Missy The Best Christmas Pageant Ever no hands down my favorite book it will make you cry it's very easy I've actually read it I think 12 times out loud my kids well so every year not every kid participates sometimes they're too cool um and then Sometimes they come back around but I think I've read it 12 or 13 um times and um it's seven chapters so you can and so you can read it in Seven Nights okay if I was being really pushy I would tell you to get a copy and um read it to the kids on the bus I mean I'll get it today yeah I probably we leave for the tour this afternoon so I probably won't be able to get it for this leg but for the Third Leg of the tour I'll get it read it to kids absolutely hands down my the best the best Christmas story that you can read okay um and then okay this is more serious but my favorite like Christmas um devotional or more serious book is Ann Vos Camp's book it's called the gift have you read it it's my favorite it's my favorite it's like a treasure to me and I I love that but you know how some books like you just they're like a piece of you they're like a like a that one is one of those for me and I um it's like has every day for you know it's like I think it's like day one or December 1st or whatever so I just always I've never read it from start to finish I just always pick it up and whatever day it is I read it and I write I write the date and the year and I make notes and stuff so for anybody out there that's watching um hands down the two books that I read every Christmas are the an Vos camps the greatest gift and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever hey um the year the greatest gift came out you know when it's your friend you want to read their book because you just they're your friend and you want to hear their voice in their heart and that I feel like that book changed the temperature of my Christmas that year and you know you've been raised in a church you you know you you know the truth you know the truth of Advent you know that there's something about the way God communicates through an's voice that I can hear it louder I I totally agree but she would be right up there with some of our favorite writers I mean Ann and an patch it I'm like yep great writers ever all the way back from to ancient history those those two voices goodness I can I can hear things better through their voice I totally agree and did you know that an has a lent book coming out this year no I did not so I'm like really hoping that she sends me an advanced reader copy of it let's let's copy this and send it to her and tell her we spent all our time Holly and Lisa want to help you promote your Easter book Let's do because you know she's so humble which is probably why she's such a good communicator um but I don't like like an there's a few people that whatever they have hardback I I'll do anything I'll do anything to get it so now that you tell me I'm like okay I'm gonna pre-order several cases um okay I'll give it to you with some hindra hot jewelry all right so since we are talking a little bit more serious and we're talking about Advent um you and Levi are on this Advent tour and um tell me a little bit about the heart of the tour and why you didn't even put Christmas in the title of the tour um we had started talking about this a couple of years ago and I mean there's so many wonderful Christmas events and so you don't I mean that there was no need for another Christmas tour but it was the only time that worked in our calendar together and so once we realized well that's that's the only time that works for our families to kind of spend this time you know in this traumatizing bus experience that we're g to it's wonderful and horrible you at the same time um which is why I'm trying to talk you into at least one night doing little women's tour with me um you like a big it's like a big adult slumber party um but we just decided we didn't want to do um Christmas as usual because the Christmas for both alasco Jenny and Levi and myself that they kind of changed the trajectory of how we practice Advent and Christmas as adults was our darkest hardest Christmas ever it's when I didn't get to bring Missy home and I thought I'd lost her forever and it was the year um after they lost Lena on December 20th when we you know both of us had to make the first of all I had to sit in the dark with Christmas and um Christmas was really hard for me as a kid my parents divorced when I was little when I was five and so I learned to fake it really early at Christmas because no matter what I did one parent was always sad and upset and I I hated grieving my mom and I hated grieving my dad and there was a lot of animosity between my parents and so Christmas just always felt hard to me and there was a lot of anxiety around Christmas and after my dad left we were really poor for a while there was just a whole a little bit of Dickens in our Christmas unintentional my parents did their very best but I think learning to pretend at Christmas became a sweater I wore year after year after year and then uh you know being single I'm still single but being single and no kids for so many years I I mean I definitely felt like the elf that wanted to be a dentist because it seemed like everybody had you know matching Christmas sweaters and used to be chocolate labs now it's golden doodles in the Christmas cards they sent out and and it was just me I remember one year sending out it remember how for a while Christians all sent out those letters of what God has done over the past year and we're celebrating and I remember writing a letter one year because I was working for Ministry that basically made me and and I was like what do I do for the picture and I took I sent out a picture of me like in a red sweater and my lap and I thought I just feel stupid and not that there's anything wrong at all with that but I felt wrong I felt lonely and I felt like I've just gotta kind of put a happy face on Christmas because I don't want to write on anybody else's Christmas parade and I was afraid if I sat in the dark of what those kind of Seasons that seem to be so celebrated is everybody who has what they want and they've got the 2.5 children and the they've got the beautiful tree and they they they've kind of got everything they wanted it never felt like that for me and I felt like a failure as a Christian that sometimes Christmas was hard and sad for me and so when God and His kindness um gave me the space to sit in the dark and to grieve at Christmas it took the lid off my joy because realizing in a deeper way that Christmas came you know Levi says Christmas came at night and you go gosh if you really get the context of Christmas um the way God wrote Christmas Christmas came when moms are grieving that Herod killed their sons Christmas came when when his people are Christmas Christmas came for people who don't effectively have a m sweers in the golden right right and um and we always talk about Emanuel and the witness of Jesus at Christmas but I don't think i' experienced that the way the way I needed to until I made friends with my sad at Christmas yeah and when I learned to sit and sad at Christmas that's actually where I found the true Christmas jewelry so sorry to be so heavy but but it was in lost that I found the help of Christmas yeah I think um so Stephen and I really enjoyed um coming to you guys's night and by the way I meant to say this at the beginning we have some tickets to give away and if you're watching we're going to list the cities there's six more stops left so surely there are people watching who are gonna um hear about this and they're gonna they're going to come and get to experience um this night with you guys and we're going to give away some tickets at the end so stay on with us um because she might be coming to one of your um cities but um the night was so beautiful and I think one of the things that I took away from it is this idea that that as a culture we have built Christmas but evidently a man just become really involved with a Pneumatic drill and SP walking away from the man with good drill excuse me sorry so I feel like like as a as a culture um we have built Christmas up to be this this thing that it's not um yeah it's it's fun and it's family and it's magical and and and sure it it can be all of those things but there's there because of of movies and social media and you know just our our whole culture we've just built this this this holiday up to be something that makes people think that there's something wrong with them if they're not happy they're they if Christmas is hard for them because they lost a loved one like like Jenny and Levi if Christmas is hard for them because they're divorced you know I know I know a couple that um is getting divorced and they wanted to wait until after Christmas to tell their kids because they didn't want their kids to associate Christmas with their parents getting divorced I mean that's heavy that's a lot and and and I think that what you guys so clearly um communicate in this night is that Christmas is about God being with you in your pain and when we misinterpret it for it to to for it to be this magical um fun moment we missed the point of Jesus's presence Emanuel God With Us in our pain in our sorrow in our disappointment and I love how you and Levi I mean first of all you guys are so funny together so you're gonna laugh what it is I mean it is I think if you don't acknowledge the grief of um um because we're in the middle of two advents and if you don't acknowledge the grief of being aliens and strangers here and and we don't get everything we hope for and and nothing is perfect the best marriage has grief in it the best kid isn't going to rise up and call their mom blessed every single morning the best life still has valleys because because we're not home yet yeah and um I love how GK chesterson says you know I love all the old dead theologians he says that um we've got to come to the cognizance that we've come to the wrong star that this isn't our home and so I think if you if you aren't honest about just the grief of Being Human you don't have to have had a tragic loss um but there's loss in Being Human because we're not face to face with Jesus and if you don't sit in that a little bit then the reality of Emanuel you miss that too like hly every year my sweet mom she packs up the entire everything for Christmas the moment we finish open in the presence and it you know when I was a kid it'd be it'd be before lunch our house would be everything would be scoured it was like after the Grinch left hille because my mom said it's over and it makes me sad now to see it up wow and she said it makes her sad she still does this she said it makes her sad because she's got a whole another year to for Christmas again and I thought well then we've missed the whole point because for believers Christmas is not one day the witness of Jesus is every day um our friend Sheila Walsh does exactly the opposite Sheila leaves her tree up until Easter because Sheila says if you don't get Christmas outside of the context of Easter it's not that joyful wow so to really get the beauty of Christmas you have to own that there was a birth and view of the death and so again I'm not trying to be existential and heavy I'm just saying it wasn't until I went okay I want I want all that Christmas has instead of just what's marketed yes yes and I think it's okay um to have fun with Christmas and to I'm gonna throw my laptop with these construction guys I'm gonna hurl I'm gonna be very guy and hurl my iPad at the guy with a Pneumatic drill you're doing a great J um I think though I think it's okay I'm not saying like as a Christian we shouldn't celebrate Christmas or or do I think we should be the we should be the most celebratory but also the most inclusive right so the people that go I don't if I'm honest I'm not really feeling a whole lot of happy clappy we should go oh my goodness I know what that feels like yes and that's why Christmas is such a big deal because even you know how Levi brings that passage up from Ezekiel that he came and he sat where they sit yeah to have somebody when you're I can't imagine your friends that as she's rapping every present she's thinking in another couple of weeks we're going to tell them we're not going to be together anymore the the weight of that is is impossible to carry on your um but when you go he came he laid down in scepter and glory and he came because he's going to carry us through those Seasons when you can't carry the weight of your own life I mean that that's a bigger Christmas and you know one of the things that I love about the night is all of the emotions that you get to feel when you're there right because it's it's funny and it's joyful and then there's some real like seriousness to it and um you know I I like how you said like that Christmas is is about realizing that we're not alone um not just that we have the Holy Spirit we have the presence of of of of Jesus God with us but also for for me to come in into that space and to just see people because you guys have this beautiful moment where um people can light a candle for a situation that they're going through um a dark season that they're that they're fighting through and I think it's a beautiful moment for people to realize like I'm also not alone in my P right and um when it feels like everyone else is like having these magical moments and you come into a room like that you're like you get some really great perspective and you realize that you are not alone has there been a favorite Ministry moment for you on on this tour so far yeah um you normally I really like men in construction because they tend to be very hunky but this is happening now behind me just you can know my particular my particular grief my particular Advent grief today can't get away from it this construction project okay bye cutie um yeah there were there have actually been a couple of moments um one was just it was just a sweet little symbolic moment Missy you know Missy came home when she was almost five and she has some processing delays and she doesn't speak English like her friends and she's got an old white mama and and sometimes she feels like she doesn't fit and she H has just she has been the embodiment of not being alone to me what you just said what you just preached because she has loved being on the bus with other kids she's loved hanging out and there's this one night I don't sleep right and these tiny I mean they're like made for keto people tiny little bunks in the claustrophobic and um and I was walking back to my bunk and Missy had already gone to bed and you know how they pull the curtains on those bunks and Holly just her little beautiful hand was sticking out just she was so she she'd fallen asleep so happy that even in that little space she just flopped her long so this is bus and all these people s sleeping and there's my little baby's hand she's not a little baby anymore she's 14 but you shall always be she always be my daughter and and just that it just it was the picture of belonging to me that she felt so safe on a bus in the middle of nowhere with this um family of faith that was just I can't really wrap words around how precious that was for me as a mom to see my child being enveloped at Christmas um and then there have been a couple of people I've had the undeserved privilege of praying with when they light those candles and you for some of them it's huge because they're saying they're choosing this we call it defiant hope they're choosing to go okay when Jesus came to the world the light dispelled the darkness and so I'm going to choose light even though it feels dark and maybe I can't even see around the corner and said this one woman I I'd met her at a at a Women's Conference months before and um she just said you know when I met you you prayed for my husband and I I remember then here comes the cute construction Boy again so I'm leaving and going back to the other construction people but she said You Prayed with me um and you told me that it would be hard but that I would never see God's back because at the point I prayed with her it was pretty obvious that her husband was going to lose his life to cancer wow and she said I needed I needed to come and tell you he died and I was like oh I'm so so prry and she said and I've never seen guts back wow she and to to see her you know to have prayed with her a few months before when she was facing a loss of her husband and they were hoping he'd make it through Christmas you know so many times that tends to be the Hope yeah when you're losing somebody and and he did and she said I you know I toyed with the idea of not leaving the house but she said I just wanted to come back and tell you that I haven't seen God's back and I'm in the midst of grief and she said after tonight um I think I'm GNA put the tree back up she told me she hadn't decorated yet because she of course she didn't feel Christmas Christmas yeah and she said to kind of see this different facet of Christmas that advent included grief Advent included weeping there was there was fasting Advent that complemented the feasting and she said I I realized I can celebrate Christmas it's going to look really different this year but I but I can celebrate his presence with me in the dark and um that that was um you know sometimes you almost feel like an interloper because you get to you get to observe or witness or sit in something so holy that that you should take your shoes off and and that was one of the that was the same night we were there with you that was in North Carolina wow yeah um it's just beautiful it's beautiful the ministry um that you guys have been able to have um I just really hope that anybody who's anywhere near one of your stops um will make a way to get there um I I do have a couple more questions for you but but okay we go to the questions but first of all I want to um all of your friends who are listening I want to um recruit them into my um on my team to recruit you to go on a tour with me because y'all I'm trying to talk Holly into doing just kind of a strong woman love God's word to her and she's hesitant and I think y'all should pray and fast about it too and I think y'all should just light up her screen and say please please follow the Holy Spirit and do this with Lisa so tell her if she doesn't do this toour her with me she will be an absolute Rebellion so I think tell you what I tell you what you can come on elevation nights and and be on my I I come to Elevation lights every time y are within spitting distance of here and I told you I never get laryngitis I'm sure some people pray for it both times I've come to Elevation lights I have completely lost my voice because I I scream sing I get so excited it is my favorite I mean elevation nights is right up there with Christmas for me oh my gosh it is a really fun time um but we are not promoting elevation nights we are promoting what's the name what's the name of the tour the it's called recapturing The Wonder of Advent yeah and you guys really it's just so beautiful okay so here are the places that you have left to go um where is this Netherland T yes um and we have not been able to figure out if it's Netherland or Netherland we we think it's Netherland but we're not positive but they're lovely um and it's a little over an hour outside of Houston um right by the water close to bont Texas we'll be we'll be in Netherland Netherland on uh the tomorrow tomorrow night so if you're Houston uh then you're gonna go to tomorrow night uh to and then San Anton Ano on Friday night uh it's new bronville so right between San Antonio and Austin so real easy to get to from both of those and then we'll be in Fort Worth Dallas Fort Worth on Satur this Saturday so Thursday Thursday we're in the Houston area Friday in San Antonio area Saturday you're in the Fort Worth area and then next week Thursday Friday Saturday you're in Birmingham right Orlando and Bradon Florida exactly um another one of our favorite leases I'm hoping comes to brington it's not too far from Fort Lauderdale from Lisa Hughes oh Lisa Hughes uh I was um I was thinking of Lisa turkers um she's been in Florida a lot lately oh that's right I kind of forgot about that I don't think she's near Bradington um there's so many wonderful Lisas that I'm friends with I know and I was so glad you're exagger at and said I was near the top of the list when we started I was not I got I felt my I felt my head swell a little bit you said that got little cocky okay let's give some tickets away so is there anybody watching who is in the Burmingham area Lisa can you see the comments if not I can look at your face I don't want to see my face okay anybody in birming the Birmingham area on and you want you're going to be of available on December 14th you got to give it a you could road trip from Atlanta it's only two hours from Atlanta you could come over from Tuscaloosa Roll Tide Nashville down from muscle shs you could drive down from Nashville there's multiple Starbucks on the way you could come up from Montgomery so anywhere in that area it's gonna be awesome in the ham all right we need somebody to let us know if they live in Orlando Bradington or Birmingham Orlando Bradington or Birmingham Pierre says one day I really want to see y'all in France me too Pierre me too Pier which that was a good home alone too that Paris Home Alone was a good one it's not as good as the first one though it's not the first one is we got one we got one Cynthia says I am near Birmingham Cynthia we're sending you tickets you got two bab you got two you're gonna love it oh we got another we got okay we got some Birmingham people coming through but we already picked Cynthia okay Jennifer Lynn hey hey let's just be wild let's just be wild and give away four tickets give away two more to Birmingham okay hold on I gotta scroll back let's see uh Christy McOwen is in Birmingham so Christy McOwen and then who did I call out for Orlando Jennifer Lynn is is Orlando and then let's see if we have anyone in that little southwest corner of give away give away two more for Orlando okay Michelle lamberty and Tara levit Michelle lamber and Tara levit you're getting tickets uh to Orlando and we still don't have anyone down there in that South is not too far from Tampa y'all so if you're Tampa people take a little road trip to brington okay let's see I'm waiting for it to come in Orlando um somebody says it's her birthday but I don't know where she lives um oh here we go Amanda Ray is says I'm in Bradington Amanda we got you baby we got you we got you that is that is Bradington is Saturday night I believe that's December 17th call him oh oh wait he wants to call in okay my husband has a a question he says he has a call-in question for you okay okay yes sir Pastor he's watching and he wants to know ask her if she will write a song with me okay ask him if he's trying to make me cry because tell him I will do anything he asks because he is my pastor so um even though I have a pastor in Nashville your husband is my is my pastor of my heart and I love him so yes Pastor Stephen I will do anything um quit that's just rude to make me cry on national holidays well um I think that the two of you would write a really great song together so you know I was in a band H when I was in high school yes I started a Christian band and you know I'm close to tone death not completely tone up I can sing Melody if someone sings in my ear and it's low but I wanted to be Amy Grant and so my best friend and I started a Christian band yeah I did the curly ha and everything um and I get nervous every time coming around here and we're friends and I get so nervous I say stupid things around immigrant but um we started a Christian band named priority and and we had these great guy musicians who could really play but Cindy and I were not we were we had a lot of personality but musicality was not our strong suit you have yeah we had a lot of heart and I loved heart too but it it it petered out pretty quickly but I was in a band for a brief period of time well maybe you can bring your friend Amy Grant and the three of you could write a song together I think she would make it infinitely better um oh man that would be so amazing um and that also means that you'll have to come to Charlotte to write a song listen listen every time I come to Charlotte I and I leave y'all it's one of the you know I'm like a horse headed for the barn I love going home I always love leaving y'all like I feel sad when I leave y'all elevation is definitely a home away from home I'm I'm so grateful that God's given me you as a friend really really grateful I'm so grateful for your friendship too and um I am so grateful that I got to be um at recapturing the joy of Advent tour and I know that so many people that are watching are going to come okay I'm going to tell the dates one more time if you're in the Houston area on this Thursday the 7th San Antonio area on Friday the 8th Fort Worth area on Saturday the 12th and then Birmingham on the 14th Orlando on the 15th Bradenton on the 16th you guys if you're in near anywhere near uh you need to get tickets you need to go some of my best friends in the whole world the lusos and Lisa Harper are they're like roughing it on a tour bus to come help you capture the joy of AD of Advent and it's a really special wonderful night and so um I love you and I'm praying for you I love you so much I much okay that just know that within the next few days there will be jewelry and a real Chachi ornament headed your way I want something from the 14 karat line okay okay I don't does she have one I don't know I'm not gonna give you something from that line You'll give it away if it's 20,000 car okay in all seriousness um are you in a place of of dist of non construction distr I can totally get away from the conr can you pray I just want you to pray for everybody who's been watching um for the people who maybe can't make it to the to the evening the tour night with you guys um that are struggling I've been watching in the comments of people saying this is a hardas for them they lost their mom uh somebody in the comments said that they had lost their mom I saw somebody in the comments said um that they had not um been able to celebrate Christmas with their adult children for many years there's a lot of pain there's a lot of loneliness um of of the people who are are watching and um I would just love it if you would just um pray the the presence and the Peace of Jesus into this Advent season strong and um not strong in that we're checking things off of our list but but strong in our hearts yeah I'd love to you and Holly if I if I may just share one promise yeah we hardly ever talk about Malachi last book in the Old Testament as a Christmas story but it is you know his people have just come back from captivity and they thought everything would be great and they get mad because it's just not what they hoped it would be and they literally rais their fist at God and say if you were such a good God our lives wouldn't look like this and instead of wiping them out or even disciplining him or chastising him he says I the Lord do not change so that you theend descendants of Jacob Jacob will not be destroyed and he goes on to say Christmas is coming yeah he says and messenger is coming and so I always think of that as the pre- Christmas story he gives that promise to people who feel like some of the people who've written in who say I'm I'm hanging on by a thread so that that theme of Christmas it's not just it's not just December it's every moment of every day for those of us who are honest enough to say I ache so yeah Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus thank you that you are our wonderful counselor you are our Prince Prince of Peace you are our Everlasting father um but more than all those titles Lord thank you that that you came to be with us that you're not a far away god you're an up close personal savior you really do sit where we sit whether we're whether we're on a Mountaintop this season or whether we're in the dark in a valley not sure if we can carry the weight of our own lives so thank you that your presence is what our our souls are really longing for thank you that you not only promised that you would come be with us you come and carry us that you fulfilled that promise thank you that you're coming again so Jesus in this season we're living in between the two advents Lord I pray even now by the power of your name Jesus the power of Holy Spirit I pray that you'd make the veil of The Sinner for us today especially those of Holly's friends that are just honest enough to say I I heard hurt I'm struggling um I'm not I'm not I'm not happy clapping my way through this season but I pray the veil would be thin enough even in this moment that they would recognize your nearness that they would realize that the promise of Christmas has already come you came for us you left glory and you became like us to save us thank you thank you thank you Jesus for your presence and give us uh give us the grace to recognize that a little louder today um we love you we need you Jesus we can't make it by ourselves this season or any season apart from your your presence and your compassion so thank you thank you thank you that it was new even this morning um we ask all these things by the authority of your name Jesus and um and by the authority of the blood that you you plan for the beginning of time to shed on our behalf um so we love you we need you thank you thank you Lord amen amen my prayers aren't short either H your prayers are beautiful and um and well needed and um so many people okay I want to give away one more ticket two more tickets or one two tickets to one person yes Del McKinzie she says actually uh okay Dela Mackenzie says still grieving my husband who died of overdose four years ago we have five children I completely understand and I'm in Bradington so Dela we're giving you six tickets so you can bring your kids um what would you say Holly the cut off it's not that there's anything off color if they're really little they it might be a little too long for them it's like an hour and a half but I'd say if they're over what do you think Holly eight yeah i' I'd say if your kids are over eight and we won't kick them out if you bring them they're younger but if they're over eight I think they'll actually enjoy it Levi there miss is there but um we'll send you six tickets so depending on how old your kids are you can bring the whole family okay and just to reiterate if you were chosen for the G giveaway all you have to do is email Holly feric youtube. Holly feric at youtube. no sorry sorry I got it now here it's in the little box you can click um but it is Holly feric YouTube elevationchurch.org awesome doesn't make sense Holly feric YouTube at elevationchurch.org if we told you that you won tickets um that is how we're gonna get them to you Lisa thank you um bless thank praying for you guys I'm praying for health I'm playing praying for good sleep on the bus uh I'm praying for all the kids to get along and all the adults to get along and um I'm just praying for Wonder ful moments of of joy and family and togetherness and Ministry and for God's blessing and favor to be over your bus the the the motor the tires no breakdowns and um and just and the people that you're ministering to I know it's GNA be so special and snacks that they'll have good snacks for us the ministry of snacks I love you my friend thank you for being I love you very much I love you very much tell tell tell the other four first I love them I will I'll talk to you later Merry Christmas Christmas bye all right guys well thanks for joining us I hope you enjoyed that lunchtime live um make sure if you did that you like that you subscribe um if you know someone that you think this might minister to make sure you share it with them um it was a great fun discussion with one of my favorite people Lisa Harper um make sure you check out their tour if you're in Texas or Alabama or Florida in the next two weeks go um check them out the recapturing the joy of Advent tour and um I love you and I'll see you back here next time

Channel: Holly Furtick

Views: 20,779

Keywords: holly furtick, holly furtick youtube, holly furtick sermons, hope, christmas, lisa harper, recapturing the wonder of advent, advent, tour, christmas tour, levi lusko

Id: r2_7-2ty9LM

Length: 64min 4sec (3844 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 06 2023