[00:00:01] Speaker A: This is the Morning Journey. Rewind with Mark and Brittany.
[00:00:04] Speaker B: This week on the Morning Journey podcast, Mark and Brittany finally find out what the planets are. They find out what the first thing you do in the morning is. And now you can win tasty treats for your office. Also, Matthew west comes up with a funny parody of his injury. And we have the audio.
[00:00:20] Speaker C: So for the last several weeks, Brittany and I have been wondering about this object in the sky. I think when we first started talking about this, I thought it was like a stationary satellite because it looks so low, it's so bright in the sky, and it's really bright.
You said you thought it was a planet. We eventually came around to both agreeing that that's what it is, but we didn't know what planet it was.
[00:00:44] Speaker D: Right. We had some guesses. So Patty wrote in. Finally, she said her local meteorologist in Richmond, Andrew, did a blurb about it on Facebook. He said, it's Venus and it's Jupiter, and they're, like, behind the moon, so they're the next brightest thing in the sky other than the moon. And I was like, that makes so much sense. So now we know it's Venus and Jupiter.
[00:01:04] Speaker C: Mystery solved.
[00:01:04] Speaker D: Mystery solved. Thank you so much, Patty, for listening to me complain about this over the last few weeks, because I've been so curious. And thank you for telling us. Now we know. Venus and Jupiter in the night sky.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Helping to get your day started, the morning journey with Mark and Brittany.
[00:01:19] Speaker D: Well, Mark and I were talking. What is the first thing that you do when you wake up in the morning?
[00:01:23] Speaker C: I splash cold water on my face.
[00:01:25] Speaker D: You really?
[00:01:26] Speaker C: I really do.
[00:01:26] Speaker D: No way.
I need to wake up.
[00:01:30] Speaker C: Bam.
[00:01:31] Speaker D: I mean, that's one way to do it. That's for sure.
The first thing I do is actually get a cup of coffee.
[00:01:36] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:01:37] Speaker D: Not that, like, caffeine does anything for me, but I like the warmth of my throat in the morning. So the very first thing I do is get that cup of coffee. And then I try to have, like, a devotional time. But you really wake up in splash water.
[00:01:47] Speaker C: I really do. So, like, on the. On the days when I'm. If I'm taking a shower right away, I get up and I'll do that. Then I'll jump in the shower. But if I'm gonna take a shower, like, a little bit later in the morning or something, that's what I do. I get up and.
[00:01:59] Speaker D: Does it work? Does it make you feel awake, like, right away?
[00:02:00] Speaker C: It does. It does wake you up. Ye.
[00:02:02] Speaker D: Interesting.
[00:02:02] Speaker C: As cold as you can get it?
[00:02:04] Speaker D: So now you know, if you want to feel awake and refreshed in the morning, splash some cold water on your face. Or my method, drink a cup of coffee.
[00:02:11] Speaker C: We were talking earlier about what is the first thing that we do when we get up in the morning. For Brittany, it is drink coffee. For me, it is splash cold water.
[00:02:22] Speaker D: On my face, which I found really surprising and kind of terrifying. But I guess if it wakes you up, then it's a good thing to do. We posted this on our Facebook page. And Ann said, go to the bathroom and fix my cup of coffee. That makes pretty good sense, I think. And then Connie wrote in and said, have devotions. Put God first and then let the day commence. Love that. And then we heard from Lily. She said, check my phone. Check my phone. Which I feel like a lot of us check our phone as well.
[00:02:45] Speaker C: That's probably, like, the second thing that I do.
[00:02:48] Speaker D: Yeah. I get my coffee, it's up there, I sit down, and then I go to do my devotions, but they're on my phone. And so sometimes I do find myself, like, checking, like, Instagram and Facebook before I actually do my devotion. So shame on me.
[00:03:00] Speaker C: We are talking about, what's the first thing that you do when you get up? For some people, it is drink coffee. For other people, it is have their devotions.
[00:03:11] Speaker D: Yeah. Fay Roden said, I thank God that my eyes are open for another new day. Brian said, he wakes up and has his morning coffee. That's what I do. Mark throws water on his face. So that's one way to do it. Kieson called in and he said, what do you do, Kiesid? Go to the bathroom. Go. Go to the bathroom. That's an important thing to do. I feel like that's a lot of them. And Kathy said the first thing she does is turn on the living room light. Then she feeds their two cats, and then she does the quiet time with God and her journal. So a lot of people doing quiet time. A lot of people feeding their cats. Gotta make sure they get fed, because I'm sure they're. They're very vocal. If they're not.
Yes.
[00:03:45] Speaker C: So we were asking you, what is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?
[00:03:51] Speaker D: Yeah, for me, it's get coffee. For Mark, it's throw cold water on his face, which. I mean, that'll wake you up.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: Yes, it will.
[00:03:56] Speaker D: For Barbara, she says she prays, and then she reads her daily chapter in her Bible. Lori feeds her cats. We've had a couple people feeding the Cats. Nicole said, eat breakfast. Eat breakfast. I think that's a good thing to do first thing in the morning.
[00:04:09] Speaker C: Yeah. John chimed in. He says I drink Pepsi.
[00:04:12] Speaker D: Yeah. Why?
[00:04:13] Speaker C: Yeah, Drink Pepsi first thing in the morning. First thing in the morning. I had a cousin that did that. Yeah.
[00:04:18] Speaker D: Really?
[00:04:18] Speaker C: My cousin Kim used to do that.
[00:04:20] Speaker D: Interesting drink. Drink Pepsi for breakfast first thing in the morning. Well, whatever gets your day started. We hope that the journey is a part of the beginning of your day. So maybe say, hey, Alexa, play my Journey FM first thing in the morning. I think that'll get you out of bed.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: Brittany, do you have a morning routine?
[00:04:36] Speaker D: I do. We talked about this a little bit on yesterday about the first things that we do in the morning. And I get up and I go and I get a cup of coffee and then I do my quiet time. I've been using that first 15 app.
[00:04:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:47] Speaker D: I'll be honest, I read it kind of faster than 15 minutes. I probably should take some more time and revisit it later in the morning. But I do try to do that every morning.
[00:04:54] Speaker C: Okay, but. So you get up at the same time every morning?
[00:04:57] Speaker D: Same time every morning.
[00:04:58] Speaker C: Well, that is one of the keys to having a better day.
[00:05:01] Speaker D: Oh, look at that.
[00:05:02] Speaker C: Yeah. So a therapist says she has been doing this. She put her idea to the test and she says it works, but you have to be consistent with it. You have to get up the same time every day. So maybe that means getting up a little bit earlier so you have more time for yourself before the kids get up or you have to get ready for work. She says don't feel rushed or you don't feel as rushed. Then when you do that and it gives you a lot of time, maybe for devotions or taking care of some things that you won't have time to do later in the day.
[00:05:32] Speaker D: Yeah, it does make a lot of sense. And I do think there's so much value to put on, like spending time with yourself, especially if you're a parent and you have kids in the home. Like getting that time just to yourself in the morning is so huge. Now, I will admit I am not getting up at 4:30 on the weekends to have alone time by myself. I'm not doing that. I will get up when everyone else gets up because I do also really value my sleep. But yet during the week, I do like that consistent alone time in the morning. It really does, like set up myself to have a better day.
[00:05:58] Speaker C: Yeah, it really does.
[00:05:59] Speaker D: What about you? Do you get up at the same time every day?
[00:06:01] Speaker C: I do. So I get up like a little after three Monday through Friday, But I could push that back later. But I know if I push it back later, I'm going to keep pushing it back until I am really rushed.
[00:06:13] Speaker D: And then you'll be hurried and you will compress everything and you won't have that time to yourself in the morning. I get it. This makes a lot of sense to me.
[00:06:21] Speaker B: You guys always make me smile.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: The Morning Journey with Mark and Brittany.
[00:06:26] Speaker C: So would you like the Journey to surprise your office with some treats? If you go to myjourneyfm.com and see the picture of the treats, you will say, definitely, yes. Those are those pictures. Those are the homemade. They're like pop tarts. Yes, those are really, really good.
[00:06:44] Speaker D: So we are really, really excited. We're gonna have Sweet Indulgence Bakery, and we're gonna deliver these treats to businesses just like we used to do. We're bringing it back finally, after the pandemic and things got weird, so now everyone's kind of back in office.
We're gonna bring this back in September. It's gonna be once a month on Tuesdays, so you can register your
[email protected] and then we will pop by and bring you some treats on a Tuesday morning. So I think the first one will be after our partner invitation in September, so you have plenty of time to sign your office up. But we are so excited. We're calling it Tasty Tuesday. Tasty Treats with the Journey.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: Some great music. The Morning Journey with Mark and Brittany.
[00:07:22] Speaker C: So back a few weeks ago, artist Forest Frank broke his back skateboarding. And then he turned around and produced a song from the hospital bed.
[00:07:30] Speaker D: Look, it's getting crazy. So he produced that song lying in bed about his broken back. Then Crowder gets hurt, and he writes a song about that. And then he's got a new lemonade song that he wrote out of nowhere also.
[00:07:43] Speaker C: Yeah. And now another Journey artist says, hey, wait a minute. What about my injury?
[00:07:49] Speaker D: So Matthew west, if you know anything about him, he's a funny guy. He likes doing parodies all the time. So he jokes, I don't think he actually got stung by a bee, but he jokes that he got stung by a bee. So. So there's a Facebook video going around of him lying in his bed now making a song about his injury. And so we figured we would play that song for you this morning. Here's a Matthew West's new song about his bee sting.
[00:08:13] Speaker E: When life get Forest lemons, he made lemonade. Crowd are standing on the rock with a broken leg. This ain't a competition. But my injury is worse. I got stung by a bee and now my pinky hurts. Oh, no, don't laugh. Cause it ain't funny when life stinks you just like a bee Just remember bees make honey, honey, honey Bees make honey, honey, honey.
[00:08:36] Speaker C: My God.
[00:08:37] Speaker E: So money, money, money. He made me say make honey, honey, honey.
[00:08:42] Speaker D: I mean, that was pretty good.
[00:08:44] Speaker C: I like it.
[00:08:45] Speaker D: I like it, too. I think we just need a collab of all these songs that are being made out of all of these injuries. But like I said, if you know anything about Matthew west, he's a funny guy. So that's his new one, honey.
[00:08:55] Speaker C: That's a song that's going to stay with you all day.
[00:08:57] Speaker D: Yes, for sure.
[00:09:00] Speaker A: They'll help you wake up. The morning journey with Mark and Brittany.
[00:09:03] Speaker D: Well, Mark, have you ever been on a cruise before?
[00:09:05] Speaker C: I've been on one. That was my senior trip in high school. Yeah.
[00:09:09] Speaker D: That's crazy. They let you guys go on a cruise. That's so cool. Well, I've never been on a cruise, but I saw this video, and they do this. Apparently every day, a bunch of people gather at the elevators on a cruise ship, and they watch the man who's responsible for changing out the tiles of the days of the week.
So apparently, cruise ship elevators have, like, one tile that gets suctioned out, and, like, each day has its own tile. So you know what day of the week it is. Now, I'm the type of person who, when I go on vacation, I don't want to know what day of the week it is. So I think they should just stop doing this altogether.
[00:09:41] Speaker C: You sound like me, that on vacation, the only decision, the only thing you really want to know about is where are we eating?
[00:09:46] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:09:46] Speaker C: What restaurant are we going to try on vacation? But the video for this, he draws a rather large crowd. The guy that changes out the tiles. So with all the things that there are to do on a cruise ship, this is one of them.
[00:09:59] Speaker D: Apparently, I need to add that to the list the next time I go, where are we eating on the cruise, obviously, and what day of the week it is. Let's go watch the guy change the tiles.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: Your day starts with encouragement. The morning journey with Mark and Brittany.
[00:10:11] Speaker D: We actually got out on the river again and went kayaking again.
[00:10:14] Speaker C: That's two weeks in a row.
[00:10:15] Speaker D: Two weeks in a row. My husband's been on that river probably three. Yeah, three times in the last, like, week and a half. And he was like, again, And I was like, again. But this time, instead of, like, going three miles and paddling back upstream, which I do not recommend doing, we parked two cars and just floated.
And so that was so much more relaxing. We had a lot more fun that way. And Stella loves it. She sits in my lap. So we have like, a ocean kayaker. So it's like, like top side. So you sit.
Yeah. And so she can sit in my lap, and then Phil's in the front. And so we're all in the same boat. And so far, we've managed to still get along while we're doing it, so it's turned out really well.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: Thanks for catching up on the morning Journey Rewind podcast with Mark and Brittany.
[00:10:56] Speaker C: So a mom was getting ready to send out the invitations to her child's birthday party, but she was a bit nervous. Wasn't because of some activity she thought may not go over well. It's because the party was starting at 8am on a Saturday.
[00:11:09] Speaker D: Ooh.
[00:11:10] Speaker C: So, Brittany, would you do that?
[00:11:12] Speaker D: I don't know if I would do it, but I would definitely be excited to go because at this point, our kids are up anyway.
[00:11:18] Speaker C: That's exactly her point.
[00:11:19] Speaker D: Like, let's be real. Our daughter gets up at seven most days. And so I'm like, I mean, if we're up already, we might as well knock it out and get it over with.
[00:11:28] Speaker C: Yeah. The mom's name is Kelsey. So her post on Instagram about the party got, like, thousands of comments, a lot of likes, some criticism, people saying, like, why in the world are you doing this? So her party was from 8 until noon. But her point was that if you do it eight to noon, it fit with more people's schedules because you can go to the party early and then you have the rest of the day.
[00:11:50] Speaker D: You really do. And then unless you're, like, traveling from out of town, I feel like that would be the only thing. If you have visitors coming in and family coming in from out of town, 8am Might be a little early for them to get into town. But if it's until noon and you can come by anytime, then come at 10 if you don't want to be there right at 8. Our church starts at 8:45. Now we're back to two services after the summer. And I love it because we're up, we're ready, we're out of church by about 10.
[00:12:14] Speaker C: I used to go to an 8:15 service, and I'm the same way. I absolutely loved it.
[00:12:18] Speaker D: See, I'm all for kids birthday parties. The earlier the better.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: It's the morning journey with Mark and Brittany.
[00:12:26] Speaker C: Yeah, the power of prayer is something that we learn about when we read the Scripture first. Thessalonians 5:17 says to pray without ceasing. You may have seen some of the stories over the past several years where it says there is a decline in prayer, there is a decline in church attendance and in religion in general. But some encouraging data out that more Americans, especially young people, are reading the Bible re engaging with the scripture.
[00:12:54] Speaker D: I think it's coming to a point now where we realize that Jesus is the only hope that we have. And so when we are struggling a lot of times, turning to scripture is the only way for us to get through it. It's becoming more about self discovery, curiosity and mental health, especially for the younger generations, than it is about, I think for our generations and the older crowd. Sometimes we can get in this habit of feeling obligated to read scripture and then when we don' we feel guilty about it and it becomes almost like a checklist item instead of something we go to when we need to be like, fed and connect with the Holy Spirit. And I think if we let the Holy Spirit change us through the scriptures, it will. And I think a lot of people are seeing that, especially the younger generation. They are the most anxiety ridden generation out there. And turning to scripture really is the only way to get that peace and that hope that comes from Jesus.
[00:13:42] Speaker C: Yeah, that's really what this new study points out, that the biggest increase in reading the scripture has come among Gen Z and millennials.
[00:13:51] Speaker D: Yeah. And I think a lot of times we also think of it as like, oh, we have a quiet morning with our little coffee mug and we're going to sit down and do a devotion. But sometimes really knowing scripture and reading it is just meditating on it. And when you're going through those moments being like, no, this verse says, don't fear because I am with you. Like, and I'll be with you till the end of the ages.
[00:14:10] Speaker C: Internalizing it.
[00:14:11] Speaker D: Exactly. Internalizing it, Knowing it, and then being able to use it when you need it the most.
[00:14:17] Speaker A: A great day begins with a positive morning. You're on the morning journey with Mark and Brittany.
