Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hey everyone, everyone doesn't like ladders. If you don't like heights, you probably wouldn't be on one. But believe it or not, ladders are the way we actually ascend to different levels in our lives. They are always there to help us in many cases, but exactly beyond just helping us reach higher heights, can a ladder teach us? You'll find out here in this pod.
[00:00:46] Hey, ladies and gentlemen, this is Ryan with life Refresh podcast. Excited to be with you today. We're going to be talking about ladder.
[00:00:56] A ladder, yeah, a ladder. We're talking about things that a tool and a resource that actually helps us reach places that we cannot reach. I got this topic really from the Bible. I believe it is from the book of Genesis.
[00:01:15] Not really, can't. Let me see. Well, let me give it, give me 1 second here. And it is actually based out of the story of Jacob in Jacob's ladder in Genesis chapter 20 and how to find it real quick in Genesis chapter 28 where Jacob is, he is laying on a stone and he goes into a dream and he sees angels ascending and descending from a ladder that comes from heaven down to earth and earth back up to heaven. So he's seeing all these angels go back and forth. And this is what we call Jacob's ladder.
[00:02:05] And it kind of arrested me as we were going through, me and my daughter were going through Bible studies that even in that day and time, ladders were used to reach places. And why would God use the ladder? To illustrate connecting from one height to another, culturally, we utilize the comment of climbing the corporate ladder.
[00:02:33] And as much as it is said, not every ladder leads to what we think it leads to. However, we still utilize the same illustration to show what it's like to get to a new level. So I wanted to use as a, as an example or an illustration or artifact, if you will, about what do ladders symbolize to us as individuals utilizing the story of Jacob's ladder in Genesis chapter 28 and some other places in the Bible. So we can just go ahead and get started, shall we? The first thing that I pulled out of a ladder is that it actually indicates upward mobility and moving up to new heights.
[00:03:32] Is it something that we all, again, that's an easy thing to say? Yeah, we're, you know, we're going up the ladder just as I said earlier, we're going up the corporate ladder. But it's something that many of us love to do. It is something that every skill gets built on itself over and over, and the latter gives you one rung at a time, one step at a time for that upward mobility.
[00:03:59] And as you're going up, you're also getting more elevation as you're going up this ladder. And this ladder actually provides you a whole new perspective if you are on the ground. Now, the crazy thing about it, and I don't. I'm not afraid of heights, but I also am not. I don't trust ladders that much.
[00:04:24] So take your.
[00:04:27] Judge me if you want to, but ladders, there's always. Usually there's somebody at the base that is holding the ladder to help keep it stable. And the only perspective that person has is at a ground level. Okay? When the individual is going up the ladder, they have a whole new perspective that they couldn't have gotten if they were still on the ground. Now, it gives the. The ability to that person to see different things, but they're also limited by what they can do, because if they move off the ladder, they actually drop. Now, that sounds very violent.
[00:05:11] But the thing is, the ladder is actually there to keep you stable, because the higher you go, the less support you have.
[00:05:20] There you go. The higher you go, the less support you have. Why? Because gravity, if you had your friend that you could go up the ladder with you, that'd be awesome. But not everyone is able to go up with you.
[00:05:36] There's some people that have kept it stable for you while you're moving up, and because now you're at heights that you wouldn't typically be into, there's all responsibility that goes along with that. So if we're looking at a house, for example, and you have gutters and you have trees in your backyard or front yard, the person who has the height now has the responsibility and perspective to clean up there just because they have the vantage point to do so. Person on the ground can't see that.
[00:06:14] And that upper mobility comes with a little bit more weight to it.
[00:06:19] Yeah, it's. It's cool. You know, it's nice getting up there. But now being up on a different height requires a different level of responsibility and accountability.
[00:06:30] So that's an important thing to think about as you're looking at a ladder.
[00:06:37] The other one, the next number two, is overcoming the obstacles with the ladder. So, a ladder also symbolizes the challenge and the barriers that we face.
[00:06:52] And using it actually gives us the ability to surmount and go past those issues to a whole new level of growth and change. We talked about shifts in the previous podcast, but I also say this. It's really important to recognize that ladders also give you the ability to overstep an obstacle. So, uh, if you couldn't get somewhere, it's actually a solution to a problem that you have. If you can't reach something, if you cannot actually, some people use it to climb over different places to be like a bridge from one space to another.
[00:07:42] If you just weren't able to manage reaching something at that point in time, it overcomes an obstacle for you. It's is actually, every ladder is actually a solution to a problem, believe it or not.
[00:07:57] And it comes to us so naturally that we just don't think like, oh, I can't reach that, I'm gonna need a ladder.
[00:08:05] You automatically do it.
[00:08:07] We are no longer inhibited by looking at it and thinking what we're going to do. When we know that something's too high for us, we recognize that we need something stable that can get us to that point.
[00:08:23] And we usually find a ladder that helps us to do that.
[00:08:28] Because that obstacle is higher than us, that instrument is needed. So if we're looking at the illustration from Jacob's ladder, the angels coming down, the solution to earthly issues were angels that were sent down from that ladder.
[00:08:47] Isn't that crazy that God made a passageway for those angels to do what they needed to do in the earth?
[00:08:56] I haven't seen a Jacob's ladder in my dreams, but the Bible says that Jacob saw it and those obstacles utilizing that. So there was a connection somewhere. So if you need to get somewhere that's higher than you, you need one of those. The crazy thing about ladders that I realized is that you don't rush up a ladder.
[00:09:27] You take your time going up a ladder.
[00:09:32] If you've ever skipped a step on a ladder, it probably scared you half to death. And Solomon mentions this in proverbs 1311. It says, wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. And this isn't just a principle by that talks about money, it's also a principle of patience.
[00:10:00] Patience needs to work its perfect work in you that we may be whole and complete, lacking nothing. I believe that's James chapter one, verse two through five, something like that.
[00:10:17] And what's important about it is if we don't take our time on a ladder, we could really risk injury on it, which again, is dangerous.
[00:10:30] Think about anything you rush to get. Did it really help you? Not really. Did it cost you a lot?
[00:10:37] Probably did.
[00:10:39] But if we just took our time, have some patience, it's not going anywhere, whatever it is for you.
[00:10:48] And at the time we'll do what it needs to do, and then this is the last one.
[00:10:56] A ladder allows you to connect at different levels.
[00:11:03] A ladder has as far as it can go, but while you're going up a ladder, there are different levels you can get to.
[00:11:14] You can get to a window level, you can get to a, you know, second floor level, third floor level. But because of that ladder, that one instrument has the ability to get you to reach multiple levels all at the same time. And I think what's important for this is as we transition from other places, careers, from life, from a current state to a desired future state, if you're a business person, we have to realize that yes, there are progressive steps that need to be made, but as you make those progressive steps, there will be new levels that you get exposed to because you're going on something that is designed to go up. There's no rushing because rushing can create injury or death if you're going too quick on those things.
[00:12:10] But it also, again, speaks to change.
[00:12:13] If we're not willing to make shifts and changes in our lives, it actually causes us to be stagnant. And I don't know if, I don't know about you, but I would not, I do not welcome just getting stuck on a ladder.
[00:12:31] I mean, it sounds cool for a minute until you realize you're stuck. Nobody wants to be stuck on the ladder.
[00:12:40] They want to go where the ladder is going to go and build off of the progress that they have made over time, one step at a time, to a desired future state that they want.
[00:12:52] It's important to recognize that. It's important to embrace that ladders are that instrument to take you to areas you've never seen. But with that new level comes a brand new responsibility that you have to take care of. So I mentioned this in the, in the last podcast that we were going to have an announcement, and I want to imma just say this. I really enjoyed life Refresh podcast. I really enjoyed doing this pod. It was something that I enjoyed preparing for, getting my thoughts out, and I just wanted to really just live a life by which God designed individuals to live from the foundations of the earth and utilize that as a catalyst to help teach people all about it. And I hate I must say this, that this is actually going to be the last Life refresh podcast. And instead, and I'm going to tell you this instead, what we're going to do is we're going to make a shift.
[00:14:14] And I really believe that in this particular season, this is a new perspective and especially in this day and age, there's so much change going on. All the change that has taken place since the pandemic has been. It's just been a lot, a lot of shifts. Economy's up and down, mental health up and down, all kinds of stuff. And I've personally experienced pretty much all of them. And I just felt just from my time with God of like, you know, life refresh sounds good. And it was really good for the season that it was in, but for this particular time, and I think going forward for quite a while, this, the title of this podcast is going to make a change. And so going forward, the podcast will now be called shifts and ladders.
[00:15:15] Shifts and ladders. There are. We are just at a really important time in our world and in our connections, relationally, culturally, spiritually, physically, all the dynamics of who we are as people and human beings on this earth, we're changing. And at the rate of change, the rate of change is so fast now.
[00:15:48] I mean, what was.
[00:15:51] I mean, I'm trying to remember. There was new albums come out once, once a Friday, I call every Friday, and they don't stay on the number one list for longer than two weeks, two, three weeks now, because it's. Change is happening so fast.
[00:16:15] You know, we're iterating technology at such a fast rate the way these, I mean, I'm. IPhones, laptops are computing now, they're computing at rates that are incredible.
[00:16:31] AI technology and GPU's are pushing some crazy limits now, processing billions and billions of calculations that feed AI all day long. I mean, we're just. Cultural shifts are happening. The way people do business is changing. We're changing from that tech, I mean, from partnerships to AI kind of stuff. And like, there's just so much happening.
[00:16:59] And I think it's important to talk about it, because if we don't talk about it, we'll miss it, and we'll miss opportunities that God has put in front of us to make a shift and then level up, utilizing a ladder, step by step, developing a new skill, creating new relational, relational opportunities, or grow.
[00:17:25] You're never going to be the same person to your significant other anyway, so you should probably grow too.
[00:17:32] Even the music you listen to might change.
[00:17:36] So I thought, and I believe that shifts in ladders just gives us an opportunity to talk about more things and gives us a wider view of what not only God is doing in our lives, but what things we are seeing as times shift and circumstances are shifting and be able to have a broader conversation about it. So you don't have to change your podcast RSS feeds. We're just going to change the title and put some new artwork up and make some changes to some stuff. But going forward, you will be listening to shifts and ladders with Ryan Robinson. Excited to start this new phase with you guys. I think we're like 75 episodes of Life Refresh, which is an incredible number. I'm just thankful for all of those who have listened to all the content that we've created over the last two and a half three years.
[00:18:55] But I think this is a good chapter to go into and being able to walk out what it will look like in shifts and ladders. So with that being said, we'll see you in the new pod to keep it locked. Peace.
[00:19:17] Bye.
