MID WEEK MOTIVATION - October 15, 2025 (Laura Ullrich)

I would like to personally request now on tape at least two or three pepperoni pizzas to be ordered.

Because what happens is I try to let the little children go up.

That's kind of you.

And they eat all of the pepperoni because they don't want the strange pizzas.

They want the pepperoni or the cheese.

And poor Marcus just wants a pepperoni pizza.

Even if you tell them, even if you put Marcus on the box so that so that when I get up there, I'll have a few slices of pepperoni pizza.

I try to I know that you like pepperoni pizza, and I I try, but you're kind to let the little ones go first.

Maybe four or five pepperoni pizzas.

Hey, hey.

Whatever it takes.

On tape.

Okay.

I got it.

You're listening to the Midweek Motivation Podcast from DeSoto Hills Baptist Church in South Haven, Mississippi.

Here's your host, Mark Lewis, David Burgess, Laura Ulrich, and Pastor Grant Diegall.

Welcome to the Midweek Motivation Podcast for Wednesday, October 15th.

Here at DeSoto Hills Baptist Church, I'm Mark Lewis.

I'm Laura Ulrich.

And we hope this programming can encourage folks throughout DeSoto County and beyond.

Be sure to subscribe and share our link on social media.

Tell us a few things you did last week over fall break.

Well, let's see.

I worked and worked and went to school because Memphis doesn't have fall break the same time we do.

Right.

Joys.

Oh, and then we went to play with baby goats on Friday.

It was a great time.

You get to dress them up and like take pictures with them and all the things.

I love it.

It was fun.

What did you do?

We went to uh Pensacola Splash RB.

It's a a campground that we really like.

We've been there multiple times.

Got really sunburned.

The girls the beach was it's odd because at this time in Florida, like the temperatures are typically hovering somewhere around the low eighties.

So it feels really fantastic outside.

Really cloudy.

Okay.

So the sun wasn't out.

But it was extremely windy coming off the Gulf.

It was double red flags.

Oh.

So what that means is you can't put your umbrellas up because they will not stay up.

True.

They will.

And it felt so amazing out there that we didn't follow the rule of, hey, you dummies, you know the sun can still come through the clouds.

So we did not wear a lot of sunscreen.

Oh shame.

And it feels so good sitting out there in that wind.

And then four hours later you realize ouch roast.

Yes.

Crispy.

So um I mean I take it like a champ, like it's it's fine.

But the girls didn't necessarily take it like champs.

They were pretty, pretty ill about it the next day.

So the next day when the sun popped out and it was gorgeous, they didn't want to go to the beach.

So No, because they were hurting.

Right.

So that put a little bit of a damper on it.

But yeah, it's fun.

We we love having a full week for fall break.

There's lots of there's lots of teachers.

And it's funny because there's lots of teachers that complained about going back in July, but those same teachers are posting left and right all of their vacation pictures right now.

So I'm like, well, you were complaining about going back, but you were certainly eating up this fall break.

Oh, absolutely.

Using it for everything it's worth.

There's so many people out of town this past week.

Like it was just amazing that Yeah, and the amount of them that went to the Gulf was staggering.

Was it quite crowded?

It well, we go to a public area of Navarre, which is on the is it Rosa Island or whatever they call it.

Um and so that's locals.

So no.

True.

Because it's too far to walk to any of the high rises.

So when the high rise people were down there, we went by the high rise area and it was slammed.

Slammed.

So the way we the way we pull it off by going to the campground, which the campground is in Milton, Florida, which is about 20 minutes from Navarre Beach.

That's too far for most people to stay.

Most people want to be on the beach.

We do.

So the campground was 20% occupancy, like it was hardly anybody there.

And of course it has the lazy river and all the fun stuff for the girls to do.

And then we get down to the beach and we're on the public area where the locals go, and the locals are all in school.

So true.

So they weren't there.

There's nobody on the local beach much either.

That's pretty nice.

So Hey, have you been to the Sea Turtle Museum at Navarre Beach?

We have not.

I've seen I've always seen the uh information for that, um, but we've never been to it.

I've heard it's really cool.

It's cool.

They have a turtle, sweet pea.

It's pretty fun, exciting, yes.

It is actually quite it's like a conservation type of thing.

They rescued the turtle and brought it back to health, but it can't live in the wild, so it lives at the conservation.

Yeah, it's a neat place to go.

I took my bike having plans to ride down that conservation part of the beach.

But since the girls didn't want to go back to the beach.

Crispy.

Yeah, I didn't make it.

Okay, the calendar coming up here at DeSoda Hills.

We've got quite a few things.

Uh it's crazy to say this, but we're actually approaching holiday season.

We have Fall Fest coming up October the 26th.

What do we want people to know about that?

They need to sign up to help.

Uh, we saw some spots available if you would like to be involved with that.

Um if you don't want to volunteer, uh, that's okay.

We won't think ill of you.

Um, but please come and be a part.

Um bring your family, bring your friends, bring your neighbors.

And uh oh, one new thing exciting is that we're gonna have like pins, I call them buttons this year that say, I love DHPC.

And they can pick those up.

I'm in the Grand Hall pretty soon, and they will wear those, like church people will wear those.

So our non-church folks will know that, hey, maybe I can ask this person a question about church or information, or I just need to know where the restrooms are.

And I can ask them.

And the staff will be, of course, in these very bright red staff shirts that is correct.

Or coming and you need to locate a staff member.

Correct.

Uh we'll also have security all over the place and they can also help you.

Um so yeah.

What are the times if people want to come just be a part of Fall Fest?

Yeah, three to five thirty.

Just come.

It's totally free.

Um yeah, it's always a good time.

I remember the first year I came, the very first year I was here.

And I looked out like from the second floor and I thought, it's like a fair, like a state fair.

I was pretty impressed, blown away.

Yeah, it's a great event, and we put a lot of uh resources into it.

Free food, free rides, lots of stuff for your kids to do, and lots of candy.

And for our members, please continue to bring candy and drop it off because we need way more than we currently have.

Absolutely.

The Mississippi Baptist Convention is also coming up October the 27th through the 29th.

Be praying for pastors and staff members all across the state who will be going to Jackson for that, and we do have some of our very own people who will be involved with that as well.

And then we have family movie night, November the 7th.

Do you do.

We we haven't decided on the details of that yet.

Of course not.

I have to get past Fall First before I can get it.

Well, I've been thinking about it, so we'll see.

It'll be a movie.

We'll probably have some popcorn um down at the pavilion.

Hopefully, weather permitting, it'll be nice out, and you can bring a blanket and watch a movie under the stars, aka lights of the pavilion.

You've done that before and it's been a lot of fun.

Yep.

And then uh Thankful Together Dinner is going to be Monday, November the 10th.

What do people need to know about that?

First of all, it's for ladies.

For ladies and daughters, like younger people, like girls can come too, like your girls or you know, my daughter, they could come too.

Um if you want to decorate a table, that would be great and wonderful.

They always need table decorators.

And uh, I know a lot of a lot of the women, I don't know if they're listening, but they have a hard time.

Um, you know, decorating's not mainly their thing.

It's okay because I feel you, but you can still decorate a table.

And the decorations aren't provided.

You're providing decorations for your table.

That's correct.

Yes.

It's a little confusing for some people, I think.

Okay, decorations are not provided.

But if you want to decorate a table, you just sign up at the welcome desk.

Or if you would like to come, you can sign up.

And you don't already have to come like prepare to sit at a certain table.

You can just sign up to come and the ladies will place you at a table where you might come meet some new folks.

Is this a catered event?

How does it work?

It is typically a catered event.

Um, I believe that is the plan for this year as well, with a um with some worship music and a speaker and a time to fellowship and kind of see the different tables and the decorations and so it's like a mini conference for a one-night conference type.

Kind of sort of with food and fellowship.

Yep.

All right.

And then finally, uh, we wanted to mention that we do have a night of worship that will be coming up on Sunday night, November the 16th.

I guess it's not really coming up.

That's still a ways off.

But it's a little ways away.

I just was glancing at the calendar, just wanted to make sure um that we covered some of that stuff, and we'll be mentioning a lot of these events uh in the future on future episodes as well.

All right, let's do some table topics today.

So table topics are just uh a really fun thing that you can do with your family, and it's these cubes, you can get them on Amazon, and they have lots of different topics for you to bring up at the dinner table.

My girls love it whenever we do table topic night.

If you could own a second home, where would it be?

Oh my.

Um, I've always dreamed about a second home, but it's not reality.

No.

Um not on a minister's budget for sure.

Yeah, that's for sure.

And a school teacher, not a good idea.

Correct.

Not.

Um Golly, I don't know.

Probably at the beach somewhere, but I need it to be like safe, like not hurricane prone to things.

But probably on the beach somewhere.

I think my wife, my wife and kids would definitely choose the beach if they got to decide that.

I love the city of Chattanooga.

It is a killer city, especially if you were into biking and running and all of that, which I love.

I think these days it would be Bentonville, Arkansas.

Because the same reasons the biking is uh phenomenal.

Okay.

It's a small town feel with that with the square and all of that, but it's got every resource imaginable because of Walmart.

I was about to say, isn't that where Walmart headquarters are located?

It is outside of Bentonville.

I've never been there.

Um Fayetteville is the town right next door where the uh the hogs are located.

The nicest college town I've ever set foot in.

Really?

Arkansas.

A thousand percent.

And I've been to a lot of I've been to Tuscaloosa.

Yeah.

Uh I have been to Auburn before.

I have been, let's see, obviously Ole Miss, State.

State Southern.

Yeah.

I've never set foot in a college town that was that amazing.

As Fayetteville, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Arkansas.

The cleanest, most amazingly manicured downtown you've ever seen in your life because the Walmart money.

It is it's staggering.

And all the small little shops on the square, and um the restaurants were killer.

And then all of the housing, the condos, everything is oh top tier.

Not what you expected.

And and by the way, nothing like the rest of the state of Arkansas.

Okay.

So they're in their own little bubble over there.

Absolutely.

And it's nestled up in the Ozark Mountains, which is also beautiful.

Sure.

So it's just Yeah.

What do you admire about your parents?

Wow.

I don't know if they're gonna listen to this podcast or not.

Uh better.

Well, there's only about 30 people that listen to this podcast, so the chances are they're not going to listen to it.

I'm not even sure they know about podcasts.

Um, so if you talk to them, you might want to fill them in.

Uh, what do I admire about them?

I think I admire one thing is their commitment to each other.

They've been married a long time, almost 50 years.

And uh that's that's pretty uh rare these days.

Sure.

So I just admire that through all the almost fifty years how they've stayed committed to each other, to the Lord, and um, you know, they've they've moved a couple times recently.

They have, you know, had some ups and downs with different different things and you know, raising two kids.

And I think I just admire that most of all.

What or which is the worst reality TV show?

Oh okay.

So I don't watch a lot of reality TV show.

But I hate reality TV shows.

Um we like okay, what's the worst?

Not the one that we like.

Um golly, I don't even know.

Like I might say like Big Brother because what I've seen of it is pretty trash.

Um everybody talks about how great Love Island is.

Do you know anything about Love Island?

It's awful.

Okay, so the little bit I've seen is awful.

Okay, I've never seen it.

I can't stay in any of those shows.

Okay.

They yeah.

Um The Golden Bachelor, that's just kind of weird.

We watched it for a minute and I was like, I can't, I can't.

They're too old.

The only style of that show that I did watch, and I had the flu.

And you know when you have the flu, you don't even want to reach for the remote.

Farmer Needs a Wife was hilarious.

And it's because all of these city girls are put on the farm and they're having to do these farm chores for this guy to see if they could live on the farm.

Oh no, that'd be pretty funny.

Yes.

That would be that's the only one that I remember seeing that I was like, this is has some redeemable, you know.

This is all of the old, old ones that me and you because I mean we were the children of the reality TV crazy.

Absolutely.

The real world, awful.

See, I couldn't watch that in my head.

No.

Well, but it was awful.

You wouldn't have wanted to have watched it.

No.

Uh all of those shows, the Kardashians was fun the first season, you know, when you didn't know them.

And then it got awful, awful, awful.

No.

We did watch Survivor, like old school Survivor, not this new junk, like old school, and it was really good.

And then my family, we still like to watch The Amazing Race.

It's been around a long time.

Um, just because we like to see where they go and what they do.

But the voice and all the singing competitions, I don't get into any of those either.

They're all so staged now.

They're trying to get the producers are trying to get um, you know, drama stirred up because it's it makes it more watchable.

We like AGT too, that one we watch on occasionally.

It just is so drawn out.

Goodness gracious.

All right, it's table topics.

All right, we're now going to shift to our devotion portion of the podcast, and this is a segment that we call the midweek moment.

All right, so Mark, I don't know if you've noticed, but the weather outside, especially like today when we're filming this, is super nice.

Oh, it's amazing.

You know, you were gone to the beach, and so you kind of missed, you know, a couple of really nice days here.

But there was a long time it was really, really warm, and we thought, what happened to fall?

And then fall has come, and then it looks like fall is gonna go away again for a little while.

But regardless, um I like fall.

Do you enjoy the season?

Fall's my favorite season.

The problem is we don't get it long enough here in Mississippi.

It's it we go from hot, hot, hot, and we typically snap coal really quick.

Really fast.

Yes.

But I was thinking about um the coolness of fall and the leaves changing colors and all the different changes that happen in the fall.

Um pumpkin spice lattes are now available.

They were probably actually available in July, but I just can't do it.

But now I can.

Um but anyway, so I was thinking about the different changes that occur around fall.

You know, kids have been out of school, um, Halloween is coming up for those that celebrate that holiday, Thanksgiving, and then we move into crazy times like Christmas.

But um during fall, the whole season is just to me um amazing to watch.

I like to watch the leaves change color.

Like I wish I could be up north or go up there during fall and see, you know, all the beautiful trees.

Oh, New England is amazing.

Have you been up there in the fall time?

Um yes, but I didn't get to go into the pretty areas of New England.

I was just in the DC area and then in New York City, and so that's you're not it doesn't count.

Mm-mm.

They show it on TV sometimes.

Oh, all the time.

Movies are so appreciative.

I mean, they romanticize all of the the Northeast.

Um it's very nice.

So I was I was thinking about leaves changing colors and in our neighborhood we have several trees and they um they're starting to kind of change their colors to reds and oranges and golden yellow color, and it's really pretty.

But yes, it doesn't last long.

And before you know it, the leaves have fallen off the trees.

But one thing I found interesting about that was that even when the leaves fall, the branches still stay.

Um before the storms come, before the snow, if we ever get any or whatever occurs, the branches are still there, um, even though the leaves fall.

And I thought about just not only our church family, but just different people I know have seemed to be going through, you know, changes.

You know, here, you know, we're looking for staff people and um some people in our church lately have um lost loved ones and experienced seasons of grief.

And um seasons can look different for different people.

You know, sometimes people are in really happy seasons.

We've had some little babies uh born recently, and uh that's a season of great joy and um a lot of sleepless nights, but great joy.

And you know, we've had on the flip side, you know, people have lost loved ones and you know their their season of change is occurring as well.

And so, and even in our church, like I say, you know, as we look at you know, getting new staff folks, that is a change, you know, for all of us.

But regardless of the change, like the the leaves that fall, you know, the branches still stay.

And I thought, well, you know, in our lives, what what are those branches?

And I thought that's kind of like us, you know, as as Christians, as followers of Jesus, staying rooted to, you know, the tree.

And I know in the Bible there's a lot of analogies that Jesus makes with the vine and the branches and all that.

Um, so I'm not trying to to insert large version of the Bible, but um, you know, I thought about how we as Christians are rooted to our tree and how strong is that tree, um, and the tree of you know of Christ and our walk with him and our relationship with him.

And even in the midst of changes, even in the midst of, even when, you know, leaves fall or our lives seem to be upside down and inside out, and just we can't even, you know, put one step in front of the other, that as Christians, we still have our hope and our faith and our trust in Jesus Christ.

And how interesting that was when I was looking at the trees in our neighborhood, because some are really strong big trees over by our um our lake, and then others are kind of wimpy trees.

And I'm like, if you, you know, if a storm comes, they're gonna fall over the little wimpy trees, and but the big ones are gonna stand.

And yes, it goes back to the roots, but I didn't even want to go that far.

Um, because the size of the trunks on the big trees, like we went when I was a little girl, and my mom always always laughs because I don't remember a lot about family vacations, but um, we went to San Francisco, and I remember going to what's that those sound the name of it, but I remember the sequoias, like the big, huge trees, and going to see those and just marveling at how big and giant those tree trunks were.

Um, the other day Nolan was with my dad and mom, and they were at a construction site in their neighborhood, and Nolan stood next to this massive uh root ball of a tree.

And I thought, wow, you know what an amazing God we have to create something so strong as you know a tree and a tree trunk, and how in our own lives we want to be attached as you know, branches, let's say, we want to be attached to that tree trunk, to the knowledge of scripture, the knowledge of Christ, and really focusing on Him and Um our relationship with Him.

So in uh Scripture, in 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 10, it says, Now the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little.

1 Peter 5:10

Um, even if this is a time of joy in your life, or a time of just a season of routine and sameness day in and day out, it still says Jesus will restore, establish, strengthen, and support you.

And no matter what season of life you're in, you know, Jesus the promises of Jesus are the same strength, support to restore and establish you.

And what a you know encouraging word that is for me and hopefully for everyone that they can find their strength no matter the season, no matter if you know the leaves fall around them, they can find their strength in who Jesus is.

You can catch our services online at DeSotaHills.com, our YouTube channel at DeSota Hills Baptist Church for all of our church family.

We love you, and we will see you next Wednesday.

This has been your midweek motivation.

We'd love to have you join us in person on Sunday mornings.

Our services are at 9 and 10 30 a.m.