 I hope in God today, because all who trust in Him will not be disappointed. I love that scripture. And I'm glad that you joined us today. We're gonna have a great program bringing some hope to you today. I'm Tom, I'm here with Sydney, here with Amy. You know, sometimes it's foggy up here, Amy. We are in the hills of Pennsylvania. Fog is a part of our life. You know, maybe you thought life would make sense by now that you would have figured it all out by now. Fog can sometimes result from driving through the years without intentional living. Jesus is inviting us to join Him on a journey of life, leadership, healing, and moving forward, even when life is unclear. That's why I'm excited about our special guest today, Brian Zair, and his new book, Driving Through the Fog. Guys, honestly, I'm asking God for an anointing on this message today, because there are many people living in a fog and they're not quite sure how to get out, how to move forward. They can't see clearly, but Jesus is with them and He has a plan. You know, I love what one thing you were saying is just being intentional, because sometimes we know that in life it's very windy, that Jesus calls us to walk on the narrow road. There's times that we're going up the hill, sometimes we're going down the hill. Sometimes we feel like we're about to go off the ravine, but when we look to Jesus and we hold steadfast to Him, it's amazing how He gets us through those seasons and situations. So maybe you are in a season where you're like, I can't see the other side right now. I don't know where things are going. Why don't you give us a call at our prayer line at 888-665-4483, because you know what, here at Hope Today and through Cornerstone Telstra Network, we always love to encourage you. We always love to stand in the gap with you, no matter what season you're walking in. You know, even talking about the seasons, we're going, Tom and Amy, from, you know, it's like we're going into fall. Seasons change physically in the natural world, but they also change in the spiritual. Sometimes we have to understand our seasons have changed, our seasons have shifted, and it's important for us to keep our eyes on Jesus and know He's the one in the driver's seat in control of it all. Well, and when our seasons shift like that, and maybe you're in that seasonal shift, when you're in that is when there's a lot of times, the fog, there's times where we don't see where we're going, times where we don't understand where we're going, but have the courage, God is with you, no matter what the season of life is, and no matter what the season you're shifting into. You know, sometimes guys, I'm excited because when you break through the fog eventually, and it's a new season. And you see clearly, and we have here what's called fog lights, so we can shed light on that. And honestly guys, if we're being really honest, you know, I've been here weekly for almost 10, or for a little over 10 years. We're not sitting here clueless, like we haven't gone through a fog, but there just has to be this hope, like it's called hope today for a reason. There has to be this hope that will lift you up and push you forward in life. Don't you agree, Cindy? Yeah, you know, even I just think about when you're driving, I'm like, I was recently, I was like going to Chicago, and I was like, there's some times I was like, you can't see, you don't know what's going on, but I think in these moments where it's like, God invites us to just draw to Him a little closer, to pay attention, to hear His voice is so crucial, to hear the voice of the Lord, to hear the voice of God, no matter what it looks like. And it's that trust factor, right, that we know that He is never going to veer us in the wrong or see us in the wrong direction. So I think it's just really important that we have that hope today, Amy. You know, life can be filled with many uncertainties, thoughts of fear, doubt, confusion, can all stop us in our tracks, especially if we don't know what lies ahead. Brian Zaire is a leadership consultant, executive coach and author, and in his new book, Driving Through Fog, he offers practical advice to help us move through the chaos and uncertainty and move forward with intentionality and hope. That's what we're all about today. And Brian, it is great to have you with us on Hope today. Yes, it's great to be with you. Thanks for having me on. All right, Brian, what are your life experiences about driving through the fog? Are you talking about the physical fog that we all wake up to here in Pennsylvania? Well, no, but that's a great way to look at it, isn't it? Because we can see in front of us always, but it's limited. And so it depends on the situation. But there's so many different types of fogs. There's the personal fog that we can go through. And I think all of us do at certain times, whether it's life didn't turn out the way that we thought it would, we thought we'd be in a different place, or whether it's traumatic relational experiences, even financial experiences, we don't know what's up ahead. And it's in those moments that we have choices to make, that we can, it can change us one way or the other. And as you said, clinging to God, listening to his voice is a part of it. How do we do that? How do we move forward through the fog? And that's really what the book is about. Brian, did you have a personal experience of you were living in a fog, and that is maybe where this entire book and process came from? Yeah, yeah, it's kind of a combination of people that I've worked with and tried to help over the years, but it really started with me. I've been a pastor, I was a pastor for about 20 years, and I found myself having gone through both personal and professional type of crisis where, and that's kind of where the book starts, not to ruin it, but it's where the book starts is for me, basically on the floor, broken, and trying to figure out, okay, how do I move forward? How do we move forward? What does God have for me? And I think it was in those moments that this whole journey started. And I think I'd been under a bit of an illusion that we can all fall into you, which is the fact it's a vision issue where we think we know where we're going, we think that we see what God has in mind for us. And in some ways, for me, I think it started with a little bit of arrogance where I thought I knew that. And I started to move forward and all of a sudden I found myself in a fog and realizing that I have to learn, I have to almost relearn what it looks like to follow Jesus, to move forward when I can't see where I'm going. You referenced a great story in Mark, chapter eight about Jesus and the blind man. Why did that story end up several times in this book and why is it so meaningful to you? Well, it's meaningful to me on a number of reasons. One is that the sight of being able to move forward, to be able to see clearly, in this case, was a process and how Jesus healed this man. Because in the story of Mark chapter eight, he spits on the ground, which I don't really understand fully why. He makes mud, puts it on his eyes, and then he asks him, can you see anything? And the fact that our Lord would stop and ask the question that brings dignity to the process, brings dignity to the fact that, and he's walking with us in that journey to be able to move through the fog, to be able to see clearly, can you see anything? And the process is that there's the touch from Jesus and then there's the second touch and there's clarity in the process. Wow. I think that's fascinating. That is huge. Like we cannot just zoom past that because we are in an instantaneous culture. We drive through, we get the burger, we get the fries, we bounce on. So you're saying that sometimes seeing clearly coming out of that life's uncertainty, out of that divorce, out of that bankruptcy, that it is a process? Yes. And I think in the midst of that, the touch of Jesus is present for us, with us. And yet I love the fact that Jesus stops and asks the question because I think that is the question, the fact that our Lord asks us questions, to me is a beautiful and amazing thing as well. Because it's, because he's not working instantaneous. He's not solving everything. Okay, now you have hope. Now you move forward. But in reality, it is a process. And he includes us in that process. Can you see anything? Work with me here. What do you see? In this case, the man said, I see people, but they look like trees. It's not clear to me. I have a glimpse, but it's still not clear. As I was reading through this entire book, I felt like you were kind of holding me by the hand walking me over the stream, through the forest, over the hills, through the fog. Like you had such a practical step-by-step guide of how to get out of that. You call it a fog, I call it a funk. When that heaviness, that weightiness where you do feel like everything is unclear. The first principle you lay out is the foundation principle. And these are what you value, the narrative that you're telling yourself over and over in your behavioral patterns. Can you briefly walk us through that foundational principle? Yeah, at the beginning of the show, Tom and Sydney were talking about the changes that occurred in some of its seasonal, some of it is just situational. The change is so difficult. And when we're in those transitions, sometimes we're relying on things that have been important to us, but they're not clear in the present tense. And so I think it's super important for us to redefine what is valuable to me here. What is it that God is saying? What is it that God is doing? My relationship with God, is it different because I'm in this situation. And so I think redefining values and then aligning our words and our behaviors on those values is critical to being able to move forward. That alignment, I've experienced it. Maybe you have to, I've certainly seen other people that they start to go through the fog and everything shifts on them. We become unsure of who we are, what's important to us. And we say certain things and maybe the behavior doesn't match, which makes it even more difficult to move through. And so I think the foundation is defining, and it's a prayerful, difficult redefining of, who am I really? What is important to me? And how do I live into those values? And that's the foundation by which everything else seems to move as we go through that season, as we go through the fog. Brian, I've known people and myself included where sometimes it seems like the rug is just pulled out from under us. And our company might close down or we get transferred somewhere or there's a family situation or an illness and something you weren't expecting. How do we, I mean, how do we prepare for that? And then when all of a sudden we find ourselves kind of standing on really shaky ground, what do we do? Like what's the thing we need to run to? Yeah, I mean, it is true. It's either the rug gets pulled out from us or we feel like we're running in quicksand and we try harder and we hustle more and we in some ways just strive on our own strength. And so I think so much of it is being able to win times are good, being able to really solidify ourselves in our relationship with God. And Jesus speaks of, tells the example of being the good shepherd, right? So my sheep hear my voice, they know my voice, they respond to my voice. And I think when times are good, being able to connect and abide with Jesus in such a way that that voice is clear allows us when we're going through the fog to be able to, okay, let me respond to that voice. Let me hold tight to Jesus because I've been holding tight all along. Let me hold tight to Him. And I think then when we're going through it and things are shifting around us, there is a certain stability because of the fact that we have tuned ourselves in to the voice of Jesus. In your book, I felt like you were saying run into hardship and you said that some people say adversity develops character. You say adversity reveals character and adversity is like an x-ray to the character of yourself. Why should we today embrace the pain, embrace the adversity to walk through it? Well, if I'm really honest, I will tell you that it's the only way. If you're running away from it, again, you've reestablished who you are as you're going through the fog in a negative context. You've gone backwards. You've been so afraid. You've said that you're not gonna be afraid, so to speak, as we hold on to our faith, as we hold on to Jesus. But the process of moving forward is what does redefine our character in some ways. I think adversity reveals who you already are. And if we're brave enough to look at it and say, okay, I'm operating out of fear here or I'm lashing out at people here, okay, I'm seeing things in my character that God needs to continue to refine. Because adversity does reveal what's there. It also develops for the future. And so we wanna embrace both of those and go through it. Going backwards doesn't get us anywhere. And so I think in the illustration, if you will, moving forward is the only way to find true hope. Talking about hope, your very last chapter, the hope principle. I mean, we are big on hope here. What are your thoughts about hope and getting out of the fog? Yeah, I've had a couple, and this is where it got more personal for me in the book, in the, even in the principles in moving forward. What I learned, and some of this was not necessarily through success. I mean, it was a super, it was a challenge. Was that I needed to engage enough to grieve in whatever fog you're going through to be honest enough to look and say, okay, this is painful. This is, I'm mourning the loss of something here. And so I think the first step for me was to grieve it. And then secondly, I really needed to feel the pain. But more than anything, the scriptures came alive to me about the process of hope. In Romans chapter five, it talks about, and this is so different from what I had experienced previously in my life or what I had tried to do and what I see other people doing is not necessarily embracing the process. Romans five talks about it this way. It says that our suffering produces something. It doesn't produce hope initially. It produces perseverance. That's the part in the process, again, where Jesus is walking with us, where it's not something that's instantaneous. It produces perseverance, which produces character, that perseverance and that long suffering, if you will, being able to stay engaged in the challenging, difficult times of our lives, allow that character to be there. For me, I found that I could love people in a deeper way than I could before I went through my own personal hardships. I found that I could empathize with people at a deeper level. Character gets developed. But then the scriptures teach us that suffering produces perseverance, which produces character, which produces hope. And that hope that does not ever fade, that hope that lasts, that hope that we have in Christ is there. The challenge is not to try to jump from suffering to hope. The challenge is to actually embrace the process. And in some ways realize, okay, I'm in a season now where I need to persevere. I need to hold on tight. I need to listen to the Lord. I need to invest in people. I need to ask for help. All of these kinds of principles that are in the book. But really for me, the whole concept is getting to hope. What I love about your show, right? It's all about hope. But so much of it is missing in our world. And I think sometimes it's because we're not embracing that process. We're not even understanding that this has got at work when we're having to persevere, when our character is being developed. Wow, that is so good. And I think we're gonna ask you to pray for our folks that are watching in just a minute here. But tell me something. This is a little aside that your book has a playlist along with it. I mean, I've never quite seen that. What's the idea of having the music kind of accompanying each chapter and what that means to you? Well, that's both personal and hopefully meaningful to people. But for me, I'm a music person. I'm always like looking at different lyrics and listening to music and everything. And when you're driving in a car, so to speak and you're driving through the fog, Sidney said earlier, like, I mean, you're going into Chicago, which is where I live. There's a lot of fog at different times. What accompanies you when you're there? Sometimes it's a music that can inspire you. Sometimes it's music that can make you get in touch with what's going on. And so to me, that was a big part of it. The other part of it is it's just kind of, it's a fun thing for me, honestly, just having something that you can engage with, whether it's worship music or other music that just continues with you and your journey. And so that's really why there's a playlist there. Anybody can engage with it, it's a public playlist, so you can listen to it. I love the playlist. It's on Spotify, it's called Driving Through the Fog. It's great. One of those songs is called I Wish You Pain. It's like, and when you listen to the song, it's like, man, because it just does something so deep and wonderful in your life. Brian, before we leave, I want you to pray for all of us. Let's pretend like we're sitting in your office right now. You're a pastor, leadership coach. We're telling you about the fog in our life, the uncertainty, the loss. Will you pray for us? Yes, absolutely, let's pray. Father, you know all. None of the fogs that we are experiencing in life have surprised you. And you are here with us in any and every situation that we're in. And for some of us, maybe we don't sense it, we don't feel it right now. We're in a place of such a deep fog that we look ahead and all we feel is dread. And so God, I pray that you would lift that dread, that you would bring peace and joy. Your scriptures, God, teach us that the God of hope will fill us with joy and peace as we trust you. And so God, I pray for a deeper trust as we go through this journey. And I pray for any and every fog, God, not for it to be just miraculously lifted and wasted in a sense, but that we would see, clearly see you, hear your voice through it. And I pray that we would eventually, it would lift in this process that we, when you ask the question, can you see anything that we would be able to say, yes, we see, and we're so much better for having gone through the fog with you. So Jesus, I pray that you would continue to walk with us, that you would heal where healing is needed, where you provide sight, where sight is needed. And in all of this, God, that we would walk with hope, that we would embrace this process and end up with a hope that never, ever ends. We pray all this in the mighty and the powerful name of Jesus, amen. In Brian's own words, your fog may seem like it will last forever. I'm not promising you paradise, but I am promising that the fog doesn't last forever. And one day you will find yourself out of the fog, you will see clearly, and you will be better for it. You will make an impact on others because of it. Here's to driving through the fog. Thank you so much, Brian, for this book and this incredible discussion today. Yes, thank you. Thank you very much for having me on. Stay with us because when we return in 60 seconds, we have a scripture that talks about God guiding us through uncertainty. We'll be right back. Every now and then life gets the best of us and we need a reminder to keep calm and trust God. Simple, but striking, the keep calm and trust God box of blessings provides messages of reassurance to help carry you through tough and challenging times. These small cards fit into the palm of your hand and will turn your focus to the one who is in control of everything. Inside you'll find 51 colorful double-sided cards featuring a combination of inspirational scripture verses and faith-based quotes. Add it to a get well basket or use it to encourage a teacher, family member or friend or save it for the time you need encouragement. Be sure to ask for the keep calm and trust God box of blessings when you give today. It's our way of saying thanks as you encourage others by providing life-changing Christian television through Cornerstone TV. Call us at 888-665-4483 or give at ctvn.org slash donate. Great conversation with Brian, Zair, about the fog. You know, I just think that we are all in this together. You know, we're all part of the family of God and we're all helping each other to come get through those difficult times and those times of uncertainty. One of the ways you can do that is with Cornerstone television. We're so glad that we're a part of your life. We would like to offer to you our hope today newsletter. It is great. There are some great articles in here that will help you. Our schedule is in here. Our specials that are in here that you will enjoy. Even pizza stuffed chicken breasts on the back, guys. You know, it sounds pretty good to me, you know? So this is free. You can, you know, call our prayer line and ask for the newsletter and they will send it to you. Plus, if you would like to give us a donation, we want to also make our address or a snail mail address available to you. Cornerstone television, one signal, Hill Drive, Wall, Pennsylvania, 15148-1499. You can also go to ctvn.org. Lots of ways to get involved. Lots of ways that we can help each other. Yeah, you know, we love that we are a family. You know, as we were talking with Brian and something that God just dropped in my spirit is he reminded me of a time and as we've been talking about going through the fog, going through those places of uncertainty, going through those times when you don't know what's on the other side, you don't know what's happening in your life that God reminded me, I love to go on runs. And sometimes there's a park in Pittsburgh called Frick Park and they have these little pathways and one time I went off the unbeaten path. Well, I kind of freaked out because I got lost and I was running, I didn't have service. I was like, oh no, what I'm gonna do, but I just remember being on this narrow path and even in the midst of it as I was running and there was different trails and just different twists and turns. Jesus began to just give me this peace and speak to me about this path that I was running on. This is the way of life, that it's crooked and there's different turns and there's ups and downs. But when you are with Jesus, he is with you every step of the way. It is truly a great adventure. Could you imagine life if it was just this straight and boring? There wouldn't be fun, we wouldn't learn lessons, we wouldn't understand the character and the nature of God. And you know, as always we love at the end of the show that we like to have a scripture that you can stand on on a promise of God. And today our scripture comes from Isaiah 42, 16 and it says this. I will lead the blind by ways they have not known. Along unfamiliar paths I will guide them. I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do. I will not forsake them. I love that so much that God says I will make the rough places smooth. Not your husband, not your wife, not your boss, not your children, not anything in your life, but God is the one that will step in and he will make every crooked path, he will make it straight just for you. So stand on that today and even speak that over yourself today. You know what God, you're gonna make the rough places smooth in my life, the rough places of my relationships, the rough places where I'm standing. Whatever that is for you, know that God is in the midst of this, that he is the potter, we are the clay and his hand is walking on your path. Amy, what does this speak to you? Well, he says, I will guide you. Like the creator of the universe, the one who looked over chaos and he brought order. He will look over the chaos of our lives and he can bring order. He will guide you and lead you. And I say today, don't medicate the pain. Don't ignore the adversity. Don't run away from it. But today, I just pray for a strong will in you to stand up, face the adversity, walk through it, go through the process and let God do a deep work in you and in your life because when the hand of God touches you, Tom, you're never the same again in Jesus' name. I like it. He said he looked over chaos and made order out of it. I think we'll just sit here and meditate on it. No, I want to say a few things. But it is something good to meditate on. It really is, you know, in our times with the Lord. Let me just say this, one of the versions of that scripture that Sidney read says, these are the things I will do and I will not leave them undone. Okay, God is not about leaving you in the mess, in the chaos, in the fog. He's not about giving you just so much and then not enough to finish the things in your life. No, he says I'm not gonna leave them undone. I'm gonna do those things. I'm gonna do those things that make for your heart and life and relationship with me to be the fullest it can be, to be the everything that you are intended to be. God has that for you today and he desires to move more and more and to move you along that path and out of that fog. So seek him today and you'll find him. On tomorrow's Hope Today, uplifting and inspiring others to conquer darkness with God's love. Grammy award-winning artist, Victory, discusses her new album, Glory Hour and how God's light continues to shine even in the darkest of times. Don't miss tomorrow's Hope Today. 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