Closer to God in the Mountains — Merf on the Mountain

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Wolves & Wisemen Reignited — Episode 35

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About This Episode

There's something different about getting away from the noise.

No traffic.

No crowds.

No buildings blocking the horizon.

Just mountains, trees, wildlife, stars...

And maybe a mountain lion watching Merf from somewhere behind the camera.

Then things get weird.

CERN is upgrading the Large Hadron Collider.

James Franco says he saw something with glowing eyes.

America celebrates 250 years.

Japan and France join the celebration.

We get into Boners, Sacked, Folks on Fire, small-town America, fireworks, baseball parents, and a little Back It Up Terry.

All while Merf slowly disappears into the darkness.

Welcome to Episode 35.

THE CHECK IN: The Majesty of the Outdoors

This week's Check In comes with the perfect backdrop.

Merf is sitting outside in the mountains while the sun begins going down behind him.

Which raises two immediate questions:

How incredible is God's creation?

And...

What exactly is moving around behind Murph?

We'll worry about the second one later.

First, we're talking about God.

Psalm 95:4–5

“In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.”

Mountains.

Oceans.

Forests.

Rivers.

Deserts.

Everything points back toward the Creator.

The mountains have always represented strength and majesty.

The ocean reminds us just how small we are.

And getting away from the noise of everyday life gives us an opportunity to actually notice what surrounds us.

That's something we don't do enough anymore.

Getting Away From the Noise

There is something about leaving the city that changes your perspective.

You drive into the mountains.

The buildings disappear.

Traffic disappears.

Your phone becomes less important.

Everything slows down.

And suddenly you're paying attention again.

The wind.

The trees.

Animals moving around you.

The stars.

Silence.

For some people, that silence is peaceful.

For others...

It takes some getting used to.

One of the conversations in Episode 35 is about exactly that.

When your life constantly runs at 100 miles per hour, sitting somewhere completely quiet can almost feel uncomfortable.

Your brain wants something to do.

Grab the phone.

Check something.

Watch something.

Listen to something.

But sometimes the entire point is:

Do nothing.

Sit there.

Look around.

Think.

Pray.

Read the Bible.

And listen.

Merf on the Mountain

Merf has been on the mountain for nearly a week.

And instead of wanting to come home...

He wants to stay longer.

He talks about sitting on the hillside staring at the mountains and trees for hours without realizing how much time has passed.

Other times, he'll sit outside and read the Bible.

No schedule.

No city.

No constant distractions.

Just peace.

And maybe that's why people throughout history have gone into the wilderness when they needed clarity.

Mountains and the Bible

Mountains appear throughout Scripture.

Mount Sinai — where Moses received the law.

Mount Carmel — where God's power was demonstrated.

The Mount of Olives — where Jesus often went to pray.

Again and again, people leave the crowds behind and go somewhere quiet.

There is something about removing ourselves from everything we've built and standing inside something we didn't build.

It changes your perspective.

The Ocean Makes You Feel REALLY Small

Mountains are one thing.

The ocean is another.

One of the stories in Episode 35 comes from being aboard a military ship between Japan and Korea.

Middle of the night.

Open ocean.

No land anywhere.

Then...

The engines shut down.

Suddenly the constant noise disappears.

The ship stops moving.

And you're floating in complete darkness in the middle of an enormous ocean.

That's when you realize something very quickly:

You're not in control.

A thousand Marines suddenly have a pretty good reason to start praying.

Thankfully, roughly 30 minutes later, the ship gets underway again.

But experiences like that stick with you.

Because nothing makes you understand your size quite like standing in the middle of something vastly bigger than yourself.

Psalm 104:24–25

The second verse takes the conversation deeper into creation.

Psalm 104 describes the earth as filled with God's works and the sea as vast and full of creatures.

The point of the discussion isn't simply:

God made mountains.

It's that creation functions together.

Mountains collect snow.

Snow feeds rivers.

Rivers support forests.

Forests provide habitat.

Animals affect vegetation.

Water shapes landscapes.

Everything influences something else.

Creation isn't simply beautiful.

It's interconnected.

Intelligent Design

That leads directly into a discussion about intelligent design.

The guys look at ecosystems and ask:

How can something this interconnected simply be random?

Change one thing and the effects spread outward.

Introduce a species where it wasn't before.

Remove a predator.

Redirect water.

Build somewhere nature wasn't designed to support a massive population.

Everything creates consequences.

Which raises one of the best questions of the entire episode:

Just because we can do something... should we?

Wolves and Yellowstone

One example discussed is the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone.

Predators affect prey.

Prey affects vegetation.

Vegetation affects waterways.

Waterways affect other animals.

One change can ripple through an entire ecosystem.

And regardless of where somebody stands on wildlife-management debates, the larger point of the Check In remains:

Everything affects everything else.

Maybe humans aren't nearly as good at redesigning nature as we sometimes think we are.

What Nature Teaches Us About Faith

Then the Check In turns from creation toward what creation can teach us.

Mountains Teach Perseverance

Nobody accidentally reaches the summit.

You climb.

One step at a time.

Sometimes you're tired.

Sometimes it sucks.

Sometimes you want to stop.

Faith can work the same way.

Growth doesn't usually happen instantly.

It happens one difficult step at a time.

Rivers Teach Persistence

Water keeps moving.

Put something in its path and it finds another route.

Faith isn't about living without obstacles.

It's about continuing forward when the obstacles appear.

Trees Teach Patience

A mature tree doesn't appear overnight.

It survives drought.

Winter.

Storms.

Floods.

Animals.

Disease.

Years of changing conditions.

And somehow it keeps growing.

People aren't much different.

The person you eventually become is shaped by everything you've survived along the way.

The Seasons of Life

That's one of the strongest ideas in Episode 35.

People are like trees.

We go through seasons.

Good ones.

Bad ones.

Times when everything is growing.

Times when everything feels dead.

Times when we're being tested.

And sometimes you don't recognize how much those seasons changed you until years later.

Spiritual maturity works the same way.

It takes time.

Look Up

Then there is the night sky.

Away from city lights, you can actually see the stars.

Thousands of them.

And suddenly you're reminded how unbelievably small you are.

But the message of the Check In isn't that you're insignificant.

It's the opposite.

The God responsible for something that enormous still knows you.

Still hears you.

Still cares about you.

That's a powerful thing to remember when life makes you feel like background noise.

REBEL REPORT: America Turns 250

After the Check In, we get the news out.

But this week starts with something positive.

America celebrates its 250th anniversary, and the guys bring in fireworks footage from around the country.

Some of it is impressive.

Some of it is exactly what happens when Americans are given explosives and told to celebrate.

Which means...

Perfect.

Roman candles.

Fireworks going sideways.

Unexpected explosions.

And one guy strapping an absurd number of Roman candles together because apparently celebrating responsibly wasn't patriotic enough.

His assessment:

There's a chance it'll work.

There's a 100% chance it'll be awesome.

America.

CERN Is Turning It Up

Then Rebel Report gets considerably stranger.

The episode discusses CERN's plans for upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider.

More collisions.

More data.

More powerful equipment.

Which produces the obvious Wolves & Wisemen question:

Do these people actually know what they're doing?

The conversation moves from the actual collider upgrades into speculation surrounding CERN.

Dark matter.

Tiny black holes.

Mandela Effect theories.

Changes in reality.

Energy and frequencies.

And the recurring question:

Even if humans can do this...

Should we?

The guys are skeptical of some of the more extreme claims themselves, including attempts to connect CERN operations directly with unrelated economic events.

But smashing particles together at increasingly ridiculous speeds?

Apparently that's perfectly normal.

James Franco Saw... Something?

Then things get even stranger.

A clip attributed in the episode to James Franco describes going into an area where he paints at night.

Before turning on the lights, he hears something.

Not a raccoon.

Not a squirrel.

Not an opossum.

According to the clip:

A hand.

Glowing eyes.

Something speaking.

And he runs.

The guys then discuss other videos associated with the story, including claims of being followed and speculation about whether the entire thing could be promotion for a project—or whether something else is going on.

And naturally, this turns into:

Hollywood programming.

Demons.

Conspiracies.

Adrenochrome jokes.

And wondering why anybody is night painting in the first place.

Japan and France Celebrate America

Then Rebel Report swings back toward something positive.

The episode discusses videos of celebrations in Japan and France marking America's 250th anniversary.

Buildings lit up.

Fireworks.

The Eiffel Tower.

And another appearance by Japan after the country had already made Folks on Fire in a previous episode.

The discussion also touches on Japanese investment and manufacturing in the United States.

Water: Why Didn't We Do This Years Ago?

The next discussion turns toward desalination.

The guys talk about water shortages throughout the American West and reports surrounding desalination projects.

That immediately raises another version of the same question:

Why weren't we investing more heavily in this decades ago?

Instead of constantly fighting over limited freshwater supplies, why not develop additional water sources?

The discussion connects desalination with Lake Mead, Lake Powell, California, Arizona, Nevada, and long-term Western water problems.

BONERS OF THE WEEK

Then things get heated.

One Boner focuses on calls for reparations and proposals circulating online involving financial benefits such as housing assistance or credit-related advantages.

The conversation becomes a broader argument over slavery, historical responsibility, race, and whether people living today should receive or bear responsibility for events that occurred generations ago.

Another Boner focuses on claims and disputed evidence surrounding the Charlie Kirk case and Tyler Robinson.

The episode discusses alleged DNA evidence, video footage, physical evidence, law-enforcement actions, and theories being promoted by Candace Owens and others.

The hosts make clear that they distrust the official account and discuss alternative theories; those claims are presented in the episode as allegations and interpretations, not independently established facts.

Baseball Parents Are the Worst

The final Boner is much more relatable:

Parents who think their kid is way better at sports than the kid actually is.

Every parent loves their child.

That's normal.

But your kid isn't automatically the next Major League Baseball superstar.

And sometimes constantly telling a kid they're the best can actually hurt them.

The conversation turns into youth baseball, coaching, realistic expectations, development, and kids who become great because they work harder than everyone else.

One of the best points:

Know what you're good at.

Know what you're bad at.

Work on it.

But at least be self-aware.

Because sometimes...

Parents ruin baseball for the kids.

SACKED

And now for serious journalism.

Episode 35 delivers another collection of people taking shots directly to places that were never designed to absorb them.

We've got unexpected karma.

Multiple guys apparently failing to recognize the same incoming danger.

Baseball and softball stories.

Umpires.

Cups.

Body hardening.

And then...

Wolves & Wisemen expands the segment.

The Twat Shot

That's right.

Sacked becomes equal opportunity.

A woman on a golf course gets hit directly in the crotch by a golf ball.

And because she's okay and laughing afterward...

The guys absolutely lose it.

This leads to an unnecessarily detailed discussion about whether the appropriate treatment is ice, heat, steak, or absolutely anything except Icy Hot.

Medical advice this is not.

Entertainment?

Absolutely.

FOLKS ON FIRE: The People Who Keep Us Going

The first Folks on Fire is personal.

Instead of highlighting one person, Murph puts together a montage recognizing the people who matter in his life and keep him moving forward.

Friends.

Family.

The Martinez family.

The Bonds.

The Cedar Fort family.

His mom.

His kids.

The people who show up.

Sometimes Folks on Fire doesn't need to be somebody famous.

Sometimes it's the people standing next to you.

FOLKS ON FIRE: Seeing America Through Someone Else's Eyes

Another Folks on Fire highlights a Scottish visitor who came to the United States and documented his experience.

The interesting part isn't simply that he liked America.

It's why.

Businesses everywhere.

Food.

Shopping.

People out enjoying themselves.

Feeling safe walking around.

Friendly strangers.

The episode uses his reaction as an example of how differently America can look to somebody experiencing it from the outside rather than through nonstop negative news coverage.

FOLKS ON FIRE: Small-Town America

And then we get what might be the second-best theme of Episode 35 after the Check In:

Small-town America.

Fourth of July parade.

Fire trucks.

Football teams.

Championship baseball and softball teams.

Car shows.

Kids running around town.

Tacos.

Ice cream.

Candy.

Neighbors.

Families.

Nobody glued to the news cycle.

Just people celebrating together.

The guys talk about how refreshing it is to leave the constant outrage behind and experience the America that still exists in small towns across the country.

Cedar Fort gets brought into the conversation too—rodeos, parades, water fights, kids riding in the back of pickup trucks, and traditions that feel like the way many of us grew up.

BACK IT UP, TERRY

Because no patriotic episode would be complete without him...

Terry returns.

“Put it in reverse, Terry!”

Fireworks.

Wheelchair.

Chaos.

America.

The guys also realize something years later:

Somebody probably could have just moved the firework away from Terry.

But then we wouldn't have one of the internet's greatest Fourth of July videos.

So history worked out exactly as intended.

WHAT HAPPENED TO FRINGE FILES?

Episode 35 originally teased Fringe Files involving Vatican/French Files material and potentially some Bigfoot/Skinwalker discussion while Merf was sitting alone in the mountains.

But the show runs long.

Rather than rush the subject, the guys decide to save it for the next episode.

Probably good news for Merf.

Because by this point...

It's completely dark behind him.

TODAY IN HISTORY

Episode 35 closes with a slightly different Today in History.

Instead of going way back...

We get personal history.

Six years earlier on that date, Merf went skydiving for the first time.

Military haircut.

Clean-shaven.

And apparently hooked immediately.

His verdict:

One of the best experiences in the world.

That leads into more Fourth of July memories—baseball teams selling candy, community fireworks displays, volunteer fire departments, and the annual tradition of somebody accidentally setting the park on fire.

EPISODE 35

God.

Mountains.

Faith.

Creation.

Perseverance.

Murph sitting alone in the woods.

America turning 250.

Fireworks.

CERN.

Dark matter.

James Franco seeing glowing eyes.

Japan.

Desalination.

Boners.

Baseball parents.

Sacked.

A golf-ball twat shot.

Friends.

Family.

Small-town America.

Back It Up Terry.

And skydiving.

Episode 35 starts with the question of what we can learn when we get away from the noise.

And maybe that's the real theme running through the whole show.

Turn off the news for a minute.

Get outside.

Look around.

Spend time with your people.

Remember where you came from.

Remember who created all of this.

And every once in a while...

Look up.

Because the world becomes a lot bigger when you stop staring at a screen.

And if you're doing that from the middle of the woods after dark...

Keep one eye behind you.

Just in case Bigfoot shows up.

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