Fantasy + Family: How To Pursue a Creative Dream as a Couple | Lucas & Shauna Fischhaber

Lucas and Shauna (00:00)
we literally last night I had a moment of doubt. the common probably doubt area would be I'm using my time to do this. I see that shiny ball over there. If I do that.

I could become financially independent but is that the right thing to do?

I think that's the challenge of so many, so many creative.

of intelligent individuals

that doubt will creep in because, you have this passion. It seems like it's not going anywhere, but

It's your calling.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (00:47)
Ladies and gentlemen, it's not every single day that the podcast gets to introduce not just one creative, but two creatives and a married team at that. So with that, I would love for you to welcome Lucas and Shauna Fischhaber to the God and Gig Show. How are you doing, my friends?

Lucas and Shauna (01:03)
We are doing amazing. It's so great to be here. Can't wait to dive into all the things that you want to talk about. Yeah. Thank

you so much.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (01:13)
I always try to start this by giving you the hardest question up front so we can knock it out of the park.

Lucas and Shauna (01:18)
Ooh.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (01:19)
And since it's both of you, I'm going to give you both the opportunity to take whatever part of the question you want to answer. Okay, so

when you meet someone for the first time, say in a restaurant, if you're walking together and you're just, hey, this is a new couple, what are those couple of things that you want people to know about you together when you first meet them?

Lucas and Shauna (01:40)
wow. Yeah, he did start with a hard question. That is a tough one, isn't it? Well, what do you do? No, I'm just kidding. You know, I think I'm going to, I'm going to do this. I'm going do one liners. Husband, father, son, follower of Jesus, engineer, author. And that's, that's me. wow.

Ha, I have to, man. Don't worry, I'll do some more after you. Okay, okay. Well, I can't say husband, that would be weird. Wife, daughter, mother, let's see, household six. There you that one, household six. And.

Also follower of Jesus, kind of important. Sneak that one in there. And man, juggler. Ooh, juggler. Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (02:48)
that I was not well, okay. I was I was going with you enjoying the dynamic that we're learning about you. That's why I love this question

Lucas and Shauna (02:52)
Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (02:54)
because it sells so much about you guys without even realizing it that we're all saying, this is what it's like to be to connect to see you guys connecting in this way. However, the juggler, I do need to ask, what do you mean by that?

Lucas and Shauna (03:06)
Uh-huh.

I guess, you know, it's kind of tying into the whole household six item there as well as just kind of keeping all the balls in the air. Explain the household six thing. I have to explain household six too? household six is a military term for the wifey holding down or the spouse holding it down at home.

So yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (03:32)
I did not know that. Okay, I was waiting for I guess

there's five or four kids at home and then the two adults. this is again where I get to kind of insert myself because I am also

Lucas and Shauna (03:38)
No, no. Yeah. Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (03:44)
learning about the military household. You've also, of course, now you've said that, people realize that you do have military background as far as being veterans. But I did not hear the household sixth term, and my daughter is a spouse of a currently

serving Marine. So you've just taught me something.

Lucas and Shauna (04:01)
Okay,

yes, yeah, she's household six. I would say Juggler definitely, Shauna wears all the hats and she definitely keeps the house a home and puts all love into it. And I like hats.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (04:19)
I can't forget the cat.

So I have to start with this because you guys both have just alluded to keeping the balls in the air, all the different responsibilities.

Lucas and Shauna (04:27)
Mm-hmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (04:28)
So I have to start with the terms of w the responsibility of creating, like just paying the bills, taking care of the home, what people c might call the nine to five before we talk about the creative, because

Lucas and Shauna (04:40)
Mm-hmm. Yeah,

yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (04:42)
I am

guessing, and this is just a guess. Let me know if I'm wrong because I didn't read the entire I tried to get through as much of your material as possible. tell me what came first in terms of your professional life. Was it the engineering? Was it the military service? What was it that came first where you said, Okay, before anything else, I have to do this, and this is where kind of like my first area of professional expertise

came from.

Lucas and Shauna (05:06)
Yeah, so 20 years ago

I graduated with an engineering degree. went into the mill. I was in the military. Officer did all that was dedicated to that sort of nine to five path. And that has kind of built along the way with kind of the direction I wanted to take kind of the professional side of things. Now, as for like the creative side and kind of how that kind of came into

picture is kind of just an unexpected journey, I would say, where it's not something I ever planned for. It's something that just kind of fell into my laps, you know, something that God put on your puts on your heart.

I still work full time

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (05:56)
Okay.

Lucas and Shauna (05:56)
as a nuclear engineer.

But you find those moments where you can now that I have kind of this this burden to create something, you know, you find the that available time to keep moving the ball as best you can.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (06:13)
So Shauna, I want

to ask you first

Lucas and Shauna (06:14)
Mm-hmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (06:15)
in terms of, you know, your marriage, in terms of meeting him, did you know at the time that you guys got married that there was this

creative project or creative bent,

Lucas and Shauna (06:25)
Mmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (06:27)
was this something that you also had in you when you guys first got together and you're like, we might have this shared dream, or was it something that for you as well kind of came out out of maybe as a surprise of sorts?

Lucas and Shauna (06:38)
The writing specifically was definitely a surprise. Huge surprise. was a surprise for me. Yeah. But has he always been a creative person? Absolutely. He's always been a huge dreamer.

And I've always loved that about him. But it was most definitely a surprise to fall into a writing project.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (07:05)
I gotta

ask, I I I am now curious in terms of what did that look like? The first was it,

Lucas and Shauna (07:10)
Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (07:10)
did you come home? Was it, hey, honey, I have an idea? Was it a movie you watched together and somebody like what was the first inspiration? Cause you were writing in fantasy, you're writing in an area, and I'm

Lucas and Shauna (07:21)
Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (07:21)
gonna dig into this later. I'm kind of giving away the spoil spoiler alert here, about

Lucas and Shauna (07:24)
You

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (07:26)
the nature of your work being so different than something that's so cut and dry,

What was it like when you first gave

I don't know, the opening door to hey, this is something specifically in writing fantasy that I wanna do. What was that first concept or idea looking like when you first expressed it?

Lucas and Shauna (07:43)
Yeah, I think even before we kind of delved into this particular project, as a family,

we have always had this kind of fascination with creating story and, and, know,

like small S story, because even when the kids were super duper small, we would be sitting around the campfire and tell a story one sentence at a time, you know, just kind of go around the, around the circle or bedtime tales with the kids, you know, that kind of thing. And even before that, before we had kids, you know, I,

had these story ideas that I kind of pitch across Shauna and be like you know imagining kind of these things and they never really went anywhere and and I never really did anything with them but after kind of getting into the childhood stories and everything it wasn't until one night

you know, the winds blowing outside and the blizzard weather and stuff like that. But telling the story to the kids and I came downstairs and I was like, wow, that was great. You know, that was amazing. And so I immediately sat down and just started writing and just kind of wrote down everything that I was thinking. And and then I was like, yeah, you came out and you were like, Shauna, this is the

story I've ever told the kids and I think it started as you thought maybe you'd write a children's book yeah and and that's where it started yeah and I just kept going I had no idea where I was going you know it's what once you once I got into it started to just go yeah totally snowballed and

And you know, I got I was super excited when I got all done. It was three months worth of writing and I was like, Shauna, I'm done. And I showed it to her and I was like, I'm ready to publish. And she's like, you probably should edit that. I was like, no. It's Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (10:08)
Had any of you at this point had

any experience with book publishing, authoring, anything in terms of where what like you just said, you came downstairs with this great idea. Your wife clearly at least supported you in the first three months, but then when you came down with like, it's time to move forward, was that an example of the tension or example of the learning process of becoming an author where maybe you realize how much

Lucas and Shauna (10:30)
Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (10:30)
you how much this would take to make a reality?

Lucas and Shauna (10:33)
Yeah, I mean well once I wrote that first night when I wrote down what I wanted to write and I looked at it and I was like wow This is really great. But this is like in a tail format. I was like, how do you make a book out of this? And and so I I mean to your question kind of the first part of it

I, the most training I got in writing was, you know, going to English class at college and, you know, there's big difference between English class and creative writing, but it wasn't my friend, you know, English class. I was, I liked the engineering route a whole lot more. but, but, but yeah, so I didn't have much training and, but.

I kind of just started learning as much as I could so that I could kind of deliver that story in a way that meant something. Yeah, it grew from like a short story or...

Like a tale. A tale to a short story to, okay, well, how do I make this into, how do I add more scenes? You know, almost. figuring out, okay, every time I think the length stretched a little bit more and, you know, the grandiose, you know, the landscapes grew and, know, those things started to change and grow. And then, well, it's like, well, you know what? This character is feeling a little flat. Why don't we change that? You

So then, you know, just, was each step along the way made it bigger and better and more grand and more immersive and, know, yeah.

Yeah. And, along the way, because, this was kind of like something that I just started and, and Shauna was just kind of like thrown into it. And, she, she, she wanted to like, just kind of give me my space to do what I was, was doing. you know, she didn't want to try to overstep kind of like, you know, well, this should be edited that kind of thing, but.

once we started to, because I was trying to hold things really tight to my chest, you know, I wanted to keep it to myself and, you know, this is my words and I didn't want to change any of it. But when I gave it to Shana and I,

and she took a look at and started making suggestions. I mean, it didn't take long for me to realize that I was completely wrong about me holding it close to my chest. We quickly learned that in order to make it a great story, it needed the work from the both of us.

And so that's kind of our magic is that I get to kind of write those scenes, write them out, but Shauna is the one that really puts all that stuff in there that everybody loves.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (13:47)
Okay, so you really

went right for where I was curious, most curious about, which is your creative working dynamic

Lucas and Shauna (13:54)
Mm-hmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (13:55)
versus I shouldn't say inverses because it doesn't mean that there's like you know, that there should be contrast or that they have to be against each other, versus your

Lucas and Shauna (14:02)
Right.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (14:03)
married working, raising kids, being husband and wife.

Lucas and Shauna (14:08)
Mm-hmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (14:08)
So

that's an entire different kind of logistical nightmare of being able

Lucas and Shauna (14:11)
Mm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (14:11)
to handle the the household. So I do want to ask

Lucas and Shauna (14:13)
Mm-hmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (14:14)
about the putting on one hat and taking off the other.

are you finding yourself switching hats throughout the day in order to get this project across the finish line?

Lucas and Shauna (14:22)
Yes. Yes, absolutely. And Luke absolutely does. He is the big picture. mean, like, he holds it all together. He really does.

So, and I don't know, I honestly have no idea how he does it, but he does it and he does it beautifully. And he definitely is able to manage the time so well. I mean, he never sacrifices family time, never.

He's very intentional with how he uses his time. He's always up super early and down here working on something. so that he can be present when the rest of us roll out of bed much later. But yeah, he's, yeah, there's definitely throughout the week we're, you know,

doing life, doing regular life, and trying to figure out how to fit it in. Trying to figure out how to read chapters, edit. If I get one in, the goal was one a day, it's been more like one a week lately. you know, it's just, there's...

priorities kind of shift around sometimes. We kind of compared it to a game of chess recently where we're just kind of moving pieces and

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (16:01)
Mm.

Lucas and Shauna (16:01)
sometimes one piece sees a little more action than the other pieces do for a little while. Yeah, mean, yeah, to Sean's point, the choices here are

that you have family time, have Shawna and Lucas time, you have projects that just, you know, we're redoing the laundry room right now. You know, we're doing that. But we each have our daytime jobs and we don't...

I guess count on the income of the story itself.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (16:43)
Okay.

Lucas and Shauna (16:44)
And that's been a choice of ours that, you know, in order to go with that route. So we don't have a deadline, but we do have a deadline because we have to get the story done at some point. So we've got to keep this moving forward. We have a lot to say. We have a lot to say.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (17:06)
But I yeah, but that's

I am curious, Shauna, in terms of that, did you feel any change in your relationship when you stepped into that role as I you know, you could call it editor, co-author, sounding board, you might be all three, right? You have to I mean, just like in most areas, all the titles come together, right? It's just whatever you need to do. But how did

Lucas and Shauna (17:19)
Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (17:23)
that move how did that change your relationship in terms of being able to be a creative partner, but also, you know, be able to be a wife and sometimes where those things

Lucas and Shauna (17:32)
Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (17:33)
might collide or might feel like there's a little bit, you know.

To work it out day to day.

Lucas and Shauna (17:39)
Yeah, certainly. So that definitely...

was a process in itself because as Lucas shared, it was a gradual process bringing me in. right out the gate, really all I did was just figure out how to keep the kids busy so he could write for 30 minutes or something like that. then he started sharing a chat. He did the first draft. Then...

And then I was just a cheerleader for a while. And I really think that was a walk God had me on. know, like through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I really was able to...

My prayer at that time and always through this whole process has been that the Lord will lead me into what Lucas needs me to be. Because I wanted his project to be successful, but at the time it was still his project. And over time, it became our project. Because he kept inviting me in little by little by

So I grew into my role because it wasn't my thing. I wasn't interested in writing a book, but I knew he was passionate about it. I wanted him to have everything he needed to do it. And apparently part of that was me. So.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (19:09)
gosh, you maybe you didn't bargain for hey, I can I I can do support and little things. But actually I need you need to do me. So it's me. It's not just it's not just the things I

Lucas and Shauna (19:12)
Yeah. Yeah. it's me. Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (19:19)
do. It's actually me. But this is such an amazing story.

I just mentioned before we started recording, my wife is one of those people that again did

Lucas and Shauna (19:26)
Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (19:26)
not know what she was bargaining for.

When she married a musician

Lucas and Shauna (19:29)
You

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (19:30)
and an author and a and beginning to be a podcaster at the time. And so all of these things, like you said, start to evolve as the work evolves.

Lucas and Shauna (19:37)
Yeah.

Yeah, I do have to just comment on what Shauna said because what she said about, you know, asking God to be what she needed

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (19:49)
Mm.

Lucas and Shauna (19:50)
to be. It's a.

It's something that I never wanted to take for granted whatsoever and treat it so gently and precious because that is, you know, the, what I, what I want is I want to be what she needs me to be too. And, and so it's just such a very precious thing.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (20:16)
it shows your heart again was not just about writing a book, but it was about shepherding a marriage and your family.

Lucas and Shauna (20:22)
Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (20:23)
And alongside of that you get to have this added benefit of working on this project side by side, which is amazing.

Lucas and Shauna (20:29)
Yeah,

I mean, the whole essence of the story that we're building, this epic fantasy world of things that are not like our world, but are reflection of it. It's such a...

It can be a very overwhelming thing, but it's completely not. Every time that we get together on Fridays, we have an amazing opportunity just because of our work schedules and such that we have Fridays off.

And so Friday mornings, we set aside for ourselves. go to Starbucks and we have Friday dates where we spend that three hours to dream, to world build, to talk about scenes, to talk about characters, to do all this kind of thing.

this is something that Shauna and I are doing together. And

doing it together, we've always dreamed together in a big way and not in a sense of like dreaming about owning a million dollars or you know, that kind of thing. I'm talking about like when we were dating.

we are dating relationship was I was 700 miles apart where we were seven miles apart for the three and a half years that we dated and we saw each other once every seven weeks. And, when we talked a lot of the times we would just dream together and, and dream about the possibilities and such.

And so as we build this story, it's like we are continually uncovering more of our story together. But we're putting it in this book, in this world, and it's something that we are building a memory together on that we're going to cherish for our whole lives.

And the happy accident of that is the story that we have. And so it's just, we look at the process of finding all these neat things that add to our story as mining for gold. Because in order to mine for gold, you need to first find the gold vein.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (23:18)
Right.

Lucas and Shauna (23:18)
And then once you start chasing that gold vein, takes a lot of mining to do that. But sometimes you miss it. And, sometimes you lose track of it. And so you got to mine and mine and mine some more and then you'll pick it up. And sometimes you'll, you know, find something that you don't exactly understand why it's there, but you will understand at some point. And I think that's in the, the God piece that is kind of like tying all this together.

We rely on that so much in the direction that we're taking the story.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (23:57)
So powerful.

And I have to ask right on the heels with that because you seem to be again, I love the fact that you you're not idolizing it. I want to be very careful when I say this, because clearly you would love the book to be successful. I'm not saying that, well, the book doesn't matter, selling books doesn't matter, that you're not, you know, attempting to market all these things. However, the way you just put it, and and tell me if I'm saying this correctly, is the goal, the highest goal is that you guys are building a world together.

in terms of your marriage, in terms of this project, in terms of the dreams that you're building. And I think readers would maybe pick up on that, that readers would see in like through the pages that, you can dream big as well, that you can build things as well. Is that kind of the way the dynamic is working where it's b it's it's it's a bigger story than just as you just mentioned that the pages that and they can actually see your relationship kind of in through the pages. Am I saying that right?

Lucas and Shauna (24:54)
Yeah, I would say so. you know, we have an immense joy and just kind of addition to, just adding on to what you're saying, but we have an immense joy of like all the different cultures of the world and the, or the, different elements that God has made. Yeah. The book, mean, the focus of the book is wonder and exploring it in all of its forms. And,

I mean, yes, everything you said, yes, and in, you know, growing this sense of wonder, and that's really what we hope that readers will take away, is a renewal of that and a curiosity. you know, we've tried really hard that the details in the book matter to make

you know, make if it's in the book, it matters in some way. You know, it

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (25:59)
Got it.

Lucas and Shauna (26:00)
might not be super deep, but it might be super deep. So, yeah, there's a lot of intentionality in in what we're trying to do and share with the world. So, yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (26:16)
there's so many pi pictures in the Bible and in obviously the great writers of Tolkien and Lewis where you use what's imaginary, but you are really describing what is real. And and what you just mentioned

Lucas and Shauna (26:27)
Yeah. 100%.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (26:28)
about wonder is why that brought them to my head, because

Lucas and Shauna (26:30)
Mm-hmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (26:31)
there's so much about just the awe of

What could be, what you can't describe, and reaching beyond the little area of just what's tangible

does seem to be a theme

Lucas and Shauna (26:41)
Absolutely.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (26:42)
that is very important to you both. And and I wanted to ask Shauna about this and 'cause this is where I think it it is very gets juicy in terms of your relationship. You mentioned about wonder and curiosity. What are some things

Lucas and Shauna (26:49)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (26:55)
that through this process you've discovered about your husband that you would not have known had you not entered into this?

Lucas and Shauna (27:03)
man.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (27:04)
this area the of writing. What what what what wonders have been exposed about your relationship about your husband specifically.

Lucas and Shauna (27:12)
I love that question.

I've really loved watching him explore. man, my brain is like going all sorts of directions, so I'm gonna pick one direction here.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (27:34)
Sure.

Lucas and Shauna (27:36)
But I think the thing I've loved watching him explore the most is...

really relating to the different characters in a really, like on a personal level and in a personal way and watching him grow.

watching it affect real life in a way.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (28:03)
Hmm.

Lucas and Shauna (28:07)
you know, like developing the characters, giving them their backstories, giving them, you know, personalities, it's really, I've watched that spill over into our lives and how, how do I, how do, how have I seen that?

I think even in the way he relates to people in things that he may not have considered previously, there's been a softening, I think. yeah, yeah.

And not to say that he was a hard man before, because he wasn't, but there's definitely been a softening in him where he notices emotions more. He notices people's struggles even more than he did before. And I think that's been probably my favorite thing.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (29:08)
Lucas is smiling, so I guess you nailed it. for those who are just listening. Lucas, I gotta ask you the same question. Yeah, now that you've seen you both have entered into this world, what are some things that have now been awakened or are that been revealed about your wife that maybe you wouldn't have known had you not been co writing?

Lucas and Shauna (29:25)
Yeah.

So I would say.

the immense amount of patience and I would say.

She's by far so much smarter than me. She really is my better half. Just saying.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (30:04)
I just see the points ringing up by the way right now. I just there's a scoreboard

and you just you're you're just went up by a thousand.

Lucas and Shauna (30:20)
So it's like I'll put an idea on the I'll be like, okay, I'm thinking about this X Y & Z and I'm like, this is why I'm thinking the direction I want to go and then she says one thing and like, okay

That's where we're going. But, I would say it in a very deep level. what I have discovered about Shana through this whole entire process is just how much she, where her strengths overlap, weaknesses and how

God knew what he was doing when he put us together. When I thought all was lost and I would never find a lady, God knew better. And that's when I found Shauna. And it, I think that I would have continued to learn over time, but going through this together where we're intentionally

kind of driving this forward and you know going through the many different types of struggles and such. It's been it's been amazing getting to know her strengths so much more which are are many she has many strengths but her patience her kind of brilliance.

She has this ability to see the she she looks for the beauty in the world and it just it comes out and everything and the reason why I'm so interested in like other cultures or these these

you know, different minerals or things that can occur in our world and how we've been able to kind of use those things in order to, you know, kind of up that story to an 11. you know, she's the one that's finding a lot of that stuff.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (32:51)
Hmm.

Lucas and Shauna (32:51)
And, and so that that's what has gotten me so excited about all of this. and you know, anyway, so

I'm probably not too clear on exactly.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (33:05)
No, I I think you've

been incredibly clear in front of your wife's smile. I believe that she is

Lucas and Shauna (33:09)
You

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (33:10)
agreeing a hundred percent with the being smarter.

in the Gaiden Giggs community, I'm realizing most of us are not full-time artists. Most of us

Lucas and Shauna (33:17)
Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (33:17)
are bivocational. Most of us have something else going on. So when I was talking to

Lucas and Shauna (33:20)
Mmm. Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (33:21)
you you Lucas, it was immediately like yes

Please talk about how you stick with what God put in your heart maybe one day it will be the thing that pays all the bills and you can work out of your profession and your your your passion. not to say that

Lucas and Shauna (33:34)
Mm-hmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (33:34)
engineering is not your passion. You see what I'm saying? It's this back and forth of yeah, it's

Lucas and Shauna (33:37)
yeah, yep. It is.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (33:39)
both things that God has put in your heart, but you want to make sure that you're able to balance it all out.

Lucas and Shauna (33:44)
Well, mean, Alan, just we literally last night I had a moment of doubt. We were talking with other individuals and such and and you know, the the common probably doubt area would be I'm using my time to do this. I see that shiny ball over there. If I do that.

I could become financially independent and I can become financially independent quicker, better, faster, stronger, but is that the right thing to do? it's interesting where I know my weakness is that I can get into that comparative status or

area, comparative area where

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (34:42)
Yeah.

Lucas and Shauna (34:42)
you're comparing yourself against others. You're comparing yourself against, well, I know what I'm capable of. I know what I can teach myself. And yes, I can teach myself how to do that. And I can do that. And I can achieve that, but it takes time to do that. And so is that, is that the thing that I should be doing? And I think that's the challenge of somebody. It's so many, so many creative.

of intelligent individuals like Lucas and that he's, I truly believe he's so smart he could literally do whatever he wanted to do. Because Shana told me how to do it. my goodness. But he's not called to do that. So just because you can doesn't

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (35:33)
Yeah.

Lucas and Shauna (35:35)
always mean that's what you're called to do.

doesn't always mean that's the life you're meant to live. you know, really taking a hard look at that sometimes, it's hard sometimes. mean, this is a conversation that we've had before and well, I'm sure we'll have it again because it, you know, like that doubt will creep in because, you know, you see, you have this passion. It seems like it's not going anywhere, but

It's your calling. It's he's been called to tell this story. Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (36:12)
So I I I'm

wondering in terms of that, because this is so important to talk about the why behind the passion when you're doubting it.

Lucas and Shauna (36:19)
Mm-hmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (36:20)
So, and you already mentioned it beautifully that what you're developing as a couple and as a family and this this journey is worth it, right? They always say like in the cliche, like, you know, the journey is the destination. But it does

Lucas and Shauna (36:32)
Mm-hmm

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (36:33)
seem like you have a good head a good a good handle on that. But you did just mention the doubt. So I am curious in terms of

What is the best case scenario? The whole what if it all works out? What would you love to see? What are you praying to God would be like that exceedingly abundantly above all you ask or think result of this? Is it, you know, to be bestsellers? Is it to be able to have a legacy for their kids? Is it to be able to kind of enter this whole world of being a creative full time? What is that kind of dream

Lucas and Shauna (37:05)
Mm-hmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (37:06)
that you would be almost scared to pray to God for that you would kind of see yeah that you see that you could see on the horizon?

Yeah.

Lucas and Shauna (37:14)
Well, I'm interested to see what Shana has to say, but I would say, I mean, it would be pretty nice to see it as a movie. So, cause that's why I've been seeing in my mind this whole time. But I would say it's always been.

The my kids have inspired the characters or some of the characters, the three main ones, I guess. And and so that there's other characters who people around me have inspired them as well. I think leaving, you know, we were called to leave a legacy. And

And that I've always been fascinated by this concept of wonder and what the core of it means. And I don't think I've actually figured that exactly out about the core of wonder as it relates to the Lord. But I've always been fascinated by it. And I think writing this story, I'm able to explore that.

And it's been an incredible journey to explore that. Wonder and mercy, both those together.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (38:45)
Shauna, what what would you say to that? Like your big goal, the big why that you'd love to see happen if if everything comes together.

Lucas and Shauna (38:52)
Yeah,

absolutely. I think on that vein is being able to share.

that passion with as many people as possible because I want to talk about it. I want to be able to talk about it and explore it. There are so many books, movies, songs, things that influence my life, that things that impact my walk with the Lord. And to be a part of that would be the coolest thing. To be able to impact somebody's walk with the Lord.

and

give them another outlet to see him work. Another facet of the diamond. Yeah. That's all we can really be is a facet. Just one. Yeah. We're never going to be accomplishing the whole thing.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (39:49)
Yeah.

Lucas and Shauna (39:51)
Just our little story is just one facet.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (39:54)
But it could be a beautiful one you just mentioned, and as soon as you said diamond, I was like, wow, like that's such a beautiful picture because a diamond has to be cut and all these little

Lucas and Shauna (40:01)
Mm-hmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (40:02)
etches and things like that where we probably don't want to be cut at the right time, but you cut it and it's beautiful and it shines perfectly

Lucas and Shauna (40:07)
Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (40:08)
through. And what God is doing in your relationship and in your writing and in your book writing is a facet that cannot be

Lucas and Shauna (40:14)
Mm-hmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (40:15)
replicated, right? Like the way that you guys have walked through this together is is a unique section of the tapestry of what God is putting

into the world.

Lucas and Shauna (40:24)
Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (40:25)
if you could talk to the person who is where you were the person who is at the beginning of their just just told a story to their kids

their husband or their wife or their significant other runs down and they're like, Hey, what if we did blank blank blank? What would you tell them? So I guess I will ask both of you that question. in terms of someone that's in your position, maybe Lucas, someone who is a, you know, working working hard, getting up early, doing an incredibly important job, but has this

whole other side. And then maybe Shauna, you could

Lucas and Shauna (40:58)
Mm-hmm.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (40:58)
address it to the people who are it who are where you are, right? Who don't necessarily have the same dream, but you're like, hey,

Lucas and Shauna (41:04)
Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (41:05)
I'm gonna stick with it and slowly but surely figure out you have a way bigger part in it. So could each one of you address in

Lucas and Shauna (41:11)
Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (41:11)
terms of the person who is where you were?

Lucas and Shauna (41:14)
Yep.

Yeah. So it's like talking to yourself 10 years ago.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (41:17)
Yep.

Lucas and Shauna (41:22)
Intentionality, prayer, prayer among everything. There's knowing which way to go requires prayer and requiring to know the Lord more. so staying close to his word is so important because that that will definitely carry you through.

the difficult times because you have your motivation piece. but intentionality, nothing gets completed unless we choose to do something about it. we have to till our fields. We still have to do that. So you still have to put in the hard work, but we only have so much, but the Lord knows that and we have to work as if victory is already there.

As if we know that the Lord has already given us everything that we need to have in order to do whatever it is that thing is. We have to work in that manner. So I would say be intentional because it's our intentionality that really starts moving the ball.

Yeah, and to the spouse that's kind of in that supporting role. Be open to change. I think that's what I'm gonna go with because...

I don't, neither of you are gonna get anywhere. There's no growth without change and I think that's...

That's the only, you know, being intentional and being willing to grow kind of go hand in hand, I think.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (43:22)
Sure.

Well, I I love the intentionality and the thoughtfulness and just the pure passion and love that you guys have shown for both the project and for each other through this interview. I've enjoyed it immensely. It makes me feel like I'm not alone in having an incredibly wise and smart partner who at just the right time reminds me of what the heck I'm supposed to be doing.

Lucas and Shauna (43:46)
You

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (43:48)
And most importantly, I know that again, there's there are people who are not just married, but in every facet of the creative lifestyle, who love God, but who also want to create something excellent for him, who are going to be inspired by this. So first we also want to tell them how to stay in touch with you. of course, the link is in the show notes. They can go right there. But if there's anything else you want to make sure that they know, we'll do old school. Just tell them where to find information about you guys and the books that you will very, very, very soon have out into the world.

Lucas and Shauna (44:16)
Yeah. So the best place to do is LucasFischhaber.com That's our website. our tick tock Instagram, Facebook, YouTube is LucasFischhaber. It's easy to find, but, we've decided to take the, the two months of summer off, back to that prioritization.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (44:37)
Yeah.

Lucas and Shauna (44:38)
but, but yeah, you can find us there. are, getting updates out there.

we've been doing the Friday to videos of like little updates of how we're doing, how our Friday

dates are going, what we're, what nonsense we're into that day. So,

Book one is out. Book one is available. It's, good to notice. Yeah. Gathering storms by Lucas Fischhaber. It is out. It's on Amazon. It's on, know, wherever you can buy audio book coming in the fall. Audio. Yes. Audio book in the fall. Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (45:11)
okay.

Lucas and Shauna (45:12)
So, and it is on audible. Audible as well as an ebook. So it's available.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (45:18)
Well, by the time people hear this,

they may be multiple series. That's why I wanted to speak that into the atmosphere.

Lucas and Shauna (45:23)
Yeah.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (45:24)
That this is not going to be just the first time that you guys are going to be sharing. There's so much depth again into the wonder that you guys have that I don't believe God has shown because even what the Bible says that, you know, the half has not been told of what he's prepared for

Lucas and Shauna (45:37)
Amen. Amen to that.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (45:38)
you guys. So speaking of that, thank you so much for being a part of the show. It is absolutely an honor and a pleasure. And I hope it will not be the last time that you'll be connected with the God and Giggs community.

Lucas and Shauna (45:47)
Sounds great. Thank you so much.