And Sons

We're good at doing, but we tend to question the value of pausing. This intentionally brief podcast is about a shift - from saying more to praying more. The world downplays prayer as a legitimate response to global events. But prayer is a mighty power we've been given to co-determine the future with God, and to compete for the many uncertain outcomes of this global moment. So now more than ever, let's pause. And pray.

The celebration of key events happens regularly in childhood. But then we get older and they stop. We hit a milestone dead zone where important things go unacknowledged - whether the start of a job, the birth of a child, or the loss of a dream. In fact, right now, COVID-19 has caused a full-on celebration moratorium. And the cost is real. Without celebrations, we quit trying. We feel unseen or alone as new chapters come and go with no recognition. Luke Eldredge joins Sam and Blaine for this conversation on the appeal of rituals and need for shared experiences.

How does the trained professional survive hard times? By simplifying. It is the dominant strategy of the mature through the ages: double down on first principles. But those skills don't just magically appear in the moment of need. We learn by doing. Only then can we rely on past training and muscle memory. Hard times reveal the areas where we've grown soft and need to return to basics. Who could you become if you saw this season as real-life training rather than simply waiting for life to go back to how it was?

We live in unprecedented times where scarcity and fear strike in the middle of the day and the dead of night. Yet God promises to provide and sustain us. How can we hold to the belief that God is good when circumstances shout otherwise? Hebrew scholars (and self-proclaimed nerds) Scott and Mandy unpack how Psalm 91 is our rescue once we realize what the invitation to take shelter under the shadow of the most high God really means.

When hard times hit the fan, how shaky is your foundation? The pull is often to gain control...or at least more information. But doing so causes us to miss the deeper initiation. With God, we are fundamentally safe even when nothing in our world is safe. That's because true hope never rests in things being better than they are - but in God's nature and his promise to ultimately make all things right.

What did God mean when he meant Sabbath? Most of us have no clue. Culture and tradition have made it boring and burdensome. So we shrug and settle for a nap or a beer. But something's been lost. What if God's original intent was for it to be a day of delight rather than simply a time to re-charge for Monday? Discover how to reclaim the Sabbath as a time of feasting, savoring, celebrating, and remembering what matters most.

How do you avoid losing hope? For better or worse, it's an everyday question. Answer? It may mean doing the hard thing, which is adoring God in the middle of the mess. Problem is, you can't adore a God you don't know or allow to know you. We sat down with Sara Hagerty to talk about her counterintuitive book, Adore. It's about what happens when we expose our interior life go God, create an evidence list with the attributes of God, and allow the landscape of our minds to be reclaimed by what's true. Adore is the place where the grit of your day collides with the beauty of God's presence.

Where to start? Brad Beck has flown T-38s, worked at NASA, traveled the world, been an ER doc, and that’s only half the story. And even so, he’s still great to work with. We sat down for a conversation about calling. How do you walk it out, one step at a time? How do you transition through what seem to be distinct careers? How do you get through grueling seasons? And how to you hold on to the epic once you’ve flown training fighter jets? Turns out, it all comes down to a life with God, and concrete experiences of God that shape your vision. This is a conversation for every young man who’s in the middle of it all.

It is, unfortunately, a common experience: you enter a room, and everyone else seems to belong there. But not you - you're the outsider. And then comes the impulse to get out, check out, hide. In this episode, Blaine and Sam sit down with Allen Arnold, a regular voice on the Ransomed Heart podcast, to unpack the urge to hide: where does it come from, how do you get to its root in your story, and what do you do to engage anyway. From generational norms to the silence of Adam, distrusting people to the reliability of Jesus, this is a podcast on how to take hold of God's interpretation of your story. And then you can relate through it.

144 | Everyone Else Has it Easier, Right? by And Sons