Breaking Bread Podcast

Depression is real and prevalent. Many live in the felt reality that the skies are cloudy, and no sun exists behind them. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Kathy Knochel and Ted Witzig Jr. speak to the realities of depression - what it is, what it feels like, and what effect it has on living.

Show notes:

What it is:

Clinical depression is a mental condition that flags five of the following nine symptoms:

· Sad or depressed mood.

· Loss of interest in things once appreciated.

· Weight loss or weight gain.

· Sleep loss or sleep gain.

· Agitated and "keyed up" or sluggish and "slowed .down".

· Loss of energy and motivation.

· Feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt.

· Decreased concentration.

· Wanting to die.

What it feels like:

· Depression feels like driving with the brake on. Everything is more difficult. Joy is snuffed out of life. Stressors overwhelm resources. The sky is grey, with no hope of clouds parting. If they did part, no sun exists beyond them anyhow.

What effect it has on living:

· Depression tends to a spiraling downward. Natural reactions to depression tend toward being unhelpful rather than helpful. Depression tends toward isolation and isolation tends towards a further depressed state. Hopelessness tends toward inactivity and inactivity tends toward failure to meet work deadlines. Depression exasperates itself.

How can helpers help?

· Help people reverse the downward spiral with small incremental steps in the positive direction. Do this, not by giving orders but by coming along side hurting individuals.

While we might lean more towards left or right brain thinking, we use them both. In fact, it is important we do. And we can. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Ted Witzig Jr., Brian Sutter, Kaleb Beyer and Kathy Knochel help us understand how important it is that we connect with people with both halves of our brain.

Two halves make a whole. This is true for everything. But it is uniquely true for our brains. Each half, the left and the right, bring a wholeness that without either one, we are much less than half. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Ted Witzig Jr., Brian Sutter, Kaleb Beyer and Kathy Knochel help us better understand the vast wonder of our created brains and give us a vision for healthy functioning that uses whole brain living.

Show notes:

The left brain (hemisphere) is understood to be the seat of rational logic. It excels in language, math and science.

• The right brain (hemisphere) is understood to be the seat of emotional perception. It excels in music, art and fantasy.

• It is common that people tend toward one side over the other. That is, they view the world, engage in relationships and respond to their environments by leading with one side of the brain over the other.

• Whole brain living is seeking to understand the value that each brain hemisphere brings.

• It is possible to grow in our ability to use whole brain thinking. In fact, whole brain living will aid connection in our relationships, understanding of other people, processing our environments and the worship of God.

Music and verse capture, preserve, and allows the participant to access deep truths with a melody that matches the beauty, mystery and hope of the message. This is what we have in Christmas hymnody. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Katie Miller, Arlan Miller, Isaac Funk, Shauna Streitmatter and Matt Kaufmann share their favorite Christmas lyrics that capture the wonder of Christmas – God with us.

Show notes:

Arlan:

O Little Town of Bethlehem by Phillips Brooks

The hopes and fears of all the years

are met in thee tonight.

Isaac:

In the Bleak Midwinter by Christina Rossetti,

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,

Cherubim and Seraphim thronged the air;

but His Mother only, in Her maiden bliss

Worshiped the beloved with a kiss.

Shauna:

O Holy Night, by Placide Cappeau

The King of kings lay once in lowly manger,

In all our trials born to be our friend;

He knows our need,

To our weakness is no stranger.

Behold your king.

Katie:

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day by Henry W. Longfellow

In despair I bowed my head

"There is no peace on Earth," I said

For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men

…

Then rang the bells more loud and deep

God is not dead, nor doth He sleep"

Matt:

Angels, From the Realms of Glory by James Montgomery

Justice now revokes the sentence,

Mercy calls you, break your chains.

Parenting our children through the highs and lows of our technological world can be a challenge. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Jon Moser provides us with four helps. He gives us one technology lesson to instruct our children in. He gives us one technology danger to protect our children from. He provides one issue that we should be able to engage our children about and he gives us one redeeming quality that technology offers our kids.

Show Notes:

Instructive:

· Help your kids understand how social media algorithms work to populate their feeds. Help them understand the goals of the social media platform.

Protective:

· Protect your family's privacy. Encourage the use of privacy settings on social media platforms. Have a conversation about contact lists and who should be allowed into them. Consider using a VPN to protect against malware infection.

· Example: protonvpn.com

Engaging:

· Engage with your children about technology use. Have a discussion about using technology well. Learn to identify when technology is controlling us. Learn to detach from technology and connect with the real world.

Redeeming:

· Technology can be used well. When we are better able to redeem our time because of the convenience of technology, we are using it well. Connecting loved ones across distances offers wonderful advantages.

With all the voices speaking into our teenage girls today, let's be sure ours is one. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Kathy Knochel and Katie Miller turn up the volume on 3 critical ideas from which our teenage girls would benefit. And it's no surprise, God very much wants to speak into these important matters.

Show notes:

Three things teen girls should know:

1. Learn the sound of your inner voice.

· Learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy self-talk.

· Learn to tune out unhealthy self-talk.

2. Learn to see your identity through God's eyes.

· Learn the difference between identities that come to us from this world and those that come to us from God.

· Learn to tune in to who God has created you to be.

3. Learn to see yourself as an image-bearer of God.

· Learn to detect where your self-image is coming from.

· Learn that your value and worth come from God.

Resources

https://accounseling.org/spiritualgrowth/women/young-women-support/

JJ Heller song

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that "makes all things beautiful in his time." This truth is curious. It would seem that God has an intention beyond making things right. Or making things work. Or making things whole. He intends more than those...He intends to make things beautiful. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Isaac Funk and Shauna Streitmatter help us understand beauty and faith. When our senses are exercised to detect beauty, we will live a bit more as we were created to live.

Show notes:

Beauty is beautiful:

· Beauty is an intention of God. He creates things beautiful.

· God sets the standard for beauty. Our senses can be exercised to better detect it.

· Anywhere that beauty exists can be a place for worship of God.

· Beauty is detected in our senses. We find art, music, flavors, textures and fragrances pleasing to our senses.

· We detect beauty in our thoughts. We find story and lyric appealing.

· We must linger with beauty to appreciate it. It slows us down.

· Beauty transcends usefulness. Not making life possible but making life worth living.

· God is beautiful. Redemption is beautiful. Resurrection is beautiful.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God makes all things beautiful in his time. This truth is curious. It would seem that God has an intention beyond making things right. Or making things work. Or making things whole. He intends more than those...He intends to make things beautiful. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Isaac Funk and Shauna Streitmatter help us understand beauty and faith. When our senses are exercised to detect beauty, we will live a bit more as we were created to live.

Show notes:

Beauty is beautiful.

• Beauty is an intention of God. He creates things beautiful.

• God sets the standard for beauty. Our senses can be exercised to better detect it.

• Anywhere that beauty exists can be a place for worship of God.

• Beauty is detected in our senses. We find art, music, flavors, textures and fragrances pleasing to our senses.

• We detect beauty in our thoughts. We find story and lyric appealing.

• We must linger with beauty to appreciate it. It slows us down.

• Beauty transcends usefulness. Not making life possible but making life worth living.

• God is beautiful. Redemption is beautiful. Resurrection is beautiful.

When it comes to having difficult conversations, many of us are avoidant. Unfortunately, this passivity is not helpful in the long run. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Arlan Miller helps us sort out the mindset and the skillset of stepping into these difficult conversations.

Show notes:

When might a difficult conversation be necessary?

· Difficult conversations might be necessary when silence on issues that concern us and others are leading to increasingly unhealthy ends.

What goals should I have?

· Goals for the outcome of a difficult conversation should not merely be influencing others on our behalf. Rather, healthy relationships and shared understanding should be objectives.

What preparation should I do?

· Prayerfully self-reflect. Understand the "story" you are making and develop a curiosity for the "story" other people have. As much as you can, make a safe place for dialogue.

What skills should I bring to bear?

· Attempt to be thoughtfully direct. Correct with objectivity and encourage with genuine authenticity. Be a curious listener and strive to remain on topic.

Personal change can be so hard sometimes. We want to think differently and act differently. But we don't. In this episode of Breaking Bread, three guests weigh in on the matter - a pastor, a psychologist, and a psychiatrist. Together, Jeff Waibel, Ted Witzig Jr. and Aaron Plattner explore the landscape of people change and provide hope that it is possible.