CrossCurrent Podcasts

We all want to make lasting memories with our kids, especially at this time of year. 

We want them to remember freshly-baked cookies, the fragrance of a freshly cut Christmas tree, the crackling warmth of a fire, the melody of your family’s favorite carols… The list goes on until suddenly we have a to-do list longer than the trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

Christmas is naturally a time for memory-making. But it’s also a time that invites us to slow down and savor the season as we wait in joyful hope for the birth of our Lord. 

So this year, I want to invite you to take some of the pressure off of yourself to create grand traditions and make big, flashy memories. Because memory-making doesn’t have to be big or complicated to stay with you and your kids as they grow and eventually leave home. To prove it, today on the show, Audrey and I asked a few of our Read-Aloud Revival team members to share their favorite memories of growing up and from raising their own kids.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• Why holiday traditions don’t even have to happen every year to make lasting memories
• The way a small, unexpected moment of joy or feeling seen by you can stay with a child for life
• Why food is one of the best tools for making memories –– and it doesn’t have to be complicated or even homemade!

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read-Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the Newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/small-is-memorable

Jen Babakhan experienced the painful journey of navigating her mom’s terminal illness — and found God’s comfort and peace along the way. She offers practical and godly insights about discovering joy in sorrow, helping children deal with grief, and anticipating a glorious reunion in Heaven!

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A Godly Perspective on End of Life Decisions -- Find comfort, wisdom, and biblical guidance in this free 7-part series. You'll learn biblical principles for end-of-life care, how to navigate difficult medical decisions, and how to experience God's peace when it's time to say goodbye.

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Do you have a story or comment on how Focus on the Family impacted you or your family? Leave a message for Jim Daly!

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Our choices about having children today will very much shape our personal and collective futures.

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Jen Babakhan experienced the painful journey of navigating her mom’s terminal illness — and found God’s comfort and peace along the way. She offers practical and godly insights about discovering joy in sorrow, helping children deal with grief, and anticipating a glorious reunion in Heaven!

Get "Disrupted" free with your gift

A Godly Perspective on End of Life Decisions -- Find comfort, wisdom, and biblical guidance in this free 7-part series. You'll learn biblical principles for end-of-life care, how to navigate difficult medical decisions, and how to experience God's peace when it's time to say goodbye.

Get More Episode Resources 

Do you have a story or comment on how Focus on the Family impacted you or your family? Leave a message for Jim Daly!

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

What if the biggest threats to freedom are not coming through conventional war, but through economic pressure, political influence, technology, information, and long-term strategic disruption?

Kurt sits down with Casey Fleming, CEO of BlackOps Partners and author of The Red Tsunami: The Silent Storm Killing Your Freedom, to discuss Fleming’s view that the United States and other free societies are facing what he describes as “unrestricted warfare.”

Fleming explains how he connects economic espionage, influence operations, technology, and strategic risk into a broader framework for understanding modern geopolitical threats.

They also discuss the origins of the unrestricted warfare concept, the role Fleming believes the Chinese Communist Party plays in global competition, the importance of civic participation, and practical steps he recommends for individuals who want to protect their economic and political independence.

Fleming also shares his background in technology, consulting, intelligence, and strategic risk, including his work with BlackOps Partners.

The conversation closes with Fleming’s thoughts on legacy, preserving constitutional freedoms, mentoring younger generations, and the Freedom Forever initiative.

Key Takeaways

00:00 The “Sunset of Freedom” Warning

00:26 Meet Casey Fleming

01:13 The Thesis of The Red Tsunami

02:49 What Is Unrestricted Warfare?

04:14 Why Fleming Says the Threat Is Accelerating

07:07 Inform, Unite, and Take Action

08:49 China, Russia, Iran, and Global Competition

12:38 Free Speech and Political Influence

14:46 What Individuals Can Do

16:12 Economic Choices and Foreign Influence

21:56 The Freedom Forever Movement

23:24 Socialism, Marxism, and Political Risk

26:56 Inside BlackOps Partners

27:19 From IBM and Deloitte to Counterintelligence

30:08 Strategic Risk for Business Leaders

33:35 Casey’s Definition of Legacy

36:19 Mentoring the Next Generation

37:30 How to Learn More

39:04 Where to Find The Red Tsunami

Resources

The Red Tsunami

https://theredtsunami.com/

The Red Tsunami – Book Options

https://theredtsunami.com/products-list

The Red Tsunami – Acclaim & Endorsements

https://theredtsunami.com/acclaim

BlackOps Partners

https://blackopspartners.com/

Casey Fleming on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseyflemingceo/

Freedom Forever

https://freedomforever.global/

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Thankfully, to paraphrase a line from Mark Twain, reports of the Church's death are greatly exaggerated.

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Sometimes God is not asking you to wait. He is about to accelerate things.

Shelley talks about being ready to walk away after more than a decade of mentoring writers, and how every door to selling Christian Book Academy closed on her instead. What followed was the most fruitful season she had ever had. She points to Galatians 6:9 and to the compound effect, that long flat stretch where almost nothing looks like it is working, right up until the tipping point.

She also names the other risk. Acceleration is not meant to run forever, and knowing when to ease off the gas is its own kind of obedience.

From the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Zohar, this is the untold story behind our enduring fascination with lost and found religious texts The Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest biblical manuscripts ever found, were discovered in a cave by a shepherd and his goat. This story is mostly true, and it is not the first such tale about long-lost books. Legend has it that the Zohar--the foundational text of Jewish Kabbalah--was lost for centuries before being discovered in a cave by a farmer, who sold it to spice merchants as packing material. It was only when a scholar picked through a trash heap and joined the fragments together that the world recovered its mystical secrets. These are just two of many tales recounting the discovery of ancient religious manuscripts. Tracing a time-honored pattern of storytelling about lost and recovered sacred texts, in Hidden Scrolls, Buried Bibles: How We Discover the Sacred Past (Yale UP, 2026) Eva Mroczek reveals a surprising feature of Jewish and Christian thought: the idea that scripture is not complete--that it is partly lost, destroyed, or hidden--is not only the stuff of fantasy novels and conspiracy theories. Mroczek shows that modern scholarly mythmaking is more tightly bound with Jewish and Christian legends than we may think. Through the lens of discovery tales, this innovative book explores how traditions live in tension with the possibility of unknown pasts and surprising discoveries.

New books in late antiquity is presented by Ancient Jew Review

Eva Mroczek is Simon and Riva Spatz Chair in Jewish Studies; Professor; Religious Studies; Undergraduate Advisor for Religious Studies

Michael Motia teaches in Classics and Religious Studies at UMass Boston

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