Life Around "The Fire"

Send us Fan Mail

While I was on a call with Pastor Moses Onsongo from Rock of Hope Church in Kenya, Africa the Word of the LORD came to me and said to us, "Give IT away!" because God loves to do things together It broght Him joy as He used my body to release His Heart and Word of "Giving"... He is a Giver! Jesus is a Giver. The Father is a Giver. God is a Giver. Jesus gave everything away... Even the Life that was in His Blood shedding IT all while being beaten and tortured to death on the cross for our sins. Then a single, piercing word set the tone for our time together: "Give it away." We talked candidly about receiving from God with gratitude, using what we need with wisdom, and then releasing the overflow so others can thrive. No hype, no hustle—just a clear call to become people known for generosity in everyday life.

We unpack how abundance is designed to move through us, not stop with us. From spiritual insight to practical help—food, clothing, money, time, attention—every good thing we hold can become a lifeline for someone else. We challenge the habit of hoarding and the lure of using religion to get rich, and we lean into a healthier rhythm where open hands lead to open doors. You’ll hear a heartfelt prayer for a fresh desire to give, for joy in generosity, and for courage to live on less so more can be shared. Along the way, we offer simple steps: set a percentage for giving, keep a small “ready-to-give” fund, and ask each day, “Who can I bless?”

If you’ve ever wondered how to build a life that looks like love, this conversation gives you a starting line and a steady path. We believe you cannot outgive God—he keeps supplying as we keep sharing. The goal isn’t to impress; it’s to impact: meet real needs, strengthen real people, and let your reputation be generosity. Listen now, then try one concrete act of giving today and see what doors open next.

If this speaks to you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review telling us one thing you’re giving away this week. Your story might spark someone else’s breakthrough.

Support the show

Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved! 
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life. 
Shalom to you and your home.

Send us Fan Mail

When a nation demands a crown it can see, it often loses a King it can trust. We follow Israel’s push for Saul, the missed opportunity to wait for David, and the hidden mechanics of compromise that feel small until they swallow the tent. Along the way, we name the pressures that lure us—comparison, speed, image—and offer a sharper path: sober patience, formed character, and choices that honor God’s timing over our impulses.

We open up the camel-in-the-tent parable as a living picture of drift, then link it to the very present tension many of us feel: a global standoff, frayed systems, and a rising expectation that God is about to pour out new wine. That promise comes with a condition—new wineskins. We explore what it means to lay down good things that no longer stretch, count the cost before saying yes, and receive authority that fits the season. This is not hype. It is the steady work of becoming people who can carry weight without bursting.

We also talk about practicing spiritual gifts with wisdom, the need for safe formation, and how the kingdom shows itself with clear signs: healing, freedom from oppression, and joy that lasts. The victory of Jesus is secure, but the battle is real; our part is willing surrender and faithful stewardship. If you’ve felt the pull to rush a decision, to mimic what “works,” or to cling to an old structure out of fear, this conversation offers clarity, courage, and a next step.

Listen now, share this with a friend who’s in a crossroads, and leave a review so others can find the show. Subscribe if you want more stories, scripture, and practical ways to trade impulse for God’s timing and carry the new without tearing the old.

Support the show

Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved! 
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life. 
Shalom to you and your home.

Send us Fan Mail

Ever wonder why some leaders break under pressure while others are shaped by it? We open up about hitting bottom, mistaking substitutes for the presence of God, and why honest surrender can reset both the mind and the soul. From Saul’s unraveling to the first steps toward David, the path is sobering and hopeful: consequences teach, grace restores, and real growth comes when relationship outruns performance.

We dig into how our brains actually mature—synaptic pruning, myelination, and the shift from impulse to wise judgment around age twenty-five—and why that matters for spiritual formation. Rather than shaming the past, we show how design and discipleship work together: practice builds pathways, community steadies choices, and the Holy Spirit doesn’t bypass our wiring but brings it to life. This lens reframes leadership struggles, decision-making, and the patience required to move from reaction to discernment.

We also examine why copying “successful” ministry programs often falls flat. Calling is contextual, lanes matter, and unity comes from complementary strengths, not one-size-fits-all strategies. As we pivot from Saul’s warning signs to David’s worshipful resilience, we trace the scarlet thread that points to Jesus—a king who leads through listening, waiting, and love that casts out fear. If you’re hungry for practical wisdom, spiritual depth, and an honest look at how people truly change, you’ll feel seen and strengthened here.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who leads or serves, and leave a review to help others find it. What lesson from Saul or David is shaping your next step?

Support the show

Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved! 
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life. 
Shalom to you and your home.

Send us Fan Mail

A crown can look like destiny and still hide a fracture. We open the pages of 1 Samuel and follow Saul from public promise to private unraveling, then map that arc onto our own lives: insecurity dressed up as humility, people-pleasing disguised as wisdom, and impatience sold as leadership. Through vivid moments—an unauthorized sacrifice, edited obedience, frantic counsel from a medium—we explore how slow compromises lead to fast collapses, and how confession, not concealment, marks the road back to freedom.

Across forty years compressed into a few chapters, we track the inner logic of Saul’s choices and the outer fallout on his kingdom. Along the way, we name the modern equivalents: workaholism that numbs, religious performance that tires, shortcuts that sparkle but drain the soul. We contrast those patterns with a different path—trust rooted in relationship with God, rhythms that honor limits and timing, and a willingness to let the Spirit expose roots so the fruit finally changes. The result is a grounded, practical framework: tell the truth, receive correction, choose patient obedience, and build appetites for what brings life.

This conversation blends biblical insight with candid self-reflection, offering clear takeaways for leaders, parents, pastors, and anyone tired of managing an image they can’t sustain. We end with a prayerful call to courage: let God remove what’s in the way, reorder your steps, and restore your desire for what’s good, true, and lasting. If this resonates, share it with someone who needs hope, subscribe for more, and leave a review to help others find the show. What root are you ready to face today?

Support the show

Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved! 
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life. 
Shalom to you and your home.

Send us Fan Mail

A single Hebrew phrase reframed our view of leadership: long of nose, the image of breathing before reacting, patience over impulse. From there, we enter 1 Samuel not as a sprint through headlines but as a twenty-year map of the soul, tracking how Saul rises with promise and then slowly trades anointing for applause. The drift is subtle—unhealed insecurity, people-pleasing, and rushed decisions that look strategic but starve the inner life. We unpack why momentum can outlast presence, how warnings accumulate, and what it means when the Spirit’s covering lifts not in a moment but over years.

We also examine Israel’s demand for a king like the other nations and how that desire still echoes when we copy models that deliver optics without covenant depth. Fear becomes the byproduct of leadership detached from love: anxiety, control, envy, and division. Yet the thread of hope runs strong. Confession restores clarity. Repentance realigns desire. Across communities, rivalry is giving way to cooperation as leaders choose presence over platform and steward unity around God’s word and glory. This is not a seminar in tactics; it’s a return to covenant identity where perfect love casts out fear and obedience outruns approval.

We close with a candid invitation and a prayer: bring your whole self to God—faults, flaws, and all. Ask for a clean heart and a right spirit. Choose the slow formation that keeps you anchored when pressure says hurry. If this conversation stirred something in you, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review with one insight you’re taking into your week. Your voice helps others find this space.

Support the show

Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved! 
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life. 
Shalom to you and your home.

Send us Fan Mail

What if the most mature thing you can do right now is weep, listen, and yield? We open the door on a raw, hopeful conversation about growing up in God—where tears mark holy ground, covenant outlasts spiritual highs, and surrender becomes a daily rhythm rather than a dramatic moment. We wrestle with a sobering world, challenge the comfort of old wineskins, and ask how to discern God’s voice without hiding behind nostalgia or national myths.

Lonnie helps us reimagine Jesus’ tone toward the Pharisees—not as a cold rebuke, but as a plea born of heartbreak. That shift changes how we speak to people drifting from faith and how we hold truth with tenderness. We look at the cross through the lens of submission: Christ trusted the Father even when he felt forsaken, modeling a faith that stands when feelings fail. From there, we talk about shared suffering, the pruning that produces fragrance, and the real work of laying down even good distractions so we can live available to God.

The story turns practical and global with our partnership at Rock of Hope in Kenya. From a small home studio, we connect with pastors, widows, and an orphanage, believing the village can blossom in agriculture, finance, and hope as we help host and steward God’s glory. It’s a quiet picture of the Kingdom’s upside-down power—the foolish things confounding the wise, the one lost sheep worth leaving the ninety-nine to find.

If you’re longing for vibrant faith that can hold sorrow and joy, conviction and kindness, this conversation will steady your steps. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help others find these stories. Where is God asking you to surrender and grow?

Support the show

Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved! 
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life. 
Shalom to you and your home.

Send us Fan Mail

Hungry work without holy fuel only scorches the wick. We open the new year by digging into the parable of the Ten Virgins and asking a simple, searching question: are we carrying oil or just waving lamps? With Stephen Crews back in the studio for our Covenant Alignment series, we frame this moment in Tevet, a month in the Hebrew calendar known for divine strategy and instruction, and we focus on building an inner life that can bear the weight of our calling.

Together we trace the parable verse by verse, drawing out clear meanings: the lamp as ministry, the oil as intimacy with the Holy Spirit, and the midnight cry as the moment that reveals reality. We talk about why even sincere people grow weary, how delay exposes our foundations, and why the wise prioritize presence before performance. From Mary and Martha to the sober warning of Matthew 7, we keep the spotlight on one theme—knowing Jesus matters more than doing things for Jesus. You can’t borrow oil; you must buy it in the secret place.

We get practical with rhythms that cultivate oil: steady prayer that reframes decisions in God’s presence, fasting that quiets the flesh and clears the static, and Scripture that anchors discernment so we hold tightly to what God is saying and loosely to our first interpretation. We look at Abraham’s long wait to show how perseverance is disciplined fidelity, not mere survival. If burnout has crept in or your lamp feels dim, this conversation offers a path back to intimacy, clarity, and resilient joy.

Subscribe for more on covenant alignment, share this episode with someone who needs fresh oil, and leave a review to help others find the show. Then tell us: what practice will you adopt this week to tend your oil?

Support the show

Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved! 
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life. 
Shalom to you and your home.

Send us Fan Mail

What if the real shift so many feel isn’t about louder headlines, but about a quieter, deeper maturity taking root in people who carry the presence of God? We open the conversation by naming the problem with extremes—prophecy charts on one side, vague spirituality on the other—and make the case for a balanced, Scripture-wide view of the Kingdom. Instead of arguing over timelines, we focus on formation: the Kingdom within becoming visible without through a people who reflect Jesus in character, not just in claims.

From there, we get practical. How do you handle lies and misrepresentation without becoming bitter? We walk through a relational path to identity, where God defines who we are and maturity is measured by Christ’s nature shining through us. We share a framework for spiritual warfare that is sober and simple: bring false words before God, refuse agreement, and keep moving in love. Then we tackle discernment with encounters. Scripture tells us to test the spirits, and we dig into Revelation to show why God welcomes wise caution. A personal story related to David illustrates how to weigh experiences under the authority of Jesus and the witness of the Word.

We also explore the restoration of the tabernacle of David with fresh clarity. David’s tent wasn’t a final destination but a transitional piece in God’s larger architecture, pointing forward to a people formed by covenant mercy, worship, and a heart made whole in relationship. A powerful insight from Hebrews reframes worship as Jesus singing in the midst of the congregation—an atmosphere where pride yields, repentance flows, and authority is laid down like crowns at His feet. By the end, you’ll have a grounded vision for what this Kingdom shift looks like: balanced theology, tested spirituality, resilient identity, and worship where Christ truly leads.

If this conversation helps you think, pray, or worship differently, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review with one insight that changed you. Your voice helps others find the show and join the journey.

Support the show

Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved! 
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life. 
Shalom to you and your home.

Send us Fan Mail

The holidays can be loud with joy and still leave space where the heart aches. We sit down with Dr. Bill Hurst for a frank, compassionate exploration of the Christmas blues, the weight of complicated memories, and the quiet courage it takes to choose love when celebration feels out of reach. From childhood years in protective care to teachings that labeled Christmas “pagan,” Dr. Bill charts a path many listeners will recognize: confusion, pressure, and an uneasy relationship with a season that’s supposed to be simple. What emerges is a wiser way forward—treating Christmas not as a test of correctness, but as a practical season for love, hospitality, and gentle witness.

Dr. Bill opens the door to his most painful chapter: the loss of his youngest daughter near Christmas. He shares how faith steadied sorrow without erasing it, how hope reframed grief, and why this time of year can still be meaningful when the chair at the table sits empty. We talk about moving from theological fights to relational presence, welcoming single neighbors and elders with no nearby family, and giving gifts that say “you are loved” with no strings attached. Along the way, we return to a core question that changes everything: did we learn to love?

If you’ve ever felt alone in December, this conversation offers warmth without hype and clarity without judgment. We reflect on becoming light by lifting Jesus with our lives, letting the Spirit guide us from knowing about truth to living it, and using the openness of the season to share comfort, courage, and the nearness of God. Join us, then tell a friend who needs a place to breathe. Subscribe, share this episode, and leave a review to help more people find a hopeful way through the holidays.

Support the show

Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved! 
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life. 
Shalom to you and your home.

Send us Fan Mail

What if your anointing is real, but your next step is a mop bucket, not a microphone? We follow David’s path in 1 Samuel 16 to uncover how God forms leaders by placing honor on the heart, not the highlight reel. Samuel arrives ready to choose the obvious heir, and God refuses the obvious. David, the forgotten eighth son, is brought in from the fields—and that quiet moment with oil becomes the beginning of a long, hidden education in wisdom, humility, and courage.

We unpack why “the Lord looks at the heart” isn’t a platitude but a blueprint. David’s passion for wisdom shows up later in Solomon’s counsel: get wisdom, develop good judgment, guard your heart. That pursuit explains how a teenager could run toward a giant. We connect Paul’s “spirit of adoption” to a royal training process—less instant promotion, more long obedience. The Spirit doesn’t just affirm identity; he tutors character. Over years, David learns to serve before he leads, to be faithful in obscurity, and to trust God when only sheep are watching.

Along the way, we challenge modern assumptions about calling and influence. Anointing is not a bypass around servanthood; it is fuel for it. From lions and bears to Goliath, David’s victories flow from dependence, not bravado. We bring this home with practical steps: embrace small beginnings, love one person deeply, serve where you stand, and let the Spirit shape your judgment for the battles ahead. If your heart needs courage, your calling needs clarity, or your hands need a holy task, this conversation will meet you in the field and walk you toward the throne God has in mind.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s in a waiting season, and leave a review—tell us the “small beginning” you’re committing to this week. Your story might spark someone else’s courage.

Support the show

Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved! 
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life. 
Shalom to you and your home.