It's five o'clock somewhere... it may even be five o'clock wherever you are when you decide to listen to this. Either way, we're on vacation! But despite it being the middle of summer, we decided to record a quick mini-episode to keep you updated, give some thoughts on post-pandemic summer life, and also to leave you with some parting thoughts as we take a break from the show and transition to island time. As the title suggests, this may be the Season 2 finale; it might also just be an extended break. Nevertheless, we will gather our wits once we return and be ready to hit the ground running come early fall. 

Thank you for your listenership; it means more to us than you know. Happy Summer!

With it being summer and many of us planning vacations, we decided to talk about the subject of rest. What is the purpose of rest? What is the difference between resting and doing nothing? And how do we use rest as a tool to maximize ourselves in our daily lives? Also, would Chicken Salad Chick like to give us a nice endorsement?

2:00 - Intro to topic. How do we know when we’ve done enough work before we allow ourselves to rest? 

9:00 - How do we shake labels like lazy or unreliable? How do we find value apart from what we produce?

16:30 - How do we discipline our rest and make it part of our routine?

28:00 - How do we not feel guilty about being proactive in our rest? What is the difference between working to rest and resting to work? What is the difference between retreating and resting?

37:45 - The benefits of play (not just for kids, but boring adults, too!)

44:10 - VACATION CHALLENGE: how can you find yourself being busy but also full of joy and rest?    

52:40 - Final thoughts

Building a Culture of Discipleship by Michael Breen: https://www.amazon.com/Building-Discipling-Culture-Mike-Breen-ebook/dp/B005HQDUK4

This episode is a bit unlike any we’ve ever done before as we decided it was finally time to take a break from zoom meetings. That’s right; this episode of Not Alone is the very first to be recorded in person! The gang recently got together at Evan’s house to reflect upon the last year of podcasting, the progression of post-pandemic life, the things we get to celebrate now, and we also try our hands at being spokespersons for a popular chain of chicken salad restaurants.

This week we are releasing part 2 of our conversation with Greer Jones. Greer is a professional counselor and a friend of the pod who has lots of experience walking with other through substance abuse. If you haven’t listened to part 1 yet, we highly encourage you to do that first!

In the second half of our conversation, we talk about the challenges of maintaining sobriety, more on how COVID increased substance abuse in the US, but more importantly what role the church has to play in walking with others in a way that creates community and addresses issues at the source.

Greer Jones' counseling services : https://www.agapetherapytuscaloosa.com

SHOW NOTES:

0:35 - the difficulties of maintaining sobriety

5:37 - what is your advice to someone who has been drinking in isolation due to stress related to the pandemic?

10:00 - things to consider when reading news/statistics around substance abuse

17:11 - Insights into how the pandemic influenced substance abuse from the vantage point of doctors

23:15 - how do we tackle substance abuse coming out of the pandemic and what ways can churches walk along others in reaching sobriety?

33:00 - Greer shares how being in the company of Christ-like people influenced her in powerful ways 

This week we are releasing part one of a two-segment interview with a guest we had on our show. The conversation went on a lot longer than we had initially expected so we have decided to split it in two; the second half of which will release approximately a week from when this uploads. (One caveat; at several points in the conversation we mention sexual assault; we don’t discuss it in great detail, but if that’s a painful trigger for you then you might want to skip this episode.)

Our guest today is our friend Greer Jones. Greer is a counselor who lives in a college town and specializes in working with college-aged adults. She has a lot of experience walking with other through substance abuse.

3:25 - Introduction to Greer, how her background working at sea world actually affected her current career as a counselor

9:24 - Greer’s experiences working with other people’s substance abuse

18:04 - What does “recovery” mean in terms of substance abuse/alcoholism? How do we help others find next steps?

29:49 - Greer talks about a traumatic experience she had in college and how she coped through substance abuse

34:34 - How alcohol abuse is uniquely common on college campuses and the difficulties there are in diagnosing it, and how social contexts in general make substance abuse hard to call out

40:24 - How shame discourages vulnerability and the desire to seek help

Greer Jones' counseling services: https://www.agapetherapytuscaloosa.com/

In the last year, we’ve talked about a lot of challenges we’ve all faced  in the pandemic, and this week we’re introducing another to the list: substance abuse. How do we define things like alcoholism and dependence, how has substance abuse affected faith communities, and how do we know when it’s time to take steps towards healthier living? 

0:35 Chick-fil-a changed the name of their Arnold Palmer to “Sunjoy.” Which Cathy family member do we have to call to rectify this PR misstep?

4:55 Substance abuse has increased in the last year; what does substance abuse mean? What is the difference between abuse and dependence? And how has COVID impacted trends of both among adults?

12:30 Unique ways our culture has positively reinforced alcohol abuse

19:54 How does alcohol dependence usually start? What are the symptoms of alcohol abuse?

27:45 How does vulnerability lessen our need to drink? How does the need for many clergy to drink in secrecy negatively affect their consumption?

In this episode, we’re delighted to have Dominique Johnson back on the podcast. Dominique is an African American pastor from Macon, Georgia who came on our show a year ago to discuss race in the wake of the George Floyd protests from last summer. We got on the call with Dominique again recently to revisit some of those talking points, to discuss current issues, and also to talk about where we go from here as the church.

Dominique's organization: https://theurbanceo.org/

Michael has returned from the world of Academia a new man and so we’re celebrating by picking up on Anxiety around Re-entry. What does church look like now that we’re approaching post-pandemic life, and what lessons should we take from this past season of life?

6:49 - Michael shares his experience attending church in-person for the first time again.

12:25 - We speculate on what God might think about re-openings

16:02 - Who are we a year later in the pandemic?

23:50 - Michael shares some of his insights talking to other pastors about opening up churches again, also a discussion of the modern church in post-pandemic life centered around the theology of rebirth and renewal

32:50 - Evan felt like dog water after his vaccination, but got to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy and shares how the ending relates to his experience coming out of the pandemic

42:10 - Ideas for rituals on how to close out this chapter of our lives

This week, we are once again without Michael, who was busy working on his dissertation, so we decided to take a pause in our normal programming and do something a little different. In this episode, Evan got on the call with Lindsey to talk about the world of therapists, her background as a counselor and an ordained minister, and also some things the general public might not know about the profession at large.

This week, we’re circling back on the topic of Anxiety, but we’re framing the discussion around the imminent re-entry into "normal life." What is it about post-pandemic living that is making us anxious? With Michael missing in action in order to continue his education, Evan gets free one-on-one counseling from Lindsay this week, leading to some interesting anecdotes from airports, some fun facts about ferrets, and how he's desperate to talk to strangers (yes, this is an open invitation to chat in our DM's).