Restlessness is a Gift

This week we talk with musician, church planter, retreat leader and author Justin McRoberts. We cover a wide range of topics including attentiveness & listening, and how wisdom is always discovered in the context of our real lives. We talk about the practice of prayer as it flows out of Justin and artist Scott Erickson’s new book, May It Be So: Forty Days with The Lord’s Prayer.

Justin lives in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children. You can find out more about Justin here.Scott Erickson is a touring painter, performance artist, and creative storyteller who mixes autobiography, biblical narrative, and aesthetics to create art that speaks to our deepest experiences. Scott lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and three children. You can find samples of his work and other information here.

Previously, they partnered together for a book called Prayer: Forty Days of Practice.

One of Justin’s songs that had a deep impact on me was this one, called “Waiting On Your Love.”

On this episode, we talk with the courageous and insightful Natasha Sistrunk Robinson about the world that helped create her recent book, A Sojourner’s Truth: Choosing Freedom and Courage In A Divided World.

Natasha weaves together her own story of faith, military service, and leadership development with the narrative of what it means to be a Black woman in America. We talk about how evangelism isn’t bad, just incomplete and why the segregation of Sunday morning isn’t as big of an issue as we might believe.

Natasha is the Visionary Founder and Chairperson for the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Leadership LINKS, Inc., where she cultivates a team of influencers who offer leadership education that facilitates impactful living, character and spiritual development.

Natasha is an anti-human trafficking advocate, who facilitates conversations about living in a racialized society, equity for women, and the importance of education.

Besides A Sojourner’s Truth, she has written two other books: Mentor For Life: Finding Purpose Through Intentional Discipleship and Hope For Us: Knowing God Through the Nicene Creed.

We mentioned Natasha’s talk from this past year’s Apprentice Gathering in Wichita, KS as well.

Music by Robert Ebbens

Artwork by Eric Wright/Metamora Design

This week we talk with therapist and author Aundi Kolber about how we approach trauma in our life. Rather than trying to “force” healing or change, she advocates an approach based on the idea in the title of her new book, Try Softer: A Fresh Approach to Move Us Out of Anxiety, Stress, and Survival Mode - and Into A Life of Connection and Joy.

The book launches TODAY (January 6th)!

Aundi is a Licensed Professional Counselor (MA LPC), writer, and speaker in Castle Rock, Colorado. She specializes in trauma- and body-centered therapies and is passionate about the integration of faith and psychology. She has written for Relevant, CT Women, and (in) courage. As a survivor of trauma, Aundi brings hard won knowledge around the work of change, the power of redemption, and the beauty of experiencing God with us in our pain. Connect with Aundi at www.aundikolber.com, on Facebook at aundikolberwrites, and on Instagram at @aundikolber

You can also pick up a copy of my recent booK: “As I Recall: Discovering the Place of Memories In Our Spiritual Life” (a 2020 Christianity Today Award of Merit winner) here.

I wanted to send out a bonus episode to start off 2020 to talk about a few things that happened in 2019 which includes:

A bit of a new direction for the otherWISE guest list in 2020

A new emotional challenge for me via depression and some encouragement for you

Some thoughts about what happens when our journey of comparison takes a turn we didn’t expect - good, bad, or otherwise

Stick through to the end of this episode for a peek at the upcoming guests!

As always, the music for otherWISE is courtesy of Robert Ebbens.

Artwork for the podcast comes from Eric Wright/Metamora Design

You can pick up a copy of “As I Recall: Discovering the Place of Memories in Our Spiritual Life” here

One of the last two episodes of Season 2! Today we talk with Dr. Shane Wood about his own formation journey and how it connects to his latest book, Between Two Trees: Our Transformation From Death to Life.

Dr. Wood brings the flowing narrative of the Bible out of the strict academic space. He helps us see the wise connection points between our own story and the Scriptures’ narrative of life and death. Our conversation is practical, vulnerable, and well worth your time.

Shane J. Wood completed his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh (UK) and published his dissertation entitled The Alter-Imperial Paradigm: Empire Studies & the Book of Revelation (BINTS 140; Leiden: Brill, 2016). In addition, Shane was recognized by Theology Degrees Online as one of the “100 Remarkable Professors & Scholars Theology Students Should Know About,” and he was also a featured scholar in The Armageddon Code: One Journalist's Quest for End-Times Answers by Billy Hallowell (Pureflix.com, Faithwire.com, and TheBlaze). He currently teaches New Testament at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri.

Shane's website www.shanejwood.com offers a variety of free lectures (audio and video) and other unique Bible study opportunities.

As Season 2 slowly comes to a close, it’s a blessing to have Emily P. Freeman as our conversation partner for this episode! Emily helps us think about choosing the “next right thing” (from her new book The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice For Making Life Decisions). We also talk about what it means to live a life of wisdom through listening, specifically as it pertains to a life of creativity.

Emily is a writer, creative director, and spiritual mentor who helps create space for the soul to breathe so people can walk in step with their calling.She is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Simply Tuesday and Grace for the Good Girl as well as Graceful and A Million Little Ways. She's been writing online for over 10 years and is the co-founder of a growing community for writers at hopewriters.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina with their three children. Connect with Emily via her website and on Instagram @emilypfreeman.

After a bit of a hiatus, the otherWISE podcast returns with a truly challenging but hopeful conversation with Stephanie Tait. In her book The View From Rock Bottom: Discovering God’s Embrace In Our Pain , Tait leads us on a journey through her experience with severe chronic illness with a new “theology of suffering.” Stephanie’s story is key for any of us who are facing both tremendous suffering and a lack of clear hope for the end.

As an author, speaker, disability advocate, and trauma survivor, Stephanie aims to do what she believes is sorely lacking in our trending conversations around Christianity – to partner sound theology and practice with the unashamed acceptance of struggle in the present tense. She has harnessed her wealth of both wisdom and experience, writing her deeply intimate understanding of pain into messages that foster healing within the Kingdom of God. You can find more on Stephanie’s work & writing here and if you’d like to see a video version of her story you can watch a compelling piece from The Today Show here.

We also talked a bit about my most recent book, As I Recall: Discovering the Place of Memories In Our Spiritual Life. Feel free to grab a copy here.

In today's conversation, we chat with Gem & Alan Fadling about our desires and the 8 questions that reveal God’s work in us. In their new book, What Does Your Soul Love? Eight Questions That Reveal God’s Work in Us they utilize years of ministry, speaking, and retreat leadership to talk about how we find the key questions around how God connects us to the real desires of our lives.

Alan is also the author of the award-winning book An Unhurried Life and the follow-up, An Unhurried Leader. They co-lead the organization Unhurried Living, which resources and trains Christian leaders to rest deeper, live fuller, and lead better. They also host The Unhurried Living podcast.

Music by Robert Ebbens

Art by Eric Wright/Metamora Design

In this week’s episode, the enigmatic Father Albert Haase talks about both the sacredness of the present moment and the life of being an “ordinary mystic.” We talk about his book, Becoming An Ordinary Mystic: Spirituality for the Rest of Us where Fr. Albert gives insightful and practical guidance on how to embrace the life of being an ordinary mystic.

Albert Haase, OFM, is a preacher, teacher, and spiritual director. A former missionary to mainland China for over eleven years, he is the award-winning author of ten books on popular spirituality and the presenter on five bestselling DVDs. He holds a PhD in historical theology from Fordham University and an MDiv from Catholic Theological Union. He is currently serving as chaplain at Cedarbrake Retreat Center near Austin, Texas.

Music by Robert Ebbens

Art by Eric Wright/Metamora Design

In this week’s episode, Bethany McKinney Fox talks about disabilities and what it looks like to pursue Jesus’ way of healing. We live in a biomedical culture that focuses on “cure” - meaning removing the limitations of a person’s disability. In her book, Disability and the Way of Jesus: Holistic Healing In the Gospels And the Church, Bethany proposes seven marks of healing that rise from the life and work of Jesus.

Bethany is founding pastor of Beloved Everybody Church in Los Angeles - an ability-inclusive community where people with and without intellectual disabilities participate and lead together. She is an adjunct professor of Christian Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary, and director of spiritual formation for new church starters for Cyclical:LA. She and her husband Michael live in Los Angeles, and enjoy exploring the city and making music together.

Music by Robert EbbensCover art by Eric Wright/Metamora Design