The Chaplain's Chair

Is it okay to be angry at God when you're grieving, suffering, or living with unanswered prayer? In this episode, I talk about anger at God, grief after loss, disappointment, fear, faith, and what the Bible shows us about bringing difficult questions to God rather than hiding them from Him.

Caregivers can become almost invisible while everyone focuses on the person who is sick. In this episode, I talk about the exhaustion, frustration, guilt, and complicated emotions that can come with caring for someone you love—and why sometimes the caregiver needs someone to ask, “How are you doing?”

After her husband died unexpectedly, a hospice patient asked Tim Lajoie a question that stayed with him: “You came all this way just to see me?” In this true encounter, Tim reflects on the loss of a spouse, the complicated emotions that accompany grief, and the Christian hope that allows people to mourn without believing death has the final word. Sometimes chaplain care cannot change what happened or take away the pain. Sometimes it simply means showing up when someone needs you.

For more from Tim, visit timlajoie.com.

After her husband died unexpectedly, a hospice patient asked a question that stayed with Tim Lajoie: “You came all this way just to see me?” In this true encounter, Tim reflects on grief, the pain of losing a spouse, the complicated emotions that can follow a death, and the Christian hope that allows people to mourn without believing death has the final word. Sometimes chaplain care cannot change what happened. Sometimes it simply means showing up when someone needs you.

For more from Tim, visit timlajoie.com.

What does it mean to respect someone who has committed a serious crime? Drawing from his years working inside correctional institutions, Tim Lajoie reflects on accountability, remorse, repentance, and the possibility of redemption. Correctional ministry does not require minimizing what someone has done or ignoring the consequences. It means recognizing that even people who have done terrible things are more than the worst thing they have ever done—and that every person has a story.

For more from Tim, visit timlajoie.com.

A hospice patient’s daughter was exhausted, angry, and overwhelmed by family conflict surrounding her mother’s care. In this true caregiver encounter, Tim Lajoie shares what happened when he asked one simple question: “So how are YOU doing?” The conversation became an example of chaplain care that listens carefully, affirms what can honestly be affirmed, avoids taking sides, and recognizes that the patient is not always the only person in the room who needs care.

For more from Tim, visit timlajoie.com.

A hospice patient once asked Tim Lajoie a simple but deeply personal question: “Will you be there when I die?” He wanted to say yes, but he wouldn't make a promise he couldn't guarantee. In this true patient encounter, Tim reflects on honesty, trust, uncertainty, Christian hope, and why good spiritual care sometimes means resisting the temptation to offer easy reassurance.

For more from Tim, visit timlajoie.com.

What does good chaplaincy look like? In this episode, Tim Lajoie shares his personal approach to spiritual care—one built on relationship, honest conversation, careful listening, authenticity, humor, and respect. He discusses what it means to enter another person's space, why listening doesn't require a chaplain to become a blank slate, and how he approaches faith, difficult questions, disagreement, and the privilege of being invited into someone's story.

For more from Tim, visit timlajoie.com.

Why did Tim Lajoie write The Chaplain’s Chair? In this episode, he reflects on what hospice patients taught him about the limits of therapeutic models, his own experiences when loved ones were dying, and why people facing life’s hardest moments often need honest conversation more than carefully managed responses. He also explains why he chose fiction to explore faith, regret, forgiveness, family, and the questions people begin asking when time is short.

For more from Tim, visit timlajoie.com.

The Chaplain’s Chair is back.

In this return episode, Tim Lajoie reintroduces the podcast and shares what listeners can expect from the show going forward—conversations about faith, life, grief, hope, forgiveness, leadership, chaplaincy, and the questions that matter.

Then Tim introduces his forthcoming novel, The Chaplain’s Chair: Conversations at the Edge of Life, and the hospice chaplain at the center of the story, Thomas Vale.

The podcast is back. Pull up a chair.