Darin and Robert talk to Darin’s friend Ed Fernandez. Ed is a great friend and a Free Believer who travels to several different Countries with the message of God’s love and grace. He currently spends most of his time in Romania getting to know people one on one and developing relationships with folks who have been steeped in religious tradition. Ed speaks a little about his journey on the Free Believer path and what that might look like in the coming months and years. He shares his concerns and opens up about the things he’s insecure about on a personal level in regards to where things are heading with Christianity. This is a transparent moment that is both touching and inspiring. You’ll enjoy this great Free Believer. You can learn more about Ed at www.RiverOfLife.net

Darin and Robert talk to Darin’s friend Ed Fernandez. Ed is a great friend and a Free Believer who travels to several different Countries with the message of God’s love and grace. He currently spends most of his time in Romania getting to know people one on one and developing relationships with folks who have been steeped in religious tradition. Ed speaks a little about his journey on the Free Believer path and what that might look like in the coming months and years. He shares his concerns and opens up about the things he’s insecure about on a personal level in regards to where things are heading with Christianity. This is a transparent moment that is both touching and inspiring. You’ll enjoy this great Free Believer. You can learn more about Ed at www.RiverOfLife.net

Darin and Aimee have an interesting discussion about how upside down we often view life and relationships. Many of us spend much of our time toiling over how we can become comfortable with ourselves enough to open up to others. This seems to be a running Christian theme that is brought up about as often as Jesus and the cross. Is that were our focus should really be? Darin talks about how his mind works when he meets a new person and the question is raised whether or not “opening up” to others is as important as getting others to open up. True love’s focus isn’t about opening it’s own heart, but it’s obsessed with prying open the hearts of others.

Darin and Amy confront what has become a popular cliché in both the Institutional and Free Believers worlds. The statement, “Don’t judge me” has been spun and turned into a spiritually manipulative excuse to indulge in destructive behavior without having to answer to anyone for it. A staggering number of Christians act as if any form of being “called out on the mat” for their actions is contrary to the grace message. NOTHING could be further from the truth. Those who subscribe to this silly mindset have literally pillaged loves heart. If you love a person, you don’t even ask whether or not it’s okay to call them out on the mat when you know they’re destroying themselves.

Darin and Amy Ramos discuss the problem of a judgmental spirit and what it’s really doing to our relationships. It’s a cheap escape from true intimacy. Many times we do it to avoid standing face to face with the authentic center of another person. In our insecurity we find a replacement identity for people we don’t wish to encounter personally. The problem is that this mindset of exchanging someone's true identity with a lie is that we ultimately make the same exchange when it comes to knowing ourselves and God.

Darin and Aimee talk about how the human heart needs time alone after being abused and tormented in a relationship for years. For many of us who have suffered spiritual abuse and who have believed terrible lies about the heart of God, we need time to ourselves before entering into another full fledged relationship. God is patient with those of us who need this time to heal. He waits with us like a gentleman until we are ready for true intimacy.

Darin and Aimee talk about how the institutional church is set up in the same way the world is. With almost all that we do inside of institutionalism, there is an anti-intimacy theme that many of us have missed altogether. It’s amazing how we are able to rationalize our way into relationships that are completely void of depth and intimacy and then live our entire lives without noticing it. Part of the walk in the wild is coming to a place in life where true relationship is more attractive to us then anything else in the world.

Darin and Aimee talk about how the truth of grace and love has been so distorted in this generation that many people have actually given themselves to militancy and forcefulness. Youth groups typically present the Christian life as something adventurous and dangerous. Radical names are selected that sound rebellious and angry for the group and this next generation is encouraged to see Christianity in an almost terrorist like fashion. For many people this Christian soldier mentality is something they need to feel excited about their faith. Breaking free from this mentality usually causes depression and a feeling of failure because life in general is not like this. This is a great conversation. You’ll love the story at the beginning.

Darin and Amy Ramos talk about what it takes to lift others up. For years we have been raised in a system that believes people are motivated and encouraged by someone better than them. Pastors present themselves as having arrived to a level of spirituality to everyone else must strive to achieve. Congregations demand perfection out of their leaders because they’ve been trained to expect it. When we love people we understand that getting beneath them is what’s required to lift them up.

Darin and Aimee talk about a letter Darin received from a friend, broken hearted over the abuse and pain of her past. The two get into a conversation about the things that pain and suffering “purchase” for us in our lives. Most of us have something from our past that we feel we still need healing from. We go over and over what happened and how it tore us apart. We pray and ponder why it happened or why it was even allowed to happen. It’s easy to make a lifestyle out of seeking healing while completely overlooking the greater thing we came away with after that terrible experience. In some cases it just might be that healing is not what’s needed, but a greater revelation of what that incident purchased. The greatest qualities in a persons heart are put there through the deepest suffering. Heart growth comes at a steep price and some people have paid that price without ever bothering to look at what it is they actually purchased.