Some think science and faith exist in separate worlds, but Curt Thompson sees things a different way. As a successful psychiatrist who’s also a person of deep faith, Curt shows that having a deep understanding of science can give us a greater understanding of the world God made for us, while leading us into a deeper relationship with Him. 

 

Quotes

“Every generation of people has to have its own conversion experience. And our conversion experiences are largely ones that require our imaginations to be surprised. When Jesus came, 

He caught people by surprise. And every generation since requires being surprised, being caught off guard.” —Curt Thompson

“There was always a longing within me to have some better sense of how we operate as human beings, to integrate with what I had experienced in my spiritual life as a follower of Jesus.” —Curt Thompson

“We have this desire to create beauty and goodness in the world as a feature of connecting us to other human relationships as we are known by them. The beauty that we create only serves to reinforce this sense of connection, which then only serves to reinforce our longing to go further and create even more beauty and goodness in the world.” —Curt Thompson

 

Curt Thompson’s LinksCurt’s website

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Resources Mentioned in This EpisodeThe Soul of Desire by Curt Thompson

The Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson

 

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*The Jesus Storybook Bible Podcast is produced by Four Eyes Media*

Spring brings light and hope to the world, just like the arrival of a baby. To celebrate the miracle of new life all around us, Sally’s reading from her brand-new picture book Little One, We Knew You’d Come, available right now at your favorite book retailer!

 

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Sign up for Sally’s newsletter, and get FREE printables from “Little One, We Knew You'd Come” and “The Jesus Storybook Bible” Lent Guide!  https://bit.ly/SallysNewsletter 

 

It’s scary to leave your comfort zone. But Jonathan Evans has found that God doesn’t call the qualified—He qualifies the called. The son of Lois and Dr. Tony Evans, Jonathan reminds us of the story of Joshua: that our lives are so much greater when we don’t rely on ourselves for understanding and instead trust a God who has greater plans for us than we could ever imagine.

 

Quotes

“God doesn't need you to feel up for it. He just needs your feet to start treading in obedience. And when we're able to be obedient and not allow our feelings to be our God, but to allow God to be our God in spite of our feelings, then we're able to experience through our function of obedience all that God has for us.” —Jonathan Evans 

“I don't know exactly what I want to do. I don't know exactly how it's going to happen, but I do know that I'm going to have faith. I do know that every single day I'm going to get up and put one foot in front of the other, and I'm going to pray about my day, get clarity about my day, and execute my day that I've been given today.” —Jonathan Evans 

“Let me tell you something about how God works. God goes to the back of the line to pull people from the back to the front. God is not looking for someone who's qualified. He's going to qualify the someone he's looking for. And so when people understand that God qualifies the called, that God is not calling the qualified, then you understand who you're really dealing with.” —Jonathan Evans 

 

Jonathan’s LinksJonathan’s website

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Resources Mentioned in This EpisodeDr. Tony Evans

 

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*Episode produced by Four Eyes Media*

Writer Cole Arthur Riley’s path to God was long and winding. She explored many religious traditions, but God eventually used the written word—a medium near and dear to her heart—to draw her to Him. Founder of the creative community Black Liturgies, Cole shares why stories touch us like nothing else, and why God has always used them to shape our understanding of Him.

 

Quotes

“I think our humanity demands the creative, and I think good spirituality asks a kind of artistry in each of us.” —Cole Arthur Riley

“The Christians that I had encountered up to that point were all very intense, and frankly, made me believe that God was a white man with blue eyes, which created some dissonance in me as a Black woman.” —Cole Arthur Riley

“I like to think that God knew that I, whose identity was so situated within books and reading, that that God used the one thing that I felt safe in to draw me into the divine.” —Cole Arthur Riley

“I know a God who sees me in the fullness of who I am, who sees me in my Blackness and sees beauty amplified in my Blackness and doesn't ask me to diminish it in order to find belonging.” —Cole Arthur Riley

“It all began with the Word. You know, Christ Himself likened to a word. So it's no surprise to me that our faith leads us to revere them and to revere stories.” —Cole Arthur Riley

 

Cole’s LinksCole’s website

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Resources Mentioned in This EpisodeCornell University

 

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*Episode produced by Four Eyes Media*

In 1994 Jeanne Celestine Lakin lost everything—her home, her parents and family and friends—in the Rwandan genocide. This week, Jeanne shares two incredible journeys she’s undertaken: her unlikely path to the United States, and how God helped her walk toward radical forgiveness for the people who changed her life forever. 

 

Quotes

“After I survived the genocide, I really prayed and I asked God to lead me to loving His people.” —Jeanne Lakin

“In three months, over one million people were killed in the genocide, and having to navigate that as a child was something that I felt like I needed God’s guidance, because as a nine year old, there's nothing I could have done to save myself.” —Jeanne Lakin

“After the genocide, I was filled with so much hatred and so much bitterness because of what happened to me. And I said, ‘God, I don't think You created me to live in this darkness, in this place of pain.’” —Jeanne Lakin

“I was able to forgive. And I would just feel this joy inside of me that I couldn't feel when I was just feeling bitter and angry, until really God has given me the power to forgive. He asked us to forgive because that's how we are liberated.”  —Jeanne Lakin

 

Jeanne’s LinksJeanne’s website

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Resources Mentioned in This EpisodeOne Million Orphans nonprofit

Rwandan genocide

 

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*Episode produced by Four Eyes Media*

Kathy Keller joins The Jesus Storybook Bible Podcast to share how she became a penpal of C.S. Lewis, the story of founding Redeemer Presbyterian Church with her husband Tim, and how her friendship with Sally and the Jesus Storybook Bible moves her deeply. Kathy says, “The Bible is about Jesus, and therefore, if you understand the whole narrative arc of redemption, every page does whisper His name.” 

 

Quotes

“You need somebody to come and save you. The Bible is about Jesus, and therefore, if you understand the whole narrative arc of redemption, every page does whisper His name. Every story is about Jesus.” —Kathy Keller

“The things that lift me towards joy are really transcendent music and really transcendent truth. And when we get to the truth about Jesus coming to save us, it kicks my joy meter…actually having joy stabbing to the point of tears.” —Kathy Keller

 

Resources Mentioned in This EpisodeRedeemer Presbyterian Church

Redeemer City to City

C.S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Allegheny College

C.S. Lewis’ Letters to Children

John F. Kennedy

Wake Forest University

 

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*Episode produced by Four Eyes Media*

By the time she became a GRAMMY winner, singer/songwriter Ashley Cleveland had found the success she learned to prize as a child. But it wasn’t until she hit rock-bottom in her alcohol addiction that Ashley realized performing still left her with longing—and that God could give her the love and affirmation she’d craved all along.

 

Quotes

“I'm a person who really understands bondage. I've lived in it for so much of my life, so that kind of freedom is so beautiful to me, even if I just taste it and then ping right off of it. That's what I'm looking for.” —Ashley Cleveland

“I kind of came up thinking of God as a performance-loving God. And the God, of course, that I met was anything but. And then as I grew closer to Jesus, everything started to make sense, and I realized that it was His life in me that I was offering.” —Ashley Cleveland

“Even in the profound disappointments and losses, what I know is that He doesn't give me everything that I longed for, but what He does give me every time is Himself and more and more of it.” —Ashley Cleveland

 

Ashley’s LinksAshley’s website

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Resources Mentioned in This EpisodeChurch of the Redeemer: Nashville, TN

Ignatian spiritual exercises

 

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*Episode produced by Four Eyes Media*

Our world’s living through a challenging time. But US Senate Chaplain Barry C. Black reminds us that God has led us through challenging times in the past—and He’s guiding our way right now. Chaplain Black also shares the surprising road he took to Senate chaplaincy, and how he believes that God is always working for our good, even when we don’t realize it at the moment.   Quotes “God is always in the shadows. And so we have nothing to fear for the future when we remember how God has led us in the past.” —Chaplain Barry Black “Democracy is very precarious and it's fragile, and we must understand that eternal vigilance is the price we must pay.” —Chaplain Barry Black

 

Chaplain Black’s Links

Chaplain Barry Black’s Facebook

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Resources Mentioned in This Episode

U.S. Senate: Office of the Senate Chaplain Website

 

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*Episode produced by Four Eyes Media*

A resident of St. Paul, Minnesota, singer/songwriter Sara Groves has spent the last few years examining the lenses through which she’s always looked at the world, and looking at the stories she’s told herself about her life. And through her music, Sara is exploring the invitation Jesus extends to each of us—to hand over our assumptions about the world and the lenses we use to look at the world, and, instead, to grab hold of a life-giving license to radically love one another.    Quotes

“What do you see when you look at your fellow neighbor? What voices and ideas leap out first? And how can I be more Christlike in that seeing of my neighbor?” —Sara Groves

“I think Jesus invites us into seeing into the soul of things. I think every single person He calls out, from the woman at the well to the disciples, He reorients them. They're not just who they are, they're not just their jobs or these titles or labels that they've had. He reorients them to the soul of things, to who they are and what's happening, what's really happening, past maybe behaviors or labels and identities.”  —Sara Groves

 

Sara’s LinksSara’s Website

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Resources Mentioned in This EpisodeArt House North

What Makes It Through album

 

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*Episode produced by Four Eyes Media*

Stories are powerful. We can probably all point to the story that made us a reader and/or a writer. Stories shape the way we see the world, they give us empathy as we get to walk in someone else’s shoes. Podcast host Sarah Mackenzie believes passionately in the gift of story. This week she joins the Jesus Storybook Bible Podcast and shares such wonderful insights, including this: “Every time we share stories with our kids, it’s an opportunity to love God and love people better by walking a mile in their shoes, by being emboldened by the courage and grit and overcoming what they see again and again in the stories that they read.”    Quotes

“I want my kids to love God and love people better, right? And that feels like what we do every time we share stories with our kids."  —Sarah Mackenzie

“I really feel like as a parent, discussion and conversation is one of our best tools to be able to connect with our kids and raise our kids, and read-alouds and sharing stories have also opened up this whole other world for us to discuss.” —Sarah Mackenzie

“What I've noticed is on those days that we have a hard time seeing eye to eye, when we sit down to read a story, it's like we're sitting down on the same bench. It's like we remember that we're on the same side of the fence and we're on the same team again. Because when you're sharing a story, you're rooting for the same character.”  —Sarah Mackenzie

Sarah’s LinksRead Aloud Revival Website

Read Aloud Revival Facebook

Read Aloud Revival Instagram

Read Aloud Revival Twitter

 

Resources Mentioned in This EpisodeTeaching From Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakable Peace 

The Read-Aloud Family

Read Aloud Revival Podcast

Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

Andrew Pudewa

Institute for Excellence in Writing

 

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*Episode produced by Four Eyes Media*