In episode 140 of The Puddcast, we discuss spiritual and emotional growth with Mariko Clark and Rachel Eleanor, authors of The Book of Belonging. We explore the journey of creating a Story Bible that emphasizes representation, inclusion, and gentle parenting practices. Mariko and Rachel reflect on the personal and communal impact of trust, intuition, and vulnerability, sharing their experiences with parenting, deconstruction, and creative collaboration. This conversation is an invitation to embrace hope and embodied spirituality as we navigate our complex journeys of faith and belonging.

Order The Book of Belonging:Bible Stories for Kind and Contemplative Kids, by Mariko Clark & Rachel Eleanor.
Learn more about the community forming around The Book of Belonging here.

Listen to Jonathan’s recent interview with Tara Boothby, of Sojourn Psychology.

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Check out my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.

Grab my latest book, Mornings with God: Daily Bible Devotional for Men (good for women too)

Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

After a year-long hiatus, The Puddcast is back with episode 139! Tryphena and I share some heartfelt reflections on my family’s six-month sabbatical to New Zealand, England, Greece, and Finland. I unpack some unexpected discoveries I made about identity, intuition, and the importance of family and cultural roots. We reflect on the diversity of global faith traditions, the impact of stepping outside the North American bubble, and the recognition of humanity's inherent goodness and love.

Now available in video at youtube.com/jonathanpuddle. You can support me and my work, or join my Patreon community, at jonathanpuddle.com/support.

Buy my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You. Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

Chapters in this Episode

00:00 Welcome Back to The Puddcast!

00:21 Why We Took a Break

01:29 Jonathan’s Sabbatical Journey

02:51 Returning Home

04:01 The Joys and Challenges of Being Back

10:01 Reflections on Sabbatical

20:19 Financial and Emotional Rollercoaster

24:38 Reflections on Aging and Identity

25:47 Emotional Experiences in Church

28:08 Global Church Perspectives

34:34 The False Binaries of North American Culture

43:30 Finnish Mustard

51:18 The Evolution of Human Consciousness

Professor, author, speaker and all-around delightful person Heather Thompson Day is our guest on The Puddcast—something I’ve been hoping to make happen for 3 years. Dr. Heather is Associate Professor of Communication at Andrews University, and the author of 8 books; including her latest, I'll See You Tomorrow: Building Relational Resilience When You Want to Quit. Heather shared her perspective that all relationship is sacred, and that ministering the gospel is often as simple as reflecting people’s human dignity back to them. We reflected on living with delight and purpose, inside the mundane limits of our actual lives. Heather unpacked the myth of self-reliance and explained how not all relationships have to be strong, intimate ones to still have profound value and sacred impact. If you’re tired and have not much left to give right now, this one is for you.

Order I'll See You Tomorrow: Building Relational Resilience When You Want to Quit, by Heather Thompson Day and Seth Day.
Learn more about Heather’s work at heatherthompsonday.com.

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Check out my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.

Grab my latest book, Mornings with God: Daily Bible Devotional for Men (good for women too)

Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

Two years ago, my friend Steve Austin, an author, mental health advocate and former pastor, died by suicide. Ever since then, I’ve intended to dedicate an episode to his memory and his work, and this is that episode. Including a powerful interview with Lindsey Austin, Steve’s wife, along with a selection of readings from Steve’s book, Hiding In The Pews: Shining Light on Mental Illness in the Church, this is a vulnerable and sacred discussion that filled me with more hope and joy than I expected. I’ve lost count of the number of people who have reached out to me this Spring while hitting really dark patches in their mental health. Pastors, it is our job to help, but not always in the ways we expect or assume. This episode is for all of us, so we can learn to create suicide-safe spaces.

Order Hiding In The Pews: Shining Light on Mental Illness in the Church by Steve Austin.
Learn more about Steve’s legacy at iamsteveaustin.com

Grab my latest book, Mornings with God: Daily Bible Devotional for Men (good for women too)
Check out my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

Tryphena and I kept the mics rolling right after our interview with Aundi Kolber, and let me tell you… it’s a wild ride! We discussed the provocativeness of wholeness, including a physics lesson and a reflection on quantum physics… Why? Because presence is a powerful resource, and I have some theories about it. We talked about anger and injustice, we examined the time that Jesus had a panic attack, and we landed on rest and the safety of unproductivity. Strap in, it’s a wild ride.

For maximum impact, make sure you listen to the source episode, #136: Flexible strength—compassionate survival (with Aundi Kolber)

Register for my one-day You Are Enough seminars in Finland,  May 6 & May 13 2023.

Buy my latest book, Mornings with God: Daily Bible Devotional for Men

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Order my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

My good friend Aundi Kolber returns to the show to discuss her brand new book, Strong Like Water: Finding the Freedom, Safety, and Compassion to Move through Hard Things—and Experience True Flourishing. Our conversation revolves around reframing many things we’ve seen as weaknesses, even sins, as forms of strength that enabled us to survive hard things. We reflected on the particular shame we feel after having put in years of healing work in therapy, only to feel like we fall apart again. Aundi explained how resilience has been weaponized at times, and she honours the fact that we should never have had to be this strong. This is a powerful and intimate conversation that I think will bring real hope to you. Enjoy.

Order Strong like Water: Finding the Freedom, Safety, and Compassion to Move through Hard Things—and Experience True Flourishing by Aundi Kolber
Learn more about Aundi’s work at aundikolber.com
Follow Aundi on Instagram and Twitter.

Register for my one-day You Are Enough seminars in Finland,  May 6 & May 13 2023.

Grab my latest book, Mornings with God: Daily Bible Devotional for Men (good for women too)
Check out my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

Here’s a new Puddcast B-Side, unpacking idol smashing and how to create a welcoming, forgiving space as we deconstruct from toxic theology. My pastor, Amy Ryan, joined Tryphena and I to discuss our takeaways from Brad Jersak’s thoughts on the necessity, perils and possibilities of deconstruction, including how painful and confusing it can be for us in the midst of it. We examined our own parenting in light of power dynamics, and how each revival or movement in the church or culture persecutes the one that comes next. As usual, there’s loads in here.

For maximum impact, make sure you listen to the source episode, #135: The necessity, perils and possibilities of deconstruction (with Brad Jersak)

Register for my one-day You Are Enough seminars in Finland,  May 6 & May 13 2023.

Buy my latest book, Mornings with God: Daily Bible Devotional for Men

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Order my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

The wonderfully wise and gentle Brad Jersak returns to the show, with a guest co-host! This special episode was recorded live when I was visiting Jonathan Martin recently, and we co-interviewed Brad about his latest book, Out of the Embers: Faith After the Great Deconstruction. We reflected on the historical precedence of faith deconstruction, observing that it is both a current move of God in our time as well as an ancient tradition of idol smashing. We discussed the harm we can do to others in our deconstruction journey, and how deconstruction can liberate from toxicity while also being incredibly painful and destabilizing. We talk about the importance of not replacing one form of fundamentalism with another, and moving from alienation to communion. Brad left us with a ton of practical tools on how you can connect with God and feel God’s love, right now, wherever and whoever you are.

Order Out of the Embers: Faith After the Great Deconstruction, by Bradley Jersak.
Learn more about Brad’s work at bradjersak.com
Follow Brad on Instagram and Twitter.

Register for my one-day You Are Enough seminars in Finland,  May 6 & May 13 2023.

Grab my latest book, Mornings with God: Daily Bible Devotional for Men (good for women too)
Check out my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

Here’s the latest Puddcast B-Side, exploring themes of laughter and silliness and the value of everything, from our interview with Dave Connis. When Dave said, “Everything counts” something inside me exploded, or clarified, or whatever… it’s been big for me. Tryphena and I discuss finding joy in all things, redefining joy as a valuable part of serious work, and discerning what will and won’t bring joy. We riff on learning to see all the mundane aspects of our lives (especially as parents) not as surpluss to the real work but as the real work, as much as our rest is also a valid part of the real work, because it’s all part of the whole life we’re living. We also touched on accepting our bodies, even as they age, and loads more as usual.

For maximum impact, make sure you listen to the source episode, #134: A theology of laughter and co-creation (with Dave Connis)

Register for my one-day You Are Enough seminars in Finland,  May 6 & May 13 2023.

Buy my latest book, Mornings with God: Daily Bible Devotional for Men

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Order my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.

Children’s and Young Adult author Dave Connis comes to The Puddcast to teach us the importance of laughter (and more). Dave’s hilarious and meaningful storybooks, The Inventions of God (and Eva), and The Stories of God (and Kiki) both captured our affection in a big way. We reflected on being intentional about the stories we tell our children and what we pass on to them; seeing ourselves within the continuum of generations before and after ourselves; how God invites all the parts of ourselves to co-creation; and more. If you’re a human being make sure to have a listen, and if you have kids, grandkids or nieces & nephews, make sure to grab his books from the links below.

Order The Inventions of God (and Eva), by Dave Connis (illustrations by Amy Domingo)
Order The Stories of God (and Kiki), by Dave Connis (illustrations by Amy Domingo)
Learn more about Dave’s work at daveconnis.com
Follow Dave on Instagram and Twitter.

Grab my latest book, Mornings with God: Daily Bible Devotional for Men (good for women too)
Check out my trauma-informed 30-day devotional, You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You.

Support the show and my other work, at jonathanpuddle.com/support
Find every book or resource I’ve talked about recently on my Amazon storefront, in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom.