Dr. Bret Nick gives Carmen advice on what to do about her upper respiratory infection (no coughing on air!) and then they discuss LifeWay’s research findings on pastors and the opioid crisis in America. They also talk about vaping and what to say if you encounter people who vape over the holidays.

Leighton Ford joins Carmen for a conversation about his memoir, A Life of Listening: Discerning God’s Voice and Discovering our Own. Leighton has a slower conversational cadence that makes this particular segment a real delight. His wisdom gushes even as shares the difficulty of this week (his son, Sandy, died on the day after Thanksgiving many years ago) but also the generational joy of visiting places with his grandchildren.

 

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/15795/13004482/11-26-2019-Mornings-with-Carmen-HR2.mp3

 

 

Carmen shared briefly in the open about the reality of the empty chair. More on that here.

Carmen welcomed KJ Ramsey to the show this morning (we’re certain she’ll be back – they had a great time together!). KJ is a therapist and a writer. A piece she wrote for Christianity Today caught Carmen’s attention: Neuroscience and Scripture agree – it helps to lament in community. KJ also shared about her forthcoming book, This Too Shall Last: Finding Grace when Suffering Lingers. 

Carmen also talks in this episode with pastor/writer Mark Batterson about his new book, Double Blessing: How to Receive It. How to Give it. Carmen and Mark also discuss a number of other topics ranging from counting our blessings to the Art of Agreeing to Disagree (podcast) and a forthcoming children’s book project – Big Dreams and Powerful Prayers!

 

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/15795/13004484/11-26-2019-Mornings-with-Carmen-HR1.mp3

 

Carmen leads off with a brief till of John 10:10 (and a shameless ad for her new weekly podcast with Peter Kapsner called The Till Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/thetillpodcast/so-the-tilling-begins

Then Bill English is back to discuss how and why we must identify and pursue a passion beyond work.

And, in anticipation of opportunities to spend time with people with whom we disagree in the coming week(s), Carmen talks with Better Angels John Wood, Jr. and Donna Murphy.

A few of Carmen’s notes on their conversation…

Maybe you’re anxious about the college student whose social media feed demonstrates they’re considering ideologies foreign to the faith in which they were raised. Or maybe you’re anxious about the aged uncle who believes the news he watches is actually the gospel truth – even when it’s far from the actual Gospel. I have good news for you! There’s a way to prepare yourself for healthy holiday dialogue even if others choose to be their totally partisan selves. 

How do we build a house united instead of continuing to tear down the house and one another in the process? I talked with John Wood, Jr. and Donna Murphy from Better-Angels.org about practical strategies all of us can employ in our conversations across the holiday table or across the political aisle. 

First, take a LAPP. LAPP is the acronym for 

Listen

Acknowledge

Pivot

Perspective

First, commit to listen to the other. Actually listen. With ears to hear, eyes to see and a mind to comprehend. Listen actively in preparation for 2. reflecting back what you hear, clarifying things you did not understand with the goal of a dialogue rooted in understanding. If a person does not feel heard they will naturally grow defensive when you begin to offer information, experience or ideas contrary to their own. So, after great uncle Charlie speaks his peace about the current proceedings in Washington, D.C., you demonstrate that you heard him by paraphrasing back to him what you heard him say. Tone matters here! Uncle Charlie expects you to dismiss him as old and irrelevant. Demonstrate that you value him by valuing what he has said – especially if you disagree. You might invite him to “tell me more” about some aspect of what he said or you might say, “I wonder where that conviction comes from. What in your experience leads to you that view of _____ (government/immigrants/or whatever issue he mentioned). 

Then it’s time to pivot. I call this reframing the conversation. This is the point at which you ask the kind of question Jesus asked. An open-ended question that seems to have more than one answer but in reality has an answer that’s literally out of this world. That’s the perspective part of LAPP. The goal here is to get people thinking about what they’re thinking about; why they’re thinking about it that way; and then consider the eternal perspective. Am I seeing things – and this particular thing – as God sees it? That requires discerning God’s pleasing and perfect will in a particular matter. That takes wisdom and time. Both of which can be in short supplies at the Thanksgiving table! 

Trust me, old uncle Charlie has got some stories to tell. Your challenge is to get him telling those old stories so you can know him, he can feel valued, and you can both begin to see why he sees things the way he does. If you asked him to describe the social location from he’s operating, you’re going to be met with a deer in the headlights. So ask him to tell you about what life was like when he was growing up. Describe the house or town he lived in. Who was President? How did they get the news? What was going on in the world when he was your age (or the age of the youngest person at the table). 

Make an observation about how you can see how the realities of growing up on a farm in the Depression would lead a person to place a high value on resi...

As Thanksgiving approaches, Carmen is counting blessings – starting today with Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

She asked, rhetorically, “what are my spiritual blessing in Christ?” 

Freedom from the penalty of sin in death and freedom from the power of sin in life

Forgiveness and a reconciled relationship with the Father

Righteousness before the Judge

Resurrection from the grave

Life abundant here and now and eternal forevermore

Adoption into the family

A seat at the table

A room with a view

A mansion, a robe and a crown

Unlimited all-access pass to the Father

Imputed righteousness

A mediator with the Judge

A mentor for the journey

An ever-present help in times of trouble

And all the riches of His glorious inheritance with all the saints

 Every spiritual blessing in Christ…

The gifts of the Spirit…

The fruits of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faith, Gentleness and Self-control

The protection of the Father

The name of the Son

The power of the Spirit

The mind of Christ

The unity of the Spirit

The bond of Peace

Wisdom

Understanding

Discernment

The privilege of being Chosen, Called, Cultivated, Challenged, and Commissioned

A life that is filled and more importantly, a life that is fulfilled

Every spiritual blessing in Christ…

Grace: amazing, prevenient, pervasive, persistent, all-sufficient grace

Hope: endearing, enduring, encouraging, enlightening, enveloping, inviting hope

The honor of being called a child of God

Citizen and ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven

Representative of the Prince of Peace

Co-heir with Christ

Minister of reconciliation

Light of the world

A disciple with dignity, distinction, direction, and a life that endures forever and ever

Marked as Christ’s own forever, bearing into the world the name that is above every name 

The gift of perfect love that casts out fear.

Carmen talks today with Drew Griffin of Providence Magazine about Congressional threats to the independence of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), changes in U.S. position on Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank, and the protests in Iran due to the crippling effect of U.S. economic sanctions.

Then Peter Kapsner and Carmen discuss babies – or really fertility rates – and the worldview implications of who is having kids and who is not (and why).

 

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/15795/12989196/11-20-2019-Mornings-with-Carmen-HR1.mp3

Carmen leads off with a brief commentary on Chick-Fil-A brew-ha-ha. She lands on 2 Corinthians 9:6-12 where we are reminded to give as God leads and not under compulsion.

Justin Giboney from The And Campaign joins Carmen for an ongoing conversation about how Christian are uniquely challenged to prioritize issues as we engage in the political conversations of the day. They discuss the re-election of pro-life Democrat, John Bel Edwards, as Governor of Louisiana and the prospects for other pro-life Democrats in social moderate/traditional states like Georgia.  Their conversation includes the challenge of the DNC party platform which is expressly pro-choice. Carmen and Justin also discuss Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and his Douglass Plan for black America.

Then Carmen is joined by Aussie clergyman, professor and author, Michael Bird whose opinion piece in the Washington Post has people talking.  Bird’s observations of America, Christians and the political discourse wherein “Jesus is the endorsement everyone wants” are important to hear and reflect on. Bird says the left/right political divide in Australia is different than in the U.S. and that the ways Jesus, God and the Bible are used here in support of wildly different agendas leaves him, as a Christian, confused.

A few out-takes:

“As a scholar of the New Testament and a professing Christian, I simply do not recognize the plethora of American “Jesuses” spawned by the political left and right. What I see is neither the Jesus of Nazareth I know from history nor the Christ of faith that I know from my church.”

“Jesus, historical man and exalted Lord, does not neatly fit into any side of the political spectrum. The Jew from Nazareth cuts across traditional political lines. No party owns him — as if the Lord of the cosmos could be owned. Jesus does not answer to political super PACs and cannot be made to utter political endorsements on cue. Jesus cannot be mapped onto, let alone owned, by the American political divide.”

“For people who are serious about following Jesus and how to live out their faith in him, it is not a question as to whether Jesus believes in our politics; rather, the real question has to be whether we believe in Jesus and in his kingdom as a challenge to our politics. In other words, for Christians, the point of contention should not be whether Jesus is more conducive to Republican or Democratic parties, but whether we are prepared to break from the polarization of our politics to engage in a more authentic mode of discipleship.”

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/15795/12986349/11-19-2019-Mornings-with-Carmen-HR2.mp3

Where are we today in the impeachment process? Carmen asks Dr. Mark Caleb Smith, director of the Center for Political Studies at Cedarville University to help us get our bearings. They also discuss the growing Democratic field of candidates vying for that party’s 2020 presidential nomination.

Carmen then talks with pastor Jason Meyer about his new book, Don’t Lose Heart: Gospel Hope for the Discouraged Soul. @WePreachChrist

A few of Carmen’s notes on that conversation…

There are many reasons to lose heart but there is One great reason to hope, namely, Jesus.

When you’re sizing up the situation are you taking God’s perspective into account or are you shrinking God down to to size?

The story Jason tells about the Hanna High School Cross Country team is AMAZING.

 

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/15795/12986286/11-19-2019-Mornings-with-Carmen-HR1.mp3

Carmen talks with Brandon Showalter from Christian Post about headlines including:

* The installation of face and fingerprint scanning by the Chinese government at churches

* One family’s legal battle to get a teacher to stop telling kids in school that girls aren’t real

* YouTube censors Pediatrician for telling the truth about trans surgery on children

* Good News story: Wisconsin passes resolution to observe National Bible Week

 

Then Adam Carrington from Hillsdale College returns to discuss:

* Remember the Equal Rights Amendment aka ERA? Well, it’s back in play as Virginia considers becoming the 38th state to ratify the amendment to the U.S. constitution

* What’s on your playlist? If you tell us we can fairly accurately predict how you vote

* The single best predictor of voting for Obama in 2012 AND Trump in 2016? Those who listen to Hard Rock.

 

 

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/15795/12983607/11-18-2019-Mornings-with-Carmen-HR1.mp3

 

Carmen talks today with Adam Holz about what people are watching on the big and small screen – and how they’re watching what they’re watching.

Then Bruce Ashford returns to distinguish between the principled ethic of Christians and the consequential ethic of pragmatic American thinking. He also outlines several logical fallacies regularly employed by politicians in today’s rhetoric. Dr. Ashford helps us discern who to follow but helping us see through efforts of distortion used by those seeking to win our trust.

 

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/15795/12977103/11-15-2019-Mornings-with-Carmen-HR2.mp3

 

Carmen talks in this episode with Matthew Hawkins about the fascination the secular media seems to have with the political engagement of evangelical Christians. They also discuss the vital role faith-based crisis pregnancy centers fill in providing healthcare in rural America.

Carmen also talks with Alan Fadling about the book he co-authored with his wife, Gem, How does your soul love?

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/15795/12977105/11-15-2019-Mornings-with-Carmen-HR1.mp3

 

Ben Johnson of the Acton Institute looks at Pete Buttigieg’s attempts to court religious conservatives, as well as a woman who founded a business that employs the homeless.

Karen Swallow Prior talks about how to cultivate a taste for better art and literature, and even the things of God.

 

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/15795/12974453/11-14-2019-Mornings-with-Carmen-HR1.mp3