Inspired Human Podcast

Nick and Dairus team up to talk about "When Things in Life Just Don't Work out." - When you move the chess pieces of your life the right way, but you still don't get the job or assignment or position.- When you marry the right person and have a great family, but you still find yourself lonely and tired and wondering if life is supposed to feel this way.- When you find out that the ancient church had a way of describing this phase of your identity-formation: The Desert Way. In the desert, when comfort and assumptions are stripped away, God opens our eyes. To what, exactly? Good question. Perhaps, in the desert moments of our lives, we learn to see God. Or, perhaps, we learn to see the world for what it is (broken) and are invited to join God in renewing it and restoring it through the love of God... starting with ourselves.

Welcome to Dr. Matthew Sleeth!Dr. Sleeth:- Former ER physician and Chief of Medical Staff.- Resigned to teach about faith and health.- His uncle wrote a book with J.R.R. Tolkein!!- His first religion was the American Dream.- Then, after embracing Christian faith, he and his family sold their huge house and moved to a place the same size as their old garage and started a new life.Dairus talks to him about Sabbath and Suicide and 9/11 and health and faith. I know…it's a lot.... But let's do it! 

Dairus sits down with John Garland, pastor in San Antonio, TX.John has spent his entire career in ministry serving in places with extreme poverty and suffering, notably along the southern border.They talk about:- Suffering as a pit.- The Gospel as a path.- Using the Psalms in your prayers.- The difference between trauma management and stress management. - Why and how Christianity has transformed instruments of trauma in redemptive ways.

Hello friends! Nick sits down with senior chaplain for U.S. Special Operations Command, Dave Bowlus.He and I reflect on the low points and high points of his ministry over the last 20 years, and chat about how families might “keep the wheels on the bus” in the midst of military life. As a reminder: The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speaker(s), and do not necessarily represent the views of the DoD or its components. 

Dairus sits down with 3x CrossFit Games athlete, former Army Officer, former West Point collegiate wrestler, and all-round INCREDIBLE human being, Chandler Smith.We chat about set backs...how they surprise us, and  how an active reflective practice combined with a trustworthy circle of like-minded friends is the pathway through the pain.Did we mention how much we love Chandler Smith yet? 

Welcome Mike Sanders, former Strength and Conditioning coach at the University of Denver, and current Human Performance Coach for U.S. Special Operations Forces.  Mike's an OG. He's been around. I absolutely love his wisdom, probably even more than his feats of strength.We chat about human potential, that feeling we get after accomplishing something great and assuming it was going to do more than it promised, and why vocation and identity are a dangerous marriage.

“Behind every act of valor, there is love.” Dairus talks with award winning documentary producer Justin Roberts. While serving in Afghanistan as an Army Chaplain in the 101st Airborne Division’s “NO SLACK” battalion, Justin armed his Soldiers with Go Pro cameras. He wanted to capture their experiences.But the war was far more intense than he imagined it would be.And their experiences needed to be shared and processed and seen.The result: An award winning film called No Greater Love. No Greater Love layers real war footage with interviews with Soldiers and Gold Star Family Members.  Roberts’ battalion, NO SLACK, came home with over 200 Purple Hearts. “The only way that you can really come back from war is with love. And it has to come from friends, it has to come from family members, neighbors, and the people you were fighting for, and it has to come from each other. That is the only way we can fully come home.” 

We are talking all things Parenting and Self Awareness.Madeleine is a multiple #1 international best selling author, a TedX speaker, and the founder of Fast Results Now Training and Coaching Solutions. She has over 30 years experience in the areas of parenting and life solutions strategies.We discuss:- Why parenting starts with actually knowing what you want.- Why joy can be elusive for parents with young kids.- Why routine is great for families and how routine starts with self-awareness. She was highly successful in business…then she became a parent. And it was HARD. In her words:“I was a mess! We were always late to school. I was always nagging my kids. But one day I decided I needed to change. I took what made me successful in business, and applied it to my home. And the rest is history.”

Longtime friend, Duke Th.D candidate, Purple Heart recipient, author, and fellow chaplain Adam Tietje is here.Adam served for ten years as an active duty army chaplain, in 3rd Special Forces Group, 101st Airborne, and as a Hospital Chaplain in the DC area. He's now at Duke pursuing a Th.D. Stuff we explore:- Why is it that in the first few hundred years of Christian literature, no author is endorsing or encouraging Christians to join the military?- What the heck is civil religion?- How do we care for loved ones who have trained for, or gone to, war?- Why is trying to Zoom with a house full of kids and pets so hard?

“I gave my life to God in Mogadishu.”From basic training to Airborne School, from Ranger School to the Ranger Regiment, and then… to Mogadishu, Somalia: That’s how Brian McCroskey’s military career started.He was a young enlisted Ranger in the battle of Mogadishu, where he earned the Purple Heart. He was forced to medically separate from the military as a result of those wounds, but eventually returned as an Infantry officer. As an officer, he served in the 82nd Airborne Division, the Ranger Regiment, and as a Ranger Instructor at 6th Ranger Training Battalion in Florida.But that’s just the backdrop to the story. The real story, the one happening in him and to him all along the way, is how Brian drew close to Christ and never let go.

Dairus sits down with our friend Tim Spayd!Tim shares his experiences as a young Ranger with JTF 1-79, Operation Eagle Claw, Charlie Beckwith (founder of Delta), touring and playing with the band Foreigner (“I wanna know what love is!”), how he became a Christian, and living with Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). Tim is in the Army Ranger Hall of Fame. He continues to support chapel services and ranger patrols at 6th Ranger Training Battalion in Florida.

Christianity, in its best form and most mature traditions, teach how to die-in-life, how to see, and how to come alive.Death, sight, and life.In the ancient traditions, these experiences are called the Desert, the Mountain, and the Cloud.Let's talk about how to see, and "continuous partial attention," and water!

Dairus Barnes sits down with his friend and former colleague, CSM(R) Chris Fields. Chris served 30 years in the Army as an Infantryman, and is now a licensed counselor who works in full time ministry at a local church in Clarksville, TN.

Two friends interview each other. It feels like a bro session (it is), but instead of lifting weights and yelling “light weight baby!!” we’re discussing the things that have formed and shaped us:School. Kids. Family. Military life. Books. Pain. Jesus.Happy New Year, friends!

Are you literally waiting for 2020 to be over? Do you find yourself hoping for 2021 to bring something new? We are all in a season... a very long season, of waiting, wanting, and hoping. Listen and discover the grandest story .. the story that helps make sense of your own story, and of your waiting, wanting, and hoping.

Let's talk about March 4, 2002, merely six months after 9/11/01: The day Nate Self led a platoon of Rangers in a 15 hour battle on the top of a 10,000 ft. mountaintop in Afghanistan called Takur Ghar. From that battle, two people would ultimately earn the Medal of Honor, multiple would earn awards for Valor, Nate Self would earn the Silver Star, and 7 Americans would lose their lives.Nate reflects on the battle, his painful struggles after the leaving the military, God's incredible love, and how it took him and I ten years to have a face-to-face conversation. Oh, and he quotes Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Nate is also the author of Two Wars: One Hero's Fight on Two Fronts, published in 2008. Want to dig in deeper? Watch this History Channel episode where Nate is interviewed and the battle is discussed in more detail.

God sides with humanity against all who oppose it. All the dark powers and principalities. Against all inhumanity. God chose Mary; she consented. And God becomes human. A silent child who would have perished if Mary and Joseph did not care for him, feed him, and nurture him. God became human. God is human, forever, sitting at the right hand of the Father as one of us.We have the immensely articulate and insightful Father Kenneth Tanner on this episode. We chat about why we need to tap into the ancient voices of our faith (9:01), the impact of losing his dad in Vietnam (2:10), and why it’s infinitely more complicated than “everything happens for a reason" (24:20).More by Ken Tanner:https://sojo.net/biography/kenneth-tannerhttps://medium.com/@kennethtanner@kennethtanner

We are so, so thrilled that these last few episodes have been meaningful for you. I love hearing your stories, and how you are interacting with these topics. Keep the emails and messages coming! And please continue to let us know how to pray for you.This episode gets real personal for Dr. Rita Brock (see her bio here). She shares about her father, a 29-year Army veteran who served in Normandy (WWII) as a medic and later a Prisoner of War. He stayed in the Army and continued to serve for close to 30 years, including two tours in Vietnam. After his second Vietnam tour, he came home drastically changed (13:59--). You will absolutely love her insight and wisdom related to forgiving her dad, and forgiving herself.We also talk about ritual, action, why being cleansed from combat or trauma isn't the right idea, and why you can't just think your way to your inner self or to God.

Welcome the esteemed Dr. Rita Brock! She's the Founding Director of the Soul Repair Center at Brite Divinity School, the current Senior VP and Director of the Shay Moral Injury Center at Volunteers of America, and author of many books and articles on the topic of Moral Injury and soul care. - Why is our language for suffering in the western world is so limited?- Is our spirituality too thin to handle combat and trauma?- Why is 2020 a dumpster fire of a year?We talk a bit about combat, but it's not just about war. It's about how we need to increase our repository of knowledge for how to walk through grief, suffering, war, and the crazy ups and downs of life. Episode 2 will drop in another week-ish.

Part 2 with Tom and Jen Satterly: This conversation was absolutely incredible. Absolutely. Inspiring.We explore:- False Warrior culture;- Tom's death-in-life;- Jen: "When I became friends with some of the other Operators, every single one of them also talked about suicidal ideations";- Moral injury;- Why God lives even in the far country;- And, as always, we repeatedly misuse the English language.

Meet Tom and Jen Satterly!- All Secure Foundation: https://www.allsecuremission.com- Retired Command Sergeant Major.- 20 years as a Delta Operator. - Fought in the battle of Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down). - Fought in the longest sustained firefight since Vietnam. - He was a part of the mission to capture Saddam Hussein in 2003.After retiring in 2010, he fell into depression, substance abuse, and nearly committed suicide in 2013.In this episode:How does Tom reflect on the Battle of Mogadishu now, 27 years to the month later?Why does combat reveal so much about ourselves and the world?How does sustained combat "form" you?Why has COVID brought all of us (including Tom Hardy!) down to the same level?

What is your anchor? Where is Jesus in your deck? Let's explore the relationship between Jesus and our identity alongside the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians.

We're coming off of an incredible weekend of speaking and discussions. In this episode we discuss important questions: Who am I? What grounds me? Why is the fire alarm going off at 2AM? Is it actually raining?Along the way, we explore the Tyranny of the Urgent, the two great paths of transformation (i.e. the paths of suffering and love), the book Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me, why it is important to enjoy the journey, and why all great religion is about seeing.