Podcasts about holy

Laci is joined by witty and charismatic fashion expert Tan France (Queer Eye) to discuss the hacks and hypocrites who have joined the long list of anti-gay activists later revealed to be gay themselves. Plus, Laci asks: Are multistep skincare routines, fast-fashion dupes, and free trials a scam, a scheme, or the real thing? Stay schemin'!   Keep the scams coming and snitch on your friends by emailing us at ScamGoddessPod@gmail.com.   Be sure to catch Honorable Gays biweekly on Tan's YouTube channel and follow @honorablegays for more. And don't miss Deli Boys Season 2, now streaming on Hulu.   Follow on Instagram: Scam Goddess Pod: @scamgoddesspod Laci Mosley: @divalaci Tan France: @tanfrance   Research by Kathryn Doyle    SOURCES https://www.cnn.com/videos/bestoftv/2013/06/22/ac-alan-chambers-interview.cnn https://people.com/gay-cure-minister-allegedly-tried-to-meet-minor-for-sex-11979375 https://www.mprnews.org/story/2012/06/28/gay-rights-advocates-protest-exodus-ministry-gathering https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/alan-manning-chambers-judge-finds-probable-cause-charge-solicitation-teen-boy https://www.advocate.com/politics/politicians/2015/05/29/16-antigay-leaders-exposed-gay-or-bi https://daily.jstor.org/ernst-rohm-the-highest-ranking-gay-nazi/ https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbtq-rights/george-rekers-ex-expert-witness https://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-rekers-christian-right-leader-denies-gay-prostitution-allegation/ https://thingofthings.substack.com/p/weird-people-of-history-michael-bussee Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of Scam Goddess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Gray is in limbo with his job offer and Halle goes rogue on a pride flag. Join Supercast for the full Mega experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Week Grace and Mamrie discuss life in Italy, branded drinks, social media bans, village cats, Love Island and who was the first victim on Law and Order. Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to Quince.com/tmgw for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Right now, as a listener of this show, you get at least 15% off any annual membership at Masterclass.com/WEIRD. Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at RocketMoney.com/TMGW Protect your online privacy TODAY by visiting ExpressVPN.com/tmgw. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holy cow: the Trump administration is discovering a disturbing amount of healthcare fraud and you can probably guess who almost all the perps are in these cases. Plus, the march back to the right in South America is a direct result of the misery of socialism. A lesson we seem intent on ignoring here in […]

Listen as Pastor Jaco tells us what it means to pray from an understanding of God as our Father!

Join Captain Jeff, Captain Nick, Alpha Juliet, and Producer/Curator Liz. Enjoy! APG 712 SHOW NOTES WITH LINKS AND PICS 00:00:00 Introduction 00:06:12 NEWS 00:06:35 8 Dead in B-52 Bomber Crash at Edwards Air Force Base in California 00:11:05 Air Canada Pilot Geoffrey Wall Allegedly Flew with Fake License 00:20:09 Pilots Fired Over Cockpit Security Breach 00:35:46 Gulfstream G200's Fatal Emergency Landing At La Romana International Airport 00:40:01 Lufthansa 787-9 Nose Gear Collapse at Frankfurt 00:44:06 PRELIMINARY REPORT – United B764 at Newark 00:50:23 Pope Leo XIV on the Jump Seat 00:52:10 GETTING TO KNOW US 01:10:02 Plane Tale – RAF Form 414 – Volume 39 01:30:56 FEEDBACK 01:31:04 Mike Neumann – Training Dealing with Hijackers? 01:37:26 Sam Bolog – Aeroplane Makes Extremely Low Landing at Greek Airport 01:38:38 Peter Tarantelli – Conversation Between Two Delta FAs 01:41:00 John Falk – Capt Nick and APG 709 01:46:22 Erol Yurtkuran – Getting To Know Us – Listener Version 01:50:25 Augustin Tamagno – Route Network Visualization Tool for Aviation Enthusiasts 01:53:22 WRAP UP Watch the video of our live stream recording! Go to our YouTube channel! Give us your review in iTunes! I’m “airlinepilotguy” on Facebook, and “airlinepilotguy” on Twitter. feedback@airlinepilotguy.com airlinepilotguy.com ATC audio from https://LiveATC.net Intro/outro Music, Coffee Fund theme music by Geoff Smith thegeoffsmith.com Dr. Steph’s intro music by Nevil Bounds Capt Nick’s intro music by Kevin from Norway (aka Kevski) Copyright © AirlinePilotGuy 2026, All Rights Reserved Airline Pilot Guy Show by Jeff Nielsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

PEACEFUL MIND PODCAST — EPISODE 332 Feeling Stuck? A Gentle Way Forward Feeling stuck is one of those experiences that can quietly creep up in the middle of an otherwise full life. You might not even be able to name exactly what's wrong. You just know that something isn't moving the way you want it to. This episode is for that moment. Danielle doesn't offer a quick fix. She offers something better — a new way of understanding what stuck actually is, and three honest, grounded shifts that can start to loosen it. In This Episode You'll Learn: What the feeling of stuck is actually telling you — and why it's not a sign that something has gone wrong Why waiting for clarity and confidence before taking action keeps you stuck longer The counterintuitive reason that resisting the feeling of stuck is what keeps it in place A simple journaling practice Danielle used herself to create movement when she felt frozen How to anchor the experience of being stuck back to God's presence and the power of one faithful next step Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here Related Episodes If this topic resonated with you, these episodes may also help: #313 — The Super Power of Feeling Your Feelings #314 — How To Stop Holding Yourself Back #290 — The Secret to Consistent Inner Peace

What in the world is The Jesus Christ show??  Is it blasphemous?  Is it a way to share the Gospel message?  You'll find out today when you hear from Neil Saavedra, who has hosted the show for a very long time.  Has he had some "nudges"?  You betcha!Reach Out to Me:Website: www.dontignorethenudge.comPatreon: www.patreon.com/dontignorethenudgeIG: @dontignorethenudgepodcastPrivate FB group to WATCH interviews: www.dontignorethenudge.com/facebook__________________________________________________________________________________________Business/Personal Coaching with Cori:www.corifreeman.com(951) 923-2674Reach out to Neil Saavedra:KFI: https://kfiam640.iheart.com/The Jesus Christ Show: https://kfiam640.iheart.com/featured/jesus-christ/The Bill Handel Show: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/85-the-bill-handel-show-25012129The Fork Report: https://kfiam640.iheart.com/featured/fork-report/

What builds trust when you don't have a title or position of authority? SUMMARY According to Lt. Col. Joe Bledsoe '11, it's honesty, integrity, humility presence and action. Tune in as he shares practical leadership lessons learned from the Academy, combat aviation and years of mentoring others.   SHARE THIS EPISODE FACEBOOK  |  LINKEDIN   COL. BLEDSOE'S TOP 10 LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS 1. Leadership starts before the title. People follow your example, ideas, and presence long before you get formal authority. 2. Informal leadership is as real as formal leadership. Class president, wingman, or peer—your influence, credibility, and support role matter even without rank. 3. Be “clay to be molded.” Show eagerness, humility, and effort; people notice fresh attitude and willingness to embrace hard things. 4. You can't lead alone—build a trusted team. Time management and heavy responsibility force you to delegate to people you trust and empower them. 5. Trust has two layers: inherent and earned. Start with inherent trust (shared values, shared background) and deliberately grow earned trust through behavior. 6. Five traits that build credibility fast: Honesty, integrity, humility, presence (actually being there, engaged), and decisive action. 7. Debrief like a fighter pilot: brutally honest, never personal. Separate the person from the performance, do root‑cause analysis, fix errors, and then move on—no re‑litigating. 8. Own your mistakes out loud. Saying “I'm sorry,” “I was wrong,” or “I don't know, but I'll find out” accelerates trust and models humility. 9. Mentors and mentees are non‑negotiable. Continuously seek guidance from those ahead of you and invest in those behind you to sharpen your own thinking. 10. Prioritize relationships and pride in the mission. Treat family and friends well, cultivate the Long Blue Line, and remember you're on the A‑team—act like it.   CHAPTERS 00:00:00 — Opening & Guest Intro Show open, Naviere introduces Lt Col Joe “Paveway” Bledsoe and his career highlights. 00:01:13 — Voluntold to Lead: Becoming Class President Basic cadet training, being “voluntold,” interview gauntlet, and getting elected class president. 00:04:09 — What a Class President Actually Does Informal vs formal leadership, picking the class exemplar (Robin Olds), dining‑ins, spirit missions, and accountability. 00:08:38 — From Future Doctor to Fighter Pilot Arriving at USAFA wanting to be a physician, loving biology and medicine, and the first seeds of doubt. 00:10:03 — Ops Air Force, Powered Flight, and the Pivot Deployed Ops Air Force in CENTCOM, exposure to flying in theater, powered flight, and choosing pilot training over med school. 00:12:22 — Mentors, Family, and Making a Hard Call Mentorship from family, upperclassmen, and permanent party; emotional weight of changing paths and family's reaction. 00:14:08 — Leading Without Rank: Credibility and Trust Informal leadership as a young wingman, lessons from time management and delegation as class president, inherent vs earned trust, and key traits (honesty, integrity, humility, presence, action). 00:22:06 — Fighter Pilot Debriefs & Radical Feedback Culture Brutally honest debriefs, owning mistakes, root‑cause analysis, safety and mission focus, and how that mindset translates beyond the cockpit. 00:27:48 — Leadership at Home: Marriage, Parenting, and ‘Knock It Off' High‑school‑sweetheart marriage, parenting, using accountability and humility with kids, and balancing “fighter pilot” mode with being a husband and dad. 00:30:30 — Future Conflict, Growth, and Pride in the Long Blue Line Risk and future fight, Institute for Future Conflict, exposure to other AFSCs and logistics, daily growth habits (mentors, mentees, reading, writing, running), advice to younger self, and closing message on being proud of USAFA and the A‑team.   ABOUT COL. BLEDSOE BIO Lt. Col. Joseph “Paveway” Bledsoe '11 is a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate and recognized leader whose career has spanned combat operations, advanced airpower development and service to the Long Blue Line. A native of rural Pennsylvania, Bledsoe graduated from the Academy in 2011 with a degree in biology before earning a Master of Public Policy from the University of Maryland.  He is Currently assigned to the Institute for Future Conflict at the U.S. Air Force Academy where he studies the future of airpower, emerging technologies and the challenges of great-power competition. Prior to joining the Institute, he helped lead training and operational planning efforts at the 366th Fighter Wing, contributing to major exercises and the wing's first deployment to the Indo-Pacific region. His work bridges the gap between today's operational realities and tomorrow's strategic challenges. A recipient of the Association & Foundation's Young Alumni Excellence Award, Bledsoe is widely respected for his emphasis on faith, family and service. Throughout his career, he has remained deeply connected to the Academy community through mentorship, alumni leadership and a commitment to developing the next generation of leaders. On this episode of Long Blue Leadership, he shares lessons learned from leading peers, building influence before authority and navigating high-stakes decisions in both the cockpit and the profession of arms.   CONNECT WITH JOE LINKEDIN   CONNECT WITH THE LONG BLUE LINE PODCAST NETWORK TEAM Ted Robertson | Producer and Editor:  Ted.Robertson@USAFA.org Send your feedback or nominate a guest: socialmedia@usafa.org Please note: we are only considering USAFA graduates as guests at this time. Ryan Hall | Director:  Ryan.Hall@USAFA.org  Bryan Grossman | Copy Editor:  Bryan.Grossman@USAFA.org Wyatt Hornsby | Executive Producer:  Wyatt.Hornsby@USAFA.org     ALL PAST LBL EPISODES  |  ALL LBLPN PRODUCTIONS AVAILABLE AT USAFA.ORG/LONGBLUELEADERSHIP AND ON ALL MAJOR PODCAST PLATFORMS     FULL TRANSCRIPT Guest, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Joe "Paveway" Bledsoe" '11  |  Host, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz '99    Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz 0:01 Sometimes leadership begins long before you've ever been put in charge. It starts when people trust you enough to follow your example, your ideas or your vision. I'm Naviere Walkewicz, Class of '99; Long Blue Leadership starts now. Well, Lt. Col. Joe “Paveway” Bledsoe the Third. Welcome to Long Blue Leadership. Lt. Col. Joe Bledsoe 0:20 Naviere, it's great to see you. Thank you for having me here today. I'm looking forward to the conversation. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 0:24 So, Joe, your career has been exciting so far, and you're still in it. You know, you have been operational leader, obviously an F-15E Strike Eagle pilot. You've been deployed, you have been a researcher, you're a Young Alumni Excellence Award winner for our Association & Foundation, you've been an AOG board director and a fellow for the Institute for Future Conflict. And that, that's just, you know, a short little list, because you're a student heading back into, over to, is it North Carolina, right? Seymour Johnson.   Col. Joe Bledsoe 0:53 That's correct. Seymour Johnson, yep.   Col. Naviere Walkewicz 0:54 In the cockpit, yeah. Col. Joe Bledsoe 0:56 Yeah, we're super excited. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 0:59 Yes. Well, we're going to touch on probably many of those places, but I want to dial it back to something that only one graduate in every class experiences, and for you it happened shortly after Basic Cadet Training. Your class selected you as your class president. How did that come about? Col. Joe Bledsoe 1:14 How did that all go down? That's a great question. So there we were, right after basic training. I was in Cadet Squadron 19 for my freshman year, and I got the opportunity — this is one of those voluntold moments, right — where the upperclassmen and BCT cadre said, “Joe,” or “Cadet Bledsoe, report to H-1 during transition week.” That's when everybody's coming back, and you're like, “Sure, yep, yes, sir, yes, ma'am. Here we go.” So I show up with 40, 50 other fourth-class cadets, and we come to find out it was for us, and we were going to go through who was going to be the class officers. So first off, as I look back on that experience, a lot of respect and no humility being asked to go like represent Squadron 19, right? Like, I didn't volunteer, they just kind of pointed me in that direction, so we show up and got to interview with the upperclassmen, class officers, and there's funny interview questions, real serious interview questions. You know, I was just honest, right? Like, I'm here. This is what I think about what being a leader looks like, and how I could help serve the class, not thinking I would ever be selected, right? And as the night is going on, and ACQ is right around the corner, they kind of whittle it down to four or five of us, and we get up in front of the rest of the cadets and classmates that were there, and it was an open forum, like you know, back in Rome times, like you're standing in the gauntlet, Yeah, like it was like Roman voting, right? And asked a bunch of questions, and I remember standing up there with, you know, preppies, prior enlisted, and then me, just like straight off the street, and there's a couple other of us up there, and just answer the questions honestly, and at the end of that, there was a vote, and you know, they read the results, and I was like, "Holy smokes, I'm class president. How did this, how did this happen,” right? And I think there's a lot that — it was daunting at first, right? And then also, like, “This is awesome, I don't know what I'm getting into,” right? I just found out about it. I remember walking back on the Tizo. This was the first time I can say this now, because you know, grad, and I didn't run the strips because the upperclassmen and class officers walked me back, and I distinctly remember to — back to my squadron to — Jordan Kraft and Forrest Underwood walked back and were given some mentorship to me, like here's how to succeed, here's things we would recommend, and it was just an awesome opportunity to like kind of learn what pure leadership looks like, what it means to be in this not org chart that is unique to the Academy, and that's where the, that's where the adventure started for class president. I'm still, I haven't been fired yet, and I still proudly serve the Class of 2011 — Robin Olds' class — as their class president, and it's one of the best jobs that I have the privilege of doing. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 4:10 My goodness. I mean, just to unpack that a little bit, obviously, in basic cadet training, you did enough to impress your cadre, I'm sure that there was probably some sort of cadre selection to bring however many of them forth first. Would you say that you would you agree with that, or is that — am I way off? Col. Joe Bledsoe 4:28 Yeah, I would say —I think when I look back my time at basic training, like I wanted to come to the Academy since I was in your school, right? So, like, I thrived — I'm not saying it was easy by any means, right? We all know that, but I thrived in like this new adventure, right? And I took everything, I embraced everything. I think that may have been something they saw, right? Like I was clay to be molded, right? And I had some prior opportunities in basic to show that to my BCT cadre, and they picked up on it. It wasn't that I was trying, but I think looking back on that experience, there was moments of like my freshness, my eagerness, my like pride in that I made it to basic training, that I wanted to just try as hard as I could, and I think some of that probably shown through, and ultimately may have been why I was selected to go try that interview process, right? Col. Naviere Walkewicz 5:20 So that interview process, at the end of the day, you were elected by your peers, and you know it — to your point — you said in that unusual, the not normal org chart, right, the one that doesn't exist, but yet you have leadership of your class. What did that look like? How did that translate? Because not many of us are class president, I'm certainly not my class president, and so I'm not sure what that leadership role looks like. Can you share a little bit more about some examples? Col. Joe Bledsoe 5:46 Yeah, I think that that leadership role was very different each year, right? As a freshman and a sophomore, as a four-degree and a three-degree, before any official academy leadership position starts to present themselves, that they do for two-degrees and firsties, it was a lot of helping the class stay as a collective whole, right? So one of the first big things as freshmen was selecting our class exemplar, right? And running like — how do, who do we select? How do we come together and figure that process out? How do we then, once we have a name, once we selected Robin Olds, how do we have a formal dining in? Things that I had never even heard of, right? As well as on the other side, the shenanigans, right? So, the spirit missions, right? There was many times I've had to go to the commandant's office and say, I don't know where the class crest is, like, out of pure honesty, right? But, like, that is, that was like a way, as an underclassman, that we kind of got that informal leadership, but also you're the leader by default here, so we're gonna, we're gonna make you accountable for your class. So I got to see both sides, that transitioning a little bit more to two-degree and first a year was now taking a little bit step back in writing in the informal leadership position, so I looked as myself as like a supporting agent, supporting member to our cadet leadership, and I always presented that like, “Hey, if you need our class to do something, I will do that, but if militarily you own that, like, I'm not ever going to step on your toes or push back,” right? The other thing we got, I was able to do is also help provide, like, morale inputs, right? Like you kind of had the pulse of morale, I think, more as the class president sometimes than in the official leadership, so could help provide some inputs along those ways, and there are some, say more shenanigans or morale events that we get to help put forth and present those to the cadet leadership for official approval later on as we firsties. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 8:04 Gosh, well, that was, I mean, it's really insightful for us to understand some of the roles that a class president and class cabinet plays, and so understanding that it's — I like how you put it as a supporting agent to the formal leadership. And we're gonna touch on this a lot more, because I think there's going to be times when you'll share how you build that trust and credibility throughout, both when you're a cadet and as an officer. But before we jump there, I happen to find out, Joe, that you weren't coming to the Air Force Academy to become a fighter pilot, but to become a physician. Can we talk about that for a moment? Col. Joe Bledsoe 8:37 Absolutely, that's absolutely a — I came to the Air Force Academy, wanted to be a doctor. I knew I wanted to be a biology major. I declared, I think, the first day I could declare and went through the gauntlet of getting ready for med school applications, and I loved every second of it. It was awesome. Even my fellow classmates would say he was a huge nerd and studying all the time, because that was my goal, right? I came into the Academy, and I wanted to be a doctor, and I knew the gauntlet that is, that that is required to do such a thing. And I still love medicine, right? I still love — I think medicine is fascinating. Every time my probably get there someday, or in the conversation, but anytime my kids have to go to the ER, like I'm like, “Can I scrub in,” right? All that kind of stuff. Yeah, put me in. I love medicine, and it wasn't till the summer between my two-degree and firstie year did I have that midlife crisis at the age of 21 and then firstie year is when that crisis kind of came to a head, and new doors opened, and here we are today, right? So that, yes, you're absolutely right. Always wanted to be a doctor. I was still fascinated by medicine, but now I'm just a pilot. So, there we go. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 9:57 So, can we, can you expand a bit more on it? So, was it a decision you wanted to make or a decision you had to make? Col. Joe Bledsoe 10:03 Yeah, yeah, that's great. It was a decision I had to make, ultimately, myself. Right? No one, no one said, “Joe, you can't be a doctor.” So, the summer — there's two key things that really happened that helped influence that decision. The first one was the summer between two-degree in firstie year, I had the opportunity to deploy to the Middle East, and we've heard of Ops Air Force. You know Ops Air Force. Well, at that time we had a deployed Ops Air Force, so they sent cadets overseas to deployed locations to see what was, you know, to get the full experience in a deployed location. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 10:40 Wow. Col. Joe Bledsoe 10:40 So I had the opportunity to do that. Spent the summer in CENTCOM and kind of opened my eyes to… Col. Naviere Walkewicz 10:47 Oh, Central Command. Col. Joe Bledsoe 10:47 Yeah, sorry, Central Command, and got to experience — I got attached to a C-130 unit, right, and I got to see what flying looked like in a deployed environment, and I kind of opened my eyes, where I've been hyper focused on medicine, right? Like, you know, so focused on this is what it takes to be a doctor. I kind of like put my blinders on to what the rest of the Air Force did, right? So I was like, “This is pretty, this is, these guys and gals are doing awesome stuff, like this is this is the pointy end of what was going on.” And that planted a seed, that planted a seed. So it came back, firstie year was doing the med school applications, going through, I had some free time in my academic calendar, and I got to go down to the airfield and do the powered flight program. So, I got to see flying over the summer, and then I was blessed enough to have the opportunity to go fly an airplane, and I was like, “OK, the seed was planted, let's see if I get air sick, like, let's see if there's anything else here that might make me not want to do this.” And I loved it. Right, I fell in love with flying down at the airfield. I came back, and I was like, I'm gonna pause the med school applications and put my name in the hat for pilot training, and the rest was history, right? So, doors open, doors close, right? But that was my story, and I loved getting to talk to cadets about that, because so many can be — so many times we see some that are hyper focused, and like there's always other options out there, and it's OK to have a crisis we can talk you through. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 12:23 I think that's a fantastic lesson that you actually learned early, because you know it's interesting — had you not been sent to Ops Air Force at a deployed location, you might not have taken Alex flight, and so you know when you think about leadership opportunities and lessons, this is one of those moments where it actually steered you in a new direction. So, as we think about that, I'm curious, how your family responded to that, because, you know, you had come to the Air Force Academy to be a doctor. Were they happy for you? Were they surprised, a little nervous? Col. Joe Bledsoe 12:57 Yeah, there was a ton of mentorship there, right? Not just from my family, but from upperclassmen peers, permanent party, like, “What are you doing? Like, you came here telling us this was your goal. Where did this new goal come from?” So, there was a lot of time talking that through, and I needed that myself. It wasn't, as you know, in any decision, like, it wasn't a snap decision. So, a lot of time walking through that decision process and leaning on mentors and kind of asking the questions, like I knew what four years of med school, and then residency, but I knew what that like, what does pilot training look like? How long does that take, right? So, a lot of questions to help answer, or to find answers through, and ultimately, my family was super supportive, super supportive, and they still joke, like, “Hey, how come you're not doctor.” Well, because I fly F-15s now, right? But all supportive all throughout the process, right? And that's where you lean on others, right? Lean on others, because it very much felt like a crisis, like I still have scar tissue over it. But looking back on it, it wasn't just me making — I ultimately made the decision, but they helped me through it. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 14:08 That's fantastic. You know, I think about you as an officer, as a fighter pilot, and obviously there's a lot of steps you took to get there on the road was certainly not easy. Often, though, I think that there can be some misconceptions, or maybe this is accurate, that earlier in your pilot life or your aviator life, there's probably not a lot of leadership lessons where you're leading others. Maybe, maybe that's a misperception, and we'd love to talk about that. You know, how do you find the leadership opportunities then when you are, you know, you're party of one, right? You don't necessarily have any direct reports. What does leadership look like there? Col. Joe Bledsoe 14:43 Yeah, can we take that back to like some lessons I learned at the Academy?   Col. Naviere Walkewicz 14:46 Oh, absolutely.   Col. Joe Bledsoe 14:47 Right, I think, I think that's where I've leaned most heavily in, like, not in there's this difference between formal leadership and informal, positional versus informal, and I was blessed enough at a pretty young age to learn the plus — the how to succeed and how to fail in informal leadership. I've tried to carry that throughout my career. So when you say like the younger days of being a wingman in the F-15 community, it's a lot about credibility. It's a lot about that peer leadership. How do you build the credibility? How do you build the trust to be someone that others look up to in that informal system, right, in that informal system. When they look down their phone, like, “Who do I call? Who do I have to call? Who do I want to call?” Right? and I think that's where you have to balance some of that stuff, and I spent time thinking about that, and trying to lean on lessons that I learned from the Academy, and while formal leadership positions were never handed to me, that doesn't mean you're not a leader, right? Like, you can't beat it, doesn't mean you don't just get to sit back and not lead. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 16:02 Can you share an example of a time when you learned that about yourself, or what that looked like?   Col. Joe Bledsoe 16:09 In the flying world? Col. Naviere Walkewicz 16:11 Or as a cadet?   Col. Joe Bledsoe 16:12 Yeah, as a cadet, I think the biggest one was — I'll take it back to, like, freshman, sophomore year, where I learned one of the key pillars that I'm convinced the Air Force Academy teaches all us grads about is time management, right? And I thought I was pretty good at time management, and then when you're now the president of 1,000 other cadets, your inbox fills up very quickly, right? Or you're like, “I thought I was good at time management.” And I learned very quickly that you can't do it alone, right? You can't do it alone, and I had to learn to surround myself with people that I trusted and that I could delegate or hand tasks off to, and just say, “I need this accomplished,” and I did that to my friends that I knew would get the mission done, right? And I had to have that level of trust, and I think that is translated throughout my career, where I inherently trust people with a project, right? I think there's two versions of trust, inherent trust and earned trust. When I look at the graduate network, whether that's the Air Force Academy, Navy, West Point, and I see a class ring, I'm like, “I inherently trust you,” and I can, I believe, or I see some other veterans have on — like, “I inherently trust you,” and then in other cases where I've had to learn and work with people, it's now, “I'm earning your trust, and I hope you're earning mine as well,” and that is this unique balance of I inherently trust you, I learned that at the Academy. Now let's build on that as a foundation and get this earned trust to as high as we can. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 17:54 What does some of that earned trust or becoming more credible look like when young leaders don't have the benefit of time? Right, so I, the more time I work with you, the more I learn about you. You build that credibility, etc. How does one accomplish that, maybe either shorten the gap or do that a little quicker or impactfully earlier? Col. Joe Bledsoe 18:18 Yeah, time is always — like we always need more time, right? How often do you say, like, “I only have 24 hours, but I need more time,” right? So, if we're always fighting time, like, and everybody's fighting time, then, like, that's a constant. So, let's not worry about time. So, I look at it as, like, what traits do people bring to the table, or what traits can we can we sharpen? Honesty, right? Honesty is huge. You have to be honest, and that's a pillar of trust. Integrity, right? Integrity first and showing people that you display integrity is really important. Humility, I think, is also really important. Humility is really important. I was listening to a podcast the other day, and it really struck home to me, a sense of humility is — if a leader is able to say three things, they're gonna — I know I could, I can build that trust, no matter what that time gap is. “I'm sorry,” “I was wrong,” or one of the seven basic responses: “I don't know, but I'll find out,” right? I think that's really important with humility. The other one is presence, not with a T, like we're not giving presents, but presence. Being present is really important character trait in my mind, and the fifth one that I try to reflect on a lot is action. Right? I think defaulting to not doing something is not what we want. That doesn't help build trust. Taking action with what knowledge you have and making a decision is really important, and I think those are the traits that help build that credibility, help build that trust in that time gap, whatever that looks like. If you can hit those, the five that I try to hit home. If you can do that, hopefully you're building that relationship that is going to foster — have great fruition out of it. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 20:06 That's outstanding, and that's really helpful, I think. I love how you took out the constant of time being an excuse, right? Like, we don't always have the benefit of time, whether it's time and getting more experience or just time in general, I think those are outstanding examples of how you can build credibility. So, thank you for sharing that. You know, one of the things that I also would love to kind of dig into a little bit of your experiences, Joe — because they've been really vast, right? So, I don't believe that everyone has the same kind of path. How have you grown as a leader in these different experiences that really, again, aren't positional leadership roles? I'm just curious, how your growth has been in that space. Col. Joe Bledsoe 20:47 Think a lot of it's been through failure. I think a lot of it's been through failure. These might not be huge, like we lost a million dollars, or like, not through those kind of failures, but relationship failures, or conversation failure at the micro level, and how I've tried to handle that is surround myself with people that will tell me that the emperor — I'm gonna go back to the, I'm gonna go back to the old fairy tale, or fable, right? If you surround yourself with people that are able to come up to you, and you trust them, and you trust their feedback, that is something I've tried, that was Cadet Bledsoe, advice given to me is Cadet Bledsoe. Surround yourself with people that you will listen to and take their feedback honestly. And sometimes that means if I don't have that person in the room and I know I fumbled a conversation or I made a poor decision, it's going to that individual and saying, “I messed up, I'm sorry, I was wrong,” or “I don't know,” right. And that's how I try to use that to present humility, I think, and that's important, because we're all fallible, we all make mistakes, and if I can't admit that, then, like, we're off to the wrong foot right away. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 22:06 Do you think some of that that skill that you've developed over time has been something that you've learned in, and forgive me, I don't know if it's a fighter pilot community, specifically, or you know, I think about when you do your sorties and you have some sort of debrief, right? I feel what I've heard, I've not actually sat in one, but they're very real. Like, there's no, it's not about making you feel good about it, like it's about the safety and the mission, and so I'm curious, if that skill of humility, and you know, calling a spade a spade, and calling it I'm wrong and I'm wrong, did that come from some of that experience, and maybe you can talk through what that's like, because not everyone, I think, practices at that level of transparency. Col. Joe Bledsoe 22:46 Yeah, the fighter pilot debrief. I learned some of the importance of that through mentorship as a cadet, and then that was sharpened as a fighter pilot. And I learned the importance of that through the form, my formal job, right, the mission, the lives at stake, aircraft, that kind of stuff. And I think I've tried, I've only honed that skill through Air Force training, right? The Air Force has trained me to think like that, and I've tried to translate that into my personal life and leadership positions, because I think there's tons of value to that. There is tons of value in being willing to find a mistake, own up to that mistake with the knowledge and hope that it doesn't happen again, right? And if that is like, if you, if that's your north star, we don't do this again, like, why wouldn't you want to be on that team? Why wouldn't, why don't you want to be? That's how we get better, right? And I think that seed again was planted as a cadet. Like, let's, I tell cadets all the time, like, you're joining the A-team, so put in A effort, right? Like, if you're going to join the A-team, I don't want B-players, and this is what we got to get, like, let's go, right? It's a motivating factor in my mind. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 24:08 What are some of the ways to approach that in a leadership conversation for someone who would be interested in taking on some of those, those learned lessons? Col. Joe Bledsoe 24:18 Yeah, I think the first thing is transparency and honesty right up front. Like this, Naviere, if we were flying together, right and you were my instructor, your job is not to degrade me as a human, but to prove to me that I made a mistake with the ultimate goal of making me better, right? Your job is to always, like — and the relationship you and I have as an instructor and a student is my — I'm gonna sit here in the debrief and go, and Naviere is here to make me better, right? Like, that's your, that's your job, right? Right. So, once you start that as the foundation, like, it can only get better if I know your job is to make me better, and your job is I'm supposed to make this guy better, right. And often we can, when feedback is provided, you're like, this could be a personal attack, or, like, that's all left out, that's all left outside the debrief room, right? Like, we're here to make everybody better, and I think that's where it starts: with that transparency and honesty up front of the expectation. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 25:15 So you'll actually say that. You would actually… Col. Joe Bledsoe 25:17 No, I think that's just a common, that's a common theme, right? That's the expectation in the community. And not just in the fighter community. I think it's throughout the Air Force, right? I think that's what makes us really, really unique. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 25:32 Because feedback is something that we, we do — although maybe some can do it better than others — I think that's a really fantastic way — before you're giving someone feedback, you're really clear on this is what we're hoping to accomplish by having this time together. And so, I think what you just said can make feedback so much more impactful, because it's not about the person, it's about what are we trying to accomplish and helping you, I guess. It is about you, but ultimately helping you. Col. Joe Bledsoe 25:59 Absolutely, right? Like the where every debrief starts is we had a mission objective and we had tactical objectives. Did we do them? If we didn't, let's figure out why, right? So translating to the business world or private sector, it's a root cause analysis, right? It's a root cause analysis, and we will get down to the nitty gritty of like, what type of error — did you make a decision error? Did you perceive the environment wrong? Did your actions cause the error, right? And we get down to that level, so that when the student, student Paveway walks away, Naviere, knows, Naviere, you gave me the exact, like, you decided wrong, because X, Y and Z; don't do that again. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 26:43 Right. Col. Joe Bledsoe 26:44 Here's your fix. You know, that debrief can take hours, and that's the beauty of it, right? “We're gonna sit there, and we're not gonna let anything not be uncovered, because we're gonna go do this again tomorrow, and we can't make the same mistake tomorrow,” right? “We can't make the same mistake.” Col. Naviere Walkewicz 27:01 No, that's, that's fantastic. I mean, to have it that clear, and to know it, like, OK, we're not gonna, we don't stay in that space. We've addressed it, we know we've identified a fix, and we move forward. Is that what you said? Col. Joe Bledsoe 27:12 Absolutely. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 27:13 There's no like, continue to revisit, like… Col. Joe Bledsoe 27:15 Yep, that's the point, right? Like, “I've learned something, I know, I've acknowledged my mistake. Let's move on. This wasn't personal, this was you making me better.” Iron sharpens iron, right? So, here we go, and then move on. And now that translates, as you asked kind of a couple minutes ago, right, that can translate to so many things in your life, right? And I try to do that sometimes, like my wife will tell me, I go too fighter pilot, but there's versions of that that translate as we are not in a fight or pilot debrief. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 27:50 You literally got in my head because I was gonna say, now I want to put you on the spot, because Joe, you are married to your high school sweetheart, you make a 2% club, right? Like, you actually started the Academy with a sweetheart and ended with the same sweetheart. And now you have three amazing, beautiful children. How do you translate that to, you know, feedback to your family or your personal life? And I love how your wife said too fighter pilot, but how about to your kids? Col. Joe Bledsoe 28:15 Yeah, married my high school sweetheart, Alicia. We started dating our sophomore year, and we've been together ever since. So she is not a grad, but she has a lot of Air Force in her blood, so that's great, and the kids, I would say there's a couple things when it comes to taking some things I've learned or been trained in the Air Force, translating on the home front. The first one goes to accountability, right? I think accountability is really important because in an aircraft, you have to be accountable for your actions, and I think that translates to being a parent, as well as trying to teach the kids some humility. Right, where to be humble, when to own up to your mistakes, and sometimes that works in the fighter pilot way, sometimes it doesn't, and I think that's leadership, right? You can have leadership skills and be consistent in some, in some ways, but other times adaptability is really important, especially with the kids, and each one of my kids is very unique, and we have to cater to each one of them and their unique skills. I will say about my wife, I love her with all my heart, but she knows the words “knock it off” as well, right, because that's a sacred word, not just in the military, but on our, in our homefront, and that usually means stop being a full fighter pilot, like go back to being Dad, right? So she knows, she knows the words and how to make that all go down. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 29:47 I love that it's another language, right? You have your, your fighter pilot language, and you have a home front language. I love that. Thank you for sharing that. You know, I'd like to switch gears a little bit to your time operationally, and maybe this translates into now your work at the Institute, or your most recent work at the Institute for Future Conflict and preparing cadets for the future fight. I'm curious, how all of these skills that you've learned, and these leadership traits that you've continued to develop in yourself, have translated in moments of, you know, like, real conflict, real distress, like when the stakes are high, and how you prepare cadets to think that way, even though maybe they've not experienced that. I'm just curious, what that looks like. Col. Joe Bledsoe 30:31 Yeah, it is hard to translate — like cadets love war stories, right? Like, “So there I was…” but it's hard to translate some of, like, the putting, having the cadets put themselves in the shoes of someone that has 15 years of flying under their belt, right? Like, that's hard for them to grasp, and I understand that, and that's not what I'm asking of them to do, but there are certain skills that I think are really important, and that I've got to experience and talk to cadets and research and spend time thinking about at the Institute for Future Conflict at the IFC. One is risk, right? How do we, how do we think about risk, right? Are we risk prone? We risk adverse? How do we think about risk, not just in this moment, but how does our decision today affect five days from now, a month, right? And, as you remember, because I know it happened to you as a cadet, like you're just in the, like, “What's my next problem,” right? What's my next — OK, how does, like, fixing this problem affect next week? Right. And I think that's what I've got had the opportunity to think a lot about the IFC, as well as try one thing I've learned being back here at the Academy was my experience as a cadet is not the same experience as the cadets now. And what do I mean by that is when I graduated, GWOT, Global War on Terror was the thing we knew what we were getting into. I very much knew flying, going to the Middle East. Now the cadets looked to me and other permanent party, and like, what's our fight going to look like? And right, the question mark is, I don't know, but let me tell you, think about this, and I could be wrong, and I think that is where I've had a lot of time to think about future conflict and what's problems, maybe not nations or adversaries, but like big meta level things they'll have to think about, information access, information sharing, trust, right? How do you, how do you help develop some of these skills in the cadets? And that's where I've spent a lot of time the last two years trying to think and spend, spend some brain bytes, like what does air power look like in this unknown environment? Col. Naviere Walkewicz 32:52 And as you're about to step back into it, I'm thoughtful of that, and so now you're taking what you've helped cadets start to hone in and think about. How are you different now as a leader going back into the cockpit than you were when you came to the Academy? Col. Joe Bledsoe 33:09 Yeah, let me get back to the cockpit, and everyone can tell me what, how I'm different. We'll use that as the test. But here's one thing I think — I've reflected on this recently, going back to the Strike Eagle community. One has been my exposure here in Colorado Springs and at the Air Force Academy, meaning I've learned a lot about what others do that I wasn't — I knew other jobs existed, I knew other AFSCs did things, but not being in a flying day-to-day ops tempo, I've had the opportunity to sit down and, like, “What do you say you do?” “Oh, that has some effects here, here, and here,” and I use a specific vignette would be, I've got to spend a lot of time in the management department and helped teach in the global logistics minor, and like, I knew there was logisticians in the Air Force, and like, that's yeah, right? That's how stuff got here, but like, understanding the importance of, like, that's how my bombs got here, this is how the b…, right, like, truly understanding their frustrations, I think will make me get less frustrated in my day to day, right, and I think that has been one thing that the Academy has given back to me the second time I've been here, is a little bit more exposure to the Air Force, as well as the Space Force, being here in Colorado Springs, like seeing what each team member, like each cog in the machine brings to the fight, right? And I think that's been a blessing here. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 34:42 So those that you will begin to get back working with — your men and women in your community — they won't have had that exposure, and so I'm now going back to our where we started with the sense of informal leadership. How do you help others gain that experience and thought, and maybe thought process informally, since they haven't really been exposed to that? How would you help them navigate it? Col. Joe Bledsoe 35:09 Naviere, I think the best way to do stuff like that is, like, you raised your hand when you said logistics officers, like Naviere, we're doing a podcast with my next squadron, you're coming to talk, right? Col. Naviere Walkewicz 35:19 Right, it's like that was like a long time ago, we need someone more recent. Col. Joe Bledsoe 35:24 But, OK, Naviere, it's not you, but you know people, that's how stuff gets done, right, that's how stuff gets done. And while I by no means want to stand up in front of everybody and say I'm the expert on logistics, but I, I'm not that person, but I trust Naviere, Naviere's contact here, and that's how, like, you create this network of knowledge and this network of trust and credibility. And to my, to the fighter pilots that I'll be flying with, it's somewhat like throwing mud at the wall sometimes, like we're gonna keep throwing mud and see what sticks, but at least they know it's there, right? Like, we're gonna, your job is still to go kill things and blow things up, but at the same time, you know there's this other network out there that you can lean into. But let me be a conduit to make that happen. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 36:15 That is awesome. That's fantastic. So I want to go into this period now, where we talk about you and your continued growth as a leader. What is something, Joe, that you're doing every day to be a better leader? Col. Joe Bledsoe 36:30 I have mentors, and I've tried to find mentees. I think that is where growth can happen, leaning on others for mentorship and mentees to try to talk through some things you've thought through and give experience and exposure to others, right? And that's that network we were just talking about, right? Other things I think are really important is reading and writing. Read a lot, write a lot, nobody writes good anymore, right? Thanks, ChatGPT. But being able to communicate in the written form is really important. So, writing and reading. And the other thing, too, is as a leader, just find an outlet, find something, find a hobby, find something that's fun to do, right. So, I got into running here at the Academy, because we're at high elevation, and I'm, why not, right? But find something that, like, rounds you out, right? It's fine, find an outlet that helps give you some relief from all the stresses that can happen in leadership. That's where I would say I spend a lot of time, or what I think about trying to sharpen my skills. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 37:34 Daily. So, what are you reading right now? Col. Joe Bledsoe 37:37 Oh, that's a great question. I have a couple books that are on the table. Mask of Command is one that I'm reading as I get ready to go back and potentially be in a leadership role. There's a couple other books that come to mind. I'm reading a baseball coaching book, because I coach my baseball, it's a basketball book by Coach K from Duke, as I go back to North Carolina, but it's a book, how to coach kids, right, Leadership on the Court, and it's fun to just think about training and coaching kids and how to keep them inspired. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 38:18 Oh, that's awesome. So, speaking of kids, if you were to go back in time, and talk to younger Joe Bledsoe, the third, what advice would you give him? Col. Joe Bledsoe 38:30 Yeah, if I had to go back, I would say it's worth it. Every second, work hard at the Academy, right? The doors that it opens, that's where my mind went when you asked the question, like, younger me at the Academy. Be good to Alicia, my wife, right? Be good, because she's going to be with you for a long time. So be good to her, as well as foster your, foster your friendships. They're going to mean a lot to you in the future, right? The relationships you build on that hill are going to come back in ways you have no idea years to come. So take time and prioritize the people that you meet. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 39:10 Those are really great reflections. Joe, is there anything that we haven't covered in our conversation that you would love to share with our Long Blue Leadership listeners and viewers? Col. Joe Bledsoe 39:24 Absolutely, be proud of this institution. I'm proud of it. I know you are too, Naviere. Proud of this Academy. Be proud of the cadets, be proud of the permanent party that work here. There's an A-team out there, and this is this is where it starts, right? And it's not just if you're serving in blue or in the Space Force, right? If you're out there doing awesome things for our country on the private, in the private sector, thank you. Keep doing what you're doing. There's no shade of blue in the Long Blue Line, that's my, my phrase for that one. There's no shade of blue. Serve your country, be proud. And that's — just be proud to be an Academy grad. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 40:07 That's fantastic. So, you know, in our time together, I have loved this, this, this leadership conversation, because we really span an area that I don't think a lot of people talk about, and it's, how do you demonstrate leadership in an informal way, you know, without titles and without necessarily key positions or in the hierarchical structure, and so some of the things that really stood with me, Joe, that you've covered, have been being credible, being present, and humble. I really like that, and you didn't say this in these words, but what I took from that was, you know, being honest and truthful is almost one of the most kind ways you can be right, because you're actually helping someone be better, and that really stuck with me, you know. I don't, we have an A-team, we don't need B-players, that I think you exactly said that, so definitely stuck with me. But watching the way that you have led, not with your class, not just the cadets, and, you know, certainly not the squadron that you will have here shortly as a director of operations, but I think you've continued to just be who you've always been, which is someone who leads with integrity through those pillars and certainly by example. So this has been an incredible conversation, and for anyone that is watching us and listening to this, for others that are in their leadership journeys, this is another one you're going to want to share, because it's not just about, you know, Lt. Col. Bledsoe's journey right now, it's been all of these moments and experiences and memories and they really do connect with anyone on a leadership journey. So, be sure to join in on longblueleadership.org or wherever you get your podcasts, not just to see this one, but all of our other conversations. So, Joe, thank you so much for joining us today. Col. Joe Bledsoe 41:46 Thank you Naviere. Go Air Force! Col. Naviere Walkewicz 41:48 Go Air Force!   Col. Joe Bledsoe 41:49 There we go. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 41:50 Absolutely, until next time, we'll see you on Long Blue Leadership. KEYWORDS informal leadership, peer leadership, Air Force Academy leadership, USAFA class president, fighter pilot debrief culture, building trust and credibility, leadership humility, future conflict and airpower, Long Blue Leadership podcast, military leadership lessons.     The Long Blue Line Podcast Network is presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association & Foundation          

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Ben Langford preaches a sermon on 1 Peter 2:9 in a series entitled "What Is the Church?: One • Holy • Universal • Apostolic."

Paul does not stop with holydissatisfaction. He moves immediately to holy determination. Listen tothe rest of verse 12: “But I press on, that I may lay hold of that for whichChrist Jesus has also laid hold of me”.  Inother words, Paul says, "I haven't arrived, but I am pursuing. Ihaven't reached the finish line, but I am still running." There is atremendous difference between being dissatisfied and being discouraged. Somepeople look at their spiritual weaknesses and simply give up. Paul looked athis weaknesses and became more determined than ever to keep growing. Thephrase, “I press on,” is a strong word. It is the same word often translated"pursue" or even "follow after." Ironically, it was thesame word Paul used earlier when he described how he once persecuted thechurch. Before his conversion, Paul pursued Christians with relentless zeal.Now he pursues Christ with that same passion and intensity. What atransformation! The energy that once opposed Christ now serves Christ.                                                                                                                                                                        Thisreminds us that Christianity is not passive. We are not called merely to sitand drift through life. We are called to pursue Christ. The writer of Hebrewssaid: “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, lookingunto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2). Noticethat Paul did not say, “I am waiting around.” He said, “that I may lay hold”.The Christian life is often compared to a race. A runner does not reach thefinish line accidentally. He runs intentionally. He trains. He disciplineshimself. He keeps moving forward even when he is tired. Paul understood thatspiritual growth requires effort. Not effort to earn salvation, but effortbecause we are saved. In Philippians 2:12-13, Paul wrote: “Work out your ownsalvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to willand to do for His good pleasure.” God works in us, and we cooperate withHis work by pursuing Him wholeheartedly. ThenPaul gives the reason for his pursuit: “that I may lay hold of that forwhich Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me...” The word “lay hold of”means to seize, grasp, to apprehend, or make one's own. Paul is saying, “Iwant to lay hold of the very purpose for which Christ laid hold of me.” Thinkback to the Damascus Road. Paul was traveling to persecute believers whensuddenly the risen Christ stopped him in his tracks. Jesus literally seizedPaul's life and changed his direction forever. Paul never forgot that day. Heknew Christ had saved him for a purpose. He knew Christ had not rescued himmerely to take him to heaven someday. Christ had a plan for his life here andnow. Thesame is true for every believer. God did not save us simply to forgive oursins. He saved us so that we might know Him, serve Him, glorify Him, and becomelike His Son. Romans 8:29 tells us: “For whom He foreknew, He alsopredestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” God's goal for everyChristian is Christlikeness. Paul knew he had not yet fully become what Godintended him to be. Therefore, he kept pressing on.  Perhapstoday you feel frustrated by your spiritual progress. Maybe you see habits thatstill need to change. Maybe you struggle with the same temptations you'vebattled for years.  The question is not whether you havearrived. The question is whether you are still pressing on. Are you growing inyour knowledge of God's Word? Are you becoming more like Christ? Are youpursuing Him more today than you were a year ago? The Christian who stopsgrowing soon begins drifting. The Christian who keeps pursuing Christ continuesexperiencing His transforming power. Remember, the goal is not simply to knowabout Christ. The goal is to know Christ Himself.

Fraunhofer studies uptower carbon blade repairs, Vineyard Wind’s fight with GE Vernova deepens, the UK backs offshore innovation, and a 26-year Horns Rev study tracks how birds adapt to turbines. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast, brought to you by StrikeTape.  Protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit striketape.com. And now your hosts. Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy podcast. I’m your host, Allen Hall. I’m here with Rosemary Barnes, Yolanda Padron, and Matthew Stead. Fraunhofer has published peer-reviewed feasibility research in wind energy science. And Rosemary, I don’t know if you read wind energy science, but there’s a lot of good information there about wind turbines and mechanical aspects. Not much on the electrical side, but a lot about mechanical. Uh, in, in, in wind energy science, uh, they had a discussion or an article about repairing damaged pultruded CFRP spar cap planks while the blade stays on the turbine. Using finite element analysis on a 81.6-meter [00:01:00] blade from a seven-megawatt offshore turbine, the researchers found that a shear web window cut out as short as one meter drops buckling resistance from 20.7 times critical load to four times critical load, a reduction of over 80%. The fix? Temporary external clamping frames with a pre-tensioned span-wise rod to carry gravity loads, combined with internal push rod assemblies and external stringers profiles to restore buckling resistance, all installed and removed uptower. Wow. I know we’ve discussed the carbon pultrusion repair situation and how critical that is or h- how difficult it is. I didn’t realize it was that difficult, Rosemary, that if you actually try to replace a one-meter section of a carbon pultrusion, you’re re- reducing the, the, what, the, the buckling resistance by 80%? [00:02:00] Holy moly.  Rosemary Barnes: I don’t think that’s even 100% pultrusion specific, right? They’re talking about cutting a, a window in the shear web. Allen Hall: Yes.  Rosemary Barnes: So that could be for any kind of repair you might have to do that, including if you need to repair, like sometimes you need to repair the, the shear web. Um, and even though, like, they’re not doing a lot of heavy lifting, um, that’s kind of a structural pun, um, they’re still super important. If they’re not there, then you’re gonna have big problems pretty immediately. The way that it works with repairs is that there’s certain kinds of damage that you know that you can just do uptower. The technicians know they can do it. They don’t need to call an engineer. The engineer doesn’t call- need to call the expert engineer. But when you need to do something a bit unusual, like a whole meter of web removed, then you’re gonna need to get an engineer to, um, dial in the, y- the, to rerun the design codes basically, um, but with this weak structure now to see is this okay and is it okay, you know, uh, [00:03:00] obviously a turbine that is just, um, idle or it’s not even idle, it’s just fixed in place while they’re repairing it, that has different loads on it to one that’s operating. So, you know, they’ll run that and make sure that it’s safe, um, before they do the repair. So what I really like about Fraunhofer is that they in some ways, like- Maybe it’s not cutting-edge science or engineering because they are largely repeating what is already well known in industry. But the problem is that industry doesn’t tell everybody else. And so it is, like, such a vital role to then go and illustrate, um, to everybody else what, what’s happening in industry. And they, they are… Like, there is this problem with wind energy where academia and industry are not, um, talking too much, and a lot of the academic stuff just doesn’t relate at all to what’s happening in the industry. But Fraunhofer do, like, 90, 90% of the time seem to get it at pretty right.  Allen Hall: When a carbon protrusion is [00:04:00] used, that really localizes where the load is versus in, in some of the more fiberglass designs that I’ve seen, the shell is actually taking some of the load. It’s not all in the shear web, so to speak. So doesn’t that sort of focus the loads into one location a little bit more when you move to carbon? Isn’t that the point?  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Well, the carbon fiber is, is a lot, lot, lot stiffer than, um, fiberglass, and it’s, it’s a lot stronger. So yeah, you are designing… I, I mean, always the spar caps have been the main load carriers, the, um, you know, the main laminate, the bit between the shear webs or over the shear webs. Um, but it’s, yeah, it probably is, um uh, e- exacerbated or the increased effect when you add carbon fiber. But the, the thing about carbon fiber is it’s so susceptible to small damages or small deviations, so like a tiny little bit of fiber waviness, like if your fibers aren’t perfectly straight, then you can easily get a, a crack. And [00:05:00] carbon fiber can also be a lot less forgiving than fiberglass. It is not uncommon that it will just break, and you didn’t even know there was anything wrong. So that damage intolerance is what led to people moving away from carbon fiber fabric and into pultrusions, because they’re made with perfectly straight fibers. Um, but it, it raises some, uh, problems of its own because y- yeah, like how do you repair that? You can’t, um, you can’t get the fibers as straight again unless you repair a whole plank, um, because like they look like, like two-by-fours or something. You know, like they look like little fence palings, basically. Black, black fence palings. Um, and so yeah, you, you’d have to repair, replace a whole one, and then you’ve got like a big chunk of structure that’s missing there, so that’s pretty hard to do uptower. I, I don’t know anybody that does those uptower, actually. Um, m- maybe they can now with this reinforcement method, but I would still not enjoy being in a blade that was missing a, a [00:06:00] pultrusion and up in the air. Allen Hall: The offshore versus onshore equation, it, it would make more sense onshore to actually drop the blade, I assume. Offshore adds difficulty, but it sounds like with all the rigging a- and assembly that you would have to do offshore, it, it probably is gonna be close in terms of total cost to do an uptower repair versus a downtower repair I would think. It, it– Wouldn’t you think it’d be roughly right?  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, like in, in offshore, there’s always more motivation to do complicated, um, expe-expensive uh, things that will save you from having to do something even more expensive, like bringing, um, a whole blade back. Uh, yeah, going out, getting the vessel with the crane, bringing the blade down, and taking it in is just incredibly expensive. So you can spend a lot of time faffing around reinforcing a blade uptower before you, um, you know, would come out behind. But you know what? While we’re on topic of carbon pultrusions, I think it, like it, um, it’s almost bypassing the, the biggest risk with them ’cause [00:07:00] what I see is the– Like it’s one thing when you know you’ve got damage that you need to repair, but far more common, I think, is that you don’t even know that you’ve got damage. It’s very hard to, to see what’s going on in there. Um, I mean, people aren’t just going up periodically and doing ultrasounds, ul-ultrasound scans of their entire blade. But even if they were, it’s still not that easy to find all of the, the little damages in, in pultrusions. So, um, yeah, that’s something… ‘Cause it’s not such an old technology. It’s been around for, I, I don’t know, like not even 10 years these have been, being used consistently, probably more like five, um, that there’s been a lot of them out there. And I just, yeah, I, uh, maybe I’m overreacting because all I see is broken blades in my career, but, um, you know, I am a little bit worried that we’re gonna start to see as, you know, fatigue builds up, that we might start to see some more like sudden breakages in these blades. Allen Hall: If Fraunhofer’s working on it, there must be a reason for the [00:08:00] analysis and all the engineering time that they spent on it, that it’s a concern. I don’t know how you would do it offshore, honestly, because of all the wind loads. That you would have this damaged blade, and yes, you would have all the engineering calculations, but I would just see the safety people being very concerned about it. Because if it does go free, you have a couple of people up there minimum, and who knows what’s below.  Rosemary Barnes: But even the amount of time in between knowing that you have to, um, replace a pultrusion and actually getting up there to do it, like I’d be surprised that it didn’t break in that, in that time because it is such a big, a big, a big thing. Um, so yeah. Uh, but super interesting work and I do, I, I do really, really appreciate that the Fraunhofer exists to, you know, do this sort of stuff and, um, give us the information w-we need to get a better understanding. Allen Hall: Delamination and bondline failures in blades are [00:09:00]difficult problems to detect early. These hidden issues can cost you millions in repairs and lost energy production. CIC NDT are specialists to detect these critical flaws before they become expensive burdens. Their nondestructive test technology penetrates deep into blade materials to find voids and cracks traditional inspections completely miss. CIC NDT maps every critical defect, delivers actionable reports, and provides support to get your blades back in service. So visit CICNDT.com because catching blade problems early will save you millions UK government has deployed 15 million pounds, uh, which is about $20 million, uh, through Innovate UK in a coordinated push to move offshore wind technology from prototype stage into commercial supply chains. The package has three components: a 10 million [00:10:00] pound offshore wind innovation program, open competition for high potential businesses, a five million pound wind innovation hub to align industry, government, and research, and a 12 million pound effort for phase one of a large structures innovation center on the Isle of Wight, with Vestas already signed as its first industry partner for sustainable blade development. So the, the large structure innovation center is a composite center which is gonna be doing some advanced technology work on blade design. And I think there’s no better place to do that at the moment than in the UK. But it does open the door to a number of UK firms, and even outside the UK firms, to get involved in the UK offshore and somewhat on the onshore side. This has massive potential, I think, within the UK and outside the UK, Matthew.  Matthew Stead: I, I know from my own firsthand experience that, um, uh, actually getting into the wind space is, like, really [00:11:00] hard. So for this sort of, um, incubator and support around, um, you know, setting up businesses, I, I think this is a really, really good thing for the UK government to be doing. Um, ’cause, yeah, how do, how do you build up a future industry if you, if you don’t have the new businesses coming through? So I, I think it’s a, it’s a, it’s a great thing that the UK government’s doing. And yeah, and how do you get small companies working with the larger OEMs? How do you get the innovation? Yeah, it’s, yeah, I think that’s probably, you know, got five gold stars for the UK government.  Allen Hall: What are the areas that they should be focused on over the next couple of years? Obviously, blades is, is a massive one. I’m sure Vestas is gonna be deeply involved with that. Are there some other areas in technologies that the UK should be orienting its supply chains towards? Matthew Stead: I’m personally 100% biased towards blades ’cause w- we know that, you know, um, if we look at the failures and we look at the failure rate, you know, where is the greatest growth in failure rates? It’s blades. Um, [00:12:00]you know, why, why are we still having failures? Why haven’t we learned? You know, where is the knowledge exchange? Um, so I- I’m biased, but I think it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s needed in, in the blade space. Yeah, as what, you know, Rosie and you were talking about before, um, you know, knowing more about, um, what’s going on, how it can be repaired, how it can be dealt with, I think is super, super critical.  Allen Hall: Well, Vineyard Wind has its 62 turbines in the water south of Martha’s Vineyard, but the project is delivering only partial power while GE Vernova works through its outstanding repairs. Now, the financial pressure is breaking into public view on two fronts. Boston landlord BP Hancock LLC is suing Vineyard Offshore, uh, the Avangrid and BP joint venture, for nearly $1.2 million in back rent at its John Hancock Tower offices. Uh, separately, GE Vernova wants out of its turbine supply contract, claiming Vineyard Wind owes [00:13:00] it over $300 million. Vineyard Wind fires back that it is actually owed more than 800 million from GE Vernova, so that, that saga will continue for a while. But it is a little odd that the rent is not being paid by Vineyard Wind at, at, in the John Hancock Tower. And if you’re familiar… That’s downtown Boston. If you’re familiar with downtown Boston, that, the John Hancock Tower is one of those iconic buildings you see in pretty much every downtown photo of Boston. There must be a lot happening at the moment at Vineyard that they’re not able to pay the rent, or they’re trying to shuffle some money around or, or seek more financing. Sounds like they’re in a refinancing phase, honestly. Yeah,  Yolanda Padron: I know that at, at times there’s– it’s really common for, for an asset manager to think, you know, “Oh, we have X amount of money,” and then all of a sudden you– it’s all of the, the additional [00:14:00] repairs or the additional operational costs stack up to a bit more than they thought they were gonna have, and then maybe they don’t even have enough money to go do trash removal or anything. And that happens, and it’s more often than, than we’d like to admit. Um, but this is on a bigger scale, right? Like, this is a project that we’ve talked a lot about, everyone’s talked a lot about, and it has a lot of eyes on it. And so for it to, to be so behind on rent on such an iconic place and such an important place and such an important part of the country, backed by a very important company, it’s really, it’s really interesting to, to think about kind of what they’re thinking. ‘Cause in, in my mind, right, like, if I was the people backing them, I would think, “Okay, well, the f- first thing’s first, like, let’s not give them any additional reason to hate us right now.” Right? Or like, you know, the public opinion is really big on these kind of things. Um, so I, I don’t, I don’t know what the, what [00:15:00] the exact plan is here. Allen Hall: Well, I wonder if this is part of the, the negotiation with GE Vernova, that, uh, the, the payments and the, the power which leads to payments, uh, hasn’t been at it- its desired output from Vineyard Wind and is this an effort to, uh, shore up their legal case with GE Vernova to say, “Hey, look, uh, Avangrid’s not gonna throw a bunch of money in, even for rent. This project needs to stand on its own two feet, and it can, but GE Vernova needs to be involved with it and get the turbines up and running to the level at which they were contracted to do”? Is this part of that play? ‘Cause it just feels like it. You know Avon Grid has the money to pay the rent. That’s not even a question. It’s, but it’s why they are not doing it is probably the bigger question at the moment. Is, is it just all legal maneuvering at the minute?  Matthew Stead: I, I wonder if it’s a bit like, uh, you get the utility billing, you get the [00:16:00] electricity billing, you put it in the, the drawer over there, and then you forget about it, and then you forget to pay it, and-  Allen Hall: It’s a million dollars Matthew Stead: $1 million out of, uh, 600 or whatever billions, you know? Maybe it was, maybe it was just a simple oversight.  Allen Hall: It could totally be oversight, but it’s, it seems like with the amount of attention that Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova are, are getting, and they are literally within a stone’s throw of one another, they can s- I’m– You could probably see the GE Vernova building from the John Hancock Tower, that, uh, you, you think that some of this would get settled, but it’s not. It’s still going on. It’s, it’s crazy. It– With, and with Avon Grid and BP still being involved with it somewhat, uh, there’s something happening behind the scenes that has not poked its head up yet. It’s coming, though. This is all coming to a head pretty quickly. The– Massachusetts needs Vineyard Wind to run. They really do, and it’s, it is a little surprising at [00:17:00] times that the state of Massachusetts is standing on the sidelines in this.  Matthew Stead: As wind energy professionals, staying informed is crucial, and let’s face it, difficult. That’s why the  Allen Hall: Uptime Podcast recommends PES Wind Magazine. PES Wind offers a diverse range of in-depth articles and expert insights that dive into the most pressing issues facing our energy future. Whether you’re an industry veteran or new to wind, PES Wind has the high-quality content you need. Don’t miss out. Visit peswind.com today. In this quarter’s PES Wind, there’s a lot of good articles in there. If you don’t have a copy, you can go to peswind.com and download one. A interesting article from Safe Lifting, which is a European-based lifting company that does basically bespoke engineering on lifts, and they’ve been making a push that’s saying that the next wave of projects depends on bigger [00:18:00] turbines, of course, which means bigger lifts, but they need to have some standardization to them. Uh, things like spreader beams and rigging systems that are pre-built and pre-validated, uh, just reduce the overall engineering time it takes to do these lifts. Uh, and rental equipment models are a lot lower cost than buying OEM-specific or site-specific lift equipment, trying to keep the capital costs down. That’s one of the big pushes in the wind industry is lowering the overall cost of installation. It does make sense, but it– as we were talking off-air a minute ago, a lot of lifts for basically the same kind of turbine are different. The, the connection points are different. There’s a lot of engineering that goes on there, and as the turbine sizes reach 15 megawatts plus, and the cells are massive, blades are massive.[00:19:00] But it does seem like in a lot of other aspects of wind, there is some standardization, an IEC spec or some sort of overall guidance document for the industry that like, let’s put the lift points here, here, here, and here and lift with the right equipment. And Matthew, we just haven’t done it in lifting, even in smaller turbines, same thing. Matthew Stead: Oh, it’s crazy. Um, I was, I was thinking about it, and, you know, my, my suggestion would be that, you know, when I buy 100 turbines, I should get, um, a blade lifting kit. It’s like when you buy a car, you, you get a, you get a kit to change the tire, don’t you? So I would’ve thought it would be just fundamental. Um, but, but, but we know that the wind industry is not always logical. Um, so what is, what might be considered normal in a car is not normal for a wind turbine. Um, but yeah, uh, you know, this sounds like a perfect way of going to have more of a sort of standardized and, you know, not, not wait for the OEMs, but actually lead this and, and [00:20:00] drive this standardization. So yeah, thumbs up from me. Yolanda Padron: I think this is really cool. Uh, I really hope that if we can standardize the way that we do that, we can make sure that the teams are trained in, like, the standard ways of, of lifting. I know that, um, I’ve, I’ve seen a few cases where someone didn’t know, there hadn’t- been exposed to a particular blade type and they were in char- you know, in charge of, of lifting it to, to, to do a blade replacement and then, um, they accidentally ended up damaging the blade and so you had this bad crack that they kind of painted over because it was a little bit embarrassing for them at the time. And then, you know, a year later it’s like, well, okay, well, maybe next time ask someone, um, if you if you don’t know the, the exact lifting protocols or, or if you mess up, you know, let someone know. Um, but, but [00:21:00] yeah, the, you know, a lot of these, these smaller and, and larger structural cracks that, that come from, from lifting errors would be avoided if everybody was doing the same thing or the same two iterations of Of lifting standards, which is really exciting  Matthew Stead: Y- y- if you’ve got a wind farm, y- y- you’re guaranteed you’re gonna have to drop a blade at some point, aren’t you? Allen Hall: And a gearbox  Matthew Stead: and a generator It’s, it’s pretty much a given. So like, like I said before, I reckon it should just be part of the standard kit that you buy, is you, you, you buy a substation, but you also buy a lifting, a lifting kit as well.  Allen Hall: It’s one of the more, uh, dangerous parts of wind is lifting, clearly, and we’ve seen that over time. And, uh, having standardized equipment, back to Yolanda’s point, does make a lot of sense because if you’re out there doing this quite often and you have different rigging for every different OEM, you can get crosswise, and things happen. And if we had some standardization there, that would make a tremendous [00:22:00] amount of sense. That’s why, uh, Safe Lifting wrote this article on PES Wind. So if, if you wanna read this article, just visit peswind.com. When engineers plan an offshore wind farm, they try to account for everything, including seabirds. And at the Horns Rev wind farm in the Danish North Sea, the layout was meant to leave birds a clear way through, but the birds had, uh, ideas of their own. After 26 years of patient monitoring, researchers found that the turbines did not simply chase wildlife away. Instead, they reshuffled the entire neighborhood in the sky, turning some species into avoiders and others into opportunists. So this has been a big discussion in the wind industry for a long time, particularly for offshore wind projects, of what to do with the birds. And the early assumption was that, hey, let’s just give them a pathway where they can fly [00:23:00] through, and birds have made up their minds. Some are taking that path. Others are avoiding it because of the change in the which, uh, species are hanging out where. This is a remarkable outcome, and it’s been going on long enough that there’s, uh, some statistical relevance to it now. Do we need to get some bird psychologists involved in these offshore projects on how we think of how birds behave? Because I think to the engineering community, you know, like, you, you put a road there for you to fly through, bird, and then you decide not to. This is at a different level than engineering. Yolanda Padron: I think it’s great to do as much as you can do, right? It’s amazing that they did all of this work. It is kind of funny. I mean, it’s, it’s sad. I’ve… I’m, I’m gonna get into trouble on LinkedIn or something by someone. I, I mean, it’s, it’s sad, of course, if, if birds get hit, right? But it’s, it’s, we can’t control everything. You [00:24:00] know, as much planning that went into this, it’s And what’s the next step here?  Matthew Stead: Well, first of all, 26 years? Is that correct? Yeah, 26 years. I mean, m- I, my- the thought that came to mind is that sometimes engineers don’t understand the natural environment. Sorry, just, just take that as a, as a observation. But, you know, I- it just reminds me of when, um, when civil engineers lay out paths and pavement, you know, they put a path in, but then people walk around it. People do whatever they wanna do. And so, you know, I, I don’t think we can actually design out some of these things because we just will never understand the bird, we’ll never understand the human. Um, so yeah, I think put a little bit of effort in. I think going back to what Yolanda said, just put a, a bit of effort in. But yeah, actually, there are some things in this world we can’t control.  Yolanda Padron: Yeah, I mean, [00:25:00] there’s, there’s of course endangered species. There’s of course, you know, a lot of, a lot of monitoring companies out there that do a really good job. Depending on what you need and depending on, you know… You can tailor your site needs around w- what’s gonna happen, right? Or, you know, if you know that you’re in the migratory pattern of a particular species- There’s, I know there’s a lot of very smart people hard at work to make sure that your site is tailored to fit what needs to, what needs to happen there. And it’s great. I think it’s a great, it’s great to know, you know, that, that people in this industry care about birds. I know I once had to go through extra check at TSA because the, the person there said, you know, “Oh, you work in wind? Save the birds.” And then he sent me through this, like, a lot, because he, he thought I was killing birds every day. Um, so I mean, you know, [00:26:00] we’re not killing birds out here, and it’s great, and it’s lovely to see all the hard work that goes into this. But it, but it also, it’s, it’s important to note that the plans aren’t gonna be 100% foolproof, and that’s okay. You can just try your best.  Allen Hall: What’s the one bird you would assume as an engineer would not care if the wind turbines were there or not? The bird you see absolutely everywhere around the sea. Matthew Stead: Seagull.  Allen Hall: Seagull. They do not care. They love wind turbines. They’ll use them as perches. I’m sure that, uh, yeah, a lot of, uh, technicians had to deal with seagulls, uh, hanging around the wind turbines. That has to be a thing. So it just depends on the species, for sure. Which is unique, right? E- every species has its own separate personality and things that it likes to do. Uh, so in some of the wind turbines, I’m sure the seagulls are probably an annoyance, but they’re gonna let them be. And s- and some other species just don’t wanna be around the wind turbines, so even if you put a pathway through them, they’re just not gonna be [00:27:00] there. That’s an interesting finding.  Matthew Stead: It’s like onshore as well. I mean, cows and sheep love to stand in the shade of a wind turbine, so they like to hang around. They scratch themselves on the, on the, the stair. You know, they, they rub themselves on the bolt covers. You know, they try and eat stuff. Goats, goats are particularly bad.  Allen Hall: Goats are really aggressive on wind farms for finding wires. Absolutely. An- anything to eat.  Yolanda Padron: Raccoons.  Allen Hall: Yes. Raccoons.  Yolanda Padron: Snakes.  Allen Hall: The snakes do hide out in the shade. That is one thing you gotta be careful about is, uh, especially in Texas, of kicking over a rock and finding a snake, so make a lot of noise when you’re walking in Texas. That’s the plan. That wraps up another episode of the Uptime: Wind Energy podcast. If today’s discussion sparked any questions or ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you found some value in today’s conversation, [00:28:00] please leave us a review. It really helps other wind energy professionals discover the show. So for Rosie, Yolanda, and Matthew, I’m Allen Hall, and I’ll see you here next week on the Uptime: Wind Energy podcast.

Holy Shed Presents | Family Values Part 1 (What on Earth was Paul on About) Welcome back to the littlest parish in the whole of Christendom. Join me for more chat and insights about my way of reading and interpreting parts of the bible and the world we live in. Follow Holy Shed on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/theholyshed/ Support Holy Shed on Ko-fi; https://ko-fi.com/holyshed follow Dave on https://facebook.com/dave.tomlinson.925/ follow Dave on https://instagram.com/bad_christian/Go

In this week's Holy Girl Summer episode, we laid the foundation for understanding spiritual gifts—what they are, why God gives them, and how they help us become all that He created us to be. Together, we explored key passages we'll be studying throughout this series:

What does it really mean to “be holy”? Is holiness something we achieve through rule-keeping and personal effort, or does Scripture point us to something greater? In this message, we examine the biblical call to holiness and discover that our standing before God is not based on our own righteousness but on the perfect righteousness … Continue reading "Be Ye Holy"

“What am I in it for?” The saints are not in it to perform—they are in it for love. Have you met the One who calls you His child?

Acts 6:8-8:3 • Holy Resistance, part 3 • Rick Zaman Rick Zaman Download TEACHING SLIDES

In episode 428 Matt Lowe and Dave Roberts discuss Paris Peace Accords 2.0, California is verifying gay contractors, bible verses on hats, burning crosses, nude Shrek vs. freedom of speech, clarity in medical pricing, the courts hand down Second Amendment wins, and it is getting special under the Gold Dome.

The best most blissful of earthly marriage is no more than a temporary foreshadowing of the eternal joy of our true marriage. 

The messages that were sent to the 7 different communities of believers detailed in Ch. 2 & 3 of Revelation are remarkable.  We conclude that these are representative of the various types of communities of believers that have existed ever since that era.   One particular message caught our attention today, the words that were written to Sardis (Ch.3 v.1).  You “have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead” – what a message!   But, the message also includes, “you still have a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments (of righteousness), and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.” [v.5].  Of such, Jesus says, “I will confess his name before my father” [v.5].   What will Jesus “confess”?  What is a “name”?  We recall the promise God made to King David, “I will make for you a great name, like the names of the great ones of the earth” [2Sam.7 v.9].  This is “name” in the sense of reputation or fame, as many modern versions translate it.   Quite a number of Scriptures tell us how God made a name for himself, we will soon read an example of this in Isaiah – Ch. 63 v12,14.In the light of these examples we conclude that when Jesus says of those few in Sardis that he will “confess” their “name before my father” – he means he will confess the reputation that such have made for themselves.  We meditate and imagine it will be names or reputations such as “patient endurance” [Rev. 2 v.2] “not grown weary” [v.3] “hold fast” [v.25] and many other particular qualities of a Christ-like character. Such, says Jesus, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God” [3 v.12,21] adding, “… and I will write on him the name of my God … and my own new name…. I will grant him to sit with me on my throne.” May we all, in true humility, so live that we make a worthy reputation for ourselves in the sight of our Saviour that he will  lovingly confess before his Father when he returns to this earth.  At that time with what overwhelming emotion will we join in the proclamation we read of this morning, “'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!'”  [Ch.4 v.8]

Todaywe begin a new section in Philippians chapter 3. In the previous verses, Paulhas been sharing the great passion of his heart when he said, "That I mayknow Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of Hissufferings." Now, as we come to Philippians 3:12, Paul begins to describehis pursuit of Christ. He writes: "Not as though I had alreadyattained, either were already perfect..." Paul gives us one of themost important secrets of spiritual growth, and it is surprisingly simple. Thesecret is this: never become satisfied with where you are spiritually. Nowthink about who is making this statement. This is not a new convert. This isnot a believer who has only been walking with Christ for a few months. This isthe Apostle Paul. By the time he writes Philippians, Paul has walked withChrist for nearly thirty years. And yet, Paul says: "Not as though Ihad already attained, either were already perfect." The word"perfect" here does not mean sinless perfection. It means complete,finished, mature, or having fully arrived at the goal. Paulis saying, "I have not crossed the finish line yet. God's work in my lifeis not complete." What humility! The very man we would probably considerone of the greatest Christians who ever lived looked at himself and said,"I still have room to grow." One of the surest marks of spiritualmaturity is realizing how much more maturity is needed. The closer we get toJesus, the more clearly we see areas in our lives that need His transforminggrace. Have you ever noticed that when you first clean a window, it lookspretty good? But when the sunlight shines through it, suddenly you noticestreaks and smudges you never saw before.  1John 1:7 says: “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we havefellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses usfrom all sin.”  The closer we walkwith Christ, the brighter His light shines on our hearts. We begin to seeattitudes, motives, habits, and weaknesses that need to change. That does notdiscourage a growing Christian. Instead, it motivates him. Paul had what wemight call a holy dissatisfaction. He was satisfied with Christ, but he was notsatisfied with his own spiritual progress. There is a tremendous differencebetween those two things. Paul had found complete satisfaction in Jesus Christ,but he still longed to know Him more deeply, love Him more fully, and serve Himmore faithfully. Sadly,one of the greatest dangers in the Christian life is spiritual complacency. Thechurch at Laodicea is a perfect example. In Revelation 3:17 they said: "Iam rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing."ButJesus saw them differently. He said they were: "Wretched, miserable, poor,blind, and naked."  They thoughtthey had arrived when in reality they were far from where they needed to be.That danger still exists today.  Sometimeswe compare ourselves with other Christians instead of comparing ourselves withChrist. Paul never compared himself to other believers.He compared himself to Jesus Christ. And when you compare yourself to Jesus,there is always room to grow. Psalm42:1-2 gives us a beautiful picture of holy dissatisfaction: "As thedeer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soulthirsts for God, for the living God." The psalmist was not contentwith yesterday's fellowship. He longed for more of God today. That was Paul'sattitude. That should be our attitude as well. A satisfied Christian is often astagnant Christian. The Christian race is not over until we see Jesus face toface. There are still lessons to learn, victories to win, prayers to pray,people to reach, and ways to become more like Christ. So let us embrace whatPaul embraced—a holy dissatisfaction that keeps us pursuing Christ every day ofour lives. 

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. I first read those words more than twenty years ago in John Pipers The Pleasures of God. Second only to the Bible, that book has had a profound impact on my life. I have owned several copies over the years; my first copy had to be replaced because I wore it out, and the copy on my shelf today is well marked. To give you a sense of why Pipers book means so much to me, let me read something I underlined from his chapter, The Pleasure of God in His Creation: What is the universe but the lavish demonstration of the incredible, incomparable, unimaginable exuberance and wisdom and power and greatness of God! What a God he must be! In that book, Piper says this about prayer: God is the kind of God who delights most deeply not in making demands but in meeting needs. Prayer is his delight because prayer shows the far reaches of our poverty and the full riches of his grace. Then he gives an image for prayer that has stayed with me. He says, Prayer is the walkie-talkie on the battlefield of the world. It is not a domestic intercom to increase the comforts of the saints, but a wartime means of calling upon God for courage, protection, provision, reinforcements, and the advance of His Word. It is not that I didnt believe Pipers words then; it is that prayer was not part of the culture of my heart in the same way that it is now. My prayer is that what we learn from Revelation 8:15 will help us see prayer the way heaven sees it. Last week, we saw that John heard the number of Gods sealed people144,000 from the tribes of Israelbut when he looked, he saw a great multitude no one could number from every nation, tribe, people, and language. I do not believe these are two different peoples of God, but Jews and Gentiles gathered into one redeemed people through Israels Messiah, the Lamb who purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. We also saw that the list of the 144,000 has the feel of a military census, like Numbers 1, where Israel was counted by tribe according to the men able to go to war. But Revelation 7 begins with Judah, because from Judah came the Lion who is also the Lamb. In other words, Revelation 7 gives us a symbolic picture of the people of God gathered, sealed, and ordered around the conquering Lamb. Whatever you believe about the 144,000, their commitment and loyalty to the Lamb is a picture of discipleship and abiding in Jesus. Revelation 14:4 says, It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They are not pictured as passive spectators. They are sealed saints who live with a wartime ethic. Now, when we come to Revelation 8:15, there is a dramatic pause of silence. At the center of that silence stands an angel at the altar with a golden censer. Revelation has already linked incense with prayer. In Revelation 5:8, the elders held golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. In Revelation 6, the martyred saints cried out beneath the altar, O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long? Now, in Revelation 8, the prayers of all the saints rise before God with the smoke of the incense. Then the angel takes fire from the altar, fills the censer, and throws it to the earth. The prayers of the saints rise before the throne, and the fire of Gods judgment falls upon the earth. The Silence Before the Throne of God Notice what precedes the silence in heaven. Remember what I said previously: if the six seals describe what is happening on the world stage in Gods theater, then Revelation 7 shows us what is happening behind the curtain during the first six seals. Notice the language used in Revelation 7:1517: Therefore they are before the throne of God,and serve him day and night in his temple;and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,and he will guide them to springs of living water,and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Remember whose vision this is. It is Johns vision. The John who wrote these words in our Bibles is the same John who heard Jesus say, If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also (John 12:26). To the hungry and thirsty, John heard Jesus say, I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst (John 6:35). Regarding our need for a shepherd, John heard Jesus say, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). What is my point? The language used to describe Johns vision of the multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language before the throne is the language of abiding brought to its final fulfillment. Revelation 7:1517 shows us the completed experience of abiding in Christ and where it ultimately leads: Those who abide in Jesus now, will dwell before God then. Those who come to Jesus as the Bread of Life now, will hunger no more then. Those who drink from Jesus as the fountain of living water now, will thirst no more then. Those who follow Jesus as the Good Shepherd now, will be guided by the Lamb forever then. To be a Christian is to be a person who abides in Jesus. Jesus never made this optional. If you are struggling to see the connection, let me share what Jesus said in John 15: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. (vv. 14) Then Jesus said of all who abide in Him, If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you (John 15:7). The evidence that you are abiding in Jesus is that you desire to follow the Lamb wherever he goes (Rev. 14:4). And one of the evidences that you are following the Lamb is that you pray. Listen, abiding in Jesus and prayer are not separate. You cannot abide in Christ apart from a praying life. Prayer is the language of abiding. The sealed people of the Lamb are not passive spectators. They are not casual in their Christianity, and they are not content with merely warming chairs on Sunday morning. They are consecrated saints living with a wartime ethic, and one of the primary ways they wage war is by bringing their poverty, weakness, burdens, and cries before the throne of God. So, against the backdrop of Revelation 7, where John hears the people of God numbered as 144,000 and then sees them as a great multitude before the throne, the Lamb opens the seventh seal. And when He does, heaven falls silent. The Prayers Before the Throne of God Remember what I have said about the book of Revelation: it is the crescendo of the whole counsel of Gods Word, packaged into twenty-two glorious chapters. The themes that run from Genesis 1:1 through Jude 25 converge in Johns apocalypse. Genesis begins, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Jude ends by praising the God who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy (Jude 24). Between Genesis and Jude, one of Scriptures great themes is clear: the people of God live in the middle of a war. Martyn Lloyd-Jones rightly said, There is no grosser or greater misrepresentation of the Christian message than that which depicts it as offering us a life of ease with no battle and no struggle at all.... The first thing we must realize is that the Christian life is a warfare, that we are strangers in an alien land, that we are in the enemys territory. The war is ongoing and unrelentingbut our strength to engage it does not come from within ourselves; it comes from the Lord. This is why Paul wrote, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). This is why Revelation does not picture the church as passengers on a cruise ship drifting comfortably through calm waters. No, we are at war, and the church is made up of sealed, redeemed people who follow the Lamb, resist the dragon, refuse Babylon, and find their source of power and strength before the throne of God through prayer. That is why Paul urges us to put on the whole armor of God so we may stand against the devils schemes (Eph. 6:11). Yet the armor of God is not secured by human effort, self-discipline, or religious activity. It is ours because we are in Christ. He is our truth. He is our righteousness. He is our peace. He is our salvation. He is the Word who gives us the sword of the Spirit. We put on the armor by abiding in Jesus, and we stand firm in it by praying at all times in the Spirit (Eph. 6:18). Now, with the image of 144,000 sealed warriors of the Lamb, clothed in the armor of God and standing firm in prayer, we are ready to understand why Revelation 8:15 matters so much. Do not miss where the angel stands in verse 3. He stands at the altar with a golden censer, and he is given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. Remember, this is not the first time Revelation has connected incense with prayer. In Revelation 5:8, the elders held golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Then, when the fifth seal was opened, John saw the souls of the martyrs beneath the altar crying out, O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? (6:10). Here in Revelation 8, John sees these prayersthe prayers of all the saintsrising before God with the smoke of incense in the presence of God Almighty. Notice that what rises before God is not only the prayers of the martyrs but the prayers of all the saints. Not only the prayers of pastors, but all the saints. Not only the prayers of the spiritually mature, but also the prayers of those who are struggling. The prayers of all the saints rise before God. Every person whose faith rests in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, has access to the throne of God through the blood of Jesus. This means that even the weakest cry of the weakest saint, offered through Christ, is not ignored in heaven. All of this takes place within the silence of heaven, but what John sees cannot be misunderstood: God hears the prayers of all who have been redeemed by the blood of His Son. At this moment, John watches the angel take the censer, fill it with fire from the altar, and cast it to the earth. Then peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake pierce the silence. These are the images and sounds of the perfect justice of a holy God. Heaven is silent, but God is not indifferent. His people cry out, and He answers in His time, in His way, and according to His holy character. Joel Beeke says of these verses, Prayer is powerful and effective in this world because God takes more notice of the prayers of His saints than He does the dictates or decrees of governments. When the prayers of the saints ascended to God in heaven, John writes that the earth was shaken with thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake as seven angels prepared to sound seven trumpets. God wants to impress upon us the effectiveness of prayer.... God is saying this: By your prayers, I will overthrow governments. I will confound human plans; I will turn the world upside down, casting the wicked to the ground and delivering My ransomed people. That is why prayer is not a small thing. Prayer is one of the means by which God accomplishes His purposes in history.It is not that our prayers bend God to our will, but as we abide in Christ, we bend to His will. And this same God, who does all that he pleases (Ps. 115:3), is pleased to hear the prayers of His people. Proverbs 15:8 says, the prayer of the upright is His delight (BSB). Conclusion So, permit me to leave you with three questions: If prayer is the language of abiding, what does your prayer life say about your dependence on Jesus? If prayer is the walkie-talkie on the battlefield of the world, have you been using itor have you been trying to fight in your own strength? If heaven receives the prayers of all the saints, can you really say that God has not heard you, or that your prayers do not matter to Him? Listen to me: even the weakest saint, crying out in the name of Jesus, is heard before the throne of God. If you are a Christian, you have access to the throne of God through the Son of God because of the blood of the Lamb. So pray. Pray when you feel weak. Pray when you are afraid. Pray when you do not know what to do. Pray for your family. Pray for this church. Pray for the lost. Pray for those suffering for the name of Christ. Pray for the kingdom to come and for the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven. John Piper closes his chapter on prayer with a quote from Patrick Johnstone that I believe serves as an appropriate conclusion to this sermon: Let us mobilize prayer! We can tip the scales of history. Christians can be the controlling factor in the unfolding drama of todays worldlet us not allow ourselves to be chased around by the enemy, but let us go up at once and take the kingdoms of this world for Jesus (Numbers 13:30; Daniel 7:18)He is delighted to give them to us (Daniel 7:22, 27; Luke 12:32). In practical terms, may these truths make our prayer lives as individuals, and in prayer meetings, outward-looking, Satan-shaking, captive-releasing, kingdom-taking, revival-giving, Christ-glorifying power channels for God! Prayer is not how we bend God to our will; prayer is how we abide in Christ, draw near to the Father, and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, join in the purposes of the sovereign God who hears the prayers of all His saints.

The book of Ecclesiastes sets you up for everlasting truths; it's all about the conclusion of the matter. It exposes all the false loves of Solomon. If everything under the sun is meaningless, where do you find meaning? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom! Pastor Mike Patz concludes our series, What's the Point, a look at meaning, purpose, and the point behind it all. Heed the warning! Living in the fear of the Lord means recognizing and honoring His holiness, power, and great might. It means loving God with your whole being. We live in a culture of dishonor, and there is a concerning lack of awe in the world today that must be rectified. He is more magnificent than any other! Holy, holy, holy, we stand in awe of Him. Yet even in His holiness, God desires that we come close in love. Holiness and love came together in the cross for us.

Did You Put the Veil Back Up? Discussion Questions for Hebrews 9: Hebrews 9 says the old covenant had barriers, veils, priests, repeated sacrifices, and limited access. Where do you still tend to live as though there is a barrier between you and God? What would change if you believed Christ has brought you all the way in? The priests entered the outer room continually, but the Holy of Holies was entered only once a year by the high priest. How does this contrast help you appreciate your daily, personal access to God through Jesus? Do you relate to God freely, or do you still feel like you need to "wait outside"? Verse 12 says Jesus entered the holy place "once for all" and obtained "eternal redemption." What does "once for all" do to the idea that you need to keep proving yourself, re-earning forgiveness, or getting spiritually "re-cleansed"? Verse 14 says the blood of Christ cleanses our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. What are some "dead works" believers today might still rely on to feel okay with God? How is serving God different when it comes from a cleansed conscience instead of a guilty one? Jesus is called the mediator of a new covenant. What does it mean to you that your relationship with God is not determined ("mediated") by your performance, your consistency, or your spiritual résumé but by Jesus Himself? Hebrews 9 connects forgiveness with blood, sacrifice, and covenant. Why is it important that forgiveness is not God "looking the other way," but God fully dealing with sin through Christ? How does that make forgiveness feel more secure? Where do you need to stop standing outside the veil and start living like someone who is always inside the Holy of Holies?

Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Gotta Be Saints, Brendan sits down with Dr. Greg Bottaro to discuss the importance of holy curiosity and what it means to truly listen well. In a culture marked by division, assumptions, quick judgments, and constant noise, Dr. Greg explains why authentic listening is essential for healthy relationships, meaningful conversations, healing, and Christian witness.Drawing from Catholic psychology, Scripture, marriage, friendships, and the example of Christ Himself, this conversation explores how curiosity opens the door to understanding another person's heart without compromising truth. Dr. Greg also shares insights from his own vocational journey, the influence of Fr. Benedict Groeschel, and how accompaniment rooted in empathy and attentiveness can transform relationships.Together, Brendan and Dr. Greg discuss conflict, communication in marriage, emotional wounds, social media culture, and the deep human desire to be truly seen and understood. This episode is an invitation to slow down, listen intentionally, and rediscover the power of presence in a distracted world.Featured BookThe Mindful Catholic: Finding God One Moment at a Time by Dr. Greg BottaroOrder the Book on AmazonLearn More About the CatholicPsych InstituteVisit CatholicPsych InstituteSponsored by TruthlyTruthly helps faithful Catholics find trustworthy answers to life's biggest questions through AI built with a Catholic worldview.Visit TruthlyStay ConnectedInstagram:@gottabesaints InstagramFacebook:Gotta Be Saints Facebook Support the show

Morning Offering, June 21, 2026 is brought to you by  Catholic Coffee: https://bit.ly/3Qw3wW4Discover the powerful symbolism behind the holy oils of the Church and why baptism is seen as the beginning of spiritual warfare.Every morning, join Father Brad as he begins the day with prayer and reflection. In a few short minutes, Father Brad guides you in prayer, shares a brief reflection grounding your day in the Church's rhythm of feast days and liturgy, and provides you with the encouragement necessary to go forward with peace and strength. Disclaimer: The ads shown before, during, or after this video have no affiliation with Morning Offering and are controlled by YouTubeLet us do as the saints urge and begin our days in prayer together so as a community of believers we may join the Psalmist in saying, “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” (Psalm 5:3-4)________________

Sermon delivered on the Fourth Sunday After Pentecost, 2026, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, by Rev. Tobias Bayer.  Epistle: Rom. 8:18–23  |  Gospel: Luke 5: 1–11

Holy-water protocols pay off at last, and the team interrogates a shapeshifter.

Father's Day Message"One of the best indicators that your relationship with Jesus is just a hobby is when it is seasonal."

jun_14_2026.mp3File Size: 74384 kbFile Type: mp3Download File [...]

Have you ever worried you committed the unforgivable sin? You’re not alone. In one of the most misunderstood passages in the Bible, Jesus talks about a sin with eternal consequences—and for generations people have wondered if they’ve accidentally crossed a line they can never come back from. In this message from Mark 3, we unpack […]

Central Christian Church is a non-denominational church in Wichita, KS. We are happy to share the teaching of our pastors and friends with you through this podcast. If you have any questions or want to know more about us, visit https://www.ccc.org/ Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49625304 Romans 13:12-13

Using holy imagination in our faith means our traditions should not bind us from serving God or restricting others in their service. Scripture: Acts 2:14-17 

You Shall Make Holy Garments for Glory and for Beauty (Exodus 28) Troy De Bruin Download

Big thanks to all our loyal podcasters!!! We appreciate you!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He was one of the Twelve and a kinsman of the Lord according to the flesh (see Luke 6:16, Acts 1:13; according to holy Tradition, Joseph the Carpenter, before he was widowed, had four sons by his wife Salome: James, Hosea, Simon and Jude). As an Apostle, St Jude preached in Mesopotamia, Arabia and Syria, and met a Martyr's end in Beirut. He is the author of the New Testament Epistle that bears his name. His name ("Judas" in Greek, from "Judah" in Hebrew) means "praise".

e358 Bold Predictions, Bold Deathbed Requests, Bold Holy Communions by Paul George

Holy Wars — Show Notes: Fight Laugh Feast Documentary In this Fight Laugh Feast documentary, CrossPolitic traces the inescapable question of holiness from Moses at the burning bush through the Great Awakenings, the Crusades, and into the present culture war — arguing that holiness is not private sentiment but public, world-transforming fire. Featuring historical and theological commentary from Joe Boot and others, the documentary confronts counterfeit holiness in both secular activism and charismatic revivalism, and calls Christians to fight a holy war with the weapons God has actually given them: his Word, his Spirit, and his people. Timestamps 0:00 — Intro — Moses, the burning bush, and the holy ground that launched a nation 0:43 — How we've privatized holiness — and who filled the public square when we did 1:53 — Holiness is inescapable: not whether, but which 3:06 — The First Great Awakening — Edwards, justification by faith, and national cohesion 4:14 — From holy ground to holy war: how the Great Awakening built the War for Independence 5:46 — The Second Great Awakening — emotionalism, manipulation, cults, and cultural chaos 9:25 — Activism fills the vacuum — and the turn toward natural law and raw political power 11:03 — Sponsor: Patriot Mobile 12:22 — What holiness actually is: the fiery presence of the triune God 14:36 — Creation, the Fall, sacrifice, and the way back into God's presence 18:44 — Golgotha — the curtain torn, the fire unleashed, we are holy ground 21:38 — Is actual war holy? Just war theory: Augustine, Aquinas, and the Reformers 23:24 — The Black-Robed Regiment, the lesser magistrate, and the War for Independence 27:43 — The Crusades — were they just wars? Separating the first, fourth, seventh, and eighth 31:20 — Counterfeit holiness: BLM as pilgrimage, anti-racism as penance, revivalism as emotional currency 34:20 — The question before this generation: Christ's finished holiness or substitutes that leave ash 34:45 — Fight Laugh Feast 2026: Holy Wars — speakers, theme, and why we're gathering 36:18 — We are that bush — holy war in family, church, and state until the earth is full of his glory 43:46 — Deus vult — God wills it. He always has. He is doing it. Fight Laugh Feast 2026: Holy Wars Join us October 1–3 in Franklin, Tennessee for the Fight Laugh Feast Conference. This year's theme mirrors the documentary: Holy Wars — Just War, the Crusades, and the Christian Life. Featuring Doug Wilson, Joe Boot, George Grant, Jared Longshore, Joe Rigney, Ben Merkel, and the CrossPolitic crew. Early Bird pricing ends July 1st — we're nearly halfway sold out. Tickets: https://tickets.flfnetwork.com/holy-wars-conference This Episode's Sponsors Patriot Mobile America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. Same nationwide 4G and 5G coverage as the major carriers — with U.S.-based customer support and dollars that fund religious freedom, constitutional rights, the sanctity of life, and veterans and first responders. Switch today and get a free activation with code CROSSPOLITIC. Website: patriotmobile.com/crosspolitic About CrossPolitic CrossPolitic exists to put Jesus over Politics and reclaim the public square through bold, joyful, biblically grounded media. We confront the chaos discipling America and build the next generation of Christian media infrastructure. Our mission is simple: all of Christ for all of media for all of America. Mainstream media is collapsing. Eighty-seven percent of journalists identify as progressive, and even many conservative outlets prioritize profit over principle. Meanwhile, billions of hours of digital content are discipling the world every day. CrossPolitic stands in that gap, producing courageous, entertaining, truth-filled media for households, churches, and leaders across the nation. Become a CrossPolitic Club Member Support the mission and unlock exclusive content, behind-the-scenes shows, and theology series. https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/menu/checkout Subscribe & Share! Every like, comment, and share helps push Christian media back into the algorithm where it belongs. Follow CrossPolitic YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CROSSPOLITIC X: https://x.com/CrossPolitic Facebook: https://facebook.com/crosspolitic Instagram: https://instagram.com/crosspolitic Email List: https://crosspolitic.com/ Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NRBTV, DirecTV, Dish, and everywhere podcasts are found. #CrossPolitic #HolyWars #FightLaughFeast #JustWar #Crusades #ChristianMedia #Holiness

Tyler and Jimmy lived some very different weekends, and they are here to talk about it and everything else they have going on. Jimmy spent the weekend at dance recitals for the Assistant. She had two ballet recitals and one tap recital. He also went and worked at the RTAA theater for stage setup. Tyler was off camping with the family at a cool new waterfall spot. He really loved it till he was on the way home and punched a hole in his Lance Camper with a dropped tree. SnailTrail4x4 Discord: https://discord.gg/yFyFFkQbuyCome hang out with us on the SnailTrail4x4 Discord — it’s the easiest way to connect with Tyler and Jimmy directly, chat with fellow offroad enthusiasts, and get first access to Group Buys and Treasure Hunt token drops. MORRFlate Giveaway at 900 Reviews on Apple Podcast. But our next giveaway is when we reach 800 reviews; we are giving away an OnX Elite Membership. We will also give away an OnX Elite membership when we get to 850. However, when we reach 900 Reviews, we are teaming up with MORRFlate for a $1000 MF Product Giveaway. Go over to Apple Podcasts to leave your review now and become eligible to win. Congratulations to A13XMONT, who won a set of tires from Yokohama Tire! Call us and leave us a VOICEMAIL!!! We want to hear from you even more!!! You can call and say whatever you like! Ask a question, leave feedback, correct some information about welding, say how much you hate your Jeep, and wish you had a Toyota! We will air them all, live, on the podcast! +01-916-345-4744. If you have any negative feedback, you can call our negative feedback hotline, 408-800-5169. 4Wheel Underground has all the suspension parts you need to take your off-road rig from leaf springs to a performance suspension system. We just ordered our kits for Kermit and Samantha and are looking forward to getting them. The ordering process was quite simple, and after answering the questionnaire, we ensured we got the correct and best-fitting kits for our vehicles. If you want to level up your suspension game, check out 4Wheel Underground. SnailTrail4x4 Podcast is brought to you by all of our peeps over at irate4x4! Make sure to stop by and see all of the great perks you get for supporting SnailTrail4x4! Discount Codes, Monthly Give-Always, Gift Boxes, the SnailTrail4x4 Community, and the ST4x4 Treasure Hunt! Thank you to all of those who support us! We couldn’t do it without you guys (and gals!)! SnailSquad Monthly Giveaway This month’s giveaway is with Iceco Freezers. We are excited to work with and share their exciting new releases. One lucky winner has a chance to an ALP20 Fridge. Big thanks to Iceco for sponsoring this month’s giveaway. If you want a chance to win, sign up for the Giveaway Tier on Irate4x4 Congrats to Johnny Freskie, you won the Rusoh Fire Extinguishers. We have one of their 2.5-pound extinguishers to give away to a lucky winner. This extinguisher has an 18-year shelf life and is the best fire extinguisher for any off-road vehicle. To learn more, check out Rusoh.com. If you want a chance to win, sign up for the Giveaway Tier on Irate4x4 Listener Discount Codes: SnailTrail4x4 –SnailTrail15 for 15% off SnailTrail4x4 MerchMORRFlate – snailtraill4x4 to get 10% off MORRFlate Multi Tire Inflation Deflation™ Kits4WheelUnderground – snailtrail 10% offIronman 4×4 – snailtrail20 to get 20% off all Ironman 4×4 branded equipment!Sidetracked Offroad – snailtrail4x4 (lowercase) to get 15% off lights and recovery gearSpartan Rope – snailtrail4x4 to get 10% off sitewideShock Surplus – SNAILTRAIL4x4 to get $25 off any order!Mob Armor – SNAILTRAIL4X4 for 15% offSummerShine Supply – ST4x4 for 10% offBackpacker’s Pantry – Affiliate LinkLaminx Protective Films – Use the Link to get 20% off all products (Affiliate Link) Show Music: Midroll Music – ComaStudio Outroll Music – Meizong Kumbang

If you’re feeling restless or weighed down tonight, you’re not alone. This biblical sleep meditation, narrated by Chloë Elmore, is designed to help your body relax and your mind rest in the peace of God’s Word. Drift into restful sleep with this gentle story inspired by 1 Chronicles 16:9, inviting you to sing and speak of God’s wonders. Let its soothing narration quiet your mind as your body settles into peace. Abide is a Christian meditation app offering biblically grounded meditations and sleep stories to help you experience the peace of Christ and find rest for your soul. Try Abide free for 30 days and explore our premium, ad-free sleep content here: https://abide.com/peaceDiscover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us

Holy Wars — Show Notes: Fight Laugh Feast Documentary In this Fight Laugh Feast documentary, CrossPolitic traces the inescapable question of holiness from Moses at the burning bush through the Great Awakenings, the Crusades, and into the present culture war — arguing that holiness is not private sentiment but public, world-transforming fire. Featuring historical and theological commentary from Joe Boot and others, the documentary confronts counterfeit holiness in both secular activism and charismatic revivalism, and calls Christians to fight a holy war with the weapons God has actually given them: his Word, his Spirit, and his people. Timestamps 0:00 — Intro — Moses, the burning bush, and the holy ground that launched a nation 0:43 — How we've privatized holiness — and who filled the public square when we did 1:53 — Holiness is inescapable: not whether, but which 3:06 — The First Great Awakening — Edwards, justification by faith, and national cohesion 4:14 — From holy ground to holy war: how the Great Awakening built the War for Independence 5:46 — The Second Great Awakening — emotionalism, manipulation, cults, and cultural chaos 9:25 — Activism fills the vacuum — and the turn toward natural law and raw political power 11:03 — Sponsor: Patriot Mobile 12:22 — What holiness actually is: the fiery presence of the triune God 14:36 — Creation, the Fall, sacrifice, and the way back into God's presence 18:44 — Golgotha — the curtain torn, the fire unleashed, we are holy ground 21:38 — Is actual war holy? Just war theory: Augustine, Aquinas, and the Reformers 23:24 — The Black-Robed Regiment, the lesser magistrate, and the War for Independence 27:43 — The Crusades — were they just wars? Separating the first, fourth, seventh, and eighth 31:20 — Counterfeit holiness: BLM as pilgrimage, anti-racism as penance, revivalism as emotional currency 34:20 — The question before this generation: Christ's finished holiness or substitutes that leave ash 34:45 — Fight Laugh Feast 2026: Holy Wars — speakers, theme, and why we're gathering 36:18 — We are that bush — holy war in family, church, and state until the earth is full of his glory 43:46 — Deus vult — God wills it. He always has. He is doing it. Fight Laugh Feast 2026: Holy Wars Join us October 1–3 in Franklin, Tennessee for the Fight Laugh Feast Conference. This year's theme mirrors the documentary: Holy Wars — Just War, the Crusades, and the Christian Life. Featuring Doug Wilson, Joe Boot, George Grant, Jared Longshore, Joe Rigney, Ben Merkel, and the CrossPolitic crew. Early Bird pricing ends July 1st — we're nearly halfway sold out. Tickets: https://tickets.flfnetwork.com/holy-wars-conference This Episode's Sponsors Patriot Mobile America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. Same nationwide 4G and 5G coverage as the major carriers — with U.S.-based customer support and dollars that fund religious freedom, constitutional rights, the sanctity of life, and veterans and first responders. Switch today and get a free activation with code CROSSPOLITIC. Website: patriotmobile.com/crosspolitic About CrossPolitic CrossPolitic exists to put Jesus over Politics and reclaim the public square through bold, joyful, biblically grounded media. We confront the chaos discipling America and build the next generation of Christian media infrastructure. Our mission is simple: all of Christ for all of media for all of America. Mainstream media is collapsing. Eighty-seven percent of journalists identify as progressive, and even many conservative outlets prioritize profit over principle. Meanwhile, billions of hours of digital content are discipling the world every day. CrossPolitic stands in that gap, producing courageous, entertaining, truth-filled media for households, churches, and leaders across the nation. Become a CrossPolitic Club Member Support the mission and unlock exclusive content, behind-the-scenes shows, and theology series. https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/menu/checkout Subscribe & Share! Every like, comment, and share helps push Christian media back into the algorithm where it belongs. Follow CrossPolitic YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CROSSPOLITIC X: https://x.com/CrossPolitic Facebook: https://facebook.com/crosspolitic Instagram: https://instagram.com/crosspolitic Email List: https://crosspolitic.com/ Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NRBTV, DirecTV, Dish, and everywhere podcasts are found. #CrossPolitic #HolyWars #FightLaughFeast #JustWar #Crusades #ChristianMedia #Holiness

Fr. Mauritius Wilde reflects on how reading, listening, and lifelong learning help form a Benedictine community of wisdom and faith. The post HR 16 – The Value of Listening and Silence – The Holy Rule of St. Benedict with Fr. Mauritius Wilde O.S.B – Discerning Hearts Podcasts appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.

Today’s Topics: 1, 2, 3, 4) William discusses those great Holy Saints who persevered to the end of life on earth, including, Job, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Saints John the Baptist, Ignatius of Antioch, Perpetua, Monica, Francis of Assisi, Joan of Arc, Thérèse of Lisieux, Maximilian Kolbe, and Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich

What if your sexuality isn't actually your identity? Three people who once identified within the LGBTQ+ community sat down to answer that question — and their testimonies are proof that Jesus still heals, still delivers, and still makes all things new. This isn't conversion therapy — it's freedom that comes only from encountering God. In today's episode, Jaelen, Mark, and Cheyenne get authentic about what God did when they stopped letting culture define them.

Pastor Clay's Summer of Prayer message, “Holy is Your Name,” invites us to learn how to pray and encounter God personally. He emphasizes that prayer is a conversation with our Father, made possible by Jesus restoring intimacy with God. The teaching explores the radical meaning of “Our Father,” the access it gives us, and how God's holiness shapes our prayers and perspective. It encourages believers to connect with God daily, moving beyond ritual or church culture, and to step into encounters and visitations with expectation, boldness, and faith.

Holy smokes the New York Knickerbockers are your NBA Champions so we discuss what it means to Billy and how we watched every last game.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.